To the Marconian, the human with the unique colored hair was easy to track, and as he moved around the parking lot, smaller bodies scattering out of his way desperately trying to avoid his legs and the sharp death-dealing claws at the end of them, his eye never left her. One leg crashed into the top of a red sports car, his claw penetrating the top and embedding itself in it’s floor. He stopped, looking down at what had gotten trapped, and Pt’ron began to shake his leg wildly. After three shakes, the car finally was freed, flying through the air and shedding metal everywhere as it landed harshly, rolling off into the grass. He watched it roll with satisfaction, turning back to continue the pursuit of the one human that he knew for certain had been instrumental in assisting Critock. All of humanity would learn the horrible fate of the girl that had tried to prevent his ascension! He moved forward but was stopped by a voice that he should have expected.
“PT’RONNNN!!!” Critock had landed very soon after Pt’ron, but wasn’t able to reach him in time before he had injured the two poor children. Freely cursing in his own language without pain, he moved to a better position, trying to get to a point where he could cut off his enemy without further bloodshed, and somehow move him back within the school. If Pt’ron was outside when the first missile came into sight range, he would see it coming, and be able to get to the Shard, and stop it in its tracks, defeating the entire plan. Inside, there was no way he would know it was coming. One missile would destroy both shards and Pt’ron at the same time. While the school would be destroyed, the world would live on. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was the only one Critock had left. Seeing Pt’ron going after Shanna however had Critock forgetting the plan completely, and charging at his enemy. The two Marconians crashed together, sending them both to the ground. Where before there was a kind of finesse to the battle between the two, now that they were outside, Critock desperately trying to prevent anything happening to his friend and Pt’ron willing to do anything to harm her, any kind of strategy or planning was out the window. It was now two monstrous beings rolling around, each trying to tear the other one apart.
Shanna had retreated behind a nearby station wagon, hiding with her back against the drivers side door and hoping that she hadn’t been spotted. She knew running would just make her a easier target to spot. She heard crunching, grunting and guttural yells as the two fought each other, and once she saw a claw seemingly reaching for her over the top of the car. It didn’t reach her, but she could hear the claw scraping back on the roof of the car as it hit metal, and realized that her hiding place wasn’t as secure as she had hoped.
Pt’ron saw Shanna dart out from the car, racing towards the grassy area on the right side of the school, and struggled free from Critock’s grasp, trying to quickly gallop towards the teenager. From behind him he heard a roar and quickly felt two legs land on top of him, Critock having jumped and now digging his claws deep into Pt’ron’s legs. With a roar, the two collapsed again. This time, however, Critock was prepared for the fall and extricated himself, landing and rolling and picking himself back up, Quickly looking back at Shanna, seeing her still run to safety, he saw a large pole with a light on the top of it. If it was in the capacity for a Marconian to smile in this form, he would have. With one mighty grasp, Critock wrenched the pole free from the ground, sparks flying from the exposed wiring. Balancing himself carefully to not lose his new weapon as he moved back towards Pt’ron, he let his rage take him.
Pt’ron rose to his feet, looking around quickly for his enemy and his prey in order to quickly formulate his next move. Instead, all he saw was a black light pole striking him directly on his eye, the force from the swing sending him flying back towards the main road that led into the school. He landed still on the school property but only just, and he tried to shake off the blow, feeling liquid trickle down his orb, and a horrible pain behind his eye. He looked up and, though his vision was fuzzy, he could make out Critock coming at him, still swinging the pole, ready to strike him again. Pt’ron wasn’t sure if he could take another one of his strikes, but still had an advantage. Critock had some kind of empathy for the innocence of the beings on this planet. Pt’ron did not.
Summoning what strength he still had, Pt’ron leapt backwards slightly, landing directly in the middle of the busy four-lane road. The lights were green, and the cars typically had been moving too fast to catch more than a glimpse of the monsters battling in front of the school. But now, the fight had come to them. A car smashed into Pt’ron’s leg, and he bellowed in new pain, but he had been expecting this. He saw Critock moving at him, slightly more panicked than he had seemed before, but still with the pole.
