A/N This isn't a crossover with any specific Evil Dead movie, but rather the character of Ash. Enjoy.
Chapter 6
Hail To The King
Death Valley
Demon Dimension H
A sound was building. Like a living wind. A thousand screams in agony. From the blackness, gusts of smoke pulled together quickly making all natural sounds from the forest die out, and the autumn colors in the trees to fade to a gloomy gray. Outside, clouds rolled in from the east as thunder boomed in the distance, and the wind picked up, as it began to rain.
Blood red clouds swept past the moon as a section of ground deep within the woods began to crack, and open. Smoke seeped out from within, as if some evil force was now being unleashed.
A man stood at the edge of the woods sweating, bloody, dirty, and clutching a double barrel shotgun in his hand. He was in his late thirties, with a square jaw firmly set and a pair of haunted eyes which darted about quickly in fear.
'Come on...come on...' he chanted to himself as his fingers thrummed the base of his weapon.
Suddenly blackbirds started to fly from a barren tree, as something moved in the darkness. It prowled, skimming the surface of the ground, moving swiftly past rocks and over the crest of a hill revealing... a ten foot tall ogre. With drooling fangs, that dripped onto his coal black skin, his single yellow eye roamed down until he was looking at the smaller man.
"Did you really think that you could run from my lord, Astiwad, Ash?" the demon asked, his voice echoing throughout the valley.
"The thought crossed my mind." Ash said as he chambered a round.
"Insulant fool. Your death will be pleasing to my dark lord."
"Well then let's rock baby!" Ash yelled out, as the ogre threw a chained mace at him. Dodging out of the way the huge spiked ball hit a tree, sending up an explosion of wood and a shower of saw dust.
Coming up out of his roll, he tried to aim the rifle only for the ogre to run at him lightning fast. Snatching Ash off of the ground, the ogre held him in a vice like grip as he smiled at him.
"You're mine." it said as it opened his mouth to eat him.
"That sound's like pillow talk baby." Ash joked, as he managed to lift up his shotgun. "Say hello to Mr. boomstick."
"Wha..." was the last thing the ogre managed to get out as Ash squeezed the trigger, shooting him in the eye. As the blood covered his face, the beast let out a agonizing cry before it began to fall over. Getting out of it's grasp in time, Ash fell to the ground and quickly stood up, letting out a wince as it did so.
"Another day..." he started as he twirled the shotgun about western style: whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... and holstered it. "another demon." At least I kept that damn demon out of the village. Now finally Astiwad'll leave me the hell alone.
As he was about to walk off a loud boom sounded off in the distance. Looking up, he saw smoke billowing up from deep in the valley. Taking off in a run he scooped up his chainsaw with his guantlet hand, strapped it to his back, and ran towards the screams.
As he arrived in the small village, he heard and saw the villagers running about and screaming. All of their houses were on fire and the sick stench of roasted flesh filled the air. Seeing an elderly man running past him, he reached out and grabbed him by the arm.
"Luther what the hell is going on?"
"I am!" a voice grumbled from behind him. As he looked up to the sky, as it rumbled and crackled with lightning, a fiery visage of a demon filled the air. "You will never escape from my wrath. The book of..."
"The Dead is destroyed." Ash cut him off. "I destroyed that damn thing years ago."
"Pity." Astiwad said as fire started to fill the sky.
"Ash!" he heard a woman's voice yell out.
"Daddy!" another little voice yelled as Ash turned his head. Looking back to a hut, he saw his wife and his daughter standing there looking at him with tears in their eyes. Before he could run to assure them that everything would be alright a rain of fire shot down out of the sky, destroying them and the house.
"No!"
"Yes!" Astiwad said with a smile in his voice. "You were warned." he said as he readied another attack.
Before he could let loose another torrent of fire, someone tackled Ash to the ground, just as Astiwad unleashed his power. Looking beside himself at the figure who had saved him, Ash saw that it was his father in law, Jerod.
"Why?" Ash asked the elderly man. He was ready to finally die so he could be with his wife and child.
"Because there is yet more for you to do son." Jerod said as he reached into his shirt pocket and handed him a folded up piece of paper. Opening it, he saw that it was the last page of the book of the dead. Before Ash could say anything, he heard Jerod mumbling something under his breath, even as a dark portal opened twenty feet beside them.
