The two walked through Scarletzville like a couple of businessmen. They threw their eyes through the smoky and volcanic atmosphere, still they didn't seem to find anything. As they walked on the rocky red ground, Overbrawl finally broke the silence. "So, Krane, what do you do with the money Dreadixz gives you after you complete a mission? I mean, I'm only working to get rich~ What about you?" Krane sighed, and he turned away from Overbrawl. "I don't wanna talk about it," he said blankly.
Overbrawl tilted his head in curiosity, "Look, it's just a simple question. What are you gonna use the money for?" Krane clenched his fists, gritting in frustration. "Because, I want to be known as king, not anyone else... "
Overbrawl's eyes widened. "Wait… you mean you want to dethrone Dreadixz?!"
Krane scoffed. "Not just Dreadixz. Every single ruler in Avangard. They're all part of the same broken cycle."
He clenched his flame-lit hand, a flicker of worry in his eyes. "My Element's unstable, Overbrawl. If I hold a Power Gem too long, it'll overload and burn—literally melt it. That's not just bad, it's world-ending bad."
Overbrawl blinked. "So... why not hide them somewhere safe?"
Krane shook his head. "I tried. But Power Gems aren't ordinary stones—they're bound to ancient laws. They degrade over time if they're left on any surface except the Celestial Pillars in Celestia, or the Frozen Pillars of Zeriath. That's the only place they stay stable."
He paused, then added with a growl, "That's why we couldn't just stash them away and chill. If we hid them anywhere else, they'd decay, destabilize, or worse—get pulled toward someone with the wrong Element."
Overbrawl narrowed his eyes. "Then why did you say Dreadixz told us to split them?"
Krane gritted his teeth. "Because he doesn't trust anyone—not even us. He didn't want all the Power Gems together, especially near me. Said I was a liability. So, he ordered them separated."
"And you agreed?" Overbrawl asked.
"I pretended to. But splitting them also served our plan. If Incarceration caught wind that we had them, it'd be over. This way, we buy time. Now we just gotta find them again before anyone else does."
Overbrawl groaned. "So just to recap: you can't hold them too long, they break down if they're not on sacred pillars, Dreadixz didn't trust us, and now we're playing treasure hunt?"
Krane smirked. "See? You are capable of keeping up." Then as they were walking through the red world of molten lava rivers and fiery scarlet canyons, they finally found a Power Gem. It was because of Krane's watch. It started to beep and the sound led them towards the Power Gem. The Power Gem was right behind a large jagged rock that was potrouted to the right. It was in a diagonal shape and it was rugged. Krane stepped right behind the rock formation, and he found it. It was an orange Power Gem filled with radiating orange energy. It was the Fury Gem, made by the Zenith Fury himself.
"Bingo," Krane whispered with a tight smirk on his face while staring at the gem.
He walked towards it and then he snatched it with a flick of his wrists. He stared at it, and then he turned to Overbrawl who was right behind him gazing at the shiny hexagon as well. "Looks fascinating indeed," Overbrawl said while still looking at the gem. Then sounds of jets were being heard from the sky, the two looked up, and Krane prepared his watch just in case something was about to happen. The roaring jets of something were getting louder and louder each time. Overbrawl cracked his knuckles and clenched his fists, he adjusted his red scarf and he charged up explosive energy.
"Alright, WHOEVER YOU ARE OUT THERE COME OUT AND SHOW YOURSELVES ALREADY!!!!" The words shot into the sky like a bullet, and they were being heard as they separated in the air. Then sounds of thrusters started going, then the two looked around frantically. Krane turned on his watch, and then violet spiritual energy came on the left arm while flames came on the right arm. They both stared into the orange sky filled with lots of smoke in the atmosphere, then they saw a neon green and black star-like thing shooting and flying through the sky.
Krane took out his fists while still staring, "What the heck is that?" Overbrawl, with no hesitation, instantly grabbed the Fury Gem and grasped it in his hands, holding onto it. Then the figure started to approach the two at jet speeds, flying down through the dark clouds. Krane squinted at the figure, and then it appeared to be Duke, at his Jetfire State.
