Chapter 24: The battle for the Portal
"Let's go! Move it! Move it!" Tanks rolled through the portal without second thought. Soldiers quickly took position in the unknown land and the magic knights moved their horses to the other side. Princess Zelda had convinced General Banderas that the army that was approaching was dangerous. It hadn't taken the young princess long, for everyone felt the dread and the evil intentions of those whom approached them. So mankind then made one of the most stupid military decisions since Hitler's decision to take on Russia: They decided the army had to be stopped before it entered the world. The armies of the Humans, Hylians and Lylatans marched into the unknown land, taking positions and setting up turrets and bunkers as fast as they could. The portal was big enough for the huge Lylatan warships to enter the other dimension. These gigantic vessels of pure destruction embraced the hearts of the soldiers with extra courage they so badly needed. For they would fight an unknown enemy which was probably no race that had ever been witnessed.
The seven Chosen Ones stood and watched. They were impressed by such a huge army on the move around them and seeing it only made them more desperate. "What are we supposed to do now?" Kyo asked.
"Well, I don't know. Follow them perhaps?" Terry said sarcastic.
"But what difference will we make? What makes us think we can match a high- tech tank?" Mary said.
"I don't know. Look, we possess some powers, but are we strong enough to match anything that a full army can't?" Kyo said.
Terry walked to the entrance to the other world and looked around as soldiers ran past him. He brassed his knuckles. "There's only one way to find out." he said. He turned to his friends. "Come on, guys. We didn't do this training just to watch others fight. I finally want to kick some serious ass here!"
"Yes, but what if we do not possess those powers here? What if it was all fake?" Mary said careful. Kyo then stepped towards Terry. "We possess the powers. I know. I feel the fire inside me. It burns for this fight. And I am ready." he murmered, just loud enough for the friends to hear it above the noise of moving military material. He turned around to face the five again. "We have to fight. It's our destiny." he said.
Terry put a hand on Kyo's shoulder. "I don't believe in destiny, but I DO believe that a good fight..." He pointed in the direction of the portal. "Is THAT way." He stepped towards the portal again and looked over his shoulder one last time. "You can sit here and be scared or fight like you've never done before and give 'em hell." He tugged his cap. "I chose the last. Okay!" he said before he ran into the portal.
"Okay?" Link said, looking at Kyo.
"I guess he's looking forward to this. As am I." Kyo said before he followed his friend to the other world.
Fox started to walk towards the portal as well. "I guess I indeed said I'd kill more than Terry. I don't want to give him a headstart!" He then ran after Kyo, through the portal, between the soldiers and tanks, to the position where Terry stood, impatiently tapping the ground with his foot.
"Well, darling..." Link said to Zelda. "Shall we join them? I think it'd be most inapropriate to let them have all the fun, what do you think, my dear?"
Zelda chuckled softly at the way Link said it. He always knew how to cheer her up when things got tense. "Why, of course, sir Link. Would you be so kind to escort this lady to the battlefield?"
"Most certainly, milady." Link answered as he graciously took Zelda's hand and the two started to walk to the portal.
"Why do those idiots always have to make a show out of everything?" Terry sighed. He turned around and saw that the horizon was dotted with strange beings. He couldn't see what it were, but he did see that they weren't Human. Perhaps Lylatans? No, the shapes were too grotesk. Terry swallowed. What the hell was approaching them? But he took in a deep breath of fresh air and patted himself on the chest. "Terry, my man. This is gonna be a fight you'll never forget." he murmered with a slight smile.
He then noticed all the seven Chosen Ones, Mary and Galford included, had stepped through the portal and were in the strange land. It was nothing but a wasteland, but they could breathe and that was a relief on itself. "I don't know what we'll be facing, guys. But it sure ain't human." Terry said, pointing at the horizon.
Fox squeezed his eyes and saw the enormous amount of... things which approached them. It was a very disturbing sight. "What the..." he murmered, stepping forward.
"I want to know what those things are..." Terry said as he started to walk towards the huge army that was closing in.
"Terry, don't be stupid!" Mary yelled frightened as she saw what he was planning to do.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back." Terry said confident.
Mary wanted to stop him, but Fox held her back with a stretched arm. "Terry isn't stupid. Let him take a better look if he wants to." Fox said.
Terry walked nonchelantely towards the advancing enemies. His hands in his pockets, whistling the national anthem. He hated it, but it calmed his raging nerves. The chaos of assembling soldiers and material was too great for any of the soldiers to notice Terry walking towards the enemy. Terry walked past the last soldiers and looked over his shoulder to see his friends staring at him. He gathered his courage and continued his strawl.
As he got closer to the hostile army, he felt the ground actually shake and rumble. He stopped and swallowed. He saw smaller things closing in faster than the entire army. But that wasn't what scared him the most. It was the size of it all. The mysterious army was a still a long way from him, but as far as he could see, there was nothing but a dark mass of creatures that approached him. And it covered the entire horizon, which stretched for miles. He looked around, but from everywhere he looked, armies advanced. From all sides! Masses! He couldn't even see what it were that filled the rangs, but he was so frightened. Terry Bogard was actually scared. Scared to death. He had never really experienced true fear, so it took him completely by surprise. He stood paralysed as the enemies came closer and closer from all sides, safe for the side where Terry had come from and where the portal was.
"This is so fucking huge... We're going to die..." Terry murmered in shock. He woke up just in time to see that the smaller units of the hostile armies were VERY close now. There were already enough of the smaller things to eliminate the entire allience of Hylians, Humans and Lylatans, but it was just a small fraction of what was really coming. Terry tried to see what those smaller things actually were.
He was least surprised, but at the same time shocked to see that it were man-tall skeleton-things. They ran with abnormal speed and screamed. Their mouths were constantly open in a scream and they were armed with a huge variety of weapons. From swords and shields to strange gun-like weapons. Some of them had skin and flesh attached to their bones, but it wasn't much. Some even had eyeballs half sticking out of their sockets and some were badly deformed humanoid skeletons with a huge head or arm. And that was just the small part. And they came running from all sides, encircling the portal and therefore, the armies of the alliance. Even if the skeletons wouldn't do a thing but run towards the defenders of Earth, the soldiers would not have enough firepower to blow them all away. And then the bigger things would come...
