Notice: So, guys, ever since I last updated this story, I revised it, so I recommend reading it all over again before reading the new chapters. The changes weren't major, mostly just more fluid dialogue and a few more jokes were added.
Episode 61 - The Comeback
Part 1 - A Success with a Failure
It was dark and cold, it was the very bottom of the water body. An underwater tunnel, to be precise. There was seemingly no sign of life, until a shadow passed by, followed by many others. Those were the blue and rose tusked whales with red glowing eyes that had been stuck in that tunnel for all that time. They swam calmly, having gotten used to the environment, but then something disturbed them. A strange light in the form of a thin vertical line appeared, then it grew wider. It was a rift being torn open, and from it came out the yellow-eyed Night Crawler in diving gear: band mask, swim fins and cylinder.
The beasts roared at him, but he remained unfazed and simply used the device attached to his chest to summon another even more menacing monster to scare them and, finally, launched crystal imbued nets to immobilize them, quickly controlling the threat. He swam past them unharmed until he reached a blockade. He blew it up with his gun and went outside, to the waters of the lake in Terra Aquanos. He stared upwards, it seemed like it was nighttime, so he quickly deployed a diver propulsion vehicle and shot to the sky, smoothly getting out of the water, activating his flying gear and taking flight.
He flew for a good while until he reached the thunderous area with the reddish sky. He flew downwards looking for something, and he sighted it: there, crashed on a large stalagmite from the Wastelands, was none other than the detached Cyclonia. He pulled out a green crystal and spoke to it
"Master, I found it." - he said - "The rift was a success."
Inside her room in the castle in the Far Side, Cyclonis received the message through another green crystal.
"Perfect. Send the collectors on a thorough search. I'll need every last bit." - she ordered.
"Acknowledged." - the Night Crawler responded from his position hovering the fallen Terra, then pressed a button on his armor that made it work like a beacon so he could be located by the other dark soldiers' squadrons.
Soon, several Night Crawlers could be seen in the distance coming closer. The yellow-eyed soldier smirked evilly. The plan was working flawlessly so far.
Night Crawlers swarmed the area, flying around quickly and precisely, while many others dug and pushed the ruins of the castle to search. One of them was digging a certain place until he found some differently colored dust, then he ran a scanner from his wrist. The red light turned green, confirming it had something he was looking for. He carefully picked that dust up and put it inside a plastic for samples. Some other Night Crawlers who had also found that kind of dust did the same.
Those ones instantly teleported away with a warp crystal and appeared inside an underwater base in the bottom of the lake of Terra Aquanos as more came teleporting into Cyclonia. In the base, there were some Night Crawlers constantly monitoring the open rift to keep it stable. The ones who had teleported there passed through the rift, appearing on the small beach Domiwick had been to when he arrived on the Far Side. On the beach, there were more Night Crawlers monitoring the rift from that side. They teleported yet again to the tower.
They needed to teleport twice and go through the rift because the warp crystals couldn't transport the user from the Far Side to the Atmos and vice versa thanks to that barrier they had found when exploring the caves with Domiwick. So the rift was their solution. After appearing inside a laboratory, the Night Crawlers placed the dust on a device that scanned it for a while. It was a tall metallic machine with a screen, a metallic plate under the scanner, and a glass storage compartment beside it.
"Sample type: organic. Analyzing genetic code..." - it said - "Match confirmed."
The device suddenly selected the specific pieces it needed and threw away the rest of the dust, then took the remaining portions to the storage compartment, where there was already more of that same material inside. Under the compartment was a scale. It measured the weight of the compartment's contents and at the same time showed the value of the weight they were supposed to reach beside it. So far, they were almost reaching half of the necessary weight. It'd certainly take several more hours if not even a couple days to do it.
In another large laboratory nearby, several other Night Crawlers were conducting another experiment. They had a machine with a glass container where a reddish piece of crystal was placed, and some lasers around it that shot rays at the crystal as the soldiers read over some research papers signed by Dr. Sins. After a little while, words appeared on a screen above the container. They said: "Structure is optimal for reception." Then the crystal piece was taken and placed on a large cauldron that melted it. The cauldron was nearly full of molten crystal being continuously stirred, so the entire mixture would be homogeneous.
