CHAPTER 27: BATTLE FOR THE CATHEDRAL
Quasimodo had done the impossible,he had broken free of his metaphorical and physical shackles and rescued a very dear friend. It no longer mattered that her heart belonged to another,he was not gonna let her die and that was exactly what he did.
Quasimodo quickly brought the still unconscious Esmeralda into a small bedroom and softly reassured as he lay her on the bed "Don't worry,you'll be safe here. I already lost the kids,and I'm not losing anyone else." before he turned around and saw Victor, Hugo and Laverne standing in the doorway with supportive grins on their faces. A now guilt ridden Quasimodo slowly slumped up to the there gargoyles and meekly choked up "Look you guys,I-I-I'm sorry-"
"Hey." interrupted Hugo in an oddly stern and angry tone before he smiled and continued "Let's kick some soldier butt." to which Quasimodo's guilt ridden frown turned into a smile before the voice of the captain rang from below "Charge!"
Quasi immediately wasted no time and ran straight outside where there was a pot of molten rock and lead,he mustered up all his strength and picked up a wooden beam that was laying beside it. With one big push,he tipped it over the edge and sent it crashing into Frollo's carriage,preventing him from making an escape and infuriating him as the now out of control bonfire roared from behind.
"Woah!" gasped Petrie in awe of the display before Littlefoot ordered as he stared at the now furious Frollo "Come on,we have to stop them from getting inside!" to which the rest of the gang nodded and rushed past the distracted soldiers.
Frollo had just made it down the stairs that led up to the stage and was just about to make an on foot escape along with some guards until the familiar voice of a boy called out from behind "Where do you think you're going?"
The judge felt a chill run down his spine and he could only whisper in shock as he slowly turned around "No,it can't be." before he was face to face with the gang,who all wore determined faces that showed they were ready for a fight.
"You should have checked for bodies." gloated Cera with a huff before Spike angrily grunted "Uh-huh." to which Frollo huffed with gritted teeth "Who in the world do you think you are?!" before he grabbed one of the guards swords and realized "I'll finish you all myself."
"Go ahead and try!" retorted a battle ready Ruby before Chomper and Ducky started snarling at Frollo's bodyguards,which resulted in them running away in terror as the man ordered "Come back you cowards!" before running up to the soldiers who were trying to break into the cathedral and ordered "You men,pick up that beam and break down the door."
Frollo then turned to the soldiers that were guarding the prisoners and furiously demanded as he pointed at the gang "And the rest of you,kill them all and bring me their heads!" to which the rest of the soldiers promptly approached the dinosaurs while Cera exclaimed "Come on!" and Littlefoot suggested "Alright guys,let's get em!"
However little did Frollo know that there was now only one person guarding Phoebus's cage as the prisoner put the only guard in a choke hold and calmly whispered "Alone at last." before bonking the guard on the head and taking the keys.
Within seconds the gang was fighting off a bunch of the soldiers while the rest of the guards were trying to bust down the cathedral doors,and the now free Phoebus had climbed up onto his cage and spoke to the citizens with a spear in his hand "Citizens of Paris! Frollo has persecuted our people,ransacked our city and put the lives of innocent children from another world in grave danger! And now he has declared war on Notre Dame herself,will we allow it?!"
Phoebus:
Hear me people of Paris,how much oppression will you allow?
Someday your patience will finally break.
Why not make someday come right now?!
Phoebus's speech had now gotten the crowd to finally act as they all broke the prisoners out of their cages and sent an entire army rushing to the cathedral with pitchforks and other various weapons.
"Guys look! It's Phoebus,it is,it is!" called out Ducky in excitement as the soldiers attacking them directed their attention to the army while Ruby happily stated "With their help we can fight off the soldiers with their help!" before Chomper suggested as they rushed into the battle "Then let's go help them!"
"I think the Cavalry's here!" laughed Hugo as he and the others watched the ensuing battle from above before he questioned "Hey isn't that eh Feeble? Fievel?"
"Doofus." mocked Laverne.
"Phoebus!" exclaimed a happy and relieved Quasimodo just as the former captain punched a soldier in the face and knocked out his teeth before Victor noticed the gang fighting off the soldiers and gasped "Do my eyes deceive me? It's the children!"
"What? Where?" questioned Quasi as he tried to look for the kids before Victor turned the hunchback's head to the left where he saw Cera charging into a solider and knocking him on the ground, Chomper biting on the leg of one, Littlefoot and Spike throwing stones with their tails, Petrie flying up in the air and dropping rocks on their heads and Ruby and Ducky throwing pebbles.
Quasi couldn't believe what he was seeing and even had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't just seeing things as he stammered "They're….they're alive? But I thought-"
"We told ya,if you knew them kids like you say you do then you'd know it takes a lot more than explosives to finish them off." interrupted Laverne with a comforting pat on the back before Hugo pointed out when he saw the soldiers putting up ladders and trying to climb up "Over there!"
Quasi quickly grabbed a big stone block and sent it crashing into the ladders and even Victor grabbed a tiny red block and fearfully dropped it right on one soldier's head with a loud clunk.
"Sorry. Sorry!" apologized Victor.
