Guardians of the Multiverse (Part 1): Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Showdown: Part 3M2 flew as fast as he could with Tracy in tow, passing by tall buildings and alleyways, and hoping they would get to Savanna Central in time. However, while the teenaged cat said to him, “Faster M2, faster! There’s no telling what those Daemons are doing in Savanna Central!” The mouse clone felt somebody was following them and it wasn’t a Daemon. If there was, then he would’ve sensed magic. Taking to another alleyway that led to a street, he flies low enough to the ground and says to her, “Tracy, jump!”“Why?” she said to him, confused. “What’s-”She felt a shock go through her head and sharply turned her head, only to yelp and immediately jump off from a fingerless gloved paw that nearly grabbed her as she rolled upon landing on the ground. M2 flies towards a wall, just before the arctic wolf lands on the ground with his grimoire floating beside him and making his dual-sided spear, and hops while sideways flipping and bringing out the swords from his dimensional storespace. “Go!” he yelled to her as he crossed his swords and blocked an attack by the arctic wolf’s spear, then pushed it up. “Get to Savanna Central, I’ll catch up with you!”Tracy didn’t have to be told twice as she quickly ran on all fours towards the street while the arctic wolf watched her. When she was out of sight, he smiled and looked back to the mouse clone, saying to him, “Y’know, I’m surprised that she was able to sense me and I was just about to use her to make you fight me.”“Well…” M2 points his sword at him. “You got your wish. En garde!”He jumps towards the arctic wolf and the wolf blocks his sword. The mouse clone parries the arctic wolf’s spear while remaining in midair and acrobatically dodges another strike before jumping over him and parrying with his other sword. The arctic wolf kept twirling his spear, trying to land a hit on the mouse, but M2 easily parried and dodged each one. After blocking another attack that was aimed at M2’s back, the mouse clone jumped to the wall again; only this time he kept his feet there as he kept parrying the arctic wolf’s precise attacks with both of his swords. When the arctic wolf tried to attack by side-swiping him, M2 cartwheels off the wall and lands on the ground. No sooner had his feet touched, the arctic wolf thrusted his paw and a gray aura surrounds him as the mouse was pushed towards the street, feet sliding on the ground until he came to a stop.The pages of the arctic wolf’s grimoire flipped and stopped at a page, and a medium-size gray ball formed at the front tip of his spear. Bringing his spear back, he grunts and sends it flying towards the mouse. M2 brings his right sword up and yells, “Full Counter!” The blade makes contact, sending the gray ball mixed with light back towards the arctic wolf at high-speed. He dodges his own attack by corkscrew jumping and the ball explodes behind him. Giving a small chuckle while his grimoire flipped its pages and stopped on one, he said to the mouse clone, “C’mon, clone, is that the best you got?” Four gray balls appear before him and change into daggers. “At least make it interesting!”With a flick of his wrist, he sends the four daggers towards the mouse clone. M2 blocks the first two daggers, but dodges the next one that was aimed at his head and bends his back as the last one also tries to get him in the head. The four daggers came back at him, just when he straightened himself, and quickly turned around to block each one, only for each of them to come back every time he swiped at them or made them rebound after hitting the blade. The arctic wolf giggles, then he charges straight at the mouse clone, spear raised. The mouse ducks his head from the spear’s swipe and knocks away a dagger before sideways spinning from the arctic wolf’s other spear blade. He kept parrying each attack from the spear while at the same time blocking each of the oncoming attacks of the floating daggers with great speed and agility. That was until the arctic wolf broke M2’s left sword after he deflected one dagger and the other one hit the crossguard, pushing it up towards the oncoming spear strike. He tries to swing at him with his other spear blade, but the mouse clone dodges by quickly backflipping before somersaulting at the end, putting a little bit of distance between himself and his opponent. M2 charges fast while the arctic wolf sends his four daggers straight at him. The mouse clone easily dodged the first one that went right by his head and knocked aside the rest with his right sword. When he got close, the arctic wolf twirled his spear and was about to give him a diagonal strike, but the mouse used his broken left sword and side swiped at the spear blade. There was a cling, then BOOM, the arctic wolf was sent flying towards a window of a store as M2 used Full Counter without saying the words, crashing the glass upon impact. The four daggers disappear after the caster loses focus from the counter-attack.The mouse clone straightens up, his guard not faltering for even a second, and the arctic wolf flies out of the store window. M2 tosses his broken sword towards him, but the arctic wolf easily knocks it aside and is about to attack him with a side strike. The mouse jumps above his head, dodging that strike, and slides out the Magi-Gun from his sleeve and pulls the trigger. The arctic wolf blocks it and quickly twirls his spear until the blade makes contact with M2’s; only to turn his head slightly sideways after M2 fires another white energy round. He goes on the offensive, but is forced to dodge each round fired from M2’s Magi-Gun. He even parried the mouse clone’s fast strikes of his right sword while remaining in midair, then had to use his spear to block the pistol that was aimed at his head before M2 fired to the right and made his arm move down as he fired again, nearly shooting his foot. The mouse clone spin kicks his head, sending him sliding with his feet still on the asphalt. Looking up, he sees him pointing his pistol and a ball of light forming right in front of the gun. “Light!” The mouse pulls the trigger, but the arctic wolf raises his paw while the grimoire’s pages flip and stop, and a gray ball forms as he lets it fly with a grunt. The balls connect and explode, creating a small cloud of smoke that lasted for only several seconds before dissipating. The arctic wolf chuckled and said, “Is that all, clone? I thought I told you to make this interesting, so stop holding back. If you truly possess the power of a king, then at least pretend to be him and show me his power. Because as of right now, I’m not impressed.”M2 sighs and says to him, “Very well. Have it your way then.” He points his sword at him and a white aura surrounds the mouse. “Icicle Shards…” Shards of light-blue ice forms behind him. “...plus Fireball.” Red rune circles surround each shard before merging, turning them into a darker shade of blue. “Combination Magic…” He flicks his sword. “Frostburn Shard Barrage!”The shards were hurled towards the arctic wolf with deadly speed, but he could only laugh and block each one by twirling his spear really fast while saying, “Seriously? A measly spell can’t hope to defeat me. Is that all you can really do?”“Not quite,” he told him while not letting up the combination spell. His sword was surrounded in a clairvoyant aura and sparks started to pop here and there around the blade. “Seismic Shockwave, plus Earth Flow and Explosion.” He stabs his sword on the ground. “Combination Magic: Seismic Exploding Earth!”The earth explodes, reaching nearly towards a building at the end of the road, and sends the arctic wolf into the air as he yelps. The mouse clone lets loose another barrage of his Frostburn Shards, forcing the arctic wolf to raise an arm while the pages of his grimoire flip and stop, and small gray balls surround his arm before firing them. As M2 continues his assault of deadly shards, he puts the pistol back inside his sleeve and takes the sword off the ground, making it disappear in a flash. He crouches down and casts, “Light, plus Hasteza. Combination Technique: Lightspeed!”He vanished in a flash and became a line of light as the mouse ran on the falling debris until he was above. The arctic wolf could only look up while he finished off the shards and saw the mouse clone with his arm forward and light forming around his right hand. “Holy Wave!”A wave of light shoots out and the arctic wolf laughs maniacally while thrusting his arm forward; the pages of his grimoire quickly turning to a different page, and shouts, “Now that’s more like it!”His right paw was surrounded in a gray aura before shooting out his own wave. He continues to laugh maniacally, as if he was enjoying himself, while the two waves clashed., Tracy continues to run on all fours, only to stop and look behind as she hears a faint explosion. Standing back up, she says with a worried expression, “Please come back in one piece, M2.” With that said, she takes out her badge and orders, “Open up the map and show me the directions to where Savanna Central is.” Taking the order, the holo-map enlarges, then it shows her current location and many white dots leading to where Savanna Central was. Luckily for her, it was just several miles, so it wasn’t that far. “Yes!” she cried enthusiastically.Closing up the holo-map, she wasted no time in running as fast as her little legs could take her. While she continued to sprint, the explosions became completely silent. A part of herself felt worried for M2. Will he manage to beat that arctic wolf and come back to help her along with the others? She had a feeling that he’ll be fine. After all, he was created by King Mickey and possessed a fraction of his power. However, her thoughts then turned to Nick, Judy, and everyone else back at Savanna Central. She hoped beyond hope that she wasn’t too late and they were alright.Stopping for a moment to catch her breath, she hears gunfire coming around the corner, meaning she was getting close. She wasn’t sure how long the fight started, but that didn’t matter right now. Bringing back her badge, she ordered, “Badge, bring out a single Mega-Elixir.”The screen glowed and out popped a small glowing ball that expanded, revealing a glass-rounded flask with a cork. Taking it out of the white ball as it returned to her badge, she looks at the greenish-blue liquid inside. Judging by how much it was half-way to the top, she had a feeling that this should be enough for her to save whenever it was needed or to be shared willingly in order to heal anybody that was hurt. Unfortunately, she couldn’t put it in her utility belt, due to it being a little big, and she can’t put the flask in her pocket, fearing it will fall out and break. Looking at her bag that contained the king’s grimoire, she opened and noticed there was a little bit of room; possibly enough to fit about two or maybe three Mega-Elixir’s, but she’ll have to find out about that later. Putting it inside, she pats the bag.Right before she was about to continue on her way, she felt a shock go through her head. Without even thinking or understanding what she was doing, quickly rolls away to the side as feet suddenly land on the concrete. Looking up, she saw Sparx with his paw down on the ground; almost like he was attempting to grab her but missed. “Oh no…” she crawls away while he looks at her. “Not you!”She made a run for it on all fours. This was the worst time for him to appear without M2. It didn’t take long as Sparx was now right in front of her, making her yelp and turn around, only to step on her tail and cry out Reow while she lands on her stomach. He grabs her by the scruff, forcing her to stand and move to the opposite direction away from Savanna Central. “Let me go!” she grunted and swung a fist towards his face. He easily catches it, bends her arm as she grunts again, and forces her to continue walking to wherever he was taking her.They arrive at an alleyway where Sparx releases her arm. She shakes her sore arm before turning around; only to receive a kick to the chest which sends her flying. She slid upon landing on the ground and came to a stop in between two feet. When she grunts while shaking her head, she notices those two feet and realizes they were monkey’s feet. What kind of monkey feet, she couldn’t tell. Looking up, she saw a black robed figure bending down, revealing the face of a male gorilla with blue eyes and a brown headband hidden from the shadows of his hood. “Hello, young lady,” he greeted.Tracy gasped and crawled away from him.“Don’t be frightened,” he assured while taking off his hood. “I mean you, no harm.”“But-But why are you here?” she asked, standing up.“Isn’t it obvious?” His turn to Sparx with her following his gaze. “You have a job to do.”It didn’t take her no more than two seconds to put two and two together. “What about M2, he-”“M2 is preoccupied at the moment,” he cut her off. “You need to learn to fight your battles on your own.”“But M2-”“Stop thinking about that clone and prepare yourself! Sparx…fight!”Sparx charged towards her on command, causing Tracy to yelp as the young fox drew his katana and brought it in a downward slash. She only had a second to react by quickly stepping in front of him, crossing her wrists while bringing them above her head, and caught his paws that were still holding onto the hilt. As she was grunting from the strain of Sparx’s strength, the gorilla said, “What’re you waiting for, girl? Fight! Get his grimoire and free him!”“Then…why won’t you…free him…yourself?” she asked through clenched teeth and her voice strained.“Believe me, I already tried. This kind of dark magic is too strong and you’re the only one who has the power to do it.”Even though her face was strained from keeping Sparx’s sword up, she was shocked at what he said. It was those same words that King Mickey said to her before. What was this so-called power that these two keep saying? Could it be some type of magic that she was currently unaware of? If so, then what is it? She had to put those questions aside as the gorilla yelled, “Now fight!”With a shout, she pushes her wrist up and hits Sparx square in the chest, sending him sliding away from her.“There you go! Now get his grimoire out and destroy the crystal that’s controlling him!”He expected her to run towards Sparx, now that his guard was down, and take the grimoire out of his robes. Instead, she made a run for it the way she came in. “Where do you think you're going?”Sparx’s grimoire floats out of his robes while walking to where Tracy was running. The pages flip and stop at a page as his katana sparks electricity. Bringing his blade up, he slashes his sword downwards and yells, “Lightning Blade!”A surge of electricity shoots out on the ground, causing it to explode and travel straight to its target. Tracy only had enough time to jump out of the way as it made one last explosion. With her back against the trash can, Sparx was about to walk over to where she was, but the gorilla stopped him by saying, “Wait! Put your sword away.” Sparx obediently sheathed his katana, then the gorilla turned his attention to the teenage cat who was still hiding, “Come on out! You cannot hide in there!” Tracy pants while he continued, “You still have a job to do and you mustn’t run from it! Only a coward would run and hide without facing your opponent!”Tracy’s ears perked up. What did he just say to her?