//------------------------------// // Chapter 27: Mutants VS. Ultra John Clark // Story: Rise of the Titans (edited) // by darkmage1997 //------------------------------// John had been giving off tremendous amounts of power, as the mutants all readied themselves for a real battle, "Now, fear the wrath of my true power, and smell my pits!" John bellowed, as he summoned a gale, that was strong enough the send each of the mutants back a few paces. "His power, it defies all logic!" Eliza commented. "This may be our toughest battle ever," Maria added. "Hold your ground. We can't show weakness just because he looks tougher," Silver said, trying to encourage his friends to keep fighting, as the room around them disintegrated. "Right, so we need to keep hammering out attacks!" Icezer bellowed, as he fired a cannon of ice at John. "Right behind ya," Brian said, as he fired a burst of flames at John. "Same game, new frame!" John bellowed, as the ice and fire suddenly disappeared. "What happened?!" Cassidy asked. "Hmm, somehow he neutralized the attacks," Raiden summarized. "But how can that be?" Twilight asked. "I don't know, but I think it may have to do with this new form of his," Raiden theorized. "He may have changed forms, but he's still the same dictator that we need to take down!" Claire replied, as they all charged at John Clark. "You buffoons would be smart if you walked away, but you're buffoons!" John taunted, as he sent a shockwave which sent all the mutants flying back. "Man, if we can't get a hit in, we won't be able to defeat him," Francisco commented. "Maybe we can try this," Stealth said, as clones of himself appeared. The clones all charged at John, "Quickly, while he's distracted!" Stealth whispered, as the mutants all charge at John themselves. John merely blew away the clones, but failed to see Silver and his friends closing in on him. "I see, the clones were just a diversion," John said, as the mutants got in close. However, when they threw punches at John, their fists just fazed right through John, as if he were a hologram. The mutants all jumped back to keep their distance, "I am not sympathetic to your pathetic attack!" John taunted evilly. Why didn't their attacks work?" Rarity asked. I don't know, but I would guess that it has something to do with this new form of his," Celestia replied. "Try and understand it all you want, you worthless twerps will never understand the true power of art!" John taunted. It was then when Raiden realized something. "Of course! John Clark must've took on this form because of his obsession for art!" Raiden exclaimed. "So we can only get to him through artistic attacks!" April added. "But Takashi ate all the crayons," Cassidy pointed out. "So we'll just do the next best thing; improvise," Silver said, as he grabbed a nearby rock and started drawing something on the ground. After a few strokes, his friends saw that he drew a picture of outer space, "How do you like that, John?" Silver taunted. "That pathetic chicken scratch is only twelve percent good!" John angrily yelled, as Silver's score was literally thrown at him. "Then I'll just have to make something then!" Icezer said, as he formed a large sword made of ice, and charged at John. However, before got close, a score of 100 percent appeared above him, "Wait, I got a perfect score? But how can that be?! I haven't done anything yet!" Icezer demanded, "Could it be, that I'm art?" Icezer asked himself, "Of course, just by existing I create art!" Icezer proclaimed. Several artist then appeared before him. "Oh Icezer, you're great one!" one artist commented. "Please allow us to study your workmanship, your greatness!" another begged. "Well, I am great," Icezer replied, acting like a big shot. "Will you take this seriously?!" Eliza demanded. "Hey, are you living art? Don't talk to me unless you're living art!" Icezer snapped. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Eliza demanded, giving Icezer the angriest look imaginable. Icezer then hid behind Echo-Echo. "HEY, DO I LOOK LIKE A SHIELD TO YOU?!" Echo-Echo yelled at his brother. "Hmm, this kids seem do only quarrel amongst themselves. It'll make their defeat all the more enjoyable for the public," John said to himself, as he launched a barrage of art themed attacks at the mutants. The mutants didn't have enough time to dodge, as the attacks all threw them on the ground. They all struggled to get back on their feet. Naomi seemed to have the most pained expression among them. 'Why, why are you doing this?' Naomi thought to herself. "You mutants should just surrender now. Everyone in the entire city despises your kind, so why bother trying to make yourselves look like heroes?" John asked. "The reason we're doing this, is for our friends!" Silver spat. "Our friends suffered because of your lies," Raiden added. "You made all of us mutants look like common criminals," Heiru added. "Surrendering to you would be worse than betrayal!" Brian finished. It was then when the eight brothers could hear their heartbeats, as their power began to surge. John quirked an eyebrow at this development. Eliza, Carlos, Claire, and all of the Fujiyama brothers' friends looked at the brothers in amazement as formless marks appeared on their body. The brothers seemed oblivious to the marks, as their respective powers began to change in terms of color. Raiden's electricity became red, Brian's fire became a deep forest green, Icezer's ice became magenta, Silver's telekinetic power became gold, Heiru's spiritual energy became a mysterious gray color, Francisco's spacial robes became a sea foam green, Stealth's leaves became more emerald green, and Echo-Echo's normally blue body became a lighter shade of blue. "Hmm, interesting. This is most certainly a surprising turn of events," John observed. From the sidelines, Twilight and friends were wide eyed at this transformation. "Ah've never seen anything like this before!" Applejack exclaimed. "Celestia, what is this?" Twilight asked. "I can't say with any certainty," Celestia replied, 'But it could most likely be Silver's and his brother's true power,' she then thought to herself. Back with Toby's group, "Alright, it should be this way," Takanosuke said, as the group ran around a corner. "So, why are we going this way?" Vibrant asked. "When I hacked into