Rocky blurred, splitting into dozens of afterimages as he circled William.
William braced himself—he didn't realize Rocky had never shown his real ability.
Rocky wasn't attacking. He was accelerating.
The afterimages spun around William faster and faster, forming a blazing ring. A tornado of lightning erupted, encasing William. Then, from every direction—every millimeter—a concentrated surge of lightning crashed inward.
It was so fast William couldn't even activate his swap ability.
Boom.
The planet trembled.
It trembled again as Anthony was smashed into the ground.
Ron stood above him, eyes cold.
"What… what are you?" Anthony gasped.
Ron stepped forward.
Like an asteroid crashing from the heavens, he kicked Anthony into the earth.
He followed with a punch—
Shockwaves rippled across continents.
The whole world shook.
In Ron's house
The shockwave rattled everything.
A book on the table flipped open on its own, pages fluttering wildly.
It stopped on a page that read:
He was already under 'his' influence during the fight against the two Heads of Foster. He didn't realize it. And when he did, it was already too late. No one knew. How could they know? But you know now.
Carter stood up and rushed outside to see what had happened.
What he saw froze him.
"Red moon…?"
Hanging in the sky was a giant crimson moon, replacing the real one.
"Why do I feel like something is wrong?"
Elsewhere
"So… that man is controlling Ron? The real question is: where is 'he' controlling from? Or maybe… it's the '???'."
A man with glowing green eyes thought silently, sitting alone in his chamber.
In the battle
Rocky, thinking William was done, turned back toward Ron.
Ron was still on top of Anthony… punching him like a madman.
"Ron? Are you okay?" Rocky flashed to his side, placing a hand on Ron's shoulder.
Ron slowly turned.
Rocky instinctively stepped back.
The sight made his blood run cold.
"Who are you?"
Rocky looked up—and saw the red moon.
Ron's face was half-shadowed. One eye shut.
The other eye glowed red… the same color as the moon behind him.
Ron took a step.
Rocky's world turned pitch black.
Two enormous red eyes stared at him in the darkness—
Eyes that looked at him like he was nothing more than a bug, something that could be erased with a thought.
Rocky trembled uncontrollably.
Then—
Everything vanished.
Ron collapsed onto one knee.
"Hi Rocky… what's up?" he said weakly.
Suddenly, the universe shook.
William staggered to his feet. His body was so mangled his face couldn't even be recognized. Bone showed through ripped flesh.
"I underestimated you," he growled. "Now you'll see my true power."
He pulled out an injection and stabbed it into himself.
He smiled.
A scream tore from his throat—
Followed by a massive explosion.
Ron grabbed Rocky and teleported them away just in time.
From the sky, they stared down at the explosion site.
Lights flickered inside the cloud of dust.
A huge shadow formed within it…
Then disappeared.
Rocky and Ron glanced at each other.
"We won." Ron said sitting on the ground.
Rocky turned and saw a fire glowing in the mountains, far.