49. Chapter Forty-Nine #3
And once that bitch was done killing Doug, she would turn around and kill her one true love, Cody Hampshire.
Nyrah grit her teeth and balled her hands into fists.
She knew it was going to hurt, but she also knew she needed to save both Doug and Cody.
She flapped her wings rapidly, channeling a big chunk of Stamina into her [Wing Burst] and hurled herself at Temica, crashing at full power into the forcefield.
The collision threw Nyrah back, but with a steady beating of her wings she managed to land on her feet.
Pain bloomed in her shoulder that had led the charge, but the attack had been enough to cause Temica’s forcefield to flicker, faltering, before completely fading away.
Nyrah could only hope that meant the bitch was overextending herself, and she really did have some limitations.
Cody had taken the short reprise to grab a large piece of firewood from the stack next to his cottage.
He ran up behind Temica and smacked the wood across her stupid head while Temica was still disoriented from Nyrah destroying her forcefield.
Temica growled in anger and fell to her knees, but Nyrah knew their attack wouldn’t be enough to keep her down.
Get me to Cody! Knife urged.
Right! She flew straight to Cody and popped Knife out of her Inventory just in time to hand him over. “Your knife has a plan! He needs to talk to you!”
Cody
Doug’s truck…disappeared. Cody blinked a few times and wiped some rain from his eyes, but he really didn’t have time to properly process what just happened.
Nyrah had arrived in a flurry of wings and fur, and had successfully broken through Temica’s forcefield.
It gave him enough time to grab a piece of firewood and get a good smackdown on Temica, but now Nyrah was shoving Knife into his hand.
Hey, buddy, we need to talk, came Knife’s voice.
Kinda’ fucking busy right now, Knife!
I know, but I have a plan.
Cody gripped Knife in his hand but kept bashing Temica with his firewood bat as his friend explained his plan.
Temica was clearly out of juice and unable to relocate again, and she wasn’t even throwing her forcefield back up.
She was, however, getting back to her feet, and soft pink light shimmered across her skin.
Cody backpedaled, trying to make some space between him and the bitch, and to give himself time to hear Knife’s plan.
Knife quickly explained what he had in mind.
I don’t like that plan at all, Cody said to Knife.
But it’s worth a try, yeah?
Yana
This stupid chicken is really good at flying, Yana thought as she chased after Henry.
He effortlessly soared through the forest, frequently swooping down to try and attack her with his razor-sharp claws.
So far, she had managed to avoid being cut, but he was swift in the sky, like no other chicken she had ever witnessed.
Maybe…maybe he wasn’t a chicken, after all?
Maybe Cody was right? Nah, Henry was definitely a chicken!
A really stupid and monstrously deformed chicken.
Epic music was roaring through the woods as Yana dashed after Henry, but she had no idea where the sound was coming from.
She removed her necklace so she could face off with the chicken in her true form.
then she charged up her [Life-Force], took a deep breath to steady herself, and aimed at Henry.
She missed with her first blast, but her sparks still managed to clip his wing, sending him tumbling to the forest floor.
“A-ha! Can’t fly now!” Yana shouted.
Henry flapped his wings, getting back to his feet. It was clear he couldn’t properly fly anymore, but he was still flapping furiously and moving along the forest floor. Yana was pretty sure she saw panic in his pink beady eyes. Good.
He scuttled along, heading back in the direction of the cottage, where his mistress probably was.
Yana really hoped the others were safe. She hoped Nyrah and Cody were okay, and Morgan and Gracie.
She really needed to stop this evil chicken before he reached Teamica—before he could team up with his mistress and harm her friends.
Yana checked her Stamina Bar and saw it was only at fifteen percent.
She needed at least five percent for each burst of [Life-Force], so she had to be careful to not completely deplete her Stamina.
She would only be able to safely use her [Life-Force] one more time.
She gathered her power, silver sparks crackling around her fingers.
Henry had reached the edge of the forest, where the trees thinned out close to the beach.
Yana didn’t hesitate: she blasted him with her [Life-Force], silver sparks shooting from her hands and landing a direct hit on the bird’s back.
Henry went sliding across the beach, kicking up a cloud of rocks and sand until he finally came to a stop, letting out a loud, agonized squawk.
Yana huffed. He wasn’t dead. Henry was already getting back onto his feet.
