The Piasa Bird

Was Cahoki a foe?

Of course! She was, at least.

Did she propose an alliance?

Yes, she did.

Was it a trap?

No, it wasn't.

Why then, would Shiver's top hench-woman be wanting to go against her master and the legion of villains for whom she served?

It was unclear. Cahoki would never answer that question. Great advice? Oh, yea! She knew where we needed to go, and helped us to plan how to deal with the situation.

We had to trust her.

She knew where the Piasa Bird was located and also knew its language, an ancient Native American language, and would go to communicate with him to convince him he had been deceived. I actually thought since she could speak with him, and had no fear to do so, she must have been the one who hoodwinked the ancient hibernating dragon into helping them.

What of us then?

Well, Jacob, now recovered (he was unconscious due to fear more than anything else), Big Pinky and I had to hold off the main forces of the Virtuous Villains long enough to let her convince the magical creature that Liba was not evil, and in fact, those who he was helping were the evil ones.

We had a fight on our hands for sure!

Just us three versus five of the most powerful villains in the states. Shiver, of course, was present, along with Steel Fist, who we met earlier, and three others: Scribbler, a middle-schooler who could draw whatever she wanted and have it come to life which was usually a giant monster of some sorts according to Cahoki; Volta, a young man who had energy production he could shoot in various ways; and Living Grave, a sloppy fat-man who could animate the dead and traveled with crates full of dead animals. He didn't like to animate people, but would, if he had to when the time came.

It was an interesting lot of characters for sure!

With Big Pinky and Cahoki on their side, previously, they were certainly a force to be had!

We came to the cave where the ancient Piasa Bird painting was located on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River, and Jacob was to teleport Cahoki into the cave, past the pre-mentioned guards, and then teleport out to help us. With any luck, he could teleport some of the villains away during the battle to even things out. Big Pinky was to, well, smash, crush, and destroy! And I was going to burn down whatever I could!

Not much in the way of planning. We had a short time to pull this all off before the captured heroes, The United Stars of American, a name I didn't really care for, were all given to the Piasa Bird for lunch!

It was like an old, western showdown. After Jacob teleported Cahoki inside, then came out, we walked out from our hiding place to the opening before the cavern which was about a football field's length of rocky land before the edge of the cliff. Together, the three of us faced our enemies ready to fight. They stood their ground, and we stood ours!

"Ha-ha-ha! Druk, oh Druk! Finally, I have you now! Look at this measly rabble I see you with! It was hard to lose Big Pinky however I think Steel Fist here is ready to get his revenge! You don't have a chance!" Shiver called out while the unattractive fighter, red-faced and grinning, picked up his huge metal fist and shook it our way.

And as we had planned, they made the first move.

Shiver shot a beam of hardened ice directly at me, while Volta shot his energy beams, green and blue in color, towards Jacob. Steel Fist and Big Pinky ran towards each other ready to beat the other into submission!

Meanwhile, Scribbler furiously doodled in her notebook, and Living Grave opened his crate to release four zombie wolves, native to the land, that looked and smelled atrocious!

Jacob, knowing something was coming his way, teleported immediately near Scribbler and grabbed her notebook, teleporting well away, and ripped it to shreds while she screamed mercilessly at him in a sort of tantrum.

Big Pinky and Steel Fist traded blows, neither budging, grabbing one another, and wrestling about, with Pinky slowly shoving him towards the edge of the cliff.

The energy beam from Volta missed wildly as Jacob had teleported, and I threw up my flame shield that evaporated the ice to steam instantaneously as it hit me, and threw fireballs at the snarling, undead creatures, setting them aflame!

We had everything handled!

Well, for a few seconds anyway.

Pinky had Steel Fist just about shoved off, when Volta, after his first shot, turned towards the brutes and let rapid blasts of his colored-beams, striking Pinky in the legs, causing him to trip, and allowing Steel Fist to crack him on the jaw with his, well, steel fist, knocking Pinky nearly off of the cliff. He lay, head and torso hanging, with just his long legs and feet holding him, barely balanced, on the edge.

Living Grave's burning wolves didn't stop. Sure, they were blazing and advanced with no fear, rotting flesh sizzling, towards me ready to pounce. The robust villain with his four chins giggled uncontrollably.

Jacob teleported to Shiver, where he grabbed her and froze. Yes, touching the frosty rogue caused him to freeze, and she shoved him over with his hand snapping off of her shoulder, fingers still attached to her icy covering!

Scribbler stopped screaming, and with tears running down her frazzled face pulled out a backup book, where obviously she had something drawn that just needed a final touch, and when she drew it, she threw the notepad and a rapid smoke poured off of the page and exploded into her created a beast! A seven-meter tall, extremely robust, blue monster with giant claws, green teeth cascading over its chin and jaws, two horns upon its head, with broken shackles on its wrists, and large, bulging greenish eyes staring directly at me!

Panic time?

Not a chance!