"Jerod what the hell is going on?"
"That portal will send you to your right time and dimension." the old man replied, as they both stood to their feet. "You must go, quickly."
"You had the power to send me home all this time?" Ash asked more then a little agitated, as he heard the cries of the villagers and the growls of demons that were attacking them.
"Yes, now you must go!" Jerod yelled. Ignoring him Ash retrived his shotgun in order to help the villagers and as he ran forward Jerod pushed him so hard that he fell towards the open gateway.
Standing to his feet Ash saw a demon running up behind the man he had seen as his father for the past eight years. Before he could raise up his gun to fire off a shot he was suddenly sucked up into the portal, Jerod's neck snapping being the last thing he heard of their world.
Inside the portal Ash was swept away, hand over foot, through the dark void of dimensions. A tendril of smoke swirled through blackness as a chorus of women's voices built to an eerie crescendo, from a musical note to a scream. The smoke swirled, pulling in upon itself, until it opened up in another dimension.
Spilling out of the open end of the portal Ash fell to the ground with an audible thump, his double barreled shotgun landing beside him. As the last eight years of his life played throughout his mind, he thought back to all of the things he had lost. With a tear in his eye, he rolled over onto his back and stood to his feet. As he did so he saw the headlights of a car and was nearly run over.
Xander and Jesse had the best time imaginable in their stay in New Orleans. They partied, met some beautiful girls, but what made it so good was that they hadn't run into any trouble. No vampires, no demons, nothing.
As the Impala started to cross a bridge that would take them out of town, Xander's eyes started to get heavy and he closed them for a second. As he opened them they widened as the the car almost rammed into a man standing in the middle of the road. Swerving out of the way, he pumped the brakes and skidded the car to a halt.
"What...what's going on?" Jesse asked, instantly awake as he looked around.
"I almost hit somebody."
"Again?" Jesse asked incredously. "Man what's the matter with you?" he asked as he looked in the side view mirror and saw a man picking up a shotgun. "Xander drive off."
"Why?"
"Just drive..."
"Hey asshole!" the man yelled out in a voice that was familiar to Xander. "Watch where you're going."
"I can't believe this." Xander said stepping out of the car.
"Xander what the hell are you doing?" Jesse asked as his best friend stepped away from the car. "Xander!"
"What are you looking at jackass?" Ash asked as the youth approaching him stared at him up and down. "Don't you know how to drive?"
"Yeah, my uncle Ash taught me when I was five." Xander said as he stared at the man hard.
"Xander?" Ash asked, as he searched his memory of that event. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he gave him a hug.
"I was gonna ask you the same thing." Xander said pulling away from him. "Where have you been? You've been missing for over ten years..."
"Well ummm..." before Ash could come up with a convincing lie they both heard a menacing growl behind them. Turning they saw a demon with long straggly hair and big white eyes running out of the darkness.
Immediately getting into a defensive stance, Xander was about to try to fight the creature off until his uncle calmly stepped in front of him, lifted up his shotgun and blasted it with a deafening shot.
As a fountain of blood squirted out of what was left of the things head, Ash kicked it in the chest sending it toppling over the railing of the bridge and into the murky water below.
"Damn!" Ash cursed to himself. "That was my last bullet."
"Uhhh..."was all Xander could manage to get out as his mouth hung open.
"I can explain." Ash quickly said to his nephew. He tried to think up something fast, anything so that Xander wouldn't think he was crazy.
"Is this gonna be the talk where you tell me demons aren't real?" Xander asked. "Because if so, I have to tell ya I'm a little to old for that lie."
"Is everything okay?" Jesse asked as he ran up to them, shotgun in hand.
"Yeah." Xander said looking back at him. "Just as soon as I get some answers."
Belling's Motel
Stepping freshly out of the shower, wearing some of Xander's clothes Ash finished drying off his hair before throwing his towel on a arm chair. He hadn't had a shower or a decent shave in years and like most people he took that for granted. Sitting down in the chair himself , he looked over at his nephew and the geeky kid he remembered meeting in Sunnydale, and watched as they silently looked at him patiently. Clearing his throat he began his story.
