Takshaka's tail whipped back and forth as he surveyed them.
Fight or run? Mini asked nervously.
I don't think he'll give us a chance to run, answered Brynne.
Aru nodded. Based on her previous experiences with the blind naga king, he wasn't the type to give up a fight.
"Dada-ji? How did you get here?" asked Rudy.
Takshaka snarled. "Don't call me that, boy. You're unworthy of being my grandson."
Rudy looked taken aback, and Aru saw Mini squeeze his shoulder comfortingly. Her sister glared at Takshaka.
"You're the one who's unworthy to be his grandfather," Mini retorted.
Takshaka let out a snicker. "What is this, Rudra? You've got yourself another admirer? Does she not know how useless you truly are?"
Mini blushed, and was about to respond, when Rudy beat her to it. "I'm not as weak as you think, Dada-ji. I've grown much stronger. If anything, you're the one who's at a disadvantage. There's only one of you and five of us."
Takshaka scowled and thumped his tail on the ground threateningly.
Guys! I see the portal! Brynne subtly nodded towards the path up in front of them. A couple of feet behind Takshaka, was a swirling blue and black portal that was cleverly hidden by various ferns and trees.
We have to keep him distracted, Aru messaged back. Brynne and Mini nodded, while Aru stealthily motioned Aiden and Rudy to back away.
"Perhaps. But I can defeat a couple of children on my own." Takshaka hissed and jumped at Brynne and Mini, who avoided his attack just in time.
Aru hefted Gandalf up and threw it at Takshaka. The weapon glowed and slowly transformed into a spear, but the naga king dodged and Gandalf instead lodged itself into a tree.
Rudy fumbled with his bow (Aru had forgotten he even had it) and with great effort, nocked a golden arrow on the string. With visible strain, he pulled back the arrow and let it loose. Aru expected it to at least go in Takshaka's direction, but she was proved wrong. The arrow missed him by a large margin and it landed just a couple feet in front of Rudy lamely.
"Oops," Rudy muttered.
"I thought you said you had training!" yelled Aiden, as he dodged an attack from Takshaka.
"I never said I was any good at it!" retorted Rudy, while he tried to nock another arrow. He let out a sudden yelp as Brynne suddenly shoved him aside.
"If you can't fight, then at least stay out of the way!" she yelled, using her mace to try and land a hit on Takshaka, but instead, she tripped over a tree root and bumped into Aru.
Aru went stumbling backwards, knocking into Aiden and Rudy. The three of them went tumbling to the ground, and Aru winced. Shaking off the fall, she quickly tried to stand back up, when Takshaka suddenly snapped his fingers.
All of a sudden, she began to feel drowsy. She felt like someone had wrapped a warm blanket around her and placed her in history class, which made her yawn loudly. Aru staggered, struggling to keep her eyes open, but she was just so...sleepy. Just close your eyes, her brain whined, but she tried to resist.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Aiden and Rudy similarly struggling. Both cousins swayed, and after a couple of seconds, Rudy went down with a thump and started snoring. Aiden soon followed, and it took all of Aru's strength to send one last mind message to her sisters, before falling into an unwanted slumber.
Use musi-zzz
"ARU! AIDEN! RUDY!" Brynne yelled, as she watched her sister and her friends fall to the ground, sound asleep.
"Brynne! A little help?!" Brynne whipped her head around and saw Mini locked in an intense battle with their enemy. Her sister's weapon, Medy (which was a pretty strange name if anyone asked her), glowed a deep purple as it faced off against Takshaka's sword.
With one last look at her three asleep friends, she growled and sprinted over to Mini and whacked Takshaka from behind, sending him stumbling.
"Brynne! I think Aru was trying to say something about music!" Mini told her.
"Well, I dunno how we're gonna get music," Brynne replied. She nodded over towards Rudy. "Our playlist guy is down." She hefted GemGem a little higher on her shoulder. "Imma just go and beat the heck out of Takshaka. No one messes with my friends."
"Wait, Brynne-" Mini started to say, but Brynne ignored her and instead bounded over towards Takshaka.
She raised GemGem and tried to hit him, but Takshaka quickly parried her strike, the metal of his sword clanging against her jeweled mace.
"What did you do to my friends?!" screamed Brynne furiously.
Takshaka had the nerve to laugh. "Ha!" he exclaimed, as he faced off against her. "Who knows? Perhaps they may never wake up again? What will you do now, daughter of the wind? You can't save them!"
At those words, Brynne could only feel her blood rushing throughout her head. She let out a ferocious scream and pushed back the naga king. Of course she would save her friends. Aru was her sister and Aiden was her best friend. And well, Rudy, although he annoyed her, he was still a Potato and her friend.
But what if she couldn't? Most people would falter in their steps with that thought, but Brynne was not most people. Instead, that made her angrier. Her anger mixed in with her worry, and she was about to go in for another attack, when she heard Mini's small, yet commanding voice.
"Brynne! Stop it!" Mini yelled, running over to her. She grabbed Brynne's arms and held her tightly.
"What?" she growled, trying to break free without hurting her sister.
"Calm down! I'm just as worried as you are, but attacking him blindly like this isn't gonna help!" Mini exclaimed.
As if proving her point, Takshaka slowly rose to his full height and grinned. "What's wrong, you half-asura child? Did you already give up?"
Brynne's blood boiled and without thinking, she pointed GemGem at the naga king and her mace glowed a deep red color. The rubies embedded in her weapon heated up and a strip of fire burst forth from the mace, surrounding Takshaka in a circle of flames.
"Woah," muttered Brynne, grinning. She turned triumphantly to Mini. "Turns out that it does work," she told her smugly.
Mini sighed and put her hand on Brynne's shoulder. "It's not gonna hold him forever. Look." She pointed at him. Takshaka thumped his tail on the ground, desperately trying to put out the flames, and it was working. Slowly, the fire started to weaken and it got smaller and smaller by the second.
"Then I'll just keep doing it till he gets tired," Brynne argued, raising her mace up in the air once again, but Mini stopped her.
"No!" Mini exclaimed angrily. "Stop acting recklessly, Brynne! We have to come up with a plan and work together!"
Takshaka let out a boastful laugh. "My, my, second-eldest Pandava. It seems like you are not even nearly as strong as Bhima was if you cannot take me on by yourself." He sneered at her and Brynne gritted her teeth in frustration.
"I can handle this by myself, Mini," Brynne huffed and crossed her arms. She wouldn't just let Takshaka mock her like this. She would prove him wrong! Why was Mini getting so worked up about it anyways?
"No," Mini said firmly. "Takshaka's trying to separate us because he knows he can't take both of us on at once. If we work together, we can beat him and get out of this mess faster."
Brynne was about to reluctantly agree, but Takshaka's words echoed through her brain. She wasn't weak, was she? Brynne was confident that she could take him on, but Takshaka's words now instilled a sense of doubt in her, doubt that scared her.
Brynne brushed off Mini's hand. "Sorry, Mini. But I think I can handle this."
She confidently strode up and pointed her mace at Takshaka once more. A stream of flames burst forth from GemGem, directly targeted at the naga king. Brynne grinned to herself. It was all over now. Mini was just worrying mindlessly. Any second now, the flames would hit Takshaka and...
Brynne's eyes widened. At the last second, Takshaka revealed a hidden shield that he put out in front of him. It must have been enchanted, because as soon as the flames hit the shield, it bounced off and headed directly towards her three slumbering friends.
A/N: Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that this fanfic will most likely only update either once a week or once every two weeks. I've gotten really busy with school, so I don't think I'll be able to update as frequently as I used to. Sorry about that!