Reign of Darkness Part 4: Ghosts of the Past By: Pik -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, here we go again, enjoy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ray stood at the "gates" of Nexus Central Command. "How ironic. This is the very place that I learned the value of protecting the innocent, helping the weak, guarding the people that don't even know you are there. I not only served here, I ruled this place for a while, then decided to teach the younger class the same morals I too learned. But there is a darker force out there than they could possible comprehend. The task I must partake is for their own good, though they won't know it now. They will learn it is for the best that I do what I must do. If they try to stop me, they will meet the fate of all who oppose me." Floating into the portal he created, Ray entered Nexus Central Command. Shane and Mac instantly felt the massive energy signature that entered their base. Shane stood to his feet and looked to Mac. "There are only two other people in the omniverse that have that much power, and both swore never to come back here as long as they lived." As Mac held out Lucifer's Key, it began to glow in a pale light. Shane nodded and held out his Guardian ring, which gave off much more light. "I'd say it's Ray. The parts of the Whole react to their opposing power the most of the other three. And last I checked Ray had the Sword of Darkness," Mac observed as they both stood to their feet. "Well, Ray's a good guy. He may be here for some off the wall reason. You never know with him." Shane couldn't help but disagree with Mac on that one, Ray just didn't....feel right. Walking down the corridors of NCC brought back memories for Ray. He saw the resteraunt he and Abbie had their first date in, then he walked past the room he used to teach in. Finally he stood before the giant hall he faced Exar Kun in. "Kun, that sicko. He was the first in a very long time to try to weild the Sword of Darkness. Although he did not unlock the full power of the seven rings, he was able to do a signifigant amount of damage to this place, and us," he thought. Ray fell to his knees clutching his chest as tears flowed out of his eyes. "I've lost so many friends that are close to me over the years. And what have I done to show my thankfullness of their sacrifice? I let more die before I could stop those evils. Saraphim, Armewgeddon, MewTwo, Supreme Destroyer, Kun, Ulic Qel-Droma, and finally Cordran. CORDRAN! I killed him, we killed him. But he came back, how did he come back? Why now? There must be an answer to my question." Turning, Ray saw two figures standing in the door to the hall. "Ray, what are you doing here? You swore never to return to Nexus Centrall Command. What should now cause you to come back here?" Mac asked as he and Shane walked toward Ray. Ray stepped back and answered, "I am here to take controll for a time, there is a comming storm that only I can sail this ship through safely. Do not try to stop me, for I will most likely be forced to kill you both." Shane laughed at that, "What do you mean 'Kill you both?' Your as powerful as we are, you hold only one peice of the Whole like we do, and you can't access your full power, just as we can't." Ray stood back, then shook his head. "You don't get it, do you?" He said as his voice drew upon its insanity, "None of you will untill its to late! There is a darkness, darker than any we have faced descending upon the Vortex. The comming storm will be harsher than you could imagine......the darkness. THE DARKNESS OF THE CHOSEN ONES! AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHHA!" Ray transformed into Chosen One and drew his sword, "Now, if you wish to stop me, do your worst now!" Shane and Mac looked at each other. "Oh well, Ray's lost it." Mac nodded in agreement, "Yep, he's completly gone to the Sword of Darkness. I must say I'm proud of him for holding back this long." Shane and Mac transformed into Supreme Guardians and charged Ray. Ray flew up into the air and flashed in and out of the Vortex faster than they could track him. "You forget, I am the Chosen One, I am completely intuned with the Vortex." Mac closed his eyes and focused on Ray's movements, after a few seconds he found the pattern. Drawing his sword Mac attacked at an odd point, but just as he started his attack, Ray appeared and was hit in the head at full force. Getting perturbed, Ray decided to stop the trickery and unleashed his full power in this form. Mac and Shane attacked at once, but Ray was able to stop their attacks moving fast enough to deal with both of them at once. Jumping into the air, Ray slammed his sword into the ground and pushed his energy through it. Suddenly small purple cracks appeared in the floor of the base. The entire room began to shake as Ray opened a rift in the Vortex and destroyed the room, again. Ray stood facing Shane and Mac inside the rift. "I did not wish for innocent bystanders to be harmed in our battle. From here we can fight and do no damage to anyone anywhere. Please, do continue your pitiful attempt to defeat me." Clenching his fist in rage, Shane transformed into Mega-Choco. Taking the Big Ol' Chocolate Gun, Shane began to spin in a giant circle screaming "PSYCHOTIC CHOCOLATE!" Mac transformed into Super Mac and tried his best to fend off the attack, but Ray stood where he was and let the energy flow over him like a warm current. "You fool, you should know by now that your lesser forms would not hurt me." This sent Shane into a deeper rage and caused him to change to Mega-Pimp. Taking out the Violater, Pimp charged Ray with all his might, but Ray matched him blow for blow. Pimp soon grew tired of this and flew back in the air. Forming his sword into a gun, he took the feather out of his hat and fired it screaming, "VIOLATION!" Ray widened his stance and concentrated, "He's going all out here, what is wrong with him? I'm going to have to go all out to stop him. Why doesn't he see that I am not whom he should fear, but the greater darkness that is coming?" Placing his hands in front of him, Ray concentrated all of his Vortex power into that area, "DIMENSIONAL OMNI-POWER BLAST: FIRE!" The two beams connected about halfway between them, creating a time-space abnormality. But Shane would not give up, in fact, he concentrated further into