Of Ghosts and Gorgons, Chapter 2
I've gotten into a really bad habit of changing story titles while I'm writing them. Cool, huh?
Muldoon rested in his silo, sitting in his favorite chair, toying with an old, wooden yoyo. "Ah, they don't make 'em like these anymore. Now, these are the quality yoyos, the yoyo's of my grandfather. Not those cheepo, plastic yoyos of my day, but the wooden yoyos that provide a smooth, sweet feeling ride. Walk the dog!"
He began listing off tricks by the dozen, copying them the best he could. "Around the world! Eiffel Tower! The... bouncing thing with the string... Walk the dog again!"
Muldoon gasped in surprise as his MATD went off, causing him to loose control of his yoyo. His smacked him in the head before he gathered the MATD in his hands. "Aliens! Aliens in the desert! I have to protect the planet!"
He rushed into his hovervan, unaware that it was not multiple aliens, but one alien with multiple souls...
***
"I don't think I've ever felt a spirit's presense when playing Ouiji," Cedric scratched his head.
"You haven't?" Mike moved the Ouiji thingy around absentmindedly. "My mom swears by this thing."
Mike released the Ouiji thing and let it roll over to Dog, who jumped on it and rode it for a few inches. Dog kept pushing himself like a little kid on a hoverboard, barking and yapping as if he was having fun.
Cedric took a basketball and tried in vain to spin it on his finger, but it faltered and fell to his feet. He sighed and shook his head. "There's really no way to really tell if I can talk to ghosts. I just know I can."
A light, faint beeping sounded from one of the arcade cabinets. 2-T checked the screen and said, "Uh oh; we've got Gorgon just outside of Muldoon's silo!"
"Didn't you send him into orbit?" Angela asked, rubbing her inanimate arm.
"Yeah, he must've gotten out," B-Bop rubbed his lower arm, as if he was rolling up his sleeve. "Let's go, guys!"
"Yeah!" Mike grabbed his helmet. "Mission time!"
"I'll go get Dog!" Lilly laughed cheerily, snatching the robotic canine from his impromptu skateboard. It growled ferociously, mad that he was ripped from his fun.
***
Muldoon yelped as Gorgon near-melted the exhaust pipe of his hovervan. He lept from the van, tumbling head over heels and firing at the dragon-beast. The lasers easily deflected off of his rubberish skin.
"HAHAHAHA!" Gorgon laughed. "Do you honessssthly think that thossse primitive weaponsss can ssstop me!?"
Gorgon blew a stream of fire in Muldoon's direction, although the black- robed human rolled out of the way. Gorgon laughed again.
"With the sssspiritsss of my ancessstorsss running through me, I am indesssstructible!"
"And just how did you get out of your EMP ball?"
The fire breather turned to the Martians (B-Bop, who asked the question, in particular) veeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy sssssssslllllllloooooooowwwwwllllyyyyyyyyy, and the Martians and kids could see the change in appearance that had overtaken Gorgon.
His skin was a deep red, no longer dark green. The long fringes which once appeared on his shoulders and arms were now curved spines raking his skin. A large orb of energy encircled in body, mostly red in color with cloudly forms swimming along the perimeter. The energy field kept a solid 10 feet away from his body, forming a protective shield around him. Angela and Cedric gasped; The Martians and Mike tensed upon their rides. Lilly formed two lavender energy balls in each hand and readied herself for battle.
Gorgon hissed, "How I got out of my tomb issss not the issssssue now, Martiansssss. What I am going to do now ISSSSSSSS the isssssssssue!"
Gorgon shot a fire stream at them; the Martians dodged them with ease, as did Mike and Angela. Cedric, however, fell over on his hoverboard, and lay stunned on the ground. Gorgon flew forward, and the edge of his energy barrier made contact with Cedric's face.
(^#@%R*&^*#&%)&(&%$&T*Y
Cedric was floating in a dark void; he usually did this whenever a spirit decided to talk to him. He hovered in a vacuum, bobbing up and down like a fishing lure. All around his body, green clouds of puffy stuff swarmed and circled around him, hissing and whispering words he didn't understand. He knew the sensation well; people he "talked" to often didn't say their words as clear as day. But, something about this encounter was different from the others. His very center of his head, somewhere in the space between either temple, was in stinging, throbbing, nearly intolerable pain! He held his head by his ears, trying hard to get the pain to go away.
"No, go away!" Cedric began to scream, although he heard no sound coming from his own throat. "Go away! You're hurting me!"
The clouds pulled back and zoomed towards Cedric's body, the pain increasing as they moved closer. The pain in his skull was indescribable! He screamed in terror, unable to withstand the agony!
Before the clouds could make contact with his body, a strong, long-fingered hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away.
*****
"Cedric, you're okay!" Angela hugged her youngest (well, probably youngest) friend with her one arm. "You're okay!"
The small boy relaxed in Angela's arm, unable to move any body part without hurting himself. "What happened?" Cedric asked.
"You touched Gorgon's force field and started screaming!" B-Bop explained, laying a hand on his black-human-buddy's shoulder.
Lilly hovered above the itty bitty group, holding her hands together. "It sounded like it was killing you!"
Cedric clutched his chest, breathing deeply. "I think it was."
B-Bop looked over his shoulder. Half of his vision was the rock he was hiding behind, the other half being 2-T, Do-Wah, and Mike hiding behind another boulder, firing photon beams and the hovering, flame spouting Gorgon. The yellow-garbed Martian patted Cedric on the head. "Me and the guys are gonna do BKM. You stay here with Angie, okay?"
Cedric took a swallowing breath and answered, "Okay."
"Good boy. Now, stay!"
"B!"
"K!"
"M!"
