Cole was shook awake, he looked around to see who had bugged him out of his sleep, he was fortunate to see a familiar skeleton face; he gasped before he spoke, "Sh- Shawn?!? I can't believe it, I thought I wouldn't see you again! Ehm, how did you find me? And where are we?"
"Okay calm down, first of all...I woke up here just like you. And second, we're suited up for battle. Solamon just finished this weird speech on how this will be a lesson for the citizens of the kingdom to obey him." Shawn responded, it was at times hard to listen to from the constant cheers that could be heard.
Cole looked around and noticed that they were in a room with a bunch of other prisoners, all of different stories to tell. There was a metal gate that blocked the entrance from the room to the arena. Cole squinted his eyes to try to look outside but it was too hard to see from all the people around him.
His eyes and spirit lit up when he heard a familiar voice on a speaker, "Let this be the last day, where you feel any inkling of feeling insecure in this kingdom. We are all strong, this is The Sola-Mon Empire! We were never weak, and never will be! The Guardimons who participate in this demonstration of strength, will be remembered for their bravery, loyalty and hard work. No matter if they perish or not to the cruel prisoners, they will be remembered for those things. We also would like to thank The Sinful Sorcerer of The Reality Zone, who is a great friend of mine...to show up today, to watch this display we will show. Now, let us get this started!" Solamon said, the crowd outside went even more wild and erratic than previously.
The metal gate in the room swung open violently, all the prisoners in the room started to run out to the arena. Cole could feel the overbearing heat coming from outside, he noticed unlike everyone else he had no armor protection pads on his body. Even Shawn had some form of protection on.
The Boy looked around hastily for some armor but there was nothing for him, he spoke to himself, "I'm so short, that's probably why there's no armor for me. Oh well, just gotta work with what I have-." He paused and looked over at Shawn, "Okay Shawn, we better go out there now." At first they both would shy away from the entrance, the gate to the room started to close.
Cole and Shawn ran towards the entrance and slid under the gate just in time, as they were blinded by the sun, they could hear the gate violently close behind them. Cole took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before putting his glasses back on, his view would start to get clearer as he looked around; his eyes widened when he put the glasses back on, there were so many citizens who were sand people who watched them, who would root for their demise, from adults to even kids.
It wasn't an empty arena with just sand on the ground, there were sand structures around the arena, some were broken and some weren't. He could barely see King Solamon watching from the stands with someone next to him, it just so happened to be The Mysterious Man. There seemed to be a few other leaders that sat next to them both. Cole glanced at the prisoners in the arena charging at Guardimons, while the same could have been said for the other side. "Cole snap out of it! You gotta find a weapon fast, they're coming towards us! I'll be by you while you look for a weapon."
"Wha- what? Oh right sorry! Right, give me a second to look for one! I don't think we should have gone under the gate!" Cole responded while he frantically looked around for a weapon, he noticed Shawn was holding a long sword with two hands. Cole nodded at him before he looked some more, he found some weapons he could use. A small dagger that he put in his pocket, and a mini crossbow. He could hold the ranged weapon with one hand as it was surprisingly like a feather.
The crossbow seemed to have the ability to fire two shots. Cole and Shawn would scout around the arena away from all the chaos they could, looking for any escape, the arena was so huge that they both gave up almost immediately. Cole heard someone's screams coming from his side, his glance shot over to see a Guardimon charging with a spear.
Cole stepped aside from being stabbed, he breathed heavily and felt his heart race. His knees wobbled and his hands shook uncontrollably, the Guardimon disintegrated in front of his eyes, he gasped at the sight. All that stood in front of him now was a Skeleton Soldier with a trusty sword, "If they crumble like this, we can destroy them." Shawn exclaimed.
