The Unknown Twinkie
Lilligant is so cute
This is really good, so far please update soon^^
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Angels and Demons
- Thread starter chosen_one386
- Start date
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
Hello new reader, and thank you!
I should probably update over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I'll add you to the PM list (which is composed off three people right now. >_<)chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
Well, we're getting close to the great final battle and climax! Hope you guys have enjoyed the story of the Legendary Team so far!
This chapter also marks the very first mention of Isshu (from Black and White) in ANY of my fics. When Black and White were first announced, I started incorporating bits and pieces of the legendaries and such into my storylines (I have entire fics ahead planned out). So, you get a little taste of BW here!
18.
House grabbed his coat from the back of his chair, struggling to put it on as he argued with Dr. James Wilson, who happened to be one of the only people in the world before the creation of the Legendary Team who would ever venture to call him a friend. “I’m totally not lying! Do I have to get a member from the Vatican clergy to come over here and tell you to your face that I’m really over there participating in a secret mission and that something has now come up that beckons me to return to Rome?”
“Maybe…yes, then I will believe you, but please tell that to your boss, House! If you’re gone without excuse for too many more days, you can get fired!” Wilson protested, jumping from his seat to follow House down the hallway. Due to the older doctor’s bad leg, Wilson didn’t have any trouble catching up to him, despite his efforts to get to the elevator before his friend could catch him with the worrying news. The elevator doors slammed shut, leaving House and Wilson alone as the elevator went down.
“This isn’t a high school,” House protested. “So what if I have like ten excused absences?” He said, waving his cane around for emphasis. Wilson sighed, rubbing at his eyes. He had obviously not been getting much sleep lately. House caught onto this quickly, but, in his usual style, tried not to sound too concerned about his friend. “Been up too late partying while I’m gone? That’s no fair…”
“No, it’s this new patient I have…She’s not showing any signs of improvement, and she’s starting to show extreme physical symptoms of breaking down, and her cancer is actually in remission. I just…” He paused. “I think she may have some illness, but I checked all of the medical encyclopedias I could against her symptoms and came up with nothing…”
“Is she human or Aquapolian?” House asked, intrigued. When a mystery was presented to him, he acted much like the Sherlock Holmes of medicine, in which he couldn’t get a case out of his head until it was solved.
“She’s human. She has labored breath, racing heartbeat every once in a while…and has been having what seems to me like mental spells…”
“And you’re sure this isn’t like heart disease or something?” House asked, striding into the busy lobby of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. They swerved to avoid incoming patients and busy doctors as Wilson continued to explain the very odd and seemingly unconnected symptoms the woman was showing until they reached the parking garage where House stored his motorcycle.
“Wish I could help you out with this…” He said, strapping on his yellow and black striped helmet. “But I’ve got to go.” He started his motorcycle up and pealed away, leaving Wilson to his thoughts.
------------
“Have I missed anything?” Riley asked, entering the room in the archives that he had previously used as the Legendary Team command center. The only person sitting in the room at that point in time was the camerlengo. Riley glanced around him at the empty room, then cautiously approached his desk at the front. Apparently, the camerlengo hadn’t noticed him entering the room. The priest had his eyes on the table, gazing off into the distance and lost in thought. Riley worried that if he dropped his computer boxes on the table, he may startle the camerlengo greatly. However, since the boxes were heavy, he had no choice.
“Oh, Riley!” The camerlengo shot out of his chair as soon as the boxes thudded on the desk, narrowly missing slamming down on Riley’s fingers in the process. “I’m glad you’re here. How fast can you get your system back up?” Riley was surprised at the priest’s sudden interest in his computer system. Did he have any idea of their next move?
He thought a few moments before answering, all the while sifting through the boxes and placing electronic equipment on the desk around him. “I can have it up within half an hour…” He glanced around. No other Legendary Team member was there in the room. “Am I early?”
“Yes…” The camerlengo seemed to lose his train of thought once again. Riley suddenly realized what the priest must have been going through at that time. This had been the second pope to die on him over the last three months. Anyone else would have probably quit working in the church. The fact that the Aquapolian standing before him was not only still willing to serve in this position, but also fight to keep the church alive was extraordinary. Riley wondered if the camerlengo was a more powerful Aquapolian than he claimed to be.
“Well, this would be the first time I’m early to anything…” Riley awkwardly joked as he set up his computer system, monitors and all. “I guarantee you House will be last to get here. He’s always late.”
“What was that about a guarantee?”
To Riley’s surprise, House stepped into the room only seconds after his statement about the doctor always being late. He rolled his eyes as House walked to the front of the room, his usual sarcastic demeanor only curbed by the fact that he was sensitive enough not to say anything about the circumstances that brought the Legendary Team back to Rome. “I guarentee you, Riley, that nothing is impossible anymore.”
“Apparently not,” Riley muttered as more members of the Legendary Team filed in, casting surprised glances at House as they took their seats around the table. When, at last, everyone had arrived, Katharine stood up and stepped to the front of the room.
“Now is the time to stop the Shadow Forces,” she said, cutting to the chase. “We’re going to vote, however, on whether or not we want to use the six orbs to fight against them and who will use each orb. Everyone in favor of using the orbs to fight raise your hand.” Without delay, each and every member raised their hand in favor. “Okay…Now, we’ll go down the list of powers. Who will take land, the Red Orb?”
Everyone paused to think. Finally, Langdon raised his hand uncertainly. “I’ll do it.”
“Okay.” She looked over at Riley, who was keeping track of which Aquapolian took each power. “Sea, the Blue orb?”
“Me!” Ben nearly jumped out of his seat. “I’ll take sea.”
“Sky, the Crystal Orb?”
Nichols raised his hand. “I will.”
“Time, the Diamond Orb?”
“I’ll take time,” Cyrus said.
“How about Palkia’s power of space, the Pearl Orb?” Katharine asked, gazing around the room at the remaining Legendary Team members. Riley didn’t have enough experience fighting to even volunteer for the position. House and Indy were both getting on in years, so it would be a health risk for them to even think of taking on one of the powers. That left Eric, Rowan, Stevens, and the camerlengo for the positions. Out of those four, the camerlengo was the least likely to take on any of the six powers because he wasn’t willing to fight.
So it didn’t surprise her when her teacher for many years raised his hand, volunteering for the power of space. “I’ll take Palkia’s powers for a few weeks, I guess,” Rowan said, leaning back in his chair as a thoughtful look crossed his face. As a researcher of legends, and of Sinnoh’s legends in particular, actually gaining a legendary’s powers must be a thrilling experience for him.
Katharine paused before continuing. “The last power is dimension, Giratina’s Opal orb.” Before anyone could speak, she rushed on. “Since it’s the most powerful and volatile of the six powers, I’ve decided that I’ll take the power of dimension for this fight…”
“No.” Everyone turned, startled at the camerlengo’s interruption. He was leaning forward in his seat, his emerald eyes on some point in the distance as if he were half-listening to the conversation. “I’ll take the power of dimension.”
Everyone remained silent, processing what he had just said. Rowan finally spoke up. “Patrick…Giratina’s power is strong enough to kill its vessel instantly if the person isn’t powerful enough to control it…are you sure…?”
“All I know is that my healing powers can at least make up for most of the damage the power of dimension will do to me physically. Besides, when the last stand comes, I want to be able to defeat Hastings myself.”
This statement further silenced the Legendary Team members, who thought over his words carefully. Katharine was the next to speak. “Okay…We should get down to taking the powers over right away. I think the process is spelled out in the Book of the Chosen One…”
A cell phone rang loudly in the room. Everyone looked around, fumbling in their pockets to see if it was their phone that was rudely ringing during the meeting. Finally, House pulled out his phone, answering it as everyone shot glares at him. “Hello?” Silence as he listened to the other end of the line. His features darkened, and, for the first time anyone had seen, he looked serious. “How many others?” He asked, turning his chair around. “Are you serious? Okay, I’ll get on that…No, I’m NOT coming home. I have some idea that the cause is here in Rome. Good-bye.”
Everyone breathlessly waited for him to speak, but he remained thoughtful for a few more minutes before placing his phone back on the table. “That was one of the doctors at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. He had a patient showing serious and unusual symptoms unlike any other disease seen in humans before. This human patient died a few hours ago…and now, other patients who were brought in for unrelated causes are showing similar symptoms.”
“How many others?” Langdon asked.
“The entire human patient population of the hospital, from infants to the elderly.”
Several gasps escaped from the Aquapolians in the room.
“Do we know if it’s fatal in all cases?” Stevens asked.
“So far, five or six patients have already died from their symptoms. And the death toll is climbing…Riley!”
“Yeah?” Riley looked up from his desk.
“Hack into whatever hospital computer mainframes you can get into. I don’t care where it is. Anywhere in the world will do.”
“Got it.” Riley punched furiously at his keyboard, bringing up statistic after statistic on the screen in front of the table. House stepped forward, his nose inches from the screen as he process everything.
“What is it?” Katharine finally asked after he had thought for a few minutes.
“These symptoms…are being presented by humans across the globe. Over the past half hour…thousands have the disease, and hundreds have already died.”
“That’s it!” Stevens exclaimed. Everyone turned to her as she continued. “That was what they were experimenting on in that lab underneath the Coliseum!” Except for the camerlengo, Nichols, and Katharine, every other Aquapolian in the room looked confused. “We knew it was something biological, but this…”
“Is an epidemic…” House said. “Riley, you think you can keep track of this on a map somewhere?”
“Done and done.” A map of the globe popped up onto the screen. Thousands of dots spanned the globe, growing every second to show how many cases had spread worldwide. Two counters in the corner kept track of the exact number of cases and deaths that had occurred. The numbers were climbing fast.
“This is his plan…” The camerlengo muttered as the full realization of what the Shadow Commander had done gripped everyone in the room. “He’s going to exterminate the human race through this disease.”
“Nowhere on Earth will be safe,” House said. “They released it in every part of the globe and it seems to be highly contagious amongst humans…”
“What about indigenous tribes?” Langdon asked.
“Knowing Hastings, he’ll hunt them down before long,” the camerlengo muttered. He was staring down at the table, avoiding the sight of the counters on the screen climbing higher and higher. Katharine wondered if he felt at all responsible for his brother’s actions, as if he should have known years ago that Hastings was capable of such an atrocious act. In Katharine’s mind, it wasn’t her father’s fault at all.
As the full weight of what was happening sunk in, small waves of panic seemed to set into the faces of the Aquapolians in the room. An epidemic couldn’t be stopped by simply taking the Shadow Forces down. Without some sort of vaccine or medicine, it would rage on until it naturally burnt itself out or no longer had a host to jump to. House was pacing in front of the monitor, muttering to himself in an attempt to link the disease to something else he might have seen in Aquapolians. After a few minutes, he froze and turned back to the screen.
“This disease shows the same symptoms as a fatal Aquapolian disease…if the vaccine for the Aquapolian strain can be changed a bit…humans can be healed by it,” House announced. “Only problem is that this disease is extremely rare in Aquapolians, so there aren’t millions of does lying around.” He pulled out his cell phone and left the room.
“While he’s stopping this epidemic, we’re going to stop Hastings,” Katharine said, leaving the room herself and walking over to the Aquapolian section of the archives. The six who had volunteered followed her, leaving the others behind to plan their parts of the attack.
Katharine flipped through the Book of the Chosen One, trying to find the ceremony to give the six Aquapolians the powers of the six legendaries. She finally happened upon the page. “Let’s do this…” She muttered. The others nodded in agreement.
------------
“I’ve got a colleague of mine working on mass-producing new strains of the vaccine,” House announced as he strode back into the Legendary Team’s meeting room. He paused to glance around at the empty chairs. Only Riley, Indy, Stevens, and Eric were left in the room, the latter three muttering to themselves about increasing security and when Hastings’ next strike would be most likely. “Did I miss something?” House asked to none in particular.
Eric glanced up at him, the teenager quickly answering, “Katharine and the others are going to perform the ceremony in the Basilica as soon as possible. She said they needed the largest space they could find to pull off the vessel transfer.”
“Don’t you think the rest of us should be there?” House asked, directing the question mostly to Indy, who knew a good deal about legendary artifacts and their powers, having perused the most ancient of Aquapolian temples during his lifetime. The older adventurer shrugged and thought for a second before rising out of his seat.
“It wouldn’t hurt to help form a barrier around the seven of them in case anything goes wrong.” He glanced over at Riley. “You coming, Riley?” Shoving his fedora on his head, Indy strode out of the room as the electric-type peered over his monitor at the others, a confused look on his face. House sighed as Eric and Stevens scrambled to their feet.
“Come on! We have to get you out from behind that desk every once in a while. This is going to be fun!”
------------
The Basilica was eerily quiet as the seven Aquapolians strode through its halls, deciding where they should perform the ceremony of the six powers. Ben and Langdon fought over whether they should choose this significant part of the building or another historical part. Eventually, Rowan grew tired of the two men bickering like schoolgirls, and declared, “We’ll do it near the 99 candles! We might as well have a large, open space in case things get out of our control. Do you agree, Patrick?”
Katharine wondered slightly when the rest of the Legendary Team stopped calling the camerlengo father and started addressing him by his first name. Pretty much everyone in the team, including House, was at least polite enough to address him by his title unless he said otherwise. The thought that her father had finally completely warmed up to the presence of the Legendary Team in the Vatican made her heart lift a bit. With no more awkwardness or actual fighting (Ben and Langdon just disagreed on petty things), the team would be able to efficiently stop the Shadow Forces as one force for light. Still, very few people before them had called her father Patrick. Only Cardinals Reed and Mortarti and the pope himself had addressed him by his name. This told her that her father now considered the team as close friends.
“The 99 candles would be a good place…as long as we re-light them when we’re finished. I imagine a great deal of energy will fill the area while we’re performing the ceremony,” the camerlengo responded to Rowan’s question, shifting the duffel bag containing the six orbs off of his shoulder. They stood a few yards away from the 99 candles.
“The six of you need to make a circle,” Katharine said. As the six formed a circle with Katharine in the middle, she noticed the rest of the Legendary Team approaching them. “The five of you can stand further out to make sure no energy leaves this area.” She opened the Book of the Chosen One and placed it at the ground at her feet before opening the duffel bag and handing each of the six the six orbs. As she handed the Opal Orb to her father, she asked in nearly a whisper, “Are you sure about this?”
“Completely sure,” he answered. She nodded and backed away to where the book was, kicking the duffel bag out of the circle. Eric stooped down to scoop it up and place it further outside of the larger circle of the rest of the Legendary Team. Katharine positioned herself in the very middle of the circle, her eyes on the book. She glanced around to see if everyone was ready before she began.
“I, the Chosen One, swear that the six Aquapolians in possession of the six orbs will act as vessels for the six powers that will not serve evil or wrong purposes. I swear that each of these Aquapolians possesses a strong spirit, free of Shadow or hatred, and a strong aversion against the Shadow Forces. Each will use his power to fight the forces of darkness accordingly.”
She stepped toward Langdon, who held the Red Orb. “Dr. Robert Langdon, do you take the power of the land as your own?”
“I do.” As he spoke, a ruby light filled the area around him, and the Red Orb disappeared. Langdon stared at his hands for a few moments as Katharine stepped to the next person in the circle.
“Ben Gates, do you take the power of the sea as your own?”
“I do.” A sapphire light filled the area, and the Blue Orb was gone.
“Zachary Nichols, do you take the power of the sky as your own?”
“I do.” A crystal light filled the area, and the Crystal Orb disappeared.
“Dr. Cyrus Jones, do you take the power of time as your own?”
“I do.” A light blue light filled the area, and the Diamond Orb disappeared.
“Professor David Rowan, do you take the power of space as your own?”
“I do.” A bright pink light filled the area, and the Pearl Orb disappeared.
Katharine had finally reached the camerlengo, the last of the six. She took a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever powerful blast would follow Giratina’s power transferring to him.
“Father Patrick McKenna, do you take the power of dimension as your own?”
“I do,” he said solemnly. Like the others, a simple gold light filled the area before the Opal Orb disappeared completely. Katharine stepped back into the middle of the circle.
“The six powers have found new vessels…” She spoke, trailing off a bit before continuing. A white light had encircle the six in a sphere of bands of energy, surging with power at her words. “These six Aquapolians will use the powers only to battle the forces of darkness.” With that, the sphere of white light disappeared, leaving traces in the marble at their feet. A few moments of silence filled the air before someone spoke.
“So…how do we know it worked?” Ben asked.
“Looks like we didn’t die…” Rowan trailed off.
“No adverse side effects at all,” Cyrus said, looking at his arms as if something may have changed in them.
Langdon reached out and touched the sleeve of Ben’s shirt, then shrank back when it burst into flames. Ben panicked for a few minutes before putting out the fire himself with a wave of cool air.
“Well, at least we know our powers are really sensitive,” Nichols chuckled as Ben glared at Langdon. The two former roommates had chosen the opposing powers of land and sea, and, since Ben’s powers were more effective in battle than Langdon’s, the adventurer was sure to rub it in his friend’s face once or twice before they went into battle. As the other powers tested out their abilities in a small, enclosed area, Katharine stepped over to her father to make sure he was okay.
“Father?” She frowned. He was staring off into space with a look on his face of confusion and even pain. “Are you okay?” She whispered, stepping forward to place a hand on his arm. He literally jumped at her touch, his emerald eyes refocusing on what was in front of him. He blinked several times before he could fully focus on her.
“Yes…I’m fine,” he muttered. “These powers just take some getting used to, that’s all…” He seemed to be off-balance on his feet, and Katharine tightened her grip on his arm, trying to steady him herself. However, since he was nearly a full foot taller than she was, it proved difficult for her to keep him from completely losing his balance. She tugged on his coat’s sleeve for a bit, trying to get his attention before he lost focus again.
“Why don’t you get some sleep?” She suggested. He hadn’t slept a full night in days, after all. That combined with this sudden appearance of the power of dimension’s abilities in his body was obviously effecting him as his healing abilities tried to make up for any damage that was being done. He tried to shake his head, but he didn’t have the energy or balance to do so. Tugging harder on his sleeve, she turned to the others, who had halted in their exploration of their new powers to cast worried glances at the camerlengo. “He’s just extremely tired right now,” she tried to explain. “I’m going to take him back to his quarters so that he can get some sleep.”
“Do you need any help?” Rowan offered. He could tell that the camerlengo was having trouble even remaining conscious at the moment. Katharine shook her head and quickly pulled her father along with her down the Basilica’s passageways, and to his living quarters. As they rounded several corners away from the rest of the Legendary Team, she started to speak louder.
“Are you sure you’re okay with taking on the power of dimension by yourself?” She demanded, turning around quickly to face him. She could tell her father wasn’t completely paying attention to her, so she grabbed him by both shoulders to get his attention.
“I’m completely fine, Katharine,” he tried to reassure her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I just need some rest…”
“Okay…” She trailed off, lowering her arms. “Let’s make sure you get some sleep between tonight and tomorrow.” She led him further down the passageways until he spoke up.
“When do you think Hastings will strike us next?”
“I’m not quite sure…do you have an idea? I mean, you know him better than I do.”
“I wish I didn’t,” he muttered. “But I believe he’ll strike during the next conclave.”
“Then we have a week to work on our powers. Which means YOU will be getting sleep every night this week.”
“Not if I have to prepare for conclave and train…”
Katharine rolled her eyes, marveling at the way their two roles had been reversed. She was usually the one who took major risks of her safety, not her father. They finally reached the door of his quarters and stopped.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Katharine asked as he unsteadily opened it.
“Katharine…” He fixed his emerald eyes on her for a few moments before speaking. “I promise, I’ll be okay.” With that, he stumbled into his room, leaving Katharine worried in the hallway.
------------
The next morning, Katharine sat in the Legendary Team’s meeting room, focusing on the still-climbing numbers. House sat across from her, sighing.
“They’re not going to be able to make that vaccine fast enough,” he muttered.
“They have to if the human race is to survive…”
“This might be the final push that ends the race if we don’t stop it…”
Katharine sighed and stood up. “Has Father come down to the archives yet today?”
“No, haven’t seen him,” he replied, obviously distracted by the screen.
“Riley, could you page him?”
“He’s got his communicator off.”
Katharine frowned. “I’ll go find him, then.”
She searched in his quarters, through the archives, and every other part of the Vatican she could think of. The last place she looked was the Sistine Chapel, which was silent as a tomb. Her footsteps echoed as she walked to the front, finally spying her father kneeling in front of the altar. She hastened to his side and kneeled down to see if he was alright. His eyes had that faraway look again, and she had to shake him to get him to realize that she was there.
“Katharine…” He muttered. “The last conclave decided to keep the sword you fought that demon with in the Sistine Chapel…” He motioned to the altar, where a simple gold cross stood. The only other decoration was the sapphire-encrusted sword she had used to slay Ojinan. She stood up and ran her hand over its hilt, marveling at how the sapphires shone at her touch.
“When the final battle comes,” the camerlengo continued, rising to his feet. “I will battle Hastings…but I know that he will bring another demon to help him take control of the Vatican. As the Chosen One, you’ll have to fight it by yourself.”
“I’m guessing the cardinals want this sword to stay here?”
“Yes…but you have another…” He drifted off again. “I told you about Hastings’ and my special powers, right?” She nodded, and he continued. “I’ve been told by Cardinals Reed and Mortarti that there is a legend that goes along with our abilities, but I doubt the prophecy is about us.”
“What legendaries does it involve?”
“I’m not quite sure of the names…”
“Reshiram and Zekrom.”
