Ohayho everyone! CJzilla here with another update! Sorry it's been about nine days but I had to get this perfect. In this chapter the Saturday's find out Argost's true reason for wanting the Beast of Gévaudan and the beast shows what secrets it hides. Enjoy.

As I trample this city, alls CJzilla has to roar is this: R&R! Love... hate... review.

slipnot321: Thanks for R&Ring!

Amaris Solbes de la Vega: No one's getting away. Sorry for the wait Vega.

Dragonscall: Thank you.

Sangheili Warrior Girl: Yep. They should have.

Bookworm1994: Thank you for the tremendous compliment! Here's another update.

crystalshake: Thanks. Unfortunately Kur and the Beast of Gévaudan go hand in hand.


Chapter 9

The Guardian of the Secret Stone And The Secret Stone of The Guardian

Doc had his hands locked with Argost and both found themselves in a stalemate. The tall black man strained under the villain's strength. Every time Doc found himself fighting with Argost, he couldn't help but be impressed with the madman's fighting skills and brute force.

"In case you haven't figured it out yet, Argost…" Doc strained slightly. "You are not welcome in my home."

The chalk-faced villain merely smiled at the taller man.

"Like I've ever let my popularity with you people dictate where and when I cause trouble." Was Argost's eloquent reply. Doc gritted his teeth as he blocked the man's foot from taking his balance.

"I'll ask you one last time, Argost; tell me what you want with the Beast of Gévaudan!" He swiped at Argost's ankles with his foot. "That cryptid is nothing but a man-eating pain in the rear! Why do you want it so bad?!"

Argost was observing Doc's struggle with twisted interest. To the Weirdworld maniac, his plan was devilishly simple and it entertained him to see that his enemies were oblivious to it.

"Has the history of the la bête du Gévaudan made you biased?" Argost's smirk never left his face. "That shows how short-sighted you are. Even the most ferocious cryptid can be as an unrefined diamond, just waiting to show its true colors."

Just then Doc felt something crawl from Argost's hand to his. When he jerked his eyes from the madman he was wrestling with to his left hand, he saw a centipede-like cryptid crawl out from under Argost's cloak and onto him. In an instant, the Devonian annelid dug its pincher-like fangs into his wrist. Doc let out a grunt of surprise and jumped away from Argost. Not even a second after he released Argost, Doc's world began to get fuzzy. The bright stars that hung in the sky were now swirling together and the battlefield lost its noise. Then, like a hammer coming down on a nail, complete darkness came.

Drew heard Argost give a maniacal laugh. Whirling around, the woman looked over to Argost, leaving Munya to wrestle with Doyle. Drew saw Argost standing over Doc and one of his Devonian annelids slither off of her husband's wrist.

"Doc!" Drew cried rushing toward her husband and Argost.

Argost turned and in that second had to dodge a razor-sharp sword aimed to strike a killing blow. The madman stumbled slightly before he had Drew's double-edged Fire Sword pointed at his face. Argost looked past the weapon and held in an impressed chuckle as he saw the rage in the woman's eyes as she stood protectively over her husband. Lifting her heel, she squished the essence-draining centipede cryptid under her foot.

"You leave… in pieces!" Drew snarled. "And that will teach you to come to my house EVER AGAIN!"

Argost took a step back only to have the woman advance on him.

"You flatter me with the infamous Saturday hospitality, dear lady." The man put a hand to his chest, showing that he was truly touched. His little joke only angered Drew further.

The woman snarled in anger before she charged at him, swinging her sword to take off his head.

Meanwhile with Doyle and Munya, the much smaller red head was hanging onto Munya's neck. Doyle shivered as Munya's extra spider legs were trying to get a hold on him as he hung behind the big, genetically-altered man.

"Where does he find these CREEPS?!" The ex-merc called out as Munya busted the rope and weights tied around his wrists. Reaching up the half-spider/half-man snatched Doyle by the head and slammed him into the ground.

