Chapter 12: Plans Do Not Go According To Plan

Mercy strapped himself into the cockpit of the helicopter. He allowed the chains replacing his right arm to coil around the control stick, and his left hand held firmly to the Warp Gun controls. Not waiting to make sure the commanders had boarded safely, the copter began its rapid ascent into the skies.

"Now!" A sudden voice shouted. Mercy wasn't sure where it came from, but almost immediately, the smell of smoke drifted upward. Fire, but from where?

"How horribly inconvenient," he muttered to no one in particular. "I assume that I have less time to carry out my plan than expected." The copter was now rather low in the air, but high enough so that the demon could not reach him. Chilling eyes scanned the battlefield, searching for a certain blue echidna amongst the sea of red. There; over near the west wing, where the demon had come from. With precise aiming, the Warp Gun fired…

----------------------------------------

Gary was practically wading through the corpses of fallen soldiers as he hurried towards the ruined building. If there was any chance of getting the whole gang out of here alive, that Daim Gem was the only option. Demon Rozik seemed occupied temporarily by some live soldiers, giving the remaining three hunters time to find that crystal.

There was a sudden flash, as a bright beam shot toward him. Temporarily blinding him, the young boy froze, unable to move. Closer it came, and right as it was about to hit, a blow to the side blew Gary away. As he hit the ground, he saw Brom being hit by the beam, and fading away into thin air, and up in the air, a helicopter disappearing in a green glow…

"Brom must have knocked me out of the way to save me," Gary thought, "and that helicopter…it must be using that Chaos Control thing to disappear!" Surprisingly, he didn't feel sad or angry; his mind was too focused on the task at hand. Shaking the last of the light out of his sight, he continued toward the ruin.

"Gary, over here!" Flying toward him was Seema, with a small silver crystal in her grasp. She landed next to him, careful to avoid more blood from seeping from the bodies that replaced the ground.

"I managed to dig it up from the rubble," she explained. Looking around, she saw Orea, but no one else. "Where are the others?"

"…Brom was here a few seconds ago, but he was hit by a beam, and he disappeared. I don't know about Darem or Al'catraz, though."

"Who?" The mantis asked, not knowing the latter of the two. "Oh well, no matter. Look; we have to find a way to get this Daim Gem close enough to Rozik to turn him back to normal. Unfortunately, with all those mezate spikes, I'm not sure how close we can get to him. Especially if he doesn't stop running around…"

"I'm sure we'll think of something!" Gary replied hastily. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a certain white demon eyeing Orea, who had just finished fending off a few soldiers that had, until a few minutes ago, been alive. "Quick, we have to go make sure Orea doesn't get killed!"

----------------------------------------

At the same instant, yet another hole was forced through the prison walls, this time from the tank that Al'catraz had commandeered. Having convinced Darem into driving (as if he hadn't been forced into enough already), the tank ambled over the dead bodies, and for the first time, the trio noticed the demon.

"Alcy, what's that thing?" Suzy asked, pointing at the beast. The bat's eyes widened in horror.

"Please tell me that isn't Rozik. F-cking tell me that isn't Rozik."

"…Sorry tae break it to ye, but I be thinking that is," Darem replied. "I guess he was a demon after all, aye? Thing is, what are we to be doing about it?"

"How do you expect me to know?" Al'catraz threw up her hands in exasperation. "The only time I ever saw him in his demon form, his dad got there quick enough with his Daim Gem to get Roz to normal before he could transform all the way."

"His da?"

"Yeah, his dad was a demon too. I think it's some kind of inherited thing…don't worry, Suzy isn't one," she added quickly. "Look; I think I see the others over there. Drive to the left a bit…yeah, that way." The tank made it to Orea around the same time Gary and Seema made it, which surprised the rabbit.

"I see, like, we're all here," she said. "Nice of you to, like, come to my rescue. Hold on…where's Brom?"

"He kinda-" Gary was cut off by a look from Seema. "I'll explain later, okay?"

"Right." The rabbit thought for a minute. If Brom wasn't here, then the next person to lead the team would be her. But what to do about Rozik? As the question entered her mind, a plan began to form…risky, but it just might work.

"These tanks, if I remember correctly, are known to, like, possess some of the strongest armor in the world…so I'm pretty sure they could, like, stand up to a demon, right?" The others nodded. "With Rozik being such a, like, giant demon, it would be really hard to fly or climb up there, right?" Another series of nods.

"Alright then, here's, like, the plan." The rabbit pointed at the tank. Like most other tanks, this one had a cannon placed on it. "We simply, like, make sure there are no weapons in there. Then, Seema will give Gary the Daim Gem. He'll curl up as tight as he can, and we'll place him in the cannon. Since the tank is so strong, Rozik would have a hard time hurting it, so Darem will drive as close as possible to him. At the right moment, Al'catraz will fire Gary out of the cannon, and onto Roz. The Daim Gem, once in contact, will take effect, and our little friend will be back to normal."

Seema raised a brow. "That is rather risky. There are about a million ways it could go wrong. Maybe with a team of professionals, we could pull it off, but otherwise-"

"If you, like, have a better plan, I would so love to hear it," Orea scoffed. "Does anyone else object?" No one dared to; not with the demon so close that it could decide to chase them any minute.

"It's crazy enough for me to try," Al'catraz said.

"Easy for ye' to say; you arna' the one driving…but I suppose I could be giving it a go."

"…What's a cannon?" This last part was from Gary. Orea pointed to the weapon atop the tank.

