Chapter 7: Betrayal
"So you're supposed to be some kind of bounty hunter now?" YQ asked.
"That's right." Huan answered.
"So where did you get that crystal at?" Keja asked.
"A couple years ago I was wandering around below this castle, when a battered man fell out of it." Huan began. "He hit the ground pretty hard. He only got out the words, 'The King will fall if it is cut off from its source of power'. He fell dead shortly after. I found this shard of the Violet Crystal tightly grasped in his hand."
"Huh." Keja said. "That must be some monster."
"It's more than some monster kid." YQ replied. "Like I said before, me and Picard were lucky enough to make it out of here alive."
"We're coming up on the center room." Picard said as he pointed to an indent in the wall. "I'd recognize that scar anywhere."
"Yep." YQ said. "We're getting pretty close."
Suddenly a loud stomp began to echo throughout the halls. It began to get closer and closer.
"Where's it coming from?" Ameph asked as the five prepared themselves.
"I don't know." Huan said. "The sound is so equally balanced, it could be coming from anywhere."
YQ twitched as he figured it out. "The ceiling!" He yelled as the ceiling came down.
The five jamp out of the way just in time. They got up and brushed themselves off as the dust cleared. Suddenly they heard a low toned and very loud breathing begin to stir.
"What the hell is that?" Keja asked as he could hear a creature take in a deep breath.
"Dragon Zombie!" YQ yelled and the five began to run down the hall, the enormous lavender dragon followed.
"Quick down here." Picard said as he ran down a stairway.
"It's a dead end." Ameph pointed out as they continued down the staircase.
"No it isn't." YQ said as he ran into the wall. The wall swung open like doors, mainly because they were. "Come on!" He yelled and the others followed him.
"Shut it." Picard instructed as they pushed the large doors shut.
They held the large doors shut as the large zombie continued to pound it's head on the other side of the door. Ameph spotted a large wooden beam on the side of the entrance and quickly grabbed it. Each door had hooks for the beam to be placed in. She quickly slammed the beam into the hooks and they all backed away from the door as the dragon continued to try and get through.
"Can't you get a power boost from that Picard?" Keja asked.
"No. That's a zombie. Not a dragon." Picard explained.
"Great." Ameph said. "Now how do we get out of this room?"
"You don't." A low toned voice said from behind them.
Torches began to illuminate the entire room, and blur the eyes of the five warriors. They all rubbed their eyes and got adjusted to see what stood before them.
"What the?" Huan said in a bit of shock.
"Yes." A large pumpkin said from across the room. "I can understand the looks on your faces. Welcome to the center of the Castle of Dark Illusions children. I am Pumpking, the King of Ghosts. But you can call me, Handsome."
"Handsome?" Ameph asked. "How about Gruesome."
"You speak when spoken to girl." Handsome said. "That goes for the rest of, YOU!"
"Aw crap." YQ said.
"Well, well, well." Handsome said and all sorts of zombies came out from behind him. "If it isn't the dynamic duo of YQ and Picard."
"Hi. Handsome." YQ reluctantly said as he raised his hand.
"Chance you all remember these two don't ya." Handsome said to his minions. The zombies responded with a yes. "Well. Don't let them get away this time."
The zombies let out a roar as the all charged the five warriors. They readied themselves as the wall of undead stumbled toward them. All of the sudden a black flash stunned the zombies and Keja and the others looked on in amazement.
"Halt." A woman's voice said as a dark figure came out of the floor. "Let me take these fools Handsome."
"Why yes. Of course Beautiful." Handsome said as he looked at the figure.
"Children. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Beautiful, the Snake Hair." She said.
"How's it going snake lady?" YQ asked.
"It would be better if you hadn't locked up my precious Brutey." Beautiful said as she pushed the five out of the way with magic and walked over to the door. She opened the door and the Dragon Zombie slowly walked out of the hallway. It snorted at the warriors as it approached Beautiful with a harmless growl.
"Ok. This is getting weird." Huan said.
"Weird?" Beautiful asked as she petted the dragon. "Is it wrong for someone to have a pet?"
"No. No it's not." YQ said as he approached Beautiful. "Now you know from our most recent encounter, that I'm a man of few words. So lets get this over with."
"As you wish. Let us end the story we started." Beautiful said. "But this time. We do it as a family."
"A family?" Picard asked.
