Astral Kings #4

Back at the Maiju temple,

Dante and Gwen were getting dressed to meet their parents for lunch. Unfortunately, they couldn’t come up with an excuse for what happened after they left Dante’s parent’s house.

“I got it. How about we tell them we were enjoying the stars on our first date?”

Gwen blushed. “That won’t work for my parents. They are really strict when it comes to relationships. They have an old way of thinking. They need to meet all my boyfriends before I can date them. But they let Ray and Eva date whoever they want.”

“That’s messed up. So, what are we going to do?”

“Well, we could always say I talked you down from running away. And convinced you to go to that school.”

Dante sighed. “Really, but I don’t want to go to that school. I want to be in the same school as all my friends and you. I mean seriously. We just got together and now we’re being separated.” He says as he grabs Gwen’s hand, bringing her closer.

“Yea… I know how you feel. But… it’s not like we’re truly separated. We can always come here to see each other whenever. Not to mention, we have a way to stay connected to each other no matter what.”

“I guess you’re right. Plus, I can always swoop you off your feet whenever I feel lonely.” Dante said as he put on his shirt.

“Yeah, how about you don’t get too used to that? I don’t need you to appear anytime you want. And especially not when you’re feeling in the mood.”

Dante blushed and smiled. “Oh, and what about you? With your magic, you can appear anywhere you want, anytime you want.” He said.

“I would never abuse my powers like that.” Gwen said as she blushed red like Dante.

Dante laughed. Then, Gwen started to laugh.

“For a goth girl, you show a lot of emotions. Am I the reason?”

“Yes, so you need to take responsibility.” Gwen said.

“Trust me… I will.” Dante said. Gwen smiled.

“Dante, Gwen, I finished scanning the earth for those outposts like you asked. And found that there ten in the US, three in Europe, fifteen in China, two in south America, and one twenty in Africa. And, unfortunately, most of them were discovered by the humans, releasing most of the souls onto the world.” The Maiju computer said.

“Really? Guess that means we have our work ahead of us.”

“Yes, I see that your job will only get harder from here on.  Which is why I am creating gear to help you and Gwen. But I suggest you study and learn about your abilities and the soul essences. Our gear can only do so much.”

“Okay, so do you have books that we can read from?” Gwen asked.

“We?”

“Of course, we’re a team. We both need to know about this stuff. Especially when we both are going to fight.” Gwen said.

Dante and Gwen looked into each other’s eyes.

“Uh, masters, do you really have time to be staring into each other’s eyes lovingly? Don’t you have to meet your families?” The computer said.

“Right, what’s the closest exit to the restaurant?”

“The closest exit is tunnel D. Shall we get the cycles ready? Or the car?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dante said. Minutes later, Dante and Gwen are racing through a tunnel on motorcycles. Riding along the walls, Dante and Gwen smiled.

“Wooooohooooo!!!!” They both yelled as they rode through the tunnel’s exit, which led to a small underground warehouse.

“Where is this place?” Gwen said.

“I don’t know. Maybe some kind of storage room.”

“You would be right. This is where the Maiju stored all the technology and knowledge of the universe they’ve acquired. And luckily, it’s located two blocks away from the restaurant you’re supposed to meet your parents in an abandoned alley.”

“Oh wow. All the knowledge of the universe in one place. What do you think we could do with this?” Gwen asked.

“Aren’t you the one who tells me not to get all power hungry?” Dante said.

“Really, Dante?”

Dante smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. You would never go power hungry. Unlike me, who literally has the powers of the universe’s most powerful aliens on my wrist. The literal one-man army.” He said jokingly.

“I believe you wouldn’t be power hungry, no matter how many new forms you get.” Gwen said.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because I’m here by your side.”

Dante hugged Gwen. “Thank you.”

Walking down the street, Dante and Gwen looked for their parents, who should’ve been waiting in front of the restaurant. As they arrived at the restaurant, they’d seen their parents and three others.

“Okay, bad news, they found us.” Dante thought.

“Act normal. Pretend that you haven’t met.” Gwen answered. Dante nodded.

Suddenly, Janice runs to Dante and hugs him tightly. “Dante, you idiot boy, you had me so worried. Where did you go?” she said, worriedly, as she began to cry.

