New Beginnings : Rise of the Darkness

1.5k Special : Silence (Developments Pt. 4)

Hydro POV
At first, nothing happened—and I was easy to lose all hope, feeling Paradise's command crawling across my mind. But a large, flashing orb appeared in my palm after a second.

"It worked!" I breathed, risking that two tiny words. I hurled the sphere at the villain with all my might, and his eyes widened in shock as it thudded into his cheek, sending him sprawling onto the ground. Immediately, his hold broke over everyone and I nodded to Teleto, who looked slightly dazed. Understanding what I meant, he yelled, "Rewind!"

As time rewinded, the red orb disappeared along with it. But soon I prepared another one, which plastered itself to Paradise's forehead. As his veins bulged in fury, his mouth opened and formed words, but no sound came out.

"That's what I call, silenced for good!" I laughed as steamed seemed to fly from the villain's ears. But still, he fired golden voids at us as the eagle beside him whirred to life.

"Golden Eagle, seize their Kyras with Paradise!" Vikana's voice yelled through a blue aura that circled the Vika's face. It cawed ferociously and its eyes lit up, glinting with danger as twin bolts of gold slammed into the floor where we had just been standing. It instantly turned into gold, glinting with the same light that raged in the Vika's eyes.

"We need to neutralise it while we deal with Paradise!" Golden Dragon shouted as he swirled back and forth between the rubble. "I formed a part of a plan to deal with him, but it means that we cannot have that dumb bird distracting us—especially with what it's doing."

I trained my eyes on the eagle, watching it transform the walls, floor and ceiling to gold—basically anything and anyone that stood in its path. At least a hundred golden statues lined the corridor, and with it tons of rubble. The bird's sharp claws and beak had torn through the gold, leaving it in jagged scraps beside the frozen students. And as it created a long, spiked tail that swished through the air, attaching it to itself, Psionio snarled, "Don't worry, this bird's gone rowdy, but I'm going to teach it why it should always obey. Pulse Field!"

The familiar dome emerged around the eagle, which screeched in annoyance. The force field repelled all of Golden Eagle's golden lasers, and shocked the bird whenever it slammed its tail against the shield. It snarled just like Psionio had as it rallied its strength, attempting to shatter the energy once and for all.

"Hurry, we won't have much time," the hero warned as we focused on Paradise. The villain growled, cartwheeling backwards and trapping everyone he could in his void of supposed "paradise".

"Time to come up with a plan..." I muttered. "Creation, Lucky Charm!"

An explosive flash of yellow light blinded everyone for a second, only settling when a giant mirror dropped into my arms. "Whoa!" I staggered from the heavy weight, blinking hard and taking a look around. Soon, things lit up once again—this time it was Teleto, Golden Dragon, myself, the mirror, Paradise as well as his watch and his void.

"Got it!" I told everyone. "Pyral, Hydro, Moonshot, you cover me for a while. Whip up your powers if you need to, except the Hydroblaze and Darknight which will complicate everything. Psionio, recharge Marco and reinforce Golden Eagle's shield if you need to." My eyes trailed to where the shield had almost shattered.

"Lastly, Teleto, Golden Dragon, here's the plan!" I finished, whispering it through the Transmission.

<*~*>

"Deception!" Golden Dragon whispered when I finished explaining. Hundreds of copies of myself, holding the golden mirror, and Golden Dragon materialised around Paradise, who staggered back as he stared at the copies in shock.

"Teleto, make sure you rewind if anything bad happens!" I clenched my fist, ready to fight Paradise—and defeat him once and for all.

"Reinforced the force field," Psionio's whisper echoed through the Transmission. "We're ready to go."

As Golden Dragon and I leaped out, we noticed that at least half the illusions had disappeared after being struck by Paradise. We tried to imitate the illusions' unpredictable movements, darting in random directions every second. And as we got closer to Paradise, many shots missed us by inches. It was almost time.

"Fulmination!" I transmitted softly. A yellow sphere materialised in my hand, and I quickly hid it behind the mirror before Paradise noticed.

As we finally inched towards Paradise, I yelled, "Surprise!", hurling the energy at him. Paradise's eyes narrowed as he rolled aside swiftly, and fired a void back—just as I hoped. I lifted the mirror, which sent the tiny disk back towards Paradise. The villain finally realised what was going on as his eyes widened and his face entered a state of shock—then the void expanded and he was swallowed into it.

Since the aviniatized object couldn't attack itself, the watch had dropped onto the floor, its screen shattering in the process. I smiled in relief as the familiar butterfly fluttered out once again. A shimmer exploded in the air as I restored balance to the world—a "B" glinted high up on the ceiling, shining like a crystal chandelier twinkling in the night sky.

As I fed Gimmi, I created a magical charm and passed it into Elijah, who had been aviniatized into Paradise because he was overwhelmed by the many responsibilities he had undertook. Hopefully it would help him remember that responsibilities were complex, and that they required patience and wisdom to undertake.

As the world returned to its state of normalcy, it took the seven of us a while to realise what was wrong—and Pyral spotted it first.

"Guys, the letters that have been released so far are THE CAVES OFB! That doesn't even make sense!" Pyral pointed out. "Why isn't there a space between the F and B?"

"I know why," replied an unfamiliar voice.

"Who is that?" Psionio yelled into the darkness, readying a huge ball of Pulses.

"Show yourself!" Hydro added, her Hydro-ropes in hand.

"There's no need for such dramatics," returned the melodic, musical voice. Then a striking figure stepped out of the inky black—he was at six foot seven, with artfully messy blond hair, a crooked smirk and ice blue eyes that were both welcoming and mysterious. He wore a black leather jacket over his suit, which had trails of blue and white arcing down it—just like his jeans which showed the same pattern. But green vines snaked around his entire form subtly, as did the clouds around him. Overall, he had the look of a typical, fancy bad boy.

Seeing our confusion, he explained, "I've come so far to find you—and finally I have. Let me introduce myself, then." He paused, as if for dramatics, earning an eye roll from Moonshot and a snap-like prompt from Pyral, "Then, begin! We don't have much time to waste on your antics!"

"Patience!" the striking stranger held up his hands, showing the universal stop sign. As he swirled his leather jacket around himself, he declared, "I am Aerial, and I am here to deal with some villains."

"How?" I countered, my distrust of him causing me to wield a long blade of lightning. "You don't have powers......do you?"

"Of course I do," Aerial laughed casually—another oddly musical thing. "I hold the powers of controlling the natural elements you lack, and the power to be many at once."

Teleto rolled his eyes just like Moonshot, transmitting, "This guy's like your friend Lola, Astro," before clarifying, "And...what does that mean?"

Aerial kept silent for a few seconds before he told us, "It means I wield the tenth Kyra. The Kyra of Replication."

A/N 11:
Wow, here's a fun new ally! ...and a dramatic one at that...Don't blame me for this characterisation, blame my mind. But at least this is a nice twist, isn't it? (if you knew what's coming at the end of the next chapter you would beg to differ) Anyways, with the arrival of Aerial, new powers have come to Brawltopia. But his background remains mysterious—as well as why he came here. And there's definitely more to his powers than he has said...

As the events of Replication start to unfold, many new challenges and plot twists lie in the way. But with a new, albeit mysterious and a touch annoying, ally, the heroes are ready to face them—no matter what it takes.

Written 11/2/24
Edited 20/2/24