There's Nothing Wrong With a Little Hocus-Pocus

Before she could compose herself any more than she had already attempted to do, Bowser charged and it was all Megan could co to throw herself on the ground and out of his way. She hit the ground rather harder than she would have normally, due to the still partially paralyzed state of her body, but rolled up to her feet quicker than she had been for the past few minutes. Bowser, despite his bulk, spun around in a fairly decent amount of time, snarling at Megan with acidic saliva dripping from his jaws.

“What?!” Megan was slightly distracted by Mercedes’ yell. “You can’t let him come! It’s far too dangerous!”

“What is it?” the combat member, who Megan recognized as a man by the name of Harry, asked Mercedes, taking his eyes completely off the battle. When Megan realized this, she whipped her head back to find Bowser had already crept silently closer, and when he saw that she saw him, he charged. She didn’t have time to leap out of the way.

With a grunt of pain, she leapt onto his snout, grazing her side on one of his seven foot long tusks. She grit her teeth to stop from crying out at the sizzling coming from her side, realizing that Bowser’s tusks, as they extended from his mouth, must have some of the acid on them, as well. She clutched large handfuls of his spiky fur, which felt much like metal in her grasp, and she was slightly relieved that his snout seemed to be a solid plate rather than the spikes of doom that laced the rest of his hide. The face was that of a brownie, as Megan had earlier deduced, but that didn’t stop it from having metal-like skin and fur.

She grunted again when he tossed his head and the acid of his tusks dripped onto her leg. Still she clung on.

“What’s the problem?” she shouted, clinging onto the angered beast for dear life. “If you can’t tell, I’m having difficulties!”

“They’re sending the elf prince!” Mercedes called back. “They’re sending Prince Cayn and his partner, his cousin Jon!”

“No!” Megan let out a shout of protest, even as Bowser tossed his snout again and Megan was finally dashed to the ground. She grunted in pain, blood dripping down her scraped thigh, but she was able to quickly climb back to her feet. The paralysis was wearing off and she was able to more easily move…she just had to avoid his gaze at all costs.

“They’re already on the way!” Mercedes shouted after a brief consultation with the headquarters. “There’s nothing we can do!”

“Damn!” Megan hissed, carefully watching her opponent’s moves without being able to look into his eyes. When she noted a shift in his foot placement, she hurriedly leapt to the side even as he charged. As he barreled past her former position, she grabbed a handful of metal, spiky fur and swung herself onto his back, landing - thankfully - on her booted feet. She aimed her hand downwards and told herself, “Now!”

A black bolt of lightning - magic - emanated from her hand and struck Bowser. His entire hide lit up with crackling black sparks and he howled, thrashing and tossing Megan forcefully from his back. She flipped in midair this time so as to land on her feet, and looked at the enraged beast.

“How dare you!” he roared, shaking all over. “No one can touch me!”

“I just did!” Megan retorted, satisfied that her powers were capable of hurting it.

Faster than Megan had expected, Bowser regained composure and charged her aggressively, and with a shout she leapt aside, barely avoiding his acidic tusks. He spun quickly, however, and Megan was hard-put to dodge a second time.

The third time, she wasn’t so lucky. Before Bowser even turned around, she was thoroughly whacked by his tail and sent crashing into a nearby brick building. She let out another swear word, coughing up what tasted bitterly like a small quantity of blood, as she stumbled on her feet.

“Megan!” Mercedes shrieked. Furiously, the opponent of the Protectorate turned and growled at Mercedes and Harry, taking its attention from Megan.

“No you don’t!” Megan forced out, pain tearing through her throat. “Take this!”
A stronger bolt of lightning snaked from her hands, striking the beast. He let out a deafening bellow and whorled around to once more face the much smaller person who dared to oppose him.

“You’ll die this time,” his growl was more pronounced.

“He’s pissed,” Megan told herself under her breath. She cursed for making such a large creature angry, but held her hand out, palm facing up, and let black electricity dance across her hand and up her arm. Her hair crackled with the power she was channeling and she glared at her opposition. He growled, acidic drool dripping to the ground and causing small sections of the street to hiss and sort of melt.

“You beg for death,” he said, and soon the several tons of metallic, spiky beast was thundering down the street toward Megan.

“Then let it come,” she retorted, charging right back at him with her hands surrounded by the crackling bolts of black electricity.

“How much longer until the dispatch arrives?!” Mercedes asked frantically, her eyes glued to her insane cousin.

“Ten seconds and counting,” crackled back to her over her head set.

“Ten seconds…?” Mercedes breathed.

“Let’s hope…that Megan doesn’t kill herself before then…” Harry said, staring in awe at the black magic lacing the girl’s arms. He’d never seen it first hand.