The Watchers' Revenge

Chapter 16: Watchers Can't Really Fight, Surprisingly.

It was a good day for the hermits. Most of their friends had been rescued, they were back to normal, and they had won the battle. Scar had flown back to Keralis's city and grabbed eight more crystals; one for each of their still-missing friends.

But they had not yet won the war.

And none of them had expected the Watchers to come rushing out of the Town Hall.

The only thing to be said was that there were only four of them.

But they were powerful.

One of them shot flame around, engulfing the area in smoke and heat. Then, they charged.

The hermits were doing well, dodging their attacks, although never landing a hit. Finally, False managed to stab one straight through the back and it hissed in pain as it seemingly evaporated. The other watchers flew straight up and observed the hermits from above.

Then, a fourth, much bigger figure came swooping out to join the other three.

It landed and looked around casually.

"Hello, hermits," it greeted.

"Kyle," Mumbo said, gritting his teeth.

"Oh, you recognize me?" Kyle asked. "How nice."

"Where are the others?" Xisuma demanded.

Kyle raised his hand and gestured a 'come out' sign with it. Cleo, Ren, TFC, Iskall, and Cub emerged from the bushes.

Scar pulled out five crystals and quickly forced each one to bond with a hermit. The five stumbled around, then looked around dizzily.

"You know I could just take control of them again?" Kyle wondered.

"We'll keep saving them," Scar told him.

"Stubborn, just like your little feathered friend," Kyle observed.

"Where is he? WHERE IS GRIAN?" Mumbo demanded.

"Patience," Kyle tutted. "He's right here."

Kyle pulled out a small, ruffled, red, yellow, and blue parrot from... somewhere.

"That's a parrot, Kyle," Mumbo hissed.

"Finally, we agree! Indeed it is! You stupid hermits just never saw it the way I did," Kyle gloated.

"Wait, that's not-" False spoke up.

"I believe... it is," Kyle replied. He dropped the parrot. It fluttered awkwardly to the floor, one wing seemingly broken. When it landed, Kyle flicked his hand and the parrot morphed into Grian, laying tiredly on the ground. He was thin, tired-looking, scared, and his wing and arm were broken- the same side as the parrot's broken wing.

The hermits simply stared in shock.

"Get them," Kyle commanded, not even raising his voice.

The remaining three Watchers shot fire around the entire area, setting shops and trees ablaze and separating Grian and Kyle from the others.

For a second, no one moved, then they all ran.

Some went towards the Watchers, some the town hall, some Kyle and Grian, and some just generally away from the fire.

Xisuma, Mumbo, Cleo, False, and Scar managed to make it through the inferno to where Kyle still stood with Grian below him. Kyle saw them, waved his hand again, turning Grian into a parrot, picked him up harshly, earning a weak squawk of pain from Grian and five angry, determined hermits, then flew up and into the Town Hall.

No words needed to be said between them. Every one of them was filled with rage at seeing Grian treated like this yet again... although this was almost worse.

They weaved around burning buildings and through the blazing town to the one untouched place; the Town Hall.

Inside it, Kyle was sitting on the diamond throne, Grian on the arm of the chair.

Even in his parrot form he looked weak and tame, barely moving from his tired position.

"You will give us back Grian, now," False demanded.

"And why would I do that?" Kyle asked.

"Because we will kill you if you don't," False answered simply.

"Bold words, but you can't be held to them," Kyle replied. "You can't kill me."

"Yes, I know. But we can," False gestured around to the hermits entering the building; Stress, Iskall, Keralis, Doc, Hypno, and plenty more.

"I'd like to see you try," Kyle dared them. "Bird?"

Grian took off and surveyed the hemits below him, then tried to dive out.

"I thought you'd learned your lesson, my wings you're stubborn," Kyle said exasperatedly, pulling Grian back in. Several hermits tried to catch him on his way back, hoping to keep him away from Kyle, but they all failed.

Kyle summoned a small bowl of water. Grian, who'd been pulled onto the arm of the throne, backed away. Kyle rolled his eyes and simply magicked the water over Grian's head, then dumped it on him.

Grian started screeching in pain. His damp feathers were turning purple and he jumped around trying to escape.

False jumped onto Kyle while he was watching Grian and stabbed him.

Kyle froze.

"Perfect," Kyle smiled. "Exactly what I hoped. You'll regret this."

The hermits watched uneasily as he faded away. But this time, instead of dispersing, his form morphed into a ball and engulfed Grian.

The screeching stopped. When the mist faded, there stood a black bird with purple eyes. Its wing was healed, and it stared at them evilly.

None of them knew what to do.

The other Watchers solved that problem. They rushed in and attacked the hermits. The hermits easily swarmed over them and killed them, but before the last one died, it fired a magical shot, which bounced off the reflective surface of the chandelier above and rebounded...

Straight at Grian.