Cory Baxter, the awakened champion of humanity, the greatest swordsman of all time, and the greatest ally one could ask for. Despite all this, Cory knew something was off with his life. Ever since darkness overtook him all those years ago, he continued to feel a certain lust to feel it again. He tried to fight these feelings, but it was no use, they were building inside of him. Maybe if he had his amulet with the souls of his friends from the past, he'd be strong enough. Unfortunately, Stickler stole that as well when he sent Cory to the airship.
"Man, this sucks. I hope he goes easy on me, I only have my hat and can't even go into seppuku form without my katana," Cory thought out loud.
Menacing music begins to play as the light of the moon flies down upon Cory. He was at the top of the airship and the moon shone bright directly above him from beyond the stairs. Silhouetted upon the moon was the mad man himself: Stickler. Flying directly in front as the wind blew around him.
"Cory Baxter! Nice of you to join us! Did you enjoy your trip through my little airship? Cozy right! I see AM didn't pose much of a challenge to your friends, unfortunately. Too bad, though it isn't really much to complain about, since everything went according to plan," Stickler cackled menacingly.
"What's that supposed to mean, Stickler?" Cory said as the door behind him locked.
"The time has come that I reveal my little project to you, Cory!" Stickler shouted as four figures appeared beneath him, "Meet my creations! Rolling! The master of quakes."
A giant man stepped forward into the light, Cory recognized him as one of the guards that was helping Stickler before. He reached into the air and produced a boulder out of thin air, throwing it onto the ground and causing sand to cover every inch of the terrain.
"Tesla, the tamer of electricity!" Stickler said as the second figure walked forward, raising his hands to the sky and shooting bolts of electricity out.
"Zeppelin! The air guardian!" Stickler yelled revealing a woman who was floating above the ground.
"And finally, my newest friend, Phoenix! Flaming terror!" A woman who was on fire appeared before Cory. All the people before him had strange dark rocks impaled into them in various places.
"Now, it's time we fought is it not? You can have a warm up round against my little friends! Don't worry, I'll give you your sword, just to make things even!" Stickler said, pulling out the katana of light and throwing it down to the ground.
Cory walked up and picked it up, examining the blade. He looked up and held his sword in a ready position, "Why don't you just fight me one on one, Stickler?"
"We already did that, remember Cory? I totally demolished you!"
"Fine, but if I beat your friends you'll have to fight me!" Cory shouted.
"Yes, yes, of course!"
Cory jumped forward, ready to take out the four guardians before him. They were blocking him from his destiny! Zeppelin moved away into the air and began blowing around sand, which was caught by Rolling who used it to create a sandstorm, destroying Cory's vision. If he were to proceed, he would need more power. He hadn't done this for years, but it looked like he needed to call upon the power of seppuku! A rainbow aura appeared around Cory as he entered his seppuku form, instantly blowing away the sand.
Phoenix shot fireballs at Cory, who dodged them as he went after Tesla, who was using building up power around him. Tesla reached his arms out as Cory approached and shot out two large bolts of electricity at Cory. The boy dodged, but was hit by a giant ball of sand. Unusually, they all seemed to work in perfect harmony, using their powers to counter the others weakness.
Cory flew up above Tesla and tried to do a downward strike, but Zeppelin used her air powers to blow Cory off, sending him plunging into the ground with his sword. If he was going to win this battle, he would need to use strategy. What did Espio say about the elementals? These were probably the ones he was talking about, but how and why did they all join Stickler?
A fireball, bolt of lightning, and rock were all heading his way from separate directions. The only escape would be going above them. Cory tried to fly up, but it was no use, Zeppelin was controlling the air above him, weighing him down to the ground. He was trapped, though there was one idea Cory had! He swung his sword at the fireball, sending it ricocheting towards Zeppelin. She tried to use her air powers to push it back, but this only added fuel to the flame, causing it to grow bigger. Ultimately she was hit and fell to the ground.
Cory jumped back and ran towards Rolling, who was using the sand as a shield around him. The boy used his sword and struck the shield, causing it to stick in. He then used his seppuku abilities to enlarge the blade, sending it flying straight through Rolling's head. Cory dodged the lightning bolt Tesla sent down, and ran after him, arms behind his back. As he approached, Cory noticed the soulless eyes Tesla had. Were these people under mind control using these devices on them? Cory easily cut Tesla down and soon after, Phoenix was no more.
