Chapter 48: Monsters & Mana

In the forest surrounded by a mist, Hunk, who was dressed up on a robe with a green cape, Pidge, who was dressed up in Viking armor and had long hair on the back, and Jenny, who was wearing an elegant robe of white with yellow lines and with small armor on her pointy ears, were running away from their threat before they each stopped to take a breath. However, it wasn't for very long before the threat found them as he was practically leaping in great heights to reach them.

"Get behind me! Seal of protection!"

As Hunk got out his wooden staff, he summoned a green Celtic barrier before the threat, now identified to be an ogre, smashed his axe-hand against it, ultimately failing to slay his prey as he growled before Pidge turned to Hunk.

"Hit it with your lightning bolt!"

With that, Hunk got his staff out and pointed it at the ogre as he shouted.

"Lightning bolt!"

As he spoke this, a small blue light came out from the staff, slowly making its way toward him before only electrocuting his hair, giving him a spiky look with a touch of frizzles before Hunk and Pidge laughed nervously as Jenny spoke up.

"Let me try something. Holy Fire!"

With that, Jenny fired a blue fireball at the ogre. As a result, it burned at the creature's bottom, making him panic before Jenny felt proud of herself.

"Yeah! It worked!"

However, the ogre quickly resolved this by hopping to the river behind him and cooling off the fire as he sighed before angrily turning to them as Jenny began to get peeved.

"Oh, come on!"

With that, the three of them ran away again as Pidge criticized the two of them with Jenny reacting to her comment first.

"You call that a lightning bolt?! And how did you not know there was a river behind him?! If you two are the remaining hope for his village, they're doomed!"

"Hey! You try holding back a giant ogre!"

"I'm a healer, not a fighter!"

As they ran, Hunk quickly began to get tired as he gasped and painted before he thought of a solution for that.

"Soaring staff!"

As Hunk went on his staff and locked up Pidge, Jenny saw her cue to join in her own way.

"Divine Wings!"

With that, Jenny grew light blue angelic wings on her back and flew with Hunk and Pidge before the creature began to play a soft melody from his ocarina, making Hunk adversely affected as he played. Jenny and Pidge recognized the harmony.

"Oh, no. The song of eternal slumber."

"Cast protection from sleep on yourself, guys."

With that, Jenny quickly began to grow drowsy as she tried to stay awake long enough to use it.

"Okay. Protect... tion..."

Before she could close her eyelids, a blue light shone from beneath her and reinvigorated her as she shook her head and spoke to Hunk.

"Okay. Now it's your turn."

"Sing of eternal slumber, guys? That's the—"

Hunk then began to yawn in tiredness before he spoke again to Pidge.

"How come you don't need it?"

"I'm a dwarf. Come on!"

"So sleepy."

Immediately, Hunk fell asleep, making Jenny and Pidge panic as he instantly began turning the other way with the latter shouting at Hunk first before the former.

"Wake up!"

"You're going the wrong way!"

As they headed toward the ogre, it prepared to strike before Pidge jumped up while Jenny swerved under him and got Hunk to safety as she grabbed him and set him down gently, although it wasn't to say it was easy.

"Geez. You really need a diet."

With that, the ogre then put its attention to Pidge as she lunged at it before slicing off the ocarina to pieces, causing Hunk to wake up as he looked up before the ogre managed to use his axe to trap Pidge by her hair as he used his other arm to strike her. Before he could, however, the ogre was found to be in the process of being wrapped up by Hunk, who used his wooden staff to engage in it as Jenny flew toward Pidge and grabbed her before flying for a great distance away as Hunk called out to them.

"Now!"

"Got it!"

With that, Jenny flew toward the ogre before tossing Pidge at it as she used her axe to bash his fist that was wound up close to his face right into it, causing the ogre to poof in a mist of green dust before finding an emerald crystal left in its place as Hunk spoke while Jenny landed and her wings dissipated.

"Oh, look, it's a crystal."

