Chapter Seventeen

The Hanedale Showdown

The air around Elsa's palms grew cold and swirled around, forming little droplets of snow. A cold blast of ice came forth from Elsa's right hand and shot towards Major Kane. With quick reflexes, he lifted up his left hand, the snake totem glowing red. The black magic blocked and countered the blast of ice, completely neutralizing Elsa's attack.

Shocked at his counter, Elsa aimed her other palm at Kane, doubling the torrent of ice. The sheer impact of the increased attack forced Major Kane backwards, and Elsa dropped her guard a little on the inside, relieved that her attack was working.

Kane, his left hand still raised, sidestepped out of the blast of ice, and aimed his totem at her. With a bellow of rage, a dark red surge of energy swept towards Elsa. It hit her, and she exclaimed as she was knocked off balance, falling onto the slippery deck.

"I'm impressed," Kane walked towards her with the trident in his hand."Never have I seen such strange powers," he stopped and towered over a fallen Elsa, who backed away from him, trying to create some distance between herself and her enemy. "You're special. I've fought against the others, but you, you're the most formidable of them all. You're one of them. The elemental sorcerers."

Elsa was confused. Elemental sorcerers? She had never heard of them, but she had bigger problems to worry about now."Where's Melody?" she asked, scrambling to her feet. "What have you done with her?"

"Me?" Major Kane looked amused. "You should ask your former teammate."

Elsa shot a look over at Tracy who was still locked in the middle of a grudge match against her mortal enemy, Moana.

"I knew you would turn against us at some point!" Moana shouted as she continuously lashed out at Tracy with her tribal spear. "You're nothing more than a sea witch!"

"Yeah, and you're nothing more than a failed village chief." Tracy fended off the flurry of Moana's attacks, paying extra attention to avoid the sharp tip of the spear. "Oh wait, you don't even have a village anymore!" She taunted as she sidestepped another swing of the spear.

Moana cried out in rage and the necklace around her neck glowed a bright yellow. Sparks of white magic flew from Moana's hand as she threw them at the sea witch. However, they were nothing compared to Tracy's enhanced powers granted to her by her new ally.

With a swift block, Tracy's dark red energy protected her from Moana's onslaught. "Heh. Is that all?" she continued to taunt Moana.

Moana dropped her spear and focused on throwing yellow streaks of energy at Tracy, who seemed not in the least bit fazed by the attacks. The white magic bounced off of Tracy's shield of dark red energy like raindrops off an umbrella.

"That's all? You're done?" Tracy smirked villainously. "Then it's my turn." Both her hands glowed red, auras of black magic surrounding her fists, growing bigger by the second. As the auras grew dangerously huge, Tracy tossed them in Moana's direction.

Moana leapt out of the way, and the black magic exploded just to her right. The shockwave from the eruption of energy radiated out from the epicentre, knocking Moana over the deck and she crashed heavily into the ocean.

"You have such great power."

Elsa was jolted back to her own predicament and yelped as she scrambled out of the way just as a surge of golden energy flew towards her. She could see the trident's blast of magic flash before her eyes as she narrowly dodged it.

"So much potential." Kane aimed the trident at Elsa, who had nowhere else to run. "It's a shame that this is the last time you get to use them."

"No!" Maui threw himself with all his might against the Major, and sent both of them sprawling to the deck.

Elsa breathed heavily, realising that she had just narrowly avoided being vaporised into atoms. It was a miracle that Maui had been there at the right moment to save her. Wait, Moana! She had been thrown into the ocean by Tracy's attack! Elsa placed both her hands on the beam of the deck, searching frantically for Moana. Suddenly, a strong surge of dark red energy hit her from behind, knocking her overboard. She crashed into the ocean, just like Moana did before her. Elsa emerged from below the surface, choking on the seawater that she had swallowed when she had hit the water. Pushing her soaked platinum blond hair away from her face, she looked up to see Tracy gloating at the edge of the deck. There was no point in fighting back against the octopid. Besides, she had bigger problems to worry about. Elsa treaded water, looking around her. Where was Moana?

