A/N: I am finally done with the second arc of my story, and this now begins the third. Thanks for reading, continue to do so, and I hope you enjoy.
With the Defeat of Rek'Sai, the Guardians are hoping for some relief in terms of the pace of attacks. However, Kog'Maw is now on their case and hunting for something. What is he hunting for and will the Guardians be able to stop him from accomplishing his task?
Chapter 22 – Purple and Green
Three days. Is that all it has been? Seems like a lot longer. The Guardians were so hoping for some down time, and by down time they were hoping for a week, just enough to recuperate after the last series of attacks Rek'Sai launched. They were all tired and extremely nervous. The battle a few days ago had not gone their way and even if they had tried something in the last three days, it would have been futile. The summoners were exhausted and to attempt something like what they needed so soon afterward, would have been pointless. At this point all of their efforts were focused into the barrier rebuild, but to get there they would need a full team, something they don't have.
As Lux dragged herself out of bed at the beginning of the week, she realized she didn't want to go to school as she was still enjoying the fact she got to sleep soundly the previous night. However, her mother wasn't in agreement. "Luxanna get out of bed!" She yelled up the stairs and Lux just groaned.
"Get up before she comes in." Dorcha said, hopping from Lux's side and onto her stomach. Lux just looked at her and rolled her eyes. Getting out of bed, not by choice, Lux made her way downstairs and plopped at the table to eat breakfast with her brother. Garen just seemed to be actually awake today while Lux was her usual self and just not ready for the day.
"Lux you're late." Lux jumped for a moment before turning to Garen and throwing her toast at him. Lux went back to eating before heading back upstairs, changing, and heading out the door. While walking to school, Amy joined up.
"Hey sleepyhead? Another rough night?" Amy asked as Lux seemed to barely acknowledge her presence.
"No. Just didn't want to get out of bed this morning. So the usual." Lux responded as they turned a corner.
"Well it can't be all bad. I mean it's been three days since the last attack so maybe the void creatures have been scared off. I mean there is no way they could continue is there?" Amy's voice turned from upbeat to scared almost at the drop of a hat. Lux turned to her and smiled.
"Who knows, but if I had to guess, I doubt it. There's always a plan and I doubt they are done. Just a hunch but ever hear of the calm before the storm?" Lux said as she continued so just for now, put one foot in front of the other. Lux just let Amy talk for the remainder of the walk and actually managed to make it to class on time, but it seemed like there would be no rest for her as Ms. Teller handed out a pop quiz, much to the annoyance of the class.
"Oh you can all just calm down. You knew this quiz would be coming sooner or later, and since most of you seem to be asleep today, I guess today's the day. Lux just groaned again but knew she was right. However Lux took one look at the quiz and just rolled her eyes. It was what she didn't want, considering she barely glossed over the reading from the previous night, she knew that this wouldn't end well. Lux took a brief glance at Amy who was already hard at work, and Poppy who was clearly in Lux's mindset for once.
The quiz however was over soon enough and Lux was able to catch up on her daydreaming and Ms. Teller didn't seem to care. Every now and then Lux wrote something down but it wasn't until she heard a door close that Lux, and apparently most of the class, actually looked up. Ms. Teller was in the hallway with the Headmistress and after a few minutes, they came back in, followed by a yordle with bright purple hair. Lux found herself instantly waking up and she noticed Solas popping up from her backpack. Now, curious, Lux carefully studied the new student.
"Class, this is Lulu. She is a new student here and will be moving from our class to another. Lulu would you mind telling the class a bit about yourself?" Ms. Teller paused only to see Lulu just looking out the window. Ms. Teller cleared her throat and Lulu seemed to pick up on it.
"Sorry. Um hi." And it seemed that would be it, and Lulu floated into one of the empty seats, only to continue to stare out the window. Lux just rolled her eyes, but Solas, it seemed, was more interested. Lux noticed the poro trying to get a better look, and that caused Lux to also look. She was extremely curious as she also saw something popping up from Lulu's bag. Solas looked at Lux from her lap and nodded. Lux put her head on her desk, in an attempt to make it look like she was looking out the window so Solas could whisper in her ear.
"I can't for certain, but there is something about her." Solas said, while keeping his voice extremely low.
"Apart from the fact she seems a bit absent minded?" Lux said, also keeping her voice low. Lux turned to head to see Josh sitting next to her, who was just zoning out, and Sarah in front of her, who likewise was zoned out. Turning to see Lucas behind her was a bad idea since that would attract attention, but there seemed to be nothing wrong, as Solas popped out and then pointed a paw at the window to indicate where Lucas was looking.
"I'll keep an eye on her for now, until then just play it normal." Solas said as he hopped back into Lux's bag and she could hear him getting Dorcha awake. Lux just kept an eye on her as well, as Lulu seemed to be in her own mind, rather than actually present, but now that Solas said something, Lux noticed it too. There was definitely something off about her.
When the bell rang for Lux, the whole class filed out, but Lulu took her time, which was enough for Lux to walk by her and there was something, but Lux couldn't put her finger on it. Until it hit her smack in the face. Could she be one of our missing teammates? Lux quickly hurried to the grounds to find Poppy, who had joined up with Amy, Sarah, and a few others for lunch. Lux immediately knew that pulling Poppy away would be very suspicious and look odd, so Lux just sat down and quickly found the topic of conversation on their new student.
