Chapter 10: Battle in the Second Door, Part 2

A bright blue light appeared out of the sky, making it appear otherworldly since it was a big backdrop against the roiling red and black sky. From it, a streak of orange light sped towards earth, showing no sign of stopping.

Muse pulled out Sparkbreaker's default sword form, and apologized. "I'm sorry, Sparkbreaker. I have to use you again just when you were starting to recharge…"

"Don't worry, master. My power levels are almost completely filled," her device replied.

"Even then, you deserve a good rest since you've fought so hard the last few days…however, it can't be helped," Muse replied. "I have to help the Super Readers. Who knows what trouble they've gotten into?"

As if to answer her question, there was a massive explosion that rocked the area and created a massive sonic boom that nearly threw her out of the sky. She activated Sparkbreaker's normal form, and managed to grind to a halt. What she saw made her gasp.

A large cloud of yellow energy could be seen hovering over a section of the forest. Massive holes stood where trees used to be. Eight massive trenches were carved out into the dirt. And up in the air, two streaks of red and purple light crashed into one another, making the sky look like a spectacular light show.

Muse looked over to the side, and saw Princess Presto and the others running away from Lexicon, who was attempting to attack them. That sight alone got Muse out of her stupor, and she summoned light on Sparkbreaker's blade.

"Ready to do this, Sparkbreaker?" she asked.

"You bet, Master!" her Device cheerfully replied. With her face set in determination, Muse took off for the ruined battlefield.

"Stay still so I can at least hit you, you little brats!" Lexicon growled as he summoned more dark energy from his device, Cross Blade, and flung it at them. The device in question were two single edged swords that could be joined together to form a larger sword. Lexicon, though, preferred to use two swords.

Alpha Pig, Princess Presto and Woofster were running back and forth, avoiding his attacks. One wave of energy narrowly missed hitting Alpha Pig in the back, and Princess Presto hadn't been lucky as one wave had thrown her into a boulder. Super Why had been present during the fight, but Lexicon had put him under a binding spell, effectively forcing him to sit out.

After missing another wave of energy, Alpha Pig huffed, "We can't keep this up all day, Woofster!"

"I know, but do you have any better ideas?" Woofster yelled, and then he ducked for another wave of energy sailed past his head. It flew into a remaining tree and cut it clean in half. The massive evergreen collapsed with a huge crash.

"We have to come up with some sort of attack if we want to stop him. But what could we do?" Princess Presto said. Woofster looked up in alarm to see Lexicon suddenly charge in her direction.

"LOOK OUT!" he screamed. Princess Presto looked up just in time to see Lexicon rush up to her with the sword on his right hand blazing with energy. He grinned as he raised it high into the air.

All of a sudden, there was a loud "NO!" that rang through the air. Princess Presto barely opened her eyes to see Super Why leap in front of her and block Lexicon's strike with his Why Writer. The collision nearly threw both of them backwards, but Princess Presto made sure to grab onto his shoulders to keep him steady. The force of Lexicon's attack was so great that his cape was getting ripped to pieces. Several torn shreds went flying into Princess Presto's face.

Lexicon was about to use the other sword to drive them both into the ground when there was another shout that rang through the air.

"Stardust Fall-Maximum Impact!"

Lexicon turned around and saw fourteen gold comets rain down from the sky. He had no time to react as they all crashed into the ground around him with crushing force. Super Why and Princess Presto were flung into a boulder, and Alpha Pig and Woofster were thrown to the ground. The bombardment above them ceased, leaving a massive cloud of dust hovering where Lexicon stood.

Woofster was the first of the four to recover from that. He gasped. "It can't be…Muse?!"

The girl in question floated down to the ground, her weapon still in place. She smiled. "I'm back, Woofster," she said. Woofster wasted no time in running over and practically tackling her to the ground. He then started covering her in doggy kisses.

"Muse, thank goodness you're back! I thought we were doomed!" he cried out. Muse laughed, and then put a hand on his head to get him to stop licking her face.

