A/N: Aaaand here we are! just like I promised! This time we return to Bill and Teeth and 8-Ball, who are played by me, and Pyronica, who is played by Ace! XD Chapter Twenty-One! come on out here!
A Triangle in the Stars
Chapter Twenty-One: Teleportation Time
"Okay, guys..." the golden triangle started, hand on his "chin". "It took some work, but I managed to single out a few locations. One in particular is sticking out like a sore thumb."
8-Ball frowned a little, sitting down now, "And what is that place?"
"Yeah, what is it?" Teeth stammered. He wasn't willing to face Gabriel. But if that was what Bill wanted... well, he'd do it.
"The Zodiac Temple..." Bill's eye turned into a projector of sorts, and it displayed the exterior of the building on the floor in a schematic fashion at first before it filled in the grays and shadows. It... had seen better days.
Teeth and 8-Ball looked upon this with awe, nonetheless, though the latter was cooler about it. They had no idea its significance, and the golden demon had no time to explain anyway, but it still didn't take away from the wonder.
"But there's a problem..." he frowned, still speaking calmly despite how he felt inside. "A big one."
"What's the problem?" asked Pyronica, watching the projection, not amused or amazed. Her arms were crossed.
"Well, I'm still recovering from having been stuck in a statue for over half a year..." Bill sighed, cutting off the projector once he let the three-dimensional image rotate for a good minute. "I only got a few of my abilities back..."
8-Ball raised a hand and then spoke, "And lemme guess—teleportation wasn't one of 'em..."
The golden triangle nodded, his frown deepening, "Exactly."
Teeth gulped, starting to sweat. Well, that wasn't good.
"Hmm... maybe we could get, like, a plane or something..." Pyronica proposed.
"That'd take too long..!" the demon shot her suggestion down. He took deep breaths, trying to keep himself calm. He shook himself, gripping at his bowtie, "No. We need to find Xanthar. Remember he was rounding up Kryptos?"
Teeth and 8-Ball were clueless at this part. Though, considering they weren't there at the time and were freaking out themselves, it was justified. But they were both certainly worried about their boss's and friend's well-being. This Gem kid must've been pretty important to him.
"Hmm... yes, but what good will they do?" Pyronica asked, wondering what Bill was getting at.
Bill sighed, rubbing at his eye slightly, having expected Pyronica to get the hint, but he explained anyway, seeing as how they were running out of time, "Kryptos is like me in some ways... he can teleport us there, no problem."
"Ohhh!" Teeth interjected, finally understanding.
8-Ball nodded, "Understood, boss!"
The golden demon looked at the two of them, frowning slightly. But then again, Kryptos never actually used his magic in front of them all, these two in particular, instead just preferring to rely on Bill to do the work. So he was starting to understand their confusion. Pyronica frowned, "So what should we do?"
Bill deadpanned subtly, and raised his arms, "We find them, of course!"
Teeth and 8-Ball nodded, and the latter got up and stretched out his legs.
"Gotcha, boss!" they saluted, and started walking slowly, farther down the lit hallway. Bill glanced at Pyronica, letting worry show on his eye for only a second before he set it aside and followed them. She sighed and followed behind him.
Teeth and 8-Ball called out for them every now and then, looking into several classrooms. Bill did the same, sometimes speeding ahead of them. They needed to do this fast. Pyronica kept up easily, frowning as she looked from place to place.
"Wait, hold on, are they even in this particular wing?" Bill stopped suddenly. He'd almost caused an accident, since he was directly in front of 8-Ball and Teeth at the time. They had to stop hard. The ape-like creature and denture demon frowned slightly as they soon recomposed themselves, humming with confusion. They again had no clue.
Pyronica growled. "We don't have time for this!" she hissed, and lifted her arms. When she did so, the ceiling lifted up too. She climbed up a wall and looked for them from there. The triangle raised an eyebrow slightly, but soon followed her. She was right after all. Steven was running out of time. If he hadn't run out of time already...
He shuddered at the thought and shoved it aside. He couldn't think like that. He couldn't afford to break down now.
8-Ball grabbed Teeth and hurriedly clambered up the wall as well, trailing behind them both. They both had the same thought, but it held less significance to them than it did to Bill.
"Everyone, look for them! they have to be around here somewhere!" Pyronica, however, understood, albeit not fully, how much it meant to Bill, getting Steven back in one piece. She definitely didn't want to be blamed for making them lose time. 8-Ball and Teeth nodded, and the former put the latter down. They separated a distance, but not too far, looking around. Bill took the back of this place, trying to see if he could feel their auras. For some reason, this power seemed to be failing him right now. He growled slightly.
