Chapter 19
Cold Order
Up in the peaks of Shiver Mountains, Boobart, Yoshure, and Zorfen appear in an icy cave. Surveying his surroundings, Zorfen remarks, “You’re even less intelligent than I gave you credit for. This environment will only amplify my abilities.”
“Yeah, well…I was rushing,” Boobart retorts lamely.
“Hmph, yes, it’s those kinds of reckless actions that I simply abhor about this world,” Zorfen states, “Once we destroy this planet, I will create a new world; one with order where no one will act without perfectly logical reasoning.”
“But, you can’t do that,” Yoshure tells him.
“He’s right,” Boobart agrees, “There are feelings that cause people to sometimes do things that even they don’t quite understand.”
“Hmph, this too will be remedied,” Zorfen replies, “Such words like courage, desperation, or even your most famous word, love, will mean nothing. They will be obsolete.”
“You can’t do that! Without emotion, people would be nothing but robots!” Boobart tells him.
“Precisely,” Zorfen responds, “Robots are logical and only rely on data, facts, and commands when deciding what to do. They don’t rely on such illogical things like “feelings”.”
“But-“ Yoshure begins before Zorfen interrupts, “Enough of your meaningless thoughts and feelings! I’ll swiftly defeat you so that we may continue on with our plan.”
Boobart and Yoshure quickly get ready for battle. Zorfen holds his hand out and blasts a freezing pulse from it at the two. Boobart’s eyes widen as he is frozen solid and falls to the ground.
“Hm,” Zorfen says, unimpressed, before noticing that Yoshure was unfrozen. “Hmm? Why aren’t you frozen?”
“Hah! I have ice powers too so I can’t be frozen!” Yoshure replies.
“Hmm, very well then,” Zorfen says before beginning to materializing icicles and fire them rapidly at Yoshure.
Yoshure yelps before beginning to run around, dodging the icicles. As he runs about, Yoshure counters by spitting icicles of his own at Zorfen, who easily parries them with his quick fire of icicles. Yoshure then skids to a halt and takes a deep breath before blasting a powerful stream of water at Zorfen, deflecting all of Zorfen’s icicles as it flies towards him. Zorfen jumps out of the way before materializing a large avalanche of snow that falls towards Yoshure.
Yoshure, acting quickly, blows water in a fountain form about him before mixing it with his icy breath, creating an icy force field, just as the heavy mountain of snow collapses on top of him. Zorfen watches silently for a moment, wondering what the Yoshi had planned. Suddenly, a high-pressure stream of water blasts out of the pile of snow at Zorfen. Zorfen jumps out of the way of it just in time. Yoshure digs his way out of the mound through the hole the water created in it and shakes the snow off of himself before frowning at Zorfen and taking a fighting stance.
“Hmph, I’ll admit, you’re better than I expected, but this ends now,” Zorfen states. He then holds up one of his hands, an icy blue energy surrounding it after a moment. Zorfen then chops the air, sending a sharp blast of the energy at Yoshure.
Yoshure yelps, quickly jumping to the side to dodge the attack, which ends up cleanly slicing through the wall behind him. “Uh oh…” Yoshure says worriedly before beginning to run about the room, dodging attack after attack. After a bit though, Yoshure cries out in pain as an attack manages to graze his leg, damaging it greatly. Yoshure falls to the ground, clutching it in pain.
Zorfen says, raising his arm to fire the finishing blow, “Hmph, goodbye, stupid creature.”
Just then, a voice chants, “Lightning Strike!” A Thunder Cloud appears above Zorfen and strikes him with a lightning bolt.
Yelping in pain, Zorfen turns to the voice to see Boobart, who was pointing at Zorfen, having cast the spell. “You escaped?” Zorfen questions in disbelief.
“Hm, I managed to cast a fire spell to free myself,” Boobart responds before blasting a fire spell at Zorfen, who quickly jumps out of the way and attempts to freeze Boobart again. However, Boobart quickly teleports out of the way the moment his attack misses. Reappearing behind Zorfen, Boobart points at him and chants, “Lightning Strike!” casting the spell again.
Zorfen cringes in pain. He swiftly spins around to attack Boobart but is blasted against a wall by a powerful stream of water. Once the water stops, Zorfen collapses to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Looking up at his attacker, he sees Yoshure catching his breath.
Zorfen growls, “You!” beginning to get up.
