Party Call: Promenade Act 2: Clash of fates Vol. 1: Recurring Nightmares

Authors note: Sorry for the delayed update to the story, it WAS dead, but I've decided to keep it going in the form of a new "season" I guess you could say.... If you dont know what happened and are new please feel free to check out my other parts:


Volume 2 Act 1



Volume 1 Act 1

Ch. 1: Stranger

Tri gasped for breath and looked up ahead at Wonder and SMW, carrying their light packs as they walked effortlessly down the night streets of Hendon Myre.

"How can you guys pack so lightly?" Tri gasped, jogging to catch up.

"We don't have swords or metal objects, so we don't need whet stones," SMW looked back at Tri. "and you don't know how to pack lightly." he said before looking forward again.

"Well...can we rest?" Tri asked.

"No, we're almost there, can't you hang on a little longer?" Wonder asked, turning around but walking backwards to keep progress.

Tri noticed how Wonder's attitude toward him changed significantly, she no longer treated him like a piece of shit. He hadn't noticed the phenomenon in their whole year of training together, but it was certainly there...in her eye, a glint of equality. Tri was focusing on Wonder's eyes, peering into her soul and didn't take any notice of the figure huddling against the wall of a building. By the time he noticed it was too late, while walking backwards Wonder tripped over the person and landed on her ass.

"Ow!" Wonder cried in shock and anger.

Wonder whipped her head lightning fast to the stranger huddled on the wall.

"Watch where you're sitting!" She yelled to the stranger.

"Be careful how you talk to your superiors, young lady...." a raspy woman's voice murmured from the hood over the strangers face.

"What did you say to me?!" She screamed.

"I know you heard me, believe what you want, but you are still week." the stranger replied, lowering her hood to reveal the face of a dark elf, her silver hair flowed down to her shoulders, her skin a morbid shade of gray and purple, she seemed to resonate with a dark aura.

"H-how.... Who are you?!"

"My name is Sherly. And, my, my, you're eyes are just overflowing with your soul; anyone can tell your whole life just by looking in them. Just ask him." the stranger motioned at Tri.

"That's not the point, I don't care about Tri." Wonder said carelessly.

"Yes, the point is you're still weak."

"As long as I have my friends, I will never be weak."

Sherly let out a bellowing laugh.

"You're funny, you know, there will be a time when you cannot trust one of your friends, but hold these two," Sherly motioned at Tri and SMW, "closely, in case something may happen to one of them."

SMW stepped forward "Are you threatening us?" he said defensively.

"Ahhh...you, the one who is afraid of his own power. You are the only one who is strong enough for the challenges that are headed your way." Sherly said, amused. "And as for you," she pointed a bony finger at Tri, "the corrupt one has the power of a thousand of all three of you combined, however, his spirit is still unbelievably weaker than both of yours."

Sherly stood up and got in Tri's face, the smell of garlic filled his nose and almost blocked out his senses, he tried not to gag as Sherly said the next words, dripping with dread: "Don't ever seek more power than what you already have, that may be the downfall of not only you, but the whole world."

Tri could faintly sense Sherly smiling as if she had done some awfully funny prank and was witnessing the outcome. Almost as soon as he could sense it, his senses were blocked by a feeling of dread as a dark aura appeared behind Sherly.

"M'lady, the preparations are made, shall we leave?" a man's voice asked from the formless aura that Tri sensed.

Tri could barely make out the eyes on the formless aura. The eyes seemed to glow white with an empty aura and a feeling of dread hung over Tri as the eyes slowly looked in his direction.

"Ahh, yes, Nicholas, let's leave...." Sherly backed out of Tri's face and headed over to the formless aura before turning around and saying clearly, "There is a terrible terrible danger headed your way." She said, overflowing with emotion this time. "And if you fail to conquer it, it will consume everything. You," she pointed at Wonder. "you may be weak, but you are the glue that will hold a stronger team of people together, don't forget that. You," she pointed at SMW. "do not be afraid to use your full potential, you will need to learn to reach new horizons with your power. And you," she pointed at Tri. "don't forget your friends."

