Chapter 7: The Journey to Zanta City

It's a very long walk to Zanta City and the duo wished they had a car. "Do any of the cars work in your village?" Jayce asked jokingly. "A few do but, most were destroyed or ran out of fuel," she said. "So, you're from Blanto correct?" she asked him. He nodded. "What's it like?" she asked. "Well, it's a small, poor market town it had a decent amount of people living there but when GhostStrike came, he destroyed many houses and killed many people. Now there's only a handful of people left including my dad, my best friend, and her mom," he said. "Wow, you had a friend?" she asked cutting him off. "Oh, sorry I just never had a friend before please continue." "No, it's okay, anyway most of my days were spent helping my dad with making shoes or training with my friend," he said. "Training?" Neon asked. "Oh, you know like self-defense and using weapons that kind of stuff. Her mom runs a training center" he said. "Interesting." They walked past a forest. "So, how was life for you?" Jayce asked. "As I mentioned before, I came from a neighborhood in Sulfur Valley. It was hard to make friends because I was shy and most of the kids were snobby. My brother though, made friends easily because he had a better personality and of course everything got worse when we moved to Cespion Village as I told you before right?" Jayce nodded. 

Up ahead, they saw an abandoned town named Castro Town. The sign was broken in half on the ground. "Hey, let's check this town out maybe we could find some supplies," said Jayce. Neon agreed. Most of the houses were destroyed but some were left abandoned. They checked out the first house they saw. The front door was unlocked and they went inside. It was empty but they decided to split up. Jayce went to the kitchen to look for food while Neon went to check the bedrooms for any other useful items. In the kitchen, Jayce opened a fridge and found a bunch of rotten food. He held his nose to prevent himself from vomiting. He closed the door and moved onto the cabinets. Meanwhile, Neon was looking through one of the rooms to see what she can find. She couldn't find anything at all. She assumed that the owners left and took everything to become wanderers. She went to the next room. She opened the creaky door and initially thought there was nothing either. In the room, it was just a bed and a table. However, she noticed that the small table had a small drawer. She opened the drawer and found a dagger. She picked it up and examined it. The dagger was still in good condition. This could be my backup weapon she thought to herself. They met up in the living room to show what they found. Jayce found water bottles and canned food. Neon only found the dagger. Jayce looked at Neon's new weapon. "That's a nice dagger," he said to her. She placed the dagger in her back pocket. "Should we check out another house?" she asked. Jayce nodded and they went to the house next door. 

The door of this house was also unlocked. When they went inside, there was a weird smell. The living room was creepy and looked even more rundown than the previous one. Before they could split up, they heard something coming down the stairs. They froze in place. Coming down the stairs was a skinny man crawling on all fours. When it got to the last step, it looked up at them. He had bloodshot eyes and dried blood on his mouth. He had a crazy expression. The two gulped. The person quickly charged at them on all fours. Jayce and Neon ran out of the house. When they reached the street, they turned around but the crazy man was no longer chasing them. They heard a bloodcurdling scream from the house. They ran to the end of the street out of fear. "What was that?" Jayce asked. "I think it was some insane cannibal," she said. They both thought it was best to leave the town now and continue their journey.

Back in Blanto, Jayce's dad was kneeling in front of his wife's grave. "Please protect him, my dear, I hope he can accomplish his journey or at least bring him back home safe." He kissed the top of the grave and slowly got up. The stress of losing his son had made his condition worse. He limped back to his house. Meanwhile, Hiva returned to her house after a long patrol. Mostly she was wandering around aimlessly and wondering where her friend could be and if he was even still alive. She was optimistic but her worries got the best of her. "Is that your dear?" Hiva's mom asked. "Yes, mom" Hiva responded as she closed the door. She went into her mom's room. Hiva forgot to change her sad expression. Hiva's mom looked at her. "What's wrong? You look sad and when you left, it seemed like you were in a hurry." Hiva sighed and looked down. "Nothing, just tired after patrolling." Her mom didn't buy it. "Tell me what's really bothering you." Hiva sighed again and forced herself not to cry. "It's Jayce... He left on a journey to pursue GhostStrike and Pyranical because he felt he had to live up to his mom's legacy. When I woke up, I found a note from him at the door, and then I went to his house and found Dober helping Zato after he collapsed nearby" she said. Hiva began to cry. "Now, I don't even know if he is alive." Hiva's mom stared in silence. She was stunned at what her daughter just told her. "Why would he do such a thing, I don't even know if we trained him enough." She viewed Valencia as a sister so Jayce was like a nephew to her. She tried to get up from her bed but couldn't. "Curse this broken leg and injured back, if it wasn't for them I would've gone after him," she said pridefully. Her pride was quickly lost when she began to have a coughing fit. Hiva fetched the medicine and poured some for her mom. She took a sip. She was still coughing afterward. "We must have hope," she said before coughing again. "I'll go and make your soup," Hiva said. 

