At the Crescent Isles, Susano and Kitsune stepped off their boat, crossed the sandy shore, and ventured into the wild trees. These islands were far more tropical than their last destination with its lovely beaches and dense forests. Greenery covered nearly every inch of the Crescent Isles, reaching all the way up the volcano on the center island.
As the malevolent duo cut their way through the dangling vines, Susano halted and signaled Kitsune to stop as well, "Do you sense that, Kitsune?"
The witch scanned the area. A calm yet captivating voice came out of Kitsune's red lips with a pinch of caution, "We are not alone."
"Be at the ready,"
His fingers sparked with electricity, and she loosened her hands with a dark red aura around them. Together, they advanced with their guard up.
As they were about to exit the forest, they heard the familiar sound of the rider's Night Fury. Immediately, a blue blast, fast as lightning, knocked the two deep into the cluster of trees.
The bushes rustled. Kitsune fired a magical energy beam at the general direction. She hit nothing. The sounds of the Night Fury continued to dash all across the skies, throwing them off, for they could not see passed the clouds of leaves on the treetops. Susano then noticed a golden light shining off from the shadows of the forest. What he did not know was that the light was purposely glowing bright to distract him.
Just as he was about to attack, he slipped on the ground for it had suddenly frozen to ice. Then an arrow sliced right across his cheek, leaving its mark. Kitsune tried to fire at where the shot originated from but, again, hit nothing.
Susano groaned in aggravation. Not only did the arrow actually sting, but he thought, who dares make us look like fools? Angry storm clouds began to gather over the Crescent Isles.
Another blue fire blast plowed through the ceiling of leaves, separating Susano and Kitsune many feet from one another. The god landed outside the densely packed forest, while the witch tumbled deeper into it.
Susano looked up at the green-covered surface of the volcano, miles in height. As he took a step, his foot froze to the ground. A pale, young-looking man in a blue hoodie slowly descended before him.
"Who are you?" Susano asked angrily.
"Name's Jack Frost and I'd like to talk to you." He replied peacefully.
The grey storm clouds had blocked out the sun by this point. Rain poured as Susano aggressively broke free from the ice and lunged at Jack.
"I just want to talk!" The Guardian shoved the god away.
The Viking rider dived in.
"No! I got him." Jack told them. "Make sure the witch doesn't reach the volcano."
Hiccup and Toothless flew away reluctantly.
Susano ascended, facing Frost from not too far. They stared each other down while airborne.
"You say you wish to speak, and yet you aid the rider in this surprise assault."
"We had to get you away from your friend."
"They will not stand a chance against her. Just as you will not stand a chance against me." He formed his trident-spear, "You should have let the boy help you."
Susano launched himself at him. Jack, not wanting this fight, propelled himself forward. They collided in the air as lightning struck in the background.
Within the forest, Kitsune kept hearing movement around her. She blocked a few daggers with a hex-covered barrier. She then morphed it into a complete force field and expanded it into a strong blast that knocked the girls out of their cover. It even hit Hiccup and Toothless by surprise just above the treetops when they were coming in.
Boles snapped and began to topple over. Merida rolled out of the way only to meet another towering tree about to crush her. Rapunzel lassoed a tail of her hair around Merida's waist and yanked her clear of danger just in time. The princesses looked around, feeling lucky that they did not get flattened.
After the crashing thumps, a large open area was created with very few places to hide. Kitsune now knew how many foes she faced. There would be no more surprises.
She spotted the dragon and fired. Toothless fired back. Rapunzel and Merida ran in, but the witch had disappeared into a portal. She came out on the other end, fields behind them.
"This again," Hiccup almost forgot that the witch was also capable of creating portals out of thin air with the flick of a wrist.
"I'll distract her." Rapunzel sprinted to the side.
Kitsune tried to pin her down with her dark magic beams, but the blonde was very agile, leaping over and sliding under fallen trees.
Merida hopped onto a stomp and took aim. Hiccup hovered beside her on Toothless.
