The canyon was a narrow, jagged throat of granite that swallowed the sound of their frantic breathing. Walls of cold stone pressed in on them, slick with the weeping moisture of the deep earth. Behind them, the flickering orange glow of torches signaled the approach of Daddy John's mercenaries, led by the relentless Luke and Olamide.
"Stop!" Fogo commanded, his voice echoing like a crack of thunder in the confined space.
They had reached a dead end a massive rockfall that blocked the path. The Celestial Stone in his satchel was no longer pulsing; it was screaming, a high-pitched psychic whine that made Kanpe claw at his ears.
"Kanpe, the wall! Blow it down!" Fogo ordered.
"I... I can't!" Kanpe stammered, his intelligent eyes wide with terror. "The energy from the Stone is interfering with my symbols. If I try to force it, the explosion will kill us all!"
"Then we fight!" Mama cried, spinning her serrated blades. Her troublesome nature had finally turned into a cornered animal's rage.
Scorpion stepped to the front. He looked at Scooby and Ada, then back at the dark mouth of the canyon where the first of the hunters had appeared. For the first time, the "calm jester" took off his belt of bells. He laid it gently on the ground.
"Goofy," Scorpion said softly. "You were never really one of us. You were just too kind to say no."
"Scorpion, what are you doing?" Scooby asked, his heart sinking. Through the Accidental Bond, he felt a wave of mourning from Ada.
"I'm going to finish the joke," Scorpion replied with a sad, final smile. He turned to face the hunters. With a roar that didn't sound like a jester at all, he charged into the darkness.
The sound of clashing steel and magical discharges filled the canyon. Scorpion fought like a man who had finally found something to die for. But the numbers were too great. A volley of silver-tipped arrows arched through the air. Scorpion fell, his blood painting the canyon floor a dark, pragmatic crimson.
"Scorpion!" Scooby screamed.
"Move!" Fogo yelled, grabbing Scooby by the collar and dragging him toward the rockfall. "Lighter, clear the path or I'll burn you where you stand!"
Lighter looked at Fogo, then at the fallen Scorpion, then at the goofy boy holding the merchant's daughter. The bulldog's loyalty snapped. Instead of clearing the path for Fogo, Lighter turned his massive frame toward the hunters, standing over Scorpion's body.
"Run, kid," Lighter grunted.
The catastrophe was absolute. Within minutes, the cult was being dismantled by the very village they had terrorized. Mama was disarmed and pinned by Olamide, her troublesome tongue finally silenced by the cold steel of a blade at her throat. Kanpe surrendered, his intellect failing him in the face of raw violence.
Fogo, realizing he was losing everything, reached into his bag. "If I can't have the city, no one leaves this canyon!"
He grabbed the Celestial Stone and began to chant the battery ritual Lighter had warned about. The ground began to shake. The stone's light turned a violent, bruised purple.
Scooby felt a searing pain in his chest. Beside him, Ada collapsed, her face pale as the Stone began to drain the life-force from their shared bond.
"It's hurting her, Fogo! Stop!" Scooby pleaded, his vision blurring.
"It's making us gods!" Fogo countered, his skin beginning to crack under the pressure of the raw power.
In that moment, Scooby realized he had to be the fool one last time. He reached deep into the bond not for strength, but for the "goofy" clumsiness that had defined his life. He threw himself forward, not with a warrior's grace, but with a stumbling, awkward lunge.
He collided with Fogo, his long limbs tangling with the cult leader's. They tumbled toward the edge of a deep crevice in the canyon floor, the Stone caught between them.