New Beginnings : Rise of the Darkness

Multiplication (Replication Pt. 3)

Fang POV
"What are you doing here?" I demanded, my hands crackling with lightning. The moment I saw any trace of black mist or gold rays, I would attack.

"Isn't it obvious?" Lodestar droned, twirling his staff. "To get the tenth Kyra. By the way, where is that foolish little hero? The one carrying the Kyra or Replication?"

"He's off dealing with your stupid Shade-monster, idiot," Moonshot snarled. "Now, hand over your Kyras, or we'll take it by force."

"What makes you think you can?" Vikana countered, her hands whirling as she sent spiked talons flying out of her feathers. Luckily, she could only create one Vika at a time—lest we would be seriously outnumbered. "Golden Eagle, attack!"

"Fulmination Bolt!" I roared. A crackle of gold energy appeared in my clenched fist, and as I hurled it toward the villains, the buzzing sound of the lightning melded with the swish of it slicing through the air.

"We need to trap them," Pyral's voice rang out through the Transmission. "Hydro, you ready?"

"Just like always," the aqua hero's eyes set with determination. And as she slammed her palm against Pyral's, they yelled in unison, "Hydro-blaze!"

A whirling tornado whipped up, streaked with both blue and red. As it tore through the clearing, sucking up the nearby trees, the villains' eyes widened with shock as they became trapped in the powerful vortex of energy.

"Vikana, Lodestar, give up!" I shouted into the storm. "You can't escape!"

As Golden Eagle was consumed by the flames of the Hydro-blaze, a golden talon fluttered out of the giant tornado, pulled to Pyral by a ball of fire. The raging orange-red fire of the Hydro-blaze picked at the other two villains next, whose faces were visibly etched with fear.

But as steely determination flashed across Vikana's features and she snarled, "There's always a choice, Astro," I realised what she was going to do a second too late. A golden talon collided with the villain's dark blue feathered fan, and dark blue ether materialised in the fiery blaze, taking the shape of Golden Eagle yet again. As the beast let out a screech and flapped its feathers, rising high above the whirlwind, Lodestar chirped, "We may have failed this time, heroes, but we will be back. C'est la vie!"

I clenched my fists in annoyance as I decided, "Let's deal with Shade before Golden Eagle comes back."

As I gave the cue, Aerial and Golden Dragon led the mist-monster back to the destroyed clearing, where the rest of us were recharging our powers.

"Ok," I ordered. "Time to defeat this villain once and for all!"

The dark cloud of mist let out a growling sound as we neared it, suddenly bursting apart into many small clouds and morphing into black giants everywhere. There were too many to count—at least a hundred circling around us.

"How are we going to defeat all of them if most of us can't even touch them?" Hydro groaned in frustration as she tried and failed to blast a dozen black giants away, only for them to morph into dark clouds again.

"This calls for my power...Creation, Lucky Charm!" I commanded, my brows arching in confusion as a golden vacuum cleaner thudded into my palm. As I stared around the clearing, nothing lit up with the telltale sign that they would be useful.

"If you can't find anything, I guess it's time for my power!" Aerial decided. "Replication!"

All of us gasped in wonder as Aerial duplicated repeatedly, causing hundreds of visions of him to appear around the clearing. All of the Shades backed off slowly as the Aerials chased them with wind, cyclones and tornadoes. And then I realised Aerial was the key to my plans. And slowly, things began to light up on the edge of my peripheral vision once again.

Written 18/2/24
Edited 20/2/24