34 Dark Reunion

Back in the savannas, Barret was leading Katinka, and Denki back to their cruiser. However upon arrival, they noticed the ship was missing. Dylan and Stevonne were awaiting their return. Dylan was sprawled out on in the dirt, holding his arm over his eyes. Stevonne was sitting on his knees that he bent up.

"I'm sooooo bored...." He whined.

"You were better being quiet. I at least have something to sit on." Stevonne retorts.

"Well, you have a bony ass!" Dylan complained, fiddling with his doll. "Skratch agrees."

"How dare you! You incompetent-" Stevonne's attention is caught by Barret's group. "OH! Hello, welcome back, it took you a little bit..."

Barret was looking around for the cruiser. "Where's the cruiser!? Dylan? Where's Cynder?"

"I told you already! I found her, but after a while I had to pee. Remember I accidentally went the wrong way, and picked up these thorny buns?... When we got here, she was gone. Prolly got bored waiting for me to drain the main vein after." Dylan crossed his arms, to sit up, forcing Stevonne to stand.

Stevonne knocks her hand upside Dylan's head. She had a very annoyed look on her face.

Dylan held his head. "OWWW!!! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOUR HANDS MADE OUT OF? ROCKS!?"

"Be happy I didn't kick you. Scum..." Stevonne boasted.

"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE! WE HAVE A RESCUED DAMSEL, A MISSION TO REPORT BACK TO, AND NOT TO MENTION OUR TRANSPORTATION IS MISSING!?" Barret says trying to calm himself down. "To make matters even worse, Cravic is on a rampage Joan knows where!"

"What a predicament..." Stevonne says, crossing her arms. She looks to Katinka quietly.

Denki crossed his arms, "Did you leave the keys with the Ferline whose absent?"

Barret shuffles through his pockets, and pulls out his set of keys. "...They're...right here...."Barret begins to twitch one of his eyes, in anger.

Katinka sighed, "You're telling me, that bitch hot-wired the cruiser? Really?"

Stevonne nods to Katinka's comment. "That is right spark plug. She took it, just as you said. Hot-wired, and went back to base."

"Spark... Plug?" Katinka grid her teeth, with a vein pulsating on her brow.

Dylan sat up, looking to Stevonne. "How do you know that?"

Stevonne sighs, "I don't. I'm just assuming as Sparky was."

Barret shakes his head, "Hey, you guys can go over this later. I have to make a call. PLEASE try to cooperate with each other." Barret says, taking out his radio. "Myde? This is Barret. Over."

"This is Myde. What's taking you? Over." Myde replied.

"We have a problem. Cynder took off with our cruiser. We need a ride..." Barret states, looking back to Stevonne and Dylan. Denki and Katinka stood beside him.

"Wait, what!? How did she pull that off?!" Myde gasped.

Barret sighs, "Apparently she hot-wired the cruiser."

"She doesn't even know how to fly one, that's impossible. Urghh... What are your coordinates? We'll hurry over so we can locate Cravic." Myde gawked.

"We're still in the Taino Savannah, we'll wait until you arrive. " Barret says, keeping down his anger.

Katinka looked to Barret, grimacing a bit.

"Alright. We're on our way. Over and out." Myde's voice cut out.

"My goodness...This day has just, urgh.." Barret says to himself, placing the radio back in his pocket.

Stevonne walks over to Barret's side. "It will be okay. You came back to get us, so that's all that matters, yes?" She says, smiling to Barret.

Barret looks to Stevonne, "Yeah...I just wish some people knew how important they are, when it comes to helping others...Dammit Cynder.."

Katinka sighed, "Bitches do, whatever they please. It's not like we could have stopped her."

Stevonne looks to Katinka, "That, my dear spark plug, is where you are wrong. Sometimes, people like that, need a little 'kick' to get their heads on straight. I admit, I may not have been around you all, long enough. However, I could tell after hearing about this Cynder person, She could use a good talking to."

"Hmph. (You think you have everything figured out. I don't like chicks like you...)" Katinka scoffed.

