It has now been nearly three days since Exodus has attacked Hardhaigh Palace. It has turned out that he underestimated how long it would take him to fully recover from ether exhaustion but after resting for a little bit longer he has now recovered all of his ether and his body is now fully healed. Exodus looks out of his temple in the direction of where the Cliffs of Morytha are. He looks down at his first ring and the faint blue glow that it gives off as he thinks back once more to his fight with the Empress.
'She will no longer be a match for me once I get this next ring. That little steam trick is about to become obsolete.' Exodus' lips curl into a sickening smile at the last few words of his thought.
Exodus looks back in the direction of his next target even though he can't see it from where he is currently standing.
"It is time."
With that Exodus gets into a running position and bolts off in the direction of the Cliffs of Morytha.
After Morag had the meeting with Rex and co she immediately called for a council meeting to discuss what had happened at Hardhaigh Palace during the attack. The science division had been working tirelessly to get the teleportation systems to work for the next time Exodus attacked. Out of fear that they may not finish in time, Tora decided to partner with the science division to help get a working prototype for the teleporter. Rex and Nia decide to go visit their nopon friend and see how it is coming along. Upon arriving at the science division they see about a dozen exhausted researchers and Tora working on various equations and formulas to be complete. As Rex and Nia enter, one of the scientists tries to stop them.
"Excuse me, but this is a dangerous facility to be in and a place where we need to keep disruptions to a minimum."
Rex looks to the scientist apologetically and scratches the back of his head. "Sorry, we just came to check up on our friend."
The scientist crosses his arms and has an annoyed expression on his face. "Well, I'm sure whoever they are can wait until we are done with our experimentations."
"No, no... let friends in. They mean no harm." The scientist turns around to see Tora standing behind him.
"Ah, temporary head researcher Tora, my apologies. I didn't know these were friends of yours."
"It fine... although bit surprising that you not recognize hero of Elysium." Tora tiredly responds.
"My apologies. I've never seen what he looks like so I wouldn't have known." The scientist bows his head a little then gets back to research.
"Whadaya know, their's still people who don't know who you are." Nia elbows Rex's shoulder.
"I know kind of surprising." Rex responds back.
"Anyways what friends here for?" Tora asks.
"Well we came over to check on you and to see how you are doing." Rex does a hand gesture.
"Meh meh... Not too great." Tora sadly remarks.
"What's wrong buddy? You look like you haven't slept since we've got here." Rex points out.
"It because Tora has not rest since got here. Have been trying to get teleporter to work all this time. Have been having trouble getting device to teleport organic matter."
"What d'you mean by 'organic matter'?" Nia questions.
"Poppi, get prototype teleporter and demonstrate for friends Rex-Rex and Nia." Tora tells Poppi who has been standing in the background this entire time.
"Roger Roger Masterpon." Poppi gestures for Rex and Nia to come to the table that is in the center of the lab and sit down. "Come sit over here friends."
Rex and Nia comply and sit at the table in front of Poppi. Poppi then pulls out two small disk shaped devices and puts them out in front of them to see.
"These are prototype teleporters. These two use mini ether engines to break up ether of target and transport to other teleporter to be reconverted on other side." Poppi then places a small rock on one of the disks and Rex and Nia watch as the two disks begin to glow a light orange before a bright flash occurs. The small rock appears on the other side of the teleporter.
"Wow, that's pretty impressive." Rex comments.
"You're telling me." Nia responds.
"Unfortunately for research team, cannot seem to get organic matter to properly convert in similar fashion." Poppi then pulls out a meaty carrot and puts it on the teleporter. What happens next is an odd shaped meaty carrot that has several protrusions and is colored differently comes out on the other end of the teleporter.
"I guess I can see why that would be a problem." Rex scratches the back of his head.
"Do you know why it comes out that way?" Nia asks Poppi as she lightly points towards the carrot.
