Chapter 12

Ignition

Gritty smiled and stood just outside her door as they talked. With his back against the wall he started picking at one of his claws with the tip of his dagger. He knew all she had to do was to get things out of her system; Ursa's always been thick headed, guessed that's one of the things he always loved about her.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore" she said as she donned her sword belt

"Hay I fully agree with you," He replied. "Don't get me wrong it's just that…"his words trailed off as the room started to shake.

What the… what's going on? She shouted as she ran out of the room.

As the shaking stopped the alarm bells started ringing. They both started to run down the hall when Gritti heard something hissing from behind a wall.

"Get down" he shouted to her as he grabbed a hold of her arm yanking her down to the ground and covering her with his body as the wall next to them erupted into flames.

The building started to shake even harder now and Gritty could hear that the building was crumbling around them.

"We gotta move" he shouted as they got to his paws.

Through the rubble and smoke they ran through the burning building and Gritty let out a growl as he smashed his shoulder into the main entryway door and driving his self through its burning frame. Ursa was right on his heels as the building collapsed and the both landed with a thud of the stone floor of the courtyard.

They both gasped as they witnessed Ursalia engulfed in flames as smoke poured from building after building and all around them the sounds of battle filled the air. As they ran towards the fighting they saw a round of ballista's flying through the air then as they rounded a corner they gasped when out of the flames stood a human facing away from them with this thing floating around him.

Ursa growled in anger and made her move first as she unsheathed her sword. She ran directly at him leaping in the air with a warriors cry and brought her sword down upon their assailant. Steel sparked on steel as her sword swing was deflected by the sudden appearance of the humans own sword. His move was so fast she could hardly see it and as the human turned to look upon her she gasped as she recognized who it was.

She recoiled and brought herself back to her fighting stance with her sword on guard in front of her. "Igthorn…" she said with flames of anger in her eyes

He slowly turned to her and smiled an evil grin "is that all you got? How disappointing, I was expecting more from you but I can see from the look in your eyes that you have many questions. All of which are irrelevant I assure you my dear, for you see I now possess a power far greater then you could possible imagine so allow me to explain you're demise like this.

"For years I contemplated and thought of various ways of getting things that are rightfully mine with the kingdom of Dunwin and through trial and mostly error I have failed time and time again to achieve that goal. Then one day I had discovered a powerful concoction brewed from the fruit of a plant they called the Gummiberry. At that time I felt that this would solve all my problems but; with it, also brought me even more problems from creatures such as you.

You who are nothing more than a child's obsession based on a fantasy realm and the legends of fairytales.

You who are supposed to be nothing more than mythological creatures dead to the world and long forgotten into the pages of time; you who have become a plague on my soul that festers like an open wound.

At one point in time I all I wanted was to conquer a kingdom, to dominate society or even rule the world but none of that would be possible as long as you and your kind still exist. With this power, I no longer need your precious juice to conquer a worthless chunk of land. With this not only will I take my revenge out on Gregor but all those who stand in my way. And with it, I will finally turn the Gummi Bears into the forgotten and vanished mythological creatures they were meant to be.

Ursa stood there in silence. The shock of his words had to flow away quickly. She didn't understand what brought this on suddenly but it didn't really matter, right now she needed all of her experience as a warrior. By his own words it told her that he was dead serious and this was the start of a campaign designed to destroy them all. This wasn't the moronic, dimwitted Duke Igthorn she had seen in years past. This one has the look of a man possessed by corruption who has come to the end of humanity grasping at his last straw. Only this time the straw has the power to make good on his threats and those threats needed to be squashed right here and right now and it's a good thing Barbics work as a team.

A battle cry came from over Igthorn as Gritty jumped from his perch. He landed two bear sized fists onto his head and shoulders knocking Igthorn to the ground and started pounding on him with all his might. Blow after blow he delivered to the back of the human figure smashing and driving his face into the ground. He paused as he felt Igthorn's body go limp, panting heavily in anger catching his breath.

But Ursa could almost feel the power from the orb building in Igthorn

"GRITTI GET OUT OF THERE!" She shouted but it was too late as the orb sent out a magical blast that made Gritti's body fly through the air landing him in a pile of debris

Ursa enraged, ran at Igthorn as he climbed to his feat and turned to face her and she swung her sword with all her combat skill but parry after parry he matched and blocked her sword. His speed was remarkable and she gave it everything she had and she was tiring quickly and that was when she knew she had made a mistake as his blade gashed at her shoulder.

Ursa clinched her teeth and fell to her knees as she reeled from the pain. Her held pressure on the wound with her paws but her shoulder was bleeding bad and her arm started to go numb.

Igthorn walked over to her and kicked her in the side of her head and she collapsed and fell to the rest of the way to the ground.

Igthorn slowly walked over to her and held his sword up to her throat. "I could finish you right now," he sneered "but I want you to beg for your death. You are too weak little bear. You weren't even a challenge for me.

Ursa looked up at him as she winced in pain

"You can kiss my furry a…rrgg she hissed but her words was cut off as an arrow flew through the air hitting Igthorn directly in his sword hand piercing his flesh making him drop his sword.

"You can just leave her alone" Grubbi said as he knocked another arrow and fired.

Grubbi had trained for years and was a remarkable marksman with his bow and with lightning quick reflexes, his arrows flew at Igthorn but he quickly out maneuvered them but at least he made his way away from Ursa. The power of that orb made him extremely fast even by human standards and from what he saw he knew he couldn't keep him at bay for long.

Ursa started to crawl her way across the floor in a trail of blood when someone grabbed her arm

"Come on Ursa you have to get up"

She knew that voice… it was Buddi he must have come with Grubbi.

"You need to get out of here Buddi" gulped her mouth dehydrated. She could feel herself starting to pass out from the loss of blood.

"Not without you" he said "We've already got Gritti. He and Zummi are waiting on us at the Quick Tunnel.

She gathered what little strength she had left and let the little cub help her. She loved him like a mother and was proud of him she wasn't going to let him down. But time had run out as Grubbi came crashing down on the ground in front of them his bow broken in two

They both turned to see Igthorn once again over top of them bringing his sword directly down upon them but Buddi was able to push her aside and dodge himself long enough for the blade to only hit the ground.

"I'm tired of you blasted Bears" he shouted as he kicked her to the ground once again "But you do have one endearing quality that I have been looking for. You don't know when to give up which is why I have decided something"

Ursa picked her head up off the ground, her eyes blurred and her ears still rang from hitting the ground. She turned her head towards him and lay there in horror as Igthorn used the power of the orb to cast a spell at her.

"I'll teach you to mess with me! He shouted as she closed her eyes and waited for the end.

Moments later she heard a cry and when she opened them she discovered that she was not the target. The cry came from Buddi.

"NO!" she screamed as she watched the little bear wither in pain.

Igthorn let out an evil laugh as Buddi began to warp and change. "This is what will happen to all who stand in my way! And not even the Gummi Bears can stop me now!

His malevolent laugh trailed off into what felt like eternity as cold shivers and ran down her body and in mere moments the spell had changed him, misshapen him and transformed him from the cub she loved into a horrid beast when out of the smoke they walked and joined their newest brethren and stood there in front of her as a new army of Ogres.

Her body wouldn't move and her cry's only shouted into oblivion as the tears flowed over her face.

"No. This wasn't the moronic Duke Igthorn she knew, like a possessed spirit; this one was far more evil and for the first time in her life…She was afraid.