The Battle of Summoner's Rift has begun. It is now all or nothing as the Guardians and the Void fight to destroy the other's nexus to release the energy that both sides to desperately need. One to save the world, the other to destroy it. Who will emerge victorious?

Chapter 34 – The Battle of Summoner's Rift

As the light faded, Lux looked beneath her and quickly braced herself for a landing. However, the hard landing she was expecting didn't happen. The light placed her, and by all indications, the rest of her team, gently on the hard stone altar. As they all stood up and quickly accessed the store from the gauntlets.

"Grab what you need." Lux ordered and then she turned around to leave the altar, but was stopped by what looked like a ghost gate. The rest of the team waited at the gates until they collapsed a few seconds later. "Move!" The team ran out and divided into their various lanes. Lulu went top, Lux headed up the middle, and Poppy, Janna, and Jinx headed into the jungle to grab the first buff from the large lizard.

"Ok so how do we communicate through this then?" Lux said out loud as she reached the outer turret.

"Um I can hear you fine." Janna said and Lux was surprised. There was no way they could communicate at this point without yelling, but it sounded like Janna was next to her.

"How? Normally the summoners could because they would be in the same room so how can we hear each other?" Poppy was also curious as she moved into the bush with Jinx next to the lizard spawn point.

"My guess is that Vel'Koz modified something to allow us to communicate." Lux said and there was a general note of agreement. "Uh oh!" Lux looked up to see the entire Void team charging right at her. Lux threw out a singularity, hitting all five of them and started throwing bolts from her baton as she moved back.


As the light faded, Malzahar, after recovering from the delivery to the large stone altar, started floating again. The rest of his team immediately started heading for the edge of the altar but were stopped by an almost invisible gate.

"We have a battle to fight, what is this?" Kha'Zix said as they tried to push against the barrier. Suddenly it collapsed and Kha'Zix fell forward. The rest of the team laughed and then looked at Malzahar.

"Charge up the middle. Try to surprise them." The rest of the team followed Malzahar up the middle and after they hit the river, they all saw the leader of the guardians underneath one of the large stone structures. "Get her!" Malzahar ordered and the whole team charged. She turned, saw them, and threw out her singularity, which hit all five of them. They still continued despite the damage but they encountered a problem. The second they got close, the large stone structure started throwing out very large energy bolts.

Within seconds, Cho'Gath, who was in front, was killed, followed by Kog'Maw who tried to follow up. Unfortunately, Kog'Maw also fell to the turret and tried to get the guardian after he "died" but he couldn't get close enough before he exploded. "Retreat!" Malzahar ordered but not before Rek'Sai also fell. Malzahar and Kha'Zix retreated to their stone structure, and recalled to the altar, where they saw Cho'Gath, Rek'Sai, and Kog'Maw regenerate.

"Well that wasn't good." Cho'Gath's voice wasn't hiding his anger. "What else did that book say?" He turned to Malzahar who quickly looked up something on the gauntlet. The rest of the team looked as well but a voice suddenly startled them.

"MINIONS HAVE SPAWNED!"

They looked to see their minions spawning from their nexus. They were all confused and looked back at the gauntlets. After another few precious seconds, they all turned to Malzahar. "This could have been avoided Great Prophet by sharing the information that was in that book." Cho'Gath's sarcasm was undeniable.

"Fine, just buy and get going." The Voidlings bought and Kha'Zix headed towards the large stone golem with Rek'Sai and Kog'Maw, Cho'Gath headed towards the top lane, and Malzahar went up the center.


Lux was still in shock that they all charged right at her, but the turret did a lot of work. Still getting three kills quickly was more gold in her pocket. Recalling quickly, Lux bought one item and headed back to her lane. Janna, Poppy, and Jinx moved to the center to help Lux, but turned around when they saw the void retreating. Moving back to the bush, the second the lizard crawled out of the ground, Jinx opened fire with her minigun, Janna provided a shield for Poppy, who then knocked the lizard into the wall to stun it. Once it's health was low enough, Janna and Jinx headed for their lane and Poppy headed around the corner to the krug camp.

As they both got into the lane, Jinx quickly switched to Kuro and got the first three melee minions and switched back to Shiro for the other three caster minions. Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai wandered into lane at the end of the second wave and Kog'Maw barely got one minion before the blue minions were pressing them back into their turret. The next wave wasn't going to arrive for a bit, so Kog'Maw tried to farm what he could while Rek'Sai helped. Jinx and Janna got a couple of hits onto the turret, but with the wave thinning, they retreated to reset the lane.

Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai both came out with the wave, and Kog'Maw took the opportunity to hit Jinx directly with a few acid shots. Immediately, the blue minions focused him and ignored everything else. Kog'Maw retreated while Rek'Sai distracted Janna and drew some of Jinx's fire to let him retreat. Kog'Maw ate the health potion he was carrying to stay in lane a little more. Firing off a caustic shot, he retreated further to get cover. He wondered by there were things he couldn't use, like how he couldn't speed up his acid shot, his ooze, or his artillery. It was then he noticed he had unspent ability points and quickly invested in his ooze.

Moving back with the next wave, Jinx started to slow down firing while Kog'Maw sped up his attacks. The wave cleared and they started to push the Guardians back. No sooner then they crossed the mid-point in the lane, Poppy came tearing out of the bush and charged straight at Kog'Maw, who sent his ooze to slow her down. Rek'Sai burrowed and they both managed to get away, but surrendered their pressure in the process.

"Don't let that happen again." Kog'Maw spit at Rek'Sai, who used the trinket she picked up to place a ward in the bush. It was joined a few seconds later by Janna as Rek'Sai tunneled underneath the rock to get back into lane.

"Don't come back for a while. It's warded." Janna warned Poppy, who was buying at the altar.

"Got it." Poppy looked over the map, and the small one in the gauntlet and set off again into the forest.


Lux, after that disastrous opening by Malzahar and company, was already overpowering the void leader. Knowing know how the arena worked, Malzahar made quick work of the ropes and was matching Lux for minion deaths, but she still had raw power over him. Malzahar kept burning mana generating voidlings to help him while Lux kept blowing them up. Malzahar kept trying to pull her forward to allow Kha'Zix to help, but it wasn't working. Lux was being careful to not stray too far from her tower and was using it as both an invisibility detector and as cover.

For her part, Lux knew that Malzahar would eventually get help, so she kept the wave neutral and fighting only when he tried to do something. She kept her binding in reserve as it was probably the only thing she would have against Kha'Zix jumping right on top of her. Instead, she kept using bolts from her baton and her singularity to get minions kills. She was a little ahead but not by much. She kept working the wave, keeping it neutral and even slowly drawing it towards her tower. Kha'Zix could gank a lot easier than Poppy, so she was trying to make it more difficult and easier respectively.

Malzahar, growing angry, saw Kha'Zix in the bush and saw his chance. He called to the void to silence Lux, who quickly discovered herself unable to cast spells and quickly retreated. Kha'Zix jumped from cover right on top of her and Lux sent a few bolts while chugging the health potion she was carrying. The silence wore off and she cast her binding, catching both Kha'Zix and Malzahar, but they were both out of turret range. Taking a chance, Lux sent bolts towards the two of them. Malzahar responded by casing his visions on Lux to try and distract her but she managed to then get off a singularity and more bolts to force them both back.

Malzahar cast another call and it silenced Lux again to prevent her from chasing more. Seeing Poppy running towards the two injured voidlings, Lux called out to her. "Let them go. We don't need to repeat what they did."

"Got it. Oh no." Poppy charged across the lane, through the minion wave running towards top lane while Lux cleaned up the current cannon wave before heading back to the altar to purchase more.


After Janna and Jinx left, Poppy charged into the krugs and pinned the larger one against the wall. Once she finished off the larger one, it split into two smaller ones. "Oh come on." She groaned while swinging her hammer again. Taking out one of the medium sized ones, it split again. "Seriously…" Poppy charged again, pinning another of the medium sized ones against a wall, stunning it, and destroying the other one. She then focused on destroying the remaining medium sized one, then dealt with the 6 small ones.

Grabbing the potion on her belt, Poppy took a large swig to regenerate her health, and moved to the Raptor camp. She charged into the camp and pinned the large one against the wall, and then hammered the others and focused on each in turn while trying to get rid of them all. With her health low, Poppy slammed her hammer into the ground again as she gained another level and threw her buckler to generate a shield. This allowed her to finish the camp and then she took stock of the map while wading into the river to pop one of the plants to get some more health back.

As she finished picking up the melons, Poppy looked between the mid and bot lanes. Lux was pushing up slowly, while keeping Malzahar from calling for backup without overextending. Janna and Jinx however were falling back from the opposing turret, so she wandered down the river, where they both saw her coming, and backed off. Poppy moved into the bush alongside the bottom of the river and waited for her opportunity.

As Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai cleared the wave and pushed forward, Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai went forward as well. Janna and Jinx fell back, and Poppy charged out of the bush. Kog'Maw reacted quickly and got Poppy caught in his ooze. Seeing the opportunity was lost, Poppy went back as Janna and Jinx moved up to prevent further loss of pressure. Leaning through the brush she charged out of Poppy moved up the river and towards the mid lane where Lux and Malzahar were keeping each other busy.

As she approached the mid lane, she saw Kha'Zix jumping onto Lux, or at least trying. Running as fast as she could, Poppy moved to cut off their retreat as Lux caught Malzahar and Kha'Zix in a binding. As it wore off, and Lux sent more bolts their way, Poppy started to charge across the lane, before Lux waved her off. "Let them go. We don't need to repeat what they did."

"Got it. Oh no." Poppy glanced towards the top lane and saw Lulu running down the river. Charging forward, Poppy was both keeping an eye on Kha'Zix, who was going back to base, and on Lulu, who was still running towards her with Cho'Gath in hot pursuit. "This isn't going to be fun."


Lulu happily skipped to the top lane, and walked around while waiting for whoever who be opposing her. Lulu then noticed that no one was coming and looked around.

"Uh oh." Lux yelled from the mid lane and Lulu turned to see everyone charging right at her. Moving as quickly as she could, Lulu started to move to help Lux, but the voidlings quickly retreated and Lulu, after seeing Lux starting to recall, returned to her lane and waited in the bush.

"MINIONS HAVE SPAWNED!" Lulu decided to wait until whoever showed up before moving out of the bush, but careful enough to avoid missing valuable gold from minions. Waiting until the last minute, Lulu couldn't wait any longer and came out from the bush to grab the first kills. She waited for the minions to duke it out, and the second wave had already arrived when Cho'Gath finally wandered into the lane.

Immediately he was hit with a glitterlance and Lulu kept moving around to prevent Cho'Gath from getting to close and to keep him from picking up minion kills. Cho'Gath for his part, kept trying to get at Lulu, both by trying to get close, and by slamming the ground for his spikes, but she kept dodging around.

"Would you hold still!" Cho'Gath roared after Lulu once again dodged his spikes. Lulu just giggled in replay and shot another glitterlance then retreated being another approaching wave. Lulu kept edging out Cho'Gath but it was only a matter of time until she messed up. He then saw an opportunity as Lulu pinned herself against a wall. Slamming the ground again, he finally managed to knock her up.

"Help Pix!" Lulu called and Pix flew back to Lulu, providing a shield and then Lulu turned to see Cho'Gath approaching. "Fuzzy!" and the next thing Cho'Gath knew, he was a tiny little animal and he quickly ran back from Lulu, who charged forward and threw another glitterlance in Cho'Gath's direction. Once he resumed his usual form, Cho'Gath slammed the ground in anger but missed everything.

Lulu kept up a steady stream of autos, which kept Cho'Gath at bay, but Lulu was careful not to push him into the tower. She kept him back, but let the wave fall towards her tower. Cho'Gath kept up his attacks but Lulu kept dodging around. They both kept this up for a while until Lulu again got herself into a pickle.

As Lulu attempted to get another shot off with a glitterlance, she moved against the rock wall. Cho'Gath slammed the ground again and managed to catch Lulu in his spikes. Landing hard back onto the ground, Lulu scrambled to her feet. She turned to shoot a glitterlance into Cho'Gath to get him to back off, but Cho'Gath roared and Lulu found herself unable to do anything. Thinking, quickly, she turned again and started running back towards her turret to provide cover. However, she wasn't fast enough.

