Enter Loopy!

"Ruster, are you going to be okay?" Luke asked.

Ruster's eyes were fixed on the two men in front of them, he was taking a ready-to-fight stance while trying to find out under which Captain the two squadron leaders were operating. "Don't worry, I got this...just take cover, okay?" He answered.

Luke was on his knees, his clothes got all dirty. He answered Ruster with a head nod and slowly stood up. The junkyard was vast, it was a dry-dirt ground with piles of junk and scrap all over the place. Luke kept looking around for a place to hide until one of the two men spoke and distracted him, it was the one on top of the scrap pile. "Ruster!, I guess we've found you one more time... you are really bad at hiding, aren't you?"

His words didn't make any sense to Luke, He spoke a language that he never heard before. But as for Ruster, the moment he heard his voice, he immediately recognized him.

"Squala !! It's you!" Ruster shouted using the same wardokian language.

Squala jumped down from the pile of scrap and landed beside his comrade and seemed angry. "It looks like you still remember my voice..." He said.

Ruster knew that if Squala was here then the other one must be... "Caditz! Is that you?" Ruster asked while shockingly pointing at the other man.

"Long time no see Ruster... How long has it been? 100 years ?" Caditz answered with a relaxed tone.

They all seemed to know each other a long time ago, all three of them looked sad and nostalgic. They have fought many battles and went to numerous missions together, it was painful for all of them to fight each other now.

As he was having flashbacks about his past with his comrades, Ruster quickly realized something important, something he was afraid of. "Damn it... it's Squala and Caditz, then this means that Captain Loopy is here!" Ruster thought.

Ruster, Squala, and Caditz were all squadron leaders under the command of Captain Loopy, so it seemed to Ruster that it was natural that Loopy would be in command of this mission.

"Galice, Riverleaf, Yonclaw, and one of the stonebreakers... " Squala shouted confidently.

Ruster startled, he couldn't believe what he had just heard, those were the names of his friends that he was going to meet after stealing the stone. Squala knew about their identities and who they were exactly. But still, Ruster thought that he was just bluffing and trying to make him lose focus, so he just answered with a long "What?"

"We've found the other traitors...they were desperately waiting for you near Hokkens bridge." Caditz explained confirming Ruster's doubts about Squala's words.

Ruster didn't want to believe that his friends were caught, he specifically told them that they should flee if he didn't show up. He kept asking himself about how this happened and if they were okay.

"All of them are dead! even the stonebreaker. You have nowhere to go, all the wardoks are your enemies now..." Squala said as he came closer.

Ruster's eyes widened and he clenched his teeth and fists, he was angry, sad, and hopeless. He lost his last friends in the world, and his plan failed right in front of him. After a while, he loosened up and bowed his head in a depressed attitude. Tears were starting to come from his eyes, tears of sorrow, and pain for losing his dear friends. "It's all my fault..." He said to himself.

For the last 100 years, Ruster lost his grandfather, his brothers and now his friends, all of these events were just starting to sink in. And in an instant, he lost every bit of his sense of purpose, and he was ready to give up on everything.

"What's the deal with this human kid?" Squala asked curiously.

He didn't realize that they were asking about him, Luke was just standing behind Ruster, observing and worrying about his friend.

Ruster looked behind, towards his friend, and made a smile of relief. He saw his shining aura again, it was vibrating to his emotions of worry and concern. Suddenly he snapped out of his mental block, he remembered what he had just told Luke, and he felt that right now all that he should do is think about getting out of this situation alive. Anything else would come later.

"Leave the kid out of this!" Ruster shouted as he covered Luke behind his arm. Ruster made up his mind to fight them, but Even so, Squala and Caditz were still his comrades from back then, he couldn't just finish them.

Both Squala and Caditz found Ruster's reaction odd, it's like he was protecting the human. "What are you doing?" Caditz asked. "Aren't you going to kill him?" He added.

"He is my friend, and I will protect him till the end!" Ruster answered with high determination.

Squala and Caditz glanced at each other, they were confused, this was a first in their world. Caditz started laughing hysterically while joking about it. " Haha... A friendship between a wardok and a human! Haha...." He shouted.

On the other hand, Squala was making an angry face, he got so furious from Ruster's answer that one could see blood veins pumping on his forehead. He spat on his left and said furiously. "Give us the stone now!"

