John Carter 2: The Gods of Mars
Chapter 12: Back To The River of Issus
Meanwhile, back at Helium, we see a child named Carthoris playing with the young green Thark children by doing sword-play. They pretended that they're the Therns of Barsoom and Carthoris pretended to be like John Carter, his father. Then, three of the adult Tharks watched over him as Dejah Thoris made a deal with them to look over her only son in the red planet they will fight the Black Pirates if given the chance.
"Be careful, Carthoris", said Thark #1, "Better not cut yourself with that blade."
"I promise", said Carthoris and we see Tardos Mors, the Jeddak of Helium along with Admiral Kantos Kan, a captain who supports Dejah Thoris and helped the Tharks fight against the Zodangan tribe a few years back.
"Such a wonderful child, that Carthoris", said Tardos Mors.
"Yes, but is it a shame that an earth man hasn't come back since we made peace with the Zodangan?", asked Kantos Kan.
"Yes, Kantos", said Tardos Mors, "and I have a feeling that something bad would happen to Helium again like last time. Not like that wretched traitor, Sab Than, for that matter. I cannot believe that such an innocent Jeddak of Zodanga never kept his word when he was about to marry Dejah. If only Carter came back..."
"Fear not, my Jeddak", said Kantos Kan, "I will command my troops to make sure Dejah Thoris is by no means unharmed. Such a pity that she left Helium in secret to leave her only son here."
"It is not pity that she must've made her promise to come back once she will complete her mission", said Tardos Mors, "But if you insist, so be it."
Later, we see Kantos Kan leading the troops of Helium as they sailed on the flying ships to find Dejah while Tardos Mors watches over the distance of a valley near the city. Meanwhile, we see John Carter, Dejah, Sola, and Thuvia following the Barsoomian Tigers to a pathway that would lead them to the River of Iss, the place where the two discovered the Ninth Ray, the weapon that Sab Than used on Matai Shang's failed attempt to conquer all of Barsoom.
As the pathway became a bit too hard to follow through, John Carter hears an ocean flowing with the wind, creating waves in the process.
"Guys, I hear an ocean", said John Carter, "It's closer nearby. Follow me."
"That earth man does have a sense of direction, does he?", asked the Barsoomian tiger leader towards Thuvia. She nodded her head *yes* and the group followed John Carter out of the difficult pathway. Here they are at last the River of Issus where they see the Tree of Issus.
He carries Dejah Thoris in his arms and says, "Everyone, you might want to step back. I'm just saving some room for us to land on when we get back."
Then, he jumps into the entrance of the Tree of Issus before he lets go of Dejah. They walked into the entrance and see the same blue rays that formed the Ninth Ray. He then takes out the medallion and puts it on the ground before a blue ray of light causes it to shine brightly. After it happened, it disparated into a million of pieces. The two looked at each other before they smiled. Meanwhile, back of the Black Pirates' ship, we see Matai Shang feeling a bit weakened.
"Father, what is it?", asked Phaidor.
"Carter and the others have already made it towards our goddess' tree", said Matai Shang, "Soon, our powers will be weakening and we will be proved useless against him. We're almost there. They might not be as far away as we think."
Then, as we see John Carter and Dejah getting out of the Tree of Issus, they landed on the ground a few meters away from where the others are at. As the two walked towards them, Sola spoke.
"The medallion?", asked Sola.
"Gone", said John Carter, but before they would leave the Tree, they saw the Black Pirates' ship heading straight towards them.
"The therns", said John Carter, "They're coming towards us."
"We'll hold them back", said Dejah Thoris, "You have to make for Helium and warn the others."
"Dejah, no", said John Carter, "I'm not leaving without you. You're important to me than anything else in this world."
"You sacrificed yourself for me last time, John Carter, and I'm doing the same thing for you", said Dejah Thoris, "Now, go. Go!"
John Carter then escapes secretly before the Black Pirates and Therns got out of the ship and charged towards the gang. The group then killed only five of the Black Pirates offscreen, but they were overpowered by the Therns who used their staffs to electrify them in the process, but not killing them.
"Hold!", exclaimed Matai Shang and walked towards Dejah Thoris while John Carter, despite being a few miles away towards the gateway to the Tree of Issus, turns around and sees Matai Shang staring at Dejah in the face.
"Where is John Carter, Dejah?", asked Matai Shang darkly.
"Far away from you", said Dejah Thoris.
"Liar", said Matai Shang before he raises his hand to unleash a blue ray power, but there happens to be no power coming out of his hands, "No. No. No. No. It cannot be. The Medallion... it's already destroyed. Carter. He destroyed it."
John Carter then jumps up high before Matai Shang can see him.
"Find the earth man", said Matai Shang to the Black Pirates, "and bring him to me alive."
John Carter hides behind a large boulder far away from the gateway, but when he peeks up with his head high, he sees the Black Pirates running towards his hiding spot. He takes out his sword and closes his eyes before we see a flashback of John Carter talking to his wife in silent audio. Then, another scene reveals the cavalry killing his wife and child before setting the house on fire.
John Carter opens his eyes after the traumatizing flashbacks he received and jumps towards the Black Pirates, killing almost all of them before he ends up getting cut in the left shoulder. When he jumps away from the group, he sees the others getting carried away by Phaidor and the other Therns while he sees five of the Barsoomian Tigers running towards him.
"Carter, those Therns killed some of our kind, but we managed to survive after we fought bravely", said the leader of the Barsoomian Tigers.
"We have to get to Helium", said John Carter, "and tell the people to prepare themselves. Looks like I'll be having a final battle against Matai Shang."
"He'll kill you, John Carter", said the third Barsoomian Tiger.
"He's powerless without that medallion and once I'm through with him, no one will ever try to hurt us again", said John Carter, "Come on!"
John Carter and the Barsoomian Tigers ran as fast as they could with Woola following them in the process.
Meanwhile, we see Dejah Thoris and the others in bonds and sees John Carter running as far away from here.
"Good luck, Carter", said Dejah Thoris.
Sorry I took so long. I had a lot of difficulties trying to continue the story. I didn't try to come up with something that would bring a lot of action in this chapter. Aside from that, I hope all of you would like this. Enjoy and leave out some reviews, please! :)