Instantly the red head was unconscious. Munya released the smaller man and stood. Snorting slightly, he turned to see how Argost was fairing. When Munya saw his boss was dodging the sword of Drew Saturday, he moved over to help him.

Zak, Fisk and Komodo wrestled with Munya's gooey web that encased Géva. The genetically-altered Komodo dragon's mouth was gummed up with the sticky web as it was wadding up Fisk's fur. The gorilla-cat groaned.

"Stickisurmur!" The Fiskerton Phantom flicked his wrists, trying to shake the web off of his hands. Komodo mumbled his complaint but couldn't say much because his mouth was glued together.

Zak grunted; there seemed to be no end to the layers and layers of web covering Géva.

"I know this stuff's insanely sticky but we have to get Géva out of here or Argost's gonna take-!" Then Zak heard a rocket-pack. Jerking their heads up Zak, Fisk, Komodo and Zon saw Van Rook soar through the air and land on the landing pad.

The eleven-year-old and his cryptids gasped as their mouths fell slack.

"You-… You're alive!" Zak spat out, part of him happy to see that the fierce mercenary was still alive and the other part stunned to see him here. Van Rook looked at the boy and the cryptids.

"Thanks to you, kid." The tall Russian man gave a salute to the preteen.

Then their eyes were taken off of each other and saw Drew swiping her Fire Sword at Munya and Argost. The woman was so busy fighting with the two other villains that she stumbled backwards and into Van Rook's arms. The big merc held Drew's arms to her waist and her grip on the Fire Sword broken. As the powerful weapon clanked to the ground Van Rook chuckled in the woman's ear.

"I remember that little negligee, Drew." Drew's face fell to shock and Van Rook relished the look of surprise on her face. "Ah… it brings back such memories."

Zak, Fisk, Zon, Komodo and even Argost shivered at that visual.

"Aw-…! SICK!" The eleven-year-old gagged before ralfing off to the side. Fisk held his mouth and Komodo shook his head as Van Rook laughed.

Argost cleared his throat.

"Though I dabble in many weird and incomprehensible things, I didn't need to know that, Van Rook." The madman narrowed his eyes in disgust before he eyed the mercenary. "Did you complete your half of the plan?"

Van Rook nodded as Drew kicked in his arms.

"Why you slimy, no-goodmff-!" Before Drew could spit out any more inappropriate words, Munya shot another web and it covered her mouth and arms. Van Rook threw her down and Munya finished gumming her to the ground.

"Mom!" Zak called out rushing to his mother's side. Van Rook grabbed the boy by the back of the shirt and cranked the preteen's arm behind his back, taking the Claw out of the boy's other hand.

As soon as Zak was disarmed, Van Rook dropped the eleven-year-old. Zak spun and glared the man down, eyeing his Hand of Tsul'Kalu in the merc's grasp.

"Well?! Where is it, Van Rook?!" Argost's patience was up as he took a threatening step toward the mercenary. The big Russian man sighed and dug into his backpack.

Zak's eyes widened when he saw something wrapped in a brown cloth in Van Rook's hand. It was the Kur Stone!

"Here's your precious paperweight." Van Rook growled. The eleven-year-old gasped.

"Kur! Fisk! Komodo! He's got Kur!" Zak called out to his cryptid "brothers". The Fiskerton Phantom and komodo dragon growled and jumped toward the adults.

Munya caught the gorilla-cat movements from the side of his crimson, slitted eyes. The genetically-altered man turned and aimed to shoot a web at Fisk when Zon dropped from the air. Argost snarled when he saw his manservant taken to the ground by the annoying female Ornithocheirous. Catching the Fiskerton Phantom out of the corner of his eye, the white-faced madman lunged forward to intercept Fisk. Then he too was knocked to the ground but by something insanely heavy. Arogost fell on his face, a mass probably weighing two-hundred and fifty pounds sprawled out on his back and keeping him to the ground. Komodo became visible and calmly sat on Argost's back, making sure he couldn't get up.