“I’m going to give you a choice. You can come out and fight or you can run like a coward and surrender the grimoire. This battle is no place for cowards. So are you one or not?”Her paws clenched tightly, she was no coward. In fact, the real reason why she ran wasn’t because she was scared, it was because her thoughts turned to her friends who were still fighting against the Daemons. She had her own priority to get to them first and help, and Sparx would be her second priority after her friends were safe. Not to mention, M2 made a promise to help her when Sparx arrived. Now with everything completely altered, she had no choice but to continue on towards a new path. And that was to fight Sparx before jumping into the next fray. With a sigh, she mutters softly to Judy and Nick, “Hold on a bit longer, guys.”She comes out from behind the trash can, her face already turning serious. The gorilla could tell by her eyes that she had no intention to run. However, that still left him the question as to why she ran earlier. That question had to be put aside for now as he watched her take a club out of her belt and said, “Have it your way.”Bringing her club up, she charges towards Sparx while grunting. The gorilla tilts his head, signaling the young fox to fight as he draws his katana and charges. He brought his sword sideways and was about to slice her, but she slid on her legs, nearly nicking her ear, and hit him in the gut with her club. She shouts and uses her enhanced strength to send him flying to the air towards the gorilla; which he easily stepped aside and watched him smack back first to a brick wall. Sparx slides down until his feet touch the ground, then he zig-zags to Tracy and tries to slash her upward. Only to miss as she rolled sideways and had to keep rolling from the blade that tried to stab her head several times. She knocks the sword back with her club after it stabbed the ground one last time, then hits him in the back of the leg, knocking him down on one knee. Quickly getting up, she raised her club and was about to strike him in the back of the head, but Sparx grabbed her wrist and stood up facing her, his katana already raised. As he swings it, Tracy grabs his wrist and they both start to wrestle, trying to push the other one to the ground. It seemed that he had the upper hand with her as she was nearly down on her knees, but with one last grunt and an extra burst of strength, and without even thinking, she backflips with her feet connecting to his chin, causing him to stumble and almost losing his balance. Tracy couldn’t believe what she just did, yet it happened right at this very moment. Normally she wasn’t agile like this, especially when she was still human before coming here. However, with her body completely changed, her reflexes were altered a little. Knowing how agile a cat is, other than seeing in the dark or landing on their feet, maybe she can use these new changes to her advantage.Crouching down on all fours while shuffling her shoulders, she charged at him. Then before Sparx could even react, she jumped up and brought her club down on top of his head. The force sent him down to the ground on his forehead, hitting it hard on the concrete. He tried to retaliate by quickly swinging his sword; only for her to jump over and land on his back. She raised her club and was about to knock him out, but a yellow aura surrounds him and he starts flying backwards, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck. When her back collides on the hard wall, the air knocks out of her and she slides on the wall till her bottom touches the ground. She only had a second to both yelp and roll out of the way as the young fox brings his sword down, making the wall spark after the sharp blade touches it. Upon getting up, the fox wasted no time in trying to cut the young tabby down. However, he underestimated her recently discovered agility as she acrobatically uses both her paws and feet to swiftly dodge each strike. As she continued to dodge while landing a few blows, the gorilla gave a half but impressed smile. Her fighting prowess, despite her inexperience in it and lack of training, has greatly improved in just a short time. If she was trained properly, then maybe she can stand a better chance against Sparx. Still, it was incredible how well she was adapting so quickly, even in the face of battle. Tracy’s club connects to Sparx’s blade. Luckily it didn’t break, due to the wood being a little thick. Judging how much punishment it can take, it’ll be about a few more swings before breaking. That’s something she can’t afford to risk, so she needed to knock him out quick. Pushing his sword aside, she quickly hits his face side to side, causing him to move back little by little through each strike. Right when she was about to hit Sparx again, the pages of his grimoire flip and stop at a page, and his paw was forming electricity. “Thundershock!” He thrusted his electrified paw at her, sending Tracy flying while yelping as bits of electricity surround her for a moment and died upon landing on the hard ground. The club that she had bounced and rolled after she lost her grip. Seeing one of her weapons on the ground, she goes on all fours and runs towards it, but Sparx’s grimoire turns its pages till it stops on one and he raises his sword. “Lightning Blade!”He brought his sword down and sent a surge of electricity towards her, forcing Tracy to jump over her club while yelping as the wooden weapon was pushed aside by the attack. She tries to get it, but the young fox sends another Lightning Blade at her in an upward slash, making her jump away. He kept on sending that same spell, only for her to either jump or roll away each time. Just as she was about to get the club after dodging another strike, the ground explodes from Sparx’s attack, sending it up into the air and giving her enough time to dodge and roll, and catch it before getting down on one knee. With her club raised, she thought, Should I use Full Counter? She watched Sparx raise his sword and was about to cast that Lightning Blade spell again. No, too risky. Her eyes took a brief glimpse at the gorilla. He’s probably analyzing what I can do. So I need to save it when he’s not watching. Her eyes then looked at the club. This thing won’t last long if Sparx swings his sword at it a few more times. Sparx’s katana sparks electricity. In that case…She charges at him on all fours, just as he casted the spell and unleashed a surge of electricity towards her, making her dodge by jumping sideways. Up close and personal then! When she got close, both of them swung their respective weapons; only for the young fox to swing the hardest as his blade broke the club in two, turning it into black smoke, and tried to cleave her head off but missed. What he didn’t notice was that Tracy quickly flicked her arm, revealing the hidden Magi-Gun pistol that she kept in her sleeve and thrusted it right at his chest while remembering M2’s answer from the question she gave him before the events transpired…“Depending on how much magical energy you condense while using Holy Magic. You can create a Light Bullet. If you don’t wanna harm someone, then all you have to do is give your gun a small charge, pull the trigger, and say ‘Light’. Plain and simple.”Without any hesitation, she pulled the trigger at point-blank range and yelled, “Light!”Sparx was sent flying from the spell and landed hard on the ground back-first, chest smoking as he was knocked out cold. Tracy slowly pants while walking towards the downed fox, her aim not leaving her in case he suddenly wakes up and attacks her. She pushes his grimoire aside with her foot after it fell right beside him and kicks away his katana that was still in his paw. No sooner had she done that, his eyes suddenly opened and he screamed in pain, making the young tabby yelp and jump. The young fox clutches his head, rolls to his front before curling into a hunchback position, and continuing to scream in absolute pain. She wondered what was the matter with him. Did her spell do that much damage and it’s causing him to suffer? The young fox grunts and looks at Tracy with only one of his emerald-green eyes. However, he couldn’t see her form due to the dark splotches blocking his vision, but he could sense there was somebody nearby and that someone’s magic managed to break a little of the dark magic that was controlling him. Unfortunately, he knew that the true source didn’t lie in him being beaten. It was the crystal itself. “Please…” he said in a painful strained voice. “Whoever…you are…Argh! The crystal…you need to…destroy it. ARGH!” He slams his fisted paw to the ground, trying so desperately to hold back the dark magic that was slowly retaking control of his mind. “Please, you have to hurry!” he growls in pain. “I don’t know how much longer-ergh! I can fight this any longer! Ah-haaa! The crystal…is in the front cover…of my…grimoire…”“You heard him,” the gorilla said, getting Tracy’s attention. “There’s no time to waste!”She didn’t waste a single second to get to Sparx’s grimoire and turned it over until the front cover was showing the purple jewel as it along with the markings surrounding the cover pulsate. Pointing her pistol at the jewel, she was about to cast another Light Bullet and pull the trigger. Right before she could do that, she and the gorilla felt a small tremor, and Tracy felt a shock go through her head, sensing the Chimera Brain was now at Savanna Central as she could feel its malicious intent to kill and destroy. “Judy. Nick,” she muttered in utter worry for her friends, now endangered.“Pay no heed to what you felt just now! Destroy the crystal!”Tracy wanted to put an end to this little brawl against Sparx and be done with it, but after sensing that Daemon who’s doing God-knows-what to her friends and everyone else, she was now putting herself between saving him or saving everybody at Savanna Central. After feeling another sense of harmful intent from the Chimera Brain and another tremor, her eyes looked at the young fox who was still reeling in pain and trying to fight for control over himself. “What’re you waiting for!” the gorilla yelled. “Do it!”Her eyes looked back at Sparx’s grimoire and the way out of the alleyway. Once again feeling another sense from the Chimera Brain and yet another tremor, she feared what was happening out there and if everyone was at least safe but alive. When her thoughts turn to Judy and Nick, she knows deep down that they came first. So with her previous priority renewed, she looks at Sparx and mutters, “I’ll be back, I promise.”With that, she makes a beeline to the exit.“Where are you going?!” the gorilla yelled behind her.Making it only halfway out of the alleyway, she heard the snapping of fingers and a wall of flames suddenly blocked her path, causing her to slide to a stop while yelping. The gorilla walks over to her, his face already scowling from watching her attempting to leave and says to her in a hard tone, “Why are you fleeing this fight when you’re that close to finishing it?”Turning around while sighing, she answered, “Didn’t you feel that? The Chimera Brain is out there and I have to help everyone back at Savanna Central!”Though his face didn’t show it, the gorilla was a little shocked to find out that the girl was able to sense the High-Class Daemon from those tremors they felt. “I’m afraid that’s out of the question, young lady. I can’t let you leave until you finish your fight. The way you are now, you won’t stand a chance against an army of Daemons or that Chimera Brain.”“I don’t care! I have to help them!”“Don’t be a fool! There are many lives that far outweigh the benefit of your mission!”“I have to at least try! There-” She stopped herself when he mentioned “mission”. King Mickey did tell her what her mission was, but he never told her anything about this guy knowing about her mission. With a confused look, she asked him, “Hold on. How come you know about my mission?”“That does not concern you.”“It does to me unless-” Once again stopping herself, a thought suddenly crosses her mind. With paws clenched tightly, she said in a hard tone, “Did you send those monsters just so you can get to me?”“I have not,” he answered truthfully. “The ones who sent out the army along with those two High-Class Daemons you encountered were Malik and the sheep.”Malik? Does he mean the arctic wolf? At least now she knows the name of her first enemy. However…“So…you know who the armored sheep is? If so, then you need to tell me who so I can stop all this!”“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”“Why not?”“Because you’re not ready.”“Not ready to know the truth?”“No, not ready to fight! As I already told you, you won’t stand a chance! These two are too strong for you to handle!” He gave a small sigh and continued, “Listen, I understand that you want to help these people, but you need to realize the gravity of your situations. These Daemons are far more dangerous than either Malik or that sheep you're looking for and you must get stronger.” His eyes turned to Sparx who continued to grunt in pain as he was slowly losing the fight for control over his mind. “The only way for you to do that is by freeing Sparx, or else he won’t stop until he kills you and takes the king’s grimoire from you.” He turns his attention back to Tracy. “I’m telling you this because I am trying to help you.”“Then why won’t you put a stop to this yourself? That would at least help me.”“Believe me, I want nothing more to put a stop to all this. If it were up to me, I would’ve burned every last one of my enemies until there’s nothing left.” He closes his eyes and bows his head solemnly while slowly shaking his head. “But I can’t, at least not the time nor the place where I must end the darkness that’s plaguing this world.” He opened his eyes as his face turned serious. “You must understand that we all have to make sacrifices in order to achieve anything. Even if it means it’ll cost a piece of yourself.”Tracy couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you saying I have to abandon them in order to achieve my mission?”“As cruel as it may sound…yes.” She could only stare at him with absolute shock. “I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is. These creatures of this world have their job and we have ours. They are not important to be trifled with.”“You're wrong!” she yelled. “They may not be important to you, but they’re to me! I can’t abandon them just so I can finish this stupid fight over Sparx! I mean, what would happen if I did after that?”“Simple, I’ll heal Sparx, then I want you to leave with him. Get as far away from here as you can.”“So that’s it,” her eyes narrowed. “You want me to run after you told me to fight or run like a coward as this battle has no place for cowards.”“Don’t twist what I said!” he glared. “There’s a difference between when to fight and when not to fight! I’m telling you to run, not out of sheer cowardice, but for your survival! If you were to charge in there foolishly without any form of training or any other help, you won’t survive!”“I don’t care about that right now! I have to save them!”“Are you that naive?” he grunted irritatedly, his patience starting to wear thin with her. “Did you not hear a single thing over everything I just told you? You can’t save everyone the way you are now!”“You think I don’t know that? I’m not stupid!” She sighed while looking down on the ground, ears folded. “I know I can’t save everybody, that’s impossible for even someone like me.” She raised her right paw. “I don’t know what kind of power that I have to use to protect somebody, much less save anyone.” She clenched her paw and looked at him seriously. “But as I keep telling you, I don’t care about any of that! Whether I’m strong or weak it doesn’t matter to me because…” She wanted to tell him about her friends, but refrained from that. “...Because there are some people in this world I have to protect. That’s why I have to try and save as many lives as I can. If I were to finish this fight and run away after that without at least trying, I’ll never forgive myself.” Standing tall, she finished by telling him, “I will protect those I hold close to me, no matter what!”The gorilla could only stare, completely stunned by her small speech. As she already told him, she wasn’t a fool to know that she can’t save everybody, but was still willing to try despite the odds stacked against her. It was her unyielding will that called out to protect those who need it. That right there was worthy of praise as she spoke like a true warrior. However, before he could say another word, both he and Tracy heard running footsteps. They looked to their left and saw Sparx, who had lost the fight as the dark magic retook control over his mind, charging right at the young tabby. With his sword raised, he was about to cut her down. “Stop!” the gorilla sharply ordered. The katana stopped inches away from touching the girl’s head at the last second. The girl didn’t seem to be fazed by the blade that almost sliced her in half as she remained completely composed; almost like she felt the fight to be meaningless if it meant that she had to run and abandon her friends after saving Sparx. With a small sigh of relief from the gorilla, he asked her, “Are these people of this world that important to you?”“More than anything,” she answered truthfully.“More willing that you would risk your life at the cost of dying for them, or better yet…giving up your life without putting up much of a fight?”The first part of the question she would answer yes. Tracy knew the risk when it came to a fight like this if it meant she would get hurt or killed in the process, but the second part of the question she was not prepared for. It seemed pointless to just give up her life without fighting or without cause, unless there was a meaning to it. There were many circumstances, both the good and bad, that she could possibly think of. She wasn’t even sure how to answer that part of the question. What would her father say if she were to ask that same question the gorilla gave her? Knowing deep down, he would say “Follow what your heart is telling you”.So taking a deep breath through the nostrils while closing her eyes, then exhaling out through her mouth, she opened her eyes and answered, “Yes. I will gladly give up my life for whatever reason.”He could tell that she was being serious just by looking at her eyes. This made him give a small smile before chuckling a little, then that chuckle turned to laughter as he threw his head up in utter amusement. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he said while slowly shaking his head, “You really are a foolishly naive child, but you have spirit, I’ll give you that.” Letting out a few small chuckles, he took his arm down and continued, “I’ll tell you what, since you're so gung-ho about wanting to protect these people.” He snapped his fingers and the wall of flames behind her vanished instantly. “I’ll let you go for now. Only if you take a little wager.” Bringing up his hand, a medium-size flame materialized above his palm. “You see this flame? This will be your time-limit to see if you can back up your words about wanting to save as many lives as you can. By my calculations, you have thirty minutes to attempt to save a single life. If this flame goes out and you have not tried to protect a single soul, then you’ve failed on your task and you must willingly surrender that grimoire. Do you understand?”Tracy nodded, agreeing to the term of the wager.“However, if by chance you’ve managed to save a life, or hell managed to save more than one life, that would definitely surprise me, then I’ll know that you have the resolve to protect the people of this world and have proven yourself worthy of remaining caretaker to King Mickey’s grimoire and have won the wager.”“Okay.”“But,” he said sharply while raising a finger. “When this flame goes out and if you're still fighting against these Daemons while protecting more lives, I will send Sparx after you and you will finish this duel whether you like it or not. Do you agree to these terms?”“Yes, but I like to add-in two more additions to the wager. If that’s fine by you?”