A/N: Okay, endgame. Yes, the grail that was seen by Spock a few chapters ago was the Holy Grail. Yes, that was a quick-fix. You know, it kind of feels weird ending this... This is by far the most successful of all my fics, and this is the only fic I've ever finished. Even though it's not done yet, a finish is almost guarunteed. I may even have it up before next Friday. It's actually kind of depressing... *Goes off to listen to In The End by The Doors*
--
Chapter 18
I finished laying down my plan to the gathered Starfleeters and Emp. Matrix references had abounded throughout, as well as some Star Wars jokes, some Pirates of the Caribbean quips, and quite a bit more. Of course, the Starfleet crew had had no idea whatsoever about what was going on, but Emp and I didn't really care. We were just trying to get in our last laughs before the big show. We knew that we were risking our lives to save Spock, and that if we failed, The Black Author would very likely kill the entire crew, and then proceed to kill each Author on FanFiction.Net one at a time. We knew that we must not fail.
"Remember, The Black Author is not an idiot, though he may at times act like it. He will have defences in his lair to help defend himself in case the characters in the story he's in rise up. It's likely that there will be Klingon's and Romulan's there, and possible, but unlikely, that there will be some Borg." I pulled out a case of weapons and opened it. It contained phasers of all sorts, as well as a few grenades. "Use these. I want everyone to have a rifle and a pistol. Sulu and Chekov should probably keep the grenades."
Jones spoke up for the first time in a while; apparently, the thought of attacking TUBAs lair didn't set well with him. "I can handle the grenades-"
"NO!" Everyone said at the same time.
Jones winced. "Just a thought-"
"NO!" Everyone repeated. I mean, would YOU trust Jones with a grenade?
I continued. "Once you're inside, don't stop for anything except the Black Author himself. If you see him, it means that Emp and I are both dead. He will be extremely weakened if that's the case, so you should all fire at him, throw grenades at him - do everything to keep him away. Once you have Spock contact me with your communicators and tell me so, then get out of here with this." I tossed a strange device to Kirk. Emp's eyes widened at the sight of it.
"Ah... what's this?" He asked, eyeing it suspiciously.
"It'll open a portal to your home dimension. TUBA shouldn't have any power there, since it isn't inside a story. You should be safe." I pointed to a button. "Press that to open the portal, and press it again to close it. If the Black Author attacks you, get him with your phasers and use it to leave, even if you don't have Spock. If we're dead, and you're gone, he'll have no reason to stay here. He'll probably leave, and once you hear reports of him acting somewhere else, return here to get Spock. I'm sure he'll understand why you left him behind."
They all nodded solemnly. I looked Kirk straight in the eye. "And whatever you do, don't let Jones die."
"Why not? I mean, I don't want him to die, but I don't want anyone else to die, either. So why him in particular?" Kirk questioned.
"Because he's on loan to me, and I promised to return him in pristine condition. So naturally, I can't let him die, but if I'm engaged in a battle with The Black Author, I can't exactly look over him, can I?"
"Hm, interesting concept." Kirk said, looking thoughtful. "I'll watch him. Jones, don't get yourself killed."
"Right. Okay, let's go. It's daylight, and we need to move while TUBA has as little power as possible."
I raised my arms, and with a flash and a puff of smoke, we were all off to rescue Spock.
--
We appeared outside The Black Author's lair immediatly. I pointed a hand at the door of the lair, and it burst open in flames. Two Romulan's in guard towers flew from the towers in large explosions as I pointed at them.
"Okay, move. We'll keep causing havok here to draw TUBA out while you get Spock. And Kirk..." I grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to look me in the eye. "Good luck."
"You, too." Kirk pulled free of my grip, and ran at the head of his small force, phaser pistol in his belt and holding the rifle in a classic military postion. A Romulan appeared in the doorway, and was blasted away by the phaser rifle. He opened his mouth, let out a fierce war cry, and disappeared inside the lair. McCoy, Chekov, Sulu, Scotty, and Jones followed. None of them looked back.
I turned away from the heroic sight to resume my destruction of TUBAs fortress. I pointed again and again, blowing up bits of the Lair. Smoke floated through the air, and stones rained down. I began shouting.