"So Lux, what's your opinion? I mean she's just so spacy." Amy said, and she pointed behind Lux, who turned to see Lulu eating under a tree. She however, didn't seem put out. Quite the contrary however as she seemed quite happy.
"Shouldn't at least someone say hi?" Lux asked. Immediately everyone rolled their eyes. Lux always tried to make people feel welcome and she immediately stood up. As Lux got close, it was now clear what was in Lulu's bag. Much like Dorcha and Solas, Lulu had a friend. Lux paused as she approached, but took a deep breath and continued.
"Hi." Not knowing what else to break the ice with, Lux just started basic, and Lulu looked up from her lunch.
"Hi." She replied and that was enough for Lux.
"I'm Lux and well I just wanted to see if you were ok sitting by yourself?" Lux let the question hang, and Lulu paused for a few seconds before responding.
"Lulu. I'm fine though. I enjoy it. Allows me to think and relax." Lulu said, with a really upbeat voice. "Oh this is Pix. Please don't tell anyone. I'm not sure about whether pets are allowed or not." Lulu asked as she showed off her companion, who looked like a small cat with a long tail, bright white fur, wings, and holding onto a golden ball. "Just don't take the ball. Pix doesn't like it when he's not holding it." Lulu added after Lux took a second to give a scratch to the small creature. It squeaked, but inclined his head in Lux's direction clearly indicating he liked it.
"They don't have an issue with pets, mostly. Just make sure they aren't disruptive. So I think you will be fine. You are welcome to join us if you want." Lux said as she indicated her friends, who for their part at least tried to look welcoming.
"I'm good but thanks. I'm sure I'll be seeing you around." Lux paused for a moment before going back and after sitting down, she was convinced there was something odd about their new student.
"So?" Poppy prodded.
"Well there is something off about her, but she seems ok." Lux glanced at Poppy and gave a careful wink, and Poppy nodded in reply, knowing that there was something else Lux wasn't saying. "I think she's just in her own world." Lux finished and that seemed to be enough for everyone else as the topic quickly switched.
When lunch was over, Poppy hung back with Lux, who had prodded Dorcha and Solas out of her bag. "Keep an eye on her." Lux said to the pair, who quickly went about their business. Lux and Poppy headed inside before they were missed and Lulu was the last to enter just before Ms. Teller.
"Ok class now get out your books and we will start with math." She turned to the board as the entire class groaned. Lux took a glance at Poppy and Lulu, and it was clear that Poppy was watching her too. Lulu however, was in her own world. Clearly not paying attention, and yet somehow she was. It seemed that no one else noticed however as the math lecture was putting everyone to sleep.
Once school was out, Lux and Poppy headed to the tower, but were both distracted by Lulu who was just occupying herself in the park with Pix. "She really is in her own world isn't she?" Poppy asked as they both just looked.
"My guess, she's used to being alone so that's how she copes. But I also get a sense there is something else to it. I can't describe it, but there is something else." Lux said as she nudged Poppy in the fact they needed to get going. Once they were at the tower, they found Janna already waiting.
"What kept you two?" Janna asked but then she noticed something. "Wait, where are Dorcha and Solas?"
"They are watching over this new girl that just transferred in. She is…strange." Poppy said as she sat down next to Janna at the table while Lux leaned against the counter, almost slipping in the process, but catching herself.
'What do you mean strange?" Janna asked now curious.
"There's something off about her. It's hard to put into words but there is something about her that is either good or bad. I'm hoping good." Lux said as she nodded towards the globe again. The amount of yellow, orange, and red there wasn't very inviting and the more they looked at it, the more they looked back on their own failure a few days ago. It seemed so strange that it was such a short time.
The tension in the room was broken by Vel'Koz entering and immediately noticing they were still not over what happened, he turned to the three of them. "Can you three get over it? It happened and we are working as quickly as possible on the solution. Remember that we were all there, and it still wasn't enough. Until you have your full team, you are all still vulnerable. Now, I understand that we may be adding to it?" His voice relaxed at the end and Lux just nodded.
"A new girl who transferred in today. There is definitely something off about her. But i can't say if it is good or bad. I'm hoping good, but you never know can you?" Lux asked as she picked her head up.
"Indeed. I'm assuming this is where Dorcha and Solas are?" Vel'Koz asked in reply.
"Yeah Lux had them watch this girl for anything. I'm sure one of them will report in at some point. However, do we have any idea why another attack hasn't happened yet? I mean Rek'Sai was beaten up badly during that last fight." Poppy said, the confidence in her voice growing as she finished.
"Indeed she was, I doubt we will be seeing her again any time soon, but I doubt Malzahar will let it rest there. What he will be trying for is another matter. We will have to be patient. I'm sure that whoever he picks we will know soon enough." Vel'Koz said as he turned to see Lux pulling her locket.
"In the meantime, how about some training girls?" Janna and Poppy pulled their pendants and followed Lux upstairs. Vel'Koz stayed around only to hear crashing and clearly focused noises from the second floor. He allowed himself a chuckle and headed back to his office.
