Note: Hello people! Fight to the Finish would have been up earlier but I was banned from the computer for a while. So...yeah. In case you didn't know, Antauri's still all black.
Chapter 19: Fight to the Finish
In just two hours Gibson, Sparx, Sage and Antauri had made it back to Shuggazoom City. Apparently, the way out of the cave and down the mountain turned out to be much easier than the way up. Unfortunately for Antauri, his time was running out and fast.
The four landed on the top of a random building. Antauri and Sage were having a disagreement while Sparx and Gibson just stood there and watched.
"No Sage, you're not going. I don't want anyone else getting hurt because of me." He said sternly.
"Antauri, you and I are the only one's who know how to defeat Krystal. You can barely walk in a straight line let alone get close enough to obtain her blood. If I don't go you'll die for sure. And you'll die just the way she wants you to, slowly, painfully, and hopelessly. Is that what you want?" She argued.
His voice was calmer "No, but I won't have your blood on my hands."
"You won't have my blood. You'll have Krystal's."
He shook his head.
"I'm supposed to protect you, Antauri. And whether you want me to or not, that's exactly what I'm going to do." She turned her back to him and spread her wings.
Antauri sighed in defeat. He realized she was going no matter what. "Sage"
Sage turned around.
"Be careful." He finished with sincerity.
She smiled and nodded her head as if bowing. In one fluent motion, she dove off the building and soared through the air in hopes of finding Krystal.
Alexa and Krystal were aimlessly striding through the park.
"Hey Krystal, there's something I don't understand."
"Besides everything?"Alexa gave her a look. "I don't get why you're doing this to Antauri, I mean, it's not like he did it on purpose. He even apologized."
"Even before that, he and I never got along very well."
"You sure this isn't just an excuse to kill someone?"
Krystal looked at her with annoyance "What are you getting at?"
"All I'm saying is that I'm not so sure if I support this whole thing or not. I have nothing against him or anyone in the hyperforce. No offense, but I don't really want to take sides." Alexa skittishly replied.
"Fine, then don't," Krystal said casually.
"Really?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yeah,"
"You're not going to hurt me?""Nope."
"Cool. So…" she began, "you're not mad at me?"
"What do you take me for, a tyrant? You're my friend. You can do whatever you want."
"Just making sure." The two passed by a small group of people. "Am I the only one who knows you're alive?"
Krystal shrugged "The hyperforce knows. I think other people know they just don't care. Now will you stop playing 20 Questions?"
"Okay, okay, you don't have to be so snippy about it."
"Nnngh…"
Gibson, Antauri and Sparx returned to the Super Robot. Antauri felt guilty for letting Sage go alone. But there was nothing he could do. Sage wasn't kidding when she said he could barely walk in a straight line.
"Don't worry Antauri, she'll be fine" Chiro said attempting to cheer up the disheartened black monkey.
"Yeah, and she'll get the rest of the cure." Sparx added.
The monkey team's efforts to make Antauri feel better were in vain. His hours were numbered and on top of that, Sage could be killed trying to defeat Krystal. This was definitely not his day. The only reason Krystal didn't try to kill Antauri when he fought her was because she already had a plan to kill him. Sage however was a different story.
In short time, Sage had found Krystal walking alone where she always was. Sage paused for a moment and approached her. Krystal stopped, as did Sage. They kept their distance. Krystal smirked "Why hello Sage. Long time no see."
She glared "You know why I've been looking for you." Her voice was cold.
"Yes, yes I do. And you know what? You're not getting a drop of blood."
"I beg to differ. Sandstorm Cyclone!" A vigorous wind enveloped Krystal in a whirling sandstorm.
"Dark Reflection!" Krystal reflected the attack right back at Sage. Sage formed a force field of light around herself.
"Silver Halo!" Sage flew up into the air and separating her arms, formed a huge silver ring. A powerful luminosity poured from the ring. It was so strong that it temporarily blinded Krystal, leaving her open for an attack. Sage maneuvered a flying kick, which sent Krystal slamming into a wall. When her eyesight returned she created a barricade of fire that surrounded both her and Sage.
"No one gets in, no one gets out." She explained. The barricade was too small for Sage to do any aerial attacks.
Looks like its close range from here.
Luckily for Sage, she'd studied martial arts for years, but Krystal had as well. The two, for a while, seemed evenly matched. Krystal could still attack Sage with fire and Sage could still attack Krystal using light and some dark. But neither of them could use wind or air, due to the fact that Krystal's flaming barricade sucked up a lot of the air.
"You've always been nothing but a pest, Sage. I don't even know why my family bothered to capture you." She said while blocking a high kick.
"Oh, really? Then why'd you let me out?"
