With Malzahar successfully retrieving his tome, the Guardians took a hit in morale and while they recovered, it still left a mark. Unknown to the Guardians, Malzahar knows that he can't penetrate the summoner defenses yet, he plans to open the war into a larger fight. Will the Guardians be able to respond to the threat, or will they be overwhelmed?
Episode 29 – The Grand Entrance
As Malzahar paced around the palace, he was moving the final pieces to destroy the Guardians once and for all. The energy reserves were lower than he could like, but he had little choice. The guardians, despite their clear inexperience, were managing to stop him at every turn. They were still getting victories, but the last one must have done damage, so he hoped to pile a situation on top of them that might either destroy them, or force them further on the defensive.
Cho'Gath was worried however as Malzahar's plans so far had resulted in brief successes, but great expenses of energy. Still, even as Malzahar explained his plan in detail to his lieutenants, Cho'Gath was impressed because even if the expenditure of energy was badly used, the shock value and Kog'Maw going and getting energy would pay off.
"Just getting Baron to the surface is an enormous undertaking but I know the undertaking will be worth it. We can hopefully at least force the guardians on the defensive. Kog'Maw, while Baron is distracting the guardians, you will pillage as much energy as you can to replenish our energy supplies. If we can't defeat the guardians, then we can at least give them a lot of issues to deal with." Malzahar finished his speech and looked around. While none of them would say anything bad, they really couldn't say anything. Malzahar's plan, for once, was well thought out, and actually stood a chance of succeeding.
"The guardians won't know what hit them Great Prophet." Cho'Gath finally said.
Lux was still having issues focusing. She had begun to overthink everything since the last battle and it was causing a lot more harm than it was solving. Still Lux was unsure what would happen when Kog'Maw attacked again. Both the summoners and Vel'Koz were searching for any trace of Malzahar's robes, but so far no luck. According to Vel'Koz, this above anything else would increase his power the most.
"Lux!" Ms. Teller's voice cut through Lux's thoughts like a battering ram.
"What? Sorry." Lux just blushed as she focused on the board. Everyone was looking at her, even Poppy and Lulu. Lux just looked at her desk and after a few seconds, Amy sent her a text.
'she called u 5 times something wrong?'
'just thinking about things' Lux tried to focus on class, but she just couldn't. There was too much running through her mind. The final bell was a blessing and Lux tried to make her way out quickly but it wasn't going to happen.
"Lux please stay for a few moments." Lux had just gotten to the door but reluctantly turned around. Poppy, who was the last out, closed the door behind her. "Please sit Lux." Lux took a seat in Lulu's desk at the front and was not looking forward to the upcoming conversation.
In the hall, Poppy and Lulu were going to wait, but saw Amy waiting outside and they took off, knowing that Lux would probably confide in them, but those two were friends long before they met.
"Lux, I'm worried about you. In the past weeks, your performance, homework, and well you in general seems to be slipping. Is something wrong?" Lux looked at Ms. Teller and instantly thousands of things ran through her mind.
'Sure something is wrong. I'm a Star Guardian and not by choice. I'm the leader of 5 teenagers fighting the void to defend our planets. I'm frequently tired out of my mind. I worry about everything now. I can't get a decent night's sleep anymore. I'm cold all the time now. I'm dealing with probably a borderline psychopath who can't seem to stop cutting sarcastic comments. The void is constantly attacking which just makes everything previous worse. But apart from that I'm great. How are you?' Lux barely managed to prevent all of that from coming out.
"It's just stress. All of these things recently have made things difficult. Constant attacks. Hearing about details from my dad. Being caught in them constantly. I just can't seem to get a good night's sleep lately." Ok one detail from that internal rant that could come out.
"Well that does explain a few things, but not all of them." Ms. Tell said after a few moments. "I can tell you aren't telling me everything, and I'm going to let you keep those secrets. If there is anything you need, you can tell me. You can go now." Lux hated keeping secrets, from anyone lately, and now she had to add another name to the list. Lux knew that it was probably the frequent cuts, bruises, and other various injuries she kept getting in the fights that caused her to worry. Still it was nice to know she was looking out. Lux quickly grabbed her bag and headed out the door. Outside she turned to Amy, who was waiting there.
"So are you going to tell me or do I have to guess." Amy knew Lux well enough to know that she would talk.
"She was just worried about me and asked me if there was anything I wanted to talk about. I said no and she said I'm still keeping things from her." Lux looked at Amy and Lux felt her stomach drop to the floor.
"Well you are. I know you well enough Lux. You are keeping secrets and for what reason I have no idea. I also know you well enough to know that you don't keep them without reason. So I'm going to pry, but you do need to talk to someone eventually about it."
'Sure. Talk about how I fight the void every few days. The only other ones I can talk to about this are in the exact same hole as I am.'
"I mean you can't keep it a secret forever."
'Try me.'
"Just be careful Lux. I've never seen you like this before. It worries me and you know how I hate to worry." Lux couldn't even think of a response to that one. She was thankful Amy didn't hear the sarcastic comments she came up with, but Lux also know that Amy was not going to let this go.
"I know you do Amy. I have my reasons. Maybe I should see someone. I mean I'm sure therapists across the city are booked solid though." Lux managed to get Amy to simile and that was enough.
"You do need to talk to someone Lux. But for now, how about a shopping trip?" Amy left it as a question and Lux just smiled. "Good. Because you were coming no matter what." With that, Amy took off and Lux followed close behind her. For once, she hoped for a normal day. Lux was so focused on a normal day, that she didn't even notice Poppy and Lulu waiting for her. However both of them, when they saw Lux and Amy exiting, decided to just let them go.
