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Chapter 9- When Luck Runs Out

Part 1

September 12, 2015---Silicon Valley, valley entrance

While Selenium and Fluorine were having their showdown, a different kind of encounter was underway.

After what seemed like an endless amount of walking and following, Bromine had arrived at the village of the survivors. He could see Gold and Silver speaking to a small element who must be Hydrogen. Behind her was the familiar form of, could it be... Oxygen!? Bromine stepped out of his hiding place amongst the rocks for a better look.

[Chromium]: “MERCURY! A HALOGEN IS HERE!!! MERCURY! MERCURYYY!!”

The little element, who had been hiding on lookout duty, spun around and ran back to the village to warn the others. Bromine considered his options. If he ran back to the base, the survivors would get away. Fluorine would not approve of that. There were very few homes in the village so he believed there would be little resistance to a take-over by force. He decided on this plan and stepped towards the center of the village.

[Bromine]: “I have found you, survivors! Surrender peacefully and Fluorine might be gracious!!”

[Mercury]: “You will not harm any of my elements!”

[Bromine]: “If you want to ignore my generosity, I will burn this place to the ground!”

Before Bromine realized it, he was faced with the majority of the surviving elements, all armed with their respective weapons. Had this been a sword fight, he would have lost easily. A fire fight, however, he could win. The halogen stomped on the ground and summoned a wall of fire in front of him. He began to walk forward slowly, menacingly, his fire wall advancing with each step.

[Mercury]: “Sister, Rubidium, take aim and fire!”

Cadmium and Rubidium shot beams of light at their blazing foe who didn’t even flinch upon impact. He stomped again and proclaimed loudly for all the elements to hear.

[Bromine]: “NOW YOU’VE MADE ME MAD!”

The furious element created stream after stream of fire and consumed the front of the village in flames, melting the metal homes. They would be melted entirely within a few minutes.

[Mercury]: “Gallium, Carbon, Silicon, Copper, get the carts ready and evacuate! Chromium, Sodium, Rutherfordium, get the protons! Everyone else get on the offensive!”

Oxygen and Hydrogen began combining their wind and water powers in the hopes that they could kill Bromine’s flames. Copper turned back sadly, knowing that for as much as she wanted to stay and help her brothers, her ice power put her at a severe disadvantage.

[Copper]: “Brothers!”

[Gold]: “Don’t worry, little sister! I have this!”

Gold, being the only element who was resistant to fire, ran into the blaze and whipped out his double-sided scythe. The fellow fire-wielder saw his enemy approach and swung with his axe, knocking Gold into the air. Bromine moved in for the finishing blow, but was hit with even more beams of light from outside the blaze. Cadmium dared not let up on her attack or else her beloved partner would be obliterated. Her attacks backfired as they only made Bromine angrier. His flames grew to hide himself and Gold. Cadmium could not see into the fire any longer.

[Cadmium]: “Gold! GOLD!!!”

Inside the fire, Gold was having a hard time standing up. He was resistant to fire, not immune. The intense heat was draining his energy at an alarming rate. If he didn’t get out soon, he would face obliteration at the hands of Bromine or the flames themselves. Bromine took his cue and appeared to make the final blow that he missed earlier. This attack also failed as Gold managed to block in time. The tired element overloaded his core and used the burst of energy to run out of the fiery world. Silver saw his brother jump out of the flames and quickly used the time to send electricity flying in the hopes that he could strike Bromine. The electricity conducted surprisingly well within the mixture of hot air and steam.

[Bromine]: “GRAAAAAHHH!!!”

That attack would not stop him! The borders of the fire expanded as Bromine overloaded his core.

[Mercury]: “Fall back!”

[Cadmium]: “What do we do now!?”

[Mercury]: “He has to be tiring out by now. Palladium, get in the skies and be ready to attack!”

[Palladium]: “As thou wishes, my liege!”

[Mercury]: “Form your beams into one and aim at the center of the field!”

