It all started with a portal.

Then, the obvious.

"Guys... I don't think we're in TAPOPS anymore."

As they groaned on the floor and collected themselves, the group rose to face the light beyond the dark alleyway they had appeared in. They shielded their eyes, rising to their feet as they stepped out into the open—

A concrete forest and congested traffic greeted them. Pedestrians here and across the street passed them by, minding their own business and hardly sparing them a second glance. Angry horns blared in the road as the heavy scent of smoke lingered in the air.

Boboiboy's eyes widened in a mixture of recognition of shock and recognition.

"Is this... Kuala Lumpur?"

Fang turned to him, skeptical. His mouth was ajar, looking as if he had many questions, and rightfully so. However, before he can voice them, a large overhanging shadow took over the city, covering them in a blanket of darkness.

They arched their chins, coming face-to-face with a massive silhouette hovering above them. The shape looked familiar, but not enough that they could put a name to its existence.

All sound around them died down. Curious drivers had left their vehicles, scratching their heads as they wondered what was happening. Pedestrians conversed one another, pointing at the descending ship and making speculations.

The hairs on the back of Boboiboy's neck rose in alarm, his body stiffening in unease. Around him, his friends felt the same, as Ying's watch glowed a faint yellow in the shadows, her afterimages playing tricks on the human eye and creating multiples of herself.

The ship's descent came to a stop. Instead, a projector beam rained down from the ship's hull onto the top of a skyscraper, a large silhouette appearing within the light.

Yaya's eyes narrowed. "Hey, isn't that..."

The figure stepped out of the beam, revealing red skin and bulky obsidian armor. Behind him, two alien warriors revealed themselves, stepping out of the projector to join his side as his personal guard.

Gopal's jaw hung wide open. "Bora Ra?!" he yelped.

From Boboiboy's arms, Ochobot sighed as he covered his visors with his robotic hands. "Not this guy again."

Before they could do anything, dark clouds gathered around the ship, the roar of thunder following the ominous weather. Scarlet lightning cackled in the sky, raining down onto the three aliens and the civilians below. As screams of horror and realization echoed through the city, the ground shook and quaked, a dome of earth and metal rising to envelope them whole.

The last they saw of the outside world were twin shooting stars—one from the North and the other from the South—leaving trails of pure white and red as they collided directly with the villains.

What came after was a shockwave that resonated in the earth itself, and an explosion that would shake the city and shatter every glass pane in range.

* * *

"This way!" Yaya yelled, directing the panicking civilians away from the fight. "Keep calm, everybody! Head to the exit!"

Whoever had made the dome was with intention of evacuation, leaving just enough space out the protective layer to create a tunnel towards safety. They had questions and not enough answers – but lives were at stake, and they did what they had to.

"Careful!" Ying scooped up a pair of siblings from the far end, pulling them away just before collapsing debris could crush them whole. "Run, run and don't stop!"

"Who were they?" Fang demanded to Boboiboy, raising a pack of wolves to scout the area to cover more ground. Gopal had mounted one of them, turning any loose boulders into harmless marshmallows. "Did you do any of this?"

Boboiboy Gempa shook his head, frenzied. "No!" he cried, his golems holding up the collapsing structure. His face was beaded with sweat, scrunched up in exertion. "I don't know what's happening. First, the civilians. Everything else comes later!"

* * *

Ice remained perched atop a building, only a few blocks away from the vicious battle occurring at the scene. Within seconds, the center of the city had turned into a violent display, red and white blurring together until their forms are no longer recognizable.

"Really, this is overkill," she muttered, dark curly hair falling into her fur hood. "Why must they make a lightshow out of everything?"

"That's the worst joke I've heard, even by your standards," Blaze's voice grunted in her earpiece. "Give me visuals on the ground before that KitKat lady decides that Christmas came early."

Ice snorted, pulling the hood over her head. She raised her arms, fingers closing around air until fractals of frost crystalized into an intricate bow in her hands, its string gleaming with clear ice.

