Author's Note

Welcome back, another chapter means more growth and development. Comment, like, and follow.

''It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.''

-J.K. Rowling.

Nemesis Of All

''Come on, come on, come on!'' Nir never let her assault stop as she swung wildly, mixing in powerful kicks and hammer fists as she reveled in the power of Fusion. And boy, even without fully understanding what she was doing, she still was kicking my ass no matter how you looked at it. Each punch that I managed to deflect to a degree made my hands feel like they were being blown to bits before losing the feeling for a few moments. My eyes darted back and forth between her legs and hands as she switched up every few seconds. ''Rah!'' Nir yelled, the sound piercing the air with a guttural growl and hacking spit in my direction before she caught me with a quick chop to the side of my neck, causing me to keel to the ground in pain as she stared at me down on the ground.

''Jamir! Are you-'' Daring tried to speak but I managed to yell back a response amidst the pain.

''-G-Go after Starlig-ght!~'' I grunted, slamming my free palm to the ground as an upward force of Ai's telekinetic powers forced Nir in the air long enough for Daring to make her escape into the church. ''B-Be care-OOF!~'' I felt the force of Nir hurling a small rock into my direction and knocking me off my feet. Growling, I willed myself to jump back from the foot stomp that was sure to turn my head into a paste if I failed to move in time. Clutching my fist and channeling some of Yuu's electricity, I thrust my hand forward, the purple plasma bolt rocketing to Nir quicker than she could react as her body spasmed and nearly caused her to fall to her knees if not for her yelling through the energy and throwing another rock at me.

''Man, she doesn't give up!'' I said out loud as Yuu's voice sounded out to me in mild worry.

''Master, perhaps you should crank up the power,'' Yuu said, her body comprised of mist as she spied Nir working to get her muscles to respond. She stomped, slapped, and held parts of her body that refused to cooperate. ''She seems to have decent resistance to the current level.''

''Not trying to kill her, you know. That's still our friend.'' I said, putting some more space in between us as I thought of a plan. ''Plus you know I don't have the best eye when it comes to adjusting the exact amount needed, that's why I leave it up to you,'' I said, Yuu, cupping her chin and thinking for a moment before snapping her fingers, though no sound was made due to her being made of mist.

''I have an idea, Master, it may be risky. But I predict a decent chance of success.'' Yuu channeled a bit of her lighting before closing her hand. ''It will probably require you to get close to her.''

I frowned, having a bad feeling about what she was going to say next. ''Just how close?''

''You're gonna have to kiss her,'' Yuu lazily floated in front of me. ''I think with the shock of me hitting her with enough electricity and you kissing her will probably force her out of her state, but I must inform you that we may only get the one chance before she becomes wise to our plans.''

What? Kiss Rin? I couldn't do that; she was my friend. And granted we were very close, I had never thought about her in that way before. Plus why would I have to kiss her? What does that accomplish besides her possibly knocking me out once she returns to her normal self.

''Ai! Master, I agree with my sister! I am confident that ensnaring Ms. Rin in a kiss will be just the thing that she needs to break Starlight's hold on her,'' Ai also appeared next to me as mist. ''We will just need to get her in the position where she cannot reach you long enough for my sister to do her part.'' Ai made some sense in what she said, but who was to say that this would be absolutely the best option for us?

''Well, what about Daring? She's dealing with Starlight.'' I spied Nir walking towards one of the houses once she had heard a sound. It looked like where. . .''Screw that, Grass and Echo!'' I yelled, using Yuu's electricity to jump forward, throwing a hammerfist as I rocketed towards Nir, the block of her instantly stopping the force before she craned her head at me and smirked.

''Thought I forgot our 'friends?' After I get done skewering them, I will be coming for you, dear friend!'' Nir grabbed my hand before lifting me over her head, slamming me back onto the ground as spit flew out of my mouth and the breath I thought I owned went flying out of my lungs. ''Fly and-EEUUGH!'' Yuu struck Nir with her lighting as Ai used her telekinesis to force her back before she punched at the ground, sending rocks our way before Ai's powers blocked any debris from reaching me.

We had to worry about Nir and Starlight. But I couldn't be in two places at once, but we had to quell the situation before it got worse.

''Master, what about sending Snow?'' Yuu asked, bracing for another possible attack. ''He could provide the backup that Daring needs!''

''If you think that'll help,'' I grunted as I stood up, channeling my thoughts into Snow's containment unit, the hairs on the back of my neck standing as I felt a pull of sorts echo from my forehead and heart. In a bright blue flash of light, Snow appeared as his powers were separated from the Fusion process. "Snow, go after Daring! Make sure she's safe and take care of Starlight if you think you can handle her.'' I said to the Wisp, the look of complete of childish attention on his face as he floated in the air. His ears perked up as he nodded and zoomed over to the church, avoiding Rin crashing into us.