Krane's brain rapidly went into fight or flight mode, and he chose to fight. The figure had neon green energy already sparking around, and then Krane launched toward him without hesitation. They both clashed in the air, creating a massive shockwave with a huge diameter of 100. It spread across the area, destroying mountains and everything, and Duke was the first to attack. He grabbed Krane's leg and threw him across the land violently. Krane crashed through the ground and started to roll and tumble back rapidly and wildly like a tumbleweed.
Overbrawl dashed toward Duke and tried to throw an explosive punch, but he missed as Duke moved to the side to dodge and hit him with a huge combo. It was a right hook, left hook, then a knee strike, followed by an elbow strike, spinning around to backhand this guy's face so hard that Overbrawl got sent flying away like a rocket ship going to space. Krane, with his insane light speed, was already right behind Duke, and Duke created a flash explosion while throwing a completely insane punch to the face of Krane, which completely engulfed the entire place.
"No flashy entrance?" Krane sneered, his watch flickering with wild spiritual energy. Duke stayed quiet, and then his heart started to become visible as the neon energy pulsed through his body. He launched toward Krane and they both clashed while trying to push each other back. Duke threw an air kick while Krane ducked under and instantly struck Duke's chest with spiritual energy. Duke got shot into the air while Overbrawl teleported right above him to slam him back down to the ground with an insane explosion that could probably destroy anything.
Duke got sent to the ground like a water bottle, and then he used his jets and thrusters to boost through the sky. As he was flying, he instantly dove down toward Krane and tackled him down to the ground so hard that they got sent into the Earth's core. Molten orange lava was glowing from beneath them as they were surrounded by the rocks of the place.
Then they started to clash with each other there. Krane started to fly through the area throwing spiritual blasts at Duke while Duke was dodging most of them. He boosted up into the air and dashed back down to grab Krane mid-air. Then he launched himself back up while Krane was punching his face. They were throwing back-to-back strikes at each other and finally broke through back into the atmosphere. Krane threw a punch, side kick, and then an axe kick that sent him spiritually flying back down to the ground. Duke crashed and then got up. Overbrawl zipped toward Duke, and then Duke teleported out of nowhere to avoid an attack. Duke teleported right behind Overbrawl and threw a flurry of punches that instantly shot Overbrawl into the air.
Duke launched himself toward Overbrawl with neon energy surging through his fists, then grabbed his arm and twirled him around only to throw him all the way back down to the ground. Overbrawl crashed through the ground and started rolling across it like a violent car, and then Krane came flying toward Duke like a spiritual star.
They both clashed, looking like bright stars in the sky hitting each other. Duke fired missiles at Krane while Krane flew toward him at light speed dodging all of them. He threw fifty spiritual blasts at him, and Duke instantly wiped them out by firing a flare of neon energy. They both clashed, and then they started going at it with each other. They started to throw random punches and kicks, going into a high-speed battle. They were twirling around in the air, exchanging blows with their insane abilities, and then Krane finished it off with an insane spiritual punch to the gut. This shattered the air and made Duke cough out blood, and he got blitzed all the way back down to the ground, crashing. Krane teleported right above him to slam him down, but Duke teleported away to dodge the attack.
Krane, looking like a blur of other Kranes, started rushing toward him, throwing punches and jabs everywhere. Duke moved to the side again and again and again, and then he twirled around right behind him to sweep him into the air and then kicked him up like a soccer ball—only for him to twirl around and shout, "NEON INSANITY!" He spun around to throw a straight-up aerial kick so hard that the wind started pushing itself rapidly and going crazy. Air started to whip around, collide with itself, and destroy other structures from Scarletsville. Rocks were sent flying into the air, and like a bullet, Krane was shot out of Duke's hand looking like a whole purple ball going through the entire Earth at light speed, only to slam into Overbrawl through a large volcanic mountain. A huge shockwave compressed with the air itself to create another explosion that cut through the entire place of Scarletsville. Layers of the Earth were sent flying into the sky, and lava shot out of the mountains and volcanoes.
