[IC] A Hero Tale {Complete}

[Jensoman]

Jenso nodded respectfully to Lark. "I'll never forget everything you taught me, especially that one lesson..." Jenso said reassuringly to Lark, not intending to give up. "If I get beat down, I just gotta get right back up right?" He said with a confident smile. "What do I need to promise?" Jenso asked in a calm and gentle tone. He shuddered as he spoke, revealing that he felt horrible about the entire situation and that he felt bad that he was going to lose one of his best friends.

[tex]

Lark suddenly dug his fingers into Jenso's chest slightly, gripping his muscles and holding on tightly. A single tear ran down the side of his face and his smile shrank. Jenso felt an alien energy flood his body as Lark muttered several words in a strange language. The green shade in Lark's eyes faded to a dull grey as he closed them for the last time. Vale looked down at his old friend with a sombre expression, but didn't shed a tear. Lark's arm went limp and fell to the side of his bed. In that moment, Jenso heard a voice ring deeply through his entire soul. Lark's final wish bestowed upon Jenso the last of his power, and linked him to Gaia herself.

"Save my son"

---

~ End Of Chapter 73 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 74 ~

_{Path Reassured, For Once}

Vale closed his eyes and whispered something to himself before heading towards the exit. Mikey watched as he began to leave, but kept completely silent during the whole ordeal. The vampire passed Jeff and waited by the exit patiently for the two heroes to follow him out.

[SuperFlash]

Jeff stood there for a couple a moments trying his best to take in everything he learned here. So much has happened and he couldn't help but feel all but powerless to stop most of the chaos going on despite all the work he put into trying to build himself up to prevent situations like this. Despite so, he did his best to stand strong for at least now he had hope on the fact of seeing his best friend once again and perhaps paying role and ending the problems these masked men brought to the world.

Thinking through everything an idea passed through Jeff's mind. "Hey Jenso, you know those gauntlets you helped me perfect back at the lab right?" He said to him as he reached into his bag and pulled them out. "I think you should take them. I mean I had plans to study them more and see if they would be worth upgrading into something like the ones I have now, but looking at how things are I get the feeling they may be more use to you now."

[Jensoman]

Jenso turned to Jeff as he snapped out of the sudden shock and sadness that he felt as Lark passed away. He felt Lark's energy rush through him. He looked at the gauntlets and smiled faintly. Thanks man...I'll make sure to put them to good use." Jenso stated, respectfully taking the gauntlets and putting them on. He was unsure how strong the gauntlets were, but he would soon find out. He dashed over to Vale, ready to follow him. "Let's go!"

[tex]

Vale opened his eyes and dashed out of the med-bay and into the streets, assuming that Jenso and Jeff could keep up with his speed. Mikey attempted to stand, but fell flat on his face before he could even say a word. As Jenso and Jeff left, he felt all alone and partially abandoned, but knew it wasn't his fault. Mikey sighed and shook his head. "Guess I'm sitting this one out.."

---

It only took Vale half an hour to guide Jenso and Jeff through the streets of Tech-Mo. As they passed the castle's crash site, they noticed civilians marvelling at the disaster. The local police bots were doing their best to keep everyone calm and rescue any survivors.

"On the edge of Tech-mo, in a place called the Ordo republic. It's some place where they organise laws while working under the king. It's apparently a heavily guarded compound, but knowing Sera... He's probably cleared the place out. That's what the king would've imagined, anyways," Vale said, still retaining a eerily serious tone of voice.

Before they could get near the edge of the Order district however, Vale stopped in his tracks, and scanned his surroundings. His nose twitched and he narrowed his eyes. "I smell something Gaian."

[Jensoman]

Jenso stopped as well, and began to scan the surroundings along with Vale. He considered trying to sense anything, but he didn't want to give their position away to anyone. He got in a combat stance instinctively, prepared for anything.

[SuperFlash]

"A Gaian? Think it could be Dacer?" Jeff asked with curiosity. He didn't have the highest hopes at the answer being yes, but figured it was worth taking a shot into the dark.

[tex]

Vale spun around and glared at Jeff, and then behind him. In a flash, he dashed behind Jeff, drew his sword, and used it to cut through a white flash of light and split into two and struck the ground in front of Jeff on either side. Vale looked up angrily and sneered. A familiar figure stood atop a nearby building, with his purple-tinted eyes fixated on Jeff and Jenso. He wielded a great-bow and had a small green cat riding on his left shoulder with a similar tint of purple engulfing its eyes. The figured pulled back on his bow's imaginary drawstring again and conjured another white arrow made solely of Ki, and aimed his next shot carefully. Vale backed up and grunted. He wouldn't be able to do what he'd just done twice.

"Heads up, my hard headed heroes," Vale shouted.

