The Shadow of All Worlds

by Shane Porteous

  Chapter 37

  Black Cat, Chihuahua, Star Power, and Wonder Horse were still fighting against the dragons and Atacir. Though they were now joined by a new companion, Edo Volis, ever since the shadow had swept over the battlefield the dragons had become stronger than ever. Black Cat was grateful that Edo Volis was here as his flight, and lightning speed, among other abilities, was a welcome asset. With his help the heroes felt they still had a chance at winning this battle.

  These were the thoughts in Black Cat’s mind as she clawed bravely at the head of a purple dragon which was blocking their way to Atacir and Golden Flame. Chihuahua attempted to help distract it by nipping at its tail. Star Power tried to stay out of the dragon’s reach as much as possible and offer his powers as a shield around his teammates whenever needed while Wonder Horse attempted to reason with the dragon as normally he had the ability to communicate with and earn the trust of any animal species. However, the dragons were influenced too strongly for Wonder Horse to be able to do this. Working together the heroes were able to defeat this dragon and finally approach Golden Flame in order to try to break the bridal holding her. As he had the ability to do so, Edo Volis summoned an eerie green mist from his mouth to create a wall around Golden Flame and Heroes United that would rot anything it touches in order to keep the dragons at bay while Heroes United worked. Chihuahua began chewing at the bridal’s throat latch while Black Cat clawed at one of the bridal’s cheek pieces. Wonder Horse stayed back preparing to fight if necessary. He knew his teeth were too dull to do any good on a bridal this strong and had no claws to work with. Star Power attempted to unhook the buckles on the bridal psychically until he realized the bridal didn’t have any. The bridal, once put on a dragon, instantly adjusts itself to fit tightly around the dragon’s head and no adjustments needed meant no buckles needed either, Atacir informed the dog. Once Star Power knew psychic abilities would be no use for freeing Golden Flame and the other dragons, he went to the cheek piece opposite Chihuahua and began using his teeth as well. Shortly it was clear that neither teeth nor super powerful claws would break the bridal. Before Star Power could ask what they should try next, Golden Flame unexpectedly swiped at them with her tail, knocking Heroes United out of the sky and leaving Edo Volis to struggle against the dragons alone.

  The four heroes landed near where their other villains and the remaining members of Heroes United were battling. Quickly summing up the situation, Black Cat said, “You guys stay here and help the rest of the team. I am going to try a different tactic to free Golden Flame and the other dragons.”

  “You’re going back up alone?” Chihuahua asked worriedly.

  “No,” Black Cat assured him, “I won’t be alone.”

  “Who are you taking?” Chihuahua asked figuring it was one of the other members of Heroes United.

  “I don’t have time to explain,” Black Cat answered scanning the battle for Crimson Claw, “Just trust me and go help the others.” Black Cat spotted her enemy fighting with Trixie quickly and flew over to the most pathetic looking battle she had ever seen. The fight between the two, in her mind, could only be compared to a human trying unsuccessfully to swat a pesky housefly. Crimson Claw was barely fighting yet Trixie, in her human form, was chasing him and attempting to hit him out of the sky. Black Cat had already come to the conclusion that the shape shifting members of Heroes United had somehow lost their powers but she did have to wonder why Trixie ended up in human form when the Ultimate Shifter, which she was, didn’t have any true form. Black Cat decided she would figure this out later, first she needed Crimson Claw.

  Seeing how the great shadow had effected the enemies, Black Cat guessed Crimson Claw was very likely more powerful than usual. Being the only villain she ever fought with that she believed might have claws more powerful than her own on a normal day, she thought if anyone could break the bridal he could. “Crimson Claw!” she said in her most commanding voice.

  To her surprise Crimson Claw immediately stopped battling and flew over to her. “What do you want?”

  “I need your help,” Black Cat responded hesitantly. Crimson Claw didn’t answer her. He couldn’t decide how to respond. Black Cat didn’t want to waste time but this was too strange. Crimson Claw was acting nothing like himself. She decided to find out why.

  Chihuahua glanced back from where he was battling with Ryder. Seeing Black Cat and Crimson Claw off in the distance alone he got worried. “Where are you going?” Ryder asked as Chihuahua flew off. “This fight isn’t over.” Chihuahua knew Black Cat wouldn’t approve of what he was doing but he knew Crimson Claw and didn’t trust him. Chihuahua also felt he wouldn’t be a very loyal partner if he left Black Cat alone with his world’s most ruthless villain. She might need his help.

  Crimson Claw was explaining about Fang and Scratch. When Chihuahua arrived, Black Cat looked at her former sidekick but didn’t say anything. “It’s my fault they ended up in this losing battle,” Crimson Claw said, “When I came here I thought it would be worth doing whatever it took to get that power.”

  When Crimson Claw finished Black Cat said, “Even heroes sometimes make the mistake of focusing too much on their personal goals and failing to see what’s most important to them. It can be difficult to know which battles are truly worth fighting or when a battle should be fought another day. Besides, no matter which side you fight for sometimes you lose members in battle.”

