Ch. 9: Light in the Dark

A Chapter by Brenden Brown

A new hero is made while the Seth tries to collect his Sun Relic Fragment.

Chapter 9: Light in the Dark
The mountain was huge. I didn't know how you could put something that big in a dungeon, not to mention that there are two more dungeons right beside this one.
"Unless..." I thought to myself. "This must be another dimension!"
I grabbed my cudgel and started my way up. However, the trail up was guarded by three of the big Akuma that Frank was talking about.
"What was it..." I said. "Oh right! The head!"
I slammed my cudgel onto the Akuma's skull, killing it instantly.
"Too easy!" I thought to myself.
Well, that's what I thought at the time. I got a little too cocky and one was actually able to hit me with its huge ball and chain. The impact sent me back a little.
"Wow." I thought to myself. "I sure can take a hit pretty well."
I let another one hit me just for the fun of it. This time however, it kinda hurt.
"Ouch... I think I need a more defensive move." I said. "How about..."
I focused my brain on a shield-type thing and slammed my weapon into the ground. I didn't think it was possible, but out of the crack I made came a shield made of obsidian.
"That's so cool!" I exclaimed. "Time to try it out!"
I let another Akuma attack, this time with my shield out. It swung its weapon and hit my shield. It cracked a little, but I took NO damage. I finished off the last two big Akuma, and was finally able to take the trail up the mountain.
"This is gonna take a while." I said to myself. "I can't even see the top!"
I was running up the mountain trail until I found a room blocking my path. I went inside and there was my first obstacle. It was sorta like a puzzle. There were 4 levers, one in each corner, and a locked door. I tried busting down the door but it wouldn't budge. It was as if there was something blocking the other side of the door. I pulled one of the levers, which made the door go into a slot right above it. The bad thing was that there was another door right behind it!
"Does each lever open a different door?" I said to myself. "Then there should be 4 doors-"
I was cut off by the door slamming back down and the lever going back to its original spot.
"I have to get them all before they close?" I groaned. "Ughh."
I tried pulling the levers as fast as I could, but before I could even get to the fourth one, the first door closed back.
"Dang it!" I yelled.
I stomped on the ground. I stomped so hard that it created a vertical crack in the ground. When the crack was done going forward, a rock jutted of the ground.
"OOOH!" I shouted. "NEW MOVE!"
I tried stomping with both feet, which did the attack in front of me AND behind me!
"This could come in handy!" I said. "What if I..."
I stood in the center of the back two levers and did the attack with two feet. When the rocks jutted up, it smacked the levers, opening up the first and third doors. I then bolted to the front two levers and did the same thing, making the second and fourth doors open up. Once all the doors were opened, I slid under and almost made it through all doors, but the third door was slammed down and caught my shirt! The fourth one was also about to come down... right on top of me! I managed to get out just in the nick of time, but my shirt got ripped by the door.
"Why didn't we bring our armor on this mission?" I complained, flopping to the ground.
That near death experience made me think, which is something I hardly do. What are we even doing here? We're trapped in the middle of a rainforest trying to get pieces of another piece of something just to help an old man.
"I miss being normal." I whined. "I miss my family. I miss JT. I even miss school. I just want things to go back to normal."
I started to cry. This was the weakest I've ever felt. I slumped to my side, still sobbing, and took an unsettling nap.

