The Dragon's Bounty II:Rising Shadow

Chapter 11

Huey jumped to his feet and held out his hand. A brown hilt embedded with sapphires appeared, creating a blade of water. He spun the sword around in his hand. The water wavered as Huey thought about the weapon he might need for this fight. He jumped and flipped around, using his water to dodge the red beams of energy flying at him. A water knife shot toward Mother, but went straight through her face.
She smiled. "You're not a marked one. You can't fight me." Iris clenched her teeth.
"Careful, that's my friend you're throwing knives at." Huey said, landing beside her.
"Make me a marked one." She said.
Huey scratched the back of his head. "It doesn't exactly work that way." He said.
"Why not?!" Iris shouted.
"We need the god of war totem, and I'm not entirely sure where that ended up." They were split up by a red beam. Hydra jumped on Mother's back and began slamming his head into the back of Lance's.
"You infernal reptile!" She grabbed his shoulders and threw him against the ground.
"You're mean, Mother!" Hydra whined, rolling over to his allies.
"I'll go find the totem." Iris said. "What do I say?"
Huey shook his head. "You'll have to bring it back up here. He'll need to know I 'nominate' you, or whatever." Iris nodded and raced down the hall. "Treasury is left!" Huey shouted. Iris raced back through the throne room and down the other hall. Huey looked back up at Mother, who was in a fist fight with Hydra. He formed his blade into a blunt mace and jumped up behind her, slamming it against her head.
"Ow!" She proclaimed, but it was Lance's voice.
"Your friend didn't like that." Mother said, but to her own voice. "Maybe you should play nicer!" She stretched out her hand toward him.
"Uh oh." Huey said, unable to move in time. All the water floating around him began distorting and making random shapes, including his sword, an awful ringing echoing around in his head. He dropped Borathenus and clutched his ears, trying to make the ringing stop. He looked at one hand to see his ears had started to bleed. "Not good." He was barely able to speak.
Hydra patted him on the back. "Enjoy the rest. It never lasts long." He began transforming into his dragon form. "Now, get out of my way so I can take a rest, too!" He lunged at Mother, who grabbed his middle head and flipped him over, completely demolishing the throne and the back wall.
"You should never have defied me, lizard." Hydra flipped himself over and roared. Huey looked down at Borathenus, which was still rapidly switching between blades. He looked up at Hydra, then back at the sword. He took a gulp and picked up the sword with his bloodied hands. His mind aflame with the shrill pain, he launched himself upward and raised his blade. While both were distracted, he swung his sword down, using whatever sharp end of the water to cut off one of Hydra's heads, moving to the next, then the last. Two rapidly grew back for each one, giving him six heads. Huey crashed into the ground, the hilt of his sword clattering down beside him.
"Thanks, buddy!" Hydra shouted with all six heads.
"What have you done?!" Mother shouted. Hydra wrapped Lance's body up in one of his necks, opening his mouths and completely surrounding her. All five throats began glowing, sending a stream of lightning from each one at once. Mother shouted out in pain. The symbol crumbled off of Lance's hand and his voice switched back to his own.
"Ok, stop!" Huey shouted. Hydra closed his mouths and dropped Lance to the ground. Huey crawled over to Lance, who looked up at him.
"Thanks, man." He said.
Huey smiled and collapsed beside him. "Anytime." He said, wincing in pain.
"You thought you were done with me?!" Mother's voice echoed around the throne room. Lance sat up and helped Huey to his feet, wiping the blood off on his pants. His fists blazed with energy as he looked around.
"Lance." Huey said painfully. Lance looked over to him. "I believe in you." He said with a smile. Lance smiled, the red energy traveling up his arms to his elbows. He held out his wings, switching from the gold and red pattern to their golden sheen, combat ready. Huey shook his head, finally rid of the shrill sound in his head. He wiped the blood off of the sides of his head, wiping his hands on his tunic.
Lance held out his hand, Calibrus appearing. "You ready?" He asked. Huey picked up Borathenus and formed the water around him into a blade.
"Ready as I'll ever be." He said. Lance smiled and nodded. A flickering of dark energy appeared in the air above them. A large figure with six arms and a scorpion tail appeared. Mother's laugh continued to echo around the throne room, the sound escaping from a mouth with two mandibles protruding from the sides of her mouth. She slammed into the ground. "I was afraid of that." Huey said.
