"Angela!" Kayla yelled.
She knelt down next to Angela and checked her out. She had a cut on her forehead, but there didn't seem to be much else wrong. She was just in shock.
"So, are you going to answer me?" Mr. Torch asked, "Why have you come?"
"To stop you obviously," Kayla answered.
"Well, you've wasted your time," Mr. Torch declared, "I am the law around here and it's going to take more than two brats to stop me."
"We'll just see about that!" Kayla challenged, "PSI Freeze Beta!"
Mr. Torch waved his hand and another chair moved in front of him and took the hit for him.
"I hope that's not the best move you got," Mr. Torch mused.
Kayla yelled in frustration and ran towards Mr. Torch. He thrust his hand forward and the chair flew at Kayla, but she whipped out her frying pan and swung it at the chair. It fell to the side and Kayla kept running at Mr. Torch.
She swung the frying pan.
Mr. Torch grabbed hold of her wrist and held the pan back.
"PSI Transparent Alpha!" Kayla yelled.
Suddenly, Mr. Torch's hand was grasping the air as Kayla slipped around him.
"What's this?" he gasped.
Kayla swung the pan, which wasn't affected since it was inorganic.
She connected with the back of Mr. Torch's head. He yelled in pain and fell forward on his desk.
"PSI Freeze Beta!" Kayla shouted.
"Ohhhh..." Mr. Torch moaned as he felt the frozen mist surround him. He threw himself away and rolled around on the floor, trying to keep himself warm.
"Just a worthless, little girl?" Kayla asked.
"Crashing Bang Boom Attack!" Mr. Torch screamed.
Lightning suddenly begin striking around the room. Kayla raced to avoid the bolts. One struck the desk and it exploded outward, propelling Kayla into the file cabinet.
"Ow!" she gasped and fell to the floor.
"I'm going to have to teach you some respect!" Mr. Torch raged.
He raised his hands and prepared to bring them crashing down.
"PSI Mine Blaster Alpha!"
"AHHHH!" Mr. Torch yelled as the floor beneath him exploded, sending him into the wall.
"Angela!" Kayla gasped.
"Sorry for wigging out," Angela said, "Caught me off guard."
"No problem," Kayla said, "This guy's proving to be harder than even I thought. His powers are strange. I can't tell if they're PSI or what."
"This can't happen this way!" Mr. Torch yelled, "I won't let it!"
"PSI Bubble Alpha!" Angela yelled.
"Reflect!" Mr. Torch countered.
Angela's bubble formed around her and Kayla instead.
"No!" Angela gasped.
"Enough of this fooling around!" Mr. Torch yelled, "It's time to end this. It's time for you two to die!"
Mako slowly approached the ledge containing the sparkling sphere.
"I don't believe it," he murmured.
"What is it?" Brian asked.
"Can it be true?" Mako wondered aloud, "Are we really... chosen?"
Suddenly, the sphere gave off a bright light. As it faded, an enormous toad flew through the air and landed between Brian and Mako.
"You're little mission ends here!" it yelled, "I am the Terror Toad, and you are about to be my first victims!"
Its tongue shot out from its mouth. It wrapped around Brian's arm and tugged.
Brian was lifted off the ground and flew into Mako.
The two grunted as they fell over.
Terror Toad gave off a loud RIIIIBIT! and jumped high up.
He landed hard on the ground, causing it to shake. Brian and Mako stumbled as they tried to stand back up.
"PSI Thunder Beta!" Terror Toad yelled.
Twin bolts of lightning struck the ground. They barely mised Brian and Mako.
"We have to slow him down somehow!" Mako yelled.
Terror Toad leapt closer and smacked Brian across the face with strong tongue.
"PSI Freeze Alpha!" Mako yelled.
Luckily, Terror Toad's focus was still on Brian. The freezing mist caught him off guard, but didn't slow him down for long. He quickly leapt at Mako and knocked him down.
"PSI Repel Alpha!" Brian yelled.
Terror Toad was knocked off of Mako and tumbled across the room.
"He's too much!" Brian gasped.
"No he isn't," Mako said sternly, "We just need to get organized."
Brian couldn't slow down his beating heart though. This felt just like the fight with Senior Mook. Fighting against someone that kept running around and holding the advantage. It was all the same.
"PSI Paralysis Alpha!" Terror Toad yelled as its gaze fixated on Mako.
"No!" Mako gasped.
He tried to jump out of the way, but it was too late. Halfway through his jump he froze solid and fell to the ground.
"Mako!" Brian gasped.
"Can't... move..." Mako struggled to say.
"Your turn," Terror Toad said to Brian.
"PSI Fire Beta!" Brian yelled.
"PSI Shield Epsilon!" Terror Toad responded quickly.
