The Dragon's Bounty II:Rising Shadow

Chapter 6

          Ekpen looked forward out the window of the cart to see lines of armored M'Feles standing in front of the large capital city.
          "We're here!" He shouted through the wind. Everyone nodded. They trudged into the protective bubble and into the city, where the king and the General were sitting on two armored bears.
          "Wait!" Khan shouted. Both looked down at him. Suddenly, he was surrounded by spears.
          "You are from Tritanus! You trespass in our territory!" The king shouted.
          "No, father, wait." The king looked over to Ekpen, who put his paw on one of the spears and lowered it. Lance and Destiny dropped their jaws.
          Andrew looked over to them. "Seriously, you didn't expect that?" He asked.
          "I brought them here." Ekpen said.
          "Why did you bring these evil people to our city?!" The king shouted.
          Ekpen sighed. "This is The Dragon's Bounty. They're here to stop the war." Khan nodded with a smile.
          "The Dragon's Bounty? The criminals turned heroes?"
          Khan's smile grew and he and nodded. "That's us." He said.
          The king narrowed his vision. "How do I know you didn't manipulate everyone to think you're heroes?"
           Khan shrugged. "I guess you don't, but it's true, whether you believe it or not." He put his hands on his hips. "Now, why exactly are you attacking Tritanus?"
           The king thought about it for a moment. "They have taken from us!" The army shouted in agreement.
           Khan lowered his eyebrows in annoyance. "We haven't entered your land."
          "You have killed our people!" The army shouted.
          "M'Feles are welcomed, along with all other races, to Tritanus."
          "You have brought tyranny to your land of Tritanus! We shall liberate it!" The army shouted.
           "We're literally about to pass the king's title down to the princess' chosen husband."
           The king looked down at him. "I don't know why we attack, but we do! And don't get in our way! Men, move out!" The army shouted and began marching forward.
           "I think we made it worse." Andrew said, slumping over.
           "It would appear so." Khan said.
           Lance launched into the air and floated in front of the army, barely able to stay stable as the wind shoved him around. "Stop! Our lands have gotten along for millennia! Why stop now?"
          "Our king commands it!" The army shouted together.
          Lance raised his eyebrows. "Wow. That was quick. Ok, well can't we just talk this out?" The army surged past him from below. Lance sighed and flew back to his friends. "Well that didn't work." He said.
          Khan nodded. "We need a new plan." He said.
          "I have reason to believe they are under the control of a demon, the demon of the depths." Ekpen said.
          Khan nodded. "It's possible. Only thing is, the demon of the depths lives in the water. How would he be able to survive out here?" Ekpen's brow rose and he raced across the frozen tundra for a few minutes, finally wiping the snow off of the ground, revealing a thick sheet of ice.
           "Under there. There's plenty of freezing cold water."
           "How were you not affected by the demon's power?" Destiny asked.
           Ekpen shrugged. "I just wasn't." Khan looked at Lance, who nodded. The two jumped up into the air, summoning their energies around both their left legs, raising them up. As they came back down, they kicked together at the thick ice. A large hole exploded in the ice, revealing the water below.
          "How how do we not die when we enter?" Lance asked.
          Khan put his hand to his chin. "Well, we'd have to avoid freezing and drowning." He looked over at Andrew. "How much cold resistance and lung capacity could you give me?" Andrew shrugged.
           "What if you just shocked the water?" Destiny asked. Khan shrugged and pointed his fingers down at the water. He snapped, launching a lightning bolt which spread out when it hit the water. Nothing seemed to happen.
           "It appears the demon isn't in the radius of the lightning." Khan said. Andrew took his guitar off his back and began to strum.
          "I have better maneuverability in water." Lance said. "Give me the boost."
           Andrew shook his head. "Physical boosts only work on humans." He focused on Khan, who felt a surge of energy. He took a large breath, much larger than he'd ever taken before. He waved and jumped into the water, which despite his cold protection was still freezing. He looked around and noticed that one direction led to gradually darker water. He narrowed his eyes and began swimming in that direction. He looked around as the water became darker, his movements slowed by the thick, sticky substance, he could hardly see anything after a few moments.