“Alright, shoot.”Bringing up her first finger, she explained her first term, “If matters become too complicated that dictates the duel between me and Sparx, it’ll have to be postponed further. When things start to settle down, you just name the time and place, and I’ll be there, but make sure we do it where no one is watching. ‘Cause the last thing we both need is for more witnesses to know what’s happening as you're clearly aware of what’s happened tonight.” She brought up the second finger, and said her second term, “When this duel begins, anyone can join me in this fight to save Sparx. That’s if anyone has the courage to stand by my side. Do you agree to my extra terms?”The gorilla placed a hand under his chin, humming a little in thought. At first, he wanted to say no on these two extra terms, but thinking about it for a moment, she made a lot of valid points. There were too many people that noticed the Daemons and the battle that’s taking place in Savanna Central, which he knew that word would get out about what happened tonight. On top of that, even if there were no more Daemons to get in the way of the duel between her and Sparx, the matter would get too complicated and he would have no choice but to retreat. Not to mention, if the duel were to begin once the flame goes out, this special someone or maybe more that he doesn’t know about will probably help her in the fight against Sparx, other than the mouse clone who he knows that he’ll be there to protect her from any surviving Daemons along with Malik. Thinking about him, when the girl said “anyone can join-in the fight to save Sparx”, that didn’t mean he should interfere on any occasion when she meant that only the people she holds close can join. If Malik ever does interfere, then he would have to intervene in order to make sure that there'll be no more interruptions until the fight is over. He won’t deny that these terms have merit and they were very clever from somebody like that young girl.So with a small smile, he nods in agreement while saying, “Yes, but only if you do the finishing blow and no one else.”“Trust me, if nobody else can save him but me, then I will gladly intend to.” “Then it’s settled. Do we have a deal?”“Yes,” she nodded. “It’s a deal.”“Very well. Sparx, sheath your sword.” The young fox obeyed the order and sheathed his katana. “Off you go, child.” He tilted his head up. “I’ll start your time-limit.”“Thank you,” she beamed before taking off in a mad dash out of the alleyway. “I promise, I will finish what I started!”When she was out of sight, the gorilla giggled softly and said, “Always thinking of others before yourself. You really do take after him.” He activates the spell, causing the flame to spark as it starts to slowly shrink. Looking at the young fox, he tells him, “Come, Sparx, let us be off.”With their auras surrounding them, they took off to the air.Tracy, meanwhile, was running on all fours, trying to get to Savanna Central and help save some lives before time ran out. She wondered what became of everyone back at Savanna Central. Are they least still alive; the ones she held close? She hoped beyond hope that they were in one piece till she arrived on time. Thinking about time, while she was busy sprinting, how much time did she have left? Ten? Maybe fifteen? Hopefully not twenty or even close to thirty as she’ll lose the wager and have the grimoire stripped from her.She had to stop for a moment and look up in absolute horror when she saw the night sky turn blood-red. Fearing for the worst, she continued her sprint to Savanna Central; only to come across a field of black mist upon arriving, meaning that the Chimera Brain must’ve been destroyed. Standing back up while panting to calm down her racing heart, she started walking and looked around. So far, she hasn't found a single mammal and wondered if she was already too late. A part of herself told her that it wasn’t and there had to be somebody alive, or else this wager was for nothing. Thump! She stopped upon hearing that sound. That couldn’t be possible, could it? As the mist slowly thinned, she looked and found the Chimera Brain, alive but with its missing eagle head, chasing Judy and Nick. Knowing that they were still here, but won’t be in just a few moments, she took off towards them. Seeing the giant Daemons claws unsheathed and a blood-red aura surrounding them, her heart beated with absolute fear as she knew it was about to unleash an attack right at them. What could she do to save them? Use her Contract Magic to create another flash grenade. No, that’ll take too long and she can’t risk blinding either herself or her friends. Not to mention, she’ll be too weak to help and by the time she gets her Mega-Elixir out of the bag, that monster will be upon them. She can’t use Light Bullet as there won’t be enough time to condense a ton of pure light energy to blow a decent-sized hole on that monster, and she can’t cast the Holy Magic spell The Shining as her magic has yet to be fully awakened. With no plan of action, the only thing she could do was stretch out her paw and shout, “STOOOOOP!”Little did she realize that there was a flash of light as time itself obeyed her command.Up above a rooftop, the gorilla watched the event unfold at Savanna Central. The first thing he saw was a line of light that went right in the middle of the Chimera Brain and a faint sound of a wa-shing, then a loud boom as the giant Daemon, along with some of the other monsters, were destroyed by a wave of light. Stunned by what he just witnessed while the earth shook from the girl’s magical attack, his eyes remained glued to the scene until the light finally vanished. “Magnificent,” he said, astonished, before a small smile grew and he chuckled amusingly. “Well, color me impressed, you really are full of surprises!” He looks at the small flame, meaning that she only had ten minutes. “And still have some time left to spare.” Looking back, he continued, “Now all that’s left is for you to-”He covered his eyes with one arm as another wave of light came and went. Bringing it down for only a moment, just so he could see what was left of the Daemon horde, he closed his eyes and turned his head from yet another wave. Looking back to Savanna Central while putting his arm down, he saw the entire area cleared of Daemons. Not one single creature survived the girl’s powerful attack. Giving a small whistle, he said, “Okay, never mind what I was about to say then. At least now there won’t be anymore Daemons getting in the way of the duel.”He hears loud cheering coming from what looks like to him a police station, and sees a gathering of mammals wearing police uniforms while others wore armored suits. It surprised him to no end that she’s able to show that much resolve to save this many people. Although, that didn’t mean he noticed some bodies that were still laid strewn on the ground. Despite not being there to save them, she still showed that unyielding will to protect others; even if it meant giving up her life in the process. Looking back over to the girl, he became confused and said, “What in the name of…”What he was witnessing was the girl defending herself with her sword against a rabbit cop shooting something at her. The question is, he couldn’t tell at this height. Upon squinting his eyes, however, he could see a glow. It wasn’t coming from the girl’s sword, but her eyes. Seeing this made him hum and smile a little with intrigue as she not only managed to fully awaken her magic, she even gained Guardian Instinct in just a short amount of time. “Maybe Malik is right about something,” he said while placing a hand under his chin. “This could get quite interesting.” Checking on the small flame, it was now reduced to a spark as it only had a few minutes left before vanishing. “Sparx, when I give you the signal, I want you to attack.”Turning his attention back to Savanna Central for a moment, he saw M2 with his arms wrapped around the girl as she struggled. This meant that he must’ve beaten Malik and arrived just in time. At least he hoped the mouse did, or else this’ll get complicated later on.The spark went off with a small pop and the gorilla clenched his hand before roughly moving his arm and sharply saying, “Go!”Sparx took flight and charged at the small group while the gorilla pulled up his hood and smiled, “Well, then, let’s see how you handle yourself in round two of this duel, young lady.”, Small explosions erupted from the distance of Savanna Central as Malik and M2’s duel raged on. The mouse clone flew and dodged one gray ball after the other as each one exploded. He then countered by thrusting his hand forward and balls of light surrounded him before they were hurled towards Malik. The arctic wolf easily swatted them away with his spear while the pages of his grimoire flipped and stopped at a page. The front tip of his spear glowed gray, and with a grunt, unleashed a lash of gray energy that forced M2 to flee. However, Malik uses his powers to control the lash. The mouse clone went past some tall buildings, trying to get away from the attack. Knowing that this would be impossible to try and out fly it, he stopped and turned around, then unleashes his Shining Sword spell that collides, causing both spells to explode upon contact. Raising his sword, he kept his guard up while waiting for the arctic wolf to make his next move, but came sooner than expected as he zoomed like a speeding bullet towards the mouse. Before M2 could even cast a spell or have a chance to dodge, Malik grunts again and hits the mouse hard with his spear. The force was so hard that it broke his second sword and sent him flying towards the tall buildings back-first, making him cry out a small “oof” as he crashed through several buildings until he slides to a stop in the air. Looking at his now destroyed sword, he tossed it aside and flicked both of his arms, bringing out his two Magi-Guns before pointing them to the direction he just crashed through. While the mouse clone once again kept his guard up, he closed his eyes and let his senses do the work. When he felt the arctic wolf’s speed approaching him fast, he used his combination technique Lightspeed to intercept and kick him hard in the head, sending him towards a tall building and crashing a window. Light gathers onto his pistols and he casts, “Shining Rapid Fire!”He pulls the triggers, letting loose a barrage of white energy rounds towards where Malik crashed. The resulting hail made a smoke cloud as M2 didn’t let up. However, two daggers zipped across and embedded themselves on the barrels, blocking more shots from coming out. Then, they started to glow gray, forcing him to toss his last weapons given to him by Tracy as each one exploded. The arctic wolf came in fast, completely unharmed, and hit the mouse clone in the face that sent him flying higher into the air, but he easily recovered before using his Lightspeed spell again to get away. Malik pursues him with his own speed while M2 creates two new swords. The two fast paced duelists zipped around a tall building as their created magical weapons clashed and clanged above the air, then they flew downwards to the road as both of them corkscrewed and continued their clash before flying back upwards. Swords and spear kept connecting in a quick but deadly dance to see who would be the first to make the wrong move. That was until the arctic wolf tried to behead the mouse clone; only for him to duck and zip around him till he was up in the night sky. He tried to throw a medium-size gray ball from the tip of his spear at the mouse, but it missed him and he zoomed fast towards him, meeting M2’s two feet colliding to his face as he whizzed right to a ceiling building and crashed in a plumpth of smoke.M2 slowly pants from using so much strength and magic. This was getting harder and harder by the second as this wolf’s power seemed to increase upon continued fighting. If this keeps up, he won’t remain in the physical realm and he’ll have to return to the king’s grimoire to recharge for a month. Luckily, he still has plenty left in the tank, just enough to last several weeks give or take. Any more stronger spells and his form won’t last, so he needs to come up with some strategy to beat this guy and get back with Tracy and the others. Before he could come up with a plan, the sky turned blood-red as he looked towards Savanna Central, eyes widened in absolute worry. “Tracy,” he muttered softly.“MOOOORE!” shouted Malik as the mouse clone didn’t have enough to dodge a fast kick that sent him downwards. He flies quickly towards M2, eyes completely glowing gray as it blocked out his natural icy-blue, and grabs the side of his face. “GIVE ME MORE, MOUSE!” he maniacally laughed.The mouse looks behind with one eye, seeing a tall building coming at them fast. Turning his head till his forehead was facing Malik’s paw, he puts both feet behind and they collide at the building, cracks webbing the masonry as it couldn’t take the force. With a grunt, M2 pushes his head up and flies quickly up; Malik follows behind while laughing maniacally. The clone turned around, facing the arctic wolf and his spear, and flew towards him. Malik tried to slice him, but missed as the mouse clone grabbed his hood, yanking the wolf back, and tossed him down hard. Flying quickly downwards, he tightly wrapped his arms around the wolf’s neck and cast, “Graviza!” The heavy gravity of the spell caused them to drop like rocks. “Plus Hasteza and Falcon Drop!” They went down faster, creating a small boom that rattled the windows. “Combination Technique: High-Speed Dive Bomb!”Malik could only gaze at the ground that was coming at him fast and the only thing he could do was give a mighty shout before both individuals crash landed with a loud BOOM. The resounding contact made the earth shake while a big smoke cloud formed and cars that were abandoned during the Daemon attack were sent flying from the shockwave. M2 jumps out of the smoke, backflipping until he lands skillfully on the ground. When the dust settled, there was a medium-sized hole where the arctic wolf now lies. Right as he was about to turn around and leave, the earth started to shake and the wolf roared as he exploded out of the ground, his eyes glowing an even brighter gray. “Now this is fun!” he revels. “For a king’s copy, you sure know how to make things interesting for me!”M2 was in disbelief. How could this wolf still be in one piece and completely unscathed after that move? Wanting to know more of his power, he focused his magic as his eyes turned white and went into Guardian Instinct. Upon what he discovered, the glow vanished while the mouse gave a small gasp. Malik smiled when he saw the clone discover his hidden power. “So your starting to finally catch on, are you?” he giggled. “Very well then, allow me to show you what you're really seeing.”Spreading out his arms, the arctic wolf was surrounded in a gray glow, and right before M2’s eyes his fur went from white to gray. “So that’s-”“Yes,” he said, knowing what the mouse was about to say. “This is my Manifestation in its first form. Psycho Manifestation Art: Psycho Armor. This allows me to withstand somewhat any attack thrown from my opponent. Any damage I’ve sustained will be healed, even if I’m at the brink of death. However, that’s just the beginning of the bad news for you. The more times I heal in a fight, my power and strength will just keep increasing.”“And let me guess. The stronger your opponent fights you throughout the battle, the more powerful you’ll become. Am I right?”“Exactly!” He puts his arms down while his fur returns to its white color and continues, “Though to be honest with you, I was hoping I’d be provided a worthy challenge.” He looks at his paw. “Despite this mediocre form, I’ve waited patiently for a strong challenger to fight.” He clenched his paw. “Unfortunately, I had a feeling this world would lack a worthy adversary and I was right.” He leapt into the air, bringing up his spear as he shouted, “THIS PLACE IS FILLED WITH INSECTS AND WEAKLINGS!” The front blade of his spear touched the ground, unleashing a gray wave that destroyed a department store; leveling it down to nothing more than rubble. After getting himself composed, he said in his normal tone, “As much as I want to wipe out this entire city and get off of this godforsaken land of furry freaks. I still have my orders to help that little fluff ball and remain stationed in case the caretaker ever appears.” He stood up and chuckled amusingly, placing a paw on the side of his head. “Who would’ve thought that my luck would start to change when that caretaker appeared and brought a strong fighter without even realizing it before me and Sparx came in contact with her.” He looks at M2 and smiles, “So now, my patience has finally paid-off as I got what I was searching for.”M2 became a little concerned. Not because this wolf knows who the sheep thief was, but because someone already sent him to this world. Worst of all, they know about Tracy being the caretaker to King Mickey’s grimoire. However, there was some kind of connection between this certain “someone” and the Guardians being separated and trapped across the multiverse. He needed to know why, so he asked, “Tell me, who sent you and who’s the identity of the sheep that stole The World Key?”“Tsk, not like you’ll care,” Malik shrugged. “Soon your gonna be nothing more than light and sparkles by the time I’m done with you.” He walks back to where he made his leap while continuing, “But there is one thing I can tell you. That little ball of fluff has a lot of plans for this city. To what it is, I can care less. So before we continue our little fun scuffle, let me ask you the first question. What does the king call you?”His eyes narrowed, then answered the wolf, “It’s M2.”