Battle Heroes X: S01E05

"Together we Stand" is the fifth episode in the Battle Heroes X series, the fifth episode in Battle Heroes X Season One, and the fifth episode overall. It is also the season finale of Season One. The episode revolves around Zack, Cloud, and Julius returning from the hospital and Bane's attempt to destroy them once and for all.

The trio must stand together against uncertain odds.

## The Episode

The day finally came for Zack, Cloud, and Julius' release from the hospital. The three of them, along with Julius' mom and Cloud's aunt, walked out together. They headed in the direction of the parking lot.

"You three are like magnets for trouble," Julius' mom said.

"Yeah, but now we just want to get this behind us and move on," Cloud said.

"Moving on from something like this is going to be hard for all three of you," Cloud's aunt responded.

"Still no signs of...Carol," Julius' mom said, turning to Zack. Zack said nothing, an expressionless look on his face. Already, his mind went back to the first night...

That night, it was raining. It was almost as if the sky knew what was to happen and someone up there was weeping for the city. Zack and his girlfriend, Carol, were sitting under a tree in the city park. The two had rendezvoused to talk about a pressing topic concerning their relationship: college admissions. Graduation was coming up soon and they both had received letters from Granite Bay, a good university some distance away from Fowler City.

Zack reached into his pocket for his letter. "I have mine. You?"

Carol reached into the pocket of her jacket and took out hers. "Yeah."

"You ready?"

She took a deep breath before answering. "Yeah, I'm ready." As she was about to open hers, Zack stopped her.

"Before we see our results, I want you to know that I love you no matter what."

Carol smiled and hugged him. "I love you too, Zack." The two now opened their letters and read them.

Carol looked up from hers first. "What does yours say?"

The faintest hint of a smile appeared on Zack's face before fading. "I'm...I'm accepted into the university." He said.

"Oh my god, that's great!"

"How about you?"

Carol read hers. "'We are honored to say that you have been accepted into Granite Bay University!'"

"That's my girl!" Zack said triumphantly, picking her up in a hug and spinning around with her. The two of they were cheering and laughing.

"Stop, Zack!" She said between laughs. "You're getting us all wet from the rain!"

He put her down and they looked into each other's eyes, wildly in love. Life was going good for him. His relationship with the love of his life was going strong, they had just been accepted into the same university, and for once in his life, Zack felt like he could afford to be happy.

That is, until Bane appeared before them in a puff of black smoke. He looked disheveled and distraught, with circles under his red eyes. The thing most noticeable about him was the amount of blood on his body. The sleeves and his arms were covered in the stuff, along with specks of it on his face.

Zack did a double take when he saw him. "Bane? What happened to you?"

"Are you ok?" Carol added, just as shocked as Zack was.

Bane was silent as a shadow ball appeared in his hand and he launched it at Zack, sending him flying right into the tree they were under. He pointed to Carol.

"You. You're coming with me," He took a step towards her, shadowy energy surrounding his hand and creating a small black vortex in it.

"GET AWAY FROM HER! Whatever this is, it's between you and me, Bane!"

Bane returned to silence as he reached forward and grabbed Carol's shoulder. The vortex in his hand was sucking her into it.

"What are you doing to her?!" Zack got up, summoning his crystals and sending them at him. Bane raised his other arm and the crystals were blocked by a barrier of darkness.

"I know you three are going to take something from me, so I will be taking her from you," Bane said in a monotone voice.

"Zack...!" She said faintly before the vortex fully consumed her.

"TIFA, NO!" Agony filled Zack's face and his voice.

"You want me? Come and fight me," Bane said, transforming into a orb of shadowy energy and retreating from Zack. Zack chased after him.

"Zack? Zack!" He heard a voice bringing him back to reality. Zack shook his head and looked around. In present times, the three were back in their home neighborhood in front of Cloud's house. Cloud's aunt and Julius' mom were walking inside Julius' house while Julius and Cloud were standing outside of the car.

"There you are. Looks like you zoned out while we were driving home," Cloud said.

Zack got out of the car and stretched. "Yeah...I was just thinking about the first night, how Bane took her. I have to rescue her, but I can't do that if I don't know where Bane is."

"We. We have to rescue her, and we will."

"Hey, the good thing is at least we're home safely. Bane risks catching a lot of heat If he shows his face back here," Julius said.