"This all started over ten years ago when me and some friends found the book of the dead."
"The book of the what?" Jesse asked.
"I first saw the damn thing at that blasted cabin in tennessee." Ash continued. "It was an ancient Sumarrian text, bound in human flesh and inked in human blood. It contained bizarre burial rites, prophesies...and instruction for demon resurrection. It was never meant for the world of the living."
"But where have you been all this time?" Xander asked. "You and aunt Cheryl..."
"Your aunt Cheryl is dead." Ash interrupted his diatribe.
"What...I... what got her?" Xander asked calming down a bit. "Was it some kind of demon?"
"No...no." the older man said letting out a breath. "I killed her." before Xander could protest in outrage, Ash explained to him about his sister's possession by an evil spirit and later about what happened to the rest of his friends.
"So that's how you lost your hand?" Jesse asked, as he awkwardly stared at Ash's metal hand. Whenever they had gotten possessed by something in Sunnydale, it was never serious of that magnitude and sometimes it was downright funny. But this...
"It was one of the hardest things, I've ever had to do in my life." he admitted, as he subconsciously rubbed at where his hand used to be. "As for where, I've been after I left from the medevil times and returned home some demons tracked me down. I fought them but too many came and they knocked me out. When I woke up I was in another dimension. I killed off all of those suckers, but I was still stuck in that dimension so I decided to make the best of it. I got married and I had a kid..."
"So where are they?" Xander asked, somehow already knowing the answer. As Ash put his head down, that seemed to confirm everything for him.
"Listen we'll trade more war stories in the morning." Ash said as he stood to his feet. "I'm beat."
"Yeah...yeah definately." Xander said with a yawn himself. With that said they all went to their respective rooms to get some sleep.
Lightning suddenly struck as something outside examined the small motel. Through the outside window, it saw Xander sitting down in his bed, before moving around the place to another window. It then watched the silhouette of Jesse undressing before it continued around and arrived at Ash's window. Inside, he looked at himself in the mirror for a moment, then moved to the window. Remembering something he reached in his shirt pocket and uncrumpled the last page from the book of the dead. Closing his eyes, he placed it back in his shirt and went to bed.
The Next Day
Early Morning
Ash tilted his head back and laughed deep in his throat, as Jesse and Xander told him about their exploits on the hellmouth. For a long time he knew that demons existed, but he didn't know how far people would go to keep the lie of them not being real.
"So you mean to tell me that Xander cast a love spell on the whole town?" Ash asked throughout his laughter.
"Yup."
"Damn, what the hell were you thinking?" he asked his nephew.
"That's not even the funniest part." Jesse continued. "Not only was the whole female population of the whole town after him, but this vampire named Drusilla wanted him too."
"Out of the frying pan and in to the fire." Ash said with another chuckle. "That's Harris luck for you."
"So what do you have planned since you're back?" Xander asked, after a few more minutes of reminiscing.
"Honestly, I don't know."
"Hey why don't you come on our road trip with us?" Jesse suggested.
"Yeah..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa guys." Ash said putting his hands up. "This is your summer vacation. You don't want an old...well not so old guy like me slowing you down."
"You won't be. And it's not like we can't afford it." Xander said taking out a wad of cash.
"Hey where did you get that?" Jesse asked, eyeing the money.
"Let's just say that Shawn wasn't the only one to take money from Tipton." he answered, before turning back to his uncle. "So what do you say?"
"I tell you what." Ash said standing to his feet. "I'll hang out with you guys...well until I find something better." he said looping his arms around Xander and Jesse's shoulders. "Now come on and let's get some breakfast. We'll let Mr. Money Bags over here pay."
The group then spent the whole day out, getting Ash new clothes and getting caught up on world events. And by world events I mean going to the nearest bar and getting plastered. As they finally arrived back at the motel, Ash got out first and looked back at his nephew and his new friend.
"I'll be in, in a minute. I'm just going to get my stuff." after seeing them disappear into the motel, Ash put a grimace on his face as he took two small roses out of his pocket and kneeled down beside the car and put them on the ground. "Morgan, Kathy I wish that the both of you were here." he said with a frustrated sigh as he thought about his dead wife and daughter. "I'm sorry I couldn't save the both of you in time and I wanted Kathy to grow up in my time..."