“M2 huh?” he giggled softly while slowly shaking his head as the name didn’t seem much to him. “Well then, you can call me Malik the Hunter. Remember it…” He makes his spear vanish. “...on your way to oblivion.” He spreads his legs, brings his arms to the sides, and crouches slightly; almost like he was about to try something which made M2 create his swords and crossed his arms, preparing himself for what’s to come next. “Allow me to ask you one last question. Do you have enough strength or magic left…to withstand this?” The pages of Malik’s grimoire turned and stopped at a page, and his body began to glow gray. “You should feel honored. You’re going to witness my Manifestation in its final form.” He started to grunt; only to stop midway, and the glowing gray to fade instantly, when he saw light at the distance.M2 turns around and sees the same light just miles away from where they were, then the earth starts to shake and both of them sense a familiar power. For Malik, his eyes widened with absolute shock as he recognized what that was. “It can’t be,” he said softly while straightening up. “That’s impossible. The last time I sensed that caretaker’s power, it was no different than that of a Corporal’s level. She could barely even lift a finger, but now her Magical Energy just tripled in a matter of hours.” Despite his shock, a malicious grin began to form. “Well, then, let’s see how powerful she really is when facing me.”The mouse gave a small gasp at what Malik meant, and he wasn’t going to allow it. Facing the arctic wolf, he turns his swords back into balls of light and casts, “Blinding Light!” He clapped his hands together, merging the two balls, while closing his eyes as a blinding flashing white light surrounded them. The wolf covered his face with both paws, yelping in pain from the sudden flash that caused his vision to be temporarily blinded. Taking this chance, M2 turns the other way, and crouches down low. “Hasteja!”With a burst of speed that kicked up dust while making a small boom, he zoomed away, leaving behind a grunting Malik as he tried to rub the light of his eyes to restore his vision. When he sensed M2 leaving, he threw a fist and shouted, “GET BACK HERE! YOU CAN’T ESCAPE FROM ME!”The zipping mouse clone didn’t stop running, he kept his senses open while at the same time used his Guardian Instinct to stretch out his vision. He needed to know what became of Tracy at the Savanna Central. When he found her, there was no sign of the Chimera Brain but there was only half of the Daemon army that remained. On top of that, he saw a light-blue aura surrounding her and glowing eyes. This meant that she had the same power he does along with her magic fully awakened. Unfortunately, without his guidance, she may unintentionally do something too drastic. Putting the pedal to the medal, he speeds through streets and crossroads before making a mighty leap over a tall building and into the air. Above the city, he sees another flash of light, feeling Tracy’s power from higher-up. As he descends, he slides his feet on the side of the building, then jumps midway to another side of a building before running back fast on the road.While zigging and zagging from one direction of the road to the next, he once again felt Tracy’s immense power before vanishing completely. That was not a good sign. If there weren’t any Daemons left, then she’ll be completely lost as she had no idea on how to properly use her Guardian Instinct. Although on the plus side, he should be proud of her for destroying her first High-Class Daemon and an entire horde; all without his help. Putting that to the side, he had to focus on trying to get to Savanna Central before he was too late. Upon taking another turn, he finally managed to arrive in Savanna Central; only to notice with wide eyes that Tracy was about to unleash her Shining spell in her recently acquired sword towards Judy and Nick at a near point-blank range. If used, it can either tear those two to shreds or kill them completely. With not a second to spare, he slides his feet to slow down his speed while making the ground screech as he came towards the oblivious cat., (Tracy)I was back in that same white place again. One second I was running towards Judy and Nick who were being chased by the Chimera Brain, and next thing I know everything became bright. What the heck is this place? Better yet, where were my two friends? I can’t stay in this place, I’ve got to get back! I have to save them!Runes started to dance here and there across the white place, then each of them formed a sentence. Almost like they were talking to me as one sentence asked me, Do you wish to save?What kind of a question is that? I asked mentally. Of course I want to save!Another sentence forms. Do you wish for the power to protect?Yes, I need power! I have to protect my friends!As if it answered my call, I saw King Mickey’s grimoire right in front of me open up and the pages flipping till it was at the center, then a spiral of light forms. I remember now, I’ve seen this before along with these symbols and the same questions back at Mr. Big’s. The reason why I couldn’t remember was when the connection was cut and the magic erased my memory. What else did I forget? I know there was something else after this.When I saw a black handle with a silver jewel on the pommel slowly coming out of the book, I finally remembered this last part. With nothing getting in my way this time, I reached forward and gently grabbed the handle, then started to pull until something came out. There were sparkles of light for a brief moment and I saw a blade. This thing that I was holding was a sword…my sword. I couldn’t explain it, but I had a feeling that this weapon was made for me. Like the moment I receive a grimoire, this sword was meant to come out and serve me. As strange as it was, that’s how I felt.The feeling soon passed as the white place suddenly changed into a light-blue mist. I still couldn’t see everything at first till another sentence from the runes formed. Now, awaken your instinct.I was confused. What was that supposed to mean? That was when it happened. I felt an overwhelming but familiar malicious intent of the Chimera Brain and a blood-red aura surrounding it right in front of me, then a body takes shape as I can see it. However, it remained frozen the way it was. I don’t know why, but I didn’t care. This thing had to be stopped before it harmed more innocent lives. The problem is, I can’t cast a powerful spell to destroy this monster like The Shining. Now that’ll put it down for good.The runes once again started to dance; almost like they knew what I wanted as another sentence was formed. Unleash your first spell that lies dormant within you.I felt power surging somewhere, then looked and saw my sword surrounded in white aura. This was the spell, but I don’t even have enough magic to pull this off…Wait a second. M2 said that I’ll feel my magic awakening. The power surge that I felt just now wasn’t my sword…It was me! So this is what a magical awakening looks like! I see a page from King Mickey’s grimoire glow and rune symbols appearing on that page, and those same runes showing me before my eyes on what my first spell is. I knew what I had to do and I got the one thing I needed. Although to be honest, this is my first-time casting a spell like this, so I brought the blade diagonally to my waist and hoped this works.Here goes nothing…SHINING BLADE!I brought the blade up and heard a wa-shing as a line of light went right up the middle of the Chimera Brain, yet the large beast still stood. Did it not work? Was there not enough magic I used?The overwhelming aura of the Daemon suddenly vanishes and the Chimera Brain was cut in two while it roared before exploding into black mists and disappearing completely. It worked?...It actually worked?...Ahahaha! It worked! Woohoo! Take that you overgrown mutant! This is what happens when you mess with my friends!My moment of triumph ended just as it began as there were still more Daemons to destroy. Speaking of which, I know I could’ve sworn I’ve heard a mixture of other screams after the Chimera Brain was destroyed. Bringing my sword down and looking to the side, I found more Goblins and Gargoyles, each of them possessing the same purple aura. Somehow, I can sense they were frightened. Good. They should be scared, because they’ve just messed with the wrong girl.Putting my other paw on the handle and raising my sword up, I could feel The Shining spell flow through my blade and they started to scream and scatter. Oh no you don’t! Shining Blade!I brought the blade down as another line of light came and half of the Daemons auras vanished and their forms disappearing in black mists. Looking back to the other half that was trying to get away, my spell was ready to use again. You're not getting away! I won’t let a single one of you escape from me! You're all gonna end up the same way as the others! Shining Blade!I did a diagonal slash, making a third line of light as it came and went, destroying the other half of the Daemons. When that was finished, I looked around and hoped there was still more out there. I mean, the fight can’t be over, right? If there was at least one, I wouldn’t allow it to leave before my duel with Sparx as these things are far too dangerous to be roaming around. My body started to react without warning and made me bring my sword up as something connected with a cling. Was it some kind of a weapon that a Daemon used to connect to my sword?...No, I would’ve felt a push or maybe a struggle. So where was the attack coming from?My body reacts again and blocks something using my sword. It didn’t take long for…whatever it was, to make contact with the blade again and causing it to spark a little after it was blocked. It seemed the attack was coming right in front of me. The problem was, I couldn’t see a single Daemon. Were they hiding their presence? Swinging my weapon and blocking off yet another mysterious strike, I was starting to get aggravated. Alright, that does it!I don’t know where they are hiding, but I’m really getting sick of this. Bringing my sword sideways, my spell flowed through the blade, ready to be used for the fourth time while I grunted, Let’s see you Daemons hide from this! Shining-“Tracy, stop!”That voice…that was M2’s voice!I felt his arms wrapped around my chest and wrist, preventing me from casting the spell while I grunted and struggled. What is he doing?! Doesn’t he realize that I have to stop these Daemons before Sparx arrives? “Tracy, you need to calm down and relax,” he said in my ear. “You’re already in your awakened state and have gained Guardian Instinct. If you don’t calm yourself, you’ll end up either hurting someone you care about or end up destroying something with your magic.”I stopped struggling as realization hit me. I’ve seen what The Shining does from M2, but I don’t know how much I put into it or the damage I’ve accidentally done without realizing it. Worst of all, what was Guardian Instinct? Was it this light-blue mist surrounding my vision? Thoughts aside, M2 said to me, “Now, take a deep breath, relax your muscles, and calm yourself.”Listening to him, I calmed myself down by relaxing my entire body and taking a deep breath. The moment I exhaled, the mist surrounding my vision faded and I could see my two friends clearly while I heard something drop but didn’t bother to look as M2 released me. This was too cute seeing those two hugging together, but I noticed Judy looking at me worried with her nose twitching and Nick sighing in relief. “Guys…” I said slowly to them. “What-”“Lightning Wheel!”I sharply looked up, seeing Sparx in the air and front flipping with electricity surrounding him like a wheel. He goes down towards me and my friends while I yelp.Uh-oh! Looks like time’s up!, With not a second to spare, M2 quickly grabs Tracy and jumps away with Judy and Nick doing the same. The resulting contact and explosion on the ground from Sparx’s attack caused them to be pushed back further as the mouse clone easily rolled away and slid on the ground, keeping his arms wrapped tightly around the young tabby, and the fox rolls while he kept his arms on the rabbit until they came to a stop. When the dust settled, Sparx slowly stood up and looked at both M2 and Tracy, ignoring Judy and Nick who could only look with wide worried eyes. The mouse clone stood up, eyes remaining serious while he released the girl and placed the grimoire back in the bag. However, no sooner had the teenaged tabby raised her sword, ready to face-off against the young fox, and taken two steps, her legs started giving away. She would’ve collapsed if the mouse hadn’t caught her and kept her up. “Can you still move your arms?” he asked.“A little, but not fast enough,” she answered. “If I wanna be honest with you, I don’t know the first thing about swordplay and I was hoping you’d cover me until I cast another Shining Blade spell so I can finish this fight.”“Well, first-time for anything,” he said, giving a small giggle. “Here, let me help you.” He gently places his two hands on top of her paws that were still holding the handle. Tracy looked at him while M2 smiled, “I did promise that I will guide you when the time comes. Did I not?”“Yeah,” she nodded. “Now’s the time for you to live up to that promise.”The two of them look towards Sparx, seeing him quickly charge.“Here he comes!”With M2 being her legs and his hands guiding her sword, due to having no training or any experience in sword combat other than just swinging it and casting spells, brings it up as the blade makes contact with Sparx’s katana. The two blades danced while the combatants slowly circled without taking off their gazes. Sparx parries a strike and tries to slash sideways, but the mouse who still had Tracy jumps back and runs sideways. The young fox did the same before the fighters jumped and clashed their weapons, creating sparks as their backs were facing each other. They quickly spun around and connected their swords, trying to push the other one away, but M2’s and Tracy’s combined strength managed to push first, and once again metal upon metal clanged through each strike. Neither side moved from their spot as the fighters kept clashing and clanging their respective weapons. That was until Sparx pushed up the sword and kicked Tracy, causing both her and M2 to grunt as they were sent flying, but the mouse recovered by backflipping and sliding his feet upon landing on the ground. Standing back up, they charged at one another. No sooner have they done that, a spear suddenly lands between them as the teenaged tabby yelps while a voice shouts, “BACKOFF!”M2, Tracy, and every mammal present from the battle, looked up and saw Malik who was in the air. “If anyone is gonna be fighting those two…” he said while descending down to the ground and walking towards his spear. “It’s going to be me!” Pulling the spear out of the ground, he looks at Sparx and adds sharply, “So put away your sword and backoff, puppet!”Sparx obediently backs away a bit while sheathing his katana. Malik eyes the area around him, noticing not a single Daemon or that Chimera Brain in sight. A smile slowly crept upon his muzzle before giving a light giggle in amusement. “Well, it seems you’ve taken out all the Daemons. Hell, you even took out the Chimera Brain without any trouble at all.” The moment he looked at M2 and the young tabby, his smile quickly faded and was replaced with confusion.He didn’t know what this odd stance was with the way M2 was holding her, but cared less. The reason for his confusion is the girl's energy. He couldn’t sense a single drop; almost like one moment it was there, the next gone. “What is this?” his eyes narrowed. “What happened to all that Magical Energy just now?” He points his spear directly at the teenaged cat. “Don’t tell me that’s all of it you used. There has to be more.”M2 raises Tracy’s blade up, helping her guard against whatever Malik was about to pull next.The arctic wolf growls, impatient that he came all the way here just to see a weak little cat being guided by M2 and not showing at least a bit of the power he felt earlier. “Fine. If you won’t show me your power…” He makes his spear vanish before spreading his legs and bringing his arms to the sides. “...then I’ll give you a taste of mine.”He grunts as pebbles start to shake, then the earth starts to slowly tremble. The trembling picks up into a small earthquake as his grunting grows louder. Gray aura surrounds him and the wind slowly picks up before throwing his head up and shouting. His aura glows while the wind picks up speed, forcing the mammals to cover their faces. Tracy’s heart began to beat fast with absolute fear from the power she was feeling in Malik. Unlike the malicious aura she felt that concealed the Chimera Brains power, this aura revealed itself as it was filled with absolute savagery. It wanted to fight someone strong with ruthless ferocity to satiate its endless hunger for battle. Her blade started to shake as she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. It was like she was staring at another Daemon. Only this time, it was the form of a human who hid behind the body of a wolf. M2 sensed her distress and gently squeezed her paws while saying to Tracy telepathically, It’s alright. I know he looks frightening, but remember what I said to you?If you're afraid of something you’ve got to stand and face it. Turn that fear into a weapon of hope and use it to protect others.That’s right! Now, take a deep breath and relax. Don’t ever let the fear win over you.She took a deep breath through the nose and exhaled out through the mouth, keeping herself completely composed and not letting the fear take control as her body relaxes.The earthquake starts to slowly cease, but Malik’s aura still surrounds him. When he looked back at them, Malik said in a hard tone, “Now, show me your power.” Leaping into the air, spear raised, he shouts while M2 and Tracy raise the sword. The moment his spear made contact with the blade, half of his created weapon shattered like glass. This completely shocked him and his momentary stupor gave the mouse and cat the opening they needed. The mouse clone raises his hand towards him and the tabby quickly flicks her arm, getting her Magi-Gun pistol out of her sleeve and points it as both balls of light form respectively. “Light!”