Note: The words in bold italics below are Tyroth's dragon tongue, see below to find out what they meant!
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Showdown
Diablo glared at the dragon and started to fly higher, yet the dragon blasted a jet of flames above the Raven's head making him duck and drop!
Diablo felt the heat above his head as well as a singeing pain on his feathers yet he regained his composure and turned back to the Dragon glowering.
"You traitor Diablo!" Tyroth snarled flames still flickering between his teeth.
Diablo's eyes flashed.
"Traitor?" he demanded "For what? Wanting to live my own life as a mutant?"
"You hurt my friends! Threatened my home!" Tyroth roared flying higher so he was above the Raven "Betrayed your family! The only ones who ever loved you! And still continue to, for reasons I can only try to make sense of!"
"Love?" Diablo hissed "Give me a break!"
"They did love you!" Tyroth shouted, his whole body glowing with mana "And Mona! The sister you claimed to look up to, is still willing to give you another chance, even after everything you have done! Yet you spit in her face!"
"She chose not to follow me!" Diablo spat back "I hated her for what she did to me! Turning me into a mutant!"
"She fucking saved your life!" Tyroth screamed.
"For a long time I wished she's let me die!" Callum shouted back "But now I see the light in the darkness I felt! And it is my destiny to use it as I see fit! And this is what I choose to do!"
"By hurting people?" Tyroth hissed "By risking exposure?"
"Only those who behave like dicks!" Diablo justified as he tried to fly away yet each time he moved Tyroth blocked his path, frustrating him.
"Like that Hate Preacher!" Diablo continued still trying to get around the dragon "I fucked him up good! And I'll do the same to others like him! And many more! And I don't care who! May they be average citizens! Corrupt businessmen! Or politicians!"
Tyroth's eyes widened as he listened to Diablo.
"I'll use my new body to inflict fear! I'll use fear as torture! And make them wish for death, but they will not receive it! They will get no release from my doings!" Diablo continued, a smirk curling on his beak "I'll make them all suffer! All those on my list! They will fear the Raven Diablo!"
Tyroth gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
"You've truly gone mad!" he said in a low voice "You've been corrupted!"
"Oh no!" Diablo insisted "Not corrupted, reawakened! I should have seen this long ago! I should have realised this the minute I mutated! I will not be a hermit and hide under the city! I will spread my wings and do as I please! I lost everything after Mona disappeared! Then after Mum died! Then I lost my humanity! Yet I gained something new after the Shredder impaled me and Mona made me into a mutant!"
"So you choose to sink low!" Tyroth growled "You choose to be like our enemies? The very ones who tortured you? And almost killed you?"
"No!" Diablo shot back, his completely blue eyes flashing "I am nothing like those Purple Dragon bastards who drugged me up on Meth! Or the Foot Clan!"
"How are you any different?" Tyroth asked again, his anger and frustrations boiling up, he didn't know how much more he could take.
He wanted to completely engulf the Raven in flames and burn all his feathers off then let him fall and drown in the Lake below! Or stab him to death with his mana covered claws.
Yet he knew Mona and Jake would not allow their brother to be killed, but rather brought down so he could stand trial and they could look into his eyes before a sentence could be handed for his crimes.
"I am different in many ways!" Diablo smirked "I will not hurt innocents! If their souls are clean! But those dirtied! And sinned! Either by action or words! I will make them suffer! Like that Preacher! Faith will not protect them! There are no Gods! Nor the Devil! There is only me! And I will make every human fear doing wrong, or even speaking wrong as I will come to them on swift wings!"
At the last part, Diablo smirked within, liking how that sounded.
Tyroth glared harder.
"And the other thing that makes me different!" Diablo growled "Is how much more powerful I am!"
He flew higher and did a flip over Tyroth's head as the Dragon was off guard and he struck him in the back of the neck with his talons making him loose focus and drop yet he regained his composure and flapped his wings before looking up again at the Raven who flew higher.
"We are mutants Dragon!" he shouted "We are ten times more superior to the humans! We could show them who should really be running the show! I don't know many times I've tried to penetrate your thick skull with that!"
Tyroth glared again and was about to argue back, then he stopped.
After what he had heard in Mutopia and now, all Diablo spoke of was being superior to the humans! And he believed that he, Tyroth along with the other Mutopians and the New Yorkers were stupid and cowardly for hiding from them as they did all those good deeds for the world above that didn't welcome them.
The more he thought about it, the Dragon began to see how he could play the Raven at his own game!
"Okay then!" he thought "If this is how he wants to play, then I'll give him a worthy opponent!"
"It still shocks me Dragon!" Diablo cawed "That you of all mutants! The somehow most powerful dragon! The only mutant of one only would consider a myth! And you choose to hide like the others below the ground!"
Tyroth looked up at Diablo and his eyes burned again then he smirked making the Raven looked rather surprised.
"You know something Raven." he said in a low voice "You do have a point!"
Callum was confused for a second as he hovered above Tyroth and he wondered if he had finally made the Dragon see sense, but his belly pooled with fear and his heart beat faster as he heard the next sentence.
"If you think that we are so superior to humans and should rule them because we're stronger, then YOU shall yield to ME!"
Tyroth then opened his wings and arms and engulfed himself in his magical fire making Diablo almost fall back in shock "I'm the strongest and the toughest! I heal the fastest! I'm the best flyer! I possess magical powers that you can't even fathom! My will is law in Mutopia!"
Diablo regained his balance in the sky and gritted his beak then held up his talons, seeing the Dragon engulfed in his magical fire was terrifying and he knew he was taking a huge risk facing him.
