AN: A few minor adjustments have been made.
References: Dragonball Z, Zatch Bell, (mainly) Final Fantasy XII, X-Men (sorta), and Looney Tunes.
Chapter 3 — Trouble in Megiddo
Soon, Sweet was heard on the Tower's PA system.
"Attention all Titans." he began. "Myself and the rest of the Legendary 12 have set a lock on Wrinkle in a place called Megiddo. It's an ancient ruins on a hill in Israel, so my guess is that Wrinkle is trying to resurrect something, and it can't be good. As all of you know, he has begun to strike again... but like always, we'll stop him, one way or another. The rest of you: stay put until we get back."
Having said that, the Legendary 12 boarded the B-Jet and flew off for the Middle East.
As they were on their way, Wrinkle (as Sweet said) was in Megiddo, browsing the stones for a specific type of ancient text. He was sent on assignment (by the Acolytes) to find the lost Acolyte. When he found the text he was looking for, he orally read the words, causing them to glow. This then caused a humanoid creature called a mind flayer—wearing all white like the Acolytes—to emerge from the stone that it was embedded in. The mind flayer was identified as Korgon, and he was obviously evil, due to the faint dark aura lining his body.
Wrinkle smiled at the sight of him, three feet taller that he was. Korgon looked down to him. "Where am I... and who are you?" he asked, with his skull staff pointed at Wrinkle.
"Wrinkle, your partner in crime."
Korgon lowered his staff, sensing that Wrinkle told the truth. "Very well." he spoke.
"I have a request. Can you show me a sample of your ability?" Wrinkle asked.
Korgon turned to the sky, looked for a small cloud, and then pointed his staff at it. He released a "black star" of light from his staff and sent it toward his targeted cloud, causing the cloud to burst into a very small supernova, which was almost enough to rip a tiny hole in the atmosphere. Wrinkle was impressed. "If I strengthened it and use it against someone who opposed me, that would be their fate." he proclaimed.
"You are truly evil." Wrinkle chuckled. "I ought to send you to—"
"The Acolytes? Yeah... that's not gonna happen." spoke Sweet, who had just arrived (with his team) in Megiddo.
Wrinkle sighed and turned to his adversaries. "Why must you guys always try to ruin everything?"
"Okay, let's review. You're a villain... and we're the heroes. Put the pieces together, moron." Mac stated.
"I'd watch my mouth if I were you, cardinal. Besides, Korgon here is more than enough to give you guys a run for your money."
Sweet was reading Korgon's energy pressure; it was almost as strong as an Acolyte's. "Titans, prepare yourselves." Sweet commanded, as all twelve of the heroes stood battle-ready on Legendary Power.
Korgon stepped forth and exuded much of his strength by increasing his energy (spiritual) pressure. His dark aura raged now.
"His aura... its dense!" Kuku sensed.
Korgon gave a short chuckle. "This is the only warning I'm giving you: I will not show any mercy." He pointed his staff at the Legendary 12 and began to charge up a special move of his. "Doom Strike!" he shouted, unleashing a black bolt of lightning upon the heroes.
They evaded the bolt, avoiding certain doom as it seemed like the attack was set to "kill". Kuku sensed this.
"He's like an Arcane Mage gone bad... everyone! I see that whatever he does may cause a side effect of death. Be careful!" Kuku alerted her team.
Wrinkle jumped onto a high platform within the ruins and created a barrier protecting him from the battle. "You know... fighting is fun—to watch." he uttered.
"Oh no, you're not sitting this one out. Mind Pulse!" Mystic said, creating an opening in the barrier, allowing herself, Sweet and Dotty to pass through it. She could not sustain it long enough so that the others could join them.
"Do I ever get a break? *sighs* No matter..." Wrinkle thought, preparing to fight the three Titans, while Korgon handled the other nine.
"Death Mines!" Korgon commanded, sending purple pulsating circles upon a few of the surrounding stone walls and floors.
"What was that?" Spunky asked.
"Wait a second, Spunky." Kuku said, examining one of the purple pulses. "Don't touch these mines! They're bad news—instant death, if any of us makes contact."
The 9-on-1 battle came to a standstill.
"I have a plan." Hippity said. "He's easily able to defend himself against all of us flying around him. I say that we should mix it up and have some of you use ranged attacks."
"We could try that;" Aurora responded, "the both of us and Spunky can distract him."
"Look out!" Fleece warned the team, as Korgon fired a black meteor upon them. Some avoided it, while others were hit, taking some but not fatal damage.
"Damn it!" Mac said, flying up in the air. Suddenly, he sensed Korgon behind him.
"You disappoint me." he spoke, using a Cero to send Mac crashing to the ground below.
"Mac!" Kuku shrieked. Mac was unconscious, but not dead.
Korgon looked down on the rest of the heroes. "I think that it's time that I end your lives, once and for all." Korgon said.
"I'm not doubting your power, but just how are you gonna do that?" Canyon (Primal Mode) asked.
"Allow me to show you." Korgon then emitted golden "mirage waves" of light called Mist. He then pulled out a dark purple crest.
"What's this...?" Fleece murmured, hearing Korgon chanting.
