Lorin walked over to his swords and put each in its sheath. "Due west... Guess the Oracle will have to wait." He started to run on all fours toward the western mountains, knowing that the clan of ninjas were fond of torturing their victims. Rys seemed to have no idea who they were; however, Lorin knew full well the background of his enemies. They were Shadow Pantara, black panther monsters. They trained in the arts of the ninja, who used the night as their cloak. They were very secretive and agile. They could come and go without you even noticing that they were there at all. The ninja usually did covert operations, like espionage and arson. They also sold themselves to the highest bidder, not caring who they hurt or killed. But they would never work for Moo, yet Shakahn was wearing his crest. "Something's wrong here..." Lorin thought to himself. Suddenly he caught a flash of light to his right. He stopped in his tracks. He started to creep up over the small knoll before him, being extra careful and even more silent. The scene he came upon was amazing. "A Rentok! I didn't know that they still existed!" The object of his fascination was facing off against about five dragons, who wore Moo's symbol. Lorin thought that Moo had killed all the Rentok off! They were his first targets because of their strong magic abilities that rivaled even his. Moo hit them all fast and hard. Ever since Moo's attacks, no Rentok have been seen. This one was quite unusual. He wore a red cloak that totally covered his body save for his eyes and a red hat with a white feather in it. A crystal staff floated before him. The crystal globe rested on the pinnacle of the staff. All previously known Rentok wore white and had a red feather in their hats. He decided to sneak in closer and watch. As he neared, he could hear what they were talking about. The dragon leader was speaking. "...so don't be stupid. Give us the Phoenix Medallion." Lorin's eyes widened. "The Phoenix Medallion?! This Rentok has it?" The Phoenix Medallion was said to exist in a parallel space and time of nothingness, sealed away because of its strong powers. Lorin still couldn't believe it. The Rentok spoke up. "Moo will never get this medallion. If you want it, you must pry it from my cold, dead fingers!" The dragon looked back at his comrades. "So be it." And the dragons attacked. Lorin jumped from his hiding place and landed right behind the Rentok. The dragons stopped in their tracks in surprise. The dragon's leader had a stunned look on his face. "A Cheetal? I thought we killed all of you!" Lorin looked at the dragon. "I guess you were wrong." Lorin looked at the Rentok. "I'm a friend. Name's Lorin. Yours?" The Rentok blinked. "Silve." Lorin turned toward the dragons. "Well now Silve. Shall we dance with these men? I have room on my dance card for at least one more jig." Silve stood beside Lorin and looked at the dragons. "Let's." The dragons resumed their attack. Lorin flashed out his swords and slashed at a dragon near him. The attack was so quick all you saw was a flash of light. The dragon stood stunned and looked down at his abdomen. Blood poured from a X shaped wound onto the grass. He then turned into a Lost Disk. Silve faced off against 4 dragons while Lorin took the other 4. Lorin looked around at the dragons that surrounded him. "Let's tango." *** Silve had problems. His crystal staff started to glow. "Crystal Double!" Instantly 2 doubles of himself appeared, one to his right, one to his left. All three split apart and started fighting. Silve flew up into the air while his doubles took on the dragons. Fortunately for him, the dragons though that one of the doubles was himself and never noticed Silve floating above them. His staff glowed with a bright blue light as he concentrated. "Crystal Ice!" A crystal-clear ice stalagmite impaled two of the dragons. Blood flowed from the fringes of their wounds. The other 2 looked at their allies in surprise, searching for the source of their comrade's death. One looked up and pointed at Silve. "Up there!" Silve's staff turned crimson. "Crystal Flame!" From the tip of his staff, a clear flame erupted forth, the only indicator of its presence was the shimmer it made. The flame hit a dragon dead-on. The great beast screamed in agony as his flesh burned away. He turned into a Lost Disk almost instantly. The last of the four dragons who faced off against Silve flew upward towards him. His great speed caught Silve by surprise as the dragon raked his claw across Silve's right shoulder. Silve starte to fall and struggled to stay upright to land on his feet. He landed and looked at his wound. It was bleeding from three slash marks. He looked up at the dragon, and a burning desire to see him dead raged within his soul. Silve then did what was as rare as finding a red diamond. He took off his cloak. The cloak kept a seal on his power, but