"ALICIA!!!!!!!" Zed screamed in fear. Completely forgetting about the three Sphinxes he was fighting, the green-haired swordsman bolted in the direction of Adlehyde castle, using every last ounce of his demonic speed to catch up with the Flurity that was taking away the blind girl.

When he was finally underneath the monster, Zed leapt onto the rooftop of a house and then leapt up to the blue-scaled monster. He swung the Doom Bringer at the Flurity, slicing its leg. The monster howled in pain and kicked the demon in the face, but did not loosen its grip on Alicia. Caught by surprise, Zed yelled in pain as he slammed hard onto his back in a group of bushes just outside the Adlehyde church, his landing knocking the breath out of him.

As he coughed and tried to refill his lungs, Zed was quite surprised to see Boomerang and Lucied bolt past him, also following the Flurity that had kidnapped Alicia. Boomerang thought as he ran, Whatever that girl is, she saved my life. And I won't let that thing kill her without a fight!

Alicia's eyes narrowed. She was getting extremly ticked at the monster that held her for two reasons: it had hurt Zed and had also caused him to hurt himself and its grip was too tight. They were flying over the forest to the west of Adlehyde at least until the survivors of the army rejoined them. Until then, the Flurity just flew circles over the forest.

The girl growled, beginning to struggle, "Let go of me, you blue-scaled, half-wit BASTARD!!" The Flurity growled at her and returned its attention to where it was flying. Alicia's eyes widened and she clenched her fists. "Ooooo...yer gonna PAY for calling me THAT!!" The Flurity looked down at her, the look in its eyes changing from confidence to fear as it stared at Alicia's menacing grin.

Suddenly, the monster stopped in midair and screamed in pain as a surge of electrical energy coursed through it. It went limp and fell to the ground far below. Alicia took this chance to free herself of the monster's grip. When they both entered the canopy of the forest, Alicia lashed out and grabbed ahold of various branches and vines to slow her descent.

Alicia laughed sinisterly and crossed her arms over her chest, steam and smoke trailing up from the scorched carcass of what used to be a Flurity. Alicia said simply, brushing her brown hair out of her face, "Hmph! Serves 'ya right."

The sound of footsteps brought her back to the present. Alicia gasped from surprise, kicked the smoking carcass into the bushes, and lay on the forest floor, pretending to be unconscious.

Just then, Boomerang and Lucied ran into the area of the forest in which she had landed. "There she is!" Boomerang muttered, "The monster must've dropped her--HEY!!" He was cut off as Zed shoved him aside and dropped to his knees beside Alicia.

"Alicia? 'Licia, wake up!" Zed tried, gathering the girl into his arms.

Alicia groaned, rubbing her head, "Ow...I hit my head on something..."

Boomerang retorted, "Probably the bazillion branches that broke your fall."

Zed ignored him and asked, "Are you alright?"

Alicia nodded and laughed, "Yeah! I'm fine! Uh...except for a headache." Meanwhile, Lucied had wandered off into the bushes, following a strangely appealing scent of fried meat. Suddenly, the winds picked up, blowing the scent downwind and making it harder for the Guardian to keep track of it.

As he, Zed, and Alicia started back toward Adlehyde, Boomerang yelled, "Lucied, come!" Lucied barked and ran back to her master just as the scavengers found the burnt corpse of what had once been a powerful monster.

Cecilia laid her face in the palms of her hands and whimpered, "Not again....."

Jack spoke, tossing another bucket of water onto a fire, "Well...it's not entirely like it was three years ago. I mean...there's no Belselk." Cecilia glared at him. Jack laughed nervously. "Uh...sorry...just trying to lighten the mood..."

Cecilia growled, "It ain't workin'." The army of flying monsters had flown away about ten minutes ago, leaving the city of Adlehyde smoking and in ruins once again.

Noble Knight ran up to Johan who was just emerging from the gates of Adlehyde castle. She demanded, her ears flat against her helmet, "Where the hell were the soldiers?! Why weren't they doing their job of protecting this place?!?!"

