Chapter 23: Battle of Fears
Almost instantly, the spider ran towards Ashley. Her eyes became wide with fear and she ran away. "What the hell is she doing? She has to fight that thing!" Melissa shouted.
"Remember, she's afraid of spiders. She's scared as hell right now," Jessica recapped.
"But dude, if she doesn't fight, she will die for sure!" Melissa yelled.
"She's right," Caitlin concurred. "We have to help her somehow."
"Ashley, you have to stand and fight! You'll die if you don't!" Gloria hollered at the top of her lungs.
Ashley heard Gloria but continued running. She knew Gloria was right, but she was terrified. Out of the blue, she felt something wrap around her ankle, causing her to trip. She looked back to see the spider dragging her to it by using its web. "Ashley, get up!" Gloria commanded.
Ashley tried to get the web off her ankle but couldn't. She was scared and wanted the spider to go away. "For heaven's sake, get your fucking ass up and fight! You can't be afraid forever! So get over your goddamn arachnophobia and fight NOW!" Gloria shouted.
"She's right Ashley! Start fighting or die!" Melissa bellowed.
Ashley looked at her friends. She knew she had to fight. She knew that as long as her friends were behind her, she would have the strength to fight. She glared at the spider and mutated into her vampire form. She cut the web with her claws, got up, and screeched loudly. Gloria and the others cheered.
The spider screeched as well. Ashley grabbed it by the fangs with her hands, careful not to touch the venom literally leaking from it like it was spit, and flipped it onto its back. The spider quickly got up and lunged at her, but she quickly got out of the way. Ashley flapped her wings and flew up into the air. Then she swooped down and dug her talons into the spider's flesh. The spider cried out in pain. Ashley started flapping faster and faster to try to get back into the air while clutching the spider. She flew as high as she could and dropped the spider. The spider slammed into the floor on its back.
Ashley landed on the floor. She cautiously approached the spider. Hey I killed it with one drop, she thought. Yet again it could be playing dead.
She stopped when she was two feet away from the spider. She stared at it for a while. Then without warning, the spider sank its fangs into Ashley's leg. It struck her as fast as a snake when it bites its prey. Ashley screeched in pain. She dug both her hands into the spider's face, piercing two of its eyes.
It dug its fangs even deeper into Ashley's leg. Ashley gritted her teeth from the pain. "Duebr hoylkr!" she suddenly yelled out.
A circle appeared on the ground around the large spider. It started to glow a mixture of orange, yellow, and red. When the spider noticed this, it let go of Ashley's leg. Then fire swiftly arose from the circle, engulfing the spider in its fiery wrath. The spider screamed in pain. It fell under its own weight, its legs under its large abdomen. Fire burned at its hair and body. The smell of burnt flesh and smoke filled the air. Ashley became normal again. But she could still feel the sting of pain from the wound, even with her wound healed. Gloria and Melissa helped her off the field. They slowly placed her on the ground. The spider was nowhere to be found once the fire dissipated. All that remained of it was a pile of ash. "Lucky win," Ation noted. He scowled at Gloria and added, "Your turn."
Gloria scowled back and started walking on to the battlefield. "Gloria, be careful," warned Melissa, placing her hand on Gloria's shoulder. "You have to fight at your best and win."
Gloria nodded, removed Melissa's hand, and continued. She stopped on the right side and became a vampire. She stood there, ready to fight. "Meet your nightmare," said Ation with a menacing smile. Another hole appeared on the left and a second monster stood on the platform. It was white, had blue markings around its wrists, a blue crest, and white tail feathers with blue tips. It also had something like small wings on the side of its wrists, but other than that, there were no wings. It screeched loudly. "That's a golden wing striker!" Melissa yelled.
"A what?" Gloria asked.
"A golden wing striker," Melissa repeated. "It's a rare type of bird that is powerful and a sneaky hunter. It's also one of the few birds on Earth that is incapable of flying. Golden wing strikers have many wind and earth powers that easily kill large monsters. Even when it's fighting solo, it can defeat a monster three times its size."