[Cadmium]: “Rubidium!”

[Rubidium]: “I heard him!”

The two elements gathered light energy and unleashed it in the form of a massive beam the size of Polonium’s ultimate attack. Bromine was hit directly and dropped to one knee. His core could not take the severe strain of energy. Palladium saw the halogen in the fire and swooped down at an incredible speed for the final strike. Bromine caught a glimpse of the element and moved to the right to dodge. He was too late as Palladium’s sword struck him in the shoulder. Injured and exhausted, the halogen fell onto his chest. The last thing he saw was his sister, Astatine, in the distance. She had seen Bromine’s massive fire from miles away and come as fast as she could only to arrive too late.

[Bromine]: “Sorry, sister…”

Palladium pulled out his sword from Bromine’s shoulder and lodged it into his core. The once fiery halogen disappeared in a blinding flash of white light.

[Astatine]: “BROTHER!!!”

Astatine transformed into her ring shape, increasing her speed. She took advantage of the light’s blinding effect and rushed to the village to grab what remained of her brother: his electron. High amounts of power began to surge into her core as her gelatinous body increased in size by tenfold. Her spikes relocated as she shifted her mass into a larger, more fearsome shape. The elements heard Astatine’s final words before her consciousness succumbed to the power of the electron.

[Astatine]: “This world… is unfairly mean… and it shall witness the wrath… OF THE ELEMENT, ASTATINE!!!”

Her final form resembled that of a massive three-story high chameleon with three tails and a mouth armed with spikes for teeth. She took one step forward and crushed the main hall of the village. If the Nobles hadn’t evacuated already, they would have surely been obliterated.

[Astatine]: “Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeehhh!”

Silver shivered as he heard the halogen’s grief and anger-filled cry.

[Rubidium]: “So what’s our plan now!??”

[Mercury]: “There is no running from this monster. We’ll have to make a staaaaaa-”

One of Astatine’s tails grabbed a hold of Mercury and thrust him into the sky. The navigator of the survivors would not be finished off so easily however. He stretched himself and escaped Astatine’s reach, then landed on her back.

[Mercury]: “All elements, ATTACK!!”

The elements who had been helping evacuate heard the call and turned to help face the crisis at hand. Astatine looked down upon the tiny things at her feet, unable to do any sort of damage to her.

Meanwhile, Cadmium had taken Gold to one of the carts.

[Cadmium]: “Stay here, please.”

[Gold]: “I can’t let my brother and sister fight alone! Or you! Ergh-”

He tried to get up, but winced in pain. His matrix was healing the damage he had taken in the previous battle.

[Cadmium]: “You’re too injured, Gold! Please, stay here and away from danger. I will be back.”

She rushed back into battle without waiting for his reply.

Astatine was heavily outnumbered and facing all of the element’s strongest attacks, but they began to realize nothing was causing damage. Sword slashes would leave small cuts in her gelatinous body that would be instantly healed. Light, electricity, and ice had no effect. It was becoming a battle that the elements were slowly losing. Quick reflexes were what stood between them and certain obliteration at Astatine’s makeshift mouth or under her massive legs. In the heat of the battle, Silver had been tossed to the side by one of the tails. He found Hydrogen and Oxygen combining their powers to make a rain cloud over the giant foe.

[Silver]: “How is that supposed to help?”

[Oxygen]: “If I can focus the wind enough, maybe I can trap her in a tornado until the electron’s power wears off.”

[Hydrogen]: “Hydrogen is helping too!”

Astatine turned towards the three elements as if hearing their plan. She moved in their direction.

[Hydrogen] “Uh… oh....”

[Oxygen]: “We need to move!”

[Silver]: “No, wait! I know!”

Silver saw the cloud above and recalled his experience in Calcium Canyon with a storm. It wasn’t a tornado that they needed… it must be… He shot lightning into the rain cloud, creating a small electrical field.

[Silver]: “Focus your energy! Don’t let up!”

