With the attack almost destroying the barrier, Vel'Koz worked quickly to get another repair circle planned and executed. The Guardians were working to keep the meeting secret but as the day ticked closer, more and more rumors about what actually happened circulate, it didn't help with the tension. The Guardians knew that Rek'Sai would be watching them. Waiting for the right moment to strike.
Chapter 21 – Here Comes Chaos
Lux woke up in the morning stretching and welcoming a new day, until she remembered what would be happening later, and suddenly she wanted to just go back to sleep. Solas seemed to be prepared for this, as was Dorcha who had slept on a cushion on the floor.
"Ok sleepy head rise and shine." Solas said hopping up onto the bed. Lux just turned over on her side in protest. "Come on now, you will regret it later if you don't get up. Also I'm not giving you a choice." Solas hopped over and pulled Lux's blankets off her. However, they landed on Dorcha who was trying to avoid all of the fuss, waking the poro with a start. "Sorry." Solas said, but was now dodging out of the way of both Lux's foot, and Dorcha.
Lux just sighed when she missed, but Dorcha kept up the chase and pulled herself out of bed. After coming back from the bathroom and seeing the two still seeing the two still going at it, Lux grabbed them both and held them apart. "Ok enough" and they stopped fighting.
Lux headed downstairs where Garen was already finishing breakfast and ther mother was still home for some reason. "Oh Lux good. Please do enjoy breakfast." Lux looked at the table again and it showed just how far their mother went in preparing it.
"What's the occasion mom?" Lux asked, not ignoring the food though.
"Oh I'm just in a good mood." She replied.
"She got a promotion and a full week's vacation." Garen said, laughing a bit at look on their mother's face. Lux got up and gave her a hug.
"Congrats mom." Lux returned to the table as they hear more footsteps and their father walked down, but seemed to take no notice of the lavish breakfast.
"She woke me up with the cooking." He said as she also sat down after Lux and Garen started at him. "She also told me last night." He said as they all finally ate. Once breakfast was over, they all split into what they were going to be doing. Lux watched her mother clean up, refusing assistance and eventually plop herself on the couch. Their father had left a while ago for work, and Garen went to hang out with friends. Lux knew the circle wasn't until later, so she just decided to play some games and unwind before the chaos that would be happening later tonight.
Checking the clock on her computer, she noticed that it would probably be best to head to the tower and get ready. "Mom I'm going to see my friends. I'll be back later." She said as she walked out. Mrs. Crownguard just waved her hand in reply, clearly going to enjoy the silence that was to follow. Lux paced herself to the library, not wanting to waste too much energy, but also not wanting to get there last. Once she arrived, to her annoyance, she was there last as both Janna and Poppy were already waiting.
"Don't worry about it, we just got here. We're still waiting on Vel'Koz and the final details of everything tonight." Janna said as she noticed Lux's extremely annoyed face. Instantly Lux's expression softened and she sat down to wait. After 10 minutes, Vel'Koz finally hovered in.
"Ah good you are all here, and I'm late aren't I?" He said with the realization and checking his watch. The three just nodded in reply. "Well I guess you should know the details. We won't be doing anything until this evening and as I'm sure you guessed, we can't just fix them. This will be nothing but a patchwork job to put barriers in where some are extremely weak and reinforce others. We will eventually have to take the whole grid down and replace them all. I'm working that, but I can't proceed until we have a full team." The Guardians just nodded in response, clearly just listening for now.
"If you three want do something for now, then you can. It will be quite a bit of time before we begin." Poppy immediately pulled her pendant, transformed and headed upstairs. Janna pulled her laptop and began playing. Lux just went to the third floor and took a nap in her room. Vel'Koz went back to his office and his nervousness showed as he just went by Nasus without a second thought. Nasus then followed Vel'Koz back to his office and only when he closed the door did Vel'Koz seem to notice him.
"Distracted?" Nasus asked, even though the answer was obvious.
"Yes. I'm worked about tonight. I have no doubt we will get some work done, but I don't know how much. I'm worried that we won't even get through the critical checklist. I need to see the summoners. To go over the plan once again. Hopefully it won't be too long. Can you manage?" Vel'Koz was almost out the door when he turned knowing he was asking a lot of Nasus. Nasus however, was just smiling.
"Go. Just be ready. I doubt Rek'Sai will let us off easy. The team will need help tonight, so don't go crazy." Nasus warned as Vel'Koz breathed a sigh of relief. Well in his own way. Nasus began his usual rounds and after checking in on the Guardians around midday, they left a note saying they had gone to lunch, settled down and mentally prepared himself for the evening. That didn't last long as a knock on the door disturbed his meditations.
"I have instructions that I am to be…oh" Nasus paused as he opened the door to find Renekton standing there.
"Now is that anyway to great your brother?" He said, struggling to contain his laughter. Nasus pulled the creature closer and they both embraced. "How are you doing? See managing this place I see." Renekton said elbowing his brother in the ribs while doing so.
"For now. What are you doing here?" Nasus asked as he closed the door behind him.
"Oh we accomplished our mission. We found the perfect spot for Vel'Koz's ritual or whatever, but I'm assuming the light show the other day wasn't good." It wasn't a question but a statement. Renekton was a warrior at heart, but he also knew that glowing magical lights in the sky weren't good.