  “You haven’t lost any members,” Crimson Claw hissed.

  “That’s not true,” Chihuahua cut in. “Last time I was here I lost my tail.”

  “Chihuahua,” Black Cat said, “Your tail was never a member. It wasn’t even alive.”

  “But DWW said my tail was dead after I lost it. If it wasn’t alive in the first place how could it die?”

  Black Cat didn’t have time for a conversation like this with Chihuahua , “Chihuahua, go back to the battle.” She ordered, “You shouldn’t have left it in the first place.”

  “But you are with Crimson Claw. What if…”

  “I’ll be fine. Right now the others need all the help they can get.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Chihuahua said flying back to the battle.

  Turning her attention back to Crimson Claw Black Cat said, “Maybe what happened to you was a sign telling you that your days as a villain are over. It’s never too late to switch sides.”

  “Maybe you’re right.” Crimson Claw answered. He didn’t feel much like a villain anymore so maybe he should try being a hero. Making up his mind he said, “What do you need me to do?”

  “Do you really think this will work?” Crimson Claw asked when Black Cat explained her thoughts as they fought through the dragons in their way as they flew towards Atacir and Golden Flame. When they got there, Edo Volis worked on keeping the dragons at bay once again using the same green mist as before, while Black Cat and Crimson Claw went to work on the bridal. Working on different sides the cats attempted to use their claws to break it with no success.

  “We have to find the bridal’s weak spot.” Crimson Claw said, “Everything has one.” They flew around the bridal clawing at different spots but it didn’t appear to have any weak spots. Beginning to feel angry and frustrated, Crimson Claw said, “This is impossible! It would be easier just to kill the dragon wearing it!”

  Black Cat hoped Crimson Claw was just saying this and not actually planning on acting on it, but when she saw him heading straight for Golden Flame’s throat she rushed to stop him. Both cats reached Golden Flame at the same time. Black Cat’s claws met her enemy’s right at the bridal’s throat latch and to her surprise the throat latch broke.

  Crimson Claw stopped, staring at the now slit and loosely hanging pieces of throat latch. “What just happened?”

  “We broke it.”

  “But how?”

  “I think our claws hit the same spot at the same time. Acting as one cat rather than two we are powerful enough to break the bridal.”

  Feeling th
e excitement of success for the first time in his life Crimson Claw exclaimed, “Let’s do this on the rest of the bridal pieces!” With careful aim and timing, Black Cat proceeded to successfully break both cheek straps, noseband, the headpiece, and the reins. Upon breaking all attached parts, the bridal fell to the ground. The dragons broke free of the spell. Finally being free, Golden Flame bucked forcefully and Atacir was thrown to the ground.

  “I don’t think we will have any more problems with him…at least for this battle.” Black Cat said. The dragons native to Ebulon were furious that they had been taken control of and immediately began attacking the Ulnath and the Red Army. The dragons from the Other Realm in Black Cat’s world, led by Golden Flame, followed her to the ground. Crimson Claw followed as well.

  The scene on the ground wasn’t good. Spy Girl was out of tricks and ideas, Grizzly Girl and Trixie were attempting to fight Ryder with strange weapons that looked like extra sharp candy canes which were no doubt given to them by Spy Girl as many of her gadgets were food related, and the rest of Heroes United, except for Wonder Wolf and Wonder Horse, were attempting to find an opening to attack Sampson and Asantra while in the meantime doing their best to dodge all attacks unleashed at them. Wonder Wolf had mounted Wonder Horse and were attempting unsuccessfully to reason with Asantra.

  Seeing the situation, and being a hero herself, Golden Flame instantly decided to help.“Get on!” She commanded upon reaching Trixie and Grizzly Girl. She knew the two of them wouldn’t be able to last much longer. Next she grabbed Spy Girl and delivered the three to different dragons requesting that the dragons obey their current riders. She didn’t use her powers to influence them to do it, rather she left the decision to help or not up to them. Knowing most of the Other Realm dragons were friendly, Golden Flame was sure they would listen and confidently flew off to the next villain. Being the Legendary Dragon, most magic didn’t work on her so Golden Flame was able to get up close to Sampson and Asantra. Though she didn’t want to hurt him as she had Atacir, Golden Flame hit him from behind with a forceful shove of her tail. While the attack didn’t hurt him it did cause Sampson to lose one of the wands as it went flying towards Wonder Wolf and Wonder Horse. Before Sampson could make a move to get it back, Wonder Wolf vaulted off of Wonder Horse’s back, grabbed the wand, and expertly vaulted back on again. Looking at the wand in her hands she got an idea. Asantra had said anyone could use a wizard wand but would it really work for her?

  “What are you thinking?” Wonder Horse asked.

  “The wand could be our key to getting Asantra back on our side,” Wonder Wolf answered. “When she’s angry, Asantra either doesn’t or can’t listen to logic or reason. With the magic in this wand I can change that.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I am going to make it so that Asantra can think clearly as hopefully her main problem is that she can’t think clearly. This way we will be able to talk to her and get her to understand what really happened to Ryder.” As she spoke, Wonder Wolf gripped the wand tightly and aimed it at Asantra. She was excited to see it begin glowing but forced herself to concentrate on what she was doing. Shortly the wand’s glow disappeared.

