3; 24 What was once old is new again

Both Crystal and Holly continue to stare perplexingly at Neon, “What? What do you mean? I- I don’t believe you, I don’t even know who you are!”, Crystal yells out in a befuddled manner. She paces the room while she tries to process what she just heard.

"I'm sorry, I just can't believe what you said, but if you really believe what you say then I'll trust you", Crystal says while she taps her fingers on a nearby end table. “Well what kinda powers do we have though?”, Holly asks while staring at her own fingers.

Neon thinks over her choices for a second before placing her finger on Holly’s head, “Come over Crystal, I think I know how to showcase this to you”, Neon says as she glares at Crystal. She cautiously steps towards Neon with hesitance as she places her other hand onto Crystal’s head.

The girls both feel a sudden power surge flow through both of them, their vision is blinded with a view of the events of a different time. The vision shows both the girls peeking with both of their respective powers, they can’t see more than just a minor glance onto this greatness before the vision vanishes. “OOOOH wow!, Is that us, we look crazy! How do we even get powers like that?”, Holly asks as her eyes beam with wonder.

“It’s not exactly as smooth sailing as you think it will be, I need both of you girls to come along with me”, Neon says while she guides the girls down the immaculate decorated hallway before they are in front of a sturdy wooden door. She slips in an old key and turns it in the lock, the pins make a deep tumble as Neon cracks open the heavy door that reveals a bountiful armory.

Countless priceless weapons line all the walls of the room while Neon rushes towards the large chest at the far wall of G6the room and digs through the contents inside. Both of the girls stare at all the weapons with awe before their eyes lock back onto Neon.

"From your appearance I'd never take you for such a fighter, I thought we were the guards and not you", Crystal says to Neon. She emerges from the large chest with two fancy long swords, "Since I know your limits we can skip the formalities and get right to the serious training", Neon utters while handing the swords out to the girls.

"Follow me out to the front garden of the minor, I need to see how much this timeline has changed you girls", Ruby says with a swift swipe of her sword against the ground.

As the girls wander their way from the stingy armory, Holly stares at her newly acquired sword. It’s silver blade shimmers as the sharp, splintered sun rays hit it from outside the nearby windows, it’s heavy golden hilt weighs down on her hand as she gently swings it through the air. “Oh wow, this thing is really heavy!”, Holly says in shock as her body sways back and forth from the sword’s weight.

“Hey Holly, hurry up! Crystal shouts out from the main hall of the manor, “Okie wait up a sec Crystal!”, Holly blurst out as she scampers towards the hall. “Now girls! Tell me this, what do you think is the number one rule about using a complex?”, Neon asks in a strong tone to the girls.

Both of them remain frozen and confused by the question, “I’m sorry, a what now? I mean Holly does tend to be a little slow but…”, Crystal says under her breath before being cut off by Holly, “HEY NOW! That’s not fair! I know um, things, yeah!” Holly nervously says back to Crystal with a light blush on her face.

Neon’s face sinks in frustration as the girls continue to bicker back and forth, “Alright girls enough, I’ll just tell you because it seems like you have no clue what you’re talking about!”, Neon yells out to the girls who quickly stop their bickering. “I showed you both everything in the vision but I guess you don’t care to listen to it at all.” Neon says while she leans up against the wall.

“No matter what you always must control your powers, never use them without care. I’ve had things go wrong so many times for me, do you girls understand?", Neon says seriously in a demanding tone to the girls.

“Yes we understand, sorry if we didn’t seem ready”, Crystal says while focusing on Neon, “Well that’s good, make your way out to the courtyard for your first lesson girls”, Neon says says to the girls before they’re led out the front door, they suddenly stop in their tracks as they see Rayen staring them down.

Rayen’s left eye a dark and somber red and her left a bright golden yellow lock onto the girls as they continue to stare, “So um what’s with this girl you have here? Like what is she?”, Crystal asks Neon in confusion. “Oh her? Rayen is going to be your teacher, she should know more than enough to teach you girls for now. In fact she knows a lot more than you would think. I’ll leave to make you girls better acquainted”, Neon says before walking back into the manor.

Crystal slowly steps forward to approach Rayen who’s standing perfectly still, “Now you don’t really look all that tough, I’m sure your aim from before was just dumb luck” , Crystal says while she struggles to hold her sword up to her. Rayen’s eyes dart up to focus on the sword as her expression darkens, “Try me”, she quietly says under her breath to the girls.

Crystal raises her sword up to strike Rayen but before she’s able to swipe down onto Rayen she feels a quick and powerful force swipe it from her hands as she gets blown back off her feet, “What the hell was that? She didn’t even move!”, Crystal says as she quickly stumbles back to her feet.