Critock hadn’t expected any of this, but least of all now Pt’ron willingly throwing himself into traffic. The students and Shanna forgotten for the moment, he had to get his enemy out of the road before more people died. If he could swing just right… As he tried to strategize, his planning was cut short by the car that had struck Pt’ron, amongst the others slamming their brakes and sliding to a stop or trying to rush past him, flying through the air. He tried to dodge it, but it was a perfect toss, and it struck the leg that was holding the pole. The sudden pain of the impact caused him to drop the pole, but Critock refused to let it stop his momentum. He had to get to him before anyone else died! No one else on this planet would die because of his failures!
Critock lunged into the road as careful as he could be considering his goal. Pt’ron just grunted, and moved to grab another car. An unexpected jump from the bounty hunter caught him off guard, and they fell down together, narrowly avoiding crushing a small Beetle that had paused in stunned amazement. Pt’ron rolled away quickly, and the two faced off against each other.
“WHAT’S IT TO BE, CRITOCK?” Pt’ron snarled loudly at his foe. “SHALL WE KEEP FIGHTING UNTIL THEY’RE ALL DEAD? OR WILL IT JUST BE YOUR DEATH THAT ENDS IT?” A quick flick from his leg sent another car spinning off the road, and the smarter drivers were now backing off from the scene. Critock made a move to attack, but Pt’ron held his ground, a leg extending over the roof over one of the cars that had been disabled from the quick fight rolling over its hood, crushing the engine. The electronic locks were engaged, trapping the driver and their passenger inside. A single claw hovered like a guillotine over their heads. “I’d much rather rule these people than kill them all. Make a choice.”
Critock felt trapped. He had been led out here like a fool where there were countless victims for Pt’ron to threaten and harm. He didn’t think for a moment about sacrificing himself, as he knew at this point that would be pointless. But what was the other choice? Continuing the fight? More innocent humans dying just out of a false hope that somehow Pt’ron could be distracted from a large fiery missile bearing down upon him?
Then it hit him. While he was in a standoff against someone who had waited to long to be defeated now, the missiles would not be coming to him. They’d be going to the school, where the Shards lay safely in the soulless body of Daniel. Critock knew that the instant Pt’ron saw the missile in the sky he would beat it to its target and use the power of the Shards to stop it before it could accomplish its mission. So even keeping him away from the school wasn’t an option.
But if he could get there first…
Pt’ron was expecting a lunge, a kick, something from his enemy to attempt to save these pitiful beings cowering beneath him. What happened instead shocked him enough that he didn’t even notice when the driver and the passenger crawled out of the front seat and into the back, safe from Pt’ron’s wrath for the time being. Instead of attacking, Critock jumped back, turned, and ran. He sprinted as fast as he could, which wasn’t super fast but it was certainly outpacing Pt’ron, who stood stock still trying to figure out when Critock had become a coward until he realized the direction that he was headed. Straight back to the school. Straight back to the Shards.
With a roar, the claw came down, missing the inhabitants of the vehicle. Pt’ron couldn’t have cared less. He moved quickly into a gallop
, his claw wrenching free of the ruined metal, putting all his thoughts of the last thousand years into one single focus, to catch Critock before he collected the fruits of Pt'ron's labor.
The two Marconians ran past panicked students and teachers who were too scared to have moved far from the school. To them, they weren’t there. Each had their own focus, each had their own goal, which were culminating in the same location. Critock didn’t slow down as he reached the doors, instead barreling through as quickly as he could. Smashing through the doors and surrounding walls slowed him down just enough to refocus, seeing Daniel’s lifeless body discarded to the side as though it was never human to Pt’ron, only a means to the end.
Pt’ron came in right behind Critock. Just before he reached the Shards, Pt’ron reached out with one leg desperately and tripped the bounty hunter. Out of control he smashed to the ground and slid just past Daniel, unable to control his momentum. Pt’ron, now as out of control as Critock had been, moved past Daniel as well. The only way to protect his Shards was to finally eliminate his former friend. There was no other way that this was going to end now. He would not be a slave, he would not be around to witness the end of this planet and the beginning of the new Empire. No, it was time for Critock to die.
