Post by Mr. Penguin on Dec 12, 2006 18:21:46 GMT -5
And now, introducing...
Chapter Ten: To Catch A Werewolf
Zack stood alone out in the cold. The sky was clear and a light wind is blowing, ruffling his already relatively messy hair. He looked around nervously, wondering whether volunteering to be the bait was really the smartest idea. He knew he could handle himself (or at least he hoped so) but wanting to get attacked, that was insanity.
He wondered vaugely whether a werewolf would even come for him. What if he stood out here all night, up until the sun began rising, seeing nothing but natural wildlife? Would they come back and do it again the next night? What if it didn't show up then? What would he do?
He looked upwards quickly and that yes, Alec was in place.
Alec was hovering a hundred feet above the top of the hill, where he had a commanding veiw of land layed out below him. If Alec were to see what he thought could possibly be a werewolf, he would turn invisible and warn everyone to be ready via telepathy.
Also, if things were to go badly, and Zack were to actually get hurt, Alec, along with all of the others, was to swoop down immediately and attack the beast. There was no way anything could survive the assault of six Potato Ninjas and about twenty of Chris' minions, including Chris himself.
His thoughts wandered to and fro, jumping from topic to topic, idea to idea, wondering, thinking, imagining, creating. But all the while he kept his eye out for movement. A few times he saw movement, but he quickly saw that it would just be a coyote or two. After half an hour had passed he saw the following things: four or five solitary coyotes, a pack of maybe seven coyotes all out on the hunt, three stray cats, a couple stray dogs, a raccoon, a small family of possums, and, off in the distance, a mountain lion out for a midnight snack.
Plenty of hunters, yes, but not anything that he was looking for. He cats his eyes about again, looking at everything he could before turning and surveying everything that lay in front of, below, to the side of, and behind him.
Finally, after another half an hour, he saw what he wanted.
A large shape that was human in shape but moving like no human ever could came out of the east, in the general direction he had seen the mountain lion. It was coming from the direction of the mountains. Alec smirked. He should have known.
He sliently turned invisible, and sent out a mass thought message.
"I've got one spotted. Coming out of the east, perhaps a mile off still."
He watched as it skipped from bush to bush, sometimes pausing for entire minutes before streaking off to another hiding spot, though each time, he moved further and further west.
Towards the cave, and towards his eventual capture.
Alec knew if he took his eyes off of the target for a moment, he would likely lose it, but he also knew that he needed to keep looking, should anything else start coming too close to the cave.
He looked around him in a full 360 degree turn, seeing nothing but bushes, trees, and rocks. He looked back toward where he had last seen the werewolf, and after a minute, he saw it scurry closer to the cave.
"Now about half a mile. Be prepared."
He watched it closely. He watched every move, now thinking he had figured the beasts out. They were smart, oh yes, they were. They were incredibly observant, and their senses were incredibly keen. The stuck to the shadows and the places they could hide. If they had to cross open terrain, they stayed low and moved fast and silently. But they always went to the best hiding spots. One the werewolf even went slighly back east so it could get a better position and realign it's course.
"Quarter mile. Be on your toes."
He was watching it begin to climb the hill when he saw another flash of movement to his right. He looked and saw nothing. Probably just a coyote. He looked back toward the werewolf that was inching ever closer to where it knew Zack was.
He saw the flash of movement again, and this time was quick enough to see what it was.
Another werewolf.
"Oh, crap..." Alec muttered.
"Be alert, I have spotted another werewolf." He announced in his thought speak. He saw original werewolf stop and look around, and then directly at Alec. It sniffed the air and growled. It stopped moving completely.
"The original one has stopped." Alec announced. He looked and saw the other werewolf, this one south of Zack's position.
"The other one is about half a mile off to the south." Alec noticed another flash of movement. Another werewolf?! What the f**k?!
"Okay, this is bad. We have another werewolf off to the north. The one off to the south is still moving, and then one off to the east is, too. Wait... oh f**k. Oh f**k oh f**k oh f**k Zack get into the cave."
It was as if his eyes had finally fully opened. The area was crawling with werewolves. He now saw that there were actually about five coming from the east, four from the south, and about six(?!) from the north. There were none coming from the west, as that was where the town was. Alec did a quick count of all of them, and then noticed more.
"Zack, get into the f**king cave!" Alec screamed in thought-speak. "I've got about twenty of the dirty f**kers out here, and some of the are way too close for comfort. So Zack, unless you want to die, get into that f**king cave. Zack! What the f**k are you doing?!"
Zack was not going into the cave, he was heading into the air.
"Alec!" Zack called out loudly. His voice travelled well through the cold, dry air. "Alec, where are you?"
Alec turned visible and screamed at Zack in his head. "What the f**k are you doing, dumbass?! I told you to get in the cave!"
Zack glided over to Alec. "From here, we can blast at them without fear of retaliation."
Alec was furious, but now he was seeing where Zack was going with this idea.
"So you think we should just sit up here and pick them off with out powers?" Alec asked.