However, before he can, Boobart points at him and says, “Time to end this.” Zorfen pauses before his eyes widen, realizing too late that he is now completely soaked with water. “Lightning Strike!” Boobart chants, casting the same spell. Zorfen cries out in agony as the lightning bolt strikes him, the water greatly increasing the strength of the spell. He then falls to the ground, breathing heavily, smoke and steam wafting off him.
“How…?” he breathes.
“You’re forgetting one thing: it’s our emotions that make us strong; our determination to protect the ones we care about,” Boobart states, frowning, “We’ll never let you win!”
Growling, Zorfen says, “No...I will not lose to insects like you!” He then roars as the icy energy surrounds both of his hands and he begins sending attacks all about the cavern. Boobart gasps, hurriedly casting a barrier in front of himself and Yoshure to protect them. Eventually, the attacks cause the cave to become unstable, and it begins to collapse. Boobart and Yoshure gasp, looking up as a large chunk plunges down, threatening to crush them…
0
Clarisse and the Five Dragons
Started by
Prince Peace
, Feb 17 2010 11:45 AM
16 replies to this topic
#2
Prince Peace
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- 461 Posts
Posted 21 January 2012 - 01:28 AM
Finished this a month or so ago and forgot to post the final chapters. Enjoy for those of you who actually read this.
Chapter 20
Prideful Power
Fiore quickly jumps back as Shawn slashes at him. Shawn breathes heavily, a couple of scorch and burn marks on his arms and legs. Hurrying forward, Clarisse holds out her hand towards Fiore and braces herself for the pain as she casts the holy light from it. Fiore cringes under the power of the spell. Growling, he blasts a large fireball in Clarisse’s direction. Gasping, Shawn quickly tackles Clarisse out of the way just in time.
“You okay?” Shawn asks, helping Clarisse up.
“Yeah,” Clarisse replies.
“Hm, you two are truly fools, believing you can defeat me,” Fiore tells them.
“We will defeat you!” Shawn tells him, glaring.
“We won’t let you destroy the world!” Clarisse adds.
“Hmph, you don’t really have a choice!” Fiore cries out as he blasts a large wave of fire at the two.
Clarisse quickly raises a barrier in front of them, blocking the flames. Rushing up to the barrier, Fiore stabs it with his hand, shattering it. However, Shawn, expecting him to do just that, stabs at Fiore the moment he does. Fiore’s eyes widen and he jumps back, barely avoiding Shawn’s blade.
Shawn frowns in frustration. “Why are you doing this anyway? What could possibly be your reason for wanting to destroy the world?” he demands.
“Hmph, why? Simple. I want to prove my superiority to you lesser creatures,” Fiore responds, “By destroying the world, I’ll show just how much stronger I am than all of you.”
“Th…That’s your reason!?” Shawn exclaims.
“That’s horrible!” Clarisse cries.
“Hmph, I don’t need the approval of weaklings like you,” Fiore tells them, coldly.
Shawn growls before closing his eyes and concentrating. After a moment, a thin red aura outlines his body. Opening his eyes, he then cries out as he charges towards Fiore at great speed. Surprised, Fiore only has just enough to duck under the blade to avoid being beheaded. Shawn continues to slice at Fiore with his sword, Fiore managing to narrowly each one. Shawn, seeing an opening, cries out as he slashes at him. Not having enough time to dodge, Fiore growls and blasts fire at Shawn, knocking him back.
Wincing, Shawn quickly gets back up and charges at Fiore again. Seeing Fiore about to blast Shawn with fire, Clarisse gasps before quickly pointing at Fiore and chanting, “Mind Break!”
Fiore grunts in pain and clutches his head, staggering a bit. Taking this opportunity, Shawn cries out as he slashes at him. Snapping out of it, Fiore manages to avoid the attack just enough to avoid being injured too badly. He growls hatefully before gasping, suddenly sensing something. “Impossible…” he says.
“Huh?” Shawn and Clarisse wonder.
Just then, Boobart and the others appear. Boobart breathes heavily, falling to the ground. “Those were close calls, but I managed to get us all back here,” he says.
“Boobart! Everyone!” Clarisse says happily.
“Does this mean you’ve defeated the other four?” Shawn asks.
“Heh, piece of cake,” Kit responds, smirking.
“No!” Fiore snarls angrily.
“It’s over, Fiore,” Shawn says, readying his blade.
“No. This is far from over!” Fiore shouts before roaring as he releases a large amount of energy. Clarisse and the others brace themselves against it, trying not to be blown away by the huge amount of power. Four figures then appear at Fiore’s feet as his energy begins to die down.
