🕷 The Scarlet Spider 🕷

«Chapter Sixteen» Final Battle

     "Move!" Peter yelled, moving all of us out of our shock.
     The dragons would have trampled us if it weren't for Riptide. He flared his wings and gave us enough time to get out of the way.
     Anti-Venom and I stumbled to the left side of the forest as the others were separated to the right side.
     The army was eerily silent, the only sound were their bones rattling against each other.
     Riptide flapped his wings and landed by us. His whole body shook, his scales glowing a bright blue.
"Come on bud," I muttered, patting the dragon's hide, "Pull it together. We got this. I think."
     Riptide huffed.
     Most of the dragons barreled by us, while some others took flight on their bony wings. Some of them stopped right in front of us, snarling.
     "Be careful," Anti-Venom warned.
These are Grave Guardians, Phantom informed me, They're pretty nasty, so listen to Anti-Venom on being careful.
     "Got it," I nodded.
     I couldn't see the others, but I had to hope that they were okay.
"How sweet," Kaine's voice radiated from somewhere in the trees, "Fight to the end as a family. Pitiful."
I double tapped my palms, the stingers shooting out. My patience was running out with this guy. First, he blows up the school, then he threatens my mother, then he traps us on a planet where dragons are a thing. A guy can only take too much until anger takes over everything.
     "Sparrow!" Anti-Venom yelled, jarring me into reality.
     I yelped as a skull dragon charged me. Following my instincts, I kicked up from the ground and flipped over the bone-reptile-thing.
Stabbing my stingers in between its bones, I tried to figure out where a weak spot could be on the thing. Where would you hit to kill a skull dragon anyway?
I was just about to jump off, when Riptide came barreling into the dragon. We all went flying into a tree, my face three inches from the jaws of death.
     "GAH!" I yelled and threw my head back just as the jaws snapped shut.
     Riptide roared and flung his tail down on the dragon's head. There was a sickening crack, and the skull dragon's eyes went black.
     "T-thanks," I gulped, my adrenaline pounding in my ears.
Riptide didn't have time to answer. He was tackled by two other dragons.
I jumped up and stuck on the tree truck. From this position, I could see where everyone was.
     Carnage was lashing out at any moving thing that got too close to him. Unfortunately, that meant Venom, who got too close and was smashed into a pile of rocks.
     Toxin grunted and flung dragons completely off their feet into the forest. Peter was flipping over dragons and making them smash into each other, which I found pretty smart. By what I could tell, we were doing pretty good.
Before I could jump down, a shadow cast over my small patch of ground. A hand grabbed hold of my shoulder, and Whoever-Had-Just-Grabbed-Me, and I tumbled down the front of the tree and smashed into the ground.
My head smacked against the dirt, and everything blurred. The figure on top of me growled in amusement and threw me across the clearing.
I was able to spin around and land on my feet, but my brain felt like a sponge. As soon as I took a step, the world looked like it was turning upside down, which made my stomach flip.
     All around me, I heard battle noises. Roars, yells, etc.
"You haven't made yourself stronger," Kaine's voice said, "You've only grown weaker."
My spider senses saved me as I dodged a black dagger. I shook my head, "No, your wrong. I-I . . . " I seriously hated to admit it, but I was at a loss for words.
Kaine laughed, "Even the smart spider is speechless."
     My vision cleared and I saw Kaine recharging an energy orb. Before he threw it, I looked behind me. Perfect.
     Whoa, what are you- Phantom stopped mid sentence as I dodged the ball of energy. It soared passed me and hit an oncoming skull dragon.
     Kaine grinned, "Clever. I have to admit you have been a worthy adversary."
     Lightning streaked up from his hands. I wasn't fast enough to dodge it. The blow knocked me off my feet and I fell against a tree trunk.
Kaine made another one of those daggers, but this one look more solid.
I couldn't get up. My legs didn't seem to respond to anything I wanted them to do.
     Sparrow . . . we have to fully bond. Come on, this is the only way to save us! Phantom yelled, his voice filled with panic.
I didn't answer. I had to get up. I couldn't bond all the way.
The dagger flew through the air. Everything seemed to slow down. The battle, the dagger, Kaine- even my heart rate seemed to go sluggish.
I heard something to the left of me, but I didn't look around. My eyes were trained on the dagger aimed straight for my face.