"Yes." Beautiful said. "Now behold! As my pet dragon and I merge into one to create one ultimate monster!"
"And with my mystical powers on their side, we will be unstoppable!" Handsome yelled.
Beautiful and Brutey were thrown into a black vortex, in which they fazed out. A large flash went throughout the room. When the flash cleared, a large creature stood in place of Beautiful and Brutey.
"Behold!" Handsome yelled. "The Great Mammoth of Goldfine!" He yelled as he raised one of his tentacles. "Now watch." Handsome thrust his tentacle into the Mammoth skeleton and began to pump it full of a green fluid. "Now it will gain power with every strike it is hit with."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Picard yelled as he jamp at the Pumpking's tentacle and slashed it in half.
Handsome let out a cry of pain and retracted his tentacle. "Heh. That won't do you any good." He said. "I've delivered enough fluid for my spell to last for days!"
"Crap." Picard said.
"No time to worry about that." Keja said. "Let's just bring down that Mammoth."
"Got it." Ameph said as she levitated into the air. "Thousand Knives!" She yelled as she pointed her short staff down at the mammoth and a rain of knives suddenly followed.
The Mammoth spat out a green mist that neutralized the knives and negated the attack. The Mammoth charged at YQ and Keja.
"Not today." Keja said as he smacked the mammoth in its front left leg and tripped the beast.
"Fools!" Handsome yelled. "You don't stand a chance! Attack!" He yelled as more than a dozen zombies charged them.
"I beg to differ!" Huan yelled as he collided with the zombie wall. "You guys deal with that monstrosity and I'll get these guys."
"Alright." Picard said as he jamp on the Mammoth's back.
The mammoth began to jump around the room like a bull. It tried to shake Picard off with great force and eventually won that battle. Picard fell to the floor with amazing force and began to drift in and out of consciousness.
"Dammit." YQ said as he looked down at his fallen comrade.
"That's one down." Handsome said.
"Shut up freak!" Keja yelled as he jamp at the Pumpking but was swatted away by one of his many tentacles. Keja flew into the wall and felt a sharp pain in his back. He wouldn't be able to move for a few seconds.
The Mammoth scampered around the room in an attempt to catch Ameph, but it did not work. Ameph was much too fast for the Mammoth.
One of the zombies that were tangled in a fight with Huan caught Ameph out of the corner of his eye and ran after her as well. Unlike the Mammoth, the zombie was much faster than Ameph, and he caught up to her with ease. The zombie tackled her from behind and picked her up. The zombie slammed her up against a wall and reared its right arm back for a punch. Before the zombie could connect with the shot, Clock had bashed it over the head with its wand.
"Thanks dude." Ameph said to the Time Wizard as she slid down the wall to catch her breath.
The Time Wizard nodded and buzzed off toward YQ, who was belting the Mammoth back and forth across the face with his staff. The Mammoth pushed YQ down with it's right tusk and raised it's front left foot. The Mammoth brought down it's massive foot but was stopped by Clock. Clock was holding up the large foot with magical energy and signaled for YQ to roll out of the way.
"What's this?" Handsome said. "I guess I'll have to put an end to this nuisance as well. Take this you pesky little watch!" He yelled as he thrust one of his tentacles straight through the Time Wizard.
"Clock!" YQ yelled as Handsome pulled his tentacle from Clock and the Mammoth crushed the Time Wizard under its mighty foot.
"Ha!" Handsome chuckled. "What a waste of life."
"Shut. Your. Over grown! Grotesque! Mouth!" YQ yelled as he began to glow a rapid green.
Huan yelled in pain as the final zombie bit him hard on the shoulder. He pulled the zombie of and cut it into several pieces. Huan stumbled to the wall and watched in curiosity as the Dark Magician began to change.
"What the?" Handsome asked. "What's happening to you?"
"Heh. You should be more worried about yourself. Handsome." YQ said as he looked at the Mammoth with anger in his eyes. "Title! Of! Knight!"
YQ became infused with the green energy that had been flowing around him. Within seconds, his staff had morphed into a sword and his armor changed shape. YQ was floating off the ground and slowly lowered as his transformation continued. When he was finished, he had grown more intense, his power had increased, and his facial expression was blank. He had become the Dark Magician Knight.
"How do you like it?" YQ asked. "Enjoy the view, because I'm the last thing you're going to see!" He yelled as he jamp at the Mammoth and delivered a single upward slash to the chin.