Cho'Gath slammed the ground again and managed to catch Lulu again on the edge his spikes, sending her into the air again. Lulu managed to recover quickly and actually managed to get off a glittlerlance off and managed to get Pix to generate another shield as Cho'Gath shot more spikes in her direction. Cho'Gath roared again and he charged down to try and get Lulu before she got into the range of the turret. As Lulu got near the range however, she suddenly turned around. Cho'Gath, smiled and charged right into their trap.

"Fuzzy!" Cho'Gath suddenly found himself a small animal again. He moved back a bit, and waited for the spell to wear off. The second it did, Cho'Gath turned to move against Lulu again, but she shot another glitterlance into his face. Cho'Gath roared, and managed to catch Lulu, but that is exactly what she wanted. She retreated a little further and Cho'Gath advanced, then he found himself pinned into the opposite wall. Poppy had come from the river, and Lulu seeing it, decided to bait Cho'Gath into a trap, and he fell right into it.

Cho'Gath, once he recovered from the stun, attempted to retreat. Slamming the ground again, he attempted to knock at least one of them into the air, but they both moved out of the way and Poppy threw her buckler and generated a shield to protect herself from Cho'Gath's spikes. Lulu threw another shield as she directed Pix to help. Lulu then threw a glitterlance to help. Poppy slammed her hammer into the ground and then right into Cho'Gath lag. Cho'Gath howled but he knew that he was caught.

Lulu threw another glittlerlance and transfigured Cho'Gath again and Poppy backed off a bit, then once again slammed Cho'Gath into the wall. Poppy then backed off and Lulu threw a few blots at Cho'Gath, and he finally went down.

"An enemy has been slain" came a voice. Poppy and Lulu looked around, but then noticed that their gold had increased. "I'm going to get a few more minions." Lulu said to Poppy and she nodded in reply. Poppy went back into the jungle and charged right into a large frog thing. Lulu destroyed a few more minions then began recalling. Just as she finished Cho'Gath reappeared in lane, using his teleport. He however, wasn't well rewarded for his speedy return as Lulu kept the lane neutral and he had to deal with farming the next wave.

At the fountain, Lulu bought a few items, and went back to lane. 'This is no time to be silly.' She thought to herself, as she picked carefully what to buy. She then skipped back to lane.


After the giant frog thing finally exploded, Poppy recalled to buy. She arrived at the fountain just as Lulu was skipping away. Poppy grabbed what she could, and then she saw that if she waited a few seconds, then she would get something she needed. Waiting, she got what she needed, and then headed back into the jungle. She took out the krugs and birds again before she saw an opportunity.

Malzahar was bearing down on Lux and Kha'Zix had joined the fun. She walked around the wall from the bird pit and got behind them both.


Lux was still fighting Malzahar in the middle lane, and she was more than holding her own. She was careful however to keep the lane neutral, but there was no stopping the inevitable push. Looking at her gold, she saw that she could get several items that she needed, but couldn't leave the lane but she was also getting dangerously far up. It was them Malzahar made his move.

He threw his silence on Lux and she immediately back pedaled but not before Kha'Zix jumped in from the bush on the left side of the river. They both managed to do a lot of damage before the silence wore off. Lux immediately cast her barrier and it absorbed some critical damage, but she was still in trouble. She was almost at her tower when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she then spun on her heal and threw her binding, catching both Kha'Zix and Malzahar.

Taking advantage of that, Poppy charged, slamming them both into pillar and stunning them. Lux threw out her singularity and Poppy managed a few hits with her hammer as both Kha'Zix and Malzahar attempted to retreat. But, Lux was ready again. Throwing another binding, she caught Kha'Zix, as the minions has switched from other minions to target Malzahar, and he went down as Lux threw a few autos in his direction.

"An enemy has been slain." Came a voice, but they both weren't done. Turning, Lux and Poppy charged Malzahar, who was almost back to his turret. Lux threw out a singularity to slow him, which worked, then an empowered bolt. Somehow Malzahar survived it, but not when Poppy threw her bucker at him.

"An enemy has been slain." Looking around, they both charged the turret and got in a few good hits, breaking off a piece of its outer armor before they were forced to retreat. They both started recalling, before Poppy stopped and started charging towards the bottom lane. Lux, looking as well, stopped her recall as well and followed.


Janna and Jinx weren't exactly having a good time. Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai had recovered from their mistakes earlier and were pulling back, and pushing hard. They were almost backed up to their turret, even with Jinx switching between Shiro and Kuro and poking both of them. The problem was, they both poked right back.

"Is there any way you can keep them off of me?" Jinx said in frustration as Rek'Sai once again hit her with a seeker.

"I'm trying, but he keeps using that sludge." Janna said as she threw a shield around Jinx.

"Damage doesn't seem to worry them. They keep coming." Jinx said as she switched back to Kuro and threw a few rockets down range. Kog'Maw responded by throwing more sludge and then charging forward. "Come here…" Jinx then muttered as she reached for her chompers. Janna however managed to hold her back. Jinx, at first angry, saw out of the corner of her eye what was going on.

"Hold here, keep them coming forward." Janna said to Jinx as Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai were clearly setting up for a major attack. Jinx, looking between her and their two opponents saw that as well. Instead however of doing something stupid, Jinx carefully walked back a few steps, before switching back to Shiro and pumping out a few shots to try and draw them in further.

They took a few steps forward as the new wave arrived and that was enough to trigger the bait. Rek'Sai, who was already burrowed, charged forward and popped up, knocking both Janna and Jinx into the air, but then she came down, right on top of Jinx's chompers, which Kog'Maw also stepped on, but they both still kept attacking, while Jinx and Janna retreated. As Jinx and Janna were almost in their tower's range, both voidlings charged forward again but they were both caught up as Lux threw her binding and caught them both. As it wore off, they both turned and tried to run, but only were hit by Poppy, charging and knocking them both into a wall.

It didn't take long for both of them to go down with both Lux and Jinx taking a kill each. As they all started to recall, Lux suddenly broke off and charged the tower. Janna, Poppy, and Jinx followed and they did a fair amount of damage before they were forced to retreat. They weren't done however as Lux saw through a ward Poppy dropped in the river as they came down that Kha'Zix and Malzahar were trying to flank them.

Lux nodded in their direction and Jinx immediately started running towards their tower, acting as bait. Kha'Zix took it and jumped right on top of her, but only to get caught in Jinx's choppers as Malzahar missed his silence. Jinx stepped back a few steps and started firing while Lux shielded everyone, and bound them both. They didn't go down as fast, as they both bought items, but Kha'Zix went down first while Malzahar went down after Poppy charged him into a wall, after Lux broke his spell shield with a singularity.

Looking around Lux again didn't recall. "Dragon!" She yelled and the other joined her. Shielding the entire squad, Jinx zapped to wake up the dragon, which was a nice aqua blue, and they all charged the large beast. Janna took note that Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai had returned to the lane, and were farming so they weren't in that much danger. After a half minute, they slew the dragon.

"Blue team has slain the dragon!" Came a very loud voice.

"Everyone get clear before you recall." Lux called and everyone spit up to recall. They all recalled back and then busied themselves at the shop. Getting much needed items, they all headed back to their lanes while Poppy went up towards the top to help Lulu.

As Poppy went through the jungle, it was clear she was going to have to move quickly. Lulu was getting pushed back. While she could dance circles around Cho'Gath, it was a matter of time before either she slipped up, or he'd catch her. Poppy made quick work of the wolves and of the giant frog thing before she turned top. By now however, Lulu was in serious trouble. Cho'Gath had managed to catch her and while not kill her, she did take quite a few nasty hits. It was about to get worse.

Lulu had managed to get a ward into the river bush, and Poppy saw Kha'Zix, fresh off of a respawn, charging towards the top lane. Poppy quickly moved to help. Lulu, saw both of them coming and quickly skipped back towards her tower, hitting Cho'Gath with a fresh glitterlance as she went.

"Help Pix!" Pix flew back to Lulu and provided her with a shield while she moved, however even she knew that it wasn't going to end well for her. As she dodged another shot of spikes from Cho'Gath, Poppy managed to pin Kha'Zix to a wall and wail on him a few times with her hammer. Lulu and Cho'Gath, seeing this, both charged to help, with Cho'Gath throwing another set of spikes, which Lulu dodged. Poppy however, wasn't in much danger as Kha'Zix immediately turned to try and jump Lulu, who quickly shielded herself again, and managed to dart past Cho'Gath and into the river.

Cho'Gath then turned back to Lulu, and Kha'Zix managed to dodge an attack from Poppy and hit Lulu with his spikes. Poppy tried to help, but Lulu went down. Both of them turned to Poppy who quickly retreated running towards the mid lane, where Lux was already moving to help, having pushed Malzahar back into his turret. Lux threw a shield to help Poppy escape and then a binding, connecting with both Kha'Zix and Cho'Gath. It was then she felt something in her, her full power. Quickly checking the gauntlet on her wrist, she was right. Quickly pressing the right most spell, Lux felt it and then leaped into the air.

"No more holding back!" She threw her spark. It was clear it didn't do as much damage as it normally would, but nevertheless, she did managed to force both Cho'Gath and Kha'Zix back. Malzahar tried to rush in and help, but Lux sent him back with a singularity before throwing a few bolts his way. Still, Lux had to be careful, while she did have her ultimate, Malzahar clearly also had his, and they had never faced him in battle. While his silence, minion spawn, and his visions were known, they had never seen what he could really do. Well Lux was finding out the hard way.

Cho'Gath and Kha'Zix quietly recalled in the jungle while Malzahar kept Lux or Poppy from trying to follow them. They both bought what they could and set out.

In the few seconds she had, Lux turned to see Lulu quickly rushing back up towards the top lane. "You ok?" She asked.

"Fine. That was weird and colorful." She responded, which just caused Lux to stand for a second, before she took a hit from Malzahar knocked her back to reality. Lux threw a singularity to smash his spell shield, and then a binding, but before she could get it off, he had her. Using the power of his mind, she found herself unable to move, or really think as Malzahar rooted her to the spot with a tether. A small void portal opened beneath her as well, inflicting further damage.

When it finally broke, Lux reacted quickly. She quickly moved out of the portal, threw a binding, a bolt, and then her shield. Malzahar hadn't finished her, but her carelessness had almost cost her. Quickly getting into turret range, and then running further back as a precaution, Lux recalled under the inner tower. Malzahar knew that chasing would be a bad idea, as he saw Kog'Maw being beaten back, with Rek'Sai clearly respawing, while Kha'Zix was in no way in the position to try and get Lux before she recalled.


In the bottom lane, Janna and Jinx were having a fun time. Janna would throw a twister, and even if she missed, Jinx would try and trap either Kog'Maw or Rek'Sai with her traps. While they hadn't connected, it was very effective at keeping them off the minions, and with Jinx only throwing last hits, using Kuro to throw rockets, she was almost freezing the lane.

Growing frustrated, Rek'Sai burrowed and then ran into a brush. Jinx and Janna both scattered and Rek'Sai charged forward. She managed to get Jinx, who was almost out of the way, but Janna quickly threw a twister to allow Jinx to pull back and get some space. Jinx, her traps still on cooldown, threw a zap at Kog'Maw to slow him, while switching to Shiro and hitting Rek'Sai as she got a few swipes in. Janna, however, was having to deal with Kog'Maw, who started bearing down on her.

Janna threw a shield to protect herself, while she was about ready to throw Zephyr to slow Kog'Maw, when she saw Jinx's Zap land. Janna, then waited until it had worn off, and then threw Zephyr onto Kog'Maw, which allowed her to pull out of Kog'Maw's range, forcing him back. Apparently Rek'Sai hadn't noticed that however as she kept pursuing Jinx, who just kept falling back. Janna moved to help and then Jinx's traps came off cooldown, which she then used. Rek'Sai fell right onto them and was rooted in place.

Jinx quickly turned and started pouring into Rek'Sai, while Janna waited for her abilities to come back and once they did, Rek'Sai attempted to retreat, but Janna quickly charged and threw a twister, which knocked Rek'Sai into the air, and Jinx was able to finish her off, granting her a speed boost, and they both charged after Kog'Maw while he ran back, defeated. Jinx tried to close the distance but there was no way she was going to catch Kog'Maw before he got back under the range of his turret. So instead, she went back to the minions, finishing off the current wave, and then both she and Janna recalled to the base. Both of them quickly bought various runes, and then headed back to their lane.


