Hey, here's chapter 25 of Rise of Zeo. This chapter will center around King... Which is a first for this story. Well, when it comes to original chapters at least. Anyway, here we go.
Zeo and Luz were lying on the couch, Luz lying on top of him as they made out. Zeo temporarily broke the kiss.
"Have I ever told you how cute you are?" Zeo asked, making Luz giggle.
"Oh Zeo." Luz said, cupping Zeo's cheeks in her soft hands, continuing their little make-out session.
That's when King walked in. He spotted Zeo's deck on the coffee table and picked them up.
"Hey Zeo" King spoke up, Zeo breaking his kiss with Luz.
"What do you want, runt? And what're you doing with my cards?" Zeo asked with slight annoyance.
"You made a card based on Eda, one based on Luz, and one based on yourself. You even made one based on Lilith! What about me? Where's the King based card?" King asked, waving the cards in his paws.
Zeo simply laughed at the idea of that, "A card based on you?! That's hilarious!"
"Zeo, I think he's serious" Luz told him.
"Seriously annoying is more like it" Zeo rolled his eyes.
"I mean, I appreciate your tenacity." Zeo said. "But let me explain something to you." He said, holding up the Knight Owl and Luzura cards, "When I made Knight Owl, I was inspired by the sheer ferocity of mom's cursed form. And when I made Luzura, I was inspired by Luz's amazing determination and pure heart that's willing to do anything to follow her dreams." Zeo explained.
"So true!" Luz beamed.
"But when it comes to you, all I see is a sad, pathetic loser that is WAY too adorable to be taken seriously." Zeo said.
"Grr... I'm not a pathetic loser! And I'm not adorable!" King said, smacking the cards on the coffee table.
"He's so adorable when he's angry" Luz whispered to Zeo, "Zeo, can't you just make a card based on him?" She asked.
"Why? Even if I did, it's not like it'd be very powerful" Zeo replied.
"Not very powerful?!" King said in anger. "What are you talking about?! I'm the king of demons for crying out loud! A card based on me could easily be on par with your precious Knight Owl and that Owl Paladin of yours!"
"One par with the Owl Paladin" Zeo said skeptically, "Yeah, considering she's a fusion, and one involving one of my most powerful beasts no less, I highly doubt that" he said, Besides, if anything you'd be Luzura's pet"
"Pet?!" King repeated in frustration.
"Yeah. I mean, you're basically Luz's pet, aren't you?" Zeo asked playfully.
"I'm no one's pet!" King said.
"Heh" Zeo chuckled, "Ok, house pet"
"Grr!" King growled at him.
"You seriously want a card based around you, runt?" Zeo asked.
"Yes!" King said.
"Then let's make a little bet." Zeo said.
"Did I hear someone say bet? And King's involved!" Eda said, carrying the book that logged all the bets she's made with King over the years.
"Yeah, the little demon turd wants me to make a card based on him like I did with you, Luz, and Aunt Lily" Zeo told her.
"Wow, really?" Eda raised an eyebrow
"I know, I don't think it'd be that powerful either" Zeo said, "What's with the book, mom?" He asked.
"Oh, just a little something I've kept over the years." Eda said. However, King recognized the book.
"No, please don't tell them about that!" King pleaded.
"Tell me about it! Tell me about it!" Zeo begged with excitement.
"Logged in this book is every bet I've ever made with king over the years." Eda said as Luz started flipping through the pages.
"Wow, I'm seeing a lot of wins for Eda, and a lot of losses for King. And only one draw." Luz said referring to the trash slug incident.
"Ha! This is hilarious! Ha ha!" Zeo said, wiping away a tear as he laughed.
"Enough!" King shouted, "Now, what's this bet you speak of?"
"If you can take care of Magma Lizard, Frost Lizard, Knight Owl, Daze Raven, and Luzura and keep them under control by sunset, I'll make a card based around you" Zeo told him.
"Ooh!" Luz beamed.