As the day passed to evening, the Guardians came back down and they parted ways as they headed home, exhausted from training but still feeling good. They spent the evening doing homework and actually being normal for a time. However, they all knew they were living like this on borrowed time.
On Runeterra's moon, Kog'Maw carefully studied a map of the city, or at least as much as he could while he was eating nonstop. Kog'Maw was always the first to rush into action but for some reason he was being careful this time.
"If you don't do something soon, I'm going to lose a bet here." Cho'Gath said as he entered the room, to find Kog'Maw pouring over a map marked in his own way. "Um, do I want to know?"
"Not really. However, I've had too many injuries for the time being, so I'm being careful." Kog'Maw said to his much taller superior.
"And you still can make a mess." Cho'Gath took one look around and shook his head.
"I eat. It isn't my fault this is how things turned out. I'm always hungry. Find a way to fix that why don't you. In the meantime…" Cho'Gath turned to see a plate coming Kog'Maw's way and sighed.
"I'll inform Malzahar that you won't be moving forward any time soon." Cho'Gath smiled as he was almost out the door before Kog'Maw responded.
"I'm almost ready. I had to learn the location of Malzahar's scepter didn't I?" Kog'Maw fired off. Cho'Gath paused and then nodded, turning back around.
"So where is it?" Cho'Gath asked, returning to the map.
"Here. At that traitor's place. He also has it surrounded by enchantments and security devices. All of that is going to take time to defeat. So how about I don't make the Prophet angry and actually deliver something on the first try?" Kog'Maw sounded pleased with himself, and even Cho'Gath couldn't deny his planning. He still knew something was going to go wrong, but he couldn't pin it down on anything specific. One thing Cho'Gath knew is that the game was about to change, and it wasn't for the better for either side.
"So what is your plan then?" Cho'Gath asked as he looked over Kog'Maw's planning.
"I plan to launch an attack here towards the city center so draw the guardians away and then attack the place trying to defeat the security devices before they can respond. I plan to make it look like we are looking to harvest a vast amount of energy so that will draw their attention. I only plan to launch three attacks. Just enough to keep them distracted." Kog'Maw seemed very impressed with himself and Cho'Gath nodded in reply.
"It is a sound plan, just be warned, they are on to a lot of our tricks. Be careful you don't ruin your plan before it begins." And with that Cho'Gath walked out leaving Kog'Maw to his planning. He decided to wait until the next day to enact his plans however and just continued to munch on the things he was brought.
As day passed into evening, Lux, Janna, and Poppy knew that an attack could be launched at any time, but as the evening wore on, it was clear that nothing would be happening. Lux looked up to see Dorcha taking a nap on her desk while she worked on homework as Solas was still watching their new student and trying to keep things up to date on her. Lux was trying to stay up until he got back, but she could feel the waves of tiredness wash over her and finally giving up, she changed and got into bed as Dorcha hopped from the desk to join her.
Poppy likewise went to bed earlier than usual because she knew that it was only a matter of time until there was another attack, and probably by someone new. As she closed her door for the night, Poppy took one last look outside at the moon, took a deep breath, nodded, and headed to bed.
Janna however, was not one to sleep easily. She stayed up later than her teammates, both with homework and playing games trying to tire herself out. Eventually she did and finally crashed into bed, with Zephyr alongside.
The following morning was all they needed to tell them that today was the day. All three woke up chilly and given the temperature outside, it was unlikely the weather. Lux as usual didn't want to get out of bed, especially since she was now cold, and still tired. "Oh get up sleepyhead." Dorcha said after Lux refused to move for 10 minutes. "You know you will be late."
Lux finally got herself out of bed and after changing, headed downstairs to eat something before she dragged herself to school. As she walked to school, Lux kept her attention focused around her as she knew an attack was going to happen, but she had no idea when. Lux knew as she finally walked up the steps, she would was going to have a bad day, and when Ms. Teller announced a pop quiz, Lux thought to herself 'Well already off to a great start'. And she let her head hit her desk in protest, but all that accomplished was an annoying headache. Poppy snickered from her seat.
Janna was more awake than Lux, but still a bit tired. Like her teammates, she was keeping an eye out for trouble, but she was also dealing with the fact it was likely to be another day at school. At least she had the advantage of moving around a bit more than her teammates, so it was easier for her to stay awake. As lunch approached, Janna sent a text to Lux and Poppy asking to meet them in the field near their schools to eat.
'Sure. I don't think you will get a response from Lux though. She's zoned out.' Poppy replied and Janna just rolled her eyes as she put her phone away. Janna however also started zoning out as she looked out the window at the nice day and knew that sooner or later, there would be chaos.
As lunch started, the students flooded out of the school and Lux and Poppy met up with Janna. "So boring day isn't it?" Lux said as she sat down and probably put her head down, but more gently.
"Yeah. I'm still not sure what's worse, the fight or the wait?" Janna said as she pulled out her lunch, and slipped Zephyr a snack. Lux did the same with Dorcha and Solas as he came over for a brief snack while taking a brief break from keeping an eye on Lulu. They all ate and talked about a lot of things, but mostly the lack of an attack and how when an attack will come, it would probably be bad. The rest of the lunch period came and went quickly and before they all knew it, they were heading back inside.
