Hola a todos! CJzilla here with another update! In this chapter, the fight with the giant alien shadow comes to a head. Enjoy!
As I rampage all over this town, all CJzilla has to roar is this... R&R! Love... Hate... Review.
AN: .... feeling lazy.... next chapter I will do a "dear reviewers".
Chapter 14
Shadow Wounds
It seemed that the alien's onslaught only increased with the Titanium Titan's presence. The ex-sidekick held his back to Manny Rivera's as they swung wildly, shredding dark tentacles that craved their essences. The alien seem to spare no free moment as bigger tentacles joined the fray. Walls of black shadow towered over the two supers.
"Holy mother of-!" The Titan drawled in awe as the inky mass closed over their heads and blocked out the sun. Gritting his crooked teeth, the small man pushed Manny to the ground.
The thirteen-year-old super felt his enemy shove him to the pavement. For a second Manny thought the Titan had turned on him. Then he felt a wind. Looking up he saw that the ex-sidekick had transformed his liquid metal arms into a big propeller. The giant blades created a wind as they spun and sunk into the shadow tentacles. Pieces of black tentacle flew in every direction. And then the sun shone down on them again.
"On your feet, Tigre!" The Titan commanded. Manny pushed himself to his jelly-like legs.
He was getting too tired too fast. The ex-sidekick roughly grabbed the boy. With his free hand, the Titan shot a liquid metal rope to the nearest building. Yanking himself and his teenage enemy into the air, they zipped out of danger. Dropping to the roof, the Titanium Titan released Manny. The boy fell to his knees, heaving.
"I never did like that black moco!" He heard the ex-sidekick growl. "It was nothing but trouble from the beginning! Possessive little-!"
"What are you talking about?" Manny growled, holding his head. An irritated tic came to the Titan's eye.
"The alien, El Tigre!" He threw his liquid metal arms into the air. "It never did like me, even though I am Alejandra's querito!"
Manny shuddered as the Titan continued.
"For six months I wasn't allowed to touch her! And now this!" He snarled. "It's past due time that it be taught a lesson."
"Oh, yeah. You're REALLY showing it whose boss." Manny quipped through gritted teeth. The Titan zipped into his face.
"If I wasn't saving YOUR butt all the time, I might have by now!" He hissed. The teen super narrowed his green eyes.
"I-!" But he stopped, mid-sentence. Several massive tentacles had wrapped around the building.
The dark appendages squeezed the structure. The building's windows instantly shattered before the framework buckled. The ground beneath Manny and the Titan's feet dropped out from under them. Now freefalling, with nothing to grab onto, both supers didn't have time to think. The Titan was snatched out of the air by vengeful tentacles while Manny bounced off of the shadows and tumbled to the street.
Flipping to his stomach, Manny looked up. The boy saw the Titan held spread-eagle by four tentacles while another was poised to strike him. It surly looked like the Titan's luck had run out. But a strum of a guitar was heard and a bright red blast soon followed. The black magic burst sheered through a tentacle holding the ex-sidekick's wrists. It was enough for the small super to pull free and defend himself. Frida had once again proved herself a valuable asset to this fight. Panning to the side, Manny saw his best friend strumming on Sartana of the Dead's Mystic Guitar, blasting away tentacles and skeleton banditos coming toward her. Heaving himself to his feet, the boy stumbled toward her, to protect her.
Frida watched another skeleton bandito crumple into a pile of bones. One down and half a million to go… Out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone running toward her. Whipping around, she pointed the guitar at her so-called attacker. She nearly blasted her best friend into ash. One glance and Frida knew that Manny wasn't himself. He stumbled into her.
"I'll protect you… Frida." He heaved, out of breath and exhausted. Frida immediately shook her head, her blue hair tickling his face.
"No way! You need to take five!" She returned. But same pig-headed Manny; he refused.
"I've got to… protect you." He wheezed. Frida scoffed.
"Yeah right! You're not much use if you can't throw a punch to save your life!" She told him. "Just take a breather. I can handle a few slow banditos and over-grown shadows."
