Chapter 9: Battle of the Arachnoids
"Ok so what are we supposed to do?" Ashley asked.
"We have to go into the mall to make sure that there are no more arach—I mean uh…monsters," Gloria said hastily. She added a quick smile.
"You guys are acting weird," Ashley commented with a puzzled look.
"Anyway," Caitlin said loudly to quickly change the subject, "let's go already. How are we supposed to get in?"
"I'll give you the ability to be invisible but only for a limited amount of time," Jessica said.
"Ok, but how are we supposed to get in?" reiterated Gloria.
"I'll give you the ability to walk through things. But I'm going to have it last for a few seconds. So once I activate it, you have to quickly run in," Jessica responded.
"Ok, but how are we supposed to get in?" Caitlin echoed for the second frickin' time.
Gloria, Melissa, Jessica, and Ashley gave her strange looks. "Girl," Gloria said, "we've explained the frickin' plan three times and you still don't remember! Jesus Christ! We're supposed to become invisible then go and check for any spi—I mean monsters. You and Jessica stay on the roof and wait for us. Ash, Mel, and I stay as humans, ok? OK!"
"Ok," Caitlin said.
"Why do we even bother?" Melissa said in a hushed voice.
"Alright, let's go!" Jessica said.
Jessica cast the two spells needed for this mission and Gloria, Ashley, and Melissa quickly ran to the mall doors. Caitlin and Jessica sat on the roof with the help of the teleportation spell. Melissa, Gloria, and Ashley got the first part of the plan done. But now they would have to find and face the arachnoids…and handle the part where arachnophobia comes in.
"Damn it! Have you found any clues?" Gloria asked.
"Hold on," Melissa said.
"Man, can't you turn into a dragon or can't we just turn into vampires?" Ashley asked. "We'll have better luck finding these monsters."
"No, we can't transform into anything big," Gloria explained. "We're trying to sneak up on these things, not let them know we're here. We can only become small things that could help us but not anything huge."
"Vampires aren't huge," Ashley reminded.
"We cannot transform into our forms period!" Gloria yelled.
"Well, I'll turn into a dog, one of the best things that could help. I can't think of anything else that has a good sense of smell. Good enough?" Melissa looked at Gloria for an answer.
Gloria nodded her approval and Melissa became her favorite type of dog: a German Shepard. Neither Ashley nor Gloria altered themselves. As Melissa smelled the floor for any signs of arachnoids, Gloria and Ashley checked the two nearest stores. For some odd reason the stores had nothing that could keep crooks out in the entrance. But it did have surveillance. Luckily, it could not detect them or record what they were saying. Jessica did something with the invisibility spell that allowed them to yell or talk without the fear of being recorded by surveillance or even activate the alarms in the stores.
It was dead silent in the mall, giving them an uneasy feeling.
"Hey I think I found something," Ashley said. Melissa quickly ran to where she was, along with Gloria, and turned back to normal. "Oh and just so you know, it's not a pleasant sight," she added.
Their eyesight had adapted to the darkness so they could see pretty well. And they couldn't believe what they were looking at. Melissa took out her flashlight that she brought just in case they needed it and shined it on the thing they were staring at. It was a headless corpse stuck to the wall from white sticky…stuff! "What the hell?" Gloria muttered to herself.
"Is it just me or did that damn thing move?" Melissa asked.
She pointed to the area where the head should've been. The body literally started twitching. They all took a step back. Suddenly the weirdest yet grossest thing happened. Little black spiders crawled out from the neck! Gloria, Ashley, and Melissa looked at them with disgusted looks and gaping mouths. "AHHHH!" Ashley screamed.
Melissa just stared at them for a few more seconds and fainted. Ashley ran outside the store and started running and screaming, over and over and over. Gloria rolled her eyes and shook her head at the same time. She sighed, got a nearby broom in the store that for some reason was just there, and started smacking the spiders. There were probably hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. She stepped on them and smacked them with the broom. She didn't want to create a catastrophe by using her powers. Attacking with her powers would destroy the store or damage it. Melissa woke up and saw the spiders all around Gloria. She fainted again. It took Gloria nearly half an hour to kill all of them.
But there was one more spider and this was no small one. It was black and started walking towards Melissa. Ashley was still running and screaming like a little girl. Gloria stepped on it. But when she removed her foot, it was still moving. "What the hell?" Gloria cursed.