Not far from the cauldron were some more Night Crawlers working on a kind of metallic mold that was going to be used on the liquefied reddish crystal. It was rather large and had a somewhat humanoid shape. Of course, it wasn't finished yet, so the humanoid didn't have any features that could make it identifiable.
On yet another laboratory, Dr. Sins was building the machine Cyclonis had requested. He was making a few adjustments on the support for the Mirror Stone, tweaking its position so it'd be fully aligned with another support for the Binding Crystal, a platform where the vessel was supposed to be and a huge and powerful laser aimed at the crystal and the platform. He walked away from the support and towards a lever. He pulled it to make a testing light ray shoot out from the laser, and it hit the Mirror Stone, the Binding Crystal and a mark on the platform correctly. He nodded once, satisfied with the result, but then he stared at the enormous array of enhancement crystals in thought.
"Just how much power can she provide for these...?" - he said to himself, wondering if Cyclonis's resources were indeed that vast.
It was hard to believe a single person could have access to so much inside that one tower. Especially when many things that she would certainly need were only found elsewhere and couldn't be moved at all, like the optimal place to perform such a huge experiment, for an instance. He could foresee the problems if it didn't work. It'd be a long day... He could only hold onto a very slim hope that it wouldn't be necessary to do that. That she truly had everything she needed. Still, it'd be interesting to know for sure.
Speaking of the Empress, she was in a separate room, isolated from everyone, to be able to concentrate on the task she had set for herself. She was standing in front of a small device on top of a pedestal. It was a metallic box with a few tiny lamps of multiple colors and a transparent crystal on top. On another pedestal was a decay crystal. Cyclonis focused to make the deadly crystal float and glow, then she shot a beam from it at the transparent crystal. The device measured the energy absorbed from the crystal. So far it didn't light up any of the little lamps.
But, suddenly, it lit up one yellow lamp. The girl frowned angrily and focused more. The machine lit up a green lamp, then it faded and a red lamp was lit. She growled impatiently and continued concentrating. The red lamp faded and the green lamp lit up again. Then, along with the lit green lamp, a blue lamp started flashing. Cyclonis smirked. She had reached the perfect energy pattern. But, then, a knock on the door and said door opening caused her to lose focus, making her shatter the crystal with her sudden shift in control. She angrily turned to the door.
"I said I didn't want any interruptions!" - she yelled.
Standing by the door was Domiwick. He blinked at the yell, but held his ground, after all, they had an agreement, so they were supposed to be on equal grounds. He shouldn't fear her as if he was under her.
"Cyclonis, I have a complaint." - he began - "It's been days since you made all your Night Crawlers work on that experiment of yours and I haven't been able to explore. You said I'd go out freely with a squadron always accompanying me. I want that squadron now."
"You'll have to wait for one of the squadrons to finish their task." - she responded, turning away from him and back to her experiment - "Why don't you do some internal research until then?" - she made another decay crystal levitate from its storage compartment to the pedestal where the previous one was.
"And how long is that going to take?" - he crossed his arms - "I'm tired of being kept in the dark, just what are you doing that made all of them busy?"
"That's certainly none of your concern. We can't forget how easily you cracked under the slightest pressure." - she said in a calm manner that felt extremely menacing - "You should be thankful I'm keeping our agreement at all after you could've cost me my plans."
"I-I only got caught because your Night Crawlers don't listen to me." - he tried to defend himself - "They sent me ahead on my own unprotected. If I had a squadron that obeyed me, like you gave one to that merb, none of that would've happened!"
She was starting to grow impatient with that man, but before she could do anything, the door opened once again and a Night Crawler came walking in.
"Master, the doctor needs to speak with you about the experiment. It's important." - he told her.
She furrowed her eyebrows slightly. She was expecting something to have gone wrong already... Then she eyed Domiwick. Ugh, so many things to take care of...
"Very well, you can have one." - she yielded just to be rid of him, then walked past him and turned to the dark soldier - "Assign a squadron of Night Crawlers under his command."
The hooded servant bowed, then signaled to the explorer so he'd follow him. Everyone left the room, Domiwick casting a rather distrustful glance behind him at Cyclonis. He better start watching over himself from then on. Who knows when that girl could decide to dispose of him... She couldn't be trusted.
The Empress walked to Dr. Sins's laboratory. He was doing a final check on the machine he had built.
