Chapter 15: Revelation
Unbeknownst to
the travelers, four beasts guarded the shrine. They had been there for
nearly five thousand years, simply guarding. Their duty was to protect
Plit from the return of the weapons that had nearly destroyed the planet.
Their power was once immense, but as time went on, they grew weaker. They
still guard, as they realize the horrors that would come about if they
fell. They know because they were the ones who caused the destruction.
They know that they won’t last forever. They are the re-embodiments of
the Four Horsemen, purged of evil. Their time is about to come. And Plit’s
death will not be far behind. Possibly. Maybe.
~~~
Geno, of course, had no idea there was a giant monster behind the shrine door. Nor did he have any idea why it was there. All he knew was there was a creature in front of him, and the creature didn’t look particularly friendly. Its horse-like legs rose up from its clawed feet like blood red tree trunks, meeting a long, elliptical body with an even longer barbed tail. At the front, slightly above the waist, was a draconic head with burning red eyes. Right behind it, the body rose out some more, culminating with a more humanoid head, also with crimson eyes. A wild orange mane grew from it. Two massive arms protruded from the upper body, with razor sharp claws making up the hands. In one of them was a claymore, although several times longer than the average one.
Mallow and Geno stared in shock and awe as the beast slowly approached. Mallow reacted first. “… WHAT IS THAT?”
Geno continued staring as he replied, “It looks like one of the Horsemen…”
His fluffy friend stared at the Horseman as it continued to advance. Three seconds later, Mallow’s mind snapped from fear. “AAAAHH! GOAWAYGOAWAYGENOHELPME!”
While screaming like a raving lunatic, he ran back to the door to escape. It didn’t open. Still screeching, he ran around the room, trying to get away from the Horseman. Geno, however, continued to contemplate the beast. “… Judging by its blood red color, I’d have to say this is War…”
“Geno! Move! It’s about to freakin’ KILL YOU!”
“Wha?” Geno looked up. “War” had finally reached him and was now lifting up its sword to strike Geno down. Geno thought quickly and shouted, “GENO MISSILE!”
A brightly colored orb shot from his outstretched cannon hand, striking the lower head. War ignored the blast completely and brought its sword down mightily. Geno ran out of the way but was knocked down by the shockwave from the sword as it smashed against the ground. Geno got up as quickly as possible and began storing energy. Mallow, on the other hand, kept running around like a mad man. War was still pulling its sword up from the ground.
Geno allowed himself a tight grin as he transformed into a cannon. A large blast of solar energy flew out of the cannon, exploding brilliantly when it struck War. The nova blast expanded to the walls, scorching everything it came in contact with, shaking the room, and raising the room temperature a good twenty degrees. It also managed to throw the Horseman away from its weapon and knock some sense back into Mallow. Geno grinned at the effects. “Well, it’s a start.”
War responded by causing a pillar of flame to blast out from the ground. The fire began to collect into a large ball at the tip of the pillar. After a few seconds, fire stopped gushing out of the ground and an enormous ball of fire floated in front of the monster. The Horseman proceeded to stick a closed fist into the flames, causing it to blast out a thick fire beam at Geno. The heavenly guardian simply stared at the oncoming flame rush. “This is not good…”
Less than a second later, he was consumed by the inferno.
~~~
Ludwig kept his face expressionless as strode regally into the meeting room, where several Lakitus and several of his top-ranking generals were gathered. He took his seat right in front of a white screen and asked the apparent leader of the Lakitus, “I’ll take it zat zis meeting is about ze moon.”
The Lakitu in question replied, “Yes sir. Before the actual important meeting, however, we are going to have my sister Lakily read a poem.”
“VHAT?!”
“I’m sorry, sir. It’s an old family tradition of mine. To not uphold it would bring disgrace to the family.”
“Oh, very vell…”
Ludwig groaned audibly and complained about weird families as a young female Lakitu began to recite a poem in a voice Ludwig guessed was good-sounding to Lakitus.