Jayce and Neon were already a good distance away from Castro Town but they were still scared of what they saw back there. Neon tried to break the uneasiness by asking Jayce if he could train her to use the dagger. He nodded. "Give me your best shot." Neon tried to stab him with the dagger but was quickly blocked by his sword. "Obviously you are going to keep blocking me since you have a big sword and I only have a tiny dagger," she said. "Yeah, but you can move the dagger faster than the sword and is better at catching opponents off guard." He demonstrated how fast he can move the sword. Neon handed the dagger to him and he showed how much faster he can move the dagger and how precise it could be when attacking. She was impressed by his skills. "They taught you well," she said as he gave her dagger back to her. "Now try to strike me," he said. He dropped the sword. She was hesitant at first but she tried to stab him but he quickly disarmed her. "Too slow," Jayce said. She had an angry expression on her face. "Yup, you do need some training." She sighed but she was ready to be taught. Jayce proceeded to teach her what he learned back in Blanto. 

"Where is he?" Pyranical angrily asked. "He should have been here by now." A tall, skinny creature came out from one of the rooms. His head looked like a rotten green pumpkin with green glowing eyes and a mouth. He wielded a long sickle. "Grunt, have you heard anything from him yet?" he asked. Grunt shook his head no. "He is either taking his sweet time or went somewhere else instead of reporting back here," Pyranical said. "Shall we look for him, boss?" asked Grunt. "At this point. I feel like we should but when I find him, I'll use his head to play some bowling for not reporting back to me!" he exclaimed. Before they were about to leave, Pyranical eyed the two monsters that were standing nearby. "What do you guys want?" "We need something to do," said the witch. Pyranical sighed and thought for a moment. "Okay, Grenda you watch the cameras and Thunderous... Pyranical looked up at him. Thunderous is a giant blue and yellow cobra that has electric powers. "Go and help the others in Zanta city or something." "How does one keep watch?" the witch asked. Pyranical slapped his forehead. "You just look at these giant screens and use these buttons to switch angles or cities." The witch sat down on his chair. She stared at the screens and buttons. "Oh, I seem to have misplaced my glasses, I can't see without them." Pyranical was starting to get mad. She pretended to look around for them. "Ah, here they are." She tapped her forehead and her glasses appeared on her face. "So, what happens if I see something wrong?" she asked. "Like what?" Pyranical asked angrily. "What if I see people trying to rebel?" "Then use the speaker here to alert the monsters to where the riot is and they can stop it." He turned to leave but the witch had another question. "What if the screens turn off?" Pyranical angrily stared at her. "Reboot the system or alert me," he said angrily. He was about to burst into flames. "Do you have any other questions?" he asked calmly. He was about to leave but the witch said "Yup!" "What is it!" Pyranical asked her. "What do I do if they want to go to the bathroom?" Pyranical angrily yelled and was about to throw a fireball at her but stopped because he was afraid that he would hit the screens. "Alright, let's go Grunt if he comes back here notify me," he said to the witch. Grunt held on to Pyranical's arm. The witch glared at Grunt before they disappeared. 

The witch let out a mischievous laugh. She already knew what to do and what buttons to press. "I love messing around with the boss, I like annoying him." She let out another laugh. "Yes it was very funny," Thunderous said. "However, I couldn't help but notice that you were glaring at Grunt, why?" The witch stopped laughing. "Because I don't get why he is his assistant, I mean boss didn't even make him, he just stole him from somewhere and he can't teleport like us, did you see he had to grab the boss's arm to teleport with him?" "I see, well friend I must follow boss's orders and help the monsters in Zanta City I guess" "Don't worry, I'll still see you on the screen here." She pointed at the screen showing a camera angle looking down at Zanta City. The snake laughed. "Yes, you would." He teleported away. The witch waved goodbye and did what she was told.