Ruster bent carefully his knees as if he was getting ready for something, then he answered Squala with a nod showing his discord to that request.

Everyone remained silent for a moment, staring at each other, even Luke could feel it, that sudden change in the atmosphere, that hostility in the air, it was terrifying.

"I don't care Caditz, I want to beat this bastard now!" Squala said to his comrade as he clenched his fists.

"I was hoping that you would say that!" Caditz happily answered him.

They hated Ruster so much that they've decided to ignore their Captain's orders and engage in combat with him. Ruster knew what they were about to do, it's a protocol that every wardok should follow if he was going to fight in the human world.

"Luke at my signal, run, and hide somewhere!" Ruster said.

"Okay..." Luke answered cluelessly.

Ruster kept observing them as Caditz spawned a metallic sphere on his hand, about the size of a tennis ball. He then twisted the sphere and threw it high on the air. When the sphere reached its highest altitude Ruster shouted. "Luke, NOW!"

Luke was standing all this time listening to what they were saying, he didn't care for his safety as much as he was curious to know what they were talking about, but when Ruster told him to run, he didn't disobey. So he ran behind a crashed car and hid there while still being able to observe the situation.

seconds later, the sphere exploded and emitted a strong white light that illuminated their battleground and then slowly cleared out. The explosion didn't make any damage nor a sound, it was like a silent shock wave.

Luke was covering his eyes with his arms due to the brightness of the explosion. As the light cleared out, and he regained his vision, he instantly saw the three warriors who transformed back from their human disguise to their natural appearance. Ruster was wearing his black armor again, as for the other two they had similar silver armors, although Ruster's armor seemed to be more sophisticated than theirs.

Somehow smoke started raising from Luke's pocket and he could smell electronics burning. He put his hand in his pocket, it was his phone, it stopped functioning for some reason, it's completely useless now. "Was it the shock wave that caused this?" Luke wondered.

Ruster and the others were standing there, watching each other, Squala had a thin long sword, while Caditz had a long spear. Ruster had nothing, he wanted to fight with his fists.

" What are you doing?" Caditz asked.

" Draw your sword, Ruster, are you trying to make fools of us?" Squala asked as well.

Ruster didn't answer, he just stood there taking a defensive pose, he did not draw his sword because he didn't want to kill them, his plan was to render them unable to move or unconscious so that he could flee. Even though they are enemies now, deep inside Ruster still cared for his old friends.

"I've always won against them both when we were younger... It's okay... I don't have to kill them, I'm just going to immobilize them..." Ruster said to himself.

"DRAW YOUR SWORD AND DIE LIKE A WARRIOR, RUSTER !!" Squala screamed.

"Look at his eyes Squala, he thinks he can beat us without a weapon... that jerk, he really pissed me off!" Caditz said with angry looks.

Ruster didn't make a move. He just kept silent and observant.

"Damn you, let's get this over with, Caditz!" Squala told his comrade as he swapped his sword.

He bent over a bit, and jumped straight forward towards Ruster, he was fast. As he approached him, he was ready to swing his sword, as for Ruster, he was getting ready for the impact, the swing wouldn't break through his armor anyway, but Squala knew that very well so he didn't attack, he just vanished...

"What !? Where did he go? He is way faster than the last time..." Ruster said inside his mind as his eyes were looking for Squala.

It was a bit late but Ruster just noticed it...When Squala disappeared, he made way for a fast upcoming spear that was hiding behind him. It was directly targeting Ruster's chest, it was Caditz's spear, he used Squala's feint as a decoy to make a surprise attack.

"They are well-coordinated, they have improved a lot...but that's not enough to get me..." Ruster said.

He had fast reflexes so he quickly dodged the spear to the left. What he didn't notice was a direct punch from Squala right to the face that threw him 10 meters away and put him down, they were planning this from the beginning.

"Nice hit, Squala!" Caditz shouted proudly.

Luke was watching the fight all along, he was mesmerized by its insanity, it wasn't an ordinary fight, he couldn't keep up with their movements." Oh no! Is he going to be okay? This doesn't look good...what should I do?" Luke asked himself. Seeing Ruster thrown away, made Luke a bit stressed, he continued watching the fight while still hiding behind the car.

Ruster quickly stood up, and spit some blood from his mouth. " They have become stronger...this is going to be tricky..." He said.

