I'm back baby! WHOOHOOO! I am so pumped to be back home where I can write n' stuff. *hugs computer and keyboard* I've missed you my precious electronics…*lets go* Yeah, I actually did that when I came home. Well, I'll just start making up for my absence, shall I? Do remember that Akuma and DK are still the same body/person thing, but I'll be describing it like they're different people for cohesiveness. (Based off of a Revenge AMV) Also, may I remind people if you know the songs or seen the AMVs then you get a hint to what the chapter has in it. Just saying…
Kage's POV:
I skidded to a halt; dust showering out from the tires of what I was fairly certain was turning out to be my favorite possession on earth. The powerful engine rumbled to a stop, and I yanked the helmet off, dissolving it into shadows. Akuma and DK jumped off. "Long drives make my back itch…" Akuma yawned, and a shadow popped free of the ground, scratching him. "Much better." DK sighed, shaking his head. "Right, so where's the spot we need?" Free bounded past us, skidding to a stop, but still running into a tree. We all sweatdropped. "That really raises confidence, doesn't it? I feel better already." DK said, facepalming. Free popped back up, glaring at him. "That's a fast bike. Where'd you get it?" he asked, striding over and crouching. "NO! Don't touch my baby!" I wailed, covering as much as I could with my arms. He raised an eyebrow.
"Birthday present at the Grand Market." I said, shrugging and letting go with a smirk. He sighed, shaking his head. "You aren't exactly helping my confidence either." He muttered as we stalked off, DK making pretend outraged faces all the way. There was a lot of sticky, hot, humid greenness and wetness and general junglyness about us, and we were already sweating despite our aptitude for temperature adjustment. Free was soaked already, but we were just damp by our hair and clothes, if that gives you an indication. "Frick I hate jungles. Too much things trying to eat you." DK said, scratching his insect bites. "Knock it off that makes it itch more!" Akuma yelped, writhing. DK coughed sheepishly. "Hehe. Well to be fair, I haven't had a material body for about four, five hundred years. You forget these things." He said grandly, nose in the air.
He promptly tripped over a tree root, smashed his face on a turtle's shell, and got clobbered by the panther trying to crack the shell open, sending him flying onto a viper. I staggered, laughing wildly as he cursed and staggered upright a few minutes later, bitten and bruised just about everywhere. "I…loath…the…jungle…" he snarled, Soul Forcing his way towards the cave we were heading for, trees and animals flying in his wake. Free stared. "If that wasn't partly my brother I totally would have helped." I said, pushing past him. He blinked and started following us, keeping a healthy distance from DK and Akuma. We came out, and DK and I whistled in unison. There was a huge crowd of Nightstalker (a minority, since we were pretty much decimated by Medusa), Kishin and Witches, all waiting on pillar things that would help Free power the cage for the Pumpkin King. Three stands were open. One for me. One for Akuma and DK. And one for Jack. Ours were in a triangle, Jack's at the point the Pumpkin King would materialize.
I gulped, the sheer, stupid, reckless idea of this hitting me hard. The Witches had all learned the song. We would all begin at the same instant. The Pumpkin King would appear by Jack, and if nobody faltered even a hairsbreadth of a second, it was theoretically possible he might be weak enough to hopefully be bound there forever. If Free didn't mess up. Oh god we're dead we're dead we're so dead I'll never get to hug Kid again and we are so freaking dead dead people don't even know how much more deader than they are we're are right now- DK smacked the back of my head. "Our confidence levels are low enough as it is, stop thinking that." He hissed, and I nodded numbly.
We jumped down, and Jack nodded towards our circles. We both stepped in, and Akuma gave me an encouraging smile. We could do this. We'd actually beaten the Pumpkin king before, we could do this. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Jack stood in his circle, and Free stared hard at the spot the Pumpkin king was supposed to appear, waiting. He raised his hands, snapping his fingers once, twice, again. My heart thudded harder with every snap, and I was sure everyone else's' were doing the same. "Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?" we sang, power exploding out from the true Nightstalker and blending seamlessly with the Witches and Kishins' power surges. Glowing orange lines raced across the stony ground, zigzagging crazily and seeming to meet by chance, forming strange and disturbing symbols, connecting the pillars. Orange light enveloped us in a cylinder, and I felt a sudden lack of energy. That was expected. Nightstalker practically hummed with power, and it was draining away to power the summons and Free.
