Chapter 20

Emerson was very proud of himself after he'd destroyed the door; in fact very proud was probably an understatement. As Jeremy had noticed, he couldn't stop talking about it.

"But when it just exploded open, that was me, I did that. And the fact that it looked so easy." He was very, very proud of himself.

"I know, it was fantastic." Jeremy agreed, less than half-heartedly for perhaps the thirteenth time that minute. They were strolling through the castle, going down different corridors and through random doors. They didn't have a clue where they were going; they just hoped they'd find something helpful.

At first Jeremy had tried to keep Emerson quiet but quickly realised that it wasn't going to happen as whenever he asked him to talk quieter, Emerson would just ignore him and keep talking at the same volume. They hadn't come across anyone yet, Jeremy wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not, he decided it was.

"And then we just strolled through, as if nothing had happened." Emerson continued.

"I know, I was there." Jeremy pointed out and then frowned, "Actually you kept saying how awesome you thought it was." He corrected but Emerson seemed not to notice.

"I really have to do it again, it was so awesome."

"Yep, that's pretty much what you said." Jeremy agreed and Emerson scowled at him.

"Alright, you don't have to be so aggressive about it." He said taken aback and Jeremy just laughed. "Stop." Emerson said suddenly and yanked Jeremy back, round the corner they'd just turned. Jeremy tried to protest but Emerson had his hand over the younger boy's mouth.

Jeremy just rolled his eyes and then he heard it too, heavy footsteps. They were coming closer and Jeremy had no doubt that they would be owned by a sufficiently nasty individual. Jeremy nodded, confirming that he heard them too and Emerson took his hand away.

Emerson gestured round the corner and mouthed something and Jeremy frowned, not understanding. Emerson tried again but Jeremy still frowned. Emerson rolled his eyes.

He whispered. "When he gets close, I'll jump out and take him down. Hopefully I'll catch him by surprise and everything will go well. You stay here out of sight; I don't want him murdering you before I get a chance to take him out. Ok?"

Jeremy nodded in affirmation.

The footsteps were getting closer and closer, Jeremy had a desperate urge to see who it was. They definitely belonged to a large man, each one made a loud, thundering noise. They were evenly spaced and not very frequent, obviously they were taking their time.

Jeremy saw a flicker of movement and at once, Emerson flung himself out at the man. Everything didn't go well. Archie Bellows seemed unable to be caught by surprise which was ridiculous as when Emerson jumped out, even Jeremy jumped. As soon as Emerson leaped out, Archie just stepped back out of the way and thrust his leg forward, the kick catching Emerson full in the stomach and flinging him into a wall.

Emerson grunted in pain when he hit the wall and looked up at his opponent. The huge man was standing above him pointing a huge shotgun right in his face. Archie cocked the massive weapon.

Emerson frowned. "Well this seems a bit unfair." Archie grinned and Emerson could see all the spaces where teeth had been knocked out over the years. "Would you mind awfully just giving me the gun, you see I'm supposed to be rescuing my brother, thwarting your plans and beating up Angelo in a sec and you're gonna make me late?" Archie shook his head, still grinning, his finger hovering over the trigger. Emerson licked his lips and lifted his hand slightly, Archie frowned and the stream hit him.

The giant flew backwards, grunting in surprise, down the hallway that he'd just come up. The gun flew from his hands and clattered to the ground. Archie hit the ground hard and continue moving, skidding backwards across the stone floor. Emerson wondered when and how he would stop, he was answered when the giant crashed, hard into the far door, his head smacking against the stone.

Emerson flinched in sympathy, grimacing at the crack of his opponent's head against stone. Much to Emerson's surprise and disappointment, Archie did something that Emerson thought would be near impossible… he got up. Archie got up slowly and steadily, obviously in pain, but still conscious.

He started walking forwards, slowly at first, in what was obviously agonising pain, but as he got further he started to speed up, the pain slowly fading from his face. Emerson frowned, studying him more closely; it seemed as if his bones were fixing themselves, everything going back to its original position, mending him.

Emerson stared at the huge man in disbelief; he was healing himself, how? And then something caught his eye; Emerson looked down and saw it. Archie Bellow's legs were absorbing something from the ground. It was almost as if earth was seeping up into his legs, slowly absorbing into his body and healing him. Earth Mastery, Emerson realised. Archie Bellows was using the earth from the ground, through the stones to heal himself, unfair, how come Emerson's magic couldn't do that.

Archie had broken into a run now and was charging towards Emerson like a crazed wild boar. Emerson came forward to meet him, bracing himself for a collision. He was ready to leap up and catch Archie full in the chest with a kick which he hoped would break a few ribs. Archie was now closing the gap between them much quicker than Emerson thought would be possible for a man of his size.

Emerson glimpsed something, Archie's face; it almost seemed as if it was glistening with earth. Then he noticed it. Wherever Archie's feet came into contact with the ground, the stone cracked and gave way. He realised, but it was too late. As Archie was about to collide with him, he tried to twist out the way, but Archie was coming in too fast.