Manny felt the girl's hands wrap around his arms. The next thing he knew, he was sitting on the sidewalk with Frida blasting more tentacles. The boy let himself fall backwards and lie on his back. Looking up into the dark sky, he had enough energy to listen to the sound of the battle; the moan of undead bone, the strum of the Mystic Guitar and the hiss of tentacles dying. Closing his eyes, Manny let himself breathe.
"Well, now we know why our week's been so crummy, Manny." Frida finally spoke. The boy opened his eyes.
The thirteen-year-old girl stood beside him, a serious look on her face as she played that magical guitar like there was no tomorrow.
"The dreams were all La Cortina's doing, so was the creep in the street and the fire at the Chipotles." Frida continued. "Not to mention all of those fiercely unnecessary cameras at your place. Let's not forget Ms. Chichita and framing us for stealing that necklace. Did I forget anything?"
A grin stretched over Manny's tired mouth.
"You forgot about getting my belt taken away, forcing me and my dad to give up super-heroing and making me look bad." The boy answered. Frida gave a laugh.
"And trashing the city. Seriously; my favorite churros stand was leveled." She growled. Manny's grin turned into a smile. "But yeah… this pretty much explains the last three days. I think Alejandra and the Titan deserve a wedgie; at least!"
Manny lifted his head from the cement and opened his mouth to say something. Suddenly, a tentacle slammed over his neck and mercilessly yanked him away from Frida.
"MANNY!" He heard his best friend scream. The boy was whipped around by that shadow ribbon.
Throughout being viciously thrashed, Manny desperately tried the free himself. As soon as he had a hand on that tentacle around his neck, two more came. His wrists and ankles were seized and forced outward. Then the tentacle around his throat began to squeeze. He could no longer breathe. Manny fought to free himself. No good; his struggling seemed to only make the tentacle tighten more. Then a fourth shadow ribbon appeared. It hovered there for a long moment before it flew toward him. Manny expected to have his essence immediately sucked out, but instead, he felt a sharp sting to his face.
Opening his eyes, he saw nothing but that black ribbon hovering in front of him. Had the tentacle just slapped him? Suddenly then the tentacle dove into his chest. Manny felt cold as his essence was slowly was siphoned away. Lack of oxygen was shoving him that much closer to unconsciousness. The tentacle tightened its grip on his throat. Manny was just hung there, his wrists and ankles immobile, totally helpless. It seemed that the shadow creature wanted him dead just as much as it wanted his essence.
Then he heard a bizarre sound; like the buzz of electricity and the roar of flames. There was a hiss and a scream of a tentacle. Then Manny was dropped, his hands, feet and throat released.
"Manny!" His father's voice rang in his ears and the man caught him before he hit the ground. Manny wretched and gasped for air. "Mijo! Are you all right?!"
The boy nodded, though not opening his eyes.
"Rodolfo!" It was Grandpapi, too! "Is he bueno?!"
"I don't know, papi! I don't know how long he was hung-!" And suddenly his father moved to the side. Manny felt tiny pieces of sidewalk rain down on him and his father gasp.
Opening his eyes, the boy was looking up at his father. Blurry but just for a moment, the form of a shadowy tentacles rose above the man's head. Manny couldn't form the words to warn him. Just as that tentacle crashed down on Rodolfo, a sinister and bright red line cut through the shadow with the same buzz of electricity and roar of flames. The tentacle hissed and died. By that time, Rodolfo whirled around. Manny saw Alejandra Marengo behind them, holding a familiar looking red-energy whip. The woman flicked her wrist and more tentacles were instantly fried. With one pass of Silverwolf's signature weapon and it seemed that the whole road was momentarily clear of tentacles.
Now that there was no black mass to hinder his sight, Manny spotted Frida, Dr. Chipotle Jr. and the Titanium Titan. All were still alive but it was clear that this was a fight they could not win.
"Alejandra!" The Titan's voice carried over the din. Everyone turned to see a very miffed ex-sidekick glaring at his girlfriend. "I TOLD you to stay where you couldn't get hurt!"
