Alright, sorry for the wait, guys.
Chapter Seventeen
Queen laughed and laughed. Finally...she had hurt Richard so much! He was paying! His precious RAFians were nothing to her, they were all crushed beneath her feet, she was lord, she was ruler, she was...
She was flat on her back in the mud, Richard standing over her, his eye blazing. "This used to be a peaceful place, Queen!" He yelled. "This was peaceful until...until you and your friends came!" He spat the word friends like a curse. "Its an online forum! And you see the need to kill and to murder and to lie! Why, Queen? What did we ever to do you? Now I'm going to give you just what you came to get. You came here asking for a fight, you're going to get one!"
Yorick, Aloth, and Dagger melted out of the fresh downpour of rain and grimly stood beside Queen. Claire, Phoenix, and Esplin came up and stood beside Richard as well. Richard spread his arms wide. "Four on four Queen. A fair fight."
Claire and Dagger started to circle, as did Russell and Aloth. Phoenix and Yorick drew their swords and stepped forward, and Richard and Queen leaped at each other right away. The first initial contact of the two leaders made them rebound off each other, Queen went sprawling in thet mud again, and Richard landed neatly on his feet. She swiped one of her feet through the air, energy slashing after it, and it caught Richard unprepared, (Authors Note: Look, you're probably gonna be all like "How could you catch Richard unprepared? He's Richard!" But...can't he get hurt once? Please?) and he fell. Queen was on her feet and conjuring again in a flash. Richard neatly tripped her, then was on his feet and driving an energy ball toward the back her her head.
Guy gave a triumphant shout. "Got it! All Queen followers and Queen herself will be stunned by the defense Shredder cannons. Nap time, kiddies." And in true style of one activating large guns, Guy pushed the big red button.
There was a large mechanical clunking. Out of the walls, large Shredder cannons rose. Old and rusted, but still working, they soon began firing upon Queen's groups. The minions outside the walls were the lucky ones. They were the ones that escaped the blasts. The ones on the inside had to find an exit point, and get through it, but before they reached that they were usually stunned. The RAFians let out a hoarse cheer. With the shredder cannons, this battle was won.
Richard paused a second before killing Queen. This was not his way. He had defeated her. The cannons helped. She knew she was beaten. Now she was crying into the dirt. "Don't kill me," she sobbed. "Please. Don't kill me."
Richard curled his lip. "You sicken me, Queen." He spat. "Absolutely sicken me. Now get out of here. Go. And if I ever see your filthy mug here again, I'll kill you. That's a promise Queen. Take your mob. Get out!" Richard turned away. Claire and Dagger were gone, Phoenix had disarmed Yorick and had his sword at his throat, and Esplin had one hoof on Aloth's shoulder and his tail blade as the minion's throat. Richard nodded to them, and Phoenix lowered his sword, and Russell steppd off of Aloth and raised his tail blade. They quickly fled, scurrying after Queen. The three mods watched the three banned until they were specks on the crest of a hill.
Richard turned to them. "I'm very proud of you, and all the mods." He said quietly. He had somewhat regained his compusure. "This was an extremely trying time for RAF, and you all lead the others through this. I chose well when I made you mods."
Phoenix and Esplin smiled weakly at Richard. <Nobody would have made it through without you, Richard.> Said Esplin to him. "No," agreed Phoenix. "You truly lead us. Thank for the praise," Phoenix trailed off. <And thank you. For everything you've done for all of RAF.> Finished Esplin. The two mods turned away and began to asses the damage.
(Author's Note: This paragraph will most likely make people very shocked and very angry. But in the next chapter, it will soon become apparant why it happened. You will most likely STILL be very shocked and very angry. Please bear with me.)
It was an hour or two later. Cheers rang through RAF. Finally. They had won. They had won! It would be over.
Richard trailed around the festivities, searching. What he was searching for, he didn't know. The bodies of Jess and Blocky? Damage? Queen? Claire, who was still missing from her fight with Dagger? He didn't know. Eventually, he found Horse and Mike sitting against a wall. Instantly, he knew something was up. Horse was crying and Mike was sitting, staring blankly into space, looking completely shocked.
"Phoenix? Horse? What's wrong?" Richard asked, looking down at them.
"She...she saved me..." sobbed Horse wretchedly.
Richard had a feeling something really terrible was coming. "Who saved you? Jess?"
"No..." whispered Horse. "Dagger...coming after me...she..."
"Guys...we won. I know...it's horrible...but...we won." Richard realized Horse might not know about Jess and Blocky.
Phoenix looked up. "We won." His voice was hollow and dead. "We won...but at a terrible price."
"What do you mean?" said Richard. Fear began to pulse through him. What had happened.
"We won." Repeated Phoenix. "But Claire is dead."