Zack nodded. "Yep. Here, they can't touch us."
'That confidence will be the death of you one day,' Alec thought to himself, and looked Zack in the eyes.
"Fine. But what of the others in the cave?" Alec asked, and cast his eyes downward. "Oh f**k..."
All the were wolves were now gathered around the gate to the cave, and Alec counted about thirty(!) of them.
"We can do this." Zack said confidentely, but Alec wasn't listening.
"Guys, guys in the cave." Alec thought-said. The werewolves below all looke around in confusion, and then, as one, they sniffed the air and looked up at Alec and Zack. They all snarled or growled, and one even howled.
"Guys, I am counting about thirty werewolves outside the gate. Zack and I are going to blast at them with out powers, and try to take them out or at least scatter them. The plan is off, you understand? The plan is off."
He hoped they all heard and understood his message. Zack looked over at Alec. "You ready?" He asked.
"You bet your ass." Alec replied.
He raised his hands and flung them down. A great tidal wave swept out of the sky, headed for the pack of werewolves. (Is that what you would call them? Alec's mind asked. A pack? Or something else?)
Zack mimiced Alec, shooting a massive ball of fire at their enemies.
***
Inside the cave, Patrick had stood in silence, listening to Alec's "broadcasts." He knew what his job was, and he was going to do it as soon as he needed to.
He had been wondering just how long they would have to wait when he heard Alec's voice in his mind.
"I've got one spotted. Coming out of the east, perhaps a mile off still."
It wasn't as loud and clear as it usually was when Alec spoke into someone's mind, but that was probably because Alec was a little way's off, and there was a lot of rocks and stuff between them. When Patrick heard the voice, though, he felt slightly uneasy and looked around, seeing everyone else doing the same. Even Number Three was looking around, it's head bobbing and weaving in the annoying little pattern, as if it were listening to some abstract music only it could hear.
A few minutes later, Patrick heard it again.
"Now about half a mile. Be prepared."
Patrick summoned up his weapon and looked at it dully. Even in the low light, it looked fierce and deadly. He sighed and waited for Alec's next braodcast, which came quicker than the last one.
"Quarter mile. Be on your toes."
At this one, a few of the largest skeleton, as well as a big zombie-type went up to the rock, preparing to open the gate on the go command. Another minute passed, and then Patrick heard another broadcast.
"Be alert, I have spotted another werewolf."
Patrick's stomach clenched. Two werewolves? This can't be good.
"The original one has stopped."
Patrick looked at the others. They were all glancing around uneasily.
"The other one is about half a mile off to the south."
Then, quickly following that,
"Okay, this is bad. We have another werewolf off to the north. The one off to the south is still moving, and then one off to the east is, too. Wait... oh f**k. Oh f**k oh f**k oh f**k Zack get into the cave."
Patrick was now really scared. When Alec starting saying things like that, you knew it was bad.
The minions at the gate looked back to Number Two, awaiting it's command, but Number Two seemed frozen in place. The next broadcast made Patrick actually moan.
"Zack, get into the f**king cave! I've got about twenty of the dirty f**kers out here, and some of the are way too close for comfort. So Zack, unless you want to die, get into that f**king cave. Zack! What the f**k are you doing?!"
Then, all was silent. But quietly, oh so quietly, they began to hear scratching on the gate, and the sounds of heavy breathing outside. Then, snarling, growling, howling. The minions at the gate backed away quickly. They all stood in fear, weapon drawn, waiting for their enemies to come. Nobody had announced it yet, but they all knew that the plan was off. Now it was just about survival.
Suddenly, from outside, there was a loud explosion, and the sounds of many creatures howling and snarling.
Then... a new sound. It sounded like what you would expect from a snake shedding it's skin, or a butterfly coming out of it's cocoon. There were new sounds, now. Chattering that sounded like monnkeys with rabies, or something equally disturbing.
"Oh f**k." The broadcast was quiet, as if Alec weren't aware he was doing it. "Of f**k, oh f**k OH f**k! Guys in the cave! Get out here! We have a problem! A BIG problem!"
The minions jumped back to the gate, shoved it open, and burst out, weapons drawn.
***
Alec turned invisible as quickly as he could, and noticed Zack did the same. He was suprised for a moment, and then remembered Zack was a shadow element, too.
But that didn't matter now.
Their attacks had both hit the werewolves, but in the process, they sort of cancelled each other out, so the effect wasn't nearly as strong as it should have been. The were wolves had been knocked away from the gate, though, and Alec thought they might retreat or something.
At least until they started changing.
The werewolves (or at least that's what everyone thought they were) all looked at each other, and then it was like they simply exploded. Pop.
But what actually happened was that the thick fur coats came off, and it was like an animal coming out of it's shell, but this was no animal you would want to watch hatch.
The creatures that now stood, scattered across the ground outside the cave were smallish, about five feet tall, and looked like all scales and claws, with two sets of wings protruding from their backs. They looked like dragonflies on steroids. Really strong steroids.
