The python's massive head swung around, its golden eyes locking onto Primo. The sound of the metal door slamming had worked perfectly.
Primo didn't hesitate. He took a short, explosive sprint and hurled his makeshift spear with all the force his strength could muster. The mop-handle flew true, striking the python's side with a sharp clack, but it simply bounced off the stone-like scales and clattered onto the hardwood floor.
It was exactly as he expected: a metal tip against a living rock. But it served its purpose. The beast was now fully focused on him, its tail lashing in irritation.
"Primo!" Wyn's voice echoed through the gym, filled with shock and a surge of hope. "What's the plan?!"
Primo saw Wyn moving—his friend wasn't cowering. Wyn was running a wide arc around the python's flank, gripping his bat with white-knuckled intensity.
"Can your friend shoot another fireball?!" Primo shouted back, his eyes tracking the python as it began to slither toward him.
"I can!" Pyro screamed from the bleachers, his voice cracking with grief and rage. He jumped down to the court, following behind Wyn. "I can do it two more times!"
"Great! Fire it when I give you the signal! Wyn, help me distract it!"
The two of them didn't question him. Wyn charged forward, his sneakers screeching against the polished floor, while Pyro found a clear line of sight and began rubbing his palms together, a faint orange glow beginning to pulse between them.
The python lunged toward Primo, but its movements were sluggish. The weight of its recent meal was clearly hindering its agility, creating a visible bulge in its upper torso.
Wyn saw the opening. He didn't just swing the bat; he launched himself into the strike. CRACK! The sound was like a gunshot. The aluminum bat slammed into the middle section of the python's body. To Primo's amazement, the beast actually shrieked—a high-pitched, rasping sound—and its heavy body was shoved several inches across the floor.
Primo's eyes widened. He looked at the baseball bat in Wyn's hands—it was severely bent, the metal crumpled from the sheer force of the impact. That's not normal, Primo thought. Wyn must have a strength-related skill. No human can bend metal against stone scales like that.
The python, now enraged and in pain, lashed its head out in a blind reflex. The armored snout caught Wyn in the chest. Fortunately, Wyn reacted just in time, pulling the bent bat up to act as a shield.
Even with the block, the force was immense. Wyn was sent sliding back across the hardwood, his heels smoking against the floor as he was thrown several meters away.
"Wyn!" Primo yelled.
"I'm fine!" Wyn gasped, coughing as he scrambled back to his feet, though he was clearly shaken. "Do it now, Primo!"
The python hissed, its body coiling as it prepared to strike again, but this time, it was confused—trapped between the boy who had hurt it and the boy who was shouting.
The python recognized the raw, concussive force that had just rattled its ribs. It turned its massive, armored head toward Wyn, seeing him as the primary threat.
"Run!" Primo shouted, but he could see Wyn was struggling. The impact from the snake's head earlier had left him dazed; his legs were shaking, and he couldn't find his footing fast enough to retreat.
Primo didn't hesitate. He sprinted forward, the axe in his right hand and the heavy gallon jug of floor wax stripper in his left. He pushed his Agility to the limit, his heart hammering in a rhythm of pure survival.
The python reached Wyn in a blur of motion. It lunged, its massive maw opening wide to crush him. Wyn, driven by a desperate survival instinct, thrust his bent aluminum bat horizontally. The snake's jaws slammed shut on the metal, the teeth grinding against the pipe. Wyn groaned, his muscles bulging as he held the jaws open, preventing the beast from snapping his torso in half.
Primo saw the snake's tail whip around in a deadly arc. He timed his movement perfectly with his Great Ear, leaping into the air just as the tail hissed beneath him. While mid-air, he let go of the gallon jug. With a focused, powerful swing of his axe, he struck the plastic container.
CRACK!
The jug burst open, drenching the python's armored head and the surrounding floor in the highly flammable, pungent chemical. Primo landed in a roll and immediately lunged forward.
The python was too busy trying to crush Wyn to notice the axe coming from its blind side.
SHUCK!
The blade buried itself deep into the python's right eye. The creature let out a horrifying, wet shriek. It thrashed its head violently in agony, the force of its movement sending both Wyn and Primo flying across the hardwood floor.
"Now!" Primo screamed, clutching his bruised ribs.
Pyro didn't miss his chance. He hurled his last prepared fireball. His aim was shaky—the ball of flame skipped off the floor first—but it didn't matter. The moment the fire touched the floor wax stripper, the gymnasium erupted.
The python became a living torch. The chemicals clung to its stone-like scales, and the heat began to crack its armored skin. The beast coiled and thrashed in the growing inferno, but the more it moved, the more it spread the fire across its own body.
Yet, even as it burned and blinded, the python's predatory drive remained. In a final, suicidal surge of movement, it lunged through the flames toward the last place it had seen its enemy.
Wyn scrambled back, his hands searching the floor. His bat was gone, thrown somewhere into the darkness. But as he looked toward Primo, his hand brushed against something cold and heavy.
It was the axe Primo had dropped when he was thrown.
Wyn grabbed the handle with both hands. As the burning, half-blinded head of the python closed in, Wyn stood his ground. He channeled every ounce of the strange, new strength flowing through his veins and brought the axe down in a massive overhead swing.
THWACK!
The blade bit deep into the python's temple. It wasn't as clean as a professional's strike, but the sheer force behind it was enough to stop the charge dead. The snake's head slammed into the floor, but it was still twitching, still trying to bite.
"Die! Just die!" Wyn roared.
He raised the axe again. And again. And again. With each strike, the sound of cracking bone filled the gym. Even as the snake's body continued to lash out in its death throes, Wyn didn't stop until the creature's skull was a ruin of shattered stone and gray matter.
Finally, the massive body went limp, the flames flickering out as the fuel was consumed.