Flames continued to burst through the darkness of the deep sinkhole as Neuro's group fought for their lives. The Vermillion continued to swarm over them, not letting them catch their breath. The only wind that was moving through them was Bansha furiously throwing aside bursts of wind from her hands, throwing warriors back into the hardened surface of the ground they stood on. Vermillion would fall down into the floor, cracking open holes and plunging into the mud deep below. They would crawl back out, dripping and demonic in appearance as they stalked towards the group to attack once more.
Ash threw several punches towards Blunck, who either dodged or used his weapon to block them. Ash had already determined just through this alone that Blunck had no special abilities, and was instead just an incredibly powerful Vermillion that was able to keep pace with his constant turning into smoke and attacking from all directions. He would let himself be rather impressed, if Blunck wasn't completely calm the entire fight about trying to kill them. The other Smoke Tribe members were quick to fall into line with their leader, hissing along with Ash as they all threw themselves into Blunck.
Neuro remained hunched over on the ground, rubbing his temples and trying to clear the noise from his skull. His head was still throbbing with the multitude of voices that were flaring through him. No matter what he did, he couldn't seem to force them out. It was as though he'd poked a hole inside of a bag underwater, and now he was helpless to stop the flood coming in to take over his head.
"What do we do?!" A fire user swung their curved dagger into a Vermillion. When he tried to pull it back, the Vermillion grabbed the hilt and the snakes absorbed it into their mass. The user let go just before his hand could be swallowed by the mass.
"Keep fighting!" Shade shouted, "You all represent your tribes, don't you?!"
Shade followed this up by appearing from another shadow, using his stolen Vermillion sword and stabbing one in the back. He grabbed the warrior's blade as it broke apart, tossing the sword to the smoke user. The user quickly turned and blocked an incoming attack, giving a grunt of gratitude towards Shade.
Bansha, however, wasn't thinking on the same wavelength that Shade was. Instead, she was looking up towards the circle of light high up above them. She could easily fly up there herself and perhaps two others, but she knew there were almost thirty of them here. It wouldn't be possible for her to do that and still make it down for the last in line in time.
"Neruo," Bansha blasted more warriors back as she hissed violently to the downed leader, "Get up! We need you right now!"
"The… the voices…" Neuro clutched his head, "So many… so many voices… I can't… can't think of… where I start, where they end…"
Bansha growled and shot her head up. She couldn't get them out of here like this. She needed them to do something. She needed a distraction, needed something to think. She looked around to the users. None of them had any time to fight. They were desperately doing all they could not to be immediately thrown onto the ground and taken out.
"Neuro, get up!" Bansha reached down with one hand, dragging him up to his feet by his collar, "You can't space out right now! You're going to get everyone killed if you don't man up right now and help in this battle!"
Neuro still had a glazed look in his eyes. Bansha's temper flared up and she felt a vein in her forehead throbbing. With a hand she had been using to fight, she turned it towards Neuro and blasted Neuro directly in the face. The force snapped his head back and blew his hair violently out behind him. She held the blast until she felt he wouldn't be able to breathe anymore. When she stopped, he was rattled.
"Unlike you, I have a tribe that needs me to survive, Neuro!" Bansha dragged Neuro down to face her, "I'm not even ordained by my dragon yet and I'm here, fighting for these tribes! Either focus right now and start working with me, or I'll throw you out to those warriors right now myself!"
Neuro looked down towards her. The force of being rattled had thrown his mind off. He was, in a sense, blown back to himself. He slowly stumbled down onto his feet, shaking slightly as he did. He slowly rubbed his head, finding the noise was gone. He looked up to Bansha with a smile.
"Thank you, Bansha…" Neuro smiled, "I think, I can fight now."
"Good," Bansha turned back to the horde, "Because we need all the help we can get."
Neuro surveyed the battlefield. None of the group had fallen yet, but they had certainly been pushed towards the breaking point. Ash was still violently swinging his claws at Blunck with his tribe members. The darkness made seeing things hard over the bits of fire and ice that gave a brief bit of illumination to the area around them.
"Any idea?!" Bansha snarled as she put her hands together. She twisted them around each other, causing the wind to twist into a tornado. She gathered it around her hands and then let it out, carving a straight line out through the warriors.
Neuro looked to one of the warriors knocked away by Bansha's attack. He fell through the ground and into the mud. Wind… mud… underneath… "Bansha!" Neuro turned to her, "We're standing on a shelf of hardened mud, right?"
"Yes?" Bansha gasped out, "What about it?!"
"Do you think you could get wind… underneath it?" Neuro pointed down.
Bansha looked down, his eyes tracing the spot until she realized what Neuro was saying. Upon realizing it, she grimaced and nodded her head, "Yes… I can. But that won't work if we take the warriors up with us."
"Tell our fire users to heat the mud under us," Neuro tapped his head, "I'll take care of the warriors."
Bansha nodded, turning to give the orders. In the meanwhile, Neuro stood straight. He surveyed the battlefield around them, then extended his hand. He pointed it directly towards Blunck. He took a deep breath, then opened his mind to the flood of noises again.
Neuro almost collapsed from that alone. This time, however, he forced himself to hold firm. He pushed his mind back against the horde. Power began to seep out of his open palm, pouring out towards Blunck. It attached to his head, making him pause in the middle of dodging. Ash, seeing it as well, leapt away and onto all fours, ready for another pounce to attack.
"You will go down into the mud," Neuro ordered.
"Are you trying that again?" Blunck scoffed, hearing the command in his mind, "You clearly don't listen well. That won't work on a hive mind!"
"You WILL go down into the mud!" Neuro ordered again. He pushed harder against Blunck.
"Hah!" Blunck laughed, "Geez, Machia would really hate you. She hates bad listeners. Thankfully, we're not." Without realizing it, Blunck had taken a step forward.