They all started making chattering noises, their mouth-parts (Alec didn't know what to call them. Jaws? Appendages?) clacking open and closed, and Alec could see many sets of razor-sharp teeth inside.
"Oh f**k." Alec groaned. "Oh f**k oh f**k OH f**k!" He then went into broadcast mode (not knowing that he was in it already), and shouter out, "Guys in the cave! Get out here! We have a problem! A BIG problem!"
Alec went up highed, wondering where Zack was, and saw the rock roll away down the hill (the track it was supposed to go on was forgotten), crushing an unfortunate bug-thing. Blue blood splattered on the ground, and the boulder rolled down the hill and away into the darkness.
From behind the rock, Chris' minions poured out, and stopped dead (no pun intended) when they saw what was outside. The next wave behind them didn't stop, though, and the first wave was forced forward at the bugs, which turned toward the new arrivals.
Both groups stopped for a breathless moment, regarding each other. The wind ceased, and the whole world seemed to be on the edge of total chaos. It was only a few seconds, but to Alec it seemed like hours.
But when things happened, they happened quickly.
***
Chris sat at the end of the stone table, watching the proceedings. He had not wanted to be in the hall where the werewolf could attack him when they brought it in. He heard the broadcasts, and his heart sank. When the gate was rolled away, Chris, now very worried, fled into one of the inner chambers, and sat there in fear while the sounds of battle began to rage outside.
***
Not many things were clear about the proceedings, but one thing Alec was certain of: Garrett struck first.
Alec saw his freind come flying out of the cave, jump over the minions, and crash down in the middle of the horde of bugs, scattering a few. He whipped out his weapon and spun in a circle, knocking more bugs down, but apparently not killing any.
The bugs backed off, looked at the enemy that just jumped into the middle of them, and then pounced.
After that, things were insanity.
The minions rushed in as soon as the bugs moved, swinging their weapons, and quickly discovering that the bugs had some sort of armor plating
(exoskeleton)
on them, and a regular attack wasn't the effective.
The bugs turned on then, ripping and tearing away with their claws and their mouth-parts. The battle was already shaping up, and it looked grim for the good guys.
Alec watched in horror as the minions were being decimated. If he didn't do something soon, he knew, the entire group of them would be gone.
Alec swooped down behind the bug horde, drew his sword, and charged at them from the back.
He cleaved on in half and hit another one hard, sending it sprawling. Alec turned to this one and swung his sword down at it, cleaving it in half, sending blue guts and blood flying everywhere. He suddenly remembered from biology class that blue blood meant that the blood was bronze-based, as opposed to red iron-based blood. Funny things come to you when you're fighting.
Alec charged again, swinging at the backs of three bugs, who were all beating down Garrett, who was on the ground swinging his club wildily.
He hit all three, but the one in the middle got the worst. It's back split open as two of it's wings fell off, and the creature turned and swing a scaly, clawed hand at Alec, who did a Matrix-type move, bending over backwards, but was still hit.
He brought his body back upright, using that power in his next attack. His sword went straight into, and then then out the back of, the bug, who made agitated clacking sounds, and began squirming, trying to get off of the sword that had impaled it.
A claw came out of nowhere and smacked Alec upside the head, momentarily blacking out his vision. Alec regained himself and swung at the new intruder to his right.
The bug still on Alec's sword collided with the one that had just hit him, and they bounced off of each other, cracking their tough scaly armor. Alec raised his foot and kicked the now-dead bug off of the end of his sword, sliced half of the other one's head off, and looked to see where Garrett now was.
Garrett was lying on the ground a few feet away, obviously unconcious. The poor guy always seemed to be the first to get knocked out. In this case, Garrett might do better to not remember what was going on.
In front of him, Patrick had just decimated one bug and was moving onto another one who was busy pulling the arms off of an upset-looking zombie-type. Two other bugs lay in pieces at his feet. Or perhaps there were three. It was hard to tell.
Zack was under attack from two sides at once, and was doing decently. As Alec watched, Zack moved sideways out from between the bugs, who turned to him. Zack had just shifted the battle in his favor by forcing the two opponents to be in the same direction. Zack swung and matched his enemies, hit for hit.
Ed was doing better, his claymore cleaving through bugs here and there, and not stopping, even if the enemy he hit was already dead. Alec noticed two minions fighting next to him, both getting torn apart by bugs. They were both skeletons, so it wasn't as gruesome as it could have been.
Aaron, Alec saw, was fighting against one bug who continued to force Aaron backwards down the hill. Aaron swung at it hard from the side, and Alec saw Aaron's machete go flying off down the hill. The bug advanced upon him slowly, but was taken out at the last minute by a tree Aaron had told to move. Good old trees. Always reading to fall over and crush things.
Alec quickly found the main area of battle, and saw ten minions trying to fight off about fifteen bugs, and were losing the battle.