With that she disappeared, the sense of dread gone too. Tri, SMW, and Wonder stood there for half a minute as if absorbing what Sherly had said.

"Come on," SMW said breaking the silence. "we're nearly home...."

Tri walked alongside SMW and Wonder, not panting or gasping for air this time, more thinking. When the three got home, they all headed off for bed without eating.

Ch. 2: The calm before the storm

Tri couldn't remember when he fell asleep, but his mind kept going back to the words Sherly uttered so seriously to him. The scene played over and over in his head so many times he didn't even realize when he fell fast asleep. In the dream, all three of them went home and went to sleep, but Tri couldn't sleep and decided to go outside for a walk. The night air seemed so cool it almost was as if he was awake. The main street of Hendon Myre was eerily quiet and empty. But that was okay, Tri needed time to think.

He turned toward where the church was and headed that way figuring he needed some place pleasing to be around and the church seemed ideal at a time like this. When he arrived at the church, he sat down on one of the benches outside, provided by the city of Hendon Myre. He tapped his foot gently not only to break the eerie silence but also so he could use the soundwaves to better make out the church.

The church seemed to have a dull light aura around it, not nearly as strong as it normally seemed whenever he used to pass it. The church itself seemed a little darkened, it's stain glass art in crude formless shapes, the steps of the church cracked and starting to overgrow with weed, the paint peeling from the doors to the church. Tri sat up straight, stopping the tapping. Something didn't seem right. Suddenly it dawned on Tri; he hadn't seen a single person since he came back with Wonder and SMW from their year-long training. Tri attempted to extend his senses around him but could not pick up even the slightest movement.

Starting to panic, he got up and realized the bench he was sitting on was cracked and falling apart due to lack of maintenance and use. He jogged up the old-appearing steps of the church and threw open the doors. He couldn't sense anyone; normally if Lady Grandis, the priestess of the church, wasn't awake, she would always have another person always awake to receive blessings from God. But no, nobody was here, it was empty, the pews scattered around the room as if the last people there were in a hurry.

Completely freaked out now, he rushed out of the church, and ran down the street towards home. Every step he took made him realize not everything was as he expected it to be; the only signs of life seemed to be either formless blob-like creatures that didn't move much as Tri ran past or giant rats that hid in the alleyways of Hendon Myre. By the time Tri threw open the doors to SMW's house, he was out of breath, but continued to search the house frantically for some sign of life. Instead of life, Tri found something else that shook him to the core; he found a complete skeleton in both Wonder's and SMW's bed. Tri felt a blood curdling scream leave his throat as the realization that he might be the only one left alive, possibly with the thing that caused the deathly silence.

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Tri was shaken awake by SMW and Wonder. He could sense their concerned faces looking down at him as he lay, feeling helpless, on the bed. He sat up quickly.

"I-I'm sorry." Tri appoligized.

"Not my problem." SMW replied as if trying to hide concern.

"Well, it's my problem, you woke me up. Shut up." Wonder snapped before adding quickly. "Why were you screaming anyway?"

"It was just a dream, I'm sorry."

Wonder looked disappointed.

"Er," began Tri, sensing the disappointment. "it had nothing to do with Kazan.... I-I promise!"

"Anyway," began SMW. "Neither me nor Wonder were able to sleep, so we're gonna have a lazy day today."

"Was it about last night?" Tri asked wondering if they had the same problem he did.

The mention of last night seemed to plunge Wonder deep into thought, her eyes seemed unfocused as she tore them away from Tri to study her hand. SMW didn't hide his own disappointment, he averted his eyes away from Tri. They sat in silence for a good half minute.

"No," SMW began breaking the silence and looking up again with a renewed sense of confidence. "that doesn't matter to me right now, right now all the matters to me is you being under control of Kazan."

