The darkness that covered the sky was blasted apart as twin streaks of lightning collided in the air again, and the god--the battle of the gods of lightning--shaking the very planet to its core. One of the streaks was a crimson red and crackled with a white lightning, while his foe's lightning was as black as the night, yet it was able to match his foe blow for blow. The thunderous battle came to a momentary standstill as the two champions of the wizard slammed into each other and locked hands, each glaring into each other's eyes while they each tried to overpower the other.
"You're going to fall Black Adam! Today is the day that I stop you for good!" Captain Marvel roared over the thunder as his hooded eyes flashed with a greater power than the lightning that flashed around the two fighters. "You might think yourself the protector of the ponies, but we are the chosen champions! We will save them!"
Adam's response was to drive one of his knees forward right into the bridge of Marvel's nose, snapping the Captain's head back and flinging him higher into the clouds. A mighty right hook slammed into Marvel's stomach and nearly doubled him over, yet the Captain was fast enough to catch the next punch and drive Adam's own fist back into his face, stunning him long enough for Billy to retaliate with a superkick to the jaw.
"Yet, where were you when the changelings attacked the ponies' land?" Adam replied as he backed up and wiped his jaw with the back of his hand, checking to see if blood had been drawn. "Where were you when Discord, or Tirek, or Ares attacked this land? You may be the hero of your Equestria, but here I am the one who saved them! Who keeps them safe!"
"And how much evil and pain have you caused as well?"
Marvel expected Black Adam to scowl or argue in response, but to Captain Marvel's surprise, for a moment Adam hung his head with regret flashing in his eyes.
"Yes...I am the cause of so much of their pain. I am the one that took the Elements of Harmony from this land. I am the reason for the split between Celestia and Luna," Adam admitted with guilt choking his words, but when he lifted his head again Marvel saw the thundering power of Adam's conviction. "But know that every one of my actions has been for them, to keep them safe! I may not be the hero that they believe me to be, but I will do my damnedest to not fail them again."
"But you still have! You are partially responsible for the death of Mr. Freeze, the final champion," Marvel reminded his eternal foe. "And because of that, if the End of Days manage to summon the monster of destruction, we may not be able to defeat it! You might very well be the end of the world you say you cherish." Adam lowered his head in thought for a moment before he cast his thoughts aside and glared at Marvel.
"Enough. As I stated before, if these Elements you wield really are the key to saving this world, then prove it to me," Adam repeated as he prepared to re-enter the fight. "Prove that the power of the champions is enough to defeat the man who has defended this world for fifteen years. Prove that you are the better hero."
"That will be easy."
Marvel and Adam collided once again, the force of their impact blasted away the dark and thundering clouds that had been summoned by their power, allowing the blue sky to break through the darkness and illuminate the two champions of Shazam. An elbow to the face knocked Adam back a bit before Adam replied in kind with a back hand that spun Marvel around. Adam grabbed hold of both Marvel's shoulders and pulled him into his knee, driving the tip of his knee into the champion's back.
"You know that you cannot fight me Batson!" Adam roared as he lifted Captain Marvel over his head and hurled him down to the blackened remains of the Everfree Forest, creating a crater with the body of his age old foe. He then hurled himself down with both boots extended, aiming right at the spine of the Captain. Yet the speed of Mercury did not fail Marvel and he vanished just a split second before Adam's boots cleaved the ground in two, shaking the whole planet with the force of the impact. "You may have similar powers to the ones that I wield, but I have experience, I have the drive, and I wield the full power of the wizard. You cannot win."
"That's what you said the last time we fought and the time before that," Marvel retorted as he drove his shoulder into Adam's back, driving the both of them forward before Marvel grabbed hold of one of Adam's ankles. Captain Marvel grabbed hold of the other one before he began to spin his foe around, nearly turning into a tornado before he leapt up into the air and drove Adam face first into the barren wasteland. "Yet I managed to beat you then and I'll do it again."
"You are still a fool if you believe me to be the same as the Adam that you knew," Black Adam replied as he spun onto his back and drove his boots into the gut of Marvel, sending the crimson-clad champion skyward. Adam reached him a second later and with a thunderous right launched the boy back down into the wasteland. Marvel's body carved out a gorge as he plowed through the dirt, yet the moment he came to a stop he erupted out of the ground in a geyser of mud and earth as he rocketed back towards Adam.
