Of course, the warlords were supposedly outdated, as now Sphere was ruled by a normal Governement. Drangarrus apparently had a large well-equipped personal army, and he had sent it to demand tribute from the villagers of Sparda. When they had refused, the army had levelled the city. Now, the villager said, the army must be on its way back to the Dark Castle. After this confession, the villager perished from loss of blood. But we now had a goal. An army didn't move as fast as a small party, so Drangarrus' forces had to be nearby. There was no question of turning back (after all, Korgan was dead..ne'ermind..) for we had all sacrificed much to come on this journey, and it could not end until this Warlord Drangarrus was defeated. So, Cormac and Kino winged into the air, and searched the nearby jungle to find the army. It didn't take them long. The army had stopped near another river for the afternoon. The massive trough they had trampled through the jungle was easy to follow, but the sheer size of the army was impressive. Below were around two hundred soldiers, and a number of Landwalkers. There were 5 Serpant Walkers, which look basically like the ATSTs from Star Wars, and 3 Battle Walkers, which appear like the good old ATATs. Reporting back to the others, Cormac said we could hit them by suppertime. And after a bit more walking, we arrived on a ridge above the army. It was time to plan strategy, for simply charging such a massive force was surely suicide.
As I was saying, we were all skewed on the Exar theory. We were aware, of course, of the possibility of another guilty party, but this Exar theory seemed cool and fit the facts nice and smugly. Even though we suspected Exar, we had no proof, and so we could do nothing. Merely watch him carefully. Now, on to the story. The next morning came, the artificial light of Sphere blooming on the horizon. Day did not much improve the mood. Everyone was tense. Another of us had fallen, and our task seemed hopeless. We no longer even knew what we were looking for. But Cormac and Tram took the lead, blazing their way along the shoreline of the beach. This day would see our true enemy unveiled, and our final course decided. So it was, around noon actually, that Kino heard some strange moaning from the bushes. Motioning us to stop, he went to investigate. Moments later, he returned from the bushes, helping a bloody man along. The man wore simple townsman garb, but he was unshaven and covered with wounds. Cormac and Tram came forward, along with Mystia who tried to treat the man's wounds. He told us he had come from Sparda, as the only survivor. He had run into the jungle as the town was being destroyed, in order to escape. As his excitement mounted, Cormac asked what had destroyed the village. And the fellow explained at last, about the warlord Drangarrus. Apparently, Drangarrus lived in a dark castle somewhere in these dense jungles, and from there attempted to rule the area, along with his wife and daughter.
While we debated, the sun continued its measured pace across the sky. Cormac assured the others that he could take a hundred of the soldiers out quite easily, with a Tortalian move called a Tsunami. That left another hundred land troops, which Selmini generously offered to take care of. We were a bit dubious about letting Selmini do something important, but we were hard pressed for manpower. It seemed clear that the Battle Walkers would be our biggest problem, and we decided to capture them rather than attempt to destroy them. Tram decided that he and Exar would run at one Battle Walker and try to take it over. Meanwhile, Darius and Kino would form the other attack group. Kino would carry Darius and fly towards another walker. But there was still the third walker and the Serpant walkers. Once we captured two of the battle walkers, they would be able to destroy the third it was decided. But the problem of the Serpant Walkers remained. Until Jado said he had the solution. And he reached for his suitcase, the suitcase that weighed as though it were filled with rocks. But it wasn't. It was filled with Rocket Launchers and special Scorpio missiles! We were all astonished as Jado hefted rocket launchers and began to pass them out to those staying behind. As the launchers were passed around, Cormac noticed that they seemed to have faint Deksiilan military markings on them, although they were mostly scratched out. It would appear that the 'powerless' tourist Jado wasn't as weak as he'd have us believe..
