"There it is. The cave of the destroyer." Charon said.
"Well we can't just wait for the Kraken to turn up. Come on enough dilly dallying." The Doctor interrupted somewhat nervously.
As the ship moved closer to the cave however, suddenly it was rocked by something so hard it caused the Doctor, Yarox and all of the damned souls to fall off of their feet.
Charon scrambled up and opened the hatch. Above he saw a sight that terrified even he, the man who had been killed an immeasurable number of times already.
It was the sight of literally hundreds of Demons descending from the firey skies. These weren't just any old Demons however. They were Scratchman's personal elite. It hadn't taken Scratchman long to realise that something was wrong. (This was his domain after all.)
"There's no chance we can fight those monsters off." Charon said.
"We can't just give up" the Doctor responded, only to see that all of those around, save for Yarox (who didn't really know the gravity of the situation) had done just that.
"Trust me there's no point, those Demons are the strongest force Scratchman has." The female ghost said. "It would take." Before she could finish, she and the others were quickly alarmed and delighted by the sight of hundreds of Harpies, flying towards the Demons. Within a matter of seconds the Demons and the Harpies became caught in a truly vicious battle with one another.
"It can't be?" The female Ghost said.
"The Harpies are launching a full scale war."
"They won't stand a chance." Charon replied.
Sure enough the Demons were easily dominating the Harpies in the fight. Just one of Scratchman's hideous minions was able to tear apart three of the Harpies at once. Still the Harpies at least vastly outnumbered this small army of Demons, though even then they were only able to inflict a few small casualties on the Demons. Still at least the winged creatures sacrifices were keeping the Demons away from the Doctor and the others.
The largest of the Demons kept tearing its way through the Harpies to try and get at Charon's vehicle, but every time it did, more Harpies would surround it.
Some of the damned souls from the lake also tried to join in the battle as some of the Demons and the Harpies flew closer to the lake. The very few who came in on the Harpies side were dispatched easily however.
The way Charon's ship had come had been completely cut off by hordes of Demons and Harpies fighting meaning their only way was forward now regardless.
"We have to move now" The female Ghost said. "We have to get you and your craft out of this reality Time Lord. You must promise us that when you get back to your reality, you will let the great powers of your universe know about what is happening here. Quarrantine the earth if need be to stop Scratchman from using any other unwitting alien like yourself's technology from being used by this Demon."
"I promise" the Doctor said, though he didn't really mean it. The Doctor wasn't sure about letting other life forms, including even his own people know about the earth. For all he knew it could make the planet more of a target. Other life forms could want to destroy the earth to prevent any chance of Scratchman from clawing his way into our universe. Other aliens meanwhile might stupidly come to the earth for the challenge and glory of being the one to defeat Scratchman like before. At the same time however, the Ghost was right. Unless the portal to Scratchman's realm was closed, the monster could always use any other stray alien's technology for his own ends, or even humanity itself once it reached a certain stage of development.
Still he couldn't worry about that now. All that mattered was getting the TARDIS.
"We still need to get to Ammit's cave." The female Ghost said.
"Why?" Yarox asked.
"Would you rather go through the war up ahead?"
"I'm just glad that once we get there it will be all over for me." Charon said as he headed towards the cave.
Just as Charon moved the ship forward however the Kraken's tentacles started to emerge from the water.
Charon froze for a few seconds before driving his ship furiously into the monsters arms.
He didn't even push the demonic ocotopoid back an inch. It simply enveloped the ship and lifted it off the ground.
"Akasio, Leranak, Hesial" The female ghost chanted which caused the Kraken to drop the vessel and become docile.
Charon for the first time drove the ship past the Kraken, but just before he reached the cave he stopped.
"What are you doing? We don't have much time." The Ghost said frantically.
"Just one thing." Charon said as he opened the hatch. Outside whilst the Harpies and Demons were fighting. (Or rather the Harpies were being slaughtered.) Charon spat on the docile Kraken.
"I couldn't have died for good without doing that." He said.
On the other side of the valley meanwhile, the rest of the rebellion were preparing to launch their attack on Scratchman's castle. The castle was made entirely from the bones of various creatures. Literally entire species worth of life forms had been sacrificed just for the Devils fancy palace.
Elena had joined the army advancing to the front. The Harpies did not know or even trust her, but they needed all of the forces they could get.
This was where the bulk of the army was. Hundreds of Harpies in the sky, as well as two gigantic Dragons, centaurs, cyclops and living skeletons marching on the ground.
Sadly however even after all this time, the creatures underestimated Scratchman
"There is a future for us you know." Elena said to one of the Cyclops just before the battle, who she naturally felt a certain kinship with.
"I'm from it. I know that Scratchman doesn't win. Well I know its possible that he doesn't win at least. The Doctor tells me that we make our own past when we time travel. Its always the present for us if that makes sense, but."
"Please I don't need extra encouragement. I'd gladly die 1000 times if it meant trapping that monster in here. This entire world is crumbling. Why do you think he sent his minions to bring you and the Doctor here? He is at his strongest in his castle, but even then his power decreases every day. Oh Scratchman denies it, even some of our generals deny it and hold onto false hope that one day he can be overcome. The sad truth is this entire reality has been bent and broken so much that even Scratchman can't sustain it for long. When it vanishes he'll be trapped in the eternal nothingness that this universe will become. Unable to draw energy from any other reality, any life form. We'll all die instantly, but we'll be free. A being of his power, will linger on and possibly be condemned to an eternity of torment in that nothing if we can just hold him. I'd say that's worth any sacrifice."
