Part 8 of my UT/AA Crossover

[anon61033893]

Read Part 7 first: Part 7 of my UT/AA Crossover
Part 9: Part 9 of my UT/AA Crossover
Torren Corvus Cross, Bearer of the Shadowed Flame

As they left the meeting hall, Aaron realized just how much the fight against Durza, and his shoulder wound, had sapped his energy. He told Freedrock he was going to go rest before they left for Dalim.

The next morning, Freedrock and Aaron departed the city and headed for Dalim, where Torren Corvus Cross, bearer of the Darkflame Grand Fire Curse, supposedly was.

The two streaked through the sky, surrounded by the peaceful sky, Aaron following Freedrock’s lead. They flew over several islands, and Aaron, at least, noticed people looking up with interest and no small amount of fear.

Soon an island like no other came into view—Dalim. As Freedrock had said, it was a place where ancient forces of light and dark clashed, and now Aaron could sense the truth of it.

Even from a distance, it looked to be shimmering with a light that seemed eerie and peaceful all at once. As they got closer, Aaron could see that there were two massive monuments in the center of the island, which appeared to be radiating energy.

Upon asking Freedrock about the monuments, he was told that they were like magical power outlets that radiated light and dark energy, but they were so close together that they energy combined into something warped.

They landed by the outskirts of the town and walked closer.

“So…where is Torren going to be?” Aaron asked Freedrock.

“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask around.” he answered.

At that moment, an explosion of burning shadow startled both of them.

“I take that back. Torren is nearby—he cast that explosion. The question is why.”

They headed towards the epicenter to see a man fighting a…shadow…on a dirt field.

Freedrock explained to Aaron, “He’s training against an elemental. Sit down. This could take a while.”

Aaron, recalling the explosion, was just a tiny bit worried about what would happen if he sat down, but he did so anyway.

He could see that Torren was in the possession of an incredible amount of power; he was amazed that the island wasn’t burning or falling apart.

On the other hand, he sensed that the island itself was also in the possession of an incredible amount of power, which was a bit disturbing.

After a while, and a couple of explosions that Freedrock had to shield himself and Aaron from, the elemental was whisked away by the wind.

Torren, a strong, young-looking man with brown hair and a short beard, turned to face the two watchers. Upon noticing Freedrock, he asked, “What are you doing here? And who is that kid with you?”

“I’m guiding Aaron—that’s the kid—to you. He wanted to ask you to train him.”

Torren laughed. “Why in the world would I train a weakling kid?”

Aaron gritted his teeth. “I defeated Durza. And I am the bearer of the Promethean Inferno Curse and the Absorption Curse.”

Torren’s eyes widened. “You’re—how old?”

“Fifteen.”

“My god…how? Two Curses and…what about Augmented Magic?”

“Well…it’s weird. I think Hades has been helping me all along, because there’s no way I should have been able to mutate my Third Mind. So I’m wondering—is it me, or a god?”

“Hades? I don’t understand.”

Aaron told Torren about what Durza had told him.

“And now…you want me to train you so that you’re powerful enough to defeat Hades, who caused Durza to massacre everyone.”

“Yeah.”

“All right…how strong are you? What can you do with those Curses and magics of yours?” And then more quietly, “Be nice to have someone I can have a decent match against…”

They took up positions on opposite sides of the field. Aaron summoned his naginata and the glowing aura of flame that served as his armor now. Torren cloaked a summoned shortsword in shadow with tongues of flame licking at it—Darkflame.

Torren opened the match by simply vanishing. Aaron, sensing Torren behind him, whirled, blocked a shortsword swing with the blade of his naginata, and slammed the butt into Torren’s legs, causing him to stumble.

A ball of Darkflame exploded in his face, giving him the odd sensation that the flames were making him wither away. He quickly shook it off and swung his naginata in a horizontal arc, creating an energy slash that flew at Torren and missed, for he had once again vanished.

Grimacing, he tried to sense Torren, with no luck this time. Suddenly, a pillar of Darkflame exploded into existence right beneath him, throwing him up into the air like a puppet.

Using his Gravity Magic to repel the shadows, he once again tried to sense Torren. He had more luck this time—he could sense Torren, but he was a good ways above Aaron.

He flew upwards, towards Torren, and fired several blasts, one of which hit Torren. He countered Aaron’s attack with a massive, spiraling beam of Darkflame that crushed Aaron onto the ground.

He struggled to escape the attack, finally managing to block it only briefly, but long enough for him to escape, using a blast of Gravity Magic.

He pointed his naginata at the small figure of Torren, high above him. A thin beam of fire jetted out and exploded as it hit.

