Chương 25: Episode 22: "Took long enough."

Thunder cracked across the sky, pouring heavy rain and thick fog over the field. Don could barely make out shapes through the gloom, his torn tail dragging through the mud as he walked. He told himself he made the right choice. If they'd cared, they would've understood. Being alone was easier—easier to accept, easier to weaponize. A metallic clink echoed through the storm. Don looked down. A faint pink hexagonal gem sat half-buried in the mud, humming like a low heartbeat. Another Power Gem.

His eyes flared with dark celestial current, burning through the fog. He felt its pull immediately—just like the Incarceration Gem. The black gem that had dragged up every buried memory, forced him to choke on them, and transformed him into Scourge Don. There was no turning back now. He'd tried, but the energy wouldn't let him. He knelt, rain dripping off his mask, and reached for the pink crystal. A scorch of red-orange fire cut through the fog, aimed straight at his head.

Don moved instinctively, stepping aside in one fluid motion as the blast detonated behind him. Two figures stepped out of the haze: Krane and Overbrawl. Krane's violet-flame eyes cut through the dark, while Overbrawl folded his arms with a wide, arrogant grin.

"Took us long enough," Overbrawl said, his voice dripping with cockiness. Krane cracked his knuckles.

"Relax. I just want answers… maybe a warm-up." Don's voice dropped, sharp as a blade.

"Ask." Krane tilted his head, his grin lazy.

"Incarceration's location. You've got the black gem, you should know. Yes or no?"

"No." Overbrawl snarled, stepping forward.

"Don't play dumb with us—WHERE IS HE?!" Don raised a brow, completely unbothered.

"Why do you care?" Krane shrugged.

"We split them up." Don scoffed.

"Genius move. Why not just hide them? Splitting them is begging for a war." Krane's smile darkened.

"We stole those crystallized rocks from you idiots. Dreadixz wanted them back, but I had… other plans. Scattered them across Foreshade, Rufty Mountains, Scarletsville — anywhere Incarceration couldn't reach. Because if he gets his hands on them? Game over." Don's jaw locked.

"Two ex-Zeniths on the run, saying they wanna kill Incarceration. Yeah. I'm definitely not trusting that." Flames caught the wind around Krane's arms as his eyes flicked.

"You don't have to trust me. But I'll be the one to take him down. Before he exposes something I'd rather stay buried."

"You're lying," Don growled. Krane didn't blink.

"Believe what you want." Overbrawl stepped up, chaotic energy crackling over his fists.

"You're wasting our time." Krane's flames spiraled higher.

"Agreed." Don stood his ground without shifting his stance as deep violet energy writhed off his body in heavy waves. Krane stopped, staring at the raw power radiating from the Incarceration Gem transformation. He cracked his fists, his voice dropping as he sized Don up.

"Overbrawl," Krane murmured.

"He's gonna be a challenge."

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Overbrawl ranted, glaring at him.

"WE'RE EX-ZENITHS. WE'RE STRONGER."

"No, Overbrawl," Krane said, shifting a serious gaze toward him.

"You don't understand. This guy is using a Power Gem transformation that intensifies his strength and everything, making him almost as powerful as a normal Zenith is…" Overbrawl's arrogant posture stiffened as he slowly turned his head back to Krane.

"…So he's using the Incarceration Gem… meaning—" Krane shook his head grimly.

"Yes, we're gonna have a rough time." Scourge Don moved, flickering near Krane, fists risen and buzzing with celestial energy." Focus Smash," he whispered. He moved in a blur of motion. Don was in the air, his foot driven against Krane's cheek, lightning shrieked in the background. BOOM! Air blasted right after, and Don hit the ground, splashing the water with his torn shoes. Chaotic energy snapped around Overbrawl, fueled by anger and resentment towards Don already.

His body twitched in the rain as he and Don stood across the land.

