Chapter 16: Face Yourself
Back with Sasha and Grime, the two of them were very handily able to destroy every robot that came at them.
That being said, it was starting to get really tiring for the two of them to keep destroying the replenishing robot supply.
"There's no end to these things!" Grime shouted.
"Well keep going! We have to finish up here and catch up to the others!" Sasha shouted back.
"I know that but… WATCH OUT!" Grime shouted.
Sasha turned around to see that a large robot had snuck up on her, before it smacked her away and into a pillar.
"Sasha!" Grime shouted before running to her side.
When he got there, he saw that she was out cold.
"Come on… wake up!" Grime commanded.
Nothing.
Then, he looked around and saw that they were surrounded.
"Great… guess this is as good of a way to die as any!" Grime said as he fired up his war-hammer once again.
—
"Ugh… that hurt… where am I?" Sasha said as she took a look around.
Nothing. There was nothing around her.
"Uh…"
"Well… look who it is."
Turning around at the new voice she saw… something she very much did NOT expect to see.
"Uh…"
Sasha really didn't know what to say here…
She is looking right at herself as a child after all.
"You just HAD to stay in control, didn't you?" The younger Sasha asked. "You just HAD to try and take over! You couldn't just let your friends be happy, could you?!"
"I… Uh…"
"You what? You didn't want to lose what you had with them? Even though you KNEW what you had with the made them sad?"
"I…"
"Come on, just admit it… admit the real reason why you wanted to be in control so much…"
"I… I don't…"
"You don't want to?" The Young Sasha asked. "You don't want to admit that it was all because you were jealous?
Jealous of their relationship?
No… you were happy for them…
You were jealous that they had both of their parents!"
Sasha… just stared at the young girl.
"Poor poor Sasha… her parents just couldn't stay together. Was it her fault? Who knows?!
What is obvious though, is that they didn't care about her enough to try and make it work…"
"Stop it… please…"
"Although… Marcy also had it rough with her parents, didn't she?" The Young Sasha asked. "You knew that her parents never really loved her like a parent should… sure, they never abused her physically, but mentally she HAD to of been suffering! And yet… you decided that she had things better off than you…"
"Stop it!"
"How terrible is that? How terrible are YOU?!"
"I ALREADY KNOW!" Sasha shouted. "I know that ok?! I know I screwed up, I know that I shouldn't of done what I did… I know that Marcy had things worse than me! I KNOW ALL OF IT!"
The Young Sasha stayed silent.
"But… They forgave me anyways…" Sasha said as tears began to fall. "Despite how terrible I was to those two… They forgave me… they still call me their friend…
So… I am going to make it up to them… I am going to work non-stop to make up for everything I did for them… starting with helping them defeat Andrias!
END! OF! DISCUSSION!"
And with that, she lunged her swords into the ground, causing the whole area to begin glowing a bright red.
"… Well done…" The Young Sasha suddenly said.
"Huh?"
"Anyone can gain strength of body… but it is the strength of their mind and heart that is truly important… and you've shown that you got it." The Young Sasha said as she began to glow red.
And with that, everything became enveloped in light.
—
The next thing Sasha knew, she was standing, looking around at all the robots that had her and Grime surrounded.
They were all staring at her.
"Well, about time Sasha…" Grime said with a smirk.
Sasha didn't respond, and simply took out her sword performed a circular swing. This caused a spiral of energy to suddenly shoot out, and destroyed all of the robots that surrounded Grime.
Then, she vanished.
Before Grime could even blink, all of the robots around them were suddenly slashed to pieces, before they all exploded.
"Well then! Guess you figured out that power after all!" Grime said.
"Yeah… guess I did." Sasha said with a smile.
Meanwhile with Amity and Marcy
Similarly to Sasha and Grime's situation before, Amity and Marcy were able to handily destroy all of the robots that were attacking them, however, the quickly replenishing numbers were beginning to take a toll on them.
"We have to destroy this barrier!" Amity shouted as she destroyed another couple of robots.
"I know! But these things aren't giving us a single opening!" Marcy shouted back.