"No offense, but I think I should worry about that...." Tri said ashamed. "You need to worry about y-" he cut himself off for fear of offending SMW. '...your own self-control.' Tri finished in his head.

"Hmm?" SMW asked with a questioning look.

"You need to worry about..." Tri began, scouring his mind for some filler, but all that came to mind was "what you're gonna cook for breakfast."

"How about wildberry pancakes with lugaru bacon?"

"That sounds-" Tri started.

"I'm not hungry." Wonder cut in, looking up, a sense of determination in her eyes.

Wonder got up and headed to the door, pausing without turning to say "I'll be back later, I'll try to make it home for dinner, so don't wait up." with that Wonder let herself through the door and was gone.

Ch. 3: A sprinkle of rain

A full week had passed since Tri had actually been in the presence of Wonder; waking up to the same dream ending the same way over and over. However, today felt different. Up until today, the weather was sunny and warm. Today it was cold and cloudy; looking as if it could start raining any moment. Tri got out of bed and stretched as he made his way downstairs to make himself some breakfast. When he got downstairs he realized he didn't sense anyone nearby but did sense a piece of paper on the dining room table. He figured it was a note and picked it up and looked at it blankly for a few seconds.

"I can't read." he said finally, almost forgetting he was blind.

Tri crumpled the note and threw it into the trash can and continued on his morning routine.

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After Tri finished eating, he sat back in his chair and thought about the dream he'd been having lately. In the dream, he wouldn't even remember he'd had that same dream before and would go through the same events as if it were his first time having the dream. He started to wonder if by "shuffling the cards" (as the squirrel described) if he had accidentally changed his own fate so much that he might have even changed the fates of Wonder and SMW. Tri shook the thought out of his head.

"No, I'm not that...." Tri paused for a moment considering where the word that just popped into his head came from. "...special." the word felt smooth coming from his mouth.

For a moment he felt as if the word came from some time in his past. The memory felt fuzzy and indistinct, yet right there; within his reach. He tried harder to remember where it came from and instead of the memory coming closer to him, it seemed to slip out of his grip and alluded his memory until her forgot what he was trying to remember.

Tri sat at the tabled confused as to what he was doing in the first place when he heard the front door open and shut rather briskly. He sensed SMW's presence headed towards him in a brisk movement.

"What's up?" Tri turned to SMW.

"I don't know, I went to the market to get more bread and...." SMW obviously either didn't make it to the market or was distracted because Tri didn't sense the crunchy bread anywhere near SMW.

"Well, what happened?" he asked.

"I'm not too sure. They locked down that district and the town guards are telling everyone to remain inside."

"I hope everything is fine." Tri replied, thinking of his dream.

"They said it's nothing big; just a bad flu going around."

"Well it must be if they felt they needed to lock down part of Hendon Myre." Tri responded worried.

"At any rate," SMW said slumping in a chair. "we'll need to slow down on eating until they get this problem figured out."

"I guess that's what you were trying to tell me in the note you left me...."

"What note?" Smw asked confused.

"You left me a note, and expected me to see what was on it, how could you forget?"

"No, I'm not dumb, I know you can't read." SMW replied. "Where is this note?"

Tri pointed to the trash can and watched, somewhat amused as SMW rushed over to it ans started digging through it. Almost as soon as he had started digging in the trash, SMW pulled out the crumpled note and unfolded it.

"Whose handwriting is this...?" SMW said examining the note. "It's sloppy." He said before reciting the note out loud. "Something terrible is coming, I cannot tell you what though, for the sake of the future. However, Wonder will be in need of your help very soon, she is in the quarantine area. Go. Her life lies with you: Tri, and SMW."

SMW's head snapped up.

"What the hell?" Tri exclaimed. "Is there more?"

"No, just a signature...." SMW replied examining the note further. "It looks like it says 'Hero of Dimensions'."