Mike rushed over to Angela's boulder and gave Cedric shoulder's a reassuring sqeeze. "The guy's aren't doing that good."
"Why not?" Angela gasped, worried for her ET friends.
"Everything they fire at him: laser, missile, punches! They can't hurt Gorgon!"
"Why not?" Cedric repeated.
"It's that force field thing!" Mike answered. "It's deflecting nearly everything!"
Cedric's eyes wandered to the ground, his chest and head still throbbing. He got a sudden idea, and looked directly into Mike's eyes.
It was strange (Cedric had never looked Directly at Mike before), but Mike saw something in Cedric's eyes he had never seen before. A steely resolve, a true bravery that Mike had never seen coming from this young, nervous, almost feminine boy he had known for only a year or two. But yet, there was something else. Something that went past his chocolate brown eyes that reflected back onto Mike's vision... his eyes looked almost silver, a ghostly paleness that Mike had never seen in any human. This boy, he knew now, had something otherworldly to him, something that niether he, nor Angela, nor any of the Martians possessed.
Mike gulped, a cold shiver running down his spine.
"What happened when the force field touched my head?" Cedric asked forcefully.
"Um...." Mike began to shudder. "You... y-you started screaming, and-and- and so did Gorgon-"
"Gorgon?" Cedric's snapped open even wider, causing Mike to flinch; those creep, quicksilver eyes!
"Yeah, Gorgon. He was screaming-"
"Like he was in pain," Angela finished Mike's sentence.
"That's all I need to know..." Cedric took a deep breath, jumped to his feet, and ran out from behind the boulder.
"CEDRIC, NO!" Mike screamed, reaching out his hand to catch Cedric, but he missed by a mile.
***
Gorgon howled in laughter as one of Do-Wah's strongest punches flounced off of his blood-red chest. "You fool!"
Gorgon punched Do-Wah back, sending him flying into the ground!
When Do-Wah landed, he caught Cedric out of the corner of his eye, running to Gorgon!
"What the- Cedric!"
Cedric stretched his hand out, straining to once again make contact with Gorgon's force field. Before he could, however, 2-T had reached down and plucked him right off the ground!
"What are you doing?" 2-T scolded.
"I've got an idea, now put me down!" Cedric kicked against 2-T's hard, metal shin.
"Look out!" B-Bop pulled 2-T and Cedric out of the way of a firebolt. Cedric fell to the ground, landing surprisingly softly on the sands. He, just out of chance, landed next to Muldoon's hovervan, and shuffled inside for shelter. There, he found Muldoon, hiding underneath a utility computer console, shivering in fear.
"Mister Muldoon!" Cedric crawled under the console with Muldoon. "Can I ask for your help real quick?"
"Huh?" Muldoon stared at Cedric for a few second, then grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him all friendly-like. "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light! An Earthling!"
"Does that mean I get a favor?" Cedric asked hopefully, smiling sweetly.
***
B-Bop hovered next to 2-T, letting Do-Wah pound on the mythically-named alien. "You find out where Cedric went?"
"He's in the hovervan with Muldoon," 2-T answered B-Bop quickly.
"That's a relief," he remarked, flying forward to catch Do-Wah before he hurt himself.
HONKY HONKY!
The hovervan blasted past the Martians, Muldoon at the wheel-
AND CEDRIC ON THE ROOF! WHAT WAS CEDRIC DOING ON THE ROOF OF THE HOVERVAN!?
There he was, riding the van like he would a hoverboard. He wasn't even wearing his helmet!
"I'm ready, Mister Muldoon!" Cedric cried.
"Go get that invading scum, little buddy!" Muldoon laughed. He slammed on the brakes, shotting Cedric off of the van and into Gorgon's forcefield!
The result was amazing. Cedric hit the force field like a bullet, and immediately some kind of electricity went shooting through his and Gorgon's body. Both shouted in pain; Cedric's cry was more of a tutored wail, while Gorgon's was a screeching roar. Within seconds, both shot suddenly outward in different directions, Cedric landing on the ground with a horrifying ground. Gorgon simply righted himself, regaining his original form steadily.
Muldoon jumped out of his van and ran to Cedric's aid, lifting him by the shoulders until he was sitting up straight. "Sonny! Sonny boy, are you all right? Wake up!"
Cedric's eyes fluttered open, only to scare Muldoon even further; his eyes were completely silver now, as if the brown in his eyes had been sucked away in the attack. He stared off into space, barely breathing at all. "I couldn't do it... couldn't make contact, they're still with Gorgon..."
"Cedric!" 2-T and Mike both landed beside the fallen friend, Dog hovering directly over 2-T's shoulder. "Dog, medi-beam!"
Dog swiftly zapped Cedric directly on the chest, kicking him back to life. He bolted onto his feet, coughing, then hyperventilating. Mike clutched him by the shoulders, trying to steady him.
"Cedric, please, calm down!" Mike demanded. "You're gonna kill yourself this way!"
"I need to make contact with the ghosts!" Cedric thrashed about in Mike's arms, possessed with a unearthly strength. Both Mike and Muldoon had to hold onto him to keep him down. "Let me go!"
2-T sighed. "Where's Lilly when you need her?"
Lilly apparated, sitting atopt of 2-T's helmet light. "Always there, you just gotta call me."
"LILLY!" 2-T grabbed the Higher Being by the tail and threw her at Cedric. "Hold him down!"
"Aiya! Fine!" Lilly slammed her arms around Cedric's chest, holding him with the power of a vice grip.
As the Martians kept trying to fight the weakened, but still very strong, Gorgon, Cedric tried to talk his way out of Lilly's grasp.
"Lil, trust me, I know what the ghosts want," Cedric whispered. "They need to talk to someone. I heard them! Lemme go, and I'll show you!"