Upon returning to lane, Lux tried to get as many of the minions as she could as Malzahar pushed into the turret. He keeping throwing void energy at the turret to try and do as much damage as he could before he went back as well. Lux threw a singularity, but missed Malzahar as he retreated as one of the protective plates in front of her turret collapsed.

"That can't be good. Janna, do collapsing those plates give more gold?" Lux asked, as she threw bolts to get minions. Still on her way back to lane with Jinx, nodded, but Lux couldn't see it.

"Yes. They grant additional gold. Why?" Janna asked, turning towards the mid lane, before she realized that she can't see over the walls for the jungle.

"Malzahar just broke one. I'm going to try and get one."

"Be careful, don't overextend." Janna went back to helping Jinx and Lux nodded her head. Kha'Zix could attack from anywhere and she needed to be careful. Keeping that in mind, Lux kept the lane neutral, but she couldn't stop the wave from pushing on its own. When Malzahar returned, he seemed to be trying to draw Lux in, and she knew it. Looking around, she knew Kha'Zix would eventually ambush her. The wave however was pushing more and more so he'd be around soon.


Poppy was making her way through the jungle again, grabbing both of the large buffs and managing to get both scuttle crabs. It was then Poppy took a quick look around to see Lulu, being a lot more careful, keeping Cho'Gath close enough to her turret to stop another ambush. Janna and Jinx were pushed up, but had carefully warded to make sure Kha'Zix couldn't ambush them. That left Lux in the most danger, especially since she couldn't effectively ward both sides of the river, even with her help.

Looking around, she realized that she hadn't seen Kha'Zix in a while, and knew that he was falling behind. Deciding to take a chance, she moved across the lower river from the crab and moved into his jungle. Being careful, Poppy started going after the large frog thing. Just before she finished it, Kha'Zix jumped out of nowhere and ambushed her. Poppy managed to get the smite down on the frog, destroying it, and then turned to get out of the jungle, hitting Kha'Zix a few times in the process. He didn't give up and gave chase.

"Can I get a hand here?!" Poppy called out. Janna and Jinx, after slamming Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai into their turret quickly turned and headed down the river. Poppy lured Kha'Zix further and further. Getting frustrated, Kha'Zix leaped again, and Jinx, seeing that, quickly threw her traps. Kha'Zix did hit Poppy, but he also landed right on Jinx's traps. Jinx wasted no time in using Shiro to pummel him down. Just when it looked like the traps would wear off, Janna threw a twister to keep him from jumping away by knocking him into the air. Jinx never stopped firing.

To add further insult to injury, as soon as Kha'Zix landed, Poppy slammed him into the wall, pinning him, and allowing Jinx to finally finish him off. Just when Jinx got excited, Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai came to try and help, but it did little. Janna threw another twister, knocking them both into the air. Jinx, who's traps weren't off cooldown yet, just used her zap to slow Kog'Maw down as he tried to run away. As soon as she landed, Rek'Sai immediately burrowed into the ground and tunneled trying to land under the three Guardians, only to have Janna and Jinx move out of the way so while she knocked Poppy into the air, Jinx managed to get her traps back and she kept pursing Kog'Maw. While he did get out of range, Jinx pulled Shiro and Kuro together and threw her massive rocket in his direction, finishing him as well. Both then turned back to Rek'Sai, who was now very much alone.

Seeing no alternative, Rek'Sai used her flash to get across the wall and retreat before Jinx could run up on her. "So get the new dragon then?" Poppy asked as a roar echoed from the pit.

"Sure." Jinx ran towards the pit with Janna and Poppy following behind. Jinx threw another Zap to get the dragon agitated, which was now a brilliant white, and it charged. The three of them made short work of the dragon and it quickly fell. The second the dragon fell, there was an immediate reaction. An orange wave swept across the field and a notification came across their gauntlets. "The Inferno Blazes!" They all immediately took stock of the map. Various bushes burnt away, the entrance to the dragon pit widened, and several walls to the various buffs went away. As they studied this walking away from the bit, Lux saw something and called out.

"Watch out!" She warned but it was too late. Malzahar immediately used his Nether Grap on Jinx, who was rooted to the ground and unable to move. Janna quickly shielded Jinx, while Poppy charged Malzahar and was knocked out. Jinx, having taking quite a bit of damage, despite Janna's shield, immediately turned to run, throwing her traps to allow her to get away. Janna and Poppy however, stayed as Malzahar kept up the attacks, switching to Janna. Janna, seeing the writing on the wall, knew she couldn't get away and moved towards Lux, to allow her to get closer, then with the last of her HP, threw a twister, knocking Malzahar into the air as the voidlings took her down.

Malzahar, recovering quickly, tried to get away but Poppy swung her hammer then charged Malzahar and while she didn't pin him to a wall, she did manage to knock him right into Lux's binding. Throwing a bolt from her baton, Lux then threw her singularity to prevent him from getting away. Lux kept the singularity and didn't detonate it immediately to keep the slow from it. Once it did explode, Malzahar felt it, and then the subsequent bolts from Lux's baton. Just when Malzahar thought he would get away, Poppy charged again and this time managed to pin Malzahar against the river wall. Lux then jumped into the air.

"Final Spark!" The beam of light encompassed Malzahar, finishing him as well. Poppy, seeing her health, retreated and headed back towards the safety of Lux's turret, where Lux kept pushing but she recalled. Poppy quickly bought a few new runes just as Janna reappeared.

"So what was it like?" Poppy asked as she took another look at her options. Janna, also looking had a weird look on her face.

"It was…interesting. Like being in a nice waiting room honestly. I was floating in a bubble, or something like it, but again it was warm and welcoming. It isn't something I'd encourage, because it did hurt, but at least that part wasn't bad. But I could also see everything that was happening. So there's a bonus. I wasn't sure about communicating, but we should try it next time."

"Let's hope there isn't a next time." Poppy replied as she grabbed her hammer and headed back into the jungle.

"Agreed." Janna said as she headed back to the bottom lane, where Jinx was already getting minion as she had recalled after the previous fight. Kog'Maw had returned to lane, but was staying under the turret as Jinx kept pushing. Reaching Jinx, Janna threw another type of ward into the river to see through stealth, and joined Jinx. "Um we may not want to push this into the tower."

"Like, why not? They aren't going to be pushing out again." Jinx was clearly in the moment.

"Yeah, but Kha'Zix could also come and help them. And we just made it easier. Jinx, who had just finished a wave stopped in her tracks, clearly thinking.

"Uh…thinking is hard." Jinx said after a second.

"Well, do you want to keep running from something, or get gold?" Janna asked clearly annoyed as Jinx moved up.

"Um…Get gold."

"Then keep the minions in the center of the river. Makes it easier for Poppy to come down, but makes it harder for Kha'Zix." That got through if the look on Jinx's face was any indication.

"Well, ok. Let's get this last one, then let it fall back." Jinx said as she kept her distance, but still managed to get the full wave. The wave crashed against the tower, and while Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai managed to get a few, the turret took a lot minions. Jinx and Janna let the wave come down the lane before she managed to just last hit the minions.


Lulu and Cho'Gath almost seemed like they were dancing with each other as they both pushed and pulled the waves. Cho'Gath kept trying to push up, but Lulu's range kept him at bay. Lulu was very careful to manage the wave to keep it just at the edge of the river on the side closer to her turret. After her first death, she was being very careful and making sure that Kha'Zix couldn't charge up the river, but given his jumping ability, he could still come from behind, which is why Lulu had a ward watching her back. Still, it almost looked like she was playing with Cho'Gath as she danced around, hitting him with bolts and glitterlances while he literally stomped the ground.

"Will you just hold still!" Cho'Gath roared as he missed again with is spikes.

"I recommend skipping." Lulu almost seemed to be taunting Cho'Gath in her reply, but it was enough. Cho'Gath roared in fury and charged down the lane. He flashed forward to use his roar to silence Lulu, who only moved quickly back towards her tower. Cho'Gath was now dangerously overextended, and while Kha'Zix had seen this and was running to help, Poppy got there first. Charging out from bush at the edge of the river, Poppy immediately charged just as Lulu managed to get her voice back.

"Fuzzy!" Lulu yelled and Cho'Gath knew that he'd overdone it. He was instantly a small squirrel and Poppy, seeing the opportunity, charged, pinning Cho'Gath to the turret. She immediately turned and raised her hammer above her head, spinning it. Lulu, with the help of the stun from Poppy's charge, and the turret, managed to finish off Cho'Gath and he vanished as the magics that encompassed the arena took him for respawning. Lulu moved forward to help Poppy, who quickly signaled her to go back. Lulu instead waited by the turret while Poppy brought her hammer down, sending Kha'Zix all the way back into his jungle.

"Now come on!" Poppy yelled and Lulu quickly followed her. Kha'Zix was not going to let that one get away. He went stealthed and saw Lulu get into the bush that Poppy had charged out of just a few second ago and jumped into the middle of it. While it was true that Lulu was low on health, Poppy was waiting for this. Charging again, she pinned Kha'Zix against the wall, while Lulu hit him with a glitterlance, then a few bolts from her staff, and then called Pix to her for a shield while she retreated. Poppy, sung her hammer a few times, and after another few shots from Lulu, managed to take down Kha'Zix, giving each of them a nice healthy pile of gold.

Poppy, looking around, saw that she wasn't needed anywhere for the moment, and headed back into the jungle, while Lulu recalled back to the base. Quickly buying a few items, she was back in lane before Cho'Gath returned, and immediately did the same thing of keeping the wave near her side of the river. Cho'Gath knew he couldn't overextend again, so he made sure to keep the river with a ward and keep an eye on Poppy, as best he could. While he was almost had enough gold to get the item that he was working towards, he needed more. So he had to keep playing the guardian's game.


In the mid lane, Malzahar was pinned but he was getting wise to the tricks of his opponent. He was also learning the movement of the field. Still, he couldn't beat her at the moment in a one to one fight. Outside of this arena, he knew that he could, but because of the magics that were here, there was little he could do. The energy that they could get from the release of that nexus wasn't something he could ignore. Still, if the battle went the other way, the energy the guardians would get would be enough to hold him off for a while or worse, and that energy was growing by the minute. The longer they could drag out the fight, the more energy they would get.

He kept his eyes oh Kha'Zix and waited for his moment to strike, but Kha'Zix seemed to have other ideas. He was never in a good position. Growing angry, and after catching more than a few singularities from his opponent, he had to return. After arriving at the altar, he bought a few new runes, and as he was leaving, Kha'Zix arrived back at the altar.

"Where have you been? I need help and you are off dying and getting yourself into trouble!"

"Well Prophet, if you would let the guardian push into you, then maybe I can try something, but you keep insisting on pushing into her." Kha'Zix carefully worded his response to make sure his butt was covered. "Let her push, and I'll come by, but it is risky to try and jump her in the middle of the lane." Kha'Zix didn't wait for a response before he headed off. Malzahar knew he was right, but he didn't show it. He would have to let the guardian push before he could get relief.


As Malzahar returned to the lane, Lux immediately noticed his change in behavior. He wasn't being as aggressive and was almost playing passively. He was also making much more of an effort to hit her with attacks and lower her HP bar. Annoyed, Lux changed her tactics to match, which she was better at, but she knew that all it would take is once silence and she'd be in trouble. Using her wards as carefully as she could, Lux tried to protect herself, but she knew that Kha'Zix could go invisible and if Malzahar was aggressive enough, she'd be done.

It was just a split second, but Lux saw something out of the corner of her eye. Thinking fast, she threw a binding just as Malzahar charged forward. His silence caught her, but not before the binding hit him. Lux kept retreating towards her turret, casing her singularity around herself, but Kha'Zix jumped right on top of her, slashing. It was nice the magics that were in the field prevents actual damage, because she knew that if this was outside this arena, she'd be bleeding.

Lux kept the singularity until it exploded, but then she saw Malzahar charging forward. He flashed forward and got her in his grasp. Lux couldn't move, and she couldn't see anyone coming. Knowing that she was finished, and as soon as Malzahar's grasp wore off, she threw another binding, before he got another silence in, and caught Kha'Zix, but the damage was too much. Throwing a barrier for just a few more seconds, Lux jumped into the air.

