He threw Serix away from himself and ran as fast as he could. They had been fighting for only ten minutes, yet the drain on his energy was nearly almost thirty percent. He had tried not to draw the fight out, but the man was staying too much on the defensive for him to do anything of real damage.
Pashnirix could hear the light patter of Serix’s feet behind him as they rushed through the hallways towards the North Tower. Clashing down the stairs, Pashnirix tumbled to the bottom, rolling into a crouch as he rose. He scanned the area quickly with his eyes, ears, and nose—and found that the scent of the tigress was already growing cold.
“Damn,” he muttered, dodging another blow from Serix. Quickly rising from his roll, he sprinted back into the North Tower, intending on getting to the West Tower before Serix. He soon realized that Serix wasn’t even following him.
He paused in his running, leaning against the wall. Suddenly, it occurred to him: Serix had simply portalled to the West Tower. “Damn,” he exclaimed again, hastily portalling off to the West Tower.
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Just a couple more seconds… I nimbly arranged the second set of bombs at the base of the tower, and was seconds away from finishing when I heard a noise behind me.
Whipping around quickly, I saw it was a member of Organization Zero. While I knew he couldn’t see me, I felt a strange and distinct pull on my energy as he slowly walked closer. Not wanting to disclose my position until the last possible second, I stood still, hands fisted and waiting to attack.
Finally, when he wasn’t even a breath away, I lashed out with my claws, slashing the side of his cheek and rolling away as he swung a huge sword. I ran and jumped off his sword, clipping him again in the back of the head. This time, though, he managed to snag me with the backstroke of his swing, hurling me into a wall.
As I dropped to the ground, I felt way more tired than I knew I should be. My instincts told me that the drain he was performing on my energy was weakening me, and fast. I needed to end this.
Dropping my chains to the ground, I brought them forward to surround him, but to my surprise, they were deflected by a mirror he summoned forth. Since he was hidden behind the mirror, by the time I noticed that the man had portalled behind me, I had only turned half-around, and he knocked me to the ground.
Before I could get up, though, I felt someone run past me, and I saw a multitude of scimitars embed themselves in the white-haired man’s chest. “Mine,” growled Pashnirix in front of me.
The man with the white hair and scimitars in his chest staggered back, glaring at Pashnirix. I rose to my feet with a graceful twist, ready to fight Pashnirix, but it seemed he wasn’t finished. Raising his hand in the air and calling his scimitar back to himself, he stalked forward, roaring, “I don’t like other people touching my THINGS!”
I could see that Pashnirix was near approaching his Final form. A scaly tail swished angrily back and forth as he dashed forward, slashing the other Nobody in a series of elaborate moves. I was frozen by the beauty of it all; Pashnirix was a terrible fascinating fighter to watch, especially this angry.
Finally, the other Nobody acknowledged his defeat, slumping to the ground unconscious. As Pashnirix turned to me, the same steely glint in his eyes, I did the only thing my instincts were telling me: I ran.
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I met up with Ximh, Xait, and Ama in one of the main hallways. We were all running as hard as we could. The entire building was beginning to crumble around us, chunks of stone falling with heavy decisiveness.
As we ran out of the Citadel, Triskix and Lexian were arriving on the scene.
“Ximh!” Triskix yelled. “We have to stop whatever you’re doing! It’s destroying our castle!”
“What?” Ximh yelled. We heard a loud explosion in the background.
“No time for talk!” Lexian bellowed. “We need to stop the bombs!” I nearly started cussing my brains out. My instincts were never wrong. Ever.
“But I’ve already detonated them!” Ximh yelled back.
“Then we must contain them,” Lexian answered. “If this continues neither world will have a castle left….” He trailed off, and I looked between Lexian and Triskix, confused. Not only had we failed, but our Castle was going down as well?
“Yes, we have to stop them,” muttered Triskix. “Ximh, where is the largest bomb?”
“In the center….it is supposed to go off first, and then detonate the rest….” Ximh answered hesitantly. “But it’s already started the other explosions….”
“We have to contain the other bombs!” Triskix yelled.
“Yeah, come on,” Lexian yelled, and he and Triskix ran towards the Citadel.
“Wait!” Xait yelled, but Lexian and Triskix were already running.
“Come on,” said Ximh to the four of us, “let’s get out of here now while we can.”
“I think not,” said a voice from behind us. I turned around to see the hilt of Pashnirix’s sword aimed straight for my temple, and then I blacked out.
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When I woke up, I was in a comfy bed, and I was warm. It was strangely quiet; the last thing I remembered was…
“The attack on the Citadel!” I bolted upright in the bed, and then held a hand to my head in pain. “Ow,” I hissed.
“You shouldn’t make any sudden movements,” said a pleasant voice with a hint of amusement. I looked up to glare at Pashnirix.
“You,” I growled, “this is your fault. What the hell happened? The last thing I remember was you clocking me upside the head with your sword, which, by the way, was a pretty dirty move. I expected better from you.”
“My fault,” laughed Pashnirix, “of course. Here.” He placed a cool cloth on my forehead. I didn’t protest. My head was killing me.
“Apparently, my Leader found out somehow about our little plot. That man you were fighting before, Serix, is his faithful little pet, and was spying on me unnoticed,” said Pashnirix. “Xerebus sent Serix to prevent me from meeting up with you. He failed, though, and miserably.”
I though back to that fight. “You said…you don’t like people touching your things,” I said slowly. “Exactly what did you mean by that, pray tell?”
Pashnirix shrugged. “I am a dragon, yes? Such is my nature,” he responded mysteriously. Before I could protest further, he brought something out from behind his back. “Here. This is for you, as an apology for your injuries.”
The moment he said “apology,” I grew suspicious, but I opened the package anyway. Inside was a pair of golden armlets, decorated with beautiful gemstones. I frowned, and turned to him, holding the precious items carefully. “What—”
“I guessed you would like them,” he said. “The gems are tiger’s eye stones. I figured they suited you nicely.”
He was right; the stones were he exact color my eyes turned when I was in Final form, and set in the jewelry as they were, they were gorgeous. “Thank you,” I said, fitting them onto my upper arms, “but these look so expensive, not to mention hoard-worthy. What made the dragon give up what must be one of his most prized possessions?” I teased, nudging him with my foot.
He got up from the bed and walked to the door, eyeing me enigmatically. “Who said I gave up anything? If anything, I’d say I just gained a new possession.”
I furrowed my brow, growing more nervous as he continued to watch me. In a panic, I suddenly grabbed at the armlets, becoming fearful as they weren’t coming off. No matter how hard I pulled, they seemed stuck to me.
I sharply turned my eyes to his, noticing his wide grin. “Oh, crap,” I said.
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KitKat: Whew! That was a long one!
Rexikat: What the hell! Get these armlets off me, you freak!
Pashnirix: :p Nnnnnope. You walked into this one all on your own.
Rexikat: Look, you insolent dragon, get these things OFF ME!
Pashnirix: Sorry, no can do. You’re mine now. Mine, mine, MINE!
Rexikat: YOU EGOTISTICAL JERK WITH THE MENTALITY OF A FIVE-YEAR-OLD!
KitKat: ^_^’ Oh boy, this should be interesting. I'll explain the nature of the armlets in my next post!