"Why not say it louder? I'm not fond of you either, but I'm not making a fuss about it. I even gave you a friendly nick name.." Stevonne teased.

Katinka gawked, "What is your deal? Crawling in my head, like a freak'n spider. You claim to be human, but you're proving otherwise! Also, stop calling me that!" Katinka snapped.

"Hey Kiddo, chill out." Denki looked to Katinka.

"...." Katinka looked off with a huff.

Stevonne chuckles.

"(I have to agree...Her developments since the last time I saw her, have improved. Even in this short span of time...)" Barret thought to himself.

Stevonne turns to Barret, who jumps. "Thinking of me?" She says, slyly.

"Oh! Ha ha ha! Just wondering about you a bit, yes..You are really expanding on how you go about things." Barret states, nervously.

Katinka started in jealousy, sparking from her wires. "..........."

Stevonne chuckles again, "By all means, I like when people think about me. It makes me feel special. Especially if it's about my traits..."

A machine sound was heard above, as Myde's cruiser landed not far from them.

"Well, that didn't take too long, come on everyone." Barret says, walking to the cruiser.

Stevonne walks after Barret, ahead of Katinka and Denki. Dylan got up from the dirt, taking the rear.

The hatch opens, and Shockz looks over to them, as they enter. "I can't believe she ditched you guys like that. I wonder what Luke would think about this?" He then spots Denki. "Woah! Dad, I didn't know you were here!"

Denki took a seat near Shockz, patting him on the head with his left arm. "We happened to cross paths, while I was looking into things.." He said, fastening a sling to his damaged arm.

"Did you find her?" Shockz asked to Denki.

"...Yeah, but she's not coming home..." Denki replied, with a few memories coming to his mind.

A pink haired woman was walking along side him with a white, bobtail cat on her shoulder. She pulls her hood over her head, looking to him, playfully. She had cat shaped ears on it, and she made a silly face expression to Denki, causing him to laugh. It faded into another at a pier.

"Kathrine." Denki turned to her.

"Yeah, Denki?" Kathrine looked to him, smiling.

Denki blushed a bit, looking off. "Would... Would you..."

"Would I what?" She giggled.

Denki looked to her, grabbing her hands. "Kathrine, would you marry me?"

She looked surprised, but smiled fast, hugging him. "Of course I will!!"

The scene skipped forward again, with them in a hospital room, and Denki was sitting on the bed with her. Kathrine was holding Shockz right after he was born. "He looks just like you, Denki. So cute!"

Denki snapped out of it, seeing Shockz looking to him. "Hey uh? Dad are you okay? Hello? Terra to dad?"

Denki sighed, leaning back. "I'll be fine, kiddo..."

Barret walks over to Myde, to get the details about Cravic. "Alright, when everyone's seated I guess we'll head off to find Cravic. Just what happened to cause this again?"

Myde glanced up to him, she looked back to the piolot controls. "We went to investigate the labyrinth as directed, and some things got out of hand. Both Shockz and myself were taken by the zodiac member. Cravic and Bit were left to navigate the maze on their own, and just barely got to us in time, before we were shipped off to Kaos. However. Something about the Zodiac member, he was getting a bit out of hand, from what I gathered. Whatever he said, made Cravic resort to his Dark Dama. He may have used too much, and lost control. Before we knew it, he fled."

Barret grits his teeth. "Dang, well, I'm happy you guys made it back alright. I suppose now we track him down, and hopefully get him under control."

Myde nodded, "We can only hope. Since the incident, Bit's been quite shaken." She motions to Bit, sitting by himself.

Barret looks to Bit seriously, "Yeah...He is pretty close to Cravic I think..."

"Sit down, and we'll get going. So what's the plan to track him?" Myde inquired.

Barret sits down, strapping himself in. He happened to sit next to Stevonne, before looking to Myde. "Katinka. She'll lead us right to Cravic."

"What about Denki, he's an older Lighton, so he wouldn't he know how to do so far easier?" Myde looked oddly to Barret.