Johan answered calmly, "They had their hands full with the group that had attacked the castle."

Noble Knight's eyes narrowed. "Then why didn't they stop the Flurity that kidnapped that girl?!"

Before Johan could answer, Boomerang, Zed, Lucied, and Alicia re-entered the once beautiful city of Adlehyde. Boomerang called out to the Dream Chasers who were not far from the gates of Adlehyde castle, "We got her back! The Flurity must've dropped her or something--" Once again, he was cut off by a cry of surprise from both Rudy and Seph as a tower of flames suddenly burst from a house that they had been standing near.

Noble Knight ran forward and told them, "Get back! I'll handle this one." She pointed the palm of her hand toward the house and yelled, "Ly Briem!" The flames attained a soft, blue glow just before being encased in a thick shell of ice.

"Ooooo!" Cecilia, Jack, Elmina, Jane, Zed, and Boomerang marveled. Noble Knight laughed and playfully bowed.

Seph teased, swatting the silver-haired warrior with his fluffy tail, "Show off!" Noble Knight retaliated by locking her hands around his tail and starting to run off, dragging him behind her. Seph shrieked, extended his claws, and dug into the cobblestones, his claws scraping the stones as Noble Knight dragged him. Lucied barked and playfully pounced on the warrior.

"WAAAAAAUGH!!!! Get off of me!! Go Purple Electric yourself!!" The Dream Chasers burst into laughter.

Rudy spoke through his laughter, "I hope we have plenty of money, 'cuz we're gonna be making a loooooot of donations to that restoration thing this time around."

"And I thought I had a big appetite!" came Noble Knight's voice.

"Hey! I was hungry!!" Boomerang's voice retorted, "After all, I haven't eaten in a week and three years!" Elmina looked out of her room to see the two of them walking down the hallway of the castle, obviously coming from the direction of the kitchen. Neither one of them was wearing their armor. Boomerang was dressed in a yellow t-shirt, black sweatpants, and white socks while Noble Knight wore black sweatpants, a grey t-shirt, and black socks, her silvery hair pulled back into a ponytail.

Most of the Dream Chasers, especially the original three, still had not gotten over the fact that Boomerang looked exactly like a human. Cecilia had almost had a nervous breakdown after remembering the war of three years ago, worrying about whether the demon had been spying on them while they were in towns and other things of such.

Noble Knight grinned, messed up the demon's jet black hair, and bolted down the hallway. "HEY!!" Boomerang yelled, running after her, "Get back here!" Noble Knight just laughed and continued running, almost running into Cecilia who was slowly making her way down the hallway.

"Hey! Watch it!" she laughed as the two warriors bolted past her.

Elmina walked over to Cecilia and asked, "How are the wounded?"

Cecilia answered, continuing down the hallway with Elmina walking beside her, "Okay, I guess. Most, if not all, of them are extremely glad that we got a new doctor, though. After I was hospitalized for a broken arm last year, I got a new doctor for Adlehyde." The two girls burst into laughter.

The Dream Chasers and their new allies were all relaxing that morning, none of them wearing their armor or fighting uniforms. Cecilia was wearing a tan tunic and tan, cloth pants while Elmina wore black, cloth pants and a red tunic.

Just then, Zed exited his own room, yawning. He was wearing dark green pants and a deep blue tanktop, the Doom Bringer strapped to his back. "Good morning!" Elmina said, "How's Alicia?"

Zed answered, "She's fine, but something's confusing me."

Cecilia teased, "When aren't you confused?" She ducked under a playfull swipe.

Zed continued, "If that monster did drop her, how could she have landed in the forest without breaking something?" That made both of the girls think. "Furthermore, why didn't it go back and get her?"

Cecilia started to say something when a familiar, male voice cut her off, "She is not like normal humans. That I am sure of." The three Dream Chasers turned around to see Seph standing behind them. Seph continued, "She might have been born with a strange power, but in turn lost her eyesight. Noble Knight and I have not been able to figure it out."

