Chapter 14
April took in the sight of the Monster standing before her and a pit settled in her stomach. But her fear was overcome by the feelings of rage melting through her connection to the Shard. Kape was ready for a fight. Screw the odds, this Monster was going to feel the wrath of Light, and nothing was going to stop her. April let Kape take full control and sat back to watch the battle.
Kentoki gazed around the rooftop, briefly examining the two humans before him. The sounds of battle below drew his attention. He took in the sight of his forces being taken down and the two defeated Commanders before starting to laugh.
"You have planned well for this battle," he complimented as he turned his sharp gaze on Jay. "Your army of primitive robots and twisted beasts seem to stand a chance against my hoards of Tagoo soldiers. But that battle is of no consequence. I will simply obtain the Shard and wipe them all out in an instant."
"As if I'd give my power over to you," Kape's voice came from April's mouth.
The Monster then examined her with a smile. "It seems as if your Shard has found a compatible host. What a pleasant surprise. And it's the female we detected, no less. It seems that this will be interesting after all. I do hope you put up more of a fight than the last time we met."
Kentoki grasped the hilt of one of the swords at his hip and drew the blade slowly. The grating of metal on rusted metal screeched over the sound of battle below until the supposed blade came free of its scabbard. But it wasn't a sword, it was a long pole about four feet long made of a metal even dirtier than his armour.
Jay tensed as he recognized the weapon and he powered up his gauntlets, the glass tubes along the back of the hand filling with electricity, and he unhooked the short metal pole from his belt.
"Don't worry," Jay said evenly as he felt the tingle in his hands as he gathered a charge. "I have to intention of running this time."
Kape also fell into a stance, with her tendrils swirling around her body for defence and while others swarmed her hands, ready for offence.
The Monster smirked at their stances as they prepared to fight. "This shall be a battle to be remembered," he grinned as he activated his weapon, "or perhaps not." In an instant, the length of the pole erupted in a blood red, liquid fire; the Blood Saber.
Jay activated his Photon Blade, and crouched in anticipation of the first move.
Kentoki moved first, lunging forward at an impossible speed, but Jay rushed forward to meet him in the center of the roof. Their blades clashed as red fire screamed against yellow electricity. Kentoki was a good two feet taller and out matched the gangly teenager in strength ten times over. Jay was easily knocked back, his Photon Blade swinging upward as he fought to regain his footing and keep hold of his weapon.
Kentoki swung his Blood Saber parallel to the ground towards the boy's unprotected stomach, but Kape's yellow tendrils caught the blade inches before it hit. Jay's palm glowed yellow as his gauntlet charged before shooting a beam of condensed electricity at Kentoki's abdomen. Quicker than the eye could follow, Kentoki drew his other blade half way out of its sheath and another beam of liquid fire absorbed the attack. With a jerk, Kentoki drew the second blade the rest of the way out and swung it downwards, but Jay had regained his footing and slashed it aside with his Photon Blade.
Strings of light darted around Jay and shot towards Kentoki as Kape took the distraction to launch her own attack. It was sudden and unexpected. A few tendrils made it through the Monster's defenses, some bouncing off the dirty armour protecting his chest, some managing to pierce the thick flesh through the chinks in the armour at his shoulder, and one even managed to slice off a tentacle of hair. Kentoki jumped back before twirling his blades to fend off the rest of the strings, giving Jay some breathing room to regain his stance and prepare for the next move.
The barrage stopped and Kentoki grimaced as a colourless blood dripped out of the tentacle that was severed. But as quickly as it was lost, the flesh grew back, knitting back into the Monster's semblance of a perfect head of hair.
There was a moment of silence as the two sides remained still, waiting for who would make the next move.
He underestimates us, Kape whispered into Jay's head. He never expected there to be two of us to fight. He doesn't know what to expect.
Don't get over confident, Jay scolded. Even with the two of us, this isn't going to be easy.
Kentoki seemed to realize their distraction and launched his next attack. Sheathing the Blood Saber in his right hand, he reached back and grasped the hilt of the hammer strapped to his back and swung it around towards Kape before a round of foot long, razor sharp pegs made of more blood red flames flew toward the distracted Shard. The tendrils swirling around her out of instinct and knit into a shield that vaporized the deadly projectiles as they came into contact with the pure energy.