As the afternoon began, Lux continued to zone out in class but somehow was paying attention enough to answer a question here and there as Ms. Teller attempted to catch her out on it. Poppy just rolled her eyes at Lux somehow managing to answer them all. Poppy then turned to Amy, who was barely controlling her laughter after the 4th time this happened. Poppy could only surmise that Lux did this frequently. Poppy kept an eye on Lulu for most of the afternoon, and she was definitely in her own world. Lulu was still answering questions, but every other time, she was just out of it.
Janna however, was enjoying her afternoon as she found a test canceled due to high performance, and then the class got a surprise by watching a movie. Janna did notice something out of the corner of her eye however in a student that wasn't often in class, but was there today. Everyone knew she was intelligent, but more often than not, she just didn't care and picked the easy route.
As the schools got out, the team headed to the tower to try and figure out the lack of an attack. As they entered, they found Vel'Koz once again hovering over the globe, showing the barriers, and their massive damage. They all paused for a second, knowing what that meant, but when Vel'Koz looked up, he did his smile.
"How was school you three?" He asked, as his voice was much more upbeat, taking the three of them by surprise.
"Not bad. Test canceled, and then watching a movie. So I enjoyed it." Janna said, dodging the elbows from Lux and Poppy and sliding gracefully into a chair.
"This lack of an attack is driving me crazy. I can't focus." Lux said as she walked over to the counter and sat on one of the stools.
"But that didn't stop you from answering questions correctly more than a few times. By the way, that Lulu was in her own world most of the afternoon. She was just drawing on that paper she had in front of her. I managed to get an image, hang on let me pull it up." Poppy immediately started searching through her phone.
"Well it seems that maybe things won't turn out as expected. However, I do have good news. Progress is being made and hopefully in a few weeks, we will have the tools necessary to finally do a full replace on the barriers. We have worked out a new system were things are more overlapping, and while the void can still get in, they will have a much harder time of it. We can't completely block in the planet, but we can made it as difficult as possible." Vel'Koz said, and as he looked between the team, they were all smiling too, even Poppy who was still going through her phone.
"Well that's good news. Now all we have to do is find our two other teammembers before then. Hopefully that won't be much of a challenge. Maybe sooner…" Lux started but was cut off by Poppy.
"Found it. Here take a look." Poppy passed the phone to Lux and Janna, who both just looked at it, and had confused looks on their faces.
"I don't know. It looks like a staff of some kind." Lux said as she looked closer.
"I think a scepter is more accurate. Looks like something a mage of old would have used before all the ban on those powerful magics. Vel'Koz? Vel something wrong?" Janna asked, now looking a bit panicked as Lux and Poppy also turned to Vel'Koz, who was actually on the floor and was a bit purple. He recovered enough to hover over.
"Let me see that." Poppy handed over her phone and Vel'Koz looked very carefully at it, and turned even more purple. Now the team was scared, and Lux pulled her locket while Poppy already had her pendent in her hand.
"Vel talk to us." Lux implored as she used the shorted form of Vel'Koz's name, which he didn't mind, but he preferred his full name.
"You three had better transform and follow me. Grab the cloaks." Vel'Koz seemed to recover a bit and he floated out while the team just looked at each other.
"Well this can't be good." Poppy said as she put her phone back in her bag as Janna pulled her pendent.
"Ready?" Lux said turning to the other two. They both nodded.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" As they touched back down, they looked at each other and nodded. They grabbed the cloaks and followed where Vel'Koz had left. Vel'Koz lead them through the upper parts of the museum until they reached an upper catwalk over a large room. It was hard to keep from making too much noise from their boots as they followed Vel'Koz out.
"Whatever Lulu drew, and I have no idea how, she drew that." Vel'Koz pointed at a scepter in the middle of the room. The team got a look but when they turned to Vel'Koz with puzzled faces, he caught and slapped himself.
"As you know, most mages focus their powers through something, and in this case, that was Malzahar's staff before the void corrupted him." Now it was the Guardian's turn to go white.
"Well this can't be good." Lux said but then noticed something. Something with purple hair. "You can't mistake that." Lux pointed at Lulu who was just walking around the exhibit and looking around, occasionally looking at the scepter, but browsing around. The four of them watched for a few minutes, before Lulu disappeared into the Star Guardian exhibit next door, which had been updated.
"I'll keep an eye on her, but I have a feeling that something is going to happen." No sooner than Vel'Koz had finished his statement, then a sudden rush of cold fell over the team. They knew that time was up. "Go!" The team threw off the cloaks and dashed for the roof. Once they got there, they knew that something was up. There were clearly three different attacks going on, and now they need to split up.
"I'll deal with the park. Janna head to the train station. Poppy head downtown." Lux said as she gripped her baton tighter and they both nodded and took off. Lux tore off towards the park close to their schools and saw just a horde of Zzs and an energy collector, which seemed to be working overtime. Lux immediately threw out a binding, but it was blocked by the Zzs and they quickly turned to overwhelm her. Lux threw a singularity to stop them, but still did have to roll out of the way as she threw a few bolts from her baton to cover.
