Chapter 41
As Leem approached us, I couldn’t break myself out of my terrified state. I had always hoped I wouldn’t have to face him ever again, and yet, here he was! And I was singled out, just like the first time we’d fought!
“Scamp,” Mallogory said calmly, touching my face. “We’ll get through this.”
Closing my eyes, ignoring the approaching monster, I took a shaky breath. I could do this. I just have to focus and get through this one more time. One more time, Scamp, you can do this!
My eyes flew open, a forced determined look falling across my face. “Lance, focus on restraining him. Keep trying methods till something works. Mallogory and I will keep him distracted.”
“Whispering up a plan?” he laughed as he neared us. “I’m interested in seeing what you got up your sleeves!”
We all nodded as we jumped into action. Mallogory and I took off towards him as Lance jumped back, cards flaring around himself as he began to work on them.
Leem didn’t even dodge us as I sliced away at his left while Mallogory cut away at his right.
“Really? Just normal attacks?” He said as he didn’t even react to our attacks. His fist flew out and caught me in the face, sending me flying away.
Spinning on Mallogory, he punched through her blades and grabbed her by the face. He yanked her to himself as she fought, taking a deep inhale of her as he did so. He licked his lips as he reared his head back and snapped forward.
But as he came down for her, I appeared behind her, having propelled myself back to them, and caught his jaws with my paw and Ego blades. I yelled out in pain as I struggled to keep his mouth open as Mallogory fought to break free of his grasp.
He just laughed as I did everything I could to keep him from killing her.
“Scamp!” She hissed out as she flickered like crazy, but couldn’t get away, “Just get back!”
“Fucking shut up!” I screamed back as his jaws began to close around her head. Roaring, I pulled as hard as I could, but it was no use. He was just playing with us at this point.
Then his beady eyes went wide as his body flashed green.
Taking advantage of the moment, I screamed as I pulled hard, ripping his head in half. Mallogory broke from his grasp and we sprang back as he grunted and groaned.
“Oh thank God!” Lance yelled out. “I thought none of them were going to work!”
Leem started to growl as his body started to turn a light shade of red. Then he roared as steam exploded from his body as he broke free of whatever Lance had put over him.
He now seemed to have lost all sense of playing around as he sprinted towards us on all fours.
My eyes went wide as I saw he was aiming for Mallogory.
As he jumped forward for her, I jumped forward and knocked her away, getting grabbed instead. “Lance!” I yelled out, eyes wide in panic as Leem looked like a feral beast.
Before anyone could react, he grabbed me by the neck and flank and pulled.
I heard a horrendous tearing sound as he yanked me about then threw me over his shoulders.
Lance and Mallogory screamed my name, but Leem had already started advancing on them.
I tumbled across the ground, letting out screams of pain as I hit the ground over and over again. Finally, I came to a stop.
Staring straight up, I could hear the others fighting, bright flashes filling the room as Lance used his cards as fast as he could make them.
Trying to move sent a large amount of pain through my body, but I had to sit up. Slowly getting my legs behind me, I pushed myself up, eye wide as I realized I was now just a top half. My lower half sat a few feet away.
“Oh that’s not good,” I mumbled, feeling very light headed at the lose of blood and sight before me.
“I told him not to kill her!” Lorenzo yelled from my right as he stood up, stumbling away to another door nearby.
The little crippled man began to try and climb back into his box.
Grinding my teeth in pain, I rolled over, forcing myself to crawl to my lower half. My life seemed to be flickering as I felt like I was going to die at any moment.
Ayla appeared above me, cheering me on.
“Come on, Scamp! Push! COME ON!”
Screaming in pain, I grabbed my lower half and pulled it towards me as I began to try and pull in as much of myself as I could. Once I’d gotten as much as I could possibly get, I sent my Ego to the little man, attaching to him.
He hissed and clawed at my Ego, but I kept attaching it, fighting to live. Using his Ego abilities, I began to slowly heal myself. I shook violently as I watched my insides heal first, then everything else. I held my lower body to myself, hoping this actually reconnected them. Otherwise, it was over.
Looking at the fight, I saw Lance as missing a leg and wing, struggling to keep fighting as Mallogory did her best to dodge his attacks. Luckily, with him going full feral, he was mostly attacking wildly, which allowed her to see his attacks coming.
The crippled man began to pull himself to me, a dagger in his hand.
Shit shit shit shit!
I tried to heal faster, but it was taking its time!
He neared me and took a stab at me, but I caught it in my right leg, the blade impaling my leg. I twisted it and broke it from his grasp. Instead of going after it, he pulled himself up onto me and began to try and choke me.
My back half wasn’t working yet, so I couldn’t move very effectively. One of my wings, however, was able to move. I snapped it up and slammed it into his head, causing him to fall off of me.
Come on! Heal damn it!
My damned back legs still refused to move as the little man came back, going for the knife stuck in my leg. I waved it around, trying to keep it out of his grasp.