"No. Malzahar did a lot more damage than previously thought." As Nasus trailed off, a black ball popped into Renekton's lap. He smiled and petted it.
"Oh good to see you too. Have a nice journey?" Dorcha asked as she turned to face the large reptile.
"Yes. But it is nice to be home. Is there any way I could help with this ritual you will no doubt be performing soon?"
"Indeed. It will be tonight, and we could always use another hand." Nasus said looking at his brother. For someone who could be so brutal and harsh, the look of a poro, magical or not, always calmed him down.
"Then I'm in. I could use some practice. In the meantime, I think I'll head to my apartment and take a nap." Renekton roared with a yawn and carefully made his way out, after putting Dorcha on Nasus' desk. Nasus hugged his brother once more, and closed the door behind him.
"He does seem nice, once you see around the edges. Still the person I remember." Dorcha said as she made to leave.
"Yeah he is. Now what did you want?" Nasus asked, Dorcha stopped in her tracks.
"Oh right. The Guardians are back and asking when we will be leaving." Dorcha said as she paused near the tube to take her back to the tower.
"Probably around dusk. We will need to be careful that it isn't detected. Rek'Sai and Malzahar will know when we start working, but until then, we need to buy as much time as possible." Nasus said and Dorcha made her exit.
Upon reentering the tower, Dorcha turned to the team. "Not until the evening. So you still have a few hours. I suggest you enjoy them because tonight will be a workout." Dorcha then noticed Solas, who was already asleep. Taking the hint, she settled down next to him, while Lux went upstairs to do a bit of training, Janna got back onto her computer, and Poppy decided to start cooking something for dinner. The next few hours passed in relative quiet as Lux came back down and Janna went upstairs. Lux offered to help Poppy but she just turned Lux away. So instead, Lux just headed into the main library, picked up a book, and sat down to read.
The dinner Poppy prepared for them was not only extensive, but almost put them into a coma with the quality. Even Nasus and Renekton were in attendance and there was still food left over. Once they had cleaned up all of the leftovers, they just sat around waiting for Vel'Koz to come, but once the time had come and past, they were all a little worried. As they started debating whether or not to go looking for him, he finally entered the tower.
"I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?" Vel'Koz asked as Lux noticed his demeanor wasn't one of sadness, but rather it seemed annoyance or frustration.
"Bad news." Poppy said, clearly wanting to get the hard stuff out of the way.
"Well we won't be doing anything today. One of the summoners is still sick, but she will be well enough tomorrow. Ok I should be more specific, the leader is still sick. She did seem fine this morning, but as they were preparing, her stomach couldn't take it and while she did avoid throwing up, she said that there would be no way she could lead the circle this evening. So the good news is that tomorrow is when everything will happen. I'm sorry to have kept you here all day but this is how things go. I'll see you all tomorrow." Vel'Koz slowly hovered out while Nasus and Renekton stood up.
"Well I guess we'll see you three tomorrow then. Good night." Nasus said as he and his brother left, Lux turned to the rest of the team.
"Well I guess it is tomorrow then. Let' s just get home safe." They got up to leave but no sooner had they reached the door, then a wave of cold washed over them. "So much for a quiet evening. Let's go girls." The three of them put the bags down, Lux pulled her locket, while Poppy and Janna pulled their pendants.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" The three of them quickly left the tower via one of the concealed entrances and it wasn't hard to find the sources of the chaos. The usual weekend market in one of the city's central squares was clearly the source of the attack as Rek'Sai seemed to be employing a few Zzs to do the hard work while she rounded up energy.
"I guess it was a good thing that we aren't doing the other thing tonight." Poppy said before she gripped her hammer and charged into the fight. Lux and Janna followed quickly focusing on the Zzs while Poppy headed straight for Rek'Sai, who clearly wasn't expecting a response, much less one this quick. All Rek'Sai had time to do was turn her head and to see Poppy right there with her hammer, before said hammer was into her side and Rek'Sai found herself flying across the market and into a wall. Roaring in rage, as she got up, Rek'Sai charged again, only to be met with another hammer as Debonair joined the fight.
"I really need to get some invitations, or I keep missing them." He said to Poppy as Rek'Sai flew into the same wall again.
"Sorry, it just sort of happened. No time to tell anyone." Poppy got them both to laugh a bit before Rek'Sai picked herself up. "Go switch out." Poppy said to Debonair and he took a quick look around, saw Lux and Janna, and headed over.
"So you challenge me alone? How funny." Rek'Sai taunted Poppy.
"I don't need anyone else burrower." Poppy taunted back, and charged straight at Rek'Sai, who dodged the initial attack, but still wound up with a hammer in the face.
Lux and Janna were more focused on deleting the Zzs that were scattered around the park, while they knew Poppy could handle Rek'Sai on her own. However, while they managed to keep track of most of them, they lost track of a reasonably sized one that charged straight at Janna, only to be met with Debonair's energy pulse. Janna, who both deployed her own barrier, and ducked to absorb the blow, opened her eyes and smiled. Debonair headed down her and helped her to her feet.
"The Blue one said switch out. I'm not sure what it means." Debonair said as he fired another pulse at one flanking Lux.
