(well, I hoped you had fun not having to wait for as long, I was, as a certain anime character would say, "feeling the flow" with this episode. And yes Saphina, I got in a little action. Well, this is one of my biggest chapters ever, save for S.U.A. episode 38, and Spyro and the Spells.)
Chapter 8- the great mystical face-off
Thorn glared at the cause of Pyrrhia's troubles; the purple-scaled Magiah. He was sitting as calmly as possible, as if he wasn't even fazed that he had been discovered. He won't be so cocky once I get my talons on him.
"So you finally arrived? It's nice to meet you snout to snout." Magiah greeted them as if they were friends, yet a tone of contempt was present in his voice.
"Turn Clay and the others back to normal right now!" Peril yelled out the order.
"Now, now, there is no need for us to rush. We've only just met." Magiah replied causally.
"There is nothing for us to talk about. Now undo your spell, or else." Deathbringer threatened.
"Oh my, such violence!" Magiah laughed, and then grew serious for a moment, "Don't you know what I can do? You can't touch me; compared to all of you, I am invincible!" Magiah spread his wings dramatically.
"Wanna bet?" Riptide countered.
Magiah smiled, "Of course. If even one of you can touch me, I'll undo everything I've done here, including bringing back those two Skywings from death."
"That's all? When then, this should be easy." Fatespeaker launched herself towards the purple dragon, but stopped short when a wall of fire appeared in between them.
"Oh my, however will you get around this?" Magiah's voice came from behind the flames. "If only there was one of you who could pass through fire." Magiah said with mock laughter.
Everyone looked at Peril, "Well, it would seem he wants to test us." Peril concluded.
"I don't know what sick twisted game Magiah has planned, but it seems we don't have a choice, this is the only way we have to fix this." Thorn announced.
Peril took a deep breath and stepped towards the flames. When her talons touched the wall, she could feel the heat of the fire but wasn't completely fazed by it. The flames were dense, just like how Clay described swimming underwater; so Peril pushed her talons forwards, and expected to instantly reach the other side. That didn't happen though, as her claws were still be licked by the fire. Peril hesitated for a second, but then continued to push her way through, and after a couple of feet's worth of fire, she made it to the end of Magiah's barrier.
The purple dragon was sitting on the rainforest boulder still, "Well, bravo." Magiah clapped his talons together.
Peril tried to leap at him, but mid-launch, he vanished and Peril only succeeded in bumping her snout on the stone.
"Now, now, that wouldn't be fair to your friends to not give them a chance to get me." Magiah was several feet away, and talked in a scolding tone. Peril tried to catch him again, but stopped herself short when a barrier made out of water rose from the ground.
Peril walked back to the others, "So now what? If that's anything like the fire, we won't be getting through it." She grumbled.
"Well, it looks like I'm up." Riptide said proudly. He pieced it together that Magiah would have different barriers for each of them, so this one being made out of water, must be for a Seawing like himself. His tail whipped up some left-over ash from the eruption as he walked up to the wall. He then plunged himself into the water, and then, he noticed that there was a current, pushing back out. Riptide's gills opened to let some of the water in, and he whipped his tail so he could try to get through the current of the barrier. It took him a while to keep his tail moving in rhythm as he swam through the wall, but he eventually made it to the end. Once his talons hit solid ground again, Riptide ran at Magiah, whom was just a couple feet away from the cliff. This is for Tsunami! Riptide was about to punch the purple dragon right in the snout, but at the last minute, Magiah teleported out of the way, leaving Riptide to gather his balance to stop from tumbling over the cliff.
"Such recklessness." Magiah said, exasperated. "You should be more careful."
"Why won't you just face us!?" Thorn growled, annoyed at how their foe took them so causally.
"Because that wouldn't be fun, I like using my power, it's thrilling." Magiah laughed, "Oh by the way, Peril, Scarlet says thanks for getting her out of Burn's tower."
"You've seen Scarlet?" Peril asked, surprised.
"Oh yes, she was quite an interesting dragoness, very unique. I'm sure I saw her somewhere when I arrived. Don't know where she is now." Magiah replied.
Deathbringer took the opportunity to try and hit Magiah in the back, but the purple dragon sidestepped out of the way. "Come on now, I'm not through with you six yet. But it you want it to be your turn, Deathbringer, well then be my guest." Magiah used his magic to create and toss over to the Nightwing a spear; one of the Seawing version.
"What? You want to spar with me?" Deathbringer asked suspiciously.
"Oh no, you aren't fighting me. You are facing all of them." Magiah took a few wing beats backwards, and gestured to the ten skeletal dragons that were rising from the ground around Deathbringer. "You're going to need a weapon if you want to fight all of them."
