"Pink Lace.. I think its time to focus on the game again." Pebblesprite said.
Pink Lace Agate had been nervous for hours. Her Rubies could be impulsive sure but it wasn't like them at all to just wander off alone, especially in a place like this.
The Agate had searched high and low but there wasn't a trace of them; helped none by the local's refusal to talk with one another or her.
"I know you're worried," the sprite said, "But if we're too late beating the game, we're all doomed anyway. If we keep exploring LoGAD, we're bound to find them eventually." Pink Lace sighed, "You're right.. you're right. I just.."
"They'll be fine," Pebblesprite assured her, "They have each other for fusion after all, and they were trained by you. Anyone trying to hurt them is gonna have another thing coming."
Pebblesprite could see that her words were working, making Pink Lace relax a bit. She smiled, happy that she could perform her function.
As a sprite, the knowledge that she needed to keep the players playing at all costs was baked into her.
She just wished she believed a word she was saying. Pink Lace nodded, turning to head off back to the Candle Hall. She'd caught wind that there was some kind of other power she was able to manifest, and if anywhere was going to help her unlock them, that would be the place.
Pebblesprite followed after her, ready to help her however she could, so long as the game would allow it..
River's bo staff clashed with Meghan's. Well, Meghan's was technically the handle from a broom. They'd had to improvise as the elite didn't exactly spare weapons for their servants.
Of all the ursa servants, only Meghan seemed interested in helping River train, though in order for that to happen she had to be trained herself. So most of River's time, when she wasn't cleaning or otherwise serving LoKaB elite, was spent with Meghan; the two honing their skills together.
She'd learned a lot of LoKaB's history from Meghan, about how before the Denizen had arrived, all consorts had been free to live their lives as they so chose.
But the Denizen, Typheus, had arrived some generations back and started wreaking havoc. Before curling up into their own territory, he had appointed several of the consorts, seemingly arbitrarily, as the Kings of the land.
Since then, the Kings ruled with an iron fist, clinging to their 'god given' power. River was unsettled as she listened, and was unsettled more by the fact that she was unsettled. It sounded.. scarily similar to her own culture.
The difference of course, she convinced herself, being that Gems really were created with all the power she would ever have. How exactly River was a fighter when other pearls were not... is something she opted not to dwell on.
Then again, if River had become a fighter, and she was on a mission to change the world... perhaps Meghan could do so as well...
And if Meghan was training to fight back against her masters...
Rhodochrosite looked out over a massive, thick, vicious expanse of red liquid.
The Type O Ocean, an ocean of hot, roiling blood filled with monsters of all kinds. The consorts of LoLoL had been hesitant to talk at first, but she tended to have a way with people once given a chance, and soon enough of them had opened up for her to realize that this ocean was the largest source of trouble for them all.
It was starting to overflow it seems, and each tide or wave that reached a little too far inland brought with it blood born monsters that would rain terror on the consorts. The immediate solution would be to fight off said monsters and maybe help them bolster their defenses.
But Rhodi was an engineer after all, and was more keen on fixing the problem permanently, and that meant removing the ocean as a problem altogether. She could do quite a lot, but draining an ocean to acceptable levels was a bit of an ask for her. So for this, she'd needed to call in the cavalry.
"Nice to finally see you in person."
The fusion greeted as Lazurite landed next to her. "Same to you." Lazurite said with a smile, catching Rhodochrosite off guard. She'd been expecting some kind of reaction to her being a fusion. The lazuli did seem surprised, but also didn't seem to care. She supposed Lazurite was one of the better friends in their little group.
"Think you can handle all this? Sorry for springing it on you out of nowhere." She apologized.
Lazurite snickered, "It's been awhile since I've had this much liquid to really work with. Might be a little shaky, but I think I can manage."
Lazurite stepped forward, closing her eyes as she held her hands out, focusing her powers on the vast ocean before her. There was silence and stillness for a moment before the blood began to seemingly stir and bubble.
