A/N: New Laptop. No more hiatuses. Whether people are still reading or not, I'm finishing this.
The Final Battle: No Rest for the Heroes
At the wide, rocky plain near the cliff-side, the allies found themselves a rare moment to finally regain their breaths. Rapunzel tended to anyone who needed healing, and the Riders of Berk branched out to check on their fallen dragons.
"How are they?" Toothiana asked with genuine concern.
Valka moved her expert hands over one of the beloved creatures. "Most just need rest. Almost drowned the poor things…" She hit a few pressure points and the unconscious reptile reawakened, coughing out all the seawater in its lungs. It then rolled onto its side to rest. Valka petted it softy before moving on to the others.
"And vat of the big, ugly beast?" North wondered.
"We couldn't stop it." Astrid answered in failure.
"That monster's still out there!" Snotlout bashed his fists.
"Yeah, so is Toothless…" Hiccup could not help but worry about his best friend. He and Rapunzel worked together to fix up the dragons. The young man learned a useful thing or two from his mother. "But don't worry guys! A thing of that size, we'll find him-"
The Fire God's tremendous roar broke passed them all. They looked over as the ground shook. The beast emerged from behind an enormous mountain peaking off the side of the volcano.
"—sooner or later," Hiccup finished with a trembling sigh.
"Ready yourselves!" Hachiman brought up his weapon as did everyone else.
But the titan paid no attention to the tiny ants so far down below. Instead he stomped both feet into the ocean, sending a massive splash that drizzled onto the heroes.
They ran over to the cliff-side, watching as the beast traveled farther and farther away. The surface of the water barely even reached his calves, but it slowly rose as he journeyed deeper.
"Where's it going?" Astrid asked hurriedly.
Hachiman dropped to one knee, pressing his palm to the ground. He shut his eyes to feel the Earth, mapping the beast's trajectory.
His eyes widened, "Japan." He shot up. "We cannot let him reach the mainland!"
"Then we turn him around." Hiccup turned to the Guardians.
"Vat!? I don't have my sleigh nor reindeer. Even if I did and could catch up, I don't have power to slow 'zit down."
After North, Sandman shrugged to state the same. Even a Guardian as powerful as him knew his magic sand would pale useless against the Fire God.
"And I've just got these, mate." Bunny lifted up his boomerangs.
"We're sorry." Toothiana apologized sincerely.
Hiccup turned to looked around. All the dragons were down and out. None were in any condition to fly, not even Cloudjumper.
"So what now?" Tuffnut threw his hands in the air.
Then suddenly…the sound of a very recognizable creature came to their much needed aid. They gazed up and rejoiced at the sight of the Night Fury soaring high overhead like lighting with the fiery Archer riding his back.
Merida had finally gotten the hang of flying. She heard all the hollering and cheering of her friends and allies dwindle as she and Toothless sped farther out. They soon reached the Fire God. As light as his special armor was, Toothless was now much faster without it.
"We're not letting him get away." The red rider sneered.
A neon-blue blast imploded onto the beast's back, but it was not enough to get its attention.
They dove beneath the gap of his underarm and shot up, landing one good hit onto his chin. The titan growled, facing towards its attackers.
"That got his attention." She steered around, slowly bringing him back.
The heroes on the rock stared out onto the ocean. Distant streams of fire were seen cutting through the air, trying to shoot down the newly found rider.
"Punzie!" Hiccup whipped his head over to look at the princess. "We need an endgame."
"On it!" She dropped to the ground in her meditative position. Rapunzel began to glow, calling onto the Divine for all her power and wisdom.
Merida brought Toothless around for a combined strike of dragon fire and explosives. The titan flinched at the implosion that hit his shoulder.
Another flamethrower was coming. "Down!" They just barely evaded the red geyser, and swooped low beneath the arch of his legs.
They made their ascension, flying onward and upwards along the beast's body. The Night Fury fired several blasts across its flesh, all of which had no effect. When fire met fire, the parasitic demons spawned. Merida steered clear of them as they plummeted to the ocean.
Then the towering colossus twisted around, trying to pin them down. It was as if an entire city was standing upright and shifting in place as they attempted to maneuver through all the moving parts.
Rapunzel opened her pure-green eyes to find herself in the iridescent void of luminous beauty. She searched around for her only hope.
"You come to me, now?" A voice asked in a rhetorically displeased tone.
The princess stared up to see the Sun Goddess descend before her.
"Amaterasu, please." She pleaded, "You have to help us."
"I did help you. I helped you all throughout this journey, and still, you failed."