She got the broom and started smacking it. She hit it maybe 15 times and yet it was still moving. Green gooey stuff started oozing from the spider's wounds. Half of its legs were gone, causing it to drag itself. Gloria growled and stepped on it again but twisted her foot this time. When she picked up her foot, the spider was finally dead but she had green stuff smeared on the bottom of her shoe. "Ew," Gloria said.
She tried to clean up the stuff by rubbing her foot on the floor. Then she dragged Melissa out of the store and stopped Ashley. Ashley was still freaking out. She grabbed Gloria by the shoulders and shook her. "Where are the spiders? Are there still more? Are there? Are there? ARE THERE!"
"NO!" Gloria shouted. She took in a deep breath and said, "Now I want you to breathe in and out. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale."
Ashley followed her instructions and calmed down. She kept breathing in and out and also said it to herself. "Keep doing that until I get Mel to wake up," Gloria ordered.
She went to Melissa and tried to get her to wake up. She finally did and asked, "Ugh…what happened?" in a weak voice.
"I'll explain later," Gloria answered back.
Gloria, Melissa, and a freaked out Ashley continued to look for any "monsters," but Ashley still didn't know of the true reason they were here.
2 hours later…
"How long are we going to be here?" Ashley questioned, unable to hide her fear.
"Don't know," Gloria replied.
"C'mon you guys! We have to check the entire mall. We've only checked half," Melissa said.
"Good Lord," Ashley whispered.
"Hey I think I saw something," Gloria said.
"Where?" Ashley asked. She already started freaking out and she hid behind Gloria. Gloria rolled her eyes and groaned.
"C'mon you guys, I think I saw it too," Melissa said. "Let's check it out!" She had a tendency to check out things without knowing whether it was dangerous or not.
"Hell no!" Ashley exclaimed. "I am not moving from this spot!"
"Ok," Gloria said, seeming pleased with her answer. "You can stay here with the tiny spiders and bugs."
"Spiders!" Ashley shouted.
"Way to go G," Melissa muttered to Gloria. "You really made her feel better."
"Ah! I don't wanna be with the spiders. I'll go!" Ashley declared.
"Good," Gloria said. "Now let's go."
They went to where Melissa and Gloria claimed to see something. They went closer, but slowly. Then something pushed Ashley forward. She took a glance behind her and saw something very big in front of her. She saw the thing move closer and shined the flashlight on it. The thing was black, had 8 eyes, and she could see some of its large pincers. Ashley looked at it and felt like she was going to have a heart attack. "Gl—Gl—Gl," she stuttered.
"Ashley, keep quiet," Gloria whispered.
"Gl—Gl—Gl—Gloria," Ashley stammered in a squeaky voice. "Gloria…"
Gloria growled and asked, "What?"
"SPIDER!" Ashley roared at the top of her lungs but she didn't move an inch. Gloria and Melissa looked back and they saw what they were looking for. "Ashley," Melissa whispered, "don't frickin' move."
Ashley's heart raced as the monster got closer. Though they were invisible, the arachnoid was able to see them. It slightly opened its mouth and growled. She could see saliva dripping from its teeth and she could see its pincers get closer around her neck. The spikes on its pincers were barely touching her skin. Gloria and Melissa tried to get closer to go behind it, but it spotted Melissa. Since Gloria could hide very well in darkness, it didn't see her. Melissa stood still, but motioned Gloria to keep moving. Gloria continued as the monster turned its attention back to Ashley.
Ashley started hyperventilating. The arachnoid looked like it was ready to close its pincers on Ashley's neck. The pincers spread out and quickly closed in when…ROAR! The arachnoid roared loudly, raising its head high. The spikes on its pincers missed slashing Ashley's neck by mere inches. She was so scared, she fainted. Melissa caught her and looked up to see why the monster screamed in pain.
Gloria had stabbed the monster's large abdomen with a dagger that she always kept with her. Black blood squirted from the stab wound. It screamed more when she removed it. "Gloria, catch!" Melissa yelled.
She threw a long blue sword with a handle that had a thunder bolt blade on the bottom. As Caitlin did with her sword, she named it X-Thundura (Gloria liked to call it X-tra Thunder), the name of a legendary blue dragon. The arachnoid turned around to face Gloria. It roared angrily and was going to attack with its claws, but Gloria reacted quicker by slicing the monster's head off. The arachnoid's head rolled onto the floor and stopped by Melissa's feet.
