Load Custom Character

by Tyler R Lee

  “Yeah, we’ll save you some,” Gunner added. He then took NoScope by the shoulders and led her away.

  “No, guys, no,” Peter called as he watched the others walk away. Then, he felt Ariel’s hand on his shoulder. He looked her dead in the eyes and saw the same sadness that filled his.

  “Don’t keep us waiting, Scott,” Ariel called back to her wizard friend.

  “No, please, not again,” Peter said as he turned and reached through the gate. Ariel put her arm around his waist and pulled him away from the doorway.

  Before Peter could be taken away, the giant demon lurched forward towards the wizard. Quickly, Lysander through up a powerful version of his shield that repelled the creature back a few feet. “GO!” he called back to his friends.

  “Come on, Peter. He won’t be able to concentrate if we are here.”

  “Goddammit!” Peter yelled. Finally, he released the bars, turned, and ran up the path, followed by Ariel, who gave her friend one last glance before she turned the corner.

  “Alright, ya Tolkien wannabe. Let’s see how you like this.” As he called out, he slammed his staff into the floor. Then, in all directions, a massive wave a force shot out, shaking the room and sending shards of rock flying from the walls and from the broken bridge. The beast, still a bit off balance from the shield’s pushback, was knocked off of its feet and tumbled backward, back down the pit, taking even more of the bridge with it.

  Lysander stood there for a few heartbeats, breathing heavy, a look of surprise eventually working its way onto his face. As he breathed out, he said, “I didn’t actually think that would work.”

  As the wizard straightened his hat and made for the lever to raise the bridge, the demon pulled itself up and reached out, grasping Lysander by the ankle. With a surprised yelp, he fell forward, slamming his head into the stone, opening up a gash above his eye. As the creature tried to climb back up, the fragile stone it hung from began to crumble. With no firm footing or place to grab, the creature truly fell back into the pit, but he took the wizard with him as they both fell into the dark abyss.

  Chapter 22

  Peter and Ariel caught up with the group. Wiping their eyes, no one said a word. No one needed to. They rounded the bend and entered a large cliffside area that connected to what they assumed was the top of Davo’s Fortress. Over the edge they could see the hills and mountain range that stretched across the continent below the relatively cloudless sky.

  “That small tunnel through the top spire of the fortress should take us into the temple from the underside, there.” Artemis pointed to the spire and its path into the mountains further down the path. As the road exited the spire, it followed a stone bridge across a ravine that then led deeper into the mountain. Beyond, up the mountain path was the temple. It was a massive structure built into the natural rock, just like the fortress.

  “Great. Let’s go,” Peter said as he rushed for the spire.

  “Peter, wait,” Ariel called after as she followed.

  The two of them ran through the tunnel, the others trailing behind. “We have to hurry. We might still be able to--”

  Peter’s statement was cut off by a loud explosion, followed by the tunnel collapsing behind Ariel and himself. Moving quickly, Ariel tackled Peter, sending them both sprawling out the other side of the tunnel, putting them across the ravine from the rest of the party.

  “Gunner! NoScope! Artemis!” Peter called, hoping that his friends had not just been crushed in the sudden collapse.

  “Are you all alright?!” Ariel called.

  After a moment of silence, a muffled, “Yeah. We’re fine,” was heard on the other side

  “Dammit!” Peter kicked some of the rubble. “There’s no way we can get back there. What the hell happened?”

  “I happened, you stupid brat,” came a voice from the air. Peter and Ariel looked up. What they saw drained the color from their face. It was Sonic Man, hovering on the other side of the large drop separating Ariel and Peter from the other side of the tunnel.

  The cyborg leveled his hands at the two, meaning to fire his weapons, but a green bolt of energy came at him, forcing him to dodge away. The two looked to see Artemis, firing away at the airborne warrior. “Go!” she called to them. “There’s nothing you can do here. Go! Now!”

  “Not again,” Peter growled as he readied to send a wave of energy at their foe.

  “No, Peter,” Ariel said as she grabbed his arm. He looked to her, confused, but her face was resolute. “Save your energy. A bigger fight is just ahead.” With a reluctant nod, Peter followed Ariel as they ran towards the temple just up the path.

  “Damn,” Sonic Man cursed as he watched the two flee towards the temple.

  “Eyes forward, asshole!” the flying metal warrior heard. Before he could turn to regard the insult, he was struck hard in his midsection as the aerial form of Gunner slammed into him at full thrust. Not slowing and full of pent up rage for the death of Streak, Gunner drove the both of them into the side of the cliff, shattering the side of it and sending rocks careening down the mountain.

  “Get off me, you annoying little…” Sonic Man fired off a powerful blast of sonic energy from his palm at Gunner, but the close proximity allowed the green clad cyborg to lean out of the way.

  The blast hit the side of the cliff Artemis and NoScope were on. As the rocks began to crumble and give way, they immediately felt their pathway fall. “Look out!” Artemis cried as the two began to slide down the slope as the cliffside started to go with them.

