Demons and Dragons: The Great Escape!
The eery silence was almost deafening throughout the room as the gathered crowd focused on the door. It was a far cry from what the array of sounds constantly echoing through the place before. Ever since the first employees were brought here, it had been full of constant whimpers, tears, jeering and bragging. The criminals couldn't care less how much noise their captives made, some of them even seemed to enjoy the tearful pleas and empty, threats. Many of them had enjoyed mocking or taunting the poor men and women as they tied new captives down and if that wasn't enough, Monkey Fist would blast their ears every few minutes, either with complaints on how long this was taking or by actually monologuing plans and victory speeches, all of them ending with that obnoxious laugh abusing everyone's ears.
However, that had quickly changed when the interrupted announcement came through the speakers. Impatience immediately turned into a cruel glee, only for the captors to grow tense as it was cut off. After all, that shouldn't have happened. The split-second cry and piercing ring hurting everyone's ears that followed made it very clear that it wasn't an accident, which shouldn't have been possible if the plan was going correctly. Once the series of thunderous bangs and exclamations just outside the door began, only moments later at that, the atmosphere had changed completely.
"Sooo, who do think won?" Naturally, Frugal Lucre was quick to break the silence. "Or is the fight still going? Did they run away? Maybe they just went further down the hall. You know, sometimes when I want some actual privacy from my mother-"
"If you're so concerned, then maybe instead of talking our ears off, you could actually go find out!" Monkey Fist snapped exasperatedly, thrusting a toe forcefully at the door.
"Me? But I could get my butt kicked!"
"Don't get my hopes up."
"But I'm not here for combat! I'm here to operate the bomb! Do you want it to blow up before you get out of here?" He cried, cringing as his reminder of their possible doom had the hostages screaming once again. "I'm the only one here who can set the timer right."
"I'm ready to take to my…" Monkey Fist started, only for his attention to be ripped away as the door swung open, crashing into the wall. The staff screamed once more, but the tensing villains were quick to relax as they registered the scene before them. Narrowing his own eyes on it, all of Monkey Fist's irritation turned to glee as a victorious laugh bubbled up his throat. "At last! The end of Kim Possible! What a wonderous sight!"
"Kim!" Wade cried, paling considerably as he jumped to his feet, only to be pushed face first into the ground a second later. "Kim! Get up. Come on, please answer me. Please be ok."
"Forget it, kid. She's not going to answer." A man beside him gruffly stated, glaring at the ground. "I'm not even sure she's alive."
The sight before them truly was that horrific. Kim was almost completely unresponsive as a Synthodrone dragged her in by the leg, a terrifying fact all in itself. Even on the brink of unconsciousness, Kim would always struggle with all she had. But the condition of her body was so much worse. Bruises covered her exposed skin. Her clothes were a mess with syntho slime and large gashes had been torn from her shirt around her abdomen and the knee of the very leg she was being dragged by. But you couldn't see just how bad the wounds were for they were absolutely saturated with thick, red liquid. The mere fact that she'd lost that much blood was horrifying all on its own, but even that paled in comparison to the heart wrenching sight of just as much pouring down here forehead.
Tears were pouring from Wade's eyes as he looked at her, his whole body trembling with grief only seconds later. If she wasn't dead already, she would be before they'd have any hope of getting her to a hospital.
"I was honestly starting to think that I'd never see this day." Monkey Fist almost squealed as he approached the downed hero, revelling at the sight before him. "Kim Possible is finally out of my way. The only way this could be better is…wait a second." He cried, realisation flaring in his narrowing eyes as they flew up, glaring through the doorway. "Where is Ron Stoppable? In a situation like this, he would never be far behind. And what happened to the other Synthodrone on guard duty?"
"Maybe they took each other out. The idiot might just be around that corner with a hole in his gut." Frugal suggested, moving right into the Synthodrone's personal space as he checked it and the girl over. "Kim Possible's covered in slime, that had to come from somewhere. And this one's taken a nice beating too. I mean, look at him." He exclaimed, waving his arms at the drone. It really did look like a wreck. The containment suit was sagging around its form, which seemed to be collapsing on itself. Normally, the drones stood up perfectly, but this one was slouching over like an old man, all of which made sense when you looked at its head. Something had ripped right through where the mouth would be, exposing a load of frothy slime that was slowly drooling down its already stained front. "This drone is falling apart. It probably just couldn't bring us both of them at once."
"I suppose that makes sense. If he was still conscious, he would have floundered his way in by now." Monkey Fist conceded, though it seemed to physically pain him to admit it as he turned to his monkeys. "Go and grab Stoppable. And if he's not dead yet, finish the job yourself."
"Oh, Drakken's going to be so pleased with our work when he hears about this." Frugal cheered, watching as the monkeys took off before turning back to Kim. "We didn't even need the plan to take her down."
"I don't care about pleasing Drakken and you did nothing." Monkey Fist retorted, motioning two of Senior's men forward to take the fallen thorn in his side, never taking his eyes from the entrance. "I only care about bringing an end to everyone hindering me from or stealing my rightful destiny. An accomplishment that will only feel truly satisfying when both Possible and Stoppable are crumbling before me."