"You—" he paused, trying to grab his words. He squinted his eyes, gritted his teeth, then snapped, "YOU BASTARD!!!" Overbrawl rocketed across the battlefield, feet banging against the ground, resulting in multiple splashes. He cocked his fist back mid-run, ready to uppercut. It swung, smashing Don's chin as he was hurled into the sky from the wind, detonating into a spiraling wave of impact. His body was obscured in the heavy storm showers. Lightning flashed, and his silhouette was seen.

He dropped onto the land, one hand on the ground and the other fist behind his body—cape moving silently in the thunderstorm. Blood dropped from his bruised chin, exposed through the dragon mask. His tone was dry, "What a powerful hit, expected that from a former Zenith like you." He vanished and suddenly appeared near Overbrawl's flank, his energy snapping to life, "Yet you're too slow to catch me off-guard—" BAM! The force of the hit blew up through the wind currents.

Krane double-legged dropkicked Don in the face. Don's body flew across the battlefield like a rag doll, bouncing and repetitively slamming into the ground, leaving a wide distance between the duo and him. Krane adjusted to his stance, blood slowly falling from his nose—throwing his purple fists up, "Lock in, brother. This kid is gonna be an insane threat to us."

"YEAH, I ALREADY HEARD YOU!" yelled Overbrawl, preparing himself too. Cape moving in the wind, Scourge Don rose up—blood leaving his mask through rough tears.

"Teamwork isn't pointless… it just doesn't work at certain times…" BOOOSH! He flickered away, violet light warping between Krane and Overbrawl. The two turned. Energy ignited from Don's sockets. They jumped him. Both Krane and Overbrawl barraged a relentless hail of blows in perfect sync while the camera vibrated to the attacks. Don stood still, arms moving in rapid, speed frames, deflecting the millisecond flurries being hurled at him.

Scourge Don grabbed Krane's arm, spun, and slammed him into Overbrawl, launching them across the battlefield. He turns his body while skidding back, feet pushing into the dirt as the corrupted energy eyes flash and glow with dark celestial light, one palm against the ground and the other behind him.

"6. 2% SORROW RUSH!" BOOM! The environment trembled. His legs moved in a fuzzy hypersonic motion, dragging his hand across the ground to get a hold of himself, shredding the land beneath him. FWOOSH! Don appeared behind Krane. BAM! His leg sliced the air. BASHK!! Blood shot out of Krane's mouth in the rain as Don's ankle pressed deep into his neck. Wind blasted him. Don hit the ground. Spun towards Overbrawl in a grunt. WHAM!

Overbrawl backhanded Don's cheek, the camera moving visually slowly to show off the blood flying out of his nose—and his face scrunching from the arm. Wind blasted him. The environment moved quicker than him. He deliberately skipped from side to side, land bursting with each step. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Krane managed to teleport near Overbrawl, bleeding just as hard as he is, huffing and puffing.

"Damn…. this guy's— huff —too strong," Overbrawl spoke between breaths, He used quick and offensive attacks, speeding past us and then throwing a hit for maximum impact. Something that Speed would do very often. He was even strong enough to make us bleed mid-battle. Krane looks pretty beat already. Krane's watered teeth gnashed, He's abusing speed, giving us surprise attacks, and immediately reacting once we fire at him. These were close-ranged attacks, even hitting us with far-ranged attacks.

The only way that we could actually get a hit on him is if he loses us. Krane turned to Overbrawl, grinning, I hope he knows the plan. Running and separating from each other could work. Using the mountains as a spot for one of us to attack will distract him. Meanwhile, there will be someone who stays on the ground and deals with him as well. Overbrawl turned to Krane, This plan might be ass, but if it is what it is… then I'm gonna have to follow it. Alright, brother, let's do this.

The world shook as the two of them vanished. Don's body lifted.

"Strange… where did those two—" FLASH! Overbrawl flickered behind him in slow motion with chaotic energy crackling around his fists. Don sighed. Of course. Don flashed away and hit the ground near Overbrawl, energy radiating and crackling as both of the sockets from his dragon mask flashed with dark celestial energy.

