Chapter 14
Graveyard Run
"Alright," Eric said back as the three of them ran across the open field to the graveyard. The run over wasn't very peaceful as a storm was coming through and the rains were very heavy while the lightning struck all around them.
"This weather is just perfect." Larry said sarcastically.
"It really is becoming a bit of a nuisance, isn't it?" Kevin asked.
"Yes, it really is." Eric answered.
"Hold on," Kevin said as he pointed his finger towards the clouds causing the rain and lightning to lighten up a bit.
"That is a little better," Larry stated, "Thanks!"
"Don't mention it." Kevin replied as he put his hand back down and they continued running to the graveyard.
They ran as fast as they could to get there and wound out making it at six fifty-nine. "One minute early," Eric began, "Are you guys ready?"
"Definitely," Larry and Kevin both said.
At that time the clock struck seven pm and The Reaper was still nowhere to be seen, but a black fog appeared in front of them as Nyx emerged from within it.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Larry asked, "We're looking for The Reaper."
"He had a small delay, but he will be here soon. I figured I would provide you with some entertainment while you wait." Nyx snickered.
"And exactly what kind of entertainment are you suggesting?" Kevin replied.
"Take a look for yourself." Nyx pointed his finger at three and they all fell into three separate vortexes.
Inside Larry's vortex there were waves of red and black leading him into a downward spiral, Kevin's vortex had green and black waves and Eric's had blue and black waves. When Larry hit the ground he found himself in a seemingly never-ending graveyard. "Hello, is anyone here?" Larry asked.
At that point six hooded figures appeared around him, they looked like demons with their brown, flaky skin and red horns extending from their foreheads. Each of their garments covered every part of their body except for their faces and hands. The one on the left wielded a large axe, the next a giant sword, the rest wielded double daggers, numb chucks, a staff with swords on either end from left to right, finally the last held a large scythe. The ones with the daggers, numb chucks, and sword staff were relatively small whereas the other three were rather large in height.
"I don't have time for this." Larry said in his frustration.
"Well you're going to have to make time." said the figure wielding the axe.
"Ugh, hit me with your best shot." Larry replied.
At the sound of those words the figure wielding the axe jumped at Larry, but Larry dodged his blow and elbowed him in the head. "That didn't hurt at all." said the figure. Larry jumped out of the way and shot a bit of magic at him causing him to fall flat on his butt, "Alright that was more like it."
"Glad you liked it." Larry responded as he did a back flip onto a tombstone where the figure with sword slash at Larry's feet. At that point Larry jumped in the air making the figure slice through the tombstone as Larry kicked him in the head and proceeded to do a front flip over him.
"I like your style kid," said the sword wielder as he charged at Larry prepared to stab him, Larry jumped again and the figure got his sword stuck in another tombstone as the axe wielder attempted a sneak attack on Larry who rolled out of the way causing the figure to slash through the other's back with the axe cutting him in half.
"One down," Larry began, "So who's next?" With that question the dagger wielder came down from the sky at Larry who sidestepped him and then kicked him in the face making him fall on his back. The axe wielder charged at Larry who simply rolled underneath kicking the figure in a very unpleasant area causing him to fall to the ground as well.
"You son of a …" the axe wielder's words cut short as Larry shot a bit of red magic at him and the figure's head fell off.
"Four more, you want next?" Larry asked the dagger wielder as he was being attacked from behind by the one with numb chucks. Larry ducked his head as the figure struck his dagger wielding friend in the head causing the two of them of them attack each other in fury where the sword-staff wielder stuck his weapon in both of them causing them to die.
"Such pathetic fools, we are attacking the little brat not each other." said the figure with the sword-staff.
"Well, now that those four are out of the way," began the scythe wielder, "I believe it's time for us to get serious."
"Bring it on!" Larry replied as the scythe wielder took a swipe at him. Larry ducked and grabbed the handle of the scythe with his feet flipping the figure onto the ground as the other remaining one stuck his sword at the ground towards Larry who moved his head just in time.
"Your moves are quick for such a small child." said the sword-staff wielder. At that point the scythe wielder had risen and struck at Larry who quickly tripped the other figure over him causing him to take the full blow as Larry got a small cut on his shoulder where he began to bleed.
"Nicely done, now you can face the real deal. My name is Tonkichi legendary demon scythe expert of the underworld." said the figure now known as Tonkichi.
"Pragmer, Larry Pragmer," Larry began, "I will be the last human you ever see."
"Is that so?" Tonkichi asked, "Give me your best."
"Oh, I intend to." Larry said as he shot a bit of magic at Tonkichi who simply moved his blade reflecting the blast to a tombstone which it blew up.
"I hope you intend to do better than that." Tonkichi replied.
On the outskirts of the graveyard just over a black fence Eric stood on a decent sized piece of land which looked like a wasteland surrounded by fire which shot up through the cracks. A very large demon about six times Eric's size appeared on the land beside him; he held a large fire whip and smacked it on the ground.
