Swell of Emotions

Pale took Vanya's words and scribbled them onto his heart. 

He loved his friends, unconditionally. 

Being a Hero was hard... but as long as he was fighting alongside people he loved, he felt like he could overcome any hardships. 

And in order to make a thousand or ten thousand more memories, they all needed to live a very long time. 

"Yeah," he nodded to Vanya. "you, me-- all of us, together!! We'll win this fight, for sure!"

"(I could do without the other two,)" Vanya mumbled. 

But to get to that point, Pale and his team still needed to resolve their current predicament. 

He shot another lightning bolt at Tavor. 

"⌈Maximus⌋?"

"GRAH GRK GRRHK!! FOR THE LAST TIME, BOY!!!!"

No good. 

It seemed his long-range magic was losing its effectiveness. 

Everyone was doing everything they could... 

Vanya had gone back to focusing on her channeled Spell.