"I am the leader of the Mind Tribe!" Neuro began to sweat and quake all over, "It doesn't matter if there are one of you, or a thousand! YOU WILL go DOWN into the mud!"
Blunck walked towards one of the holes in the mud. He was still grinning… but wasn't thinking. Neuro was pushing back against the hive mind with everything he had. He pushed harder, harder, and harder still. The group watched as the warriors suddenly went stiff, then began to retreat towards the holes in the ground. All of them, including Blunck, stopped as soon as they reached the holes. A small bit of blood began to trickle out of Neuro's nose. The Vermillion resisted.
"I, Neuro, leader of the Mind Tribe, COMMAND YOU!" Neuro shouted, "DOWN!"
Each warrior jumped into the mud one by one. The group backed up nervously as they did. Blunck was the last one standing as the Vermillion were now in the mud underneath their shelf of rock. He looked Neuro right in the eye, then he jumped. As soon as he did, Neuro turned to Bansha and shouted, "NOW!"
With a coordinated effort, all of the fire users in their group turned towards the nearest hole and poured their flames into the mud below. Rapidly, the mud began to boil under them, if only for a few inches down. Bansha stood in the center of the shelf, holding her hands out. She focused with a deep breath, then two massive tornados broke from her hands and into the shelf under them. The natural gases trapped in the shelf below them were let out with the heat, and the wind, being less dense, was forced upwards against the shelf. With a long rumble, the shelf built up pressure.
Within seconds, the shelf rose up from the sinkhole. Ash dug his claws into the shelf, while the other users did the same with their weapons. Neuro collapsed down, unable to assert his dominance over the hive mind any longer. Bansha and the fire users poured all their power into it, causing them to rapidly rise from the floor. The combination of the pressure and wind shot them up at a high velocity, rising them up towards the light. Steadily, the darkness dispersed to show the light of day.
With a scream of effort, Bansha let out one massive burst from her hands. The light blinded them all for a brief moment, then they were out in the sky. The users, seeing their chance, all ran off the crumbling shelf, throwing themselves onto solid ground. Bansha looked to the collapsed Neuro and dropped her wind. She grabbed Neuro and blasted the two from the shelf. They both went flying, barely cresting the lip of the sinkhole and rolling across the ground as the bits of shelf broke apart as they fell.
"I-It worked…" Neuro coughed, slowly getting up on all fours, "It… we made it…"
"Let's not wait around here," Shade, getting up from the ground himself, groaned back to him, "They might come looking for us with that move we pulled."
"We've done our part in engaging them," Ash grinned as he somehow was standing up and fine despite his rocket ride out from the underground, "The Smoke Tribe isn't too far from here. We'll take shelter there until we get more orders."
Bansha coughed and pushed herself up to her feet. Neuro followed suit, stalking up to Bansha and looking her in the eyes. Bansha returned the gesture, making the air silent between the two. For a long few moments, the users around them felt tension in the air. Then, Neuro extended his hand to her.
"Thank you," Neuro bowed his head, "It is good to know the tribes can count on someone like you."
Bansha looked to his hand, then reached out to shake it. When she did, she pulled Neuro in close so she could whisper directly into his ear.
"I know you had your doubts about me in this fight," She grumbled out, "As much as I despise the Time Tribe, I would never do anything to hurt my tribe. Don't doubt me again."
"Indeed." Neuro stated calmly. Bansha let him go and, together, the two turned to follow after Ash. Steadily, the group began making their way off towards the Smoke Tribe.
Down in the sinkhole, the Vermillion warriors all swam up from the mud, surfacing from it. Blunck stood at the lip of one of the connecting tunnels, the Vermillion funneling out beside him into it. He looked up towards the top of the hole, frowning hard as he did.
"Okay… so, we didn't get any of them…" Blunck looked up and grimaced, "Machia is so going to get Raggmunk and I for this! Wait… maybe he got someone!"
The warriors around him stared at him blankly, not sure what to say. Blunck just smiled awkwardly at them and slowly stalked his way over away from them. After a few steps, his eyes suddenly went red as a message formed up in his head. As he heard it, his fears seemed to melt away. He turned to his troops once he finished, even if he knew they heard it.
"Sounds like Machia managed to take out all the ones she was handling!" Blunck shouted, "We're going to regroup up with Raggmunk and head to the Summit! Sounds like that imposter guy already took some of us there and has overwhelmed them. We're to go and finish up the scraps!" Blunck smirked, "Vermillion… march!"
Of all of the elements, time was Skylar's least favorite. When Chen had gotten to the Time Tribe, he'd already been on edge and trying to cover for the ploys he'd put into motion. It was already beginning to unfold that the tribes were going to war, and thus selling himself as a man who simply wanted to give advice was harder to do. This meant time was the one that Skylar was able to master the least. In fact, once her father had split the brothers down the middle, she'd only gotten the chance to mimic a few guards once before she'd been solidly stuck with Krux.
The thing about mimicking abilities was that, unlike Mage, Skylar often was given a lump sum that she then had to pick through. Mage learned from the ground up, while she learned from the top down. It often meant that the abilities she spent more time with were the ones she was forced to use. She would move quickly to learn, but he would always continue to grow. Time was an element that Skylar had never truly taken the time to learn. Acronix was made her enemy quickly after meeting him. Krux, meanwhile, had been so focused on his own goals and grappling with his own plans that, when he did teach her, it had been half hearted and without true purpose.
It was these thoughts that were going through her head as Krux appeared behind her with another flash of green and delivered yet another strike to her back. Skylar let out a silent cry of pain as she collapsed to the ground and rolled twice before being stopped by an overturned table. She looked up to see Krux smiling down at her, holding that strange blade of his in the air.
"Do you like my little toy?" Krux smirked, "It's a bit small for me, but I manage with it. They call it a 'Time Blade,' and apparently it holds concentrated time elemental energy. With this, anyone could wield power on par with my brother."
