KurukVile ordered his physician to check his wife over even though she insisted that she was alright, afterwards he had the cook make her a good meal then had her bedded down nicely for the night. Once his wife was sleeping soundly and he knew she was safe, he had positioned guards in front of their bedroom chamber's, he went to his ships study where he had ordered the only child who he knew the whereabouts of to wait for him after supper. The study in the ship was not at all like his study back home, it was smaller and had less furniture, it also gave the sense that you wouldn't be able to breathe. He had a polished black metal desk in the room, a chair that had a black leopard pelt stretched around it and two bookcases that were full of books of high importance such as business, conquering ideas, finance books and books on the planet of which he was on. A carpet was under the desk, it was a medium length gray rug, the head was still attached to the rug and was agape, the teeth very visible and still sharp. He had hunted and bagged the animal a few weeks ago, the meat hadn't been very tasty but the pelt was rather pretty so he had sent it off to be made into a rug. The top of the desk had a few sheets of paper on it, some blank others had writing on them, and a bone lamp, the lamp shade was made of thin skull bone with the dangling parts being finger bones, the arm of the lamp was a femur, a bony hand was propped to look as if it was holding the femur up.
"Angel's gone much too far." KurukVile said to his oldest son. "She kidnapped your mother and has now kidnapped my only daughter. Your younger sister! She needs to be taught a lesson."
"As soon as I catch her I'll have the skin torn from her back." Master Vile said strongly. "She'll be disciplined this time enough to not cross me."
"No, young man." KurukVile slammed his fist down on the top of his desk. "Not you, it's not going to be just you this time. I'm entering this thing. I'm helping."
"The hell you are!" Master Vile stood up sharply. "You will not be..."
"I will be entering this and I will be helping to bring her in." KurukVile said to his son. "You will still get disciplinary rights, but I'm entering this battle. Angel's not going to get over on my back anymore."
Master Vile had been sitting in the single chair in the room, other than the desks chair. It was big and comfortable, the curved front legs and seat were black and leather while the backside of the chair was dark red and was in the shape of an Octopus, the arms were life-like, the eyes that stared out were black and shiny, they were very lifelike, and the big bulbous head was somewhat squishy. Master Vile found himself liking the chair, it was rather exquisite. To make the chair even neater, two of the Octopus' arms stretched back from the others to be the arms of the chair.
"I'll have her caught and taken up a peg or two." Master Vile glared at his father.
"Not to mention, young man, that Triskull is missing." KurukVile glared back at his son, his glowing red eyes blazing. "He has been missing for quite a while now."
"Last I heard he was in North America." Master Vile said. "Where, in that continent, I don't know."
"Your mother, your sister and your brother have all been captured by Angel, Son." KurukVile literally spat when he said the word son. "Not to mention your own son, Rito, was badly injured by her. I'm entering whether you like it or not. This is my family too, not just yours."
Master Vile sat down in the chair and near slumped, he had wanted to bring Angel in himself but he did have to admit that his daughter was strong and was getting stronger and that she was also rather smart, smarter than he had thought she was. Although he was sure that he could catch her with no problem, he had done so several times now, he did have to also admit that his father had outsmarted her and captured her once, very quickly in fact. It seemed that his father had just walked in and captured her with no problem, it had taken him two or three tries before he had her for the first time. His chest heaved up after a total of four minutes of silence then slid down, he sighed loud then nodded his head.
"Alright." Master Vile said slowly. "You can join. But hear me on this, leave the discipline to me. She needs to know how to respect her father."
"And through that," KurukVile stood up and stretched his hand out. "we have a deal. She'll acquire respect for her grandparents during your work on getting her to respect you."
Master Vile gripped his father's hand in a tight squeezing shake then stood up, he left the study of the ship and went down the hallway which was lined with shelves of real skulls that glowed from the inside. When he exited his father's ship and teleported to his own he felt better. Rita and Rito rushed into his arms and he hugged them tight, he had a feeling that he'd have a third in his arms here soon. He, alone, was rather powerful and he had given his youngest a good run for her money, but now with his very powerful father entering the fight he was assured that he'd have his daughter, and that his sister and brother, if the latter was being help captive that was, he wasn't sure if Triskull was in the hands of his daughter or not, would be free.
