77: All Guns Blazin'

  For Damon, the axe attack was a blur in his peripheral vision.

  He was looking out at the crowd, trying to force the very best, most outstanding of all solos out of his guitar.

  And failing.

  It was a good solo, hitting all the right notes, so to speak, but it wasn't 'Eruption' or that perfect solo in 'Stairway to Heaven'. He knew it had to be a solo that Eddie Van Halen and Hendrix would rise out of the grave to listen to.

  This one was serviceable and okay. He could feel his metal health draining as he put more and more of it into the solo.

  Then came the blur and the commotion, along with an 'oooh' from the crowd.

  Jam was rushing across the stage, an axe in his hand.

  And he was coming straight for Damon.

  Still soloing, Damon blinked. What he first had thought was an axe that Jam was clutching was a Flying V guitar made of some sort of white wood. Jam had burst up the side stairs, jumped high in the air with it held above his head, then landed so that he skidded on his knees about ten feet, his leather pants protecting his flesh.

  A recent memory rose in Damon's mind. He saw King Fidd's head flying right through the air and wondered if his head was about to be struck off. Which might be a dramatic way to end the guitar solo. No, he thought, this wasn't an Alice Cooper show. He really wanted to keep his head on his shoulders. He nearly stopped playing, intending to fend off his attacker.

  But Jam stopped right beside Damon, then rose and twisted around so they were back to back. And as Damon reached a melodic part of his solo, as if he were reading his mind, Jam doubled the notes, making them twice as powerful.

  "I got you, dude," Jam shouted above the noise. "I can read the notes in your mind as you play them." They were making the solo, which was not technically a duet, become more solid. Whatever Damon played, so did Jam. Their Metal Mana rose as they brought the solo back to life. Damon now knew what KK Downing and Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest felt like when they used this very trick of blasting the heads off their fans with twinned guitar solos.

  This new shared solo equalled Eddie Van Halen's solo in 'Beat it'. Not Damon's favourite song, but somehow it possessed the greatest solo in all of heavy metal. And they were matching it. Doubling it, in fact.

  Audience Adoration +2000 Metal Mana

  Notes of Power were coming out of the crowd, hitting the guitarists and the rest of the band like a flurry of buzzing insects. Damon and Jam worked their way up to an impossibly fast crescendo, both without communicating, turning to the audience. And he saw Jam's hair grow longer in the moment—even more metal. They dove into the most complicated and almost impossibly fast part of the solo without missing a note. And ended with a series of right-hand hammer ons that were perfection.

  The crowd roared in ecstasy and in amazement as the guitarists came down into a power chord that shook the entire valley.

  Damon glanced above his head to see he had jumped up a level. And they weren't even finished their show.

  Metal Health: 25

  Kind: Human, male

  Type: Class 4 Mage, Mystic Flame Wielder

  Metal Skill: Class 5 Shredder, String Bender

  Metal Mana: 6500

  Proclivity: Lightbearer

  Special Ability: Rainbow Vision

  Kim stepped in front of them and sang, shaking her hair so that it went around in heavy metal circles.

  "I'm the demon.

  I'm the fire.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I'm the one who will burn your pyre."

  And then, to Damon's surprise, she added lyrics at the last moment:

  "I'm the god.

  I'm the goddess.

  I'm the one who destroys you, I must.

  And you love me, love me, love me

  As you lay there in the dust."

  And with that, both guitars hit the heaviest series of power chords, the bass bringing up the underbelly of the song, the drums at a crescendo, he, Jam and Lita stepped up and sang along beside Kim, with such power that they slammed the final chorus into the crowd like a hamer.

  "Something wicked this way comes,

  Something evil better run,

  Something wicked this way comes,

  Run, run, run, run, run."

  And with those final five "runs," they each banged on their stringed instruments and Gord hit the drums like striking an enemy. Fiora let out a long bright flame that lit the faces of the adoring crowd. And just like that, the song ended. There was a pure and almost horrible silence.

  Damon looked around at his fellow bandmates. Their numbers were glowing such a bright green, it was almost blinding. Jam was looking around, too. Eyes wide. A part of the team.

  "Oh man, oh man," Jam said. "We totally rocked."

  Then the crowd burst into cheers; a wave of love and adulation and more Notes of Power hit them. Damon felt like he was growing six feet tall. The crowd continued to cheer louder and as he straightened—even Fiora seemed to be back to the top of her health.

  And then, as if on cue, the crowd stopped.

  "Is that it?" Damon asked. "Did we win the Battle of the Bards?"