Krux looked to the blade and with a flash of green, he was gone again. Skylar, thinking quickly, thrust her hands onto the floor and summoned a massive cone of ice around her, rising up to a point above her with jagged tips. A second after they had risen, the sound of ice shattering made her instinctually summon the element of smoke. Krux burst into the ice structure just as her smoke shot straight out of it and reformed just behind him.
"Hmm… not bad," Krux turned to her, "As I would expect from one that has touched all elements. I wonder if you will-"
"Shut up!" Skylar thrust her hands out, her palms glowing red hot as pillars of flames shot out to burn the air in front of her, "We're fighting, stop talking!"
Krux held the blade up, but the green power inside made a small static noise. Letting out a 'tssk' in response, he instead leapt backwards from the strike onto another overturned table. The flames struck the surface just as he slid behind it, causing a black acrid ring to burn just behind him. Skylar held out her hand, calling upon the power of metal. The metal supports from the previous table ripped up and shot into her hand, twisting around each other to form a makeshift club.
"If that's your brother's power, then you shouldn't be bragging!" Skylar brandished the weapon and rushed forward, "That just means you're borrowing it!"
Skylar brought the metal club down onto the spot where Krux had hidden. When it banged the table and nothing else, she looked up to see Krux's foot coming at her face. She let go of the club and leaned back to dodge it, the weapon clanging to the ground. Krux landed, spun about, and swung his fist towards her as she rose up. Thinking fast, Skylar turned her right arm into metal and held it up, catching his strike. She smirked in victory, only to feet the uppercut from the Time Blade strike her chin. She stumbled backwards and raised a slab of earth in front of her to protect herself.
"Then what does that make your abilities, Skylar?!" Krux frowned from behind the wall, "Your power is nothing more than a copy! You can never grow past what you have learned. Me? I can grow until I can hit you."
"Better man up and try!" Skylar switched to speed, racing around the wall to try to grab Krux. When she arrived, however, she saw him moving at normal she saw the glow of green energy in his hand, however, she realized he was accelerating time fast enough so they were equal. When he reached out to grab her neck, Skylar had no chance to react. As the speed faded from her body, Krux held her up in the air victoriously. He gave a hard squeeze of his fingers, causing Skylar to gasp out for air. Krux squeezed for several seconds, cutting off her airflow. When he stopped, he left her gasping heavily in his grasp.
"This Summit will be mine," Krux frowned, "Your father stripped me of everything. I lost it all. My Tribe, my brother, my powers, my pride, all of it! I did what I thought was right. I went and tried to secure the Time Tribe a place in that rapidly changing war! I see now that Chen made me lose anything and everything! I can't lie and say it doesn't feel good to be able to take it out on the next best thing to Chen."
"I-Is that what you thought… when you killed Morro?!" Skylar wheezed out.
Krux inhaled, "I did what needed to be done. I took credit for his death so none of my men would need to carry that burden. Yet the world treated me as some sort of monster when I had fought in the way I was meant to! Simply because I decided to help the tribe, I was treated like some sort of terrible creature!"
Skylar began to draw air into her lungs using the power of wind, buying her a few seconds. Krux, seeing this, lowered her towards the ground and pointed the Time Blade at her face. Skylar stared into the two charged prongs as they viciously arced towards her. The threat hung in the air, and Skylar stopped.
"In truth, your death would be pointless," Krux sighed, "I think it will be far easier for me to simply hurt you. Hurt you enough that Lloyd stays out of this, that is. If he were to get involved, I would imagine this would be over readily."
"You leave him… out… of… this!" Skylar wheezed. Gripping her fists, Skylar began to rub sparks between her fingers. Krux looked down just in time to see the massive burst of lightning fire out from her hands straight down into the floor. Krux flinched, readying himself to feel current down his arm. When none came, he looked down to the strange arcs coming from her hands.
"Was that your last shot?" Krux scoffed, "Fine then, if you won't take this fight seriously, then-"
Krux let go of Skylar just in time as he saw several of the tables coming straight towards him. Skylar instead raised her arm up and fired the lightning out into the table as it passed her. With it in her grasp, she raised the table overhead without even a grunt and then, with a growl, brought it straight down towards Krux. The former leader had only just enough time to roll to the side to avoid it as it went down.
"I figured this one out when I was in the Metal Tribe," Skylar chuckled, "Turns out that there's some relationship between magnets and lightning. Not sure what it is, but I find it pretty useful."
"I underestimated you, then," Krux stood up, "Well then, perhaps we should get more serious."
Krux disappeared once more, leaving Skylar to pause. Taking a breath, she did her best to ignore the growing fatigue in her arms. Having fought Machia, speed all the way here, and used so many elements altogether at once meant her stamina was going to run dry soon. The more she switched elements, the worse it would be. In those few seconds that Krux was gone, she had to think of a plan.
Something was up with that blade Krux was using. It looked like it'd stalled on him. Did that mean that it wasn't constantly giving him power? Perhaps it needed to recharge? It would explain why he was actually running around her attacks rather than simply appearing and disappearing to avoid them. Did that mean he was limited in what he could do?
She'd only fought this once, and that was in training with Acronix. It'd been brief, making Skylar bite her lip out of frustration. All she knew was that she wasn't able to see him, and her own control over time was so teninous that trying to use it on herself to follow him would be suicide. She had to come up with a way to get him to reveal his position!
An idea formed in her head. Skylar quickly focused and summoned the power of water. Around her, the moisture in the air condensed into droplets around her. Rather than move them around, she held them there around her body. She felt each and every one as it vibrated in the air around her, holding them together as she stood. The droplets shook as she forced herself to maintain them all stiffly, refusing any of them the pull of gravity they so desperately wanted to follow.