This made Pidge and Jenny altogether suspicious as they spoke.

"Weird. I've never seen an ogre drop a crystal like this."

"Me neither. I think we should take it to the innkeeper and find out where this ogre got it."

This made Hunk frown at this as he spoke to them with Jenny replying back to him.

"Oh, man. Come on. That's, like, way on the other side of the Wiebian Swamps. You know how scary and gross those are? Very, very scary and gross."

"Agreed. But that's the only way to the innkeeper where we are now, you big baby. Do you want to save your village or not?"

"I mean, they're not, like, going anywhere."

"Maybe. But do you really want them staring at you all night?"

Petrified by the thought Jenny placed on his mind, Hunk changed his mind.

"Alright, Fine! Fine, but I'm not fighting ghosts this time. I'm just running."

"Well, we don't have the time to fight them anyhow. They're kinda bugging me, too."

Later, Hunk's feet were covered in muck as he groaned while Jenny wiped her feet clean as he spoke.

"Yuck! Yuck. Ohh, so scary and gross. What did I tell you?"

As Hunk shook his legs to get the muck off, Jenny spoke while getting the last of it off of her own.

"Yeah, I believed you. What I can't believe is how sticky this Wiebian Swamp goo is."

"I know. It's crazy."

Fortunately, they do t have to endure much of that anymore as they saw the inn in sight before Hunk spoke to the girls.

"Hey, you hungry?"

"Yep."

"We don't have any money, guys. We're just gonna meet the innkeeper and leave. Besides, since when did a magical fairy princess like you care about food?"

"Hey! First off, it's 'magical fairy warrior princess' to you. And second, we all gotta eat sometime. Not that we can..."

"Oh, man. I would not have run so hard if I didn't think there might be food."

Pidge only gave the two an annoyed look as she spoke.

"Fine."

With that, they entered the inn to find a series of unsettling faces staring back at them, including a small fairy drawing out her sword in spite of being hung there herself, making Hunk a boy tense as Jenny just put her white hood on.

"This is not the atmosphere I remember from last time."

With that, the trio went to the vases with Pidge vandalizing them, getting out a broom and a dagger as Hunk spoke.

"Whoa, what are you doing?"

"Looking for coins."

Then, Jenny spoke up quickly.

"Oh! Dibs on the dagger!"

As Jenny went around Pidge to pick it up, she moved just as swiftly away for Pidge to hack at the third vase before a gold coin showing Alfor's face on it appeared. With that, Pidge took it and slammed it upon the counter as she spoke.

"Two greasy meat piles for my friends, please."

"One health plate, coming up."

With that, the innkeeper stood up very tall as Pidge, Hunk, and Jenny widened their eyes in surprise before the innkeeper turned around and was revealed to have pink lipstick on, as well as orange hair along with a mustache, making Jenny smile as she tried not to laugh out loud before the innkeeper spoke to her.

"Oh, it's you three again. Did you find any clues?"

"Yeah. And we also found a crystal, just like you thought we might."

As Jenny got out the crystal, the innkeeper took great interest in them as she widened her eyes.

"Just as I feared. Those ogres are mercenaries. They'll fight for anyone that has crystals. The only person who uses this type is the evil wizard Dakin."

Hearing that name made Jenny tense as she spoke.

"Dakin? That's not good news in the slightest."

"It isn't. Though, I admit, I should have suspected him. There aren't many wizards powerful enough to turn a whole village to stone."

At this, Pidge spoke up to the innkeeper, who explained the difficulties as it then showed a doorway that led to a cyclops warrior, a trap with spikes at the bottom, a ghostly fox lady with blue wisps around her, and a giant owl with demonic wings as well as it then showed Pidge, Hunk, and Jenny in a state of panic with their eyes in a spiral state as their mouths were wide open.

"So how do we save them?"

"You'll have to defeat Dakin. He is inside Carthian's Lair, a tomb of horrors filled with monsters, traps, and terrors that most heroes would be driven insane at the mere thought of entering."