Lance nodded. "Last time this didn't exactly go as planned."
Huey nodded. "Maybe this time it'll go different? We're stronger right?"
Lance nodded slowly. "Yes, the two of us equal more than the previous six of us."
"We're screwed."
"Yep."
"What's the plan?" Hydra asked. Huey and Lance looked back at him.
"We have absolutely no idea." Huey said. Mother raised her arms, but suddenly, a small translucent blue blade pierced one of her arms, reducing itself to a puddle shortly after. Mother turned around to see Iris standing there, her arm still stretched out forward from throwing the spear. Behind her stood Dagger, Khan, Kai, Duros, Destiny, Ekpen, Alexander, Aro, Andrew, and Emma.
"I got some approval." Iris said with a smirk. Huey raised his sword with a joyous shout.
"You're all back so soon?" Mother asked. "But how?!" Khan opened his mouth, but Aro held up his hand.
"Cuz we're The Dragon's Bounty, baby." He grinned, drawing an arrow and notching it in his bow. Khan smiled and rolled his eyes. Duros held out his hand, summoning Zenothius. Kai tapped his stone, flaming wings and a shrill bird call echoing around from his back.
"Let's rumble." Huey said with a smirk.
Mother laughed. "If you wish." Andrew had stopped to grab a guitar and strummed it. He bulked out and placed the guitar against the wall, slamming his fist into his palm. Mother grinned. "This outa be fun." She said.
"Go!" Khan shouted. Everyone let out a battle cry and shot forward. Alexander held out his hand toward Mother, stealing her magical ability.
"No more Calamity!" He shouted.
Mother growled. "How dare you?!" She shouted. Aro planted his fist into his palm, releasing his signature battle cry, his fists glowing a vibrant blue. In the middle of his shout, Huey placed his finger on the back of his neck, increasing his sound tenfold. The blue spread across his entire body, even his bow and arrows.
"Thanks." He said with a smirk. He launched himself forward, slamming his fist into Mother's shoulder, knocking her to the side. Emma snuck to the side and grabbed the crown, sneaking back out into the street and hiding it in a bush. She sprinted back into the fight, tugging at the hilt of her sword, but it still wouldn't budge.
"Come on! I wanna do something!" She shouted. Andrew sent an uppercut to Mother's chin, sending her stumbling backward. She grabbed him and threw him into the wall. Lance flew around firing beams at Mother, attempting to distract her. Destiny fired thorns from her palm flowers, covering her legs in the small sharp objects. Ekpen lunged forward, slicing at her leg. He looked down at his shoulder, which now had a dragon tattoo on it.
He grinned. "I love this thing!" He shouted, sending another slice along her leg. Khan jumped up and sent a flurry of lightning charged punches into her face, Kai coming up from behind and sending an array of flame-propelled kick and punches at the back of her head, ping-ponging her forward and backward. Dagger pulled back his sword and sliced across one of her shoulders, nearly taking the arm off. Duros swung up and used his stone legs to slam into Mother's stomach, knocking her forward into Khan, who launched off of her and fired a few lightning bolts. He drew his sword and pointed it at her, firing larger bolts at a slower rate. Huey created a multitude of hammers and axes to slam into Mother's back, while Duros coiled threads around her legs, causing her to fall.
"Enough!" Mother shouted, swatting them all away. She jumped up and attached herself to the ceiling like a spider. "You have had your turn, now it's time for mine." She began laughing in a lower tone than normal. She opened her mouth, low level demons beginning to rain down from above. Kai grabbed one's face and incinerated it, dropping the body to the ground. He flipped over and kicked another in the back, snapping its spine in half. Khan sliced through demon after demon with his sword. Huey made a different weapon for each scenario, optimizing his strikes to the best of their ability. Aro jumped around punching demons in the chest and face, making sure they were dead before moving on. Andrew stayed in one spot and clobbered any demons that got close to him. Emma unbuckled her scabbard from her back and swung the sword around with the scabbard still surrounding the blade.
"This sucks." She said with a groan. Duros sent out his sword as long as it would stretch, running double digits of demons through with every strike, holding them off from the other side with a stone attached to a thread he used as a meteor hammer. Destiny slashed around with her arm blades, spinning and firing thorns between their eyes. Lance alternated between blasting demons and slicing them with his sword, continuously holding the area behind him with his bladed wings. Dagger used dark punches and his terrifying sword to take care of any demons in his path. Ekpen roared and tackled demon after demon, shredding each one he jumped on. Iris used two water katanas to jump around and slice the demons in half. Alexander was holding his own, careful not to let any of the demons get near his vulnerable shoulder, which now housed a dragon tattoo as well. Lance began firing up at Mother, but her shell had hardened, every beam dispersing when it collided with the shell.
