20. Exposed
Youki swore underneath his breath and quickly ran to his daughter's aid. He took out a red potion for her, which she drank. Yuumei and Mirabella hurried over and cast a shield around them both, giving Birou time to recover. The two were led off to the Elementalists in the green gloom by Mirabella, while Yuumei went back to helping Uiiiiiiiiiiiiii and StrangerD3RK.
"Some time this century will be nice!" StrangerD3RK yelled, still dodging a rogue lightning bolt that was JapansAce, as well as bullets from the monster. Yuumei and Uiiiiiiiiiiiiii were supporting her, making sure they weren't struck as well.
Confucius and Spycer were still fighting DayBunny - the powers that the Scorpion King had given him meant that he was equal to them both. Lushen quickly joined the battle and attacked Confucius immediately. Spycer quickly attacked Lushen, but DayBunny seized this chance and stopped her with a lightning blast from his gun.
"We've almost got it," Magics told Mirabella. "Go help Spycer and Confucious, Mira. Tell Cris and Kilai to help too, the Skalari isn't that much of a threat any more."
"Hey, they were meant to be supporting us!" Youki protested. "Where did they go?!"
"They got attacked by some Skalari, it wasn't their fault," Magics said. "Go, Mira!"
"Got it," Mirabella replied, and went to fetch Kilai and Cristina, still in combat with the few remaining Skalari. Hatake was close by, helping them.
"Rhain, it's nearly finished. Get ready," Sahara told her. Rhainbow had stayed with the Elementalists as their healer. She nodded, threw another healing spell towards Birou, and cast shields over everyone, moments before a rogue bullet glanced off Focusman.
The three Elementalists muttered a spell in unison.
Time itself seemed to stop...
The sound of a single heartbeat.
A white shield erupted around the four people in the corner of the cavern, eliminating the mist within into nothingness.
The next second...
The shield exploded with an immense shockwave, which quickly spread throughout the Red Desert Ruins and beyond, clearing the mist from the vicinity. Two lightning bolts, whizzing around the cave, were revealed to be Viewtifulboi and JapansAce, who fell to the floor with a thud. Spycer and Confucius seized this chance to knock Lushen and DayBunny unconscious.
Outside, everyone turned their focus towards the shockwave emerging from the Red Desert Ruins. The Scorpion King noticed it too, and began his attack with renewed vigour, as the battle resumed once again.
Inside the ruins, and before they could do anything, the four minions were immediately enclosed in a forcefield. It was all they could do to attempt to strike the forcefield until it broke, but as the green bolts whizzed around, damaging the forcefield, the Magic Circle would quickly re-strengthen it before it was completely broken.
"What the heck IS that?!" shouted a shocked voice.
The shockwave had also illuminated the mysterious monster.
"Hold on a second," Magics said the obvious truth. "That's not..."
It wasn't what anyone had expected.
It was a huge robot scorpion...
...made to look like the Scorpion King.
As everyone watched, it spewed another barrage of bullets towards StrangerD3RK, who was forced to deflect them with Yuumei's magic shield, and immediately fired another fireball towards it.
Magics, watching StrangerD3RK, Yuumei and Uiiiiiiiiiiiiii trying to burn the robot, facepalmed in frustration. None of them had the more effective water spells, which was why the monster wasn't seem to be damaged significantly - the only real damage seemed to be coming from the seed that Yuumei threw, which exploded on contact and burned anything it came into contact with, and ice shots from StrangerD3RK. and that was nowhere near enough.
"Wait here, I'll go help."
"Me too," said Rhainbow, and rushed after him, while behind her, Youki started pacing in circles, lost in thought again.
"Be careful, you two," Focusman yelled after them, casting another shield around himself.
Pypski stirred as a lightning bolt struck close to her. She awoke to find Natsuki, Usui, and several of the others in combat with the Scorpion King's minions. Without a second thought she ran headfirst into the fray, and beyond that, approaching the ruins.