"WHERE IS THE OTHER ONE?!" FWISH! He blinked in front of Overbrawl, leg inches from him. Overbrawl grabbed his leg, heaved him over, and striking his body with the surface. He lifted him up from the ground and hurled him over the flooded land that almost seemed like a flat ocean. Water sloshed as soon as his feet hit the ground. He crackled with energy, launching into breakneck speed.

He sped across the battlefield at hypersonic velocities, the water sprayed rapidly behind him, glistening against the showering rain and the moon that peeked through the ominous clouds. Overbrawl hurled blasts of chaotic energy at him. Don moved, sprang, weaved, and spun through the orange volleys. He leaped off the land and twisted, spiraling into the air as he darted toward Overbrawl, colliding into his crossed arms, causing a sonic boom to blast from behind. Overbrawl stayed still while Scourge Don flipped back.

WHAT?! He moved in slow motion midair, confused. Then he looked up. A violet strike of lightning SLAMMED into him hard enough for the ground to tear apart and launch slabs of land into the sky in a chain of destruction. Mountains collapsed and detonated from the impact as the air pressure exploded. In the middle of the chaos, in slow motion, close up, while the slabs of land flew.

Inside the maelstrom of spiritual energy was Krane, leg driven against Don's cheek and arms up while his eyes looked down, blazing with violet energy and spiritual fire. Air pressure exploded once again as he flipped off Krane and crashed into the ground, shockwaves erupting across the battlefield. He surged with energy and darted toward Don. Don instantly flashed away and teleported into the sky. He shot downward, dim light forging in his fists as the world blurred.

Krane twisted from below and unleashed blasts of spiritual energy that ripped through the storm. Don fired back with dark Celestial blasts, the projectiles flattening into spinning disks as they tore across the sky. The attacks collided. Explosions rippled through the clouds. Scourge Don slammed into the ground, knees bent, then snapped to the right— BAM!!!!! A fist crashed into the side of his head. The impact blasted the air apart. Don stumbled— BAMMM! Another strike buried itself into his midsection.

He folded forward and skidded backward across the fractured terrain. Krane wasn't finished. Spiritual energy crackled around him as he dashed side to side. His movements blurred. Flashing across Don's vision, he unleashed a barrage of strikes that landed from every angle. Don staggered under the assault as energy detonated around him. Looking up, he saw the sky burning. Hundreds of meteors tore through the cloud layer, painting the heavens in fiery orange.

Krane lowered his arm and drove a knee straight into Don's nose. The hit launched Don upward, clouds exploding apart as he tore through the atmosphere. He spun in mid-air, charging celestial energy while the meteors screamed past.

"NOOO!" A colossal meteor emerged from the storm, wrapped in roaring fire, with hundreds more trailing behind it. Heat burned away the remaining clouds, turning the sky into a sea of blazing orange streaks. The colossal meteor slammed into Don with a deafening crash. Fire erupted around him as the shockwave dragged the rest of the meteor shower into the inferno. The burning swarm drove Don straight into the flatlands of the Rufty Mountains, hammering the landscape in a rapid chain reaction of explosions.

Gravity warped and mountains collapsed as a massive shockwave swept across the continent, swallowing the flatlands in fire and debris. When the blinding light finally cleared, the Rufty Mountains were unrecognizable. Krane and Overbrawl observed the destruction from a distance under the heavy downpour.

"Damn…" Krane whispered.

"I think you did it too hard…"

"Eh," Overbrawl said hastily.

"If he's down, he's down. Let him be." Rain pattered against the scorched stone, echoing across the cratered combat zone.

"Y'know," Krane added, stretching his arms over his head, "this guy already has the potential to fight us without even using the Power Gem itself." Overbrawl stopped, lifting an eyebrow with a growl.

"What are you trying to say…?" Krane lowered his arms, opening his fists.