There was no reason for Terry not to be scared as hell from the events that were about to happen. He had been standing there for so long that the skeletons had gotten too close to him. Way too close. Terry started to run. He had never run. Never! But when he was halfway between the armies and the skeletons, he stopped. That was right. He had never run. And he would most certainly not do so now! He turned around again and his eyes narrowed. He raised his fists. "Come on, you ugly motherfuckers!" he yelled brave.
The skeletons got closer and closer and those with guns started to shoot at Terry. They came from left, right and from the front. They encircled him, leaving only the way to the armies of the alliance open. Terry started to run towards the skeletons which approached him from the front. His adrenaline started to race again, enabling his body to swiftly dodge the strange laser-type projectiles fired at him. Terry raised his fist as he approached the skeletons. A few with swords tried to attack him, but he knocked them down with his other fist, chopping of limbs and heads as he went.
As soon as he approached the huge group of skeletons which he had picked as a target, he swiftly stopped. He slammed his fist hard down onto the ground. "Power Geyser!!" he yelled. A crack in the earth started to appear, inceasing rapidly in size and swallowing some skeletons. But that wasn't what Terry had planned. Suddenly, a gigantic geyser shot out from the gap. It was huge! About the size of a flat! It shot up into the air and almost literally nuked everything around Terry, without even harming him. The bodies flew through the air, actually killing some more enemies at which the bodies flew. Blood and chunks of flesh rained everywhere. Terry had punched a hole in the lines of skeletons, but there were still more approaching. Way, way more.
But this time, Terry decided that it was wiser to run. He turned around and did so, running as fast as he could. Suddenly, explosions started to errupt around him, blasting enemies left and right. Machinegunfire sounded and cannons could be heard. Terry couldn't surpress a smile as he ran between the armageddon that encircled him. He saw tanks approaching him, shooting at anything hostile. And there was a LOT of hostile! Jeeps raced past the running Terry and the men on the backsides of the jeeps let their machineguns fire at anything that moved, leveling lines of skeletons. But there were many, many more. Terry ran past the tanks and saw the huge Lylatan warships hovering above him, firing their ominous cannons into the skeletons, vaporizing them within moments.
Terry's moment of joy got interrupted by a huge explosion nearby, which sent him falling to the ground. One of the skeletons had blown up a tank with a rocketlauncher. "Cursed fuckers!" Terry murmered as he quickly got up and continued his run to his friends. The other Chosen Ones had witnissed Terry's actions and approached him quickly, wanting to waste no time watching the action. They wanted to be part of the action!
Although that was for some. Zelda was scared. She saw men getting shot down by the skeletons. She heard the screams and saw tanks being blown up. She had never witnessed a war before. But then again, neither of the Chosen Ones had ever seen anything this huge! But their sense of responsibility conquered their fear. And bravely, they all charged into battle.
General Banderas had witnissed Terry's tremendous power and was pleasently surprised. Those youngsters held some mysterious powers! Normally, he would've arrested them for study or something, but that was a ridicilous thought at the moment. They were facing a humongous army of the strangest things ever seen and the seven youngster were a good help. He tried to show that he wasn't affraid. That he wasn't scared of those things that were facing the soldiers. But he was. Scared to death. This wasn't natural. This whole world wasn't natural. It made him feel depressed... But he wasn't the only one. The soldiers fought out of pure fear. Most of them lost their cool and just fired away. It was chaos. Mostly because the armies were completely surrounded. And amidst that chaos of death, destruction and pain, seven youngsters fought the biggest battle of their lives.
Zelda, despite her immense magical powers, kept as close to Link as possible. She didn't want to face the horrors alone. She was just too inconfident.
"Okay, babe. I've got a plan that can't fail." Link said to a frightened Zelda, who held on tightly to his arm. The skeletons were still somewhat away from them, so he pointed his sword in their direction and said: "First of, we move forward and kill them all. Then we're going home and fetch a good mug of beer, what do you think?" Link said it to cheer Zelda up, but it didn't help much.
"I can't do it, Link. I CAN'T!" Zelda yelled above the noise of machineguns, magic, blasters, explosions and deathcries.
Link looked her in the eyes. They were shaking with fear. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her body was shivering. "Princess..." Link started.
"I can't... I don't want to do this... I... I want to go home... Come home with me, please!"
"Zelda, I'm fighting. You know that. And we can't win this without you." Link said. At that moment, he had no idea how naive his comment was.
Zelda franticly shook her head. "NO! NO! NO!" she yelled. "I'M SCARED!"
Link then grabbed Zelda's head with both his hands and pressed a deep kiss on her lips. Zelda grabbed his hand with her shaking one and softly squeezed it.
Link suddenly felt a push against his shoulder. He looked at the source of it and saw Terry, punching his way past a couple of skeletons. "Get your asses moving, wussies!" he yelled, breaking a skeleton in two by standing on the creature's feet and pulling the monster's upper-body off it's lower- body with his hands.
Link turned away from Zelda and drew his sword. "Wait for me, Terster!" he yelled, dashing off, twirling his weapon between his fingers, leaving Zelda alone. There was no time for love at that moment. It hurt him, but he had no choice. And Zelda would be able to take care of herself. He ran past Terry, taking some skeletons down with his swinging sword.
"Hey! Those were mine, fairyboy!" Terry yelled.
"I didn't see a name on them!" Link returned. He then noticed a skeleton aiming a gun at him. He felt it, sensed it... He turned to the monster as it fired. It fired clumsily, not taking in account the recoil. Link's eyes narrowed. Everything went slow. He focussed on the bullets that approached him. For his senses, they flew slowly. But his senses were enhanced a million times. He lifted his sword and concentrated. In one fluid, rapid movement, his sword slashed the air. It went so fast that the air started to sissle a little because of the heat created by the motion. Sparkles shot about, indicating the contact between the sword and the bullets. Link didn't got hit. He stopped every bullet with inhumanly swift moves.
Link lowered his sword and started to breathe again. "Farore..." he muttered.
