Part 16: The World's Last Hope
-June 2nd, 2000-
It was a calm peaceful day practically everywhere. People were continuing on with their happy, meaningless, little lives. It's all too bright down there. There's too much joy, Metallia thought, a disgusted grimace on her face. The grimace faded, however, making the way for the sweet smile that crossed her face. Well, soon enough, there won't be any more little, sunny earth. It'll be covered in darkness, just as it was meant to be, Metallia thought with a soft sigh.
Metallia hovered over the earth, smiling from her interdimensional portal as she watched life on earth continue peacefully. She rolled the palm-sized stone across her hands and smiled at the hypnotic, rolling color shifting just below the surface as the pent-up energy in the stone begged for release. It had taken her near a millennium to harness the power of such a tiny stone, but finally she had it. And it was time for her big finale to the battle that had started over a millennium and two decades ago. She laughed in anticipation and satisfaction. Those stupid warriors would never know what hit them.
Out of the corner of her eye, Metallia spotted movement. Slowly, she turned to see five girls enter the room, each carrying a weapon in their arms as they floated a few inches off the floor, their wings creating the soft fluttering sound that filled the room. Each of them bowed deeply in respect for their most honored queen. "We are ready, your majesty," the leader announced, "Those Universal Warriors are going to regret ever tangling with you. On your command?" Metallia gave a simple nod at the pink colored girl. The pink colored girl gave a slight grin that belied her evil intentions. "Come on girls," the leader said, "We've got battles to fight and warriors to kill." And the plan was flung into action.
***
Down on earth, everyone was sitting in Celia's living room discussing the plan of attack. They all knew that now that the generals were dead, the end battle was soon to come, but when, they didn't know. They had to be prepared with a plan and they had to be prepared quickly. But the plan of how to even approach Metallia was going nowhere, stuck between all the fighting over the details and ideas.
Kento played with Lita's hair where she lay against his shoulder. He signed in resignation and impatience. "Look," he growled, "I don't see why you think the two super armors and the crystal can't fight this. Between them, I think we can blow Metallia out of the water for good."
Serena sat up a little straighter, fixing on Kento her most serious glare. "No way," Serena said with authority, "Metallia is holding out on us and besides, she's a lot stronger than we think she is. She's got something, a power supply or something that she must be using to boost her own power. If we go up against her like that, without knowing what it is she's got, we'll be thrown out of the water, not her. This is something big and I don't want anyone getting hurt if we can avoid it."
Ami spoke up as she attempted to untangle herself from the web created by Rowen's arms around her waist. "I have yet to figure out precisely what Metallia is using against us. It defies all my identifying attempts. I just don't know what it is, but I know that it can hold an awesome amount of energy. The only thing is that I am skeptical that Metallia can harness all that energy. From what I can see, she can't use all the power that the stone contains. If she puts enough power into the stone to get out the massive amounts of power that it contains, it will consume her." Ami's voice was filled with incredulousness and fear over what Metallia could possibly be using as her backup power supply.
Serena nodded, somewhat relieved that they finally had an edge over Metallia. "We'll have to assume that she doesn't know this, however, and fight as if she has the massive amounts of energy at her disposal."
Heather was playing with the curtains over by one of the large windows when she spoke up. "Guys, I think our planning and plotting, what little of it has been done, is about to be needed," Heather said shakily. With one swift pull of the curtain cord, the curtains swept open majestically, giving the Universal Warriors a glimpse of the impending hell that was brewing.
Outside, dark, ominous clouds rippling with black lightning and a dim reddish color were expanding over Tokyo at an alarming and unnatural rate. Serena gulped. "You guys," Serena said, her voice quivering slightly with fear, "I think it's time to face Metallia once and for all." The rest only prayed.
***
Downtown, Metallia had opened a portal directly into the park and was slowly taking the city over, her energy expanding from the portal to grab at the fleeing people and the large buildings on the park's outskirts. By the time the Universal Warriors had arrived, the entire park had been taken over with the darkened black color that pulsed lazily and slowly fought its way into the middle of town.