After The Boy heard that statement, he nodded his head quickly. Cole stood behind Shawn as they would destroy a Guardimon one by one, he would guard Shawn's back with the mini crossbow, eventually they were both with some of the other prisoners. "No stop, don't you take him from me!" A female voice would shout in the distance, Cole shot his glance and saw a female prisoner being dragged away from a male prisoner. They both looked to be people made of a plant like cactus material. "Cole, don't think about it! It's too dangerous!" Shawn said.
Cole started to dart toward the couple, he was able to move easier without having to wear armor, getting past people in the arena fighting each other, dodging arrows being shot in his direction, even some Guardimons who swung their weapons in his direction as he ran past them. Cole eventually made it to the couple, there were two Guardimons with the male prisoner while one was with the female prisoner.
Cole aimed his mini crossbow at the two Guardimons, they both looked at him when he missed his first shot. He fell on the ground from the power of the ranged weapon, he hadn't expected it; he shot the second shot at one of the leg's of the Guardimons, causing them to only crawl. The other one that stood still was knocked in the head and pulled away from the prisoner that Cole just saved.
The crawler started to get closer to Cole with a dagger in their hand, Cole could only pull out his dagger. The crawler would swing at Cole with their dagger; Cole would scoot and dodge back as much as they could, eventually being backed towards a wall. Cole's heart had turned into stone, his arms and legs slugged in a frozen state as they only got closer. The Boy slowly held up the small dagger and started to bawl up in the eyes until he closed them.
He grits his teeth, bracing for everything to end. His life flashed in his mind, from the moments with his family to his friends. All the events that led up to now. For it all to end now was a reality, a blood curdling yell was heard. Cole opened his eyes and saw the crawler Guardimon disintegrate into a pile of sand, he looked up as he was offered a helping hand.
It was none other than Jessica, The Jester herself. Cole took her offer and was pulled up off the warm ground. They looked at each other before Cole put away the small dagger and nodded towards her, "Thank you, thank you so much. I thought I was a goner! How did you find me? Are you alright?"
"Yeah I'm fine, you're really lucky I just stumbled upon you here! Anyways we can talk pleasantly to each other later. Right now, let's just be as safe as we can." Jessica responded, the two prisoners that Cole saved ran up to him.
They handed him the two arrows back, "Thank you so much! You just saved our life! We can't ever repay you for what you did, here if you get out of this place, then read this. Thank you again, young one." The woman prisoner said as she put a folded piece of paper in Cole's pocket, both the prisoners ran off into another part of the arena. Cole didn't know how to react, he looked down at the mini crossbow on the sandy surface; he picked it up and struggled to reload the weapon.
Jessica took it and helped him before handing the weapon back, Cole nodded and looked at Shawn approach them both. "Jeez Cole, what were you thinking? You could've died there, I couldn't get to you in time. Also, who are you even talking to here? This is no time for small talk! Come on, leave her and let's go!"
"Well excuse me Mr. Bonehead, I don't think Cole's going to do that, he's gonna stay with me. Also I don't know what you saw. What I saw was someone being heroic, unlike you. If you're like this all the time towards people...especially him, then I might as well put you out of your misery." Cole noticed that claws stuck out of the gloves Jessica wore, she put her hands up as Shawn held his sword up high to strike.
Cole went in between them both and put his hands out to distance them both, he exchanged his glance between them both before he spoke, "Woah woah okay! Okay let's all just relax towards each other, well as much as we can. Shawn this is Jessica, Jessica this is Shawn. I know you both don't know each other but trust me when I say this, we need to work together! The three of us want to get out of here, but we can't if we hurt each other! We can catch up later!"
Cole stepped out of their way and saw two guardimons approaching with sword-like weapons, Shawn and Jessica nodded at each other before facing the two guardimons. Cole held the mini crossbow up and pointed it towards the guardimons. The three of them would make their way on the outskirts of the arena to an area with sand structures, some intact while others were broken.
Cole would look around, at that moment it seemed like the three of them were under the radar. Cole took a sigh of relief and looked over at Shawn and Jessica who seemed to be doing the same thing. With a few seconds of relief, the three of them noticed a structure that someone could go in, a potential hiding spot. The three of them rushed inside the structure and looked around, there was barely any light, the only light came from the entrance of the structure.