"According to Masterpon, the reason it come out like this is due to machine not recognizing delicate structure of DNA as it only recognizes ether from object so machine not know how to properly reconstruct DNA of organic matter." Poppi explains as she points to the carrot.
"Hmmm, why not implement the use of healing ether in the engine to keep the structure of organic beings from ending up like that? Nia questions Poppi.
Tora decides to answer this one himself. "Reason being that no blade has strong enough healing ether to keep entire structure of organic creature intact." Tora explains too Nia.
Nia looks dumbfounded at Tora then narrows her eyes. "Are you sure about that?"
"Most certain. What blade could heal to such degree?" Tora looks confused at the glare he is getting from Nia.
"I don't know, how about the one in FRONT of you?" Nia gestures to herself.
Tora thinks about it for a moment then remembers the absurdity of Nia's healing. "Meh Meh Meh! Friend Nia absolutely right! If Tora can get some of Nia's ether, then Tora can engineer ether into ether engine and create model that keep structure of DNA stable! Friend Nia MUST give some of ether to Tora to begin experimenting with." Tora frantically squawks at Nia.
"That's more like it." Nia crosses her arms and flashes Tora a toothy grin. "Where do you need me to put my ether?" Nia asks Tora.
"It good thing Nia is water blade. That easiest elemental ether to work with." Tora then runs over to another table and grabs a rack with five test tubes in it and places it on the table in front of Rex and Nia. "All friend have to do it pour some of water ether into each tube and Tora begin deconstructing data to form into usable ether for the ether engines that go in teleporter." Tora waves to a giant machine in another corner of the room.
"All right. All you need is a little water aye?" Nia grabs the rack of test tubes and pulls it closer to her. She then begins to concentrate water to her right index finger which forms a small orb of water which gently floats just above said finger. "This will only take a second." Nia holds the small orb over the first test tube and water begins to pour out of the orb and into the tube. Once she fills it to seventy-five percent she stops. She then proceeds to do the same process for the other four test tubes before handing the rack back to Tora. "That should be enough right?"
"Yes yes! That more than enough!" Tora does a happy little dance which is the first time Rex and Nia have seen Tora energetic this whole time. "With this can definently complete teleporter by tomorrow! Thank you friends. This help so much. Is there any way Tora can repay you?" Tora offers to the couple.
"As long as you help with the wedding planning after this is all taken care of then that's all I ask for." Rex responds to Tora.
"Yeah, I can agree to those terms." Nia folds her arms.
"It deal. Tora put in bestest effort for friends Rex-Rex and Nia's wedding." Tora gestures to the two.
"Well I guess I'll leave it to you then." Rex waves goodbye while Tora loads the five test tubes into the machine to be examined.
"See friends later." Tora shouts over his shoulder as he continues to load the test tubes into the machine.
Exodus has arrived at the Cliffs of Morytha and looks the old titan up and down.
"This titan is on its last legs I see." Exodus focuses his eyes forward and closes them. "Looks like you won't be needing that core much longer any ways." Exodus opens his eyes and begins to walk forward. As Exodus walks farther and farther into the jungles of the Cliffs of Morytha he finds a rather large camp site with a couple thousand people sitting around trying to survive. He looks around the area from a distance and sees an Indol banner off in the distance.
'So those wretched fools have run away I see. Looks like I have more garbage to dispose of.' Before Exodus attacks he decides to run an ether scan to see if anyone there is a threat to him as a safety precaution. 'None of them come to even half of Morag's ether.' Exodus has a look of disappointment for a second before it curls into a grin. "That just means more target practice." 'I think I'll even give myself a little challenge.' Exodus darts straight at the closest person in the camp and skewers him through the chest with a flaming spear. The man dies almost instantly as his blood boils out of his body and onto the ground leaving a sizzling sound. The survivors all look in the direction horrified at what had just happened.
"RUN! IT'S THE WHITE BEAST!" One of the survivors screams as she tries to run away only to find that she has been bisected by an earth katana.
