Elements of Heroism: Season 5

by Bahamut0


Episode 10: Boundless Determination

Fang wasn't sleeping well that night. His ears twitched, and he grunted in discomfort as he shifted in his bed. And his mind was a battleground. In the dreams that plagued him, he saw the being that possessed him. Savage Howl. However, the entity that had hijacked his body started to run away! Fang was about to charge at the dark spirit, but Savage jumped him first! He then pulled some orb of energy out of Fang! Fang barely had any time to speculate before he felt his whole world shaking!

"Fang! FANG!" Aria cried as she shook Fang to wake him up!

Fang gasped for air as his eyes snapped open, and panted as his lungs began to catch up to him. "Aria? What're you doing in my room?"

"Heard you groaning in pain." Aria answered. "You have a nightmare or something?"

Fang shook his head. "Yeah. One I thought was behind me. I...think I just need to wash my face."

"Hey..." Aria then grabbed onto Fang's hand. "If, well, you got no problem with it....maybe I could keep you company?"

Fang slowly smiled. "Yeah. That'd be awesome." Fang headed to the bathroom, turned on the light. However, upon looking at his reflection, Fang froze. They were gone. He no longer had his wolf ears and tail! "AAAAHHHH!"

Meanwhile, Savage Howl stood on a hill overlooking Ponyville. "Hmph. It sounds like the cub has realized what has been stolen from him." Savage then stared at the orb in his hands. Inside it was the image of a howling wolf. "He's no right to his strength. But it will take more than this to get him to become my vessel once more." Savage Howl looked into the orb of Fang's wolf spirit, and closed his eyes as he read the memories it held from being bonded with Fang. A good portion of memories contained Aria. A dark smile spread across Savage Howl's face. "Yes. Soon cub. Soon you shall know the hunger I do. You shall know the pain of having something taken from you." Savage Howl then shifted into his wolf form, and sprinted away to the forest.

The next morning, Fang sighed a bit. Aria noticed and decided to see what was the matter. "Hey. Didn't you used to say that somedays you wished you never had your ears or tail?"

"Yeah. But I never meant it." Fang said dejectedly as he looked at his reflection. "They were a part of me. They defined me, and I'd never want to be without them. Now that they're gone? I feel so...naked. Like I was robbed of my identity. Tell me. Have you ever felt something like that? This kind of loss?"

Aria slowly walked over to Fang, and wrapped her arms around him. "I do." She looked at where her pendent had once adorned her neck. "I know it very well. But I would've been a whole lot worse off than I am now if it weren't for one thing."

"What's that?" Fang asked.

Aria buried her face in Fang's hair. "You. You didn't give up on me. Even when I wanted to call it quits in myself. Kinda made me happy, y'know?" Aria then blushed slightly. "So...I guess it's high time I return the favor."

"....Aria...." Fang turned around to face Aria and let out a heavy sigh. "Thanks. I needed that."

A small smile formed on Aria's face. "No problem Fang." The two headed outside. However, a shadowy mass swept up Aria! Fang was in shock when the shadowy mass took a familiar form!

"YOU!" Fang growled as he glared at Savage Howl! "I thought you were dead! How are you even alive?!"

Savage Howl sneered. "You share my tenacity, cub. If nothing else." He then lifted Aria. "Tell me. How much does this woman mean to you? But furthermore..." Savage Howl then pulled out the orb containing Fang's wolf spirit. "What value do you place on your spirit? Let it not be said I am an unfair alpha. I'll give you a chance to reclaim both. IF you pass the trials that I have in store for you. Let's see if a mutt like you is worthy of the wolf spirit." Savage Howl then shifted into his were-form and bounded away! Leaving a trail of shadow tracks in his wake!

Fang clenched his fist as he summoned his Duelist Arm. "Aria....hold on." Fang then broke into a run after the tracks! He'd never been angrier in his life. Nor had he been more driven. I swear if it takes every last bit of life in me. I'll send that spirit to Tartarus myself! Even if I have to drag him myself! The tracks came to a stop at the mouth of a cave. "Figures." Fang looked into the dark entrance. Like a set of jaws waiting to slam shut as soon as he entered the cave. "And here I am staring down the jaws of the beast. I'll either conquer it, or be devoured." Fang walked into the cave. The darkness seemingly swallowing him.

Meanwhile, Aria struggled against the shadow chains that bound her. She then directed her gaze at Savage Howl. "Why? Why are you doing this?! What's the point and what do you want with Fang?!"

"You are not human. Are you?" Savage Howl inquired. "Your scent is not like that of regular humans. So you know the pain I do."

Aria blinked. "What pain?"

"The pain of being an outcast. Being discriminated against because you were born outside of the norm." Savage Howl then looked Aria right in the eye. "For most of while I lived, humans viewed me with fear and contempt. They called me a cursed being. One cursed to be like a beast. But...there was a time I had found happiness. A woman found me injured after a bad hunt. She healed me, and I grew quite close to her. It did not last. A few villagers spotted her with me." Savage Howl then clenched his fists. "And they ended her life simply because she was close to me. I could not save her. She gave me a reason to not give up on humanity. And the foolish humans had no idea what they had robbed me of!" Savage Howl punched one of the cave walls! "And my foolish brother simply stood by and let the humans hate him! And yet in the end it was he who had a happy ending! I hunger for what I was denied and vengeance against those who wronged me! To see that pitiful cub enjoy what I was denied only deepens my hunger." Savage Howl then sniffed the air. "Ah. It appears he has arrived." Savage Howl stood at the center of what looked like a ring. He sneered once Fang came into view.

"I'm here to take back what's important to me." Fang declared.

Savage Howl scoffed. "You'll have to prove that you're deserving of the wolf spirit. Cub."