"Final Spark!" Lux threw her beam and managed to get Kha'Zix and Malzahar, but she didn't manage to finish either one of them. As she got in range of the turret, her HP depleted and the light that started this whole thing encompassed her, teleporting her off the field.

"Red Team Shut Down!" Came a voice as Lux fell. Malzahar, who go the kill, quickly retreated while Kha'Zix made a retreat into his jungle.

Lux reappeared at the altar about 30 seconds later and she nodded. While there, she could see the whole map and it was almost a calming experience. She made a few purchases, then charged into the lane again to face Malzahar.


In the bot lane, Janna and Jinx were carefully managing the lane and with their upgrades, decided to make a hard push. Janna signaled to Poppy, who came down to join them. Once she was in position, Janna made a carefully timed move to expose her and bait Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai by making it look like it was a mistake. Rek'Sai quickly burrowed and flashed forward to catch Janna, who then flashed sideways and Rek'Sai emerged only to get immediately hit with Jinx's zap. Kog'Maw moved forward only to be attacked from behind by Poppy, who quickly rushed out of the bush.

Seeing the trap, Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai quickly tried to make the most of it, but then Poppy charged forward and pinned Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai to the wall, where Jinx threw her traps, catching them both. The three of them quickly took down both of their HP, before Jinx backed off a little bit then pulled Shiro and Kuro together.

"Better together!" She let the massive rocket fly, finishing them both. Kog'Maw tried running forward and attempting to get Janna, but Poppy charged again, pushing him away, while getting a shield from Janna. Kog'Maw exploded and the three guardians finished off the wave and then charged the tower. Janna kept a careful eye on the river as Poppy and Jinx kept hitting the turret.

Just as they finished knocking the plating down, Kha'Zix, trying to capitalize on the thinning wave, jumped right onto Poppy. Thinking quickly Janna threw a shield while Poppy hit Kha'Zix to draw the turret's fire, and Jinx unloaded on Kha'Zix. Poppy started to retreat and Kha'Zix followed only to realize his mistake. Poppy moved, then charged, pinning Kha'Zix to the terrain while Jinx threw her traps. Poppy, looking at her HP, knew she wasn't getting out of this mess, so she kept drawing the turret's fire while Jinx finished off Kha'Zix. No sooner than he fell, Poppy took one last hit from the turret and fell as well.

Janna and Jinx however didn't stop and managed to get the turret down, thanks to the speed boost that Jinx got from finishing off Kha'Zix, even though Poppy got the credit for his death. Both of them immediately broke off and made their way up the river towards the mid lane, where Malzahar was once again pushing Lux back into her turret. Lux however, had seen Jinx and Janna approaching and made it look like she was running out of mana for her spells and kept falling back.

As Janna and Jinx moved into the bush, it became obvious to all three that Malzahar was neglecting his wards as he didn't immediately fall back up, despite being almost level with Janna and Jinx. They both waited carefully until Malzahar had pushed up again, before Janna threw a twister which caught Malzahar, who immediately went up into the air, falling hard upon his landing. Lux maneuvered around the wave and threw a binding which kept Malzahar pinned but Janna got a little too close, knowing he wasn't getting out of this, used his Nether Grasp on Janna, who fell quickly to it and the small Zzs that he summoned. Lux and Jinx, not wanting Malzahar to get away with that, immediately set upon him.

Jinx threw her traps, pinning Malzahar in place, while Lux threw her singularity to ensure he was gone. Jinx pounded Malzahar until he was almost gone, and then Lux jumped into the air, with Jinx throwing her Zap to prevent Malzahar from getting too far.

"Final Spark!" Lux yelled as her beam of light disengraged Malzahar. Lux finished off the wave, then both of them pushed into the turret, but they only got 2 plates before having to retreat.


As Malzahar arrived back on the altar, he was growing frustrated. He knew he couldn't lose this fight, but things weren't going his way.

"Well, let's see if I can change a few things around." He focused then, somehow, managed to summon the rift herald onto the field, but it wasn't doing anything. "What is going on here!" Malzahar screamed before the gauntlet he was wearing managed to update.

'A new creature, the powerful Rift Herald, has appeared. Destroy this creature, then capture its essence, to summon a powerful ally to help destroy your opponent's turrets.' Malzahar was enraged, but then he was playing by the rules here.

"Everyone prepare to get herald." Malzahar said and he charged up the top lane to try and force that Guardian into her turret, or better, at least take her off the field for a bit. Kha'Zix was finishing a jungle clear while Rek'Sai and Kog'Maw moved up from finishing a wave in the bot lane. "You three go mid. I'll help Cho'Gath." Kha'Zix, Rek'Sai, and Kog'Maw appeared in mid lane to challenge Lux, Janna, and Jinx.


As Lux finished reading the new notification, she knew that Malzahar was trying to change the game, and in trying that, she was going to have to adapt her plans. A new dragon was still a few minutes off, but they needed to get this, if at the very least prevent Malzahar from getting it.

No sooner did their wave come up, did Malzahar emerge on the top lane, then Kha'Zix, Rek'Sai, and Kog'Maw appeared across from them. They pushed hard and after doing some very hard poking, managed to push the three of them back into their turret. While not low enough to recall and heal, the three of them couldn't push back out. Just as soon as they appeared, they vanished.

"Quickly follow me." Janna said to the other two and they went into one of the jungle entrances and then following it to the other pit.


Malzahar's appearance was unexpected, but Lulu's immediate response was to fall back and sacrifice ground. She wasn't about to get caught again, even with Poppy running up her lane to try and help. Both of them slammed the wave into the turret, which Poppy and Lulu collected before they both vanished as well.

Poppy and Lulu followed the next wave out expecting them, but after charging through the bushes on the top of the lane and the one underneath, they found nothing. Poppy then saw Lux, Janna, and Jinx approaching the pit between top and mid.

"Come quickly!" Poppy yelled to Lulu, who quickly abandoned the wave and followed Poppy.


As Lux managed to get a view onto the pit, she, Janna, and Jinx were immediately thrown into the air. Cho'Gath emerged from the bush in the river and he charged forward trying to pin the three of them. Reacting quickly, Janna threw a quick twister and sent Zephyr to slow Cho'Gath down. Jinx and Lux made quick work of Cho'Gath, who fell back, only to be reinforced by Kha'Zix who broke off from trying to knock down the Rift Herald, to reinforcing Cho'Gath, putting a strain on the three of them.

At that moment, Poppy and Lulu came into view and immediately went towards the pit to try and disrupt the ongoing destruction. Malzahar managed to silence them both, but Kha'Zix needed to break off in order to come back with his smite. All 6 of them were hitting the herald, and each other, while Cho'Gath was getting overwhelmed by Lux, Janna, and Jinx.

As the Hearld approached zero health, Lux took a step behind Janna, who provided a shield, and jumped into the air. "Final Spark!" Lux was just in range enough with her Spark to try and steal the Herald, and at the same time, both Poppy and Kha'Zix smited the Herald, which did fall.

"Red team has slain the Rift Herald!" Came a loud voice. Poppy and Lulu tried to stop Malzahar from grabbing the thing the Herald dropped, but Rek'Sai burrowed and them unburrowed beneath them. Malzahar managed to get away, but barely as he was in Lux's direct line of fire when she threw her Spark. Poppy managed to push Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai away from Lulu, who sent Pix to help and give Poppy a speed boost to get away.

Lux, Janna, and Jinx managed to take down Cho'Gath, but weren't in a position to try and get Kog'Maw, Rek'Sai, or Kha'Zix as they retreated from the fight. Kha'Zix, already very low on health, jumped out of the pit after his smite delivered the final blow, while Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai managed to get away without further complications. Malzahar, who was expecting an ambush, managed to see from Cho'Gath's ward that the guardians were recalling, so he did so as well.

After they all arrived back at the altar, Malzahar had them wait until Cho'Gath respawned. "Let's get that middle turret now that the plates are gone." Malzahar moved to the turret defending their middle inhibitor and crushed the Eye. "ARISE HERALD!"


As the team arrived back at the altar, they all quickly bought items.

"Well that didn't go as planned." Janna said a bit annoyed as she waited for the rest of the team.

"We knew this was going to be a hard fight." Lux reminded her and as she was running out, she stopped.

"Um, what are we waiting for?" Jinx asked, turning to Lux, who was surveying the field and looking at her gauntlet.

"We are going to have to react to them." A loud roar caught their attention and alerted them to another objective. "Great. Janna, Jinx, head down your lane. Poppy stay in the lower jungle. Lulu stay with me. We are going to have to react to what they are…" Lux didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence before another loud roar crossed the field. On their maps, it showed a very large icon at the enemy inhibitor turret. "So they are coming mid. Poppy come with us. We'll try and hold. Janna and Jinx, be ready to intercept them."

They both nodded and went to the bottom lane while the others ran down mid to try and hold the turret.

The herald was already knocking down the wave that was present when the three of them arrived. They played defensively trying to destroy the opposing minion wave, but the poking from Cho'Gath, Malzahar, and Kha'Zix made them pull back. Lux and Lulu were trying to counter poke both of them, but with Cho'Gath and Poppy constantly getting in the way, their effectiveness was limited. As the wave crashed into the tower, the Herald reared up and then charged the tower. It did damage, like a lot of damage. Clearly the Herald took damage, and was now taking the tower shots, but with the 3 opponents also attacking the tower, Lux knew the game was up.

"Fall back!" Lux yelled as Poppy was ready to go back in, but she fell back as ordered.

"Zippy!" Lulu sent Pix to give Poppy both a speed boost and a shield as the turret fell.

The waves were replenished with a new one from the enemy nexus as they destroyed the new one that spawned from theirs. They all seemed to agree to make a stand at the inner tower. It didn't take long for another charging attack to happen. The Herald charged again, but this time, once it impacted the tower and took a tower shot, it made some noises and then died. That still wasn't going to stop Malzahar, Cho'Gath, and Kha'Zix from knocking down the second turret. Lux wasn't about to use her spark to try and force them off as it would only waste it.

As the second tower fell and they fell back to their inhibitor turret, an announcement came over the field. "Blue Team Double Kill!" Lux took a brief look at her map only to see the bottom inner tower fall on the opposing end.

"Go for it!" Lux yelled and she wave to Poppy and Lulu, who both charged forward.


Janna and Jinx carefully made their way into the bottom lane, pushing up the wave as fast as they could. It wasn't long before they ran into Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai, who attempted to defend their side of the field. They weren't close to their tower, but with the wave that was building for the guardians, it wouldn't be long until they were. Janna and Jinx carefully warded their route to keep them safe as they pushed up with the wave.

Janna looked back just in time to see the middle outer turret fall and she was a bit disheartened. Jinx took a quick look around but then pulled Kuro and opened up with the rockets as they finished off the current wave. Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai attempted to intervene, but the wave was wiped out before they could get close. Kog'Maw started trying to hit Jinx with his shots, but she kept moving out of the way, or got a shield from Janna.

As they approached the tower, the waves met just outside of the tower range. Rek'Sai snuck into the bush and made plans to attempt to ambush the guardians. She hoped that she got into the bush before the two guardians could see.

Janna and Jinx however had seen what Rek'Sai was planning and hatched a plan, but this time, Jinx would be the bait. Jinx kept up the pressure, but then moved too close to the bush, baiting Rek'Sai to charged, and she did. Rek'Sai tunneled and then tried to unburrow beneath Jinx to knock her into the air. At that moment, Jinx flashed backwards and threw her traps where she had been standing. Rek'Sai emerged only to step right on them and get trapped. Janna, who had started a twister, threw it to keep Kog'Maw from interfering. Jinx threw a Zap then opened up with Shiro. It didn't take long for Rek'Sai to fall.

Kog'Maw, who had recovered from the twister, charged forward throwing his acid. However, Jinx got the speed boost from finishing Rek'Sai charged forward, with a shield from Janna only to fire straight into Kog'Maw's face. Realizing that he wasn't going to win, he threw his sludge behind him to try and slow Jinx down, but it was too late. Jinx threw another Zap, slowing Kog'Maw, then pulled Shiro and Kuro together.

"Combo Platter!" Jinx threw her massive rocket and it exploded right on target, finishing Kog'Maw off. Kog'Maw tried to turn around and get either Jinx or Janna, but they just both took the hit knowing where the rest of their team was. Well Jinx charged forward, Janna provided another shield, and Zephyr slowed Kog'Maw down while she got out of the way.