"However, if you give up or pass out before then, you have to walk around Bonesbourogh, wearing a sandwich board that says you're a sad, pathetic loser that will dance for money" Zeo added.
"Ohh! Nice one!" Eda said.
King gulped.
"Well? What's it gonna be, runt?" Zeo asked, extending his hand.
"If it means getting card based on me... Deal!" King shook his hand.
"And to make sure you don't cheat, Tracker Tick, arise!" Zeo said as his spy bug arrived. "This guy will be watching you." He told him, "And just in case, you'll mind meld with Luzura." He whispered to Luz, the human witch grinning in excitement.
Magma Lizard, Frost Lizard, Knight Owl, Daze Raven, arise!" He tossed the four cards.
"Luzura, arise!" Luz summoned her doppelganger.
"What are you going to be doing during all this?" Luz asked.
"I was thinking I'd spend some time with Mom. You know, some one-on-one time" Zeo told her, and then looked at Eda, "What do you say, Mom?" Zeo asked.
"Fine by me." Eda said with a shrug.
"Ok, here's the order: Magma and Frost Lizards, Luzura, Knight Owl and Daze Raven. The lizards need to maintain their respective temperatures; Luzura needs her hair brushed, robes and hat washed and her staffed polished; and Knight Owl and Daze Raven need their armor polished" Zeo listed off the needs of the creatures, "think you can handle that, runt?" He asked King.
"Easy peasy." King said.
Zeo chuckled, before whispering to Luz, "Mind Meld with Luzura before we leave. Just to make things fun, don't let him onto this plan and don't say a thing like Luzura." He whispered to his girlfriend.
"You can count on me." She whispered back.
"Remember, you're being watched." Zeo told King while pointing to Tracker Tick.
"Do you really think I'd do something as underhanded as cheating?" King asked, offended.
"Yes" everyone replied in unison.
"Cheap shot." King said.
"And before you ask, no, I'm not giving you their command cards" Zeo said.
"Don't need them!" King confidently said. This caused him to laugh again.
Sometime later, King waved goodbye as Zeo and Eda left. The small demon then turned to Zeo's beasts.
"Alright, so, all I have to do is take care of you guys until sunset huh?" He said. "Easy as pie!" King said confidently, only to realize something. "Wait a minute, where's Luzura?!" King said upon noticing Luz's doppelganger missing. Knight Owl then raised a wing, hooting. Looking in the direction, he saw her. "There you are! Where have you been?!" King asked.
Luzura opened her mouth as if to say something, before remembering something.
"Well, why aren't you answering?" He said.
Pulling out her staff, she wrote out in the dirt: 'I'm mute without Luz, remember?' King read the message.
"Oh yeah, that's right." King said. "Well it doesn't matter; this bet is as good as mine!" King said marching towards the lizard brothers.
Luzura then chuckled. "I can't believe he bought that." "Luzura" Said to herself as she thought back to what she was doing.
[Flashback]
"Command Card: Mind Meld." Luz said, tossing the card between herself and her doppelganger, creating Merged Luzura, who then noticed something. "Don't you think he'll notice the colorations of the robe?" She asked.
"Allow me." Eda said, drawing a circle, changing Merged Luzura's robes to the color of regular Luzura's. "The color will only change with my command, so you won't have to worry about it with the wash. Unless he's stupid enough to wash it with something red, and I'm sure I don't have to tell you why."
"Do you really have to do all this for Luzura and the others?" Luz asked Zeo.
Nah, but it'll be funny when he's exhausted from all the work. Plus, I needed to think of something challenging for him" Zeo said.
"Yeah, you're definitely Eda's son" Luz smiled.
"It makes me so proud!" Eda said.
[End of Flashback]
King he had just reached the lizard brothers. "So, all I have to do is keep you two in your respective environments huh?" King said. "That means someplace hot for you," He pointed at Magma Lizard, "And someplace cold for you." He pointed at Frost Lizard.
The brothers hissed as they circled around King threateningly.
"Whoa, down, you two. Let's see, what does Zeo normally do with you two?" King asked while rubbing his chin.