Astatine took three more large steps forward. The three elements knew that even if they ran away, they could never outrun her. This had to work… They focused every bit of energy into the brewing rain cloud above. It swelled and turned dark gray as its creators granted it life. Astatine took another step and faced the three elements. Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Silver simultaneously overloaded their cores to the point where the storm began to drain their energy as if it had its own will.

[Oxygen, Hydrogen, Silver]: “Hwaaaaaaahh!!!”

They fell backwards as they used up their remaining energy. Overhead, positive and negative ions mixed together excitedly. The gargantuan cloud reached its critical point, and, almost as if judging Astatine guilty, blasted a titanic bolt of lightning down on her.

[Astatine]: “Kyeeeeeehh!!!”

Astatine could not withstand the sheer might of the blast and flew backwards into the nearby Nitrogen Forest, her size returning to normal as she made impact. Meanwhile, Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Silver collapsed and began to fade, facing the punishment of obliteration for pushing themselves too far. Their fellow elements ran to them.

[Copper]: “Brother! BROTHER! Hold on, you’re going to be okay… Keep your eyes open! SILVER!”

[Rubidium]: “Don’t you be obliterated now, idiot…”

All of these words felt like they were mumbles from another world to Silver. What was happening? He turned his eyes to the right and saw his arm disappearing. Oh... so this is how it felt… A sense of serenity reached his core. His vision grew hazy, but he could just barely see his sister stooped over him, crying and saying something inaudible. Rubidium was right next to her, silently crying. Why cry? The world was so peaceful right now… He slowly closed his eyes and let the darkness come in.

Gold had been standing to the side, unable to deal with seeing his brother in so much damage. He had disobeyed Cadmium’s orders and come back to the battle only to arrive too late. This couldn’t be happening… No! He ran to Nitrogen Forest in order to finish what his brother had started. She wouldn’t get away with this!

Part 2

Nitrogen Forest, southern area

When he arrived at the crash site, he saw Astatine with her back to a large rock. Her liquid-like body had heavy burn marks all over and struggled to hold itself together.

[Astatine]: “Gold…”

[Gold]: “Astatine! Your family has caused a crazy amount of grief for everyone at the village! I will make you suffer for everything they have done!!”

He held the tip of his scythe to her neck.

[Astatine]: “Do it, Gold… I am tired, our conflict grown old… Without my brother’s presence… Axiom holds no meaningful essence… He was my loved one, my brother… just as you care for Silver…”

[Gold]: “Don’t try to sound like you understand my pain! You don’t… you don’t!”

He pushed the scythe closer to reassure himself.

[Astatine]: “Please do not say… I obliterated someone in my rage…”

[Gold]: “We might lose three elements… and one of them is my brother…”

[Astatine]: “Words cannot express my regret… for this outcome … was never my intent…”

The energy it took for her to speak was leaving her, but Gold was determined to get the resolution he had come for.

[Gold]: “I always thought you were innocent back then, Astatine, even when the evidence said otherwise. You were too sweet an element to obliterate my brother… I mean… how could you…?”

[Astatine]: “That crime was not mine to face… This I swear… the actions of my family have brought us disgrace… and to this day much despair… ”

[Gold]: “I…won’t believe you! Not after what you did!”

His anger returned and he brought his scythe back to the finishing position. Astatine weakly reached a hand up to the blade.

[Astatine]: “Finish me… and make today’s judgment complete...”

He held his scythe firmly and looked at the sorry halogen. This was an element he should hate. So many other elements were obliterated thanks to her! Astatine closed her eyes and accepted her fate. Tears streamed down Gold’s face.

[Gold]: “I… I can’t do it...!”

Gold’s scythe dropped to the floor as he, too, dropped to his knees.

[Astatine]: “Gold…”

[Gold]: “I’m sorry, brother… I’m sorry…”

[Chlorine]: “How weak.”

