The air pulled at Shadow’s incorporeal body as he drifted far above the jungle. He was tired of being in his half-form, and a smile spread across his face as he realized that he would soon have enough power to stay in his physical form for most of the time.

He finally located Phantasmi’s essence, allowing him to travel through space to appear right next to her.

“Boo,” he whispered.

“Waaah!” Phantasmi yelled. She turned around and slashed her claws through the air, but they passed right through Shadow. He smiled.

“Aargh!” Phantasmi said. “Don’t do that!”

“Fine,” Shadow said. “But on to business.”

“What do you want?” Phantasmi asked.

“You have powerful enemies coming your way,” Shadow said.

“Nothing the colony can’t handle,” Phantasmi said.

“There’s a Titan with them, along with a Mantilis dragon,” Shadow said.

“Easy,” Phantasmi said. “I’ll be fine. And if I need help, you can always send the Titan away again.”

“Don’t make me remember,” Shadow snapped. He shuddered as the memory burst forth into his consciousness.

The massive Titan roared his anger at Shadow. Gavalin, the king of the Titans, was facing off with Shadow.

“Stand down, Shadow,” Gavalin said in the language of Titans, which consisted of clicks, growls, whistles, and hisses.

“I would rather be dead by your hand,” Shadow said. 

“Fine,” Gavalin said. “Have it your way.” He swung his massive talon through the air. Letting loose a burst of power, Shadow seemingly exploded outward as he grew in size. He reached out his, now massive, talon and stopped Gavalin’s swipe.

Gavalin stared in shock for a second, before launching his full body at Shadow. The two massive dragons fought viscously, crushing forests with a sweep of the tail and destroying mountains with careless talons.

Finally, Gavalin opened his mouth and spread his parafangs. He bit down on Shadow’s arm, injecting venom through the wound. Shadow roared in pain. He threw Gavalin backward into a mountain and stumbled as the venom took hold. His head started spinning and he groaned.

Shadow tried to concentrate on casting a spell. He formed the words in his head.

“Les dragons araignées proches et lointains, seront bannis ou tués pour toujours et plus encore. Un, deux, trois, tous, renvoyez-les pour toujours.” He said. The incantation pulled on his power. The magic seeped from his body as it wove a massive portal in the air. Then, very suddenly, reaching tentacles of gaseous energy shot out. They wrapped themselves around each and every Titan in the world and pulled them into the portal.

As he was pulled in, Gavalin said to Shadow in the language of dragons, “Goodbye, mon ennemi.” That last piece of magic wrapped itself around Shadow, seeping through him and into his mind. It wrapped itself around that moment in time as a memory that would bring itself into Shadow’s head whenever he remembered.

Forever.

Forever.

Forever.

“Shadow?”

“Whu…” Shadow said.

“Oh, thank the moons you’re awake!” Phantasmi said. “They’ve almost arrived.”

“What happened?” Shadow asked.

“You collapsed,” Phantasmi said. “You were completely knocked out.”

“I’m fine,” Shadow said. “Just old memories and wounds.”

“Anyways,” Phantasmi said. “What should we do?” The attackers are almost here.” Then, a distant but extremely loud roar came from far away and the room shook violently as a thud echoed throughout the mountain.

“They’re here,” Shadow said. “Phantasmi, you go fight them, and I’ll join you soon.”

“Ok,” Phantasmi said. She rushed out, her wings buzzing nervously. Then, Mantis peaked her head in.

“Hey, Shadow,” she said.

“Hey, Mantis,” Shadow said. “Need anything?”

“No, just nervous,” Mantis said. “It’s my first battle of any kind.”

“You’ll be okay,” Shadow said. “You’re a queen! What could happen?”

“I don’t know…” Mantis said. “I’m just kinda worried.”

“You’ll be completely protected by my spells and around fifty guards, with plenty of backups,” Shadow said.

“Ok…” Mantis said. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Shadow said. “Now, go on out there!”

“See you!” Mantis called as she ran out the door.