[SuperFlash]

"Oh shit... Dacer.. That really is you right..?" Jeff said stepping back in shock and letting his guard down momentarily. "Don't you recognize me at all?"

[tex]

The archer looked down at Jeff and narrowed his eyes. Without hesitation he fired a second Ki arrow at Jeff and Vale. Vale cursed under his breath and dodged in the nick of time.

[SuperFlash]

Jeff was even more shocked at the arrow being shot at him and just by the nick of time manages to block the arrow with his right hand gauntlet but ends up having the gauntlet knocked out of his hand in the process. "Dacer? Its me Jeff, and apparently you know Jenso too right? Snap out of this you jerk!?"

Jeff then dove over to recover his lost gauntlet and prepares for more arrow attacks while trying to come up with a way to snap his friend out of whatever was making him a target for his archery practice.

[Jensoman]

Jenso glared at Dacer and Tiger and launched a torrent of flames at them with both hands. He did not want to hurt them, but he would have to beat them if he wanted him and his friends to survive. "Don't be fooled, guys! Adarine is mind-controlling them! She's another Order of Chaos member! This is exactly how Dacer was when I first met him! Tiger managed to save me and break Ada's hold on him by using their bond with Gaia, but this time..." Jenso stated, thinking about their options right now. "We'll have to knock them out...Dacer will be able to regenerate from his injuries fast enough since he's a Gaian, but I'm more concerned about Tiger's safety..."

[SuperFlash]

"I swear its always these damned masked people. What do they even gain from all this?" Jeff grumbled as he equiped his gauntlet properly once more and begun the contemplate the situation. "The fact he's got the high ground on his is gonna me a problem." He then began looking for the best way for him to get up to the rooftops

[tex]

"You're both such idiots!" Dacer suddenly announced, kneeling down casually to address them both. "I'm not here to kill you, I'm here to warn you, about Sera." Dacer sneered and jumped over to another rooftop. He spun around and knelt towards Jenso and Jeff again. "Though, if you die in the process, that wouldn't be any fun at all! So please, at least put up a fight?"

Vale chuckled lightly and backed away into the shadows. "You know what to do from here, my silly little heroes. I think I'll be taking my leave!" He announced, fading into the alleyways. Dacer narrowed his eyes and quick-fired an arrow in his direction, but it barely missed its target. He turned his sights back to Jeff and Jenso and smiled, completely forgetting Vale in his entirety and lining up his sights to strike them both.

~ End Of Chapter 74 ~

[tex]

~ Chapter 75 ~

_{Run Or Fight? Dacer Is Insane!}

Dacer fired another arrow at Jenso, and within a moment, another at Jeff. They moved fast, far faster than more normal Ki attacks. To Jenso, it may have not been a surprise, but that didn't change the fact that those arrows were not easy to dodge. Jumping into the air at all would have been a foolish mistake. Jenso's speed was ineffective while he wasn't on the ground. Jeff on the other hand, might have stood a chance in reaching the rooftops in a direct manner.

[SuperFlash]

"Dacer are you mad?! Is this how you greet an old friend?! A best one at that?!" Jeff yelled as he grappled onto a street post and pulled himself to it and swung to the top of it in order to dodge the upcoming arrow fire. "Jenso, I might be able to counter his arrows a tad better if I can get to level ground with him. Somebody needs to knock some reason into him it looks like."

From atop the post he did his best to stay balanced and pulled the wind together and formed it into two spheres similar to what Sera was fireing at him and Jenso earlier but with more ki and wind concentration and fired a few of them off at Dacer. 'I can't afford to use something like the wind scythes on him, as tempting as it it right now, I don't want to kill him after all.'

[Jensoman]

Jenso frowned at Jeff. "Just don't hold back too much, he's still very strong." He added. He dashed to the left at top speeds in order to avoid Dacer's arrow, and slammed his left heel at the base of the building that he stood on. A flame wave erupted from the wall where he struck his foot, and launched upwards at Dacer and Tiger. 'Jeff can probably get close to him with his wind powers...I'll have to keep him busy!'

[tex]

Dacer fell to his knees and dodged Jeff's wind spheres, touching the ground briefly with his left hand before jumping off of the building that Jenso lit aflame, back to the previous building. He then aimed for Jenso and pulled back on his drawstring again, firing a Ki arrow at him, and another at Jeff. These ones seemed to vibrate in midair as they approached.

[SuperFlash]

Jeff waiting for the right moment before he fired the arrow timed the jump and aimed get into one the alleyways out of range of Dacer's sight. Not wanting to waste time for him to go after him Jeff then proceeds to wall jump between the walls of the two buildings attempting to scale the building before Dacer can get a solid reaction to his intention.
'I'm leaving this up to you Jenso. Hold him off long enough for me to get up there.'