  "Not yet," Lita said.

  "Do judges come along and tell us?" Kim asked. "Maybe named Simon?"

  "No," Lita said. "I think we have our answer."

  She pointed at the crowd. They were no longer looking at them; they were looking up.

  "What are they looking at?" Jam asked.

  Then Lita pointed skyward.

  And the rest of Grinding Gods of Megametal stared heavenward.

  Damon's eyes widened.

  And as if their music had done it, the sky opened above them.

  78: Not Last In Line

  Kim decided it was like being sucked up a tornado without your house or your little dog at your side. She sheathed her sword, to stop from cutting herself or others.

  The whirling clouds descended with speed, and then spun around the Grinding Gods of Megametal, the crowd hooting and clapping louder at seeing them ascend. Even the other bands, off to one side of the stage, were clapping. Apparently, their show had been good enough to win them over. So the six of them spun around slowly, their hair floating in a very heavy metal way, and she imagined it must have looked impressive.

  "YOU ARE NO LONGER THE LAST IN LINE," a voice boomed. It didn't sound like Blayre. "COME TO ME CHILDREN OF THE SEA AND EARTH AND SKY. COME TO ME. TO DIO."

  Lights flashed in the clouds timed to a song that she fully expected either Damon or her uncle to recognize. And not one moment later, Uncle Gord said, "It's 'Rainbow in the Dark'." This summoning spell was designed to be the most amazing ending to the show. They rose higher and higher, drawing out the moment. She thought Rainbow Island would be right above them, but so far they were heading towards the stars, thousands of faces looking up at them.

  Then, riding a rainbow that glowed in the dark, Rainbow Island shot across the air and stopped above Hammersmith Stadium. Even at this distance, she heard the crowd go ooh and then aww. And just like that, with a pop, pop, pop, pop followed by a boofa, boofa sound, the Grinding Gods of Megametal vanished.

  She was greeted by a moment of silence and darkness, and she wondered briefly if she were going back to Earth. Wouldn't that be perfect? To have all these troubles end.

  But light assaulted her eyes, and she dropped only an inch or two, landing on her feet, with her bandmates around her. They were on a practice stage, in a room that had several broken instruments along one side. There were smaller versions of the Marshal Magic boxes. Torches burned in each corner.

  "Where are we?" Jam asked.

  "On Rainbow Island," Lita said. "Everyone prepare for battle. This could get messy."

  It wasn't messy right away. Instead, it was silent and dusty. There were spiderwebs in several corners. The torches burning clearly were magical, for the webs went from the flames themselves to the walls. Jam touched one. "Wow!" he said.

  "This room is in disrepair," Fiora said. "There is only one door."

  "That'll make any retreat imipossible," Gord said.

  "Rainbow Island was forced to go to Hammersmith by an automatic spell that Blayre hadn't disarmed," Lita said. "So he knows that someone has been transported into his new base of power. Our only advantage is that he doesn't know it's us."

  "Well, first may I say that was amazing," Gord said. "The pyrotechnics, the solos, the singing; it was all so awesome!"

  "You carried us all on your drum-pounding shoulders," Lita said. Kim got an icky feeling that this woman really wanted to hug her uncle.

  "It's Jam who saved the day," Damon said. "I didn't have enough Metal Health for the solo."

  "Dude," Jam replied. "I just followed your lead."

  "Yes, yes," Fiora grunted. "You were all great. But I still think we should take his head off." She pointed at Jam. "We could store it in a corner for later."

  "You can trust me, Dragon Lady!" Jam said.

  "That's the point, Jam," she replied. "We can't trust you. We still don't know if you'll turn on us. Maybe you came back up here to betray us to your so-called dad."

  "Never!" Jam said. "I mean, do you think he'd take me back? Wait, I know that would be wrong."

  "Let us trust him for now," Lita said. "Does that work for everyone? We wouldn't be here if he hadn't helped us. And besides, Blayre has no use for him other than trading his brain."

  Kim and the others nodded. Jam looked a little squeamish to her. She wondered if he'd intended to leap onto the stage and had been overwhelmed by his need to perform. She had assumed he'd run away. "Why did you leave us?" she asked.

  "I just really, really need to find a guitar," he said. "Then… well, you guys played, and it was awesome and I… I had to join the awesomeness."

  "Good, we are settled," Lita said. "Now we just need to stop Blayre, and then we will be able to go about our usual lives. And everything will be rock steady."

  "You won't be able to defeat him," a voice said. "I couldn't."