"Who gave all of you an intelligence upgrade?" Lux asked no one in particular as she dodged again as the Zzs were being careful to keep her away from the collector, orbs, and the portal. Lux carefully kept moving around until she could get a clear shot, but it was always blocked by something.
"Well if you aren't going to give me a clear shot, then I'll just have to take you all out." Lux immediately turned on the smaller horde pursuing her, threw out a binding and a singularity, detonating it in the middle of them, sending more than half to the evaporation chamber. Lux switched up and threw more bolts at the Zzs, destroying more, but they seemed to be endless. Lux then turned to the portal and while she couldn't get the orbs, collector, and portal in one shot, she knew she could get one of them.
"Ok then. Try this." Lux summoned her powers, threw another singularity to slow down the Zzs, then charged up. "Final Spark!" Lux threw her powers and hit not only a small crowd of Zzs, but also made the portal disappear. Lux didn't have time to think as she turned to dodge more Zzs coming right at her. "Well this isn't good." Lux detonated the singularity she threw out earlier and threw another binding to try and keep the horde back.
Dodging again, Lux could at least now see the damage coming out as she saw the horde thinning. However, she missed a few that were flanking her until almost too late. Throwing up a barrier, Lux threw a singularity on top of herself and detonated it, resulting in a real amount of Zzs going down. "Now to deal with the rest of you." Lux said as she stood up for the first time in the fight, and threw out more bolts from her baton as the Zz horde thinned even further.
Arriving at the train station, Janna saw a small horde of Zzs and a few other things which she could only assume were Malzahar's personal voidlings. Janna, without help from Poppy and Lux, would have her hands full, but still she charged up a twister, and once it reached its full power, she let it fly at the Zz horde, and destroyed quite a number of them. Janna then gripped her staff and threw a few bolts from it to destroy the Zzs and she shielded herself from the damage from them when they turned to meet her.
Janna threw another twister, but knew that she couldn't keep this up before long. Seeing another horde approach from the other side, Janna threw a barrier around herself, but then a large pulse connected with the horde, dealing a lot of damage and destroying a lot of them. Janna turned to see Debonair, with some new armor and nodded as he turned his weapon towards the rest of them and quickly accelerated his shots and took out the rest of them.
Janna threw a shield on Debonair as the Zzs and voidlings turned on him and he just knocked them around with his hammer, and then shot at the ones still far away. Janna kept up moving around, throwing twisters, hitting some of the Zzs with bolts, and shielding Debonair as he kept moving around as well. Janna wasn't about to ignore the help, but it seems like it was all too convenient for him to show up when he did. Just then, one of the voidlines jumped right at Debonair, he swung, and it went flying into a tree, evaporating a moment later. 'I think too much sometimes' Janna said to herself as she went back into the fight.
The fight was more chaotic than either of them would have liked because of the large amount of innocents around, and that made lining up their shots harder. Thankfully just a few minutes later, Janna turned to see the unmistakable lights of police cruisers and Caitlyn stepping out of one, taking a shot, then ordering everyone to help evacuate civilians and set up a perimeter. Janna and Debonair kept trying to get an angle on the collector, but Zzs and voidlings kept getting in the way.
"We have to hit that portal." Debonair said as he blasted yet more Zzs and Janna turned to see he was right. Janna took a careful look around the battlefield and then noticed how the Zzs were moving, she quickly positioned herself between Debonair and the portal.
"Take the shot!" She yelled as she threw a twister at an approaching horde. Debonair just looked dumbstruck.
"Are you crazy? I'll hit you!" He said, as he sent another shot towards more.
"Trust me!" Janna yelled back as she turned to him again. Debonair looked and nodded. He threw out his acceleration gate, charged up a pulse and shot it directly at Janna. At the last second, Janna flung herself into the ground and the pulse passed right over her and smashed directly into the portal, destroying it. "Now let's clean up." Debonair just nodded as one of the Zzs few towards him, only to get a pulse to the face. The two began quickly mobbing up what remained behind, which was still a big number.
"I have always hated cleaning up." Debonair said but Janna didn't have time to even chuckle as another Zz flew right at her. She ducked, and Debonair sent it flying with his hammer.
Once Poppy hit the heart of downtown, it wasn't hard to find the source of the problem. In one of the central parks, it seems that some Zzs decided to crash a local picnic, or a couple. Police were already on scene evacuating innocents, and once Poppy saw the portal, she knew where she had to get to, but it wouldn't be easy. "Well here goes nothing." Poppy shouldered her hammer, and charged right into the fight.
Just charging down the hill Poppy managed to destroy more than a fair share of Zzs who quickly turned their attention to her, but that is exactly what Poppy wanted. Smiling, she again charged straight into the fight, and made liberal use of her hammer in swigging at Zzs and destroying them. Poppy kept throwing her buckler around, and shielding herself, since neither Lux or Janna were present to assist with that. Poppy kept driving the Zzs back towards the portal and away from everyone trying to evacuate.