A brief slice of wind caused a droplet to her side to vibrate. Skylar shot her body to the side and her arm turned a violent green as poison welled up from it and hissed angrily against her clothes. Krux, seeing this, intentionally missed his swing so as not to be grabbed by Skylar's deadly arm. Skylar flipped her palm up towards him, wind summoning up inside of it and then firing straight up towards him. The force acted as a punch right to his chin, whipping his head back and making him fall to the ground.
Skylar didn't stop there. As soon as Krux landed, she moved her other arm forward and unleashed a laser of concentrated light right towards him. Krux thrust the Time Blade up just in time to reflect it up into the ceiling where it sizzled angrily. Skylar thrust her arm with the poison still on it at him, and Krux scrambled back to his feet to avoid it. Skylar turned to thrust her arm back at him, but Krux was faster, catching her wrist between the prongs of his blade. He twisted it down, throwing her arm out of the way and letting his fist come in for a punch. At the distance, she dodged so it only struck her shoulder, still sending pain up her body. Krux twisted her arm harder, causing her to shriek in pain as he grabbed her shoulder to bring a knee hard into her gut.
Once more Skylar gasped in pain, her abdomen starting to feel worse than before. She pushed Krux away from her and summoned fire in her hands, lighting them ablaze to force him away. Krux did just that, disappearing with the blade again and then appearing behind her. Skylar didn't get the chance to summon her droplets, meaning that Krux was free to deliver another punch directly to her back. She stumbled forward again, gasping raggedly as she did.
"It is clear you have not learned how to fight without your powers," Krux taunted, "My brother and I were forced to fight each other with nothing more than our fists for years before the dragon allowed us to use powers on each other. Your powers will never be as strong as they could be, if you cannot fight without them!"
"Easy for you… to say…" Skylar coughed out, "You… have to fight… without them…"
"That will only make me stronger then," Krux stepped forward, "Is this really the future leader of the Amber Tribe? Surely, you cannot expect for your people to prosper if you cannot stand to one without powers of his own..."
Once more, Krux vanished. Skylar moved to summon the droplets, but Krux wasn't going to let her. Instead of appearing beside her, instead he appeared across the room and took hold of the armor plating of a fallen Vermillion warrior. With it in hand, he tossed it towards Skylar, then blasted it with the blade. The object struck Skylar as it reappeared right beside her head, sending her crumpling to the ground. The armor went flying as Krux walked forward and picked up the metal club that Skylar had fashioned.
"All of these powers," Krux muttered, "And you cannot even win with them. You will never be able to protect your people if you cannot even protect yourself!"
"Stop talking!" Skylar shouted, "I don't know what you're trying to prove, but trying to taunt me isn't working!"
"I'd say otherwise," Krux replied, "But… I think we can go ahead and cut this fight short then, don't you agree?"
Skylar turned around and brought her foot down, calling upon the earth underneath the building's foundations to cause the entire area to ripple straight out towards Krux. The action caused her vision to slightly blur as the exhaustion caught up to her. Krux, rather than using his blade, leapt up on top of a table and allowed the wave to rock him on top of it. When it had passed, he rolled off and brandished the club straight towards her.
A flash of fear ran through Skylar seeing the club heading right towards her. If she switched elements again, she'd likely drop out of this battle simply unable to keep goin. Instead of switching, she slammed her foot into the ground again, causing two jets of earth to erupt beside her and fly right for Krux's arm. Krux's shot wasn't stopped, but the impact threw his aim enough off for her to dodge to the side just in time. As she slid backwards, she panted hard and gasped out as she looked up towards him.
Krux didn't let up on her again. He disappeared into thin air once more with his blade. Skylar reached out with her right arm, accusing the earth she'd ground up to form a makeshift shield on her arm. She formed a smaller one on her left arm. She was just in time, as she heard a long 'woosh' right above her. She looked up and threw her arms up just in time for the blade to strike straight down into the shields. The sheer force of them shattered the rock, causing her arms to burn as the blade cut straight down onto her forearms.
Skylar leapt backwards instinctually before the blade could fully cut down to her chest. As she stumbled back, she looked down to her arms, seeing the two long straight cuts from the blade's prongs. Krux turned her and, upon seeing her shocked expression, simply gave a frown and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you already done?" Krux groaned, "Or are you shocked that someone has that strength without a power?"
Skylar wanted to talk, but in truth her falter was due to her being, at this point, being barely able to stand. Her powers were now weakened enough that she couldn't even throw up shields anymore. She was trapped on earth, lest she want to risk switching to someone more offensive and see if the energy drain doing would allow her to stay on her feet.
Slowly, Skylar began to stalk around Krux. Krux, in turn, stalked around her. The two circled each other. Krux didn't seem worse for wear, while Skylar was now bleeding, panting, and sweating all over. She wasn't able to focus on objects behind Krux well, and she suspected it was only her adrenaline that was keeping her moving at this point. She had to end this, and end it now. Even if that meant not actually ending him.
"If you are done, I will end this with one strike," Krux shook his head, "My goal today was not to kill you, young Skylar. I can easily hurt you without needing to make your heart stop beating. You will be a message for the rest of the tribes. If even the Amber Tribe cannot stand up to our power, the others will submit out of fear. This will be the end of this silly dance you and the other leaders have been playing."
Skylar's ears perked somewhat. The other leaders? Did that mean Krux and the other Twins had really fallen for that ploy? She would have to tell Mage that, "Yeah… well, pretty sure whatever you do, Mage won't be letting you go."
"Mage?" Krux paused, "Ah, yes, that boy had a rather idiotic sense of nicknames. I believe he used to call me 'Ux' when we were training. Where did that one come from?"
"Claims using all the elements is magic, somehow," Skylar shrugged, "Not important. You won't… get him to… stop coming after you."
"Oh?" Krux paused, "Well, I suppose that is true. He has known where we were this entire time, after all. Keep that in your mind for me, young Skylar."