An explosion suddenly followed a bright flash and Handsome looked on in shock. The smoke cleared and Picard, Ameph, Keja, and Huan had gotten to their feet. YQ was standing in the middle of a mess as bones were scattered everywhere around the floor of the room.
YQ raised his sword at the Pumpking and began to walk towards him. "Your turn."
"Yeah." Ameph said. "And now your going to pay for holding my mother in this vile place."
"Girl, I have no idea what you're talking about." Handsome said.
"Dominus said that her mother would be here." Keja said. "Now where is she?"
"Dominus!?" Handsome yelled. "Oh no." Handsome paused for a minute and a bright light began to shine from with in him.
"What the hell?" Keja said as the five backed way from the Pumpking.
"No!" Handsome yelled as he began to incinerate. "Please! Don't do this!"
The Pumpking became an orange fireball. He let out a blood-curdling scream as he suddenly fazed out of reality itself. Ashes fell down and smoke went throughout the room. When the smoke cleared, a figure stood in Handsome's place.
"Well what do you know?" Shin said as he held a piece of the Pentagram. "He did have it."
"Shin!" Keja yelled as he stepped forward.
YQ leaned over to Picard. "Who is Shin and what is he doing here?"
"Shin is one of Dominus' henchmen." Picard answered
"Ah." YQ replied as he leaned back to his original position.
"Oh hello there Keja." Shin said. "You look well."
"You're not going to look so well in a minute bird boy." Keja said as he popped his knuckles. "You're not leaving with that Pentagram piece.
"Yes. I assumed you'd try something like this." Shin said. "And indeed, we will battle. However, five against one is so unfair. Don't you think so Huan?"
"Yes. Yes I do." Huan said as he stepped up along side Shin. "Two on four sounds a bit better."
"Actually, I don't think that's very fair for them." Shin said.
"Traitor!" Picard yelled. "You're not getting out of this mess!"
"Well." Shin said as he jamp to an object in the ceiling.
"The Violet Crystal." YQ said as his eyes went wide open.
"Can you defeat us before the castle falls?" Shin said as he shattered the crystal with a hard right hook.
"So you're supposed to be some kind of bounty hunter now?" YQ asked.
"That's right." Huan answered.
"So where did you get that crystal at?" Keja asked.
"A couple years ago I was wandering around below this castle, when a battered man fell out of it." Huan began. "He hit the ground pretty hard. He only got out the words, 'The King will fall if it is cut off from its source of power'. He fell dead shortly after. I found this shard of the Violet Crystal tightly grasped in his hand."
"Huh." Keja said. "That must be some monster."
"It's more than some monster kid." YQ replied. "Like I said before, me and Picard were lucky enough to make it out of here alive."
"We're coming up on the center room." Picard said as he pointed to an indent in the wall. "I'd recognize that scar anywhere."
"Yep." YQ said. "We're getting pretty close."
Suddenly a loud stomp began to echo throughout the halls. It began to get closer and closer.
"Where's it coming from?" Ameph asked as the five prepared themselves.
"I don't know." Huan said. "The sound is so equally balanced, it could be coming from anywhere."
YQ twitched as he figured it out. "The ceiling!" He yelled as the ceiling came down.
The five jamp out of the way just in time. They got up and brushed themselves off as the dust cleared. Suddenly they heard a low toned and very loud breathing begin to stir.
"What the hell is that?" Keja asked as he could hear a creature take in a deep breath.
"Dragon Zombie!" YQ yelled and the five began to run down the hall, the enormous lavender dragon followed.
"Quick down here." Picard said as he ran down a stairway.
"It's a dead end." Ameph pointed out as they continued down the staircase.
"No it isn't." YQ said as he ran into the wall. The wall swung open like doors, mainly because they were. "Come on!" He yelled and the others followed him.
"Shut it." Picard instructed as they pushed the large doors shut.
They held the large doors shut as the large zombie continued to pound it's head on the other side of the door. Ameph spotted a large wooden beam on the side of the entrance and quickly grabbed it. Each door had hooks for the beam to be placed in. She quickly slammed the beam into the hooks and they all backed away from the door as the dragon continued to try and get through.
"Can't you get a power boost from that Picard?" Keja asked.
"No. That's a zombie. Not a dragon." Picard explained.