Pyross, Kyla, Mystia, Jaynine, and of course Jado himself all grabbed launchers and set themselves up on the ridgeline, ready to lay down covering fire as we executed the daring plan of assault. So, as the sun crested at midafternoon, the festivities began. Cormac launched himself into the sky, flinging out a giant wave of psychic energy, called a Tsunami, which ripped through a whole column of soldiers. Half of them were gone. During this time, Selmini also leaped into the air and shouted, "Mwaha! I am SELMINI! No one can stop me!" As he gestured 'imperiously', a Psi Storm slashed into the remaining soldiers, killing some. The ones who remained took the oppertunity to blast Selmini out of the sky. He plummeted down with a shrill "Waaaaa!" Meanwhile, the rocket launchers began to fire, and the assault groups started their advances. Exar and Tram ran near a walker, avoiding shots, and leaped to the top. Once there, they found a hatch and entered inside. But before the cockpit, they found a solid admorite door. Tram pushed with all his might, but couldn't budge it. Then, Exar moved forward. And with one massive slam, the door flew inwards, killing the pilots inside. The first walker was ours. Meanwhile, Darius and Kino were having greater problems. Kino was blasted a couple times, and narrowly avoided dropping Darius. But finally, they made it to the back of the walker. As they stood recovering their breath, a rocket fired out from our ridge and slammed into the walker right near them. Accompanying it was a "YIPPPPEEEE!", an enthusiastic one, might I add, from Jaynine. Shaking their heads, the two warriors entered the walker. The same type of door blocked their way to the cockpit, but try though they did, even the two of them together could not move the door. And Exar had, alone.
The battle continued for some more time, but since I must abridge this version, after some time, Darius and Kino finally broke into the second walker. They took it over easily enough, and soon the third battle walker was destroyed, though Exar and Tram's walker was dangerously weak. And had to be evacuated. The two leaped out seconds before the stricken walker exploded in a mass of flame. Meanwhile, Selmini had risen again into the air and had blasted the remaining soldiers with Psi Energy. But as he hovered high in the air, boasting of his triumph, a serpant walker aimed upwards and shot him down again. With another shrill yell, Selmini came down to Earth. Cormac, for his part, aimed his laser rifle and started firing at the serpant walkers. After another long period of intense fighting, the battle finally ended, with our side as the victors. However, both our Battle Walkers were destroyed, which was a pity, since we had considered using them to trash Drangarrus' castle. No such luck, however. No one was seriously injured in the battle, though we were all a bit bruised (especially Selmini), and so we looked about the wreckage. Unfortunately, we had neglected to leave any survivors, and thus had no idea where Drangarrus' castle was. We were in the jungle, with no idea where to go, and some of us still sorely wounded from the battle.
As we prepared to sleep, Kino, Tram and Cormac had an idea. Foof was really powerful, so if we got him to come with us, he could probably defeat Drangarrus. So we asked him, but unfortunately for our plan, he refused. It turned out he was going campaigning and would have to run the many miles to the nearest town in the morning. Disappointed, but still determined, we all sought our beds. The next morning dawned bright and clear. Surprisingly, the first one of us up was Pyross. Foof, of course, was already long gone campaigning, but he had left breakfast on the table for us. As Pyross roused us all, a strange determinated look on his face, Kino noticed that Jado was gone. His bag remained, but there was no sign of the Tourist. In rising panic, Cormac, Tram and Kino scoured the surrounding area...but we found no sign of him. Had our mysterious murderer struck again? And in Foof's abode, no less? It seemed the only possible answer. After all, Jado wasn't foolish enough to run off on his own. So we departed, one less than when we had come, and we headed for the Castle Of Darkness. Only then could the death and suffering end. Whereas before Cormac and Tram had led, Pyross now took the lead, his face focused, but at the same time reflecting a great eagerness. From near the back, Kyla seemed concerned as she watched him forge ahead through the jungle.
Awaiting us were 12 guards dressed in Chain-Plate armour, and wielding long blades. At their head was yet another enemy. But this guard wore full plate armour, and had a massive Blade-Hammer (the same type of sword Darius used) Slung over one shoulder. He was also huge. The Behemoth in full plate armour identified himself as Gargantus, and welcomed us to the Castle Of Darkness. He then ordered his men to attack. And that they did. As we deployed ourselves, Kyla announced that she would take on Gargantus. We were all fairly dismayed. Up to this point, she had showed little skill at fighting. But, she was adamant in her demand, so we let her face the massive knight of darkness. The rest of us had our own problems. Cormac drew forth his guns, Kino became the Rainbow Pheonix, and Tram did some moves from Jackie Chan at his best. The guards we faced were good, but not good enough. Our friends also held their own, to differing degrees. Selmini, for instance, drew out a thundersabre (light sabre) and began fencing with his opponent. Jaynine huddled behind Darius, who swung his Blade-Hammer valiently. Exar laid about him with massive strokes, and Mystia invoked her own Psychic powers on the opponent. But most surprising of all was Pyross, who had drawn Flammidir. And, as he faced his opponents, his entire body started to flame with energy. In no time at all, most of the guards were defeated.
