Beads of sweat formed on Vamprina’s forehead. Every cell in her body was straining to make this work. Dark energy pulsed continuously from her outspread wings, and every few moments, her eyes would flash with an intense burst of red light. At length, a high pitched sound commenced, appearing distant at first, but then increasing in volume. Vamprina was the only one who could hear this noise, and a smile crept along her jaws, revealing her glistening black fangs to the lonely moon. It was the sound of success.

Presently, a string of wavering vertical light snapped into existence in front of her, and Venox, her long-time ally and trainer of Darkwings, stepped through the dimensional rift and stood looking in all directions. Vamprina collapsed, spent with the effort, and lifted her head to the night sky to absorb the blackness from her environment, gathering strength.

“Wow…” he said. “You really are on another planet!”

Vamprina’s left ear flicked with irritance. “Well what did you expect me to open a dimensional rip like this for?” she hissed in response.

“So you fought with one of these creatures that live here?”

“Not just any creature. He was a human, called Digkid, but there was something in him that seems common to me. The word wRHG. Apparently I’m one, and so is everyone else in SP.”

Venox’s red eyes narrowed a little. “SP? That’s we are? What’s it stand for?”

“Stick Planet. Stick Place. Who knows?” Vamprina sighed, spreading her wings. “Just try asking the moderator orb program thingy that brought me here. It’s over there. I could have got you here sooner if I didn’t feel like I was being watched.”

Venox flew over to the moderator orb, looked at it from all possible angles, and then shook his head. “Are you sure you were able to talk to it? Looks like some freakish helper from the Gearmaster!”

“Intruder detected.” the orb chirped. “Other moderators must be notified.”

Lights on the little sphere blinked on and off, further holding Venox’s interest. Then the Dark Stick flew over to Vamprina again. “That thing’s weird. Maybe I’ll talk to you instead.”

Vamprina grinned. “Sure. I’ll explain how it works. I’m a wRHG, and Digkid, a human who likes dirt and pickaxes and moles, is one too. He and I both fight each other, twice. Then other wRHG masters help us figure out who’s the winner by picking the better fight. I can’t explain the details well.”

Venox nodded. “I see. Did you win yet?”

Vamprina’s eyes flashed. “They didn’t say. Our second battle still needs to take place.”

“If this Digkid is just a regular human…” Venox began. “…no matter how talented he is, he'd be no match for you if he fought you back on Stickworld.”

Vamprina nodded. “The planet on which I was born gives me power beyond imagination. I can fire Dark energy spheres and throw Dark lightning and all that fun stuff. But here I’m restricted to only a few talents.”

The female Dark Stick walked over to the moderator orb. She stared at it for a while, half-attentive to its useless chatter, when she suddenly turned to Venox. Catching the glint in her eye, he rushed over. “What is it?” he asked.

Still smiling, Vamprina traced the air around the orb. “Do you need a toy for your Darkwings?”

Venox’s eyes widened. “I can’t take technology like that into Stickworld! What if Darkarcangel catches me using it? It could be the end of me.” He thought of all the methods of torture Darkarcangel used on Light Sticks. Every face he could remember was twisted in agony, even in death after the vicious treatment. Sometimes it was fun to watch the proceedings, but he was always glad that it wasn’t him being tortured or experimented on. Darkarcangel didn’t think of the methods or carry them out himself, but he just gave the command and the doomed victim was sent to Slinx.

Slinx was a Dark Stick scientist who loved to experiment with all sorts of chemicals and their effects on living and non-living subjects. His practices were not foolproof however, and he was often reckless in his procedures. There was that dreaded day where he had been trying to fuse Dark and Light energies together, and the result were the Phantex. Everyone in Stickworld hated him for that. But Darkarcangel admired him for his successful works. His most recent work…the Ragefiends…they were almost in the development stage where they would finish mutations and hatch from their liquid filled sacs to do whatever he pleased. It was disturbing.

“Anything happening in Stickworld that I should know about?” Vamprina’s voice cut through his mind.

Venox snapped out of his trance. “Not really. There have been very few Rani attacks lately. I think they’re still having nightmares about you.”

Vamprina’s ears slicked down onto her head. “Those Cobrixes! Their race will forever fear my name, and whoever spawns from me!”

“You’re getting married? How?”

Vamprina rolled her eyes. “Okay, you don’t need the orb. It can bother me for the rest of my life. Go back to Stickworld. I can’t leave the dimension tear open for too long or weird things will start happening in this place.”

Venox flew back to the wavering line. “Got it!” he said over his shoulder. “I’ll tell Shadewing you’re alright.”

