Beetlejuice
Season 2: The Sleeper Saga
Episode 36: The Bronze Lion
The pale malnourished old man stretched his limbs as he awoke the next morning, lying in a pool of blood and innards. He looked over his physique, scrawny bones covered in pale flesh. His wrinkled hands showed his true age and he even found himself without clothing. "Pathetic." He stated to himself in his new invigorated voice, no longer parched. "The world continues to tame its own chaos while I am stuck in here, stark naked, in this cold cavern of crystal." He closed his eyes and began to concentrate with no result. Only a small gust of wind blew by him. "Hmm," he thought aloud, "This aged form seems to take longer than it used to gathering energy for spells." He grunted aloud in exasperation and then extended his left hand so that he could point his palm in front of him. His projection gate opened up within minutes. "Damn, I was able to open the gates immediately while I was trapped inside that blasted crystal." He examined his old prison for a moment and concluded, "Perhaps it's because that it is solidified manna from my brothers." He then turned back to his gate and touched it physically for the first time in eons. The doppelganger was of his younger form, it turned back to look at its creator obediently. "Go and fetch me a soul to restore my youth with. Preferably an omni elemental soul." Grimnak commanded it and it left. He once again concentrated and within minutes the second gate appeared. He proceeded to create another doppelganger. "Go and fetch me some suitable clothing to wear for my return." The doppelganger turned around to look for anything it could find in the immediate vicinity and soon walked away to continue its search.
With a gigantic headache form all of the noise, Lydia watched from the stands of the school's football field next to her father. She had reluctantly agreed to watch Claire perform as captain of the cheer leading squad and was brutally reminded why she hated sporting events. She could barely stand listening to her father shout every time her school's team scored a touchdown or made a kick for an extra point, but she also had to listen to the entire school scream into her ears at the event and she could barely hear her own voice, let alone her thoughts. From what she could tell her school's team had twenty eight points to the rival school's thirty one points. She knew nothing of football other than that and was in too much of a haze to remember properly the rival school's name. She looked to the far end of the school only to be greeted by the blurry image of a far off bronze statue of a lion, standing proud atop an erect boulder. To its right front shoulder was a tree seen in the savannah that Lydia still wasn't able to identify off the top of her head. She turned her head to look past her father and noticed Ben sitting next to him with Bertha and Prudence sitting in the seats next to him, Prudence desperately attempting to see over the head of the person sitting in front of her by standing on the folding chair. Ben was cheering on his school's team with Charles and asking questions pertaining to the rules of this progressively savage sport.
Bertha yawned obviously not interested in football in the slightest and would rather be improving her Drakenfield deck or practicing the use of her Mirror Stone. Prudence on the other hand had finally given up on trying to see around the people in front of her and plopped back down in her chair and crossed her arms in a huff. Guiltily, Lydia gave a partially amused smile at tiny Prudence's attempts and failures. Suddenly, the crowd shouted once again, letting the noise ring in her ears for a while. She finally decided to go to the snack bar to see if that was quieter. "Dad!" she shouted. He turned his attention to her, noticing her cries to him. "I'm gonna go get something to drink." She continued over the screams of the fans, pointing to the snack stands to make sure he had enough pieces to put the message together. He gently smiled at her and asked, "Don't be too long." So that she could hear him. Suddenly, the crowd stood up and screamed at the top of their lungs at seemingly a game turning play. Charles turned back to Ben to ask what happened while Lydia slipped out and up the isles to the top. As she guessed, the top wasn't that much quieter but at least it wasn't killing her ear drums anymore. She looked back just in time to watch as one boy she thought who's name she recognized was tackled into what she remembered was called the in-zone to score an additional six points. Another boy she definitely recognized was standing just feet away from her cheering on what she thought was "Michael". "Yah! Nice interception Michael! You show 'em how you really play football!" José shouted over the railing. "José?" Lydia asked in slight shock as the crowd began to die down. José shot his head toward her and gave her a huge grin when he recognized her. "Sup there girlie?"
Lydia cautiously walked over to stand by his right side and lean over the railing with him. Despite the cheering crowd, an uncomfortable silence placed itself between them from their past. "What are you doing here?" he finally asked, breaking the awkward silence between them. Lydia shifted her gaze slightly to look at him through the corner of her eye and exhaled her nerves into the air before answering, "I promised Claire I'd come see her perform during the football game." Taken back slightly, José opened his eyes wide and stated in confirmation, "So you two are friends." All Lydia did was silently nod, distrust for him hanging thick around her. Her gaze wasn't even watching José anymore. She focused on Michael, the only one who thought to do the right thing and save her from Adrian when he attacked her and dislocated her shoulders. After a while of silence between them José decided to speak to her one more time. "I'm sorry about back there." Lydia turned in surprise to find him looking down at the railing in shame and disgust of himself. "We had no idea Adrian wanted to hurt you like that. We thought that we were just gonna mess with you a little is all." He paused for a few seconds before adding, "We don't expect forgiveness. We just want you to know that Michael and I are sorry."