"Arrogant. Tyrannical. Obsessed with power. How are you any different?" Marvel spat as he and Adam slammed into each other once again, the force of their blows generating shockwaves that could be felt for miles. Marvel threw a flurry of 'rights' and 'lefts' into the face and chest of Adam to force the fallen hero back, but the moment he relented his pressure Adam let lightning fly from his finger tips and burned his foe with his power. A Spartan kick to the chest hurled Marvel back in the very direction from which he had just come, yet with a quick flip Captain Marvel caught himself in the air.
"And you are still the child that you were back on my world. You still see reality as if it is black and white, as if there is only good and evil," Black Adam answered the Captain, who was too focused trying to find an opening to counter Adam's statement. "Yet the world is more gray than any other color. There is no perfect good and no absolute evil. Things are not that easy."
"Tartra dokon rok Shazam!" was Captain Marvel's reply as a sphere comprised of pure lightning forged itself in his hands, creating bolts of lightning that lanced out in nearly every direction as Marvel struggled to restrain the power of his own attack. "I was a child. But now I'm more than that. I am a hero!" Marvel roared as he hurled the sphere towards Black Adam, tearing apart both the land and sky as the sphere not only ripped apart anything it passed by, but as it also drained the color from the sky. Adam barely had enough time to extend both of his hands before the sphere collided with him, slowly pushing him back while the sphere sucked the color out of him as well as the area around him, leaving only two colors.
"Huh, look at that. Things are looking pretty black and white to me now."
Adam gritted his teeth as the sheer power tore through his body, making his limbs scream with agony while the lightning lanced through his body and attacked every part of him. Yet despite the overwhelming power of Captain Marvel's attack, Black Adam knew that this victory was his. So with a word, Adam decided to end the battle.
"Shazam."
Captain Marvel covered his face with his arms as a single black bolt of lightning descended from on high and struck itself down upon Black Adam, decimating the sphere that Marvel had thrown along with the surrounding landscape. Marvel lowered his arms the moment the lightning stopped, but in the next instant Adam's fist collided with Marvel's face. For a brief moment, all Marvel could feel was his teeth rattling inside of his skull, but in the next instant he was reaching the outer atmosphere, where he barely regained his senses in time to stop himself from being launched off the planet.
"As I said, child," Black Adam quietly spoke when he appeared before Billy, his suit a divine white while his body glowed with absolute magical power, "you cannot win." Captain Marvel roared as he brought his arm back, but faster than he could register Black Adam shattered Marvel's midsection with one mighty blow, causing Marvel to gag while he doubled over with wide eyes. Adam swung his knee upward and crushed Captain Marvel's face with the impact, snapping Marvel's head back before launching the Champion of Thunder right out of the planet's atmosphere.
Adam caught up to him a moment later and spun his body around at the speed of light to build momentum, before he unleashed a devastating side kick right into the Captain's stomach, breaking his insides and launching him into the side of the moon. The lunar satellite shivered from the force of the impact while large cracks spread along its surface, with Captain Marvel imbedded in the point of impact.
"You believe yourself to be able to save this world?" Adam asked Marvel as he floated down next to where the Captain lay, looking down at his barely moving foe with a look of disdain. "How can you hope to save this world when you have not the power to best me? Clearly, you were wrong when you believed yourself to be one of the champions chosen to save this world. It seems that you are still what you always have been. A child trying to play with powers that he has no right using."
Adam then bent over and grabbed Marvel by the throat, pulling him from the crater that his body had made and holding him aloft over Adam's head. Adam narrowed his eyes as he glared into Marvel's eyes, eyes that were glazed over and barely focused. "And this is all you could muster in an attempt to defeat me. Pitiful. Though I suppose that I cannot blame you entirely. The wizard was a fool for choosing one so young to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders. Come Batson, let us return."
Black Adam turned and prepared to launch the two of them back to the planet below...when once again everything froze in time for Black Adam. Captain Marvel on the other hand, felt a sudden surge of strength course through his body that brought him back to his senses. With a quick effort he broke free of Black Adam's grip and looked around to find that even the rocks that had been kicked up by his breaking the moon were motionless, the wisdom of Solomon telling him that time must have come to a stop.
'That would be because of me.'
Captain Marvel turned to face the voice only to be blinded by a radiant gleam of light, which took him a moment to get accustomed to. When he could see through the light, he found the source of said light was a massive alicorn, one that was larger than he was. The alicorn was a divine silver with eyes that might have been older than Shazam himself, eyes that were filled with wisdom and curiosity. Marvel looked down to realize that he was no longer Captain Marvel, but was instead Billy Batson.
