Ruby wasn't the least bit surprised when a unicorn appeared before her and wasted no time to get on the Elemental's back. She tried not to giggle as two more of the white beasts suddenly materialized before the Flashblade brothers. Then she looked around at the others to see what Elementals had come to help them.
A white stag stepped out from behind a tree in front of Raleigh and the human turned to look at her. At first she thought the Forest Lord had come to help, but this stag was closer in size to a riding horse than a draft horse. Ruby nodded to the man and with a shrug, he went to get on the creature's back. Luckily for the human, the stag kneeled down so he could get on.
A giant white bear that was nearly the size of a horse suddenly popped into existence right in front of Grin. The right defenseman bowed to the spirit bear and she could hear him talking quietly to the Elemental. The bear nodded and Grin carefully climbed on board.
A low growl preceded the appearance of a grayish-blue tiger that materialized before Tanya. The poor tech nearly jumped right out of her feathers when the large cat approached her.
"Uh, um, nice kitty," Tanya nervously said.
Get on, the Elemental snarled. We don't have all day.
A second later a large, black wolf with red eyes was in front of Duke with its teeth bared and ears back.
"You asked for friendly Elementals, right?" Duke tried to confirm as he worriedly watched the giant canine.
"I asked for large Elementals who were willing to help," Ruby replied. "I'm fairly sure he won't eat you. Yet."
"I'm really sorry about the dropping a house on you," Duke hastily stated as the wolf continued toward him while the drake slowly backed up.
"You'll be fine," Ruby told him, barely managing not to chuckle evilly.
The wolf turned so Duke could mount, all the while, the snarl stayed on the Elemental's face. Figuring he was probably safer on the canine's back than in front of him, Duke gingerly got on the beast.
Ruby looked toward Mallory just as a large, brown, reptilian head emerged from the dirt right in front of the weapons expert. A moment later, the rest of the large creature appeared and the duck put her hand her blaster. Considering the six legged lizard was at least twenty feet long, it was kind of understandable why Mallory was going for her weapon.
"We really don't have time to get you a new ride if you shoot the wyrm," Ruby stated.
"Worm?" Mallory questioned. "This doesn't look like any worm I've ever seen!"
"It's an earth dragon," Ruby informed her. "Please hurry."
Ruby looked around to make sure everyone was on their mount while Mallory scrabbled up the side of the wyrm. Everything looked good until she got to the brothers. They were standing there, staring at the unicorns.
"Why aren't you two mounted up?" Ruby asked.
"The last time I was on one of these things, it wouldn't let me get off," Nosedive stated as he took a step back and the white Elemental took a step forward.
"Did you ask it to let you off?" Ruby inquired.
"Uh, well, no," Nosedive admitted.
"They're not stupid beasts," Ruby stated, raising her voice so everyone could hear her. "Talk to them if you want them to do something. Do NOT kick or pull on any part of them."
When the mage looked back at the two drakes they were still standing next to the unicorns.
"Either get on those unicorns or you'll be running behind the rest of us," Ruby growled. "That Saurian scuzball isn't going to wait all day to hurt those kids."
That got the two reluctant drakes moving. Once they were mounted, Ruby pointed to a small light hovering between the trees.
"Follow that light," the mage ordered.
Her unicorn didn't waste a second as he leaped into action. A moment later the rest of the Elementals were racing toward the spark Ruby had made earlier. With her heart in her throat, the blue beaked hen hoped they weren't too late.
A few minutes later, Ruby gasped as she felt the surge of energy.
"That's the last of 'em," Siege stated as he tossed a girl of about eight into the pit with the rest.
"Only twenty-eight?" Wraith asked in disappointment. "I guess it will have to do."
Wraith looked down into the large hole and glared at the children. He had hoped that more magic users would have materialized, but he'd work with what he had. Who knew, maybe more would develop over time.
It was a shame that he couldn't keep any of their magical energy, but it didn't matter really. Soon, he would have the Phoenix and all of the power contained within. Only he would be able to harness the power of the Phoenix and then he would lead his Saurian brethren to their former glory.
"Lord Dragaunus," Wraith said into his communicator. "We are ready to begin."
A second later, the Saurian overlord appeared next to Wraith.
"Is that all you were able to collect?" Dragaunus demanded, glaring down at the children.
"It's all there was," Siege defensively replied.
"Will it be enough to fix the Balerium crystals?" Dragaunus asked Wraith.
"I will not know until the harvest is finished," Wraith answered.
"Then get on with it!" Dragaunus snapped.
"At once, my lord," the wizard said with a bow.
The tall, thin Saurian turned toward the pit and started to chant in an ancient Saurian language. He could feel of the potential energy down in the hole. The thought of ruining what the mage started gave him a great deal of pleasure.