Back on the original dimension, Tanaka was doing some research inside his hut while the eight heroes were gone. He opened up a drawer with eight scrolls on the top, all in a different color. Tanaka recognized these as the elemental scrolls, but something was off.
"Hmm..." Tanaka said in deep thought. "I don't think eight is right..."
Tanaka searched through the drawer, tossing aside countless scrolls and papers. Finally, when he reached the bottom of the drawer, he found what he was looking for.
"Aha!" Tanaka said. "I knew there was nine!"
Tanaka picked up a bright yellow scroll that read "light element" and below it was a picture of eight rings, four for each hand. To the right of the rings, it showed the rings on someone. Each ring emitted a bright yellow blade, shaped like a claw.
"Yes!" Tanaka said. "I can easily make these!"
Below the rings was a set of light armor. It was colored white and gold. Under the armor was an arrow pointing down. It indicated that once someone puts on the armor, the claws will change. With the armor, the claws grow longer, become sharper, and three large claws grow on the feet as well.
Finally, under that, the scroll showed a few techniques.
"Okay, time to get to work." Tanaka said. "I could give these to that one sad kid that's a friend of Frank's and Drew's."
Tanaka teleported to the Training Dimension and got to work.
A few minutes later, Tanaka returned to Earth with a case that had the rings and the armor in it, and went to JT's house.
Tanaka rang JT's doorbell, and sure enough, JT opened the door.
"Tanaka?" JT asked, confused. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be helping save the world or whatever?"
"That's what I'm here for." Tanaka laughed. "Come with me."
JT followed Tanaka to his hut on Green Street. When they got inside, Tanaka opened the case. Inside were the rings and the armor.
"Aw man..." JT said. "Everyone else got a cool weapon and all I got is some lousy jewelry."
"Try putting them on." Tanaka said. "If you do, you'll see that they aren't 'lousy jewelry'"
JT unenthusiastically put on one of the rings, causing a blade to form from his finger.
"Woah!" JT shouted. "How is this even possible?"
JT excitedly put on the remaining seven rings. The final result was two awesome-looking pairs of claws.
"This is so cool!" JT cheered. "Can they retract or turn off?"
Tanaka laughed.
"Yes, but that's for your mind to control." Tanaka said. "The others had to find their element before they got their weapons and armor. Just like Drew and Frank, you're getting a head start. To truly use your weapons, you must first master the element of light. The light element may seem unimportant, but since Akuma are dark-dwellers, having light on a team is always handy."
"Light, huh?" JT said. He thought about his new job. He thought about helping his friends. He wanted this, and now he has it. "Hey, Tanaka?"
Tanaka looked at JT.
"Thank you." JT smiled. "When I figured out that all my best friends got to have an awesome adventure, but I got abandoned, I got super bummed out. At school they told me about going to an island and an underwater city and a pirate ship, and thinking that I could've done that with them... I couldn't stand it! I'm just glad that now I get to prove that I'm not useless."
"That's very touching." Tanaka smiled. He looked down at the case. "You haven't put your armor on."
"I'll put it on later." JT said. "The others told me that they had to train for a while before they got their armor, so I'll follow that trend."
Tanaka nodded and grabbed his Interdimensional Gate Key.
"What's that rock?" JT asked. "It looks cool."
"It's an Interdimensional Gate Key." Tanaka explained. "It is use to travel from this dimension to my special dimension I use for training."
"Wait a minute..." JT said, confused. "Brenden told me that you give him your IGK's when they go on missions. How do you have that one?"
"Simple. I made a copy both of them the day before they came over here and used them."
"Oh okay... Oh yeah! I have good news!"
"You do, do you? What is it?"
"This upcoming Wednesday is the last day of school until summer break!"
"That's good. Now you and the others will be able to train more."
Tanaka was about to press his thumb on a certain part of the IGK, when...
"Wait!" JT interrupted. "I... I have something I want to show you!"
JT pulled out his scrapbook, the one he showed Scarlett, and flipped to a certain page.
"Look." JT said. He showed Tanaka a sketch of his dog, Lucy, with armor and a little carrying pouch. Under it was another sketch of Lucy, this time it was a close up of her face to show that she had some artificial fangs in.
"Do you think you could do this?" JT asked.
Tanaka thought for a bit.
"I've never made armor and weapons for an ANIMAL before," Tanaka said. "But I'm up for a challenge. What breed is your dog?"
"Her name is Lucy and she's a Boxer Husky Mix." JT informed. "She's really energetic, loyal, and she always knows what she's doing when she does it. I couldn't think of a better sidekick than her."
"Shouldn't your parents care if you took your dog?" Tanaka asked.
"Ehh, not really." JT said. "I live with just my step mom and honestly she couldn't care less about my dog..."
There was a bit of silence, but it was broken by Tanaka's voice.
"Well go get your dog and I'll see what I can do. First take off your rings, of course."
"Okay."

