When the duo launched themselves, Caleb was able to hold his own against the first wave of Shinto’s telekinetically-pushed bullets. It did seem that Caleb would be able to hold his ground the entire time right up until Dominic’s power would reach Nomis. However, things did not go that far. Nomis had decided to take things to an entirely severe degree.

There was one slam of Nomis’ cane onto the ground and in the moment that it had done so, Nomis made an arcing motion with his body, but there was more to it. Shinto didn’t spot it, but the Crimson Flash knew instantly was what happening and it was too late. He saw some of Nomis’ little toys being used. That one moment produced a dome-like wall of the old man’s Taint Metal. Dominic’s Crimson Lightning reflected off of the clear surface and instantly disapted into little sparks and was gone from view, much to the displeasure of Dominic. Shinto’s bullets merely dug into the surface of the dome. It made a small indentation to the dome’s defense, but nowhere nearly enough to do any real damage to it.

For a few moments -- probably a little over one minute -- there was a silence in the hallway. It was a certain silence that the longer it went on, the more Dominic and Shinto would worry. Even the allotted time that the silence lingered, they were on guard. They didn’t know what would happen. Dominic had his Crimson Lightning ready for discharge and Shinto stood beside his friend  with his finger on his rifle’s trigger, ready to fire whenever needed.

Meanwhile, inside the dome, Caleb would be lying if he wasn’t relieved. He probably could have deflected most of the bullets that Shinto had fired at him, but eventually some would get him, so he was very thankful for his uncle providing aid when he did. He didn’t say anything to Nomis, but just a look of gratitude was on his face.

As Dominic and Shinto stood ready for whatever was to come their way, Dominic had no idea was about to hit him, nor did Shinto for that matter.

Dominic, as fast as his reflexes and speed are, couldn’t have been any slower when an attack at him and it was in the form of the very machines that Dominic had done away with -- or so he thought. They were reformatted and recreated into many, many pebbles of black metal. They came at the Crimson Flash so fast that by the time they had dug their way onto Dominic’s attire and chest, they had bound him. The male was then pulled to the dome itself in a magnetic-like pull. The speed at which he was pulled was almost as fast as he could run using his super speed. It was at that speed that the force of impact not only caused serious damage to his front side, but due to the way his head rocked back, Dominic was dealt with a serious concussion and he had cuts on his forehead as well as a good amount of blood pouring out.

As the dome began to melt into the ground, Nomis had Dominic in his grasp and Caleb watched in shock and much amusement, while Shinto just stood in disbelief, as he couldn’t believe that his friend was manhandled like that. Shinto was about to rush to his friend’s aid, but in the same moment that Dominic had been dealt a shitty hand, Shinto would also get his own as the metal casings from his bullets would surround him in a swirl of terror. Each individual casing would rip a part of Shinto’s clothing and flesh all around his body. To make up a tornado of metal casings, there had to have been over one thousand metal casings slicing up Shinto’s flesh and the blonde male felt every single cut. The pain that he was in increased as the casings would continuously cut the same part on his arms and legs and head and torso over and over and over again. 

Even as the tornado of the metal casings continued to attack him, Shinto still kept standing. The amount of willpower that it took for him to remain conscious should amount to something and Caleb just watched in surrpise as the blonde male was still standing, despite the large amount of blood that he had lost due to the several cuts that he had been given. The tornado was nearly done and some of the cuts on Shinto’s body, specifically on his right chest, both wrists, and where his ACL are were so deep and so continuously attack that Caleb noticed the bone of those specific body parts of Shinto’s body. 

When Nomis had forced both Dominic and Shinto against a wall, Shinto was still conscious whereas Dominic wasn’t, but the blonde was starting to see blurry images. To Caleb and Nomis, he would appear out like a light, but the blonde male was very much awake, which meant that he could do something to alert Cerden and Flora.

Caleb took his attention away from Dominic and Shinto and heard his uncle speak. [color=00746b][b]“That is what those three agrabaians said, but I highly doubt that they’re in the same inn, especially after Tyra paid them a visit.”[/b][/color] Caleb said to his uncle.