Meanwhile, Kyla wasn't having such luck with Gargantus. She proved far stronger than we'd thought, but not strong enough. Gargantus, laughing in his deep throated voice, drove his blade through her chest, spilling out what remained of her life. Upon seeing her fall dead, Pyross unleashed a great scream of loss. His body seemed to flame even stronger, and Mystia pushed us all back, even as Pyross, maddened by grief, fired a massive fireball from Flammidir which engulfed Gargantus. When it finally cleared, Gargantus was still alive. But only barely. It didn't take long after that for Pyross to change that. As we all stood over Kyla's body, Cormac was confused. Pyross and Kyla had seemed to hate each other during our journey. He couldn't understand why Pyross was so broken up by her death. But the warrior's sadness didn't last long. Pyross reached to his hand, pulled off a ring and tossed it on Kyla's body. Then turning to the rest of us, he suggested we leave. That act cleared up the mystery for us a little bit, especially when we noticed that Kyla already wore a similar ring on her finger. But it was time to proceed, time to find Lord Drangarrus.
The sun indicated it to be about midday, some short time later, and we knew that the Castle Of Darkness was near. Selmini began to complain about his feet hurting. Basically, though, we all ignored him. But as we approached the final segment of our journey, whilst pushing through the bush, Exar came back to talk to Cormac. He seemed worried, for the first time this trip. What he said pretty much confirmed what we already knew, and added a bit more. He spoke of how he no longer remembered what he'd been before becoming a Cyborg, only that he'd had two daughters. He asked Cormac if he could find those daughters, and tell them what had befallen their father, should Exar perish on this journey. That's what started a whole new set of theories, the theories that Exar was actually the father of Lyreelia and Myreelia, the twin sister pincesses from Super Adventure II. (See *Super Adventure Two and *Lyreelia or *Myreelia) After this talk, the 'Exar theory' began to fade a bit. Perhaps he wasn't the murderer, we speculated. But in any case, then we reached the castle of Darkness. It stood before us, a massive construct of stone. Strangely, the main gates stood open, beckoning us to enter. And that we did. Once inside, we found ourselves in a large entrance chamber with Dragon Statues lining the walls. And we were not alone...
Well, not alone exactly. Tram, Kino and Cormac all had the same first impulse. To get Exar to rip down the bars. Exar stepped forward and bent them with all his strength, but they were made from Zirlithium, and could not be budged, even by the Mighty Exar. In frustration, Pyross began to swing Flammidir at the bars, to no visible effect. Cormac noticed an air duct above, and flew up to investigate. He found that it too was Zirlithium, and securely srewed in. We were trapped, and there was nothing we could do about it. As we settled down to wait, for what we knew not, Tram suddenly heard a buzzing sound. It sounded electric, and seemed to be coming from the duct above us. We all looked up curiously, when suddenly, the grate tumbled into the cell. Wedged in the duct, an electric Screwdriver in his hand, was none other than Roccoooo Dillon! We were all elated; we had forgotten that Dillon may still have been alive. Startled, we asked him what had befallen him after chasing off the natives. Roccooo explained that he had gotten lost in the jungle, and had eventually wandered to a river. From there, he had swum along until he had ended up in this duct. Coincidence that he had just managed to save us. But Roccooo had just made up for screwing up at the beginning. The bus driver helped us all up into the duct and led the way along it, explaining that it would let us out somewhere else. And so it did.
We still had to find Jaynine and Darius, before it was too late, and we explained it to Dillon. He nodded, and drew out a gun from his big burlap sack. Eventually, the duct let us out in a large central chamber. There, across from where we entered, was a large grate. Slowly, as we entered, it began to open. From the darkness within, we could see nothing but two red glowing eyes. As the grate opened further, a massive creature began to emerge. We all rushed it, except Mystia, who hung back. Our attacks seemed not to faze the creature, and it began to pull its massive body from the small portal. We weren't going to be able to stop it, Cormac surmised. It was simply too tough. Glancing behind him, he suddenly saw that Mystia had gathered a massive ball of white energy above her head. T'was bigger even than a UNIVERSAL GLOBE. "SACRIFICE!" she yelled, before hurling the ball at the creature. Selmini, from his position above in the air, from where he'd been throwing wimpy Psi-Globes, didn't look impressed. We were. The ball exploded, and nothing remained of the beast. But after the ball had been fired, Mystia keeled over, rapidly dying. Before doing so, she insisted that we had to stop Drangarrus, but that more was at stake than simply he. It was up to us. The only other way out of the chamber was another air duct, and we crawled up it, hoping to find Darius and Jaynine. We did soon enough. For after a short while, we came up over another duct leading down into Drangarrus' throneroom. And a bizarre scene greeted us there.
