Anonymous: I know Crusher has awful singing voice, but try this prompt; Crusher is secretly a syren and his singing can cast spells, that's why he doesn't sing good in public, but he accidentally sings good one day and everyone is enchanted. Blaze and co have to help him save everyone
"OH NO!"
Crusher drove around in panic, eyes frantically looking around to see most of the trucks in the city frozen in a trance, eyes icy blue and dazy. He started to hyperventilate at the sight of them.
He hadn't meant to sing out loud and so well. He'd usually just screech his voice up to the top and shatter everyone's eardrums just so he could sing without casting any spells.
But that say, he was in such a good mood that his voice broke through the facade. He was able to sleep normally the previous night, he was able to win a race without cheating (Blaze and AJ weren't there, obviously), AND he was able to get a kiss from Pickle after the race. He was SO happy that he was beaming, and it made him wanna sing out loud.
A little TOO loud, apparently.
His song echoed all throughout the city, and before he knew it, even Pickle was caught under his spell. The moment Crusher saw the other's eyes turn icy blue and dazy, he had immediately gone into panic mode.
And now, he had no clue how to reverse it.
"What to do, what to do?!" he looked around, trying to find someone, anyone, who wasn't under his spell as he tried to keep his breathing back into a normal pace. "Oh, god, what to do?!"
Suddenly, a familiar horn echoed through the city, along with a couple of cries and shouts of joy. He turned to see his red rival and his driver drive towards the city, with his friends, his team, the Blazing Team, driving after them.
"Oh no..." Crusher gulped. He didn't know whether to be glad that the heroes were here to help fix the mess he made or be afraid about them finding out his little secret.
He had never once told anyone that he was a siren. Never told anyone where he had come from when he came to Axle City a couple of years ago. He had only been 8 back then, but he knew well enough that sirens and land creatures don't really get along well, so he hid himself, disguised into a monster machine, and never touched sea water again.
He never wanted to think of being a siren again. Unfortunately, he knew that his voice was gonna give him away, so he stopped singing properly in public and screeched his voice to the top. Many trucks hated that he sang so terribly, but even when desperate moments come (like the time with Blaze during their singing battle to get the badge), he wouldn't release his siren voice.
Even when his Grammy came to visit. Crusher was very happy to see her again, but even HE was worried how she found him when he left no evidence behind to where he might go. Thankfully, she reassured him that only she knew where he left off, and no one else in the kingdom knew where he was. His secret was safe.
But by the looks of it, it seems that his secret wasn't staying safe for much longer.
"Bust my bumpers, what's happened to everyone?!"
Crusher snapped out from his thoughts and turned to see Starla glancing at one of the trucks caught in his enchantment. The others looked over at the other trucks and gasped.
"They're all under some kind of spell," Blaze observed.
"An enchantment, more likely," Stripes corrected.
"But by who?" AJ wondered as he and Gabby dismounted.
"Yeah," Darington agreed. "Who would do this?"
"Huh," Watts pursed her lips. "this kind of enchantment looks... familiar..."
Crusher swallowed. He almost forgot that Watts was also not from here. He never actually counted whether she or Blaze came from a city with a history with Sirens-
"It is?" Starla looked up at her girlfriend, confused. "You've seen it before, Watts?"
"Yes," Watts nodded. "Back with my family when I was younger, and we were on vacation at the beach. We saw someone looking kinda like this at the dock,"
"Scary," Zeg shuddered.
"I've researched about this before," Stripes said, eyes narrowing at one of the enchanted trucks. "It's a kind of enchantment from a group of creatures called Sirens,"
Crusher felt his stomach drop. Well, shoot, he's dead.
"Sirens?" Blaze turned to him. "What are Sirens?"
"Sirens are magical beings from the sea," Stripes explained. "They're like mermaids, but with a magical power of voice. They can cast spells with their songs and can enchant a city with just one song,"
'Well, that's true.' Crusher grimaced, remembering the mess he had just made as he tried to look around for a way to escape.
"Could a siren have gotten in Axle City while we were away?" Gabby wondered.
"How is that possible? We haven't been gone for long!" Darington exclaimed. "It's only been an hour!"
'Yeah, one hour, and I've erupted chaos.' Crusher hissed as he began to drive backwards.
"We've got to find someone NOT under an enchantment," Blaze suggested.