Critock used his legs to stop himself, and attempted to turn, but Pt’ron was too fast, and too focused on his task. Before Critock could react, Pt’ron was on him, slashing and kicking with his legs and claws, each blow connecting fiercely with a grunt of pain. Pt’ron was beyond hearing, beyond caring, to the point that when his legs tired, he reached out close to him, grasping a stray wooden beam that had thus far gone unused, and began slamming it into his weakened foe, so damaged at this point that he could not even left a leg to try and block the hard wood from impacting his orb body.
Pt’ron was roaring now, uncaring about anything in the world but accomplishing this bloody mission, and likely would have succeeded in splitting his enemy’s orb wide open with just a few more blows when a loud shrill scream filled the room. It was not painful nor sharp enough to cause him pain, but it caused him pause just the same, one leg holding the beam straight up and preparing for another strike. He recognized that sound. He turned, his eye traipsing over the still comet-like essence of Tomkari, still knocked out against the wall, and settling on Shanna Ewing, who along with a protesting Phelps and Jim had slowly crept back in the door to attempt to see what was happening, and help if they could. Shanna had not been expecting to witness what may have been the final moments of Critock, and indeed the world as she knew it. The scream came unbidden to her before she could stop it, and if Pt’ron’s form could smile he would have. He glanced back at his fallen foe, still alive but only just, and tossed the beam aside. Yes, Critock would still die, but he would experience one last failure before he did.
Pt’ron stared at Shanna, shocked stock still with the sight. “Was this your champion?” Then he used his legs to turn Critock’s orb around, so that his half-open eye, filled with blue blood, was focused on the girl. Pt’ron then leaned down and hissed at his former friend. “You will watch this.” Before Shanna could react, and before anyone else could be done, Pt’ron moved with a quickness that belied his size, and before Shanna could come to her senses and escape, she was grabbed by the monstrous being, carefully for the moment pinned between a claw and the rest of the leg, and was brought up to Pt’ron’s eye.
He stared at her, and she knew her life was over. Surprisingly to her, the fear lessened. After all she had been through in the last day, she assumed she had just reached her limit. What else could be done to her? Below she heard her friends yell but she knew there was nothing they could do. Critock was defeated and dying. Kyle would probably follow, if he wasn’t dead already. Better to accept it and maybe if she could distract him enough the missile would hit and end this for everyone. That didn’t mean she had to go quietly, though.
Staring at his giant eye, she spit at him, the saliva impacting right in the middle of the retina and causing him to blink, but the surprise didn’t cause him to lose his grip on her, and in fact he tightened it, causing discomfort as she struggled. He chuckled. “A fighter to the end. On a more evolved planet you would have been a warrior. You would have flourished in my empire.” His orb dipped slightly. “But it is not to be.” He raised his head back up. “Your death is on your champion’s hands, Shanna. He will die knowing that you went first because of him.”
She didn’t close her eyes. She would have missed what happened. While Pt’ron was making his last statement and preparing to cleave the young cheerleader neatly in two, he missed the blue flash from behind him. His focus was so strong he missed the slight noises and rustling. Shanna missed nothing. She watched as Kyle, or more accurately a Critock who had used the last energy that holding the Shards had given him to move back into Kyle’s body, leapt in the air holding the extended Sword of Kon, orange light flaring and electric arcs sparking in every direction. The orange blade of the sword impacted the black orb and pierced it thoroughly, digging deep into Pt’ron’s body. The unexpected searing unimaginable pain shocked him thoroughly, and as he flailed his leg out Shanna slipped from his grasp, landing painfully but safely on the floor below, though she quickly moved to rejoin her friends who were staring at the sight. Critock held on to the hilt of the sword tightly, yelling in anger and rage, as Pt’ron tried in vein to shake him off. The rodeo lasted for merely a minute before Pt’ron’s roaring screams lessened, and his movements became slower. Finally, after what seemed to Critock to be an eternity, Pt’ron dropped to the floor, his body now empty and useless. The monster had been defeated.