When Archie hit him, it was like being hit by two tonne rhinoceros, and Emerson knew exactly what that was like. Emerson could feel bones braking in his body, he didn't know which ones, but he figured some of them must be important. Emerson again crashed into the wall and groaned but quickly realised groaning hurt so stopped.

Archie too crashed into the wall next to him but the only thing that was damaged was the wall. Emerson tried to move, but it hurt too much so he just stayed where he was, lying on the ground. Archie got out from the wall and shook himself off, like a wet dog, a giant, vicious, evil wet dog from hell, Emerson decided.

Archie stood over Emerson triumphantly. "Now where have I seen this before…?" Emerson muttered and Archie grinned. "Except there is one difference…" Emerson mused. "Let's see if you can spot it?"

Archie frowned and got shot. Obviously Archie's 'earth skin' hadn't lasted as when the shotgun blew into his back, he flew forwards, his back already bleeding profusely. Now it was his turn again to hit the wall, Emerson had to move out the way to avoid the massive limp body. This time the giant didn't get up, he lay there groaning.

Jeremy sat on the floor a few yards in front of Emerson loosely holding the shotgun. Emerson raised his eyebrows and Jeremy smiled dryly. "I wasn't expecting that much recoil." He said and Emerson smiled and then grimaced in pain.

Jeremy got up immediately and rushed over to his friend.

"Where does it hurt?" he asked and Emerson smiled.

"Where doesn't it hurt, I think is the better question."

"Ok where doesn't it hurt?"

"Nowhere." Emerson grinned and then thought better of it. "Where'd you learn to shoot a gun?" Emerson asked, trying to take his mind off the pain.

"Call of Duty." Jeremy said embarrassed and Emerson smiled.

"Just think how many other people like you play that game." Emerson marvelled. "What is technology teaching the world? Soon we're all going to have millions of violent, teenage maniacs rampaging through towns and cities armed with assault rifles and machetes."

"Actually there aren't really machetes in COD, more…knives." Jeremy muttered and Emerson raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but machetes are more awesome."

Jeremy thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Yeah… that's actually a great idea; machetes in COD would be so awesome!"

Emerson rolled his eyes. "Wow… teenagers." He muttered, shaking his head. Then, grimacing, he slowly and shakily got up, Jeremy supporting him every inch of the way. He started limping down the corridor, with Jeremy supporting him, towards the cracked and slightly ruined door.

"What, are you saying you've never played Call of Duty?" Jeremy asked; the disbelief in his voice all too evident.

"Of course I have, but I also think about and do other things." Emerson replied.

"Well yes obviously, so do I." Jeremy retorted.

"Really? Like what?" Emerson asked and Jeremy looked as if he was about to reply but then he frowned.

"Well… I…" Jeremy tried. "I watch TV."

Emerson snorted. "Yeah, cause that's much better. You teenagers should try and do things outside for a change, like play sport."

"I do go outside." Jeremy insisted and Emerson raised an eyebrow.

"Walking to and from your car doesn't count."

"No, I do actually do stuff outside." Jeremy said, his voice becoming more confident. "Every Saturday, I play football with some of my mates."

"Football?" Emerson asked his face screwed up in disgust. "Why not cricket?"

"I hate cricket, there's way too much standing around, it's boring." Jeremy explained.

"If I ever hear you say that again, I will end your face." Emerson threatened and Jeremy smiled but then saw the completely blank expression on Emerson's face and realised he might not be joking. He quickly amended his expression to something more solemn and nodded seriously.

Emerson and Jeremy continued down the corridor, Emerson reckoned that through the door at the end, they'd be able to continue further into the castle and hopefully come across where Caiden was being held prisoner.

"What do we do now?" Jeremy asked.

"Well, I suggest we go further into the castle and see if we come across my darling brother." Emerson said happily.

"I hope we come across someone else, you seem to have had all the fun so far." Jeremy muttered sarcastically and Emerson laughed.

"Well luckily for you, that shouldn't be a problem." Said a deep voice from behind them. They turned to see Maelicen Villainous kneeling down beside the unconscious form of Archie Bellows.

Emerson couldn't tell what Villainous was doing; he seemed to be checking Archie's pulse or something. The masked man stood up to his full height, he wasn't a huge man like Archie but he definitely wasn't small either. He didn't need to be huge to be threatening, he managed that very well as it was.

He began to stride towards them, his strides neither too big so that he was unbalanced, nor too small so that he scuttled. Emerson could feel a sort of power radiating off him, becoming stronger the closer he got.

"Well…" Emerson muttered, "we seem to be screwed…"

A/N: Yeah, so I'm a failure. I haven't uploaded in how long? Meh, I lose track. I would say sorry and that I'm never going to do it again, but… I'm probably going to do it again. I kind of have a faint idea of how I'm going to continue this story, but there's quite a large gap which I'm going to need to fill. I have other stories in my head, one of which might be a new project some time which will probably be similar to this, but come under Percy Jackson fanfic. I also really want to make more in this series, short stories and sequels and stuff, but let's be real, I probably won't even get round to finishing this, I hope I do, but you never know how things turn out do you? Please review, thanks for reading, bye… yeah that's it.

Mangobean.