"She's training. Let her handle it." Denki spoke up.

"Training? This is as high priority as a mission. We have a Necroden out there, who has no self control. Who knows who he may hurt, or even perhaps himself!" Myde snapped, she sounded worried.

"..." Denki looked lazily to Myde.

"Myde, Katinka displayed that she is more capable than most Lightons at her age. Trust what Denki says, alright?" Barret explained to Myde.

Myde sighed, "Fine. I'll trust you. Katinka, take the seat closest to me..."

Katinka looked over, "Okay." She looked to Barret, before walking to her seat, on the other end of Shockz. She sat down.

"Well, do you have a reading then?" Myde inquired.

"Yeah, he's somewhere... in the Zokyo desert.. I think." Katinka looked to Myde.

"... Assuming back near the old headquarters..." Myde activated the cruiser pod, taking off into the sky. "(How did he get over there so quickly?... Cravic.)"

Stevonne looks to Myde, and then back to Barret. "This old base? You were stationed in a desert?"

Barret looks to Stevonne, "Yes, a lot happened, and we had to relocate...It could be swarming with Kaos forces...So, we'll have to be careful."

"Ohhh I know you'll protect us." Stevonne says, forming a kitty face.

Katinka was looking to Stevonne, with eyes like she was shooting daggers at her. "......."

Shockz looks to Katinka, "Hey, why the glaring? You haven't said a word to me since you got here."

Katinka leers over to Shockz, "Would you stop asking stupid questions?"

"What's so stupid about me wanting to know? (Not like Bit's even flirting with her right now...Then... he did say that she wasn't his type. Urghh..) Fine, good to know you haven't changed." Shockz says, folding his arms.

Katinka leaned to her palm, glancing at Barret. She closes her eyes. "...."

Stevonne looks to Katinka smiling.

Barret looks, noticing Katinka was looking his direction with her eyes shut, Stevonne was looking that direction as well. "(Hmm, has she been looking my way this entire time? Then.. Stevonne seems awfully close....Myde is here as well...She seems pretty tense about this... maybe I'm missing something.)" Barret thought to himself.

Stevonne chuckles, "(Oh, this is quite the triangle.)"

"You had a plan right?" Myde glanced to Barret.

"Well, all I know at the moment, is we need a lot of Light Dama to combat him. Though if that's not enough I'm not sure what we can do." Barret says, holding a hand to his head.

As they traveled, Cravic was in the desert. The sky was growing darker above him. Some blood dripped to the ground from his still bleeding eye socket. "....." The atmosphere around him was crowing eerie as well.

Some bullets fly, hitting the sand, landing near him. In the distance walking up a little ways behind Cravic, was Creed. He stops, eyeing Cravic sharply. "A rouge Necroden, though wasn't expecting to see this side of you, this soon, Cravic."

Cravic leers over his shoulder, his eye glowing with the DD trailing from it. The darkness around him shifted, as the monstrous form howled. Some of the darkness was bubbling around. "Finally, found you..." Cravic looked to Creed with a sharp expression, his fangs were showing at this moment.

"Guess we both can relate....Don't worry. I'll end this quickly..." Creed says, pulling to his chainsaw gun blade.

"You should be the one worrying." The iris on his eye, slits like a cat's. The darkness around had a slight psychotic laughter faintly echoing.

Creed rushes instantly at Cravic, first shooting off some of his bullets. It cuts through some of the darkness around Cravic, but he hits a strong barrier of dark dama. "Urgh...What?" Creed gawked.

Cravic smirked devilishly, his skin was shredding up his right arm, as it started forming into a monstrous claw, leaking with DD. "Hahaha..." Cravic cackled, a bit.

Creed quickly pulls backward, jumping to a safer distance, "(I miscalculated, maybe I should have taken that scientist's advice...)" Creed pulls to a Light Dama induced bomb. "Come on...." Creed says, tossing it in direction of Cravic.