"Who's up for Slime Yogurt?" he asked his two older children.
"I am!" Rito exclaimed, he threw his arm around the shoulders of his father.
"Me too!" Rita screeched, she wrapped her arm around her father's waist. Together all three of them went to the kitchen area of SkullTerra.
Angel, Lieutenant Rollins and General Faulk took back most of China except for Beijing and Jinshanling, they were saving the portion of the Great Wall in Jinshanling, in the Luanping County and the Forbidden City for last. It had been Angel's idea to skip around from place to place, taking one back town in one providence and then taking another back in another providence before going back to the original providence. Her plan was to confuse her father and grandfather, she knew that with Dara Dara's capture either or both would be after her and she wanted to save that fight for a later time, or at least try to. With the final town taken they now had no choice but to head to Jinshanling, there was one camp there and it was situated on the section of the Great Wall.
"We'll have to be careful." General Faulk said. "That wall is a work of art and is historical, for any of it to be destroyed would be a disgrace to us."
"Is there a way for us to draw them from the Wall?" Angel asked.
"No, they're on the wall far from any passes." Lieutenant Rollins sighed. "Five miles, to be exact."
Angel looked at her aunt, it had been near two weeks since she had taken her captive and although her aunt hadn't been touched, her health had gone down. This was on her own accord though, she refused any food or water given to her, she just stayed up on the pole, tied up tight, not saying a word to anyone. She had glared at Angel every time she had passed by, with every pass Angel would glance at her aunt and become slightly concerned. Her aunts face had grown a little more slimmer and her dress was loosely fitting her now. She had tried to feed her aunt several times, and had tried to give her water as well, and each attempt had found her aunt swinging her head from side to side, coldly rebuffing the food and water.
"Angel's pretty powerful," Captain O'Nell said, he broke Angel from her from thoughts. "can we not force the camp near the wall so she can blast them over the side? Have a second unit below to take care of the monsters when they land then get out of there?"
"Angel?" General Faulk turned to her, he was sitting next to her.
Angel thought about the plan, she could use an air attack on the monsters and blast them over the side of the wall yes but a second unit would call for more troops and they were short on manpower. At the moment, the last battle had injured twenty militants and had brought them down to a scant hundred, a very low number and if they separated it would make for a dangerous situation. She shook her head, their limited manpower prevented that part of the plan.
"No, we're short on manpower." Angel sighed. "We'd be sitting ducks if we split."
"Can we get some more troops?" Captain O'Nell asked. "How many do we have now?"
"Last count, we're just under a hundred." Lieutenant Rollins sighed.
"Captain," Angel spoke up gently, she reached over and touched his hand. "no. We cannot ask for more troops. The camp here is dwindling, fast. Most of the people in the camp now are waiting in earnest to return to their homes, most are families. We cannot ask civilians to join up and fight. And I don't want to ask troops who have just returned to their homes and have restarted their lives to join in the battle."
"How about Guerilla Warfare?" General Faulk asked. "We've been trained for that, the remaining troops have been trained for that. We can do a surprise attack from the side of the Wall, you blast the monsters who look over then we repeat."
"Take too long and be too risky." Angel responded.
They heard a crunching of leaves behind them and turned, standing behind them with their arms crossed was a group of twenty men clad in hunting attire. Angel stood up, as of late she had had to take up a few huntsmen for attempting robbery of the few goods that people in the camps had. When another twenty men joined the other men she tensed up. General Faulk and Lieutenant Rollins stood up behind her, they were ready if the large group of men started anything. Ten more men joined the large group before a burly man with black hair and steely gray eyes stepped up, he had Asiatic features.
"Sounds like you need some help." the man said. "We're all good huntsmen. We would be glad to help out in any way we can."
"What's you name son?" General Faulk asked uneasily.
"Greg." the man named Gregg answered. "Gregory Li."
"It's nice of you all to come up and offer us help." Angel said, she paused for a second to collect a respectable sentence. "But what we're talking about is rather dangerous, we don't want to risk any of you. We appreciate your offer, we greatly do."