"No, Cedric!" Lilly growled with a stubborn tone.
"But I know I can defeat Gorgon!"
"How?"
Cedric closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm... not sure. But the ghosts that are in Gorgon's body, I know what they want, and they want to talk to somebody!"
Lilly's tail fur ruffled, and her grip loosened. "You promise not to fling youself off a truck this time?"
"Uh huh," Cedric nodded.
The Higher Being let go of her close friend. "I'm trusting you. Don't kill youse-"
"OKAY, I LOVE YOU, BYE BYE!" Cedric ran towards Gorgon, the wind at his back and the sand in his eyes.
Gorgon, meanwhile, was catching photon beams and throwing them back at the Martians without mercy. Just as B-Bop had taken a bad blow to the chest, he heard a tiny voice from beneath him.
"You okay, B-Bop?"
"A little shaken, but not stirr- CEDRIC!"
B-Bop had missed Ced by inches, and now was watching him make his way to the foul-smelling alien. Gorgon snarled at the young human in warning, but Cedric approached him calmly walking, the silver in his eyes shining brighter than ever before.
They stood before eachother, staring into eachother's eyes. A match of undreamable odds, undoubtly, but it was taking place before the Martian's, the kids', and one certain Higher Being's very eyes.
On one end, a 7 foot tall alien, with mystic roots and dragonesque powers. Broud, powerful shoulders; deadly crushing hands; a fanged mouth that housed a furnace for a lung. The Gorgon looked down upon Cedric with disdain and hatred.
On the other end, a 5 foot 3 inch short human, with a background lost in uninterestingness and powers unascertainable. Thin, femine build; hands that never touched anything remotely weaponlike; quiet lips and eyes of chocolate brown (unless the light hit them the right way). Cedric sighed and focused on Gorgon's face, his face determined and set.
They stood there, looking at eachother, barely moving. 2-T moved forward to help Ced, but Lilly apparated in front of him and blocked his path. Angela whimpered in worry and pushed herself into Mike's arms; he held her gently, keeping his eyes on Cedric. Do-Wah tried to cross his fingers, but the BKM suit wouldn't allow it.
A few seconds, nothing happened. And then, Cedric reached out and grabbed into Gorgon's wrist.
Red light and vicious looking lightning bolts erupted from both bodies! Gorgon began to roar in pain yet again, but Cedric held his own, his fist clenched tightly around Gorgon's arm. Dark clouds began to circle overhead, an omninous BOOM! echoing through the sky.
Stoat Muldoon looked into the skies and gasped in terror. "It's a lightning storm! Just like the typhoon back in '39!"
"Cedric's attracting the lightning!" said 2-T, in Martian, to B-Bop. "If we don't disconnect those two, they're both gonna get zapped!"
Do-Wah flew to 2-T and B-Bop, forming a triangle of BKM suit. "But how're we gonna get them apart?
"And why are we worried about Gorgon getting blasted?" B-Bop had probably just asked the stupidest question yet, but it wasn't his fault; as a Martian, he had never seen a true lightning storm, and so, did not understand the properties of lightning.
2-T, however, did know the properties of lightning. "Because if Gorgon gets blasted, the electricity's gonna run through his body and into Cedric! Gorgon can survive it..."
2-T turned his head, letting his vision focus on one of his closest human friends. Cedric was still holding on, his face twisted in obvious pain.
"Cedric can't."
B-Bop nodded solemnly. "I get the picture. You're with me, Do-Wah!"
The Martians hovered about the two energy encased creatures, careful to dodge any stray lightning bolts. Do-Wah and B-Bop lashed two energy ropes around Gorgon's neck; 2-T's rope connected with Cedric's waist.
Just as B-Bop was giving the signal to pull, another, more primitive, tractor beam had wrapped around Cedric's body.
It was Stoat Muldoon! Muldoon gave 2-T a friendly salute. "It is my duty to protect the planet, even if it means joining with foul, alien scum!"
2-T saluted back. "I gotcha, babe!"
"PULL!"
As hard as the four planet protectors tried, they couldn't pry the two apart! Cedric had an unearthly strength to him; his wasn't even moving! Gorgon, too, was like a statue against the Martians, but this was semi- normal Gorgon behavior.
Mike noticed a flash of light run across the clouds. "Oh no!"
Angela cupped a hand to her mouth and screamed, "THE LIGHTNING'S ABOUT TO HIT YOU! RUN!"
The Martians looked upward and scattered. Muldoon hurried away, holding his MATD over his head in defense (which wouldn't have worked anyway, you all know).
In a split second, one bolt of pure energy had barreled into the two ghost- infested creatures, and they both flew back as the energy overtook them. Gorgon skidded onto his back; Cedric roled over his himself multiple times before coming to rest on a boulder.
Lilly apparated closer to where the two beings had been standing, her feet resting comfortable on the crude glass beneath her feet. "Oh my... Cedric?!"
No answer from him.
"Cedric?!" Lilly grunted as Angela and Mike ran past her in a frenzied race. "Cedric, are you alive?!"
Cedric lay motionless on the sand, his hands burned lightly but otherwise...
2-T gave his chest a few soft nudges while Muldoon lifted the boy onto his lap. "Hey... hey, buddy, are you okay?"
"Cedric?" Do-Wah lifted his head gently with a few of his fingers, but as he pulled his hand away, it fell back to the ground.
Angela gasped in shock and began to cry, trying her best to hide her sorrow from her comrads.
(Oh, I'm crying as I type this (sniff). I love this scene, it's so... you'll see. (sniffy)
"I'm... I'm sorry, Cedric," B-Bop whispered to himself. "We couldn't save you..."
"Poor poor humanssssss."
(Everyone who's reading this is now going "OH NO!")
