Chapter 7: The Rise and Fall of a Strange Force
Jeremy's eyes cracked open a little bit as he heard a beeping noise. He was still attached to the rejuvenation machine, but the liquid was draining. The door opened up and he pulled the oxygen mask off of his face. He slowly stepped out of the tank, stretching a little bit. The water like substance dripped off of him as he stood there. He shivered and looked at the other two tanks. He noticed that the hole in the newcomer's chest had closed, and Eleanor's face was filling with color, but there was no way of knowing when they would be done.
As Jeremy walked out of the room, he felt something strange, like there was something different, but he couldn't tell what it was. He shrugged his shoulders and continued walking down the hall towards the residential wing. He went upstairs and took a shower. After drying off and changing clothes, he walked downstairs, through the oddly silent house, and into the kitchen, where he saw a groggy looking Bulma pouring herself a cup of coffee and watching news of the destruction left by the asteroid.
"Hey there, sleepy," he said cheerfully.
"Oh, you're finished. How are you?"
"Better than ever." Jeremy then noticed that Bulma's eyes were red and there were stains on her cheeks. He then remembered everything that had happened yesterday. He clenched his fists and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, Bulma."
Bulma looked at the ground, too. "Yeah, well, what's done is done, and we can always wish them back." She sipped on her coffee and noticed something. "Oh … my…." She set down her cup and ran over towards Jeremy.
"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked. Bulma paid him no heed and ran behind him. Suddenly, Jeremy's body was racked with a very intense pain. He could hardly move or breathe. Then, almost as quickly as it had started, it stopped.
"OWIE!" he said as he turned to face Bulma. "What just happened? Is something still broken?"
"N… No, but… I… well… look for yourself!" She pointed behind Jeremy twisted his body around and noticed some flicking to-and-fro behind him. His eyes widened.
"I… I've got a tail?" Jeremy looked at the furry brown tail twitching behind him. "Wait, if I've got a tail…"
"Then that means that you're at least part Saiya-jin!" said Eleanor. Jeremy and Bulma whirled around to look at the girl, who had a similar appendage twisting behind her. Jeremy looked at her with wide eyes.
"Our lives just get weirder and weirder!" Jeremy said.
A few minutes later, Bulma had Jeremy hooked up to some sort of machine, leaving him only in his shorts. "Uh, what are you doing?" he asked.
"I'm doing what we should've done to begin with! I'm going to analyze your DNA and try to figure out what exactly you two are!"
"Well, why do you have to attach me to this machine? Don't you just need to take a sample of my blood?"
"Nah, this is much quicker than that old method, and it doesn't hurt."
"Hey, the last time someone said something like that, it was Vegeta telling me about this new attack he came up with. Unfortunately, he didn't tell me that he was saying that it wouldn't hurt him, not me!"
"Fine!" said Bulma. "This might sting a little bit! Those that make you feel better?" She then pressed a button and the machine started to do its work.
A few moments later, an image popped up onto the screen. It was an image of a DNA strand. "See! I told you it wouldn't hurt!" Bulma said to Jeremy. Jeremy grumbled something and started pulling himself out of the machine as Bulma busily worked on the image. He walked over to Bulma and looked up at the screen.
"Well, some of these genes are definitely a Saiya-jin's, but I've never seen some of these chromosomes before! I've been able to distinguish two different species' DNA types, but I do not know what the second type is. All I can tell you is that it complements and enhances the Saiya-jin genes almost as if it were made for them."
At that moment, Eleanor rushed in. "Hey! You guys! That guy is beginning to wake up!"
Vorados' eyes opened as he awoke. He found himself within a rejuvenation tank and saw three figures standing outside of it, waiting impatiently for the liquid to drain. As soon as it had, the male of the group flung open the door to the tank and pulled Vorados out.
"Okay, Chris! Your game is up! You WILL answer my questions or I WILL kill you!" Vorados stood up and brushed himself off. "Why did you kill all of them!" Jeremy screamed at him.
"I didn't kill anybody that you knew," Vorados replied calmly.
"Oh, really? Then who did? Mr. Nobody?"
"Listen, Jeremy, I've changed and I am no longer just Chris. Why don't you just listen to what I have to say about what happened?"
"Okay, I'm willing to hear it. But if you try anything, I'm not going to show much mercy."