"I know, I know…we couldn't prevent his awakening. But with your help, maybe we can still stop him."
"There is no stopping him. I must warn heaven," she was about to leave.
"Wait! There has to be a way."
The goddess stopped in place, thinking with compassion.
"Please…"
"There…" she thought twice about this, but there truly was no other option left. "There is one way."
"Yes! Thank you. Anything." Rapunzel was beyond relieved. There was still hope.
"But the amount of power…" She looked right into the princess's eyes, "It will take an enormous toll on you. One you might not come back from." Amaterasu warned gravely.
Rapunzel did not back down, not even for a second. She knew what was important, "The world is in danger. Our world is in danger." She knew what was most important to her. "And my friends are still out there—my family. So whatever it takes, I'll do it."
The Goddess could not help but admire this young woman's unbreakable will; her incorruptible spirit. She bowed to her graciously, "Very well," and proceeded to float in.
She reached out her hands, and the princess readily stepped into her embrace. A light as bright as the sun radiated out as they made contact. It consumed them both, enveloping them in its everlasting power.
Merida and Toothless finally spiraled their way to the top and nailed the beast right in the throat with a large blast. It snarled at the impact and tried to take a bite out of them, but the red rider sped right passed its black, smoking jaws.
The warrior maiden headed back towards the volcano, just a few miles out.
"Is he still following us?"
She quickly felt an incoming heat sizzling the hairs on the back of her neck, followed by the sudden jerk of the dragon spinning out of the way. Toothless barrel-rolled clear of a massive stream of fire.
"Yes he is!"
The Fire God was gaining on them. Toothless sensed this and twirled around to face him, but was met with a shock. Its gigantic hand was coming down, hard! If hit, they would be done for.
The Archer inched down to tell her scaly friend, "You're not goin' tae like this."
The Night Fury growled in puzzled worry. But before he could do anything, Merida jumped onto her feet. She completely back-flipped over the incoming claws, kicking Toothless beneath the heavy swipe.
They narrowly evaded the savage attack, but were now separated. Merida did not fret though. She knew what she was doing.
The fearless and wild princess, concluded her perfect back-flip by flawlessly drawing out an explosive arrow and loading it, aiming for the monstrous, crimson nightmare that was staring down at her.
She fired.
BOOM!
The beast grimaced and roared out at the aggravating sting. Her arrow landed right in the sensitivity of its molten eye.
As it scratched away at its smoking eye socket, Merida turned to the surface. Toothless was dozens of feet ahead. The dragon yelped, twisting its body frantically through the air. Without a rider, he was helpless in the sky. She strapped her bow around her back and placed her arms to her sides to gain momentum. Gravity pushed down on her small frame to reunite her with her friend in a faster amount of time.
"Come now, c'mon," she reached out her hand. She was so very close, but so was the water.
Toothless turned around to give her his back.
"Gotcha!" She gripped onto one of his steering handles and pulled herself aboard. She kicked her boot into the petal, shooting the dragon back up into the air. They whizzed by the water just in time!
Toothless groaned and complained loudly as they sped towards the volcano. "Fine. Never again. Promise. Now go, go!" They used their few precious moments of a head start to regroup with the rest of their friends.
The Night Fury skid across the dusty surface. "Toothless!" Hiccup ran to his best friend, hugging his wide snout with joy and relief. The dragon warmly nuzzled into his embrace.
Merida smiled and hopped off, but to her surprise she was also met with a big hug from the Chief. He was just as happy that she made it out as well. The maiden soon found herself wrapping her arms around him, and doing so tightly. Their leather rubbed against each other's. He pressed her in more and she welcomed it, wishing they could stay just like this. But as soon as she spotted Astrid walking up to them, the redhead pulled away. Hiccup turned to see what was wrong and also flustered away awkwardly at the sight of his girlfriend.
"What?" She honestly did not know why they suddenly got so jumpy.
She did not suspect anything between these two. Hiccup never told her about the one little thing that happened between him and Merida all those years ago. Why would he? It was just one time and it was in the spur if the moment and it was innocent and he made sure that nothing else ever happened after that.
The Chief and Princess both glanced at each other before shrugging away to answer.
"Oh um, it's nothin'—"
"Yeah, nothing."
"Nothin' at all. Just—we're on edge from, well, everythin'."
"Tell me about it. We all are." Astrid stopped in front of her with a smile. "But hey," she nudged her shoulder. "Nice flying."
Merida smiled back and returned a harder nudge. "Thanks."
