"Ok, I think they were this way," Sora said, as they rounded a corner. Eventually, they had arrived at a door.
"Alright, looks like its my turn," Takanosuke said, as he approached the access panel. He then began punching keys at lightning speed. After about ten seconds, the doors opened, revealing the cage holding the Fujiyama brother's new friends on the other side of the room.
"This is easier than I thought," Leon commented. He was about to go and break them out, when he was stopped by Sora.
"Too easy. Why are they just sitting in the middle of the room?" Sora asked.
"I smell the parfum of a trap," Zach commented.
"I agree. Look at those ledges. They're perfect for a sniper. We walk in to where they're at, and suddenly, we're boxed in. And look at the room. Its the perfect setup for a laser web," Takanosuke added.
"Good point. Looks like its my turn now," Leon added, as he summoned a flurry of snow to dust out any lasers. However, there were no lasers.
"Strange, I would've thought there were some laser traps," Sora commented.
"Alright, lets continue on, but lets move cautiously," Zach said, as the four of them tiptoed their way towards the cage, being careful of any traps. Eventually, they had arrived at the cage.
"Hey, you guys ok?" Sora asked. The kids stirred at his words. Looking up, Cory came face to face with Zach.
"Man!" was all Zach said. This caused Cory to recoil back in surprise.
"Who are you guys?" Joshua asked.
"Don't worry. We're friends of Silver and his brothers," Takanosuke said, looking at the digital lock on the cage, "Now then, lets see what we can do about this then," he said, as he began to try and pick the lock.
"So you guys are Silver's new friends?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, we met them the other day," Trinity replied, as Takanosuke got the lock undone.
"Ok, that should do it," Takanosuke said, as the cage opened.
"C'mon guys, we'd better get out of here," Leon said, as they all made their way to the door. However, they didn't make it very far, as they soon found themselves surrounded by soldiers. Lockdown was among them.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" Lockdown taunted, as he approached them, "A couple of escapees?" he taunted further, "Arrest them!" Lockdown commanded. However, Zach and the trident weren't having it.
"As if!" Sora yelled, as he summoned a hurricane strong gale, which sent several guards flying.
"Rage, o' blizzard!" Leon commanded, as a flurry of snow was summoned to stop several more guards. Lockdown sneered at this, and turned to a random soldier.
"Don't just stand there, CALL FOR REINFORCEMENTS!" Lockdown ordered.
"Yes sir!" the soldier said, as he ran out of the room. Lockdown turned his attention back to the prisoners.
"Alright, if this is how you want to play," Lockdown said, as he shot another net at the children, completely ensnaring them.
"This again?" Vibrant angrily asked.
"This is such a pain," Mike commented.
"Don't worry. So long as you have my friends and myself to fight this battle, we shall breathe deep the parfum of freedom!" Zach said, striking a dramatic pose.
"Uh, sir, about that," Takanosuke called.
"Yes, what is it?" Zach asked, looking towards his friend.
"They captured us while you were making that speech," Leon commented.
Zach still had his confident expression, but he began sweating at seeing his friends in a cage, "WHAT A TRAGEDY!" Zach exclaimed. Lockdown and all the soldiers loomed over Zach.
"Heh, this is the most fun I've had in ages!" Lockdown said. Zach backed up from him.
"Now hold on!" Zach pleaded. The soldiers didn't listen, and went on the attack.
"NO ZACH!" the trident cried.
"Sora, Takanosuke, Leon," Zach said, as he flew through the air, only to be met with another barrage of attacks, 'My dear friends, I'm sorry for dragging you into this. I should've know that the three of you are lovers, not fighters. And yet you chose the noble path, and fought bravely. You put your handsome faces in harms way! I failed my three best friends. HOW COULD I HAVE LET YOU FALL?!' Zach thought to himself, as he fell to the ground, just in front of the nets holding the children and the trident.
"ZACH NO!" the children and the Trident all cried out.
"Alright troops, arrest him as well!" Lockdown ordered, as Zach slowly began to get back up.
"Don't worry my friends. I promise I will free you. I shall reveal the handsome face of justice!" Zach thought to himself, as he began to bulk up some muscle, "Muscle, muscle man! Man, man, muscle, muscle! Muscle, man, man!" Zach chanted, as he became a towering giant, "To my friends, I dedicate the parfum of victory!" Zach bellowed, as he turned his attention back to Lockdown and his henchmen.
"What the.. How did he get so huge?" one soldier asked.
"This mutant's power allows him to tap into odors, and use them accordingly. But nevertheless, we must capture him!" Lockdown ordered as every soldier charged at Zach.
"You can very well try, but your attacks shall melt, against my beautiful dreamer," Zach began, as his hair covered his face, "SMILE!" he finished, as his hair got out of his face, to reveal him smiling at the soldiers. The soldiers all stopped, and looked at him questioningly, including Lockdown, "AND SMASH!" Zach yelled, as he delivered an uppercut to all the soldiers. The children were visibly nauseated at Zach's choice of attack, as Lockdown and his soldiers all crashed into the wall and/or ceiling. Zach struck another pose, "MAN!" was all he said, as he broke the nets, holding his friends, "Are you all ok?" Zach asked, striking another dramatic pose.
"Uh, yeah. We are," Cory replied awkwardly.
"Zach, sir! If we go to the central control room, we should be able to free every mutant across the city!" Takanosuke commented.
"An excellent idea Takanosuke," Zach replied.
"Can we come along?" Nyx asked. The four teens thought about it for a moment, before turning back to alicorn filly.
"Alright, but we need to move, now!" Sora replied, as the group made their way for the central control room.
Back with Silver's group,
They stood before a foreboding door, that they felt was taunting them, judging them, "Alright guys, this is it. Once we step through those doors, there's no turning back from the fight that's ahead," Silver said.
