Pendulum's Plan
Part Two
"Geez," Nami huffed. She formed a storm cloud and zapped a small group of smaller monkeys. "What are these things made of?"
"Their like sea prism stone. Impossible to break," Usopp shouted as he fired at multiple gorilla size enemies. One of the smaller monkeys dashed around until it could clamp its mechanical teeth on Usopp's arm. He screamed and shook it off then fired at it. "Stupid machine! You are totally give me a phobia over monkeys!"
"We won't be able to keep this up for long if we can't find their weakness," Chopper said. He picked up a couple with his horns and rammed them into a tree. They dropped to the ground as he stepped back from them. He managed to puncher their bodies, but they still stood back up. "I'm going to have to use my monster form."
"Are you sure about that?" Nami asked. Brook was behind her. He poked his sword at several monkeys, making a monkey shish kabob on it.
"We're not making much progress here," Chopper said. He looked at the Heart Pirates. They were going after the largest of the monkeys with Robin helping them with her giant hands. "We can't keep this up for long. We've already been going at this for several minutes."
"If you go into your monster form and we don't stop them then we're down a fighter!" Usopp pointed out, firing several more shots.
"And if we don't do something soon you are going to disappear forever!" Chopper pointed out.
Usopp looked down at his body. Half of it was missing. He screeched and wailed around. "No! Someone do something! I don't want to disappear!"
"That's it! I'm going for it!" Chopper shouted. He pulled out his rumble balls and transformed.
Bepo jumped put to kick his target. The monkey moved faster than him and caught him. "Hey! Let go!"
"Bepo!" Shachi and Penguin cried.
Chopper roared and whacked the monkey that was holding Bepo. The machine cracked and released its captive. Bepo dropped to the ground. "Thanks!"
"You're welcome," Chopper said as he smashed his target again. This time it cracked completely open and fell to the ground, immobile.
"Hey, looks like you've got enough strength to stop them," Shachi noted.
"Maybe…Or we could just be wearing them down. Either way I only have a few minutes in this form," Chopper reported. "I won't be able to stop all of them."
"Just take out the four largest ones," Penguin said as he punched a smaller monkey. "We'll be able to take the rest out."
"Okay," Chopper nodded then went ahead with his assault on the last three.
…
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! OUCH!" Sanji jumped around while holding his leg. "What the heck is with this place having so many things that are unbreakable?!"
Zoro didn't reply as he tried his swords again. He stepped back and looked up to the top of it. Without a word he jumped up to the top. He caught a quick glance at Neo screaming in pain before trying to slice the pinchers. He got the same results as they did at the base of the tower. He dropped back down to the ground.
"Hm," Franky rubbed his chin as he stared at the base of the tower. He noticed that it looked like the tower went under the ground. "I wonder what's under this thing."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Zoro asked.
"The inner workings of the dome," Celeste reported as she popped out of Sanji's shirt. "Vines no attack anymore! Vines no attack!"
"What do you mean?" Franky asked.
"That's right! I forgot all about them!" Sanji shouted. "Neo told me that this place was protected by mechanical vines and animals!"
"So?" Zoro asked.
"So there has to be a reason to why they're not attack now," Sanji looked around. He looked down at Celeste. "Celeste, did Pendulum build this tower directly into the inner workings of this dome?"
"Yes," Celeste nodded. "Tower and dome are now one."
"Thought so," Sanji nodded back.
"You going somewhere with this, bro?" Franky asked.
"I hope so," Sanji plucked the little sprite out of his shirt and sat her in the palm of her head. "Listen to me, Celeste. I need you to go into the inner workings of this dome. Get all of your sprite friends to help you. Try to disrupt the flow of power to this tower."
"Right! Cutie can count on me!" Celeste nodded then flew away from them.
"Are you sure about that? Seems like a long shot considering Pendulum is using Neo's magic," Franky said.
"Possibly, but that will hurt her a lot less than what's happening to her now," Sanji looked at his friend. "But there has to be power of some kind going to this tower. If not, then why aren't the defenses for it attacking us now?"
"I guess you have a point," Franky scratched his cheek.
"We can't rely on that," Zoro said. "We still need to try and destroy this thing."
"Let's get back to it then," Sanji nodded as they turned back to the tower and continued their assault on it.
…
Pendulum proved just as hard to beat. Everything Luffy and Law threw at him, he dodged by freezing them in place. Elian and Velocity would immediately unfreeze them, but they all were having trouble making headway on getting close to landing a blow on the time man. Elian growl and brushed some sweat off his brow. "This isn't working."