"Is that what these worms are calling me?" Exodus cackles with amusement. "I guess that isn't entirely false now is it?" Exodus asks to no one in particular.
As the people try to run Exodus sprints all around the camp killing anyone who tries to escape. He summoned a wind axe and throws it with enough force to cleave five people and have the weapon return back to him. He summoned four spears of light and shoots them in cardinal directions which impales almost twenty people before being called back. He summoned two knuckle claws with two bit balls to hold in each hand as he threw the two bit balls with enough force to cave in the flesh of the survivors then leap into the air and come raining down on any poor soul nearby to get their heads knocked clean off their bodies. As all of this was going on one of the soldiers who was there tried to contact the Empress as quickly as possible through one of the communicators. Eventually Morag did pick up.
"Yes soldier? Any updates on camp two?"
"YOUR MAJESTY! WE NEED HELP AT ONCE! HE'S HERE! THE WHITE BEAST IS HERE!" The soldier looks terrified out of his mind as the carnage ensues in the background.
"WHAT?! Soldier hold your ground I shall send aid at once!" Morag looks panicked as she was not expecting Exodus to attack so soon after their fight.
"We shall try our be-" Suddenly the man has a knuckle claw through his chest and falls limp on the fist. The fist then lifts him up and throws him twenty feet back. What Morag sees is Exodus with a sadistic look of satisfaction on his face and his clothes are covered in the blood of the innocent.
"Exodus you bastard!" Morag snarls at the blade. "You will pay for what you have done today!"
"Really now? Because that's not what it looks like!" Exodus cackles. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Just for you 'your highness' I'm going to let you have a front row seat to a little performance from yours truly. Last time you only heard of what I did, this time I'll let you see it first hand to show just how weak your pathetic species is."
Exodus then moves the communicator farther outside to get a full view of the camp. After he sets the communicator up he proceeds to run extremely fast and sweep as many survivors as he can back to the middle of the camp.
"DON'T YOU DARE LAY A FINGER ON ANY OF MY CITIZENS!" Morag yells over the communicator.
Suddenly the doors open up and Brighid and Aegaeon come walking in. "Lady Morag we heard your yells from outside so we came in at onc... oh... oh no." Brighid looks over at the communicator.
"As a token of my appreciation, I'll let Morag watch as I slaughter these insects with my power." Exodus summons two dark hammers in each hand and summons two fire ether cannons behind him.
"Exodus... Don't do this... these people did NOTHING TO YOU!" Morag looks on desperately as she knows there is no way for these people to be saved. No one besides their group could stop him.
"They most certainly did do something Morag." Exodus turns around and crouches over the monitor to look at Morag directly. "They were born."
Exodus turns around and immediately begins to smash as many people into a bloody pulp as he can with his hammers. As some people try to run away they get incinerated by the ether cannons. Through Exodus' cruelty he made sure to weaken the ether outputs of the shots enough to slowly burn instead of turn them to ash instantly. The screams of terror erupt once more as people try to escape but to no avail.
"Let me try this little trick." Exodus summons two water ether cannons and spews water all over the camp which causes the water to mix with all the blood to cause the entire camp to be painted red. He then summons a staff imbued with electricity and slams it on the water causing the electricity to quickly spread which fries any remaining survivors.
Morag feels like she's going to be sick from the display. Never in all her years as an Inquisitor or an Empress has she seen anyone with as much evil and cruelty as this man radiated. Not even Malos who had been the endbringer was ever this cruel. Suddenly a barrel falls over and a child crawls out of it looking around confused and terrified of the seen that they had just fallen into.
"So one of them survived huh?" Suddenly Exodus' face has a look of satisfaction and he pats the child on the head. "As the last survivor I shall let you live. Leave and tell everyone of what you have seen here today."
