Music Choice— Battle Scars— Guy Sabastian ft. Lupe

Gareki's POV. . .

Instantaneously I jumped to my feet and pointed the blade end of my weapon at his face. My vision beginning to clear. "What the hell are you doing back here, Zeek?" I demanded through clenched fangs. "Yogi got rid of you."

His eyes radiated red against the shadows as he looked strait into my own glowing iris's. I gave him a quick look over and clarified to myself that he looked no different from the last meeting we had.

"You can't honestly trust that a terrestrial from another realm can keep me away. That's sad if you did." He chastised smugly.

My eyes squinted at him warily. "How did you get here? I'm guessing your sister's here too."

"Yeah she is. Our lord Vileus sent us here again, obviously. But this time we're getting our hands on that amulet and I won't let you get in our way. I won't let you protect him."

I lowered my glaive as I spared a quick glance at Yogi. He was still tied up but Zaphora was near him now. "Is that so?" I asked slowly, looking back at him as I placed the tip of my blade on the ground.

He took a step closer to me. "Yeah, it is." He looked down and suspiciously eyed my glaive. He dangerously looked back up at me. "I know you'd planning something—"

I swung my glaive upward, abruptly and focused my element of ice in the blade. I watched in slow motion as Zeek pulled his head back, starring at the sharp tip as it passed his nose. I had missed and I hated missing.

Dammit. I'm off course by an inch. I yelled inwardly.

I switched the direction of my glaive, and instead swiped side ways after I'd taken a step closer to him, aiming for his stomach. He pulled back and was about to throw a strike of electricity at me but a wave of my ice magic had impacted his stomach after my blade had missed again.

He hit the wall with a lash of ice bracing him against it. He struggled to get loose.

The sound of attacking spells went off behind me and I whirled around, thinking they were aimed at me. But it was really Yogi's amulet shooting a defense for him at Zaphora as he worked his way loose from her whip.

Zaphora deflected his attacking spells with her hands as if they were nothing as she lunged forward towards him.

Yogi snatched one of his arms loose and reached for his sword for another means of defense but she stepped on his hand and formed a dagger with her magic and thrust down, preparing to stab him.

"Bad move!" I yelled before shooting a beam of electricity from my glaive at her. I hit her strait in the side of her stomach. She yelped, falling away from him before she could stab him.

Yogi grabbed his golden sword from the ground before getting to his feet. He turned to me and shock flashed across his face. "Behind you!"

I whirled around only to be gripped by the neck and hoisted up before being thrown to a wall.

Urgh! I grunted as my back connected against it strongly before I began to fall to the floor. But before I could, that same strong hold gripped my neck again before slamming me back to the wall, just as hard as the last.

I lost focus with the summoning spell of my glaive and felt it disappear in my grasp. I lifted my hands up and tightly held onto the wrist belonging to the hand that was choking me and tried to pry it off. But it was firmly held in place.

I looked up and saw that Yogi had gotten back in a fight with Zaphora who'd recovered from my last blow.

My eyes averted and glared at Zeek as he did the same to me. "You're not getting in our way this time. I'm sick of your sly tricks." He spat vehemently.

"Well you better get used to them because I'm not going to let you near him," I said in a warning tone.

He lifted an eyebrow but didn't lose the hard edge in his voice. "Really?"

I gripped tighter around his wrist. "Over my dead body." I spat.

He smirked darkly. "Be careful what you wish for." As soon as those words passed his lips my hands started to spark with static but I lost my focus as he pulled me away from the wall only to slam me back against it, hard. Causing an indentation in the place he had slammed me.

Another pained groan escaped me as I shut my eyes tightly.

He slammed my body against the wall again, and again, and again, and again, harder each time until my body went limp. He then threw me to the ground, still holding onto my neck as he placed himself on top of me.

"Any last words before I kill you?" He hissed. I coughed, opening my eyes.

I glanced over at Yogi who'd formed a shield in front of himself before glancing at me on que.

I flickered my attention back to Zeek. "Yeah, as a matter of fact I do," I said breathlessly.

He looked expectant.

"Yogi, defence mechanism. Now!" I pushed my hand forward and zapped Zeek in his eyes, causing him to push away from me and cover them while yelling from the pain.