Gloria stared at the powerful bird, but did not show fear on her face. Her fear was buried deep inside her and although she feared birds, she would not allow her fear to be her downfall. As if it could feel her fear, the golden wing striker screeched again and started walking towards her, bringing more fear to her already frantic heart. She took in a lungful of air, exhaled, and also started walking towards the beast. Then out of nowhere, a snake appeared and wrapped itself around Gloria's legs, causing her to trip. She fell on her face, puzzled and already angry. When she looked at her legs, the snake was gone. She became very perplexed about the snake. But when she faced the bird again, it kicked her in the face.
Gloria groaned and covered her face with her hands. Then the great beast kicked her in the stomach, knocking the air out of her. Gloria gasped for air and tried to get up. But then the bird grabbed her by the neck and threw her to other side of the arena! She slammed into a wall, cracking it. "That thing's strong," Caitlin remarked.
Gloria flew into the air, injured but ok. She dived at the striker but it jumped and grabbed Gloria by the neck again in mid-air. It then smacked her head into the cement. "Damn! That thing's gonna kill her!" Melissa yelled.
"Why is Gloria taking so long to attack?" Ashley asked.
"She was going to attack but like I said earlier, golden wing strikers are very powerful and sneaky. That includes very fast," Melissa explained.
"Gloria, you have to do something!" Ashley yelled out.
No shit Ashley! Gloria thought. The striker again picked Gloria up and threw her to the side of the arena. "Quite impressive," Melissa commented. "I never realized how powerful and how brutal a striker can be. If Gloria doesn't do something now, she'll die."
The wing striker slowly walked towards Gloria, ready to throw her again. Gloria finally raised her head and saw the wing striker. She struggled to get up but collapsed. The striker was getting closer. "Gloria, get up now!" Jessica cried out. "That thing will continue to smack you around like you're a rag doll!"
Gloria finally got to her feet and tried to beat her wings but noticed tears in the soft wing membrane. She had no choice but to change back to a human and become vampire once again. But there was only one problem: the wing striker was very close now. If she took the chance of changing to human and back to vampire, she could be dead before she got to attack. The striker was a few steps away. Gloria had to think quickly. Then she had an idea. While Melissa had electric powers, Gloria still knew spells that contained electricity. But unlike Melissa, she needed to gain electricity, meaning that she needed a specific amount of electricity to do so. Birds die from being shocked to death, so if I can lure that bird near an electric source, then maybe I can use the Electric Pool spell. But I need a considerable amount of electricity. Damn you Ation for not having us work together, Gloria thought.
The wing striker was now ready to once again attack. "Not this time, you motherfucker!" Gloria shouted angrily. "Eskagne calik!"
Gloria suddenly roared a strange noise that sounded like a howl of a wolf. Then within seconds of Gloria's bizarre roar, a black thing broke through the wall behind her and roared loudly. It was none other than a mighty black werewolf! It roared again and jumped at the striker. The bird had no time to react. The werewolf landed on it and held it down with its huge paws. The bird tried to choke the great beast but to no avail. The werewolf threw it across the room like the bird had done to Gloria. They continued their fight as Gloria turned back to normal and searched for a good source of electricity. Unsuccessful at finding any, she tried to think of a way to distract Ation while she went to gain electric power from Melissa or at least get their help to help her find an electric power source. But she noticed that Ation was already distracted by the werewolf and golden wing striker fighting. "Hey Mel, give me your sword!" Gloria ordered.
"Why?" Melissa asked.
"Because I need your electric power to do a spell. Now give it to me or help me find an electric source," Gloria demanded.
"G, you don't have to kill the striker with electricity," Jessica clarified. "Yeah it would cause more damage but use something else. Something else that could kill it instantly."
"Oh I know. Ithiro zhada!" Gloria bellowed.
Suddenly a wave of creeping darkness appeared behind her. "Why couldn't she think of that before?" Ashley asked.
"Who knows? Maybe she was so into this electric idea, she couldn't think of other spells," Jessica guessed.
The darkness rose from the ground and stayed behind Gloria. She saw that the black werewolf was defeated and striker was going after her. She didn't need to show the wave of darkness who her enemy was. It went around Gloria and stood in front of the wing striker, stopping the bird in its tracks. The darkness wave then engulfed the bird with all its power. It then became a sphere and grew smaller in a couple of seconds. The bird tried to escape but couldn't. And soon the dark ball disappeared. Gloria cheered along with the others. She was able to walk to them without help. Ation just growled. "Now you Jessica," he said in an angry voice.
