Crystal Ch. 10

"That ought to do it," Jasper grinned triumphantly.

"I don't think so," Max replied, pointing to the tree.

The tree, and the surrounding trees as well, were each extinguished one by one, not leaving behind the expectant faint smell of burning wood, leaves, or even grass.

"Did someone knock?" they heard. Turning, they saw Pollen coming out the side of the tree. "Oh, it's just a couple of rude boys."

"Give up Pollen," Jasper demanded. "There's no place for you to run."

"Why would I need to run?" she asked.

"You're girls are being taken from your control and you'll soon be surrounded," Jasper declared.

"Yeah, but right now, I'm talking to a guy who's trying to burn a tree . . . and failing," she smirked.

"That's because you did something to the tree," Jasper replied. "Or maybe had Dr. Genie increase its defense against fire."

"Actually, I didn't do much," Pollen shrugged, leaning against the tree. "All I needed was water to put out the flames and then have the trees repair whatever had been set on fire."

"I didn't see any water," Jasper crossed his arms.

"Damn it," Max groaned, face palming himself.

"What?" Jasper said.

"Think genius, where else would she find water?" Max questioned him.

"From the river close by," Jasper answered. "But nobody is carrying water here."

"You wouldn't have to carry water here if you wet the ground before hand," Max told him, proving his point by planting his foot in the muddy ground. "Then had the water move up the tree to make a thin covering around it so that it could provide an adequate defense to put out the fire in case a certain fire hero came to set the tree aflame."

"I'm not dumb," Jasper frowned.

"Then save me a headache and put two and two together why this tree won't burn," Max sighed.

"How about I just give you the answer instead," Pollen said, turning and whistling.

A few minutes later, the two heroes and villainess watched a mind controlled Crystal walk up to them from behind the tree. Not only her, the heroes suddenly realized they were facing two fronts when they noticed there were females behind them. They were trapped.

"What now, genius?" Jasper asked.

"Retreating would be the best option," Max answered.

"Why? Scared to go up against your girlfriend?" Jasper joked. "If you didn't know, Crystal had no problem whooping Dark Matter's ass back at the White House banquet that was held in your honor."

"I already knew that and no I'm not scared," Max gritted his teeth. "Since you can't do the math, let me help you: there's a villainess, a mind controlled heroine, and a bunch of mind controlled, armed females against two heroes, one smart and one stupid."

"I won't be the stupid one when I beat both their asses," Jasper grinned maliciously.

"Hey fool, did you forget that water beats fire?" Max hissed.

"Not if the fire is hot enough," Jasper responded, racing towards Crystal and Pollen.

Seeing that his words fell on deaf ears, Max instantly made a shield, anticipating an attack from the girls around them. Taking large steps, Jasper then leaped in the air and made a humongous fireball. As he came down, he made it hit where Pollen and Crystal was standing, causing a large explosion where they were standing.

It was ineffective, as Max expected, as Crystal moved the shield she created out of the way. Pollen wasn't hurt in the slightest, rather having a bored look on her face from the idiotic attack that Jasper made.

"You can go ahead and have fun with them," Pollen told Crystal as she went back to the tree. "Just make sure to kill them when you're finished."

Now that she had her orders, Crystal went from defense to offense like a light switch. Using the water from the mud, she froze Jasper legs to the ground. Making a club, she rushed forward and smashed the club against Jasper's chest sent him back to Max.

"Do you want to have the talk about good advice again?" Max asked.

"I got this," Jasper answered. He climbed back to his feet and raced back to fight Crystal.

The armed females suddenly opened fire against Max's shield, forcing him to focus on making sure it stayed intact. He noticed, however, that none of them fired at Jasper, most likely because they didn't want to hurt Crystal.

Jasper made a long whip of fire and lashed it at Crystal. She ducked, then made the water rise from the ground as ice spikes, sending towards Jasper in a wave attack. He flew up to avoid getting punctured, but Crystal wasn't finished. The ice spike went up tin the air as well and Jasper was forced to fly even higher.

"Hey genius," Max called from his shield sphere. "Don't forget that it gets colder the higher you go up."

"I know, I know!" Jasper replied.

He sent a column of fire down at the ice spike, melting them. Flying back down, he shot fire at Crystal, but she ran forward instead of making an ice shield. Since she was closer to Jasper now, she made a wide wall of water rise right in front of Jasper. Unable to stop, he crashed right through it and fell like a stone.