"Oooh, you really are a real bad guy." Frugal smiled admiringly, completely oblivious to the clenching jaw and growing vein on Monkey Fist's forehead as the blue clad minions pulled Kim up from the ground. "I mean, what a wickedly badass thing to say. And you had just the right tone too. Man, I wish I could sound that ominous and foreboding. I tried to with my first scheme, you know, when I threatened to put an end to the internet, but I just couldn't quite-"
"Will you SHUT UP!" Within the blink of an eye, Frugal was almost ripped straight into the air as Monkey Fist's hand grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in close and to his knees as he glared down at him. "No one gives a damn about your pathetic, failed scheme, your hopeless ideas or your absolute failure of a life! What stupidity ever brought you in for this is well beyond me! Not only are you the most annoying person I've ever had the displeasure of meeting, you have yet to be even slightly useful for anything except driving me mad."
"I don't know." A familiar voice retorted, the smirk on its owner's face just as clear in his words as the crushed look on Frugal's. That said, it still wasn't enough warning, for before he could react, a pair of hands had grabbed him by the shoulders and toss his screaming form right at the open door. "For once, he helped us plenty."
Frugal and the others barely had time to gasp as the dying drone had sprung into action before another flash of red and purple heralded a pair of gargled screams as two blue and black clad men were sent flying in the same direction. "But-but,but…you're…"
"Covered in ketchup?" Kim offered with a grin, wiping the red substance from her eyes and flicking it at the sputtering crook. "What can I say, Ron really needs to stop filling his pockets at every Bueno Nacho trip." She added as a brutal kick to Frugal's gut had him crashing onto his back with a choked gasp.
The other living guards were quick to respond, shoving hostages aside along the way, but the redhead ignored them entirely, simply grabbing Frugal by the foot and dragging him, much like she had been before, back toward the entrance. Instead, the nine of them were struck into the air by a series of kicks and open palms before they were systematically tossed off in the same direction by the dying synthodrone.
"BLAHH! Kim, never do this to me again." It screamed, startling everyone as it rubbed the goop off of its face with the back of its hand to reveal a very human mouth before ripping the facemask right off. "It's on my tongue and in my nose! And don't even get me started about what's going on under the suit."
"Save the details for later." Kim replied, grabbing the last blue clad henchman and clocking him in the face before shoving him toward the rest of them. "Focus on the job. And you heard Frugal's claim."
"Yeah, yeah, we don't let him near the bomb." Ron grunted as Kim took off after the recovering crooks. Taking a moment to look around, Ron however, took a detour, his body already glowing as he made a beeline two approaching synthodrones.
"BOOYAH!" Leaping into slide as the closest tried to grab him, he threw himself onto his hands and swung himself into spinning kicks right between, ripping cleanly through a thigh on each of them. By the time he'd sprung back to the feet and taken off after Kim again, both were already sinking to the ground.
"OH, THANK…wha…" Wade started, an enormous sigh leaving his visibly relaxing body as he watched his, perfectly fine, friends do their thing, only flinch as something white dropped from the ceiling, eliciting more than one scream from the crowd. Fortunately, any fear of another threat to their lives was quickly was quickly quelled as the figure rose to her feet, whipped out what looked like a small gun and proceeded to shoot green laser fire right through the backs of the synthodrones tailing the heroic duo.
For a few seconds, Wade could only stare up at her in amazement. He almost thought that last blow to his head had knocked a screw or two loose, because it looked like there was a second Kim here. That was her battle suit, the long drop and quickdraw attack were executed perfectly and she even had long, red, flowing hair. It was only when she turned around to reveal blue eyes and a very different, albeit familiar face that he was assured he wasn't losing it. "Jazz?"
"Everyone, stay quiet." Jazz ordered, rolling into the crowd and ducking low, shielding herself from view as she grabbed the nearest hostage's legs. A soft sizzling sound and the smell of something burning hit their noses and a second later, a sigh of elation was heard as the ropes constraining the woman fell to the ground. "Stay where you are." Jazz whispered, placing a firm hand on her shoulder as she tried to rise. "Once everyone can move, we all get out. Right now, there's no way out without me, so no one goes ahead. Understand?"
A series of nods, albeit ranging from elated to frustrated and impatient, were quick to follow her words as she moved on to Wade. Sighing himself as tight binds fell to the ground, he gave Jazz the most thankful look of his life before accepting the second laser scalpel she offered and set to work himself. Between the two of them, even with staying low and hiding their actions from their captors, it wouldn't take long to set everyone free.
Meanwhile, Kim was already on top of the criminals and what was even better was that very few had managed to get back to their feet yet. Frugal was actively running to get behind everyone else and even did her a favour again in the process by knocking a good three slowly rising thugs right back down in his haste, leaving others stumbling over their brethren. Not even Monkey Fist was ready for her yet, which only made her smirk as she made a beeline for him.
"Monkey ninjas, attack!" Sadly, it wasn't going to be that easy. Monkey Fist didn't even seem to realise just who her target was yet, he was simply calling on reflex as he shoved a grunt off of him. And while he wasn't ready, there was a man who was. Stepping right between her and her target, he quickly dropped into an offensive stance and launched forward with a fierce punch right at her face.
However, even as the shrieking simians jumped right into the fray, Kim didn't so much as blink. Grabbing the man's wrist, she swung herself around him launched kick after kick at the monkeys so fast, it looked more like she was running on them, throwing the man off-balance in the process. She didn't end it there either, for the moment her feet were back on the ground, she threw him over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground. The guy barely had time to arch his back and scream in pain before an axe kick followed him down, slamming right into his belly and leaving him gasping for air and writhing as he curled into a ball on his side.
