Chapter 3 – Stone
"I am the dragon Shenlong!" said the serpent, "And this is Medusa! We are here to seal your fate! You, dog, will not be the fall of our great power!" Bolt lowered his head, growling at the intruders, "My power will not hold long, you must stay focused." Medusa smiled as she nodded towards Shenlong, and glared at the three heroes as they readied themselves to charge. The second the three guardians tried to race after them, Medusa let her snakes up, each of them hissing as she did. Bolt, Mittens and Rhino froze, each of them graying quickly as they turned to stone statues. Shenlong lifted his tail, ready to smash the statues until three more creatures just like Medusa raced in, fading from nothing into form. One jumped on Shenlong's back, forcing him to miss the three statues as Medusa raced forward, lifting Bolt's statue, "Medusa!" Shenlong cried out as he shook off the creature on his back, "I told you not to get attached to these statues! Your obsession is going to destroy us all!"
"Sssorry Shenlong!" Medusa replied as the third snake woman began attacking the dragon again, allowing the others to sneak on by, "But they have a beauty that I musssst have for my collection! I do hope you understand." she said as she slipped on by. Shenlong growled at her as she disappeared, and reared back, grabbing the little snake girl by the stomach before tossing her back into the rift, before diving after the snake.
As soon as Shenlong exited, he looked around, finding nothing except open fields, tall grass tickling the belly underneath him, and a few yards away, a dead snake woman lying in the bright sun, blood seeping from her back and stomach where he bit down, "Tsh!" he scoffed, "Gorgons!" Suddenly he felt a tug on his tail as something let go, when he turned around, the four little kits had jumped off, grabbing hold of Chase's collar before he began to take off. Shenlong tried to race after them after his shock wore off, but Chase's speed built up too quickly while a bright blue shield surrounded him like the flames of reentry, and off he went with his siblings holding on for dear life. "Oh, the other council members are going to kill me!" Shenlong said as he came to a stop.
Chase finally came to a stop, slowing down at a reasonable rate to keep the hearts of his siblings from stopping as well, "Did we lose him?" the speedy little kit asked. "I think!" Crystal responded as she looked around, "I don't see him!"
"Yah." she heard her twin brother say, and expected something insulting, "But I don't see that snake lady either!" She almost opened her mouth to retort, but instead let what he said register, his words were not insulting or judgmental, rather, they were filled with worry, and sadness. She quickly turned to him, watching him look around at everything, a scene of nothing but green grass and a deep blue lake with rainbow flowers surrounding it. She looked a little closer, finding tears nearly forming in his young eyes, and she realized, he was more focused on where his missing parents were than fighting with her. "We'll find them!" she heard her little sister whisper, the damage to her throat keeping her voice soft. Crystal turned her head, finding a strange feeling of regret fill her mind and soul, regret for her own evil thoughts. 'Dang!' she thought to herself, 'Now I feel like crying as well!'
"Wait!" they all heard Chase say, "Remember when we went to Neutros and Big Brother Mike read us that book about myths?" he asked. Crash and Crystal both looked to him, curious as to what he was going to say, while Peach nodded her head, before opening her eyes and merging the nod into a shake. "Ugh, the myth about Medusa, remember?" Chase asked, only to get the same response, "She lives in that dark cave where a bunch of people have been turned to stone?"
"OHHHH!" the twins responded while Peach looked up in thought, finding a strange looking bug that caught her attention. "It was deep along a cliff side that dropped into the shore, a place no one else went!" Chase said, and turned his head, searching for something. Suddenly Peach asked, "Do you know where Medusa lives?" Chase sighed to himself, and turned, "Peach, I'm pretty sure bugs can't tell you anything!" he said. "Yes they can!" she said happily as she turned her attention back to him, "He just told me that she and the other Gorgons live in that direction, inside of a large gulf!"
"Peach!" Chase said as he placed his paw to his furry head. "Well, you're fast enough, what have we got to lose?" Crash told him. "He also told me that we need a potion to cure our parents from Medusa's gaze." She finished. Chase was just about to argue when Crystal made a point, "It's just like in my favorite RPG; you need to find a Soft in order to cure the Petrified status!" she said with a large grin. "Soft? Really?" Chase said. "Hey, it works in videogames!" she retorted. "First, this isn't a videogame, second, real potions don't exist. Science specifically denounces witch brews and potions of the like. It's probably some kind of drink that wakes you up with caffeine or something." Chase said defiantly. "They have magic on Neutros!" Crash said suddenly, "Why can't they have some kind of potion that actually turns you real from stone here?"
Chase looked to him, gritted his teeth, and exhaled, "Fine!" he growled, "Let's go get this potion…"
"Soft!" Crystal corrected. "I'm not calling it that!" Chase told her and stomped off, looking over the hill. "Hey!" Crystal said as she approached her twin brother, "Thanks for defending my theory. I'm sorry I'm always fighting with you!" Crash turned his head away from her and softly said, "I'm sorry I'm always getting angry all the time, I'm trying to be better at that!" He walked a little forward before turning around, "Oh by the way, a Soft is actually the plume feathers of a Cockatrice!" he corrected, and then turned back around to run up to his other brother and sister. "They're what? Hey!" she called out as she chased after him, this time just for play.
The city they found themselves in was large, buildings built in thin circular towers with large dome shaped houses off in the distance. No one seemed to be rich or poor, they all just accepted each other. In the back, near what looked to be a giant tree, a castle rose up in the same design. The tree, reached up to the sky, its top leaves just barely touching the clouds as they drifted by. The castle itself was as tall as the trunk, the branches almost hugging the tall towers of the palace. "Whoa!" Chase said as they walked into what looked to be the town square, "That is one big tree! The height and girth of that thing is scientifically impossible!"
"Different world remember?" Chase said, "Let's find that de-stone potion!" He smiled as he tried to walk on past, but heard a ruckus in the building next to them, some yelling of two or three men could be heard through the thick wooden door, before it was forced open, and a man with long blond hair, silver scaled armor and a red cape was thrown into the dirt, "An Ah hope ye're soobar befar ye evan think oof coomin baack here! An Ah dinne loo lak a Hobgoblan's bum!" owner of the building shouted before slamming the door. The blond man turned on his back, laughing at himself and what he was about to say, "Ah but you do, good barkeeper!" he shouted back before hiccupping, "With a face to match!" As he finished, he burst into a drunken laughter, rolling on his back as he turned to see the four kits, "And what manner of child are ye?" he asked, "Be good children and take me home! I am in need of rest!" A soon as he finished, the man passed out, snoring quietly as he just lay there, drunk as can be.
End Chapter 3