  “Did it work?” Wonder Horse asked.

  “I don’t know.” Wonder Wolf said, “There’s only one way to find out.” She looked at Asantra who was still glowing and fighting the heroes. “Asantra!” she called. Asantra looked at her. When she did, Wonder Wolf could see there was still dislike in her eyes. Momentarily Wonder Wolf felt nervous as she was about to lead someone powerful enough to destroy herself and Wonder Horse in one shot if she wanted to, away from the rest of the heroes and villains, but the necessity of getting her alone outweighed this. Wonder Wolf just hoped the magic worked. Once alone, Wonder Wolf explained about everything Ryder said and how things really happened.

  “So he misused his ability to become a wolf,” Asantra said when Wonder Wolf had finished. She was no longer glowing.

  “Yes, you know Trixie would never have taken it away otherwise.”

  “And now Ryder has all of Heroes United’s shape shifting powers!” Asantra suddenly exclaimed. Asantra once again began to glow brightly with angry energy, but this time she was surprised to discover that while she was angry she felt completely in control and she knew exactly what she needed to do. “Give me the wand!” Wonder Wolf handed Asantra the wand though she was a bit worried about what the sorceress was about to do. Just in case Wonder Wolf reminded her as Black Cat often did whenever she was about to fight Ryder, “Remember you are the hero, not the villain.”

  “I won’t forget.” Asantra said and she meant it. With the wand in hand Asantra went over to the nearest dragon, which happened to be Air Raid. Asantra knew Air Raid and felt sure he could do what she needed him to. “Air Raid,” she said, “I need you to take me to Ryder.”

  “You know I’m not good at fighting,”

  “I don’t need you to fight. I just need your help to get close to him without having to worry about the other villains getting into the way.” Mounting Air Raid they flew above the battle. Carefully aiming Asantra took the wand and pointed it at Ryder. Using the power of the wand Asantra began removing the shape shifting abilities from him. Before she had a good hold on any of the powers as she needed to separate each hero’s power before she could extract them from Ryder, Sampson caught sight of what was going on. Using the wand he still had, Sampson used the magic to counter hers. The wands were equal in power so there was nothing Asantra could do to break through Sampson’s magic. She also couldn’t stop the magic from her wand because if she did she risked getting blasted by Sampson. Luckily Sampson couldn’t use magic to stop her and fight Heroes United at the same time. Shortly Sampson was forced to lower his wand leaving Asantra free to use magic. Asantra was then able to return everyone’s shape shifting abilities…except for her own. Her ability to become a wolf was gone for good after Sampson destroyed it. Now that the heroes all had their full abilities back, they agreed that the dragons were no longer needed and were free to go home, though Golden Flame argued that it might be better to stay just in case.

  Sampson, only having one wand left and seeing Asantra was back on the heroes’ side, began to feel desperate. He looked around and suddenly came across the pieces of the broken bridal on the ground. With an evil grin Sampson aimed his wand just past the heroes and began to reassemble the bridal. From the sky Asantra saw what Sampson was doing and attempted to stop him but she got there too late. The bridal was reassembled. Gleefully Sampson transported the bridal from its current location to his hands just as Asantra got there. Since she was too far away to grab the bridal from Sampson, Asantra wondered if she could undo the spell he just used. When she tried nothing happened. The bridal was once again unbreakable by magic. Thinking quickly, Asantra, using her own magic this time, created a small, controlled tornado which she used to try to rip the bridal out of his hands but Sampson held it tight. The only option now was to fight him for it. Getting off Air Raid, Asantra raced towards Sampson.

  Golden Flame tried to grab the bridal with her teeth only for Sampson to quickly shove it onto her head. Once more Golden Flame was wearing the bridal…sort of. The bridal fit loosely and upon shaking her head it fell right off. Sampson picked it up confused. He was still trying to figure it out when Asantra arrived and proceeded to grab the bridal from him. “It was broken anyway.” Sampson said.

  Ignoring him Asantra said, “Golden Flame, take the Other Realm dragons home.”

  “She’s right,” Black Cat said, “The dragons still might not be safe here. Though the bridal didn’t work this last time there could be a way to fix it or another way to control dragons in this world.”

  Golden Flame nodded and flew off with the Other Realm dragons following closely behind. Just before Air Raid took off for home with the rest of the dragons, Asantra stopped him. Giving him the bridal she said, “Deliver this either to Turtle herself or give it to Ally to take back to Turtle.�
� Ally was Air Raid’s witch as he was her familiar and Turtle was the Head of the Witches Council in the Other Realm. Asantra knew as long as the bridal got to Turtle it would be safe. “Okay,” Air Raid replied taking the bridal from her and flying off to join the other dragons. Now all that was left to do was to get the last wand from Sampson and officially defeat him and Ryder. Then she and Heroes United would be able to focus on defeating the other villains and the Ulnath.