The name rang a bell in Tris head which instantly put meaning and seriousness into the note. He didn't know quite where he heard the name before but it was someone important; perhaps someone important.

"Well, we have to go after her!"

"You're not gonna believe this are you?" SMW replied with a look of incredulity on his face.

"I don't have time to see if you do," Tri got up. "But if you won't protect your own sister, I will!"

Tri made his way briskly to front door and threw it open, not bothering to close it behind him, the street outside was eerily empty; just like his dream, the sky was darker than when he first woke up and as he ran down the street, he felt the wet drops of the storm soon to come.

Ch. 3: Quarantine

Hendon Myre was deathly quiet as Tri ran down the main street, face wet with the small drops of rain falling from the dark sky overhead. If it wasn't for his senses, the city would've seemed completely abandoned, but Tri was able to sense the presence of everyone inside their houses, going about normal business with no worry in the world. He stopped for a moment to get a better sense of where the quarantine was and noticed it was so deathly silent in the city that he could pick out every single rain drop as it splattered against the empty road. Tri ignored the rain and expanded his senses until he could feel a dark energy covering part of the town, and outside of the area he could feel a human presence. He felt himself start running in the direction of the energy as if he already knew Wonder would be there. As he got closer he sensed that there was one guard at this post, but he recognized the presence of the person and when he was close enough he found out who it was.

"Where do you think you're going?" DXD asked, standing in front of the barricade.

"Please, DXD," Tri gasped. "I need to get through, Wonder is over there."

DXD appeared to look surprised.

"Who told you that?"

"I don't know...." Tri answered before he continued, "Someone who calls himself 'Hero of Dimensions'"

"Hmm...." DXD appeared to be hiding something. "I still can't let you past."

"I really don't want to fight you, DXD." Tri replied, unsheathing his katana, "But if I have to I will."

"Aw, sweet!" DXD unsheathed his own heavy blade. "I've kinda always wanted to see how tough you are anyway!"

DXD charged at Tri, who gingerly stepped out of the way before turning around and casting a neutral wave at his back. DXD whipped around just in time to parry against the wave and draw a cross of blood in the air that rushed towards Tri. He didn't have time to dodge or parry, so the razor sharp blood cross cut him across the chest lightly. DXD charged at Tri again, who was ready. Tri leaped into the air and slashed in the direction DXD was coming from, firing a wave of energy razor sharp. DXD barely had enough time to dodge out of the way and was cut deeply on the arm by the edge of the wave. Tri landed across from a gasping DXD.

"You've gotten somewhat stronger." DXD sneered.

"Come on, seriously, I need to get to Wonder...." Tri replied.

"Tell you what; you fight me fair and I'll see what I can do."

Annoyed, Tri lunged at DXD, who backed away and countered with a mountainous wheel which barely missed cleaving Tri's head. Tri swung at DXD as a wave of ice climbed swiftly towards him, grazing his foot which was now partially frost nipped. Angered, DXD lunged at Tri; grabbing him by the face. Panicked, Tri summoned up all his might and forced it into a wave surrounding him, sending DXD flying. Taking advantage of the time, Tri slid his katana across the palm of his hand and swung it towards DXD, letting the blood mix with the neutral wave that came out. The wave hit DXD, covering him in deep cuts.

"Let me through now." Tri ordered.

"I can't do that...." DXD huffed.

"Then I'm gonna have to kill you." Tri tensed.

"Or...." DXD stood up and dropped his heavy blade, which clattered loudly on the empty street. "You can take me hostage."

"What?" Tri asked, confused.

"I only said I can't let you through, so take me hostage, then it'll be against my will."

"Pick up your sword." he replied, calming down and walking over to DXD. "I have a feeling we're gonna need as much help as we can get."

Tri picked up the heavy blade and gave it to DXD before examining the quarantine wall for the first time. The wall was made up of what appeared to be blockades, merchant stalls, tables, chairs, and seemingly whatever else the guards could find at the moment, all stacked as high as the buildings next to it. He walked over to the wall before turning to DXD.