"Good idea, Blaze," AJ agreed with a nod. "I'm sure that there's someone who isn't caught by the siren's song,"
'Welp, that's my time to really GO.' Crusher gulped and urged himself to drive back faster to escape.
HIs luck seemed to have left him, however, and as he turned to leave, a shout from behind him made him freeze up.
"Hey, look, it's Crusher!"
'Welp, if I wasn't doom before, I'm DEFINITELY doomed now.' Crusher hissed but forced a smile as he turned to watch Blaze, AJ and his friends move towards him.
"Crusher!" Blaze was the first to reach him. "Crusher, there's an enchantment on Axle City!"
"Do you know what happened?" AJ asked, following behind him.
"NoWhyDoYouAsk?!" Crusher wanted to hit himself for talking too fast. What kind of idiot would fall for that?
"Everyone's under a spell," Stripes said. "We can't wake anyone up, and according to the books, if we don't reverse the spell, they might be stuck that way forever!"
'A hundred years, at tops, actually.' Crusher wanted to correct him, but he knew that it was gonna get him caught, so he didn't say a thing.
"Forever?!" Darington gasped. "We need to reverse the spell now!"
"But how?" Starla asked.
"Did the books say about any way to reverse siren spells?" Gabby questioned the tiger truck.
"... I never checked," Stripes seemed to hum in thought. "Let's get to my treehouse and check. Come on!"
Crusher had to hold his breath as he watched the others leave. He wanted to stay and escape, escape to try to find his own way to fix this mess, but he knew that he wasn't that powerful. Plus, Pickle was also caught in the enchantment, in HIS spell. If there was a way to fix this, only the other racers knew it.
Even if it meant getting himself caught.
"Wait! Wait for me!"
"You... wanna help us?" Watts's eyesbrows shot up in shock.
"Why?" Starla narrowed her eyes at him.
'Honest with a little white lie.'
Crusher took a deep breath before sighing. "Pickle's also under a spell, and I don't know how to wake him up. I... I need help,"
No, he did NOT need help since he knew a way to fix it, he just isn't strong enough for the reversal spell. Especially since he had a WHOLE CITY to reverse.
"Oh, we're sorry, Crusher," Blaze offered him a smile. "You can totally come with us!"
Thank the other's good samaritan ways.
Crusher returned the smile. The others looked a little wary, but that was to be expected.
And boy, were they gonna be in for a shock.
X
"Alright," Stripes set the book down on the table for everyone to see. "so, according to the book, we're gonna need a lot of ingredients from the sea to help with the spell, plus we're gonna need to find the siren who caused the enchantment because according to this, we're gonna need it's blood to use as a reversal spell,"
'Didn't know land creatures had other ways to cast reversal spells against siren songs.' Crusher was surprised as he looked over at the book. 'I guess I've underestimated their knowledge in these things.'
"Then we've got a plan," Blaze nodded. "Stripes, give us each a list of the ingredients we need then we'll meet back here to discuss about what we can do about the siren,"
Crusher felt his mouth dry up in realization. They needed... siren blood. HIS siren blood.
That day just couldn't get any worse.
"And here's your list, Crusher,"
The dark blue truck nearly jumped as a list was shoved in front of him. He took it in his tires and looked over at it, recognizing each one since he had collected trinkets from the sea and placed it in the apartment he had gotten.
'Well, at least I don't ACTUALLY have to touch sea water and-'
['Fresh Pearls']
Crusher was bewildered. 'They need FRESH PEARLS for this? Why couldn't they go with dry pearls?! Would've been easier! And better!'
"You okay, Crusher?"
He turned to find Blaze and AJ staring at him with concern while the others started to leave. He cleared his throat and stuffed the list in his pouch.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine,"
"You sure?" Blaze didn't seem convinced. "You look uncomfortable with the list,"
"Nah, it's fine," Crusher waved them off before driving out.
He made his way off the treehouse and zoomed out of the forest. He took a scenic route to avoid the city to avoid seeing the trucks caught in a trance before making his way to the port. He headed to the dock and looked down at it, his fear and nerves moving to his throat. He swallowed it, however, and closed his eyes.
'For Pickle.'
With that, he dove right into the water. He felt his whole body tingle in familiarity, feeling his front tires disappear into hands and his back tires fuse together into a spiky tail. He felt his whole body shrunk and with the sea water, and when his eyes opened, he found himself within the depths of the sea.
The place where he was born. The place he never wanted to go back to.
