Chapter 10 – Behemoth
"What is that?" Mittens asked as she looked on in shock. "Nightmare!" was all Bolt said, as the aquarium began to crack and break. The roof came off quickly as the head of what looked to be a lion with a devilish looking bone mask emerge from inside, and was still growing. Suddenly a set of horns began to grow from its head, curling forward and back at the same time, branching into a set of three up front and three coming behind. He roared loudly as he still grew, showing six rows of razor sharp teeth. From his back grew several bone spikes as his fur turned dark, changing from blond and sandy to that of a dark purple and near black. The arms and legs of the beast expanded, crashing through the walls quickly revealing hand like paws with sharp strong claws poking out of his fingers and toes. The tail burst through the wall as well, quickly growing what looked to be spikes of some kind out from the fur on the tip. "What is that?" Mittens asked as the three of them watched Nightmare continue to grow. "He's turned himself into a Behemoth!" Rhino responded, "There are similar renditions in videogames, and they're always really tough enemies!"
"How tough?" Bolt asked. "The player has to have their characters somewhere around mid 60 to high 70 in level!" Rhino explained. "Well, we've got what it takes; we're a lot stronger than we were before!" Bolt said as he tried to encourage his wife and friend, "We're the ones that have the power to do the impossible, and now we have Perfect Hero, a trump card we can fall back on." Mittens looked at him, then turned her eyes back to Nightmare, and then back to him. Her eyes narrowed in focus, "We have to try!" she said, "I didn't defy death once just to turn around and let that monster destroy our home!"
Bolt slowly put his paw into the middle, getting his wife Mittens to join him. Rhino played a different card, instead he activated his holo field and made a hand appear, placing it on top of the two paws, "Ready?" Bolt asked. "Ready as I'll ever be!" Mittens responded as she let out a calming breath. "Let it begin! Let it begin! LET IT BEGIN!" Rhino said happily as he held out his paw, guiding the holographic hand. "Then let's do this!" Bolt said and the three of them pushed down, breaking the huddle and turning to the growing behemoth. "So, what did you do to us?" Mittens asked as the three of them glared at Nightmare. The beast was now the size of a large ship, and still growing. "I split the Soul up, giving the majority of power to the person who can use it more efficiently." he told her. "So, I'm mostly magic!" she replied as the two of them crouched down into a charging position. "And I'm mostly power while Rhino has the majority of the intelligence!" Bolt finished for her. With a powerful push, and a quick roll, the three of them took off, racing for Nightmare with Bolt in the lead. Mittens lifted into the air, letting herself fly as she raced towards her target. Bolt sped up, making himself as much of a blur as he dared while he raced towards Nightmare and Rhino let his Mech transform, the powerful metal legs propelling him forward.
"Holy crap!" Terrance said as he eyed the beast that finally stopped growing, "He could step on our base with just one paw!"
"It's a good thing we got this far away to begin with!" Tasha said as she kept laying there, her partner's barrel resting on the leather dressing her back. The two of them were station on the opposite side of town his scope pointed right at the hulking beast. "Look down there!" Tasha said, causing Terrance to move his scope. "Hey, they're here!" he said as he spied Bolt and the others racing in. "This might be just what we needed. I say we call in some back up!" Tasha said with a smile. "You read my mind Tash!" Terrance said and lifted his watch to his face, "Access Red Frame, Passcode SharpShot!" He watched his watch as a small screen came up, a small circle being created as it formed itself, "Attention all of Tarnildra!" he said as his screen turned black.
Ducker placed his hands on his forehead, pulling his hair back as he leaned forward. "Damnit!" he said, "Where are they?"
"Sir!" he heard Kelly say as she stood next to him, "We're picking up an incoming communication from the Shantam group."
"Death Unseen!" Ducker said as he recognized the word, "Bring them up." Terrance's face appeared with a red outline around the edge of the screen, his lips moving with little words coming out, "It's a red call, pipe him through Tarnildera!" Kelly said as she pointed to the other Senshols. "The three Guardians are heading towards Nightmare now, and he's bigger than ever!" they all heard the human say, "From the way it looks, I don't think they'll get through on their own, he's spawning these…minions like a Pez Dispenser pops out candy! But with our help, and a little luck I think they can win!" Several people looked up at the speakers, in the cafeteria, from their rooms and even in the basement or restrooms, "We'll have to hit him from all sides, divide the focus of his army with our own. This is what we've been training for!" he said, "The Senshols!" The group of people at the controls looked up, their smiles brightening as they heard their class mentioned, "The Shantam's!" he continued as the group in the gun range looked up, one of them turning back to his target and placing his eye back to his scope, with a single pull of the trigger, he put a hole at the top of the head of the picture, causing the entire group to cheer for him. "The Penenia and Regonters!" Terrance's voice said, the group of Medics, Mechanics, Scouts and Stealthy people and animals smiled at each other, "The Likech and Houngrals!" A set of muscular men sat up from their weight benches, while another group stopped setting pranks up and turned to the speaker.
"There's no greater honor in our world than the opportunity to repay the heroes that continue to protect us. So I say let's give this bastard what he deserves, a one way ticket to Hell!" Terrance continued.
Back in Tarnildra, each of the groups shouted loud as they agreed with the voice, quickly getting to their feet to suit up. Dustin and Savage worked hard as they passed out weapons to everyone they could see, "For those of you who can't use Felarian Weapons, don't forget your ammo belts, they'll all come in handy and don't aim at any of your comrades, otherwise I'll revoke your privileges!" the winged alien shouted as she tried to regain some control over the crowd.
"I'll be damned!" Ducker said as he smiled for his friend, and then pointed his hand to the screen, "Let's deploy in a five point strike pattern, I want the Likech and their heavy weapons out front while the Penenia take out the stragglers that they miss. The Houngral and Regonter medics stay at the back and set up a defensive position with healing stations no more than twenty yards from each other! Shantams will find a high vantage point and take out anything that breaks through. Don't attract too much attention and I DON'T WANT TO SEE EVEN ONE OF THOSE MINIONS ATTACKING OUR MEDICS AND MECHANICS!"
"Roger that!" Kelly called back and turned to her Senshols, "YOU HEARD HIM!" she shouted, "Keep your eyes on that battle field and make sure you inform your charge leaders of any changes!"
"Yes Mam!" each of them shouted as they typed away, getting a view of the area Nightmare traveled through. "He's traveling fast, but still within our teleport range!" one of them said. "Get all eight of our satellites into that area, I don't want any complications when teleporting!" Kelly shouted. "Yes Mam!" the one called back, and typed at his computer, "Satellites in position in twenty seconds!"
"Good! TAISO, lead all of the troops to our location, we need to get them to the field ASAP!" Ducker said. "At once Lepnand!" the computer voice said, and the doors automatically opened. "Start up the O-TIP and set it up for five mass transports, we need to close the holes as quickly as possible!" Ducker said as he turned to Kelly. "On it!" she replied. "Bolt, Mittens, Rhino, you three had better stay alive until we get there!" Ducker whispered to himself.
End Chapter 10