They arrived at Cespion Village. They looked around the place for any sign of GhostStrike. When the villagers saw them, they immediately ran to their homes screaming. "Shut up you idiots, I'm not here to hurt you!" Pyranical yelled out. "Boss, I don't think he is in the neighborhood," said Grunt. Pyranical teleported upwards to get a better view of the village. He looked around but he didn't see GhostStrike. He went back down. "He must be either in that forest or in the plaza," said Grunt. They decided to check the forest first. The forest was small but dense. They walked around for a bit but Pyranical was starting to lose hope. "Where could that floating bowling ball have gone?" They called his name but to no avail. "I don't think he is here either," Pyranical said. "Shall we check the plaza then sir?" Grunt asked. He nodded. They walked towards the plaza. "This plaza is not that big and I don't see him," Pyranical said. "Let's go to the next town maybe he is there." Before they left, Grunt pointed to the abandoned building. "What if he is there?" Grunt already was going to check. "I doubt he will be there," Pyranical said. Grunt peered into the window. It was dark inside but he could make out a bowling ball and two objects next to it. He didn't think this small building would be big enough to have a bowling alley. He wanted to go inside just to make sure. He climbed into the building through the broken window and Pyranical followed behind. They looked around and saw many arcade cabinets and other arcade games. Grunt walked towards where he saw the bowling ball. He stopped in his tracks when he saw what was next to the bowling ball. Pyranical saw what he was staring at. Next to the bowling ball were the arm cannons. He pushed Grunt to the side and picked up GhostStrike's head. "Who could've done this?" he asked. He noticed the big crack behind the head. He started to become angry and he dropped the bowling ball. "Who!" he yelled. His body began to be engulfed in flames. Grunt ran and jumped back outside to get away. Pyranical let out a yell and the arcade exploded in flames. Grunt was dodging the falling debris.

Pyranical emerged from the burning building. He was still in flames but not as much as his initial outburst. Pyranical marched back to the main street of the village and Grunt slowly followed. "Someone tell me right now who killed him?" Pyranical yelled angrily. The people outside were standing there scared and the ones in their homes slowly opened their windows. "You got five seconds to tell me who did it!" he yelled. He began to count. Most of the villagers froze in place accepting their fate. The rest tried to run for their life. "Please, have mercy we don't know who killed him!" cried out a woman. "Too bad!" Pyranical said. He created a wall of fire that spanned from one end of the town to the other. Once done, he threw the gigantic wall at the town. The fire disintegrated when it reached the village's northern border. He fell to the ground. He was weak after exerting so much fire. Though he laughed when he saw the entire village engulfed in flames. "Uh, boss" Grunt said as he pointed to the untouched plaza. Pyranical weakly shook his head and motioned to Grunt that it was time to go. He was so weak and tired that he could barely teleport the two of them back to the base. 

When they arrived back at the base, Pyranical slumped to the ground. The witch turned around to see what the noise was. "What's up with him?" she asked. "We found GhostStrike dead and boss went angry and blew up the entire village so now he is weak" Grunt answered. She snickered. "May the dumb bowling ball ghost rest in peace." Pyranical glared at her. "Well, I must go now, see ya, boss." She laughed as she teleported away somewhere. 

"Wow, you are a quick learner," said Jayce. Neon smiled. "I try to do my best." He taught her the basics of how to use the dagger which he passed down from his mentors. "Of course, you still need some training but that's enough for now." She nodded. He looked up at the sky and guessed that it was noon. They continued on their journey. "How much longer do you think until we reach Zanta City?" Jayce asked. "I think we're more than halfway there" Neon responded. They walked for a bit before Jayce asked her a personal question. "May I ask, why did your dad want to experiment on your brother to make him smarter?" Neon hesitated to answer but she thought it was best to tell him. "Well, because my dad wanted him to be more like me, smart and quiet but he was the opposite. He would rather spend time with friends than do lab work with dad. It also didn't help that my brother was also gullible and didn't do his research correctly so my dad got annoyed with him when he believed and cited sources that were either outdated or completely false. When my dad started to go insane, he thought he could make him smarter with some experiments but as you know it didn't go well." He didn't know what to say. "I feel sorry for your brother, I mean he couldn't be himself," he said finally. "Yeah, my dad was strict, he wasn't satisfied with one of his kids becoming a scientist, he wanted both of us to be like him." Before he could say anything, a small group of muggers jumped from the bushes and blocked their path. 