High above the five story opening to the portal, Metallia floated through the air, rolling her stone in her hands and watching gleefully as the energy ate up everything around it until darkness spread. "Yes!" she cried out, "Finally this miserable little planet will be mine to do with what I wish!"
The eighteen Universal Warriors stopped and stared at the chaos that was ensuing downtown, a sense of hopelessness running through them. A car had rammed into a fire hydrant just at the edge of the park and water sprayed into the air in an arch that formed a gate to the ruined and darkened park. Around the entrance stood five girls, each holding a large weapon lowered to the ground. They were each a bright shade of color and had thin wings on their backs that allowed them to hover of the ground.
The pink one, the leader, spotted them first. With a sneer, she spoke. "Well, well, if it isn't the wonderful little Universal Warriors. Fancy meeting you here. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the leader of the Doom and Gloom girls." She lifted the spear she carried higher in her grasp. Next to her, a girl in red and then a girl in blue lifted their weapons, getting a better grasp on the evil double bladed sword and the long daggers. The girl in yellow lifted a staff up while her companion in green grasped a wicked war axe.
Margot and Julie at the back of the group had turned white as sheets when they first saw the five waiting for them. God, not the Doom and Gloom Girls. Remember what happened in the original TV series? Julie asked Margot silently.
Margot nodded back slowly. I don't know how, but Metallia somehow knows that those five are a weak point for us. We've gotta get rid of them. I won't be able to concentrate until they're gone.
While the two had silently conferred, the five enemies had silently prepared themselves, tensing to attack. They sprang into action, trying to encompass the group and swinging their weapons up to catch the also tense warriors. Serena caught the spear blade on her staff as it descended for her head. Her breathing labored from the exhilaration and fear of the situation, Serena struggled against the total body strength of the girl now bearing down on her.
Finally, Serena managed to break away, dropping to roll under the flying girl's feet and up on the outside. She brought the staff around in a two handed blow, catching the pink girl in the middle of her back as she struggled to regain her balance. "SPIRIT SWORD ANGUISH!" Darien cried out and the Doom and Gloom leader found her way to a quick death. With a tortured scream, she vanished, leaving nothing behind but a small pile of dust.
Raye found her self sprawled onto the ground as Sage caught the red girl's sword on his. She could do nothing but watch as her soulmate battled against the foe. Quickly, Sage disengaged and moved into a overhead cut, bringing both hands down in a cruel move, only to catch her blade on his an inch from her grinning face.
Jumping back, she hissed at him and disengaged as Sage's sword plummeted to the ground, and then jumped back in to thrust her sword at Sage's side hard. Sage danced back a step, mentally remarking that she had almost gotten him, and brought his sword up to parry her move, snaking his blade around hers to send it back at an awkward angle in her hand. Swearing like a sailor, she dropped the blade and found herself incinerated by a blast of fire from Raye.
Ami backed away from the gleaming daggers that sliced through the air. Without a second thought, Julie stepped in front of her, bringing her own staff up horizontal to take on the blades. One blade went for her barely protected knuckles, but Julie whirled the staff up to catch the blade, rapping the other end against her opponent's uncovered fingers. The girl yelped and dropped one of the daggers, retreating and glancing a longing look at it.
Julie pushed some energy into the staff to ready an attack as she ducked under a high cut. Bringing her arms up, she slammed the staff up into an arm, shattering the bone before driving the end into her stomach. The blue Doom and Gloom girl clutched at her stomach and arm in pain, missing the attack that obliterated her as she screamed in pain.
The green one, more careful then her friends, brought her war axe up in a move that guaranteed to shatter Lita's protectively raised sword. As the axe swept down towards her head, Lita stepped to the side, giving the axe a glancing blow as Kento drove the end of his weapon in to rap painfully on her shins. As the enemy struggled to raise her heavy axe back above her head for another blow, Lita and Kento yelled out at the same time, "THUNDER ROCK STRIKE!" The attack effectively blew the Doom and Gloom girl to smithereens.