"Pendulum was always one of the strongest in the empress's army," Velocity said.
"We'll still defeat him," Luffy proclaimed.
Law casted his eager and optimistic friend a glance before looking back at Pendulum. He was starting to have doubts that they would. He couldn't formulate any kind of plan to defeat this guy. Pendulum matched their speed with ease. How were you supposed to defeat someone who could control time? They were in a stalemate with this enemy. They needed something to get Pendulum off his guard.
Suddenly Law had a very bad feeling wash over him. He turned his attention to where Neo was being tortured just as Velocity's voice rang out. "Something's wrong! Neo's magic is fading!"
Law's heart sank low in his chest. Though magic was still visibly radiating from the tower, it was obviously fading. And Neo wasn't screaming anymore. Pendulum also turned his attention when he felt Neo's magic take a dive. "What is she doing?"
Luffy took this opportunity and landed a punch to Pendulum's cheek. The time man went flying several yards and crashed into the dome wall. Luffy charged and landed several more punches onto Pendulum's body.
…
Chopper smashed the last of the large monkeys. His body jerked as he looked over to the tower. "Something's wrong."
"Huh?" Brook looked at the giant beast. "What is it, Chopper?"
"I'm not sure, but…I have a bad feeling about Neo," Chopper replied quietly just before his transformation time was up. He began to drop to the ground. Shachi, being the closest to him, jumped up and grabbed the falling reindeer. "Thanks."
"No problem," Shachi nodded. As they landed, Shachi made sure to land on top of a monkey. The monkey shattered beneath him. He looked around to see that they had destroyed several of the monkeys. He also noticed something else. "Penguin, your body's back to normal."
"Huh?" Penguin looked down at himself. He then got a terrible feeling in his stomach. The stomach seemed to pass from him to Shachi. The two pirates then looked at Bepo. Bepo was staring up at the mirror that held their friend, their little sister. The bear wore a worried expression on his furry face. "No…No…S-She can't be…"
"What's going on? Why did you all stop?" Usopp asked. "Hey, our bodies are back to normal! That's great!"
"They defeated Pendulum?" Nami asked.
"No," Penguin said as his fists trembled. "That's not what's happening."
…
Law's hat fell over his eyes.
Luffy stopped his assault on Pendulum and tangled his limbs around the older man's, making him immobile. "Tragay!"
Law clenched his sword's handle. He turned and walked towards Pendulum.
Pendulum struggled to get out of Luffy's hold. He tried to freeze Law in place, but Velocity or Elian would unfreeze him. "No! This can't happen! I was so close!"
"You've been told before, the future can't be see or predicated," Elian said. He clenched his fists. "You might have planned this down to ever little detail, but you didn't even think about how this would effect her, did you? You never wondered if her body was strong enough to handle the stress of using all her magic to change the entire world and timeline! We all have our limits to what our bodies can handle! And just because she has the ability to reshape the world doesn't mean her body can handle the stress that would come with doing that!"
"But you're too blind by your own desires to see how you effect others," Velocity added, placing a hand on her twin's shoulder. "You were too blind to see the other possibilities of this sick plan of yours."
Nothing else, but Pendulum's desperate cry of not accepting his defeat, was said as Law stalked up to him. He lifted his sword and pierced it right into Pendulum's heart. Luffy jumped back at the last second, avoiding the piercing blade. Law shoved his sword through Pendulum's body until the guard hit the man's chest. He leaned into Pendulum's ear. "If she dies, I will find some way of pulling you back from the dead just so I can mercilessly and inhumanely torture you for the rest of our lives."
Law twisted his sword before pulling it out of Pendulum's bleeding chest. Pendulum's body fell to the ground with a thump.
…
The glow around Neo's wrist and ankles faded. Her body slumped forward and passed through the mirror.
Franky, Zoro and Sanji stopped attacking the tower when they heard the pinchers moving away from the mirror. They looked up to see Neo falling down from it. Sanji wasted no time in jumping up to catch her. As he did, the mirror began to fall as well. He gritted his teeth and got ready to kick it away from them. However, Franky used his Strong Right punch to do it for him.
Sanji turned his attention back to Neo and landed them safely on the ground. Zoro and Franky ran over to them. Zoro put up his swords as Franky questioned about their friend. "How is she?"
With her head laying on his right shoulder, Sanji laid his fingers on her neck. His eyes began to water as he gritted his teeth. "Her…Her pulse is fading."
…
Author's Notes: -_-' Um…Okay, who didn't see a cliffhanger coming? That 'should' be the last one. *sigh* Well, get ready for some feelings in the next chapter.
