Ruby felt the cold pressure pulling and pushing against her body. She slowly opened her eyes and is once again beholding the majestic abyss of the ocean depths. She peered down and sees herself in her giant kraken form. Her long upper and lower tentacles flowed against the currents, her gills feeling the scent of salt and sulfur, her azure hair dazzled as her bioluminescent purple speckled skin breached the darkness and lit up the surrounding area in a magnificent display of winsomeness.
She then turned to the loud whirling sounds and blaring flashes light coming from beyond the submerged sand dunes. She pushed through the waves, swam over the dunes and saw the astonishing Well of Seas. Surrounded by a garden of sunken ships coral, its powerful energized currents flowed inwards and outwards from the mouth of the powerful volcano like the heart and veins of enormous living being. Ruby was lost in moment of astonishment by the miraculous display when a sharp motion made her ears perk back up.
She turned her head in the sharp motion's direction, yet saw nothing from behind. Another similar motion came from behind and she turned to see but there was nothing. A feeling of wariness loomed over the young kraken as she used all of her heightened senses to survey the area, yet for the longest minute of Ruby's life, she could not detect anything amiss.
On land, from the custody of the energy dome, Ruby's family was forcefully observant to the image of Ruby's predicament. "Look out Ruby he's right behind you!" Brill yelled in vain, as no sound would breach the mystic window.
At that moment she felt a strong surge rocketing from right behind her head as she ducked at the last second as the projectile crashed into the watery earth, missing its target. The ash fault cleared as Valroc, enlarged in great size, stood up and toward over Ruby. Ruby shot back in shock "WHAT?! How are you even...?!" She asked before being interrupted by a fury of strikes from the dragoon's clawed hands "You think your kind are the only ones capable of becoming giants? You're as pig headed as your queen!" Valroc boasted as he lunged his speared tail right for the young kraken. Ruby quickly formed up her body armor as the tail connected. The attack pushed Ruby back with great impact as the young kraken used her three lower tentacles to press of the ground with tremendous force. She rose from the upper depths and came charging down at her fiery opponent, only for Valroc to swiftly dodge her attack and grab one her tentacles with his long tail.
"Now the, princess of the kraken folks. Show me how you manage to steal back the trident." He cackled as he swung Ruby around and tossed her into one of the energy currents. The tremendous force swept up Ruby as she spun uncontrollably through the hyper stream, banging on countless giant floating rocks and debris. However, she manages to grab hold one of the crumbling debris and push herself off. She straightened her body into a projectile position, allowing herself to flow through the extreme rapid currents.
From afar, Valroc watch with envious astonishment. Amongst the insane surging energy currents, Ruby saw an opening and dived through it with great momentum. She shifted her mass to change direction and aimed towards Volrac then energized her laser eyes and fired a massive energy bolt at Valroc. The dragoon manage to block the lasers with his tough scales, but wasn't fast enough to dodge Ruby's fist. The kraken connected with the dragoon's face and pounded him into the bottom landfill.
Above ground, Ruby's family cheered with delight. "YES! First round goes to Ruby Roo!" Margot cheered as her high fived Bliss and Trevin. "You go get em Ruby! Show that freaky lizard's whose boss!" Connor joined in. "That's what happens when you mess with my favorite niece!" Brill jumped in his own signature high five, comically knocking over the four highschoolers.
Valroc quickly got up the merky ground and shot up right passed Ruby. "At was a very impressive maneuver kraken." Valroc begrudgingly congratulated to Ruby. "You'll see I'm full of surprises lizard lips!" Ruby replied attempting a right hook narrowly missing. "Unfortunately for you..." the dragoon grinned "I'm full of surprises too." He used his tail too strike the ground, causing a tremendous shockwave that knocked Ruby backwards.
Ruby quickly recovered, but turned to see that Valroc had disappeared into the abyss. She perked up her heightened senses again and readied herself for another attacked. Surley enough, Valroc came charging down at her and she shot up a energy pulse, blinding him as she quickly leapt out of the way. Valroc forcefully landed and lunged himself at Ruby. He barraged her with tail and claw, while she dodged and blocked and guarded as swiftly as she could. Luckily for Ruby, the giant kraken could hold the upper ground as her movements were faster and her stamina could last longer underwater. The dragoon however still was not without a few tricks.
