Chapter 19: The Battle of Zalrot's Lair
Harry went to sleep that night, his head buzzing with questions that needed answers. Unfortunately for him, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, they did come, as in the face as you can get.
Harry's mind woke up, lying on the ground in a black suit. He was lying on the east side of the garden.
"Weird. That's never happened before."
"And neither has this!" said a strong voice from the west side. The man Harry remembered as Zalrot was standing in the middle of the entrance way into the garden.
"Zalrot, what are you doing here?"
"What I should have long before. I am relieving you of your position."
"You can't. My parents said-"
"One month is up, wench. If you were smarter, you would realize that. But, then again, how smart can a woman be? Hehehe."
"You want-"
"Be quiet you stupid bitch! Or I will quiet you myself."
"Just try!" Harry blurted out.
"Harry, stay out of this!"
"Yes, for the first time, actually listen to the whore."
"Zalrot, you need a reality check."
"And you need to know your place! You had your shot! Your days of unsuccessfully teaching the boy are over. It is my turn, and I will teach him right. You, however, failed when you started to teach him. You knew all along, yet you chose to keep certain things from him. I wonder why that is." He thrust his hand out, and the wind accelerated sharply. It blew Cho backwards into one of the pillars, as well as lifted up the left sleeve of her shirt. It bore the dark mark, clear as day, "As I expected."
"Cho, what the- why?" Harry asked, his face forming a look of surprise.
"She had no choice. She was captured by death eaters, and forced to become one of them. Her mission was to get close to you, as close as she could, and then report the goings on. Dolores Umbridge played a major role as well. She kept Cho on track, made her send the reports on time to Voldemort, but was dumb enough not to read them."
"How do you know all of this?"
"I know because I must know. It is my purpose. Her purpose led to guilt, which led to her death. Stupid bitch. You should know to never go down Knockturn Alley, just buy the stuff that went down there again."
Cho eyed Zalrot for a second, "What are you going to do?"
"Heh, finally a wise question to ask. We will battle, one-on-one. If you win, you keep your spot. If I win, I take over. Prepare to have your ass handed to you." He stepped forward, and a wave of sand shot at Cho like bullets. She flipped up, and landed on the edge of an overhang in a vampire crouch.
Zalrot flipped backwards, and kicked the entire bridged that crossed a small river at her. Cho did a gainer off of the overhang, and landed on the opposite side from Zalrot, "You think you're so tough, don't you?"
"Heh, pathetic human. You haven't learned anything at all. It seems that I have to give you a lesson. A lesson in humility." Zalrot and Cho jumped at each other, twisting in the air, ready to send their feet at the other's head. Zalrot was quicker, striking Cho in the left side of her head and sending her into another part of the stream.
Water splashed into the northern wall as she hit the ground. Cho lifted herself up a little bit, but Zalrot was too quick for her. By the time she had started getting up, he had already walked over to her. Cho felt a sudden spike of pain in her left side, as Zalrot implanted his foot into it.
She flew through the air. Five feet, six feet away from where she was before. Cho landed hard onto the tile floor that surrounded the garden. She stood up as quick as she could, knowing Zalrot would strike hard and fast. She reached onto the wall and pulled of a set of escrima sticks off one of the numerous weapon racks on the walls.
"Oh, so that's the way you want play?" Zalrot said, a grin appearing on his face. He pointed his right hand at the east wall, and a Bo staff shot into his hand. Cho ran forward with the escrimas ready to attack. When she was close enough, she threw out her arms, letting the sticks in her hands strike at Zalrot's right knee and head.
Zalrot brought the staff up, diagonally down and to the right of his body, effectively stopping both sticks, and smirked at Cho. He then twisted the stick to his left, sending both weapons out of her hands. He then angled the staff to his left, twisted his body to the right, and stopped the staff's spin. He then twisted one more time, striking the end that was behind him into Cho's face.
Blood fell from her cheek, onto the sand below, turning the tan to a deep red. She started flying again, faster this time, and landed, her head hitting a jagged rock. Cho flipped over a few times, her momentum making her fly forward and landing in the water. Red started seeping into the water.
Zalrot could see that Cho was starting to get up. With his right foot, he kicked up one of the escrima sticks, and then he jumped, did a full 360 in midair, and blasted the stick with a roundhouse kick. It flew as fast as it could, and cracked over Cho's forehead. The two pieces flew into the water, and she was sent into another pole.
"Oh, how tragic. Didn't put up a fight. So sad." Zalrot just walked over to where Cho was lying on the ground. She wasn't breathing, from what Harry could see. Zalrot kept walking slowly, showing no fear of something that could happen, "Boy, your thoughts are so strong I can read them over here. She's out."