Before Skylar could question what that meant, Krux had disappeared. She'd talked with him long enough it'd recharged that blade! She turned her head around to look for him, but Krux was behind her too quickly. Skylar turned to grab at him with earth, but Krux hooked his hand in her clothes and lifted her up into the air. She let out a struggle, right before he tossed her body away from himself. Before she could hit the ground, however, she saw a flash of green coming at her.
The next thing Skylar knew, her body had just struck the opposite wall. She let out a gasp of pain. She'd been accelerated across the room into the wall. The impact made her crumple into the ground. She slowly lifted her head up, weakly opening her hand to try to summon earth into her hand.
Before she could, Krux's foot stamped down into it. She let out a gasp of pain as her fingers were crushed, and Krux simply looked down at her in disappointment. He reached down and picked her up, then turned and slammed her against the wall. This time she barely had the energy to gasp as blood trickled down her cheek.
"I'm surprised you didn't try to escape," Krux shrugged, "But that's not important. Hurting my brother wasn't enough for him to get the message. Perhaps that was too impersonal. However…"
Krux reached out and placed the prongs of the Time Blade right against Skylar's stomach. As Skylar looked down at it, Krux suddenly frowned at her.
"I don't have to have the power of time to affect the future anymore," He stated ominously, "So I'm doing what needs to be done. I'll make sure that boy doesn't forget this."
Mage ran as fast as he could. He didn't know how long he'd run for, and he'd long since been unable to use speed any longer. Still, he continued to run, and the longer that he ran, the closer he knew he brought himself to the Summit. More Vermillion were coming towards the Summit and, if that general was right, already on their way there. He had to keep going. If they were already attacking the summit, that meant those that were trapped there were fighting. They wouldn't be able to last much longer. He had… had to get there and help them fight!
With his use of speed long since exhausted, Mage had instead resorted to coating his path in ice so he was running atop it and running far faster than he could otherwise. He'd tried using forward time to get going, but the energy that took versus the distance covered wasn't going to work. He had to get there with enough energy to fight, enough energy to help his friends. The others were likely swarmed by those strange snakes. He'd make sure they were safe!
That being said, as he soon entered the territory the Summit resided in, he was already panting rather hard. Using elemental powers was like using any other part of his body; after a long time, they got worn out. Thankfully, for him it was mainly just with each individual element rather than his powers overall. It was the fact he'd been physically running that made him gasp. He gripped hold of his chest for a moment, forcing himself to get air into his lungs before he passed out.
He'd be no good to them if he passed out! He gripped his fists, breathing harder. As soon as he felt the ability to, he called upon wind to forcibly circulate air into his mouth and down his throat. His control over elements when they were inside things was dodgy, but by forcing air into his passages, he could at least keep going. He gripped his fists as soon as he felt the calm coming over him, before he forced himself to run once again.
Eventually, finally, and breathlessly, he soon crested the top of the ridge that the Summit lay beyond. As soon as he did, his vision trembled. He looked out across the path, seeing the building that he had helped build. Half of the lower floors were completely smashed in, and smoke was rising from several points. The rails that led to the building were completely mangled and reached into the air with their gnarled fingers. Several strange triangular contraptions were rolled around the building, surrounding its exterior. As he watched, one let loose a volley of strange gray orbs, which struck inside the building to further break it apart.
Vermillion were everywhere. They were hissing and spitting, walking around with their weapons crudely drawn and undulating while they stumbled about the broken exterior. Mage gripped his fists as he saw the snakes walking into the building like it was nothing. Lik the people inside meant nothing. Like all that he had help build… was nothing.
Anger filled Mage's eyes. How dare they do this to his symbol?! Suddenly, all that exhaustion felt as though it had vanished. A growl rose up in his throat. His hands extended to his sides, and from them, the ground cracked then splintered. His eyes had gone a deep brown. If they were going to defile the very ground that they stood on, he'd make sure they weren't standing on it. The entire area began to rumble as an earthquake tore through it, starting as a light rumble, then tremble, until massive chunks began to rip apart and thrust themselves into the air.
"You're MINE!" Mage shouted, swapping earth for gravity. He ran forward, remaining in the air as he raced his way right into the middle of the Vermillion. Those that still stood looked up to him and hissed violently at him, their tongues lulling out as they turned to him. Mage shifted the control with one leg extended, flying straight down into the ground.
The impact of his kick caused another massive and violent tremor that flung the snakes about in all directions. Seeing one of those triangular things, he reached out with metal, eyes gunmetal, and ripped the thing in half. The snakes inside were sent flying as he yanked the two pieces to himself, leveling them down in front of himself. The mangled bits rapidly swirled around his body, creating massive makeshift blades. He shouted as he thrust them around him, slinging the massive weapons around himself and cleaving their way through the warriors. As sweat rapidly gathered on his forehead, he let out a massive shout and thrust them outwards. The ground was ripped up as they flung outwards, and with them, groups of Vermillion soldiers.
Mage took a step forward, only for his leg to give out. He'd overused his powers. After running here and then creating such a massive earthquake, he could barely stand. He inhaled sharply, then bit down on his lip. The pain was enough for him to focus on, and enough for him to open his eyes and see the Vermillion as they raced straight down the crater towards him.
He let his instincts take over. He kicked the ground to rip up a square chunk, flinging it straight into a warrior. He did a somersault in the air, forming a slice of water from the arc his extended foot made to burst into three more. He thrust his hand out, releasing a burst of wind to throw back more, and with red eyes, he thrust both his arms out and released geysters of flame that scorched any that came near him.
One warrior came flying towards him, leaping up onto his back. Mage felt it grab onto him, and more importantly, the fangs that sank into his shoulders. With a simple grunt of pain, his hand came back and grabbed hold of whatever snakes the face was made of. All the snakes inside suddenly would feel their minds ripped apart by a mental blast, falling backwards and writhing in pain. The action gave Mage room to gather up wind in his feet again, bursting himself up onto his feet and up into the air. He landed on the ground, and immediately slipped onto his back.