Looking towards the figures, the group is surprised to see the mangled bodies of the other four dragons. Growling hatefully, Fiore tells the heroes, infuriated, “I won’t allow myself to be defeated by weaklings like you!" before crying out and being engulfed in a red light. The other dragons’ bodies are immersed in their respective colors before flying into Fiore, who glows brightly as he begins to transform.
After the light fades, the heroes unshield their eyes and gasp at what they see. Before them was a giant dragon with five heads, each one the color of one of the dragons. “He can fuse with the others even if they’re dead?” Maggie says in surprise.
Shawn growls in frustration while the others merely gawk in shock. The five heads roar ferociously at the group.
“No…” Clarisse breathes.
Chapter 21
The Final Battle
The five-headed dragon roars again before preparing to take flight. Gasping, Kit cries, “Boobart! You have to teleport us and that dragon away from here!”
“What!? W-well, alright; I’ll try!” he replies before gathering his energy and
casting a teleportation just before the dragon is about to take flight. They all then disappear.
***
The group reappears on a large, deserted island somewhere in the Mushroom Sea. The sun was setting, casting a fiery orange over the sky and the island. Boobart gasps for breath, having used up a lot of energy. The dragon’s heads look around before letting out a massive roar. “Everyone, get ready,” Shawn tells them taking a stance. The others prepare for battle as well.
The blue head roars before blasting a large surge of water at the group, who all quickly get out of the way. Ninjim throws some shuriken at the dragon but it hardly does anything, most just bouncing off its skin. The yellow head then fires a massive lightning bolt at him, which Ninjim quickly dodges. Predicting Ninjim’s dodge, however, it then fires another immediately after. Ninjim’s eyes widen, not having enough time to evade the second one. Gasping, Maggie quickly casts a spell, electrifying Ninjim to reduce the damage from the lightning bolt. Still, Ninjim falls to his knees, severely injured. Clarisse gasps, hurrying over and beginning to heal him.
“Thank you, Clarisse,” he tells her before cringing.
“No problem,” she replies, healing him as fast as she can.
Maggie sighs in relief before turning her attention back to the dragon. She cries out, shooting a fireball from her wand at it. However, the fireball merely leaves a small scorch mark on the yellow head’s cheek. The head roars before charging up a highly destructive ray of energy and firing it at Maggie. Seeing this, Clarisse gasps before casting a barrier around the Magikoopa. The barrier diminishes enough damage before it shatters that Maggie isn’t killed by the attack. However, she is knocked unconscious and severely injured as well.
Growling, Kit makes a hand sign and chants, “Clone Jutsu!” causing thirty-four other Kits to appear. The small army all draw kunai before crying out as they rush towards the enormous dragon.
The light blue head breathes down a stream of icy fire at the clones, easily decimating their numbers. The real Kit cringes, quickly jumping back as her hand is both burned and frozen by the chilling, blue flames. The head then breathes down a large amount of icy breath on Kit who gasps and is frozen solid before she can react.
“Kit!” Boobart cries before growling and pointing at the dragon. “Blizzard!” he chants, casting a powerful blizzard at the dragon. However, it doesn’t even seem to affect the dragon. The green head responds by breathing a cyclone at Boobart, who gasps and screams as he is engulfed in it.
Transforming into a Lava Bubble and thawing herself, Kit gasps and cries, “Boobart!” before screaming in pain as she is surprise attacked by the light blue head, which rains ice down on her. The cyclone fades, and Boobart and Kit collapse to the ground. “Boobart! Kit!” Clarisse cries.
Yoshure fires icy breath at the dragon from behind, but the dragon is too massive to be affected. Annoyed, it swats Yoshure away with its tail. Frank cries out cheerfully as he flies out of the ground and starts hammering away at the dragon. However, to the humongous beast, Frank is nothing more than annoying fly. The red head turns and engulfs him in fire. Frank falls to the ground, knocked out, smoke rolling out of his mouth.
“Oh no! Frank!” Clarisse exclaims.
Growling, Shawn reactivates his speed-enhancing spell before crying out as he swiftly begins hacking away at the dragon’s stubby legs. The dragon roars in pain before delivering a massive kick to Shawn, who screams as he is sent flying back. Gasping, Clarisse cries, “Shawn! No!” hurrying over to him.
The dragon roars before beating its massive wings and taking flight. Kneeling next to Shawn, Clarisse looks up and gasps in horror as the dragon’s red head begins charging an enormous ball of explosive light. No! If that attack hit, Shawn and everyone…! Clarisse thinks.