Alec charged up and swung at one of the bugs. Much to his suprise, the bug turned, grabbed his sword, and wrenched it out of Alec's hands. Alec backed up, now seeing a bug in front of him with his sword. Alec turned invisible, dodged the bugs first wild attack, dove at it, and succeeded in knocking it down. Alec then poceeded to punch it in the face with his armored fists, sending splashes of thick blue blood flying up from the creatures face. He reached out to grab his sword from the bugs grasp when a thick, scaled foot came down, pinning his hand only a foot from the handle of his sword.
Alec reached further with his telekenisis, picked up the sword, and cleaved the creatures leg off.
As the blood splattered on Alec's mask, he caught his sword, spun it, and then cut the bug in half. He turned and saw the bugs had beaten down all ten minions, and now turned to him, dark greedy eyes glowing in the night.
***
Chris was hunched under a table, in the fetal position, rocking back and forth. The pain had intensified, and now he could barely stand it. He could hear the sounds of battle from outside, and he knew that things weren't going well. Not well at all. He was going to die. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.
He heard fast, scurrying footsteps in the hall, and looked up from under the table. He saw the bottom half of what looked like a giant scaley thingyroach that was standing on two legs, had wings, and had claws that didn't look like they were just for decoration.
Chris stopped breathing, but the creature saw and heard him anyway. It scurried up, grabbed him out of his hiding place, pulled him into a headlock, and before Chris knew it, his own dagger was against his throat.
"You're coming with me." The bug whispered in barely understandable English. If Chris didn't know better, he would have thought he was hallucinating from the poison in his system. What was this weird bug thing, anyway?
As it dragged him away out toward the entrance of the cave, Chris didn't struggle. He knew his life was over, and he decided he might as well accept it.
***
Alec chopped off a bugs head, kicked another in the face, and then turned invisible, jumped into the air, and veiwed the battlefield.
Things were looking very bad. The entire area was littered with bug carcases, as well as numerous bones, pieces of black robes, and various zombie-type limbs. And to top it all off, everything was bathed in blood, most of it blue.
Alec took a quick count of everything, and saw that the bugs had decimated all but nine of Chris' minions, yet there were still about fifteen bugs. Alec saw that, thankfully, none of the PNs were dead, but Garrett was still unconscious, but now at the bottom of the hill. Alec decided he must have rolled.
Alec saw Patrick and Zack dominating the battlefield, taking out bugs left and right. Aaron and Ed, however, weren't doing so great. They were back to back, swinging their weapons at the group of bugs that had surrounded them. As Alec watched, one of the bugs jumped at Ed, and was was knocked back by his rapidly spinning sword.
Zack, on the ground, looked over and saw the ring of bugs, and knew exactly what this meant. He leaped into the middle of the group, pushed Ed and Aaron to the ground, and began fighting off the bugs.
Patrick saw what was going on and helped Zack out.
Pretty soon, the entire battle shifter to there, and then things turned real ugly.
Alec watched as the last of Chris' minions were cut down, falling to the dirt, bones burning slowly. There were still nine bugs, and they quickly surrounded the four Potato Ninjas (Garrett was still laying at the bottom of the hill) on the ground. Alec knew that things were going to get even worse, and very quickly. He swooped down out of the sky, landed next to his comrades, and turned visible.
"Glad to see you could join us." Patrick said, breathing heavily. He had a large cut above one of his eyes, and the whole left side of his face was red with the blood.
"Well, I can't just left you guys die, now can I?" Alec replied, eying the bugs, wondering if they understood what the PNs were saying.
"I'd sure hope not." Zack said. His voice sounded shot, and he looked like it, too.
Aaron opened his mouth to speak, but another voice jumped out into the bloody night. It was raspy and barely understandable, but it was there.
"I have your leader, and I will kill him if you do not surrender!"
All of the PNs and the bugs turned toward the voice to see another bug staning in the spot where the gate used to be, holding Chris in front of him with a dagger to his throat. 'So they do know English,' Alec though numbly. 'Answers that question. But why do they think Chris is our leader? Curious...'
Alec turned toward the PNs and gave a very short-range broadcast, encompassing just them.
"Drop your weapons," Alec thought-spoke to the PNs, "I have a plan."
Out loud, he said, "Okay, boys, they have our leader. Let's just do what the bug says and drop our weapons, okay?"
All of the PNs nodded, dropping their weapons to the ground. Alec turned to the bug that had Chris. "We surrender. Will you let our leader go?"
The bug paused, and then said "No."
The dagger flashed, Chris fell to the ground, and the bug backed up quickly. The dagger was still in the air, right where the bug had let go of it when it zapped him. The dagger turned, pointed at the bug's hideous face, and then slammed forward, penetrating the bugs face and even cutting into the rock behind it. The bug was pinned to the wall by a dagger through the face.
There was a momentary pause where nothing happened. Most of the things gathered were still trying to figure out what had happened. Alec quickly ducked, grabbed his sword, and shouted the PNs, "Let's do this!"
All of the PNs yelled loudly, suprising their insectile captors, and the battle continued.
In less than a minute, it was over.
The dirt beneath the bodies was saturated with blood, and a light wind blew across the hillside as the moon dipped behind a cloud, laying a blanket of darkness across the world below.