Magma burned King's tail, causing him to scream in pain as he jumped, holding his rear in pain. Frost shot an ice ball, freezing most of his body to the ceiling. The brothers sat beside each other, smacking their tails together, their equivalent of a high five.
"Great, not even five minutes into this and already I'm being made a fool of." King said, casting a glance towards a nearby rock with Tracker Tick on it, to add extra pressure, Zeo told him not to use his camouflage feature.
Deep in the Forest…
"Gotta say, Mom, I'm surprised you agreed to spend the day with me" Zeo said.
"After that incident with Corman, I figured it would be a good idea." Eda said.
Zeo shuddered at the memory of the satyr's sword impaling him, "Yeah, good thinking."
"So, you brought your other cards, right?" Eda asked.
"Always, why?" Zeo asked.
"Just in case." Eda said. "So, how's school been for you?" She asked.
"Balancing Potions and Beast Keeping has been a bit trying, but I think I've been doing well." Zeo said.
"Your report cards definitely prove that." Eda said, pulling out a piece of paper with Zeo's name, showing he's been getting mostly A's.
Zeo glanced off to the side with an embarrassed smile and blush.
"Also, I want to put your cards to the test. How about a little magical sparring match?" Eda offered, winking at him.
"Eh, sure, I'm game" Zeo said with an accepting shrug, pulling out the card for one of his beasts.
The Owl House…
"Alright, the Lizard brothers are taken care of." King said. after he thawed out and, with much struggling, he had stuck Magma in the oven and Frost in the freezer. Clearly, neither of them was pleased. "Now, what's next?"
Suddenly, a laundry basket with Luzura's staff on top plopped down in front of him. He looked up to see Luzura in nothing but a towel around her body, holding a hairbrush.
"Oh, right." King said.
"What do you want me to do first, Luzura?" King asked. She handed him the hairbrush, "Seriously? Man, what's with girls and their hair?"
Luzura placed King on the couch, Luzura herself sitting on the floor in front of him. King then started brushing her hair.
"Funny, your hair is softer and silkier than Luz's" King commented. Luzura just shrugged, saying she didn't know why either.
"I know you're her doppelganger, but somehow you're prettier than her. Maybe it's the eyeshadow" King said. Luz then blushed. "You know, I just don't understand what they see in each other." King said, surprising her. "I mean, Zeo's a punk. I don't know why Luz puts up with him" King said, "And his cards aren't that impressive, especially that Heal-icorn card" he said.
Luzura remained silent as she listened to King's little rant.
"And don't get me started on Luz!" King said, unknowingly offending the part of merged Luzura that is Luz with every word. "She's so sweet and innocent, it's sickening. How does Zeo stand it?" King asked.
It took everything for Luz to stop herself from breaking character and firing back.
"I will say this though. That fusion of you and Knight Owl is pretty impressive. I'd be lying if I said I didn't find that form attractive, especially after Eda told me how you destroyed that satyr" King said, "Luz probably couldn't have done that by herself since she'd be too worried about Zeo" he added.
That Slightly comforted her. Until she realized that last part was sort of an insult to Luz.
"You're doing most of the work anyway. That's how it works, right? You're the one with the power while Luz just gives you the ability to talk? And all Zeo does is watches from the sidelines and throws those command cards?" King said, unsure how the merging and fusion worked.
"Well, that should be enough brushing, what do you think?" King asked. Merged Luzura nodded. "Now what?" She pointed at the laundry basket. "Oh right."
The Forest…
"You sure you want to do this?" Zeo asked.
"I want to see what you're really capable of. I figured I owe you a really sparring match since our last one was interrupted by… Well, you know" Eda said, trying not to bring up the incident again.
"Alright" Zeo shrugged, "Razor-dillo, arise!" He tossed the card, summoning the Amadillo with saw blades on its back, "Get ready for this, Mom" he told the older witch.
The Owl House…
Merged Luzura was filing her nails, waiting for King to finish washing the robes and polish the staff.