“Don’t worry, mom. I’m fine.” Dante struggled to say as his mother squeezed him.

“Your mother was worried about you. You should indulge her.” Ms. Argon said.

Dante sighed. “Alright,”

Minutes later, Dante and Gwen were sitting in between their mothers, while Ms. Argon, the man, and his son was sitting in between their fathers.

“Dante, before I scold you, I want to introduce the man who’s paying for your school. This is my boss, Mr. Mark Todd. And, the Head of the school, Headmistress Julia Argon. Along with his son, Adam.” Alan said.

“Alan, can you not?! We just found our son. Can we not enjoy ourselves before you ruin it?”

“I should’ve known my father would do something like this. So, predictable.” Dante thought.

“Dante… be nice. Even if it’s true.” Gwen thought as she smiled.

“Gwen, what’s wrong? You’re smiling.” Gwen’s father, Adam Thompson, said, curiously.

“Did something good happened last night?” Gwen’s mother, Allison Thompson, asked, causing Gwen to blush.

“Care to explain, Dante?” Janice said.

“We were just enjoying each other’s company.”

“Oh, I thought you two started dating. I mean that is why you made such a big deal about not going to this school. Right,” Alan said.

“Alan, really?”

“What? The boy made a big deal about not going to this school. And because of the girl he ignored for years. Should I not say it? The boy is more dramatic than actors.” Alan said.

“Alan!”

“No, it’s alright mom. He’s right. I made a big deal about not going to some STUPID, PRETENTIOUS school! And now, I’m here, sitting down with my stupid father and his invasive boss, being ridiculed because I…

“DANTE!” Gwen yelled, immediately silencing Dante.

Dante, then, sat down. “Sorry, this was inappropriate.”

“Glad you realized that. Maybe there’s hope for you yet.” Alan said.

“Alan!” Janice said.

Dante gets up and leaves. Gwen sighs and stands. “Sorry for leaving so early, but I should go after him.” Gwen said.

“Why? It’s not like it’s your responsibility to look after our son.” Alan said.

“Alan, enough!  You drove our son away again. I don’t want to hear anything from you unless its either an apology or a way to help get him back.” Janice said.

“Mrs. Moore, I’ll try my best to persuade Dante to come back. No promises that he’ll agree to come back. Mr. Moore, I hope you get what you want. Just remember, you sacrificed your relationship with your son.” Gwen said before leaving.

“Where are you going, Gwen?” Allison said.

“After Dante. She’s always chasing Dante. But I hope she don’t think she’ll get out of…

“Dear, not now.”

“Uh, I’m sorry. I feel responsible for everything that has happened. How about I pay for this lunch and have my friend here search for your children?” Mark said.

“No thanks, I’m sure my son will come back, of his own accord.” Alan said.

“For once, we’re in agreement.” Janice said.

 Standing outside in an alley, Dante grabs his phone and unlocks it. He then sees a picture of him and his family. He screams and throws his phone into a wall.

“I hope that wasn’t because you saw a picture of me.” Gwen said.

Dante smiled. “You know you make it really hard to stay mad.”

“Blame it on my personality.”

“Which one? The dark goth or the cute, shy girlfriend.” Dante said.

“Says the person who has multiple souls. Anyways, what are you going to do now?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I can continue out this school year while I figure it out.”

“Or you can just attend the school I run like your father wants. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. And, if you want, I can probably convince my friend about letting your girlfriend attend too.” Mrs. Argon said as she walked up behind Gwen.

“If this is your sly way of recruiting us for your team, you can just give up. We have no intention of joining.”

“Oh, so you think going after soul’s essences yourselves is a good idea. You have no training, no information, and no idea how dangerous these souls can be. Like the Alurisian. That thing nearly destroyed Las Vegas.”

“And we stopped and captured it.”

“Really. And where exactly did you put that dangerous beast?” Julia said.

“Sorry, Ms. Argon, but that’s a secret between me and Gwen.”

Suddenly, Dante and Gwen got a call from the temple.

“Speaking of, Dante and I have to go.”

“Really, is it another soul? How about I give you back up? I can…

“No thanks, we got this. Besides, we don’t want you back-seating on our methods.” Gwen said as she walked beside Dante, who was messing with his gauntlet.