"Blue Team Double Kill!" Jinx started bashing down the tower while Janna did what she could to help. The tower fell quickly and Lux came over.

"Go for it!" She yelled and Jinx, taking the order, charged forward and began battering down the inhibitor tower while Janna looked back.


Lux, Poppy, and Lulu charged forward, with Lulu turning Cho'Gath into yet another small animal then switching to give Lux a speed boost. Lux threw a binding and managed to get Kha'Zix, but just missed Malzahar, who moved backwards. Lux threw her singularity to slow him down, while Poppy started dealing with Gho'Gath. Lux threw a bolt from her baton at Kha'Zix, which exploded dealing a lot of damage. She then threw her barrier around Lulu and herself while Lulu started throwing glitterlances at Malzahar while Lux turned to Kha'Zix.

Once her binding wore off, Kha'Zix tried to jump away, only to have Lux continue the pursuit. Lux kept throwing out bolts and once her binding was back up, she threw it again, anticipating Kha'Zix's movements into the bush. Because he managed to get in before it hit, Lux couldn't see, but she still had a chance and leapt into the air.

"Final Spark!" A satisfying amount of gold deposited confirmed she finished him off and she turned to help Lulu, who was clearly losing her fight, not because she wasn't trying however. As Lulu ran towards Lux, she knew that she wasn't going to see the end of it. As they got closer, Lulu turned and turned Malzahar into an animal as well, while speeding herself up to get closer.

"Up We Go!" Lulu yelled and Lux got really big. Lux threw her barrier, but the damage Malzahar inflicted got to Lulu before the barrier could get into place. Still, Lux threw a singularity at Malzahar to prevent him from escaping and just when he turned back to normal, she hit him with a binding. She used her baton to finish Malzahar then turned to help Poppy, who was making Cho'Gath run away from a clearly lost fight. Lux tried to intercept but she was too far.

"Let him go." Lux called and Poppy stopped for a second, then swung her hammer over her head, sending it spinning.

"Hey you!" Poppy yelled, and Cho'Gath tried to move faster. Poppy then bought the hammer down sending Cho'Gath flying towards their nexus. "And stay there!" Poppy yelled as she regrouped with Lux in the mid lane.

"Keep pushing I need to recall." Poppy nodded and Lux went back to the fountain.


Janna and Jinx took advantage of the chaos that Lux and the rest of the team were causing to push their waves into the base. They both battered down the inhibitor turret and keeping a close eye on the respawn timers, decided to roll the dice. Once the turret blew, they had few minions left.

"I'll finish this, head to the dragon." Jinx yelled to Janna over her minigun. Janna, not wanting to leave, but knowing Jinx could probably get herself out of a problem if necessary, headed towards the dragon.

"Poppy, come join us!" Janna said, and Poppy, who was starting to move up the mid lane, switched directions.

"Coming!" Poppy said as she moved into the bush and down the river.

Jinx was moving and shooting as she tried to finish the inhibitor but she was cutting it close. She could probably outrun both of them, but she didn't want to give them an idea about where she was heading. Finally the inhibitor blew, Jinx got her speed boost, Rek'Sai respawned and tried to chase, but Jinx was into the jungle and Rek'Sai didn't want to give chase. As the inhibitor blew up the voice once again echoed over the field. "Blue team has destroyed an inhibitor."

Jinx ran away from the inhibitor and towards the dragon pit, where Lux and Poppy were both already working on the dragon. The dragon didn't last long under the fire of the three of them and Poppy smited the dragon down. There was a notification on their gauntlets as another slot filled. Only one more to claim the "soul", whatever that meant.

"Well this makes things interesting." Jinx said. Janna and Poppy nodded in agreement.

"Let's go back." Janna said and they recalled to the base. By this point Lulu had respawned. Lux pointed to the wave heading bottom and they noticed one very big minion leading the wave. It was like a little minion in a mech with a large shield and hammer.

"Well that's a threat to them." Janna mentioned as the team turned to Lux.

"Janna and Jinx head top with Lulu and bust down that turret. Poppy back into the jungle." They all nodded and headed out. Lux walked back into the mid lane, even with the destroyed turrets and using her map, saw Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai knocking down the bottom wave before it got too close.


The change on the map wasn't lost on Malzahar either. He surveyed the field and made a note of the various changes that were made to the map. "We can no longer afford to not contest those dragons. Be ready for the next one. Now where…" Malzahar's gaze drifted to the bottom lane.

"Um that will become a problem over time." Cho'Gath said as they looked at the large minion leading the blue minions. "How long until our inhibitor respawns?" Cho'Gath asked, turning to Malzahar.

"It says 5 minutes from its destruction. We need to keep an eye on that wave until then. But there needs to be something to help us tip the balance. Maybe this will work." Malzahar summoned his energies. "Arise BARON!"

A loud roar echoed across the field and at same pit that the Herald spawned at, a large purple worm snaked its way around it and then from the ground, Baron Nashor erupted from the ground. But that's all he did.

"Well, that's something at least." Kha'Zix said. Malzahar, furious, but still hung his head.

"Indeed. Looks like we will have to kill him too." We need some breathing room first. Deal with that bottom wave as best you can." Malzahar said to Kog'Maw, who just keep attacking while Rek'Sai waited for orders. "The rest of you, with me. We need to get our own inhibitor." And with that, they set off down the middle lane. "We do not stop, understood?" They all nodded.


As Janna, Lulu, and Jinx emerged into the top lane, they quickly made work of the wave and then slammed it into the turret.

"Cover me!" Jinx yelled as she moved forward. Janna and Lulu went to ward the bushes to keep them safe but no sooner had Lulu joined back with Jinx in the top lane, did Janna look center.

"Oh no." Janna said and looking between Lulu and Jinx. Lulu quickly turned to see what was going on.

"Let's go help." Lulu said, but no sooner did she step away from Jinx did Janna hold out her hand.

"Stay with her! I'll go help. Get what you can!" Janna yelled as she recalled.


Lux, looking at what was coming down the mid lane quickly became annoyed. It was clear they were trying to batter down their inhibitor turret, but as she saw Poppy running towards her and Janna recalling, she knew they couldn't hold this off for long, even with Kog'Maw in the bottom lane. As Lux tried to kill off some of the approaching wave she was hit with some pokes from Kha'Zix and after dodging a spike set from Cho'Gath, she was forced to retreat. Poppy used one of the gates in the wall to join Lux at the turret while Janna joined from behind as she rushed off the altar.

"Suggestions?" Lux asked as the enemy wave approached?

"Try to not die?" Janna said, but her voice betrayed her fear.

"How about, buy as much time for those two as we can." Poppy said, her voice steady. Lux and Janna, after looking between each other, nodded.

"Agreed." Lux spun another singularity while Poppy charged out into the wave with a shield from Janna and tried to thin the wave as much as possible. And they did a good job, but not enough to prevent the wave from crashing onto the turret as the following wave from the nexus joined.

However, as soon as the attack began, it turned into a turret dive. Cho'Gath moved forward to tank the tower and managed to get Poppy flung into the air. Janna sent Zephyr to slow Cho'Gath but was soon dealing with Kha'Zix who jumped right on top of her. Lux threw a barrier to shield them both, and herself, as Malzhar charged forward, but couldn't get in range for his Grasp, so he summoned some Zzs, sent his visions through the wave, and sent them forward. The visions failed to reach the guardians, but the ZZs did.

Rek"Sai then unburrowed beneath Lux, knocking her into the air. Lux threw a binding that caught Rek'Sai, preventing further damage, but it was clear that with the 4 of them, they had won this fight, even with Cho'Gath retreating, but not before using his chomp to steal health from Poppy as he got out of turret range. The three Guardians were forced to retreat, flashing backwards and out of the fight. While they didn't die, they did give up the turret and the inhibitor.

After the voidlings retreated, Lux finally had a chance to see what Lulu and Jinx were up to. They had managed to destroy both the outer and inner turrets and were attacking the inhibitor turret. "They just retreated, they are coming for you!" Lux yelled and Lulu turned to use her wards, as Jinx had lined the lane for their safety. Jinx, taking a brief second to look around, nodded.

"Get out of here. I'll do what I can!" Jinx yelled to Lulu, who looked sad, but nevertheless complied. "But first, throw your last ward in that pit, just in case." Jinx winked at Lulu, and promptly began wandering to the pit, only to be ambushed by Rek'Sai, who tried to take her out, only to get promptly turned into a small animal by Lulu. Knowing Rek'Sai was easily distracted, she called Pix back to her.

"Zippy!" Lulu yelled at Rek'Sai, who, upon regaining normal form, charged after her. Jinx, seeing this took all the time she was given and battered down the inhibitor turret. Lulu kept dragging Kog'Maw all over the jungle, winding every way and dodging or shielding his attacks. However, this didn't last long. Lulu rounded a corner and found herself in the air as Cho'Gath sent his spikes. Lulu, knowing she might get away, instead backtracked to a wall, and then flashed through it. Cho'Gath tried to follow but only ended up flashing into the wall. Lulu then found a bush and recalled before Cho'Gath could work his way around to find her.

Jinx kept up the attacks and finally managed to burst the other inhibitor just as another wave came forward.

"Blue team as destroyed an inhibitor."

Using her speed boost, she took a quick look at both Rek'Sai and Cho'Gath's last positions and made a guess. She made for a bush, threw her traps into another, and recalled. Rek'Sai came across her just as she finished recalling and while she tried to stop the recall, Jinx managed to get away.

With all five Guardians back at base, they all then questioned what the voidlings were doing. As Poppy lead the team out of the base, there came a very loud roar that echoed across the map.

"Red team has slain the Baron!" Came a voice.

"What does that mean?" Lulu asked. Her usual happy voice only slightly betrayed her fear. Janna however was already ahead of her.

"It seems they get a buff that empowers recall, shortening it; the buff also transfers to minions and they get more powerful; they all get a stats boost; and they all get a regeneration bonus. However the buff is temporary." Janna turned to Lux as she looked around. Lux stood for a second in thought.

"Defense. Let's try to prevent as much damage as possible. Trying to fight right now is probably a bad idea so limit the damage. Hold the inhibitor towers and we'll fight if we need to there, but give the two outer towers if we have to. We can't afford to give up the lead we have."

"But I want to blow something up." Jinx started but a look from Lux quickly silenced her. "Ok."

"Janna and Jinx, head to bottom, and grab the red buff again to be safe. I'll take the blue one and try and keep the wave from pushing into this tower. Poppy, you will stay in the top jungle to jump between myself and Lulu as we get attacked. Do not go beyond the river for the moment. Wait for that buff to wear off. Got it?" They all nodded and set off. While their success so far had helped them, it wasn't worth taking chances. A loud roar also let them know another dragon had appeared. "Well we aren't getting that one." Lux muttered to herself as she walked out of the base.

As she approached the wave, she immediately started pushing it back. Looking at her map, the bottom and top waves, thanks to the large minions, were pushing on their own, but it didn't take long for a response to come. Cho'Gath and Kha'Zix emerged in the top lane, while Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai emerged in the bottom lane. Just as the new minion wave arrived, Malzahar emerged opposite her. Lux had to take a step back as the buff from Baron also buffed up the minions and all the work she just did, evaporated in just a single wave. Malzahar pushed up and Lux had to fall back. She was trying her best to keep the wave away from the tower, but the buffed up minions were pushing and since she couldn't do enough damage to destroy the minions.

Lux kept falling back and was now up against the inhibitor tower. The minions with the cannons were well out of her range as they lobbed massive shots at the tower. As Lux used her bolts and singularity to try and destroy as many minions as possible, it wasn't enough.

"Give ground!" Lux yelled and that was the que to fall back. Poppy and Lulu quickly retreated from the out turret and moved backwards. It fell quickly afterward as they pulled back. Cho'Gath and Kha'Zix were quick to try and chase them down, but then made a critical error. Kha'Zix went stealth and Lulu quickly sped herself up to get in range of the turret. This was fortunate as Kha'Zix leaped right on top of her. Pix's shield did prevent some damage, but not all of it.

"Oh no you don't!" Poppy yelled, slamming Kha'Zix into a wall, and with no minions around he took several turret shots before he recovered.