Jay had seen the hammer-like weapon before, but Kentoki had never gotten the chance to use it in their previous battle. He hadn't needed to. Jay was no match for him alone. But he now saw that he was wrong in his assumption. The long weapon on the Monster's back wasn't a giant hammer, but a sort of gun that harnesses his energy like his flame blades into long deadly bullets.
Kape can handle it, Jay thought, seeing as her shield vaporized every bullet and charged his gauntlets for his own long ranged attack. Clipping his Photon Blade back onto his belt, he pointed both palms at his enemy and let loose a series of quick, high speed shots of electricity, hoping to catch Kentoki off guard. With only one Blood Saber drawn to block the new barrage of projectiles, he was unable to block them all. But unlike Kape's tendrils, when Jay's electric bullets slammed into Kentoki's metal armour, the charge clung to the conductive surface before jumping into Kentoki's body, leaving trails of smoke rising from where it burned the flesh and electrocuted him.
The Monster grunted as he took on damage, but the Blood Saber was up in an instant. It deflected most of the electric bullets, and he managed to dodge most of the others. But a stray shot still broke through every now and then. The shock he received was powerful, but not enough to seriously wound a battle hardened war lord like Kentoki.
Jay's gauntlets ran out of juice and he drew his Photon Blade again to let them re-charge. During Jay's attack, Kape hadn't been idle. From where Kentoki was standing, her strings erupted from the ground around his feet from where she tunneled through the roof's concrete, piercing his exposed legs and caving in the portion of the roof where he stood.
The Monster jumped back as he saw the ground crumbling, but his injured legs couldn't quite support him and he stumbled for a moment. His colourless blood wet the chunks of roof that fell into the building as he lost his balance momentarily. Jay took the opening and was in front of him again in an instant, driving his Photon Blade toward the Monster's throat, but the Blood Saber knock it away. Jay's free hand came up glowing yellow as his gauntlet finished charging. He pointed it at Kentoki's exposed chest and landed an electric pulse with the power of a full charge.
Jay leapt back as the Monster roared in pain, the full charge being much stronger than the smaller pulses that landed before. The dirty metal chest plate smoked and distorted from the heat of the blast, but it didn't crack or break. Jay crouched in anticipation as Kentoki straightened up once again, his sharp teeth clenched in anger and his fist clenching his blade. Despite the direct hit, the pulse only seemed to have stunned the Monster, and the wounds Kape had inflicted on his legs had already healed, leaving only the crusty clear blood still sticking to his skin. He showed no further signs of pain from the blow he had just taken.
"Not bad, boy," Kentoki growled before smiling sadistically. "It's been a long time since I've ever had to fight someone seriously."
Great, Jay thought, he's not even serious yet. He had been right; there's no way to take down this Monster without Light.
He had to do it.
He felt a sense of regret as he came to this conclusion. But it made no difference. He would do it, and pray that reinforcements aren't too late.
Oo-oO
The appearance of the larger transport beam on the roof of the building where April and Jay were, had the battle in the streets pausing for a moment. The final boss had arrived.
Leo clutched his katana tighter, wishing it was him up there instead of dealing with the small fries in the street. It was frustrating, but he would play his part because the presence of their leader seemed to invigorate the Tagoos and they clicked in excitement and renewed strength. They surged forward against the Foot Bots with new force, with more bots than aliens falling than before.
The remaining Commanders were also proving to be harder to take down without the element of surprise on their side. Even as the battle cries rang out louder than before, the two remaining mechs started targeting Mikey and Casey, forcing Leo and Raph to draw the mechs' attention away from their snippers while luring them into a position where Mike and Case could get a clear shot at the Nut Pannel, as Casey had taken to calling it.
"Woah!" Mikey yelled as one of the mech's shot a beam at him and he dove out of the way. Leo threw a smoke bomb at the cockpit, causing the mech to stumble back from lack of vision.
"Find cover!" Leo told Donnie and Mikey as he landed on the same roof as them. They nodded and melted into the shadows before darting to another rooftop that was easier to defend from.
