20. Child of Earth, Soldier of Flame

Alex squares off against General Xenu in a showdown for the ages. But will it be enough to defeat him before the planet is destroyed?

“Special delivery.”  Ace weakly said, still dazed from her fall.  Alex hugged her, nearly crushing Ace in the process as Alex lifted her off the ground.

“Thank you.”  Alex whispered into Ace’s ear, holding back tears.  She let go and turned back to Xenu, who was getting up.

“Ace, I have one more request.”  Alex said. “Please don’t interfere.  I want revenge alone.”

Ace laughed. “Interfere?  You can cream this guy with one hand!”  She walked back to Otto and Athena while Alex focused on Xenu, who was to his feet.

“What’s this?  Gaia wishes to face me?”  He said with a laugh. “Oh, Gaia, have you really forgotten the last time we did this?  Have you already forgotten what you did to me?  Crushing you will not be enjoyable, but I suppose to learn your lesson it’s necessary.”

“Shut up.  I don’t understand why your queen told you to come here and commit mass genocide, but you’ve caused nothing but trouble.  You attacked us, insulted us, kidnapped the only person I care about-”

“The only one you care about?  So you have forgotten!  Your memory’s as poor as your waist is wide!” Xenu interrupted.  He dashed forward and punched Alex in the stomach, but she didn’t flinch.  Xenu followed up with a second punch, lifting Alex off the ground slightly.  Alex retaliated with a backhand slap that vibrated the air around them and knocked Xenu back.  Before he could regain his ground Alex dashed forward and smashed him in the face with her fist, sending him flying. 

When he reached the peak of his ascent, Xenu flipped and righted himself in midair, hovering using jets of flames rocketing out of his feet.  With a flick of his wrist he sent a blast of fire back at Alex, who dodged with ease.  The explosion blinded the other three momentarily, but Alex remained focused.

“I don’t appreciate being interrupted, Xenu.  I’ll add that to a list of your crimes.”  Alex said before stomping the ground.  A massive boulder popped from the ground, letting Alex lift it over her head with ease.  The boulder was three times her size in every dimension, but she carried it like it was made of cotton.  Xenu laughed.

“How funny that you of all People would dare to accuse me of crimes!  You’re a hypocritical pig, Gaia!”

“I am not Gaia.  I don’t know why you think we’re anything alike, but just because I’m her vassal does not mean I’m her.”  Alex said, throwing the boulder at Xenu.  He grabbed it with one hand and melted it into lava before flying in and slamming Alex in the stomach with a flaming punch.

“She can hear me as far as I’m concerned!  And considering what she did to me I don’t think she has a choice not to.”  He responded, sending blast after blast of fire at Alex.  She pulled up walls of earth as she flew back from his punch, blocking the incoming blasts. 

“You kidnapped my love and attacked my planet.  Nothing she did could possibly be as horrible as that!”  Alex followed up.  She raised her hands and pointed all her fingers at Xenu.  Hundreds of sharpened rocks burst from the ground and pummeled Xenu, who swatted away as many as he could.  His movements were so fluid and fast that barely any of the countless projectiles actually hit him- they merely exploded in fire and dust.

“Your friend Jehovah can probably vouch for you.  After all, you’d rather have him over me.”  He sneered.

“What do you mean?  I only knew of Ace recently.”

Xenu raised his hands and focused an orb of pure flame in his palms.

“Not that skinny brat!  Jehovah!  Don’t you dare mock me.  You left me at the altar for that slacker!”  He said, firing the ball of flame at Alex.

“What?!”  Alex gasped.  The ball hit her directly and exploded, sending her flying.

“Alex!”  Ace called.  Otto grabbed her to hold her back.  Alex crashed to the ground and rolled once before righting herself.  She grabbed the ground with one hand and skidded about ten feet, before dashing forward.  Instead of running she skated across the ground, the earth pushing her along like an ice skater.  She pulled her arm back and rushed it forward quickly, causing a wave of stone to appear near her that followed her hand.  She pointed to Xenu and sent the rock surf crashing down.  Xenu leaped into the air before coming down and hammering Alex’s skull with two flaming fists.  She fell to the ground.  Otto gripped Ace’s arm more tightly as he held back the desire to rush in.