Julius' mom came back outside. "Are you boys going to talk outside all day, or would you like to come inside for some food?"

"Yes, please!" Cloud said happily, running inside. Zack and Julius looked at each other knowingly before following him into the house.

**12 Years Ago...**

A young Bane was at the table in his house, reading a book. He heard laughter outside and ran to his window. Down the street, he saw his friends running around, chasing each other. Bane turned to his father, who was looking at the newspaper.

"Daddy, can I go out and play with my friends?" The boy asked.

His father responded without looking up from the paper. "You should be studying. You'll have all the time for playing later."

"But they're outside now! Pleeeasee?" Bane begged, tugging on his father's leg.

He finally looked up from the paper to his son. "Alright, you can go out. But only for twenty minutes. I want you back on the table before then, alright?"

"Yes daddy! Thank you!" He ran outside and made his way to his friend's house. Entering the backyard, Bane watched as his friends were about to peek into a bush.

"Two...THREE!" One of them said before all four of them were flooded in a bright light. When Bane's vision was no longer blinded, he saw that he had fallen to the ground, along with the others.

"What was that?!" He asked, blinking and rubbing his eyes.

The others slowly got up as well and were surprised to see Bane.

"Oh, hi Bane! Where did you come from?" Julius asked.

"My daddy said I could come over and play! So what game is this?"

Cloud started to explain. "Well, we were all playing tag when Julius realized he would never catch us in a kajillion year..." Julius stuck his tongue out at Cloud. "So we decided to go in and play videogames. Then Zack saw something in the bushes and wanted to look at it. So we did, and then there was this flash, and then we were on the ground, and then we heard you, and then we got up and I explained everything!"

"So, where is the thing?" Bane now asked, looking at the bushes. The three turned to the bushes and saw that it was gone!

"NOO!" Cloud fell to his knees and cried dramatically.

"Aw, man! Now we'll never know what else it does!" Julius groaned.

"Does it matter? Probably was something dumb, anyway," Zack reasoned. Let's go inside and play some videogames!" Julius, Cloud, and Bane all agreed and charged inside to play some games.

**Present Day**

Bane came to in an alleyway, his most recent location for sleeping. "This is the last time I will have to sleep outside," He promised himself as he rose. His mind wandered back to the memory he just had, of he, Zack, Julius, and Cloud playing together. That day was when his life changed forever. The memory gave him no pleasure, merely serving as a reminder of what had to be done. And once they were a bloody pile of corpses lying at his feet, his attention will turn to those gods. Above him, Chan and Hoji stood on a fire escape, keeping watch for anything. When they saw that their master had awakened, they made their way down to him and bowed.

"Now, those three will know true suffering," Bane created a shadow portal and he, Chan, and Hoji went through it.

Back at Julius' house, he and Cloud watched television on the couch and enjoyed their home cooked meals. Zack leaned on the arm of one side of the couch, dozing off.

Cloud took a bite out of his chicken leg. "Man, after days of only eating beef jerky and hospital food, it feels good to eat some real food."

"Bingo, Cloud," Julius said before stuffing his mouth with food.

Zack yawned, causing Cloud to turn to his friend. "Sure you don't want anything, Zack? How are you gonna fight Bane on an empty stomach?"

"I'll manage."

"Mfth mmm pmfh!" Julius attempted to say, but his mouth was full of food.

"Hold on, I speak mouth-full-of-food!" Cloud exclaimed comically. "Uh...three words, starts with the letter M?" Julius mumbled some more incoherent words before he swallowed the food and started laughing with Cloud. Zack gave a small smile as he watched the exchange.

"I think I might just take a quick nap." Zack closed his eyes.

"Alright, but when you get up, you're gonna eat, even if Julius and I have to force feed it to you!" Cloud promised. He and Julius got up so Zack could lie down on the couch.

"And that's not a threat, that's a Julius Vladmire guarantee," Julius agreed.

Zack was dozing off already. "Ooh...I'm so scared…"

"Julius, Cloud, could you come over here for a second?" Julius' mother called from the dining room. Julius and Cloud walked over to her.

"I know you two just got back from the hospital, but I was wondering if you could run an errand for me."

"Sure, what do you need?" Cloud said.

"I'm making a big dinner for you three, but I don't have these ingredients. Can you two head into the city and pick them up?" She handed a paper list to Cloud along with some cash.

