Genesis of a Dragon: pt. 12
Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Hulette, who appeared in the WWE as Miss Elizabeth from 1985 to 1992, as well as to the memory of the Hollywood Fashion Plate, "Classy" Freddie Blassie, the greatest heel in wrestling history. WWE fans will miss them dearly. I also want to wish a belated Happy Mother's Day. Sorry I took so long. This story has been burning me out. Heat hurts my brain.
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Dear Journal,
Well, we're here! We have arrived in the Dragon Kingdom at last. It looks more like a scene from "Mad Max" than a city. Knowing Tyrannis, he'll send out someone to try and get us. Not to mention the amulet. I'm real worried about this whole thing. I hope nothing goes wrong.
- Jake "Dragon" Wildfire
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"Like, Jewel of Power?" Kitty scratched her head.
"The Jewel of Power is an old artifact created by the six Dragon Gods. It's a dangerous artifact. When a certain incantation is uttered, the Jewel glows, changing all that's nearby. The powers it provides are unknown and completely random."
"Are you serious?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah." Windrazor laughed. "There are some legends about the powers that the jewel grants. One legend goes that two dragons found the jewel and uttered the magic words. One gained the strength of 50 dragons, and the other got transformed into an ooze creature." Fox shrugged.
"Why didn't you use it to make yourselves stronger? Give yourselves superpowers?" Foxfire said. "I would."
"Too much of a gamble." Windrazor explained.
"What are the magic words?" Lance asked.
"I do not know. Tralos does." Windrazor said. "I wouldn't ask him anyway. The Jewel is dangerous, Avalanche. You could even lose your powers thanks to this thing." Lance quickly backed away.
"Maybe not."
"Good choice." Windrazor nodded. Jake walked out of a room. "Chosen One?"
"Rancor's calling a meeting." Dragon said. "He needs everyone here."
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Shadowracer and Scarpena walked down a hall of the castle.
"I don't understand it." Scarpena sighed. "I just don't understand it. Tyrannis knows I'm not a warrior. Why does he want me to fight?"
"All dragons are warriors." Shadowracer said. "The only thing different is level of experience."
"Oh shut up." Scarpena growled. "Where are those fool mercenaries?"
"Tyrannis sent them to capture the Chosen One, remember?" Shadowracer reminded. "Knowing them, chances are Rancor and the Chosen One will find them."
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"Yeah right." Fox scoffed as he took the jewel from Kitty. "This thing is silly. It's just a dumb old gem! I don't see why those dragons don't want to use it."
"Like, you heard them, Jason!" Kitty reminded. She was looking in a bookshelf in a room. It was Tralos's lab. "Where is that spell?"
"Well then, why are you looking for the spell?" Jason scratched his head. "I don't need a power boost. I'm already super-good-looking!" He looked at himself in a mirror. "God, it should be illegal to be as gorgeous as me!" Kitty rolled her eyes.
"Like, whatever." Kitty moaned. She opened up a book. "I found it!"
"This is stupid." Fox said with some apprehension. "Remember what those dragons said."
"Fox, we need power boosts to fight Tyrannis." Kitty exclaimed. "I can't phase through him to death! And dragons like fire!"
"Tyrannis won't be able to see me." Fox grinned, turning invisible. "See?" He turned visible again.
"Like, but you'll have no offensive ability!"
"I am a trained wrestler. I also have studied some martial arts. Jake taught me to fight." Fox buffed his nails. Rogue and Todd walked in.
"Rancor needs you, yo. He's got a plan." Todd pointed to the hall.
"Hang on. Dipstick over here wants to see if this Jewel of Power business is all nonsense." Fox pointed at Kitty.
"Shut it, Fox!" Kitty snapped.
"You're only saying that because you want me." Fox smirked.
"I'm gonna find out what the Dragon Prince wants." Kitty put down the book and ran to meet Rancor.
"Can Ah see the Jewel?" Rogue started to take the Jewel. Fox took exception.
"I'm not finished with it!" Fox exclaimed.