Eric frightened covered his ears and turned around to see the large figure where his eyes widened. "What's the matter? Never seen a demon firetromber before?" said the large demon, "My name is Plorince; I am one of the three guardians of The Reaper alongside my partners Tonkichi and Altaria."
"I can't say that I have seen anything like you before, but your size will not guarantee you victory." Eric smirked.
"You dare use that face at the great Plorince? I will show you no mercy." Plorince replied.
"Please, do your worst." Eric said as he shot magic at the giant demon which just bounced off his chest.
"Well, that tickled." said Plorince as Eric began to back away stopping before he reached the crack in the ground. "What happened to all that confidence?" Plorince said as he struck his whip at Eric who rolled away causing the whip to just catch the end of the land which had a small piece melt away.
"Ugh, I don't know if I am cut out for this." Eric said in fear, "Wait, I can't think that. There must be a weakness to this guy." Plorince struck at Eric again sidestepped the whip, but got hit by a small portion of the handle that did not burn him at all. "Bingo," he thought.
"Missed again, stop moving and accept your death." Plorince said as he struck at Eric again who moved and grabbed onto the handle of the whip and jumped on it running up the whip to his arm. "What's this? Oh wait, that's right I can just do this." Plorince made fire down his arm where Eric dodged by jumping off his arm just second before it reached him. Plorince then struck his whip which caught a small piece of Eric's ear causing it to fall off as Eric screamed in pain.
"You will regret that," Eric said as he pointed towards the handle of the whip causing the handle to break in half and the fire part to fall inside the surrounding crevasse, "You think what I was doing was simply trying to run up your arm for a fatal, but in reality I noticed the weak point of your weapon when it struck, when I grabbed a hold I placed a small explosive particle on the piece allowing me to blow it up when you knocked me to the ground."
"It appears I may have underestimated you a little bit," Plorince began, "No matter, I still have some tricks up my sleeves." he said as he pointed fingers towards the ground.
"I don't think so." Eric said as he snapped his fingers causing Plorince's hands to become paralyzed.
"What, what is this? How did this happen." Plorince screamed.
"If you would kindly let me finish my story," Eric began, "I did more than just place small particles in your whip handle; I also placed a tiny invisible paralyzing wire in one of your arms as I jumped off and used my magic to extend it to your other arm causing you to keep your hands within a certain distance of each other. When you moved your hands out, you went too far and the wire took the usefulness of your arms."
"How did you know to do this?" Plorince asked.
"They don't call me a genius for nothing, and now," Eric began as he pointed his finger underneath causing a small portion of the land to rise and also the land surrounding the crevasse making Plorince stuck at the bottom of the pit by himself, "I'm sorry, but it's your time to go." Eric said as he pointed inside the crevasse causing water to shoot up all the sides of the platform. "Now die," Eric continued as he moved his arms forward causing the water to drown the bottom platform Plorince was standing on.
"No!" Plorince screamed as he began to drown under the water.
"So much for legendary guardians, now there is only two." Eric said as pointed at his feet and hovered over the crevasse to the other side of the land which had formed a small hill that he slid down and jumped over the outer gate and entered the "Endless Graveyard" where he saw a fight going on in the distance and ran towards it.
On the other side of the gate out of the graveyard all around were dead trees. Kevin was lying on the ground where Altaria was standing over him with a sword. Altaria was about six foot seven and wore armor all around his body; you could see small portions of the armor had worn away from the battle that was taking place. Around his helmet spikes were shooting out of the top, "Now Kevin Able, any last words?" he asked.
"Yes, watch out." Kevin said as his body disappeared and he came in behind and kicked at Altaria's head. Altaria moved out of the way causing Kevin to tuck and roll over on the ground. "Will you stop dodging?"
"I'll stop dodging when you learn how to attack." Altaria said as he lifted his sword and sent it stabbing towards Kevin who grabbed the blade with his feet and twisted it causing Altaria to fall into the ground. At that time Kevin tied his shoes. "Seems like an odd time for shoe-tying, don't you think?"
Kevin ignored him and jumped up to kick Altaria in the face. Altaria sidestepped, but Kevin twisted and kicked Altaria in the face with his other foot causing Altaria to fall to the ground. "How do you like that?" Kevin asked.
"You think that will help you?" Altaria replied, "You're just delaying your defeat now." Altaria pointed towards his sword and brought it back to his hands. He proceed to charge in for a final blow on Kevin, but Kevin stood up and pointed his finger at Altaria's face and bugs began to eat away at him. "What the hell?"
"They're bugs obviously; I noticed the only way to defeat you would be to attack you in the head, but you kept it too well guarded for an obvious attack. When I tied my shoes earlier what I was really doing was laying a bug bomb on my shoelace. When I kicked your face with that leg it caused the bug bomb to attach just waiting for my signal to detonate it." Kevin replied.
"You bastard!" Altaria screamed as the bugs began to eat away at his face.
"It's your fault for not keeping yourself guarded." Kevin replied as he turned and walked away.
