Ch.14: Rumble In The Nexus

Pounding footsteps mixed with sounds of fleeting heartbeats as Raphael, Shinigami, and Karai hurriedly rushed themselves over to the Turnstone chamber room. Shinigami took the lead position, worried about the Lady Daimyo's safety, and hoping against hope that their group would be able to get to sorceress in time.

Earlier, when the lights had went out and she had heard the scream, Shinigami knew that something had instantly gone wrong. Searching quickly with her magic, Shinigami determined that something evil had penetrated the Nexus, and that she would need help in order to bring it down.

Running through the dark, but being cautious of any silent threat, Shinigami made her way to the trial room, hoping that both Karai and Raphael had finished with their test, and would be able to assist during this time of need.

They were, and now, there was no more time to waste!

With the Nexus in danger, there was no telling what trouble could be had. The Lady Daimyo was strong, but whatever evil had infiltrated this sacred realm was strong too. Strong enough to hide itself before it bared its fangs to strike.

Mustering up her magic, Shinigami stayed calm, but determined, as she readied to take on a fight with all of her mystical skill. This is what she had been training for for years. Now she prayed that what she learned would be enough.

She would come to know soon. But right now, with both Raphael and Karai right by her side, Shinigami was confident nothing was going to bring them down.


Seconds later, the trio arrived in the Turnstone chamber room just in time to see Dregg and the Lady Diamyo right in the middle of their brawl. The Turnstone now lay upon the floor as both opposing parties circled around it, alien tech vs magic, formidable might that kept both warriors constantly on their guard.

While Karai and Raphael both raced in to help the Lady Daimyo, Shinigami jumped forward to grab the Turnstone and wrestle it away before a more violent struggle could commence.

She noticed then that one of the Lady Daimyo's servants, Ninjara, lay sprawled out on the ground, obviously attacked by Dregg after he had somehow managed to escape from his prison cell.

"Who in the world could have done this?" thought Shinigami, as she leaned over to check on Ninjara, but knew that the answer would have to wait until they restored balance to the Nexus first.

If she could wake up Ninjara, maybe they could then use the power of the Turnstone to end this fight once and for all.

While Shinigami was busy doing that, Karai and Raphael proved to be an invaluable help to the Lady Daimyo's fight against Dregg. Faced against the odds of dueling three opponents at once the alien overlord was effectively caught off guard, and though he tried to recover he couldn't regain the advantage he previously had.

"I need a new strategy" thought Dregg "but what can I do?"

Suddenly, that's when a new party entered the arena creating an opening for the traitorous bug.

Falling through the ceiling, Alopex dropped in grappling with her own opponent, gnashing and clawing as Kavaxas's right hand servant, Wick, viciously fought to rip her apart, leaving mark after mark of bloody wounds.

Alopex groaned as she tried to bring herself back up to speed. It may have been years since she had last encountered this vile creature, but she wasn't going to miss her chance to take revenge on how Wick had created a rift between her and her brother many years ago.

For only a second, Raphael and Karai were distracted, but that second was more than enough for Lord Dregg to blast himself back into the head of the fight, and attack the two with spider-like threads.

"Ugh!" grunted Raph, struggling to free himself, while Karai wiggled around, trying to escape as well.

Dregg grinned seeing the two top fighters out the game, when the Lady Daimyo came in with a magical blast reminding him that she was there as well.

Focus turning on her, Karai shifted into her snake form and stretched one of her arms out to snip the threads cocooning Raphael. Finishing the job with his sais, Raphael burst out of his trap, and ran over to return the favor in kind.

Not expecting the two to free themselves so quickly, Dregg was totally unprepared when Raphael and Karai rejoined the fight, and fell helplessly to a three-in-one combo as the Lady Diamyo mystically enhanced all of their inner powers, delivering a fiery finish to the evil bug.


Meanwhile, while the Lady Diamyo's group was finishing their fight, Shinigami was finally able to reawaken Ninjara and point in the direction of Alopex who was still dueling with Wick.

Knowing right away that evil needed to be purged from the Nexus, Ninjara stood up, grabbed the Turnstone, and asked Shinigami for help casting a spell that would banish all evil currently within its space.

Shinigami agreed, joining Ninjara over at the pedestal, and focusing all her might into the powerful spell that needed to be cast.

From the corner of her eye, Alopex saw this process and grinned at Wick, who wasn't enjoying as much an advantage as he had before. Seeing the fox's new confidence Wick knew that something disastrous was going on, and when he noticed Ninjara and Shinigami standing over the Turnstone, his whole face lit up entirely of fear.

Throwing him down, and pinning him so he couldn't escape, Alopex sat on Wick, enjoying his screams as he slowly disintegrated, and the entire Nexus filled up with light. The villains had been defeated, darkness was purged, and things in the Nexus could finally return to norm.

"Thank you everyone," said the Lady Daimyo once all was calm, then turned to Karai and Raphael " The two of you finished your test just in time to help out during this time of need, but the crisis on Earth has yet to be resolved. Go on now, and help your family defeat Kavaxas so that everything will turn out bright."


Meanwhile, unseen sneaking away from the burning vessel of his robotic corpse, Lord Dregg's true form of a tiny insect escaped as the Lady Diamyo was relating her congratulations and thankfulness speech.

Though the magic of the Turnstone had been used to banish evil out of the Nexus, the focus of the spell had been mainly targeted on Wick, causing him and any evil he enacted to be destroyed, coming undone.

Thus, Dregg had fortunately been spared the grim fate of disintegration, but what awaited the traitorous bug was far worse.

Staying out of the conflict, and yet keeping watch as things went wrong. Armaggon had kept a close eye on the Turnstone battle, debating in his head whether he should help, or leave right now speeding away goodbye.

He stayed, relieved when the heroes managed to come on top, and grinned wickedly as he saw Dregg's true body crawl away after the fight.

Before leaving, he decided to follow the bug, and stood towering over the emperor, surprising the bug during his escape.

Without a word, the shark's foot came down, crushing Dregg, before he lifted up the corpse and threw it into his mouth, smashing it with his jaws.

"Mmm, payback," said Armmagon, then turned around, activating his jetpack, as he blasted back to his home in space.