Jonathan Mashack
YUMI
All of the smoke was pushed upward and back toward Kyro. I turned around, expecting to see Princess Tuyette standing behind me, but I saw Juicy gliding downward like she was riding the wind.
When she landed she said, “Yo! What up? You good?”
“Thanks to you, I am. How did you do that?”
“Not important! We don’t have much time before the smoke clears. I have to get you all to safety…but where to go, where to go?”
I looked around. Then, I looked to the top of the tree that Lucius was standing on, but Lucius was gone.
I said, “Where did he go?”
Juicy responded, “Who?”
“Lucius, he was up there. He just saved me not long ago.”
“Where was he?” she asked.
“Up there.” I said as I pointed with my left hand to the top of the rod-like tree.
“That’s perfect!” Juicy said as she ran toward the princess.
The princess smiled, “Hey Juicy! I see you’re back from your assignment. How did it go?”
“It was going fine until I heard that our tribe was being attacked. So, I put the assignment on hold. By the way, I prefer to be called my real name now.”
Oh, okay, Yumi.” The princess said as she thought to herself, ‘She’s finally decided to get serious.’
Juicy put the Princess on one shoulder and Dan on the other and summoned ocean water under her feet. They surfed to the base of the tree where long, sharp rods stuck out the most, which protected them from flying debris and direct attacks.
Juicy checked Dan’s pulse, “He’s alive but barely. He needs medical attention as soon as possible.”
As Juicy came back, the toxic smoke was nearly cleared.
“Juicy lend me your sword.” I asked.
“Yeah, right? You can barely stand, and you think I’m going to give you MY sword? You’re better off over there with the them.”
As the smoke cleared, Juicy began walking forward. As she saw who we had been fighting, she put her hand on her hip and said, “Well if it isn’t Dr. Kyro! I should have known that you were a hybrid, considering how bad your breath is.”
“Well, if it isn’t the vulgar, loud-mouth and lazy successor of Princess Tuyette.”
“That’s right! And this vulgar, loud-mouth is about to put you in your place!”
Kyro snarled with anger, ran toward Juicy and blew a massive stream of fire at her. Juicy stood there and didn’t even bother dodging his attack. The fire appeared to hit Juicy. It looked as if she was entirely consumed by it, but the fire soon cleared as she spat out a massive amount of water from her mouth. This created a massive cloud of steam in the air.
The steam cleared revealing that neither Juicy nor Kyro was injured by their scuffle.
Just a moment later, as Kyro was about to charge again, but there was a beeping sound just like before.
The princess’ eyes widened, “Oh no, not again. We have to get out of here!”
Kyro pulled out his pocket watch and smiled, “You may be able to block my fire, but you can’t block what’s coming.”
“What do you mean?” Juicy said hastily.
Kyro began to laugh, “They’re getting bigger as we speak! But this time, they’re not just going to attack! THEY ARE GOING TO EXPLODE!”
“What are you talking about?” Juicy yelled.
The princess shouted with desperation in her voice, “The Crimsons! The last time that thing beeped they became giants!”
“I see. So, now they are about to get even bigger and then explode.” Juicy said as she glared at Kyro.
Kyro laughed, “Each one of them will completely destroy everything within a thirty yard radius!”
Then, I spoke up, “Well, what about you? You just drank the formula! How do you plan on escaping?”
“Don’t be concerned about me! I am a true Crimson Blood! I won’t be exploding! You best worry about yourselves because the others will explode very soon!” Kyro claimed.
I became irritated, “So, you’re sacrificing all of your followers?”
“Sacrifice? The way I see it, they volunteered!” Kyro shouted.
I tried to step forward to attack Kyro but my body was still too injured and fell to one knee.
Juicy said, “Don’t let him get you worked up. Besides, I’ll take him from here on out.”
Then we heard a very low deep voice say, “That will not be necessary.”
We all looked around but did not see anyone.
Kyro looked above him and said, “They should have been getting bigger by now. What happened to the explosions?”
Then, Lucius showed up, slowly approaching us from behind, “I happened to them, well, most of them. These guys happened to the rest of them.” Then he pointed behind Kyro.
Behind Kyro were three hybrids wearing chest armor with a dragon foot symbol slightly different from Kyro’s Crimson Bloods.
One of the hybrids looked like a Gorilla, his arms and shoulders were massive. The other looked like a snake, the bottom half of his body was just one long tail--he had no legs and appeared to slither around on his belly like a snake. The last hybrid looked like a lion, and it was obvious that he was the one in charge.
Lucius continued, “When I saw Dr. Kyro drink that hybrid’s blood, and it began to shrink I knew exactly what to do to take out the rest of the hybrids. So, I summoned my cleansing mushroom plant and attached a seed to each giant Crimson. The mushrooms sucked all of the contents of Dr. Kyro’s serum out.”
“That means...” Kyro snarled.
Lucius continued, “Which means that they’re looking human again, well mostly. But those guys over there, they killed the Crimsons that I couldn’t get to. Although I’m grateful…I must say, I’m a little confused seeing that they appear to be Crimsons too.”
All of a sudden we heard that same low deep voice again, but this time it was closer to us.
It said, “Let me explain.” Then from behind us near the princess came the lion-like hybrid that was not long before behind Kyro.
I wondered, ‘How did he? When did he? Who the heck are these guys?’