It was like the lightning bolt had hit everyone again; Gorgon was still alive!
And, suddenly, something really really weird happened. The Martians, all of them, felt an anger inside them they had never experienced before. A driving urge, a fire within their chest that tightened their lungs and quickened their breathing. Gorgon. Was. Still. Alive. Cedric was gone, and this.... monstroscity was still living, still driven by revenge, and still perfectly able to destroy anything he wanted.
It was the Last STRAW!
Do-Wah lunged forward and hooked Gorgon into the air, where he was swiftly blasted by 2-T into a boulder, and again by B-Bop into the ground.
The leftover humans watched through bleary eyes as the amazing sight of Martian fury played out before their eyes. 2-T was unusually relentless in his attacks; never before had Do-Wah felt hatred strong enough to throw him into such a fighting rage; and B-Bop...
B-Bop just wanted Gorgon DEAD.
One of 2-T's energy missiles misfired, and hit the ground with amazing force. The whole desert shook, and while Mike was knocked off-center by the blast, he noticed something.
CEDRIC WAS BREATHING!
The boy had pulled himself into a sitting position, and was holding his head! Cedric was alive!
"Sonny boy, you're okay!" Muldoon gave Cedric a hearty human hug!
"You're alive!" Angela cried.
Cedric opened his eyes, and-
"AAAAAAAAH!"
A familiar red glow had replaced Cedric's normal eyes. He was no longer himsef; he was possessed by a Gorgon. Mike and Angela jumped back in fear. Muldoon went so far as to pull his MATD on Cedric, his finger resting on the trigger.
Gorgon/Cedric calmly marched onto the battlefield, unaware that the Martians were watching him in awe. He once again took his place before the living Gorgon, who was just pushing himself onto his feet.
He hissed in dismay, "Did the lighning not kill you?"
"Did the lightning not knock ssssome sssenssse into your brain?"
It was Cedric's voice, but underneath came five other voices, hissing and speaking in their own tongue. Gorgon gasped in revelation.
"You are my ancessstorsss!"
"We were wondering when you would figure it out," spoke the Ancestors/Cedric. "Drakian, leave thisss planet be! Let our soulsss passsss on."
"But... my revenge!"
"Your revenge means mothing to ussss!" The Ancestors were stirring inside of Cedric; his eyes were shifting shades of red. "We wissssh only to passss on to the next life. Let usss!"
"NEVER!" Gorgon held his fists to the heavens.
"Then sssso be it." The Ancestors/Cedric closed their eyes...
A red bolt of something shot out of Cedric's chest and into Gorgon's body. There was one more roar of agony, and his body fell to the ground, dull and lifeless.
Cedric shook his head, patting his arms and legs. "Hey.... Hey, the voices aren't in my head anymore!"
Do-Wah landed beside Cedric, ready to say something, anything, that could express how relieved he was that Cedric was okay, but Ced held up his hand. "I'm okay, Do-Wah. I'm still alive. Just really really sore."
B-Bop and 2-T also landed by Cedric, followed by Lilly, Mike and Angela, and Muldoon. He was bombarded with the familiar "Are you okay?"s and "You're not hurt, are you?"s he had grown accustomed to. He pushed back a stray hair, and took a breath to answer the questions, when he felt the ghosts overtaking him again. He let himself fall backwards, happy that the ghosts hadn't taken him as forcefully as they did last time. He tumbled into the waiting arms of Muldoon, and began to speak in the strange mutiple voice again.
"We are ssorry to have troubled you all," he hissed. "If you have quesstionss, we will ansswer them to the besst of our ability."
"Who are you and what are you doing in Cedric's body!?" B-Bop yelled, lowering his face to Cedric's eye level.
"We are the ancesstorss of Drakian, the Gorgon you trapped insside of the orbitting device. He called upon uss to aid in the desstruction of you."
"You couldn't say no?" 2-T intterrupted.
"It goess againsst our beliefss to refusse a plea for aid from family." Cedric took another breath and kept talking. "We are sorry about your friend, but his body was the only one capable of containing us without harmful reprecussion."
"Because he can talk to ghosts and we can't," said Angela to Mike.
"It makes sense," Mike agreed. "But what was happening with you and Gorgon?"
"Transsitionss of anything from human to alien are very difficult and painful," Cedric said, looking in Mike's direction but not At Mike. "Gorgon bodiess are made to hold more than one ssoul; human bodiess are not. Needlesss to ssay, the processs is difficult."
2-T muttered something about electrons and reactivity, but Mike recognized it as physics and tuned out.
"Are there any other questionss?" Cedric sighed, his body physically growing more and more tired by the minute. "We are tired, and ready to passs on."
"What happened to the alien you vanquished?" Muldoon asked, reminded of the presumed dead Gorgon.
"He iss gone."
Muldoon and Angela gasped. B-Bop stuttered, "He-he-y-you- You killed him?!"
"Hiss ssoul is trapped within the Earth in a crysstal. He sshall forever live in limbo, unable to passs on." Cedric's eyes shut. "It iss a fitting punisshment."
Cedric took one more big breath. "We are tired, and we musst make our way to the other planess. Goodbye."
A red smoke seeped through Cedric's skin and into the air, and the ghosts were gone for good.
FINALLY! Finally finally finally, it's done! Epilogue coming in a while, any author's notes? Um....
I got Butt Ugly Martians: Zoom or Doom! for the Playstation 2! It's so cool, but no Robert Stack doin' Muldoon, 'cause he died.
Muldoon's yoyo sceen? I just like yoyos. Cool little wooden yoyos, not the stupid plastic ones. I bashed Ouigi boards earlier. I don't like Ouiji boards. This's Cedric's story, so he gets extra attention.