The dust settled, and the fight was over. Krane and Overbrawl were on top of each other, folded like a pile of clothing. Duke stared at him with his bold quiet eyes, his heart radiating and pulsing with neon energy. It started to beat faster than it ever has before, and that meant that he was charging up energy. The both of them were bloodied, how are two Zeniths bloodied? The first time in Avangard history, somebody made two Zeniths bleed. He walked towards the two, then he took one of the Power Gems from Overbrawl. He glanced at it, then he looked back at the two with a snicker. "You've done a great job for me , collecting gems for me is such a nice offering.... I accept it." The two jets slowly transformed back into his old jetpack, and then he transformed into his base form. "Welp, 2 down, 7 more to go..." Krane slowly got up, his arms and hands slowly twitching. He got out his watch, "Wait..." The watch started to turn red as it produced spiritual energy and fiery energy at the same time. Duke turned with a smirk on his face, "What are you going to do now? Attack me with your puppy wa-"(BOOM!) The watch fired in a devious explosion with endless amounts of spiritual and fiery energy that rippled across the entire Scarletsville. Everything shook, air collapsed, lava moved wildly. As the dust faded away, Krane was huffing and puffing, and then he collapsed onto the ground, tired. But do you wanna know who came out of the burning flames and ashes way far away from him? Duke. He walked out of the flickering flames surrounding him and engulfing the area. Krane's cracked eyes opened wide in shock, "No... way," he said weakly. Duke's eyes were glowing neon green, and the energy swirled around him as his visible black and green heart started pulsing. He lost his cannon of course, due to Demaurion breaking it. But did he lose his other weaponry attachments? No. He ejected a black sword with flowing green energy from his arm. "Weaklings... You really thought that you could destroy me with that heck of an explosion? Didn't think so...."
Every single one of them woke up after a long beat down with Scourge Don shaking their heads. It was completely dry with no rain or anything at all. It was all just a starry night sky with a silver white moon, with sounds of people groaning after a large fight with Don. Lonnie Mae choked everyone with her vines so then they could be healed, and they were. Not as much thought. Cuts were still being seen, bruises were still there but didn't hurt much. Emely sighed and sat down, "Great, now he's really gone."
"WELL DOES ANYONE ELSE WANNA ANALYZE SOMETHING ABOUT SCOURGE DON AND INCARCERATION!? ANYBODY?!" William yelled in fury after realizing that they've tried twice and it didn't work. Kai was hidden right behind a rock the entire time the fight happened, they were wiped out for a few hours until they came back. Javier scanned the place, and then he realized something. "Don't you guys remember seeing Overbrawl and a purple one Zenith with a watch?" Mason nodded, "Yeah, I remember them here.
They somehow scattered away with Don." Lonnie Mae and Anhia took Ryan, helping him walk through his chest pain. Ryan wasn't killed, he was just lucky that Don missed his heart, or that could've been a fatality. Kayson's phone rang, he pulled it out from his stone solid pocket, and then he looked at the phone.
"I'm getting a call from Olsen, I think he's bringing in some rocks for me." "Give me that!" Jocabed took the phone away from Kayson with a snatch. She answered the call, then the screen instantly flashed to Olsen with Prince, Demaurion, Archie, Ella and Eli. Olsen's voice cracked from the phone, "You guys alright?! What happened?"
Kwa'asja came to answer, "Well, we tried to get Don back once again but he attacked us all and almost KILLED Ryan." "And Overbrawl then another Zenith attacked Don as well, and they somehow disappeared with him!" Lonnie Mae added.
Olsen stopped for a moment, then he scratched his head. His eyes lit up in realization, "Who was the other Zenith that was with Overbrawl?" he asked. Javier jumped in to look at Olsen through the phone, "It was a purple one who had some sort of watch. He was able to control fire and spiritual energy at the same time!" "It was the guy that captured us!" Olsen shouted. "You guys have been captured?" Emely asked while hovering over the phone. Archie exclaimed, "And imprisoned!"
"We're here to warn you about something else too! We've encountered somebody by the name 'Duke'. He's on a hunt for Power Gems. After we fought him he didn't finish Olsen and instead took the Power Gem and left to find the next one!" Everybody shared glances at each other, then they turned back to the phone.
"Don had a Power Gem too, it was pink and he had another one that was black," Jocabed said. Olsen urgently spoke, gesturing with his hands.