"Showoff!" Terry yelled as he chopped off a skeleton's leg with a neatly placed kick. The American saw a Skeleton approaching with a huge sword, at least two meters in length! The skeleton walked slow, but somehow, Terry's mind chose the monster as a primary target. Terry felt the being was the most dangerous at that moment. He turned to the being as it raised his sword clumsily. Terry's fist shot out and knocked down another skeleton which tried to attack him from the side. Terry saw the huge sword falling towards him. He did a simple step to the side and the giant metal object crashed into the earth. Before the skeleton even had the time to try to lift his sword again, Terry, facing the skeleton with his left side, made a slight jump and threw his right foot into the air, turning up-side-down as he did it. "Crack Shot!" he yelled as his movement fluently continued and his right foot crashed into the skeleton's head, splitting it mercilessly in two. Terry stood up and noticed a rotten brain sticked out of the fallen skeleton's head. "I gotta hand it to you guys. You DO have brains." Terry said grinning as he straightened his cap.
Fox's blaster was seriously overheating as he mowed through the waves of skeletons. He all took them out with one neatly placed shot per enemy, but he was just outgunned. He ran, jumped, flipped and dodged his way past the bullets and arrows, taking out skeleton after skeleton, but he realised he would need a lot more firepower than his simple blaster if he would be able to match the upcomming waves of monsters. He quickly looked around, but saw that he wasn't any close to someone who was on his side. Not by far. He was completely surrounded! And the skeletons were getting pretty close as well! He dodged an axe and shot the owner of it through his head, shedding some strange liquids over the ground. But the situation was getting pretty desperate. Fox knew there was only one sollution to this pressing problem. He had to break through. The most simple plans were usually the most effective. He put his blaster away and stretched his arms. His ears flattened on his head and his eyes narrowed. He felt his energy building as the skeletons swarmed around him.
Right before the monsters would attack, just right before that, Fox felt something inside him explode. With the sudden release of build-up energy, Fox shot up high in the air in an instant, his body somehow leaving a trail of fire behind, burning some skeletons in an instant. Fox hadn't expected that this would happen. His body had just reacted to the situation.
As if he was a rocket, his body flew through the sky in a wide arc. "Mother!!" Fox yelled as he saw the ground swiftly approaching them.
Terry ducked to avoid an axe and then punched the skeleton straight through his ribcase, chopping down the spine as well. Suddenly, he heard a strange noise coming from the sky. He looked up. "What an idiot..." he murmered in surprise.
Fox's eyes grew wider as soon as he saw what he was about to hit. "Oh, shit! " he yelled. He closed his eyes, right before he crashed into Terry. The two fell down and rolled a few meters further as though they were one. When they finally stopped, Fox lay on top of Terry. Again. The Lylatan blinked his eyes a couple of times before he shook his head. "Did I hurt you, honey?" Fox asked Terry with a confused voice.
"Get the hell off me, you ridiculous excuse for a fighterpilot!" Terry yelled, as soon as he was over his surprise. He pushed Fox off him and immediatly stood up. "You are gay, aren't you!?" Terry yelled, loud enough to be heard amongst the raging battle.
Fox stood up as well and put his arm on Terry's shoulder. "Yes, dear. But I thought you knew?" he commented with a pitch-high voice. Before Terry was able to return something, Fox's eyes grew big. "Bent!" he quickly said.
"What!?" Terry yelled with a mingle of surprise and anger.
"Duck! I mean duck!" Fox yelled.
Terry turned around and saw two skeletons with swords charging him. They were milliseconds away from chopping his head off. "Shit!" Terry yelled. He and Fox both swiftly ducked and avoided the blades by an inch as the skeletons passed by them, unable to halt because of the heavy two-handed swords they wielded. However, Terry's ponytail ended up as a casualty. A small tip of it got chopped off.
Terry swiftly turned to the monsters again and punched the ground with his fist. "Power Wave!" he yelled. Out of his fist, a fiery wave which reached up to his hips shot towards the skeletons, scorching the ground over which it travelled. On contact, the monsters got knocked over and were unable to get up again as the wave vaporized into thin air.
"Power wave?" Fox said, unable to hold a chuckle.
"Hey, a real man yells as he fights, okay?" Terry said.
"And you're supposed to be that real man?" Fox asked as he swiftly drew his gun and shot down a skeleton which tried to attack him from behind.
"At least I don't have fur..." Terry returned.
"That's what I don't like about you Humans. You're SO arrogant."
"And what is THAT supposed to mean?" Terry asked, stepping backwards to avoid a salvo of bullets.
"You just assume that being bald like you are is normal."
"Duck!" Terry said as Fox ducked and Terry hit the skeleton that was behind Fox with a neatly placed turning kick which flew just over Fox. Fox then dropped to the ground and shot down a skeleton straight between Terry's legs.
"What are you, crazy!?" Terry asked indignant. "You could've shot off my balls, you stupid rodent!"
"So? You never use them." Fox returned, shooting straight past a soldier, killing a skeleton which was waving a machinegun.
"At least I've got them. Cannot be said about you, right?" Terry commented, sticking his hands in his pockets. He noticed danger, so he quickly jumped up, making a backflip. Some clumsy skeleton who had tried to pierce him with a spear stumbled underneath him. When Terry returned to the ground, he faced the monster's back and kicked it hard, chopping the being in two while not removing his hands from his pockets.
"Oh and how does mister Bogard think Lylatan babies are made?" Fox asked annoyed.
"I don't know. The stork maybe?" Terry said grinning.
"Jeez, you're such a racist." Fox said, flipping backwards to avoid a glowing red laserbeam while shooting two skeletons who stood next to each other clean through their heads with one shot. When he landed on his feet again, Terry walked to him, just in time to avoid a soaring arrow.
"I'm no racist! If I were a racist, I'd say... black people are thieves." he said.
"And now you're saying that Lylatans get their babies delivered by storks and that they don't have..."
Suddenly, something flashed behind Fox. The Lylatan turned around and saw three skeletons collapsing on the ground. He saw Galford standing next to them. "Instead of arguing, shouldn't you two help slay the Evil?" he asked sarcastic.
"I'm going to slay you if you don't shut up, justice-boy!" Terry said aggrivated.
Fox moved his head a bit backwards to evade a lightning bolt and then said: "Galford is a bit right, Terry. Let's go kick something."
Terry removed his hands from his pockets. "I guess you're right. But if you jump me again, I'll make sure you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"
Galford flipped backwards, kicked a skeleton down with both his feet, using the monster as a way to get higher by bouncing off him. Galford made another flip in mid-air and warped away from sight.
"Oeh, justice-boy has to show off. Asshole." Terry said annoyed. "I wonder where Mary is." he then continued, switching subject quickly.