They turned to see Cardinal Mortarti striding down the aisles toward them. “Resiram, the White Hero, and Zekrom, the Black Hero. The legend is originally from Isshu.” He paused. “It states that two brothers will hold the powers of light and shadow. One will be able to heal and save lives, the other able to destroy and take lives.”
“But, that describes them perfectly,” Katharine said, turning to her father. “Why don’t you think that you’re part of the legend?”
“There’s no way…”
“Patrick,” Mortarti cut him off. “As you know, you have already been given the task to protect the Chosen One, as both her father and as the White Hero. However, when the final battle is to be fought, your task will be to protect the church before everything else.”
“I’m not as powerful as Hastings is.”
“He may have the power to destroy, but your abilities in battle are far greater than you think.”
The camerlengo fell silent, then walked out of the Chapel. Mortarti turned to Katharine. “Good luck, Chosen One. Your mission from God will soon come to an end.”
She nodded. “Thank you,” she said before leaving the Chapel.
------------
Hastings paced the Coliseum’s floors, thinking over his plan of attack again and again. The night sky shone bright with the light of a full moon, but a heavy chill suddenly filled the air, making it seem darker. He turned, smiling, to the young woman standing a few yards away from him. She had long, black hair and black eyes. She wore a simple short black dress with short sleeves. “You’re a little early…by at least a week.”
“I wanted to visit the place of battle before the war begins,” she replied. “And to tell you that I will be your last support from the Demon Council. If your mission fails this time, we will no longer send demons to fight your battles for you.”
“Don’t worry, Nyx,” he replied, stepping closer. He was surprised to see that the demon’s mortal form seemed to be the same age as Katharine. The young demon couldn’t be a day over twenty…thousand. He smirked. Angels and demons counted their immortal lives by thousands of years. However, when they came to Earth, either as reincarnations like the Chosen One or just to visit, their thousands of years were translated merely to years.
“We won’t fail,” he continued, crossing his arms and trying to return the cold stare the demon was casting his way. She was rigid and stoic like any other immortal he had met (the number was only a handful). She was obviously a demon assassin as well as part of the infamous Demon Council, the leading body of Hell. Usually, demons as young as she weren’t in the council, which meant she was exceptionally powerful, at least enough to take the Chosen One down.
“You better not,” she said, turning away from him. “Or you’re on your own, Zekrom.” She vanished into the cool night air, leaving Hastings puzzled at the name she had chosen to call him by. The immortal name he had shoved into the back of his mind.
The name of a legendary.
This chapter also marks the very first mention of Isshu (from Black and White) in ANY of my fics. When Black and White were first announced, I started incorporating bits and pieces of the legendaries and such into my storylines (I have entire fics ahead planned out). So, you get a little taste of BW here!
18.
House grabbed his coat from the back of his chair, struggling to put it on as he argued with Dr. James Wilson, who happened to be one of the only people in the world before the creation of the Legendary Team who would ever venture to call him a friend. “I’m totally not lying! Do I have to get a member from the Vatican clergy to come over here and tell you to your face that I’m really over there participating in a secret mission and that something has now come up that beckons me to return to Rome?”
“Maybe…yes, then I will believe you, but please tell that to your boss, House! If you’re gone without excuse for too many more days, you can get fired!” Wilson protested, jumping from his seat to follow House down the hallway. Due to the older doctor’s bad leg, Wilson didn’t have any trouble catching up to him, despite his efforts to get to the elevator before his friend could catch him with the worrying news. The elevator doors slammed shut, leaving House and Wilson alone as the elevator went down.
“This isn’t a high school,” House protested. “So what if I have like ten excused absences?” He said, waving his cane around for emphasis. Wilson sighed, rubbing at his eyes. He had obviously not been getting much sleep lately. House caught onto this quickly, but, in his usual style, tried not to sound too concerned about his friend. “Been up too late partying while I’m gone? That’s no fair…”
“No, it’s this new patient I have…She’s not showing any signs of improvement, and she’s starting to show extreme physical symptoms of breaking down, and her cancer is actually in remission. I just…” He paused. “I think she may have some illness, but I checked all of the medical encyclopedias I could against her symptoms and came up with nothing…”
“Is she human or Aquapolian?” House asked, intrigued. When a mystery was presented to him, he acted much like the Sherlock Holmes of medicine, in which he couldn’t get a case out of his head until it was solved.
“She’s human. She has labored breath, racing heartbeat every once in a while…and has been having what seems to me like mental spells…”
“And you’re sure this isn’t like heart disease or something?” House asked, striding into the busy lobby of Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. They swerved to avoid incoming patients and busy doctors as Wilson continued to explain the very odd and seemingly unconnected symptoms the woman was showing until they reached the parking garage where House stored his motorcycle.
“Wish I could help you out with this…” He said, strapping on his yellow and black striped helmet. “But I’ve got to go.” He started his motorcycle up and pealed away, leaving Wilson to his thoughts.
------------
“Have I missed anything?” Riley asked, entering the room in the archives that he had previously used as the Legendary Team command center. The only person sitting in the room at that point in time was the camerlengo. Riley glanced around him at the empty room, then cautiously approached his desk at the front. Apparently, the camerlengo hadn’t noticed him entering the room. The priest had his eyes on the table, gazing off into the distance and lost in thought. Riley worried that if he dropped his computer boxes on the table, he may startle the camerlengo greatly. However, since the boxes were heavy, he had no choice.
“Oh, Riley!” The camerlengo shot out of his chair as soon as the boxes thudded on the desk, narrowly missing slamming down on Riley’s fingers in the process. “I’m glad you’re here. How fast can you get your system back up?” Riley was surprised at the priest’s sudden interest in his computer system. Did he have any idea of their next move?
He thought a few moments before answering, all the while sifting through the boxes and placing electronic equipment on the desk around him. “I can have it up within half an hour…” He glanced around. No other Legendary Team member was there in the room. “Am I early?”
“Yes…” The camerlengo seemed to lose his train of thought once again. Riley suddenly realized what the priest must have been going through at that time. This had been the second pope to die on him over the last three months. Anyone else would have probably quit working in the church. The fact that the Aquapolian standing before him was not only still willing to serve in this position, but also fight to keep the church alive was extraordinary. Riley wondered if the camerlengo was a more powerful Aquapolian than he claimed to be.
“Well, this would be the first time I’m early to anything…” Riley awkwardly joked as he set up his computer system, monitors and all. “I guarantee you House will be last to get here. He’s always late.”
“What was that about a guarantee?”
To Riley’s surprise, House stepped into the room only seconds after his statement about the doctor always being late. He rolled his eyes as House walked to the front of the room, his usual sarcastic demeanor only curbed by the fact that he was sensitive enough not to say anything about the circumstances that brought the Legendary Team back to Rome. “I guarentee you, Riley, that nothing is impossible anymore.”
“Apparently not,” Riley muttered as more members of the Legendary Team filed in, casting surprised glances at House as they took their seats around the table. When, at last, everyone had arrived, Katharine stood up and stepped to the front of the room.
“Now is the time to stop the Shadow Forces,” she said, cutting to the chase. “We’re going to vote, however, on whether or not we want to use the six orbs to fight against them and who will use each orb. Everyone in favor of using the orbs to fight raise your hand.” Without delay, each and every member raised their hand in favor. “Okay…Now, we’ll go down the list of powers. Who will take land, the Red Orb?”
Everyone paused to think. Finally, Langdon raised his hand uncertainly. “I’ll do it.”
“Okay.” She looked over at Riley, who was keeping track of which Aquapolian took each power. “Sea, the Blue orb?”
“Me!” Ben nearly jumped out of his seat. “I’ll take sea.”
“Sky, the Crystal Orb?”
Nichols raised his hand. “I will.”
“Time, the Diamond Orb?”
“I’ll take time,” Cyrus said.
“How about Palkia’s power of space, the Pearl Orb?” Katharine asked, gazing around the room at the remaining Legendary Team members. Riley didn’t have enough experience fighting to even volunteer for the position. House and Indy were both getting on in years, so it would be a health risk for them to even think of taking on one of the powers. That left Eric, Rowan, Stevens, and the camerlengo for the positions. Out of those four, the camerlengo was the least likely to take on any of the six powers because he wasn’t willing to fight.
So it didn’t surprise her when her teacher for many years raised his hand, volunteering for the power of space. “I’ll take Palkia’s powers for a few weeks, I guess,” Rowan said, leaning back in his chair as a thoughtful look crossed his face. As a researcher of legends, and of Sinnoh’s legends in particular, actually gaining a legendary’s powers must be a thrilling experience for him.
Katharine paused before continuing. “The last power is dimension, Giratina’s Opal orb.” Before anyone could speak, she rushed on. “Since it’s the most powerful and volatile of the six powers, I’ve decided that I’ll take the power of dimension for this fight…”
“No.” Everyone turned, startled at the camerlengo’s interruption. He was leaning forward in his seat, his emerald eyes on some point in the distance as if he were half-listening to the conversation. “I’ll take the power of dimension.”
Everyone remained silent, processing what he had just said. Rowan finally spoke up. “Patrick…Giratina’s power is strong enough to kill its vessel instantly if the person isn’t powerful enough to control it…are you sure…?”
“All I know is that my healing powers can at least make up for most of the damage the power of dimension will do to me physically. Besides, when the last stand comes, I want to be able to defeat Hastings myself.”
This statement further silenced the Legendary Team members, who thought over his words carefully. Katharine was the next to speak. “Okay…We should get down to taking the powers over right away. I think the process is spelled out in the Book of the Chosen One…”
A cell phone rang loudly in the room. Everyone looked around, fumbling in their pockets to see if it was their phone that was rudely ringing during the meeting. Finally, House pulled out his phone, answering it as everyone shot glares at him. “Hello?” Silence as he listened to the other end of the line. His features darkened, and, for the first time anyone had seen, he looked serious. “How many others?” He asked, turning his chair around. “Are you serious? Okay, I’ll get on that…No, I’m NOT coming home. I have some idea that the cause is here in Rome. Good-bye.”
Everyone breathlessly waited for him to speak, but he remained thoughtful for a few more minutes before placing his phone back on the table. “That was one of the doctors at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey. He had a patient showing serious and unusual symptoms unlike any other disease seen in humans before. This human patient died a few hours ago…and now, other patients who were brought in for unrelated causes are showing similar symptoms.”
“How many others?” Langdon asked.
“The entire human patient population of the hospital, from infants to the elderly.”
Several gasps escaped from the Aquapolians in the room.
“Do we know if it’s fatal in all cases?” Stevens asked.
“So far, five or six patients have already died from their symptoms. And the death toll is climbing…Riley!”
“Yeah?” Riley looked up from his desk.
“Hack into whatever hospital computer mainframes you can get into. I don’t care where it is. Anywhere in the world will do.”
“Got it.” Riley punched furiously at his keyboard, bringing up statistic after statistic on the screen in front of the table. House stepped forward, his nose inches from the screen as he process everything.
“What is it?” Katharine finally asked after he had thought for a few minutes.
“These symptoms…are being presented by humans across the globe. Over the past half hour…thousands have the disease, and hundreds have already died.”
“That’s it!” Stevens exclaimed. Everyone turned to her as she continued. “That was what they were experimenting on in that lab underneath the Coliseum!” Except for the camerlengo, Nichols, and Katharine, every other Aquapolian in the room looked confused. “We knew it was something biological, but this…”
“Is an epidemic…” House said. “Riley, you think you can keep track of this on a map somewhere?”
“Done and done.” A map of the globe popped up onto the screen. Thousands of dots spanned the globe, growing every second to show how many cases had spread worldwide. Two counters in the corner kept track of the exact number of cases and deaths that had occurred. The numbers were climbing fast.
“This is his plan…” The camerlengo muttered as the full realization of what the Shadow Commander had done gripped everyone in the room. “He’s going to exterminate the human race through this disease.”
“Nowhere on Earth will be safe,” House said. “They released it in every part of the globe and it seems to be highly contagious amongst humans…”
“What about indigenous tribes?” Langdon asked.
“Knowing Hastings, he’ll hunt them down before long,” the camerlengo muttered. He was staring down at the table, avoiding the sight of the counters on the screen climbing higher and higher. Katharine wondered if he felt at all responsible for his brother’s actions, as if he should have known years ago that Hastings was capable of such an atrocious act. In Katharine’s mind, it wasn’t her father’s fault at all.
As the full weight of what was happening sunk in, small waves of panic seemed to set into the faces of the Aquapolians in the room. An epidemic couldn’t be stopped by simply taking the Shadow Forces down. Without some sort of vaccine or medicine, it would rage on until it naturally burnt itself out or no longer had a host to jump to. House was pacing in front of the monitor, muttering to himself in an attempt to link the disease to something else he might have seen in Aquapolians. After a few minutes, he froze and turned back to the screen.
“This disease shows the same symptoms as a fatal Aquapolian disease…if the vaccine for the Aquapolian strain can be changed a bit…humans can be healed by it,” House announced. “Only problem is that this disease is extremely rare in Aquapolians, so there aren’t millions of does lying around.” He pulled out his cell phone and left the room.
“While he’s stopping this epidemic, we’re going to stop Hastings,” Katharine said, leaving the room herself and walking over to the Aquapolian section of the archives. The six who had volunteered followed her, leaving the others behind to plan their parts of the attack.
Katharine flipped through the Book of the Chosen One, trying to find the ceremony to give the six Aquapolians the powers of the six legendaries. She finally happened upon the page. “Let’s do this…” She muttered. The others nodded in agreement.
------------
“I’ve got a colleague of mine working on mass-producing new strains of the vaccine,” House announced as he strode back into the Legendary Team’s meeting room. He paused to glance around at the empty chairs. Only Riley, Indy, Stevens, and Eric were left in the room, the latter three muttering to themselves about increasing security and when Hastings’ next strike would be most likely. “Did I miss something?” House asked to none in particular.
Eric glanced up at him, the teenager quickly answering, “Katharine and the others are going to perform the ceremony in the Basilica as soon as possible. She said they needed the largest space they could find to pull off the vessel transfer.”
“Don’t you think the rest of us should be there?” House asked, directing the question mostly to Indy, who knew a good deal about legendary artifacts and their powers, having perused the most ancient of Aquapolian temples during his lifetime. The older adventurer shrugged and thought for a second before rising out of his seat.
“It wouldn’t hurt to help form a barrier around the seven of them in case anything goes wrong.” He glanced over at Riley. “You coming, Riley?” Shoving his fedora on his head, Indy strode out of the room as the electric-type peered over his monitor at the others, a confused look on his face. House sighed as Eric and Stevens scrambled to their feet.
“Come on! We have to get you out from behind that desk every once in a while. This is going to be fun!”
------------
The Basilica was eerily quiet as the seven Aquapolians strode through its halls, deciding where they should perform the ceremony of the six powers. Ben and Langdon fought over whether they should choose this significant part of the building or another historical part. Eventually, Rowan grew tired of the two men bickering like schoolgirls, and declared, “We’ll do it near the 99 candles! We might as well have a large, open space in case things get out of our control. Do you agree, Patrick?”
Katharine wondered slightly when the rest of the Legendary Team stopped calling the camerlengo father and started addressing him by his first name. Pretty much everyone in the team, including House, was at least polite enough to address him by his title unless he said otherwise. The thought that her father had finally completely warmed up to the presence of the Legendary Team in the Vatican made her heart lift a bit. With no more awkwardness or actual fighting (Ben and Langdon just disagreed on petty things), the team would be able to efficiently stop the Shadow Forces as one force for light. Still, very few people before them had called her father Patrick. Only Cardinals Reed and Mortarti and the pope himself had addressed him by his name. This told her that her father now considered the team as close friends.
“The 99 candles would be a good place…as long as we re-light them when we’re finished. I imagine a great deal of energy will fill the area while we’re performing the ceremony,” the camerlengo responded to Rowan’s question, shifting the duffel bag containing the six orbs off of his shoulder. They stood a few yards away from the 99 candles.
“The six of you need to make a circle,” Katharine said. As the six formed a circle with Katharine in the middle, she noticed the rest of the Legendary Team approaching them. “The five of you can stand further out to make sure no energy leaves this area.” She opened the Book of the Chosen One and placed it at the ground at her feet before opening the duffel bag and handing each of the six the six orbs. As she handed the Opal Orb to her father, she asked in nearly a whisper, “Are you sure about this?”
“Completely sure,” he answered. She nodded and backed away to where the book was, kicking the duffel bag out of the circle. Eric stooped down to scoop it up and place it further outside of the larger circle of the rest of the Legendary Team. Katharine positioned herself in the very middle of the circle, her eyes on the book. She glanced around to see if everyone was ready before she began.
“I, the Chosen One, swear that the six Aquapolians in possession of the six orbs will act as vessels for the six powers that will not serve evil or wrong purposes. I swear that each of these Aquapolians possesses a strong spirit, free of Shadow or hatred, and a strong aversion against the Shadow Forces. Each will use his power to fight the forces of darkness accordingly.”
She stepped toward Langdon, who held the Red Orb. “Dr. Robert Langdon, do you take the power of the land as your own?”
“I do.” As he spoke, a ruby light filled the area around him, and the Red Orb disappeared. Langdon stared at his hands for a few moments as Katharine stepped to the next person in the circle.
“Ben Gates, do you take the power of the sea as your own?”
“I do.” A sapphire light filled the area, and the Blue Orb was gone.
“Zachary Nichols, do you take the power of the sky as your own?”
“I do.” A crystal light filled the area, and the Crystal Orb disappeared.
“Dr. Cyrus Jones, do you take the power of time as your own?”
“I do.” A light blue light filled the area, and the Diamond Orb disappeared.
“Professor David Rowan, do you take the power of space as your own?”
“I do.” A bright pink light filled the area, and the Pearl Orb disappeared.
Katharine had finally reached the camerlengo, the last of the six. She took a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever powerful blast would follow Giratina’s power transferring to him.
“Father Patrick McKenna, do you take the power of dimension as your own?”
“I do,” he said solemnly. Like the others, a simple gold light filled the area before the Opal Orb disappeared completely. Katharine stepped back into the middle of the circle.
“The six powers have found new vessels…” She spoke, trailing off a bit before continuing. A white light had encircle the six in a sphere of bands of energy, surging with power at her words. “These six Aquapolians will use the powers only to battle the forces of darkness.” With that, the sphere of white light disappeared, leaving traces in the marble at their feet. A few moments of silence filled the air before someone spoke.
“So…how do we know it worked?” Ben asked.
“Looks like we didn’t die…” Rowan trailed off.
“No adverse side effects at all,” Cyrus said, looking at his arms as if something may have changed in them.
Langdon reached out and touched the sleeve of Ben’s shirt, then shrank back when it burst into flames. Ben panicked for a few minutes before putting out the fire himself with a wave of cool air.
“Well, at least we know our powers are really sensitive,” Nichols chuckled as Ben glared at Langdon. The two former roommates had chosen the opposing powers of land and sea, and, since Ben’s powers were more effective in battle than Langdon’s, the adventurer was sure to rub it in his friend’s face once or twice before they went into battle. As the other powers tested out their abilities in a small, enclosed area, Katharine stepped over to her father to make sure he was okay.
“Father?” She frowned. He was staring off into space with a look on his face of confusion and even pain. “Are you okay?” She whispered, stepping forward to place a hand on his arm. He literally jumped at her touch, his emerald eyes refocusing on what was in front of him. He blinked several times before he could fully focus on her.
“Yes…I’m fine,” he muttered. “These powers just take some getting used to, that’s all…” He seemed to be off-balance on his feet, and Katharine tightened her grip on his arm, trying to steady him herself. However, since he was nearly a full foot taller than she was, it proved difficult for her to keep him from completely losing his balance. She tugged on his coat’s sleeve for a bit, trying to get his attention before he lost focus again.
“Why don’t you get some sleep?” She suggested. He hadn’t slept a full night in days, after all. That combined with this sudden appearance of the power of dimension’s abilities in his body was obviously effecting him as his healing abilities tried to make up for any damage that was being done. He tried to shake his head, but he didn’t have the energy or balance to do so. Tugging harder on his sleeve, she turned to the others, who had halted in their exploration of their new powers to cast worried glances at the camerlengo. “He’s just extremely tired right now,” she tried to explain. “I’m going to take him back to his quarters so that he can get some sleep.”
“Do you need any help?” Rowan offered. He could tell that the camerlengo was having trouble even remaining conscious at the moment. Katharine shook her head and quickly pulled her father along with her down the Basilica’s passageways, and to his living quarters. As they rounded several corners away from the rest of the Legendary Team, she started to speak louder.
“Are you sure you’re okay with taking on the power of dimension by yourself?” She demanded, turning around quickly to face him. She could tell her father wasn’t completely paying attention to her, so she grabbed him by both shoulders to get his attention.
“I’m completely fine, Katharine,” he tried to reassure her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I just need some rest…”
“Okay…” She trailed off, lowering her arms. “Let’s make sure you get some sleep between tonight and tomorrow.” She led him further down the passageways until he spoke up.
“When do you think Hastings will strike us next?”
“I’m not quite sure…do you have an idea? I mean, you know him better than I do.”
“I wish I didn’t,” he muttered. “But I believe he’ll strike during the next conclave.”
“Then we have a week to work on our powers. Which means YOU will be getting sleep every night this week.”
“Not if I have to prepare for conclave and train…”
Katharine rolled her eyes, marveling at the way their two roles had been reversed. She was usually the one who took major risks of her safety, not her father. They finally reached the door of his quarters and stopped.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” Katharine asked as he unsteadily opened it.
