Chapter 11 – War

Bolt charged right on in, gripping one of the smaller minions that looked like a mix of rabbit and hedgehog in his teeth. He shook the thing wildly, breaking its neck as he let his laser vision sweep across the field, cutting down a great deal more of the mismatched monsters. The lasers stopped as he tossed it aside, his wife Mittens flying past him as she breathed in, pursing her lips and blowing out a stream of red fire from her breath. Rhino caused his robot to leap over her, letting it land in the middle of a group of minions that all turned to him. He looked around, his eyes narrowed in focus as he let his mind calculate the best course of action. Each minion different in both look and power, neither the same combination of animal, almost as if they were just left over parts of things Nightmare didn't want. One of them flinched, moving forward as if to attack. Rhino let his shoulder open just a little, maybe an inch, and suddenly, they all heard a whizzing noise as the minion's head exploded. They all stood there stunned as the headless body flopped to the ground. With lightning like reflexes, Rhino moved in, punching and clawing at each of them, the first by surprise, causing the others to snap out of their daze. Each of them raced in, trying to attack him one at a time as he clobbered them each in the jaw or stomach. They soon wised up, attacking at the same time and piling on top of him, using their weight to hold him down as he felt the ground rumble beneath him.

Bolt once again let his laser eyes sweep across the horizon, burning and slicing through dozens of monsters at once before trying to lunge forward. He watched as several of the flying ones chased Mittens around the sky, trying to take her down quickly. He was so focused on her safety, he didn't see it when a large foot emerged from behind a large building. He ran into it, the leg not moving at all as he bounced off. He shook his head, clearing the pain quickly, and looked at what he had hit. It looked like an elephant's leg turned inside out, the flesh twisted and rotting, yet solid like a stone. Bolt turned his eyes up, spotting a monster that stood on two massive legs, arms out to his side like a gorilla's and what looked like the melting face of a hippopotamus. "Uh…" Bolt said out loud as he found himself and the creature being surrounded on all sides. It was like a street fight that was getting ready to happen. "Help!" he said and turned, finding Mittens struggling as she launched just about every spell she knew at what looked to be a blob of flesh that moved like Nightmare had when he was digesting humans, each one of them being absorbed. "Oh shoot!" he said and turned back to the creature.

"Looks like they need our help!" Terrance said as he looked through his scope. "It would be a great time to properly test the distance of your new toy!" Tasha said, "Plus I think it's about time we said thank you to the guardians." Terrance chuckled and slowly placed his finger on the trigger, "Pow!" he said and pulled.

Bolt backed up a little as the hulking monster took several more steps, the others seeming like they were cheering as it lifted a massive fist in the air. Suddenly, the head and neck exploded, leaving nothing sitting there. The fist still in the air, it tipped back, and fell to the ground. "What the…?" Bolt asked, as he turned to Mittens. Her paws and tail now stuck inside of the large gelatinous monster she was having trouble with. Suddenly a small girl jumped down from a nearby catwalk, and landed on the thing's head. She quickly pointed two relatively small Felarian pistols at its head, and unloaded about eighteen rounds into it, shattering the face. She quickly reached down, and pulled Mittens from the blob before launching out if it, leaving just her stuck shoes behind. She made her way up the next building, scaling it as she had before while the blob of monster collapsed into a large puddle, "Ashley Khamon to the rescue!" the girl said as she set Mittens down. "Ashley?" the cat asked. "Not just us!" her Lemur said from Ashley's shoulder, Ricket finally appearing, "We brought the whole group!" A flying monster with bat wings and eagle claws swooped down, only to get skewered by something invisible. A small ripple later, a boy and his fox appeared, a shy look on the boy's face, "Hi!" Ashley said and turned to Mittens, "This is Aaron Connel, one of the best Penenia Infiltrators we have, and his partner Ruby!"

