The city’s skies were stained with patches of a grayish crimson hue when a group of kids had gathered in its main street.

Clouds were being sucked towards the void that sat on top of the nearby mountain peak… or so it would seem to resemble at first.

The ground shook more than violently as this ‘mountain’ took its first step, almost as if it’s threatening the people on the streets to kneel down in fear. Unfortunately, a few of the kids nearly tumbled down the sloped road in front of them as it happened, though they were thankfully caught before that.

“Alright guys,” said the tall boy in the yellow hoodie, turning to his friends behind him, “this is the kind of threat we’ve been waiting for! Why don’t we show ‘im what we got?”

He raised his fist high into the air as he finished, with the 8 or so other kids raising theirs in agreement. Some shouts and whoops were coming from the more enthusiastic ones in the posse.

However, there was still a selected few of them who… weren’t as ready as the others, and for good varying reasons as well.

But enough of that for now, because the kids sprinted towards the looming threat. Loud, thunder-like cracks emitted from the ‘mountain’, as its body gave way for humongous crystals to forcefully protrude. More of its natural limb-like structures grew from it, slamming on the ground so hard, rumbling waves of sound and wind were created as a result.

More cracks were sounded when the ‘mountain’… no, monster, opened up to reveal its jagged maw of stone, glowing in a green so vibrant, it almost looks irradiated. And, one by one, an indefinite number of eyes looked down upon the citizens in distress below, bearing that same bright yet sickening tone of green.

It seemed to revel in the people’s screams for help as it deviously purred to itself, sounding like two large pieces of earth grinding onto each other. However, that short-lived celebration was interrupted by a freezing cold sensation on its limbs. The green eyes looked towards a timid-looking girl, who is trying to stand adamantly around spiky streaks of alternating mint green and turquoise ice pillars.

The two were locked in a serious amount of belligerent eye-contact, with the girl squinting as an attempt to be more threatening. The monster snorted, as if it’s scoffing at her for trying to be more brave than her pathetic self can even handle.

The timid-looking girl closed her eyes took a deep breath…

“NOW!!!”

The monster had no time to react when a shot of pain quickly spread across its side, which was strong enough to make those bodies of ice crack and give away.

The timid-looking girl was gone from her place.

As it turned and shifted the top part of its body around, a crater was left at the side of its body by a large, seemingly solid sphere of air. That air faded away to reveal a blonde short-haired girl with a green open vest, shouting, “YEAHHH!!! EAT SHIT!”

The Mountainous Monster stumbled around in pain, and let out a bellowing, booming roar. A roar so powerful, the short-haired girl fell from her position, and some of the other kids flew away in the process of jumping to attack from behind.

>> —^— <<

“O-ow…”

The boy in the yellow hoodie groaned after landing on the nearby ruined road quite painfully. Mostly on the ribs. Yikes.

He struggled to sit up among the debris, with the metallic blades on his arms turning back into hands to grasp on the side of his chest. The boy winced in delayed pain, leaning onto the raised asphalt.

Meanwhile, the desperate attempts of healing up and destroying the Mountainous Monster continued as a red-haired boy with a pair of goggles ran away from the scene. Sure, he may have doubted yellow hoodie boy’s bout of confidence a few minutes ago, but the hoodie boy was thrown much farther away than the others. And he didn’t immediately get back up, too, so the boy with goggles wanted to check on him.

“CAST!” He yelled a few steps away from where the hoodie boy was sitting. “C’mon, are you okay?!”

Cast faced the boy with goggles, and tried to nod weakly before wincing and groaning once again from the pain.

“Agh, yep, I’m fine…” he trailed off, unconvincingly reassuring his friend, who is kneeling near him. The friend gave him a look of concern.

The boy with goggles sighed out, “If that’s the case, I’ll take you to Amy. She’ll get you back in the battlefield.”

“Wait, Manny—”

And just like that, Manny ungracefully picked up the tall boy and put Cast’s arm around his shoulder to help him walk.

After this, Cast yelped in more pain, saying, “Thanks man, but can you please be a little more gentle next time?” in a whimper-like tone.

His friend scoffed at his remark and replied, “I can try, but that’s how I handled Mitch when she’s hurt.” “Yeah, though to be fair, she’s Mitch.” “…Right, right.”

