Chapter 8: Controls

The world stopped. Everything was tinted blue except us. Lena was holding onto Blinx so she also wasn't affected.

"I thought we only had one Pause control," I said.

Arch nodded. "We did." He looked at Bandit. "What did you do?"

Bandit stood there and blinked, like he just woke up from a trance. "I don't know."

We stood there for a minute. "Time should've started flowing again," Tora said thoughtfully. "This isn't a normal time control."

The dragon said we had power over time. This is what he meant. The realization hit us all.

"Move back guys." We did as Bandit said. He activated his sweeper. "Flow!"

If we hadn't have moved, we would all be pancakes. The monster came crashing down onto the platform, shaking it violently. Bandit pulled the trigger on his sweeper and fired, hitting it straight on. The monster dissolved and time crystals flew everywhere. Normal ones, not gold ones. We swept them into our sweepers, completely filling our slots. Then we met in the center of the platform.

"That was crazy. Are you all okay?" Lena asked. We nodded.

"First, What was that? I've never seen that kind of monster before. And what were you doing up here swing a board at it?" Blinx said as he looked at Lena.

She looked suddenly sheepish. "I heard the monster and ordered everyone to heard to Momentopolis so they would be safe. And I went to look for it."

"Without a weapon or guard?" I asked. She nodded.

"I'm surprised you found the board up here. That answers two questions actually," Arch said. "Three is how do we get down." Looking around, there wasn't a visible exit.

"There's normally some rope or something. It might've gotten thrown off during the fight," Lena said.

"Found it." Juro kicked the rope with his foot. "The other end reaches the mountain top. We can climb down." He did just that, sliding down the rope with his hands. We followed. All of us landed at the bottom safely.

"Do we head through Temple of Lost Time then?" Blinx asked. Lena nodded and started to lead us to the mine. There was an entrance at the foot of the mountain. We headed into darkness.

"Any lights?" I asked.

"They should've been lit, but I don't have anything to relight them." She was in the lead so she didn't see our faintly glowing eyes. At least it helped our ability to see a little.

We went down a steep drop at the end before ending at a platform. I heard skidding behind me, and then something crashed into my legs from behind, knocking me over. Tora caught me from hitting my head in the ground. Arch pulled Juro out from under me as I stood up.

"You okay?"

"Yep just slipped." Juro tried standing up, but he winced and fell back down, Arch and me catching him. We lowered him to the ground.

"Obviously not."

"Where's your sweeper?" Arch asked.

"It must've gotten knocked off when I fell. Can't use a Retry-" his sentence was cut short but a red tint covering his body and taking him back up the drop. Lena raised an eyebrow.

"What was that?" She asked. We shrugged. Juro came back down and turned out fine. "I didn't know you could still use a time control without your sweepers."

"Remote," Arch improvised.

We left it at that. We traveled through the temple without any incident.

"Why is there a temple in the mountain?" I asked. Lena shrugged. We continued in silence.

The mine was just as uneventful. As was Everwinter. Except we kept sliding around, but no one got hurt. It was only after the forge that we had any activity. We arrived at an arena with guards posted outside the entrance. Their weapons were at their sides, but they raised them as we got closer. Upon seeing Lena they lowered them and saluted. They let us in without question. We went to a section of the arena on the top floor where we could talk.

"Is this Momentopolis?" I asked looking around. Blinx nodded, his eyes unfocused. Lena lead us to some benches.

"So why are you guys here?" she asked when we were seated.

"There's been some trouble recently. We're checking all the worlds for major disruptions. Many have found monsters with new powers, like snow and earth control." Blinx explained it like this was a normal occurrence, even though this was a high level emergency. Lena nodded slowly, understanding.

"If you need to leave, then go. I'm sure others need you more than we do."

"Just keep everyone safe as best you can. If anything happens, try to contact us." Lena nodded and we stood to leave. Then we froze.

What the? Tora asked.

Did the Factory loose power again? Arch questioned.

Could be, or- Blinx didn't get to finish his sentence as just then everything kicked back into motion. Looking around, no one seemed to notice time stopped except us. They were a bit confused about our questioning looks, but let it slide. We made it to the bottom floor when time crystals came out of nowhere. Could be from the stop.

We didn't have time to figure it out. The crystals formed together into one of the worst monsters out there. "Chronohorn." Blinx had showed me the profile multiple times. But this was for real.

"A Time Golem?" Tora asked. The people of the world looked at the monster in fear. "Move it! Get out out of here!" Tora's yelling knocked everyone out of their stupider and they ran to get out of the arena.

"At least this place has a floor this time, right?" But when I looked at Blinx he was frozen.

"How do we defeat this guy?" Bandit asked calmly. Blinx didn't answer. "Tora keep him busy. Arch back her up." They nodded while the rest of us pulled Blinx away from the monster. We sat him down by the doorway and tried to snap him out of it. He didn't respond to anything, and started shaking slightly. He finally jumped when I pulled his goggles over his eyes. He looked at us quizly

"I did it again, didn't I?" he asked me. I nodded as he hung his head.

"No one can blame you. The last time you defeated this thing you nearly died right?" Juro asked. He didn't wait for an answer. "You've got a team now. We're going to watch each other's backs. You can do this."

Blinx nodded, took a shaky breath, and stood up. "Let's show him what we can do." Just then we heard a scream followed by Arch yelling. "Tora!"

I know. Another cliffhanger. I'm evil. Hope you're having a good week, that isn't wacky like mine has been. Go get 'em fey!

-ThinMintE