Chapter 5: The Aviary
“THAT IS A DEMONIC SKULL!!! NOT A TOY!!!” yelled his father, while a younger Beatle played with Skeletor.
“Dad? Are you okay? Your breath smells funny again.”
His Dad grabs Skeletor and slams it in the trash can. “MIGUEL!!! STOP!!!” he roared, as Miguel sobbed and pulled his hand away.
“Dad! Why? Why are you doing this!? That’s my friend! Don’t hurt my friend!”
“Fucking… THAT IS A DEMON!!! GOD WOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOU!!! My God, forgive my son…”
“Demons don’t look like that! They’re pretty! Like a flame to moths!”
“SHUT UP!!!”
SLAP.
The next day… Goliath could be heard crying, while the younger Beatle, BRUISED in the face with blood leaking out his nose every now and then before he wipes it, just fixed his Skeletor toy from his stomping.
“It’s okay, Skelly! We can talk about fixing you up later, mkay?”
“AND I PUNCHED HI
M!!! TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME!!!” sobbed Goliath.
“I REALLY WILL, ASSHOLE!!!” yelled Goliath’s sister on the phone. “I will… Honestly! Poor little thing!” She slammed the phone, hanging up, while Goliath cried.
Now…
The trio walk in the distance of the snow, nearing the Island of Palawan.
“MacJovial?” asked Grub.
“My sources say that MacJovial has something to do with your father’s death. He struck a deal with Morningstar to help out with her deal with Beatle. Mac gave her Demon Blood to make his death closer.”
“Why would he let them do that to him?” asked Grub, tearing up.
“To prove a point. He was a martyr, much to his father’s constant rebuking. What sucks is that he had to handle the stress of the knowledge that no one gave a damn about his love for the Multiverse, including from the ones he loved the most.”
Grub gave a look of self-contempt, almost hating herself for feeling such ways. She was her father’s daughter after all. “So, what was the deal for?”
“A merger… between two companies. Happy Hornet Entertainment and Colossus now work for Morningstar Industries.”
“It’s still out there!? Morningstar Industries?” asked Billy. “The very thing that started all this bullshit?”
“It now owns trillions of Splooge-Manufacturing Factories using the blood of innocent Aswangs.”
“I thought Aswangs were monsters…” said Grub. “When I was in the Moon Ark, the people there, Humans, would talk about how Aswangs were terrifying monsters in the old myth of the Philippines.”
“Moon Arkonauts are known for bringing back the old traditions of Man. Sadly, the legends of the past are often twisted and untrue. Have you met the Aswang of Tondo?”
“The guy we failed to save from the Ogre?”
“He is currently the new Saint King… And he sent me here to retrieve the one thing that could destroy Morningstar. The Cainmarker. However, I cannot lift it.”
“Then he should come here and give us a lift,” said Billy.
“He’s kinda… busy at the moment,” sighed Happy.
Meanwhile…
The Aswang is brought to near-death by Morningstar. He is beaten, punched and kicked down repeatedly.
He slowly looks up.
Morningstar sneers. “YOUR MOM!!!”
Morningstar beats him even more.
Back to the Messianic Age of Earth-1…
“Dude…” said Grub.
“One of you could lift it… One that carries his legacy…” said Happy.
Grub sighs, looking at Billy, and Billy looks back, so Grub ignores and changes the topic. “So, Aswangs are… good…?”
“Aswangs are treated as monsters due to their neurodivergence. They are treated as less Human due to thinking and being different. They appeared here in the Philippines from Aswangworld due to being masters of Multiversal space-time travel. They liked the tropical nature of this land long before. Then, the Humans came. Some of your father’s variants are Aswangs…”
“What is Happy Hornet’s?” asked Billy.
“Was a huge Multiversal Food Brand back in the day, until variants of their owner, Raycrocito Tomas. Was revealed to be a serial killer. My own variants tend to be his first victims in every universe.”
“Whoa… Glad you’re alive now!” smiled Billy.
“I am… not…” said Happy.
“Ah, right… Animatronic… oof,” said Billy, blushing and turning away.