“Don’t ‘what’ me, you obese cheater!  We were to be married, but then you fell for Jehovah and left me!  After everything I did for you, after training you and honing your skill with rock and stone, after praising you as the most beautiful Person in creation and treating you as such, you turn your back on me for someone who would abandon his People to play creator to artificial life!”  Xenu explained, punching Alex from above and driving her farther and farther into the ground.  Eventually Alex dove under the earth like it was water.  Xenu fired flames into the hole, but it was to no avail.  He stood up and looked around, feeling the constant vibrations as Alex drilled through the ground.  She burst up behind him in an attempt to catch him off guard, but he spun around and kicked her so hard with a flaming foot she crashed once more into the earth dozens of feet away- she did not right herself this time.  Xenu slowly walked to her, his fists burning yellow along with his infuriated eyes.

“Now look at you.  The most beautiful woman in creation, seal within false life on a planet named for your inferior sister, abandoned by the Person you left me for.   Aramanth ordered you Outcasts to be held on trial, no one sings your praises back home.  You are unwanted by everyone.”  He grabbed Alex, raised her above the ground by a full foot with one hand, then threw her to the ground before smashing the ground and creating a pillar of flame that engulfed her.

“How does it feel, Gaia?  How does it feel to have no one love you?  That is how I felt every day when you left me, wondering what I did wrong.  Even my own soldiers looked at me in doubt and suspicion, thinking I did something so horrible that you of all People would leave me for Jehovah.  If it were not for my perfect record I would have been stripped of rank on suspicion of domestic abuse.  Now you know what it’s like having no one side with you.”

Alex groaned as she rose to her feet, wearily taking another stance.

“I know…what that feels like, Xenu.”  She said, panting.  She tried to block his punch but Xenu broke through and smashed her again, sending her once more to the ground ten feet away.  Each hit sounded like an explosion.

“You do not.  A pampered royal descendant of one of the Originals, one who was given everything she ever wanted.  You grew to be almost as tall as our queen and far heavier in every regard.  You were inspiration to your people, yet you didn’t care.  You were selfish, but like I fool I attempted to court you.  Like a fool I believed you to be as perfect and as beautiful as you thought yourself to be.”

“What the heck is he talking about?”  Otto asked Athena.

“Gaia was a princess on a planet that had a minor hierarchy based on the queen’s own government.  Size was the deciding factor- the larger the Person, the more authority they had.  Gaia was without a doubt the biggest, thus she gained the throne after her parents passed away.”  She responded.  Ace scoffed.

“No wonder she died.  She probably had a heart attack.”  She mumbled.

“Please do not insult Gaia’s kind.  They know of no disease and were practically immortal.  Her weight didn’t affect her health in any way.” Athena responded.

“If only it was that easy…”  Otto whispered.

Xenu walked over to Alex and slammed her back into the ground, putting a foot on her face and grinding it against her cheek.

“What’s wrong, Gaia?  Where’s that ‘glorious’ power you were once regarded for?  The same power I helped you hone, might I add.  You were once the greatest Child of Stone, but look at you now.  A disgusting blob of fat who lives her miserable life never knowing she was once a traitor to my heart and the kingdom that once praised her.  You are a failure, Gaia.  An obese failure who's too bloated to leave the planet due to the power that made her so 'great'.  It was you who made me realize how retched and hideous your kind was.  Massively overweight abominations against perfection itself.  You're inferior in every regard, if for nothing else because of your massive girth.”  Xenu hissed.  Alex grabbed his foot, rose to her feet, and smashed him into the ground so hard it left an impact crater.  She had gained a second wind.

“I am sick of people bringing up my weight.  I thought I grew out of that phase a long time ago, but congratulations- you made me realize I only hid from the horrible reality that no matter what I do, no matter how strong I become, no matter how many accomplishments I have, all people will see is an obese Native American and will assume I’m unhealthy and stupid.  Lord knows how many people think my name is Running Bull.”  Alex snarled.  She pulled him from the ground with one hand and punched him in the back.  A loud crack could be heard that made Otto and Ace cringe.  Alex tossed Xenu through the air before spiking him with a spire of stone that launched him sky high.  She crouched to the ground before leaping into the air, leaving an impact behind her.

“Dude!”  Ace called out, stunned. “You said she can’t use her power in the air!”

“I got nothing!”  Otto said.