Jessica walked to the field and waited for her match. Gloria and Ashley sat down on the ground to relax for a while. Everyone accompanied both of them as they watched Jessica. She was tense about this battle but she couldn't fail. If she did it would mean everyone's destruction.
Finally a sphere of dark swirling energy appeared in mid-air. An arm slowly came out. And another and another. Soon, six arms protruded from the sphere. Then a tail and legs and finally the entire body. The creature was entirely midnight black and its rib cage and spine could be seen clearly but not exposed. Its face was that of a spider. There were five dark holes where the eyes should've been. Jessica gazed at it with terrified eyes. "Oh shit!" Melissa cursed. "That's Bone Assassin, the Ripper!"
"That's an odd name for that thing," Caitlin remarked.
"Bone Assassin is an undead demon who is clearly a slayer. While this thing can die, it will still bring death to its adversary. Jess has to find a way to prevent death when she wins. Or else she'll die with it," Melissa explained.
"But the undead can't die, can they?" Caitlin asked.
"Even the undead can experience death once more Cait," Gloria answered.
"Jess, be careful!" Ashley warned.
The monster screeched loudly. "Start!" Ation shouted.
Bone Assassin, the Ripper lifted its tail and aimed its tail spike at Jessica. Its tail suddenly lashed out and struck Jessica on the arm. She screamed in agony as it painfully twisted its tail spike while still impaled in her arm. But Jessica did not stay frozen from fear unlike Ashley. She quickly got over it like Gloria and whispered, "Thrysta distyta."
Bone Assassin's tail suddenly came off her arm and it started to shake violently. Jessica smiled in triumph. But she wasn't finished with it yet. She quickly used her healing spell to heal the gash on her arm. Then she held her hands out and yelled out, "Deloi phos!" Blue light circled her and she suddenly transformed into a cybernetic bird. She flew up into the sky like a jet. She fired a fierce stream of water. The force of the water threw the monster back. She swooped down and took hold of the demon's back with her steel claws. The monster yelped in pain loudly. Jessica brought the monster with her as she flew higher using the jet packs attached to her back (her wings acted as a maneuvering tool. It helped her to maneuver herself very easily). She was going at very high speeds and almost reached the top. Bone Assassin once more directed its tail at Jessica. This time it directed it at one of her wings. Its tail spike went into her wing easily, rendering it useless. Sparks flew from the big hole in Jessica's right wing.
Jessica knew she had to do something and fast. For if she didn't she would rapidly lose control and crash. One wing can't maneuver her on its own. And in these speeds, she could easily kill herself. She released the slayer and cried, "Ko'sta me'rna!"
A big pool of green acid covered the floor where Bone Assassin would land. It tried to do what it could to save itself. But it didn't react quickly enough. It fell into the pool, letting out a piercing screech of agony. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air, making everyone almost sick to their stomachs. Jessica became normal again but she hadn't forgotten what Melissa had said. She was already prepared to prevent Bone Assassin's special ability. A black ball arose from the pool of acid. It headed towards Jessica like a bullet heading for its target. "Pomnuria!" Jessica bellowed.
Wind started to gather together to become something like a tornado. But this one stopped the small dark ball and instantly destroyed it. Then it dissipated. She slowly walked back to the sidelines to her friends. Ation once again clenched his teeth in anger and announced, "Caitlin your turn!"
Caitlin became a pirate and walked to the field like everyone else. Across from her, like all the monsters before Bone Assassin, a black hole appeared and a platform was rising to the surface. This one carried a big, bulky, blue bear with dark green eyes and blue calws. It roared at full volume. Caitlin was sort of puzzled. True, she feared bears but she expected a monster like Bone Assassin or the golden wing striker. "Well, this looks easy enough," said Gloria.
"It's like what they always say Gloria," Jessica added. "Looks can be deceiving."