With that the child runs as fast as they can to get away from Exodus and his aura of death. "Oh, wait. I have the Empress herself as a witness." Exodus lazily remarks. He then summons four light element ether cannons and fuses them together to create a giant light ether cannon with a barrel that is as least five feet in diameter. "Guess I don't need you around." And with that Exodus launches a beam from the cannon straight at the child in a burst of bright light. When the light dims there is nothing left. Not even ash.
Morag has so much rage coursing through her being that she can't even form proper words at how pissed she was in that very moment. She gripped her hands so hard that she broke through the fabric of her gloves and her nails dug into her flesh enough to draw a small trail of blood.
"Looks like I've completed my challenge." Exodus then turns around and looks directly at Morag with an almost innocent smile. "My challenge was to kill EVERY survivor and not let a single one escape if you wanted to know." Exodus face then becomes dead serious. "After I get my next ring, I will kill you for certain. That little mist trick will do nothing to me after I get this next ring." With that Exodus simply walks away into the depths of the forest to let Morag soak in the view of the mutilation he had just caused.
Brighid opens her eyes and just looks on at what had just happened while Aegaeon has his jaw dropped trying to compute what just happened.
Morag began to visibly shake at what had just happened. Morag bites down on her bottom lip furiously trying to hold back tears. She bites hard enough to draw blood but even that is not enough as Morag looks down at her desk and she sees a few tear drops fall onto her desk along with a few drops of blood. "Ex.. o... dus. I will make sure... y-you suffer the most painful... and gruesome death imaginable. I s-swear this to you... as the E-Empress of Ely-ysium. I will NOT... let you get away... with this. You killed my people... in cold blood. AND FOR WHAT?!" Morag slams her fists on her desk. Brighid and Aegaeon immediately try their best to calm down Morag but with very little success.
"Your Majesty you must clam down." Aegaeon tries to reason with Morag.
"BUT YOU SAW WHAT HE JUST DID?! THOSE ARE MY PEOPLE HE JUST SLAUGHTERED! AND NOT ONLY THAT, HE DID IT THE WORST WAY POSSIBLE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE'S LIVES HE JUST RUINED?! AND WORST OF ALL I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Morag hiccups from the anger. "I... couldn't do anything."
Zeke and Pandoria were just passing by when they heard the outburst and decided to see what has happened to there friend. "Hey now what's all the commotion in here abou-"
Zeke was frozen solid at seeing what was still on the screen. All the bloodshed and bodies and ash strewn about. "Morag chum? ...What happened?" Zeke says in total bewilderment.
"That beast Exodus slaughtered my people like pigs and I couldn't do anything about it." Morag looks down in shame.
"Don't tell me you watched the whole bloody thing?!" Zeke raises his voice slightly.
"I had no choice. It was either that or turn a blind eye to my people." Morag lets out a ragged sigh. "I couldn't do anything. I LET THEM DIE!" Morag screams at Zeke.
"That was something you had no control over." Zeke looks down. "The best thing we can do now is take Exodus down and then have a national funeral for all that were killed." Zeke somberly tells Morag.
"DO YOU FEEL NOTHING FOR THESE PEOPLE?!" Morag screams at Zeke in riotous anger.
"WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?! EXODUS IS GOING TO COMMIT GENOCIDE IF WE DON'T ACT FAST!" Zeke hollers back at Morag.
There was a quietness in the room for a minute. It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Finally Morag tiredly looks over at Zeke.
"You're... right. We can't do anything until we get the teleporters up. My apologies for raising my voice. That was indecent of me. Especially to a friend." Morag looks up from her chair at Zeke.
"I should be the one apologizing to you for yelling at you like that." Zeke frowns. "But you have to remember that it is not your fault chum. You couldn't do anything about this. None of us could." Zeke looks back at the screen.
"I still feel responsible since a ruler should protect their people. I failed to do that." Morag glumly responds.
"Your kingdom is too large. No person could be in every place at once." Zeke somberly counters.
"Alright. All we need now is to get the teleporters done as quickly as possible before another tragedy strikes."