She breathed in and breathed out, her breaths turning into puffs of mist and fog. Thin layers of frost coated her face in patches, cold blue eyes locking onto the dark figure at the very center.

Her finger strummed the bowstring with the barest of touches. From her palm, an arrow of ice formed from the center, the tip glowing bright blue and the ends bristling soft feathers of show. She nocked the arrow, pulling the string back as she assumed a proper stance.

"Any time now," Blaze stressed.

Ice's eyes steeled in finality. She released the string, the arrow flying from the bow in a beautiful arc, heading straight towards the alien's head, leaving a trail of snow and illusionary winter in its wake. It flew past Solar's shoulder by an inch, past Thunderstorm's arm by a hair's breadth—and hit its mark.

Almost instantly, the arrow exploded in a flurry of ice, encasing Bora Ra within a towering glacier.

Ice dismissed the bow, stepping away from the building's edge.

"There's your visual," she said smugly. "Now, what did you say about my sense of humor—"

She froze in place when the unmistakable sound of a sword hummed to life behind her. Ice whipped around in surprise, staring straight at one of Bora Ra's righthand in the flesh.

She tapped the earpiece, taking hesitant steps back from Kiki Ta.

"Hey, um, Blaze?" She resummoned her bow, half her foot stepping onto air. "You know that KitKat lady you were talking about?"

* * *

Cyclone pressed his back on an overturned car, wincing as a lamppost was thrown over their heads.

"This wasn't how I planned to spend my weekend!" Thorn complained, pulling at her hair. "Where am I supposed to get my Happy Meal now—eeep!" She was yanked aside a split second before Gaga Naz uncovered their hiding spot, tearing the vehicle apart with nothing but his bare hands.

Grabbing Thorn's hands, Cyclone took to the skies, his hoverboard forming beneath his feet as it lifted them into the air. With practiced ease, he released Thorn's arms as she wrapped several vines around the board, forming a swing where she sat on.

"Well, whoever that car belongs to, I hope they've got insurance," Cyclone remarked dryly.

"Life insurance?" Thorn questioned.

Cyclone swerved a hard right as the hunk of muscle now resorted to throwing cars and public property at the airborne siblings.

"At this point, any insurance would help."

Cyclone raised his palms. On the ground, several hurricanes began to pick up near Gaga Naz, who grew increasingly confused at the change of air current. Thorn joined in, thorned tendrils sprouting from the concrete ground to lash around the alien, tying him up.

The wind grew in intensity, spinning the villain around like a Beyblade. In a fluid motion, Thorn cut the vines and Cyclone raised his hands to the sky. In sync, they raised the alien off his feet into the sky, then tossed him into the nearest building as hard as they could.

Gaga Naz was sent flying into walls of concrete, falling and crashing through floors and floors of drywall and cement. They didn't relent their control however, instead tightening their hold on their elements as they brought him airborne once more—and repeated the process in a different building.

After four different ruined skyscrapers, they raised him into the sky one more time, and let go, sending him to plummet straight into the cold, hard pavement. He fell hard, creating a crater around him.

Cyclone whistled, brushing nonexistent dust off his palms. "Well, that was easy."

Thorn sighed, leaning on the side of her swing. "You just jinxed it."

Below them, Gaga Naz roared with renewed vigor, leaping from the crater to scale buildings in effort to catch them.

Thorn glowered at Cyclone, who shrugged apologetically.

* * *

"You cannot stop my Master! He is all powerful, all consuming—behold your new emperor: Lord Bora R—"

A hole opened up beneath the brainiac's feet, swallowing him whole. His shrieks could be heard all the way as he fell through the tunnel, only silenced when Quake closed the gap.

"Well, that was—"

"—easy?" An explosion shook the ground, almost knocking Quake off his feet. The shrill alien voice permeated through the smoke, Yoyo Oo revealing his unharmed self as he stepped out of another crater.

