"YOU!" I yelled at him. "You're the one who burned the town down, aren't you?!? You'll pay for the worth of everyone you've hurt!" I ran at him, but his Shoyru separated us by a wall of fire.
"Without a Neopet, I don't suggest taking me on... but your girlfriend here seems to have one." Alamin's expression showed no emotion, good or evil.
"How dare you take on someone inexperienced? Leave the Neopets out of this, I'll take you on right now!" I took Kage's dagger out of my pocket, in case things got ugly. I was determined to take him out. The carnage would end here.
"As tempting as that sounds, I'm afraid I can't do it. However, there is a way we can both benefit from this."
"And what would that be?" Dracosis said obnoxiously.
"Excuse me, I was talking to the blonde-headed boy, not the empty-headed dragon." Dracosis let out a growl from between her teeth. "Anyway Brad, all you have to do is strike me with that dagger. You go free, and I have an excuse for not getting you."
"Alamin, no... we can't just keep making up excuses. I say we just quit Malum's forces. We won't have to hurt any more people." Alamin just ignored DemiDragon's remarks. And I was anything but understanding this.
"You want me to... attack you?"
"That's right." He was perfectly calm about it. He then looked back at the burning village. "So many wasted lives... Brad, hold that thought." DemiDragon looked at him with hope in his eyes. "You're right, Demi. We must run away from Malum. No longer will I continue to harm the innocent." And without a second thought, he turned his back and started walking away. Then he stopped and turned to me one last time.
"Here's one of the gems you seek." He tossed me another gem. "The third one is in a dimensional warp to the east. The warp should lead to the World of Pendulum."
Laura, Dracosis, and I said, "World of Pendulum?" at the same time.
"It's the world where time flows at a radical rate. A second here can take a year there, or a week here takes a minute there. You never know what rate of time it will be at next." He then turned back around and walked off.
"Sounds like a cool place to go," Laura said.
"You have no idea what you're talking about!" I yelled. "If the time there starts going too fast, it might be too late by the time we find the gem! A year could pass in a second!"
"We have to go anyway," said Dracosis. "No use wondering about what-ifs."
"Kage's doing worse, guys," said Sakari solemnly. They all looked over with compassion in their eyes.
"I'll... be... fine!" Kage yelled. Just then, we heard a violent cough from someone else in the group. They all turned to see SnowOhki couging violently, color drained from her.
"SnowOhki, what's wrong?" Ryo asked.
"That's strange... unless she had been using the powers of the World of Apocaly before, there's no reason that she should be sick because of it."
There's no reason to keep this up anymore; I have them right where I want them... SnowOhki thought to herself. Just as her thought ended, she started radiating a black light from herself.
"SnowOhki... what's wrong with you?!?" Ryo yelled out. SnowOhki was englufed with the black energy, and when it cleared, SnowOhki was not the one standing there. From a black hole hovering a few feet above the ground, half a body could be seen. The body was a light shade of black. Its arms were very long, about six feet or so, with long, grey nails. It wore a silver metal helmet shaped like a bird's beak, leaving the small lower half of its face visible. The helmet also had a barcode under the left eye. From the back of the helmet was a small bush of silver hair.
"SNOWOHKI!" Ryo yelled out. "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?" The beast then spoke.
"The master of my Pandemonium sent me after you. I am not SnowOhki. You destroyed SnowOhki yourself long ago." Ryo then thought back to Malum's Dungeon where he had to destroy the fake SnowOhki. "Do you remember now? The one you defeated was the real one, possessed by me. I was the one you thought was real. The one that has been walking around with you was the true fake." They all looked at the beast with a mix of despair and fury. All except Ryo. He had broken down into tears.
"So... all this time.. SnowOhki's been... I'll... I'LL GET YOU, MONSTER!" Ryo brought himself to his feet, still tears running down his face, but revenge in his heart. "JUST WHO ARE YOU!?"
"I am Apokari, Grand Darkness Beast." They all gasped and yelled out, "APOKARI!?"
"But," Willie muttered, trying to comprehend the situation, "Apokari is from the legend Valens told us!"
The beast roared, "Do not mention that name in my presensce!" The black hole got bigger, and started shooting out sparks of dark energy. "You will pay for your insults! Apo-Fire!" Apokari shot out a massive blaze of fire from his hands, but the Neopets took every blow. It was almost enough to take them all out. Which was very unfortunate, seeing as he was just getting started.
"You will pay for your deceitfulness!" Willie yelled out. He had emotions showing that none of them had seen before. It was one of his rare serious moments. "We all loved SnowOhki... and you fooled us into believing you were her! I will dedicate the rest of my life to destroying you and Malum!"
"No you won't Willie. We all will," said Sakari. They were all ready to fight. Except Ryo. All he could do was helplessly watch at the sidelines.
"They really are my friends. They're not just fighting for the sake of the world anymore, they're fighting for my revenge. Guys, don't hold back! This IS the final battle!" They all nodded back at him.
"You're going down," Kage said as he drew his dagger. "You can't beat me AND the Neopets! ATTACK HIM!" All the Neopets weaponized and got ready to attack. Ritsuzen, Kage's silver gryphon, pushed Kage onto his back so they could fight together.
"ETHER BOMB!" Kage yelled out as a blast of Ether hit Apokari. All the other Neopets were relentlessly using their weapons, but Apokari barely had a scratch on him.