"Hey!" Mary said taunting as she faced a group of skeletons with her side and pointed at herself with her thumb, while waving with her other hand, which hung behind her back. "You boys want to play?"
The mindless monsters attacked Mary, regardless of what she said, but it was in Mary's nature to taunt danger, no matter how grave it was. She ran towards them, past a soldier whom was firing at the same skeletons. Mary was just in time to duck to avoid his salvo, but she fell clumsily on the ground. The soldier had seen it and startled. He had hit her!
The skeletons smelled the furure annihilation and gathered around Mary. The soldier couldn't see what happened, but was shocked as he saw the monsters stabbing with their weapons at the defenseless Mary. He couldn't respond in any way. He didn't see Mary, because of the enormous amount of skeletons around her, but she couldn't have...
The next moment, one of the undead got launched away and flew past the soldier, who followed the soaring monster with surprised eyes. Then, Mary ran out of the group of skeletons, kicking one away from her. She wasn't fleeing, she was chasing the soaring skeleton. "I'm not through with you yet, buster!" she said as she ran as fast as she could. As soon as she, somehow was close enough to the soaring monster, she jumped up, turned her body a little so that her legs faced the being, and grabbed his neck with her legs. She then returned to earth by ways of gravity, facing the soil with her legs, the skeleton screaming underneath her. When she hit the ground with her knees, the shock that went through them broke the neck of the skeleton.
Mary slowly stood up and dusted off her blue trousers. She checked the small cut in the side of it. "Barbarian." she murmered. She tossed her leg to the side and chopped off a skeleton's upper-body. Having done that, she threw her still standing leg into the air and fell face-down to the ground, right when a salvo of glowing laserbeams shot over her. She caught her fall with her arms and tossed her legs in the air again, now standing solely on her hands. Had she not done that, a skeleton would've cut off her legs with a giant axe. But the axe hit the ground and got stuck. Mary then wrapped her feet around the monster's head and used her hands to give the floor such a push that her body spinned around and the head of the monser spinned off his neck. Mary kept her balance, however, but noticed a skeleton with a big sword approaching her. He swung his sword, determined to cut Mary in two. But the Human let her hands go and rolled into a seated position, just in time to avoid the sword. She grabbed the skeleton's leg and made a slight jump with one leg as she turned her body around vertically and struck the monster with the back of her other leg. The small salto made her land on her feet again as she let go of the dead skeleton's leg. Those things weren't able to handle a hard hit on the chest. Mary stood up straight and took a deep breath. She moved her hand through her fine, chin- length blonde hair and then tightened her fingerless gloves. This certainly was tough. But she had never felt so alive before in her entire life.
In the distance, she could see Kyo, burning himself a way through hordes of skeletons. She saw the flashes of fire lightening the place. The explosions and gunshots around her... She had started to ignore them. All she could focus on was the fight. If she could've only fought her way out of Geese Howard earlier. How she would love to meet him now face-to-face. And beat him up. But he was dead. A true pity. She evaded a spear and grabbed it. She pulled the weapon and threw her feet in the air, kicking the owning skeleton of the spear straight against his head, breaking his skull. She elegantly bowed her back backwards as she fell back to the earth in order to be able to put her hands on the ground and stand on them again. She slowly let her feet return to the ground and stood up. She sighed. She still hadn't told Terry just what kind of feelings she had developped for him. But he would just make fun of her would she tell him. Then why did she love him anyway? She had asked herself that question so many times before. She ducked to avoid a skeleton with a blunt mace which attacked her from behind. She grabbed him at his neck and pulled him over her shoulder, after which she quickly sat down on one knee, while stretching out the other. Right at that moment, the skeleton's back hit that knee, breaking his spine. And again, Mary stood up. She looked down at the earth as a tear rolled down her cheek. She never allowed herself to cry. And right in the middle of that huge battle, she let a tear. She slowly brushed it away from her cheek with her indexfinger.
Zelda tried to catch her breath as a skeleton approached her. Her heart was racing. She looked behind her. The portal was just there. She could make a run for it. But what if he would catch her? She was so scared. She stumbled backwards as the skeleton approached her. "S... stay away from me, you... you freak!" Zelda yelled frightfull. She wanted to scream for Link, but she noticed she had gotten way off the main battle in the mean time. No one would hear her. The skeleton kept approaching and Zelda kept walking backwards.
Suddenly, a bony hand grabbed her shoulder, making her swiftly turn around. The next moment, she stared in the horrid face of a second skeleton. This startled the young princess enormously. She backed away, right when the skeleton raised his sword. "NO!!" she screamed as fear took control. She raised her hand to stop the skeleton's sword and turned her head away, fearing that she would die. But then, something inside her happened. Her mind took a decision for her. Her eyes lit up and her body started to glow with a golden light. And the strangest thing occured... The two skeletons backed away... scared. Their dark nature feared that glowing power within Zelda.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Zelda screamed. She stretched out her arms and at that moment, an enormous power got released from inside the girl. It was almost as if she exploded as a shockwave of sizzling golden energy shot out of her, vaporizing the two skeletons in an instant. But the shockwave expanded even further. A giant ring of pure ever-growing holy might shot away from her, racing across the battlefield. The shockwave raced past the soldiers, tanks and knights without even such as touching them. It went straight through them. The skeletons, however, immediatly vaporized on contact, leaving not even dust behind. The wave expanded not only in length, but also in height. The Lylatan fighterpilots had no idea what was happening to them as they flew through it. Everyone who made contact with the wave experienced a brief period of pure happiness.
"What the hell?" Terry murmered as he noticed the shockwave as well. He patted Link on his shoulder. "Eh... fairyboy?"
Link turned around and startled as he saw it too. A wave of energy rolling towards them.
"If that kinky girlfriend of yours isn't behind this, then I'm Thomas O'Malley." Terry murmered.
Link forgot about the wave for a moment and looked at his friend. "What?"
"You know, the big red cat from the Aristocats?" Terry said, looking at Link.
"I'll just pretend I hadn't heard that." Link returned, who focussed his view on the wave again, which was purifying the entire battlefield.
It didn't take the wave long to reach the two friends and they got engulfed in Holy energy. And they too, experienced that fantastic feeling. Pure happiness. For a short moment. And when the wave had passed them, they just looked at each other as the magical energy continued to cleanse the battlefield of all unholy presence.