"And she still can." a voice said startling him. Looking up Ash saw an elderly man standing over him.
"Listen old timer I don't know what..."
"Come now Ash." the old man started. "Don't tell me you don't recognize my voice?"
"Astiwad." he replied standing to his feet.
"In the flesh." Astiwad replied as he held his hands up in a grand gesture. "Well not my flesh, but with your help that can all change." For some reason when he arrived in this dimension his powers increased nearly two fold, almost as if an ancient power source existed in this world. But still without the last page of the book of the dead, he still wouldn't gain his full power.
"I oughta kill you..."
"And risk not getting your wife and daughter back?" he asked making Ash stop walking. "Yes that's right Ash. I can bring your lovely wife and daughter back. All I need you to do is give me the last page of the book of the dead and in return I'll give you back what I took away."
"I...I can't believe I'm about to do this." Ash said reaching into his back pocket. Not taking anything out, he immediately tried to back hand Astiwad with his metallic hand. Before it could make contact however, Astiwad crumbled into dust.
"You made the wrong choice." he heard Astiwad's disemboweled voice say into the wind.
Sensing movement around himself he looked around and saw a few people stepping out of the shadows. A bit unnerved he walked past the rooms to go to his, when a face suddenly appeared in one of the windows, watching him. Ahead of him, a hooker and her client emerged from a room and they both suddenly turned and stared at him.
Running past them he quickly opened the door to his room, but before he walked inside he looked back at the crowd coming out of the shadows. As he did so he saw that the crowd, weren't people at all but rather demons. Demons of all shapes and sizes as a matter of fact.
Eyes widening Ash lunged at the door, slamming it shut, locking the approaching mob of demons outside. Breathing heavily he leaned against the door with all his force.
"What's going on?" Xander asked as he and Jesse ran into the room.
"Get your stuff ready." Ash said as the demons started to pounded on the other side of the door. "We gotta get out of here."
Giving Jesse a look, Xander ran in the other room to get their stuff. Moving over to the side, Ash gave Jesse just enough room to help him lean up against the door.
"How many demons are there?" Jesse asked, as he heard them growling.
"To many to count and it looks like he even has some control over a few humans."
"He?" Jesse asked. Before he could get an answer Xander ran back into the room carrying their bags.
"Alright I got all of our stuff." Xander started as he dropped the bags on the floor. "But how the hell are we gonna get out of here. We don't have any weapons."
"We have one." Ash said spotting his chainsaw on the couch.
Stepping away from the door he took off his metallic hand and inserted the stump of his right arm into the female end of his chainsaw arm bracket. After hearing a noise he twisted his stump and the chainsaw bracket locked into place, with a soft clicking sound. After hearing that noise he thrusted his chainsaw arm outward, pulling on the starter cord; that made a loud putt...putt...putt noise but the engine wouldn't turn over. Cursing himself he yanked on the cord again. Still not having and luck he was about to pull it again until the pounding on the door suddenly stopped.
"They're...they're gone." Jesse said as he nervously looked out of the window.
"I still say that we should get out of here." and as soon as those words left Ash's mouth they all heard a strange scratching noise. Like someone dragging something.
"What's that noise?" Xander asked as he looked about the room.
"I think it's coming from the..." caught off guard they watched as a blade popped out through the floor, followed by a half-rotten human head. Just the eyes were above the surface of the floor board and they darted about wildly and halted upon Ash. As it sat up more worms crawled from the things rotted forehead and fell to the floor.
One of the zombies arms ripped through the floor and grabbed Ash's leg as he tried to back away. The corpse that was once a serial killer then pulled itself from the grave and emitted a wail, as his other arm came up still holding onto the axe. Letting go of Ash's leg. he turned his body and got up and out of the floor.
With a sharp recoil, then spring, the killer made a lunge at Ash, his face contorting, teeth lengthening, mouth opening impossibly wide as though he were going to swallow Ash's head, and all as he lunged forward.
Trying the cord one more time the motor of the chainsaw kicked to life. Raising his arm up, Ash caught the zombie through the stomach with the blade causing bits on bone, flesh, and blood to splatter on the wall. With a scream, Ash kicked the demon off the end of the saw and as it fell down to it's knee's he lobbed off his head.