“Plus Pearl!” M2 added while he unleashed his spell, with Tracy pulling the trigger. Malik was pushed back, causing him to slide as the balls of light merged. “Combination Magic: Holy Pearl Bullet!”Malik could only grunt as the combined spell exploded on his chest.Judy and Nick looked at one another. Wondering what the heck that was? Tracy felt the same as she could only stare with wide eyes. “Whoa!” she said in surprise. “What was that?”“That was a combination,” he answered while Tracy looked at him. “I’ll explain more about it when we have the time.”They heard a giggle and looked ahead as the dust dissipated. Much to Judy and Nick’s shock, the arctic wolf remained standing with his chest still smoking. “You can’t be serious?” the fox muttered.“Not bad,” Malik said to the mouse and cat. “Not bad at all.” He looks at both his chest and the half destroyed spear. Normally, M2’s magic would barely do any damage as long as his Psycho Armor healed him from the pain. This was different. The way that mouse combined with the caretaker’s power somehow managed to do a bit more damage than expected. In fact, that sword the little girl carried had broken his weapon and he didn't know how it became possible. He could care less about that as it made him giggle again and look up at the two. “But that’s not nearly the farcry of your full power.” He brings his half-spear to the side. “If you won’t show me the extent of it…” Using his magic, he restored his spear to its original form while the pages of his grimoire flipped and stopped before he shouted, “THEN I’LL JUST HAVE TO FORCE IT RIGHT OUT OF YA!”With a grunt, he swings his spear at the ground and unleashes a wide gray wave towards them.“M2!”“Don’t worry, I got it!” He and Tracy raised the sword up. “Full Counter!”The sword makes contact with the attack, causing it to explode as gray mixed with light is redirected back at Malik; twice as wide as it originally was. “Get down!” Nick yelled as he covered Judy with his body from the dirt and debris that followed.M2 and Tracy raised the sword, their guard not faltering even once as they waited for Malik to make his next move. By the time the dust settled, Malik had vanished. As they wondered where’d he disappeared to, Judy and Nick sat up; only to gasp and yell to them in unison, “Look out behind you!”They quickly turned around, too late to even swing the weapon or cast a spell as Malik grabbed both M2’s neck and the blade of Tracy’s sword. Picking them up, he yanks the sword out of their grasp, causing Tracy to yelp and fall on her rear. Just like when Chief Bogo took the bag that contained King Mickey’s grimoire, her sword was surrounded in stardust and enlarged. Pointing her pistol at the arctic wolf, she yelled, “Let him go!”She pulled the trigger, but Malik easily moved his head to the side a little as a white energy went past him. He kicks the girl hard, sending her flying and rolling backwards upon landing on the ground. The Magi-Gun pistol that she once had flew out of her grasp and bounced and slid till it was right across from Judy and Nick. “Leave her out of this!” M2 grunted while the arctic wolf turned his eyes towards him. “If you wanna fight someone, fight me!”Malik brought the mouse to eye-level. “Oh don’t worry, we’ll finish what we started after I have my fun with the caretaker.” He smiles at him and adds, “That’s if she’s still alive when you come back.”He tossed M2 hard, sending him whizzing towards a digital billboard as the mouse clone crashed, sending sparks that rained down from the building.“M2!” Judy yelled helplessly.Tracy looked up to where M2 crashed, nose bleeding after getting kicked so hard. Malik places the handle of Tracy’s sword in his other paw and examines it. “Hm, fancy sword,” he said before tossing it on the ground as it slides in front of her. “Pick it up and get on your feet.”She looks at him and the sword that laid before her.“I said pick it up…” he said slowly, growling in aggravation. “And on. Your. FEET!” Spittles came out of his muzzle after shouting the last word.Tracy jumped a little from that shout and crawled her way to the sword. Grabbing the handle, the weapon was surrounded in stardust again and shrunk down to size. Using the blade as a crutch, due to her legs still feeling weak and wobbly, she slowly stood up. Malik recreates his spear while the pages of his grimoire flipped and stopped, and gray balls surround him as he says to her, “Now, before that mouse comes back, be a good girl and entertain me.” He waves an arm, sending a gray ball towards her as he adds by yelling, “And show me your full power!”Gaining a second wind, Tracy yelped and jumped away as the gray ball exploded on the ground.“C’mon! Stop holding back!” The grimoire flipped and stopped at another page as he swiped his spear at the ground, sending a surge of gray energy at her, but the cat quickly rolled away. “Let me see your strength!” He sends two more gray balls towards her, forcing the young tabby to roll sideways left and right as each one explodes. Tracy pants in fear and crawls away from Malik while he says to her, “Stop crawling like a mear insect and show me how strong you are!”Another surge of gray forces her to roll sideways and yelp again, making her face Malik while she crawls backwards and he slowly walks towards her. “Let me see that power you used to destroy those Daemons!”He sends more gray balls at her, forcing Tracy to crawl a little faster as each of them explodes.“Show me!”Tracy yelps as a gray ball explodes close to her feet.“I SAID SHOW ME!”He brought his spear down and unleashed a stronger surge of gray energy. Tracy screams as the attack explodes, sending her flying and rolling hard on the ground. She groans and looks at Malik, her lip now bleeding. “Girl, your trying my patience,” he scowled while continuing his slow walk. “Show me that power or I will-”Malik had to dodge a tranquilizer dart that was aimed at his head and looked to the direction it was fired. Chief Bogo had his tranquilizer pistol out his holster, aimed right at the wolf. “C’mon everyone! We have to help!” he yelled.The police mammals and soldiers who watched this horrible predicament unfolding for poor Tracy stood on the sidelines long enough. They all shouted and charged at Malik while the chief switched between his tranquilizer pistol that he had in one hoof and the Pulsar Pistol that he borrowed from a soldier in the other hoof. The arctic wolf blocked some darts and energy rounds that were fired with his spear and raised his paw, stopping more darts that came at the other mammals’ tranquilizer weapons.While he twirled his spear with a single paw as even more darts and energy rounds were fired at the charging mammals, Malik growled and swiped his arm, shouting, “MISERABLE INSECTS!”A line of explosions forms in front of the charging mammals, causing them to scream and be blown back from the force. “Chief Bogo!” Tracy yelled.Chief Bogo groans and sits up while Malik points his spear and yells to all the mammals, “Don’t interfere, you weaklings! This is between me and the caretak-Ah!”Malik felt something small pierce his shoulder and reached over to pull it out, seeing a small tranquilizer dart. Looking behind with narrowed eyes, Judy stood pointing at her now empty tranquilizer pistol as that was her last dart. She hoped that would knock him out, but much to her shock, he still stood. “Seriously?” he questioned her, crushing the dart he had in his paw. “Did you honestly think…” he raised his spear, “...that a single dart like this can stop me?”Piyu!“Ah!” Malik felt pain on his right arm.“Maybe not,” came the voice of Nick as the wolf looked baring his teeth. He sees the fox pointing a Magi-Gun, something that he picked up after Tracy dropped it. “But this sure as heck will. Now get away from her!”He pulled the trigger twice, but Malik easily blocked before raising his paw. The Magi-Gun Nick had was yanked out of his paw and with one swing of the spear, the pistol was cut in two. Raising his paw again, Judy and Nick were surrounded in a gray aura and lifted into the air until they were floating side by side in front of the wolf.“Hopps! Wilde!” Chief Bogo yelled as he quickly got up and charged at Malik while shouting.“I thought I said…” Malik says slowly before turning around, paw raised at the charging chief, and adds by yelling, “Don’t interfere!”Chief Bogo was sent flying, a gray aura surrounding him for a brief moment, and landed while sliding on the ground. “Bogo!” Nick and Judy yelled in unison.When he stopped sliding, a male wolf and rhino cop went to him while the wolf said, “Chief!”As the two mammal cops sit him up, Malik turns his attention back to Judy and Nick, saying to them, “Don’t think that I haven’t forgotten about you two. We have some unfinished business, now that I know the both of you are still alive.”“Leave them alone!” Tracy yelled.Malik looks at her, noticing she was slowly getting back up with the help of her sword. He looks at Judy and Nick, and back at the girl, then back at them. A smile grew on his muzzle as he said, “Ah, I see now.” He looked to the young tabby. “You care about these pests, don’t you?”She didn’t answer him.“Well then…” he makes his spear vanish and the pages of his grimoire flip and stop on a page. “Let’s find out.”He slowly clenches his paw, causing Judy and Nick to grunt as they were slowly being crushed by his powers. “Stop it!” Tracy yelled as she tried to run; only to collapse on her front.When he got the reaction he was hoping for, Malik said to her, “If you want me to stop, then show me that power.”“But I…I…”“But I can’t do it,” he mockingly cooed. “Is that what you're gonna say? Don’t give me that crap! I know what I felt earlier and I wanna see it again!” He hears something being fired and raises his paw, catching a tranquilizer dart in between his two fingers. Some of the police mammals and soldiers got up and charged at Malik, but the arctic wolf growled and swiped his arm while saying to them, “I thought I told you all to not interfere!” A surge of gray energy shoots out towards several mammals, knocking them aside. “Why must you pathetic weaklings keep getting in my way?!” He swings his arm sideways and unleashes another surge towards the last group of charging mammals, sending them flying from the blast. When they were all out of the way, he looked at Sparx and ordered, “If any of them interfere again, puppet, kill them!” He walked till he was right next to the young tabby and continued where he left off, “Now then, I’m going to give you the count of three. If you don’t show me that power, then you can watch your little furry friends’ bones turn to dust and maybe I’ll just kill the rest of these weaklings, see if any of them might be close. So don’t make me repeat myself, because this is the last time. One…”He slowly clenches his paw again as Judy and Nick grunt even louder while Tracy slowly gets up on one knee.“Two…”Judy and Nick screamed loud, arms and legs now pinned to their bodies. It felt like they were being constricted by the coils of a snake that was trying to crush them from the inside. “HOPPS! WILDE!” Chief Bogo shouted while all the mammals, both the police and soldiers, could only watch helplessly as Malik’s paw was almost fully clenched.“Thr-”Light-blue aura surrounds Tracy and she stands. “Leave…” she said in a hard tone. “...my friends…” She looked at Malik, eyes glowing the same color as her aura. “ALOOOOOOONE!”Savanna Central glowed light-blue from Tracy’s shout. The earth trembled violently and a massive wind appeared before them, forcing Malik to cover his face with one arm and close his eyes while the other mammals ducked or did the same; albeit with a single arm or both arms. The ground around Tracy cracked and she charged forward by jumping. The arctic wolf could only catch a brief glimpse of her shouting and bringing out a fist to his midsection. When her fist connected, shockwaves vibrated on the ground, and the wolf’s air escaped his muzzle before being launched backwards by the attack.The shockwave pushed Judy and Nick aside as they landed hard on the ground, and Malik whizzed towards the blockade, crashing the police cars as they flipped sideways and sparked upon landing on the concrete. The wolf’s feet dug on the road, but he didn’t slow down. So he placed both paws on the hard asphalt, digging through it while at the same time using his powers to try and slow down. It worked as he finally slowed down to a slide until he came to a complete stop. He coughs out a glob of saliva and clutches his midsection, breathing heavily from the punch received by that cat. For the first-time, he was taken by surprise by that girl’s immense strength. No one, especially someone so young, was able to hit that hard unless it was a Grandmaster Guardian. But she was no Guardian, that little cat was nothing more than a caretaker trying to deliver a single book that’s not even hers, yet she was able to damage him. With a smile of absolute pleasure and an evil chuckle, he said in amusement, “Now that’s more like it. This is the power that I-”“SHIIIINNNNNGGGG!”He looked ahead, noticing that he was literally several miles away from where he was launched and saw a large glow. Tracy had her sword raised, the king’s grimoire floating right next to her as the pages had already flipped and stopped at only a single page that contained one spell, and a huge white aura was above her head. She brings one foot over and brings it down while shouting with all her might, “BLAAAADE!”A large wave of light shot towards Malik, destroying the barricade as the cars exploded. The wolf laughs while the pages of his grimoire flipped and stopped, and he charged forward to the attack with his right paw raised, saying, “Seriously? First you hit me in the gut and now you're gonna use a Holy Magic spell against me. Pathetic!” A gray shield surrounds him as he went through the wave and kept on going like it meant nothing to him. “An attack like this is no match for-”Crack!Malik gasped as more cracks webbed around his shield. “What?!” he said with shock. “But how’s this-”His shield shattered like glass and he screamed as Malik was engulfed in light.A massive explosion for all of Zootopia to hear erupted, sending miles of dust that reached Savanna Central. When the dust cloud slowly settled, both the police mammals and soldiers could only gaze with wide shocked eyes when they saw a large trench spread across the road and went straight on for miles, bits of fire dotted the ground and broken machinery from the destroyed barricade lay strewn in the dirt. Tracy remained in the same position when she brought down her sword, and the aura surrounding her also remained.The mammals slowly got up while Chief Bogo did the same with the wolf and rhino cop helping him. “Is it over, Chief?” the wolf asked.“Did…Did we win?” the rhino added.Chief Bogo softly giggled before bursting into laughter and happily exclaimed with a hoof raised, “Yes! We’ve won!”Every mammal once again bursted into cheers for Tracy as she had defeated that wolf. “Alright!” cried a male tiger cop. “Now that’s what I call a cat with claws!” He laughed while a male elephant cop couldn’t agree more as he playfully headlocked the tiger and trumpeted.While everyone continued their cheering for Tracy’s victory, Chief Bogo stopped his cheering when he saw her aura vanish and collapse on her front. This worried him a little as she may need medical attention. The problem was, he and the others couldn't get past Sparx since he was still under orders from that wolf to kill anyone that ever interfered. Now that the arctic wolf was finished, their next problem would have to be to apprehend the boy without harming him. That was gonna be tricky as they’re going to need more backup.Tracy breathed heavily from using up so much magic to beat Malik. Her whole body felt like weights were strapped on her as she couldn’t move her limbs. If only she could reach for her Mega-Elixir inside the bag, then she’ll be back on her feet in no time. Moving her head a little from the strain, she sees her unconscientious friends and smiles at them. “I did it, guys,” she said softly. “You're safe.”Tears of happiness flowed out of her eyes, knowing that she protected them not once but twice in one night.Unfortunately, the victory did not last long as she heard a faint evil laughter. The evil laugh increased till every mammal heard its maniacal cry. Out of the lingering cloud of dust, everyone became shocked when a familiar figure slowly stepped forth…It was Malik!“No…that’s impossible!” the wolf said, finding this hard to believe.“I’ll say,” the rhino agreed. “How could he still be standing and come out unscathed from that blast?”