Sorry this is late. I took a week off for Thanks Giving.

Back to the story!

Twenty Four: A Near End

Roarak fired up a blast from his mouth and shot it towards the two. They jumped out of the way but some fighters near them weren't so lucky.

"How do we fight that?" said Garfield, bewildered.

"Anyway we can," Raven said, eyes glowing.

They then charged at the monster head on, showing no fear.

In the skies close to them, Koriand'r and Komand'r were still hot on each others tail. Violet and emerald light lit up the sky like a fireworks show, with the sounds to match. Kori zoomed up and down, trying to avoid her sister's attacks. Then, in a sudden movement, she whipped around to face Koma and sent a shower of starbolts raining down on her. When the smoke cleared, Kori looked around to see if she had knocked her sister out.

Then, from behind, she felt herself being thwarted to the ground. Before she could make sense of it, she was slammed face first into the paved street below with a huge BAM!

At first, her entire being was numb. Then, aggravating hurt made its way through her system. Barely able to move, she weakly lifted herself onto her arms. She felt blood on her face and front, and her bones felt broken in more then three places. Agony throbbed through her body like poison. She tried to scream, but the incident had robbed her of her breath.

She lifted her blurred eyes to see Koma standing above her, smirking at her sisters pain.

On the hill near the tower, Red X and Robin were still locked as each others targets. Robin swung his axe at X's head, but he had ducked and tripped him. Slamming his head on the ground, Robin had a small moment of blindness, but when he could see again, his vision showed X's weapon pointed to his face.

"You don't have to do this," he said. "I know you're above all this."

"Do you?" he said. Then he lifted his axe and slammed it down. But Robin was too quick and jumped to his feet, the axe barely grazing his hair.

"Yes," he said, grabbing hold on his own. "I know that you don't want to do this."

"Are you kidding me?" said X. "This is the most fun I've ever had."

"Who's kidding who?" said Robin. "No one can make you do anything." Then, to prove his point, Robin held out his axe – and dropped it. He was now an unarmed opponent; a sitting duck.

"Are you an idiot?" X asked.

"Maybe," he replied. "If believing there's some good in you makes me an idiot, then I'm the stupidest man alive."

He merely looked at him in disbelief. Then, he also let go of his axe. It dropped to the ground, clattering on the dirt and asphalt. Then, he lurched for him, pulling him to the ground. They tumbled, throwing punches and grabbing throats. Then, they detached from each other, scuff marks all over their bodies.

"I guess that makes you the stupidest man alive," said X.

Infuriated, Robin threw a punch, diving for him.

Not far off, Raven and Garfield gave everything they had against Roarak, but nothing seemed to work.

"You're not the only one who can transform!" shouted Garfield. Then, he grew to Roarak's size as a green T-Rex. Taking a running charge, Gar slammed into the dragon, nearly taking him down into the water. But Roarak rebutted with a whip of his large tail that gave more force then he did. The dinosaur reared back and fell on his spine.

But just as he fell, Raven came into the picture, hurling rocks, pipes, and any other raw material she could find at him. The beast blocked them like mosquitoes and ricocheted them back at the sorceress. She blocked them with an energy shield then spread out her arms like a bird. Out of her hands, two black ropes of energy wrapped around Roarak like a lasso. She jerked her arms down in front of her, yanking him forward. But, he bucked backwards, breaking her hold on him.

Back near a crowd of buildings, Koriand'r was vainly attempting to hold off her sister, but her strength was failing and she was loosing balance.

She lit up her hand with a miniscule starbolt and shot it at Koma. But her sister dodged out of the way and gave her an uppercut that knocked her off her feet. She tried to get back up, but was instead pulled up by the neck of her dress. Her entire body felt like lead; she let her arms go limp and her head fall back.

"How does it feel, Kori?" hissed her sister. "How does it feel to be the lowest – weakest – most helpless creature on the planet?" When she did not answer, she laughed. "When this is over, I'll get rid of you and these pesky Earth rebels. But what I plan to do first is strangle that boyfriend of yours…" Kori's blood began to heat. Her teeth began to grind and anger began to ebb away the pain. "I wonder… can little boys scream if they have no air?" Kori's eyes opened, glowing furiously. Then, rearing her hands back, she pushed out as much energy as she could right into her sister, throwing her back at least 30 feet.

However, this blast left her completely drained, and she fell to her knees. Unfortunately, Koma still had life in her, and she got up and started walking towards her.

"You'll pay for that little stunt," she said, lighting up a starbolt.

Going unnoticed by them were Robin and Red X, still in their fist fight.

X threw a right hook, but was caught by Robin, who threw him onto the ground.

"What do you hope to achieve by this?" said Robin, still attempting to change him.

"Why do you care?" He ran for him, but was deflected by his arms.

"I care because I know this is not what you want."

"We only knew each other for what, maybe, two days? Two and a half, tops."

"So?"

"So what makes you think you know me after that?"

"Think about it, X," he said. "We were both selected to go to Tamaran; both given the same job. Do you think that's a coincidence? We're similar, Xavier. And I know that I would never do this unless I had no choice, and if then."

"Well, maybe we're not all that similar, boy scout," he said.

"Is that you talking, or them?"

"I really don't have time for this." And with that, he knocked him off of his feet, grabbed both axes and put them to his throat. "And apparently, neither do you."

------

"General, we are almost in Earth's orbit."

"Keep the ships steady."

"Point of landing, sir?"

"121 degrees North; 36 degrees West."

The ship clanked a purred as it floated threw space.

"And let us hope we are not too late."

Was the mysterious general Galfor or Trogar? Will our heroes survive or will this be their final battle? And what's with the gunther knife? Tune in next chappie to find out!

T.