New Beginnings : Rise of the Darkness

Shelled (Evolution Pt. 5)

Fang POV
"We'll deal with you later!" Teleto shouted at Stillness, cracking a portal below us. The last thing we heard was his growl, "You'd better come back, or I'll turn this whole world to mindless shells!"

"Quick, everyone...we've got a new villain to deal with!" I commanded. "By the way, anyone saw the letter that was released when Gemini was defeated?"

"Yeah, it was an L," Psionio reminded us. "So far, we have "The Caves of Bl". But I don't know what that could be..."

"No time to discuss," Teleto ordered everyone through the portal, which closed with a crackling sound. Or maybe the sound had something to do with Stillness.

"Ah, there you are!" Stillness's face spread with a wicked grin. "Now, hand over your Kyras so that I can fulfill my part of the deal to Lodestar."

"Never, fool!" Hydro growled, unleashing a tsunami at him. But Stillness calmly stood in its midst, not even moving an inch as the flood rammed against his legs. Suddenly, the torrent of water encased him in a vortex, and he enlarged in size as it slowly seeped into his body.

"What?" Hydro gasped. Pyral tossed a streak of fireballs at Stillness, who just cackled as he absorbed the flames as well and doubled his original size, his skin now rippling with flames.

We stumbled back as Stillness summoned the water and fire out of his form, morphing it into a giant cyclone. A spin sent us whirling towards the giant vortex, but Teleto rewinded with seconds to spare.

"Dodge!" Teleto yelled as Stillness unleashed another elemental tornado. We all darted aside with a split second to spare, gasping for breath as we ride to dodge the endless barrage of flames and floods. But after a while, we heard a frustrated snarl and whirled back, only to see Stillness back to his original size.

"Don't attack him!" I yelled at everyone, who had each readied another sphere of power to launch at the villain. They glanced at me in confusion as I explained, "He absorbs our power as we attack him! We need to find other means to subdue him!"

Stillness snarled yet again, this time tauntingly, "And how do you plan to do that?" He pulled out a dark green bow and said, "Shell!", turning the weapon at us. A storm of black-and-white arrows thundered towards us, one clipping Psionio on the knee. She screamed and collapsed beside Pyral, who pulled her aside just as another thousand bolts rained upon us.

"Guys, what happened?" Pyral shrieked. Psionio's eyes had gone milky white, and a loud cough rattled her body as a small blob raced out of her throat.

The small blob seemed equally confused as it shouted, "Guys? This is me, Psionio! Can you hear m—oh my god, why is my body lying on the floor?"

Stillness cackled, "Your soul has been separated from your body, that's what! And don't even th—" His taunts were cut off as Teleto rewinded again, sending us back to the time where we had stepped out of the portal. Stillness immediately raised his bow and this time roared, "Numb!"

"No!" I shouted as the arrow nicked Hydro's leg. She collapsed with a gasp, lying still for seconds. But when I rushed over to pull her up, she stared at me with black-and-white eyes, throwing a few punches at me listlessly.

"Hydro, can you hear me? It's me!" I called desperately, trying to bring my girlfriend out of her mental haze. But nothing seemed to get through, and she continued striking at me in a zombie-like manner. Numbed and emotionless.

As Teleto rewinded again, I panted, exhausted already. This was going to be a very long battle.