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Prologue

BAM! And another one went down. Rather than follow up on the fatal gunshot and impale his target as he usually would, his second gun came out and he simply bombarded the demonic target with enough bullets to turn him to a bloody pulp. Checking around, he saw that was the last foe, and holstered his weapons.

“All in a day’s work, I think that’s earned me a strawberry sundae and a pizza,” the man said to himself as he pulled his long red coat in front of him, concealing his handguns, and placed his sword back into the guitar case he usually carried it in, to avoid unwanted attention.

He was about to step out of the alley, when he caught the familiar feeling running down his spine, the kind that kept you alive doing the job he did. He quickly turned, guns drawn, to see two strangely patterned red eyes glowering at him, shining brightly through the darkly lit alley. The figure stepped forwards, and revealed himself to be a man wearing a scratched metal headband and a large black cape with cloud patterns on it covering his entire body.

“You are most skilled. You are the one looking for Ketsumitchi yes?” he asked.

At the mention of the name, the man in the red coat lowered his weapons.

“Maybe. If you’ve got information I suggest you talk, now. My patience looking for the bastard is wearing thin,” he said.

“Then let me cut to the chase. I give you a target, you get him, you get Ketsumitchi,” the caped man said.

“So who’s the target?” the red coated man asked.

The red eyed man threw a folder down in front of him, on the cover was a picture of a young boy with blond spiky hair and an energetic demeanour.

“This runt?” the red coated man said “, I don’t do humans, sorry.”

The caped man took this in for a minute, chuckled then replied “,Oh, but this boy isn’t human. Far from it in fact. Have you ever heard of the Kyuubi?”

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Chloe stood on the hillside, in the pouring rain, watching as the giant fox demon advanced on her and the man that stood beside her. In all her time slaying vampires and demons, she had never seen anything like this. This thing exuded an aura of terrible menacing power. The man that stood beside her did not seem concerned however. Quite the opposite, he smiled, and drew a rather large sword. She stood back, as he began to glow with red energy himself, and transformed into what could only be described as a demonic knight. The knight then seemingly glided into the air, headed straight for the fox. There was a brief moment of deadly silence, then a flash of light as he collided with the fox demon’s head. Then there was a flash of blinding light, and Chloe couldn’t help but shield her eyes. When she looked up, the knight and the demon had disappeared and a titanic wall of fire had taken their place and was quickly sweeping towards her. She barely had time to scream, before the flames engulfed her, searing her to the bone…

The young Slayer leapt awake, her sheets sticky with cold sweat. That damn dream again.

Screw this, she thought, leaping up from her bed.

Making herself a coffee, she grabbed the phone and quickly dialled a number.

“Yeah, Andy? It’s that sodding dream again. I think we might have something serious on our hands. I’ll be there in fifteen,” she quietly said into the receiver.

Hanging up, she threw on a reasonable outfit of blue tight jeans and a white vest top, and took off to her Watcher’s house.

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Andy Smith’s house, Wickford, England, fifteen minutes later

“You said something about burning?” Andy asked his Slayer, as he sat at his computer, wearing his usual outfit of black jeans, a black short sleeved button down cargo shirt that he hadn’t bothered to button down, white undershirt, and Converse shoes. His ankle length khaki trench coat and fedora hat were hung up on the coat stand near the front door.

He span around in the chair, half surfing the Net for information, half playing with some new revolver he had bought from some demon hunter named Nemo or, Nero or something.

“Yes, for the fifth time, there was much in the way of burning! It was a fucking burn-a-thon! What does it mean?!” Chloe asked, annoyed at Andy’s seeming disinterest in her possibly prophetic dreams.

“Well, I’ve got nothing in any prophecies that we’re aware of, although, many of those were lost when the Council was attacked,” Andy told her.

It had been three years since the Council was attacked by the First and Buffy the Vampire Slayer had subsequently changed the rules of the game and made every Potential into a Slayer outright. Many of the higher ups disliked this fact, far too stuck in their traditions to see the benefits of an army of Slayers to even the odds the forces of good had been facing since…well, the dawn of time.

But Andy was far from your regular Watcher, at 20 he was only four years older than his Slayer, and the youngest to obtain the post in the Council’s history. A practicing Warlock and crack shot with a revolver, he more often than not accompanied the Slayer into battle himself, usually providing the ranged attack whilst his Slayer got up close and personal with the creatures of the night. He was however, fiercely proud of his Slayer, and despite his young years, he seen enough of the world to know that she had a rough time ahead of her. In some ways, he was like a protective older brother, and he certainly made sure his Slayer was always prepared.

