Collisions

Chapter 18: Going Nowhere Fast

Corey watched as Zach flew straight at Zer, and caused him to stumble back with the force of a few punches. Zer retaliated with a savage punch right back at Zach’s face. As Zach went to the side to recover, Drew went up next, stunning Zer with blasts of white energy, before hook kicking him in the stomach. It had little effect, however, for the dark being promptly roundhouse kicked him across the face, sending him flying. Corey tried his hand at attacking, with a flurry of punches. Zach soon joined in, the left part of his face slightly bruised from the previous impact.

He was taking the hits, and actually seemed to be taking damage. At this point, Corey noticed out of the corner of his eye that Drew was charging another large white energy attack.

“Try this!” With that, the blast was launched, and Corey and Zach fell back as it struck Zer. A white light lit up the area where the dark being was. However, he rushed through the smoke, and backhanded Corey, drawing a painful sensation as he was sent flying towards one of the platforms. He gripped the ground hard, however, and though it did tear the skin on his hands, drawing blood, he did stop his backwards momentum. He glanced at his bleeding hands, and, with moderate irritation, opened up a dimensional portal to his right. He then launched an attack into it, and sealed it up. He turned his attention back to the battle to wait for the right moment.

Zach and Drew were now attacking with a flurry of attacks, causing Zer to simply stand and dodge their individual blows. They teamed up and kicked him in the face, sending him back. At that point, Corey opened up the dimensional portal behind the recovering Zer. He didn’t see it coming, and the blast hit with an explosion, sending him falling forward, straight into Zach’s arms. He watched with an ever-growing sense of victory as Zach paid him back with an uppercut into the air, followed by a kick towards the ground, finally finishing with a kick sending him back into the air, straight above Drew.

Corey watched as Drew put his hands into the air. He immediately decided to add to the damage, and put his hands out in front of him, facing the dark being.

The two cousins each fired a flame into Zer from both angles, the flames engulfing Zer--or so it seemed. Suddenly, lots of black ice spikes flew straight through the flames. Corey immediately released his flame, as did Drew, but they could not move fast enough to avoid getting sliced on forearms and thighs. Drew gave a shout of pain and Corey knew that he had been hit with some melee. He felt a hand close around his ankle and yank him down. Then he was spun around in circles for five seconds before being chucked straight into another platform. When he impacted, the platform gained a small impact crater as it gave way under his falling body.

He shakily got to his feet, wondering why they weren’t winning. Surely their forms must be at least equal to his? This was the question Corey asked himself as he forced himself back up to continue the battle. Zer floated down onto a higher platform. The boy gasped.

“Regroup!” Corey yelled, as Zer held his hand out and began to charge a large black energy blast. It crackled with white and red lightning. Zach and Drew got to his sides.

“Damn it, it’s not working at all…” Drew grumbled. He held his hands out to his sides, and then held them out in front of him, as though trying his hardest to stop a baseball from creaming him. A white ball formed in the center of the hands.

“We have to keep trying!” Zach yelled, and he cupped his hands in front of his chest as though to pass a basketball to another player. A white ball also formed in his hands, but it crackled with flame.

“If we let him live…” Corey dared not finish his sentence, as he knew that Drew and Zach already knew the ending. The eldest cousin cupped his hands at his sides, charging up another white ball. It spun as though guided by wind.

Zer finally released a medium-sized black ball. Corey thrust his hands forward as did Zach. Drew simply released his own energy attack. The three white beams combined into one large white beam of death. As it collided with the black ball, it grew in size until it was about the size of a one-story house. It then pushed against the heroes’ beam, towards them.

“Fuck….” Drew mumbled, barely audible to Corey, trying to force more energy in his attack. Knowing that the combined attack might destabilize if any number but all of the parties involved put their energy into it, Corey also forced in more energy, as did Zach. The black ball was being pushed back to its originator.

But the boy soon heard Zer’s chilling evil laughter. A second later, the gigantic energy opposing their blast grew even bigger, and actually started to dig into their platform.

“Come on…we have to give it all we’ve got!” Corey stated the obvious. He and his cousins dug in, and with one mighty cry, they completely overwhelmed his blast. The white blast tore through the ball of darkness as though it were made of wet tissue paper. The eldest cousin heard Zer gasp, and a second later, he gave a real shout of pain as the pure white blast engulfed him. The trio all released their blasts.

Corey felt greatly fatigued afterward, actually crouching down and panting. His cousins did nothing of the sort, but he could hear their tired breathing.

“If that didn’t work, we’re in trouble…” he heard Zach say between his breaths. “That was our most intense attack, and if that didn’t kill him--”

“Then nothing will!” an evil voice finished. Corey immediately looked up to see Zer, grinning evilly, recovering from his wounds. “I must admit, your triple attack did injure me…but you can’t kill me as you are…”

“Damn it!!” Corey yelled. “What do we do now?”

“Why didn’t we get such a huge boost in power?” Drew asked himself. “His power boost is greater than the one we got…”

“I think I know.” Zach began. “The positive half of the Dimensional Stones’ power comes from friendly bonds, and bonds within the family as well, in this case. The negative half has no friends, and grants its user a fixed boost.”

“Then why don’t we have as much power!?” Drew demanded, but Corey had already come to a conclusion. Immediately after the words left his mouth, Drew had turned to Corey.

Corey got to his feet, still very exhausted from the stress of the struggle.

“It’s because the bonds between the three of us were frayed…damaged…as a result of this mission in particular.” Corey began. “When I began to get involved with Bambi’s problems, a rift between me and you, Drew, began to form due to our very different policies. As for my bond with Zach, it was declining due to the fact that I thought for most of this operation that Zach had in fact turned traitor. Zach’s bonds are uneven with ours. Drew, your bond with Zach probably declined for the same reason mine did.”

“But if our bonds are weak…then how can we hope to stop him?!” Zach yelled, the twinge of guilt once more returning to his voice. Corey found himself asking the same question.

“To be blunt…you can’t.” Zer boasted. “Face it, it’s over! Villains will finally gain the victory they have justly deserved for so long…”

As Zer continued his tirade, Drew turned to Corey, a look of sudden realization on his face.

“Bambi!” he breathed, probably surprised at the fact that no one had thought of it until now. But Corey was unsure, and forced a question from his mouth.

“What can he do?” Corey asked, hoping to learn more…