As we left the entrance chamber and came into a main room with two doors, Jaynine seemed to jerk erect. Darius watched her with concern, for she began to act in a peculiar manner. Jaynine told Mystia that somehow, she knew exactly where we were supposed to go. Some inner sense of intuition, she explained rather lamely. But t'was clear that she was eager to proceed through one of the doors. Mystia said we should pay attention to such feelings, as they could be signs from the gods. Selmini said his feet hurt, and that was a sign from the Gods that we should rest. Jaynine ignored him and dashed through the door, Darius close behind. The two were running fairly quickly, and as we all slowly started to move (having Selmini with us and all), we found ourselves quite well behind them. As we proceeded through the hallway, it branched two ways. Jaynine didn't hesitate, merely continuing to run along the left fork. She began to lead us up stairs, her and Darius bounding ahead, moving faster still. As we reached a landing, suddenly, with a grating of hinges, a cage dropped down around us! Jaynine and Darius were well-ahead, out of the cage's range. However, they didn't seem to notice that we weren't behind them and kept running up the stairs, disappearing into the darkness. So we were all alone, in a cage.
Roccooo had loosened the grate, and with a triumphant shout yelled "I got it!!!" He let the grate fall the long distance to the floor with a huge clatter. So much for surprise. Again, Roccoo had screwed up. But we were commited now, so Cormac leaped down and fired his Tsunami. Unfortunately, forewarned by Roccooo's shout, everyone of our enemies avoided the attack. As the rest of our team dropped down, Drangarrus motioned for Darius to finish us. To this Darius replied, "I don't think so! This is the moment I've been waiting for!" Turning to us, he continued, motioning towards Drangarrus with his Blade-Hammer. "Shall we?" So Darius had actually betrayed Drangarrus. Well, we could use all the help we could get. Pyross, already starting to flame, charged Drangarrus, Flammidir in his hand. As Drangarrus saw him approach, he actually smiled. "Face the Dark-Sword, Daganak!" he intoned, even well drawing that sword. In his deep voice, he continued. "So the weilder of Flammidir has come at last!" The two began to fight, as did the rest of us. Cormac moved to take on Jaynine, who looked really angry at Darius. Pyross, of course, had his hands full with Drangarrus. Tram and Kino attacked Lady Merissia, and Exar, Darius, Roccooo and Selmini took on the five guards. As the battle progressed, Jaynine revealed redoutable combat skills, and used her dazzle attack to blind Cormac. She was eventually defeated, but Cormac was still blinded. Meanwhile, Kino and Tram barely managed to finish Merissia off, killing her. And finally, the guards were defeated as well. But Pyross wasn't faring so well.
Even as we watched, mortified and stupified, Drangarrus cleanly ran Pyross through. Laughing in triumph, he reached for Flammidir. Darius suddenly shouted, "Don't let him get that sword!" But we were too shocked to move. Well, most of us anyways. Tram suddenly leaped forward, and tossed a can of Mountain Dew in the air whilst shouting for Drangarrus to see the Dew. The Warlord looked up at the spinning can, even as Tram dived and caught hold of the sword Flammidir. Tram's act had allowed us all to move, and we attacked Drangarrus. In rage, Drangarrus turned on Tram, but the Martial Artist quickly threw Flammidir to Darius who moved to the back and stayed away from the fighting. And so the last battle began. As mentioned in the character profile, Drangarrus' massive armour was almost impossible to penetrate. Exar was the only one who seemed to be able to do damage, and as he fought, Drangarrus caught him badly, sending sparks flying. Selmini, meanwhile, went and sat on Drangarrus' throne. Cormac tried to aim, but still blinded, he wasn't having much success. Roccooo kept firing, but Drangarrus' sword easily deflected the bullets. Kino and Tram were low on Psychic energy and could do little. We were in trouble. When, suddenly, with a great shattering of glass, a ribbon of Zirlithium bullets slashed into Drangarrus. Glancing up, Jado stood in a broken window, now dressed in army clothes and toting an Auto Blaster. He shouted, "DRANGARRUS! This is for the Blue Berrets!" We didn't know what he was talking about, but with his help, we defeated Drangarrus. Barely. The Warlord fell down, coughing blood. Darius moved forward, leaned over him, as the rest of us caught our breath, and suddenly gabbed Daganak!
