Two Strands of Fortune

Season 3 Episode 25 - Big Ideas

[IVAN'S POV]

After we finished transforming, Guerra stood there looking bored. "Didn't things go badly just after you did this last time?" He snorted.

"Unlike last time, we didn't have the tricks that we have now." Remembering what I practised at the dojo, I channelled my energy into the Rock Smasher. With the Smasher fully charged, I lunged forward and swung it at Guerra like I was playing cricket. The Smasher hit him hard, sending him flying over into one of the benches nearby.

Guerra brushed off some of the debris. "You're going to have to do better than that. A lot better than that."

Alya leapt up into the sky and drew back a bolt of energy with her Sky Bow. "Myriad Dart!" When she released the bolt, it multiplied rapidly and continued in a constant stream. Guerra tried to block the bolts with an energy shield.

Alec bent slightly as he sprinted towards Guerra. "Piercing Thorn!" Alec's attack was enough to break through Guerra's defence and knock him off his feet.

"Sun Flank!" Ollie twirled as he flew through the air like a spinning top. Guerra was blown even further backwards by Ollie and was sent hurtling through the wall. We followed him outside only to find him panting heavily. 

"Is that all you've got?" He barked. 

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Dylan charged out from the group like a bullet, a fiery aura engulfing their body as they slashed away at Guerra with their Blazing-Sabres. Eric jumped out behind them and used his Crescent Blades to strike him down along his waist. Martha came out after him and slashed powerfully with her Aqua-Trident. 

"Margot, finish it!"

Margot levitated majestically in front of the rest of us. Using her Magi-Sceptre, she drew a glowing circle with magical symbols inside the rims. "Magical Spell Bind." Using an open palm, she sent the circle flying towards him. The circle tripled and pinned his arms to his sides. "Guys, I can't hold him for much longer."

"You heard her! Give it everything you've got!" Dylan yelled.

"Searing Flames!/Surging Tides!/Blustering Winds!/Stubborn Stone!/Mysterious Forest!/Shining Light!/Looming Shadows!"

We blasted him with brightly-lit beams of Elemental Energy. As the moments passed, Guerra started to bend and crumple into a small, exhausted husk. Seeing a gap, we stopped blasting for a second, only for Guerra to look through his charred eyebrows with a devilish grin on his face. Low maniacal cackles, or what sounded like it, came from his hitching chest. "Do you really think this is over?"

"I mean, we've kind of got you cornered 8-to-1, so yeah. I'd say that's the case." Alec snorted.

"Too bad I'm not out of tricks just yet." Guerra's body started to illuminate with glowing red energy until he was a completely engulfed mass of red light. Suddenly, the glowing blob expanded rapidly, forcing us to get out of the way as fast as possible. The blob continued to expand until a 150-metre tall figure started to form. The light receded gradually until we were able to see the full form. Guerra had turned into some kind of centaur. He donned this steely armour that covered his upper body, while his legs were replaced by the front and back legs of a horse. 

"And what is this supposed to be?" Martha whined.

"I call this my Cen-Titan Form." Guerra's voice boomed through the area, blowing wild clouds of dust around as he spoke.

"Guys, what do we do now?" Alya looked around to each and every one of us.

"We have a solution." We whipped around to find the Triplets standing on the rooftop of a building behind us. 

"And where were you guys hiding?" Eric snapped at them.

"Look, do you want our help or not?" Gabby folded her arms.

"YES!" We yelled back.

"If Guerra used Energy to grow, maybe you can too." Raph suggested.

"I don't get it." Dylan frowned. 

"Guerra used energy from the conflicts he created. But you don't need to harvest that energy from an external source. You have Elemental Energy, don't you?" 

"So, if we just focus on that energy inside, we could make it work." Margot's face lit up as the pieces started to fall into place. "Okay, so who's going to try it first?"

"I'll do it." Eric closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His shoulders started to drop as he relaxed even further. Suddenly, it was like time stopped when he was consumed by a glowing purple aura. The aura branched out rapidly like roots growing up a wall until it started to form a humanoid shape around him, placing him in some circle in its chest. The features on the figure became more defined and formed something of a 20-metre tall projection of himself. Eric looked around at his creation, clenched his fists and charged towards the giant centaur before us. Eric's movement's were slow but powerful. You could tell that he wasn't used to his new stature. Guerra reigned up on his hind legs and burst into a sprint. Eric managed to shift out of the way in time for Guerra to miss him. Guerra became dizzy from hitting his head on one of the buildings nearby. While he was temporarily incapacitated, Eric saw his chance to attack. Eric mustered the last of his power and blasted him with a powerful stream of Elemental Energy that hit Guerra like a charging rhino. He tried to block with his shoulder, but was pushed back by its raw strength instead. "You may have won now but there will be others! Curse you!" The blast sliced through the last of his defences and vaporised him on the spot, leaving his voice a distant echo of the past. 

When we saw that Guerra had finally been vanquished, we cheered in celebration. "Eric, you did it!" Dylan called to him. Eric panted, but still managed to smile and give us a thumbs-up before the giant projection around him seeped back into his body and he passed out. As he fell from the sky like a shooting star, Margot wasted no time and formed an energy blob for Eric to land on. All of us descended rapidly to go check on him. 

Dylan was the first to catch him as he slid down on the energy bubble. "Guys, I think we need to get him back to base. He's soaked in sweat, he's pale as hell and he's burning up." Dylan looked for any other issues to be concerned about. 

"What about the damage, though?" I stopped everyone in their tracks.

"We can serve as a substitute." Raph chimed in. "We, Angels, have powerful sparks of Onyx power inside us. Eric needs to rest right now. We can swap in for anyone else on the team."

"It wouldn't hurt to give it a shot." Margot shrugged.

All 10 of us formed a circle by joining hands, with Eric lying at the very centre. Performing the Repair Ritual like last time, it seems that we had a little boost with the Triplets being there. The repairs were done faster and more efficiently than before. The last burst of energy spilled over onto an unconscious Eric. When the ritual was fully completed, we watched Eric from a distance in anticipation, only for the colour to return to his face and his eyes to shoot open. He was okay. We were going to be okay.