"Well, that's more than a third of you down already." Kim smirked, ducking as another henchman charged her, only for her to snag each of his fists mid punch and pull him down with her as dropped to her back, both feet kicking him into the air and right into a flying kick of Ron's. Crashing into a wall with a resounding smack, the man flopped lifelessly to the ground while Kim simply rolled back onto her feet. "Wanna quit while you're behind?"
"Hardly." Quick as ever, Monkey Fist sprung before she'd even realised he'd moved, mere instinct and years of practice being all that allowed her to catch his chop between her crossed wrists. Unperturbed, Monkey fist twisted his lower body up, grabbed each of her arms with his feet and kicked out. Her guard ripped apart, he followed it up with a downward palm thrust, striking the stunned hero right in the chest.
However, much to his surprise, Kim was quick to retaliate. Even as she was crying out in pain, her hands snapped around the retracting feet and swung him right over her head as she fell, lining the monkey man up for a brutal faceplant. It was only a last second response that spared him the concussion, his hands catching the fall. "You little b-"
"Hey, no foul language is aimed at my girl!" Monkey Fist could only stare wide eyed and yell as Ron slid in right underneath him and unleashed a glowing, clawed palm of his own right into his chest, ripping him right off of the ground. "I expect more from someone with a fancy upbringing."
"Well now, haven't you grown chivalrous." Kim grinned as they both rolled or sprung back to their feet as the remaining henchmen and recovering monkeys pressed in. "But I think you're looking at the wrong crowd for social etiquette."
"Then let's beat it into them. You know, after we beat them into the ground." With that and a grin, both of them dived right back in, easily blocking and sidestepping punches, kicks and grabs, batting away those that the other failed to notice or avoid, all the while landing plenty of attacks of their own. One man got slugged in the face by Kim while aiming for a ducking Ron while the blonde landed a horizontal chop into the side of a monkey before grabbing another one leaping at Kim by the tail and swinging it into the nose of a man who'd almost managed to grab Kim from behind while she pulled a third down into a knee thrust right on the chin. With both heroes simultaneously back kicking at the first two men the other had struck before, all five threats crashed into the ground, none of them doing any more than curling up in pain from then on.
Hissing as he slowly pulled himself back onto all fours, Monkey Fist took a moment just to pierce the duo with a scathing glare as he waited for the stars to leave his vision, only for his head to stop turning halfway there, his furious scream filling the air as they found their hostages. Or, more accurately, former hostages, as the last of their ropes fell to ground and the people all got to their feet.
And with another annoying redhead in Kim's battle suit standing right in front of them, directing them to the side door past former synthodrone sludge piles. "STOP THE PRISONERS!"
The monkeys and henchmen were quick to respond, most of them ignoring Kim and Ron entirely as Monkey Fist leapt at them. Screams once again echoed throughout the room as the thugs rapidly closed the gap between them, as did the thumping of feet and the bangs of crashing into walls as the company employees threw caution to the wind and stampeded toward the exit all at once.
Fortunately for them however, Jazz had predicted that outcome and already moved right out of the way, for when the nearest grunt reached out for them, his scream eclipsed everyone else's as the redhead twisted right between them and ploughed her fist right into his elbow.
"I hope I broke it, you good for nothing creep!" Screaming right over him, Jazz wasted no time following it up with a flurry of punches at his shoulders, chest and gut before finishing with a snap kick, knocking him clean off his feet and into the man behind him. Not giving either of them a chance to recover, Jazz took a few steps back, checked to make sure everyone was out and dropped Kim's open lip gloss container right between them and the exit before taking off down it. Both thugs, and a third following them, had sucked in gas and were out like a light before they even realised what happened.
The others weren't any better off either. They didn't even reach their allies before one man was stomped in the back of the knee and the other was yanked by the back of his collar and a sweep at his ankle, sending both to the ground as Ron dove onto his hands and kicked back at both monkeys following them. It hadn't taken the young heroes any effort at all to avoid Monkey Fist's hasty tackle and with the rest of the thugs distracted, taking them down was child's play.
"You know, I like Jazz's style." Kim commented, turning around and dropping back into an offensive stance as Monkey Fist pulled himself back to his feet.
"Me too. And she left us such a handy gift." Ron grinned as he tossed both men into the already unconscious pile. Gasping as they crashed into their associates, they didn't stand a chance against the gas. "Now, unless those monkeys get back up again, I think we've only got the monkey weirdo himself left." He added cockily, dusting of his hands as he turned back to toward the man in question with a smirk. "Well, him and fruit loop over there." He amended, tilting his head toward where Frugal had pressed against the wall.
"Meh, either way, this will be over in a minute." Kim shrugged.
"You are not going to live to regret that insult." Monkey Fist snarled, sinking back on his legs as he reached inside his Gi. "When I'm done with the two of you, all that will remain will be a pair of bloody messes beneath my foot."
"Dude, you have like, the worst track record with us of everyone, even individually! Even before I discovered my awesomeness." Ron smirked back, already springing into a high-flying kick. "This'll be over before you can say boo…WAAAHHH!"
"Ron!" Kim gasped, her whole body freezing as Monkey Fist effortless caught Ron by the foot and tossed him clear across the room, gasping and groaning as he rolled another good three feet. That shouldn't have been possible. Even without going to the point of glowing, Ron would have put a non-lethal amount of mystical strength behind that kick. Monkey Fist didn't have anywhere near Ron's level of mystical monkey power, he shouldn't have been able handle that so effortlessly.