Following the attack, she made a sword and leaped at Jasper, intending to finish him off. It was blocked, fortunately, as Max slid right next Jasper with a shield already manifested around them.

"Now who's getting their ass kicked?" Max glared.

"I almost had her," Jasper replied.

"You were almost about to be split in two," Max said, pushing the shield against Crystal to force her back. "Since we're getting nowhere with our current predicament, let's trade places."

"I thought you wanted to retreat," Jasper taunted.

"I thought you could beat their ass," Max responded. "Besides, I'll end up fighting Crystal anyway since you STILL have to burn the tree. Now you can go along with my plan or have me handle this fight by myself with you in a state where not even Rapid Recovery Medicine could help you."

"Are you threatening me?" Jasper asked, burning with rage.

"Are you serious?" Max said, looking at him incredulously. "You have to be denser than gravity to ask me that. I mean, you were completely thrashed by Crystal and you think I'm threatening you? I'm not the one trying to kill you. I'd like to slap some common sense in your brain, but killing you takes a bit more annoyance and irritation. Now, get those girls to fall back and then focus on burning that tree while I keep Crystal from trying to kill you."

He blocked an attack made by Crystal and Jasper flew off to follow his unwanted orders. Although he flew away, Crystal kept her attention on Max, making two swords and advanced towards him.

"Crystal, if you can hear me, I love you and I don't want to hurt you," Max said, making a bat and a shield. "So I'm apologizing right so that you don't hold it against me when I kick your ass."

They raced forward at the same time, clashing their weapons as they met in the middle. Taking a step back, Crystal swung both of her swords at Max, but he deflected with his shield. Twisting around, he swung his bat for her head, hoping to quickly knock her out. She ducked at the last second, then jumped up, prompting Max to raise his shield, expecting an attack. However, instead of using her swords, Crystal kicked his shield, and he stumbled back from the unexpected force.

With him off balance, Crystal pressed forward with her attacks, swinging her swords with deadly intent. Max was barely able to dodge or deflect them as they were coming with an inch of cutting the bridge of his nose. He backed up against a tree, automatically ducking as Crystal struck without hesitation. Flying up in the air, he made cubes appear and sent them at her. She responded by breaking each one them, then made the ice spikes again and sent them up at Max like she did with Jasper.

However, unlike the fire hero, Max made his sphere shield and dropped the attack to the ground. The moment he landed, he raced at Crystal and ran her over. As she lay on the ground, Max remembered that he had tranquilizers on him. He pounced on her instantly, but she stopped him from injecting her with the tranquilizers.

"Come on, Crystal," Max growled. "Be a good girl and take your shot. It's an order from the Commander himself."

She kneed him against his skull and he fell on his back. Making a spear, she stabbed at Max but was blindsided by a wall that Max made in defense. Dazed, she fell to her knees and Max made chains to keep her from attacking him. Now defenseless, Max used his powers to inject the tranquilizer in her body and she slumped forward, unconsciously. Victorious, he made the chains morph into a sphere and enveloped Crystal in it, then brought her along as he went to go find Jasper.

*****

As for Commander Shinobay and the military, they were making good progress. Pollen's girls may have had guns with actual bullets, but only a few had actual experience with them. For that reason alone they were being forced to retreat further back. In doing so, they were tranquilized before they could find a better position.

"Officer Harris," Commander Shinobay called. Upon his arrival, the Commander said, "Tell General Miller I need to speak with him."

"Yes sir," the officer saluted before carrying out his orders.

"Is there a problem, Commander?" Ghost inquired.

"Yeah, it looks like there is," came the answer.

"Commander, what do you need?" General Miler asked as he came up to him.

"We have a problem," Commander Shinobay said, pointing behind him. "We can't leave the tranquilized girls just lying in the grass as we move on. Not only is it dangerous, but it's just not right to do that to them."

"But we can't stop moving," General Miller replied. "If we do, then Pollen will be get the chance to reorganize the girls and attack us."

"But if we don't, these girls will wake up still under Pollen's control after the tranquilizers wear off and then we'll be facing two fronts," Commander Shinobay informed. "The tranquilizers was just to put them to sleep until we can provide an antidote for the girls."

"The mind control serum has to be ingested, right?" General Miller asked.