  Moving quickly, Artemis fired an arrow at a nearby piece of the cliffside that wasn’t crumbling. The arrow was trailed by a piece of magically glowing rope. It struck the cliff and grappled the side of it, allowing the archer to swing free of the falling rubble. As the rope pulled her to the rocks, the place it had taken hold of started to go. Before she could get off another shot, she fell as she saw a massive piece of the cliff fall away..

  “I’m coming!” the archer heard as she slammed into the side of the cliff and began to slide down. She tried to focus, and saw NoScope leaping from rock to rock, finding her agile footing on larger pieces of the cliff that had given way. When she got closer, the ninja disappeared in a puff of gray smoke.

  Suddenly, Artemis felt an arm around her waist. “Gotcha,” NoScope said as she disappeared again, this time taking Artemis with her. It was rough, and is cost the ninja plenty of stamina, but she successfully navigated the fall along the cliffside with her incredible agility and light footing.

  In the end, the two tumbled through the broken roof of what appeared to be a side tower of Davo’s Fortress. Surrounded by rubble from the rockslide and pieces of the roof, the two got to their feet and dusted themselves off. “Are you okay?” NoScope asked.

  “Thanks to you.” The smile Artemis shot the ninja made her blush. “What about your friend?”

  NoScope suddenly remembered that Gunner was fighting Sonic Man all alone, somewhere in the sky. “Dammit. We need to find a way back up--” Before she could finish her statement, the two of them heard a loud crashing of stone coming from the small pathway leading out of the room they had tumbled into.

  Without question, they ran towards the noise. The corridor soon opened up into a large cavern, lit by only a few torches at various locations and heights. The source of the noise was easy to spot. Gunner had crashed through the roof of the cavern. He lay there, attempting to pull himself up out of the ground he had been partially embedded in from the impact. Through the hole in the ceiling created from Gunner’s crash, Sonic Man slowly lowered himself down into the cavern. The ladied immediately noticed that the top left corner of his mask was missing, revealing a blue eye filled with rage. He was also clutching his left arm, and other, small bits of black, gold, and blue armor had broken off.

  As the two ran over to Gunner, who had just sat up, they saw that he was in far worse shape. His helmet had broken in two, causing his long, brown hair to break out of its usual ponytail and fall down u
pon his shoulders. His face was bloody, and his armor was badly damaged. However, what caused NoScope to gasp was what she saw on his left side. “Your...your arm...it’s gone,” she said, hand over mouth as she looked at his left arm, now ending at the elbow in broken and frayed wires, splintered armor, and smattered blood coating the inner workings of the cyborg’s body.

  “Yes,” Sonic Man growled. “And now to finished him.” He lifted his hands, but, again, Artemis was ready. Two, then four, then eight bolts of magical energy flew at the battered metal man, causing him to change tactics and attempt to escape the projectiles. He was mostly successful but a couple found purchase.

  The black and gold cyborg was forced to land, and Artemis was waiting for just that. She bolted towards him, firing arrow after arrow as she nimbly leapt from rock to rock, making it nearly impossible for Sonic to get a clear shot on her. Instead, he focused on shooting the magical arrows out of the air or rolling away from them. However, as he attempted the latter from a single arrow, he felt the explosion erupt from the small missile, sending him crashing into the nearby wall.

  “You always underestimate your opponents.” Artemis stood and walked towards where her foe had crashed. Before she made it, she dove to the side as an intense beam of red energy cut through the rock and nearly sliced her in half. As she retreated, the beam clipped her leg. She fell to the ground, howling in pain. Quickly dragging herself behind a big rock, she examined her leg. It was burned, badly, and she had lost a chunk of HP in the process.

  “That’s because you are always so predictable,” Sonic spat back at the archer as he held up his hands, readying his weapons again. “And I know I’ve got more than one opponent!” he yelled as he turned and sent out a powerful blast of sonic energy towards the oncoming gray garbed ninja. However, as the blast seemed to make contact, it simply dissipated the gray smoke left in her wake.

  Sonic Man then lunged forward in pain as sparks flew from his back, NoScope’s sword slicing upward through his back. “Just because you saw me doesn’t mean you can stop me.”

  In anger, Sonic Man swung around and attempted to back hand the ninja. She ducked and cut him across the abdomen, sending more sparks flying. He stumbled forward and dropped to one knee, then further, trying to put some distance between himself and NoScope.

  “Those were for Streak,” she said in a cold voice as she walked forward, sword at the ready.

  ***

  Peter and Ariel ran as quickly as they could up the stone path. As they approached the temple, the ancient stone structure loomed more and more menacingly above them, but they didn’t care. So much was at stake. Friends were fighting, friends were, undoubtedly, dying, all so they could make it to the end and bring this nightmare to a close. They were not about to be scared off by the temple.

  Unexpectedly, the massive front opening to the large temple was completely blocked off by the crumbled remnants of much of the roof, as well as fallen bits of the mountain around it. However, off to the side were a set of large, stone stairs that led up. The two followed and found that they circled the temple as they ascended. When they finally reached the top, they now stood in a massive open area, overgrown with vines and weeds upon ornate tiles. The sky was cloudless and stretched out all around them, aside from the peak of the mountain that lay behind the temple, seemingly unassailable from where they were.This was the roof of the temple.