"Look, he's going after the Power Gems, and he could be using them for any destructive force! What we have to do is bring them to Celestia so then they can be sealed for once! The unkown Zenith might also be searching for the Power Gems with Overbrawl. Our plan is to find All 9 Power Gems, and bring them to Celestia, before any of the villains: Incarceration, Dreadixz, Overbrawl, Duke, the Unknown Zenith, Dark Don EVEN Scourge Don, find them all and use them for destructive purposes!" In an instant, Olsen hung up. "Welp, that's another conflict on the list," Keyler said, checking something off on a piece of paper made out of spider strings. "Don said something about free will," Jocabed muttered seriously.
"Incarceration did manipulate Don, and Sophia's theory could be right. But what if Don was actually forced to do it." "You're right," a mysterious voice said. Everyone turned to face the figure that spoke. He emerged from the shadows like a shadow, and it was Dark Don's silvery scales from his wings gleaming through the light.
His hero white and black suit resembling Don's was dirty and muddy suit. His dragon mask looked almost like Scourge Don's, and he was somehow alive.
"How are you alive?!" Mason demanded as he turned his arms into elastic dough. He stared at everybody for a moment, and then the crew shot out their weapons. Woah, I'm not here to fight... I'm here to talk," Dark Don said, his voice calm as ever. Everyone exchanged looks at each other, and then they put their weapons down. Dark Don sighed, "Jocabed's right... He was actually forced to do it. When I was going through the Grolian Forest ot find him and try to actually kill him, I saw him tied up in vines with his hero suit compeltely busted. Then, I also noticed that he was holding a black Power Gem."
"It was the Incarceration Gem, a gem that allows the user to transform into some darker or more violent form of themselves. If they don't know how to get back to their origninal form, then safe to say, they're like that permanently." "So then why did he call us quote on quote 'friends'. He said it in a strange way for some reason, that's all I can remember," Keyler added. Dark Don sighed, and he looked away from the crew, but then he had to tell them the truth about Don, so he turned back.
"So, if Incarceration has manipulated Don, he's given him nightmares right?" Dark Don asked, walking closer to the group. Sophia nodded, "Yeah." Dark Don clenched his fists, "Did you know what those nightmares were?"
Everybody shrugged, some shook their heads, some didn't answer. Then Dark Don looked back up at the moon, and he turned back to the crew.
"They were nightmares of you guys..." Everybody gasped in shock, Emely even fainted. "W-what did we do?" Lonnie asked, her voice filled with self guilt. Dark Don was about to get angry, but he stayed firm and calm.
"Maybe if you guys haven't been so many little runts, this guy could've stayed with you..." "Back then, every time he was embarrassed, lost, troubled, insecure... all you guys would do is just laugh... You would laugh at his insecurities, you would laugh at all of his embarrassments, but he thought it was just your personality. When you guys started to treat him better in 6th grade, he formed a bond with everyone. He promised himself to never trade you guys for anything at all... But when those memories came back to him, he started to question himself. He didn't know if you guys were friends, or fake friends.... He was just trying to fit in in 5th grade, he wanted new friends, to meet new people, instead he got a bunch of little insultants.... He loved all of you guys, every single one of you guys... He misses you all... There's something you just gotta know though, 'Everyone has insecurities, everyone gets embarrassed from time to time, everyone can't be good at everything, you can't expect everyone to have everything you have. People are confused these days, people aren't smart these days, but that's what just makes him a person. Don doesn't care about all of that, all he cares about is the friends that WERE on his side.... Whenever you gain someone, do your best not to lose that someone. Or that someone will lose you....' "
"So, he really didn't turn on us, but now he feels like turning on us," Sophia basically understood what happened. Mason crossed his arms, and then he narrowed his eyes at Dark Don. Dark Don narrowed back. There was a long silence of guilt as the stars filled the night sky with the moon's light. Everybody stood there, thinking about what happened. Anhia tried to shake it off, but she couldn't. They thought, and they thought, and they thought, and they thought about Don some more. And then Mason broke that silence. "If we were that much, then—how can we bring him back?" Mason asked. Dark Don turned around, and he walked away. "Follow me..."