"Come with us and you will see, this, our town of Halloween…" Wow. This was incredible. So many voices. So much power. The air shook and vibrated, and my bones were aching now. "This is Halloween, this is Halloween, Pumpkins scream in the dead of night." Suddenly a whole section of the pillars was enveloped in a shadowy mass, screeching, glowing, flying pumpkin heads soaring out and smashing against the ground. The people there closed their eyes, but the heads didn't attack them. "This is Halloween, everybody make a scene, trick or treat 'till the neighbor's gonna die of fright!" WHOOM. A blast of sound make the edges of the cave crumble, orange light slamming into the sky like a giant signal flare. As it probably was. "It's our town, everybody scream! In this town of Halloween…" Shadows reared above our heads, silent threats. "I am the one hiding under your bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!" a towering shadow formed glowing red eyes, morphing into the Pumpkin King, only it's shoulders were level with the cave entrance. It grinned, sharp white teeth flashing against a pitch black mouth.
"I am the one hiding under your stairs, fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair…" Coiling shadows weaved between pillars, and we felt an overwhelming urge to inch away, to get up high where they couldn't reach us. I fidgeted, inhaling and exhaling evenly. "This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Halloween, Halloween! Halloween, Halloween!" We roared, the shadow creatures stomping and fighting. "In this town, we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin Soul!" They screeched, writhing in and out of existence, and I was quite frankly surprised we were still going, nobody had backed out yet. That was probably because they were warned if we went out of the circles; the creatures would immediately turn on them. "In this town, don't we love it now; everybody's waiting for the next surprise!"
Bright orange lines on the ground, shadowy figures in the sky, and in the middle? Oh yeah. Skeletons. Skeleton ghosts, skeleton shadows, actual skeletons, it was a variable cornucopia of skeleton creatures. That probably wasn't good. "Round that corner man, hiding in the trash can, something's waiting now to pounce and how you'll SCREAM!" we called, and suddenly it all meshed into a writhing, cackling, roaring mass, making several people wail. We kept at it though. "This is Halloween, red n' black and slimy green, aren't you scared?" It imploded outwards, black and orange guts splattering across our walls of light. "Well that's just fine! Say it once, say it twice, take a chance and roll the dice, ride with the moon in the dead of night!" Oh. Now it looked like somebody had cast a veritable army of Mirror Images, all mocking us, fighting each other and looking graphically violent.
"Everybody scream! Everybody scream! In our town of Halloween…" they screeched upwards, blending into one long column of shadow that twisted and blew apart. I wished I had a camera for this. "I am the clown with the tear-away face, here in a flash and gone without a trace!" I glimpsed Jack through the roiling shadows, and he was staring straight at me, smirking. Something icy slithered down my back, a chill spreading down to my already numb feet. All my types of energy were dropping rapidly, my body actually starting to conserve heat as my warmth was drained away. I flicked a glance at Akuma, who was shivering uncontrollably. Something wasn't right. "I am the "who" when you call "who's there", I am the wind blowing through your hair!" Shadows fractured and split, heaving and convulsing. "I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the grim with fright!"
A huge, gigantic, shadow-King roared from the mass, tossing his head to the sky as his back arched and screeching, black pumpkins swarming from his gaping mouth, silhouetting themselves against the now-eclipsed moon. "This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Halloween, Halloween! Halloween, Halloween!" we screamed, and suddenly it was all gone, only the glowing orange lines still there. "Tender lumplings everywhere, life's no fun without a good scare…" We sang, and I saw something happening. The people farthest away from me were drooping, heads lolling as their eyes closed. The power coming from them cut off, but the orange lines remained. The sudden stopping of movement was spreading, straight towards us. "That's our job but we're not mean, in our town of Halloween." I said, turning back to Jack. My mouth fell open. The Pumpkin King was standing over him, glowing eyes fixed on us. Jack's eyes were open, glaring at us smugly in triumph.
"In this town, don't we love it now; everybody's waiting for the next surprise!" The few left standing continued, and he raised his arms. "Skeleton Jack might get you in the back, and scream like a banshee make you jump out of your skin!" I wailed, agony scorching through me, both furious and confused. "This is Halloween, everybody scream, won't you please make ready for a very special guy!" He sang, and I realized everyone but me and Akuma were unconscious, or whatever he did to them. "Our man Jack is King of the Pumpkin Patch, everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now!" he shouted, flipping out of his circle as our jaws sagged. What the hell? The pumpkin king roared in rage, reaching for him, but was cut off by the orange light surrounding him.