"Watch out. She's quick."
"Relax me dear boy. This here isn't my first witch. I'll pin her right between the eyes."
She took a deep breath before shooting her arrow. It launched across the field, straight for the back of the enemy's head. Kitsune, unfathomably quick, twirled around and caught the arrow in midair with a magic hex right before it could even reach her.
Merida's jaw dropped.
Hiccup said apologetically, "Oh yeah, did I mention she can do that?"
"That would have been BRILLIANT ta know!" she snapped at him.
They dodged another one of her magic attacks.
The witch formed a protective shield behind her to block Rapunzel's daggers, and began to advance toward the Archer and Dragon Rider.
Before she could draw another arrow, a large hex ring appeared around the Scottish princess, immobilizing her. She groaned as she tried to break free but to no prevail. Kitsune levitated her by that magic hex and swung her passed Hiccup.
"And she can also do that."
"HICCUUUUP!" She scolded him as she flew by.
Merida was thrown into Rapunzel, and they both tumbled over a fallen tree trunk.
Back to the skies, Jack did his best to fend off every strike Susano delivered. The Japanese god wielded his double-edged spear like a martial arts master, whereas Frost had no such experience.
"Why are you doing this!?"
"For matters that do not concern you, Guardian!"
He barely blocked another attack and stated sternly, "Your matters will affect the entire world! So, yeah, it is my concern!" Jack evaded another swing, "Look, if you can just tell me why, then maybe I can help-"
"Why!?" Susano struck Jack down, pinning him to the ground, "Why was I frowned upon by my own kin for simply being different?"
In the skirmish within the forest, Merida jumped back into the thick of it with Hiccup riding circles above Kitsune to try to get a clear shot. Rapunzel was about to follow right behind the fiery redhead but suddenly stopped in place, dropping back on her knees behind cover.
She stared off into nothingness, as if lost in thought. Her hair, spread out all around her on the lime-green grass, began to glow. This time though, her eyes glowed gold as well.
All through a vision, she saw this grown woman appear before her.
Rapunzel, mystified by where she was, asked the lovely woman in the red, floral dress, "Who are you? W-what is this place?"
All around them was but blurring iridescent lights. The princess appeared to be standing on nothing and was not glowing in this illusion. Whereas back in reality, she was still glowing bright from her eyes and hair.
"My name is Amaterasu. I came to you to tell you everything you need to know about the foe you face…"
Susano let Jack get back up to his feet. He turned around and stabbed his spear into the ground. Looking away stoically, "I was shunned for merely being different…"
"I know the feeling," Jack remembered the first hundreds of lonely years after the Moon had resurrected him. It was a time when no one believed in him yet, for he was no longer the same human boy; he was brought back as something different.
The storm settled.
"Even after my banishment, I managed to find a beautiful wife. I grew and eventually ruled over a land with her by my side. Under my dynasty, the civilization thrived, the land flourished, my people prospered…"
Jack continued to listen, hoping to understand him, hoping to find something in his story to use to convince him to stop this evil plan of his- hoping to find some good in him.
"Then all of that was taken from me…"
Amaterasu went on with her side of the story, "My little brother grew so much since then…"
Moving images appeared beside her. Rapunzel saw an angsty teenager wandering the landscape alone to a new image of a matured man ruling over his people with a beautiful woman at his side. The happy crowd was cheering as he addressed them humbly.
"He looks like my age."
"Yes, but it took many centuries. Although we are eternal beings, we still age, only at a much slower rate than humans."
"So then if he was finally happy, what happened?"
The goddess uttered tragically, "Something that is inevitable for my kind when we fall in love with mortals…"
Susano shut his eyes in heartfelt anguish, "I knew the day would come when I would outlive her, but...her passing still destroyed me."
Jack's face sunk into dread, fearing what similar fate awaited him with Elsa.
"In my grief, my brother and sister felt I was no longer fit to rule my people."