"I wouldn't say that just yet, Woofster. We do have three more doors to go through before we can save the day. But it's great to see you guys managed to make it this far without being pummeled into dog food," Muse said.

Alpha Pig got up next, and he was genuinely surprised to see her. "Muse, you're back!" Super Why and Princess Presto rushed over to their friends as well, extremely grateful. It was then that she noticed haw bad all of them looked.

"You all look terrible. How long have you been fighting?" she asked.

"Several hours. And it wasn't easy, because Lexicon's just as powerful as the Evil Reader is," Super Why replied.

"Speaking of the Evil Reader, where is he? I figured he was coming to fight you guys," she said.

"He was fighting us, but then he turned to fight someone else," Princess Presto replied. Muse was about to ask who it was when an explosion rocked the sky once more. Everyone covered their eyes as a massive wave of magical pressure swept over them, and with it debris of all sorts. When everything settled down, Muse opened her eyes again.

"T-That wave of magical pressure…I've never felt anything like it before!" she exclaimed. "Where did it come from?" She didn't have to look far for her answer, as she got a good look at the two opponents who were currently hovering in midair. The first was definitely the Evil Reader, but his hair and eyes had changed drastically. The second person nearly made Muse do a double take.

"Is that…Wonder Red?" she whispered. It looked like her, but at the same time, it wasn't. Her body was literally red hot with power, and her eyes were the same soul-piercing red as the Evil Reader's eyes were. The two were staring each other down, looking ready to fight again.

"Yeah. She got fed up with the Evil Reader attacking us and boasting about it, so she got mad…and then unlocked the Berserker Mode," Princess Presto replied. Muse looked at her in shock.

"We were there when that happened," Super Why said, seeing her look of disbelief. "And then, the Evil Reader has his own Berserker Mode. They've been going at it for a while."

Muse continued to stare in shock at the sight. "I…I didn't think she had it in her…"

"Neither did I. But let's hope that Red knows what she's doing," Super Why replied. Everyone nodded, and it was then that Lexicon emerged from the cloud of smoke and rocks. His clothes were ripped, and his face was set into a hardened scowl.

"Don't think that you've got this taken care of, Super Readers. And since you have Muse back, it just means I'll have to step my game up even more," he said.

The remaining Super Readers, including Woofster and Muse, got into a fighting stance. Muse pointed her weapon at the evil advisor.

"Bring it, Lexicon."

"Annihilation Impact!" the Evil Reader screamed, and once again flung the deadly lightning bolt at Wonder Red. The massive attack was practically the size of a solar flare, and it seemed to grow larger as it neared its target.

Wonder Red, though, merely smirked. When the attack was in range, she merely backhanded the attack into another section of the forest. There was a bright flash, and then a massive explosion occurred in the area. This only served to make the Evil Reader angrier.

"Why can't I hit you?!" he growled, and he summoned even more energy on his blade. His red eyes bright with rage, he rushed forward, intending to hit her with it. Before he reached her, however, she disappeared in a flash, seeming to have phased out of existence.

The Evil Reader managed to take one look around before he felt something ram into his back, hard. It hurt so badly, he could do nothing but double over in pain. When he turned around to see what had hit him in the back, he saw Wonder Red's elbow in his back. Apparently, she had hit him with such force that even in his Berserker Mode, she had managed to cause him to fall in pain.

But she wasn't satisfied with that. Disappearing again, she reappeared in front of the Evil Reader, and sent him flying into the air with a leaping roundhouse kick, making him lose his grip on Doombringer. He rushed downwards to get it, but then Wonder Red sent him flying again with an uppercut. This time, Doombringer fell to the ground with a massive slam. She leaped after him and driving home a two-handed overhead slam that sent the supervillain crashing into the ground.

"Had enough?" Wonder Red growled, her voice low and threatening. The Evil Reader struggled to sit up after the impact of the crash, and glared at him. Trying to regain his composure through his pain, his pupils contracted in fury.