Chlorine appeared from behind a nearby tree. Earlier, he had witnessed the large lightning bolt in the sky and had followed Astatine to the crash sight. Gold had beaten him to her so he decided to wait and see what the element did.

[Gold]: “Chlorine? What-? How are you here too?”

[Chlorine]: “You could say it was luck. I followed my siblings to see what they were so worked up about when they left our base. Looks like I got a lot more than I asked for, heheh!”

The ecstatic element turned to his sister.

[Chlorine]: “Little sis’, I am ashamed of ye’. I wonder what our big sister would have to say about yer’ failure!”

[Astatine]: “It matters not, anymore… our brother is gone, purpose is absent from my core…”

[Chlorine]: “Ye’ always did have a strange thing for our moody bro. Heh… never thought I would hear he was obliterated… so Gold! My sister here might be a failure, but I will show what it is like to fight an electronegative element!”

[Astatine]: “Stop… please… no more fighting…”

[Chlorine]: “Not hearin’ ye’, sis’. Only the strong should speak. We know that.”

Astatine was surprised to hear her brother be so serious. She knew he was always bragging about strength, but still… She had to come up with a way to stop this fight. One obliterated brother was more than enough…

[Astatine]: “Gold… if you walk to the east of Manganese Plains in the direction of Wye, our crystal base you will find…”

[Chlorine]: “SIS’! That’s… BETRAYAL!”

[Astatine]: “I said I am tired… this situation needs a decision that is more dire…”

Chlorine wasn’t aware that Gold knew this information already. His thoughts spun frantically. Gold had looked as if he was ready to accept Astatine into the survivors. What she just did was a clear sign of treason too. He thought back to Fluorine’s words. “I don’t have time to waste on incompetence!” Incompetence… treason… he knew what to do.

[Chlorine]: “Sis’… I’m sorry…”

He sent a wave of acid at her, completely consuming the element. She had been too weak to even scream in pain. Within seconds, her body was gone. Gold had no time to react in shock as he knew what was coming next. He dashed to where Astatine once was and shot a searing stream of fire at Chlorine who retaliated with a volley of acid. Both attacks hit their marks. Gold’s shoulders began to disintegrate, but he managed to reach his destination first and grabbed Astatine’s electron.

Power came immediately to the red element as his injuries instantly healed and his flames turned a bright blue color. With power came a new consciousness that overpowered his own. All the pain… it was all their fault! And they were going to burn for it! Burn!

[Gold]: “HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAH YEAHHHH!!! BURRRRRN!!!!”

[Chlorine]: “This can’t be good.”

Chlorine ran as fast as he could while Gold finished powering up. Upon finishing his excited proclamation, he sent a shockwave of flames in all directions, setting the forest ablaze and heavily damaging the fleeing element. This would not be the last of Gold’s assault. He gave chase to Chlorine and easily caught up to him. The two briefly fought, but Gold proved to be too fast. Before Chlorine could be finished off, a large, burning tree fell down and separated the two. Gold tore the tree in half and saw nothing but flames and burning wood ahead. The red element ran in a direction that he felt Chlorine had run until the electron’s power faded.

[Gold]: “Phew… woah… burnt out…”

He wandered about the remains of the forest. Centuries worth of forest had died in the span of a few minutes. Cadmium found him.

[Cadmium]: “Gold! Oh my, I’m so glad you’re alright. So so glad… Can you walk? Everyone has already left the village. We need to go.”

[Gold]: “I’m okay. Phew… I might need some help with the walking though. Heh…”

[Cadmium]: “Of course!”

She pulled Gold’s left arm over her shoulders and walked him back to the survivors’ convoy. Their horrific episode was finally over. Gold held his left hand to his head. Something had changed. Silver, where was Silver? Silver…

Part 3

September 13, 2015---Lattice Palace, main chamber

It was the middle of the night and Selenium and Fluorine were impatiently waiting for their families to return. They had searched as far as they could only to return without any results. Finally, they heard the familiar sound of footsteps. The beaten body of Chlorine dragged itself in and collapsed at the doorway.