Yogi lifted his hand towards us with his fingers outstretched as he threw quick fire balls at Zeek who hadn't seen them coming.

But before the flames could connect with him, a translucent, purple shield formed around him, causing them to disperse on impact.

I picked myself up, slowly because of the aching muscles in my back, and looked to Zaphora who had an arm stretched out towards Zeek as her hand glowed the same shade of purple the shield was.

"Shit." I muttered in irritation as I kneeled, and placed my hand on the ground, and sent a jagged stream of ice in her direction.

But she blocked herself from it with another shield forcing it to com to an abrupt stop at her feet. I muttered another curse as she threw forward her other hand and formed a sonic wave at me.

I felt the invisible force shove against my body before I threw my hands up, causing a small wall of ice to erupt from the ground and cover me as I placed myself behind it.

The strength of the invisible force was breaking my defenses. I peaked around the corner and saw Yogi in the same situation as me. He was farther away from her now though. So that left me in the range of making a clear shot. I needed to do something and fast.

I wasn't sure how much either of our shields could take of this sonic wave. But for the most part, I wasn't sure if I could make a good shot no matter how good my aim was with her throwing the waves at us so strongly.

I hadn't recalled this element of magic in her at all in our last fight. I thought she had fire just like Yogi. But I guess she had an element over sound too. Something felt off about her, same as her brother.

"Gareki?!" Yogi yelled, breaking me from my thoughts, as his shield began to crack from the pressure. "Subdue her, now! You're in her range. I can't hold my shield for much longer!"

I lifted my hand and focused a blast in my palm. "As if I don't know that!" I was about to make the shot when suddenly bolts of red and black static shot me in my shoulder. Breaking my focus as I hit the ground. And oddly enough. It hurt me. It had never hurt me ever since I'd gotten the element of electricity myself.

Zeek stepped over me and punched me in the face. I tasted blood immediately. He gripped my shirt about to make another hit on me but I spat blood under his eye before reaching up and back lashed him in his jaw with my elbow. That distracted him enough to where I could turn my head, regain focus, aim, and shoot the blast of ice at Zaphora.

The shot penetrated her shield like I thought it would and impacted her in her stomach, throwing her back as her body swarmed with ice, freezing her over. The sonic wave was no longer pushing against Yogi's shield.

I turned back to Zeek only to be punched again, twice.

"Bastard!" He seethed." You better not have just killed her or—"

A booted foot kicked him in the face before a golden blast of light shoved him off of me. I lifted my hand to where Zeek had fallen and froze him as well.

I leaned my head to the side and coughed blood from my numb mouth. "Thanks,Yogi." I rasped.

He wrapped an arm under my shoulders as I wrapped my arm over his shoulder, helping me stand as I leaned my head against him. A move I found too close but my cheek hurt so bad that it felt good to lean it against his warm body temperature.

"Don't thank me yet," he said. "We still have to fight them."He made a move to touch my bruised bottom lip but stopped himself and retreated his hand.

I could feel my miner injuries ceasing to exist. I pulled myself away from him, trying not to be eager with the want of his touch on my bottom lip but also the disgruntled sensation that he hadn't done so.

" I'm fine now. You don't need to hold me." I insisted, trying to create distance between us so my mixed feelings wouldn't get the better of me.

He nodded. "If you're sure?"

"I'm fine. Really." I made my voice sound convincing.

"Okay," he said.

I sighed before changing the subject as I pointed at his amulet. "I thought you sent them back to your realm. Why are they back here? You told me they wouldn't be able to come back."

Yogi shook his head. "This is impossible. I know I sent them away. I wasn't lying when I told you that."

"Clearly you must've made some mistake." I crossed my arms.

He pushed a hand through his blonde hair. "No, this isn't a mistake. My amulet never makes those. Something about them both being here isn't right. They shouldn't be here, at all."

I looked over to Zeek's frozen body before turning back to him. "Yeah. I already suspected something odd about both of them. But As you already know, my ability to freeze things doesn't last long so we might as well come up with a plan of handling these two now."

He just stared at me, blankly. I frowned at him before glancing down at his amulet. It was glowing golden.

"Yogi what are you doing?"