The Scorpion King noticed this, and was enraged. It HAD to be her. He felt no viable connection towards her any more. The telepathic link had also been broken between itself and Pypski. In a rage, he transformed into the lightning bolt and shot directly at Pypski, narrowly missing her and striking the entrance of the cavern, causing the mouth of the cave to collapse, blocking off the entrance and sealing Pypski, as well as the others inside, in complete darkness, as the Headmasters, seizing their chance, ran after the Scorpion King in pursuit.
Pypski felt something strike with immense force behind her and turned around - to be faced with a wall of rock. She muttered under her breath and, given no other choice, had to proceed forwards. The battle outside seemed to be intensifying now that the Scorpion King had joined the battle, yet she knew that it was just a decoy. She knew that it was only using this chance to possess as many of them as he could. The real battle was inside the lair...
She groped around the cave in the near total darkness, the only source of light the glow from her armour, magically enchanted by the craftsmen at her school calling themselves Mechers. She recalled how she'd love to kill them someday - that had been everyone's wish - but now that the Scorpion King had actually killed Melanie a while ago, she wasn't so sure about it any more.
Onwards into the darkness, guided only by her memory. She was entering another world, the ancient ruins of the civilisation before theirs had much to offer, but she was too busy worrying to care. Past ancient relics disturbed by the recent battles, past drawings on walls without seeing them...
After what seemed like an age, she heard distant noises in front of them. Flashes of red, gold and white ricocheted off the walls and into her eyes, which also lit the path for her. Feeling slightly relieved, she let go of the wall and walked onwards, steadying her hammer as she went.
Those events seven years ago seemed a distant memory... yet who knew how significant they were at the time...? If DayBunny hadn't poked his head in that well, then maybe she would still be challenging Owl School students to Marble Battles, maybe she would still be with her club, passing the time with pyramid raids...
She emerged into the central chamber and immediately spotted DayBunny in a forcefield, attempting to shoot it open. She immediately dashed towards him, but-
Something hit her with extreme force and immedlately exploded, engulfing her in flames.
"What- no, what're you doing?!" she said, horrified.
"It's Pypski! She's still possessed! Trap her, too!"
"Oh, that's right... they didn't know about it yet..." Pypski thought to herself, before proceeding to explain.
"How do we know that's not the Scorpion King talking through your mouth?!" retorted Magics angrily, turning around and running away from the battle, the better to confront her. "How do we know what you're saying is true?!"
"Calm down, Magics," Confucius said quietly, from a safe spot in a corner. "We can keep her on watch in case anything else comes."
Magics growled, but saw no flaw with this plan.
"Fine... Spy, Confucius, you two are in charge of guarding her. If she makes any suspicious moves, detain her."
"What- but-" Pypski tried to protest, but Confucius and Spycer approached her.
"This is the best he can do right now, given the circumstances. If he wasn't so preoccupied I'm sure he wouldn't have hesitated in killing you on the spot, or tried to," Spycer told her, glancing back towards Magics, who had rejoined the battle beside StrangerD3RK, Yuumei, Uiiiiiiiiiiiiii and Rhainbow. She looked slightly apologetic and by her expression Pypski can tell that she believed her story. Faced with no choice, Pypski was marched outside of the chamber, patrolling the dungeon with Spycer and Confucius, vanishing into the darkness, illuminated by the help of Confucius's shield. Not long afterwards, the pink dot also vanished.
Yuumei threw another seed towards the robot scorpion, which exploded on impact and engulfed it in a burst of flame.
"If we keep this up it might melt eventually!" Yuumei shouted encouragingly, as a fireball whizzed past her from Uiiiiiiiiiiiiii.
Magics soon gave up trying to use ice attacks to freeze the machine. It would just be counteracting the effects of the flame. Instead, he placed his hands together, made a strange symbol, and a shockwave traveled out in a straight line towards the robot. The Disruption Field had worked. The monster found itself unable to shoot more bullets - the weaponry circuit had been scrambled. StrangerD3RK seized her chance and shot a jet of electricity towards it, short-circuiting the robot and bursting a hatch open. Everyone else approached it except the other Elementalists, who were still restraining DayBunny, JapansAce, Lushen and Viewtifulboi.