Lux did enjoy her afternoon as she and Amy spent not only their money, but their time at the mall and just wasted the afternoon. Lux knew that they were supposed to be preparing for Kog'Maw's next attack, but suddenly she didn't care, and she reminded herself that until they found Malzahar's robes, they couldn't do much.
The fact Lux wasted her afternoon at the mall wasn't lost on the rest of the team. All of whom, agreed separately that they needed a day off.
Janna spent the day doing work and once it was done, she finally started a new season of a show she'd been putting off for a while. Zephyr also enjoyed the day off, napping in the sun, then on Janna's bed.
Poppy spent the day with her father in his forge making a sword for a client. She missed doing this but her parents, under the illusion that she was always studying, understood.
Lulu spent the day just wandering around the city's parks. She didn't like the fact there wasn't a forest nearby, but there were enough dense groves to make it worth it. She missed doing this, as did Pix apparently as he accompanied her and seemed to enjoy the day off.
Jinx, still new, didn't waste her afternoon. She didn't waste time after school. Jinx first headed to the arcade in the mall, where she saw Lux but didn't try and say high for more reason than one. Once she ran out of coins, Jinx headed home and played more games until she was too tired to keep going.
That night, the team slept peacefully, but there were forces at work. Vel'Koz was using all of his contacts to find Malzahar's robes, and so were the summoners from his former tower.
Kog'Maw was also looking, but no one was coming up with results, which made Malzahar furious. Malzahar needed a good distraction to prevent the guardians from preventing him from getting Baron Nashor to the planet, but even then, they could still be in a bad fight. Malzahar was looking himself, but he had to either rely on Kog'Maw or corrupt his tome, using precious energy he couldn't afford to waste, and use that. Neither option was a good one, but the first at least prevented the use of energy that was going to be very much needed in the coming days.
Malzahar floated around the throne room and quickly knew that in order to give everyone more time, he would have to send Baron down to the planet. With that distraction, he should have enough time to find what he is looking for. The main issue is that he didn't have a good way to deploy Baron without making his intentions known. He would have to get the guardians into a fight, then deploy Baron. Just how to get them into a fight would be the bigger question.
Malzahar moved off to find Kog'Maw and found him in his room eating. Kog'Maw turned when Malzahar entered.
"Is there something I can do for you Great Prophet?" Kog'Maw looked very apprehensive as he saw Malzahar enter. Whenever he saw him visit, it was usually never followed by something good.
"Yes. I need you to distract the guardians. And distract them long enough for me to get Baron to the surface. I do not care how you do it, all I care about is I need enough time. You must generate that time." Malzahar finished and left. Kog'Maw's mind now ran in rapid fire mode. He had previously been working on finding Malzahar's robes, and now he had to work on getting a plan to distract 5, possibly 6, very powerful individuals.
One thing Kog'Maw had working for him was the fact that the guardians were working on the assumption that they needed more energy. So if he attacked under that premise, then he might be able to distract them long enough. There were two problems with this. First issue that their Zz pool was dangerously depleted. The last few attacks had already depleted their already low reserves. They needed to rebuild before they could do anything else. The other issue is that he couldn't do it alone. Using any minion would help, but it still wouldn't do. He needed as many as he could get, but how many could get was the real question.
Everyone was on edge after 3 days where there weren't any void attacks. Early on, this was seen as a bad sign, as a powerful attack was usually coming. In the present climate however, a pause was good. It meant that the void was busy rebuilding its forces, and there would be an attack, but it would be reserved. The real questions are when and where would the attack fall. More specifically when.
Lux kept pondering the questions in between taking notes for her classes. Ms. Teller kept not noticing since Lux was seen as actually notes, but both Poppy and Lulu noticed Lux's behavior and were worried themselves. Lulu hadn't been around long enough but Poppy had known in the past that this probably wasn't a good sign. However, even as Poppy thought, she knew that recently that the Void attacks have been a bit haphazard.
As the bell rang for lunch, everyone was quickly breaking into groups. Lux for the first time in a while, sat with Amy and her other friends. Janna sat with some friends as well. Poppy enjoyed lunch with Lulu under a favorite tree. Jinx for her part sat alone with Shiro and Kuro. All five Guardians did glance at each other over the course of the lunch hour, but none of them approached each other. Everyone seemed to silently agree that having a few days off from each other was probably not a bad idea.
As the afternoon began, the classes seemed to be shorter, but that was only because they had a training secession after school and they would be working on various things for another void attack. There was almost a sense of hopefulness in the air as they worked through their afternoon classes and waited for what would probably be an explosive afternoon. When the final bell rang, the team sprinted to the tower, but Jinx, having left her last class early, was the first to arrive.
As the team entered the tower one by one, Lux was a bit disappointed in Jinx for ditching her last class, but softened once Janna let slip that it was a study hall. Once Lulu had arrived, as she had to run home first, they all headed upstairs, only to find Nasus working on a few of the machines. He turned to the team as they entered. "Sorry, you are going to have to wait about an hour. I was looking over everything for your training today and found a few things that needed to be fixed, or let's say that things could be bad. Sorry."
"No worries. So what to do?" Lux turned to the rest of the team.
"I'm going to go take a nap. Someone get me up." Jinx didn't waste time as she headed up the stairs to the third floor followed by Shiro and Kuro. Lux looked a bit put out, hoping to turn Jinx around.