He didn't answer me, just kept staring without blinking. I waved a hand in his face. Nothing.

I watched as his amulet lifted from his chest and levitated in front of his face. The golden glow coming off of it made me lift my hand and block away the light.

"You do know that we have a 2 minute time limit until they both unfreeze." I informed. Maybe that would snap him out of whatever daydream he was in.

And just like that, his amulet dropped back down to his chest and dimmed down it's golden glow. I dropped my arm and looked at him as he finally blinked.

He looked taken aback as his eyes averted left and right before landing on me.

"What the hell was that all about? You just stood there." I gestured with my hands.

"A vision," he said flatly in a whisper. "It's been a while since the last time I had one. Weird."

"What did you see?"

He pointed to both Zeek and Zaphora. "I knew I was right when I told you I teleported them back to my realm. These two are fake. That's not their real identity. They're forming a glamour spell. A spell that is used to cloak or mislead the eye from it's true form. They also have stronger limits of magic then what our original enemies had. Which would explain the sudden sonic wave Zaphora shot at us."

"And the reason why Zeek's electricity hurts me." I added before staring at him knowingly. "Makes sense now. You saw all that?"

He nodded. "Yeah and I have a plan on how to defeat them." He crouched down and began to dig in the dirt.

I gave him a confused look. "What are you doing now?"

"My vision also showed me some type of bean that we're supposed to eat. I'll explain it to you once I tell you the plan." He stood up and opened his hand with two black beans sitting in his palm.

"Eat one." He offered.

I lifted an eyebrow before reluctantly taking one and swallowed it. There wasn't any time to refuse or question his words.

I listened carefully as he told me the plan and as we formed a wide and overlooked circle in the center of the hall way as he instructed we do for his plan to work. He directly finished telling me all the details as soon as the 2 minutes were up and both Zeek and Zaphora broke free from their ice confinements.

Zeek lifted himself up, dusting ice shavings from his arms before settling his red eyes on me. Zaphora eyed Yogi, or should I say the amulet around his neck.

Yogi and I stood ready side by side."Stick close to the plan." He whispered. " I hope your acting skills are as great as you say."

"I've had experience in my life time." I whispered back as my hands sparked with anticipation.

Zeek took a step over to us along with his sister. "I've had about enough of you you two. Nice ice trick, Avatar. But this is where all of it ends."

He lifted his hand and shot out a beam of static at Yogi but I jumped in front of him and formed a shield only for the bolt to burst through and hit me, thus causing me to crash into Yogi.

We both fell to the ground but I moved to my feet quickly and glowered at Zeek who had static zapping wildly as it snapped in his palms.

"You just don't know when to give up." I threw a long beam of static at him. He did the same and both our elements collided.

We both kept our arms outstretched, feeding our colliding elements for dominance.

"I should be saying that to you," he retorted. " although I guess you're too dense to realize it."

"No, I'm not the dense one here! You know this fight is going to be won by us. Just like the last fight and the fight before that."

His eyes glowed redder. "Trust me, that won't be happening again. I've got a few new tricks up my sleeve. And I'd be glad to test them out on you!"

Suddenly his beam of electricity grew bigger and stronger. It pushed against mine before connecting with me. Red and black static surged up my arm before over coming the rest of my body in painful pins and needles.

My focus over my own attack magic was robbed from me as I shut my eyes tightly. I could hear myself yelling from the overwhelming shock his electricity gave me.

"I bet you weren't expecting this. Were you!" Zeek shouted over my cries.

I sank to my hands and knees as Yogi stood in front of me forming a shield to stop the beam from hitting me. But Zaphora jumped him with a blast of her magic causing his defenses to shatter before he was thrown aside.

"Don't even think about getting in the way of their fight. You're my opponent, blondy!" She threw another blast at him, making sure he was away from me.

My arms weakened to hold me up right and I sank down to only my forearms holding me up. My eyes cracked open to see Zeek's boots right in front of my face.

His electricity was still swarming around me.

"Honestly, I was kind of expecting much more of a fight from you, Avatar. After all I've been told of how your race likes to fight. But this? This is really pathetic," he said deeply with distaste.

