The Outcasts: Rise Of Bonez

4 - King Of Bones

As the lounge was torn apart, Chief Death and Skeletal engaged in a fierce brawl just outside. Luckily everyone made it out during the fight before the building blew, where they were now gathered to witness the battle that was unfolding before them. But as they battled, the shooting from the sky suddenly startled the skeleton warrior. Angered by the interruption, Skeletal changed his attention towards The De Vil Rocket, launching his spear towards the ship. But as he did, he had another vision. A flash of images in his mind. Images of his love, his wife!

"Bonez!" he yelled. "You've come to me!"

As Chief Death, Apollo and Carl charged towards him, the skeleton began to growl. These lot were just insects to him. Obstacles that were in the way. The undead-looking creature turned and pushed forward, forcing the chief off of his feet with ease. He then kicked Carl to the floor before turning to Apollo. With one swift punch to the face, the skeleton warrior sent Enzo flying through the sky, smacking onto the concrete with a thud.

With a chuckle and the three kidnapped heroes in his possession, Skeletal stormed off. As he ran away from the knocked-out attackers and into the street, he would soon notice a glistening figure falling from the sky. As the villain made his way towards it, once again, a vision would filter across his mind.

"Love...?" he chuckled. "Well isn't this just my lucky day!"

As he made his way closer, the sound of footsteps approaching could be heard behind him. He turned to find four heroes charging at him, completely confused by the set of new faces.

Dr Arachnean, Black Star, Rift and Centa stopped and gasped at the sight of Skeletal, instantly shocked by how he looked. They glanced at one another before Rift would jump forward. Holding his hand in the air, he used his telekinesis to catch the falling Belle just before she hit the ground, noticing that she was unconscious. He'd lay her on the ground, with Black Star spotting something. Skeletal was staring hard at Disney, creepily hard. She stepped forward, putting her new and old friends behind her.

"We have a lot going on right now sir, what do you want?" she shouted.

But before he could answer, a huge crash could be heard nearby. The heroes turned their bodies to face the noise, spotting The De Vil Rocket as it lay in pieces all over the nearby park. The group gasped at the destruction but had their attention caught once more as they heard a deep cackling.

As the four looked towards Skeletal, they were taken aback by the sight of Disney Duchess floating in a mysterious, black forcefield. She was hovering right beside the three other heroes who had already been kidnapped. The group was left bewildered and unsure of what to make of this unexpected turn of events.

"What is this?" Arachnean gasped.

"The rise of Bonez!" Skeletal laughed.

Holding out his hand, another bone-like spear formed before he held it into the air, the villain then quickly brought it down, stabbing it into the ground. The area around him shook slightly before, all of a sudden, skeleton knights began to emerge from the ground.

As the heroes assumed defensive positions, bracing themselves for the impending battle, Skeletal let out a sinister laugh. He raised his hand and held his weapon high into the air, commanding his soldiers to move; and they did. Charging forward with their bone-made swords, they sliced down to attack.

With her gravitational abilities, Black Star was able to catch a few of the attackers rushing towards her, but the rest made their way towards the other three.

She muttered anxiously as she struggled to fend off a barrage of a dozen swords. "Stay put, don't budge!"

While she did this, Dr Arachnean, Rift and Centa jumped into action! Rift lifted up a few of the surrounding knights, launching them all into different directions as to try and buy some time. At the same time, Arachnean sent punches to the incoming attackers, her body moving with determination. But for Centa, his eyes were locked onto the main enemy.

Skeletal and Centa stared each other down, ready to kill. You could feel the tension rising between the two even though they had just met. Without a second thought, Centa rushed forward, swinging his fist to punch Skeletal square in the face. But the villain saw it coming, raising his arm to block the blow. As he did so, he grabbed the centipede's arm, sending him flying back.

Catching his balance, Centa shook his head as he charged back in. Skeletal stood firm, not letting the mutant come any closer. However, Centa wasn't going to give up. He jumped forward again, striking Skeletal in the chest with a punch; causing him to fall to the ground. However, the villain quickly got back up, the pain from Centa's punch being non-existent.

"You have wit, but no power," Skeletal laughed. "This is wasting my time!"

A gathering of skeleton knights grabbed Centa from behind, pushing him to his knees as Skeletal made his way towards the crashed De Vil Rocket.

---

A FEW MINUTES BEFORE

Batsy and The Blinding Light shot towards the Bramnium X-Wing, quickly sending their attacks towards it. Shooting sonic screams and light blasts, they continued to fire off, knocking chunks of metal from the starfighter. But the ship seemed to speed up, erupting past the two and hurtling towards The De Vil Rocket.

The spear that Skeletal launched quickly struck the innocent ship, destroying their shields once and for all. With one more blast from the Bramnium X-Wing, the De Vil Rocket's engines exploded, sending debris into the sky. With no more power, it went pummeling to the ground, smashing into the park below. It crashed through trees and tore through bushes but the shell of the ship itself seemed to stay intact.

Batsy and The Blinding Light watched on with horror as the ship came crashing down, meanwhile, the other ship safely landed nearby it. Looking at one another with concerned faces, they hurried down to the scene.

As they approached the rocket, they observed a ramp extending from the back and proceeded to land nearby. The three crew members quickly hurried off, as Ben fitted a watch to his wrist. Making their way to the two aerial heroes, XLR8 would shake his head.

"The ship's unusable," he explained. "We're stuck here."

But then, a yell would be heard from behind, causing the five to turn around. To their anger, Queen AV4X came marching towards them all, her hands on her hips.

"I'll have you know, leading you to this planet was terribly easy... Fast Maker..."

She laughed evilly as she studied Ben, shaking her head as she did.

"You brought us here on purpose... Why?" Baroness Rose yelled angrily. "What do you want with us?!"

AV4X giggled. "You have been brought here for a very specific reason, I'm afraid. I kno-"

Her words would quickly be cut off as a horde of skeleton soldiers came charging in. Led by Skeletal, the five heroes became confused. AV4X, on the other hand, would gasp. Gasp with happiness!

"Oh, King Skeletal!" she'd yell. "It's a pleasure!"

He stepped before his army, clearly in charge as he grinned. He took one look at the Queen before looking over to the group of heroes. He felt something, something huge, just radiating off one of them. He felt it clearly. His love was there... But where?

"I am Queen AV4X of the planet Bramn... And I bring you Bonez!"

Baroness Rose stumbled backwards and gasped with horror as a giant smirk spawned on Skeletal's face. She knew who he was, but couldn't believe that he would appear here. He was supposed to be imprisoned in stone, lost to time!

"So tell me!" the skeleton king yelled. "Which one holds my beloved?!"

AV4X stood forward.

"Her," she spoke as she pointed directly at Shakura. "I believe she calls herself, Baroness Rose!"