Sending the S.O.S.!
"Yes?" asked Lord Death as Ash's face appeared in his mirror. Ash's face was covered with sweat from the long jog. He was in the middle of a deserted temple the chances of him finding a mirror to call Lord Death with was slim.
"Hang on a minute," panted Ash as he tried to catch his breath. He was lucky that he finally managed to get a hold of Lord Death. He wanted to stop and quickly turn back around to help Melody and Michael, but Michael was right. Getting medical attention for Saul and Rochelle were top priority, not to mention that if Lord Death sent another Death Scythe and their partner it would be considered a blessing.
"Can you please hurry it up," asked Lord Death as he produced a small yellow rubber duck. "I was about to get ready for my bubble bath." He was cooped up in his room all day, without much to do his baths quickly became important for him to work on.
"Xander…you take over…" finished Ash as he buckled over, but he was wary to keep his pants off of the dust covered ground. He didn't want to get his pants dirty before facing off against a witch-like Marburg. Xander lit up and transformed back into his human form and stood in front of Ash.
"Lord Death! You got to hurry up and send in a medical team for Saul and Rochelle! Marburg has somehow infected them with a potentially lethal virus," spat Xander rushing through his words in a panicked state.
"Okay!" piped Lord Death as he held his hands up into the air, "do you need me to send in any reinforcements to help deal with Marburg?" Lord Death's tone quickly switched from his normal playful tone to a dead serious monotone voice.
"Nah!" boasted Xander, "as soon as me and Ash get our butts back into the room and fighting Marburg, you can guarantee yourself that you'd have yourself one dead witch by the end of the day!" Xander pumped his arm up for emphasis.
"So, I'll send in one Death Scythe and their partner, along with a medical crew," commented Lord Death as he turned around and began to walk away.
"Didn't you hear me?" shouted Xander, "we don't need no stinkin' Death Scythe and their partner!" Xander began to pound against the small handheld mirror that Ash had found from one of the hypnotized people guarding the temple.
"Right! I'll send in one Death Scythe and their partner, along with a medical crew," repeated Lord Death paying no heed to Xander or his rants.
"LORD DEATH!" shouted Xander, but he stopped as Ash put his hand onto his shoulder.
"Let's just go in there and finish Marburg off before they even get here," said Ash calmly. Xander nodded. He began to glow again. The light wrapped quickly around Ash's hand forming the powerful bladed gauntlet. They dropped the mirror, letting it shatter into a million pieces, and they were on their way back to the room.
Lord Death was still on the line, standing in front of the mirror in his room. He sighed. "Should I take my bath first? Or should I send them the reinforcements first?" Death sighed again. "Looks like my bath will have to wait."
(-With Michael and May-)
Michael directed his gaze downwards. The little witch, Spectra, had her hands firmly wrapped around his foot. Her tiny twig like arms contained the same superior strength it seemed that all witches possessed. Most of her body sunken beneath the earth floor and only her hands out in open, leaving her with almost no openings.
"Spectra is still upset at Michael for shooting her," cried Spectra, safely from her spot beneath the rocky floor. "Michael is just one big meanie!"
"Hey, now," Michael said calmly trying to explain, "I understand that you are mad…"
"Jerk-face," cried Spectra again.
"but you got to understand…"
"Poo-poo head!"
"we were in a rush. Our friend was in mortal danger and we…"
"Ass!"
"WHO THE HELL TAUGHT YOU THAT WORD!" shouted Michael as he brought his bow around and aimed it at her hands.
"Michael!" shouted May, "you can't yell and curse at her and then aim a weapon at her! She's just a little kid!" Her reflection turned back on Michael glaring harshly at him.
"What about her?" reasoned Michael, "she just cursed at me! She called me an meanie, a jerk-face, a poo-poo head, and then an ass! I think I'm allowed to point my bow at her!"
May's reflection calmed down for a brief second and then it quickly flared up again as she returned to glaring at Michael, "that's no excuse! We are supposed to be the grown-ups in this situation! We are supposed to take care of her and nurture her!"
"And your talking bow is a hussy!"
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME!" shouted May, "MICHAEL SHOOT THAT GIRL FOR CALLING ME SOMETHING LIKE THAT! SHOOT HER!"
"But we are supposed to be the grown-ups in this situation. We are supposed to take care of her and nurture her," repeated Michael calmly at this point just trying to irritate May by using her own words against her, "or at least that was what someone told me a couple of minutes ago? Who was it again?"
"Yes," muttered May, "but that was before she called me a hussy. When a man is insulted it is his job to take it in stride and walk away, but when a woman is insulted it is the man's job to SHOOT THE PERSON WHO INSULTED HER!"
"Ah, right!" commented Michael, "I knew there was a reason why we are partners." Michael aimed his bow downwards at Spectra's physical hands and fired a single shot. Spectra quickly removed her hands from Michael's foot and dove into the ground disappearing into the thick floor. Michael's shot, however, didn't disappear. The shot flew forward and drove itself into his foot.
"SHIT!" shouted Michael as he leapt up and quickly grabbed his foot, "I forgot how much being shot by you hurts!" Michael gritted his teeth together as he endured the pain. His golem body protects Michael from most damage like that from a boomerang or running into a wall, but Michael's arrow (being constructed of soul wavelength) has an effect on him due to the fact that it hurts his soul rather then his body.
"Ha ha!" laughed Spectra from beneath the floor, "serves you right! Spectra is the best! Spectra is the best!" Spectra continued to sing her own praises.