The sky above him was getting blurry. He refused to let himself go yet. He squeezed what more elemental energy he could from himself, forcing gravity into his body to propel himself across the ground by changing the direction, flying straight across the ground until he landed inside one of the holes in the side of the Summit.
He had to do something. He couldn't… couldn't fight them, not like this. He was barely managing to move his limbs! He had to do something, something that would protect this building. Something… something powerful. Something to protect them, or buy them time. If Skylar was here, somewhere, he'd have to do something to give her a chance, to survive.
"...Good thing, I'm used to passing out…" Mage chuckled, placing his hands on the floor. He could hear the Vermillion already slithering towards him. He shut his eyes, turning them brown. He was already laying down… best make use of it. He spread his fingers out across the tiled floor and reached out, reached out to feel exactly what was underneath those tiles… and the whole building.
With that last of his strength he had, Mage focused. This time, only the building rumbled. He poured every single last ounce of his power he had into his hands. The Vermillion nearby were stunned as the ground they stood on kept rumbling. He had to reach out, and feel this entire building. Feel everything that he could with it. He reached out, until the feeling was different. Different at the borders. The edges of the building.
Then, he struck the ground. The ground under them began to violently raise up. The entire building was heaved up into the sky on a perfectly cylindrical shaft of earth. The earth around it was depressed to add to the mass needed to raise it into the sky. Vermillion went flying as they were thrown from the surface, unable to find purchase on it. It rose higher, and higher, rumbling through the air as Mage forced himself to keep going as long as he could. The building kept rising, and rising, until it stood nearly fifty feet in the air.
That was when Mage finally collapsed. He had no more elemental energy to give, or none that he could actually turn into a blast. He didn't hear Vermillion around him, but he could feel them still there. But, it meant whoever was left, was now only going to have to handle those in the building. Right? Right. He leaned back, beginning to let himself drift away into the blackness and simply pray he was going to be safe.
It seemed that whoever was going to let him rest wasn't the person that suddenly flooded his mind with a massive flare of energy. He let out a gasp, his eyes firing open. He saw a warm and large hand on his forehead, pouring some sort of purple energy into him. That hand was connected to an arm, and the arm, to a massive dark skinned man that wore armor from the… Mind Tribe, he thought. The man was yelling something at him, but it was blurry…
"...Si...Sir… Sir!" The words finally broke through for him to understand them, "Sir! Are you alright?!"
"Sir?" Mage blinked, "...No, how am, I? I should be passed out..."
"Ever heard the expression 'mind over matter?,' sir?" The guard spoke with a deep but kind voice, "I've flooded your mind with mind energy. It will keep you from passing out, for now."
"Oh… thanks!" Mage smiled, his lips seeming to be the only thing that worked right now, "Is, everyone safe?"
"The ones that didn't get…." The guard shuddered, "Most of us are safe. We felt the first two rumbles and realized that you had to have arrived."
"Me? But… what about Skylar?" Mage asked, his eyes filled with worry.
"I've not seen Lady Skylar," The guard shook his head, "Can you stand?"
"No…" Mage groaned, "I, really used everything I had."
"I'll carry you. We need to make our way up to the rest of the forces here," The guard gently grabbed Mage, hefting him up onto his back and holding him gently as he made his way towards a stairwell, "This might be rough. We only managed to defend one stairwell. The rest are knocked out."
Mage didn't have much to say as the guard carried him. He was too physically exhausted to do much other than just rest against the guard. He let himself be carried, taking sight of the building. The building that he had created to help stand for peace and a symbol of union after the war with Chen. It was now completely wrecked, with broken open doors, smashed statues and far more. Much to his chagrin, they passed through the main entrance chamber, and the statue of him defeating Chen had been broken so that only Chen was left. He would have turned away if he could.
"Skylar arrived here a little while ago," The guard explained to him, "She basically took out all the Vermillion on the first floor. I don't know about the upper floors but the path we're holding is clear. This building is still crawling with snakes for the moment, though."
"Skylar got here?" Mage tried to turn his head again, "Where is she?"
"I don't know, Sir Lulloyd said that he found her though," The guard turned towards a hallway and to an open stairwell with a Lightning Tribe and Water Tribe guard were standing, broken weapons raised into the air and crackling with their respective elements.
"So it was him that caused those tremors!" The lightning guard smiled, "Thank goodness!"
The guard carrying Mage grunted and instead made his way to the stairs. Mage reached out with his hand to try to summon gravity to lift them up, but it was no use. He closed his eyes, sighing as he was forced to let the guard carry him instead. It seemed being told to hold on wasn't really possible as his head jerked up and down with each step.
Finally, the two reached the top of the stairs. People were rushing up and down the hallway they entered, carrying various things around in a hurry. They rapidly rushed about, trying to find places for them to stuff their things. Mage was carried into what he knew was the planning room, where he saw Lloyd and Harumi grabbing maps and shoving them into the hands of more guards.
"Let's keep moving!" Lloyd called out, "We have to get all this out of here as soon as possible! Keep going…" He blinked, stopping dead as he saw Mage, "Mage?"
"Mage!" Harumi shouted, standing up from the side of the room and rushing over to him, "Are you okay? Are you hurt?!"
"No, no I'm… I'm fine," Mage smiled, "Just, overexerted myself. He's using mind energy to keep me awake," Mage chuckled and gestured to the guard carrying him with his eyes, "What's everyone doing?"
"We were going to form a massive push to try to escape out the back," Monty explained, "But then I'm guessing you raised up up into the sky and made that plan a little difficult to pull off. So we're kinda stuck here now."
"Oh… sorry," Mage blushed, "I was, you all were about to get swarmed, and then there's that second wave coming…"
"Second wave?" Lloyd, who had been gathering up Monty's placemarkers, turned around, "What second wave, what's going on?"