“Oh but I did more, sorry I guess I may have been a little too fast. But lady Ruby told me to not hold back with you girls”, Rayen says with a soft cheerful voice before dropping her expression back into a serious stare as she builds up her focus. The ground around the girls begins to shake as a soft and gentle glow radiates around Rayen’s slender frame, “lesson one, try to touch me”, she softly says to the girls with her eyes glowing bright.

Neon and Blue watch on from a window inside the monor’s walls, “Ummm don’t you think it’s a little harsh to put the girls through Rayen already? She tends to be pretty rough with her powers still”, Blue nervously whispers to Neon while they both continue to watch. “She’ll do fine, I already told her not to attack, just to dodge. She is more than capable of avoiding a couple rookie kids”, Neon says back to Blue.

Crystal continues to swipe at Rayen but each continuous slash seems to just phase through Rayen as if she wasn't even there. Crystal gives out one more large slash before stopping to catch her breath, "Are you sure you don't want me to start off more simple for you?", Rayen asks with a concerned glare on her face.

"Oh shut up, I don't need the pandering of a little girl", Crystal scoffs as she tries to catch her breath. Her sweat rolls down her face while she focuses her eyes onto Rayen. Crystal twists her sword from off the ground, the sun shines and shimmers off the blade’s razor sharp edge as she hurls her sword down to Rayen.

Although with just the flick of her finger into the air Rayen effortlessly whips up a massive whirl of wind and deflects Crystal’s sword out of her hands, “well no matter I didn’t need that anyways, come on Holly don’t just stand there help me!”, Crystal yells out as she tries to reach her arms out to Rayen.

“But… but, I don’t want to hurt her!” , Holly nervously says while holding her sword close to herself. “Oh come on Holly, are you serious?! Just help me out!”, Crystal blurts out in anger as sweat flies off her brow. Holly’s sword falls to the ground with a large clunk, “Um okay, I’ll try my best!” Holly says while she pumps her fist back with all her strength before lunging it towards Rayen.

In the far away castle Rodoxa is leaning out of the windows of one of it’s high towers, a small vibrant pink orb resting on her palm being shuffled between her fingers. “Do you really think it’s a good thing to just wait? What if they gain enough strength to overpower us this time?!”, Sky worryingly asks Rodoxa from the other side of the room.

Rodoxa quickly clenches the orb within a tight fist, “You know it’s a funny thing that you would ask because waiting sounds like the best thing to do at this time. I know you’re never informed of such things but let’s just say there is a drop of hope for us to be invincible, forever”, Rodoxa quietly mutters.

“But what do you mean? We’re gods! How could we ever be killed for good?!”, Sky shouts out to Rodxoa while Sky gives her no mind. The slate of the floor wobbles and cracks as Rodoxa paces around the messy and cluttered room, the walls covered in wide stretches of torn up cloth flapping in the gentle wind from the outside.

The air around the girls calms to a standstill as Rodoxa outstretches her arm directly in front of Sky, her eyes locked on the orb as her hand opens up, “wait when did this happen? Is that really what I think it is?!”, Sky shudders in disbelief.

“Yes, Isee you don’t remember as much as you should, the first half of what we have been looking for all this time. I found it while I was messing around here and there and came across this little thing. That little brat Rayen has the other orb and she will fight to the death before she gives it up, and you see we can’t have that because we need her too. So I will propose some friendly persuasion to the little girl”, Rodoxa says before snatching her orb back into her tight fist.

Rodoxa slowly strides her way over to the room’s doorway, “Make yourself useful and prepare Negative for me, I have some tests I need her to perform”, Rodoxa happily says with a wide joyful grin on her face before walking down the hall. Sky’s face is frozen in a puzzled confusion, “Just who did she gets this new orb from, would I really not be trusted with such a thing?”, Sky thinks to herself before following Rodoxa out of the room.

Holly and Crystal clash fists from the mess of punches thrown around Rayen, “ow the hell keep your hands to yourself, it’s not me you’re attacking Holly!”, Crystal shouts out as she rubs her sore hand. Holly stumbles backwards as she holds her aching hand, “Owowo, well you’re one to talk, really feels like my fingers are broken”, Holly quietly says.

“Are you two really gonna try to get me or are you both just gonna fight yourselves? Cause I kinda want to see that too hehe”, Rayen joyfully says as she drops her guard. “Ah well, I’m getting bored so let’s see if you’re as strong as the others say”, She continues while raising her hand out to the girls.

