With a large flash, the teleporter slowly deposited the group to where they were going. Andrus quickly leapt off the thing, while Harumi and Lloyd both looked around in shock and confusion. The three were inside of a large room made out of metal, with nothing more than a symbol of Borg Corp on one wall. The air was slightly cold, and felt stale to Lloyd.
"Come on, it's this way," Andrus waved them on, moving over to the symbol on the wall, "The Vault is beyond here."
"Really?" Lloyd blinked, his mind catching up to him, "Wait, but, we have to go back! Andrus, Millie is fighting back there!"
"I know," Andrus stated plainly. He reached out for the symbol on the wall, focusing on it. He looked down, ready to use his wristop, only to realize that he didn't bring it with him. Upon realizing this, he gave a grumble of annoyance and just slid his sleeve down a bit and instead worked on tapping in something onto the wall itself.
"Andrus, that thing is an Oni, or, so he says!" Harumi pointed out, "What happens if she loses?"
"She won't," Andrus stated simply, "She's programmed to defend me at all costs. She would sooner destroy both him and herself than lose. And I told her not to do that unless absolutely necessary."
With a few more taps, the wall in front of them slowly slid open. Llyod had expected there to be more fanfare, but instead the wall just opened up to show a large room connected to the room they were standing in. It was large, filled with large tubes of glowing blue energy that sparked with power. Behind each one was some strange item, some of which Lloyd recognized, others of which he didn't. Andrus walked right inside, not looking at anything else.
"...I guess this is Andrus we're talking about," Harumi frowned, "Come on, Lloyd."
"But-" Harumi gripped Lloyd's hand to shut him up, dragging him along with her as she followed after Andrus.
"He won't turn back now, he's… he's driven towards a goal, no matter how small," Harumi groaned, "Come on then, let's go. We need him to get the Time Blades."
"Speaking of them, they're right here," Andrus stopped in front of one of the displays.
Harumi blinked, not even expecting for it to be that simple. She walked over to see them. The four blades were all suspended in a small force field, hovering there in a display for any to see. The blue, green, red and orange glows were all there, humming very faintly in the chronosteel shells they were trapped in. Lloyd moved over and tapped on the screen for it, looking into the date that they were logged in.
"This is from a long time ago, there's a message here," Lloyd leaned in to read it, "'If you're reading this, then you've come here seeking the power of time. And since the only one that knows about this place is you, Harumi, I'm sure that…'" Lloyd paused, "... 'That you have good reason. You're a smart girl, I know that you must have thought of every option before this. If you are going to release them, then you must promise to destroy them when you are finished. Better to risk the Twins getting them back then them falling into unknown hands. Just remember this before anything else, Harumi: control time, control everything. Don't lose that control. Don't use them without thinking. I love you, Harumi, and I hope whatever reason you're letting these out for, you're doing it for a good cause'..." Lloyd's voice trailed off.
Harumi stood frozen to the spot, her eyes clouding up. Lloyd walked up to Harumi, gently reaching out to touch her shoulder. He knew that memories of her father were always mingled up with many things, and reading a message he'd written just for her must have been an emotional blow. Lloyd patted her shoulder a few times, making Harumi take a few deep inhales and look up at the blades. When she did, a small smile creeped onto her lips for the briefest of moments.
"Is it me, or, do they look less… colorful than normal?" Lloyd asked.
"It's likely due to energy diffusion," Andrus explained behind Lloyd immediately, "Energy, like all matter, will naturally diffuse from areas where a concentration gradient is formed. If the generated flux is naturally sufficient to cross said gradient, then it will move across and deplete the initial concentration."
"He's saying they're leaking power," Harumi paused, "But, why? Why would they do that?"
"...Elemental powers aren't like normal energy," Lloyd muttered, "It's always transferred between generations, and it always regenerates. But, if you don't use it long enough, you lose control over it. Wu always was telling us never to stop training with them, or they'd stop obeying us."
"But… but what does this mean?" Harumi blinked.
"It means whatever energy you assumed that is in those blades, assume only a fraction is left," Andrus informed them, "Given the absence of data, I would estimate maybe… 10% is left."
"Only ten?" Lloyd turned to Harumi, "Do, you think that power will recharge? The blades always recharge."
"I don't know if we can risk it," Harumi leaned up, "I don't know how much power we need to actually make this plan work. But… but we have to try it. We can't use these things. I need to take them to the lab right away. In that building that I showed you," Harumi nodded, "Andrus, open the field."
Andrus didn't hesitate, moving to tap in a few of his credentials and allow the machine to scan his body several times. Slowly, the force field died off, leaving the blades to gently lower towards the ground. A metal container came rising up from the floor, opening up with robotic arms and slotting the four blades into place inside. The container sealed itself up, ejecting a handle out the side and showing a small screen on the outside with the contents displayed. Harumi reached out towards it, her hand about to grab the handle. She turned to Lloyd, a moment of doubt on her face. Lloyd nodded to her, letting Harumi take a moment to breathe, then grasp the container tightly.
Nothing happened when she did. She hefted the container up, finding it very light for what was inside. Andrus looked at her, then around the rest of the room. After determining that they had nothing else to find, he moved back towards the teleport pad.
"Alright, let's leave then," Andrus called out, "I don't know how long Millie will hold him off before she retreats, and well, I don't know much about the man you brought into my office."