Cloud's eyes lit up at the sound of dinner. He mouth saluted. "Will do. I will not fail you in this duty!"

She held back a laugh. "Thank you, I'll be sure to give you a big cut of dinner."

"Hey Cloud, are you sure about this? I mean--"

"We're on it, Mrs. Vladmire!" Cloud grabbed Julius and dragged him out of the house.

"What was that, Cloud? Bane's out there and you want to head into the city?" He asked as they began walking.

"You heard your mom, bro! She's making food, and you know how delicious your mom's food is."

"I...can't argue with that. It's delicious," Julius admitted. He began looking to his left and right. "I'm gonna keep an eye out for Bane, Chan or Hoji. You never know when they might pop out of and I can't let them catch us slipping."

"Relax. We're just grabbing some..." Cloud looked at the list. "Chicken, duck...turkey. She's making a turducken?!"

"Hold up, Cloud," Julius grabbed the list and read it. "My god, she's actually doing it."

The two of them licked their lips and picked up the pace. Soon, they had arrived in the city and got to the grocery store. When they exited, they had the three meats in bags and started walking home. Up ahead, a silver car was heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly, its right front and back tires popped and the vehicle began to skid and slide. The driver was fighting to control the car, but failed when he steered too far to one side. The car tilted and flipped onto its roof. All around them, people began panicking and running everywhere.

"What the hell?! Is the driver ok?" Julius asked.

"I don't know, but we have to check it out!" Cloud responded.

"Right!" The two set their groceries down somewhere safe and ran in the direction of the car. Cloud opened the car door and the two dragged out the driver, who was out cold, but breathing.

"They're ok, good," Cloud said. From out of nowhere, they were punched from behind and sent sprawling to the ground. Turning around, they gazed upon their assailants.

"You have to be kidding me..." Julius groaned. Standing before them were Chan and Hoji!

"As if the situation couldn't get any worse..." Cloud got up and glanced at the truck. Sticking out of its popped tires were two crystals. "Julius, looks like they used the truck as bait!"

Julius rose as well. "Looks like Bane's using innocent people against us, again." Chan and Hoji entered a fighting stance. Cloud cracked his knuckles while Julius' hands glowed with blue energy.

"Alright, Julius. I'll take Hoji on the left while you go for Chan on the right."

"Got it! Wait..." Julius turned to Cloud, confused. "My right or your right?"

"Julius, we're looking in the same direction."

"Oh yeah, oops," Julius fired an ice beam at Chan, who moved out of the way to avoid it. Hoji charged at Cloud. Chan countered by firing a barrage of crystals in the air. They began raining down on Julius. He fired an ice beam at the ground and upward, creating an ice barrier above him to block the crystal rain. Chan came out from behind the wall and kept the pressure up as he fired more crystals at Julius' barrier.

Meanwhile, Cloud side-stepped Hoji's charge and kicked him in the back as he passed. Hoji summoned a crystal into his hand and slashed at Cloud with it, holding it like a dagger. Cloud leaned back to avoid the slash, then grabbed Hoji's arm and pulled him in for a straight punch to the face. Hoji winced in pain and summoned another crystal into his other hand, cutting Cloud's arm with it. Cloud cried out and let go of him. Hoji took the opportunity to kick him to the ground and the villain held a crystal over his head with both hands, ready to plunge it into Cloud's chest.

Julius turned Cloud when he heard his cry. "Cloud! I got you!" An ice beam blasted out of his hand and hit Hoji's hands as they were positioned above him, freezing them along with the crystal in his hands. The new weight set him off balance and he fell down on his back. Cloud got up and grabbed Hoji by his legs and began spinning him around by his legs.

"SO LONG, BOWSER!" He yelled out as he threw Hoji at Chan, who looked just in time to see his brother flying at him. He got hit by him and they both were knocked down.

"That's how we do it!" Julius said. He and Cloud high-fived. They were celebrating too soon, however, as a shadow portal appeared behind Chan and Hoji. From out it emerged Bane.

Julius glared at him, along with Cloud. "The lame man himself."

Bane ignored Julius' remark. "No Zack?"

"Didn't need him to take down your goons," Cloud said, pointing at the fallen Chan and Hoji.