Chapter Ten: To Catch A Werewolf
Zack stood alone out in the cold. The sky was clear and a light wind is blowing, ruffling his already relatively messy hair. He looked around nervously, wondering whether volunteering to be the bait was really the smartest idea. He knew he could handle himself (or at least he hoped so) but wanting to get attacked, that was insanity.
He wondered vaugely whether a werewolf would even come for him. What if he stood out here all night, up until the sun began rising, seeing nothing but natural wildlife? Would they come back and do it again the next night? What if it didn't show up then? What would he do?
He looked upwards quickly and that yes, Alec was in place.
Alec was hovering a hundred feet above the top of the hill, where he had a commanding veiw of land layed out below him. If Alec were to see what he thought could possibly be a werewolf, he would turn invisible and warn everyone to be ready via telepathy.
Also, if things were to go badly, and Zack were to actually get hurt, Alec, along with all of the others, was to swoop down immediately and attack the beast. There was no way anything could survive the assault of six Potato Ninjas and about twenty of Chris' minions, including Chris himself.
His thoughts wandered to and fro, jumping from topic to topic, idea to idea, wondering, thinking, imagining, creating. But all the while he kept his eye out for movement. A few times he saw movement, but he quickly saw that it would just be a coyote or two. After half an hour had passed he saw the following things: four or five solitary coyotes, a pack of maybe seven coyotes all out on the hunt, three stray cats, a couple stray dogs, a raccoon, a small family of possums, and, off in the distance, a mountain lion out for a midnight snack.
Plenty of hunters, yes, but not anything that he was looking for. He cats his eyes about again, looking at everything he could before turning and surveying everything that lay in front of, below, to the side of, and behind him.
Finally, after another half an hour, he saw what he wanted.
A large shape that was human in shape but moving like no human ever could came out of the east, in the general direction he had seen the mountain lion. It was coming from the direction of the mountains. Alec smirked. He should have known.
He sliently turned invisible, and sent out a mass thought message.
"I've got one spotted. Coming out of the east, perhaps a mile off still."
He watched as it skipped from bush to bush, sometimes pausing for entire minutes before streaking off to another hiding spot, though each time, he moved further and further west.
Towards the cave, and towards his eventual capture.
Alec knew if he took his eyes off of the target for a moment, he would likely lose it, but he also knew that he needed to keep looking, should anything else start coming too close to the cave.
He looked around him in a full 360 degree turn, seeing nothing but bushes, trees, and rocks. He looked back toward where he had last seen the werewolf, and after a minute, he saw it scurry closer to the cave.
"Now about half a mile. Be prepared."
He watched it closely. He watched every move, now thinking he had figured the beasts out. They were smart, oh yes, they were. They were incredibly observant, and their senses were incredibly keen. The stuck to the shadows and the places they could hide. If they had to cross open terrain, they stayed low and moved fast and silently. But they always went to the best hiding spots. One the werewolf even went slighly back east so it could get a better position and realign it's course.
"Quarter mile. Be on your toes."
He was watching it begin to climb the hill when he saw another flash of movement to his right. He looked and saw nothing. Probably just a coyote. He looked back toward the werewolf that was inching ever closer to where it knew Zack was.
He saw the flash of movement again, and this time was quick enough to see what it was.
Another werewolf.
"Oh, crap..." Alec muttered.
"Be alert, I have spotted another werewolf." He announced in his thought speak. He saw original werewolf stop and look around, and then directly at Alec. It sniffed the air and growled. It stopped moving completely.
"The original one has stopped." Alec announced. He looked and saw the other werewolf, this one south of Zack's position.
"The other one is about half a mile off to the south." Alec noticed another flash of movement. Another werewolf?! What the f**k?!
"Okay, this is bad. We have another werewolf off to the north. The one off to the south is still moving, and then one off to the east is, too. Wait... oh f**k. Oh f**k oh f**k oh f**k Zack get into the cave."
It was as if his eyes had finally fully opened. The area was crawling with werewolves. He now saw that there were actually about five coming from the east, four from the south, and about six(?!) from the north. There were none coming from the west, as that was where the town was. Alec did a quick count of all of them, and then noticed more.
"Zack, get into the f**king cave!" Alec screamed in thought-speak. "I've got about twenty of the dirty f**kers out here, and some of the are way too close for comfort. So Zack, unless you want to die, get into that f**king cave. Zack! What the f**k are you doing?!"
Zack was not going into the cave, he was heading into the air.
"Alec!" Zack called out loudly. His voice travelled well through the cold, dry air. "Alec, where are you?"
Alec turned visible and screamed at Zack in his head. "What the f**k are you doing, dumbass?! I told you to get in the cave!"
Zack glided over to Alec. "From here, we can blast at them without fear of retaliation."
Alec was furious, but now he was seeing where Zack was going with this idea.
"So you think we should just sit up here and pick them off with out powers?" Alec asked.
Zack nodded. "Yep. Here, they can't touch us."