After JT took off his rings, went back to his house to tell Lucy to follow him, and came back to Tanaka's hut, they were all set. Tanaka pulled out his IGK's and pressed him thumb on the grey one, teleporting them to the Training Dimension. When he did, Lucy's ears perked up and she started freaking out.
"Calm, Lucy." JT said, hugging her. "We're gonna make you the strongest dog ever."
JT and Lucy looked around and saw the healing room, the storage room, multiple training rooms, the battle arena room, and more.
"So, this is where me and Lucy are gonna train?" JT asked."
"Yes." Tanaka said. "It doesn't look like much but it has all you need."
"How long are we going to train?" JT asked. "... Tanaka?"
Tanaka didn't answer. JT shook his shoulder.
"Oh, sorry." Tanaka apologized. "I was deep in thought."
"What were you thinking about?"
"I remembered something. Follow me."
Tanaka started walking so JT followed him. Lucy, however, went off to explore the area. Tanaka opened the door to the healing room. When JT walked in, the ninth chair that had nothing on it started to glow bright yellow and a yellow sun was infused into it.
"Woah!" JT said with excitement. "Is that for me?"
"Yes. You will use it if you are injured in, for say, an obstacle course or team battle. The latter won't affect you of course since you're alone except for your dog. Speaking of which..."
Tanaka walked out of the healing room, followed by JT. He walked over to a large room with no label or sign on the front.
"Can you bring me your dog?" Tanaka asked. "I suppose I should get to work."
JT nodded and whistled. Surely enough, Lucy ran to JT's side.
"You'll have to stay out of the room." Tanaka explained. "This might be a while, so you should spend this time training."
"Okay but hold on."
JT kneeled down in front of Lucy.
"Tanaka's going to need you to be on your best behavior." JT instructed. "I'll be out here."
Lucy started to whimper. JT tried petting her to make her feel better.
"It's okay, girl." JT said. "I know you barely know this guy, but he's going to turn you into an awesome force to be reckoned with."
JT kissed Lucy on the head. Tanaka opened the room and him and Lucy walked inside. JT waved goodbye as Tanaka shut the door. JT went to the dummies and started training as soon as he put his rings on. JT knew that the others went through this same training, which gave him a boost in confidence. He knew he had a lot of work to do, so he got started.

I groggily woke back up in a pile of what seemed to be drool or tears. I then suddenly realized my mistake.
"Why did I go to sleep!" I shouted, shooting up from the ground. "The others are waiting for me! So what if I want things to go back to normal! I need to protect my friends!"
I quickly grabbed my cudgel and started running until I met my next obstacle. This one was a slanted ledge with a hole at the bottom of it. Every few seconds a ginormous boulder would crash down and roll into the hole. There was no way to get around this either.
"I don't have time for this! I need to hurry!" I shouted at myself.
As soon as the boulder fell, I ran as fast as I could past it. I almost made it completely across, but I lost my balance on the slanted platform. I tried to regain my balance, but I ended up falling. I caught myself on the wall of the hole by slamming my cudgel into the wall. I used my cudgel to slowly climb back up. Midway of climbing, I heard a loud thud. I looked up and I saw the boulder about to roll into the hole! When it did, I got as close as I could to the wall so I didn't get hit. It worked, but the Boulder ended up scraping my back and my butt.
"Ow!" I groaned. "I need that to sit!"
I finally managed to get out of that retched hole. Once I got done making sure my butt wasn't bleeding, I made an Obsidian Shield and started to run some more. I was close to the top of the mountain, so I knew the fragment was near. A bit more of running and I made it to the peak. Instead of there being the fragment or a room, there was a small human sized hole.
"That doesn't look fun." I gulped. "Well, here goes!"
I jumped into to the hole and fell into a large room. I got back on my feet and looked around at my surroundings. The good news was that inside was a glass case with what seemed to be the Sun Relic fragment! The bad news was it was being guarded by a giant Akuma with a spiked tail, giant claws, and four disgustingly huge eyes.
"Oh no." I thought to myself. "I better be careful!"
The giant Akuma didn't see me yet, so I decided to be sneaky for a change. It was a challenge to be quiet because its something I don't normally do. I snuck up until I got to its right foot, and carefully yet precisely slammed my cudgel into its big toe. When I did, it screamed and flailed about, falling to the ground and kicking me into the wall. I luckily caught myself by slamming my cudgel into the wall, just like last time. The giant Akuma got back up and charged at me. This was bad because my cudgel was stuck in the wall! To stall for time, I threw my shield at it like a frisbee and it poked the Akuma in one of its eyes, making it fall back down.
"This thing is pretty clumsy." I said while ripping my weapon out of the wall and falling back down. I made myself another Obsidian Sheild and advanced back to the beast. Since it was on the ground still, I decided to stomp on the ground, making a rock jut out of the ground and impale the Akuma in the back. I did this a few more times until finally, the Akuma gave its dying screech. However, instead of disappearing into a black smoke, the beast exploded. Rather than guts flying everywhere like I expected, its claws were the only part of it that went flying. The rest of it turne to black smoke as usual. The claws split into thin spikes, which scattered everywhere, digging into the wall, the ground, the ceiling, and me. One was stuck in my left arm, one grazed my side, leaving a cut on my right hip, and one pierced my right eye. I shrieked and fell to the ground. I'd never had anything more painful than the one in my eye. I knew I couldn't just lay there in agony, so I hesitatingly, yet quickly, ripped the spike out of my eye(which hurt like hell). I decided to leave the one in my arm in because I didn't want there to be lots of blood. I already knew I wouldn't be able to see out of that eye for the rest of my life, which made me freak out even more. I ripped of a remaining part of my shirt and made a makeshift eyepatch, which was hard to do since my left arm was weak at the moment.
"Aw man." I lightly chuckled, trying to be as optimistic as humanly possible. "T-this is the a-arm... I write with."
I peered up and saw that the glass that had the Sun Relic Fragment in it had a spike stuck in it. I slowly got up and walked over to it to make sure that the Fragment wasn't messed up. Luckily, it wasn't, so I picked up the Sun Relic piece, which somehow teleported me back to the others.