~~~
Popple ran in terror as another Horseman, this one bald, pale gray in color, and wielding a large bow, fired arrows after him and Rookie. He reached into his sack, pulled out a small bomb, and chucked it. It sailed over the Horseman (Famine) and struck Rookie, blowing him into one of the creature’s legs. The Sackit swore at him and threw his own bomb at Famine. This one hit the upper head and did minimal damage. The Horseman responded by shooting a string of arrows at him, all missing.
Popple grinned as the monster finally stopped paying attention to him. He pulled out his sack and opened it. “RANDOM BAG OBJECT!”
A large missile with the word “Polaris” written on its side flew out of the bag and struck the bow. The missile went nuclear, blasting the bow into a million pieces, throwing Famine into a wall, and somehow completely missing the two thieves. Popple’s grin widened far more than most grins possibly can as he said, “That worked well! Let’s do it again! RANDOM BAG OBJECT!”
This time, a weird-looking humanoid robot jumped out of the bag. His features were human enough, but his forearms, lower legs, and head were all red, while the rest of his body was white. Two metal half-rings jutted out of where his ears should have been and, instead of hair, there was a pair of scissors extending out of the top of his head. He turned to Rookie and said, “Greetings. Please state my name and function.”
Rookie grinned and said, “I will call you Scissor Dude, and your function is to be my helper.”
“Acknowledged. My name is Scissor Dude. Please state my function.”
“I already told you, you idiot! You are to help me!”
“Acknowledged. My functions are to be your helper, to be an idiot, and to help you. Please input personality.”
“You will be… ah, just like you right now.”
“Acknowledged. I will not have a personality. What task do you request of me?”
A loud roar responded to Scissor Dude’s inquiry. Famine had recovered from the atomic blast and was slowly trudging towards them, hands outstretched. Rookie began quaking in fear. “K-k-kill that thing!”
The robot began walking towards the Horseman. “Acknowledged.”
~~~
“Yar, move it!”
Johnny watched as Bobbery dodged a boomeranging ball of sickeningly green-and-gray energy. Their foe, the sickly white Horseman Pestilence, absorbed the projectile when it reached him, and charged forward, giant hammer raised high. Johnny glared up at it and yelled, “Water Jet!”
A powerful stream of water fired out from the crystal he was holding, stopping Pestilence’s advance. As the behemoth began to be pushed back, Bobbery ran underneath him, fuse lit, and exploded, causing the creature severe pain. Pestilence roared in agony before attempting to squash Bobbery under his clawed feet. The agile-for-his-age Bob-omb easily dodged, although the tremors from the impact nearly knocked him over. He turned and, to his horror, saw that Pestilence’s long tail had coiled around Johnny and was holding him in the air, slowly squeezing the life out of him. Bobbery wasted no time and fired a mine at the tail. The Horseman launched several balls of disease and decay at the bomb, each one missing its target. The explosive sprouted a long spike as it hurtled through the air before striking the tail, the spike sticking in deep. Moments later, it exploded and freed Johnny, who took a moment to catch his breath before muttering, “Yar, thank’ee.”
Bobbery was unable to reply due to a massive hammer crashing down on him, trapping him in the ground.
~~~
Luigi stood ready as the final Horseman, the pitch-black Death, approached him and Vivian, a giant scythe in hand. The Horseman raised his other hand and hundreds of smaller scythes appeared all throughout the chamber and launched straight at Luigi and Vivian, blades gleaming menacingly. Luigi froze with fear. Never in his adventures had he been in such overwhelming conditions. His mind raced, but as he was virtually weaponless, he could not think of a way out of the predicament. Giving up hope, he mentally prepared himself for death when Vivian suddenly grabbed him. His mind registered a falling sensation before he was engulfed in darkness.
Two seconds later, he felt himself being pulled up and he was facing Death again. He looked over at Vivian, who was gliding away from him quickly, with fire gathering around her hands. Then it clicked in Luigi’s mind. She pulled me into the shadows! Knowing now that he wasn’t dead, he leapt into action. Literally. He knew he hadn’t jumped high enough to reach the monstrosity, and simply leapt even higher the moment his foot touched solid ground. The second jump carried him straight at the side of the Horseman’s draconic head. Before he reached Death, who was trying to hack down Vivian at the moment, he felt heat gather him before flames erupted around without burning him in the slightest. He began to charge his Thunderhand as he flew toward the Horseman. As the dragon head turned towards him, he released the stored energy.