Melissa picked up the head and said, "I should keep this as a trophy." She smiled at Gloria, but she returned her smile with a strange look as if to say, "O…k, you're insane." Ashley woke up several seconds later. Gloria helped her up and gave Melissa back X-Thundura. She put it back in its sheath attached to her belt. "Alright then. Can we like…go now?" Ashley requested.
"No!" Gloria and Melissa yelled in unison.
"We now know that there are more arachnoids," Gloria continued. "Besides, we haven't checked the entire mall."
"Arachnoid?" Ashley asked, puzzled.
Gloria stared at Melissa, giving her the "now's the time to tell her" look. "Alright," Melissa sighed, "I need to tell you something Ashley. We've known about the arachnoids. When I found one and told everyone else, we didn't tell you. So we agreed that we would tell you we're going against just a monster. So we basically lied to you."
"What?" Ashley demanded. "So you knew about the—the spiders all along?"
Gloria and Melissa exchanged looks and said, "Yes."
Ashley growled and was stomping towards them when Gloria said, "Spider."
"Where?" Ashley asked.
"Anyway!" Melissa quickly shouted. "We have a problem."
"What?" Gloria asked.
"The invisibility is wearing off. We've only got an hour left," Melissa announced.
Jessica had the invisibility spell work for only 5 hours and they still had a few more stores to check. "Then we have to hurry," Gloria said.
All 3 of them checked everywhere as fast as they could. They found nothing in any other store, not even evidence of the arachnoids being in it. They had only one store left to check with 5 minutes to spare: the destroyed Kohls. They went in and were about to spilt up when they heard a growl. "What was that?" Melissa asked.
"Um…I don't know," Gloria replied.
"Ahhhhh!" Ashley screamed.
Melissa glared at her. "Dude, what the hell is up with all this damn screaming!" she demanded.
Gloria tapped Melissa on the shoulder. "What?" she asked.
Gloria's mouth was hanging open and she was pointing at something. Melissa looked at what she was pointing at and her mouth also hung open. There were nine, maybe even ten, hell maybe even eleven, arachnoids right in front of them. They were all poised for attack. "Oh shit," Melissa whispered to herself.
The arachnoids took a step forward. Gloria, Melissa, and Ashley didn't move from where they were. "Gloria, you've got a plan?" Melissa asked. "Because we're going to need it NOW!"
"Transform now!" Gloria commanded.
Meanwhile on top of the mall roof…
"You've got any sevens?" Jessica asked.
"What's a seven?" Caitlin asked, playing dumb.
Jessica smiled and laughed a bit. Then she repeated, "Stop playing stupid Caitlin. Do you have any sevens?"
"Go fish," Caitlin replied. She yawned. She was bored now.
"Let's play something else."
"What?"
"Let's play…King's Corner."
"How do you play that?"
Jessica explained to Caitlin how to play. When she was done, she started setting up, but suddenly they heard a loud roar that cause the mall to literally rumble as if an earthquake hit the place. "What the heck was that?" Jessica asked.
"I dunno," Caitlin answered.
They stared at each other, looking worried. Silence settled in. "Now c'mon, let's play!" Caitlin whined.
Jessica didn't feel right. She had a gut feeling that something was happening and it wasn't a good thing. But she took her mind off of the subject and returned to playing with Caitlin. Jessica and Caitlin continued playing their little card games, unaware of the battle taking place inside the mall.
Meanwhile back in the mall…
Melissa swung her tail at an arachnoid, slamming it to the wall. Gloria slashed another arachnoid on the face. Ashley was well…in a fetal position, sucking on her thumb like a baby. Two arachnoids jumped on to Melissa's back and slashed her. She roared in pain and anger and jumped into the air. She landed on her back, squashing them both. Black blood flew from the bodies. Melissa got to her feet and discharged a cone of blue electricity. It missed the targeted arachnoid by mere inches. The attack hit some clothes in the boys section. The clothes were instantly destroyed. "Crap!" Melissa shouted.