Alejandra let that energy whip fall to the ground as she returned the Titan's glare.
"I'm not going to hide while you guys take care of MY mess!" She spat back. The Titan gritted his crooked teeth.
"You don't have superpowers anymore, chica!" He snarled. "You're a sitting-!"
And then another wave of skeleton banditos hit everyone. Rodolfo was jumped from behind and thrown to the ground; Manny still in his arms. White Pantera grunted and pulled his son out of his arms.
"Manny! RUN!" Rodolfo choked out before his face was slammed to the sidewalk by a skeleton. Manny's breath hitched in his throat as he was flung back into his nightmares.
He couldn't lose his father! As the skeleton banditos swarmed, adrenaline and fury raged through the teen's body. Suddenly glowing with a bright green incandescence, Manny was overrun by the mystical Tiger Spirit. Eyes shinning bright green with this mighty power, the boy now had the ability to save his friends and family. The teen super opened his claws and gave a thunderous El Tigre roar.
Skeleton banditos and tentacles were instantly disintegrated simply by the massive sound. With all tentacles and skeletons gone, everyone stopped and watched the young boy. Manny crouched and put all he had into this jump. Sailing into the sky, El Tigre had a bone to pick with the giant shadow creature puppeting this fight.
Not even a second into the sky and Manny saw the enormous shadow standing over the city. And he didn't' go unnoticed by the massive evil. The shadow flexed and produced mammoth claws. El Tigre accepted the fight. Still glowing with the Tiger Spirit, the thirteen-year-old hero sped toward the shadow and they met with a violent clash.
Plunged his claws into its inky body, Manny heard the shadowy alien cry out in pain. The shadow creature screamed as the teen's claws took chunks of its body away from it. Swiping at the awesomely powerful teen, the inky alien attempted to swat him away. But whatever of its body touched Manny, pieces of it were shredded with his metal claws. With every slash of El Tigre's glowing green claws, he took huge amounts of shadow. But… it never seemed to grow smaller or weaker as he remembered. Last time… he had acid guacamole in this fight.
Suddenly, a huge tentacle struck him from the side. Pain never registered but the boy's concentration was broken. The green light of the mystical Tiger Spirit faded. The teen was caught by the huge shadowy enemy. Its lithe, stretchy body moving like a ribbon and suddenly El Tigre was staring into its sinister purple eyes. Manny gulped as the alien's massive hand moved over him. But it lingered; the alien's huge purple eyes boring into his. Then its eyes narrowed and that chilled Manny's spine.
And unexpectedly the giant shadow jerked as if it was struck by something.
Even from across the city, the giant shadow creature instantly froze. It felt her touch, it felt her presence. Alejandra. The monstrous alien shadow's lithe body whirled around and it stared in the direction of the woman. The evil creature wanted to deny its connection with Alejandra but it felt a pull downward, toward her.
Down on the battlefield, Alejandra held her hand to a tentacle. She swallowed her fear and gave the alien a simple touch. Looking around, she saw that the tentacles and banditos around them had become motionless. And then, with a fast wind, the tentacles retreated. The skeleton banditos stood quietly and gave everyone the opportunity to fight free. Alejandra stood silent, though. She didn't know what would happen as soon as she revealed her presence to the alien. Something told her it was going to get worse.
And all of a sudden… the air around them felt icy. Then the alien revealed itself. Inky shadow filled the ground around their feet, seemingly bleeding as it seeped toward Alejandra. Alejandra watched the black inkiness pool in front of her. The darkness then flowed upwards until it formed the shape of a lithe shadow with purple eyes. The alien glared at its host, arms, hands and claws forming from its black body.
Alejandra's green eyes were wide as her breath caught. She knew the alien well enough to know that it was furious. And as if to drive the hopelessness further, the creature reached within itself and pulled out Manny. Gasping, everyone watched as the big shadow held the coughing boy in its claws.
"Manny!" Frida cried her hands clapped to her trembling mouth.
"You nasty, black… moco!" Manny writhed as his arms and legs were lashed motionless. This wriggling only drew himself attention.