"This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Halloween, Halloween! Halloween, Halloween!" he called, and snapped his fingers at Free. He hurriedly stepped forward, and green lines encircled the Pumpkin King. It formed a round cage, and Free locked it. He stepped away, and Jack sauntered over to us. "In this town, we call home…" he crooned, eyes never leaving mine, rage burning deep within them. "EVERYONE HAIL TO THE PUMPKIN SOUL!" I screamed, feeling more and more like I was being torn apart as he sang. "LA, LA, LA, LA-LA-LA, LA, LA, LA, LA-LA-LA, LA, LA, LA, LA, LA, LA, LA!" Everything went black and all I saw was his familiar slasher smile.
Jack's POV:
The werewolf cracked his neck and walked over, seeing the others all spinning gently in their prisons. Kage was in the one before me, eyes rolled up in her head, black lines spreading and fading on her skin. I grinned. Nothing had given me more satisfaction in years. "What'd you do?" he asked, putting a finger to the orange wall of light. It crackled and he yanked his hand back, hissing in pain. "A little something I've been working on. Ever since I banished them, I wanted to make them pay. I couldn't kill them, they were too slippery. And that Kishin…" he flicked a glance over his shoulder at the orange cone that held his god, no more than a shadowy smear now. "He was always wanting to get out and do other things. Those two needed to be punished. He couldn't stop me from punishing them. So I tricked them. I tricked them all." I said absently, relishing her grimace of pain.
"They were so eager to redeem themselves, it was pathetic. They actually trusted me, a little. Fools." The man nodded. "Yeah, but what is that? It's like no Spatial Magic I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot." I shrugged, moving to the brother. He was more peaceful, head bowed, almost looking bored. "It's a battery. Without revealing someone's plans to you fully, they intend to use it. The power feeds off of the prisoner, so the stronger the person, the stronger the prison. If one person is freed, the power will redirect to all the others, strengthening theirs. When it is used, their entire essence, their self, if you will, will be sucked up in a pure energy form, along with the soul." He scratched his head. "So basically it dissolves you and uses you as a battery?" I nodded. "That is the principal. Of course, there's more. They may die before it is used." He blinked. "Huh?"
I gestured lazily to Kage. "The Nightstalker will most likely be the first to go. The spell breaks apart and sucks up a person constantly, so regenerative, powerful creatures such as us are not only in constant, agonizing pain, but are slowly being unmade. The weaker ones are just broken up after a short period, but the strong ones feed the battery beyond their normal ability. It sucks the regeneration powers away, the soul away, the mind away, the self away, bit by bit." He edged away from the cages, gulping. "Uh, yeah, right. See you then." He turned and bounded away, and I let him go. A shadowy snake slithered up to my feet. "Yes?"
Medusa laughed through her creation. "You were successful?" I smirked. "All bound, ready and waiting for Arachne to use. Does she have a backup socket? This is enough power to blow even that fuse." She chuckled darkly, and the snake wiggled. "If there isn't, there will be. Good job. I needed those two brats out of my way." I nodded, walking away. The snake slithered back to the hole where it had crawled from. All was silent, except for the gentle humming of the battery cages as the prisoners' souls were slowly sucked away.
I'm sorry, but I had to do a cliffy. I get another one out tomorrow, quit your whining. I was like suffering cliffy withdrawal. I've done one like every other chapter until now and I had 19 days with no opportunity to make you guys squirm in impatience. I missed it. *grins* Yeah…well did you honestly expect him to be like "oh, I'm all panicked and sad and I need you guys to help and I'll seriously forget my creepy and obsessive revenge schemes, and stop being fanatical about you guys killing my girlfriend" *snorts* Nope. Not happening with that guy. He's too weird. Yes, everything turns out alright. That's my style. I do something nasty to them when they were younger, then try to kill them for most of the fanfic, and then all of a sudden everything's full of sunshine and rainbows and puppies (being BURNED. I hate dogs) and kitties (who are roasting the puppies) and they all have a happy ending. It's how I roll. I think I'm somewhere in Season 3 now but I'm closing in on the fourth one…dang, I liked this fanfic. *sad face* Twenty-nine chapters, longest fanfic I have written to date. Well,whatever. Review, Request, Rcomment, and Auf Wedersin!