"You hog! Let me see!" Rogue snapped. The two mutants tugged at the jewel back and forth, like a demented game of tug-of-war. Toad noticed the book Kitty left and looked in it.
"Hey, a spell book! An honest-to-God spell book." Toad noticed a spell. "Hmm. Where once stood tiny and weak, create a warrior whose strength shall peak. When the time falls on darkest of night, create a new strength from the Jewel's light!" The Jewel of Power started glowing.
"What?" Fox and Rogue dropped the Jewel. The Jewel sent out three beams of light, hitting Jason, Marie, and Todd. The three glowed, then fell to the floor. Rancor walked into the room, and looked around.
"BY THE GODS!!!"
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A large portal opened up in the beach just before the sleeping town of Bayville. Scarpena and Shadowracer stepped out. Following them was a mass of robotic soldiers, around 30 and growing. They looked like the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica.
"This is Bayville?" Shadowracer shrugged. "A little village full of weak humans. The Chosen One defiantly found his destiny here. After all, he is as weak as they are." Scarpena nodded in agreement, but she looked back at the portal in concern. "What?"
"Nothing." She said quickly.
"Hurry up and make a spell." The black legless dragon grumbled. Scarpena concentrated.
"This town so innocent and meek, full of humans that are weak. From the sky so high to the sea so deep, put this town of Bayville to sleep!" Scarpena's body glowed bright blue, then the aura fired over the town, causing all the humans in town to fall into a deep sleep. It also put a blue dome over the town that indicated were the sleeping humans were. "The humans will not be able to fight us in their incapacitated state."
"Why do we need these soldiers, then?" Shadowracer pointed at the metallic troops.
"If my calculations are correct, the mutants will either not be affected, or live outside the dome. We will need the soldiers to vanquish the mutants." Scarpena replied.
"Search the town! Find the mutants and destroy them!" Shadowracer ordered. The metallic soldiers immediately spread out over town.
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"Professor, what's that weird dome?" Scott asked Xavier. The others looked out the window.
"Now that's strange." The professor noted. The other mutants murmured amongst themselves about the forcefield. Jean did a mental scan.
"Professor! All the people in town are asleep!" Jean exclaimed. "I'm also picking up two minds. Professor, they're dragons." Xavier mulled over the statement. He looked at the amulet half Rancor asked him to protect.
"They are probably here for the amulet half. We have to find out."
"Too bad Fox is in the Dragon Kingdom. He could use his invisibility to spy on them." Scott grumbled.
"I think we'd better go to Bayville and find out." Xavier sighed.
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In a ballroom of the hotel, modified to look like a meeting room, the team met to find a way to take out Tyrannis.
"The plan is simple. All those who can fly will take to the skies." Rancor started.
"But you said Tyrannis has ways of shooting down aerial targets." Ororo pointed out.
"That's where you come in, madam." Windrazor continued. "You can use your powers over the weather to put the castle in chaos."
"What about the rest of you?" Jake asked.
"Windrazor, Gwen, Tralos, Storm, and myself will distract Tyrannis's forces from the air. The rest of you will get your way into the castle in two groups." Rahnzor glared at the three Prophets.
"They might have lost their powers thanks to the Jewel."
"Thanks a lot, Foxfire!" Rogue snapped.
"Me?!?!" Fox snapped back. "You're always blaming me for everything! Toad's the one who read the stupid spell!"
"It's a risk we'll have to take." Rancor sighed. Toad started shaking his head when he saw Fox and Rogue argue. "Is something wrong Sage?" In Todd's eyes, he suddenly saw an image. A vision. Rogue punching out Foxfire and him flying. "Todd?"
"I...I...I saw Rogue punch out Foxfire." Todd said. "It was like a dream or something." Jake looked at the arguing prophets.
"No, they're just yelling right now." Jake remarked. Suddenly, Rogue punched Foxfire in the face. The Detroit mutant was sent flying across the ballroom, a good 50 feet!