Harumi and Lloyd nodded, rushing their way back onto the teleport pad. Andrus stepped on as well, moving to let the machine scan him once more. As soon as it had begun to scan him once more and confirm his DNA was present, he inhaled and shouted, "Teleport, Start!"
The moment that he did, the entire pad suddenly turned a bright red. A wall of energy sparked up around them, surrounding them on all sides. The entire room began to light up in alarm, colors blaring all over on all the walls. Lloyd and Harumi widened their eyes and looked around, looking to try to discern what happened. Andrus, meanwhile, looked around with a confused and neutral face.
"It appears someone has caused an energy disturbance on the receiver," Andrus frowned, suddenly getting down to his hands and knees and ripping open a panel in the floor, "The machine has gone into a critical state. Millie must have accidentally blasted apart my office again."
"Andrus!" Lloyd shouted, fear rising in his body, "What's going on?!"
"We're about to be teleported without somewhere to receive us, and without any energy to stabilize our ride," Andrus pulled wires up and began to mess with them, "I'm going to limit the supply voltage to shorten the radius of our possible destination. The machine will ensure we aren't spliced together with something else."
"We're going to be teleported randomly?!" Harumi gasped, reaching out to try to launch a Rhotatae disc through the wall of electricity sparking around them. The disc faded on impact, and instead a blast of it shot out and struck Harumi in the chest. Lloyd reached out to grab her as she fell, dropping the case into the wall of electricity. The device short-circuited, opening up and spilling the blades across the floor.
"Harumi!" Lloyd shouted, reaching out for her. His foot yanked on Andrus' arm, wrenching him away and causing him to rip a wire out of the panel. All at once, the world around them went white.
"I'll see you all when you get there!" Andrus shouted, just as the world around them flashed. All at once, the three were struck by the electricity around the room, causing them, the blades, and the case to all light up and flash as the teleporter commenced.
Millie thrust her body to the side, dodging a slash from Oni's claws and instead letting off a massive blast of power directly into his chest from her cannon. The strange rock that had formed over his body after donning the purple mask caused him to slide across the floor, but take no damage from the attack. Her calculations ran rapidly as she attempted to discern her next course of action.
Instead, Oni launched himself at her, once more attempting to slash her apart with his clawed hands. Millie sidestepped him, instead converting the cannon into her blade to attempt to slice apart his back. The blade bounced off, giving Oni time to turn around and register what she'd done. A blast of her cannon sent Millie away from him to regain her senses.
Oni turned to attack her again, but instead his head was jerked to the side. He turned to see Tye holding a laser pistol in his hands, firing several times right at him to hit several key points of his body. Millie took this time to charge up her cannon again, firing at his feet to try to unbalance him. The result of their actions was simply making him stagger slightly.
"You are not apart of this fight," Oni pointed at Tye, even as the blasts hit his outstretched hand, "Leave this room and do not continue your attack."
"Sorry, I'm part of Andrus' security detail," Tye spat, "And you're not cleared for entry."
"Hmmph," Oni turned towards the large table in the room, "Then you will be labeled as my enemy," Oni reached out and gripped it, clenching his hands into it. With a simple yank, the entire table was ripped from the floor, leaving sparking wires and bits of white from the legs. With a heave, he threw the thing at Tye, fast enough his only reaction was to flinch.
Millie shot in front of Tye, slashing her sword arm through it and sending the halves to either side of Tye. Oni responded by grasping the chairs and slinging thm at her at high speeds. Millie slashed through two, then unfolded her shoulder blasters to destroy the last one. When Oni attempted to throw another, she blasted her cannon at him to stagger him. She twisted the cannon on her arm, causing it to hum differently and instead fire out several large blasts of green, each of which struck him and dissipated charge through Oni's body.
"Tye, evacuate all personnel on this floor, I will guard this room in the event that Andrus attempts to return."
"Grr… Andrus really knows how to pick the good ones," Tye stood up and nodded, holding his gun close, "I'm on it!"
"You have not been dealt with," Oni's distorted voice turned to Tye, readying a blast towards him. Before he could attempt to, Millie blasted her way over to him with her cannon, slashing her foot across his chest to throw him down where the table had once been. Tye turned around once more to see Millie attempt to pin him down, then ran out to sound the alarm.
"This mask ensures no damage you do to me will reach me," Oni informed her dryly, "You have no chance to attack me."
"In that case," Millie droned back at him, "Let us see if that extends to the one part of you that has not changed," She hefted her cannon directly at Oni's mask, blasting several shots at it.
Oni attempted to use his massive strength to throw her off, but her own robotic mass was far heavier than he anticipated. When the multitude of cannon blasts didn't work, Millie stabbed her blade under the mask's chin and began to yank upwards. A faint flow of purple began to emanate from under it, even as a force that was unlike anything human attempted to stop her. She used a force only a machine could muster to begin to pry the thing off even further.
Oni's claws shot up from his hands, grabbing hold of Millie's two shoulder cannons and giving them a massive yank. The devices were yanked clear off of her body, and Millie herself was sent flying backwards from his strength. Oni then grabbed the mask and affixed it back to his face. When he looked back to where Millie landed, the patterned face on the mask emanated a rage that she didn't quite place.
"You will pay for touching something that belongs to me," Oni declared with a long hiss, "Do not think I have mercy for you."