“I wouldn’t say that,” Chief Bogo said while pointing. “Look.”Every mammal noticed the same thing Chief Bogo was seeing. Even though Malik had survived Tracy’s powerful attack, that didn’t mean he came out unharmed. His right arm was smoking, his sleeve completely torn to shreds, and bits of pink were showing off out of his white fur. “Yes!” he cried out loudly. “After all these years, I’ve finally found someone who can answer my strength! No one, and I mean nobody has been able to break through my Psycho Barrier spell or damage my Psycho Armor!” He looked at the young tabby, who seemed completely shocked to see him in one piece after that attack. “Although I never imagined it would be a kid. I don’t know what kind of magic you possess that managed to damage me. Whatever it was, unlike that combination spell you and M2 used that stinged me a bit, this attack of yours actually hurt.” His left paw glowed gray and he brought it towards his smoking arm. Upon touching it, there was a hiss and he grunted before saying through clenched teeth, “That really hurt!” His arm started to glow gray as the smoking dissipated and missing patches of fur began regrowing. “But at the same time…” Right when a patch of fur was about to regrow, he brought his arm towards his smiling muzzle and licked the bald area. “That felt good.” With his arm completely healed, much to shock Tracy further, he recreates his spear and tells her, “Now get up. C’mon, get up! At least make this fight interesting and give me more of that power! It’d be a waste if I killed you now without making this fun for me!”Tracy wanted to get up and stop him, but her body refused to budge.Seeing that this was getting him nowhere, Malik raised a paw and charged a gray ball. “If you won’t get up and release more of that power…” He points his gray ball over to her still unconscientious friends. “Then maybe I should give you more incentive.”“NO STOOOOOP!”“HOPPS! WILDE! NOOO!” Chief Bogo shouted.Tracy and all the mammals could only watch helplessly as the gray ball launched towards Judy and Nick. However, no sooner was it launched, an arrow of fire pierces the gray ball, causing it to explode as Malik grunts and covers his face with one arm while the teenaged cat yelped and her body turns till her front was facing the sky from the force. “What the-”“Malik, that’s enough!”Every mammal looked up and saw another black robed individual floating in the air with a red aura surrounding him. Right next to him was a red grimoire that had a black bow and arrow symbol in the front cover and in his left hand, he had a bow made entirely out of flames. Despite his hood being up, Tracy knew that it was the gorilla who intervened at the last moment. Although she wondered why he didn’t do it sooner but could care less as she was glad that he saved Judy and Nick.“You!” Malik said in a hard tone. “What’re you doing here?! This does not concern you, get out!”“On the contrary, it does.” He floats down to the ground while Malik says to him, “You already had your chance in getting the grimoire from her! Now I’m taking over this fight!”“That’s exactly the point! This fight was never yours to begin with and you’ve interfered long enough! In fact, how dare you intervene in the middle of a duel between the caretaker…” he points to the young fox. “And Sparx over there!” “And how dare you interfere with my prey!” Malik countered. “This girl is mine and no petty duel is gonna stop me from seeing her full strength!”“And you would go this far,” he motioned his arm to the unconscientious Judy and Nick, “to harm these little creatures who can’t even fight?” He points to the teenaged fox again. “Even using Sparx to ensure they can’t fight to protect that girl? Have you no honor?”“Honor? Hah! Honor’s meaningless to me! The only thing I answer to is strength. A warrior’s power comes alive in the heat of battle and only the strongest survive and stand at the top. Anyone who’s weak will end up being crushed. If this child was able to do that.” He points to the damage behind him before bringing up his arm. “And to do this to me is worthy of dying by my hand! If that brat won’t get up and give me more of her power, then maybe I should just kill those pathetic insects starting with those two! If that won’t wake her…” his eyes turn their attention to the chief of police. “I’ll probably kill that buffalo who she calls Bugu or whatever his name is.”The wolf and rhino stood in front of their chief if he ever tried that.“If that still won’t work, I’ll level half of this city and the fluff ball can have what’s left of it, and see if that’ll awaken her power.”“I can’t let you do that. The sheep has plans for this city. If you cause any more damage unless ordered otherwise, you’ll only jeopardize the entire plan.”“Do you honestly think I care? Our purpose here is to cause chaos to every world by any means necessary. If that little sheep wastes my time in not delivering a little bit of chaos, then I will see to it that this city will crumble. Whether it’ll be by my hand or a Daemon’s hand.”“I see,” he sighed. The gorilla walks until he is in front of the police mammals, preventing Malik from coming near Chief Bogo as the wolf makes him his next target. “If you take another step towards these creatures, then I will stop you.”The police mammals and soldiers became confused as a lion cop asked a female polar bear cop, “I don’t get it. Aren’t they supposed to be allies or something?”“It doesn’t appear that way.”Malik growled and said, “So you plan on getting in my way after I warned you that if you did, I will kill you, old man.”“You can try, but don’t expect me to die that easily since you're so obsessed with wanting to fight strong opponents.”“Tsk, so that’s how it’s going to be then.” He gets into his guard stance, pointing the front tip of his spear towards the gorilla.“If that is how it must be.” The gorilla slides his foot backwards, pointing his fire bow before pulling back, revealing a fire line that was connected to it, and another fire arrow manifests as it was aimed towards Malik. “So be it.”The tension was so bad it could almost cut through with a knife. Both of their auras manifest themselves and small bits of cracks surround the bottom of their feet. The mammals seemed to sense what was about to happen next as each of them took a small step backwards. “Uh, I think we might wanna back it up very slowly,” the rhino cop said.“I got a better idea,” Chief Bogo said. “RUN!”Every mammal took off to a run back to police headquarters, knowing this was going to get nasty pretty fast. No sooner had they run, Malik charged while roaring as he brought his spear up and was about to clash with the gorilla.“ENOUGH!” a familiar shouted.There was a loud snap of the fingers. Malik stopped his spear halfway when he sensed powerful magic coming from above. Tracy felt the same, but gasped when she recognized a large rune circle with a mouse symbol and a Roman two numeral appearing above the sky. The wolf, gorilla, and every mammal who stopped, looked up as the rune circle changed to a blue space-like hole. Slowly descending out of the hole were large rocks filled with white wisps.The mammals eyes widened with both terror and shock as the wolf cop said, “What is that?”“Malik!” Every eye turns to the attention of whoever yelled. Tracy grunted and turned her head; only for her eyes to widen when she saw M2 standing beside her, hand raised with a single finger pointing. She didn’t know he appeared, but was happy to know that he came in the nick of time. “If you won’t listen to reason, then maybe you’ll listen to one of King Mickey’s trump cards: Meteor Star Rain!”“M2!” Tracy said to him.The mouse looked down at her and asked, “Are you alright? Can you move?”“No,” she answered. “I can’t move my body, except for my head which I can barely budge.”M2 looked back at Malik when he started chuckling in amusement while already looking back up to the massive spell. “So this is what you’ve been holding out on me,” he said to the clone before looking back to him. “Well played, mouse.”“Why thank you for the compliment. Although, if anyone’s going to level down this entire city, it’s going to be me.”Malik became confused along with the other mammals while others became shocked by what the mouse clone said. “M2, what’re you doing?” Tracy said.“Relax,” he assured her while bending down and gently petting the side of her face. “I know what I’m doing.” He winks for only her to see. “Trust me.”Tracy smiled, despite not nodding in understandment, she could tell that M2 was bluffing. How he intends to go far with this bluff was something she needed to hear to understand further.“What’re you playing at?” Malik asked.“Simple.” M2 stood up and turned his attention to him, face becoming serious. “With one flick of this finger, I’ll unleash the full assault which will not only destroy this city, the caretaker along with the grimoire will be destroyed. Lives will be lost in the process, but you too won’t survive this attack.” He smiles, adding, “That’s if you're lucky, that is. Since I’m holding all the cards, however, I'd like to make a deal with you.”“A deal? What kind of deal?”“Something that’ll benefit the both of us. You wanna fight someone strong, you will get it. I want to ensure that no one gets the king’s grimoire and I intend to do it by any means necessary. If it means fighting you, then I will fight you!”“You? Why would I want to continue our fight after I told you once I’m finished with the caretaker?”“Because, the way she is now, she’s no match for you.” He motioned his arm to the trench. “It is true that she was able to do this, but this is bursted strength, and if she were to fight you like this, she will lose.”“Bursted strength?” Malik questioned. “It’s basically her magic fully awakening,” the gorilla explained. “The power you were trying to force out. She has great power, yes, but lacks the fundamentals on how to control it without causing too much destruction. The only way for her to control this power is through the Guardian Instinct that has now awakened as well.”“What!”Malik was completely taken aback from this revelation. At first he thought that girl was holding back her full power, but the real truth was just her powers awakening. To obtain Guardian Instinct, especially upon awakening, was exceptionally rare. Although, he never expected that her magical awakening to be able to do this much damage, including harming him, was a complete surprise. Looking back at the girl, he wondered how powerful she’ll really be when controlling her powers properly.“Here’s the deal, Malik,” M2 said, bringing the wolf’s attention while the mouse walked away from the cat till he was standing across from the two robed mammals. “You wanna have a taste of that girl’s power, I can provide you that in the form of a duel between herself and Sparx. You wanna have a fight against a strong opponent, then I’ll be your opponent. I still have plenty of magic left in me, but our fight will have to hold off until after the duel. Just think of it this way. The duel will give you a preview of what the caretaker can do and I can provide her with the knowledge on how to use her Guardian Instinct.” He looks behind and addresses Tracy, “You hear that? I’m going to teach you how to use that power when you fight Sparx.” Looking back at the arctic wolf, he continued, “Once this duel is over and the boy is saved, you’ll not only have one but three strong opponents for you to fight. If you choose to continue this path, I will use this spell to destroy everything. Either way, it’s a win or lose situation, and as I already said I hold all the cards.” He smiles and adds, “And I can tell you don’t want to lose, at least not like this since there’s that one thing you can’t obtain if the girl’s dead.”The arctic wolf thought about this for a moment. He won’t deny that he was in a tough situation. The caretaker holding that book was far too important to be destroyed and the mouse made a lot of valid points. If the girl manages to survive, he’ll have more opponent’s to play with and be able to continue the fight where he left off against M2. This made him smile as he wondered what this cat can demonstrate against the power of an Elemental Guardian. “Very well,” he agreed. “I’ll play spectator for now. However, I’m going to compensate to ensure this duel pleases me. But first thing’s first, take off the spell, then get that brat on her feet. After that, heal those two insects that are still on the ground.”“Alright,” M2 nods before waving a finger. “No tricks now, or else I will bring back this spell and unleash it.”With a loud snap of his fingers, the large rocks returned to the space-like hole and closed up while stardust appeared on the darkened sky after closing before vanishing instantly. The mouse walks over to Tracy, bends down to lift her head up, and is about to take out all her Potions and Ethers. “Wait,” she stopped him. “There’s a Mega-Elixir in my bag.”Taking off her bag, he digs through and pulls out the flask, which miraculously stayed in one piece. “Ah, good girl. Always have a contingency plan is what the king would definitely say.” Taking the cork out with his teeth and spitting it out, he brings it over to her mouth while saying, “Open wide and down the hatch.”When the liquid touched her tongue, she tasted mixed berries and didn’t hesitate to keep drinking. M2 helped by letting her guzzle it down as she was clearly exhausted and needed all the energy she could get before the duel resumed. As the flask was devoid of every last drop, she gave a small burp and her body glowed greenish-blue, then the mouse casually threw the empty glass over his shoulder.The young tabby stood up and stretched, feeling some popping in the process. After popping her neck a little, she dusts her arms, getting some dirt off them, before getting on all fours and shaking off the rest of the dust. Standing back up, she fixes her hair, but had to stop as she reminded herself about her two friends. “Judy! Nick!”While she ran to them, leaving her sword behind, M2 picked up the weapon and shouldered her empty bag. He then walked over to the king’s grimoire that still lay in the dirt with the pages opened, and closed it before picking it up, dusting off the dirt, and putting it back in the bag where it belonged. Following Tracy, the young tabby had already moved their bodies till their fronts were facing up. She placed her ear on each of their chests, hearing the slow beating of their hearts as they were barely alive. Knowing that she wouldn’t have Potions to help them, or have enough time to get out her badge and bring out a new Mega-Elixir, she called, “M2!”“Don’t worry,” he raised a hand assuringly. “I got it. Curaza!”His hand glowed green, then a green glow surrounds Judy and Nick. Followed by a green circle and bellflowers sprouting above with a bell that chimed. When the spell finished its work, the fox and rabbit groaned and slowly sat up. Before they had a chance to open their eyes, they felt an arm wrap around each of their necks and heard the voice of Tracy yelling, “Judy! Nick!”Taken a little by surprise, they eventually wrapped their arms around her in a group hug. “Are you guys okay?”“Well, I’m fine,” Nick answered first before placing a paw on the side of his neck and stretched it, causing it to give out a few pops. “A little stiff for some weird reason after nearly getting squeezed, but otherwise I’ll live.”“Yeah, same here,” Judy answered next while bringing her paws to her back and bending it forward, making some pops as she groans.The three of them stood up while Judy and Nick continued stretching and popping their bodies. However, as Judy finished popping her neck, her eyes widened and she gasped. “What?” the fox said. “What’s the matter?”Judy points and Nick’s gaze follows. “Huh?!”Nick and Judy see the same trench that Tracy created, but have no idea how as they were unconscientious.“Okay, will somebody please explain what the heck just happened?”“Well, uh…” Tracy slowly explained. “Well you see…it’s kinda hard to-”Her explanation was cut short as Judy and Nick’s bodies were surrounded in gray aura and were lifted up. The fox yelped and the rabbit cop said, “Oh no, not again!”They were thrown aside towards the group of mammals, screaming as they sailed. “Guys!” Tracy yelled and was about to run after them, but M2 wrapped his arms around her, keeping her from taking another step.The fox and rabbit rolled upon landing on the ground, and Chief Bogo ran to them saying, “Hopps! Wilde! Are you two alright?”“Yeah, we’re fine,” Nick said in a hard tone, clearly aggravated from floating in the air for the second time tonight before slamming a fisted paw to the ground. “But seriously? This is getting really annoying!”Nick suddenly gasped, followed by Judy as her eyes widened again.“What?” Chief Bogo said, confused by their sudden looks. “What’s wrong?”“Your chest!” Judy points. “Look at your chest!”Chief Bogo looks at his chest, seeing a gray dagger literally inches away from piercing his heart. Every mammal looked at their own chests and saw the same dagger appearing while Judy and Nick watched before looking at their chests, seeing small daggers manifesting close to their hearts. Malik raised a paw towards a police car, lifting it up and bringing it towards him before dropping it. He sits on the front hood and yells, “Caretaker!” Tracy and M2 looked at attention.“You better make this entertaining or else I will kill them all!” He turned his attention to the mammals. “Your job is to only spectate! If any of you creature's attempt to escape or try to help the caretaker in this duel, you die! As of right now, your lives are in her paws!”Tracy couldn’t take her eyes off all the mammals, including both of friends and Chief Bogo as the stakes became high. “Tracy, look at me,” M2 said, bringing his hand to her chin and making her look at his eyes. “Don’t pay attention to them.” He hangs her bag back on her shoulder. “Focus only on the duel.” He takes her paw and places the handle of her sword there, and did the same thing before the duel was interrupted. “And don’t worry. While I help you defend, I’ll teach you how to use Guardian Instinct at the same time.”