Chapter 14- battle against a group of rogue talking Beasts
"Your Majesty," said one of them, his sword drawn, "I think we saw some movement behind that hill."
"I hope it's not what I think it is," said another man, his sword also drawn. The King shot Quaoar a concerned look and walked over to the group of men on their horses. The other men including the commander and captain also drew their swords while Quaoar commanded his underlings to prepare for battle, having already deduced the flash of movement that group of men saw. Obediently, the group armed themselves. Weywot pulled out a hilt and a rock-like device from his satchel while Obi Wan and some of the other accompanying Green and Grey Men produced some stone-like devices. These weapons were called phaser swords and phasers and the former generated a burning sword while the latter shot energy blasts. Quaoar also got his GC sword prepared while Naihanchi twisted her tails and launched into flight. Bentley got his club prepared while Crimsonandil had her war flywheel prepared in her talons, the Vermillion Phoenix flying and scouring the surroundings and the Great River for any suspicious forms. While everyone else got prepared to fight whatever was threatening the groups, Quaoar commanded Glitterwing to return to the Saucer with Ozone.
"Why?" asked the female Cherub but the Kitsumiho enforced his command.
"No questions, Glitterwing, just obey my command," Quaoar hissed firmly, "Stay in there and do NOT come out."
Glitterwing hesitated for a second but upon seeing the King and his men shoot guard-raised glares in another direction when another flash of movement was spotted, she obeyed, spread her wings and took off for the Saucer. She told Ozone to hide in the Saucer and the Cloud-Man returned into the vehicle. Close by, some of Obi Wan's other Grey Men underlings, their phasers prepared and pointing to the surroundings, also shot glares in all directions while nearby, Crasher Wake stood with some of the King's men and also Adamans and Iridia, Thunderbolt the Raiju, Spock the Pegasus and Griffin the Occamy and a few other underlings that had volunteered to come with Quaoar on the mission such as a few Talking Meerkats and a Scarlet Macaw. Orchid the Golden-Egg Goose and Heather the Gold-Fleeced Ewe also got some medical kits including the latter's own prepared for they, too, had sensed imminent danger come upon the group. The groups continued shooting wary gazes in all directions until something flew over them. Immediately, the King, Quaoar, Obi Wan and their underlings shot a glare at the incoming air object, an eagle, as it glided over them and squawked. Adamans and Iridia came in, armed with a bow nocked with an arrow each for the Fenghuang couple were also skilled archers and pointed their arrows at the bird as it just flew harmlessly over the group. Some of the archers in the King's army also pointed their arrows at the eagle and got prepared to shoot it down but when they saw that it was merely harmless, they carefully lowered their guard. The eagle continued gliding over the group until finally, it headed for the nearby forest. As it disappeared, Quaoar and company looked on.
"I think it was just a harmless dumb bird of prey," said Naihanchi.
"Yes, we have plenty of those living in this area of our country," added Moana. Quaoar, however, refused to let his guard drop, and he had good reason to.
The King's men continued gazing in the direction of the eagle as it disappeared into the nearby forest when something crept behind those at the back. One of the men on his steed backed away but when he turned round, he came face to face with a MASSIVE brown furry animal, a bear. The bear released a snarl right into the man's face, making him scream and his horse to neigh and rear up. The beast's snarl seized the attention of the King, Quaoar and the others and they whirled round. To their horror, they saw the massive brown bear seize the man off his horse with its paws. Then as the man struggled in the bear's grasp, he found himself gazing eye to eye with the animal's face. Then the Bear's face creased into a murderous glare.
"Hello, Son of Adam scum," the Beast mockingly crooned, sending shivers down the man's spine. Then without further hesitation, the Bear which was of the Talking sort, proceeded to maul the poor human. Obi Wan immediately took action. He sprinted over to the Bear, seized a nearby rock telekinetically by flashing his eyes neon blue and encasing the object in an aura of the same colour, levitated the rock over to the Bear and smashed it over its head, knocking it out to rescue its victim. The others looked on but within moments, more animals, all of them of the Talking species, suddenly exploded from behind the hill and from the nearby forest and leaped upon the group. Among them was the eagle which had been flying overhead and as soon as the group of rogue Talking Beasts clashed with Quaoar, Obi Wan and the King's groups, a battle erupted.