“Katharine…” He fixed his emerald eyes on her for a few moments before speaking. “I promise, I’ll be okay.” With that, he stumbled into his room, leaving Katharine worried in the hallway.
------------
The next morning, Katharine sat in the Legendary Team’s meeting room, focusing on the still-climbing numbers. House sat across from her, sighing.
“They’re not going to be able to make that vaccine fast enough,” he muttered.
“They have to if the human race is to survive…”
“This might be the final push that ends the race if we don’t stop it…”
Katharine sighed and stood up. “Has Father come down to the archives yet today?”
“No, haven’t seen him,” he replied, obviously distracted by the screen.
“Riley, could you page him?”
“He’s got his communicator off.”
Katharine frowned. “I’ll go find him, then.”
She searched in his quarters, through the archives, and every other part of the Vatican she could think of. The last place she looked was the Sistine Chapel, which was silent as a tomb. Her footsteps echoed as she walked to the front, finally spying her father kneeling in front of the altar. She hastened to his side and kneeled down to see if he was alright. His eyes had that faraway look again, and she had to shake him to get him to realize that she was there.
“Katharine…” He muttered. “The last conclave decided to keep the sword you fought that demon with in the Sistine Chapel…” He motioned to the altar, where a simple gold cross stood. The only other decoration was the sapphire-encrusted sword she had used to slay Ojinan. She stood up and ran her hand over its hilt, marveling at how the sapphires shone at her touch.
“When the final battle comes,” the camerlengo continued, rising to his feet. “I will battle Hastings…but I know that he will bring another demon to help him take control of the Vatican. As the Chosen One, you’ll have to fight it by yourself.”
“I’m guessing the cardinals want this sword to stay here?”
“Yes…but you have another…” He drifted off again. “I told you about Hastings’ and my special powers, right?” She nodded, and he continued. “I’ve been told by Cardinals Reed and Mortarti that there is a legend that goes along with our abilities, but I doubt the prophecy is about us.”
“What legendaries does it involve?”
“I’m not quite sure of the names…”
“Reshiram and Zekrom.”
They turned to see Cardinal Mortarti striding down the aisles toward them. “Resiram, the White Hero, and Zekrom, the Black Hero. The legend is originally from Isshu.” He paused. “It states that two brothers will hold the powers of light and shadow. One will be able to heal and save lives, the other able to destroy and take lives.”
“But, that describes them perfectly,” Katharine said, turning to her father. “Why don’t you think that you’re part of the legend?”
“There’s no way…”
“Patrick,” Mortarti cut him off. “As you know, you have already been given the task to protect the Chosen One, as both her father and as the White Hero. However, when the final battle is to be fought, your task will be to protect the church before everything else.”
“I’m not as powerful as Hastings is.”
“He may have the power to destroy, but your abilities in battle are far greater than you think.”
The camerlengo fell silent, then walked out of the Chapel. Mortarti turned to Katharine. “Good luck, Chosen One. Your mission from God will soon come to an end.”
She nodded. “Thank you,” she said before leaving the Chapel.
------------
Hastings paced the Coliseum’s floors, thinking over his plan of attack again and again. The night sky shone bright with the light of a full moon, but a heavy chill suddenly filled the air, making it seem darker. He turned, smiling, to the young woman standing a few yards away from him. She had long, black hair and black eyes. She wore a simple short black dress with short sleeves. “You’re a little early…by at least a week.”
“I wanted to visit the place of battle before the war begins,” she replied. “And to tell you that I will be your last support from the Demon Council. If your mission fails this time, we will no longer send demons to fight your battles for you.”
“Don’t worry, Nyx,” he replied, stepping closer. He was surprised to see that the demon’s mortal form seemed to be the same age as Katharine. The young demon couldn’t be a day over twenty…thousand. He smirked. Angels and demons counted their immortal lives by thousands of years. However, when they came to Earth, either as reincarnations like the Chosen One or just to visit, their thousands of years were translated merely to years.
“We won’t fail,” he continued, crossing his arms and trying to return the cold stare the demon was casting his way. She was rigid and stoic like any other immortal he had met (the number was only a handful). She was obviously a demon assassin as well as part of the infamous Demon Council, the leading body of Hell. Usually, demons as young as she weren’t in the council, which meant she was exceptionally powerful, at least enough to take the Chosen One down.
“You better not,” she said, turning away from him. “Or you’re on your own, Zekrom.” She vanished into the cool night air, leaving Hastings puzzled at the name she had chosen to call him by. The immortal name he had shoved into the back of his mind.
The name of a legendary.
harryheart
Well-Known Member
Chapter 17
Wowee this is all really coming together now! Exciting stuff I must say! I loved the interaction between the Pope and the Carmalengo, although it was a real shock that the Pope was a Shadow Follower, I definitely did not see that coming! I have my suspicions now though about the Carmalengo! What's he covering up???? A brilliant chapter and brillaint effort. You kept the pace just right and it helped the whole Chapter flow, although in some parts a tad more description would've helped, such as how characters were reacting, faciacl expressions etc. and that would've helped with getting to grips with characters emotions in this Chapter, however, besides that I thought it was brilliant!
Wowee this is all really coming together now! Exciting stuff I must say! I loved the interaction between the Pope and the Carmalengo, although it was a real shock that the Pope was a Shadow Follower, I definitely did not see that coming! I have my suspicions now though about the Carmalengo! What's he covering up???? A brilliant chapter and brillaint effort. You kept the pace just right and it helped the whole Chapter flow, although in some parts a tad more description would've helped, such as how characters were reacting, faciacl expressions etc. and that would've helped with getting to grips with characters emotions in this Chapter, however, besides that I thought it was brilliant!
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
The camerlengo is definitely covering up something suspicious, but I don't even know what it is now! XD Yeah, I alternate on description a lot, but it comes and goes with my mood most days. Thank you for reading!
The next chapter should be up soon. We're coming to the final stages of this story over the next few installments. The big battle is coming!
harryheart
Well-Known Member
I've finally caught up! Yes! lol! Now onto the review:
Chapter 18
An immense Chapter! I absoloutely loved it, congratulations for all the effort that went into this one, I feel sometimes you aren't congratulated enough and this chapter certainly deserves some, so here it is! Your handling of the plot here was brilliant, I loved every single part of it. And I loved how although there is a huge number of characters, each one was able to see the lime light somehow and have their own mini development, some more than others yes, but nevertheless that was a brilliant piece of writing there. The plot itself has developed nicely from where you deviated from the book and film! I love all these twists and turns, new characters and interesting ideals you've incorporated. Well done! The idea as well of including Zekrom and Reshiram has worked neatly and nicely, graet intergration! I look forward to seeing where that particular bit leads, especially in the battle that is about to come!
On another note.... YAY NYX! I believe we've seen her before somewhere in your writing if I'm correct? So it's nice to see her again!
This was a superb chapter and I felt description levelled out again which is good, and actually I feel you;ve begun doing more so that's brilliant too! Can't wait for the next instalment!
Chapter 18
An immense Chapter! I absoloutely loved it, congratulations for all the effort that went into this one, I feel sometimes you aren't congratulated enough and this chapter certainly deserves some, so here it is! Your handling of the plot here was brilliant, I loved every single part of it. And I loved how although there is a huge number of characters, each one was able to see the lime light somehow and have their own mini development, some more than others yes, but nevertheless that was a brilliant piece of writing there. The plot itself has developed nicely from where you deviated from the book and film! I love all these twists and turns, new characters and interesting ideals you've incorporated. Well done! The idea as well of including Zekrom and Reshiram has worked neatly and nicely, graet intergration! I look forward to seeing where that particular bit leads, especially in the battle that is about to come!
On another note.... YAY NYX! I believe we've seen her before somewhere in your writing if I'm correct? So it's nice to see her again!
This was a superb chapter and I felt description levelled out again which is good, and actually I feel you;ve begun doing more so that's brilliant too! Can't wait for the next instalment!
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
Aw...thank you! I'm glad you've been enjoying my story so much! Yes, Nyx was also in Aftermath as one of the demons who tried to kill one of the six powers.
The next chapter should be up within the next few weeks.
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
Well, this will most likely be the last chapter before I return to school and the writing really slows down. It sucks, because the end of this chapter marks the beginning of the final battle. XD I guess we'll have to find out what happens a little later. Between now and Christmas...expect a max of two chapters. And...they will be half as long. Hopefully, you guys will hang on till the end!
19.
“Great! Now let’s try that again!” Langdon shouted to Ben, who stood a few yards away from him in the empty courtyard. A rush of high power water surged toward Langdon, who instantly focused on heating up the air around him. The water crashed into the heat wave and instantly evaporated.
“Impressive!” Nichols called out from the other end of the courtyard, where he and Cyrus were discussing their respective powers and how best to train with them.
“I thought water was supposed to beat fire?” Ben asked, raising his hands in defeat.
“When it comes to the legendaries, nothing is completely set,” Rowan shouted from another corner of the courtyard.
In another part of the huge courtyard, Katharine raised Eric’s bow, focusing on the tree in front of her. “Father, watch out!” She shouted to the camerlengo, who was standing on the other side of the tree speaking to Rowan. He cast a confused glance at Katharine before stepping a few yards away from her path.
“I wouldn’t damage the Vatican if I were you!” House called from another corner of the courtyard. He raised the sword he was carrying to emphasize his words. “Who knows how expensive that wall of the courtyard is!”
Katharine rolled her eyes and focused all of her energy into the arrow, sending it flying directly through the tree and into the courtyard wall, where it buried itself several inches deep into the stone. The camerlengo stepped up to the tree to see the neat hole that she had made, but he couldn’t make one out in its bark.
“It didn’t exactly go through the tree,” Katharine said, walking around to his side and examining it.
“So, you missed,” he said jokingly.
“No…I hit my target. It just had to take a few dimensions to get to the other side of the tree.”
“What she means to say is the arrow left this dimension and traveled through another to end up on this side of the tree,” Indy explained. “That’s how you can control dimension, by stepping through them yourself, altering the one you’re in, or controlling objects’ travels through space and time.”
“I don’t think I can exactly wrap my mind around that quite yet,” the priest sighed. “I’ve read plenty about Giratina, I just don’t know how to use its powers…”
“You should talk to Cyrus. He’s studied the powers of time, space, and dimension extensively,” Indy said before stepping away to speak to House. Katharine studied her father as she readied another arrow to shoot. He was both determined and far away at the same time. She let the arrow fly, hitting her target once again, this time absentmindedly lighting the tree on fire. She didn’t notice the fire until a wave of water crashed into the tree, spraying over her in the process. She spluttered as Ben rushed up.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“Yeah, fine. I just wasn’t paying attention, that’s all…” She winced as her father looked over. “Sorry.” He shook his head as if to say that it was fine before walking out of the courtyard.
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The rest of the week passed by quickly as they performed training session after training session, the camerlengo showing up at all hours when he wasn’t preparing for the conclave. Finally, it was the night before conclave, and the Legendary Team was holding its final meeting.
“We’ll need three of the six powers as security inside…That will be Father, Dr. Jones, and Professor Rowan,” Katharine explained. The rest of you should be at the hotel a few blocks away and will wait until I show up and give you the signal. Don’t make a move beforehand. Dr. House and Riley are going to stay in this room and keep the communications system set up. Any questions?” None were asked. “Good. When the time comes, Dr. Jones and Professor Rowan will be protecting the conclave both from inside the chapel and outside to make sure the cardinals are kept safe. Now, let’s get some sleep.”
The meeting broke up with everyone talking in smaller groups amongst themselves. Katharine noticed her father leaving the room all together, and she waited a few moments before following him.
Instead of heading to his room in the Vatican, he made for the pope’s offices, beside which was a huge metal door that could only be opened from inside the building. She watched him pass through it and waited for a few more minutes before slipping through after him.
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The night was cool and calm as the camerlengo stepped across the secret bridge from the Vatican to the castle-like structure that proved to be an escape route for the pope in times of war and conflict. He stepped into one of its passageways and went up a few stairs before seeing a light up ahead. He stepped into a small, well-lit room with a huge view of the city. Against his will, he was drawn to the huge floor-to-ceiling windows to peer outside at the well-lit city of Rome. If he failed in his mission the next day, would Rome still exist by the end of the week? What about all of the humans in the city? What would be their fate? Would they be wiped out by Hastings’ army or by this new plague sweeping the globe? He didn’t even want to think of the thought of failure and forced himself to look away from the window.
“Good evening, Patrick.”
Reunions with his brother were always painful, partly because he believed Hastings to be as evil as any demon in hell and partly because the scar his brother had left on his arm from their last fight stung every time they were in the same room. He held back any physical signal of pain, refusing to give Hastings’ the satisfaction of seeing him suffer. His brother sat on a simple wooden table a few yards away, his feet dangling over the edge and a stack of books sitting next to him. Out of pure curiosity, the camerlengo glanced over the titles and was not surprised. Mein Kempf. The Communist Manifesto. His brother had always had an affinity for studying dictatorships and the politics that led to them. The bottom book was The Art of War. There was no way to tell which Hastings had been reading before he entered the room. As always, his brother was smiling that demonic smile that was too familiar to the camerlengo.
Pushing aside his uneasiness around his brother, the camerlengo asked, “Why did you want to speak with me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I know that you’re planning to stop me tomorrow.”
“Yes,” he nodded. “We do plan to stop you.”
“You’re going to fail.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you believe God is on your side, Patrick?” He asked, leaning forward.
“Most certainly.” For some reason, the pain in his arm was getting worse. He winced, placing a hand on his shoulder where the scar was. Hastings laughed.
“The one injury of yours that will never heal. Tell me, how bad has it been? How much has it affected your life?”
“Not at all since you left.”
“Really?” Hastings jumped down from the table. “Because the scar you left on me affected everything.”
The camerlengo frowned as his brother advanced toward him a few more steps, a threatening light filling his eyes. “What are you talking about?” He asked.
He laughed. “Oh, I would have much rather retained a physical scar than the mental one you gave me.”
“Are you saying that I caused you to go insane and start trying to destroy the human race?”
“Not at all. I’m saying you actually gave me a conscience to slow me down from destroying the human race.”
“A conscience?”
“Unless you haven’t noticed, I was born without one. However, that fight we had years ago caused me to rethink my actions once or twice, and even slowed me down after they died.”
The camerlengo hesitated. “After who died?”
“A few years ago, I actually had a wife and a kid. A son. However, they were murdered, and I spent years recovering from that incident.”
“You killed them, didn’t you?”
“What makes you say that?”
“I know you.”
Hastings smiled. “Why, yes, I did kill them…but it left me emotionally scarred.”
“You don’t act like it.”
“Think of it this way. A few weeks ago, when I broke into the Vatican and caused Katharine to almost set the Basilica on fire, I originally would have killed her without blinking an eye if my conscience had not intervened. But now…I feel I’m growing soft in sparing her life as long as I can.”
“That’s not a curse, that’s a gift.”
“Really? Not for me.” Hastings frowned. “Come tomorrow, I’m not going to spare anyone. I’m going to ignore whatever voice in my head screams at me to stop.” He stepped even closer, coming up to inches in front of the camerlengo. “And I am going to kill you.”
A small noise made Hastings jump around, placing his hand on the gun behind him. The camerlengo backed away, his eyes on the gun. Normally, Aquapolians hated even touching guns. They themselves were weapons and didn’t need the useless bloodshed human weapons brought about. The only weapons the Aquapolian army used were swords, spears, and bows and arrows. Many would argue that these ancient weapons were useless in modern warfare, but in the hands of the Aquapolians, they were deadly to even the most skilled of gunsman. Though his brother had broken rules on every continent, Hastings’ pride as an Aquapolian, the camerlengo thought, would prevent him from using a firearm.
He doubted that Hastings was going to shoot him. What happened instead shocked him into silence. As quick as an Arbok, Hastings grabbed the gun, spun towards the door, and fired twice. The camerlengo was turned away from the door, but as soon as he heard a body slump to the floor, he spun around, his blood freezing at the sight of Katharine lying on the floor, clutching at her shoulder where blood was pouring onto the carpet. He rushed forward, ignoring the fact that his brother still held a possibly loaded gun.
Although, by just being in the room with him at that time, Katharine was already healing from her wounds, they were so bad, that he was afraid that she would bleed out before his powers got a chance to heal her. The camerlengo grasped her by both shoulders, lifting her to a sitting position, and pressing one hand against her injured shoulder. She cried out in pain, causing a ripple of emotional pain to rip through the camerlengo. He tried to get her to look at him, afraid that she would lose consciousness. For a few moments, her crystal eyes started to close. “Katharine, no! Stay awake!” He shouted, shaking her gently. Her eyes widened again, and she breathed heavily, wincing at the pain as it shot through her shoulder.
As the camerlengo tried desperately to save his daughter from dying right there in the abandoned room, Hastings placed the gun down on the table behind him, shock at his own actions crossing his face for a few moments before it was replaced by a blank look. It was obvious that, if he had known Katharine was the one who had been spying on their conversation, he wouldn’t have shot her.
After a few more minutes, Katharine was breathing regularly, and the blood flow was starting to ease off. Leaning forward, she pressed her face into the camerlengo’s shoulder, wincing in pain as his powers continued to heal her wounds. He turned to glare at Hastings, a hateful glare that was much unlike his nature to give. Hastings shot him a smile back, gathering up his books and gun as if he were about to simply walk out on his brother and niece. Suddenly, he stopped as if he had thought of something.
“You know…it’s a funny thing…Usually, when Aquapolians get married, the bride receives an Aquapolian pendent instead of a ring.” He placed the books back down on the table and fished inside his coat’s pockets. The camerlengo kept his emerald eyes on his brother, making sure that he wasn’t about to attack again. Finally, Hastings found what he was looking for and pulled a simple gold wedding band from his pocket. The camerlengo froze at the sight of it as his brother spoke. “You see, I took this as a souvenir years ago, and I was wondering…of course, I know that priests aren’t supposed to have children, but…you and Caroline were married before you even knew Katharine would be born, weren’t you?” He laughed at the look of horror on the camerlengo’s face. “I’m not going to tell anyone about your not being the saint everyone thinks you are.” He tossed the wedding band onto the floor and stepped to the door to leave.
“You killed her?” The camerlengo snapped.
“How else did I get the ring?” Hastings smiled. “And, come tomorrow, you’ll be dead as well. Only one of us was meant to survive this battle, brother. And I intend to still be alive after the both of you are gone.” With that, he stepped from the room, the camerlengo staring after him.
------------
Katharine and the camerlengo stumbled across to the Vatican, Katharine leaning on her father’s shoulder in order to keep from collapsing herself. He had a stunned look on his face the entire walk over the streets of Rome. She tried to speak several times, but words escaped her. Finally, she whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” He snapped, coming to a stop. “For putting yourself in danger once again? For nearly getting yourself killed before you can stop whatever demon Hastings has raised next to fight? I’ve told you time and time again, don’t leave the Vatican unless I or one of the other members of the Legendary Team is with you!” Her eyes widened at her father’s sudden rage, and he stopped short, seeming to get a grip on his anger. He turned around and placed his hands carefully on her shoulders, speaking in a calmer voice. “I lost your mother too early, Katharine. I’m not going to lose you as well.” With a painful look his eyes, he turned away and started walking back to the Vatican himself. After a few more minutes’ hesitation, Katharine followed him.
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“This is getting more worse by the second,” House muttered the next day. He was situated in front of Riley’s screen, looking at the number of deaths worldwide. They were now in the millions. “I’ve called over to Ever Grande. They’re ready to ship the stuff all over, but the Aquapolian airports are closed due to bomb threats.”
“Who threatens Aquapolian planes with bombs?” Riley asked, surprised. “Usually, we never have bomb threats in Aquapolis.”
“Obviously, the Shadow Forces want to make sure Ever Grande doesn’t come to the rescue.”
“This is bad.”
House hesitated. “It sure is.”
------------
“How are you doing?”
The camerlengo was surprised by Cardinal Mortarti’s sudden appearance beside him in the Basilica. He paused for a few minutes to gather his thoughts before speaking. “I’ll be better when this is all over.”
“You’re nervous?”
“Sir?”
“You’re nervous about fighting this battle yourself.”
He shook his head. “I have no idea how I’m going to stop Hastings…”
“You are a legendary, Patrick. You were chosen for this role as much as Katharine was chosen for hers. Now…we are to start in a few hours. I suggest you spend the time with your daughter.” He walked away, leaving the camerlengo to his thoughts.
------------
“I’ll be here in the Vatican until Hastings or his Shadow Followers arrive. Then, I’ll run to get the others at the hotel and come back…But I still don’t see why they can’t all stay in the Vatican,” Katharine said, shaking her head.
“It’s best to have us spread out when the time comes to defend the city,” the camerlengo replied. He paused before asking, “Katharine…are you at all scared that you won’t come out of this alive?”
Katharine looked at him oddly. “No. For some reason, I’m not. A…are you?”
“I’m not scared for myself…I’m scared for you.”
“You don’t think I’m going to survive this fight?”
“I’m not sure, Katharine…”
She sighed, pushing down the tide of uncertainty that threatened to overtake her. Her father and reiterated the fact over the past few days that he would be the one to take on Hastings by himself. He was so sure that his brother had recruited another demon to attack the Vatican that he refused Katharine’s offerings of help to guard the Sistine Chapel. And even then, he was extremely nervous about letting her fight another demon on her own, especially after what had happened when Ojinan attacked the Vatican. She had nearly died once in battle, and it was obvious that he couldn’t stand the thought of her facing death a second time.
