Chapter 20: Oh, Those Silly Forever Knights
I really hope the fight scenes are better than they were in earlier chapters. I haven't had the time to read up on action-y books, so I hope the chapter turned out okay.
Carter was startled when she heard the tap-tap-tapping noise on her balcony window. She had been doing homework at her desk and had been so involved that she hadn't felt any presence coming up to her room.
And now it was here, separated by only a thin layer of glass.
Carter immediately summoned the gun from her charm bracelet and held it up like a cop. She crept over to her balcony and, when she heard the tapping again, kicked it open.
Carter didn't know what she was expecting. But it certainly wasn't Ship.
The little alien dog must have never seen a gun before, because he wagged his tail and rubbed Carter's leg like she couldn't hurt him. Not that she could ever hurt the little guy. Sighing, she willed her gun to go back to its charm form and crouched down to pet Ship. "How'd you find me?" she asked it.
The little blob elongated his head and bleated a confused, "Ship?"
"Okay, you still can't understand me." Carter thought for a moment. "Is someone in trouble? Do you have something to show me?" At the latter, Ship began to excitedly jump up and down, crying, "Ship, ship, ship!"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" Carter gathered Ship in her arms and jumped off the balcony. She summoned her wings and flapped them to make the trip downward a little less terrifying. Once Carter was on grass, Ship jumped from her arms and waited impatiently as Carter put away her wings.
"Okay, what do you have to show me?" she asked. Ship jumped into the air and with a blinding green flash turned into a police car, complete with a green signal light attached to the roof.
Carter clapped her hands. "Cool! Got anything else?"
Ship immediately turned into a tractor, then a bicycle, and then a tiny radio controlled car before turning back into himself. "That's amazing! Good job." Carter crouched down to pet him and he purred affectionately. He really did act like a house pet. Carter wondered if she should buy a pet manual for the creature. She wondered at the top of her head of what he might like to do.
"Hey, Ship, do you want to go for a walk?"
In an ancient, medieval castle on a hill outside Bellwood, the hypocritical Forever Knights were having a meeting.
"The Forever Knights have existed for a thousand years, without a single goal," a guy with a royal red cape and a golden crown on his head said. He was standing before his expensive throne of gold with an army of Forever Knights flanking him from both sides. A long red carpet stood before him, and a single scary-looking Knight bowed his head before his king, his dark hair covering his face.
"But tonight, we stand on the brink of triumph!" The king threw his fist in the air, and his subjects roared and threw their armored fists in the air as well.
The scary-looking Knight stood up and walked towards his king as the crowd began to die down. "Everything falls on you," the king told the Knight. "Are you ready, Connor?"
"I am."
"Throughout our history we've bargained, borrowed, or stolen the most powerful weapons available." The king turned to his left, and three Forever Knights carried a large tan alien weapon that resembled a blocky bazooka towards Connor. Connor took the weapon and carried it over his shoulder, making sure the weapon wasn't aimed at any of his fellow men.
"You're the bravest of us all, Connor," the king was saying. "You've earned the right to wield this."
The king, Connor, and a lowly squire were before a large metal door that led into an ancient dungeon, where the monster lived. "Aim for the heart, and hold the beam steady," the king advised.
"I'll hold it steady, but how can I expect the same from the beast?"
"Don't worry, its chained." The king and the squire watched at Conner walked into the den of the dragon, large weapon in hand. They stood there, waiting, as the door closed behind the lone Knight, ensnaring him in darkness. Connor's eyes adjusted to the darkness and he quickly walked down the stairs into the dungeon.
He could see the chains, the broken metal twisted and bent. But where was the dragon? The darkness before Connor had glowing yellow eyes in them, and he could feel the hot dragon breath on his face. In a second the beast attacked, flinging the man away from him with a clawed hand and quickly going past him to escape. It easily went up the stairs and went through the metal doorway.
The squire grabbed the king and got him out of the way before the beast exploded out of the giant doorway. Connor came out with the green scaly monster, his bazooka in hand and ready to fire. But before he could fire, the dragon jumped over all the humans and crashed through the ornamental window above the throne, flapping his wings to make its escape.
