Episode 5 Regret the Paradox

Two guards walk into a large room open room behind Ryuu and Kunai, stun guns pointed at their backs. In front of them is a large circular hole, leading down into a bottomless abyss. Hovering over the hole is a large throne built around an equally large computer, held up by many wires.

Sitting in the throne is a thin man with long blue hair, its bangs partially veiling his face. The man wears a small red monocle over a pair of glasses, and is draped in a thin protective layer of armor. He rises to his feet on top of his throne as Ryuu and Kunai are thrown onto their knees before him.

“Uchida Ryuu…” the man mutters in a soft, melancholy voice. “At last I get to meet you…” The man turns and presses a button on the computer surrounding his throne, and the platform slowly lowers, until it is ground level with Ryuu and Kunai.

The man steps off the platform agilely and stands looking down at the kneeling Ryuu and Kunai. “You’ve always been a nuisance.”

Ryuu does not say anything, but merely continues to stare arrogantly back at the man with a fixed expression. Kunai turns to look at him, puzzled.

The man turns to glance at the two guards. “Leave,” he commands.

One of the guard hesitates slightly, saying, “Lord Fyx, are you sure you want us to leave when you are this close to the prisoners?”

“I said leave. As I ordered, you’ve already taken away their weapons. They are harmless,” Fyx orders. He gestures toward the door at the front of the room. “Now leave at once.”

The two guards bow, then turn around and walk through the door leading into the room, shutting it behind them.

Lord Fyx suddenly glances down at Ryuu and Kunai as they leave, a slight smirk on his lips. “So, Uchida…you thought you could break into Haven without being detected, did you? What is your purpose for coming here? Certainly, not to shut me down? As I understand the Joukai’s resources are…quite nonexistent nowadays.”

Ryuu bares his teeth, staring up at Fyx with hatred burning in his eyes. He suddenly stands up. “I’ll never bow down to you, Fyx.”

Fyx grins suddenly, smirking to himself. He suddenly pulls from inside his armor a long staff. He pulls on the top of the staff, drawing out of it a long gleaming sword. “How I’ve longed to get rid of you, Uchida.”

“You’d have to fight me first,” Ryuu replies.

Fyx suddenly laughs loudly, a chilling cold laugh. “With no weapon?”

Ryuu raises his fists, staring defiantly back at Fyx. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve killed a man with my bare hands.”

“But of course,” Fyx says softly, “the Joukai have trained you in all forms of combat, haven’t they? But you are missing one thing…for I am no mortal man.”

He suddenly takes off his glasses, revealing his right eye and five pupils inscribed inside it. “I hold the powers of the Paradox within me.” He then removes his monocle, revealing a red pupil inside a yellow eye.

Kunai cries out loud, taking a step back in surprise. “You’re a…?”

Ryuu remains standing still, unflinching. “So you’ve allowed yourself to be mutilated by the Paradox, to become one of them, huh? Have you grown so power hungry you’d shatter your own soul so many times just for that purpose?”

An alarm suddenly sounds once again overhead, followed by another flash of red light. Fyx suddenly glances up, perplexed. “What now?” he cries impatiently.

He retrieves from a pocket a walkie-talkie, and speaks into it. “Calling Guard A-12. For what purpose has the alarm rung again?”

A voice suddenly replies into the walkie-talkie, deformed by static: “The other two infiltrators have disposed of some of our guard. We need backup. Over.”

Ryuu smiles demonically suddenly, staring at Fyx with renewed arrogance. “A little trouble in the house, Fyx?”

Fyx bares his teeth, staring at Ryuu and Kunai with disgust. “Unfortunately, I haven’t the time to take care of you two myself. However…”

Fyx suddenly strides over to his throne again, pressing a button on it. It rises into the air again and resumes its former position over the large bottomless hole in the center of the room. He presses another button and the shaft below him suddenly glows with a bright golden light.

There is suddenly a loud explosion of noise and light, and suddenly several dark, shadowy legs appear in the hole in the center of the room, groping around.

Ryuu and Kunai both take a step back, shouting in surprise. Fyx grins at them maniacally. “Though I myself must run, I’m sure you’ll find our newest Paradox quite an interesting replacement. He’ll treat you right. He is codenamed Regret, for I am sure it will be quite a regret to meet him, as I’m sure you’ll see soon enough.”

Fyx then cackles maniacally, pressing another button. The throne rises once again into the air, disappearing into a stairway high above the ground. There is a dull clunk, and the throne suddenly stops moving.

Fyx’s voice suddenly rings throughout the room: “Piece of junk!” There is another clunk and the throne proceeds moving up again smoothly, eventually disappearing from sight.

Ryuu stares up at the bottom of the throne with a sour expression on his face. “Heh. Guess he’s having some mechanical troubles himself.”

Kunai shakes his head, crying out loud, “No time for that! Look!” He points forward at the shaft in the center of the room. The many legs suddenly begin rising, and a large spider-like figure emerges from within the shaft.