But what really shouldn't have been there was a blue glow around the monkey mutant. Not the sky blue of monkey magic, but a much darker shade coating his entire body. One that Kim had seen before. One she'd even had herself once upon a time.
"Oh no."
"Oh yes." Monkey Fist smirked back, raising his hand and twirling a very familiar gold, toothpick sized stick with a glowing orb on the end between his finger before closing his fist around it and glowing once more. "Play time is over. Now the power is in the hands of a real master."
….
So far, everything was going surprisingly well, from what Jazz could see. The captive staff managed to keep their cool for the most part and were very quick to comply, something she was very grateful for. Level-headed captives were a lot easier to reason with. She could only guess that Capsule Corps' employees were just too used to Vegeta's tantrums and death threats to lose their minds over this disaster for long, but however it was the case, she wasn't going to complain.
The synthodrones were another easy mark. The fact that they hesitated to leave their posts and were so far off from everyone else to begin with made them easy targets. Not a single one even made it to Kim and Ron and no one even seemed to notice that they went down, leaving the effective duo with far less to worry about than expected and boy did they thrive in that fight. Between all those nice, little benefits, even with the inevitable hiccup at the end, Jazz was had no problem getting everyone out at all.
"Alright everyone, stay together and head toward the nearest exit. It doesn't matter where it is, it will be opened when we get there at the latest." She called, making sure her voice travelled over everyone else's to the front of the line. "There's no longer any need for panic. Team Possible has taken out most of the criminals already and our hacker can track our location and give us an opening in an instant. All we need to do is reach an exit point."
"How is that possible?" Wade raised an eyebrow, pulling in close to her side and keeping his voice low as chorus of relieved gasps and 'thank God's filled the air. "This place is huge and there are so many of them here. Even if Felix and Monique were as good as Kim, that's way too much ground to cover."
"Yeah, but technopaths and speedster ducks really up the pace." Jazz winked, pulling the Kimmunicator from her pocket. "Now, so long as Henry's battle with Bertrand is all wrapped up, all we need to do is let him kno-"
BOOM!
"ARGH!"
"AAHHH!"
Right as the pack leaders were reaching the turnoff for the nearest side exit, a flash of blue exploded. Fortunately, no one was directly struck, but chunks blown out of ground struck the front runners hard, knocking them back into the crowd with some serious looking gashes and one possibly broken shoulder. But that was tip of the iceberg, for as Jazz was shoved around by the scrambling crowd, a livid set of acid green eyes below red, devil horn themed hair appeared above the masses. Much too high above for a normal human.
Not that Jazz needed that detail. None of Kim's enemies matched that description. But a certain member of Danny's did just fine.
Gritting her teeth, Jazz immediately ducked down and tried to keep as close to the people around her as she could, one hand reaching for the Peeler on her hip while the other activated the communicator. "Henry, we need an exit now!"
She didn't wait for a response however. Instead, she turned straight to Wade and thrust it into his hands. "Henry's tracking us with this, take it and go. I'll deal with Spectra."
"What?" Wade cried, his fingers fumbling with the device as he gaped up at her. "Jazz-"
"GO!" With that, Jazz burst from the crowd, the Fenton Peeler body armour already spreading over her body as she took aim.
"YOU!" Spectra screamed, her eyes blazing red as she aimed her glowing sword right at her.
"Yep. Me and my favourite toy. Let's see if you survive it this time." With that, the smirking redhead fired.
….
For what had to be the thousandth time at this point, Spectra was once again cursing Plasmius' very existence as she flew through the halls. She had no idea how, but whatever help Kim had called had even managed to survive and hassle Bertrand!
His job should have been effortless, especially with the blond doofus being the only mystic on the team and nowhere near the security office, and yet he didn't even manage to complete his message. The fact that he never came back to her only made the deal even more foreboding. That could only mean that the problem had yet to be dealt with or he had been.
A simple arrival at the spark and smoke-filled office and not finding a single hint of the predator or the prey had only confirmed that and with communications down, there was no way to get in touch with him or anyone who might be left.
And now the prisoners were escaping!
With a hiss worthy of a snake, Spectra launched herself right through the wall as the green waves filled her vision and flinched as they shook the wall as she left it. Clearly, they'd given that God awful weapon an upgrade or two since the last time she'd faced it, it didn't have any effect on non-ectoplasmic structures before. That wasn't good. Even at its old base, it had nearly eliminated her in an instant, there was no way she'd survive if she was struck again. Which meant that if she wanted this to be in any way worth it, she'd have to forget the hostages and deal with Jazz now.
'You know what, that suits me just fine.' Phasing through the floor, Spectra flew at full speed, popping up just before Jazz's feet, her glowing hand aiming right for the ray gun. 'I'd like nothing more than to behead this bi-' "ARGH!"
Pain quickly consumed her thoughts as electrical sparks did the same to her body.
"Like my little addition?" Jazz smirked, launching a flying kick right into Spectra's jaw. More green sparks and a scream filled the room as the ghost crashed back into the wall and by the time she'd rebounded off of it, Jazz already had the peeler pointed right at her. "Sayonara, old hag."