Elmina asked, "Figure what out?"

"We keep feeling a strange energy force whenever we are around her. It is as if...she is not even human..."

"HE WHAAAAAT?!?!?!" Dazer and Zeikfried shrieked.

The Siren answered, shivering from fear of the angry demons, "H-He was k-killed."

"By what?" Dark Knight demanded.

The Siren replied, "W-W-We don't know. W-We found his body in the forest. He-He had been burnt to a crisp."

Chakrum muttered, testing his leg again, "Lightning zpell, probably..." The four demons and the last of the monsters in the "airstrike army" were all outside the ruined Filmsphere standing in the snow. Dark Knight was cleaning the barrel of her Single Shot ARM; Zeikfried was sharpening the head of the Glumzamber; Dazer was sharpening his own sword, the Soul Stealer; and Chakrum was polishing his disks.

Dark Knight groaned. She then turned to Dazer and asked, "Why do you even need a human girl, anyway?!" She grinned. "You've got ME!"

Dazer replied calmly, removing the bandages from his torso, "It seems that only human girls, like the ones at the Curan Abbey, can learn the most powerful magic spells. And, let's face it, we need a strong sorcerer if we're gonna kill the humans. The Dream Chasers already have two strong magic users. Three, if you count that big, blue fox and his ice spells."

"What do you mean only girls can learn magic?"

"Well, have you seen any guys who can use magic, lately?"

"Good point..."

Chakrum looked from them back to the disk in his hand. He sighed as he threw it at a tree, following it with his eyes. The disk rebounded off of the tree, then off of a rock. Next it ricocheted off the side of the Filmsphere before flying back to Chakrum. The silver armored demon caught the disk and began sharpening it. Dark Knight yawned and looked up at the morning sun.

Suddenly, her ears pricked up. She grinned and announced, "Someone's coming. I'm gonna go have some fun!" With that, she put her Single Shot ARM back together and ran off to the northwest.

"Wait up!" Dazer called to her, running to catch up with her. Chakrum groaned and ran after them, leaving behind his crutch now that his leg was almost comepletely healed.

Zeikfried asked as he left, "Where are you going?"

Chakrum answered, "Zomeone's gotta keep those two in check. Bezides, you never know what might happen between zem, and I don't vant to be an uncle!"

"Can you fix it?" Rudy asked.

Emma replied as she and her workers looked over the Gull Wing, "Yeah. Just give me a few days. The wing was scorched and the hull is pretty banged up from your friend's landing."

Rudy, Jack, Emma, and the workers had all been transported to the section of the desert that the Gull Wing had crashed by using Cecilia's magic. She had used her spell called Teleport to take them there and had also gone with them.

Jack laughed, "He couldn't help it. The landing gear wouldn't come down."

One of Emma's workers suddenly announced, his head poking out of a compartment in the Gull Wing's side, "Ms. Emma! The airship was sabotaged!"

Jack looked at Rudy and said, "I thought you said that the demons wouldn't be able to find it."

Rudy protested, "I didn't say that! Elmina said that." The worker climbed out of the Gull Wing and handed a silvery object to Emma.

He stated, "We found this in the section of the airship that controls the landing gear."

It was a silver disk that was razor-sharp on the edges and hollow on the inside. There was a fire-red, zig-zag pattern that trailed all around the disk on both sides.

Cecilia groaned, "Ugh...the clones..."

Rudy started, "Speaking of the clones, what are we gonna do about them?"

Jack asked, "What do you mean?"

Rudy replied, "Well, whenever we attack them, Zed, Boomerang, and NK feel the blow, too. Except they feel twice the pain. Plus, if we kill the clones, Zed and the other two also die..."

Cecilia winced. She had forgotten about that problem. "I...don't know..." she sighed. Rudy and Jack looked at her. They, too, wished that they new the answer.

