Boomerang looked up at the sky again. It was over three hours after Noble Knight and Rising Sun had left and the visored demon was starting to get worried. Noble Knight, he knew, was unfamiliar with the monsters of Fargaia and did not know if there were monsters that could attack her in the air. Even knowing that Rising Sun was with her did not help to ease Boomerang's worry. He was standing in the courtyard of Ardlehyde castle, searching the sky every five to ten minutes. "Where are you?" he muttered, shuddering from the cold, winter winds whipping around him.

As if on cue, Noble Knight's voice cried out in surprise and she fell from the sky right into a group of bushes to Boomerang's left. The visored demon ran over to her just as she growled, "I hate the time limit on that spell..." Two torrents of fire scorched the grasses behind her as Rising Sun landed. After Boomerang helped her back to her feet, Noble Knight stated, "We lost him...He disappeared right when he started flying over a forest."

Rising Sun informed, "But that forest is where Choraan's underground hideout is. It's a tower that can rise and submerge itself in the ground of the forest."

Noble Knight quickly added, "He wanted to hurry up and find the tower, but I thought that we should get more reinforcements."

Rising Sun groaned, walking toward the doors to go back into the castle, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Let's just get this over with."

"C'mon! Let's go!!" Zed practically begged.

Dex laughed, "Don't worry. I'll bet she's safe. Al may be dense, but, somehow, he believes in chivalry. He won't hurt her unless she attacks him."

Zed found himself asking, "What if Choraan orders him to kill her?"

Dex answered, "Choraan won't kill her if there's something interesting about her. And, even if he does want to kill her, Al wouldn't do it. Choraan would have to do his own dirty work. Either that, or get Siggy to do it." The two of them were in the kitchen of the castle, the room that looked like the cafe of Adlehyde. Noble Knight and Rising Sun had just told them what had happened when they were chasing Al and Cathrine was trying to formulate a plan.

Meanwhile, Boomerang was exploring the village. He had figured out that Fargaia used the same currancy as Filgaia which made what he was doing a lot easier. He was wandering around the village looking at different shops and was also waiting for the Sabre Fang to finish getting sharpened. He entered what looked like an antique store. There were all sorts of strange objects decorating shelves and walls.

A middle-aged woman, about fifty, who stood behind the counter looked at him and asked, "May I help you, sir?"

Boomerang replied, looking at the numerous objects in the room, "I'm looking for a present for a friend."

The woman asked, "Do you know what you are looking for?" Boomerang shrugged.

"Not really," he answered, "I'm just looking around until I find something that--" He cut himself off when his eyes fell upon an object on a small shelf. It was a statuette of a standing wolf that was made completely out of jade. The wolf's eyes were made of rubies. One thing, however, stood out and made the wolf look more like a fox: it had a tail much like Seph's. Large and fluffy.

Boomerang picked up the statuette and asked, "How much is this?"

"Okay! Heeeere's the plan!" Jake spoke, turning to both worlds' Dream Chasers, "RS, Dex, Rody, Zed, NK, and Boomerang will go to that forest and try to find Choraan's tower. If you do find it, go in and see if you can find the girl. While you're in there, try to take out Al in the process. If you don't find the tower within nightfall, come back." The six of them nodded. "The rest of us will stay here just in case Choraan tries to attack the village." Jessie, Ultima, and Cathrine nodded.

Ashley yawned, "Boring..." Jake just rolled his eyes at her. Ashley walked over to Rising Sun and said, "You be careful, Little Boy Blue!"

Rising Sun laughed, "Aren't I always?" Ashley shook her head with a grin. "Hmm...you have a point, there..."

Ultima roughed up Dex's hair and spoke, "And you come back alive, now, Dexie. If you die, who'll I have to pounce on?!"

Dex groaned, "Your brother, maybe..." Rising Sun glared at him. With that, the six Dream Chasers bolted out of Ardlehyde and to the south; weapons sharpened, backpacks full with supplies, and ARMs loaded.

Alicia yawned and sat up. She heard snickering to her right. There was something around her head. She felt it, and came to the conclusion that it was a metal headband. Al's voice suddenly asked, "Do you like the little head dress that I gave you?"

Alicia asked, "What's it do? It has to do something, else why would you put it on me?"

Al replied, floating around her, "I sense strong magic emitting from you. Lord Choraan made me put this on you so that I could duplicate your powers. And possibly make him immune to that little trick that you performed to burn a hole through him." Upon getting to Choraan's tower, Al had put Alicia inside a large, glass cylinder to prevent her from escaping.

Alicia laughed, "You can't duplicate my magic. You don't even know what I am!"

"You're a human." Alicia turned to him and lowered her sunglasses so that Al could see her eyes. "What in the galaxy?!" The next thing that Al knew was seeing a bright flash in the cylinder and the glass exploding outwards.

"Hmm...last time I remember entering the tower, it was right around here...somewhere..." Rody spoke as the six Dream Chasers entered a large clearing in the forest. The sun was still high in the sky, around 12:50 in the afternoon. The Filgaian Dream Chasers had arrived around 6:30 that morning according to Fargaian time.