"I wasn't talking about my wolf spirit." Fang snapped. He then pointed at Aria. "I'm here for the girl. Give her back to me, and I'll be on my way."

Savage Howl frowned. "You misunderstand. If you've come for the girl, then you must reclaim the spirit. They are a package deal."

"Fine." Fang growled. "What do I gotta do to save Aria?"

Savage Howl sneered. "Beat me with the skills of the beast spirit you must reclaim." Savage snapped his fingers, and the cave soon turned into a ring. "Show me your fangs. Or has stealing away the spirit rendered you toothless?"

"Time to find out." Fang replied coldly as he got into a fighting stance. The two circled each other. Waiting for an opening to attack, and the first blow to be struck. Savage Howl leaped at Fang, and slashed at him! Fang barely dodged as Savage's claws ripped into his shirt! "That all you got?" Fang then kicked Savage in the side and followed up by ramming into him! "I've got plenty of bite left in me! Can you back up your bark?!"

Savage narrowed his eyes, and growled at Fang. "Time to teach you respect for your alpha, cub." Savage Howl crouched, and a low growl escaped his throat before snarling as he pounced on Fang and bit into his shoulder! However, Fang was only motivated to push back! Savage felt air being pushed out of his gut as Fang repeatedly punched him! Savage withdrew his bite, and gasped for air. "You are fortunate I have not hit anywhere vital. I've no desire to see you die." Savage then sneered. "Most would run to lick their wounds after an attack like that."

"Like I said. I'm not leaving without Aria." Fang replied as he clutched the area he'd been bitten. "If you think one little bite's gonna stop me, you're dead wrong!" Fang charged at Savage Howl! Tackling him to the ground before punching him repeatedly in the face! However, Savage slashed Fang across the chest! "AGH!" Fang staggered back as he covered his chest! Blood trickled from where he'd been slashed!

Savage Howl shook his claws clean of the blood he'd drawn. "You don't give in, do you?"

"You should know." Fang snapped. "A cornered wolf is the most dangerous."

Savage Howl sneered. "A pity whatever bite you have left in you is pitiful. But I shall give you a chance to spare yourself further pain. Surrender. Become my vessel, and I shall grant you the spirit and release the girl."

"That's all?" Fang asked. He then smirked and spit at Savage Howl! "Not a chance in tartarus."

Savage Howl frowned. "Insolent to the end I see. Very well. You have chosen your fate!" Fang raised his arms to block as Savage Howl repeatedly slashed at him! Pain ripped through Fang's body as Savage Howl kept at his barrage of violent slashes! Each strike seemingly robbing Fang of his will to stand! Aria watched in horror as she saw Fang only get beaten even worse as each slash from Savage Howl seemed to increase in ferocity! And when the brutal assault finally came to an end, Fang was on his knees with slash marks all over his arms and upper body. "My offer still stands cub. What is your answer now?"

"I...I...I..." Fang struggled to reply as the world around him began to distort due to the injuries inflicted upon him. He was about to yield, but stopped when he heard something. A clear, beautiful song permeated the air. It was the most beautiful thing Fang had heard in his life. He slowly turned his head, and saw Aria singing. A purple glow coming from where her old pendent once hung. "I won't...GIVE UP NOW!" Fang screamed as he sprung to his feet! Suddenly, phantom wolf claws, ears, and a tail materialized on Fang! Savage Howl was so shocked at the sudden burst of determination from Fang he didn't have time to react when Fang rammed into him! "I don't care if it burns every last bit of blood in my body, or saps whatever will I'm barely hanging on to! I'M NEVER GOING TO GIVE UP BECAUSE MY DETERMINATION OUTWEIGHS ANY OTHER INSTINCT!" Fang then slashed right at Savage Howl's core! The wound proving fatal for the dark spirit! The wolf spirit flew back into Fang. Restoring his ears and tail. Fang was panting from the tremendous strain the fight had inflicted upon him, and saw Aria walking up to both him and Savage Howl. Wing-like fins now adorned her back, and a pendent with a purple gem was now in place of the old red one. But as the old gem was red and edgy, this one was purple, flat, and smooth.

Aria knelt down beside the dying Savage Howl. "I'm sorry for what's happened to you. I've seen it before." Aria's mind flashed back to her time in the world beyond the mirror. She and her sisters had spent centuries in the alternate world, and had seen both great and terrible events in the human history of that world. "But I can at the very least grant you a peaceful rest." The new gem of Aria's pendent glowed purple as she sang. And as she sang, a new spirit materialized. One Savage Howl recognized as the woman he had loved while he was still mortal. "She's been waiting for you a long while. Go with her." Savage Howl broke into tears as he took the woman's hand and faded into the afterlife with her. Aria then turned to Fang. "I wouldn't have forgiven you if you'd given up so easy back there." She said with a smile.

Fang smiled and was about to answer before being whisked away in a bright light! When Fang opened his eyes, he found himself looking at Burst's father. Aether. "So...is this my time?"

"You bet." Aether said with a chuckle. "Even when beaten and bloodied, with death's door no shorter than an inch away from you, you never gave in. And as your limits were pushed, you pushed back with all the force you could gather. Boundless determination indeed. And let it not be said it was unrewarded." Aether raised his hand and Fang was engulfed in a sphere of magic!

When Fang opened his eyes, he found a small red-violet aura of magic around his hands. As well as furry bat wings adorning his back. And immediately being pounced upon by Aria. "Looks like you've found your voice." Fang said with a smile as he wrapped his arms around Aria.

"You've earned your wings." Aria said with a giggle before kissing him. "And you're SOOO getting extra belly rubs tonight." Fang carried Aria home. The newly immortal siren sighing contently as Fang curled up against her. The two falling asleep.