"Awaken! Monster of the abyss! Source of my power! " Akong shouts as the crystal. Slowly hovered to the center of the arena, glowing britger as more cracks spreads around it. "Your thousand-year slumber has come to an end! Awaken and come to me!"

His four clergy then began to sibg in a choir that seemes to have sped up the cracks across the seal.

Then, the crystal seal completely shatters and unleashed a brief red light that envelops the area. As it dimmed, a large, white creature was floating at the center of the arena. Towering over them with its massive size.

"What... Is that?" Liu gasped as they all stared at the white creature.

"It looks like a hard boiled egg with a face..." Yuu described.

The Evil Priest began to do a weird chant that caught the Creature's attention as it slowly turned to face him.

The running men remained awestruck until Vivace's spirit once again appeared out of nowhere along with the rest of the guardians, surprising the group.

"It's over you dolts! It's over! IT'S IVER! IT'S OVER!"

"What the- We thought you guys died?!"
Yuu exxlaimed as the twins hovered to him.

"Nah, we just gave up our physical bodies" Enn explained followed by her sister.

"Although, now we can't pysically do anything to help you guys. Our powers are now in your hands- err, wrist watch"

"So what is this thing then?" Kuga askes impatiebtly as Aria materialize next to him.

"What stands before you is the manifistation of the corrupted powers of the Evil Priest. As of now it is docile, unable to utilize its full extent until it bonds with Akong. That is what you must prevent or else this world will be raved within its darkest hour"

"Then what are we standing here for?" Yuu asked rhetorically, alerting the rest.
"Liu! We'll distract that monster, you take down Akong while he's ocupied with it!

"Right! Salena, Miyo, help me with this!" Liu shouts and the two females nodded before running towards Akong's position.

Miyo quickly pulls out the device Rema had given her from High Override and toosed it in the air which transformed into a floating platform. As if on cue, Salena hopped onto the device abd used it to elevate herself to Akong's level while Miyo used her grappling hook to whipe her into the air as Liu simply leaped.

Salena, standing on the platform, gathered her electicity and formed a large ball lightning invetween her palms, Liu charged his arm cannon to its maximum capacity and Miyo fired her grappling hook directly at the enemy.

Together, they u leashed their attacks at Akong's position where they formed as one powerful strike. However, with a simple smirk from the Evil Priest, a transparent barrier instabtly formed around him and his sibging clergies, completely protecting them from their attacks.

"Always with the shields!" Salena stomps her feet in annoyance.

"We gotta find a way to bypass it or we'll never get to them!" Liu voiced out before they heard Lonky and Popo's voice from across the area.

"Frontal Assault!"

As the three of them looked back, they could see Lonky and Popo behind the same, ridiculously large, cannon from the time they were fighting agaisnt ensemble. Kuga was kneeling with the end of the cannon on his shoylders, aimed at the monster. But his frown spoke volume of his reluctance to go along with this approach.

Yuu on the otherhand simply stood a foot away from them, arms crossed.

"This better work... This cannon looks ridiculous... Like its something from a cartoon" the bandaged man stated.

"Don't worry my grouchy friend" Lonky eases him. "Witness the power of the best weapon that points can buy! Let's do it! Special Mega Shocking-"

"Super Ultra Cannon!!!" Popo scrwamed as they did a pose. The cannon lit up in yellow, then red before a blue light charged at the end and began to emmit a loud buzzing sound.
"FIRE!!!"

"... Fire..." Kuga mumbles with a defeated tone.

Az the cannon reached its max capacity. It emmited a powerful beam, for only a split second before sparks came out at the end and the light dimmed out. Resulting in absolutely nothing.

"I knew it..." Yuu facepalmed himself.

"Lonky! What the heck! You said it would work this time!" Popo complained.

"Well you see... I didn't really had enough time to prepare but i made sure to follow the instructions this time so it should have worked!" Lonky shouts back before both of them falls on their back when Kuga pushes the large cannon away from him in anger.

"Enough of this! Come on, Yuu! " Shouts the furious tiger, charging his paw for the attack.

"Thought you never ask..." With a tap of his chameleon logo, his suit's colour scheme changes to black as his bandages strengthen to form his Dark Bolt suit.

Extending his bandages, Yuu whips himself onto the high cieling then dives down at lightning speed, traces of electricity trailing him before landing an axe kick at the top of the monster's head sending vibrated across its egg-shaped body. Though powerful, it left no effect.
Switchibg to another course of action, Yuu formed his bandages to become suction cups and plants it on the monster's head before unleashing all of his stored electricity at Maximum Voltage.