"Your in luck. I passed by the lab earlier and it looks like Tora might've figured something out."
"In what way?" Morag questions.
Zeke cups his chin with his hand and closes his eye. "He seemed all jumpy and excited about something. My guess is some sort of breakthrough y'know?"
"Sounds promising." Morag has calmed down significantly now.
"Well if you're all good now, how about a little sparring match? That can get your mind off of all this." Zeke motions to the screen. "Plus it energizes the body."
Morag closes her eyes in thought. "Want to test my abilities I see?" Morag opens her eyes and looks up to Zeke. "Will you be using THAT power?" Morag inquires.
"Naturally. I expect you to use your new fighting style as well."
"You really want to go all out?" Morag looks uncertain. "I feel we will destroy even more of the palace if we do that."
"Don't worry about it chum. I know a place we can spar just follow me." Zeke begins to walk out the door with Pandoria trailing behind him.
Morag gets up and follows him in a regal stride with her two blades trailing behind her.
"Looks like I gave her a good show." Exodus says with pride. "Now back onto the real reason I am here."
Exodus keeps trekking through the mountains until he makes it to the neck of the titan. "Looks like I'm going to have to get in this way." Exodus summons four katana's which hack through the neck until he gets inside the titan. "Time to go down." Exodus proceeds to go deeper and deeper into the titans chest as he continues to get closer and closer to the powerful ether signature. After pushing through several layers of flesh Exodus finds the core of the Cliffs of Morytha. He notices how the glow coming off of it's core is much dimmer than the one Indol had. "Looks like you really were on your last legs huh?" Exodus somberly comments. "I'm sorry for this." Exodus then rips the core out of the titan and watches as the titan begins to shake violently from getting its core ripped out before coming to a slow stop.
"I hope you will rest well." Exodus offers up. Exodus then turns his attention back to the core. "Now to begin." Exodus begins to slowly condense the giant core. Slowly but steadily it gets smaller and smaller until it is the size of a gem. "Time for you to become useful." Exodus then slowly slides the gem into another gem slot. He feels a surge of power course through his bones that make him feel even stronger. As Exodus gets over his euphoria from the surge he begins to concentrate on his new ring to test it out. Exodus closes his eyes and concentrates right in front of him. Suddenly he is where he thought he would be, even though he didn't move at all. "So I got this power back huh?" Exodus then begins to teleport all around the core to test the limits of its capabilities. "Ten meters. One second intervals. It will help for making quick dodges." Exodus then concentrates and travels one hundred meters away. "Five seconds. That is bad. I am way faster than that naturally. I suppose I'll just need more rings for that too." Exodus looks down at his first ring. "Oh speaking of which." Exodus tries to summon as many weapons as he can. He summons two spears to his hands and four more behind him. "Plus two is good enough." Exodus is satisfied with these results. He then proceeds to unsummon all of his weapons and head back the way he came.
"I guess it's time to go back home then." With that Exodus heads back to the temple.
Back at Hardhaigh Palace, the machine that had been analyzing Nia's ether had began to slow down.
"Meh Meh. Good to see analysis of friend Nia's ether complete. It been eight hours." Tora yawns.
"Masterpon needs to get some rest. Bodily functions slow down by seventy percent." Poppi tries to get Tora to finally sleep after working non-stop for over three days.
"No Poppi, Tora can't rest. Tora so close to finishing teleporter. *yawn* Must finish what Tora started." Tora then reads the data off of the monitor built into the ether analyzer to see the core components of Nia's ether. "Amazing, Nia's ether works on atomical level to restore human to previous state of being. This ether far beyond what any blade should be capable of. It incredible." Tora stares at the screen in awe.
"Masterpon should begin creating replica's for teleporters." Poppi suggests too Tora.