But he eventually got it by the hilt and pulled it free. With an angry roar, he raised it and brought it down towards my face.
With a clang, I caught the blade in my teeth, barely saving myself. He grunted as he fought to push the knife further down. I grabbed him with my leg and paw and tried to push him back, but I was very immobile at that moment. He began to slam a fist down onto the knife, trying to beat it down into me.
But I held tight, my jaws stronger than he was.
Then, as if a massive wave of relief washed over me, I kicked my back legs.
Screaming in anger around the blade, I raised up and threw him into the wall next to me. As he tried to get up, I bucked him straight in the face, knocking him unconscious.
Looking back to the fight, I saw Lance was now down, seeming to be unconscious also. Mallogory was on a losing path as he was getting closer to grabbing her.
What can I even do here?!
Ayla appeared next to me, thinking as well.
Then a very dumb idea hit me. “I fucking swear…” I grumble, opening my pocket dimension and pulling out two items.
As Leem began to gain the upper hand on Mallogory, a few bullets slammed into his back.
He spun around, eyes ablaze as he saw me standing on my two hind legs, very shaky, pointing the pistol I’d gotten from the rats at him.
“Come on, fucker, finish me off,” I say, firing again and hitting him in the eye. He roared and began to sprint towards me on all fours.
“Scamp!” Mallogory yelled, sounding completely exhausted as she stumbled after him.
I fired away as he neared, the bullets doing nothing but pissing him off more and more.
“That’s right,” I mumble, my right leg coming out from behind my back. “Just try and kill me.”
As he jumped in the air towards me, I flung the item in my right hoof at him.
A little pokeball slapped him in the face and pulled him in just as he reached me, the wind flying past me as he disappeared, his maw inches from my face.
“Holy shit,” I gasped out as I collapsed, my adrenaline choosing that moment to crash.
“What’d you just do?!” Mallogory asked as she slid up next to me, lifting me up into a tight hug.
“Careful, still hurting,” I say, using my Ego to attach to the crippled man again, attaching my Ego to both of us to heal our wounds.
She laughs happily, crying into me.
“Mallo, please, go to Lance, get his leg and wing,” I say, not wanting to waste time.
She wipes her face as she jumps up and runs to him, gathering up his body parts as she did so.
Once they were held in place, I sent my Ego to him.
After a few minutes, I stood up and walked over, watching him groan as he came too.
“We dead?” he asked, coughing loudly.
“Almost,” I chuckle, holding my paw out to him. He takes it and allows me to lift him up.
“Where’s that fucker at?” Mallogory asked, looking around.
I pointed to the door he’d walked for, “That way. He’s still hurt.”
“Good,” Lance said, flashing a card. A portal opened, and the others stood on the other side, looking shocked.
Bronwyn was the first one through, “What happened? Did you get him?!” Then she saw the massive amount of blood all over the room, most of it Leems, but a lot of mine as well.
“Leem,” I said simply, getting a horrified look from her. “He’s not here anymore. I teleported him to Ominus’s ship.”
“Good thinking, he’ll be trapped there till he figures out the password on the teleporters,” Jero said, looking around. “Uh… who's that?”
I turned to see the little crippled man quickly moving towards a hole in the wall, just big enough for him to climb into.
“Oh, no one,” I say, raising the gun and firing. The bullet snapped the man's head to the side as he went limp, right at the opening to the hole.
“Where’s Lorenzo?” Bronwyn asked, gripping her sword tightly.
“That way,” I said as I started walking towards the door.
Calypso attached her Ego to all of us again, healing up any wounds we still had. Thanks to her, the stiffness in my back legs went away, returning them to normal. Thank all that is good for her and her abilities!
Upon entering the door at the end of the room, we found ourselves in another hallway. A blood trail led to the right, so that’s the way we went.
It did not take us long to find the door it led into. Voices could be heard on the other side. Pressing my ear to the door, I could just make out what was being said.
“-ing you? Why would I help you? You have gone against every order I’ve given you, and your pet has probably already killed him! Do you know what that would mean for me?! He is my ticket, and you just lost him to that ravenous creature you call a pet!”
“I don’t care, you need to help me here! Use your powers! Something!” Lorenzo pleaded, sounding very pathetic.
Not wanting to hear anymore, I kicked the door in, and we all rushed in.
Lorenzo spun around from the massive hologram before him to face us, eyes wide.
“Watcher! See?! He’s alive!” he yelled, pointing to Lance. “So help me!”
We all stared up at the hologram, the being on the other side staring at us with raised eyebrows.
Lance blinked, then pointed, “That’s not the Watcher! The Watcher is a big stone golem fucker!”
The strange being on the hologram blinked a few times, its strange arms touching its face. “Lorenzo, deal with them.” The hologram then disappeared, leaving a damaged and panicking Lorenzo.
My Ego flew towards him, attaching to him.
