Matthew couldn't believe his eyes. He fell to his knees as he saw his house evaporated in a bright column of white energy. The houses right next to his were also obliterated in the light. After a few minutes, the beam dissipated, leaving a smoking rubble in its wake. Kagai floated above, glad that one of the Arkana Force members was destroyed. To his right, he saw that a news helicopter had filmed the whole thing.
"We kid you not loyal viewers! A menacing tiger-like beast with wings has just demolished three homes in the downtown area. This reporter has never seen anything like this before. Wait, wait a second! It seems that the large beast has spotted us. It's flying towards us right now. Jeff, get us out here! The monster is still coming after us. We are now leaving the area. The creature seems to be forming some sort of energy ball in his hands, and now he has thrown it at us! It's about to ---"
The reporter couldn't finish his sentence because the energy ball had eclipsed the whirlybird and annihilated it in seconds. Robert sped down the streets just in time to see the two energy blasts go off. He could have stopped this if the highway wasn't so congested. Robert mentally beat himself up racing towards his long-time friend's former household. Maybe one of them managed to escape.
"This is all too easy. You would figure after all this time humans would have better defenses," Kagai said, disappointed.
As he walked slowly towards what used to be his home, Matthew was still in shock. Not even his pet, Dodger's, licking his hand could snap him out of it. There he saw the smoke rising from the hand of a skeleton, of what used to be his family. He went over to the rubble and started digging through. Maybe one of them was still alive. As he dug deeper, his eyes were still in a state of shock, as tears fell down his cheek like a waterfall. Dodger dug with Matthew, hoping to find something. After a few minutes of searching, Matthew had found something, but it wasn't his family.
Up above, Kagai had just noticed Matt and Dodger searching through the rubble. He sensed a presence from him and figured he had missed one. Not a problem, Kagai thought, Without the orb, he's nothing. As he floated down to the unsuspecting teenager, Kagai heard faint engine noises. Suddenly, behind him, were three jet fighters, waiting to destroy him. Two F-14s and one F-16 raced towards his location. In the F-16 was one of the most skilled pilots the military had. His name was Johnathan Sbocaj (Pronounced: bow-cA-jh. The S is silent.). He was in his mid-50's, but still better than most, if not all, of the pilots in the air force. He had bushy, white hair, and was a bit chunky, but still in tip top shape. He soon made visual contact with the target.
"I've got the enemy in my sights. You two stay back. I'm gonna see what this thing's made of," Johnathan said as he locked on, "All right. I got a lock. Box 3!"
He pressed the button on his joystick and one of the missles from his right wing scream in the air after Kagai. Unlike most missles, this one was a lot bigger, thus more powerful. The flying beast saw the weapon coming, and held out his arms. In one swift motion, he had grabbed the large missile, aimed it, and threw it back to the fighter jets. Johnathan had easily dodged the incoming dnager, as did the left F-14. However, the other plane was not so lucky as it was hit with the missile, and the two pilots inside melted with the rest of the plane in a big explosion. Johnathan cursed under his breath. He wasn't expecting this. The second F-14 screamed towards Kagai, ready to enact revenge.
"So, THIS is the best human kind can do? Pathetic," Kagai said, raising his hand. A small beam of white energy appeared in his hand. Gripping one end, the energy turned into a metal sword, its razor edges the sharpest in the universe. He flew towards the F-14 quickly.
The jet fired multiple missiles, but Kagai's sword slice all of the explosives quickly. The fighter tried to dodge the incoming assault, but Kagai was too fast, slicing the plane perfectly in half in one swift stroke. Johnathan could not believe his eyes as his fellow pilots were dispatched as easily as the first plane. Knowing the result, John fired his machine guns in rapid fire, only to be blocked by Kagai's powerful magic. Kagai just smiled and sped towards the plane, sword ready. Johnathan hit the boosters and flew out of the way just in time. Angry, Kagai fired multiple energy balls, all of which were dodged due to John's superior flying skills. Now annoyed, the giant beast threw his sword at Johnathan, who saw the sword hit his engines. Right before it could explode, Johnathan ejected from the plane and released his parachute. He was at the monster's mercy. Kagai was about to kill the pilot when he remembered the human. He looked down to see Matthew still at the rubble. Perfect.
Matthew was clutching tight what he had dug up, a medium-size picture, the frame charred, as well as the rim of the picture. It was a picture of his now-dead family. Their last group shot right after Samantha entered High School. He clutched the last renmant of his relatives tightly, only snapping out of it when he heard his faithful friend barking wildly. Matthew turned around to come face to face with a large, tiger-like creature with wings.
"I'm amazed you're still alive, really. I would have never expected a puny human to withstand my powers," Kagai said, "But that will soon be retified."
