5.20

There was a surge of relief shared between Hunter, Silas, and Jimena when Woolpack and Gauzelle showed up. A feeling of completeness rose within.

“So we’ve jus gotta beat her and this is all done?” Gauzelle shouted.

“Yeah, pretty much,” replied Hunter.

“It won’t be easy,” warned Brickla. There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“Of course not,” said Woolpack. Woolpack and Gauzelle rushed to join their allies. Woolpack and Hunter shared a funny look, neither quite understanding how the other felt.

“All right boss, how do we do this?” asked Gauzelle.

“Don’t fool yourselves. Don’t compare yourselves to me.” The Trash Queen looked at each of them in disgust. She raised her lance, and, in a flash, she thrust the mean looking weapon at Jimena. Luckily, Jimena had been paying attention and turned herself into slime just as the weapon met her.

“Mere trickery won’t defeat me,” said the Trash Queen.

“We don’t need trickery to beat you,” said Silas. He had inflated himself and was standing at the ready. Brickla had formed a club with bricks and smacked Silas from behind.

Silas flew straight at the Trash Queen and connected with her just before she could raise her lance. The momentum wasn’t enough to move her however and she responded with a sonic scream. Silas was blown away.

Claw shot out his mechanical arm and grabbed Silas by the ankle before he could get too far. He swung Silas around like a hammer and launched him back at the Trash Queen.

Gauzelle slithered along the ground and wrapped herself around the Trash Queen’s whole body, and around her mouth, restraining her. Woolpack joined in restraining the Trash Queen, focussing on her weapon. Hunter shot his javelins at the Trash Queen and Jimena pelted her with slime balls.

Silas connected with the Trash Queen again and this time sent her flying. Gauzelle and Woolpack quickly unwrapped themselves and caught Silas before he could follow after her. He deflated himself and watched as the Trash Queen flew toward a building.

Her body smacked the building with a deafening crack. Hunter’s javelins flew into her body, each one sunk into her body. Brickla immediately closed the gap and pounded her with bricks.

There was a momentary pause with the onslaught as the heroes assessed if they had actually done anything.

A mad cackling rose through the night air and Brickla immediately flowed away from the Trash Queen.

“Now this is more like it. I’m having a little fun now. Still, it’s not enough. Time to even the playing field a little.” The Trash Queen continued to laugh as like a bullet, her body charged from the wall of the building. Lanced raised, she aimed herself at Claw and missed him by inches.

As Claw dodged the attack, the Trash Queen changed her course and flew at him again.

Before Claw had a chance to react, the Trash Queen had impaled him once again. The spear thrust out his back and she raised the body into the air.

“You’re done,” snarled the Trash Queen. She let out a scream directly at Claw. He felt as though his head was about to explode when the attack suddenly stopped.

A combined effort from Jimena, Brickla, and Silas was enough to make her stop. The Trash Queen flung Claw’s body and he skidded along the ground.

“I’ll check on him,” shouted Woolpack. She ran over to Claw. “Are you all right? Can I do anything to help?”

“I’ve been better.” Claw let out a wheezing chuckle and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Claw used his mechanical arm to put another cigar in his mouth. “Can you light that for me?”

Woolpack searched for his matchbook and lit the cigar. Claw smiled and coughed.

“You can’t die,” said Woolpack.

“We’ll see what happens.” The wheezing chuckle escaped him again and he stopped moving.

“Hunter, he, died.” Woolpack looked over at the fight and could see Hunter parrying the rash Queen with his javelins. Jimena was there too, in slime form.

Unsure of what to do, Woolpack morphed her arm into a mallet and extended her arm. She brought it down on the Trash Queen’s head and connected.

The Trash Queen locked eyes with Woolpack, and Woolpack felt an uneasiness slowly creep through her body.

The Trash Queen flew at Woolpack. She thrust her spear at the pink girl, but the weapon passed right through her. She made to grab Woolpack, but Woolpack morphed her body into the cloud and moved away from the Trash Queen.

As the Trash Queen turned to follow after her prey, she was met with a torrent of bricks to the face. The Trash Queen stumbled back a few steps and began to cackle once again.

“You are like ants to me. I will squash you all.” She flew at Brickla, her lance at the ready once again.

Brickla raised a wall of bricks and the Trash Queen crashed through the wall. Brickla raised more walls, but the Trash Queen crashed through each one, unstoppable.

Brickla surrounded herself in a sphere of bricks and the Trash Queen’s lance clashed with the bricks once again.

“Stop cowering behind your powers and take me head on.” The Trash Queen let out another scream and swept the whole area, sending them all flying back.

“She seems to have us beat, what do we do?” Silas asked.

“We just keep going,” said Hunter.

The five of them rushed at the Trash Queen. She looked at them all with a sickening grin on her face.

“How about we take this elsewhere,” she said. Suddenly, the Trash Queen disappeared with a shimmer.

“Don’t stop,” said Hunter. They each hit the shimmering portal that was left behind by the Trash Queen. Brickla surrounded herself with more bricks and jumped through as well.

At first, the group could see only darkness. A rotten smell filled their lungs and they each felt a little sick.

As their eyes adjusted to their surroundings, they could see what was around.

They were standing on a mountain of trash. Trash of all sorts was all around them.

“Are in some, like, trash world?” asked Silas.