A/N: It's either this or chapter 12 that is my last chapter before my vacation to the Grand Canyon. Thanks to Myotismon13 for reviewing as well! I really appreciate your feedback. There's a lot of Myo in here! Enjoy!

Chapter 11

Within the Castle Walls

Valmont breathlessly ran up to Myotismon as he paced the halls. "Lord Myotismon…" The white-haired man paused to catch his breath, much to the irritated expression on the vampire's face. "Myotismon… the Bakemon guards… have informed me that Chan has …" His voice shrunk to a near-whisper. "…survived the nightmare set upon him in the Black Forest. Cheerio." About to brusquely turn and leave, Valmont was stopped dead in his tracks by Myotismon's fit or rage.

"WHAT???!!!" the vampire seemed more animal than humanoid. "Did he work alone, or was he with those damned accomplices?" At the time, he had no knowledge of Leela and Zapp accompanying him, as he was convinced that they were unable to survive their own personal hells, much less Jackie Chan.

Valmont bowed his head and looked at his brown loafers, which had suddenly become enthralling. "I… regret to… inform you… Master, oh Lord and Master… yes. Two of them."

"I KNEW IT! TELL ME THEIR NAMES!" roared Myotismon.

Valmont backed away towards the door, quivering with consternation and struggling to find words. "W—we don't… uh… know the n— name of th—the female… only sh—she has… that is… one… eye…"

Myotismon turned his back on his servant. "And the other one?"

"Apparent—apparently he's… well… some sort of… st—starship… uh… captain… yes, we should worry about him… the legendary Zapp Brannigan."

"Mom…" muttered Amy. "What are you doing here, and as a vampire?"

"I'm giving a speech on the importance of fire extinguishers," Mom answered sarcastically, her voice dripping with honey. She was now hovering in the air. Then her voice switched back to a nasty tone. "WHAT THE HELL DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING?! I'M RETURNING THE FREAKING BAT TALISMAN TO LORD MYOTISMON!" As if to emphasize her point, Mom held out the Bat Talisman.

"I thought you HATED Myotismon!" Jade pointed out, on the verge of screaming. "Why are you returning the talisman to him?"

Mom made a face so sickeningly sweet, it would have caused anyone to empty his stomach of its contents. She landed on the ground like a cat, then advanced on Jade. "Little girl," the elderly woman addressed Jade as if she were six years younger, "dear old Mom used to dislike her vampire lord. Then she found this object—" Mom pointed to the Bat Talisman, which she held up when Jade attempted to snatch it from her, "—and now she likes him and wants him to have it back."

Jade made an equally sweet face. Never in her life was she spoken to like a four-year old, except when she was four. It was time to show the corporate giant who deserved the talisman. "Well, Mommy dearest…" Jade was delighted to see the expression Mom's face, which looked as if she had just swallowed a lemon, "…I have something to say to you, too. The little girl hates the vampire with all her heart and deserves the talisman… more… than…" Jade advanced on Mom with each word. "YOU!" The black-haired girl stomped on Mom's left foot. Mom let out a yelp and threw the Bat Talisman behind her. As it hit the floor with a clang, Jade and Amy both sprinted up to it.

"Nice work, Jade," Amy acknowledged, bending over to pick up the talisman.

"HA!" shouted Mom, landing in front of them and blocking the talisman from their hands. "Finders keepers, losers weepers!" She picked up the talisman and jumped into the air above them. She flew over to the staircase that occupied part of the vast entrance hall. "Come and get me, bitches!"

"Didn't your mom ever tell you that swearing is a bad thing?" shouted Jade, sprinting to the stairs like a rabbit. As she neared where Mom stood in the middle of the stairs, Mom zoomed into the air once again and landed on the chandelier that hung in the middle of the ceiling. She relished the sight of Jade and Amy looking indignantly at where the dominatrix stood.

Amy groaned and scornfully bit her lip. She felt two punctures and tasted something metallic two seconds later. That was when she remembered she had fangs! She was a vampire! "Jade," she instructed, "stay right here. Don't do anything."