“Gaia only weakens as she leaves the planet surface.  At this distance she would still have some power.”  Athena responded, looking away.  Ace turned to Athena.  Behind her Alex punched Xenu so hard he fell to earth at terminal velocity, crashing into the ground.  Alex was close behind with a body slam that shattered the ground and caused pillars of stone to rise from the ground from the impact.  Athena flinched.

“Hey….maybe you shouldn’t be here.”  Ace said.  Athena remained silent.  Otto turned to them.

“What?  Why can’t she be here?”

“Her boss is getting pummeled by our friend.  This isn’t right, considering she helped us.”  Ace responded.  Athena placed a hand on her shoulder.

“No…it’s alright.” She said gently. “I am afraid I cannot support either your friend or my superior at this point.  All I can do is watch and see.”

Ace nodded and everyone turned back.  Alex had pulled  Xenu to his feet and had begun punching him.  Each impact shook the air and sent Xenu careening back many feet.  Alex merely dashed to him and continued to the beat down.  Xenu barely fought back.

“I get it.  I’m fat.  People don’t like fat.  I don’t care what people think.  Deal with it.  I have an IQ of 127 and graduated from college with a 3.4 GPA.  I can move the pyramids with my barehands, can run faster than a car, can become near impervious to damage, and will always, always help people in need.  I am a hero in my new hometown, I have a boyfriend who loves me no matter what, and I have a goddamn life.  That's success enough for me.  What I look like doesn’t matter.  What I do does.  If you think you’ve broken me by reminding me I’m big, you’ve got nothing.”  Alex said, between punches.  With one last blow she hit Xenu so hard he fell to the ground with a violent quake.

“Although considering your insults, I understand exactly why Gaia left you.  An arrogant jerk who gloats over how great he is and puts down someone he claims to love by belittling her weight?  In terms of self esteem, that’s low.  You might think you’re not shallow, but no matter what you always return back to your ex-wife’s body.  Even if you claimed to love her, you still only loved her for her physical form.  You’re shallow, pathetic, and you disgust me.”  She said.  Xenu opened his eyes and sent a pulse of white flame outward, knocking back Alex.

“How dare you?  I loved you with the intensity of a trillion stars!  You were my world, Gaia!  How dare you call me shallow when you left me for those very same reasons!  Gloat about your achievements all you want, it only proves my point.”  Xenu snapped.  He rose from the ground and hovered.  A fiery aura engulfed him that only grew in size as he spoke.  He pointed to the sky and a massive ball of fire began to form above it, growing so large it lit up the area around them and made it impossible to see.

“It proves that you’re nothing but a fat, shallow, inconsiderate, selfish, spoiled w***e!”  He screamed as he launched the ball at Alex.  The orb hit her dead on- only because it was too large for Alex to dodge- and exploded.  The knockback sent everyone- Ace, Athena, Otto, even Xenu- flying in different directions.  Although Ace and the others rose to their feet, Alex was down for good.

“Oh crap!  Alex!”  Otto called.  Alex didn’t respond.  Xenu rose to his feet, dashed to the impact site, and grabbed her.

“It doesn’t matter.  You left me for Jehovah, who left you in turn.  Along with everyone else.  I don’t know what you saw in him that I didn’t have.  I was the highest ranking soldier until he came along.  After you left me, after he left the war, all people did was speak of Jehovah’s planet.  Of Huma and the Outcasts.  Getting the opportunity to finally put an end to this experiment is the greatest moment I could experience.”  He said, holding Alex by her throat.  Alex weakly laughed, regaining consciousness.

“Oh….I get it now…” She said.  Xenu frowned.

“What?  What do you get?  Do you understand my plight?”

“Yeah…this isn’t about Gaia cheating on you, or laughing at me because I’m overweight, or even about following orders given by your queen.”  Alex hissed through her teeth.  She slowly turned her head to the others and yelled as loud as she could. “You’re jealous of Jehovah!”

Xenu dropped her to the ground in shock.

“What?!”  He yelled.  Alex staggered to her feet.

“You just want to break Jehovah’s toys like a little child.  You’re jealous that someone from nowhere did what you spent your whole life doing in a fraction of the time.”

