Prologue

“You honestly want me to go in there?” Rex said, pointing to the castle at the edge of town. Rex had red hair, a shirt with ripped sleeves and goggles around his neck. His green eyes shined with worry and fear at entering that place. “That’s right Rex,” David, his friend muttered, “Some of us are starting to grow worried about that mansion.” David was taller and older than Rex was, and thus more mature. His black hair and navy blue eyes glared down at the twelve-year-old boy. “There have been plenty of mysterious disappearances in the past four years. Now people are getting suspicious. They really want to know what is going on in there.” Rex swallowed, “But what if I’m captured? What if I end up in some twisted experiment?” He shuddered at the thought…. being dissected by aliens, or eaten alive by monsters. “That won’t happen,” David replied sharply, “Here take this.” He tossed him a walkie-talkie. “We’ll keep in touch with these. If you ever get in trouble, just say the words, ‘S.M.S’ (Save My Soul), and I’ll come in and get you out of there.”

“And, what if, by some coincidence, the batteries die out?”

“…Then you’re as good as screwed.”

“Oh….alright then…?”

He went up to the door, swallowed hard, and entered the mansion. Rex was instantly greeted with the smell of smoke mixed with some other odors he could not quite put his finger on. As he expected, cobwebs littered every square corner of the mansion. There were also a few mechanisms, futuristic even, standing at the sides of the entrance. “I hope those aren’t the guards…” Rex whispered. He soon found himself in the main hallway. “How’s it going in there?” David asked, his voice crackled in the walkie-talkie. “Not bad so far, I see a couple of nice paintings, a few antiques and…a laboratory?” He stood at the doorway, and opened it a crack to get a glimpse at what was going on. “My dear lady,” A polite voice said, “Where’s the Blazing spirit?” “I…I don’t know,” The girl said, tears spilling from her eyes, “Just let me go…I won’t tell a soul about this, just let me go!” Rex recognized the girl as Amber Whitfield, who lived down the street. “David, I found Amber,” He whispered, “She’s being interrogated by…a…oh my…” The person asking Amber where this Blazing spirit was was not a person at all. He was a cat, wearing a lab coat and baggy jeans, his white hair reminded Rex of the mad scientist he saw in movies. With him were two hulking bodyguards, with skulls for helmets. One was red the other was blue. He swallowed. “Oh dear,” The cat muttered, “You don’t know anything either. I’m beginning to fear no one knows my lord…perhaps we should just dispose of her…” A moment passed before a raspy voice said, “Very well…” Amber’s golden yellow eyes widened in horror, “What, but I won’t tell…honest…just…” The cat turned a dial to maximum power and pulled the lever. At this point Rex had enough. With out thinking, he barged into the room, pushed the cat aside and turned the machine off. He frantically untied the ropes around Amber’s wrists and ankles. “Go get the police; I’ll take care of them.” Rex said. “These guys shouldn’t be too hard…” Amber quickly dashed out of the room. The two guards instantly surrounded him, chuckling and cracking their knuckles. Rex swallowed, “I think…”

Rex leaped high up in the air and landed on one of the blue guard’s heads. “Hey you,” Rex called to the other guard, “The one with the ugly mug. Come and get me!” The Red Guard growled and picked up a heavy steel sledgehammer. He swung it directly at Rex, who dropped down from the Blue Guard’s head. With a heavy whack, the Blue Guard spun around four times, and dropped to the floor unconscious. “Not too bright are you?” Rex muttered, grinning. Meanwhile, the cat was rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Impressive,” He said quietly, “No one has ever really managed to defeat one of these guards for a long time…” He looked around and then said, “Master, what do you think of him?” “He could prove quite useful,” the voice said, “Knock him out and use him in one of your experiments. Not many people have such potential…” Rex swiftly tripped the Red Guard, who quickly got back up and chased him into the hall. Rex lured the guard towards the basement stairs. He looked behind him, then at the guard. “Only one chance,” Rex thought, “I’ve been trying to perfect the back flip jump for a while now. If I do this properly, then that will leave the cat to take care of. However if I don’t, my skull will be cracked open… The Red Guard was chuckling now, holding the sledgehammer. Rex swallowed, “Here goes nothing…” The guard swung the hammer; Rex did a high back flip over his head. The bodyguard spun around, tripped and fell down the stairs and hit the ground with a mighty thud. Rex wiped the sweat from his face, “That takes care of him,” He said with a sigh, “Now that only leaves…” Rex felt a jolt of electricity course through his body. He collapsed to the ground, paralyzed. He groaned, and at the corner of his eye, saw the cat with a ray gun. “Now then,” It growled, “You’re mine…” Rex groaned again, and blacked out.