Phantasy Star Online

Inner Circle

By Ethan Hammond ©2001

 

Part 3 Penultimate Showdown

 

            Vash the Stampede charged the Grass Assassin as the Assassin roared upwards brandishing its fierce claws menacingly at Vash.  The Assassin breathed its paralysis breath on Vash.

            “That will not work on me, because androids are immune to status effects,” Vash said heroically.

            Vash dispensed of the Assassin with his H & S Justice guns.  Vash was in the lava room in the Caves.  Venus Akari, …, and Yuna were with him as well.  They were all wearing black t-shirts that said, “Vash World Order 4 Life” on the front of the shirts in white letters with a spray paint type font.

            Vash cried oily tears of joy, “Finally, I am the star of the story and have my own trio of hotties as well.  I knew that all I had to do was to keep paying my dues and I would be aptly rewarded for it.”

            Suddenly, Shyne, Sage, Xavier, and Belldandy mysteriously teleported into the room.

            “You are under arrest by order of the Principal,” Shyne stated.

            Vash uttered a string of obscenities too vile to be displayed in his text bubble.

            “I see how it is,” Vash said taunting defiantly.  “You may have been able to capture me before.  But things are different now.  Because now, I Vash the Stampede, the Human Typhoon am the star of the story, so you will not defeat me.  And not only that, but I bite my thumb at you!!”

            Vash winked and smiled.

            Shyne snapper her fingers.

            “That was a beautiful soliloquy, but it does not change what I have to do.  Sage deal with this bug,” Shyne said with a confident smirk.

            “The Vash World Order is loyal and the most powerful group of all,” Vash explained.  “You will see we are not to be taken lightly.”

            “Don’t use the full three shots,” Shyne said rethinking her strategy.  “Just use two.”

            “Okay,” Sage replied.  “Heaven’s Punisher rain down on all who oppose us, Raging Storm!!”

            “Ahhhhhhhh!!” screamed the Vash World Order as they collapsed to the ground in extreme pain.

            “Why must I be comic relief?” Vash whined and complained with oily tears in his eyes.  “This time it is unforgivable, you have gone too far!!”

            “Raging Storm!!” Sage yelled again.

            The Vash World Order fell silent as they succumbed to unconsciousness.

            “Now we can collect our reward from the wonderful Principal,” Belldandy said in her sweet subservient voice while wearing an apron and using a broom to clean the caves.

            “Indeed,” Xavier said in the caves.

            The Omega Phoenix drifted in space, gurgling pleasantly in its peaceful sleep.  Suddenly, the crimson firebird opened its eyes with a purpose.

            “The time is at hand,” the Omega Phoenix though.  “The chosen one is nearby.

            The Omega Phoenix flew with a burst of speed and vanished in the distant horizon.

            “Gggggggrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr,” growled the Dragon as it spewed flames at Nuku Nuku.

            “Nyah, hot!” Nuku Nuku yelled while dodging the attacks.

            “Fret you not lass, for I Bebop always have a plan.  HAR!!  HAR!! HAR!!” Bebop exclaimed.

            “Yay!” Nuku Nuku replied happily.

            “What is your plan Bebop?” Megumi asked intently.

            “Argh!  I will use a telepipe and retreat, says I!” Bebop explained.

            “You can’t use telepipes in boss fights,” Megumi replied annoyed.

            Megumi knocked Bebop out with a trilogy of CLONGS!! From the always dependable frying pan.

            “Baka, baka!!  Never underestimate the cute chibi force,” Megumi said doing the peace sign at the same time.

            “Take this Dragon.  Ninja Master Raion’s ultimate attack, Six Slash!!” Raion attacked the Dragon with his Twin Brand double saber.

            The Dragon retaliated by stepping on Raion and then swatting him with his tail.  Raion was slammed against the wall with incredible force.

            “I will have my revenge…in this game or the next,” Raion promised.

            The Dragon grabbed Nuku Nuku in its talons and flew.

            “Noooooooooooooooooo,” Bebop said in horror.

            “Nyah,” Nuku Nuku said in terror.  “Nuku Nuku does not like this.”

            The Dragon started spewing fire at the three on the ground.

            “This is not world class,” Nuku Nuku said.

            Nuku Nuku drove her Dragonslayer into the Dragon’s side.  The Dragon whelped in pain and released Nuku Nuku from its grasp.

            “Nuku Nuku messed up,” Nuku Nuku said as she plummeted to the ground.

            “Where am I?  Why am I here?  What am I doing?  Where is this place?”  Luna asked the enigmatic man in black.

            The two were in a beautiful field, which had a large monument in the center of it.

            “Humph,” the man replied. “You have no idea do you?”

            “That’s why I’m asking questions,” Luna said punching the man in the gut and then putting him in the figure four leg lock submission hold, followed by the scorpion death lock submission hold.

            “Let me go and I will tell you,” the man said as he tapped out.

            “You better,” Luna replied. “Because I am the little @#*!% that could.”

            “My name is Elbryan,” the man began.

            “I know that name,” Luna interrupted. “You are Asylus’s father.”

            “Yes that’s right,” Elbryan replied. “Asylus is my beloved daughter.”

            “She is also my big sister’s best friend,” Luna added.

            “Yes,” Elbryan agreed. “This is true.”

            “So why are we here?  In this place?” Luna asked.

            “This place as you call it.  This place happens to be where a great warrior lies deactivated, inside that very monument.  That is where he has resided for the past 600 years.  That is where I put him.” Elbryan stated coldly.