"Scions of darkness, heed my call—for at your presence, all opposition shall fall. I beckon the spirit on undead wings, to purge the lives of insignificant beings. Condemn... Zalera!"
Upon his quiet words, a dark-winged skull demon suddenly appeared, holding a visored woman in his right wing. His power was less than Korgon's, but still greater than the Titans.
"What is that?" Floppity shuddered.
Zalera conjured a Death's Head and sent it to attack the eight Titans, kamikaze style.
"Look out!" Kuku yelled.
After the skull crashed on the ground and disappeared, Hippity, Floppity, Canyon, Fancy, Aurora and Fleece were motionless, laid flat on the ground. Kuku and Spunky barely escaped.
"Not good... they can't move." Kuku said.
"Kuku, we have a problem..." Spunky uttered. "Our healer is down... and I feel faint."
"You and me both... what's going on? And what is that thing?"
Korgon laughed evilly. "It's the countdown to your deaths! When I summoned Zalera, you were all given a five-minute time limit until the bell tolls. Zalera could kill you all before that time runs out, but feel free to resist all you want... you can't stop time." Korgon explained. Kuku and Spunky knew that he was right about that, as Zalera went on the offensive again.
Meanwhile, Wrinkle was blasting energy beams sadistically at Sweet, Mystic and Dotty, who were barely evading many of his blasts. Eventually, the three of them got tired of jumping around and assembled to use an assault of their own: Sweet fired a full optical laser blast cooperatvely with Dotty's Solaris Cannon and Mystic's Graviton Blast.
But something strange happened with the impact on Wrinkle. He took Sweet's laser openly, diverted Dotty's blast, and somehow reflected Mystic's blast back at her.
Sweet's jaw dropped after Mystic was hit. "How in the world...?" he wondered.
Wrinkle grinned. "You'll understand soon enough." he said, holding a pure violet crest and emitting lights that were the exact same as the lights that Korgon used to summon Zalera. "Scions of darkness, heed my call—for at your presence, all opposition shall fall. I speak to the spirit that links the universal orbits with ease, attracting and repelling all aspects as you so please. Obliterate, Zeromus!"
Responding to those words, a great fiendish apparition appeared. Its right arm was a gigantic crab-like pincer.
Dotty looked over at the other battle and caught a glimpse at Zalera. She recognized the spirits then. "Sweet! There's something you should know!"
"Hold on. Web Sphere!" he yelled, creating a protective dome of webbing under himself, Dotty and Mystic (who got up after being hit). "All right, what's up?"
"This spirit that we're fighting and the one that Kuku and Spunky are fighting are two of the original and powerful ancient scions called espers." Dotty explained.
"What do you mean?" Mystic asked.
"I read over them in my studies. Espers are like the Aeons in a way... only, the espers are a superior classification due to their enormous power."
"What exactly are they... who are they, and why do our enemies have them?" Sweet asked.
Dotty continued explaining. "There is an entire high order imperialistic civilization of these scions, each one wielding supreme and dictating powers. There are thirteen original espers not only because of the fact that they revolted against their own civilization, but also because they have a special connection with the zodiac. In other words, each representative sign of the zodiac reflects their appearances and their powers."
Sweet and Mystic were mind-blown. Dotty was almost finished. "The original esper that we are fighting is Zeromus, the Condemner; his zodiacal relation is Cancer the Crab, if you'll notice the pincer on its right arm; and his powers reflect gravity and the creation of the universe. Kuku and Spunky are fighting Zalera, the Death Seraph; his relation is Gemini the Twins, as he holds a woman in his right wing... and his powers, as his title implies, reflect death."
Sweet was slowly understanding. "Mystic... since you can work with gravity, you can handle Zeromus, right?" he suggested.
"Think about it, dipstick... I might get my attacks reflected again." Mystic responded.
"You could at least try..." Sweet said, as the web shield began to break. "Yeah, and we better act quickly."
"Galick Gun!" Wrinkle shouts, firing his special blast.
"Psyshield." Mystic whispers, causing a transparent psychic forcefield to protect the three of them, after the webs deteriorated.
"What now, Wrinkle? Even if you made it a little stronger, your Galick Gun can't break my forcefield." Mystic said.
Wrinkle looked over to Zalera, then chuckled. "You might wanna close your eyes..."
"Why so?" Sweet asked. What the three of them did not know was that Zalera was using a technique similar to Solar Flare—Death Flash. This technique used a bright green light that casted Death, sometimes instantaneously, on anyone who had their eyes open. Kuku, Sweet and Dotty were affected by this. The odds were not in Mystic's or Spunky's favor.
BATTLE 1: Spunky and Mac vs. Zalera and Korgon.
"What are you gonna do now, in less than two minutes?" Korgon questioned.
Spunky said nothing and looked down in silent frustration. "Why is this monster so cruel? That's it... the killing stops!"
Mac suddenly warped beside Spunky, battle-scarred from the Cero. "Spunks, what is this thing?" he asked.
"I'm not exactly sure... but he knocked out most of our team. He's gonna get it..."
Mac looked at the situation. "I have enough in me to handle this thing... you take out your anger on Korgon, since he summoned it."