"So...you must be the original wielder of one of the Elements," the wisdom of Solomon spoke aloud, getting the alicorn to nod before his horn flashed and healed all of the wounds that Billy had suffered. "So what are you, the Element of Magic?"
'No, my Element is far more powerful than the ones that the ponies wield,' the alicorn said before looking down at the child, a smile breaking out along the alicorn's lips as he gave Billy an approving nod. 'Yes, I was indeed right in picking you.'
"Picking me to be the Element?"
'Correct. You have suffered many hardships in your life, among them being your life on the street, your struggle to find happiness, and the battle with evil that you have endured over the years since being chosen by the wizard. Yet despite everything that happened, no matter how low the darkness of evil tried to pull you, you only came out stronger, only shone brighter with every test that you overcame. Even recently, with the tragic death of the CMC and the other ponies, you still refused to be led into the darkness and only became stronger as a result. There is a light within you, young Batson, that can illuminate any darkness, no matter how potent. A light for all who are lost in the darkness.'
"Well, I guess that lightning is a form of light," Billy said with a smile before he took on a more serious look. "But if I am the champion, then I'm going to need that Element right about now. Adam's been kicking my butt something fierce."
'Very well, my Champion of Radiance, you shall have my power!'
Adam roared in confusion as a massive explosion of magic went off behind him, hurling Adam off of the moon and into space where he quickly caught himself. He spun around only to receive a fist to the jaw that rocketed him back down into the moon, where he was buried within the satellite. Yet a moment later, he burst through the surface of the moon and glared up at the new source of power, hardly surprised by what he saw.
"So...you were one of the chosen champions," Adam confirmed as he gazed upon his foe. Captain Marvel had traded in his crimson attire for a divine white outfit that looked eerily similar to what Black Adam was wearing, complete with golden gauntlets, grieves and cape with silver trim. Yet, Adam's eyes were drawn to Marvel's head because a golden crown with a lightning bolt in the center rested upon it, filling the very space around them with its radiant energy.
"Yes Adam, I am. And you are done," Captain Marvel said as he floated over to the Supreme Adam, who floated up to meet Marvel just above the surface of the moon.
"Really? I do not accept that, Batson. You will have to show me, Chosen Champion, show me that your power is greater than the Champion of Equestria," Black Adam demanded.
"Very well," Captain Marvel replied.
Adam threw a right hand that was blocked by one of the Captain's gauntlets. In the next moment, Captain Marvel unleashed a storm of divine magic into Black Adam, but in a flash of lightning the Dark Champion vanished. A boot to the side of his head informed Captain Marvel as to where Adam had vanished to, allowing him to recover from the blow and drive his fist into Adam's gut to double him over. With his foe temporarily stunned, Captain Marvel infused his right fist with the divine lightning as he aimed at Black Adam's jaw.
"This ends now! Thu-" Adam's head snapped up and slammed into the bridge of Marvel's nose, cutting him off while also stunning the Captain. Adam completed the uppercut for Batson and drove his clenched fist into the jaw of Marvel, sending him flying upward. Adam shot up after him and followed up the uppercut with a knee to the jaw, yet Marvel barely began to move before Adam's hand shot out and wrapped itself around Marvel's throat.
"SHAZAM!" Black Adam roared before hurling Marvel down to the moon below, dodging to the side as the divine lightning went tumbling down after the champion. Marvel crashed headfirst into the moon, managing to push himself up only to be struck down by the lightning that had been following him. Before he could recover, Black Adam collided into Marvel's back with his boots, sending the two champions of Shazam through the moon and back out to the other side.
"Fall, child!" Black Adam roared as he grabbed hold of Marvel's face with one of his hands and began to unleash wave after wave of magical power into his foe's face. Yet to Adam's utter confusion, Marvel reached up and pulled the hand off of his face, allowing Adam to look into his divine eyes for a brief moment before Marvel struck back.
"As I was saying!" Marvel roared before kneeing Adam into the stomach with enough force to shatter the part of the moon upon which they were standing. With Adam stunned for a moment, Marvel once again brought back his fist and infused it with his almighty power. Then he swung it for all he was worth, landing his fist square in the center of Adam's jaw with a cry of,
"Thundering Uppercut!"
The uppercut launched Adam with a thunderous blow, but before Adam could get too far Marvel was right beside him. Captain Marvel followed the uppercut with a wicked right blow followed by a lightning power left, then raised his elbow up and drove it back down into Adam's back. He then grabbed hold of one of Adam's legs and began to spin the fallen champion, unleashing him back down towards the planet a moment later. Marvel's enhanced strength was so great that Adam had broken through the planet's atmosphere and slammed into the ocean only a few seconds later, creating a massive chasm in the center of the ocean.