The monster screamed in response as Kuga finally finsihed charging his paw. Leaping into the air, he fires a massive superpaw. Yuu leapes away just in time before the impact exploded onto the monster, tilting it slightly to the side.

"Let's keep pressuring it" Yuu suggest as he kands next to Kuga.

Then, the Monster turns to face them directly. For a momebt, it was just silently staring at them, then it opened it's mouth and roared. The roar unleased a powerful wave that knocks the Running Men off their fit as if they've bit hit by a car. The managed to recollect themselves without sustaining heavy injuries as the monster returns its attention to Akong, who proceeds to chant and dance at it.

"Finally, it's time!" Says Akong as the clergies' choir grew louder and high in pitch. The five of them started to flot in the air, the four clergy's rotating in circles around Akong as they kept singing. As if reacting to Akong's will, the monster opened its mouth where an unhoky light calls upon the priest.

"The mouth is where he'll be roborn! We need to stop him now!" Liu commands as he struggles to stand up from the initial wave.

"Not without proper healing you're not" Pala dismisses him, prioritizing the health and safety of his friends, he began to shake his staff to brew his famous potion. "Shakey~ Shake~ Shakey~ yeah!"

"I gotta ask, why do you sing like that whenever you brew something?" Popo askes as he was the closest to Pala.

"It hekps me focus!" Pala cherfully responds and continues to brew.
"Shakey~ Shakey~ Shake~ Yeah!"

As the choir was approaching their high note, they suddenly freeze in place whenever Pala starta to sing his own tune. His annoying voice affecting their chant and choir. The monster suddenly closed its mouth as the choir was no longer humming.

"Who the hells is doing the horrible singing?!" Akong shouts all of a sudden, giving Liu an Idea.

"The song?" He looks back at Pala, his antenna suddenly perking up. "Pala! Keep doing what your doing! Sing louder!"

"Realky? Okay then! SHAKE~ SHAKE~ SHAKE~ SHAKE IT!!!" The Impala became more aggressive in shakibg the cane and more out of tune in his own song. His voice now greatly affecting Akong and his four clergies, so much so that their barriers instantly vanishes.

Spotting an opening, Liu, Kuga and Miyo quickly leaped into action and fired all their strongest attack. Unfortunately, the barrier reappears just in time before Akong could be hit, but the nervousness and annoyance in his face reveals his initial panic.

"Pala! Keep singing!" Liu commands but as he lookes back, he saw the poor healer lying on the floor with his head rested in Yuu's arm while Salena used Pala's scarf to fan him.

"Let him rest, Liu. He's exhausted!" Yuu shouts back in Pala's defence.

"I... I'm sorry" Liu apologize as Akong suddenly laughs.

"Fools! Nothing you do can ever stop me! This is my destiny!" The monster once again opened its mouth as Akong hmand his clergies hovered towards it. "I will reclaime my lost powers and will pkngue this world into darkness! Then... And ONLY then, will the Celestial Ones acknowledge me!!!"

(Note: The "Celestial Ones" is not a thing from the show. They exist only in this fanfiction as added lore and story for upcoming chapters and books)

Suddenly, the gates behind them burst open and the King of Pululus entered with his entourage.

"Make way for the King!" Shouts one of the loyal Pupulus.

The King calmly walked near the edge before his face tranformed into anger and vengeance as he jumps and latches onto Akong.

"How dare you take my Kingdom away from me you midget!" Shoyts the enraged King as he unleashes random pummels at Akong. The priest covered his face and as his annoyance peaked, he shoved the Old King away from him where one of the Clergies caught him before the king proceeded to attack her.
"I'll take out your followers then!" The King shouts as he hammers his fist in the defenceless follower.

Soon his men latches onto to the rest of the clergies and started pummeling them as well, they almost seemed to be enjoying it a little too much.

"These clowns can't even raise their fist to defend themselves" Says the Old green Pululu as he slaps the Clergy.

"And their singing-Eugh. Do you evem know that you're off key?!" The Old Green Pululu comments as he repeteadly punches the helpless Clergy's mouth.

"This is fun! " Is all what the other Old Pululu could say as he pummels the clergy and poking her eyes and nose while laughing.

"They're just bullying them right now..." Yuu comments as the others nodded in agreement.