"I had no intention of sparring you as well," Millie forced her shoulders to close and instead formed the arm cannon once more, "I am here to protect Andrus, so long as you threaten his safety, I will not let up on you."
Oni let out a large snarl, and in turn he launched himself at the android. Millie sidestepped him and, rather than blast him, instead grabbed his arm and twisted her entire body to throw him to the ground. When he landed, she blasted the back of his head with the cannon, then launched on top of him and attempted to grab the mask again. Oni raised his hand and struck the floor under them with his might, causing it to crack and, under their combined weight, to fall through. A mass of wires and sparking blue tubes greeted them as they fell down into a conference room below, shattering a table as they went. The room around them blurred red, warning them of the damage and sealing the door.
Millie stood up and grabbed an errant chair, swinging it around and smashing it apart against Oni's indestructible hide. To Millie's shock, Oni yanked the Mask of Hatred off his face, instead reaching off into his hip and pulling off the Mask of Deception. Millie aimed her cannon to try to blast the mask away from him, but the second that Oni's face touched the mask and the deep silver horns sprouted, Millie's internal gyroscope went wild. Oni reached out with his hand, levitating Millie in the air and spinning her about. Millie tried to aim her arm at him, but Oni levitated bits of the broken table up, encasing the arm on them and causing the laser to harmlessly just blast apart more of it.
"I told you," Oni declared as he raised his other hand up, "You made the wrong choice in fighting me."
Millie attempted to overload her cannon, but Oni instead caused the remainder of everything in the conference room to fly right towards Millie and rapidly encase her in it, crushing her. While her robotic shell protected her, Oni continued to yank pieces from around him. Soon the panels on the wall were ripped up, the computer screen breaking apart and only adding to the pile. Once Millie's body had disappeared until the swirling ball of shrapnel and collateral, Oni let out a snarl and thrust both hands forward. Millie struck the exterior wall of the building, and both she and all of the pieces of the room were thrown off the side of Borg Tower from hundreds of stories in the air. There wasn't even time for her to make a sound before gravity took her.
Oni didn't waste any time in his victory. With the mask, he levitated his body up through the hole in the ceiling and landed back in Andrus' office. The moment he did, he raced over to the spot in the floor where the teleporter had arisen, plunging his claws into it and ripping apart the metal there. When he'd fully uncovered the piece of equipment, he raised his claws up, ready to destroy.
The sound of laster fire caused Oni to turn his head just in time to dodge a blast aimed for his head. Tye stood in the doorway of the office, holding his gun and already readying the next charge. Oni gave a snarl at him from under the mask.
"Why do you stand in my way?" Oni declared, "I have already done in your companion, you stand no chance."
"Yeah, saw that, sorry but I've seen her survive being blown up," Tye fired his gun again, "And I know a bit more about you thanks to her!"
Oni readied himself to reach out and grab Tye in his telekinesis, but the laser that Tye had fired hit the tip of one of the mask's horns, causing his focus to momentarily be broken. In that second, Tye slammed his hand to a scanner on the wall, causing the room's security system to activate in full. From the ceiling, automated lasers trained their scanners on Oni and then quickly fired. Oni reached out with his mask, dragging the massive desk that Andrus used up from the floor with a hard wrench of wire and metal to defend himself. Tye slid across the floor, avoiding Oni's sight until he was halfway to the teleporter.
"I see you!" Oni declared viciously, "I will stop you!"
"Yeah, good!" Tye aimed his gun again. The blast flew past Oni and hit the wall on the other side of the room The sprinkler system in the room went off, a deep mist of steam that condensed as it got closer to the ground. The cover let Tye slide past Oni's attempt to fling things at him, arriving at the teleporter. He once more went prone and slung his foot, trying to knock Oni over. Oni spun around, the demonic painting of the orange mask staring at him.
Oni let out a snarl, reaching up with the ripped up desk and slamming it down towards Tye. While Tye managed to slide right out of the way, the thing hit the side of the teleporter. The entire pad began to glow blue in turn. Oni ducked to avoid the lasers from the security system, but the damage had already been done. As the teleporter glowed, Tye shook his head.
"Andrus you had to pick right now!" Tye spat, only for Oni to try his attention to him again. Tye tried to run, but a force gripped his chest and yanked him up into the air. Oni yanked him in front of the lasers. A few moments later, the system stopped firing.
"You will not stall me any longer," Oni raised his other hand up, letting Tye see the claws. Before Tye could try to fire at him, those claws yanked the gun from him and crushed it to nothing, "You will not succeed in your task of guardian."
Tye was about to try to formulate a way out of this, but that was when the teleporter behind them started to spark. Both of them turned to look at it. Violent blue energy was arcing out in every direction. While neither of them knew what was happening, Tye was willing to use it to help get away. As one of the blasts arced out towards Oni, Tye swung his legs forward and hit Oni in the chest. Oni was knocked into the blast, causing his body to stiffen up momentarily. Tye felt his hand lock up and yanked himself free, crouching down and watching the sight.
"What is happening?!" Oni asked with a roar of anger.
"Something that isn't Andrus' fault for once," Tye grumbled, "Get ready for it."
Before Oni could ask what he meant, Tye thrust his hands over his head. The power from the teleporter arced out, filling the room in its glow. A moment later, the world around them both seemed to vanish and go white as whatever the teleporter was doing. There was nothing that they could do as the entire contents of the room were teleported around the city. With one flash, everything was gone, leaving an office that was completely clear of all debris aside from the single hole in the floor.