He was a very tough bird, no doubt magically enhanced, but she couldn’t risk using anymore [Life-Force].
She ran at Henry full speed. Just as she was about to jump on him, he flung himself up, wings wide and claws out, scraping her arms as she shielded her face from his attack.
“Stupid chicken!” Yana roared and leapt at him again. This time she managed to get her arms around his neck, and they went tumbling across the beach, kicking and screeching at each other, wet sand clinging to their bodies and getting in Henry’s feathers.
But he was a wily and strong chicken. He slipped from her grasp, hobbling over to where his mistress was advancing on Cody.
But Yana smiled, even as blood dripped from her scraped arms, and from the corner of her mouth where his beak had jabbed at her during their tumble. Stupid chicken…your end is near!
Morgan
Well, this wasn’t how she expected her day to go.
Morgan knelt by Doug, checking his pulse.
She let out a breath of relief when she felt a slow but strong heartbeat.
His black Food Mart polo had holes burnt in it from where Temica had shot him, and his skin had painful-looking red welts.
She started to drag Doug over to the cottage, hopefully out of harm’s way.
Once she was a safe distance from Temica, she stopped to catch her breath and surveyed the current situation.
Nyrah and Cody were both trying to hit Temica with logs of firewood, but Temica was deflecting them with ease, blocking every strike with her bare arms and hands, forcing them back, closer to the lake.
It looked like she was enjoying it, like it was just a game to her.
Stupid bitch. If she injured her Cody…Fuck.
She didn’t know what she’d do. She wasn’t a magical fairy catgirl with super strength, like Nyrah.
But Morgan felt the growing need to dig her hands into Temica’s pink hair, rip it free from her scalp, and then set it on fire.
Morgan blinked a few times, trying to calm her rage and refocus.
Cody would be okay, she told herself. He had experience with fighting and…
stuff. Apparently, he didn’t have any of special powers, like he did in that other game world he talked about, but it sure looked like he remembered a thing or two about kicking ass. It was extremely hot.
Regretfully, Morgan tore her eyes away from Cody and spotted Gracie hiding in a tree, and Yana had just arrived in a feral battle of feathers and sparks with that creepy albino parrot.
And she still had no idea where Doug’s truck had disappeared to.
The rain was coming down in torrents soaking her to the bone and collecting on her glasses, making it hard to see, and the annoying epic fantasy music was blasting in her ears. It was a lot to take in, all at once.
“What the actual fuck…” Morgan muttered.
Temica shot an explosion of pink lightning from her hands, hitting Cody and Nyrah head on and flinging them away from her. Temica must have recharged, or cooled down, or whatever it was that Cody and Yana had been talking about.
Cody and Nyrah lost their grips on their makeshift weapons as they flew through the air, and Morgan watched as Cody’s knife went flying from his hand.
It landed in the grass several feet away from Cody.
As soon as he reoriented himself, he frantically began to search through the grass.
He was clearly looking for the knife and Morgan saw exactly where it had landed.
She groaned in frustration as she watched Cody veer off in the opposite direction, heading away from the knife.
Luckily, Nyrah was back on her feet in seconds and leapt at Temica in a burst of red light. The bitch shoved her away sans sparkle magic, using her brute strength, but Nyrah managed to stay standing, snarling and with her claws out, ready to attack again. She really was one tough cookie.
Morgan took one quick second to smile to herself. This was it, the reason she had wanted Nyrah on her side. She knew the girl would fight tooth and nail to protect Cody. Their Cody. And on top of that, Nyrah had saved Doug, too. Yep, she was really starting to like the girl.
Morgan gave her unconscious brother’s arm a reassuring squeeze, and then ran back into the fray, right to where she saw the knife land. She grabbed it and ran over to Cody to pass him his special weapon.
“I need a clean shot!” he said to her as pink lightning crackled in the sky and thunder boomed.
Nyrah wasn’t giving up. She was repeatedly leaping and clawing at Temica, but the pink-haired bitch was flicking her away with her bare hands, as if the nekofae was an annoying little gnat.
“A clean shot at Temica?” Morgan asked.
“Yeah. Her heart.”
Morgan looked up to see Temica stalking towards them. She had a menacing grin on her beautiful face as she smacked aside Nyrah yet again.