Traps

Vilor hummed on his way to Hillhurst, all kinds of tunes, each one of them dissonant. The Crustaceans had stolen a radio a month ago and he'd grown accustomed to music as a way to kill time. His musical skills were unfortunately still very limited. 'Gonna defeat the Beetleborgs,' he sang. 'Defeat them, even if it's the last thing I do!'

Hillhurst already appeared on top of the hill, looking quite grim in the night, covered only in the most minimal amount of moonlight. Outside the Beetleborgs started to appear, already in their outfits, joined by none other than Horribelle and Nukus and what-do-you-know, the Fortune brothers. He felt pretty damn important, being awaited upon by so many people. Like a royalty, almost, it made him feel good about himself for once. He was being taken seriously, very seriously. If he wore a bow, he would've rearranged it now, instead he just quirkily moved his fin-arms. Apparently the surprise element of his attack was off, but that was also he'd planned carefully by informing Les.

'Well, well, it's my welcoming committee! Hello, ladies and gents!'

'Vilor, put a stop to this once and for all! We don't want to hurt you,' the golden Beetleborg shouted. 'You can still retreat now.'

'I don't think I will,' he said.

'Then we'll fight you,' the purple Beetleborg made a fist.

'And get this over with!' the silver one added.

They ran towards him while all the others stood near the mansion. The house monsters, the Crustaceans and the artists were thrilled to see how the small fight would develop. It wouldn't last long, they knew, so Mums was already handing out the popcorn. Frankie tried to tape the whole thing so that the imprisoned Wolfie could watch it afterwards, which was considerate, really.

'He's not doing so bad,' Nukus said, analyzing Vilor's moves.

'I wonder if our little and naïve trap which severely underestimated Vilor will work.' Art moved his glasses up and down over his nose, nervously.

Vilor made a few rapid moves toward the purple Beetleborg, managed to avoid the silver one and tackled the golden one, even.

'They really aren't doing their best, but they know they can't let him win, right? He already thinks he's the man as it is,' Horribelle said.

'They're just playing cat and mouse a bit,' Little Ghoul replied. 'Where's that popcorn by the way?! GIVE ME SOME, LOSERS!'

The fight was pretty standard until the Beetleborgs got a rope and tied up Vilor. 'We really, really don't want to hurt you!' the golden Borg said, 'so we're tying you up, see? It's a pretty lame plan, I know.'

'Well, then I hope you have several up your sleeve because I know I do!' Vilor dematerialized and popped up behind Horribelle. With his claws jugged around her neck he dragged her down the porch, up to the field.

'I have here one lady that really doesn't want to die. She likes fleeing from battle, hiding behind Nukus, and she's powerful. But what she fears is fading away, like back in the days when she was a page and couldn't think straight. What should I do with her? I know, maybe I can kill her! She has a very slender neck.'

'I'll dematerialize before you get the chance, you bastard!' Horribelle called out.

'Well, as we both know, transportation takes an average of two seconds, and with my sword already at your neck, ready to slice you, I don't think you have that much time.'

'You'll be caught off guard, you're an idiot, idiots can't kill someone. It's a rule!'

'No, Horribelle, that's not quite right! I was born an idiot. But I lived, like you and Nukus, and I gained some more wisdom while living. I'm your worst nightmare now.'

'This is unexpected,' Les remarked.

'I'll kill him,' Nukus whispered. 'I'll break his neck if he hurts her. No, I'll torture him first and then I'll break his neck.'

'Can I spoon his eye sockets?' Little Ghoul begged.

'We need a plan, we need a plan,' Les mumbled.

'Don't think I'm not keeping my eye on you, Meganukus,' Vilor called out from the field. 'One wrong move and she dies.'

'Don't listen to him! He would never kill me!' Horribelle cried out.

'No, no! Don't listen to her! I've had it up to here with both of you, and I don't mind a little bloodshed. We're all pseudo-fictional characters to begin with. I'd love to kill you and see what's left of your little 'character development' then!'

'I've never seen him like this,' Nukus spoke angrily. 'I know he means this. He's still a warrior within, ruthless, dumb, not afraid to make some victims. He's rebelled against both of us before, without much regret. He's stupid.'