“Methods?” Julia said as she noticed the gauntlet. “So, that’s how you transform. What is it? A Maiju artifact?” she said.

“Wait… you can see this? Camouflage mode is still on right, Dante?” Gwen said.

“Yeah, it’s still up. I wouldn’t even know how to do that. Right now, I’m trying to transform but it’s not…

Suddenly, a burst of energy explodes from the gauntlet into the side of a building, leaving a small hole.

“What was that?” Dante and Gwen thought.

“According to our data, Dante activated the soul cannon function of this gauntlet. Meaning your gauntlet comes from a Maiju scout.”

“Maiju scout?”

“They’re the ones who went out into the worlds and collected the soul essence from the inhabitants. And some of those inhabitants were not the docile type. Hence the soul cannon.”

“Woah,” Dante thought as he looked at the gauntlet. “How many times can I use it?”

“I’ll say two times a day for now. And, once you grow stronger, you’ll be able to shoot it more times.”

“Hey! Are you two okay? You just went quiet. What was that light?” Julia asked.

“Nothing, we got to go. Good talking to you again.” Dante said as he transformed into Panthera. He, then, picked Gwen up and ran away.

“Oh, no you don’t?” Julia said as she transformed and chased after him. “Alpha squad, what’s your location?”

“Alpha squad, ten minutes out of city.” Jacob said.

“Double time, Priority target one is headed your way.” Julia said as she closed in on Dante.

“esaercni deeps a owt dlof(increase speed two fold)” Gwen chanted as she touched Dante’s heart. Immediately, Dante felt a burst of energy and began to run faster and faster. Soon, he and Gwen disappeared in a portal, and Julia followed.

“Mayday! Mayday! Our squad leader has disappeared! I repeat! Our squad leader has disappeared!” Jacob said over the intercom.

“How did that happen? I never knew that could happen.” Daisy thought to herself.

Appearing in a deserted city, Dante and Gwen stopped and seen where they were. The skies were red, and the air was extremely dry. The sun beamed down on the barren land.

“Dante, where are we?” Gwen asked.

“I don’t know. I was too busy getting away from that woman. It seems like its desolate planet. I think I’d traveled through space.” Dante said.

“That’s seems like it but look. That building looks like a casino in Vegas. Maybe, we’re on that casino planet our future selves were talking about.”

Suddenly, two teenage girls land in front of them. They both wore black coats with white form-fit tee shirts and black tights.  One of them had red hair and silver eyes and radiated a powerful aura. The other one had silver hair and sky-blue eyes.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?” One of the girls asked.

“From the looks of it, I think that alien was helping that girl escape.” The other girl said.

“Dante, I think they’re sizing you up. Revert to your original form.” Gwen said telepathically.

“Right,” Dante responded. Then, he pressed the screen on the gauntlet, reverting to his human form.

“Oh, he’s human. Well, that’s a first.”

“Yeah, even in my dimension. I don’t know any heroes with that ability.”

“Hi, I’m Dante. And this is…

“Gwen.” Gwen said as she interrupted Dante.

“Dante and Gwen, huh. I’m Avery.” the red-haired girl said.

“And I’m Yolunda. How did you get here?”

“We don’t know. We were just running away from a person who was chasing us. And we suddenly ended up here.” Dante said.

“It seems you ran fast enough to break through the dimensional barrier to this dimension. I’m impressed. You’re the second person I’ve seen capable of going that fast. Other than myself, of course.” Yolunda said.

“Really? Who was the first?” Gwen asked. Yolunda looked at Avery. “Oh. Well, can you help us get back?” she said.

“I would gladly help you all. But can you wait until I solve this dimension’s problem?” Avery said.

“Problem?” Dante and Gwen said.

Twenty mins later, Las Vegas refugee camp,

Avery and Dante ran towards Ceasar’s Palace, taking down every zombie in the vicinity.

“Hey… do you really believe what they’re saying? By destroying these zombies, they can resurrect the people.” Dante asked as he and Avery ran beside each other.

“I recently learned that when it comes to Reo and Anko, there is nothing they can’t do. Their powers seem endless and boundless.” Avery said.

“Huh,”