“Wait a second…you said something about a fox demon?” Andy asked her.

“YES!” Chloe said, exasperated with her Watcher that she was contemplating giving him a quick smack to the head to wake him up.

“That seems familiar…let me check the Council’s archives,” Andy said.

Ever since Rupert Giles had taken command of the Council, it had seen several technological upgrades, although having met the man and seen his distaste for anything remotely hi tech, Andy pinned these enhancements on Giles’ second-in-command, the highly irritating Andrew. He had been a classmate of his namesake at the Watcher’s academy, and knew it was his doing.

One of said upgrades was access to the Council Headquarters library online (bar a few ‘sensitive’ materials, of course.) Andy tapped a few keys, clicked on a few links, and then hit a wall, as a large CLASSIFIED logo appeared on the screen.

“Of all the bloody books I need, and it turns out to be a classified one. I’m gonna need to ring Giles,” Andy said.

Chloe sighed, slumping down into her chair. Her tenure as a Slayer had only been for nine months now, and she was already annoyed by the late nights and lack of friends her ‘calling’ left her with. Her caffeine addiction had grown as a result, and her social life had certainly diminished.

Andy left the room and headed for the phone. A few moments later, he returned to the computer, and typed a password into the waiting window next to the classified sign. A page opened up entitled ‘Elementia: The True Forgotten Kingdom.’

“I’ll need a while to read this through, you best go home and get some rest. I’ll contact you when I’ve deduced what the hell it was you were dreaming about,” Andy said.

“Oh, fine, it’s bed bound for me, I’d best get back anyways, my parents will be waking up soon and will wonder where the hell I’ve gotten to in the middle of the night again,” Chloe yawned.

Chloe left Andy’s house and walked out into the night air, staring up into the night sky, which was slowly breaking as the coming sun signalled the early morning. She had read of some of the exploits of one Buffy Summers, the Slayer who fought the big nasties of infamous Hellmouth in Sunnydale, California. While her hometown of Wickford, just outside London in England had it’s fair share of vampires, demons, witches and other general badness, it was no Hellmouth.

Thank my lucky stars I’ve not had anything that serious to deal with, Chloe thought.

Unfortunately for her, she wasn’t a member of the famed Scooby gang, otherwise she might have known not to tempt fate like this. Because generally speaking, fate was a bitch on PMS, and tended to not have too much compassion for the race of man it presided over.

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The Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles

Angel couldn’t believe what he had just seen. He rubbed his eyes furiously, and shook his head, glancing in the doorway where she had just been. Cordelia. But it couldn’t have been…she was gone.

“Cordy?” Angel called, half hoping for a reply and half knowing there wouldn’t be one.

The logical side of him was correct, no reply. He got up and threw on a black button down shirt, not bothering with the buttons, and ran into the lobby.

Upon surviving THAT alley after taking out the Senior Partner’s earthly manifestations, Spike, Gunn, Illyria and himself had retreated out of town for a while. They then returned to their old headquarters, the Hyperion Hotel, only to find Lorne there. He had said he had nowhere else to go, and Angel had supposed that it was true of all of them. After the alleyway incident, Wolfram and Hart’s influence had all but disappeared from Los Angeles, whether it was the same elsewhere had yet to be seen.

Angel walked into the room where they kept the books and picked a file out of the shelf bearing the name Dante on it. He quickly read the file, and then gazed up in horror.

“Him…but why a kid Cordy? Why’s he after a kid?” Angel said to himself, as there was a knock on the door behind him, and he heard a distinctly cockney accent say “, what’s the matter? Bed bugs bite?”

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Beauchamps High School, Wickford

The window of the car rolled down, and there Chloe spotted Andy in the driver’s seat.

“I’ve cracked it, kiddo. Hop in,” Andy said to her.

Chloe opened the car door and got in, depositing her school bag in the back seat.

“So? What’s the what?” Chloe asked, as Andy pulled away bound for his house.

“We’re going on a little holiday. The Council has arranged for a flight to Japan for us leaving tomorrow, and for your parents to conveniently win a prize holiday to Marrakech leaving tonight,” Andy said.