Skeptical, Lydia asked him, "It took you this long to apologize to us?" Only to see his face tighten up and a tear run down his face. Feeling hurt herself, Lydia decided to look back at the field and watch Michael catch yet another pass and get plowed over by the opposing team. She cringed at the sight and thought of him being broken in half by three other guys but found herself relieved when he stood back up with the help of a teammate. She finally let out a deep, defeated sigh and said to him, "When I was little, my mother always would tell me to ease my pain by forgiving others who cause me pain as soon as possible." José turned to Lydia in surprise with tears still streaming down his face. "It may take a while longer, but I think I can do that." José wiped away his tears with the wrists of his hands and said, "Thanks. Your mom sounds pretty cool." Loss hit her again like a two-by-four and she thought once again back to that day while responding sadly, "She was." It was at this time, José noticed tears trailing down Lydia's face. He looked back at the field and muttered to himself just as the crowd cheered for the final score, "I did it again. Sorry girlie." His grip on the metal railing tightened as if his hands believed they could calm his sadness by wrenching the piece of metal bar from its resting place while he placed his weight upon his wrists.
"Is this guy giving you trouble?" They heard an Australian voice ask darkly. Both Lydia and José shot their gazes toward the stairs close by to see both Lydia's father and Ben standing there both with stern looks on their faces. "Easy there amigo." José asked while gesturing with his hands that he wanted to try to avoid a fight. "Not really." Lydia answered. "You guys don't need to worry. He was just apologizing for last year when I thought about mom." "Hey." José interrupted. She turned to notice that he was once again looking out toward the field. "I think it's half-time. The cheerleaders are coming out." They all turned just as the band began playing the traditional music and the cheerleader dancers began their routine. Sure enough, there was Claire Brewster keeping in synch with the music and performing her flips and jumps just as she had practiced relentlessly. Mid way in the routine, the squad formed their circles with Claire readying herself to be launched from the middle of the front row. She was launched high into the air and gracefully caught and brought back down to the ground. The music intensified as they continued dancing with vigorous focus and determination. At last the routine was over with four pyramids formed and Claire on the top of one of them. She breathed heavily from her dancing routine as she looked out to see her friends cheering her on. Bertha and Prudence were in the stands whistling and cheering while she found Lydia, Charles and Ben all applauding and cheering her on when she noticed José standing next to Lydia. Slightly confused she heard the command to break the pyramid and safely make her way down. She was gently placed on her feet and proceeded to happily make her way off of the field with her fellow cheerleaders when a loud roar came from the front of the school. Before she even had time to turn, what looked to be the bronze statue snatch up one of the cheerleaders in its jaws and skid to a stop before it violently bit down on her, snapping the poor young girl's back in half and tearing her flesh open. The girl screamed at the top of her lungs, feeling her legs and hips go numb and then feel nothing at all. "Oh-my-gosh! Alexia!" Another one of Claire's comrades yelled. Claire turned only to see pain and despair reflect in the girl's fading eyes.
Just at that moment, Bertha's diamond dragon crashed down and immediately reached down to pry the lion's mouth open while Claire heard Bertha shout over the panicking crowd, "Claire. Use an arrow to teleport her out of the statue's mouth." Bertha held the mirror stone out in the open, the polished sapphire emitting a faint blue glow. Claire snapped back out of her panic and looked back at the fight. She extended her arm, silently saying "good bye" to any normality she had left and extended her bow of golden light. She swiftly drew back an arrow and pictured her friend next to her side ready to receive medical attention. As she fired the arrow, the lion fought back thrashing its head and flinging the poor girl from its mouth. The arrow zinged by and dissipated soon after missing its intended target. Claire, quickly drew another arrow and imagined the same scenario. The arrow was loosed and it did as commanded when it struck Alexia.
The cheerleader, now teleported onto the grass lye gasping for breath as blood gushed from her torso. Claire readied yet one more arrow and pictured her comrade healthy and unharmed. She loosed the arrow only to have the energy bounce off of the girl's wounds and back into her face, temporarily blinding her. "Aah! I can't see!" Claire shouted as she stumbled around, covering her eyes in pain. Lydia looked in shock as her friend's own powers reflected back and blinded her. "This is bad!" Beetlejuice stated. He apparently had transformed back to his original form while no one was looking and dashed in to assist his friends. He had just placed himself in between Claire and the monster just in time to snatch her out of the way of the lion's paw as it swiped across, in an attempt to slay the blind girl. The two of them skidded across the ground with Beetlejuice regaining his footing mid slide. "Damn it!" he thought to himself watching the lion follow up with yet another paw swipe to attempt to slay both of them.
The lions paw instead found itself missing its target as the lion suddenly felt a sudden impact against its skull hard enough to daze it. José's fist drove the beast's head into the ground before he reoriented his feet underneath him and jumped off in the direction of Beetlejuice and landed within two feet of him. "Nice save, amigo." José said to him. Shocked and surprised Beetlejuice stuttered slightly, "th-th-that… was… bronze. Is your hand alright?" José brought up his fist and looked at it quizzically before stating, "Bronze? It felt like flesh and skull to me, man. What's your name anyway? And how did the blonde girlie do that 'arrow of light' thing?"