"Let's go! Move it! Move it!" Tanks rolled through the portal without second thought. Soldiers quickly took position in the unknown land and the magic knights moved their horses to the other side. Princess Zelda had convinced General Banderas that the army that was approaching was dangerous. It hadn't taken the young princess long, for everyone felt the dread and the evil intentions of those whom approached them. So mankind then made one of the most stupid military decisions since Hitler's decision to take on Russia: They decided the army had to be stopped before it entered the world. The armies of the Humans, Hylians and Lylatans marched into the unknown land, taking positions and setting up turrets and bunkers as fast as they could. The portal was big enough for the huge Lylatan warships to enter the other dimension. These gigantic vessels of pure destruction embraced the hearts of the soldiers with extra courage they so badly needed. For they would fight an unknown enemy which was probably no race that had ever been witnessed.
The seven Chosen Ones stood and watched. They were impressed by such a huge army on the move around them and seeing it only made them more desperate. "What are we supposed to do now?" Kyo asked.
"Well, I don't know. Follow them perhaps?" Terry said sarcastic.
"But what difference will we make? What makes us think we can match a high- tech tank?" Mary said.
"I don't know. Look, we possess some powers, but are we strong enough to match anything that a full army can't?" Kyo said.
Terry walked to the entrance to the other world and looked around as soldiers ran past him. He brassed his knuckles. "There's only one way to find out." he said. He turned to his friends. "Come on, guys. We didn't do this training just to watch others fight. I finally want to kick some serious ass here!"
"Yes, but what if we do not possess those powers here? What if it was all fake?" Mary said careful. Kyo then stepped towards Terry. "We possess the powers. I know. I feel the fire inside me. It burns for this fight. And I am ready." he murmered, just loud enough for the friends to hear it above the noise of moving military material. He turned around to face the five again. "We have to fight. It's our destiny." he said.
Terry put a hand on Kyo's shoulder. "I don't believe in destiny, but I DO believe that a good fight..." He pointed in the direction of the portal. "Is THAT way." He stepped towards the portal again and looked over his shoulder one last time. "You can sit here and be scared or fight like you've never done before and give 'em hell." He tugged his cap. "I chose the last. Okay!" he said before he ran into the portal.
"Okay?" Link said, looking at Kyo.
"I guess he's looking forward to this. As am I." Kyo said before he followed his friend to the other world.
Fox started to walk towards the portal as well. "I guess I indeed said I'd kill more than Terry. I don't want to give him a headstart!" He then ran after Kyo, through the portal, between the soldiers and tanks, to the position where Terry stood, impatiently tapping the ground with his foot.
"Well, darling..." Link said to Zelda. "Shall we join them? I think it'd be most inapropriate to let them have all the fun, what do you think, my dear?"
Zelda chuckled softly at the way Link said it. He always knew how to cheer her up when things got tense. "Why, of course, sir Link. Would you be so kind to escort this lady to the battlefield?"
"Most certainly, milady." Link answered as he graciously took Zelda's hand and the two started to walk to the portal.
"Why do those idiots always have to make a show out of everything?" Terry sighed. He turned around and saw that the horizon was dotted with strange beings. He couldn't see what it were, but he did see that they weren't Human. Perhaps Lylatans? No, the shapes were too grotesk. Terry swallowed. What the hell was approaching them? But he took in a deep breath of fresh air and patted himself on the chest. "Terry, my man. This is gonna be a fight you'll never forget." he murmered with a slight smile.
He then noticed all the seven Chosen Ones, Mary and Galford included, had stepped through the portal and were in the strange land. It was nothing but a wasteland, but they could breathe and that was a relief on itself. "I don't know what we'll be facing, guys. But it sure ain't human." Terry said, pointing at the horizon.
Fox squeezed his eyes and saw the enormous amount of... things which approached them. It was a very disturbing sight. "What the..." he murmered, stepping forward.
"I want to know what those things are..." Terry said as he started to walk towards the huge army that was closing in.
"Terry, don't be stupid!" Mary yelled frightened as she saw what he was planning to do.
"Don't worry, I'll be right back." Terry said confident.
Mary wanted to stop him, but Fox held her back with a stretched arm. "Terry isn't stupid. Let him take a better look if he wants to." Fox said.
Terry walked nonchelantely towards the advancing enemies. His hands in his pockets, whistling the national anthem. He hated it, but it calmed his raging nerves. The chaos of assembling soldiers and material was too great for any of the soldiers to notice Terry walking towards the enemy. Terry walked past the last soldiers and looked over his shoulder to see his friends staring at him. He gathered his courage and continued his strawl.
As he got closer to the hostile army, he felt the ground actually shake and rumble. He stopped and swallowed. He saw smaller things closing in faster than the entire army. But that wasn't what scared him the most. It was the size of it all. The mysterious army was a still a long way from him, but as far as he could see, there was nothing but a dark mass of creatures that approached him. And it covered the entire horizon, which stretched for miles. He looked around, but from everywhere he looked, armies advanced. From all sides! Masses! He couldn't even see what it were that filled the rangs, but he was so frightened. Terry Bogard was actually scared. Scared to death. He had never really experienced true fear, so it took him completely by surprise. He stood paralysed as the enemies came closer and closer from all sides, safe for the side where Terry had come from and where the portal was.
"This is so fucking huge... We're going to die..." Terry murmered in shock. He woke up just in time to see that the smaller units of the hostile armies were VERY close now. There were already enough of the smaller things to eliminate the entire allience of Hylians, Humans and Lylatans, but it was just a small fraction of what was really coming. Terry tried to see what those smaller things actually were.
He was least surprised, but at the same time shocked to see that it were man-tall skeleton-things. They ran with abnormal speed and screamed. Their mouths were constantly open in a scream and they were armed with a huge variety of weapons. From swords and shields to strange gun-like weapons. Some of them had skin and flesh attached to their bones, but it wasn't much. Some even had eyeballs half sticking out of their sockets and some were badly deformed humanoid skeletons with a huge head or arm. And that was just the small part. And they came running from all sides, encircling the portal and therefore, the armies of the alliance. Even if the skeletons wouldn't do a thing but run towards the defenders of Earth, the soldiers would not have enough firepower to blow them all away. And then the bigger things would come...
