CHAPTER 22:
FIRE AGAINST FIRE
Baal and Sethylos stood at the very top of Gaia, looking down upon the land below them.
"Yes," Baal mused under his breath. "Zil Padon has fallen. The Heroes and Icarians are done for. Do you know what this means, Sethylos?"
"Quite," he replied with a smirk on his face. "It means that we have won, my lord. With the Heroes and Icarians out of the way, there is nothing left to stop us."
"Precisely. It is time for a new world to be born...my world. This world is finally my world. All mine."
"Ours."
"Yes...it's all finally mi-...come again?"
"Ours, Baal. Didn't you say that we would share this planet, together?"
"Oh, yes, that. Well, you see, Sethylos, I'm terribly sorry, but there are two problems that will make this whole sharing-of-the-world thing nearly impossible to carry out."
"And what would that be?!"
"Number one, I'm afraid that I am no longer in need of your service." Baal raised his hand up into the air, and Sethylos felt a strong, but brief, tug at his chest.
Sethylos looked down, and his eyes and mouth opened wide in horror when he noticed that there was a large, gaping hole in the center of his chest. He looked back up at Baal to see him clutching Sethylos' beating heart in his raised hand.
"Number two," Baal continued, with a maniacal grin on his face, "I was never big on sharing." He then squeezed the heart within his clutched hand, crushing it as if it were a tomato.
Sethylos staggered on the spot, clutching his now heartless chest. With one last pitiful look at his master, he tumbled off the edge of Gaia, and hit the ground, two hundred feet below, with bone-crushing force.
Justin stared at the ashes that were once Gaia Battlers. There were thousands of them, and every single one of them had been reduced to ashes. Clearly, they were now more of a match for Gaia.
"You think we should go for it?" Feena asked. "Should we risk taking Gaia?"
"Better now than ever!" Justin exclaimed. "Besides, we have to avenge Zil Padon!"
Suddenly, the ground split open, and even more Battlers crawled out of it. Gaia had sent for reinforcements.
"Go on!" Sue shouted at the Heroes and Icarians, readying her bow. "You guys have to go and stop Gaia!"
Justin and Mullen gave Feena and Leen a leg up onto the dragon's back, and then climbed on themselves. "What about you guys?!" Justin exclaimed.
"We'll hold them off!" Rapp answered, unsheathing his knife.
"But...."
"Just go, already!" Saki hollered.
"Don't worry about us, we'll be okay," Liete assured them.
Hesitantly, Justin grasped the dragon's scaly hide as it took off through the roof of Guido's house, leaving Sue, Rapp, Liete, Guido, and the sergeants behind to fend off the Battlers.
Justin squinted his eyes as the wind whipped against his face. For such a large dragon, it was flying at surprising speed. It then flew into the cloud-cover, and Justin held on tightly as the dragon began to joyously whirl, twist, and leap among the clouds. Finally, Justin spotted Gaia towering over the land as the dragon dove down towards the nightmarish landmark.
"I guess the dragon is supposed to just torch Gaia from the inside," Justin said, looking up at Gaia. "It makes enough sense."
The dragon landed in the grassy meadow, and Justin and the others climbed off its back.
"Try to find a way inside," Justin told his accomplices.
However, it obviously wasn't going to be that simple. As they approached Gaia, the ground began to shake yet again as the base of Gaia slowly cracked and open, and a giant egg-shaped figure rolled out of it.
Its membrane was leathery in texture, and completely covered in mucus-like slime. Many red and blue blood vessels encircled it, making it look like the back of an eyeball.
"What the hell is that thing?" Mullen wondered.
He finally got his answer when the strange object began to twitch about, as if something was inside it. Then, a large claw ripped through the membrane from the inside of it, and a jet of the mucus-like slime shot out of the opening. Another claw ripped through, and it sliced all the way down the length of the object. Finally, a creature burst out of the enormous slit and collapsed onto the ground. After it dried itself off in the sunlight, it slowly stood itself up.
It was another dragon. But this one wasn't like Justin's beautiful, scarlet Spirit Dragon. This one was all black, and more serpent-like in appearance. Its eyes seemed lifeless, as if they were made of glass. It even had a forked tongue, which flicked in and out of its evil-looking mouth.
The Gaia Dragon took in a deep breath, preparing to breathe fire. "Oh my God!!!" Justin screamed as he shut his eyes, expecting to feel himself being reduced to ashes. But he never was. Opening his eyes, he saw the Spirit Dragon sinking its teeth into the Gaia Dragon's throat. The Gaia Dragon emitted an ear-splitting roar of pain as it attempted to pry the Spirit Dragon off of itself. When it finally did, the Gaia Dragon lost all interest in the humans, and focused instead on the Spirit Dragon.