Squala and Caditz were standing a bit apart, waiting for Ruster to make a move.

"I need to take one of them down quickly, that will make things a lot easier... Well, I think Squala goes first!!" Ruster thought.

Ruster rushed towards Squala hastily, Luke couldn't even follow him with his eyes, but he was stopped mid-way by a spear throw from Caditz. He successfully jumped to dodge the spear which pierced the ground when it hit, but unfortunately, he was hit again by another surprise attack from Squala who this time used his sword...

"Tough armor...shit! I thought I had him..." Squala said in his mind.

Ruster didn't take any damage, but he was pulled over again.

The fight took a bit longer than expected, Caditz doing the feints, and Squala doing the attacks, they weren't doing any damage to Ruster but he couldn't reach them either. They knew that they didn't stand a chance against him, that's why they adopted this strategy, just to waste time.

"Damn... this is bad, they are buying time for Loopy to come here..." Ruster told himself

Ruster was pushed back another time, he was kneeling while observing them and thinking, he was a bit far, so he couldn't hear them talk.

"Just a bit more Caditz, Captain will be here soon..." Squala said.

" He is going to be furious though, he did tell us to not engage in combat..." Caditz answered.

"Don't worry about that, as long as we don't screw up..."

Suddenly Ruster thought of something and interrupted them by asking. " Can we stop this madness now? Squala, Caditz, I don't want to hurt you guys... what you are fighting for is wrong, I told you!"

"Let me guess, fighting for humans is the right thing ?" Caditz answered him sarcastically." I'll never forgive humans for what they've done to us in the past, we had to endure all of that pain because of them..." He explained.

"You have changed a lot Ruster, I hate everything that comes out of your mouth now, you have become a disgrace, I no longer consider you a warrior." Squala shouted.

Caditz then Spotted Luke's little body hiding behind the car, and grabbed his spear tight, and threw it directly towards him. Luke stood frightened as the spear was headed for him with high speed, it was a brief moment, but he felt that he was going to die now. Luckily for him, seconds before the spear pierced his skull, Ruster caught it!

Luke fell down on his butt with heavy breathing, eyes wide open, and he was all sweaty from the incident. "Wh...What!?" He said.

Ruster felt irritated from what Caditz had just done, so he broke his spear and threw it away... Targeting Luke made him so angry from them but his anger was quickly interrupted by Ghost's warnings. "Master! I sense him, he is close!"

Ruster instantly felt that Loopy was approaching their location as well, he was fast. Ruster panicked for a brief moment and then took a long breath, his look changed, his eyes became more serious than ever, he made his final decision about this fight. "Ghost... Give me my Lancelot!!"

A large and tall red sword spawned in Ruster's hand, It looked heavy. The moment it appeared it hit the ground, Ruster seemed that he was struggling to lift it up.

Caditz couldn't believe that his spear was broken... so he rushed for a mad attack in response. "That spear meant everything to me, and you knew it Ruster !!" He screamed.

Squala was right behind him as well, still following their strategy, but this time Ruster changed his mind, he was going for the kill!

"I'm sorry dear friends, may your souls rest in peace..." Ruster said while remembering all of his good moments with them.

Caditz used his fist to punch, but Ruster easily grabbed his punch with his left arm, neutralizing it and then he swung his sword with his right arm, directly attacking Caditz, he ended up being split in two. Squala was still far but somehow he got caught by the swing and he got split as well. Just a second, just a brief instant, was a life taking moment for these two warriors.

Luke was terrified as well as fascinated about how Ruster handled the situation, he felt safe again, but also sad for the two pursuers.

The sword disappeared spontaneously, and Ruster turned quickly towards Luke and grabbed him then immediately started running away...

"We have to run, NOW!!" Ruster shouted, he was terrified.

Luke responded while being held by Ruster under his arm.

"Why? Didn't you win?" Luke asked curiously

" Captain Loopy is coming ri-"

Before he could finish his words, Ruster was thrown away by a knee kick and smashed into a junk pile meters away, it was a painful hit. Luke fell down to the ground, he didn't understand what happened, but as he turned his head to the left, he saw two large feet beside his face, they didn't look human at all. He slowly looked upward to see a scary wardokian face smiling an evil smile at him.

"What do we have here, a human kid... Are you ready to die, boy?"

It was Captain Loopy!