From his backpack, a massive drill hung from the impossibly small space, along with several jointed metal legs that carried the alien around like a freak of nature.

"You see, I predicted you were going to do that!" Yoyo Oo boasted, the drill tucking away into his back. "I know all your moves, your powers and your weaknesses, Quake. I have researched every little bit of you and your accursed friends! Therefore I have a counter for everything you—"

Two molten metal walls, one from each side rose from the ground. Quake clapped his hands once, turning the alien into the world's nastiest sandwich. To no one's surprise, the alien broke out again, this time with a slightly larger drill than before.

"Would you stop that!" he hissed, and promptly got stepped on by a golem.

The entire situation was almost humorous. Almost.

The golem's foot exploded into pieces. "I'm finding your actions very immature."

Another golem twice the original's size flattened the alien and the previous golem all in one stomp.

If violence isn't solving the problem, it just means you're not using enough. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near enough. Yet another explosion shook the earth's core, shattering the golem's limb into pieces.

This time, Yoyo Oo emerged less unscathed, lying flat on the ground heaving heavy breaths.

"You—you puny earthling!!" he wailed, flailing. "You think this is funny! I'll show you funny!"

He slammed a button on his chest, and immediately three projector beams shot down from the mothership. Three silhouettes formed in the rays, larger than the big boss himself.

A trio of humungous robots stepped out, surrounding the scientist awaiting his command. Quake frowned, reaching out to call the metals within the androids, but... nothing.

Confused, he covered his arms in molten metal defensively, eyeing the gleaming surface as questions stirred in his mind.

Then it hit him.

"Plastic?" he demanded, almost scandalized. "You built robots out of plastic??"

"And they will be your inevitable doom!" Yoyo Oo cackled madly. "For both you and Earth's climate change!"

Quake had no time to debate over the ethics of using single-use plastic, as he was forced to roll out of the way as the walking lumps of turtle killer began swinging arms around to crush him.

* * *

Thunderstorm groaned, body pulsating with waves of pure agony.

It had been a simple slip up; but it was enough to throw her off her rhythm. One wrong move, and she'd almost taken Solar's eye out. One wrong move, and she was slammed into the floor by his oversized hammer, embedded in the concrete floor with her sword shattered into a million pieces.

The remnants of her weapon dissipated into static, fading away into the wind.

Through half-lidded eyes, the world was a blur. White flashing lights and just as much dark matter to match it. Splotches of white and red was all she could see, the edge of her vision turning black.

"Not the time for naps, Pikachu!"

Solar disappeared before his feet even touched the ground, reappearing in another spot seemingly at random. He was relentless in his attacks, firing blast after blast of condensed light only for them to be consumed by the void their foe weld with ease.

"Damnit, Thunder! I could use some help over here!!"

She tried to move, but all she could manage was a feeble twitch in her fingers. It was as if one single hit had also pummeled her will out of her, rendering her completely paralyzed after.

Without her to parry most of Bora Ra's melee attacks, Solar was forced to be on the defensive. Instead of focusing most of his power into offense, he had no choice other than to dedicate half his resources in survivability – at least until backup arrives, or Thunderstorm somehow miraculously recovers.

There's no backup, and they know it. They'd come in knowing that as the heavy hitters of the group, they'd start the fight and end it.

Starting it had been easy enough. Ending it, on the other hand...

Unbeknownst to her, her eyes had drifted to stare into the sky, gaze unfocused. There was no rain in spite of the bellowing thunder, no wind to dry any tears she might have. The only thing she saw was the dark silhouette of the invading ship, and the blinking lights on its walls.

"Hey, you better get up! How am I supposed to face your brother if I have to carry you back to him like a blushing bride?!"

The cackling lightning grew in intensity.

Thunder...

* * *

One simple mistake was all it took.

One single brick beyond his calculations.