"I'm going to take a nap as well. Didn't sleep well last night." Poppy said as she followed Jinx upstairs. Lux was a bit surprised, but if Poppy wanted a nap, she probably didn't sleep well. Lux turned to Janna and looked around for Lulu. Janna nodded back towards the stairs heading back down. Lux nodded and the two joined Lulu in the bottom level of the tower. Lulu was already at the table, drawing away and using a lot of purple for some reason. Lux looked over, but Lulu was not paying attention and was completely focused on what she was doing. Not wanting to disturb her, Lux and Janna took a seat at the island and broke out their homework.
An hour later, Nasus came back down and nodded to Lux, who put away her homework and headed up the stairs to get Poppy and Jinx. Janna tapped Lulu on the shoulder, and she looked up and nodded. "Just a second. Just want to finish this." Janna nodded and head up to the second floor.
On the top floor, Lux looked around and knocked on Poppy's door first. "Poppy. We are good to go. Poppy?" Lux was about to open the door when she heard a groan.
"I'll be down in a minute." Poppy said, with a notable annoyance in her voice. Lux smiled and headed over to Jinx's door.
"Jinx? Jinx!" Lux didn't hear anything and she then opened the door. Jinx was still sound asleep, but Shiro and Kuro were right beside her. Jinx was even careful to give them enough room. As she crossed the threshold, Shrio woke up, yawned, and looked to Lux. Lux nodded and Shiro seemed to understand. Jumping up, Shrio knocked Kuro awake, Kuro was clearly not happy with being woken, and Shiro nudged Jinx's head until she woke up.
"Time already?" Jinx asked as she opened her eyes and turned to Lux and snickered a bit. "Sorry, I've always been a sound sleeper. Let's go you two." Jinx picked up her two poros and headed out. Lux stood there puzzled for a few seconds, before following. Once Lux entered the room, she saw the rest of the team there. Taking a deep breath, she stood before the team, once she got Jinx's attention.
"Ok. Today is about working together. Poppy, you are good working alone, but you need to work on keeping your eyes open." Poppy nodded and had a bit of a scowl on her face, but knew Lux was right. "As for the rest of us, we need to work with other parings. Jinx, you will be working with Janna, while Lulu you work with me. Janna and Lulu, your job will be to control the battle and make sure me and Jinx are covered, protected, and not blindsided by things. Now let's go."
The team pulled their pendants, while Lux pulled her locket. "Star Guardian Power Up!"
The team split up carefully and while Poppy worked with Nasus on keeping a good perspective and keeping track of targets. Which was accomplished with some minor hiccups as more than one dummy caught her off guard and knocked her to the ground more than once. Poppy however, got right back up and kept moving around, while Nasus kept doing his best to knock her off her feet.
Janna was in the middle of a headache as she kept trying to control the battle around Jinx, but Jinx, given her complete disregard for just about everything around her, was moving around randomly. Eventually Janna just got frustrated. "Jinx, control yourself. I can't keep you shielded while you run around like that." Jinx just turned and stuck her tongue out, but seeing the look on Janna's face, Jinx slowed down and found she wasn't being hit as much as Janna was able to use her powers to keep her safe. Jinx however was hit more than once by Janna "missing" a few dummies. Jinx just shot Janna a look every time this happened. Janna just shrugged as a reply.
Lux and Lulu were having more luck, but Lux still took a few hits as Lulu kept wandering and trying to do more than she should. "Lulu, just focus on the shields and distractions for now. If you see something, take it, but your purpose is to guard me right now." Lulu just nodded and the training went better, but Lux was still getting hit more than she should. When she got clobbered by a dummy, she turned to Lulu, only to see her running down the stairs. Lux extracted herself from the training area and headed down to see Lulu furiously scribbling on the paper she was working on earlier.
Lux put her baton down on the counter and ducked behind Lulu. Lux knew better than to say anything when Lulu got like this, but what was more unusual is that she didn't power down. Lux turned to the stairs in order to head back up, only to see Janna, Poppy, Jinx, and Nasus coming down the stairs. Even Jinx looked concerned as she allowed Shiro and Kuro to be their normal selves after carrying Kuro down on her shoulder.
"What's going on?" Janna asked as she hovered over Lulu.
"I'm not sure." Lux said as she turned to Lulu again. "She started spacing out, then came rushing down here, and started working like this. She didn't even power down, which doesn't sit well with me. I'm going to get Vel'Koz." Lux walked towards the path between the tower and Vel'Koz's office. Looking through the small window, she confirmed Vel'Koz was alone, she knocked and entered. Vel'Koz looked up from his notes, and quickly moved to lock the door, but Lux held up her hand.
"Vel'Koz can you come to the tower, Lulu's scribbling something and none of us know what it is. But considering she left training and didn't power down, it's a bit worrying." Lux tried to keep the tension out of her voice, but failed.
"Of course." Vel'Koz quickly followed Lux back to the tower and the scene they found was Lulu still working feverously on the paper. Vel'Koz could quickly see why Lux, and eve the rest of the team was concerned. Lux left Dorcha and Solas to keep an eye on Lulu while she worked and they rotated. Lulu kept working for the next hour or so while the rest of the team kept training. They took turns keeping an eye on Lulu while she worked. Jinx took the opportunity to try and connect with Lulu, but quickly found that in her present state that was impossible. Still she did manage to find one thing about Lulu that they connected on, they were both outsiders and that was something they could share.