'Come on Marcy… you gotta think of something!' Marcy thought. 'I can't let Anne down… not again!'
"Oh… but you will…"
"Huh? Amity did you hear something?" Marcy asked.
"No? Why?!" Amity asked.
"She can't hear me… only you…"
Then, suddenly, everything around Marcy went dark.
"What the…? Amity?!"
"She can't hear you anymore…"
Marcy turned around to see the source of the voice…
It was her… back when she had that stupid helmet on.
"You! Why are you here?!" Marcy asked.
"To show you just how futile this all is…" Darcy said with a smirk.
"What's that…"
"She's never going to forgive you you know." Darcy said. "After everything you did… do you really expect her to forgive you that easily?"
"I…"
"You haven't even told her have you? The real reason why her body was falling apart the other day?" Darcy asked.
"…"
"What do you think will happen when she finds out? The reason why that all happened was our fault?" Darcy asked. "That attacking her with the power I gave you was the reason that she almost died?!"
"That… that's not true!" Marcy said.
"Isn't it? My power opposes the power of the stones, you know that already." Darcy explained. "So, when you used it to attack her…"
"STOP IT!"
"How many times Marcy Wu? How many times have you almost killed her?" Darcy asked. "How many more times will it take for you to realize that you are just a burden to her… that you DON'T deserve her?!"
"I… I…"
"And don't think this will just go away…" Darcy said as she walked up to Marcy and tapped her chest with her finger. "That scar will always be a reminder of what you've done…"
"… No…"
"Hm?"
"I am not going to listen to you any more!" Marcy said as she started to glow a faint green. "Yeah… you're right. I am thinking all of these things. My mind… it keeps telling me everything that you just said… but I am not going to listen to it!"
Then, Marcy put her thumb to her chest.
"Anne taught me, that sometimes, instead of listening to your mind, you have to follow your heart, and that will give you the strength to see things through!" Marcy shouted.
"Yes, I feel guilty about what I did, but I will NOT let that guilt consume me! Not when my girlfriend needs my help!"
She then stepped forward.
"And I know one thing: I now that I will NEVER become you again! No matter what!"
And just like that, a wave of energy burst out of her, causing Darcy and the darkness around her to disperse into the wind.
Marcy then looked to the eyes that were creating the barrier, and quickly pointed her unloaded crossbow at it.
Suddenly, an arrow of pure energy formed in the crossbow, and once fired, it split off into a flurry of arrows, destroying any robots that got in the way, as well as the eyes.
When the dust settled, the barrier, as well as all of the robots, were all gone.
Amity, who was just standing there, deactivated her spell, and returned to her normal form.
"Marcy…"
"How much did you hear?" Marcy asked, her voice now having a slight echo to it.
"… Enough…"
"… We'll deal with that once this is all over… let's go help our girlfriends first."
"… Alright…"
When Luz saw the two additional lights strike Andrias, she didn't know what to think of it at first. Then, the three of them, after sending Andrias flying back to his throne, landed and the light cleared enough for her to see who it was.
First was Sasha, who's sword was now glowing and bursting with energy. Her hair changed to a bright reddish pink color.
Then, there was Marcy, who's crossbow was loaded with an arrow of pure energy. Her hair was a bright green now.
Finally, there was Anne, who retained her transformed appearance.
"Whoa…"
"Luz!"
Looking back, she saw Amity running towards her, with Grime following not too far behind.
"Amity!" Luz shouted as she ran over and hugged her. "Are you alright?"
"Am I alright?! What about you?!" Amity asked.
"I'm fine…"
"Good!" Amity said as she pulled Luz in for another hug.
"So uh… what did we miss?" Grime asked, looking at the scene before him.
"… Well…"
Luz then looked over to the Plantars, and Amity gasped in shock.
"Is he…?"
"…"
"… I see…" Amity said as she went over to Sprig and Polly and pulled them in for a hug. "I'm so sorry…"
The two younger frogs just sobbed into Amity's arms.
"Anne…" Marcy said as she turned to her.
"Let's just kick Andrias' butt… ok?" Anne asked.
