2c.) A Grim Reunion

Beside Exemplar lay her tamer and Muteki. Jikon was nowhere to be seen, however. This might have been troubling, were they awake.

Some distance away, however, the ground rumbled ominously. A single clawed hand thrust up through the dirt, scrabbling desperately on the grassy meadow ground. There was some muffled cursing. A few feet away, another hand thrust up. The hands gripped the ground on either side, claws digging in, and seemed to tense...

... Jikon shot up out of the ground, clingy mud from the lush, moist area cascading off of him. He looked down at his robes and sighed. He didn't approve of unexpected dirt.

He brushed off a majority of the mud with strong, dexterous claws fingers, soon leaving only a few patches of soaked-in dirty moisture. This wasn't apparent on the black robes, however, so that was alright.

He looked around for the first time, as though just remembering something, and spotted the shack in the distance. He moved over to it, almost seeming to be restraining himself from just covering the entire distance in one leap. When he finally reached the door, he knocked.

Salem blinked a few times. "Eh...?" Salem looked down and saw he was on a roof. "Wow... the castle really doesn't look so great from up here. Wait; where the heck am I!? And where's my new minion! And why am I talking to myself? And WHAT IS THAT INCESSANT KNOCKING!"

Lallium, hearing the yell, rolled over on the roof. "I don't wanna do stuff... five more minutes..." He seemed to hug the air. "No; don't leave Arnold, what am I supposed to do if the doughnut-man comes back? I don't know what a sfixerhozen is... wait, take me with you! I always wanted to ride on a magic cow..."

Salem, still irritated, kicked Lallium, who rolled off the edge of the shack and landed in front of Jikon. Waking up, he stretched with a ywan and then blinked blearily up at the zombie. Suddenly his eyes widened.

"AHHHHH! Zombies! Call the police, call the army, call LEON S KENNEDY!" He began rolling around in a panic. "My brains aren't tasty, I promise! They taste like orange juice and cat pee and really old shampoo! Take Arnold, not me!"

After a few moments, the door opened, Valeria standing inside the shack, looking over Jikkon's shoulder at Lallium, Valeria chuckling slightly. "Seems like we've found a fear of his..." she said, taking a mental picture of who was in front of the shack... all DaCre with tamers, only one pair that she did not know.

She stepped out, looking over at Lallium. "If we're gonna eat your brains, it's not going to be for a feast or the value of it... we'd just have to be desperate..."

A few feet to the right of the door, Muteki woke. His eyes opened, but he just stared up, unseeingly. How much more of this was going to happen? It was... incredible.

Then, it occurred to him. This... this must be a dream. How could something like that happen with anything other than a dream? Which meant his family wasn't really dead. He was asleep in his room, or maybe in class, and he would, eventually, wake up...

For the first time in a while, a smile broke across Muteki's face. He rose to his feet, and felt a strange vibrating-sensation coming from his JK Dot. He brought his left wrist up, focusing on it curiously. Again, by pure chance, Jikon ranked up, becoming remarkably more respectable-looking in the process.

~Ah, by 'focusing' on the DaCre device, the DaCre ranked up. I guess I was playing the game when I fell asleep, which is affecting my dream.~

It made perfect sense.

The world seemed like a brighter place.

Jikon smiled at Valeria, revealing perfect teeth, if somewhat pointed around the canines. This was an immense improvement over the yellow, rotting stubs he's had before.

"Perhaps we should come inside before our friend has a heart attack?" he suggested in a calm, joking tone.

Salem jumped off of the roof with a happy expression. "My darling!" Landing on the ground next to Valeria he looked at her for a moment, gesturing towards Lallium, who after a moment of surprise, realized what he wanted and brought the flowers and poem from before out of his bag.

Salem cleared his throat.

"I never knew about happiness;
I did*’t think dreams came true;
I couldn’t believe in love,
Until I finally met you."

Salem grinned. "Wow, that was surprisingly good. I mean of course it was; because I wrote it. And not Lallium." Salem paused as if realizing what he was saying and then held out the flowers.

Lallium meanwhile, looked nervously at Jikon. "So... your sure your not hungry for brains?"

Jikon, now looking the part of a vampire, flashed Lallium a pointed smile.

"I can assure you that I do not want to ingest the contents of your head," he said, hoping to reassert the difference between himself and a mindless cannable corpse through using more elegant language. Not that he didn't use elegant language normally.