There was no reason for Terry not to be scared as hell from the events that were about to happen. He had been standing there for so long that the skeletons had gotten too close to him. Way too close. Terry started to run. He had never run. Never! But when he was halfway between the armies and the skeletons, he stopped. That was right. He had never run. And he would most certainly not do so now! He turned around again and his eyes narrowed. He raised his fists. "Come on, you ugly motherfuckers!" he yelled brave.
The skeletons got closer and closer and those with guns started to shoot at Terry. They came from left, right and from the front. They encircled him, leaving only the way to the armies of the alliance open. Terry started to run towards the skeletons which approached him from the front. His adrenaline started to race again, enabling his body to swiftly dodge the strange laser-type projectiles fired at him. Terry raised his fist as he approached the skeletons. A few with swords tried to attack him, but he knocked them down with his other fist, chopping of limbs and heads as he went.
As soon as he approached the huge group of skeletons which he had picked as a target, he swiftly stopped. He slammed his fist hard down onto the ground. "Power Geyser!!" he yelled. A crack in the earth started to appear, inceasing rapidly in size and swallowing some skeletons. But that wasn't what Terry had planned. Suddenly, a gigantic geyser shot out from the gap. It was huge! About the size of a flat! It shot up into the air and almost literally nuked everything around Terry, without even harming him. The bodies flew through the air, actually killing some more enemies at which the bodies flew. Blood and chunks of flesh rained everywhere. Terry had punched a hole in the lines of skeletons, but there were still more approaching. Way, way more.
But this time, Terry decided that it was wiser to run. He turned around and did so, running as fast as he could. Suddenly, explosions started to errupt around him, blasting enemies left and right. Machinegunfire sounded and cannons could be heard. Terry couldn't surpress a smile as he ran between the armageddon that encircled him. He saw tanks approaching him, shooting at anything hostile. And there was a LOT of hostile! Jeeps raced past the running Terry and the men on the backsides of the jeeps let their machineguns fire at anything that moved, leveling lines of skeletons. But there were many, many more. Terry ran past the tanks and saw the huge Lylatan warships hovering above him, firing their ominous cannons into the skeletons, vaporizing them within moments.
Terry's moment of joy got interrupted by a huge explosion nearby, which sent him falling to the ground. One of the skeletons had blown up a tank with a rocketlauncher. "Cursed fuckers!" Terry murmered as he quickly got up and continued his run to his friends. The other Chosen Ones had witnissed Terry's actions and approached him quickly, wanting to waste no time watching the action. They wanted to be part of the action!
Although that was for some. Zelda was scared. She saw men getting shot down by the skeletons. She heard the screams and saw tanks being blown up. She had never witnessed a war before. But then again, neither of the Chosen Ones had ever seen anything this huge! But their sense of responsibility conquered their fear. And bravely, they all charged into battle.
General Banderas had witnissed Terry's tremendous power and was pleasently surprised. Those youngsters held some mysterious powers! Normally, he would've arrested them for study or something, but that was a ridicilous thought at the moment. They were facing a humongous army of the strangest things ever seen and the seven youngster were a good help. He tried to show that he wasn't affraid. That he wasn't scared of those things that were facing the soldiers. But he was. Scared to death. This wasn't natural. This whole world wasn't natural. It made him feel depressed... But he wasn't the only one. The soldiers fought out of pure fear. Most of them lost their cool and just fired away. It was chaos. Mostly because the armies were completely surrounded. And amidst that chaos of death, destruction and pain, seven youngsters fought the biggest battle of their lives.
Zelda, despite her immense magical powers, kept as close to Link as possible. She didn't want to face the horrors alone. She was just too inconfident.
"Okay, babe. I've got a plan that can't fail." Link said to a frightened Zelda, who held on tightly to his arm. The skeletons were still somewhat away from them, so he pointed his sword in their direction and said: "First of, we move forward and kill them all. Then we're going home and fetch a good mug of beer, what do you think?" Link said it to cheer Zelda up, but it didn't help much.
"I can't do it, Link. I CAN'T!" Zelda yelled above the noise of machineguns, magic, blasters, explosions and deathcries.
Link looked her in the eyes. They were shaking with fear. Tears rolled down her cheeks and her body was shivering. "Princess..." Link started.
"I can't... I don't want to do this... I... I want to go home... Come home with me, please!"
"Zelda, I'm fighting. You know that. And we can't win this without you." Link said. At that moment, he had no idea how naive his comment was.
Zelda franticly shook her head. "NO! NO! NO!" she yelled. "I'M SCARED!"
Link then grabbed Zelda's head with both his hands and pressed a deep kiss on her lips. Zelda grabbed his hand with her shaking one and softly squeezed it.
Link suddenly felt a push against his shoulder. He looked at the source of it and saw Terry, punching his way past a couple of skeletons. "Get your asses moving, wussies!" he yelled, breaking a skeleton in two by standing on the creature's feet and pulling the monster's upper-body off it's lower- body with his hands.
Link turned away from Zelda and drew his sword. "Wait for me, Terster!" he yelled, dashing off, twirling his weapon between his fingers, leaving Zelda alone. There was no time for love at that moment. It hurt him, but he had no choice. And Zelda would be able to take care of herself. He ran past Terry, taking some skeletons down with his swinging sword.
"Hey! Those were mine, fairyboy!" Terry yelled.
"I didn't see a name on them!" Link returned. He then noticed a skeleton aiming a gun at him. He felt it, sensed it... He turned to the monster as it fired. It fired clumsily, not taking in account the recoil. Link's eyes narrowed. Everything went slow. He focussed on the bullets that approached him. For his senses, they flew slowly. But his senses were enhanced a million times. He lifted his sword and concentrated. In one fluid, rapid movement, his sword slashed the air. It went so fast that the air started to sissle a little because of the heat created by the motion. Sparkles shot about, indicating the contact between the sword and the bullets. Link didn't got hit. He stopped every bullet with inhumanly swift moves.
Link lowered his sword and started to breathe again. "Farore..." he muttered.