Still, it was hard to get to the portal and Poppy knew that until she did, every Zz she destroyed, another would take its place. After taking out another group, she noticed how they were moving. Keeping a large group between her and the portal, but also chasing her. Poppy couldn't stop to think about how to take advantage of that yet, as she just had to keep moving and keep herself from getting swarmed. Taking out more large groups with her buckler and hammer, Poppy kept up her movement, until she saw an opportunity.
Poppy quickly raised her hammer above her head, and began spinning it. Once it was ready, Poppy brought it down, hard. She managed to clear a way to the portal and again charged. At the last second, however, Poppy was hit by a large Zz knocking her off course. Well mostly. Instead of hitting the portal, the Zz's impact changed her trajectory so instead she hit the collector, destroying it. "Well not the result I wanted, but I'll take it. Now which one of you hit me?" Poppy said and turned to a decently sized Zz at her feet, who quickly started scampering away. "Oh no you don't. You don't get away with that." Poppy brought her hammer down on the Zz, destroying it.
She then looked up to see the horde which was starting to retreat, and she smiled. Poppy quickly got moving again and charged the portal, and this time she connected, destroying it. "Well now just to clean up the rest of you." Poppy said as she charged again, this time, it was the Zzs running from her.
Back at the museum, Vel'Koz was keeping a close watch on Lulu from the catwalk above the exhibit and she kept moving around with that curious creature following her. Vel'Koz could sense it now, there was something, but he still couldn't put his finger on it. He noticed Solas keeping a close eye with Dorcha keeping an eye from another angle. Vel'Koz heard one of the catwalk doors open, and he turned to see Nasus who nodded. That meant that the library and museum were evacuated and it was then Vel'Koz saw him.
Kog'Maw barreled through a door and headed into the middle of the exhibit. Lulu, who hadn't seen the voidling, literally ran right into him. Now clearly scared, Lulu backed off quickly, but not before pulling a staff from somewhere, and walloping Kog'Maw right in the head. The void eating machine stood there stunned for a second while Lulu took cover behind an exhibit. Vel'Koz just hovered there for a second while Lulu kept out of sight and, finally recovering, he tore off down to protect the scepter. Kog looked around for the thing that hit it, but after a few seconds, decided that it had run. Walking into the chamber, he finally saw his prize.
"There you are. Now how to get to you." Kog'Maw said to no one in particular, and he opened up with acid from his mouth. Which didn't do a whole lot of good as it just washed off. Vel'Koz laughed as he entered the room.
"Still as stupid as ever aren't we? That was a nice trick drawing the Guardians away, but you won't get the scepter. Well not as long as I'm still around." Vel'Koz said as he floated between Kog'Maw and the scepter.
"Well then, maybe you don't need to be around anymore." Kog'Maw opened up with more acid, including a large ball he shot at the Wandering Eye, but Vel'Koz was able to avoid it easily. He threw a rupture of his own, and knocked Kog'Maw into the air, where he came back down, hard. Vel'Koz was careful to keep him from going after Lulu as well, at least until Dorcha and Solas could pull her to safety. Or at least that was the plan.
"Stop moving! The longer you take, the more you make me mad." Kog'Maw said as he again tried to hit Vel'Koz, who just threw a void rupture, and some plasma into Kog'Maw's face. Vel'Koz was handling the young voidling well, but he knew that he couldn't hold him off forever.
"I can't just sit here, I have to do something. Right Pix?" Lulu said to her companion quietly as it just nodded. Lulu then turned to see Dorcha and Solas sitting there. "Oh you two are cute, but you can't be here it isn't safe. Come on, let's get out of here." Lulu made to pick them up, but the two jumped back.
"Lulu, what you say if you could help." Solas said as Lulu just sat there, now interested in a talking poro.
"Oh you can talk. That's funny." Lulu started to raise her voice, but Pix flew in front of her to calm her down. "But how can I, that thing is so powerful."
"Listen I know you are scared, same thing with the others, and if we had more time, we'd do this differently but we don't." Dorcha said trying to talk as fast as possible. It didn't help that Lulu was just staring at them with her bright eyes, fully enthralled. "You know the story of the Star Guardians right?" Lulu just nodded. "Well their powers never left this planet after the last fight. They settled into 5 individuals. One of them is you. If you want, you can help. We could transfer the powers, but we can't. So it's either you, or no one." Vel'Koz roared from the next room, but so did Kog'Maw, it seems that they both hit each other hard.
"What do you think Pix?" Lulu turned to her companion, who just nodded. "Ok then." Dorcha conjured up the contract and it fell in front of Lulu.
"You just need to sign this. It's for a term of service until we can find a way to transfer the powers. We will try as quickly as possible." Dorcha said as Lulu took a quick read, and then managed to flip through it rather quickly.
"Sure." Lulu signed her name and in the middle of the page, a pendant emerged. One shaped like a staff, but different from Janna's. "Ok Pix, let's do this." Lulu laughed a bit but somehow with Dorcha and Solas telling her, she knew what to do.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" Lulu gracefully touched back down and took a good look at herself. Like Lux and Poppy, her hair had changed color, from purple to a bright green. She also had boots that came up to her mid shin, white gloves that came just over her elbows. However, that is where the similarities stopped. Unlike Lux and Janna, Lulu was wearing more of a coat, that split at her waist, showing her green skirt, and fanning out behind her like coattails. The bow on her chest, like her hair, was a bright green and her tiara rested just above her ears, keeping her hair back. Her staff was also a bright gold, ending in a heart shaped top with a bow where the top and staff connected. In the middle of the staff, was a star. "Well this is cool. Oh wait." Lulu charged straight into the next room.