[Fluorine]: “Chlorine! What happened???”

[Chlorine]: “We… ran into the survivors… Bromine… Astatine… were obliterated…”

[Fluorine]: “IMPOSSIBLE!! We are halogens! They cannot-, could not be obliterated!”

[Selenium]: “What about… my family?”

[Chlorine]: “Don’t… know…”

Chlorine passed out. This was the worst possible news both leaders could have received. Somehow, their families had been obliterated in battle. Selenium had hope, but only a small amount. If Polonium had captured the elements, she would have been back by now, gloating over her latest victory. Tellurium would have known to do a tactical retreat in the event of an overwhelming opposition. So where could they be? There was only one logical answer… Fluorine had sunk to the floor, next to her brother, and wept. Selenium put a hand on her shoulder. There was nothing to be done now except grieve.

[Selenium]: “I am sorry…”

[Fluorine]: “Those… elements… will regret ever siding against my family… I’ll make them all suffer terribly before obliterating them. None will be safe from my fury!! My only purpose will be to eliminate all of those blasted elements!!”

This she vowed. She wiped away the remainder of her tears and carried Chlorine to her chamber to allow him to rest. Soon there would be no survivors. The leader of the halogens would make sure of it.

Part 4

Alloy Mountains, Sea Of Fire bridge

Mercury had determined the best path would be one through the perilous Sea of Fire. This was a rocky bridge that was surrounded on both sides by large holes filled with never-ending flames. Stealth was what Mercury needed on his side to avoid any more rogue elements that might have been on their trail. Surely, no rogue element would think to venture into this hellish land. The fact that it was the middle of the night helped reassure him.

Rubidium slowly moved her cart along a rocky path. Silver, who had recovered half of his energy since the incident with Astatine, was resting inside, accompanied by his brother. Hydrogen, being an element of low electronegativity, had quickly recovered from her damage and was watching over Oxygen in a nearby cart that was pulled by Silicon. Palladium was flying overhead to search for any possible foes. All of this activity was done in silence. Most of the elements were too exhausted to speak and there had been little to talk about anyways. Only one action mattered: running. Running from a looming enemy.

Copper pulled a cart full of protons at the rear of the convoy. She thought over the events of the day. First, a confrontation with Bromine, and then another with a powered-up Astatine. Gold had seemed very different when he came back. Iodine had been right. Her normally optimistic brother had gained a darker edge in his actions thanks to the electron. However, Gold had put forth a large effort to fight the incoming instability. She hoped it would go away soon.

Behind the convoy were the familiar forms of Polonium and Tellurium. They had seen Bromine’s fires and the lightning bolt from earlier and, despite Mercury’s efforts at stealth, had followed the convoy into the land of smoke and fire. Tellurium spoke to his sister.

[Tellurium]: “Stay here.”

[Polonium]: “Why?”

[Tellurium]: “I have business.”

[Polonium]: “So do I.”

[Tellurium]: “Stay.”

[Polonium]: “Alright.”

Tellurium checked to see if Palladium was looking the wrong way and darted towards the cart that Copper was pulling.

[Tellurium]: “Copper.”

[Copper]: “Tellurium!”

She reached for her sword.

[Tellurium]: “No. I am not here to fight.”

[Copper]: “Then what is it?”

[Tellurium]: “Come with me.”

[Copper]: “Huh?”

[Tellurium]: “I have waited so long to see you again, Copper. Every day since my family joined the halogens.”

This was the first time in months that Tellurium had spoken in sentences with more than a few words. His tone had the slightest touch of life in it.

The convoy stopped moving. Copper would have thought that was strange if her thoughts weren’t preoccupied.

[Copper]: “I’ve thought about you too but… after what happened in the falls, I just couldn’t think about you the same way… You hurt me…”

[Tellurium]: “I am sorry. Selenium was with me. I could not leave my family.”

[Copper]: “So you’re asking me to leave mine?”