"Great." Ameph said. "Now how do we get out of this room?"
"You don't." A low toned voice said from behind them.
Torches began to illuminate the entire room, and blur the eyes of the five warriors. They all rubbed their eyes and got adjusted to see what stood before them.
"What the?" Huan said in a bit of shock.
"Yes." A large pumpkin said from across the room. "I can understand the looks on your faces. Welcome to the center of the Castle of Dark Illusions children. I am Pumpking, the King of Ghosts. But you can call me, Handsome."
"Handsome?" Ameph asked. "How about Gruesome."
"You speak when spoken to girl." Handsome said. "That goes for the rest of, YOU!"
"Aw crap." YQ said.
"Well, well, well." Handsome said and all sorts of zombies came out from behind him. "If it isn't the dynamic duo of YQ and Picard."
"Hi. Handsome." YQ reluctantly said as he raised his hand.
"Chance you all remember these two don't ya." Handsome said to his minions. The zombies responded with a yes. "Well. Don't let them get away this time."
The zombies let out a roar as the all charged the five warriors. They readied themselves as the wall of undead stumbled toward them. All of the sudden a black flash stunned the zombies and Keja and the others looked on in amazement.
"Halt." A woman's voice said as a dark figure came out of the floor. "Let me take these fools Handsome."
"Why yes. Of course Beautiful." Handsome said as he looked at the figure.
"Children. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Beautiful, the Snake Hair." She said.
"How's it going snake lady?" YQ asked.
"It would be better if you hadn't locked up my precious Brutey." Beautiful said as she pushed the five out of the way with magic and walked over to the door. She opened the door and the Dragon Zombie slowly walked out of the hallway. It snorted at the warriors as it approached Beautiful with a harmless growl.
"Ok. This is getting weird." Huan said.
"Weird?" Beautiful asked as she petted the dragon. "Is it wrong for someone to have a pet?"
"No. No it's not." YQ said as he approached Beautiful. "Now you know from our most recent encounter, that I'm a man of few words. So lets get this over with."
"As you wish. Let us end the story we started." Beautiful said. "But this time. We do it as a family."
"A family?" Picard asked.
"Yes." Beautiful said. "Now behold! As my pet dragon and I merge into one to create one ultimate monster!"
"And with my mystical powers on their side, we will be unstoppable!" Handsome yelled.
Beautiful and Brutey were thrown into a black vortex, in which they fazed out. A large flash went throughout the room. When the flash cleared, a large creature stood in place of Beautiful and Brutey.
"Behold!" Handsome yelled. "The Great Mammoth of Goldfine!" He yelled as he raised one of his tentacles. "Now watch." Handsome thrust his tentacle into the Mammoth skeleton and began to pump it full of a green fluid. "Now it will gain power with every strike it is hit with."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Picard yelled as he jamp at the Pumpking's tentacle and slashed it in half.
Handsome let out a cry of pain and retracted his tentacle. "Heh. That won't do you any good." He said. "I've delivered enough fluid for my spell to last for days!"
"Crap." Picard said.
"No time to worry about that." Keja said. "Let's just bring down that Mammoth."
"Got it." Ameph said as she levitated into the air. "Thousand Knives!" She yelled as she pointed her short staff down at the mammoth and a rain of knives suddenly followed.
The Mammoth spat out a green mist that neutralized the knives and negated the attack. The Mammoth charged at YQ and Keja.
"Not today." Keja said as he smacked the mammoth in its front left leg and tripped the beast.
"Fools!" Handsome yelled. "You don't stand a chance! Attack!" He yelled as more than a dozen zombies charged them.
"I beg to differ!" Huan yelled as he collided with the zombie wall. "You guys deal with that monstrosity and I'll get these guys."
"Alright." Picard said as he jamp on the Mammoth's back.
The mammoth began to jump around the room like a bull. It tried to shake Picard off with great force and eventually won that battle. Picard fell to the floor with amazing force and began to drift in and out of consciousness.
"Dammit." YQ said as he looked down at his fallen comrade.
"That's one down." Handsome said.
"Shut up freak!" Keja yelled as he jamp at the Pumpking but was swatted away by one of his many tentacles. Keja flew into the wall and felt a sharp pain in his back. He wouldn't be able to move for a few seconds.
The Mammoth scampered around the room in an attempt to catch Ameph, but it did not work. Ameph was much too fast for the Mammoth.