"Tora most certainly will." Tora then begins to extract the data about the structure of Nia's ether and begins replicating it to put into normal water. Upon attempting to mix the replicated ether with the water the system malfunctioned. The screen glows red and a large 'ERROR' is shown on screen. "Meh Meh Meh?! What happen?" Tora then types furiously on the keyboard to find out the exact reasoning behind this error. After digging through countless lines of text on the window Tora comes to the conclusion.
"What happened Masterpon? Machine not suppose to do that." Poppi points her finger rapidly at the machine.
"According to readings, ether too complex to be replicated." Tora glumly replies.
"Does this mean Masterpon hit dead end?" Poppi questions.
Tora takes a moment to mull it over in his mind for what to do in this situation. After rubbing his temples a few times Tora comes up with an idea. "No, just temporary setback."
"What Masterpon going to do now?" Poppi points upwards and tilts left to right.
"Tora send Poppi on special mission." Tora gestures with one of his wings.
"What would Masterpon like Poppi to do?" The small robotic girl bounces around excitedly.
"Tora need Poppi to go find Rex-Rex and Nia. Tora need them to complete teleporters."
"Roger Roger Masterpon." Poppi then walks out of the lab in search of Rex and Nia.
"Heh you've gotten a lot stronger I can see." Zeke plops down on the ground exhausted. "That new dual wielding style is pretty powerful."
"You have improved as well." Morag gasps out. "That eye of yours is unlike any I've ever seen." Morag sits on a nearby rock.
Zeke had lead Morag outside of Alba Cavanich to a deserted area about a thousand meters away from the capital. They had been sparring for an hour going back and forth with neither holding back.
"I'll say. That dual art of yours would've bloody killed me if it weren't for my eye of shining justice." Zeke looks up at Morag. "Say how long did it take you to learn that?"
"I'm assuming you're referring to my dual wielding?" Morag looks over to Zeke then looks down at her two weapons.
"That and the dual art."
"It took me three years of relentless training to learn how to dual wield. The dual art took a year after that." Morag looks at Zeke's exposed left eye. "How long did it take you to control that?"
"Well I've been working on my eye ever since you sent me off on my expeditions. So I've been training it for four years. I still wear the eyepatch as a just in case." With that Zeke puts the eyepatch back on. "We should be heading back now. It's gotten pretty late and I'm pretty sure we're going to need our chum Nia to heal us." Zeke laughs at that. "She's gonna be pissed at seeing us in this condition."
As Zeke gets up and begins walking back towards Hardhaigh Palace Morag stops him. "Zeke, thank you for this."
Zeke looks back at Morag and gives her a thumbs up and a gleaming smile. "Any time Morag. We are friends after all."
Morag puts on the faintest hint of a smile and walks beside Zeke. "That we are."
Rex and Nia were just walking down the halls to go eat dinner together when they hear the sound of metal clanging against the floor in the distance.
"Hey Rex, do you hear that?" Nia's ears stiffen up and start slightly turning from side to side.
"Maybe that's the sound of the kitchen? We are on our way to the Grand Hall after all." Rex ponders.
"That would make sense if it weren't for the fact that it sounds like it's getting closer." Nia has a small frown grace her face.
"Now that you mention it you're ri-" Suddenly Rex gets tackled in the back and feels something on top of him. He slowly opens his eyes and looks up only to see Poppi standing on top of him.
"Poppi? What are you doing here? And why did you tackle me?" Rex slowly gets back up as he looks at the small robot.
"Masterpon need Rex and Nia to come back to lab. Reason for Poppi tackling Rex is because chances of catching attention increase by ninety-five percent." Poppi puts her fists on her hips and puffs out her chest.
"Is there any reason he needs us?" Nia asks.
"According to Masterpon he needs Rex and Nia to help complete teleporters."
"But why tho? I gave the little furball my ether earlier, couldn't he replicate more?" Nia crosses her arms.
"Machine couldn't replicate Nia's ether. Too complicated."
"I guess he needs us to provide the ether?"