Margot stepped forward to engage the last girl as she swept her staff at Mina. The heavy metal staff slammed into the sword, wrenching it from violently from Margot's fingers as the armored warrior's nerves screamed in pain and her fingers loosened automatically, the sword dropping to the ground with a clink. Only a quick move saved Margot's head from the staff's evil sweep as it raced by. Ducking and dodging, Margot came up on the inside of a sweep, grabbing the staff with her hands and struggling to twist it out of the other girl's hands.
So busy in the power struggle for the weapon, neither noticed as Cye powered up for an attack. "SUPER WAVE SMASHER!" Margot looked over at Cye just in time to see the attack hurling for her and her opponent. She quickly jumped out of the way, leaving the staff-wielding enemy to face the attack. She dissolved under the powerful water attack.
Panting, Margot dropped the heavy staff and retrieved her fallen sword. Nearby, she watched as Rowen helped Ami to her feet. Serena leaned against her staff a little, while Sage wiped the sweat from his forehead. The rest stood on guard, watching the growing portal with unease. Celia smiled.
"That was rather easy," Celia said coolly. Julie and Margot glanced at each other, their mouths agape.
"Easy? She calls that battle easy?" Margot's voice rose, harsh with worry and strain. Julie looked at Celia incredulously.
"You know what those five did in the original TV series?" Julie asked, her voice strained with panic. Celia smiled calmly, totally disregarding the two twins' complaints.
"But that didn't happen, did it? It was easy," Celia said with an almost sugary voice. The two girls rolled their eyes.
An enraged voice drew attention to on high. "How dare you foil my greeting plan!" Suddenly, the voice giggled and the tone of voice changed to one of complacency. "But I guess that's okay anyhow because I wanted to deal with you. Welcome to my dimension. I hope you won't stay long. I have a pressing appointment to destroy the world." Above the group could see Metallia floating calmly through the air, her hands moving complexly, something golden and shiny rolling over and around her fingers. She grabbed the stone in one hand and inspected the nails of the other nonchalantly.
Serena tensed at Metallia's flippant attitude. "Metallia, how nice to see you today. I was beginning to wonder when we would be having our final face-off. After all, we haven't seen anything of your ugly face in quite a while."
Metallia smiled back, poisonously sweet, trying her hardest to not lash out at the insult. "Why, Princess Serena, did you doubt that I would come for this final battle? After all, I have a commitment here. And I never abandon my commitments. When I say I'm going to take over the universe, by God I'm going to take over the universe. But we cannot fight in the open here. So please, won't you join me in my dimension?" Metallia's venomous voiced offer caused the warriors to tense for an attack, but Metallia simply floated backwards into the portal.
Everyone looked at Serena and Ryo where they stood near the entrance to the portal; the eyes that were focused on them were searching for guidance and direction. Alex spoke up, her speech clipped. "What do we do now? Do we follow her in there?"
Serena set her face determinedly, not liking the options presented to her for there weren't any. "We have no other choice. The amount of power this battle will use would shatter Tokyo. We have to trust in each other and hope that Metallia has no more major surprises waiting for us. The other dimension is the only safe place for this encounter." The group of eighteen warriors stared at the growing portal with dismay, knowing that they had to go in there. Slowly and reluctantly, they stepped forward, entering the other dimension.
Inside, Metallia lounged on her throne, smiling at the group as they cautiously entered. "So, you accepted my challenge," Metallia said with a smile, showing off her pearly white teeth, "I knew one of these days that you would be here. Too bad this won't last too long." Suddenly the room-like dimension was filled with power, evil energy streaming from Metallia's hand in wind-like waves that raced for the warriors in a mad fury.
Heather threw herself forward, the glaive in her hand raised protectively across her body, ready to protect her comrades from any attack that Metallia threw at them. "SILENCE WALL!" Heather poured energy into the invisible protective barrier, holding the defense longer than she normally could, knowing and feeling her power reserves being drained away.