At that moment, a weary Melody emerged from below the surface with an unconscious Moana propped against her.

"Melody! You're alright!" Elsa exclaimed in relief.

"Tracy," Melody began weakly. "She-"

"Yes, we know," Elsa helped to put one of Moana's arms around her own shoulders, taking a load off Melody. "She's aligned herself with the Major."

"Yeah." Melody put Moana's other arm around her own shoulders, just like Elsa had done. "Help me get her back to our own ship. Is it far?"

"It's just a bit further down from here. We stopped a bit behind the Major's ship so that we could ambush him discreetly." Elsa pointed to their own ship which lay behind the fog which gave them cover.

Elsa and Melody swam back to their own ship, dragging an unconscious Moana with them. When they reached their own ship, Elsa propped Moana up near the side of the ship. Aiming at the water below Moana, she froze it, careful to avoid freezing her in the water. Continuing to freeze the same spot, the ice slowly thickened below Moana. Elsa adjusted her aim, and the water beneath the ice froze as well and began to raise her to the deck of the ship.

"Hang on." Elsa beckoned for Melody to hold on to her, and she did the same for the water beside her. As the water froze, she and Melody climbed onto the ice and was raised to the deck of the ship. They carried Moana and placed her on the deck.

Melody collapsed on her back, lying on the deck beside Moana, and placed a hand on her locket. The locket glowed golden, and her salmon-pink tail disappeared and was replaced by her legs. Exhausted, she looked up at Elsa. "Where's Maui?" Melody asked weakly, before passing out.

"He's still fighting the Major!" It suddenly dawned on Elsa that she had left him to confront the Major alone. She scrambled to the edge of the deck, and dived back into the ocean.

###

Meanwhile, back on the Major's ship, Maui and Kane continued to wrestle to gain an edge over each other, both equally matched in strength and speed. Their muscles tensed, veins popping and sweat dripping from their faces. They stared down each other, neither willing to budge, while Tracy looked on in amusement.

"Not bad, demigod." Major Kane grunted. "I see you've learnt something vital since the last time we fought."

"Yeah, what's that?" Maui growled, swinging his fish hook at the Major.

Kane swiftly raised the trident, blocking Maui's attack. "To not underestimate me." He smirked, as he aimed the trident at Maui.

A blast of light rocketed towards Maui, who dove out of the way. Crouched, he aimed at Kane's right hand, and threw his fish hook with all his might. The fish hook flew threw the air with great velocity, not giving Kane any time to react. The fish hook bounced off Kane's wrist, causing him to drop the trident and clutch his hand in pain.

"Maybe you should learn to not underestimate me either." Maui retorted, sprinting towards Major Kane, catching his fish hook that came back to him like a boomerang. He leapt into the air, with the fish hook held over his head. With a deafening roar, he came crashing down towards Kane, who narrowly moved out of the way. As Maui landed on the deck, the impact he created caused a dent in the deck's wooden flooring, and his fish hook got stuck in the wreckage.

"Enough." Kane dealt a vicious blow to Maui's cheek as he was attempting to pull his fish hook free from the damaged flooring. With quick precision, he landed a couple of blows to various weak spots on Maui's body, and the demigod staggered, having managed to dislocate his weapon from the deck. He was stunned by the Major's speed and ferocity.

Taking a deep breath, Kane clenched his left fist and the snake totem on his ring finger glowed ominously. He bellowed as he threw a final punch across his opponent's face, which resulted in a blinding red light. As the totem connected with Maui's face, black magic erupted from the impact and Maui was thrown to the opposite end of the deck. He dropped to the ground, unconscious, his fish hook dropping from his limp hand.

Major Kane walked across the deck towards Maui, perspiration dripping from his face. He had not been challenged by anyone like that in such a long time, and he was genuinely impressed. He approached the fallen Maui. "Take pride in this, demigod. You lasted longer than most." He raised his left hand, pointing the snake totem at Maui. "But now it's time for you to fulfil your part in my plan."