Jade groaned, but nonetheless she knew Amy was right. Jade was not a vampire; therefore she did not possess the power of flight. Amy leapt gracefully into the air and hovered next to the chandelier.

"Oh Mo-om," the vampire-turned intern called in a singsong voice. Mom turned her head and saw the vampire Amy hovering in midair, her dress and cape fluttering in the breeze she created. "I think you're forgetting that I, too, am a vampire. And I, unlike you, think Myotismon is nothing but a two-timing, selfish, mean old jerk! But since I was bitten by him, I think I have his powers. CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" A whip of lightning formed in Amy's hand, and instead of hitting Mom, it fused through the chain that supported the chandelier like a laser beam. Mom realized this just in time, for she leapt off the chandelier as it plummeted to the ground, shattering with an ear-splitting crash.

The two vampires faced each other in midair, their fists clenched. Amy attempted her attack again, this time she would be more coordinated. "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" Once again, Amy formed a whip out of lightning. She slashed it through the air, a CRACK resounding in the hall every time it changed direction. Mom's stealthy reflexes caused her to fly out of the way every time. This continued for five minutes that seemed like five months to Amy. On the ground, Jade watched open-mouthed, not blinking.

Growing breathless after chasing Mom around the hall for five minutes straight, Amy floated in midair and began to sink. Mom seized this opportunity and held out the talisman she kept in her clenched fist. As if she had known what to do all her life, Mom commanded, "Absorb this woman's essence like Our Lord sucks blood! I command you, under the power of Myotismon, Lord of the Vampires!"

Amy's gentle floating changed to her freezing in that position, as immobile as a statue. All color was drained from her face, her mouth dropped open in shock, and her eyes suddenly opened to their widest diameter. She did not rise or sink; it was as if the intern were suspended in ice. The bat symbol on the talisman did not glow a bright red as it usually did. This time, it emitted a radiant blue color that felt freezing on the skin of whoever it hit. Amy's body glowed the same color, and suddenly something semi-transparent and white seemed to escape through her gaping mouth. As it escaped, one could see that it looked almost like Amy. Jade realized that this was Amy's chi, her essence. A ghostly version of her head, her shoulders, her arms and waist, her hips, her legs, and finally her feet emerged from inside its body like the birth of a baby, compressing itself so it could fit through Amy's mouth. It was almost as if the chi did not want to leave, it seemed to extend its arms and attempt to swim through the air, but the talisman pulled it closer and closer like a vacuum. Suddenly, the chi assumed no human form, but instead transformed into a white mist, which was sucked into the talisman through the bat symbol.

Mom cackled like a witch as she allowed Amy to fall twenty feet to the ground. She landed on her back, and Jade rushed over to her immobile body. "AMY!" Jade cried, examining Amy's lifeless body. Without her chi, she was merely a human shell. The sight was horrific—Amy had no color on her face except for her cold lips. Her eyes and mouth had closed and did not open. No longer rigid, her body was as limp as a noodle, as if she were truly dead. She would have been taken for dead, except for the fact that she still had a pulse, which slowly throbbed in her wrist. Her fangs had disappeared, showing that she was no longer a vampire.

The mother landed on the ground and began to advance on Jade. "You're next!" she declared, her eyes glowing bright red and fangs more prominent than ever. She held out the talisman. "Come, join your dear Mom in a new life in the forces of darkness! And this time, you don't have Jackie Chan around to protect you!"

Thinking quickly, Jade bounded over to where Mom stood and pounced on her, knocking her to the ground. She sat on Mom's chest and tried to pin her arms to the ground. Mom struggled, her hand still gripping the Bat Talisman. Jade almost backed away as she saw the ravenous look on the villainess's face, almost as if she were pinning the devil to the ground. Mom hissed like a cat, her fangs extending to their maximum length. Jade began to quiver with fear, wishing she knew how to defeat a vampire.