"Hmm...let's see...what've we got in here?" came Dark Knight's muffled voice as she searched through the wagon. Dazer grinned as the two men who owned the wagon cowered in front of him. He had his sword pointed toward them, ready to run them through if he felt like killing them.

"Swords...knives...staffs," Dark Knight's voice continued, "Ooooo! Bullet clips! I'm almost out." With that, ten bullet clips flew out of a window of the wagon.

Chakrum stuck his head into the wagon and asked, "Do zey 'ave a sharpening stone?" Dark Knight beaned him with one. "OW!!" Chakrum picked up the sharpening stone and threw one of his disks into the wagon.

"AIEEEEEE!!!!!" Dark Knight screamed. Two seconds later, the disk flew out of the same window to be caught by Chakrum. Dazer rolled his eyes at them just as Dark Knight burst out of the wagon and screamed at Chakrum, "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT!!!!"

"EEEK!" Chakrum shrieked, bolting in the opposite direction just to be chased by his enraged sister.

Dazer groaned and looked back at the two men. One of them had brown hair and blue eyes, while the other, who was slightly shorter than the first man, had sand-colored hair and brown eyes. Dazer spoke, a grin creeping onto his face again, "To kill, or not to kill. Hmm...now that's the question." The men's eyes widened with fear.

Dazer was just about to kill them when Zeikfried walked into the clearing and stopped him. Zeikfried roughly grabbed Dazer's wrist, turned to the men, and asked, "How did you get to this continent?"

The brown-haired man answered, "W-We have a ship on the shore to the west."

Zeikfried whispered something to Dazer. Dazer's look of disappointment abruptly changed to a mischievous smile. Zeikfried turned back to the humans and stated, "We'll let you live, BUT, on a few conditions."

Dark Knight pushed aside a few pieces of the Filmsphere's ceiling until she found what she was searching for. It was a mechanical treasure chest. The demon opened it and took out a large emerald. It was about as big as the palm of her hand and it was in the shape of a diamond. Carved into the emerald was the zodiac symbol of Taurus.

Dark Knight placed the emerald into a small hole on the collar of her armor. It fit perfectly, and as she placed it into the hole, there was a faint clicking sound as the emerald fastened onto her armor.

The demon left the room and called down the hallways of the totally scrapped Filmsphere, "Daze! Shocks! Did you guys find yours yet?"

As if on cue, both of the boys exited different rooms. Now set in Dazer's wrist gauntlet was a diamond-shaped ruby, which was about the same size as Dark Knight's emerald. Carved into the ruby was the zodiac symbol of Scorpio. Chakrum, too, had his own gem.

Now set in the forehead of his helmet was a diamond-shaped sapphire, also the same size as Dark Knight's emerald. The sapphire had the zodiac symbol of Aquarius carved into it.

Dazer grinned and spoke, heading for the exit to the Filmsphere, "Ready to go!" Chakrum followed him. Dark Knight started to follow them, but remembered something and dove into another room.

When she exited, she was holding a bizaare looking ARM that looked as if it would fire a load of bullets per squeeze of the trigger, not just one at a time. She laughed, strapping the ARM to her back and following the two boys, "Almost forgot my Uzi ARM!"

After leaving the Filmsphere, the three clones mounted the horses that they had gotten from the human merchants. Zeikfried was already there as were the men whom they had learned were named Josh and David. Josh, the brown-haired man, and David, the sandy-haired man, were both riding a brown and white horse together while Zeikfried rode a golden horse. Dazer had gotten a deep brown horse; Dark Knight had gotten a greyish-black horse; and Chakrum had chosen a beautiful, pure white horse.

Zeikfried spoke, "Alright. Let's hurry up and get to that ship, 'cuz we're on a busy schedule. We've got planet to conquer." Dazer and Dark Knight laughed sinisterly. Chakrum nervously looked at the ground. With that, the four demons and the two humans galloped to the northwest, the demons determined that Filgaia would be theirs.