“I’m going to go and start my walk-through of the Vatican,” she said, stepping quickly toward the door. She needed to get away from all of the tension forming between her and her father and focus on the task at hand. “I’ll have Cyrus and House with me on the first rotation.”
The camerlengo sprang out of his seat before she could even pull the door open. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her tightly as if it were the last time they would see each other. All of her wishes for a peaceful future where their lives would go back to normal seemed so distant to Katharine. One or both of them could die in the coming battle. Her heart would break at the news of her father’s death, but she was sure that he would die if he ever lost her. All of the trials with his brother and losing her mother seemed to drive him to hold on to Katharine as a firm rock that would stop him from being twisted by all of the chaos of his past.
“Be careful,” he whispered as he pulled away from her, still gripping her shoulders as he looked into her eyes, begging her silently not to do anything that would cause her to die needlessly. The look on his face nearly brought her to tears. She had to get out of there fast.
“I will…I promise.” Pulling open the huge door, she slipped into the Vatican’s hallways, leaving her father to face his own fate in the Sistine Chapel.
------------
“I don’t understand why I have to be pulled away from such an important job as observing an epidemic,” House complained as he, Katharine, and Cyrus stepped through each of the Vatican’s many corridors to make sure that no Shadow Followers had been placed inside the church ahead of the attack. House had complained from the moment Cyrus and Katharine had shown up in the Legendary Team’s meeting room.
“This is just as important, House,” Cyrus said, nodding to a Swiss Guard who passed by them walking in the opposite direction. “The outcome of this battle determines whether the human race survives the epidemic.”
“No, the outcome of getting the vaccines out of Aquapolis determines whether the human race survives the epidemic.”
“Do you guys know where you’re supposed to be stationed?” Katharine interrupted.
“Rowan and I are to be near the Sistine Chapel. Rowan inside and me outside,” Cyrus replied.
“Okay…” Katharine paused. “How about you, House?”
“I’ll be in the meeting room with Riley, keeping watch over the epidemic and holding down the fort in the archives.” House recited, spinning his cane around in his hands, nearly smacking Cyrus in the face. The physicist cast an annoyed glance at the doctor, who didn’t seem to notice what had just occurred. The next time his cane swung around, Cyrus snatched it out of his hand and swung it playfully at his head. Surprisingly fast, House dodged the attack and snatched his cane back in the process. Not a word passed between the two during this exchange, and Katharine laughed at the good-natured actions of the two Legendary Team members. She had been feeling anxious and nervous all day, but she was quickly cheering up.
------------
Night seemed to fall quickly on Rome that day, spreading shadows in every direction across the paved and stone streets. Tiny flickers of light danced in the Sistine Chapel as the cardinals filed in for the second time in less than a month to elect a new pope. Cardinal Mortarti was the last to enter the chapel, turning to speak to the camerlengo before he stepped inside.
“If it is necessary, please open the doors…”
“One of the Legendary Team members will be inside during conclave.”
Mortarti paused. “Who?”
“Professor David Rowan.”
He nodded. “David will be allowed inside.” He placed a hand on the camerlengo’s shoulder. “God be with you,” he said before stepping inside, Rowan right behind him. Cyrus helped the camerlengo secure the chains around the doors before taking his position in front of them.
“I’m going to make my first round of the Vatican,” the camerlengo said, leaving Cyrus to guard the conclave from outside.
------------
Katharine moved quickly through the Vatican, checking around every corner before slipping into St. Peter’s Square. “Riley, how are things looking on your end?”
“It turns out, the doctors in Aquapolis have been able to ship vaccines out using boats and helicopters.”
“Great,” Katharine breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll check in another twenty minutes.” She hung up the call and skirted around another corner, checking to make sure she didn’t sense any Shadow energy. The square was completely silent. However, to her left, she could pick up faint traces of Shadow energy. She turned her communicator back on as she slipped back into the Vatican. “Shadow Followers are entering from the east side of St. Peter’s Square!” She whispered furiously to all of the channels before turning it off once again.
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As soon as he heard his daughter’s voice across the airwaves, the camerlengo spun around from his path towards the Swiss Guard’s offices in order to head back to the Basilica. Though Cyrus and Rowan were both stationed inside and outside the Sistine Chapel, he wanted to make especially sure that the area was well protected. Three of the six powers would certainly be better than just two, especially since the power he had chosen to take was the most potent.
As he rushed silently through the Vatican’s halls, his mind still struggled to grasp exactly how he was going to take control of and use the power of dimension to his advantage. He had studied Cyrus and Rowan’s powers as well as listened through one of Cyrus’ less complicated lectures on time, space, and dimension to get an idea of what his abilities entailed. Finally, he concluded that his abilities would be in God’s hands, and, when the time came, he would be able to protect the conclave with all of his strength.
A few muffled voices sounded from the chamber to his right, causing him to slip into the shadows nearby to avoid detection. Three Shadow Followers in army camoflauge were forcing two Swiss Guards and one of the Vatican’s lesser priests to their knees, guns pointed at their heads, the candlelight flickering off of their metallic surfaces. The camerlengo took in a sharp breath at the sight, not able to move due to the awfully unbelievable sight that occurred before his eyes over the next few moments.
One of the Shadow Followers, a tall and muscular man in his early thirties, stood in front of the three captives, his right hand wrapped around the trigger of his gun. All the camerlengo could make out of his features was his sandy brown hair and threatening stance.
The Shadow Follower turned to one of the Swiss Guards and raised his gun, firing off a shot without warning. The camerlengo flinched and ducked his head, not daring to raise it until he heard another gunshot. When he looked up again, both the first Swiss Guard and priest were dead. The second Swiss Guard was staring defiantly at the Shadow Follower.
“You are an Italian-Aquapolian,” the Shadow Follower said simply. “You can either join us in our cause or die. Which do you choose?”
The Swiss Guard glared at him. “I will never join you.”
The camerlengo flinched again as a final gun shot rang out. The Shadow Followers left the bodies where they lay while they fanned out to search the area. Hidden within the shadows, the camerlengo backed up and rushed in the opposite direction, rounding another corner and crouching down again to hear the Shadow Followers speak.
“Search for any more inside! Kill the humans and offer the Aquapolians a choice! The Commander is heading toward the chapel now. A few of you go with him to see if he needs any assistance!” Boots sounded on the floors as they rushed off.
“Father!”
A furious whisper from the shadows to his right caused him to jump slightly, startled by Katharine’s sudden appearance. He turned to her. She was gripping her sword tightly in her hands, her eyes filled with worry.
“Go to the hotel and tell the others that the Shadow Forces are here,” he whispered, standing up quietly. “I’ll go to the chapel and stop Hastings.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Be careful.” He nodded back and she rushed away down the halls. He turned in the other direction and silently made his way to the Sistine Chapel.
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Katharine’s boots pounded against the stones of St. Peter’s Square as she hurried to the small hotel nearby. In an instant, she was up the stairs and inside, banging on the Legendary Team’s doors. Nichols was the first to open his.
“They’re inside now, shooting anyone they can find! Be careful and protect the surrounding area to push any back in case they start attacking humans nearby!” She shouted, dashing down the hall and out the door.
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“I’ll take up the eastern side, and you go to the western part,” Langdon said to Ben as they made their way to the Vatican.
“I’ll stay in the square and stop anyone who tries to do anything in the Basilica,” Nichols said.
“Hey, Riley, how are things going?” Ben asked through his communicator.
“They haven’t discovered yet that we’re in the archives!” He shouted back. “I’ll keep you guys posted!”
Ben turned to the others and nodded. “Let’s go.”
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House stood in front of the monitor, his arms folded in front of him. Suddenly, they heard a loud crashing noise. They turned toward the sound.
“Aren’t the power grids down here?” House asked.
“Yes…yes, they are,” Riley said.
House pushed away from the table and sauntered toward the door. Several dark shapes ran past. “They don’t notice we’re in here…” The lights flickered out and the screens went dark. “Looks like they cut the power. Well…” He pushed open the door. “Nothing else left to do than go fix it.”
“Wait!” Riley bolted from his chair. “What are you doing? We don’t stand a chance against a band of Shadow Followers.”
“We also don’t stand a chance just sitting around here. Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I left it in my other set of clothes, sorry.”
House rolled his eyes and stepped from the room, Riley following him.
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St. Peter’s Square was eerily quiet as Katharine strolled through it alone. She picked up a few bits of Shadow energy nearby, but that wasn’t what haunted her. For some reason, she felt as if someone was watching her every mood. Suddenly, a chill washed through her, and she was convinced someone was standing behind her.
“Hello, Chosen One,” a cold voice spoke.
She turned to see a tall, black-haired young woman step across the stones to stand a few feet in front of her. She shivered at the young woman’s cold gaze. There was no mistaking that she was a demon. The bottom of her black dress seemed to recede into the shadows as if they were one.
“I am Nyx,” she said, smiling a cruel smile. “And this is your last day on Earth.”
19.
“Great! Now let’s try that again!” Langdon shouted to Ben, who stood a few yards away from him in the empty courtyard. A rush of high power water surged toward Langdon, who instantly focused on heating up the air around him. The water crashed into the heat wave and instantly evaporated.
“Impressive!” Nichols called out from the other end of the courtyard, where he and Cyrus were discussing their respective powers and how best to train with them.
“I thought water was supposed to beat fire?” Ben asked, raising his hands in defeat.
“When it comes to the legendaries, nothing is completely set,” Rowan shouted from another corner of the courtyard.
In another part of the huge courtyard, Katharine raised Eric’s bow, focusing on the tree in front of her. “Father, watch out!” She shouted to the camerlengo, who was standing on the other side of the tree speaking to Rowan. He cast a confused glance at Katharine before stepping a few yards away from her path.
“I wouldn’t damage the Vatican if I were you!” House called from another corner of the courtyard. He raised the sword he was carrying to emphasize his words. “Who knows how expensive that wall of the courtyard is!”
Katharine rolled her eyes and focused all of her energy into the arrow, sending it flying directly through the tree and into the courtyard wall, where it buried itself several inches deep into the stone. The camerlengo stepped up to the tree to see the neat hole that she had made, but he couldn’t make one out in its bark.
“It didn’t exactly go through the tree,” Katharine said, walking around to his side and examining it.
“So, you missed,” he said jokingly.
“No…I hit my target. It just had to take a few dimensions to get to the other side of the tree.”
“What she means to say is the arrow left this dimension and traveled through another to end up on this side of the tree,” Indy explained. “That’s how you can control dimension, by stepping through them yourself, altering the one you’re in, or controlling objects’ travels through space and time.”
“I don’t think I can exactly wrap my mind around that quite yet,” the priest sighed. “I’ve read plenty about Giratina, I just don’t know how to use its powers…”
“You should talk to Cyrus. He’s studied the powers of time, space, and dimension extensively,” Indy said before stepping away to speak to House. Katharine studied her father as she readied another arrow to shoot. He was both determined and far away at the same time. She let the arrow fly, hitting her target once again, this time absentmindedly lighting the tree on fire. She didn’t notice the fire until a wave of water crashed into the tree, spraying over her in the process. She spluttered as Ben rushed up.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“Yeah, fine. I just wasn’t paying attention, that’s all…” She winced as her father looked over. “Sorry.” He shook his head as if to say that it was fine before walking out of the courtyard.
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The rest of the week passed by quickly as they performed training session after training session, the camerlengo showing up at all hours when he wasn’t preparing for the conclave. Finally, it was the night before conclave, and the Legendary Team was holding its final meeting.
“We’ll need three of the six powers as security inside…That will be Father, Dr. Jones, and Professor Rowan,” Katharine explained. The rest of you should be at the hotel a few blocks away and will wait until I show up and give you the signal. Don’t make a move beforehand. Dr. House and Riley are going to stay in this room and keep the communications system set up. Any questions?” None were asked. “Good. When the time comes, Dr. Jones and Professor Rowan will be protecting the conclave both from inside the chapel and outside to make sure the cardinals are kept safe. Now, let’s get some sleep.”
The meeting broke up with everyone talking in smaller groups amongst themselves. Katharine noticed her father leaving the room all together, and she waited a few moments before following him.
Instead of heading to his room in the Vatican, he made for the pope’s offices, beside which was a huge metal door that could only be opened from inside the building. She watched him pass through it and waited for a few more minutes before slipping through after him.
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The night was cool and calm as the camerlengo stepped across the secret bridge from the Vatican to the castle-like structure that proved to be an escape route for the pope in times of war and conflict. He stepped into one of its passageways and went up a few stairs before seeing a light up ahead. He stepped into a small, well-lit room with a huge view of the city. Against his will, he was drawn to the huge floor-to-ceiling windows to peer outside at the well-lit city of Rome. If he failed in his mission the next day, would Rome still exist by the end of the week? What about all of the humans in the city? What would be their fate? Would they be wiped out by Hastings’ army or by this new plague sweeping the globe? He didn’t even want to think of the thought of failure and forced himself to look away from the window.
“Good evening, Patrick.”
Reunions with his brother were always painful, partly because he believed Hastings to be as evil as any demon in hell and partly because the scar his brother had left on his arm from their last fight stung every time they were in the same room. He held back any physical signal of pain, refusing to give Hastings’ the satisfaction of seeing him suffer. His brother sat on a simple wooden table a few yards away, his feet dangling over the edge and a stack of books sitting next to him. Out of pure curiosity, the camerlengo glanced over the titles and was not surprised. Mein Kempf. The Communist Manifesto. His brother had always had an affinity for studying dictatorships and the politics that led to them. The bottom book was The Art of War. There was no way to tell which Hastings had been reading before he entered the room. As always, his brother was smiling that demonic smile that was too familiar to the camerlengo.
Pushing aside his uneasiness around his brother, the camerlengo asked, “Why did you want to speak with me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I know that you’re planning to stop me tomorrow.”
“Yes,” he nodded. “We do plan to stop you.”
“You’re going to fail.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Do you believe God is on your side, Patrick?” He asked, leaning forward.
“Most certainly.” For some reason, the pain in his arm was getting worse. He winced, placing a hand on his shoulder where the scar was. Hastings laughed.
“The one injury of yours that will never heal. Tell me, how bad has it been? How much has it affected your life?”
“Not at all since you left.”
“Really?” Hastings jumped down from the table. “Because the scar you left on me affected everything.”
The camerlengo frowned as his brother advanced toward him a few more steps, a threatening light filling his eyes. “What are you talking about?” He asked.
He laughed. “Oh, I would have much rather retained a physical scar than the mental one you gave me.”
“Are you saying that I caused you to go insane and start trying to destroy the human race?”
“Not at all. I’m saying you actually gave me a conscience to slow me down from destroying the human race.”
“A conscience?”
“Unless you haven’t noticed, I was born without one. However, that fight we had years ago caused me to rethink my actions once or twice, and even slowed me down after they died.”
The camerlengo hesitated. “After who died?”
“A few years ago, I actually had a wife and a kid. A son. However, they were murdered, and I spent years recovering from that incident.”
“You killed them, didn’t you?”
“What makes you say that?”
“I know you.”
Hastings smiled. “Why, yes, I did kill them…but it left me emotionally scarred.”
“You don’t act like it.”
“Think of it this way. A few weeks ago, when I broke into the Vatican and caused Katharine to almost set the Basilica on fire, I originally would have killed her without blinking an eye if my conscience had not intervened. But now…I feel I’m growing soft in sparing her life as long as I can.”
“That’s not a curse, that’s a gift.”
“Really? Not for me.” Hastings frowned. “Come tomorrow, I’m not going to spare anyone. I’m going to ignore whatever voice in my head screams at me to stop.” He stepped even closer, coming up to inches in front of the camerlengo. “And I am going to kill you.”
A small noise made Hastings jump around, placing his hand on the gun behind him. The camerlengo backed away, his eyes on the gun. Normally, Aquapolians hated even touching guns. They themselves were weapons and didn’t need the useless bloodshed human weapons brought about. The only weapons the Aquapolian army used were swords, spears, and bows and arrows. Many would argue that these ancient weapons were useless in modern warfare, but in the hands of the Aquapolians, they were deadly to even the most skilled of gunsman. Though his brother had broken rules on every continent, Hastings’ pride as an Aquapolian, the camerlengo thought, would prevent him from using a firearm.
He doubted that Hastings was going to shoot him. What happened instead shocked him into silence. As quick as an Arbok, Hastings grabbed the gun, spun towards the door, and fired twice. The camerlengo was turned away from the door, but as soon as he heard a body slump to the floor, he spun around, his blood freezing at the sight of Katharine lying on the floor, clutching at her shoulder where blood was pouring onto the carpet. He rushed forward, ignoring the fact that his brother still held a possibly loaded gun.
Although, by just being in the room with him at that time, Katharine was already healing from her wounds, they were so bad, that he was afraid that she would bleed out before his powers got a chance to heal her. The camerlengo grasped her by both shoulders, lifting her to a sitting position, and pressing one hand against her injured shoulder. She cried out in pain, causing a ripple of emotional pain to rip through the camerlengo. He tried to get her to look at him, afraid that she would lose consciousness. For a few moments, her crystal eyes started to close. “Katharine, no! Stay awake!” He shouted, shaking her gently. Her eyes widened again, and she breathed heavily, wincing at the pain as it shot through her shoulder.
As the camerlengo tried desperately to save his daughter from dying right there in the abandoned room, Hastings placed the gun down on the table behind him, shock at his own actions crossing his face for a few moments before it was replaced by a blank look. It was obvious that, if he had known Katharine was the one who had been spying on their conversation, he wouldn’t have shot her.
After a few more minutes, Katharine was breathing regularly, and the blood flow was starting to ease off. Leaning forward, she pressed her face into the camerlengo’s shoulder, wincing in pain as his powers continued to heal her wounds. He turned to glare at Hastings, a hateful glare that was much unlike his nature to give. Hastings shot him a smile back, gathering up his books and gun as if he were about to simply walk out on his brother and niece. Suddenly, he stopped as if he had thought of something.
“You know…it’s a funny thing…Usually, when Aquapolians get married, the bride receives an Aquapolian pendent instead of a ring.” He placed the books back down on the table and fished inside his coat’s pockets. The camerlengo kept his emerald eyes on his brother, making sure that he wasn’t about to attack again. Finally, Hastings found what he was looking for and pulled a simple gold wedding band from his pocket. The camerlengo froze at the sight of it as his brother spoke. “You see, I took this as a souvenir years ago, and I was wondering…of course, I know that priests aren’t supposed to have children, but…you and Caroline were married before you even knew Katharine would be born, weren’t you?” He laughed at the look of horror on the camerlengo’s face. “I’m not going to tell anyone about your not being the saint everyone thinks you are.” He tossed the wedding band onto the floor and stepped to the door to leave.
“You killed her?” The camerlengo snapped.
“How else did I get the ring?” Hastings smiled. “And, come tomorrow, you’ll be dead as well. Only one of us was meant to survive this battle, brother. And I intend to still be alive after the both of you are gone.” With that, he stepped from the room, the camerlengo staring after him.
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Katharine and the camerlengo stumbled across to the Vatican, Katharine leaning on her father’s shoulder in order to keep from collapsing herself. He had a stunned look on his face the entire walk over the streets of Rome. She tried to speak several times, but words escaped her. Finally, she whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” He snapped, coming to a stop. “For putting yourself in danger once again? For nearly getting yourself killed before you can stop whatever demon Hastings has raised next to fight? I’ve told you time and time again, don’t leave the Vatican unless I or one of the other members of the Legendary Team is with you!” Her eyes widened at her father’s sudden rage, and he stopped short, seeming to get a grip on his anger. He turned around and placed his hands carefully on her shoulders, speaking in a calmer voice. “I lost your mother too early, Katharine. I’m not going to lose you as well.” With a painful look his eyes, he turned away and started walking back to the Vatican himself. After a few more minutes’ hesitation, Katharine followed him.
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“This is getting more worse by the second,” House muttered the next day. He was situated in front of Riley’s screen, looking at the number of deaths worldwide. They were now in the millions. “I’ve called over to Ever Grande. They’re ready to ship the stuff all over, but the Aquapolian airports are closed due to bomb threats.”
“Who threatens Aquapolian planes with bombs?” Riley asked, surprised. “Usually, we never have bomb threats in Aquapolis.”
“Obviously, the Shadow Forces want to make sure Ever Grande doesn’t come to the rescue.”
“This is bad.”
House hesitated. “It sure is.”
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“How are you doing?”
The camerlengo was surprised by Cardinal Mortarti’s sudden appearance beside him in the Basilica. He paused for a few minutes to gather his thoughts before speaking. “I’ll be better when this is all over.”
“You’re nervous?”
“Sir?”
“You’re nervous about fighting this battle yourself.”
He shook his head. “I have no idea how I’m going to stop Hastings…”
“You are a legendary, Patrick. You were chosen for this role as much as Katharine was chosen for hers. Now…we are to start in a few hours. I suggest you spend the time with your daughter.” He walked away, leaving the camerlengo to his thoughts.
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“I’ll be here in the Vatican until Hastings or his Shadow Followers arrive. Then, I’ll run to get the others at the hotel and come back…But I still don’t see why they can’t all stay in the Vatican,” Katharine said, shaking her head.
“It’s best to have us spread out when the time comes to defend the city,” the camerlengo replied. He paused before asking, “Katharine…are you at all scared that you won’t come out of this alive?”
Katharine looked at him oddly. “No. For some reason, I’m not. A…are you?”
“I’m not scared for myself…I’m scared for you.”
“You don’t think I’m going to survive this fight?”