The pillar of fire raged towards Terror Toad but got absorbed by the psychic shield.
"PSI Thunder Alpha!" Brian cried.
The lightning bolt completely missed Terror Toad, who was already leaping through the air and sending its tongue towards Brian.
It wrapped itself around Brian's legs and pulled his legs out from under him.
Terror Toad dragged Brian across the room. The rough ground tore at Brian's shirt and scraped him up.
Terror Toad gave a snap with his tongue and released his grip. Brian tumbled hard into the far wall.
"Ohh..." he groaned in pain.
"Pitiful," Terror Toad spat.
Brian placed his hand over his chest. "PSI Lifeup Alpha!"
Brian felt his cuts heal and some of his strength return.
Terror Toad spat his tongue out again. Brian pulled out his bat and swung. Terror Toad's tongue wound up wrapped around Brian's bat instead.
Brian tried to swing his bat and pull Terror Toad over, but he was too heavy. Terror Toad instead yanked his tongue back and ripped Brian's bat out of his hands. He then swung his tongue around and brought the bat down.
Brian quickly dodged out of the way. Terror Toad quickly pulled his tongue back though and the bat caught Brian's leg and knocked him over.
"Mako, I can't do this!" Brian gasped.
Mako could feel his legs somewhat and was trying to stand up.
"You have to keep trying, Brian!" he yelled, "Don't give up! He can be beaten."
"How!" Brian cried.
"Just don't give up!" Mako yelled.
Terror Toad's tongue whipped through the air, slapping Brian back and forth.
"PSI Fire Beta!" Brian gasped, but his attack wound up going the wrong way and died against the rocky walls.
Terror Toad jumped straight at Brian and pushed him back against the wall.
"I can't!" Brian wheezed, "I just... can't do this anymore!"
"Brian!" Mako raged.
But Mako's voice was no longer in Brian's head. He could only hear his mother, asking him how he's been the last few days. He could hear Chase asking about any new PSI powers he learned. Most importantly, he heard the calm of Pikor all around him. Oh, how he longed to be surrounded with it again.
Mako slowly got to his feet.
He can't do it, he thought, He keeps getting consumed by his own fears, but I too cannot do this alone. I know what can help, but I'm not ready. My father couldn't do it at this point yet. How can I? But I must try. This is for you, father!
Mako slowly rose his hands upward. He could feel his energy flowing through him. He focused it at one point. He focused on the sky above them all. He pictured every detail. He saw it coming down. He reached out with his mind and tried to grasp the goal.
"I can see that the world is in real trouble this time," Terror Toad taunted, "If all it has defending it are people like you."
"PSI..." Brian gasped, "Fire..."
"No! Don't think so!" Terror Toad yelled.
He quickly smacked Brian across the face and Brian fell over.
"Time for this pitiful battle to end," Terror Toad gloated, "I was so hoping to have some sort of challenge."
Terror Toad closed his eyes and his tongue became electrified.
"Time for the Shocking Lick!" he yelled.
His tongue rose high above Brian, and began to come down, but halfway down he froze.
"What is this!" he gasped as he looked at Mako.
Mako's teeth were gritted and sweat poured down his face.
"What!" Terror Toad gasped.
"PSI..." Mako gasped, "... STARSTORM ALPHA!"
It happened so fast. The ceiling caved in as lights shaped as stars came raining in. They struck Terror Toad with a blinding speed and exploded on contact, sending Terror Toad through the wall.
The rest of the fall caved in and buried Terror Toad beneath it.
The sparkling sphere on the ledge above them glowed brighter, and then vanished.
"Brian," Mako gasped.
Brian slowly sat up and looked at Terror Toad's corpse.
"I'm... sorry," he mumbled.
"It's okay," Mako said, "Let's go."
Brian stood up and followed Mako to the ledge.
"So you knew what that sphere was?" Brian asked.
"If I'm right," Mako said, "Then this is a sanctuary location."
"Sanctuary location?" Brian asked.
They walked through the entrance and came into a brightly lit room. A spring was running gently in the middle of it, filling a small pool of water. A small jagged stone lay on the floor.
Mako walked over to the stone and picked it up. Suddenly, both he and Brian felt a sensation of peace and calm. A gentle melody filled the room, and the stone glowed slightly.
"Wow," Brian murmured, "That felt..."
But he didn't finish his comment, for at that moment he fell to the floor, and his mind closed itself off to the horrible caverns of the Mr. Saturns.
"Hello, Brian."
Brian opened his eyes. He couldn't tell where he was. It looked like he was standing in mid-air, but the surroundings looked unnatural, like he was standing in some mosaic painting.
"Aren't you going to ask where you are?" the voice that came from everywhere asked.