Solar's eyes widened in horror as his ankle caught on an unyielding solid, his view falling sideways as the beginning of a black hole grew in size before his eyes.

Nowhere to run. Nowhere to dodge.

He watched everything in slow motion. The growing void, his imminent doom. He wouldn't even have time to close his eyes.

Then a flaming torpedo lunged into battle from the side, a fiery kick sending Bora Ra into a stumble the second Solar felt his skin peeling off his flesh. Solar fell to the ground unharmed, glowering at the newcomer wreathed in fire.

"Took you long enough," Solar complained.

Blaze scoffed, clenching both his fists. In a clap of fire, twin chakrams were summoned to his call, ablaze with golden flames. "Is that the thanks I get for saving your life?"

Bora Ra roared in anger. He stabbed the butt of his hammer into the ground, calling upon the largest blackhole they'd ever seen yet. At the same time, a powerful blast of lightning struck behind them, shaking the building and its very foundation.

Solar felt his lips creep into a grin. "About time; how was your beauty sleep?"

From the overwhelming pillar of lightning, Thunderstorm emerged with a renewed sense of vigor. Scarlet electricity danced all over her figure, flickering by her hand as a wicked spear formed from her glowing palm. She rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, stepping forward with murder in her eyes.

"Time for round 2, you regurgitated frog."

The flat features of Bora Ra's face twisted into a cruel, amused smirk. As the blackhole over their heads grew in size, as did the light from the three elements standing against him. White, red and gold opposed the encompassing darkness, shoulder-to shoulder as they readied their weapons.

Then, in spite of the dark clouds and the ship's looming shadow, a bright light pierced through the darkness, forcing them to shield their eyes.

* * *

When this was all over, Ice was booking the first flight to Hawaii the second she got her hands on a computer.

Her chest heaved, panting heavy as she lowered her bow. The air around her had frozen to a fog, crystalized fractals of snow falling around her feet, finding their way into her undone hair.

"What's wrong?" she taunted, brushing off piles of snow from her shoulder. "Has your tongue finally frozen off?"

They stood face-to-face in a desecrated office building, tables and monitors strewn all across the floor. The faint howls of battle echoed all around the city, lights of fire, sun and electricity pouring into their small space from the broken windows.

"You worthless insect!" KikiTa screeched, equally as disheveled as her opponent. Parts of her skin had blackened from harsh frostbite, one of her antennae severed from her head. Though her armor was coated in thick layers of frost, she remained standing, her every breath fogging up.

Ice spat a mouth full of blood that was pooling beneath her tongue. "Pot calling the kettle black, I suppose." She wiped her lips with a gloved hand, the other still clutching her bow. "Have you considered investing in a mirror?"

A murderous look flashed across Kiki Ta's face. From yet another chink in her armor, she pulled out the fiftieth pair of swords she had stashed away in some hidden pocket. At this point, it was getting ridiculous. How many weapons can someone fit in that skintight outfit?

Ice rolled her eyes, raising her bow. If the alien wanted to dance, then it's a good thing that Ice brought her dancing shoes. Dozens of arrows materialized in the air around her as her bowstring glowed bright blue, aim locked onto Kiki Ta's head.

Kiki Ta charged forward with a scream, twin blazing swords at the ready. At the same time, Ice's foot drew a semi-circle in the show, pointed glaciers rising from the ground up around them.

A dark shadow collided directly into Kiki Ta's side, knocking her away and sending her swords clattering across the floor. Ice whipped around, alarmed and unprepared, before coming to a terrible realization that her bow had deconstructed in her hand, raining to the ground in...

Jellybeans?

In a split second, she caught movement in the corner of her eye, a similar figure ready to pounce. She dropped herself to the ground, slamming her iced palm into the floor as icicles protruded to the sky in her command.

Through squinted eyes, she saw a twitching shadow squirming at the very tip of her glaciers, whimpering as the ice impaled its torso. It dissipated into dark smoke, foggy tendrils returning to its owner.

