The Other Side

Tension

Well, at least things were seeming to calm down. It seemed like most had the same idea, they wanted to go home. But when thinking about it, did Yohan really have a home to go back to? Sure he had a house and that's where he lived, but it felt empty. Everyone here had been sent regardless of what they had wanted, the least Yohan could do was help get them back home. The whole key symbol on the back of everyone's hand worried him, he only had some kind of lock. It felt like some deity was playing a cruel trick on them now.

The white haired male did not return, which made Yohan happy, but now everyone seemed to have something constantly following them around. Looks like he was the one who had to stand out, even among a group of misfits. It sounded like everyone had started to introduce themselves to each other, but he felt better keeping his name to himself for now. He was already uncomfortable being here in the first place, let alone having just done some weird whatever that was that just happened. The red haired girl had a point though, and it made him look over towards the doors.

He didn't really mind his offer for help being pushed off though like that, he was used to it by now, so why bother complaining? As he walked over towards the doors and looked out towards the strange town they had suddenly arrived in, a thought crossed his mind about just staying here and rotting away. But another thought came to him, if he didn't try to find a way home, would everyone else remain stuck as a result of his selfish desires? He felt like he was about to try to hit one of the walls, nothing could ever just be simple for him. In any case, he had to figure out a few things while he had the chance to look.

From what he could figure out, the town was roughly the same size as Timberland, which seemed odd the more he thought about it. Had this town been built to parallel Timberland's own, a scary thought entered his mind as he thought that the opposite could be true depending on how long this place had been around. The green sky definitely was weird, but the last time he had looked at it, it had seemed brighter than it did now. Was it possible the darkening of the green sky meant it was getting closer to night time? If that was the case, finding a way back before they ran into more danger was the best chance they all had right now.

When he considered offering to lead the group home, he laughed himself off mentally. Yeah, right! Like he could ever be worthy of leading anyone anywhere, he only existed to suffer now. He shook his head off from thinking any more than that, he had to remain focused. If this place didn't have cars and such roaming around, could that mean they could make a run for it? No, they would have to think of a plan. Those creatures were roaming around looking for people, was this not the first time someone had crossed over? In any case, he knew he had something, so he better speak up before someone else did.

"Um, it looks like it's getting dark out." He spoke up, though it felt weird to be standing in a place where the sky was green. Could he even tell if it was getting dark out? Wait, no, that was a stupid question, of course he could. It was probably just his head getting used to this, uh, place. "I like the idea she's speaking up right now." Yohan gestured to Sienna, not wanting to seem rude since he didn't know her name right now. "I'll follow your lead, but uh, I'll keep an eye out for now." It was the only thing he could say to really feel comfortable right now. At least the white haired boy wasn't trying to talk to him, so he could feel at ease on that for now.

He really couldn't bring himself to say anything else right now, he more wondered if his home would still be there and if he could even get inside if there was a building there too. Could they even secure a path, how would they be able to fend off those creatures when he just did something completely by accident? Picking a fight definitely wasn't going to make things easy, especially if it made too much noise and drew more of those creatures out. It truly did feel like they were just trapped, but even he could tell they would have to leave and he definitely was not going to try sleeping in this horrific structure!

Sienna started to talk and her attention snapped to her to the red hair girl. Elsworth had even gone quiet to listen to her, not that what she was saying would really interest him, but then the cat talked and he smirked. The cat was named Sinopia, she was a pretty orange cat that seemed to fit with Sienna’s red hair. Taja also smirked, thinking, Bet you that is his girlfriend. Only an animal would date an animal. Elsworth side glanced at her and shoved her hard enough that she was sent stumbling sideways, but she quickly gathered her balance and glared at him. Going to take that as a yes. Even though she is a cat, I don’t see why she would date such a horrid thing. She is way too pretty. She thought, but then realized the cat was also a demon. She inwardly sighed, it wasn’t everyday she say a pretty cat. Not that she didn’t like the strays around the house that came around from time to time and she would share her food with them whenever they did decide to show up. She loved all kinds of animals, but Sinopia had to be her favorite yet.

Taja had the urge to pet it, but decided that it might not end out as well as she would hope Being a demon and then being Sienna’s own imaginary friend would only result in the at being a total buttjerk to her. Instead, she kept listening to the boring Sienna. Her stomach growled and she sighed, rubbing it. If only she could get some food, that would be nice. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast, what little she did eat, and it had to be around lunch by now. Taja regretted not filling up her tummy with thirds of her mother’s yummy cooking. The thought about it now made her mouth water. At this point she could almost eat anything, almost.

She glared at Elsworth before glaring at Sienna. “Why is she the leader? Miranda, though may be a tad bit on the insane side, and tried to kill one of us already, though let’s be honest Sienna has a big attitude problem, would be way better. If you look at her,“ She pointed to Miranda, “she has the instinct to lead, or better yet she looks like she does. Plus, her imaginary friend is a stinking werewolf, yours is a tiny cat! We would certainly be doomed with you. I mean, look how long it took you to get to the gym, don’t you think that is a little bit on the, oh I don’t know, slow side? Not to be rude of course…” She sighed, she much rather them vote for who was going to lead them. Plus calling the cat, red eyed boy, white hair boy, and the giant blob thing behind Rina a demon was too much for the girl. Imaginary friends seemed to be a more comforting term to her.

“We could possibly vote on who was to lead, but in all honestly I don’t know where we are anymore. I know we aren’t in Timberland anymore, unless this gym has some awesome changing walls and floors and atmosphere.” Her tiny hands were moving about suggesting everything she listed.

“And for me acting the way I did before was due to voices in my head and visions. Honestly, do you think a 10-year-old girl would have made her way to some dump of a corner store in the middle of a storm when she could have been chowing down on some yummy food and staying warm? No, she would not have gone out into that storm. I had papers to write for school and shows to watch. Plus Miss Lillybottom was going to make me some yummy food, but no I am stuck here.” Her lip pouted. “It started off with a genderless voice saying, “Joe’s Corner Store” then a vision of the store flashed in my mind. I had knew what it was talking about because I always pass there on my way to school and my mom works in the bakery down the street from it. Next it said to go meet her, you Sienna in case you are getting confused right now, and flashed an image of you looking bored, but now I think your face is stuck that way permanently.” She shrugged and continued, “I asked it why I would even go there, yes I know it was crazy to start talking to myself, but I am sure you all have done it befoe. And it replied with “Go to Joe's. Meet the girl. Gym.” And an image of the gym popped up, I had never seen the gym before that vision so I was kind of lost as to why I would be bringing her there in the first place. Then when I refused to go, the voice kept saying “Go to Joe's. Meet the girl. Gym,” over and over again until I just couldn’t take it any more. Really, I thought if I did what they wanted me to do it would all go away. Plus, I didn’t intend for it to escalate like that, but it would have been so simple just to listen to me. You really aren’t a cow, Sienna, you just have a small muffin top! It is cute. I heard a guy who is in a few grades above me say girls with meat are better.” Taja took a deep breath. She hadn’t talked that much in a while.

“As for us moving right now, is that such a great idea if it is getting dark? We could get stuck in the dark with who knows what is out there. I mean, I really don’t know how stick boy can tell if it is getting dark anyway.” She frowned at him before tapping her little finger on her chin, “Unless you have something to do with this place. Plus, what is your name and why do you have a key hole.” She stepped closer towards him to look at the key hole and then glared up at him. “What makes you so special?” Her glare switched to a sorry expression before she went up to Elsworth and kicked his shin. She had a feeling it was him getting her to act this way and if not, well he was a good punching bag to have. Maybe it was because she was hungry and getting a tad bit tired. He just stared at her. “Sorry about that, but my questions remain and some answers would help.” She said over her shoulder.

Rina payed attention as much as she could given the circumstances, to everyone as they introduced themselves. The boy was conspicuously silent, but she decided not to press him. After all, knowing the names of the others was just nice, not necessary. When Sienna mentioned the marks on their bodies, Rina checked herself. So she did have one in the shape of a key. In all the commotion, she hadn't registered it. It was honestly one of the most unsettling aspects of this nightmare. It felt like this place was infecting her.
Through her inspection, she listened to the others talk about their ideas. Finally, she herself shined in. "I think Taja's right. Moving around this late might be a bad idea. You were scared of something out there," she nodded at Yohan and Sienna. "What if we leave and can't get to another shelter?" She adjusted the strap of her bag, trying to get it more comfortable on her shoulder. "I know we can't leave if we just stay here, but if somebody gets hurt or something, then we'll be in bigger trouble." Although, if they needed to go, she was pretty sure that she had a tiny flashlight in her bag and if they affixed a piece of colored cellophane over the lens, then it would be hard to see. On top of that, they had at least one bruiser, and maybe their demons could defend them? "Well," she decided, "Whatever the rest of you decide, I'll come too."

Night Hunt

"Yohan." He decided to reply to Sienna, figuring it would at least keep them from getting curious and looking up his information. He didn't want them finding out about his past, that would mean there was a chance he could get attached to someone and might start caring for their well being. As his eyes got a chance to look around and see everyone's demons, he sighed lightly as he realized how difficult things might become with how much of a clash everyone's personalities were already becoming.

This is when the little girl named Taja decided to start complaining about how he said he would follow Sienna and took it into something he didn't see going. She went on to mention something about voting for a leader, which made him raise one of his eyebrows. "I never said she was going to be leading all of us." He bluntly stated, even if this little girl had been an adult, he would still have thought of her as a brat right now. "I just said I'm following her lead, some of us actually don't want to die a horrible death here with no food or water available to us. And before someone suggests, I doubt eating those 'demons' is a great idea."