As dark red energy flowed out of the snake totem towards the unconscious demigod, a volley of ice cut the black magic off.

"What?" Major Kane turned to his right, and saw Elsa climbing over the deck, dripping wet from the ocean water. "You again?"

"Got to give it to her. Snow Queen's persistent." Tracy shrugged as she leaned against the beam.

"Get away from him, you monster!" Elsa cried, sliding across the deck and stopping between Kane and Maui, while Tracy continued to watch the action unfold.

"Pot, kettle." Kane drew his Falchion from his belt.

In response, Elsa formed her own sword made out of ice, and stood in anticipation for a rematch.

Major Kane lashed out quickly, and Elsa almost failed to duck out of the way in time. She could feel the wind from the Falchion sword cutting through the air inches away from her nose, and saw the water droplets fall from the blade right before her eyes as if they were moving in slow motion.

As Elsa skidded across the deck, she was careful to avoid the mercenaries that Maui had taken out earlier. As she avoided the Major's attacks while drawing him away from Maui, she noticed that the deck was soaked with numerous puddles of water. Kane and his mercenaries must have drenched the deck unintentionally when they had returned from Atlantica to their own ship. She could use that to her advantage. As the Major drew nearer, waving his sword menacingly, she kicked a puddle of water towards him, and quickly, she lifted up her free hand. The water froze mid air and turned into sharp little hailstones. Pellets of hailstones rained down on the Major, and he was distracted trying to fend off the tirade of hailstones that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Seizing the opportunity, Elsa launched another stream of ice towards the Major, knocking him backwards. He crashed into the beam of the deck, and Elsa dropped the ice sword in her hand. She used both hands to focus her attack on Kane, her eyebrows knitted together in intense concentration. The ice surrounded Kane, who struggled to break free, but it encased him. His expression was filled with rage as he was rendered motionless. Elsa dropped her hands when she was sure that there was no way Kane could escape from her prison of ice, exhausted from doing her best to maintain control over her powers while being overwhelmed by the fear that was screaming in her head.

There was silence on the deck and Elsa exhaled, unable to believe that she had actually managed to temporarily incapacitate the Major. Knowing him, the ice wouldn't hold him for long, so she had to hurry. As she was about to run to Maui, Tracy moved to intercept her.

"Sorry, sis," Tracy's eyes gleamed with evil intentions. "Can't let you win."

"Tracy, if you aren't going to help us, get out of the way," Elsa replied in exasperation, discreetly forming a club made out of ice behind her back. "I don't have time for this."

"Make time." Tracy's hands glowed red.

"I don't want to hurt you," Elsa swung the blunt weapon. "But I really don't have time for this." Tracy saw the club flying towards her, but she had no time to react. The club connected with the octopid's head, and she fell to the ground, unconscious from Elsa's coincidentally well placed strike. "Sorry." Shocked that she had floored Tracy so quickly, Elsa turned her attention to the fallen demigod. "Maui!" she exclaimed, running across the slippery deck. Even with their combined powers, Maui and herself were hopelessly outmatched by the Major, and there was no way they were going to win this battle by themselves. They needed to retrieve the stolen trident and get away from Kane's ship to regroup with the rest.

Elsa picked up the trident that the Major had dropped during his fight against Maui as well as Moana's spear that she had left behind, and skidded to a stop as she reached the opposite end of the deck, and knelt down beside Maui. Seeing the team's most durable warrior as bruised and battered as he was struck new fear into her heart, and a chill ran down her spine. "Come on, you have to get up!" Elsa placed the trident and the spear beside her, and placed her hands under Maui's arms, trying her hardest to lift him up. She heaved as hard as she could, grunting as she tried to move him but he did not budge an inch. Maybe she was far too exhausted from the fight, or maybe there was a more likely explanation: Maui was far too heavy. There was absolutely no way she was going to be able to get him across to their own ship by herself."Come on!" she shouted, attempting to shake the demigod awake. No response. "Maui!" she shook him harder, her voice frantic. Still no response.