The purple smoke cleared away and the mech turned to face Leo. From on top of the roof, they nearly came face to face and Leo could make out the sneer the commanding Tagoo had before he launched himself off the roof with a yell, aiming his katana for the Commander. Although his sword wasn't able to pierce the cockpit of the mech, the sight of an alien turtle with sharp blades barreling towards him made the Commander falter for a second. The mech fell to defend and raised a hand to swat Leo down when the force of an explosion rocked the air. The shock wave hit Leo and knocked the wind out of him. He slammed into the mech even as the leg units lost all power and they both crashed to the ground.
"Yeah boyee!" Leo heard Mikey cry out through ringing ears as he and Donnie high-threed. They managed to get into position and fire an explosive right at the Nut Pannel. It was the cleanest shot you'd ever see, but it wasn't down yet. The main power circuit still had to be destroyed.
Leo managed to stand up and was grasping for his Photon Blade when a growl had him instinctively ducking and diving off the mech as Tiger Claw fired his blasters at him.
"Turtle!" Tiger Claw roared as Leo landed in front of him and they faced off. Leo kept his grip on the Photon Blade and drew a katana in the other hand. A creak of metal had him glancing back, the mech already figuring out which circuits were still connected and what was still operational. He had to finish it off before it started shooting again.
But Tiger Claw didn't give him a chance. The beast charged forward, shoot with one gun while drawing his blade with the other. Leo crouched low and weaved around the shots, the two clashing in the middle.
"What is the meaning of this?" Tiger Claw demanded and their blades locked in a standoff.
"Alien invasion," Leo grinned slyly, "you know, the usual."
"What aim do you have in dragging the Foot into this?" Tiger Claw asked as he pushed Leo back and took a few more shots. Leo cartwheeled to the side, spying the mech as it started to move an arm. "Did you think that we would help you defeat one of your enemies? We've teamed up with extraterrestrials before. What makes this time any different?"
"How about a language barrier?" Leo smirked even as a brave group of Tagoos appeared behind Tiger Claw, clicked their declaration of war and charged. "Have fun negotiating with someone who can't understand you!"
Tiger Claw growled at the new opponents and turned to face them. The Tagoos swarmed around Tiger Claw and Leo took the opportunity to back away, which turned to a strange diving twirl as he jumped out of the way of the Commander's canon fire. The resulting blast scattered the Tagoos and drove Tiger Claw back farther. Leo tucked, rolled and sprung back up onto his feet running even as the Commander lined up the next shot.
The Commander kept up a continuous stream of fire as he chased Leo around the empty street and effectively trapped him behind mailbox that was taking the beating of its life. While keeping up the barrage, another larger blaster swiveled into position, aimed at the mailbox that stood between Leo and destruction. Leo's movements were sealed and the threat of a more powerful attack wasn't helping any as the bigger canon began to glow. But he wasn't in this alone.
"Booyakasha!"
Mikey and Donnie came flying, knocking the canons off course and giving Leo the opening he needed to get moving again. He made a bee-line towards the neck of the mech where the main power circuit would be located when another explosion shook the street and the area filled with smoke again.
"Nut shot!" Casey yelled from the other side of road as the other Commander came crashing down on top of the first in a crushing pile of smoking metal and machinery.
"My turn!" Raph called out as he descended into the smoking cloud that was only just starting to dissipate. The Photon Blade glowed in the smoke like a beacon of destruction as it slashed at the power circuit. A rain of sparks sprayed from the frayed panel mixing with the deadly glow of the Photon Blade as it slashed at the mech again and again. The smoke from the explosion finally blew away, revealing a grinning Raphael carrying a still sparking piece of the main power circuit in one hand.
He took a look at Leo, then glanced back at the only remaining Commander, who was struggling to maneuver the arm units to push off his downed partner. "You're not done yet?" he asked.
"I was getting to it," Leo sassed back as he powered up his Photon Blade and quickly darted in to slash through the circuit to the final Commander. The flailing arms of the mech jerked to a stand still and the team of fighters gathered in a group in an alley, exchanging banter and slapping hands.
"That was awesome!" Casey exclaimed, "Did you see the way that thing went down?"
"And that explosion?" Raph added. "Donnie, that was better than last time!"
"Kape helped me supe it up a bit," Donnie grinned cheekily and they slapped hands again.