He took a deep, shaky breath and looked down at the sea floor. He gave his spiky tail a flick before swimming down, down deeper through the sea and into the ocean.
He's here for the pearls. Only pearls. Nothing else. Once he fixes this mess, he was gonna find a way to keep his mouth shut.
X
"And here are the ones in my list," Crusher said as he dumped everything on the table.
"Great, that's all of them!" Blaze smiled.
"All we need now is to find that siren!" Darington grinned.
"But how we find siren?" Zeg asked.
"Hmm..." Stripes glanced at the book and narrowed his eyes at it. "Says here that most sirens live in the sea and the ocean. Maybe we can check the port?"
"Good idea," Starla nodded and grabbed her lasso.
"What if the siren calls for their victims to steal the supplies while we're gone?" Watts worriedly glanced at the ingredients on the table.
"Huh, that would be a problem," AJ thought for a moment. "One of us will have to stay here,"
"I volunteer!" Crusher raised his tire. He knew he should. If he stayed here, he would be able to make the reversal potion all by himself without everyone noticing who he really was.
"I think it's a good idea," Gabby agreed with a nod.
"Alright," Blaze turned to his rival. "Crusher, keep an eye on the ingredients, and don't let anyone else in the treehouse if they try to knock,"
"On it," Crusher gave a salute.
He held a nervous breath as he watched the others file out. As soon as they were all gone, he let out a sigh before turning to the ingredients. He got the book and took a closer look at it.
"O~kay," he took a deep breath and nodded. "I gotta finish this spell before the others get back. They'll never find the siren, and they'll never find out my secret,"
X
"Any sign of the siren?"
["Nope!" "Not here!" "Nada, nothing!"] were all the responese from his friends as he and AJ neared Stripes's treehouse.
"Great..." Blaze sighed, shaking his head.
AJ offered him a smile then he turned to the screen. "We've got nothing either. Let's gather back at the treehouse. Blaze and I are already here to see if Crusher's gotten anything. See you here,"
With that, he ended the call. Blaze jumped up on the steps leading to the treehouse's entrance. They headed inside and was about to greet his rival when he and AJ overheard Crusher's voice from inside.
"Almost done,"
The two froze, glancing up at each other briefly before sneaking in and peeking to see Crusher mixing the ingredients of the reversal spell. He seemed genuinely focused on his mixing as he looked down at the book again and again to check his mixtures.
"Alright, last ingredient is..." he glanced down at the book once more before sighing. "...the siren's blood,"
Blaze smiled, thinking that his rival just wanted to save them the effort and mixed the potion together to help. He was about to drive forward when Crusher suddenly picked up a huge bowl of salted water and placed it beside the potion. He then grabbed a knife with his other tire and turned to the bowl, taking a deep breath before turning to the book.
"I need... what the hell, FIVE cups of the siren's blood?! What do these land creatures want to do, kill the siren?!"
"Land creatures?" AJ looked down at his best friend. "Why did he...?"
"I don't know," Blaze frowned. What was going on?
They watched in silence as Crusher hissed but shrugged off the issue and turned to the bowl. He raised his free tire and gently lowered it on the bowl, soaking it in the salted water. The pair gasp as his tire disappeared in a bubble of magic, a scaly hand in it's place once the bubbles disappeared.
A scaly siren hand. Like the ones shown in the book.
Crusher was a siren. A siren. THE siren. The very one that enchanted Axle City.
Blaze's jaw dropped. AJ was bewildered. Neither could say anything as Crusher set down the knife beside him and grabbed a cup from nearby, his tire- er, hand still in the bowl. He set it near the bowl and grabbed the knife once more.
"Great, now..." he swallowed and reached the knife into the bowl. "Just one cut, and place it in the cup..."
Blaze backed up a bit, and AJ dismounted from his driver's seat. He turned to his best friend with a worried expression.
"Should we tell the others?"
"I... I'm not sure, AJ," Blaze gulped. "I mean, what are we suppose to tell them? And Pickle? And why would Crusher even enchant Axle City?"
"Calm down, Blaze," AJ patted his tire comfortingly. "I'm sure that there's an explanation to all of this-"
"ARGH! SON OF A-!"
CRASH!
The pair turned around and headed back to see Crusher now on the floor, his hand bloody as the bowl shattered on the ground. The knife was stuck on his hand, and it was causing his hand to bleed more as he hissed.
"By the spirits of the ocean-" Crusher bit his bottom lip as he turned to get the cup.