This is when Taja decided to go on a huge rant towards Sienna about why she brought her here. He only cared enough to pick up the key information from it, the rest sort of went in through one ear and came out the other. It honestly sounded like she was crazy, he certainly had never met a child who tried to talk as well as her. After this, Taja decided to speak up about the whole night thing. When she went up to him and asked about him being special, he was about to answer when she walked over to her demon and kicked it in the shin.

Just as he was about to go and head outside, in came Rina with something else to make him feel like he should slam his face into his hand. "You think any of us want to stay here in this dump for the night? This place has no food or water for any of us. Even if people used to live here, this place has been cleaned out. No beds, no bathrooms, no nothing. If you three want to stay here for the night, fine by me, I don't care. But some of us actually want to go back home and not have to worry about being stuck here for who knows how long."

The only reason he even spoke this much was due to the circumstances surrounding them, and the fact he was getting irritated with how these three were acting. After relaxing his mind for just a moment, he turned to look over to Sienna. "Hey, if you still want to go, I'm ready to move out whenever you are." Turning back to look outside, his eyes noticed how the sky had changed to a darker shade of green. A moon was also rising up into the sky, the color of the blue stood out from the rest of the sky. Well, guess that would shut the little girl up now about if it was night time or not.

As his guard was down, the ground suddenly shook and caused him to stumble back a few steps as he tried to balance himself. Was this some kind of earthquake? Once the shaking had calmed down enough, he raced towards the doors and opened one of them slightly just enough to get a good enough look out towards the town, and that's when he saw a cloud of dust having emerged over in the distance. That's when a red looking creature began to rise up as pieces of a building fell off it's body. He could quickly piece together that this thing had been sleeping inside one of the buildings and it's awakening had destroyed it with ease.

The size of this thing could only be guessed as somewhere around twenty feet tall, that's if this thing didn't turn out to be bigger upon coming over. It looked like some kind of wolf, but how was it this big?! It also had a bright red color to it's body, with some fangs being seen even while it's mouth was closed. As it's eyes opened, they revealed a dark red color to them that upon looking into it could only be described as looking into hell itself. A bright red mist began to spread from the creature, causing the strange masked creatures to begin howling in pain as Yohan felt fear paralyzing him to the spot.

The masks on the demons seemed to break or snap in half as the black liquid bodies suddenly sunk to the ground and briefly became like a pool before rising up and twisting to form a similar, yet smaller form to the red wolf. A foul stench swarm through and caught up to each of them, as a low growl began to emit from the red wolf. Had the creature awakening caused them to change to this form, had it been due to it becoming dark, too many thoughts raced through Yohan's mind as he felt his body shaking. This creature was intimidating to look upon, yet there was something else to it that no normal person could ever feel right with. It had the stench of death coming off it's form.

The black liquid wolves all had a dark aura surrounding them as they began to search around the town for any sign of life, Yohan felt he should close the door, but the red wolf gripped his heart with a fear that he had never felt before in his life. He felt a fear for his very life, and the mere presence of this thing caused such a strong reaction only brought fear of what it could do in a fight. It's head slowly turned towards them, Yohan's eyes widening as he tried to think there was no way it had noticed them. That's when it happened, and Yohan felt everything go numb.

The red wolf just... smirked?! It's eyes had turned into this gleeful demonic glare, as it's mouth had stretched out into a hellish smirk which showed off the sharp teeth it possessed. The act of smirking alone was weird, but the expression it gave was just... inhumane. He had been freaked out by weird drawings or pictures before, sure. Humans could come up with some disturbing imagery, that was for sure, but in this very moment, the expression of this fiend alone was more terrifying than even Miranda's demon. That's when Yohan fell backwards, his body hitting the floor as the door silently closed and took the fiend's expression out of sight.

His mind just went blank upon seeing that thing's... smirk. That was the best way he could describe it. His skin had taken a paler tone, his body couldn't stop shaking as his breathing only quickened and his heart beat wouldn't slow down. Bringing his hands over his face as he was incapable of standing back up, it quickly started to sound like he was entering into some kind of panic attack. However, everything with him suddenly stopped as he slowly brought himself up to his feet. Had he calmed down somehow? He walked past all of them as he made his way over to some corner he figured no one would care about. That's when Yohan ejected some liquid from his mouth as he took a few steps away while wiping his mouth with his arm before collapsing down to his knees and then slowly falling face first to the ground as his body twitched and shook where it lay.

Taja had no idea what was going on when and why the ground was shaking. She held onto Elsworth before realizing what she was doing. He just smirked. Rolling her eyes she leaned off of him and straightened her outfit out. "Earthquakes are natural." She said mostly to herself.

She saw Yohan run out of the gym the a true idiot and sighed. If he gets himself killed... are we responsible for it? She thought to herself, but he ran in not to long after and puked in the corner. "Ew." She said before moving away from where he was. Next Sienna went outside and seemed to handle it better, a lot better. "Is it that bad?" She mumbled before walking over and taking a peek outside. Her body froze for a moment before silently moving behind her own demon. Her tiny hands shook. She was terrified. What on Earth could that have been?

She didn't want to be here anymore. She didn't want to be with these people. All she wanted was to go home, eat, and be safe in her own house. She listened to what Sienna was saying but said nothing. She didn't feel like talking. Her heart raced as she tried hard not to cry.

Familiar

His mind had dropped all trains of thought for a brief period. All he could pick up on clearly was the sound of his own heart beat thumping in his chest. However, a sudden rushing feeling bursts throughout his body and pushes him to rush up to his feet like his life depended on it. For a moment, all he could do was just stand there as he looked around at everyone. Who could truly say they wanted to stay after seeing that horrifying beast emerge? He probably looked like a real coward after all that, and it made him feel like they were going to hold him for this. Well, only one he could think to do, and that was walk right back into the frying pan!

Walking past everyone back to the front door, he pushed on it just enough to peek back outside. No way was he going to let himself be seen in full sight of that beast or any of those others. Luckily that horrific expression it had earlier was gone now, but it had moved. Each step it took made a loud thud, at least they could tell if they were going to be chased by this thing. A trail of red dust seemed to form behind it as it walked, making tiny black spots start to appear all over the creature's body. Just as he began to question what this could mean, the next action it took put an immediate stop to that.

It had stopped in front of one of the buildings, what seemed to look like a home of some kind. The creature raises up it's right front leg and put it gently on top of the building, only to quickly push down and crush the house with little to no effort, with the sudden collapse raising up a dust cloud. This only proved one thing to him: This thing was strong and it would have no problem crushing them if it decided on it. From what little he could see of the demons moving around, it looked as though they were all searching for new prey to feast upon. He quietly pulled back and closed the door shut, letting out a silent sigh as he shook his head.

"I'll help." His words words sounded shaky after having recovered, though even that was questionable right now. Still, he wasn't going to just sit here and wait for that thing to come crushing this place down and them with it. He could see that everyone was uneasy just from being here, it didn't help any that they each had some weird creatures showing up and making things difficult. He, along with whoever else decided to help out, went off to search throughout the gym and take whatever they could find to block up the front door. It wouldn't help any against big red out there, but at least the smaller ones couldn't find them this way and make things worse.

It sounded like Sienna would be leading them out through the back, which he had no complaints about. He didn't even know if there would be a back to go out of, but it was better to look and so he walked with them to the back of the building. Sure enough, there was a back door leading out, which took off a great burden from him and made him feel calmer, to a degree. As they headed outside, he looked around to get a better view now that they weren't stuck within the building they had just randomly appeared within.

It came as a great shock to him when he saw just how strange and yet beautiful the sky looked right now. Sure, it had an eerie feeling to it at night time, but the blue moon came off as almost inviting and seemed to put an unexplained ease in his mind. Although the buildings themselves were made of an odd structure, he couldn't help but make a mental now on how closely they resembled buildings back on Earth. It almost pained him to think that once upon a time, people lived here and perhaps acted a lot like how people did back home in Timberland. Alas, that thought came to the shattering reality that perhaps that red creature had attacked this place, and it angered him as he thought on it.

Although he expected to hear the demons all make noises, it was strangely calm and quiet all of a sudden. He wanted greatly to speak up and say something to the others, but he realized that if he did, he might end up speaking up too loudly by accident and give away their position. But that gave way to another question: Where could they go from here? Explore the town for a possible means of escape? They had no means of fighting back the demons here. Go outside the town and try to find somewhere else to go? For all they knew, there was worse out there than this big red creature! Sienna may of been right earlier when she said they might be screwed.

Meanwhile, Frederick would notice a man in a suit suddenly standing outside the school after he had finished screaming of his joy, as if this man had been waiting here for him all along. "Ah, you came." The man spoke, closing a pocket watch in his hand and putting it away, turning to look over at him. "Well, congratulations on cleaning up the school. You may not know who I am, but that is not important right now. What is important, however, is giving you a reward for doing such a fine job, and in such record time too! I must say, I am impressed!" The strange man would only get stranger as he tilted his head down and smiled.

"Now then, how shall I decide on rewarding you?" The man suddenly snaps his fingers as raises up his head, his eyes now closed for some reason. "Ah, I know! Why don't we shake hands on it?" The man outstretched his hand all of a sudden, keeping his eyes closed and that smile on his face. If Frederick went to shake his hand, he would suddenly find the man pulling his arm back and opening his eyes to reveal them of a more yellow color, his grin becoming twisted and growing out to give a wicked look to him as he swings his arm across the air for some reason, however, Frederick would quickly notice everything around him blurring up before he would just poof and be gone. "Well, that was fun." The man would suddenly become panicked as the wizard appears near him. "Ah, yes, sorry about that old friend! Let us be going now to discuss our deal!" Without another word, the two vanished without a trace!