"Showoff!" Terry yelled as he chopped off a skeleton's leg with a neatly placed kick. The American saw a Skeleton approaching with a huge sword, at least two meters in length! The skeleton walked slow, but somehow, Terry's mind chose the monster as a primary target. Terry felt the being was the most dangerous at that moment. He turned to the being as it raised his sword clumsily. Terry's fist shot out and knocked down another skeleton which tried to attack him from the side. Terry saw the huge sword falling towards him. He did a simple step to the side and the giant metal object crashed into the earth. Before the skeleton even had the time to try to lift his sword again, Terry, facing the skeleton with his left side, made a slight jump and threw his right foot into the air, turning up-side-down as he did it. "Crack Shot!" he yelled as his movement fluently continued and his right foot crashed into the skeleton's head, splitting it mercilessly in two. Terry stood up and noticed a rotten brain sticked out of the fallen skeleton's head. "I gotta hand it to you guys. You DO have brains." Terry said grinning as he straightened his cap.
Fox's blaster was seriously overheating as he mowed through the waves of skeletons. He all took them out with one neatly placed shot per enemy, but he was just outgunned. He ran, jumped, flipped and dodged his way past the bullets and arrows, taking out skeleton after skeleton, but he realised he would need a lot more firepower than his simple blaster if he would be able to match the upcomming waves of monsters. He quickly looked around, but saw that he wasn't any close to someone who was on his side. Not by far. He was completely surrounded! And the skeletons were getting pretty close as well! He dodged an axe and shot the owner of it through his head, shedding some strange liquids over the ground. But the situation was getting pretty desperate. Fox knew there was only one sollution to this pressing problem. He had to break through. The most simple plans were usually the most effective. He put his blaster away and stretched his arms. His ears flattened on his head and his eyes narrowed. He felt his energy building as the skeletons swarmed around him.
Right before the monsters would attack, just right before that, Fox felt something inside him explode. With the sudden release of build-up energy, Fox shot up high in the air in an instant, his body somehow leaving a trail of fire behind, burning some skeletons in an instant. Fox hadn't expected that this would happen. His body had just reacted to the situation.
As if he was a rocket, his body flew through the sky in a wide arc. "Mother!!" Fox yelled as he saw the ground swiftly approaching them.
Terry ducked to avoid an axe and then punched the skeleton straight through his ribcase, chopping down the spine as well. Suddenly, he heard a strange noise coming from the sky. He looked up. "What an idiot..." he murmered in surprise.
Fox's eyes grew wider as soon as he saw what he was about to hit. "Oh, shit! " he yelled. He closed his eyes, right before he crashed into Terry. The two fell down and rolled a few meters further as though they were one. When they finally stopped, Fox lay on top of Terry. Again. The Lylatan blinked his eyes a couple of times before he shook his head. "Did I hurt you, honey?" Fox asked Terry with a confused voice.
"Get the hell off me, you ridiculous excuse for a fighterpilot!" Terry yelled, as soon as he was over his surprise. He pushed Fox off him and immediatly stood up. "You are gay, aren't you!?" Terry yelled, loud enough to be heard amongst the raging battle.
Fox stood up as well and put his arm on Terry's shoulder. "Yes, dear. But I thought you knew?" he commented with a pitch-high voice. Before Terry was able to return something, Fox's eyes grew big. "Bent!" he quickly said.
"What!?" Terry yelled with a mingle of surprise and anger.
"Duck! I mean duck!" Fox yelled.
Terry turned around and saw two skeletons with swords charging him. They were milliseconds away from chopping his head off. "Shit!" Terry yelled. He and Fox both swiftly ducked and avoided the blades by an inch as the skeletons passed by them, unable to halt because of the heavy two-handed swords they wielded. However, Terry's ponytail ended up as a casualty. A small tip of it got chopped off.
Terry swiftly turned to the monsters again and punched the ground with his fist. "Power Wave!" he yelled. Out of his fist, a fiery wave which reached up to his hips shot towards the skeletons, scorching the ground over which it travelled. On contact, the monsters got knocked over and were unable to get up again as the wave vaporized into thin air.
"Power wave?" Fox said, unable to hold a chuckle.
"Hey, a real man yells as he fights, okay?" Terry said.
"And you're supposed to be that real man?" Fox asked as he swiftly drew his gun and shot down a skeleton which tried to attack him from behind.
"At least I don't have fur..." Terry returned.
"That's what I don't like about you Humans. You're SO arrogant."
"And what is THAT supposed to mean?" Terry asked, stepping backwards to avoid a salvo of bullets.
"You just assume that being bald like you are is normal."
"Duck!" Terry said as Fox ducked and Terry hit the skeleton that was behind Fox with a neatly placed turning kick which flew just over Fox. Fox then dropped to the ground and shot down a skeleton straight between Terry's legs.
"What are you, crazy!?" Terry asked indignant. "You could've shot off my balls, you stupid rodent!"
"So? You never use them." Fox returned, shooting straight past a soldier, killing a skeleton which was waving a machinegun.
"At least I've got them. Cannot be said about you, right?" Terry commented, sticking his hands in his pockets. He noticed danger, so he quickly jumped up, making a backflip. Some clumsy skeleton who had tried to pierce him with a spear stumbled underneath him. When Terry returned to the ground, he faced the monster's back and kicked it hard, chopping the being in two while not removing his hands from his pockets.
"Oh and how does mister Bogard think Lylatan babies are made?" Fox asked annoyed.
"I don't know. The stork maybe?" Terry said grinning.
"Jeez, you're such a racist." Fox said, flipping backwards to avoid a glowing red laserbeam while shooting two skeletons who stood next to each other clean through their heads with one shot. When he landed on his feet again, Terry walked to him, just in time to avoid a soaring arrow.
"I'm no racist! If I were a racist, I'd say... black people are thieves." he said.
"And now you're saying that Lylatans get their babies delivered by storks and that they don't have..."
Suddenly, something flashed behind Fox. The Lylatan turned around and saw three skeletons collapsing on the ground. He saw Galford standing next to them. "Instead of arguing, shouldn't you two help slay the Evil?" he asked sarcastic.
"I'm going to slay you if you don't shut up, justice-boy!" Terry said aggrivated.
Fox moved his head a bit backwards to evade a lightning bolt and then said: "Galford is a bit right, Terry. Let's go kick something."
Terry removed his hands from his pockets. "I guess you're right. But if you jump me again, I'll make sure you'll regret it for the rest of your life!"
Galford flipped backwards, kicked a skeleton down with both his feet, using the monster as a way to get higher by bouncing off him. Galford made another flip in mid-air and warped away from sight.
"Oeh, justice-boy has to show off. Asshole." Terry said annoyed. "I wonder where Mary is." he then continued, switching subject quickly.