The wolves jumped towards me, ready to dig their fangs into my neck and I was able to breathe an intense stream of fire their way with the force of the blast knocking all three of them backward, slamming into Living Grave's crate which caught the rest of his graveyard to go up in smoke! He was distraught, yelling over and over,

"No, no, no, no, no!"

Scribbler's monster punted me though, just after taking care of the zombie-wolves, and I lost the wind in my lungs as I flew upward and towards the edge of the cliff where Big Pinky was trying to scramble upward. Steel Fist had other ideas though and unleashed an uppercut right to the giant pink buttocks in front of him, lifting him upward, and both of us, very near each other, were heading to a horrid crash in the Mississippi River!

What was my mind like at this point?

Panic time, now? Maybe.

I was furious to be defeated so easily, of course. And saddened that we could not help Liba, who had just Cahoki's personal charms, such as they were, to help her. Also, I was disappointed that Jacob would suffer another hard blow, this time, losing his left-hand fingers!

I didn't think I would die, not yet at least. Suffering this loss would be punishing, however! If Bada were here! Oh, how I missed her!

Then, like a flash of a silvery-blue laser, Pinky and I were flying! The big lug passed out and slipped off the back of the great beast, and it grabbed him up with its claws! Seeing clearly now, it was Yong Yungary! Bada! She must have flown out from the Mississippi River as her scales were dripping wet! I held her with my claws, which seemed to meld into her scales and keep me stationary!

Before the villains could react, she blasted a cannon, not just a cannon, but a barrage of water, knocking all of the humans backward and into the caves mountainous siding, rendering Scribbler and Living Grave unconscious, weakening Shiver who was able to use an icy shield to soften the blow, staggering Steel Fist who got the brunt of the blast and flew backward the furthest and highest but not passing out after crashing into the rocks, and causing the drawn-monster to fall onto its backside kicking its feet high trying to get back up!

After their calamitous crash, the cave entrance shook, and blasting forth was the Piasa Bird, with Cahoki riding on his back! Four legs, wings, and golden-brown color with green horns and nose-mouth structure that was flat yet wide; it burst forth with a roar that shook the bluffs and caused birds and other creatures for miles around to fly off, or run off in fear!

"Druk! Do you see the small notepad on the ground? Burn it!" Yong said to me.

So, I let forth a small flame that evaporated the book, and the monster which had regained its balance went up in flames as well!

Yong landed, letting Big Pinky off softly as he snored upon the ground, and then suddenly fell over into a heap and morphed. Morphed back into a human, back into Bada, laying naked on the ground, also unconscious. I immediately ripped the pink, skin-tight top off of Big Pinky, and wrapped it around her. It was big enough to cover four people actually! How terrified I was for her, yet happy, full of joy that Bada had come back!

The Piasa Bird, with Cahoki, turned in the air and blasted a firestorm from his breath so intense, the rocks behind the Shiver and Steel Fist melted, and so too did the bad guys. Shiver's ice shield was no match for the flames, which I could feel as they were released; simply being near them made me feel stronger!

Shiver and Steel Fist were no more. All that was left of them was the big steel fist that melted to a shimmering puddle on the ground and a white, glowing crystal under where Shiver had been evaporated.

Luckily for Scribbler and Living Grave, they were already knocked out and didn't have to be burned into ash. Hurt they may be, yet alive, to have their egos suffer more than their physical selves.

And what happened to Volta you may ask?

Well, he was the first to see Yong Yungary when she appeared, and had run off down the trail scared out of his wits, and was nowhere near the battle at this point.

The Piasa Bird landed, and Cahoki hopped off. The grand dragon turned to me and said with a voice that sounded aged and haggard,

"You have power that you do not understand. Learn, wisely! Do not be fooled as I was. Too much time I spent hibernating. Now, I see the enemy clearly, thank you to Cahoki. All of you who do not belong, leave now! I will take care of the rest of these evil humans with my power, and satisfy my hunger which grows rapidly! Cahoki! Keep your ways changed! Do not follow the wrong path. Or I will have to find you, and consume you as well! Farewell!"

He flew up into the blue sky, and then nose dived into the mountain cavern which crashed all around, throwing stones, and collapsed the opening!

Cahoki, tears in her eyes, ran to Jacob, bandaging his now thawed out hand with handkerchiefs he had in her pockets, and looked back to me saying,

"We need to get out of here! Liba wasn't in the cave! The Piasa Bird told me demons came and took her while he slept! Somehow, they were able to keep him sleeping even though he knew of their presence! Everyone here is injured or not even awake! How can we do this? How can we get out of here?"

"With that!" I yelled as a black helicopter hovered overhead, yet again!

Nidar!

Or was it?

Streaks of black lightning struck out from the chopper, engulfing me with a terrible shock, and pulled me upward until I lay inside!

The chopper took off, and I, barely conscious could demons, all around me, at least five or six, and Liba! Liba was laying next to me, in her comatose state, barely breathing, as we flew off, and left everyone else alone on the ground!