“Nice, I lose the ‘rents for a while and get a free holiday out of the deal. But why Japan?” Chloe asked.

“Now this is where it gets a little interesting,” Andy said “, the fox demon you saw in your dreams, it’s called the Kyuubi. It exists in a land known as Elementia.”

“Elementia? Never heard of it,” Chloe answered, puzzled.

“Neither has the majority of the free world. Elementia lies in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle, and scarce has visitors from the outside world,” Andy replied.

“The Bermuda Triangle? Then why are we going to bloody Japan?!” Chloe asked, even more puzzled then previously.

“Elementia is located within the Bermuda Triangle sure enough, but the only way to actually get there is through a portal gate located in Okinawa, Japan,” Andy replied.

“AAAAAhhhhhh, I get it…I think,” Chloe said, looking down.

“Good, because soon, you’ll be party to a secret of this world that even Buffy Summers is unaware of. And you understand it must stay that way. We have an understanding with…let’s say, the ruling powers of that land. You’ve got to keep schtum, okay?” Andy informed her.

“Fine. Let’s get going already, I’m getting antsy,” Chloe said, as the car arrived at Andy’s house.

“We leave early tomorrow morning. Take it easy tonight, no patrolling. Elementia has a store of surprises, and you’ll be a better Slayer for the experience,” Andy stated, as he turned the key in his door and entered his house.

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A washed out bar, Prague, later that night

Poor Willy. He always picked the wrong place to open up shop, if only he didn’t have such snitch-like tendencies, he’d have a lot less hospital bills. The man pointed the top of the blade at Willy’s throat now, as he sat there slumped behind the bar in his well practiced cowering posture.

“I’ll ask you again,” said the sword’s wielder “, the gate, where is it?”

“Fine, fine, fine, as far as I know, Okinawa Japan! Okay?! Okay?!” Willy moaned.

“Details, Willy, I better start hearing details,” the man once again said, pressing the blade closer to Willy’s throat.

“I don’t know man, really, honestly, Okinawa is as much as I can tell ya, I’m sorry!” Willy yelled as he wet himself.

“Fine,” the man said, raising his sword and replacing it on his back, before hauling a dead demon on to the bar, pulling a couple of bills from it’s pocket, and throwing them at him.

“For the beers,” the man said, as he left, leaving Willy with yet another bar to completely refurbish, and yet another pile of demon corpses to dispose of.

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Okinawa, Japan, two days later

“Well, I guess this is it,” Andy said, gazing up at the ancient stone gate that sat in the middle of a dense bamboo forest located some two hours away from Okinawa village.

“Really? I thought there’d be like, guards and stuff…I wanted to use my nunchucks on them!” Chloe exclaimed, before swinging her newly acquired toys around and hitting herself in the head with them for the umpteenth time that day.

“Chloe, it’s nun-chuck-oo and put them away for god’s sake, you do more damage to yourself than you’ll do any enemies. Stick to your stake will ya?” Andy said, annoyed that he ever agreed to let her buy them ‘for shits ‘n’ giggles’ in that shop in Tokyo.

He sat down, and took out a scroll, and several candles and candle holders.

“Sooooooooo, what ya doin’?” Chloe shouted as she leapt on Andy’s back all of a sudden.

“Oit, get off! I’m preparing the ritual to get us to Elementia, and if you put me off, we could end up skewered in the borders of time and space, or worse,” Andy moaned, shrugging her off “, I swear, sometime I think you need to cut down on the bloody coffee.”

All of a sudden, Chloe hopped up, gazing off past the gate.

“You mean like that one over there?” Chloe asked, pointing to the ground that lie opposite to them on the other side of the gate.

Lying there on the ground, were a circle of burned out candles, arranged in the same way Andy was arranging them for his ritual, which seemed to be not long since burned out.

“Isn’t that exactly the same as what you’re doing? And I reckon those candles have only been out for…an hour maybe?” Chloe said.

“Hmm,” Andy pondered, eyes narrowed at the gate “, it would appear someone else has gone through the gate as well, no longer than an hour ago. We best be careful.”

Andy lit the candles, and stood in the centre, speaking the incantation.

Suddenly, the wind began to roar heavily, bending the nearby bamboo trees almost clean out of their roots in the earth. Lightning crackled between the frame way of the gate, and all of a sudden a large blue portal opened in front of the two of them.