"Your weakness sickens me! Allow me to show you true power! Nova burner!" A small star, about twenty feet in each direction, started glowing and exploded, damaging all in it's wake. All the Neopets were limp on the ground.
"Ugh... this guy's strong..." Cubix blurted out.
"Gee, ya think?" Kyoutan sarcastically replied.
"Hahaha! Your lack of strength is comical to me! But alas, this battle cannot rage on here, in this endless world. Instead of doing this all at once, I will take each of you out one by one!" He started playing games in his head, pointing to a Neopet and then moving on. And then, he stopped. Kyoutan.
"NO!" Sakari yelled. She almost ran up to him, but Kage held her back.
"And guess who's our lucky winner... the Zafara. Apo-Jolt!" A ball of thunder appeared in the sky, and shot a massive blast of electricity at Kyoutan.
"I can feel it; Kisei's dark power... it still resides in my body, deep inside of me. All I need to do is summon it." They all gasped.
"NO! YOU CAN'T!" Ryo yelled. "IT'S YOUR GREATEST FEAR! YOU COULD ANNIHILATE YOURSELF!"
"I know that... but I have to. There's no other chance.. Apokari will destroy the world if I don't do this. Sakari Mitsukai!!!"
The transformation was more brilliant than last time. Her clothes did not go black, but white. Her angel wings were longer than the first time. The rod had no blade at the end this time. Instead, it had long ribbons with bells on them. It was like the holy form of Mitsukai.
"Hey, not too shabby," Sakari said, admiring her new Mitsukai form. "Now THIS is more like an angel."
"Wha?" Willie said, more confused than ever.
"Mitsukai means angel!" she yelled as she floated above Apokari, flapping her wings. "Megami Kusari!" she yelled, as a chain of light was released from her rod and was wrapped around Apokari.
"What is this!? A human with such power?"
"That's right, buddy!" Sakari said, mockingly. "Isn't it embarrassing to be beaten by a lil' thing like me? Take this! Amatsu Toukai!" A small gathering of clouds formed above Apokari as he was held in place by the holy chain. The clouds then seperated slightly, letting in sunlight that seemed to be searing Apokari's skin.
"You are strong indeed, especially for a human. But I will not be destroyed without a fight!"
Sakari glared slyly at him. "I wouldn't want it any other way..."
"A fighter, are you? Well, then you'll enjoy this! Anti-Creation!" A red beam was shot from Apokari's mouth, and the second it touched the chain, it started vanishing. Sakari released the chains before it got her too.
"Impressive... not good enough, though! Giga Sendo!" The tip of Sakari's rod started to glow.
"Not so fast! Lunar Beams!" The sky in the already dark world went completly black as a moon could be seen behind some grey clouds. Some silver beams of light shot out from the moon right at Sakari... and she dodged every one of them.
"You're not so tough now, are ya?" Sakari held out her rod, and released a massive blaze of green-colored energy, hitting Apokari dead on. It slowly started going through him, disintegrating anything it touched. Pretty soon, he wasn't even there anymore. Sakari lowered herself to the ground, and changed back to her regular self.
"Nice work..." Kage tried to keep talking, but was interrupted by a barrage of coughs. Ryo was just sitting in the distance, weeping. Sakari slowly walked over to him.
"I can't believe she's been gone such a long time," Ryo said as he wiped tears from his eyes. "I know I had no choice... but still... she's gone, and it's my fault." Sakari put her hand on his shoulder.
"We all miss her... but life goes on Ryo. Sometimes, one must do things in order to survive, even if it means losing a friend. As much as I hate to say it, it's survival of the fitte-" Sakari's sentence was cut off by an evil laughter. They all turned to see Apokari come out of the black hole that the first one had come out of. They all just stared in disbelief.
"No applause? No matter. I'm suprised you're so happy that you defeated Apokari... considering that was only made from one single cell of Apokari's true body.
"You're joking!" Ryo yelled as he slammed his fist against the ground. "You mean all that time... we were only fighting an extremely small fraction of your true power!?"
"You mean APOKARI'S true power. I am not Apokari." They all stared at him as if to say, "What?"
"So are you just another genetic clone?" Willie asked.
"In a way, yes. There were about 250 000 of Apokari's cells in the Horror Shell's area. That may seem like a large number, but for cells, it's only a few. I was made up of the remaining cells that weren't used to create that pathetic beast you just fought. And I wouldn't try looking for the real Apokari."
"Why shouldn't we?!?" Kage yelled out, quickly coughing after yelling.
"Because Apokari is gone, and has been for hundreds of years. And before you even ASK why that fake acted like he was the real Apokari, it was because of Apokari's unique cells. His memories were stored in each tiny cell."
"So... if you're not a clone, but not the real Apokari" Kage was broken off by coughing again. It passed, and he continued. "just who are you?"
"I'm a soul that has been bestowed with this body from Malum. If he only knew what I was planning... but besides that, I was the one that brought you here. I cannot stay here and humor you longer, though. I must now go, as I have certain matters to attend to with your friends, Laura and Brad." Apokari then lowered himself into the black hole and vanished.
"Who knows what he is going to do to Brad?!? And whoever this Laura is..." said Ryo.
"What are we going to do until then?" FireCannon asked.