  What caught their eye, however, was on the other side of the roof. Standing at least twelve feet tall, weilding a massive axe that only the behemoth creature could, clad in strips of leather armor with plates of metal attached was a large minotaur like creature. It’s red fur bristled as it saw the pair. After a snort of steam from its nostrils, he started their way, each hoof stomp rocking the structure.

  “Looks like we’ll need to take this one out in order to proceed,” Ariel said as they too started approaching their foe. She retrieved her greatsword and readied it for action.

  Before the large monster was upon them, Peter saw an approaching figure off to the side, coming in fast. Moving quickly, the martial artist stepped in front of Ariel and blocked the incoming spear. He stared down the new foe, a knight clad in bright silver armor, standing at least seven feet tall with a spear measuring at least twelve. Upon his chest was a dragon wreathed in silver flame.

  The monikers of the two foes flashed in front of their eyes. “Minos, the Half-Demon” named the minotaur, and “Galavar, the Silver Dragon” flashed in front of the knight.

  “One for me and one for you,” Peter said, giving Ariel a wink. He then pushed the spear away and made to attack, pushing his foe back to give his companion room for her own battle. Ariel, standing her ground, made ready to engage the large minotaur, axe raised for its first strike.

  ***

  Gunner watched as NoScope and Sonic Man battled. He stood, pushing himself up with his remaining arm, and surveyed the scene. He saw Artemis nursing her hurt leg, safely outside of the fight, for now. To him, it seemed that Sonic Man had severely underestimated NoScope, who was showing just how much faster she was than the broken man.

  The ninja kept Sonic Man in close quarters, which was not his forte. Anytime he attempted to fire anything her direction, she was close enough to step in and deal a fresh hit with her wakizashi. After every exchange, the metal man slowed more and more. Sparks shot from several parts of his body, showing multiple wounds. He was limping, holding onto his right arm, and stumbling as he tried to put distance between himself and his attacker.

  “I have several more to give for Streak before we finish,” NoScope casually said as she slowly, cautiously approached.

  “Then go join him,” the battered metallic warrior said as he placed his palm on the cavern floor. Then, he unleashed his sonic blasts into the ground. Within an instant, the floor around Sonic Man erupted from the sound waves he had unleashed.

  Gunner recognized this tactic and, using much of his remaining energy, rocketed towards his friend. As the ground broke apart and lifted up, pushing NoScope into the air and threatening to engulf her, she suddenly felt something grip her arm. “Gotcha!” Gunner called out as he used his good arm to grab his friend and fly her across the cavern and out of harm's way, barely avoiding the eruption of rock that trailed after them.

  He dropped NoScope off, then turned and headed towards his enemy. NoScope called for him to wait, but he ignored her. “You forgot about me!” he cried as he rushed towards Sonic Man.

  “Oh, no I didn’t,” the battered warrior whispered as Gunner approached.

  He’s taken a ton of damage, Gunner thought. If I hit him hard enough, I can end this. As Gunner closed the gap, he began firing his arm cannon, which Sonic deflected with a shield he produced from his right arm.

  Attempting to keep his foe off balance, Gunner circled his enemy, firing off shots just to keep his attention. Normally, these wouldn’t have been a problem, but Sonic Man was having trouble moving after his fight with NoScope. For the most part, he managed to keep the bullets at bay.

  After peppering his opponent with energy bullets, Gunner produced the glowing blue blade he had used before in the battle in the Hidden Tomb. He came in quick, wings retracting, and began his assault. Sonic Man kept his shield, but produced a metal blade from his other hand. Both badly damaged, the two went back and forth, blocking and parrying, knowing that any hit upon their foe would be invaluable at this juncture. Each time the blades clashed, sparks and energy flew in all directions, showing how unstable both players’ energy levels were.

  Despite his injuries, Gunner’s assault was taxing on the heavily battered veteran. Each furious swing of his energy blade pushed Sonic Man back, and each retaliation came slow and cautious. Eventually, Gunner had pushed his foe far enough to have taken him off balance for his final assault.

  Using more stamina than Gunner should have had after such a fight, he leapt up and slammed both feet into Sonic Man. This abrupt attack sent Sonic sprawling onto his back several feet away. Gunner, how
ever, was up quickly. “Now’s the time,” he thought aloud as several plates all over his body opened, ready to send a plethora of projectiles to incinerate is foe.

  “Just what I was waiting on,” Sonic Man chided. In that instant, as the plates were opening, the battered cyborg produced several small, metal balls from his wrists that rolled into his hands. In one motion, he tossed them at Gunner, successfully lodging them within the plates he knew would open, having seen this technique before at the hearing. Gunner saw this, but it was too late to stop his assault. As the missiles made to leave his body, they made contact with the balls, which detonated on contact with the volatile projectiles. All at once, several explosions rocked the cyborg’s insides and flames, smoke, and rubble consumed him as he cried out in pain.

  “GUNNER!” NoScope cried from across the cavern as she saw the horrible explosion. Terrified for her friend, she rushed to him. When she made it to his side, the smoke was slowing wafting away, though what was left of him was still smoking.