A/N: Sorry for the delay in updates on my two major stories, with work, real life issues and the recent tragedy in Markiplier's life, I couldn't bring myself to uploading anything new lately. But seeing as a lot of that is now in the clear, I figured now would be a good time to post the next chapter in respective stories. Thanks again for being so patient, and to those who have shown Mark some love, I thank you double. We're all here for this rough time, and he's grateful for it all.
"Alright, 'King', get ready to be dethroned!" Michael growled, holding his sword at the ready. "I'm ripping that crown off your big, dumb head."
"Heh, only when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!" Mark returned the threat, his much larger sword ready, aiming for him. They paused for a moment, each waiting for the other to make the first move, before Michael swiftly ran up for him, Mark following a second after, the two swords clanging against one another. Both their energy auras erupted between the two swords, as they began their fight training.
As they fought, the Summoning Hold seemed to create platforms and obstacles for them to use for resistance. A useful feature, as Arin and Dan also took advantage of it, Arin using the rising pillars to hide behind, Dan holding his mace and searching for him. Each time he would find him, Arin would bounce away and onto lower platforms, shooting for him, as Dan would sing out his shield, experimenting with different notes and octaves. Rinse and repeat.
The two pairings seemed adamant in their training, while Gavin and I stood, trying to decide as to how we could train together. Gavin would often look to Michael, seeming to miss his training buddy, while Michael appeared to go out of his way to ignore him, still irritated with his accident and accusation of working with the adversaries. I noticed his hesitance and stepped over to him.
"Hey," I started, placing a hand on his shoulder. "How about you try out your bow again? If that was just one of the bolts you could use, there are obviously more, right?"
"Yeah, but..." Gavin said, grabbing his bow from his back. "I really don't know how to use them. I could only do that one that knocked us all out, and one earlier when you were still gone. That was after we found Mark back here, and it blew a hole in the wall."
"What color was it?" I asked, thinking the bolts are connected to Gavin's psyche in some way.
"Uh, it was like a...a lightesh-red I think."
"You mean 'pink'?"
"Oh, don't get started on that," he said, laughing a little.
"Clearly, it has to go along with your emotional state upon use. What were you feeling when you used both of them?"
"Well, I was scared...using the first one. Like, we were together again, but not all of us. And Michael was still mad at me..." he said, looking back to his friend. Michael caught his glance, but simply grimaced, going back to swordfighting with Mark. "Well, he still is now, but...and when we were all back together, I was excited. Happy. Like, we actually had a chance at this."
"So...fear causes an explosion and happiness sedation..." I thought for a little bit, looking to the bow. "It seems that it's going with the solution to whatever problem the user has. If you're scared, you feel trapped, so the explosion makes a potential way out. And if your happy, elated rather, it calms you to the point of collapsing."
"That sounds bloody useless..." he said, "Why am I always stuck with these awful things?"
"It's not, it could actually be the best weapon any of us have!" I said, looking to a high platform in the center of the Hold. "Ok, well, how are you feeling now?"
"A bit depressed, to be honest."
"Ok, test it out on that. What does sadness create?"
Gavin shrugged, reluctantly pulling at the bow string, aiming to the platform. A bolt of light yellow appeared as he released it, and once it hit the platform, it began to morph, slowly changing from the blue pillar it was into a large tree, surrounded by a lush patch of grass dotted with flowers. Even the tree, descending its branches, sprouted flowers all about it. The room seemed to pause as even a light aura emitted from the tree, brightening the room.
"What the hell?" I muttered, as each of the others stopped to look.
"Wha-...Where did that come from?" Dan asked, stepping up to it. "Is it even real?"
"Can't be..." Arin said, harnessing his gun. "But...it certainly feels nice to see nature again..."
"Yeah, it really does," Mark muttered, each of them seeming captivated by it.
"...What the fuck is this?!" Michael said, breaking the hypnotic silence. "Gavin, are you fucking kidding me?"
"What?" Gavin asked, as Michael approached him.
"You seriously think something like this can help us? Hey, hopefully Ryan has a severe tree allergy, so for once, you can come in some use!"
"Shut up!" Gavin shouted back at him. "I'm just trying to figure out how to use this!"
"You know, there's a reason why you only got those useless gloves of yours. You're our human shield. You're the one who has to distract them while the rest of us do all the hard work! Now I can see why you got kicked out of their group, they wanted us to have you so they could have an easy win!"
"I said shut up!" Gavin shouted louder, pulling the bow string and aiming to Michael.
"Whoa, whoa!" Dan said, slowly trying to step up to him, as did the rest of us. Michael, however, didn't even flinch, as a bolt of blue appeared on the string.
"What are you gonna do, kill me? Oh, no, pray for me that I don't become a ficus!"
"Gavin, come on, stop!" I said, hurrying for him, trying to take the bow from his hands. "As your Captain, I command you to stop!"
He fought back hard, accidentally releasing the bow string, shooting to Michael's feet. He stepped back from the bolt as it glimmered in place, before sinking into the ground.
"Ha. Useless. Unsurprising." Michael spat, turning to return to fighting with Mark.
"Uhhh...Michael..." Mark started, pointing, stepping back.
Michael turned to look, as the floor of the Summoning Hold began to ripple. The ripples grew bigger as the floor itself started to melt, each of us sinking into it like water. We each tried to get out of it, Dan in an especially high panic, as the ripples built up into a full fledged wave, rising nearly to the ceiling. And in an instant, it crashed back down, falling hard, pushing all but Gavin and I to the walls. Gavin, however, held his slow motion gauntlets up to the wave, slowing it greatly to prevent it from hitting the two of us.
"...Gav?" I asked, trying to approach him, the slow motion affecting the water all around us, making the water at my feet like thick mud.
"It's clear that I don't belong here. That I shouldn't be here...admit it, you only chose me because your big choice was the leader of the adversaries," he said, not turning to look to me, focusing on the water.
"That's not true! I picked all of you because I thought you'd work well as a team! I was put on the spot and...I really did want you all on my team..."
"But...I'm worthless...I don't remember a thing about being on the other side, but...clearly, I don't belong on either. And now, even Michael hates me...I'm sorry, Captain, but from this point on, I'm not holding you guys back anymore."
"Gavin, please!" I called to him, the wave approaching closer to his hands. "You're hurting us more if you just abandon us!"
"You're all strong. You'll get through it without me...I know I would..."
The wave fell to his hands as time returned to normal. It swept me hard against the wall, and as suddenly as it had happened, it returned to simply being the floor once again. Even the dampness on my clothes hardened and fell to bits of the floor. I heard my team around me coughing out the bits as well, Mark nearly choking from ingesting too much.
"What the hell was that all about?!" Arin asked, starting back for me. "We could have all died just now!"
"He didn't mean to! The bow works on his emotions, and...that's what happens when he's angry...I guess it's how he should...'cool down'?"
"As good as that was, this isn't a time for jokes!" Dan said, wiping off bits of the floor from his arm.
"I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna fucking kill him," Michael growled, looking around. "Gavin! Where are you, you asshole!"
"Good question..." Mark said, looking around as the rest of us did. "Where...is he?"