Eventually, during Poppy's shift, Lulu looked up. Poppy nodded and quickly ran upstairs. Lulu stepped back from the table and Vel'Koz hovered over the paper taking a look at it carefully. The rest of the team came running down the stairs only to find Vel'Koz without a positive answer.
"Well, it could be a lot of things. A lot of things from the void are purple," Jinx barely suppressed a laugh as Vel'Koz indicated himself. "However, I can't identify what this is."
"Sorry, it just came to me and I did the best I could." Lulu looked a bit put out, but Lux put her hand on her shoulder. Lulu looked a bit better.
"Do you have any ideas?" Lux asked turning to Vel'Koz.
"A few. There are plenty of worms, or things like look like them. It could be a minion, or it could be Kog'Maw in disguise. It could be a new minion, or even a new monster that Malzahar came up with. I mean there are a lot of things it could be." Vel'Koz fell silent as he floated low to the ground, which indicated he was still thinking.
"Well what else could it be?" Janna asked, seeing Vel'Koz's posture.
"Well there is one thing, but I doubt Malzahar can deploy it." The team took seats around the room clearly interested. "It is a massive monster that we called Baron Nashor. It is a corrupted worm that was from our first invasion here on Runeterra. Around the portal site as I'm sure you are all well aware, there was a lot of farmland, at least originally. Now it is obviously much different. As part of these farmlands, were a lot of large worms that the name has been lost because of how many were lost. I hear rumors they are coming back, but those are still unconfirmed.
"But back on point. One of these worms gobbled up an energy orb and was immediately corrupted. Seeing the advantage, we carefully fed it, and eventually it reached a massive size, with the appetite to match. I have no idea how Malzahar kept it fed all of these years, but to deploy Baron to a planet, I did calculate that before they left me here. The amount of energy is massive, but the rewards are also large. It is still a massive risk for him. The only reason I can see Malzahar deploying it is if he's desperate enough."
"I'd say he's probably desperate enough." Lux interrupted and Vel'Koz nodded.
"Possibly, but again he needs a lot of energy. Even my most optimistic calculations point to the fact while he does have enough, he would cause the energy reserves to deplete to the point of desperation. I doubt he would be that desperate, at least right now. The amount of energy he would need to penetrate the barriers would be even worse." The team stayed silent as they pondered this.
"Um…what about the barriers in their current condition?" Janna asked after a few minutes. Vel'Koz stopped pacing and looked up, then his eye widened.
"I hadn't considered that. I will need to make new calculations. Again though, I'm considering things based on old information. I'll need a few hours to make the necessary calculations. Perhaps longer. Until then, I suggest you all go home. There is little more you can do here." Vel'Koz quickly floated out. Nasus shrugged, nodded to the team, and followed.
"Well don't need to tell me twice." Jinx made for the door, before Lux grabbed her. "Hey!"
"Um Jinx?" Lux pointed to Jinx's outfit. Jinx just nervously giggled.
"Oops. Power down." Jinx transformed back to her normal self, grabbed her bag again, and headed out. Everyone else followed. Lux stayed behind for a few minutes, looking at Lulu's drawing again, before she finally grabbed her bag and headed home, arriving just in time for dinner. Lux didn't need an invitation to sit down and eat, but clearly she didn't keep her feelings hidden.
"Lux something wrong?" Lux looked up at her mother and finally shook her head.
"Just an upcoming test I'm a bit worried about. It's just nerves." Lux again had to lie, which she was getting annoyed with, but she had no choice.
"Well, you should do ok honey. I'm sure of it. Just keep focused and you will do fine." That was the end of it, but Lux took a quick glance at Garen, who could clearly tell his sister was hiding something, but he didn't press the issue. Lux for a while now suspected Garen was onto her secret, but he never said anything or inquired. Everyone had their secrets, and he clearly wasn't in a hurry to learn hers. But still, it was a bit unsettling.
That evening saw everyone trying to keep their minds busy, but eventually no one could try and focus on work, even Lux, who finally gave up and just started playing games until she noticed the time. Checking her phone one last time and seeing nothing, Lux headed for bed.
The following morning still saw nothing from Vel'Kox and considering it was a usual day, that made school only that much more intolerable right now. Everyone wanted to be ready for what was to come, but no one could get out of class without rousing suspicion. Well maybe Jinx, but she even didn't want to get in more trouble than she was already in. Not to mention that getting out of detention without being noticed was rather difficult. So she passed the time by drawing, writing, and twirling her long pigtails, much to annoyance of the teacher.
Lux, Poppy, and Lulu seemed to be checking their phones every 5 minutes as class dragged on. Lux did indeed have a test, but it was so easy she finished it, and the work that was assigned afterward quickly. With little to do, Lux found herself looking out the window and eventually pulling out a notebook and drawing up a training schedule for everyone. The lunch bell was a relief as everyone seemed to again have the same idea and separated, except for Lulu and Jinx, who ate lunch together in the park.
"So you have any idea yet what you drew?" Jinx asked before taking a big bite of a sandwich.
"Nope." Lulu's peppy voice wasn't gone as she picked over her food carefully. Pix, Shiro, and Kuro were also eating, but much more slowly as they sampled each other's food. "It just came to me, and then it was gone. It was weird." Lulu let her voice trail off as Jinx thought a bit more.
"Well hopefully it will come back to you. I'm eager to blow something up." Jinx looked out and saw a nice blue sky, and was a bit put out.