Back with Yohan, it didn't take him very long after thinking about all of this to stop as he heard a growl coming from nearby. His eyes widened as he swallowed nervously as his eyes went to look, and sure enough, one of those demon hounds stood there staring at them. It walked out of the shadows of one of the nearby buildings they were walking by to give them all a good look at it's new form. It's inky black body seemed to have gained a solid shape from the previous form it used to move around in, black drool came down from the right side of it's mouth as it growled, leaving a small black ooze down near it as it approached them. It's now red eyes stared them down with a glare that only held malice within it.

The demon suddenly came to a stop and rose it's head up, emitting a loud howl that made Yohan almost stumble back out of fear. When the howl ended, more growls came out as other demons quickly came to the area and began to surround them, all of them keeping a slow yet menacing pace as they began to encircle them. The numbers grew greatly, to a total of twenty of them were now surrounding the group as they all looked ready to attack at any minute. Some of them even began to bark aggressively at the group, the barks sounding deep and demonic compared to how normal dogs sounded. He felt his feet gave way and he collapses to his knees, his hands soon touching the ground as well with his entire body shaking with fear at the reality that they were doomed.

"Oh, crap." The only words he could find the strength to get out, his heart beat raced fast and pounded hard against his chest, his hands rising up and taking hold of his head. He was so afraid, he couldn't even notice that a man named Frederick would randomly appear nearby the group, however the demon hounds didn't seem to pay him any mind for now and kept their focus solely on the group they had surrounded. "No way, I'm going to die here? This is the end? I'm such an idiot, I should of known I would of died horribly one day. What more can I do...?"

"So is that it?" The white haired male appeared again near Yohan, the hounds all began to stop as they started to get ready to pounce. "Not even a fight to the death for your life? You will just roll over and play dead again?"

"I have no means of hurting demons!" Yohan cried out, raising his head up to look at the white haired version of himself. "What can I do?!"

"Stand proudly and fight fate. You are the only who always believed that destiny was a facade. Prove yourself here and now to everyone that you aren't what they picture you to be!"

"I can't... I don't have the strength to fight back anymore." Yohan closed his eyes tightly.

"So you want to be looked upon as a coward forever?" This caused Yohan's eyes to open back up suddenly.

"No... That's not it." Yohan shook his head, his hands slowly gripping into fists.

"Then what is this bull about not having any strength? You know the truth deep down in your heart, don't you?" This caused Yohan to hesitate a response. "Or do you not care if these people die along with you?"

"No, I don't want that!" Yohan began to feel anger rising flowing through his body, his fists began to shake rapidly in response.

"What is it going to be? Will you stand up and fight back, or will you lay here and die?!" The white haired male shouted out, staring down at Yohan with a serious expression for once. Yohan growled out as he pushed himself back up to his feet and his expression suddenly changed into that of a fierce one, his eyes becoming alive again for the first time in years!

"I WON'T DIE HERE! I WANT TO LIVE!! I WANT TO FIGHT!!!" Yohan's shout caused the white haired male to smirk suddenly, giving a sudden cackle as his form erupted up into white flames, his once human form suddenly becoming engulfed and turning into more of a shadowy figure with his eyes glowing purple.

"Very well. I have heard your response and shall leave you for now. Do not forget that I still linger in your shadow! Ah-hahahaha!" As the white haired boy's form vanishes along with the flames, Yohan felt a stabbing pain come over him as he fought hard to stay up on his head, with a new voice suddenly coming to him, one that the others could hear sounded like both Yohan and the white haired boy talking at the same time.

"You've kept me waiting, boy. I have heard your plea for help and have come to make a deal with you. If you truly wish to live, you will be wise to accept it. If you do not, you can rest back on the ground as these mutts eat you alive!"

"What... What is this deal?" The question caused the voice to laugh loudly, the hounds all staring curiously now as they seemed to go into a more defensive reaction, as if they could feel something threatening was coming.

"I shall lend you my power temporarily, and shall unlock part of your hidden potential. If you wish to see the true strength of your soul, you would do well to try to make me appear again in the future. I do not know when that will be, but for now, I shall ask for you to give me something of importance to you." The voice suddenly grew quiet for a few seconds. "Ah, I know what you shall give me! Your right arm shall be my price! So, do you agree to a deal with your own inner demons?"

"Fine!" He didn't know what had come over him, he was suddenly shouting and having confidence in himself and this mysterious force? It was unlike him, not long ago he had admitted to himself there was nothing left inside and that he would just rot for the rest of his days. He outstretched his right arm, opening his hand back open as he closed his eyes tightly. "DO IT!"

"I like that attitude! VERY WELL!" White flames erupted out all over Yohan's right arm, burning away his sleeve as he shouted out in pain, his skin burning away with the white flames consuming all of his arm. "But I shall not be taking it to hell on this day! Instead, I shall leave it cursed for all to see that you have made a deal with a demon! Ahahahaha!" The laughter mattered little to him over the pain he felt, the white flames merging with his arm in order to produce a fine and smooth scaly surface to replace the human skin he once had over it. Gripping his hand once more, he could feel very faintly small claws having formed over the tip of his hands as opposed to having human nails.

"Do not fear, if all goes well with the others, they shall receive the same treatment! There is more than enough hell hound scum for you all to rip apart! Now, release thy rage and call upon me!"

"Alright!" Yohan grew a smirk suddenly as it felt like the pressure of others judging him had faded away, for once he could act like how he truly was with no hesitation! "Come out, my Familiar!" The demon once again laughs as a purple aura bursts out around Yohan, the demon hounds suddenly leaping back and begin barking rapidly in aggression as a figure rises up from out of Yohan's body and forms a humanoid like form behind him, though it would appear to be more like an outline of something for now, the fact it was there at all more than confirmed it's connection to him. Along with this new figure appearing, a dark purple outfit forms itself and replaces Yohan's previous attire, looking very similar to what a hero in a story to make them look cool and stand out.

"Heh, wow, how ridiculous." Yohan looked himself over and began to laugh. "Never imagined myself seriously ever wearing something like this. Whatever, this is gonna be fun." Putting a hand on his neck and rotating his head around with a battle hungry grin over his face, he brought up his arms and slammed his human fist into the demonic one. "Hell yeah, watch out you dumb hounds! You got nowhere to run now, do ya?!"

"It is time to strike, show these pathetic demons who is stronger!" Both Yohan and the strange figure laughed in sync as Yohan rushed forward and grabbed one of the demon hounds by it's head, raising it up and slamming it into the ground. Narrowing his eyes as his grin grew a little briefly, he suddenly emits a high pitch sound that rushes through the demon hound's body and causes it to howl in pain as it's body bursts into pieces and fades away.

"Well lookie here, it looks like you don't like me do ya?! Alright Familiar, your turn!"

"WITH PLEASURE!" The figure vanished from sight, reappearing in front of two of the demon hounds and knocking them quickly into the air without much time to register how fast he was moving. It quickly appeared behind the two hounds and slammed them both into the ground, punching into them rapidly before picking them both up and slamming them into one another with a loud cracking sound, with both of the demon hounds letting out a painful howl before breaking apart and fading away like the first.

"Alright, you ready for a combo this time?!"

"Yes, pick out the targets and I will follow suit!" Yohan rushed off after the figure spoke these words, slamming his demon arm into one of the hounds and knocking it down into the ground. Another hound tries to jump at him and bite his neck, but Yohan was quickly to slam his demon arm into it and send it crashing into the other one. The figure appeared near them and didn't give the two hounds much time to react as it slammed a fist into them and for whatever reason, the hounds suddenly began to speed up and twitch faster and faster until both of them erupted into pieces and, as with the other three, the pieces faded away.

"Yeah, that's how we do it!" Not even caring that it may or may not be physically there, Yohan went ahead and exchanged a high five with the figure.

"I have lent you what power I can for now. You do not remember my name for now, and you do not currently have the strength within yourself to handle my power. However, I encourage you to find the strength to one day call out my name and summon me back out! Be aware that you will only have dominion over one power, I am sure you will do fine though. If all goes well, the others will undergo the same ordeal you have and also gain new strength! Until we meet again!" With those words, the figure slipped itself away back into Yohan and faded, as the purple aura around Yohan diminished enough to just barely surround his form.

"Whoa, what?" Yohan suddenly spoke out, feeling a little dizzy as he couldn't help but feel like his head had just gotten hit full force by a punch. "Oh geez, hope I don't pass out now." He could see that fifteen of them were left, he hoped the figure was correct and that the others could handle the rest while he tried to gain a hold of himself after... Whatever the hell just happened to him!

Meanwhile, unknown to them all, a figure stood nearby and observed the situation. "Yes, I can confirm five... No, at least six of them now." The figure spoke quietly, holding a finger up to his ear as he adjusted his shades. "One of them just took five of them out with the help of his Familiar. It was a surprise to me too, but he has the potential. From what I could hear, it sounds like he has only just awakened to his power. I believe he has The White flowing through him, so he could prove to be an ally. I shall continue to observe and see if the other five undergo the same ordeal or not. I am sure if they do, they can handle the other demons by themselves. Yes, I understand. They could be the solution we have been looking for."

When Frederick laid eyes upon the strange well dressed man, it struck him as weird...not because he looked suspicious or the fact that he was in front of a school seemingly waiting for someone. What was weird that someone like him was offering reward to a janitor like Frederick? Wow! Can it be true! Someone who knows the true power and value of a janitor in this world? Someone who actually appreciate the man that sweeps the floors of rubbish and mopping the floors of stains!