“Hmmm, I’d call that a success. Come on then. Brave new world ahead,” Andy said, smiling at a slightly unnerved Chloe before they both walked through the portal.

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The world was white. An endless sea of white, except for one solitary figure, a blond haired boy in black and orange overalls. Chloe ran as fast as she could towards him, and stopped as he turned around.

“It’s okay. It’s almost the end now. You don’t have to fight alone anymore. The lie ends now, and we stand together,” he said smiling widely at her.

“I don’t understand. Who are you? The end of what? Where am I?” Chloe asked.

“Like I said, the end of everything. And I won’t lose, no matter what, believe it!” the blond haired kid said with gusto, giving her the thumbs up as he began to fade away…

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There was a rush of wind around her ears, as Chloe fell face first on to what felt like sand. She stood up, and found herself lying on a beach that seemed to outlay a small village. She looked around, but Andy was nowhere to be seen.

“Great, fan-bloody-tastic. First, I have a conversation with the cryptic Mr. Confidence, then I end up in the arse end of nowhere, completely alone!” Chloe moaned, as she scanned the village for signs of life. There were none.

She walked across the beach, and up a pathway, into the village itself, peering around.

“Hello? Anyone there?” Chloe shouted, thinking it was strange that a village like that was so quiet at this time of the day. Not that she knew which time EXACTLY that was. But it was still damn creepy.

“Oi!” a voice suddenly shouted from a tree above, and as Chloe looked up, she was struck hard right in the face with a coconut, knocking her flat on her back.

Gawd, lovely welcome, Chloe thought, getting to her feet to see her attacker jump down from the tree.

Standing there, was a man who looked in his mid twenties, with bleach blond hair wearing a leather trench coat and smoking a cigarette.

“Hmmm, you’re a tasty little bit ain’t ya?” the man said “, too bad you’re with flashy bollocks!”

As he spoke the last few words he leapt into action, throwing a right cross straight at Chloe’s face. Chloe quickly blocked, throwing a cross of her own in return, only to have that blocked also. Both fighters’ arms locked up, Chloe went for the man’s stomach and landed a heavy knee, forcing the man to let go of her arms and keel over. She then attempted to kick the man in the face, but he caught her leg and threw her to the ground.

“Ooo, the girl’s got skills,” the man said taunting her “, I do love a blond who can fight.”

“Fight this you creep,” Chloe shouted back, as she spun and nailed the man with a spinning back kick to the gut, knocking him clean over.

As he got up, Chloe saw his face transform to a vampiric visage.

“You’ve gone and gotten me all worked up now love. You’ll have to stay till the finish,” the man said, leaping over her head and grabbing her from behind.

“Now, you tell me what you want with the boy,” he asked her, hand poised to snap her neck.

“Boy? What boy? What you banging on about?” Chloe asked, slightly scared at the vampire having bested her like this. No vampires back home ever gave her a challenge like this one.

Suddenly, there was a sharp click, and a familiar voice spoke “, I suggest you let go of her if I were you, vampire. This gun isn’t loaded with any ordinary bullets, I’ll assure you that.”

The man let go of her, and Chloe turned to see Andy pointing his new revolver at the back of the man’s head.

“Chloe, you got sloppy, keep your guard up yeah?” Andy said, throwing her a stake “, now do like your calling tells you and finish this one so we can move on.”

“Wait, calling? You’re a Slayer?! That explains it!” the man said, apparently forgetting about the gun pointed at him and lowering his hands.

“Yes, she’s the Slayer, and you’re just another vampire my friend,” Andy said, stepping back but keeping his aim true.

“In that case, I should probably introduce myself to avoid getting all dusty. Name’s Spike,” the man said, smiling at them.

Chloe looked puzzled, and shrugged.

“The other vampire with a soul?” Spike said.

More puzzled looks.

“I know who you are,” Andy said all of a sudden, breaking his silence “, Spike AKA William the Bloody. One of the fiercest vampires who ever lived. Killed two Slayers.”

“Erm, you’ve only told half the story mate,” Spike said, getting slightly more nervous as Chloe raised her stake in preparation to strike.

Andy suddenly smiled, and holstered his weapon. Chloe, slightly confused, followed his lead and did the same.

“Yeah I know,” he said “, just wanted to see the mighty Spike sweat a little. So why are you here? And why did you attack Chloe?”