"Just watch what you are blowing up. Things could turn yucky." Lulu said as she resumed eating, and Jinx was just sitting there totally confused.
"Ok." Jinx really couldn't think of anything else to say to that.
The afternoon dragged on even worse, but it was made easier when Vel'Koz messaged the team that he had finished his calculations and to meet at the tower later. Lux smiled, but a growing monster in her stomach told her it was probably bad news. That or it was lunch making a comeback. Or both.
As the final bell rang, the team didn't need an excuse to run for the tower and Vel'Koz's demeanor told them everything, the news wasn't good. Lux, being the first to arrive, now knew it was both and sat down. Jinx, arriving next took a seat at the bar, Janna joined Jinx there, Poppy took a seat at the table, and was followed by Lulu.
"Well I did run some calculations and based on that, Malzahar has enough energy to deploy Baron Nashor with his current reserves. Now, what this does mean is that his reserves will be depleted, so it is a gamble if he does. So sort of a good news, bad news situation." The mood in the room was one of depression mixed with a bit of anger. Lux knew that the team wasn't even close to being ready to battle Baron Nashor.
"If that ends up being true, then you all need to be ready. We do have a full team here, but you all need to be united in order to be at your best. Since you have been together for only a short time, that will be difficult, but it needs to happen." Dorcha seemed to be in mothering mode as she spoke, only to have Jinx puncture it a second later.
"So teambuilding exercises?" Lux rolled her eyes but couldn't help laughing with the rest. Jinx somehow knew the right things to say and yet be rude at the same time. Dorcha just gave her a look.
"Maybe not like that, but you all need to work together, be committed, and trust each other. Only then will you be at your full strength." Dorcha seems to know that Jinx still had reservations but she also knew that until she found a purpose, it wouldn't change. Jinx would have to find her purpose.
The afternoon went with them training and while everyone was working well together, they all were apprehensive of the upcoming battle. Especially with another 2 school days before them. Lux knew that if there was a serious attack, the odds of them getting away, were extremely slim without being noticed.
On the moon, Malzahar looked over Runeterra and saw his plans in motion. Baron was ready, and so was his plan. He would need to go to Runeterra in order so summon Baron to the planet. Kog'Maw would therefore have to fight in the city to draw the Guardians away. They couldn't afford to use much else, so Malzahar was taking everyone except Cho'Gath to the surface. Kha'Zix, Rek'Sai, and Kog'Maw would have to distract the guardians long enough for him to summon Baron, and that would be no easy task.
"Great Prophet, everything is in place and we are ready to move. I would suggest going down tonight and being ready when the morning dawns." Cho'Gath said as he looked over the plan one more time for anything they could have missed.
"Hmm…I agree. Prepare to leave, but not just yet. We will go just before dawn as to waste as little energy as possible. We will then wait for midday and then attack. Because of the schedules most of the people keep, they will be in chaos and we might even be able to grab energy along the way. Everyone get ready, we leave in a few hours."
The void prepared themselves for a final fight, or they hoped it would be a final fight. Just when the sun was about to creep over the horizon in the summoning area near the old portal, Malzahar ripped open a portal and held it open for everyone else. Cho'Gath closed the portal behind him and saw to Baron Nashor. The Baron however was on his own time as he was asleep. Shaking his head, Cho'Gath sent spikes into him to wake him up.
"Was that really necessary? I know the plan it doesn't begin for a few hours so why wake me so early?" Baron was clearly not enjoying being woken up and sneered at Cho'Gath as he spoke.
"Because we need to get you ready or did you forget about that." Baron opened his mouth, then closed it again. Nodding. He did indeed forget Cho'Gath needed to do a few things beforehand. Cho'Gath began the few rituals he needed to perform as they would help Baron reach the surface and make it easier for Malzahar as well.
"Those guardians won't know what hit them." Cho'Gath said as he finished.
"Don't underestimate them. From what I've seen, even raw, they are capable of many things." Cho'Gath just sent another set of spikes into Baron as a reply, and he sent his spikes as a response.
The team woke the following morning and all 5 of them were ice cold, despite the warm day. They all knew that the day had arrived and faking sick to get out of school wasn't hard. Deciding together that getting as much sleep as possible, they all met up at the tower knowing that Malzahar would probably attack around noon, if his past was any indication, they decided to get up around 11.
As their alarms went off, they all struggled downstairs. Lux wasn't the only one coming down in pants and a hoddie as Jinx wasn't far behind, clutching Shiro and Kuro to her. Neither one of them however seemed to be enjoying it. The bottom floor of the tower was warm as Poppy had cranked up the heat and it was clear that was the reason Vel'Koz and Nasus were staying away.
"Oh I can't take this anymore." Janna said after they were all down for about 10 minutes. She pulled her pendant. "Star Guardian Power Up!" She transformed and sat back down on the stool she had just vacated.
"Warmer?" Jinx asked, still clearly cold.
"Yes. As in this is comfortable." Janna said as she looked around. Not waiting, the rest of the team joined her.
"Star Guardian Power Up!" Within 30 seconds, Poppy turned the heat back down. Their powers were insulating them against the cold the void was putting out, but it was clear that they were focusing the efforts or the whole city would be affected. Lux however was looking at the city map.