Vorados snorted at the idea that this mortal was stronger than he was. "Well, this is what happened." Vorados explained what happened on his side of the battlefield, and then Jeremy told him what had happened on his.
"So, you're saying that Satan came and possessed you, then you merged with another demon and became very powerful? Chris, that is about the lamest excuse I've ever heard, but it would explain a few things, so I'll believe it, for now."
"Do as you please. Now," he said, turning to Bulma, "we must go to Namek-sei."
"Why?" she asked him. "We only have to wait a few more months, and then we can use Earth's dragonballs."
"No, this is of higher purpose. Remember that power heading towards Namek-sei? We must destroy it!"
"Hmmm…. Well, I'll get started on the space capsule, but it'll take me a while, maybe three weeks. You people can stay here, of course."
Jeremy and Eleanor had been inside the gravity room, training fiercely, but Vorados hadn't been doing much. He believed that he was much too strong to have a decent fight with either Jeremy or Eleanor, but he didn't have anything else to do. He decided to start exploring the places that Vegeta had frequented the most. His first stop was the gravity room. He watched Eleanor and Jeremy spar for a little bit, then became bored and moved on, even though he was slightly impressed at their power levels.
He then headed to the kitchen, where Vegeta spent most of the rest of his time. He looked around and didn't see much of interest. After a few minutes of watching a bagel spin around in a microwave, he became bored yet again.
He then walked up the stairs to Vegeta's bedroom. Not much there, but he amused himself by fondling some of Vegeta's possessions. He walked over to a closet and opened it up, exposing a closet full of, you guessed it, blue spandex.
Vorados moved the Saiya-jin Armor around, looking at each one, searching for any type of uniqueness. As he was looking through the closet, a box on the floor caught his attention. He picked it up and started looking through it. He then came to an unopened letter. He looked at it quizzically, then opened it up. Out of the envelope fell a picture and a letter. He looked at the picture, which was of the Ginyu Force in some of their more famous poses. The letter simply read:
"Master Vegeta,
"They have finally arrived just as you planned! Now you can fulfill your ultimate scheme.
"Forever your loyal servant,
"Shou."
Vorados kept digging through the box and soon found some hastily scribbled notes. Vorados smiled as he realized what Vegeta had been planning, and decided to go ahead and finish his idol's plan himself. He took the materials and ran outside, where he jumped into the air and flew off.
Jeremy sat down in the gravity room, sweat pouring down his face. Eleanor sat down next to him and wiped her face with a towel, which she then handed to him. They both just sat there for a little while, catching their breath, then Eleanor spoke up.
"You know, Chris isn't at the building anymore. He took off a little while ago."
"Hmmm…." Jeremy said. "Maybe we should try to track him down, 'cause I don't know how he thinks anymore now that he's gone through that change."
Eleanor and he walked out of the hot gravity chamber and into the crisp autumn breeze. Jeremy looked around and said, "I can't feel his chi anymore, can you?"
"Of course." Eleanor pointed towards the north. "He's that way." They both took off towards the chi.
Vorados landed beside a building in the middle of South City. He walked towards it and opened the door. Inside the building was darkness. He walked a little bit, then noticed a light coming down the hall through a cracked door. He walked to it and heard muffled laughter coming from inside. He opened the door and walked in. He saw a group of five beings sitting on the ground holding cards.
"GO FISH!" yelled out the red skinned alien w/ white hair.
"Aww man," said the short bug-eyed green alien, with four eyes.
"Hey!" said the blue alien to Vorados. "Who are you?"
"Yeah!" said the pale-skinned redheaded humanoid.
"I am your new leader," announced Vorados.
"Says who?" yelled out the red skinned one. Vorados smirked and lifted his arm into the air. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the alien who had remained silent flying backwards into a wall.
"I do."
"Whoa!" said Jeice, the red alien with the accent. "You're more powerful than the Cap'n?"
"Man!" said Burter, the bluish alien. "What a power!"
Guldo, the short four-eyed green alien was clutching onto Recoome's leg. Recoome was the humanoid red-head. The 'Cap'n' as Jeice had put it, slowly stood up from the far wall and walked over to Vorados. He was about the same height as Vorados, two black horns, and had purplish skin.
"My!" he said. "What a big power level you have!" Captain Ginyu smirked. Vorados felt a slight increase in Captain Ginyu's power level and knew what was coming.