"Good work, let's see who made this thing!" Magics encouraged.
Cristina suddenly saw something on the chassis of the monster, and headed towards it. She managed to prise the hatch open with her staff, discovering a black book inside, which she took.
Spycer, Confucius and Pypski were walking along the dark corridor, the path illuminated by Confucius's pink shield. The Skalaris had been eliminated in the attack by the others.
"There's no use, the exit was blocked off," Pypski told Confucius. "We can't get out of we tried."
"There's no harm in checking, right?" Spycer convinced her. After all, they were in a group, one or two minions might be manageable...
At that moment, a tremendous bang echoed through the cavern - the blockade at the entrance had been broken by a bolt of lightning. The battle outside was not going well, Usui and Natsu both lay injured on the ground, and Alyse had been hurled into a sand dune. AgSilver and Hideki had been captured by the minions and about to be possessed, BlissBunny was still trying to heal her friends, but was constantly forced to interrupt her spells, Tamani and Kalysto in a similar situation, while Roozaey's attacks had proven useless against the rapid flashing lightning bolts, and laid on the floor in a heap after being electrocuted by one of them. The two Headmasters had accidentally stood in front of the blockade as the Scorpion King prepared to target them, and as a result the lightning bolt had completely collapsed the boulders blocking the entrance, revealing the tunnel.
Almost instantly, the tunnel was illuminated by flashes of green rushing inside. AgSilver and Hideki had been spared - just - and the Headmasters were now trying to treat everyone.
"What do we do? There must still be people in there..." the Owl Headmaster said, concerned.
"We can't do anything yet..." sighed the Dragon Headmaster. "We have to get these people to safety first."
"But what about the others?" the Owl Headmaster demanded.
"I know it's hard... but would you rather sacrifice half your students, or all of them?" the Dragon Headmaster asked solemnly.
The Owl Headmaster gasped in horror at the idea, but deep down he knew that his Dragon counterpart was right. Even though it wasn't the Owl Headmaster's decision to make, he knew what he had to do if it had been...
"Get out your School Return Card. Get your students to the hospital, then meet me in your office," the Owl Headmaster made up his mind.
The Dragon Headmaster nodded, took out a small, silver card, and vanished with his students. Moments later, the Owl Headmaster also disappeared, leaving a scene of devastation.
The body of the Shopkeeper still laid near the oasis of the Knight Shelter.
Pypski, Confucious and Spycer, still inside the tunnel, heard the collapse of the barrier.
"What the..." Pypski gasped.
"What happened?!" demanded Spycer, turning to Pypski.
"I have no idea!" Pypski replied, horrified. "I honestly have no idea!"
"What's that?!" shouted Confucius, pointing forwards.
Amongst the pink sheen of the shield, there was something else... a dim green glow, which seemed to increase in intensity very rapidly.
"Oh no... they're coming..." Pypski said. It looks like the Scorpion King won the battle outside. "We need to go. Now!"
The three of them turned tail and ran back towards the chamber to tell the others, behind them, the green glow intensified, stronger and stronger...
The robot scorpion's hatch opened to StrangerD3RK's electric shot, and someone emerged, to gasps from everyone in the room.
"Sturm!"
"It was YOU!?"
"I knew it!" Magics shouted. "Nobody deserts their friends just before they get attacked like that!"
Sturm laughed, but not his usual light-hearted one.
"Looks like I got found out. I'll admit it. I've been working with the Scorpion King since the day we first saw the green lightning phenomenon. He told me his story. All of it. I know why he's doing this, I know his background story. I know his ultimate aims. I know EVERYTHING there is to know, because he told me... did you realise he had a wife and daughter? Did you realise that they were killed in a crossfire between the two schools centuries ago? Did you realise the reason he did this was to avenge his family? No, you did not! I only did what I felt was right, I only helped those who I thought deserved my help whilst avoiding detection, and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling Knights!"