Connor stood before the wreckage and watched the dragon fly away. "I swear I will destroy you," he vowed. "Whatever the cost, whatever the sacrifice."
Carter, Gwen, and Ben were in Bellwood High's gym, practicing their fighting skills. Or more like, Carter was sparring with Ben while Gwen supervised the match. She had taught her cousin some karate recently, and he wanted to try it out against a martial artist like Carter. It was pretty obvious that she was going easy on him, deflecting his fists and dodging his kicks with a bored look on her face.
"Can't you at least pretend like you're interested?" Ben complained as he threw his fist at Carter. She parried it and sent her palm out flat towards his face, only to have him dodge. But Ben wasn't using karate; he had moved fluidly out of the way, sweeping his feet and walking in a circle motion so that he was now behind Carter.
Ever since that Sunday, Ben had been meeting up with Phineas almost everyday after soccer practice. It had been tiring, what with aliens and school and band practice, but thanks to that, Ben would now have control over his wind powers.
Now, if only he could use them.
"Not bad, Tennyson," Carter said as she grabbed his arm and threw him over her shoulder. He landed with a hard thud on the mat, and he groaned audibly. Carter offered him a hand, which he gratefully took.
"Where did you learn that move?" Gwen asked as Ben got up.
"What move?" he asked innocently.
"You know, the one where you instantly behind Carter?" Gwen asked impatiently.
Ben shrugged. "Spur of the moment?"
Before Gwen could force Ben to elaborate, Kevin burst through the gym doors. "Ben's got a meeting!"
"Have you been hanging out with Evan? 'Cause your starting to sound like him," Carter teased him.
"I have to teach him how to drive and he can't shut up," Kevin growled. "Of course he'd rub off on me. Now come with me." He grabbed Ben's arm and started leading him out of the room.
"Who set up a meeting with me?" Ben demanded to know.
"It's not important!"
"If it's not important, then Ben doesn't have to go." Carter grabbed Ben's other arm and pulled him out of Kevin's grasp. "Who's it with, anyway?"
Kevin bit his lip. "Uh, the Forever Knights?"
"Are you crazy?!" Ben slowly stepped away from Kevin and more towards Carter and Gwen.
"What were you thinking?" Gwen yelled at him.
"Hold it, hold it, they're in trouble. They need Ben's help."
"So? They're not exactly friends of ours." Gwen had a point.
"Right, and they wouldn't be reaching out to the enemy if they didn't have a really good reason." Kevin also had a point. "Aren't you curious to find out what?"
Carter could see Ben crumbling under Kevin's salesman smile. "They paid you to come and bring Ben to them, didn't they?" she asked.
"Ah! What? That hurts! Don't you think I can do something out of the goodness of my heart?"
"How much?" asked Gwen.
"I cut them a deal; traded him for some alien tech." Kevin looked at Ben with a Whatcha gonna do? kind of look.
"I should have known," Ben said, some of his old childish self-righteousness showing through.
"He's got a point though," Carter reasoned. "If the Knights are so desperate that they need Ben's help, it might be worth checking it out."
As Ben and Gwen debated this, Carter could feel her phone vibrate in her boot. She quickly got it out and went a ways away from the others so she could hear better.
"The Forever Knights refuse to pay for some DuBaer weaponry," Isaac said over the phone. "Have the Pride teach them a lesson or Lucille will." The call ended; there would be more information later.
But all Carter could think about was Lucille DuBaer, the head of the DuBaer weapons industry. She was the carrier for the Kirche gene and was the most ruthless out of all the original Immortals. If she were ever sent on a mission, it would have to be for the absolute worst possible kind.
Lucille wasn't known as "Lucifer" for nothing.
"Carter, you okay?" Kevin asked her out of concern. "You look pale-err, paler, than usual."
Carter gave a weak smile. "Oh, yeah, just got word of another job. The Forever Knights owe the DuBaers' some money."
The Pride was inside the castle all decked out in their usual gear, ready to start the mission. They had used shadow travel to get in, and there were few Forever Knights around. There was something going on, and Ben was about to become a part of it. He made the perfect distraction.
Isaac's orders were clear: find the king and make him hand over the money, or he would be taught a lesson. If he was smart, he would do as they say.