“Ray was an evil motherfucker…” he sighed, as they walked over a few snow shrubs. “He was a serial killer known as MacJovial, known for using the mascot suit of our own damned restaurant to kill people and turn them into animatronics. Eventually, Ray, the MAIN Ray, died.”
“How?” asked Grub.
“I killed him,” said Happy.
Grub and Billy silently continued walking and marching in the marshes, with Billy keeping the children near her chest, while Happy just looked at his own fingers.
“I wish I could still feel most things again.”
“‘Most…’ So YOU CAN feel?” asked Grub.
“I feel emotions… like we all do.”
“Psh! You do?” laughed Billy, while Grub chuckled.
“I’m not my uncle… But, I just feel… detached…”
“What else?” asked Billy, doting.
“I feel… cold.”
“It IS the ice age,” said Grub.
“No… Like… always,“ said Happy.
“Oh,” said Grub, looking away. “How did you become… this…?”
“I died…”
“Oh.”
“He cut my body up and placed me inside of a robot suit and used Praed Shivus’ energy to activate my Soul as a battery of sorts for this body. This flesh suit you’re looking at is graphed from my old skin, along with some silicon implants. My endoskeleton is what keeps me going.”
“Wait… You’re a ghost?” asked Grub.
“More like Frankenstein’s Monster. I survived, obviously, but I woke up as the endoskeleton. I found a piece of my flesh and kept it. Little did I know I’d get smart enough to build a new flesh suit… Sucks, though. Death doesn’t teach you things. If you were stupid alive, you’d be stupid dead.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Grub and Billy just kept following Happy.
Billy turns to Grub. “You okay?”
Grub stops walking, and the other two turn back to her. “Am I worthy to be his daughter?”
Billy smiles, almost confused by her wording. “What?”
“Do I deserve to be called Beatle’s daughter? Because clearly, I suck. I didn’t learn any of his attacks. I didn’t try to fight using his style. NOTHING!!! I’m a loser, Billy!”
“Don’t say that.”
“I’m a loser! You should lift the Cainmarker!” sobbed Grub.
“Hey! Pull it together, man!” Billy grabs her wrists. “If you won’t lift it, i’ll make you lift it with me, okay? I don’t have to do this alone.”
Grub tears up. “Don’t you?”
“Of course, not!” smiled Billy. “Okay…”
Happy jus stares, with a look that is almost approving.
Billy turns to Antlion, who began shivering. So did Gabrielle. Billy looks around, seeing nothing but the horizon. “They’re gettng cold. Is there a cave nearby?”
Billy checks them up. “Fudge! They’re under a fever!”
“HUH!?” Grub checks their foreheads by placing her palms over each. “Crap…” Grub turns big, carries the whole group, amd leaps around, looking for a place to stay. “Where the hell are we!?”
“Nearing Palawan,” said Billy, holding tight to Grub. “LOOK OUT!!!”
Suddenly, something struck all of them in the head, and they all went unconscious.
Grub slowly wakes up, and sees that they’re in some sort of Skyship. “Where are we!?” Grub is horrified to see that Happy has his insides torn out, and is currently reassembling himself. “AH!!!”
“I’m fine. We’re good… Billy and the kids are fine…“ Grubs sees that they’re all fine, but Billy is tending to the sick kid and pet.
“Where the hell are we?” asked Grub.
“We’re in some kinda pirate ship…” said Billy,
“What!?” Grub looks down. “Wha!” She grabs and latches unto the chains, seeing she is over a cage overlooking the entirety of the ice sheet below. “WHERE ARE WE!?!?” asked Grub.
“Like, the Royal Where?”
“DUDE!!!”
“We’re in a Skyship. Like, a literal spaceship that is for the Earth’s atmosphere. Seems we strayed away from our path home.”
“Okay… Right…” said Grub. She stands up only to be electrocuted as the red liquid stuck inside vials connected to her chains, Demon Blood ,boils into her skin as it spills out. “FUCK!!!”
“Yeah… They knew…” said Billy.
“Take her in!”
“GRUB!!! Billy yelled, as her sister is taken away.
“Where the hell are you taking me!?” she roared.
