Recently
on Fires of the sky, the El Monte students returned to Earth only to find it
still frozen. As they return to Arkon’s Magic, the six main students, Matt,
Yessenia, Jaime, Alex, Venus, and Winny all enter a bridge that leads them to
the Elemental Challenges! Without further delay, they were forced to attend as
the six members for the challenges. After the challenge had finished, the final
match had made a wrong turn. West Covina had taken over and their leader,
Colonel Artemis, has trapped most of the students into the Eternal Nothingness.
With an urge to escape, the students struggle against West Covina and almost
every one of them have lost brutally. Will they be able to make a comeback?
Much more importantly, are they able to escape the Eternal Nothingness?
Episode 260 – The Choice is yours, to Stay or to Go
Home
“El
Monte… Please save me…!” Venus said with a frown on her face – the first
expression she could give since she left the Elemental Challenges.
Matt,
Yessenia, Alex, Jaime, Nix, Benny, and Claire all gasped together. “I want to
continue traveling with you guys.” Venus said as she removed her hands from
both Yessenia and Alex. She knelt down, crying and covering her mouth.
“I…
I don’t understand. She’s supposed to be a robot. How is she shedding tears?”
Benny was confused at this sight.
“I
want to be your friends again. I never wanted to betray you, but I felt forced
because there is a chip in my body that allows me to disregard and erase any
memory I have of you.”
“Then
how are you remembering everything?!” Benny questioned.
Claire
said calmly, “Her love for her friends is what gave her… her own kind of
heart.”
Alex
began rolling on the ground. “I never thought I would miss the ground so much
before!”
Venus
ran towards Jaime. “I want to continue my adventures with everybody! I miss
those times I’ve had with everybody in Elsiya!!” Both Venus and Jaime hugged
each other.
Matt
and Nix laughed together. Venus then took sight of the only antagonist here: Benny.
“You always tried to go against me. I see what you did. You knew I was a robot
after you spoke with Colonel Artemis, Santiago’s father!!”
El
Monte became surprised, except for Matt who kind of knew anyway. “S-So what?
You deserved it for bullying me back in middle school!”
“I
understand that was a bad choice of mine to bully in middle school, but you
should have told on me instead of ran away. I even had the guts to be ready and
apologize, but you didn’t even let me.”
“And
it was her robotic impulse that probably gave her an immature personality back
then!” Alex added.
“Yeah
don’t word it that way because it’s not helping.” Venus sighed. “Anyways,
you’ve decided to get revenge by taking advantage of me and killing all of my
friends? That’s not even a typical revenge, it has become murder for taking it
out on innocent people!!!”
As
she got closer to Benny, she was ready to attack him. Benny clenched his teeth.
“Tch!” He quickly teleported away and then he ran behind Venus. He threw a dark
ball at her and then he took out a knife.
“N-No!”
Matt said. He ran towards Venus so he could push her away. “(I’m not letting
this happen again. I’m not letting another friend die in front of my face,
especially after going for someone we’ve been trying to have come back to us
after so long!)” Matt pushed Venus aside while Yessenia and Alex casted wind
and water spells to stop Benny.
Benny
teleported away but he disappeared. Claire looked around. “Where did he go? I
need to put down his sensory!”
Jaime
remembered what Sammy said before she fainted. “Wait a minute. Sammy could be
telling the truth! She also said the truth is ‘the end of the world of 2009’!”
Yessenia
began thinking about it carefully. “I think I know now! It is happening at this
very moment and if we do not stop this, we will be done for.”
Benny
reappeared and then he began to rage. A dark aura blew out of his body and
anyone or anything that was trying to attack him would only be negated. Claire
tried to link him with someone who fainted but it only got canceled. “What kind
of power is this?!” Alex said as he panicked.
Claire
said to the group as she stood up. “That last portal leads to Arkon’s Magic –
for El Monte only. I’ve been through this before. They don’t let people like us
through.” She began to cry. “I think I understand what Sammy meant by the end
of the world. It is the end of the world – in this world. Earth can still live
on. Furthermore, she meant that El Monte lost because… of Benny. But, that does
not mean you will die.”
Matt
remembered the hieroglyphics. “It said Earth was at its end at 2009 though!”
“From
this illusion, it appeared to be so because we are standing in El Monte – but
as an illusion in order to take part in the Elemental Challenges.” Claire
responded. “Now, I saw you fly earlier. Take advantage of that and carry all of
your El Monte friends back to Arkon’s Magic!”
Matt
shook his head. “What about you guys?!”