"Hey Luzura, good news! I finished the laundry." King said, bringing in the laundry basket. "Bad news, I may have made a mix up, and accidentally threw in a red sock." He said holding up the now pink robe and hat. "But hey, at least I polished your staff." He said, handing her the staff. The sight of the pink clothes made Luzura snap as she aimed her staff at King and fire a lightning spell at King. "OW!"
Merged Luzura blew the smoke off her staff. That was most likely the Luzura side of the merge talking. Afterwards, King was burnt.
"Ok, I guess I deserved that. But luckily for me, there's only one thing left: polish Knight Owl and Dave Raven's armor!" He said. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm was quickly displaced when he realized the size ratio between him and the bird siblings. "This might be harder than I thought." King said.
The Forest…
"Ok, you've taken out Razor-dillo and Heal-icorn" Zeo said, some of the battlefield around them having been destroyed, "Let's see how you do against this. Night Howler, arise!" He threw a card, summoning the dark dire wolf.
"Huh. I'm surprised you didn't leave her with King" Eda said with her hands on her hips.
"Normal I would've, but if I did, King probably wouldn't have gotten anything done. Might as well give the little runt some chance in this thing" Zeo admitted.
"That's nice of you. Now, show me what this pooch of yours can do" Eda said.
"Alright then. Command Card: Dark Blizzard!" He said tossing the command card into his chest. Night Howler then howled as he turned into a blizzard made of black snow.
"Sorry to be so cold. Looks like there's snow way out. This must be quite the chilling experience for you. It was ice doing this with you" Zeo joked as Eda started to freeze from the legs up.
"HA! This is nothing!" Eda said.
"Hm?" Zeo tilted his head.
Eda made two of the biggest spell circles possible and unleashed a big energy wave that sent the blizzard back, sending Night Howler back.
"That just goes to show how much you have left to learn Zeo." She said as she made another spell circle to melt the ice.
"Alright, how about this? Command Card: Shadow Missles" Zeo tossed a card into Night Howler's back. The wolf's fur stood on end. It howled as it released hail storm of pins made of hardened fur with shadowy auras.
"HAH! I'm the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles." She said summoning a forcefield that stopped them. "Do you really think that would be enough to get me!" She said before summoning a spell circle that unleashed a shock wave big enough to knock Night Howler back into his card form.
"Is this just a joke to you?" Zeo asked, holding Night Howler's card in his hand.
"Yeah, pretty much" Eda replied with a small shrug and an amused smirk.
The Owl House…
"Hah! Right wing done!" King said, looking at his reflection in the armor on Knight Owl's right wing.
Luzura then handed him a note that read: "It took you a whole hour just to get one wing done."
"Yeah, so?" King asked, she then wrote another note.
"You still have the other wing and the rest of his body, plus. you still have Daze Raven's armor to clean, and the sun sets in 30 minutes." King read.
"Oh, crap you're right!" King said worriedly.
Luzura then wrote another note, "Then there's the matter of the laundry mishap, and the lizard brothers broke out of the oven and freezer." King read.
"Yeah, I know I messed up with your robes, and- wait, what?!" He asked before looking into the kitchen to see the oven and freezer doors open, "Ugh!" King groaned, "Where could they be?" King asked before feeling the familiar burn of Magma Lizard's fire on his tail, followed by the familiar cold of Frost Lizard's Ice. "Dang it!" King said.
The Forest…
"Ok, try this. Crimson-Eyes Onyx Dragon, arise!" Zeo threw his card, summoning the black dragon with glowing red eyes, "Command Card: Chaos Fire Blast!" He threw the card into the dragon's back.
Crimson-Eyes flew into the air before firing a beam of red fire, two shadows coiling around it. Eda summoned a circle and aimed it at the ground, causing a gust of wind to propel her above him.
"This can't be good..." Zeo muttered.
Eda summoned a spell circle and fired her own fireball, hitting the dragon. Amazingly, he only staggered backwards.
"Damn..." Zeo muttered. Eda landed in front of them.