Fire and lightning blasted out of his outstretched hand, completely incinerating the creature’s eye. The pain that Death endured was worse than anything it had ever felt. It roared as it reared back before falling to its knees, still bellowing. Luigi had been launched away from the Horseman by the sheer power of this new attack, and was now shaking from the resultant energy loss as he watched the monster struggle to get back on its feet. Turning to Vivian, he asked, “What was-a THAT?”
The shadow girl looked back and said, “That? I just charged you up with fire. I have no clue what that attack was.”
Luigi nodded. “Well-a, whatever it-a was, it nearly beat-a him. Let’s-a finish him!”
~~~
Elias sat fuming with impatience near where Yaridovich, Mack, and the Axem Rangers were engaged in deep conversation. It had been at least three days since his prior chat with Jiyin, and his master still had not divulged any information to Elias about the on-goings of Geno. The only person who had tried to talk with the reaper was Bowyer, who was now lying unconscious at his feet as a result. Elias briefly thought that maybe he shouldn’t take his frustrations out on his new allies, but then dismissed the idea as unimportant. The Emperor Wraith was attempting to get information out of Jiyin, but to no avail. Jiyin had completely clammed up about Geno’s status. Smithy seemed to have completely disappeared. Bored, Elias turned his attention to the group of seven, where Mack was currently telling of his defeat against Mario. “…bounced on my head thirteen times in a row! Can you believe that such a fat plumber can be so good at bouncing? I mean, I could do it easily, but that’s because I was built to bounce. But anyways, after Mario was finally done, I launched a wall of fire at him and his Nimbian friend, but the Nimbian launched a bolt of lightning out of nowhere at me! How am I-“
Elias sneered and interrupted the pogo-sword. “May I ask how many times you’ve recited that wretched story about how you heroically got beaten by Mario while you’ve been dead?”
Yaridovich drew his spear and replied, “Hey, at least my buddy here doesn’t go through ten personality swings a day. Are you a schizophrenic or something?”
“No, I do not have schizophrenia, which has nothing to do with multiple personalities. Nor do I have what you’re thinking of. Nor should you think pointing that thing at me is a good idea, considering that I could kill all of you with a mere thought.”
“It took you two battles to defeat him, and even then, you didn’t ‘kill with a mere thought’. You may have earned Jiyin’s favor, but don’t expect the same from us. It’s only Jiyin that’s keeping us from earning some brownie points by destroying you.”
“Feh. As if you seven— oh, yeah, Bowyer makes eight— could defeat me without ambush or trickery. In case you forgot, it was my combat skills that earned me Jiyin’s favor. And I know that none of you survived even one battle with Mario.”
Axem Green beat Yaridovich to the reply. “But when we fought Mario, he had allies with him.
Axem Yellow added, “Including that spirit Geno.”
Axem Black stepped in and said, “You know, the one who defeated you?”
A loud, angry voice stopped Elias from retorting. “Shut up, you idiots! It doesn’t matter who can defeat who within this group!”
While the other two Rangers shouted that Elias started it, the reaper meekly muttered, “Sorry, Master.”
Jiyin smirked behind his mask. “I doubt you’ll ever be sorry for anything, Elias. But anyways, I’m sure you all want to know how Geno and his allies are progressing.”
Finally, thought Elias as his master went on.
“Geno has entered the Shrine of the Four Horsemen and is currently battling the guardians as we speak. As soon as the guardians fall, Geno’s group will unwittingly grant us access into Plit, where we will send out our armies to destroy all life on the planet. And while on Plit, I will not tolerate your petty squabbling. Elias, you will enter Plit ahead of us and will be given the task of eliminating Geno with the help of a special agent who has been stationed on Plit since the beginning of the invasion. The rest of you, including Smithy and the Omega Wraith, will fly down on the ship in a completely different area. After defeating Geno, Elias will rendezvous with us at the town of Rogueport. Any questions?”
