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"So Lonewolf, its been a long time. It seems as though we are both cursed beings whose misery intensifies together. Last time I saw you a few days ago, wolves broke in and poisened your pet fleabag. And now, here we are, sitting in a cave on the side of some god unforsaken mountain hiding from a blizzard caused by a crazed power-hungry b***h that sucked out 80% of my life force and disgarded it after absorbing ALL of yours. Now look at us. Your as good as dead and I'm talking to a courpse."
((good summery of the events up there, uh?))
Inferno looked back at the fire like it was talking to him. Inferno bathed in the rich heat the fire provided. Inferno kept Lonewolf's body far enough from the fire to make sure he didn't burn up, but close enough not to freeze. He didn't know why, since it was just a lifeless body.
"Ya know, Lonewolf, you're the only person I respect. You realize that? I don't even respect Lionheart. I see us as equals. But you... why did you get such power? Why are you so gifted. Why were YOU the chosen one? Lonewolf? You must've worked hard to get as strong as you did, but I fought in Hell in another life. For centurys! How is it that you are strong, that my power is useless compared to yours? Look at me, whining like a little baby. But all this time, I simply wanted to be stronger than you. It sounded so simple. If I fought hard enough, meditated hard enough, and trained hard enough, that I could surpass you. Even after the Final Battle, when demons ceased to roam the Earth, I went out and looked for any demons left. I went looking for trouble, so I could stay in shape. I purfected old moves, and learned new spells. I trained in the most hellish conditions. I was sure that next time I returned to this land, I'd be the strongest living thing here. But when I returned, you were here. And I bet you didn't do s**t all these years! And still, I haven't surpassed you. I haven't even come close. Well... I guess I'm stronger than you now. But this isn't how I wanted it. You screwed up, you know that! You were stronger than that b***h! I could tell! Why didn't you try to break free of that spell?! You could have done it! You're the Legendary Dragoon Lonewolf! Why didn't you fight back?! Why didn't you transform and reveal your true power!?! At least I tried! But you... you just gave up. What makes you think you're the only one who suffers? I lost all my comrades. Shadowkite, Relena, Erim, Ocarina... all dead. Atticus went back to the demon world. You and Haji disappeared. Leon became a ******** school teacher! I was left alone! Trapped in a world of weaklings! Do you how I felt? And yet this whole time you were just hiding. If I bring you back, if that b***h is defeated, you better not leave again... or I'll personally hunt you down and kick your a**!"
Inferno turned and glared back at the fire.

"Dammit! I should killed that wench when I had the chance. I had a clear shot when I first saw her. I could have shot her head off! DAMN IT ALL!" scream
Inferno shot a blast of rage fueled fire out his mouth and out the cave, which immediately hit a tree and blew it up in a fiery explosion.
"Damn... now I'm tired again." stressed

Inferno glared up after absorbing some of the fire from the burning logs.
"Well well, glad you decided to show up Leon. What kept ya? Were you busy or just getting slow in your old age?" Inferno said in his usual condinsending way, even though in reality he was very happy to see his comrad, though he would never show it.
"I suppose you have some questions, huh?" Inferno remarked.

Inferno was irritated by Lionheart's near command.
"Well, Leon, let's see. I was sleeping in a cave near the forest when some chick came outta nowhere and teleported us to the castle atop the mountain. Violet hair, blue aura, gold eyes. Teleported us with no trouble at all. I woke up in the castle. Turns out they were collecting 'dragoons of old'. Then there was this one chick, appartently, she was trained by the same guy that trained Lonewolf..."
Inferno continued to explain things in great detail. The only time he laid off detail was the part when he got trapped. He explained the tremendous aura of the lady after absorbing Lonewolf's life aura.
"After she absorbed Lonewolf's life aura, she let me go, saying she didn't need my power anymore. b***h. stare Anyway, she let me go, and let go of Lonewolf's empty shell of a body. So I grabbed it and left. I didn't have the energy to fight. She took away at least 90% of my energy. So after grabbing Lonewolf's body I left, but not before hearing about her next plan. Something about starting a tournment. I got down here in the blizzard, the castle's at the tip top of the mountain. So here we are. I 'm so exhausted I can't even maintain a human form."
Inferno stared at Lionheart with discontent.
"So, what should we do? I don't have the energy to fight, and that's what I do. You were a leader a few centuries ago, you think of a plan." stare
Inferno hating having to rely on ANYONE, but since it was a dragoon, he'd bare with it. He simply wasn't one for planning. In the heat of battle, he was second to none, he thought quickly, found weak points, and used everything around to his advantage, but preplanned strategy was not Inferno's fortay. He needed help, even if he didn't like it.