"It means I go help her, and you stay here and delete these things." Janna said and she moved off quickly to help Poppy while Debonair, looking a bit put out, still smiled and began shooting pulses at any Zz that moved, and a few that didn't. Lux kept up her attacks, but switched to more of a support role as she kept the Zzs off Debonair while he took them out. Well most of them, Lux wasn't about to sit out a fight if she could help it. Just when they felt they were clear, the ground shook a bit and they both turned.
"Well, someone's been eating." Lux said as an enormous Zz made its appearance. "Keep it at range and just poke it down. Try aiming for its belly and its head." Debonair nodded, and they both broke in separate directions as the Zz charged and missed them both. Lux turned and threw a binding while Debonair threw an energy pulse, both connected, and Debonair sent another few pulses its way, while Lux threw a few bolts from her baton as well. The Zz roared, and trampled a few booths in the process while it turned, but Lux looked around and seeing many of them already destroyed, hoped that people wouldn't be too mad.
The Zz charged again and again it missed as Debonair just dived out of the way and it instead caught a few more pulses and Lux's singularity. Lux threw another binding to root it, but it missed and she then had to dive out of the way as it charged at her. As Lux got to her feet, still not regretting the decision to put training into rolls, threw another singularity which it. Lux and Debonair threw bolts and pulses at it and it seemed to finally go down, before getting up and roaring again. Just as it was about to charge again, something blue hit it and they both went into a wall. Poppy picked herself up from the impact, grabbed her hammer, and charged right back at Rek'Sai, who had apparently slammed Poppy into the wall.
"Good thing those are soft." She said as she raised her hammer above her head. Lux and Debonair just stood there trying to process what just happened, until the Zz roared again.
As Poppy noticed Debonair racing away, she knew that it would be a minute before Janna arrived. "Well then, how about we have a little 1v1?" Poppy said as she and Rek"Sai just stared at each other. Poppy waited for her to make the first move, but so did Rek'Sai. The end result was both of them waiting until Janna had positioned herself behind Rek'Sai, and Poppy could feel the wind she put off. Making her move, Poppy charged, and while Rek'Sai was more than far enough away to dodge, not with Janna positioned where she was. Also, Zephyr attaching to her and slowing her down.
Janna repositioned and Poppy hit Rek'Sai head on, knocking the void burrower across the field and clearly doing damage. Rek'Sai got to her feet, and charged at Janna, who had clearly been expecting another attack and dodged gracefully out of the way while again hitting Rek'Sai with Zephyr and then a few bolts from her staff. Poppy was right there to greet her as well, and hit the burrower in the body with a heavy hammer blow. The blow dazed Rek'Sai enough to where she didn't avoid a stall, which she just crashed into.
Poppy came around for another attack and hit Rek'Sai again while charging her into another stall. How it didn't collapse wasn't something Poppy wanted to think about for the moment, but what she did think about was how Rek'Sai would be responding to that. Clearly another hard blow got to her as Rek'Sai was slow to get back to her feet and once she did, it was almost like she was drunk in how she was moving. Taking a swipe at Poppy, who was still close, she missed and then trying to charge at Janna, only to burrow into the ground.
Janna and Poppy immediately went back to back and began feeling around for Rek'Sai, who was clearly still a bit woozy as she was moving around with some irregularity. Once it was clear that she as making her way towards the duo, they dived out of the way, but Poppy still ended up taking a few hits because of her irregular movements. Rek'Sai's brief moment of clarity was short lived because Poppy quickly responded to Rek'Sai's attack with another hammer blow to the face. Rek'Sai immediately went back underground and Janna and Poppy went back to back again, but stayed a little further apart this time.
Rek'Sai regained some of her senses, and charged at the duo again, but missed as Janna and Poppy managed to get out of the way of Rek'Sai unburrowing and they both got a few shots in before she dove back underground. The third unburrowing yielded the same results as the second as the duo managed to dodge out the way again, but as Poppy was coming in for a counter attack, Rek'Sai still had enough senses to lash out with her tail, and sent Poppy flying.
Poppy readied herself for a hard impact, but instead she hit something soft, then something hard. Poppy got up from the ground to see Lux and Debonair staring at her. Poppy turned to see the thing she impacted and it was a giant Zz. "Good thing those are soft" Poppy said before raising her hammer above her head and charged straight at Rek'Sai who was trying to get close to Janna, only to keep failing. Rek'Sai turned too late to see what Poppy was doing and soon found herself flying through the air and instead of wanting to continue the fight, ripped open a portal and vanished through it.
"Well let's see how the others are doing." Janna said as she turned to see the Zz clearly trying to do something to Lux and Debonair, but kept missing. Janna and Poppy both rushed over to help and just as the Zz was about to connect with Lux, she threw a binding, and Poppy and Debonair both hit opposite sides of it, first squeezing it, then sending it straight into the sky. The four of them just stood dumbfounded as it crashed roughly where it had been. Clearly it was also dumbfounded as it just stood there but Lux nodded to everyone.
