"Sounds like a plan." Allen walked over to the door and stepped through. He had the same spinning, falling sensation as before. This time when he came to he was laying on a bed, or more accurately, a cot. He looked around and saw that he was in some kind of barracks. He guessed he probably wasn't supposed to be here and immediately started looking for a door. After less than a minute he found one and headed out into a hall. Determined to find Phisoxa and Shero he started walking around and searching for where they might be. He walked down several halls and through multiple doors, never really knowing whether he was allowed to go wherever he happened to be.
"I think it's about time I joined the others, before I end up too far out of the loop." Allen looked down at his shirt, it had a massive hole where Crato had stabbed him. "I should probably get some new clothes first though. Do you have anything like this-" he held up his shirt and vest- "that I could wear?"
"Okay, that's a satisfying answer." Allen was surprised to get a satisfying answer from Legion. "I'd like a rematch with Crato, and I'd like to see Raxtion again, maybe I'd even like to introduce him to Jen." Allen thought about Alicia. "What should I do now?"
"Now I am." Allen took the bottle and drank. "What's going to happen to Raxtion? And did Crato survive?"
Allen clutched at his wound. "You're late. Can you get me a healing elixir or something?"
So the flower was useless. Allen's rage welled up again. But before he would let it out he had to do one last thing. He shouted in his mind "LEGION, YOU CAN BEAT YOURSELF UP LATER! FOR NOW TAKE US TO YOUR LIBRARY! RAXTION TOO! DON'T QUESTION ME AND DON'T COMMENT ON THIS! JUST DO IT!" He looked at Crato, seething. "No, no. Now it's your turn you piece of crap." Allen held up the flower. "You see this? YOU SEE THIS? This flower has nectar that can take away your immortality. All I have to do is get close enough to use it. After that it's all over for you. Maybe I couldn't save that planet, or Alicia, or maybe even Raxtion. But I can make sure you never hurt anyone ever again." Allen hoped Crato fell for his bluff, but he didn't care. If Crato decided to risk the flower then he would just find another way to pull this off. He set light throughout the ship, reflecting it off the titanium surface until it filled the room and nearly blinded Crato. Then he rushed at him, sword and flower both at the ready.
Allen was too devastated to make any wise cracks. He just stared at the monitor in shock.An entire planet, and all of he people on it, had just been wiped out. Time slowed to a crawl in his mind. Allen was so angry. He thought about the destruction he had just witnessed. Thousands of lives extinguished, Millions of memories that would never be had, a kind goddess who would never receive a proper burial. All because of him, because of his failure. He thought about Alicia, how she reminded him of the girl he loved, and how she had been killed by Crato. He thought of Jen, of how she was always there for him, of the ring he wanted to pull out of his pocket one day. He thought of his own world, too, he thought about Mixt and the monsters that had attacked the school, about the way he and so many others had so suddenly lost their homes. He thought of the vision of Hell he had seen before he had found the girls. And he thought of the way he had just failed to save this planet. How could Allen protect Jen if he needed to, how could he help save his own world, how could he save anyone, if he couldn't stop one evil man, if he couldn't even save one student from being killed by another? Allen was so angry, not with the man who had just destroyed a planet, or with the boy who had murdered an innocent classmate, but with himself. He was so devastated that he actually had better control of his temper, despite being angrier than he ever had in his life. He thought to Legion, "to make him mortal I need to get the nectar of the black flower in his mouth or eyes right?" and to Crato he shouted, "So you're immortal, is that it?" He hoped to appeal to Crato's arrogance.
"You sent more of them to attack me?" Allen said this in reference to having more disciples attacking him than Raxtion. "I'm so flattered." He kicked one of them where the sun don't shine. "But flattery will get you nowhere" He kicked the same one again, this time in his face. "He's gonna be feeling that in the morning." He jumped back and stuck his sword straight out in front of him. "Watch the birdy." He summoned a small ball of light at the end of his sword and swung it around. He fired the ball of light, making it look like he had done it by accident. "Whoops, oh well. What are you gonna do?" Allen rushed back at the three disciples and slide tackled one of them. As he did this the ball of light he had fired off hit the screen of the computer Crato was sitting at, and the light dispersed over it. Allen hoped this would distort Crato's view of the screen enough that he wouldn't be able to make out what was on it and would be unable to finish what he was doing.
"Hey now," Allen said to the disciples as he blocked and avoided their attacks to the best of his abilities. "I don't wanna hurt you guys. I'm just here to save the world, and take down your boss. Even the one I already attacked is gonna be fine in a couple of hours." When they kept attacking he just said, "have it your way." He jumped up and used a pillar of light to launch himself over their heads and temporarily blind them. Landing behind them he simultaneously hit one in the back of the head with the pommel of his sword and punched another in the kidney. As the third one turned around, his eyes recovering from the flash, Allen attempted to sweep his legs out from under him.
"What's the matter, cat got your tongue? Well you never struck me as the talkative sort. Still, it makes you kind of a boring villain." Allen shot out a beam of light, it reflected off of some monitors in front of one of Crato's disciples and back into his face and eyes. He would be blind for the next few hours and was now unable to work his post. "Which one controls the gun?"