"I thought that maybe for once you'd actually be of some use to me. But, I guess not. I always knew you were a worthless, waist of time," she answered in a taunting voice.
Sage's eyes narrowed "I wouldn't be talking, you little insect."
"Who are you calling an insect?"
The two fought long and hard and it seemed the battle would last forever but unfortunately, Krystal eventually got the upper hand, putting Sage in big trouble. Krystal didn't want to just beat Sage in this battle and stall long enough so that Antauri would die. Now she wanted Sage dead too.
Back at the Super Robot, everyone was in the main room. Antauri had somewhere around an hour until death. He had his eyes closed. He wasn't sleeping, his eyes were just closed. Suddenly, somehow, someway, he knew Sage was in danger.
Sage is in trouble. She needs my help. I have to help her, but how?
He was answered when he felt something overpowering him, but this time it didn't hurt. It wasn't painful. In fact, it kind of felt good. A white aura surrounded him making him appear almost ghostly. Antauri felt a new strength, like he could do anything. It was his inner light.
"Oh no, he's already dead!" cried Otto.
"I'm not dead, Otto."
"Oh, you're not? Then what are you?"
"I don't know, but I do know that I have to help Sage."
"Well, we're coming with you," said Chiro.
It didn't take long for them to find the dome of fire that they just knew surrounded Sage and Krystal. The team stopped not far from the fire, all accept Antauri. He kept going and upon making contact with the flames nothing happened he just went right through it.
The others stared in disbelief "Whoa…"
When Antauri entered he found that Sage was losing pretty badly. Neither Sage nor Krystal was aware that Antauri was there. (That rhymes.) So he snuck up behind Krystal and attacked her, pinning her to the ground.
"What the…How'd you get in here?"
"I wouldn't worry about that." He looked up at Sage and gave her a look which she understood.
"Shadow Cannon!" Sage put her paws together and a black energy shot out at Krystal who was still on the ground. Antauri jumped out of the way and landed beside Sage.
"You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Antauri." She said.
"Something told me you needed help."
Krystal stood up and glared at the two of them. "Change of plans. I'll just kill you both right here."
The rest of the monkey team stood outside the barrier.
"Shouldn't we help them or something?" asked Chiro.
"No, Chiro. This is up to them" Gibson replied.
The battle lasted until minutes before sunset. The monkey team heard a blasting sound and a thud when the fire finally died down. Once it cleared, they could see Sage and Antauri standing and breathing heavily. Across from them was Krystal lying on the ground…dead. They hadn't really intended on killing her but they did.
The white aura around Antauri faded and he collapsed, as did Sage. The hyperforce ran over to them. Sage was just exhausted and had fairly bad wounds. Antauri was barely alive. Nova noticed that Sage had just enough of Krystal's blood on her talons for the cure. The hyperforce rushed Sage and Antauri back to the Super Robot and into med bay. Nova, Sparx and Otto took care of Sage's injuries while Gibson and Chiro put the two ingredients together. As soon as the blood came in contact with the Sapphire, it unexpectedly turned into a mostly blue liquid. Gibson put the liquid into a needle and injected it in Antauri's left shoulder. Just as Antauri was being given the cure, he closed his eyes and everything inside him stopped. Sage was awake on the bed beside Antauri's. She'd propped herself up with her elbows and looked over at Antauri as did everyone else. They waited anxiously to hear his voice, for him to open his eyes, anything. Anything that would tell them he was alive. After long moments of waiting, Sage's ears drooped and she hung her head. Everyone else hung their heads too. She heard Sparx say quietly "We were too late."
"You're never too late," said a barely audible, weakened voice.
Sage's ears perked up at hearing the voice. Everyone looked up, and saw that he was alive, Antauri was alive. (Yay!)
"You're alive!" cheered Otto.
"It takes more than a disturbed adolescent to keep me down."
Sage smiled "We're so glad you're okay. We thought we'd lost you."
"I'm still here." He paused "Team; there's something I have to tell you."
Nova stopped him "Save your breath, Antauri. We already know."
Antauri looked over at Gibson.
"They had to find out sometime." Gibson replied. "Now I advise that you rest, you're still very weak. That goes for you too, Sage."
"I think I speak for both me and Antauri when I say, thank you, all of you, for everything," said Sage. Antauri nodded in agreement.
"Don't mention it" Otto responded.
While the hyperforce and Sage slept that night, a transparent figure stopped right in front of the Super Robot. It looked up and held out its hand. A black mist escaped from inside Antauri and into the figures hand. It stood there a moment longer and then walked off into the night until it faded into nothing.
Note: Well, now I just want to thank everyone who has bothered to read this story. You guys are awesome. I might make an epilogue to this but I'm not sure. As a heads up, not all of my stories will be this long and have this many chapters. So now all I have to say is goodbye for now and please R&R.