Elias asked, “Okay, how are we supposed to know where Geno is? And how am I expected to defeat Geno?”
“I have a spy stationed within the group, and trust me when I say you can beat Geno. Any more?”
Axem Red stepped up. “What if Geno’s friends can’t beat the guardians?”
“Trust me, they will defeat the guardians. Any more… No?” Okay then, we will wait until Geno removes the barriers. Ah, here is our special agent now. Tell me, has the mission gone well thus far?”
The newcomer, having everyone’s attention on him, looked around nervously before saying, “Um, for the most part, yes. I had come close to securing the artifact twice, but a thief defeated both Bahamut and Juggernaut. Thankfully, I still have Leviathan and Harpuia left. They are currently searching for Geno and are ready to kill him on the spot.”
“That is good, but I now have another mission for you. Call off your creatures, as I don’t want Harpuia to get into Elias’s way. Accompany Elias down to Plit when he goes, and find a way to separate Geno from the rest of the group. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, I got it, Slick… I mean, ’Master’.”
~~~
Mallow dodged a ball of fire, War close behind. His mind was too frantic to really grasp what he should do. All that was currently running through his mind was Geno’s dead! He also acknowledged the fact that there was a deadly monster currently trying to kill him, and that not letting it would be a good idea. The Horseman created a giant wall of fire right in front of Mallow, forcing him to skid to a halt. Two fireballs flew from the lower head, nearly scorching Mallow. The Nimbian turned and ran the other way while War went over and drew its sword out of the ground. Mallow narrowly dodged the subsequent swipe and finally thought up a possible solution. Before the Horseman could attack again, Mallow unleashed a perfectly aimed Shocker, distracting the monster.
Mallow ran towards Geno and began charging up another spell, but found himself on the ground following an unexpected volley of fire. Undeterred, he simply got up, ran a bit more, and shouted, “Life Rain!”
A snow-white cloud floated over to Geno, unaffected by the flames launched at it, and rained down on Geno’s limp body. Mallow had no time to see what happened, though. War slashed again with the claymore, which Mallow ducked. He turned and ran again, hoping that the Life Rain had worked. He looked back and, to his horror, saw several dozen fireballs were about to be launched at him. He attempted to neutralize the attack with a Shocker and a Star Rain in quick succession, but failed miserably. Moments after the Star Rain, the flames lanced at him with incredible velocity well before he could try another attack. He thought for sure he was dead until he heard a voice shout, “GENO BARRIER!”
A light blue barrier appeared around Mallow, shielding him from the fire. As soon as the last fireball dissipated, the shield lowered. Mallow looked around and, upon spotting a certain blue-robed doll, shouted, “Geno!”
The spirit looked over at him and said, “Thanks for reviving me. But, seeing as War is about to use another Fireblast on me, I think you should begin charging up a Snowy.”
Mallow looked back over at the Horseman. It had its hand up and had created another geyser of flame, which was collecting into a ball. He didn’t understand what Geno was thinking, but, nevertheless, he began charging up a massive ice attack. The room temperature plummeted to well below freezing as snowflakes began falling from who-knows-where. As soon as the ball of fire stopped growing, Geno nodded to the Nimbian prince while casting a spell on himself. Mallow shouted, “Snowy!”
A gigantic snowman suddenly appeared, completely enveloping the ball of fire in its frosty girth. The snowman blinked before dissipating, revealing a frozen mass of ice where War’s attack once was. Before it could fall or be smashed by the Horseman, Geno had leapt up to it and tossed it at the monster’s head with as much force as he could muster. He followed up the toss by launching both of his fists at the ice ball, increasing its velocity. It slammed into War between the two heads and knocked it onto its back, with the frozen fireball coming to a rest on top of the upper head. The lower head roared as its counterpart died, and the entire body went into spasms. Geno avoided the lashing tail as he made his way over to Mallow to watch War’s death throes and wait for the door to open. After a couple minutes, the spasms ended and one of the doors opened silently. Geno and Mallow went through to find a small, square-shaped switch on the ground. Geno stepped on it. The switch sank into the stone surrounding it, and the door the pair had entered to reach the Horseman was opened again. They went back to the first underground room, only to find the other three doors locked, forcing them to simply wait for their comrades to return.