"OWWWWWWW!!!! YOU SOUTHERN JEZEBEL!!!!! MY JAW!!!!!" Foxfire screamed in pain.
"Huh?" Rogue looked at her fist. "Ah didn't know Ah had the strength."
"How did she?" Gwen looked at Rogue and Todd.
"You wanna play? Let's play!" Foxfire's hands started glowing. Instead of streams of flames, he fired red-and-orange beams of heat at her.
"Yipe!" Rogue dodged. The others ducked. Fox looked at his hands in shock.
"Holy cow!" Fox's brown eyes widened underneath his shades. "Sweet mother of Shawn Michaels! Where'd I get the heat beams?"
"Where'd Ah get the strength?" Rogue wondered.
"I saw Rogue punch out Fox before it happened." Todd realized. Windrazor thought it over.
"The Jewel!" Windrazor realized.
"It must've enhanced their powers!" Logan realized.
"It seems the Sage has gained some degree of clairvoyance." Tralos smirked.
"What?" Toad asked.
"You have gained the ability to see into the future. To see future events before they happen."
"Appropriate for the Sage. The Sage was said to be able to see events before they occurred. The Lover acted like a barrier, carrying great strength. The Warrior had the temper of Pygor, so he had fire at his command." Rancor remembered the prophecies.
"So Fox provides extra firepower, Rogue's a shield, and Todd predicts attacks." Jake reasoned.
"I guess it was good Fox and I were messing with the Jewel of Power." Kitty grinned.
"Hoo boy." Lance rolled his eyes.
"Todd can see into ze future. I can't prank him anymore." Kurt grumbled. Toad smirked.
"Finally I get a cool power, yo."
"Do you have any idea what powers we gained?" Rogue asked the dragons.
"No idea. The Jewel is random." Rahnzor replied.
"Can we get back to the plan?" Tralos groaned. The others quieted down. "Go ahead, Rancor."
"Thank you." Rancor pointed to a 3-D model of the castle. "Storm, you and I will distract the castle's defenses from the air, alongside Gwen, Windrazor, and Tralos. Logan, you try to invade the castle from the front. You'll have Lance, Katherine, Fred, and Tolkar with you." Logan nodded with a smirk.
"What about Jake?" Storm asked.
"No problem. Jake and the Prophets will try to hit the castle from the back. Rahnzor and Kurt will be with them."
"Before we go..." Windrazor sped to his room and returned with a red-and- yellow object. "I wish for you to wear this, Chosen One." Windrazor handed the object to Jake. It was a red triangular chestplate, with yellow trim and shoulder pads. The chestplate also had a golden cape decorated with a red dragon silhouette on it.
"A chestplate?" Jake asked in confusion.
"It belonged to Axton. It was the only piece of his armor that was left after Tyrannis killed him. It's made of a very hard metal known as draconian steel. It's nearly indestructible. The shoulder pads and cape are also lined with the metal."
"Unfortunately Tyrannis's soldiers are also made of that metal, making them nearly invincible." Rancor sighed.
"We had to get our swords lined with the metal as well to cut through them." Tralos looked at Logan. "I don't know how adamantium will fare against draconian steel." Wolverine smirked.
"Adamantium is indestructible. Draconian steel isn't. 'Nuff said."
"What about fire breath?" Kurt asked. "Can't you dragons breathe fire? You could melt ze robots."
"Draconian steel has an extremely high melting point. Too high for the fire breath of one dragons. It takes the combined fire breath of six average adult dragons to melt one of those things." Gwen responded.
"What about the four mercenaries?" Kitty asked. "Like, we haven't heard from them."
"Indeed." Windrazor nodded. "They're probably looking for the Chosen One right now."
"If they're out there, I can deal with them." Rahnzor replied.
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The X-Men and Pietro were in costume. They had split up to check the sleeping town. Their active X-Genes made them immune to the effects of Scarpena's spell. One group was led by Scott. It consisted of himself, Tabitha, Jean, Sam, and Spyke.
"Man, what are we looking for?" Evan groaned.