"All together!" She yelled as she threw another singularity, Janna wound up a twister, Poppy threw her buckler and hit it hard with her hammer, and Debonair threw several pulses from his weapon, and one accelerated one to finish it off. The Zz turned to dust and the team looked around at the devastation around them and knew there would be a lot to pay for this. Just as they were thinking about it, they saw Caitlyn working her way towards them. Lux nodded to the rest before moving to meet her.
"Well that could have been a lot worse." Caitlyn said to Lux as she stopped in front of her. Lux just stood there looking a bit surprised. "None of them blame you for anything if that is what you're thinking. They are more thankful that you put a stop to it quickly before things got worse. Go now, and I'll deal with this. Or better yet, I have some new trainees. I'll get them to deal with it while I sort out a few other things." Caitlyn moved away, leaving Lux even more dumbfounded as she slowly turned back towards the rest of the team, seeing Debonair had already gone wasn't much of a surprise.
"Well she just said to leave and she'd do the cleanup work." Lux told Janna and Poppy and they both just nodded and they headed for the tower. As they walked past the people that were in the market, some receiving medical attention, there wasn't one look of anger, of frustration, of rage. They were all of grief for those who lost something, a family member was injured, or a friend injured; thankfulness that the Guardians did show up when they did; Nods of thanks from those who watched the team walk through the crowd; Finally, those that showed resilience in the face of the attacks.
Lux could only show a stoic face of the same reliance that had sustained her through this whole ordeal. Janna had a smile on her face at the people around her who were showing the same strength she had come to recognize from them. Poppy also couldn't help but smile because she saw the same thing as Janna did. All three knew that the people wouldn't like what was about to happen but all knew that the conflict would be escalating soon.
Once they made it back to the tower, the three powered down and turned to the news and saw that it was also favorable. Lux sat back into a chair, well mostly, and somehow managed to fall onto the floor. The tension that had been between the three of them since the fight began immediately evaporated as they all started laughing. Lux even laughed a bit as she got up. While her clumsy moments haven't been noticeable in recent weeks, the fact remains that once Lux gets really tired, she can't help herself. Finally managing to get into the chair, Lux just sat back while Janna settled down across from her, and Poppy got a drink of water to calm her down.
Vel'Koz entered a few minutes later to see all three were just trying to relax after the fight and waited a second for Poppy to join Lux and Janna at the table to start. "Well I have to say that you three managed to prevent a major crisis and given what the news and others I have spoken to have said, it seems that anger is directed towards the void rather than you but many of them also don't know the danger we face here. I again spoke to the summoners, and they will be ready tomorrow night. Even if, and I quote this, 'I need to be propped up and am throwing up the entire time' endquote." That got another fit of laughter from all four of them. "I suggest the three of your go home and get some sleep. You will need it." Vel'Koz floated out, and was followed not too much later by the team as they left for home.
While Lux and Poppy managed to get home without incident, Janna came across Garen and Jayce while walking home, and noticed Jayce was a bit off. Quickly ducking behind a tree, Janna listened intently. Zephyr also got close, but was able to get a lot closer since he could be in a tree.
"…you can keep this up. Whatever you are doing in your spare time is really starting to take a toll on you dude." Garen said, as he was patching up a wound on Jayce's leg. Janna saw that it was light, but clearly painful.
"Yeah I know, but I feel like I still have to do something." Jayce sat back on the bench and winced again as Garen did a bit more cleaning. Janna chanced a careful look and saw the wound was mostly healed.
"I can't keep this up much longer. My mom is already asking questions about medical supplies in the house and if it gets much worse, it might fall on my sister. The problem with that is it wouldn't believable. So either learn to dodge better, or whatever, and stay healthy, or find another way to do whatever you are doing. Come on, let' s get you home. Janna ducked back behind a tree as they passed and instead of going home, made a detour for Lux's house. Arriving there, Janna knocked on the door. Lux answered it.
"Hey can you talk for a sec?" Janna asked, indicating the yard. Lux nodded and closed the door behind her. "You haven't been taking medical supplies from your mom have you?"
Lux just looked dumbfounded and stood there for a few seconds before answering. "No, but she has asked why?"
"Well I saw Jayce and Garen in the park by my house and Garen was patching up Jayce after he clearly suffered some form of injury. I'm not sure what he's doing, but I just wanted to warn you. Also see if you can find out what Jayce is doing." Janna said, but Lux was a bit puzzled at being given spying orders.
"You have a suggestion on how I can manage that?" Lux asked. A bit of snarky tone in her voice betrayed her.
Janna took a second to process that. "Yeah, now that I think about it, it would be harder than I thought. Maybe it's nothing, but either way, I wanted to put you on guard."
"I'll keep an eye on him, but I can't promise much." Lux said as Janna turned to go. Lux went back inside, and thought a bit more before pulling her phone and texting Janna.
'Wait, where was Jayce wounded?' Lux kept a careful eye on her phone and when Janna responded she was left even more curious.
'Well on his leg, but it didn't look like a sport injury. That is why I was curious.' Janna sent. 'Why?' She sent a moment later.
'Nothing. I have to see something later but I have a theory. I just hope it's wrong.' Lux sent back and Janna seemed to leave it there as she didn't text back. Lux was about to call Poppy when she saw that Poppy was already calling her. "Hey Poppy need something?"
"Yeah, You couldn't get access to a healing patch could you? My dad was a bit careless…"
"I was not!" Came a voice from the background.