"What did you need to speak to me for?" - she approached and went straight to the point - "Did something go wrong?" - she inquired.
"No. Not yet, at least." - he replied, not even a little fazed with her demanding attitude - "I'm finished, and everything is correctly in place and functional. The device should work perfectly if you have what it needs to do so."
"And that means..." - she wanted him to fully explain what it was already.
"Power. This machine will require an enormous amount of energy to work. Way more energy than this whole tower and everything inside it use at once." - he told her while gesturing to the building - "Do you have access to that kind of power right now?"
She just stared at him for a second.
"I've been considering a possible lack of power in the tower, so I've already sent some scouts to find a better area for the experiment in case it doesn't work here." - she said as she looked away - "They should come back with their report soon."
"So you knew it could fail here. Why not build everything in the new area right away?" - he asked, trying to understand her motivations. It'd be important to know the way she thought, the more he could learn about his new client, the better.
"It'd be too risky." - she furrowed her eyebrows - "We could be intercepted on the early stages of development. At least here I can guarantee all the necessary equipment will be ready. I need this experiment to work more than ever, no matter the cost."
"What if it exhausts your resources? How do you intend to put your other plan about the Helix Crystal in motion afterward?" - he was rather curious of the reasons she had to consider that experiment so important that she made it a priority even over her supposedly main plan.
"If this is a success, I can reacquire all my supplies quickly and easily complete my other plan, because I'll have an unstoppable force under my command." - she explained with a smirk - "Sometimes you need allies before you go after more resources."
"So, basically, this is a bet." - he summed up - "You are quite the risk taker."
"Those who take no chances get no rewards." - she responded.
And just as she finished saying that, a Night Crawler came in.
"Master, we finished collecting all the remains, and the vessel is ready to be built." - he told her.
"Begin all the preparations. We'll run the experiment now." - she ordered, to which the soldier bowed.
The complete mold was laid down and opened in half. As the liquefied reddish crystal was poured on it, one Night Crawler placed the Medulla Crystal on the middle, then the other half was put on top of it as the molten mixture finished filling the entire mold. The mold was then moved to a glass cage where freezing jets of air were shot at it, to cool the crystal down so it'd solidify again and take the form of the mold. After a few seconds, the glass cage was lifted and the mold was released, revealing the vessel.
It was tall and somewhat slender. It was a rather familiar shape, and the Medulla Crystal was found at the center of the chest like it was its heart, its core.
The crystal sculpture was carefully placed on the platform of the machine Dr. Sins had built, right near the support of the Binding Crystal. Beside it was the glass container with the remains the Night Crawlers had worked the whole day to gather. Cyclonis walked to the other platform, near the laser. She turned to the scientist.
"Start the device." - she said.
He pulled a lever that turned the machine on. The arrays of enhancement crystals lit up and static ran through them. The laser was also finished readying itself to fire. The merb signaled to her that the device was fully operational and she could begin her part. She levitated a decay crystal in front of her, and after focusing for a moment, she made it shoot a beam of energy at the laser machine. The cannon absorbed that energy and concentrated it on a very tiny place. From that place, it shot the super thin ray at the Mirror Stone. The crystal did its job and passed forward a thin ray of light with the very opposite effect. That new beam collided with the Binding Crystal and it started to glow.
The green crystal would need to absorb an enormous amount of energy before it could pass it forward to the vessel. Dr. Sins was in charge of monitoring the energy output. So far it had reached less than half the necessary level.
"It needs more power." - he warned her.
"Deviate all the energy of the tower to the machine." - she told him, without removing her eyes from the crystal in front of her.
He messed with several switches and pulled another lever. All the lights went out, only the bright static of the device and the glow of the crystals illuminated the laboratory. The energy output was now at around 65%.
"Still not enough." - he said.
"Try using the emergency generators." - she urged.
He turned two valves, then pressed a few buttons and pulled a large switch. The power reached 97%.
"Almost there, just more 3%." - he informed her.
Cyclonis looked around, searching for something she could use. She spotted a crate of raw crystals. She lifted her arm to make all the crystals in that crate float, then she burst all of them into a pulsating ball of energy that she threw at some lightning rods installed on the lab to use as the last boost in energy.
"It's 100% now." - the doctor confirmed.
