Okay, this is a bit more difficult than I thought. Jack Thunder took a deep breath as he encircled Mt. Tempest on a cloud, waving Stormbringer around, trying to find any sign he was getting closer. The staff pulsed faster when he got close to the mountain, so the wendigo was in the mountain, but the storm gremlin wasn't sure exactly where it was. He had been going from cave to cave, looking for an entrance that would lead him to his target. Razer sat beside him, glancing at the mountain, the sky, anywhere he could to try to find a clue.

All of a sudden, Razer chirped. "What is it, Razer? Did you find something?" Jack Thunder asked the weather wyvern. Razer tipped his head towards a cave near the top of the mountain.

Jack Thunder gave him a worried look. "Are you sure?" Razer merely nodded in response.

The two soared to the top of the mountain, up to the cave's entrance. Jack Thunder had never gone this high before. But this was definitely the right cave; Stormbringer was pulsing double-time. So was Jack Thunder's heart. But as much he would have liked to run all the way home and hide under the covers, he wasn't about to swallow his pride. San had told him he wasn't ready. He was about to prove his mentor wrong. That he could handle a wendigo on his own.

As Jack Thunder stepped into the cave, Razer remained outside. He let out a worried whimper as the storm gremlin disappeared into the black.

Jack Thunder swallowed hard. There wasn't much he could see, not right off hand. Stormbringer's glow served as his torch, but it didn't do much to illuminate his way. As he traveled further into the cave, the glow seemed to grow dimmer, straining against an unnatural darkness. Even so, it pulsed with greater and greater speed. He was getting close.

He jumped when he suddenly heard a voice. He couldn't make out what it was saying, but it sounded familiar. He knew this voice all too well. This voice belonged to the one storm gremlin he had never been able to get along with. His name was Terry Paradise. The two of them were different in almost every way. Jack Thunder had powers over storm clouds, Terry had powers over the sun. Jack Thunder wore green, Terry wore orange. Jack Thunder worked hard to prove himself, Terry just floated through life without a care.

So... why would he be in here? Why would a storm gremlin who hardly wanted for anything ever feel the need to take a bargain with a wendigo? It didn't make sense. It just-

Jack Thunder turned at a sudden noise. Terry was two inches from his face. Jack Thunder yelped and staggered back, pointing Stormbringer's blades at the intruding storm gremlin.

This was Terry, all right. But he didn't look so good. It was difficult to tell in the blackness, but Terry had lost his color, too. He looked as pale and weathered as old, worn-out shoe leather. He had dark circles under his eyes and his jumpsuit was covered in strange stains, like he had been down here for days without sleep or a proper bath. Jack Thunder noticed a viscous black substance leaking from Terry's mouth, and realized to his horror that the stains on his jumpsuit trailed down from his mouth, splattering the entire front. Terry trembled as he stared haggardly back at Jack Thunder.

"J-Jack? Is that... you?" Terry managed to get out.

Jack Thunder knew it in his gut now. There was no question. These were all symptoms of wendigo possession. He steadied himself. All right, I've found the wendigo. Now I just need to get it out and get it banished. He thought back to what San taught him about wendigoes. He remembered the protection spell he had cast on himself and Razer earlier. The spell used a special kind of magic called Undifferentiated Anima. It was the same kind of magic that the Wendigo Banishing Incantation used. If he could use it to cast a healing spell on Terry...

"Terry! What are you doing down here? You look awful!"

"No... don't worry about me... you need to run!"

"I'm not gonna leave you here. Here, this should help with your wounds."

And with that, Jack Thunder began casting the healing spell. The gemstone in the center of the staff shimmered with spectral light, as it had done when he had cast the banishing spell. Terry seemed to calm down as the light washed over him.

That didn't last long.

Terry doubled over in pain, throwing up a gout of that horrid black substance that ran from his mouth earlier. Jack Thunder held steady, continuing to cast the spell. Terry's convulsions became more and more violent as he continued to cough up more and more black ooze.

With a final retch, something else emerged from Terry's mouth. Something long, foul, and otherworldly. Something with a long, serpentine body and a pair of smoldering red eyes. It thrashed about madly, railing against the Undifferentiated Anima that had been forced into its host's body. Seeing the light coming from Stormbringer, the wendigo shrieked and gave chase.

Jack Thunder barely managed to duck out of the way before it slammed into the wall of the cave behind him. The wendigo roared and whipped back around. Its form began to shift like a reflection in rippling water until it took the form of a full-grown weather wyvern, outfitted in pure black. Once again it gave chase, slamming into the opposite wall as Jack Thunder jumped out of the way once more.

This wendigo isn't very smart, Jack Thunder thought to himself. If it were resorting to the same tactics over and over, it must not have ventured far outside Tempest Island. Instantly, his fear morphed into confidence. Bolts of green lightning shot out of the staff, striking the wendigo in the back. It shrieked in pain, whipping around to chase him once again.

On and on it went like this; the wendigo would charge him, Jack Thunder would duck out of the way and then shock it with lightning when it crashed into the wall behind him. As it bashed its head in again and again, stalactites from the ceiling of the cave quaked and fell. Jack Thunder grunted; not only did he have to dodge the wendigo's attacks, but now he was in danger of getting crushed by falling rocks!

The wendigo was not so lucky; the stalactites fell and shattered on its back. Black ooze trickled from the places where the stones had buried themselves into the wendigo's form, and with every stone implanted in its back, the wendigo's motions became slower and slower. Slowly but surely, it was turning into a stone statue.

With a final zap from his staff, Jack Thunder saw the wendigo slump to the floor. The rocks implanted in its form had effectively crystallized it, and the red glow from its eyes had faded to a rusty brown.

"Now, Jack Thunder! Do the incantation!"

The storm gremlin wasn't sure where the voice was coming from, but he wasn't one to argue with it. He pointed his staff at the defeated wendigo.

"Back to the Flipside with you and your hate! You have no place in this Land of Dreams! We belong to Altairus, Altairus is ours!" With every verse, the staff became encased in a white light, pulsing faster and faster. The wendigo looked on in horror as it realized what was about to happen.

"Now, begone!"

And just like that, the light blasted at full speed towards the wendigo. In the blink of an eye, the darkness of the cave was gone, replaced by a light so blinding that Jack Thunder winced and shut his eyes against it. Just over the blast, Jack Thunder swore he could hear the wendigo screeching its final agonized protest as it was swept away. When he was able to open his eyes again, he could see the blast of light rushing out of the cave. A few seconds later, he heard a resounding explosion from outside.

It was done.