his power and unleashed all he had on Ray. "You have succomed to the power of the Sword of Darkness, I will not allow you to make the rest of reality suffer for your weakness!" Letting his beam die suddenly, Shane focused his rage into himself and screamed, "MEGA- FIGHTER!" Around him seven white rings appeared and fused with his own summoning the Sword of Light. Ray looked upon the Sword of Light, then smiled. Gathering his energy, Ray transformed. His hair grew out to his shoulder-blades while his armor morphed from DGF battle gear to a solid silver chest plate with amythist over his abs and the giant shoulder blades. His fingerless gloves became full gauntlets that came half-way up his forearm and his boots extended up to his knees. On his back were the Blade of the Chosen One and the Sword of Darkness. Taking them in each hand, he held them pommel to pommel and connected them forming the Blade of Darkness. Flying into the air, Ray twirled the 13 foot dual-bladed sword as if it were a staff, then screamed, "DESTRUCTION RAINS FROM ABOVE!" Shane held the Sword of Light and exclaimed, "HOLINESS RISES FROM BELOW!" Both beams collided and canceled each other out. But Ray had gone on the offensive, charging Shane at full speed he slashed violently with both ends of his sword. But the Sword of Light and the Sword of Darkness nuetralized each other's power and their trump cards were rendered useless. "Without Hogo I can't use Core Cannon, and Ray and I are pretty even in power, so he could survive with a little energy left and still finish me off when I'm powerless for a few seconds. Fortunatly Mac is here so when I lose power, he can take up the fight when I go down." Shane thought as he tried desperatly to keep Ray at bay and think of a plan, but he didn't have to. Mac had slowly been increasing his energy little by little. "There, I'm at full power, and they haven't even felt me increase my power an inch. Thanks to their having tunnel vision in battle and my increasing my power so slowly it would be hard to detect by anyone other than myself, I can do what I must do now." Mac widened his stance from behind Ray and powered up his attack, then screamed, "BREATH OF THE HEAVENS!" His beam hit Ray in the back just as Shane performed a massive over-head slam with the Sword of Light's pommel. Ray fell to his knees and was barely able to brace himself with his hands. Then he fell on his face and closed his eyes. "They cannot stop my glorious quest, I do not wish to hurt my friends, but I must in the light of what is going to happen to them if I do not carry out my plan. SO BE IT!" Ray's body floated up and stood. Mac and Shane stood side by side wondering what was about to happen. Just then Ray's eyes flared to life with an inhuman light. His arms flew out to his side and he screamed, "BY THE POWER OF THE CROSS:" Ray's power increased expotentially as the power in his body burnt up the band holding his hair back and his hair flew straight up, then shortened to just above his ears and floated softly on his head. The crystals on his hands and forehead melded into his skin and became crosses, and his armor flowed like water into white satin robes that hung loosely around him. "I AM WARRIOR OF THE CROSS!" Ray exclaimed when the transformation ended. Shane and Mac both stared at him in total disbelief. "HHHHHOW? WE ALL LOST OUR god MODES WHEN WE DEFEATED SARAPHIM!" Shane said when his picked his jaw up off his toe. Warrior of the Cross didn't answer, he just floated slowly toward them as his cystal sword grew out of either side of his clenched fist. The sword began to twirl around Ray's hand as he held it foreward, "Holy Light of Judgement!" The beam lept from the sword to the cowering Mac and Shane. But inches from them it was intercepted by three unknown beings. There stood Bob, Lion-O, and Pikachu, the three Supreme Guardians Ray had lost in his last battle with Cordran. "Halt, in the name of the Lord God, you will stop this nonsense!" Ray and Shane stood back, not believing there stood their old friends. Pikachu stepped toward Ray, "How dare you use the power given you for such an evil cause! You should be ashamed Chosen One. These are two of the people that could help you, but you would kill them in the hopes that the people would follow you by force?" Lion-O stood foreward then, "Ray, it is good to see you again, though not under the circumstances we were forced to come here by. We have tried to visit since our last battle together, but it has not been so. We were allowed to return to bring a message from the Most High." Bob spoke up, "Satan has cheated, he saw God bring a mortal back to life in this day and age and he thought that he too could do so. The deciever used Cordran as that puppet." Ray stopped them, "What mortal did God bring back to life that would warrant Cordran coming back?" Pikachu looked shocked, "You don't know? Idiot! That mortal He gave life back to is none other than yourself! When you fought Saraphim, more to the point the Dimensional Cannon, you died. God showed you mercy for your previous actions and recreated you as Warrior of the Cross. Now Satan has done so with Cordran, rebuilding him in a more powerful form." Lion-O spoke again, "Pikachu speaks the truth, you must defeat Cordran. Although it will be dificult, you will have to fight him alone, since it is because of you he is here. Remember, God will be with you always. Also remember, your power comes from nowhere but Him that reins on High." One by one they hugged Ray then stood back as Bob adressed Ray one last time, "Fear not brother, we are being well treated for our service to the Kingdome, as will you one day. But God has granted us a glimpse of the future, and that day will not come soon." Turning to Mac and Shane, they raised their arms and the two were engulfed in light and dissapeared. "We have taken them back to Nexus Central Command, they will remember nothing of your battle and all damage done to the base has been repaired. Good luck Chosen One, and may the Lord be with you always." With that, they dissapeared, and Ray woke up in his bed beside Abbie. "Was it a dream? A nightmare? Or did it happen? I don't know what I just went through, but I know this: These ghosts of the past have shown me what I must do, and what I must do is stop Cordran's reign of darkness before it begins."