Michelle screamed as she watched the small girl pour all of her energy reserves into the defense. "Heather, don't! You could kill yourself! Let it go!" As Michelle ran forward to stop the girl, the weakening barrier gave in with a boom, throwing the energy away for a few moments.
Heather collapsed, drained of energy and Michelle frantically reached for her, grabbing her before her head hit the floor. Carefully, she began to drag the small girl back as she warily watched the rising levels of energy that threatened to attack her. It gained on her, menacingly shifting and straining against the residual of Heather's attack.
Michelle had nearly reached the front lines of the Universal warriors when the energy blew forward with a vengeance. Not paying attention, Michelle was alerted to the danger when Alex yelled at her. "Michelle! Look out behind you!" She looked up in time to catch a powerful bolt in the temple. She fell hard, covering Heather's body with her own in a seemingly protective gesture.
Near the back, Celia had been trying to stop the slowly growing portal from expanding any further. "Come on," she whispered through gritted teeth, her power focus at its peak, "It has to work." Celia poured more and more power into her task and suddenly, when her power was at its high, there was a boom of sound as green lightning rushed to keep the portal open and at the same time keep it from closing.
The group watched as the portal fought against the power, now straining to continue its job, but it was firmly stuck; Celia's power had stopped the portal from growing, thus stopping Metallia from eventually sucking in the whole earth. Metallia shrieked in outrage as the portal she spent so long trying to create was stopped and the winds of energy that emanated from her picked up with a vengeance.
The Universal Warriors attacked as one, throwing their attacks at the evil queen, who was encased by a sphere of power, unable to be touched by the Universal Warriors' attacks. But the Universal Warriors' attacks weren't used for offence; they were used for defense. Amidst the flying fury of the power, attacks of magic flew, keeping the power at bay.
Margot and Julie worked as best they could to bring power up in a defensive barrier around the group, preventing the winds from hitting their targets. The two knelt in the middle, their hands clenched together, breathing deeply. Each wave that pounded the invisible barrier caused them to clench their teeth in pain, but the barrier still held. An occasional wave of energy broke through to lash the group as they fought, causing their concentrations to break and their energy levels to drop again.
Lita closed her eyes and powered up for an attack, not noticing one of Metallia's waves slash through the barrier with Lita as its target. Kento watched with horror as the wave approached the unsuspecting Lita. In a valiant display of love, Kento threw his body in front of her, taking her down to the floor and taking her place as the wave's target. The energy slammed through him, making him grit his teeth in pain. Unable to stand up against the force of the power, he fell unconscious under the evil attack.
Lita watched Kento battle with the energy in his body and fall to it. With an outraged shriek, she dove through the protective barrier and attacked everything around her in pain-filled anger. With a pained yell, she threw herself forward at Metallia, attacking her with all of her might. "LIGHTNING SWORD STRIKE!" The lightning attack pierced the power flow, heading straight for Metallia, but was deflected easily on an invisible shield that rose when Metallia lifted her hand.
Metallia flicked her fingers and the deflected energy regrouped and shot back towards Lita with surprising speed. The tired girl could only stare as the power slammed her back across the floor and up against Kento. Turning to face the unconscious warrior at her side, Lita whispered, "I'm sorry Kento; I tried." Lita's eyes slipped shut and she, too, fell unconscious.
Mia watched in horror. The two now unconscious warriors were pulled back and away from the battle area to join Michelle and Heather, who were also out. Attacks blasted the shield, which was weakening quickly under the relentless energy. Margot and Julie were covered in sweat, but stayed concentrating on the barrier as best they could. Without a thought, Mia threw herself forward and battled her way through the energy.
She immediately realized her foolish and irrational behavior as the energy slashed at her arms and body, attacking her with renewed vigor. Mia bit her lip to keep from screaming out in pain. She was going to be strong; she wasn't going to give Metallia the satisfaction of seeing her suffer. The pain grew and Mia hardly noticed the attack that threw her back and into unconsciousness.