And then they heard the sounds of someone talking and walking down the stone halls. The Pride instantly became a part of the shadows to hide until they went away. They were surprised to see Ben's team being led by a guy with bowl cut hair wearing a red tunic, talking to them like a museum tour guide.
"That's the most ridiculous story I ever heard!" Ben was saying.
"No, it's all true," said the guide in a British accent. "People believe dragons are just myths and fiction, but they're real, Ben."
The Pride collectively thought what is this guy smoking?
The guide led Ben and his team down the hall where all the tapestries were. He turned to it and began to tell the story depicted in the art. "A thousand years ago, a handful of knights battled a giant, fire breathing beast. They were the king's greatest warriors, but even they couldn't finish it off. All they could do was trap it and then build a stone fortress around it. Years went by, and dozens of dragon legends sprang up, and all the while the Forever Knights passed on the custody of the dragon from father to son to grandson."
The guide finally led them away from a series of tapestries. "Unfortunately, the dragon was invulnerable to every new weapon we tried on it. The latest was an alien quantum disassembler cannon. We had high hopes for it, and still do, but, well… the dragon escaped."
What the hell?
"And we want you to help us."
"You're saying you want me to help you get the dragon you lost? Are you crazy?" For once, everyone was glad Ben had retained some of his childish obnoxiousness.
"I know it seems that way-"
"What if there is no dragon?" Kevin countered. Kevin reached out and tugged at the tapestries. "All they've got for proof are these things-oh crap. Sorry." He looked at the guide sheepishly, holding the bit of torn fabric in his hands. The guide met his gaze calmly and didn't react.
"There most assuredly is a dragon," said a Knight with long dark hair and cruel dark eyes, walking up to the teenagers. He looked condescendingly at all of them. "You have my word."
"Ben, Gwen, Kevin, this is Connor, the greatest of all the Forever Knights." The guide looked up at his hero with admiration, oblivious to the way he was looking at them, like they were bugs he wanted to squash.
"If you have doubts, then leave. The Forever Knights don't need you," Connor said, glaring at Ben with utmost disgust.
"You're the one asking me for help!" Ben protested, making everyone wish he wasn't so selfish.
"No need." Connor straightened his back for emphasis. "The dragon will fall by my hand."
"But, sir-"
Connor reared in on the guide. "You dilute the purity of our order by bringing this-this-"
"This what?" demanded Ben, ready to go alien on this creep's ass.
The guide got in between them just in time. "My lord, it's the only way." Before Connor could smack the guide for his insolence, a beeping noise sounded in the hallways. Connor and the guide went to a surveillance room with Ben's team in tow. The Pride couldn't stick around; they had a job to do.
"You sure he's in here?" Sam asked Evan. They were near the throne room. They just had to get past all the Forever Knights guarding their king.
"Do you have to ask?" Evan asked back, making Carter shush the both of them. They had to do this right or Lucille would come.
"Are you ready?" Carter asked. The others nodded. At once they were off, revealing themselves to the fray of Knights. Startled, the first of the knights didn't draw their swords in time as their heads were chopped clean off by swords and a scythe. Startled by the warm, sticky blood on their faces, the remaining twenty knights ran around in circles, completely unprepared for the attack. As more of their men fell to the enemies, though, they quickly got their bearings and attacked.
One knight tried to swipe at Sam's arm; she stabbed him in the heart, her broadsword going though the armor. Another tried to grab Carter; she cut his head off Grim Reaper style.
One Forever Knight tried to punch Sam; she grabbed his fist and quickly crushed it with her fingers, feeling the bones crack and break beneath the skin. The Knight screamed in pain, a horrible sound that was only silenced by a green laser shot to the head.
Another Forever Knight had his arm around Carter's waist, lifting her up in the air. Her scythe clattered to the floor. Irritated, Carter made her body as slippery as ice, easing out of the Knight's grasp like an eel. On the ground, Carter quickly turned the fingers on her left hand into icicles. When the Forever Knight raised his sword above his head, Carter stabbed through his armor into his stomach with her hand, the icicles appearing out the back. The Knight coughed up blood, and Carter slid her arm out of his intestines. The Knight fell to the ground, dead.