“Don’t
worry about us. I’ve already fulfilled Colonel Artemis’s request to have an
answer from you, and it was an honest answer as I could sense your heartbeat
staying in smooth motion. You told the truth that you had no idea what really
happened to Santiago, but you assume he is gone but you don’t want to believe
it. That is as truthful as you can get.” She giggled. It was strange to see her
smile as she seemed to have a life filled with despair and confusion. “So
please, take all of your friends away first before Benny’s aura becomes large
enough to explode!”
Matt
first carried Van and Maggie who were slowly being conscious along with Jon.
Yessenia, Alex, and Jaime helped carry Shirley and Winny. Nix tried to carry
any of the lighter students such as Alex and Shirley. “Oh wait, no. Shirley
isn’t that light…” Nix dropped her.
Alex
growled. “Are you saying I’m lighter than her?!”
Matt
then flew back down to grab a hold of Jaime. “Let’s go! Nix, I might need your
help!”
Jaime
shrugged. “Complaining about my weight is troublesome. I should start working
out then…”
Yessenia
was the only one besides Venus. Yessenia grabbed onto Venus. “Hey, let’s go
home.” She then chuckled. “Hey look, I used a contraction instead of ‘let us’.”
Venus
glared at her. “Really, Yessenia?” She then giggled with her. “Just kidding.
Let’s go home!” She yelled proudly. “I’m sorry Benny, but I’m leaving you
here!”
Matt
grabbed onto Yessenia. “You’re next to go, and then Venus will come with us!”
“Alright.”
Yessenia said.
Venus
said to Claire, “Thank you for taking me around even though I was just some
heartless robot. You didn’t mean to hurt people and it must have been tough. I
understand.”
Claire
hugged her as well. “I still feel bad about what I have done. I will somehow
make it up to you.”
Venus
looked at Benny. “But… what about?”
“You
think I’m going to die?” Claire asked as Venus was silent. “Well, maybe it’s
true that I will, but it’s always good to try to find a way to get out of
here.”
Matt
flew back down. “Venus! Let’s go!” He grabbed onto Venus. “Gosh you’re heavy!”
Nix
helped him. “She’s a robot!”
As
they reached the portal, Venus could not enter. Matt’s heart skipped a beat.
“H-Hey…”
Venus
blinked a few times until she spoke. “What just happened?”
Matt
tried to throw her in even harder. “Why aren’t you getting into the portal?”
Claire
watched them. “What is going on up there?”
Matt
flew back down with Venus and Nix. “Venus… isn’t able to go through the
portal?”
Nix
wailed. “The portal must think Venus is still with West Covina!”
Matt
flew back up and then he threw a fireball at the portal. “Hurry up, damn it!
Don’t you get it? Venus is a part of El Monte and she always has been!”
Venus
had to think this over carefully. She watched as Matt continued to attack the
portal mindlessly. “Matt, come down here.” She said kindly.
As
Matt flew down, he began to cry. “Why isn’t this working?”
Venus
suddenly hugged him. “I’ve decided on what to do actually.”
“What
do you mean?”
“I’ve
never gotten my punishment for hurting you and everybody else. I think I
deserve one.”
“And
what is that?!”
“I’m
staying here.”
“NO!
You can’t. I can’t risk losing another friend of mine, not now!”
Venus
began to cry as well. “It’s okay, Matt. Don’t think of this as a goodbye. Think
of it as… see you later!”
“But
how if you’re gonna-…”
“No,
no. Don’t worry about me. We’ve always found ways to survive, even through our
journey together in Elsiya. I have hopes on surviving and finding you, or you
finding me, just like how you guys had high hopes of bringing me back to
normal.”
Matt
shook his head. “Then when will I see you again?!”
Venus
clapped her hands. “I’ve got it! How about when you are all strong enough to
face the government, find a way back there! I’ll wait for you patiently somewhere whether it may be in the
government or not. I’ll find a way to move from place to place. If you can’t
find me while I can see you in some other space or time, I’ll try to send very
subtle signals!”
“Fine…”
Matt said slowly.
“Matt!”
Nix pecked Matt on the cheeks. “What are you doing?! She has to come with us!”
“It’s
her choice.” Matt said. “I can’t change it. Because of this bastard,” He looked
at Benny, “we’ve been messed with again. But this time, Venus, I will promise
to find you. Give me…” He thought about it carefully. “365 days before I start
my search for you!”
Venus
shook her head as they gave one last high-five, “Then it’s… see ya, for now!”