"Andrus!" Millie's voice shot up as she climbed her way up the side of the building. She clung to the outside of the glass of Andrus' office just as the flash occured. When her sensors were able to pick up what had happened inside the office, all she could do was stare.
"...Search and retrieval protocol activated," Millie declared. She sent out a signal and let go of the building, once more falling from it. A moment later, a company hovercar caught her as she shot off into the city.
Lulloyd landed his Mechdragon, causing the thing to revert to the printed piece. He hefted the thing up onto his back, looking around as he did. He'd landed in the middle of some park, and one that was now filled with people all staring at him like he'd just materialized from thin air on a toy dragon. He decided to ignore them and quickly began to run through the paths, shouting his apologies as he pushed past everyone.
"Dragon's too much attention," Lulloyd muttered to himself as he ran along the way, "Top layers dangerous, don't know where enemies are, forces are split between unknown locations, course of act-"
Lulloyd blinked, realizing how he was speaking and shaking his head, "Need, need to find my friends. And…" he looked down to his broken watch, "... Get Harumi to fix these. Okay, so, where would Harumi be? No, wait, her friends are going to find her, right? Okay, so Over. Shouldn't be hard to find an entire mecha inside this city. Okay. Okay. I got this. I, I can do this. Alright. Now, let's go-"
As soon as Lulloyd finished speaking, there was a massive flash of blue light in the sky above him. He looked up to it, seeing what looked like some blue ball of energy that materialized in the sky itself. Lulloyd was about to ask more of it, but that was when the ball burst open, scattering blue particles in the air. What shocked him more than that, however, was the fact that the ball seemed to have deposited something in the very air itself.
"Harumi?!" Lulloyd gasped. Indeed, the figure of Harumi was falling through the air. She looked knocked out, given the fact she simply fell without even a sound. Lulloyd thought fast. His dragon was too slow. Quickly, Lulloyd shot up and hit the trees inside the park. Their leaves turned into the standard pieces that Lulloyd was used to seeing. He slammed the leaves together and turned them to the tree, slapping them against it. He lapped up and ran horizontally up the stretch of leaves, spinning to slap more and more leaves together. Once he was at the apex of the leaves, he leapt up into the air and grabbed hold of Harumi. As soon as he had her body, he angled them to fly towards a small pond. Realizing how hard of an impact this was about to be, he turned so he would hit the water first.
Indeed, when the two hit the surface, Lulloyd knew that they were going too fast. His back hit the bottom of the pond, but he managed to throw Harumi off to the side. The impact was about as painful as being thrown off the side of the Bounty by his father's mech, but that didn't mean he still didn't cry out in pain. He sputtered and clung his way back up and out of the water. More people then looked at him in shock as he crawled up and over to Harumi.
"Urrgghh…." Harumi shook her head, the impact of hitting the ground having mostly woken her up, "What… what happened?"
"...Y-You tell me.." Lulloyd painfully pushed himself upright. As he did, the people around them only deepened their gazes of confusion.
"Lulloyd?" Harumi shook her head, "I… where are we…?" Slowly, she raised her hand up to rub her head. The moment she did, however, a flash of panic went through her. Lulloyd stared at her in confusion.
"Where are they?!" Harumi shouted at Lulloyd, "Where are the Time Blades!?" She shot up to her feet, grabbing him by the shoulders, "Where?!"
"I-I don't know!" Lulloyd winced in both pain and fear, "I-I just saw you! I only caught you!"
Harumi let go of him, looking around in confused terror. The blades were nowhere near her, not even the case she'd carried them in was there. The panic set in for her as she quickly began to gasp and pant in fear.
"T-They're, they're gone, the blades…" Harumi gripped her head, "I lost the blades! I-I must have dropped them when, when…" Harumi fell down to her knees, "No, no, no, no NO!"
"H-Harumi!" Lulloyd gasped out, darting his way in front of her, "Calm down! We, what's going on? I-I don't know what you're talking about!"
"We, we got the blades, but, we had to teleport to get them and, and then when we tried to go back, something happened and, and we must have been scattered, and… and…" Harumi looked up to Lulloyd in fear, "I-I messed up, I messed up! I-If Ophiod or Prime find them they, they might figure out our plan, a-and then, then!"
"Harumi!" Lulloyd shouted at her, reaching out to take her wrists, "Calm down! It's… it's not gonna help us right now to panic! We… we need to be on the same page here to make progress! A-and it's not gonna work if you're panicking! Now… now tell me what happened!"
Harumi looked deep into Lulloyd's eyes, her own filled with shame, terror and regret. Against his gaze of determined focus, however, she lowered her own head and let her arms go limp. The people around them began to whisper in confusion and raise up their Borg Watches to all take images and pictures of the sight. For now, Lulloyd had to just ignore them, instead focusing on her.
"We… lost the Time Blades," Harumi whispered, "I don't know here they are right now. We had to teleport out of the vault we got them from, and then I lost them when we got, flung all over the city…" Harumi whimpered, "We, we have to get them back, Lulloyd, we have to!"
