((Quick Recap: Chikvu made it back to his home but was defeated by Shift, the master of Serpent Fang))
Chikvu lied at the bottom of the crater from his battle with Shift and was out cold. Leigh was holding Shift in place just by grabbing his wrist
"Let go of me, dammit!" Shift demanded
"No" Leigh deadpanned
Shift started talking in Chikvu's voice "Mom! Stop this!"
"Hm?" Leigh hummed
"I'm your son, aren't I? Don't you love me?" Shift continued
In one punch Shift went flying and crashed into the ground with great force. Leigh slowly walked up with power radiating form her body
"Damn..." Shift winced "You bitch! You'd hit your own son?!"
"You're not my son, you're a cheap imitation and I'd greatly appreciate it if you would stop wearing that face" Leigh glared
"You don't scare me" Shift smirked "And after I kill you I'm going for rest of you Falconers"
"As my kids would say, Give it your best shot!" Leigh yelled
While Leigh and Shift started their battle, Shorty flew into the crater and tried to wake Chikvu
The Dragon Slayer was able to wake up but could barely move "Ah... Shorty... I can't-"
"Don't worry, Mrs. Mom is taking care of it" Shorty said
"Mom? She's fighting?" Chikvu mumbled "That can't be right..."
Shift mercilessly threw mulitiple fireballs but Leigh was completely unfazed by them. She stood there and thought about how she should handle her enemy
"I've stolen the power of countless mages. You won't be much of an obstacle" Shift grinned turning back into Xero
Leigh ignored him and held up her hand. The ground started to rumble and break apart
"What magic do you have?" Shift wondered
"Just your basic everyday Earth magic" Leigh smiled
Shift laughed "You think you can win with such basic magic?"
"That's the plan" Leigh replied
"Purgatory Rage!" Shift yelled sending a wide blast of fire "Screeching Wind!"
Shift unleashed and powerful wind attack that combined with the fire and made it incredibly stronger. A large stone wall rose from the ground and protected Leigh. Leigh lifted her hand and pointed upward causing multiple pillars to shoot up around Shift. The shapeshifter surrounded himself with lightning and flew through the sky. When Leigh was blasted with the electricity she just stood there and dusted off the traces of static that remained
"How did you..?" Shift growled
"A little trick I taught myself. If I'm standing on the ground, electric based attacks don't even faze me. Any electricity that hits me, gets sent into the ground" Leigh explained "Think of me as a human lightning rod"
"Lightning magic isn't all that I have... Crystal Blizzard!" Shft shouted
Countless shards of crystal flew at Leigh. She stood to the side, held up one hand and by moving at an impossible speed, she blocked every shard that would've hit her
"Having many abilities doesn't make you the strongest" Leigh deadpanned
"How are you so strong?" Shift asked
"Not having to use any magic in ten years helped" Leigh replied
"Ten years? You haven't use magic in a decade?!" Shift gasped
"My kids have always taken care of their problems on their on so I never had a reason to do so. It could've been longer but you forced my hand" Leigh said
Shift grinned "Yeah, after I took out your son"
"Let's be honest, the only reason you were able to do that is because he just got back from a fight and used majority of his power. You'll never be stronger than my children" Leigh smirked
Shift grew furious and sent three giant birds made of ice at his enemy. Leigh jumped back to evade but when she landed she almost fell due to the ground suddenly being coated with ice
"I'll hit with everything I got!" Shift yelled
The shapeshifter started firing attacks at random. Leigh jumped around as fast as she could but when he was in the air she was blasted with powerful electric pulse
"Ah!" Leigh winced and rolled along the ground
"Not ground no immunity. You shouldn't have told me that" Shift pointed out
"What can I say, I'm a horrible liar" Leigh smirked getting back on her feet
In the sky, Shorty was carrying Chikvu so they wasn't the way of their mother's battle
"Mrs. Mom's doing pretty good, huh?" Shorty smiled
"Yeah. You wouldn't think that she hasn't fought in all these years" Chikvu nodded
"Should we help?" Shorty asked
Chikvu looked down and saw that his mother and she could clearly hold her own "I think she'll be okay"
Back on the ground, Leigh was simply leaning out of the way of her opponent's attacks and was clearly thinking about something. There was a move that Leigh deemed as her own but she couldn't remember what it was. Shift came rushing in with his fist covered in fire but Leigh grabbed his wrist and nonchalanty threw him to the side
"Excuse me" Leigh said regaining her train of thought
"That's it!" Shift yelled and created the biggest fireball of his life "Supreme Purgatory Cannon!"