The bear roared again, trying to get Caitlin to do something. Caitlin stood there, petrified by the bear. She held Zarok out in front of her in an upright position. The bear got down on all four legs and charged at Caitlin. Caitlin leaped into the air to avoid the bear but she ended up landing on its back. The bear saw this and tried to get her off in one of the most brutal of ways. It ran to a wall and literally slammed its back into the wall. Caitlin was hit hard and jumped off its back as soon as she could. She was right next to it now. The bear fell to the ground, temporarily weakened by the body slam. Caitlin saw her opportunity. She held out Zarok and blasted the bear with an icy blast. The blast froze nearly half of its body. The bear growled in pain and looked at its frozen body. It then spit a long coned stream of water. The water started to melt away the ice swiftly. Caitlin watched, horrified, as the water ate away the ice. She felt weak and helpless. Her ice powers were useless against the bear's water attacks but she wasn't going to give up just yet. The ice was gone, allowing the bear to move again. The bear gazed at Caitlin with furious eyes. It got up and roared yet again. Caitlin leaped into the air again and fired a storm of rocks at the bear. The rocks landed on the bear. It roared a cry of torment while more rocks piled up on top of it.
Caitlin stared at the big pile of rocks. When she saw no movement, she felt a wave of relief. "Alright, you did it Caitlin!" Ashley cheered.
Caitlin smiled along with the others and started walking towards them. Ation smiled along with them. But not a smile of relief and cheerfulness. It was a sinister smile. And there was a very good reason why he was smiling that way. The bear wasn't finished.
Caitlin suddenly heard the rocks moving. She looked back and saw the rocks moving. But the bear couldn't be alive still…could it? She wondered. Then a stream of water erupted from the pile of rocks. The force of the water pushed many of the rocks away and some flew into the air. Caitlin, taken by surprise, quickly avoided all the incoming rocks. Once it was finally over, she turned around and faced the bear, injured but ok. The bear snarled angrily at Caitlin and ran towards her. She dodged as fast as she could. But before she could do anything else, a large pool of water appeared right under her feet. She fell inside and struggled to get to the surface. Because of the lack of air, she started to go faster. The puddle of water was extremely deep, like the ocean, and by the time she was close to the top, her lungs felt like they were going to explode. But then darkness started to envelop the surface like an eclipse when it arrives and covers the sun. Caitlin tried to swim faster but when she reached the surface, it was blocked by a huge stone. She tried to move it but it was too heavy. And she was running out of time.
Back on the surface, the bear held the rock down. It wasn't about to let Caitlin escape from this one. Gloria was extremely worried. She knew Caitlin could drown if she couldn't remove the rock. But she couldn't do anything about it unless she could find a way to distract Ation again and try to help. Ashley placed her hand on Gloria's shoulder. She could feel Gloria's uneasiness. "Don't worry about Caitlin, Gloria. She's been in situations just as bad as this and she managed to pull through on her own," Ashley said in a soft voice.
Gloria didn't feel any better. But she knew Ashley was right. Caitlin had been in worse situations than this and she was able to pull through alone. She watched helplessly as the bear held the rock down, slowly killing Caitlin.
Under the water, Caitlin thought that she might finally die from drowning. Her lungs felt like they had already burst. She couldn't find any other way out. The floor was completely concrete. Then she had an idea. But she needed to open her mouth and try to speak underwater. It was a risk she was willing to take. She finally opened her mouth and said "Boetq istalri!"
Luckily, a water tornado began to form with Caitlin in it. Then it erupted from the ground in a fury of whirling water, sending the bear and the large rock into the air. Caitlin swirled inside the tornado, desperate for air. Jessica saw Caitlin and quickly canceled the spell. The tornado degenerated itself, sending Caitlin to the right side. She slid on the smooth field, leaving a trail of water behind her. Caitlin tried to take in a breath of fresh air, but instead started chocking up water. She spit out lots of water and struggled to breathe. The bear landed on the ground on its back, hard. Hard enough to break its spine, including its neck, and kill it. Caitlin finally got her first big breath of air. She was totally soaked and started to shiver violently from the cold. Jessica ran to her and helped her. Caitlin sat on the ground and Melissa quickly created a fire to warm Caitlin up.
Ation slammed his fist on the metal bar surrounding him. He clenched his teeth in fury. Melissa didn't wait for him to tell her to be ready. She walked to the field and transformed. Then she stood prepared. Ation didn't say anything but snapped his fingers. Something slithered from out of the ground. This monster was bony white with three big spikes that were curved back and had serrated undersides. It had a five foot red needle sticking out from the middle of its face along with two blue eyes surrounding it. At the end of its tail, it had a blue tail spike curved like a hook. The strange creature didn't screech or anything like the creatures before it. It almost instantly attack with its tail spike, giving Melissa barely any time to react. She evaded its attack by mere inches.
