New Beginnings : Rise of the Darkness

Army (Evolution Pt. 6)

Fang POV
"Come back here!" Stillness shouted into the darkness. The eight of us had hidden among the vast canopy, out of the villain's view. He growled in frustration, raising another arrow and yelling, "Vision!"

He slammed it against his chest, and was likely able to see us much more clearly when a small smile cracked across his face and he called, "There you are, heroes. Arrows, Pierce!" Yet again he hit himself with another arrow, this time in all the colours of the  spectrum.

"Numb!" He unleashed a barrage of arrows at the fleeing passers-by, who all screamed as they ran for cover. "Home in!" The villain shouted, causing the arrows to curve towards their victims. The arrows pierced through the walls, twisted and turned as they chased down their prey; finally, they hit their mark.

"Oh, heroes!" Stillness taunted. "Come, come out and play! If not I'll force you out of hiding..." The villain yelled another command, but I didn't bother to hear it as I stared in shock at the giant wave of zombie-like armies heading towards us.

Suddenly, a series of explosions rocked the clearing, and it took me a few seconds to realise a storm of pure black arrows were thundering towards us, leaving craters in their wake. I gasped in horror as the tree towering over Hydro and Aerial split at its trunk, toppling down. The two hadn't noticed it yet, unaware of the impending disaster.

"No!" I roared, blasting the bark away with a powerful burst of lightning. The tree thudded down right beside Stillness, who screamed and rolled aside just in time. As the villain rose to his feet, slightly dazed, he snarled and sent another burst of arrows racing towards us.

"Got any ideas, guys?" Aerial shouted over the chaos, splitting into a dozen other versions of himself. One powerful gust of wind knocked the army of Stillness' servants far back, sending them flailing into the vast canopy of a nearby dark jungle. The thirteen Aerials summoned hundreds of trees into the air, letting them crash all around Stillness. But he just smiled as they rained down, and all of us collectively realised Aerial's mistake.

"Oops..." Aerial murmured as the villain doubled in size again, sending cyclones and snaking vegetation flying towards us. We darted aside as an especially large tree slammed into the ground, burying itself at least half a metre deep in soil.

"We need to neutralise him to find his avinia!" Pyral shouted over the din. She lined the jungle with a wall of flames, sending the zombie-army stumbling back. Then, she winked at Hydro as she asked, "Ready?"

"Ready as ever, girl!" Hydro responded, slamming her palm against Pyral's as they summoned a Hydroblaze. "Take this!" she called to Stillness, hurling the giant cyclone at the villain. His eyes widened in fear as he tried to escape, channeling energy to his legs. But still the tornado loomed over him and he resigned to his doom.

Except, he didn't. "What's happening?" Pyral shrieked as the whole storm was consumed by Stillness. The villain, still in disbelief, cackled when he realised that he had tripled his original size. Teleto closed the portal he had opened beside Stillness before the villain got the power of teleportation, instead refreshing his Second Chance as he recharged Trix's energy. Golden Dragon, soaring high above as a majestic phoenix, called down, "What should we do? He can deflect all our powers! This is basically endgame..."

Colette POV
"Well, maybe not!" I realised. "Stillness said he can cover all our powers—but maybe not new ones!"

"What are you hinting at, Pyral?" Moonshot asked me.

"I'm saying, it's high time I manifested new powers, don't you think?" I returned. I shut my eyes, concentrating on the energy I had left as I rallied my focus, channeling it to the one word I roared, "Destruction!"

For seconds, nothing happened and I was left discouraged. But then, a black glow formed...