"What the hell," she muttered, bewildered. Her eyes darted towards Kiki Ta, who was struggling to overpower a red-eyed panther who had her under its claws; then to the multicolored candy scattered around her, the only remnant of her bow.

Things just got a lot more complicated. Ice massaged the bridge of her nose, groaning.

Without hesitation, she raised her palms to her chest, and clapped. The effects were instantaneous. All the snow, ice, and glaciers in the room exploded into mist and snow, blinding everyone other than her.

With glowing eyes, she whirled around the limited space, catching two stumbling figures hiding behind collapsed debris. From their silhouette, they were visibly human, or at least humanoid. Nothing like Bora Ra and his xenophobic lackeys.

But, she knew from experience that appearances can be deceiving.

She took a step forward, only to realize that she'd stepped into a pit of melted marshmallow instead. Before she can pull her boot from the amalgamation of dust and sweets, she spun around and thrust her arm upwards, forging a knife out of ice to impale a dark wolf before it jumped her.

Seriously, this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Whoever they were, they must have accounted for this exact response, because the dark wolf did not dissipate like the previous one. Instead, it burst and lashed out towards her, tendrils of shadow whipping around her arms and torso, slamming her down to the floor.

The floor shook as her side made contact with the tiles, all the breath knocked out of her lungs as two figures began to approach her.

Ice clenched her teeth, the earpiece humming to life.

"Hey, Blaze?" she hissed, already cutting through her binds with a shard of ice. "I have a situation here."

The lights outside turned unbearably bright, like the sun itself had descended upon that fateful skyscraper. The elemental discordance had completely stopped, drowned out by this unforeseen glow.

Blaze's uncertain voice filtered through. "Yeah, um," he stuttered. "Would you believe me if I said 'same here'?"

* * *

From her makeshift swing, Thorn had hooked the back of her knees onto the vines, hanging upside down as she swayed lazily in the air.

"He doesn't know when to give up, does he?" she muttered.

Cyclone was in a similar state, sitting cross-legged on his hoverboard as they stared at the hulking villain below. He flicked his wrist, deflecting another flying car that would have taken them out of the sky.

"You know that interview from the 1900's? Where people say by 2020 we'll have flying cars?" he joked. "I don't think this is what they meant."

Thorn glanced at the desperate alien, who for some reason hasn't tired himself out after a whole hour of peeling roads and buses off the street. "You don't say."

"I'm starting to feel a lot of ozone, though." He grimaced as his hair fritzed, ends sticking up in the air from static. "Our heavy hitters aren't pulling any punches."

They arched their chins towards the sky. The clouds, though dark and heavy before, were now circling towards the skyscraper in a downward spiral. Thunder bellowed in the distance, roaring and deafening those who dare come close, lightning illuminating the opening within.

"Things must be getting really serious up there," Thorn commented, returning to a sitting position. She clutched her vines tighter as Cyclone's balance swayed, thrown off by the resulting shockwave. "Because I had no idea Thunder could do that."

Cyclone ran a hand through his wavy locks. "She did not just steal my thing. Only I get to screw around the weather."

Thorn summoned a bundle of grapes on her vines. "What're you going to do about it? Trademark the sky?"

A broken-down motorcycle deflected off their wind barrier harmlessly, plummeting back to the ground in scraps. Followed by a restaurant sign, another car, then an entire advertisement board. All of which slid down the shield like melted butter, almost comedically.

"Alright," Cyclone decided, cracking his knuckles. "I think it's time we end this."

Thorn sighed, popping a grape into her mouth. "We should've ended it thirty minutes ago."

"Hold on; are you eati—"

The ground beneath them, though hundreds of miles away, lit up in an eerie pink glow. Pink aura surrounded the siblings, outlining their forms before they were yanked out of the sky, dragged down by impossible gravity that sent them plummeting.