That was when the unexpected happened.
"I'm scared," Tina softly admitted when she heard the evil lizards talking about starting some ritual.
"Me, too, sis," Tony whispered. "The gnome said he'd keep us safe."
"But he's not here and they're about to do something," Tina said as tears started to wet her cheeks.
He had no answer for his sister; so instead, he took her hand in his. That was when they felt the energy surge through their bodies. They knew what they had to do on an instinctual level and they didn't think twice about it.
Before Ruby could ask, the Elementals put on an extra burst of speed. She heard the others yell in surprise as their mounts moved even faster.
"What's going on?" Wildwing shouted.
"Wraith is starting the ritual!" Ruby called back over her shoulder.
"How much longer until we're there?" Mallory yelled as she held onto the wyrm with her arms wrapped around the creature's neck.
Soon! one of the Elementals replied, though Ruby had no idea which one.
A few moments later they burst through the last of the trees and into a clearing with the Saurians standing around a pit. Ruby ignored the three lizards that turned and looked. They weren't the ones she was interested in.
The mage felt the Phoenix fight for control and she barely managed to keep the Elemental in check. Ruby did let the Phoenix help power the ball of energy that she built up. She had the satisfaction of hitting the Saurian wizard square in the back. He staggered a couple steps; unfortunately, he didn't fall into the pit as she had hoped.
"If you want to fight a magic user, why don't you fight me, you overgrown handbag!?" Ruby yelled.
She slid off of the back end of the unicorn while it kept running. She trusted the Elemental not to kick her, not something she would have dared done with a horse. She didn't make a perfect landing, but at least she didn't do a beak plant.
"How is this possible!?" Wraith demanded. "I killed you!"
"Oh really," she smirked. "Then I guess this won't hurt a bit!"
With that, she let out another blast of magic at the wizard. He barely managed avoid getting hit right in the chest. In a second, he created and threw a fireball at the mage.
"Nice try, lizard lips," Ruby sneered as she shrugged off the flames. "Guess you forgot that the Phoenix makes the host fire proof."
With a roar of fury, the magical battle really began.
Wildwing took in the scene in front of him and his beak fell open. Was Ruby insane? The crazy mage was taking on Wraith by herself!
"Let me off!" the team captain ordered.
The unicorn bucked and Wildwing found himself airborne. He did a perfect flip in mid-air before neatly landing on his feet. Not the most orthodox way of getting off, but it worked.
He opened fire at Wraith just as hunter drones started to appear, blocking his shot. In a matter of seconds, the air was filled with pucks and laser fire. It looked like the Saurians were actually going to put in some effort into this fight.
The goalie did a quick check on his team and saw that they were doing all right. Duke and Nosedive were both still on the backs of the Elementals that had chosen them getting between the hunter drones to do maximum damage. Grin and the bear were tag teaming Siege, much to the Saurian's displeasure. Wildwing didn't see Tanya at first, but then she and the blue tiger appeared out of thin air behind the robots where the tech started to put her omnitool to good use dismantling the machines. Mallory was on foot and using the puck launcher to make a path toward the pit.
Raleigh was taking a lot of pent up aggression out on any enemy that got between him and the pit. He was no longer on the back of the stag, but it stayed with him. The creature was using its impressive antlers to impale and the toss robots out of their path.
The human was handling himself a lot better than a certain mage who wasn't watching her back. Dragaunus grabbed Ruby from behind and for a second, Wildwing feared for the blue beaked female. With a shout of surprise, Dragaunus dropped Ruby and then tried to shake the feeling back into his hands.
Wildwing tried to work his way toward her, but every time he got a step in the right direction, a hunter drone forced him back a couple. No matter which way he turned, his path was blocked by a walking garbage can. The drake wanted to get to Ruby to guard her back and then he saw that it was covered by the most unlikely of sources.
Ruby stumbled when she landed after being dropped by the largest of the lizards. She was going to go out on a limb and guess that the Saurian who grabbed her was Dragaunus. She scrambled to get away from him, temporarily forgetting about Wraith.
A whispered warning from an air spirit was all she got. The mage barely made it out of the way of Wraith's fireball. While the fire wouldn't hurt her, the force of the blow could have knocked her off of her feet.
Belatedly, Ruby realized she was between Wraith and Dragaunus. She was too far away from the hole in that the kids were in to make a jump for it. If she could just get down there, she could get a shield over the children to protect them from whatever Wraith had planned.
Ruby didn't know which foe to face and was starting to panic. The Phoenix was fighting to get free and the mage could feel her control slipping. She had to get out of the situation or the Elemental was going to get out. The only thing keeping the fiery beast under control was that Ruby knew if She got out, Wildwing would die.
"RUBY! DOWN!" a voice yelled.