"Come on out! Are you afraid of me, TUBA?! Are you afraid!?!" I pointed both of my arms at the fortress, and two streams of lightning sprang from my fingertips into the rock, melting some bits and blowing up others. I stopped the lightning, stared around.Where was he? Normally he'd of been there by now - he hated having his lair attacked, and hated even worse being taunted.
Then it came - that booming, wimpish evil laugh that was his signature. There was a swirl of black smoke in front of Emp and I, and he appeared, head tossed back in his laughter. His laughter died off, but his grin remained.
"Afraid of you? My dear Author, it'd take much more then the likes of you to make me afraid. Am I not The Ultimate Bane of Authors?" He laughed again. "No, if anything, I do not consider you worth my time, unless it is as entertainment. I will watch you two die, and I will enjoy it." His smirk broadened, and he snapped his fingers.
Two beasts appeared, standing on their hind legs. Their eyes were red, and their bodies were encased in flames. Their image brought to mind a picture of a miniaturized Balrog. My eyes narrowed at their appearance. Emp gasped lightly, barely audible unless standing right next to her, as I was. We were in trouble. The Black Author had a pair of Flamers in his possession, and he was planning to force us to fight them.
--
Kirk ran through the fortress, shooting Romulans and Klingons as he ran. He never missed. He was on a vendetta to save his friends life. Rounding a corner, Kirk triggered two blasts at a pair of unlucky Romulans. They evaporated as the rest of his mini strike force rounded the corner after him. They had not needed to fire a shot yet. Kirk rounded another corner, and came screeching to a halt. There was a doorway that had no apparent door, and on the other side of the passage he saw Spock. He was in a cell surrounded by a large number of robots that looked... familiar... somehow...
Nevermind that. If they were trying to keep Spock away from him, and tried to stop him, they'd meet the same fate as everyone else. Kirk walked into the room with slow, measured steps. The crew followed behind him cautiously. Sulu and Chekov performed rear guard, walking backwards slowly towards Kirk, scanning behind them for any enemies. Scotty, Bones, and Jones completed the crew following Kirk,. walking towards him facing his back.
When they were all inside the the room, something happened. They suddenly became surrounded by about a hundred of the strangely familiar robots. Kirk swore, and spun around, looking for a way out of the trap. There was none. Then the memory came back to him.
"Stella!" He shouted. And if these Stella robots were here, then that meant... "Harry!" Kirk bellowed.
"Yes, Jimmy, my old friend?" Harry Mudd responded, coming out from between two of the robots. "Do you like them? Oh, and drop the weapons. You'll all die if you try anything."
Kirk looked left and right at the robots, then dropped his phaser rifle. Harry's eyes followed the rifle, and then crossed to look at the phaser pistol suddenly, inexplicably pointing at his head.
"You die first." Kirk said. "Your robots will get us in a rush, but you die first, Harry."
A Stella robot spoke up from behind Harry. "He is bluffing."
Harry had started trembling. He shook his head marginally. "He's not bluffing."
Kirk smiled slowly, softly. "That's right, I'm not bluffing. Now call off your pet robots before your head is a part of that wall." As he spoke, his eyes hardened.
Harry nodded, and said a passcode. The robots all fell over, a few sparks flying. Kirk shoved Harry at McCoy and Scotty and moved to Spock. He glanced at the bars holding Spock in, and then at the lock. Kirk looked up at Spock and nodded. Spock turned his head away from the lock and covered his face.
The bars melted in a flash, and Spock stepped out. However, as soon as he did so, klaxon's blared and lights flashed. Dozens of Klingons and Romulans came running, all holding disruptors and disruptor rifles. They had heavy combat armor on, and, judging by the way they just started shooting, were inclined to taking any prisoners.
But that was okay. Kirk wouldn't have it any other way.
He triggered off multple rounds at them, kill a few Romulans, and then dove behind an over-turned table. the rest of his crew did likewise, and Kirk was both grateful and worried by the fact that there was only one entrance, and thusly only one exit.
"Chekov!" He shouted. "Two grenades at the doorway!"