Jack blinked, recalling one of the details Hiccup informed him about on the way to the Tower from Arendelle. How the moon and sun were also deities and that the moon could be Jack's Man in the Moon, "The moon and the sun?"
"Yes." The god clenched his hand into a fist, his voice changed from sorrowful to wrathful, "They stripped me of everything all over again!"
The storm clouds returned, gathering above them on the center islet.
Amaterasu continued sincerely in her soft voice, "Though he had matured so much and genuinely cared for his people and all they had created together. The loss of his love was too much. He could not help it…"
Rapunzel witnesses brutal images of apocalyptic floods and storms wreaking havoc throughout the kingdom. All while the unaware ruler was mourning from inside his palace. The god's grief alone caused all the destruction.
"It was in his nature. My older brother decided that Susano needed to be removed from his Empire in order to protect his own people. I did not argue and accompanied him."
"How did Susano take it?"
Amaterasu lowered her gaze, "...he had to be dragged out." She stared off into the lights. "My poor little brother was left on his own yet again."
"I had no choice but to wander the earth yet again, tending to my seas. I longed for my wife. When I wished to see her in the heavens, the gods rejected my plea…said I was forever banished for my adolescent mistakes." Susano finished angrily.
"I'm sorry…I know how angry you must feel, believe me." He walked up to Susano, who had his back turned, "But this…what you're doing, this isn't the way."
"It is the only way."
"But the Fire God-"
He turned to face Jack, stopping him in his tracks.
"Do you know why Kagutsuchi was severed into pieces and cast away?"
Susano approached the silver-haired guardian. Jack held onto his staff, ready just in case.
"Because he was a dangerous monster?"
"Our mother, the Creator Goddess, gave birth to him. In that birth the God of Fire burned her."
Jack's expression widened at the revelation.
Susano went on, "He meant her no harm, how could he? He was only a baby fresh out of the womb. It was simply how he was...his nature. Yet, our All Father was furious for the severe burns had eventually killed her…" He looked away, "He was the one who ordered the so called monster to be beheaded and sliced into eight. My moon brother led this command and had that fool of a samurai make prisons enormous enough and strong enough to contain the Fire God here on Earth."
"The volcanoes…"
"Yes…for thousands of years, he has remained dormant," He walked passed Jack to stare up at the volcano.
He began to declare almost heroically, "After we revive the rest of his essence, Kagutsuchi will awaken. And I will not treat him like how our family treated us…I will be his true family. And together, we will have the power to bring down both the sun and moon. Then break through the gates of the heavens to punish all the rest who wronged us, including our father, the Creator. And…I will see my wife again."
Jack cleared his throat at the horrifying revenge plan. "It doesn't have to come to that. Look, I know the Man in the Moon. I can talk to him. I can work something out." He placed a comforting hand on Susano's shoulder, "You guys can meet and talk after all these years. It can be okay."
Susano snapped around, slamming his palms into Jack's midsection. The push sent Jack down the slope.
"So my brother formed the Guardians? How rich!"
Jack picked himself up, hating the slow realization that there was no reasoning with this deity.
"There is nothing to say to the Moon that I haven't already wept for. Words will always fail against deaf ears. That is why extreme actions are necessary."
"I can't let you go through with this."
"I know…"
Susano had become fully aware that the Guardian and his friends would never cease to try and foil his grand plan.
Seeing Jack as a nuisance rather than a legitimate threat, he blasted him with the full force of a raging storm. The stone crushing winds swatted Jack far into the forest like a pest.
"Now you understand." Amaterasu's spirit form began to fade.
"I do," Rapunzel had to shoot in her dire question, "Now, how do we stop him?"
"You cannot defeat him with pure force."
"You don't think we're strong enough?" She sounded almost offended.
"You and your friends are plenty formidable. But as violent as Susano is and as evil as his intentions are…he is still my brother."
Rapunzel felt such sympathy for the woman in front of her.
