Me: Look at that, two chapters in one week!
Mushra: which is a miracle.
Me: lets see you try and keep muse for ONE SINGLE STORY when you're in countless fandoms, mister.
Mushra: I don't have fandoms. Unless fighting counts as one.
Me: Talk to the hand, shorty—
Mushra: I'M NOT A SHORTY ANYMORE
Me: sorry, habit XD Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 9—As The Beast Falls

"Binka, bank left—left! LEFT, BINKA."

Finally catching on to Winter's backseat driving, Binka turned the turtle and they narrowly missed one head, another coming just for them. Heather stood, readying her spear.

"Okay, now!" she called, and leapt from the turtle, just as Binka angled down, smiling despite the sisters yelping behind her.

Binka angled back up, and spun, just slipping between the two necks. And Heather's target was hit, as in her launch from the vehicle, she speared Grandora across one of her eyes, at least blinding her in one. Of course, with the rage that brought, she raced down the neck.

Looking for Binka, she just caught sight of her coming up when she heard a roar in front of her. The middle head was coming straight for her. With a 'yip', she dropped from the neck towards the turtle, causing Grandora to bite one of her necks. The two heads bumped in anger as Heather nearly fell too far, but Jaden and Winter caught her narrowly, and pulled her back in as Binka was back above the heads again, nearly grazing what was left of the ceiling.

The third head was of course busy, as it roared at the fire being blasted at it. Mushra leapt up on the beasts tail after it whipped at him, racing up it with a call of 'Hyper Flame'. Blazing red and rearing, he sliced up the beasts back.

"Mushra, the tail!" Sago called, already Hyper Formed himself. He was doing his best to distract the beast, as nothing but his spinning water disks seemed to be doing enough damage to the beast.

Mushra was knocked almost off the beast as its tail collided with its scratched back. Spinning, he aimed in his fall. "Flaming Vortex!"

Swirling fire burned upon the side of one of the beasts faces, blinding one eye on that head. The head swung back and forth angrily, blasting ice upward, and then down upon the two of them. A small glacier collided with Mushra, taking him down as Sago blocked two smaller ones that flew his way. Wincing, he sent an Aqua Dragon to that heads good eye, leaving it partially blind. He raced for Mushra then, helping the glacier off him and assisting him in standing before they launched back at the beast together.

The other head was being assaulted by rock and earth attacks, many jagged pieces shooting to slice its arm and stomach. Even one of its legs was pierce through with one of Xavier's attacks, leaving it unable to move too far. Xavier was revving another attack, aiming for the stomach.

But just as the shard of rock was nearing Grandora's blue flesh, a white and cold blast hit the center of the rock, blasting it apart.

Ryuma was marching his way towards the battle, determination in his eyes. Xavier stared him down, but didn't move.

"You will not have this day, Ryuma!" Kutaal yelled, and crouching in his hyper form, he pounded his claw down upon the ground. He sent an Enterra quake straight for Ryuma, who only sprung into the air like a snake to avoid it.

"That is yet to be seen!"

Ryuma slice his sword through the air once he landed, and it sent ice shards to pierce bits of Kutaal's uniform and pierced him to the ground after being knocked back a distance. Giving a feline roar, he struggled briefly and broke free, crushing an ice spike in his claw. But the attack on him had caught Sago and Mushra's attention and they came running over, Sago leading the way.

"Go beat Grandora, Kutaal—we'll take him." Sago said, staring the smirking Ryuma down.

"Together!" Kutaal complained.

"Kutaal, you and Xavier are doing better than us attacking Grandora from the ground; your earth attacks are doing great damage." Sago pointed out, and Mushra spoke up.

"We've got blondy. Let's end this!" he nodded to the other two, and splitting up, they engaged their separate targets, Sago and Mushra launching in with fire and water launching, mist covering half the battle between the three men.

"Enterra quake!"

The ground shook, the rock in the dragon's leg scarring it more with the shaking. Grandora's attention was below and above, and somewhat confused, as it should be. But her anger was become dangerous. Soon human sized glaciers of ice were flying, the ceiling and bleachers being coated in the ice. It was lucky the glaciers were missing them, due to the fact that Grandora was two eyes down and only one pair properly working.

"The other eyes." Winter stated as they were hovering above, Binka shooting a blast or two at the necks and chest, Heather tossing some grenades Binka had stashed away, seeming to be having a little too much fun doing so. "We've gotta blind her completely. She won't be able to know where to attack, and in her confusion, that's when we all work together to take her down. We gotta let the guys kn—where's Sago and Mushra?" she looked down over the turtle's side, noticing they weren't battling the dragon.

"They're holding off Ryuma, so we should probably get to this quickly." Jaden told her, as she'd been keeping track of the others when she could.

"Alright… Heather, give me some grenades." Winter stated, tearing part of the bottom of her dress and spreading it out.

"What are you doing?" Jaden asked, worried.