Showing them who's boss, The Old King and his men tossed the Clergies out of their position. Watching them fall onto the arena bellow. Unbeknownst to them, they've replaced their position as their choir and are now unable to move as they circle around Akong like a fan.

"Let us go!" Screamed the panicking men as Akong is now closer to the mouth of the beast.

"Liu!" Yuu suddenly shouts. "The barrier is down! Take the Shot!"

Liu didn't need to respond as he quickly aimed his arm cannon at Akong. But brfore he could take action, Another Pululu arrived on the scene. Zola.

She jumps and steps on her own father then leaps towards Akong, tackling the unsuspecting priest.

"How dare you use me like a puppet!" Zola shouts and didn't wait for Akong to retort as she uses her large ears as a fist. Punching the Evil priest across the face, left and right, multiple times.

"Stop tha- AACK!" Another powerful strike from her ear cuts him off midsentence. Then she clutches the Priest's head and slams her forhead onto his face, causing the Evil Priest to stagger and fall down onto the arena, unconsious.

"Whoa..." Is what Yuu and the rest could mutter after watching Zola's display of ferocity.

"Looks like we know who wears the pants in the relationship" Lonky coos as he mischiviously chuckles to himself while looking at Popo.

"What relationship are you babbling about?!" Shouts the penguin as the others contained their laughters as well.

All seemed to have been resolved, that is until the Pululu Princess started to levited towards the Monster's mouth on her own. Panicking, she tries to swim away, flailing her arms and ears as she begs for help from her father.

"Daddy!!"

"Zola! No!" Popo and the Old King screamed, reachibg out their hand until Yuu's bandages latches onto one of Zolas's ears.

"I got you!" Yuu pulled with all his might but the Monster was slowly pulling him along with her. Then Salena wrapped her arms around his waist to support him but it was still not enough. One by one, the running men held eachother in a chain, helping Yuu as Zola was starting to get further away from the Monster.
"As if we'd just stand here and watch...!" Yuu grunts though greeted teeth as he pulls on his bandages. The upgrades on his suit made it that his bandages would be impossible to be torn apart or cut into pieces unless it was a really sharp blade.

The monster, for the first time in its existence, shifted its gaze with purpose. Its attention locked onto one of the Running Men-Yuu.

Yuu, who had faced multiple opponents head on and nearly died but still put up a fight and managed to laugh at it in the end. Yuu, whose presence alone could send anyone, even his friends, if he wanted to, shivering in fear. Yuu, whose sharp mind and unmatched martial prowess turned battles into games he would rarely lose.

That same Yuu is now paralyzed, frozen.

It wasn't hesitation or calculation. It wasn't the sharp adrenaline of combat. It was fear. He felt fear. Something that far exceeds when he first encoubtered Ulcus when Miyo used her ability in the soul tree. It was something Primal, visceral, suffocating.

The air around him grew heavy, the world dimming as if retreating from whatever force now claimed him. Those hollow, void-like eyes bore into him, pulling his very essence away from the battlefield.

One moment, Yuu saw the oversized, ridiculous creature he had mocked as a "hard-boiled egg." In the next, his reality changed, and he was somewhere else entirely, a boundless void of black so oppressive it felt like the end of all things. It would be comparable to what his opponents sees after using Absolute Zero.

From the darkness, two glowing red eyes ignited. They weren't just eyes; they were a promise of suffering, filled with malice so ancient it seemed to pierce through his very being.

Yuu's body betrayed him, trembling violently as a cold sweat soaked through his bandages. His bandaged fists, the main weapons he uses to turn tides of combat, hung limp at his sides. His battle-hardened mind, the sharpest tool in his arsenal, scrambled for reason but found only terror.

Then the voice came-low, rasping, and disturbingly familiar, as though it had always been inside him, waiting to speak.

I see you... Human.
I await... your inevitable... Death.

A bright flash of light carved through the darkness, revealing it-truly revealing it.

It was an abomination, a nightmare made flesh and scales. Its scaly, sickly black skin shimmered with an oily, unnatural sheen, as though it was alive in ways it shouldn't be. Its jagged, shark-like teeth stretched unnaturally wide, curling into a grotesque mimicry of a smile. And its twisted horns made of bone and dismembered limbs, a familiar crimson fluid encircles around its head like a orrupted halo. Blood... Human blood

This... will be the last you see before you burn... and suffer in eternal hellfire... Begging for death that will not... Come

Yuu's heart hammered against his chest, a frantic rhythm he couldn't control. His breath came in shallow, desperate gasps as his legs trembled beneath him. This wasn't just fear, it was annihilation of the self, the unraveling of everything that made him who he was.