The king, led by some guards, was trying to run away when Evan literally swooped down in front of them. He shot the guards in the head and aimed the smoking barrel at the king. "Try anything funny and you die," Evan growled, slowly walking towards the king. Trembling with fear, the king backed up to his throne. He tried to call the other knights only to realize that his throne room was bathed in black blood, arms and legs and heads severed from their bodies, their armor having no effect against the Pride. Only two remained, kneeling in front of their king, blades tucked under their chins as the young assassins stood over them, their eyes cold.
The Forever Knights, the greatest of all human heroes, had been defeated by teenagers.
Bile coming up his throat, the king inquired, "What do you want?"
"We want our money," Evan answered, the gun pointing at the king's head. "You refused to pay for a certain quantum dissasembler cannon, remember?"
The king closed his eyes. "We-we'll get it. Just please, don't kill any more of my men."
Carter and Sam stepped back from their hostages, who shakily got to their feet. "Go and get the money, as much as they want!" the king ordered them. They quickly complied, running over each other as they tried to get out of the throne room.
"Hurry back," Sam called to them, her voice sickeningly cheerful. She liked how the blood would stain the stones of the throne room and never completely come out. It was almost poetic, in a really disturbing way.
Then again, the Forever Knights had it coming. They should have known better than to steal from the DuBaer family. They could have saved a lot of people if they remembered who they were dealing with.
A few minutes later, the knights came back with two metal suitcases full of cash. Evan made sure the gun was always pointed at the king's head as Sam counted the appropriate amount of money. They would just need one suitcase; lucky for the Forever Knights.
Just to be sure, Evan and Carter had their weapons out as they walked away with the money. The knights couldn't do anything, but just in case. As the shadows enveloped the Pride, they wondered if they could change quickly enough to help Ben out.
Ben's team and the Forever Knights were in a grassy field outside Bellwood. The dragon, a green scaly beast with four legs and yellow eyes, had landed. The enormous monster roared at the humans, not that it scared them.
"Remember," the squire/guide advised Ben, "all you need to do is stop it. Connor will take care of the rest."
"What's it gonna be this time?" Gwen asked her cousin.
"I'm thinking Humungousaur, or maybe Chromastone," Ben said. "I'm still kind of debating it."
"Well, debate faster, 'cause big, green, and ugly is coming your way!" Kevin pulled Gwen away from Ben as he saw the dragon start charging them.
Ben wildly pawed at the Omnitrix, now realizing too late that he should have decided what kind of alien he should use in the car. He slapped down the dial and was relieved to get Chromastone. He charged the dragon, which immediately shot a mouth-full of fire at him.
Ben had been lucky to pick Chromastone. He immediately absorbed the fire, realizing that it was more like a laser. He didn't dwell on it when he returned fire. The dragon shrieked as the multicolored laser hit it in the chest, nearly sending it backwards. When the laser fire ended, the dragon creaked out an inhuman, "You…"
"Weird, but for a second there, I thought you could talk," Chromastone mused as the dragon shook off the attack. In response, the dragon batted its wing and sent Ben flying. As if that weren't enough, it even shot more fire at him.
Chromastone dodged and returned fire, sending the dragon on its back. As the dragon began to fly away, Chromastone shot it with more multicolored lasers. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice Connor shoot at the two of them with his cannon.
The shot was aimed for the dragon, but since Chromastone was too close to it, he got hit too. Both of them crouched down as searing pain raced through to their bones, making them both cry out in agony and wish their suffering would stop.
Alarmed, Gwen quickly shot an energy beam at Connor, forcing his laser to hit the hills instead. The hills exploded into a storm of dust and debris, but at least Ben was safe.
With the laser off it, the dragon flew away into the night sky as Chromastone turned back into Ben. He ran up to Connor and angrily shouted, "WHAT THE HELL?! You assholes used me!"
"It wasn't personal," Connor told him curtly. "But if you or your friends get in my way again, it will become so." He then walked away to his fellow Forever Knights.
Determined to finish this once and for all, Ben turned into Humungousaur and trapped Connor and the squire with his fingers. Pinned against the car, they struggled to free themselves but couldn't.