The muggers were much bigger than them and they weren't intimidated by a guy with a toy sword and a girl. "Hey kids, how about you just hand over the stuff and make this easy for us?" said the tallest one as he cracked his knuckles. "Remember your training" whispered Jayce to Neon. "They probably got good stuff to sell on the black market," said the bearded one looking at Neon's flasks. "Yeah and I bet they have food for us in that backpack," said the short one. "Mmm, food," said the fat one. The other three stared at him in disgust. The duo tried to walk past them but the muggers quickly turned their attention back to them. "So, are you going to give us your stuff?" the tall one asked. They shook their head no. "Alright, let's get 'em boys!" The tall one and the fat one lunged at Jayce while the other two lunged at Neon. Jayce jumped away from the attackers and swung his sword to the left. The fat mugger's arm was chopped off. He screamed, "I thought it was just a toy sword!" The tall one looked at his fallen member and looked back at Jayce. "Eh, I've dealt with swordsmen before." He went back to attacking Jayce. Neon dodged an attack from the bearded mugger. He attacked again but slipt. This gave Neon enough time to pull out her dagger and quickly stab him in the back. He yelled in pain. The short one came running towards Neon. He swatted the dagger from Neon's hand. Neon panicked and quickly pulled out the flask containing Hydrofluoric acid and splashed the contents at him. The short mugger cried out in pain. Jayce was still fighting the tall mugger who he assumed was the leader as he was more skilled than the others. He swung at him but the mugger countered by punching him in the gut. Jayce fell to the ground and the mugger flipped him over and pinned him to the ground. Neon tried to run towards him but the bearded one tripped her with his leg. She fell hard on the road. The bearded mugger got up and went to attend to his two badly injured friends. "Now, give us your stuff or I'll kill you!" the tall mugger said as he pulled out a pocket knife. Jayce closed his eyes and accepted his fate. 

He opened them up when he felt his hand becoming hot. He saw the mugger's knife inches from his face but his eyes were focused on something else. Jayce looked at his sword and saw that it was on fire but he didn't know how he did that. "What kind of magic is this?" the mugger asked. His group all stared at the flaming sword. Once Jayce felt the mugger was loosening his grip, he pushed him off. Jayce quickly stood up and aimed the flaming sword at him. The mugger felt the sword burn his face. He looked at his wounded group. "Retreat!" he yelled. The muggers ran in the opposite direction in which the duo was heading. He was mesmerized by the flaming sword but it quickly turned off. However, it was still glowing red. Neon went to go pick up her dagger from the ground. Jayce noticed she was stumbling a bit. She noticed that he was looking at her leg. "It's nothing I just hurt a little when I got tripped." "You did well," Jayce said to her. "It felt like I was attacking on instinct like I didn't hesitate," she said. He laughed. "Maybe you're a natural-born fighter." She laughed too and they continued on their way. 

"I mean who could've done this?" Pyranical asked himself. "I don't know sir but we must move on," Grunt said. "He was the first one to die but he wasn't the weakest." He sat pondering in his chair. "I suppose I should tell everybody about the tragedy," Pyranical said. He was about to turn on the speaker but stopped. He thought for a second. He pushed a button with a picture of the witch. He had buttons for a few of his monsters so they can be informed if they are needed at the base. The witch appeared. "What do you want?" she said impatiently. "I want you to inform the monsters of GhostStrike's murder," Pyranical said to her. She grunted. "However, you were very rude about his passing so as punishment you are to only use your broom to get to places and not your teleportation powers." She had a shocked face. "Excuse me?" "And to make sure you follow orders, Grunt will go with you." The witch did a fit. "Now go!" Pyranical yelled. The witch was startled and she quickly summoned her broom and she and Grunt got on. They flew out of the base.