"Y-Yeah, I agree, but, let's worry about that right now, okay?" Lulloyd frowned, "While… while you were gone we got separated. Ophiod and Prime came and broke us up. From what I know it looks like Over is fighting Prime and… I took on Ophiod but I don't know where he is."
"You… you don't?" Harumi's eyes widened, "T-That's not good that's… oh no…" She shook her head, "How did they find us, how?"
"Ophiod used a spell on Forte, she told him, she didn't know," Lulloyd frowned, "B-But we can't think on that right now! We… we gotta work on the issue right now. Where is Lloyd?"
"I… I have no idea…" Harumi whispered shamefully, "He's probably somewhere on the other side of the city, maybe with Andrus? I don't know. But, whatever is going on, we have to be careful. We, we can't let them get the Blades, if our plan is to work then…"
"Okay, finding the blades," Lulloyd stopped her train of thought, "What are we going to do about that?"
"I… I don't know, there might be something in this watch…" Harumi shook her head, "No, no it won't work! We… we need something that can sense out time, right? Something that will… I odn't know what we can use that will-"
"Hey, hey, let's, focus on what we know we can do," Lulloyd extended his hand to Harumi, "Let's… let's just start somewhere simple. We need to find the others. That's the biggest thing. We don't have a way to communicate right now. So, let's find them. Okay?"
Harumi looked up to the way that Lulloyd so calmly reacted to everything she said. After a moment to look down, she sniffed and nodded her head. Taking his hand, she fully stood up and rubbed her eyes, trying to make herself a little less red. Lulloyd just kept his small smile at her while she looked to him and nodded.
"I… okay, the best place to start would be to find our way to a scanning station of some kind," Harumi looked down at her Borg Watch, "Thanks, Lulloyd. I uhm. I'm sorry for getting so emotional."
"Hey, we're all really high strung," Lulloyd smiled back at her, "You're, nowhere near as bad as I was."
"Yeah… heh, thanks," Harumi smiled again, tapping away at her watch, "Let's, let's see what it is that we can…"
As soon as Harumi tapped her watch, a glut of notifications filled it. Lulloyd stole a glance for a moment to see they were all from her friends. Harumi went silent.
"What?" Lulloyd asked. Harumi tapped a button on her watch, pulling up a message marked as urgent in a messenger with some sort of password encryption on it. After she read through the contents faster than Lulloyd could read, Harumi turned to Lulloyd.
"I told the girls that I'm okay," Harumi went through more of the messenger, "I got a good idea of what happened at our hideout. Looks like that won't work anymore…" She grimaced, "And, well, I got one more message from a friend. I know where Mage is," Harumi frowned, "He's asking for me at the station."
"The… station?" Lulloyd asked.
"Yeah… it's time I pay Commissioner Jr. a visit," Harumi pointed to his dragon, "Let's go,"
Monty stood facing Oni, both of his pistols ready to fly up and fire away at Oni on a moment's notice. Oni hefted the SoS up into the air, slowly looking down into its glean. Monty let out a little growl as he did, making Oni stare at him a little more intently.
"What's wrong, ghost?" Oni asked, "Is me touching this blade offending you?"
"It's my sword," Monty spat, "And I'm not exactly willing to sell it. Give it back before I blow your hand off to get it back."
My my, Master, is this interesting? The SoS spoke to Monty, Someone other than you is holding me, after you so clearly said this would never happen…
"You shut up!" Monty spat at the sword, then turned to Oni, "Where did you even come from?"
"If I knew, I would say," Oni shook his head, "I simply appeared not too far from here. I so happened to stumble on this."
"Cut the crap!" Monty cocked Ebony and raised it up at Oni's face, "Give me the sword or I will see how many bullets you can take before you-"
Monty didn't even finish his own statement, firing the gun three times in rapid succession. Oni simply twisted the SoS and used it to deflect two and dodge the third. His body moved at such a speed it was almost superhuman. Monty simply grunted in annoyance and adjusted his aim accordingly, firing off another shot that flew right by the side of Oni's head.
"Why do you care so much about this blade?" Oni asked him, "It's clear it won't work for you."
"What do you know about a dumb sword like that?" Monty growled.
"That is is possessed by the spirit of an ancient dragon, and will only give its secrets to those that it deems worthy," Oni frowned at him, "I studied the legends of my world thoroughly. It appears that you have the same in yours. And therefore, you cannot use its abilities."
Monty moved as though to shoot, then instead opened his palm to send a blast of wind down the barrel of the gun. In the moment of surprise, Monty shot forward and swung Ebony like a club, letting the massive gun nearly take off the side of Oni's head. Instead, Oni twisted the SoS to catch the tip of it. Monty could see his reflection in the blade for a brief moment.
"Perhaps I would be worthy enough to use the blade?" Oni asked himself.
"Fat chance!" Monty fired Ebony, letting the kickback knock Oni's blade out of position. In turn, Monty spun his body in a semicircle, drawing Ivory in the other hand and swinging both around to fire at Oni's head at point blank. Oni knocked their aim aside with his free hand, but Monty was on top of him again. The ghost blasted wind in his feet to rocket him forward, spinning his guns and blasting them off a few times to try to riddle Oni with more holes. Oni instead put on and activated the Mask of Deception, throwing Monty's guns forcibly off center and making his shots arc out wildly.
"There's no way someone as pretentious as you would ever be allowed to do that!" Monty hissed.