Then a flash of green blurred passed me, the dagger vanishing. The battle turned to normal speed, my heart raced through my chest, and I realized what had happened.
Riptide.
I got to my feet and looked around. Just a few yards away in the shadow of the forest, I saw him. He was laying on his side, his eyes closed and his body completely still.
"NO!" I yelled.
I ran over to him, jumping over dragon after dragon until I got to Riptide's side.
The serpent's eyes opened a little as I kneeled beside him.
I looked down; the dagger was embedded in his scales just under his wing. Where they should have been green, the scales were turning a dim grey.
"No, no, no," I grabbed the dragon's head, "Don't leave me. I can't- " my breath caught in my chest.
Riptide's eyes sparkled as if to say, I'll miss you too, my friend.
His eyes closed and he didn't move again.
I lowered my head and let out a blood curdling scream. My friend was gone. He had taken a dagger for me. And he was gone. Forever. It was my fault.
I was devastated. The forest seemed to quiet after that. I didn't know if we had won or not, but I didn't care. I didn't even care if I died.
     Sparrow . . . I'm sorry. Phantom whispered.
I tore off my mask and cried. The only time I ever remembered crying this much was when my father had been reported dead.
     I kneeled there for a long time. The battle was still going on behind me.
     Finally, I lifted my head. The dragon's hide was completely grey now. Before my own eyes, he crumbled away. Everything was gone, except one sea green scale.
     I picked it up and wiped the ashes off of it.
     "Phantom," I gulped, my voice shaking, "Fully bond. This battle is over."
     Phantom was silent. Then, All right.
     My torn suit started warming up to the point I thought it would burn my skin. The tears fixed themselves, my mask mended itself and strength coursed through my body.
Anger and despair drove me up. I scanned the battle field, until they landed on Kaine.
His smug smile only made my rage double.
I stalked into the mess of dragons.
Dodging a tail, I flipped up and shot a web at another pair of jaws that were trying to snap me up. Jumping from back to back, I smashed my fist against as many heads as I could. The green lights in their eyes faded and blacked out.
Finally, I landed in front of Kaine.
"You," I could barley get any words out, "You- killed him."
"It was meant for you, but yes," Kaine smirked, "I killed that overgrown water lizard."
I yelled in outrage and jumped at him. I didn't care if I killed him, in fact, I wanted to. I wanted to see his face in pain. I wanted to see him groveling at my feet. I wanted to see the light fade from his eyes.
Keep focus, Phantom hissed, You're losing it.
My fist connected with Kaine's shoulder. He stumbled backwards, the smirk vanishing.
Everything was tinted red now. My over growing hate was clouding every other thought.
My stinger stabbed straight into Kaine's arm.
He howled in pain and tried swiping me off. I held on, not caring if I got hit.
Sparrow, calm down! Phantom shouted.
I ignored his voice, shoving the stinger deeper into Kaine's body. Bringing up my other stinger, I plunged it into his other shoulder.
Kaine grunted and fell backwards.
I panted hard, my rage still boiling.
SPARROW. STOP. We need him to get back to Earth! Phantom screamed so loud, my head pounded.
It took all my willpower to not kill him. I yanked my fist back and punched Kaine so hard, he fell unconscious.
As soon as he fell, the sounds of battle stopped.
I looked around and saw that all the dragons had crumbled too just bones. I saw Toxin, Anti-Venom, Venom and Carnage trying to lift a fallen tree off of Spidey.
I lifted Kaine up and webbed him to the tree.
Taking my time, I went over to the others. My blood pressure still felt like it was about to explode, but I forced myself to go over to them.
"Guys, stop, all right!" Peter climbed out and stumbled around for a second.
I looked them over, "Is everyone okay?" Despite my best intentions, my voice shook.
Anti-Venom nodded, "We're tired. Peter has a minor concussion, but we're okay. Are you?"
I didn't answer.
Peter looked over at Kaine, then to the scale in my hand, "Oh man, Riptide- "
I clenched my teeth, "He's gone."
Even Carnage looked surprised.
"I'm sssorry, Sssparrow." Venom hissed quietly.
My eyes threatened to pour, so I shook off, "Whatever. We need to get Kaine to teleport us back. No matter what."
The others agreed, but no one noticed my tone. When we were done with Kaine, I was going to kill him.