The Electric Dragon
Chapter 7: Shock and Awe
They walked through the gate into the yard of the mansion, side by side; from left to right: Nix, Cole, Spyro, and Kuo. 'If Zeke was here,' Cole thought with a smile, 'He would probably say this is awesome.'
Soon, however, loads of Corrupted jumped off of the roof and landed right in front of them. This made everyone jump except for Cole and Nix. "Why are the Corrupted here?" Kuo pondered aloud.
"I don't know, and I don't care," Nix said, preparing another one of her bombs in her palms. "I'm just glad to fight something!"
Kuo sighed, and Cole turned to her and said, with laughter in his voice, "I have to agree with that."
Next thing they knew, Spyro was charging into the swamp monsters, knocking them back a couple of yards. Everyone stared wide eyed at the dragon, not expecting him to be the first to jump into the fight. He stopped for second, as if waiting for something, and then turned to his companions with irritation, "What are you waiting for?! Let's take 'em down!"
They all gave a quick nod and got to work on taking down the monsters. They were outnumbered, and you had to feel sorry for them, the Corrupted that is. The team decimated the enemies abnormally quick; The swamp monsters didn't have time to even throw one attack.
Cole, using his Amp, took out the last few and regrouped with the others to check if they had any injuries. When everyone was alright, they faced the large mansion, and briskly rushed to the front doors. Cole reached for the handle, but before he could touch it he heard these words from Spyro: "Easy so far."
The electric man stopped, his face paler than ever. "Please tell me he didn't just say that," he whined to the others.
At that moment, a huge monster, nearly six stories high, crashed through the roof, roaring very loudly. Everyone stared at it with fear and surprise present on their faces, backing up slowly. "Run," Cole whispered. When nobody made a move, Cole looked at each of them in turn while yelling, "Run! Now!"
This time they listened, and took off; Spyro spread his wings and flew to a safe distance. Kuo and Nix did this as well with their powers, and Cole was faced with actually running for cover. The monster seemed to notice him, as it gave another horrifying roar before stampeding through the wall of the mansion, and gave chase against the conduit back to the city and through the streets.
While hustling to escape this monster, Cole looked back to get a better look at his pursuer. The beast was walking on four, crab-like legs, and had a large back that acted as a shell. Its head was white as a full moon with several purple eyes and two mandibles with teeth, vaguely similar to the swamp monsters. After a few seconds of studying it, Cole noticed his stomach opens up almost like a clam and inside he could scarcely make out purple orbs. 'I guess I found its weakness,' thought the conduit as he jumped over cars on the street to avoid the giant.
Suddenly, his phone started to ring. He tapped the talk button and heard Kuo's voice, "What do we do, Cole! That thing will destroy half the city before we can take it down."
Cole gave a groan of annoyance and said sternly, "I know, Kuo, just let me and Spyro take care of it. You and Nix go find Cynder at the mansion, now that it's empty."
"But-"
"Kuo! The whole mission was to get Cynder out. We can't let Bertrand win!"
"Alright, Alright," the receiver said, and gave an audible sigh, "I hope you know what you're doing."
She hung up and Cole pressed another button to hang up, 'Now how do I take down a monster this size,' he thought to himself. This beast was on his tail, and would probably step on him if he stopped now. He could try to climb a building to gain altitude, but the monster might destroy it before he could reach the top.
"Cole!" The conduit snapped out of this thoughts and looked to his left to see Spyro flying right beside him, "Need a lift?" he mocking tone.
"I swear, Spyro, if you tease me for not being able to fly one more time-"
"Jump on then!" the purple dragon interrupted, a bit more serious than before.
"Wait, what?" Cole asked, puzzled.
"You heard me! Jump on! I'll give you a ride!" Spyro said again.
Cole hesitated for a second, but then gave an overconfident grin, and jumped on the dragon, riding him like a surfboard. "Hang tight!" Spyro warned. Cole did as he was told and crouched down, and the purple dragon gained height until he and the Behemoth, as the monster was called, were at the same plane.
The conduit riding Spyro turned around and started shooting bolts at the monster, fazing it slightly before it continued its chase. All the while, He and the purple dragon talked strategy, "I think I found its weak point." shouted Cole over the deafening noise from the beast. "Where?" Spyro asked, keeping it short and simple.
"Under its stomach," Cole explained, "We need it to open it up, and reveal it. If it does that, you and me can take it down."
