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Once Dead Round 1-Tower Climb to Missing Pages

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Let’s rewind a bit shall we?

Eclipse was taking a snooze on his bed after a long day exploring the new hotel. He didn’t know of Arc’s return, let alone of some of the other…residents. He was disappointed on the fact the only lake in the entire area was polluted by the potion remains of Desdemona’s experiments before the effects of the last hotel made her paranoid to the max.

The mutated Koi and the unusual colours/smells were a sign of that.

So now he thought it’d be best to sleep and prepare for the next day…unaware of the unwanted eight-legged visitors coming in and sneaking into a table drawer.

Moonlight noticed though as he woke up from sleeping on the said table. “What the? HEY GET OUT OF THERE!”

The spiders froze and soon made a hasty retreat with what seemed to be book pages. Four of them were crimson before one spider pinned him down and tore a mint-green page and joined the others.

That one felt like it hurt Moonlight as he looked in and saw a book of sorts. He opened it and gasped! Everything inside was about Eclipse! His abilities, his memories, his stories! And some pages were missing thanks to those spiders. Mostly from his abilities, including the one that allowed Moonlight to provide a quick barrier.

“Oh God…Eclipse isn’t going to like this…”

XXX---XXX

Back to the present Moonlight was right.

When Eclipse woke up the next morning he already felt the affects. He was shocked to see his elemental techniques were half their strength that they were yesterday, his cloak was easily disabled, for some reason he hardly felt regret, Moonlight’s barrier support skill wasn’t activating and, to add insult to injury, the friends he lost last time…he can’t seem to remember their names!

And the guilty look on Moonlight’s face when he asked the three programs said it all.

“So let me get this straight…Veronica sent in her spiders to take pages from this book that seems to be connected to me, weakening some of my abilities, sealing one of my memories and change a part of my persona in order to make the tournament more interesting?” Eclipse said as he held up the book after the mint-green program explained the incident from last night.

“Yes that’s it,” Moonlight said as he looked down in shame. “And when I caught them doing so, one pinned me down and took a page that prevents me from providing your barrier until we get the page back.”

Both Eclipse and New Moon swore at this. Nacht said nothing but he had a look that said he wanted to kill Veronica and not the usual way.

Suddenly the loudspeaker came on and the said owner was heard.

“Good morning, freaks, freakettes, and freaks-in-between,” she began dramatically. “It’s time--” Suddenly she was interrupted by the booming voice of a male that said, “FOOLISH MORTALS.”

The intercom soon cut short as Eclipse and his programs were wondering what the heck was going on as Nacht said. “Well…that was interesting…”

After a few minutes of unexpected explosions from one of the towers, her voice was soon heard again, this time sounding both urgent and frustrated. “Pick a tower, f******, and get your page from the book!”

It was then the intercom cut off again, leaving the four of them with looks that said “Whisky Tango Foxtrot?!”

“That sounded a bit too much to the point,” New moon said, “Don’t you think Eclipse?”

Eclipse nodded as he saw the other residents coming out of their homes and beginning to choose between the towers. “Well then…Who wants to go see which tower may seem best?”

“I’ll go,” New Moon said and flew off.

It didn’t take him long to come back with a proper report. “O.K I’ve got the gist of the towers. One is run by Deadberry and it’s full of death traps from what I heard with the screams, wild animals who’s owned by the guy who may be the one that interrupted Veronica earlier, the spider queen herself who’s now armed to the teeth somehow after I looked through a window, the spiders to the surprise of nobody, and, of course, your stupid undead crush herself Nacht who is guarding one of the chests.”

Nacht wanted to make a rebuttal…but had nothing since it was the truth.

“The other one is more magic based,” he continued. “Spells to distract or harm, bit of flame around the place to make it a bit intimidating, a pair of crazy twin mages that’s protecting our goal no doubt, and poor Barlow being forced to be a bear until this is all done and over with. Considering we may not stand a chance with the Zoo of Death thanks to the spiders last night, I say we take the magic tower. We just need to be more evasive rather than diving in head first, something I know YOU can handle Nacht.”

Nacht smirked at that. “Well I agree with you New Moon.”

“As do I,” Moonlight said with a nod.

Eclipse also nodded. “Very well, we’ll take the Fantasy Tower and get a page back.”

They soon left the house, armed and ready, and noticed quite a few have already arrived. He also noticed a large group going towards the other tower. Sighing in frustration, he decided to crack the door open for a peek and saw that there was Bearlow inside…and he looked like he wanted to kill. He wondered how much damage was done to the Dwarf since the last Hotel.

“Alright then…decoy time” he said as he activated Nacht’s support skill and made a double of himself, surprising the others around him.

The double nods as he rushed inside, sticking its tongue out at the bear in a taunt. It worked as Bearlow gave a roar and went after the now-fleeing clone. Eclipse took the opportunity to make a run for the stairs just as the beast slashed through the clone and roared in frustration that he was tricked.

“Stupid bear didn’t see that coming,” Nacht chuckled but then met the flyswatter. “OW!”

“Shut up Nacht! We need to be on our toes!” Eclipse scolded, then heard New Moon. “ON YOUR SIX!”