Um... okay, I'm done, bye.
I've gotten into a really bad habit of changing story titles while I'm writing them. Cool, huh?
Muldoon rested in his silo, sitting in his favorite chair, toying with an old, wooden yoyo. "Ah, they don't make 'em like these anymore. Now, these are the quality yoyos, the yoyo's of my grandfather. Not those cheepo, plastic yoyos of my day, but the wooden yoyos that provide a smooth, sweet feeling ride. Walk the dog!"
He began listing off tricks by the dozen, copying them the best he could. "Around the world! Eiffel Tower! The... bouncing thing with the string... Walk the dog again!"
Muldoon gasped in surprise as his MATD went off, causing him to loose control of his yoyo. His smacked him in the head before he gathered the MATD in his hands. "Aliens! Aliens in the desert! I have to protect the planet!"
He rushed into his hovervan, unaware that it was not multiple aliens, but one alien with multiple souls...
***
"I don't think I've ever felt a spirit's presense when playing Ouiji," Cedric scratched his head.
"You haven't?" Mike moved the Ouiji thingy around absentmindedly. "My mom swears by this thing."
Mike released the Ouiji thing and let it roll over to Dog, who jumped on it and rode it for a few inches. Dog kept pushing himself like a little kid on a hoverboard, barking and yapping as if he was having fun.
Cedric took a basketball and tried in vain to spin it on his finger, but it faltered and fell to his feet. He sighed and shook his head. "There's really no way to really tell if I can talk to ghosts. I just know I can."
A light, faint beeping sounded from one of the arcade cabinets. 2-T checked the screen and said, "Uh oh; we've got Gorgon just outside of Muldoon's silo!"
"Didn't you send him into orbit?" Angela asked, rubbing her inanimate arm.
"Yeah, he must've gotten out," B-Bop rubbed his lower arm, as if he was rolling up his sleeve. "Let's go, guys!"
"Yeah!" Mike grabbed his helmet. "Mission time!"
"I'll go get Dog!" Lilly laughed cheerily, snatching the robotic canine from his impromptu skateboard. It growled ferociously, mad that he was ripped from his fun.
***
Muldoon yelped as Gorgon near-melted the exhaust pipe of his hovervan. He lept from the van, tumbling head over heels and firing at the dragon-beast. The lasers easily deflected off of his rubberish skin.
"HAHAHAHA!" Gorgon laughed. "Do you honessssthly think that thossse primitive weaponsss can ssstop me!?"
Gorgon blew a stream of fire in Muldoon's direction, although the black- robed human rolled out of the way. Gorgon laughed again.
"With the sssspiritsss of my ancessstorsss running through me, I am indesssstructible!"
"And just how did you get out of your EMP ball?"
The fire breather turned to the Martians (B-Bop, who asked the question, in particular) veeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy sssssssslllllllloooooooowwwwwllllyyyyyyyyy, and the Martians and kids could see the change in appearance that had overtaken Gorgon.
His skin was a deep red, no longer dark green. The long fringes which once appeared on his shoulders and arms were now curved spines raking his skin. A large orb of energy encircled in body, mostly red in color with cloudly forms swimming along the perimeter. The energy field kept a solid 10 feet away from his body, forming a protective shield around him. Angela and Cedric gasped; The Martians and Mike tensed upon their rides. Lilly formed two lavender energy balls in each hand and readied herself for battle.
Gorgon hissed, "How I got out of my tomb issss not the issssssue now, Martiansssss. What I am going to do now ISSSSSSSS the isssssssssue!"
Gorgon shot a fire stream at them; the Martians dodged them with ease, as did Mike and Angela. Cedric, however, fell over on his hoverboard, and lay stunned on the ground. Gorgon flew forward, and the edge of his energy barrier made contact with Cedric's face.
(^#@%R*&^*#&%)&(&%$&T*Y
Cedric was floating in a dark void; he usually did this whenever a spirit decided to talk to him. He hovered in a vacuum, bobbing up and down like a fishing lure. All around his body, green clouds of puffy stuff swarmed and circled around him, hissing and whispering words he didn't understand. He knew the sensation well; people he "talked" to often didn't say their words as clear as day. But, something about this encounter was different from the others. His very center of his head, somewhere in the space between either temple, was in stinging, throbbing, nearly intolerable pain! He held his head by his ears, trying hard to get the pain to go away.
"No, go away!" Cedric began to scream, although he heard no sound coming from his own throat. "Go away! You're hurting me!"
The clouds pulled back and zoomed towards Cedric's body, the pain increasing as they moved closer. The pain in his skull was indescribable! He screamed in terror, unable to withstand the agony!
Before the clouds could make contact with his body, a strong, long-fingered hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away.
*****
"Cedric, you're okay!" Angela hugged her youngest (well, probably youngest) friend with her one arm. "You're okay!"
The small boy relaxed in Angela's arm, unable to move any body part without hurting himself. "What happened?" Cedric asked.
"You touched Gorgon's force field and started screaming!" B-Bop explained, laying a hand on his black-human-buddy's shoulder.
Lilly hovered above the itty bitty group, holding her hands together. "It sounded like it was killing you!"
Cedric clutched his chest, breathing deeply. "I think it was."
B-Bop looked over his shoulder. Half of his vision was the rock he was hiding behind, the other half being 2-T, Do-Wah, and Mike hiding behind another boulder, firing photon beams and the hovering, flame spouting Gorgon. The yellow-garbed Martian patted Cedric on the head. "Me and the guys are gonna do BKM. You stay here with Angie, okay?"
Cedric took a swallowing breath and answered, "Okay."
"Good boy. Now, stay!"
"B!"
"K!"
"M!"