As they hid in the structure, the crowd could be heard from outside getting more excited. Cole couldn't understand why, it only clicked in his mind when he listened in on what they were chanting. "Our King." Knowing this made his stomach turn as he looked down to the ground, the hair on the back of his neck stuck up like he was out in a raging blizzard. This would go on for several minutes as the ground would shake a couple of times, followed by screams of horror and agony.
This would stretch for some time until Cole would hear a loud blaring horn noise, almost like a foghorn. The arena seemed to get quiet before hundreds of high-pitched battle cries could be heard. "What are you doing Cole?" Jessica looked over as Cole slowly glanced outside to see what the commotion was, he smirked at what he saw before he turned toward them both, "Looks like we just got some needed help."
Cole slowly turned back to see the feeling of hope and relief that had filled the arena, there were hundreds of coco champs now in the arena. Some were already on the arena floor, others were using ropes to climb in. Cole noticed a lot of the citizens in the spectator seats were escaping the arena, some stood their ground to watch the chaos unfold. "Look, let's use one of those ropes to climb out of here, we just gotta be discreet with it." Shawn whispered. Cole looked over at Shawn before he responded, "Yeah that's a good idea, we just gotta lay low while ehm...everyone else is busy. Jessica what do you think?" Jessica nodded towards both of them, they looked at each other before looking outside again.
The Boy then noticed The Sand King watched all of this happening in real time while on the arena floor, Cole and his friends slowly walked out of the structure while keeping their guard. Cole also noticed The Sinful Sorcerer Of The Reality Zone still sat there in the spectator seats, the coco champs seemed to move past him like he wasn't there, his arms and legs were crossed. The prisoners that were still alive in the arena started to overtake a lot of the guardimons there, with the help of the coco champs who used primal weapons, spears, bows and arrows. Even wooden shields. Cole's knees wobbled and his soul died internally, King Solamon looked in his direction. The Sand King slowly closed his fists and grit his teeth, his eyes bled fire and smoke, violence and frustration were the only things present in him at that point. He started to truck towards their direction before Cole shouted out, "Guys! We gotta run!"
The three of them ran past guardimons and prisoners who fought each other, eventually they came across more structures in the arena, tall sand pillars that were close together. Shawn squeezed through the gaps of the pillars, Cole and Jessica followed soon after. As Shawn was trying to catch his breath, Cole looked over at Jessica, "So wait, why are you still in the arena Jessica? Can't you just climb out of here?"
She looked over at him as he asked her, "Yes I could but it's too risky, someone could shoot me with a bow. So no, I'm not comfortable with that, plus we all agreed on that plan with the ropes from those coconut things, I will never turn my back on my friends." King Solamon ran up to the pillars and faced Cole mostly.
Cole looked up at The Sand King, his knees wobbled a little as he saw how much of a behemoth The Sand King was. He tried to fit through the pillars with his arm but wouldn't fit. So he brought his hand back and punched one of the pillars, Cole and the other two fell on the ground before backing away from the pillars. Solamon grabbed the pillar he punched and broke it off from being connected to the others, Cole winced and looked away.
Cole felt his body getting yanked from where he was lying, he felt a gush of wind brush his hair and face as a loud rumbling sound touched the back of his skull and ears, the ground shook for a few seconds. Cole opened his eyes and immediately his vision was blurry, he wiped his glasses with his shirt before putting them back on, his vision was still blurry. He started to cough uncontrollably, he couldn't see the sky anymore. "Cole! Don't breathe that in! It's dust! He broke open the wall with the pillar, I'm gonna lead us to the exit, quick grab onto me and your friend!" Shawn shouted.