"Anything weird." Tabitha quipped.
"Does that count?" Sam pointed at what appeared to be around twelve metallic soldiers.
"What are those things?" Scott wondered. Jean did a mental scan.
"Nothing! I can't sense anything from them."
"Robots." Spyke concluded. "I think they might be robots."
"They look like cheap rejects from some sci-fi flick." Tabitha snorted. The soldiers turned their heads and saw the mutants.
"Halt. In the name of Tyrannis." The soldiers started to advance.
"Nice going, Tabby." Scott groaned, firing his optic beams. The beams barely scratched the robots. Tabby pitched a couple time bombs. The blasts barely hurt the robots. Evan fired several spikes that harmlessly bounced off the robots.
"What're these things made of?!" Jean wondered. Sam fired like a rocket, slamming into the robots. All he succeeded in doing was knocking them off their feet, not damaging them at all. Cannonball was knocked back towards the others.
"OWWWW!!!!" Sam rubbed his head. The robots quickly got back to their feet, and fired laser beams from their hands.
"Scott! Scott!" Scott's walkie-talkie crackled with the voice of Iceman. "These things are practically unstoppable! What do we do?" Scarpena and Shadowracer hovered in the air above the town, watching the mutants try to battle the metal soldiers.
"Fools." Shadowracer smirked. "All fools. They never bothered to try to learn about their opponents before they attacked."
"With the Chosen One, the Prophets, and Rancor and his forces occupied, we can defeat these meager defenses and obtain the amulet." Scarpena said matter-of-factly.
"We should find the amulet. But first, let's have some fun with these mutants." Shadowracer laughed evilly. Scarpena and Shadowracer dove into town.
Aw man! Looks like the X-Men are in big trouble! Can they find a way to beat Tyrannis's forces? Can Rancor and his forces sack the castle in one stroke? What about the four mercenaries? Will Tyrannis get his claws on the Amulet of the Gods? Find out in the next chapter of Genesis of a Dragon!!!!
Author's Note: This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Elizabeth Hulette, who appeared in the WWE as Miss Elizabeth from 1985 to 1992, as well as to the memory of the Hollywood Fashion Plate, "Classy" Freddie Blassie, the greatest heel in wrestling history. WWE fans will miss them dearly. I also want to wish a belated Happy Mother's Day. Sorry I took so long. This story has been burning me out. Heat hurts my brain.
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Dear Journal,
Well, we're here! We have arrived in the Dragon Kingdom at last. It looks more like a scene from "Mad Max" than a city. Knowing Tyrannis, he'll send out someone to try and get us. Not to mention the amulet. I'm real worried about this whole thing. I hope nothing goes wrong.
- Jake "Dragon" Wildfire
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"Like, Jewel of Power?" Kitty scratched her head.
"The Jewel of Power is an old artifact created by the six Dragon Gods. It's a dangerous artifact. When a certain incantation is uttered, the Jewel glows, changing all that's nearby. The powers it provides are unknown and completely random."
"Are you serious?" Kitty asked.
"Yeah." Windrazor laughed. "There are some legends about the powers that the jewel grants. One legend goes that two dragons found the jewel and uttered the magic words. One gained the strength of 50 dragons, and the other got transformed into an ooze creature." Fox shrugged.
"Why didn't you use it to make yourselves stronger? Give yourselves superpowers?" Foxfire said. "I would."
"Too much of a gamble." Windrazor explained.
"What are the magic words?" Lance asked.
"I do not know. Tralos does." Windrazor said. "I wouldn't ask him anyway. The Jewel is dangerous, Avalanche. You could even lose your powers thanks to this thing." Lance quickly backed away.
"Maybe not."
"Good choice." Windrazor nodded. Jake walked out of a room. "Chosen One?"
"Rancor's calling a meeting." Dragon said. "He needs everyone here."
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Shadowracer and Scarpena walked down a hall of the castle.
"I don't understand it." Scarpena sighed. "I just don't understand it. Tyrannis knows I'm not a warrior. Why does he want me to fight?"
