Chapter IX: Revenge of the Rahkshi

Melissa woke up and took a few seconds to get up slowly. She wasn't hurting any more, but she was stiff. She took a few more seconds to stretch her muscles and the rest of her body. She yawned loudly and looked out her cell window. And couldn't believe what she saw. The Rahkshi had returned and they had come with a vengeance!! "No," she whispered. Though she didn't like her idea, she had to warn someone.

But then again they will attack the fortress, giving me a chance to escape while everyone else works their ass off to try and save it. But that means I have to leave Reptile behind and risk killing my own friends.

She wanted to escape and she wanted Tichondrius to be killed. But if the Rahkshi couldn't kill him and she managed to escape, her friends would pay the price. She faced the door and rammed it with her head. The head butt attack knocked the door down. "Goddamn it, it would've been nice to know that a head butt could easily knock down this door," Melissa noted.

She quickly ran to the Meeting Room and found Tichondrius staring at the screens in there. Tichondrius looked back and scowled at her. "How did you get out??" he demanded.

"I slammed it! What do you think??!" Melissa yelled. "And I came here for a reason."

"Is that so?" Tichondrius growled.

"The Rahkshi are heading over here!"

"Say what you wish, but I do not believe it. Take her away!"

Cobraman knights took Melissa by the arms, but Melissa wasn't done. "No! For once, you bastard, listen to me!! The Rahkshi are coming!! I'm not lying!"

Before Tichondrius could say anything, a centaur came in and warned, "Tichondrius, Rahkshi are attacking the castle!"

Tichondrius shot a glance at Melissa, who started grinning in triumph.

This is what you get for not listening to me.

Tichondrius looked angry and ordered, "Defend the fortress and send out my forces immediately!!"

The centaur ran back to tell the others. Tichondrius looked at Melissa and said, "Melissa go out there and reason with them. We'll talk about this later."

Melissa nodded and ran outside to join the fun. Once she was outside, she flew into the air and quickly transformed into her newest form. She roared loudly and fired her blue comets of energy. She blasted many Rahkshi and some of them returned fire. A few Panrahks jumped into the air and tried to slash Melissa with their rods. But she was able to avoid them. She flew down and took a sharp turn. Jaws gaping, she blasted the nearest group of Panrahks, destroying them with the explosive onslaught.

She blasted them with the energy comets but was also careful not to hurt her "allies" even though she despised all of them except the centaurs and Hunters. She suddenly heard a familiar shriek of terror and looked down to see Reptile surrounded by Gurrahks. "No! Leave him alone!" Melissa yelled.

She swiftly flew towards them. She grabbed Reptile by his waist with her tail and flew back into the air. She placed him on her back. "Thanks Melissa," Reptile said, holding on to the horns on the back of her head.

"No problem," Melissa said. "Now hold on."

She folded her wings and started falling to the ground like an arrow. Reptile held on tightly as Melissa opened her jaws and fired more energy comets. She blasted several Panrahks and a few Guurahks. Many of them were blown to many pieces. Blood and gore was everywhere. She then took a sharp turn up again, barely missing the ground. "Melissa, aren't we supposed to reason with the leader?" Reptile asked.

"Yes, but there are too many Rahkshi right now. The only way for them to surrender is to deplete their number but without killing all of them," Melissa replied, "which reminds me, you need a weapon."

She flew back down and snatched a Kurahk with her jaws. She crushed the Kurahk and gave Reptile its rod. "The Kurahk can turn allies against each other as well as freeze anybody it chooses. You, on the other hand, must use that power to turn the Rahkshi against each other, but not too many. We're trying to weaken them, not have them kill each other," Melissa elucidated. "All you have to do is concentrate and touch one Rahkshi. I'll tell you when to use its freezing ability."

"Got it," Reptile said.

"There's our first target, the white Kurahk. Let's put you to the test."

She flew down to the Kurahk and Reptile held the rod out. He concentrated and touched the Kurahk. The rod slashed the head but didn't kill it. Reptile looked back in time to see the Kurahk attack a Vorahk. "It worked!" he yelled.

"Good," Melissa said. "Now for the rest."

She kept flying down and Reptile continued to use the rod's power to turn Rahkshi against each other. He was forced to also kill a few of them. Soon, the Rahkshi were overwhelmed with Tichondrius' forces and their own kind. Melissa attacked as well but very few times. A Rahkshi threw its rod at Reptile, slicing his arm open. He wailed loudly, blood gushing from the mortal wound. There was nothing Melissa could do until the Rahkshi gave up, or else the beasts would overrun them and kill them if they landed. Reptile realized this and only applied pressure to it to slow the bleeding down. Luckily before long, the Rahkshi gave in. They stopped fighting and bowed to the victors. Melissa came to rest on the ground in front of Tichondrius' defending forces once she had learned of their surrender. Melissa instructed Reptile to cancel the ability to have them go against each other, which is what he did. Once the Rahkshi stopped, they confronted Melissa and Reptile. Six leading Rahkshi stood in front of them and the red one said, "We surrender, almighty Dragoon! We wish to serve you and your mighty rider."