He fired the fireball at Leigh and it exploded on contact. The explosion took out a large chunk of the town. Shift started laughing thinking he was victorious
"That was close" Leigh's voice sighed
"What...?" Shift mumbled
When the smoke cleared, a massive hand made of stone was sticking out of the ground. Leigh walked out from behind the hand and smiled
"I remembered my specialty" Leigh giggled
"What is this?" Shift glared
"Just watch" Leigh smirked "Goliath"
The hand rose even more from just a hand to a whole arm. The arm pushed against the ground and a giant warrior made out of earth and lava stood over Leigh
"Whoa!" Chivu said surprised
"Cool!" Shorty cooed
"I thought you said you just had regular Earth magic..." Shift gasped
"I do. But that doesn't mean I'm a push-over" Leigh replied holding up a sideways thumbs up
The golem reached over it's shoulder and grabbed what looked like the hilt of a sword
"Is it gonna..." Shorty gulped
"We should go" Chikvu spoke up
"Yup" Shorty nodded and flew off with her partner
The Goliath pulled out a ginormous sword with glowing red cracks in it. Shift panicked and created a giant sphere with every element mixed together
"Shift, wasn't it?" Leigh asked
"Yeah" Shift glared
Leigh grinned and gave him a thumbs down "You fail"
The Goliath roared and swung it's sword downward. Shift went to protect himself with the sphere. The attacks collided and sent a powerful shockwave in every direction
"Wah!" Shorty yelped being pushed by the blast
There was a bright flash and the air itself quaked. When it was over the entire town was split in half. Even the guild hall was heavily damaged. Shift was no where to be found
LEIGH VS. SHIFT! WINNER: LEIGH!
"Oh dear, I guess I overdid it a little" Leigh sighed
"A little?! You split the town in half!" Shorty snapped landing next to Leigh
"Mom, that was awesome!" Chikvu smiled
"Thanks for softening him up for me" Leigh giggled
Chikvu looked at the wrecked town "Man we are gonna get it for this one..."
"He started it" Shorty pouted
"Chik! Shorty! Mom!" Zinnia called out running up with everyone
"What took you so long?" Chikvu asked
"Shut it!" Zinnia growled
"What the hell happened?" G.R. wondered looking at the town
"Chikvu and Mrs. Mom broke it" Shorty mumbled
"No one likes a snitch, Shorty" Leigh mumbled
"Well you did" Shorty replied folding her arms
"Chikvu!" Reine cried clinging to the Dragon Slayer "Thank goodness your okay! Oh, you too, Master"
"Looks like we missed a party" Leo commented
"Yeah, Mom summoned a giant statue thing" Chikvu smirked
"Seriously?" Zinnia asked
"Yeah!" Shorty smiled
"That's cool and all, but did you have to wreck everything?" Rose questioned
"It has been ten years, of course I'm a little rusty" Leigh frowned
"You... You..!"
A bloody and beaten Shift climbed out of the hole and limped ahead. He had unconsciously taken the form of Chikvu with Xero's hair
"You can't... beat me!" Shift growled as his voice kept switching back-and-forth
"Chik?" Zinnia gasped
Reine's eyes turned to hearts "Two Chikvus!"
"My worst nightmare..." G.R. mumbled to himself
Shift took a couple steps and collasped on his face. A couple hours later some soldiers from the Magic Council showed up to arrest Shift. They informed everyone that they already apprehended the rest of the dark guild. As the soldiers took their leave Leigh watched them with a sad face
"Mom, you alright?" Zinnia asked
"Yes. It's just... this whole experience reminded me of how much I miss your father" Leigh teared up "Maybe he's-"
"He's alive" Chikvu spoke up
Leigh wiped her tears away "Chikvu, it's okay. I've accepted that he might be-"
"I said he's alive!" Chikvu shouted
"Chik!" Zinnia glared at him for getting loud
"When Shift turned into me, I noticed he looked exactly like me. Every detail was exactly identical to me. Even the cut on my stomach" Chikvu explained
"What are you getting at?" Zinnia asked
"When he turned into Xero, he looked different than he did all those years ago. I think he came in contact with Xero recently. How else would he be able to know to take on those specific features?" Chikvu theorized
"If that's what happened, why wouldn't Mr. Dad come home?" Shorty asked
"I don't know. But he's not dead" Chikvu said
"How do you know?" Zinnia questioned
Chikvu put his hands in his pockets "'Cause I didn't see him. And until I do, he's alive"
Leigh smiled and kissed her son on the cheek "Thank you, Chikvu"
The mother walked off
"Guys, it's time for a change" Chikvu decided
"What do you mean?" Zinnia wondered
"We've been standing still for too long. That changes now" Chikvu answered
"Okay, how do we do that, smart guy?" Zinnia smirked
"I know! Let's go somewhere new!" Shorty smiled
"Sounds good. That Shift punk beat me because I wasn't strong enough. All that changes, now! And when I see Xero again, I'm kicking his ass" Chikvu grinned
Zinnia sighed and shrugged as Shorty laughed. They decided it was time to head back home
"Hey I just realized something. He never did see what that Shift guy really looked like" Zinnia remembered
"You say it like it was bad thing. If someone masters a magic that's all about changing how you look, he might be ugly" Shorty concluded
"Honestly, I don't care" Chivku deadpanned
As the three shared a laugh, they had no idea what was going on in a distant forest. A red-headed girl was sitting in a tree looking at a crystal ball. Various images of Chikvu could be seen on the orb
"Chikvu Falconer. He looks like fun" the girl grinned
((Questions, comments, and concerns are expected and accepted. Thanks for reading!))