Episode XXIII: The Balanced Beast
"BRAD!" Sakari screamed. Before I knew it I was tackled onto the ground. "What
took you so long!?"
"BRAD!" Orichalkon yelled also. He flew towards me at amazing speed, but luckily,
because of Sakari's tackle, I was out of reach.
"Hello to you to," I said sarcastically. "No time for reunions, everyone."
"What's the rush?" Willie asked. "We're not in any particular hurry."
"Wanna bet?" a familiar voice hissed. We all turned to see Atrox standing in
the portal. "You will not make it to Malum. Your journey ends here."
"You've got to be joking. As soon as we find each other, we get into a fight!"
Kage yelled. I had finally pushed Sakari off of me, and was ready to fight.
"Orichalkon, Senka Weaponize!" Orichalkon Senka Weaponized while the others
Weaponized. "We're all together now, and there's no way we can lose!" Ryo walked
up to me.
"Brad, give me your NeoP0rt," he commanded.
"What!? But.. but why?" I asked, stuttering.
"I'll command Orichalkon into battle with it. You take Alamin and DemiDragon
and go after Malum. This way, everyone will have some usefulness. Please Brad,
I can't just sit here on the sidelines."
"But what if you transform?"
"Then Atrox will run for his life." Ryo winked at me.
"Okay... good luck, Ryo." With that, I grabbed Alamin and DemiDragon to go
after Malum, whereas the others stayed to fight Atrox. Kisaki then ran up to
Ryo.
"Where'd Brad go!?" she yelled.
"He went after Malum!"
"Oh no! But I never got to tell him.. his scar says "III" now!" Ryo looked
puzzled. Kisaki gave up and ran back to the battlefield.
The NeoWeapons could be seen attacking from all directions, but only half of
them were making contact. Atrox was fast and strong, they knew that now. Things
weren't looking up for the group.
"Fools!" he yelled. "Just watch what defines strength! Atom Shot!" He started
firing red rays in every direction, taking down many of the NeoPets.
"Orichalkon!" Ryo yelled. "Gurando Toukai now!" Orichalkon attacked with the
fierce technique, and inflicted some heavy damage. The onslaught of energy slowed
Atrox down severely, and the others didn't put that to waste.
"Ritsuzen, Ro-Yaru Arashi!" Ritsuzen started flapping his wings furiously,
releasing silver bolts with each flap. Ritsuzen then went for a more physical
approach and speared Atrox right into the ground.
"Kyoutan, Fukaban Suisei now! Wipe that thing out!" Sakari exclaimed. All the
missiles in bullets were shot into the air, then started homing onto Atrox and
fell right into him. He was taking a beating.
"Orichalkon, Guran-" Ryo was cut off by a black energy surrounding him. It
soon formed a black hole around his entire body.
"Ryo, what's happening to you!?" Sakari screamed. But his ears were mute to
everything but his own thoughts and heartbeat. He was engulfed into the darkness,
and what emerged was Ryo's other self, Apokari.
"Ryo..." Cubix said in awe. "What... how.. He's Apokari!"
"No," Laura said as she fell to the ground. "This can't be happening, this
can't be happening..."
"Oh no..." Without the power of the NeoP0rt, Orichalkon reverted to his normal
stage. During the transformation, Ryo had dropped it. But Orichalkon did not
have the time to give it to somebody else. Ryo was already attacking.
"Apo-Missles!" Many blazes of light were fired in the form of missiles at everything
in the World of Apocaly.
"MITSUKAI!" Sakari yelled, changing herself into her holier form. "Ryo, stop
this insanity!" But he couldn't hear her. Part of him could, but not enough
to take heed. "Fine then.. Megami Kusari!" Sakari attempted to restrain Ryo
with the chains of light, but he was indeed much more powerful than the single-celled
Apokari.
"Shock Claw!" Sakari did her best to dodge the claws being flung at her, and
wished the others could help. But on the ground, they had their own problems.
"Demon Blaze!" Atrox yelled, releasing a powerful blue blaze of fire on the
group. The NeoPets took every last agonising blast, standing their ground like
only they could.
"You... will... not... win," Ritsuzen muttered under his own breath. Atrox
then aimed his hands at Ryo.
"Die you beast! I'm not letting you destroy the specimen!" Blue sparks started
to emit from them, and Sakari noticed them right away. "Star Bolts!"
"Noooo!" Sakari yelled as she went close up to the bolt. It hit her head on,
and Ryo heard her scream in pain.
"Hmm..." he simply muttered as he turned around to see Sakari flying up towards
him.
Sakari was flying at at least 100 miles per hour, but she didn't keep going;
she felt a pair of arms wrapped around her. She turned around to see Ryo's Apokari
face, staring down at her.
"Sa... kar... i..," Ryo grumbled. Down below, Kage had an idea.
"SAKARI! THE RADIANT FAITH!" he yelled. It took her a while to figure out what
he meant, and even when she did, it didn't make much sense. But she had no other
option, so she did what Kage told her. She took a deep breathe and sang at the
very top of her lungs.