Cole looked around before grabbing onto Shawn with his one hand, he used his other hand to secure his mini crossbow and dagger before reaching out for Jessica, "Jessica? JESSICA? Where ehm...where are you? Grab on my hand please, I can't...I can't lose another friend!" Cole called out, he felt someone grip tightly on the free hand he reached out with. "Bonehead, if you can get us through then start moving! I'm holding onto Cole!" Jessica responded.
Cole felt his body being yanked forward from the skeleton soldier, all he could do in the moment was to stumble without falling down. While going through the dust, all that could be heard were weapons clashing, screams of agony, and rowdy people who were still spectators to the chaos. Even though no one seemed to notice them, to Cole there was still vulnerability in his gut, all of a sudden, he felt his weight shift as he fell on his back in the sand, he still held onto both Shawn and Jessica. "Gah! Sh- Shawn? What was that? What happened? Are you okay?" Cole asked. It took a few seconds before Shawn responded, "Gah! Yeah I'm fine, I just tripped, apologies for that. Look, we're gonna get up on three. One...two...THREE!"
All three took a combined effort and strength to get up off the ground at the same time, they fell back down. "Alright alright how about this, we get up on our own and then re-hold each other! That way we won't fall again! What do you guys think?" Jessica asked, Cole and Shawn responded in agreement. Cole got up on his own and reached out to both of them once he was stable, he immediately felt Shawn's boney hand grip his. He reached out to Jessica like he did previously, "Okay Jessica grab my hand quickly! Come...come on!" Cole called out.
His free hand finally felt her grip again. "Okay I got Cole! Quick Bonehead, let's keep it up! Come on let's g- AGH!" Jessica screamed, Cole felt himself being yanked in the opposite direction as she screamed, he still held onto Shawn's arm with his other hand. He fell on the ground and felt his face warm up from the sun; even though there was chaos all around him, all Cole could hear was Jessica struggling.
The Boy let go of Shawn's hand and used his clothes to wipe off his glasses and face. As he put his glasses back on his vision started to clear up, he realized that he was out of the dust storm. He looked up to see Jessica being held up by Solamon, she kicked her legs as it seemed like she struggled to breath. Cole's eyes widened from the sight, his heart rate paced faster. He looked at Solamon's body and then at his face, Solamon wasn't wearing a mask or helmet over his face, a lightbulb clicked in The Boy's mind.
Cole pulled out the small dagger in his pocket, he proceeded to frantically look on the ground and found Shawn's arm and hand on the ground still connected to each other. "I'm sorry Shawn...I gotta do this." Cole muttered to himself as he picked up Shawn's arm with his free hand. Cole would sprint towards Solamon and stab his leg with the dagger, The Sand King groaned in agony as he dropped Jessica, Cole looked over and saw her crawl away to catch her breath.
Cole felt his airway being squeezed and looked back at Solamon. Cole was now being held up in the air, Cole's vision would start to go blurry. As he felt his life slowly draining, Solamon looked up at the boy before he spoke, "When we met Cole, I told you to be careful what you say or do. Well, you've grh...crossed the line I set for you. And now you have to pay for it. I wish it didn't have to come down to this. But this grh...has to happen. Let me forgive you, from your life."
Solamon took one hand off Cole's neck and started to reach towards Cole's stomach. Cole closed his eyes in anticipation as he remembered his first meeting with Solamon. What Solamon turned that prisoner into, the screams of agony that person made in a helpless state. But Cole wasn't in a helpless state, knowing this he opened his eyes and stared into the eyes of The Sand King. He used Shawn's broken off arm to puncture one of Solamon's eyes, The Sand King screamed in a tone of trauma.
The Boy was dropped before being pulled back in the dust storm, his mind and vision spaced out from the dust itself and the impact. He acknowledged that he didn't have the mini dagger anymore. No matter how the outcome was gonna end up, all Cole knew in the moment was that this was the ultimate stage. ***
(Wow everyone! That was quite the chapter we just read together. I'm very happy with how this chapter ended up from all the buildup, let me know what you think through comments!
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