"All dragons are warriors." Shadowracer said. "The only thing different is level of experience."
"Oh shut up." Scarpena growled. "Where are those fool mercenaries?"
"Tyrannis sent them to capture the Chosen One, remember?" Shadowracer reminded. "Knowing them, chances are Rancor and the Chosen One will find them."
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"Yeah right." Fox scoffed as he took the jewel from Kitty. "This thing is silly. It's just a dumb old gem! I don't see why those dragons don't want to use it."
"Like, you heard them, Jason!" Kitty reminded. She was looking in a bookshelf in a room. It was Tralos's lab. "Where is that spell?"
"Well then, why are you looking for the spell?" Jason scratched his head. "I don't need a power boost. I'm already super-good-looking!" He looked at himself in a mirror. "God, it should be illegal to be as gorgeous as me!" Kitty rolled her eyes.
"Like, whatever." Kitty moaned. She opened up a book. "I found it!"
"This is stupid." Fox said with some apprehension. "Remember what those dragons said."
"Fox, we need power boosts to fight Tyrannis." Kitty exclaimed. "I can't phase through him to death! And dragons like fire!"
"Tyrannis won't be able to see me." Fox grinned, turning invisible. "See?" He turned visible again.
"Like, but you'll have no offensive ability!"
"I am a trained wrestler. I also have studied some martial arts. Jake taught me to fight." Fox buffed his nails. Rogue and Todd walked in.
"Rancor needs you, yo. He's got a plan." Todd pointed to the hall.
"Hang on. Dipstick over here wants to see if this Jewel of Power business is all nonsense." Fox pointed at Kitty.
"Shut it, Fox!" Kitty snapped.
"You're only saying that because you want me." Fox smirked.
"I'm gonna find out what the Dragon Prince wants." Kitty put down the book and ran to meet Rancor.
"Can Ah see the Jewel?" Rogue started to take the Jewel. Fox took exception.
"I'm not finished with it!" Fox exclaimed.
"You hog! Let me see!" Rogue snapped. The two mutants tugged at the jewel back and forth, like a demented game of tug-of-war. Toad noticed the book Kitty left and looked in it.
"Hey, a spell book! An honest-to-God spell book." Toad noticed a spell. "Hmm. Where once stood tiny and weak, create a warrior whose strength shall peak. When the time falls on darkest of night, create a new strength from the Jewel's light!" The Jewel of Power started glowing.
"What?" Fox and Rogue dropped the Jewel. The Jewel sent out three beams of light, hitting Jason, Marie, and Todd. The three glowed, then fell to the floor. Rancor walked into the room, and looked around.
"BY THE GODS!!!"
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A large portal opened up in the beach just before the sleeping town of Bayville. Scarpena and Shadowracer stepped out. Following them was a mass of robotic soldiers, around 30 and growing. They looked like the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica.
"This is Bayville?" Shadowracer shrugged. "A little village full of weak humans. The Chosen One defiantly found his destiny here. After all, he is as weak as they are." Scarpena nodded in agreement, but she looked back at the portal in concern. "What?"
"Nothing." She said quickly.
"Hurry up and make a spell." The black legless dragon grumbled. Scarpena concentrated.
"This town so innocent and meek, full of humans that are weak. From the sky so high to the sea so deep, put this town of Bayville to sleep!" Scarpena's body glowed bright blue, then the aura fired over the town, causing all the humans in town to fall into a deep sleep. It also put a blue dome over the town that indicated were the sleeping humans were. "The humans will not be able to fight us in their incapacitated state."
"Why do we need these soldiers, then?" Shadowracer pointed at the metallic troops.
"If my calculations are correct, the mutants will either not be affected, or live outside the dome. We will need the soldiers to vanquish the mutants." Scarpena replied.
"Search the town! Find the mutants and destroy them!" Shadowracer ordered. The metallic soldiers immediately spread out over town.
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"Professor, what's that weird dome?" Scott asked Xavier. The others looked out the window.