"Aye, Captain!" Chekov shouted back, and lay his rifle on the ground. In skilled motions, he pulled out two grenades and, with one move, pulled the pins out. He then tossed them over at the entrance. "Everybody get down!" He shouted.
In responce to his order, the Starfleet crew ducked their heads down just as the grenades went off. Multiple Klingons and Romulans screamed in pain as they were caught in the blast, and instantly killed. Immediatly after the blast, the crew popped back up over the tables and began firing at the suddenly disorganized Klingons and Romulans. In a manner of minutes, a group of over 60 hostiles was taken down to 20, and those twenty were mostly wounded or unconscious.
"Move!" Kirk shouted. He lept over his table while his crew did the same. Chekov tossed an extra rifle he had been carrying to Spock. Spock caught it by the handle and kept moving with Kirk and their crew.
Soon, the conscious and able-bodied of the Romulans and Klingons, about 15 in total, followed Kirk and his group out of the room, leaving only a stunned, terrified, and exhilerated Harry Mudd behind.
"Is it over...?" He asked. In the absense of a reply, he assumed that it was yes. "Am I still alive?" Again, in the absense of a responce, he assumed that the answer was yes. "I'm alive!" He shouted, and did a little jig. If you had seen him, you probably would have shot him, but you didn't see him. Lucky you.
He abruptly stopped his jig when Kirk and Co came rushing back into the room. "Where was it, Spock?"
And Spock pointed at the wall. "Right there, behind the wall."
Kirk set his phaser to a moderate level, and blasted the wall away, revealing a shining golden cup that had been the source of all of his more recent troubles - the Holy Grail.
--
Emp got a predatorial grin on her face as the two Flamers moved in on us. I glanced at her, and she glanced briefly at me.
"You take care of him. I can handle these clowns." She said, the predatorial grin growing ever so slightly.
I lifted my eyebrow, but said nothing. Instead, I unleashed a wave of fire at The Black Author. He raised a hand, deflecting it all neatly to the side as I charged up at him from the side, pulling a sword hilt that had no blade from my belt. I leapt up at TUBA, and the blade appeared on the handle as a group of blazing white energy. I stabbed the weapon at the Bane, but he was fast - incredibly fast. In a blur of movement, he ducked beneath the jab and landed on the ground. Turning around, he threw a large ball of pure black energy at me. I twisted around and was barely able to ricochet the blast off of my sword before it nailed me. Despite blocking the attack, I was thrown to the ground and skidded a few feet before I could stand up.
When I did stand up, I charged him again, my sword in one hand, lightning-mingled fire blazing from the other. TUBA was able to push most of the lightningish fire away, but was unable to dodge the downward slash from my sword. The blade left a gash down his chest which almost instantly healed itself, but I knew that it took energy from him. His eyes blazed with a murderous wrath as he stared at me, but I didn't wait for him to make a move before attacking again. I thrust the blade at his stomach, but he jumped backwards away from the deadly weapon.
He then said some words in a booming language that I failed to understand, and a large sword composed entirely of a purple-tinted black energy appeared in front of him. He grabbed the sword by it's hilt and charged.
The first flash I lept to the side of, and the second I deflected to the ground. The third grazed my shoulder, and blasted me many yards away. I stood up shakily, and held my blade in a low guard, perfect for quick jabs or blocks. We charged eachother, and clashed in a series of hard swings, slow slashes, short jabs, parries, and quick cuts.
Emp was faring much better then I was. She lept over the two Flamers when they spouted flames at her from their mouths, and blasted one away into a nearby tree with a heavy gush of wind. It growled and struggled to get up while she duked it out with the remaining Flamer.
It slashed at her face with it's claws, but she bent backwards to avoid the attack. As she stood upright again, she got hit across the face by the creatures firey, whip-like tail. It left a deep, burned gash in her forehead. She gasped with the pain, but didn't stop moving as she jumped aside at the last second to dodge a firery blast from the powerful creature.
Throughout the while, her predatorial grin never faded.
There came a loud growl from behind her, and she glanced. The other Flamer had gained its footing again, and now she was surrounded. They both brought their heads back and belched out a long, unended torrent of flame at her. She smirked, and made gestures with her hands. Heavy gusts of wind picked up, curving the fires up into a single stream, and then directing them back at The Black Author. The gusts of wind and fire struck him as he was throwing another ball of black energy. He went tumbling into the ground, and the energy ball went haywire and struck one of the Flamers. The Flamer yelped, and disintegrated quickly. One down.
