Chapter 13 – Warning
"We've stood up to you this long!" Nightmare heard Bolt shout out. He turned his head side to side, looking for the white dog with the long red scarf. "Over here!" he heard from his right, and turned, instantly getting clobbered in the face by a spinning golden ball. Bolt uncurled from his spin after his ricochet, revealing himself to the oversized beast. "What is this?" Nightmare asked and heard a small crack. He looked down with his eye, spying a large crack in his mask where Bolt had struck. It closed rather quickly, disappearing from view. Nightmare then turned to where he though the flying dog was, only to find nothing there, "So, you've ascended in power again." Nightmare said as he looked around for his opponent, "It's a shame your friend and wife can't join you!"
"Oh, they'll join me later when we celebrate your downfall!" Bolt told him, and Nightmare let his eyes widen with surprise. On top of one of the nearby buildings, stood Bolt, cloaked in his golden armor and surrounded in light. "Impressive!" Nightmare said as he let his eyes narrow, "But I see no real threat here!" Bolt suddenly raced at him, slamming into Nightmare's chest with a spin, digging in quickly and backing off. The behemoth looked to his chest in surprise again, "Are you sure?" Bolt asked, and was shocked when the hole he had just dug, sealed itself up just as quickly as it was carved, "Yes!" Nightmare said as he looked up, his smile bringing a sickness to Bolt's throat, "I am!" Bolt gritted his teeth and raced in, his sword again appearing in his mouth in a flash of light.
Mittens slowly walked back through the battle field with Rhino at her side. She lifted each paw as if it were made of lead, her head hanging down and her ears fallen over. All around her monsters, animals and humans fell, either dead or injured. The injured vanished after the animals from the medical team arrived, and some of the solders walked right by her and her friend, "I can't…" she tiredly said and fell to her stomach. "You can't quit now!" Rhino told her, "We're almost half way!" The noise from the battle that surrounded them faded from her ears as she breathed in and out, the only sound she could hear clearly at all. Mittens opened her heavy eyes, looking around at everything and everyone. Faces she knew, didn't know, even faces she felt were the same as the next. It all blended together as she let her head drop, "I just…" she began, "…need to rest a little." Rhino was flabbergasted, turning his head with his mouth hung open he looked at the battle, the noises clear to him, "Here?" he asked in amazement. "So, tired!" she sighed, and quickly felt herself be picked up by something. "You are sssssuch a cat!" she heard a female voice say as the coils underneath her moved smoothly. "Chelsea!" Rhino said as he looked to the snake, "How are you moving like this?"
"A little practice and there's no pose I can't handle!" she said, her look and smooth words making him uncomfortable, "I might even sssssurprise you one day!" she said as she let her eyes focus back on the road. "Eheh, yah maybe." Rhino said nervously. The three of them quickly approached the medical station, a large tent with machines and cots strewn out, injured people and animal lying on the cots while under a lamp that emitted a light blue light. "I don't remember building a healing light!" he said. "That's cause you didn't!" Chelsea told him as she unwrapped the two heroes. "I did!" her partner said, the laidback human wrapping himself in cables and wires as he frantically tried to invent something. "Mitch!" Rhino said causing the Human to look up at the hamster, "Mitch Rench?"
"The one and only!" Mitch said happily as Chelsea slithered onto his shoulder. She used her tail to wrap around his thigh, trying to get under his skin, "Later Chels!" he said as he turned away. "You built a healing lamp?" Rhino asked as he gazed at the device. "Yup, just finished it this morning!" Mitch said, "Test's were successful and now is as good a time as any to bring it to the field." Just as Mitch finished his words, one of the soldiers stood up from the table, rubbed his shoulder and lifted it up and down before giving the thumbs up to the nurse and lifting his gun to run back out onto the field. Rhino smiled brightly, "I knew picking you as my apprentice was a good idea!" he said. "We should celebrate!" Chelsea said in her usual voce as she turned her head to Mitch. "I have serious doubts about your choice in partners though!" Rhino mumbled to himself. "What's up with your friend?" Mitch asked as he looked past the hamster. Rhino turned around, finding Mittens asleep, yet shaking and trembling, as if she were afraid, "Looks like a bad dream!" Chelsea said, "I bet there's ssssomething I can do to ssssweeten it up!" Rhino turned to the snake at once, Chelsea turning her head away with a smile on her face, "Remember, she's married and has crystal claws!" Rhino said and turned back to Mittens.