Ryo, fighting hard against Metallia, hardly noticed as Mia went down, although he saw her being pulled to safety and part of him was relieved that she had been pulled out of the fray. Beside him, Celia began to glow with her power and Ryo knew at once that she was going to try to get Metallia with one simple blow. He saw her slowly move towards the barrier with a determined look on her face. "No, you fool!" Ryo yelled at Celia, "Don't do it! You'll only get yourself hurt!"
As he yelled at the older woman to stop, Celia grounded herself. Closing her eyes, Celia held her staff out in front of her, pouring all of her power into the red jewel at the top. Lifting the staff above her head, she cried out, "OLYMPIAD SOLSTICE STRIKE!" The power exploded from the garnet time stone that topped her staff and the blinding light hurled straight for Metallia. The attack cut through the energy battering the shield and slammed into another shield at Metallia's hand.
Celia's powerful attack was formed into a ball and shot back, hitting Celia. She gave out a tortured scream and collapsed to the ground in pain, her fingers loosening on her hold of her weapon and her staff slipping out of her hands.
Ami frantically typed away at her computer, trying to analyze Metallia's power source that gave her so much energy during the unceasing battle in order to give her teammates a clue as to what to do, maybe even to give them a possible weakness or flaw in Metallia's attacks. She typed furiously, trying to duck around the protective spell that encased the stone.
So wrapped up in her typing, Ami hardly noticed as a stray bolt of power headed straight for her where she stood behind the rest of the warriors. Rowen, nearby, saw the bolt. "Ami! Watch out!" Ami wasn't paying attention and Rowen knew that he would need to take action. He ran with all his might and leapt in front of Ami, taking the bolt of power that was meant for Ami straight in his chest. He stood for a moment, swaying from the added injuries he had received in the battle. Slowly he fell to his knees and crumpled over backwards.
Ami screamed his name and caught his head seconds before it hit the ground. With tears running down her cheeks, she choked out, "Rowen, are you ok?" He smiled a little at her in response, content with the knowledge that he had saved her from being hurt, and then his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out.
Mina watched as Ami tried desperately to revive Rowen, but to no avail; Rowen stayed unconscious. A feeling of rage and helplessness filled her. She helplessly watched the love that she had worked so hard to help surface die as slowly, the couples and friends so close to her fell under the vicious lash of Metallia's attacks. It wrenched inside her as if Metallia were in fact, destroying love.
She attacked with her bow and arrows, but the swirling black energy that flew around them was destroying the arrows before they even hit their targets. Mina, with an enraged scream, tried one more thing. Slowly pulling out an arrow, with the feeling that it would be her last of the battle, she screamed, "BEAUTY SHOCKWAVE!" The attack did nothing against the ever-present energy that assaulted her.
One bolt struck her in the side and she was pushed over to one side, screaming out in pain. One more hit her in the shin and she fell to her knees. Mina tried to get up, but lacked the energy to do so. Mina fell as one last energy bolt hit her in the back, coming around in a terrible slash to tumble her to the ground.
Nearby Raye and Sage had begun to power up for a combined attack, gathering their power together and getting ready to send it at Metallia. Power liberally slashed the two, as if sensing Raye and Sage's upcoming attack, until the couple fell beneath the pain, their combined attack dissipating without ever being fired.
Alex attacked with all the anger she could control. With a pain filled yell, Alex screamed, "EARTH QUAKE STRIKE!" Her attack furiously slashed away at Metallia, but in the time after her attack when Alex powered down, the evil energy took her down, leaving her gasping on the ground and then unconscious against the pain.
Ami, at the same time that Alex fell, was attacking the weakest spot she could find. Metallia smiled at the girl, as if praising her for discovering her weak point, and flipped a strand of energy laxly with her fingers. The strand wrapped around Ami's throat and she caved under the attack, gasping and clawing at her throat for air before she too passed out, the snake-like strand of energy unraveling it self from Ami's neck and returning obediently to Metallia's mass of power.