Quite a few figures stood in the throne room of Lord Drangarrus. At one end of the room, standing against the wall near the main entrance, stood 5 guards. On a raised dias at the other side of the room sat a large throne, with the arms carved in the shape of dragons. Seated on this throne was the Massive form of Lord Drangarrus. His Long blade lay on his lap, and his wife, Lady Merissia, sat on the arm of the throne. Standing in the center of the chamber, facing the throne, were Jaynine and Darius. Cormac and the others quickly made a plan. Roccooo would use his electric screwdriver to open the duct, and then with surprise on his side, Cormac would drop through and unleash another Tsunami to hit all those in the chamber, with the exception of Jaynine and Darius. Our plans changed though when we heard what they were saying. Shocked, we all listened closely as Roccoo got to work with the screwdriver. Jaynine was saying to Drangarrus something to the effect of, "Yes, we thought we hadn't found them, but on our way back here, by chance, we ran into them. They're in the cage, Daddy." And so much was revealed. Jaynine was actually Drangarrus' daughter, and she and Darius had betrayed us. They must have been the murderers, although the motive was still unclear. So much for the Exar theory. I hope you didn't pick it to be right, cuz if you did, then you're dead WRONG. But even as the conversation finished, disaster struck.
Too bad he never got a chance to use it. Rocccooo aimed and fired, but the sword Kayo-Mak deflected the shot. Suddenly, Darius fell forward. Behind him, stood SELMINI, future ruler of the Galaxy. In his hand was a Psi-Globe. But, as Kayo-Mak hit the ground, a massive explosion seemed to rock the Castle Of Darkness. The whole building began to collapse, massive stones tumbling down around the party. "RUUUUNNNN!" shouted Roccooo, swiftly following his own advice. Jado grabbed Jaynine, who was still alive, though unconcious, and dragged her along. "What about Kayo-Mak?" Cormac shouted over the din. But nobody replied, so we decided to leave it where it was, by Darius' bloody hand. However, there was one who wouldn't leave. Exar stood calmly over Darius' corpse, not making any move towards the door. There was no way to convince him, so we all left. Just as we leaped out the front gate of the Castle Of Darkness, we heard a shout from the rubble, "I REMEMBER!" T'was Exar's last shout, for then, the Castle collapsed in its entirety. As the survivors stood looking at what remained of the Castle Of Darkness, we though of all those who had passed away on our quest. Of the beginning company, only Cormac, Kino, Tram, Selmini, Roccooo, Jaynine and Jado had survived. Cormac thought of the task Exar had given him before passing away. He decided that he and Tram would take care of it. Suddenly, his cell-phone rang. Wondering who it was, he picked it up. It was Antonio.
Darius spun around to face us, hefting the two blades. One burst into red flmae, the other a dark blue. Darius ripped open the front of his plain black shirt, to reveal, hanging around his neck, the Horned Skull amulet of Dagobros. Darius had betrayed everyone, it appeared, and was actually a DOOM PRIEST. Then, the two blades seemed to merge together. "What's going on?" Jado shouted. The two swords, Flammidir and Daganak, suddenly became one sword which glowed with a shadowy light. This blade seemed to lengthen until it was a blade hammer. Darius hefted it, smiling in victory. "Finally, I have accomplished my mission. I now hold KAYO-MAK, the warrior's sword! With this, the Doom priests shall reign supreme!" With a gesture of the blade, Psychic armour suddenly surrounded him. But, he had made one mistake. Whilst talking, Cormac's blindness had finally worn off. So now, the true final battle began. Darius swung Kayo-Mak, and used an attack called the Flames Of Hell. These dark fires seemed to engulf us all. Many of us were reduced to kneeling before him, but we still attacked with what remained. Cormac fired his guns, as did Roccoooo. Jado let loose with his autoblaster, but most importantly, Exar leaped to the attacked. As Darius coughed up blood from our assault, he growled. "One more Flames Of Hell will finish you all!" And it would have.
Drangarrus = Foof > Exar = Merissia > Darius > Pyross > Roccoooo > Mystia = Cormac = Tram = Kino = Baigan > Jado = Jaynine > Kyla > Murdoch > Selmini > Torius > Korgan
The Truth
4.5/5
The Rating