"Don't you want to save your world? You're happy to see your history, your culture just vanish in the blink of an eye." Elena asked.
"It vanished a long time ago, and it wasn't in the blink of an eye. Now the creature responsible will pay."
As they advanced on the castle, hordes of monsters began to emerge from all around and from every window. Some of the bones that made it up even began to come to life and form into Frankenstein's monsters made up of the bones of numerous different creatures. Under the bones were flames, showing that actually the skeletons didn't even support the castle. They were simply decorations.
Giant horned Demons of various kinds, creatures made of fire, rotting corpses, they all made up the bulk of Scratchman's army.
One of the two Dragons on the Harpy Queen's side flew down towards the horde and breathed fire on all of Scratchman's forces turning the Demons into ash, whilst the creatures made of flames dissipated.
However just as it looked as though the tide could be turned in the rebels favour, five more Dragons from Scratchman's castle emerged from the top of the highest tower. None of Scratchman's Dragons were as powerful as the two the army had managed to capture however. That had been their greatest victory against Scratchman in all the millennia they had been fighting the monster.
However whilst Scratchman's Dragons were not as powerful, they were still strong enough to divert the Dragons attention away from the forces below, causing the rebels to lose their advantage. Alone and on the ground the rebels again were no match for Scratchman's forces.
During the fight, Elena much to her shame kept to the side and tried to avoid fighting any of the monsters. It didn't take her long to realise that fighting these beasts wasn't a smart option. The Cyclops she had spoken too was killed in a matter of seconds by a large flaming Demon, having barely been able to even lift his sword.
She hoped that perhaps she could sneak her way into the castle, which is where the TARDIS most likely would be. She had no idea what she was going to do when she got there, but it was better than just getting pointlessly killed on the battlefield.
The Doctor, Charon, Yarox and the the ghosts meanwhile had successfully made their way deep into Ammit's cave before the Kraken recovered. The inside appeared to be a temple of some kind, with a completely alien design. The ruins of whatever civilisation had once thrived on the planet Scratchman had decided to make his base of operations.
On the walls were paintings of incredible creatures, either the rulers of this once proud world, or perhaps the Gods they had once worshipped. It seemed likely that Scrachman would choose a holy building as the place to keep his most vile, and feared pet.
"I don't like this. The Destroyer should be here. It's toying with us." The female Ghost said.
"I hope Scratchman hasn't killed her just to spite us." Charon replied.
As they reached the end of the cave they saw a wall of fire over thirty feet tall.
"I don't think the sonic screwdriver will get through that." The Doctor joked to try and lighten the mood.
"It's okay we have enchantments that can break Scratchman's wall of fire, we'll have to move quickly." The female Ghost said.
As soon as she started the ritual however, the ground below her started to shake, and in a matter of minutes a Crocodile's head as big as an elephant came bursting through the ground and devoured the Ghost lady in a single bite.
"Ammit" Charon said excitedly. "Peace at last."
Ammit soon burst out of the ground completely. Its body was over 50 feet long. Just as described in the myths, its head was a Crocodile, whilst its body was that of a Lion, and its legs were that of a Hippo. Its head was also covered in a large mane too.
Everyone ran from the beast except for Charon, who ran towards it.
Yarox and the Doctor only noticed at the last minute, but could do nothing to help him. In one bite, Ammit swallowed the ferryman of the dead.
The monster lumbered after the Doctor, Yarox and the remaining souls, all of whom it picked off one by one, until only the Doctor and Yarox were left.
The Doctor felt that perhaps the souls much like Charon were desperate to be free of their burden too. Had he and Yarox perhaps been misled by those Ghosts into going on this suicide mission.
Ammit smashed all of pillars and ruins as he furiously chased after the Time Lord and Yarox. Both stuck together in the confusion, though at one point they did become separated by a falling pillar. There was nowhere for them to run. Each time the Doctor and Yarox made it back the way they came from the lake, the Kraken's tentacles would rise from the depths, whilst at the other end, the flaming wall kept them out. They simply ran around in circles whilst the Doctor searched for a tiny hole and opening, but he found nothing. Not even somewhere to hide.
By the 6th time they had run around, the Doctor was so exhausted that he almost collapsed.
"This isn't the most athletic body I've ever had Yarox I'm afraid. I've maybe not looked after it as much as I should. Too much Venusian cuisine." The Doctor said through gasps of air.
"We can't give up now Doctor."
"Believe me my boy, I don't want too, but I think I'm going to pass out."
As Ammit advanced on them again, the fire door suddenly vanished and a tall, middle aged man, with greying dark hair, a handsome face and a bright orange suit emerged. Ammit instantly bowed in reverence too him.
"Watching you run away from the monster stopped being amusing after the third time, but I could never go easy on you." The man said.
"Allow me to introduce myself Time Lord. I am Harry Scratch."
To Be Continued