~~~
Johnny glared as Pestilence lifted its hammer to reveal an unconscious Bobbery. Snarling, he said, “Yar, you’ll be payin’ for that one, ye will! Torrent!”
A vortex of water seemingly streamed out of the wall and slammed into the Horseman while water fell from the ceiling, flooding the room. A second eddy formed, this one pulling Pestilence down into the ground with enough force to knock out a Reznor before changing direction and slamming the monolithic beast into the ceiling. In an instant, the water completely drained away, leaving Pestilence to fall to the ground, writhing in pain. Johnny pointed his fin and released a pink cone that sapped the beast’s strength. As Pestilence struggled back onto its feet, Johnny ran towards the fallen Bob-omb while firing a light blue beam in his direction. Water began materializing around Bobbery. Once he reached the puddle, Johnny dipped one fin in and muttered, “Osmosis.”
He quickly pulled his fin back and watched as the senseless body absorbed the liquid. Johnny looked over at the Horseman and saw it was almost ready to fight again. Bobbery groaned and muttered something about a drinking binge. Johnny glared and said, “Yar, snap out of it! Be ready to move!”
Bobbery stood and shook his head. “Sorry about that, ol’ chap. Distract that brute.”
Johnny nodded and dashed off to the left, firing another Mega Drain. He snarled as Pestilence went after his comrade instead. Preparing another massive attack, Johnny watched Bobbery dodge the hammer’s fall… and jump onto it. The aging bomb ran up the arm as quickly possible, fuse lit. Before he could reach the shoulder, however, the creature flailed its arm wildly in attempt. All Johnny could do was watch in horror as his friend struggled to stay on the arm. When the arm stopped moving a few seconds later, Bobbery was still aboard, defying all logic. The Bob-omb continued his ascent towards the head. He quickly reached the shoulder and climbed the beast’s olive-colored mane. Johnny broke out of his trance as the beast launched a green-gray blast at him. He dove over it and stayed down as the ball reversed direction and shot back at the Horseman. Johnny looked up and saw Pestilence quickly approaching, hammer in both hands. Johnny realized he had no chance of avoiding the imminent blow… before realizing that Bobbery was standing right in between the humanoid head’s eyes. Less than a second later, a gargantuan explosion erupted, effectively blinding Pestilence. Johnny took advantage of his opportunity and blasted his foe with another Torrent.
Once the drenching was finished, the Horseman lay on its side, gasping for air. Bobbery began running towards the upper head, ready to explode once again. He didn’t stop at the head, however; he ran inside of the mouth. Johnny ran after him, horrified at what his friend was doing. A few seconds later, a blast emanated from the neck area, completely ripping the head off and sending it flying across the chamber. The beast twitched once before dying. Bobbery emerged from the neck and muttered, “Well, that was pleasant.”
Johnny just shook his head and said, “Let’s go. Thar be a switch waitin’ for us.”
Bobbery nodded and followed his friend to the now-open door. Silently, they pressed the switch and headed back to wait with Geno and Mallow.
~~~
The current Koopa King stared at the screen as the Lakitu finished his presentation. The screen showed a picture of the moon. The normally gray surface was pockmarked with clusters of light blue. Dead center was what appeared to be some sort of ominous, high-tech factory. Even the simplest-minded Koopas could probably figure out that that was not normal… not that he’d bet on it or anything. He turned to the head Lakitu just as the cloud-riding Koopa finished. Ludwig stood up and said, “So, let me get zis straight. You’re saying zat ze “Star Road” has somehow fused viz ze moon, which has caused zose blue areas on ze surface. Zose factories vere being created shortly before ze fusion. More importantly, zose strange creazures zat attacked us during zat battle viz ze Mushroom Kingdom and her allies have been spotted around ze moon, as has a large ship, similar to ze one our scouts reported crashed around Land’s End. And ze factories have been producing machines used during ze Smithy invasion. I am correct?”