The two chuckled at that when they approached the scene, with the aforementioned Amy supporting the more offensive fighters with her pillars of crystal from the rear. A dead serious look was painted on her face when she summoned her latest of many weaponized gemstone structures. She then turned around and noticed two of her friends walking near.

“Oh, hey guys!” Amy greeted. “Hi, Amy, I think Cast needs some of your healing.” Manny nonchalantly drops him on the ground, earning some groans of pain and annoyance out of him. “Think you can help?”

She hummed at the statement. “I mean, you came to me, so yeah, I can!” “Great,” Manny replied in relief as Amy knelt down and used her crystalline powers to start healing Cast.

To be honest, the healing process would’ve been soothing for him if it weren’t for the fighting and roaring in the background. Like, lying down on the ground as it violently vibrates due to the Mountainous Monster walking around or getting hit every few seconds is not as comfortable as, say, a massaging chair for example. Plus, having a first-hand experience seeing your friends fly across the sky after being whacked by a giant-ass rock creature is never good for your head.

After quite a while since Amy’s taking longer than usual, she, Cast, and Manny started having some casual conversations with each other. Whether it’s about Amy’s new works in progress, or the new projects that Cast & Manny’s dads are thinking of, they all had some comfort in their talks amongst the chaos happening behind them.

“Y’know what,” Cast started once more, “if we survive all… this, we could be this city’s heroes! Wouldn’t that be awesome?” It fell to almost a silence among the trio as Manny gave it some thought. “Well, it would…” he finally spoke, “…if we’re also witnessed by other people.”

He pointed to the empty and almost-destroyed street in front of them, which is devoid of panicking citizens… or any life, for that matter. All that Cast can get out was a single “…Huh.”

The silence crept up again, this time with a more melancholic feeling. The fight raged on and on nearby, with the Monster striking back stronger than ever when it seemed to be weakened, and the other kids slowing down with every hard hit they take from its rocky attacks.

Manny broke the silence again, saying, “How about if we… don’t?” “Hm?” Both Cast and Amy simultaneously whipped their heads towards their friend, looking at him all confused.

He sighed as deeply as he can.

“I meant, what if we don’t survive? This… monster, I’m pretty sure it’s not bound to slow down at this point. Everyone who’s fighting it is getting weaker by the minute.” “But—” “But what, ‘Amy’s gonna do the goddamn healing!’? I’m very sure that she,” cried Manny, gesturing towards Amy near him, “wouldn’t even have any fucking energy left to take care of the others! So, tell me: what will happen then?”

Cast was… surprised, to say the least. Sure, he has seen Manny angry before, but even then he was only up to the level of being slightly pissed off from an inconvenient distraction.

But this? This is a new level of angry coming from him. The anger definitely amplified exponentially, yet deep down there’s also a sense of worrying inside him.

As this thought came down onto Cast, he looked to the side and focused on Mitch, the blonde short-haired girl. She yells out warnings to the rest of her friends as she crashes onto the Mountainous Monster with her air sphere, before getting picked up and thrown away.

While Mitch crashed into a set of empty buildings, Cast opened his mouth when he was, fortunately, interrupted.

“We might as well be legends.”

When those words came out of Amy’s mouth, it almost felt like a weight has been lifted from the general vibe of the conversation. Cast can only look at her with clear awe in his eyes, with Manny having a more skeptical look.

“…Go on,” he told Amy. “Look,” she started, “if anyone tries to go look for our bodies after this, they’d know that we stayed to battle this thing because everyone else escaped. They’d see how much damage it took, which I doubt would be done by natural causes.”

Cast sat up, having felt a lot better than before after the healing. “So…” he spoke, “…that means…?” “The people would hopefully know that we fought it. That we tried to protect them and the city from destruction.”

Amy stood up and reached out her hand towards Cast as she said those words. He looks at her, then to Manny, whose face bore his familiar neutral emotionless expression (though in truth, he’s actually impressed), and back at her again.

After clearing his mind, he grabbed her hand and got up, with all three of them facing the Mountainous Monster, who takes another thunderous step forward.

“Are you ready?” Cast asked, with the other two nodding in response.

He took one last deep breath…