But just as he said that, the sound of the power being completely depleted and the machine shutting down was all they could witness. Everyone was left in the absolute dark until Cyclonis drew her staff to her hand and lit up one of its crystals. She sighed angrily and disappointingly as she pressed her forehead with her thumb and index finger and squinted her eyes.
"Well, it went the way I was expecting." - Sins commented casually, not at all surprised with the failure.
"I wanted to avoid having to move the experiment... But I don't have another choice." - she said, then she turned to one of the Night Crawlers - "Ready the squadrons. I want maximum security during transport."
"And where do you intend to take the machine to?" - he asked, in case he'd need to make some kind of modification to it.
Before she could answer, a squadron of scouting Night Crawlers came flying in from the window near the ceiling as the power came back to illuminate the tower, and they landed near the Empress and the scientist.
"We found a place, master." - their leader brought the news as he showed her a hologram with the recorded footage of the area.
It was at the top of a really high mountain, the sky was pretty dark and lightning would strike very often.
"Hm... Yes... This looks adequate." - the merb said with a hand on his chin as he moved closer to the hologram - "I can build an array of rods to capture as much energy as possible." - he pulled out a paper with the blueprint of the machine and drew the rods on it with a pencil, then he turned to the girl - "Each strike has a ridiculously high amount of electricity. If the machine gets hit consistently, it can be powered up fully by lightning alone."
She stared at the hologram in thought.
"But if it doesn't, the energy might be cut short and it'll shut down intermittently." - she concluded, considering all the failure possibilities way ahead - "I'll take 20 cargo ships of raw crystals along to keep it powered in between the strikes."
She couldn't allow that experiment to go wrong a second time, especially when they'd have to do it out in the open, where they could be caught. If she didn't want all the time, effort and resources put into it to be in vain, she had to make sure it would work right away the next time she tried it.
"Very well, I'll attach a customized high-efficiency crystal converter to it." - Dr. Sins decided as he drew it on the blueprint - "It'll only raise the required power for the machine to work by 0.0000000001%, which is the equivalent of one single raw crystal."
"How long will it take to make all these changes?" - she inquired.
"A couple hours at most." - he told her.
"Good." - she nodded once, then she turned to her servants - "Prepare the ships. We'll use the demountable ship to transport the machine. Reassemble it there now, so Dr. Sins can install the modifications on the way to the new area."
The Night Crawlers rushed to the device and started carefully dismantling it into its smaller pieces, then quickly took the pieces to the demountable carrier ship in the hangar bay and started rebuilding it in its cargo hold. After a while, they were finished, and securely placed the vessel and the glass container on their platform. During that time, the doctor had already been working on the crystal converter, so he simply proceeded to attach it to the machine. Soon after, he began crafting the lightning rods.
Domiwick had been readying himself and a squadron of Night Crawlers to take off to an exploration expedition when he entered the hangar bay to get a skyride and saw all the movement. All of the soldiers, except for the one squadron under his command, were moving things around, gearing up with multiple weapons and armor, gathering crates and more crates of raw crystals. He could only stare. Whatever was going on was something really big.
It was then that he glanced at the machine as the gate of the cargo hold of the demountable ship was closing. He blinked at how huge it was, but then he caught a glimpse of the vessel right before the gate closed shut, and it left him agape. He simply couldn't believe what he had just seen. Wait... That was...! He turned to look at Cyclonis standing way up on the balcony of the ship, his eyes wide in shock. Did... Did she really have that kind of power?! Could she just play the role of some omnipotent god now?! That was certainly horrifying. He helplessly watched all the ships soaring and flying away, only him and his assigned squadron remaining on the hangar bay.
Climbing a stalagmite outside the tower, hidden from it on a blind spot was a cloaked person. They peaked at it and partially deactivated the cloaking so only their piercing light gray eyes could be seen. It was a man, he was tall and slender. He blinked and gasped after seeing all those ships flying at once like one solid army.
"This is bad..." - he said to himself - "This is really bad. I need to warn those Storm Hawks guys."
He then reactivated the cloaking crystal to reapply the invisibility to his eyes, leaped off the edge of the stalagmite he was on and flew away with a jetpack that deployed a pair of short wings to make maneuvering easier. He had to find them fast! That Empress had already set a really huge plan in motion! He could only hope he'd not be too late...