"What d'ya mean us? I'm the one who has to give it to him." Nia presses her index finger into Rex's shoulder and arches towards him.
"That correct." Poppi gives a simple response.
"Well, might as well. It'll only take a minute." Nia relents.
"Alright, friends follow Poppi."
"But we already know where the lab is." Rex states confused.
"Poppi just want to be around friends longer." Poppi interjects.
Rex smiles. "Well if you wanted to be around us you just had to ask."
"It ok friend Rex. It the small things that count." Poppi then starts to march back towards the lab with Rex and Nia in tow.
Back in the lab, Tora grabs the two prototypes and opens them up to take their ether engines out to be remodeled for water ether. It is a simple change that only requires the inside of the engine to be slicked with a special coating to prevent the water from damaging the electrical components inside the engine. It only takes Tora about ten minutes to completely coat the insides of both engines and he looks on at his handy work.
"Now all Tora need is friends Nia's ether." Tora remarks to no one in particular.
Suddenly the door barges open.
"Masterpon, Poppi has returned. Poppi brought Rex and Nia just as Masterpon requested." Poppi steps out of the way and gestures to the couple.
"Excellent timing Poppi. Just finish applying special coat to ether engines." Tora gestures with his wing.
"So my ether's really too strong for your machine ey?" Nia puts on a smug face and wipes her face with her arm.
"It too complicated to be replicated. Friend Nia will have to pour ether into engines manually." Tora pushes the two engines across the table as Rex and Nia sit down across from Tora.
"So how much am I going to be pouring into it? And where DO I pour it into?" Nia fiddles with the engine.
"Should be small hole at top of ether engine to pour ether into. As for how much, Tora say fill engine to brim."
"Gotcha."
With that Nia once again forms an orb of water right above the tip of her right index finger and began releasing water into the engine. She proceeded to fill up both engines and slide them across the table back to Tora.
"That should be enough ya?"
"Only one way to find out!" Tora says excitedly.
Tora then grabs both engines and puts them back into the prototypes. After that Tora flips them back around and turns them on. It takes a moment but the teleporter hums to life with a soft blue glow. Tora then puts some space between the two teleporters and pulls out a meaty carrot.
"Tora really hope this works." With that Tora puts the meaty carrot on the teleporter and pulls out a button to press. When Tora presses the button a burst of light blue light bathes the room forcing everyone except Poppi to look away from the sheer brightness. When the light dims everyone except Poppi slowly opens their eyes and blink a few times to redialate their eyes. When they all look up they see the meaty carrot on the other teleporter look perfectly fine.
"It a success!" Tora hops up and down excitedly.
"Looks like you've really done it. Congratulations Tora." Rex pats Tora on the back.
"So what are you going to do now furball?" Nia asks.
"Tora going to go take long deserved nappy time. Haven't slept in three days." Tora exhaustedly replies too Nia.
"You go do it. You deserve it." Nia tells Tora.
"Uuuhhh... gladly." Tora then sluggishly leaves the lab.
"Alrighty then, back to dinner." Rex proclaims.
"Finally, I wonder what they'll be serving tonight?" Nia ponders.
"Whatever it is I know it's gonna be good." Rex replies.
As the two begin to walk back to the Grand Hall they see a small group of people trying to get their attention.
Rex looks in the direction of the motion and looks really confused by the motion. "Do you see that? Looks like they're trying to get our attention." Rex points out too Nia.
Nia follows Rex's finger and looks off in the direction of the commotion. "Looks like it." Nia narrows her eyes in that direction. "Wait a minute. That's Zeke Morag, and their blades." Nia exclaims.
"What do you think they need from us?" Rex gestures with his hand towards the group.
"From the looks of it they're in pretty poor shape." Nia looks a bit concerned at her other friends.
"We should probably help them."
"I guess, but our dinners getting cold." Nia pouts to Rex.
"It'll be alright, the dinners not going anywhere. Plus it looks like they might need our help." Rex counters.