"I'm not sure what to say," Brian answered.
"You're scared," the voice said, "This is natural. You should always keep some form of rational fear within you."
"I really don't feel like listening to more psycho babble," Brian grumbled, "I already get it, okay? I'm weak. This fight isn't for me. I've already accepted it. Why can't the rest of you?"
"Because this is your fight, Brian," the voice answered sternly, "Whether you want it or not. You have been chosen."
"Then someone made a mistake!" Brian yelled, "I'm not a chosen one. I'm not like the great Ness, or Paula, or even Mako. Obviously he's supposed to be here. He's Poo's son, but me? Why am I here?"
"Ahh, isn't that the question we all ask from time to time," the voice answered, "Why? Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green?"
"Only this is a logical question!" Brian snapped, "And the answer is I'm not supposed to be. Even Trevor was more meant for this than I am, and his PSI isn't even natural!"
"You have great gifts, Brian," the voice said, "Whether you recognize them or not. How can you deny that after you single handedly defeated an army of mooks?"
"I can't explain what happened," Brian said, "I don't even know if that was me really."
"It was," the voice assured him, "You must learn to accept the truth, and work with it. Do you wish to see your friends and family back home suffer?"
"No," Brian said.
"Is that not why you decided to follow the cyborgs?" the voice asked, "Did you not want to get justice to what they did to those people in your town?"
"Yes, but.." Brian began.
"Don't give that all up," the voice urged, "Don't turn your backs on those you love. It isn't in you."
Brian realized tears were falling down his face.
"I don't want to let them down," he sobbed, "But it's all too much. How am I supposed to make a difference?"
"That is for you to realize in time," the voice answered, "The real question is... do you want to realize it?"
Brian remained silent for a moment. It was a question he hadn't really thought about it. His mind has spent most of the last day wishing to go home, and wondering how a kid like him was supposed to make a difference in this coming war, but he never did wonder if he even wanted to find out how he could help.
"Brian?" the voice asked.
"I guess... I do," Brian said, "I do want to learn. I've spent so much time and energy wondering why and how, but I never once thought about when... and if I want it or not, but now that I am thinking about it, I do want it."
"That is all that I need," the voice answered, "Now, go! Go and find the truth. Recognize the new wonder that has been lying dormant so far. Accept it and use it now in the hour of need! Go, Brian! GO!"
Mr. Torch sent a piece of his desk flying to the bubble. It burst it and knocked Angela and Kayla over. They screamed.
"Now this is how it is supposed to be!" Mr. Torch yelled, "I told you two that you could not beat me, and now you see the truth!"
"I didn't... realize," Kayla gasped, "Our weakness. We don't have... lifeup..."
"Ha ha!" Mr. Torch triumphed, "Twoson is mine, and the rest of the world will soon follow!"
Mako paced around the room. Shaking Brian didn't seem to snap him out of it. He ran through his mind of what he could do, or what he should do. He figured the best thing to do would be to teleport somewhere, but where?
Suddenly, he heard a gasp. He spun around and saw Brian spring up, his eyes wide and alert.
"Brian?" Mako gasped, "I thought you were losing it or something."
"It's almost too late," Brian said.
"What?" Mako asked.
Brian looked up through a hole in the ceiling. He thought about it and realized how it was done.
"That's kind of cool," he said with a smile.
"What's going on, Brian?" Mako asked, "What are you talking about?"
"Time to go!" Brian yelled, "Right... NOW!"
"Time to die!" Mr. Torch yelled, "It was nice doing... business with ya."
He raised his hands to the sky and began to speak, "Crashing Bang..."
CRACK!
A blinding flash of light filled the room. Mr. Torch gasped and covered his eyes.
The light faded and Mr. Torch looked at the pair of boys now standing in the room.
"Who..." he began.
But quickly, the taller one pointed his finger out the window.
"PSI Controller," he said.
His finger suddenly gave off a yellow glow.
"What are you doing?" Mr. Torch demanded.
"Finally controlling my... destiny," the boy answered.
Mr. Torch looked out the window.
"PSI Thunder Beta!" the boy yelled.
Faster than the eye could see, two bolts of lightning began to come down, but the boy saw, directed his finger, and the bolts fell under his control. They soared through the window. One stopped on command and the other whipped around and struck Mr. Torch on the side.
"AHHHH!" he cried.
He was lifted into the air by the shock of the bolt. The other bolt quickly sprang back to life and added a second blow which sent Mr. Torch flying out the window, across the street, and into the brick wall of the mall. He sank to the ground, eyes closed and body motionless.
Kayla and Angela looked at the window in shock and slowly turned to look at the boy.
"Um... hi," he said, "I'm Brian. You are?"