"Still want to keep going?" Marvel called down into the chasm, only to receive his answer a moment later when Black Adam shot out of the depths and drove his shoulder into Captain Marvel's gut, taking them both across the sky before twin hammer fists to the back of Adam's head sent him crashing back down into a grassy field. Marvel hurled himself down towards Adam with both fists extended, yet moments before impact Adam planted his hands into the ground and with all of his might kicked up with both of his legs, catching Marvel in the face with two boots. Marvel was hurled back into the side of a building.
"Wait, where are we?" Marvel asked with a groan as he pulled himself out of the now collapsed building to find that he was in a small town that he knew all too well. His thoughts were confirmed when he looked around to see a number of ponies looking at him, before they turned to see where Black Adam was. "Wait, how that heck did we end up in Ponyville? We were on the moon a moment ago."
"All that matters now is that we finish our fight." Marvel spun around to take a knee to the jaw that brought the fight back up into the skies. Marvel growled as he turned to face Black Adam, who was bleeding in a number of places, yet still had a look of defiance in his eyes.
"What's the matter Adam, your old bones starting to hurt?" Marvel taunted as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve, snarling as he noticed blood along where he wiped.
"And it seems that you are not holding up as well either," Black Adam pointed out with narrowed eyes as he crossed his arms. "Despite what you may think, Batson, this is not a personal battle. But I do not trust you or the silver mare when it comes to the safety of this world. Celestia entrusted it to me and I will not fail her as I have done so before."
"So you're going to be a fool to the end, huh? WE have the Elements of Harmony! We are the champions chosen to save this world!" Captain Marvel roared in reply, lightning crackling along his fists . "I don't care if Celestia entrusted the entire cosmos to you, you don't have the power needed to beat the darkness that is coming! But you're far too stubborn to accept that there is nothing you can do!"
"No...I am the protector of the ponies! I cannot accept that I cannot help them in the face of this threat! I will not!" Adam roared as dark lightning flashed along his body, darkening the sky with its power. "And you are wrong as well, Batson. I have the true power of the wizard, a power that can defeat any foe. Your Elemental magic may have allowed you to combat me, but I still stand. And no matter what you try, I will remain standing."
"No Adam, today is the day that you learn what real power is and where it comes from," Captain Marvel growled in reply as he let all of the power within the Element flow through his body. Radiant light shone from his body like he was the sun and he focused all of that power into his two fists. Adam roared as black lightning began to surge through him, creating veins of black lightning along his suit while he channeled all of his power into his legs.
"Today is the day that you fall like you have always fallen!" Marvel roared.
"No! Today is the day that I prove that I am better!" Black Adam bellowed in response.
Both combatants roared with fury in their eyes and voices as they hurled themselves at each other across the sky, Captain Marvel sticking out both fists as he screamed across the sky while Adam locked his legs together and dove towards Marvel with both boots extended. An instant later it seemed as if the very sky itself had exploded, because the air was torn apart by the force of the collision and lightning was hurled in every conceivable direction. The planet shook as if it were trying to tear itself apart as two columns of sheer magical power lanced into the sky.
For the ponies in Ponyville, they were aware that Black Adam was fighting Captain Marvel, but they couldn't begin to fathom what had just happened. But in the next moment, two meteors impacted into the streets of their town, creating a horrendous impact that knocked over buildings and made sure that no pony was left standing. No pony dared to try and stand up until the tremors had stopped, yet when they did the bravest of the ponies slowly began to walk towards where the meteors had fallen, easily located due to the columns of smoke rising from the craters.
"I...I think I see something moving," one of them whispered as they saw a tall human with a lightning bolt on his chest begin to move out of one of the craters and through the smoke. For a brief moment that seemed like an eternity, the town held its breath as the figure walked out of the smoke, waiting to see who the victor was. And then he emerged.
"HE WON!" the crowd of ponies roared with joy in their voice as the black clad thunderer dragged himself out of the smoke, holding a limp arm with one hand while blood poured down his face. Yet despite the pain caused by his injuries, the Champion of Shazam walked over to the other crater and waved away the smoke, revealing a crimson-clad champion laying unconscious at the bottom of the crater and a golden crown that lay off to the side. He then turned his head to look at the celebrating ponies, allowing a small smile to crease his lips as he acknowledged what they were cheering.
They were cheering the fact that Black Adam had won.