Deathbringer's heart sank at the odds; it was a pity Glory wouldn't be here to see his to-be triumph though. The skeletal dragons rushed at him like a hoard of angry scavengers, and Deathbringer raised his spear, which was uncomfortable with it being one for Seawings. He pierced through the skull of the first one and yanked it of its bony body. Then he spun around, using his tail knock down the second one, and the spear for the third one. For the fourth one, he blasted fire on it, but the bony dragon just shrugged it off. So Deathbringer rushed it and tore its head off. The fifth one jumped on his back and dug its claws into his scales. Deathbringer twisted around and flung the skeletal dragon off the cliff. The sixth and seventh dragons walked around onto opposite sides of him, and he braced for their attack. He then noticed they were distracted by Thorn and Peril, whom were blasting fire at the zombie-like dragons.
"Hey, hey!" Magiah protested, "You aren't allowed to interfere with this! If you two don't stop right now, I'll double the number."
"Don't worry, I've got this." Deathbringer announced, he was secretly happy though, these skeletons had sharp claws.
Deathbringer raised his temporary spear and took small looks from dragons' number six and seven, sizing up their next move. Both dragons rushed at him and he ducked and rolled out of the way. The two zombie-dragons collided into a pile of bones just like the previous five; which left just three more to go. Deathbringer got back onto his talons just in time to see the eighth one dive down for a sky bomb. Deathbringer intercepted it with the Seawing spear, causing it to crash into the ground, but taking the spear with it. The final two remaining skeletal dragons rushed him, seeing he was without his weapon. Deathbringer dug his talons into the ground and tossed one into the air with his horns and used his tail to demolish the last one.
"Splended! Bravo! What a battle!" Magiah clapped his talons together again, cheering for Deahtbringer.
Deathbringer grabbed the spear off the dusty ground and hurled it at the purple dragon. However, Magiah snatched it out of mid-air and exclaimed, "Olay," as he spun around with the spear now resting in his talons. Deathbringer growled in annoyance, nothing they did worked against him, and all the while, Magiah treated it as if it were all a game.
"Well, who wants to go next, Fatespeaker perhaps?" Magiah asked out loud.
"He'll have you go sooner or later." Thorn said to the nervous Nightwing.
Fatespeaker took in a deep breath, "Alright, so what sort of challenge do you have planned for me?" She was hoping Magiah would give her something easy; but she was also curious as to why their foe insisted on these trials.
"Well, you know your 'visions,' let's see if they are really helpful." Magiah announced. He snapped his claws and several polls rose out of the ground and on top of them were what resembled Rainwing dart guns. "Let's see if you can dodge them. There are a total of 9 darts, avoid them all and you will win."
Fatespeaker was puzzled at first but then she noticed that the dart guns swirled when she moved, so they would always point at her; it would take some quick reflexes not get hit.
"And begin!" Magiah yelled, and the first set of darts flew her way. Fatespeaker crouched down onto the ground as the first set passed just inches about her head. Fatespeaker tried to catch her breath but was cut short when the second group was fired. Quickly, she jumped out of the way mere seconds from being hit. She looked at the dart guns, and once the last three were fired, she side-stepped and a dart brushed her left wing, nearly poking through her wing membrane.
"Well, I guess it's a good job. Very quick indeed." Magiah remarked. Fatespeaker sighed in relief, glad that her part was finished.
"So now who's next? How about you in the green?" Magiah was looking at Jambu, whom wasn't wanting to have to do anything.
"Me?" Jambu asked nerviously.
"Yes you. It's time you joined in the fun." Magiah said.
"Do I have to?" Jambu replied.
"You do if you want your sister to be an awesome queen again. Don't worry, he doesn't seem like he wants to kill us. He would have done so already if he did." Fatespeaker comforted him with her words.
"Alright then, for Glory." Jambu said, hoping this wouldn't hurt.
"Good thing you agreed, because you won't even get a chance to touch me until all of you can pass my tests." Magiah replied smugly.
Jambu stepped forward, "Just don't hurt me." He replied sheepishly.
Magiah stepped farther backwards, and out of the ground, rose a giant dark, forbidding, rainforest. "Cross it, it you may get a chance at me."
Jambu gulped, but walked closer to the dark version of his home; his scales remaining green all over him. He grabbed onto the branches and started swinging, occasionally wrapping his tail around and launching himself. His plan was to treat it as a race, but in this forest, things would seem to come out of nowhere and scare him. It had to be a half-hour later once Jambu could see light again coming from the end of Magiah's jungle. Swinging his tail around a branch for the last time, he landed on the gray rocky ground with a thud gracefully, and the jungle vanished. Strangely enough, he was but several feet away from the others, whom were looking worried, but sighed with relief when they saw him.
Jambu's scales turned purple with pride, seeing as how he made it out alive. "Oh yeah!" Jambu cheered.
"Very well done, bit slow though." Magiah remarked. "So are you going to try and catch me?"
"Why bother, you're just going to move somewhere else if I do." Jambu shrugged.