"OLD?" Spectra's screech was almost as deadly as the blue energy disc that came with it, the volume making Jazz flinch and giving the blast just long enough to hit and explode before she could fire. Flying right off of her feet with a cry of her own, Jazz barely had time to force herself into a roll before the first disc was followed by a string of them, every single one blowing up the moment it hit something solid. "How dare you! You Fentons are a plague! Everywhere I go, one of you pops up and ruins everything! You're like roaches and just as disgusting! I would have become the epitome of youth and beauty ages ago if it weren't for you and you are not ruining it FOR ME NOW!" She roared, unleashing a surge of purple electricity right through the hallway and relishing the look of horror that grew behind Jazz's visor.
It was almost as good as the scream that followed as the lightning danced over the suit.
….
Jake was seriously missing his wings. That and open skies. Usually, he had full access to both when he was chasing down the problem of the day and they cut down a great amount of time and energy. When combined with his dragon eyes, he could search through entire city blocks in minutes and ignore all obstacles with the most direct route possible.
Which was the exact opposite of running the maze that is Capsule Corp. Jake was never taking his wings for granted ever again.
"At this rate, everything will be settled before we even get there!" He exclaimed, fighting the urge to scowl at the wheezing man behind him. As if being forced to make the trip the mundane way wasn't enough, Mr Briefs was completely out of shape and barely able to jog for more than a minute. With Henry out of play, he couldn't leave the Briefs alone. There was just no way to guarantee that they'd avoid any invaders they'd missed. He had to protect them. But that didn't make the powder keg his friends were dealing with any less pressing on his mind. If he didn't back them up soon…
Well, if the ghost beat him there, then it was over for everyone.
"How much further can it possibly be to an outer wall?" He groaned, no quite succeeding in keeping his frustration out of his voice as Dr Briefs leaned against a wall again.
"Not much further. A couple more corridors." Bulma huffed irritably, no more thrilled with the situation than he was. "And when this is over, you're joining me at the gym." She added, turning on her father, her tone leaving no room for argument.
"H-hey, I'm…" Dr Briefs started, only to stop as a series thumps and explosions echoed from the distance. The trio tensed, fingers inching into fists as a number of indiscernible voices joined the commotion a moment later, they and the thumping quickly growing louder.
"Get back!" His aura already flaring and threatening to burn around him as he stepped in front of his charges, Jake shifted his ears, only to relax and shift them back a few seconds later. "It's cool. YO, FRENZIED MOB! THIS WAY!"
The Briefs barely had time to turn wide eyes and raised eyebrows his way before the first people turning the corner elicited huge, relieved smiles and watery eyes. "Oh, thank God you're all ok!" Bulma cried, practically diving into the swarm of employees.
"Is everyone here? No one left behind?" Mr Briefs called, struggling to be heard over the crowd's panicky voices. "Where is…"
"I'm right here, Dear." Mrs Briefs called as a blond updo pushed its way through the front line. Her smile seemed weaker than usual, but other than that, she looks completely fine as she ran into his arms. "We're all here. The kids got all of us away safely and it was the standard Cranky Vegeta Drill once we were out of the conference room."
"Until the floating devil lady appeared!" A voice shouted from amongst the masses. "Why have we stopped? We need to get out of here!"
"And Jazz needs help!" Another voice cried, quickly followed by a series of grunts as another, much smaller body forced itself out of the crowd, the boy's eyes scanning the group before locking onto Jake. "You're one of the guardians, right? The fire dragon? Jazz is still back there holding Spectra off!"
"Did you say Spectra?" Jake cried, grabbing the boy as he reached him. "As in, the second ghost?"
"I'm assuming?" The boy replied, a little confused, before pressing on. "She's only a few corridors back. She sent us ahead with the Kimmunicator so Henry could track us, but that means we have no way of knowing if she's alright and Spectra…"
"I'm on it! Take the Briefs with you." Jake was off before he'd even finished talking. The civilians should be fine now. A random thug or two wouldn't hold back a group that big, they were close to an exit and if Henry was tracking them, then all the better. His priority was the ghost.
It didn't take long to find them. The moment he was clear of the civilians, he was propelling himself right across the hallway, his ears shifting once more and immediately finding sounds of a fight. With the crowd in opposite direction and moving further away, it was easy to make out the bangs and a tirade. Spectra was seriously PO'd.
Unfortunately, it still wasn't quick enough, for he reached the final corner just in time to hear the cackle of electricity before Jazz screamed.
"AARRGGHHH!" Whipping around the wall, Jake froze as purple lightning danced over jazz's form, her whole body locking in place as she screamed before collapsing to the ground, breathing raggedly as she tried and failed to roll onto her side. Though that was still far better than the result Jake had feared. Whoever built that metal suit must have been a whiz at insulation if she was still conscious after a shock that should have killed a normal human. That at least, gave Jake a bit of relief.
It only lasted for a second, however, for Spectra was already lunging again, purple lightning coating her hands once more. There was no way would survive a second dose. "Why won't you fry, you good for nothing bi-argh!"
"Pretty sure that's my line!" Jake snarled. Sadly for Spectra, Jake was faster. Two fire propulsions and she was well within his fire breathing range. Taking advantage as she flailed at the flames, Jake skidded to a halt right below her exploding upward with an uppercut straight into her jaw before launching exploding kick into her gut, sending Spectra rocketing across the hall.
"Hey, Jazz. Are you still with me?" Jake asked as he landed, never taking his eyes off of the ghost. He couldn't let Spectra get away. But still, if Jazz was seriously hurt…
"I…I think I'll be feeling this for a while. But I'll live." Jazz groaned, her breath hitching as she finally managed to force herself onto her side and into a sitting position. "Just…focus on Spectra. I'll try to…get out of your way."