Van Rook gripped Zak's Claw in one hand and held the Kur Stone like a football in the other. The Russian mercenary saw the lanky but super-strong Fiskerton Phantom running at him; he had no free hands to defend himself or stop the cryptid from attacking. Fisk tackled Van Rook and the Kur Stone squirted out of the man's hand. Zak saw the old rock tumble to the ground and he raced to get a hold on it.

Argost saw the Saturday boy chase the Kur Stone as it rolled. Growling in anger, he still couldn't move since the vexing komodo dragon was sitting on him. Argost heard the lizard laugh at him as he struggled to get up. Just then, the teal Ornithocheirous was thrown through the air and hit the komodo dragon. Both Zon and Komodo went tumbling to the side as Argost got to his feet. The chalk-faced madman set his sights on the young boy as Munya stalked after the cold-blooded cryptids.

Zak dove for Kur and caught it. The eleven-year-old coughed and groaned since he hade to dive onto the big stone to catch it. Sitting up, the preteen held his ribcage as he checked over the precious stone. Zak had his back to the action and didn't see Argost run at him. The man made a fist and drove it into the boy's back. Dazed by the rock-hard stroke on his back, Zak felt Kur tumble out of his hands as he was picked up and thrown. The eleven-year-old came to a rude stop on the ground but managed to roll to his knees. Zak heaved and he found he couldn't breathe; the air was knocked clean out of him. Looking up, he saw Argost pluck the Kur Stone from the ground.

Kur had been out of the madman's clutches for so long! Arogost held the ancient stone like it was the last glass of water in a desert. Once again, the map to world domination was in his grasp. Argost clutched the stone to his chest before letting out a loud evil laugh.

Zak cursed inwardly since he didn't have the breath to do so out-loud. Beyond him dad was unconscious, mom was stuck to the ground by Munya's web and Uncle Doyle was knocked out. Fisk had his hands full with Van Rook while Komodo and Zon were doing their best to fight Munya. Zak was alone to face down the villain and his stone.

"A valiant effort, my dear boy." The eleven-year-old heard Argost say to him. Zak brought his eyes back up to the man and saw him walking toward him. "But sadly, it was an effort nonetheless. No amount of steel walls, security devices or effort can keep me from what I want."

Zak coughed as Argost stood in front of him.

"You and your family have interfered with my plans for world conquest for the last time, young Saturday." The madman eyed the boy with an impressed hatred before he flicked his wrist and another tiny container of Mongolian Death Worm venom. "Any last words, boy?"

The eleven-year-old looked up at Argost and narrowed his dark eyes.

"Yeah." Zak croaked out. "Geva!"

As those words left his mouth, the Beast of Gévaudan jumped over the boy and landed in front of Argost. The madman stepped back as he saw the dangerous cryptid was free of Munya's web case. Géva shook off the web still dangling from its fur and mouth before it eyed the wicked man before it. Then the monstrous dog-like cryptid stood in front of Zak and growled its animosity. Turning, Géva saw Zak struggle to stand.

"Good doggie." The eleven-year-old grinned at the beast, stroking its mane. Then Zak shot Argost a satanic smirk that made the madman's eyes go wide. "Sic 'im."

With a bellow, the Beast of Gévaudan rocketed for the Argost. The pale villain didn't have time to move, just grunt in surprise as he was flattened by the monster cryptid.

Just then Zak heard Fisk fly through the air. The gorilla-cat landed less gracefully than usual and took a moment to shake the stars out of his head. Van Rook got to his feet, grunting in pain as his injuries throbbed from under his mask. Seeing the Fiskerton Phantom taking a moment to catch its breath, the Russian merc pointed his wrist launcher at the cryptid. As his crosshairs settled of Fisk, something else caught his eye. Van Rook's glance fell to the unconscious form of his ex-apprentice.

To Zak's horror, Van Rook made his way over to his knocked out uncle.

"Hey! Leave him ALONE!" The eleven-year-old jumped to his feet. The mercenary didn't stop.

"I may owe you one, kid, but this little traitor owes me." Van Rook growled over his shoulder walking up to Doyle. Grabbing the unconscious man by the front of the shirt, the mercenary slapped Doyle.