"You…you're gonna PAY for that!" he screamed. "If you want to fight with your fists, then fine! I'll give you a fight you'll never forget!" The dark purple aura blazed to life around him once more, and he let out a battle cry before he charged for her again, his hands balled into fists. He drew his left hand back, hoping to catch her in a left hook that would distract her and allow him to sneak a magic attack.

So he was surprised when she caught his hand with very little effort. He tried to pry his hand from her grip, but Wonder Red had the strength of ten elephants in her arm. He then attempted to punch her with his right arm, but she grabbed that one just as quickly. Then, she started to force his arms at an unnatural angle, and they bent. A cracking sound resounded throughout the air, and the Evil Reader screamed, a sound that could be heard in Canada.

The other Super Readers, who were fighting Lexicon, stopped to see where that noise had come from. They all gasped when they saw Wonder Red practically twisting the Evil Reader's arms off.

"W-Whoa…" Super Why gasped. Then, she hurled the Evil Reader to the ground again, creating a massive cloud of dust and rocks that could be seen for miles. Even Lexicon had stopped to see what was going on. When she had tossed the Evil Reader to the ground, he got in a rage, and flew off to fight her.

Wonder Red phased out of existence again, and Lexicon stopped in midair to look for her. "Where did she go?!" he growled.

"Right behind you," she said behind him. Lexicon turned around only to be met with a brutal right hook to the face, which caused blood to come up in his nose and mouth. The force of the attack sent him crashing to the ground, right next to the Evil Reader, who was sprawled out on the battlefield.

Lexicon coughed and spit blood out of his mouth, and it was during this moment that he felt very faint energy radiating from the Evil Reader. He turned around and saw that the dark purple aura around him was flickering.

"Evil Reader, you're running out of strength! You won't last another minute against her! We have to retreat!" he said. The word 'retreat' seemed to jog the Evil Reader's senses, as he managed to sit up and glare at Lexicon.

"You fool! I'm not going to let myself get beat up by a scrap of a superhero! Just because she has the Berserker Mode doesn't mean she can't be beaten," he said.

"You should talk! The way you are now, you're nothing but a punching bag to her!" Lexicon said. The Evil Reader ignored him, and got to his feet. The purple aura blazed to life once more.

"I'll show her…I'll show her that I am invincible, and that I won't give up until I kill them! Every single one of them…including her!" he growled. Lexicon attempted to warn him again, but the Evil Reader took off into the sky, ready to attack her again. Wonder Red saw him, and flew down to meet him, her right hand balled into a fist.

The minute the two collided, a massive sonic boom resounded throughout the area, creating forceful winds that blew Lexicon and the other Super Readers down. Then, they started throwing various punches and kicks at each other at rapid speeds, to the point where they looked like a blur in midair. Everyone stared up at the fight in amazement.

The Evil Reader managed to hit Wonder Red in the face, but she recovered quickly and slammed her right foot into his stomach. Fighting through the pain, he summoned black lightning into his hand, and threw a punch at her, but she caught his hand and flung him backwards. The pain in his arm was unbearable at this point, and he screamed in pain.

Focused on finishing this fight, Wonder Red summoned a red energy sword and flew towards the Evil Reader. Righting himself, he summoned even more energy as he attempted to defend himself from the attack…

…but right then, he felt a cold chill wash over his body. His eyes widening in shock, he looked down at his hands to see that the aura surrounding them was disappearing. But it wasn't just there; it was all over his body, and soon the red hot rage left his eyes and his hair reverted back to normal.

It was at that moment that he remembered what had happened to him earlier when he had come here: he hadn't stopped to replenish his energy after his fight with Muse. And now he had lost the Berserker Mode, meaning that he had officially lost his energy.

The Evil Reader's face practically disintegrated in horror and shock as he realized just how screwed he was. Wonder Red flew at him then, and slammed her sword viciously into his chest, hurling him to the ground once more. The impact of the crash threw the other Super Readers to the ground, and Lexicon stared in horror.

The energy sword disappeared from Wonder Red's hand, and she floated down to the ground. She stared hatefully at the Evil Reader, who was struggling to stand.

"I hope you learned your lesson, Evil Reader. Nobody taunts me and gets away with it," she proclaimed.

