Episode 6: Sour Harvest
The warehouse still smelled of ozone and burnt pulp when the real attack came.
It started with a low, mocking chorus of fruity giggles echoing through the broken walls. Applehead slithered back in first — her basketball-sized head freshly regrown but lopsided, scarred from the previous fight. Her arms ended in jagged stumps where new growth was already sprouting.
"You took my favorite head," she hissed, voice dripping with acid sweetness. "So I brought the whole orchard."
Behind her stepped the Fruit Wrathborn — six twisted siblings bonded by the same sick branch of the Shattering.
Sour Squeeze, a lanky woman with yellow-veined skin, whose fingers dripped corrosive lemon acid. Bahan, a squat, slippery man who left banana peels wherever he walked, turning the floor into death traps. Cher-Cheery, a hyperactive girl with cherry-red hair and bombs made of explosive pitted cherries. Mano-Mana, a bulky brute whose mango constructs were heavy, sticky, and smelled sickeningly ripe. Straw, a wiry speedster covered in tiny strawberry seeds that she could fire like buckshot. Blue, a cold-eyed sniper whose blueberry orbs floated around her like homing grenades.
Applehead raised her regenerating hands. "Kill the Rampager's friends. Bring me the boy alive. I want to bite his power."
The Fruit Wrathborn attacked as one.
Lemon acid sprayed across the room in pressurized jets. Banana peels multiplied underfoot, sending Wyatt and Nathan sliding. Explosive cherries rained down like grenades. Mango mash slammed into Ferrum like wrecking balls. Strawberry seeds shredded the air, and blueberry orbs detonated with blue bursts.
Kevin activated the Rampager mantle immediately. White-blue circuits blazed as he shattered a wave of lemon acid mid-air. "Not today!"
Derek (Volt) lit up the battlefield, chaining electricity through the wet fruit constructs, electrocuting several at once. Ferrum Ironfist tore iron beams from the ceiling and forged them into spinning shields, protecting the group while launching iron spikes at the attackers.
Peter Shotstock stood at the front like a wall.
A barrage of strawberry seeds and cherry bombs hammered into his chest. He didn't flinch. His Iron Tyrant mantle surged — but this time something deeper revealed itself. The metal sheen on his skin wasn't just armor.
It was super durability pushed to an insane extreme.
Bullets of fruit, acid sprays, explosions — nothing broke his skin. He laughed darkly as cherry shrapnel bounced off him and lemon acid sizzled harmlessly on his shoulders.
"So that's what you've been hiding, old man," Nathan shouted while weaving illusions.
Peter grinned savagely. "Iron Tyrant lets me turn hard. But the real gift the Shattering gave me? I just don't fucking break."
He charged straight through the chaos like a living tank.
Bahan tried to trip him with banana peels. Peter stomped through them without slipping, grabbed the slippery man by the throat, and crushed his windpipe with one squeeze. Bahan's body went limp.
Sour Squeeze unleashed a concentrated torrent of lemon acid directly into Peter's face. He walked through it, eyes burning but unblinking, and drove his fist through her chest. Lemon pulp exploded outward as she died gurgling.
Cher-Cheery screamed and pelted him with dozens of cherry bombs. The explosions lit up the warehouse, but when the smoke cleared Peter was still standing, scorched but unbroken. He hurled a chunk of rebar like a spear, impaling her through the heart.
Mano-Mana tried to crush him with a giant mango fist construct. Peter caught it, crushed the mango in his grip, then ripped the brute's arm off and beat him to death with it.
Straw tried to run circles around him, peppering him with seed fire. Peter simply stood there, absorbing everything, then snatched her out of the air mid-sprint and snapped her neck with brutal efficiency.
Blue attempted to stay back and snipe with blueberry orbs. Derek and Ferrum teamed up — Volt supercharging the orbs while Ironfist redirected them straight back at her. She was blown apart by her own power.
Only Applehead remained.
She shrieked in fury and lunged at Kevin with newly grown vine-arms. Peter intercepted her. With a roar, he activated his full mantle. His hands hardened into living metal blades.
"You like playing with your hands, fruit freak?"
Peter moved faster than his bulk suggested. He slashed both of Applehead's arms clean off at the elbows in two brutal strokes. Juice and pulp sprayed violently as she screamed, her severed limbs twitching on the ground.
Applehead staggered back, apple head cracking wider in agony. Kevin didn't give her time to recover. The Rampager mantle surged violently. He slammed both glowing fists into her torso, then unleashed a focused destructive wave at point-blank range.
Applehead's body exploded into pulp and seeds, scattering across the warehouse floor. This time, nothing regenerated.
The Fruit Wrathborn were wiped out.
Silence fell over the devastated warehouse. Peter stood in the middle of the carnage, breathing heavily, blood and fruit juice dripping from his metallic skin. The super durability slowly faded back to normal flesh, but the revelation hung in the air.
Kevin stared at him. "You… you really are unbreakable."
Peter spat out a chunk of cherry pit. "Not unbreakable. Just too stubborn to die. Comes in handy when you've got a crew of kids with god-powers and a death cult chasing you."
Wyatt helped Nathan to his feet. Derek and Ferrum surveyed the mess.
Ferrum's deep voice rumbled. "This was no random attack. The Pillar is sending its pets to soften you up. The real force is coming."
Nathan wiped pulp from his face. "Then we hit them first. The Garden Behind the Fence… we need to find it before they do."
Kevin looked down at his glowing hands. The Mythical Matrix felt heavier than ever.
The war was no longer about survival.
It was about choosing what kind of monster he would become.
End of Episode 6