           "It was not wise to come here, human." He heard a deep voice echo around the water. Khan stopped and looked around with squinted eyes, still unable to see his target. Suddenly, a huge tentacle flew out of the darkness and slammed into his chest, sending him tumbling backward through the water. He had to cough but held it in. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes. Lightning surged through the water around him, entering the darkness just as easy as the water. "That stings." Khan felt a tentacle wrap around him and begin to squeeze. "You were a fool to come at all, but you should have at least brought your friends." The demon laughed, sending sound waves through the water that smacked against Khan's face. Khan felt himself about to burst, so he sent a stream of lightning to the surface, which busted on the ice and gave the visual of crawling across the bottom of it. Khan's eyes began to bulge. Suddenly, Khan was pulled to the surface, straight through an upward stream of water from a singular small hole. He slammed into the ice and took a deep breath, looking back at Lance, who had punched the ice. The water stopped streaming upward and settled down.
           "How did you do that?" Khan asked.
           Lance smiled. "Ekpen said that sometimes the ice breaks and sends water upward in this region. Something about the pressure under the ice, I didn't understand it, but I did that." Khan nodded, looking down. He wiped the snow away, looking down at the thick black water.
           "He's right here." Everyone nodded. The ice began cracking around them. Eight tentacles shattered it and shot into the air. A terrible roar echoed across the snowy landscape before a ginormous bulbous head came up through the ice, allowing all of them to see the demon's size.
           Andrew's jaw dropped. "THAT'S The Kraken?!" He shouted. Ekpen nodded firmly.
          "Why did we think I could handle it alone?" Khan asked, jumping up to join his friends on the various pieces of floating ice they were standing on.
          Lance shrugged. "I'm not so sure the five of us can handle it."
          Khan smiled and held up his fist. "We can do anything as long as we do it together."
          Andrew noticed he'd drifted pretty far away. "If that's as supposed to be encouraging then I don't feel encouraged!" He shouted. Khan shrugged.
           "Just buff up and hit the darn thing!" Lance shouted, floating up with glowing red fists. Andrew nodded and strummed a tune, stretching out his clothes with his new bulk. He restrapped the guitar to his back and launched himself toward the Kraken, shattering the ice platform he had been standing on. He pulled back his fists and slammed it into the Kraken's head. His fist simply sank in and bounced back out, sending him tumbling toward the water. The Kraken grabbed him and moved him over to It's large eye.
           "You dare attack me?!" It shouted.
           Andrew nervously chuckled. "In my defense, you attacked us first." Suddenly, he was thrown into the water, which was freezing. He pulled himself onto an ice sheet and pulled out his guitar, the end breaking off in wet wood shards. "My guitar!!" He shouted. He clenched his teeth together and turned to face the Kraken. "You broke my guitar!" He shouted, launching himself toward the Kraken once again, clutching the remains of his guitar. He began slamming the pieces into the Kraken, shattering each one in rage. Khan fired a lightning bolt at the Kraken's eye with a smile.
           "As I told you before, that stings!" It launched a few tentacles at Khan, who jumped up and began running across the tentacle, sending an electric shock into the Kraken with each step he took. Small barbs began sinking into the Kraken's skin. It looked over to see Destiny with pink flowers growing from her palms, firing sharp barbs from them. It dashed over and launched a few tentacles at her. Lance ducked in and grabbed her before the Kraken could. Lance held Destiny in one hand and fired beams from the other, allowing Destiny to continue barraging the Kraken with barbs.
          Khan had reached the point where the tentacle went back into the water and took a leap to get to the Kraken's head. The Kraken turned its eye to look at him. Khan smiled and waved as he launched farther up the Kraken's head. Andrew was standing atop the giant mountain of slimy skin, shattered pieces of wood all around him.
          "We probably could have fixed it." Khan said. Andrew stomped his foot into the squishy surface of the Kraken.
          "What level demon even is this? We don't seem to be hurting it at all." Andrew said through his teeth.
          Khan put his hand to his chin. "It's one of the third level demons."
          Andrew looked over to him. "What level were those others we fought?"
          "The eight guys who actually did damage to us? Those were level fours."
          "So stronger?" Andrew asked.
          Khan shook his head. "Demon rank goes from one down. This is a rank three."
          Andrew nodded. "So he's super tough and we probably should have called the entire team?"
          Khan nodded. "Precisely. Personally I didn't think he'd be this big."
          Andrew nodded. "So how we gonna kill it?" Khan thought for a moment as Destiny and Lance distracted the Kraken for him.
          "If this is one of the seven third levels, maybe it's tied to one of the seven deadly sins. You heard that theory?" Khan asked.
          Andrew shrugged. "That's a possibility, but even if it is, how do we tell which one it is?"
          Khan thought for a moment. "Well, clearly it makes people mad at other people, and what sin makes people mad at others for little to no reason?"
          Andrew thought for a moment. "Possibly envy? Maybe they're envious of Tritanus, they just don't know it."
         Khan pointed to him. "Bingo. And what's envy's weakness?"
