Last Hope

The giant stared angrily at the five heroes before it. The five heroes stared back with eyes filled with determination. Both parties understood that only one of them would walk away from this battle alive. There was no need for fear anymore, it would only hold you back, only trust, power, and will to live would matter. The battle was about to begin, and the giant shadow made the first move.

Intimidation is an important part of any battle. If you scare the opponent you get inside their head, if you get inside their head you have already won. The giant shadow made intimidation easy with its size and appearance. Its angry face changed to a confident grin to only increase the shadow's chance of scaring its opponents. The giant shadow slowly threw back its head before letting out a deafening battle cry.

Hitsu, Nox, Sel, Enai, and Jinsuke all clenched their fists and lowered their heads as they endured the bone-chilling cry. Fear threatened to fill their entire bodies as they refused to back down from the threat in front of them. Without a word, the five found a way to communicate with each other. They all wanted to turn and run, they wanted to live, but they knew they couldn't. Their arms all reached out and linked together with whoever they stood next to. The five refused to allow themselves to run, if one tried to turn the others would hold them in place, they were in this together.

The roar continued on and on and on and on for what felt like hours. Eventually, the roar continued on long enough that the fear began to slowly fade as confusion replaced it. Hitsu realized that the roar actually had been going on for a much longer time than it should. Carefully, Hitsu opened one of his eyes and looked up at the giant shadow. His other eye opened as he gasped in surprise. His body language caused the others to do the same. The entire group of friends stared up in disbelief at the sight before them.

The giant shadow was no longer roaring in anger but now in pain. Smoke poured from its head and shoulders as the slowly falling shards of neon collided with its body. The neon shards burned the shadow as they connected causing pain to cover the shadow.

"No way," Jinsuke said in surprise, "those shards are still active?"

"I didn't even think about it," Hitsu responded, "I was too caught up in the moment."

"Wait a minute," Nox said suddenly, "those shards are from the attack you were going to blow the shadow up with."

"Yeah," Hitsu said, "they are."

"That attack would have been enough to beat it right?" Enai asked.

"Yeah," Hitsu answered, "it would have."

"If those things are still active can you still use them?" Sel asked.

"Yeah," Hitsu said in shock, "I can."

"So... We can beat it?" Nox asked.

"Yeah," Hitsu said, "we can."

"Without blowing yourself up?" Jinsuke asked.

"Yeah," Hitsu answered, "but I need to keep it still."

"Keep it still?" Sel asked.

"I could turn all that energy into a single projectile," Hitsu explained, "but if it blocks a vital part of its body it won't kill it."

Hitsu put his hand to his chin as he thought.

"How can I keep it still while also attacking?" Hitsu asked himself.

"Hey Hitsu," Nox said as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

Hitsu looked up to see his friends smiling, an image he saw earlier in the day but one that felt like he hadn't seen in years.

"You aren't alone anymore," Nox said with a smile, "Remember?"

"Yeah," Hitsu said with the most genuine smile of his life, "we're in this together."

"So what's the plan team leader?" Sel asked.

"Don't worry," Hitsu said, "It's pretty simple."

...

The burning pain in the shadow's back suddenly faded causing it to stop its pained roars. Confused, the giant shadow looked ahead to see exactly what had caused its relief. Hitsu stood on a pillar of rock with a confident smile. His arms were out to his sides as if he were enjoying a warm rain. Instead of water Hitsu's rain consisted of the falling shards of his power. From all around Hitsu the shards flew towards his body. Upon reaching the hero the shards sunk into his body like a rock thrown into a lake. With every shard Hitsu absorbed his body shined brighter with a brilliant pink light.

The giant shadow's eyes widened with fear as it realized another life-threatening attack was going to come it's way. The shadow tried to take a step forward and swipe at the pillar Hitsu stood upon. Before the shadow could connect it found itself crashing into the hard ground, its legs being pulled out from underneath it.

"You're not going anywhere!" Sel yelled as his chains pulled hard on the shadow's back left leg.

"We're taking you down!" Enai added, bones sprouted from her wrist and wrapped around the shadow's back right leg.

The giant shadow quickly tried to push itself up with its front legs only to have that attempt thwarted as well. Rocks swirled around its front left leg while painfully cold ice shot up its front right leg.

"Hurry this up Hitsu!" Jinsuke yelled as one of his hands was pointed at the shadow and his other at the tower that held Hitsu.

"You can do this!" Nox cheered as she focused her energy on the ice she created, "I know you can!"

As the last of the remaining neon shards flew into Hitsu's body his eyes shot open eagerly. He smiled at the shadow despite the burns and pain that once again filled his body due to the overflowing energy in his body.

"Here it is!" Hitsu shouted as took a step back with his right leg, "This is our last hope! Our last hurrah! Our last attack! We're going to defeat you! Right here, right now!"

Defiant, the giant shadow raised its head and let out another battle cry. It's roar challenged Hitsu, but Hitsu wasn't alone anymore.

"You misheard me," Hitsu said calmly, "I didn't say I was going to defeat you..."

"...I said we are!"

...

End of Episode 48