Pulling in a deep breath, she wondered how her best friend was holding up. His history with the deeply despicable Manson far outweighed her own, and she knew for a fact, even in the brightest of times, something this most certainly wasn't, Peter still had nightmares about his evening on the Astroturf. It must hurt him to see the villainous scumbag strolling casually towards them all without a care in the world. Using the tiniest part of her mind, she channelled some love and understanding in his direction.
Deja vu rattled his brain and tweaked his nipple nuts as his nemesis, hand in hand with his vile and murderous queen, strode slowly in their direction. Inside, Peter desperately tried to hold things together, not only his emotional stability, but his bladder's urge to release itself there and then. Fear caused his arms and fingers to shake badly, as his jelly-like legs wobbled ever so slightly, something he hoped the love of his life wouldn't notice.
Brave as he was, with little equal on the rugby pitch, except maybe for Tank, Hook was scared here and now, and not just a little. Watching the couple, who he'd been told were both dragons, amble aimlessly towards them, was like watching a video of a fatal car crash, over and over again. You knew something bad was going to happen, but you just couldn't look away. And despite the brave, fearless and powerful beings he found himself surrounded by, the young rugby playing human was utterly convinced that this was the end, and that they were all about to die. Every atom in his body simultaneously longed to be on the surface.
Pretending not to notice the effects the couple were having on her prehistoric other half, Janice instead preferred, as she always did, to look on the bright side. Right now, that involved closing her eyes and reaching out for a certain futuristic looking weapon that was still carving its way through clusters of dark dragons and nagas on the outer edge of the now packed battlefield. During the eye wateringly slow passage across to rescue the king and his defenders, the young bar worker had tried reaching out to Fu-ts'ang on a number of occasions, only to be summarily ignored. The telepathic connection was there, it was just as if the consciousness of the weapon itself had chosen not to answer... which to her felt odd, because in the short time that they'd been together, they'd most definitely formed a bond, sharing key moments of their past, as well as her hopes and dreams for the future. Why he'd ignore her now was anybody's guess.
"I'm busy killing your enemies child," came across the link, in a slow methodical kind of way.
"I just wanted to know that you're okay."
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Something's going on here. The leader and his queen are making their way towards our position. It doesn't feel right, almost as though they have a secret we don't know about tucked away. I was hoping you might keep an eye on them for me."
A short blast of silence had Janice wondering if she'd gone too far and asked for too much. That, however, didn't appear to be the case.
"I'll take a look in a moment. Although I've exterminated many more of their kind, for every one of them I kill, two more always seem to take their place, and although the crowded arena provides me with more than a little anonymity, I'm doing little to reduce the actual number of adversaries you're facing. I'm sorry, my friend, I'd hoped to have almost ended it all by now."
"It's not your fault, you've done an amazing job and it's been a pleasure being joined with you. Why don't you conserve some of your magic and take a look at the murderous couple to see if you can fathom out what they're up to? Stay safe and as much out of trouble as you can."
"Touché," replied Fu-ts'ang, diving off into the nearest shadow, which extended all the way up one wall. Screaming at speed under the cover of darkness, the fabulous ancient weapon continued to head up in an effort to discover exactly what duplicitous plan the happy couple were hoping to enact.
Multitasking as only he could, healing broken bones in two dragons whilst at the same time knitting together torn ligaments and scales for a third, Yoyo's mind wandered off topic just a little. Through what had now become rather a crowded and confined space, he could just make out the vile dragon Manson and his devil bride. Momentarily a shudder juddered down his back, sending a tingling through his scales, something his vast experience considered a warning of sorts. Evil was here and out to get them, and somehow he couldn't shake the feeling that their time had all but come to an end. In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, whilst still attending to his patients, the knowledgeable healer opened up a telepathic connection to all his young charges, something they'd prearranged to use only in the most dire of circumstances, and started to speak.
"Listen up all of you, we don't have much time. I wouldn't have thought it possible to get any more dangerous, but every sense within me tells me that it's about to. Your actions over the course of this unfortunate adventure have proved you all to be a credit to your race. More courageous, daring and cunning dragons would be almost impossible to find than those hidden behind this shield. I could have all day and still not have enough time to explain exactly how proud I am of each and every one of you. Whilst I know that your DNA and mine don't match, and that all of you have had the most horrendous upbringing, for many years now I've regarded you as the sons and daughters I could never have had. Know this! I love everyone of you with all my heart, and while I regret, to my very core, getting you all involved in this, it was at least the right thing to do. What you've done today has made a difference beyond belief. Without all of you, none of us would have got this far. Continue to fight with everything you have, right up until your very last breath, and hopefully we will be reunited again on the other side. As the king has already said, ready your magic and use all your initiative. Good luck!"
Wonder, worry, sadness and joy flooded the invisible link, at least for about a thousandth of a second, before it was terminated and Yoyo's full focus returned to the wounded in his care.
"I'm not liking this one bit," whispered the king to his newly recovered best friend.
"Neither am I. But our hands are tied at the moment. We need to let it play out and just hope we're adaptable enough to deal with whatever's thrown our way. As long as the shield maintains its integrity, we should be able to stay safe, take a pounding and at least be able to give them a bloody nose, something I'm really looking forward to."
"I'd forgotten how much sense you can make at times," added George.
"I'd never forgotten our friendship, even in the darkest of times. You and Peter were all that kept me going... kept me sane. I wouldn't be here without you."
"I know, my friend. I've missed you terribly. Not a day's gone by without me thinking of you, wondering about your fate. I only hope we can avoid the future our friends out there think they have in store for us, long enough to return the domain and the planet to what it once was, and celebrate long into the night."
"On that we're agreed," replied Fredric, smiling at his friend as they both clasped hands.
Knowing that the eyes of every being in the king's private residence were on the pair of them only increased the magnitude of madness trickling through Manson's veins. Earth, on the other hand, worried little about anyone else, whether they were watching or what they were thinking. One thing and one thing only dominated her thoughts... her father, and all the different ways in which he could die.
Stopping some twenty or so metres short of the front of the magical barrier, Manson looked inquisitively at the cowering heroes, wondering how they would react to what was about to happen. Not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things, he just liked to play things out in his mind, hoping to look back later on and realise he'd predicted the turn of events. With a long, deep breath and a wave of satisfaction rolling through him, his default, smug smile wrapped itself across his lips as he began to speak.