Last Stand of the Vyock Monsters

“Heh. You little meat sacks are scared of kids,” Skullikos said as the guards marched past the group of Twisted. “We already killed two of these brats before! Should have let us take them out when they came here!”

“Look, you freak…” one of the guards started to say before the tongue coming out of the mouth on the fat one’s belly wrapped around him, squeezing him tight.

“The meat thinks it can talk back,” the fat one said. “I think you need to remember something. We work for favors from your group, not for your cause.”

“Personally, this deal stinks,” the one with the oozing hole for its face said. “Hydas made the deal. He got greedy. I was fine attacking random villages.”

“Some Twisted have no ambition…” Skullikos said. “Bulkus, get rid of the loud annoyance. We need to…”

A massive crash hit the door of the hangar. A dent formed in the center. Another crash came, and the dent grew larger.

“Curious…” Bulkus said, his stomach mouth swallowing the last of the guard.

“Bulkus, Globular, with me,” Skullikos said. “The rest of you lot, make sure they don’t run for the door!”

The three Twisted stood shoulder to shoulder, watching as the giant door kept bending inward as blows rained on it. Finally, with one loud crash, it swung open, flying out to the side. The Twisted saw three silhouettes against the bright lights from the hallway. But they weren’t the children they had so easily dispatched at the old fortress near Lugara anymore. Nor were they the unprepared warriors they had captured a week prior. These three walked forward, calmly, purposefully, focused on what they wanted. A giant in the middle, blades for arms, skin reflecting light like a walking sun. A girl to his right, her body like air but her eyes showing manly steel, twin daggers gripped in her hands as her cloak floated backwards like angel wings. To his left, a warrior boy who had known defeat all his life, who let those defeats carve away his weakness until he became the figure they saw, a living testament to human endurance. These three walked forward, not stopping in fear of the giant monsters before them. In fact, the one in the middle smiled.

“Alex, you take butterball. Kraelin, goop face. I’ve got Skeletor,” Jake said.

“One Thanksgiving turkey coming up,” Alex said.

“It will be my pleasure to end the disgusting creature's existence,” Kraelin said.

“Let’s rock!” Jake shouted, and the attack began.

Kraelin dodged two blasts of inky, corrosive slime coming from Globular’s face, his sword drawn, his eyes focused. “I remember you from Lugara! You took great delight in melting the houses of my friends!”

“You humans take everything so personally,” Globular grunted, punching at the ground. Kraelin slashed at his arms, drawing pitch black blood. “Aaahh! Damn meat!”

“I am sick of being called meat!” Kraelin shouted, stabbing, leaping back, repeating. “Do you know what I live for? The day I no longer have to be a warrior! But until then…”

“Like I even care!” Globular shouted. Kraelin slid between the Twisted’s legs, slashing his ankles. Globular cried, fell to his knees and gurgled in pain as Kraelin flipped over his body, making one fierce, powerful slash. Kraelin landed, and Globular’s head slowly slid of his neck, leaving a trail of black slime behind.

“Until such a day, I remain Kraelin Whitemoon, warrior of Lugara!” Kraelin shouted.

Alex, meanwhile, was darting in and out of sight while Bulkus’s tongue lashed like a slimy whip, covering the area before him. “Only a matter of time, girl!” Bulkus roared.

“Quit calling me a girl!” Alex screamed. “God, ever since finding out about this Dungeons and Dragons bullcrap world it’s been one annoying thing after another!” He stabbed into Bulkus’s tongue, eliciting a pain filled bellow. “Stabbed, turned into a girl, forced to work out by an overachieving teenage warrior, sleeping on grass and hit on by dudes and locked in a cell where I had to poop in front of everyone for a week!”

“Do you ever shut up?!” Bulkus beloved as he slammed his fists on the ground. Alex went invisible, dashing away while still taunting.

“No! You know, I thought you’d appreciate a big mouth? Anyways, you know the one thing in this messed up world which hasn’t annoyed me through all of this?”

“I don’t care!” Bulkus complained.

“You’re about to! Get ‘em, Stick!”

From out if nowhere the little whiptail leapt at Bulkus, scratching at his eyes and face, blinding him. “Get off! Get this rodent…gah!”

Alex began striking at a rapid pace, dozens of little wounds, covering the Twisted’s bulk covered body, fading in and out, at times looking like he was everywhere at once. Bulkus started to slow, his strength fading as he sat down.

“This…this wasn’t fair…” Bulkus said weakly.