"We can't hit her!" Lance shouted. Khan began firing lightning bolts, but to no avail.
"I've got a trick up my sleeve." Alexander said. "Get me up there!" Andrew nodded and grabbed him under his shoulder, heaving him up toward Mother. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were yellow with red lines as pupils. His throat began to glow. He opened his mouth and released the Demogorgon's fires from the deepest depths of Gehenna, to which Mother began screaming in agony. Aro jumped up and caught him, high fiving him on the way back down to the ground.
Mother dropped down and roared. "This fight has gone on long enough!" She shouted.
"I agree." Khan said, pointing his sword at her. "Divine Smite!" A giant bolt of lightning came through the ceiling and struck her in the head.
Huey jumped up and began spinning. "Giant water wheel!" He shouted, creating a large spinning saw around him as he spun, cutting into her torso.
Kai flew into the air and pulled his arms back. "Phoenix Fury!" He shouted. A bird made of fire shot out from his chest and zoomed toward Mother.
Lance held back and pointed his own blade. "Crimson Pierce!" A fine line of red energy beamed out from his sword, putting clean hole all the way through Mother's body. He slowly began moving it to the side.
Dagger pointed his staff at Mother's face. "Invasive Shadow!" Dark energy leaked from her eyes and ears as she screamed out in pain. Duros rocketed forward on a piece of earth rapidly protruding from the ground, stone building up around his fist, tied together by his threads.
"And don't forget Tectonic Fist!" He slammed the giant rock fist into her stomach, right next to Kai's Phoenix. Mother shouted out in pain as all six special moves struck her at once.
"This time, we'll do better than defeat you!" Khan shouted. Aro grabbed Alexander's sword and launched himself forward.
"Enhanced Slice!" He shouted. The sword blazed blue as he shot forward through the air. He pulled the sword back as he approached her neck. He swung the sword forward, slicing her head clean off despite the sword only being as long as one of her fingers was wide. Everyone watched as her body slowly faded away.
"You'll pay for this!" Mother's head shouted. "Hydra, avenge me!" She looked over to see Hydra sleeping in the corner like a tired puppy. "Coward!" She shouted. The group gathered around her head.
"Today, you have the honor of dying by the hand of Lord Dagger!" Dagger shouted, raising his sword.
"You are but fools. You can never hope to defeat my master or the Demon King!" Mother shouted.
"Right now, we'll settle for you." Khan said with a smile. Dagger thrust his sword downward, dispersing Mother's head into ash that quickly faded away. "Nice job, everyone!" Khan said, turning around to look at all his friends. "That should solve like all of our problems." Everyone smiled and nodded.
The king walked in from the hall and looked around at his destroyed throne room. "What happened here?!" He shouted.
"We killed it!" Aro said with a big smile.
The king fell to his knees, his mouth agape. "My....... my throne room."
Kai patted him on the shoulder. "Better than a giant demon chillin in here." The king slowly looked up at him.
Dagger walked forward and bowed to the king. "My humble apologies sire, for the destruction and the ignorance of my companions. We will work on fixing the throne room as soon as possible." He reached down and helped the king to his feet.
"Where is my crown?" Everyone looked around. Kai's eyes met Emma's, and she winked.
Kai smiled and nodded. "It appears it was lost in the battle." Kai said.
"You wouldn't have happened to steal it, would you?" The king narrowed his brow at Kai.
"Who, me? Steal? From the king of Tritanus? I'd have to be the craziest idiot in the whole kingdom to have done that." He looked over to Emma, who's eyelids had gone halfway down her eyes and a frown was shown across her face. Kai smiled and held himself back from laughing.
"Oh, one more thing." The king said. Everyone turned around. "Where's Ethan?" Kai, Aro, Alexander, Duros, and Emma's eyes enlarged.
"We should probably go handle that." Kai said, sprinting out the door. He saw Emma point to a bush out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed the crown and sprinted back toward Styx, blasting over the wall and activating his flaming wings. "Hope I'm not too late." He said.