"Oh, uhm, well you see, there are these snake guys that talk, they're like, orange? And they said they were regrouping to come and act as backup I think," Mage looked down, "Like, I'm pretty sure it's the snakes we drove off and some of the others, you know?"
"There's more coming?" Lloyd looked towards their rapidly emptying room, "We… barely managed to survive the first wave. We… we can't get out in time for a second one."
"Hold on," Harumi shook her head, "How long until they get here? There has to be a way out of here."
"I don't know, but I think they're coming here right now," Mage paused, "If they're going through just regular territory… I was running pretty fast. I uh, would guess soon?"
"So we don't have time to make a push," Harumi muttered, "If we can't go down or to our sides… can we go up in any way? Isn't this place big on dragons?"
"You got a dragon?" Monty rolled his eyes.
"I do!" Mage chirped up, "Firstbourne! I can call her here…. Oh…" Mage sighed, "Uh… kinda need my elements to do that and, uhm… she can't carry everyone…"
Lloyd, Harumi and Monty shared a look, then they turned to Mage as Harumi spoke, "Mage, what elements do you use to call to Firstbourne?"
"Huh? Oh, like, it's like a big burst of all of them at once, it's unique to me," Mage looked down, "I'd have to like… recharge my energy, somehow. But, that doesn't solve the fact she can only carry like, twenty?"
The room went silent as they all began to think. While they did, Lulloyd walked in from the hall, panting heavily. Behind him was a guard that Mage recognized from talking to them outside the meetings, Rina, who was panting with exhaustion.
"Mage?" Lulloyd blinked, "Wait, how'd you get here?"
"Lulloyd!" Mage gasped, "Where's Skylar?"
The guard that had been carrying Mage set him down, leaving to help the others. Mage was propped in the only chair in the room. Lulloyd looked to Mage, then his eyes looked up slightly.
"She's... fine," Lulloyd stated flatly, "But, how'd you, get here?"
"I ran," Mage stated casually, "We're talking about how to get everyone out of her on Firstbourne!"
"Your dragon?" Lulloyd cocked his head, "Uhm… what's the issue?"
"It can't hold everyone," Harumi explained, "And Mage has to recharge his energy to call her."
"Hmm... " Lulloyd looked up, "Uh… I, might be able to Master Build something for us all to ride on. Like… I could build a big container and have Firstbourne carry us out on that. I could use some of my Mechdragon to give it some lift too?"
"Will it hold?" Monty quirked an eyebrow up.
"Uh, from what I've seen the things I build have the same durability as what I'm building, so uh, if I build something out of this place then it'll be as strong as it, so yeah," Lulloyd nodded.
"That, might work…" Lloyd rubbed his chin, "But, that doesn't solve that Mage can't use his powers right now."
"You need a recharge of elemental power, right?" Harumi paused, "Lloyd, isn't our Green Power connected to the Golden Power, which is what all the elements come from…?"
Lloyd blinked at her, then his eyes widened and he nodded his head. Harumi smirked, then gestured for Lloyd to come to her, "Pour some of your power into me," Harumi looked to Mage, "I think this should charge you up. Do you trust me?"
Mage nodded without hesitation. Lloyd inhaled, then he put a hand on Harumi's arm and began to let it glow green. Harumi raised her arms and formed a Rhotatae disc right inside her hands. The disc started off as white, but as it grew the green power seemed to flood from Lloyd and her other arm to cause it to charge up green. When the disc was all but crackling with the stuff, Harumi let the disc fly, causing it to fire out right into Mage's chest. Several people in the room sat up as it burst into pieces upon hitting him, delivering the power right to him.
With a loud gasp, Mage felt a strange flood of power going into his body. He wasn't sure what it was, but for some reason, he felt his strength coming back to him. His limbs twitched as more power flooded him, until finally he pushed himself out of his seat and blinked. To test the sudden recharge, he formed an open flame in his hand, causing him to beam and thrust his fist up in the air.
"I feel great!" Mage shouted, "Awesome! ...what did you do?"
"Remember how we said we're from other worlds?" Lloyd asked, "Well, we're all kinda connected. So, we figured this might work, even if we're really different."
"Well sweet!" Mage grinned, "You guys are like, uhm… I don't really have a way to describe it!"
"Great, golden boy can do his thing again," Monty rolled his eyes.
"Send a message to everyone to grab everything and head up to the roof," Lloyd turned to Lulloyd, "Get ready, once we're all up there, build us something we can all get inside. Then we'll have Mage call Firstbourne and get us rolling."
"But, where are we going?" Lulloyd asked, "We need to have a new place to go."
"Let's worry about that once we're in the air with Firstbourne," Harumi shook her head, "We need to get moving now. We call Firstbourne, get ourselves up in the air, and rescue everyone!"
Mage nodded, putting his hands to his head and using mind to send the message to everyone near him. Guards in the hallways froze in place as they heard the message, then they immediately got moving. Lulloyd, Harumi, Lloyd and Monty each gathered their weapons and things and quickly made their way out, leading the way up towards the small access hatch that led to the roof. Mage, feeling empowered, ran out of the hallway to one of the broken windows and leapt out of it. As soon as he hit the sky, he shot fire from his hands to jet him up into the sky, carrying him to the roof. As the others began to exit, he gave them a cheeky smile.
It took several minutes for all of the guards to get up from the lower floors and make their way to the hatch and onto the roof. In that time, Mage and the other four were able to look down across the massive field of Vermillion below. Vermillion were already trying to climb up the sheer earth wall, finding no purchase but continually trying. The few tanks that hadn't been broken apart by Mage's entrance were flinging their cocoons up towards the wall to no avail. For the moment, they were safe.
"Mage, get ready to send that signal," Harumi ordered, "Lulloyd, get building!"