Mike rushed over to Angela's boulder and gave Cedric shoulder's a reassuring sqeeze. "The guy's aren't doing that good."
"Why not?" Angela gasped, worried for her ET friends.
"Everything they fire at him: laser, missile, punches! They can't hurt Gorgon!"
"Why not?" Cedric repeated.
"It's that force field thing!" Mike answered. "It's deflecting nearly everything!"
Cedric's eyes wandered to the ground, his chest and head still throbbing. He got a sudden idea, and looked directly into Mike's eyes.
It was strange (Cedric had never looked Directly at Mike before), but Mike saw something in Cedric's eyes he had never seen before. A steely resolve, a true bravery that Mike had never seen coming from this young, nervous, almost feminine boy he had known for only a year or two. But yet, there was something else. Something that went past his chocolate brown eyes that reflected back onto Mike's vision... his eyes looked almost silver, a ghostly paleness that Mike had never seen in any human. This boy, he knew now, had something otherworldly to him, something that niether he, nor Angela, nor any of the Martians possessed.
Mike gulped, a cold shiver running down his spine.
"What happened when the force field touched my head?" Cedric asked forcefully.
"Um...." Mike began to shudder. "You... y-you started screaming, and-and- and so did Gorgon-"
"Gorgon?" Cedric's snapped open even wider, causing Mike to flinch; those creep, quicksilver eyes!
"Yeah, Gorgon. He was screaming-"
"Like he was in pain," Angela finished Mike's sentence.
"That's all I need to know..." Cedric took a deep breath, jumped to his feet, and ran out from behind the boulder.
"CEDRIC, NO!" Mike screamed, reaching out his hand to catch Cedric, but he missed by a mile.
***
Gorgon howled in laughter as one of Do-Wah's strongest punches flounced off of his blood-red chest. "You fool!"
Gorgon punched Do-Wah back, sending him flying into the ground!
When Do-Wah landed, he caught Cedric out of the corner of his eye, running to Gorgon!
"What the- Cedric!"
Cedric stretched his hand out, straining to once again make contact with Gorgon's force field. Before he could, however, 2-T had reached down and plucked him right off the ground!
"What are you doing?" 2-T scolded.
"I've got an idea, now put me down!" Cedric kicked against 2-T's hard, metal shin.
"Look out!" B-Bop pulled 2-T and Cedric out of the way of a firebolt. Cedric fell to the ground, landing surprisingly softly on the sands. He, just out of chance, landed next to Muldoon's hovervan, and shuffled inside for shelter. There, he found Muldoon, hiding underneath a utility computer console, shivering in fear.
"Mister Muldoon!" Cedric crawled under the console with Muldoon. "Can I ask for your help real quick?"
"Huh?" Muldoon stared at Cedric for a few second, then grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him all friendly-like. "Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light! An Earthling!"
"Does that mean I get a favor?" Cedric asked hopefully, smiling sweetly.
***
B-Bop hovered next to 2-T, letting Do-Wah pound on the mythically-named alien. "You find out where Cedric went?"
"He's in the hovervan with Muldoon," 2-T answered B-Bop quickly.
"That's a relief," he remarked, flying forward to catch Do-Wah before he hurt himself.
HONKY HONKY!
The hovervan blasted past the Martians, Muldoon at the wheel-
AND CEDRIC ON THE ROOF! WHAT WAS CEDRIC DOING ON THE ROOF OF THE HOVERVAN!?
There he was, riding the van like he would a hoverboard. He wasn't even wearing his helmet!
"I'm ready, Mister Muldoon!" Cedric cried.
"Go get that invading scum, little buddy!" Muldoon laughed. He slammed on the brakes, shotting Cedric off of the van and into Gorgon's forcefield!
The result was amazing. Cedric hit the force field like a bullet, and immediately some kind of electricity went shooting through his and Gorgon's body. Both shouted in pain; Cedric's cry was more of a tutored wail, while Gorgon's was a screeching roar. Within seconds, both shot suddenly outward in different directions, Cedric landing on the ground with a horrifying ground. Gorgon simply righted himself, regaining his original form steadily.
Muldoon jumped out of his van and ran to Cedric's aid, lifting him by the shoulders until he was sitting up straight. "Sonny! Sonny boy, are you all right? Wake up!"
Cedric's eyes fluttered open, only to scare Muldoon even further; his eyes were completely silver now, as if the brown in his eyes had been sucked away in the attack. He stared off into space, barely breathing at all. "I couldn't do it... couldn't make contact, they're still with Gorgon..."
"Cedric!" 2-T and Mike both landed beside the fallen friend, Dog hovering directly over 2-T's shoulder. "Dog, medi-beam!"
Dog swiftly zapped Cedric directly on the chest, kicking him back to life. He bolted onto his feet, coughing, then hyperventilating. Mike clutched him by the shoulders, trying to steady him.
"Cedric, please, calm down!" Mike demanded. "You're gonna kill yourself this way!"
"I need to make contact with the ghosts!" Cedric thrashed about in Mike's arms, possessed with a unearthly strength. Both Mike and Muldoon had to hold onto him to keep him down. "Let me go!"
2-T sighed. "Where's Lilly when you need her?"
Lilly apparated, sitting atopt of 2-T's helmet light. "Always there, you just gotta call me."
"LILLY!" 2-T grabbed the Higher Being by the tail and threw her at Cedric. "Hold him down!"
"Aiya! Fine!" Lilly slammed her arms around Cedric's chest, holding him with the power of a vice grip.
As the Martians kept trying to fight the weakened, but still very strong, Gorgon, Cedric tried to talk his way out of Lilly's grasp.
"Lil, trust me, I know what the ghosts want," Cedric whispered. "They need to talk to someone. I heard them! Lemme go, and I'll show you!"