"Ma'am, we've sat by watching you train and yes, you may be powerful but you do need help from us Earthlings." Greg replied. "We're all trained and equipped and we can fight."
"Are any of you well aware of the term Guerrilla Warfare?" General Faulk asked.
"We're aware of it and we know well how to do it." Gregg stretched his hands across the group of men. "We're hunters, years worth of hunting under our belts. We can be a great help."
General Faulk went forward to speak to Gregory Li, Angel stayed back and took in the group of men. All muscled and looking to be experienced, she hadn't wanted to take any help from civilians but if these huntsmen wanted to help and were as good of huntsmen as Gregory Li claimed they were, then they had their second unit. Most of the men were wearing camouflaged suits, some were wearing plains jeans and white t-shirts, all were wearing boots of some kind. After a few minutes of speaking to Gregory the General walked back. He grabbed Angel by her arm and gently led her back to the fire that they were sitting at almost ten minutes before.
"Well, you have your second unit." General Faulk said to her. "All are willing, we're just waiting on you for the order."
"They sure that they want to help?" Angel asked. "This is dangerous, people can be hurt or worse."
"They're aware of it and still want to help." General Faulk replied.
"We leave tomorrow at nine," Angel said after a few minute pause. "we do this thing at night, there will be no moon or stars tomorrow so we'll have an advantage. I'll teleport them to the site below the wall where the monsters will be thrown then will come back for you, the Lieutenant, the Captain and the other troops."
Professor Longnose had been re-stationed to Jinshanling a week ago by Master Vile, he had asked no questions but had noticed that when he got to his new station that he was paired with an old alley of his masters. Kitsune, a lovely brown furred nine-tailed fox who wore lingerie colored light pink but had a metallic sheen to it, she had a brown handgun with her that she knew how to use well he had found out one morning. Kitsune had been an old girlfriend of Master Vile's from when they both attended Pronghorn Academy of Sorcery and Magic, they had dated for only a short three months before the courtship had broken off, they had remained friends though and she had helped him take one of the planets in his home galaxy, M51, thousands of years ago.
He had eaten a tiny supper, a plain bowl of maggot-filled eggs that were sloughed with red slimed sauce. He had no idea why he had eaten eggs for supper, he had just asked for it and eaten it. Kitsune had eaten her usual meal then gone off to one of the towers. It had grown quiet in the camp now, so quiet that he was nervous. He took out his fan and unfolded it, he would use it if he had to. When he felt the fingers of a tiny hand reach up and clamp down on his shoulder he turned around, a growl escaping his lips. He had his fan raised but he quickly lowered it.
"Rita! Rito!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing better to do." Rita replied.
"Why so jumpy Kangaroo?" Rito asked.
"You two should be with your father." Professor Longnose said, he placed his fan back in his back pocket.
"We have unfinished business to tend to." Rita screeched. "Daddy is in Beijing with granddaddy keeping his eye out for Angel. We decided to come here."
"Not that I doubt you two's powers or strengths," Professor Longnose said slowly. "but if she arrives here for a fight it could get dangerous. You do know how she has been fighting right? Very coldly."
"She's had it easy with the monsters," Rita grinned. "but if you've noticed whenever she is up against us she has a real fight. One that tips in our favors."
"At times." Professor Longnose replied. "She's had it rough with her father and grandfather, had a good run with her grandmother. But you two I haven't seen her up against and I doubt if you can hold up against her."
"We are older, wiser and more educated." Rito coughed. "We've been against her and even she had a rough time with us."
"Plus, it's two of us against her." Rita pushed her brother slightly out of the way. "The odds are in our favor."
Professor Longnose was about to tell the two siblings to head off to Beijing to be with their father and grandfather when the tower behind him exploded. He turned around quickly to see humans climbing over the side of the wall then slinging their weapons over and firing, many monsters fell. Rito ran past him before he could say anything, he grabbed Rita before she could go past and pulled her back. Rito placed his index and middle fingers up to his eyes then shot them out, a strand of red crackling energy in the shape of lightning shot out from his eyes sending many of the humans flying back.