"Yeah, right," said Michael as he stood up, "you let go of my foot which means I can go help Melody!" Michael quickly put his foot down and broke out into a mad dash for Melody who was busy fighting off Marburg and from the looks of it losing. A sudden and strong tug on Michael's foot sent him sailing back down towards the ground smashing him face first into the hard stone floor.
Michael twisted about as much as he could just to see Spectra's hands wrapped once again tightly around his leg. "Spectra's not done playing with you, yet!"
(-With Melody and Shi-)
"My powers have vanished!" shouted Marburg as he tried once again to summon a cloud of deadly fog, but despite his effort he could only summon a wisp of smoke from both of his hands. Probably not even enough to inflict the common cold on an infant. "What have you done to my power?" Marburg charged forward. He sent a spiraling kick outwards at Melody. Melody dodged backwards effortlessly. The breeze of the kick didn't even touch her.
Despite all of his boasts and his incredible magic prowess, Marburg had still been locked away in the Prison Jar for thousands of years. His strength hadn't diminished at all, but a lot changes over thousands of years especially martial arts. Most structured martial arts weren't present three thousand years ago and those that were weren't nearly as advanced as today's modern forms. Marburg had all the strength to become an effective fighter, but when it comes to skill Melody had fought opponents whose skills far outweigh that of Marburg. His attack were basically barbaric. A number of basic punches and kicks, but that was the limit of his attack vocabulary.
"No magic, huh?" asked Melody as she swung out with Shi. His little yo-yo form snaked out from her hand and wrapped himself firmly around Marburg's leg. "Then this will be an easy fight!" Melody swung backwards using all of her and Shi's combined strength to toss Marburg into the air. Shi's burning body was still alight during the toss, burning into Marburg's leg all the way throughout the throw.
Marburg grimaced, but he quickly reacted. He bent over and grasped hold of Shi's string. He tugged on it forcing Melody from her spot and across the air herself, not as far as Marburg would fly, but enough to force her off of her feet. Marburg landed carefully back on the ground, maintaining his balance. Melody quickly flipped back onto her feet, her eyes never leaving Marburg nor his movements.
Melody spared a quick glance over her shoulders and back at Rochelle and Saul. Rochelle's face was twisted in agony, her bottom lip quivering slowly, she was in pain. At this point, though, that was a good sign. Being in pain meant that you were still alive. Saul, laid motionless across the ground, his body riddled with the red bumps that Marburg had inflicted, his nails and skin had both turned a sickly yellowish-green color. Rochelle was still alive, that much was evident, but was Saul?
"Don't take your eyes off of me girl!" commanded Marburg as he shot forward, firing a single concise punch at Melody. Melody, being temporarily distracted because she checked on Saul's body, hadn't had any time to react. Marburg's fist slammed into her face knocking her down to the ground.
"Come on, Melody!" encouraged Shi, his image appearing in the yo-yo, "you can beat him, just think! Think of way to beat this guy there has got to be something in this room that you can use to beat him!"
Melody got up as quickly as she could. Shi was right. There had to be something in the room that she could use to beat Marburg. He was a witch without magic, a fighter without skills, a warrior without a weapon! There had to be some easy way to beat him, she just had to think of it, but she couldn't! She couldn't get her mind off of Rochelle and Saul, who were both barely holding in there. How was she supposed to focus on this witch when someone was two minutes away from dying and she could do nothing to help them?
Another quick blow from Marburg rammed into Melody, this time into her gut, sending her careening backwards away from him. Marburg smiled. He was in complete control of this fight and his ego commanded him to flaunt it. He wasn't attacking Melody while she was down out of respect like Forman would have, he wasn't attacking because he was savoring the complete power he had over her.
"Would you like me to end this my dear?" asked Marburg as he lifted his foot up and positioned it perfectly above her head, "it would only take one quick and swift kick to your skull from this position to cause a massive hemorrhage in the head that would kill you in seconds. In case you don't know a hemorrhage is a massive leakage of blood. You'd die from blood loss in a few seconds, but guess what? The blood will still be in your body, I'd just be relocating it to the inside of your skull!"
Marburg was about to bring his foot down when an arrow whizzed through the air and stabbed in brutally. Marburg let out a brief whine as he brought the his foot away from Melody's head. Melody lashed upwards with her yo-yo sending the small device careening into his chin. Maburg's eyes flashed violently as he stared over in Michael's direction.
"Being shot in the foot hurts, doesn't it?" mocked Michael as he remained in his spot. Originally he had to get closer to Marburg and Melody to make the shot, due to Spectra holding him in place, but due to Marburg's rather uncontrolled and random attacks, he had positioned himself close enough to Michael, where he could one or two quick shots in.
Marburg's eyes grew wide and a smile spread across his face. He had found someone to replenish his source of magic with. "Little girl, is your name Spectra?"
YES! It is I! A recent escapee from an insane asylum! (Not really…or as far as you know *wink*. No, seriously, I haven't ESCAPED from an insane asylum…not yet…NO! I haven't been to an insane asylum at all! Then again that would explain why this chapter is a little bit late…)
Anyways, onto the things most of you guys care about. Yes…I purposely ended the chapter there just to annoy you. I'm like a real manga writer! Back to the subject at hand, this arc is coming to a close…I can only see two, maybe three more chapters in store for it. After this something new will happen…what? I have no idea…but rest assured I will think of it!
P.S. I'm still looking for a new title that will hopefully fit more characters then Michael.
P.S.S. (or is it P.P.S.?) The reason why I should kind of crazy (yes, just 'kind-of') is because we had a recent power outage and a gallon or so of ice cream melted…guess whose job it is to clean it up! Ice cream soup!