"OK we can't just sit here. Lulu and Jinx, head towards central park. Janna head out towards the office park. Debonair always seems to find you first." Janna just nodded in reply, knowing she was probably right. "Poppy come with me, and we will cover the riverwalk. Hopefully we can catch whoever it is quickly and stop whatever they are planning." They all nodded and headed out. Lux was about to follow Poppy when Jinx came back in, grabbed Shiro, who she'd forgotten and ran back out. Shaking her head, Lux followed Poppy to the riverwalk. Once there, they found a secluded rooftop and kept an eye out. Janna, Lulu, and Jinx had done the same at their locations.
As noon came and went, they were all starting to get nervous. They knew today was an attack and nothing was happening. As 12:30 rolled around, they were all starting to get nervous. Lux checked the nearby bank clock for what seemed like the millionth time, and looked around again. Just the usual hustle and bustle of the lunch hour.
"Ok can someone please do something" Lux wasn't the only one who wasn't amused by the wait.
"Be careful what you wish for Poppy." Lux said. But no sooner were the words out of her mouth did they hear the first screams. Looking over the other side of the roof, they saw Kha'Zix, Rek'Sai, and Kog'Maw targeting the riverwalk. "Well you asked for it." Lux turned to see an annoyed Poppy and they jumped down and charged. Lux threw a singularity followed by a Barrier onto Poppy as she slammed Rek'Sai into a nearby tree. Kog'Maw turned to face them, clearly not expecting a counterattack that quickly, he changed up to target the guardians directly. However, he was quickly hit by Lux's binding, and instead just threw up his acid to try and get at least one of them, but missed every single shot.
Lulu and Jinx, who were watching Central Park, were just as board, but were taking turns watching out. Just when it seemed like nothing would happen, Lulu pointed towards the river. "There!" Jinx jumped up from where she had been sitting and took a look. Clearly something was happening as people were running from the area, but they couldn't see anything directly.
"Well then, let's go blow something up." Jinx jumped from the roof, followed by Lulu, and after they landed, they quickly sprinted towards the riverwalk.
Janna, being bored out of her mind and looking around eventually just sat with her arm on the ledge looking out. At least Dorcha and Solas had come with so she would have someone to talk to. She looked at the clock on a nearby building it seemed like every 10 seconds.
"You know that isn't going to make time pass any faster right?" Dorcha asked as Janna turned her head away from it entirely.
"Yeah but it makes me feel better." Janna said. After another 15 minutes of waiting, it seemed like nothing was going to come, they all sensed it. "Ok but where?" Janna checked in the direction of Central Park, and nothing really out of the ordinary, so only one other place. She floated down from the roof, and sprinted towards the fight.
Back at the river, Lux and Poppy were doing all they could despite being outnumbered 3 to 2. Lux kept Poppy safe, while making sure to throw her singularities and bindings to keep herself safe. Just when it looked like she missed a binding on Kha'Zix, he screamed in pain as he was hit in the chest by something. Lux turned to see Lulu and Jinx running into the fight. Jinx didn't need much to open fire with Shiro and Lulu moved into the protection field with Lux.
Now with the odds switched, Kog'Maw and Rek'Sai were clearly moving to try and separate the guardians, but the team held together, at least until Kha'Zix leaped into the middle of them while Rek'Sai unburrowed right beneath Poppy, forcing everyone to scatter. Kog'Maw targeted Jinx, and opened up. After 5 seconds, he stopped only to see Jinx on her feet, and surrounded by a barrier. Janna had arrived and immediately threw a twister, knocking Kog'Maw into the air, and forcing Kha'Zix to jump to avoid it. Rek'Sai had to be content with a hammer to the face.
As Poppy missed a hammer strike, still being a bit off balance, she quickly threw her buckler at Rek'Sai to generate a shield but it proved unnecessary as another large hammer came in and knocked the Void Burrower away. Poppy looked around to see Debonair had joined the fight. He immediately opened fire from a distance with Jinx as it was now 2 on 1 and Kog'Maw could see his plan failing. The problem was Malzahar needed more time. He didn't know how much, but he needed all of the time they could buy.
They all attacked again and while they managed to split the Guardians, it wasn't in the way they wanted. Lux and Jinx focused on Kog'Maw, Janna and Debonair on Rek'Sai, while Poppy and Lulu tackled Kha'Zix. Each fight was one of dodges and misses as it was becoming apparent that they were stalling for time. 'Time for what though' was the thought that ran through Lux's head repeatedly. The attacks started to get more focused and the team started forcing the void into a smaller and smaller area where they could be hit from all sides.
No sooner did they start getting hammered from all sides did a loud roar echo over the land. Kog'Maw knew they had succeeded and Kha'Zix wasted no time in opening a portal and all three vanished through it. It took a few seconds, but once the cold hit the team, they all felt like they were in the poles. Whatever just appeared, it was massive, and it was angry.
"Come on, let's go." Lux yelled and the team got up and followed her. It wasn't hard to spot where the disturbance was, at the old portal site. As the team raced to the site, the temperature got colder, and it was clear the police had the same idea, judging by the number of squad cars going in their same direction. Arriving at the old site, they saw Malzahar, but they also saw one big purple worm.
"I'm guessing that's Baron Nashor" Poppy said as the worm noticed them and reared up. Malzahar didn't waste any time and quickly fled through another portal. Baron however was clearly in the mood to fight.
"Anyone got any ideas?" Janna asked as Baron was clearly waiting for them to make the first move.
"Um…just shoot it?" Jinx suggested but quickly backtracked as everyone just glared at her.
