(18) A Fight to the Finish...

Across the lake...

Michael charged up his blade and cycloned through the darkness with a Whirling Blade Attack, until he was face to face with his other self.

"Heya jerk." Michael growled and smacked his elbow alongside the skull of his twin. He responded in turn with a knee to the gut, knocking the wind out of Michael. Without warning, Michael was flung back into the darkness fray.

"Come on, Michael! You're making this too easy!"

"Mike!" DK shouted between energy blasts. "How'd you defeat this guy last time?"

"We..." Michael grunted as he swung a boot into another creature. "We didn't."

DK did not need to hear that. "What do you mean you didn't?"

"He means," the evil one cackled, "that if it weren't for our so-called father, I would've finished him and all his friends. Face it, Michael. You couldn't destroy me with those three party members of yours. What makes you think you'll have any better luck with just this loser?"

The insult had been delivered and the gauntlet was thrown. DK tightened his jaw, then activated his arm cannon special mode: a massive energy saber. As his built-in sword reached full-power, DK's body radiated with fury.

"What did you call me, you..." he roared, followed by some future curse words that don't exist in the English language yet.

Michael, not one to let a friend of his get disrespected, charged up his own blade. Together they flew above the fray and soared where their target was waiting.

DK reached him first, letting out a berserk series of hacks and slashes. Unfortunately, the monstrosity was ready and easily parried every attack that came its way. For every one attack, it was able to attack back eight of its own. Without any real effort, its elbow rammed into DK with a sickening crack, sending DK plummeting toward the darkness.

Michael seeing DK fall knew it was his turn to attack. He channeled his energy into the blade that spurt out beams of flaming white-hot light. He cocked back his blade and swung his sword, letting out the biggest sonic boom that he was capable of. Most of the creatures of darkness were unable to stand the recoil from the energy backflash and dissolved into oblivion from whence they came.

DK shielded his eyes from the light which grew more intense, until...

As soon as the light faded, he saw Michael on his knees, sword arm hanging limply by his side. And the evil creature was still standing. DK used his more superior than average intelligence to react without a second to lose. He knew what he had to do.

Before Michael could raise his sword, the doppleganger had his own sword tip aimed at Michael's throat. "Any last words?"

Michael grinned. "'Ninja Assassin', say hello to fellow tribe warrior 'Kickin' Crotch.'" The evil one had a split second before DK, who had been able to sneak behind, rammed his fist upward into "where the sun don't shine."

Michael let out a warrior's cry, and swung his sword in an arc and pierced the heart of the shadow.

"But...but that was a cheap shot..." his shadow self complained weakly.

"There was an advantage and he took it." Michael said in a heroic voice. "'Cause that's what heroes do."

Michael withdrew his sword from the being. DK and Michael backflipped on opposite sides of the creature and charged up their weapons. Then with uncanny accuracy, maximum agility, and ultimate strength, they performed their Team Attack: "Omega Justice."

Unable to withstand the combined force of both warriors energies, the shadow was ripped apart into the void.
Michael and DK both fell onto one knee, using their weapons to keep them steady. "Go back into oblivion where you came from, monster." DK huffed.

The other darkness entities faded back into the shadows from whence they came, until Michael and DK were left alone.

"Nice shot." Michael commented.

"Hey, it's not every day I get to crack you in the family jewels."

"Ha ha. Very funny." Michael looked out toward the horizon. "I hope the others are okay."

Giving themselves a few moments to recover from their finishing attack, DK and Michael levitated into the air and sped off toward their friends, hoping that they weren't in any trouble themselves. Seconds after they left the rickety old building, it collapsed on itself, leaving it into a pile of rubble.

Michael and DK glanced back toward the ruins of the building.

"Think they had insurance?" DK asked.

Michael let out a snort of disbelief. "It's a secret government facility. If no one knew about it, it never existed."
...

Meanwhile, Rachel, Lara, Mason and Jay were sprinting as fast as possible. Actually, it was more like Rachel and Lara were running with Mason and Jay on their backs.

"Why are we carrying you two again?" Lara huffed.

"Mason's too heavy to carry and you can run faster than we can." Jay explained.

"Uh-uh." Rachel and Lara stopped and unceremoniously dumped their two pieces of baggage. "We are not chauffeurs. You two start running on your own."

"Do you guys feel that?" Lara spoke suddenly.

"Feel what?" They stood absolutely still, wondering what was going on.

Everything seemed quiet enough. But there was an uneasiness in the air. It was as if something was waiting for the right moment to pounce. Lara and Rachel had their weapons at the ready, straining their ears for even the slightest motion. Mason was shuddering as if he knew it was coming. Jay almost forgot to breathe; he was trying to keep as still as possible and didn't want to disturb their guardian's concentration.

After what seemed like an eternity, Lara and Rachel lowered their weapons slightly. Seeing this, Jay let out a sigh of relief.

Big mistake.

A creature of darkness burst out of the snowy landscape, its tentacles targeting Jay.

"The Jay!" it screamed in a primal howl of hostility.

(17) Shortcut...

Meanwhile, in Eltemu...

The Darkness arrived a shortwhile later, severely disenchanted.
His energy was almost completely extinguished.

As the dark Rufus approached the ruins, Rufus himself experienced a brief moment of reclamation from his captor's control. Staring ahead at the abandoned dig site, his mind raced.

What is wrong with me? he thought, I cannot control myself. Am I dead?
The events of the past day flooded back into his mind with an aching subtlety.

The Darkness, it took over my body...
His thoughts blurred again, as the Darkness regained its hold on him.

No...

The Darkness shook off this momentarily lapse in control. It had to focus on the task at hand. That task was to get to the Jay. But it has no choice but to do that which it feared most - reenter the warpgate of its own will.