Zalrot looked Cho over when he finally got to her. He could see it. She wasn't breathing at all, and her skin looked pale. Zalrot's grin got bigger and bigger with every second he looked at the girl. Then, he saw a twitch in her foot. He got scared and lifted one of his own to crush her skull.
She then pushed herself off of the ground, twisted around, and connected her right foot with the left side of Zalrot's face. It was his turn to grow wings as he flew into the Zen Garden's north wall. A dent was left on his impact, and weapons fell from their racks. Sais, Tai Chi swords, all kinds of weapons clattered to the floor.
Cho grabbed two Broadswords off of the west wall, as Zalrot picked up one of the Tai Chi swords from the floor. Cho flipped backwards, and pushed off the wall, throwing herself at Zalrot. Her hands were at her sides, the blades sticking out like a person stabbing downward with a knife.
"Not high enough, woman." Zalrot jabbed the sword forward, throwing all of his might into the blow. His eyes closed, trying to send all of his power forward. His momentum stopped, and his eyes opened again. Cho was standing on top of the flat part of his blade with a smirk on her face.
She dropped to the ground, twisted clockwise, and slammed the bottom of her right foot into Zalrot's chest. He flew backwards, crashing through the remaining poles of the northern part of the overhang, making that fall to the ground. Cho cart wheeled out of the way, "Bring it on, asswipe."
Dubrino was in the middle of what was left of the Auror administration building that was attacked earlier that day. Well, if it was a statement Voldemort wanted to make, he surely made a good one. Dubrino lifted up a large piece of the wall, when he heard a small noise echo through the silence of the night.
He took out his Muggle weapon, a .50 AE pistol, from the inside pocket of his suit, and stuck it out in front of him, "Who's there?" Then he was grabbed from behind by an unseen force.
Zalrot started to move from under the rubble of the overhang. The weight of all the wood and shingle that crashed down on him was overwhelming. Using all of his strength, he shifted as much rubble as he could, and then he stood up, and realize that there was a long wooden piece of beam stuck in his stomach. He grabbed it by both hands and threw it at Cho.
She jumped to the right, turned to her left, and chopped the beam in half. She then turned to face Zalrot again, "What a woman can do." she said, grinning.
"I owe you for that." Then Zalrot changed. You could see straight through him, like a ghost. He was glowing a sickly green. Then he returned to normal, smiling devil-like, "See? Just like new." He thrust both hands forward, and the water of the stream engulfed Cho, sending her into the south wall of the garden. The broadswords flew out of her hands and stuck into the sand.
Cho stood up immediately, and started running at Zalrot. Zalrot started running at Cho. It was an all out contest of speed and strength. After seconds of running Cho and Zalrot stopped running, just barley stopping a collision with each other. Both of them pulled their right fist back and struck the other in the jaw.
Both of them flew backwards at high speeds, north and south, colliding with the walls, knocking even more weapons down, creating even bigger holes. Zalrot stood up, his arms looking like rivers of blue light were flowing to his hands. Then the rivers stopped as he lifted his arms to aim straight at Cho, and shot lightning bolts out of his palms.
She looked just in time to push herself forward, barely dodging the lighting strikes as they flew at her. Three of them bounced off of a fallen shield, and hit the west wall's overhang, catching it on fire. Some of the pieces flew from the force of the strike, landing hand onto the ground around them all.
"What's going on? This is impossible!"
"No wench, not impossible. In this world, anything is possible. In our world, if you have the knowledge, you can defy the laws of everything on earth, from gravity to air. What you don't know about this world can fill your head a thousand times. You should have learned your place from the start. You are nothing more than a worthless piece of mind that has no place but to serve. To serve men."
"That's where you're wrong." She grabbed two four-pointed throwing stars and chucked them at Zalrot like a Frisbee. They sailed through the air, perfectly flat and parallel to the ground, their target being Zalrot's head. He flipped backwards, and grabbed a piece of wood from under him, and held it vertical. The stars cut through the stick, and Zalrot bent backwards, letting them fly over him, into the wall.
Then Zalrot jumped to his right, and landed on the flaming overhang. He pointed his palm outward, and shot lightning bolts at the opposite overhang, catching it on fire as well, "Let's see if you've got the guts." he said, summoning the Tai Chi sword into his hand.
Cho grabbed another Tai Chi sword off of the wall, and started running at one of the support beams that was starting on fire. When she got to the top, she did a backflip-twist, and landed facing Zalrot. She lifted her right hand, the one with the sword, and pointed its tip directly at Zalrot's head. Her actions showing one message, 'you're next'.
"Brave of you, girl. But don't confuse bravery with foolishness. Why do fight to save your position, when you know that your defeat is inevitable? Why do you cause yourself the pain that I will inflict just to make sure you teach this boy wrong? Why fight against men at all, when you know you're too weak to do any damage?"