Suddenly, Captain Ginyu yelled out. But Vorados was prepared for this attack. "CHANGE NO…OW!" the Captain screamed as Vorados ducked and punched him in the face.
"Sorry, Captain, but your little trick won't work on me. I'm too quick for you. If you try it again, though, you won't wake up in the morning with just an aching jaw, you just won't wake up in the morning."
"Point taken," grumbled the once proud Captain.
"Oh yes, now that you are my force, I must rename you. And I know the perfect name. I now dub thee the Yaoi Force!"
"Why?" asked Recoome.
"Because I can." Everyone thought about this for a moment, then slowly nodded. "Now, who wants to take over the world!" Vorados yelled out.
Everyone stared at him blankly. "Are you crazy?" yelled out Guldo. "Goku and the others would kill us if we tried to!"
"No they won't, cause they can't. They're dead. There is only a handful of powers left in this universe that can even think about rivaling my power, and most of them won't care about this backwater planet. Anyway, I'm bored, so let's go!"
Jeremy and Eleanor landed near the house a short while afterwards. Jeremy started to walk towards the house, but was suddenly stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Eleanor holding him back and staring past him.
"What is it?" he asked, turning his head to spot the danger.
"It… it's… it's that!" She pointed towards the east. Jeremy looked in that direction but saw nothing but a group of buildings.
"What!" he said, getting a little annoyed.
"It… it's the new mall!" She grabbed his arm and shot off towards it, Jeremy trailing behind.
"But Eleanor, we have a mission!"
Vorados turned on a TV and started flipping through the channels. He then came to the political channel, which was broadcasting Bill Clinton's famous, "I Did Not Have Sexual Relations With That Woman," speech live. Vorados grinned.
"Ginyu!" he yelled out.
"Yes sir?" said the alien.
"Here is the plan. You are to change forms with that man on the screen and stall that meeting until we get there, then tell everyone in the world to surrender to us. Got it?"
"Yeah, I got it." Ginyu looked at the screen. "Well, here goes. CHANGE NOW!" Everyone watched as Ginyu suddenly got a confused look on his face and the Bill Clinton on the screen smirked.
"Huh?" said Ginyu. "What happened?" Vorados knocked Bill out and threw him over his shoulder. Everyone turned to the TV screen where 'Bill Clinton' was still smirking.
"Actually," said 'Bill,' "I did have sexual relations with that woman. Let me tell you all about them…"
"Well, Ginyu is doing his part of the job," said Vorados. "Let's go do ours." They all jumped outside and into the air.
"Yes, Eleanor, that is a pretty kimono," Jeremy said in an annoyed voice. It was about the fifth time Eleanor had tried that one kimono out. "Can we go now?"
"Well, I guess so… we can always come back later. C'mon."
Jeremy happily jumped up and quickly headed towards the exit, Eleanor in hand. Just as they neared the exit, though, "MY! Jeremy! Isn't this one pretty? I just have to try it on!" Jeremy wearily trudged back, following Eleanor.
A few hours later, the Yaoi Force landed in the middle of Washington, DC.
'Bill Clinton' continued his speech. "… and then there was the time that Bill Gates and Hugh Hefner invited us to a gigantic, three day orgy at the Playboy Mansion… and the time that…" There was suddenly a huge explosion behind him. He watched as the reporters cowered and turned to the gaping hole in the wall as the smoke cleared. Six shadowy figures emerged from the smoke. It was the Yaoi Force.
Vorados then ran up behind the Captain and wrapped his arm around his neck. "Everyone give up or the President gets it!"
Captain Ginyu put all of those acting classes, that Freezer had made him take, to use. "Do it!" he cried out in a frightened voice "Follow his every command!"
Suddenly, the back doors busted open and hundreds of soldiers ran into the room, all pointing their guns at Vorados, who laughed at their puny powers. "Drop your weapons now!"
"And why should we?" asked a randomly generated four star general who walked into the room, hands behind his back, smoking a pipe.
Vorados lifted his finger, pointed at the general, and smirked. "This is why." He then fired a moderate ki blast. The general's eyes widened as the blast sailed at him. The explosion rocked the room, filling it with smoke. The smoke cleared away, leaving only a crumbling wall, wide-eyed soldiers, and a hatless general, who dropped the smoldering end of his pipe.
"Now, give me the world."
In the corner, a fax machine started printing. It was France. "WE SURRENDER!"