Suddenly, she remembered. A wooden stake through the heart! Wishing she knew where to find one, she remembered she had Melvin pencils in her sweatshirt pocket. They're kind of like wooden stakes, and if they don't kill her, the lead will! Remembering she also had a camera to pound the stake in with, Jade took a major risk and jumped onto Mom's chest as she retrieved a sharpened pencil from her pocket and withdrew her camera from around her neck.

Mom winced as she felt the wind get knocked out of her, but what she saw next drove fear into her heart. "No… little girl… don't kill a vampire… Mommy will give you anything you want! She'll do anything!"

"Nice try," said Jade. Silently vowing not to regret what she was about to do, she took a Melvin pencil, held it to where she thought Mom's heart rested, and banged her camera down on it like a hammer to a nail. Once… twice… thrice… Mom screamed louder and in more pain as the pencil was driven deeper and deeper through her heart. Thinking quickly, she heaved the talisman to the other side of the room. Suddenly, Mom fell silent, and one second later, Jade found herself sitting on a human-shaped pile of ashes, a cape, and her Melvin pencil and Melvin camera.

I killed a vampire! she triumphantly thought as she stood up. Oh, if only Jackie were here to see this! Thoughts whirled around her about the recent battle, Amy, vampires, Myotismon, Jackie and the others… but one overshadowed the rest. The Bat Talisman! Jade realized as she looked around for it. She saw it lying on the floor near the silhouette of what looked like a statue, and dashed over to it. "Victory over Myotismon, here I come!"

"I'll take this," declared a deep voice from the shadows. Jade gasped and fell over as she saw Myotismon grab hold of the talisman before she could do anything else. She brandished the pencil and the camera without saying a word. "You are forgetting, little girl, that I am nothing like my incompetent servant you just destroyed. GRISLY WING!" The vampire outstretched his arms, and suddenly an army of bats flew out from under his cape. Jade screamed and tried to run away, but the bats were too quick for her. They nipped at her flesh, pulled her hair, and attempted to break the pencil she held as the girl swatted at them.

"Get them away!" wailed Jade as she felt the bats tug at her clothes in an attempt to bite her in places that were covered by them. She feebly swatted at them, which only provoked the bats to do more biting and nipping at her. "Get them away!"

Myotismon held out his hand, summoning the bats back to his area of the room. "I think she's had enough, my minions," he told the bats as if they could understand English. As if on cue, the bats retreated from Jade and hung on the ceiling. Myotismon advanced on a trembling and crying Jade, forming a whip of Crimson Lightning. "I think your chi would enjoy reuniting with your friend's over here," he told Jade. The vampire raised his hand that held the whip. "CRIMSON—"

"Not so fast, bat breath!" resounded a familiar voice that Myotismon immediately recognized as…

"Chan!" the vampire whirled around, seeing Jackie standing in the open doorway to the outside, with Leela and Zapp on either side of him. Myotismon decided to leave Jade be, as he had bigger fish to fry. He advanced on the triad, a malicious glint in his eye and an expression more ravenous than Mom's on his face. The doors slammed shut, causing the three remaining heroes to retreat into the castle. The three of them shared uneasy glances.

"Well well well… Chan and Brannigan… I've been expecting you two," said Myotismon. "As well as her." He thrust a finger at Leela. "I knew you were too cowardly to survive this planet alone, Chan. I knew you would bring reinforcement!"

Jackie, unwilling to look Myotismon square in the eye, searched for a spot on the floor and saw Amy, drained of her chi and lying motionless on the ground. He was so overcome with outrage and vengeance at what had happened to Leela's good friend that he managed to look at Myotismon directly in his ice-blue eyes. A shiver traveled down Jackie's spine as he interrogated, "What did you do to Amy Wong?"

"Did you… kill her?" breathed Leela.

The vampire chuckled to himself and ventured closer to Leela. "Fools, fools…" he murmured, then raised his voice for all three to hear. "It was not I who drained your little friend of her chi, no…" He ran a finger down Leela's left cheek, relishing the shudder she made after he finished. "It was another vampire… elderly yet potent… her hairstyle comparable to Dracula, the most famous vampire of them all… yet he did not hold a candle to me."

