The Call to Rise

Training Part 3: Guilt, Doubts, and Comfort

Things were going great in Kai's opinion. Cole's plan had worked out perfectly and the Hypnobrai were starting to retreat.

    He had just took down a Hypnobrai thug with a fireball when his instincts told him to watch out. He leaned back in enough time to dodge the punch aimed at his face. He did a backflip to get out of the way and lit his hand on fire, preparing to send a fireball at the person who dared to try and punch him.

    He stopped when he got a good look at his attacker.

    "Cole?!" Kai shouted in complete shock and confusion. "What the hell man?! What was that for?!"

    The black-clad teen snarled and glared at Kai. The fire-wielder gasped as he noticed that Cole's normally chocolate-brown eyes were now a deep red with black spirals. Something was wrong, horribly wrong.

    "Cole," Kai stammered uneasily, backing up a little. "Brookstone, pal. It's me, Kai. Don'tcha remember me?"

    Cole growled and aimed another punch at the red-clad teen. Kai dodged and spun out of the way. "Ooookay, so you don't remember me," he deadpanned, dodging a kick to the head. "Okay, this is probably karma for pushing you off the ship. Come dude, snap out of it! I don't want to fight you!"

    The dancer just snarled and kept on attacking the fire-wielder. "Uh, guys?!" Kai called out, backflipping out of range. "I need some help here!"
    Jay looked over his shoulder just as he delivered an electric shock to one of the Hypnobrai and did a double take. "Whoa! I told you Cole would be angry at you Kai, but I didn't think it would be this bad!" he exclaimed.

    "I don't think that's what's going on, Jay!" Kai snapped, dodging yet another one of Cole's punches. "Something's wrong with Cole!"

    "Cole," Zane said calmly, slowly walking towards the raging teen with his hands held up in a placating manner. "Please, calm down. There is no need to be attacking Kai-!"

    The dancer snarled and kicked Zane in the chest. The icy teen flew backwards into a wall and fell to his knees with a grunt of pain.

    "Zane!" Kai and Jay cried out.

    "Okay," the blue-clad teen said, eyes and scars glowing and sparks starting to fly from his fists. "Something is definitely wrong with him."
    "Any ideas on how to snap him out of it?"

    Zane, who had managed to struggle to his feet, called out, "Jay! Try shocking him! That might bring him out of his trance!"

    "What?! Are you sure?" Jay asked. "I don't want to hurt him!"

    "He'll hurt you if we don't snap him out it soon! Zane's right," Kai pointed out.

    Jay pouted but complied, crouching down and gathering some lightning into his hand. "Ooooh man," he groaned. "I'm sorry about this Cole." he apologized.

    He thrust out his hand and sent the lightning flying at the black-clad dancer. Cole spasmed as he was shocked by the lightning and fell to his knees. His head was bowed and he was panting heavily.

    "Cole!" Jay cried, rushing forward and bending down near his teammate. "Cole, are you okay?"
    The dancer didn't reply at first, still panting heavily. Jay leaned closer to make sure that he was alright when the earth-wielder snapped his head up. Jay gasped as he glimpsed Cole's red-and-black swirled eyes before the black-clad teen sent him flying back with a solid punch to the jaw.

    "JAY!" Zane and Kai cried out as the youngest teen crumpled to the ground. Kai lit his hand on fire, preparing to send a fireball flying at Cole, but Zane was faster. Thrusting out his hands, the ice wielder froze the black-clad teen up to his neck in solid ice. Try as he might, Cole was not going to get out of that ice anytime soon.