"Now that's strange." The professor noted. The other mutants murmured amongst themselves about the forcefield. Jean did a mental scan.
"Professor! All the people in town are asleep!" Jean exclaimed. "I'm also picking up two minds. Professor, they're dragons." Xavier mulled over the statement. He looked at the amulet half Rancor asked him to protect.
"They are probably here for the amulet half. We have to find out."
"Too bad Fox is in the Dragon Kingdom. He could use his invisibility to spy on them." Scott grumbled.
"I think we'd better go to Bayville and find out." Xavier sighed.
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In a ballroom of the hotel, modified to look like a meeting room, the team met to find a way to take out Tyrannis.
"The plan is simple. All those who can fly will take to the skies." Rancor started.
"But you said Tyrannis has ways of shooting down aerial targets." Ororo pointed out.
"That's where you come in, madam." Windrazor continued. "You can use your powers over the weather to put the castle in chaos."
"What about the rest of you?" Jake asked.
"Windrazor, Gwen, Tralos, Storm, and myself will distract Tyrannis's forces from the air. The rest of you will get your way into the castle in two groups." Rahnzor glared at the three Prophets.
"They might have lost their powers thanks to the Jewel."
"Thanks a lot, Foxfire!" Rogue snapped.
"Me?!?!" Fox snapped back. "You're always blaming me for everything! Toad's the one who read the stupid spell!"
"It's a risk we'll have to take." Rancor sighed. Toad started shaking his head when he saw Fox and Rogue argue. "Is something wrong Sage?" In Todd's eyes, he suddenly saw an image. A vision. Rogue punching out Foxfire and him flying. "Todd?"
"I...I...I saw Rogue punch out Foxfire." Todd said. "It was like a dream or something." Jake looked at the arguing prophets.
"No, they're just yelling right now." Jake remarked. Suddenly, Rogue punched Foxfire in the face. The Detroit mutant was sent flying across the ballroom, a good 50 feet!
"OWWWWWWW!!!! YOU SOUTHERN JEZEBEL!!!!! MY JAW!!!!!" Foxfire screamed in pain.
"Huh?" Rogue looked at her fist. "Ah didn't know Ah had the strength."
"How did she?" Gwen looked at Rogue and Todd.
"You wanna play? Let's play!" Foxfire's hands started glowing. Instead of streams of flames, he fired red-and-orange beams of heat at her.
"Yipe!" Rogue dodged. The others ducked. Fox looked at his hands in shock.
"Holy cow!" Fox's brown eyes widened underneath his shades. "Sweet mother of Shawn Michaels! Where'd I get the heat beams?"
"Where'd Ah get the strength?" Rogue wondered.
"I saw Rogue punch out Fox before it happened." Todd realized. Windrazor thought it over.
"The Jewel!" Windrazor realized.
"It must've enhanced their powers!" Logan realized.
"It seems the Sage has gained some degree of clairvoyance." Tralos smirked.
"What?" Toad asked.
"You have gained the ability to see into the future. To see future events before they happen."
"Appropriate for the Sage. The Sage was said to be able to see events before they occurred. The Lover acted like a barrier, carrying great strength. The Warrior had the temper of Pygor, so he had fire at his command." Rancor remembered the prophecies.
"So Fox provides extra firepower, Rogue's a shield, and Todd predicts attacks." Jake reasoned.
"I guess it was good Fox and I were messing with the Jewel of Power." Kitty grinned.
"Hoo boy." Lance rolled his eyes.
"Todd can see into ze future. I can't prank him anymore." Kurt grumbled. Toad smirked.
"Finally I get a cool power, yo."
"Do you have any idea what powers we gained?" Rogue asked the dragons.
"No idea. The Jewel is random." Rahnzor replied.
"Can we get back to the plan?" Tralos groaned. The others quieted down. "Go ahead, Rancor."
