Chapter 5: Sacrifice for First Victory
"Yo dudes, we here!" Melissa announced.
Everyone woke up and got off her back. They all stretched after a long trip. Gloria and Ashley had transformed back into themselves once they became tired. They rested on Melissa's back for the rest of the trip. Gloria yawned and asked, "What happened?"
"Well, you guys fell asleep on my back for one," Melissa replied.
"You were able to continue flying with all of us on your back and without any sleep?" Jessica asked.
"Hey I'm a big silver dragon and because of that, I can go on for God knows how long without sleep," Melissa replied. "I can fly for hours without rest."
"Are we there yet?" Caitlin asked.
"Dude…we're here already," Melissa reminded, raising a brow
"How about we look at a flash back?" Gloria asked. She deepened her voice and said slowly, "Yo dude, we're here!" like in movies where there's a flash back. She just wanted to do it.
"Oh yeah huh," Caitlin said.
"How are we all going underwater?" Ashley asked. "We don't all have the metamorphosis ability."
"I have an idea," Jessica said. "I'll go the way I am, but I'll give Mel and myself the ability to breath underwater. Unfortunately for you guys, you'll have to ride in Mel's mouth."
"WHAT!" Caitlin, Ashley, and Gloria yelled at the same time.
"I have to save all my power for this battle," Jessica said.
"Wait! Melissa, you said just one of us goes in. So why are we all going?" Ashley asked.
"Melissa and I discussed this plan the night before," Gloria said. "I thought it would be better for all of us to go. You never know when something can go wrong."
"And you were planning on telling us this…when?" Ashley asked.
"When we made it here, but I forgot to tell you about our change of plans," Gloria smiled.
"Do we have to ride in Mel's mouth?" Ashley demanded.
"Hey, unless you've got a better idea, that's what you've got to do," Jessica said.
"If I have to do it, then I will, but I won't like it," Melissa said. "This isn't the first time I've done this."
"Oh wait a minute," Caitlin said. "Since I can control earth, I can make a tunnel that leads to this cave!"
"Smart," Ashley commented.
"Fine by me," Melissa said.
"Ok, let's get going," Jessica said.
"Where is the cave?" Caitlin asked.
"It is right underneath me," Melissa replied.
Jessica and Melissa dived into the water while Caitlin walked to the area where Melissa was standing and said a spell that was in the Kudorock language. The ground beneath them started sinking and it became more faster as they went farther. Within two minutes, they reached their destination. "It's about time you get here," Jessica said.
"So…what do we do?" Ashley asked.
She could see Melissa looking at something with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. She turned her attention to what Melissa was looking at and her eyes became wide as well. She saw something like a goldmine and so did everyone else. There were thousands, maybe even millions, of small yellow eggs. "My God," Gloria gasped.
"This is it," Melissa said. "This is where they laid their eggs long ago. And just like I thought, they're using it again."
"How many eggs do they lay?" Caitlin asked.
"Just by the look of this, it looks like they lay a lot within 3 days," Jessica replied.
"Wait a minute. If they laid eggs then…shouldn't there be hellhounds protecting the eggs?" Caitlin asked uneasily.
A deep growl answered her question. Suddenly monstrous things appeared. They growled again and showed their teeth. "What the?" Caitlin said.
"You guys, hide behind that rock!" Melissa ordered. "They are the hellhounds!"
"No shit, Sherlock!" Gloria yelled.
"How the hell is that supposed to help us?" Ashley asked. "We can fight ourselves."
"Just go there, goddamn it!" Melissa snarled.
The hellhounds got closer and more started to appear. "Alright you ugly bastards, it's time to see my other self!" Melissa exclaimed.
Ashley, Gloria. Caitlin and Jessica watched from behind the rock in awe as Melissa changed into her more dangerous form. An orb formed around her and in a few seconds, the orb burst. She now had half the body of a raptor, two mechanical arms, six wings, half the body of a dragon, and blades on her tail, her side, the sides of her mouth, and on her upper and lower jaws. "Can she control it?" Jessica asked.
"Let's hope to God she can," Caitlin replied.
Melissa roared and ran towards the hellhounds. The hellhounds ran and attacked. Melissa stopped and swung her tail. The blades on her tail slashed some of the hellhounds. It even sliced some of them in half. Fiery blood splattered everywhere, burning everything it touched. One hellhound jumped onto Melissa's back and started slashing her. She roared in pain and tried to get it off her. She slammed into the cave walls, hoping it could get the monster off. The hellhound dug its claws even deeper to stay on.
Melissa roared even more loudly but did not continue to slam into the cave walls. She feared that if she continued, she could knock down the cave and kill the others. She then used her tail to try and grab the monster. The blades pierced the hellhound's scaly skin. She threw it across the cave, once again shaking the entire cave. The hellhounds saw what she did to their comrade and became very angry. They started attacking like crazy. Another hellhound came up and bit one of her arms. More started to bite and slash her. Melissa kept grabbing them and throwing them across the cave. Though they were killed, more and more started showing up as more and more started dying. She kept slashing and biting back, even when she knew the fighting was sapping the life out of her. She was bleeding to death but continued fighting nevertheless. Her friends could only watch as she risked her life to protect them. They could see her become weak and at the same time, could see more come as more died. "Where are they all coming from!" Jessica demanded.
"There!" Gloria yelled, pointing to the huge clutch of eggs. Two new hellhounds would be born and grow within a few seconds.
"For every hellhound that dies, two new ones are born. They grow into adults in about 5 seconds," Caitlin said.
"We have to do something now or she'll die!" Jessica yelled.
"There's too many of them. How are we supposed to defeat them?" Ashley asked.
Jessica got up and stood a few feet away from their hiding place. She yelled a spell in the Kudorock language and suddenly started to glow a blue glow. Then the blue glow exploded and it blasted all the hellhounds and their eggs. The hellhounds and their eggs started to burn into ash. The explosion's powerful winds furiously blew ash, dirt, and small rocks inside the cave. Ashley, Gloria, and Caitlin took cover behind the rock, putting their hands on top of their head and crouching down. Jessica ceased her attack and fainted.
"Jessica…up…wake…please…" someone pleaded.
Jessica could hear a faint voice. She couldn't hear everything the person said, but could make out some of it. Her eyesight was blurry when she opened her eyes. She blinked a few times before her eyesight became normal. "Thank the Lord!" Caitlin cried.
"What happened?" Jessica asked.
"You saved all of us," Gloria replied.
"You depleted your energy drastically and almost killed yourself," Ashley answered.
"Where's Melissa?" Jessica asked.
"She's fine, thanks to you," Caitlin replied. "She's out for now, but she'll wake up soon."
"Are the hellhounds gone?" Jessica asked.
"Yes," Ashley replied. "But we'll have to stay here for the night."
Jessica, Ashley, Gloria, and Caitlin sat by Melissa. She was lying on her side with her eyes closed. They all huddled together to stay warm and slept inside the cave. A small and strange lizard rested on a small rock by them. Little did they know that the lizard was actually a robot and was sending the images to someone far away from the cave.
Far away on an island, someone was watching a large screen in his fortress while eating a snack. The screen showed Melissa, Caitlin, Jessica, Gloria, and Ashley resting in a cave. He was watching them by using a robotic lizard. "Enjoy your peace now," he said. "I'll be back! BWAHAHAHA…yugh, yugh!"
He was choking on a piece of food. He continued to choke and fell off his chair. When he was back to normal, he cried, "Count on it!"