He had remembered the stories of Tyroth taking on many enemies and almost bring the Foot Clan to it's knees, and if they couldn't take him on, he sure couldn't! At least not in a fair fight! He had to think carefully to go about this!
Tyroth licked his lips and looked at Diablo, and he could see the fear in the Raven's eyes.
"It's time that you learned your place, traitor!" Tyroth snarled as he held up his razor sharp claws and licked his equally sharp teeth "And learned why Dragons rule supreme!"
Diablo was terrified, yet he tried not to show it.
"Very well!" he said "And I will also point out! Biggest and strongest, even fastest! Doesn't always win!"
So saying he flew over Tyroth's head as the Dragon, roaring and flames spilling from his mouth, flew up at him and Diablo nimbly avoided him yet he couldn't avoid the burning of the flames and he winced as his feathers were once again singed.
Diablo cawed in anger and twisted in the air. He couldn't strike his opponent with his talons and fists as he was covered head to toe in flames and mana and any wound in inflicted on him would just heal again straight away.
After the bullets he had fired at the dragon, he had been stunned but not badly injured despite where they had hit!
Seeing the Raven avoid another strike, Tyroth flew after him again.
"Ruth ruvaak!"* Tyroth cursed and blew out another jet of flames.
"You can't out-fly me Diablo!" he shouted "I will bring you down! And you will stand trial! You will pay for your crimes!"
"Never!" Diablo yelled back as he once again flipped backwards avoiding Tyroth.
"There's no escape!" Tyroth roared again "You'll tire out soon enough! Then you'll have no choice! Gruth!"
Diablo growled.
Tyroth was right, seeing how strong and relentless the Dragon was, he knew he couldn't shake him off, and he knew Tyroth was the more experienced flyer, so if he did try to fly away, the Dragon would catch up with him, and if he didn't burn him badly in the process.
Avoiding yet another strike from the Dragon, Diablo could feel he was running out of energy and before long he would drop into the lake along with his older sister, and if he didn't drown, then Tyroth would drag him back to Mutopia to decide his fate.
No way was he going to be taken down and be made to face what he had done to those who tried to restrict him, he wasn't sure what punishment would be handed to him, whether it be imprisonment or death and he wasn't going to wait around to find out!
Tyroth turned to Diablo then slashed his claws at him, and the Raven cawed in pain as he felt his wing get slashed at the joint causing him to loose focus!
He then felt his wing drop and he started to fall towards the water!
Tyroth smirked in triumph as he watched the Raven fall to the water.
"Tum Voth Hi!" **
He watched as Diablo hit the water, blood spilling from his injured wing then swooped down.
Diablo looked up, both pained and dazed from being hit in the wing, at first he panicked when he hit the water, mainly because he believed he would be dragged under, yet the currents went through his feathers and even though he felt himself get pulled down, he was still able to stay afloat.
He tried to use his arms to move, but he soon felt Tyroth who had extinguished the flames on his body, grab his right arm and haul him out of the water.
"Zu'u Lost Hi Nu!" Tyroth said triumphantly "Gruth!" ***
Diablo cawed in protest, unsure what what the Dragon was speaking, yet he knew he had to get free!
"I will not be dragged back!" he snarled as he felt himself get dragged through the air "I am a free mutant! Even if it means I am a traitor!"
He felt in his pocket and he found the gun, the same one he had used on the other Mutopians, Master Splinter, Michelangelo and Raphael.
He hoped he still had bullets in the gun, even if he couldn't kill the Dragon, he thought if he disabled him enough to get away, that was the best option.
"Let go of me! Fool!" he clicked the flintlock back and aimed it at Tyroth's right wing before pulling the trigger!
No sooner did he fire than the bullet struck Tyroth in the joint and the Dragon gave a roar of pain before letting go of Diablo and the Raven opened his wings despite the pain he felt and he was pulled up into the air as Tyroth dropped like a stone down into the lake!
"Diablo!" Tyroth screamed up at him as he hit the water "Ruth Hi Wah Hell! Gruth!" ****
Diablo glared down at Tyroth as he began to struggle against the currents as his large wings acted like sails threatening to drag him under the water!
"I told you so!" Diablo shouted at him "Biggest and strongest, and fastest do not win! You think yourself superior and invincible? You're a fool!"
Tyroth slapped at the water as he tried to fight to stay afloat, he tried to close his wings so it would be easier, but it was difficult.
"We will met again Diablo! I promise you!" Tyroth roared, his mana glowing the angrier he got "Don't think for one minute you'll be free forever! I will find you! And next time! You won't be so lucky!"
Diablo scoffed and fly higher into the sky, even though his slashed wing was causing him pain.
"Says you Dragon!" he shouted back.
"I swear it!" Tyroth declared with a roar "For as long as I live! You will rue the day you choose your current corrupted path! You will regret your actions! You and I will met again! And I will not spare you!"
"Spare me your words Dragon!" Diablo cawed then started to fly towards the city of Chicago "You won't find me! But I'll find you!"
Tyroth coughed and spluttered as he tried to keep afloat, and he watched in fury as he saw the outline of Diablo, as the mutant Raven flew across the moon and into the darkness of the night.
Continuing to try and stay afloat Tyroth growled softly as he continued to watch Diablo fly away.
"Mu Fen Grind Again, Zu'u Vaat Nii Ruvaak!Daar Los Nunon Fin Kiin!"
Tyroth almost had Diablo, but the Raven fought dirty and has fully escaped justice! Yet Tyroth swears in his Dragon Tongue that is is only the beginning!
Stay tuned for the reactions and results of the others, coming soon!
Dragon Language Glossary
* Damn Raven
**Down with you!
***I have you now betrayer
****Damn you to Hell Betrayer
*****We will meet again, I swear it Raven! This is only the Beginning!