"Fuzzy!" Lulu then countered, transforming Kha'Zix, and ensuring his fate. He tried to flash through the wall, but messed up and went nowhere. He fell to the turret and a final hammer to the face from Poppy. Who quickly turned to Lulu.

"Go, I got this." Lulu didn't need to be told twice and quickly went to help Lux, who was barely holding the turret. Cho'Gath did push up, but he was now much more cautious. Waiting for the wave to push up before he moved up himself.

Lulu quickly made her way to join Lux, who was now in very bad shape. Somehow, Janna and Jinx were still holding their outer turret, but only just. Lulu quickly gave Lux a shield while she did her best to eliminate the wave. Malzahar wasn't making the job any easier as he constantly moved around, avoiding bindings and singularities. With Lulu's help, she managed to at least push the wave back out of the base, and get the cannon minions, but another wave quickly moved up.

Thinking quickly, she pinged Jinx. "Be ready." She said as she moved out. In the bottom lane, Jinx was confused as she looked around. Lux was pushing out.

"What is she doing?" Jinx turned to Janna, as the waves crashed again in front of them.

"I don't know." Janna paused thinking, then it hit her. "She's going for the sacrifice play."

"Why?" Jinx asked as she poked with Kuro.

"Because we lose one, but they will likely lose 3." Janna responded, nodding towards Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai. Jinx took a second, but then her eyes lit up.

"Got it." Jinx now kept one eye on her minimap and one eye on the wave.

Lux, not knowing if Jinx got the message, she at least knew that Janna would be able to get it. Lux could see Lulu also understood the plan. Waiting for the right moment was going to be the tricky thing. She would have to bait Malzahar so she looked at the turret's health, which wasn't good, then nodded to Lulu, who quickly fell back as the last of their wave was finished.

Lux also fell back, but then made it look like she misstepped, causing Malzahar to charge forward, in front of the wave. Lux then flashed herself into the base, quickly followed by Malzahar who immediately got her in his Grasp.

"Do it!" Lulu yelled sending Pix to give Lux a shield in the hope that she can survive long enough, and Jinx, turning around, quickly drew up Shiro and Kuro.

"Combo Platter!" She yelled, firing the rocket. The second that Lux was out of the Grasp, she immediately threw a binding, but Malzahar also cast his visions onto her and her health was fading fast.

"Finish him!" Lux yelled as the last of her HP faded and she vanished in a ball of light. Lulu didn't need to be told twice. Just before Malzahar got free, Jinx's rocket impacted and while he was low on health, he charged forward to try and get Lulu as well. Lulu however, was already two steps ahead of him.

"Transmogulate!" Lulu yelled and Malzahar was turned into a fuzzy animal. He was now taking tower shots and Lulu wasted no time in throwing bolts and glitterlances from her staff. Malzahar didn't have long to regret his decision for no sooner than he turned back to normal, did he fall as well.

In the bottom lane, Jinx got her speed boost and with Janna, they both charged forward. Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai attempted to engage, but then Janna and Jinx both flashed backwards, and Jinx threw her traps. Kog'Maw, who had gotten tangled in the wave, couldn't keep up. Rek'Sai however went too far forward, into the range of the turret and in front of the minions. She wasn't in range of the turret, but she was far enough up for Janna and Jinx to just pound everything into her. Rek'Sai attempted to flee, but her flash wasn't back up, and she already used her burrow to try and get Jinx.

Thanks to the speed boost, Rek'Sai fell quickly, while Kog'Maw charged forward, only to get blown up as well as Jinx used Shrio and Kuro to knock down his health. Janna, moved towards the turret and once Kog'Maw fell, he charged forward trying to get Jinx, but Janna gave Jinx a shield and she was quickly out of range. With 4 teammates down, Cho'Gath quickly retreated from the turret, but not before doing a bit more damage before he saw Lulu coming up. Janna, Poppy, and Jinx cleared the rest of the waves that were in front of them, while Lulu cleared center.

The whole team recalled to the base to buy more items and then turned to Lux. Their large minions were now making quick work of the waves and pushing them back into the opposing base. Cho'Gath was clearly busy trying to make sure at least one wave didn't make it into the base before the rest of his team respawned. Lux took a look around and saw the dragon.

"Let's go. Dragon. Stay together." Poppy lead the team out of the base and down towards the dragon pit. "Janna, Lulu break off and keep watch. Jinx, Poppy, into the pit." Jinx, only too happy to shoot something, fired her Zap to wake the dragon, and after it roared, Poppy charged into the pit. Just as they got the dragon below half health, Janna screamed and then disappeared. Lux spun around to see all five charging straight at them.

"Get back!" She yelled at Lulu, who quickly wandered off to find a secluded position to recall. Poppy left the pit to try and buy time for Lux and Jinx, but it wasn't enough. She also quickly fell while Lux yanked Jinx away from the pit to get away, Lux throwing a binding, and Jinx her traps as they ran away to recall.

"We could have had it." Jinx said, but she quickly realized that what she said and shrugged. "But we all would have died."

"Exactly. We got caught. We can't afford that many mess ups. But at least they have to recall to deal with the minions." Jinx looked to her map to see the larger minions bursting into the enemy base.

"Well let's defend then. Look." Jinx pointed to the middle lane where Cho'Gath and Kog'Maw were walking up the wave, clearly trying to burst through the inhibitor turret. Lux and Jinx were doing their best, waiting for Janna, Poppy, and Lulu to revive, but Kog'Maw and Cho'Gath kept the pressure up and they were forced to fall back. The turret fell and so did the inhibitor. With the enemy inhibitors reviving soon, they knew that sooner or later there would be a play to end the battle. Or at least, they hoped.

With the void claiming a dragon, and baron currently still on a revive timer, Lux looked from the altar for a few seconds as Janna, Poppy, and Lulu rushed past her to try and clean things up. She managed to formulate a plan in her head.

"Ok listen up. Jinx, get the red buff and then get back quickly. Everyone throw some wards down in the jungle and be careful. We need to be able to see where they are coming from. We are going to have to defend what we have." The team quickly set off to get what they needed. In just a few seconds, the jungle outside their base was lit up and Janna barely managed to escape from Rek'Sai who was clearly hunting for them.

"Surrender the outer turrets, we'll hold the inner turrets and stop the waves in the middle." No sooner than Lux finished her sentence did a notification come on saying the enemy inhibitors were respawning. "Well that complicates matters." With orders, Jinx and Janna, and Lulu held their outer turrets but when it became impossible, both retreated before they fell. Lux and Poppy were keeping mid lane under control while they kept an eye out.

"They are coming!" Janna sounded and they all looked in the jungle as they saw Cho'Gath, Malzahar, Kha'Zix moving towards the bottom lane. "Group up!" Lux and Lulu moved to a covered position while Poppy moved in front of Janna and Jinx. This was either going to make or break the battle and it seems the void knew that as well. They were playing with the waves, waiting for a build up before charging. Lux kept an eye out and then she saw it.

"Come here." Lux signaled to Lulu and they moved towards another area where a bush was, but then it was burned away so they kept moving around. Lulu kept Pix close, but didn't use her abilities, as it was clear what was about to happen. Under the turret, Janna, Poppy, and Jinx also picked up on it and carefully managed their position so that Poppy would get caught in anything that was thrown. As the last blue wave died against the red wave, the gauntlet was thrown.

Cho'Gath charged forward and threw his spikes, which caught Poppy, but that is exactly what was supposed to happen. Lux, and Lulu, who had maneuvered around to the back charged out of a bush, with Lux throwing her binding. At the same time, Poppy came back down and then charged Cho'Gath into a wall stunning him, while throwing her buckler, at Rek'Sai who also charged forward only to get caught in Jinx's traps and because Janna managed to take a hit on her shield the turret instantly targeted her while Jinx unloaded.

Lux's binding managed to catch Kog'Maw, but missed Malzahar, who dodged, but he got turned into a fluffy animal again as Lulu moved to keep Lux safe. Lux moved forward just a bit more then jumped into the air. "Final Spark!" Her beam finished both Rek'Sai and Kog'Maw. The latter tried to get revenge only to have Lux get well out of range, forcing Malzahar to retreat.

Meanwhile, Kha'Zix, in a brilliant show, managed to use Rek'Sai's misfortune to jump on top of Janna, who tried to evade, but didn't succeed, but she did survive long enough for a twister to spin up and knock him into the air, and after Rek'Sai was finished, the turret targeted him. Kha'Zix, thinking quickly flashed over the wall, and then jumped away before Jinx, with her speed boost could follow. While it was clear he took a hit from the turret, it clearly wasn't enough to finish him. Poppy meanwhile had sent Cho'Gath packing with her hammer as she flung him towards their base.

"Nice work everyone. Lulu with me. Jinx and Poppy bot. Push that wave in." They all quickly ran to their positions and with Janna down, Lux was thinking carefully, but she and Lulu had to be in the base to start. Jinx and Poppy quickly pushed the very far forward bot lane into the enemy base, and despite Cho'Gath trying to interfere, and buy time for Kha'Zix and Malzahar to get into position, but it didn't work. Jinx and Poppy managed to get the inhibitor, force Cho'Gath back, and stop the ambush on their way out.

Lux and Lulu were pushing up the wave in the middle while Janna revived and she quickly joined Poppy and Jinx on the top lane, pushing that in. Lux saw what was about to happen. "Come on" but Lulu didn't need to be told as she saw it as well. Lux and Lulu managed to get into position just in time as their opponents tried to pull exactly what they just did, but Lux and Lulu not only managed to ambush Malzahar and Rek'Sai, but the rest of the team quickly turned to finish them before Cho'Gath, Kha'Zix, and Kog'Maw could respond.

Lux quickly threw her binding while Jinx threw her traps behind them to prevent the others from interfering. Lulu quickly shot a glitterlance through them both while Lux jumped into the air. "Final Spark!" Malzahar vanished in a ball of light while Rek'Sai tried to get away, only to get sniped by Jinx and her Zap. Cho'Gath then tried to move in while Kha'Zix tired to jump on Jinx, only to get transformed into an animal again while Janna sent Kog'Maw into the air with a twister.

Cho'Gath roared and then retreated while Kog'Maw fired at the others. Jinx was about to give chase, when she was yanked by Janna who pointed towards the inhibitor. A bit put out, Jinx did what she ultimately knew was right, but she also a little put out. The whole team pushed up together and managed to get the second inhibitor. As they retreated, with Lux throwing a binding, Lulu a glitterlance, and Jinx her traps to keep from being followed, but the void refused to pursue.

Once they were all back at base, Poppy, Lulu, and Jinx went to push back the mid wave from their nexus towers, which had taken some damage, but they all knew that those towers regenerated health. Lux and Janna got a chance to look around while they waited for just a little more gold for their next "items".

"We are going to have baron and dragon up at the same time. We need them both." Janna commented as she moved off the altar with Lux following.

"But how to do it?" Lux muttered to herself. She took another look, then it came to her. "Come on!" She signaled to Janna and they both ran to join the others. "Here's what we are going to do. We need both of the new objectives, but we also need to push this into their base to take the strain off of us. So let's push!"

"Got it!" Jinx promptly switched to Shiro and with Poppy in the wave, drawing fire with their own minions. Janna, Lux, and Lulu stayed behind to provide rear protection and keep them from being ambushed. It seemed like their opponents were anticipating this and were ready at they crashed against the inhibitor turret. They knew that they wouldn't break in, but that wasn't the point. The point was to distract them while the bottom and top waves crashed into the base.

After a few waves with only Jinx, Lulu, Kog'Maw, and Malzahar trading shots, the waves, as anticipated, started crashing into the base. Just as the team broke off to deal with the waves, Lux signaled and they pushed forward. Cho'Gath, who was the only one left defending, quickly fell back as the turret fell, but Lux, seeing that the waves weren't crashing anymore, signaled to the rest of the team to fall back. Cho'Gath tried to give chase, but with another wave arriving, the rest of his team was clearly distracted.

Lux lead the team away and made a break to the dragon pit. They quickly vanquished the last dragon, and a notification came up. "Blue team has claimed the Infernal Soul". While the team recalled, Malzahar was enraged as the rest of other notches on the dragon chart were now cracked. He didn't know what would result the next time a dragon would come up, as a timer was still active.