Emp then focused her attention on the remaining Flamer. This was the one that had been unharmed. She knew that the fire it was shooting at her, and that she was redirecting with the winds, would do nothing to it. So, she let go of the fire with the wind, but then pointed both hands at the Flamer. Two powerful streams of water exploded from her palms, and collided with the fire. At first, neither gained ground from the point they collided at, where fire and water meant, and both became steam. But then the water started, slowly but surely, creeping up on the Flamer. It wimpered, and then the water washed over it, extinguishing its fires, inside and out. The water battered the Flamer physically, and then Emp let up on the water. She walked over to it, and looked at it. It was struggling to breath. The Flamer looked up at Emp, the enemy who had vanquished it, and tried to slash at her with its claws, but in the absense of its fires to give it strength, it could barely lift its paw. Emp looked at the ground, let loose a small fountain of water that almost instantly turned to a sharp icicle, and put the poor beast out of its misery.
Then Emp turned towards where TUBA and I were battling, murder in her eyes. She formed another icicle and came towards us.
TUBA punched me in the face, sending me skidding a few feet and then walked over to stand above me. "I'll enjoy this more then I have ever enjoyed anything..." He said. "You shamed me, Wedge. And now you will die." He lifted his blade, and I caught a sight of Emp approaching from behind him. I knew I had to stall him.
"How?" I asked. "How did I shame you?"
"I was the Romulan Red-Shirt you interrupted so long ago. The one you swallowed with a crack in the ground, just so you could progress the plot." He laughed. "A plot, of all things!" He then grew serious again. "But no more stalling. I will kill you, now!" He began to swing to blade down, but then stopped when an icicle was stabbed through his shoulder. His eyes widened as the icicle melted to water, and then I blasted him away with a large, powerful blast of fire and electricity. TUBA went flying through the air, but landed on his feet.
I picked up my blade as Emp formed another Icicle, and togethor Emp and I stood opposite The Black Author. We stared at eachother, and then entered into the most dangerous battle any of us had faced thus far in our lives. I could only hope that Kirk had gotten Spock, and gotten out by then.
--
Chapter 18
I finished laying down my plan to the gathered Starfleeters and Emp. Matrix references had abounded throughout, as well as some Star Wars jokes, some Pirates of the Caribbean quips, and quite a bit more. Of course, the Starfleet crew had had no idea whatsoever about what was going on, but Emp and I didn't really care. We were just trying to get in our last laughs before the big show. We knew that we were risking our lives to save Spock, and that if we failed, The Black Author would very likely kill the entire crew, and then proceed to kill each Author on FanFiction.Net one at a time. We knew that we must not fail.
"Remember, The Black Author is not an idiot, though he may at times act like it. He will have defences in his lair to help defend himself in case the characters in the story he's in rise up. It's likely that there will be Klingon's and Romulan's there, and possible, but unlikely, that there will be some Borg." I pulled out a case of weapons and opened it. It contained phasers of all sorts, as well as a few grenades. "Use these. I want everyone to have a rifle and a pistol. Sulu and Chekov should probably keep the grenades."
Jones spoke up for the first time in a while; apparently, the thought of attacking TUBAs lair didn't set well with him. "I can handle the grenades-"
"NO!" Everyone said at the same time.
Jones winced. "Just a thought-"
"NO!" Everyone repeated. I mean, would YOU trust Jones with a grenade?
I continued. "Once you're inside, don't stop for anything except the Black Author himself. If you see him, it means that Emp and I are both dead. He will be extremely weakened if that's the case, so you should all fire at him, throw grenades at him - do everything to keep him away. Once you have Spock contact me with your communicators and tell me so, then get out of here with this." I tossed a strange device to Kirk. Emp's eyes widened at the sight of it.
"Ah... what's this?" He asked, eyeing it suspiciously.
