A thunderstorm happened. Rain started spurting from the sky as Don stood face to face against his friends. Mason called once again, "COME BACK, MAN! IT'S REALLY NOT THAT HARD!"
"I CAN'T!" Don shot back. "MAYBE IF I HAD THE FREE WILL TO, I'D ALREADY BE WITH YOU GUYS!"
"But what's the point? You think after reliving past moments that scarred me for life is going to make me call you my 'friends'? I don't think so..."
Everyone raised their eyebrows and started to look at each other. William looked at me, confused. "What do you mean by 'free will'?"
Ryan marched right in front of everybody, his gears shifting right on his shoulders. "Look, man, I don't wanna do this, but we're gonna have to use force."
Scourge Don clenched his claw-like gloves. "Oh, so you're now accepting violence?" He walked towards them, celestial energy crackling and darkening. "You're making a huge mistake..."
Ryan marched towards him, and the others tried to hold him back, but it didn't work. Then, he charged towards Don at swift speeds, leaped into the air to strike his face. But as he leaped, Don caught him, his claws piercing through Ryan's chest.
Blood rapidly gushed out of the body. Then, Don, with no hesitation, hurled him down to the ground.
Ryan was on the ground, groaning and clutching his chest as he felt the pain surge through his body. The others looked at Don in horror, then they looked back at Ryan.
Sophia raised her eyebrow. "You just killed that guy with no hesitation?"
Everyone charged up their Elements, waiting for the battle to begin. The rain landed on the ground and on Don's suit, making it more soaking wet than it was before. He gritted his teeth as he adjusted his mask and stared into the crew's souls.
"Oh this is gonna be beautiful." Everyone charged at him with full power, and Don charged back, running toward them with celestial energy surging through his body. William launched himself into the air with wind, then dove back down toward Don at maximum velocity. Don launched himself into the air with celestial energy, and when the two collided, he celestial-struck William's gut, sending him shooting down like a meteor.
As Don descended back to the ground, Sophia was already firing musical notes at him. Don used his wings to move to the side and dodge, then charged up his entire body with celestial energy and stared into Sophia's eyes. As the energy surrounded him like flames, he shouted, "RAPID DASH!" He blitzed toward Sophia at light speed like a shooting star, striking her gut as hard as he could.
He landed on the ground while sliding, then the others started running toward him. Javier threw a punch, but Don moved to the side, ducked under his fists, and uppercutted his chin.
Hail shards started falling from the sky like rain as Anhia fired, and Don looked up at them. He glanced to the left and saw Mason rolling toward him like a spiky doughnut. Teleporting above Anhia, Don kicked her down, then instantly teleported behind Mason to celestial punch him away. He flash-kicked Daysni, comboed Lonnie with two punches and an aerial kick, then grabbed Emely's head and slammed her down onto his knee before backhanding Jocabed away like a side character.
Emely slammed her Ice Trident onto the ground, creating an entire field of ice. Don jumped in time as the event happened, then used his celestial chains to wrap Emely up. He landed back on the ground with her restrained when Jocabed ran toward him with snowflake shurikens in her hands, yelling, "LET HER GO!" She fired the shurikens, but they melted as they touched Don. Jocabed's arms froze, then she fired five straight beams of snow and ice. Don chucked Emely straight into the beams, freezing her instead of himself.
Lonnie Mae tried restraining him with vines, but Don flash-kicked her high into the air. Drake fired mud blasts at Don, but Don moved to the side like he was dancing. Then, teleporting behind Drake, he swept his feet out from under him, sending him airborne.
"SAVAGE SWEEP!" Don spun around and struck him in the chest, launching him backward.
"Hmph, is that all you got?" Don scoffed.
Keyler fired a spider string at Don, but Don managed to dodge and fired a celestial chain at him instead. The chain wrapped around Keyler, and Don swung him into Kwa'asja, slamming them both down.
Looking up, Don saw Angel falling out of a portal. He teleported into the air and delivered a celestial punch, launching Angel into the sky. Don teleported back to the ground as bodies fell around him. He looked around slowly—he knew he wasn't done yet. There were still more to take down.
He teleported right in front of Drake, struck him into the air, and held him in place. Then, he rapidly unleashed a flurry of celestial punches, keeping him airborne. Charging up his fists, he delivered a final celestial punch that sent Drake tumbling backward through the ground.
Don moved to the side and then blasted into the air. He charged up his fists, aiming at everyone beneath him. His fists lit up in celestial flames, and he hurled them downward as ten gigantic fists fell from the sky like meteors. They smashed into the ground, shattering the air like glass, creating a widespread celestial explosion that destroyed several mountains and scattered debris.
Scourge Don landed as smoke slowly erupted from the ground. He glanced at everyone before spotting Fedjina, who was still standing, her falcon wings wilting. She was bleeding, holding onto her arm—an opening. Don took out a celestial chain and stabbed her. She collapsed as blood spilled.
Don looked around for Krane and Overbrawl, but they were nowhere to be seen.
Then, out of nowhere, someone flame-punched his face, sending Don spiraling and tumbling back across the ground. He stopped, lying on his chest. Slowly, he looked up and saw Krane standing there, his right arm ignited in flames.
"Bye-bye," Krane sneered, waving his hand.
He clenched his right arm, and the watch on his wrist released a small purple orb. It surged and crackled, making sounds of thunder and lightning as the rain poured.
Don wasted no time and dashed toward the orb, which soon grew into a massive spherical plasma ball in the air. Harsh winds swept across the Rufty Mountains as the sphere expanded, growing to the size of the moon itself.