With the Guardians back at base, they needed to defend. He knew they needed to push as well.


Lux quickly made an assessment of their situation and while they were good, they couldn't become overconfident. They needed that last inhibitor, and they weren't going to get it. With almost everyone on the field having a lot of items, it was becoming a big game of strategy, and one mistake would end it all.

"We need to keep the pressure up until that next dragon comes up. Make few mistakes, and remember, we aren't just doing this for us." Lux looked around the team nodded. "Now, Jinx and Poppy, push the middle, we'll stay behind.

As they started however, a large wave pushing bottom caught their attention. It caught their attention because the whole team was with it. Jinx saw what was going on and quickly came up with a plan.

"Hey can you three buy time?" Lux turned to look at Jinx, who pointed to the exposed inhibitor.

"Do it!" Lux yelled and signaled to Poppy and Lulu to join her. Janna moved to help Jinx as they ran through the jungle, hopefully to avoid wards. Jinx went to the enemy red buff, but saw that Kog'Maw had already grabbed it. They waited patiently until they crashed into the lower inhibitor tower and then made their move.


As they readied themselves, Lux and Lulu stayed behind the turret, while Poppy was out front. They all knew that they might not survive a fight, so the objective was to give ground. Lux used her singularity and Lulu her glitterlances to keep the waves down, but even with Poppy in the enemy wave, and under the tower, they were still forced to give ground.

After they fell back to the inhibitor tower, Lux knew they had to force a fight, or at least do some poking. "Knock one of them away, and we can give them the distraction that they need."

"On it." Poppy, then ran out, with Pix and Lux throwing a barrier and Poppy missed the mark a bit. Instead of just throwing one, she managed to knock both Kha'Zix and Cho'Gath back. "Oh well." Poppy then charged forward and pinned Kog'Maw against the rocks. Lux and Lulu both charged forward and while Malzahar immediately grabbed Lulu in his grasp, Lux threw a binding to keep Kog'Maw pinned while Poppy wailed away at him. Lulu did fall thanks to the grasp, but Lux made Malzahar pay.

Despite making both Malzahar and Kog'Maw fall, Rek'Sai unburrowed underneath Lux and slashed furiously. Lux threw her barrier while Poppy ran back to cover the inhibitor tower. At that moment a loud voice came over.

"Blue team has destroyed an inhibitor." That seemed to have done the trick. Rek'Sai quickly retreated as Jinx and Janna ran away from the destroyed inhibitor and back to the base. With Lulu down, they knew that a full on attack wasn't an option, so another plan had to be formulated.

"We need to keep the pressure up. Keep those waves…what." Lux just looked at the nexus, which now spawned 2 of the very large minions with each wave. "Ok that helps." Keep the pressure up. Jinx and Janna mid, Poppy head top, and I'll push bot lane. Remember, we aren't looking to fight, we are looking to keep pressure. Try not to fight, but if you see an opportunity, don't waste it." Lux added quickly as she saw Jinx's face, which quickly brightened.

As the team set out, they quickly realized that fighting wouldn't be an option. None of the void seemed to want to pick a fight and were more interested in keeping the waves out of the base. Even after Lulu revived and joined Lux, they couldn't push the waves into the base as Malzahar redirected everyone to keep them pinned. It was made even harder when the top and bottom inhibitors respawned.

Checking her timers, Lux noticed that the dragon was almost up. "Everyone bot." She signaled and after Jinx made a detour to grab the enemy red buff, they all moved up with a wave for the bottom lane. Just when they were about to collide with the opposing wave, Lux quickly thought of something.

"Janna and Lulu, head back mid and push that in." They quickly broke off to hit that wave, just as Malzahar and Rek'Sai moved forward. Acting quickly, Lulu transformed Rek'Sai while Janna sent a twister against Malzahar, sending him clear into the air. When he landed, Malzahar retreated as Lulu shot a glitterlance at him, which did some damage, while Rek'Sai quickly burrowed to get away into the base. Janna and Lulu quickly retreated as the wave crashed into the base. They didn't do much, but it was enough for a retreat.

Hearing the fight, Poppy charged forward, followed by Jinx and Lux, who quickly forced Cho'Gath, Kog'Maw, and Kha'Zix back into the base. Jinx let loose with rockets while Poppy knocked Cho'Gath back. Lux switched with Jinx to allow Jinx to bash down the inhibitor while they kept the rest off of her. Neither Lux or Poppy were looking to try and force a bigger fight, but they did at least get in a few hits. After the inhibitor fell, a loud roar echoed over the field.

"Move!" Lux yelled and the team broke for the dragon pit. "We need both for a final push. Let's do it!" As they approached the dragon pit, they paused for a split second as the new dragon was absolutely massive. Black and silver with an expression of "Just come at me" on her face. Jinx, clearly not waiting to waste any more time, started the process.

"Zap!" As the beam left her hand, the dragon got up, and roared. The team quickly started bashing down the dragon, with Janna and Lulu keeping a close eye for anyone, but no one came. The dragon was taking much more time than they expected because of its size, and because it kept jumping targets to Jinx and Lux, in addition to Poppy. After precious seconds, the dragon finally fell and a notification popped up.

"Blue Team has slain the Elder Drake!" While they were moving to recall, Jinx, who had gotten a speed boost thanks to the dragon's death, threw her farsight ward into the baron pit and everyone froze.

"Let's move!" She yelled as they saw the void bashing down baron. Poppy quickly charged ahead, but the void was making a lot of progress, even as the very large minions started knocking against the nexus towers.

"Keep them off of me!" Poppy yelled as she was quickly followed by Janna and Lux, who were ready to shield. "Get Cho'Gath out of the pit!" Poppy yelled again as they got close, but that didn't need to be done. Cho'Gath walked out of the pit to try and block the guardians only to get pinned by Lux's binding and then Jinx's traps as she opened up with Shiro, quickly taking down Cho'Gath's health.

With Baron's health almost gone, Poppy tired the desperate play. She flashed into the pit and used her smite on the baron.

"Blue team has Stolen Baron Nashor!" The purple buff surrounded them as the void quickly ran away, flashing as they did so to try and survive. Cho'Gath however, wasn't so lucky. With Lux, Janna, Lulu, and Jinx firing everything they could at him, he didn't stand a chance. He still tired, trying to take out Jinx, and while he did take down a large amount of her health, the barrier provided by both Lux and Janna, in addition to the lifesteal she had, quickly made it irrelevant. Jinx picked up another kill on Cho'Gath and the rest gave up trying to chase.


As they arrived on the Altar, Malzahar knew the game was up. The guardians has outplayed him and gotten lucky. Still there was hope. "Get the red haired one at all costs. Maybe we can survive this."


As the Guardians arrived back at their altar, they made some final purchases, including the elixars they picked out earlier.

"Top Lane everyone. Push it in!" Lux called and they didn't need to be told twice. They all charged up the top lane and pushed it to the inhibitor. Malzahar, Kog'Maw, and Rek'Sai were waiting there. They didn't see Kha'Zix, but knew he was likely nearby. "Do it!"

They pushed the wave into the base, and they charged forward to get the inhibitor. At that moment, Kha'Zix struck. Jumping right on top of Jinx, it was clear their attack plan. Everyone did their best, but Jinx did fall, but instead of the white light consuming her complete, it more formed into a wave. While this was all happening, the rest of the team pushed hard, and took down both Kha'Zix and Rek'Sai to keep them off from Jinx, who quickly got back to her feet.

"Man that was weird." She said as she Zapped Kog'Maw, who was trying to get away, then opened with Shiro on the last inhibitor. Once it was down, Lux took a quick look around and while they had taken some damage, they were still good. However, Cho'Gath was about to come back up and they decided to play it safe.

"Recall!" Lux yelled and they quickly retreated as a new wave spawned from the nexus, with 6 large minions, 2 in each wave, leading the way. As the team finished recalling, they made another elixir purchase, and then looked to Lux.

"Let's end this! Everyone mid!" Poppy charged out ahead, followed by Janna, Lux and Jinx behind her, with Lulu bringing up the rear. They rushed up with a wave and it was clear that a final fight was coming. Poppy kept up with the huge minions and with the waves crashing into the base, they all decided to force their own fight. Poppy waited for the exact right moment, but the void was managing to clear the minions from the nexus towers quickly. Turning, Lux looked at the waves coming in. Signaling to both Janna and Jinx, they moved to the top and bottom waves to spread the baron buff. That got the waves crashing into the towers and it was then Poppy saw her moment.

Charging forward, she threw her buckler at Cho'Gath to gain a shield and then pinned Kog'Maw to one of the towers and the rest of the team pounced. Jinx quickly Zapped Malzahar, collapsing the shield around him, then the second with Janna's twister, before Lux hit him with a binding, that also snared Rek'Sai. Needing no invitation, Lux leapt into the air. "Final Spark!" While the beam didn't finish Rek'Sai or Malzahar, Jinx's rockets did. Gaining the speed boost, she quickly set on Cho'Gath. Meanwhile, Janna and Lulu kept shielding Poppy as she was still tanking the turrets, but the minions were quickly dealing with those.

Once the first tower fell, the waves fell on the second as Kog'Maw, who had managed to get out of the pin, tried to clear everything, but once Kha'Zix tried to pick off Jinx again, only to land on her traps as she flashed sideways, and Jinx quickly turned from Cho'Gath and finished Kha'Zix as Lux and Poppy took out Kog'Maw. Cho'Gath tried to retreat but he was cut down by Jinx as she got another speed boost from finishing Kha'Zix.

Once Cho'Gath fell, it was all over. The minions finished the last nexus tower and the team burst down the nexus, which finally exploded.

The energy released traveled across the arena and to their nexus. They all looked up to see the energy bands of the barriers that surrounded Runeterra fall, but then the nexus worked and new energy bands, in all the colors they could ever imagine erupted from it. The team walked back across the arena to their nexus, which, having finished its job, lost its bright blue energy and then collapsed into a crystal. As the team approached, the bright white crystal shuddered, and the team jumped back, but then it seemed to shatter into 5 separate crystals, Pink, Purple, Blue, Green, and Red.

Everyone turned to look at each other and after shrugging, Jinx walked up and picked up the Red one. Instantly, she closed her hand around it, a shiver ran down her spine, and she closed her eyes. Shiro and Kuro, both of whom had returned to their normal forms, hopped onto Jinx's shoulders. Curious, the rest of the team approached and when Jinx turned back around, her pendant was around her neck, but it was different. Now on the bottom of minigun and rocket launcher, was the crystal. As Jinx opened her eyes, the pendant faded.

"That is power. A lot of power!" Jinx exclaimed as she looked at the rest of the team. They all moved cautiously forward and grabbed the crystal that matched their hair. At once they all felt it. It was power, but focused power. They all reacted the same way as Jinx, with their pendants adding their crystals to them. Lux felt her locket in her hand and managed to open her eyes to look at it. The crystal seemed to almost rearrange it and place itself right in the middle.

"That was…something else." Janna muttered as she managed to open her eyes again.

"Oh yeah." Poppy said as she also opened her eyes. Lulu stayed silent, but she was smiling.

"So how do we get…" Janna started but then a portal opened at the top of the altar. "Nevermind."

The team walked up the altar and one by one passed through the portal. At the top, Lux paused, looking out over the field and smiled. They had accomplished everything they wanted, and what's better, no scars to prove what they actually did all day. After taking one last look, she stepped through the portal.


As the light dimmed, they emerged from the same chambers they entered the arena from. Malzahar was furious. Not only did they lose, they could clearly pin the blame on him. There are many things in that fight that could have gone differently if they had actually read those books, but now wasn't the time to dwell on those things.

"Well that could have gone better." Cho'Gath said, a note of disappointment in his voice. For once, Malzahar wasn't about to play the game.

"This was a battle that could have made our lives easier and yet now they are more difficult. The fault rests with me this time. I was foolish. The void is this vast energy source, yet I did not consider what would happen if we were cut off from it. I will not make this mistake again. Now, we must exit quickly or be caught." Taken aback at his works, the other 4 waited a few seconds to follow Malzahar out.

Once they were all outside, Malzahar opened a portal and the others went through it. He took one last look at the temple.

"We will meet again, and next time, we won't lose. You have won this day guardians, celebrate your victory, because it will not last." And with that, he stepped through the portal.