The Evil Reader didn't answer, but Lexicon did. "You think you've won…but don't think that we'll give up so easily. Those powers of yours won't protect you for long."

Wonder Red responded to this by dashing behind her and punching Lexicon in the face, breaking his nose with little to no effort at all. The advisor was hurled backwards into a remaining tree.

Just then, there was a massive roar that shook the earth, and all of the Super Readers looked up to see the monstrous wolf coming closer. Every step he took caused the ground underneath the kids to shake.

Lexicon noticed this, and yelled, "Finish them! SHOOT THEM DOWN!" The wolf stopped fifty feet in front of the Super Readers, and opened his mouth. A large sphere of light was starting to appear in his mouth.

Woofster and Muse gaped. "A light cannon?!"

"That's right, Super Readers. This light cannon is so powerful that it wipes things out on contact…including pesky superhero brats!" Lexicon laughed as he watched the Super Readers' horrified expressions. "And if you survive, Red's grandma will certainly finish you off!"

That alone caused Wonder Red's rage to disappear. The red aura around her disappeared and she went back to normal. Her eyes, however, were filled with rage.

"Lexicon, if you try to mess with my friends, you're gonna have to go through me! The Evil Reader learned that lesson the hard way. Don't make me have to teach you the same thing," she growled.

"Let's see how far you'll go to protect them. SHOOT HER DOWN!" Lexicon yelled at the Big Bad Wolf. The orange and yellow beam thundered forward, heading straight for Wonder Red and the Super Readers.

"WONDER RED!" Super Why screamed, and ran to do something, anything, to stop her from taking that light cannon at full power…

All of a sudden, a red light fell out of the sky, and it hit Wonder Red seconds before the attack hit her. The beam of light was so bright that everyone had to cover their eyes. Super Why was pushed backwards due to the force, and the light cannon seemed to have dissipated in midair.

Lexicon was shocked. "Again?!" he shouted.

When Wonder Red opened her eyes, she found herself floating in a pillar of red light. "Whoa, what the heck's going on here?" she shouted.

"Not only have you unlocked the Berserker Mode, but your loyalty and love for your friends has allowed you to earn your upgrade, Wonder Red," a voice boomed.

"Hey, aren't you Jeremiah, the guy Alpha Pig was talking about?"

"Your insight serves you well. However, I must give you a warning about the Berserker Mode. The more you use it, the more likely you are to lose your powers in the future. That's why you have to learn how to control it instead of calling it when you're angry," Jeremiah said.

"Geez, I've got to be careful. But, what kind of power up will I be getting?"

"Since you have a rather fiery attitude, your powers will be mostly fire-based. Fire is a dangerous element at times, so don't use it randomly," Jeremiah said. Then a beam of light hit her badge, and she gasped. Her badge was outlined with several little circles.

"Cool," she replied.

"Do you think you're up to the task, Wonder Red?" Jeremiah asked.

"For the record, I have no idea what the heck is going on here, but I'll give it a shot!" she said.

"Then I trust you'll do well. Until then, Wonder Red, farewell." The light disappeared, bringing her back to the field of battle. She was still hovering in midair, and glared at the Wolf.

"Let's finish this!" she said, and summoned her emotional willpower to create a bright red light on her badge. She continued to summon more energy until a burst of fire appeared.

Her brown eyes glowing with heat, Wonder Red raised her right hand and created a bow out of the torrents of fire surrounding her. Creating an arrow out of her left hand, she notched the arrow and pulled back, aiming at the wolf.

"Flaming Arrow!" she cried, and released the arrow. It propelled towards the wolf at the speed of light, but then Red's grandma and Little Boy Blue jumped in front of the attack to defend the wolf, possibly on Lexicon's orders.

Perfect.

The arrow went clean through all three, a streak of light following as it did. The villagers hovered in the air for a moment, and then screamed before being covered in a bright red light. Then, they appeared in clear white crystals, without the dark aura surrounding them, and the crystals flew into the sky, eventually disappearing from sight.