"It'll open a portal to your home dimension. TUBA shouldn't have any power there, since it isn't inside a story. You should be safe." I pointed to a button. "Press that to open the portal, and press it again to close it. If the Black Author attacks you, get him with your phasers and use it to leave, even if you don't have Spock. If we're dead, and you're gone, he'll have no reason to stay here. He'll probably leave, and once you hear reports of him acting somewhere else, return here to get Spock. I'm sure he'll understand why you left him behind."
They all nodded solemnly. I looked Kirk straight in the eye. "And whatever you do, don't let Jones die."
"Why not? I mean, I don't want him to die, but I don't want anyone else to die, either. So why him in particular?" Kirk questioned.
"Because he's on loan to me, and I promised to return him in pristine condition. So naturally, I can't let him die, but if I'm engaged in a battle with The Black Author, I can't exactly look over him, can I?"
"Hm, interesting concept." Kirk said, looking thoughtful. "I'll watch him. Jones, don't get yourself killed."
"Right. Okay, let's go. It's daylight, and we need to move while TUBA has as little power as possible."
I raised my arms, and with a flash and a puff of smoke, we were all off to rescue Spock.
--
We appeared outside The Black Author's lair immediatly. I pointed a hand at the door of the lair, and it burst open in flames. Two Romulan's in guard towers flew from the towers in large explosions as I pointed at them.
"Okay, move. We'll keep causing havok here to draw TUBA out while you get Spock. And Kirk..." I grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to look me in the eye. "Good luck."
"You, too." Kirk pulled free of my grip, and ran at the head of his small force, phaser pistol in his belt and holding the rifle in a classic military postion. A Romulan appeared in the doorway, and was blasted away by the phaser rifle. He opened his mouth, let out a fierce war cry, and disappeared inside the lair. McCoy, Chekov, Sulu, Scotty, and Jones followed. None of them looked back.
I turned away from the heroic sight to resume my destruction of TUBAs fortress. I pointed again and again, blowing up bits of the Lair. Smoke floated through the air, and stones rained down. I began shouting.
"Come on out! Are you afraid of me, TUBA?! Are you afraid!?!" I pointed both of my arms at the fortress, and two streams of lightning sprang from my fingertips into the rock, melting some bits and blowing up others. I stopped the lightning, stared around.Where was he? Normally he'd of been there by now - he hated having his lair attacked, and hated even worse being taunted.
Then it came - that booming, wimpish evil laugh that was his signature. There was a swirl of black smoke in front of Emp and I, and he appeared, head tossed back in his laughter. His laughter died off, but his grin remained.
"Afraid of you? My dear Author, it'd take much more then the likes of you to make me afraid. Am I not The Ultimate Bane of Authors?" He laughed again. "No, if anything, I do not consider you worth my time, unless it is as entertainment. I will watch you two die, and I will enjoy it." His smirk broadened, and he snapped his fingers.
Two beasts appeared, standing on their hind legs. Their eyes were red, and their bodies were encased in flames. Their image brought to mind a picture of a miniaturized Balrog. My eyes narrowed at their appearance. Emp gasped lightly, barely audible unless standing right next to her, as I was. We were in trouble. The Black Author had a pair of Flamers in his possession, and he was planning to force us to fight them.
--
Kirk ran through the fortress, shooting Romulans and Klingons as he ran. He never missed. He was on a vendetta to save his friends life. Rounding a corner, Kirk triggered two blasts at a pair of unlucky Romulans. They evaporated as the rest of his mini strike force rounded the corner after him. They had not needed to fire a shot yet. Kirk rounded another corner, and came screeching to a halt. There was a doorway that had no apparent door, and on the other side of the passage he saw Spock. He was in a cell surrounded by a large number of robots that looked... familiar... somehow...
Nevermind that. If they were trying to keep Spock away from him, and tried to stop him, they'd meet the same fate as everyone else. Kirk walked into the room with slow, measured steps. The crew followed behind him cautiously. Sulu and Chekov performed rear guard, walking backwards slowly towards Kirk, scanning behind them for any enemies. Scotty, Bones, and Jones completed the crew following Kirk,. walking towards him facing his back.
When they were all inside the the room, something happened. They suddenly became surrounded by about a hundred of the strangely familiar robots. Kirk swore, and spun around, looking for a way out of the trap. There was none. Then the memory came back to him.