"No, Cedric!" Lilly growled with a stubborn tone.
"But I know I can defeat Gorgon!"
"How?"
Cedric closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm... not sure. But the ghosts that are in Gorgon's body, I know what they want, and they want to talk to somebody!"
Lilly's tail fur ruffled, and her grip loosened. "You promise not to fling youself off a truck this time?"
"Uh huh," Cedric nodded.
The Higher Being let go of her close friend. "I'm trusting you. Don't kill youse-"
"OKAY, I LOVE YOU, BYE BYE!" Cedric ran towards Gorgon, the wind at his back and the sand in his eyes.
Gorgon, meanwhile, was catching photon beams and throwing them back at the Martians without mercy. Just as B-Bop had taken a bad blow to the chest, he heard a tiny voice from beneath him.
"You okay, B-Bop?"
"A little shaken, but not stirr- CEDRIC!"
B-Bop had missed Ced by inches, and now was watching him make his way to the foul-smelling alien. Gorgon snarled at the young human in warning, but Cedric approached him calmly walking, the silver in his eyes shining brighter than ever before.
They stood before eachother, staring into eachother's eyes. A match of undreamable odds, undoubtly, but it was taking place before the Martian's, the kids', and one certain Higher Being's very eyes.
On one end, a 7 foot tall alien, with mystic roots and dragonesque powers. Broud, powerful shoulders; deadly crushing hands; a fanged mouth that housed a furnace for a lung. The Gorgon looked down upon Cedric with disdain and hatred.
On the other end, a 5 foot 3 inch short human, with a background lost in uninterestingness and powers unascertainable. Thin, femine build; hands that never touched anything remotely weaponlike; quiet lips and eyes of chocolate brown (unless the light hit them the right way). Cedric sighed and focused on Gorgon's face, his face determined and set.
They stood there, looking at eachother, barely moving. 2-T moved forward to help Ced, but Lilly apparated in front of him and blocked his path. Angela whimpered in worry and pushed herself into Mike's arms; he held her gently, keeping his eyes on Cedric. Do-Wah tried to cross his fingers, but the BKM suit wouldn't allow it.
A few seconds, nothing happened. And then, Cedric reached out and grabbed into Gorgon's wrist.
Red light and vicious looking lightning bolts erupted from both bodies! Gorgon began to roar in pain yet again, but Cedric held his own, his fist clenched tightly around Gorgon's arm. Dark clouds began to circle overhead, an omninous BOOM! echoing through the sky.
Stoat Muldoon looked into the skies and gasped in terror. "It's a lightning storm! Just like the typhoon back in '39!"
"Cedric's attracting the lightning!" said 2-T, in Martian, to B-Bop. "If we don't disconnect those two, they're both gonna get zapped!"
Do-Wah flew to 2-T and B-Bop, forming a triangle of BKM suit. "But how're we gonna get them apart?
"And why are we worried about Gorgon getting blasted?" B-Bop had probably just asked the stupidest question yet, but it wasn't his fault; as a Martian, he had never seen a true lightning storm, and so, did not understand the properties of lightning.
2-T, however, did know the properties of lightning. "Because if Gorgon gets blasted, the electricity's gonna run through his body and into Cedric! Gorgon can survive it..."
2-T turned his head, letting his vision focus on one of his closest human friends. Cedric was still holding on, his face twisted in obvious pain.
"Cedric can't."
B-Bop nodded solemnly. "I get the picture. You're with me, Do-Wah!"
The Martians hovered about the two energy encased creatures, careful to dodge any stray lightning bolts. Do-Wah and B-Bop lashed two energy ropes around Gorgon's neck; 2-T's rope connected with Cedric's waist.
Just as B-Bop was giving the signal to pull, another, more primitive, tractor beam had wrapped around Cedric's body.
It was Stoat Muldoon! Muldoon gave 2-T a friendly salute. "It is my duty to protect the planet, even if it means joining with foul, alien scum!"
2-T saluted back. "I gotcha, babe!"
"PULL!"
As hard as the four planet protectors tried, they couldn't pry the two apart! Cedric had an unearthly strength to him; his wasn't even moving! Gorgon, too, was like a statue against the Martians, but this was semi- normal Gorgon behavior.
Mike noticed a flash of light run across the clouds. "Oh no!"
Angela cupped a hand to her mouth and screamed, "THE LIGHTNING'S ABOUT TO HIT YOU! RUN!"
The Martians looked upward and scattered. Muldoon hurried away, holding his MATD over his head in defense (which wouldn't have worked anyway, you all know).
In a split second, one bolt of pure energy had barreled into the two ghost- infested creatures, and they both flew back as the energy overtook them. Gorgon skidded onto his back; Cedric roled over his himself multiple times before coming to rest on a boulder.
Lilly apparated closer to where the two beings had been standing, her feet resting comfortable on the crude glass beneath her feet. "Oh my... Cedric?!"
No answer from him.
"Cedric?!" Lilly grunted as Angela and Mike ran past her in a frenzied race. "Cedric, are you alive?!"
Cedric lay motionless on the sand, his hands burned lightly but otherwise...
2-T gave his chest a few soft nudges while Muldoon lifted the boy onto his lap. "Hey... hey, buddy, are you okay?"
"Cedric?" Do-Wah lifted his head gently with a few of his fingers, but as he pulled his hand away, it fell back to the ground.
Angela gasped in shock and began to cry, trying her best to hide her sorrow from her comrads.
(Oh, I'm crying as I type this (sniff). I love this scene, it's so... you'll see. (sniffy)
"I'm... I'm sorry, Cedric," B-Bop whispered to himself. "We couldn't save you..."
"Poor poor humanssssss."
(Everyone who's reading this is now going "OH NO!")