"Mom," whispered Leela.

"And now," declared Myotismon, backing up so he could see all three in his view, "your lives will be gone, but your legacy will live on! As three unknown souls who were harebrained enough to venture onto Nightmarion 5, looking for trouble and egocentric enough to play the heroes! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Jackie glanced at Leela. Leela, in turn, glanced back at Jackie. Both put their hands in their pockets and grabbed the nearest talisman they laid their hands on, then glared at the vampire. Then both of their mouths dropped open in shock as they witnessed what was happening in front of them. Jackie and Leela gawked at the sight of Zapp casually conversing with a bewildered-looking Myotismon, up close to him as if they were long-time friends.

"What the hell is he doing?" Leela hissed to Jackie.

Jackie shrugged, then turned his head to gawk some more and listen in on this conversation.

"…you with Amy, and how you managed to score her even without the sham-pag-in," said Zapp. "So tell me… you're this vampire, you've got those hideous fangs and just plain weird blue skin and purple lips, you're supposedly eight hundred years old, and then you're this total villain who's trying to conquer the universe… how come you're such a ladies man and I'm not?"

"Jackie! I think he's trying to stall him!" Leela exclaimed, still whispering. Grinning, she and Jackie began to venture closer to the vampire in an attempt to grab the talisman out of his hands.

"I mean, I can't even get a woman to flash me on Freedom Day," the captain continued. "And you got down and dirty with Amy Wong and, heh, you didn't even have to get her hammered! You wouldn't believe how much sham-pag-in Leela had to drink before she consented to doing the mattress mambo."

Leela turned bright red and sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. Myotismon's face twisted from confused to slightly flustered, just beginning to tolerate Zapp's mindless ramblings.

"So tell me, Myo, what is it you've got that I don't that makes you such a chick magnet? I don't get it at all! I'm a prestigious starship captain who has won the never-ending war between good and neutral with stunning good looks, a supple and Herculean physique, a personality that shines like the Las Vegas strip, a clever mind that has an endless library of ingenious pickup lines, and huge wads of cash. And then there's you… an evil vampire shut-in who lives in a musty castle on some muh-CAY-ber planet who's eight hundred years old and has the body of a corpse and a face only a blind mother could love. I just don't get it!"

Myotismon, who had very well been listening, grew more and more outraged at the insults that Zapp threw at him. Finally, at the comment about his face, he just cracked. "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" he shouted out of rage, whipping Zapp so hard he got smashed against the wall behind him and knocked unconscious. "Either of you clowns care to join him?" he asked Jackie and Leela, who shook their heads. Myotismon said nothing; he swished his cape around him and disappeared into a white mist, his bats following.

Leela, who had grown from frightened to courageous to furious, kicked the fallen chandelier, not caring if she had broken her foot. A clang echoed through the hall, and the clang gradually died down. "Great," she uttered sarcastically. "This is just fantastic. Myotismon has the Bat Talisman and the Pan-Ku Box, and…" she looked at the identical grandfather clock she had seen on the videophone. "…we only have four hours before the Digi-Demons are released on Earth! This is just perfect. Nibbler's with Captain Black, so he can't very well EAT Myotismon, not that he'd want to anyway, and we used to have twelve people on our team. Then it got reduced to seven. Then three. And now it's just two of us!"

"Ahem." Jade cleared her throat, and Leela and Jackie glanced down at Jade. She had regained her spunk and energy and sat on the floor of the castle. "There's three of us."

"JADE!" shouted Jackie, running over to Jade and picking her up off the floor, embracing her so tightly it seemed as if he would never let go. "Jade, my niece, my precious niece! I thought I'd never see you again! Are you OK? Are you hurt? Oh… answer me… did Myotismon do anything to you?"