The bomb explodes, stunning the dark dama, and Creed turns rushing away quickly. There was a ringing in the air, where the area was shrouded with light. Creed was rushing, but bursting from the midst of it, was Cravic, with a sadistic expression on his face. Creed spots this, and quickly slams his sword into the sand, forming a dama shield, that breaks on contact with Cravic in places. Creed's face gets cut from some of the dark dama energy, and tosses him back into the sand. Creed was shaken, but pulls himself up, to see Cravic slowly nearing him.

"Forget this..." Creed says, as he presses a button on his belt. He's instantly teleported out the location.

From the skies came the cruiser, spotting Cravic. "Target located." Myde spoke up.

"My gosh...It almost looks like a river of dark dama across the sand." Barret states, his mouth dropping.

Bit was holding his head, whimpering. "..."

"So, who's going into that mess?" Shockz asked to them.

"We need to decide quickly, before he escapes again." Myde shifted the gears to hover, as she took off her belt.

"(I would go...But...Katinka... No, Denki said he would.) Denki should go, but then he's not in good shape." Barret says, looking to him.

"I can hear you, kid." Denki looked to Barret.

Myde made her way to the docking door. Barret grabs to Myde's wrist, as she walked passed him. "Wait, Myde, it's far too dangerous, we'll let Denki go."

"Can't you see how hurt he already is, from whatever Zodiac you tangoed with? If anyone is in shape to fight him, It might as well be me. If I hadn't been captured in the first place, then he wouldn't have gone this over the deep end." Myde looked back to Barret, seriously.

"Myde....Think logically here. This is a matter of light and darkness. We're not made to combat dark dama this way. If I were to let you go out there, and you become infected, or worse... We don't have many choices...Urgh. I get where you're coming from though." Barret argued.

"You can't send my dad out there though! He can't fight with one arm! Besides that, you guys honestly don't know how DD works. If it even has a chance to get into something, it WILL control it! Even if it's not all that connected. Also, being weak like this...All it needs is your mind, and your body is pretty much taken over." Shockz retorted.

Stevonne looks to Myde, "So, then you're the candidate to enter?"

"No way! I can't do that! That's way beyond my power...I'd get creamed." Shockz says.

Denki was getting up, "I said I'd handle it Kiddo." He said, his arm still in a sling. "I said I would..."

"NO, YOU CAN'T GO! I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU, LIKE WE LOST MOM!" Shockz cried.

Denki looked to Shockz. "...."

Katinka got to her feet, walking over to the door. "Open it."

Everyone turns their attention to Katinka. Barret gasps, "What!? There's no way we're sending you out there! You might have held up back during the Zodiac attacks, but this is a completely new level Katinka..."

"I know I can do this... Why can't you just believe in me?" Katinka looked back to the door.

"I do, but..." Barret was fighting with his choices.

Stevonne stands up, "I say let her go, she really wants to do this. (If she wants to die, let her.)"

Shockz looks to Stevonne, "HEY! WE DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU BITCH! SO YOU HAVE NO ROOM SAYING ANYTHING! Katinka, you're not going down there!"

"Open, the door." Katinka looked back, with an intimidating stare.

"Very well, but if things turn south, I'll be joining the battle." Myde sat back down, hitting the switch.

There was a warning beeping heard as the hatch opened. Katinka turned back to the outside, she was a good hundred feet from the surface.

Barret reaches out to her. "Katinka...Are you really sure?..."

Katinka looked back to him, smiling. The wind was blowing her hair around, "I need to prove myself..." She says, jumping from the ship.

"...KATINKA!!" Barret cries out, reaching out for her.

Stevonne was looking to Barret and then shuts her eyes. "(Oh the emotions, let's hope she can 'prove' herself...I feel the outcome will be the end of her.)"

Katinka flips in the air, pulling her goggles over her eyes, as she lands in the sand. Dust picked up around her from the impact, as she looked Cravic's way. The eyes of the dark dama mist flicked around, before catching Katinka in their sights. Cravic turned, looking to her. Katinka's wires surged with electricity.

"Okay..." She took a breath, "Bring it on!"

