Corruption Of The Moonstone

Betrayal

The group stared at the dark blue truck, horrified by the reveal shown in front of them.

"Um... is it me, or are Crusher's eyes glowing blue?" AJ asked.

"What could that mean?" Sparkle whimpered.

"I know of only one thing..." Roarian sighed. "Crusher is the wielder of the Moonstone,"

"Aw, you FINALLY figured it out," Crusher chuckled. "I wondered how long it took for you idiots to realize it,"

"So... you trapped Blaze's friends, our parents and YOUR best friend in those cages?" Sparkle asked.

"Well, I didn't trap Pickle to hurt him, that's for sure," Crusher snarked. "At least he played his part quite well enough for me to come with you all,"

"So... you USED him?!" Sparkle screeched. "Crusher, how could you?!"

"I just did," Crusher smirked. "And now you've led me right into... this," He held the the Sunstone in his tire with a tight grip. "Which I will say thank you all for, by the way. I thank you, Blaze, for trusting me with the scroll too. Just what I needed,"

Blaze's eyes began to sting with tears, and he looked up at Crusher, heartbroken. "How could you do this...? We all trusted you...!!"

"YOU trusted me, Blaze," Crusher scoffed. "That was YOUR mistake. If it were any of the others, they would have doubted me in a second,"

"Why are you doing this?!" AJ screeched. "We've been nothing but good to you!"

"Oh, please, drop the act." Crusher rolled his eyes. "Beating me at races, uncheating my cheats, stealing MY spotlight?! I've got a list, and it's a reason too many,"

"You cheated at almost everything, and that's not right!" Sparkle said.

"SHUT UP!" Crusher roared out, sending more rocks towards them. "Every skill I did, it wasn't good enough! I always had to see I was the best! I had always been the best! But YOU," He pointed at Blaze. "YOU had to make me raise my standards on myself. I was THE BEST! AND YOU TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME!"

He stomped his tire on the ground, sending a wave of magic towards the group. His tantrum stopped quickly as he smirked, eyes glowing blue with gold as the Sunstone hovered over his other tire.

"And now, I'm gonna take everything from you."

"Crusher, DON'T!!" Blaze screamed.

But it was too late. The Sunstone soon sunk itself into Crusher's tire, allowing the dark blue to take in it's magic. He shut his eyes at the temporary pain before opening his eyes to reveal one eye glowing gold while the other still glowed blue as sun and crescent moon marks glowed all over his body.

"No..."

Blaze's eyes widened in horror as Crusher let out a maniacal laughter.

"Finally... they're... MINE!!!!"

Crusher cackled over and over again before he turned to look at the stunned group.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a city to get back to."

With that, he used his newfound magic to break open the cave wall before using his rocks to get down from the mountain as the rocks sealed the hole, trapping the group inside.

Meanwhile, back in Axle City, the other group waited patiently for Blaze and the others to return.

"They've been gone a long time..." Darington sighed.

"You think they've found the Sunstone yet?" Gabby asked.

"Knowing Blaze, I'm sure they did!" Stripes encouraged them.