Determining Destiny (Book 3 of the Enchanted DVD Player tetralogy)

17 - Incompetent Humans

A/n

Wow, it's been a while since I've updated. It's not from lack of effort, I swear! I've just had writer's block and I've been so caught up in other stuff that this chapter took forever to write. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

——Y/n's POV———

"Come on, there's no time to waste!" Griffin says, speeding down a hallway.

"Wait!" I call as everyone follows him, but I'm too late.

"Sh*t!" Lloyd exclaims as the giant snake comes slithering towards us. Griffin sprints out of the way, but the others aren't fast enough.

"Go!" Lloyd orders, then uses his power to create a force field. "I'll hold it off!"

"Lloyd!" I cry, running forward.

"Get the others out of here!" He protests, but his power falters.

"No!" I shout, just as the snake closes his mouth over my fiancé. I run towards the snake, yelling "Give him back right now, you big stupid son of a—"

Neuro catches me by the arm before I can get much further.

"It's a trap, y/n," he says. "The snake isn't going to kill Lloyd, it's going to bring him to Chen. And if you get any closer, it'll get ahold of you too."

"Well, I can't just stand here!"

"Right!" Griffin says, agreeing with me. "We've got to run the other way!"

"Let's go!" Jacob says, leading the way even though he can't see. But to be fair, it's so dark that it's difficult for any of us to see.

"We need to get to the throne room!" I say as we run. "Anyone know which way it is?"

"Up!" Karloff replies, then stops to look at the ceiling.

"What is it?" Shade asks.

"Little lady can make roof go boom!" Karloff says, pointing at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Use powers! Blow up ceiling!"

"That's actually not a bad idea," Neuro says.

"Uh, okay," I say, then jump up, hit the ceiling, and use the power of earth to break it open.

"Finally, all the elements will be mi—what the hell?!?" Chen exclaims just as the floor beneath him crumbles.

Everyone below leaps up into the next level, ready to face our foe.

"Y/n?" Chen wonders as he notices I'm the leader of the bunch. "Oh, so that's why you didn't come through Aspheera's portal; you were too busy trying to ruin my plan. But no matter! You're too late!"

"Too late?" I repeat, then survey the area. Every one of my teammates is tied up to the pillars around the room, and Lloyd is on his knees before Chen's throne with his hands tied behind his back, his gaze towards the ground.

"Prepare to be powerless, green ninja!" Chen says, and point his staff at him.

"No!" I yell, and try to get to Lloyd, but Neuro holds me back once again.

"If you get in the way, he'll take your power too!"

"I don't care!" I shout, and run towards him. Lloyd lifts his chin as I drop beside him, and he stares at me with tears in his eyes as his golden power flows away from him.

"I'm s-sorry," he stutters. "I tried to stop him, b-but I failed a-and..."

"Shhh," I shush him gently. "It's not your fault."

"I should have been faster, stronger..."

"Lloyd, listen to me," I say, getting closer to him as I feel my own power leaving me. "What you did earlier to protect us from the serpent was a very brave thing to do, and we wouldn't be standing here now if it weren't for you."

"But... Chen..."

"Don't worry about it. Well take care of him, together."

"And now, it's time to turn my followers into Anacondrai!" Chen cries triumphantly after the extraction is complete. "Clouse? Where you at?"

"I'm right here, Master Chen," he says from beside him, rolling his eyes. "Obviously."

If I had the energy, I would have laughed. He sounded just like Snape.

"Hurry up! Say the spell! You have your spell book, don't you?"

"Always," he mutters, taking it out. This time, I really did laugh aloud.

I start to untie Lloyd while Clouse recites the spell, then the two of us move on to free our teammates as well.

"Finished," Clouse mumbles at the end of the spell, once again, sounding exactly like Severus Snape.

"Yes! Yes! We did it! Haha! Wait... why is nothing happening?" Chen says.

"Yeah, why isn't it?" I mutter. Clouse glares at me, so I raise my hands up in surrender. "I didn't do anything, I swear!"

"Fool!" Aspheera shouts. "You must have missed an element!"

"I didn't!"

"Actually," I say, standing up. "You did."

"What?" Aspheera hisses as I turn to her.

"You stole Kai's fire."

Chen glares at Aspheera. "And to think, you called me the fool."

"Don't blame me! You're the one who screwed up the first time. Besides, you just absorbed Lloyd's and y/n's powers, who have all the powers you need! How do you explain that one, huh?"

"The staff only absorbs the owner's natural element, so I only took energy and y/e!"

"Argh! Why do humans have to be so incompetent?!"