//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: The battle of the arts; Mutants VS. John Clark // Story: Rise of the Titans (edited) // by darkmage1997 //------------------------------// "Now here this; I have never used any of my strongest attacks!" John said. The mutants and ponies gasped. "But all those attacks were really strong," Icezer commented. "If that's the case, we may not stand a chance against him," Maria added. "If that's the case, we'll just have to keep trying," Silver said, as John began to gear up for an attack. "Now, you'll see my true power!" John taunted. "WE DON'T WANNA!" Echo-Echo exclaimed. "Oh, but you do," John taunted. The mutants all screamed in fear, "Here it is," he said, building up tension, "Its a rerun of the story!" the mutants all screamed even more, "Its my artistic power!" John exclaimed. "Huh, that's it?" April asked. "So, what do you think he means by that?" Carlos asked Simon and Lucas. "Who knows?" Simon asked. "No doubt he'll use the various types of art to combat us," Eliza commented. Back with the other children, Zach, and the Trident, After defeating Lockdown, Zach, the trident, and the children all made their way into the control room, "Ok, looks like this is the control center for every one of John Clark's prisons," Takanosuke commented, as he dashed for the control panel. "Wait, so you can hack into the prison's security system from here?" Trinity asked. "Pfft, I've hacked into several computers with more security than this," Takanosuke replied. "Wait, if you could hack into computers like this, why didn't you just do that to break yourselves out?" Vibrant asked. "Takanosuke needs a computer terminal to do that. Without one, we were pretty much stuck," Sora explained. "Takanosuke's mutant power allows him to hack computers, and calculate billions among billions of different passwords and codes in one second," Leon added. "Really?" Trinity asked. The other two nodded. "Ok, I've just got to disable two more prisons, and then we'll have a large enough fighting force against John Clark," Takanosuke commented, as continued to punch in keys. "What do we do after that?" Clover asked. "Afterwards, we need to coordinate every mutant in the city to come and help Silver and the others in their fight against John," Takanosuke replied, as he finished punching in the last keys, "Ok, every mutant is out, now to gather them here," Takanosuke commented. "How do you plan on doing that?" Charity asked. "Well, I hacked into each of the prison's intercom systems while breaking every other mutant out. So, using said intercom, I can relay messages to each of the prisons, thus calling every mutant in the city to John's palace," Takanosuke said, as he activated the intercom system, "Calling all mutants, calling all mutants, this is Takanosuke Rivers call to all mutants released from New Burbank prisons owned by John Clark. I am calling to all mutants to come to John Clark's fortress to assist in the rebellion against him. The Fujiyama brothers have evidence to prove to the public that John Clark is a fraud! Come to the fortress and assist in anyway possible," Takanosuke said. "So, what now?" Joshua asked. "For now, we need to thin the numbers of John's army, and then make our way back up to Silver and the others," Leon said. "We'd better get a move on. No doubt John's forces will be on their way to capture us again," Sora commented. "I doubt it. I'm looking at the security cameras, and I don't see any henchmen," Takanosuke replied. "Maybe they're laying low?" Season Harvest suggested. "Anything is possible," Zach replied. "Either way, I don't think we should stand around," Melody commented. "Right, we'd better get a move on," Cory said, as they all left the control room. The battle against John Clark's real power had begun, as he clasped his hands together, "Alright, take my Command Orchestra!" John bellowed, as four large subwoofers rose up from the ground, and started to play orchestra music. One by one, each of the mutants and ponies fell to their knees. "What's going on?" Twilight demanded. "My Command Orchestra forces all who hears its melody to fall to their knees," John explained. "This is bad, we won't be able to launch a counterstrike at this rate," Eliza commented, looking around at her friends. She then saw Brian flat on his face, "HOW IS THAT BOWING?!" Eliza demanded. "AH, THAT'S JUST HOW BRIAN SHOWS RESPECT. TOO BAD HE'S NOT SHOWING TO ANYONE RESPECTABLE," Echo-Echo replied, as he laid on a sushi platter. "Quite frankly," Silver