"We understand. And I feel that we're all ready for it," Eliza replied. All the other mutants there nodded, except for Naomi, who seemed rather reluctant to go into battle.
'I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this,' Naomi thought herself. Stealth noticed the look of worry on his girlfriend's face.
"Naomi, is there something wrong?" the ninja asked.
"Hmm, no, I'm fine Akira, nya," Naomi replied. Stealth still seemed unsure. Just then, the doors opened.
"Lets go," Heiru said, as they advanced to the room ahead. Once they were all inside, the doors slammed shut behind them.
"So good of you to come all this way," the lights turned on, to reveal John Clark, looking rather smug.
"You may as well surrender now John," Silver declared.
"We have the passage from your diary, so we can expose you for the fraud you truly are," Raiden commented, pulling out the diary. John did another feminine screech, as he swiped the diary from the thunder mutant.
"Seriously dude, none of us girls would decorate our diary's that girly," April commented.
"SHUT UP!" John yelled, putting his diary in a nearby trunk, before turning back to the mutants, "Now then, its high time you brats get what you deserve," John said, as he snapped his fingers. The roof then opened up to reveal they were all in a large coliseum, "Of course, I wouldn't want to keep the public from seeing your execution, so I'm broadcasting it live worldwide!" John exclaimed.
"You'd really broadcast your own downfall? Are you serious?" Simon asked.
"That's some pretty bold talk, coming from a lowly mutant," John commented, as he tossed his cape off to the side, "But I think I'll save you for later," John said, as he looked around at the mutants, "I think I'll start with one of those Fujiyama boys. They've proven to be quite elusive for my soldiers," he smirked, as he eyed the eight brothers, settling his eyes on Echo-Echo, "You'll go first!" John said, as he summoned poorly drawn spirits around the robot.
"WHAT IS THIS?" Echo-Echo asked, as the spirits grabbed his arms, and started to massage them, "THIS IS YOUR STYLE OF COMBAT? A MASSAGE?" the robot asked incredulously. It was then he noticed something was off. His metallic body was starting to feel warped, as though he were made of sculpting clay, "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" the robot demanded.
"That is my power. I can turn anyone who defies me into a work of art!" John exclaimed, as Echo-Echo became more and more clay like, and was eventually turned into a modernist art sculpture. The friends all gasped at the fate that had befell their robot friend, "Now then, who should be my next masterpiece?" John pondered, eyeing the mutants. His eyes fell on Silver, "How about you?" John asked, as he summoned spirits around the psychic teen. The spirits began to massage Silver's arms, as he became more clay like.
"We can't just sit by and let him do this!" Eliza exclaimed, as her arms morphed into long swords, and began to hack away at the spirits.
Lucas then howled like a wolf, "I won't allow this!" he exclaimed, as his nails elongated to an unimaginable length, "Mega, Mega Jellyfish!" Lucas yelled, as he slashed at the spirits. It was then that Stealth noticed some peculiar about two of the spirits. They looked exactly like his brothers. And the two spirits were massaging John's arms like they were clay.
"Will you two stop that?!" John yelled, knocking the two spirits back, as they reverted back into their original forms, "Hmm, so it appears that attack doesn't work on you mutants," John commented, as he began to ponder what to do next. Then, he got an idea, "I know. Maybe you'll like my Clay Spike Valley!" John exclaimed, as he summoned spikes straight from the ground. Silver and them all dodged the spikes by cartwheeling away from them, "Run away all you want, it'll do very little good," John taunted, as they all kept cartwheeling away. Maria was getting tired, and leaped for a nearby wall. Jumping from the wall, she shot a spider web at John, who used some clay to forge a sword to slash away the web.
"Ok, this is going be harder than I thought," Silver commented.
"Much harder than you think," John tormented, as a network of gear shaped images appeared around each of the mutants.
"What is this?" Icezer asked.
"I don't give a crap about what it is!" Brian exclaimed, as he charged at John, fully ignited.
"Brian, don't do it!" Silver called out, but it was too late. John had smacked Brian away before he could deliver a blow to the cruel dictator, "I could sense it from a mile away. This network allows John to know what we're about to do, even be we know what we're going to do," Silver explained.
"How can you tell?" April asked.
"Every wielder of telekinetic powers can sense out other psychic wavelengths in various attacks. So, when John summoned these, I just put two and two together," Silver explained.
"I see. So you could detect it right off the bat?" Eliza asked.
"Yeah, but it'll make things harder for us. This network allows him to read our thoughts, even before we can think them up," Silver explained.
"That's so not fair!" Cassidy complained.
"Not to worry. Since I'm a psychic mutant, I can easily take this network down, but I need some time," Silver said, as he began to counteract John's network.
"In the mean time, we need to cover Silver," Stealth said, as he threw some leaf shaped shurikens. John merely swung a sword made of clay to knock away the leafs. Eliza then morphed her arms into swords, which she then used to engage John Clark with. She fought valiantly, but she was repelled with ease, as the others tried to combat John Clark, but were just as easily repelled as Eliza was.
"Silver, we could use some help!" Heiru called.
"Don't rush me! I've almost got it!" Silver exclaimed, as the network died off.
"Hmm, so you've neutralized that technique," John commented.
"You may as well surrender now. Now that we've figured out your strongest attacks, there's no way we can loose now!" Carlos exclaimed.
"'Strongest attacks'? When have I ever used any of my strongest techniques?" John asked. The mutant's, and pony's eyes all widened, "That's right, I have yet to use any of my best moves," John explained.
"That means he's barely trying!" April exclaimed.
"Which means we don't even stand a chance against him!" Simon added.
"Don't be so quick to back down now. We can still fight," Francisco explained. Naomi seemed to be the most worried about this.
'Please, don't do this to them,' she thought to herself.