Matthew now realized that THIS was the monster who had just killed his family. Kagai raised his hand to kill the both of them, when Dodger snapped and ran right towards Kagai. The ancient demon was annoyed by this and simple slapped the hound aside, sending him crashing into a street light, seriously injured. That was it, Matthew could take it no more. First he killed his family, now hurt his friend. Matthew dropped the picture frame, and with a loud yell, charged the hulking beast. He tried to punch Kagai, but the demon simply side-stepped the assault. Again and again Matthew tried to punch the beast, but he couldn't land a hit. Finally, Kagai decided to stop playing this charade and jumped into the air. Matthew looked up just to meet Kagai's foot collide with his face, sending him across the street and flying into the door of a parked car. The injured teen coughed up some blood as he saw his arm stuck in the car door. He knew it was broken. Matthew couldn't move any of his limbs, but saw Kagai raise his hands to fire the death blast.
"Time for you to die," Kagai said as he smiled and charged up. Suddenly, a black SUV sped around the corner and down the street, stopping near Kagai and Matthew. Kagai saw a human getting out. He wore light blue jeans, a black shirt, and a brown leather jacket.
Robert saw the beast and knew exactly who it was. He then saw Matthew, halfway into the car, and seriously injured. Robert suddenly became angry and stared into Kagai's face.
"I know who you are. You are the demon beast Kagai, here to exact your revenge. Sorry to say this, but you're not going to do any more harm. Not as long as I'm here."
Kagai smiled at this, "Ah, so YOU are the 'Guardian of the Orbs.' Sorry, but you won't be able to call upon the Arkana Force this time. I will personally make sure of it."
"Don't be too sure about that," Robert said, running towards Kagai and giving him a swift jump kick to the chest, sending the demon into the rubble behind him.
Kagai quickly recovered and looked up just in time to see Robert land his foot into his face, sending him further into the charred stone. Not wasting time, Robert grabbed Dodger, put him in his truck, then went over to Matthew. He had to get them out of there. It would be too painful to get Matthew out of the door like this, so Robert simply ripped off the door, and tore the metal until Matthew rolled free. He grabbed his pupil and rushed him to the automobile. Just as Robert was speeding off, Kagai burst forth from the rubble, angry that a mere human bested him. Because Matthew had fallen unconsious, Kagai could not sense where he was. Spreading his wings, the demon flew off to find the pesky human.
Meanwhile, Robert backed into an alley about 1,000 feet from the battle ground. Both Dodger and Matthew were seriously hurt, but Robert was just glad one of them was alive. Quickly, he took the box from the glove compartment and opened it up. There, five glowing orbs of power shone brightly. Each was filled with a different animal spirit. They were of the rhinoceros, the scorpion, the eagle, the cheetah, and the wolf. The orb in the middle, with the spirit of the rhinoceros, glowed brightest, indicating its holder was close. Robert picked up the orb, and closed the box. After setting the box on the dashboard, Robert turned to Matthew.
"Here, take this. It will heal your wounds," Robert said, placing the orb in Matthew's hands.
Sure enough, the orb cackled with gold energy, then was absorbed into Matthew's hand, and his entire body glowed gold. His broken left arm raised itself, as Matt's eyes opened, amazed. He felt his body's wounds healing, as if he was back to normal. Matt looked at his hands, amazed he was still alive, when Robert got his attention.
"Listen Matthew, you have been granted access to a special power. I gave you a special orb that now lies deep inside your body. It contains great power. Hopefully enough to kill that monster. But you have to unlock it. Say the phrase 'Rhino Power Activate!' to unlock the power inside of you, so that you can fight Kagai before its too late," Robert explained.
Matt had no idea what he was saying, "What? But, what are you talking about?"
Robert had no time to explain further, as an explosion rocked the SUV. When the two humans looked at the smoke clear, both became frightened. There, standing before them, was Kagai.
"Well now, I finally found you. Thought you could run, eh? It won't help. Time to die, NOW!" Kagai yelled, before firing an energy ball at the SUV.
Robert was already backing out of the alley, and managed to turn onto the street right before the ball hit.
"Come on! We have to fight him!" Robert yelled, getting out of the truck.
"Uh, right," Matt said, slowly getting out of the car.
Kagai was quickly out of the alley and saw the two coming after him. Kagai smiled, then flew towards Robert at blinding speed, decking him in the face. Robert flew back through a street light and onto the street. Angry, Matt tried to attack the beast, only to be slapped away, sailing about 20 feet away.
"Ow. I gotta stop doing that," Matt said, struggling to get up.
Kagai was about to finish Matt when he heard a yell. Robert ran up to Kagai and gave a powerful jump kick to his face. Stunned, Kagai wasn't expecting the volley of jabs Robert was giving him in the stomach. Robert sent punch after punch into Kagai's gut, but was eventually slapped away as well. Recovering quickly, Robert jumped off the building and gave Kagai an overhead smash into the road. With Kagai stunned, he ran over to see if Matthew was OK.