"Stella!" He shouted. And if these Stella robots were here, then that meant... "Harry!" Kirk bellowed.
"Yes, Jimmy, my old friend?" Harry Mudd responded, coming out from between two of the robots. "Do you like them? Oh, and drop the weapons. You'll all die if you try anything."
Kirk looked left and right at the robots, then dropped his phaser rifle. Harry's eyes followed the rifle, and then crossed to look at the phaser pistol suddenly, inexplicably pointing at his head.
"You die first." Kirk said. "Your robots will get us in a rush, but you die first, Harry."
A Stella robot spoke up from behind Harry. "He is bluffing."
Harry had started trembling. He shook his head marginally. "He's not bluffing."
Kirk smiled slowly, softly. "That's right, I'm not bluffing. Now call off your pet robots before your head is a part of that wall." As he spoke, his eyes hardened.
Harry nodded, and said a passcode. The robots all fell over, a few sparks flying. Kirk shoved Harry at McCoy and Scotty and moved to Spock. He glanced at the bars holding Spock in, and then at the lock. Kirk looked up at Spock and nodded. Spock turned his head away from the lock and covered his face.
The bars melted in a flash, and Spock stepped out. However, as soon as he did so, klaxon's blared and lights flashed. Dozens of Klingons and Romulans came running, all holding disruptors and disruptor rifles. They had heavy combat armor on, and, judging by the way they just started shooting, were inclined to taking any prisoners.
But that was okay. Kirk wouldn't have it any other way.
He triggered off multple rounds at them, kill a few Romulans, and then dove behind an over-turned table. the rest of his crew did likewise, and Kirk was both grateful and worried by the fact that there was only one entrance, and thusly only one exit.
"Chekov!" He shouted. "Two grenades at the doorway!"
"Aye, Captain!" Chekov shouted back, and lay his rifle on the ground. In skilled motions, he pulled out two grenades and, with one move, pulled the pins out. He then tossed them over at the entrance. "Everybody get down!" He shouted.
In responce to his order, the Starfleet crew ducked their heads down just as the grenades went off. Multiple Klingons and Romulans screamed in pain as they were caught in the blast, and instantly killed. Immediatly after the blast, the crew popped back up over the tables and began firing at the suddenly disorganized Klingons and Romulans. In a manner of minutes, a group of over 60 hostiles was taken down to 20, and those twenty were mostly wounded or unconscious.
"Move!" Kirk shouted. He lept over his table while his crew did the same. Chekov tossed an extra rifle he had been carrying to Spock. Spock caught it by the handle and kept moving with Kirk and their crew.
Soon, the conscious and able-bodied of the Romulans and Klingons, about 15 in total, followed Kirk and his group out of the room, leaving only a stunned, terrified, and exhilerated Harry Mudd behind.
"Is it over...?" He asked. In the absense of a reply, he assumed that it was yes. "Am I still alive?" Again, in the absense of a responce, he assumed that the answer was yes. "I'm alive!" He shouted, and did a little jig. If you had seen him, you probably would have shot him, but you didn't see him. Lucky you.
He abruptly stopped his jig when Kirk and Co came rushing back into the room. "Where was it, Spock?"
And Spock pointed at the wall. "Right there, behind the wall."
Kirk set his phaser to a moderate level, and blasted the wall away, revealing a shining golden cup that had been the source of all of his more recent troubles - the Holy Grail.
--
Emp got a predatorial grin on her face as the two Flamers moved in on us. I glanced at her, and she glanced briefly at me.
"You take care of him. I can handle these clowns." She said, the predatorial grin growing ever so slightly.
I lifted my eyebrow, but said nothing. Instead, I unleashed a wave of fire at The Black Author. He raised a hand, deflecting it all neatly to the side as I charged up at him from the side, pulling a sword hilt that had no blade from my belt. I leapt up at TUBA, and the blade appeared on the handle as a group of blazing white energy. I stabbed the weapon at the Bane, but he was fast - incredibly fast. In a blur of movement, he ducked beneath the jab and landed on the ground. Turning around, he threw a large ball of pure black energy at me. I twisted around and was barely able to ricochet the blast off of my sword before it nailed me. Despite blocking the attack, I was thrown to the ground and skidded a few feet before I could stand up.