"Very well." Magiah replied, and all of a sudden, Jambu found himself standing next to the others.
"Well, it's about time I end this little game." Thorn announced, "Once I'm through with you, you'll wish you never messed with my daughter and her friends."
"Big talk, let's see if you can back it up." Magiah replied, unfazed.
Thorn growled, "I won't disappoint."
"Good, seeing as how you are a queen." Magiah snapped his claws again, and a desert rose out of the ground, just as Jambu's rainforest did. "Oh, keep an eye out for Dragonbite vipers." Magiah said with some laughing, which sounded faint, but surely ahead of her.
Thorn stepped forward into the magical desert. Everything looked normal to her, but occasionally, she could see shapes stirring in the sand. To get an advantage, she took to the air, rising high enough so that if there were any of the deadly snakes, they couldn't reach her. But after a while, her wings started aching. Reluctantly, she glided back down to the ground, and almost instantly, a Dragonbite viper launched from under the sand. Thinking quickly, she shot out some fire at the snake and darted away. She continued crossing Magiah's desert; avoiding several more of the vipers, and eventually, she could see the purple menace sitting under the shade of a few palm trees in an oasis.
"Good, you finally made it." Magiah said as Thorn continued walking toward him. He then proceeded to have the desert disappear, returning them to the gray rocky terrain of the Nightwing volcano.
Thorn made a desperate leap at Magiah, but found herself right next to Peril and everyone else. "We've played your little game! So now what?" Thorn growled angrily.
Magiah didn't reply, but thought to himself about something. Then he proceeded to smile and look directly at the Sandwing queen. Thorn narrowed her eyes, but in the distraction, the purple dragon shot out a purple orb from his mouth, and it was on a high-speed collision course with Thorn. Thorn closed her eyes instantly, knowing no one could react with anything to stop the blast.
Everyone was surprised when a Seawing spear collided with the orb and then shattered in particles; her savior was Anemone!
"I hope you didn't plan on failing. Tsunami needs her old personality back, and our mother would never forgive you." Anemone said smugly, smiling.
"When did you get here?" Riptide asked.
"Not too long ago." Anemone replied.
Everyone looked back at Magiah, whom was thinking to himself, and then said, "Well that was unexpected, I never knew it had a different effect on inanimate objects. Best to keep that in mind the next time I launch a dreaming blast."
Magiah then flinched as he felt a claw on his shoulder, he turned around to see Clay smiling, "And that's game."
"But … but … but that's not fair!" Magiah yelled unhappily.
"A deal is a deal. One of us touched you, so know it's time to keep your side of the bargain." Thorn replied happily, knowing that Magiah just lost.
Magiah glared daggers at the eight dragons, "Fine! I hope you're happy." Magiah snapped his claws one last time.
Meanwhile, Peril rushed over to Clay, "Clay! It's good to see you." She said happily.
Clay blinked as Magiah's spell lifted, "Peril? I think I'm back." His stomach rumbled, and Clay became a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah, I think you're back." Peril agreed.
Thorn looked back at Magiah, who was scowling, but did nothing. "Listen, I know you just want to cause problems for us, but could you do us a favor?"
"And just what would that be?" Magiah said, pouting.
"Could you undo Stonemover's entire curse, and make it be so that he won't lose his soul, or become stone anymore?"
Anemone caught on quickly, "And me too?"
While the others were initially revolted by Thorn asking their nemesis a favor, they understood that it was all for the miserable Nightwing.
Magiah thought over it, and then said, smiling, "That'll cost you extra."
Thorn frowned, but then decided just to give him Stonemover's searching stone, "Here, this is what we used to find you. Perhaps, it'll help you find someone too." She then tossed it over to the purple dragon.
Magiah looked at it curiously, "Well, this will have to do." Magiah picked up the rock, and then stood up.
Behind him, a purple hued portal appeared behind him. "Well folks, it's been fun, but it think it's time I go terrorize some other place. Bye, Pyrrhia." Magiah bowed, and at the last second, his shape changed. No longer was he a Pyrrhian dragon, but now he was somewhat smaller. He still had his purple scales, red eyes, and yellow horns, but now, he also had yellow spikes running down his back and ending at his tail, which was ended in an arrowhead. His underscales, and wing membranes were also red. The purple dragon then vanished into thin air as the portal closed.
"By the moons, that was weird." Fatespeaker commented on Magiah's form change.
"Well, at least he's gone. Now we can go back and take care of whatever Magiah left behind." Thorn announced and turned towards the Rainwing boulder tunnel. Their journey was done.
(well, what do you think? I can't think of a whole lot to say, given the library computer I'm on is giving me just a few minutes left. Oh, does anyone know what I was referencing with Clay's first line in this chapter? Well, there's just the epilogue left, oh also, after this, I am going to work on a WOF short story regarding an alternative turn of events in this chapter.)