The lapis drew the liquid towards a singe point, from which it began to rise up and into the air. Rhodochrosite watched in awe as the displace, the blue gem's power slowly forcing more of the blood together and outwards, forming an arc to move the blood into the closest and most wide open area; which had the dual purpose of also drowning any land based monsters in the area.
Rhodochrosite nearly asked her to stop when she saw her start to strain herself, body starting to shake as her teeth grit.
She wasn't nearly done and if she was struggling already she was likely to hurt herself. But the fusion was stopped by the odd, purple haze that seemed to form around Lazurite.
It flowed like smoke, and seemed to draw inward towards Lazurite's gem, which began to glow purple with it.
As she became more aware of this odd energy, she realized that it was trailing back to the consort villages, seeming to rising from them and flow out into Lazurite. She wanted to question what was happening, but could see that whatever it was, it was stabilizing Lazurite.
Her shaking stopped, the flow of blood out of the ocean not only carrying on, but increasing in power. It wasn't just helping Lazurite, it was boosting her something.
Worried that questions would break the blue gem's focus and end whatever was happening, Rhodi bit her tongue for the time being, allowing Lazurite to do her thing, forcing more and more blood out of the Type O Ocean.
In moments the shore line was drawing back. In minutes, massive misshapen monsters that was had lived within the blood were beached on now dry land, slowly drying out themselves and dying, bursting into grist as they did. It was quite the sight to say the least.
Finally, Lazurite had drained the ocean to the point that it couldn't possibly become an issue for consorts, leaving not only a massive amount of grist, but also previously hidden items and treasures that had been submerged.
"That... that was incredible!" Rhodi exclaimed as Lazurite panted, "Th.. thanks.." She panted.
"What.. what was that?" Rhodochrosite questioned, "That.. purple.. smokey stuff." Lazurite, once she picked herself up, seemed to beam at the question.
"New.. power. I think it comes from the game. Desert Glass says that I'm 'using negative energy', which sounds more evil than its turned out to be. Whenever something is frustrating or angering or scary, I can draw that out and use those feelings like energy. Its.. very useful." She said, gesturing to the newly formed Type O lake.
"No kidding.. not too shabby for someone Homeworld shunted to a side project." Rhodochrosite snorted. Lazurite chuckled, "You can say that again. Let me know if you need anymore help, I'll be back on my land. I've got a storm monster to fight."
And with that, Lazurite took off back towards the Gate to return to her own land, leaving Rhodochrosite to wonder if she had some kind of hidden power within this game to...
White Corundum: So it's, like, a desert on your land?
Green Spinel: Yep. Super bright one two. There's, like, four suns here. You know its too bright when a being mostly made of the stuff is getting blinded. Then again after everything that happened on Maxi's.. I'm almost glad to be back.
White Corundum: Yeah that sounded really rough. You sure you're okay?
Green Spinel: I'll be fine. It was definitely a shock to see it, but she seems to be alright, if a little... confused by the clothing change. Won't hear me complaining though, heh.
Green Spinel: But enough about me, how goes it with you?
White Corundum: It's.. fine. Boring really.
Green Spinel: Really? Sounded pretty miserable earlier.
White Corundum: Yeah.. just.. kind of lost. Its just all green everywhere so its hard to know where to go. I guess your desert probably has the same problem ^^U
Green Spinel: Corundum you don't know the half of it XD
White Corundum: Heh, I'll bet.
White Corundum: I.. I'd really like to see you. Like, in person.
Green Spinel: Then we'd better get off of here and get to finding out way around these lands!
White Corundum: Yeah.. good point. Talk to you later.
White Corundum signed out and looked up from the machine, the small amount of mental clarify she'd gained from focusing on Green Spinel burning up like the trees around her.
She was so lost and confused, she couldn't make heads or tails of anything.
She didn't know where she was, she didn't know why fire kept happening, she didn't know why it burned black, she didn't know why there were cracks forming in her helmet, she didn't know why she felt so dizzy and woozy all the time now and she really didn't know she felt so tense when Spinel called her by her name.
All she did know is that she wanted to find and meet her, and if nothing else, the train of fire she was at least making getting through the jungle easier.