The red head was jolted from his unconsciousness only to look at Van Rook's mask.

"Good morning sunshine." Van Rook hissed, pulling Doyle closer. Doyle blinked, not sure what he was seeing.

Then he saw the flash of the metal of a knife in his ex-mercenary master's hand. He flinched, waiting for Van Rook to burry it into his chest. But instead there were jerks on his shoulders before his jetpack fell to the ground behind him.

"I want you to see the ground coming before you splatter on it." Van Rook growled. Doyle's eyes went wide.

Zak saw the Claw lying off to the side. The eleven-year-old scooped it off of the ground and made a break to come to his uncle's side. He aimed the Claw at Van Rook but in the same second he fired it, the mercenary jumped and flew upwards. The Claw grabbed thin air. Zak gasped as he watched Van Rook fly up into the sky with his uncle.

"Zon!" The eleven-year-old called over to the female Ornithocheirous. Zon looked up from her fight with Munya to her little master's call. "Zon! Doyle! Get Uncle Doyle!"

Doyle felt the air get colder as Van Rook climbed. He heard nothing but the roar of the mercenary's jet pack and thumping of his own heart in his ears. Doyle saw the house get tinnier and his feet dangle in the air. Then suddenly Van Rook stopped his climb.

"I've been waiting to do this for a while now." Doyle heard Van Rook's voice in his ear. "NEVER double-cross me. I bet you're sorry you didn't stick around long enough learn that huh, apprentice?"

With that Van Rook released Doyle's jacket and the red head found himself falling to the ground.

Doyle's mind raced for options.

He had no jetpack, no way to slow his fall and no way to save his life. Under him, he saw nothing but blackness; probably because he was now free falling over the dark Pacific Ocean. It seemed as if this was Doyle's last life. The red head held his breath, bracing for impact on the cold, dark ocean. Just then, Doyle felt something latch onto his wrists before he heard the flapping of wings in the wind above him. Though he couldn't see her or hear her, the red head knew Zon had grabbed him.

The female Ornithocheirous caught up to the man as he was falling. Gradually opening her scaly wings, she acted like a parachute, slowing their fall to where she could fly without injury. Finally Zon fully opened her wings. Now gliding, they could clearly hear the roar of the waves on the rocky cliffs below their home.

"Good birdie! Good, good, GOOD birdie!" Doyle called up to Zon as they coasted over the water. The teal, female Ornithocheirous squawked her reply. "You are now my favorite!"

Just then an ammunition round whistled through the air and struck the water with a loud slap. Obviously Van Rook was determined to make this ex-apprentice pay. Weaponry shots peppered the water and air around Doyle and Zon. Large rounds of bullets whizzed through the air, their high-pitched whistles extinguished when they hit the salt water.

"Go birdie! GO!" Doyle urged the female Ornithocheirous. Zon grunted and began weaving, dodging Van Rook's weaponry fire.

Back up on the landing pad Zak was trying to get his father back to consciousness as Fisk were trying to get Drew unstuck from her web bonds. As he rolled Doc to his back, the eleven-year-old boy stole glances at Munya and Komodo and Géva and Argost.

Komodo was invisible which gave him an edge on Munya. The big genetically-altered man spat webs around his feet, hoping to stick the pesky lizard to the ground. Zak smirked; Komodo one, Munya zip.

"Dad!" The preteen patted his dad's face. The man was out cold, since he'd gotten some of his essence stolen from one of Argost's Devonian annelids. "Dad! Wake up! We could really use your help to kick Argost and Munya outta here!"

Doc's eyes fluttered open. His vision swirled and everything he heard was grabbled by his hazy mind.

"Dad?" The man heard his son call to him. Blinking, some of Doc's vertigo lifted enough to let him see his son looking down at him.

"Zak?" His mind still fogged with intense fatigue. Doc was obviously floating between the conscious world and unconsciousness. "Z-Zak-… W-what's going on?"

The eleven-year-old boy wiped his brow.