"Let's move!" Ash yelled as Xander and Jesse grabbed their bags. Opening up the door the three cautiously stepped out of the building and looked around.
"The coast is clear." Xander said as he and the others ran for the safety of the car. As they all got in, Xander flicked on the headlights and they all gasped at the huge horde of demons that now stood thirty feet in front of the car.
As the mob, followed by a shadowed Astiwad, approached the car, Xander put it in reverse, screeching the tires as he pulled away. Astiwad only watched them go with a sinister smile on his face.
Even Later That Night
Xander drove the car off the road near a gas station where the team checked out the people there.
"Do you think this place is safe?" Jesse asked as he stepped out of the car and looked around. So far everything looked normal and nobody looked possessed.
"I don't know, but there's a whole lotta people here for my tastes." Ash told him.
"Well, it's better than the last couple of places we've been too." Xander said as he went to the gas pump, put in a credit card and started to pump some gas. "And we won't make it out of the city without any gas so we better hurry up."
"Soccer mom, 12 o'clock!" Jesse yelled out as he pointed over Ash's shoulder.
A woman then swung a huge wrench at Ash, but he dodged and punched her down. A man dressed in camouflage ran up behind Jesse with a broken bottle and as he jabbed it at him Jesse barely was able to move out of the way even as he punched the bigger man down.
"Guy's the car's full come on." Xander warned, even as more people came out of the shadows.
Jumping back into the car, Xander put the car in gear and drove off just as the man with a wrench reached the car. The man rolled off of the hood of the car and fell to the ground as they drove off so fast the tires screeched. As they drove down the highway two police cars followed them with sirens blaring. The man with the wrench then sat up and watched them go, laughing in Astiwad's voice.
After driving nearly ten minutes Xander pulled the car off to the side of the road and stopped the car in a wooded clearing. Just as he stopped the car and turned off the lights, two squad cars zoomed by where they were.
"Good we managed to ditch them." Ash said as he got out of the car.
"Now that we don't have to worry about them tell us what's going on." Xander said as he walked up to his uncle.
"What makes you think I know what's going on?" Ash asked, causing Xander to give him a look. Blowing out a sigh, Ash leaned up against the car before he started talking. "We'll set up camp here. Once we build a fire I'll tell you what I know."
As the group located some wood, they all sat around the bonfire they had made and looked at Ash expectantly.
"That demon from the other dimension is here." Ash started as he put his hands near the fire. "Right before I came into the motel earlier Astiwad approached me."
"What did he want?" Jesse asked.
"A trade, He said that he would give me back my child and my wife in exchange for this." he said reaching into his pocket and taking out the final page of the book of the dead.
"I thought you said they were dead?" Xander asked.
"They are, but with this..." Ash said looking down at the ancient parchment. "They could be brought back to life. But if Astiwad get's his hands on this and rises to power..."
"It'll be game over." Jesse finished for him.
"Well I'm going to go back to the car, get my cellphone and call Giles." Xander said standing to his feet and walking off. "Maybe he'll know what to do."
As he left a sudden gust of wind whipped up the flames of the fire, as wolves in the distance began to snarl and fight. Hearing footsteps Ash and Jesse turned to see an old woman, wearing a robe coming out of the shadows.
Seeing that she was standing too close to the fire, Ash was about to warn her until her robe caught on fire. Paying it no mind the flames sweeped up her body as she continued to walked towards them as if nothing were going on.
Slowly standing to their feet, the burning woman spun sharply at them and spoke in a horribly shrieked voice.
"YOU SHALL ALL DIE!" she yelled out as her eyes turned bone white. Her burning body then violently jerked about in the air by invisible hands. Her blackened lips pulled back in a wild animal snarl. With two voices at once she spoke again. "YOU SHALL NEVER WIN THIS BATTLE. WE SHALL FEAST UPON YOUR SOUL, AND THEN THE SOUL OF MAN!" with that said she collapsed to the ground, still burning. Her face turned away from them as it layed in the mud.
"Well that was one hell of a message." Ash said as he looked over at Jesse.
Unseen by them, her bone white eyes flared open as a nasty grin formed on her face as she laid still.