Pyronica focused mainly on keeping the roof raised. "C-c'mon, guys, hurry! I can only keep this up so long!" The roof began to tremble.
"I don't see anything up here!" Teeth and 8-Ball said almost simultaneously. They both climbed back down into the hallway. Bill wasn't giving up. He looked harder, and soon saw glimpses of them. Kryptos and Xanthar, as well as Keyhole. They were in the opposite wing, just as he thought. His eye widened, and he recorded their location before he headed down into the hallway as well. Pyronica jumped down soon enough. Slowly, but surely, the ceiling descended, and rejoined with the walls, stronger now.
"I found them! and they have another one of our friends!" the triangle stated triumphantly. The cheer was only superficial. He couldn't feel any real cheer until they got Steven back, safely, from his adopted brother's hands.
"Really?" 8-Ball smiled a little. Teeth grinned a bit. The joy was obviously a little more genuine for them. Bill nodded.
"So? where are they?" the flame demon asked, wanting to cut to the chase.
"They're in the other wing! let's go!" he wasted no time and immediately shot off in the other direction. Teeth and 8-Ball exchanged glances but followed as fast as they could, Pyronica too.
Kryptos had felt the school shake violently twice now, and quivered, looking about, "Wha.. what was that?!"
The cheer that the school's lights had finally turned back on became quickly short-lived. Xanthar shuddered a bit, rumbling a possible answer, that it might be Gabriel's attempt to bring the school down on them all. The rhombic demon frowned slightly, eye widening, "I hope that's not the case..."
Keyhole squeaked. "W-we're all gonna die!" he hid under Xanthar, who made no move, except to stare down at Keyhole and set an arm in front of him protectively, exuding an aura of worry.
"Oh, don't worry... we're all demons, remember? we can take what humans can't," Kryptos reassured them all, looking at them now. But even he wasn't so sure... besides, Gabriel could always strengthen the force of the building so that it could kill or horribly maim them when it came down. He shuddered at the prospect.
"O-oh, yeah..." the blue demon sighed of relief, and suddenly paused for a few seconds. "Do you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" Kryptos raised his only eyebrow. Xanthar seemed confused, a muffled grumble escaping his "face".
"Listen..." was his simple instruction. The others quieted and did so. They soon heard the patter of footsteps in the distance echo through the halls. Keyhole gasped as an idea came to him, "What if it's Gabriel and his...?"
He drifted off, not able to find a proper word. The two other demons gasped as well, though with the larger creature it was more like a strangled, short rumble, and Kryptos backed into Xanthar, who didn't mind. They soon started hearing voices, familiar ones among the rapid footsteps, shouting their names. Kryptos's eye widened, and he slowly started smiling as he stated, "Wait... I don't think it's Gabriel and his Cluster Demons at all!"
Xanthar grumbled again, relieved only slightly. Keyhole wiped the sweat off his brow, "G-good! I was just a little afraid!"
"I think we all were," Kryptos sighed, giving Xanthar some space. Bill soon came into view, at the far end of the hallway behind them. He smiled when he saw them and shouted, "Kryptos! Xanthar! Keyhole! my old pals!"
The rhombic demon turned around, and so did Xanthar, being careful not to crush Keyhole, and they smiled too, though the large demon just exuded an aura of happiness. Keyhole was as shaky as ever, and it seemed even more so with Bill there. He was still thinking over that plan of his...
"Bill!" Kryptos explained, levitating a little closer, "Oh, thank goodness you're safe!"
The golden demon had forgotten to ask Kryptos for his side of the story. He was simply too happy that he'd found them, and thus their plan to save Steven could roll into phase two. He smiled a little, "I'm glad you're safe too!"
8-Ball and Teeth soon came into view too, panting and almost collapsing onto the floor. Pyronica soon joined them, but stayed standing, looking rather frazzled. Xanthar rumbled happily when he saw them.
"We-we don't have time for this!" the only female demon of this group hissed, though she would have liked a hug.
"Are you three alright?" the golden demon asked, partially ignoring what Pyronica had said. Xanthar nodded in reply, and then walked over to the flame monster, sensing that she needed a hug, and gave her a quick one. It was barely reciprocated. Keyhole soon nodded as well, still a little antsy.
"Yah, we're fine, Bill," the rhombus smiled slightly, "but what's the hurry?"
8-Ball and Teeth tried to explain, but they were talking at the same time, almost frantically, and it was a bit hard to make out. Kryptos was patient though, frowning a little as he tried to pick up on any key words. Bill, however, was not, and he frowned more deeply, crossing his arms.