Aaron swiped his arm earthwards. Torren crashed onto the ground, where Aaron had already aimed a massive blast.

Then a blade bit into his side, Torren having dodged the blast. Aaron released a massive surge of gravity, sending Torren flying far back.

But he catapulted back towards Aaron, cloaked in Darkflame, fired a series of blasts that weakened Aaron, and slashed his shortsword at Aaron’s chest.

He blocked it with the handle of his naginata and whirled it, blade spinning towards Torren. Torren blocked it with his sword and spun, leaping into the air and throwing two balls of Darkflame.

They crashed to the ground, erupting in sprays of darkness and heat.

Aaron flew at Torren, naginata at the ready. But Torren was ready, and he was sent crashing to the ground from a fireball.

Aaron tried to get back up and found that there was a swordpoint at his throat.

He surrendered.

As he and Freedrock left Dalim, after Torren had agreed to train Aaron (although Torren had insisted that Aaron would have to live there instead of with the Dreemurrs; Aaron reluctantly agreed after he was told he could visit them every day after his training was done), Freedrock commented, “Well, he’s changed quite a bit since the last time I saw him.”

As they neared Perinto, they made out the silhouettes of several large ships surrounding the city.

Freedrock narrowed his eyes.

“Pirates. Pirates who’ve heard about Thorne’s fall.”

Then he smiled.

“I’m going to bet they aren’t expecting what they’re going to find.”

Instability

A shout rang out through the city.

“Pirates!”

The guards ran onto the walls, manning the cannons, when a single shot was fired from the largest ship in the pirate fleet.

The entire wall that ran around the city trembled, and where the ball had hit, it had blown the steel apart.

A lieutenant in the city’s guard shouted, “What! How? They’re just simple pirates…aren’t they?”

Valencia and Trigno ran out of the castle and onto the walls.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re being attacked—but—their cannons are strong enough to destroy the walls!”

Valencia shot a glance at the ships. “And normal pirate canons can’t penetrate your walls?”

“That’s correct, ma’am.” The commander of the guard—and following Thorne’s death, the ruler of Perinto and the Sixth Sea—had come up behind Trigno and Valencia.

“Albert, is it? Well, tell your men to get somewhere further into the city. Somewhere in the castle. I and the others will deal with this—this is beyond your capabilities.”

For the ships were not pirate ships at all. They were some of the most powerful Arcane Government ships, manned by defectors who had forsaken the government during the chaos of the fighting against Durza.

“What? Ma’am, this is—”

“Those are defectors from my forces, and as such, I will handle this.”

She looked at him.

“I can just as easily let you be destroyed by them if you would like.”

Albert grimaced. “Retreat! Retreat into the keep!”

At the same time, Valencia radioed the defenders. “I need your help on the walls!”

Arsen, Samuel, and the monsters ran up the stairs, taking in the situation with a single glance for the most part.

“Wait—how are Aaron and Freedrock going to—” Chara was abruptly cut off by two thud s next to her.

Aaron grinned at her. “We didn’t take a boat, remember?”

Freedrock looked out towards the sea.

“Alright, Valencia, what’s going on? I though those were pirate ships, but…”

Valencia told everyone what she had told Albert.

“Well…the bright side of Durza’s attack is that the more powerful soldiers aren’t there in those ships…” Trigno said uncertainly.

“No, that’s not true.” Samuel said. “We were missing both Verdies and Graves against Durza. And some of the other officers as well.”

Trigno sighed. “Great. Any chance of getting those men and ships back?”

Valencia shook her head. “I wouldn’t want people like them, people who’d just as soon turn against us as fight alongside their comrades, in my army.”

More cannon blasts shook the walls. Trigno shouted, “We need to do something quickly. These walls won’t hold out for much longer!”

Another cannonball shot towards the walls. It was met in midair by a bright blue fireball, albeit a bit weaker than usual thanks to the training match with Torren.

A storm of projectiles sailed towards the walls in retaliation.

Valencia deflected all of them back at the ships with a massive shockwave.

Asriel and Chara, synchronized as usual, crossed their swords in midair. Determination spiraled upwards before sailing down to hit one of the ships as a bright comet. That ship was surrounded in a cloud of dust, and once it cleared, the defenders could see the hole that it had torn into the deck.

Trigno and Aaron combined their Magma Curse and Magic to summon spikes of obsidian that crashed into the ships’ hulls.

More cannonballs were fired, but they were met in midair by Valencia’s shockwaves and Gaster’s barrages of Determination. Those cannonballs, as well as the attacks aimed at them, caused a fair amount of damage to the ships.

