The trek to the gate location was swift. After nearly half a day of travel Kal and the twins were almost there. Unfortunately, when they had almost arrived, Kal received a report of Syndicate forces nearing the location of the gate.
"Shig!" Kal yelled.
The twins were worried. Kal only used that kind of language when he was really upset.
"What is it Kal?" Congming asked.
"The Syndicate is on to us. Somehow they know where we're headed to. They're trying to beat us there." Kal said.
"What will do?" Pianzi asked.
"Do? The best option is to try and beat them there. They might know the general area we're headed to, but they probably don't know exactly where we're headed."
With that said, Kal pushed himself to his maximum speed. Kal had been reluctant to do this beforehand because he was worried about being discovered. Now, it didn't matter. At this point, they were all in. Calculating things in his head Kal decided to take a gamble.
"Pianzi, Congming, you two head to the gate at your current speed and see if it's something we can use. Take this, if what the fairies found is actually a teleportation gate; then this will help you activate it." Kal said.
"What are you going to do?" Congming asked.
"I'm going to run interference," Kal said with his typical smirk.
After giving his orders, Kal peeled off and headed directly to the incoming Syndicate forces.
"This isn't going to be easy. I hope I survive this one." Kal thought to himself.
"Master Rel," a soldier drew near to Master Ba Rel who was riding his spirit bike casually.
"Report," Master Rel said as he threw an energy screen up to block the wind.
"We're detecting an object heading in our direction, sir. It's probably an individual." The soldier said.
"One of ours?" Master Rel asked.
"Unknown." The soldier said.
"Send a couple of fighters to intercept, if it isn't one of ours bring the person to me." Master Rel said.
"Yes, sir," The soldier left Master Rel to carry out his orders.
Kal sensed the fast attack fighter coming. It had been a while since Kal had taken on a ship with just his power. He preferred fighting from his ship, but what choice did he have now. Kal took a shield and a heavy canon out of his storage ring. Suddenly, Kal had a stroke of inspiration.
He selected several spheres. Kal dropped three spheres at different points as he continued to approach. Two more spheres he threw out and they began to circle him. The last four spheres shot up into the air.
Kal stopped in his tracks and waited for the ship to arrive. Within a couple of minutes, the fast attack ship came before Kal and stopped. Seeing Kal just standing there, the fast attack ship landed to send someone out to get Kal. Just as the person came out an energy beam came from behind Kal who lept out of the way. Kal looked back with a shocked look on his face.
No one on the ship had the time to move the ship. The ship and all on board were destroyed. The only survivor was the soldier who was walking toward Kal. Kal ran to the soldier, scooped him up while using his shield to deflect another incoming beam. Kal dashed away from the scene heading to the convoy of Syndicate operatives.
While in flight, the soldier reported the situation letting command know they were coming in hot. He barely had enough time to explain what was happening when beams from the sky came down and nearly took off his head. The two spheres next to Kal opened up into two powerful looking cannons. The cannons worked independently and shot back in the direction where the energy beams were coming from.
As they approached the convoy, he was exchanging shots with whatever was behind him. Once he was in with the convoy an invisible energy shield was activated that protected the convoy from the energy beams. After a few more shots whatever was shooting stopped.
Master Ba Rel ordered the soldiers to stop and set up a defensive perimeter. He wanted to talk with this mystery person and it wasn't convenient to do that on a spirit bike. He wasn't worried about whatever was shooting as he didn't feel it could threaten him.
Kal was brought before Master Rel. His floating cannons changed back into floating spheres.
"Who are you?" Master Rel asked.
"Maq Do, sir," Kal said. Maq Do was one of Kal's many aliases. This particular alias was one he used as a scummy mercenary.
"What are you doing here?" Master Rel asked suspiciously.
"Escaping from those twin dragons kids everyone's been looking for," Kal responded.
"Escaping from them?" Master Rel asked.
"Yes, sir, I was working for them but when I realized that they were going to get me killed I tried to leave. I tried to sneak away but hey caught me leaving before I got too far. As soon as I saw them I took off as fast as I could." Kal said.
"Why would you run from a couple of dragon kids?" Master Rel asked.
"I wasn't running from the kids, I was running from the elder that was with them," Kal said.
"There's a dragon elder with them?" Master Rel was suddenly excited.
"Yes, sir, he's their guardian. He was dispatched by General Long himself." Kal said.
"Who is General Long?" Master Rel asked him.