"As I said, a bit careless with the forge and he burnt himself a bit. And of course he won't go to the hospital." Poppy finished
"I'll speak to my mom. I'm sure we have one somewhere around here." Lux said and she hung up. Lux headed downstairs to the TV room to find her mother there, just relaxing after her shift. "Hey mom. Just got a call from Poppy. Her dad burnt himself a bit on his forge. Any way I could take a healing patch over to him?" Lux kept her voice neutral and made it sound like a request for a friend.
"Sure. Here let me get one. By the way you haven't been taking them have you? I've noticed you limping a bit lately." Lux just turned to her mother as she finished and smiled.
"No. Why?" Lux asked, trying to keep her voice neutral remembering what Janna said.
"Oh just a few have going missing, I think your brother is taking them for whatever reasons. Just curious. Here you go." Mrs. Crownguard handed over one of the patches from their supply and Lux just nodded and ran out the door. As she walked to Poppy's place, Lux turned over a lot in her head and almost walked past Poppy's house because she was thinking too hard. Lux knocked on the door and Poppy answered quickly.
"Thanks. My dad can be so stubborn sometimes. What were you thinking about? I mean you almost walked right past." Poppy said as Lux handed over the patch.
"Just a theory. I don't have enough yet but I'm going to work on it. Anyway, need anything else?" Lux said as she turned to go.
"Nope. Thanks again. I'll see you tomorrow." Lux just nodded and headed back home. While on the way back home, Lux turned over a lot of thoughts in her head about the following day and what could happen. Lux at least managed to at least not pas sup her own house and after she walked back inside, and not hearing any arguments, she went into her room and closed the door. Quickly turning on her computer and setting it to a radio station, she turned to Dorcha and Solas.
"What do you two think our changes are for tomorrow?" Lux asked, sounding nervous. The two looked at each other carefully.
"I would say mixed. We know that the void will try to disrupt the ritual tomorrow but we don't know how. I doubt they will want us to get away with much. The last time, Kha'Zix didn't get the desired results so they will make more of an effort to disrupt everything. Since we know that, we can prepare for it, but we also know that they will hit us harder. We would need to ensure that they can't breach the perimeter but I still think it will happen." Dorcha said, trying to sound upbeat, but not doing so well.
"Well that does wonders for my confidence. And what about you? Found the next Guardian yet?" Lux turned to Solas, rather than responding, just leapt through the window. "I'm guessing he hasn't?" Lux asked, but Dorcha was already laughing, which got Lux to giggle a bit. Knowing that thinking about the next day's inevitable conflict would just make her more miserable, Lux decided to turn in early.
The following morning saw the team awakening to an overcast day that was cooler than normal, but a natural, rather than artificial cool. Lux just sat at her window for a bit while she looked at Dorcha and Solas, who were still sleeping and smiled. She knew that the two of them were doing all they could but there wasn't much they could do being so small. Lux just sighed and headed down for breakfast.
Janna likewise just looked out her window for a bit after she woke up with Zephyr alongside. Looking outside, Janna could only wonder what the night would bring and how bad it could be for all of them. It could be good or bad and she knew the whole thing rested on a razor's edge. "Well at least tonight will be interesting." Janna said to Zephyr, who just nodded in reply, before rubbing his head along Janna's arm, and Janna just scratched him on his head and back as a result.
Poppy just continued to stay in bed until she knew she couldn't anymore. It wasn't raining, so her favorite type of day was already gone, but overcast was enough for her. She knew that tonight would be a fight and she would be ready for it. Still though, she just didn't want to get out of bed regardless.
Once the team made their way to the tower, it was only a matter of time, and normally the waiting bit was annoying, but they all found ways to pass the time without burning too much energy. Lux and Janna played games, while Poppy just watched TV on the couch. They all had dinner together and then the waiting game truly began. Near dusk, Vel'Koz entered the tower.
"Ok. We are all ready to go. We'll meet you three at the dock." He said and hovered out. Lux turned to the other two and they nodded.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" When they had taken a second to mentally prepare themselves, they grabbed their cloaks, Janna and Poppy headed to the dock, while Lux grabbed Dorcha and Solas, and followed quickly behind. The drive to the location was almost an out of body experience for them as they watched everyone around them, who had little idea what was about to happen just go about their daily lives.
Once they arrived at the location, which was the same as last time, they immediately set up. Dorcha and Solas, moved to cover gaps between the three Guardians while Nasus and Vel'Koz set themselves up near the summoners as a final defense in case Rek'Sai got past them. However, as they were about to begin, Vel'Koz called the team to circle, but he wasn't the one who spoke.
"I know you three have a lot on your plate, so we are going to take a few precautions ourselves. We will cast a few protective spells and places some runes so protect us. However, they won't last forever, but they might last long enough. This will take a lot of time for us to try and at least patch up what we need to so I know this is a lot on you three, but just do your best and we will make use of every second you give us." The lead summoner told them. As soon as she finished, they got to work. The team stayed around to see the protective spells being cast and they headed back to their positions. Lux noticed Debonair coming and pointed him to the far side of her and he seemed to take the hint that they would be covering a quarter of the area each.