Actually, I find it a nice change of pace to have someone that clearly understands my value, The SoS proclaimed to Monty, Perhaps I may stay with him.
"No you WON'T!" Monty spat, "You stay out of it!"
Yet it is me that you fight over… The sword continued, I see no reason for me not to put in my own will in this. Perhaps then, Monty, you wish to prove that you want my abilities? Reclaim me from this one who holds my power, and perhaps we will make a deal.
Suddenly, Oni saw the sword flicker under his mask. Monty let out a snarl and shot forward to try to attack, but instead Oni's blade was there to instead strike his left hand and then knock him completely aside with it. Monty watched as Oni held the blade up in front of his masked face, letting his eyes slowly trace it as he saw Monty on the ground getting up to fire at him. When he moved the blade out of the way, Monty had indeed gone and already raised up Ivory to fire at him.
Oni reached out with his mask, causing Monty's gun to be wrenched from his hand and the bullet from the air. The bullet dropped to the ground as Monty shot out with wind to try to retrieve Ivory. Oni flung it away, off from Monty's immediate reach. Monty stood up in full with a massive spin from the ground, landing and letting his feet become skates with a thin layer of wind. He placed one hand in front of him and blasted wind with it, rapidly accelerating his body in a massive spin before he launched off right towards Oni to attack with his remaining gun.
Instead, Oni simply began to sidestep him. Oni spun his blade, knocking aside each of Monty's bullets and letting the reflection tell him each and every step Monty could take. Monty blasted in and out of Oni's range, attacking in massive swipes and trying to knock the blade away. Oni finally shot out with the sword, knocking Ebony from his hand. Monty brought his hands together to blast Oni away, but instead his body levitated up from the ground and up into the air to land on one of the glass layers above them, taking off in an incredibly fast run.
Monty shot his hands out, using his wind to suck his pistols back towards him and then spinning up into the air. He landed on the layer and shot after Oni. People and snakes around them rapidly got out of the way as the two of them barreled through them. Monty slid his pistols back into his armor, instead blasting up into the air and then darting forward with a violent snap of his entire form to barrel straight into Oni, turning solid to grab him and slam him into the ground.
Or at least, that was what Monty planned to do. Instead, Oni turned his head at the last second, the SoS gleaming in his hand as he grabbed Monty's solid hands and spun him around, then slammed him down into the layer below them. Monty only grunted, then went incorporeal to disappear into the layer under them and appear behind Oni, drawing Ebony. The crowd shouted in terror and began to flee as Monty fired at him, aiming for the tip of his mask.
With the split second timing, Oni didn't have his chance to look into the blade. Just as Monty anticipated, the force was enough to wrench the mask up from his face slightly. Seeing this was enough for Monty to race forward and tackle Oni to the ground again, going right for the mask. The SoS passed through his body harmlessly as he wrapped his hands down around it.
"Give me that stupid mask!" Monty spat, "Give it to me!"
"Is it not the sword you should be worrying about?" Oni asked. Suddenly, the layer around them began to rumble. Monty watched as Oni's mask let him rip apart a small section and break the glass. Gravity took hold as they both went plummeting down back towards the one below them. Monty let himself fall, while Oni flipped out of his embrace and landed on the ground, extending his claws in one hand, the SoS in the other. The shards of fallen glass were suspended in the air above his mask and thrown aside with its power.
Right back to where you started, then? The SoS taunted Monty.
Monty didn't give the sword any ground by responding, instead darting forward and throwing one of his guns in the air. He attacked Oni head on with the other one, blasting his bullets up into the sword and dodging the swipes of the claws with the other. Oni refused to let him gain ground, swiping back viciously as he went at it with Monty. The speed of their attacks were ones that not even the sword had time to predict.
The gun in the air soon hit the apex of its arc, falling back down. Monty shot one hand out and grabbed hold of the SoS' hilt, yanking Oni's arm out of position. Oni responded by wrapping his clawed hand around Monty's pistol, forcing both of their arms apart. The gun fell from the air, right near Monty's head. The second Monty saw it, he let his pistol hand go completely immaterial, that gun falling to the ground and shooting up to grab the gun in the air. Oni turned to look into the SoS, but by then Monty put the pistol right up against the Mask of Deception and fired off four shots with it one after the other.
The result was Oni's head being snapped backwards painfully. In those few seconds, Monty saw the mask begin to crack and a shimmer of purple on Oni's hip. Monty shot his hand out without thinking, grabbing hold of the Mask of Hatred and jumping backwards from Oni. He sucked his other pistol back to him and holstered it. When Oni recovered, Monty held his gun up to the Mask of Hatred and slowly pulled the slide back.
"Go on, go ahead and try to use that sword again," Monty spat, "I'll shatter this mask."
"Urrrgghh…" Oni growled, slowly looking towards Monty. He ripped the orange mask from his face, letting Monty see his eyes shining with utter rage. He held up his dragon-claw hand and let the light catch each of the talons there shine for Monty to see, "You… you are another breed of truly unbalanced hatred. I was right to label you as a reject of destiny."
"Right, because you're so balanced and so perfect," Monty spat, "Drop the sword, and I'll drop the mask."
"I made that mask," Oni shook his head, "And I can remake it again."
"Then you probably don't want to spend the time doing it, do you?!" Monty spat, putting his gun right up against the mask, "Put it down!"