"Oh, great..." Noble Knight said sarcastically, "Why don't we just dig the damn thing up?"

Dex shrugged and spoke, "If Choraan's expecting us, he'll bring the tower up. But if he doesn't want us meddling around in the tower, then we'll have to find some other way insi--" He was cut off by a loud rumbling noise. The ground started to shake, knocking Noble Knight and Rody off balance. There was a deafening explosion not far from them, followed by the uprooting of trees and the sound of tearing through earth.

Over the treetops, the Dream Chasers saw Choraan's tower rising and rising until it stopped. It was not nearly as tall as Ka Dingel, but it was at least twenty-five stories tall. Dex laughed, "See! I told 'ya!"

The six of them ran toward the tower and entered it through a large gate. Inside the tower was quite dark, but they could still see, though the did not like what they saw. They were inside one fairly small room with no other doors besides the one that they had entered. Starting to the right of the gate was a stairway that spiralled up...and up...and up. The stairs went on as far as the six of them could see, appearing to go up all twenty-five stories and not stopping.

Zed whistled, "That's gonna be a pain to climb..."

Noble Knight shouted, "Raywing!!" Once again, she slowly rose into the air. Rising Sun used his boot rockets to take himself into the air. Dex shouted something that the Filgaian Dream Chasers could not understand. A bubble of air surrounded him, floating slowly into the air.

Dex said to Zed, Boomerang, and Rody, "Step inside. I can get all four of us up there." The three of them did as they were told. A few minutes later, all six warriors reached the top of the stairs just to see that another set started just to the right of a door.

They readied their weapons and kicked the door down. They were definately not prepared for what they saw. What looked like it had been a lab was now in ruins. The floor and walls themselves were charred black, computer consoles were on fire, sparks flew everywhere from severed wires, and there was a large, broken, glass cylinder beside what had been a computer. Standing beside the broken cylinder was a coughing and sputtering Alicia.

Zed ran to her and asked, "Are you okay?!"

Alicia replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just trying to figure out what happened. I heard an explosion and the next thing I knew, I was smelling barbecue." Rising Sun picked up a piece of sheet metal off of the floor.

"I...think I figured out what you were smelling," he stated. Underneath the sheet of metal was the scorched carcass of Al. Noble Knight and Rody gagged.

Boomerang asked the air, "What the hell happened here?"

Dex muttered, "If she wasn't blind, she could tell us..."

Alicia tried to keep herself from grinning as she thought, He got on my nerves, that's what happened.

A voice suddenly spoke from behind them, "I see you've already gotten to Al, but you won't be so fortunate with me!!"

The six Dream Chasers whirled around to see a man that looked almost exactly like Zeikfried standing in the doorway. Like Zeikfried, he held a spear and wore a helmet that hid his face, but his armor was purple and black instead of black and gold.

"I'm the one who raised the tower up for you to enter," he stated, "I'm also the one who will kill all of you, just like I killed you over a week ago!"

Boomerang growled, his eyes narrowing, "You're the one that attacked me and Zed on Mount Zenom..."

Sigfried nodded and laughed, "Yes, I am. You are twenty floors up from the entrance to the tower. I entend to kill you the exact same way I did then!!" Suddenly, he leapt over the Dream Chasers' heads and shot a beam of dark energy at them, Boomerang, Noble Knight, and Rising Sun flew backwards slamming into the walls of the scorched room.

Zed snapped, making sure to stay between Alicia and Sigfried, "Rody!! Get Alicia out of here!!" Rody nodded and did as he was told. Zed hit Sigfried with the Kinjite Yasha- Ishmonjiri while Dex attacked him with his axes and Rising Sun fired his Single Shot ARM. Boomerang threw the Sabre Fang at Sigfried while Noble Knight threw an onslaught of fireballs at him.

Sigfried, getting fed up with their attacks, shot dark rays of energy in all directions. He missed everyone but Boomerang who took a ray right to the chest, knocking him flat on his back, his breathing labored. Sigfried pointed the palm of his left hand at Boomerang to shoot another ray at him, but stopped and gasped from pain and surprise. Rising Sun, Zed, and Dex exchanged a confused glance. Then, they saw what had happened.

Sigfried was looking down at his chest from which the gold- colored blade of a sword was protruding. The blade suddenly made a ninety degree, counter-clockwise, turn and was pulled from him. Blood poured out of Sigfried's chest and back as he fell limply to the floor.

Behind him stood Noble Knight who was grinning sinisterly. She said simply, "That was for killing Boomerang the first time." (blah...I suck at fight scenes... ^^ )

She walked forward and helped Boomerang to his feet. He started to walk with the others back out of the room, but stumbled and fell against the silver-haired warrior from weakness. Noble Knight stated, helping the visored demon walk, "We've gotta get back to the castle. He's too weak to fight Choraan." Dex, Zed, and Rising Sun nodded. The five of them made their way down the stairs the same way they had gotten up. Outside the tower stood Rody and Alicia. The Dream Chasers headed back north toward Ardlehyde, Boomerang leaning against Noble Knight and Zed.