It was then he ducked as a lightning bolt was shot across the hall. Since Moonlight could not provide his usual barrier until they retrieved a page, dodging and ducking are the only ways he has to survive at the moment. The other three weren’t as worried about being hit since they could be considered digital ghosts and can’t be harmed unless they possess Eclipse, minus Nacht and the flyswatter, so they decided it was best to be his eyes and ears during the climb up in this tower.

And Eclipse was thankful for them because of the following:

1. After the lightning bolt he had several close calls with fireballs and wind strikes before reaching the stairs to the third floor.

2. Bearlow went on a rampage at one point so it caused the place to shake for a bit.

3. He almost slipped on a few ice patches that formed by the magic, and several flashes that he blocked with his shadows.

4. Several illusions almost distracted him until Moonlight informed him they weren’t real and walked through until he reached the fourth floor stairs.

5. Almost barbequed by a flame stream as he almost reached the top of the stairs and Nacht was ahead of them. (He didn’t warn him until close to the last second so he got swatted for that.)

6. There was a mist at one point but thankfully the three of them were glowing so it was no challenge whatsoever.

7. The sounds of laughter down the hall unnerved him a bit but he pushed forward.

8. More ice and lightning before FINALLY reaching the last set of stairs.

“O.K that was a headache and a half and then some!” New Moon pointed out as they were halfway up the stairs and stopped for a break.

“Tell me about it!” Eclipse said as he inspected himself for injuries and noticed the only damage that was done was a slight tear and a few burn marks on the end of his trench coat. “Bloody hell…the laundry service here is going to love me…”

“Better the coat than your life pal,” New Moon said as Nacht took a peek upstairs.

“You guys better see this,” he soon said with amusement and they all soon peeked up and saw the twins, Illi staying near the chest while her sister, Eli, was keeping a look out for intruders.

“Oh Lady Fate must love me…” Eclipse whispered sarcastically, “I haven’t seen them since the last time I was here. Of course it was briefly through the security cameras during that little tag game but still…to have them as the masters of the tower I’m better off signing my own death certificate.”

They ducked back down to strategize. “I would use my Shadow Cloak but the spiders weakened it. And I have a feeling they won’t be as easily fooled by a copy of me as Barlow was…”

“Why not you still use the cloak,” Moonlight suggested, “but the three of us keep them distracted as much as we can for you to get the page. As long as we stay away from you our glowing won’t expose you right away.”

The other two seemed to like the idea as did Eclipse. Compared to the twins right now, he wouldn’t stand a chance so distraction is the only way.

He closed his eyes and activated the ability as the other three went with it for their part in the plan.

“What the heck?!” Illi said in surprise as Eli saw Moonlight zip past. “That stupid hedgeboy is here!”

The plan seemed to work perfectly…as long as Eclipse wasn’t hit by any of the spells the girls started to cast he was fine. They were completely confused on what they thought were three different Eclipses. After ducking from and ice spell, he noticed that New Moon managed to get Illi away from the chest and the other two are keeping Eli on the other side of the room!

*Now’s my chance!* he thinks as he soon slips by over to the chest and opens it.

There, inside, was the book he was looking for! There was one problem though; it was glowing brighter than the programs…and it outlined him in his own shadows.

Eli noticed this at the corner of her eye. “ILLI! HE’S AT THE CHEST! THESE THREE ARE FAKES!”

Illi swore loudly as she saw she failed and he jumped at the screaming so he randomly grabbed one of his pages before a spell-made explosion from them blasted him to a wall, knocking him out.

In the darkness of his mind, he saw images of two figures; a little girl with pink hair that survived more than she should and an unfinished doodle with a friendly curiosity and a smile.

Luciea and Arc…that was their names…the names of his lost friends…

“Luci…Arc…” he mumbled as he came around, finding himself back in his home with bandages on his head and chest. “Where?”

“We’re back at our place,” New Moon said and he saw the three of them floating nearby. “The Twins saw the page in your hand and admitted defeat so they called Veronica to get you out. That blast dispelled the cloak so it made it easier for her to find you.”

“Other than a minor concussion you were still alive,” Moonlight said reassuringly. “Tell us…which page did you retrieve?”

“I…I remember them now,” Eclipse said as a tear formed in his eye. “Luciea and Arc…my friends who didn’t make it last time…”

“Well Luciea didn’t but I assure you Arc somehow did,” Nacht said and they looked at him. “What? I saw him walking outside with a scarf that looks like a bird. Seemed the spiders had a hay day with him since he lacks a face.”

Eclipse felt relief at that. At least one of them was alright for the most part. He was too weak to celebrate properly so he just smiled.

“Thank goodness…” he whispered before falling back asleep.

Veronica was outside the room the entire time. She didn’t know how to react to what she just heard. Normally he would feel regret but this time there was so little. She shrugged it off and went back to the Adventure Tower to prepare for the next dolt in her eyes to try their luck on getting a page back.

“Crazy kid.”

XXX---XXX

ECLIPSE RETRIEVED A PAGE: MEMORIES OF LUCIEA AND ARC INKLINE RESTORED COMPLETELY!