AvA: Resurrection

Ch. 31 - The Last Stand

Dark, Chosen, and the spider tumbled through the dark chute. After a while, the chute opened up.

Dark and Chosen suddenly heard the spider hiss and the unmistakable sound of glitching. The strand of web on Chosen's leg loosened. Chosen let go of his lasso and summoned fire to his hands to stop his descent.

Dark shook the lasso off of his leg and summoned dark energy to prevent himself from falling even further.

The two sticks stood a few feet away from each other.

"So here we are," Chosen said, "Just you and me, Dark. Just like old times."

Dark started. "What?"

"You know, us fighting each other."

"What are you trying to say?"

"It doesn't have to be like that. We don't have to fight each other. We can be like old times, when we took down Alan's computer; we can work together again."

Dark shook his head. "You've changed, Chosen- you're not the stick you used to be. You don't wreak havoc in the Interspace like I do."

"You don't have to wreak havoc. You can change, Dark, like I did, like all those other sticks did-"

"ENOUGH talking, Chosen. I don't want to talk about my failed plans."

"Alright, alright." Chosen held up his hands. "But still: please, think this through-"

"No," Dark interrupted, "I've done too much. There's no turning back. There's only one way to settle this."

He pointed his finger at Chosen. "Only one of us is getting out of here alive, Chosen; it's either you or me- as you said, 'just like old times.'"

"No..."

Dark shot an arc of electricity at Chosen- one which he dodged- then spun and attempted to kick him but missed. Gathering energy to his right arm, he summoned his ViraBlade and slashed at Chosen twice. Chosen dodged both attacks and shot a laser at Dark, but Dark tucked in his legs, dodging the attack, and returned a laser of his own.

"I forgot you had those," Chosen muttered as he dodged to one side and smacked Dark on the head with a lit-up fist. He blasted a fire column down at Dark, pushing him lower into the Void. Dark blocked the flow of fire with some dark energy. Summoning some more energy to his hands, he pushed through the flames and punched Chosen, extinguishing the fire. Chosen flew a few feet backwards before steadying himself and conjuring his blade.

Dark conjured his ViraBlade and rushed at Chosen. Chosen raised his blade to block Dark's attacks. Dark swung his ViraBlade at Chosen twice, and both times his blade got blocked. Chosen pushed the ViraBlade away with his own blade and swung it downwards. Dark swung his upwards at the same time.

The blades collided, and Dark's ViraBlade snapped in two. As the broken half fell into the abyss below, Dark put away the other half and conjured his second blade. He sliced at Chosen, who blocked the attack with his blade.

Dark then made the mistake of summoning fire to his spare hand and slapping Chosen's head. As Chosen was pushed down, he swung his blade upwards... towards Dark. The Chosen Blade flicked across Dark's chest. It wasn't a deep cut, but Dark howled with pain. Chosen, startled, retracted his blade and fell alongside Dark, dazed. Closer and closer to the bottom of the Void they fell.

Chosen's vision suddenly became tinted green.

Was this what happened when you got too close to the bottom of the Void?

Or was it Second?

The answer was the latter.

Chosen tried to reach for Dark. His fingers brushed Dark's arm.

"No..."

Dark stared at Chosen, eyes deprived of any emotion.

Chosen turned away from Dark. He couldn't bear to see him die.

As the glitching started, Chosen mumbled, "Dark... no..."

He vaguely felt himself rising.

"Dark..."

He passed out.