As it neared the pedestal, the Darkness detected a familiar energy source lurking nearby.

"The artifact..." it hissed, scanning the ground for the item. He saw it near the second building.

Right where he dropped it, the Darkness realized, accessing Rufus's memories at will.
Rufus had, in fact, dropped the artifact when he saw the Darkness in its disguise as a deceased Jay.

This object must never again see the light of day, the Darkness swore to itself, wedging the artifact deep inside its own dark matter exterior.

It was then that the Darkness recalled another of Rufus's memories. This specific memory reminded him that the warpgate would only activate at a certain time of day, when the sun was at a specific angle.

I will have to compensate, it sighed, because I must use it as a means to an end... the end of the Jay.

Shooting three gigantic tentacles of dark matter at each of the ruined buildings, the Darkness concentrated hard. After a few seconds, it successfully reflected sunlight off of its slick extremeties, down into all three glass panels, which immediately sparked to life with an eerie sizzle. The three beams of light met, and instantaneously the warpgate was visible, humming with energy.

"It is time!" the Darkness screeched, plunging into the void, its outstretched extremeties following it inside.
The glass panels fizzled out immediately, and the warpgate vanished into a literal puff of smoke as the Darkness dissapeared within.

...

Now hurtling through the void which he despised, the Darkness attempted a scream of anguish, but with no oxygen to carry the sound of its voice, the scream remained silent.

I shall never enter this place again, it swore to itself.

Shaking off its disgust, the Darkness yanked the artifact from its dark torso and pitched it with every ounce of force it had into the darkness behind it.

Finally, the artifact is gone, the Darkness thought with glee. Now and forever.

Moments later, it did a face plant into the icy cold whiteness of a snow covered field. Instinctively, it countered the impact with a plethora of well placed tentacles. After regaining its bearings, the dark Rufus stood, grinning mischeviously at its surroundings.

The Jay... He is close... Very close...

(16) The Source...

Meanwhile, in Winter Lake...

"Uh...question." Jay suddenly said. The group had been travelling toward the source of the mysterious noise, which strangely didn't seem to be getting any stronger. "Can't we just fly to where we're going?"

"For the seventh time," Rachel grumbled. "Only Michael and DK can fly. They'd probably be able to carry me and Lara, but I don't think they could hold all three of us."

"Besides," DK stated, "it's better off that we walk so we don't miss anything important on the ground."

"Well, why is Lara leading?"

"Because she's the only one at the moment that can hear the signal." Michael explained.

"At the moment?"

"I could probably hear it if I concentrated my power, but I'd rather not have to use it." Michael continued.

"Either that or you're just lazy." Rachel smirked.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Michael replied.

"Will both of you shut up? I think we're getting close." Lara snapped.

Suddenly Lara stopped. "The signal's coming from right here." They looked around at their surroundings. They seemed to be in a deserted area of a city. In front of them was what looked like an old burnt-out factory.

"What the heck is this?" DK wondered. Rachel pointed to a blackened piece of metal. They were barely able to make out the words: "Area 52-B. Experimental Legends Facility."

"'Area 52-B?' E.L.F.?" DK said.

"What's it say below that?" Jay said pointing at some fine print on the sign.

"'You are here. We are not.'" Rachel read. "Well, that's original."

"Shush!" Lara suddenly exclaimed. Everyone stood quiet for a minute and heard a clanging noise inside. "Do you hear that?"

They looked around for the source of the sound. Jay finally pinpointed the source next to one of the far walls. "It's coming from under this rubble." Working together, they move the debris and find a hidden compartment in the wall.

"Yup, it's most definitely coming from in there. I'm sure of it." Lara said.

CLANG! A door swings open, revealing...

"Mason Biggs!" The disassembled spelunker gasped from the sudden intake of fresh air.

"...Finally. I never thought you would find me."

"Sir, what happened?" Jay quickly asked.

"I'll explain later." Mason groaned. "Right now we need to get out of this area before they return."

"Before who returns?"

"Now you wouldn't be thinking of leaving just yet, would you?" a sinister, but oddly familiar voice rang out behind the group.

Slowly turning around, they find themselves facing a group of the same creatures they fought earlier. And in front of the pack was...

"Michael, I didn't know you had a twin." Jay commented.

Michael glared at the doppleganger. "I thought I banished you to the realms of oblivion, creep."

The evil twin smirked. "You should know by now. The closer you get to the light, the larger your shadow becomes. There cannot be light without darkness, matter without anti-matter, a pure heart of good..." he says.

"...without the impurity of evil." Michael finished. "I knew this seemed too easy." He drew his weapon, Destiny's Force, while the others did the same.

"Rachel and Lara, go with Jay and get Mason out of here. DK and I will handle this." Rachel was about to argue, but Lara tugged her arm.

Lara looked at her and shook her head. "They know what they're doing."

"Don't let them escape!" The evil creatures of darkness flew toward Jay, but DK destroyed them in one swipe.

"Get going!" Jay half-carried Mason with Rachel and Lara as escorts and ran like the wind out of the building and the battle area.

Michael tried to get to his shadow self, but more creatures were spawning left and right.

DK and Michael kept hacking and slashing until it was undeniably clear: they were surrounded.

"I guess we brought back more dark matter with us than we thought," Michael groaned through gritted teeth, "or at least enough to bring back my doppleganger and his pals."

They stood back to back, weapons drawn, waiting for the oncoming attack. "Just like old times, huh?," DK asked.

"If I remember correctly, I destroyed twenty more than you did last time," Michael replied.

"Then you miscounted," DK said with a bemused smirk. "Because I beat you by thirty." Michael grinned.

"If anyone actually wrote about this, now would be a good time to go with a 'To Be Continued...'"

"If only we were that lucky." DK sighed.