Lexicon looked like he was going to pass out. Wonder Red towards him, her eyes still hot with anger.

"I hope you won't try something like this again, Lexicon. Because next time, you'll be in the same state as the Evil Reader," Muse said coldly. Lexicon muttered something under his breath, and a magic circle appeared in front of him. A shape materialized on it, and then the aura disappeared to reveal the Evil Reader-beaten, dirty and unconscious-with Doombringer by his side. The evil advisor glared at them.

"This…isn't…over…" Lexicon growled, wincing at his broken nose. Then, he disappeared in a wave of darkness.

Once Lexicon disappeared, Wonder Red floated to the ground, and walked towards the other Super Readers. What was remaining of her aura blazed throughout the forest. Above, a beam of sunlight appeared around the superheroes.

Super Why cautiously took a step forward, not sure what she was going to do. She, however, smiled.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked. He nodded, mute at her presence.

"Really…I'm…glad…" The aura around her disappeared completely, and she collapsed into his arms as if exhausted. Luckily, Super Why was right there to catch her.

"Is she going to be alright?" Princess Presto asked.

"She'll be fine. The Berserker Mode takes a lot out of you when you use it too long," Muse replied.

"Still…I'm shocked by what happened during that fight. It's like something that came out of a superhero show," Alpha Pig replied.

"Indeed. She wasn't joking when she said she wouldn't let the Evil Reader get away with hurting us," Woofster said.

"Seeing her tired is making me tired as well," Alpha Pig replied. "Let's find the next piece of the Summoning Pin so we can get out of here."

As if on cue, a small red beam floated down towards them, and fell into Super Why's hand. When the aura disappeared, he discovered that it was another part of the Summoning Pin.

"Wow, this must be our lucky day," Super Why remarked. Holding Wonder Red with one arm, he reached for his Super Duper Computer and pulled it out. It went straight into the computer, and another piece of the pin appeared on the diagram.

"Two down, three to go," Alpha Pig said. "But, aren't we supposed to go to the next world?"

Another door appeared-but this one wasn't marked with a number on the top. When it swung open, it revealed nothing but blackness.

"Whoa, what's going on here?" Woofster said. He went forward and so did the other Super Readers. To their surprise, they didn't go falling through it like they had before. When they went through it, the door closed. The Super Readers turned around to see that they were back in the same corridor when they'd first arrived in the book.

"Um, I have no idea what's going on," Alpha Pig said.

"Neither do I," Super Why replied.

"I think this means we have to take a break before we go to the next door. You have to admit, our fights were pretty tiring," Woofster said.

"So, for now, let's take it easy," Muse said. At once, the Super Readers sat down on the ground, exhausted beyond belief. Alpha Pig took off his shoes to rub his feet.

"Man, my feet hurt like crazy," he groaned.

"You're lucky, Alpha Pig. My shoes are nearly destroyed," Super Why added.

While the kids were talking to each other, Woofster started to feel tired. It wasn't until his eyes started closing that he realized he had to go to sleep.

Muse noticed, and gently placed a hand on the dog's head. "I think you need to sleep for a little bit, Woofster. You haven't slept since we were at the Book Club."

"Thanks, Muse. I don't think I can keep my eyes open for much longer anyway," Woofster said. Muse merely scratched behind his ears once before joining the other Super Readers to talk to them. Woofster noticed that Super Why looked a little red in the face, possibly from holding Wonder Red. He chuckled silently to himself, thinking that it was cute how flustered he was around girls.

Soon, however, he closed his eyes again, and drifted off to sleep.

So, that's it for Chapter 10! I hope Wonder Red wasn't too OOC in this chapter, because she's going to be the first person to be able to defeat the Evil Reader. Chapter 11 is going to be more of a 'break' chapter, where the heroes and villains take the time to reflect on their battles. In the case of the Evil Reader and Lexicon, this is also going to be a great time to develop their characters.

Chapter 11 will explain Woofster's past, and the Evil Reader and Lexicon's as well. Plus, we'll get some more Whyatt/Red tease! Read and Review!