Just as everyone else closed in to welcome her, the thundering roar called their attention. They whipped around to face the ocean. The Fire God was charging right for them all.
"Here he comes." Hachiman stepped forth and readied his sword.
Within a formation of mountain ranges, Jack continued chasing after Susano. After a sharp turn beyond a peak, he blasted the god to the surface with his staff.
Susano tumbled down the rocky slope. Pieces of his armor scraped off as he finally came to a brutal halt near an edge hundreds of feet up. He picked himself up, using his trident to lean on. His overwhelming amounts of battle damage highlighted the true extent of his defeat.
"You're done, Susano." Frost descended before him.
Though extremely weary from battle, the Storm God still resisted the blades overwhelming energy and prepared to attack. "Not while life still flows through me." He lunged at Frost with a tired war cry.
Jack leaned away from the sloppy attack, causing Susano to stumble forward.
"You can barely even stand."
The stubborn deity did not listen; he never did. He attacked once more and once more the boy evaded. But Susano spun the trident-spear behind his back and brought it in. Jack blocked it with his staff and brought down the mighty Kusanagi blade. The sword completely shattered through Susano's weapon, bursting it to tiny frozen fragments.
The two opponents met each other with equal expressions of shock, but then Jack wasted no time sending Susano to the ground with a chilling blast.
He felt the power. The power of the sword drawing him in. The fallen god looked to his stripped hands. It had begun. His material form was slowly disintegrating into dust-like particles of his spiritual essence. The light-blue spores were making their way to the glowing blade Frost wielded a few feet ahead. He could not fight it any longer. He fixed himself on his knees and dropped his head low, his mess of a mane covered his exhausted face. A defeated sigh escaped his cut lips.
Jack stepped forth. Despite all his anger, his kind heart could not help but feel sympathy. "You brought this on yourself. You do realize that, right?" But it did not change what needed be done. The closer he approached, the more of Susano's spirit was absorbed into the powerful relic.
The deity said nothing, but was about to do something. An extreme act that Frost would never suspect.
"So how do we bloody do this?" Bunny began to panic.
"Uh…" Hiccup had nothing.
"We need something!" The hare insisted.
The Fire God was fast approaching.
Then, behind them all, Rapunzel stood up; her eyes still glowing gold. She had received enlightenment on how to finish the fight.
"Hachiman."
"Yes?" He turned to her, unsure if it was Rapunzel speaking or the Divine.
Everyone else stared as she walked over to him. "You once said you could move mountains."
"At full strength, yes."
She set her hand on the center of his chest. Her glow beamed out on the spot as she channeled the sun's energy onto him. "This will be more than enough."
When she removed her hand, Hachiman felt the rush of power flow through him. He clenched his fists and glanced down at his body. He felt young again, like he could lift the entire globe. Aside from the increase in energy, the deity also received the insight of their final plan of attack. He looked at the beautiful Rapunzel who had worked the miracle for him to move mountains.
Her eyes faded back to normal and her warm, leaving only her natural smile to shine. "Go," she told him.
Hachiman nodded and ran to the edge of the cliff, leaping off into the ocean.
The beast was just about to reach the allies when all of a sudden…the Warrior God burst out of the water, standing hundreds of feet tall! Hiccup did not recall the giant being able to grow to this colossal size. He was bigger than he had ever been and stronger. He faced the monster, but it did not seem to care about the stunning growth. It would push through anything and anyone in its path. Now equal in height, the two titans collided! Hachiman shoved the beast back while his little friends and allies cheered him on.
On the cliff-side, Rapunzel turned to everyone. "Alright team, listen up…"
Hachiman ducked beneath the swipe of black claws and tackled the beast. Farther out into the ocean, the titan tossed the giant aside and unleashed its fire. The warrior summoned a great wall to block the flames. He then launched it at the monster, but it smashed right through.
The samurai resorted to his twin-bladed katana. He sliced at the creature's forearm, leaving a fatal mark to later add to its collection of scars. The Fire God suddenly burst into even more rage. Perhaps the cut brought back awful memories of the day he was severed.
The long sword snapped to pieces between the berserker's jaws. Hachiman was bashed into the waters, and the furious beast on top of him began hammering down with its massive fists.
"No, no, c'mon…" Hiccup mumbled from the cliff-side.
"Hiccup, he can handle this." Rapunzel assured him.
A hand splashed out of the ocean and gripped onto the monster's neck. Hachiman got up, painfully groaning as the flaming mane burned him. But he endured, landing a few solid punches to the lion's snout.
"See?"