"He's stronger than before. Think about it—his strategy and how he fought us kept him on his toes. If he were significantly weaker, then even with the Power Gem transformation, we would've beaten him already."

"Those words feel like jabs straight to the bones!" Overbrawl snapped.

"It's pissing me off already, so don't even think about saying anything else that has something to do with the kid!" A drop of sweat rolled down Krane's neck.

"Yeah… don't talk about him anytime soon. But we can't ignore him. I wonder if Power trained him or something. That could be a reason." A clawed hand reached out from one of the deep, smoking craters. Scourge Don trudged out onto the level ground, dirt falling off his ragged body as rain poured down from the dark sky. They separated, Don thought, analyzing the field. That was their new plan. They knew I was using my speed to target both of them at once, and that my reaction time is faster in this form.

But I haven't mastered this yet… What if there's something to this transformation I don't even know about? Energy crackled in his fists as the sigils "K" and "X" flared to life in his eyes. Merging my KX Form with the Power Gem transformation… Power said if I combine my base form with a Power Gem, it allows me to become stronger than ever before. A Zenith's power mixed with my own… His jaw clenched as he adjusted his mask under the rain.

"Right. I'm gonna finalize this." Don began shifting his weight from side to side, cosmic energy igniting with every step. Shockwaves rippled out from his feet, making the flatlands rumble. His dark celestial aura expanded, jagged arcs of lightning buzzing around his body. He stopped moving, the energy in his eyes burning brighter.

"KX: Engage…" A massive pillar of dark light tore out of his body, piercing the sky. The wind buckled under the surge of power. Through the blinding beam, only his silhouette was visible, the glowing "K" and "X" sigils flickering in his eyes. He's merging an elemental transformation with a Power Gem?! Krane thought, his jaw tight. Don snapped his fingers, and the pillar swirled into nothingness. He floated silently above the craters—spikier hair, eyes blazing darkly, his entire body wrapped in a cosmic vessel.

"Let's get this over with…" Don vanished into the clouds, descending a second later as a massive comet of cosmic power. Krane stepped forward, spiritual energy surging, while Overbrawl took the lead with his chaotic light sparking.

"HERE HE COMES!" Don's voice echoed through the thunder as he plummeted from the sky:"ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO PERCENT!" He moved into a slow-motion streak right above Overbrawl.

"SILENT KICK!" The impact peeled the ground back, sending Overbrawl tumbling like a ragdoll across the saturated stone. He struggled to get up, shaking, blood dripping from his cheek into the puddles. Don flashed past him, twisting mid-air with his leg locked behind him, and landed a heavy strike across the side of Overbrawl's face. Before Overbrawl could recover, Don hit the ground, spun, and delivered three lightning-fast twist kicks to his jaw.

He leaped into a aerial twirl and slammed his heel down, dropping the chaos partner into the mud.

"OVERBRAWL!" Krane yelled through the rain. Don stood over Overbrawl's unconscious body, his aura sizzling. He stared directly at Krane.

"He's already down… give it a rest." Krane's fists tightened as violet and orange flames spiraled around his arms like living serpents, lighting up the watch on his wrist.

"YOU DARK BASTARD!!" Fire swallowed Krane completely as the rain evaporated around him. A split second later, he vanished. A ripple disturbed the storm behind Don. He spun around just as their fists collided with an explosive roar. The shockwave blew the rain outward in a massive sphere, fracturing the ground beneath them. Violet lightning crawled up Don's arm while orange fire danced around Krane's fist. Don slid backward, carving a shallow trench through the mud.

"Okay," Don said, shaking out his hand.

"Great start. Better than what Overbrawl did." Krane's eyebrow twitched. Both vanished into motion, turning the battlefield into a blur of orange fire and violet lightning. They traded blows across the mountains—a punch, a counter, a spinning kick, an elbow—neither yielding an inch as the storm struggled to keep up with their speed. They met head-on in a flurry of strikes, fists turning into streaks of color.

