A New Start

"Oh we are, remember me mentioning that we have to go through the dark forest." Ray began to spring towards the forest as rain started to pour down.

All of a sudden he put his foot down and landed himself in a pitfall trap.

"What the flip? Where did that come from?" The hole was about 10 feet deep. Ray stood up and tried to climb up the walls, but the rain was making things muddy and slippery.

"Oh shoot..."

Zero saw Ray vanish out of thin air and thought he teleported until he too fell into the hole. Zero landed in a weird position and it strained him to try to stand up. Once he did he rotated his head to stretch out his neck.

"Damn that was a doozy. Who the heck built this"

A dark figure loomed over the hole lightning flashed and illuminated his face.




"NYEEHH!!!" Ray scrambled backwards, like trying to move further back would help at all. The creepy man took some sort of giant sharp object that was as big as half his body. All Ray could see was the silhouette until the lightning flashed and at that time there was already a large harpoon connected to a rope, which was connected to the harpoon cannon, heading his way. Ray dodged out of the way and the harpoon stuck in the mud.

"Jason! Quick! Help me force this harpoon even more into the mud so we can get out!"

Zero yelped and fell into the mud when the creepy man came over the hole. He heard Ray scream and when he turned he saw a harpoon type thing sticking in the mud and Ray was trying to do something with it.

"Where did that come from?! Bah! Whatever!"

Zero rushed over to help Ray with whatever it was he was trying to accomplish. His nerves got the best of him and he glanced back up to see the man.

"Alright! Now watch this!" Ray jumped onto the rope that was connecting the harpoon cannon to the harpoon and the weird man fell into the hole. It started to get really cramped.

"Jason! Get that harpoon! It's our way out of here!" Ray shouted.

The weird man was shouting and tried to get a hold of Ray's head. Ray took out a small knife and stabbed it in the stomach. But it didn't bleed...

Zero finally understood what Ray was doing and when Ray stabbed the man he touched Zero's arm just barley, but it was enough. The contact sent chills through Zero's spine and a surge of energy erupted from his hands. The surge came not from himself but from the man. There was a spark and Zero's magic blew up right in his face. Zero was thrown out of the hole and landed on the ground getting the wind knocked out of him. Chuncks of dirt landed with thumps and rocks clacked against the ground.

Zero coughed and rolled over groaning. He squinted through his eye lids to try and find Ray.

Ray flew out of the hole as well, and crashed to the ground. He had dirt and mud all over him. He saw Zero and got up with a groan.

He turned around and saw the hole, then he looked and saw the man who was running towards him. Ray ran towards the man and faked him out to avoid the man's hold. He ran towards the hole again and jumped down. He grabbed the harpoon gun and loaded it.

Then he held it up...but it was rather heavy... and miserably shot at the edge of the hole. The harpoon went and stuck far into the ground. Ray was able to reel himself towards the harpoon and grab onto the edge. He pulled the harpoon out of the ground with a lot of effort and then reloaded it.

Behind him the man was charging him again. Right before the man came upon him, Ray moved a little the side and tripped the man into the hole.

"Well, that wasn't too bad." Ray smiled as the man couldn't get out. Ray held the harpoon gun in his hand and wondered what he would do with it now. He shrugged and decided to take it along.

"Yo Jason, you want a harpoon gun?" He said as he walked towards him. Ray looked at Jason and then up at the forest. It was pitch black and Ray could swear that the darkness was expanding...

Zero tried to help Ray out but he had this twitch. Electricity shot through his limbs and they jerked of their own free will. When the man was trapped in the hole the electric shocks completely stopped. Zero shook his head and wiggled uncomfortably. He shook his head when Ray asked about the gun. It looked a little too big for him to be carrying around.

Ray took a closer look at the darkness that was expanding towards them. But before he realized what it was it stopped and receded back to the forest.

"I'm heading into the forest, but be ready. I have a bad feeling about what's to come."

Zero mumbled in agreement and followed Ray close. Zero stopped and called Ray.
"Theres something I need to tell you. My name is Zero, not Jason. Jason was a friend I knew and he was taken by someone. I have been searching everywhere to find out what had happened and that is why I was caught up in that mess back there. It seems that that group or organization knows something but before I could get anywhere they captured me."

"Zero?..." Ray thought for a long ten seconds before talking again. That name almost sounds...familiar... "Well, nice to meet you Zero. Just so you know, my name is really Ray. But you can disbelieve that if you choose." Ray smiled as the rain beat on his face.

"Other than that, what you told me makes sense to me. Fun stuff trying to search for lost souls, eh?" Ray sort of chuckled and then his face grew grim.

"Well, let's get out of this rain shall we?" Ray walked into the cover of the forest and right away a swarm of bugs attacked him and Zero.

"GAH!"