'That confidence will be the death of you one day,' Alec thought to himself, and looked Zack in the eyes.
"Fine. But what of the others in the cave?" Alec asked, and cast his eyes downward. "Oh f**k..."
All the were wolves were now gathered around the gate to the cave, and Alec counted about thirty(!) of them.
"We can do this." Zack said confidentely, but Alec wasn't listening.
"Guys, guys in the cave." Alec thought-said. The werewolves below all looke around in confusion, and then, as one, they sniffed the air and looked up at Alec and Zack. They all snarled or growled, and one even howled.
"Guys, I am counting about thirty werewolves outside the gate. Zack and I are going to blast at them with out powers, and try to take them out or at least scatter them. The plan is off, you understand? The plan is off."
He hoped they all heard and understood his message. Zack looked over at Alec. "You ready?" He asked.
"You bet your ass." Alec replied.
He raised his hands and flung them down. A great tidal wave swept out of the sky, headed for the pack of werewolves. (Is that what you would call them? Alec's mind asked. A pack? Or something else?)
Zack mimiced Alec, shooting a massive ball of fire at their enemies.
***
Inside the cave, Patrick had stood in silence, listening to Alec's "broadcasts." He knew what his job was, and he was going to do it as soon as he needed to.
He had been wondering just how long they would have to wait when he heard Alec's voice in his mind.
"I've got one spotted. Coming out of the east, perhaps a mile off still."
It wasn't as loud and clear as it usually was when Alec spoke into someone's mind, but that was probably because Alec was a little way's off, and there was a lot of rocks and stuff between them. When Patrick heard the voice, though, he felt slightly uneasy and looked around, seeing everyone else doing the same. Even Number Three was looking around, it's head bobbing and weaving in the annoying little pattern, as if it were listening to some abstract music only it could hear.
A few minutes later, Patrick heard it again.
"Now about half a mile. Be prepared."
Patrick summoned up his weapon and looked at it dully. Even in the low light, it looked fierce and deadly. He sighed and waited for Alec's next braodcast, which came quicker than the last one.
"Quarter mile. Be on your toes."
At this one, a few of the largest skeleton, as well as a big zombie-type went up to the rock, preparing to open the gate on the go command. Another minute passed, and then Patrick heard another broadcast.
"Be alert, I have spotted another werewolf."
Patrick's stomach clenched. Two werewolves? This can't be good.
"The original one has stopped."
Patrick looked at the others. They were all glancing around uneasily.
"The other one is about half a mile off to the south."
Then, quickly following that,
"Okay, this is bad. We have another werewolf off to the north. The one off to the south is still moving, and then one off to the east is, too. Wait... oh f**k. Oh f**k oh f**k oh f**k Zack get into the cave."
Patrick was now really scared. When Alec starting saying things like that, you knew it was bad.
The minions at the gate looked back to Number Two, awaiting it's command, but Number Two seemed frozen in place. The next broadcast made Patrick actually moan.
"Zack, get into the f**king cave! I've got about twenty of the dirty f**kers out here, and some of the are way too close for comfort. So Zack, unless you want to die, get into that f**king cave. Zack! What the f**k are you doing?!"
Then, all was silent. But quietly, oh so quietly, they began to hear scratching on the gate, and the sounds of heavy breathing outside. Then, snarling, growling, howling. The minions at the gate backed away quickly. They all stood in fear, weapon drawn, waiting for their enemies to come. Nobody had announced it yet, but they all knew that the plan was off. Now it was just about survival.
Suddenly, from outside, there was a loud explosion, and the sounds of many creatures howling and snarling.
Then... a new sound. It sounded like what you would expect from a snake shedding it's skin, or a butterfly coming out of it's cocoon. There were new sounds, now. Chattering that sounded like monnkeys with rabies, or something equally disturbing.
"Oh f**k." The broadcast was quiet, as if Alec weren't aware he was doing it. "Of f**k, oh f**k OH f**k! Guys in the cave! Get out here! We have a problem! A BIG problem!"
The minions jumped back to the gate, shoved it open, and burst out, weapons drawn.
***
Alec turned invisible as quickly as he could, and noticed Zack did the same. He was suprised for a moment, and then remembered Zack was a shadow element, too.
But that didn't matter now.
Their attacks had both hit the werewolves, but in the process, they sort of cancelled each other out, so the effect wasn't nearly as strong as it should have been. The were wolves had been knocked away from the gate, though, and Alec thought they might retreat or something.
At least until they started changing.
The werewolves (or at least that's what everyone thought they were) all looked at each other, and then it was like they simply exploded. Pop.
But what actually happened was that the thick fur coats came off, and it was like an animal coming out of it's shell, but this was no animal you would want to watch hatch.
The creatures that now stood, scattered across the ground outside the cave were smallish, about five feet tall, and looked like all scales and claws, with two sets of wings protruding from their backs. They looked like dragonflies on steroids. Really strong steroids.