with it gone, magical energy seemed to burst from his very spirit. He stuggled to remain awake, as the intence energies brought him to the edge of unconsciousness. The dragon saw what he was trying to do and dived. Silva closed his eyes and focused. A white sphere of energy that glowed with the colors of the rainbow started to grow in front of him and began to expand. It grew grew larger and larger, and any grass that came into contact with the magical force whithered and died. He opened his eyes, looked up at the dragon and upheld the sphere of energy within his hands in the dragon's direction. "Crystal Cannon!" The shimmering rainbow beam hit the speeding titan head on. A huge explosion seemed to rock the world as the dragon was caught in massive explosions of pure magical energy. Not even a Lost Disc fell from the sky. Silva struggled to regain his balance and ran as best he could to his cape and put it on. That great surge of power had drained him of energy, and he fell, unconsious, to the ground. *** "Let's tango." All four dragons charged at Lorin and started to attack him with their claws. He jumped, ducked, and dodged every claw, slashing with his swords whenever he could. Now and then a claw nicked him, but he paid the pain no heed. He ducked under a claw and cut it off of its owners arm. A dragon fell back, holding the bloody stump and roaring in pain. Lorin, dodging claws and tails, rushed forward and stabbed the dragon through the heart. He turned into a Lost Disk. Lorin turned around and faced the other three, who each bled from both slash wounds from his swords and the attacks from other allies. They were looking behind him. Lorin turned to see two dragons impaled on large spikes of ice. He turned his attention once again to his foes. "Guess he really didn't need the help." And resumed his attack. "Flash Cut!" He ran through the dragons and slashed at each one quckly in a blur of blades. Each one fell, one after another, and turned into Lost Disks. Just then he felt the earth beneath his feet shake and turned his atention to Silva. Great rainbow-colored explosions erupted in the sky, and he thought he could catch the faint outline of a dragon in the middle. He then saw Silva run unsteadily towards his cape. Lorin had never seen a Rentok without his cloak on. His head was like that of a dragon, two large tusks protruded from his bottom jaw, and one of them had a symbol engraved on it. Sylva put on his cloak, covering all but his eyes once again, and fell. His hat fell off, showing hair brushed back and colored a midnight blue. He also had two large, black horns growing out of his head. "That's unusual." Lorin thought to himself. "Rentoks have red hair...." But he had no time to dote on the oddity. The leader of the dragons, who had been hanging back and watching, started to advance toward Silva's still form. Lorin rushed forward and stood between the behemoth and Sylva. He pointed both swords at the dragon. "Leave him alone, dragon. Leave before you suffer your comrade's fate." The dragon stopped walking and spread his wings. "You'll be sure that Master Moo will hear about this!" He started to flap his wings and take off into the sky. Within minutes he was gone. Silva started to move. "Uhhnnn...Hmmmm? Wha?" Lorin looked down and pulled Silva up. "Well, friend, it seems that you probably didn't need my help much at all." Silva stood on unsteady legs and almost fell. Lorin caught him and kept him upright. "Whoah, there. Maybe we oughta sit down." He set Silva down and sat beside him. "Can you tell me why Moo's henchmen are after you?" Silva reached into the folds of his cape and withdrew a golden medallion. Engraved on it was a picture of the legendary Phoenix, with eyes made of ruby. "Moo's after this." He began. "This medallion is said to have the power to destroy evil and revive Lost Disks. It is also said that the soul of the Phoenix itself is sealed within this." Lorin stared at the trinket in disbelief. "This thing? This little piece of jewelry is supposed to have all this great power? Of course I have heard the legends, but still, I don't believe it." He stood up and brushed himself off. "Listen, its been fun, but I have to go. My friend is..." Silva interrupted him. "Being held captive by the Shadow Pantara?" Lorin smiled awkwardly. "Yes, that's right, but how did you...?" Silva tapped his temple. "I read your mind. I will come with you and help. You will not be able to save him yourself." Turned and started to walk away. "I can do just fine, thank you." Silva shook his head. "You are a great fighter, but I'm afraid that you won't be able to defeat the ninja by yourself. Plus you helped me. I need to repay the debt." Lorin stopped and turned back to face Silva. "Fine. Let's go. But keep out of my my head. I don't need you poking around in there."

-- Celious (lionmage@hotmail.com), March 04, 2000