"Not particularly," Commander Shinobay answered. "There's actually three ways to administer the mind control serum: ingestion, injection, or by breathing."

"But they all have the same components and require the same antidote, right?" General Miller continued, hoping for good news.

"Yeah, but I'd need Dr. Walton to make the antidote the right way," Commander Shinobay said.

There an explosion at the front lines and the soldiers scurried for cover. As the smoke cleared, they saw Dr. Walton, Cherry, Olivia, and Giggles burst through the line. Giggles automatically went invisible as Cherry reloaded her grenade launcher. Dr. Walton went into multitasking mode, splitting her face in three different directions and making two extra pairs of hands. Olivia even had a metal staff, something Ghost didn't even know she had.

"If you can get Dr. Walton, can you get some antidotes ready?" General Miller asked.

"She would need some for herself first," the Commander answered.

"ALL TROOPS, FALL BACK AND SECURE THE TRANQUILIZED FEMALES!" General Miller ordered. "DO NOT ENGAGE THE HEROINES OR VILLAINESS!"

The soldiers followed their orders immediately, giving the heroines and villainess a wide berth so as not to attract any attention their way.

"Let's get in this fight," Commander Shinobay said to Ghost as the last soldier ran behind them.

The two heroes ran towards the mind controlled ladies and activated their powers: Commander Shinobay with his shield and Ghost with his invisibility. Cherry instantly fired her grenade launcher as the Commander, but his laser vision made short work of the explosives. Ghost went straight for Giggles, although he wanted to rescue Olivia. Giggles was equipped with dual knives and used them to slice at Ghost. He easily disarmed her of them, but was caught by surprise when she pulled two more from behind her back.

Commander Shinobay found himself at ends with the other three women. While Cherry and Dr. Walton were continuously firing upon the Commander, Olivia was stalking him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike a fatal blow. She saw her chance when one of the explosives got closer than the Commander could dodge and exploded against his shield. The shield went down temporarily, giving Olivia the chance she was waiting for.

She struck, but the attack went through him as Ghost turned him intangible. Glaring an unspoken threat, she gave the staff a twist and the staff lit up as it was powered with electricity. Knowing it was going to hurt, Ghost smiled uncontrollably as Olivia stuck the staff in his intangible body. Fortunately, Ghost wasn't touching the Commander, so it was only he who was electrocuted. His body fell to the ground and returned to being tangible while the Commander unleashed his lasers on the attacking women. Giggles brought the attack to a halt however as she used her invisibility to kick the Commander in the back.

Suddenly, she was tackled to the ground and tranquilized as Zipper raced onto the scene. Seconds later, Osprey came screeching down, waving his bladed wings and forcing the women to separate. Seeing that Olivia was alone, Ghost crawled painfully to her side and tranquilized her from under his invisibility power. They also brought Hyper and Ruthless with them and quickly set them down.

With only two left, Cherry and Dr. Walton immediately ran back for the trees but Osprey flew and landed in front of them and the Commander caught up behind them. Dr. Walton turned to face the Commander as Cherry reloaded her grenade launcher. Without warning, Dr. Walton spun and fired at Osprey as Cherry fired the grenades at the Commander. Not even flinching, Commander Shinobay fired his lasers and blew up the grenades. The explosion was close enough to the ladies that they were knocked away from each other and the heroes went to fight their respective partner.

Cherry instantly teleported a good distance away to fire at Osprey, but he flew up to her location, forcing her to teleport again. She was a much farther distance away than Osprey could cover and fired her grenade launcher. He dodged the attack, then flew in and kicked the grenade launcher out her hands. Landing, he put his bladed wings away and took a fighting stance.

"Remember when we first met, baby?" Osprey said. "We were trying to beat the hell out of each other that night when you were trying to assassinate the president during his inauguration and I was a hero in training."

Instead of teleporting to her grenade launcher, Cherry ran at Osprey, leaping and kicking at his face. He rolled under her and kicked at her feet to knock her down. She jumped out the way then struck him in the jaw with a good right hook. He grabbed her immediately and was teleported as she went for her grenade launcher. Both surprised, Cherry was the first to move as she reached for the weapon. Osprey pulled her back, then threw her in the opposite direction of the grenade launcher.