"Fall to sleep great angel, close your weary eyes. For tomorrow you will spread
your wings and take off to the skies. I'll stand here and watch you grow, bring
yourself back to your home, with your wings..." Sakari sang the entire lullaby
as loud.
"Sa.. Sakari," muttered Ryo. Ryo then turned into pure black light and shot
into the sky. Then, Sakari turned into white light and shot into Ryo's light.
The light then exploded, and what appeared from the smoke was unbelievable.
"Ryo," Kage muttered.
"Sakari..." Willie gasped in disbelief.
"They went together!" Cubix yelled. "But who are they now!?" By then the smoke
had cleared.
"I am the fine divider of darkness and light. I am in perfect harmony with
the universe. I am.. The Balanced Beast!" The Balanced Beast was a massive dragon
of some sort. His head had a metal plate at the top, and he stood on all fours
with his legs attached to his torso. He had a massive spiked tail, and had four
angelic wings. Finally, he had a ying-yang symbol on it's plate.
"AH!" Atrox yelled. But the rest of the group had a huge grin on their faces.
"Balanced Beast?" said Kage. "Wipe him off the planet."
"With pleasure," he replied. "Balance Beam!" The Balanced Beast shot a massive
black and white swirled beam from the symbol on it's forehead, striking Atrox
smack down into the ground. "Final Solution!" A ball of energy started forming
in his mouth, and then was released as a beam. And when the energy cleared,
Atrox was non-existent.
Episode XXIV: Time's Scar
"Is that what you wanted, Kage?" the Balanced Beast asked.
"Perfect. I think we won't be seeing him again," Kage replied. They all just
kept switching their gaze between the Balanced Beast and where Atrox once was.
But all the time, they were thinking about the same thing. They were thinking
about when Ryo caught Sakari and didn't even try to hurt her. And then that
song... it was all very weird.
"'Tis time... for the balance to be separated." And with that, he split into
light and darkness, Ryo emerging from the darkness in his Apokari form, and
Sakari in her Mitsukai form.
"Uh-oh," Cubix muttered. "Apokari's still around..." Ryo then got up and floated
over to Cubix. Ryo then spoke his first real English in this form.
"Come on Cubix, don't treat me like that," he said in the rough voice used
in his Apokari form. "It's still me."
They all stared in awe for what seemed like an eternity. Ryo must have learned
to control his Apokari form. He then flew over to Sakari and picked her up in
his massive arms.
"Sakari, are you okay?" Ryo asked.
"Ry..o... you can... control it?" she faintly asked without specific reply
to the first question.
"MmHmm... it's because of that song. And the merger of our souls." Ryo decided
that he should try something out. He set Sakari down on the ground and concentrated
his mind on something. He then closed his eyes, and started to glow. In a matter
of seconds, he was back to his normal self.
"Looks like I owe Malum one. He made me one of the most powerful creatures
in existence." Ryo chuckled a bit, but quickly went serious.
"Come on. Brad's probably REALLY close to Malum right now. I'm sure Malum's
got some tricks up his sleeve."
"Right," Orichalkon said. "I'm gonna go ahead and find him. Ryo, here." Orichalkon
handed him the NeoP0rt. "You know what to do."
"Right. Senka Weaponize activate!" Orichalkon turned into his Senka form, grabbed
the NeoP0rt, and flew off in search of me.
***
"Why did this place have to be so big!?" DemiDragon complained.
"For just this reason," I replied. "So we can't find his stupid chamber."
"I'll rip him a stupid chamber..," Demi threatened, even though he was probably
the only one that understood it.
"Don't get cocky," said Alamin. "He'll kill you easily if you're not careful.
Not only is he remarkably strong for a human, which is probably the work of
his own genetic equipment or the beast that sent us here, he also probably has
some tricks and weapons set up for just this occasion. He knows we're coming."
"Ah crud. I was hoping we could get him in on a surprise attack," I muttered.
On the next turn we took, we came up to a door.
"This is the chamber, it has to be," I said.
"Hey Brad, what's with that scar on your neck? I could swear it said "III"
before, but now it says "I" on it. What's up with that?" Alamin asked.
"I'm not really sure... it's started out as an "X". Then "IX", then "VIII"..."
"Sounds like it's counting down from ten," Alamin said. It had actually not
occurred to me until now that it may have been doing that. I then heard an air-whipping
sound from behind me, and we all turned around to see Senka Orichalkon flying
at us.
"Brad!" he yelled. "Here!" he yelled as he handed me the NeoP0rt. "We fight
together. We always have, and always will!"
"Right!" I exclaimed. "Now, let's go win this war!" I charged into the door
and knocked it open. And who did we see but Malum, sitting in his computerised
throne.
"What took you so long?" Malum said.
"Just destroying your buddy Atrox, and working our way around this proverbial
maze," Orichalkon replied with a grin. "Are you ready, Malum? Because your disgraceful
life ends here!"