The other heads give off a mighty roar before the red head fires down the deadly attack.
No! Clarisse thinks.
Chapter 22
Tragedy
Before the attack can strike, a powerful bolt of lightning suddenly strikes it, causing the ball of light to detonate too soon. After the light fades, it is revealed that Clarisse’s hair and eyes are now black, and her body crackles with eletricty, the darkness inside of her having been released again. She glares hatefully at the dragon with her pitch-black eyes. The light blue head roars before raining down a mountain of snow from its mouth. Clarisse counters by crying out and firing a large torrent of flames, easily melting the snow. All the heads roar before diving down towards her. Clarisse cries out again, firing a massive lightning bolt at the dragon. The heads cry out in pain as they’re struck before they fall and crash to the ground, luckily avoiding squashing any of the heroes.
Shawn looks up at Clarisse, a hint of fear in his eyes. Suddenly, he remembers the words he told her last night: I don’t care how petrifying you may seem when you’re like that because I know that the real you is a kind, compassionate, pure person who will do anything to protect her friends and would never hurt them, no matter what…
No! It’s still Clarisse! he tells himself, Don’t be afraid of her! With that, he gets up and charges towards the dragon as it begins getting up. Reaching the dragon, Shawn cries, “This is for my village!” as he begins slashing away at it with a fire-encased sword, slicing one of the red head’s eyes.
The heads roar in pain before the dragon grabs ahold of Shawn. Getting up, the dragon then proceeds to crush Shawn in its massive claws. Shawn screams in pain. Crying out in rage, Clarisse fires a crackling, blue lightning bolt. The dragon roars in pain as it is hit, dropping Shawn as it staggers back. In a frenzy, Clarisse begins flying towards dragon and wildly throwing lightning bolts at it, some bolts missing their target. “Whoa!” Shawn yelps as one misses him by a couple feet. Looking up at Clarisse, Shawn calls worriedly, “Clarisse! Please! You have to calm down!”
However, Clarisse doesn’t listen as she furiously continues blasting lightning bolts at the dragon, which roars in pain. Reaching the dragon, Clarisse growls before crying out as she unleashes a surge of lightning bolts all about her. Many strike the dragon. However, Shawn screams in pain and cringes, falling to his knees, having been hit by a couple. Hearing this, Clarisse gasps, blinking as her eyes transform back to normal, before twirling towards him and crying, “Shawn!”
Seeing an opening, the yellow head strikes Shawn dead on with a powerful lightning bolt. The others, regaining consciousness, gasp as they see Shawn slowly fall to the ground, gravely wounded. Clarisse looks at Shawn, her eyes wide in horror. “Shawn?” she asks. Shawn gives no response. “Shawn!?” Clarisse cries. Still no response. “Shawn!” Clarisse exclaims before crying as she grips her head, “Noooo!” her eyes turning black again and Clarisse letting out a powerful surge of energy.
The others brace themselves against the powerful surge. “Clarisse!” Boobart tries to cry over it, though his voice is drowned out.
Clarisse, completely enraged, begins flying all about the giant dragon, savagely blasting it with dark lightning, fire, ice, water, and wind spells. Black lightning bolts pierce its flesh; large black icicles gouge its eyes. The dragon roars in agony as it is struck by the onslaught of attacks. Finally, Clarisse rises high into the sky and forms a massive black fireball above her. Crying out, she throws it down at the dragon. The dragon’s heads screech in misery as it is engulfed in the black flames. The screeches then slowly fade away, along with the flames, revealing no trace of the dragon to be left. Descending to the ground and falling to her hands and knees, Clarisse’s hair and eyes slowly change back to normal.
After a moment, she gasps and cries, “Shawn!” quickly scrambling over to him. Getting up, Boobart and the others hurry over too. Kneeling next to Shawn, Clarisse attempts to heal him, but soon realizes that there’s too much damage for her to heal. “No…Shawn! Please, you can’t die!” Clarisse begs, shaking him a little as she tries to wake him up.
Shawn continues to lie there, his breathing ragged.
Memories flash before Clarisse's eyes: when she had been told of her parents' deaths, being at her grandmother's funeral, and holding her dying grandfather in her arms. She pauses before stating, "No…I won't lose anyone else close to me. I won't allow Shawn to die." Clarisse raises her arms to chest height, and a white light envelops them.
