Cores

Chapter Eight - The Pink Core

The next morning, the team got up from their rooms and Damian was franically telling them to sit down.

"Good morning everyone." Damian said. "Nathan has the ability to leave his body and become a ghost. We don't want to risk the base being discovered, so everyone will have to stay here until it is safe again." He says. "That's no fun!" Jack says. "I know." Damian says. "But it's the only way we can at least try to make sure that Nathan doesn't find the base." He puts a hologram of a pink core. "What's that?" Jessica asks. "I'm glad you asked." Damian says. "This is the pink core. Someone has already bonded with it, and we know its location. However, The Collector is hot on the pink core's trail, so I'm going to send Elizabeth out to retrieve the person who bonded with it."

"But I don't know how!" Elizabeth says. "You can create a portal and go to her location. I'm gonna teach you how." Damian says as Elizabeth stands up. "Close your eyes and put your hand out and have your palm facing to the front." Damian says. Elizabeth does what he says. "Visualize the pink core. The color, the energy, everything." He says as Elizabeth follows. "Now, visualize a green portal appearing next to the pink core. Focus on how the portal appears and the energy surrounding it." He says. All of a sudden, a green ball of energy appears in front of Elizabeths hand, that then creates a portal. "Now open your eyes and go through the portal." Damian says. Elizabeth opens her eyes and goes through the portal.

Elizabeth is in a orange dessert, theres no cactus, no animals, nothing but orange sand. She sees a girl in the distance. "Help me!" The girl calls out. "I'm coming!" Elizabeth runs. "I'm sensing that The Collector just entered the dessert!" Jessica says from Elizabeths earpiece. "Let's go, now!" Elizabeth tells the girl. Before they can even run for a second, a person with a spacesuit type mask appears in front of them. "We're on our wa-" Damian says in the earpiece before the person grabs it out of Elizabeths ear and crushes it. "Who are you?" The pink core asks. "I am The Collector." He says.

The rest of the team go through the portal Elizabeth created, Jacob closing it up. "So, the cores decided to finally show up." The Collector flies into the air, creating a bunch of black psi orbs. "This will be so interesting." He says. "I'm Alice and I don't even know how to use my powers!" Alice says to Jessica. "You can manipulate love." Jessica says. "You can teleport, create psi balls, and do telekenisis just like us." She continues, "I can know things before others, Jacob can manipulate reality, Elizabeth can see in the past present and future, Hayden can manipulate dark energy, Jack can manipulate sound, and you can manipulate love." She says. "Your power is the hardest to learn and control, but you can still help us, even if you don't know how to use them yet." Alice nods.

"Ok, here's the plan." Jacob says as he creates a barrier so The Collector can't harm them. "He's a powerful being, so I can't alter his reality. I don't think the six of us can take him down, but we can weaken him, and it won't be easy." He says "Elizabeth and Jessica, you guys are going to use your psi balls to weaken him. Jack, your gonna use your sound altering ability to try to break his mask. Hayden and I will try to change his attacks, so we'll make his dark energy into light energy. Alice, you're gonna try really hard to create something called a love illusion. It's gonna make him think hes in a different place and distract him." Jacob says "Let's do this." The team says.

Back at the base, Damian is watching the whole fight go down when he hears a whoosh of energy. "Hello, Damian." Nathan says, making his energetic spear appear. Damian knows he has to use his gold core to try to stop him, but he hasn't used it in forever.

Nathan and Damian faced off. Nathan had his spear of energy at the ready, as Damian summoned his gold core.

"You shouldn't have come here, Nathan," Damian warned.

"You know what I want," Nathan replied. "And I won't stop until I get it."

The two charged at each other, their powers colliding in a burst of energy. Damian struggled to keep up with Nathan's relentless attacks, but he refused to give in.

"You can't win," Nathan taunted. "You're too weak."

Damian gritted his teeth, summoning all his strength. He unleashed a burst of energy from his gold core, sending Nathan flying back.

"You were always the weak one, Nathan," Damian said, standing tall. "You never had the strength to do what was right."

Nathan growled, regaining his footing. "I'll destroy you," he promised.

Nathan's attacks were relentless, but Damian refused to give in. He summoned all his strength and unleashed a burst of energy from his gold core, sending Nathan flying back. Nathan growled, regaining his footing. "I'll destroy you," he promised. But Damian was ready for him. He charged forward, his gold core glowing with power. Nathan tried to counter, but Damian was too fast. He struck Nathan with a burst of energy, sending him reeling.

Nathan stumbled backwards, his spear of energy wavering. "This isn't over," he snarled, before disappearing in a burst of energy.

Meanwhile, the team continued to fight against The Collector. Elizabeth and Jessica fired psi balls, while Jack used his sound manipulation to try and shatter his mask. Hayden and Jacob worked together to change The Collector's dark energy into light, weakening his attacks. Alice strained to create a love illusion, trying to distract The Collector. The battle was intense, with the six cores using every bit of their strength to take down The Collector.

At one point, The Collector managed to get past Jacob's barrier and struck him with a blast of dark energy. Jacob fell to the ground, moaning in pain. "Jacob!" Elizabeth cried out, running to his side.

The Collector sneered, his form flickering. "You're nothing without your little friend," he taunted. "You can't beat me."

But Alice had other ideas. She concentrated, trying to summon a power she didn't even know she had. Suddenly, a burst of pink energy shot out from her, enveloping The Collector. He screamed, his form flickering wildly. "What is this?" he roared.

"It's love," Alice said, her voice filled with determination. "Something you know nothing about."

The Collector howled, his form flickering more wildly. "I'll be back," he promised, before disappearing in a burst of energy.

The team breathed a sigh of relief, their bodies shaking with exhaustion. "We did it," Jessica said, smiling while Hayden healed Jacob.

"We make a pretty good team," Jack said, grinning.

Suddenly, Jacob sat up, his eyes wide. "Guys," he said, his voice urgent. "Look."

In the distance, they could see a figure approaching. It was Nathan, his energy spear glowing with power.

"We have to stop him," Hayden said, his voice filled with determination.

The six cores stood together, their powers combining once again. They charged forward, ready to face the next challenge together.