"Binka's gonna drop me down there with Kutaal and Xavier, so I can prepare them." She said.

"What, no!" Jaden said, grabbing her sisters wrist. "You stay up here with me!"

"You and Heather are attacking above better than me, and I need to be down there with Xavier." She told her sister. She took her sisters hand. "Jaden, I'll be fine, as long as we act quick. Besides, we've made it this far, we can handle ourselves a little longer, can't we?"

Jaden was reluctant to let her sister leave her side, but she had a point. And if they acted quick, this would all be done and over. Letting go, she sighed. "Fine, just be careful, okay?"

Winter nodded, taking the grenades Heather handed over and piling them into the stripped piece of her dress, tying it up to carry it as Binka went down, angling sideways enough to allow Winter to slip out, and then they took to the air again after Heather threw a grenade between two heads coming for them and Winter. The two heads roared, knocked into each other, and raised up to follow their flight.

Xavier hurried to Winters side, catching her arm as she stood. "What are you doing down here?!"

"Helping. And updating you on the plan." She told him with a smirk.

He furrowed his brows, Kutaal sending another earth attack at the beast behind them.

"Jaden, Heather, and Binka are going to take out the rest of Grandora's eyes and once she's blind and confused, we'll all attack simultaneously—she can't move, and once their work is done, she won't be able to see. She's stuck, and this is our best chance." She explained.

He considered her words for a moment before nodding. "Then lets get to it."

The two of them joined Kutaal, informing him as swiftly as they could of their plans, Xavier taking on the next attacki, sending another shard of earth to slash Grandora's arm.

Which was fortunate, as the arm he slashed nearly smacked Binka's turtle sideways. Flying up over one of the heads, she angled sideways to drop Jaden, and flew off to the next head to drop Heather upon it, before making her way to circle around the last head, making it angry and dizzy. Enough that it seemed unprepared for each blast of Binka's bazooka. Almost out of her rockets, she at least blinded one eye with them, saving her last shot and using what was left of her grenades to blind it.

"Take that! And THAT! And some of THIS!" the dragons face was taking a lot of blast, but the other eye had yet to be wounded enough. And it was coming for her, its jaws opening wide. With a yelp, just swerved almost too late…only for the turtle to take over it seemed, and it swerved just out of the reach of the jaws, and collided right against the side of the face…specifically, spearing the other eye with its side.

"YES! We did it! Whoa!" Binka cheered, and steered away from the flailing head.

By the time she was making her way back over, Heather was holding on to her spear as the middle head was flailing from the pain in the eye which had her spears blade stabbed in it. It was only a brief second that she was able to stable herself enough to yank the spear free, and she leapt for the turtle as it passed, through in the spear first and catching the side, but she couldn't pull herself up yet.

Because they saw Jaden had yet to wound the beast. Even with both swords in her hands again, the beast must have caught on and flailed its head now. Trying to avoid the falling rubble Grandora's blasts of ice and glaciers caused, she clung to one of its neck spikes.

"Jaden!" Heather called. "We're coming!"

"No!" she yelled, pushing herself up, and racing away from Heather and Binka, causing Binka to have to swerve to circle up and back around to try and get on a path to catch her again without getting whacked by the dragon.

Jaden, in her race back up the neck almost slipped, with a yell.

"Jaden!" Heather called.

Nearly falling towards the jaw, she stabbed one blade in the side of its head, and used the other to stab the eye in a panic. Instead of flailing this time, Grandora through her head back and roared, and Jaden took that chance to yank free one blade, and then the other, but slide before she looked to see where Binka was.

Seeing she was coming back her way, Jaden grasped her swords in one hand and, kicking of Grandora's neck, she leapt. And she caught someone's hand. Heathers.

"Good trust exercise, huh?" she joked, still half hanging, but she was over enough to start pulling Jaden in. She took Jaden's blades and tossed them in before pulling Jaden up and in once again.

"Alright, it's blind, angry and confused—regrouping anyone?" Binka asked as she circled across the ceiling and hovered straight down to the others as Kutaal and Xavier were throwing earth attacks at Grandora's sides. The beast was surely frazzled by now.

Heather raced to the front. "We ready?! All at once, do whatever you can! Let's aim for the chest!" she advised, and raced as Kutaal and Xavier revved up their best attacks, she seemed intent on throwing her spear.

Binka was still hovering, and had her bazooka, with its last shot, trained in the middle of the beasts chest. Winter tossed Jaden a grenade, and they got ready, looking to the others. As Grandora roared, Jaden climbed back into the turtle with Binka to get a better aim.

"Now!" Heather launched her spear, and Kutaal and Xavier called out their attacks just after her, the spear stabbing into the center of the beast, shards of rock following to spear through the stomach. One of the grenades just collided after the last shard of earth, and it exploded, followed by two more explosions from Jaden's grenade and Binka's shot.

That's when, with her greatest roar, Grandora was consumed by light.