"Thank you." Rancor pointed to a 3-D model of the castle. "Storm, you and I will distract the castle's defenses from the air, alongside Gwen, Windrazor, and Tralos. Logan, you try to invade the castle from the front. You'll have Lance, Katherine, Fred, and Tolkar with you." Logan nodded with a smirk.
"What about Jake?" Storm asked.
"No problem. Jake and the Prophets will try to hit the castle from the back. Rahnzor and Kurt will be with them."
"Before we go..." Windrazor sped to his room and returned with a red-and- yellow object. "I wish for you to wear this, Chosen One." Windrazor handed the object to Jake. It was a red triangular chestplate, with yellow trim and shoulder pads. The chestplate also had a golden cape decorated with a red dragon silhouette on it.
"A chestplate?" Jake asked in confusion.
"It belonged to Axton. It was the only piece of his armor that was left after Tyrannis killed him. It's made of a very hard metal known as draconian steel. It's nearly indestructible. The shoulder pads and cape are also lined with the metal."
"Unfortunately Tyrannis's soldiers are also made of that metal, making them nearly invincible." Rancor sighed.
"We had to get our swords lined with the metal as well to cut through them." Tralos looked at Logan. "I don't know how adamantium will fare against draconian steel." Wolverine smirked.
"Adamantium is indestructible. Draconian steel isn't. 'Nuff said."
"What about fire breath?" Kurt asked. "Can't you dragons breathe fire? You could melt ze robots."
"Draconian steel has an extremely high melting point. Too high for the fire breath of one dragons. It takes the combined fire breath of six average adult dragons to melt one of those things." Gwen responded.
"What about the four mercenaries?" Kitty asked. "Like, we haven't heard from them."
"Indeed." Windrazor nodded. "They're probably looking for the Chosen One right now."
"If they're out there, I can deal with them." Rahnzor replied.
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The X-Men and Pietro were in costume. They had split up to check the sleeping town. Their active X-Genes made them immune to the effects of Scarpena's spell. One group was led by Scott. It consisted of himself, Tabitha, Jean, Sam, and Spyke.
"Man, what are we looking for?" Evan groaned.
"Anything weird." Tabitha quipped.
"Does that count?" Sam pointed at what appeared to be around twelve metallic soldiers.
"What are those things?" Scott wondered. Jean did a mental scan.
"Nothing! I can't sense anything from them."
"Robots." Spyke concluded. "I think they might be robots."
"They look like cheap rejects from some sci-fi flick." Tabitha snorted. The soldiers turned their heads and saw the mutants.
"Halt. In the name of Tyrannis." The soldiers started to advance.
"Nice going, Tabby." Scott groaned, firing his optic beams. The beams barely scratched the robots. Tabby pitched a couple time bombs. The blasts barely hurt the robots. Evan fired several spikes that harmlessly bounced off the robots.
"What're these things made of?!" Jean wondered. Sam fired like a rocket, slamming into the robots. All he succeeded in doing was knocking them off their feet, not damaging them at all. Cannonball was knocked back towards the others.
"OWWWW!!!!" Sam rubbed his head. The robots quickly got back to their feet, and fired laser beams from their hands.
"Scott! Scott!" Scott's walkie-talkie crackled with the voice of Iceman. "These things are practically unstoppable! What do we do?" Scarpena and Shadowracer hovered in the air above the town, watching the mutants try to battle the metal soldiers.
"Fools." Shadowracer smirked. "All fools. They never bothered to try to learn about their opponents before they attacked."
"With the Chosen One, the Prophets, and Rancor and his forces occupied, we can defeat these meager defenses and obtain the amulet." Scarpena said matter-of-factly.
"We should find the amulet. But first, let's have some fun with these mutants." Shadowracer laughed evilly. Scarpena and Shadowracer dove into town.
Aw man! Looks like the X-Men are in big trouble! Can they find a way to beat Tyrannis's forces? Can Rancor and his forces sack the castle in one stroke? What about the four mercenaries? Will Tyrannis get his claws on the Amulet of the Gods? Find out in the next chapter of Genesis of a Dragon!!!!