"In time. I think I can regain most my powers in about a week. Full power will take two weeks, shorter under best case circumstances, but since when has anything gone that well. Anyways, in one week I'll be fight ready, in two weeks, I'll be ready for battle."
Inferno sighed in discontent.
"Even with you, Shadow, and I fighting together, we wouldn't stand a chance. We could probably take out her chronies easily enough. I think there were two, I got a good feel for the one that teleported me, but there was another, some guy in a stupid mask. Come to think of it, they weren't there for very long. They got sent out to do something. But they're not the problem. They power-hungry psyco was able to abduct Lonewolf and me, with hardly any resistance. They knew all about us. They knew our attitudes, our powers, our personalities, everything. They caught Lonewolf while he was seriously messed up. And she caught me in her trap before I could I could analyze her and attack. She knows so many powerful spells. And now she has Lonewolf's strength. If we were going to beat her... we'd need more then three. We'd need a small group. But the dragoons are dead. Plus we don't know what else she's capable of. I think we were going to win..."
Inferno had to think hard on this one, he wasn't one for plans but he wanted revenge.
"We'd need full power, a couple of tricks to counter with, a new group to help fight or at least distract, more information on her, and finally... a decent amount of luck."
Inferno already started thinking on how to counter that binding spell that caused so much trouble.

Inferno nodded in agreement as he folded his wings behind his back.
"Listen, this isn't exactly the best place to recover. You got a place to stay or something? I don't exactly have an apartment to go to, and I don't think any motels are gonna give a room to me looking like this."
Inferno looked at his demon body, reminding Lionheart that he couldn't maintain a human form in his condition.

Inferno noticed Lonewolf's aura barely spark and saw the flinch.
"Listen, we need a place to heal, recooperate, and we we it soon. I got nowhere to go, and Lonewolf's shack is a mess, Haji's room isn't a good idea either. The old HQ is in ruins. Surely you have a place. We need to get off this mountain before the blizzard hits again."

"You rang, mistress?" Arianna turned to see Kain leaning against one of the pillars in her throne room, calmly dusting off his mask.



Arianna smiled mischievously just as her old master had when he trained her 600 years ago. "It's about time. Now then...I want you two to listen to me..." Her eyes flicked over to her sister who was as stiff as a statue, awaiting for orders. "I am going to hold a fighting tournament."

Kain put his mask back on, covering his facial expression.



Elliana didn't budge.

"Killing is allowed." She added. Kain smirked under his mask as Elliana nodded. "Your jobs are to send out flyers of the tournament...advertise it everywhere I don't care how or where you advertise it. Just make sure everybody knows about it."

Elliana nodded. Kain's nose twitched as something was obviously bothering him. "What of the dragoons of old mistress? Did you not want to absorb all of their abilities anymore?" The woman shook her head and smiled, "That is not necesary anymore. I have all the power I need from the great legendary Lonewolf. However...I have decided to absorb their powers anyway." Kain looked up at his mistress, "How?" Again, she smiled mischievously, "Everytime you defeat one of them, I shall use my tiarra to steal their energy before their heart stops."

Kain seemed a bit shaken. His mistress wanted him and Elliana to kill all of the dragoons of old? That will be some task alright...

As if reading his mind, Arianna gestured to a dark corner of the room, "Ofcourse...I have gotten a little....insurance. Just in case."

A familiar face stepped out from the shadows...



Kain's eyes widened, "Is that..?"

Arianna nodded, "Indeed. The notorious necromancer himself..." She paused for dramatic effect.

"Mortamus."

Kain stepped back from the menacing figure...thinking that he might attack him. "But...how?" Arianna gestured towards Elliana. "I have brought my sister back from the dead, did I not? How is this any different?" Kain seemed confused, "But that would mean..." He sighed in relief, knowing that the necromancer was completely under Arianna's control.

Arianna nodded as Kain sighed, "That is correct. He is my slave. Nothing more, nothing less. I have brought him back along with other old villains from the past that the dragoons had faced...and a little something extra..." Kain seemed eager to know, " Who else?" Arianna shook her head then replied. "You will see once the tournament begins in 2 weeks from now." Kain's shoulders slumped as he heaved a sigh, "Yes mistress..." Elliana bowed.

Arianna cackled her laughter, knowing that soon the powers of the greatest fighters in the world will soon be hers! The Mortamus clone, stood with no show of emotion as Arianna laughed.