"Just how many did you bring?" Mittens asked and looked down, just as the solders of Tarnildra began to appear out of flashes of light, "STAY DOWN RHINO!" a large man shouted as he revved up what looked to be a large Felarian minigun. He let off a large spray of tacks, each one moving fast enough to rip through one of the monsters that kept the hamster pinned to the ground. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he cried as he moved the spray, tearing apart several groups of charging monsters. "Nice Max, but I'll handle the rest!" his bear of a partner said before charging in. With only a few massive swigs of his paws, Brawnsclaw tore the remainder of the monsters off of the metallic hamster. "Nice ride!" he said as he extended a large clawed paw. Rhino turned his head up, seeing the large grizzly bear, and smiled. "What took you so long?" Rhino asked while he had his mechanical marvel grab the bear paw. "Hey!" Brawn said as he pulled the machine to its feet, "You try getting a colicky baby giraffe to drink his milk!" Rhino simply smiled as he watched several others pass by, some shooting guns and others with sharp melee weapons in their hands each shouting out the same battle cry. "What's going on?" the two of them heard Bolt say as the dog came up to them. "I think they're here to help!" Mittens said as she joined in. "That's right!" they all heard Kelly Nortlund's voice over their intercoms. "Why, Ducker, nice to see you!" Bolt said sarcastically with a smile on his face. "Let us handle the grunts, you go for the boss!" Ducker said with confidence. "Thanks Ducker. We owe you one!" Bolt said gladly, and turned his focus towards Nightmare as the large beast tried to escape. The three of them dashed off at the same time, heading towards the behemoth. "Tch, they get all of the fun!" Max said and turned around while lifting his large gun. He just as quickly slammed the bottom of it into an incoming minion, one that looked as if it was supposed to be part duck and part ape. He aimed the barrel as he pulled the trigger, spinning it around before letting out the darts of bone, shredding a group of monsters within seconds.

Bolt raced forward with Mittens and Rhino at his side, easily moving around the battle field. Several times having to attack something themselves.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAWWW!" Nightmare roared out, turning his head side to side as he felt the pelts of darts and bullets. His voice now echoed with the crash of lightning and sounded with the echo of explosions. "Concentrate your fire on the minions, not Nightmare!" he heard another say, and the pelts decreased in number. He turned to the few left firing at him, and smiled. With one quick swipe of his massive paw, he scooped them all up, and tossed them into his mouth. He then let his tail drop to the ground, crushing several more underneath it. "You fools, I cannot be defeated by the likes of you!" he said, and felt an explosion at the base of his tail. He looked down at it, seeing several of the spiked blades destroyed. "Take that you monster!" one of the men shouted as he retreated back with his spider monkey latched to his shoulders, the human was tall and slightly chubby with a black bandana around his forehead. "Fetch him!" Nightmare shouted at his minions. Several of them that had survived his tail, turned and chased the man, only to fall into several traps and pits along the way. "What?" Nightmare asked. "Tch, that's the skill of Dale Muster, the Houngral Trapmaster!" the human said. "And Tangle!" the spider monkey on his shoulder shouted out, and the two of them raced off, making their way back to their posts.

Nightmare was just about to turn and attack, when he was struck in the cheek by a green laser and a lightning bolt. He felt the pressure, not the pain. Turning his head to the offending green light, he found the three guardians; Rhino, Mittens and Bolt. Rhino hovered there on a pack of jets that lifted his mech from the back. Bolt let Mittens hold him up with her wind claws just as she held herself in mid air. "So, you've finally caught up to me!" Nightmare said in his new deep rumbling voice. "This is where it ends!" Bolt told him with a growl in his throat. "Agreed!" Nightmare said and opened his mouth, intending to bite down on them. When he closed his mouth, he was certain they couldn't have escaped, yet he felt nothing on his tongue. "It won't be that easy this time!" he heard Mittens cry out. The three of them sat on the ground, Mittens' eyes glowing a bright red color as her spell faded, "We've grown in power and skill!" she told him. "A high level illusion spell!" he said in surprise, "You have grown in power! And it's still not enough!" Bolt growled, and crouched down, the other two following his lead. Just as quickly Nightmare opened his mouth, a stream of black fire flowing from his throat. The three of them lunged forward, the flames hitting the ground where they used to be, and with a loud battle cry, charged at the behemoth.

End Chapter 11