Ruby crouched down as pucks started flying through the air. The Saurians were forced back as the pucks kept coming. The mage kept her head down as she darted out from between the two lizards. Once she was clear, she looked over at her savior, fully expecting it to be a certain goalie. The duck that had come to the mage's rescue left Ruby with her beak hanging open.
"Who taught you how to fight?" Mallory demanded as she continued to unload her puck launcher at the Saurians.
"No one," Ruby admitted. "I'm a teacher, not a warrior."
"Great," Mallory grumbled. "Just stay out of the way."
"Just help me to the pit so I can protect the kids," Ruby said.
"Easier said than done," Mallory stated as hunter drones started to surround them.
Ruby managed to get a shield over the two of them before they were turned into crispy ducks. Mallory brought her puck launcher around only to have Ruby push it down. The weapons specialist glared at the duck with the glowing blue eyes.
"I've put a shield up," Ruby stated as her eyes returned to normal. "Unless you want to see how well a puck ricochets in a confined space, I wouldn't recommend you shooting that thing."
Mallory looked around and saw that they were completely surrounded by robots. It was so strange to be standing there and not take any damage from the drone's weapons. She also noticed that the laser blasts were hitting the shields and just fizzling out.
"They have us pinned here for a reason," Mallory stated and Ruby grimly nodded her agreement. "If I can't shoot them, at least do something to do damage to them. Can you make their shots bounce back at them?"
"Oh, I hadn't thought of doing that," Ruby admitted. "Give me a minute."
Ruby's eyes started to glow again and she touched the shield with her hand. A few moments later, the lasers were bouncing every which way. Ruby frowned as she tried to refine the spell.
"Maybe that wasn't such a great idea," Mallory said. "Some of their shots could hit the others."
"I noticed," Ruby grumbled. "I'm trying to fix it so the shot goes back to the one who shot it."
Mallory watched the mage as Ruby brought up her other hand and laid it on the inside of the shield. Out of curiosity, Mallory touched the dome that surrounded them with just a finger. It looked like a giant bubble, but it felt sold enough and it made her finger tingle.
Ruby's gasp drew Mallory's attention away from the shield.
"What's wrong?" Mallory asked, seeing the magic user's eyes had gone white.
"It's Wraith," Ruby growled. "He's started the spell again."
Just as Mallory opened her beak, a shadow blocked out the midday sun.
Wraith got a brief reprise from the mage's attack when Dragaunus grabbed her. The Saurian knew he couldn't hurt her with fire, the most he could do was knock her around the place. He had to get her out of the way if he wanted to harvest the energy of those kids.
As soon as the overlord had grabbed the feathered pest, the wizard called in more hunter drones. A moment after the robots started to appear, Mallory came to help the mage. That suited him just fine. Maybe the robots could kill two birds instead of just one.
Once he was sure the two hens were occupied, he turned back to the pit. He didn't even bother to look down at the children before he started to chant again. His soul focus was to collect all of that delicious energy.
When a large shadow blocked out the sun, Wraith barely noticed. It was almost his last mistake.
Wildwing saw more drones appear and they were surrounding Mallory and Ruby. He knew Ruby would be ok, but he wasn't so sure about his weapons specialist. Ruby had no reason to protect her.
The captain redoubled his efforts to reach the two hens as a dark shadow covered the area. He looked up and stopped dead in his tracks. A dragon with wings wider than a jet plane's was flying overhead.
A laser blast went right past Wildwing's head and the goalie quickly turned his attention back to the battlefield. He wasn't sure what a dragon was doing there, but he hoped it was friendly. He really, really hoped it was friendly.
The overhead beast let out a roar so loud the ground shook. A few seconds later, it landed, crushing dozens of hunter drones. The thing was huge!
It was much bigger than the Aerowing. Its front legs were actually its wings and its body was covered with sharp spines and flames. It almost looked like Ruby's dragon, except for the wings.
Wildwing was almost convinced that it wasn't the same dragon. Then he remembered how the dragon had changed after just eating the harpy's feathers. Could the dragon changed so much after eating the rest of the harpy?
With another roar, the dragon flicked its tail back and forth. Robots were smashed and melted while the other Elementals disappeared into thin air, whether or not they had someone on their backs. Wildwing and his team ran to give the beast plenty of room. He had no idea where Raleigh had gotten off to.
The dragon opened its mouth and a jet of fire came out. In an instant, the drones that had been surrounding Ruby and Mallory were nothing but slag on the ground. Wildwing gave a sigh of relief when he saw that the two females were in a protective bubble and appeared to be unharmed.
Wildwing was relieved that the dragon had come to save them once again. It kind of irked the large white duck that they had to be saved. He and his team were supposed to be the heroes.
Then the dragon spoke and everything changed.