Chapter 9 - Close encounters

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, kids!"

Everyone turned around and cried out,

"Salvatore!"

He grinned, with just a hint of self-satisfaction.

"What happened? How did you get out? I-we, were so worried!" Sparx burst out.

"How sweet." said Salvatore, in a sticky voice.

"Sweet?"

"Sal! Where's dad and Euphrates? If they're hurt, we need to get them out now." Ace was relieved and scared at the same time to see Salvatore by himself.

"They're hiding. Follow me, I'll take you to them." He started walking, but was knocked over by Randy, still wielding his club. He was about to take another swing, but was stopped by Sparx jumping on his back and grabbing him around the neck.

"Randy! Stop it!"

Ace bent to help Salvatore up, but Randy yelled, "Ace don't! Sparx, get off me! That isn't Salvatore!"

"What do you mean? Of course it is!" said Sparx, not letting go, but loosening her hold around his neck.

"No, it's not. Sparx, has he ever called you sweet? And Ace, would our dads ever hide? No! Whoever that is, they're lying."

Sparx slid off his back and Ace nodded. "You're right Rand."

"How very clever!" the Salvatore look-alike said sarcastically. Not in Salvatore's voice, but in a woman's. Randy, Ace and Sparx all watched, amazed, as the figure started to morph and change into the body of a green, spider-headed woman. She didn't look any older than Ace.

"Who are you?" Sparx couldn't hide the disgust in her voice.

"I am Lady Illusion, and you are dead!" She formed a crystal ball in her hand and threw it at them. Randy sent it hurtling towards a wall with his club. It blew up on impact, a mushroom cloud issuing from the hole it had made in the wall.

"Where are our fathers?" demanded Ace. No one noticed Sparx running back to the pile of wood and grabbing a club for herself and Ace.

"Why do you care, you'll never get past me!"

"You'd be surprised by what determination can do!" replied Sparx, handing a club to Ace.

"Oh, I'm so scared! My bombs against your fence posts!" The Lady said, "I guess I'll just have to even the scores! You boys can deal with Anvil. The little girl can take me on, if you're not to scared, that is!"

"Little girl!" spluttered Sparx, "I was more of a woman the day I was born than you'll ever be!"

"Be careful, Sparx." warned Ace as he and Randy watched the huge rhino lumbering out into the open.

"Time to smash you!" he sang at them. Raising the huge chunk of metal he had in place of a right hand, Anvil bought it down centimetres from where they stood. Ace and Randy raised their clubs uncertainly, trying to recall every bit of combat training they'd ever received.

Sparx, meanwhile, faced Lady Illusion. She was flushed and angry, but confident. She hadn't lived the life she'd lived and spent the last six months training to be scared by some green freak.

"You know," she taunted, "There's this stuff called 'skin care products'. It'd probably help your complexion."

"Why, you little brat!" Forming another bomb, the Lady hurled it at Sparx, who sent it flying back with her club. Lady Illusion jumped out of the way, sticking to the wall behind her.

"This guy doesn't seem so bright." Ace whispered to Randy.

"No, you think?" Apparently he'd already figured that out. "But our brains are about the only things we've got going for us at the moment."

"Maybe if you go behind him and I stay in front and we both attack him, he won't know who to fight first. At least one of us should get a few good whacks in."

"Sounds like a plan." Randy ran behind Anvil while Ace distracted him, then they both started yelling at him. When he was completely confused, which didn't take long, they both started attacking him with their clubs. Before long he started to flicker and then faded completely away.

"Now what?" asked Randy. "Do we help Sparx or find our dads?"

Sparx, hearing this, said, "You guys find the men. I'll be there soon, when I finish off the old bird here."

The Lady took the bait, just as Sparx knew she would. "Take that back! I am not old!" She threw another bomb.

"Then stop calling me a little girl!" Sparx sent it flying back.

Ace and Randy looked at each other. "Let's go."

Staying close to the main wall, and using the stalls for cover, Randy and Ace made their way around the carnival. Rounding a corner, they heard voices.

'It's them' Randy mouthed to Ace, who just nodded. He was listening to an unfamiliar voice that was talking to the Knights.

"Soon you will have nothing to live for," it was saying, "But don't worry I'll soon put you out of your misery!"

"Who are you?" Ace heard his father asking and sighed with relief, he sounded O.K.

"I am Lord Fear!" Randy's spine crawled. That name was from the darkest hour of the Knights' history.

"But that's impossible!" Euphrates insisted, much to Randy's joy. "Lord Fear was killed hundreds of years ago!"

"I know. That Lord Fear was my father. Just as your forefathers killed mine, so I will destroy you! As soon as your sons are decimated."

"Don't you touch them!" yelled Euphrates.

"Me? Don't be stupid, you pathetic fool! I wouldn't lay a finger on those brats. My many associates, some of which you had the pleasure of meeting earlier, will soon fix them. Then, there will be no Lightning Knights left. No one to get in the way of my father's plans, my plans!

Still battling Lady Illusion, Sparx was beginning to tire. But she could tell that her opponent was too.

"You look a little green, Lady. Do you need a rest?"

"I'm hardly the green one, Sparxy. I've had plenty of experience in long battles. Something that you'll never live to achieve!"

The bomb that came with this last statement was thrown with more force that all the others put together. It knocked Sparx's club right out of her hands.

"Hey!"

"Good luck beating this!" The bomb Lady formed this time had a deep green tinge and was twice the size of the others.

As she threw it, her last words flicked a switch in Sparx's brain. Luck!

Reaching up and grabbing the knife from the arch of her back, Sparx held its tip and tossed it at the fast approaching bomb. The two collided in mid air, causing a massive explosion. Sparx looked through the dust and smoke for Lady Illusion, but she had morphed out as soon as she threw the bomb, truly believing Sparx was defeated, and to tired to continue fighting anyway. Sparx walked over and picked up what was left of her knife, a mangled, half melted chunk of silver and gold.

"You'll pay for that, Lady." muttered Sparx, before going in search of Randy and Ace.