“Sparx!” Malik said sharply. “Take off your robe and release your full power! Don’t you dare hold back anything from the caretaker and go all-out!”Sparx faces Tracy and quickly sheds away his black robe and tosses it aside, revealing his true attire that consisted of a yellow karuta sashinuki jacket, light-yellow gi that was tucked into black pants with a white buckled utility belt that had his sheath sword strapped to the side of his waist and a white bag containing his grimoire behind him, and light-brown forearm guards. Taking out his katana, he turns the blade sideways, brings a single paw forward to the handle and says, “Come forth, Plasma Blade!”Tracy’s eyes widened with complete shock as she watched Sparx’s katana glow. The blade disappears and the handle completely changes to a yellowish-white metallic cylinder, then…pishoo, a yellow energy beam appears. From what she remembered after reading the book, weapons that come out of the grimoire possess transformational abilities. She did not expect Sparx to possess a weapon like that of his own, nor would it seem her own sword stood a chance against that.The young fox charged and Tracy cried, “Oh no!”“Now don’t panic,” M2 calmly assured her.“I’m not panicking…” Sparx leaps into the air, his energy beam raised. “I’M FREAKING OUUUUUUUUT!”M2 brings up the sword while Tracy turns her head away and yelps. Clang!Tracy slowly opens her eyes, seeing the energy beam connected to her sword, much to her confusion. She expected the blade would cut in two along with herself and M2, but it remained as it were. “But…But how is this-”“That’s because your weapon is an enchanted weapon that came out of the grimoire. The same as Sparx.”“Yeah, I already know about that. I’ve read the book.”“Then you also need to know that when an enchanted weapon like yours comes out of the grimoire, it’s not the same as an ordinary sword.”“What’s that supposed to mean and how did you know about my sword coming out of the grimoire?”“Remember, I’m connected to the king’s grimoire. I’ve seen you almost pull it out the first time. Now that it’s finally out, your weapon is special and what I mean by not being an ordinary sword, it’s because it can’t be destroyed.”Tracy wasn’t sure she heard this right and looked at him. “What?”“You heard me. Your sword cannot be destroyed, even if it were to clash with another enchanted weapon. Nothing anywhere across the multiverse can destroy an enchanted weapon.”“So…that means…”“Exactly! You have nothing to fear about losing your weapon!” He pushed the sword up. “The only thing you need to worry about is winning this duel!”Sparx unleashes a flurry of strikes, each one deflected with the help of the mouse while Tracy herself couldn’t keep up with this kind of speed and was lucky her arms didn’t tire. This was way different from the previous two fights she’s seen when M2 went toe to toe at the Rainforest District, to even help her fight here in Savanna Central unlike that fast-paced spell she saw before. As the clone parries another strike, the young fox spin kicks his head, sending him flying sideways and goes after them.While M2 kept defending from Sparx’s fast attacks before jumping into the air after the young fox tried to sideways slash him, Tracy asked, “How does this Guardian Instinct thing work?”Sparx flies towards them in air and continues the clash while M2 answers, “The first thing you need to do is empty your mind.” The mouse backflips after dodging a diagonal slash from the young fox. “Ignore everything around you and focus only on what’s in front of you. Let your magic flow through the senses and they will guide you.”When the energy beam and sword collide as one tries to push the other, Tracy says to the mouse, “But wouldn’t that drain my magic?”“Yes, but in exchange you’ll gain complete focus. Your strength, speed, and agility will increase two-fold, and your senses will be much sharper. It’s a bit risky since you haven’t been trained properly on how to use it, but it’s the only chance you have. If you're going to win this, you need to go all-out, the same as Sparx. This is a fight of attrition and only one of you is going to fall.”He successfully pushes Sparx back while the young tabby says, “How do I do it?”“Just close your eyes and focus on a single point.”“What does that mean?” she asked, confused.“You’ll know when you feel it.” The young fox charged and locked his energy beam with the sword again. “Now, take a deep breath and close your eyes.” Tracy did what he said by breathing through her nose and exhaled out the mouth, then closed her eyes. “Let the magic within flow through your senses and allow your instinct to take over. Listen to them and let them guide you.”Her body relaxes and she sees the light-blue mist again; only this time it was mixed-in with the darkness of her eyelids. Focus on a single point, she thought to herself. Where should I focus? She could only hear the sounds of metal clashing against a buzzing beam. Can’t focus on that, it’s too fast. C’mon, there’s gotta be something I can focus on.Her ears could still hear the clashing of two enchanted weapons.Focus…focus…That was when she heard it…The sound of breathing. It wasn’t hers, but Sparx’s!Focusing only on his breathing, the clanging of two weapons started to slow down and she could see Sparx’s weapon appear and vanish every time it clashed. She could even see where the energy beam would strike next. When they connected again, she sensed him about to do a downward slash. M2 felt her body move sideways and followed along, dodging the strike. Sparx swings his energy beam left and right, only to miss each strike, and the mouse flies through the air after dodging another sideway slash. The young fox quickly flew up until he was above them, his energy beam raised as he was about to do another downward slash, then the mouse clone did something unexpected…He let go of Tracy as gravity took over and M2 dodged the attack by backflipping.This took everyone by surprise while Judy gasped, placing both paws on her muzzle, and Nick saying in complete shock, “What’s he doing?”As Tracy kept falling back-first, Sparx went after her, ignoring M2 as he wasn’t the target. She feels the wind rushing against her body but pays it no heed while keeping her guard up and her eyes closed, waiting for the teenage fox to breathe again. When she heard his breath, she did a backflip and landed gracefully on the ground, surprising everyone even further except the mouse. Bringing her sword up, the blade connects to Sparx’s energy beam with a loud clang, sending a ring of dust around them.M2 flies to the group of mammals and lands behind Judy and Nick, who’re still reeling from the shock of what they’ve just seen. The fox was the first to come out of it, but spoke out in gibberish, “What…How did…Huh?”Then Judy, coming out of her shock next, asked the mouse, “Wha-What did you just do?” “Relax.” M2 casually hanged his arm on Nick’s shoulder and placed a hand behind Judy’s back. “Just watch. This is where the real duel begins.”(Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets-GATE~Sore wa Akatsuki no you ni~)Tracy opens her eyes as they glowed light-blue and her aura returns. She pushes her sword up, causing Sparx to backflip, but before his feet could touch the ground, she was already in front of him and punched him hard in the face that sent him whizzing to the trench.Toku ni nanimo nozomu koto nante nai(I don’t have anything I’m wishing for)He bounces on the ground like a skipping rock thrown to the water, then pierces the ground with his energy beam while sliding to a stop. His grimoire floated out of the back of his bag and opened as the pages flipped and stopped at a page, and electricity surrounds him. “Lightning Speed!” Mi no hodo wa shitteiru sa(I pretty much know my place)Sonna boku de sae omou oku no hou ni(Even so, I think deep down I have a degree)Sparx quickly zigzags like a bolt of lightning and Tracy herself quickly foregrips her sword, just as the energy beam makes contact with her blade and is sent high into the air. Everyone watched as the young fox crouches down, bringing his energy beam sideways, and the pages of his grimoire flip and stop on a page. Light-blue electricity surrounds the weapon and he charges upwards towards the young tabby, leaving yellowish-white waves coming out the beam.“Lightning…”With blinding speed, he surrounds Tracy in a yellowish-white dome.“...Plasma Blade Barrage!”Electricity surrounds the dome, but no one could see Tracy inside. However, the young cat’s body had already gone on autopilot as she defended herself with her own blinding speed against Sparx’s relentless barrage of attacks.Yuzuritakunai ikou teido wa aru rashii(Of intention to not ever let anything go)Mamoru tte angai to muzukashii ne(Protecting something is harder than I thought)Akirameru wake janai kedo(But it’s not like that means I’m gonna give up!)Unfortunately, despite her speed, she received a cut to the right-side of her face. A cut on her left wrist and a few more on both arms. Another cut on the left-side of her neck and a cut on her left shoulder, then a cut on her right leg and back. Biting through the pain of each cut, she didn’t lose her focus and quickly knees Sparx in the gut before he could cut her again, ceasing the spell and causing him to groan. She spin kicks him, sending him whizzing to a rooftop as he bounces and crashes to another building.Aoi sora no hate(At the far reaches of the blue sky)Tsunagatta michi no yukue(The ends of these connected roads)Malik placed a paw underneath his chin while humming and smiling amusingly. So far during the start of the duel, the girl and the mouse barely did anything which started to annoy him. If that continued on, his patience would’ve ran out and he would just kill all the mammals and be done with this. Although he was surprised that the clone let her go, she finally started to show off her true skills, despite it being controlled by the Guardian Instinct, and her real strength even though it was only the tip of the iceberg. However, a thought suddenly crosses his mind. He’s already seen her bursted strength and now her instinctual strength. If M2 could properly train her on how to use Guardian Instinct and maybe teach her some other things, then she’ll become a force to be reckoned with. A very strong force at that.Being a hunter himself. When a weak creature bares its true fangs, yet needs time to sharpen them, there were sharp claws hidden that were waiting to be unsheathed and unleashed to surprise the enemy. That girl possessed those hidden claws. Not because of her cat form that has claws, but the claws hidden within her powers that needed to be sharpened before she was ready to release her real powers that weren’t suppressed by the instincts of a Guardian. Just imagining him fighting against her like a real warrior almost made him tempted to revel in delight. The mere thought of wanting to fight and consume her strength filled him with absolute euphoria. For now, he’ll continue watching the duel and wait for her strength to be at its peakest until the time was absolutely right.Hito to hito wa wakari aenai dakedo iinjanai(People will still never come to an understanding but that’s alright!)Hiraita tobira wa subete wo kaete yuku(The door we’ll open will begin to change everything)Sore wa akatsuki no you ni(Just like the break of dawn!)Electricity surrounds the building Sparx crashed through, his paw raised as a rune circle with a lightning symbol at the center materialized. “Thunder Chain Strike, plus Lightning Discharge. Elemental Combination Magic: Thunderstorm!”Webs upon webs of yellow lightning shoot out of the rune circle towards Tracy, but the cat dodges each one while flying fast towards Sparx. The young fox didn’t have enough time to defend himself as he was once again hit in the face, sending him crashing through more buildings before coming at him with a kick to the chin that sent him high into the air. The teenage tabby zips after him, sword at the ready.Sparx raises his weapon in defense, just as Tracy’s sword connects to his energy beam that sends him whizzing fast to the hard ground. His back collides on the asphalt, causing him to bounce but recovers fast by backflipping in the air and sliding on the road. He looks up and notices Tracy flying in fast, and brings his sword sideways while the pages of his grimoire flip and stop on a page. “Lightning Plasma Flash!”A sideways slash of yellowish-white mixed-in with light-blue electricity shoots out towards Tracy, but the girl lands on the ground with her knees, sliding as she dodged by a nose length while white aura surrounds her blade, the king’s grimoire floating out of bag, and the pages flip as they stop on only one page. “Shining Blade!”Nanika wo gai suru koto kurai(Causing harm is surely something)Dare ni demo okorieru darou(Anyone can manage to do)She unleashes a sideways slash of white energy. Unlike the wave of light that was used against the Daemon horde and Malik, this was a similar attack used by M2 when he destroyed the Ogre. But Sparx dodges it by quickly flipping in the air and backflipping on the ground, putting a little distance between himself and her. The girl stood up and was about to charge; only for the young fox to cast another spell, “Lightning Plasma Chain Flash!”Nanika wo aisuru koto nante motto tanjun na(But I’ve started to think that loving something)Hanashi da to omoete kita kara(Is actually much simpler!)Jibun ni kaette kuru taika wo(Don’t bother trying to predict the compensation)Sparx unleashed a barrage of slashes with blinding speed, but Tracy parries them with her own speed as electricity surrounds the area they were in while she walks towards him. Glass from the buildings, street lamps, and a few empty cars abandoned by the citizens erupted, loitering the ground. Tracy’s mind slowed down the young fox’s strikes, then seeing an opening, she charged fast towards him and used the pommel of her sword to hit Sparx’s wrist before hitting him on the chest and gut with both fists, sending him sliding on the ground.The young tabby didn’t relent as she charged at him again and uppercuts his chin that sent him flying high while rolling backwards in the air, but recovers fast before crashing into a tall building and flies up with Tracy following him.Kitai shitari shinai sonna no suru dake muda sa(That you’ll receive in return every second you spend on that is wasted!)Juuyou na no wa hitotsu(There’s only one important thing)Sparx flips and slides his feet on the glass before doing an upward diagonal slash, casting, “Thunderclap!”A wide surge of lightning shoots out of the beam, glass and debris explode towards Tracy but she swings her sword.Cling. BOOM! More glass and debris exploded half of the building from Tracy’s Full Counter while Sparx was sent flying higher into the air. Tracy flies fast, white aura surrounding her blade as she was about to cast another Shining Blade spell. However…Cric…crack…Sparx screams in agony as the crystal starts to slowly crack from the force of Tracy’s Full Counter. The young tabby hears his scream and jumps back, her spell dissipating instantly and watches as he clutches his head while continuing to scream in pain. Little wisps of black smoke seep out of the crystal and the young fox grunts, opening his eyes but once again couldn’t see the girl, and said in that same painful strained voice, “The crystal…ARGH!”His painful cry caused Tracy to blink her eyes, coming out of the Guardian Instinct while saying to him in worry, “Sparx!”Sore wo yaritai ka dou ka dake nan da(Do you wanna do it or not?)(Nee) datte kimi wa koko ni hitori shika inai(Hey) (there’s only one of you in this world!)“Destroy…the crystal!”“Don’t worry I-” She stops herself mid-sentence while already raising her sword and was about to cast her spell, but realization struck her when she noticed the city below. “Hold on. Where am I?” She turns around, only for her eyes to widen as she sees the crack of dawn. For the first time in her life, she’s never seen the sun slowly rise. “Wow,” she said slowly in astonishment. Aoi sora no naka(Amid this deep blue sky)Mamoru beki mono ga aru(There are things we simply must protect)Unfortunately, her moment of astonishment of seeing something so beautiful came to end when the city started to slowly rise. “Huh?” Looking down, she gasped; now noticing how up she was while the grimoire that once floated right next to her started to fall and realizing even further that her aura was gone. “Lightning…”She quickly turns around, seeing that the dark magic has once again retaken control of Sparx’s mind.“...Plasma Flash!”Sparx unleashes his spell, but gravity takes over as Tracy plummets, dodging the attack while screaming. Sore wa donna sekai de ikiru(Things much more important)Ka yori taisetsu dakara(Than what kind of world we live in)Hirai ta tobira no saki ni nani ga attemo(No matter what lies beyond that door we open)As Tracy continued to fall, she looked down and saw the ground slowly coming at her before looking up, seeing Sparx coming after her. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and thought to herself, Calm down, don’t panic. Just ignore everything around you and empty your mind. Focus on that single point and let the magic flow through the senses. Allow my instincts to take over.She sees the light-blue mist once again.Wait for it…wait for it…She hears the pages of Sparx’s grimoire turn and his breath.Now!Mayotte shimawanai you ni(Keep that in mind so you don’t lose your way!)She opened her eyes as both the light-blue glow of her eyes and her aura returned, just as Sparx casted, “Lightning Plasma Blade!”Tracy flies away fast with the king’s grimoire following her before it lands on the asphalt, and Sparx’s attack surges towards a mini-mart, exploding the building on contact. The two young fighters zip across above the city, their enchanted weapons clashing and clanging as their duel continues. They flew so fast in many different angles that every mammal down in Savanna Central couldn’t keep up their sights with that kind of speed, except for M2, the gorilla, and Malik as their eyes followed while they continued to watch the clash.After Tracy defended herself from another strike, she clotheslined Sparx, sending him flying fast back to Savanna Central. Flying just as fast as he was falling, she connects her weapon to his while placing her arm to his neck, keeping themselves forward towards the distance. Knowing what she was going to do, he quickly turned his body around, disconnects their connected weapons, and knees her at the chest. Before landing first on the ground, she recovers by backflipping and places both her feet and left paw, digging on the soil until she stops sliding.