Vamprina suddenly felt like someone had just taken all the energy out of her body. She collapsed to her knees, weakness dominating every limb. Venox turned and landed beside her, alarmed at her condition.

“Vamprina! Are you okay? What happened?”

“He’s…alive?” Vamprina breathed. “My brother…Shadewing…is alive?”

“Well, he came back in one piece, so yes.” Venox replied, still slightly confused.

“Thank you. Go before the portal closes.”

Venox turned, and with a swift wing flick, he was gone through the dimensions, back to Stickworld. The wavy wisp vanished, and Vamprina was left alone under the stars. The night was once again shrouded in near complete silence, save the silent sobs of a single warrior, as she knelt in the earth of the silent desert…Vamprina.

***

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T GO BACK?!!!” Shadewing screeched. “Are you saying I can’t travel through dimensions even if I want to? I’m the Chosen One!”

Venox was crouching under a Scraggletree in the Forest of Screams, cringing in front of a very worked up Shadewing. The butterfly-winged Dark Stick obviously didn’t like that his power did not include doing everything he wanted, when he wanted.

“Vamprina…” Shadewing said softly, and the name seemed to calm him a little. “My sister is trapped in a different world and I can’t do anything about it.”

Venox sighed, and his body shivered a bit as he tried to speak to the emotional Dark Stick. “Just because you’re the Chosen One doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want. I know where this world is. If someone could teleport us there then we shouldn’t be able to cause any dimensional damage.”

He had spoken quickly so that Shadewing couldn’t cut him off or do anything to him after the first sentence. But the rush wasn’t required. Shadewing was too overwhelmed with the thought of his sister, alive, and alone out there…and not with him. He knew the damage the death of another family member would be a severe blow to him.

“So what did she call this place?” Shadewing asked after a while.

“SP.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know. She said she didn’t know either.”

“An unknown planet?” Shadewing disliked the conversation more and more.

“Seems so.” Venox replied. “I know the location, and I think I’d know the planet if I saw it. But as for how to get there, well…I can’t travel through dimensions by myself. It’s too hard.”

Shadewing nodded. “We need someone with the natural ability to jump between dimensions. The only one I’ve seen do that before is Raylar’s reflection ally.”

“You mean the copy of him that stays invisible until he allows himself to be seen?”

“That’s the one.”

“Is he able to do it again?”

“I don’t know. His reflection was able to hold onto me though…so that’s something.”

Venox shuddered. He hated that day when that happened. Raylar and Shadewing had been training, and a sudden incident caused Shadewing to grab Raylar’s blindfold for support. The resulting clash of energies created a tear in the air of their world, a rift in their dimension. Creatures from Earth came through…and then there was a brief but highly destructive battle. Many suffered losses. The humans were exterminated and a brave Rogue Warrior chose to sacrifice himself to close the tear. It worked, and no humans were seen on Stickworld ever again. However, this didn’t prevent some of Stickkind to believe that all humans were evil. Shadewing was a trusted source, since he had been to the human’s home world before, and he explained that not all humans had harmful intents.

“This world she’s on…it has humans?”

“She said she fought one.”

“By herself!?”

“You have to consider how capable she is. I’ve seen her in combat before, and she really knows what to do in tight situations.”

Shadewing sighed, and his wings flicked a little. “Yes…but that was against Stickkind. Humans are different.”

Venox nodded. “True, but many are also rather limited. The normal ones have no control of elements, nor of themselves at times. They even kill each other on their own territory.”

Shadewing grinned. “I’m sure we have a lot to learn yet, and Vamprina could probably tell us more once she and I are reunited on Stickworld.”
His head hung a little. “If that ever happens.”

Venox rested his wing thumbs on the ground, and crept over to Shadewing’s side. “I’ll help! I’ll do anything for my ally! Just tell me to do something, and I’ll do it!”

The Dark Stick smiled a little. “Well…let’s see.”

There was a brief silence.

“Go and bother Virrus.”

Venox hung his head. “Alright…” he said softly. Accompanied by a few Darkwings, he began to take off. He was suddenly yanked back down to the ground, and he looked up at Shadewing’s glittering red eyes. “Come on Venox! I was just kidding! Let’s find Raylar. I think he’s the only one that can help us.”

Shadewing spread his wings to take off, but Venox jumped onto his back, forcing him to land.

“Hold on! She also told me something else!”

Shadewing straightened up, and Venox dropped off of him. “She said she was a wRHG.”

“Now what does that mean?”

“I don’t know. It’s probably a special type of warrior.”

“Or something else.” muttered Shadewing. “Let’s go to Raylar now.”

“Sure!”

The Dark pair surged off like twin lightning, followed by Venox’s faithful Darkwing allies.