Let The Battle Commence [Ch. 24]

TinkerTown

Desert Biome, OverWorld

The hostile entities have disappeared. They were nowhere to be seen. That encounter was scary. Steve and Alex had decided that it's time. Time to act. Avoiding the prophecy could no longer happen. If Steve and Alex were going to free the OverWorld from any harm, they must do something now.

As far as they were aware, time was quickly running out. Steve and Alex looked into each other's eyes. The two of them nodded their heads. After they did that, they turned around to face Jake and Eve.

"We're ready to fight," Steve mentioned, "it's time."

Eve and Jake remained silent. TinkerTown was inactive at the moment, making it seem like TinkerTown was an abandoned ghost town. It was eerily silent.

Steve put his sword away into his inventory. He then grabbed his helmet and took it off. He tucked it away into his armpit. Alex did the same thing as he did.

"I hope that stuff will help you win," Jake mentioned, "I believe in you guys. I wish I could've been more helpful, but this is the best I could do. Furthermore, I would fight alongside you if I could."

Steve held his hand out so that he could shake Jake's hand. Jake reached his hand out, and the two shook hands. They both faintly smiled at one another.

"If we don't return, you'll know why," Steve said, "but I have a good feeling that won't happen. Not today at least."

Eve began to get emotional. Even though their time together was short, Eve really bonded with Steve and Alex. Who knew over the past two days, that Eve, Steve, and Alex would become friends?

"You better come back to us, you hear me?" Eve said as she began to tear up, "I'll be expecting you."

Alex looked over at Eve. She tilted her head very slightly and smiled at Eve. She walked over to Eve and held her arms out. Once Alex was close enough, she wrapped her arms around Eve and gave her a warm hug.

"We would never abandon you guys," Alex whispered into Eve's ear, "you're our friend. Friends stick together, and persevere through the good days and bad days."

Alex then took a step back. "We'll come back," Steve said, "Alex and I always do. We promise."

"You better," Eve said as she sniffled her nose and wiped away the tears, "you two better be back before breakfast!"

"We will," Steve said as he reminded Eve of his promise.

"Good!" Eve responded, "now shoo! Scram! Go win the OverWorld back!"

Nightmare's Castle

Snowy Tundra Biome, OverWorld

Dark. Cold.

Sedrick was still sitting in a creaky, old wooden chair. He was mentally and emotionally exhausted. Who knew being hungry was so bad. He's now been trapped within Nightmare's Castle for days. He was hungry and thirsty.

Was help on the way? Did anyone even know he was gone? Was anybody even looking for him? Is all hope lost? Not quite.

The sounds of footsteps could be heard, quickly betting louder. Someone was coming. Who could it possibly be? Could it be Steve? Or maybe Alex? Probably Annabeth.

Sedrick slowly lifted his head. He squinted his eyes. The rusty iron door opened. Someone walked into his cell. The iron door closed right behind the figure.

"Steve?" Sedrick mumbled as loudly as he could.

"Not quite," Nightmare said as she walked up to him. She stood only one block away from him. "But good guess though."

Sedrick rolled his eyes dramatically and shook his head. Why does she keep coming back? He clearly didn't want to be bothered, much less talked to. He just wanted to be alone. Was that too much to ask for?

"What do you want now?" Sedrick asked in an irritated and upset tone.

"I want you to obey me," Nightmare said, "from this moment onward, you will follow my orders and do as I say. Is that clear?" Nightmare asked.

Sedrick laughed hysterically. Tsk, tsk, tsk. He shook his head from side to side. He tried keeping his head held up, but couldn't because he was so weak.

"I'll never take orders from you. Not now. Not tomorrow. Not ever! Never!" Sedrick explained.

He was resisting Nightmare's harsh demands. There was absolutely no way he would ever help the bad guy succeed and win. Nightmare sighed and rubbed her forehead.

"Is that your final decision?" Nightmare asked, "are you sure?"

"That is my final decision," Sedrick said in between breathing heavily, "you're a monster! You're a coward!"

"Well you're not wrong about that," Nightmare responded as she walked over to Sedrick's chair and stood behind it. She quickly untied the ropes that were restraining him to the chair.

Once Sedrick was free from the ropes holding him down, he got up from the chair. But he didn't get very far. His legs were very wobbly. After trying to take his first step, he fell back down into the floor.

"Not doing so well are ya?" Nightmare said, "I can fix that if you'd like."

Sedrick tried hoisting himself back up onto his feet, but to no avail. He wouldn't be like this Nightmare had just given him food and water. But sadly though, she wasn't that courteous of a blockhead. She was quite the opposite.

Nightmare rolled her eyes. She tapped into her magic. As she did that, her hands began to glow yellow. Sedrick's body began glowing yellow. Nightmare lifted her arm into the air slowly. In return, Sedrick's posture was fixed.

Nightmare's hand suddenly stopped glowing, as did Sedrick's body. Instead of losing his stance once again, he was now able to stand perfectly fine. He no longer felt hungry or thirsty. To sum it all up, he felt renewed and re-energized. He was back to his normal self, except for his clothes though. They were still ripped and torn. He was also still barefooted.

"Now that you're feeling better, allow me to explain the terms of our collaboration," Nightmare said as a piece of white paper poofed into her hand. She began reading it.

"I didn't say I would help," Sedrick said as he gritted his teeth at Nightmare.

Nightmare took her eyes off of the paper and looked over at Sedrick.

"You didn't need to," Nightmare said.

"What are you going to do to me?" Sedrick asked.

Nightmare giggled. She found that comment kind of funny in a sarcastic way.

"A demon never reveals her secrets," Nightmare answered.

As Nightmare and Sedrick were conversing about the collaboration, which was forced upon Sedrick, Steve and Alex had found their way to the Snowy Tundra biome.

Spruce trees could be seen. There was a large, oval shaped clearing. The ground was covered with tons of white snow. The skies were cloudy. Flurries slowly fluttered down towards the ground from the sky above.

Steve and Alex both glanced at each other. They knew what had to be done. They were both anxious for this battle to be over. But it hasn't even started yet.

"This is our home now," Steve said.

Alex glanced over at Steve and faintly smiled. "Then let's fight for it. Let the battle commence, am I right?"