"Don't worry. She won't get past me." He promised, shifting deeper into his stance as Spectra pulled herself back into the air. That was a relief. He'd still have to keep her safe, but he had plenty of practice at that sort of thing.
As for his track record fighting ghosts…well he's come back from worse odds.
"I don't know who or what the hell you are," Spectra growled, her eyes glowing red as she practically bore fangs at him, a look that only grew even more demonic thanks to the flames still burning on the tips of her horn hair tips. "but let me assure you, you just signed your own death warrant."
"Lady, do you have any idea how many people have been after my fine hide?" Jake smirked. "The back of that line's half a continent away and they have yet to take it."
"Then I'll send them your head!" With that, Spectra sprung. The others barely had time to blink before she was right before him, her cutlass swinging for his neck.
Yet, he still managed to tilt and pivot his body back and away without so much as a scratch before latching onto her sword arm with one hand and throwing a punch right at her face with the other. Spectra simply turned intangible in response, only to scream as the fist collided with her nose anyway. Understandably shellshocked, she tried to fly away, but Jake refused to let go. Shifting his grip, he twisted around onto her back instead and threw another punch to the back of her head, leaving her thoroughly rattled as fire exploded from his feet and sent them crashing back into the ground.
"You feral, little brat!" It was Jake's turn to scream purple lightning surged from her once more, blowing him way. Biting his lip at the feeling of a thousand needles poking his body, Jake pulled his roll to a stop and sprung back to his feet just in time to narrowly dodge an ectoblast that was quickly with an attempt at stabbing him through the heart. "Who do you think you are, you little mongrel? How dare you touch a lady's face! How were you even able to TOUCH ME?"
"Since when does a psychopathic hag count as a lady?" Jake shot right back, rolling away and to his feet, kicking off of a wall and over another slash, ducking under a third and diving under an energy disk. "As for the how…"
"Aargh!" Spectra barely saw a flash of red and grey as he backhanded her sword away before pain exploded from her gut. Before she even had time to truly register what had happened, fire blazed from the offending limb, eliciting an even more shrill scream as she ripped herself away. Smacking furiously at her burning jacket, she forced her eyes open just in time to see red scales and wicked claws covering one hand before they shifted back in a flicker of flame.
Jake had to fight to keep smirking as the look of recognition crossed her face.
"Dragon scales? Isn't this situation a bit mundane for your kind?" Spectra exclaimed, her tone mixed with worry and intrigue. "Not to mention rather public? Your kind's all about keeping your precious society in the shadows. This isn't even a magic related situation. So, what are you, an outcast, an idiot or a failure!"
"None of the above." Jake grinned back smugly, keeping his body as calm and loose as possible. There were a number of reasons to keep this bitch as far from the truth as possible. The least of them being her ability to turn your grief and insecurities against you. "I'm here helping as a favour to a few friends you attacked and I know how to keep my secret under wraps. Plus, if the Dragon Council does get cranky about it, you've given me a perfect excuse with that magic blade you're poorly swinging around. Magic items are just as risky to our secret. I mean, duh, the word's right in the name. And it's not like ghosts in general are much better." He added with a look of pure distain. "I'd say it's best for everyone if I remove you and that sword from the equation."
"Bold of you to assume you can, runt!" Spectra spat, whipping up the cutlass and firing a beam as she sank into the ground. Leaping with another burst of fire, Jake easily weaved around it before a second burst sent him right for her, sinking his claws into her shoulder and ripping her back up before throwing another uppercut at her jaw.
"You were saying?" Spectra just roared at that and swung again. The dodged slash was immediately followed by a stream of them as the two fell into a deadly dance. Explosions rattled the walls and smoke filled the hallways as the two of them attacked, deflected and evaded each other. Before long, even Jake was never touching the ground, propelling himself off of walls and small explosions in his now constant need to avoid Spectra's ceaseless, feral strikes, blasts and energy disks while launching punches and kicks of his own. More than once, he'd even needed to snag her with his tail, both to slam her into something or for help avoiding another wild bolt of electricity or a stabbing, something that was starting to bring back a hint of glee on Spectra's face. Despite her blind rage, she was figuring out the weaknesses to Jake's fighting style. He'd failed too many punches and kicks post compressed flame explosions from needed limbs, his human flesh sinking right through her. And without his scales, he was far easier to hurt. Plus, she had one hell of an advantage in terms of focus. Her powers mostly came naturally, she didn't need to think about floating around, any more than Jake did about breathing, while Jake's focus was constantly split between every attack, every gathered flame, every twist and placement of his body. It was both physically and mentally exhausting and the longer the scuffle went on, the more she was taking advantage of it.
An excited hiss was all the warning Jake got before the inevitable happened. Having just blasted himself away from a deadly sharp high heel aimed for his groin with both hands, Jake couldn't even see the disk coming before it crashed into his thigh. He was lucky so little power had been put into the blast. If it had been at full power, without his defences, he could have lost his leg. As it was, it was just enough to send him spiralling, screaming all the way to the ground.
Gasping and grunting as he rolled across the floor, Jake only had seconds to try to force back the throbbing pain in his leg before the now cackling ghost was on top of him once more, already aiming a much more powerful disk for his head. "So long, you overgrown gecko!"
Forcing himself to a stop, Jake did the only thing he could do. Sucking in a deep breath, he blew as much fire as his human mouth could produce right at the disk.