Before she could do anything else, the monster pierced her side with its tail spike. Melissa groaned loudly. "What is that thing? And how is it supposed to be something Mel's afraid of?" Ashley asked.
"That thing's a drill bug. It's a venomous monster, which is why Ation sent that thing against her," Gloria explained. "It has very potent venom."
"How d—do y—you know?" Caitlin stuttered, still cold.
"I have my ways," Gloria answered.
Melissa grabbed the drill bug with her jaws and threw it to the other side of the field. Electricity started to gather to become a sphere inside her jaws. She opened her mouth and shot the sphere of blue electricity. The ball electrocuted the drill bug and it fell to the ground. She approached the fallen bug cautiously. Gloria watched from the sidelines as Melissa got closer to the beast. She could see her chest swelling, a sign that she was charging up her breath weapon. Melissa started to bare her teeth. Fire started to seep from her mouth. She was about to fire when the drill bug suddenly sank its red needle into Melissa's chest as fast as a striking viper. Melissa roared in great pain and grasped the monster tightly, but drill bug closed its serrated spikes on her to hold on. The serrated spikes were sharp enough to pierce through Melissa's tough scales.
She roared in pain and tried to grasp drill bug's body. But it kept squirming around, making it tougher it grab it. She finally grabbed it and got it off her. She threw it far away from her. Drill bug wiggled like a worm and finally got up again. Melissa stared at it with furious eyes. She charged at it and lowered her head to head butt it but, without warning, started to slow down. Then she abruptly stopped. Her vision was slowly getting bad. She started breathing heavily as she tried to look for the drill bug. "What the hell's going on?" Jessica wondered.
"When drill bug injected its venom in Melissa's chest, it sped up the venom. The venom needs to target the heart to kill the target. While it heads towards the heart, it starts to disable any other body functions like vision and others. It targets the lungs and the other important organs inside the body to slow the victim down. And once it reaches the heart, it means death for the victim. If Melissa doesn't hurry and finish this fight, she'll die," Gloria clarified.
"Have you had an experience with this thing?" Caitlin questioned.
"I'll tell you later," Gloria replied.
Despite her diminishing vision and weakened muscles, she wrapped her long tail around drill bug's long body, piercing its hard segmented body with her own spikes on the side of her tail. Though its own spikes were stabbing her, she ignored the pain and threw it to the other side of the field. She looked like she was loosing her balance. She started moving from left to right as if she was dizzy. She shook her head to stop it and stared furiously at drill bug. "If I die, you're coming with me, you goddamn bastard!" she cried.
She opened her jaws wide and electric sparks once again started to fly around her jaws. One more orb of blue electricity formed and started to expand as more electricity was gathered. Bolts of electricity appeared from the ground and held drill bug in its place. It tried to twist and squirm out of the bolts' grasp but failed. The electric orb grew and Melissa finally fired. But it wasn't an orb anymore. Now it was a wide and long beam of electricity. It blasted drill bug with so much force, drill bug's black shadow-like figure literally ripped apart like paper. The beam also blasted the wall behind it, causing it to collapse. Then as fast as the beam was fired, it was over. Drill bug was gone and only clouds of dirt or smoke from the collapsed walls remained. "No!" Ation yelled.
"Yes, you did it Mel! We won!" Gloria cheered.
But Melissa did not return the cheer. Her eyes were half open and she was moving from side to side again. Then she fell to her side. "Ha, ha, ha! Drill bug may be dead, but your friend is going to die with it!" cried Ation, smiling.
Like Caitlin, Melissa was running out of time. The venom had done its job and was going to finish her off. She could not think of any spells that could possibly get rid of the poison. Gloria and Jessica ran to her while Ashley stayed with Caitlin, who was still cold but thanks to her friends, she escaped from near death.
Melissa's eyes were almost closed and her breathing had slowed even more by the time Gloria and Jessica reached her. "Can you do anything Jess?" Gloria asked.