Recognizing the spell, Maggie exclaims, "No, Clarisse! You can't! If you use the Revival Spell to save Shawn, you'll be sacrificing your life instead!"
"I don't care! As long as Shawn lives, I don't care!" she cries, still looking down, tears falling from her face.
"Clarisse..." Maggie says, at a loss for words. The others watch in shock and sadness, unsure what to say.
Clarisse begins to lower her hands to Shawn, but, before they can reach him, Shawn's hands suddenly seize Clarisse's wrists. Clarisse head spins to Shawn's face in surprise, and she sees Shawn gazing at her with hazy eyes. "Shawn, please! Let go! I have to save you!" Clarisse pleads.
Shawn shakes his head slowly and replies, "No, Clarisse. I don't want you to sacrifice your life just to save mine. You'll do a lot more good than I ever could if you're alive."
“How can you say that when I’m the one who allowed you to get hurt like this?” Clarisse retorts.
“Merlon and Merle…They came to me when I was asleep. They told me that I would die and I should protect you, no matter what; that you were bound to do great things.”
"I…I don't care, Shawn! You have to live! I love you! You can't die!" Clarisse cries, not pausing an instance as she confessed her love for him.
Shawn smiles and responds, "I love you too, and that's why I can't allow you to throw your life away."
Shawn grips harder as Clarisse tries desperately to reach Shawn's body with her hands to use the spell.
"Promise me, Clarisse," Shawn says as she continues to struggle against his grip, "Promise that you'll do all the good you can with your life...Promise me."
"Shawn...I-I promise," she sobs as she stops struggling to perform the spell.
Shawn lets go of her hands, which fall to her side as they lose their glow. "Shawn..." Clarisse says, tears still falling from her eyes as she sees his eyes grow hazier.
Clarisse then leans over, and they kiss as Clarisse's tears fall on his face. When she sits back up, Shawn's eyes are closed, and his body is completely still.
After a few seconds pass, Clarisse asks, "Why?" squeezing her knees as tears continue to fall from her face, "Why does everyone close to me have to die?"
She then proceeds to sob, and Boobart and the others hang their heads sadly. The sun slowly sinks behind the horizon, leaving the heroes to mourn in the dark night.
* * *
The moon was shining, and the stars were twinkling in the night sky. A couple days had passed since Clarisse and her friends had buried Shawn. Clarisse sits at the table silently as she finishes writing her note. After rereading it, she then folds it and lays it on her bed. Grabbing a small shoulder bag packed with a little food, Clarisse hangs it over her shoulders and walks to the door. Peeking back in for one last glimpse before she closes it, Clarisse flicks a switch near the door, making the house grow dark. In the moonlight, Clarisse’s silhouette could be seen walking to the docks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And so, the 2nd book comes to an end. I actually thought the last two chapters would be longer. Oh well. Don't forget to comment in the Review Topic what you thought.
Chapter 20
Prideful Power
Fiore quickly jumps back as Shawn slashes at him. Shawn breathes heavily, a couple of scorch and burn marks on his arms and legs. Hurrying forward, Clarisse holds out her hand towards Fiore and braces herself for the pain as she casts the holy light from it. Fiore cringes under the power of the spell. Growling, he blasts a large fireball in Clarisse’s direction. Gasping, Shawn quickly tackles Clarisse out of the way just in time.
“You okay?” Shawn asks, helping Clarisse up.
“Yeah,” Clarisse replies.
“Hm, you two are truly fools, believing you can defeat me,” Fiore tells them.
“We will defeat you!” Shawn tells him, glaring.
“We won’t let you destroy the world!” Clarisse adds.
“Hmph, you don’t really have a choice!” Fiore cries out as he blasts a large wave of fire at the two.
Clarisse quickly raises a barrier in front of them, blocking the flames. Rushing up to the barrier, Fiore stabs it with his hand, shattering it. However, Shawn, expecting him to do just that, stabs at Fiore the moment he does. Fiore’s eyes widen and he jumps back, barely avoiding Shawn’s blade.
Shawn frowns in frustration. “Why are you doing this anyway? What could possibly be your reason for wanting to destroy the world?” he demands.
“Hmph, why? Simple. I want to prove my superiority to you lesser creatures,” Fiore responds, “By destroying the world, I’ll show just how much stronger I am than all of you.”
“Th…That’s your reason!?” Shawn exclaims.
“That’s horrible!” Clarisse cries.
“Hmph, I don’t need the approval of weaklings like you,” Fiore tells them, coldly.
