The group stared at the dark blue truck, horrified by the reveal shown in front of them.
"Um... is it me, or are Crusher's eyes glowing blue?" AJ asked.
"What could that mean?" Sparkle whimpered.
"I know of only one thing..." Roarian sighed. "Crusher is the wielder of the Moonstone,"
"Aw, you FINALLY figured it out," Crusher chuckled. "I wondered how long it took for you idiots to realize it,"
"So... you trapped Blaze's friends, our parents and YOUR best friend in those cages?" Sparkle asked.
"Well, I didn't trap Pickle to hurt him, that's for sure," Crusher snarked. "At least he played his part quite well enough for me to come with you all,"
"So... you USED him?!" Sparkle screeched. "Crusher, how could you?!"
"I just did," Crusher smirked. "And now you've led me right into… this," He held the the Sunstone in his tire with a tight grip. "Which I will say thank you all for, by the way. I thank you, Blaze, for trusting me with the scroll too. Just what I needed,"
Blaze's eyes began to sting with tears, and he looked up at Crusher, heartbroken. "How could you do this...? We all trusted you...!!"
"YOU trusted me, Blaze," Crusher scoffed. "That was YOUR mistake. If it were any of the others, they would have doubted me in a second,"
"Why are you doing this?!" AJ screeched. "We've been nothing but good to you!"
"Oh, please, drop the act." Crusher rolled his eyes. "Beating me at races, uncheating my cheats, stealing MY spotlight?! I've got a list, and it's a reason too many,"
"You cheated at almost everything, and that's not right!" Sparkle said.
"SHUT UP!" Crusher roared out, sending more rocks towards them. "Every skill I did, it wasn't good enough! I always had to see I was the best! I had always been the best! But YOU," He pointed at Blaze. "YOU had to make me raise my standards on myself. I was THE BEST! AND YOU TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME!"
He stomped his tire on the ground, sending a wave of magic towards the group. His tantrum stopped quickly as he smirked, eyes glowing blue with gold as the Sunstone hovered over his other tire.
"And now, I'm gonna take everything from you."
"Crusher, DON'T!!" Blaze screamed.
But it was too late. The Sunstone soon sunk itself into Crusher's tire, allowing the dark blue to take in it's magic. He shut his eyes at the temporary pain before opening his eyes to reveal one eye glowing gold while the other still glowed blue as sun and crescent moon marks glowed all over his body.
"No..."
Blaze's eyes widened in horror as Crusher let out a maniacal laughter.
"Finally... they're... MINE!!!!"
Crusher cackled over and over again before he turned to look at the stunned group.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a city to get back to."
With that, he used his newfound magic to break open the cave wall before using his rocks to get down from the mountain as the rocks sealed the hole, trapping the group inside.
Meanwhile, back in Axle City, the other group waited patiently for Blaze and the others to return.
"They've been gone a long time..." Darington sighed.
"You think they've found the Sunstone yet?" Gabby asked.
"Knowing Blaze, I'm sure they did!" Stripes encouraged them.
"Yeah!" Zeg agreed. "Blaze and AJ always rescue friends!"
"Not this time, I suppose,"
The group looked down to see Crusher approach them with a smirk.
"Crusher! Where are the boys, Sparkle and Roarian?" Watts asked.
"Back at the cave, trapped." Crusher snickered, eyes glowing gold and blue. "And guess who got the Sunstone?~"
"Crusher did…?" Zeg guessed.
"If YOU have the Sunstone then why's your eyes also blue?" Starla narrowed her eyes at him.
"Well... guess who also has the Moonstone and is going to get rid of everything Blaze built in this town?" Crusher raised an eyebrow as the rocks slowly emerged at his sides.
"YOU MONSTER!" Phoenix snarled. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO BLAZE AND SPARKLE?!"
"Only trapped 'em for eternity," Crusher shrugged. "Nothing special. And now... you all are gonna feel some intense pain and sadness... the same I have felt for so long."
He took out the Sunstone scroll from his bag and unrolled it to start the incantation.
"Wither and decay
End this destiny
Break these earthly chains
And set the spirit free!"
At his words, the ground he stood on faded into grey while his eyes turned completely dark. The others gasped as the grayness of the ground slowly approached them.
"Ohh... I sure wish Blaze was here!" Stripes panicked.
"Stripes, do you know what's happening?!" Gabby turned to the tiger truck.
"Uh, I don't think he needs to tell us to know…" Darington gulped, watching as a flower on the ground wilted and turned into ashes by the touch of the grayness.
"He's gonna kill us all, isn't he...?" Starla whimpered.
"CRUSHER, STOP!" Watts cries out. "PLEASE!"
Unfortunately, the incantation has already corrupted the dark blue truck, so he could not respond as the grayness made it's way to them.
Back at the bush, Pickle was waiting for his best friend to return when the rocks around him began to give away, breaking apart and setting him free, much to his confusion.
"Huh?"
He looked around and found his best friend at the field. He gasped as he noticed the grayness appearing from underneath the dark blue truck.
"Crusher!"
He dashed over to his best friend but as soon as he got in contact with the grayness, he fell to a stop and began to cough wildly. The others turned to him in shock.
"Pickle!" Watts cried. "Stripes, what's going on?!"
"The incantation!" Stripes gasped. "It's taking the life out of him!"
"Pickle!" Starla cried out. "You alright?!"
"I… I…" But Pickle could barely speak as he kept coughing and wheezing for air, so he reached his tire out to his best friend in plead. "C-Crusher… s-stop… p-please…"
"Crusher need to snap out of it! He hurting Pickle!" Zeg cried.
"I think he's so blinded by rage and vengeance... he doesn't care..." Stripes sighed.
"CRUSHER!" Pickle managed to make out as he fought for his breath.
Crusher turned to him, his eyes still corrupted by the darkness as well as his whole body by then. One look at the green truck's tearful eyes seemed to work, for in an instant, his whole body reverted back to normal before he gasped, his eyes turning crystal blue and gold again as the grayness around him stopped spreading.
"P-Pickle…?"
"Crusher!" Pickle felt his strength coming back as he beamed. "Thank goodness you stopped!"
"I…" Crusher glanced down at the scroll that he didn't know he dropped before growling. "Alright, that's a NO on the dark incantation. I'll just have to use something else…"
"WHAT?!" Pickle looked at him in bewilderment. "Crusher! Is this even part of the plan?!"
The group looked down at the duo, in surprise and confusion.
"You knew...?" Starla muttered.
"Uhmmm…" Pickle gulped before sighing. "Yeah, I did,"
"Why didn't you say anything, Pickle honey?" Phoenix asked.
"I—"
"Cause he knew which side he should be," Crusher interrupted with a smirk as he kept the Sunstone scroll and took out the other one. "The 'safer' side,"
"SAFE?!" Darington looked shocked. "You almost KILLED Pickle!"
"Eh, minor hiccup to the plan," Crusher shrugged as he unrolled the scroll. "Hmm… now this looks like a MUCH better incantation…
"Crescent high above
Evolving as you go
Raise what lies beneath
And let the darkness grow!"
Suddenly, the rocks all turned icy blue completely. Both of Crusher's eyes glowed crystal blue as well as he commanded the rocks to move towards the group.
The group gasped as the rocks around the fell, and the new rocks came and trapped them in a bigger, stronger cage.
"What the?!" Gabby gasped.
"LET US GO!" Stripes roared out.
"Hmm…" Crusher before grinning. "Nope!"
"Oh, B..." Darington whispered. "Please hurry..."