As soon as Seth was teleported, he flopped down to the ground, causing his cudgel and the Sun Relic Fragment to slide across his section of the room.
"Woah, that was quick." Brenden said. "A lot quicker than-"
Brenden and the others took a closer look at Seth and saw that he was in deep pain.
"Oh my gosh!" Anna screamed. "Are you okay?"
Seth didn't respond, which made Anna start to bawl.
"Please... please be alive..." Anna prayed while crying. "I can't let you die. I've always kind of liked you. Sure, you're silly and you goof off... but that's what's so good about you!"
Frank looked at Seth's face, since Seth was facing him.
"Don't worry, he's breathing." Frank said. "Ooh, that doesn't look good..."
"What is it?" John asked.
"Yeah, what?" Drew added.
"He's got some weird, red spike thing in his arm, and he's wearing an eyepatch covering his right eye, so I can assume something happened to IT to." Frank said. "Dang, that's worse than my leg."
"That doesn't sound good." Scarlett said. "I'm surprised he just now passed out."
"Why didn't he take out the thing in his arm?" Tara asked. "He doesn't know what that thing is, he could get infected."
The door in front of Anna opened. She was startled by this, and she began to cry again.
"I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go!" Anna shouted.
"Anna, you have to." Drew sighed. "We all have to. Frank didn't want to go, and Seth didn't want to go. I'll probably act the same when you get back since I'm after you."
"He's right." John added. "We all will go through similar suffering as Seth and Frank endured, but the faster we do so, the faster we can save the world. It's better that we suffer than the rest of humanity, right?"
Anna wiped her tears and grabbed her staff.
"You're right." Anna sniffled. "I have to focus. I have to do this. I have to save the world!"
Anna leaped into the door, which shut behind her as expected. Anna peered around, but couldn't see much at all, because there was a massive blizzard. Anna took a deep breath.
"Remember, don't hurt anyone." She said to herself. "I couldn't... after mom..."

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© 2018 Brenden Brown

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barleygirl

Your writing is strong & organized & interesting, using dialogue & action & character development very well. I've been steadily reviewing for 2-1/2 years on this website & I have to say, it's hard to review a long book in this kind of setting. There's just too much to comment on in each chapter. But I feel your writing is strong enuf, overall, so that your story doesn't require much nit-picking. I think it's more a matter of preference. Since I'm old & forgetful, your writing is too detailed for me to enjoy becuz you cram so many details & people into each scene, I can't remember the past history of your story, since I'm not going to sit down & read it chapter after chapter in one sitting. This is strong writing & strong storytelling, but it's just not something I can comment on in a meaningful way in this setting. This is one of the best long pieces I've read here, as far as the construction of your story. But as I said, I'm not into reading youthful adventures with a ton of moving parts, even tho yours is dynamic & compelling.