They made their way through the dimly lit halls, the backup generator not nearly powerful enough to illuminate the castle. Ray had fallen further back in the group, leaving the directions to Lee who'd proved to have much more success than him. Having already discovered two deactivated robotic guards strewn across the floor as though they were sleeping.
"I wonder what breaking the machine did." Gary mused aloud, none of them trying to be quiet anymore, their presence was blown and there was no point in being sneaky.
"I don't know, I'm guessing it has something to do with theses though." Ray muttered, kicking at a guard they passed after turning another corner.
"I bet it shut down their directional network, when they malfunction they're designed to internally self-destruct so they don't cause any backlash damage."
"How'd you figure that?" Kai asked, listening intently to Mariah as she looked over the guard, those ahead stopping to listen.
"I designed similar models with Susumu back when I was younger. I never got the chance to build any though because we were forced from our original base into the makeshift ones you see."
"Do you think they're based off of your designs?"
"Maybe, they hold similarities however mine weren't meant for fighting they were meant for protection and alerting us to threats. If they changed that I can't say what else they changed." She rolled the guard onto its front, pulling the back panel off and staring at the intricate wires inside. "The wiring system looks similar to my designs. I think it's fairly safe to say they stole my designs."
"Does that mean you can shut them down?"
"Yes, however, they're all already shut down. I'd have no need to do so again." Slotting the plate back onto the robot she stood, staring at it sadly. "To think, something I created with only good in mind became the subordinates for a tyrant."
She looked mildly sad, though it was quickly washed away as she looked up, her eyes showing nothing of the sadness they had expected.
"I'm sorry Mariah, I know how hard you worked with Susumu to make this back when you were little. It must be hard knowing this was what it became."
"I'm over it. Don't worry, I never did like the design for them. Far too plain for my taste." She smirked before carrying on ahead, passing Lee and leading thee group for a few moments while they processed her reaction and ran to catch up.
"It doesn't bother you? Really?"
"Really." The slight nod of her head accompanied a small smile to Ray, the teen quickly nodding before avoiding her gaze. "Now come on, we're wasting time. Who knows what's going on outside. Let's find Voltaire's throne room and go from there."
oooo
Boris watched as all the guards collapsed around him, their robotic bodies fizzing before dropping to the floor with a resounding thud. His eyes widened before narrowing into a scowl as he took in the sight.
What had happened? He called over one of the living guards, seeing the same bemused expressions on their face.
"What happened?"
"I-I don't know Sir." Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck Boris pulled him closer, eyes glowering.
"Find out."
"Yes, Sir." He took off running as soon as he was released stumbling over his own feet numerous times but always managing to stay on his feet.
Scowling he searched for his men, watching them battling the resistance with varying degrees of success. He could feel his frown deepening, searching out Brooklyn, wanting to hear from the redhead himself that the resistance's top bladers had been taken down and were accounted for. With them out of the way he could move forwards much more quickly.
He couldn't see him nor could he see Zeus, a fact that worried him. He couldn't still be fighting the Majestics could he? He'd been able to see him fighting Enrique and Oliver, but he'd disappeared while searching for Robert, dropping down into the forest and cutting him off from Boris' sight. A fact that made him nervous, what if his time in frozen suspension meant he'd been surpassed? That was impossible wasn't it? Brooklyn had been far superior to the other mongrels that had bared their teeth at Lord Voltaire. It wasn't possible he was surpassed in power was it?
oooo
Johnny paced the forest with his bit beast at his side, the two with set scowls on their faces.
"God I'm bored, where is everyone. This was meant to be crawling with Voltaire's lackeys." He kicked at an overturned tree's roots, dirt still falling from the roots and landing on his fiery hair. Shaking his head to rid himself of the dirt he dusted his hair down, scowling at the snickering bit beast. "Shut up, do you want me to stuff you back in your chip? Don't think I won't."
That shut him up, silence falling over them quicker than he could blink.
"Where is everyone? I'm gonna kill Robert." He was walking with his head down, startling when a root smashed him across the forehead. "And why are so many goddamn trees turned over. You'd think a meteor crashed or something!" Swatting at the root haphazardly he grunted in annoyance before snapping it off with more than enough force and stomping on it.
'You're such a hothead,' Salamalyon shook his head, chuckling to himself. His blader glaring at him pointedly, eyes narrowing into pin pricks and finger jabbing into his side.
"Laugh it up, we'll see who's laughing later. And I am not a hothead!"
'Right, course not, anyone would try fighting trees just because they're overturned.'
"Shut up!" He huffed angrily, stomping on ahead and leaving the salamander to follow behind, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation at his blader's antics.
A long deep groan of pain startled the two from their light banter, their heads snapping in the direction of the fallen woodland before running off towards where the noise seemed to originate from.