“I’m not sure, Katharine…”
She sighed, pushing down the tide of uncertainty that threatened to overtake her. Her father and reiterated the fact over the past few days that he would be the one to take on Hastings by himself. He was so sure that his brother had recruited another demon to attack the Vatican that he refused Katharine’s offerings of help to guard the Sistine Chapel. And even then, he was extremely nervous about letting her fight another demon on her own, especially after what had happened when Ojinan attacked the Vatican. She had nearly died once in battle, and it was obvious that he couldn’t stand the thought of her facing death a second time.
“I’m going to go and start my walk-through of the Vatican,” she said, stepping quickly toward the door. She needed to get away from all of the tension forming between her and her father and focus on the task at hand. “I’ll have Cyrus and House with me on the first rotation.”
The camerlengo sprang out of his seat before she could even pull the door open. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her tightly as if it were the last time they would see each other. All of her wishes for a peaceful future where their lives would go back to normal seemed so distant to Katharine. One or both of them could die in the coming battle. Her heart would break at the news of her father’s death, but she was sure that he would die if he ever lost her. All of the trials with his brother and losing her mother seemed to drive him to hold on to Katharine as a firm rock that would stop him from being twisted by all of the chaos of his past.
“Be careful,” he whispered as he pulled away from her, still gripping her shoulders as he looked into her eyes, begging her silently not to do anything that would cause her to die needlessly. The look on his face nearly brought her to tears. She had to get out of there fast.
“I will…I promise.” Pulling open the huge door, she slipped into the Vatican’s hallways, leaving her father to face his own fate in the Sistine Chapel.
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“I don’t understand why I have to be pulled away from such an important job as observing an epidemic,” House complained as he, Katharine, and Cyrus stepped through each of the Vatican’s many corridors to make sure that no Shadow Followers had been placed inside the church ahead of the attack. House had complained from the moment Cyrus and Katharine had shown up in the Legendary Team’s meeting room.
“This is just as important, House,” Cyrus said, nodding to a Swiss Guard who passed by them walking in the opposite direction. “The outcome of this battle determines whether the human race survives the epidemic.”
“No, the outcome of getting the vaccines out of Aquapolis determines whether the human race survives the epidemic.”
“Do you guys know where you’re supposed to be stationed?” Katharine interrupted.
“Rowan and I are to be near the Sistine Chapel. Rowan inside and me outside,” Cyrus replied.
“Okay…” Katharine paused. “How about you, House?”
“I’ll be in the meeting room with Riley, keeping watch over the epidemic and holding down the fort in the archives.” House recited, spinning his cane around in his hands, nearly smacking Cyrus in the face. The physicist cast an annoyed glance at the doctor, who didn’t seem to notice what had just occurred. The next time his cane swung around, Cyrus snatched it out of his hand and swung it playfully at his head. Surprisingly fast, House dodged the attack and snatched his cane back in the process. Not a word passed between the two during this exchange, and Katharine laughed at the good-natured actions of the two Legendary Team members. She had been feeling anxious and nervous all day, but she was quickly cheering up.
------------
Night seemed to fall quickly on Rome that day, spreading shadows in every direction across the paved and stone streets. Tiny flickers of light danced in the Sistine Chapel as the cardinals filed in for the second time in less than a month to elect a new pope. Cardinal Mortarti was the last to enter the chapel, turning to speak to the camerlengo before he stepped inside.
“If it is necessary, please open the doors…”
“One of the Legendary Team members will be inside during conclave.”
Mortarti paused. “Who?”
“Professor David Rowan.”
He nodded. “David will be allowed inside.” He placed a hand on the camerlengo’s shoulder. “God be with you,” he said before stepping inside, Rowan right behind him. Cyrus helped the camerlengo secure the chains around the doors before taking his position in front of them.
“I’m going to make my first round of the Vatican,” the camerlengo said, leaving Cyrus to guard the conclave from outside.
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Katharine moved quickly through the Vatican, checking around every corner before slipping into St. Peter’s Square. “Riley, how are things looking on your end?”
“It turns out, the doctors in Aquapolis have been able to ship vaccines out using boats and helicopters.”
“Great,” Katharine breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll check in another twenty minutes.” She hung up the call and skirted around another corner, checking to make sure she didn’t sense any Shadow energy. The square was completely silent. However, to her left, she could pick up faint traces of Shadow energy. She turned her communicator back on as she slipped back into the Vatican. “Shadow Followers are entering from the east side of St. Peter’s Square!” She whispered furiously to all of the channels before turning it off once again.
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As soon as he heard his daughter’s voice across the airwaves, the camerlengo spun around from his path towards the Swiss Guard’s offices in order to head back to the Basilica. Though Cyrus and Rowan were both stationed inside and outside the Sistine Chapel, he wanted to make especially sure that the area was well protected. Three of the six powers would certainly be better than just two, especially since the power he had chosen to take was the most potent.
As he rushed silently through the Vatican’s halls, his mind still struggled to grasp exactly how he was going to take control of and use the power of dimension to his advantage. He had studied Cyrus and Rowan’s powers as well as listened through one of Cyrus’ less complicated lectures on time, space, and dimension to get an idea of what his abilities entailed. Finally, he concluded that his abilities would be in God’s hands, and, when the time came, he would be able to protect the conclave with all of his strength.
A few muffled voices sounded from the chamber to his right, causing him to slip into the shadows nearby to avoid detection. Three Shadow Followers in army camoflauge were forcing two Swiss Guards and one of the Vatican’s lesser priests to their knees, guns pointed at their heads, the candlelight flickering off of their metallic surfaces. The camerlengo took in a sharp breath at the sight, not able to move due to the awfully unbelievable sight that occurred before his eyes over the next few moments.
One of the Shadow Followers, a tall and muscular man in his early thirties, stood in front of the three captives, his right hand wrapped around the trigger of his gun. All the camerlengo could make out of his features was his sandy brown hair and threatening stance.
The Shadow Follower turned to one of the Swiss Guards and raised his gun, firing off a shot without warning. The camerlengo flinched and ducked his head, not daring to raise it until he heard another gunshot. When he looked up again, both the first Swiss Guard and priest were dead. The second Swiss Guard was staring defiantly at the Shadow Follower.
“You are an Italian-Aquapolian,” the Shadow Follower said simply. “You can either join us in our cause or die. Which do you choose?”
The Swiss Guard glared at him. “I will never join you.”
The camerlengo flinched again as a final gun shot rang out. The Shadow Followers left the bodies where they lay while they fanned out to search the area. Hidden within the shadows, the camerlengo backed up and rushed in the opposite direction, rounding another corner and crouching down again to hear the Shadow Followers speak.
“Search for any more inside! Kill the humans and offer the Aquapolians a choice! The Commander is heading toward the chapel now. A few of you go with him to see if he needs any assistance!” Boots sounded on the floors as they rushed off.
“Father!”
A furious whisper from the shadows to his right caused him to jump slightly, startled by Katharine’s sudden appearance. He turned to her. She was gripping her sword tightly in her hands, her eyes filled with worry.
“Go to the hotel and tell the others that the Shadow Forces are here,” he whispered, standing up quietly. “I’ll go to the chapel and stop Hastings.”
“Okay,” she nodded. “Be careful.” He nodded back and she rushed away down the halls. He turned in the other direction and silently made his way to the Sistine Chapel.
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Katharine’s boots pounded against the stones of St. Peter’s Square as she hurried to the small hotel nearby. In an instant, she was up the stairs and inside, banging on the Legendary Team’s doors. Nichols was the first to open his.
“They’re inside now, shooting anyone they can find! Be careful and protect the surrounding area to push any back in case they start attacking humans nearby!” She shouted, dashing down the hall and out the door.
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“I’ll take up the eastern side, and you go to the western part,” Langdon said to Ben as they made their way to the Vatican.
“I’ll stay in the square and stop anyone who tries to do anything in the Basilica,” Nichols said.
“Hey, Riley, how are things going?” Ben asked through his communicator.
“They haven’t discovered yet that we’re in the archives!” He shouted back. “I’ll keep you guys posted!”
Ben turned to the others and nodded. “Let’s go.”
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House stood in front of the monitor, his arms folded in front of him. Suddenly, they heard a loud crashing noise. They turned toward the sound.
“Aren’t the power grids down here?” House asked.
“Yes…yes, they are,” Riley said.
House pushed away from the table and sauntered toward the door. Several dark shapes ran past. “They don’t notice we’re in here…” The lights flickered out and the screens went dark. “Looks like they cut the power. Well…” He pushed open the door. “Nothing else left to do than go fix it.”
“Wait!” Riley bolted from his chair. “What are you doing? We don’t stand a chance against a band of Shadow Followers.”
“We also don’t stand a chance just sitting around here. Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I left it in my other set of clothes, sorry.”
House rolled his eyes and stepped from the room, Riley following him.
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St. Peter’s Square was eerily quiet as Katharine strolled through it alone. She picked up a few bits of Shadow energy nearby, but that wasn’t what haunted her. For some reason, she felt as if someone was watching her every mood. Suddenly, a chill washed through her, and she was convinced someone was standing behind her.
“Hello, Chosen One,” a cold voice spoke.
She turned to see a tall, black-haired young woman step across the stones to stand a few feet in front of her. She shivered at the young woman’s cold gaze. There was no mistaking that she was a demon. The bottom of her black dress seemed to recede into the shadows as if they were one.
“I am Nyx,” she said, smiling a cruel smile. “And this is your last day on Earth.”
I recently (yesterday) stumbled upon this story, and am proud to say I've made it this far.
This a a piece of art, I love the way you created this world, partly our own, and part another. Your writing is brilliant, the way things flow is magnificent!
The incorporation of other characters from all sorts of areas in fiction is impeccably done, from House, to Ben, to Nichols and the rest. They all get the spotlight at some point.
Thank you, for this wonderful, amazing story up to this point.
This a a piece of art, I love the way you created this world, partly our own, and part another. Your writing is brilliant, the way things flow is magnificent!
The incorporation of other characters from all sorts of areas in fiction is impeccably done, from House, to Ben, to Nichols and the rest. They all get the spotlight at some point.
Thank you, for this wonderful, amazing story up to this point.
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
Oh, wow, thank you so much! I know that was a lot to read, but I'm glad you made it all the way through! These fictional characters I've borrowed from other places are all characters I've enjoyed watching in movies and on TV for years, so I always enjoy writing about them and setting them in situations they would have never incountered in their respective original stories! Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you look forward to the end! It's coming in about around 5-7 chapters or so...I think.
Speaking of chapters...IDK when the next one will be up. I'm 2 pages in, but, depending on whether I continue writing this week or next, that means I'm either 1/3 done or 1/6 done. XD I'll keep you posted.
harryheart
Well-Known Member
Chapter 19:
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome! Unbeleivably brilliant! I again loved the distinction between description and speech, I feel that you're really coming on with the description and it's adding more and more to the story! I also love the interactions between characters more, because they're defined more by your newish style of writing and by the additional tad bits of description and it just helps understand the connections better. The plot is, as always, superb and entertaining and gripping! I was hooked every bit of that! You use a great variety of tension mixed with scene jumping which just adds a whole lots of 'drama' and 'fear' to the story and it's a very clever way of doing it! It keeps you on your tose and it also feels like you're there watching it happen as small bits happen to Katharine and then small bits to House and then more jumping and it is relaly suspensful and exciting! Excellent work there! I look forward to seeing the final battle now! I have no idea how this is going to end because you've kept it so unpredicatable! Well done!
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome! Unbeleivably brilliant! I again loved the distinction between description and speech, I feel that you're really coming on with the description and it's adding more and more to the story! I also love the interactions between characters more, because they're defined more by your newish style of writing and by the additional tad bits of description and it just helps understand the connections better. The plot is, as always, superb and entertaining and gripping! I was hooked every bit of that! You use a great variety of tension mixed with scene jumping which just adds a whole lots of 'drama' and 'fear' to the story and it's a very clever way of doing it! It keeps you on your tose and it also feels like you're there watching it happen as small bits happen to Katharine and then small bits to House and then more jumping and it is relaly suspensful and exciting! Excellent work there! I look forward to seeing the final battle now! I have no idea how this is going to end because you've kept it so unpredicatable! Well done!
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
Why, thank you! The next chapter will most likely be purely scene jumps like this because of the way the final battle plays out.
IDK when the next chapter will be up. I'm four pages in, but I start school on Monday, so it could be a while before we actually get to see the final battle.
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
So, this is one of the first real chapters of the final battle!
20.
Approaching the Sistine Chapel at a fast pace, the camerlengo ran into Cyrus first, who was standing guard a few yards away from the entrance. “Go and find as many of the priests and guards you can…I’ll take care of the chapel.”
Cyrus’ eyebrows shot up. “By yourself?”
“I’ll be facing Hastings alone. He won’t do anything to the conclave until I’m dead.”
Cyrus nodded and hurried away into the dark passages of the Vatican. The camerlengo turned to the chains around the doors, gripping them tightly. He didn’t have the key with him. He didn’t need one. A few moments later, they fell to the floor, the metal disintegrated in several places. He pushed open the doors and stepped inside.
“What’s wrong?” Rowan asked in a low voice as soon as he was inside the doors.
“They’re inside the Vatican. Help Cyrus evacuate every one else. I’ll protect the conclave.”
“Okay,” Rowan replied, hurrying off. The camerlengo turned to the conclave, which had quieted as soon as he stepped foot inside.
“Patrick? Is something wrong?” Mortarti asked from his seat in the back of the chapel. In front of him, leaning against the simple wooden altar, was Katharine’s sword.
“They’re inside the Vatican.”
“Who’s inside?” Asked an American cardinal, confusion written on his face.
“The Shadow Forces.”
A loud murmur arose from the conclave. Mortarti leaned back, nodding to the camerlengo.
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“It’s this way,” Riley said, taking a right after he and House had taken a few steps away from the Legendary Team’s meeting room. They scurried off in that direction, placing a hand up against the steel doors to the control room.
“They must be inside…” House muttered.
“There’s a code required to get inside…and I don’t know it off the top of my head,” Riley said.
“We don’t have time for you to hack into the system!”
“Fine, we’ll fry it, then!” Riley shouted back, placing a hand on the keypad. Electricity surged through the machinery, opening the door just enough for them to step through. “In case the power goes out, there’s a mechanical lock…I guess I pulled it open enough…”
“No time to go over that!” House shouted, spinning around to confront a Shadow Follower who had appeared behind him. He sent her reeling with a psychic blast while another Shadow Follower appeared behind Riley, grabbing his arm. Electricity surged through her as well, downing her completely.
“Very good.”
House and Riley looked up to see a woman with blonde hair that was almost white and black eyes. She smiled, stepping forward. “Is this really the best that the Legendary Team has to offer?”
“Looks can be deceiving, Janice,” House shot back. “A nerd and a cripple just took down your hench…women. If I were you, I would be afraid for what we’d do to you.”
She smirked. “Fine. Bring it.”
“You go and fix the power. I’ll deal with her,” House said to Riley, who scampered off into the shadows.
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Katharine backed away further from Nyx, her had grasping the hilt of the sword strapped across her back. “I think this is YOUR last day on Earth.”
“You’re quite young and inexperienced to stand up to me.”
“I defeated Ojinan. He was older and probably more powerful than you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Ojinan wasn’t even a major part of the Demon Council. I am second-in-command.”
“And I’m the Chosen One, supposed head of the Angel Council. You want to compare immortal jobs?”
Nyx sneered. “You have no chance in hell to defeat me.”
“Sorry to break it to you, but we’re on God’s turf right now,” Katharine shot back, pulling her sword from behind her back and whipping around to attack Nyx.
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The camerlengo had shut the chapel’s doors behind him tight, looping the chain around the inside. However, he could hear the chains crack again, and he turned around a few moments before they fell to the marble floor with a clang. The doors slowly creaked open, drawing a dark path across the floor as Shadow energy creeped through and ate the chains, dissolving the metal completely.
He could feel every cardinal in the room shrink back in terror of who or what may stroll through those formidable doors, and whether or not it would start on a rampage or speak first. Only Mortarti seemed less fazed than the others, but, nonetheless, terror still gripped him. He, as an Aquapolian, knew full well the powers and destructiveness of the Shadow Commander.
Boots sounded against the marble floors, each step resounding in the camerlengo’s ears. Each step was a moment closer to the moment he knew would come…the moment when he would have to shift from being a priest of God to a warrior of God. It chilled him to think that his destructive brother was about to walk through those doors and that he was the only one who could stop him from destroying them all.
After what seemed like an eternity, Shadow Commander Hastings McKenna stepped through the wide and imposing doors. He stood tall and menacing, dressed in a floor-length black coat and boots. Their silver buckles reflected the candlelight and the golden fixtures around the room, finally bouncing off of Katharine’s sword.
The worst part of his brother’s appearance was the huge smile spread across his face. It seemed as if Hastings had already declared victory, seeing that the camerlengo was the only one standing in between him and total world domination. The battle had already been chalked up in his mind to the forces of darkness, the Shadow Forces, and the Demon Council.
Rather than allow his silent gloating to unnerve the older cardinals even more, the camerlengo stepped forward to address him, knowing that the attention was all he wanted in the first place. Taking a few steps forward until he was close enough to speak to his brother without the cardinals hearing, he finally demanded, “Leave the church.” He paused, seeing a small flicker of disbelief in his brother’s eyes before he continued. “Leave NOW.”
Hastings’ smile grew bigger, and he stepped back, laughing as if this were the funniest situation in the world. “I’m…not going to give up…when I’m so close to getting what I wanted, Patrick,” he stuttered, gasping for air. He stepped around the camerlengo quickly, catching him off guard at his brother’s lightning fast movements. The cardinals shrank back further as he stepped into the middle of the room.
“I’ve already chosen your new pope!” He announced, swinging around to fix them all with his cruel eyes. “He’s right here!” Hastings pointed to the camerlengo, who stared at him in horror as he stepped forward. “From this day on, Aquapolians will lead this church!”
“LEAVE THIS CHURCH NOW!”
Hastings spun around to face his brother. The camerlengo’s face was red with rage as he snatched Katharine’s sword from the altar and stepped toward his brother until they were face-to-face.
“Are you really going to protect all of these people by yourself?” Hastings asked.
“Yes…yes, I am.”
Hastings’ smile widened. “Good. Let’s choose a more suitable place for battle, shall we?”
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Riley sprinted down the corridors toward the electric grid, placing his hands against the electric boxes to see if he could start them up with his power alone. He succeeded in jumpstarting the system for a few minutes while he worked on manually fixing it.
Meanwhile, House had to deal with an onslaught from Janice, who flipped around to slam into the older American-Aquapolian with force. However, despite appearences, he was faster, knocking her unconscious with his cane as Riley ran up. Riley stared at Janice for a few moments before staring at House.
“Don’t mess with the Legendary Team,” House simply said before turning to leave the room.
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Katharine lunged at Nyx, her sword swiping past the demon’s ear by inches. Luckily, Nyx dropped out of the way in time to withdraw her own sword from its sheath, blocking another of Katharine’s lightning-fast blows and kicking the angel backwards. Katharine coughed a few moments before swinging around to slash across Nyx’s face. The demon didn’t lose a step, lunging forward as blood dripped down her face to try and spear Katharine, who spun out of the way in time.
“Don’t try to push off the inevitable, Chosen One!” Nyx spat. The wound on her cheek had already healed. For immortals, such wounds didn’t last for more than a few minutes. To destroy an immortal, you needed to give a wound that was more than fatal to a mortal. An overkill, if you will. Katharine spun around, gaining time to think over her next few attacks. To kill Nyx, she could drive her sword through the demon’s heart and send light energy surging through it. She could also behead the demon, which she didn’t want to do. Katharine would never kill an enemy in such a gory way. She could also vaporize Nyx. She would need the power of a few more legendaries to do that, though.
As she dodged another artful swing by Nyx, her mind found an idea. If only she could send a signal out to one of the other six Aquapolians who were borrowing the six powers. Perhaps, while she attempted such a feet, one of the real legendaries would show up.
Sliding under another swing from Nyx, she sweeped around to try and deliver a nasty kick to the demon’s face in order to buy her mind some time. She narrowly grazed her cheek as Nyx bent backwards in a Matrix-like dodge to avoid her. Of course, Katharine also needed to look out so that she wasn’t destroyed in the three ways she had thought of before.
Hopefully, her father was faring better against the Shadow Commander.
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They didn’t go too far to choose a place for battle. The inside of the Basilica was huge, enough for dozens of legendary battles to take place. As the camerlengo followed his brother to the very center of the Basilica, he couldn’t stop shaking. He wasn’t afraid of being killed by Hastings at all. If that was what it took to save the church, then so be it. He was afraid of not being able to stop his brother from mass murdering the entire human population. If he failed in this battle, who was to stop Hastings while Katharine was involved in her own immortal battle with a pure demon? The others who had taken on the six powers could probably gang up on him, but, by that time, he could have easily taken the conclave hostage.
Gripping Katharine’s sword tightly in his bare hands, he tried to imagine the thoughts that had gone through his daughter’s head when the demon Ojinan appeared to destroy the church. No matter how evil Hastings was, he hadn’t lived as a demon for thousands of years.
“This…” Hastings paused, motioning to the Basilica. “Will be our place of battle.” He looked around for a time, his eyes lighting on the burnt seven-pointed star on the floor. “Weren’t able to get this off, were you?” He laughed. “You know, it’s too bad that we couldn’t get the Chosen One on our side. It would have been so perfect…”
“She would have never willingly followed you.”
“Of course not. You taught her too well for her to do anything of the sort,” Hastings sneered. “Would you give up the church for her?”
“If that was God’s will…”
“What if it wasn’t?”
“Then, no.”