The two dragons began to circle around each other like enormous sumo wrestlers in the ring. With their backs arched and scales raised like a pair of angry cats, they bared their teeth at each other and growled fiercely.
Then, and without warning, the Gaia Dragon flung its open jaws towards the Spirit Dragon, but snapped down onto nothing but air as the Spirit Dragon quickly evaded.
The Spirit Dragon swung its heavy tail at the Gaia Dragon's head, knocking it to the ground. It then leaped upon the Gaia Dragon, but was quickly thrown back off with a hard kick to the belly.
The Gaia Dragon lunged for the Spirit Dragon again, but again missed as the Spirit Dragon took off into the air. The Gaia Dragon followed, of course.
The Spirit Dragon hovered in midair, waiting for the Gaia Dragon to catch up. When it finally did, the Spirit Dragon dove down towards it, but the Gaia Dragon narrowly dodged the assault and grabbed onto the Spirit Dragon's back and began to chew on the back of its head. As the Spirit Dragon tried and tried again to remove the other from its back, the Gaia Dragon dove down full speed to the ground, still holding onto the Spirit Dragon. With an earth-shattering collision, the Spirit Dragon was slammed into the ground, nearly finishing it off. The Gaia Dragon turned the Spirit Dragon over onto its back, and took in a deep breath. It wasn't only about to breathe fire, it was about to end the battle.
But then, the Spirit Dragon raised its foreleg, and shoved one of its claws into one of the Gaia Dragon's eye. The Spirit Dragon then kicked the Gaia Dragon off of itself as it shrieked in agony.
Rising in anger, the Gaia Dragon opened its mouth, and a blue flame blasted towards the Spirit Dragon. However, since it was now lacking an eye, the Gaia Dragon's aim was thrown off, and the flame narrowly missed the Spirit Dragon. Roaring in complete fury, the Gaia Dragon threw itself onto the Spirit Dragon again, and sank its fangs into its shoulder.
Shrieking in pain, the Spirit Dragon pulled at the Gaia Dragon's head, trying desperately to pry it off of itself. Finally managing to do so, the Spirit Dragon bit down onto the Gaia Dragon's head and twisted it. There was a sound like a large tree cracking as the Gaia Dragon's neck broke, and it fell dead onto the ground.
TO BE CONTINUED
FIRE AGAINST FIRE
Baal and Sethylos stood at the very top of Gaia, looking down upon the land below them.
"Yes," Baal mused under his breath. "Zil Padon has fallen. The Heroes and Icarians are done for. Do you know what this means, Sethylos?"
"Quite," he replied with a smirk on his face. "It means that we have won, my lord. With the Heroes and Icarians out of the way, there is nothing left to stop us."
"Precisely. It is time for a new world to be born...my world. This world is finally my world. All mine."
"Ours."
"Yes...it's all finally mi-...come again?"
"Ours, Baal. Didn't you say that we would share this planet, together?"
"Oh, yes, that. Well, you see, Sethylos, I'm terribly sorry, but there are two problems that will make this whole sharing-of-the-world thing nearly impossible to carry out."
"And what would that be?!"
"Number one, I'm afraid that I am no longer in need of your service." Baal raised his hand up into the air, and Sethylos felt a strong, but brief, tug at his chest.
Sethylos looked down, and his eyes and mouth opened wide in horror when he noticed that there was a large, gaping hole in the center of his chest. He looked back up at Baal to see him clutching Sethylos' beating heart in his raised hand.
"Number two," Baal continued, with a maniacal grin on his face, "I was never big on sharing." He then squeezed the heart within his clutched hand, crushing it as if it were a tomato.
Sethylos staggered on the spot, clutching his now heartless chest. With one last pitiful look at his master, he tumbled off the edge of Gaia, and hit the ground, two hundred feet below, with bone-crushing force.
Justin stared at the ashes that were once Gaia Battlers. There were thousands of them, and every single one of them had been reduced to ashes. Clearly, they were now more of a match for Gaia.
"You think we should go for it?" Feena asked. "Should we risk taking Gaia?"
"Better now than ever!" Justin exclaimed. "Besides, we have to avenge Zil Padon!"
Suddenly, the ground split open, and even more Battlers crawled out of it. Gaia had sent for reinforcements.
"Go on!" Sue shouted at the Heroes and Icarians, readying her bow. "You guys have to go and stop Gaia!"
Justin and Mullen gave Feena and Leen a leg up onto the dragon's back, and then climbed on themselves. "What about you guys?!" Justin exclaimed.
"We'll hold them off!" Rapp answered, unsheathing his knife.
"But...."