Two guards from outside the cage overlooking the horizon enter, and they are these giant Crowmen, Humans engineered with the genetic attributes of a Crow. They had long claws acting as hands over each wing tip, but were basically just larger, taller crows. Their heads cocked, looking closely at Grub before tossing her into some sort of dark hallway.
Grub, panicking, tries to look for answers, trying to escape as they pull her like a dog, only to be thrown into a dark pit. She looks around, and she would see a light flash outside. She approaches it, covering her eyes as the neon skies’ light strike her face, and a bunch of Crowmen, Pigeonmen, and Budgiemen laughing and cackling for her.
“Hell yes… Yes… isn’t this a good thing, everyone? Like the party?” smiled a very fat Owlman on a throne, eating seeds, pellets, and mice. “Yeah? Like that sound?“ He smirked at some pretty Budgie Women while playing old “Thrift Shop” By Macklemore in his pretty Cassette installed at the armrest of his throne. “Yeahhh… What’s up, bitch? Sorry… I meant that endearingly, y’know? Huh? Eh? Eh?” He began hooting. “Sorry! Instincts. So! This is the all-powerful daughter of the Saint King!”
The birds sang and cheered like a choir. There are almost thousands of them here.
“Welcome to the Aviary!” smiled the Old Owlman. “Name’s uh… King Kwagz. With a K.W. not a Q.U. Mhm. Uh… Welcome… to my gladiator pit! We are pirates who specialize in broadcasting the best fights all over Earth-1!” He hoots some more, and vibrates his beak. “Sorry. Instincts and all.”
“GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!” roared Grub, before she blasts heat vision at King Kwags who obviously slaps it away with his bladed feathers.
“Whoa! Easy there, big gal!” smiled King Kwagz. “I’ll let you go if you beat my uh… Champion…” he smiled. “So, give it up for uh… You?”
The birdmen sang and chirped in unison, cheering and laughing.
“Haha! I am joking… I am joking. Real deal though… Time for the real deal… May I present to ya, Raphael Ibarra!!! Or as they call him by his holy name!”
“Another Ibarra?” gasped Grub.
“The Son of Beatle Saint King! The Crusher and Wrecker! The Hairiest Man on Earth! Give it up for Saint Kong!!!”
“‘Saint Kong!?’” asked Grub.
Saint Kong walks out of the cage and holds his fists up.
“HAHAHAHA!!! A MONKEY!?!?” laughed Grub.
Saint Kong facepalms. Yes. This is a Chimpman, a super soldier who served in the war long before. “Do I really have to fight my adoptive sister? She’s a daft bloke, innit?” he smiled, turning to King Kwagz.
“Do it or ELSE!!!” yelled King Kwagz.
“Else what, mate?” He smiled, skipping and bouncing arrogantly as he raised his hands. “I beat ya fair and square!”
“JUST DO IT!!!” roared Kwagz. “And… I’ll free you, I guess…”
“Seriously!?”
“HA!!! NO!!! No meals tonight. HOOT!!!”
“Sorry, who are you?” asked Grub, smirking and her eyes glowing red.
“Saint Kong. Adopted back in the Greatest War with the bestowed powers of the Saint King, yeah? And who are you with your daft fashion style?”
“Grub. Biological daughter of the Saint King.”
“Ha! Means bloody nothing! The Power of the Voice only lands on the one ya bestow it upon, yeah?”
“Bullshit! You can’t have Dad’s power! ANY OF IT!!! Why don’t you try-!?”
Saint Kong slams his fist into her face, and she crashes into the walls of the ring, causing the audience to cringe.
Saint Kong smirks, bouncing arrogantly. “I can’t wait for a good fight, mate?”
“Thought Dad stood for peace, autonomy, dignity, equity, kindness, and all that junk.”
“Oh, please! He was the greatest warrior of the Multiverse, mate. The strongest version of Saint King, only being rivalled by the Ascendant One, the Nazarene, and the Voice himself. No one, and I mean NO ONE, can beat the hell outta him. The bodies he piled up. The evilest people with the darkest hearts he destroyed. Damned disgusting monsters hammered away by his fist of justice. And you’re supposed to be his daughter?”