The King released a battle cry to his men and they launched into battle against the rogue Talking Beasts which consisted mostly of Eagles and other Birds of Prey, Bears, Big Cats and a few Wolves and Boars, their swords and other weapons poised to attack. As two Wolves leaped upon one of the men and knocked him off his horse, Aang launched at the Canids and swiped them off the man, saving his life. Then one of the Wolves snapped its glare at the White Tiger and pounced onto him. Aang and his Wolf opponent rolled a few times, snarling and snapping their teeth and struggling in each other's forelegs in a wrestling match until finally, Aang flung his opponent at the Flying Saucer where it slammed into the vehicle's side. As the Wolf flopped onto the floor, a beam of orange energy slashed through the air and zapped the Wolf, knocking it out. Aang gazed at the shooter of the phaser beam, Gris and gave the Grey Man a nod of approval before continuing.
Some of Obi Wan's other assistants, some Lumino, drove back two Bears with their phaser swords as they tried to advance towards some more of the King's men as they fought to protect their leader against two Boars. Their fiery 'swords' slashed through the air like actual metal swords heated to white-hot except these 'blades' glowed in other colours like green and blue, and made the two Bears back away. Then one of the Bears lunged at one of the Luminos but before it could seize him in its jaws and paws, a double-disc attached to a string flew in and struck it in the jaw. A pained snarl exploded from the Bear as some of its teeth were knocked out and sent flying, making one of the other Luminos flinch as a few of the shards flew his way. The injured Bear and its companion then backed away in stun as a red and orange Bird with a few flames dancing around her appeared. Then as soon as Crimsonandil returned her flywheel to her talon, she flung her wings outward and sent a barrage of flames at the Bears to drive them away. Then she joined the Lumino in helping the King's men confronted by the Boars to help them drive the Wild Pigs away.
Somewhere else in the battlefield, more of the King's men drove away more Talking Beasts. A Tiger, a Regular one, lunged at another man but was cut down by his sword. Another Cat, a Cheetah, launched itself at another man, landing on his back and began to savagely bite and claw him. Nearby, Moral used his large size to flatten some of the smaller rogue Talking Beasts while Bentley swung his club at some attacking flying opponents, the Birds of Prey as they tried to land on him and savagely claw and peck him. As they did that, mini-spears shot in alongside some rocks and small flames and bolts and several phaser beams. The archers, among them Adamans and Iridia and phaser users, among them Weywot, shot their arrows and phaser beams at the attacking Birds of Prey, only striking when they were a safe distance from Bentley. Thunderbolt launched his bolts at the Birds while Moana launched fireballs from her mouth. Like most Dragons, Azure Dragons could breathe fire but they also mastered other rare and unusual breath abilities like ice and lightning and Moana had trained to utilise these skills. Then Moana switched her breath weapon to ice and launched an ice ball at two of the Owls as they tried to lunge at Bentley. The ice encased these Birds' wings and took them out of the air like stones. As they crashed into the grass, Spock appeared, reared up and flapped his wings and brought down his front hooves onto the Owls to knock them out. Bentley shot Moana a surprised look.
"I didn't know you could breathe ice," the Giant said.
"Just focus on the battle, Bentley," Moana snapped as she dart off to confront a Wolf after it had managed to wound a Green Man. Bentley did so and continued swinging his club at the flying attackers.
Some of the rogue Talking Birds of Prey hovered near Caesium and continued lashing their beaks at the Chroma Cat. However, the Chroma Cat countered with paw swipes. Then one of the Falcons managed to dart at Caesium and land on his head. After this, it proceeded to bite his ears, making the Chroma Cat release cries of agony and thrash to get the Bird off his head but the Falcon hung on. The others then plunged in and within moments, Caesium was on his back struggling to fight off his opponent to as they continued biting him and raking their claws in to his colourful pelage. Then before it looks like Caesium would be overwhelmed, a neon blue aura suddenly encased his attacking Avian opponents, stopping them... DEAD... to their outraged surprise. Caesium looked up and as his feathered opponents continued to hover in the air in the neon blue glows, angrily thrashing, a colourful Nekomata flying by spinning her two tails appeared, her eyes also aglow with neon blue, and with a MASSIVE grunt and a flinging open of her arms, telekinetically sent the Birds of Prey flying at high speed in the direction of the forest. The Birds slammed HARD into the tree trunks and dropped to the floor. Naihanchi then released them from her mental grip and watched them cry in pain, some of them suffering broken wings. Caesium came in but then a Wolf darted in and landed onto his back. Immediately, Naihanchi flew in, flashed her eyes neon blue once again but rather than project her telekinetic grasp onto the Wolf, she instead channelled it into her long hair tied into braids and ponytails. As soon as she was close to the Wolf, she lashed at it with her hair and began to slap it repeatedly in the face with them. With it distracted, Caesium seized the Canid in his paw and flung it at another Bear as it challenged Griffin the Occamy. The Wolf slammed into the Bear's side and both the rogue Talking Beasts collapsed into the grass. The Bear tried to rise but Griffin lashed at it and clamped his beak into its shoulder to damage it, making it snarl in agony. After this the Bird-Snake-like Occamy turned and nodded to Naihanchi and Caesium thankfully, before slithering off to confront another foe. Naihanchi and Caesium did the same.