"Dad! You gotta get up! Van Rook took Doyle, Komodo's fighting with Munya and Géva's facing down Argost!" Then Doc saw his boy's eyes get wide. "Dad… Argost has the Kur Stone!"

Should have seen THAT coming. Doc's features twisted with anger and fear, but his strength had not yet returned.

"I-I can't… not yet." The man tried to but he felt like his limbs were encased in cement. "Do your best, Zak."

Just then they heard Doyle yell above their heads. Craning their eyes upwards they saw the red head now being carried by Zon by his feet as he and the Ornithocheirous were being pursued by Van Rook. The mercenary, ex-mercenary and female Ornithocheirous then zipped out of sight, to the southern wing of the complex. Zak shook his head; at least now he knew Zon caught his uncle.

"Okay, dad. Hang tight." The eleven-year-old looked down at his semi-conscious father. Getting to his feet, Zak held his Hand of Tsul'Kalu.

But just as he rose to his feet, he spotted Argost and Géva's duel. Argost had gotten his hands on mom's Fire Sword and was defending himself against the attacking Beast of Gévaudan. The huge dog-like cryptid lunged at the man, trying to wrap its teeth around him. With one hand clutching the Kur Stone and the other griping the special sword, Argost was doing all he could to keep the man-eating cryptid from taking him to the ground. If the beast got opportunity to knock the madman to his back, there would be no way to recover quick enough without getting his throat torn out. Cryptids were Argost's obsession in life though not his purpose, but now that he had the Cryptid Kur and the Beast of Gévaudan together, his life-long goal to rule the earth was only at his fingertips. But he knew that the Beast of Gévaudan MUST be defeated before it would share its secret with the world.

As the beast nipped at him, baring its fearsome white teeth, it got too close and a window was opened to Argost. The madman raised the sword before driving the weapon into the beast's chest.

"GÉVA!" Zak cried. Suddenly the battlefield fell dead silent.

Everyone froze, holding their breath as they watched the mighty Beast of Gévaudan receive a death blow.

Géva froze where it stood before stumbling back, trying to get away from Argost. Argost released his hold on the Fire Sword and watched the dying animal with a straight face. The cryptid panted heavily, now laboring through every breath it took. The beast growled and brought a paw up to dislodge the blade from its chest. One paw off of the ground was all it took. Géva lost its balance, staggering violently before falling on its side. The monstrous dog/wolf-like cryptid couldn't bring itself back to its feet. Lifting its head off of the ground for one last time, Géva let out a wet bellow. With its last breath, the beast's head fell to the ground where its eyes closed and it moved no more.

Zak's dropped his Claw and ran to Géva's side. Falling to his knees, the boy stretched out his hand to touch the beast but couldn't bring himself to.

"G-Géva… No, Géva." The eleven-year-old hushed, eyes wide and face pale as he saw his friend's chest no longer move with breath. Zak took in a shaky breath, the shock of Géva's death hitting his young mind and heart like a red-hot dagger.

The preteen heard Argost's shoes on the ground but he didn't bother looking up as he held his eyes to his lifeless cryptid friend.

"And thus, the beast is defeated." The chalk-faced madman voiced before he saw Zak bow his head in grief. Scoffing angrily, Argost rolled his eyes. "Stop your sniveling. La bête du Gévaudan has not yet revealed its secret."

Zak looked up at the madman, his dark eyes sharp with a devastated anger. Hopping to his feet, the eleven-year-old was angry enough to punch the man's face in.

"You heartless-!" WHACK! Zak stumbled backwards, holding his cheek were Argost had slapped him.

The eleven-year-old held his face, stunned that Argost had just slapped him. Bringing his eyes back to the madman, he saw a new fire in the man's evil eyes. The pale-faced megalomaniac glared at the boy.

"Enough of your drama and sickeningly virtuous love for cryptids!" Argost barked. Then he gave an easy smile. "You'll miss the best part."