Jeremy stood in the men's section of the clothing department, looking very annoyed. Around him, almost blurring out of sight at moments, Eleanor hurriedly scrambled around him, checking out the suit. "Are you done yet?" he asked, his voice heavy. "We really need to figure out what Chris is doing, and we've been in here for almost half a day!"
"Alright," Eleanor said detachedly. "Just change back and we'll go find him."
Neo-Nazgoth was the name of the world's new capital, and Vorados had it built his way. With tall dark spires and buildings built out of dark stone, the city itself seemed to be clouded in despair. The architecture was magnificent, but standing alone in the streets was said to bring insanity. There was a constant fog, shrouding everything in its gloomy mist. At nighttime, the city was quite eerie, as if it was a portal to the underworld itself.
On the edge of this city, a robed figure quickly bounded from tree to tree. He stopped on the top of a building. He surveyed the landscape and smirked. Robert pulled back his hood. His training had been severe, and his hair had grown out long. He had almost mastered the art of hidden weapon fighting under his master, Mousse. He was now waiting for his comrades.
After a few moments, Robert spotted a young woman walking down the street, carrying a wooden sword over her shoulder. She was dressed in priestess robes and her hair had also grown longer. Robert whistled out to her. She spotted him, then leapt up to the roof with him. Robert whistled at her jumping ability and nodded to her when she landed. "Hello, Hailey."
"Hi, Robert. I see you have a new look."
"You too."
Suddenly, there was an explosion in the distance. Robert and Hailey turned to watch a building crumble, causing a large cloud of dust. Something huge emerged from the cloud, with brightly glowing eyes. It then jumped on top of the building. It was a large, pink robot. The hatch opened up and Jared jumped out.
"Cool, isn't it?" he said excitedly. "It's an Aestivalis-type mecha. Guy let me borrow it for our mission." Jared pressed a button and the mecha collapsed itself into the watch Jared was wearing. They looked out over the city.
"It sure is an awesome looking place, isn't it?" asked Hailey. Robert gave a curt nod.
"Yes, it is. The others said that they will catch up, so let us go." Every one nodded. Robert jumped to the next roof. Jared jumped onto Hailey's back, and they jumped after him.
Vorados settled upon his throne, ready to dictate the world's every move. The other nation's leaders, who had been watching the broadcast, had given up with less of a fight than America had.
"Sir!" reported Guldo and Jeice. "We have finally created our new nation's flag!"
"Good; show it to me." Guldo and Jeice held up a yellow flag with a rubber chicken on it. "Hmmm… I like it. Make ten thousand replicas and distribute them to the all of the major cities."
"Sir!" yelled out Recoome. "Two peasants claiming they know you have come to petition you."
"Fine, maybe they can provide for me a little entertainment. Let them in."
Jeremy and Eleanor walked into the huge, cathedral-like throne room. They stopped as they saw Guldo and Jeice running past them holding a yellow flag with a rubber chicken on it. Jeremy raised an eyebrow. "Hey," said Eleanor. "I thought they were dead."
"I guess they were resurrected at some point. Oh well; let's find Chris and get this over with." They continued on, keeping their eyes upon Vorados.
"Ok, Chris," said Jeremy. "What are you up to?"
"Kneel before your ruler!" yelled out Ginyu, the Captain of the Guard.
"Huh?" asked Eleanor.
"Kneel before Vorados, the greatest fighter and king this world, no, this universe, has ever known!"
"… Or not," replied Jeremy.
"Why you!" Ginyu yelled out angrily. He lunged at Jeremy, but Jeremy ducked and punched him in the gut, sending Ginyu flying into the back wall. The rest of the Guard scattered like sheep without a shepherd, only these were ADD sheep on speed and Surge and their shepherd had just been raped and shot by a crazed truck driver going down I-85 at insane speeds.
Vorados nodded. "So I see that you are almost as powerful as I now."
Jeremy shook his head. "Everything's about power with you now, Chris! What happened to you? You used to be our friend, but you've been acting really strange lately."
"No one person has the right to dictate the lives of others," Eleanor said. "You know this."
"But it's so boring back at Capsule Corp."
"Are you saying you did this because you were bored?" asked Jeremy. "Why didn't you just spar with us or something? And have you even forgotten why we're doing what we are?"