"I think I might already have an idea," Spyro banked to the right, and Cole could see a bunch of Militia hanging around at the end of the street. The conduit chuckled, "I think you've hung with Zeke too much."
"Who said that's a bad thing?" The dragon asked nonchalantly.
The Militia, at the end of the block, were down right terrified of the giant rampaging monster heading straight for them, hardly noticing a human riding a dragon fly over head. The Behemoth halted in its tracks and looked down with saliva dripping from its mouth at the group. "O- Open fire!" stammered a member, and the others instantly complied, peppering the thing with bullets.
The beast hardly flinched at them, and opened its stomach to reveal many purple pressure points. Inside the stomach, some tentacles shot out and grabbed many men and pulled them back in. The people being dragged in screamed and hollered only for them to be cut off as they were drawn inside the thing.
Spyro and Cole took advantage of the Behemoth's weakness and shot out anything effective enough. The conduit used his rockets and grenades, while the dragon used his fire and earth breathes for maximum damage.
The electric man noticed little difference between his early attacks and now. "It isn't working, we have to hit it with everything we got." he mentioned to Spyro. The dragon nodded in agreement.
"You hit it with that wierd laser breath..."
"Convexity?"
"Right, that, and I'll get it with my Ion Storm!"
"Gotcha!"
Cole summoned his lightning and storm clouds started to hover over the area, meanwhile, Spyro charged up his Convexity. They both waited for the right moment, and... "Now!" Cole called out. They both released their powers at the same time, and when both made contact on the purple orbs, giving off a huge explotion. The monster gave a roar of pain and took a couple of steps back before falling face first into the pavement below.
Cole immediately jumped off and bolted for the monster to inspect it. The conduit arrived at the body, only for it to dissolve into a strange, green fog. Cole could've sworn he saw a humanoid body in it, but it disappeared before he could make it out. Spyro landed right beside him, with an exhausted smile, and said sarcastically, "Well, that was fun!"
The conduit still had a face of contemplation, "Yeah, fun."
The dragon looked at him rather worriedly, "You alright, Cole?"
The electric man looked at Spyro, and realized how worried he was making him. Cole gave a small smile, and said, "Never been better."
Spyro laughed full heartedly, and Cole joined him. The conduit's phone beeping was the only thing that distracted and reminded them of reality. Cole answered it, "What's up?" he asked.
"Cole, you need to get here quickly," Kuo said.
"Why, what's the matter?" He asked quickly.
Nix spoke this time, "It ain't looking good, demon."
The conduit took that as a hint to get back to the mansion. He and Spyro headed off in that direction hurriedly, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. Cole could only imagine what was running through Spyro's head at that moment. If he was in his position, he would only be thinking of Cynder and if she was alright.
With Spyro, that was exactly what he was thinking, 'From the way they were speaking, she might be hurt, or... No! Don't think things like that,' the dragon scolded himself. 'She'll be fine!' However, he could not shake the feeling of dread he expected to find when he would get to the mansion.
In a few minutes, the duo arrived back at the mansion, and took in what the Behemoth did to the place. The house itself was ruined; the hole and wall the beast crashed through made the other walls give out and fall as well, leaving only the foundation. Near the back, they found the entrance to the basement and saw that it was open and light could be seen inside. 'This is the same place I saved Kuo,' thought Cole, 'Is Bertrand harassing me of my past?' He did not give the time to think about it, as he and Spyro went down the stairs. When they got to the bottom, they saw Nix leaning against a wall with an unemotional look, focusing on Kuo who was kneeling down next to... Cynder, who was unconscious on the ground.
Spyro gasped in shock, and ran to join Cynder by her side. He nuzzled her sleeping form, and cried slightly, glad to finally be reunited with his love. Cole only watched with relaxed shoulders, glad that nothing happened to the dragoness.
Kuo stood up, and looked sorrowful, as she explained the situation, "She's alright, but she's been poisoned."
Spyro looked up from his laying position with shock and horror on his face. Cole glared at his feet. 'There's always a catch, isn't there, Bertrand?' He thought angrily.
Kuo continued, "She might last a few days before she dies from it, and from what I could tell, she got it from a needle injection."
He looked back up and saw Spyro trying to ask a question, but the words died in his throat, and could not utter a word. So Cole asked for him, "Where's the cure?" he asked bitterly.
"My best guess, with Bertrand, but I have no idea where he is."
The conduit suddenly circled around and climbed back up the stairs he went down, not looking back or explaining where he was headed. He knew of only one person that would have the information they needed to find this cure: Zeke.