Raya X: Appreciations, as usual, go out to you! Cliffhangers aren't really my style, but they do serve a purpose, which makes them a good friend of mine. Showdowns, meanwhile, have become a recent favorite thing for me. Much action is always the crescendo, if you ask me.
Both Lina and Invision fired at each other. From Lina's hands came a stream of fire and from Invision's came the strange black disintegrating energy. They met halfway in a powerful blast that knocked the three brothers onto the ground. Nether of them were unwavering, but neither seemed to be able to beat the other.
"How long are they gonna keep that up?" Wesley asked his brothers.
"I don't know," James said, "but maybe they'll cancel each other out."
"No," Matthew said. "I took the time to write this vanquishing spell and dammit, we're gonna use it!"
"Okay, okay," James said, "but remember, you're not the biggest anymore."
They turned to view the situation. Lina and Invision were at a standstill, both of them unwilling to let up. But Invision began to flap his wings again. The added force of this caused his powers to become stronger, while at the same time pushing Lina backwards. Her fire power started to waver and weaken, until it was finally overpowered. Before Invision's attack could hit her full force, though, it was frozen in midair, just inches in front of her. She looked at Invision; he was also frozen in time. She turned to face James and his brothers with a look of both guilt and fear. It was a face that James had never seen before. But then again, at this point, he really didn't seem to care how she looked.
"It's good to be back," Wesley said, blowing on his fingers like they were smoking guns. "I still got it!"
"Take it somewhere else," Matthew said.
"Jimmy," Lina began, "I know what you're thinking, but believe me, none of this was my intention."
"Don't give me any of that crap," James said. "You lied to me, you betrayed me, not to mention you strained my relationship with Wesley. You don't know what we've been through, so I really don't think that you know what I'm thinking right now."
"I knew that she was bad news, but…" Wesley was quickly silenced as Matthew covered his mouth.
"I thought that things would turn out differently," Lina said. "I never expected that I would fall in love with you. It wasn't supposed to be like this."
"Damn right," James said, "but saying you love me doesn't change the fact that you've been trying to kill me and my brothers for so long. It doesn't even make sense. How can you love me and try to kill me at the same time?"
"Exactly," Lina said. "That's why I haven't been able to kill you or your brothers. In fact, I've been helping you to kill other demons and warlocks. I'm so, so, so sorry that it had to happen like this. I just hope that we can move past this."
Wesley nearly choked when he heard Lina say that. He glared at Lina, who only ignored him. Then, in a tribute to classical pranksters, he performed the infamous "liar" cough, where he cleverly concealed the word within a series of coughs. Matthew punched him in the arm to save James the trouble of having to do so.
"What I meant was," Wesley said more clearly, "that I'm good, but I'm not that good. I don't know how much longer Invision's gonna stay frozen, so y'all need to be wrapping this up soon."
"You really hurt me," James said to Lina, "and no amount of apologizing will ever change that. Now, get out of the way."
Slowly, Invision began to wiggle out of his state of suspended animation, still in attack mode. Lina quickly dodged out of the way of the black wave, which struck the wall behind her instead. After the wave ended, there was nothing left of the wall except an empty space.
"You saved me?" Lina asked James.
"Hardly," James said, "but we have bigger things to handle right now."
Invision fired another blast of black energy, this time at the brothers. Now, however, they had their own powers again and were ready for him. James quickly rebounded the black wave with his telekinesis and sent it back towards Invision. Invision quickly called on his powers of deflection and the light screen re-rebounded the attack. Invision, though, stumbled backwards again from having to withstand the recoil. All three brothers took cover and avoided the attack, which left another hole in another wall. Matthew, who had been observing things the whole time, came up with an idea.
"I have an idea," he said to his brothers. "Homeboy, I need you to freeze Invision, but only when I tell you to. Jimmy, be ready to attack."
"But…" Wesley protested, but was cut off by stares from both his brothers.
They all stood up, ready to defend themselves at any given moment. Lina, meanwhile, had taken cover in another room. She was unable to do anything due to the fear of her dual situation crippling both her confidence and her abilities.
"Now, Jimmy!" Matthew shouted.
Well, don't that beat all? Will Matt's plan work? I mean, we know he's got the best track record of the three, but they've all been a little off lately… Meanwhile, what's gonna happen with Lina? It's all out in the open, and the only way y'all will know is if you stay tuned!