"Do you think she's dead?" Jesse asked as he kneeled and reaches for her. Suddenly Ash's hand clutched Jesse's, not allowing him to touch her.
"It's a trick. Get my chainsaw." hearing him say that the possessed woman awakened from her false slumber with a terrible bark of laughter. In a frenzy she hurled Jesse into the bonfire, making him scream and roll in the mud, extinguishing the flames.
As it jumped into the air, lunging for Ash, a shotgun blast suddenly filled the night knocking her down into the fire. As she stood up in it, Xander cocked the gun slide back, aimed at her head and literally blew her brains out.
"You guy's okay?" Xander asked as he ran back towards them.
"My clothes are just a little bit crispy." Jesse said standing up, glad that he wasn't burnt. "But I'll live."
"What did your friend say?" Ash asked as they silently walked towards the car.
"He said that Astiwad is the lord over darkness. He has the power to tap into a certain person's dark side and use them."
"So that's how he got those people at the hotel and the gas stations under his control." Ash said aloud.
"But that's not all that he said." Xander went on. "He said that if Astiwad becomes corporeal that he'll..."
"Take over the world." a voice said from the shadows.Looking up the gang saw a robed Astiwad and a band of thirty of his deciples, both human and demon, stepping from behind a group of trees.
"It looks like it's time for the big fight scene." Jesse loosely commented, as Xander tossed him a sword from the trunk he had left open.
"It looks like." Astiwad said as they all charged each other.
Ash elbowed a demon in the face, before moving on to his next opponent. As Jesse turned around to kill another demon, a man suddenly walked up to him and pressed a gun to his head.
"Xander!" Xander heard Jesse yell out.
Looking over his shoulder Xander saw what was going on and fought off the people attacking him while he tried to get to him. Using his sword he slashed through a crowd of demons but someone knocked him down. As he looked up a man pointed a gun in his face.
Seeing that he was about to help his friend, another person knocked Jesse in the head, with the butt of his rifle making him fall limply to the ground. Ash now was the only one still fighting back - he was definitely holding his own against the attackers until he was face-to- face with the demon Astiwad possessed. With a growl Astiwad lifted up a beefy hand and knocked Ash twenty feet across the wood. Clearing the cobwebs out of his head, when Ash looked up he saw Astiwad standing over him with a sword.
"The road ends here, Ash." Astiwad said as he raised the sword to his neck. "Now give me the text or he dies." he said pointing the sword over at Xander, of whom was being held down on his knees by a group of demons, along side Jesse.
"You son of a..."
"Ahh, ahhh, ahhh." Astiwad softly chided. "Just give me the parchment and I'll let all of you live."
"This ain't over between me and you, Ass." Ash said as he handed Astiwad the last piece of the text.
Putting a smile on his face, Astiwad turned around and began reading from the text. Finishing off the spell a huge red vortex opened in front of him.
"Finally!" he yelled out as a fire in his hand consumed the text. "My destiny will be fulfilled."
"I don't think so." Ash said grabbing up his chainsaw as he ran forward and pushed Astiwad into the portal. Giving one final look at his nephew, he jumped in after him.
"Uncle Ash no!" Xander yelled out as he came around and saw what was happening. 'Damnit not again.'
Ash tumbled out of the portal and down into a massive pit. He landed in a steaming pool of foul water at the pit's bottom. Standing to his feet he coughed out a mouthful of the rancid water. As he looked about he saw a shadow disappear into the blackness.
"Come on Astiwad." Ash said as he spun around to a small sound. Nothing. Just the mist rising from the water, making him shift his glance again. "You're not afraid of little ole me are you?"
A shadow suddenly rounded a corner and disappeared from sight. Ash didn't notice the misty water behind him beginning to stir. Bubbles. A hand then emerged. Silently, a pair of bone white eyes broke the surface. Hearing water dripping Ash spun around but there was nothing there. As he turned back around, he saw Astiwad standing right in front of him. The demon's rotted corpse rocketed up from the water inches from Ash's face, even as the putrid water drained from it's empty eye sockets and mouth.
"Ooooo..." Ash screamed out as he backed up against the steep rock wall of the pit. Looking up he saw his chainsaw on the edge of the pit top. He tried to scale the steep face and as he got one foot up, Astiwad clutched his ankle and yanked him back down, his arms flailing.