[Tellurium]: “You will be safe with us.”

[Copper]: “Sorry, Tellurium. I’m staying with my family. There’s another thing you should know too. You remember the comic I made for us? I finished it, and I gave her an ending where she learns that romance isn’t everything in the world. She realizes her love for her brothers is greater than for an old flame. That comic helped me move on. You should too.”

[Tellurium]: “I… can’t…”

Underneath his armored vest, Tellurium’s mentality began to slowly shatter. While he and Copper were talking, Polonium had taken the time to move around the convoy in the billowing clouds of smoke and appeared in front of the convoy. She motioned for it to stop which it did.

[Mercury]: “NO! Another rogue element, now???”

[Polonium]: “Don’t confuse me with those weaklings. I’m here for one thing only: my rematch. Where’s Silver?”

[Mercury]: “Silver?”

Silver’s protectors heard the chalcogen and appeared to face her.

[Gold]: “You won’t be getting to him so easily.”

[Rubidium]: “You’re a fool if you want to get near that idiot!”

[Polonium]: “Tch, you’re all fodder that I don’t have time for. Show him to me. I don’t plan on fighting anyone el-.”

As if on cue, her rival emerged from a cloud of smoke, his silver sword held upright.

[Silver]: “I’m here.”

[Gold]: “Brother, no! You need to rest!”

[Silver]: “I’ve told you before, Gold. I’m fine. I know this element is here for no one but me. And she’s right, I owe her a rematch for how our last battle went.”

[Polonium]: “Hah! Do you really want to pay up right now? There’s no fun in fighting someone who isn’t at their best.

[Silver]: “I’m good enough to fight you.”

[Polonium]: “Really? Let’s see how strong you are without any outside help!”

[Silver]: “You’re wrong, Polonium.”

Silver reached into the back of his cape and unveiled a second sword, a golden one that was a near duplicate of his original except it had a red gem set in the center. This was the moment he was waiting for, what he had trained for with Mercury. Polonium looked impressed.

[Polonium]: “Ahla-!”

[Silver]: “It is because of my friends that I can fight at my best. They are my purpose. Without them, my sword’s strikes have no meaning and neither do I. We are strong, together!”

“Strength alone will not always be enough. There are bigger reasons to fight.”

Silver’s words reminded her of Iodine’s. This must be what direction looked like.

[Polonium]: “So… strong enough to stand alone and wise enough to stand together when the time comes… Silver! You’re pretty confident with this friendship stuff. Let’s see how well you can back it up!”

[Gold]: “You won’t get anywhere near-”

He was stopped by Silver as he walked forward to meet his rival.

[Silver]: “This is my fight, brother. So believe in me!!”

With newfound energy, the blue element ran towards his rival for their ultimate duel. Electricity flew from his body. Silver threw strike after strike against Polonium’s blades. Dual-wielding, as he learned with Mercury, was indeed what came naturally to him and this was reflected in how much better he was battling Polonium. Both elements were evenly matched in technique while Polonium’s brute strength was well met with Silver’s speed. They fought valiantly, the eruptions of fire serving as an epic backdrop.

Copper heard the cling of swords and rushed to see what was happening. She stopped at the sight of her brother fighting.

[Copper]: “Polonium is here!?”

A hand touched her shoulder and attempted to pull her back.

[Copper]: “S-So this was a trap! You really haven’t changed! You’re just a… CHALCOGEN!”

She gave Tellurium a look of absolute disgust and turned around. Tellurium’s mental state snapped. His whole purpose to that point had been surviving to see his beloved again. She had been his world, what kept him from becoming unstable. Now… nothing mattered… except… He pulled out his sword and stabbed Copper in the back. Gold heard the sound of a sword behind him and turned. He saw what happened to his sister in utter horror.

[Gold]: “COPPER!!!”

She disappeared in a flash of white light while Tellurium swiftly took her electron. There in the land of fire spawned a creature with the most powerful attacks of electricity. Tellurium’s mentality disappeared as his one and only goal became that of obliteration. All electrons would be his!