The visored demon said weakly, "I'll be fine...I just...need rest..."

"Don't worry, Boomer," Zed spoke, "We're headin' back to the village now. You just relax."

The next morning, Boomerang was doing, and feeling, much better. A good night's rest had done wonders for his wound. He grinned, moved his black queen, and said to Ultima, "I win! Pay up!" Ultima groaned and threw him a small, cloth bag with 200 gella in it. This made the fourth time that she had lost to him at chess. Meanwhile, across the room, Noble Knight was kicking Dex's tail at Monopoly. They had thrown away the fake money and had come up with their own system saying that ten gella equalled 100 dollars. The four Dream Chasers were in the cafe- like room of Ardlehyde castle playing board games since they did not have anything else better to do.

Noble Knight laughed after Dex had moved the top hat, "AH! Three houses!! Hmm...$375...that's thirty-seven gella!"

Dex looked down at what remained of his money and stated, "But...that's...half the money I have left."

Noble Knight retorted, "Shit happens. Cough it up!" Dex groaned and paid her.

Just then, Zed entered the room, yawning. It was around eleven o'clock in the morning and he had just awakened. He walked over to Boomerang and asked, "You think you're up to going after Choraan today?"

Boomerang replied, "Give me another hour or two, then I'll tell you."

Ultima whined, "I wanna play another game!"

Dex chimed in, "Me, too!"

Noble Knight grinned and retorted, "That's just because Boomerang and I are kicking yer butts! But...alright...let's play Clue. I get Ms. Scarlet!"

Boomerang immediately added, "I'm Mr. Green!"

Ultima thought for a minute while Dex got the game and then said, "I'll be Sergeant Salt."

Dex groaned, unable to keep himself from grinning, "It's 'Colonel Mustard'..."

Ultima grinned and retorted, "Who cares? It's still a condiment!"

Boomerang started to reply, but was cut off when an explosion rocked the castle. The five Dream Chasers in the room immediately readied their weapons just as split second before Choraan shot through a window above them.

The furious, winged wolf landed just a few yards from them and unsheathed his sword. He spoke, "You may have killed Al and Sigfried, but I am another matter!"

"Uh-huh..." Noble Knight yawned, "That's what Siggy said just before I skewered him."

Choraan muttered, "A female, of all things, killed my greatest general..."

"WHAT?!" Noble Knight fumed, "I heard that!! Get ready to kiss your ass goodbye!! Freeze...ARROW!!!!" She threw an arrow of ice at the humanoid wolf. Choraan dove to his right, managing to move out of the arrow's path, but not before it sliced his left wing.

Zed used his attack Ouji Kyoujin-ranbu on Choraan while Ultima swung her morning star into his side and Dex threw one of his axes at him. Boomerang threw the Sabre Fang at Choraan while Noble Knight threw another arrow of ice at him. Choraan retaliated with his violet lightning bolts. Ultima, Boomerang, Dex, and Noble Knight managed to dodge while Zed took a glancing blow to the left arm.

For a while, all the Dream Chasers could do was dodge the lightning bolts. If they did get hit, they were immobilized for several moments, making them wide open to attack. Choraan suddenly, shot a lightning bolt at Noble Knight, but this lightning was not violet like the other bolts. This one was pitch black.

The lightning caught the silver-haired warrior when she was in the middle of a jump. When the lightning caught her it suspended her in midair and coursed through her. She screamed in pain, unable to do anything but cry out. Choraan continued the barage of lightning, keeping Noble Knight suspended in midair.

Boomerang ran forward and leapt at Choraan, flying past him and planting his knee in the winged wolf's stomach. Choraan groaned and released Noble Knight, his concentration broken. The silver-haired warrior fell limply to the floor. Boomerang slashed at Choraan over and over again with the Sabre Fang. One precise blow to Choraan's chest caused a white glow to surround the humanoid wolf. Boomerang stumbled backwards away from the screaming wolf as the light engulfed him and he disappeared.

Dex gasped, "He-He's dead! You killed him!!"

Boomerang was not listening. He ran over to Noble Knight and knelt beside her, gathering her in his arms. She was limp, but she was still breathing and her pulse was strong. He sighed in relief just as Ultima stated, "She'll be fine. But we need to get her to Cathy so that she can start healing faster." Boomerang nodded, gently picked up Noble Knight, and the four Dream Chasers exited the room to find Cathrine and tell her the news.

Cathrine was able to heal Noble Knight enough so that she regained consciousness. Noble Knight spent the rest of the day sleeping and regaining her strength while Boomerang and Zed helped to put back together the room that had been trashed during the fight with Choraan.

That evening, Zed asked Boomerang as they made their way to their given rooms, "Can we go home now?"

Boomerang laughed, "First thing in the morning. We'll head back home first thing in the morning..."