Bethany and Belinda still continued their fight against Wreker. For all his bulk, Wreker was fast and knew to keep his distance. He tore chunks out of the ground and threw them at the two women. “I can’t teleport to his location in time!” grumbled Belinda.
“This guy really IS smart,” muttered Bethany. “So why is he using his intelligence in this way?! It’s an abuse of that intelligence!”
“It’s called a lack of choice!” replied Wreker as he chose that moment when Bethany was distracted to swing a punch. Bethany only just raised her shield in time to block the blow, but boy, she felt the reverberation!
“Lack of choice?” Bethany quizzed. “What, did Lord Typhoon enslave you somehow?”
“Lady, my problems aren’t your concern!” snarled Wreker as he punched again. Belinda took the opportunity and used her scarf to tie him up. He thrashed against the scarf, but it was surprisingly strong and couldn’t be broken easily.
“I think it’s time for some answers, Wreker,” said Bethany. “What did you mean by lack of choice? I can infer that it means you know that what you’re doing is wrong, but surely-.”
“Kid, my whole life is one where I couldn’t make a choice! I have to serve, even if my master is evil!”
“That’s what they said about people of my skin tone,” remarked Bethany.
“Pardon? There was a period where those with darker skin tones-?” asked Belinda.
“Yeah, and the fight’s still ongoing, but conditions are better than they were for people like me,” explained Bethany.
“How?!” asked Wreker. “Those in power won’t listen!”
“So we make them listen. Even if they don’t believe in the message of protests, protests annoy them to no end that they’re forced to give in.”
“Not how it works and you know it!” Bethany could see that whatever hope was in Wreker was long squashed.
“I really don’t want to give you a beatdown, but I will if I have to,” sighed Bethany.
“Well, you’re gonna have to!” snarled Wreker as he burst out of the scarf.
“That’s a new one!” gulped Belinda as she leapt out of the way.
“We gotta use physics against him somehow!” grumbled Bethany as Wreker swung at her.
“I rather think he knows how to keep physics working WITH him,” replied Belinda. Bethany looked around…and saw a dumpster.
“…Belinda, how strong is your scarf?” she asked.
“It’s indestructible, why?” asked Belinda.
“Can it pick that up?” asked Bethany as she pointed at the dumpster. Belinda saw Bethany’s idea.
“Watch!” replied Belinda as her scarf wrapped around the dumpster. She then swung it like a wrecking ball at Wreker.
“YUH OH!” yelped Wreker as he braced for impact. The dumpster buckled against him, but he still was buried under it. Wreker found the weakest spot in the dumpster and jabbed his hand through it, splitting it apart.
“Dang it!” grumbled Bethany. “We need something to pierce his hide! We can’t just resort to blunt force trauma!”
“Neither of our weapons are good for piercing blows,” reminded Belinda. “My Thorn Attackers might do some damage, but I need another Rose’s help!”
“Thorn Attackers?” asked Bethany. Before Belinda could explain, Bethany noticed a blue glow from her pocket. “…My Seed?” she asked. She pulled it out and her Transformation Seed was glowing! Belinda goggled.
“Bethany, focus on the feeling you first felt,” she directed, “and say ‘Blue Lady Rose of Water, I desire to bloom!’”
“Wait, you think-?!” asked Bethany, seeing where Belinda was coming from.
“Try it!” insisted Belinda.
“NO YOU DON’T!” shouted Wreker. He charged with his fist pulled back for a haymaker!
“Blue Lady Rose of Water, I desire to bloom!” called Bethany. Just before Wreker’s fist made contact with her, Bethany’s Transformation Seed surrounded her and turned into a rosebud. Wreker hit the bud, but it hurt his hand. The bud then opened into a blue rose with Bethany leaping out of the center. Her outfit was similar to Ruby’s but it was blue instead of red. Wreker goggled in surprise and Belinda smiled proudly. Bethany finally looked down at her outfit and gasped in happy surprise. She touched her new outfit, then her hair…and felt the rose in it! “It…it worked! Belinda, IT WORKED!” she cheered.
“Not gonna matter!” shouted Wreker as he swung a fist. Bethany blocked with her shield, then punched him in the face. As her fist made contact, spikes appeared on her glove for a brief moment.
“Huh?” she muttered. Wreker then performed a chopping motion with his hand towards Bethany’s right, but Bethany blocked with her right hand and spikes appeared again, making Wreker recoil from the poking. “…Oh, Thorn Attackers!” realized Bethany.
“There’s more,” said Belinda’s voice. “Enhanced speed, enhanced strength, enhanced durability, flight, and teammate telepathy like we’re doing.” Bethany finally clued in that Belinda’s mouth wasn’t moving.
“…Telepathy, huh?” asked Bethany, using the same method as Belinda.
“You picked up quick!” Belinda smiled.
“And flight? I think I have an idea on how to use physics against him!” Bethany gave a wicked grin. As they workshopped the idea, they continued fighting Wreker. They gave him a hard time, but not hard enough to utterly beat him, not yet. Just then, Bethay boomeranged her shield at Wreker’s feet, Belinda flew up into the air and wrapped her scarf around Wreker, then cartwheeled in the air, spinning Wreker around. She then released Wreker and sent him flying. Bethany then flew to Wreker’s position and slammed her shield onto him, then she flew down, sending Wreker to the ground and hitting him hard against the pavement! Wreker groaned in pain. He couldn’t get up. “…Wreker,” Bethany said aloud, “the fight for us to be treated equally is NOT easy. It’s long, brutal, it gets misconstrued a lot, but, to quote my favorite hymn, we SHALL overcome someday.”
“…I’ll believe that when I see it!” snarled Wreker. He vanished in a flash of light.
“…He teleported away,” said Belinda out loud. “Where to, I don’t know. I just recognize that flash pattern.”
“…So he didn’t pick suicide,” said Bethany. “He still has a small amount of hope keeping him alive. …When next we meet, I hope I can help him increase that hope.”
“We all will,” promised Belinda. “Because with you as a Cosmic Rose, hope will get back up, ready for round two!” Bethany and Belinda grinned.
“Let’s meet back up with the others,” suggested Bethany. “I wonder who else is a Cosmic Rose now?”
“Let’s find out!” agreed Belinda as the two headed off.