37
The light from the mid-day sun shone through the newly made holes in the ceiling of the school, reflecting off of the Sword of Kon, which still laid embedded in the still monstrous body of Pt’ron. Critock, exhausted from the effort of both fighting his enemy and then converting his body back into Kyle’s, had simply just rolled off the form, not even bothering to get up from his prone position on the floor.
Shanna, having been dropped unceremoniously from being held by her former acquaintance, was slowly picking herself up. The adrenaline and fear that she had rode was slowly ebbing, and was quickly being replaced with exhaustion, and a small chill of shock to what they had witnessed. She looked around, taking stock of her friends, who fortunately seemed okay, if a little shocked themselves. Phelps was shaking his head, muttering to himself, and both John and Jim were back behind the door, not coming in fully for fear that something else unbelievable would happen. She had escorted Claire to what she had hoped was a safe hiding place, and had returned because she had to see how it ended, no matter how foolhardy a decision that was to be. She had been surprised that the others hadn’t cleared off with Claire, the smart thing to do would have been to get as far away from here as she possibly could. Then again, nobody else involved in this seemed to have been making smart decisions, why start now?
Having caught her breath, she then remembered Critock laying on the ground, and quickly grasped what little energy she had left and ran to him, almost sliding as she kneeled beside him. “Are you okay? Is Kyle okay?”
Critock groaned and closed his eyes, one of them black, from a stabbing pain on his left side. “We’re fine, thanks. Everyone….” He stopped, grunting as one pain flowed into another, and collected himself. “Everyone else okay?”
“I think so…” She glanced around again, her eyes settling on a small round form, slowly rolling around in a shadowy corner. “Wait, Tom?” She called to the wisp, who had been so effortlessly knocked out of the fight.
“…Owwwww….” Was the only response, and Shanna stood up slowly, and made her way over to him. Critock shook his head back and forth clearly, trying to wake himself up. There was something important he needed to remember, but first he had to make sure nothing had happened to his partner. He didn’t want to be put in the awkward position of explaining to Quar’oti Alpha what had happened to their studious servant. H
e rose to his feet as quickly as he could, and slowly limped his way over to where Shanna had went, looking down upon the pitiful sight.
Critock bent down, picking up the wisp carefully. “I’ll say this for you, you can take a hell of a punch.”
Tomkari hovered in the air slightly above Critock’s outstretched hands, slowly coming back to his senses. “Ha. We win?”
“Pt’ron’s down. Everyone else is alive.”
Tom suddenly rose into the air farther, a note of alarm entering his speech. “Uh, where are the Shards?”
From behind them came John’s voice, who had crept over to see what was going on. “The Shards?”
Critock stood straight up, his pain forgotten. “THE SHARDS!”
What happened next happened extremely quickly with nearly no time to react. In an instant flash of solid blue light and electric arcing, Pt’ron’s spider-like form coalesced into a small sphere, roughly about the size and shape of Tomkari. The Sword of Kon, no longer stuck in the black body, clattered to the ground uselessly, its shape reforming into the small cylinder. Pt’ron’s sphere instantly moved to and into Daniel’s body, causing more electricity to flow through the room, forcing Critock, Tomkari, and the humans back. Pt’ron was still alive, and back in the form that he had become most accustomed to. Critock’s brief feeling of relief was snuffed out as he realized that the Shards had never been removed from Daniel’s body, and now Pt’ron was fully energized, fully powerful, and ready to continue the fight. Critock knew that they had no chance for anything else now but to keep him busy while the first missile was still coming, and while their deaths would be inevitable, locked into this small space when the armament hit, at least it would only take out this small area but not the entire planet. Critock stepped forward towards Pt’ron, as he rose into the air, red streaks arcing around him but not yet shielded. Pt’ron merely grinned, despite a small dark red spot beginning to form on his side. It was a silent look of victory, knowing that whatever happened next was completely under his control.
The Joining: The Saga of the Shards Book One (The Cycle of the Shards 1) Page 44