“I think you would.”
The camerlegno glared at his brother. This was just to get him angry. “If I don’t survive this battle, she will destroy you.”
“We’ll see if she can get past Nyx first.”
The camerlengo lunged forward, instantly blocked by Hastings’ sword. The Shadow Commander pushed him back a few feet, grinning fiercely. Before he could counterattack, a wave of energy slammed into him, and he fell back, stunned. The camerlengo waited for him to get to his feet, interest sparking in his dark eyes.
“So you borrowed the power of dimension for a time?” He laughed. “That’s not going to do you any good against me.” He lunged forward, fast enough to strike before the camerlengo could put up a defense. The sword sliced slightly across his cheek, a wound that healed almost instantly.
“Your healing powers won’t save you here!” Hastings shouted, a blast of energy rushing past the camerlengo as he spun around and slammed into the Shadow Commander, trying to rip the sword from his hands. At the same time, his sword hand came around an inadvertendly buried the sword into the marble wall behind Hastings.
------------
“Spread out and take as many Shadow Followers as you can!” Rowan shouted to the Legendary Team members as they rushed forward toward the tide of Shadow Followers that were invading the Vatican. He could already see signs of raging fire and ice cold water slamming into the Followers as they met the first onslaught of attacks from Langdon and Ben. Gusts of cutting wind followed as Nichols took out the ones who made it through.
Meanwhile, Cyrus and Rowan were trying desperately to come up with the perfect offensive combination of their powers. A Shadow Follower caught Cyrus off guard, slamming him into the floor and nearly impaling him with his sword before Cyrus stopped him mid-attack. The Shadow Follower stayed frozen in time as Cyrus tried to think of a way to stop the rest of the wave.
20.
Approaching the Sistine Chapel at a fast pace, the camerlengo ran into Cyrus first, who was standing guard a few yards away from the entrance. “Go and find as many of the priests and guards you can…I’ll take care of the chapel.”
Cyrus’ eyebrows shot up. “By yourself?”
“I’ll be facing Hastings alone. He won’t do anything to the conclave until I’m dead.”
Cyrus nodded and hurried away into the dark passages of the Vatican. The camerlengo turned to the chains around the doors, gripping them tightly. He didn’t have the key with him. He didn’t need one. A few moments later, they fell to the floor, the metal disintegrated in several places. He pushed open the doors and stepped inside.
“What’s wrong?” Rowan asked in a low voice as soon as he was inside the doors.
“They’re inside the Vatican. Help Cyrus evacuate every one else. I’ll protect the conclave.”
“Okay,” Rowan replied, hurrying off. The camerlengo turned to the conclave, which had quieted as soon as he stepped foot inside.
“Patrick? Is something wrong?” Mortarti asked from his seat in the back of the chapel. In front of him, leaning against the simple wooden altar, was Katharine’s sword.
“They’re inside the Vatican.”
“Who’s inside?” Asked an American cardinal, confusion written on his face.
“The Shadow Forces.”
A loud murmur arose from the conclave. Mortarti leaned back, nodding to the camerlengo.
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“It’s this way,” Riley said, taking a right after he and House had taken a few steps away from the Legendary Team’s meeting room. They scurried off in that direction, placing a hand up against the steel doors to the control room.
“They must be inside…” House muttered.
“There’s a code required to get inside…and I don’t know it off the top of my head,” Riley said.
“We don’t have time for you to hack into the system!”
“Fine, we’ll fry it, then!” Riley shouted back, placing a hand on the keypad. Electricity surged through the machinery, opening the door just enough for them to step through. “In case the power goes out, there’s a mechanical lock…I guess I pulled it open enough…”
“No time to go over that!” House shouted, spinning around to confront a Shadow Follower who had appeared behind him. He sent her reeling with a psychic blast while another Shadow Follower appeared behind Riley, grabbing his arm. Electricity surged through her as well, downing her completely.
“Very good.”
House and Riley looked up to see a woman with blonde hair that was almost white and black eyes. She smiled, stepping forward. “Is this really the best that the Legendary Team has to offer?”
“Looks can be deceiving, Janice,” House shot back. “A nerd and a cripple just took down your hench…women. If I were you, I would be afraid for what we’d do to you.”
She smirked. “Fine. Bring it.”
“You go and fix the power. I’ll deal with her,” House said to Riley, who scampered off into the shadows.
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Katharine backed away further from Nyx, her had grasping the hilt of the sword strapped across her back. “I think this is YOUR last day on Earth.”
“You’re quite young and inexperienced to stand up to me.”
“I defeated Ojinan. He was older and probably more powerful than you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Ojinan wasn’t even a major part of the Demon Council. I am second-in-command.”
“And I’m the Chosen One, supposed head of the Angel Council. You want to compare immortal jobs?”
Nyx sneered. “You have no chance in hell to defeat me.”
“Sorry to break it to you, but we’re on God’s turf right now,” Katharine shot back, pulling her sword from behind her back and whipping around to attack Nyx.
------------
The camerlengo had shut the chapel’s doors behind him tight, looping the chain around the inside. However, he could hear the chains crack again, and he turned around a few moments before they fell to the marble floor with a clang. The doors slowly creaked open, drawing a dark path across the floor as Shadow energy creeped through and ate the chains, dissolving the metal completely.
He could feel every cardinal in the room shrink back in terror of who or what may stroll through those formidable doors, and whether or not it would start on a rampage or speak first. Only Mortarti seemed less fazed than the others, but, nonetheless, terror still gripped him. He, as an Aquapolian, knew full well the powers and destructiveness of the Shadow Commander.
Boots sounded against the marble floors, each step resounding in the camerlengo’s ears. Each step was a moment closer to the moment he knew would come…the moment when he would have to shift from being a priest of God to a warrior of God. It chilled him to think that his destructive brother was about to walk through those doors and that he was the only one who could stop him from destroying them all.
After what seemed like an eternity, Shadow Commander Hastings McKenna stepped through the wide and imposing doors. He stood tall and menacing, dressed in a floor-length black coat and boots. Their silver buckles reflected the candlelight and the golden fixtures around the room, finally bouncing off of Katharine’s sword.
The worst part of his brother’s appearance was the huge smile spread across his face. It seemed as if Hastings had already declared victory, seeing that the camerlengo was the only one standing in between him and total world domination. The battle had already been chalked up in his mind to the forces of darkness, the Shadow Forces, and the Demon Council.
Rather than allow his silent gloating to unnerve the older cardinals even more, the camerlengo stepped forward to address him, knowing that the attention was all he wanted in the first place. Taking a few steps forward until he was close enough to speak to his brother without the cardinals hearing, he finally demanded, “Leave the church.” He paused, seeing a small flicker of disbelief in his brother’s eyes before he continued. “Leave NOW.”
Hastings’ smile grew bigger, and he stepped back, laughing as if this were the funniest situation in the world. “I’m…not going to give up…when I’m so close to getting what I wanted, Patrick,” he stuttered, gasping for air. He stepped around the camerlengo quickly, catching him off guard at his brother’s lightning fast movements. The cardinals shrank back further as he stepped into the middle of the room.
“I’ve already chosen your new pope!” He announced, swinging around to fix them all with his cruel eyes. “He’s right here!” Hastings pointed to the camerlengo, who stared at him in horror as he stepped forward. “From this day on, Aquapolians will lead this church!”
“LEAVE THIS CHURCH NOW!”
Hastings spun around to face his brother. The camerlengo’s face was red with rage as he snatched Katharine’s sword from the altar and stepped toward his brother until they were face-to-face.
“Are you really going to protect all of these people by yourself?” Hastings asked.
“Yes…yes, I am.”
Hastings’ smile widened. “Good. Let’s choose a more suitable place for battle, shall we?”
------------
Riley sprinted down the corridors toward the electric grid, placing his hands against the electric boxes to see if he could start them up with his power alone. He succeeded in jumpstarting the system for a few minutes while he worked on manually fixing it.
Meanwhile, House had to deal with an onslaught from Janice, who flipped around to slam into the older American-Aquapolian with force. However, despite appearences, he was faster, knocking her unconscious with his cane as Riley ran up. Riley stared at Janice for a few moments before staring at House.
“Don’t mess with the Legendary Team,” House simply said before turning to leave the room.
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Katharine lunged at Nyx, her sword swiping past the demon’s ear by inches. Luckily, Nyx dropped out of the way in time to withdraw her own sword from its sheath, blocking another of Katharine’s lightning-fast blows and kicking the angel backwards. Katharine coughed a few moments before swinging around to slash across Nyx’s face. The demon didn’t lose a step, lunging forward as blood dripped down her face to try and spear Katharine, who spun out of the way in time.
“Don’t try to push off the inevitable, Chosen One!” Nyx spat. The wound on her cheek had already healed. For immortals, such wounds didn’t last for more than a few minutes. To destroy an immortal, you needed to give a wound that was more than fatal to a mortal. An overkill, if you will. Katharine spun around, gaining time to think over her next few attacks. To kill Nyx, she could drive her sword through the demon’s heart and send light energy surging through it. She could also behead the demon, which she didn’t want to do. Katharine would never kill an enemy in such a gory way. She could also vaporize Nyx. She would need the power of a few more legendaries to do that, though.
As she dodged another artful swing by Nyx, her mind found an idea. If only she could send a signal out to one of the other six Aquapolians who were borrowing the six powers. Perhaps, while she attempted such a feet, one of the real legendaries would show up.
Sliding under another swing from Nyx, she sweeped around to try and deliver a nasty kick to the demon’s face in order to buy her mind some time. She narrowly grazed her cheek as Nyx bent backwards in a Matrix-like dodge to avoid her. Of course, Katharine also needed to look out so that she wasn’t destroyed in the three ways she had thought of before.
Hopefully, her father was faring better against the Shadow Commander.
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They didn’t go too far to choose a place for battle. The inside of the Basilica was huge, enough for dozens of legendary battles to take place. As the camerlengo followed his brother to the very center of the Basilica, he couldn’t stop shaking. He wasn’t afraid of being killed by Hastings at all. If that was what it took to save the church, then so be it. He was afraid of not being able to stop his brother from mass murdering the entire human population. If he failed in this battle, who was to stop Hastings while Katharine was involved in her own immortal battle with a pure demon? The others who had taken on the six powers could probably gang up on him, but, by that time, he could have easily taken the conclave hostage.
Gripping Katharine’s sword tightly in his bare hands, he tried to imagine the thoughts that had gone through his daughter’s head when the demon Ojinan appeared to destroy the church. No matter how evil Hastings was, he hadn’t lived as a demon for thousands of years.
“This…” Hastings paused, motioning to the Basilica. “Will be our place of battle.” He looked around for a time, his eyes lighting on the burnt seven-pointed star on the floor. “Weren’t able to get this off, were you?” He laughed. “You know, it’s too bad that we couldn’t get the Chosen One on our side. It would have been so perfect…”
“She would have never willingly followed you.”
“Of course not. You taught her too well for her to do anything of the sort,” Hastings sneered. “Would you give up the church for her?”
“If that was God’s will…”
“What if it wasn’t?”
“Then, no.”
“I think you would.”
The camerlegno glared at his brother. This was just to get him angry. “If I don’t survive this battle, she will destroy you.”
“We’ll see if she can get past Nyx first.”
The camerlengo lunged forward, instantly blocked by Hastings’ sword. The Shadow Commander pushed him back a few feet, grinning fiercely. Before he could counterattack, a wave of energy slammed into him, and he fell back, stunned. The camerlengo waited for him to get to his feet, interest sparking in his dark eyes.
“So you borrowed the power of dimension for a time?” He laughed. “That’s not going to do you any good against me.” He lunged forward, fast enough to strike before the camerlengo could put up a defense. The sword sliced slightly across his cheek, a wound that healed almost instantly.
“Your healing powers won’t save you here!” Hastings shouted, a blast of energy rushing past the camerlengo as he spun around and slammed into the Shadow Commander, trying to rip the sword from his hands. At the same time, his sword hand came around an inadvertendly buried the sword into the marble wall behind Hastings.
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“Spread out and take as many Shadow Followers as you can!” Rowan shouted to the Legendary Team members as they rushed forward toward the tide of Shadow Followers that were invading the Vatican. He could already see signs of raging fire and ice cold water slamming into the Followers as they met the first onslaught of attacks from Langdon and Ben. Gusts of cutting wind followed as Nichols took out the ones who made it through.
Meanwhile, Cyrus and Rowan were trying desperately to come up with the perfect offensive combination of their powers. A Shadow Follower caught Cyrus off guard, slamming him into the floor and nearly impaling him with his sword before Cyrus stopped him mid-attack. The Shadow Follower stayed frozen in time as Cyrus tried to think of a way to stop the rest of the wave.
Great chapter, it's gonna be awesome seeing how the battle continues to play out, I've got a feeling that things are about to get really epic, really, really fast.
(I also have to wonder if Katherine's ability to become the 3 different legendary beasts will come into play...)
Can't wait for more!
-Brawlfan1
(I also have to wonder if Katherine's ability to become the 3 different legendary beasts will come into play...)
Can't wait for more!
-Brawlfan1
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
Thank you! Yeah, I'm just as excited about the final battle as you are! XD
And, yeah, Katharine's definitely going to make use of her abilities.
So, I'm 1/3 into the next chapter. Hopefully, it'll be up over the next few weeks (if school doesn't get in the way).
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
So, I'm on a writing streak right now, mostly because my schoolwork hasn't started to pile up. Thus, updates will be more frequent than later on in the semester.
A note on this chapter: We're finally approaching the end of the final battle. However, this won't be the end of this story. We have a few mysteries to clear up (as someone pointed out earlier, the camerlengo is hiding something from us). I've been debating on whether or not to write a sequel (I already have a good 30% or so of it drawn up in my mind), but I'll wait to make the final decision until after I finish this story.
I hope you're enjoying the final battle! Let's see who triumphs in the coming stages, shall we?
21.
The next swing of Nyx’s sword actually caused her to bury it into a marble column. Katharine used this chance to kick Nyx backward, causing her to lose her grip on the sword. The demon slammed into the steps, flipping back up onto her feet in an instant. Katharine yanked the sword out of the column, slicing around to attack with both swords at one time, but lost her balance slightly and found it snatched out of her hand.
The battle was getting nowhere for both sides. If either side were to prevail, they would have to deliver a massive kill shot to the other. Katharine thought over her options. She could try to use her light blast, but she would need a distraction for Nyx first.
She teleported out of the way of another attack from Nyx, appearing near the fountain at the middle of the square. Stepping into the water, she transformed into Suicune and covered the entire ground of the square into spears of ice. Nyx teleported onto a statue, narrowly missing becoming impaled on the spears.
She smiled at Katharine. “The Crystal Beast? Hastings told me you might use it to fight. Too bad it won’t be powerful enough to stop me!” A huge blast of shadow energy slammed into the fountain behind Katharine, missing her by only a few inches as she dodged out of the way. A path opened amongst the ice spears where Nyx landed, not slipping at all as she stalked toward Katharine, who roared at her, transforming back into her Aquapolian form.
“Are you afraid, Chosen One?” Nyx jeered.
“Afraid of what?” She snapped.
“Afraid of showing me your true form. The form you used to destroy Ojinan.”
Katharine frowned, looking up towards the dark skies above her. Suddenly, the area filled with a light so bright, Nyx had to shut her eyes tightly before she was blinded. A few seconds later, she opened them and actually gasped.
Before her was a taller, slightly older Katharine, with longer hair, more fierce eyes, and a more intimidating presence. She was wrapped in a white halter robe-like dress with a backless top that allowed her wings to spread out behind her. Leather sandals graced her feet while an even brighter sword glittered in her hand. Her wings were of a huge wingspan, spreading out to either side to give her a nearly frightening appearance. When she spoke, her voice was more formal, deep, and ethereal.
“I’m not afraid of you, demon. Now is the time for you to leave this church.”
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Unaware of the deadlock occurring outside of the Vatican, Hastings and Patrick McKenna were locked in their own seemingly endless fight. Hastings had vastly underestimated his brother’s strength, but that didn’t seem to diminish his own powers. Combined with his excellent swordsmanship, he was proving to be a difficult opponent to take down.
The camerlengo didn’t want to use the power of dimension any more than he had to. He had decided to use it as the last push to defeat Hastings. Thus, he was fighting on his skill alone. He had amazed himself with how his attacks were actually wearing Hastings down even the slightest bit. He had always thought for years that they would do nothing to his destructive brother.
Another few swings, and the camerlengo’s sword was knocked from his hand. It tore through the air and planted itself in the marble floor behind him. Twisting around and clutching his injured hand, he raced for it, Hastings stalking behind him, not bothering to chase after him. Not stopping to ask questions, the camerlengo scooped his sword back up and swung around to face his brother, the injury on his hand healing quickly.
“Why are you playing around?” He demanded of Hastings. “If you can kill me so easily, why don’t you do so now?”
He smiled. “Now, that wouldn’t be any fun at all. You know how the prophecy goes…”
“Only one of us can survive…”
“Wouldn’t it be too predictable if the healer survived?”
“Only if the destroyer was too weak to defeat him!”
This enraged Hastings, who swept forward in a blaze of dark energy, slamming into the camerlengo full force. Fortunately for the priest, his brother was blinded by his rage, swinging his sword widely and planting it firmly into a marble column. It sunk in to deep, it almost went more than halfway through. The camerlengo lifted his sword in time for another attack as Hastings pulled his sword from the marble and swung around to slam the blade into the camerlengo’s. The attack rang through the hall. Hastings glared down at the camerlengo.
“Shouldn’t you be outside protecting Katharine?”
“She doesn’t need protection!” The camerlengo gasped with the effort of holding Hastings off. The Shadow Commander lived up to his legend as the destroyer. Each blow felt like a truck barreling down onto the camerlengo’s sword. However, each successive blow was starting to lose its effect. Hastings was starting to become confused as to why his brother hadn’t grown weary yet. With all things considered, Hastings should have been the more powerful of the two. He should have been able to strike the camerlengo down after a few hits. He had underestimated his brother’s strength…but he wasn’t going to go down because of this mistake.
Instead, he reverted to jeering at his brother and breaking down his morale. This had always been Hastings way, even though he could easily kill any opponent he faced. He didn’t want his victims to be struggling for life in their last moments. He wanted them to welcome death.
“Oh, really?!” He shouted back. “Do you really think she’s powerful enough to destroy another demon?!”
“Yes!” The camerlengo gasped. “Yes, she is! Outside of the ring of battle, I’ll protect her…with…my last breath…” He dropped his sword after another strike, falling to his knees, but rolling out of the way just in time to avoid Hastings’ next strike. He was growing weary, and Hastings knew it. Smiling, he stalked toward the camerlengo, who struggled to recover his grip on his sword.
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Rowan gaped as Shadow Follower after Shadow Follower tried to take down Cyrus, but to no avail. As soon as they reached a certain radius away from him, it was as if they disappeared completely, reduced to ashes on the floor. Finally, after the assault seemed to wear off, he rushed toward Cyrus, who was still reeling from using his powers.
“What was that?” Rowan gasped.
“That…I don’t know what that was….I think I sped up their body’s process of aging and…” Cyrus motioned to the pile of dust and shuddered. It was a gruesome way to die.
A wall of fire raged round a group of Shadow Followers, trapping them underneath its dome as Langdon controlled the power of land to keep them from their assault. Others were frozen in blocks of ice or impaled on spikes. It seemed as if the Legendary Team was quite skillful in using the six powers.
“Rowan! Cyrus! Behind you!” Nichols shouted.
Both professors swung around to see a dozen Shadow Followers barreling down on them.
A wave of panic caused Rowan to freeze into place, something he rarely did. His mind spun with possible ways to use the power of space, but, for some reason, he couldn’t turn his thoughts into actions. As if he were looking at the scene in slow motion, he turned to Cyrus, shaking his shoulder to get him to focus. “Cyrus, Cyrus!” He shouted, turning more desperate as the Shadow Followers drew closer, their swords glinting in the Vatican’s candlelight. “Now! Do it now!” He shouted furiously.
At the same time, Cyrus was struggling with an inner crisis of his own. After watching the first few Shadow Followers die a gruesome death at his hand, he instantly became sick at the idea of using his power any more. The young professor was still stunned by the first realization of his dark skill. He didn’t want to use it anymore. As if the professor were shouting underwater, he heard Rowan shouting desperately for him to stop the wave of Shadow Followers. He shook his head slowly at first before realizing that they could both die at the hands of this army if he didn’t do something quick. They were vastly outnumbered…and, if it were only Cyrus’ life in danger, he wouldn’t mind refusing to use his newfound powers. He couldn’t let Rowan die because he had gotten a form of cold feet.
Space and time shifted, the powers seeming like a veil that pushed over the Shadow Followers, cloaking them into another direction. As soon as the veil touched them, each one disintegrated into ash. However, this time, the ash disappeared as well. Cyrus stared at Rowan, gasping for air, though not from exhaustion. Rowan stared at the spot where the Shadow Followers had disappeared.
“That….” Cyrus stammered, finally regaining his senses and pushing down his terror enough to actually smile. “THAT…is what you use the power of space for…” Rowan turned to stare at him in disbelief for a few seconds before both professors laughed, mostly out of relief.
Luckily, the onslaught of Shadow Followers was tapering off. The Shadow Commander’s forces were weakening, and their numbers were dwindling. Now, the fate of lives depended on the battle between two immortals raging outside the Vatican’s walls and the battle between two brothers raging within them.