When I did stand up, I charged him again, my sword in one hand, lightning-mingled fire blazing from the other. TUBA was able to push most of the lightningish fire away, but was unable to dodge the downward slash from my sword. The blade left a gash down his chest which almost instantly healed itself, but I knew that it took energy from him. His eyes blazed with a murderous wrath as he stared at me, but I didn't wait for him to make a move before attacking again. I thrust the blade at his stomach, but he jumped backwards away from the deadly weapon.
He then said some words in a booming language that I failed to understand, and a large sword composed entirely of a purple-tinted black energy appeared in front of him. He grabbed the sword by it's hilt and charged.
The first flash I lept to the side of, and the second I deflected to the ground. The third grazed my shoulder, and blasted me many yards away. I stood up shakily, and held my blade in a low guard, perfect for quick jabs or blocks. We charged eachother, and clashed in a series of hard swings, slow slashes, short jabs, parries, and quick cuts.
Emp was faring much better then I was. She lept over the two Flamers when they spouted flames at her from their mouths, and blasted one away into a nearby tree with a heavy gush of wind. It growled and struggled to get up while she duked it out with the remaining Flamer.
It slashed at her face with it's claws, but she bent backwards to avoid the attack. As she stood upright again, she got hit across the face by the creatures firey, whip-like tail. It left a deep, burned gash in her forehead. She gasped with the pain, but didn't stop moving as she jumped aside at the last second to dodge a firery blast from the powerful creature.
Throughout the while, her predatorial grin never faded.
There came a loud growl from behind her, and she glanced. The other Flamer had gained its footing again, and now she was surrounded. They both brought their heads back and belched out a long, unended torrent of flame at her. She smirked, and made gestures with her hands. Heavy gusts of wind picked up, curving the fires up into a single stream, and then directing them back at The Black Author. The gusts of wind and fire struck him as he was throwing another ball of black energy. He went tumbling into the ground, and the energy ball went haywire and struck one of the Flamers. The Flamer yelped, and disintegrated quickly. One down.
Emp then focused her attention on the remaining Flamer. This was the one that had been unharmed. She knew that the fire it was shooting at her, and that she was redirecting with the winds, would do nothing to it. So, she let go of the fire with the wind, but then pointed both hands at the Flamer. Two powerful streams of water exploded from her palms, and collided with the fire. At first, neither gained ground from the point they collided at, where fire and water meant, and both became steam. But then the water started, slowly but surely, creeping up on the Flamer. It wimpered, and then the water washed over it, extinguishing its fires, inside and out. The water battered the Flamer physically, and then Emp let up on the water. She walked over to it, and looked at it. It was struggling to breath. The Flamer looked up at Emp, the enemy who had vanquished it, and tried to slash at her with its claws, but in the absense of its fires to give it strength, it could barely lift its paw. Emp looked at the ground, let loose a small fountain of water that almost instantly turned to a sharp icicle, and put the poor beast out of its misery.
Then Emp turned towards where TUBA and I were battling, murder in her eyes. She formed another icicle and came towards us.
TUBA punched me in the face, sending me skidding a few feet and then walked over to stand above me. "I'll enjoy this more then I have ever enjoyed anything..." He said. "You shamed me, Wedge. And now you will die." He lifted his blade, and I caught a sight of Emp approaching from behind him. I knew I had to stall him.
"How?" I asked. "How did I shame you?"
"I was the Romulan Red-Shirt you interrupted so long ago. The one you swallowed with a crack in the ground, just so you could progress the plot." He laughed. "A plot, of all things!" He then grew serious again. "But no more stalling. I will kill you, now!" He began to swing to blade down, but then stopped when an icicle was stabbed through his shoulder. His eyes widened as the icicle melted to water, and then I blasted him away with a large, powerful blast of fire and electricity. TUBA went flying through the air, but landed on his feet.
I picked up my blade as Emp formed another Icicle, and togethor Emp and I stood opposite The Black Author. We stared at eachother, and then entered into the most dangerous battle any of us had faced thus far in our lives. I could only hope that Kirk had gotten Spock, and gotten out by then.