"That thing. Grab the gem, and get in NOW." Seema handed the boy the silver crystal, and he quickly climbed into the cannon. It was by far the most cramped position he had ever been in before, enough to make most people feel claustrophobic. He clenched the gem in his grip like there was no tomorrow, and in less than a minute, he felt the tank begin to move.

Orea and Seema watched from down below, the former holding Suzy.

"Sure this will work?"

"Seema, if there is, like, one thing I've learned, it's to never be sure of anything." She sighed. "…I guess all we can do is stay alive ourselves…"

----------------------------------------

"Blood…so much blood…I've never seen this much blood in my life. Who killed all these soldiers? And why…why am I enjoying this so much?"

The demon looked around, as if realizing what it was doing. The sound of crackling bones reached its ears with every step, and the scent of battle hung heavy. The only things moving down below were some people- he couldn't tell what they were, for they were too small for him to see clearly- and…a tank.

"So now Prixtal's sending tanks to destroy me? Ha! I'll make them wish they were never born."

"…But how did I get here in the first place?" It seemed that in part of the demon's mind, Rozik was starting to wake up. This was a rare occurrence in demons, thought not unheard of. Most of the time, it was only temporary; the demon was the same person, after all. "Dammit, it doesn't matter how I got here! What matters is destroying them before they take me out! Anything that tries to destroy me deserves to die…and I'll gladly kill them"

----------------------------------------

The tank below drove closer. Out of instinct, the demon swiped it with his claws, which would have severely damaged most vehicles. The tank was merely shaken back, much to the beast's aggravation. It charged forward with another swipe, which again had barely any effect.

"I knew Roz was stubborn, but this is ridiculous!" Al'catraz growled from her seat in the tank, manning the cannon controls. "How are we going to get Gary up there if we keep getting attacked?"

Darem thought about this a minute. "Well, running intae a wall makes ye dizzy, aye? All we need to be doing is getting him to run intae something of the sort…I suppose the rest of tha' prison would be working nicely?" Al smirked.

"This plan gets stranger by the minute, you know that? How are we going to not crash into the building ourselves?"

"…Ye dinna think I be driving this slow on purpose, do ye? Hold on tight lass!" The tank darted forward with a sudden burst of speed. As planned, the demon followed, black eyes focused on the vehicle. The girls watched nearby, wondering what exactly the duo was up to.

"Alri', wall coming up," Darem barked. "Be ready tae fire!"

"Roger that!" Gary heard this last part from his position in the cannon. Bracing himself, he suddenly realized something: Cannons were like guns, right? Then didn't they fire with a really big explosion?

BANG!

Opening his eyes, the boy found himself in the air. The sound of the blast still rung in his ears, but that wasn't the worst of the news. The plan had worked; Rozik had run into the building. Unfortunately, he kept going, crashing through the ruins of the prison. This, of course, meant that Al had missed with her aiming.

"WAAAAAH!!!!" The echidna began flailing his arms like wings, trying to slow his descent. One flailing hand grabbed hold of something, bringing his descent to a sudden stop. Surprised at his luck, the set of off-colored eyes noticed that the thing that saved him was…a tail. A mezate covered, white furred tail.

"I guess Al'catraz's aim wasn't as bad as I thought." The echidna looked at the Daim Gem in his other hand. "I wonder…would this work yet?" He placed the crystal against the fur. No changes. Probably because he wasn't close enough to the actual body.

Like a whip, the tail thrashed to the side, sending Gary with it. It was like holding on to the end of a giant snake (not that Gary knew what one was, mind you), and he was losing grip. Up he was tossed, and the gem fell down. Catching the silver crystal, he realized he was falling again, and the ground wasn't remarkably far away.

The demon looked back, seeing the body falling. It prepared to pounce, ready to grab the echidna with its teeth.

"Hold on…that's Gary!" For an instant, Rozik had control of the beast's mind. Charging forward, he managed to get between the boy and the ground right as Gary landed. The echidna blinked.

"…That was lucky," he thought to himself. He had landed on the back, in between the two back quills (being a hedgehog, Roz's demon form retained certain traits, such as quills). Being much closer than the tail, Gary pulled out the Daim Gem, placing it against the white fur. With a brief glow, the gem began to work its magic, and the beast began to morph back to normal. The boy nodded, when suddenly, a vision appeared, replacing all else.

It was the island in the sky again…Seraph Island, was it? He was watching the Lord Maelstrom Crystal shrine, and the sky overhead was a haze of colors. At the alter was a familiar looking echidna, golden in color, and seven gems of brilliant colors.

"No, you must stop this foolishness!" The echidna looked back with chilling eyes, and one of the crystals, a brilliant violet in color, shattered into seemingly millions of pieces…

----------------------------------------

"My god, like, it actually worked!" Orea exclaimed, putting Suzy down. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her over to the two bodies on the ground. Gary, looking rather dizzy, was sitting next to Rozik, unconscious and spotted with blood.

"Orea, I did it!" The echidna got shakily to his feet. "Your plan worked!"

"Like, good job," she said simply. "Come on, we, like, better get out of here. Can you still walk?" Gary nodded, though his legs buckled under him a few seconds later. Orea caught him, sighing. "Guess not."

"I really wonder what happened to Brom," She wondered. "But I'm sure he'll be back soon. For now, I need to help get the others out of here." She looked over to where Seema was, motioning her over.

"Oh, Orea?" The girl looked down at the echidna in her arms.

"What is it Gary?"

"Thanks for everything." He paused. "If I told you…that I think there's more I need to do…would you come with me?" Orea was quiet.

"We'll see when the time comes, okay? I promise."