Corruption Of The Moonstone

To Do The Right Thing

Meanwhile, Blaze and Crusher were still trapped at their own cage of rocks. Crusher was cowering at the corner, holding himself as he tried not to break down while Blaze had been trying to rebuild his sword but to no avail.

"It's no use. Without Roarian's magic, the rocks aren't strong enough to--"

It was then that Blaze saw his rival's state, and it made him frown at how horrible he looked.

"Crusher?" he drove to him and slowly reached out for him. "Are you... okay?"

"You... don't deserve to look at me..." Crusher sobbed, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Look around, I've caused all of this! I was just trying to prove I was more than everyone thought-- a cheater, a failed abortion, someone who didn't deserve to be loved but they were right!"

"Crusher, don't say that!" Blaze shook his head. "Yes, you made a mistake, but it isn't all your fault,"

"How can you say that?" Crusher stared at him in disbelief. "You... you've never been teased throughout your life, pushed around, thinking you're worthless... but I have. Why can't you just give up on me...? Like everyone else has...?"

"No one has given up on you, Crusher," Blaze told him, holding out a tire to help him up. "Even Pickle knows that there's GOOD in you. We all do. That's why I'm not giving up on you. There's more in you than you think,"

"How can you think there's good in me? I've been... horrible to you. And you were just trying to help me..."

"Because I've seen you," Blaze softly said as he smiled. "I've seen how you act. With you Grammy, Baby Gherkin, the Pickle Family... I've seen the good in you. It's there, and you always show it with the people you care about, even when you don't realize it,"

"You... you think?" Crusher asked.

"I know," Blaze nodded and helped him up. "And I know that you CAN do the right thing. You can help me stop Zhan Tiri once and for all... if you choose to,"

"I..." Crusher took a deep breath and gave a nod. "I... I do want to help now, but... what can I do? I'm... I'm powerless without the stones,"

"Hmm..." Blaze glanced around. "There's gotta be something we can do to get out of here..."

They both looked around to try to find something to use. As they did, Crusher found something shimmering on the ground.

"Hey... what's this?"

He reached down and gasped at what he saw. Blaze turned to him immediately.

"What? What is it?"

"It's... a shard," Crusher said, driving towards the red truck. "A shard from the Moonstone!"

"It is!" Blaze gasped. "Do you think you can use it to pull the rocks down?"

"I... I can try..." Crusher closed his eyes, allowing the shard to sink into his tire as his body gave an icy blue glow.

Slowly, the rocks around them began to lower down.

"Crusher, it's working! Keep it up!" Blaze encouraged.

Crusher concentrated harder as the rocks lowered even more. After a while, all the rocks were down, and they were free from the cage.

"We're free!" Blaze beamed. "Quick, I still have some of Roarian's magic left in me. We have to get to our friends! Grab on!"

Crusher wasted no time and grabbed onto Blaze. The red truck took off into the sky as they made their way back. When they did, however, they were horrified to see the others in the cages, now lifeless as Zhan Tiri stood over them.

"Oh no..." Crusher gulped down his tears.

"No..." Blaze's eyes widened in horror. "She... no... but... but how?!"

"She must have used the sunstone's dark spell!" Crusher exclaimed. "And if they're like that..."

"They're all... gone..." Blaze murmured before shaking his head. "No! We can't let her get away with this!"

"Right," Crusher nodded. "So... what's the plan?"

"Well, Roarian DID say that once the stones clash, Zhan Tiri could be destroyed for good," Blaze said. "We need to find a way to clash them together,"

"What if we force her arms together with strong vines? That might do it!" Crusher figured.

"Could work," Blaze nodded and lowered down to grab a vine from the tree. "Aha! This'll do!"

"So, how do we do this?" Crusher asked. "Do we need two vines to grab both her arms?"

"Head down, and once I've grabbed one arm, I'll hand the vine to you, and you can grab her other arm," Blaze instructed. "Once she tries to struggle, I'll cut the vine. Got it?"

"Got it!"

Crusher nodded and jumped down, hiding amongst the trees and behind Zhan Tiri. Blaze smiled and headed over above the Demoness before using the vine as a lasso. He threw it to Zhan Tiri's arm and grabbed it with a tight grip, catching her in shock.

"What?!"

"Crusher, catch!" Blaze exclaimed, throwing the vine down.

"Oh NO, YOU DON'T!" Zhan Tiri snarled and used her spare arm to break the vine before it could reach the dark blue truck. "I will NOT be defeated a second time!"

Crusher hissed before staring down at the Moonstone shard on his tire. An idea came to him before he drove forward. His body glowed icy blue as he avoided the demoness, who was struggling to get her other arm free from the vine. The dark blue truck was soon in front of Zhan Tiri, and he raised his tire, allowing a rock to rise from the ground and pin the demoness's spare arm down to the ground.

"Blaze, now's your chance!"

Blaze nodded and cut the vine holding Zhan Tiri's arm. Said demoness screeched as the two stone clashed, causing a bright blast to appear and knocking both trucks out...