Demon Hunter 5

Bob pulled up lightly once more, making Dillon yelp. "That's for sneaking up on me."

Dillon, as far as Dillon could tell, turned to face Bob, rubbing his shoulder. "I was joining you. I whispered ...Hey! Bob!', but you were humming and obviously didn't hear me."

All this time, they had kept walking. Now a light was glittering just a few yards away. "Yeah, whatever. Look, there's the place where we'll find the key. Follow me."

The pair Broke and moved quickly towards the light. Both drew their swords and walked cautiously. The light became clearer and clearer, and soon they found it led into a large room. At one end was a golden chair with a monsterously large demon, as big as Bob, sitting in it. The demon had bull's horns and an angular face. A sharp goatee hung from his chin, which the demon continuously stroked. It was covered in a long robe, red with gold seams and lining. The room was covered with brightly colored tapestries and silk curtains. The floor was springy and soft, the kind that could double as a bed.

"Welcome, fellow swordsmen! Shall I be killing both of you, or only one?" The demon pulled a broadsword as big and as dangerous as Bob's, and stood.

The wall to the Hunters' left exploded, sending rubble flying. The demon near the chair turned from the Hunters to look at the appraoching figure.

That's all Bob needed. He flew at the demon, blade out in front, ready to kill. The demon was quick enough to dodge a lethal blow, but not fast enough to avoid a deep slash to the arm.

The form walked through the dust. "Forrno, can you handle him?":

Forrno pushed Bob away with his sword and answered. "Yes! Take the other one before he gets in my way!"

Shinn stepped out of the dust into clear view. His remaining eye positively glowed with energy and violent anger. The other had a makeshift cloth eyepatch, wet with blood. "Good. He and I have..." he laughed a maniacal laugh. "A score to settle."

Dillon sheathed his sword and stood at the ready. Roaring, Shinn blasted toward him, swinging his fists and shooting out his legs. Dillon backpedaled, blocking every one of the attempted blows. He ran backward up the wall and flipped over Shinn's head, twisting in the air so he'd be facing the demon when he landed. Shinn's dangerously powerful fist was set deep in the wall when Dillon landed.

Dillon was caught off guard with an unexpected low kick, and fell to the ground. Shinn wrenched his arm out of the wall and spun around. He brought his foot up high and slammed it to the ground, aiming for Dillon's head. There was a foot mark imprinted in the ground after Dillon rolled out of the way. He rolled back into a handspring and landed lightly. Shinn charged, and arm reared back for the punching. As he let fly with the punch, Dillon leapt into the air and wrapped his legs around Shinn's neck. Using the running momentum, Dillon leaned forward and kicked his legs back. The pair flipped in the air. Before they could do a complete flip, Dillon kicked off, adding to the speed that was sending Shinn to the ground. Shinn slammed into the ground on his back.

He rolled to his belly and worked his way up until he was on his hands and knees. Dillon brought his foot up underneath Shinn's belly, and sent the demon into the wall, flattened sideway in the spread-eagle position. Dillon was pounding him repeatedly with kicks and punches. The power of Dillon's attacks kept Shinn plastered to the wall. Dillon stopped after one final vicious kick and stepped back. Shinn didn't get up.

Dillon shrugged his shoulders and grinned. "Score settled. Two for Dillon, one for Shinn." He spat on the demons carcass as it started to deteriorate.

A roar of pain warned Dillon that something was coming his way. He ducked and rolled as Forrno sailed over his head, impaled by Bob's broadsword. The sword impaled Forrno to the wall as he struggled to pull it out. As he got weaker and weaker, Forrno struggled less and less until there was no movement at all. He deterioraterd quickly, leaving nothing but a broadsword stuck in the wall.

Bob walked over, a proud smile on his face. "Cool." He yanked the broadsword free and sheathed it.

"Way." Dillon answered.

Behind them, the chair slid sideways, and a grate the two hadn't noticed before slid open underneath it. The two walked to the open hole where the chair had been and peered inside. A golden key glittered happily as Bob picked it up.

"To the Bat Cave, Robin!" Bob ordered jokingly, pocketing the key.

"Don't you mean the courtyard, stupid?"

"Yes. Let me try that again. Ahem; to the courtyard, stupid!"

Dillon punched him in the arm as the two entered the complete darkness of the tunnel. They soon reached the stairs and began their ascent.

"If I was the Black Pearl's Lair, where would I be?" joked Bob.

The five Hunters had met in the courtyard within minutes of each other, and now stood debating where they should look for the Black Pearl.

"You'd be somewhere secret, the last place anyone would look," Ashley offered.

"And someplace dark where no sun could shine," Jeff added.

Dillon rubbed his chin as he thought. It was a trait he had picked up from Rich while they had stayed at the church. "May I throw out an idea? Maybe...the well?"

The rest of the Hunters nodded in agreement, but Alex had an argument. "If a well is filled with water, how are supposed to know how deep it is? If we go too deep, we won't be able to make it back in enough to breath!"

Dillon walked over to the well rim and grabbed the wooden basket that hung from a rope that was attached to a pulley. "If there's no water, I'm guessing it will hit the bottom with a bang!"

He dropped the bucket and watched as it fell into the darkness. Dillon counted how long it took to hit the bottom. As he counted six, he heard the bucket smash.

Alex was the first one to jump into the hole. As her voice faded, she yelled, "I plummet corrected!"

Dillon shrugged his shoulders and rolled in, scuba diver style. The rest soon followed, jumping in feet first. The well was huge in diameter, and all three fit in at the same time. Bob dropped away from the rest as they fell and started to Break. The other three Broke and started to slow down. They were almost slowed to a stop when they hit the bottom.

"Boo!" Dillon jumped out of the dark edges of the bottom and surprised the others.

"Nice. But I heard you breathing over there before we landed. Work on that," Bob said smugly.

Dillon punched him in the air. "Go home, Bobby."

Bob reared back his fist and smiled. "Wish I could!"

Dillon put up his hands. "Save that for later. Right now, let's look for something that looks like a door or passage."