"Woah!" Blaze's good samaritan instincts kicked in, and he drove towards his rival. "Hold still! I'll get the cup,"
"Blaze-!" AJ ran after him, ready to help his best friend in case of anything.
Blaze didn't hear him, though. He immediately grabbed the cup and handed it to the dark blue truck. His smile faltered, however, when he saw his rival's eyes glance up at him in horror.
That's when it hit him.
Crusher was THE siren. He knew what he had done and had been trying to discreetly fix everything.
And now, he was caught.
X
Crusher felt his heart and breath clog up his throat as he began to tremble, eyes wide and horrified. Blaze AND AJ had seen him? For how long?! Were the others nearby, just waiting to strike him down?!
"Crusher, get a hold of yourself!" Blaze's voice suddenly cut him from his thoughts, and he blinked to see the other staring down with concern. "It's okay. We're not gonna hurt you-"
"CRUSHER'S THE SIREN?!"
Crusher was frozen up again as they turned to see the other monster machines at the entrance, eyes gazing at them in shock. Crusher couldn't breathe as he saw their expressions of fear and horror. Blaze placed the cup down and turned to them.
"Woah, guys, take it easy," he reassured them. "He's not gonna hurt anyone. Just listen-"
But Crusher wasn't listening. He began to feel faint as he realized that he was starting to realize that he was not breathing, too busy holding his breath because of fear and nervousness. Before he knew it, his surroundings had darkened, and he passed out.
From bloodloss or airloss, he would never know.
X
"If he KNEW that he had caused the mess then why didn't he tell us?!" Starla demanded with a growl, neither of them noticing Crusher fainting behind them.
"Yeah!" Darington agreed. "We could've helped!"
"I know why," Watts frowned, her expression soft as Gabby dismounted from the driver seat. "Guys, not all sirens are in good terms with us,"
"What do you mean, Watts?" Starla turned to her girlfriend with a raised eyebrow.
"I know what she means," Stripes sighed, causing everyone to turn to him. "Sirens and land creatures are not all in good terms. Some still resent the sirens for the spells they can do while others had been raised to believe that sirens are born from evil,"
"Most sailors believe that," Watts went on. "Those who believe that had mostly been victimized by the sirens themselves, but no one has proven their intentions to be evil or not,"
"So that's why Crusher looked freaked out when we discovered him," AJ frowned. "We had to go to him, though. He was bleeding badly, and the knife was in his arm,"
"Wait, the knife is STILL in his arm-!" Blaze's eyes widened in realization, and he turned to see Crusher's truck form fading into his siren form while he laid unconscious on the floor.
The group were also alarmed, quickly running to the siren. Gabby carefully removed the knife, and Blaze picked him up while Stripes ran to one of his storage and grabbed a tank full of salt water (why he has that, I have no clue).
"In here, Blaze!" he called for his friend.
Blaze nodded and slowly placed Crusher into the tank. At the touch of the salt water, the wound began to glow and heal itself. They group stared at it amazingly.
"Woah..." Darington gasped.
"So... what we do with blood on floor?" Zeg questioned.
"Crusher was cutting his arm to give us the blood we need for the potion," Blaze answered. "We might as well not let his efforts go to waste,"
"Well this is more than five cups," Starla observed.
"Gabby and I'll get a mop to get all the blood," AJ offered before turning to leave with Gabby.
"What about Crusher?" Watts asked.
"We'll have to look after him while he's in an injured state," Stripes replied, the book in his tires. "It says here that a siren can get a migraine and a hangover after bloodloss,"
"Stripes, you, Starla and Watts can mix the potion," Blaze told them. "Darry and I'll watch over Crusher,"
"You got it, partner!" Starla nodded and followed after Stripes with Watts beside her as Gabby and AJ came back with a pair of mops.
Blaze sighed and turned back to face his rival, who was floating in the tank, unconscious and with his eyes closed while his long, dark blue hair waved all through the water. Darington moved beside him and gently tapped his tire.
"You okay, B?"
"I... I don't know, Darry," Blaze sighed. "On one hand, Crusher did this. He placed an enchantment on Axle City. On the other hand, it was probably accident, and he's trying hard to fix it as discreetly as he can,"
"Yeah, it's pretty rough," Darington offered his boyfriend a smile. "I'm sure we can get through this,"
Blaze returned the smile before turning back to the tank.
"I hope so,"