'What do you want, Vilor?' the golden borg asked.

'Your Beetlebonders, please. Also, I want Nukus to bring some monsters to live so that I'm not all by myself.'

'What, but if we already give up our powers, there's no need for monsters,' the purple borg called out.

'You are right. Alright, just the Beetlebonders, then.'

'Okay, and after that, we'll trick him with our velocity and telekinesis,' whispered the golden borg. 'Just hand them over, then I'll immediately try to lift that sword while you, Roland, rush over to kick Vilor and take Horribelle out of there.'

'Plan!'

Vilor pressed his sword a bit closer to Horribelle's neck. 'It's interesting how little armour you have there, while the rest of you is covered in green metal. You're such a fool.'

The Beetleborgs handed over their communicators, transforming back. At that same moment, when Vilor looked at bonders, a lot happened at once. His sword was raised at random by force, Horribelle broke lose and punched him several times, and Roland rushed up, throwing the bonders back to the owners. Since Horribelle was quite upset and demanded blood, which made her perfectly capable of keeping Vilor occupied for some time, so the borgs could morph back. In their armours they ran to the Crustaceans.

'Who's the fool now?' Horribelle called out, kicking Vilor against his shins. Her axes materialized before he could hit her properly. He received a few lashings of her mantis weaponry. Few seconds later Nukus materialized, taking Vilor by force.

'That's it. You are disgusting, Vilor, there's no other word for it. I wish we had mocked you even more. Also, Horribelle, now that if I wasn't holding Vilor right now, I'd kiss you. Anyway, Vilor, You have really outdone yourself this time.'

'And he means that negatively,' Horribelle added, 'or ironical, even.' She moved her head sideways a few times to loosen her neck. 'And Nukus, thanks, darling!'

'Kneel, Vilor, and stay on the ground,' Nukus commanded. 'I don't plan to touch a filthy fish like you all day.'

'I have a great idea over here!' Les called out. 'In jail I also drew up a nice cage, it's foolproof. Let's make it really, really real and materialize it, so we don't have to pay attention to Vilor the entire time!'

'What's special about that cage?'

'Well, you can't magic out of it, for once, so no beetling out of it, no flabbering and no Crustacean transporting!'

'Sounds so perfect there's got to be a catch somewhere,' Nukus replied. 'Horribelle, Beetleborgs, keep an eye on him so I can materialize the object.'

Though everyone held his breath for several seconds, all went well. The cage fitted Vilor like a glove, albeit a small and dark one. With not a lot of room to properly breathing.

'Get me out of here! I want to battle, battle until death! Like a true warrior! Horribelle, Nukus! I'll never forgive you!'

'Who's asking who for forgiveness now?' Nukus asked.

Since Horribelle insisted on guarding Vilor's cage, they moved the meeting to the field. The Beetleborgs transformed back into their regular selves.

'What are we going to do with him?' Art asked. 'And I feel a bit bad, I mean, though this was exciting it wasn't an epic battle with Roboborg yet.'

'I've had enough epic battles with Roboborg myself,' Jo said.

'And the Astralborgs then?!' Little Ghoul cried out. 'What epic battle is complete without them?'

'Maybe, for good time's sake, we can have one last battle then,' Nukus suggested. 'Not until death though. More like a solid training, in case you make some new foes.'

'That sounds like a really cool plan,' said Roland, 'a final show-down once and for all with the Crustaceans! Sweet!'

'And yet another surprise,' Drew sighed, 'we fight the crustaceans voluntarily.'

'One final battle,' Horribelle nodded, 'just to get it out of our systems for good.'

'And I can't join in?! How lame is that?!' Vilor called from his jail.

'Shut up or you're going in the shredder,' Les snapped back.

'I actually kind of like this idea,' Art nodded. 'We can use all our resources, and you can have Les right here with you.'

'Oh, well, that's a help,' Horribelle said.

'Without me, no monsters,' Les remarked. 'So don't pester me!'

The Crustaceans laughed, and it wasn't even that mockingly.