Shawn growls before closing his eyes and concentrating. After a moment, a thin red aura outlines his body. Opening his eyes, he then cries out as he charges towards Fiore at great speed. Surprised, Fiore only has just enough to duck under the blade to avoid being beheaded. Shawn continues to slice at Fiore with his sword, Fiore managing to narrowly each one. Shawn, seeing an opening, cries out as he slashes at him. Not having enough time to dodge, Fiore growls and blasts fire at Shawn, knocking him back.
Wincing, Shawn quickly gets back up and charges at Fiore again. Seeing Fiore about to blast Shawn with fire, Clarisse gasps before quickly pointing at Fiore and chanting, “Mind Break!”
Fiore grunts in pain and clutches his head, staggering a bit. Taking this opportunity, Shawn cries out as he slashes at him. Snapping out of it, Fiore manages to avoid the attack just enough to avoid being injured too badly. He growls hatefully before gasping, suddenly sensing something. “Impossible…” he says.
“Huh?” Shawn and Clarisse wonder.
Just then, Boobart and the others appear. Boobart breathes heavily, falling to the ground. “Those were close calls, but I managed to get us all back here,” he says.
“Boobart! Everyone!” Clarisse says happily.
“Does this mean you’ve defeated the other four?” Shawn asks.
“Heh, piece of cake,” Kit responds, smirking.
“No!” Fiore snarls angrily.
“It’s over, Fiore,” Shawn says, readying his blade.
“No. This is far from over!” Fiore shouts before roaring as he releases a large amount of energy. Clarisse and the others brace themselves against it, trying not to be blown away by the huge amount of power. Four figures then appear at Fiore’s feet as his energy begins to die down.
Looking towards the figures, the group is surprised to see the mangled bodies of the other four dragons. Growling hatefully, Fiore tells the heroes, infuriated, “I won’t allow myself to be defeated by weaklings like you!" before crying out and being engulfed in a red light. The other dragons’ bodies are immersed in their respective colors before flying into Fiore, who glows brightly as he begins to transform.
After the light fades, the heroes unshield their eyes and gasp at what they see. Before them was a giant dragon with five heads, each one the color of one of the dragons. “He can fuse with the others even if they’re dead?” Maggie says in surprise.
Shawn growls in frustration while the others merely gawk in shock. The five heads roar ferociously at the group.
“No…” Clarisse breathes.
Chapter 21
The Final Battle
The five-headed dragon roars again before preparing to take flight. Gasping, Kit cries, “Boobart! You have to teleport us and that dragon away from here!”
“What!? W-well, alright; I’ll try!” he replies before gathering his energy and
casting a teleportation just before the dragon is about to take flight. They all then disappear.
***
The group reappears on a large, deserted island somewhere in the Mushroom Sea. The sun was setting, casting a fiery orange over the sky and the island. Boobart gasps for breath, having used up a lot of energy. The dragon’s heads look around before letting out a massive roar. “Everyone, get ready,” Shawn tells them taking a stance. The others prepare for battle as well.
The blue head roars before blasting a large surge of water at the group, who all quickly get out of the way. Ninjim throws some shuriken at the dragon but it hardly does anything, most just bouncing off its skin. The yellow head then fires a massive lightning bolt at him, which Ninjim quickly dodges. Predicting Ninjim’s dodge, however, it then fires another immediately after. Ninjim’s eyes widen, not having enough time to evade the second one. Gasping, Maggie quickly casts a spell, electrifying Ninjim to reduce the damage from the lightning bolt. Still, Ninjim falls to his knees, severely injured. Clarisse gasps, hurrying over and beginning to heal him.
“Thank you, Clarisse,” he tells her before cringing.
“No problem,” she replies, healing him as fast as she can.
Maggie sighs in relief before turning her attention back to the dragon. She cries out, shooting a fireball from her wand at it. However, the fireball merely leaves a small scorch mark on the yellow head’s cheek. The head roars before charging up a highly destructive ray of energy and firing it at Maggie. Seeing this, Clarisse gasps before casting a barrier around the Magikoopa. The barrier diminishes enough damage before it shatters that Maggie isn’t killed by the attack. However, she is knocked unconscious and severely injured as well.
Growling, Kit makes a hand sign and chants, “Clone Jutsu!” causing thirty-four other Kits to appear. The small army all draw kunai before crying out as they rush towards the enormous dragon.