"Binka! Hurry, to the card!" Jaden advised, taking up her swords as the light was vanishing. They were floating as fast as they could, as the card began falling gracefully.

Then there was a yell in the distance, Mushra or Sago yelling in pain, but Jaden couldn't look, focused on the card. It stopped falling, and began gliding sideways and she knew Ryuma was summoning it.

"Binka!"

"I'm hurrying!"

They weren't fast enough, they had to reach it! It was then, Jaden knew there was no choice. She climbed on the front of the turtle, despite Binka's complaints, and suddenly she yelled for the other woman to stop, and she did so abruptly in her surprise. That launched Jaden forward with enough force. With a cry, she slashed down with both her blades.

And cut the card into three.

Grandora was gone.

And Jaden felt the feeling of victory burst in her chest, but it didn't last long—she was spinning in her fall, dropping the swords to avoid cutting herself in her lack of control, only to regret it. Because the next thing she felt was Ryuma's hand around her throat as he had launched to catch her in retaliation for her actions.

She coughed and gagged, opening her eyes to see him there, enraged. She was freaked at the sight of the rage. She feared in his grasp, that he would surely kill her. But despite that, she smirked. She'd stopped him from hyper forming. He would be defeated, now.

"You think you have won, girl…" he stated, and his voice was so low, its dangerous implications sending a shiver through Jaden.

"My Lord, stop this now!" Ungar called, perhaps to save him from himself, but it was no use.

"..But you will pay for this. All of you will burn, in time, I promise you this. But you… I have something special planned for you!" his hand tightened.

Only for another, strangely gurgled roar to sound just before a blast of water collided with Ryuma. Jaden fell out of Ryuma's grasp, knocked back and rolling for a moment as she coughed, rubbing her throat.

"Jaden!"

She looked up to see Sago stopping just beside her and helping her to sit up. "Are you okay?"

She watched him for a moment, before nodding, her voice a bit strained for the moment. "Y-yeah… I'll be fine… Thank you."

He nodded, with a small smile as he rubbed her shoulder then, seeming very relieved. She smiled back, before they heard movement behind them. They looked to see Ryuma trying to stand a last time, but it was pointless. A fiery cross, and shards of earth collided with him and around him, rubble starting to crumble down around him as well, his weapon crushed in the process.

"My Lord!" Ungar suddenly called, and shoved past Sago.

Winter called out, "No, Ungar, stop!"

Ungar launched into the rubble as it fell upon Ryuma, who seemed to be crushed underneath the rubble. There was a last cry, and then there was nothing. No movement or sound from either of them.

There was silence, for a moment. Stillness, in the air, and from the group. Before they slowly began joining back together. "It's over…" Winter sounded behind Jaden and she looked to see her sister coming to her, kneeling down by her with Sago as they all stared at the rubble. "He's done… Just wish Ungar hadn't given his life for someone so unworthy of it…"

"Ryuma was still his master, no matter how stupid the snake head is." Heather said.

"Well, he's not coming back." Mushra said, and with a brief flash of light, he was back to his normal form, resting his wrist on his staff over his shoulders. "I'm sure I saw a sharp rock jab through them—it would have got their cards, too."

"You sure about that?" Jaden questioned, not remembering seeing that, but she wasn't sure how she saw how he'd been carded either. She was just still unnerved by what Ryuma said, his threat.

"The reptile lord is no longer!" Kutaal cheered, sure of himself as he was in his normal form as well, Sago shifting back as well. "We shall have a feast in celebration back in New Yora!"

Heather smiled, seeming excited for that. Jaden just laughed, Winter helping her stand. She winced, feeling the pain in her forearm still. Other places as well, but the cut over her arm was the worst.

"Well, let's just get back to New Yora first, shall we?" Sago offered, looking to Jaden one more time, but she shook her head to imply she'd be fine, before they all began the trudge out of this palace.

"WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!"

Everyone stopped, looking to Binka as she watched Jaden, Heather, and Winter.

"There's something very important that's missing…an answer…." She told them. Everyone looked at one another, and back at her.

"What's the question?" Winter asked.

"…Why are you guys wearing dresses? What the heck did I miss?!" she leaned over the turtle.

The girls looked to each other, shook their heads, and laughed in exasperation. At this rate, they just wanted to be out of the dresses, and back in their nice, warm, comforting homes.

Mushra: FIIIIIINAAAALLYYYY. God, I thought he'd never go away.
Me: the battles not supposed to be quick. Only time its quick is if that's not the biggest bad guy, or if it's just really bad battle development.
Mushra: We're amazing fighters, how could we not beat him quicker?
Me: okay, for one thing, it usually took you guys a while anyways, and there were times Yakumo had to intervene in one way or another.
Mushra: We've gotten better, though!
Me: *pets his head* Yes you have. And that's why you did a lot of damage, good job.
Mushra: ….I hate you.
Me: next chapter soon, review if you like!