"Come on Matt, you gotta unlock your power. I can't hold him off forever," Robert said, before Kagai rose, screaming his lungs out.
"Playtime is over," Kagai said, forming a sword out of white light.
Deciding enough was enough, Robert stood, ready. He raised his left arm, and concentrated. Soon, small, feather-shaped energy beams appeared all around Robert and Matthew. Within seconds, more than 100 energy feathers appeared.
"Feather Flight!" Robert yelled, then threw his arm in Kagai's direction. Instantly, all the energy feathers flew towards the demon. Kagai tried to block them, but they stung his skin. Energy feathers quickly replaced the ones that left and flew off, replaced by even more feathers. After 15 minutes of contant barrage, Robert stopped the attack, breathing heavily. Kagai was in a bracing position, his skin smoking. The feathers had stung, but didn't do much damage. Kagai now had a serious face, as within a second, he was on Robert, pummeling his body into tomorrow.
Matt had finally managed to stand up. He saw Robert unleashing that energy attack and couldn't believe it. Now he saw his former teacher being beaten up by that tiger-beast. He couldn't stand any more. Robert was being shown no mercy, just like his family and Dodger were. He HAD to have revenge.
"Rhino Power Activate!" Matt yelled out, raising his right hand. Instantly, the symbol that was on the orb appeared on his hand, surrounding Matthew in a column of light. Both fighters saw what was happening. Robert was happy, while Kagai was angry of not killing him when he had the chance.
Matthew was enveloped in golden light, and white ribbons appeared all over his clothes. The ribbons formed into a gray, thick, leather-like jumpsuit, with a belt around his waist, and gloves & boots appearing as well. A red bandana appeared around his forehead, while a large sword appeared on his back. A rhinoceros head also appeared on his chest, making the transformation complete. The golden light dissipated, and Matthew was no more. There stood in his place, the leader of the Arkana Force.
"Wha...Wha happened?" Matt said, analyzing his new clothes. They were very thick but yet felt natural to him.
Dropping Robert into the ground, Kagai now turned his attention to Matthew, "Just because you unlocked the orb's power doesn't mean you will win."
With that, Kagai flew at Matt and unleashed a powerful punch right at his head. Matt freaked and braced himself. The punch hit his braced arms, only moving the new warrior a few inches. Both warriors were surprised at this, and Matt took this opportunity to sock Kagai in his jaw, sending him flying 20 feet.
"That was for my family," Matt said, running at Kagai, "And THIS is for Mr. Caon!"
Matt gave another powerful punch to Kagai's jaw, but this time Kagai stopped himself. Then, grabbing the sword behind his back, Matthew unsheathed it, ready to strike, then letting the sword tip touch the ground.
"Man, this thing's heavy!" Matt said, only to see Kagai flying towards him. Panicing, Matt heaved the sword with all his strength, and cut Kagai on the cheek, giving him a nasty scar.
"You will pay for that, wench!" Kagai said, charging up and firing an energy ball.
Matt quickly dodged the ball, rolling to the left, but saw another one coming. Scared, Matt managed to pull the sword up just in time to block the ball. Using his newfound strength, Matt managed to send the energy ball screaming into a surprised Kagai, sending him into a nearby building. Quickly regaining his composure, Kagai barely managed to dodge Matt's sword being thrown at him. Kagai flew into the air, ready to kill the persistant fighter. Breathing heavily, Matt also rushed towards his enemy, trying to knock him out with one punch. Both fighters charged at each other. Without knowing it, red energy started to gather in Matthew's fist, eventually forming a large fireball. Kagai let loose, but was sent up in the air by Matthew's fireball-enchanced punch. The demon flew into a nearby electronic billboard, eletrocuting himself into an explosion.
Kagai was not dead yet. He rose, one arm broken, and severly weakened. He saw that not only had Matt managed to retrieve his sword, but Robert was now up. There was no way he could handle both of them at once in his current state. He cursed himself. If that Guardian hadn't interfered, he would have won. Kagai just smiled.
"Don't think you've won the war yet. I shall return more powerful than ever. You won't get lucky next time," Kagai said, using his wings to raise himself to the air and flying away.
Matt was surprised that Kagai retreated like that, but angry that he didn't kill him when he had the chance. Robert breathed a sigh of relief.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Robert said, heading toward his SUV, "we gotta get Dodger some help."
"Hold on, how am I supposed to get out of this?" Matt asked.
"Just concentrate and focus," Rob said.
Matt closed his eyes, and suddenly, his jumpsuit turned into white ribbons, flowing into his chest, and he was now back in his T-shirt and jeans. Both weary warriors got into the truck.
"I should have killed him when I had the chance," Matt said, angry, "I should have avenged my family!" He was now starting to cry again.
"Don't worry. You'll get plenty of chances. And you WILL kill him, I know." Robert said.
As the two drove off to find a veterinarian, both knew that Kagai was going to be back, stronger than ever.
To be continued...
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