began. Eliza turned her head to where Silver was at, "I respect me most of all," Silver said, sitting in a throne. He then glared at John Clark, "But you're in no position for respect!" Silver yelled, delivering a kick to John's gut, sending the latter flying back, holding his side where Silver had kicked him. "Ok, NOW I'm mad," John stated, as the subwoofers sounded to be getting louder. This forced Silver down to his knees. "We need to disable the subwoofers!" Raiden called to his friends. "Leave that to me," Eliza said, "Silver, I need you to throw me at John," Eliza instructed. Silver complied by picking Eliza up with his psychic powers, and throwing her directly at John Clark, "Take this!" Eliza yelled, as he arms turned into clubs that she bashed against John's face, "And as for that music of yours," Eliza said, as she looked at the subwoofers. Her arms then turned into grappling hooks, which she threw over the top of the subwoofers, grabbing the back of them, "You have terrible taste!" Eliza yelled, as she pulled the subwoofers down, slamming them on the ground. This in turn freed all of her friends. "Thanks Eliza. Our knees were starting to get sore," Carlos commented. "I'll say," Stealth said, as he and his brothers were all flat on their faces. "WILL YOU GUYS TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!?!" Claire demanded, as John was getting up. "YOU'RE ALL MAKING ME ANGRY!" John yelled, "Since you kids want to play it that way, then try this on for size!" John exclaimed, as he summoned a giant tower that looked to be made of sculpting clay, "The Tower of Demise will be where this little quarrel ends," John taunted, as he teleported to the top of the tower, "And just to make things a little harder on you," John said, as he summoned several eggs made from clay, "These carnivorous sculptured eggs will end you before you even make it half way up here," John taunted. However, his self glory was short lived when Eliza morphed her arms into swords and slashed all the eggs in half. "C'mon guys!" Lucas called out, as they all started running up the stairs that came with the tower. "If that's how you wish to do things, then I'll just go ahead and give you some toys to play with," John taunted, as lasers started shooting out of the tower. Raiden, Stealth, Carlos, Icezer, Brian and Silver all fired back at the lasers, destroying them, as the mutants all raced up the stairs, "Persistent little bugs. Alright, take this then!" John bellowed, as he had summoned lookalike clay clones of himself. "What is this? You're s desperate for bodyguards that you make clones of yourself?" Heiru asked, as the clones went on the attack. The mutants all fought back bravely, as each of the clay clones fell, one right after the other. "Strike down as many as you want. It makes no difference. I can craft as many clones to combat you," John said, as twice as many clones appeared in front of the mutants. "Man, this is becoming tedious. We need a way around these clones," Simon commented. "Leave that to me," Francisco replied, as he warped the space around his friends to teleport them all up to where John Clark was standing. "ATTACK!" Silver yelled, as all the mutants unleashed a barrage of attacks against John Clark. John could barely keep up with the attacks as he fell from the top of the tower, and landed hard on his desk. Silver's group leapt down from the tower. "So that's it? John's defeated?" April asked. "Most likely. Now we can inform the authorities," Raiden replied. The mutants all turned to leave, except for Naomi, who had a look of contempt on her face. 'I'm sorry. I didn't want for it to come down to this,' the cat girl thought to herself. As she went to celebrate with her friends, her cat like ears heard something coming from John Clark's direction. Turning to where the dictator laid, her eyes widened in horror at what she saw; John Clark was getting back up. This caught the attention of the others. "This guy just doesn't know when to quit!" Lucas angrily yelled. "You little pests are really starting to become a pain. I guess now its time to show you my real power!" John exclaimed as he stuck a syringe filled with a green liquid in his leg. After the syringe was empty, John Clark had begun to transform. His hair became longer, and more slick, and his armor looked to take on the appearance of works of clay art, "You brats may have had a chance before, but now is where your story ends!" John taunted. The Fujiyama brothers and their friends geared up for the REAL fight.