Authors: EJ Altbacker
The Last Emprex (9 page)
THOUGH IT MAY HAVE LOOKED LIKE IT AS HE
hovered motionless, Gray wasn't suicidal. He planned on moving himself a hundred feet to the left as Grimkahn struck. That way he could counterattack from the side. What Gray hadn't counted on was Hokuu coming at him from behind.
But Gray felt a tingle from his early warning system, checked the electric shadow, and in a split second knew it was the frill attacking. It had to be Hokuu. Would he rip off Gray's tail with his teeth? Or use his spiked tail and go for the head? These questions couldn't be answered without turning and losing sight of Grimkahn. That seemed like a bad idea, and for a split second he did nothing. With the passing of that critical moment stuck in hover, Gray's choices became being eaten by Grimkahn or killed by Hokuu.
Or those would have been the options if it hadn't been for Takiza.
The betta zoomed between the two charging monsters and pushed Gray out of the way with a burst of power, leaving Takiza in position to take the brunt of Hokuu's attack.
Gray had guessed wrong. The frill didn't use his teeth or tail.
He
vomited
.
It was green and vile and shot from of Hokuu's mouth in a thick spray that didn't dissolve in the water.
But Takiza zipped away in a flash so most of the vomit attack hit
Grimkahn
flush in the head. The mosasaur roared in pain! He dove down and rubbed his face into the seabed, ripping up the moss and kelp there.
In all the confusion Hokuu had locked onto Gray as a target and hadn't seen Grimkahn coming from the opposite direction!
It was unbelievable!
The mosasaur had a look of thundering bewilderment on his face. He knew Hokuu had just sprayed him with something that was still sizzling on his face.
Gray could have never hoped for such a thing. How could anyone plan for something like, “And then after we get Hokuu to vomit acid into Grimkahn's face . . . ”
It was ridiculous to even consider.
But it had
just
happened!
Gray wasn't about to pass up taking advantage of this one-in-a-million occurrence. He amplified his voice and yelled, “THANKS, HOKUU! ONCE GRIMKAHN IS CHUM, WE'LL DIVIDE THE BIG BLUE BETWEEN THE TWO OF US!”
The mosasaur king's eyes hardened. He glided toward the frill, picking up speed.
“You cannot seriously believe that!” Hokuu shouted. “Do not do this, my king!” His voice cracked as he got more panicked. Then Hokuu made the mistake of gathering energy for a shar-kata strike. “I'm warning you!”
“YOU WARN ME?” Grimkahn roared. “About what? Your little hot flashes? Try them!”
Hokuu released a bolt of orange electrical energy with a tail whip. The forks hit Grimkahn but spread over his bumpy and ridge-like hide until they petered out. It didn't slow him down in the least! Grimkahn's skin seemed to reflect and deflect the force.
Mosasaurs were immune to shar-kata energy?
That was a definite cause for concern.
Grimkahn's jaws came together in a thunderous crash, missing Hokuu by an urchin spine.
“I'm your faithful servant!” cried Hokuu.
“Then serve me by dying alongside all my other enemies!” Grimkahn snapped at the thirty-foot frilled shark and took a two-foot chunk out of his lower midsection.
Hokuu shrieked in pain! He whirled and sent his tail through the water with a metallic whine and deep into Grimkahn's cheek.
Now it was the mosasaur's turn to roar. He whipped his tremendous tail at Hokuu, who darted away and screamed, “You made me do that! I hope you die!”
And then Hokuu, streaming blood, swam away as fast as he could.
Grimkahn thrashed and rolled. “KILL EVERY-ONE!” he shouted.
Gray swam away while he had the chance. “Takiza?” he called.
There was no answer. Where was his master?
Gray looked at Riptide and the Sixth Shiver horde. It had been no more than a minute since the battle between their forces began. Riptide was doing well, but the size and bulk of the mosasaurs was turning the tide.
Striiker and Grinder were trying to withdraw but the frills and mosasaurs wouldn't let them. Then Gray saw another group of jurassicsâthe other half of the hordeâcoming from the side. Grimkahn had split his forces. Gray had been doubly tricked, it seemed. If the other half of the horde joined the fight, all their mariners would swim the Sparkle Blue.
Hokuu swam away, blood streaming from his injury.
All his plans were ruined because of a stupid mistake!