Don pivoted and swung a roundhouse kick toward Krane's head, but Krane caught it on his forearm and drove a heavy punch straight into Don's face. The blow launched Don across the field, skipping over the ground before he blasted upward into the storm clouds. Rain battered Don as he hovered high above the battlefield. Below, Krane stared up at him as lightning split the heavens. Dark celestial power coiled around Don's arm, swallowing his fist in violet-black radiance. The strike was primed to drop.

Before he could bring it down—"DON!" He stopped. That voice. Great. The dark celestial glow around his arm faded away as he looked down toward the source.

"I've got something to deal with…"

"DON! CAN YOU HEAR US?!" The voice echoed across the battlefield. Don remained still, the storm howling around him as rain drummed against his armor and rolled off his wings. Beneath the mask, his jaw tightened. Of course they were here. Slowly, he turned, corrupted cosmic lightning flickering within the empty sockets of his visor. Below him stood Class 101—all of them. Ryan, Sophia, everyone. Their clothes were soaked, their faces carrying the same expression: worry, concern, fear.

Not fear of him, but fear for him. For a brief moment, nobody spoke. They simply stared, and the sight almost felt foreign. A tired breath escaped through Don's nose. He was exhausted—from fighting, from losing, from caring. His wings spread, guiding him down through the downpour. As he descended, he reached up and pulled off his mask. Several members of the class froze. The scars running across his face were impossible to ignore.

Some had seen them before, others hadn't, but none of them had ever seen him look this empty. His violet eyes still glowed beneath the storm clouds, yet the fire that usually lived behind them felt distant. Muted.

"This isn't the time," he said, his voice lower than usual. Not because he was trying to sound intimidating, but because he was just tired.

"Get out of here."

"No." Ryan stepped forward immediately, water streaming down his mechanical armor as the orange core embedded in his chest cast a faint glow through the dark.

"We're not leaving you." Don looked at him. Just looked. The words felt hollow—not because Ryan didn't mean them, but because Don no longer knew how to believe them.

"Isn't that what all of you did?" The question hung in the air. Nobody answered. His gaze lowered as rain slid down the scars on his face.

"All those moments. Everything I tried to do. I failed." The statement struck harder than any shout could have. Sophia stepped forward, the lights on her boombox pulsing softly against the dark.

"Who said you failed?" Don didn't answer.

"You fought the Hydra," she said, pointing toward him as she took another step.

"You survived King Gordiman's Bothole. You protected people. You carried this team when nobody else could." The rain fell heavily between them.

"We need you. You're our leader." Her voice cracked slightly.

"You're not worthless." Something twisted in his chest. For a second, he wanted to believe her. That was the problem. A small, broken chuckle escaped him.

"I always screw things up. And every time I do, everything gets worse." Lightning flickered beyond the mountains.

"I try to help," he muttered, his throat tightening.

"I try to do the right thing. And somehow it always ends the same." A bolt of lightning split the heavens, flooding the battlefield in stark white light. Don squeezed his eyes shut against the flash as thunder rolled through the mountains. When he opened them again, the anger was gone. Only hurt remained.

"What happened between us…" He swallowed hard.

"It's not something I can forgive." Nobody moved. Nobody interrupted. Even the battlefield felt quieter. Don descended the rest of the way, his boots hitting the soaked ground with a soft splash right among them. For a few seconds, he simply stood there—close enough to reach, but far enough to feel completely distant. He lifted the mask and slid it back over his face, the violet glow returning to the empty sockets.

"Coming back to me…" His voice remained steady, but cold.

"…when I tried to come back to all of you." He let out a bitter chuckle and turned away, his cape shifting in the wind.

"How ironic." He began walking away—slow, deliberate, and certain.

"One thing changed. I learned how to keep moving without any of you." The class stood frozen behind him, unable to find the right words to stop him. Don didn't look back once.

"Turns out it's easier."