Hey guys, here's chapter 23 of Rise of Zeo. Well, here we go.
Zeo lied on the couch. It had been a rather slow day and the card wielder was bored out of his mind. That's when the portal opened up, Eda stepping out of it with Owlbert towing a large bag of human junk.
"Hey Zeo" Eda greeted him.
"You get a huge haul this time?" Zeo asked rhetorically.
"Yep, Owlbert and I had a good trip today." She said as the bag tore open, revealing a huge pile of junk.
"Clearly your definition of good differs from mine." Zeo muttered.
"Why don't you take something from the pile?" Eda offered, plopping next to him on the couch, "Come on, kiddo. You might get inspired" she said, pinching one of his cheeks. With nothing better to do, Zeo approached the pile.
He pulled out a tv remote, "Junk!" He tossed it away. He pulled out an ocarina, "Junk!" He tossed it away. He pulled out a diamond engagement ring, "I'll save this for later" he put it into his pocket. He pulled out a pen, "Junk!" He tossed it away. He then pulled a book that had giant reptiles on it, albeit a bit worn out and torn, "Huh, this could be useful" he said.
He decided to open the book checking out its contents.
He plopped back onto the couch next to Eda, "Hey, these guys actually look kind of cool" he commented.
"A book on dinosaurs? Nice find there Owlbert." Luz said walking down the stairs.
"Dino... saurs?" Zeo repeated slowly.
"They were these giant lizard-like creatures that walked the human realm over 65,000,000 years ago until an asteroid crashed down, causing a chain of events that wiped them all out." Luz explained.
"Whoa. That's pretty cool" Zeo smiled.
"Yeah, some ate plants, others ate meat. Humans even study their remains to see how they lived" Luz said, "When I was younger, I always liked to combine parts of other dinosaurs to create a whole new one" she added.
"Why does that not surprise me?" Zeo said with a chuckle before noticing something, "I see you're still wearing that choker I got you at the carnival yesterday." Zeo said, looking at the ruby-adorned necklace.
"Oh, yeah, I love it! I never take it off... except when I go to sleep or take a shower" Luz said with a small blush.
"She also has that stuffed bear you won her on her bed!" Hooty said, slithering into the room.
"Hooty!" Luz snapped as Eda chuckled at her embarrassment.
"You could summon Luzura to hurt him if you want" Zeo offered.
"I'd love to. And I might need a power boost, if you catch my drift" Luz said, maliciously eyeing Hooty as he held up her doppelganger's card.
"Owl Paladin, nice choice," Zeo said, smirking equally maliciously. Getting the hint, Hooty beat a hasty retreat.
"Dang it," Luz said, snapping her fingers.
Zeo simply chuckled, pocketing the card, and went back to the book, when one particular rendering caught his eye.
"Ankylosaurus" He read the name out loud, the name being the only thing on the paper with the rest being torn out.
"Ooh, that was a cool one." Luz said. "A plant-eater, but not one to be taken lightly. That ball at the end of its tail acted as a club that he would use to protect himself from predators." She explained.
"Sounds tough" Zeo said, pulling out his sketchpad and started drawing.
Soon the latest card was born. It was a level 7 earth creature, an anthropomorphic ankylosaurus.
"I'm going to summon this guy outside just to be safe" Zeo said, making his way out, "Ankylostone, arise!" he tossed the card, summoning his latest beast.
It was an anthropomorphic ankylosaurus with stone grey skin and orange armor. His legs were shorter than his arms, almost elephant-like. His arms were thicker near his hands, and has four fingers for each hand. His knuckles armored like makeshift brass knuckles.
"Nice!" Zeo said with a chuckle as several cards appeared in his hand. "Your command cards. Let's see what you're capable of." Zeo said with a smirk.
"Zeo, could you come here for a sec!" Eda called from inside.
"Looks like it'll have to wait" Zeo said, "Yeah, Mom? What's up?" he asked as he walked through the door.
"I need you to fetch me some things from Bonesborough." Eda said while sorting through the garbage.
"What? Why and can't Luz and King do it?" Zeo asked.
"I need them to help me sort through the human garbage to sell at the stand. So, you're going to have to do it" Eda said, "Please, Zeo?" she pleaded.
Zeo looked up to see Eda giving him the puppy-dog eyes, along with the puppy-dog pout.
"You've clearly learned some stuff from Luz." Zeo said with a chuckle, taking the list from Eda. "Ankylostone and I should be back in about 30-45 minutes." He said as the list unfolded, revealing it to be longer than he originally thought. "Maybe more…"
da patted his head affectionately before he headed outside. As he approached the doorframe, he saw Ankylostone still trying, and failing, to get through the door frame.
"Not very bright, are you?" Zeo noted as he saw all his newest beast was doing was walking into the frame. Zeo crawled under the dinosaur and made his way out, "Come on" he told the beast.
"I'd come along if I could. Hoot hoot!" Hooty said.
"Good thing he can't." Zeo muttered.
Ankylostone roared at Hooty, causing the bird tube to yelp and bury his head into the ground like an ostrich.
"Why'd you do that?" Zeo raised an eyebrow at the dinosaur.
"Just thought it'd be funny" Ankylostone replied telepathically with a shrug, which Zeo chuckled at before the two went into town.
Sometime later, the two came back, having finished everything on Eda's list, Ankylostone carrying a large sac over his shoulder.
"Ok, that took way longer than I thought" Zeo commented as they arrived at the house. However, they spotted something that made them stop in their tracks. Hooty was literally off his hinges.