"Because. Because it's my choice. I choose to fight."
"You choose to die." And at that, lightning started to strike, thunder began to clap, and rain began to fall. Zalrot grinned, knowing full well what he could do to Cho under these conditions. The fires kept on burning, as if they were resistant to everything that could put them out. Then the opponents raised their weapons at each other, daring their rival to make the first move.
Then Cho glowed white for a second, as if receiving some kind of power into her. She returned to normal a few seconds later, with a triumphant grin on her face, "Now we're even." She returned to the battle stance, aiming the tip of her sword at Zalrot's head.
As if it was a bell that started the battle, a lightning bolt struck the exact middle of the Zen Garden. Cho and Zalrot jumped as hard and as high as they could, the swords, raised into striking position behind them. They flew high into the air, as if the wind carried them the entire way.
Then they got into range, they sent their sword clashing into each other. A loud clang was heard throughout the land of the dead, as the two swords collided with each other. The energy coming from them was so powerful, it sent all of the rain that was falling down, away from them, forming a large sphere in the sky.
Cho pulled back, and lunged the tip of the sword as hard as she could at Zalrot. He swung his own sword under her strike, and then recoiled, aiming for a strike to her left temple. She raised her blade up, effectively blocking it. He then tried for a low strike to her knee, which failed. She again dropped her sword to the technique, and stopped it from hurting her.
Then Cho kicked Zalrot in his stomach, sending him plummeting to the ground below. He fell fast, unable to stop his rate of decent before he hit the ground with the force of an earthquake. Dirt and chunks of ground of all different sizes flew into the air, making Harry run out of the way to avoid his own death.
Harry looked into the hole, to see Zalrot starting to move again. Cho was already starting to fly down at high speed, the tip of her sword aimed at Zalrot's heart. Harry saw it all in slow motion, looking Cho's face that was set with pure determination and the will to kill her opponent.
He looked at Zalrot, whose sword was bent out of shape, was looking at Cho with fear in his eyes. She kept flying down, faster and faster, her power surging through the air. There was so much power coming from both Zalrot and Cho that it was hard to breathe. Harry then saw Zalrot smirk, and stand up totally.
"This has been a very good fight, very entertaining. But now it is time to end this charade."
Cho couldn't slow down as Zalrot jumped high into the air, a large grin sported on to his face. He twisted counter-clockwise. And slammed his right foot into Cho's chest, making her fall to the ground as fast as a bullet from a gun. She collided with one of the walls, making it fall down entirely.
The whole thing flew up and collapsed on Cho, making her buried under the entire weight of the wall. Harry started to run over to her, but Zalrot used the wind to push the rubble off of her. Harry fell down quickly to avoid being impaled, and looked at Zalrot. He looked prod of what he had done.
Harry then stood up and looked down into the crater that was made, "Zalrot, you bastard. What have you done?" Cho was lying down, a piece of wood was sticking out of her stomach. He ran over to her, to see she was barely breathing.
"Cho!"
"Harry?"
"Cho, you can't die on me again. You just-"
"Harry, remember what I told you the last time?" Harry stayed silent, trying to think back, "I said I was sorry. Now I wish that I never said that. I'm not sorry for doing what I did. I'm not sorry for sacrificing myself for you. I did what I had to do, just so you could live."
"Cho, what are you talking about?"
"The prophecy, the pro-" Then she released her last breath, leaving Harry with his anger at Zalrot. He stood up, and looked at Zalrot with the content to kill in his eyes. Zalrot glided down to earth, and walked over to where her body lay.
"You stay away from her!" Harry yelled.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a shame. Well, what is done is done. Come, I have the answers you are looking for."
"What makes you think I'm going with you? What makes me think I should trust you?"
"Because you want something, I have it, let's go."
"That doesn't answer my question."
"Funny, that was quicker then the others."
"What?"
"See, a question. You want the answers, follow me." The Zen Garden started to float away, and they were back in Zalrot's hut, sitting on two pillows on the opposite side of a fire.
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Hey everyone! I hope you liked this chapter! I know I sure loved writing it. Remember to look out for the next chapter, Chapter 20: The Green Flame Torch. Now, just a couple of shout-outs:
Amynoelle: I know I've given one to her for the last few chapters, but she is such a great help to me and the fic. (That, and she gives me ammunition to embarrass her with each time before I get the chapter done) Well, anyway, she may be of help, but she's a little crazy, and I think that there is something going on with her and the computer. Because her boyfriend walked into her bedroom, and asked her, 'who the hell are you talking to?' after he heard her say, 'come on, work for mama!' to the comp. Great stories, and thanks for the help!
bamaslamma29 and everyone else: You all reviewed, put input in and said thank you. Now I must return the favor. Thank you all!