The Lakitu nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Ludwig nodded grimly. After a few seconds, he said, “Alert all of our generals. Have them pull all of zeir forces back to ze Koopa Kingdom, regardless of who zeir fighting at ze moment. Have zem prepare all of zeir ozier troops for battle. Establish seven sectors for my siblings and Kamek to defend individually— effectively, mind you. Bring the castle up to full security. Set up scouts all over ze kingdom, as vell as ze lands ve have conquered. Have zem vatch for anyzing unvorldly. Zat is all.”
~~~
Death may have been missing an eye, but it was still just as powerful as before. It launched a series of small scythes at Luigi and Vivian. The Siren simply sank into the ground, while Luigi jumped and weaved through them. The plumber charged, leapt up at the dragon head again, and unleashed another Thunderhand. This one did virtually no damage, as it was not enhanced by Vivian’s magic. Death reacted by attempting to slice at Luigi, but only managed to smack him with the staff of the scythe. It was still enough to launch the plumber into the far wall. Luigi stood up, dazed and confused. He noticed Vivian concentrating on creating a flaming aura around him. He shook off the confusion and pulled out a Fire Flower from the ship. He gripped it tightly while Vivian dodged a barrage of blades. As soon as he felt the Flower crumble into dust, he lifted his hand and launched a pair of fireballs. They flew straight at the beast, empowered by Vivian’s magic, and struck the lower head’s uninjured eye.
Death roared in pain and swiped at the aggravating plumber, intent on slicing him in two, and launched another group of sickles at Vivian to prevent her from aiding Luigi. Luigi jumped as the blade drew near, and landed right on top of it. He rode it for a few seconds before it turned upside down on him, dropping several dozen feet to the hard, brick floor. He gasped in pain as his arm shattered upon impact. Grunting, he reached into his pack and pulled out an Ultra Mushroom. He ate it, restoring his energy but doing zilch for his arm. He slowly rose and watched as Vivian attempted to battle the behemoth alone. She was nearly impossible for it to hit, but her fire attacks were virtually useless against it. Luigi began charging another Thunderhand as he ran at the monstrosity… who didn’t even notice him. Vivian, however, did, and began charging Luigi for another powerful blast. As he leapt, Luigi called out, “Hey-a there!”
Death turned both of its heads to the new threat and roared, bringing its scythe around to cleave Luigi. Luigi reached the dragon head for the third time and unleashed the annihilating blast of fire and lightning once more. This time, the surge of energy was enough to kill the lower head, but also drained all of Luigi’s energy, leaving him unconscious. Death teetered to one side for a couple of seconds before falling on its side, causing a door to open. Vivian glided over to where Luigi was lying, reached into his pack, pulled out a Life Shroom, and jammed into his mouth. The spicy fungus jolted Luigi awake. Fanning his tongue, he turned to the shadow girl and muttered, “Thanks.”
Vivian nodded and replied, “How’s your arm?”
Luigi grimaced. “It’s-a broken.”
“Oh… I’m sorry…”
“Hey-a, come on, you did nothing-a wrong! Let’s-a go press that switch.”
Vivian smiled and followed the plumber into the next chamber. A minute later, they were back in the central room, with four of their companions.
~~~
Popple sat back in a lounge chair, Kero Kero Cola in hand, as Rookie and Scissors Dude battled Famine. His relaxation was quickly brought to a halt by Rookie tossing a bomb at him, blasting the chair into shrapnel. Popple stood angrily, shook his head, and shouted, “HEY! What gives? I was relaxing, see?”
Rookie just pointed at the behemoth. Popple’s frown gave way to a sheepish grin. “Oh yeah. That thing. RANDOM BAG OBJECT!”