“See you!” Shadow called after her. It’s almost like having two daughters. He thought.

Mantis/Crystal

“It’s me,” Mantis said. “Crystal.” Her glorious, dark pink exoskeleton cracked open. Each piece evaporated into nothing as it fell, revealing Crystal in Mantis’s place.

“No!” Phantasmi said.

“Crystal?!” Kryptonite choked. “What?” Crystal fell forward into Kryptonite’s arms.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay,” Kryptonite said. “It’s okay.”

Crystal turned around to face Phantasmi. “And you,” she spat. “This is all your fault.” Phantasmi stepped off her throne to face Crystal.

“Now, let’s not get too angry,” She said. Crystal backed away from her. Then, when Phantasmi was close to Slangfang, he brought up his long tail with its sharp, blade-like tip. He stabbed it straight through Phantasmi, easily tearing through exoskeleton, bone, and flesh.

Phantasmi gasped. “You- You- How dare you!” she said. Then she fell down as Slangfang pulled his tail back, dead, once and for all.

“And good riddance,” Slangfang said.

“We need to get off this platform,” Crystal said.

“Why?” Stryker asked. Just as she said that, Phantasmi’s body began to hover in the air. Cracks appeared all over her body, and smoking purple mist leaked out. Several beams of light broke through her body.

“Just do it!” Crystal shouted. Everyone ducked below the rim as Phantasmi exploded. The energy flooded from her, ripping through all the ant dragons' exoskeletons. It moved through the air, focusing into a singular stream of energy that went into one mountain corridor.

Crystal turned around just in time to see a flash of golden light enveloping Slangfang. It flashed along his body before dissipating quickly. When it was gone, There was a subtle change in him. For one thing, the blade on his tail was longer, but another change was the row of curved metallic spines all along his back. They extended down his tail and joined with his blade.

“Aw yeah!” he said. “Finally!”

“What just happened?” Firetail asked.

Gila answered. “Well, all Reptiliks ‘evolve,’ in a sense, when they’ve killed their one-hundredth enemy. Then they gain a new ability, and Slangfang’s appears to be spines.”

“Cool!” Firetail said.

“I didn’t know tha-” Goldfleck started to say. He was cut off by an extremely loud crackling sound that echoed around the cavern. A brilliant purple glow streamed out of several passageways that opened into the cavern. A whirring sound filled the air as the light grew brighter.

Then, with a sudden crunching sound, the walls nearest to where the sound was coming from crackled and dissolved. Behind it was a growing ball of purple light. As it grew bigger, it ate through the mountain, bit by bit.

“Run!” Crystal said. No one argued. They all flew up and away from the platform, heading to the tunnel they had made. They landed and turned around. The bubble of light had stopped growing, but it hadn’t gone away. It was just floating there, pulsing with waves of energy. Then, with a fizzling sound, it dissolved into nothing but stray mist.

The air crackled with energy around a single dragon floating where the center of the bubble was. It was Shadow, in all his magnificent glory. He was emitting a faint purple glow, and his body was a brilliant purple. Trails of mist and smoke swirled off and around him.

“Finally,” he boomed. He shot upward and through the ceiling. It shattered, creating a gaping hole. The mountain rumbled. Cracks spread across the walls and the platforms in the main chamber crashed to the ground.

“Fly!” Kryptonite yelled. All the dragons flew, straight toward the gaping hole that was getting larger by the second. Huge chunks of papery material fell to the pool of water far below. When the group finally reached the sky, they spread out around the mountain as it crumbled into the ground.

“What’s that?” Firetail asked nervously, pointing into the sky. Everyone turned to see a massive crackling portal slowly opening in the sky. From the opening came a monstrous roar. Dark, shadowy tendrils reached out, twisting through the air. Several of them grabbed onto the massive trees nearby, pulling them out of the earth and dragging them back into the portal. Then, with a jolt, Crystal realized that behind all the tendrils, hidden amongst the chaos, was a much bigger Titan flying out of the portal.