"Oh, Zee-Zee, don't be ashamed. I'm proud of you for trying at least" Eda told him, "Now, if you had brought Frostfire Dragon or Owl Paladin, then they'd be a challenge. Those fusions are incredible" she commented.
However, the black dragon got back up. That's when Zeo received a vision of a silhouette of a dragon, this one being metallic in some parts. He looked at his hand to see his Razor-dillo card had fully recharged. He also saw he still had Fusion Vortex as well.
"It's worth a shot." Zeo said, "Razor-dillo, arise!" he tossed the card, bringing out his armadillo, "Fusion Vortex!" he tossed the card between the two beasts.
They transformed into purple and bronze wisps respectively as they entered the vortex which exploded in a pillar earth and darkness. The results were a black dragon. This dragon had a metallic underbelly and undertail. It had metal claws and reflective underskin on its wings. Running down its spine were several saw blades. The tip of its tail was replaced with a metal spearhead with spikes protruding from it. To finish the look, on its face was a metal faceplate, its glowing red eyes piercing through.
"Come forth... Crimson-Eyes Razor Dragon!" Zeo shouted, his new beast releasing a might roar.
"Whoa." was all Eda could say.
"Not bad, eh?" Zeo asked. He then looked at the sky, "Oh, looks like the sun's about to set. Best we head home." He told his mother, "Return!" he recalled his dragon, the beast returning to the card forms of his fusion materials, "Did you see how awesome that dragon looked?" Zeo smiled at Eda.
"Definitely." Eda said.
The Owl House…
Later, Zeo and Eda had returned to the house to see Merged Luzura with pink robes, and Knight Owl and Daze Raven with their armor hardly even polished.
"Do I even need to ask?" Zeo raised an eyebrow.
"If you think this is bad, wait until you get inside." Luz said.
Zeo and Eda did so, only to discover the living room covered in burn marks and ice, with the lizard brothers alternating between burning and freezing King.
"Frost Lizard, Magma Lizard, return!" Zeo said, his lizards returning to him as cards, "I see you couldn't do it, could you, runt?" Zeo asked mockingly.
"Uh...…." Was all King could say.
[Cut to later]
In Bonesborough, people were laughing, throwing money at King as he was dancing, wearing a sandwich board that read: "My name is King, I'm a sad, pathetic loser give me money and I'll dance" "Me and my big mouth." King said as he did his best attempt at an Irish step dance.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Zeo and Luz were cuddling on the couch, Luz having de-mind melded from her counterpart some time ago.
"I knew he was going to lose." Zeo said as he and Luz cuddled, Luz nuzzling her head on his chest.
"Eh, it was worth it seeing King try so hard. Although what he said about us was a bit unnerving. Seriously, I was this close," She said pinching her index finger and thumb together. "To breaking character, especially after the laundry mishap." She said, the two laughing, before kissing again.
Zeo then pulled out his sketchpad and pencil and started sketching.
"What're you doing now?" Luz asked curiously.
"You'll see…" Zeo said. Several minutes later, he had finished the drawing, "Done" he said, tapping the glyph, creating a new card, a level 4 dark/fire beast. He then handed it to Luz.
"Hey, this kind of looks like…" Luz started.
"Yep" Zeo gave a confirming nod, "Odds are I'm never going to use it though, I just made it because a small part of me feels bad for the little dork" he told her.
"Aww, so a part of you does like King!" Luz beamed.
"Yeah, just don't tell the little guy I made the card for him, I don't want him thinking I'm going soft on him. You know, image and all that" Zeo said, taking the card and placing it in his pocket.
"Oh, Zeo…" Luz kissed his cheek, "You really are Eda's son"
And that's the end of this chapter. I think this is, like, the third or fourth chapter I've posted for this story in a week (at the time of this posting). This was co-written with JTWAS1994.
Just to be clear, the armor on Knight Owl's wing was referring to the shoulder guards he wears. Also, the unknown beast that Zeo created was thought up by Moheart7.
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