"You're nothing..." Cravic growled, as he charged at her, with the Dark dama running wild.

Katinka quickly rushes at him, and slams her wires into Cravic, kicking him backward. The attack had broken some of the dark dama energy. Katinka then revs up more electricity into her wires, and watches Cravic closely.

"I'm gonna charge you for assault and battery!" Katinka exclaimed.

Cravic grins, causing a large amount of DD to spread across the sand. It flows under Katinka, turning the sand around them dark. Katinka slams her wires into the sand around her, quickly shocking it up. It connects into the dark dama, flying back at Cravic, blowing him back a couple of miles.

Barret was looking at the sight of the battle, flabbergasted. "Oh my gosh....She's amazing!"

Stevonne crosses her arms. "(Keep thinking that....She's not winning this.)"

Cravic now looks back to Katinka, cracking his neck. He smiles, and forms a new dark dama shield, his energy was now waging even higher. Wind starts to blow at Katinka, and out of the tiny sand storm created, Cravic stood behind her. He grips her by her wires, and hammers Katinka into the sand. Katinka shocks up, but the dark dama was starting to fight the electricity. Cravic begins to attempt to pry one off one of her wires. They start to spark around, the limiter snapping off in his hand. Cravic then places his sharp claw at the back of her neck. Still pinning Katinka into the sand.

"Gah..." Her eyes were shaking, faint glimpse of her younger self being molested by a man she didn't know, had crawled into her mind. Her breathing became erratic. "Argh... AHHHHH!!!" She let out a sharp scream.

Shockz, Barret and the others were looking in horror. "KATINKA!!!! NO!" Barret yelled.

"Fuck! We have got to get down there!" Shockz screamed, running to the entrance.

Shockz grabs to the doorway. "KATINKA!!!!"

Myde got to the door, holding him back. "Let me deal with him."

A dark flame dashes by, kicking Cravic off of Katinka. Out of the dark flames came a green haired man, with a long pony tail, he wore a black trench coat, and sported sun glasses. He looks to Katinka, and back to Cravic. "Katinka?....Don't worry I'll handle this..." The man says, looking at Cravic.

Katinka held her neck, her breathing settling, as she sharply focused to the man. "...Dad..." She spoke, in a disapproving tone.

The man smirks. "...That's right, just hang on, alright? We can get get your limiter repaired, once I take care of him."Katinka's dad says, looking back to Cravic.

Cravic gets up from the sand, looking to her father. Katinka's dad forms a long flaming sword, and a long light based rifle.

"Out of control?...I warned your old man about this...But no one listens to me.." He says, aiming his light gun at Cravic.

Cravic rushes at Katinka's dad quickly. The father lets off the shot, which rips through Cravic's shoulder. The dama starts to fade around Cravic, and her father rushes up grabbing Cravic by the neck. He starts to absorb the dark energy, to calm the dama. He then drops Cravic to the sand, and holds out his hand to pull back the light bullet from Cravic's shoulder, for his rifle.

"Urgh...." Cravic winced on the ground, his arm shifting back to normal.

Katinka stumbled to her feet, her eyes focused on her father. "...."

Her father walks over to Katinka, to help steady her. "I just noticed, you had called me 'dad'."

She shoved back his hands, "Don't touch me, 'Edge'." She growled.

"Well, it was good while it lasted...You can at least be happy I got here when I did." Edge states placing his hands in his pockets.

"I could have totally handled that." She scoffed, crossing her arms.

"Then I would have been down one kid...You know you're important to me." Edge says, taking out a cigarette.

"As if, old man! If you did, then why has Sensei practically raised me at least half of my life?!" Katinka snapped. She was sparking a bit, even without her dama suppressor.

"Sensei? Wow, he never told you what was going on? Denki kept you really sheltered.." Edge says, lighting the cigarette with some fire dama.

The cruiser lands on the ground, Barret jumps out with Shockz following running to Katinka. "KATINKA!!!" They both called. Barret drew closer, "Are you alright!?"