Vel'Koz threw more plasma at Kog'Maw, missing, but just as Kog'Maw threw more acid Vel'Koz's way, Vel'Koz found himself in a shield. Turning around, he saw Lulu, now fully transformed, and hovering above him was Pix. 'Well it seems Lux was right.' Vel'Koz threw some basic plasma at Kog'Maw and he noticed that while they connected something else did as well. Pix had fired some stars from his ball, that timed with his attacks. Pix then flew back to Lulu, who shot a sort of lance at Kog'Maw, but full of glitter.
Kog'Maw, clearly not expecting another Star Guardian, paused for a second, only to take the glitterlance full in the face. He roared, and charged at Lulu, who quickly dodged out of the way, and then Kog'Maw quickly found himself to be a small animal. Lulu ran over to Vel'Koz while Kog'Maw was trying to figure out how to get himself unstuck. "You might want to get the others." Lulu said as Vel'Koz just hovered there, astonished.
"I think you are right. Look out." Lulu turned to see Kog'Maw had transformed back, but Lulu just called on Pix again.
"Help Pix!" Lulu found herself and her companion shielded by the shield that the creature put out. Kog'Maw clearly wasn't happy and fired off more acid, but Lulu only polymorphed him again, and dodged out of the way. Nasus, who was watching from the catwalk, having already contacted the Guardians, was laughing his head off at the funny sequence of the fight. But Lulu's luck ran out as finally Kog'Maw transformed back and hit Lulu in the arm.
"Ouch. That hurt." Lulu said, almost like it was nothing, but the red spot on her skin was nothing to laugh at.
"Good! Now I am to make it hurt more." Lulu again dodged around, using her abilities to stay ahead of Kog'Maw or turn in back into a small animal. Kog'Maw eventually figured out her strategy and fired off a blob of acid ahead of her, but Lulu just turned and fired another lance right into his face. Kog'Maw started hopping around in anger as Lulu fired a few small bolts from her staff, with Pix helping, and Kog'Maw just flew into a rage. Lulu quickly took off and made some graceful movements around to dodge the barrage of acid Kog'Maw was shooting out. Finally taking cover, Lulu saw one blob about to land on top of her, and knew Pix wouldn't be enough.
However, all that happened was the acid just bounced off. Lulu turned to see Janna in the door way, with Poppy and Lux charging into the room from the other side. Lulu smiled and immediately threw Pix to Lux as she threw a few bolts at Kog'Maw, who was now really outnumbered and outgunned. The void creature tried to avoid the barrage of spells from Lux, only to be slammed by Poppy into a wall. Janna saw Lulu's wound, and made to cast her monsoon, but Lulu just shook her head. "It only hurts a little bit. Save it." Janna just looked shocked, but nodded.
"Not good!" Lux said as Kog'Maw immediately unleashed a barrage of acid her way. Lux, Janna, and Lulu all threw shields around Lux, but it started breaking fast. Lulu then focused her powers.
"Up you go!" Suddenly Lux was twice her normal size, and Kog'Maw just stopped and let out a sound like a scared puppy. Poppy couldn't help herself and immediately started laughing. Nasus and Vel'Koz were bent double on the catwalk laughing and they couldn't be stopped. "Get him!" Lulu said at Lux who quickly threw a singularity Kog'Maw's way. When it detonated, it was clear that it was more powerful as he not only let out a roar of pain, but he looked very physically hurt.
Thinking quickly, Lux threw a binding, then focused her powers. Jumping into the air, Lux let her powers fly. "Final Spark!" However, it didn't connect. A portal opened just below Kog'Maw as Lux leaped into the air and he vanished back to the void. "Well that stinks." Lux said as she landed and shrunk back to her normal size. She then turned to their newest teammate. "Welcome to the team." Lux offered her hand, which Lulu took.
"Thanks. I'll try to be as little absent minded as possible." Lulu said and they all broke into laughter again. Nasus was now out of breath and hyperventilating as Vel'Koz dragged him back to his office to relax.
"Power Down" and the four Guardians transformed back to their normal selves. Lulu grabbed Pix and held him close. Janna noticed the burn still on Lulu's arm. Lulu then noticed it herself. She quickly put her other hand over it, and it disappeared.
"I get hurt a lot walking through the woods. Some spirt taught me that to keep from running back every time I got hurt. It was very nice. Too bad it was hurt by that evil spirit." Lulu said as they all looked shocked. "Oh don't worry, it can't be used for larger things." Lux just smiled.
"Come on, let's see what Vel'Koz has for us, if he's calmed down." Lux said.
"If Nasus has calmed down you mean." Poppy said and Janna just nodded. They showed Lulu one of the entrances to the tower, and once there, gave her the pen they all used from time to time, and she went upstairs to pick out her room. Once she had come back down, Vel'Koz had joined them, and he turned immediately to Lulu.