Don stood still, staring up at the colossal spiritual orb. It towered above him, radiating a bright, ethereal light.
Flashbacks hit him the moment he looked at the purple hole. He whispered to himself, "I... I've witnessed this before..."
Memories from the beginning resurfaced—the moment he was pulled into the black hole by Dark Don, isolating him from his classmates.
Then, in an instant, Don and the orb vanished.
Krane smirked, turning away as he adjusted his watch. He glanced at everyone on the ground, acting like they were dead—but they weren't.
Still, he shook his head and grumbled.
Don still had the Pink Power Gem.
Overbrawl trudged toward Krane and sighed weakly. "So, what do we do now?"
Krane clenched his fists, his violet eyes staring into the flat depths of the Rufty Mountains.
"Scarletsville. Now."
"Archie, you think you can get that?" Olsen asked while pointing at the Power Gem right in front of them. Archie ignited his hands in flickering flames and grabbed the prison bars in front of him. The bars slowly started to melt, and after a while, they finally melted completely.
Everyone turned to look at Archie—then they exploded. "YOU COULD'VE DONE THAT THE ENTIRE TIME?!" Demaurion roared. Archie shrugged. "Eh, I just wanted to look at the statue for a few more minutes." The boys turned to look at the statue, then back at Archie.
"Hmph, sounds reasonable enough." "Great excuse." "I'd do the same thing." "He has a point." Ella just looked at them like they were weirdos. "WE'RE TRYING TO ESCAPE HERE! NOT LOOK AT SOME SORT OF STATUE OF QUEEN STELLAR'S REAR E—nevermind..."
Everyone slowly walked out of the prison room with the silver Power Gem, and now they were free. They looked around the dark and eerie place to see if anyone was there.
Luckily, there was nobody. The place was dimly lit, cobwebs covered the ceilings, and dust drifted through the air. The sounds of prisoners yawning, some screaming in pain, and others crying filled the atmosphere. Ella led the group as they followed her straight toward the black exit door. Archie also took the statue with him before following.
They moved through the door, sprinting silently, then stopped after a few minutes. Olsen slowly pressed himself against the wall while Prince peeked out of the exit door. He scanned the area, noticing that they were upstairs in the Storage Room. Prince peered over the edge, looking down at the ground. He saw two Lunaranite guards in dragon form, holding their spears. Prince smirked. "Oh, this is gonna be easy..."
The others turned in Prince's direction, taking a peek before slowly stepping out. Just as Prince was about to snipe an electric spark at one of the guards, Ella grabbed his arm and told him to stop. One of the guards started speaking, and the crew listened carefully. "Alright, go release Duke," one of the guards said, pointing his spear at the other. "He's gonna be released for now because he's going to have a meeting with the king." Everyone started panicking silently, but Ella calmed them down—she had an idea.
As the guard walked up the stairs toward the prison room, the four clung to the ceiling, holding on so they wouldn't fall. The guard passed beneath them, entering the prison halls. Everyone sighed in relief, then quietly dropped to the ground.
Prince peered back down the stairs, and the other guard was gone. The four rushed downstairs, finding themselves standing on a red carpet with golden patterns. The walls were black and purple, and the lights were dim.
Barrels were stacked in the corners, and an arched entrance stood a few feet ahead of them. This led to a wide room with a stone battlefield in the center. Red banners hung from the walls, and a large throne sat to the right, connected by a circular bridge with many chairs around it. "That must be the Battle Room," Olsen whispered as he glanced through the entrance.
They quietly sprinted inside, making sure nobody was in sight. Taking out their weapons just in case, they began exploring.
Archie turned to the battlefield and eagerly ran toward it. He held the statue tight as he gazed at the floor, as if studying it. He whispered in awe, "This is amazing!"
"Archie! We're trying to get out of here, not scan the floor!" Ella murmured. Archie smirked as he put the statue down and looked around again. "It just looks so cool!" The castle suddenly started shaking violently, as dust erupted from the roof.
Everyone slowly looked up and began backing away. Cracks formed above them—directly over Archie. The rocks were about to collapse, and Archie stood right on the battlefield, unaware.
Olsen dashed toward Archie, yelling, "ARCHIE, GET DOWN!" "Why should I?!" Archie whined. Olsen shouted as loud as he could, probably loud enough for the other Lunaranites to hear him.
"JUST GET DOWN—" Jagged rocks shot out from the ceiling, plummeting straight toward Archie's head. Olsen wasted no time. He leaped into the air like a superhero, his dark green ignited fists glowing as he cried out, "SPIKY GROUND!"
He hurled his fists at the falling debris, and large, jagged rocks shot up from the ground, completely shattering them into fragments. Landing right behind Archie, he huffed, "Next time, don't do anything stupid. How about that for once?" "Oh, come on, the battlefield looked cool," Archie said in a carefree voice.
"Oh, survived? You kids are very lucky..." A deep, cold, sorrowful voice echoed from behind Archie and Olsen. Everyone froze for a second, then slowly turned to face the figure. He wore a mostly black and green-painted metallic suit, with a triangular emblem glowing green on his chest.
His armored legs were cybernetic, made of steel, patterned in black and neon green. A ripped black cape swayed behind him, tied to his neck. His eyes glowed an eerie green beneath a metallic helmet shaped like a bird's head, the beak also glowing neon green. The entire helmet concealed his mouth and face, except for his piercing eyes. He wore black gloves with glowing neon green lights. His fingers were sharp, and through his chest, a black heart with green outlines was visible, pulsing like a glowing shadow. Demaurion asked, his voice filled with suspicion and caution, "Who... are you?"