"Ok, we have to force it to retreat into the desert if we are to have any chance of keeping it away from the city. Blue, Debonair, use your hammers to force it back and keep it off balance. Purple and Green, control the fight, and keep us safe. Red, you and I, just try and do as much damage as we can." Everyone nodded, but no sooner did they all start moving did the whole plan go up in flames.
Baron had clearly been expecting a melee attack and knocked Poppy and Debonair back, where they both collided with trees, rather hard. Lux broke off to make sure they were ok, but both were up before she got to them. Debonair transformed his weapon and Poppy charged back in. Lux threw a barrier and Debonair fired at Baron's heads to keep him distracted. Jinx, seeing this, kept up her fire on one of Baron's mid sections to make sure he didn't see the attack coming. It worked, but it clearly wasn't that effective damage wise. Objective wise, it did force Baron back down the hill and closer to the desert on the outskirts of the city. The problem was that there was a huge field and a small forest between here and there.
"Keep forcing him back." Lux yelled and Debonair and Jinx switched to a near constant barrage of Baron's various heads. Poppy kept going around and landing hits where she could, but she had moved more into a distraction role. Janna and Lulu were doing all they could to keep everyone safe, but even when Lux switched to protection rather than damage, it wasn't enough. Baron was able to keep them at bay. However, it did seem that the cumulative effects of their damage was beginning to take effect.
Baron roared loudly, flexed its whole body and threw its attackers back. Baron had bought itself some breathing room as it tried to get a better perspective. Jinx recovered quickly and switched to Kuro as she kept up firing, but from her strained face, it was clear she was stressed about the fight. So was everyone else as Lux took a look around at the team. Dodging another attack, Jinx switched back to Shiro and opened fire while Lulu provided her with a shield from Pix.
Baron however, clearly was becoming annoyed as he flexed again and everyone had to dodge out of the way, but their objective was accomplished. Baron retreated further back into the field and here, there was at least a bit more cover from rocks and a few trees. The team used the cover to keep up the fire on Baron as they kept forcing him back, but it appeared he was now willing to stand his ground as a spike tipped tentacle erupted from the ground beneath Lux, who shielded herself but was still injured from rolling when she came back down. The tentacle tried to hit her, but Lux managed to dodge out of the way, barely.
Baron, seeing its effectiveness, immediately shot acid towards everyone else, who dodged out of the way. Lux, Janna, and Lulu were now shielding Jinx, Debonair, and Poppy respectively as they kept fighting. Baron however was beginning to falter as he missed several of his acid shots as Jinx and Debonair unloaded on his heads. Jinx had switched to Kuro and Debonair was using his gates to accelerate his shots. Baron lashed out again with his tentacles and managed to knock the entire team down, then turned and moved further back. The team got to their feet and kept up the pursuit.
The problem now was that Baron, while leaving a very obvious trail through the small forest, the team was hard pressed to catch up and avoid Baron's attacks along the way. The team kept up the pace however and eventually everyone arrived at a clearing, where Baron was now quite content to make a stand. Roaring and turning to his pursuers, he welcomed them to the clearing by throwing acid their way. The team dodged, but not without several of them landing hard.
Baron attempted to throw more acid, but everyone managed to get to their feet and kept up the attack. Switching back to the original plan, Janna and Lulu kept Debonair and Poppy covered while Lux teamed with Jinx to keep her covered and doing damage at the same time. The cumulative effects were clearly starting take effect as Baron started missing more, and his tentacles were way off on their attacks. The team as a whole kept up the fire while remaining on the move to prevent more attacks.
Frustrated, Baron roared and reared up his whole body and swung at the team. Lux, Janna, and Jinx managed to dodge out of the way in time, but Poppy, Lulu, and Debonair took the hit, flying into nearby trees. They all stood up, but it was clear that the impact had done some damage. Debonair was shaking his head as he took a few steps before heading back to the fight. Poppy just picked herself up and charged back into it. Lulu took a minute to regain her sense before she came back. In the meantime, Lux, Janna, and Jinx kept the fire up with Janna shielding Jinx and Lux providing damage and support.
Roaring again, Baron tried to sweep the team, but it didn't do anything as the whole team managed to dodge out of the way. Seeing this, Baron turned and fled again, and again the team pursued until they reached the desert. A scar from the First Void War, the desert began sharply and Baron retreated over the sand dunes, eventually burrowing into the soft sand to escape the attacks that the team was still sending out. Finally having a chance to breathe, the team collapsed on a nearby dune. Debonair turned to the Guardians.
"I'm going to get going. Good luck." He said and quickly made his exit, but it was clear he was injured. Lux turned to the rest of the team, who were clearly exhausted. Eventually though, everyone stood up, with Lulu getting to her feet last.
"Ok everyone, let's get back to the tower. We need to figure out a new strategy." Lux started to turn but Jinx was clearly not having it.
"Strategy? How can we expect to fight that?! That thing was huge and nearly beat us by itself. Imagine if someone else had stuck around to fight with it? We'd be picking ourselves up after being who knows what? This isn't what I signed up for, and neither did any of you!" To say that Jinx was angry was an understatement. Her face was red, from both anger and exhaustion. Shiro and Kuro were cowering with Pix, and all three had taken shelter behind Zephyr.
"You think any of us knew what we were in for Jinx? None of us did. We have risen to every challenge and we will rise to this. We are better than they are." Lux tried to defuse the situation, but it only made Jinx angrier.
"We are better than they are? Are we immortal beings that have had who knows how many years to perfect their craft? We are a bunch of teenagers who were given magical powers without any instruction manual."