What could be worse than this?
Suddenly Hokuu had to dodge an attack by twenty sharks!
They were led by a dogfishâand Velenka!
“You!” he shouted.
“Yes, me!” she shouted, her eyes blazing. And Velenka came straight at him! The mako traitor succeeded in nipping his tail, and a flash of pain almost paralyzed Hokuu. Normally he could have disposed of this crew easilyâit would have been funâbut he was injured. He struck at Velenka with his tail but only grazed her flank.
“Take him down!” cried the dogfish.
Hokuu tail spiked two mariners who came up from the seabed. It was lucky he had been twisting from the previous attack or he wouldn't have seen them and would have been struck right in his wounded belly. Hokuu moved fifty yards away with a burst of shar-kata. Again, two hammerheads came at him from below as if they had been waiting there!
These were no ordinary sharks.
Hokuu gathered what power he had left and fast-swam out of there. He stopped a mile away from the raging battle, checking the seabed first this time, and then looking at his injury. It was deep. But with dark-kata, Hokuu could heal himself good as new and gain the valuable power that he needed for revenge. He would need to steal life force.
A lot of it.
With a ripple of his wounded body, he moved himself forward.
This
hurt
and Hokuu's anger grew.
He would find his life force
donors
as soon as possible.
And after that he would see to Grimkahn, Takiza, Gray, and all the others.
Hokuu would see to them all!
THEY WOULDN'T LAST MUCH LONGER, THOUGHT
Striiker as he grit his teeth in frustration. His mariners were holding their shape beautifully. There wasn't a fin out of place. They were tearing through the frilled sharks in their path with a raking Topside Rip attack on the blocky jurassic formation. Even in the midst of the chaotic battle, he was so proud of them. With any luck Grinder's crew was doing the same amount of damage.
The problem was that the frilled sharks were too fast.
While splitting their mega-armada into two separate armadas had caught the jurassics by surprise, the frilled sharks were only confused for a second. After that they launched themselves upward and struck at the underside of Striiker's mariners.
Even without Grimkahn in the thick of it, they couldn't win a snout-to-snout brawl. Striiker allowed himself the barest smile as he remembered Gray streaking past the mosasaur king and giving him the tail slap to end all tail slaps. It didn't injure Grimkahn, though.
No, it was better than that. It insulted the king in front of his mariners.
But Striiker couldn't think about that now. Dividing their armada had given them thirty seconds of relief with the mosasaurs stuck in the middle of the horde's own block formation. Now, the beasts were getting into the action both above and below. They emerged through the chaos. One snapped up two entire mariners off to Striiker's left, near his diamondhead position. The frills were lethal enough but the mosasaurs were too much. Striiker had to get his mariners away from this brawl.
“Seahorse Circles, down and to the right!” Olph the battle dolph clicked out the command as Striiker prodded his mariners. “Come on, we aren't here to see the sights! Move it! Move it! Move it!”
Riptide executed the maneuver flawlessly. Below them, Grinder heard and ordered the mirror image command so their two groups could re-form. Both Riptide and Hammer forces turned sharply, and the sides of their armadas fit together as they smashed into the side of the jurassic force. It was beautiful. Now the mosasaurs were jumbled and out of position at the top and bottom of their block formation. They could only watch as Riptide United tore into the frills in the middle of their formation.
“Long time no see!” yelled Grinder as they blasted the enemy in front of them. “Thought you were taking a break!”
In a one-on-one fight, a frilled shark would almost always win against even the largest mariner. But when there were twenty trained sharkkind mauling each frill at once, well, that was a jelly of a different color. Still, they would be eaten if they didn't withdraw.
“We gotta go!” Striiker told the hammerhead. “Let's break!”
Grinder gave a tail slash, meaning he understood. The hammerhead opened his mouth to give the command when disaster struck in the form of Grimkahn. The mosasaur burst into the battle and snapped his massive jaws onto the hammerhead leader.
Blood streamed from Grinder's mouth. He locked eyes with Striiker and gasped, “Don't give up,” before being swallowed whole.
“NOOO!” shouted Striiker. He was devastated, but there was no time to grieve.
The other half of Grimkahn's force had arrived on the scene.
If they succeeded in joining the fight, Riptide United would be compacted and eaten alive.