Hiccup made a sigh of relief. Though he was still worried, he had to bring his attention back as Rapunzel finished going over the final plan.
The beast clawed away at Hachiman's arm, tearing off his armor. Feeling the burn on his knuckles, stone from beneath the depths came to aid the Warrior God. The element bent firmly over his fist for him to pummel the beast across the face. The devastating blow sent Kagutsuchi to the ocean.
He stomped over to his fallen foe but a flamethrower erupted out of the water, blasting him square in the chest. The Fire God rose with a fearsome roar and charged at the wounded samurai with scorched armor. It kicked him back, smacked away a blocking hand, and chomped down on his shoulder. Hachiman shouted out as the sharp, obsidian fangs cracked through his armor.
Left with very few options, the warrior wrapped his arms around the beast's waist. Its crimson flesh burned, but he tightened his hold. Feeling the creature loosen its teeth, the giant twisted his own body, lifting Kagutsuchi off the surface and slamming him back down! The disturbance these two colossal forces made to the ocean's waters was cataclysmic.
As Hachiman picked himself up, he was met with razor sharp claws that slashed across his cheek. The monster had enough of this. He stomped the Warrior God down and unleashed an onslaught of its fire breath. The unyielding stream pushed the giant samurai yards away, violently parting the waters as he went.
The tired beast then looked to the skies. It remembered its vengeful purpose, and refused to submit. It growled and the muscles on its back began to ripple. Massive flames burst out, taking the form of…wings. They grew wide and large, then dwindled, revealing them to be scorch-black. They cracked through the air. The mighty winds kept the Warrior God at bay.
Hachiman and the rest of the heroes witnessed with despairing eyes as the beast took flight. The samurai rushed in but already in the air, the Fire God whacked him away with its spiked tail.
Rapunzel had finished informing every one of the strategy to go about ending the fight. This sudden surprise complicated their plans though. The beast needed to be grounded. With wings, it could freely go anywhere it so pleased. It could now storm the very gates of heaven.
The heroes stared up as it continued its ascension.
But Hiccup would have none of it. "Where do you think you're going?" He jumped onto the back of his Night Fury. The dragon was more than eager to oblige. As one, they took off into the sky. Their friends did not even have time to react to this impulsively reckless act.
The master dragon rider would soon catch up with the winged-titan.
"I tried to talk it out. To stop all this from happening. I tried!." Jack said strongly, but more so to comfort his own conscience.
Within the misty mountain range, Susano struggled to get up on his feet. "As did I, Guardian…as did I…"
"What?" He stood his ground, pointing the sword in case the Storm God tried any sudden moves.
But he did not. He only stood on both legs, and even then, barely. His sore back hunched him over and his aching arms hung low. Locks of his messy hair still covered his weary face. The once almighty deity now looked like a tired old madman.
He spoke, but not to Jack. No, in his head he was speaking to someone else.
"I tried…I tried so very much, and got…so very far. And yet…here I stand…" He began walking toward Frost, one slow, agonizing step after another. "A failure…but…" the closer he got, the more of his spiritual essence was absorbed into the blade. He was almost there though.
"Susano?" Jack worried for the senile sounding old god before him.
He stopped for a moment, eyes never leaving the cold ground beneath his bare feet. "Just one last step and perhaps then…I shall see you again…my love."
He threw himself forward, but not to attack. No…Susano had plunged his body onto the sword.
Jack witnessed and felt the deep stab before him.
"NO!"
He saw the end of the blade sticking out of the deity's back with traumatized eyes.
Susano rested his dead weight over the boy, but whispered one last thing to him before leaving this world. Jack's face grew even paler as the softly spoken words seeped into his ear. Impossible, he thought.
Susano told him a secret, Jack's secret. The one thing Frost had never told any of his dear friends or even the love of his life, but somehow Susano knew. How? His watery eyes trembled at the god's very last words. They were short but carried so much meaning to Jack that they hauntingly sunk into his very soul.
After his dying words, the Storm God's head then fell onto Frost's shoulder. The weight eased off as his physical form disintegrated into tiny spores of spiritual matter. The wind carried away the wondrous blue twinkles into the foggy sky. His spirit illuminated the dense shrouds above before vanishing completely. All across the great volcano…the storms all stopped, bringing peace to the skies.
Jack, though, was not at peace. He dropped to his knees. When the lights were gone, he stared down onto the blade. It was clean, for all that was of Susano had floated away. He stayed there for a good, long while, looking like had just seen a ghost. Only in his case, the ghost that flashed before his very eyes was his past...