At that moment, Pypski, Confucius and Spycer rushed back into the main chamber.
"Whoa... Sturm?! It was YOU!?" Spycer said, completely shocked, while Pypski and Confucius, along with everyone else in the room, looked flabbergasted.
"What made you three come back?" Magics demanded. He still wasn't too pleased to see Pypski.
"They're coming," Spycer said simply.
"We saw it. A green glow. The entrance was caved in, but it's been reopened again. They couldn't hold them back. The Scorpion King is coming!" Pypski said, alarmed.
"Whoa, whoa, who are 'they'?" Hatake enquired.
"The people who survived the Scorpion King's attack on the Dragon dormitory..." Pypski whispered. "Didn't you wonder why no minions followed you inside except for four?"
Suddenly, the truth hit everyone. The others must have hidden behind them and intercepted the minions, but they got more than what they had bargained for...
"We've got no time to lose! HE'S COMING!" Pypski almost screamed, as Cristina emerged from behind the monster with the book in her hand, partially concealed up her sleeve.
"If they get in here they'll destroy this hideout because we've found it!"
Sturm spotted this book and let out another evil laugh.
"You think the Scorpion King is going to stop there? You think that's the peak of his power? You haven't seen ANYTHING yet!"
"Someone lock that guy in a forcefield!" shouted Magics. "I can't bear his laugh any more..."
The green glow was now visible from the main chamber, its intensity growing...
"'You're too late! The Scorpion King will reward me greatly for carrying out his plan!"
The first of the green jets of lightning whizzed into the main corridor and struck Sturm square in the chest, blasting him backwards against the back wall. He slid to the ground, knocked out, a thin trail of blood, barely visible, was left on the wall from where his head had struck it.
"WE HAVE TO GO!" shrieked Sahara.
"Take him with us, we need to question him!" Youki pointed to Sturm, and as he held onto Birou, Kilai walked over and took hold of the unconscious Sturm.
As everyone took out a silver card marked "School Return", more and more lightning bolts began to whiz around the room. The Magic Circle students quickly shielded anyone and everyone, and the room was full of ricocheting green lightning beams, absurdly reminiscent of a laser light show. One of the beams hit the robot scorpion, completely shattering it, and its parts joined the ricocheting green lightning bolts. Magics's last glimpse of the chaotic room was a plethora of metal parts and green lightning bolts, as well as slabs of rock from the ceiling tumbling down amidst the fray. He saw the barriers restricting Lushen, Viewtifulboi, DayBunny and JapansAce disintegrate, and the four joining the chaos, before everything flashed to pitch black.
Back at Owl School, Magics told everyone to take the injured to the Nurse for treatment, while at the Dragon campus Pypski told everyone to do the same. The Headmasters had congregated in the Dragon Headmaster's office and were discussing the recent battle and what they had seen, but were still oblivious to what had happened inside the ruins.
"Bring Sturm to the Headmaster's office, I want to question him there," Magics said.
StrangerD3RK agreed, and walked over to Kilai, who handed Sturm to her, still unconscious. Sturm, StrangerD3RK and Magics disappeared into the main building.
Cristina separated herself from everyone else. She looked at the salvaged book in her hand. She wondered why it had been kept in the monster as it was... was it there on purpose? What would a book be doing in a closed compartment of a metal monster? Did someone WANTED them to find it?
She sat herself beneath the cherry blossom tree, and propped the book on her lap, contemplating whether to read it or not...
...
Deciding that it wouldn't hurt to open it at the very least, she opened the book at page one, and saw that it was handwritten. The handwriting style wasn't something she had seen before. Someone else had written this some time ago. In fact, she felt that this book was written a VERY long time ago. How did they get access to a modern book...?
Well, she thought, since she had opened it, she might as well continue... there was no point to opening a book if you're not going to at least read what it says...
She took a deep breath, and began to read...
...if only she hadn't...
...if only she had left it alone...
...for this would be a decision she would most certainly regret.