At the center of the creature’s head is a large, yellow eye with a red pupil in it. Under its eye are four pairs of fangs, clicking loudly as the Paradox approaches. It gives a loud monstrous cry, saliva dripping from its fangs.

Ryuu stares at it, disgust written on his face. “****, that’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”

The Paradox suddenly completely emerges from the dark shaft, and scuttles onto the center of the room, bearing down on Ryuu and Kunai.

The two of them back away slowly as the Paradox draws closer. Kunai turns to Ryuu. “What do we do? We haven’t gone any weapons!”

Ryuu backs away, glancing around slightly nervously. He suddenly stares at the wall, where many pipes are running through. He grabs one of the pipes and forcibly rips it from the wall.

“Watch and learn. This’ll do for a sword!” He closes his eyes, concentrating slightly, and suddenly the pipe bursts into flames. Ryuu then leaps into the air, agilely landing on top of the Paradox’s head.

The Paradox suddenly shivers, stumbling around and trying to buck Ryuu off. Ryuu remains still, planting his feet into the Paradox’s head. Suddenly he gives a loud grunt and lodges the pipe into the Paradox’s head, missing the eye by inches do to the shaking of the creature.

Ryuu gives a loud cry as he flies off the Paradox, landing on the ground harshly feet away from Kunai. Kunai rushes over to him, bending over him. “You all right, Ryuu!”

“Yeah, but this is a hell of a thing to have to fight!” Ryuu cries out loud.

A cookie suddenly appears in the air, hitting the Paradox and bouncing off its head. Both Ryuu and Kunai turn to look in surprise as Arai and Ivy appear overhead on a platform situated just above the scene.

Arai grins and waves down at the two of them, then jumps off the platform to join Ryuu and Kunai. Ivy soon follows afterwards.

Ryuu grins as he sees Arai. “Never thought I’d be glad to see you,” he mutters.

Arai suddenly holds out Ryuu’s sword, handing it over to him. He also retrieves from his pocket a Black Scarab and set of Steelys, handing it to Kunai.

Kunai stares at the Scarab and Steelys in surprise, equipping it immediately. “How’d…?”

Arai grins, winking at Kunai and giving him the thumbs up. “Well, initially the guard captured us, but I took care of them with an ice attack. I quickly found the guards who had your weapons and we found out from them that you were being kept in here. We came as soon as we could.”

Ivy grins, staring at the three of them. “Did you miss us?”

Kunai grins, nodding slightly. “Definitely. We need all the help we can get!”

Arai suddenly turns to look at Regret as it gives a loud shriek and stumbles toward them again. “Hm…I take it you’ve been pretty busy as well, huh?” He grabs his Dark Ritual, and sends a sheet of ice flying into the air over the Paradox.

Regret suddenly spits out several needles of silk, shattering the sheet of ice in the air. Arai gasps loudly in surprise as the pieces of ice fall to the ground. “Impressive.”

Ryuu shakes his head, baring his teeth. “Now’s not the time to be admiring the enemy’s attacks!” He raises his sword as it catches on fire, and leaps into the air, spinning and cutting into Regret’s neck with a swift stroke.

As Ryuu lands, Regret gives a loud shriek, but does not give any sign of weakness. Ryuu turns around and leaps into the air to dodge another barrage of silk needles.

Kunai leaps into the air as well, throwing several Steelys and sending them into Regret’s eye. Ryuu simultaneously rises into the air and sends a burst of flame to join the Steelys, lighting them on fire.

The Steelys penetrate Regret’s eye, causing it to shriek and stampede around, shaking the ground. Both Kunai and Ryuu land as Regret cries out loud again and sends more needles flying towards them.

Ryuu slides in front of the rest of the group, waving his sword and burning the needles to ashes. He glances back at Kunai and Arai. “Dammit! Isn’t there anything else we can do? Nothing we do seems to affect it!”

Arai scratches his chin thoughtfully. “Hm…well, I do recall seeing on the map that this area is surrounded by many fuel chambers. If we were to…”

Ryuu turns to Arai with a smirk on his face. “Now you’re talking.” He glances around, pointing to four outgoing pipes running along the room. “All right! Everybody, when I say ‘Go!’ you all jump into that shaft in the center of the room. If I’m right, it’s the easiest way out of this damn hellhole!”

Ryuu then turns to the pipes, running over to it immediately and placing the tip of his sword on it. The pipe immediately catches fire, and crackles loudly. Sparks suddenly begin flying, and the fire begins to spread.

Within seconds, the fire suddenly shoots all around the room, enveloping the entire area. “All right! GO!” Ryuu cries, as one of the pipes explodes with a loud bang. The four of them leap into the shaft and disappear out of sight just as Regret stomps around with a shriek.

Kunai, Ryuu, Arai, and Ivy suddenly climb out of a large hole in the ground, emerging into the cool forest air outside. It is now completely dark, and the stars have begun twinkling softly overhead.

A loud explosion sounds behind them, as the group turns to stare at the dark silhouette of Haven, as one of the larger buildings explodes in a shower of fireworks. “So much for a quiet escape,” Ryuu mutters.