[hr][/hr]

A few hours have passed and Cerden and Flora roam the streets of Agrabah. They are trying to scout out the palace to at least see if they could possibly get a good handle on how secure it is and if it isn’t all that secure, then maybe they could sneak in to get some dirt about what The Empire is planning in Agrabah. 

Scoping it out from a building nearby, Flora looks through her binoculars. She has her eyes dead-set focused on the castle and sadly, she sees that the gate is heavily enforced by The Empire Soldiers. [color=92278f][b] “Well, there goes that plan.”[/b][/color] She said disappointed.

Cerden, who was sitting on a chair just looking down at the citizens walking and doing their afternoon chores. [color=sienna][b]“You expected anything different?”[/b][/color] Cerden said smirking and laughing slightly. 

Flora punched him lightly.  He grunted, but smiled. [b][color=92278f]“Are you going to help me or not?”[/color]

[color=sienna]“Help you with what? Staring at a big-ass gate? No thanks.”[/color][/b] Cerden said as his view never left that of the streets below them.

Flora sighed and removed the binoculars from her face. She leaned back into her chair and sighed once more.  [b][color=92278f]“What are we even doing?”[/color]

[color=sienna]“What do you mean?”[/color]

[color=92278f]“We’ve been here two days and the closest we have gotten to anything remotely related to The Empire is your crazy-ass former student nearly killing us, and I wouldn’t really consider that something in the right direction.”[/color][/b]

Cerden had to admit she was right. Over twenty four hours and they have slightly less than they had before coming to this desert-infested world. [color=sienna][b]“So, what are you saying? You want to just give up?”[/b][/color] Cerden asked her.

[color=92278f][b]“No dumbass. I didn’t say that at all. I’m just saying we came here for nothing, and what’s even worse, I don’t even know where my stupid-ass brother is.”[/b][/color]

Cerden hadn’t even thought of Dominic or Shinto since this morning. He remembered that Flora said that the two of them had something to do and it’s been over six hours since Flora mentioned it, so Cerden was starting to get a little worried. [color=sienna][b]“I hope they’re okay. I mean, they should have at least told you what they were doing.”[/b][/color]

Flora looked out at the sky. [color=92278f][b]“I got a bad feeling. What if they did something stupid and they somehow got themselves into trouble.”[/b][/color]

Cerden hated to admit it, but maybe she was right. [b][color=sienna]“Then, let’s go look for them.”[/color]

[color=92278f]“Where genius? Last I remember, I don’t know where the fuck they are.”[/color]

[color=sienna]“You’re a good tracker, so…well, you know, track them.”[/color]

[color=92278f]“Oh yeah, let me just do that.”[/color][/b]

[b][color=sienna]“The sarcasm hurts, you know.”[/color][/b] Cerden said laughing, [b][color=sienna]“but seriously. You have the means to track them.”[/color][/b]

[color=92278f][b]“You’re right.”[/b][/color] Flora said.

Flora was just about to see if she could dig into her plant powers that could at least sense the natural energy in the world. Just as she was about to dip into that power, she got a weird feeling. Not only her, but Cerden also felt it. As a few seconds passed, both of them had their minds connected, which was weird for them. They soon found their minds being transported to a weird world. There was several amounts of buildings, all tall, and all in a sleek, midnight-colored theme. On the tallest building, Cerden and Flora saw a man with blonde hair smoking a single cigarette. This man looked a lot like their friend Shinto. They leapt into the air and both flew to that building. 

[color=92278f]“Shinto what’s all of this?”[/color] FLora asked.

Shinto took one puff of the cig and blew it away from Cerden and Flora. [b][color=fff79a]“Listen, I don’t have much time, but Domi and I sort of went to Nomis’ warship outside of Agrabah.”[/color][/b]

[b][color=92278f]“WH[/color][color=sienna]AT!?”[/color][/b] Cerden and Flora said in unison.

[b][color=fff79a]“I said listen. “[/color]

[color=92278f]“Why did you do that!?”[/color][/b] Flora yelled.

