Chapter 14 – Drop
"What made you come here anyway?" Chase asked as Odin marched at the front alongside Scylla. "I told you in the beginning, I had little trust for the Azure. Bringing my Einherjar inside before the shift change, I simply placed myself in the position of best interest for the outcome." he told the kit. Chase opened his mouth in shock, "So, you can see the future?" he asked. "Sadly, not!" Odin told him, "I only follow the path my fate has set out in front of me! Letting you four go the first time, I assume was a decision I was fated to make!"
"Daddy told me that a person's fate is decided by the decisions he make's, not the other way around." Chase suddenly said, and faced forward, letting the giant warrior god think upon his words.
"You ready?" Crystal asked, getting her brother to nod to her. The two of them then rushed in, yelling with everything they had. Crystal shifted, changing into her crystal form while Chase simply rushed in with his eyes closed. He quickly ran into the legs of several gorgons, never stopping as he continued to toss them into the air. He slowed down, stopping himself as he turned around and watched them all hit the ground unconscious. He was so proud of himself that he smiled, his confidence growing, before he ran off again to continue his assault.
Crystal on the other hand decided to jump on everyone, knocking them down as she made her way to the wall. Quickly, she pinned her claws into the stone, and climbed. She turned her head only a second as she looked for her target. There, above the statues of her family, she found a small hole in the overhang. Moss grew thick from it and draped down with three small stalactites hanging from the rock.
Crash let his confidence build as he raced around, tossing his head up as he slammed into the legs of the Gorgons, knocking each of them out as he raced around. "WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?" they both heard. Crash turned towards the voice, taking his eyes off of where he was going long enough that when he looked back, he only had enough time to turn, but still slammed into the wall, shaking the entire cave as the stone crumbled around him, and his sister fell from the perch she had found. Crystal quickly dropped as the stone she had latched onto broke away, and landed on top of her brother. She quickly glared at him, anger building up for his little power trip, but this time she only felt annoyance, not the urge to argue. Crash simply shook his head, and looked at her, folding his ears in embarrassment, "Eheh!" he laughed in shame, "Sorry!"
The two of them were quickly covered in shadow, the two of them looking up to find Medusa as she glared at the two of them, "Uh oh!" they both said and shut their eyes as the snakes of her hair lifted up and hissed. Their eyes stayed shut as she tried to turn them to stone, "KRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA!" the Gorgon queen yelled, and swung her tail, swiping the two kits together as her scales smashed through the ground and wall of the cave, tossing them aside and the vial of potion from Crash's armor.
The small glass vial sailed up as the twins sailed across the room, miraculously finding its way into the hole above the three statues. It shattered, the potion soaking into the moss as it tried desperately to find its way down to the ground.
Crash and Crystal both hit the wall on the opposite side of the cave, again landing on top of each other, trying to regain some form of composure, only to feel the gorgon's tail once more slam into their sides. "Oh!" Crash groaned as he lifted himself up. He heard Medusa as she came up to them, and race forward just as she hissed at them, he slammed into her tail, tossing her around as he continued on. He heard the gorgon fall to the floor, and stopped in his tracks, hearing the gasps of shock from what he could only guess were the other gorgons. "Did you see that?" he heard one of them ask. "He sent Medusa spinning out of control!" another said. "I thought Medusa was the strongest! But this kid comes out of nowhere and completely out matches her in one move!" one of the smaller ones commented. Crash stood still as he breathed in heavily, chancing a moment to open his eyes and look around.
He found himself outside, in the middle of the bazaar, every gorgon in sight staring at him, trying to judge him as he looked around. He could hear the groans of Medusa as she tried to lift herself to her arms, and looked at his sister, still lying there. He gasped, and pointed himself at her, closing his eyes quickly as he raced for his sibling. He heard Medusa scream out as she tried to get in his way, the snakes of her hair hissing as she once again tried to turn him to stone. He lifted his head as he slammed into her, tossing the queen over him as he raced for his sister. As soon as Medusa was tossed aside, he opened his eyes, and reached down, grabbing his crystalline sister in his jaws as he picked her up and brought her around the corner of the cave.
"Wake up!" he said as he set her down, and Crystal shot straight up, "How could you leave me?" she asked. "Not on purpose! Besides, she's stunned now, we can…" he responded, and reached into his armor, finding the vial missing from its hiding spot, "Oh no!" he said in a panic, and patted himself down. "What?" she asked, and listened as Medusa lifted herself up and hissed as she looked around, she didn't know how many innocent gorgons had been turned to stone because of the mutant looking around. "It's gone!" Crash said in a panic, "The potion's gone! It must have fallen out when Medusa slapped us wither her tail!"
"Which time?" Crystal asked. "I…I don't know!" Crash was able to say just as they heard the gorgon queen slither up to the spot they were at. Crash looked up, but Crystal placed herself in front of him, embracing him protectively. Medusa saw her own reflection, the snakes lifted up and hissing as she let her eyes open up. She screamed in panic as she could feel her own scales change, hardening to stone from the tip of her tail all the way to the nose of the top snake on her head, she reeled in pain as the transformation happened, lifting her head to the ceiling as if finished, sealing in her own curse forever.
In the moss, the potion dripped down, funneling through the moss on its way down and one drop each fell from the stalactites, falling perfectly on Bolt's nose, Mittens' ear and Rhino's head.
"And one more, just for fun!" said a hushed voice as a green mouth whispered into a large elf ear. The listener was a large female with two arms and a human woman's upper half, on the bottom half, the abdomen of a large spider, eight furry legs sat on top of web, hanging from the ceiling as she wore what looked to be a worn tunic to cover her top half. Her eyes were open wide, each blank with no emotion or color, almost lifeless as the arms moved on their own. An ethereal tapestry woven out in front of her as she continued to weave the threads, a simple string that shined of the light it was made from. She was beautiful by all standards, long black hair draping down to the floor from her upside down form as she stitched the banner that faded as it left her, disappearing into the air to never be seen again.
Again, a drop from the moss fell, splattering on impact as it hit the three statues. Suddenly they began to crack, the statues breaking and cracking as they three were set free.
End of Chapter 14