“Lightning Plasma Wheel!”Sparx wheels his way towards her; unlike the previous spell that he used that was filled with ordinary electricity, this one was yellowish-white mixed-in with light-blue electricity. Tracy, however, does a sideways spin jump, dodging the attack that explodes the ground before acrobatically cartwheeling and backflipping, then lands on her feet. She starts to pant as exhaustion was kicking-in and both her aura and the light-blue glow of her eyes flickered. The young fox grunts while electricity surrounds him for a moment. More cracks began to form around the crystal and the teenage fox threw his head up and screamed in agony.As Judy and Nick noticed more flickering coming from Tracy’s aura, they now wondered about Sparx. Why was he in pain? While the young fox continued to scream and clutch his head, the rabbit asked, “What’s the matter with him?”“Her powers are starting to weaken the dark magic that’s controlling him.”“What about her?” Nick asked about Tracy. “Isn’t she weakening too?”“Yes,” M2 answered while giving a small nod before he gave a smile. “But that doesn’t mean it's over yet. So long as she’s still standing…”Tracy rose up and the flickering stopped.“...and has enough power left to fight, she has a chance. ‘Cause as of right now, this is where the climax begins.”Daitai no baai erai yatsu wa shinyou naranai kedo(In most cases those with authority can’t be trusted)With another cry of agony from Sparx, he charged towards Tracy and the young tabby did the same. The young fox front flips before his enchanted weapon and hers clash. He pushed her back with a flurry of strikes, each one defended and deflected as he gained the upper hand. That was until she deflects another blow and twirls her body till she is at the opposite side while twirling her sword as well. As the two weapons danced in a flurry of strikes with Sparx once again pushing Tracy back, they connected their enchanted weapons and spun them, trying to push the other one away. When both the energy beam and blade were pushed up at the same time, the young fox reacted quicker by kicking the tabby, but recovered by backflipping and was about to land; only for him to push her further by clashing his weapon with hers.Hitsuyou ga aru nara shikata(But I guess if necessary I could be persuaded)Nai tte omoenaku mo nai(That there’s no other option)Upon sliding to a stop, Tracy and Sparx jumped and clashed their enchanted weapons, their backs facing one another, before they quickly turned and connected their weapons; twirling their bodies while circling each other, then they clashed several more times and twirled their respective weapons, ending it with another connecting as the result from energy beam and blade became so hard that it made sparks come out.Nara yarubeki koto wa wakarikitteru hazu sa(If that’s the case what we need to do is already clear)The pages of Sparx’s grimoire flipped and stopped on a page as a yellow ball of electricity manifested on his paw while Tracy’s own paw formed a ball of light.“Electrical-”“-Light!”“-Sphere!”They thrust their two balls, combining them into a medium-sized ball that had yellow and white energy swirling inside while electricity surrounds the orb. Sparx growls and Tracy grunts, both of them trying to push the energy back towards one another. Their paws inch closer to the ball, until the swirling energy couldn’t take it any more as it explodes in a shockwave of yellow and white mixed-in with electricity, sending them both flying from the force.Sore kurai no yaruki wa aru darou(I’m sure you have the determination to make it happen!)Tracy recovered by rolling backwards on the ground, but Sparx rolled sideways until both came to a stop. The crystal and the markings surrounding the cover of Sparx’s grimoire pulsate hard like a beat of a heart, causing the young fox to clutch his head before sitting up and screaming while the pages of his book flip and stop on a page. Aoi sora ga ware(The deep blue sky divides)Yume to riaru ga mazaru(And dreams mix with reality)Electricity surrounds him before flying up in the air. Tracy stands back up and looks upwards, seeing his enchanted weapon raised with one arm. Every mammal looked up as well while everyone, except for M2, Malik, and the gorilla, had shocked expressions. The energy beam extended and widened, changing the color from yellowish-white to light-blue. “THUNDER…PLASMA…”Hito to hito wa wakari aenai sonna baai janai(People still haven’t come to an understanding but there’s no time for that!)Tracy raises her sword with one arm and white aura surrounds her blade.“Shining…”“...LAAAAASH!”“...Blade!”Hiraita tobira wa subete wo kaete yuku(The door we’ll open will begin to change everything)Sore wa akatsuki no you ni(Just like the break of dawn!)Sparx unleashes a slash of light-blue electric energy and Tracy unleashes her wave of light. When the two attacks clashed, every mammal either turned their heads away or covered their faces from the flash, wind, and dust. Tracy’s spell pushes through Spax’s attack and the young fox is hit by the wave of whitish-blue. He screams as the crystal shatters completely, disintegrating the pieces while leaving a trail of black wisps that cause the markings to vanish on both his grimoire and face. The blackness of his eyes fades away as they return to their original emerald-green.The attack reaches high to the sky for all of Zootopia to see before vanishing into sparkles of light.(End Music)As the wind died down and the dust slowly dissipated, every mammal saw Tracy still standing while her aura kept flickering till it went out. She collapses to her knees, groaning as the king’s grimoire drops right next to her. Sparx’s smoking body lands hard on the ground, his grimoire landing next to him and the enchanted transformed weapon that he still had in his paw glowed as it returned back to its original katana form. Everyone was silent when the duel was over…That was until Chief Bogo whooped into the air and cried, “Yeah!”Every mammal, except for M2, the gorilla, and Malik erupted into cheers for Tracy’s victory over Sparx. Judy excitedly hops while saying in glee before jumping to Nick and hugging him, “Yes! She did it! She did it! Did you see that, Nick?!”“I did!” Nick laughed while embracing her tightly and spinning her around. While Tracy slowly stood up with the help of her sword and picking up the king’s grimoire, M2 ran over and picked her up, making her give out a surprised yelp as he deeply embraced her and chuckled, “Atta girl! I knew you could do it! I just knew you would!” He gently sat her down and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “If the king was here, he would’ve been very proud of you.” They looked towards the unconscious Sparx. “‘Cause as of right now, that’s one Elemental Guardian saved and only four more left to go.”“Yeah, but don’t forget,” Tracy said to him. “We still have to find Mickey’s friends including his wife wherever they are.”M2 nodded in agreement before they looked at one another and he said to her, “Tell me. How did it feel when you used Guardian Instinct?”She thought hard for a second and answered, “It…It felt like a rush and my instincts slowed down everything around me. Even though I couldn’t see everything through the duel, I felt my own magic showing me a preview of what I can do with a sword and maybe even go further with my powers.”“Excellent,” M2 beamed. “You’ve taken your first step into a much bigger world filled with endless possibilities.” He pets the top of her head, adding, “I’m sure one day you’ll make a great-”He was cut-off from the sound of hard clapping that made him, Tracy, the gorilla, and every mammal that stopped cheering, to look at Malik who got off the car as he slowly walked to the small duo. “Bravo!” he said happily as it was directed towards the teenage cat. “Bravo, caretaker! Bravo!” He stopped clapping and continued, “That was very entertaining. You may not be a Guardian, but you sure as hell have the makings of one. However…” His eyes turn to M2. “You still have a deal to uphold, mouse.”M2 nods to him.“Oh, and don’t worry, caretaker,” Malik said, redirecting his attention back to her. “I won’t destroy M2. He needs to train you on how to use your newfound strength.” He creates his spear and points the blade at her, adding, “So the next time we meet, I want you…” He raised his spear and brought it down, unleashing a surge of gray energy towards the police car. The mammals who were near it, jumped away at the last second as the vehicle exploded and flipped upside down. Turning to the young tabby again, he points his spear to the now destroyed vehicle and says, “To show me your real strength and do something similar to that. Get the picture?”With determination in Tracy’s eyes, she nods.Tracy, M2 said to her telepathically. Can you walk?Yeah, she answered. Just a little before I pass out.“Now then,” Malik said as he got into his defensive stance. “Shall we, mouse?”He nods before creating his swords and saying to him, “First, take off the spell that’s holding these creatures back, then allow the girl to walk away. I don’t want her to get caught in the middle of our duel.”“Very well.”He raised his paw and every dagger that was on every mammals’ chests vanished. No sooner had he done that, however…Beepbeepbeep-beepbeepbeepHe growled in irritation and pulled out, much to Tracy’s surprise, his badge. Unlike her badge that was black in color, Malik’s was gray. “What is it?” he said in a hard tone with his teeth clenched.Tracy felt a shock go through her head and looked up.“What! What do you mean ‘pull back’? There’s no way I’m walking away just when I was-”“M2, look up!”The mouse clone, Malik, the gorilla, and every mammal look up, seeing an armored mysterious individual with a mask that was barely visible but familiar to some. The mysterious individual held a stiff chain pole that had three chain spikes spinning on the top like a helicopter and held an ordinary smartphone that belonged to the mammals’ homeworld towards the side of its head while a grimoire floated right beside it.“It’s him!” Judy gasped.“Or her. Whoever that is.” Nick said.“How should I know?” Malik said on his badge, getting Judy, Nick, Tracy, and M2’s attention before the wolf looked at the young tabby. “It seems that the caretaker’s senses are much sharper than I thought.”To the mammals who were still watching the armored individual, it made the chain helicopter vanish and drop downwards in a dive. When it reached halfway to the ground, the pages of the grimoire flipped and stopped at a page, and four spiked chains shot out from behind. They impaled themselves on the ground, stopping the individual before the feet could touch the dirt, then made its way over to Malik. “Now then,” it said in a high-pitched voice while putting away the smartphone back inside its armor. “As I said, we’re pulling back. They’re coming.”“Who’s coming?” Malik asked while putting away his badge.They hear the sound of whirling and look up to see three military helicopters with searchlights as they shone down to the armored individual, Malik, and the gorilla. One of the helicopters turns sideways, revealing Commander Shepherd and a handful of fresh troops to backup the overwhelmed mammals. “What the heck took him so long when we needed him the most?” Nick asked.Malik growls and raises his paw towards a helicopter, but the armored raccoon stops him by placing a gauntlet on his wrist, then says to him, “Wait! There’s been enough damage for one night and it’ll be morning soon. Listen…” The armored raccoon whispers into Malik’s ear. When the individual finished, Malik looked at the raccoon and said while lowering his arm, “Alright, you make a valid point and I’ll bide my time for now.” He makes his spear vanish and the grimoire returns back inside his robes, then looks at the mouse clone and says to him, “Consider yourself lucky, M2. Will finish this another time.” He points to the teenaged cat. “As for you, caretaker, you better get stronger the next time we meet. ‘Cause as I’ve already told you, it’ll be a waste if I killed you now.” He raised his paw as it glowed gray. “Till next time.”Before he could bring his paw down on the ground, Tracy called out, “Malik! If you ever show your face again, I’ll blow you away! You hear me?!”He gives her a half-smile and an amusing chuckle before saying, “Will see.”With that, he brought his paw down and a large dust cloud covered the entire area of Savanna Central. Many mammals covered their faces from the dust and wind blowing at them while Commander Shepherd noticed two figures flying to the air. “Sir,” a male lynx pilot said. “Targets are fleeing, shall we pursue?”Commander Shepherd answers through his mic that he had on his ear, “Negative, let’em go. All units land now.”M2 and Tracy could barely see much through the fog of dust. However, they see the armored raccoon casually walking towards them before stopping. “Tracy Kaden,” it said to her, much to her shock as she and the mouse clone looked at one another, then back at the armored individual. “Yes, I know who you are, I have my resources. You seem to be a smart girl, so why don’t you be a good kitty…” The raccoon brings up its gauntlet. “And hand over the grimoire. Do this and I’ll tell you how to get off this world and make this easy on yourself. Besides, this isn’t your world and the way you are now, you can’t stop us.”Tracy glares and starts to limp forward, but is stopped by M2 as he grabs her shoulder. She looks at him with those same eyes and he releases her. The young tabby continues her slow limp towards the armored raccoon, the king’s grimoire raised. The armored individual expected the girl to hand the grimoire over to it…Only for its gauntlet to be slapped away by that said book, surprising the raccoon.“Do you honestly think I’m going to walk away after all that crap you said? There’s no way I’m running away or giving up this book. Not you, Malik, or anybody else! You may be right about a few things. This world isn’t mine and I don’t belong here, nor can I stop you. Just you wait, I’ll get stronger and when I do, Malik is first to go down. After that, I’m coming for you, whoever you are, and I will stop you. Then I’m gonna blow you away, the same as him!” She pants as her legs become wobbly and her vision starts to fade. “Just as soon…as I wake up…from my nap.”She collapses backwards and M2 quickly runs to her, catching the passed-out tabby in his arms while the girl loses her grip on the sword and grimoire.The armored raccoon chuckles amusingly and says, “When she wakes up, M2.” The mouse looks at the individual with narrowed eyes. “Tell her I wish the best of luck. Well, gotta fly.”The pages of the armored raccoon’s grimoire flipped and stopped at a page, and the chain helicopter returned as it lifted the figure into the air until it disappeared within the fog of dust. The helicopter's blades blew away most of the fog, but Judy coughs and waves away the dust that went to her face while she and Nick look for their two friends. “Tracy! M2!” she called out to them.“Guys, where are you!” Nick called out as well while waving away the dust that was in his way.“Over here!” The fox and rabbit see M2 walking towards them, carrying Tracy along with the king’s grimoire and her sword in his arms. They ran to him with worry in their eyes for the feline, noticing the cuts that were on her from the duel against Sparx. Luckily they weren’t serious, but they looked nasty and needed to be treated. What really worried them was that she didn’t open her eyes. “Don’t worry, Tracy’s fine,” M2 assured them. “She’s passed-out from using a lot of magic. Let her rest, she’s earned it.”A helicopter lands close to where the small group was and all the soldiers along with Commander Shepherd hop out. “Alright, sweep the area,” he ordered the troops. “Find any Daemon that’s still left and take’em out.”“Commander!” A rhino soldier said as he saluted. “All the Daemons have already been neutralized.”“Are you sure?”“He’s telling the truth, sir,” a male cheetah soldier said while he too saluted the commander before pointing to the sleeping cat. “That young girl there took out all the Daemons.” He looks to the chief of police along with the other police mammals and adds, “Chief Bogo and everyone else will tell you the same thing they’ve witnessed.”Commander Shepherd looks at Chief Bogo, who nods to the commander that it was all true.The commander sighed, then said through his mic, “Alright, call off the sweep.”“Sir!” A male cougar soldier called out as he was bent down to knee and examining the young fox. “We’ve got a live one over here and he looks pretty banged up!”Commander Shepherd, Judy, Nick, and the mouse clone went towards the still unconscious fox. The commander bends down and examines the form, then looks at M2 and asks, “Is this Sparx?”M2 nods.The commander stood back up and ordered, “Call the paramedics and tell them to get here ASAP.” The cougar soldier nods while Commander Shepherd looks around the area, noticing a lot of damage during the battle. “God what a mess,” he sighed. “Bring-in the clean-up crew.” He takes off his mic before sighing and rubbing his eyes by the front of his paw. “This has been one long night.”As dawn slowly approaches and the stars fade out to those who had survived the night. One thing was absolutely certain…It was going to be a very long day as certain events will soon unfold.
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