“You’re right, it wasn’t. You’re not Craig…but still…damn it feels good to win against a bully,” Alex said. Stick jumped to his shoulder and Alex gave a gentle push to Bulkus’s body. He collapsed backwards and did not get back up.

Jake didn’t talk as he fought. Skullikos grew twin bone spikes from his wrists, mimicking Jake’s swords. “Well? Come on then,” Skullikos sneered.

They clashed, the giant Twisted being far more powerful, staggering Jake with the first few strikes. Jake quickly recovered, keeping on his feet, returning his strikes. There was no snappy comeback, no banter. For this boy, this fight was not a game. He didn’t have to hide his fear with false bravado. Each slash of his sword sent a clear message. I will find Elysia, and I will go through you to find her.

“Why so serious? Come on, kid! You were all mouth in Lugara! Where’s the obnoxious charm?” Skullikos laughed. Jake grit his teeth and pushed harder. His strikes became more precise, and Skullikos’s bones rattled more from each blow. “You could run! She told you to run! Why, kid? Why are you even bothering? Look at all the power you have!”

“Look at all you have!” Jake heard the voice in his head. Not Skullikos, but a monster nonetheless. His father, drunk and stinking of a woman other than his wife, raging at him after he lost another fight defending Alex. “Why do you insist on getting your ass kicked for such a little nobody?”

Jake screamed, pushing forward. His sword arm sliced through one of Skullikos’s bone swords. The Twisted roared in pain. Jake only heard Craig yelling as he punched back. “Little punk! All you had to do is stand there, Jake! When are you gonna learn you don’t have to bleed for this loser?”

“What are you…” Skullikos stammered as Jake reared up for one final blow, leaping into the air with his arms raised, severing Skullikos’s arms, a victory roar echoing through the hangar. Skullikos fell to his knees as Jake landed from his jump.

“What am I?” Jake asked. He looked at the monster before him, seeing his father, seeing Craig, seeing everyone who had ever questioned him. “I’m my own man.”

The sword pierced Skullikos’s head. One swift strike, in and out, and the Twisted slumped to the ground. Alex and Kraelin walked to join him, all of them panting, exhausted, triumphant. Jake looked at the crowd of Twisted standing before the door which surely led to Elysia. He said only one word.

“Run.”

All of the Twisted looked between each other, not knowing what to do. They had the numbers. They had the raw power. But something about these three humans seemed to bring about an emotion they weren’t used to: fear.

“What are you waiting for?! Kill them!” Professor Malphi’s voice rang out from a loudspeaker on the ceiling. Everyone, human and Twisted turned to look at it.

“Yeah, come on. Come get us. Good dogs,” Jake taunted, looking between them all. “Who wants to try us? Huh? Shark face? Cactus boy? Volcano bastard?” He looked from bizarre form to bizarre form, challenging them.

“See, I thought the Twisted were roaming monsters. Real threats,” Alex said. “Not…you know…pets.”

“Pets…” The shark looking Twisted huffed. He walked up to the trio, the corpses of his fellow Twisted behind them.

“Got something to say, sushi roll?” Jake asked.

“Huh,” the shark Twisted merely huffed. Then he turned and headed towards some doors on the other wall, throwing them open to reveal bright daylight and a rocky mountain pass outside. “Deal with them yourself, Malphi. This is a meat on meat quarrel.” The shark walked out, and the other Twisted abandoned their post, following him out.

“No! Stop! Come back! We pay you! We keep you safe from Sweepers! We…”

“Are so screwed,” Jake said as they walked toward the door the Twisted had been guarding. “Come on guys. It’s time to save the girl.”

As the Twisted walked out, the shark one looked backwards at the three humans as they laid into the few Turning Gear guards left. They were battered and broken in seconds, most of them running away from the onslaught.

“Gillor, don’t tell me you actually respect the meat,” the one with broken cracks of magma flowing from its skin asked.

“I respect strength. Meat is pathetic. Meat is food. Meat is labor. Meat is amusement. Those three…could you call them any of those things?”

The group of Twisted walked on through the crags and peaks surrounding Vyock. Back in the castle Jake sliced through the door leading to Elysia.

“One monster left,” Jake said.

“And Saphira. Kraelin, will you be able to…” Alex started.

“I’ll have to. To protect Elysia, I will kill, and…and Saphira would lay down her life. I know she would…” Kraelin closed his eyes, calming himself. “Come, heroes. It’s time to end this curse which has ruled our lives from the shadows. No more puppets. Only men.”

“I appreciate your sentiment,” Alex said, nudging Kraelin in the side as they made their final approach towards the lab.