A single 1” nail flew out and bounced off of Famine’s scaly armor. Famine fired a single arrow at the thief, creating a large crater where the thief had just been and disappearing into oblivion. As Popple ran around wildly, Scissors Dude calmly walked up to Rookie and said in his overly mechanical voice, “Sir. My blade has very little affect upon this creature, as do your and Popple’s bombs. I calculate our odds of winning to be approximately .05% with-“
Rookie dodged an arrow and shouted, “Shut up and follow me! I have an idea.”
“Acknowledged.”
The Sackit and robot ran to Popple’s general location. Rookie stopped and pegged the head thief with another bomb. Popple looked over angrily and shouted, “NOW WHAT?”
“Follow me!”
Popple ran to where Rookie and Scissors Dude were hanging around one of Famine’s hind legs. Rookie turned and said, “I’m going to impale it with its own arrow.”
“Now how’re you gonna do that? Its back is about 30 feet above the ground, see? And even if-“
“Just shut up and listen to me!”
“Fine.”
“Scissors Dude, stand over there,” Rookie instructed, pointing to a space near the other back leg.
“Acknowledged.”
“Popple, go stand on his shoulders. Scissors Guy, don’t let him fall.”
“Acknowledged.”
Popple turned as if he were going to say something, but decided to shut up for once and did as instructed. Once he was in position, Rookie ran to them and jumped on Popple’s shoulders. Popple latched onto his legs. Rookie drew a pair of daggers nodded. “Okay, Scissors Dude, jump as high as possible and throw Popple at the high point of your jump. Popple, throw me before you begin falling. Hopefully, I’ll be high enough to climb up.”
“Acknowledged.”
“This is never gonna work, yes?”
Scissors Dude shot up about fifteen feet at incredible velocity before hurling the thieves above him. From there, Popple chucked Rookie straight at Famine, prompting the smaller thief to jab the dirks in between the beast’s scales and begin climbing. He quickly reached the top and ran across the creature’s back towards the quiver. Famine, oblivious to the Sackit’s presence upon its back, gathered white energy in one hand and launched it at Popple, who was still recovering from the fall. The blast struck Popple, leaving him shriveled and weak, but otherwise unharmed. The thief growled and took a bomb out of his bag, only to nearly drop it. He reached for it, but found it inexplicably too heavy to lift. He had no time to think about it as an arrow flew toward him at high velocity. He dodged easily, but the impact was powerful enough to launch him into the far wall, as though he weighed no more than a feather. He tore his agonized body out of the stone and collapsed onto his knees, groaning. Ignoring the pain and weakness that had recently entered his body, he looked up and watched Rookie work.
The Sackit grimaced as he pulled the large arrow with all of his strength. It was tedious, but he was slowly pulling the heavy projectile out of the quiver. He squinted in pain as he gave another tug, moving the arrow a few more inches. He shifted his grip and repeated the motion, making slow progress for several minutes while Scissors Guy and Popple dodged Famine’s weakening shots and arrows. Luckily, Famine didn’t select Rookie’s chosen missile to fire, and the thief removed the arrow with one final tug, sending both thief and arrow crashing to the ground. The Sackit got up and motioned for Scissors Guy to come over. The robot dashed at full speed over to the arrow. “Yes, Sir?”
“Help me throw this thing at him.”
“Acknowledged.”
Scissors Guy reached down and, with seemingly no effort, lifted the arrow and held it over his shoulder like a football. He turned to Rookie and asked, “Where shall I aim?”
A panicked scream answered, “Anywhere! Just save meeeeeeeeee!”
Rookie looked over and saw Popple collapsed from the effects of another energy blast and Famine looming over him, bow trained on him and arm reaching up to grab another arrow. Before it could do so, another arrow flew at him, piercing him on one side and poking out from the other. Famine roared in pain as he stumbled to the side, nearly trampling Popple and crashing into the far wall. Debris fell from the stone as the Horseman stumbled off the other way— straight at Rookie and Scissors Guy. The two tried to run out of the way, but the roaring creature fell in their general direction. Rookie dove out of the way at the last second, narrowly escaping a fate as a pancake. The robot was not as lucky. Famine fell right on him, crushing him instantly. Several yellowish balls of light erupted from the spot he had been at and coalesced in front of Rookie, forming Scissors Guy’s head-scissors. He took them and looked at where Famine was struggling in vain to get back on its feet, unable to do so with the giant arrow lodged in its side. The thief suddenly erupted, shouting, “I finally get someone to boss around, and he dies before the end of the chapter!”