Xenu clenched his fist. “I spent my whole life training, working as hard as I could to live up to my father’s legacy.  I rose through the ranks, earned the respect of countless People, and became regarded as the greatest general in history.  All on my own.  Then Jehovah showed up…”  He unclenched his fist, but his hands burned with bright yellow flames.  His own eyes seemed on fire. “Out of nowhere, this nobody with no background immediately becomes a general!  He attacked our queen and is rewarded for it.  Jehovah is an insult to everyone who worked hard to get where they are.  He cheated in life and was rewarded- I worked for my life and was ignored!”  He grabbed Alex once more by her face before sending a shockwave of fire out from his palm and launching her straight into the ground, cleaving a ditch twenty feet long.

“And instead of keeping that, instead of taking what he didn’t deserve, he threw it away to hinder our queen even further!  If queen Aramanth had just had him killed, or at least imprisoned him, he would never have ruined the war by making this planet.  Everything he did was for his own benefit, and only to destroy what little we had!  And they reward him for it?  You abandoned me on our most important day for this fool?  And you call me pathetic?”

Xenu jumped onto Alex and began pounding her face with punch after punch, going far beyond what Alex could withstand.

“And as the ultimate insult,”  He continued between blows, “you mock me by not even fighting at full power!  You would even go without using all that I taught you, just to support this sniveling mockery of the military body!  Jehovah is a lazy coward who would turn his back on everyone he knew and loved and destroy everything we have worked for just for his amusement, while I worked day and night to win this war and end our suffering!  I get nothing from it and he is handed everything!  It isn’t jealousy when it’s justified!  And it isn't fair that he succeeds while I fail!”  He screamed into Alex’s bloodied face as tears of fire dripped from his eyes and puffed into smoke.

“I will not let him win this!  I will destroy everything he has created, and I will be legendary for fixing everything he ruined!  I will prove to him, to you, to everyone, that he is inferior to me in every way!”  Xenu screamed at the top of his lungs to the heavens above.  A loud rumble could be heard all around as the ground shook.  The ground near Alex began to crack and warp.  Ace gasped and lost her balance as she fell.  Otto quickly grabbed her but was forced to let go when a massive aura of without a doubt the largest woman anyone has ever seen overcame her.  She was easily eight feet tall, seemingly weighing hundreds of pounds more than even Alex.  However her immense size defied gravity- Instead of sagging, her bloated stomach stuck out to support her impossibly large breasts in a near spherical shape that curved her beautiful floral dress so much it pushed out a foot in front and on the side.  She looked like a giant overinflated balloon with limbs.  The only parts of her not fat were her arms, which were partly toned with raw muscle. Her head was round with giant eyes that portrayed innocence.  Her hair, although its color was impossible to tell, was wrapped in elaborate loops and braids that fell down her back past her massive hips.  Otto was immediately infatuated, but Athena was terrified.

“G…Gaia!”  She proclaimed in horror.  The aura turned to face her and smiled.  Her massive yet flawless cheeks covered much of her soft and gentle face, even her eyes shrunk in size because of them.  The aura turned back to Xenu who looked at it in anger.

“You….”  He growled.  The aura frowned and looked at him in determination before vanishing in a burst of energy that shook Ace.

“What…was that?”  She said wearily.  Everyone turned to the battle as Xenu was flung backward by an unknown force.  Alex, although unconscious, slowly floated to her feet as a green and brown aura surrounded her that caused the earth under her to crumble and levitate.  Suddenly large boulders launched from the earth and smashed against her, causing her body to lurch.  Hundreds of pieces of rock smashed against her, shaking her body like a ragdoll before encasing her form in five inches of solid rock.  The only part exposed was her face and lower jaw, her head encased in sleek stone that curved back into spikes behind her.  She gently dropped to her feet and woke up.  Her arms fell to her side as her eyes opened- they glowed bright green.  She looked at Xenu and made the harshest frown possible as Xenu stepped back in preparation for what was about to happen.  Not a single person there was confused to the scene they were seeing.  They all knew that this battle had only begun.

Author's Note

Gaia and Earth were Vermalians. The planet Vermal is famous for their People. All Vermalians are naturally in tune with the ground beneath them, but as a side effect are incredibly massive in order to counterbalance the rock and soil they can move. Males are bulked with excess amounts of muscle, while the females are incredibly obese. Because of their size they're virtually useless in space, but are undefeated on the ground. Gaia was the largest of Vermalians at the time, thus was crowned their princess- the title of Queen went to Aramanth, only because Vermal is under her kingdom's reign.