"What are you gonna do?" Spunky asked.
"Just move!" Mac demanded, manifesting his full power and pushing beyond his Legendary Power. His inner spirit, Nirvana, also realized the situation and carried out her promise, joining and pouring completely into Mac. Mac then had a small golden aura around him. This was called his Spirit Mode.
"What's this? His power just increased." Korgon sensed.
Zalera saw this and rushed in to scrape Mac with his Doom Claw.
"Not this time... Final Shine!" Mac shouted, unleashing a jade green blast that is the superior of his Final Flash. This blast swallowed Zalera and defeated him just that easily. After that, the crest that Korgon used to summon Zalera zoomed away from his grip and into Mac's body. This caused Mac to power down, and kneel from exhaustion because of the new Spirit Mode experience.
"You underhanded cardinal! You stole my esper!" Korgon grumbled, rushing in to get his revenge.
"Hey, you caused enough trouble... so we're even." Spunky said, aiming his fist toward Korgon.
"So?"
"I don't like being even." Spunky spoke bluntly, opening his hand before Korgon, making a thousand spikes burst out of his body for deadly damage. This was Spunky's Death Purge technique.
Korgon fell to the ground, coughing and panting from the instant pain. "Damn... you..." he muttered.
"Not dead, yet?" Spunky asked. "Looks like I'm gonna have to do it again..."
Korgon was in great pain, as some the spikes that left his body left very small holes. "Do your worst..."
Spunky powered up again, gaining the energy required to repeat his technique. Unexpectedly, an Acolyte appeared, grabbed Korgon, and quickly warped above Spunky and Mac.
"What do you think you're doing?" Spunky yelled, at the Acolyte.
The new foe took the hood off of his head, and was revealed to be Sylvester (Looney Tunes). "What does it look like I'm doing?" Sylvester responded.
Spunky noticed the clothes that Korgon and Sylvester were wearing; they were exact same white robes. "Damn it... what's up with you Acolytes? I wanna know!" Spunky shouted.
"You'll learn soon enough. However, I have some advice for ya... stay out of our way." Sylvester warned him, warping away from Megiddo.
"Wait!" Spunky yelled.
"Just leave them, Spunks." Mac spoke. "I don't know what their deal is either... but for our own safety, I suggest that we take his advice. Korgon could've easily destroyed us; we were lucky."
Spunky calmed down, before going to help Mac revitalize the other seven Titans that were not dealing with Wrinkle and Zeromus.
BATTLE 2: Mystic vs. Zeromus and Wrinkle.
Mystic tried her best to get to Zeromus, but the problem was that Zeromus could control gravitational motion. Zeromus always found a way to push Mystic back and almost crush her with Earth's force of attraction.
Mystic found herself in another one of those crushing situations, yelling in pain.
"There's nothing you can do now, Mystic!" Wrinkle cackled. "Zeromus can crush you in a matter of seconds..."
The Phoenix within Mystic realized that Mystic was in severe danger. Due to the promise that she kept to Mystic, the Phoenix poured herself completely into Mystic as Nirvana did with Mac. As a result of this, Mystic's power suddenly skyrocketed, negating all other forces of gravity. Zeromus's gravity drive was cancelled because of Mystic's new Ascended Legendary caliber of power—Phoenix Mode. She had perfect control of herself now, since the Phoenix submitted herself and her powers fully into Mystic.
"What's this?" Wrinkle asked, startled at Mystic's power.
"All I need is one shot." Mystic claimed, putting one hand out, aimed at both Zeromus and Wrinkle.
"Really? One shot?" Wrinkle mocked.
Mystic powered up and charged a visible ion orb like she would normally do if she were using her Graviton Blast. "Survive this... Ion Gravirei!" Mystic shouted, unleashing an intense visible wave of pressure at her foes. This force wiped Zeromus out, but Wrinkle barely managed to escape, realizing how strong her attack was. When Zeromus was defeated, the violet crest that Wrinkle had flew away from him and into Mystic's body in the same fashion that the dark purple crest moved into Mac's.
"We'll continue this later." Wrinkle said, successfully making his retreat from the battle.
Mystic returned to normal status and felt faint because she used a bit too much energy for her signature move. She fell off of the balcony she stood on, but Mac quickly warped over to catch her.
"Now I know how Canyon feels when he powers up like that." Mystic murmured.
"That makes two of us." Mac replied.
Eventually, all of the Legendary 12 were alive and breathing again.
"What happened to the espers?" Sweet said.
"I think we have them now." Mac answered.
"What do you mean?"
"I heard Korgon say that Mac stole his esper." Spunky spoke.
Mac holds the dark purple crest. "He used this crest to summon it."
"I have Zeromus's, too." Mystic added, holding the violet crest.
"Hmm..." Sweet thought, trying to sum things up. "Dotty, you said that there were thirteen originals, right?"
"Yes. The others, I cannot give a definite quantity."
"We'll have to think things over at the Tower. We don't know what we're getting ourselves into, so we need to discuss the situation at hand." Sweet said.
The Legendary 12 got into the B-Jet again, to fly back home to Titans Tower.
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