He lunged passed Ruby, turned and breathed his fire breath at her. While fire would evaporate when contacted with water, dragon fire was a hundred times hotter. The fire flared up the water, turning it into a boiling stream that could fry flesh off of bone. The hot vapors surrounded Ruby in a burning cloud of steam and the young kraken flinched in pain. Her armor could only withstand so much intense heat. Ruby then swept her tentacles around and dissipates the boiling vapors. Valroc once again had disappeared.
Ruby then decides to try a different approach. She dives back into the Well's energized streams and allows herself to flow across the racing currents. Surly enough, Valroc comes plunging down again and surveys the area for his opponent. Taking the opportunity while he was distracted, Ruby dives through another opening and lunges herself at Valroc. However, the dragoon had already picked up her sent and flings himself away from her attack.
Ruby is unable to stop her momentum and crashed into the wreckage of an old ship wedge between enormous boulders. Ruby picks herself back up, but both of her hands were jammed inside the ship. She struggles to free herself as Valroc looms in on her. "Wait! Wait!" Ruby cries out but her please fall on deaf ears. The dragoon sweeps his tail into Ruby's body and wrenches her out of the wreckage and onto the ground. Ruby howled in pain. The sudden shock had twisted her forearms and were now badly injured.
Everyone inside the mystic barrier gasped in shock. "Hey!" Trevin yelled out "That lizard jerk cheated!" Everyone agreed in outrage. "That's gotta be against the rules!" Arthur rebuked at the gyoji. The gyoji only replied with "You're complained is so noted." "Noted?! You need to do something!" Arthur cried out helplessly.
Volrac lunged his speared tail at Ruby who quickly rolled out of the attack's way. She got back up and grabbed Valroc's tail. She then anchored her three feet to the ground and the flung the dragoon over her head and slammed him into the vast pile of scrap metal. The dragoon yanked his tail away from Ruby and dratted away. "Oh no you don't!" Ruby cried out as she powered down her armor and rocketed off after him. She chased Valroc through four of the seven seas, shooting off her laser eyes at every turned he made. Valroc returned the favor to the young kraken by breathing out his fire breath and creating more boiling gas walls for Ruby to withstand.
Everyone above watched in suspense through the mystic window as the chased raged on. "The battle has officially been two hours since commencing" the gyoji declared
Finally they came to an enormous clearing in an unknown part of the sea. Large schools of fish swam around from above while hoards jellyfish gathered from below and in the distance was a pod of whales. While she loved to see all the life that thrived beneath the seas, Ruby really didn't have the time to admire them. Valroc lunged at her again with tooth and claw, and Ruby did her best to fight him off. Finally, she used her long legs to kick Valroc back. Unfortunately, she had miscalculated on where she was kicking him and sent the dragoon hurling at the pod of whales.
"Oh no" Ruby cried as she quickly recognized her mistake and the specific whale in the pod with a very familiar marking on its left eye. "Clarence!" She lunged herself as quickly as she could. Valroc noticed Ruby's concern and smiled evilly. He quickly re-centered his control and lunged himself at the passing whale pod. "No! Stop!" Ruby cried out but too late. The dragoon picked out her favorite whale and coiled him up in his tail. Ruby immediately stopped in her tracks as the whale cried out in fear and confusion.
"I should've expected this from a sea monster. An affinity for your fellow sea ilk. How adorable." Valroc cackled as Ruby growled. "Get away from him." She demanded glowing with fury, only for the dragoon to tighten his grip on the defenseless creature. "Why don't you be a real defender of the deep and Make Me!" Valroc taunted. Ruby's brain analyzed the problem over and over again, but couldn't see a way to save her whale friend nor attack the dragoon without endangering said whale. "If you're not goanna make a move, then allow me!" Valroc bellowed as he viciously attacked Ruby with his claws and fangs and fire breath vapors. With no way to fight back, Ruby could only guard against the attacks as best as she could. But strike upon strike, Ruby took a devastating hit for every other time she could guard against.
Everyone watching was absolutely appalled at his heinous display of violence and treachery. "That dirty rotten Bilge Rat! You gotta call him out on that!" Gordon called out to the gyoji but got the same answer as did Sam "Your complaint is so noted." It repeated. "Seriously?! Do Something!" Connor cried out reaching for the gyoji, only for Grandmamma to restrain him. "I'm afraid such conduct is only considered at the end of the duels, not during." She regretfully told the skater boy. "But it'll be too late by then!" Agatha panicked as she and her husband watch their daughter's horrific beat down.