Hugo meanwhile ate a few stone pebbles and oddly flew around for a few moments like an airplane before shooting the pellets out his mouth like bullets and sending the soldiers packing. Frollo was still directing the soldiers with the beam and they were getting ever closer to breaking through the doors as he ordered "HARDER!"
Phoebus was getting dogpiled by small group of soldiers and he was trying to hold them off with his spear before he heard the voice of Littlefoot call out to the left "Phoebus get on!" to which the man hastily rushed onto the longneck's back and charged into the soldiers jousting style.
Chomper was chasing a group of soldiers by riding on a log and toppling them over like bowling pins and Ducky tickled some of the soldiers by crawling up on them before Cera would launch them away with a powerful charge into the gut.
Meanwhile the still imprisoned old man from the festival found his shackles opened when a nearby fight between one of the citizens and soldiers inadvertently released him.
"I'm free! I'm free!" exclaimed the man as he tried to walk away only to fall into a hole that led to the sewer as he yet again lamented with an echo "Dang it!"
By now Victor and Hugo seemed to be quickly working on a contraption of some sort while the soldiers tried using grappling hooks to get into the cathedral,only for Quasi to yank the soldiers up with a big pull and send them crashing into the stone before falling into the river below with an oddly goofy scream. Victor and Hugo's contraption,now revealed to be a catapult was complete and the doors to the cathedral seemed like they would burst open any second as the former ordered while they readied it "Ready,aim,fire!"
However instead of firing the catapult,they merely toppled it over and sent it to the battlefield below as Victor pondered "Are you sure that's how it works?" right before the catapult went off and squashed the soldiers like a mousetrap as Hugo exclaimed "Works for me!"
Phoebus had locked weapons with the new captain of the guard but he quickly managed to tie his head up and blind him before Djali and Cera charged into him and sent him flying,landing right next to a conveniently standing Achilles.
"Achilles,sit." ordered Phoebus and just as the captain managed to untie himself,he was immediately sat on by the horse as he called out with muffled cries "Aah! Get off me!" and getting a laugh out of the gang,while also giving Spike an idea as he sat on another nearby soldier who had just been knocked down.
"Fly my pretties! Fly! Fly!" maniacally laughed Laverne as she out sent a massive flock of birds and Petrie directed them towards the soldiers like he was on an airstrip,and the soldiers ran away in terror as the birds pecked at their heads.
"Put your backs into it!" ordered Frollo as the soldiers got closer and closer to breaking through the doors and Quasi was quick to notice this as he looked down at them with a nervous expression. He had to get them away from the doors and keep them away but he didn't know how,that was until his attention was directed to the boiling pot of molten materials.
The gang had now met back up with each other on the battlefield as Littlefoot asked "Is everyone okay?" to which Petrie heroically boasted as he made some karate punches and kicks "Me make those mean soldiers run away!" before Ducky happily nodded "I'm having a lot of fun here,I am,I am!
"Kids!" a familiar voice called out from above as the gang turned around and looked to see Quasimodo motioning for them to come up to which Chomper exclaimed "Quasi needs us!" before Ruby added "We'll need to get up there but we'll need to find a way to get up there."
"Over there!" pointed out Cera when she saw a discarded ladder up against the walls and the gang immediately climbed up,with Littlefoot kicking it down once they reached the belltower.
"I thought you guys were dead." greeted a happy Quasimodo as he joined up with the gang to which Littlefoot chuckled "Believe me,we almost were back there. What do you need us to do?" before Quasi more seriously explained as he crouched down to them "I think I found a way to get the soldiers away from here and I'll need some help."
"What do you mean?" questioned a curious Ruby before the hunchback pointed at the cauldron behind him.
Within seconds the gang alongside Quasimodo were getting ready to drop the pot of molten lead down on the courtyard. Hugo,Victor, Petrie and Ducky helped kindle the flames that heated the cauldron while the gang and Quasimodo pulled as hard as they could on the ropes holding it up.
Quasimodo:
Come all you saints of stone.
(Saints of stone.)
All you guardians and gargoyles raise the fire in the night.
Raise the fire now and light these vats of lead.
Steaming,boiling streams of lead.
Burning lead and let the flames grow higher!
Oh saints and monsters show your power.
Help me to send this raging shower.
Raining fire on the stone below!
And with one big final pull from everyone,the lead now in the form of boiling lava quickly poured out of the cauldron and slid down the waterways before raining out of the hanging gargoyles,creating a huge waterfall of lava that guarded the cathedral and sent all the soldiers and civilians retreating in fear,with the exception of one however. Frollo was mere inches behind the raging lavafall and the heat alone almost set him ablaze,but he quickly used his sword to make a small hole in the doors before climbing inside.
"Frollo,have you gone mad?! I will not tolerate this assault on the house of God!" exclaimed the awestruck archdeacon as he climbed down the stairs in shock before Frollo coldly demanded while he climbed up "Get out of my way." only for the man to refuse "I will not! You will not lay a finger on that gypsy or those children! I give them sanctuary! Think of Jehan!"
"Silence you old fool! The hunchback and I along with those creatures have unfinished business to attend to." refused Frollo as he grabbed the archdeacon and threw him down the stairs before softly concluding with a whisper as he locked the door behind him "And this time you will not interfere."
NEXT CHAPTER: FINAL CONFRONTATION