*Roar* "I've got a bad feeling about this." Ankylostone said.
"You and me both." Zeo said.
Hooty was unconscious and a few of the windows were broken. With an unsure feeling, Zeo rushed inside. Ankylostone barely managed to squeeze through.
"Luz? King?" Zeo called out to them, only to receive no response, "Mom?" he called to Eda, again receiving no response.
He stopped in his tracks when he heard a squishing sound.
"What the?" he looked down, seeing a puddle with gas emanating from it.
It didn't take a genius to realize it was the residue from a potion. Not only that, but he saw unfamiliar footprints. Curious, Zeo pulled out a card.
"Night Howler, arise!" he tossed the card, summoning the shadow wolf, "Think you can get a scent off this trail, girl?" He asked as Night Howler started sniffing at the residue, before barking in confirmation, "Alright then..." Zeo hopped onto the wolf's back, "Let's go!" he said.
After a few seconds of struggling, Ankylostone started following them.
When Night Howler followed the trail to a cave, she started growling.
"The trail leads in there?" Zeo said, which Night Howler confirmed. "Excellent, best we sneak in." Zeo told the two beasts.
Quietly, they follow the tracks deeper into the cave. Soon they arrived in a large chamber, with sconces on the walls, there wasn't much light, but there was enough for Zeo to make out Eda, Luz, King, and one unfamiliar figure. He saw the light was coming from a cauldron. He watched as the figure slapped Eda awake.
Eda woke with a groan. "What the?" She asked before seeing the figure. "Oh great, you again." she said, annoyed.
"Warden Wrath!" Luz glared at him.
"Hello, Eda, human, pathetic excuse for a demon." Wrath said addressing Eda, Luz, and King respectively.
"What do you want now, Warden?" Eda asked.
"I want you..." Warden Wrath said, menacingly. Only to drop down on one knee. "...to go out with me!" he said. They all groaned.
"Not in a million years, Warden" Eda said. The Warden then got serious.
"See that cauldron? It's filled with a love potion. When you drink it, it'll force you to fall in love with me, whether you like it or not" Warden Wrath explained, "If you don't drink it..." He transformed his hand into an axe, "I'll slaughter you beloved human and pet" he threatened. Luz and King gulped in fear.
"Not on my watch." Zeo said, holding up one of Night Howler's command cards.
"Zeo!" Eda said with surprise.
"Zeo!" Luz looked at him with half-lidded eyes, blushing.
Warden tossed a potion at Night Howler, knocking her out.
"Damn!" Zeo snapped his fingers, "At least I can my other..." he reached into his pocket to grab his other cards. However, to his horror, he found that his cards were gone, "Damn! I forgot the other cards at home!' he said.
"And you're supposed to be in love with this guy?" King whispered to Luz.
"Well, I guess this is as good a time as any." Zeo said. "Let my mother, girlfriend, and King go you metal freak!" Zeo said. "Or else you'll have to answer to him!" He said, pointing to Ankylostone who crashed his knuckles together and slammed his club tail on the ground, causing a small tremor.
"Yeah, I could, or I could—" Warden Wrath tossed another potion at Zeo, only for Ankylostone to block it with his fist. He tossed the final one at Ankylostone, however, it proved to do nothing, "Oh crap." He said as Zeo held up one of Ankylostone's command cards.
"Command Card: Boulder Cannon!" He tossed the card into the dinosaur.
Raising his hands above his head, he summoned a giant rock which he threw at Warden Wrath. Warden Wrath was smooshed between the rock and the wall. Zeo then walked over to the hostages and untied each of them, and then was tackled to the ground in a hug by Luz.
"Thank you so much for rescuing us!" Luz said. "And nice shot there, Ankylostone!" She told the dino, Ankylostone nodding in thanks.
Ankylostone nodded in thanks.
"Nice job, kiddo" Eda ruffled Zeo's hair.
"Thanks. Who is that guy?" Zeo asked.
"Just another one of the emperor's goons. Only difference is this one apparently has an obsessive crush on me. Really though, can you blame him?" Eda said with a flirtatious flip of her hair.
"No more than I can blame Emira for having a crush on me" Zeo replied with a smirk.
"Hah! That's a good one there!" Eda said.
"Is Night Howler going to be ok?" King asked, sitting in front of the sleeping wolf, "Bap!" he smacked her on the joules.
"She should be fine. All I have to do is return her to her card state. Night Howler, return!" Zeo said, recalling the dire wolf back into her card state, "Ankylostone, return!" Zeo called out, the dinosaur returning to his hand in card form as well, "Ok, let's get out of here before this guy wakes up. Unless you want me to destroy him" he offered.
"Nah, destruction's too good for a guy like him. Just let him recover and get out from under the boulder on his own. That said, if he ever tries this again, go all out." Eda said.
"I wonder why his knockout potion affected Night Howler, but not Ankylostone." Luz said.
"Either because he's a reptile or because he's an earth elemental" Zeo said with an unsure shrug, "Anyway, let's get out of here" he said as they all headed out of the cave.
Damn, this chapter was extremely short. Shorter than most chapters for this story… or my stories in general. The idea for this chapter, as well as Ankylostone, was thought up by ReptileEdge. This chapter was co-written with JTWAS1994 with the layout of the chapter from ReptileEdge. I guess we can add dinosaurs to Zeo's arsenal of beasts now.
I was originally going to have Zeo master the move his been working on in this chapter and use it to defeat Warden Wrath himself, but I think something that deserves a chapter of its own.
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