Obi Wan struck down more rogue Talking Beasts by using telekinesis on them and also shooting them down with his phaser. Near him, the Talking Meerkats drove away a Regular Talking Cat while a few more Lumino and Green Men drove away another Boar, a Regular Tiger and some more Birds of Prey with their phasers, telekinesis and phaser swords. Close by, Crasher Wake found himself surrounded by some Wolves but he immediately flared his aura to horrific enough brilliance to blind his foes. Then he took the Wolves down with some fireball blasts. Some Star People can wield fiery abilities and Crasher Wake was one of them. Somewhere else in the battlefield, the King cut down more attacking Talking Beasts with his sword but he eventually found himself confronted by a particularly LARFGE Bird of Prey. This Bird of Prey was of the massive Eagle species and its wingspan was twice the total arm-span of an adult male human or Son of Adam. The King, briefly stunned by the massive Bird, then lashed at it with his sword but the Giant Eagle seized the blade in its beak, yanked it out of the King's hand and tossed it aside. Then the Eagle lashed at the King with its talons. Initially the King blocked its talon swipe with his shield but the Eagle seized that out of his hands and threw it aside as well. As soon as the King was vulnerable, the Eagle fired another talon swipe at him. This time, it hit the King in the shoulder and knocked him off his horse, severely injuring him. The monarch crashed into the grass with his crown flying from his head, his face twisted in agony from his horrific injury on his shoulder. As he grunted and wailed in agony, the massive Eagle then hovered over him and, with a bloodthirsty glare on its face for it was a Talking Eagle, it flared its talons and prepared for the deathblow but before it could do that, a MASSIVE Fox snarl exploded nearby, seizing its attention. The King, severely injured, looked painfully up and saw an ivory and white form with nine tails launch himself at the Eagle and tackle it away from him. Then Quaoar engaged the massive Eagle in battle as soon as it was away from the King, his paws gripping Kushanku's sword. Though he had been initially clumsy in wielding the GC sword for he had never used such a weapon, he eventually got used to it. Quaoar, reared up on his hind legs continued swinging the large sword at the huge Eagle to drive it back and as he did that, he shot Heather the Gold-Fleeced Ewe nearby as she helped an injured man to safety with Orchid the Golden-Egg Goose.
"HEATHER, your FIRE FLOWER CORDIAL to the KING, NOW," the Kitsumiho bellowed before resuming fighting his opponent and to direct Heather to the King, he nodded to the man. Immediately, the golden wool Ewe darted from Orchid and her initial patient's side and ran over to the King. Seeing that he was severely injured, she immediately seized her bottle of fire-flower cordial, uncapped it and quickly administered it to the King.
"Open your mouth, Your Majesty," Heather commanded. The King initially hesitated upon seeing the bottle of bizarre red liquid but seeing no other choice, he relented and did so. Immediately, Heather sent a drop of the cordial into his mouth and immediately recapped the bottle and returned it to her first aid kit satchel. Within moments, the King recovered from his injury to his surprise.
"What sort of drink is THAT?" he asked in wonder.
"Save that question for later," said Heather, "Your men need help."
And with that, the Gold-Fleeced Ewe left, rejoined Orchid and continued helping the Goose to get their human patient to safety. The King looked on, immediately rose to his feet, seized his crown and placed it onto his head once again, grabbed his shield and sword his Eagle opponent and attempted killer and returned to battle.