The light blue head breathes down a stream of icy fire at the clones, easily decimating their numbers. The real Kit cringes, quickly jumping back as her hand is both burned and frozen by the chilling, blue flames. The head then breathes down a large amount of icy breath on Kit who gasps and is frozen solid before she can react.
“Kit!” Boobart cries before growling and pointing at the dragon. “Blizzard!” he chants, casting a powerful blizzard at the dragon. However, it doesn’t even seem to affect the dragon. The green head responds by breathing a cyclone at Boobart, who gasps and screams as he is engulfed in it.
Transforming into a Lava Bubble and thawing herself, Kit gasps and cries, “Boobart!” before screaming in pain as she is surprise attacked by the light blue head, which rains ice down on her. The cyclone fades, and Boobart and Kit collapse to the ground. “Boobart! Kit!” Clarisse cries.
Yoshure fires icy breath at the dragon from behind, but the dragon is too massive to be affected. Annoyed, it swats Yoshure away with its tail. Frank cries out cheerfully as he flies out of the ground and starts hammering away at the dragon. However, to the humongous beast, Frank is nothing more than annoying fly. The red head turns and engulfs him in fire. Frank falls to the ground, knocked out, smoke rolling out of his mouth.
“Oh no! Frank!” Clarisse exclaims.
Growling, Shawn reactivates his speed-enhancing spell before crying out as he swiftly begins hacking away at the dragon’s stubby legs. The dragon roars in pain before delivering a massive kick to Shawn, who screams as he is sent flying back. Gasping, Clarisse cries, “Shawn! No!” hurrying over to him.
The dragon roars before beating its massive wings and taking flight. Kneeling next to Shawn, Clarisse looks up and gasps in horror as the dragon’s red head begins charging an enormous ball of explosive light. No! If that attack hit, Shawn and everyone…! Clarisse thinks.
The other heads give off a mighty roar before the red head fires down the deadly attack.
No! Clarisse thinks.
Chapter 22
Tragedy
Before the attack can strike, a powerful bolt of lightning suddenly strikes it, causing the ball of light to detonate too soon. After the light fades, it is revealed that Clarisse’s hair and eyes are now black, and her body crackles with eletricty, the darkness inside of her having been released again. She glares hatefully at the dragon with her pitch-black eyes. The light blue head roars before raining down a mountain of snow from its mouth. Clarisse counters by crying out and firing a large torrent of flames, easily melting the snow. All the heads roar before diving down towards her. Clarisse cries out again, firing a massive lightning bolt at the dragon. The heads cry out in pain as they’re struck before they fall and crash to the ground, luckily avoiding squashing any of the heroes.
Shawn looks up at Clarisse, a hint of fear in his eyes. Suddenly, he remembers the words he told her last night: I don’t care how petrifying you may seem when you’re like that because I know that the real you is a kind, compassionate, pure person who will do anything to protect her friends and would never hurt them, no matter what…
No! It’s still Clarisse! he tells himself, Don’t be afraid of her! With that, he gets up and charges towards the dragon as it begins getting up. Reaching the dragon, Shawn cries, “This is for my village!” as he begins slashing away at it with a fire-encased sword, slicing one of the red head’s eyes.
The heads roar in pain before the dragon grabs ahold of Shawn. Getting up, the dragon then proceeds to crush Shawn in its massive claws. Shawn screams in pain. Crying out in rage, Clarisse fires a crackling, blue lightning bolt. The dragon roars in pain as it is hit, dropping Shawn as it staggers back. In a frenzy, Clarisse begins flying towards dragon and wildly throwing lightning bolts at it, some bolts missing their target. “Whoa!” Shawn yelps as one misses him by a couple feet. Looking up at Clarisse, Shawn calls worriedly, “Clarisse! Please! You have to calm down!”
However, Clarisse doesn’t listen as she furiously continues blasting lightning bolts at the dragon, which roars in pain. Reaching the dragon, Clarisse growls before crying out as she unleashes a surge of lightning bolts all about her. Many strike the dragon. However, Shawn screams in pain and cringes, falling to his knees, having been hit by a couple. Hearing this, Clarisse gasps, blinking as her eyes transform back to normal, before twirling towards him and crying, “Shawn!”
Seeing an opening, the yellow head strikes Shawn dead on with a powerful lightning bolt. The others, regaining consciousness, gasp as they see Shawn slowly fall to the ground, gravely wounded. Clarisse looks at Shawn, her eyes wide in horror. “Shawn?” she asks. Shawn gives no response. “Shawn!?” Clarisse cries. Still no response. “Shawn!” Clarisse exclaims before crying as she grips her head, “Noooo!” her eyes turning black again and Clarisse letting out a powerful surge of energy.