"Argh!" Colliding before it left her hand, their powers' resulting explosion left Spectra the one reeling this time and Jake was quick to take advantage. Flinging himself back up with his resummoned tail, he bit his lip and ignored the intensifying throbs of pain from his thigh and released the strongest combustion he could just as a bellowing Spectra thrust the cutlass at him. Surging up, he just managed to avoid a stabbing with a back tuck and slammed his shifted, good leg right into her and jaw, eliciting an ear-piercing screech as his talons carved through her face. However, any satisfaction he may have gotten out of it was quickly prevented, for as she fell back, Jake could barely stop himself from screaming as the cutlass finally made contact. Straight down his back, from his shoulder blades to just above his hip, barely an inch from his spine.
With the pain taking over, neither fighter had a prayer of recovering and hit the ground, Spectra even dropping her blade as her hands covered her face while Jake struggled to shift himself onto his right side as pulses of pain surged from his injuries. Taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to relax as best he could before carefully shifting his fingers up his back. Though they were immediately covered in hot blood and had him flinching at the fresh pulse of pain, he did manage a strained sigh of relief. Even at its deepest, at his upper back, the cut wasn't very deep. He'd recover from it just fine and, more importantly, he could still move now, as much as it hurt to do so. Not bad, considering how disastrous it could have been. If that blade had struck just a little deeper or even just an inch to the left, meeting his spine…well, he could freak out about that later. Right now, Spectra was already ripping herself back into the air and if he wanted to survive, he had to seem just as capable of going on too.
"Aww, man! That's my favourite jacket. Do you have any idea how hard it is to replace it?" Jake grunted, crumpling fabric falling down his arms as he pushed himself slowly back to his feet, hoping his flinch wasn't noticeable. It was bad enough already that his shirt and jacket falling away was exposing the damage, he couldn't let her know just how much it was affecting him. "That thing was practically a designer!"
Sadly, he didn't seem to be selling it nearly as well as he hoped, for at that moment, the look of bloodlust that had been pointed his way shifted. First, with a tilt of the head and then with her scowl melting into a malicious smile. "…There it is. I felt that. That shiver of fear, that forced down sense of dread. It's so…refreshing. So alluring. This is no longer going so well for you."
"Duh! I'm mourning the loss of my precious jacket!" He had to try, right?
"And who do you think you're fooling with that?" Spectra retorted, her smile only growing as she slowly approached. "That leg's not keen to support you. And your back's losing a fair bit of blood. I bet it's complaining a lot about every movement now, isn't it? That's why you truly despair."
"You should be more concerned about yourself." Jake snapped, raising his shifting claws threateningly. "Clearly, I've rattled whatever passes for a brain in that slime-filled head of yours. I don't feel any despair."
"Oh, I think I'll be just fine." Spectra cooed, her voice turning sickly sweet as pressed on, unphased. "At this point, the best you can do is huff and puff. Your body is failing you. You're shaking where you stand. At any time, you could come could crumbling down, while I'll just continue to shake off my injuries. If I can't walk, I just float, but your mortal body can't do that. It's dawning on you now, isn't it, little gecko?" She went on, easily avoiding a swing of his claws as she weaved around him. "I can leave you now. You wouldn't be able to stop me. Or I could stay and end your existence. Either way, you fail and I kill everyone here you care about. You have no way of stopping me. A dragon can fight a ghost, but they can't win against one with just their own power. You never had a way of ending a fight, the best you could do was stall me and now the only way you can possibly do that is by enticing me to feed on you lovely, negative emotions. So go on. Why not give in to them? They're literally all you can do now."
"Like you'd stick around long, even if I did!" Jake puffed, throwing another punch, only to bit his lip to force down the scream as his back protested the twisting.
"True. Normally, a dragon's emotions would be a delicacy, but today, once I finish what I've started, you won't even count as an appetiser." Spectra agreed, laughing as his thigh gave out beneath him when he swung another punch her way. "And now you're being taken down by your own actions. How truly pathetic."
"And yet…" Jake grunted, forcing his leg back under him before piercing Spectra with a wild smirk. "I still do think I can beat you!" Before the ghost could even think to respond, fire had exploded again and propelled Jake right into her face, his scaled forehead slamming into hers.
Screaming in shock and returning rage, she immediately responded by bringing down the cutlass, but Jake caught it perfectly between his hands and used it to hold himself in place as his shifting jaw released a much stronger stream of flames than those he'd breathed before right at Spectra's head.
The resulting shriek killed his ears, but Jake still smiled victoriously as she was blown back, almost shattering a wall. Falling back onto his butt still hurt like hell, but it was more than worth the stunned, twitchy look the ash and fire coated Spectra was sporting. Even if it did only last a moment. "Yo, Spooks. Seems my huffing and puffing packs a bit more punch than you thought, wouldn't ya say? Maybe I should cry hola again, what do you think?"
"You're dead, ki-ahh!" Spectra snarled, patting down the flames, only to drop to the ground as a blue beam finished her work on the wall. Before she could even register the cause, three more shot at her in quick succession, pinning her in in the middle of the hallway and right before another concentrated flamethrower surged right for her. Off balance and panicked, she barely managed to counter it with a blast of her own before another blue beam burst through the resulting explosion, hitting her full on.
"AARRGGHHH! You little bastard!"