As the light calmed, they were all back in the room they started in. Lux turned to look around at the team and they were all exhausted, but unscarred. The magics around the field clearly were designed well to prevent injuries.

"Come on everyone, let's get this over with." They all followed her to the door and Lux opened it. In the lobby were Vel'Koz, Nasus, Garen, Caitlyn, Vi, and the summoners. They were all clapping. Garen immediately ran over and hugged Lux, which she returned. The rest of the team just waited until they broke apart.

"You all did great!"

"Thanks. It really was a team effort."

"Indeed it was. Despite everything, none of you ever lost hope and you kept working together. It can be hard at times, but if you never give up, then you can stay focused, capitalize on your opponents mistakes, and come back to win. What?! That tactics 101." Caitlyn looked around for some acknowledgement. It took a second before everyone couldn't hold in their laughter anymore. It did a lot to dispel the tension that was in the room.

"Well that was interesting, but you all did exactly what we needed you to. The nexus was already keyed to produce the new barriers. Malzahar and his ilk will have a much harder time getting to the surface now, and getting out as well. And yes, they did escape before everything was fully in place." Lux and Jinx were clearly annoyed with that. "But still, you have won the day. Hopefully, we won't need to do this again, but we will be ready if it does."

"Um…question." Seeing no one was going ask, Janna stepped up. "What's with the crystals."

"Well, we didn't know how much energy the nexus would use, so we had it channel any remaining energy into a crystal that would break apart so each of you could get a piece of its power. Those crystals are infused with three different energy sources. One that emanates from all of you, another from the universe around us, and the third from the void. Each working together to make you all stronger. They will help you in the future because we all fear this battle is far from over." And with that, he led the rest of the summoners out of the temple, leaving everyone to ponder that.

After a few minutes Vel'Koz nodded, as best he could." He wasn't wrong. I know this fight is far from over, and I'm sure you all do as well." He looked over at the team, and they all nodded, although reluctantly. "I'm sure we will get a break while Malzahar tries to get to the surface. Still, we know their objective. They need to open that portal, and they won't stop until they do."

"Then we will do whatever is necessary to stop them." Lux said. The words came out before she even had a chance to think. She turned to look at the rest of her team.

"I'll be right here. I'm not going away this time." Janna's voice echoed her continued confidence.

"You can always count on me." Poppy swung her hammer onto her shoulder, making it clank against her armor.

"If we don't, who will?" Lulu asked, but everyone knew the answer.

"Well, I guess we need to figure out a new way to blow stuff up guys." Jinx turned to her shoulders to see Shiro and Kuro smiling.

"Just keep your focus on them. We need to avoid more collateral damage." Lux turned to Jinx, who just blushed, smiled, nodded, and gave a thumbs up as a reply. Lux shook her head while she giggled.

"Well, let's get you all back to town before the sun gets too low in the sky." Vi said as she began to walk out, and everyone decided that enough was enough. Lux stayed behind a moment to take one last look around. Something told her this wasn't going to be the last time they would set foot in here.

"We'll be back, and we won't lose that time either." She said as she finally walked out, and the temple doors closed behind her.

As they drove back to town, Lux kept an eye on the rest of her team, and what she saw, apart from the exhaustion, was determination. She knew they were all in it for the long haul. Even if things were to get hard, no one, not even Jinx, were going to run away. Again. This battle proved to them all that they had what it takes to not only defend themselves, but their families, their friends, and everyone on their planet.

"Anyone else fell like this is fight just got bigger?" Poppy asked as they rounded into the city.

"Yeah, but just how big?" Jinx asked turning from the window.

"We'll just have be ready for anything, and everything." Lulu replied. Lux just smiled, and so did everyone else.

"Well said. We will face whatever comes at us." Janna said as the team all nodded. They rounded the last corner and the garage opened and the cars entered the large garage of the library. As the team got out, Garen came over from Caitlyn's car and hugged his sister again.

"I'm going home. I'm sure that Mom and Dad will getting worried but more about me than you since you always seem to disappear. I'll deal with it. I did see you at the library after all." He smiled and he left.

"He means well." Lux said as she followed the rest of the team into the tower, as Nasus and Vel'Koz rolled their eye(s). As they entered the tower, Lux powered down as the rest of the team also had powered down. They all took a seat around the table.

"Well I don't think it needs to be said again, but you all did amazing today. Your brother is also one to grab at things when he gets nervous." Vel'Koz shot at Lux, who just giggled again.

"Yeah he does that. A lot." She managed to mutter.

"Yes. Anyway, you all need to be prepared for anything. As you said on the ride back here, this fight isn't over, and I'm sure that this fight will be expanding. I will do whatever I can do help you all. But for now, you could all use some sleep and enjoy this time. Malzahar will take time to figure out how to breach the new barriers."

"How do those work exactly?" Jinx asked. Everyone turned to her. "What? I want to plan when I can stay up all night."

"Don't you have homework?" Janna asked.

"I get it done. Mostly." Janna just rolled her eyes as Jinx responded.

"Well, the systems are basically the same, but the old system was almost random and some were thinner than others. The new system has an outer shell, which can be breached easily, but then the rotating layers underneath will prevent them from getting through easily. Their portals will cost more energy and they can be broken by the barriers. They will have to time their attacks better as their portals could only be destroyed by the thickest of the barriers. Now, they are all thicker, stronger, and tuned to target void energy."

"Great, well that can make our jobs easier." Jinx said as she hopped up. "I'm going to go home. I think we could all use some sleep."

"I can't argue with that." Poppy jumped down from her chair and followed Jinx. Lulu just smiled and then followed the other two out. Janna turned to Lux, who just nodded and she left as well, followed by Vel'Koz. Nasus made to leave but turned to see Lux, who was still sitting at the table. He made his way over and sat across from her.

"Something bothering you?" Nasus asked calmly, giving the impression that he wanted to leave if she wanted. Lux however, didn't bite.

"I just felt I failed today. We still "died" during the fight." Lux settled back into her chair as she spoke.

"To that I ask this, would you have done things differently if you had known that you wouldn't die?" Nasus saw Lux's face pause, then smile.

"Yes. But since I knew that we couldn't die, we pushed ourselves."

"Exactly. You did something that Malzahar didn't. You analyzed a situation, made a plan, then adapted that plan as things changed. You did make mistakes, but you didn't panic. You stayed calm, you kept control, and you didn't give into despair. And there were times I was concerned, but you came through. Remember that." Nasus got up and left, leaving Lux to her thoughts.

Thinking carefully, Lux knew that he was right. Nasus did indeed tell the truth. She lifted her head to see Dorcha and Solas in front of her. "He was right wasn't he?" She asked, but already knew the answer.

"He was right. You did great today. We couldn't be prouder of you." Dorcha tried to keep her nerves under control. "We were nervous at points, but you did wonders out there. You still persisted in spite of setbacks and trusted your teammates. You all did it together."

"Yeah. You didn't need to scramble. You all stayed calmed and kept going. I'm sure this fight is about to get bigger, and you are all ready for this to escalate. You just need to be ready for anything and everything. That may not sound easy, but you showed one thing above anything else today."

"What's that?" Lux asked, as she leaned back into the chair.

"That you can adapt to a new situation without panicking." Lux just smiled.

"Yeah. You are both right. Let's go home." Lux opened her pack and they both jumped in. Lux took one last look around the tower, smiled, and walked out of their entrance and after following a few tunnels, she emerged onto the street and made her way home, enjoying everything about it.

When she got home, Lux saw Garen was just watching TV and her father was in the kitchen. "Lux is that you?"

"Hey Dad."

"Did you get your project done?" He asked, sticking his head out.

"Yeah, just a little taxing." Lux kept her voice neutral, but let the tiredness she was feeling go into her voice.

"Well you can take a nap for a bit."

"That sounds like a good idea." Lux headed up to her room, and Garen followed a few minutes later.

"You good?" He asked, standing in the doorway.

"Yeah. I'm good. Just tired."

"Get some sleep, I'll get you up."

"Thanks." Lux let Dorcha and Solas out of her bag and after she put her pack down and fell onto her bed, and within seconds, she was asleep.


"Did you get everything done?" Janna's Mother asked as she walked into the house. "Tired?" Was quickly followed when Janna entered the kitchen to get some water.

"Yeah. It was taxing." Janna replied as she finished the glass.

"Well if you want to take a nap, you can. We'll be a little later tonight."

"Got it. I'm going to take that nap."

"Enjoy it honey." Janna walked upstairs to her room and after letting Zephyr out of her bag, she laid down and was fast asleep in seconds.


Despite being tired, Poppy went into the forge and she still managed to work on something before her Father came up behind her.

"Ok, you need a nap. I'm not sure what you did today, but you need to get some sleep."

"But…yeah."

"Never disobey your elders." Poppy smiled, gave her father a hug and headed off to her room, falling asleep not long after that.


Lulu, upon arriving home, hugged her parents, then quickly set off to the balcony overlooking the forest. Lulu settled down and after just a few minutes, she and Pix both looked at each other and they headed out the back door and just inside the forest. Once they found one of their favorite trees, within sight of the house, Lulu sat down at the base, leaned her head against the thick trunk, and she and Pix were out quickly.


Jinx, for once, didn't want to do anything. She looked at Shrio and Kuro, both of whom were clearly exhausted. She instead looked around and it hit her again. She was home alone. Her parents were never around, and just sent money to keep her happy. However, there was something different. For the first time, she had friends. Friends that could help her and she could talk to. However, if they were anything like her, they were all exhausted. Undoing her long braids, Jinx pulled her hair into a simple ponytail, and went to her room.

Shiro and Kuro were both there waiting for her. Smiling, she knew that things this time, with this move, would be different. And for once, she wasn't about to go anywhere. Not if she had anything to say about it.


Malzahar looked down upon the planet below. Their mission to reopen the portal was now even harder. While the battle cost them precious time, they did get some energy out of it, and did prevent a lot of energy from being wasted. However, their reserves were low, and now getting to Runeterra was going to be a challenge.

"That portal will be opened. Of that, I have no doubt." Malzahar said.

"I don't doubt that, but I am surprised that you took credit for the loss." Cho'Gath said, after looking to the door to make sure it was closed.

"I was a fool. Vel'Koz outmaneuvered me. It won't happen again. The fault is my own. Putting blame here doesn't solve our problems, it only makes them worse." The confidence in Malzahar's voice go Cho'Gath's attention.

"You have a plan then?"

"Yes I do. But I will need help to implement it. However, there is another worry."

"The barriers?" Cho'Gath was clearly confused.

"Yes. While they were up, as haphazard as they were, this planet was isolated from the rest of the universe. During that brief window they were gone, I fear that other powers will be drawn either to this world for the first time, or drawn back to it." Malzhar's voice shifted between worry and almost hope.

"Perhaps we could use them to our advantage." Cho'Gath said looking at Malzahar.

"We could. However, we also need to be prepared because I doubt they will treat us as friends." And there was the worry again.

"We will be prepared Great Prophet." Cho'Gath said confidently.

"Don't get overconfident. That is what I did and got us into this mess. I failed because I underestimated those annoying guardians. We can't afford to do that again."

"Of course." Cho'Gath looked out the window at the world that held either their salvation, or their doom.

"You have won this battle guardians, but this war is far from over." Malzahar almost seemed to be confident, or maybe it was a projection, but he knew one thing. Another disaster like today, and they were all done.


Looking out her window, Lux looked up to the moon. Up there Malzahar was probably fuming at the loss, but was already planning his next moves.

"We won today, but tomorrow is a different matter. We will be ready for you. Ready for anything you can throw as us. And ready for a larger fight." Lux crawled back into bed and for the first time in months, had a sound sleep.

As the old saying goes, as one journey ends, another begins.

The Battle of Summoner's Rift couldn't have gone better for Guardians, but this war is far from over. As the sun sets on Runeterra, the sun also sets on the first part of this fight.

What adventures await the Guardians as the war widens because a planet, isolated for so long, was briefly exposed. Malzahar is correct that Runeterra, for just a few minutes, was back in contact with the rest of the universe.

Will these new players bring hope? Destruction? Ambivalence? Allies? Enemies?

Will Malzahar play around what new faces come to get his goal of reopening the portal? Can the Guardians deal with these new players in addition to Malzahar and his minions? As it always, time will reveal all.

The second part of the war now begins.