Cyclone cursed aloud, dismissing his hoverboard into air. Eyes blazing turquoise, he called upon the winds around him, in attempt to oppose this unseen force. However, his efforts proved to be futile, as an entire hurricane could not stop their untimely descent.

Thorn, bless her, was their saving grace. In a rarity of calmness, she called upon her own element. In between cracks of pavement, the unsuspecting dandelions and weeds grew in impossible speeds, stems thickening and rising towards them, catching them in a green embrace as they hit the ground.

The pink aura dissipated, leaving the pair lying atop a cushion of vines and overgrown dandelions, giant seeds floating in the air.

"What just happened?" Cyclone demanded, sitting up. "Is the crazy scientist here? Isn't he all the way across the dang city?"

Thorn pushed herself upright, spitting a mouthful of leaves. She opted to answer, but a figure appeared before them in the sky, glowing a very familiar shade of pink.

They were really starting to hate the color.

"I'm so sorry!" the hovering girl cried. "If you don't mind, can I—"

Thorn raised her palm. A vine snagged the girl's ankle, throwing her into the adjacent building.

"Yeah, no. I've had enough of crazy for today."

Cyclone mounted his hoverboard and Thorn hitchhiked with her swing. They didn't make it far though, as light poured into the city, flooding the streets and stealing their vision.

Amongst their confusion, they heard Gaga Naz roar in fury, throwing yet another piece of rubble towards them—

It hit its mark.

* * *

"Run, puny human! Run, run, run!" Yoyo Oo cheered from atop, overlooking the mass destruction using a jetpack. "You dare bury me alive? Aha, aha ha! I'll be the one spitting on your grave!"

Summoning twin barriers to intercept incoming missiles, Quake could do without the maniacal monologue. The missiles broke through the first layer of earth, sending rubble flying in every direction, then exploding on the second, the explosion shaking the ground and throwing Quake off his feet.

He landed on his bottom, grunting.

"Getting tired, are we?! Soon you'll be resting until the end of time! Haha, ahahaha—ow!!"

Quake scoffed, tossing a piece of rock in his palm. "Do us both a favor," he started, throwing it by the leading robot's foot, "and shut up."

A tremor shook the ground, like a giant's heartbeat pulsing beneath their feet. Pebbles and stones jumped in place, going higher and higher as the ground in the center of the robots split open, tearing apart to reveal a bottomless canyon.

They stared into the darkness, and a pair of massive glowing eyes stared back. Like a zombie rising from their tombs, a stone hand the size of a house emerged, sweeping across the battlefield and forcing everyone back. The rest of its arm followed, then shoulder, then its head.

Bit by bit, the golem unearthed itself, standing at its full height that easily towered over the original robots. Quake stood on its shoulder, arms covered in chunks of obsidian with golden veins.

He lowered himself into a fighting stance, teeth grit. A grin crept onto his lips when he noticed Yoyo Oo pale from below, scrambling around to find something useful in his controls.

"You might be right about climate change," Quake cried out, voice amplified from the golem's jaws, "but I doubt you'll be there to see it happen!"

He raised his fists, and the golem mimicked him. He slammed his fists down, and his golem flattened the robots whole, the shockwave collapsing the nearby buildings instantaneously.

For the first minute, it was a symphony of destruction. Falling rubble roared in his ears, the cackle of snapping metal beams resonating in his skeleton. He heard screaming, but they weren't his own. Quake wasn't a sadist, but the shrieks of unadulterated terror was music to his ears.

Then, it was silence. Once the dust has settled and the world came to a standstill, all that's left of the battle were gaping craters, splintered plastic and burnt gunpowder. Their cat-and-mouse came to a conclusion, with one surviving victor.

Or, that was how it was supposed to be.

Quake panted, shoulders heaving as the obsidian fell off his arm piece by piece. The glow in the golem's eyes subsided, its molten veins hardening into metal. He stood atop all the rest, gazing down at the result of his own power.