"Hey!" Mary said taunting as she faced a group of skeletons with her side and pointed at herself with her thumb, while waving with her other hand, which hung behind her back. "You boys want to play?"
The mindless monsters attacked Mary, regardless of what she said, but it was in Mary's nature to taunt danger, no matter how grave it was. She ran towards them, past a soldier whom was firing at the same skeletons. Mary was just in time to duck to avoid his salvo, but she fell clumsily on the ground. The soldier had seen it and startled. He had hit her!
The skeletons smelled the furure annihilation and gathered around Mary. The soldier couldn't see what happened, but was shocked as he saw the monsters stabbing with their weapons at the defenseless Mary. He couldn't respond in any way. He didn't see Mary, because of the enormous amount of skeletons around her, but she couldn't have...
The next moment, one of the undead got launched away and flew past the soldier, who followed the soaring monster with surprised eyes. Then, Mary ran out of the group of skeletons, kicking one away from her. She wasn't fleeing, she was chasing the soaring skeleton. "I'm not through with you yet, buster!" she said as she ran as fast as she could. As soon as she, somehow was close enough to the soaring monster, she jumped up, turned her body a little so that her legs faced the being, and grabbed his neck with her legs. She then returned to earth by ways of gravity, facing the soil with her legs, the skeleton screaming underneath her. When she hit the ground with her knees, the shock that went through them broke the neck of the skeleton.
Mary slowly stood up and dusted off her blue trousers. She checked the small cut in the side of it. "Barbarian." she murmered. She tossed her leg to the side and chopped off a skeleton's upper-body. Having done that, she threw her still standing leg into the air and fell face-down to the ground, right when a salvo of glowing laserbeams shot over her. She caught her fall with her arms and tossed her legs in the air again, now standing solely on her hands. Had she not done that, a skeleton would've cut off her legs with a giant axe. But the axe hit the ground and got stuck. Mary then wrapped her feet around the monster's head and used her hands to give the floor such a push that her body spinned around and the head of the monser spinned off his neck. Mary kept her balance, however, but noticed a skeleton with a big sword approaching her. He swung his sword, determined to cut Mary in two. But the Human let her hands go and rolled into a seated position, just in time to avoid the sword. She grabbed the skeleton's leg and made a slight jump with one leg as she turned her body around vertically and struck the monster with the back of her other leg. The small salto made her land on her feet again as she let go of the dead skeleton's leg. Those things weren't able to handle a hard hit on the chest. Mary stood up straight and took a deep breath. She moved her hand through her fine, chin- length blonde hair and then tightened her fingerless gloves. This certainly was tough. But she had never felt so alive before in her entire life.
In the distance, she could see Kyo, burning himself a way through hordes of skeletons. She saw the flashes of fire lightening the place. The explosions and gunshots around her... She had started to ignore them. All she could focus on was the fight. If she could've only fought her way out of Geese Howard earlier. How she would love to meet him now face-to-face. And beat him up. But he was dead. A true pity. She evaded a spear and grabbed it. She pulled the weapon and threw her feet in the air, kicking the owning skeleton of the spear straight against his head, breaking his skull. She elegantly bowed her back backwards as she fell back to the earth in order to be able to put her hands on the ground and stand on them again. She slowly let her feet return to the ground and stood up. She sighed. She still hadn't told Terry just what kind of feelings she had developped for him. But he would just make fun of her would she tell him. Then why did she love him anyway? She had asked herself that question so many times before. She ducked to avoid a skeleton with a blunt mace which attacked her from behind. She grabbed him at his neck and pulled him over her shoulder, after which she quickly sat down on one knee, while stretching out the other. Right at that moment, the skeleton's back hit that knee, breaking his spine. And again, Mary stood up. She looked down at the earth as a tear rolled down her cheek. She never allowed herself to cry. And right in the middle of that huge battle, she let a tear. She slowly brushed it away from her cheek with her indexfinger.
Zelda tried to catch her breath as a skeleton approached her. Her heart was racing. She looked behind her. The portal was just there. She could make a run for it. But what if he would catch her? She was so scared. She stumbled backwards as the skeleton approached her. "S... stay away from me, you... you freak!" Zelda yelled frightfull. She wanted to scream for Link, but she noticed she had gotten way off the main battle in the mean time. No one would hear her. The skeleton kept approaching and Zelda kept walking backwards.
Suddenly, a bony hand grabbed her shoulder, making her swiftly turn around. The next moment, she stared in the horrid face of a second skeleton. This startled the young princess enormously. She backed away, right when the skeleton raised his sword. "NO!!" she screamed as fear took control. She raised her hand to stop the skeleton's sword and turned her head away, fearing that she would die. But then, something inside her happened. Her mind took a decision for her. Her eyes lit up and her body started to glow with a golden light. And the strangest thing occured... The two skeletons backed away... scared. Their dark nature feared that glowing power within Zelda.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Zelda screamed. She stretched out her arms and at that moment, an enormous power got released from inside the girl. It was almost as if she exploded as a shockwave of sizzling golden energy shot out of her, vaporizing the two skeletons in an instant. But the shockwave expanded even further. A giant ring of pure ever-growing holy might shot away from her, racing across the battlefield. The shockwave raced past the soldiers, tanks and knights without even such as touching them. It went straight through them. The skeletons, however, immediatly vaporized on contact, leaving not even dust behind. The wave expanded not only in length, but also in height. The Lylatan fighterpilots had no idea what was happening to them as they flew through it. Everyone who made contact with the wave experienced a brief period of pure happiness.
"What the hell?" Terry murmered as he noticed the shockwave as well. He patted Link on his shoulder. "Eh... fairyboy?"
Link turned around and startled as he saw it too. A wave of energy rolling towards them.
"If that kinky girlfriend of yours isn't behind this, then I'm Thomas O'Malley." Terry murmered.
Link forgot about the wave for a moment and looked at his friend. "What?"
"You know, the big red cat from the Aristocats?" Terry said, looking at Link.
"I'll just pretend I hadn't heard that." Link returned, who focussed his view on the wave again, which was purifying the entire battlefield.
It didn't take the wave long to reach the two friends and they got engulfed in Holy energy. And they too, experienced that fantastic feeling. Pure happiness. For a short moment. And when the wave had passed them, they just looked at each other as the magical energy continued to cleanse the battlefield of all unholy presence.