The first 20 minutes pass by slowly and the team slowly was getting anxious because there was no way at this point that Rek'Sai or anyone with the void hadn't noticed what they were doing. The whole team was wearing headsets to communicate and so far it was just regular checkins with nothing going on. It was another 10 minutes before the fireworks began.
Poppy was keeping an eye out before she noticed something coming out of the trees. "I'm going to need some help over here." Poppy yelled as she charged out of the protective treeline around the summoners. Debonair quickly broke cover to join her and immediately opened up with his weapon at the large horde of Zz that came charging out. Dorcha and Solas quickly moved to cover gaps in the view while Lux and Janna kept a careful eye on the rest, or at least as much as they could.
Just as Lux turned her back, she felt something, and quickly threw a binding, catching Kha'Zix before he could jump onto her. Rolling out of the way, Lux threw a couple of bolts him, and Kha'Zix had apparently forgotten how much they hurt as he roared, then tried to charge again, only to trip up from the pain. "Oh forget that?" Lux taunted, before switching tone. "Kha is back, be careful. Purp, head over to help Blue and Debonair, come switch out. I'll keep him busy." Lux said into her headset and Janna reacted quickly. They agreed back at the tower that since Debonair was there, they would go by their transformed hair colors rather than their names as a precaution.
Debonair quickly made his way across and swapped with Janna who moved to help Poppy with the horde of Zz that were coming, but no sooner had they switched, they all realized it was a bad switch. Poppy was the one to notice first.
"Hey Debonair, come back and switch with me. I'll keep an eye on the other area, while you could do more good here, but I'm not moving until you get here so move quickly. Debonair moved quickly and once he was in range with the ranged version of his weapon, Poppy sprinted back to cover the other side, catching sight of Lux's battle with Kha'Zix along the way, and it appeared that Lux was more than handling herself. Poppy kept a careful eye out for Rek'Sai, who was probably going to use the distraction to get as close to the circle as possible.
Kha'Zix for his part, did forget how much Lux's bolts hurt but he also forgot how much she had likely improved since their last fight, Even his invisibility tricks weren't helping him as Lux threw spell after spell after spell at him. Lux wasn't going to let herself get bested by him again, and while she knew that Rek'Sai was probably using everything around them as a distraction, she knew that letting Kha'Zix past would be more damaging than ignoring him. "Had enough yet guardian?" Kha'Zix taunted, but instead of replying with words, Lux just threw a singularity in his face, which detonated with enough force to knock him back.
"No. Looks like you have though." Lux taunted and threw a binding, then leaped into the air. "Final Spark!" Lux connected and Kha'Zix dropped to his knees, but looked up smiling.
"My mission is accomplished." Kha'Zix taunted. He ripped open a portal and vanished through it. Lux was questioning what he meant, but when it hit her, she sprinted towards the circle. All of the attacks were just to bait out her spark, which she had to take time to regenerate her energy before using it again.
"This is all a distraction, Rek'Sai is here and she used everything to bait out my spark. Fall back and defend the circle." Lux yelled as she approached the interior clearing where Nasus and Vel'Koz were carefully watching everything and Poppy was on the opposite side.
"Debonair, Purple, how are things going?" Lux asked as she carefully kept her eyes open.
"The Zzs have disappeared. Rek'Sai is here but I don't know where. We are coming back." No sooner had Janna finished talking, then the ground shook and Lux turned to yet another gigantic Zz approaching. "Well looks like we are going to lose a few trees." Janna said as she moved as quickly as possible. Lux moved to intercept it with Debonair right in front of Janna, while Poppy moved to the circle to provide additional protection.
"So how much have they gotten done?" Poppy asked Vel'Koz while keeping an eye out.
"They are just at the end of the critical list. If we can at least get this done then we will be fine, but there is also more that everyone would like to get to." Vel'Koz replied as he also kept turning to see what was going on. "Oh good reinforcements." Vel'Koz seemed a little relieved as he saw Renekton emerging from the near side of the treeline.
"Great. What are the odds we get to those lists?" Poppy asked.
"As of right now? Not good." Vel'Koz replied dejectedly.
Lux took notice of Poppy staying back, and she shifted back towards a more offensive hybrid role as she and Debonair kept the Zz going between them, while Janna kept them safe, and occasionally sent the Zz flying into the air. Lux knew that this was just another distraction, but it wasn't until she heard Poppy over the radio yelling, that she knew for certain. Lux threw a binding to keep the Zz pinned while she noticed a portal opening on the near side of the trees.
"Oh no not good!" Lux immediately sprinted towards the portal, but was knocked back by Rek'Sai who finally made an appearance. Lux managed to catch herself in a roll, sliding along the ground on her feet before coming to a rest. 'I'm never going to be able to repeat that or show it off. Classic movie scene.' Lux thought to herself as she turned to Rek'Sai.
"So you decide to show yourself at least." Lux said as she moved carefully around trying to keep herself between the Rek'Sai and the summoners. However, Lux looked out of the corner of her eye and saw that Vel'Koz, Nasus, Renekton, and Poppy were having issues dealing with the small horde of Zzs that had reappeared.