They all started making chattering noises, their mouth-parts (Alec didn't know what to call them. Jaws? Appendages?) clacking open and closed, and Alec could see many sets of razor-sharp teeth inside.
"Oh f**k." Alec groaned. "Oh f**k oh f**k OH f**k!" He then went into broadcast mode (not knowing that he was in it already), and shouter out, "Guys in the cave! Get out here! We have a problem! A BIG problem!"
Alec went up highed, wondering where Zack was, and saw the rock roll away down the hill (the track it was supposed to go on was forgotten), crushing an unfortunate bug-thing. Blue blood splattered on the ground, and the boulder rolled down the hill and away into the darkness.
From behind the rock, Chris' minions poured out, and stopped dead (no pun intended) when they saw what was outside. The next wave behind them didn't stop, though, and the first wave was forced forward at the bugs, which turned toward the new arrivals.
Both groups stopped for a breathless moment, regarding each other. The wind ceased, and the whole world seemed to be on the edge of total chaos. It was only a few seconds, but to Alec it seemed like hours.
But when things happened, they happened quickly.
***
Chris sat at the end of the stone table, watching the proceedings. He had not wanted to be in the hall where the werewolf could attack him when they brought it in. He heard the broadcasts, and his heart sank. When the gate was rolled away, Chris, now very worried, fled into one of the inner chambers, and sat there in fear while the sounds of battle began to rage outside.
***
Not many things were clear about the proceedings, but one thing Alec was certain of: Garrett struck first.
Alec saw his freind come flying out of the cave, jump over the minions, and crash down in the middle of the horde of bugs, scattering a few. He whipped out his weapon and spun in a circle, knocking more bugs down, but apparently not killing any.
The bugs backed off, looked at the enemy that just jumped into the middle of them, and then pounced.
After that, things were insanity.
The minions rushed in as soon as the bugs moved, swinging their weapons, and quickly discovering that the bugs had some sort of armor plating
(exoskeleton)
on them, and a regular attack wasn't the effective.
The bugs turned on then, ripping and tearing away with their claws and their mouth-parts. The battle was already shaping up, and it looked grim for the good guys.
Alec watched in horror as the minions were being decimated. If he didn't do something soon, he knew, the entire group of them would be gone.
Alec swooped down behind the bug horde, drew his sword, and charged at them from the back.
He cleaved on in half and hit another one hard, sending it sprawling. Alec turned to this one and swung his sword down at it, cleaving it in half, sending blue guts and blood flying everywhere. He suddenly remembered from biology class that blue blood meant that the blood was bronze-based, as opposed to red iron-based blood. Funny things come to you when you're fighting.
Alec charged again, swinging at the backs of three bugs, who were all beating down Garrett, who was on the ground swinging his club wildily.
He hit all three, but the one in the middle got the worst. It's back split open as two of it's wings fell off, and the creature turned and swing a scaly, clawed hand at Alec, who did a Matrix-type move, bending over backwards, but was still hit.
He brought his body back upright, using that power in his next attack. His sword went straight into, and then then out the back of, the bug, who made agitated clacking sounds, and began squirming, trying to get off of the sword that had impaled it.
A claw came out of nowhere and smacked Alec upside the head, momentarily blacking out his vision. Alec regained himself and swung at the new intruder to his right.
The bug still on Alec's sword collided with the one that had just hit him, and they bounced off of each other, cracking their tough scaly armor. Alec raised his foot and kicked the now-dead bug off of the end of his sword, sliced half of the other one's head off, and looked to see where Garrett now was.
Garrett was lying on the ground a few feet away, obviously unconcious. The poor guy always seemed to be the first to get knocked out. In this case, Garrett might do better to not remember what was going on.
In front of him, Patrick had just decimated one bug and was moving onto another one who was busy pulling the arms off of an upset-looking zombie-type. Two other bugs lay in pieces at his feet. Or perhaps there were three. It was hard to tell.
Zack was under attack from two sides at once, and was doing decently. As Alec watched, Zack moved sideways out from between the bugs, who turned to him. Zack had just shifted the battle in his favor by forcing the two opponents to be in the same direction. Zack swung and matched his enemies, hit for hit.
Ed was doing better, his claymore cleaving through bugs here and there, and not stopping, even if the enemy he hit was already dead. Alec noticed two minions fighting next to him, both getting torn apart by bugs. They were both skeletons, so it wasn't as gruesome as it could have been.
Aaron, Alec saw, was fighting against one bug who continued to force Aaron backwards down the hill. Aaron swung at it hard from the side, and Alec saw Aaron's machete go flying off down the hill. The bug advanced upon him slowly, but was taken out at the last minute by a tree Aaron had told to move. Good old trees. Always reading to fall over and crush things.
Alec quickly found the main area of battle, and saw ten minions trying to fight off about fifteen bugs, and were losing the battle.