"I'm not going to disappear just like that," said Malum. "Wait until you see
my power... Orichalkon, DemiDragon, now is the time we shall do battle!" They
took this as a literal invitation, and flew towards him.
"DemiDragon, use Courage Tornado!" DemiDragonn spun around, launching the massive
twister of fire directly at Malum.
"Orichalkon!" I yelled. "Level 5 NeoWeapon activate!" Orichalkon flew above
Malum, and while he was still engulfed in fire, released the million-ray blast
of Gurando Toukai. But when the smoke cleared, Malum was without a scratch...
and had grown the wings of a dragon, making him a dragoon.
"WHAT!?" I yelled in disbelief.
"Oh, I did not tell you? I had Atrox perform some operations with the genetic
equipment to make me stronger. I guess I should've filled you in on that little
piece of info. Now, prepare to fall! Exhaust Burner!" Malum spread his arms
out, and formed an expanding dome of fire around him. It then spontaneously
combusted, damaging Orichalkon and Demi heavily.
"Ugh... I didn't see that coming," Orichalkon muttered. I could tell he was
barely holding onto his Senka power.
"Don't worry... we won't give up.. we'll keep fighting!" DemiDragon returned
to the air to continue the fight.
"Gurando Toukai!" Malum reflected over half the blasts back at Orichalkon,
who thankfully dodged most of them.
"You asked for it buddy! FORCE PULSAR!" Demi yelled. He unleashed the same
powerful attack he had used on Ryo in his Apokari form, which was indeed stronger
than Gurando Toukai.
"AH!" Malum yelled as he was hit with the full force of the attack. "Such a
powerful attack... I didn't see it coming. But.. this battle isn't over yet!"
"How right you are!" I yelled back. "Orichalkon, obliterate him now! We will
will win!"
"BRAD!" Sakari yelled. I turned around to see all the others there. "Win it!"
"Great!" Alamin yelled. "Your NeoPets can help us out!"
"Afraid not," Ritsuzen said. "Every one of us has something sprained, something
broken, and something that's not even there anymore."
"Great!" I exclaimed. "So nothing's changed!"
"Not quite," said Ryo. "Apokari Transformation!" In a second, Ryo was in his
Apokari form.
"Did I miss something!?" I yelled.
"Quite a bit," replied Sakari. "Mitsukai!" She then turned into her angel self.
Can you guess what happened next?
"The Balanced Beast!" they both yelled. "We summon thee!" They both held onto
each other's hands, and exploded in light. The Balanced Beast was what emerged.
"They'll fill you in on it later," the Balanced Beast said. "I have work to
do. Grand Divide!" It lifted up its massive claw, and slashed Malum dead centre.
"Awesome hit!" I yelled. "Keep it u-" I was cut off as a searing pain went
through the back of my neck. And a familiar voice started speaking in my head.
So Brad, enjoying the mark I left in you? It was the Grand Chrono. That
wire injected a massive amount of energy into your body, to be released when
the magical scar read "Z" for Zero. Now, that time has come. The energy will
be released, and you will be destroyed.
And that's when I felt it.
Blood being replaced by energy in every part of my body. "My body... the energy's
taking over!" I yelled in insanity.
"It's like.. he's exploding from the inside!" the Balanced Beast roared. "The
energy's too much for him!"
"Maybe I can help!" yelled Senka Orichalkon. "I'll take as much of the energy
as I can!" He grabbed my arm with his claw, and that's when the energy all-out
exploded. And that's when I had the strangest experience of my life.
Senka's armour all flew off of him and expanded into human fit. Orichalkon's
body turned into pure golden energy and flew right into me. Before I knew it,
I was wearing a golden helm, chest plate, knee pads, shoulder armour, steel
wings, and metal claws.
"Orichalkon Merge Weaponize to... ZENNOU ORICHALKON!" I yelled. Well, I guess
Orichalkon and I in unison.
"More merging!?" Laura screamed. "Come on!"
"This will be fun," we said. "Mach VII Striker!" We flew at Malum and sliced
right through him, leaving a mark he wouldn't soon forget.
"That was SO cool!" Willie yelled. "Wipe him out!" They all sighed at Willie's
obsession with fighting and cool effects.
"This is the coolest thing ever!" I said with my side.
"And how!" Orichalkon replied inside my head. "Now, let's finish this battle!"
"How is... this possible!?" Malum raged. "It isn't, that's what! It isn't possible!"
"Then you must be dreaming," we said. "Because I'm pretty sure this IS happening!
Now, let's finish this off!" We flew up into the air, and figured out what to
do. Use these new powers to form the ultimate attack. Especially when I realised
that the NeoP0rt had merged with the armour
"Faith NeoWeapon activate!" we roared. A faint blue sphere of energy formed
around us as we floated fifty feet in the air. "JIENDO!!!" we roared. The sphere
climaxed into explosion and started destroying anything it touched. But I lost
consciousness in the middle of it all...
To be continued... | 