"So little Guardian, you may slow me down, but you won't stop me." Rek'Sai taunted, and Lux knew she was right. Even with four people, it was hard holding off that amount of Zzs. Lux also knew that Debonair and Janna would take time to destroy the larger one, and she couldn't leave Rek'Sai unattended.
"We'll just see about that" Lux yelled and threw a binding.
Poppy sent a few more Zzs into the air as she attempted to make it to the portal but kept getting blocked. She saw Nasus and Renekton trying their best to also help stem the tide but even with them dashing about, placing runic circles, and Vel'Koz firing at any that got through, it still wasn't enough. Several Zzs had already made it through, impacting the shield around the summoners and while it wasn't disrupting them, it was only a matter of time. Their magic was powerful, but using it now could cause a lot more problems than it would solve.
"We need to hold this line. If any more get through, it will end the ritual." Poppy yelled as she charge again, destroying several, but their places were soon refilled. Renekton was doing all he could, but now he realized why the Guardians were close to being overwhelmed.
"Brother, why did I get myself into this mess?" Renekton yelled as he sliced through yet another 10 or so Zzs.
"Because you could never turn down a good fight." Nasus yelled back, bringing his staff down on a Zz, and casting another runic circle. Renekon just nodded in reply, for it was rather accurate.
Poppy just took a second to roll her eyes before taking out another cluster of Zzs. Poppy charged through another pod and managed to turn to Lux's, and Janna and Debonair's fights. And neither seemed to be going well. Knowing they were on their own, Poppy charged right back into the fight.
Janna threw another twister, as Debonair took a few more shots at the Zz with his cannon. "This isn't working." He yelled as the Zz charged him again, making him dive out of the way.
"If you have a suggestion, I'd be happy to hear it." Janna yelled back as she threw a barrier on him and sent a twister in the direction of the Zz. Janna briefly turned to see the other two fights, and knew that all three were losing battles and they needed to be finished quickly. Janna kept ahold of her monsoon, knowing it could do a lot damage, but also knew that she would have to take time to regenerate the energy to us it again. With all of the constant fighting going on, it would be challenging.
The Zz charged again, and Janna found herself diving out of the way while Debonair sent several more pulses its way and Zephyr latched on the Zz, slowing it down. Debonair transformed his weapon, and went at it with a hammer while Janna kept him safe. After a few dozen blows, the Zz finally showed signs of letting up, but it wasn't beaten yet.
Debonair signaled to Janna for a barrier, and he summoned his strength, charged the weapon, and hit the Zz so hard that it flew back into the trees, knocking a few over. Janna just groaned, surely someone had heard this noise by now. Janna didn't get a second more to think as the Zz charged again, but she sent Zephyr to slow it down, a twister to knock it into the air, while Debonair just unloaded on it with his weapon. And that still didn't do it.
The Zz took a swipe at Debonair, but missed. Janna charged another twister while Debonair readied his weapon. Throwing the twister, Debonair hit it back into the trees again. They both were about to charge again, when they noticed a light beam, and Lux's spark finally destroyed the Zz. Janna turned to see Lux land back on the ground and immediately dodge out of the way of Rek'Sai who was clearly enraged.
"Go help deal with the Horde, I'll help Pink." Janna said to Debonair, and he moved off to assist, while Janna moved to help Lux, who had already taken quite a few hits, and upon arriving, Janna managed to shield Lux from another Rek'Sai lunge, then charged up her Monsoon, sending Rek'Sai into the trees.
Lux knew that she had to hold Rek'Sai by herself, and knew that it would take a lot, but she also knew how many people were counting on her, and that gave her strength. The problem remained that Rek"Sai and she were still mostly watching each other, but finally Rek'Sai made the first move, earning a singularity to the face while Lux threw a couple of bolts her way. Rek'Sai roared, but recovered and charged again.
Lux rolled out and threw a binding, which not only connected, but got Rek'Sai knocked into the air. Vel'Koz threw a rupture her way as he had a brief moment as Poppy and Renekton annihilated a whole line of Zzs. Lux just nodded, and threw a few more bolts, which connected, causing Rek'Sai to turn back to her and charge. Lux threw a barrier around herself and Rek'Sai only connected with the light screen around Lux, causing even more pain.
Not wasting the opportunity, Lux repositioned and kept her back to the summoners, while keeping Rek'Sai in front of her. Rek'Sai clearly wanted to change this, but Lux was playing defensively, and time was on her side. Knowing that all they had to do was stall long enough, Rek'Sai charged again, but this time she connected with Lux's leg, causing a grunt of pain from the Guardian and Rek'Sai went invisible. Lux knew what was happening, and threw another barrier around herself only to have Rek'Sai hit it a second later leaving her a bit disoriented. Not wasting time, Lux threw more bolts and a singularity to do some damage and add insult to injury.
Rek'Sai roared again, and burrowed. She knew that Lux would know if she tried to sneak past, but instead of charging straight for the circle, Rek'Sai took a round path, then charged again at Lux. Unburrowing, Rek'Sai missed the initial strike, but managed to get Lux in the back with her tail. As the Guardian fell, Rek'Sai got in a few slashes with her claws, but Lux still managed to at least land correctly so she didn't had insult to injury. Spinning on her heals, Lux threw a binding that managed to catch Rek'Sai before she connected with the shield surrounding the summoners and threw more bolts.