“Attack!” Grimkahn roared. “Crush them!”
The other half of the jurassic horde roared straight at their tails.
There was nothing that Striiker could do to get his mariners away.
Gray saw that Striiker and Grinder had been preparing to swim away before the rest of the jurassics got into the fight. Grimkahn changed everything by killing Grinder and wading into the center of the melee. In the frenzy the subcommanders couldn't get Grinder's mariners ordered. And Grimkahn was big enough to occupy a hundred sharkkind by himself as he ripped and struck with clawed flippers, his huge tail, and crushing jaws. If the other half of the mosasaurs and frilled sharks enveloped their formation, none of the mariners would escape.
They needed a miracle.
And they got one.
“ATTAAACK!” cried Xander as he led the Indi-AuzyAuzy armada of one thousand mariners straight into the jurassics fighting with Striiker. The force with which they plowed into the mosasaurs and frilled sharks moved the horde's entire block formation a hundred yards to the side.
Most importantly, Striiker had space to maneuver. “TRIPLE TAIL TURNS UPâAND OVER!” he bellowed.
It was a risky move, but the Riptide mariners went over the top of the jurassic horde's block formation before the other part of the horde could smash them to paste. The mosasaurs had switched position from the middle to the top and bottom, then to the middle again. They screeched in dismay as Striiker and his mariners evaded them once more.
The jurassics and frilled sharks became confused.
They were taking much heavier losses than they were used to and being attacked by nearly three thousand sharkkind that weren't swimming away like everyone else. The horde didn't break but experienced a moment of panicked uncertainty when they fouled each other's movements. This small hesitation gave Striiker the seconds he needed to get the mariners together and out of there.
“SWIM ON!” Striiker yelled to Xander.
The hammerhead gave a fin signal to show he had heard. The Riptide United forceâthat's what it was nowâstreamed past the disorganized half of the jurassic horde they had just fought as the rest of Grimkhan's monsters got there, but it was too late.
But Grimkahn had only one thing on his mindâGray. “You can swim, but you can't hide!” he yelled, battering his way from the melee and toward Gray. Gray waited and then moved himself with shar-kata as the monster struck. He could have swum away, but the longer he kept the mosasaur king busy, the more time Striiker and the others would have to flee.
Besides, now was the time to put all his training to use. Perhaps Hokuu had been faking when he attacked the mosasaur king. Gray would find out for sure. He gathered all the energy he could and fired a great bolt of power. It hit near the spot where Hokuu had injured Grimkahn with his tail strike but didn't do any more damage.
The mosasaur king wasn't even slowed. “That tickles!” he said.
Gray gathered power once more and released it with a
whoosh
. The bolt was strongâmaybe not as powerful as Hokuu or Takiza'sâbut it had force.
And again, it did nothing to stop Grimkahn.
His heart sank.
Shar-kata energy didn't work against Grimkahn!
In fact, he probably couldn't hurt
any
of the mosasaurs using shar-kata.
This was a disaster. His practice with Takiza meant nothing.
And worse yet, Gray felt himself weakening from all he had done today. Striiker and the mariners were well on their way now. Gray swam away from his battle using the last of his energy.
Grimkahn yelled after him. “WE'RE COMING FOR YOU, SEAZAREIN! THERE'S NOWHERE TO HIDE!”
The mosasaur king had his scent and would come for the kill.
With some difficulty Gray caught up with Striiker and the rest of his friends using nothing but regular power. He tried to call the sparkles but failed and had to do it the old fashioned and very tiring way. By the time he got there, his head was spinning with fatigue. But he had no trouble finding them. Their formation was streaming so much blood that a noseless turtle could have tracked them.
Once he got there, Gray struggled with the twenty-five tail stroke per minute pace that Striiker had ordered.
They had to get to Fathomir. It was the only place where they wouldn't be overwhelmed.
“Fathomir,” he said. He repeated it with each tail stroke until it sounded like nothing at all. “Fathomir, Fathomir, Fathomir . . . ”
The rest of his strength drained away.
Soon the armada was outpacing him.
“Fathomir, Fathomir, Fathomir . . . ”
Then everything got dark.
It seemed early for the sun to set.
“Fathomir, Fathomir, Fathomir . . . ”
What time was it? Gray didn't know.
“Fathomir, Fathomir, Fathomir . . . ”