Laid strewn across the ground covered in debris and lying in a long deep crater was Oliver, face down with blood and dirt soiling his usually pristine clothing.
"Oliver!" Panicked he dove for the boy, turning him onto his back and dusting the dirt from his face, watching as he coughed and spluttered trying to clear his airways.
"Johnny!" He gasped, reaching up to touch the boy's face, a smile crossing his face briefly before it fell, his eyes glazing over. "Johnny I'm so sorry, I, I fucked up. I lost. I failed you guys." He'd never heard the petite boy swear before but that didn't shock him nearly as much as the angst in his voice, his fingers clenching into the dirt at his side.
"Calm down Oliver, it's fine. Who was it?" He couldn't deny that he was mad, he couldn't say he wasn't disappointed in the green haired teen. But he wasn't about to say that, not with the state he's in.
"Brooklyn."
He froze, could have sworn his blood ran cold at that very moment. Brooklyn, they couldn't stand against him. What had happened while he was walking the forest? Was Enrique alright? Robert?
Shaking the thought from his mind he stood linking his arms around Oliver's waist and pulling him up from the ground and throwing him over his shoulder.
"Ow! Johnny I can walk you know."
"Be quiet and keep still. You're in no shape to move. Come on, I'll get us somewhere we can see and we'll go find Enrique. Is Unicolyon alright?"
"Yeah, I think so, we crashed pretty hard but he didn't say anything so I figured he was good." There was a slight strain to his voice, pain lacing through the teen as he tried to reposition himself in a more comfortable position on the angry one's arm.
"Has he been speaking at all? That was a pretty big crash back there."
"No, he's the strong silent type. If something was wrong he'd have told me." Not entirely convinced he glanced to his bit beast, walking to his left, the burly creature nodding slightly before shattering back into his chip to speak with the unicorn.
"Keep quiet, you're hurt pretty bad, don't waste unnecessary energy." He only nodded in response, slumping against his shoulder and letting him carry him towards wherever he was going.
oooo
Ian paced back and forth where he stood with his group, they were taking down a good many with few loses on their side. It seemed something had gone off in the castle as all the robotic guards dropped to the ground halving their numbers and shocking the living guards enough to make them easy targets.
Still, he couldn't help worry, what had happened to make all the guards malfunction like that? Was Ray's group the cause of it or were they suffering the effects? His heart pounded heavily in his chest at the thought of them being stranded and helpless before he shook it far away. He was being ridiculous. They were more than capable of taking care of themselves. Now all he had to do was push forwards and take back more ground. Voltaire was sure to be sweating. The man had always underestimated them, now he was suffering the consequences of that judgement.
"Everybody, push forwards, send them back to the castle. Don't let them gain any ground!" He commanded, sending out his own bit beast, the creature bursting from the chip attached to his wrist and burrowing deep underground, tunnels of dirt being flung up as it powered towards the building.
Looking around for any eyes on him he jumped into the hole, thankful that the bit beast himself was drawing so much attention. He ran through the hole, even with his short stature he was only just missing scraping the top, small strings of sunlight piercing through the cracks in the soil and illuminating his way slightly. The end of the tunnel lit up with the afterglow of his bit beast, the snake shedding some luminescent scales as he slithered.
Dusting his hair of dirt as he ran he stopped at the end of the tunnel, his bit beast waiting for him to arrive before shooting upwards vertically and shattering once he'd fractured the ground above.
"Great, you couldn't have just moved back to give me some light?" He mumbled bitterly, using the uneven dirt walls to climb up to the thin roof.
'I didn't want to get in the way.'
"You're a snake, you could have created a new place to go. Hell, you could have even played the part of a footrest. Whatever, I don't have time for this."
'For someone who doesn't have time you sure have a lot to say.' Ian glared bitterly at the chip dangling from his wrist, grumbling to himself as he tested the strength of floor above his head.
The few bonds holding the floor together broke with his gentle push and he was able to lift the floor up ever so slightly and peak out. He could see a broken guard, as well as a flickering light bulb.
Whatever had happened outside had occurred in here too, and Ian would bet anything that it originated from his friends.
With a final quick check he pushed the floor up and to the side, leaving him free to climb out with little effort.
The room was silent and dark, the single flickering bulb continuously going blank and leaving him in the dark.
He walked forwards, feeling around for anything to get a hold of and regain his bearings. His hand grasping onto what he thought was a door handle and pulling down gently. But instead of a door swinging open a loud siren cry erupted from the room a bright red light flashing overhead swallowing the blinking bulb and drowning the room in light.
"Oh great." He sighed, releasing whatever he'd grabbed and stepping back, looking around desperately for a way to shut it off. "Should have seen that coming."
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