Metallia gestured slightly with her hand as she watched the remaining six struggle to keep the attacks going. A wave of power rose up from the floor and slammed into the barrier, dissolving it as if it were nothing. Margot and Julie broke their handhold and slumped to the floor in pain, trying fervently to recover from Metallia's harsh attack.
Darien and Cye took defensive positions just in front of the other four, as Serena and Ryo readied attacks. Their powers sparkled dimly, but nothing happened for their powers were nearly depleted. Another wall of power lifted from the ground and slammed down on the group. Having nothing left to fight it with, Darien and Cye at the front fell easily under the massive amounts of power, leaving Ryo and Serena to their own defenses.
The two threw power into the wall, forcing it to cave in, but the energy required drained them dry and they collapsed, exhausted. Metallia laughed triumphantly, her eyes glancing over the collapsed warriors, all of them fallen except for Julie and Margot.
"Well, well, looks like the unbeatable Universal Warriors are being beaten!," Metallia said with a delicate giggle, "And that leaves the two of you. You pitiful little things. Why, another blast of dark power and I could kill you all right here and now. But I won't kill you." She paused, reflecting her words, choosing the next phrase carefully as he watched the two girls' expressions. A gloating smile covered her face. "I want you there to watch as I destroy this world like I tried to so many years ago. A thousand years ago, to be precise. But you foiled my plan. Except this time, there's no way you can foil my plans now. I want you all to watch while I finish what I set out to do so long ago."
Julie and Margot pushed themselves to their feet, muscles aching from the amounts of strain and power forced on them. "No way, Metallia! We're not letting this happen. We're not going to let you destroy what we have fought so hard for." Margot yelled back at Metallia.
"Yeah," said Julie, "we aren't going to let you destroy this beautiful new world that we've been given. It isn't going to happen." The two girls raised their weapons, ready to attack Metallia.
"Try, you little weaklings. You won't succeed," Metallia said, her voice filled with over-confidence and arrogance.
The two girls readied their weapons, pouring energy into them for their attacks when suddenly they stopped. Metallia watched, her brows drawn together in curiosity, as Margot dropped her blade to rest lightly on the ground, where a flame of blue-green and gold fire flickered on the floor. "FLAMES . . ."
Julie's staff raised to the sky, where burgundy and copper wind whipped around the falcon emblem, its wings ready to spread in flight. "OF FUTURE . . ."
"SPREAD!" the two girls whispered together and suddenly the small flicker of fire grew huge, fanned by the burgundy winds. The fire raced across the floor and for one second, it looked like a falcon of fiery burgundy outlined in copper and blue green dragon outlined by gold were entangled, as if giving each other strength, as the power raced towards Metallia. Startled by the intensity of the attack, Metallia threw up strong barriers, pulling on her power stone to help her.
As the powerful attack dissolved against the shield, Margot and Julie slumped back in astonishment and disappointment. Metallia's shrill laughter ringed in their ears. "It didn't work," Julie said, lowering her staff.
"I can't do another attack, let alone a combined attack. I haven't got enough energy." Margot sighed, one lone tear running down her cheek, and plopped down on the ground. "We're doomed. I'm sorry." Julie was about to reply when Metallia's cackling laugh cut in.
"This is the end of you two. I've had enough!" A ball of sparkling black power sprang to her hands. The two braced for the blow when something odd happened. Slowly, a small thread of black power detaching from the ball she held and sucked back inside the power stone. Slowly, the thread unraveled the ball she held, growing bigger and bigger, sucking in all the power around her.
Metallia noticed what was happening and was frantically pouring all of her power into fixing what had happened. "No! Stop! You can't do this! I have complete control over this power. Nothing can stop me from taking over the universe!" Metallia continued to try to rectify her mistake, but her power was just sucked away.
Finally, having run out of power, it sucked up Metallia. Metallia gave one deafening shriek as she was sucked in before the black hole closed up entirely. The entire dimension disappeared, dumping everyone into the park again. Finally, the only energy left was consumed by the small stone, which, now having nothing to hold it in the air, fell to the ground in front to the two girls with a soft tinkle.
