02: The Hunt Continues.

Dark continued his search for the fifth crystal, leading his gang into a small, poverty-filled village in the middle of the Baron desert. They were receiving a most unfriendly welcome by the villagers.

As they landed, the villagers looked at them with fear and hatred. They rarely have any visitors, and many of their experiences with outsiders weren't good. The villagers were generally a peaceful group. They will try to talk things out, with fighting as a last reserve.

Villager #1: "Outsiders. What do they want?"

Villager #2: "What'ver it is, it won't be pleasant."

Dark: "Greetings, good people of Guardian, I want to speak to your leader."

Leader: "What do you ask of, stranger?"

Dark: "I am Dark Spectre, the leader of the Dark Empire. I will make this clear to you, simple-minded human, you do as I say or you will perish."

Leader: "We are a peaceful village and we have remained that way for many centuries. We do not desire to start a fight."

Dark: "Good. Then hand me the crystal."

Leader: "You want the sacred crystal? What you be doing wiv it?"

Dark: "I don't think that's any of your concern, human."

Kano: "Yeah, just give to us, if you don't want any trouble."

Leader: "But...the crystal has been in our family for many generations, and now with one word you want us to give to you?"

Dark made a fist. "Listen, just do it! Stop wasting my time!"

D. Soldier: "You better not get him angry! Or else this entire village will suffer the same fate as the last one!"

Villager#2: "What do you mean?"

Villager#3: "You didn't hurt 'em, did you?"

Dark: "They didn't even stand a chance! It's a shame, it was a nice village."

Kano: "We burned the whole place down!"

Villager#1: "No! You murdered them off?!"

Villager#4: "Monsters!...You merciless killers! You would kill even old people and children just to get what you desire?"

Dark: "Well, I was going to let them go, but they resisted, so I had to destroy them all. And the same will happen to your village if you don't hand over that crystal now!"

Villager#3: "No! We will never hand them over! They have been in my family for many generations!"

Villager#2: "That is correct."

One of the villagers ignored his fears and went straight for Dark. "Die!" he screamed.

Dark: "You fool!" Dark pointed his finger at him and shot an energy laser that went through his heart. All of a sudden the villager stopped moving. He felt like his blood has stopped circulating through his body, and death will occur at any moment. Dark watched him eagerly, waiting for him to die, while the blood was dripping from his chest.

Villager#3: "Roark! Noooo!"

His legs started to tremble and his body was shaking. He fell down and lay there still, not moving a muscle. With his last breath, he blurred out his last words: "You will never...get away w-with this, e-evil will be destroyed...g-goodbye, my friend..."

Villager#3: "Roark! Roark!"

Villager#4: "You murderers!"

Dark: "Looks like they are unwilling to cooperate with us. Kano, why don't you show them how good you are at convincing?"

Kano: "Yeah, they need to be convinced..."

Villager#3: "Stay back! Stay back!"

While Margrit and Zelfire were flying towards the village, they heard an explosion. BOOM!

Margrit: "What was that?"

Zelfire: "It's the village! We gotta hurry up!"

They flew faster than their normal speed, using more energy than they could spare.

Now, the whole village was on fire, the houses were burning down. Everywhere it was shades of red and yellow, like an inferno.

D. Soldier #2: "Lord Dark, our troops have searched every single square of this village, but there is no sign of the crystal."

Dark: "Impossible. The scouter said it would be here..."

D. Solder #2: "Maybe someone escaped with it."

Dark: "That might be true...everyone! Let's get out of this place. I'm getting hot." So he led his gang out of the village.

Not long later, the heroes have finally found the village, or what's left of it. Margrit and Zelfire looked around, disgusted by what they saw.

Margrit: "Oh my...the whole place is burnt down...what a horrible thing to do!" Zelfire: "Bodies!"

"Women and children...they didn't let anybody live."

"Monsters! I'll make them suffer!!!"

"Uhhh..." moaned a voice from not so far away.

They quickly found the source of the sound. It was a moving body.

"He's still alive!"

Zelfire: "Not for long. We gotta do something."

Villager #4: "The...the tyrants, they did this! Monsters...they destroyed the whole village!"

Margrit: "Don't speak. Save your energy."

"Forget about me...I'm not gonna make it...listen, they didn't get the crystal..." Zelfire: "Then where is it?"

The wounded villager coughed out blood. "It's, it's in possession of an old man...he left the village before they attacked...uhhhhh..."

Zelfire: "Hang on!"

He closed his eyes and left this world forever.

"Noooo! This shouldn't happen! These innocent villagers, what they do to deserve this?" Zelfire screamed angrily.

"Calm down Zelfire! I know you're angry, but I've seen worse. In a war, you mustn't grieve over the loss of strangers. The battlefield is cruel and unfair...it's the way it is..."

Zelfire turned to her. "How could you say that? We can't just ignore what happened to them!"

"Then what can we do about?! Believe me, if I had the power to fight Dark, I would've done it a long time ago, but he's just too powerful."

"I won't let them die in vain! You hear me, Dark?"

Meanwhile, back at the colony, a sayan space pod lifted off into space heading for Guardian.

Jerrell: "Hey! The pod's not fully repaired yet!!"

Kane: "It went off!"

Piper: "This is not good..."

Jerrell: "Wait, if you two are here, then who's flying the pod?... Mason!"

Kane: "That fool! He isn't fully healed yet!"

Piper: "I got a feeling this would happen. This is the Mason I know..."

(Hang on guys, I'll be joining you soon. Just stay alive.)

Jerrell contacted Mason via the communication screen. "Mason! Are you out of your mind? Head back now!"

Mason removed the bandages from his body. "I know you're worried about me, but don't be. I'm not that badly injured. I'll be just fine."

Kane: "Fool! You could get killed!"

Mason: "I know you want me to go back, but it's too late now. Margrit and Zelfire need me! I'm sorry..." The screen shut off.

Jerrell: "He canceled communication. He blocked us."

Kane sighed.

Leila: "There he goes..."

Blaze: "So, Dark has five of them already. He's way ahead of me. If only I can get my hands on one of those crystals, Dark will never get what he wants! Let's see, where should I start?"

Meanwhile, in Dark's spaceship, the Wrath, the henchmen waited for Dark's orders in their quarters.

Kerell walked into the viewing room.

Dark did not have to turn around to see who it was. "Kerell, we have found quite a few pests here on Guardian. Blaze and the two of the colonists have the same goal as me, and that can be a nuisance. Get rid of those two weaklings, understand?"

"Yes, Lord Dark." he said.