Destined: 2 Be Continued

30. Squash HEEEM!

"Let's get this done. I've got less important things to do," Heather muttered, and the Destined ran up the mountain, following Alex. He knew it was because he had had the dream, so he would have the best idea on how to actually find Scar Shi. He saw a cavern near the top and pointed towards it. "There!" he shouted, and the Destined angled themselves towards it.

They reached the cavern, and Alex walked in first. "Hey! Anyone there?" he asked, and he heard a hissing in response. Tightly cramming all his doubt and fear in his pile made for things he didn't need, he stepped farther in. Jeremiah and Silverhorn followed, followed by Heather. August was after Heather, turning on two lights on his helmet to provide some help.

The cavern was just as Alex remembered it. A sort of long, rectangular room with a chair in the middle, and a gigantic form next to it. The gigantic form shifted, and a long horn protruded from its top.

That was definitely Scar Shi.

Scar Shi threw off his cloak. "Well, no more delay. Let'sss get on with me dessstroying you," he hissed, then dashed towards Alex. Alex swiftly sidestepped, and Jeremiah and Silverhorn stabbed Scar Shi in the head. Scar Shi hissed, then opened up his back. He had wings, which he used to fly back to the center of the cavern.

He dug his horn into the rocky ground with almost no resistance, and when he lifted it, the ground opened up before the Destined. Rock shot from the crack and threatened to crush the Destined if they hadn't done the thing they had done, which was carefully and skillfully evade the rocks. Scar Shi wasn't turning out to be so threatening, as it turned out.

"Fine. I must have underestimated you. Allow me to compensate." Scar Shi flew with blinding speed towards the Destined, and grabbed Alex between his two prongs. He flung Alex up in the air, and Alex hit the ceiling in no time. He landed on the stone ground with a crack.

Heather ran over to him and used the power of her Good Morning Breath to heal him, mending his bones and tendons. He stood up quickly, brandishing his staff again. August leaped for Scar Shi, pulling off something serious. He punched, kicked, punch, punch, kicked, then headbutted Scar Shi right in the horn. Burns formed where August struck, but Scar Shi grabbed August like he was a play toy and tossed him across the room. Heather raised her bow, but Scar Shi grabbed her and tossed her next to August.

"I'll beat him!" Jeremiah shouted, and Silverhorn stabbed Scar Shi several times. Scar Shi seemed to be damaged, but he whacked Jeremiah on the head, and Jeremiah fainted. Silverhorn turned back into Belle, who was quickly knocked out in a similar way.

Penny and Alex looked at each other. They were the only ones left! How had these experienced Destined been defeated so easily? The two stepped closer together, and Penny loaded up her crossbow with a narrow needle filled with green liquid. She shot the needle, which hit Scar Shi square in the face. Scar Shi screamed in pain, then ripped the needle out.

"Alex, I'll shoot a freezing compound. You whack him repeatedly," Penny planned. Alex accepted it, and asked Wind for help to fly him.

Oh, I see how it is, Wind hummed.

"Please, Wind, not now. I really need to save the world."

Sure, you don't talk to me when I need companionship, but now that you need help...

"Wind! Seriously?"

Tell me, do you treat all your disembodied beings like this?

"GAH!!"

Okay, fine. Alex felt a gust of power and he went flying towards Scar Shi. Seeing the new development, Penny shot a freezing compound at the beetle. Scar Shi froze, and Alex whacked him on the head, upper torso, lower torso, all four arms, and his legs. Scar Shi cried out in pain, then punched Alex in the face. Penny cringed at the sight of her childhood friend being punched in the face and shot another poison dart at the giant beetle.

Penny fired off a quarrel of red liquid needles, which seemed to sting quite a bit in Scar Shi's regard. The beetle roared, sending out visible shock waves from his mandibles. He flew swiftly over to Penny and grabbed her with his horns. He prepared to throw her up in the air, but Alex flew over with Wind's help, whacking him at the base of his horn. A burn formed, and Scar Shi dropped Penny with a scream. 

"You're welcome," Alex said, not waiting for her to thank him. It was something his parents did all the time.

"I don't think we can last much longer," Penny worried. Alex would have liked to say that she was wrong, but he was more than just afraid that she was right. With the other Destined down, there was pretty much no way they could win. Sure, they had some chemical darts and a staff, but that wouldn't last long against a giant beetle.

Scar Shi flew with blinding speed again, this time grabbing each of the young Destined in one arm. He looked at both of them as they attempted to struggle with what seemed like greedy hunger.

"Hmm...Which shhhall I eat firssst?" he hissed. Penny and Alex exchanged looks of horror, and it seemed Scar Shi chose Penny to eat firssst. Penny screamed in horror, and Alex cried out, but it was no use. They were doomed.

Except, of course, for the rocket that came flying from the other side of the cavern and hit Scar Shi right in the wings.

"GAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Scar Shi roared, dropping Alex and Penny. They scrambled to grab their weapons and looked for where the rocket had come from.

August stood, his arm extended. Heather stood next to him, nocking an arrow on her bow. Scar Shi tried to charge the two, but Jeremiah and Silverhorn leaped onto his back and impaled him right in the back. Silverhorn impaled him many times more as Heather shot arrow after arrow at his joints and August made bullets flooded Scar Shi's veins with bullets.

Soon, Scar Shi fell, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, replaced with a golden Hercules beetle charm. August walked up and grabbed it.

"How did you guys recover in time?" Alex asked Jeremiah.

"We never got knocked out. Do you think that we, experienced Destined, would go down that easily? We wanted to show you what it's like to be desperate and not to have trained experts help you."

Penny was outraged. "Was that even the real Scar Shi?"

"Of course it was! We've never seen this island," Jeremiah answered. "and that charm is new to me. Trust me." His voice rang with truth, and Penny thought so, too. She nodded, and the Destined walked back out. Loraine the train was at the base of the mountain, waiting for the Destined.

The Destined climbed into the eating room cabin. "What is that beetle charm?" Alex asked.

"No idea. Maybe it's just a trophy," Belle answered, taking a look at it.

"Well, the thing I know is that that's one down, two to go," Jeremiah concluded.