The man had a smile as he wanted to shake hands before he received a reward. Well! You can always trust a strange well dressed man with a pocket watch. They usually are always really cool people, shows always portrayed the strange but cool dressed guys as a good guy! Heck who knows, maybe he was a secret agent sent to offer him a position as the janitor for the white house! Now that! Sounded like a great reward in his mind. "Thank you my good man! Its always nice to see other appreciating a janitor. But yeah! Lets shake on it!" Fredrerick smiled as he walked down the stairs full of energy and grabbed the mans hand without even a trace of hesitation.

Of course, that was when his arm was pulled forward and the mans eye would soon glow yellow along with a wicked grin. Now he was no rocket scientist, but that was not normal. What was not normal was the world becoming all blurry and in a second. With a blink. He was no gone. Vanished without a trace.

That was not the worse part, his keys were left behind. His poor keys for his car! He dropped them when he went to shake his hand! Oh the humanity!

Rina glared at Yohan for a moment when he criticized her before taking a breath and calming down. Of course he'd be short with her: they were in a wretched situation. She opened her purse, taking inventory of its contents until the sound of retching made her look up. As Rina went over to check on Yohan, she spotted the red wolf through the door. And that's why I didn't really want to leave, she thought, but held her tongue.
She listened to everyone else talk, chewing on her lip. What exactly were they going to barricade the door with if there wasn't anything left? Well, no matter. Whatever equated to furniture in this hellscape might do.

Rina followed Sienna to the back to scope out their surroundings. It looked about the same as the front to her: more black buildings, the night sky, nothing even remotely helpful. She was about to go back to hunting for barricades when she heard the sound of dogs. Turning around brought her nearly face to face with one of the demons. It snarled at her and the others.
Rina slipped her bag from her shoulders and held the straps together in both hands. A quick survey of the area made it evident that there was nowhere to run, so they would have to fight as long as they could. Still, Rina couldn't help but feel that in a matter of minutes, she was going to be mauled to death. The girl moved back a few steps, taking note of Yohan on the floor.
"Well, isn't this a pickle," her demon said, resting its smooth, white hands on her shoulders.
Rina only shrugged her shoulders to shake it off.
It sighed and patted her on the head, then interlaced its fingers behind its back. "I could help you, if you like."
"I thought making deals meant eternal damnation?" Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a new man, though she didn't say much. Instead, Rina kept her eyes on the dogs, not really in the mood to chat. Even so, part of her latched on desperately to the idea of being saved.
"You'll be damned anyway if you die here. Give me your right leg, and I will give you what you need to save yourself." As it spoke, Yohan launched himself at the dogs. "Like him, though you really shouldn't rely on him to save you all."
Rina weighed her options quickly. "Fine. Do it," she said, standing still so that he could take it. If she fought unassisted, she'd probably lose a lot more than that anyway.
Her demon smiled and it burned her flesh away, replacing it with something that looked and felt rather like white porcelain, patterned with what looked like veins filled with liquid gold. "Now, I think your instinct is strong enough." It gave her a push forward.
A few residual tears of pain were still trickling down her cheeks. "Come on, Familiar," she said, launching herself at the dogs. As she did so, he clothes were changed to some new tight, green ones and an ethereal being of the same color worked in tandem with her to push back the demons.

Taja stayed and helped with inventory. She thought it would be best just to stay back, just in case. For a moment things seemed fine until she heard Yohan yelling and commotion going on with Sienna and Rina. That is when she saw other creatures. "More of these things?" She whispered.

"No, we are just someone who can help you, is all." Her voice came from behind her and she slowly turned around. Standing there was her, but with horns and a tail.



"I...You..." She was trying to figure out why this girl looked like her.

"I am your familiar, if you trade me something very important to you than you can have some of my power to unlock some of your power." She said with a smile. Taja fidgeted in place...she looked at Elsworth and he shrugged before looking at everyone else. She would have to fight, most likely, and powers would be useful. She didn't have anything valuable to her...and people were giving their arms. Maybe if she would to give something greater she could be greater.

"My h-heart..." She mumbled, looking at the horn version of herself. The horn-girl smiled and gently poked her chest where her heart was.

"Deal."

The pain was worse than she had imagine. A white flame like light came from her chest. Taja dropped to her knees and curled as the pain seem to engulf her, but it didn't last long. She felt embarrassed, peeking to see if Elsworth was smiling, but he was no where to be found. Slowly she stood, looking at her feet she saw a swirl of pink and grey aura around her for just a second. She felt weird and wobbled some.

"Looks like they need some help." Her familiar said.

"Do...Do I have to?" She asked her. Her familiar nodded and she looked over her shoulder before walking over there. She watched as Miranda mutated the the wolves.

Her familiar leaned in, "stretch out your hand towards on of the wolves and turn it a bit." She did what she was told and instantly the hound began to mutate in an ungodly form before its neck snapped. The wolf dropped just like the five from Miranda's did.

Taja's hand pressed against her chest. "What...I can mutate too?" She looked at her horn-self disappointed, but her familiar shook her head no.

"You have the power to copy other's magic. Now..look at your outfit! It is so cute..." She looked down at her body and she was in a pink and grey outfit. How did that happen?

"We shall meet again soon, okay?!" With a laugh and skip the familiar had disappeared into Taja's body.

"Whoa." The first word that came to his mind jumped straight out of his mouth, right before his body started to shake as his head started to feel lighter. He collapses to his knees, putting his hands up to his head as he closed his eyes, hoping it would go away quickly. What in the heck just happened to him? Why was he wearing this outfit? And why, of all things, did he just talk to some creature?! All of these questions made him nervous, had he truly been damned just now by a demon? If so, did that mean that all along, people were right and that he was just some freak?

For some reason, he just stopped caring about that and threw it aside, it was of no importance to him right now was it? Surely the more important thing was to get out of this place alive, right? It had to be, after all, they all seemed to be awakening to some kind of power, even if others were awakening to more horrific ones. That's when he was reminded of his arm, and he looked upon it and opened his palm to see some kind of demonic symbol now on it. That's when he started to feel his heart beat grow faster, as his arm started to shake on it's own.

That's when everything around him went black, his eyes widening as he looked around in a panic. He felt something familiar about this, his heart racing as tears began to go down his eyes. "Why does it hurt? My head is killing me right now. I don't want to go through this!" He ended up speaking outloud, though the others could hear his voice they could not see what he saw right now. Holding his right arm out in front of him, he struggled to fight against a growing feeling of dread inside of him as his palm closed on it's own.

White flames suddenly burst forward, the white flames quickly turning blue as his eyes widened. "No, wait, stop!" An impulse had taken over, but it was too late, as the blue flames spread over the area around him and quickly engulfed him as well, his arms raising up in front of himself to protect him. Yet when he looked back, he was back where he had just stood previously, no sign of any flames in sight. Raising his human arm up slowly and wiping his eyes, blinking a few times as he tried to get his head back from that experience.

That's when he felt the ground begin to shake, his eyes widening out of surprise as he took a few steps back. He knew what this was, and sure enough as he looked over, he could see the giant hound walking around the town, the smell of death quickly filling his nostrils as he rose a hand to cover over them. There was something different about the hound from before, now it seemed to be giving off an aura like he had a minute ago. A black aura that could only be described as looking upon death itself. A being of such malicious intentions, holding incredible power within it's body to the point that it could crush whatever it saw as a threat. Yohan suddenly knew what this thing was, and the realization spread dread back into his heart. "A Hell Hound?!"

The realization came at a poor time however, as the Hell Hound suddenly came to a halt and looked over towards the direction his voice had spoken up from. His heart pounded quickly once more as he felt frozen to the spot, all this noise might attract it to them, and the power he could feel coming off of it was too much for him to comprehend. The hound slowly began to walk over towards them, he could start to see it's face start to fully come into view as if it was excited to have found prey once again. He didn't know if he could fend it off without making it angry, was this really where they were meant to die? How ironic, a guardian of the after life was about to send them all to it without anyone knowing they were even here.

That's when a miracle happened, an explosion far away somewhere went off and caught the Hell Hound's attention. It's movement came to a sudden halt as it's eyes held a sense of curiosity in them, turning it's body to look over at the smoke now rising somewhere far off in the distance. A strange growl began to come from the hound, a noise he could not hear before making the deal with his Familiar. The Hell Hound's face twisted into an even more horrifying expression than before, a look befitting only for a devil as it could no longer contain the pure malice and excitement it felt. A wicked dog like chuckle suddenly burst forth from the hound, it's body suddenly bursting into flames as all the red that had been on it turned into a red mist around it.

The power it began to emit caused Yohan to be sent flying off his feet and be slammed into a nearby building, his body falling forward as he felt himself unable to move as if being crushed under the thing's power as the cackle slowly came to a halt and the flames died down, revealing the black body of the Hell Hound. Raising up it's head in what looked like joy, it gave off a sudden howl before becoming a blur and sending out a small shockwave as it ran off, hitting Yohan once more as he struggled to stay awake despite the pain he felt right now. He could see the Hell Hound run through a path of destroyed buildings it may have made when first arriving and soon only a trail of red dust could only be made out of it as it ran off into the distance far away from the town.

Once the Hell Hound was gone, he felt his body able to move again as he slowly began to rise up to his feet while letting out a low groan. As he began to brush himself off, a new voice suddenly sprang out and shocked him. "Good to see you all have developed." A man in a business suit suddenly emerged, his blonde hair struck out and those shades kept his eyes hidden from Yohan. He looked to be close to seven feet in size, even with the suit on Yohan could tell this guy's body was built to be strong. "That Hell Hound has left for now, you can thank me later for that after we get you out of here."

"Hold on a minute. Who are you, and how do I know I can trust you?" Yohan was on the defensive, surely the man could tell that today had not been the best of days for any of them. The man seemed to give a smirk at Yohan in response, sending a shiver down Yohan's spine.