Quaoar continued battling the massive Eagle by continuously swiping Kushanku's sword at it. As Quaoar stumbled from one of the swipes and collapsed onto his front in the grass, the Eagle looked on scornfully.
"Is that the best you can do, Nine-Tailed Fox?" the rogue Bird of Prey mocked, "Maybe swordfighting is NOT in your skill-set."
Quaoar shot the Bird of Prey a glare as it then hovered higher up into the air and prepared its lethal talons. Immediately, he flashed his eyes neon blue and took hold of the GC sword in a telekinetic grasp, a neon aura surrounding it. Then he shot his winged foe a glare.
"It probably isn't, but maybe THIS IS," the Kitsumiho retorted and as the Eagle, a screech exploding from its mouth then swooped at him with its talons poised for jabbing into him, the Nine-Tailed Fox unsheathed the smaller blade from its bigger hilt telekinetically and at the EXACT moment before his foe could plunge its deadly talons into him, Quaoar slashed it with the smaller sword. Nearby, Aang and Crimsonandil continued helping some more of the King's men to drive off some Boards when they heard Eagle cries of agony. Immediately, they turned and shot gazes in Quaoar's direction and saw the Nine-Tailed Kitsumiho reared up on his hind legs and glaring mercilessly at his feathered foe as it fell into the grass, dead, his telekinetic grasp on both the small and large blades that made up Kushanku's GC sword. This had an immediate effect on the other rogue Talking Beasts and they immediately stopped fighting. Then what came out of the mouth of one of the Bears sent UTMOST surprise coursing through Quaoar, Obi Wan and company. From the Saucer, Glitterwing and Ozone looked out but remained hidden to avoid getting spotted by the rogue Talking Beasts.
"Our team leader's been killed, RETREAT!" cried the Bear and within moments, the rogue Talking Beasts abandoned their attack on the group and fled. Quaoar and the others including the King and his men looked on in surprise. However, Quaoar unsheathed the GC sword-within-a-sword, which was now his, with his telekinesis and took hold of it with his paws, releasing it from his mental grasp, the neon blue aura disappearing and his eyes returning to their usual icy blue colour.
"Back to the Flying Saucer, everyone, QUICKLY," the Kitsumiho commanded and immediately, the others including Obi Wan put away their weapons and bolted for the flying vehicle to board it. Quaoar turned to the King as he helped his men deal with their injured comrades but the King commanded him to leave.
"You carry on with your mission, Fox," he said, "We'll take it from here."
"Thanks for your help," added the army commander. Quaoar nodded in approval and left to join his group as they continued to board the Saucer. The injured members of Quaoar and Obi Wan's group were carried aboard. Only a select few with the most severe injuries will receive a drop of Heather's fire-flower cordial due to how limited she was in the meagre supply she had. Then as soon as everyone was inside, the Flying Saucer's tongue-like ramp retracted into its body and its door closed. Then a gush of wind began from the vehicle as it levitated into the air, its engines in operation again. Its landing legs also retracted into its body and as soon as the Saucer was ready, it flew off while the King and his men continued to see to their casualties and continue with their own duties. Their faith in the Talking Beasts had been reinvigorated thanks to Quaoar and company and they were encouraged by the fact that not all Talking Beasts had become feral. However, the Saucer flew off after the fleeing group of rogue Talking Beasts for Obi Wan and Quaoar wanted to properly investigate and see for sure if they had come from Asgard. As he piloted the Saucer with Gris, Obi Wan activated a special trait built into the Saucer called the cloaking device which rendered the Saucer invisible, sort of like a giant invisible cloak, a rare magical cloak that made the user disappear when they covered themselves with it. Many Flying Saucers had this camouflage ability and it allowed the riders of the Saucer to stealthily follow opponents without them noticing it as well as infiltrate enemy territory undetected. However, there was a drawback to this ability. Though the cloaking ability allowed the Flying Saucer visual camouflage to ordinary eyes, it does not protect against sound and heat detectors which functioned like our world's ultrasound radar system and infrared camera respectively. Asgard Sky City had these detectors built which was why Quaoar and company will not be able to fly straight to the city without detection, even while cloaked.
The Flying Saucer continued following the fleeing rogue Talking Beasts and as it did so, it melted into invisibility as its cloaking device took it over.