One of the zombies that were tangled in a fight with Huan caught Ameph out of the corner of his eye and ran after her as well. Unlike the Mammoth, the zombie was much faster than Ameph, and he caught up to her with ease. The zombie tackled her from behind and picked her up. The zombie slammed her up against a wall and reared its right arm back for a punch. Before the zombie could connect with the shot, Clock had bashed it over the head with its wand.
"Thanks dude." Ameph said to the Time Wizard as she slid down the wall to catch her breath.
The Time Wizard nodded and buzzed off toward YQ, who was belting the Mammoth back and forth across the face with his staff. The Mammoth pushed YQ down with it's right tusk and raised it's front left foot. The Mammoth brought down it's massive foot but was stopped by Clock. Clock was holding up the large foot with magical energy and signaled for YQ to roll out of the way.
"What's this?" Handsome said. "I guess I'll have to put an end to this nuisance as well. Take this you pesky little watch!" He yelled as he thrust one of his tentacles straight through the Time Wizard.
"Clock!" YQ yelled as Handsome pulled his tentacle from Clock and the Mammoth crushed the Time Wizard under its mighty foot.
"Ha!" Handsome chuckled. "What a waste of life."
"Shut. Your. Over grown! Grotesque! Mouth!" YQ yelled as he began to glow a rapid green.
Huan yelled in pain as the final zombie bit him hard on the shoulder. He pulled the zombie of and cut it into several pieces. Huan stumbled to the wall and watched in curiosity as the Dark Magician began to change.
"What the?" Handsome asked. "What's happening to you?"
"Heh. You should be more worried about yourself. Handsome." YQ said as he looked at the Mammoth with anger in his eyes. "Title! Of! Knight!"
YQ became infused with the green energy that had been flowing around him. Within seconds, his staff had morphed into a sword and his armor changed shape. YQ was floating off the ground and slowly lowered as his transformation continued. When he was finished, he had grown more intense, his power had increased, and his facial expression was blank. He had become the Dark Magician Knight.
"How do you like it?" YQ asked. "Enjoy the view, because I'm the last thing you're going to see!" He yelled as he jamp at the Mammoth and delivered a single upward slash to the chin.
An explosion suddenly followed a bright flash and Handsome looked on in shock. The smoke cleared and Picard, Ameph, Keja, and Huan had gotten to their feet. YQ was standing in the middle of a mess as bones were scattered everywhere around the floor of the room.
YQ raised his sword at the Pumpking and began to walk towards him. "Your turn."
"Yeah." Ameph said. "And now your going to pay for holding my mother in this vile place."
"Girl, I have no idea what you're talking about." Handsome said.
"Dominus said that her mother would be here." Keja said. "Now where is she?"
"Dominus!?" Handsome yelled. "Oh no." Handsome paused for a minute and a bright light began to shine from with in him.
"What the hell?" Keja said as the five backed way from the Pumpking.
"No!" Handsome yelled as he began to incinerate. "Please! Don't do this!"
The Pumpking became an orange fireball. He let out a blood-curdling scream as he suddenly fazed out of reality itself. Ashes fell down and smoke went throughout the room. When the smoke cleared, a figure stood in Handsome's place.
"Well what do you know?" Shin said as he held a piece of the Pentagram. "He did have it."
"Shin!" Keja yelled as he stepped forward.
YQ leaned over to Picard. "Who is Shin and what is he doing here?"
"Shin is one of Dominus' henchmen." Picard answered
"Ah." YQ replied as he leaned back to his original position.
"Oh hello there Keja." Shin said. "You look well."
"You're not going to look so well in a minute bird boy." Keja said as he popped his knuckles. "You're not leaving with that Pentagram piece.
"Yes. I assumed you'd try something like this." Shin said. "And indeed, we will battle. However, five against one is so unfair. Don't you think so Huan?"
"Yes. Yes I do." Huan said as he stepped up along side Shin. "Two on four sounds a bit better."
"Actually, I don't think that's very fair for them." Shin said.
"Traitor!" Picard yelled. "You're not getting out of this mess!"
"Well." Shin said as he jamp to an object in the ceiling.
"The Violet Crystal." YQ said as his eyes went wide open.
"Can you defeat us before the castle falls?" Shin said as he shattered the crystal with a hard right hook.