"My name is not important to know, why I am here is classified information. What I can say is that I was out on business here when I noticed you all running around." The man looked over towards Frederick and grinned. "You should stay with them if you want to get out of here alive. As you all can already probably tell, this is no place for normal people to wander in. However, you all have potential, so perhaps we could strike a deal?"

"I'm not in the mood for deals. And you've given me no reason to trust you." Yohan's statement made the man suddenly laugh out, though Yohan couldn't tell if the laugh was normal or wicked in nature.

"Well here's a fact, if I wanted you all dead, I would of done it without revealing myself. I also have knowledge of the powers you all just gained, why would I even bother revealing this when I could try to lie? I have been nothing but honest, believe it or not, and I have come to the conclusion that we can help each other out." As much as Yohan hated to admit it, he seemed to have a point. Whether he liked it or not, this man was the only hope they had of getting out of here and if he had driven that Hell Hound away when he could of just left them to die, Yohan had to reluctantly admit to himself that they did owe the man something for helping them out.

"Okay, what do you want?" The man pulled out his cellphone and looked it over, taking note of the time it said on it before putting it away. Did that mean technology could work here, or was the man's cellphone special? Yohan would have to ask that another time.

"Come back here tomorrow night." The man's statement caused Yohan to give a nervous expression.

"We've just barely survived this night! What makes you think all of us will just come back here of our own free will?"

"Because you are now targets. If I could feel your power, what would a person with actual harmful intentions do? There are people with this power on Earth that have connections, some darker than others. They could easily find you and your family or friends if they so wished it. I can keep you all safe from darker eyes for now, but it will not last forever. If you want to learn how to harness these powers, you would be wise to return to this place tomorrow."

"Ugh, fine." Yohan didn't like hearing any of this, but what better option did any of them have? "What time?"

"Eleven PM." The man stated with no hesitation.

"What? Isn't that a little late?"

"Yes, and it is the perfect time to explain some things as well as help you all. I am not forcing all of you to come back, but I do advise you do, lest you realize the horror that will begin to follow all of you from this day forward." The man turned his back to them all and began to walk away. "Best not to attract too much attention to yourselves. I will be waiting."

"W-wait a minute! Where is the way out of here?!" This question caused the man to stop and look back at them.

"Why, it's at where you live. Or, would live, in this case. Do not mistake this place for the town called Timberland. Or else you will find yourself becoming attached to this place." The man chuckled and walk off into the darkness. Yohan felt so confused right now, but they had no other choice it sounded like.

"Just what is going on here...?"

As Frederick regained his consciousness, or rather finished disappearing to wherever he was supposed to go. Well, obviously he was confused. Was this a reward? A free trip to...some parallel looking town of Timberland...Hold on! This place looked like Timberland but it looked weird which could only mean one thing! He traveled dimensions! His reward for cleaning a whole school was have an experience to those dimension travelers in books and shows! This...was...so

"COOL!" Frederick shouted as he jumped into the air. Now this was a great story! Getting to experience another dimension firsthand himself! Oh this was so cool! Of course his attention soon focused on a group of teens...and was that a little girl? Did that mean they also traveled dimension as well. Well, now he felt old, seeing so many young faces in the crowd.

Of course, he heard the the well dressed man say to stay near them to stay alive. A new dimension and full of danger? Wow! Maybe this was the part in so many stories where the guy reveals to the party that they are destined for greatness...or destined to become a rank and file hero so go fight horrors beyond their minds comprehension.

"I have to say trustworthy well dress man! This is like...The best reward ever! Who knew that cleaning, cooking and drawing comics and manga would one day pay off! My dad was right! A janitor was always destigned for greatness! I mean who else would pick up the mess left behind after a hard day? Non-janitors? Please, if people did that then the world would never need janitors. Wait...I am getting off track right now...Who are you exactly, you some Angel? Demon? or some special dimensional entity that has a great plan in mind that requires all of us currently here...And don't lie that you are like some special messenger! I can sense that you are not some random joe! I mean the clothings gives it away! Frederick was almost...surprising unfazed by the entire situation. In fact he seemed more casual than needed.

As the dogs retreated, or at least it seemed that Sienna was more than capable of taking care of the rest, Rina backed away. She brushed some stray hair out of her eyes. She couldn't help but glance down at her mostly bare leg. The implications were sinking in, now that she had time to consider it. A wave of nausea swept over her.
"There, there," her familiar said as Rina regained her composure, though it might have been sarcastic.
When she had mostly recovered, she inched closer to the two new men and Yohan, listening in. In addition to the janitor, who seemed affected in how jovial he was with this nightmare, there was a well dressed man. Out of all of them, Rina found him most unnerving, probably because of how familiar he seemed with this place. She listened quietly to his orders, admitting to herself that it wasn't a terrible idea to take control of her powers, especially since she'd made a pact with a demon to get them. She did wonder if "your house" was just Yohan's or each of them had to go back to their own places. Also, how would they get back here?
Rina took a deep breath. "Excuse me, Mr. Janitor," she said to Frederick, too strung out for politeness. "Who are you? Or what's your name?"

Taja had a glimer of hope of going home. She just had to get to her house, right. It wasn't that far if she ran fast enough. She didn't care about her new power, she just wanted to return home. Everyone seemed to have powers now, so they could take care of themselves, right? She was just about to turn around and head for her house when a strange man appeared.

A Janitor? Here? She was confused and wonder if he was secretly a monster too. Maybe he was trying to trick them into a trap. He was way to hyper in a place like this. She stood behind Rina and watched from a distance. She didn't want to have to deal with him if she didn't have to.

Sonea listened with some slight amount of confusion. Field Trip? Danger?! She was about to protest when suddenly, her vision was overcome by a bright light and the vision before her eyes was shocking. They were still in her apartment but...it looked all wrong. There were holes in the walls, windows were missing or shattered on the ground. The chairs which she and the others were sitting in were gone or so shredded they were unusable. She gasped and stared at the destruction around her and covered her mouth with her hand. Stumbling, she followed after Kogo and went out into the shop.

Even here, the walls were adorned with her weapons and armors, but they seemed to have degraded so poorly that nothing was even remotely usable. The blades were rusted, brittle and full of holes from years of age and no maintenance. Even the armors which once gleamed with oils and countless hours of work were nothing but useless hunks of metal and scrap. Maybe something in them could be salvaged but not for now...

Sonea's mind was whipped up with a flurry of unfelt emotions: Overwhelming terror, dread and the overbearing desire to run away and hide. She reached behind her back under her shirt and pulled out the sacrificial dagger and held it in her right hand. She was breathing heavily, panic clearly evident on her face as she could swear this place knew what she was thinking and going through in her mind. She could hear herself screaming in pain? No...she couldnt feel pain. She couldnt ever feel...pain? She was terrified...as memories started to make themselves known in her mind.

At once as she was outside the apartment, the animal within caused her to bolt. Running...running as fast as she could from the group as terror washed over her senses. Animalistic fear and overwhelming dread gave such speed to her step that she didnt even know where she was running to. She just had to get away, she had to hide. She had to go somewhere where she could not be found. Somewhere safe...in this nightmarish land. She passed by several buildings, all burnt out and shattered. Books torn to shreds littered the streets and long gone scorch marks depicted people burned alive or eaten. The terror made her see things that werent there, her arm now gone and replaced by a bloody stump. The smell of fresh copper on her nose and her head and hair matted with blood. But something up ahead looked familiar, safe: The ruins of Town Hall. She bolted for it and slammed the door shut and brought up several ruined chairs to brace the door and hid underneath a desk.

She began to sob, hiding herself in a small ball underneath where she thought she was safest.

"Where am I? Why is this happening to me? I just want to go home...why can't I remember anything anymore?"

"Ahh Sonea...your finally starting to get the picture aren't you? No surprise really...only a very few manage to find the way but most don't recognize it when they do" came a voice as the Chesire Cat lay down before her. Big blue eyes stared up at her with a savage grin on his furry maw.

"You are where you once were so long ago. Back when you and I first met little Sonea. It was such a long time ago...and where it happened the first time round. Something dangerous lurks in these ruined halls. But you are going to need to get a grip on yourself and put a stiff upper lip if you want to survive"

"Survive? Survive what? This is just a dream...I am not losing my mind. I cant be going crazy. I just cant"

"Focus Sonea...if you do not then all will happen as it did again. Find the dog...before he finds you" He said and floated up and out of her sight. Sonea came out hesitantly under the desk and watched him float upon the wind then reappear infront of her.

"There you are Sonea...perhaps you might have the spine to fight not unlike the last time you were here. Mayhaps you might even realize what you are. I just hope that it wont be too late for you...or stay here and be eaten. Its no skin off of my whiskers if you do. All I can do is simply...give you a little...push" He said with an even more savage and bloodthirsty grin and a deep chuckle.

"The time has come to unleash what lurks inside that tamed heart. Time to unleash your inner beast and best do it soon. I am sure he has your scent"

As he said this, he would turn into a thin vapor and snaked his way up into Sonea's nose and disappeared from sight. But as she looked around, all she could really hear was Chesire's words echoing in her mind. Taunts and jeers and stabs of insults. Pushing her, mocking her, antagonizing her and putting even more mental strain on her mind. She puts her hands around her ears and tried her hardest to block out the constant beratement and pushed her way back outside. Images flashed in her mind as she held her dagger up and started to snarl and growl at every direction, feeling her sanity slip away bit by bit. She felt cornered...trapped and caged. If something was coming, she would rather die on her feet then hiding like a foolish child.