I glanced over at the circle Yogi and I had just made before glaring up at him."Don't call me pathetic, bastard." I clenched my hands into fist as I redirected his electricity that was swarming around me into my own before throwing it on him.

He was pushed back but didn't fall to the ground. He looked at me surprised as I formed an ice machete and lurched to my feet in his direction.

He reached back and yanked out his black sword before colliding it with my blade. We pushed against one another for dominance once more.

I felt his foot swipe away my feet causing me to fall back. I threw away my ice machete and caught myself by doing a back flip. Earning Zeek himself a swift kick under the chin with one of my feet.

I regained my stance and saw Zeek rubbing the redness on his chin where I had kicked him. He growled at me before shooting a bolt.

I ducked low while spinning with one leg stretched out as I focused my element of ice into my foot causing a wave of it to speedily fly over the ground in his direction before freezeing his feet.

I stood up strait again and he tried to take a step towards me but looked down at the ice holding him in place. He looked back up at me only to be punched strait in the face with my fist, hard.

He flew back, the ice around his feet breaking. I watched as he slid against the ground on his back.

"That's for disrespecting me, ass hole." I punched my fist into the palm of my hand. I turned my head to see how Yogi's end of the plan was going.

He was getting beaten up. I resisted the urge to help him. It was apart of the plan. He would be fine. Especially with those beans we'd eaten.

Inwardly I hoped this plan of his would really see through until the end. It may have sound full proofed but there could be complications that weren't expected.

"You should know better than to turn away from a fight!"

I turned around only to be struck with a bolt and thrown to the ground. I clenched my jaw tightly as his magic surged through me uncomfortably. I could feel myself twitching from the piercing waves of his electricity.

He stared down at me as I turned on my stomach and began to crawl over to the circle in the center of the hall we were in.

As I was doing this I gave Yogi another glance. He was shielding himself from Zaphora's sonic wave. His shield was slowly cracking. He returned my stare and that was when I gave him the que with my fingers that I was commencing with my part of the plan.

He gave me barley a nod as to not give himself away to Zaphora that we were clearly planning something. He turned back to his own fight and so did I.

I continued to crawl near the circle. I was a lot more closer to it now.

Suddenly Zeek stepped in front of me, into the circle but then he unexpectedly lifted me and dragged me over to a wall that was right beside it. But he wasn't stepping in it like I wanted.

He just had to make this difficult. He shoved me against the wall, holding me up by my neck. I could still feel the lasting effects of his electricity going through my body restricting my magic use.

But I could still defend myself with physical combat. I kneed him in the stomach causing him to double over. I grabbed him by the head and kneed him again in the face.

He retreated but recovered quicker then expected. He yanked out a dagger and sliced my calf. I groaned, nearly falling to my knees if it weren't for the wall's support. He reached up and swiftly stabbed me in the thigh. I yelped before falling to my knees, holding the wound tightly in both hands with the dagger still deeply inside.

"Fuck!" I yelled through grit teeth as I threw my head back against the dirt. I inhaled deeply. If I didn't get it out I couldn't heal which meant I'd bleed to death.

"Feel the pain, Avatar. This is the end for you," Zeek said as he gripped me tightly around my neck, forcing another surge of electricity through my body to the point every muscle felt numb and weak. Pushing me hard against the wall. His other hand forced the dagger deeper inside me.

"Stop!" My jaw was clenched so tightly I thought my teeth would break. I felt blood leak out of my fresh wound as a burning sensation built up inside it.

"I'm afraid not," he whispered wickedly close to my face. "I want you to feel every last inch of it."

"Zeek?!"

We both looked at Zaphora who held Yogi's amulet raised in her hand. I looked at the ground and saw Yogi laying there with blood rushing down from a wound on his temple. His eyes were closed and I instantly tensed. "The Sun Kingdoms prince is unconscious. Do you wish to kill him or should I do the honors?"

"You better not touch him!" I growled, trying to fight my way out of Zeek's grip.

They ignored me.

"You kill him," Zeek required.

"Don't you dare go near him!" Electricity spark from my body but it wasn't enough to shoot. Zeek smirked at my weak attempt of defense.

"He's gone. But soon you'll be joining him." He pulled me and slammed me against the wall. Urgh!

