The LupeGelert Stone II: Part Four

by kirinki

The Battle
Moonlight awoke in her chamber. She remembered that she was in the Painted Usul's home and she was a guest. As she opened the cupboard to look at the paint brushes, the door slid open and a juvenile named Spring99 stepped in, holding Moonlight's breakfast.

"Hi, Moonlight! Here's your breakfast. Oh yeah, feel free to try the paint brushes-we have all the paint brushes ever created! There is also a paint remover, which is our very own invention, that restores you to your original color!" The young Usul smiled. She was proud of the invention.

"Thanks, Spring99! I'll remember to try that!" Moonlight took the tray from Spring99. The juvenile ran out red-faced. RedFlame came in.

"Who's that little Usul that just ran over me?" RedFlame asked.

"It's just Spring99."

"She was scarlet with embarrassment! She's very proud to be a servant of a famous quester." RedFlame moved to the paintbrushes. He looked at them for a while before saying:" Fire suits me better!"

The four Usul Leaders strode into the room. Mystic, Walzak and the Scorchio Patrol followed. "Well, let's get going now. We found a way to open that door," Spring said.

Moonlight stuffed the rest of her breakfast, along with packed provisions, into her pack before joining her pals. RedFlame followed. As they stepped out of the metal hallways, the Questers gaped in awe. The jewels lining the walls had turned an awesome purple hue-pure amethyst. Walzak carefully picked off some of the smaller pieces to bring home. Everyone was soon harvesting the over-abundance of crystals. The whole Usul colony brought big baskets to put the crystals in. Spring99 brought specially made necklaces of amethyst crystals. The group put them on thankfully, as Summer told them of how it brought good luck. Moonlight and RedFlame each had their crystals carved into Lupes, while Mystic's was a Gelert and so on.

Once the harvesting was finished, the harvesters walked back to their home, red-pawed from picking off hard crystals. The Questers and the Leaders walked to the door. The four Usul leaders brought out diamond-knives. They cut through the stone with a bit of effort, but finally daylight flooded in.

"Aaack! I'm not used to the brightness of the sun!" Summer shielded her eyes.

"Don't worry. We can do it by ourselves from here." Moonlight and the others thanked the Usuls and gave them a token of the LupeGelert country: a jet-black obsidian figure carved in the shape of a Lupe holding paws with a Gelert. It was quite small, and RedFlame always carried it in his pack. He said: "O well, I'll just get a new one!" Everyone laughed. The Usul leaders walked off and promised to put it in the center of their entrance room and carve the Quester's names on it.

As they walked in the sunlight a HUGE temple emerged in front of them. Walzak dropped his voice to a whisper. "If you thought the cave was hard, this place is way harder. It's swarmed with the Black Ones."

The Scorchio Patrol flew forward. The Questers spread their wings and flew ahead of them, weapons drawn.

"LUPEGELERRRRRRRRRTS!"

RedFlame battled hard and strong. He thrust his sword at each Black Lupe that came by. They were slain in a blinking of an eye. Moonlight used her Moon Charm to send enemies flying. Mystic used her wand to blast her opponents. The Scorchio Patrol set them on fire. Walzak used his teeth and claws. One of them yelled in the Black Lupe-slang. " Git over here ya lazy paws!" Suddenly, a wave of Black Lupes appeared. The Scorchios and Questers fought bravely, but they were no match for the villains. "YEEEOOOOOOOOLLOOOOOOO!" RedFlame heard CloudSkimmer and Walzak yell. Heavily armed Usuls and Wockys, over 2,000, joined the battle upon hearing that war cry.

"Moonlight! Where are you?!" RedFlame yelled frantically. He ducked as Mystic's wand fried several Black Ones. A few times he was stabbed, but he survived. "Moonlight!"

"RedFlame!" Moonlight fought her way to her friend. " I found a way up. Just tell the army to hold them off as you, me, Mystic and Walzak go up."

"HOLD THEM OFF!" RedFlame shouted. CloudSkimmer gave him a quick nod before being buried under the wave of rushing creatures.

The Questers fought their way through the armies, RedFlame using his Fireball when necessary. When they got to the blocked stairway, RedFlame blasted through it with another couple of Fireballs. They ran up the stairs, their minds racing and hearts pounding. The Assassin leaped in front of them just before they got to his room.

"We meet again, weak ones. Solo battle with RedFlame." The Assassin smiled evilly.

"Yeah. For the last time."RedFlame swung his sword at the evil warlord. The Assassin jumped into the air and landed on his paws.

"My real name is Arrow the Assassin." Arrow confessed while trying to slay RedFlame.

The pair grappled on the ground, rolling around, trying to stab each other. Moonlight tossed RedFlame a potion, which he poured on himself. RedFlame concentrated on his Lupe Moon Charm for a long time. Arrow's blade bent under the powerful psychic waves that the charm was emitting. Combined with the good luck powers of the amethyst, the Charm was twice as strong. Arrow tried to headbutt RedFlame, but the charm was protecting him. RedFlame tied the charm around the hilt of the sword and threw it at Arrow. The Assassin's body bent backwards in pain before turning into nothingness. The LupeGelert Stone landed in RedFlame's hands. He put it into the security pocket of his pack.

Down below, the army of Tropica stopped. Their enemy was disappearing! They thanked the Questers and returned home. Walzak smiled at Mystic. " I'm going to live in LupeGelert!" he proclaimed.

"Us, too!" CloudSkimmer and his crew cheered.

When they passed through the dark cavern, the Usuls gave them a videophone so that they could contact each other. Finally, they reached the portal. They said one last good-bye before being teleported back to Salamandastron. The Techo slaves were free again, and evil Techos destroyed. RedFlame brought the sad news to the Aishas and asked them if he could keep Akkor's handheld computer. They said yes and told him how to work it, so they could contact him.

Once they were home, RedFlame visited Nicodemus while the others bathed in the nearby pond.

"Good work, RedFlame. I will put the Stone on its rightful place-on the Lupe statue's collar. Now, for your reward...here is 1,000,000 Neopoints for each of you and complete access to anywhere in the world!"

"Thank you so much Nicodemus. We'll be next door if you need us to do another quest!" RedFlame cheerily trotted out of the chamber to his friends.

They reclined on pillows, couches and beds while watching the sunset. RedFlame's eyelids grew heavy as he drifted off to sleep...

The End