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Nyx stared in awe of Quamachi’s true form for a few minutes. It seemed as if even demons couldn’t look upon angels without some respect, and even jealousy. They were doomed to hide in the underworld for eternity, while angels were free to roam the skies and travel the world, which was vastly more beautiful than the depths of hell. Of course, this was why the Demon Council was backing Hastings’ cause so fervently. Once the Shadow Commander took over the world, they would take control from him and declare Earth their kingdom. The only person in their way was the Chosen One.
Nyx seemed to regain her composure after a few minutes of gaping at Katharine’s new form. She smiled at her new challenge, her dark eyes glittering as she rushed forward, lifting her sword above her head and sending it crashing down on Katharine’s. This time, her blow rebounded with such force she was knocked back a few feet. Katharine slashed toward her at a lightning-fast pace, narrowly missing Nyx’s face as her sword cut through the air. She could hear thunder crashing above their heads, and she smiled. Her backup was about to arrive.
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From inside the Vatican’s walls, Hastings and Patrick McKenna could both hear the storm approaching, pausing only for a second to make sure it was a storm and not some legendary force that was about to sweep down upon Rome. The camerlengo took this opportunity to lash out at Hastings, cutting deep into his right arm with his sword. Hastings seemed unfazed as blood raced down his arm as he retaliated, missing the camerlengo by only a few inches. His right arm was growing weak, not allowing him the strength he needed to lash back. He threw his sword away and raced toward the camerlengo, ready to fight with his own bare hands and powers. The camerlengo let his sword clatter to the ground as well as his brother approached, steeling himself for the onslaught of dark energy.
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“Did you see that?” Langdon breathed to Ben, who rushed to his side as soon as they heard the crash of thunder outside.
“There’s a storm brewing outside!” Eric shouted from his position a few yards away, lowering his bow and arrow long enough to address them.
“Where’s Zach?” Langdon asked, looking around fiercely for the detective.
“He’s outside dealing with some Shadow Followers.”
They turned to see House and Riley rushing toward them, both looking tired and beaten.
“What happened to y’all?” Ben asked, looking them up and down.
“Let’s just say Hunter Janice isn’t going to be our problem anymore,” House said, gasping for breath.
“I got the electricity back on, too!” Riley added.
“I didn’t know it had gone off…” Langdon muttered.
“Of course not. Everything in here tonight is lit up by candle light!” House said, finally catching his breath. The older doctor seemed to have overexerted himself during his fight with the Pokemon Hunter. Langdon watched him with a worried expression on his face. The camerlengo was locked in battle with his brother, which meant he was most definitely not free to heal internal or external injuries. The professor knew that House would be reluctant to sit out of the rest of the battle, but, surely, the doctor would know that he could literally kill himself by pushing his body to the limit.
As Langdon stepped forward, House gave him a withering glare unlike the professor had ever seen before on his friend’s face. “I’m not sitting this one out, Professor,” he snapped, straightening up and limping over toward Eric, who was staring after the doctor, unsure of whether to help Langdon stop House from continuing to fight or help House push on toward the last part of the battle. Before he could fully decide what to do, House snatched the bow and arrow out of his hands, saying, “I’ll take this. You take my sword. I’m not in a state for hand-to-hand combat.” He shoved his sword toward Eric, heading for a small flight of stairs nearby. He stumbled several times, causing Eric to hurry after him, his mind swimming with uncertainty.
“Are you sure you can handle the bow?” Eric asked, following House halfway up the flight of stairs. “It’s heavy…”
“Listen,” House said, swinging around to snap at the teenage Aquapolian. “I may be crippled, but I’m not weak. You cover my back from any Shadow Followers making their way into the upper corridors of the Basilica, and I’ll take care of any that get into the square, got it?”
Eric nodded, half scared that House was going to snap at him again. Instead, the doctor turned away, gathering his strength silently before literally propelling himself up the stairs with his cane. Eric sighed, following after him. He could understand how frustrating it was for House to not be able to fight on the same level as his friends. Eric hadn’t always been the skilled swordsman he was at that time. It took a lot longer for him to learn than it did his friends. He was teased mercilessly by all of them except for Katharine, who stood up to their elementary classmates and guided him in the right direction, helping him see his faults and learn to correct them.
Eric smiled at those memories. Even today, Katharine was standing up for her friends to protect them. But, today, she wasn’t just standing up for the Legendary Team. She was standing up for the entire human race.
A note on this chapter: We're finally approaching the end of the final battle. However, this won't be the end of this story. We have a few mysteries to clear up (as someone pointed out earlier, the camerlengo is hiding something from us). I've been debating on whether or not to write a sequel (I already have a good 30% or so of it drawn up in my mind), but I'll wait to make the final decision until after I finish this story.
I hope you're enjoying the final battle! Let's see who triumphs in the coming stages, shall we?
21.
The next swing of Nyx’s sword actually caused her to bury it into a marble column. Katharine used this chance to kick Nyx backward, causing her to lose her grip on the sword. The demon slammed into the steps, flipping back up onto her feet in an instant. Katharine yanked the sword out of the column, slicing around to attack with both swords at one time, but lost her balance slightly and found it snatched out of her hand.
The battle was getting nowhere for both sides. If either side were to prevail, they would have to deliver a massive kill shot to the other. Katharine thought over her options. She could try to use her light blast, but she would need a distraction for Nyx first.
She teleported out of the way of another attack from Nyx, appearing near the fountain at the middle of the square. Stepping into the water, she transformed into Suicune and covered the entire ground of the square into spears of ice. Nyx teleported onto a statue, narrowly missing becoming impaled on the spears.
She smiled at Katharine. “The Crystal Beast? Hastings told me you might use it to fight. Too bad it won’t be powerful enough to stop me!” A huge blast of shadow energy slammed into the fountain behind Katharine, missing her by only a few inches as she dodged out of the way. A path opened amongst the ice spears where Nyx landed, not slipping at all as she stalked toward Katharine, who roared at her, transforming back into her Aquapolian form.
“Are you afraid, Chosen One?” Nyx jeered.
“Afraid of what?” She snapped.
“Afraid of showing me your true form. The form you used to destroy Ojinan.”
Katharine frowned, looking up towards the dark skies above her. Suddenly, the area filled with a light so bright, Nyx had to shut her eyes tightly before she was blinded. A few seconds later, she opened them and actually gasped.
Before her was a taller, slightly older Katharine, with longer hair, more fierce eyes, and a more intimidating presence. She was wrapped in a white halter robe-like dress with a backless top that allowed her wings to spread out behind her. Leather sandals graced her feet while an even brighter sword glittered in her hand. Her wings were of a huge wingspan, spreading out to either side to give her a nearly frightening appearance. When she spoke, her voice was more formal, deep, and ethereal.
“I’m not afraid of you, demon. Now is the time for you to leave this church.”
------------
Unaware of the deadlock occurring outside of the Vatican, Hastings and Patrick McKenna were locked in their own seemingly endless fight. Hastings had vastly underestimated his brother’s strength, but that didn’t seem to diminish his own powers. Combined with his excellent swordsmanship, he was proving to be a difficult opponent to take down.
The camerlengo didn’t want to use the power of dimension any more than he had to. He had decided to use it as the last push to defeat Hastings. Thus, he was fighting on his skill alone. He had amazed himself with how his attacks were actually wearing Hastings down even the slightest bit. He had always thought for years that they would do nothing to his destructive brother.
Another few swings, and the camerlengo’s sword was knocked from his hand. It tore through the air and planted itself in the marble floor behind him. Twisting around and clutching his injured hand, he raced for it, Hastings stalking behind him, not bothering to chase after him. Not stopping to ask questions, the camerlengo scooped his sword back up and swung around to face his brother, the injury on his hand healing quickly.
“Why are you playing around?” He demanded of Hastings. “If you can kill me so easily, why don’t you do so now?”
He smiled. “Now, that wouldn’t be any fun at all. You know how the prophecy goes…”
“Only one of us can survive…”
“Wouldn’t it be too predictable if the healer survived?”
“Only if the destroyer was too weak to defeat him!”
This enraged Hastings, who swept forward in a blaze of dark energy, slamming into the camerlengo full force. Fortunately for the priest, his brother was blinded by his rage, swinging his sword widely and planting it firmly into a marble column. It sunk in to deep, it almost went more than halfway through. The camerlengo lifted his sword in time for another attack as Hastings pulled his sword from the marble and swung around to slam the blade into the camerlengo’s. The attack rang through the hall. Hastings glared down at the camerlengo.
“Shouldn’t you be outside protecting Katharine?”
“She doesn’t need protection!” The camerlengo gasped with the effort of holding Hastings off. The Shadow Commander lived up to his legend as the destroyer. Each blow felt like a truck barreling down onto the camerlengo’s sword. However, each successive blow was starting to lose its effect. Hastings was starting to become confused as to why his brother hadn’t grown weary yet. With all things considered, Hastings should have been the more powerful of the two. He should have been able to strike the camerlengo down after a few hits. He had underestimated his brother’s strength…but he wasn’t going to go down because of this mistake.
Instead, he reverted to jeering at his brother and breaking down his morale. This had always been Hastings way, even though he could easily kill any opponent he faced. He didn’t want his victims to be struggling for life in their last moments. He wanted them to welcome death.
“Oh, really?!” He shouted back. “Do you really think she’s powerful enough to destroy another demon?!”
“Yes!” The camerlengo gasped. “Yes, she is! Outside of the ring of battle, I’ll protect her…with…my last breath…” He dropped his sword after another strike, falling to his knees, but rolling out of the way just in time to avoid Hastings’ next strike. He was growing weary, and Hastings knew it. Smiling, he stalked toward the camerlengo, who struggled to recover his grip on his sword.
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Rowan gaped as Shadow Follower after Shadow Follower tried to take down Cyrus, but to no avail. As soon as they reached a certain radius away from him, it was as if they disappeared completely, reduced to ashes on the floor. Finally, after the assault seemed to wear off, he rushed toward Cyrus, who was still reeling from using his powers.
“What was that?” Rowan gasped.
“That…I don’t know what that was….I think I sped up their body’s process of aging and…” Cyrus motioned to the pile of dust and shuddered. It was a gruesome way to die.
A wall of fire raged round a group of Shadow Followers, trapping them underneath its dome as Langdon controlled the power of land to keep them from their assault. Others were frozen in blocks of ice or impaled on spikes. It seemed as if the Legendary Team was quite skillful in using the six powers.
“Rowan! Cyrus! Behind you!” Nichols shouted.
Both professors swung around to see a dozen Shadow Followers barreling down on them.
A wave of panic caused Rowan to freeze into place, something he rarely did. His mind spun with possible ways to use the power of space, but, for some reason, he couldn’t turn his thoughts into actions. As if he were looking at the scene in slow motion, he turned to Cyrus, shaking his shoulder to get him to focus. “Cyrus, Cyrus!” He shouted, turning more desperate as the Shadow Followers drew closer, their swords glinting in the Vatican’s candlelight. “Now! Do it now!” He shouted furiously.
At the same time, Cyrus was struggling with an inner crisis of his own. After watching the first few Shadow Followers die a gruesome death at his hand, he instantly became sick at the idea of using his power any more. The young professor was still stunned by the first realization of his dark skill. He didn’t want to use it anymore. As if the professor were shouting underwater, he heard Rowan shouting desperately for him to stop the wave of Shadow Followers. He shook his head slowly at first before realizing that they could both die at the hands of this army if he didn’t do something quick. They were vastly outnumbered…and, if it were only Cyrus’ life in danger, he wouldn’t mind refusing to use his newfound powers. He couldn’t let Rowan die because he had gotten a form of cold feet.
Space and time shifted, the powers seeming like a veil that pushed over the Shadow Followers, cloaking them into another direction. As soon as the veil touched them, each one disintegrated into ash. However, this time, the ash disappeared as well. Cyrus stared at Rowan, gasping for air, though not from exhaustion. Rowan stared at the spot where the Shadow Followers had disappeared.
“That….” Cyrus stammered, finally regaining his senses and pushing down his terror enough to actually smile. “THAT…is what you use the power of space for…” Rowan turned to stare at him in disbelief for a few seconds before both professors laughed, mostly out of relief.
Luckily, the onslaught of Shadow Followers was tapering off. The Shadow Commander’s forces were weakening, and their numbers were dwindling. Now, the fate of lives depended on the battle between two immortals raging outside the Vatican’s walls and the battle between two brothers raging within them.
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Nyx stared in awe of Quamachi’s true form for a few minutes. It seemed as if even demons couldn’t look upon angels without some respect, and even jealousy. They were doomed to hide in the underworld for eternity, while angels were free to roam the skies and travel the world, which was vastly more beautiful than the depths of hell. Of course, this was why the Demon Council was backing Hastings’ cause so fervently. Once the Shadow Commander took over the world, they would take control from him and declare Earth their kingdom. The only person in their way was the Chosen One.
Nyx seemed to regain her composure after a few minutes of gaping at Katharine’s new form. She smiled at her new challenge, her dark eyes glittering as she rushed forward, lifting her sword above her head and sending it crashing down on Katharine’s. This time, her blow rebounded with such force she was knocked back a few feet. Katharine slashed toward her at a lightning-fast pace, narrowly missing Nyx’s face as her sword cut through the air. She could hear thunder crashing above their heads, and she smiled. Her backup was about to arrive.
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From inside the Vatican’s walls, Hastings and Patrick McKenna could both hear the storm approaching, pausing only for a second to make sure it was a storm and not some legendary force that was about to sweep down upon Rome. The camerlengo took this opportunity to lash out at Hastings, cutting deep into his right arm with his sword. Hastings seemed unfazed as blood raced down his arm as he retaliated, missing the camerlengo by only a few inches. His right arm was growing weak, not allowing him the strength he needed to lash back. He threw his sword away and raced toward the camerlengo, ready to fight with his own bare hands and powers. The camerlengo let his sword clatter to the ground as well as his brother approached, steeling himself for the onslaught of dark energy.
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“Did you see that?” Langdon breathed to Ben, who rushed to his side as soon as they heard the crash of thunder outside.
“There’s a storm brewing outside!” Eric shouted from his position a few yards away, lowering his bow and arrow long enough to address them.
“Where’s Zach?” Langdon asked, looking around fiercely for the detective.
“He’s outside dealing with some Shadow Followers.”
They turned to see House and Riley rushing toward them, both looking tired and beaten.
“What happened to y’all?” Ben asked, looking them up and down.
“Let’s just say Hunter Janice isn’t going to be our problem anymore,” House said, gasping for breath.
“I got the electricity back on, too!” Riley added.
“I didn’t know it had gone off…” Langdon muttered.
“Of course not. Everything in here tonight is lit up by candle light!” House said, finally catching his breath. The older doctor seemed to have overexerted himself during his fight with the Pokemon Hunter. Langdon watched him with a worried expression on his face. The camerlengo was locked in battle with his brother, which meant he was most definitely not free to heal internal or external injuries. The professor knew that House would be reluctant to sit out of the rest of the battle, but, surely, the doctor would know that he could literally kill himself by pushing his body to the limit.
As Langdon stepped forward, House gave him a withering glare unlike the professor had ever seen before on his friend’s face. “I’m not sitting this one out, Professor,” he snapped, straightening up and limping over toward Eric, who was staring after the doctor, unsure of whether to help Langdon stop House from continuing to fight or help House push on toward the last part of the battle. Before he could fully decide what to do, House snatched the bow and arrow out of his hands, saying, “I’ll take this. You take my sword. I’m not in a state for hand-to-hand combat.” He shoved his sword toward Eric, heading for a small flight of stairs nearby. He stumbled several times, causing Eric to hurry after him, his mind swimming with uncertainty.
“Are you sure you can handle the bow?” Eric asked, following House halfway up the flight of stairs. “It’s heavy…”
“Listen,” House said, swinging around to snap at the teenage Aquapolian. “I may be crippled, but I’m not weak. You cover my back from any Shadow Followers making their way into the upper corridors of the Basilica, and I’ll take care of any that get into the square, got it?”
Eric nodded, half scared that House was going to snap at him again. Instead, the doctor turned away, gathering his strength silently before literally propelling himself up the stairs with his cane. Eric sighed, following after him. He could understand how frustrating it was for House to not be able to fight on the same level as his friends. Eric hadn’t always been the skilled swordsman he was at that time. It took a lot longer for him to learn than it did his friends. He was teased mercilessly by all of them except for Katharine, who stood up to their elementary classmates and guided him in the right direction, helping him see his faults and learn to correct them.
Eric smiled at those memories. Even today, Katharine was standing up for her friends to protect them. But, today, she wasn’t just standing up for the Legendary Team. She was standing up for the entire human race.
harryheart
Well-Known Member
Chapter 20:
Brilliant. I'm loving how things are moving on and how each characters battle matches their development over the whole story and also their personality and what they need to progress even further. Great suspense as well by changing the scene like you are, it also makes it seem more 'real time' because you get snippets and then more snippets with every scene jump. That was a very good strategy. Overall I loved what you've done with the plot here, and how you're progressing the story and also how the ending and the conclusion to this all is shaping up. It's a very good and defining way to start bringing it to a close.
Chapter 21:
Also great! More plot development, character development and also for yourself your own writing development. You can celarly see how you've progressed from the beginning of this story! There were a few sentences where you used into where the word in would have sufficed or soemthing similar. Otherwise it was a very good chapter and like I said for Chapter 20 great use of scene jumping and character interactions to show more development and personlaity development. This is brilliant! I look forward to more!
Brilliant. I'm loving how things are moving on and how each characters battle matches their development over the whole story and also their personality and what they need to progress even further. Great suspense as well by changing the scene like you are, it also makes it seem more 'real time' because you get snippets and then more snippets with every scene jump. That was a very good strategy. Overall I loved what you've done with the plot here, and how you're progressing the story and also how the ending and the conclusion to this all is shaping up. It's a very good and defining way to start bringing it to a close.
Chapter 21:
Also great! More plot development, character development and also for yourself your own writing development. You can celarly see how you've progressed from the beginning of this story! There were a few sentences where you used into where the word in would have sufficed or soemthing similar. Otherwise it was a very good chapter and like I said for Chapter 20 great use of scene jumping and character interactions to show more development and personlaity development. This is brilliant! I look forward to more!
chosen_one386
Angel of Chaos
Well, we're getting really really really close to the end, and I'm also hitting a really busy time at school, so, hopefully, I'll be able to get the final few chapters up by the time I finish sophomore year! XD
22.
Nichols stared at the skies above rain, an extremely confused look plastered on his face. He had made his way through an onslaught of Shadow Followers, downing them at an almost sickening pace. Even though he knew these Aquapolians were trying to destroy the human race, it almost felt wrong to kill so many of them so easily. Lugia’s powers coursed through his veins, allowing him to control the air and wind from even large distances. Close up, he could make the wind razor-sharp, enough to behead most of his victims. He tried to avoid this gruesome fate for his opponents, but he soon realized that he had a choice between killing them quickly or slowly. He chose the former.
Still, that didn’t make his stomach churn any less than if he resorted to a slower, less gruesome punishment. Several times, he thought he would throw up after attacking another group of Shadow Followers. He had seen much worse in his years as a detective, but he had never killed before. This was something entirely too new, and instantly, he knew that murdering wasn’t for him.
Still, though he had focused his powers on keeping all downpours and other weather patterns away from Rome so that they could fight in a fully moonlit night, dark storm clouds covered the entire area, blocking out the sun completely and causing him to have to focus to see even a few feet in front of him. Was he slowly losing control of his powers…? Then, he remembered what he had learned from sessions listening to Langdon and Rowan explain how the six powers worked. The Chosen One could utilize the power of the sky. Perhaps she was using this storm to make conditions more inclement for her opponent?
A few shifts in the air, and Nichols knew this storm was developing into a hurricane. Though it would be fully impossible for a hurricane to form over Rome, with the power of the sky, it was completely possible. It still begged the question, however, of why Katharine was developing such a powerful storm that could actually hurt citizens living in the area. As his eyes followed the sky, he realized that the storm was only developing over the Vatican.
Even though he would probably not receive any injuries from the storm, he needed to get inside as soon as possible. Pressing a button on his communications device, he shouted over the airwaves, “Anyone who is outside needs to get inside NOW! There’s a hurricane brewing outside!”
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Nichols’ voice rang inside the camerlengo’s ear, causing him to wince and cover his ears, dropping to his knees as pain shot through his head. While Riley’s system was very convenient and actually helped keep the Legendary Team safe and together, the fact that the receiver was placed inside the ear caused huge problems when someone in the team (usually House) yelled over the airwaves.
Hastings glanced out a nearby window, intrigued by the wind and rain starting to batter against the glass. “A storm’s brewing outside. I wonder who caused it to start brewing?”
A huge roar shook the church to its foundations, startling both Hastings and the camerlengo, who stared out the window in the direction of the noise. The camerlengo pushed himself to his feet, feeling the power of dimension starting to shift around the church.
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The storm whipped Katharine’s hair up around her face as it battered through the area. Nyx crouched closer to the ground, trying desperately to not get herself blown away. Katharine stepped closer, looking down at her. Nyx stared up as a hole appeared in the clouds above the angel. A huge monster with nearly a dozen legs snaked out of the sky and roared again.
“Giratina,” she whispered, trying desperately to keep her place. The power of dimension was causing space and time to shift around them, flattening Nyx to the marble surface below her. Amazingly, Katharine seemed to be unaffected by this sudden shift in gravity. Nyx stared up at her, awed by the sudden radiance around the Chosen One. She didn’t even flinch when Katharine withdrew her sword from the scabbard at her side and lifted it high over her head, the crashing wind and rain making her seem even more ethereal than before.
