El Tigre: Chosen
"Manny, you idiot! Behind you!"
-Merwin "Mer" Knox
Chapter 24
The final battle of Doña Ultima's twisted tournament had begun.
Django quickly drew both mystic guitars and strummed, sending out an energy wave similar to the one he used on Black Cuervo. El Tigre was swept up in the wave, which went crashing into the side of the arena.
Django laughed, until the smoked cleared, revealing El Tigre, still standing.
"You didn't really think it was gonna be that easy, did you?" Tigre asked with a smirk.
"I actually wouldn't have it any other way," Django smirked back.
Tigre and Django charged to meet each other in battle.
Django raised his mystic guitar up out of reach in his upper arms, and attacked El Tigre with his lower arms. He knew what the feline super's strategy would be: go for the guitars. Tigre met Django, and they exchanged blows. Just as Django anticipated, El Tigre jumped, reaching for the guitars. Django quickly twirled the guitars, rotating them to other hands and attacking his opponent with his free hands. Tigre landed, and they continued this dance.
Eventually, Django slipped up, and El Tigre caught one of his guitars. A well placed claw-strike sliced it clean in half. Django quickly positioned his guitar to strum and heal, but Tigre sliced through that one too. The vessel of El Dios de los Muertos stumbled back, dropping the pieces of the guitars.
"And that's how we do it!" El Tigre declared triumphantly, turning to his friends.
"Uh, mijo?" Maria pointed behind her son
"Am I awesome or what?" El Tigre gloated, not paying attention.
"Manny, you idiot! Behind you!" Mer shouted.
That caught El Tigre's attention, forcing him to turn around.
Django was still standing. Not only that, but the pieces of the mystic guitars rose into the air and fit back together, becoming whole once more. Django gently plucked them out of the air, good as new.
"But how…" El Tigre stammered.
"You can't kill a god!" Django laughed. He then strummed the guitars, each one blasting El Tigre with a beam of dark power. Energy pulsed through Tigre, wracking him with pain. Finally, everything went dark…
Manny opened his eyes. He was lying in a desert of red sand. He slowly got up, brushing himself off.
"Where am I? This place look kinda familiar…"
"It's because you've been here before." Manny jumped at the appearance of the strange figure at his side. The figure was enveloped in green flames.
"El Dios de los Gatos?" Manny asked.
"Yes."
"Don't forget me, young one."
Manny turned to see a bluish-gray figure.
"I'm sorry," said Manny. "I don't know who you are."
"You probably don't recognize me outside the temple…or without all the extra limbs." Manny could've sworn he saw something like a smile on the figure's face.
"El Dios de las Arañas?" Manny asked.
The god nodded.
"Am…am I dead?"
"No," said the Cat God. "You are in an in-between place. You're here because you need to be."
"Why do I need to be here?" Manny demanded. "I need to be fighting Django! If he gets that Oar thing, there's no telling what he can-"
"Do not worry, boy," the Spider God interrupted. "We are going to help you stop Django and the power of El Dios de los Muertos."
"But…how?"
Another ghost of a smile, this time on the Cat God's face. "Someone is here to help you. Someone who is here for similar reasons."
The Cat God stepped aside to reveal…Sartana of the Dead.
"Sartana!" Manny cried. "You're not dead!"
"No," Sartana sighed. "Not yet. But I'm trapped, and it's time for me to move on. And I can't do that until Django does as well."
"But how do I beat Django? I tried destroying the guitars, but that didn't work!"
Sartana scratched her bony chin. "The mystic guitars resonate opposite energy waves. If they were to pulse simultaneously, they could cancel each other out."
The look on Manny face told Sartana she had lost him. Sartana groaned.
"Just destroy the guitars at the exact same time," Sartana explained. "Please. It's time for us to rest."
"She's right, Manny," said a new, yet familiar voice. Manny teared up at the sound of it, whirling around to face…
"DAD!"
Indeed, there stood White Pantera, smiling.
"Mijo, I am always with you. Let do this…together."