"No, I haven't forgotten. Just because you and Eleanor don't know who you are, what you are, or where you're from, doesn't me that I have to be held back! I know who I am and why I'm here. The quest is over to me. I don't need to go along anymore."
"Yes you do."
"And why is that?" Vorados' tone was becoming threatening.
"You are still needed to help bring back the others. And remember that incredibly huge power moving towards Namek-sei? I'm not going to be able to take it down alone."
"What makes you think it needs to be taken out?"
"Hmm… let me think," said Eleanor. "It only tried to destroy our planet, that's all. Hint: you would have died, too!"
Vorados thought about this.
"Chris, we need to work together to beat whatever is coming up," said Eleanor. "If we don't then everyone will perish."
"Eleanor is right, Chris. We must…." Jeremy stopped talking as pain rocketed up his back and he froze.
"Jeremy? What's wr…." Eleanor stopped in mid-sentence too.
"I… I can't move for some reason…" Jeremy thought. He looked at Vorados, who was smirking.
"Well, well, well," Jeremy heard from behind himself. "Mr. Invincible here has a weakness after all." Jeremy slowly turned to see a battered Ginyu holding his tail in a death grip. "Monkey's should always keep an eye on their tails!" Ginyu tightened his grip and the pain increased ten fold, such that Jeremy couldn't imagine a greater pain. He passed out.
Vorados looked down at Jeremy and Eleanor's fallen forms, smirking. "It was fun to see you squirm for once, Jeremy. Those were good words you spoke, but I still have till Bulma finishes the ship to run my empire, and I plan on doing just that."
"What should we do with them, sir?" asked Guldo.
"Throw them into some sort of super maximum security prison that floats in the air, something that'll hold them in."
Vorados watched as his two fallen friends were dragged away and then turned his mind to official matters. "Ok… My first new holiday shall be… Cookie Day."
Robert, Hailey, and Jared landed in front of the castle. The large building loomed over them like a giant over a midget. They gazed in awe at the giant towers and intricate stonework. Like the city, this building was made out of a dark stone and was polished to a dreadful gleam. A deep rumbling sounded out from the cavernous opening of the castle, as of a dragon roaring from deep with in it's lair. The ground shook. Robert, Hailey and Jared braced for anything that was coming for them, but nothing came. The rumbling softened, and they saw a portion of the castle beginning to rise.
"Quickly!" Robert cried out as he began to jump up the building. Bounding from ledge to ledge, he and Hailey quickly scaled the building. Crouching down low, they both jumped high towards the floating castle's ledge.
Jeremy woke up in a dark room. He waited a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and noticed a dark figure beside him. He reached out and shook it. "Unnnhhh…" it moaned as it sat up. Jeremy realized that it was Eleanor. "Where am I?"
"No clue," said Jeremy. He looked around himself and saw that it wasn't completely dark. Cracks of firelight danced through the darkness, showing Jeremy that there was a door there. He stood up and heard the clinking of chains. "Oh please!" said Jeremy. He lifted his arm above his head and tried to form a ball of chi to light up the room. He focused deep within himself, pulling at the energy that should have been there, but he couldn't find it.
Eleanor's voice broke through the quiet. "Jeremy!" she said urgently. "I can't find my chi!"
"Neither can I," he responded, turning in her direction. "Hopefully, our strength is still here." Jeremy walked towards the door, chains clinking behind him. They soon drew taut and he prepared himself. He drew back quickly and lunged forward as fast as he could. Through the darkness was the sound of the links breaking.
As the chains had, the door proved no problem. With a mighty kick, it flew off of its hinges and slammed into the opposite wall. Temporarily blinded by the light, both Jeremy and Eleanor shielded their eyes while running out of their cell. They stood back to back while their eyes adjusted to the torchlight.
Jeremy blinked a few times in the light before he could make out any details. It looked like they were in a Middle Age type dungeon. The walls were made of a finely polished black stone, lit by flickering torches. The unpleasant stench of mildew assaulted their nostrils. Jeremy turned to Eleanor and she turned to him. "What the…?" said Jeremy as he looked at Eleanor. Instead of her other clothes, she was now dressed in the ragged garb of a peasant, and so was he!
"I'M GONNA KILL HIM!" Eleanor screamed out, causing hundreds of echoes to reverberate throughout the dank hallways.
"Err…" Jeremy trailed off as he heard the hundreds of echoes bounce back at them. "Maybe we should start trying to find a way out and not attract any guards."