The night was certainly young and full of surprises. While beasts had been let loose in the real world, another beast had just awakened. It was time to hunt once again, and the Hellhound began to rise from it's current resting place. The random building it had taken residence in collapsed around it, causing the others to notice as the pieces of said building collapsed around it. The Hellhound shook it's body off briefly, a dark expression looming over as it looked around, letting out a low growl. It could smell something, intruders again!? But one of the scents was... Familiar to it. The Hellhound's eyes widened slightly, the growl slowly coming to a halt as it tried to recall where it knew this scent from.

"Oh, dear." The man in shades spoke out, suddenly poofing near the others as he cleared his throat. "Greetings to you all. I wasn't expecting visitors such as yourselves, but I can adapt. Welcome to the sporting event tonight, since you are here, you may as well help me with a little problem." The man in shades pointed to the Hellhound that stood unmoving now. "That Hellhound has been causing me problems lately, I can't exactly get around when a guardian of the dead keeps pushing people away from here. Do not worry, however, I have come prepared." The man in shades sat down in a chair that had appeared with him, grabbing hold of the sheet he made appear next to him as well, pulling it off to reveal... Weapons?

The Hellhound's body began to shake, it's stomach growling loudly as the thought of feeding upon a tasty meal made it take that wide sadistic grin it had before when last seen. Smoke began to rise up from the Hellhound's body, the Hellhound quietly moving through the ruined town and coming closer towards that tasty smell. Smoke began to rise from it's mouth as well, it's tongue carefully licking it's own lips as pieces of itself began to fall off of it's body. It knew people had come here before, but they had gotten away while it was distracted. This time, however, one of them seems to have cornered themselves away from the other tasty smells... It wasn't going to let this chance go away!

"Behold, a fine selection of enchanted weapons, made for a specific purpose to help you all out in the inevitable battles to come." The man in shades couldn't help but grin. "I offer these weapons to you all, free of charge. Well I say that, but really, the price is more to kill that naughty little hound. Should you manage to prevail against the beast, I shall give you a magnificent gift. Let us hope you all live long enough for me to explain by then." A loud roar coming from the distance caused the man in shades to look over casually in the hound's direction. "Looks like we're running short on time. Your friend is in clear danger, I suggest choosing your enchanted weapon now before the beast kills her. Oh, don't forget to bring one to her as well. Trust me when I say, she won't break it."

Indeed, the Hellhound couldn't hold itself back any longer, letting out a vicious roar as flames began to erupt all over it's body, burning itself as pieces of itself burned away in order to reveal... Something more. Something that had long been buried away when the thought of no longer catching it's favorite prey crossed it's mind. But now, a familiar scent had returned and it had caused a long forgotten joy to return to the beast's heart! The Hellhound took a new form, a form more fitting for combat rather than just merely hunting. This form that had long been suppressed began to radiate with heat around itself, the beast's body brightly glowing as the blue moon hung overhead on the dark green sky. The Hellhound couldn't wait any longer, another terrifying roar escaping it's menacing jaws as it prepared to attack!

Sebastian had followed Kogo, and soon enough Sonea ran past, he gritted his teeth and yelled after her “ARE YOU INSANE!? THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, WOMAN!?” to Sebastian’s disdain Wraith found this hilarious, falling over and laughing.

“She’d make great bait, if she weren’t the leader” through his hysteric laughter he spoke before getting up, opening both his eyes, now the both of them reptilian and slitted, he grinned and stretched. “now get moving, else you all end up dead. And that’s just problematic”

Sebastian had turned to run after Sonea when the odd gentleman appeared, when he revealed the weapons, Sebastian didn’t think, he’d snatch up a sheathed longsword; Turn and sprint for it, on his way he heard the roar of their foe, and it made his skin crawl.

Sebastian’s rage seethed under his thoughts; in the back of his mind. Wraith knew it and felt it, and the demon grinned at the others. “what are you lot waiting for? If he dies who’s going to help scaredy cat? And then if she kicks the bucket, well i’m sure you know the outcome of that” with another laugh Wraith fades, drawn back to his victim watching from the comfort of Sebastian’s mind.

And soon enough he saw it, from the looks of it, the beast had slowed itself down for its final charge at Sonea, he kept up his sprint moving until he was between it and Sonea, staring down a flaming mutt, not what he expected, but it was pretty cool, right?. Sebastian just glanced back, he stepped forward, holding the enchanted longsword up.

“Well aren’t you an ugly bastard” Sebastian chuckled, heaving in air and smirked, he had to keep himself stable, and not give an inch, else it was going to take a mile. “you can’t win alone, let me help you out, all you have to do is give me something and i’ll give a fair trade.” the voice of the demon whispered in his head.“Shut it, I don’t need your backstabbing now.”

“No, this is genuine concern, you won’t win this fight, either you run for the others, or take this chance to prove you’re stronger, better than them” Sebastian grinded his teeth. “Fine take what you want, take what you will” Wraith’s smile couldn’t be bigger and he laughed.

“Perfect” a deep thin aura began to seep from Sebastian’s form, his skin hardening and scales formed across his body, with the shade of a deep dark purple, and his only eye shifting to that of a reptile, his hands becoming clawed and his knuckles spiked with boney protrusions. Painless was the shift, into a more draconic form; fitting of the blood.

Seb grinned and thought now i just look like a fucking comic book hero Wraith laughed and left the message in his mind the price is paid, your familiar has come,for now, and your dominion is yours. Just swing your blade and watch the destruction

Sebastian would do so channeling his dominion, the kinetic movements of swinging the blade would create vectors and Sebastian’s mind quickly realised this and honed onto it, with the vectors, created by the sword swing he’d smirk and then swing the sword again in a large vertical cutting motion, though this time the vector created would be launched at the hound, if it were to strike, the vector would sever a limb clean away or an ear from the rest of the beast.

The small familiar a large dog sized dragon, coloured in a mix of purples with a yellow eye, in some way it was like Sebastian, though the familiar hung back watching from a distance. Sebastian didn’t hear or feel the presence of wraith, and he had pretty cool new magic, hopefully the scales will disappear when he returns home.

Felix began to shake in fear, following the others into what had been the shop just minutes ago. This couldn’t be happening, he thought to himself, it was just too…it just couldn’t be real. It was like something out of a story. The sight of the building as well as all its merchandise now ruined didn’t help to put his mind at ease. Instinctively, he slapped himself across the face. Then after nothing changed, he did the same again, several times.

“This crap is really happening, isn’t it?” he whimpered, finally coming to the horrific realisation, just as Sonea made a sudden run for it. That couldn’t mean anything good was about to happen, now the group would be split up. Also, hadn’t Kogo said something about them all being linked in some way? If she got hurt, it would affect the rest of the group, if he recalled. “Oh no…” he groaned.

It was at this moment that the stranger in shades materialised before them, greeting them. Poor Felix was starting to feel light-headed at this point, and boy, did his fearful expression show it. Once the man had finished explaining his ‘little’ problem, he stepped gingerly over the threshold, now seeing the Hellhound. He froze. Several more seconds and he swung himself round, slamming himself against the inside of the wall. He was breathing very rapidly now.

It was a sharp pain that made him snap out of it - He looked down and saw some kind of creature biting his ankle. “gah!” he yelled, shaking the thing off frantically, although the sandy coloured pest simply ran up his leg, running circles around his face and clawing at him. Growling, he grabbed the thing and threw it off, rubbing his face only to see that there were no wounds or scratches to speak of. Still hurt like hell, though.

He glowered down at the weasel like creature, which seemed to be snickering at him. “What the bleeding hell is that thing?” he asked the stranger, pointing. “Another one of your pests?” But he didn’t have time to wait for an answer, as he watched Sebastian grab a longsword and run off.

Felix waited for a few seconds, trying to calm down. “OK,” he said, taking deep breaths. It would probably be wise to help make sure no-one dies, he thought. He took another breath, before grabbing a weapon, which appeared to be a bow, and sprinting for it.

He skidded to a halt after a few metres, dashed back, grabbed another weapon at random, nodded at the shades-wearing person. “Thanks,” he said, before hurrying off again. The creature scoffed mischievously before following suit.

Felix stopped in his tracks, staring wide eyed at the wolfish monstrosity before him. But now he saw there were more monsters fighting it! Great, he thought, just-wait, is that lizard thing wearing and eyepatch and wielding a-

“Sebastian?!” he yelled, “What the hell - Gah, nevermind, I'll ask later!” he ran toward the nearest sturdy looking building, the town hall. "This just gets weirder and weirder..." he muttered to himself. Sure enough, there Sonea was, now with an unexpectedly savage demeanor.

"Er...Sonea?" he asked, tentatively, holding out whatever other weapon he had taken, "Listen, er...I don't think any of us are really in the mood for dying right now, and I'm sure you're not either, so, maybe this will help. If we stay together, maybe we can get away from that...er, thing." he finished, nodding toward the hellhound.

Cayson stood there a moment taking everything in. He hadn't a slightest clue what was going on. Everyone started to run in one direction when he slowed to a stop to see a golden dog like thing. Hisself in the pickle suit appeared out of nowhere. "You know, you shouldn't stand there. It is most likely going to kill you and then who will Taja have to protect her? Maybe you never could in the first place since, you know, she is missing."

He rolled his eyes and ran to where everyone went, or so where he thought everyone went. He was about to get to the screaming man when that weird version of him appeared. "I know you like protecting people, right? So how about this, I will give you something great in exchange for something. It could be anything you like, but it has to be worth some kind of value." His weird self kept dancing as he talked. "Like my legs or something?" Cayson asked it.

"That will do." Pickle him smiled, next thing he knew Cayson was screaming in pain as his legs turned into carbon stone. "What the hell happened to my legs?!" He screamed. "I did you a favor, plus I advise you to go save the one person that can kill you all." He said point to the girl and a guy who was now facing the large dog. "How in the world am I going to fight that thing?" He was freaking out.