"Or do you?" Bane's shadow slinked out from under him and to Chan and Hojis'. Black energy surrounded their bodies and they slowly got up. Hoji slammed his frozen fists on the ground, breaking the ice around them. Both of them looked completely unfazed by the first half of the fight.

Julius and Cloud were shocked and began backing up from them while Bane watched. "Zack's going to have to decide whether to fight me, or to help you two. Knowing him, he won't be able to resist trying to get his precious girl back. Good luck with round two," Bane declared, walking back into the shadow portal and departing.

"Perfect. We gave them everything we had and now they're back as if it was nothing! Plus, Zack's definitely going after Bane..."

Cloud put up his fists, refusing to become pessimistic. "Then I guess we gotta give 'em some more!" He and Julius ran back into the fight.

When Zack woke up, he was back in the crystal room. Everything was made of the material. There was a crystal couch, a crystal clock on the wall, even a crystal piano. Zack sat down on a crystal chair he saw.

"This can only mean one thing..."

"Zack, you failed me," The familiar voice began.

He groaned, recalling Chan and Hoji being mind-controlled. "I did. About what happened in Japan..."

"You have two other allies and best friends who want to help, yet you shun them and try to do things alone that you know you can't do. You aren't alone in this, yet you act like it. Why?"

"I don't know...it's been like this for a while, since Bane attacked that night...I'm sorry, alright? It's just...grief."

The voice paused for a moment. "Don't be sorry, Zack. Grief is a powerful emotion that can cause us to become impulsive and try to depend only on ourselves. It is able to break the strongest of men, but when you overcome it, you emerge stronger than before. Good things happen when you let people in."

A large TV made of crystals hummed to life and onscreen, Julius and Cloud were fighting Chan and Hoji in the city. Zack gasped.

"As we speak, Julius and Cloud are fighting Chan and Hoji, yet at the same time..." The TV's footage disappeared before reappearing at the platforms, where Zack and Bane had first fought.

"Bane is alone. He lacks his new lines of defense. If you go now, you have a chance to stop him and end this."

"Right, I have the element of surprise because I know where he is. I'll sneak up on him and--"

"But do you know whether or not Julius and Cloud can stop Chan and Hoji? They're strong, yes, but with the brothers' latent powers awakened..."

Zack stopped and thought about the situation.

"It is up to you to make this decision. Remember, all three of you received these powers. Alone, you are an army of one, but together, you are an unstoppable army of three..." The last part of the sentence echoed and the crystal room started to disintegrate, along with the chair Zack sat in. He started falling into a dark abyss...

But woke up on the carpeted floor. He had fallen off the couch as he woke up from his nap. Zack continued to think about his next move. Soon, he got up. He knew what he had to do.

Back in the city, Julius and Cloud were still in combat. Chan and Julius were exchanging projectiles behind their makeshift covers and Hoji and Cloud were fist-fighting. Hoji got the upper hand and headbutted Cloud, while Chan's crystals finally shattered Julius' ice cover and hit him. The heroes fell down.

"I can't believe it. Today's the day we die. JUST WHEN MY MOM WAS MAKING TURDUCKEN!" Julius cried out as Chan and Hoji advanced on them. Suddenly, the ground began to shake below the twos' feet. A few seconds later, green crystals sprouted from the ground. Chan and Hoji were unfortunate enough to be send upwards by an erupting crystal and they landed hard on the ground, out for the count.

"No freaking way..." Cloud said.

Leaping down from a rooftop, Zack landed in front of Julius and Cloud. He held his arms out to the two and helped them up.

Cloud was speechless as he got to his feet. "Talk about a clutch moment. You came just in time!"

"For sure. We thought you'd go after Bane alone," Julius said.

"I learned something today, guys. I *can't* do this alone. We're a team, and it's time I started acting like it."

The three looked at each other, united for real. "Group hug!" Cloud said as he grabbed both his bros and hugged them tightly.

They both hugged back, but stopped when they saw a shadow portal form behind them. Bane emerged once more.

"I don't believe it. You came to help them, instead of stopping me," Bane said, a hint of anger in his voice.

"Yeah, well, there's no I in team," Zack replied.

"But if you switch a few words around, you can spell 'me'..." Julius explained.

"Well then. The fools that stay together..." Bane charged a shadow ball in his hand. "...get slain together." Bane fired a shadow ball at the three. They all scattered in different directions to avoid it.