"To be fair, no one reads them anymore." Janna cut Jinx off trying to bring her down, but it was clear that her attempt at humor wasn't received well.
"That doesn't matter Janna. None of it matters. We can't fight that. We just can't. I'm done. Sure it was fun, but I didn't sign up to be killed doing this." Jinx started to walk away, but Lux grabbed her arm.
"I've almost died doing this. I literally had a cannon in my face. I had no idea what I was getting into but I accepted it. This isn't about just us Jinx," Lux let go of Jinx's arm, "it's about everyone here. If we fail, who knows what will happen. It's us or nothing." Lux wiped tears from her eyes as she remembered the incident well, but Jinx just huffed.
"Fine, I'll play, if we die or whatever, who takes our place?" Looking around, Jinx had her answer. "No one. Why should we keep fighting? Who are we fighting for at this point? We can't be expected to fight something like that, at least not for long. I'd say today we got lucky. VERY lucky. We are just teenagers. We have our own problems, and this is one I don't intend to deal with anymore. Jinx turned on her heels, but Lux reached out again and grabbed her arm. This time, Jinx shook off Lux's hand and stormed off. She powered down, pulled her pendant from her neck, and threw it into the dunes.
Jinx then stopped, and looked back at Shiro and Kuro and nodded, but neither of them moved. Jinx smiled and nodded, then turned and headed back into the forest. Janna just watched her go with a stoic face knowing that she just needed time. Poppy just huffed and watched with frustration. She didn't know what she was signing up for either, but she was here and she was going to do everything she could. Lulu looked sad but stayed on her feet as Pix, Shiro, and Kuro huddled on her shoulders. Lux however rached out again in vein, then collapsed onto her knees in the sand and started crying.
Janna headed over and knelt beside Lux and eventually managed to get Lux to her feet. "Come on, we need to get back." Lux nodded and the team headed back, minus one. As they left the desert, Lulu grabbed Jinx's pendant and caught up. As they reached the city, it was clear they were still recovering from the riverwalk attack. Lux turned to the team and they all powered down. They were walking back to the tower but stopped near the attack site to see the damage. It was clear they got away with some energy, but not a lot. Vel'Koz was on the scene and when he saw them, he smiled a bit, but it turned quickly to concern as he noticed the absence of Jinx. Nasus nodded his head towards the long car and the team discretely as possible made their way to it. Once they were all in, Nasus drove them back to the tower. He also noticed Jinx's absence but didn't say anything about it.
Once inside the tower, Dorcha and Solas were initially happy but quickly noticed something. "Where's Jinx?" Dorcha asked, looking concerned.
"She quit." Poppy said, the anger in her voice unmistakable. Dorcha and Solas just looked shocked.
"She signed the contract didn't she? She knows we can hold her to it right?" Solas said after a few seconds.
"I believe her response to that was 'TL:DR' and 'whatever' respectively." Janna said as she helped Lux into one of the chairs at the table. "Honestly, I think she just needs time. I mean that fight was the worst one yet."
"She isn't reliable and I knew it." Poppy interjected and everyone turned to her. "Look, she was sketchy from the beginning and after just one mission I could tell she couldn't be relied upon to fight."
"Well the problem is that we are stuck with her." Dorcha reminded Poppy in a very motherly voice. Poppy just pouted. "We will have to convince her to come back or we will be in trouble. We can't transfer powers just yet but we need a full team if we stand any chance."
"Just what do you want us to do?" Lux finally spoke and everyone turned to her with softened expressions. "She quit. But she was also right. None of us knew what we were in for. I mean, if any one of us knew what we were fighting would we have signed up?" Lux looked around and the expressions on their faces were her answer. "She was right in that. Yet we are all still here. We are all still fighting. We just need to remember that. We also just need to get Jinx to realize that. For now though, I suggest we just give her some space and try again in a few days." Everyone nodded but everyone but Poppy looked put out.
"In the meantime, I suggest we prepare for the next fight. With just 4 of us again, we are going to need to be focused. I also think that Malzahar didn't get everything he wanted out of this attack, so he will attack again soon."
"Lux, we'll be ready." Poppy said, in a much softer voice than she had been using previously. Lux took a look around. Janna nodded; Lulu smiled; Dorcha and Solas nodded as well; Zephyr sat up; Pix nodded as he hovered behind Lulu; and Shiro and Kuro snuggled up against Lux's arm in a positive way. She reached down and scratched the two, smiling.
Somewhere, somehow, Lux had a feeling everything would work out.
On the moon, Malzahar was furious. Not only had Baron not destroyed the guardians, he fled from the battle. On top of that, Kog'Maw, Kha'Zix, and Rek'Sai had barely gotten any energy and their reserves were now dangerously low. Malzahar paced around and looked at the three of them.
"You had two jobs. Distract the guardians and gather energy. Sure you accomplished the first, but the second, all three of you failed miserably. We need energy quickly and if not, then everything we have worked for will fall apart. Kog'Maw get going." The three quickly ran out, with Kog'Maw in the lead.
Looking out the window, Malazhar looked at Runeterra and his frustration grew. He had all of the tools he needed but he kept losing for some reason.
"It isn't entirely their fault you know." Malzahar turned to see Cho'Gath in the shadows. "The guardians, for their inexperience, continue to plan well and adapt. We don't. Perhaps that is something we need to start doing."
"Perhaps." Malzahar looks out the window again and sinks into deep thought.