"How did you see what was happening?" He asked.
"I don't know. I just saw it and I had to draw it. I found that helps me remember things. I guess I'll pass along my drawings then. I'll just have to get them from home. I have more." Lulu then sank into a chair and began just drawing circles with her finger on the table, while still listening and looking at Vel'Koz.
"Well let's hope you can do that a bit more in the future. It would be nice to have a leg up on my former associates for once. As for you three, you all did good. I hear the damage was minimal?" Vel'Koz asked turning to the others.
"Mostly. Just people zapped as normal. They must be trying to rebuild their energy supply." Poppy said as she sat down opposite of Lulu, who was now focused on Pix. Poppy was a bit annoyed, but she seemed to be paying attention nevertheless.
"Well, just one more to go. Hopefully we won't have to wait long. Until then, Lulu" Lulu looked up from Pix, "we'll just have to do a bit of training to figure out our new strategy." Lulu just nodded in reply. "Still welcome to the team."
"It will be nice to have friends for once. My parents move around so much that I can't make them because sooner or later they are gone. My mom is making him stay this time." Lulu said as she got up and gave Lux a hug. Lux bent down to return it as Janna and Poppy just nodded.
"Well at least she's interesting." Poppy whispered to Janna, only to have Pix nock the back of her head. Poppy just rolled her eyes as Pix was clearly laughing and Poppy let him land in her hand as she gave him a quick scratch behind the ears.
"To say this is an unfortunate turn of events is an understatement. The guardians now have four of their five teammates, and given their makeup, I doubt their most powerful teammember is present. We now have to divide our focus. We must locate the last teammeber, and we must also continue to acquire the artifacts. Kog'Maw, you must plan for both and failure to do so could result in a disaster for us." Malzahar was hovering back and forth in his throne room as he looked at the clearly scared voidling before him.
"Oh great Prophet, with four, it would be hard enough to focus on one target let alone two. Not to mention the guardians have ways of detecting their teammembers. If we are to ensure victory, we should just focus on retrieving the artifacts." Cho'Gath spoke up as he saw Kog'Maw wasn't going to do so. Normally Cho'Gath would have agreed with Malzahar in this instance, but given their large expenditure of energy lately, doing so would be a disaster. Malzahar stopped pacing and turned to Cho'Gath. The two stared each other down, but it was Malzahar who relented.
"You are correct Cho'Gath. Given the large amount of energy we just expended, and I'm sure that traitor is trying to come up with a new barrier design, our focus must be single." Malzahar gave a quick nod to the giant void creature, and Cho'Gath returned it. As Cho'Gath and Kog'Maw left the throne room, Malzahar turned to the planet below as he looked out the giant windows and sighed, then laughed.
"Continue with your mission Kog'Maw, but if you can, keep an eye out for the fifth. Don't prioritize it, just if you are able. We do need those artifacts and any energy you manage to collect along the way. I would make another run at the scepter." Cho'Gath said to the much smaller creature.
"I will, but first…" Kog'Maw ran off towards a large plate of food and Cho'Gath just shook his head.
"If he focused just half as much on his objectives as he did eating, this might be over." Malzahar said as he came up alongside Cho'Gath. Cho'Gath jumped a bit but recovered quickly.
"I agree, however his plan was well executed and planned. However, I doubt he will be as careful in the future." Cho'Gath responded as he and Malzahar left to let Kog'Maw eat.
"I agree. Keep an eye on him. I barely managed to pull him out of that building, and we had to burn a lot of energy for that. If he is going to go after it again, then we must be careful." Malzahar turned off as Cho'Gath just stood there. This time there was no arguing with him. While Cho'Gath could probably come out on top in a one vs. one fight, he knew that Malzahar had unlimited power and he had the influence that he never did. After all, if Cho'Gath could lead, then he would have done so, but they needed someone else, and they got exactly what they needed.
"I just wish he would be more careful with strategy." Cho'Gath mumbled to himself as he entered his room.
Back on Runeterra, Lux looked out at the moon from her bedroom and smiled. "Just one more and we can finally take anything they can throw at us." Lux turned to Dorcha and Solas and they both nodded.
"Indeed. Now hopefully we can just find them before things get crazy." Dorcha said.
"Yeah. Hopefully soon. Whatever that was that you fought today is new and probably a new strategy would follow. We just need to figure out what is Malzahar's plan." Solas said as he paced back and forth. "I mean going to Malzahar's scepter at this stage could mean so many things."
"How about we just sleep on it." Lux said as she flopped into bed and closed her eyes. "Let's just focus on that tomorrow. For now, we got off easy and let's let that be that." Lux turned over as both Dorcha and Solas just nodded.
In her room, Lulu turned from Pix to look at the moon and she just stared out the window at the woods behind her third new house in a year. "Let's hope this time Pix it will be different. I'm tired of moving." Lulu just scratched her companion as he nodded, well as best he could while getting scratched behind the ears. Lulu was about to get into bed, when she stopped, grabbed another sheet of paper and drew for a solid 20 minutes. When she stopped she looked at what she drew and smiled. It was a quick drawing of the tower at the museum. Lulu smiled and finally went to bed after a long day.