Chapter 39

Leo was a brave man. Much braver than I am.

Rebecca started to resist but then closed her eyes and began to kiss him back. Then she opened her eyes again and pushed him away. "Wait, what's going on?" She put her hand over her mouth. She was breathing heavily. She turned to me, "Wh-what happened?"

I quickly turned around and ran away. This wasn't my idea. Leo was going to have to deal with this himself. "Bye!" I yelled as I ran.

Rebecca shouted at me, "Where are you going? And you!!! What were you doing?!" Leo froze, but then explained the situation as quickly as he could. Thankfully, she seemed to understand. "Ah yes... It was... necessary... Nothing else you could've done." She closed her eyes and coughed into her closed fist, then quickly accepted the strange situation.

We finally turned to Fran for help, but it was too late. Fran was dangling, struggling and kicking, but Talon had his giant hand around her neck. Her powers weren't showing either. What happened!? Where did Fran's powers go!? Fran was struggling to breathe and reached out to me with a look of desperation in her eyes.

"Hahaha, fight all you want, Francine, but you are powerless now. Your powers are gone for good this time!"

**********

Fran had just started fighting the hordes of enemies. "Fran, I'll take care of Rebecca!" Steven shouted before wandering off. Fran couldn't keep track of where he was, though; the powered-up shadows required her full attention. Fran was itching to try out her new powers. "Haha! Let's do this, crow boy!" She started swinging with all her might now that she knew they wouldn’t be hurt since they were shadows. Plus, Steven could heal anyone if they actually got hurt.

Finally, she could let loose her true power. She put more strength into her punches than she ever had. Even these powered-up shadows couldn’t stay standing anymore. BOOM A single punch sent shockwaves all around her. Crack Her speed and might were making thunder sounds, and her new electric abilities were spewing out, shocking the shadows as well. But no matter how many times she punched, more and more shadows emerged and came forth.

Talon laughed, "Haha, look at how you struggle, Fran! You won't be able to fight all of them on your own, even with your almighty powers! Just give up!" Fran's anger rose even higher. How could he manipulate these poor people and use them as slaves? Thinking about how he did that to her made her blood boil. She made the decision: in order to stop the shadows, I just need to defeat Talon.

Fran shot upwards and found him. Her glowing white eyes seemed to pierce his soul. Talon egged her on, "Come on then! Show me what your all-powerful strength can do! Hahahahah!" Fran shot down straight towards him. He quickly sidestepped her. She landed on the floor, and root parts flung everywhere. There was a crater where she landed. She glared at him. "Stand still and accept your punishment!"

Talon jumped around, running towards the amber resin deposit. "You’ll have to catch me first," then he turned his face into Logan's. "Or maybe you can’t?" BOOM Fran had traveled, and there was a crackling explosion from her powers. Talon disappeared into shadow, and several shadow men erupted from where he was. They grabbed onto her, trying to slow her down and tie up her arms. They were strong. These enraged shadow men were a real problem; they almost became invincible. Almost.

Fran erupted into flames, and the shadow men let go of her. She punched them away and turned to Talon, who was now standing in front of the amber resin. He turned to look at her and smiled an evil grin, then stretched his hand out to touch the amber. Fran shot forward. If he needed the amber thing to make his plans a reality, she would just destroy it.

"Wrong move, Fran," Talon said as she launched herself forward. He immediately pulled his hand away from the root without touching it. Fran reached the amber and punched it hard. But it didn’t break. In fact, she felt a sudden rush of power being drained from her forcefully. It was almost painful. "Ahhhhhh!" Just as she tried to back away, something held her in place. It was several shadow men pushing her into the tree root. "What is this!?" Her powers started draining until she couldn’t fight back anymore. The overwhelming pressure from behind her kept her pinned to the tree. She felt weaker and weaker, like her life force was being drained, and then it stopped. The pressure from behind her went away, and she laid on the ground, coughing. "What... did you... do to me?" she wheezed.

Talon squatted down next to her. "This tree is the first great wish, and you are the ultimate sacrifice." Before Fran could say anything else, Talon grabbed her by the neck and lifted her up. His mutant-like arm was strong. She tried to pry his fingers open, but she couldn’t. She tried to muster up her powers, but they wouldn’t come.

"Hahaha, fight all you want, Francine, but you are powerless now. Your powers are gone for good this time! Now die!"

Crack

Fran's neck was broken. Her body fell to the floor, lifeless.

Steven shouted, "NOOOOOOOOOO!"