“Yeah,
see you later!” Matt smiled as he flew up into the portal. “See you later,
Claire! I hope to see you again too!”
“No
problem! Hmhm!~” She said happily.
As
Matt looked below him at Venus and Claire one last time, the darkness from
Benny was about to explode. He knew he had to leave and he trusted Venus that
she would turn out alive the next time they meet. Nix followed Matt into the
portal as they disappeared together…
“Goodbye,
Matt. The choice was mine, and it was to stay here and find another way to meet
you guys back on Earth.” Venus closed her eyes.
~~~
In
the next portal, all of the El Monte students appeared outside a foggy area.
Matt had to explain the whole story to Yessenia, Alex, and Jaime. After several
minutes, they had to come to an agreement and understand wholeheartedly on
Venus’s decision. Besides, there was no way she could go through the portal
anyway. With Jaime using his shadow powers to duplicate a few shadows, he used
them to carry the rest of the students who were still fainted.
The
group was quiet. Alex said to them, “It sure is a lot quieter without her…”
They
stopped by the bridge.
~~~
In an
interruption, Venus called out to the three of them, “Oh my gosh! Something is
over at the bridge!”
“We have a
bridge?!” Matt yelped.
Yessenia
rushed on over. No other students heard except Michael and Shirley. Alex and
Matt followed along. Venus and Jaime were running together towards the bridge
and they saw Winny right in front of it.
~~~
Venus began
to rush past the bridge on her own. “Well, if there is a bridge, there’s no
other choice but to go on!”
~~~
Venus waved
from the other side. “We’re not in the challenges yet since nothing is
happening over here! Just come on over already so we can find out what this
bridge was for!” Venus disappeared into the fog.
~~~
While
crossing the bridge, Matt said to them, “I’m still very annoyed at West Covina,
at least for Benny and Sammy. They played with us and they won in the end…”
“Matt?”
Nix asked.
Matt
said angrily, “That is the LAST time I’m letting those bastards from the
government or anywhere else mess with us. I’m done fooling around. It only gets
us nowhere.” Yessenia, Alex, and Jaime said nothing. They agreed in a way as
well. They were tired of losing more of their friends…
~~~
Back
in Arkon’s Magic, the rest of the El Monte group saw them. “EVERYBODY!!! IT’S
THEM!! THEY’RE BACK SOMEHOW!!” Joey shouted as every student hurriedly ran to
the edge of their campfire.
The
students turned to each other, questioning why half of the students fainted and
where did Venus and Jenny go.
Omar called to them, “Hey man, guess
what! Earth is now open all of the sudden! Did you guys win?!”
“No,
it must have been because we ‘finished’ the journey in the Elemental
Challenges, but we bypassed the loss of our powers…” Alex said quietly.
Jen pushed Stan and Kalpesh aside as
she ran out of the crowd towards Matt. “Oh my goodness, Matt! You’re okay!”
As
she ran towards him, Matt shouted at them, “LISTEN EVERYBODY!” This made Jen
stop before she could hug him. “We’ve lost two friends along the way and we’ve
brutally lost not only in the challenges, but in something much worse. I
promise to give ourselves 365 days to get stronger and change who we are.”
The
group began to listen to him carefully. “I’m getting tired of being stepped on,
and as a team, we are all suffering the same thing with our loss of friends.
After 365 days of hard training, I don’t know what you guys will do, but I will
definitely try my best to find some of our friends again. For now, I have to
put my grief and search for Santi aside and look at the bigger picture here.”
Yessenia
and Jaime were surprised that Matt finally let Santi go. “This is not about losing
and getting over our loss, it’s about payback.”
~~~
-NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW-
Matt:
On the next series of Fires of the Sky…
Alex:
It’s been exactly a year since we last connected, huh?
Shirley:
Y-Yeah… And everything feels a little awkward – well besides your stupid new
haircut.
Alex: Well
your hair’s gotten even more annoying.
Shirley:
You’re annoying me already.
Nix:
Things have never changed for them huh!
Yessenia: The same with I, maybe- IS THAT A CAT?
Alex:
Eeeeeh?! Is that a new obsession?!
Shirley:
I think she’s just being a little more open to cute things! I wonder who else
is back for this episode though?
Jaime: Yawwwwn.
Shirley:
H-He’s gotten bigger?! Hey, where’s Matt?
Matt: Next
time on episode 261, Return of El Monte, Day 365!
Winny:
I-I am back too.
Alex: Something’s
different about her too. It’s kiiiiind of fishy…
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