Lux then threw a singularity and forced Rek'Sai away from the circle, but they were clearly running out of time. As Rek'Sai charged again, Lux couldn't throw her barrier up in time, but still found herself shielded as Rek'Sai again bounced off, then Janna charged up and released her monsoon, which flung Rek'Sai back into the treeline. Lux regained her strength in the rains and stood up again, and while her wounds weren't fully healed, she had more than enough strength to get back on her feet.
Rek'Sai was now enraged and with few options available summoned another portal and more Zzs poured out of it. Rek'Sai burrowed and seemed to get away. Lux and Janna turned to see the new portal and the seven defenders quickly split up to try and defend what they could. Lux, even while moving, knew their time was running out. The Zzs were overwhelming the thin defense line that was set up wasn't going to hold for long. Lux turned away from where Rek'Sai vanished and set up trying to stem the flow.
For all of two minutes, the line seemed to be holding, but then it all feel apart. Rek'Sai unburrowed right under Vel'Koz and Lux knocking both of them into the air, and getting off a few swipes in the process. Before everyone else could react, Rek'Sai tore into the barrier, bringing it down. The summoners immediately broke their ritual and moved to defend themselves, and Rek'Sai got what was coming to her. Summoners were mostly retired, but their magic was still powerful, and very potent.
The roar Rek'Sai gave shortly after the barrier fell, was not one of anger, but of pain. The summoners turned their magics on the portals next and destroyed them in a flash. Rek'Sai herself was not only wounded, but flung away from the circle and into the trees. The entire team surrounded Rek'Sai but just as they were about to finish her, yet another force shoved everyone back.
"Well at least part of the plan worked. You guardians may have won this day, but you also have failed." Malzhar's voice sent shivers down everyone's spines and Rek'Sai had vanished. Lux picked herself up from the ground and turned to the summoners.
"Wait what did he mean?" She asked turning to Vel'Koz and the lead summoner.
"He meant that while we did repair some of the damage, the most critical elements, and some of the serious breaches, we didn't even get close to repairing the amount of damage the last team did. We repaired the critical elements to prevent another large scale breach, but if Malzahar attacks again, the barriers won't take it. They will collapse at that point, all we can do is rebuild them. That will take time, effort, a lot of magic, but most importantly, a secure location." The lead summoner just hung her head.
"I'm working on that right now, but it unfortunately also needs time." Vel'Koz said as he also seemed depressed with the outcome. Vel'Koz turned to the team and flicked on tentacle, which was their internal signal to meet back at the tower. Lux blinked twice and turned to Debonair.
"Well thanks again as always. Get home, or back to wherever safely." Lux said as Debonair turned to go.
"Thanks. I'll be fine. Hopefully. I'm sure we will see each other again." He said, and quickly departed. Lux turned to the team and they headed out arriving at the tower about 10 minutes later. Once they were secure, they powered down and waited for Vel'Koz. Well Lux and Poppy did as Janna walked over to the globe and saw things she didn't like, but kept it from the rest until Vel'Koz returned.
After almost 30 minutes, Vel'Koz finally floated in with Nasus. "Well at least my brother can take a hint as to when we need to keep a secret. Anyway how bad is it?" Nasus asked as he turned to the globe.
"Not good." Janna said her voice low." The critical elements were repaired, and a few more things, but Malzahar won't have a problem getting larger things through now. Thought I doubt we will see Rek'Sai any time soon. We need to be prepared, because I doubt Malzahar will just give up, especially now." Janna turned to her teammates, and both Lux and Poppy nodded.
"Well then, we'll be ready. Hopefully with some new friends, and a few old ones as well." Lux said as they turned to the globe, and they all knew their mission got a lot harder. However, between the three of them, they knew somehow that they could, and they would survive it.
On Runeterra's moon, Malzahar observed Rek'Sai in a tank of void energy regenerating. He was pleased with what his servant had done, and more impressed with her final battle. Rek'Sai would need a long time before she could even leave the tank, let alone fight, but the next phase of the plan was already in place. Malzahar left the chamber to see Cho'Gath outside.
"Well the mission was accomplished, mostly." He said as he followed Malzahar down the hallway towards the throne room.
"Indeed. Thought enough of the damage was repaired to the point where we can't unleash the full plan." Malzahar sounded frustrated and annoyed.
"We still can't wake the Baron anyway. He needs a lot more energy before he can rise again. He is still extremely weak and therefore any energy we collect must be put towards reviving him." Cho'Gath said it before he lost his good side with Malzahar.
"I agree. However, we will still have to save energy for another assault. We will have to split the incoming energy." Malzahar moved to go, but paused and turned back to Cho'Gath.
"There might be another way. Get Kog'Maw." Cho'Gath was initially shocked, but quickly recovered. Malzahar went into the throne room where Kog'Maw joined him a few minutes later.
"You called prophet?" Kog'Maw was somehow managing to control himself, much to the surprise of Malzahar.
"Yes. I have a mission for you. And yes you can eat along the way." He added quickly as he saw Kog'Maw quickly lose interest.
"What can I help you with then oh great Prophet." Kog'Maw just smiled as best he could, and Malzahar did as well.
"The Guardians won't know what hit them."