“I’m here on behalf of Angel, the great galloping poof is too busy in our world and he sent me to deal with some nasty fella, I thought you two were with him,” Spike explained.

“No, it’s just us,” Chloe said “, what were you talking about, nasty fella?”

“That annoying flashy bloke with the cool sword, I was tracking his movements across Europe before he came here, Angel reckons he’s some big bad that needs putting out of the picture, sent me to do his dirty work, the sod,” Spike told them.

“Well, it only makes sense if we stick together. We could use a guy with your skills, in an unknown world such as this,” Andy said.

“Yeah, I suppose. So what you chaps doing here then?” Spike asked.

“Chloe’s been having these prophetic dreams, I did the research, it lead us here,” Andy explained.

“Well we all know what a Slayer’s dreams can bloody well entail…wait, you’re her Watcher?!” Spike exclaimed, clearly surprised at Andy’s youth.

“That’s me, Andy Smith, Watcher extraordinaire,” Andy said, smiling as he walked past an astounded Spike and a giggling Chloe.

“But you’re not wearing nearly enough tweed! Oh, sod it, I give up…so what’s your name little bit?” Spike asked Chloe.

“Chloe, Vampire Slayer of Wickford in Essex, England,” Chloe said, introducing herself to him as she admired his physical condition.

Mmm, I’d eat him whole if I got the chance, Chloe thought to herself.

“Oh god, an Essex bird…never mind, just keep your legs to yourself and you’ll do fine,” Spike quipped, walking past her and after Andy.

“Oi!!!!!!!! How DARE you?! I should stake you right now, I am NOT an ‘Essex bird’!” she yelled at him, before marching up to him, slapping him and stomping off after Andy in a sulk.

“What it is with me and Slayers, I always get the slightly unhinged ones…” Spike muttered to himself, rubbing his sore jaw as he pressed on after the two of them.

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A day later, somewhere in a large town

“Does anyone know where we’re going? Well?” Chloe nagged, looking between both Andy and Spike, as they walked through yet another deserted town.

“I’ve been tracking this wanker’s scent the whole time, don’t worry, we’ll catch up,” Spike said, waving his hand at her.

“Except I find it a bit odd that this is the third town we’ve been through that’s been deadly silent,” Andy said, gazing around the ghost town.

“Can’t smell anyone else either…” Spike said, sniffing.

Suddenly, he threw an arm in front of the two of them.

“Wait!” he exclaimed, his voice lowering to a quiet whisper “, someone’s nearby. And they don’t want us to know that they are.”

Suddenly, a shuriken came flying out from seemingly nowhere, and almost caught Chloe square in the eyes if it wasn’t for Spike’s hand shooting out and grabbing it. Chloe’s chest heaved heavily, as she stared at the shuriken stopped a mere inch from her face.

“Thanks,” she barely whispered, as suddenly a man appeared between them all, wielding a kunai knife. Chloe reacted, grabbing the shuriken from Spike’s hand and flinging it, nailing the man straight in the back of his head. As his body fell, there was a puff of smoke and it was gone, replaced by a falling log with a shuriken sticking out of it.

“What the shit?!” Chloe yelped, as the three of them were suddenly surrounded by four men wearing tattered travelling clothes and headband with a metal plate which had some kind of hourglass symbol on it. Chloe grabbed out her only weapon, a wooden stake, and charged the four of them, when all of a sudden a thick mist descended, and all four attackers and Spike and Andy were nowhere to be found.

“Now this is new…” Chloe said to herself, quickly looking around. All of a sudden, sand began to rise around her like some sort of sandstorm. For a minute, she was lost in the haze, but she suddenly noticed a glint from the corner of her eye, and jumped back, as several kunai crashed to the ground on the spot she once stood on. The sand fell and the mist suddenly cleared, only for Chloe to see Spike going at it hand to hand with one of the attackers, and Andy warding off the other three with some type of fireball spell.

“Spike, hurry, we’re fighting a losing battle here!” Andy yelled.

Chloe looked down at herself. What in the hell just happened? Just then, there was a rushing sound and as she looked up, one of the attackers was suddenly upon her, kunai drawn, ready to strike. She cursed herself, she had hesitated and it was all over. The attacker raised the kunai, a mad glint in his eye, and Chloe closed her eyes, awaiting death, when suddenly, there was a flash of blue light, and a voice yelled:

“RASENGAN!!!!”

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