Polonium and Silver stopped their battle when they saw the energized chalcogen toss a nearby cart into the fiery pit.

[Polonium]: “D’aw, what the heck, Tellurium?? And you were worried about me getting in your way.”

Tellurium, consumed by power, used his electricity on his own sister, sending her flying back. He then did the same with Gold, Silver, Rubidium, and Cadmium. Polonium got up and approached her brother.

[Polonium]: “That was a cheap shot, Tellurium! Can’t you recognize me?”

Tellurium held both hands in front of him and blasted her away once. Sparks flew everywhere as the nearby elements ran in a panic.

[Polonium]: “You made a bad choice in making an enemy out of me, my brother!”

[Mercury]: “Get the protons and get away from here, everyone!”

[Gold]: “Brother! He… He obliterated Copper!”

[Silver]: “No…”

There was no time to grieve. Tellurium had turned his attention to the elements behind him, smashing through carts of belongings to get to them. Carbon saw him approach his cart which was full of his plants. He used his nature power to accelerate the growth of the plants and command them forth to hold Tellurium in place. Silicon sprouted towers of metal to further restrain the wild element while Palladium flew in low to attack. Tellurium didn’t care what kind of restraints the lowly survivors tried using. He lifted the heavy metal bars and threw them straight at Silicon, knocking him out. Palladium was struck with a barrage of lightning bolts and fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Carbon’s plants served as wires for Tellurium as his electricity traveled back through them and straight to the cart, burning all forms of plant life in their way. Carbon weakly got back up to his feet. All of his life’s work was gone, destroyed… and with it, his source of power. He turned up in time to see Tellurium stab a blade through his core. The green element disappeared in a flash of white light, his electron taken by Tellurium. With two electrons absorbed, the chalcogen was now near unstoppable.

The incoming fire, light, and electricity attacks from Gold, Rubidium, Cadmium, Polonium, and Silver merely bounced off Tellurium’s vest. Gallium, the largest and arguably the strongest survivor reached his opponent. It was a battle of the armored elements. Gallium, with his solid steel armor, managed to take repeated strikes from Tellurium’s sword, but he could not hope to retaliate, not against that fast an element. Tellurium grabbed a hold of the large plate of armor that covered one of Gallium’s arms and ripped it straight off the element, effectively gaining a shield. He kicked back the surprised element and thrust his sword down to obliterate him. Gold barely arrived in time to block the attack and save Gallium. Tellurium found himself surrounded by Gold, Silver, Cadmium, Rubidium, Mercury, and their newly gained ally, Polonium. The other elements had fled on Mercury’s orders. With a six-against-one advantage, he hoped they could outmatch Tellurium’s raw power through skill. The group of elements all charged in.

Tellurium blocked Polonium and Rubidium’s attacks with his sword and shrugged them off to block Gold and Silver. Mercury’s attack was met by Tellurium’s shield. Cadmium got close to getting Tellurium from behind, but was struck with a bolt of lightning. The chalcogen raised both hands to the air and created hundreds of electricity rays that struck everything in sight. Cadmium was hit by three and knocked into the fiery pit. Mercury stretched out his hand and caught her in time. Gold, Silver, Rubidium, and Polonium all thrust their swords downwards on Tellurium who blocked the attack with his shield. The combined force of the four elements still could not overpower the element. He pushed them all back. Polonium decided it was time to get serious and charged her ultimate attack.

[Polonium]: “Get away or get wrecked!”

The elements got clear from Tellurium while Mercury stretched his hands and held him in place as best as he could. The other four elements joined her in firing their most powerful attacks.

[Polonium]: “POLONIUM PULLLSE!!!”

[Mercury]: “Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!”