"If you say so." Nia gives a small huff and lightly pats her cheeks. "Let's get this over with."
With that the two of them walk towards the group of blades and drivers. As the two of them get closer Rex sees how battered the other two drivers are.
"Are you guys alright?" Rex suddenly gets panicked. "Don't tell me you've been attacked!"
"What? No, no nothing like that chum." Zeke looks over to the group with him then looks back at Rex and Nia. "We were just doing some sparring is all."
Nia interjects at this. "Just some light sparring eh? You two look like hell, don't you go giving me that crap." Nia looks upset at their condition.
Morag has a solemn look on her face. "It would appear that you were correct in your assumption of Nia's reaction." Morag murmurs to Zeke, but Nia's ears picked up on the remark.
"Well sooooorry that your friends care more about your well being than you do for yourself. Why did you both have to go all out in the first place anyways? You could've sparred at only half strength but nooooo you just HAD to go all out." Nia chides the two drivers as their blades look on in amusement.
"I just wanted to test Morag here to see just how strong she's really become." Zeke says offhandedly.
Morag closes her eyes in thought. 'Only telling half of the truth huh?' Morag reopens her eyes. "I also needed to blow a bit of steam off." Morag bluntly injects.
"Really? You of all people had too?" Rex questions. "You seem to be the most level headed out of all of us; is this whole Exodus situation affecting you that much?" Rex has a look of concern on his face.
Upon the mention of Exodus' name the entire group goes tense and silent. Nia picks up on this sudden change and looks worried for them. 'What have they seen?' Nia begins to bring her hands up and releases a shockwave of her ether to immediately heal all of them. 'They only had minor wounds anyways.' Nia closes her eyes and lets out a sigh before opening her eyes back up again to look at the group which she now realized are all focusing on her. 'More than likely shock from the sudden ether.' "Something else happened today. Didn't it?"
The atmosphere got even more gloomy and the fives people in front of them all had bleak expressions on their faces.
"That is correct." Morag replies.
Rex is now very worried for his friends. Rex steps forwards and looks Morag directly in the eyes. "What happened." It was not a question, it was a demand.
Rex realizes only for an instant that Morag's hands curl into fists and physically shake, but it was so quick that he doesn't know if he was seeing things or not. "Follow me." It was a simple response yet the anticipation was high now. Right as Morag begins to walk towards her office Zeke lightly grabs her by the arm and looks at her with a very serious look.
"Are you sure this is a good idea to show them?" Zeke knows they're not kids anymore but this is so bad that even most adults shouldn't see what had happened.
Morag stops and looks back at Zeke. "I am certain. They need to see first hand what kind of beast we are dealing with."
Zeke looks at her for a long moment before releasing Morag. "I hope you know what you are doing." Zeke uncertainly replies.
"I do." With that Morag continues to walk towards her office with the group in tow. "I warn you however that what I am about to show you is extremely gruesome so be prepared." Morag warns Rex and Nia.
The group goes through a few elevators before finally making it too Morag's office. When they do finally arrive Rex sees a communicator turned on showing a vast landscape of red. As they get closer to the communicator more and more details become apparent. Rex and Nia's eyes look on in horror at what their eyes were seeing. A lake of blood, ash, bone, and flesh take up the screen. Nia covers her mouth as if she's going to vomit and Rex is visibly shaking at what he is seeing. Nia immediately curls into Rex's embrace as they look on at the tragedy.
"Wh-what... h-happened?"
to be continued...
Authors Notes: I just keep doing it. This chapter is even longer than 32. I have to say the massacre scene was kind of brutal. Probably not going to write another one since I think one is enough to get across how cruel and unforgiving Exodus is to humanity. We also got to see some more of Tora and Poppi which was a plus. I'm hopping that either 34 or 35 will have are next fight. I'm really looking forward to writing that. But anyways that's about it. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I look forward to hearing your responses to this chapter. As always this is Exile Mansion signing off.