Lulloyd gave Monty a tired look before he rubbed his hands together. He ran forward across the roof, then brought his fist down on it. A small patch turned to bricks. Lulloyd quickly leapt into the air and struck the roof several more times, breaking more and more patches of it down until an entire large section was completely covered in bricks. Once he had, Lulloyd did a backflip, causing the entire section to completely cave in. As the bricks fell, Lulloyd inhaled and then began to quickly throw them up into the air.
Mage, in the meanwhile, inhaled and then lifted his hands up. A mixture of what looked to be fire, earth, lightning, light and a few other elements too hard to identify formed in his hands. With a shout, he sent it up into the sky, causing it to fly up and then burst open in a massive yellow burst like a firework. As it began to spread out and coat the sky, Monty gave Mage a long look. Mage, not understanding, simply smiled at him, causing Monty to groan.
"Well, they know we're up here now," Monty turned to Lulloyd, "We need to get everyone off here quick-"
A loud rumbling sound on the horizon caused the group to turn to look. Over it, several single threaded bikes with massive blades on each side, matching the Vermillion's colors, began to rumble over it. The sight of them were quickly followed by what looked like massive sleds being dragged behind them, each carrying more Vermillion. At the front of those sleds were two Vermillion that Lloyd recognized instantly.
"Blunck and Raggmunk!" Lloyd stepped back, "Those must be the reinforcements!"
"Lulloyd!" Monty snapped impatiently, "Get building! NOW!"
Lulloyd ignored Monty, still working on putting something together. He built a large floor and then began to add curved pieces to the sides, building it outwards. Monty stared at the strange flourish to the building and shouted, "A box would do JUST FINE!"
"I-I'm working on it!" Lulloyd shook his head, "I gotta do something with this curved roof! They built it in really big sections!"
Monty scoffed and turned back. The Vermillion on the vehicles soon reached the edge of the force that was already underneath them. At first, the bikes looked like they were going to stop, but instead they suddenly sped up and began to drive up vertically. After the first few feet, they began to stall, much to the hope of the group. That, however, was when red snakes suddenly shot out from around the treads, burying their fangs into the sides of the rock. With purchase gained, the treads worked again, and with the snakes biting and moving up each time, they began to actually scale the wall.
"They're coming," Monty growled, "Of course they are!"
"Lulloyd…" Harumi mumbled, "Anytime now.."
"I'm… almost… done!" Lulloyd pushed himself to build faster, even if it meant mistakes. After another few seconds, he panted, standing atop what looked like the bottom of a blimp, specifically the passenger car, complete with windows on the outside and two small floors of space to allow them all to crowd inside, "Just, get in while I finish the roof!"
The guards responded to Lulloyd's call by rushing into the vehicle, taking the ladder to the second floor. They stared at the design in utter confusion, but Lulloyd was too busy to take notice. There were two bandaged figures, Acronix among them, that were carried onto the blimp as well, both tended to by Time Tribe guards. Harumi, Lloyd, and Monty waited until the last guard, Rina, was back inside the blimp, quickly following suit in what would be the front of the thing. Mage stood in front of the door they all used to get inside, holding his hands up.
"Where's that dragon?!" Lloyd shouted, "They're still coming!"
Mage looked up towards the sky. He held his breath for several seconds, praying that the dragon would come. In the meanwhile, he thrust his hands out around him, spewing out poison from his hands. The result was that a massive section of the roof in the space between the hatch and the build was melted down and left a massive gap in front of them. Mage continued to spray, only to suddenly feel a throb in the back of his head.
"G-Gah!" Mage went down on one knee, feeling a sudden wave of exhaustion come over him, "O-Oh… great..."
"Mage!" Harumi rushed out of the build, reaching down to pick him up by his arm, "...You must have burnt through the energy we gave you."
"But… but I barely used it…?" Mage groaned, feeling his vision start to darken.
"It must not be as potent as you actually resting," Harumi shook her head, "Come on, let's get you inside."
Harumi carried Mage inside, setting him down against the wall. She shut the door behind them and then rushed to a window to look. The group looked up to the sky, trying to see where the Firstbourne was.
Finally, after several moments of waiting, the red blur appeared in the sky, letting out a mighty roar as it descended the skies. Even as it did, much to the cheer of the guards on the ship, the first Vermillion slung its arm over the side of the roof. They began to quickly crawl up along it. They all spat and hissed, then quickly began to stumble their way towards the build.
"Done!" Lulloyd threw the last piece of the roof on, dropping down into the build as he did and landing beside Monty, "Okay, we should be… oh!" Lulloyd quickly stepped aside, realizing he was partially inside Monty, "Uh, sorry."
"It's fine," Monty growled, "Did you get my gun bag?"
"Yeah?" Lulloyd gestured to his Mechdragon brick sticking out of Monty's gun bag against the wall. Monty sighed in relief.. Both of them frowned as they saw the Vermillion rushing at them.
Just as the Vermillion were about to reach the build, they were tripped by the acidic holes Mage had sprayed out. The few seconds were just enough for the build to suddenly lurch as the Firstbourne grabbed hold of it in her feet, hefting them up from the building. Vermillion leapt up towards them, but they fell short as they did.
With a roar, Firstbourne shot her body up into the sky. The weight was enough to make carrying them difficult. Seeing this, Lulloyd grabbed his Mechdragon and leapt out the window, unfurling it as he went. His dragon shot up into the sky with a rapid twist, soaring up underneath the build. He drove his dragon up and ran back, rapidly building up pieces at random to attach his dragon to the build. Soon, the weight was partially relieved from Firstbourne, who looked to Lulloyd and gave him a blink of gratitude before snapping her wings to carry them far into the distance.
As the group let out a collective sigh of relief, Mage slowly muttered, "Thank goodness..." He felt the darkness start to fully creep on him again. He let out a long groan before he suddenly slid forward in Harumi's arm. The last thing he heard was Harumi's anxious shouts as he fully gave into the blackness.