Hey it's Illume here. So weird things just keep happening. I don't know why it's happening or who's causing it but I do have a couple of thoughts on it. Well let's just say I know that someone is playing us all from behind the scenes like some kind of chess game and from what the Angel told me I wouldn't be surprised if this external party is still using us as pawns to further their plan. What happened after that fight with Shadow still confuses me. I mean he's completely back to being his goofy self. He remembers nothing and barely even has a scratch on him. Let's rather forget about that for now though. Right now, I'm just happy that Shadow came back to his senses or has he? Something still seems a bit off...

Illumes POV:

So Shadow is talking to me like nothing happened and what's more, there's no signs of a battle on him. What is he, Wolverine? Anyway, I wouldn't say I'm unhappy. My buddy's back after all so let's go and see what he has to say for himself.

"Hey Shadow do you remember anything that happened? The fight, your powers or your evil dude thing?"

Shadow: "Uh... what are you talking about? There's no way I'd fight or be evil. C'mon dude, you know I'm like an innocent little puppy."

"Yo guys it's safe to come out now. He's back to normal for some reason."

Pyro is the first to appear: "Innocent little pup my ass! You nearly killed us man. You kept on telling us you'd kill us all and shit."

Aqua and Inferno then follow.

Aqua: "Pyro watch your mouth. You're in front of master but yes, he is telling the truth. You were entirely different and quite quiet in fact which is apparently strange for you. You only ever opened up your mouth when you wanted to tell us about our deaths and how it would be caused by your hands."

Inferno: "True. You were a regular ding-bat kid."

Shadow looks at them confused and honestly has tiny tears in his eyes looking as if he'd want to run away either from embarrassment or sheer shock. It's kind of hilarious. I know I shouldn't laugh at this moment but heck I'm going to do it anyway.

So, I laugh at him and he begins to pout.

"Dang, I missed ya bro."

As I put my arm around him, I see something weird. His eyes change color as soon as I touch him and I could've sworn I heard him say I should get my hands off him if I don't want to die.

"Huh? Did you say something Shadow?"

But he just acts as if nothing happened and I see his eye color is back to normal.

Shadow: "What are you talking about bro I ain't say anything. Are you high or something?"

"What? Nah, I'm just playing with ya. It's been a while since I got to joke around with you."

Shadow: "Yeah but that's a pretty weird joke."

"Forget about it. Don't worry. Hey guys how about we head to the dine.... oh yeah. Never mind. It's destroyed. Wait, I think I got an idea. Let's go to that place where the diner used to be, I've got a plan. Besides I'm starving."

Pyro: "Are we all just going to forget about how he wanted to destroy us all."

I look at Pyro and laugh.

"Forget about the details Pyro. Just calm down and relax. We all could use a breather. I get it, something ain't right but we can't figure that out on an empty stomach, now can we?"

I say all these things as if I'm not worried but deep down I'm the one that's thinking about it the most. I'm just trying to lighten the mood a bit. There are so many things that need to be questioned. Why is Shadow back to normal? Is he even himself or is he still gone in the darkness? That little outburst made me question if he's all there in his head. Why's the angel not here? Why didn't he help us? Actually, why does he abandon me at most times when he should be the one helping me the most? The most important question right now would also probably be how Shadow would cause the Cataclysm. I thought once he loses himself to the Darkness, he'd destroy everything and wouldn't be able to become normal again. There are even more questions than these and I need to know the answers to all of these things but for now I need some rest.

Or so I thought. As soon as we arrived at the diner, I had to use my abilities to rebuild some things. In my opinion the diner always needed a bit of remodeling. As for eating well we just had to grab a bite of some burgers by this other place we passed by. Would've loved to eat the diners food again because it's awesome but I guess we'll have to wait. Anyway...

"Well let's get to it."

Shadow: "Uhm buddy? How do you suppose we build a whole flipping diner by ourselves?"

"What? Are you kidding me? Bro, we got powers. We are obviously going to use them."

Shadow: "Powers? Dude, seriously? Stop living in a fantasy world."

"Huh? Are you telling me you don't even remember we have powers? Okay fine. Let me show you bro."

Right then I used my abilities to summon a bunch of tools. I figured something out about this power of light too. If I'm able to imagine the object as a weapon and not just a tool, it would then materialize and I could use it as I please.

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So, I decided to summon hammers, planks, bricks, ya know the usual building stuff. All of them I could actually picture as a weapon to my surprise. Must make me psycho, I guess.

"So, buddy you believe me now?"

Shadow: "Okay. What the heck? Now I know. I'm officially dreaming right now. This isn't happening. This isn't happening."

"Oh, but it clearly is. Oh, and you want to know what's the best part? Your power Shadow lets you copy any other power and gives it a sort of dark twist if you could call it that."

Shadow: "Of course I'd have powers too; this is a dream after all."

Okay, I've had enough. Looking at Aqua I give a simple nod and she seems to understand. She splashes Shadow with water as I look unsurprised and wait for the results.

Shadow: "Sweet Moses! THAT IS COLD! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? Wait. It's cold? Crap, this is real. Okay I believe you."

Aqua: "Has he always been this way?"

"Since the day I met him and I wouldn't trade him for any other."

Shadow: "Jeez, thanks you assholes."

We all laugh as this charade goes on. After the laughter has cleared, we finally begin the actual repairs. We start with the diner.

"Pyros dad, I think you should use your power to heat up, slice and bend the metal objects. Maybe you could use the heat to dry certain things too. Aqua you use those water whips to move the tools and equipment around. I think your power would come in handy when mixing the cement and cooling down the things that's been heated too."