"How do we get through?" he asked DXD.

"We have to drop into it from one of the buildings, follow me, there's a door that leads to the ceiling in here." DXD replied heading through the door of one of the houses near the wall.

Tri followed, examining the room, which was remarkable cozy looking with cluttered book shelves and various knick knacks covering one of the desks. It was so perfectly cluttered where it was easily maneuverable and at the same time cozy. DXD headed up the stairs near the door they had just walked through. Tri followed, remembering the grim situation he was really in. The stairs lead to a a roof-top cabin, which, as Tri could sense, was taller than the quarantine barricade. DXD walked over to the side of the roof and peered down, Tri joined him and could sense a feeling of dread and darkness looming from the deathly empty streets below.

"Okay, here's how we're gonna get down." DXD started. "All we need to do is jump on that balcony" he pointed to a balcony near the roof of the building they were on, "then from there, all we'll need to do is jump on that stall." he motioned to a stall near the balcony.

"Okay." Tri replied.

With destination in mind, Tri felt himself jump into the quarantine area. And couldn't help but feel the increasing rain fall on his face as he did so. 'The storm has started.' a familiar voice said in his head.

Ch. 4: A genuine coincidence

Wonder looked around her, everyone was running and screaming in panic, all of them going to the nearest shelter. She walked confused through the throngs of people running to and fro in a panicked torrent. Wonder spotted an old lady huddled against a wall, avoiding the surge of crazed citizens. Slowly getting to a jog, Wonder headed towards the old lady.

"Hey, excuse me!" Wonder yelled through the loud screams.

The lady looked up, startled.

"What." her voice was barely audible.

"What the hell is going on here?!"

"A quarantine, something dangerous was found in North Myre."

"So, what? They're just going to trap us in here for it?!" Wonder's yell was able to penetrate perfectly through the screams.

"They want to save the majority of the people if possible."

"So they damn us all in the way of whatever this thing is, huh?"

"It's something big." The lady's eyes grew grim and dark. "It came into contact with me, I was barely able to escape." the lady revealed her arm which was previously hidden by a cloak.

Wonder examined it with disgust, the arm was eaten to the bone. Black goo oozed out of the wound; some of it splattering the floor where it sizzled. She could see, that it was slowly climbing its way up the lady's arm. Wonder took a step back out of shock and didn't see the folded up market stall being carried by a citizen until it was too late. Everything spun out into darkness.

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SMW sat at the table where Tri left him hours ago. He hadn't moved, instead he was thinking about what Tri had said to him before he left "If you won't protect your own sister, I will!" the words stung more and more each time he thought of them. It wasn't that he didn't want to believe that the note was real nor was it that he didn't want to protect Wonder; no, the problem was the instability of his power. Ever since he was introduced to the power of nen, he was unable to fully control it, only using a small 10% of his power whenever he was forced to.

"Damn it!" SMW slammed his fist on the table, emitting a small spark of nen.

SMW held his hand up and watched as a small ball formed. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally kill Wonder with this power. The ball started to revolve around his hand. 'It would almost be better if she was killed by whatever is in there than by me....' he couldn't help but thinking.

"No. No!" He shook the thought from his head and stood up. "Wonder is my sister," The nen ball grew brighter as another one spouted from SMW's hand. "And that woman," SMW said thinking of Sherly, "she said Tri is stronger than me, if that's the case, the least I can do is have him help me control this." Another ball of nen joined the other two and started to revolve swiftly around SMW as he ran outside into the rain and ran towards the quarantine. "I will be a good brother!"

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Wonder opened her eyes, her head pounding, her vision slightly fuzzy. She slowly got to her feet unsteadily and realized she was absolutely alone in the deathly quiet street. She looked over to where the old lady was and saw nothing but a black trail of goo. heading further north. Deciding it would be better not to follow the old lady, Wonder staggered down the road heading south as she attempted to remember what happened.