"Excellent, Cory…" Stickler said. Cory looked up at him, now having a clearer view of the boy he once called his greatest rival. His face was hollow and weak, he looked as if he couldn't even stand, being supported by his jetpack on his back.
"Stickler… what happened to you?" Cory said, shocked.
"Cory, you've seen my experiments. You have seen the success I have had in creating a near identical copy of the power Kek has. This serum works flawlessly on people… but unfortunately it doesn't work on everyone. I have worked for years to get stronger! I saw you going to Germany with your team, all of whom had strengths that far surpassed the average human. I craved to grow into that, to become as strong as you.
"I created technology that could mimic abilities, I created this jetpack in order to fly. I used all of this in order to grow in strength, and it worked- at least, for a little bit. Unfortunately, without Kek's energy within me, any of the powers he has bestowed upon people pull energy from my soul. This is why I developed the serum, but even then, my body rejected it. Cory, have you heard of Jaradon?" Stickler asked.
"Hm… I think so, isn't he related to the elementals?" Cory thought out loud.
"Yes, the elementals hold one fourth of his soul. Once the host dies, it is passed on to another who is preselected. You have just killed all of the elementals, Cory."
"What!? Why would you bring all of them here? How did you find them?"
"Heheheh, you think I haven't planned all of this out?" Stickler smirked, "I WANTED you to kill them! This plan has been years in the making! We tracked down all of the elementals as well as the body of Jaradon, who had been turned into a crystal by ancient Kek worshipers! Those stones that are in all of their bodies are Jaradons body! Unfortunatly for you, I have been inplanted with his brain. Do you understand?"
"No, what does that mean?" Cory shouted.
"Hehehe… I shall now become… the ultimate life form."
Stickler raised his hands up, his chest beginning to shine with holy power. Wind like a hurricane began to sweep through the battlefield as a beam of light shot from Stickler into each of the four elemental's crystals. A rainbow cascade filled the area as each of the crystals floated up into each of Sticklers four limbs, creating a supernova that no human could stare at without going blind.
"Guys! ERINA! I NEED YOU! It's Stickler! He's becoming an ultimate life form!" Cory shouted in his mind.
Erina heard Cory and quickly notified the others, who turned around and began running towards the roof.
"An ultimate life form? Is that some sort of fourth dimensional being? Reptilian?" Alex asked.
"This could be bad, guys. If anything I've seen in these past few days is to go by, we can't underestimate the power of these people," Ted said.
"Calm down, losers. Cory is probably exaggerating," Espio said calmly.
The bright lights surrounding Stickler exploded into a bright light, and then all was calm. Cory stared in awe as Sticklers jetpack exploded and his body fell lifelessly onto the ground, the dust around him settling. All was quiet.
"Cory, what happened?" Alex asked as they all ran up behind him.
"Stickler used the elementals to gain the power of some ultimate being or something. I don't think he could handle it though," Cory stated.
"Jaradon? Cory that's bad. Jaradon held the power of the Earth itself," Espio said, suddenly getting slightly concerned.
"How can you have the power of a planet? That's stupid!" Ted said.
"Jaradon could create life but also turn things to ashes at will. From what I heard, he was only stopped when monk managed to put him into suspended animation using special crystalizers," Espio explained.
"Guys…" Erina said, "He's still alive… I can hear his thoughts. They're clouded and erratic. He can't handle the power, it's driving him insane."
"Quickly! We need to finish him off before it's too late," Espio shouted, running towards Sticklers body with Erina in his arms.
"Fermare."
Suddenly everything stopped, as if time itself was over. No, that wasn't quite right. It was as if everything around them froze within time. Cory could think and see, but couldn't move. Even his eyes wouldn't budge. A dark figure appeared beside Stickler with his arms stretched out. Snapping his fingers, Stickler began to stand up, as if awoken by the figure. Cory could almost make out a smile as the figure walked off into the distance, down the side of the airship. Suddenly everything went back to normal.
Espio stopped as he noticed Stickler stand back up. This was bad.
"Ohohohohohoh, CORY BAXTEEEER! Your friends are doomed along with you!" Stickler shouted, raising his arms up to the sky.