The triple beam of rainbow-colored light, combined with the strength of Silver’s lightning and Gold’s fire, consumed Tellurium and Mercury’s arms. Mercury fell to his knees. It would take weeks for his matrix to regenerate his lost arms. Tellurium stood still, silent, speechless. His armor was scorched. The ground underneath, damaged from the powerful blast, began to shake. Cadmium ran to get her brother before the rocky passage that they were on broke further. Tellurium, as if remotely reactivated, sprang into action to intercept her.

[Gold]: “Cadmium!”

She quickly blocked the attack while the others came to her aid. More of the floor collapsed into the fire below. Tellurium got away from Cadmium and fired more electricity in all directions. Cadmium was struck directly and, having lost too much energy, passed out. Silver was knocked back into Gold and Rubidium, but Polonium managed to dodge the lightning and got to her brother. Silver got up to help her, but the ground under his feet broke off. He, Gold, and Rubidium plummeted into the fire pit. Polonium saw what happened in disbelief. There was no way he could be obliterated so easily, could he? She looked at her brother, remembering their first match that had forced her to remain part of Family 16.

[Polonium]: “Looks like I’ll get that rematch with you earlier than I thought!”

Brother and sister dueled viciously over what was left of the rocky bridge. As it turned out, Tellurium had enough strength to put up a good fight. However, the longer they fought, the more of the battlefield crumbled away. The fire from below was getting closer. Polonium realized there probably was no getting out of this for either of them. She leapt over her brother and struck his weapons with her own. It was now or never… she overloaded her core and began to overpower her brother who had already exhausted all of his extra energy stores. Tellurium, whose conscious was still gone, fought back angrily with his sister. He managed to get his sword lodged in her shoulder, but it failed to faze her. She pulled the sword out and tossed it into the pit. Polonium doubled her offense and moved him towards the bridge’s edge. With only a shield to protect himself, Tellurium did not last long. She sliced his right arm off and with one final spin, kicked him down into the world of flames below. His visor was knocked out of his helmet and landed next to Cadmium and her brother. Polonium turned to walk towards them. Then the ground gave way. It was a sudden, unexpected lurch. She attempted to jump back onto the last remaining part of the bridge, but missed, falling into the same pit she had kicked her brother into.

Part 5

Alloy Mountains, Sea Of Fire bridge

Silver had fallen a great distance into the pit before he regained balance.

[Silver]: “No! Not this time!”

He stuck both of his swords into the rocky wall. Rubidium grabbed his legs while Gold grabbed hers. If any of them let go, they would fall the rest of the way and be obliterated in the flames. Silver climbed up slowly. The extreme heat of the nearby fires as well as the weight of the two elements beneath him were quickly draining his energy. He could see a ledge a short distance away. Almost there… A little more… He made it. Slowly, the other two elements climbed onto the ledge and looked up. The bridge was still a long ways away, but this ledge would be enough comfort for now. Silver saw a flash of white light shine through the smoke momentarily. Was it Tellurium, Polonium, or both? It might have even been Cadmium or Mercury. Someone had to have been obliterated. He put his head against the rocky wall. Gold broke the silence with words of anger and sorrow. It seemed as if though today had been full of those two emotions.

[Gold]: “So much has gone wrong tonight… Carbon and our own sister are gone…”

[Rubidium]: “I feel like an idiot. I don’t know what to say except that I am sorry I couldn’t stop it...”

[Gold]: “No, this wasn’t you. I should have stopped them. And I will. No other elements will be obliterated because of… them!”

Silver noticed his brother’s sudden aggression and felt the pain come at last. A realization had hit him.

[Silver]: “I… had promised to make sure no other elements would be obliterated, and I failed… Copper, my sister… why…”

[Rubidium]: “Silver…”

It was unusual for Rubidium to see her beloved so emotional. She did what her instinct told her and hugged him while the tears slowly came to all three elements.

[Gold]: “There’s only one thing left now…”

[Silver]: “What are you thinking..?”

[Gold]: “We know where their base is... When we are well-rested, we’ll climb out of here and then… we will finish this fight!”