“That I am! You wanna go, Ooga Booga?”
“LET’S BLOODY GO!!!” Saint Kong charged and hammered his feet into her blocking palm. She cayvjes the heel of his foot, and he jumps up and kicks Grub in the face. She spat out some blood before spinning and crashing him into the ground with a quick slam dunk.
Saint Kong sneers as he moves his feet so quickly that he kicks him thousands of times within a split second.
Saint Kong maneuvers around her and places her in a headlock, but she moves so quickly that she teleports behind Saint Kong and punches Saint Kong in the face.
Saint Kong growls. “She learns as she fights!”
Saint Kong prepares Eyes of Lightning, zapping her with multiple energy bolts, but she somehow immediately learns the attack itself by observing each pattern of movement, before copying the exact state of mind and body, eventually zapping his head, and attacking his mind.
Saint Kong zaps her back, electrocuting and frying her brain, but she roars in primal rage and jabs at Saint Kong over and over.
Saint Kong grabs Grub and pile drives her into the ground, but she spins her body with her legs out like a top, kicking Saint Kong over and over.
Saint Kong tiresomely bounces back, handspringing and landing on his hind feet. “Where’d you learn how to fight?”
Grub smirks. “Watched my Dad fight.. And I watch A LOT of Superman movies.”
“Superman is only known to fight with simple heavy hitters. He finds weakpoints to win… You be movin’ like the Man of Steel version. Arrogant. Almost cocky, but lacking the wit in battle… You copied my moves, sure, but that’s all you got, innit? You have no idea how to use your techniques and apply them in the best way…”
“Heard you Chimpmen love to fight.”
“Same with the Saint Kings. Though you are merely a half-baked Saint.”
“DON’T YOU MOCK ME!!!” Grub powered up.
Saint Kong smirked and hammered Grub into the ground.
Grub growls, entering a primitive rage that makes her stronger, brawnier, and taller, although slightly, but Saint Kong crashes her in the face, driving her face into the stony ground, beating her over and over. He throws her away, tossing her like a ragdoll.
Grub breathes out, trying to tap into new power. She pants, genuflecting. “Dad used to say that I was always his Damsel… When I was younger… And he was my Knight… I didn’t give a crap about that… Any of that back then… But I understand now he was trying to be sweet…” she smirked. “Faith… In oneself… Saint Kings only tap into this power to become stronger. Something tells me you’ve been holding back.”
“Yeah. Because you aren’t worth it, yeah?”
Grub believes…
She closes her eyes, and for the first time in years, she prays.
“I believe in the Voice… Great Creator of the Multiverse… i believe in myself… And I believe in my Dad…” Grub stood back up, slightly waxing her body backward and forward, exhausted. “Let’s go… I ain’t through… I will never be through… Not when I’m still here.”
And suddenly, the silver aura began leaving her body. Grub, or shall I say, Damselfly Saint Princess, is born…
“What… is this…?” asked King Kwagz.
Saint Kong is impressed, eyes open, jaw hanging, but ends up smirking. “Heh… impressive. Maybe you are a Saint King after all, Princess.”
Damselfly sneers, aura leaving her skin. She can hear her own heartbeat, and then… everyone heard it. Her hair glistened silver. Her eyes turned glowing red. Her muscles got much, much bigger. Her skin beautifully vibrated and sent shockwaves in the atmosphere. “Heheheheh... Hahahahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! What’s wrong, Sun Wukong? Seems to me you’re capable of being impressed! So, you aren’t an unfeeling cardboard I’m boutta fold.”
Saint Kong smiles, and immediately, a silver aura began leaving his body. His heart began to ring in everyone’s ears in unison with Damselfly’s.
Saint Kong enters the exact same form as Damselfly’s, silver fur, red eyes, and silver aura.
Saint Kong’s breath left his nose.
Damselfly’s vein nearly popped out of her head, and she charged, only for Saint Kong… to throw one quick jab, knocking her out completely.
And, Damselfly, falls into the arms of her sister, Billy. Grub still breathes, hugging her sister, shaking in pain.
Billy smirks. “You beat the Damsel... Now…” Billy’s eyes go red. “You fight the Dragon.”