Angel had just teleported the troops onto the Great Wall, the men on the front lines had already fired on one of the towers and she could hear gunfire, some of the troops had decided to climb up and surprise the enemy while the rest of the first unit wanted to be teleported right to the area where they were to attack the enemy. She quickly teleported to the second line of the group that was on the wall, she had shot an air blast out at the monsters nearest the wall when the men in front of her flew up into the air. She turned and saw her brother, his skeletal presence sent a chill through her body and a growl rumbled up her throat. She went to the front line and started attacking her brother, sending a multitude of airballs, air blasts, fireballs and fire blasts and energy blasts at him which drove him back. He fired energy blasts back at her but she met each one with a comparably stronger energy strike which sent an explosion of sparks out.
General Faulk motioned for the troops to continue their firing, he fired three missiles then rushed forward and kicked a monster over the wall to the awaiting huntsmen below. Lieutenant Rollins and Captain O'Nell did the same. Angel had her hands full now, she was now fighting her brother and her sister, not to mention she was making large gusts of air that would throw monsters that got close to the wall fly over the wall's edge. She threw a green energy blast that left green circles behind it in its wake at her brother who dodged it, he remembered well the last time he had been hit by one of his younger sister's green energy blasts, then she would throw an air ball at her sister. Rita raised her staff and sent a white lightning energy attack at her younger sister, to her surprise Angel saw it coming and positioned herself for it, she caught it with one hand, which she balled up making a fist trapping the energized strand of lightning from escaping, and she let it travel up her arm, across her shoulder to her other arm, when it reached her hand that was held straight out it flew out safely. To Rita's horror it struck Rito on the side. He gasped, white smoke came from his mouth, then he flopped down to the ground, she saw him twitch twice before going still.
"One down." Angel said, she walked towards her sister slowly. "One to go."
General Faulk saw it coming and was about to yell out for Angel to watch out when Professor Longnose rushed in, he slashed at Angel with his red folded fan and he punched out at her with his free hand. Angel was cut three times and punched once before she finally got into position to take care of the new problem. She dodged three punches by ducking low then swung her hands hard, she punched him in the stomach as hard as she could then pulled her hand back, wincing in pain. His stomach was rock-hard and when she had punched him she had felt the knuckles on her hand breaking. The Professor pulled back a few feet then took his fan and flapped it, red energy crackled from the end of the fan, when the fan glowed red fully he stopped, Angel was blown back almost over the wall by his energy attack.
Captain O'Nell ran forward, he smacked his hands against the back of the monster in front of him who had just near sent the leader of his unit, and the second unit waiting down behind the wall who was taking care of the monsters who were thrown from the wall. The monster turned around quickly and coughed out a dry laugh before swinging his fist, a big tanned fist, at his head. General Faulk had just turned to see what was happening when he saw Captain O'Nell's head snap back, the monster in front of the Captain swung his hand one more time and the Captain fell with a thud to the ground, his hands on his stomach.
"Hey Big Nose!" Angel yelled. "Picking on the little guys who have no magic are ya?"
Professor Longnose turned, Angel had transformed into a large Kodiak Bear, her light brown fur was thick and her long claws were slightly curled, her sharp teeth gnashed at him. Before he could do anything, Angel in her Kodiak Bear form rushed at him, when she slammed into him she dug her sharp teeth into his shoulder and slashed at his stomach. The Professor yelled in pain, his shoulder bled but his stomach bled more. He forgot who it was who had transformed into the great dangerous beast that was attacking him and swung his fists and the fan strongly, the bear, who was really Angel Irene, shuddered with each blow but didn't back off, the fan trimmed the hair on her stomach but didn't cut into her flesh. Before he knew it, he was lifted from the ground and slammed down. He saw stars.
"Sister!"
Angel turned, Rita stood in front of her, her staff pointed and ready to use. Looking behind her once, Angel saw that the troops had near all of the monsters except for one line who were close to the edge of the wall done in. She swung her eyes sideways and the concrete underneath the monsters feet rose, each and every monster on the Great Wall fell over the edge. She turned back to her sister, opened her mouth and roared a loud, blood curling roar that made her sister shiver. She then tore towards the portion of the Great Wall that they were on, transforming as she ran into her true form, when she was a few feet from her sister she stopped and took out a wand. The wand was basic but it would do, it was another of Dione's gifts to her and she had found that she could conjure spells, charms and her magic through it exceptionally well.
