Kael ran, Vera bounding beside him with Ember streaking overhead. Behind them, he could hear the three tamers struggling to keep up, their exhaustion slowing them down despite their desperation.
"Wait—" Garrett called out, breathing hard. "Kid, you don't—there's something big over there—"
But Kael didn't slow. Through Ember's bond, he could sense the direction, feel the ozone-sharp tang of electricity in the air. Someone was fighting a thunder-type, and thunder-types were fast. Lethal. Every second counted.
He burst through the treeline into a small clearing and immediately took in the scene.
A young man—Ren, presumably—lay slumped against a tree trunk, blood matting his dark hair. His clothes were torn and scorched, evidence of electrical burns across his exposed skin. But he was breathing, his chest rising and falling steadily. Wounded, but alive.
Standing protectively in front of him was a grass-type mythbeast, some kind of moose with antlers wrapped in flowering vines. It stood about five feet tall at the shoulder, noble and determined despite the visible wounds across its flanks. It faced outward, head lowered, ready to defend its tamer with its last breath.
And fifteen feet away, charging up for what would clearly be a killing blow, was the threat.
An eight-foot-tall horse, but not like any horse from Earth. Its body rippled with contained lightning, arcs of electricity dancing across midnight-blue hide. Its mane and tail were pure electrical discharge, crackling and snapping with lethal energy. And above its head, gathering between curved horns, was a sphere of concentrated lightning that grew brighter and more unstable with each passing second.
The thunder-horse hadn't noticed Kael yet. Its attention was fixed on the grass-moose and the wounded tamer behind it, already savoring its victory.
Kael's interface flickered urgently.
[Mythbeast Detected: Thunder-type]
[Status: Preparing special attack - Lightning Bolt]
[Target: Multiple - Lethal intent confirmed]
[Warning: Attack will be fatal to current targets]
No time to think. No time to plan. Only time to act.
Through his bonds, Kael communicated instantly with Vera and Ember. Not words, but pure intent. One chance. One strike. Everything they had, all at once, before the thunder-horse could release its attack or defend itself.
Now.
Vera's psychic force erupted, invisible and massive, wrapping around a fist-sized stone and accelerating it to terrifying speed. Ember compressed her flames into a single point, then released it in an explosive projectile. And Kael combined both, adding his own telekinetic force to Vera's stone while wreathing it in flames from Ember, creating a psychic fireball that burned white-hot.
The combined attack streaked across the clearing like a meteor, aimed directly at the thunder-horse's head.
The horse's ears flicked. Its eyes widened. It felt something wrong, felt the danger approaching from behind, and tried to dodge—
The psychic fireball hit the ground where the horse had been standing a fraction of a second earlier, and the world exploded.
The blast was far more powerful than Kael had expected. The combination of psychic force, flame, and the explosive release of energy created a shockwave that knocked him backward. A massive dust cloud erupted upward, obscuring everything, turning the clearing into a landscape of grey nothing.
Kael scrambled to his feet, his heart pounding. Vera pressed against his side, her eyes fixed on the dust cloud, trying to pierce it with her psychic senses. Ember hovered close, ready to attack or defend.
The grass-moose had been knocked down by the shockwave but was pulling itself back up. Ren remained unconscious against the tree, protected by distance and the moose's body.
But the thunder-horse...
Was it down? Had they gotten it? The dust was too thick to see, the residual energy from the blast interfering with Vera's psychic detection.
Kael's hands ignited with flame, ready. Beside him, Vera coiled to pounce. Ember's body blazed brighter, prepared to unleash everything she had left.
The dust began to settle.
And in the clearing, through the dissipating grey, a shape began to emerge.
Kael held his breath, every muscle tense, waiting to see if their surprise attack had been enough—
Or if they'd just made a very powerful, very angry thunder-horse aware of their presence.