"Talk later! Fight now!" They heard Bertha shout to them. The two turned and saw Bertha still commanding her dragon to fend off the beast. Beetlejuice turned back and saw Claire rubbing her eyes which had only just now regained their sight. "Alexia?" she groaned waiting for her eyes to readjust to the light. Claire looked around for her friend eventually finding her still lying in the same spot, unmoving and covered in her own blood. Fearing the worst, Claire scrambled back up to her and found her eyes glazed over and lifeless. The image was terrifying to her as Lydia approached calling to her. Drops of rain began to steadily drop from the sky and the closer Lydia came to Claire, the more broken Claire became as distress overcame her emotions. Claire suddenly snagged the dragon's ring on her wrist and began to attempt to wrench it off of her wrist in an angry panic. "Damn it! Damn you little piece of shit! All of that power and you can't even save one girl!" Lydia stopped mid-step frightened of her friend's screaming. Claire now at this time had wrenched her wrist so violently she had caused herself to bleed just under the ring, and still she tried to rip the trinket off of her. From her blood, golden energy began to seep out like smoke drifting upward in a wavy motion, fusing six inches above her head and forming a dome. Finally noticing this, Lydia lunged in calling Claire's name only to be repelled by electricity that flung her ten feet away and rendered her unconscious. Rather than simply feeling the impact in his body, Beetlejuice was also flung back by an invisible force and dazed for a short time.
The energy finally came into Claire's view and she began to look around herself in a panic. She attempted to call out but was silenced when the energy sealed itself, fully encompassing her in a sphere made of golden light. Bertha, now left to battle the beast by herself gauged her scenario and muttered aloud, "Crap, I have to get rid of this thing fast. I'm the only one left to fight it." Just then little Prudence ran past the battle and up to José and Beetlejuice, who was just standing back up. "Guys, everyone's made it out and Merlin is rewriting their memories as we speak." "Wait. Who is what?" José asked, confused. "Never mind." Beetlejuice urged trying to keep from needless explanations. "Can you do that punch again?"
The air was still and cold. Claire thought that her lungs were going to freeze from the inside with every breath she took. Frightened and confused she attempted to open her eyes only to find more blackness awaiting her. Deafening silence surrounded her until a familiar voice spoke with both grace and authority. "Why do you mock me little gossip girl?" the dragon roared oat her as he once again slithered quickly around her. She once again found herself surrounded by the same space as when she first received the dragon's power. Shocked slightly at the sudden change, she began stammering with her words. "I… I… I…" was all that she could manage for some time, tears still streaming down her face from before. "Speak up, young one." The dragon roared lunging itself within feet from her face. That's when Clair broke down into tears and dropped to her knees, bawling with her hands covering her face. The dragon was now startled and confused. "Why?" Claire asked in between sobs. Taken back, the dragon lowered his head to the ground close enough for Claire to hug his cheek. At first, she was frightened, barely able to see through the tears. She gazed into the dragon's softened gaze seeing the reflection of her melted mascara streaming with her tears of remorse. Softly, the dragon spoke to her, "My apologies, little one. I had forgotten to mention that even my powers cannot reverse the flow of life." He paused for a second before finishing his statement, "Nothing can."
Back at the school, José and Beetlejuice worked in tandem to take down a giant bronze lion while avoiding the large golden sphere of light at the edge of the thirty-yard-line and the deceased cheerleader nearby. Prudence pulled a beat-up Bertha back over to the sideline benches the best she could. Apparently, the lion blind sighted and knocked out Bertha with a massive shoulder charge while defending itself against her Diamond Aura Dragon. As she came to, she felt her left side ache as if she had broken some ribs. She gripped her side as she cringed while sitting upright.
Watching Beetlejuice's movements, José kept the pressure up to drove the lion into a corner. Beetlejuice would charge in and dash in between the lion's legs, while José would be right behind to drive his fist into its skull once again. Suddenly, Beetlejuice shouted, "Alright, time to hammer this thing home!" In that instance, Beetlejuice morphed into a giant mallet and placed himself into José's hands. Still in the moment, José simply swung the black and white striped mallet as hard as he could into the lion's right side cheek, eventually tearing the head clean off. Yet, instead of blood, a black mist flowed from the lion's wounds as it collapsed to the ground. Beetlejuice morphed back into himself and screamed while rubbing his right shoulder, "Damn, that hurt! Holy crap, man you've got some swing!" José smiled slightly before the situation finally had sunk into his head. "Wait, hold on a minute." He panicked, "How did you do that, and what are you?" Slightly cocky Beetlejuice answered, Call me Beetlejuice, the ghost with the most." Moving from realization to sheer terror, José replied, "Oh well now that makes seh… wha! You're a ghost?" Then, stammering over his words, he began to faint where he stood. The moment he collapsed to the ground Beetlejuice moved in and caught him. "Guess not everyone handles ghosts like the others do." He muttered to himself, dragging the now passed out José over to the side lines. As soon as he set the boy down he looked over to the glowing sphere and asked himself aloud, "Now… what to do with this thing?"
End of Season 2 Episode 16