Suddenly there was a glow that lit up Argost's white face. Zak snapped his eyes to Géva's motionless body. The Beast of Gévaudan's corpse began glowing, shining with a yellow incandescence. The light grew so bright that it stung the preteen's eyes and he fell to the ground. The dark night was suddenly lit just like daytime for a split second before the beam died down. Zak took his hand from over his eyes and looked back to Géva's lifeless body. To his utter surprise, the dog-like form of the Beast of Gévaudan was no longer seen. Instead, there was a red, smoking stone lying beside the Fire Sword.

Argost chuckled and eyed the smoking stone.

""Le gardien de la pierre secrète et la pierre secrète du gardien"." The madman smirked before he locked eyes with Zak. "Do you know what that means, young Saturday?"

Zak was still dazed as he managed to shake his head.

"Translated it means: "The guardian of the secret stone and the secret stone of the guardian"." Argost answered then he got a smug look on his face. "I doubt you've gotten this far."

""The guardian of the secret stone and the secret stone of the guardian"; yeah, I know. Géva told me." A shadow of hatred clouded the boy's face as he glared at the villain and stood again. "Géva told me that it was a guardian to the secret stone and that the secret stone is… the secret stone of the guardian."

Argost chuckled with a dark amusement.

"See? I can tell your feeble little mind nearly short circuited at la bête du Gévaudan's riddle." The pale megalomaniac grinned. Zak gritted his teeth.

"I know that it has something to do with Kur!" The eleven-year-old barked.

"That much is true, but only partially." Argost gave a conniving smirk. "You see… Beast of Gévaudan and the secret stone are one and the same. Quite a cleaver adaptation for something so valuable. Tell me, dear boy, did you ever notice that la bête du Gévaudan could never bleed?"

Zak said nothing but glared.

"It could never bleed because it's not a true living being." Argost pointed out. "The secret stone took on the la bête du Gévaudan's form to protect itself… from people like me. That's why it was killing and why it could never be tamed."

The madman then smiled as he saw the boy's eyes twinkling with a repressed question.

"Why? Why did you kill my friend?" Zak growled, making fists with his hands. Argost sighed.

"Defeated; I defeated the beast." The man corrected. "And I had to, to expose la bête du Gévaudan as what it truly was inside. You see, back in 1764, when the beast was first defeated, I suspect that the French peasants were flabbergasted when the monster turned into a stone. Scared and superstitious, they likely buried the secret stone. Up until now, la bête du Gévaudan has been in a slumber, awaiting its next chance to kill."

"But why? Why attack my family?!" Zak stomped his foot. Argost remained cool and sinister.

"I asked Van Rook to only make it seem like he was to capture la bête du Gévaudan, only to wet your family's palate." He smiled. "If your family knew I wanted it, you would want it more. My visit while still on French soil was to drive home that point. I needed to get the beast and Kur in the same place and your family did all that work for me."

Zak narrowed his eyes further as Argost laughed at him and plucked the red stone from the ground.

"Do you even know what the secret of the secret stone of the Beast of Gévaudan is?" The pale villain questioned, a sinister glint in his eyes. Zak's lips tightened together, showing he didn't know and that made Argost chuckle. "The Beast of Gévaudan is a translator for Kur; another key to getting my little hands on absolute power."

The boy's eyes widened.

"I've followed the map all over the world, collecting clues just as your family has. But this is as far as anyone can go without the aid of la bête du Gévaudan." Argost stated as he glanced down at the Kur Stone in his left hand. The cloth covering the Kur Stone dropped off of it. "So I have to thank you and your family, young Saturday, for presenting me with Kur and la bête du Gévaudan in such an efficient manner. World domination is this much closer for me."

The madman looked between the two stones and quirked a brow. He wasn't sure exactly HOW the Gévaudan Beast stone was supposed to translate Kur, so with this part of his plan he was winging it. Argost brought both stones close together. Just an inch apart, the mystical stones interacted. Argost was blown off of his feet by an explosion from the two rocks. Zak, Munya, Fisk and Komodo were knocked to their backs as an extremely bright beam lit the night.


R&R! LONG LIVE ROCK AND ROLL!