"Okay man... But I'm warning you, I know I've got some holy water in this bag somewhere. You vampire, or zombie, or chupicabera... Whatever you are..." Lallium thought of a quick way to put one item off the list. "You've never eaten a live goat have you?"

Lallium had played far too many horror games to fall for tricks of language... even if they weren't really tricks.

Valeria took the flowers, and smirked. "Ah... carnations... I figured you woulda known I was more of a rose person..." Valeria cruelly joked, sniffing the flowers. As odd as it may seem, Valeria did wink at Salem after that statement... someone treating her as more than a tool was rare, other than Ami...

"Yes, come inside, then, where we'll be much less visible," Valeria agreed, directing them inside the shack. It seemed rather plain... a few emergency provisions, a table with less chairs than people in the room, and a staircase leading to an attic resting place... still, it was better than staying outside.

Salem stuck a sticky note on Lallium's back that said "Roses" nonetheless.

Once inside, Salem quickly took a chair for himself, then thought about it and instead pulled it back in a gentlemanly disply for Valeria to sit in it. He gestured towards Lallium to put another chair beside that one.

Lallium complied and looked around. "So... uh... nice to see you. Sorry I'm still a little confused on how we went from standing in a castle to sleeping on top of a hut... is that normal here?"

"So.... If teleporting is like this, I pity Yitur." Erick complained from one corner of the room. His left hand's index finger and thumb pinched the bridge of his nose. He was leaning against a wall near a corner, frowning slightly and his eyes were closed.

Exemplar was leaning on the wall beside Erick, not wearing much of an expression.

Jikon stood in the corner, a faint smile on his face. He was going to let the amusing kitten enjoy this surprise visit to his 'beloved' a little bit longer before he got down to business. Happiness was becoming scarcer and scarcer in this world, and you had to accept it where you found it.

Muteki stood beside Jikon in the corner, a faint smile on his face. He was enjoying this now that the grief was gone. It was all so amazing and interesting, almost as good as some of his video games.

Hearing the petty complaint by Exemplar's tamer, Valeria eyed both of them, quickly determining that this unmet pair were allies... as it seemed. At least it seemed that they helped fight Yitur... still, newcomers had to be watched...

Preferring to stay standing, Valeria took to the front of the table, so that she could see everyone in the room. "I take it there's been some action already," Valeria started. "Finding you guys so close together was a stroke of luck... still... that wind is a forboding thing... something even I have not sensed before..."

She scanned the room, looking at all of them once more. "It seems that our enemy has become more organised since I was last here... their grip is strong on the land; yet, each of these dark overlords seems to have a different intent... well, you've seen destruction and control, so far, anyway..."

Sighing, realising she was going off track, she continued. "I am not certain of this, but the chances of each of you coming back alive from this... war... are slim... I need to know, right now, how dedicated you are to this cause. Any hesitation in action... even if it is to save another over gaining an advantage of the enemy... may jeopardize us all..."

"That would only apply if we fought as a unit. What you have on your hands are a bunch of individual warriors who happen to be doing one on one duels with a person at the same time, while making sure to protect the same people from harm. There were some sparse team tactics, but they were ineffective." Erick opened his eyes and lowered the angle of his left hand, allowing him to look at Valeria. His focus and tone were serious.

"If we were some sort of team that relied on each other and worked together as a whole greater than the sum of our parts, then the actions of one might be a hindrance. However, right now, the only effect our superior numbers had was to make Yitur spread his attacks out and have to defend against multiple attacks."

Salem shrugged. "Well maybe but I look at it this way: I know I won't die because I'm awesome. And the one Lallium keeps wetting his pants over is already dead..." He leaned in dreamily to Valeria. "And of course I can protect you my beautiful flower." He looked at Exemplar with a sly expression. "So I guess that makes you the doomed one. Nice knowing ya buddy."

Lallium sighed. "As flawed as that logic is, I think we all knew we were taking that risk coming in. I'm more interested in what you mean by saying we've seen two overlords "so far." Do you mean there are more Yitur's running around?"

Salem waved his hand. "Oooh do I count as an Overlord?" He thought about it. "Wait, of course I do! Prince of Chaos has to be equal to like 50 Overlords!"

Lallium also pondered to himself. "Maybe we'll see Laharl... I mean someone has to have been unoriginal and taken his design."

"You have my full support," said Jikon simply. Truthfully, he had already considered what Erik had brought up. They hadn't been functioning as a team. They'd hardly had the chance to, however, and there aren't many tactics you can make for a six-to-one fight beyond 'try not to hit each other'. He was sure they would be able to act together, if need be. Most people could. He remembered the odd group he'd encountered before. Definitely 'most'.