Altaria threw his sword at Kevin before he died and said, "Never turn your back on an enemy."
Kevin stopped the sword before it reached him and sent it back at Altaria causing it to strike through his heart, "Never warn your opponents of your attacks by screaming." Kevin said as he walked through the dead trees and jumped over the gate into the graveyard.
Larry was lying flat on the ground as Tonkichi had his scythe inside of his one of Larry's shoulders. Kevin and Eric came from either side at that time Kevin shooting the scythe out of Larry's arm with magic and Eric kicked Tonkichi in the back of the head. "Are you okay Larry?" they both asked.
"I'm fine; I need to finish this guy off on my own though." Larry replied.
"If you say so Larry, be careful and try to find his weakness, we'll be here if you need our help." Kevin responded.
"Thanks!" Larry said as he jumped towards Tonkichi and planned to land a kick on him, but Tonkichi moved out of the way. Larry proceeded to shoot water at Tonkichi which Tonkichi just absorbed with his scythe.
"Surely, you don't think a little water attack will work on me do you?" Tonkichi grinned.
"You know, I really hate your smile." Larry said as he shot fire at Tonkichi which was also absorbed into the scythe.
"Fire now, huh?" Tonkichi said, "Even if you knew my secret you would never beat me."
"Perhaps, I already do know it." Larry said as he shot a bit of light at Tonkichi who reflected it back at Larry who grinned at the sight.
"What's with the smile?" Tonkichi asked.
"You'll see." Larry shot rocks, dark fog and lightning at Tonkichi all of which were absorbed by the scythe; however, Larry then appeared behind Tonkichi and shot light into his back.
"What is this? You found it, all this time; no one has ever been able to defeat me until now." Tonkichi replied as he fell to the ground.
Larry picked up the scythe which he dropped, "Go burn in Hell." Larry said as he sliced off Tonkichi's head.
"How did you figure that out Larry?" Eric asked.
"It was simple, all he did the entire battle was block his body, he risked absorbing all the elements I shot at him, but when it came to light he would move slightly and hit it back towards me with his scythe, therefore I knew light was his weakness and I needed to somehow get it into his body. I thank him for providing the opening I needed." Larry explained.
"That was very good Larry," Kevin replied, "I think we are all ready to face this Reaper now."
"Your wish is my command." said a voice in the sky as the three guardians of The Reaper's bodies all flew into the air and turned into three orbs of light, one white, one black, and one red. They all combined together and were absorbed into the moon.
"What the heck is going on here?" Eric asked.
"Oh, well first off I want to think the three of you for getting rid of my worthless servants, it was very helpful in letting me achieve my goal. See I needed a few more souls to be able to return to the Earth and I decided what better way to do that than by tiring you three out before our fight, I planned on my guardian's deaths." the voice said as The Reaper glided down from the moon, "Now, it is time." The Reaper said as he flung his sword in the sky causing the surrounding area to turn to black as they all went through a vortex.
When they all landed they were back in Hel's Graveyard with The Reaper standing over them looking sickly at them. "So does this mean you're finally going to fight us yourself?" Larry asked.
"Yes, it does Larry. I've wanted to kill you for a long time too." The Reaper answered. "Ever since your mother got rid of my pet and your father attempted to kill me, I knew you would end up just as them, heartless and cold."
"Heartless? Cold? I believe you need to look into a mirror buddy." Larry replied.
"You have no idea exactly what happened that night and you dare to use my words on me?" The Reaper responded.
"Well, I don't need to know what happened back then to know what you just did in your Endless Graveyard." Larry answered.
"So you know the name of where my body was being held captive, do you?" The Reaper smirked.
"Actually, I just said that because there were graves as far as the eye could see." Larry said as he smirked back.
"I am shocked you would make such a face at me, and here I thought you cared about me." The Reaper replied.
"Care about you? Don't make me laugh." Larry said as Eric and Kevin stood beside him.
"That saddens me Larry; I thought we could be friends." The Reaper said back.
"Why would I be friends with someone who is trying to kill me?" Larry asked.
"There you go making assumptions again," The Reaper began, "Did it ever cross your mind that I was just trying to make you stronger?"
"Considering everyone you killed, I could care less." Larry said.
"Haven't you ever wondered who I am?" The Reaper responded.
"Well, you got me there, yes I have wondered that." Larry replied.
"Interesting," The Reaper responded.
"I'm so sick of you." Larry said as he shot magic at The Reaper who just let it hit him.
"Did you just try to hit me before I could tell you my story? That is so rude." The Reaper said as he stuck his scythe into the ground making the ground split in three causing Larry, Eric and Kevin to be separated.
"Well, get to talking then Ret." Larry replied.
"How dare you use my real name? Where did you learn that?" The Reaper asked.
"I took a trip to the past and learned what happened to my parents twelve years ago and just overheard your name." Larry answered.
"Well," The Reaper said, "You still don't know my story. You do not know the story of me, Ret Ehi Pragmer."