Edge turns his attention to them forming his weapons. Barret neared Katinka, and came face first with Edge's light gun. "Not any closer blondie."

Barret gasps, "W-Who are you?"

Shockz had halted in place, nervously staring to Edge. "..."

Katinka shoved the gun away from Barret, looking angrily to Edge. "What is your problem!?"

Edge looks to Katinka. "Katinka, let go of the gun." Edge says calmly.

"No." Katinka sneered.

"Who is he?" Barret asked again.

"Unfortunately, my father." Katinka said ,in an annoyed tone.

"And you're not getting any closer to her." Edge says, looking to Barret. "I'm sure you don't want to mess with a century old Elementar."

Barret sweat drops. "Oh...Uh...of course not..Ha ha...."

Shockz was shivering. "(WHAT!? THAT GUYS INSANE! THAT'S HER FATHER? There's no way I can snag her with this guy around. He's nuts!)"

"Stop being such a jerk! I hate you!" Katinka sparked up, still holding the gun.

"You sure have a good way of showing love. " Edge chuckles. "You're just like your mother."

Katinka was fuming. From the cruiser, Denki came towards them, with Myde approaching Cravic who was still on the ground. Denki's eyes met Edge's. "Long time, old friend."

"Denki? It's good to see you. You've done quite a job with my daughter here. Rebellious, ungrateful, and more over just a cocky piece of work. " Edge joked, in approval.

"HEY!!" Katinka snapped, angrily.

Denki chuckled, "She's definitely been a challenge."

Shockz noticed Katinka's limiter on the ground, going over to pick it up. He looked back to her.

Edge then walks over to Denki, turning his back from Katinka, he put his arm over Denki's shoulder to murmur into his ear. "On another note, did you find her?"

Denki sighed, "She's been reworked by Kaos... I tried to get her back, but some pirates got her before I could.... "

"Damn, and pirates? Hmm, one of them carry a black and white outfit? I had a run in with some pirates like that, who had been getting people for 'games'." Edge says, whispering.

"Might be the very same ones." Denki scratched his head.

Edge lets off of Denki, and grabs to his cigarette, putting it out. "Guess I have some things to look into. By the way. I really don't want Katinka in places like this. I'm fine with her having friends, unless it's a 'boy'."

Denki chuckled, looking over to the kids, "What about my son, Shockz? She can't exactly avoid him."

"You leave that to me then.." Edge says, walking in Shockz's direction.

Shockz freaks out. "(He's coming over here!!!)"

Edge stops, and pulls Shockz out by the back of his shirt. "Listen, you may be my friend's kid, but I don't want your hands on my daughter."

Shockz nods quickly. "You got it! There are plenty of fish out there! So..Uhh yeah!

"You calling her a fish?" Edge says, quirking a brow.

"NO! It's a figure of speech!" Shockz says, nervously.

Edge drops Shockz into the sand face first.

"Remember now, I'm good at sensing things...Especially boys who try to pick up on my daughter." Edge says, turning away from Shockz.

"YOU are BEYOND ridiculous! What the hell is your freak'n problem?!" Katinka demanded.

"Sorry, I guess I'm a bit 'over protective', but alas, I have to cut this meeting short." Edge says, walking off to the desert.

"Yeah, go! WALK AWAY! THAT'S ALL YOU EVER DO ANYWAY!" Katinka huffed, turning away from him. "Asshole..."

Edge smirks. "(We'll see each other again, just at the moment. I have some prior engagements to deal with.)" Edge thought to himself, turning into a dark flames as he vanished into the desert.

Myde was trying to get Cravic to his feet, she glances over to the others. "Barret, I need a hand over here." Myde struggled.

Barret rushes over to Myde quickly. "Right, oh...Cravic... what happened to his eye!?"

Myde glanced to Barret, "The Zodiac did this, trying to stop him. I don't think there's anything we can do to repair it..." She said, still trying to get him off the ground.

"Oh man...." Barret says, he was to stunned for words. "Xiao...She's not going to be happy about this..." Barret says, placing Cravic's arm over his shoulder.