         Andrew smiled. "Revealing to it just how much it doesn't have."
         Khan smiled and nodded. "Hey, calamari!" He shouted. A tentacle surged by, barely missing him. "You missed!" He shouted.
          "You shall pay mortal! Pay for disturbing my slumber!"
          Khan smiled. "Hey, just wondering, can you clap?"
          The Kraken growled at him. "You know I don't have hands!" Khan smiled. He mouthed the word 'envy' to Lance, who nodded and whispered it into Destiny's ear. Destiny smiled and nodded. Andrew helped pull Ekpen up to the Kraken's head.
         "Feet are pretty nice, too." Khan said, dodging another tentacle.
         "Shut up!" The Kraken's shouted.
         Andrew smirked. "You don't even have a cool magical power. You're just a bigger version of all the other squids in the world!" The Kraken roared and began using all its tentacles to attack the three on his head, who were all able to dodge it.
          "You'll never be able to fly!" Lance shouted.
          "And you'll never find true love!" Destiny shouted.
          The Kraken looked up at them and began attacking them instead. "If I prove my worth to my master, he told me I'll have what you have! So let me kill you!"
          "Not until you can wear cool clothing accessories like my cool Stormy Fox pin!" Khan said with a smile. The Kraken roared again. Its attacks were becoming less and less oriented.
          "Ok, now we've got him mad, but how do we attack him?" Andrew asked, dodging tentacles left and right.
          "Maybe I can cut us a way in!" Ekpen shouted, ejecting his claws again. He began swiping at the skin on its head, but it would just sink in and pop back out.
         "How do we hit it?!" Andrew asked, punching a tentacle out of the way.
          Khan flipped over a few tentacles and brought an electric knuckle back down to the Kraken's head. "Well, it doesn't seem to like lightning. Maybe we could do something with that?" Andrew shrugged and jumped out of the way of another tentacle. A sharp barb landed right beside Ekpen, who had an idea. He pulled the barb out and sure enough, there was a small hole in the Kraken's skin. He smiled and plugged the hole once again.
          "Hit this!" He shouted. Khan turned and nodded, preparing to snap his fingers. But right before he could, he was completely wrapped up in a tentacle, being yanked off of the Kraken's head. Khan looked into the Kraken's massive eye with a nervous smile.
          "Oh, hey." He said.
          "Hi." The Kraken responded in an angry voice. Lance and Destiny focused their fire on the tentacle holding Khan up, but to no avail. Andrew picked up a shard of his guitar and jumped off of the Kraken's head, raising the spike over his head with a mighty battle cry. With all his enhanced strength, he thrust the spike downward, into the tentacle holding Khan. The Kraken roared and dropped Khan to tend to its wound. Andrew grabbed Khan and threw him back up as he plummeted toward the freezing water.
          "Finish it!" He shouted. Khan nodded sternly as he landed on top of the Kraken's head. Ekpen continued to hold off the tentacles while Khan located the barb and snapped his fingers. A tendril of lightning stretched at top speeds toward the barb. When the two connected, the entire inside of the Kraken began to light up. Khan smiled and continued to snap his fingers, creating an almost constant stream of electricity into the Kraken's body. The Kraken began expanding, never ceasing its roar. Lance flew down and grabbed Andrew, pulling him out of the water and on to the large sheet of ice that surrounded the pit of water. Bubbles began to arise around the Kraken, steam released from each one.
          "Go!" Khan shouted. Ekpen nodded and leapt off of the Kraken, landing with the others. Suddenly, the Kraken exploded into a mesh of guts and tainted seawater, sending Khan flying. He crashed into the ice and went straight through it. When Lance pulled him up, he looked around at the huge mess. "Did we win?" He asked. Lance smiled and nodded.
          "Not so fast!" A high pitched and squeaky voice shouted from behind them. Everyone looked down to see a small squid inching its way across the snow covered ice. "You can't get rid of me that easily!" The Kraken shouted. Khan picked him up and looked him in the eye, despite the Kraken's squirms and shouts of "Put me down!" Khan smiled and gave the Kraken a little zap. He tossed the steaming squid into the water and began walking back toward the city.
          "We have to make sure we stopped the war." He said. Everyone nodded and followed him. When they got back to the city, the M'Feles had not yet returned. "Lance, go see if they've stopped." Lance nodded and zoomed off into the now clear skies. Upon spotting the M'Feles army, they had not stopped, nor had they slowed. Lance flew back and shook his head.
          "They're still marching."
          "Well now what?" Andrew asked.
          Khan thought for a moment before he put on a face of confusion. "For the first time, I'm not sure."