The two girls stared, not knowing whether to cry in relief or burst out laughing at the outcome of the battle. "Well that was anticlimactic!" Julie said as she slowly stood up.
"Yeah. That was one of the cleanest battles I've seen," Margot said as she walked slowly over to pick up the stone. Cradling it in her hands, she stared at the stone that was about the size of her hand in a shallow round ellipse. "That was short."
"Did you want a big boom?" Julie asked, her eyebrows lifted in incredulity.
"No, it was just really small, that's all. Not quite what I expected." Suddenly, a tremor ran through the stone Margot held. The tremor ran through Margot's body, like it was familiarizing itself with her. The tremor caused Margot's heart to start beating faster and her breathing to become labored. With a little shriek, she dropped it. Julie stared at her twin, a look on confusion and worry on her face. "What was that about?" she asked shortly
"That . . . That thing is the sunstone." At Julie's blank look, Margot sighed in exasperation. "The sunstone, Daddy's power stone that happens to be the most powerful stone that exists." Margot waited for Julie's memory to kick in. Once Julie's face lit up with remembrance, Margot looked back on the stone, wondering why it had been in Metallia's possession. "How on earth did Metallia get that?" Margot asked with a hushed tone of voice.
Julie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, trying to fend off the approaching headache. "I don't want to know. I'm just glad it's safe and now I want to go home and have a nap." Julie turned around and started walking home, the thoughts of aspirin and her bed dancing around in her thoughts. Almost immediately she hear Margot's voice drift over her shoulder.
"Oh, Julie!" Margot called out with a sing-song voice, "We have one more little problem to take care of before your naptime!" Julie turned around, staring at Margot flatly.
"What?" she forced out. Margot pointed at the unconscious warriors.
"How to get them home," Margot said. Julie sighed and groaned.
"Damn it," Julie said, ready to break down into tears of exhaustion, "How are we supposed to do that?" Margot sighed, surveying the group, all in full armor and shook her head at the impossibility of the task.
"Beats me. But we'd better get started," Margot stated. Julie groaned.
"Couldn't we just leave them here or dump some water on them or something? I mean, they'd wake up eventually and then they'd come home," Julie said, hoping that Margot would buy in to her alternatives.
"Quit complaining there and give me a hand. We'd better figure something out soon." Margot moved to begin transporting the warriors home. Julie sighed and moved to help Margot, her whole being emanating the fact that all she wanted to do was sleep.
"Why did we have to be the only ones awake?" Margot smiled wryly at Julie.
"Beats me. Life is not fair. Now quit complaining and start working!" Julie grumbled.
"Slave driver," she said under her breath.
"What was that?" Margot asked, knowing perfectly well what Julie had said, "Did you say something Julie?" Julie shook her head.
"No, I didn't," Julie mumbled.
"Good, now move faster." There was no more grumbling on Julie's part as she started to help Margot move the unconscious warriors.
"They so owe us," Julie said. Margot nodded at Julie.
"Agreed." Together, they began working on transporting the fallen warriors home. They had only just begun when Julie realized something.
"Aw shit!" she swore violently. Margot looked over at her twin.
"What?" Margot asked.
"Greg, Andrew, Molly, and Ken are still in the Negaverse," Julie said. Margot paled slightly at Julie's words.
"That means that we have to go into the Negaverse and get them," Margot grumbled.
"Now they really owe us," Julie said. Margot only sighed.
"We better get a good reward for doing this," Margot said. Julie smiled.
"Oh yes, we better."
********
Ok, so Metallia's been beaten, which leaves only one thing left – the epilogue. . . Wow, I can't believe this story's all finished. Hopefully, by the time we get finish updating book 4, book 5 will be completely written, so we can take a breather and work on the plot and ideas for book six. Please review and the epilogue will hopefully be up by week's end. ~Des