"Myotismon locked me up but Amy helped me escape and she fought Mom and I killed Mom and when I was locked up I heard him say to Valmont that he's going to go to Earth and open the portal to the Digital World!" exclaimed Jade, blabbering at a mile a minute to her uncle. She paused to catch her breath. "The portal's in Japan and he's gonna get there by using a bunch of cards in a room in the North Tower, the one that faces the Black Forest!"

Jackie gasped, and he nearly dropped Jade.

"We need to get there, and fast!" shouted Leela, running in the direction of the stairs.

Jackie grabbed her by one of the straps of her tank top. "Not so fast, Leela… we don't know the castle as well as he does. We need to fly around the castle to get to it. We'll need the Rooster Talisman to help us fly… the Snake Talisman so the guards don't see us… and the Rabbit Talisman for speed. We need to hurry."

"Can I come with?" asked Jade.

"No, Jade," asserted Jackie. "I am not going to lose you again."

"But Jack-IE… if I stay safely in your sight, Myotismon's goons won't kidnap me."

Jackie sighed. "Fine, Jade. I don't know why I always give in to you…"

Half an hour had passed, but Jackie, Leela, and Jade found the North Tower and flew in through its window. The three of them, seeing the coast was clear, decided to cease using the talismans and become visible again. They were greeted by a circular flight of stairs.

"Come on," motioned Jackie, leading the two females up the stone steps. They sprinted up as much as they could, then resorted to walking. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they reached an immense ceiling with a trapdoor in it. "Well… this is it…" said Jackie. "Time to stop Myotismon from unleashing his brothers and sisters on an innocent planet!" Without further fuss, he opened the trapdoor, and he, Leela, and Jade climbed up.

The three of them peered into a massive, spacious, stone room that was lit by hundreds of torches. What looked like a circular portal stood in the center of the room, and a grid was next to it. However, they were not alone. Myotismon, the Dark Hand, Mom's sons, and Demidevimon also occupied the room. Jackie and Leela watched breathlessly, but Jade could not see.

"If Chan and his friends arrive, do away with them as quickly as possible," directed the vampire. "I don't want a single trace left of them." He placed nine cards on a grid, his army watching. "It's time to stand back and work my magic!" he declared. A cylinder of light reflecting all the colors of the rainbow appeared in the middle of the portal. "Open the gate to my destiny!" The cylinder glowed more radiantly than ever, and Myotismon took the Bat Talisman and the Pan-Ku Box into the exact center of the light.

"Not so fast!" exclaimed Jackie, swinging the trapdoor open with a bang. He, Leela, and Jade leapt into the room. "You gave us until the Hour of the Beast to come here! It's way before that!"

"Yeah, you're not being fair!" added Jade.

"I don't play fair," replied Myotismon. "Farewell, digi-doomed! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA…" The laughter grew distant as the vampire disappeared into the bright light.

The Dark Hand, Mom's sons, and Demidevimon all sneered at Jackie and Leela.

"Our master told us that if you ever came, we'd have to do away with you," informed Finn, holding out a pair of nunchucks.

"G'uh!" muttered Jade.

"And since you came…" continued Demidevimon…

"Get them," concluded Valmont.

All of a sudden, Jackie and Leela kicked and punched wildly in the air as nine minions of pure evil advanced on them and began doing the same. They knew they were outnumbered. Jackie kicked Ratso in the face, but Chow was there to trip Jackie. Leela got her foot stuck in Tohru's gut, and Mom's sons were right behind her to give her three punches to the stomach. All of a sudden, Demidevimon said, "I'll take care of them once and for all!" Out of nowhere, he produced a syringe full of a grey liquid. "DEMI DART!" It took a direct hit in Jackie's neck. Jackie winced in pain as he pulled it out. It was no use, for much of the tranquilizer was already circulating through his bloodstream.

"JACKIE!" screamed both Leela and Jade.

Thinking quickly, Jackie reached into his pocket with his last ounce of strength and pulled out the first talisman he found. "LEELA! CATCH!" He hurled it at Leela, who caught it.