Inside Mittens' dream, she stood once again as she watched Nightmare fight against Bolt. His golden armor shining in the sunlight as he scratched and shot the behemoth. Suddenly he landed out in front of Nightmare, throwing his sword to the side and lifting his chin. From a large beam of light emerged a sword that could easily cleave the beast in half. It stood more than half the size of Nightmare, and the edges of it shined a brilliant white as Bolt used his new magic to pull it behind him, and swing the blade to split his enemy in half. Instead, Nightmare reached up with both of his hands, slapping them against the blade and stopping it dead in mid swing. Bolt looked to him in shock, and Mittens gasped as she watched the blade shift and change. The white blade dulled to a dark violet color, stretching out at the sides and curving into a large cleaver style. The hilt twisted and morphed onto what looked to be a large hip bone that easily melded with the thick blade. The handle melted and bent, changing into a thick claw at the bottom of the sword.
Bolt turned, picked up his old sword and raced at Nightmare. With a quick flick of his wrist, he grabbed the handle of the sword and slapped Bolt out of the air. He then lifted the blade above his head with both hands, and brought it down where Bolt was. Though his bone mask didn't show it, Nightmare smiled evilly as he looked down at his slain victim. The background faded into destruction as he stood there, buildings dissolved into rubble and fire while the armies around him changed, hunched forward and melted into his minions. Nightmare lifted his sword and roared out in triumph, his chin to the sky and his red eyes shining with malice.
Mittens gasped awake, her fear rising up again, "Bolt's in trouble!" she said in a panic. "What are you talking about?" Chelsea asked. Mittens turned to the snake, and quickly back to Rhino, "She didn't touch me did she?" Mittens asked. "Humf!" Chelsea grunted. Mittens shook her head to clear her mind, "Look, I just know, and we need some way of stopping Nightmare from killing Bolt!" she said. "How about my prototype missile?" Mitch asked. "Missile?" Mittens asked. "Yah, it's really powerful without any fallout. It's designed for taking out large monsters like Nightmare, though I didn't calculate him getting that big!" the human responded. "That'll take care of Nightmare, but we'll still need to help Bolt!" Mittens said. "I can help with that!" she heard a gruff but focused voice say.
She turned her head to find a large grey wolf with blue eyes and what looked to be a ragged coat of fur. Standing next to him was a small built skinny man with long black hair and caring green eyes. He had a full black body suit and a deep tan on his face and hands. He also wore a gentle smile. "Jack Ranitah and Alpha, Tarnildrian Houngral Trackers ready to help." the human said, his voice as gentle as a warm breeze. On his hips he had two large knifes while he held two rather large Felarian pistols in his hands. The pistols where charcoal grey with a rounded barrel surrounded by shell plates. There was also a guard that protected the front of his hands. "I can get you to that super dog!" the wolf, Alpha, said directly. "How do you know?" Rhino asked. "Houngral means 'Seeker of the hunt'!" Alpha said to him, "And I'm the best at hunting!"
"I'll take it!" Mittens said and hopped onto the large canine's back. "I'll provide back up and help clear the way!" Jack said as Alpha picked up Rhino by the ball. With a simple nod, Jack and Alpha communicated what each wanted to say. "Wait!" Mittens began to say, "I'm not sure I'm ready for this!" Alpha instead took off, forcing Mittens to grip his fur in her paws as tightly as she could.
End Chapter 13