"You know where the dragon's headed, don't you?" inquired Humungousaur.
"If you're trying to scare us, it isn't working," said Connor. "It's going to take a lot more than a stripling with a fancy wristwatch, right?" That last part was aimed at the squire.
"That's right!" the squire squeaked. "We took a sacred oath!"
Humungousaur forced himself to grow twice his normal size, nearly reaching the height of a ten-story building.
"6200 Prospect Boulevard, where the 12 and 408 freeways meet!" the squire said quickly.
"What?"
"That's where the dragon's going!"
"Squire!" Connor yelled at him, but the young boy ignored him. "The Forever Knights found a relic the same time they found the dragon!" the squire explained to the alien. "They didn't know what it was or what it did, so they hid it for safe keeping! They sent the relic to our lab to see what it can do and see if they could use the technology against the dragon. We figured it was connected to it somehow. That's all I know I swear!" The squire looked away as Humungousaur shrunk back to normal size before turning back into Ben.
"Thank you!" he said as he opened the door to Kevin's car.
As they drove away, Connor glared at the squire. "Pathetic."
The Pride thought so too.
The Pride, who had been listening in on the Forever Knights using shadow travel, used subspace to get to the hideout. They got there just in time to see Spidermonkey put a Galvan Universal Transmitter on the dragon. So it was intelligent after all.
"Leave me alone, leave me alone!" the dragon was pleading in the busted up storage factory.
Ignoring the flames around him, Spidermonkey said, "You can talk! I was right! Take that, Kevin!"
"Shut up, Ben!"
"What do you people want from me?" the dragon asked, ready to scorch some monkey hide.
"We want to help," Spidermonkey said as he turned back into Ben.
The dragon scoffed. "Right, like a human can help me."
"What do you want, anyway?" Gwen asked.
"I want my ship back." The dragon looked around. "My tracking signal says it's here."
"That must be the relic the Knights must have found," Ben said without thinking.
The dragon reared his head at him. "Knights?! Are you one of them?"
"What? No! They asked me to help catch you…back when I thought you were a monster." Ben smiled sheepishly at the dragon, who glared at him.
"The Knights are the monsters! They attacked me for no reason, right after I landed! They destroyed my translator box and locked me up in that dungeon!" The dragon got all up in Ben's face. "You sure you're not one of them?"
"I am one hundred percent not one of them."
The dragon finally relented. "All right, then." He began to search for his ship.
"Wait!" Gwen called out, distracting him. "You're an alien, right? What were you doing here?"
"…I was making an interstellar map. Why else would anyone come to this insignificant rock?"
"You're a mapmaker?" Ben asked, surprised.
"And a darn good one, too!" the dragon said proudly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got business."
"You're just going to find your ship and then head home, right?" Gwen asked hopefully.
"Oh, I'll be heading home all right," the dragon vowed. "Just as soon as I make sure every last one of those damn Forever Knights is dead!" He threw his head back and roared, fire and smoke escaping from his mouth.
"Is his translator box broken again?" Gwen asked out loud.
"Sorry, but sometimes a roar is a roar," Kevin told her.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ben pleaded with the dragon. He may not like the Forever Knights, but he didn't want them massacred, either.
"They trapped me in a dungeon for a thousand years!"
"How long is that in dragon years?"
"A long time! To be away from your home, your family…" The dragon looked away from Ben. "Baby's probably flying right now."
Kevin whispered to Gwen, "You know, we don't really know this mapmaker, and we don't owe him anything, and we don't owe the Knights much either…"
"What are you getting at?"
"If we skated out of here right now, who'd say anything?"
"I would." How did Ben hear their conversation?
Before Kevin could voice his displeasure, a blast can from behind them, shaking the foundation of the building.
The Forever Knights had finally caught up.
"You go tell them that this is all a big misunderstanding," Ben ordered his friends. The dragon growled. "I mean, tragedy," Ben corrected himself. "I'll reason with the dragon." Kevin and Gwen nodded and went through the smoke to face the Knights. Ben turned to the dragon.