"But…"
"Let's not let his sacrifice be for nothing… alright?" Anne pleaded, steam coming from her eyes, signifying more tears had evaporated.
"… Fine."
At this, Andrias just chuckled.
"Well! Can't say I was expecting this!" Andrias said. "To think that Marcy and Sasha would also awaken to their powers…"
"It's over you oversized lizard!" Sasha said as she pointed her sword at Andrias. "Anne alone completely destroyed you! Now you have to deal with all three of us!"
If Andrias was bothered by this, he didn't show it…
Instead, he laughed.
"Is that really what you think?" Andrias asked.
"Oh great… don't tell me this is one of those 'I was holding back' moments…" Marcy groaned out.
"Oh no… I was going all out back then." Andrias revealed. "However… I am prepared this time…"
And with that, he got up off the ground and sat down on his throne.
Then, several holes appeared on his armor, as pipes suddenly burst from the ground and went into those holes.
"What's he doing?" Anne asked.
"… Oh no…" Marcy said, realizing what was about to happen.
"It truly is a shame that Marcy didn't work out… my lord was quite fond of her body and mind." Andrias said. "That being said, I knew all along that it wouldn't work in the end."
"Andrias! Don't do this! It's just gonna…"
"Enough!" Andrias shouted. "The time has come for me to bring this to an end! After all…
If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself."
At that moment, he took off his crown, as a familiar helmet began descending towards him.
"ANDRIAS!" Marcy screamed.
Andrias then closed his eyes, and embraced the core as it took over.
A wave of orange energy burst out of him, destroying the throne as well as all of the windows in the room.
The force of this merge pushed everyone in the room away from him, the non-super-powered members of the group being sent to the ground.
When the dust settled, Andrias was standing there, his entire body pulsing with energy.
"Hello… Heart… Wit… Strength…" Andrias said in a VERY different voice.
"So… this is it huh? The three of us against a god?" Sasha asked.
"Looks like it, yeah." Anne answered.
"… Let's do this." Marcy said.
Suddenly, Anne handed Sasha her sword.
"Anne?"
"I got everything I need right here Sash." Anne said as she cracked her knuckles.
Sasha smiled at this. "Alright."
And with that, they were all ready.
The three girls charged at Andrias, who pulled out his sword, which was now noticeably larger.
Luz and the others just watched on as the three girls flew around Andrias, launching attack after another at him.
It wasn't much, but they were able to damage him.
However, things took a turn for the worse when Andrias managed to land a large punch onto Sasha, who went flying into and through a wall.
"Sasha!" Anne shouted.
"Ugh… that… that really hurt…" Sasha groaned out, very disoriented.
Marcy, deciding to attack from a distance, shot a flurry of arrows at Andrias.
He responded by lunging his sword into the ground, which created a wave of energy that not only went straight through the arrows, but stuck Marcy, sending her to the ground.
"MARCY!" Anne shouted, noticeably louder than a moment ago.
"Wow… I see how it is…" Sasha mumbled out.
And now, Anne was the only one still standing, having to fight Andrias alone for a bit while the two others gathered their bearings.
Things did not look good.
Andrias was simply too powerful for them.
They were close to being able to beat them… but it just wasn't looking like it was going to be enough…
So… Luz made a decision.
She kneeled down and reached into her bag.
"Luz?" Amity asked.
"Amity… I'm sorry." Luz said as she pulled something out.
A familiar looking vial, that was now only half full.
"Is that…?" Amity asked.
"… Yeah…"
"What… are you going to do with that?" Amity asked.
Then suddenly, Luz's entire body began to shake, as tears began to well up in her eyes.
"Luz…?"
Luz… looked absolutely terrified.
Terrified of what she was about to do.
After a moment, she took a deep breath as she uncorked the vial.
Then she closed her eyes and said one word.
"This."
Then, she swallowed the contents of the vial.
And everything went white.
End of Chapter 16
Next time, we answer a long standing question…
See you all tonight for Chapter 17: Unity
… I did not intend on posting this so late so I'll put the next chapter up in about an hour.