"CRUSHER!!"

They all zoomed out to see Crusher down, still in his dragon form, blood coming from his underbelly. Cryo and Shaw were at his front, a large gun in Cryo's tires as he smirked over at his cousin.

"NO!!" Blaze shrieked in horror.

"Blaze, what do we do?!" Sparkle asked.

"There's nothing you can do, Blaze!" Cryo cackled, aiming the gun again at the whimpering dragon. "Either you surrender to me or he gets shot again!"

Blaze looked between his friends and Roarian, trying to figure out what to do.

If he surrendered, he would be killed.

But if he didn't, Crusher and the rest of them would be killed.

As tears pricked his eyes again, his sunstone began to glow, brighter than ever. He felt his magic flow through him, his mind attempting to be cleared from the decision he's suppose to make.

The right choice.

For all of them.

"Ugh, you're taking too long," Cryo groaned and aimed the gun already. "Say goodbye, Crusher."

"NO!" Blaze's eyes glowed the brightest as he levitated into the air.

The gun was lifted from Cryo's tires and disintegrated. The Periwinkle truck snarled.

"WHAT?! How did you do that?!"

Blaze didn't respond. Instead, he used his magic to lift his cousins into the air, much to their shock.

"Wha-- hey!"

Blaze swirled his tires around, causing the brothers to scream as they were swirled into a portal. Shaw growled and took out another gun.

"We might have lost, cousin, but so have you."

And before he disappeared into the portal with his brother, he managed to shoot Crusher on the head, causing the dragon to let out another pained roar.

But this time, Blaze didn't get distracted, no matter how much it pained him. He made sure that his cousins were gone before he set himself down on the ground, his sunstone ceasing its glow as he sighed.

"Now to save Crushy..."

He turned to see Glacier cradling his injured brother in his wing. Blaze approached them, holding out to see Crusher whimpering out at him, eyes red-shot in tears and pain.

"Don't worry... I'm gonna heal you right away."

He allowed his sunstone to glow to heal his husband. Just as he did, Crusher's lightning abilities opposed to his magic, causing both to grow puzzled.

"W-Why didn't it work?"

Crusher whimpered and moved to reveal the wound on his chest. The wound had blood sipping out, along with some dark liquid that glowed purple.

Blaze narrowed his eyes at it. It looked… familiar…

"Oh dear…" Grammy hissed as she drove closer to inspect.

"W-What's wrong?" Watts asked

asked

"It seems that despite Dynama being defeated, her illness pierced through Crusher and is making his injury incurable…" Grammy explained.

"Oh no..." Phoenix gasped quietly.

"No, NO, NO, NO!" Blaze shook his head, tears rolling down his cheeks as he held the other close. "I... I have to find a cure! I have to!"

Crusher nuzzled himself close to his husband. "Blaze…"

"Yes, Crusher?"

"Take… Take care of the… the twins… please…"

"No, Crusher, no... I'm not losing you! I'm going to find you a cure!"

Glacier looked down at sadly and hid his tears in his wing. Crusher sighed and lowered his head.

"I… I'm sorry…"

Blaze soon felt the other grow heavy as the dark liquid on his wound spreading faster on his blood and skin. He held him tighter, his tears rolling down his cheeks as he gritted his teeth.

"Crusher, p-please…"

Crusher gave a smile before he closed his eyes and laid his head. Glacier raised his head as he no longer felt the other breathing and let out a sob.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!" Blaze wailed.

He held the other as much as he could, his tears rolling down his cheeks. Everyone else bowed their heads, all of them sobbing at the death of the dark blue truck as the rain started to pour…

X

"Uncle Pickle…" Magma and Inazuma whimpered as they drove to their uncles' room.

"Yes, sweethearts?" Pickle asked.

"When are Papa and Daddy coming home?" Magma asked. "It's raining, and Zuma and I don't like the thunder."

"We… We don't know, you two," Darington admitted. "How about we try calling them? P?"

"Sure... but something tells me that... something really bad happened..."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!"

Darington zoomed to the door to answer it. But when he opened it, and saw Blaze's tear stained eyes, he knew something had happened.

"Blaze...?"

"I… hi, guys," he sniffled his tears.

"DAD!" the twins rushed to him with beaming smiles.

"Hey, guys..." Blaze couldn't help but let more tears out once he got the twins into his arms.

"Daddy..." Magma groaned. "You're hugging us too tight!"

"Sorry, sweetie..." Blaze choked, letting them go. "I'm just... so glad you're both safe..."

"What happened...?" Pickle asked quietly once he got away from the others.

"I… C-Crusher… he…" Blaze felt himself ready to break down again as his voice quiver.

"Hey, Dad, where's Papa?" Inazuma asked.

"Yeah!" Magma looked around. "Daddy, where's Papa?! I miss Papa!"

That just made Blaze start crying even harder, falling on his stomach.

Pickle and Darington exchanged worried glances.

"Blaze…?" they asked. "Are you… Are you okay…?"

"CRUSHER'S DEAD, OKAY?! CRUSHER'S DEAD AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!"

And with his outburst, he ran out of the house and into the storm, tossing his sunstone on the ground while doing so.

This left the group in shock. Even Speedrick, who had just started to go down from his room when he had heard the outburst.

The twins were confused and turned to their uncles.

"What does 'dead' mean?"

"It's, um... something we'll have to explain to you little ones later," Starla said as she and everyone else drove inside.

"He's... really... you know what?" Darington muttered.

"He is," Stripes sadly nodded. "Blaze tried. He tried to cure him, but… but he couldn't… not in time, anyway…"

Glacier, who had reverted to his truck form, nodded and zoomed past them to get to Speedrick, who held him close as he began to sob.

"I should have taken the injury myself..."

"No Glacier... the pain wouldn't be any easier..." Gabby shook her head.

"But... I've never seen Blaze like this before," Flame sighed, looking out into the storm. "You think he'll be okay?"

"I hope he will," Roarian sighed as he picked up the sunstone.

"Me too..." Sparkle sighed. "Me too..."