''Die, you vermin! You dare to attempt to save your life from my wrath!'' Nir's next attack nearly connected before Yuu zapped her and forced her to lose the power behind it. Nir growled as she continued to shake off the effects and she began to overreach and her attacks were uncoordinated. A little longer and we would possibly have her, but we wouldn't know if the effects would still be there; we'd have to shock her mind so much that it would hopefully snap her out it without breaking her mind.

''Do it now, Master!'' Yuu shouted as she adjusted the output of her power. I gathered the ball of energy in my hands before I released the beam, the current flowing out through my pointer finger and zapping Rin again as she began to howl in pain and fight to control her muscles spazzing, to no avail. She looked to fight the pain before I jumped towards her again, intent on ending this as quick as possible. Tackling her on the ground and laying all of my possible weight on top of her, she shook like crazy before managing to speak in pained breaths.

“W-What are y-y. . .you doi-“ I cut her off by grasping both sides of her head with my hands as she stopped and gasped.

“-You can hate me later, Red but I need you to come back!” I leaned forward and captured her lips. The shock of what I did registered a second later as she fought to pull away but Yuu’s follow up that made her seize up like a board gave me just the chance I needed. I pressed firmly and breathed out through my nose as I actually enjoyed the feeling. Her lips were delicate and soft like marshmallows and the contact brought a shiver to my spine.

I was testing my luck, but I wanted to make sure whatever I did in that moment would snap her out of it. I opened my mouth some and probed her lips with my tongue, the action almost seemingly like knocking on a door. With a few seconds and a breath coming from out her nose, she allowed me in. Our tongues danced around each other slowly, covering each other’s mouth parts with our saliva. Nir began to whimper some as I sped up my assault and bit her lower lip.

Caressing her smooth face, I drove it home by giving one last kiss on her lips with some pressure as I looked into her eyes full of shock and wonder. I had hoped I had done it. “Rin? Are you in there?”

She hesitated, but slowly began to make sense of what was happening before she blushed like the reddest of tomatoes and responded. “Y-Yes.” Rin’s voice was almost unheard as she stared back at me like a lost child. “W-What happened? Did I do something?”

So she doesn’t remember. So that really wasn’t her when she was was transformed. Speaking of which, her hair and skin tone when back to normal slowly. Her body was still trembling and shaking from the effects of Yuu’s electrical attack and she looked a bit scuffed up, but nothing as bad as how I was.

“Did we. . .kiss?” Rin asked, knowing that something had happened, but not entirely sure of what is was.

I didn’t want to lie to her but I had to tell her what was going on. It was certainly a very strange time to explain exactly what happened. “Yea, we did. I can explain it to you after what we stop Starlight,” I had got up from her and helped her to her feet. She wobbled around and almost fell back down if not for me swooping her up. During our fight, I had noticed that the townsfolk seemed to disappear.

Unless they were providing Starlight with backup, we had to get the lead out. Echo and Grass Song came up after the commotion died down and went to tend to Blank. I doubt what worked on Rin would work on her, but-

“-There, she’s back to normal.” Grass Song said as she used her magic to dispel whatever was controlling our friend. “She’s gonna have some hard headaches however.”

I can live with that, at least we managed to get them back with no real trouble. The town was in shambles but we made out relatively fine. All of the craters and destroyed house sure made this town seem more ghost than what it already was.

“What’s the plan?” Rin asked as she ended her Fusion. Once she did, Hanabi appeared out of my Life Drive, appearing with a frowned look at Rin. I figured they would probably need to talk to each other after what I was able to hear.

“We need to stop Starlight before she does anything else to make things worse. She’s too dangerous to be left alone,” I looked at our friends as they looked at me with the utmost attention. The growl in my voice was very evident. “She manipulated this town long before we came here, presented us with a fake set of ideas, and even turned own our friends against us. . .as far as I am concerned? She needs to die.” I narrowed my eyes, everyone besides Rin looking at me with some degree of mild shock.

“Are you sure about that, Challenger?” Hanabi asked as she floated over to Rin.

“Yes and no. But something needs to be done. We can talk about this later, Daring and Snow are by themselves and we need to get to them before that crazy mare does anything else,” I used Ai’s power to bring Slayer over to my waiting hand as I handed it back to Rin as she continued to blush and look down to the ground. “LET’S GO!” I yelled, turning back to the church and steeling myself. Echo and Grass slowly brought Blank with us, who regained her bearings and questioned what happened as I ran forward, paying the pain I was feeling no mind.