For the first time in his life, Yuu didn't feel like a warrior. He didn't feel like a threat. He felt... prey.

The entity loomed closer, consuming the void around him, and Yuu felt himself swallowed whole.

When his consciousness snapped back to the real world, it was like breaking the surface after drowning. The battlefield returned, but his equilibrium was shattered. Him along with the others holding onto him fell forwards and Zola finally entered the Monster's mouth. The bandages torn in half from the force of the mouth that crushed it before retractibg back to his wrists.

Yuu stared at the floor as he tries to push himself up, his hands was still trembling and his heart felt like it would burst.

"What... What's... Happening to me?" He whispers to himself. His eybrows creased, forcing his anger to overwhelm the fear as the two emotions clashed within him. Clenching his other first his punches the floor, cracking the solid tile.
"Kuso!" Another punch left a small crater on the tile as he stood up, his hands no longer shaking as he tried to brush off whatever illusion the monster had made him see. But deep down, he knew that it felt too real, too horrific to be a mere illusion.

"Bestie, are you alright?" Salena asks, concern etched across her face as it seems she was the obky one that noticed something happened to him.

"... I'm fine. Let's focus on the topic at hand" Yuu dismisses her and finally looked back at the monster. Zola was gone, the Old King and his loyal men are crying, the audience are silent.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, until the Monster's head twitches and bends. A large lump grew om both sides of its head, forming ears similar to Zola's before finally forming a pair of arma and legs.

"It... It took her appearance" Liu stated the obvious. The Monster-shaped Zola stopped hovering and plummts down the deep shaft of the arena.

Akong, who had just recocered from the initial fall, looked up only to be met by a giant foot. The Priest's screams was cut short as the Monster lands, creatibg a powerful rumble that shook the entire area and sending a wave that knocks everyone away apart from the Running Man.

As the dust cleared, Akong was seen becoming one with the monster as well but only his head is visible on the foot of the monster, forming one measely toe.

"Nooooo!!! How dare you make me a TOE!!!"

Then, Raising it's foot, the monster started stomping repeatedly as it screamed in tantrum. The vibrations brought the ceiling to crumble and pieces of debris starts falling onto the audiences, causing a wide panic as the Pululus scatters in there seat to avoid being crushed.

Using the emblem the Guardians have given them, Miyo activated it with her watch and with a gesture of her fingers i front of her right eye, she wqs able to see throughhe Monster and pin point Zola, who seems to be trapped in a diamond shaped red crystal that's slowly pulling her inside.

"I see her! She's trapped inside the monster. It hasn't fully taken her but we are running oit of time" Miyo explained dirextly to Liu as the group formed closer to eachother.

"That explains why it too her shape. Instead of Bondibg with Akong, the Monster is now bonding with Zola" Liu mumbled.

"But..." Lonky suddenly spoke "Wouldn't that be okay? If the monster fully bonds with Zola, wouldn't she have full control anyway?"

"I'm afraid not" Aria replied as he materializes next to him.
"That Monster is a personification of dark energy and corruption. If it completely bonds with the Princess then she would most likely parish due such unholy energy" Then, Vivace materializes and sprints around Aria.

"Which is why. Which is why. WHICH IS WHY YOU MUST STOP IT! But you won't be able to. Won't be able to. WON'T BE ABLE TO! But we know you'll try~"

"It's hopeless" Said the twins who also materializes.

"Either you guys help us or just shut up" Yuu retorts, comoletely annoyed.

"We would have if we still had our bodies and powers!" Semble argues.

"Arguing won't solve anything... What should we do now?" Kuga announces but now one seemed to have an answer

"Maybe I can... Be of assistance..." A voice cut through them amidst the chaos. As they all turned, they saw non other than Charming Gold. His black suit are torn, scratched and peeling, pools of pink blood dripping from his chest and mouth. Lifting a shaky hand, he wipes the pink blood from his mouth, barely standing, as he leans agaisnt the wall for support.
"That is if... You're willing to listen... Yamada..."

The bandaged man stood silent as they stared at him. At one point Miyo and Liu turned their heads to face Yuu, expecting for him to suddenly charge at Charming Gold and grab him by the neck just for mentioning his name. But he didn't.
The Bandages Man just stood silently. As if he was a statue, no one knew what was going on in his head, even his eyes were blank. Until he finally spoke.

"... You really wanna die?"