"Not to seem ungrateful but shouldn't we take care of some business before I give away all of my precious information for free?" Kal asked.
"What are you?" Asked Master Rel.
"A man who just left a well-paying job and his home," Kal said. Kal was a fox. He knew that he could buy more time for the twins through his mouth than through his fists. He had a feeling that the person before him was also a fox. Kal had to be in his top form or he'd wind up dead. He could tell that this person was much stronger than him.
"What do you want?" Master Rel asked. He wasn't surprised the man was asking for money. Clearly, he was some kind of mercenary who put himself before others. Master Rel could understand such a person because he was such a person. He learned to survive with his wits and his fists. One day Master Rel realized that not only could he survive but he could thrive by relying on his talents.
Master Rel began as just another heavy for the Syndicate, but thanks to his cultivation talent he quickly raised his status in the Syndicate. The higher-ups started noticing that this little thug of theirs was a little too good at what he did. They tested him and discovered his ability. He was brought into the sect and eventually raised himself to a high status within the Academy. Once his training was over, he returned to the Syndicate as an upper boss. Today, he served as an Elder and had a lot of power. The fellow in front of him reminded him of himself.
"Money," Kal said.
"Ok." Master Rel said.
"You didn't ask me how much I wanted," Kal said.
"Don't worry, I'll pay you double the value of the information." Master Rel said.
Kal looked at this Master Rel and realized that he was being told we'll pay you and you will be happy that we don't kill you. Kal took a deep breath, "ok," he said.
"Tell me, where do you come from?" Master Rel asked.
"We come from the Dragon Empire. We were escaping some pursuers and flew into a rift. We were trapped in the rift for what seemed like forever until we somehow found our way out and wound up here." Kal said.
"There's an Empire of dragons?" Master Rel asked?
"Yeah, and those gold dragons are pretty valuable to them because gold dragons are rare. They wouldn't have let them out of the Clan if not for the conniving of the boy dragon." Kal said.
"Are the dragons chasing you?" Master Rel asked.
"I doubt it, the thing shooting at me was probably a couple of puppets," Kal said.
"Why didn't the elder dragon kill you if he's so strong?" Master Rel asked.
"I think he was taking apart his lab. His lab is more important to him than me." Kal said.
"What kind of lab is it?" Master Rel asked.
"It's the lab he uses to make the fairies," Kal said.
"He makes the fairies he doesn't just release them?" Master Rel asked surprised.
"No, regular fairies are too hard to control, they're whimsical. The Dragon Empire is really skilled with creating bodies and manipulating souls. They simply make fairy bodies and put souls of their choosing into the bodies. Pretty nifty, hmm? Kal said.
Master Rel was shocked. How powerful would an Empire be if they could make bodies and control souls, but there was something that didn't make sense."
"If they're so good with this technology then why don't they just make more Gold Dragons?" Master Rel asked.
"I don't know, this technology is really secretive. It could be that they have made an army of Gold dragons, or maybe making Gold dragons is too expensive, it could be any number of things. It could also be that the technology the Dragon Empire has can only be used to make fairies. Fairies are much smaller and simpler bodies than dragons." Kal said.
"True, true." Master Rel thought.
"Where's the base of the dragons?" Master Rel asked.
"It's about half a day's journey in that direction. They're hiding in a cave. I can show you if you'd like" Kal turned around and pointed in the direction he came from.
"I would rather be where they are going. Do you know where they were going." Master Rel asked.
"The elder said the fairies found something a day's journey in that direction." Kal pointed in the direction the twins were headed in.
"Did they trust you, Mr. Do?" Master Rel asked suspiciously.
"They did, but I think they became suspicious of me, otherwise how could they have caught me leaving so easily. To be honest I was surprised that they caught me. I'm pretty stealthy. The only thing I can think of is that they were on to me." Kal said.
Master Rel reflected on this Mr. Do's information. What he said made sense. He was put on guard when he realized that although the direction was the same, the area he claimed the dragons were headed to overshot the area they believed they were going to.
It could be they fed bad information to this mercenary. It didn't matter, they would continue forward and beat those kids there. If what this person said is correct; it sounded like the dragons hadn't left their base yet. That gave them plenty of time to set up an ambush.
What Master Rel didn't realize was that by now the twins were probably already at their destination. If things went well, by the time this Syndicate military convoy arrived the twins would be long gone. If that happened then Kal could take his time and escape on his own eventually. Kal felt much more relieved.