Gloria flew up and said "Tinado des inkartelor!" Suddenly a black tornado appeared and swept some of the arachnoids off their feet and a few things from the store. The tornado blew them out of the store. She smiled in triumph until she saw an arachnoid right behind Ashley. She swooped down and grabbed her by the neck of her shirt. She was very aware that she was choking Ashley so she quickly yelled, "Melissa here!"
She threw Ashley to Melissa. She turned around and, startled, yelled, "What the hell!" Ashley kept yelling but Melissa caught her in her claws. "Stay!" she ordered when she placed her on the 2nd floor of the store, which had a big hole overlooking the battlefield. She went back to fighting with Gloria. Ashley watched, perched on the 2nd floor near the large hole.
Gloria continued slashing the arachnoids. The arachnoids that were blown away by the tornado had returned to the fight. Then she raised her hand and 3 dark circles appeared on the ground. 3 semi-skeletons (skeletons with some skin and sometimes rotten flesh on bones but not a lot and not zombies) appeared. They had shields and a sword. Gloria, Ashley, and Melissa have the ability to summon undead humans or creatures. They would be either skeletons or semi-skeletons.
Anyway, the 3 semi-skeleton warriors attacked the arachnoids. They were able to kill 3 and wound a 4th. Gloria was in the air, watching the fight, but she was unaware of an arachnoid poised to attack behind her. It suddenly spit a large acid ball at her. "G, watch out!" Ashley warned.
Gloria then saw the acid ball, but didn't react quickly enough. The acid ball did its damage. She screeched in pain as she fell to the ground. Two more arachnoids fired deadly but smaller spheres of acid. "Shit!" Melissa cursed.
She roared in anger and ran to Gloria's aid. But she too was hit with 3 spheres of acid. She fell to her side and tried to get up but, like Gloria, was in agony. Gloria didn't give up. She got herself up, despite her body having serious burns. She closed her burned wings around her and when she spread them again, a swarm of black bats flew out and attacked the arachnoids. Melissa also got up and breathed a stream of fire. The bats bit chunks of flesh off the arachnoids while the fire burned two of them. But the remaining three were able to kill the bats and avoid the fire. One of them leaped onto Melissa and ripped her throat open with a slash of the spikes facing each other on its pincers. Blood gushed from the deadly gash and even caused her to suffocate. A certain part in her throat was ripped from the spikes, which prevented her from breathing. She started gasping for air. Blood trickled down the sides of her mouth.
Another arachnoid jumped on to Gloria's chest, pushing her down. Then as it held her down, it slowly and painfully slit her chest open, torturing her. Gloria screeched in pain. Then the spider moved up to her throat. The vampire tried to keep it away but was held down firmly. The spider's spikes would easily finish Gloria off, but the spider seemed to want to prolong the torture it was inflicting. So instead of finishing her off, it slowly cut her body, causing Gloria to groan and yell in pain.
Ashley watched as Gloria and Melissa suffered from torture as well as risked their lives. She watched as the monster continued slashing Gloria slowly and painfully and as the last two arachnoids were laughing in spider tongues at Melissa's struggle for air. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't just stand there and watch them die. She got up and finally jumped off the 2nd floor, landing feet first. "It's time to go to Hell!" she yelled.
Black energy suddenly surrounded her. Melissa and Gloria could barely move their head but could see her. She started to transform into her vampire form, but them became totally see-through. She split and became mist. Mist, and very thick mist, surrounded the arachnoids. The one on Gloria was distracted by the mist and walked off of her. The other two couldn't see anything. Then all of a sudden, the heads of the two arachnoids fell to the floor. The last remaining ones started to find out what caused them to die this way. Then its head was sliced clear off. Blood squirted from their necks. The mist cleared and Ashley stood with her dark blade, smeared with black blood. It started dripping from the sword.
She ran to Gloria and Melissa and used a spell to help them change back to normal. They all stood where they were. "Thanks Ash," Melissa said, "though I still can't believe you actually did this."
"Yeah," Gloria said. "Thanks."
They hugged her and she hugged them back, glad to be well and alive. Then they walked outside to where Caitlin and Jessica were through a big hole in the back of the store. "You guys, what was going on?" Caitlin asked.
"Let's just go home," Gloria replied. "I need a double cheeseburger with bacon and fries with lots of mustard. I'm really tired. We'll tell you as we go."
They all flew back home and Gloria, Ashley, and Melissa told Caitlin and Jessica about what had occurred in the mall.