            “A great warrior?” Luna asked in awe.

            “Yes, a warrior who once single handedly defeated the one who in a few cycles will reveal himself here,” Elbryan elaborated. “The one who ever 1000 years challenges mankind, and wishes nothing but our total annihilation and complete destruction.”

            “That could only be Dark Force,” Luna said a bit afraid.

            “Yes,” Elbryan retorted. “The very same.  But this time, it’s my time.  I will be the one to defeat Dark Force and claim victory.”

            The Dragon swatted and grabbed the Dragonslayer with its talons.  Slowly it pulled the sword out of its wounded side.  The Dragon grasped the sword triumphantly in its talon and broke it into two pieces.

            “Ahhhh help me,” Nuku Nuku cried out as she fell.

            “I’ve got you Nuku Nuku,” Raion said.

            “Aye will save ye lass,” Bebop said.

            Both Bebop and Raion were looking up into the sky and ran headlong into each other collapsing in a heap.  Nuku Nuku landed unharmed onto of them and gave the peace sign.

            “Yay,” Nuku Nuku said. “How dare you break my sword Dragon.  That was a present from my best friend, Asylus.”

            “Argh.  Fret not lass, for I am Bebop, and I will use the parts of the weapons I have found to make ye a new sword, says I,” Bebop announced.

            “You can do that?” Nuku Nuku said questioning with disbelief.

            “Aye lass, for I am Bebop,” he replied with a wild pirate grin.

            Megumi had fallen asleep because the battle was taking too long and she was bored of it.

            Bebop picked up the two pieces of the Dragonslayer and dropped a bunch of worthless special weapons around the area.  Then he began to forge a new weapon using his magic technique spells, such as fire and lightening to weld it together.

            “Argh, I be a mighty pirate,” Bebop said.

            Raion attacked the Dragon.

            “Six Strike,” Raion said as he called his attack.

            Since the Dragon was already weakened it buckled from the pain of its wounds and collapsed, crushing Raion under it as if he had used a telepipe in the caves that some prankster had located in a crusher.

            “Just you wait Dragon, just you wait.  You may have the upper hand now, but I have not yet begun to fight,” Raion promised.

            “You okay lion san?” Nuku Nuku said as she gently pulled him out of the ground.

            “I was lagging, he never would have touched me if I was not lagging,” Raion speculated.

            “It’s okay now,” Nuku Nuku said giving Raion a huggle.

            The Dragon had burrowed itself under the ground like Bugs Bunny.

            “How is it going, Bebop?” Nuku Nuku asked hopefully.

            “Argh, making weapons be harder than aye though lass,” Bebop answered. “Wait, I have it now!”

            Bebop concentrated on his task as he used so many fire and lightening technique spells that it was impossible for anyone to see what he was doing.

            “Here it be, Nuku Nuku,” Bebop said proudly. “The Chainsawd!”

            “Yay,” Nuku Nuku said with happy excitement as she tacklehuggled Bebop.

            The Dragon burst out from beneath the ground and spun around three times in the air before landing with a distinct thud that shook the entire battlefield.

            “It’s time to finish this,” Nuku Nuku encouraged.

            “Digitaru saber ignite.  Six Strike!!” Raion said as he attacked.

            “Argh, argh, argh,” Bebop said as he attacked with the various weapons that he had left.

            Megumi was snoring loudly.

            “Its time to get serious,” Nuku Nuku said. “Cross Clash!!”

            “All three attacked the Dragon in unison.  The Dragon could not handle so much damage at once.  It reared its head and roared a final time as it collapsed in defeat.

            “We did it,” Raion said triumphantly.

            “Yay,” Nuku Nuku and Bebop said at the same time.

            A blue bird had curled up next to Megumi.  It rolled over and Megumi woke up startled.

            “What the?” Megumi uttered in confusion.

            “Rappy, rappy, al rappy,” the bird said in a cute voice.  “Rap, rap, rappy.”

            “How cute,” Megumi said as she petted the bird. “I guess the blue ones are nice.”

            “Is that true?” Nuku Nuku wondered aloud.

            “Who cares, no one ever sees them anyway,” Raion joked.

            “Rappy, al rappy,” the bird said as it nuzzled Megumi gently.

            The bird winked knowingly and suddenly the four were teleported to a beautiful field.

            “Big sister,” Luna yelled as she charged Nuku Nuku and football tacklehuggled her.

            “Little sister, yay!” Nuku Nuku replied joyously.

            “Rappy, rappy, rappy,” the bird said as it started to freak out for some reason.  “Al, rappy!”  It was yelling now.

            “It is time,” Elbryan said as he walked defiantly to the monument his body starting to glow with a powerful aura of shifta and deband.

            The beautiful field dissolved into a horrible nightmarish environment with the faces of tortured souls as the ground and some of their sprits floating about.  Razor sharp Darvant’s came out of the ground tearing into the groups flesh.

            “I like this not,” Nuku Nuku said.

            “No one hurts me,” Luna said as she angrily fired her bazooka at anything that moved.

            As quickly as they had appeared the Darvants were gone and in there place appeared the biggest and most terrifying monster ever, Dark Force.  Dark Force roared maliciously as lightening flashed across the pitch-black sky.

            “I am reborn,” Dark Force announced in his voice of pure darkness.

            “Game over man…game over,” Nuku Nuku said.

 

To be concluded…

 

Next:  Full Circle