"Ugh.... Stupid people, acting like animals...." She muttered

Then it dawned on her, the city was treating everyone in quarantine like animals, they supposedly locked down this whole district of North Myre. The sudden realization of the situation hit her, making her stomach tie itself in knots. A feeling came over her but she wasn't quite sure what it was but before she could think of it, a familiar voice called out to her.

"Wonder!" it was Mari, the little witch was running down the abandoned road in front of Wonder towards her.

"Mari...hi." Wonder wasn't sure what else she could say in a moment like this.

"Wonder, don't go down there! I saw some scary things!"

"Well, where else am I supposed to go?" Wonder gestured to the street ahead and behind her before adding, "I'm not going down there."

Mari sighed, "I guess we just have to go that way then...." Mari pointed to an allyway wonder missed before.

Wonder peered down it. It looked clear.

"Fine, come on, try not to make any noise," Wonder said looking around, "I have a feeling there is a reason it's so quiet around here."

Wonder pushed Mari first and headed in the small allyway after her.

"It's dark...." Mari muttered.

Wonder looked around, she was right it seemed unnaturally dark in the alyway.

"Here." Wonder made a spiral nen appear in her hand illuminating the dark and revealing something worse.

Wonder looked around, slowly remembering why the black gooy creatures that surrounded them looked familiar. Then she remembered the old lady had some that was eating her arm and spreading up her arm.

"Nen Guard!" Wonder felt herself say as a bright dome covered her and a cowering Mari.

"Mari, what ARE these things?" Wonder asked as she watched the slimes slowly advance on the bright dome.

"I-I don't know.... I saw two attack someone and they overtook him and when they backed off there were three of them...."

The slimes were attacking the dome around Wonder and Mari now; allowing Wonder a clear look at them, they seemed to have skeletons inside of them. As the slimes attacked with the skulls and the arms, bits of slime fell into the nen guard, making them burn up in tiny flames. Wonder's heart stopped, she watched in horror as a small crack appeared, slowly growing bigger and bigger with each attack the slimes did.

She threw her head back before screaming. "Someone help us!!!"

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Jingle stepped out of the rift and heard the familiar tinkling of glass as it shut behind her. She looked around, the street was dead empty. Hilder sent her here to find something she knew she wouldn't be able to take down. Somewhere inside of her, Jingle knew this was the end, even if she refused to come here, Hilder would've just opened a portal on her when she least expected it or sent the other bounty hunters after her if she managed to escape. Jingle sighed and took out her pistol and shot behind herself at a slime that was making its way over to her, while keeping perfect form.

"Hilder...." Jingle muttered. "Why do you want me dead?" she thought back to when Hilder congratulated her on her first mission which was to destroy a family.

Way before Hilder had her eye on Jingle, she was sent to kill a family of fighters. Jingle was unprepared though; two of the family members were just babies, so the parents asked her to kill them in exchange for babies life. Which was the reason Hilder had her eye on Jingle in the first place.

"You told me I was your best bounty hunter...." Jingle said remembering what Hilder told her after she got back from her first mission before putting the eye on her.

Jingle's thoughts were interrupted by a low moan coming from her feet. She looked down, shocked to find that the slime she shot earlier was still alive and was just barely touching her shoe. She jumped back, watching as the shoe slowly disintegrated before kicking it off, making sure it didn't spread anywhere else. She shot the slime once more, but this time it didn't feign death. Taking the hint, Jingle rand away, down the road as rain started to fall, steadily getting harder.

Ch. 5: Running Blind


Tri walked down the empty street; being more wary of his surroundings. Him and DXD were separated awhile ago when they were attacked by weird looking blobs that seemed to melt anything they touched, he glanced at his shoulder where he accidentally bumped into one of the slimes, his shirt was burned away and was slowly dissolving outwards of the hole. Without thinking, Tri ripped off the sleeve of his shirt and threw it to the ground where he watched as it started to dissolve faster, soon becoming nothing.