In a fit of hysteria at her sure failure, the demon laughed, pressing her cheek against the marble floor and closing her eyes as the blade was brought crashing down through her back and straight through her heart. There was only a few moments of pain before the demon evaporated, her body destroyed by Katharine’s power surging from the sword into her body.
Another demon had fallen victim to the Chosen One.
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The effects of Nyx’s sudden death swept across the area. A bunch of Shadow Followers scattered every which way. Now that another demon had fallen, they no longer trusted that their commander could lead them to victory. It was a lost cause. The brave ones stayed behind only to gather their numbers before racing to find the Shadow Commander. This small group comprised of only around twelve Shadow Followers.
The moment Nyx was killed, Hastings’ ever-present smile faded, a serious look finally overtaking his features. The camerlengo instantly knew that his brother’s only hope for taking over the Vatican had faded. Hastings ducked his head and laughed silently to himself. The battle was over. Instead of feeling relieved, however, the camerlengo kept a tight grip on his sword. Now would be the time for Hastings to attack him out of revenge or just pure spite. The final push before he would have to retreat. Now that everything was over…the camerlengo no longer needed to even think about killing his brother. Still…still…Hastings was a danger to humans…
As the camerlengo pondered what he should do about Hastings, a dark wave fell over his eyes, blocking his vision. As his mind spun, he dropped his sword, the blade clanging on the marble floor. He could hear Hastings laugh madly. A rush of panic ran down his spine. If he couldn’t see his brother…he gasped, pain shooting through his chest. He could hear Hastings step closer to stand over him. Kneeling on the ground, the camerlengo tried to catch his breath. He could only see blackness. What was happening to him?
An outline of a black and golden figure appeared in his vision, two blood red eyes shining against golden claws. He instantly recognized the power of dimension, Giratina. And, somehow, as if the words came into his mind straight from Giratina, he knew that the legendary was outside the Vatican’s walls. It must have caused the roar that shook the church to its foundations.
It faded from his vision, restoring his sight to normal. The pain in his chest instantly subsided, and he knew that he no longer held the power of dimension.
At the same time, the other five powers experienced the same thing, each catching a glimpse of their respective legendaries before their sight was returned. The Shadow Followers were beating a fast retreat, not proving to be a danger to the weakening Legendary Team.
The remaining Shadow Followers found the Shadow Commander standing over the camerlengo, an unreadable expression on his face. “Sir!” One called out. “Nyx has been destroyed! What…what should we do?” Even the strongest of them had been broken by this defeat.
He shook his head. “We leave!” He shouted back, kneeling down beside the camerlengo. “This isn’t over yet, Patrick,” he whispered.
“Of course not,” the camerlengo whispered back, raising his eyes to meet his brother’s. “But if you return to this church again, I’ll kill you.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” Hastings smiled, standing up and stepping away. The camerlengo watched him leave for a few moments before rising to his feet, staring out the window toward St. Peter’s Square. He instantly swung around and started running for the Basilica’s doors, bursting onto the marble steps and flying down them. Katharine, in her angelic form, was sprawled in the middle of the square, unconscious. Giratina was towering over her, its red eyes following the camerlengo as he raced toward her. Just as he reached her, the power of dimension looked up at the sky toward the swirling clouds and rose into the air, disappearing above the storm and causing it to dissipate, leaving a clear night sky.
“Katharine!” He shouted as he reached her, pulling her into his arms and shaking her. “Katharine!” Her pendent glowed in the moonlight, and he sighed with relief, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to his chest, burying his face in her blonde hair. “You did it,” he whispered with relief. “You’ve saved us all.” As he spoke, Katharine’s angelic form faded, leaving her mortal form behind.
His vision swam in front of him. He could hear voices calling out faintly to him, but he couldn’t distinguish who was speaking. Exhausted from his battle with Hastings, he blacked out.
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Katharine opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the harsh sunlight filtering in through her bedroom window. She sat up, rubbing her face as Pika and Umbreon climbed up and snuggled around her, glad to see that she was awake. She glanced around her room before swinging out of bed, wincing at the aches and pains that raced through her body. Her injuries had been healed, but the pain was slow in disappearing.
Pushing open her door, she left her room, followed by her cat and dark-type down the corridors of the Vatican. She ran into no one on the way to the camerlengo’s study, where she knocked loudly on the door before entering. The camerlengo sat at his desk, staring down at a page in the Book of the Chosen One. When he heard her shut the door behind her, he looked up, closing the book instantly before jumping up from his desk.
“How are you feeling?” He asked in a worried tone, rushing toward her. Pika and Umbreon weaved around his legs, nearly tripping him as he placed both hands on her shoulders.
“Still painful, but I’m fine,” she assured him with a furious nodding of her head. She wondered how long she had been unconscious. She hadn’t suffered any major injuries during her battle with Nyx, but she had most certainly overstrained her mortal form by using her angelic powers. Luckily, she hadn’t caused much damage in that area. She could have easily killed herself by calling upon her legendary abilities. Remembering the legendary ability that her father took on, she tried to catch a glimpse of the toll that his own battle with Hastings had taken on him. He didn’t look extremely worn, just tired, as if he had stayed up for countless nights worrying over a thousand things, which he had a tendency to do even before the battle.
“Did you sleep last night?” She asked him in an equally worried tone of voice. If he refused to sleep, he would surely pass out from the lack of rest and the strain he had put on his body by fighting Hastings.
“Yes, of course I did,” he said quickly, smiling. “Of course, I was unconscious until this morning, so I really had no choice in the matter.” He shook his head. “It’s a wonder that none of us were injured in the battle…”
“How long have I been out?” She demanded, looking outside. The sun was high enough in the sky to make her think that it was already past noon. She never slept that late. She wondered if it were even the day after the battle. For all she knew, she had been unconscious for a week.
“For three days,” the camerlengo answered, looking out at the clear blue sky as well. “The conclave still hasn’t ended. They decided to extend it because of the attack. I’m just worried that if they don’t end it soon, Hastings will plot another attack…”
She swung around, not believing her ears. “He’s not dead?” She gasped. “Then how…Did he just retreat?” She shook her head. “From my experiences around him, I don’t believe he just ran away…” There was no way that Hastings McKenna had retreated or surrendered. He wouldn’t do that…unless he was coming back with even more powerful weapons. Surely, though, he wouldn’t be able to come back with more demons…
“Now that Nyx is dead, he has no more help from the Demon Council,” the camerlengo said. “He won’t come back again…” He frowned as she shook her head furiously. Surely, he hadn’t made a mistake in refusing to kill Hastings? Would more lives be lost because of him?
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Katharine finally said after a few anxious moments of silence. “He may go into hiding for a time after this, and, if he does, we’ll have to wait until he surfaces again to catch him.” She glanced toward the door, wondering why she hadn’t run into any Legendary Team members on the way there. She froze when she realized that maybe they had gone home already.
As if reading her mind, the camerlengo responded, “The Legendary Team decided to stay here to make sure everything was okay before they returned to their normal lives. Ideally, they’ll stay until the end of conclave.”
“What really is normal for all of us anyway?” Katharine laughed, stooping down to scoop Pika up from the floor. “Let’s take stock of all of the unusual people that make up the Legendary Team. We have one angel, one priest who has a legendary soul, one Aquapolian professor who spends his time running around the world and studying the six powers, one Aquapolian kid who can hit any moving target with a bow and arrow, one symbologist, one adventurer who stole the Declaration of Independence and kidnapped the President of the United States, one computer scientist who is the best in the world, two detectives who track down Shadow Followers for a living, one archaeologist who wakes up every day not knowing what type he can use the abilities of, and one doctor who apparently doesn’t know the meaning of the word “tact” and literally beat up one of the most powerful Pokemon hunters in the world with his cane. I’m pretty sure none of us were destined to lead normal lives.”
The camerlengo laughed. “That sounds about right.”
There was a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal a Swiss Guard. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Father, but you are wanted in the conclave.”
His eyes widened. “Okay…I’ll be there in a few moments.”
“They also want Miss McKenna to come, too.”
Katharine and the camerlengo stared at him before he turned to leave.
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They stepped into the Sistine Chapel, an instant silence sweeping over the entire room. Katharine felt uncomfortable in the room, scrutinized by so many eyes. She stepped forward beside the camerlengo, staring up at the ceiling above to try and calm her nerves. No one said a word before the camerlengo spoke, obviously sensing that they wanted to know who the young woman was before them.
“This…” He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “…is Katharine. She is also known as Quamachi and the Chosen One in the Aquapolian legends. She is God’s chosen warrior, and angel sent down to protect our church. She has done just that on two occasions.” He glanced at the sword near the altar.
Silence reigned for a moment before Cardinal Mortarti spoke. “Katharine…is an Aquapolian. This church has persecuted Aquapolians off and on for centuries. The young woman you see before you risked her life to save us all…We owe her our gratitude. She was banned from this church at one point…We must resolve to never let that happen again.” Several cardinals nodded furiously at that statement. “Now…we must continue to rebuild our church. The Shadow Commander has retreated and the demons have been destroyed. Now is the time to turn to the future.”
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“Well, the vaccines have been spread to every part of the globe, and the day has been saved once again thanks to the Legendary Team,” House said, turning to the other Legendary Team members who sat around their meeting table. “Happy ending to an extremely weird story.”
22.
Nichols stared at the skies above rain, an extremely confused look plastered on his face. He had made his way through an onslaught of Shadow Followers, downing them at an almost sickening pace. Even though he knew these Aquapolians were trying to destroy the human race, it almost felt wrong to kill so many of them so easily. Lugia’s powers coursed through his veins, allowing him to control the air and wind from even large distances. Close up, he could make the wind razor-sharp, enough to behead most of his victims. He tried to avoid this gruesome fate for his opponents, but he soon realized that he had a choice between killing them quickly or slowly. He chose the former.
Still, that didn’t make his stomach churn any less than if he resorted to a slower, less gruesome punishment. Several times, he thought he would throw up after attacking another group of Shadow Followers. He had seen much worse in his years as a detective, but he had never killed before. This was something entirely too new, and instantly, he knew that murdering wasn’t for him.
Still, though he had focused his powers on keeping all downpours and other weather patterns away from Rome so that they could fight in a fully moonlit night, dark storm clouds covered the entire area, blocking out the sun completely and causing him to have to focus to see even a few feet in front of him. Was he slowly losing control of his powers…? Then, he remembered what he had learned from sessions listening to Langdon and Rowan explain how the six powers worked. The Chosen One could utilize the power of the sky. Perhaps she was using this storm to make conditions more inclement for her opponent?
A few shifts in the air, and Nichols knew this storm was developing into a hurricane. Though it would be fully impossible for a hurricane to form over Rome, with the power of the sky, it was completely possible. It still begged the question, however, of why Katharine was developing such a powerful storm that could actually hurt citizens living in the area. As his eyes followed the sky, he realized that the storm was only developing over the Vatican.
Even though he would probably not receive any injuries from the storm, he needed to get inside as soon as possible. Pressing a button on his communications device, he shouted over the airwaves, “Anyone who is outside needs to get inside NOW! There’s a hurricane brewing outside!”
------------
Nichols’ voice rang inside the camerlengo’s ear, causing him to wince and cover his ears, dropping to his knees as pain shot through his head. While Riley’s system was very convenient and actually helped keep the Legendary Team safe and together, the fact that the receiver was placed inside the ear caused huge problems when someone in the team (usually House) yelled over the airwaves.
Hastings glanced out a nearby window, intrigued by the wind and rain starting to batter against the glass. “A storm’s brewing outside. I wonder who caused it to start brewing?”
A huge roar shook the church to its foundations, startling both Hastings and the camerlengo, who stared out the window in the direction of the noise. The camerlengo pushed himself to his feet, feeling the power of dimension starting to shift around the church.
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The storm whipped Katharine’s hair up around her face as it battered through the area. Nyx crouched closer to the ground, trying desperately to not get herself blown away. Katharine stepped closer, looking down at her. Nyx stared up as a hole appeared in the clouds above the angel. A huge monster with nearly a dozen legs snaked out of the sky and roared again.
“Giratina,” she whispered, trying desperately to keep her place. The power of dimension was causing space and time to shift around them, flattening Nyx to the marble surface below her. Amazingly, Katharine seemed to be unaffected by this sudden shift in gravity. Nyx stared up at her, awed by the sudden radiance around the Chosen One. She didn’t even flinch when Katharine withdrew her sword from the scabbard at her side and lifted it high over her head, the crashing wind and rain making her seem even more ethereal than before.
In a fit of hysteria at her sure failure, the demon laughed, pressing her cheek against the marble floor and closing her eyes as the blade was brought crashing down through her back and straight through her heart. There was only a few moments of pain before the demon evaporated, her body destroyed by Katharine’s power surging from the sword into her body.
Another demon had fallen victim to the Chosen One.
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The effects of Nyx’s sudden death swept across the area. A bunch of Shadow Followers scattered every which way. Now that another demon had fallen, they no longer trusted that their commander could lead them to victory. It was a lost cause. The brave ones stayed behind only to gather their numbers before racing to find the Shadow Commander. This small group comprised of only around twelve Shadow Followers.
The moment Nyx was killed, Hastings’ ever-present smile faded, a serious look finally overtaking his features. The camerlengo instantly knew that his brother’s only hope for taking over the Vatican had faded. Hastings ducked his head and laughed silently to himself. The battle was over. Instead of feeling relieved, however, the camerlengo kept a tight grip on his sword. Now would be the time for Hastings to attack him out of revenge or just pure spite. The final push before he would have to retreat. Now that everything was over…the camerlengo no longer needed to even think about killing his brother. Still…still…Hastings was a danger to humans…
As the camerlengo pondered what he should do about Hastings, a dark wave fell over his eyes, blocking his vision. As his mind spun, he dropped his sword, the blade clanging on the marble floor. He could hear Hastings laugh madly. A rush of panic ran down his spine. If he couldn’t see his brother…he gasped, pain shooting through his chest. He could hear Hastings step closer to stand over him. Kneeling on the ground, the camerlengo tried to catch his breath. He could only see blackness. What was happening to him?
An outline of a black and golden figure appeared in his vision, two blood red eyes shining against golden claws. He instantly recognized the power of dimension, Giratina. And, somehow, as if the words came into his mind straight from Giratina, he knew that the legendary was outside the Vatican’s walls. It must have caused the roar that shook the church to its foundations.
It faded from his vision, restoring his sight to normal. The pain in his chest instantly subsided, and he knew that he no longer held the power of dimension.
At the same time, the other five powers experienced the same thing, each catching a glimpse of their respective legendaries before their sight was returned. The Shadow Followers were beating a fast retreat, not proving to be a danger to the weakening Legendary Team.
The remaining Shadow Followers found the Shadow Commander standing over the camerlengo, an unreadable expression on his face. “Sir!” One called out. “Nyx has been destroyed! What…what should we do?” Even the strongest of them had been broken by this defeat.
He shook his head. “We leave!” He shouted back, kneeling down beside the camerlengo. “This isn’t over yet, Patrick,” he whispered.
“Of course not,” the camerlengo whispered back, raising his eyes to meet his brother’s. “But if you return to this church again, I’ll kill you.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” Hastings smiled, standing up and stepping away. The camerlengo watched him leave for a few moments before rising to his feet, staring out the window toward St. Peter’s Square. He instantly swung around and started running for the Basilica’s doors, bursting onto the marble steps and flying down them. Katharine, in her angelic form, was sprawled in the middle of the square, unconscious. Giratina was towering over her, its red eyes following the camerlengo as he raced toward her. Just as he reached her, the power of dimension looked up at the sky toward the swirling clouds and rose into the air, disappearing above the storm and causing it to dissipate, leaving a clear night sky.
“Katharine!” He shouted as he reached her, pulling her into his arms and shaking her. “Katharine!” Her pendent glowed in the moonlight, and he sighed with relief, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to his chest, burying his face in her blonde hair. “You did it,” he whispered with relief. “You’ve saved us all.” As he spoke, Katharine’s angelic form faded, leaving her mortal form behind.
His vision swam in front of him. He could hear voices calling out faintly to him, but he couldn’t distinguish who was speaking. Exhausted from his battle with Hastings, he blacked out.
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Katharine opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the harsh sunlight filtering in through her bedroom window. She sat up, rubbing her face as Pika and Umbreon climbed up and snuggled around her, glad to see that she was awake. She glanced around her room before swinging out of bed, wincing at the aches and pains that raced through her body. Her injuries had been healed, but the pain was slow in disappearing.
Pushing open her door, she left her room, followed by her cat and dark-type down the corridors of the Vatican. She ran into no one on the way to the camerlengo’s study, where she knocked loudly on the door before entering. The camerlengo sat at his desk, staring down at a page in the Book of the Chosen One. When he heard her shut the door behind her, he looked up, closing the book instantly before jumping up from his desk.
“How are you feeling?” He asked in a worried tone, rushing toward her. Pika and Umbreon weaved around his legs, nearly tripping him as he placed both hands on her shoulders.
“Still painful, but I’m fine,” she assured him with a furious nodding of her head. She wondered how long she had been unconscious. She hadn’t suffered any major injuries during her battle with Nyx, but she had most certainly overstrained her mortal form by using her angelic powers. Luckily, she hadn’t caused much damage in that area. She could have easily killed herself by calling upon her legendary abilities. Remembering the legendary ability that her father took on, she tried to catch a glimpse of the toll that his own battle with Hastings had taken on him. He didn’t look extremely worn, just tired, as if he had stayed up for countless nights worrying over a thousand things, which he had a tendency to do even before the battle.
“Did you sleep last night?” She asked him in an equally worried tone of voice. If he refused to sleep, he would surely pass out from the lack of rest and the strain he had put on his body by fighting Hastings.
“Yes, of course I did,” he said quickly, smiling. “Of course, I was unconscious until this morning, so I really had no choice in the matter.” He shook his head. “It’s a wonder that none of us were injured in the battle…”
“How long have I been out?” She demanded, looking outside. The sun was high enough in the sky to make her think that it was already past noon. She never slept that late. She wondered if it were even the day after the battle. For all she knew, she had been unconscious for a week.
“For three days,” the camerlengo answered, looking out at the clear blue sky as well. “The conclave still hasn’t ended. They decided to extend it because of the attack. I’m just worried that if they don’t end it soon, Hastings will plot another attack…”
She swung around, not believing her ears. “He’s not dead?” She gasped. “Then how…Did he just retreat?” She shook her head. “From my experiences around him, I don’t believe he just ran away…” There was no way that Hastings McKenna had retreated or surrendered. He wouldn’t do that…unless he was coming back with even more powerful weapons. Surely, though, he wouldn’t be able to come back with more demons…
“Now that Nyx is dead, he has no more help from the Demon Council,” the camerlengo said. “He won’t come back again…” He frowned as she shook her head furiously. Surely, he hadn’t made a mistake in refusing to kill Hastings? Would more lives be lost because of him?
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Katharine finally said after a few anxious moments of silence. “He may go into hiding for a time after this, and, if he does, we’ll have to wait until he surfaces again to catch him.” She glanced toward the door, wondering why she hadn’t run into any Legendary Team members on the way there. She froze when she realized that maybe they had gone home already.
As if reading her mind, the camerlengo responded, “The Legendary Team decided to stay here to make sure everything was okay before they returned to their normal lives. Ideally, they’ll stay until the end of conclave.”
“What really is normal for all of us anyway?” Katharine laughed, stooping down to scoop Pika up from the floor. “Let’s take stock of all of the unusual people that make up the Legendary Team. We have one angel, one priest who has a legendary soul, one Aquapolian professor who spends his time running around the world and studying the six powers, one Aquapolian kid who can hit any moving target with a bow and arrow, one symbologist, one adventurer who stole the Declaration of Independence and kidnapped the President of the United States, one computer scientist who is the best in the world, two detectives who track down Shadow Followers for a living, one archaeologist who wakes up every day not knowing what type he can use the abilities of, and one doctor who apparently doesn’t know the meaning of the word “tact” and literally beat up one of the most powerful Pokemon hunters in the world with his cane. I’m pretty sure none of us were destined to lead normal lives.”
The camerlengo laughed. “That sounds about right.”
There was a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal a Swiss Guard. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Father, but you are wanted in the conclave.”
His eyes widened. “Okay…I’ll be there in a few moments.”
“They also want Miss McKenna to come, too.”
Katharine and the camerlengo stared at him before he turned to leave.
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They stepped into the Sistine Chapel, an instant silence sweeping over the entire room. Katharine felt uncomfortable in the room, scrutinized by so many eyes. She stepped forward beside the camerlengo, staring up at the ceiling above to try and calm her nerves. No one said a word before the camerlengo spoke, obviously sensing that they wanted to know who the young woman was before them.
“This…” He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “…is Katharine. She is also known as Quamachi and the Chosen One in the Aquapolian legends. She is God’s chosen warrior, and angel sent down to protect our church. She has done just that on two occasions.” He glanced at the sword near the altar.
Silence reigned for a moment before Cardinal Mortarti spoke. “Katharine…is an Aquapolian. This church has persecuted Aquapolians off and on for centuries. The young woman you see before you risked her life to save us all…We owe her our gratitude. She was banned from this church at one point…We must resolve to never let that happen again.” Several cardinals nodded furiously at that statement. “Now…we must continue to rebuild our church. The Shadow Commander has retreated and the demons have been destroyed. Now is the time to turn to the future.”
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“Well, the vaccines have been spread to every part of the globe, and the day has been saved once again thanks to the Legendary Team,” House said, turning to the other Legendary Team members who sat around their meeting table. “Happy ending to an extremely weird story.”