"Just go, already!" Saki hollered.
"Don't worry about us, we'll be okay," Liete assured them.
Hesitantly, Justin grasped the dragon's scaly hide as it took off through the roof of Guido's house, leaving Sue, Rapp, Liete, Guido, and the sergeants behind to fend off the Battlers.
Justin squinted his eyes as the wind whipped against his face. For such a large dragon, it was flying at surprising speed. It then flew into the cloud-cover, and Justin held on tightly as the dragon began to joyously whirl, twist, and leap among the clouds. Finally, Justin spotted Gaia towering over the land as the dragon dove down towards the nightmarish landmark.
"I guess the dragon is supposed to just torch Gaia from the inside," Justin said, looking up at Gaia. "It makes enough sense."
The dragon landed in the grassy meadow, and Justin and the others climbed off its back.
"Try to find a way inside," Justin told his accomplices.
However, it obviously wasn't going to be that simple. As they approached Gaia, the ground began to shake yet again as the base of Gaia slowly cracked and open, and a giant egg-shaped figure rolled out of it.
Its membrane was leathery in texture, and completely covered in mucus-like slime. Many red and blue blood vessels encircled it, making it look like the back of an eyeball.
"What the hell is that thing?" Mullen wondered.
He finally got his answer when the strange object began to twitch about, as if something was inside it. Then, a large claw ripped through the membrane from the inside of it, and a jet of the mucus-like slime shot out of the opening. Another claw ripped through, and it sliced all the way down the length of the object. Finally, a creature burst out of the enormous slit and collapsed onto the ground. After it dried itself off in the sunlight, it slowly stood itself up.
It was another dragon. But this one wasn't like Justin's beautiful, scarlet Spirit Dragon. This one was all black, and more serpent-like in appearance. Its eyes seemed lifeless, as if they were made of glass. It even had a forked tongue, which flicked in and out of its evil-looking mouth.
The Gaia Dragon took in a deep breath, preparing to breathe fire. "Oh my God!!!" Justin screamed as he shut his eyes, expecting to feel himself being reduced to ashes. But he never was. Opening his eyes, he saw the Spirit Dragon sinking its teeth into the Gaia Dragon's throat. The Gaia Dragon emitted an ear-splitting roar of pain as it attempted to pry the Spirit Dragon off of itself. When it finally did, the Gaia Dragon lost all interest in the humans, and focused instead on the Spirit Dragon.
The two dragons began to circle around each other like enormous sumo wrestlers in the ring. With their backs arched and scales raised like a pair of angry cats, they bared their teeth at each other and growled fiercely.
Then, and without warning, the Gaia Dragon flung its open jaws towards the Spirit Dragon, but snapped down onto nothing but air as the Spirit Dragon quickly evaded.
The Spirit Dragon swung its heavy tail at the Gaia Dragon's head, knocking it to the ground. It then leaped upon the Gaia Dragon, but was quickly thrown back off with a hard kick to the belly.
The Gaia Dragon lunged for the Spirit Dragon again, but again missed as the Spirit Dragon took off into the air. The Gaia Dragon followed, of course.
The Spirit Dragon hovered in midair, waiting for the Gaia Dragon to catch up. When it finally did, the Spirit Dragon dove down towards it, but the Gaia Dragon narrowly dodged the assault and grabbed onto the Spirit Dragon's back and began to chew on the back of its head. As the Spirit Dragon tried and tried again to remove the other from its back, the Gaia Dragon dove down full speed to the ground, still holding onto the Spirit Dragon. With an earth-shattering collision, the Spirit Dragon was slammed into the ground, nearly finishing it off. The Gaia Dragon turned the Spirit Dragon over onto its back, and took in a deep breath. It wasn't only about to breathe fire, it was about to end the battle.
But then, the Spirit Dragon raised its foreleg, and shoved one of its claws into one of the Gaia Dragon's eye. The Spirit Dragon then kicked the Gaia Dragon off of itself as it shrieked in agony.
Rising in anger, the Gaia Dragon opened its mouth, and a blue flame blasted towards the Spirit Dragon. However, since it was now lacking an eye, the Gaia Dragon's aim was thrown off, and the flame narrowly missed the Spirit Dragon. Roaring in complete fury, the Gaia Dragon threw itself onto the Spirit Dragon again, and sank its fangs into its shoulder.
Shrieking in pain, the Spirit Dragon pulled at the Gaia Dragon's head, trying desperately to pry it off of itself. Finally managing to do so, the Spirit Dragon bit down onto the Gaia Dragon's head and twisted it. There was a sound like a large tree cracking as the Gaia Dragon's neck broke, and it fell dead onto the ground.
TO BE CONTINUED