“Stay,” I say simply as we all fan out around him. “Who was that?”
“The Watcher you idiot!” he yelled as he watched us all move around him.
“No it wasn’t,” Lance responded.
Lorenzo growled and took a step back. “That was his true form, you foolish man! His Virtues form!”
“Alright then,” I say, taking up a position right in front of him. “Let’s make a deal. You tell us what we want to know, and you can walk.”
“Scamp!” Bronwyn hissed, but I held up a hoof.
“Deal?”
He looked around at us, frowning. “Deal.”
“Good, now tell us how to get to the Watcher.”
He sighed, shaking his head, “That’s really not a smart move. You all think just because you beat me that you can beat him? Tsk, delusional, the lot of you.”
“Just answer the question,” I press, eyes narrowing.
“Fine,” he says, holding his side where blood still seeped from. “You can use the teleport pads in this base. Go into the history, and you’ll find his domain.”
“Now tell us, why does he want Lance?”
With a chuckle, he looked at Lance, “If I tell you that, he’ll kill me.”
“Or I’ll kill you right now,” I offered, but he just laughed.
“More scared of the Watcher than you, horsey.”
Bronwyn stepped forward, getting face to face with him.
“Ah, Bron, my eternal stalker. I bet you are happy right now, finally catching me,” Lorenzo jokes, poking her chest with a finger.
She just glared at him. “I should remove your head right now for all the people you’ve killed. All the friends lost to your sadistic hand.”
He only laughs louder in response.
“But we have more pressing matters right now, now answer the question!” she yelled, shoving him hard.
“Sure, anything for you, Bron.” He stood up straight and fixed his coat that barely hung on him. “The Watcher wants to return to his rightful seat in the Ultimate Authority Dimension, and if he can break a Angel from the higher realms and bring them to-”
A massive portal opened behind him and a mechanical hand suddenly shot out and grabbed him. His eyes went wide as he was yanked into the hole, screaming.
THe portal closed before any of us could react.
“What the fuck?!” Lance yelled, jumping forward to where Lorenzo had been. “Was that the Watcher?!”
“It was,” Castor said, flying around Lance.
Lance cursed and kicked the ground, and walked towards a chair to sit down.
“Why was the Watcher removed from the UAD?” I asked, looking at Castor.
He blinked at us, then sighed. “His views and methods go against what the UAD stands for. He was cast out long ago for playing Creator, creating his own worlds and creatures. This something only two beings are allowed to do. The One True Creator, and the Dao. The Dao is over the UAD, while the Creator is over all.” He then looked to Lance, “and with you being an Angel of the Creator, that makes you very valuable to someone like the Watcher.”
“Great,” Lance said, rubbing his face.
“So, if we go to him right now, do we stand a chance?” I asked, looking at him with worry.
“No,” he admits. “But it doesn’t matter, we could prepare for the rest of time, and my answer would be the same.” He points to Greg, “This all hinges on him and the Seed of Knowledge.”
Greg blinked a few times, and frowned. “I really hate this all being on me…”
“The Traveler believed you were the key, and I’ll just have to believe he was right,” Castor said, crossing his arms. “But I don’t like it.”
“What are we up against?” Reinhardt asked, frowning as she twirled her blade.
“Nothing we can fight in normal conventions,” he replied. “The Watcher can bend reality and manipulate dimensions at will. It’s the power of Virtues. I can manipulate reality as well, but not on his level. The best I can do during a fight, with no other help, is defend myself and keep him busy.”
“But,” I began, rubbing my chin, “can he be killed?”
“I do not know,” he admitted.
Lance groaned loudly, “Is there even a point to fighting him if we’re not even sure we can win?”
I frowned, as he had a point. But looking around at everyone, I saw they looked determined. “I say, screw it. If we don’t fight him, he’ll just do something later. Might as well deal with him while we’re all ready, right?”
“Right!” Reinhardt yells, slamming her fist together. Remi gave a thumbs up, looking determined.
Everyone else gave their own cheers of determination, causing Lance to shake his head. “You all don’t have to follow me. Is it really that bad if I just give myself up and let him win? If he wins, he’ll leave you all alone.”
“He can not win,” Castor suddenly yelled, actually appearing to be a bit panicked. “If he wins, the UAD itself will be in danger! If he resumes his previous seat, he’ll push for changes, and with the political state of the UAD at this moment, others will be swayed to his side! All of creation will be in danger!”
“Fuck, you just got to up the stakes like that, don’t you?” Lance said, rubbing his face. “Alright, we can do this. I don’t know how, but with all of us here and the Seed of Knowledge, we can do this.”
“Damn right we can do this,” I reassure him, giving him an award winning smile. “Together.”
He smiles at me, looking a bit relieved that all of this would be over soon. “Together.”
“Now where are these teleporters!” Greg yelled out as everyone fanned out to find them.
Next stop, the Watcher’s domain.