Both sides seemed unwilling to move. Monty could read no emotion into Oni's eyes. He couldn't find anything in them to justify what he wanted. He couldn't understand what the sword saw in him. And most of all, he couldn't tell if he needed to attack again and risk the sword in the process. All the while, he was ready to shatter the mask at a moment's notice.
Such an unfortunate display, The sword sighed to Monty, I had hopes you could overcome this without such brutish methods.
Monty didn't react. He just stood there. Waiting. Both of them weren't sure what the other was about to do. Neither was sure they could quite overcome the other.
Suddenly, the area lit up with green power. In the shock, the SoS was flung from Oni's hand, landing right in front of Monty. From the shattered layer above them, Lloyd leapt down, landing hard and pointing his charged up hands at Oni. Monty blinked in confusion, shaking his head a few times to get his bearings back about him.
"Get the sword!" Lloyd shouted. Monty, without hesitating, grabbed the SoS and slammed it back into the holster on his back.
"You," Oni growled, recovering from the blast, "You I am here to-"
"Come on!" Lloyd grabbed Monty's hand, or at least tried to. He ran to the edge of the layer, leapt off, and formed his Elemental Dragon. Ion roared as its light green body shimmered in the lights of Ninjago City. Monty raced over and flipped onto the back of the beast, nodding to Lloyd to let them both go soaring off. Oni ran after them for a few moments, attempting to follow, but Lloyd shot straight up into the layers of the city, taking them dozens of stories away.
"Good, I found someone," Lloyd frowned, "Why was he holding your sword, Monty?!"
"Long story," Monty spat, "How'd you even find me? Normally you can't do anything without 10 directions just to go right."
"Long story short, randomly teleported and you're the only one I know that can make gunshots," Lloyd shook his head, "We need to hurry. The Time Blades could be anywhere, and I'm pretty sure that Oni there is about to tell them about it."
"Really?" Monty frowned, "So your plan was as idiotic as I said it would be?"
"Only since he got involved!" Lloyd argued, "We have to hurry!"
Monty went quiet. Lloyd flew them through the city, letting the sight of Oni fade long behind them. Monty frowned and slowly moved to soundproof the air around him so sound didn't escape. Once he was sure Lloyd was focused on his flight, he began to speak to the sword on his back and do so without moving his head.
"You," Monty hissed, "Tell me what all that was."
So you got me back… with the help of another, and Lloyd no less, The sword sighed, Truly, you aren't worthy to wield me. It seems that deal won't work out.
"You were willing to abandon me for someone you just met?" Monty growled, "I've got enough to worry about other than a god sword deciding to switch sides. I told you, you're my sword."
For now, The sword informed him, For now, you are my master. Master without my true powers. I told you what you needed to do to use me long ago. You have to make your choice to do it.
"And that won't happen," Monty growled, "Not for a long time."
Then prepare to continue to lose like this, for a very long time, The sword mocked him, going silent. When the sword didn't speak up again. Monty just clutched the prize he'd stolen from Oni and let Lloyd carry them far off into the city, the Mask of Hatred shining in his grasp as he did.
With a hard thud, Over landed on the base of a large dome that looked to be something of a power plant. If his assessment of the landscape was correct, then he'd guided Prime all the way out into the outer districts of the city. Given that the domes around him were stretching out in seemingly every direction, it seemed he'd succeeded. He saw little people in the area, meaning he was free to engage at his own will.
Over didn't waste his chance. With a flash of darkness, he vanished. A few moments later, Prime's mech flew straight towards where he'd been. Just as the mech was about to go between two small domes, a massive dragon head erupted from the shadows of the night and latched its jaws firmly around the ankle of the mech. Before Prime could react, the dragon head snapped backwards, causing the mech to wobble in the air.
Prime lurched in his cockpit, but turned his hand down towards his foot, arming the cannon on the mech's arm. The dragon head vanished. In its place, the shadows themselves shot up into the air in a massive whirling tendril mass, grabbing hold of the mech and yanking it down towards the ground. The cannon shot arced off to destroy a cooling tower, spilling water and coolant mixture all around. Prime readied another shot, but the mech was too slow as Over's tendrils fully yanked the thing down towards the mass. In a panic, Prime instead put the jets at full power. While he managed to get free, one of his legs was jerked, causing him to careen through the air. In the viewport of the mech, Prime watched Over's normal four armed form fire up into the air, rear his staff back, and then slam the weapon as hard as his muscles would allow down into the mech. Invictus was sent down into a storage building, the crash reducing it to rubble.
"Give it up, Prime!" Over shouted, hovering in the air, letting his purple eyes reflect against the darkness of the night and the glowing buildings of the city behind him, "We can keep this chase up until the sun rises, and you will not overcome me. I know your tricks."
Part of the floor of his cockpit raised up, letting Prime grip onto it and use it to climb up. Invictus mirrored him, letting him slowly climb up from the ground. He looked up to Over's form mockingly hovering in front of him, the being that he wanted more than anything to wipe from the face of this world. Prime growled to himself, trying to keep the fire in his belly and his fighting will at full strength.
"Never!" Prime shouted through Invictus' speakers, "I'll never let you go! You do not deserve to live in this world… in any world!"
"Listen to your own words!" Over commanded, "Hear what you say! We are not two beings that must fight. Until mere days ago we knew nothing of each other! Yet now you decide that it is our destiny to destroy each other. Do you not see the foolishness in your own aims?"