But these were no small sailboats. These were the mightiest ships of the Arcane Government, built to withstand all the attacks that were being shot at them.

Samuel closed his eyes. Slowly, he began to rise up into the air, surrounded by a pillar of Equinox energy.

A massive magic circle appeared behind him. He raised his hands and slowly made a turning motion.

Behind him, the wheel spun too. As Samuel held out his hands towards the ships, it radiated a massive beam that jetted into the waters near Perinto. The ships caught in the beam exploded, overloaded with an imbalance of energy.

The defenders stared at him in awe and shock before turning their attention back to the ships.

Asgore and Toriel summoned their weapons—a trident and a staff.

They pointed their weapons towards one of the ships that the spikes had damaged. Fire sprayed out and crashed onto the ship’s deck, setting it on fire and slowly bringing it to its doom.

More cannonballs. And this time, Valencia’s shockwave was penetrated, and they crashed onto the walls.

Behind them, a cloud of smoke puffed up from a house.

Freedrock glanced and cursed. “That’s going to spread. We need to put it out, quickly!”

Valencia surrounded the house with shockwaves.

A massive cloud of dust rose upwards, putting out the fire but reducing the house to a pile of rubble.

“We’re going to have to rebuild the whole city after all this is over…,” muttered Valencia.

Sans summoned Gaster Blasters that fired at the ships, felling some of them.

There were only three ships left now.

Aaron raised his hand into the air and made a downwards throwing motion, and a blue fireball soared through the air.

It was met by a bright purple blast that did almost nothing to slow its progress onto the ship that presumably was commanded by Admiral Verdies. It exploded onto the deck, engulfing it in flame.

A huge figure rose up from the wreckage—Verdies.

Blasts of plasma moving at subsonic speeds tore through the air, carried by gale winds, and crashed onto the battlements.

Valencia flew out, carried by her shockwaves, to meet Verdies in combat. Figures flew up from the other remaining ships as well—Commodore Graves and Councilman Fritz.

Even outnumbered, the Grand Admiral, a powerful and experienced fighter, easily defeated her opponents.

The sails on the remaining two ships shot upwards, and the ships turned to flee.

Valencia shouted to the others, “Don’t let them get away!”

Trigno flew towards the ships, gaining on them. He summoned a massive dragon of magma. It shot towards one of the ships, smashing through the hull and utterly destroying it.

Freedrock summoned his broadsword and soared through the sky, cloaked in green light. He whirled and slashed his sword, sending an energy slash crashing into the other ship, cutting it in half and destroying it as well.

The three returned to the walls. “So…what now?” Asriel asked Valencia. “How are you going to fix the city if you don’t have people to do it?”

“Well…uh…I’m not exactly sure. We do have some men left at bunkers scattered around the seas, but I don’t know whether or not they defected.”

“For now, at least, it might be a good idea to ask Albert to come and survey the damage,” Trigno suggested.

Everyone grimaced, looking at the massive holes in the walls and the one completely wrecked house.

They all looked at each other, each trying to get someone else to go tell Albert to come out.

Finally, Samuel sighed and headed for the keep. A short while later, he re-emerged with Albert in tow. As they neared the walls, Albert froze.

The people on the walls could hear shouts from Albert, who looked quite agitated.

“Uh…maybe we should…head down or something?” Asgore asked.

“Just to make sure Samuel doesn’t get himself killed.” Valencia said with a giggle.

The group began heading down from the walls, towards Samuel and Albert. As Valencia neared, Albert whirled on her.

“How dare you do this to my city! You set up this little scheme of ‘deserters’ to—”

He was abruptly cut off by Valencia’s sharp words.

“ Your city, is it, Guard Captain? Well, if you had been here with just your men, your city would be gone.”

“Would it? Those ships wouldn’t even have come here if it weren’t for you and your friends being here! If they really were deserters, they’d be targeting you, not us! You could have easily ran away to some other island!”

Gaster stepped forwards. “This was the best place we could have gone to, in order to rest and wait for Aaron to return. Also, as I recall, the deserters had no way of knowing where we had gone—we were teleported here by Aaron.”

Albert stared at Gaster. “So you’re saying that the deserters either have a spy or are targeting Perinto, and not you people.”

Gaster nodded. “Strategically speaking, it would make sense for deserters who are trying to build up their forces to try to take over a substantially defendable city. And it would have been easy for them to realize that your leader, the strongest person here, had died.”

Albert sighed, defeated. “Well…maybe. But I still don’t trust that this wasn’t a deliberate attack to…” He trailed off.

“To what, Captain?” Valencia asked.

“To…to do what this…creature…said!” Albert said, gesturing at Gaster.