I shakily lifted my hands up to his wrist and tightened my hold on it. "You can't do this! I won't let you or her continue with this!"

Zeek eyed his sister as her hand pulled on her own dagger. She lit it on fire before crouching over Yogi. I struggled harder. "No!"

As soon as the word past my lips she stabbed him in his stomach. I watched in shock. Everything around me colliding with loud rumbles. I stopped breathing.

I froze and felt anger rushing through every part of me. As if everything that was happening was real. "I'm going to kill yo—"

Zeek yanked out the dagger in my thigh, let go of my neck, and plunged forward with the blade in my heart. I gasped, eyes widening as the rumbling around me increased in my ears.

I felt the muscles in me stiffen and my organs freeze over. My eyes widened more once he pulled the dagger out only to hold me in place as he stabbed me an additional three times in the heart.

Blood dripped from my mouth as I coughed and choked. It felt like my breathing was ceasing every two seconds. All the while Zeek watched me intently, smirking.

He pulled his hand away that was holding me up against the wall. I fell against him as he kept the blade inside me.

"F-fuck. . .you." I breathed my last breath as I slid away from him, falling to the ground.

Zeek looked down at Gareki's dead body. His smirk fell as he crouched down and grabbed him by the chin, looking his face over.

His eyes were dull, faded. The black slits in them were constricted. He looked down at his chest and found blood seeping out from the wound in his heart.

Zeek sighed. Closing his eyes as he shook his head. He stood up and looked over to Zaphora who was looking over Yogi's body.

His blonde hair once golden had grown silver. She reached forward and pulled one of his eye lids open and found a dull grey iris starring back at her. It was unfocused.

She let it go and watched as it stood open only a crack. She then looked at her fake brother and held the amulet up for him to see again.

He pursed his lips and ran a hand through his hair. "This isn't good, Lafida."

Lafida dropped her hand with the amulet in it down to her side. She glanced at Gareki's form on the ground. She thought how it was surreal to see a dead Avatar on the ground. A chosen one at that.

She looked up at her fake brother. They weren't even related by blood. They weren't even made of anything but plants. Assistants of Ivy to test both Gareki and Yogi here and now.

"They failed the test, Raditz." Lafida spoke sadly. "They aren't the chosen ones like Ivy thought. They were supposed to defeat us. But yet. . . they're dead."

Raditz shook his head slowly. He crossed his arms as he looked thoughtful. "By any chance do you think they found those beans. That they figured this all out before it could even happen?"

She paused for a moment and spoke. "They're is no way of telling if they ate them. But if they had, they wouldn't be lying here dead. They would be still fighting us."

Raditz looked at her sternly. "This wasn't supposed to happen. What if we really killed the chosen ones. Ivy is going to be furious with us."

Lafida looked away from him."He knows if they fail a final test then they weren't meant to be chosen to be next in line for becoming guardians of combining magic. I was really hoping these two would've put in more of a fight. The combining title fit them perfectly. It's a waste now."

He eyed her face before looking down at her hand. "On another note, what do we do about that?"

They both walked over to each other and stopped unknowingly in the center of the circle. "I don't know, she said. " Why don't we just—"

She paused in surprise as the amulet she was holding turned into a string and a palm sized rock.

Both of them looked at it completely taken aback. "It's a glamour spell. But how —?"

"Correct. You. Are." Spoke a slow voice. They both looked up and saw Gareki moving to his feet. He gave them both a serious look as soon as he was standing fully up. "I believe you're looking for this." He reached in his pocket and held up the real amulet.

They both looked at him warily. "You're alive." Lafida stated.

"I'm not the only one," he said before throwing the amulet over to Yogi who caught it as he sat up from the ground. He held up his amulet." Vos Ze Sotros." He spoke in Rimahakkian causing it to glow.

The circle they had made formed a translucent golden dome around both Lafida and Raditz. Locking them inside. Yogi then stood up.

"But we thought you were dead!" Raditz exclaimed.

Yogi looked at Gareki who had been staring at him and nodded once. Gareki nodded once too before they both lifted up their shirts and showed their puncture wounds.

Yogi in his abdomen and Gareki in his heart. They were both closing up.