Aqua & Inferno: "Right!"

Pyro: "Yo! What about me?"

"Pyro... you can... heat up the coffee."

Pyro: "There's no way I'm heating up some stupid cof..."

A few minutes later Pyro is seen warming up the coffee for everyone.

Shadow: "So Illume, how exactly do I use these so-called powers?"

"Well buddy for everyone it's different, I guess. Hey Aqua, how do you get your water to materialize?"

Aqua: "For me, I guess it just comes naturally."

Shadow: "Wow that's SOOO helpful, thanks lady."

"Well, I guess that's a prodigy for ya."

Aqua: "If I were to actually describe it, I guess you could say it's like a flowing river that I tap into. It's like the energy of the river moves within me and since it's constantly flowing in one direction it makes it easier for me to use."

Shadow: "Now we're talking about rivers? Illume just tell me how you do it before I kill myself.

"Are you sure you should be talking about death like that? Oh yeah you don't remember so never mind. So, for me I have to picture an object as a weapon or let's just say I imagine it and it forms."

Shadow: "Ooh imagination, next Pyro and the Mister that looks like Pyro. How do you do your magic?"

Inferno: "Well kid putting it into words for a non-fire type to understand might be a bit tough but picture it like this. It's a flame that is constantly roaring. So, we use the flame that's within Pyro and I, try to dial it in, control it, calm it and then channel it. Once we channel it, we can pretty much use it as we like."

Shadow scratches his head in confusion: "Uhm?"

Inferno: "Picture you're angry and you're controlling that anger."

Shadow then looks at Pyro who's all but furious for having been forced to make coffee for a whole day.

Pyro: "Yeah. What he said."

Shadow: "So all of you... are just throwing me around. Illume how'd you say you do it? I think yours sounded the easiest so..."

"Yeah, so just try and picture it in your head then try to form it into a weapon."

Shadow: "Well I ain't gonna try and form it into a weapon but I'll try to form something."

Throughout what's left of the day Shadow tries to will his power to form but to no avail. He struggles and struggles almost pooping himself in the process of trying too hard.

Shadow: "Well it is official. You guys are assholes."

Everyone: "What?"

Shadow: "It's clear to me that all of you guys are abnormally adept at what you do. I feel like even if I try a life time, I still wouldn't be able to control it like you do."

After Shadow says this Pyro calls Illume into the diner that they completed and tries to have a talk with him as Inferno and Aqua try to help Shadow learn more about his powers.

Once inside Pyro signals Illume to have a seat so they can talk properly.

Illume: "Yeah this diner definitely looks better. So, what did you want to talk about Pyro?"

Pyro: "Are you sure Shadow is the same? I get the vibe from him that something is off. The other thing that I wanted to talk to you about is his memories. Why do you think he can't remember anything?"

Illume: "To be honest with you Pyro, I don't know. Everything seems so messed up and wrong. Shadow is... well Shadow again but there was this instance where I could've sworn he said he'd kill me once I put my arm around his shoulder. I also saw his eye color change in that moment so I'd say something is definitely wrong but for now there's not much we can do beside relax."

Pyro: "Are you serious? You want us to relax when there's a literal devil hanging out with us?"

Illume: "Well what could we do? Would you rather have Shadows blood on your hands for real this time? It wouldn't be an accident if you decided to kill him now but if you decide that, know that you would be trying to kill an innocent kid deliberately and that I'd do everything in my power to stop you this time even if it meant I'd have to kill you Pyro."

Pyro: "Well damn man. I don't want any more bloodshed but it's kind of my duty now to stop anything from destroying the human race."

Illume then sighs and begins speaking again: " Look, Pyro let me let you in on a little secret. Shadow is unbeatable when he's like that and your duty to stop him is all for nothing."

Pyro: "What do you mean?"

Illume: "Only light from a so-called angel could kill him and that's the truth."

Pyro: "What? Then why would my Pops tell me I could?"

Illume: "Because the truth is hard to find but The Angel that I've been with has told me a bunch of things."

Pyro: "Like what?"

Illume: "You really wanna know?"

Pyro: "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Illume: "Okay where do I start? Oh, see that Darkness inside Shadow? Yeah, that's an entity that's been here before time. Heck it's been here before God, that's if God exists anyway."

Pyro: "Are you serious?"

Illume: "Yeah and it's hell bent on destroying everything and would just keep getting stronger the longer its alive. In a way I guess you could say the destruction feeds its desire to stay alive too."

Pyro: "No wonder we had such a tough time with it. So how do you suppose we beat a thing like that?"

Illume: "Apparently if I pierce it with my bow of light it would be done but if I do that Shadow would die too."

Pyro: "Wait, you already used your bow of light on him and nothing happened. So, what's going on?"

Illume: "That's what I'd like to know. Everything just seems so suspicious and there's one person or rather angel that's way too fishy for my liking."

Pyro: "Who?"

Illume: "The exact same angel who told me all of this. In fact, the angel told me Shadow was placed in my path by an external source but he never told me the actual reason for it. I wouldn't be surprised if it were the angels themselves."

Pyro: "Why do you think they'd do that?"

Illume: "Honestly bro I don't know. It's just a hunch. You know what I think I'll need to pay him a visit after we're all done goofing off."

Once Illume is done talking he stares out the diner window with so many thoughts on his mind. What's next? What will the town or more specifically the heroes and Shadow (Hey! Why ain't I a hero? Aw, C'mon!) go through next. Read more to find out.