Besides... he had other plans...

Muteki smiled brightly. "Of course I'll help," he said cheerfully. He'd been off putting in his spiraling depression, but this unwarranted joy was just as awkward.

Valeria sighed. "Yitur was the kindest of the ones you will fight... he has no will to kill his victims... however, there are others, overlord or not, who will take any measure to extract their goals... deceit, destruction, disguise..."

She paused, looking around once more. "Still, I see you all think that you are ready for this... if you think you are, follow me outside, about a hundred yards away from the shack... there is something interesting there that I want you to see."

"I will follow." Erick slowly brought his left hand down and slid it into his pocket as he pushed off slightly with his legs to resume a normal standing position. Exemplar assumed the standing position similarly barely a moment latter.

"Not much else to say." He smirked dryly.

"Purrr...."

Lallium sighed. "Salem, I'm positive that's not what she meant."

Salem looked confused. "So no jacuzzi?" He turned back to Valeria. "Whatever. Lead on my darling."

Valeria led the group up the field, to a yard of wooden crosses, each adorned with a watch, a hardwire, or anything left to remember something by, whether it be a piece of clothing or, in one marker's case, a tooth.

"This is... all that remains of nearly every tamer who has come to this land in the last crisis..." Valeria explained, showing the display to the tamers. "It was an impossible battle, at times... it was only to all of them that we survived... they were like you... confident, hopeful..."

Valeria sighed again. "I don't know why I'm showing this to you determined people... I guess I don't want you to think you are being cheated, here... the risk is real, and ever-present. At least two of them were destroyed in their sleep..."

"Tch, are you trying to discourage us?" Erick spoke, slightly lower in tone, with a slight edge. He couldn't say that this sobering display didn't affect him, but he could tell that he didn't want to feel afraid or apologetic.

"I've made my decision, it doesn't matter what I feel anymore." He smiled again, finding solace in his earlier decision. He was going to stick with Exemplar, and Exemplar was going to save this world. Thus, he was going to help save this world. There was doubt and fear, but he had decided to override it.

Jikon looked at the graves solemnly. As one who defied death time and time again, he wasn't particularly bothered by the threat of it as related to him. He glanced over at the boy, however, to see how he was doing.

Muteki didn't seem phased by the graves. To him, this was a dream. Everyone knew you woke up in dreams before you died.

Jikon smiled faintly as he saw Muteki's indifference. This trait could be useful.

"We'll take care in our efforts, miss. Don't worry."

He smiled warmly at the fairy, light glinting off of a pointed tooth.

Lallium looked especially fightened bu the sight. "In their... sleep?" He gulped, thinking of the 13 hours in the average day he was used to resting.

Salem on the other hand scoffed. "Weaklings, all of them. Obviosly THEY didn't have me." Salem stood proudly. "Don't worry about it, as long as I'm here we'll all be just fine." He glanced back at Exemplar. "Except you."

Lallium sighed. "You're really stuck on the "he's going to die" theory aren't you?"

"Well if I'm wrong I owe him a coke."

"I suppose you're right," Valeria said, looking over at Exemplar's partner. "Forgive me... I fear I may lose someone very close to me in all this... my tamer is frail as is... I only pray she's safe on the other side..."

Silent for a moment, Valeria nodded, pointing to her left. "Off to the east. There, you will find a mountain, the only volcano in this world. You will find both resistance, allies, and perhaps information in that direction. I shall accompany you to the border of this grassland."

"Let's go then. Surely delaying won't help us avoid death." Erick turned to face east with a single step, as did Exemplar, who seemed to be mirroring him currently.

Erick was doing the speaking for both of them, and this didn't seem to bother Exemplar in the least. Of course, nothing really seemed to bother Exemplar.

Salem looked dejected. "Do we have to go already?"

Lallium grinned and put his arm around Salem's shoulder; leaning down to do so of course. "Don't worry, I'm sure she'll still be waiting after we save... er conquer the world."

Salem looked dreamily at Valeria. "Is it true? You'll wait for me for a thousand years until I return home with my throne and glory? Oh what am I saying of course you will!"

He charged off in the direction. "Onwards! The more quickly we previal the more quickly mine and my dearest love can bloom like daisies in the spring!" He pranced and spoke in a singsongy voice. "I can hear church bells...."

Lallium sighed. "Sorry about all of this Valeria..." He jogged after Salem, hoping someone would take the initiative to make sure niehter of them walked off a cliff...