Ruby was forced to her knees as the dragoon continued his relentless barrage of attacks. His attacks were so extremely heinous; he lost his focus on his tail grip around the whale. When the grip was loose enough, Clarence hastily struggled himself freed, opened his large toothy jaws and bite the dragoon's tail as hard as he could. Valroc howled in pain as Ruby took the opportunity to grab her reptilian opponent and pin him to the ground. "Go Clarence! SWIM FOR IT!" Ruby cried out thankfully to her whale friend as he and his pod swam off into the safety of the open water.
Valroc, bubbled with fury as he reached for a handful of sea slug and threw it into Ruby's eyes. Ruby staggered as Valroc pry himself from her grasp and shot up again toward the surface. As she cleared the slug from her eyes and peered up at Valroc's ascent, she realized something. All those times he disappeared and kept attacking from above, she finally came up with an answer to her problem. Valroc was holding his breath during the battle and had to keep going up for air.
With that realization, Ruby came up with a new strategy. She launched herself in towards the dragoon and ensnared him in her tentacles. Volrac struggled with all his might in kraken's grasp, biting and clawing at her elongated limbs. He then tried breath more hot vapors but was quickly losing too much oxygen to do so. After a long intense amount of time of struggling between the two giants, the dragoon's rapid movements started to die down as water filled his lunges until after a few more short moments did Valroc slipped into unconsciousness and started to sink.
Ruby took a moment to breathe deeply and re-center herself "Gotcha." She declared. Her family watching from the surface watched as the battle seemed to come to an end with Ruby as the victor. Everyone took the moment to breathe a huge joyful sigh of relief. "Ok. Ruby won. The fight is over! Now bring her back and let us GO!" Agatha demanded the Gyoji, but the aspersion shook its head. "As accords with the law of the dragoon's code, the battle will only conclude until an opponent surrenders willfully or is rendered deceased." Everyone looked in great concern. "What does that mean?" Sam asked. Arthur kneeled to him "It means the fight won't stop until one of them quits or..." he took a deep breath looking very concern "one of them 'ends' the other". Sam's eyes widened "You mean... but... Ruby wouldn't..." They all looked back in the mystical window with worried hearts and minds.
Back underwater, Ruby was waiting for something to happen. "Well... It's over. I won!" She cried out to void, hoping for an answer "Now bring me home!" But there was still no reply. She looked back down at Valroc, as he unconsciously sank deeper and deeper into the abyss. Ruby considered swimming back to shore, but something in her big empathetic heart just wouldn't let her. Even though he was a really horrible being that took her family hostage and forced her to fight in a death battle... She knew she still had to help him. After all, she wasn't a monster.
She swam down and carefully grabbed hold of the dragoon's seemingly lifeless body and started up towards the surface. She was half way up when Valroc, regaining full consciousness, takes the opportunity surprise Ruby with a tail slam to her face. Ruby staggered as Valroc coiled her in his tail "Sympathetic fool!" he cackled as he sung Ruby around at an incredible speed. The spinning force created a whirlpool that was strong enough to ensnare Ruby in its uncontrollable current.
Ruby's family and friends, while very grateful she didn't cross the moral line, were appalled by Valroc's cruel trick. But could do nothing but watch Ruby's terrible predicament. "That miserable cheating son of a..." Trevin started revolted "A black hearted intoxicating weasel rat snake crossed bread back stabbing..." Bliss continued. "MEGA JERKFACED CREEP!" Margot finished.
Valroc took this moment to take another deep breath, and after a moment of aiming for an oddly specific direction, used his makeshift whirlpool, grabbed Ruby's tentacles and perform a slingshot that rocketed himself and Ruby forward at an incredible speed. After half of three hundred miles, he then threw Ruby forward, spun himself around and performed yet another powerful tail slam into the kraken that sent her flying. She was propelled at such an alarming speed, that the connection between her and the mystical window was lost.
Everyone watching was stunned by the sudden interruption. Brill tried banging on the mystical screen but it only caused the mystical window to vanish. "What just happened?" Agatha asked anxiously "Where's Ruby?"