"Now, now, no need for that. I just thought you'd like to know that you dropped this." Jake grinned, waving the cutlass before pointing its glowing blade at her again. "It is a pretty useful piece of magic. Packs a good punch, wouldn't ya say?"
Not giving her a chance to recover, Jake fired again. However, this time, Spectra succeeded in sinking through the floor, easily evading the shot. The sight had Jake's blood running cold, but he didn't have to worry about her escaping for long, for within seconds, she reappeared with a fist in his face. Grateful that he never shifted his jaw back, even as he bellowed in pain, he took the blow surprisingly well and quickly retaliated with a swipe of his ignited arm. Unfortunately, the long-reaching tendrils didn't give Jake any kind of reprieve, for even as she backed up and away, purple energy exploded from her thrusting hand. Jake quickly responded with fire bursts from his free hand and good leg, propelling himself away from it, however, unlike her other attacks, this one followed him, leaving Jake staring in wide eyed panic as it the took form of a giant fist and clasped around his torso, eliciting a blood curdling scream as it squeezed.
Pain was surging through his back light lightning. He thrashing and writhing as it only squeezed tighter. He didn't notice when he dropped the sword or even when he shifted into his full dragon form. All that he knew was that the fist was crushing him and he still couldn't get free.
"I don't usually use such a hands-on approach with my patients, but I think you've more than earned it." Spectra fumed, slamming Jake into a wall. She didn't stop there either. Jake could only gasp and scream as he was slammed back and forth into every surface. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, they were all littered with spidercracks within a minute and Spectra only seemed to be speeding up her swings. No matter how much Jake thrashed and writhed, it didn't seem to make even the slightest hint of difference. The force behind the attack thankfully wasn't doing too much damage, his dragon form could, and had, taken far harsher hits, but the jolts down his back were becoming overwhelming. The blows to his head weren't helping either, he was too rattled and drunk on pain to think, not that he had much to work with. His limbs were all bound and even if the constant need to scream wasn't stealing his breath, Spectra's swings were fast and erratic, making it impossible to aim his fire breathing. Even combustion attempts were out, he'd have to shift back to human to ignite his chi, risking far too much damage before he'd even compress the flame around any…
"Well, I'd say it's been fun," Spectra stated, picking up the cutlass as she started shortening her fist's range. "but honestly, I'm looking forward to turning your hide into a new coat and belt. So long, you glorified salamander."
There was no choice. Either he let her run him through or…
"Back…OFF!" Just as Spectra lined up the blade, she and her fist were blown away by a massive explosion. Sliding across the ground, Spectra glared back at him, only to gasp at the sight before her. What remained of her energy fist was quickly vaporised by an absolute bonfire pulsing and swirling around Jake's once again human form. It was huge, reaching mere millimetres away from the high ceiling and spreading a good three-foot radius around the boy and yet still seemed perfectly controlled. Not a single thing around him burned, not even the floor he stood on, a fact that remained true even as the flames seemed to grow stronger.
Yet that didn't mean it was completely contained by any means. Even from the respectable distance Spectra had gained from her fall, the heat and pressure rolling over her body was intense. Had she been human, she would already be covered in minor burns and probably struggling to breathe at the very least and it was only increasing.
Desperate to put an end to this before it could get worse, Spectra threw multiple energy disks, a lightning blast and even a beam from the cutlass at the boy, one right after the other, but every shot was blocked or repelled by the fire, leaving Jake seemingly completely unphased even as her blasts exploded around him. If anything, the flames only seemed to be getting stronger, the heat growing even more intense. And with every failed attempt, the more Spectra's fear shined through on her face.
"H-how is this possible?" She stuttered, visibly trembling. "Dragons don't have this kind of power. I've seen plenty of you. Not one could do this! Not one was…"
"Forgotten magic. What can you do? And I've been told more than once that I'm far stronger than the average dragon." Jake smirked, hoping the flames were obscuring him enough to hide the fatigue. The truth was that using this much power at once was exhausting. He wouldn't be able to hold this for long and wouldn't be capable of much after. He had to end this before she could figure that out. With that in mind, he tensed his good leg and prayed this was the last move of the fight. "You can thank Danny Phantom for teaching me." With that, he leapt with as much explosive propulsion that he could safely use and shot straight at her like a fiery missile.
Only for his blood to turn to ice as Spectra flung herself out of the way.
Crashing into the ground with a gasp, a notable bang and a significantly receding fire coat, Jake looked back over his shoulder at the ghost with dread. His injuries and exhaustion were on full display now. He couldn't hide his waning power or how much effort moving around had become. He was at her non-existent mercy now.
That was what he feared, however, it only took a second for him to realise that it was far worse. Despite the flames barely leaving his skin, or the fact that he had yet to get back on his feet, she wasn't coming anywhere near him. She hadn't even looked at him. Instead, she'd taken off at full speed.
Right in the direction the escapees had come from.
"NO!" Fear and adrenalin pumping through his veins, Jake forced himself back onto his feet and tried blowing a flamethrower at her, but she phased through a corner before it could hit. He had no chance of keeping up with her on foot even if he wasn't practically one leg down and when he transformed to fly after her, one attempt at flapping his wings had his back absolutely screaming at him, matching the one that left his mouth as he fell to the ground again. Groaning as he pulled himself up, he couldn't resist the urge to crack a wall with his fist before hobbling along, note quite managing to hold in his panic.
He'd failed, and in the worst way. There was no doubt in is mind what Spectra was about to do. He'd scared her into it.
And he couldn't stop it.