He glanced around "What's happened here...." he muttered before continuing on.

The slimes that attacked him and DXD seemed to appear out of nowhere, and both quickly learned what the slimes were capable of. Tri recalled weaving through the horde of slimes, not daring to touch any; turning around to watch as the path he weaved through was closed. DXD told him to go on and he would find his own way around, but Tri was worried, mainly for Wonder, but also about the fact that Wonder might not even be alive anymore and they might just be risking more lives by being there. He shook the thought out of his head and walked toward the dark-feeling Tri had felt since coming here.

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DXD was alone. He told Tri to carry on without him, but quickly regretted doing so. Being alone in a situation where you can't even fight the enemy? The thought was terrifying, he saw what it did to Tri's shirt, he saw how fast it started eating through the sleeve. He looked up at the sky, feeling the raindrops hit his face. He was soaked. DXD chuckled; this was the perfect weather for his situation. He imagined himself as the protagonist of a story, left behind by his party to die in a mysteriously diseased city, he burst out into laughter; it was just too perfectly unfortunate for him. His laughter was stopped short as the sound of breaking glass and a heavy pressure interrupted him. He looked to the street and saw a dark hole in the middle of the street, it was about the size of DXD. The edges of the hole seemed to be made of broken glass, slowly leading out where it became so transparent it was almost as if it wasn't glass. He stared at the hole in awe for a moment before he realized it was a rift to the outter universe.

Just as he came upon the stunning realization, a silhouette appeared to be coming out of the rift, DXD drew his great sword and prepared for the battle of his life.

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When Wonder came to Mari was hunched over her.

"M...Mari?" Wonder groaned.

"Oh!" Mari exclaimed in excitement.

"What happened?" Wonder sat up quickly as she remembered the slimes. "MARI!"

"It's okay, someone helped us." Mari replied, trying to calm Wonder down.

Wonder felt dizzy and let herself fall back onto the ground where she let the rain soak her face.

"What happened?" she repeated, confused.

"I'm not sure...." Mari muttered, "Themoment your nen guard when down, you passed out.... I thought we were dead, but then a rift opened up...."

"A...a rift?" Wonder asked.

"Yeah...whoever it was, they came through and killed the slimes as if they were nothing.... And then they gave me this," Mari held up a small box with gear-like moldings on the side. "they told me that I would know when to use this...."

"Well where are they?" Wonder looked around.

"They went back in their rift...."

"Can I see that?" Wonder reached out a hand for the box.

"No!" Mari hugged the box, "Whoever came out of the portal told me to guard this with my life."

"You're starting to sound like you know them...."

Mari blushed, "I do know him! His name is The Hero of Dimentions."

Wonder's heart skipped a beat, she sat up as she tried to remember who this person was.

"I think," Wonder said, "I know that person...."

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DXD rose from the ground where the mysterious person had left him. He was sure that he was dead; he even remembered the blade of the other person going straight into his heart after an almost useless attempt at a battle, just the pressure of the presence of the person seemed to tear DXD's insides up. He slowly got to his feet, remembering the words the person had said before retreating back into the outter dimentions.

"Your part in this world is vital, I need you to survive your next fight, not through fighting; but rather negotiating."

The words seemed to strike DXD with a certain pride but at the cost of his dignity; he ALWAYS solved his problems through fighting. It seemed so stupid otherwise, so hopeless to get your point across through words. He always grew up believing actions were louder than words, but this time he was being told the opposite, to throw down his fighting manner and take up a different approach. His fighting wasn't only his way of solving problems, it was a part of him; he chose to use Kazan's power in his fights.

Before DXD could get fully to his feet, he heard quick footsteps and felt the cool metal of the barrel of a gun rest against the back of his neck.

"I know you were in the cave that day." the voice was shockingly familiar, it was Jingle. "Tell me, where is Tri?"