Silently, the alien opened its claws and poised them, ready to sink into the boy's body and tear out the last of his essence.
"Stop!" It was Alejandra. The alien craned upwards and narrowed its eyes threateningly at the woman.
The living shadow thrust Manny to the ground before throwing him, never taking its sights off of its host. The teen flew out of sight and a loud crash was heard. Manny was out of the alien's grip at least. Now Alejandra watched as the alien symbiote grew and trembled with anger. It was nearly on her when a blast of liquid silver metal pierced the shadow's head.
"Get AWAY from her, you cosa sin valor!" The Titanium Titan blasted, yanking his liquid metal sword upwards, rending the alien's head. But the attack did nothing to hinder the alien's anger; the ex-sidekick only got its attention.
The big shadow slowly turned as its head regained its shape. It glared absolute animosity toward the only man that stood between it and Alejandra's heart. Spreading its claws, the alien dove at the Titan, instantly overtaking him. But it didn't want his essence; it only wanted to tear him limb from limb. The alien thrust a tentacle to the Titan's side, instantly inflicting injury. The man let out a yell of pain before the shadow grasped his head with both of its dark hands. It would break his neck before it would rend his head from his body.
"Frida! Smash the guitar!" It heard Alejandra nearly scream. The alien shadow jerked its head upwards as horror came onto its featureless face.
The blue-haired teen nodded and pulled the mystical guitar from her back.
NO!
The alien dropped the Titanium Titan and thrust out its hand. It was at that moment that the skeleton banditos obeyed their master's command and began to move again. Frida rose the guitar above her head and was about to strike it to the cement when it was snatched out of her hands. Spinning, she saw a skeleton bandito had stolen the mystical instrument and held it above its undead head. Just then a laser blast struck the skeleton in the head. The bandito fell to pieces and Dr. Chipotle Jr.'s voice was heard.
"GET IT!" The ten-year-old mad scientist shouted. And there was a free-for-all scramble after Sartana's Mystical Guitar.
Skeleton banditos and supers clamored for the instrument. White Pantera darted into the fray and grabbed it from the pile of bones while taking Frida in his other arm. The superhero dug his heels into the cement and used his super speed to dart away from the sidewalk. Dozens of banditos mobbed where they were standing just half a second ago.
Rodolfo came to a stop as a wall of shadow blocked him from running any further. The hero swallowed as skeletons rushed toward him. Then he spotted his father.
"Papi!" And he cranked back his arm, with Frida and the mystic instrument in it. "Catch!"
Puma Loco rushed forward as White Pantera threw the girl and guitar. The mech suit caught both as Rodolfo was swarmed again.
"Break it Frida!" Grandpapi spat out, letting the girl to the ground. And then he was swatted away by a big tentacle.
Frida's eyes came to the alien shadow. It didn't look so happy as it produced another tentacle. This was the last chance she'd get. Throwing the guitar to the ground, she raised her boot to smash it in. Unfortunately, a bandito wrapped its bony arms around her before she could. Jerked upwards, Frida could no longer reach the guitar.
"NO!" The girl cried, kicking. The alien shadow relaxed its tentacles and seemed to smile.
It appeared hopeless as a ribbon of darkness coiled around the mystic guitar and pulled it into the air. The alien turned and looked at Alejandra, a mocking expression could nearly be seen on its featureless face.
Then the alien felt something hit the guitar. Craning around, it saw El Tigre's grapple claws sunk deep into the mystic instrument. The teen hero was not far behind. An exhausted by satisfied smile was over Manny's dirty and blood flecked face.
"Last year…" The boy grinned as he spat a mix of blood and saliva to the ground, "I thought you learned your lesson."
With a flex of his hand, Sartana's Mystic Guitar instantly buckled and broke. In a hiss of dissipating black magic, all of the skeleton banditos disintegrated and the alien's most powerful essence was gone. The shadowy creature shrieked in frustration as it felt a huge chunk of strength taken from it. Snarling, the alien shrunk and fell forward, trembling. All that power… gone.