“And why would we need a defendable position when it would be far easier to restore our headquarters?” Valencia retorted.

“Then you just thought that you may as well take over Perinto—”

“All this gets us nowhere. Perhaps we should all focus on fixing what needs to be fixed, here and at the A.G. headquarters?” Asgore suggested. (Remember, I write A.G. but Asgore is saying Arcane Government.”

“Yes, that seems like it would be a good idea.” Valencia said, looking at Albert.

“Fine. We’ll deal with this matter later.” Albert snapped.

Repairs

Samuel, Freedrock, Arsen, Trigno, and Aaron were dispatched to check on the A.G. bases and bunkers to see if there were any men there who hadn’t deserted.

Trigno, Valencia, and the monsters stayed in Perinto to help with repairs, and to try to calm the citizens.

Fourth Sea, A.G. Base

Freedrock landed on the path leading to the large, sturdy base. It showed no signs of damage, and there were a few soldiers outside, which he took as a good sign.

He set off at a brisk walk towards the entrance.

“Hey! Who are you?” one of them—a sergeant—asked, aiming a musket at Freedrock.

“I was sent by Valencia. You’re to go to Perinto, in the Sixth Sea. She’s gathering the remaining forces there to begin repairs on Perinto and the Headquarters.”

“I think you’d better come and speak to Lieutenant Wynn.” the sergeant responded, motioning for him to come inside.

Freedrock followed the sergeant through the corridors of the base to the lieutenant’s office.

She looked up from a stack of papers as the two entered. “Sergeant, who is that with you?”

“He hasn’t given me his name. But he claims that the Grand Admiral has ordered us to go to Thorne’s capital to help with repairs to that city as well as our headquarters in the Fifth Sea.”

The lieutenant looked at Freedrock. “Well then, why don’t we start with you telling me who you are?”

He grimaced. He was a person who didn’t exactly enjoy telling everyone who he was.

“Why does it matter?”

“Just to make sure you’re not tricking us.”

He sighed. “If I tell you my name, you’re going to be even more convinced that I’m trying to trick you.” After all, who would believe a person who just showed up at their doorstep and claimed to be one of the most powerful people in the world?

“Try me.” The lieutenant was growing impatient.

“Fine. My name is Freedrock. I’m the holder of the Lazarus Curse.”

The lieutenant laughed. “Sure it is. Now get out before I have you thrown out!”

Freedrock’s eye glowed a vivid green. Too fast for the lieutenant to see, he blasted the ship’s wheel hanging on the wall to dust.

He glowered at the lieutenant. “Is that enough proof for you?”

“No, it is not. In fact, it makes me want to arrest you. So get out. Now!”

He pulled out his radio. “Valencia? Valencia, this is Freedrock, do you copy?”

The lieutenant glared at him. “Out. You have five seconds.”

Then the radio crackled with the unmistakable voice of the Grand Admiral. “Freedrock, what’s going on?”

He handed the radio to Wynn. “Perhaps you’d like to get your orders directly from the Grand Admiral?”

To Freedrock, “We’ll see…” And into the radio, “Fourth Sea Garrison commander. Who is this?”

“It’s me, Lieutenant. Grand Admiral Valencia. Has Freedrock given you my orders?”

“Yes, he has, and I don’t trust him a bit, about either the orders or the fact that he is who he says, nor do I trust that you actually are Valencia.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end as Valencia inputted something on her computer.

“You joined the force one and a half years ago, starting as a guard at the Second Sea’s outpost. After four months, you were promoted to a corporal and moved to the Fourth Sea’s outpost. From there, you were promoted after two months, then after another five months, and then you reached your current rank in another four months.”

Wynn started. Sighing, she said, “All right. I’ll believe you, I guess. You want me to take the entire garrison to…where? Perinto?”

“Yes.”

Fifth Sea, A.G. Bunker

The Fleet Admiral landed on the vine-dense, humid shore of the jungle island, at the center of which, surrounded by glowing, perhaps eerily beautiful flowers, was a large trapdoor.

He strode towards it and inputted some numbers into the security keypad. The trapdoor slowly slid open. He climbed down, noting that the lights were on—a good sign.

He navigated the maze-like corridors towards the center of operations. Pushing the heavy door open, he saw—a blast of water shooting straight at him.

He deflected it with his magic and prepared another blast.

He heard a gasp from somewhere in the room. Then a chorus of voices, and: “Wait, that’s the Fleet Admiral!”

He looked around, seeing the soldiers in the room; seeing the commander, Commodore Alvin; seeing a person with a Water Magic circle at the ready.