"Uh, guys," Leo interrupted, "We're still in the middle of a battle."
"You kidding?" Mikey said, "The Foot have got his in the bag."
Looking around, Leo realized that it was true. While the Tagoos and the Foot Bots were probably on the same level, the mutants were having no trouble pounding them into the ground.
"I think they can handle it," Raph smirked.
The congratulations were cut off suddenly by a huge pulse of a shockwave followed a red glowing dome of energy on top of the building where April was fighting the big boss with Jay and Kape. They watched as the red glow filled the night and thoughts turned to the battle that was going on not too far away.
"Do you think they're winning?" Mikey ventured as the glow cut out.
Leo tapped his back to reassure him, "I'm sure they'r—"
But his reassurance was cut short by an ear piercing scream of absolute horror that was so loud that it had everyone in the street covering their ears. A cry that could only have come from April.
Oo-oO
A few moments earlier
Kape froze as she took in the sight before her. The red shield of energy that deflected her tendrils, the Blood Saber primed and ready, Jay's Photon Blade in pieces and useless. The Monster had shown his true power and effortlessly destroyed them.
His shield had been the ace up his sleeve. A power barrier able to deflect the power of Light. Kape hadn't even known something like that existed, but it stands to reason that Kentoki hadn't been idle in the time since he'd discovered the Shards. He'd been busy developing ways to more easily capture them, and this was the result. Only now, the shield wasn't being used to keep her trapped within, but to keep her out of the confrontation between the Monster and her Guardian.
Nothing Kape tried was working. She lashed out at the shield with her tendrils, using every bit of energy she had in reserve to hammer away at the defenses, but her power wasn't strong enough on her own. Kentoki watched in sick amusement as Kape lost her cool and screamed in frustration.
Kentoki started to laugh, bellowing out at her helplessness before holding up a sight that would haunt her for centuries to come.
Jay was struggling was the Monster held him by the throat. His Blade was destroyed and he didn't have the energy or concentration to use his gauntlets. There was nothing he could do. Kentoki had baited him in close before creating the shield and trapping him within. It wasn't long until Kentoki managed to rip away his Photon Blade and smash it to pieces. The enclosed space within the barrier was too small for Jay to keep his distance, moving in only when an opening presented itself. He was trapped, and now he was at the mercy of the Monster.
But this Monster had no mercy.
"Did you really think that you had a chance against me in battle?" Kentoki whispered into Jay's ear as pried at the Monster's fingers wrapped around his throat. "You are fighting a losing war. You Guardian brats may have been successful in eluding me in the past, but it's only a matter of time before I catch up. And look at this, I've caught up. This is one down, and six more to go."
"Kentoki!" Kape yelled, as she resorted to throwing her body against the barrier, while punching it with empowered fists of glowing yellow light. The shield would pulse where she hit it, turning a deeper red before fading back to its original colour. "You're not gonna win this!"
Kentoki just laughed. "And who is going to stop me? You?" Kape stopped her barrage and glared at the Monster, pouring all her hatred and rage. The expression only made Kentoki laugh harder, "You are a fragment, a piece of what Light once was. You can do nothing against me. But soon enough, you will be part of me."
"Like hell!" Kape screamed and pounded on the shield again. "That's never going to happen!"
"Perhaps," the Monster tilted his head, weighing his options, "but let's see how you're feeling once I've finished off your precious Guardian."
No.
Her mind seemed to freeze up at his taunt, and she knew that he wasn't bluffing. April felt her desperation, which only added to her own. But what could she do?
"We can help," Hyper said to her.
"But how?" April asked, spreading her arms out. "This isn't a battle we can keep up with."
"We won't need to," Hyper grinned and April understood.
Together, they channeled their own powers into their shared body, and into Kape. Flickering tendrils of yellow light that swarmed around Kape started to bleed a black as it was tainted with psychic power. All at once, Kape felt the transition to something more powerful and she took full hold of everything she had left and dove it into one single point of the blood red shield.
They connected at the same point, and a crack spider webbed outward before the shield broke apart and the red energy faded.
But not all the red disappeared. Instead of fading, some of it dripped. The red dripped down off the Blood Saber as its point protruded from her Guardian's back, straight through his stomach.