The others brace themselves against the powerful surge. “Clarisse!” Boobart tries to cry over it, though his voice is drowned out.
Clarisse, completely enraged, begins flying all about the giant dragon, savagely blasting it with dark lightning, fire, ice, water, and wind spells. Black lightning bolts pierce its flesh; large black icicles gouge its eyes. The dragon roars in agony as it is struck by the onslaught of attacks. Finally, Clarisse rises high into the sky and forms a massive black fireball above her. Crying out, she throws it down at the dragon. The dragon’s heads screech in misery as it is engulfed in the black flames. The screeches then slowly fade away, along with the flames, revealing no trace of the dragon to be left. Descending to the ground and falling to her hands and knees, Clarisse’s hair and eyes slowly change back to normal.
After a moment, she gasps and cries, “Shawn!” quickly scrambling over to him. Getting up, Boobart and the others hurry over too. Kneeling next to Shawn, Clarisse attempts to heal him, but soon realizes that there’s too much damage for her to heal. “No…Shawn! Please, you can’t die!” Clarisse begs, shaking him a little as she tries to wake him up.
Shawn continues to lie there, his breathing ragged.
Memories flash before Clarisse's eyes: when she had been told of her parents' deaths, being at her grandmother's funeral, and holding her dying grandfather in her arms. She pauses before stating, "No…I won't lose anyone else close to me. I won't allow Shawn to die." Clarisse raises her arms to chest height, and a white light envelops them.
Recognizing the spell, Maggie exclaims, "No, Clarisse! You can't! If you use the Revival Spell to save Shawn, you'll be sacrificing your life instead!"
"I don't care! As long as Shawn lives, I don't care!" she cries, still looking down, tears falling from her face.
"Clarisse..." Maggie says, at a loss for words. The others watch in shock and sadness, unsure what to say.
Clarisse begins to lower her hands to Shawn, but, before they can reach him, Shawn's hands suddenly seize Clarisse's wrists. Clarisse head spins to Shawn's face in surprise, and she sees Shawn gazing at her with hazy eyes. "Shawn, please! Let go! I have to save you!" Clarisse pleads.
Shawn shakes his head slowly and replies, "No, Clarisse. I don't want you to sacrifice your life just to save mine. You'll do a lot more good than I ever could if you're alive."
“How can you say that when I’m the one who allowed you to get hurt like this?” Clarisse retorts.
“Merlon and Merle…They came to me when I was asleep. They told me that I would die and I should protect you, no matter what; that you were bound to do great things.”
"I…I don't care, Shawn! You have to live! I love you! You can't die!" Clarisse cries, not pausing an instance as she confessed her love for him.
Shawn smiles and responds, "I love you too, and that's why I can't allow you to throw your life away."
Shawn grips harder as Clarisse tries desperately to reach Shawn's body with her hands to use the spell.
"Promise me, Clarisse," Shawn says as she continues to struggle against his grip, "Promise that you'll do all the good you can with your life...Promise me."
"Shawn...I-I promise," she sobs as she stops struggling to perform the spell.
Shawn lets go of her hands, which fall to her side as they lose their glow. "Shawn..." Clarisse says, tears still falling from her eyes as she sees his eyes grow hazier.
Clarisse then leans over, and they kiss as Clarisse's tears fall on his face. When she sits back up, Shawn's eyes are closed, and his body is completely still.
After a few seconds pass, Clarisse asks, "Why?" squeezing her knees as tears continue to fall from her face, "Why does everyone close to me have to die?"
She then proceeds to sob, and Boobart and the others hang their heads sadly. The sun slowly sinks behind the horizon, leaving the heroes to mourn in the dark night.
* * *
The moon was shining, and the stars were twinkling in the night sky. A couple days had passed since Clarisse and her friends had buried Shawn. Clarisse sits at the table silently as she finishes writing her note. After rereading it, she then folds it and lays it on her bed. Grabbing a small shoulder bag packed with a little food, Clarisse hangs it over her shoulders and walks to the door. Peeking back in for one last glimpse before she closes it, Clarisse flicks a switch near the door, making the house grow dark. In the moonlight, Clarisse’s silhouette could be seen walking to the docks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And so, the 2nd book comes to an end. I actually thought the last two chapters would be longer. Oh well. Don't forget to comment in the Review Topic what you thought.
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