Allen climbed in and immediately joined Raxtion in fighting the creatures. "You know you didn't have to have us attacked immediately after we got on board. You could've tried to play innocent, or given some big villain speech. I mean, jeez, haven't you ever watched a movie?" Allen was using his cocky attitude to hide the fact that he was actually looking around -as he spun and leaped about to fight the monsters- for a way to sabotage the ship. "But I guess if you want we can do that why'll the fight's going on. Here, I'll give you an easy starting point. Why'd you do it?" "Legion, give me something I can use to stop this thing."
"Alright, but remember this, our main goal is to stop the Comet. We'll deal with Crato after it's grounded. Got that?" Allen rushed to the Comet. They couldn't let this thing accomplish whatever sinister goal Crato had for it. "Apparently Crato's an immortal," Allen said to Raxtion as they got close. "A real bad one too. He used to make his living off of killing gods and goddesses. And is known to have destroyed planets for fun. The Comet's probably made to do just that. Got that? We have to stop the Comet first to save your world, then we'll take Crato down together. He's also probably responsible for the monsters, so I'd expect he fights like them. Whatever you do don't let him psych you out?" They flew near the bottom of the Black Comet. "Alright, get us in. It's do or die time."
Allen picked up the flower, he figured it might come in handy later. He hastily threw the blanket over Alicia's body and jumped out the window. He summoned a beam of light and began riding it like a surf board, so that he could catch up with Raxtion. "Legion tell me anything about Crato that might be useful for stopping him, and do it quick!" As he got close to Raxtion he shouted out, "Raxtion, Stop!"
Allen nearly picked up the flower, but didn't because after Legion's comment he didn't know the significance of it and decided it was safer to leave it be. Then he said for Raxtion and Legion both, "look, there's a flower next to her. With black petals. What do you think it means?" He added for Legion, "Do you know what happened to her?"
Allen was getting ready to sleep on the couch when he heard Raxtion's scream. He ran up the stairs and stopped to find where they were. Only one room had light coming out of it and he ran to it. Upon entering the room he was met with the sight of Raxtion hunched over Alicia's lifeless and bloody body. He stared in horror. "No way." He almost found it hard to believe she had died; he had assumed she was immortal. "No way." He walked over to Raxtion and knelt down, putting a hand on his shoulder. Allen was horrified. Knowing the similarities between Alicia and Jen, and hearing how Raxtion had talked about her, allowed him to understand what the other man was feeling. "What happened?" He didn't want to ask, he wanted to let Raxtion grieve, but if he knew what happened he might be able to do something, anything, about it.
Allen had almost completely forgotten where he was talking about Jen. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure. I understand." He flagged down a waitress and ordered a to-go box for the nearly finished steak.
"Jen? She's..." Allen thought for a moment and smiled. "She's really something else, y'know. She's the most kind and caring person I've ever met, or at least she's tied with Alicia for that category. I've never seen her say no to anyone who needed help, she'd show up on moving day for a perfect stranger if they just asked her to. She's tough to though, you'd never guess it looking at her or talking to her, but she's got something in her that'd scare death himself if he saw it. Maybe that's why she's so fearless." Allen laughed. "She's also incredibly gentle too though, never raises her voice, even when she's angry. She does some babysitting work and the kids love her, she could pay for this steak with just one of her tips and still have money left over. She's also the only person I've ever met more strongly grounded in her morals than I am." He sighed sadly. "Somehow she does it without ever having to choose between friends or morals. I've even seen her in situations where it looks like she'll have to choose one over the other, but she somehow always manages to always stay loyal to both. She's the only person I don't keep at arms length too, because I know that I'll never have to choose between her and my integrity. Anytime I need advice or someone to talk to I call her." There was a sparkle in Allen's eyes as he talked about Jen.
"Alicia, I can see why you like her." Allen looked up to make eye contact. "She...reminds me of my girlfriend actually."
Allen was surprised that the bar let in a seventeen year old, not that he minded. He was so hungry he didn't want to stop eating long enough to talk and Raxtion looked like he probably didn't feel like talking either. So Allen just thought about what he had learned over the past day. He was worried that Legion didn't know anything about Crato, after all Legion had said that it was basically his job to know everything. He wanted to see the book Crato had spoken about too, to try and figure out exactly what it was Crato had learned from the book, and, more importantly, if it might've had anything to do with the darkness that threatened this planet. He also thought about what Legion had told him about Raxtion and Alicia. Alicia reminded him of Jen, something about her gentle nature, and the way she couldn't seem to refuse any request for help. Raxtion was unlike him though, while Allen immediately questioned everything that didn't make sense to him, and wouldn't be satisfied with half an answer, Raxtion seemed to accept everything Crato said without issue. He looked at Raxtion. The man looked upset. Allen supposed he could understand, the one person he loved most and a complete stranger were both highly distrustful of his mentor, a man he clearly trusted. At first Allen didn't say anything, then he thought about the last thing Alicia said to him. He stopped eating his nearly-finished steak long enough to say, "I can see why you like her
"Legion, we'll get through this All right. I'll just have to figure out another way. I'll even bring you back the schematics for the Comet and Crato's book if I can. Now Raxtion's giving me funny looks, I've gotta go." He walked to where Raxtion was standing. "Just some...internal dialogue, don't worry." He put a hand on his stomach, suddenly realizing how long it had been since he'd eaten. "I'm not going to get anywhere here, the tech's too far over my head. Where can we go for a good bite to eat?"