Suddenly, a stream of red light erupted from Leela's eye, and she blasted Tohru and Mom's sons straight into the wall with it. Tohru hit it with great impact, causing the wall and part of the ceiling to fall on him. Mom's sons bounced off of the corpulent sumo wrestler and hit the opposite wall. As Finn, Chow, and Ratso advanced on Leela to avenge their friend, Leela glared at them and blasted the three of them into the wall. Valmont began to panic, but Leela decided to use a kung-fu move on him and kick him into the pile of Dark Hand members. Demidevimon flew into the distance. "That's it; I'm getting outta here!" was the last everyone heard from him.

Only Mom's sons remained. Leela attempted to use the powers of the Pig Talisman— the talisman that Jackie threw at her— on them, but their laser-proof suits proved that it was powerless. "Oh no!" she exclaimed as her eye returned back to normal. "Mom's sons can't be defeated!"

"I KILLED YOUR MOTHER!" Jade blurted out.

All of a sudden, Walt, Larry, and Igner began to tremble.

"She killed Mommy?" asked Igner. "Mommy is dead? Will she come back?"

Walt's face took on the shade of concrete. "She… she… no…"

All three of Mom's sons collapsed onto the floor. Jackie and Leela glanced at each other. It was only a matter of time before they came to.

Then came a second stroke of luck. The trapdoor opened again, and out of it came Zapp. Only this time, he had a crowd of DOOP policemen with him, including two fresh out of the NNYPD— a bucktoothed policeman and a robot.

"FREEZE!" shouted the bucktoothed policeman, brandishing a gun. "Under the Democratic Order of Planets, I place you under arrest for siding with a vampire and trying to take over the universe!" He took Jackie and handcuffed his wrists. "You have the right to remain silent…"

"Justice. Sweet as honey. Aww yeah," added his robotic partner (a partner in more ways than one), handcuffing Leela as the bucktoothed policeman recited the Miranda rights.

"Uh… Smitty? URL? Those are the good guys," said Zapp. "All the bad guys are…" He looked around. "… on the floor."

"Sorry about that, babe," apologized URL in his velvety voice, freeing Leela's wrists.

Twenty minutes later, all the DOOP policemen escorted the Dark Hand and Mom's now-orphaned sons out of the castle and into police cars.

"Unhand me, you fools!" commanded Valmont as he was thrown into the back of one of the cars with Finn, Chow, and Ratso. Walt, Larry, and Igner were locked up (and crying) in a second one, and Tohru had a vehicle all to himself.

"SHUT UP!" snapped the officer. "We'll unhand you when you're safely locked up in Alcatraz!"

"HA!" laughed Valmont. "Alcatraz hasn't been used since the 1970's!"

"Not this Alcatraz… I'm talking about the space Alcatraz! Oh, you're going to love it… surrounded by maximum security laser fields, always-alert security guards…" The door closed shut so no one could hear what the policeman was about to say next. Sirens wailing, the squad rockets took off into the distance to transport Myotismon's human minions to prison.

Only two squad rockets remained behind, along with two police officers.

"It's a good thing you knocked out those bad guys, Captain Brannigan," acknowledged one of them, enthusiastically shaking Zapp's hand.

The starship captain grinned, showing off his dazzling white teeth. "Please, do go on. Would you like to know how I did it—" He was elbowed in the stomach by Leela.

"How can I ever repay you?" asked the second one.

Leela looked at him. "Uh… can you take us all back to Earth? Our ship broke down here and we need to get back before… uh… before…"

"Well, our friends are sick, and we were taking them back and got stranded here, and if we don't get a good, clean Earth hospital soon, they could die!" Jade exclaimed, which was partly the truth, given Bender's, Kif's, and Amy's conditions.

Before long, Fry, Leela, Bender, Jackie, Jade, Zapp, Kif, and Amy were riding back to Earth at near light speed. It was only a matter of time before Myotismon unleashed his brethren on Earth… it was only a matter of time…

To be continued…