"Manipulate some of the carbon in your legs. I mean, I gave you something pretty cool, I suggest you use it." Pickle him said. He tried thinking and before he knew it a small amount if his leg, nothing too noticeable, started to shape as a whip. He held it and looked at Pickle him. "What does a whip do? Pickle him asked. "Keep them at bay." He said before running and screeching to a halt in front of them. He swing his whip around him, hoping he didn't him them, and snapped it at the angry golden dog. He jumped back a couple feet, but at least it backed up some away from the girl. "Are you two just going to stand there or are you going to freaking do something?!" He yelled.

'I think its time for us to let loose a little huh? Lets shake off some of the dust'

Sonea's eye had become hazy, now lost in the panic and terror of the sight of the hound. Floods of memories left her paralyzed and entrenched in her total terror. Within her mind, she could see long forgotten memories of agony untold, the sight of the ruined down and the dog that pursued her relentlessly as a meal. But while her mind was gone, her body had kicked in to move on command of the Chesire Cat. He had to keep her alive...not out of love but out of the pure instinct of survival. Sonea's time would come very soon...and he had to ensure she would shift and end the fight. But to do this he had to ensure she live first.

Her grip on her dagger in her hand would tighten as her right hand flared with a brilliant light. The dagger soon took on an almost liquid like state, snaking up her arm along the forearm to make what looked like several metal claws, deadly sharp and coated in dried blood. Her left arm would whir and wheeze as it reconfigured itself to match, metal spines bursting from her shirt and the glove itself speared out in an identical set of claws. Her body began to crack slightly as everyone of her teammates would feel a splitting pain come from their backsides, at their tailbones. From her backside sprang a long tail: feline in nature with the coloration of a Bengal Tiger with the tip coated in a sharp metal spine on the end. Her ears changed and shifted with the same sort of pain as they took on more feline like features. Even her eye had changed to a feline configuration and glinted in the light. She cracked her body and soon moved with an unnatural speed and headed for a building. She pushed off the ground hard and landed on a building which she began to scale with her claws.

Upon reaching the top, she would begin to run along the rooftops towards the Hound. She could smell it: the Challenge, the Fear and the Hunger of the Beast. She bared her teeth and let out a deep, bellowing roar of challenge as she ran along the tops of the rooftops, jumping from roof to roof. Her claws extended, becoming more jagged and tough as she lept with a strength which cracked the aged wood underneath her and landed on the beast's muzzle. With a roar of pure fury, she began to use her claws and tail to try and go for it's eyes in a fierce flurry of swipes, hoping to blind it.

Within her mind, she could see what she had forgotten and how she hid. She cried, the agony was unbearable and she very nearly lost herself into the haze of death as a voice popped in front of her. A cat floated above her face, looking down with a grin on it's maw and put a paw to her head. He tsked and began to speak.

"Looks like that is getting infected" He pointed to her missing arm. "Ill bet it hurts doesn't it? Poor Sonea all alone...with not a friend or a hope in sight. You're very close to death's door. Either you bleed out or you end up dog-food...but lucky for you. I have a way out...if your willing to hear the terms"

His grin got wider and Sonea, now almost at the point of death nodded to him. Her breathing had gotten shallow and slow, each breath raspy and forced as if it were taking all of her strength just to breath.

He continued "I can take away your pain and make you stronger then you could have possibly imagined...but for a price. My price is a loss of memory...a loss of self. I will lock away your power and who and what you really truly are. In exchange I will take away your pain and take you out of this place. But you must decide if you are ready for such a thing Tigress"

Sonea saw her claws now, her tail thumping on the ground as the stress brought onto her. She panted harder now as a tear went down her cheek "Will I ever remember my mommy? My daddy?" She asked

"In due time...but I shall ever be present to oversee your progress. What do you say Sonea? Is it a wager?" He asked, holding out a paw to her. She looked down at the ground and reached up and took a hold of his paw and they shook. Pain immediately fled her body and her vision blacked out.

The memory ceased yet the constant torrents of hateful words spewed at her from Chesire were getting louder, the fear even more real as her eyes now could see the totality of the Hound. She felt her heart race...race so fast that her heart could give out at any moment.

'Nearly there Sonea...It is nearly time for the binding I placed on you to be broken. But we need a little more time. I will give you the time to see who and what you are...then the rest is up to you'

Well, this was certainly fun, and by fun the Hellhound was in total bloody pain! First it had seen the reptile boy try to aim something to slice it in half. The Hellhound was a better fighter than this, it felt angry that it was underestimated and went to move, but in the middle of moving, a blast of light erupts out and strikes into one of it's eyes! As the Hellhound stood paralyzed in place now, it's own ear is suddenly cut off from the reptile boy's attack! When it turned to look over at the woman who dared to strike out it's eye, suddenly, a blast to the chest! Pain, horrible pain! It was terrifying, the HellHound could feel it's body starting to lose it's once proud flame!

Then, of all things, some girl with animal parts came rushing in for the Hellhound and got up in it's face?! Truly horrible, a pitiful act compared to the Hellhound's initial attack upon what was now it's territory! All of these fools were attacking it, and it could do nary a thing in response?! Truly pitiful! Disgusting, a shameful act upon all other Hellhound's, even if it considered itself above others of it's kind it had seen prior. The Hellhound thought itself broken, about to crumble away into dust when a tight grip came about in it's damaged chest. What... Was this feeling? It had never felt this way before, yet something was rushing throughout the body of the Hellhound, making it shake faster over time. Suddenly, it knew all too well what this feeling was!

FEAR! A terrible grin came across the Hellhound's face, making it look like the devil's own face for just a moment before a strange light came from the Hellhound. Even in death, it will find a way to overcome these terrible prey that think they knew what hunting was! The air suddenly grew incredibly hot for all of them, the flames of the building quickly being snuffed out as the building crumbled away, despite the rock hard material that made it up. The Hellhound's damaged eye glowed with a menacing red color they all could see within it. The flames that now ran along all of the Hellhound's body had turned into a beautiful color, with the ones on the back now moving around like some kind of cape moving in the wind.

"Frakenstein is grooving." The heat now created by the HellHound was terrible, causing the nearby buildings to collapse from it alone. The flames on the Hellhound's body felt incredibly hot to get near, the once terrifying grin had now been replaced with a terrifying look only a true predator could muster. "Midnight Action. Whoa-hoa-hoa! Witches are sleeping!" The Hellhound slowly shifted itself into an attacking pose, the cape of flames continuing to move beautifully on it's back as it watched all of them with it's one good eye, the other one still glowing red with a menacing glare to it. "Midnight Action! Whoa-hoa-hoa!"

The man in shades couldn't help but grin as he watched this new event unfold. "That's unusual. Such good teamwork, only for it to backfire and the HellHound to gain something as they did. This certainly wouldn't have happened with the other group I had talked to... But maybe this is a good thing. Now this old dog can finally die in content, knowing it's last hunt is going to be the best one yet." He held up a glass of wine he suddenly had out of nowhere. "Go all out, you old dog. Run those flames wild to your heart's content. Let it all burn brightly before you pass on." He brought the wine to his mouth and sipped it all down in one go. "Ah... Delicious. Just as the night should be!"

HellHound Awakening: Hell's Flames!

Sebastian would be caught off guard by the sudden beast that lashed out and clambered itself onto the face of the hound, he gritted his teeth, the pain from the snap in his back still numbing, and then the intense heat, he only felt it for the briefest of moments, a field of vectors forming around his body clothes and his sword, this field cutting off and stopping the flames and heat roasting his flesh, though he still felt the pain of fire.

Sebastian gritted his teeth and marched forward towards the fight, picking up a stone and gently throwing it, speeding up its vectors and firing it off as if it was a bullet, towards the hind legs of the creature.

His strides carried him to within arms reach and the vectors grew stronger reflecting the heat and flames, Seb would reach up and grab a tuft of Sonea’s fur, the vector field encompassing her also just as unyielding in its defence, however, the field would shift and Sebastian would throw Sonea, using the vectors a safe distance away and pin her down, with equal force to what she applied to getting up, stopping her movements entirely, he could only do this briefly. For three or five seconds and because he was no longer in contact, his mind straining to keep on top of it all.

He,turns his attention back to the beast and smirks and reaches out to poke the creature, if successful, the hellhound is launched flying in the direction of the sky, straight up, and Seb wasn’t counting, he’d just released full force on it with everything, pulling his power back into launch the creature like a rocket. By the time it fell back to the ground, they’d have some time to think. That’s if it did fall back to the ground.

Felix leaped back in astonishment and his jaw dropped as Sonea began to change her appearance right before him. People kept doing this! First that Kogo person, then these two. What the hell was going on? Before he had time to mull over these questions, however, he found himself doubling over in pain. It took all his effort not to scream as he gritted his teeth.

Once it had subsided, he shook his head clear and looked around. Sonea was nowhere to be seen. What now? he thought. The pain had seemed to be in his tailbone, but he didn’t think much of it. That was when he saw her - now completely different, while before she had seemed calm and friendly, Sonea was now relentlessly tearing at their foe.

He had to admit, it was actually quite exhilarating watching the fight breaking out between the hellhound and the other three. He still had no idea what was going on, and a nagging voice in the back of his mind kept trying to reason with this, explain how was all a dream or a hallucination. But whether this was real or not, he still felt that he ought to do something. Kogo had mentioned something about magic earlier, and whatever was going on now certainly didn’t seem normal. He thought about Kogo’s beams of energy, and whatever Sebastian was doing right now. The idea if being able to do something along those lines himself still hadn’t really sunk in, but he did have a weapon with him at least.