On the Commander's end, he was stuck behind his shield as Dr. Walton fired continuously at him. She had six guns total, one for each hand. When one ran out, she had no problem reloading it via hand-eye coordination and return to firing all six weapons. Pinned, the Commander fired his lasers at the tops of the trees. Multiple branches fell and Dr. Walton had to roll out the way to dodge the attack. She was still firing, but the Commander was still firing his lasers at the trees. Inadvertently, Dr. Walton found herself backing into the forest to provide cover, but that also gave the Commander the confidence to bring down more trees around her. Then, one by one, Dr. Walton's guns ran out of bullets and she had no magazines to replace them.

"It's over Dr. Walton," Commander Shinobay said.

Dr. Walton didn't think so. She picked up two branches and threw them at the Commander, making him create his shield to defend himself. With him distracted, she turned to run back to the headquarters. However, that distraction only lasted a second and Commander Shinobay fired his laser at her. It hit her back and she hit the ground a little bit harder than the Commander would have liked. Still, he made sure to tranquilize the doctor before picking her up and dragging her back to the military.

Meanwhile, Osprey and Cherry were still engaged in combat, trying to get the upper hand on the other. Their fight was no longer dealing with their fists, but back to explosives as Cherry had gotten her hands on heat seeking rockets.

"Damn girl, are you that intent on killing me?" Osprey asked as he dodged a rocket coming his way. "Can I at least get a kiss before you blow me up?"

He flew down straight at her and she fired another rocket at him. He screeched, making the rocket explode, then sent a gust of air at her. It hit her hard and she went down instantly. Landing, Osprey first screeched at the rocket that was still targeting him and it exploded. Then, he turned his attention back to Cherry, who tried to whack him with the rocket launcher. He parried with his wing, then knocked it out of her hands. She struck at him again, but this time, he caught her wrist and twisted it, forcing her to her knees. Taking out the tranquilizer, he injected her with it and waited until she slipped into unconsciousness before taking her back to the military.

"I didn't get a chance to ask, but you did you spot Mistress?" Commander Shinobay asked him.

"No, not at all," Osprey answered.

"Uh, Commander, those trees are rising," a soldier said, pointing towards the forest.

It was true. Three trees were uprooted and levitated as they watched. As expected, the trees were launched at the heroes and military, causing everyone to scatter to avoid being hit. Mistress came out, levitating more trees to launch at them.

"FIRE AT WILL!" General Miller yelled.

"Don't!" Commander Shinobay interjected. "If you fire, then she'll kill someone with the same bullets you shot. Trust me, I've seen it happen before. Her range is about ten to fifteen feet, so she'd have stopped your bullet the moment it got with her reach."

"Then what's our next move?" the general asked.

"Wait and see if we can catch her off guard," Commander Shinobay said.

Right on cue, Shell barreled right into Mistress' back, causing both of them to fall to the ground. The moment they stopped, Shell tried to tranquilize her, but she sent him flying in the air. The rest of the heroes automatically moved in action, knowing they wouldn't get a better chance than this.

Osprey flew up and caught Shell as he was coming down, saving him from a dangerous impact. Zipper raced ahead and knocked Mistress down, then ran off to retrieve Dot, knowing Shell had to have set her down before his surprise attack. Commander Shinobay fired his lasers, but Mistress used a tree to block the attack. Ghost suddenly came through the trees, surprising her and tried to tranquilize her. She moved out the way immediately, then flew up, taking multiple trees with her.

When she was high enough, she let the trees drop. Ghost grabbed onto the Commander's arm and he turned them both intangible as the trees crashed around them. Osprey then screeched at her, and she fell a few feet, but not to the ground like he had hoped. Going with his next option, he flew higher and dropped Shell over her. He crashed into her and they fell towards the ground. Commander Shinobay made a shield around them, protecting them from most of the impact.

Mistress made her power throw Shell at the heroes. That left her wide open for Zipper, who had brought Dot back to the front lines, to knock her down and dart outside of her reach again. She raised up a large piece of the ground, intending to throw it at Zipper. Unexpectedly, it was blown up as Ghost fired the rocket launcher that Cherry dropped. Commander Shinobay fired his lasers at her again, this time hitting her in the leg. Osprey flew down and screeched at her, then followed it with a gust attack. Both attacks connected and Mistress fell on her stomach. Zipper then rushed over and injected her with the tranquilizer, finally defeating her.