Rita saw the wand, a simple piece of wood with a vine around it, and near laughed. When a fire gust flew from the end of it she clamped her lips shut, with her wand she shot an energy blast which her sister dodged by twirling at the last-minute. She pointed her wand to the ground then swung it up, the bricks and pieces of wood underneath her sister cracked then rose up, Rita flew back a few feet but she didn't go over the wall as Angel had hoped. When the wall went back to its original state Rita ran forward, throwing energy blasts all the while. Angel was struck by two of them, the first struck her thigh and left a hole there the other, when she pulled to the side, struck her on her right breast, that one made her gasp and drop to one knee. A trickle of blood went down her chest, when she saw it she brought her hand up, touching the area where it was coming from, she next tore the shirt from her back and turned to her sister, she now only wore a faded pair of blue jeans and her light-colored bra.
"Ground beneath us heat up," she said, her chest was now hurting and she was having problems breathing. "grow hot, grow angry, grow crumbly. Listen and obey, become lava, heat and hot and be angry towards the being on top!"
The ground beneath Angel and Rita grew hot alright, it grew so hot that they started hopping around as it burned through their shoes. Angel ran from the spot that she was standing, her wand tightly gripped in her hand, she leaped into the air when she felt the ground underneath of her give way. When she landed on a solid piece of concrete it wasn't on her feet, she tripped over the jagged edge of the now split Great Wall and fell down, the knees of her jeans scraped away and so did the first two layers of skin on her knees. General Faulk ran up and grabbed her in his arms, thinking that if he didn't she'd disappear as the concrete walkway of the section of the Great Wall was crumbling away. He scooped her up in his arms and ran off a few feet, he stopped only once to reposition her and that was when he looked back. The ground underneath Rita had given away, she had jumped as far as she could, somehow she had grabbed a hold of a hole where a brick had been previously and was holding on tightly with both hands. She was without her wand, he saw. Angel coughed once and the General carried her to the teleportation window, he walked through it with her in his arms. Lieutenant Rollins ran over quickly once they were in the camp, he checked Angel over quickly and saw that she had several injuries, Angel was near sleeping by then so General Faulk gently, but quickly, walked her over to the medical tent where a doctor was waiting to tend to her injuries.
"She's not as badly injured as we thought she would be." a voice said. "She's a tough one and will be alright."
"How long before she will be up?" General Faulk asked.
"At the earliest," the doctor, an elderly man with sparse white hair and dull blue eyes, thought aloud. "tomorrow morning maybe early the morning following."
General Faulk nodded his head then left the tent, the battle on the portion of the Great Wall that went through Jinshanling in Luanping County had been a particularly difficult one for him and for the troops but they had come through and won that part of the county. There were some injured soldiers that were being tended to but no one had been killed and no one in the second unit had been injured either, what worried him though was not that the leader of the camp was down again but because Captain O'Nell was missing. The Captain had been sitting upright when he had passed him going for Angel to prevent her from falling into the hole that had formed splitting the Great Wall in two. He had not had time to go back and get him and the Lieutenant had not said a thing about helping Captain O'Nell and he had not seen the Captain in the camp.
"Lieutenant Rollins!" he shouted when he saw the Lieutenant walk out of his tent.
"General Faulk!" Lieutenant Rollins saluted the General quickly. "What is it sir?"
"At ease, Lieutenant." General Faulk said. "Did you bring the Captain back with you?"
"Captain?" Lieutenant Rollins had a bandaged around his head and he brought his hand up and rubbed it tenderly. "Refresh my memory on what Captain please? I'm afraid that nine-tailed fox gave me a good one."
"Captain O'Nell." General Faulk knew the answer before said the name, the Lieutenant had had a hard time and had not had a chance to go back and help the Captain.