Suddenly, a red light glowed from behind Elsa, and she turned around to see it coming from the ice which held the Major in place. The red light grew brighter and increasingly intense, and the ice started to crack. Finally, with a loud bellow and an explosion of dark red energy, the ice broke apart and flew across the deck.

Elsa raised her arms to protect herself from the flying fragments of ice. Her heart sank. It was too soon! She had expected the ice to hold the Major long enough for them to make their escape with the trident, but apparently, she had underestimated Kane's strength and willpower.

Major Kane broke free from the remaining ice, and stood up, shivering. "Enough games," Kane growled, his voice ominous and irritated. "I've grown tired of dealing with you lot." He held out his left arm, which was shaking from the cold, and the snake totem glowed red.

That red glow was never a good sign! Elsa quickly positioned herself in front of Maui to shield him. She picked up Maui's fish hook and the spear and held them up in a crossed formation, desperately hoping that they would provide them with some protection against the Major's ferocious attack. She shut her eyes tightly and pressed close to Maui, bracing herself for the blast of black magic that was about to hit them both.

Black magic erupted from the snake totem, and engulfed Elsa and Maui in an aura of red light. Major Kane lifted up his arm, which was still numb from the ice that Elsa had trapped him in, and with a angry yell, threw out his arm as hard as he could towards the direction of the warriors' own ship.

Maui and Elsa, still clutching the fish hook and the spear, were sent flying through the air and over the surface of the ocean. They landed back on their own ship, hitting the deck hard. Elsa let go of the fish hook and the spear as her body made contact with the hard wooden floor, and the weapons slid across the deck, coming to a stop near the unconscious Melody and Moana. She was knocked out almost immediately upon impact with the hard wooden floor of the deck.

Maui, who had already been rendered unconscious back on the Major's ship, crashed and fell through the flooring of the deck, creating a large hole in the planks. He landed heavily in the bilge of the ship, causing the warriors' ship to rock back and forth from the impact.

Back on the Hanedale, Major Kane looked out beyond the deck. Although he could not see past the fog that Elsa had conjured up, he knew roughly where his enemies' ship was. With his right hand, Kane picked up the trident from the ground that the warriors had failed to retrieve, and lifted it up into the air. It glowed golden, and he pointed it in the direction of the warriors' ship.

Elsa and the rest were oblivious to the waters below their ship, which had begun to stir. Waves swirled around the ship, slowly forming a tornado of water, with the ship in the middle. The tornado of water grew wider and taller, and the water began to move in a clockwise direction, picking up speed. The ship was lifted from the surface of the water, and was spun around with increasing speed, being influenced by the clockwise current of the water.

With a loud grunt, Kane jerked the trident forward violently, and in an instant, the tornado suddenly disappeared along with the warriors' ship. There was a perfect calm that fell across the ocean, and the cold fog that Elsa had created began to fade, as she was no longer in the vicinity. Kane smirked. Now, with those pesky warriors gone, he could continue with his quest, which was soon coming to an end.

Writer's Commentary:

Whew. The entire chapter was just non-stop action. There was the sequence of battles: Elsa vs Major Kane, Tracy vs Moana, Maui vs Major Kane. It was rather exhausting to conjure up, but it was immensely fun.

Elsa vs Major Kane. That was a showdown I've been itching to create for a long time, and it was rather satisfying for me. I hope it resonated with you guys. I wanted to showcase Elsa's true power, which surprises even Major Kane. I sort of low key set up something that could potentially happen in a sequel, so stay tuned for that. But more than that, I really wanted to get into the nitty gritty details of the fight between two strong magic-wielders. Major Kane, who has shown himself as a formidable force to be reckoned with, and Elsa, who is discovering that her powers can be used to fight against evil.

This chapter is rather important for Elsa, as she is learning to harness her powers and bring them to new heights, as well as learn that her powers aren't a curse, and that this was why she was brought on the mission in the first place. Nevertheless, it was inevitable that at the end of the chapter, Kane had to win. His quest still has to go on, and it can't happen with the warriors in his way, so we'll find out what happens to them soon!