"Alright, Bane, it's time to settle this," Zack said, summoning his crystals and running at Bane. Right at that moment, the voice from his dream's words repeated themselves in his mind. "*Alone, you are an army of one, but together, you are an unstoppable army of three.*" They caused him to freeze mid step.

"Cloud, Julius, let's stick together!" He said now. Julius and Cloud ran to his side and together, they charged at Bane. Cloud threw a flurry of punches at Bane, who blocked every single one with a surprising amount of skill. While Cloud was punching, Julius fired an ice beam at the ground under Bane. He slipped and fell on the ground. Zack fired his crystals at the fallen villain, but Bane melted into a shadow on the ground and avoided the crystals. He reappeared behind the trio.

"Can't get a hit in..." He said through gritted teeth.

"That's it, we're overwhelming him!" Zack thought to himself. "That gives me an idea!" He looked at Julius. "Fire the biggest and strongest ice beam you got in you at Bane!"

A wicked grin spread on Julius' face. "Ohh, I can do that." Blue light glowed in his left hand and he pointed his open palm at Bane. "EAT THIS!" A large beam of cryogenic energy blasted from his hand at Bane, who created a shadow barrier to block against the attack. The recoil from his ice beam was so much that Julius had to hold his left arm with his right hand to keep it steady. Zack ran to the other side of Bane and started firing crystal after crystal at Bane. They were firing like a machine gun. Bane turned and created another barrier to block the crystals.

Julius was beginning to sweat and grunt from the effort of holding up the attack. "Zack, if you have a plan to go with this, please let me know, because I can't keep this up forever!"

"Cloud! Remember what we did to get to Japan?!" Zack yelled over the sound of he and Julius' projectiles striking Bane's barrier.

"No! Wait..." Cloud recalled it. "Yeah!"

"Do that!

Cloud cracked his knuckles again. He began to grin like Julius was before. "Oowee, with pleasure, bro." Cloud backed up to get a running start, then sprinted as fast as he could at Bane. Raising a fist up, he got ready to punch Bane.

"Time for the unblockable!" He cried at the top of the lungs. Bane saw Cloud coming and prepared one more barrier in front of him. However, Cloud vanished right before his eyes.

"Hu--" Bane couldn't finish his sentence, as Cloud's fist connected with his head from behind. Cloud had teleported behind him at the last second, striking where he didn't expect to be hit. The force of the punch knocked him some distance away from the other. Julius and Zack ended their attacks.

"That. Felt. Good!" Cloud said, rubbing the hand that hit Bane. The three of them got together and high-fived each other.

Julius smirked. "Good plan, Zack."

"Thanks, now let's deal with Bane and get some answers," Zack said, turning to him. Bane was slowly getting up and rubbing his injured face and pride.

"That...that hurt. You...hurt me!" Bane uttered, both surprised and hurt.

"Damn right we did! And there's a lot more where that came from!" Julius announced.

Chan and Hoji got up and limped to their master's side while he opened up a shadow portal. "T-this isn't over. I won't stop until you three are dead. Dead!" He fled into the portal, Chan and Hoji right behind him. The portal closed.

Zack sighed. "Alright, maybe no answers."

"Well, we know now that Bane isn't invincible, and more importantly, *he* knows he's not invincible," Cloud said as he put his hand on Zack's shoulder. Julius did too.

"You're right. Thanks, guys. Now that I know we're in this for the long run, I'm gonna try to stay strong and not give up. For Tifa." He said, determined. An ambulance came onto the scene for the downed driver from earlier.

"Now let's get home! Julius' mom is making a turducken!" Cloud stated. Julius and Cloud grabbed the meats and the three started walking home.

Zack looked at Cloud. "Turducken?"

"Yeah! It's gonna be sooo good!" Cloud said happily.

"It's a good thing I didn't eat earlier, then. I'm definitely eating the most out of all of us."

"No way! I'm eating the most!" Julius said.

"No me!" Cloud said.

"No, it's gonna be me!"

The three stopped arguing and began laughing as they continued on their way home.

END OF SEASON ONE

## Trivia

* Cloud yelling "SO LONG, BOWSER" while throwing Hoji is a reference to the game "Super Mario 64". In the game's final level, Mario defeats Bowser by grabbing him and spinning him around while saying the same thing.