It took him a few seconds before he remembered. Lieutenant Rollins had been attacked from the back by a nine-tailed fox wearing very shiny and pink lingerie, the fox-woman had wrapped him up in one of her nine tails then had swiped at him with her hands, when he had been able to get away his forehead had been cut open. He had staggered a few times then found himself on the ground, the fox-woman had kicked him in the groin then stomach then had whipped out a shotgun and was about to use it when she went flying in the air. When the soldiers started heading back to the teleportation window he had been collected, his last conscious memory was seeing Captain O'Nell calling out for someone to help him. His head was a bloody mess, his shirt was caked with blood and it looked as if he didn't have much coordination in his arms or legs. When he had woke up, he was in the medical tent. A pretty nurse was leaning over him, her bosoms fully in his face, helping a doctor wrap bandages around his head.
"I'm sorry General." Lieutenant Rollins sighed. "I was carried out, badly injured. Last I saw was him calling for help. Did not look like he could walk or use his arms."
"Thank you Lieutenant." General Faulk said, he walked off solemnly.
Master Vile was not happy in the least when he found out that his two oldest children had gone against his orders to stay out of the fighting, Rito was again badly injured, enough so that the physician had to place him in a drug induced coma, and Rita had dangled for almost thirty minutes over a hole that his youngest daughter had created. When he had found out about Rita and Rito it had been only five minutes since Rita had been rescued. They had been teleported in and the second he had layed eye on Rito and his condition he had exploded in a dead rage. Rito had been coughing up a white smoke, a white substance had been oozing from his right side mixed in with his green blood. While Rito was being tended to Master Vile had chided his oldest daughter, Rita had apologised then said that she and Rito only wanted to help out. After the physician had come out of Rito's bedroom chamber on SkullTerra Professor Longnose had walked up, he had bandages around his stomach and his shoulder was swaddled in bandaging from where Angel had bitten him while in her bear-form.
"Sir," Professor Longnose said. "we have a captive. One of the generals I think."
"Bring him to my throne room at once!" Master Vile roared.
Professor Longnose walked down the dimly lit hallway away from Master Vile, who had now turned to talk with the physician, to the dungeon area of the ship, all along the hallway skulls of all colors; red, black, gray, blue even gold and silver, held silver waxed candles, the little flicker of blue fire drifted as he walked past each candle. The carpet under his feet was exquisitely beautiful! The edges were white and tasselled, the rug was mainly black except for the skulls which were in the center that were light smokey gray, the skulls on the rug had dark red roses in their mouths, the stems were dark green. A thin mist was on the floor, whenever he took a step the mist would float away. There were a few torches on the wall, they were held by finely made dark metal torch holders. It took him a few minutes of walking down the hallway before he came to a wooden door, it was bare of any initials unlike the other doors in the ship which carried the initials MV or a plain initial of V in largest, Gothic gold letters. He grabbed the key from the curved hook on the wall and inserted it in the keyhole, he turned it and a loud series of clicks was heard. When he withdrew the key he opened the door and walked in.
Captain O'Nell had been taken captive by a Nine-Tailed Fox woman wearing pink and very shiny lingerie, he had been calling out for one of the soldiers who were running to the teleportation window to help him but no one had come to him. When the last soldier had gone through the teleportation window and a bright white glow had shot out signaling the windows closing, he had found himself alone. His arms and legs had not been much of use, the punch from Professor Longnose that had sent his head swinging and touching almost to his back had done something to his nerves, he felt pain all over. The Nine-Tailed Fox woman had come up behind him and knocked him out by slapping the barrel of her shotgun against the back of his head. When he had come to he had found that he had some feeling in his arms and legs and he could walk. He had taken in his surroundings during his rounds of the cell that he was in. It was a dank, musty and dimly lit room full of prison cells, one of which he was in. The cells had a bench in them but nothing else, no toilet or bucket and no sink. The floor under his feet was metal and uneven, it made for walking a pain as sometimes the floor rose in one place then fell in another and in other places the floor was cracked. The floor outside of his cell, he could see, was as smooth as glass and smokey gray in color. There were tall torches in the room, about seven or eight, they cast a gloomy light around and gave a sense of doom to the room. Across the room sat a long table, when he stretched his neck up to get a better look he noticed that the table was light gray stone, the top of it had a gold sheen to it with an area in the center looking to be silver. He was sitting on the wooden and very uncomfortable bench when the door near the front of the room opened. The monster that had punched him in the head and stomach walked in.
"If this is a dream please wake me up!" Captain O'Nell thought aloud.