It was like the lightning bolt had hit everyone again; Gorgon was still alive!
And, suddenly, something really really weird happened. The Martians, all of them, felt an anger inside them they had never experienced before. A driving urge, a fire within their chest that tightened their lungs and quickened their breathing. Gorgon. Was. Still. Alive. Cedric was gone, and this.... monstroscity was still living, still driven by revenge, and still perfectly able to destroy anything he wanted.
It was the Last STRAW!
Do-Wah lunged forward and hooked Gorgon into the air, where he was swiftly blasted by 2-T into a boulder, and again by B-Bop into the ground.
The leftover humans watched through bleary eyes as the amazing sight of Martian fury played out before their eyes. 2-T was unusually relentless in his attacks; never before had Do-Wah felt hatred strong enough to throw him into such a fighting rage; and B-Bop...
B-Bop just wanted Gorgon DEAD.
One of 2-T's energy missiles misfired, and hit the ground with amazing force. The whole desert shook, and while Mike was knocked off-center by the blast, he noticed something.
CEDRIC WAS BREATHING!
The boy had pulled himself into a sitting position, and was holding his head! Cedric was alive!
"Sonny boy, you're okay!" Muldoon gave Cedric a hearty human hug!
"You're alive!" Angela cried.
Cedric opened his eyes, and-
"AAAAAAAAH!"
A familiar red glow had replaced Cedric's normal eyes. He was no longer himsef; he was possessed by a Gorgon. Mike and Angela jumped back in fear. Muldoon went so far as to pull his MATD on Cedric, his finger resting on the trigger.
Gorgon/Cedric calmly marched onto the battlefield, unaware that the Martians were watching him in awe. He once again took his place before the living Gorgon, who was just pushing himself onto his feet.
He hissed in dismay, "Did the lighning not kill you?"
"Did the lightning not knock ssssome sssenssse into your brain?"
It was Cedric's voice, but underneath came five other voices, hissing and speaking in their own tongue. Gorgon gasped in revelation.
"You are my ancessstorsss!"
"We were wondering when you would figure it out," spoke the Ancestors/Cedric. "Drakian, leave thisss planet be! Let our soulsss passsss on."
"But... my revenge!"
"Your revenge means mothing to ussss!" The Ancestors were stirring inside of Cedric; his eyes were shifting shades of red. "We wissssh only to passss on to the next life. Let usss!"
"NEVER!" Gorgon held his fists to the heavens.
"Then sssso be it." The Ancestors/Cedric closed their eyes...
A red bolt of something shot out of Cedric's chest and into Gorgon's body. There was one more roar of agony, and his body fell to the ground, dull and lifeless.
Cedric shook his head, patting his arms and legs. "Hey.... Hey, the voices aren't in my head anymore!"
Do-Wah landed beside Cedric, ready to say something, anything, that could express how relieved he was that Cedric was okay, but Ced held up his hand. "I'm okay, Do-Wah. I'm still alive. Just really really sore."
B-Bop and 2-T also landed by Cedric, followed by Lilly, Mike and Angela, and Muldoon. He was bombarded with the familiar "Are you okay?"s and "You're not hurt, are you?"s he had grown accustomed to. He pushed back a stray hair, and took a breath to answer the questions, when he felt the ghosts overtaking him again. He let himself fall backwards, happy that the ghosts hadn't taken him as forcefully as they did last time. He tumbled into the waiting arms of Muldoon, and began to speak in the strange mutiple voice again.
"We are ssorry to have troubled you all," he hissed. "If you have quesstionss, we will ansswer them to the besst of our ability."
"Who are you and what are you doing in Cedric's body!?" B-Bop yelled, lowering his face to Cedric's eye level.
"We are the ancesstorss of Drakian, the Gorgon you trapped insside of the orbitting device. He called upon uss to aid in the desstruction of you."
"You couldn't say no?" 2-T intterrupted.
"It goess againsst our beliefss to refusse a plea for aid from family." Cedric took another breath and kept talking. "We are sorry about your friend, but his body was the only one capable of containing us without harmful reprecussion."
"Because he can talk to ghosts and we can't," said Angela to Mike.
"It makes sense," Mike agreed. "But what was happening with you and Gorgon?"
"Transsitionss of anything from human to alien are very difficult and painful," Cedric said, looking in Mike's direction but not At Mike. "Gorgon bodiess are made to hold more than one ssoul; human bodiess are not. Needlesss to ssay, the processs is difficult."
2-T muttered something about electrons and reactivity, but Mike recognized it as physics and tuned out.
"Are there any other questionss?" Cedric sighed, his body physically growing more and more tired by the minute. "We are tired, and ready to passs on."
"What happened to the alien you vanquished?" Muldoon asked, reminded of the presumed dead Gorgon.
"He iss gone."
Muldoon and Angela gasped. B-Bop stuttered, "He-he-y-you- You killed him?!"
"Hiss ssoul is trapped within the Earth in a crysstal. He sshall forever live in limbo, unable to passs on." Cedric's eyes shut. "It iss a fitting punisshment."
Cedric took one more big breath. "We are tired, and we musst make our way to the other planess. Goodbye."
A red smoke seeped through Cedric's skin and into the air, and the ghosts were gone for good.
FINALLY! Finally finally finally, it's done! Epilogue coming in a while, any author's notes? Um....
I got Butt Ugly Martians: Zoom or Doom! for the Playstation 2! It's so cool, but no Robert Stack doin' Muldoon, 'cause he died.
Muldoon's yoyo sceen? I just like yoyos. Cool little wooden yoyos, not the stupid plastic ones. I bashed Ouigi boards earlier. I don't like Ouiji boards. This's Cedric's story, so he gets extra attention.
Um... okay, I'm done, bye.