"I see nothing but your… your horrible face," Prime growled, his fists gripping, "The same face that took her from me! The same face that ripped them all away from me! No one that would willingly hold him inside of them… no one that would ever call the darkness their own deserves to go free!"
"Then our paths will never cease to cross!" Over shouted, "We are the same, Prime! Both of us have had everything stripped from us. By beings that we had no chance to stop! If you think that your rage will get them back, then-"
Invictus raised its arms up, firing blast after blast from its arm cannons. Over spun his staff rapidly, the whirling blade deflecting the blasts that didn't arc wildly away from him. Invictus blasted up from the ground after it did, reaching one hand out and grasping at Over. Over dodged the first grab, but the other hand came up in a massive uppercut to slam right into his unprotected back. With a cry of pain, Over spun around to try to use the next blow to knock him away, only for the other fist to reach out and grasp hold of him. Over rapidly called on the shadows inside of the fist to fire out like an iron maiden, the spikes pointed outwards and melted into hard beams that surrounded him to keep the mech from crushing his body outright.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Prime screeched, raising the fist up to see it directly in his viewport, "How… how dare you even… do you even know what I gave up to be with her? What I gave up in order to protect everyone? I didn't just have my world ripped away from me. It was taken from me by the very thing trying to take it away in the first place! It was taken away by YOU!" Prime shot his arm forward, his palm open, "If you think I'll ever forgive you, if I'll ever see the Overlord as anything other than a beast to be destroyed…" Prime gripped his fist, attempting to crush Over, "I'll make sure you can't ever say it again!"
Over's shadows melted towards, forming a stronger barrier to try to keep the fist away from his body. His arms were pinned inside of his own barrier, and his staff was trapped against his back. He opened his mouth, and in turn Prime gripped his fist harder. The whirling of machinery only put pressure on Over's chest that would likely have already been enough to rip apart a normal human. All Over could do was attempt to figure out his way out of this.
A massive crackle of blue light caused both of the combatants to turn to look. There, in the wreckage of the building that Invictus had crushed, a crackling ball of blue lightning was forming in the air. A moment later, something shot up into the air from it. A massive red glow shot into the air like a rocket, shining in a beacon to both of them.
Prime momentarily turned his focus towards it. Almost instantly, Over opened his mouth again and his jaws shifted to a dragon like snout. A massive flare of purple dragon fire shot out from his maw, striking the cockpit of the mech and bathing it in purple light. The shock was just enough for Over to wrench his body free, firing up into the air and spinning in it to blast purple beams to rocket over towards the strange object. His hand shot out and grabbed hold of it, spinning around in the air as he raised it to his face.
"What?" Over asked in pure shock, seeing none other than the Pause Blade in his hand. Whatever the context, Prime had already shaken off the attack and had turned to try to attack him again. Over sprouted wings again and rapidly flew backwards, holding the blade in one hand and rapidly firing off power with the other three.
Prime rapidly arced Invictus to try to blast Over into the ground. Over summoned his staff in another hand and arced the shots away and back towards him as best he could. As he flew over the massive field of power plants, he saw something in the bottom of his vision. An opening where water was being poured over a generator. A hydroelectric plant. With a gap that the water was using to fly into what looked like the underground.
Prime charged his two swords up, plunging them together into the massive blade he raised over his head. Over inhaled, then raised his staff up. Prime plunged the blade right down towards him, Invictus hurling the sword right down at him. Over waited right until the last moment, then he instead held the Pause Blade up in the air and fired it. Mere inches from the tip of the blade, all of Invictus was captured in the red glow of paused time.
A moment later, Over shot down, his body flying straight down into the dark opening. He found himself in an underground cavern, with the water being directed deeper down into the depths. His eyes flared purple to see in the dark as he rocketed down off into the underground, his blade in tow. By the time that the effects of the blade wore off, Invictus had lost Over on his scanners. Prime completed the swing of his sword by carving it through yet another building, plunging it deep into the earth itself before it came to a stop.
When Prime realized what had just happened, his eyes twitched, then his hands, and then he let out a shout of anger. He collapsed down onto his knees, clutching his head and gripping hard enough he could feel his head throbbing. He slammed both hands then down onto the floor, letting out another shout. After a few moments to slowly get his mind back about him, he stood up and slammed his hand onto the touchscreen in front of him.
"Ophiod! Oni! Status report!" Prime shouted, "I need to know where you are."
A few moments later, a dulled voice came through one channel, "This is Oni. I was in pursuit of Lloyd and Monty, but they have escaped."
"I'm here," Ophiod's voice came through in a distorted, almost echoey tone, "I'm poised to intercept Lulloyd."
"I lost Over…" Prime growled, "But it looks like something else is going on."
"What?" Ophiod asked, "I will take them on when I find them."
"Over just dropped our fight to grab something, something that didn't look right…" Prime growled, "Do you two know anything about that?"
"When I went to defeat Lloyd and Harumi, they were attempting to acquire something," Oni informed him, "I do not know what it is. But given that something unexpected happened in my attempt to defeat them, it might be that whatever they were collecting were scattered much like I was."
"Give me the details," Prime growled, Invictus flaring to life around him, "If they're looking for something, then they won't be hiding anymore. We finally forced them out into the open. Now it's time for us to finish them."