Something was off.

He slid down to ground level on the golem's arm, kneeling down and pressing both hands to the floor. Almost instantly, a million scenarios, sounds and senses flooded his mind. He saw Ice holding two kids by the back of their collar over the edge of a building. He saw Thorn desperately healing Cyclone's injuries as she staved off an unknown force.

And a speedster dropping off Yoyo Oo in a far distance, the alien shaken up and traumatized but still alive.

Quake grunted, knowing full well that this complicates things. Rising to his feet, he took a deep breath—and fell backwards, the ground swallowing him whole. When he opened his eyes, he was back on his feet, the dirt around him receding as his surroundings had changed completely.

Across him was Yoyo Oo, and a young Chinese girl who he didn't recognize. The pair jumped at his sudden arrival, equally taken aback.

Quake's mind raced. Bora Ra was recruiting children now? Just when he thought the villain couldn't go any lower, he stooped to having defenseless kids doing his bidding.

He levelled Yoyo Oo with a glare, the alien shirking and whimpering away from him. "You aliens disgust me," he spat, the ground around him morphing into sharpened walls. "Just how far will you take things?"

"Wait!" the girl cried, raising her arms in a panic. "We don't need to fight! We can talk things out."

Quake only turned to her, expression full of pity. "I wish we could," he agreed somberly. "But you made your choice when you chose to stand with them."

Confusion flashed across the girl's face. "What? What are you talking about? I'm not—"

A blinding white light swept through every corner of the city, sweeping them into a sea of nothingness and heat.

* * *

Adjusting his visors, Solar peeked through the light with narrowed eyes.

"Storm?"

"Hmph. I know." She had her eyes covered, holding onto Solar's shoulder to guide herself.

They stood shoulder by shoulder, cracking knuckles and adjusting gloves warily as the air around them started to hiss. Blaze and Bora Ra could only watch from the sidelines, for the better or the worse.

The light subsided, but in its place was a concentrated beam of energy, firing directly at them in full blast. Thunderstorm and Solar raised their hands just in time, deflecting the ray before it pulverized the entire building. The result was a shockwave that phased through the entire city, nearly sending Bora Ra and Blaze off the edge.

The beam did not relent, and neither did they. Solar grit his teeth, eyes flaring pure gold as Thunderstorm's burned bright red, their veins lighting up their respective colors as their boots dug into the concrete floor.

With his vision returned, Blaze blinked though the spots in his sight and turned to the source of the attack itself. His grip on the chakrams tightened, knees bending.

He leaped, and suddenly he was wreathed in a curtain of fire, appearing right next to a young boy at the very end of the beam. The world slowed down, and they locked eyes. The surprise in the boy's eyes mirrored Blaze's own, breaking his concentration, lowering the intensity of the attack.

"That's a kid!" Blaze cried out in shock. "What's a kid doing here?"

The boy looked to be a mixture of Solar and Thunderstorm's colors. It was as if someone had shoved them into a blender and poured the end product into a different mold.

"A what?" Solar demanded.

Blaze, without hesitation, grabbed the kid's collar in his fist and threw him onto the building's roof. The ray of light broke and dissipated as Blaze returned to their side, cracking his knuckles as the boy picked himself off the ground, clothes flickering into an entirely different color.

Thunderstorm brushed her palms together, electricity dancing as her body smoked. Solar was in the same condition, only the tips of his hair were lit up like glowsticks.

"That's a child," Thunderstorm deadpanned, unamused.

Blaze whipped to her. "That's what I said!"

From the other end of the roof, Bora Ra snapped out of his stupor and raised his hammer. "I will end thi—!"

A spear and a chakram simultaneously collided with his armor, creating an explosion that knocked him out.

"Finally," Solar groaned, massaging his temples. "I'd thought he'd never shut up."

"That being said," Blaze said, gesturing to the twitching kid on the floor, "I think we have a different problem."