"Very well then, Lavahk," Melissa said. "But you do not serve me. You shall serve my master Tichondrius."

"With pleasure," Lavahk replied.

"Lavahk?" Reptile asked, groaning from the pain.

"That's his name. He's leader of the Turahk," Melissa replied.

"You shall follow us and we'll show you our master," Reptile said.

Melissa started walking towards the entrance of the fortress. The entrance was large enough for her to fit. She walked using her arms with her wings folded, and went inside. She waited for the Rahkshi to come in before she helped Reptile off. Reptile walked to the Meeting Room with the Rahkshi, where Tichondrius was waiting. Melissa then turned back to normal and went to tend to the centaurs and Hunters' wounds. She didn't care for the others. It took her quite a while but was finally done after nearly two hours. She went to the Meeting Room with Reptile, whose arm was still bleeding but had slowed considerably, and they both faced Tichondrius together.

Tichondrius looked at them and said, "I am impressed with you both. I have to say that that was very intelligent. To show my appreciation, I shall promote you. Reptile, you shall be chief of my guardians and you, Melissa, shall be master general of my forces. You have protected the fortress with your lives and in return, you have gained my respect and you shall do as you please for the rest of today. You are dismissed."

He turned his back on them. Melissa and Reptile exited, confused and tired. "Why did he do that?" Reptile asked, while Melissa tended to him. "I've known him for a long time and he's never been this nice to anybody. Well, he's never been this nice period!"

"True, but maybe he really was impressed by our skill. I never really thought that he would advance us to higher ranks or give us a day off though," Melissa said. "But at least we have time to rest."

"True," Reptile said. "Cool thing is, now I'm in charge of security. And I can tell those other bastards what to do now."

Melissa laughed a bit and looked at him with a smile. She then said, "Hey, now that we have the time, I want to take you to a favorite place of mine."

"Ok," Reptile said.

Melissa helped Reptile up and both of them walked to the first place Melissa went to when she had her first real moments of freedom. "This is it," Melissa said.

"Wow! It's a very beautiful place indeed," Reptile commented.

Melissa took a few moments to take a real look around the place she liked. When she first came here, she didn't take the time to see the scenery. And now she knew why Reptile believed it was beautiful. Of course, there was the cool, pure water of the slow moving river. The water was sparkling in the sunlight. There were many trees, creating a private area. Many flowers were near the river. There were purple flowers, a few yellow, pink, and light purple flowers with white mixed in. She saw butterflies and a few birds flying around the water and plants were growing around it. Very few fish were in the river, but it was enough to sustain someone Melissa's size. She stared at its beauty that she had never realized before. Reptile took his time to stare at it as well. "Shall we sit?" Reptile asked.

Melissa nodded in reply. They found a comfortable spot on the grass and sat down. "When did you find this place?" Reptile asked.

"Well, I first found it a day or two after coming here or something like that," Melissa replied. "I just chose this place at random."

"Well, good choice," Reptile said.

"So…does Drake have any news?" Melissa asked.

"Yes he does," Reptile replied.

"Is that so? Good or bad?"

"Well, good as a matter of fact with one piece of news being bad."

"What?"

"First, your friends have two species of monsters in their army: the Vahki and the Guardians."

"They, of all people, got the Vahki and the Guardians to join them??"

Reptile nodded. Melissa knew of the legendary Vahki and the powerful Guardians. She never believed that they could do something like that. But was proud of her friends for getting those beasts to join. It gave them a better chance at defeating Tichondrius. "What else?" she asked.

"Gloria, Spike, and Duke have new forms. Gloria can become Celtic Predator, Spike can become Elder Predator, and Duke has a strange new dragon form. But Drake and the others believe it was created by mistake," Reptile explained.

"And…why's that?"

"Because Gloria said that he was in rage when he first became this dragon. He wanted to gain vengeance. He couldn't stop thinking about what you did to nearly kill them."

Melissa lowered her head in grief. She knew that she had nearly killed them that day and she knew Duke wanted his revenge now. Her heart ached for him and she wished she was at home with her friends, not having a care in the world like the way it was before this conflict. "What is this dragon you speak of?" she questioned.

Reptile described Duke's new form to her. She soon realized what it was. "How did he learn that form?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Reptile asked.

"Duke has become an Imperial Dragoon," Melissa explained. "They're part of the dragoon society and they're one of the heaviest armed dragoons in it. I can't believe he was able to become that."

"They don't know if he can control it or not. But they're hoping that he will never use that form."

"Anything else?"

"No."

Melissa nodded in reply. She then lied down and said, "Thanks for telling me this. I think I'll rest for now."

"You sure do a lot of resting," Reptile commented.

"Because I do a lot of fighting. And its not like I have much else to do."

"Well, I think I'll be heading inside now. I'll get you later."

Melissa nodded. Reptile got up and headed back to the fortress and Melissa used the rest of her time to sleep like before.