Shinto sighed,[b][color=fff79a] “It wasn’t my idea. I wanted to sleep in, but Domi had a noble intention.”[/color][/b] Shinto said as he paused, leaving Cerden and Flora in suspense. [b][color=fff79a]“He wanted to bring Caleb to you both.”[/color][/b]

It was in that very moment that waves of emotions went through Flora’s heart. She couldn’t believe that Dominic would do such a dangerous thing to ensure that she would be able to see her son again. Flora was so taken back by what Shinto said, she couldn’t really form words into a sentence.  So, Cerden would speak for the both of them. [color=sienna][b]“Okay, so what happened?”[/b][/color] He asked Shinto.

[color=fff79a][b]“We had him. We hit Nomis’ lab, and we were in and out in less than one minute. All was going well until Nomis’ robots found us and well, it all went straight to hell from then on. Caleb got free after Dominic became insulted by being called by the wrong name. We ended up doing battle with them. I had the pleasure of fighting your son.”[/b][/color] Shinto smirked, [b][color=fff79a]“I have to admit, he really is something. I know he’s totally warped in the mind, but his ability to handle the powers of darkness are something else. Say what you will about Nomis, he has taught your son how to fight well, Cerden.”[/color][/b]

Hearing Shinto say all of that, his mind instantly went to when Caleb nearly killed him. [color=sienna][b]“Oh yes, I know that too well, but he’s not learning the right things.”[/b][/color] Cerden’s fight showed signs of anger towards Nomis and sadness towards his son. [b][color=sienna]“Okay, what happened next?”[/color][/b]

[b][color=fff79a]“Nomis kicked our ass. Hell, right now in the physical world, our bodies are being dragged to Nomis’ lab, but listen Cerden. You mustn’t try to rescue us.”[/color]

[color=sienna]“Why the hell not!?”[/color]

[color=fff79a]“Truth is, this was MY plan. Domi doesn’t know this and I want to keep it that way. I have a plan in trying to sway your son to our side. For that to happen, we must remain as his hostages.”[/color]

[color=sienna]“But you know he’s going to experiment on you -- that’s what he does.”[/color]

[color=fff79a]“Yeah, yeah I know. I can take it. He won’t kill us though. We’re too valuable to him and that’s where we’ll get him in the form of recruiting your son.”[/color] [/b]

Cerden thought the plan was absurd and if found out, Shinto would pay with his life, but this posed them with an opportunity to get inside The Empire. [color=sienna][b]“Okay, so what do you need us to do?”[/b][/color]

[color=fff79a][b]“Lay low. Nomis is going to be looking for you two.”[/b][/color] Shinto said. [color=fff79a][b]“One more thing.”[/b][/color]

[b][color=sienna]“Yeah?”[/color]

[color=fff79a]“Switch inns. I’m pretty sure the Basilisk is the first place he’ll be looking.” [/color]

[color=sienna]“Okay.”[/color][/b]

Shinto looked to the moonlit sky. [color=fff79a][b]“That’s it for now. I’ll contact you two soon when I can. In the meantime, don’t do anything stupid.”[/b][/color] Shinto said as the telepathic connection between the three of them was cut and Cerden and Flora found themselves consciously aware of their state in the physical world.

Flora was silent the entire time Shinto had told Cerden about what happened to them, but she heard it all. She just wasn’t in the state-of-mind to respond…like, at all. Cerden looked at Flora and saw that look in her eyes. [color=a36209][b]“Hey.”[/b][/color] Cerden said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. 

Flora snapped out of it and looked at Cerden. [b][color=92278f]“I’m fine, don’t worry.”[/color]

[color=a36209]“You heard all of that, right?”[/color]

[color=92278f]“Yeah..”[/color]

[color=a36209]“And what do you think of it?”[/color][/b]

Flora didn’t really know what to think about it. She feared that Shinto would be found out and that he might get killed. However, on the flipside of things, she knew that this plan might just work and could be the only chance that her and Cerden have of seeing their son and hopefully it wouldn’t be like last time where he almost killed  Cerden. [b][color=92278f]“I just pray to the gods that Shinto is careful and he and Dominic make it out alive.”[/color][/b]