Rodolfo reached out a hand to Manny. Manny smiled and took it.
There was a flash of light.
Django discontinued the beams, peering once more through the smoke to see what had become of his enemy. When he had seen no sign of movement, he began to cackle.
Then the arena began to shake. The smoke was replaced by white light and flame.
"What the hell?" Django wondered.
A figure appeared in the white, slowly approaching. Eventually it could be made out.
It was El Tigre, but slightly taller and dressed in white and gold. On his feet were the Bronze Boots of Truth. His eyes were even more green than before.
This was White Tigre.
Django gasped. "I've heard of this transformation from Nana Sartana before, but I never thought…"
"She sends her regards by the way," White Tigre grinned.
Django's eyes widened, then he growled. "I will destroy you just the same!"
"You can try!" White Tigre roared.
The two superpowers charged to do battle once more. This time not only did Django attack with his free hands, he fired bolts of darkness from the dual guitars. White Tigre danced around them, matching Django blow for blow.
White Tigre pulled back, white flame forming in his fist. He thrust his arm forward, launching the fire at Django. Django was quickly engulfed in the white inferno. Once White Tigre stopped and the flames died down, one could see that half of Django's human face had burned away, burned down to the bone beneath, and the parts of his armor had fused together in the heat.
"Damn you, Tigre!" the necromancer howled, lashing out at his opponent. Unfortunately for him, White Tigre was too swift, running circles around him.
White Tigre jumped back, then rushed at Django, full-tilt, claws extended, white fire burning. Django roared, and rushed to meet White Tigre, a guitar in each pair of hands, charging with the energy of the forgotten dead. They collided, light flashed, wind blew, energy burst. They landed on opposite sides.
Django breathed heavily, then grinned. He was unharmed. He was about to turn and gloat, to witness the utter ruin he had brought down upon White Tigre.
Then he noticed the guitars were gone.
For the first time, the near-god felt fear; he panicked. He turned to face his opponent. White Tigre stood expressionless, holding a guitar by the neck in each hand. He swung his arms outward…and then brought them crashing together.
"NO!" Django cried.
When the guitars shattered, an enormous wellspring of power was unleashed in a massive explosion. The coliseum itself rumbled and cracked. Django howled as he was caught in the shockwave. Mystic energy rushed past, rusting and stripping his armor, melting what was left of his flesh. His bones became like chalk and crumbled into dust.
The energy flow subsided, and there was nothing left.
It was over. Django and Sartana were finally at rest.
White Tigre sighed, glowing as he reverted back to Manny Rivera.
The other finalists broke into cheers, rushing onto the field to congratulate the winner. Even Frida managed to drag herself over, pulling Manny into a hug.
"That's my Manny," she whispered.
"That was totally awesome, kid!" Mer clapped Manny on the back.
"I'm so proud of you, mijo!" Maria gushed, hugging Manny after Frida.
Josef gave a nod of approval, and Zoë looked like she was about to say something, but everyone stepped back as Doña Ultima approached.
"Do not be afraid, friends! This is a time for celebration!" Ultima declared. "Manny is the champion of the chosen! The supreme object-wielder! He is in possession of every mystic object! And now…he has a choice to make."
Frida waved Ultima off. "What choice is there? Just give him the paddle thing!"
Manny nodded. "I won the Oar, fair and square. Give it to me so I can bring back my dad."
"Ah!" Ultima wagged her finger. "If you remember correctly, I said the winner would have the opportunity to claim the prize. If you want Charon's Oar, you must give me every object in your possession…including your belt. And so we come to the choice…do you want to be king of the object-wielders, the chosen of the gods…or do you take the Oar, bring back your father?"
Manny felt like he'd taken another blow.
"This doesn't feel right, Manny," Mer warned.
"Mijo…" Maria murmured.
"Do what you think is best, Manny," Frida told her best amigo.
Manny nodded, turning back to Doña Ultima.
"You can have whatever you want. Just give me the Oar."