He took a moment to look at the bow he had taken. It looked a bit like something out of an RPG - it definitely looked functional but there were swirls and ornate patterns carved into the dark, polished wood. He shrugged, since it looking nice wasn’t exactly a problem. Unfortunately, it was at this moment that the heatwave struck. Felix was far away enough to not bear the brunt of the damage, but it was still painful, and he felt himself getting singed and burned. He jumped behind a pile of rubble and curled up.

Glancing back, he saw Sebastian doing something weird with the motion of the objects around him. He understood none of this, but what he did understand was that the hellhound had now been launched into the air. Now was his chance to get ready to help.

He took a few deep breaths, heart pounding with adrenaline - then jumped out from behind the rubble, holding out the longbow. It was at this moment, he remembered that he didn’t actually know how to use a bow properly - and it didn’t get much better when an image of a quiver of arrows, which he had left with the shades-wearing stranger, flashed across his mind. There were a few seconds during which he took this in.

“Oh dear.”

There was a slightly annoying squeaky-like laugh behind him. He whipped around to glare at the weasel, which was sitting on its haunches and looking at him with a rather smug expression.

“What do you want?” he demanded, “Can’t you see we’re all a bit busy right now? Go on, shoo, you weird ferret thing.”

The weasel rummaged behind itself, and he noticed it was wearing some sort of pouch on its back, out of which was pulled, coincidentally, a large bundle of arrows. He paused for a second - was this thing trying to help him? Or was it playing some other trick?

“OK, listen, I don’t even know what you are or where you came from, why should I trust that you’re trying to help us?” It seemed Felix was completely ignorant of his link to the creature, which tutted and rolled its eyes, a gesture which was lost on him.

So, making the arrows vanish with a poof, the weasel leaned forward, opened its mouth and - incomprehensible squeaks chirrups came out. Felix stared blankly for a short while, now completely distracted from the highly dangerous magical battle going on only metres away.

“er…what.” He said. More chirrups, sounding irritable this time, were his response. He crouched down to listen better. “Look.” He said pointedly, “I’m not sure if you’ll be able to understand this, but I have…no idea what you’re saying. That is, if you’re saying anything at all…I can’t believe I’m trying to talk with a weasel.” he mused. The creature pressed a paw against its face in exasperation.

It was fortunate that he happened to be having this 'conversation' (for lack of a better word) while the hellhound was still kept occupied.

Sonea, still on the beasts muzzle roared in fury and clawed at it as best she could. Until she suddenly found herself pinned for a few seconds and the dog was flung high into the air. Sonea's mind raced through so many memories she had forgotten as she suddenly dropped down to the ground underneath the dog. As she knelt down to the ground, she snapped back to reality as a large metallic screeching sound was heard. Around her was a shimmering light, spinning rapidly around her form. Filled with power, she placed herself down and felt the ground pulse. As the sudden and overwhelming fatigue gripped her, she could feel something getting free. Something primal...something deadly...but right now, she honed in on the source of the power and shunted an overwhelming amount of power into the ground.

"Come....to......me" She spoke and began to chant in a language she did not know nor could even begin to understand. The words reverberated and echoed throughout the destroyed town. This language was long since dead but to those who knew the ancient tongue, this was a summoning ritual being preformed. The earth began to crack and rumble, sink holes appeared around the town and everything rocked and shuttered at the sudden movement of the earth. From infront of Sonea, the earth began to mound, forming a small mountain and grew even larger as hundreds of tons of raw iron pushed out of the ground. It appeared almost liquid in it's appearance as it shifted and grew. A few moments and it was all too real what it was: A giant spear. Sonea's eyes glowed as she pushed hard upwards so it went straight for the helpless hellhound.

But through this action, she was on the brink of collapse and the demon within knew what was about to be unleashed. He was as giddy as a schoolgirl...the Beast was about to arise.

Well, the beast was certainly being tossed around like a bag of potatoes right now. Literally! The Hellhound had just unleashed it's Awakening, and the heat could be felt throughout the range it could go to. That's when a sudden tap launched it high into the sky, this was something the Hellhound had never experienced before! Before it could launch down a fury of it's new flames upon them, it was suddenly struck through with a huge spear that scattered blood all over their weapons. Each of the gauges on the weapons all filled to the max, each enchanted weapon's gauge having the color of the person's aura that they had bonded with. A mark suddenly appears above the gauges, each of them having the same color as within the gauge, and a little voice rang out from each weapon to them. "Blood requirement for hunt achieved! Power Up activating!"

A white aura flashes around each of them as they could feel themselves being granted power, as if being given a buff in a video game! The Hellhound's body crashed down into the ground, for the first time it could remember, it was the one who now laid upon the ground. It had been defeated. There was no doubt that it could feel the life-force within it's body fading. The last embers from the fire it had gained were quickly going away with it, it had lost the power it once held. The Hellhound's only good eye narrowed slightly, how long had it been since it had felt pain like this?

The man couldn't help but smirk to himself, seeing the Hellhound crash and fatally wounded. He rose up to his feet slowly, raising up his left arm and snapping his fingers, all extra enchanted weapons along with the extras he brought poof into smoke. "At last, you find peace. And at last, I find the missing piece in the puzzle. So, you met him, didn't you?" He talked quietly to himself while observing everyone being granted their Power Up's. "Yes, he is quite the cunning little beast. No doubt he moved around a lot throughout the years, devouring others as he hunted until he allied himself with some powerful people. You had waited for so long, guarding a Gateway, which you had considered a way for those to come to a place you considered might as well be a graveyard." The man's smirk widened. "I finally found him after all these years."

The Hellhound's flames were starting to fade one by one, soon it would be nothing more than a lifeless husk. Time felt like it had slowed to a halt for the Hellhound, memories it couldn't even recall flooded back through it's mind. It recalled it's entire life up to this point in an instant, in particular, something came back that shouldn't of. A voice, neither human nor beast, spoke up from a memory. "I have to leave soon." The voice said to the Hellhound. For some reason, recalling the voice brought joy to the Hellhound's heart. "You and I have spent a great deal of time together. You, who attacked this place and now guard it like an entrance to the realm of the dead. The irony, huh? ... Ah, forgive me. I forgot to teach you the meaning of certain words in the English language."

"My friend, I wish to ask of you something. It may be years before you have another tasty human meal, you love the taste of them huh? So do I. We are both beasts, you and I. We are outcasts among our own kind, so I only hope you can forgive me for the sudden harsh way this may sound, but... I wish to carry a piece of you with me. Don't give me that look, I ain't killing you! It is one of the perks of my kind, our strength comes from the prey we eat. I want to keep a part of you alive through me, my friend. If you will allow me, I know what piece I must eat too... Is that alright with you?"

The memory caused the Hellhound to feel sadness. It... Had been waiting for it's friend to return. The only true friend it ever had in this life. The Hellhound's red eye glowed, and with a tremendous amount of newfound willpower coursing through it's body, beautiful flames of various colors burst forth from it's body. As the Hellhound found the strength to stand back up for the final time, the spear within it's body shatters and is quickly burn, becoming beautiful little cinders that flowed around the Hellhound as if being blown through the wind. The flames around it's body now were too intense for any of them to get close to it, that was fine with the Hellhound. This last attack would be dedicated to the friend it had waited all these years for!

The red glow in the damaged eye burst forth and caused several red hot cracks to form along it's face, breaking throughout even the skull as it focused everything it had into that one spot. The Hellhound couldn't help but grin, a genuine smile that it got to die on it's own terms. It had but only one single regret throughout the entire life it held, but that mattered not now. It would die with pride and with joy, relishing in being able to feel like it belonged somewhere again! With the remainder of it's life about to burn away, it launched it's final attack, and the red glow shot out as a massive red beam!

As the red beam shot out throughout the entire town and even beyond that, the ground shook as the beam devastated all parts of the town within it's left, leaving only badly scorched earth around where it had shot it's most deadly attack. However, all of them had been unharmed by this... Well, they certainly felt the great force shake throughout all of their bodies and they certainly would feel like they just got put through a storm, but no damage was visible anywhere on their bodies. The Hellhound knew, even if they didn't. Those little weapons, those Power Ups they had received... It had protected all of them before fading away. So they were only temporary, huh? It didn't matter now, the beautiful flames were gone, the red glow within it's eye was gone... It was over.

The Hellhound's corpse moved slowly until it fully collapsed down onto it's side, ashes rising up where it crashed as the Hellhound's once mighty body now looked ravaged and weak. They could all hear clapping as the man in shades walked out over to them, grinning as he did so. "Well done, all of you. Well done." He chuckled as he pulled out a strange little device and placed it gently upon the ground. Pressing a single button on the top of it's sphere like structure, a barrier begins to construct itself over the entire town. "Did you forget already? I promised a gift, should you hold up your end of the bargains. Those weapons are all yours now, do with the body as you see fit. I have what I needed."

Pulling out what looked like a normal pen, he presses down on it as a black Gateway opens behind him. "Ah, yes, you all probably noticed before. That knife gave off the same feeling this pen of mine did. Do with that knowledge as you see fit." He began to walk back into the Gateway he had opened, bowing from the waist as he did so. "Well then... Until we meet again." Once his form was fully within the Gateway, it closed and vanished without leaving a trace of it behind. Once he was back within the town of Timberland, he sighs with content as he grabs hold of his suit with both hands and adjusts it ever so slightly. "Oh-ho, yes. We will meet again." He pulls out the device he had kept hidden within his clothing, smirking once more with glee as he saw the device successfully pick up the powerful magical energy being given off near the Police Station right now. "That is for certain."