"Yes. The only way is to use a spell called Abolish Poison," Jessica answered. "Let's hope I have enough energy."
She held her hand out and activated the Abolish Poison spell. A green orb came out of the dragon's chest and dissipated several seconds later. "What!" Ation shouted eyes wide with surprise and anger.
Melissa became human again and got up. "Are you ok?" Gloria asked.
"Yeah, just a little dazed," Melissa answered. "Thanks guys."
Gloria smiled and nodded in reply. Then she glared at Ation and said, "Seems like not even your most powerful monsters can defeat us Ation. As long as we are friends, we have everyone's back and we will stop at nothing to help each other when needed." Caitlin and Ashley joined Melissa and Jessica and also gave Ation angry looks. "Our friendship is more powerful than your pathetic monsters. And there's nothing you can do to stop us! We will stop you from taking over our city and from doing any harm to any innocent being on Earth!"
"Yeah, you bastard! We'll kill you for the hell you put us through!" Melissa shouted.
"And there's nothing you can do to stop us!" Ashley added.
Ation started laughing in a very weird way. "Do you really think it's over yet? I'm still gonna get my revenge on you Gloria by killing you and your friends and taking over Tranquility and killing its citizens and taking over any other monsters and—"
"Jesus Christ Ation, can you stop saying 'and'!" Caitlin demanded.
Ignoring Caitlin, Ation continued, "Do you remember how we met Gloria?"
"Why should I?" Gloria responded.
"Well I do remember," Ation continued. "I remember when I was only seven years old and you were seven as well. I was the new kid of La Puente. I lived a few houses away from you. When I first went to the elementary school, I was the loner. But you…you decided to become friends with me. I was thrilled. You were one of the best people I had ever known. You wouldn't make fun of me like other people did. You were always playing with me and I could always talk to you. We were the best of friends. Until that day…
"I remember that after a while, you began to avoid me. Then sometimes, even try to hide from me. I did not understand why, but I continued to try and get you. I thought it was a game until that day when you told you did not want to be my friend anymore. You said I bragged too much, that I was narcissistic, that I was stupid, and that you couldn't believe that we were friends. You stomped off, angry. I was deeply hurt by what you said. That night and the next few nights to follow, I could not sleep. I could not stop thinking about what you said. I began to hate you. My hatred grew as time went by. Ever since that day, I've been trying to think of a way to get my revenge. And finally the day has come. Gloria, my master plan was all created to kill you for what you did to me. My master plan was created by all my hatred towards you. Now you will pay greatly for what you have done!"
Gloria could not believe what the man was telling her. She didn't want to believe that she did a cruel thing to him when they were younger. She finally figured it out. This entire plan was intended to kill her and her alone. He didn't care about what happened to her friends. He only killed the other people to lead her closer to him. They might have betrayed him or they might have been innocent. Either way, it led her to him. And now she and her friends were the only force that could stop him.
"Finally...after years of developing the perfect plan, I will unleash the final weapon!" Ation yelled in triumph. "Your pathetic friendship will not be able to stand up against my creation! The mightiest beast of all!"
Gloria, Ashley, Melissa, Caitlin, and Jessica could feel that something vast was coming. They could hear loud roaring. "Now meet…Cyberdemon!" Ation announced.
Something burst through the wall behind Ation. It was an immense monster, about 45 ft tall. It had huge bulging muscles; dark bone colored segmented horns that curved forward and towards each other, armored hoofed feet, and two muscular arms, the right ending with a rocket launcher and the left ending with five sharp claws. It had armor on its head, chest, and hip. It also had a short tail. "Say hello to Cyberdemon! He alone will help me take over your pathetic city and the rest of the world," Ation yelled, "Unless of course, you can defeat him."
Nobody responded or moved. The huge beast named Cyberdemon opened his mouth and a red gas came out. The gas surrounded Gloria, Ashley, Melissa, Caitlin, and Jessica, causing them to pass out. "Perfect," Ation snickered. "Put them in the dungeon."
Five guards came out and carried the five girls to the dungeon. They put them in a single cell. "Now Cyberdemon," Ation continued, staring at the great beast, "It's time to take over the world! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"
Cyberdemon roared a deep and terrifying roar. Now it was finally time to take over Tranquility and the entire world.