Ben followed the dragon as it uncovered its ship, an oval like metal thing with a spiky tail at the end. It was twice the size as the dragon and glinted silver. The dragon out a hand on it, and a small part of the ship glowed yellow. The doors opened to reveal a purple interior, and the scaly mapmaker immediately got out the weapons.
"Didn't think I'd need them when I landed," the dragon told Ben. "I was too trusting."
"You really don't have to do this!" Ben begged.
"I want to. You would too."
He's got a point, you know, Ventus said in Ben's head.
"You're probably right," Ben reasoned, "but I'm just a dumb kid." He actually admitted it. Thank God Kevin wasn't here.
You're welcome.
Not now, Ventus!
"Yes, you are just a dumb kid." The dragon aimed a pink and silver laser weapon at Ben. "So do yourself a favor and stay out of my way."
And Ben did the stupidest thing ever (and that was saying something): he stood in front of the dragon with his hands outstretched, blocking his path.
"What do you think you're doing?" the mapmaker asked him exasperatedly.
"Stopping you," was all Ben said.
What are you doing? Ventus hissed in Ben's head. You're going to get yourself killed!
I'm going to use my head. Gwen would be so proud.
"Seriously? You're going to stop me?" the dragon scoffed.
"Hey, I can turn into any number of aliens to stop you!" Ben countered. "…but I'm not going to."
The dragon aimed his strange weapon at Ben. "Well, that makes it easier for me."
Fighting the rising panic in his throat, Ben shrugged. "Go ahead. Shoot me. You'll just prove to the Forever Knights that you really are a monster."
"Don't shoot!" Gwen and Kevin were yelling at the armed Forever Knights.
Connor, who was at the front with his cannon, snarled at them. "Trying to save the beast again, aren't you?"
"It's really an alien; it just wants to go home," Gwen pleaded with him.
"No! It's not going to escape us again!"
"He was just making a map. He didn't mean to scare anybody!"
"Don't bother," Sam said, releasing herself from the shadows. "They're the Forever Knights; they don't listen."
"How long have you been there?" Kevin asked her.
"When Gwen started reasoning with the savages," Sam told him. Carter and Evan sniggered as they also got out of the shadows.
"Savages?" Connor roared indignantly. "The Forever Knights are a proud and noble order! How dare you-"
"Yeah, I don't care." Sam yawned for emphasis. "Can we just kick their butts already? This is getting boring."
Frustrated, Connor aimed and fired his cannon at her. Carter and Evan quickly got out of the way while Sam absorbed the laser with her hands. The Knights stared in shock as her body glowed red and her hair turned to actual fire. With her teeth sharpened into fangs and eyes like a snake, Sam looked similar to the devil, complete with that sinister grin.
"You have no idea who you're fucking with, do you?"
"Sam!" Carter called out a warning. "Don't go psycho on them!"
Sam rolled her eyes. "Fine," she drawled as the red aura faded and her flaming hair turned back to normal.
Evan immediately shot at one of the knights, hitting him in the shoulder. As the guy went down, his brethren went after the aliens.
One of them immediately tried to tackle Gwen, only to get shot in the head by Evan. Carter covered him as he absorbed the man's life energy for his bullets. Ice shot out of her hands like daggers and embedded themselves into two Forever Knights. Gwen knocked them both out with her karate kicks.
That just left one Knight for Kevin and Connor for Sam. As Kevin went one-on-one with the Forever Knight, Sam shot fireballs at Connor in rapid succession, blasting the concrete and shooting up debris. He dodged and tried to aim his laser at the girl.
"Right, like I'm going to be killed by my own family's weaponry," Sam snorted as she concentrated on the weapon. It immediately began to melt, metal pooling on the ground. Connor was forced to throw it down to save himself from the burning. Now he had no weapon against the dragon or the abomination before him.
And just because Connor's day couldn't get any worse, the dragon's ship exploded out of the building, its dragon like design glowing yellow. The knights could only watch helplessly as the ship left the atmosphere to go back home.
A few minutes later, after the Forever Knights ran way with their fallen brethren, Ben walked out of the storage building, a smug grin stretched over his face.
"How'd you convince him to go back?" Gwen asked him, curious.
"I used my head," was all Ben said.
This chapter was such a pain to proofread. At least the final product is decent.