the security system, I found the schematics to the building, so I know where the exit is," Takanosuke replied. "Well, we've been lucky so far. We haven't run into any guards," Lucky Joy pointed out. "That's true, but the question is 'why haven't we seen any guards?' I'm sure news about Lockdown's defeat would surely alert the guards to be more on high alert," Sora pointed out. "Well, maybe the defeat of Lockdown caused the other guards to go into hiding," Toby theorized. Just then, they could see the exit. "Alright, we're in the clear!" Leon exclaimed. However, halfway to the door, marks appeared on each of the children. Butterflies on Toby, diamonds on Conner, Apples on Mike, stars on Joshua, Kelly, Cory and Crystal, rainbows on Echo, balloons on Melody and Clover, and hearts on Nathan. "What the... What are these things?!" Cory asked. "I don't know, I've never seen anything like that in the books I read," Nyx replied. "There are people who still have books?" Leon whispered to Sora. "Well, they are from another world, so its possible," Sora replied. "Hmm, well, maybe your parents know something about it. C'mon," Takanosuke said, as they all ran through the door way. Back with Discord, Eris, Fluttershy and Heaven, "Ok, that's the last of it," Eris said, putting a bandage on Heaven's leg. "Thank you!" Heaven chimed. Shockwaves echoed throughout the walls of castle. "They must really be going at it," Discord commented. "Maybe we should head outside," Fluttershy suggested. "Yeah, would be a good idea," Discord agreed. It was then when formless markings appeared all over Heaven's body, "What in the world?" he asked. "What are these?" Eris asked. "I don't know for certain, but I can sense near infinite magic power coursing through these marks," Discord replied, inspecting the marks. "Is that good or bad?" Heaven asked. "Hmm, well, I don't feel any negative power coming from them. So I would venture to assume they're good," Discord replied. The shockwaves from above were becoming more intense by the minute, "We can analyze this outside," Discord quickly said, as they all made their way outside. The fight against John Clark was now tipping in favor of the mutants, as the Fujiyama brothers all pummeled John Clark with a barrage of attacks, but John kept his ground, "You lowly mutants think you can defeat me? I am the strongest warrior in all of New Burbank! You can't possibly hope to bring me down!" John taunted. "Shut up! You've committed crimes that we can never forgive," Heiru snapped. "You fools have no idea of the true power of art. How can you stand up to the power of the works of all the greatest artisans throughout history?!" John demanded. "Because unlike their works, your art has no soul. No meaning," Raiden replied. "'No soul'? 'No meaning'? I have studied and mastered the ways of all types of art, so how can my art have no soul?!" John demanded. "A KEY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ART THAT WE MAKE AND THE ART YOU MAKE IS THAT WE USE OUR OWN STYLE, THE KIND THAT CAN'T BE TAUGHT," Echo-Echo replied. "'Your own style'? That's a lie! The only types of art have to be taught!" John yelled. "Typical. You only think of what you learned when you work on art. We actually use our own creative minds to forge new works of art," Heiru explained. "SILENCE! I will not allow you to tread on the sacred names of all the great art masters," John yelled, as he fired a rainbow colored cannon at the eight brothers. "That'll be hard for us to do since you already treaded on their names!" Brian yelled. John seemed more infuriated at Brian's words. He then decided to end the battle right their. "This technique is forbidden by every style of art. It could cost me my video store membership!" John exclaimed, as he slammed his hands on the ground. Afterwards, several copies of him appeared. However, this was in vain, as the Fujiyama brothers destroyed all of the clones, and blasted him off of the edge, causing him to crash into a wall. After that, the marks on each of the brothers disappeared. "You guys did it!" Eliza exclaimed. "But what were those marks?" Claire asked. "I don't know, but what ever they were, it felt as though they gave us a huge burst of power," Raiden replied. "It looked pretty cool," Cassidy commented. "Yeah, they did," Icezer replied. "Well, in any case, we finally defeated John, so now we can head home," Silver commented. "You mean that new land with the magic ponies?" Eliza asked. "Yeah. You guys are going to really like it there," Silver replied. "Its really peaceful," Francisco added. The mutants all made their way to the door, except for Naomi, who looked back to the wall where John Clark had been smashed through. 'I'm really sorry it had to come to this,' Naomi thought to herself, before going to join her friends. However, she didn't notice that from under the pile of rubble, John Clark had remerged, looking more angrier than ever. This caught the attention of all the mutants and the ponies. "Man, this guy just doesn't know when to quit," Carlos commented. "You...are...DEAD!" John seethed, as he drank several vials, each containing the green liquid as the first one. Once all the vials were empty, John began a monstrous transformation. He began to grow into a large monster, seeming to be getting angrier by the second. He grew so large that the entire palace crumbled under the monster's weight. Silver managed to keep them from falling with his telekinesis, and lowered them all safely to the ground. Twilight and friends followed after them. "Is everyone alright?" Twilight asked. "Yeah, but what happened, exactly?" Icezer asked. "From what I saw, John Clark drank green fluid from some vials. Afterwards, it caused him to transform into that thing," April replied, looking at the monster. Naomi seemed the most distressed by this. 'You've truly become a real monster,' the cat girl thought to herself. "Ok, I know John Clark was a monster before, but this really takes the cake," Simon commented. "Either way, we can't just leave him. Who knows what he'll do if he goes on a rampage," Silver said. "Looks like every mutant is on their way to aid us," Claire commented, seeing several mutants racing towards the monster. "Alright, the real fight begins now," Silver commented, as they all went on to attack the monster.