With a wave of Pyronica's hand, they fell mute, and she started to fill them in, "Gabriel captured someone that Bill cares a lot about. We're going to go and retrieve them, as well as crumble Gabe's forces. Any questions?" she then asked, unmuting the two.
Teeth and 8-Ball patted their mouths, or in the former's case, teeth, as a reaction to being muted and then unmuted. Xanthar reacted with horror, but soon shook his head. He had no questions. He had a feeling he knew who Gabriel had taken.
"Really? well, that's no good! but who else could Bill actually care about?" Kryptos raised an eyebrow. Bill almost glared at him, out of impatience and possibly offense, but kept quiet.
"It doesn't matter. We have to go now before something horrible happens!" Pyronica then started running to the entrance. Bill nodded and then floated after her. 8-Ball and Teeth, and Kryptos and Xanthar trailed behind them.
The ambulances had long gone, and so had the news people. A certain tall, but plump, young man with blond, strange hair stood a fair distance away though, filming another shape with fervor and murmuring stuff about this all going on his blog later. He'd seen it on the news way earlier, and thus he rushed all the way here with his equipment so he could record everything. Unfortunately for him, none of the people allowed him inside. So he had to settle for the outside, which was less fun. Except for the part when he saw and captured on film the roof suddenly rise inexplicably only to him. He had grinned.
Keyhole was at the caboose, trying hard to keep up but doing a terrible job. He feared he would be left behind. Pyronica, at the lead, reached the door first, and kicked it open.
"Move, move, move!" she shouted, before she noticed a familiar hexagonal shape by the entrance, leaning against the wall.
Bill rushed out, and also noticed. His eye was wide, and then he smiled soon enough, "Hectorgon! hey!"
Hectorgon was somewhat like him. He had powers too. So that compounded upon his joy. That and it was a relief to see that the hexagon hadn't betrayed him like he was led to believe. Said demon smiled and tipped his hat to Bill, clicking his tongue.
Xanthar got kinda stuck in the door, so 8-Ball, Kryptos and Teeth had to push him out. Keyhole simply watched, frowning a little. It was hard, but they managed, and collapsed onto the ground soon after. The large creature mumbled, apologizing, but they forgave him. The small blue demon trailed out of the entrance, quivering slightly.
"W-what now?" asked Keyhole, softly, almost squeaking.
"Now? now, we grab onto each other and teleport to the Zodiac Temple," Bill narrowed his eye. But were they all ready? they had to be. Steven was depending on them all.
Kryptos nodded, and grabbed the ones near him, like 8-Ball, Xanthar and Teeth, who all braced for this. Bill grabbed onto the rhombic demon, a sick feeling in his stomach. He had a feeling not all of them would survive...
And then Ronaldo, who had been silently and inwardly squeeing at all this, suddenly stepped up to them, unable to hold in that urge, still filming them. He said slowly, thinking at first that they didn't understand English, "Heya, strange creatures!"
Keyhole squeaked and hid behind everyone else, holding right to them. Kryptos frowned and rolled his eye slightly at the way Ronaldo was speaking. Bill growled, narrowing his eye at the man, "We're busy here, meatsack!"
"Woah!" this only made the man grin wider. "You're feisty. That's good for the camera!"
Bill's eye briefly widened and then he groaned, brow furrowing, as the others simply stared at Ronaldo, with 8-Ball and Teeth looking very unimpressed and the large purple creature seeming fairly interested. Hectorgon then smiled and waved, one hand connected to Xanthar. Pyronica glared and set the camera aflame with the twitch of her eye.
"NO! my footage!" Ronaldo screamed, and then tried to put the fire out the best he could. But he did notice Hectorgon, and waved back halfheartedly, frowning slightly.
The golden triangle laughed, obviously enjoying this, but he then said, "Sorry, kid, but we don't have time for this!"
Whether the apology was sincere or not was left up to debate. He then glanced at Kryptos, and the rhombic demon took this as his cue, and shouted, "Here we goooo!"
And then they glowed brightly and vanished. The young man was able to salvage his camera, but it was too late. The monsters were gone. He sighed, "At least I have some of this on film..." but then perked up, "NOW TO UPDATE MY BLOG!"
He then rushed back to his post, excited again.
A/N: And we have a special guest in this chapter. Ronaldo! he was also played by me; I hope I captured him well. And we see the Henchmaniacs, well, most of them, are back together now! Kryptos and Xanthar were played by me. Keyhole and Hectorgon were played by Ace! woohoo! isn't that a wonderful cliffhanger? lol! I hope you enjoyed, and I also hope you caught the reference I snuck in there. Leave a wonderful review, and I'll see you this Saturday. Have a Happy Early Halloween, everyone!