Popple clambered over the top of the struggling, bellowing beast, inquiring, “Chapter?”
“Um… Nothing. Never mind.”
Popple reached his apprentice and looked at Famine, who was still struggling to right itself, although not as viciously as before. He pulled his lounge chair out of his bag and sat back, commenting, “This thing is going to take a while to croak, yes? I think I’ll take this time to relax.”
“Boss?”
“Yes?”
“Where did you get that chair?”
Popple turned and glared at him. “It doesn’t matter, yes?”
“Um… Yes?”
“Very good. Now let me sleep.”
As Popple dozed off, Rookie put the scissors into his bag and sat down to wait for the beast’s life to end. Famine slowly stopped struggling; its roars slowly became whimpers, and, after almost an hour, it stopped breathing. A nearby door slid open, waking Popple. The two thieves entered the room and stepped on the switch in silence. They turned back and walked across the room that had housed the Horseman. As they approached the door, Popple commented, “Ya know, as thieves, we are more talented than any of those other schmucks, yes? I’ll bet we are the first group to be done.”
He opened the door to see all six of his companions waiting for him, with only Geno being awake. The blue-robed doll looked at them and said, “Let me guess. You guys couldn’t find a way to kill your Horseman.”
“Yeah, pretty… Wait, how did you know we fought something?”
“Because we all did. Was it pale gray with a bow and arrow?”
“Um… Yes?”
“That was Famine you fought. If he hit you with any of his blasts, your strength will have returned. Although you probably noticed that.”
Popple reached into his bag and pulled out a bomb with ease. Grinning, he said, “Looks like it, see? But… now what do we do?”
“If that spirit was correct, then the hero’s tomb would have opened to reveal the artifact. We have to go secure it and make sure no one can get to it. I think I’ll store it in Star Haven.”
“Star Haven?
“The area of Star Road that I reside in. Well, everyone,” Geno said, raising his voice a bit so his sleeping comrades would awaken, “the thieves are finally back. Let’s go get that artifact.”
The entire group, some more awake than others, made their way back up the ladder, entering the main chamber once again. As Popple reached the top, the pedestal slid back into place and sealed itself with a bright red flash. The group approached the now-open sarcophagus and looked in to see a small, circular switch. After a few seconds of Geno doing nothing, Popple said, “Uh… Maybe if we step on that switch, the artifact will magically appear out of nowhere?”
Geno frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know. This doesn’t seem right.”
Rookie turned towards him and asked, “What’s the worst that could happen?”
Popple threw a mortified look at his apprentice. “What are you trying to do, invoke Murphy’s Law?!”
“… Murphy’s Law?”
“You know, Whatever can’t go wrong, will go wrong.”
It was Rookie’s turn to look horrified. “You actually BELIEVE that?!”
“It’s real, yes?!”
Johnny, growing annoyed by the thieves’ bickering, growled and slashed his trident in between them. “Yar, shut up!”
As soon as the commotion died and Johnny brought his spear back, Geno nodded as though he had made a decision. Slowly, he stepped into the coffin and pressed down the switch. As the switch sunk into the stone, a blast of yellow lightning shot up, throwing the entire group back and blasting a hole through the ceiling. The electrical beam slowly expanded, forcing them to exit amid the falling debris. They watched as the beam, which stretched up to the sky, enveloped the shrine. After a few seconds, the beam died and a gold flash crossed the sky. Geno broke out of his transfixion first and looked at where the shrine had once stood. All that remained was a square of blackened sandstone, a suit of armor, and a sword. Behind them, Dave called out, “What the **** was THAT?!”
~~~
Jiyin, watching from the bow of the Hammerhead, grinned behind his mask. He turned to where two figures were standing and said, “The time has come. Descend, and begin the destruction of Plit.”
To Be Continued...
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