Alec charged up and swung at one of the bugs. Much to his suprise, the bug turned, grabbed his sword, and wrenched it out of Alec's hands. Alec backed up, now seeing a bug in front of him with his sword. Alec turned invisible, dodged the bugs first wild attack, dove at it, and succeeded in knocking it down. Alec then poceeded to punch it in the face with his armored fists, sending splashes of thick blue blood flying up from the creatures face. He reached out to grab his sword from the bugs grasp when a thick, scaled foot came down, pinning his hand only a foot from the handle of his sword.
Alec reached further with his telekenisis, picked up the sword, and cleaved the creatures leg off.
As the blood splattered on Alec's mask, he caught his sword, spun it, and then cut the bug in half. He turned and saw the bugs had beaten down all ten minions, and now turned to him, dark greedy eyes glowing in the night.
***
Chris was hunched under a table, in the fetal position, rocking back and forth. The pain had intensified, and now he could barely stand it. He could hear the sounds of battle from outside, and he knew that things weren't going well. Not well at all. He was going to die. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.
He heard fast, scurrying footsteps in the hall, and looked up from under the table. He saw the bottom half of what looked like a giant scaley thingyroach that was standing on two legs, had wings, and had claws that didn't look like they were just for decoration.
Chris stopped breathing, but the creature saw and heard him anyway. It scurried up, grabbed him out of his hiding place, pulled him into a headlock, and before Chris knew it, his own dagger was against his throat.
"You're coming with me." The bug whispered in barely understandable English. If Chris didn't know better, he would have thought he was hallucinating from the poison in his system. What was this weird bug thing, anyway?
As it dragged him away out toward the entrance of the cave, Chris didn't struggle. He knew his life was over, and he decided he might as well accept it.
***
Alec chopped off a bugs head, kicked another in the face, and then turned invisible, jumped into the air, and veiwed the battlefield.
Things were looking very bad. The entire area was littered with bug carcases, as well as numerous bones, pieces of black robes, and various zombie-type limbs. And to top it all off, everything was bathed in blood, most of it blue.
Alec took a quick count of everything, and saw that the bugs had decimated all but nine of Chris' minions, yet there were still about fifteen bugs. Alec saw that, thankfully, none of the PNs were dead, but Garrett was still unconscious, but now at the bottom of the hill. Alec decided he must have rolled.
Alec saw Patrick and Zack dominating the battlefield, taking out bugs left and right. Aaron and Ed, however, weren't doing so great. They were back to back, swinging their weapons at the group of bugs that had surrounded them. As Alec watched, one of the bugs jumped at Ed, and was was knocked back by his rapidly spinning sword.
Zack, on the ground, looked over and saw the ring of bugs, and knew exactly what this meant. He leaped into the middle of the group, pushed Ed and Aaron to the ground, and began fighting off the bugs.
Patrick saw what was going on and helped Zack out.
Pretty soon, the entire battle shifter to there, and then things turned real ugly.
Alec watched as the last of Chris' minions were cut down, falling to the dirt, bones burning slowly. There were still nine bugs, and they quickly surrounded the four Potato Ninjas (Garrett was still laying at the bottom of the hill) on the ground. Alec knew that things were going to get even worse, and very quickly. He swooped down out of the sky, landed next to his comrades, and turned visible.
"Glad to see you could join us." Patrick said, breathing heavily. He had a large cut above one of his eyes, and the whole left side of his face was red with the blood.
"Well, I can't just left you guys die, now can I?" Alec replied, eying the bugs, wondering if they understood what the PNs were saying.
"I'd sure hope not." Zack said. His voice sounded shot, and he looked like it, too.
Aaron opened his mouth to speak, but another voice jumped out into the bloody night. It was raspy and barely understandable, but it was there.
"I have your leader, and I will kill him if you do not surrender!"
All of the PNs and the bugs turned toward the voice to see another bug staning in the spot where the gate used to be, holding Chris in front of him with a dagger to his throat. 'So they do know English,' Alec though numbly. 'Answers that question. But why do they think Chris is our leader? Curious...'
Alec turned toward the PNs and gave a very short-range broadcast, encompassing just them.
"Drop your weapons," Alec thought-spoke to the PNs, "I have a plan."
Out loud, he said, "Okay, boys, they have our leader. Let's just do what the bug says and drop our weapons, okay?"
All of the PNs nodded, dropping their weapons to the ground. Alec turned to the bug that had Chris. "We surrender. Will you let our leader go?"
The bug paused, and then said "No."
The dagger flashed, Chris fell to the ground, and the bug backed up quickly. The dagger was still in the air, right where the bug had let go of it when it zapped him. The dagger turned, pointed at the bug's hideous face, and then slammed forward, penetrating the bugs face and even cutting into the rock behind it. The bug was pinned to the wall by a dagger through the face.
There was a momentary pause where nothing happened. Most of the things gathered were still trying to figure out what had happened. Alec quickly ducked, grabbed his sword, and shouted the PNs, "Let's do this!"
All of the PNs yelled loudly, suprising their insectile captors, and the battle continued.
In less than a minute, it was over.
The dirt beneath the bodies was saturated with blood, and a light wind blew across the hillside as the moon dipped behind a cloud, laying a blanket of darkness across the world below.