“Commodore Alvin, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Most of the men deserted. They tried to destroy the base as they left, but we managed to stop them.”

“Good. Is this all the men left here?”

“I’m afraid so, sir.”

“All right, do you have transports?”

“We’ve got the caravels, assuming they haven’t been destroyed.”

The commodore left to go check to make sure the ships were safe.

A few minutes later, he returned, reporting that they were still there, and asked if they should be readied.

“Yes. We’re heading to Perinto, Thorne’s capital, in the Sixth Sea, to meet the rest of the forces.”

Fifth Sea, A.G. Headquarters

Arsen landed on the ruined ground in front of the headquarters. Aaron, he remembered, hadn’t held out much hope about anyone being left here, especially since most of the soldiers would have been killed in the fighting against Durza.

But he could sense a faint trace of power, somewhere in the building. He walked in, guided by the trace.

He was used to the simple hallways and orientation of Alalea’s castle, not this place, and he got lost a few times before coming to a room, the door smashed inwards.

Warily, he walked in. Some blue flames were licking at the floor, and he realized that Aaron had become so powerful that his flames lingered long after a battle. That had been what Arsen had sensed. Discouraged, he scoured the rest of the base but found no one.

Sixth Sea, A.G. Scouting Post

Trigno landed on the small island with its small outpost. He walked towards the doors and pressed the intercom button.

A camera blinked on and a voice came through the speaker.

“Who is this?”

“Trigno. The pirate-turned-Valencia’s-messenger.”

“What?”

“I have a message for the commander from Valencia.”

“Could you hold on for a moment?”

The scout hurried over to Lieutenant Kimmens.

“Sir! Sir, Trigno—the pirate—is at the entrance! He says he has a message from Valencia!”

There was a moment of shocked silence. “Trigno? He has a message from the Grand Admiral ?”

“So he says.”

“…Very well. Show him in.”

The doors opened and Trigno strode towards the lieutenant’s office, escorted by three soldiers.

The lieutenant stared him down. “You have a message, do you? What is it?”

“Valencia says you’re to take the garrison to Perinto, where she and the rest of the troops are.”

The lieutenant, after a moment of silence, pulled out her radio, noting that Trigno had a similar, A.G.-issue radio clipped to his belt.

“Valencia? Trigno just told me I’m to take the troops from the scouting base to Perinto. Problem is, I don’t have that many troops left here, maybe thirty or thirty-five. The rest deserted.”

A sigh came through the radio. “All right. Well, bring them anyway.”

“Alright.”

Seventh Sea, A.G. Scouting Post

Aaron looked over the barren sea, interspersed here and there with whirlpools, icebergs, frozen sea, tiny wilderness islands, and, most noticeably, the wide stretch of ice that Durza must have been on.

Locating the small scouting post, he flew towards it. He soon landed on the snowy ground and walked, shivering, towards the entrance.

He pressed the intercom button. A camera blinked on above the speaker.

“Who is this?” a voice asked.

“Aaron Gates, Admiral Clark Gates’ son. I was sent by Valencia with a message from her for the commander.”

The doors slid open. “A kid…? Whatever. Come in.”

Guided by a soldier, he walked to Captain Stone’s office.

The commander was looking over reports on his desk when the two walked in.

“Corporal Selern, what’s this about? Why is there a kid here? How did he get himself here in the first place?” Then he recognized Aaron.

“Wait, you’re Gates’ kid, right? Why are you here?”

“Valencia sent me with a message. You’re to move the entire garrison to Perinto, in the Sixth Sea.”

The captain sighed with relief. “Finally getting out of this godforsaken place, are we? All right, when should we head there?”

“As soon as possible.”

The captain nodded and spoke into his radio, relaying the orders to everyone in the base.

“All right, we’ll head out now. How do you plan to get back?” he asked, looking curiously at the young boy.

The only response was a mysterious smile—and then a cloak of bright blue fire surrounded Aaron, and he took off and was lost in the clouds.

Perinto, some time later

All of the messengers had returned. Now, all there was to do was start the repairs and wait for the other troops. It would be hard, though, to begin repairs to the massive walls with the 100 men from Perinto’s garrison they had on hand.

Unsurprisingly, the 32 troops from the Sixth Sea’s post arrived first, bringing the total number of troops up to 132.

The next to arrive were the 51 troops from the bunker in the Fifth Sea, bringing the total up to 183.

The 130 from the Fourth Sea and the 40 from the Seventh Sea arrived around the same time, bringing the total up to 353.

Repairs on the city went much faster now, and they were soon completed.

Now they would move to the Headquarters, which had been quite damaged in the battle against Durza.