The ground around her shakes and cracks while her right eye glows a bright red, “Critical impact”, Rayen confidently says while the space around her warps. In a split second Ruby zips in to carry the girls away just as a massive blast fires off in front of Rayen.

“Rayen, what the hell are you doing?! I told you to not attack in any way!”, Ruby angrily shouts at Rayen. “Yeah but I was getting so bored! I don’t know why they seem all that great to you Ruby”, Rayen says as she paces around the girls.

Crystal breaks her way out of Ruby’s grip and quickly dashes towards Rayen, “Now hold on just a second, what did you even do?” She asks Rayen as her heart races from the intense shock. The pleads seem to fall on deaf ears as Rayen continues to walk off, her feet gently sweeping across the fine blades of grass, “If you become stronger I’ll teach you, how’s about that?”, Rayen says as she tilts her head back to meet Crystal’s gaze.

“Huh, you sure are really cocky for a little girl. Fine! I’ll take you up on your request”, Crystal says with a wide smile. “Oh there’s more to me than meets the eye, you might be surprised Crystal”, Rayen says before vanishing into thin air.

"I'm sorry about that, don't mind her. Rayen hasn't been herself as of late. My name is Ruby, I'm the captain of the guard for the ranch", Ruby says to the girls with a soft smile. "This girl really doesn't respect her surroundings yet, no matter, let's go inside and clean you girls up", Ruby continues as the girls follow closely behind her.

Nightfall casts its vail onto the castle at the top of the city, the castle halls fall silent with the only sounds being heard being the crackling of the torches strung on the walls. The gentle pulsing glow of Iris can be seen behind Xenon's door, "She really has advanced much faster than I thought she would, it really is fascinating the advancements of a mere child", Iris gently says to Xenon.

“Now would you say this would be a cause to worry? As long as she’s with us we stand a chance right?”, Xenon quietly says back to her. She pushes back from her resting place at the window flopping onto the large cushy mattress of her bed. “Well I guess I should go the next next step with her, seeing as she nearly wiped the manor off the map”, Xenon says as she stares at the ceiling.

Xenon’s eyes glow a bright vibrant white as her eye’s gaze drifts off through the room, “Now what’s really been on your mind Xenon? Surely just a little mishap can’t be the cause for all this frustration”, Iris says as she gently floats around her.

“Something just doesn’t quite feel right, are you sure you’re telling me everything you know?”, Xenon says while tossing and turning on her bed. “Well most certainly, why would you ever think otherwise? My duty is to protect you and keep you safe, a duty I take with the utmost care”, Iris says with a charming ring to her voice.

“I… I just wish I could truly trust a god again, it’s just the hardest thing in the world for me. They always seem to want to play mortals to their own selfish needs, I just hope that you’re different”, Xenon quietly says with no response from Iris.

The pitch black shade of the night blankets the dark castle in the evening’s shadowy vail, Negative is resting on the castle's busted front steps as she waits for Rodoxa’s return. “So what do you do for fun? You’re not really the talking type I see”, Sky awkwardly says to Negative while trying to spot Rodoxa.

“Just shut it”, Negative quickly says to her before staring blankly at the ground. The clacking of far off footsteps could be heard from inside the castle, quietly coming closer, “Well finally she shows herself, she really took her time getting around to us”, Sky quietly groans to herself. “Ah there you are, Negative. I’m glad you could have waited for your most important training. Now are you ready for this great lesson?”, Rodoxa asks Negative with a sinister smile.

“The lesson is really a very simple one, all you have to do is to unleash everything you can on Sky. It’s okay she can handle it all just fine”, Rodoxa says with a giggle in her voice. “Now hold on! I didn’t agree to this, you’re not even sure what she’s capable of”, Sky says in a state of total shock as she stares at Negative.

Rodoxa leans against the wall of the castle and pushes the hair out of her face, “oh come on, I never remembered you being so weak. It’s not like she’s really going to hurt you now, am I right?”, Rodoxa says with her eyes locked onto Sky.

“Well it’s about time, she was starting to get on my nerves” Negative says as she slowly gets up from the crumbling steps. “Just don’t kill her please, but you should be fine. Is that right, Sky?”, Rodoxa says as she skips back into the castle.

The air feels dead as Sky stares at Negative, her face is stone cold as she focuses intently back as Sky. Negative’s eyes cloud in a slight haze as her aura flows around her body, the ground around the two begins to rumble as Negative charges up a bright light within her hand.

“Oh my sweet Negative how you have changed so much. Burn burn burn, as much as you can see. For one day you may even surpass me with that curse deep within your heart”, Nexie softly says to herself while she watches the girls from a distance while she floats gently in the air.