Out of the tops of its purple eyes, it saw Alejandra over at the Titanium Titan's side. Rage flared through its black body.
Alejandra knew her boyfriend was hurt badly; she could see the skin of his side turning a dark reddish-purple color. He was bleeding internally and needed help immediately.
"Mi amore." Alejandra whispered, tears coming to her eyes. "I'm so… sorry."
Through the blinding pain ravaging his insides, the Titan locked eyes with her.
"Don't worry, Alejandra. I'll be all right. I'm the Titanium Titan." He managed a cocky smirk. Alejandra couldn't hold back a sob.
"Alejandra!" They suddenly heard Rodolfo's voice. "LOOK OUT!"
Shadow claws wrapped around the woman's head and jerked her off of the Titan. The shadow creature would not have betrayal and defiance. Alejandra was spun and came face to face with the alien. Its selfish and evil purple eyes asked one question… "Why". Alejandra scowled.
"Let GO of me!" She fumed, trying to tear the alien's claws from her hair. "You terrible MONSTER!"
The shadow creature merely grasped her firmer. It had enough of her disobedience and was going to teach her a lesson in being a slave. But it heard a hum of electricity before it felt something red hot sink into its side. Reeling, the alien was horrified to see that Alejandra had activated that energy whip and used it. She flicked her wrist and the shadow's arm was sliced off. Alejandra was free.
"I only wanted to HELP people!" The woman snarled, cranking back her arm and lashing the alien with the whip. "And YOU used me to HURT people!"
The shadowy creature's inky body seared and smoked with every stroke of that energy whip.
"You said you were my friend! You said you cared about me! I TRUSTED you!" Alejandra took another chunk from the alien's back. "You twisted, wicked creature! You've made me into a villain! I never should have listened to you! I HATE YOU!"
With those words, the shadow alien suddenly coiled upwards, tackling its host. As Alejandra and the alien tumbled, the energy whip flying out of her hand. The powerful weapon flew through the air and sliced through a piece of unstable building, instantly lighting it on fire. The mangled mess of metal, concrete, wood and fire creaked as it began to break away from the crumbling building. Alejandra came to a stop on her back and the alien pounced off of her. The living shadow righted and was ready to rip out her essence for this most heinous of treacheries.
But at that moment, the flaming debris finally separated from the building. It fell toward Alejandra. Seconds passed like days as tons of wreckage fell to the street. Alejandra was on her back and unable to move quick enough to save herself. She looked up just to see the fire and concrete speeding toward her. She couldn't be saved. In a plume of smoke and a thunderous groan of metal on concrete, the building collapsed over the woman, burying her.
A wave of dust and smoke engulfed the street and supers. A mere second passed before they realized that Alejandra was under the mass of smoldering building. Bringing their eyes upward, they saw the pile of debris and the distraught shadowy alien zip on top of it. It began digging, desperately trying to save its beloved host. Hoisting boulder after boulder, iron beam after iron beam, the powerful alien creature finally uncovered the woman.
Pulling the motionless female from the wreckage, one look over the alien's purple eyes and all could see that it was cut to the core. It carefully touched Alejandra's face as its inky body began to rise with emotion. It passed a finger through the woman's body and listened. Nothing was heard.
Suddenly a cuff from a liquid metal mace got the alien off of her.
"ALEJANDRA!" The Titanium Titan was on his feet and rushed to his girlfriend's side. "Alejandra?!"
She was mangled; her beautiful face covered in ash and dirt, her limbs were in unnatural positions and she wasn't breathing. Glancing over his shoulder, the Titan looked to the stunned Riveras.
"HELP! She's HURT!" He called out. Rodolfo was snapped out of his stupor and rushed to his ex-sidekick's side. "Alejandra?! Alejandra! Come back! Don't die on me!"
The Titanium Titan's pathetic cries were suddenly drowned out as the sky cleared and the essences of all those attacked by the alien were restored. Off to the side, the alien shadow slinked away, pitifully oozing into a storm drain and disappearing into the darkness. Ambulance sirens were then heard in the far distance and it was a mournful wail to such a rotten day.
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