Before Ash could sit up the demon grabbed him and began hammering him with his rotted fists. Opening up his eyes Ash was just in time to see the demon punch him in the face again. Letting him go he was knocked back into the shallow pool of steaming water.
"Come now Ash." Astiwad said as he raced toward him, leaped into the air and came down with a knee drop onto Ash's stomach, making him cry out in pain. "Show me what you're really made of." with that said Ash crossed his legs to form a scissor lock around the demons throat. Using the reserves of his strength he flipped the beast over.
Getting to his feet the now bloody Ash was grabbed by the throat and was thrown against the rock wall of the pit. As Astiwad advanced on him, Ash's head jolted backward, barely avoiding the beast's wild swing. Feeling sunlight being reflected on his face Ash squinted to discern an object falling at him through the glare above. His eyes widening in surprise he saw that it was his chainsaw tumbling downward. Blinding beams of sunlight bouncing off its blade of steel. Ash's Excalibur!
Summoning the last of his strength Ash leaped upward, his teeth gritted, every muscle straining, he managed to snag the chainsaw, locking in onto his wrist bracket. Ash with his chainsaw landed on his feet, in the path of the approaching beast.
"Come on, you blasted piece of..." he said to himself as he thrusted out his chainsaw arm, yanking the starter cord and... VERRROOOOOOM!!
Not caring Astiwad lunged at Ash, his bladed weapon meeting him with a loud Buzzzzz, that cut off Astiwad's hand. Ash was splattered with black bile as he effieiently cut off his hand. The severed hand then flew upward, past the face of the bewildered beast, making Astiwad tremble with anger.
"Look what you've done to me! I was to be perfect in this world!" the demon yelled out.
"With a face like that?" Ash asked as he raised the chainsaw blade and neatly bisected the falling demon hand. Catching him off guard he spun and with a roundhouse blow... Ash decapitated Astiwad. "There's no way you could be perfect."
'Rest in peace Morgan and Kathy.' he thought to himself as the last remnants of the demon king sank beneath the murky waters of the pit. Letting out a deep breath Ash climbed the steep wall of the pit and out towards the glowing vortex.
"Our master will soon come and take both of your soul's." a tall black demon was saying as he had Jesse and Xander backlined up on their knees in front of him. He paced in front of them angrily as his people pointed guns at their captives. "And when that happens..." before he could say anything else a wave of magic passed through him and the other cult members.
"What's, what's going on?" Jesse asked as they all looked as if they were about to pass out. Before Xander could answer the lead demon looked over at them angrily with red glowing eyes.
"Hey buddy." he said with a new york accent. "What the hell are ya on your knees for?" it asked as it reached under it's robe and pulled out a huge knife, cutting off Xander and Jesse's bonds.
"Ummm thanks." Xander said ackwardly as he and Jesse stood to their feet, rubbing at their wrists.
"Not a problem." he responded as he looked around. "Hey what the hell am I doing here? One minute I'm sipping on a beer and the next I'm here."
"I have no idea." Jesse told him.
"No big deal." he said hunching up his shoulders. "I'll just follow the rest of those mooks." he said as he saw people with the same kind of robe he was wearing walking out of the woods.
"What was that all about?" Jesse asked as he looked after them.
"I think my uncle won." Xander commented. 'Now where the hell is he?' as if on cue the portal opened once again and Ash slowly walked out of it, sagging down to his knees as it closed behind him.
"Are you okay?" Xander asked as he ran up to him, helping him to his feet.
"Yeah." Ash replied as he spat out a clump of blood. "Now let's get the hell out of here."
The Next Day
The group went back to the hotel and rested for the night. Luckily for them the police were under Astiwad's control at the time, so they didn't have to worry about getting arrested. After getting the rest the needed the three of them got back on the highway.
"So where are we headed to now?" Jesse asked from the back seat.
"Well I think Tennessee is definitely out of the question now." Xander said as he gave his uncle a sideways glance.
"Well where does that leave us?"
"I think we'll try Mississippi." Xander said as he laid his foot down heavily on the gas, going past the now leaving Louisiana sign.
A/N Since Ash's last name is Williams, I made him Xander's uncle on his mother's side.