"Fearing the day that he would eventually seek revenge, I practiced a way to stop him, but I will need your help."
"What do I have to do?" she urgently asked to the disappearing woman.
"My connection to you is weakening, so hear me well-"
BOOM! Jack crashed into Rapunzel, jolting her out of her spiritual session with Amaterasu.
"Jack!" Nudging him off, "What is the matter with-" she then saw how hurt he was from battle. "Oh no," she readied her hands over his chest, "Do you need me to?"
The Guardian shook it off, "I'll be fine," and got back up.
Nearby, Merida and Hiccup had put up a good fight, but the cunning witch was downright untouchable.
Within range, she had cast a hex ring around Hiccup and yanked him off his dragon. Without his rider, Toothless plummeted to the collapsed treetops. Hiccup, still in her magical grasp, then got slammed into Merida.
The sound of thunder called Kitsune's attention. Susano summoned her. She exited the battle through one of her portals.
The aggravated Night Fury came out of the prickly curtains of branches.
The Big Four regrouped.
"That…did not go well." Understatement made by none other than young Haddock as he leaned on his dragon to catch his breath.
Jack stretched his aching arm, "No kidding, but we can't give up-"
"We won't." Merida drew an arrow and ran into the forest after her grim statement.
Jack and Rapunzel called out to her to wait, already knowing what she was planning on doing.
"Mer!"
"We need another plan!"
She sprinted through the wilderness. Her frizzy hair, filled with leaves and twigs from the fight, was blowing in the wind. The headstrong archer climbed the tallest tree she could find. At the very top, she eyed her targets. Side by side, they were already at the peak of the volcano. Red hexes were radiating around the witch. She was about to reactive the dormant force.
Jack's heart ta heart didn't work, so…
Merida took aim. The peak was still far out and elevated compared to her heightened position, but she could make the shot. She knew Hachiman's arrow tips could indeed wound the god, as proven by the cut she made across his cheek. She just hoped it would be enough to finish the job.
Her friends flew towards her.
Rapunzel screamed from behind Hiccup on Toothless, "Merida!"
The Viking shouted, "No!" He did not want death to be the answer, none of the others did.
They all desperately called out to her.
But Merida ignored them all with razor sharp focus on the Storm God. She breathed in deep through her nose, and then finally exhaled. Her firm fingers released. She felt the quick swish graze her cheek.
Susano sensed an attack and turned around only to be met by a precise arrow that pierced right through his heart. Kitsune ceased her chanting at the mortified shock after looking over at the winded deity. Susano dropped into the volcanic pit.
Merida lowered her bow, keeping her stone-cold glare as she watched the god fall. The rest of her friends were also shocked, but then proceeded to watch with furrowed brows and clenched jaws, wondering if that was really it; if the job was really done.
Then...Kitsune felt a sudden quake and stepped back. The volcano erupted!
The team's nerves jumped at the explosion. A quick punch of failure overwhelmed them due to another ancient volcano being activated. It was then soothed by the dawning notion that no one, god or not, could have survived that. But they were wrong...
The geyser of lava splattered away in all directions. Kitsune protected herself behind a large hex. The lava thinned out, revealing Susano encased in a sphere of wind. He had bent the air around him just before the eruption, forming a protective shield.
Susano landed beside Kitsune, lowering his shielding. Staring off at the four heroes, he pulled out the arrow in his chest with a minor cringe and snapped it in half.
The expressions on their faces said it all: The Big Four had lost and perhaps they did not stand the chance they each so confidently thought. Above all, Susano now looked angrier than before.
Hiccup had to say what no one wanted to admit, "We better go."
He offered a hand to Merida and she climbed on in between him and Rapunzel.
Toothless opposed this retreat.
"I know, bud. I'm tired of running to, but we lost this one."
They flew away from the storm-covered islets.
Kitsune's hands lit up with hexes, ready to chase after them.
"Let them flee…" She looked at him puzzled. They were stronger than those four. Why let them run?
"They will return."