"We ate those beans that you mentioned during your time frozen," Gareki said," which allowed us 20 minutes to be immune to death and heal. Also enough time to fight both of you and fake our deaths so we could know your true plan." They both dropped their shirts.

"We know you're not Zeek and Zaphora," Yogi spoke up, crossing his arms after he hung his amulet around his neck. "During the time Gareki had frozen you, I had a vision that showed me what you two really were and that you two were testing us for Ivy by fighting us and seeing if we succeeded in defeating you. It didn't tell me why Ivy wanted us to fight and win. So I constructed my own plan that made you believe you two had won this fight and had really killed us."

Yogi pointed at Gareki. "As Gareki had said, we faked our deaths by acting it all out in order to get in tell of what your plans were. We both knew that you two didn't really want to kill us, and in the state of regret you both were in after you thought we were truly dead, I assumed you both would discuss your plans. And you did. So now we know why Ivy wanted us to defeat you both."

"You both mentioned something about us becoming guardians for combining. I can only guess that Ivy tested us to see if we were worthy of becoming that." Gareki pointed out. "And if you're wondering why Yogi and I didn't just ask you in the first place is because we knew you'd try and keep silent and by doing it this way you'd spill details."

Both Lafida and Raditz looked at each other impressed before looking back at them. Raditz was the one to speak. "But why did you swap out your amulet? And why did you put us in this dome?"

Gareki spoke again."This 'dome' is actually called a revelation circle. It's to perform a spell so we can reveal your true forms. And the reason we swapped out the amulet was because Yogi didn't want Lafida to carry it with her inside the dome and risk it getting stuck in there with you guys. He needed to form this spell some how, so he gave it to me to hide during the time I froze you."

Lafida looked at Yogi. "I can't believe you actually performed a glamour spell."

Yogi sighed in aggravation from the strong doubt in her voice. It was like listening to Kiichi all over again. "Just because I have the elements over fire and sun doesn't mean I can't perform spells outside of those two."

"Right," she said. "You misunderstood me. I'm aware of your elements as well as your brain smarts. Both of you."

Gareki summoned his glaive and pointed his blade at her. "Good, then that means you know our capabilities. I think it's time to stop the explanatory talking now because I want some clarification. Tell if it's true that Ivy is testing us."

She frowned at me as Raditz tensed up. "What are you planning to do with that." He asked cautiously looking at his glaive.

Gareki took a step closer to the dome, continuing to hold his weapon out. "I plan on forcing some answers out of both of you. My magic over ice can penetrate this dome without breaking it but you two can't use your magic, that's the down side for you, not for me,"he said forcefully.

" Gareki stand down! We don't need to force it out of them." Yogi demanded.

Gareki stayed in place as he glanced at Yogi. "Don't act like you don't want answers. I can see it on their faces. They don't want to tell us. It's just like what I said."

"He's right," Raditz said," we can't tell you. It isn't our place to say what Ivy's intentions are for you two. But I'm sure you both can figure it out with what we said before. As for now continue with this circle of revaluation."

Yogi glared at Gareki, silently telling him to drop his weapon.

Gareki reluctantly lowered his glaive after a few seconds. "Fine, be that way. We'll figure out answers the hard way."

Yogi turned away from him and lifted his amulet from around his neck and held it out in his palm as he closed his eyes and focused.

A minuted passed before a slow breeze of wind picked up. Yogi opened his eyes that were glowing violet now. Sparks left his amulet as it levitated in his palm.

Gareki watched intently as he spoke in Rimahakkian tongue once more. "Von Zelip Nos Veztros."

He turned and watched as both Lafida and Raditz started to glow golden with golden specks swarming around them until they were completely covered in a spinning swirl. The specks spun fast. Then suddenly they burst apart showing nothing but an empty spot where they both had been standing.

Gareki glared at the empty space. "They're gone."

Yogi's eyes flickered back to their natural color and so did his hair. "Our immunity to death wore off." He said. "But where did they go?"

Gareki didn't answer for a few seconds as he eyed the dirt where they'd both been standing. "If their true forms were really plants like you said then I know where they are."

Yogi hung his amulet back over his neck before coming to stand next to Gareki.

"Where?"

Gareki pointed. Yogi looked closely through the dome at the two budding flowers in the soil right next to one another.

"There."