Eleanor gritted her teeth and nodded. "Okay…" she trailed off. "Let's go." They ran off down the dank hallway into the dark dungeon.
Robert, Hailey and Jared landed on the ledge and looked surprised to find themselves surrounded by fallen soldiers. They looked up and saw Rae sitting on top of a ledge, blood smeared on her lips. She laughed. "It's about time!" She licked the blood off her lips and slid off the ledge. She landed on the ground and laughed. "Mmm… blood…." Out of the shadows, a woman walked behind her. She was medium-sized, and had short orange hair. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet my servant, Celes Victoria." She waved. Behind her, Daniel and Matt appeared.
"Hey guys!" said Daniel and Matt at the same time. "Look what I can do!" Daniel formed a Spirit Gun on his fingers and Matt posted seals everywhere with knives. Rae's companion shuddered at this last bit.
"I told you to stop defiling this place!" said Celes.
Everyone gathered together. "So we all know what our mission is, correct?" asked Robert. Everyone nodded. They then all rushed into the darkness. Right into Jeremy and Eleanor.
The two groups looked at each other and stared. "What are you doing here?" they all exclaimed at once. Except for Celes. She looked around confusedly.
Jeremy and Eleanor recounted everything that had happened while the friends had been separated.
"After we learned of this new world ruler," said Hailey, "our masters decided that it would be a good idea if they sent us to return world order, to test our new skills."
"Well, Chris is down there," said Jeremy pointing at the castle. At a small landing, the friends could see a large group of soldiers gathering.
Robert looked at the assembly. "Jeremy, you and Eleanor go after Chris; we'll take care of these guys." He then jumped off of the platform, sailing down. Hailey, Daniel, and Matt did the same. Rae jumped on Celes' back, and Jared pressed a button on his watch, calling out the Aestivalis. Jeremy and Eleanor jumped off after them.
100 feet off of the ground, Robert swung his robes and tossed a can in the middle of the crowd. The can hit the ground and exploded, spraying shaving crème everywhere. He then took a few out with his throwing knives. Hailey swung her wooden sword, creating an air attack, which threw several soldiers off of the platform and left a large gouge in the platform. Daniel powered his Spirit Gun and took out a row of the soldiers. Matt took out his Bible and started beating the Word of God into people. Rae and Celes landed, and Celes pulled out her Halconnen Cannon, taking out about 15 soldiers. Rae ran into the shower of blood and started shooting with a pistol. The Aestivalis punched the platform, squishing several of the soldiers as Jared yelled out "GEKIGAN PUNCH!"
Jeremy and Eleanor made a dash for the entranceway and soon disappeared within the castle.
Vorados sat upon his throne, dressed like a king in the medieval era; a thick red robe, a heavy, golden crown on his head, and a sheathed sword by his side. He listened intently at the ruckus outside of his throne room and jumped when the heavy oaken doors were flung open. He peered into the darkness and watched a figure sailed through the open air. Guldo crash landed in front of him with a thud.
Vorados stood up and stared at the green alien, dressed in knight's armor. He looked up at the two intruders walking towards him and placed his hand on his sword. When Jeremy and Eleanor were about fifteen feet away, he walked forward a few feet and drew his sword.
"Halt!" he cried to them. "Why doth thee assault thy king's presence in this uncouth manner?"
"Why did you change my clothes!" yelled out Eleanor. Vorados blushed. Eleanor clenched her fists.
"Ok, Chris, let's end this charade right now. We need to get to Namek-sei soon, and Eleanor and I are aggravated as it is. Just come with us and we'll forget about it." Eleanor glared at Jeremy. "Well, half of us will."
Vorados sneered and drew his sword from its sheath. "I shall never let my kingdom fall into thy hands!" Eleanor smiled evilly and pulled a frying pan out from behind her back. "Uh-oh," thought the greatest warrior king to ever grace the world, right as a peasant faded out of eyesight. A heavy, metallic clang echoed throughout the castle.
Jeremy walked out of the castle and into the bright sunlight. He shaded his eyes and looked about him. Everywhere hung the flag of the rubber chicken.
He heard a noise and turned his head to see Eleanor, dragging an unconscious Vorados with a VERY large bump on his head behind her. The others appeared behind her also. He looked at them and smiled. "Let's go," he said, and they shot off into the sky.