That was something Hunk didn't sign up for.

"Uh, maybe those villagers like being turned into stone?"

Then, Jenny reminded him of the creepiness of it.

"Yeah. And I'm sure they like staring at you all day... all night..."

"Okay, alright. So where do we find this tomb of horrors?"

"Just inside the Feldakor Mountains."

Just then, Shiro and Belle's voices spoke up from afar.

"The Feldakor Mountains, you say?"

"You there think you've got what it takes to smite evil?"

As the trio noticed the mysterious duo in white and yellow armor for Shiro as well as a metal claw from Belle, Jenny blinked her eyes in wonder as she spoke.

"Who are you guys?"

"Me? My name is Takashi Shirogane. I'm a Paladin. And this is Titania, a warrioress who lost her way before she found my master."

"That's right. And you three?"

To answer Titania's question, Hunk sat down before he spoke, followed by Pidge and Jenny.

"Me? I'm Block, the Sorcerer."

"Name's Meklavar. Best axe-fighter in three lands."

"And I'm Caela. I'm a magical fairy warrior princess from the Realm of Caelum sent to the Realm of Aurita to dispel the evil that plagued Block's town and many others. From what we've known, Dakin seems to be the source of that evil. What's your story?"

Shiro then spoke up as he removed his hood, revealing a silver headband that had a silver spike pointing upward. As he spoke, the flashback showed him as a young boy sitting by himself eating an apple as he watched the waterfall before he stood before a tall man with thunder behind him. With that, it showed him training alongside him before they were met with a younger Titania who bows in respect to the master and trained with Shiro later on before the sacred hall was burned in a fire with Titania swiftly losing her arm from a small demon before vanishing in a blue haze as the students knelt down to their master with Titania cradling her lost arm while he cradled his master he spoke.

"We're on our own adventure. From a young age, I was chosen to be a Paladin because of my bright internal light. My master, D'Jahno, taught me the seven pillars of knighthood. He forged not only my mind, but also my body. Along the way, Titania came here seeking to stray from her evil path and learn from him and me, so we helped her up to be the best she could be as well. We became a shield for food and a weapon against evil. Before we could complete our training, a leviathan demon attacked our monastery. It destroyed all we had, including Titania's arm... and our master. D'Jahno's last words to us were..."

"You no longer need my guidance to complete your training.'

D'Jahno tilted his head to the left as Shiro and Titania sobbed before looking to see he was still alive as he turned his head to the two pupils and spoke one final time.

"Defeating the leviathan will teach you all there is to know."

With that, he moaned before drawing his breath, making Titania turn her head away in sadness as Shiro cried out to the heavens.

"No!"

At the inn, Caela looked at Shiro as he shed a tear before she spoke reverently.

"Now I remember. We heard your cries to us in my realm. I'm really sorry. And I know it might be wrong for us to ask this of you, but... well, we need your help."

Titania didn't see it to be necessary.

"What do you mean by 'us?'"

Apparently, as Caela realized, the case wasn't of "us", but of "her" as Block and Meklavar walked away, making Shiro shake up in nervousness.

"Hey, where are you guys going?!"

"Totally sounds like you're too busy to help us with this wizard, though."

"Good luck with the leviathan."

As Block and Meklavar walked out, Titania spoke to the frazzled Shiro.

"Well, are you in or out?"

Outside, Block and Meklavar we're walking away as the former spoke.

"Man, that guy was so boring."

Suddenly, they heard Shiro's voice speaking to them.

"Wait."

When they turned around, they saw Shiro running to them before stopping to take a breath as Caela and Titania caught up before he spoke again.

"Wait. As Paladins, we swore an oath to vanquish evil. We can not deny the righteousness of your quest. We will help you defeat the wizard, and then return to our hunt for the demon that destroyed our master."

Suddenly, their plans were dashed by a giant thud as Block spoke.

"Ooh. What's that?"

Suddenly, they saw that a giant yellow mouse was assaulting the inn as it sniffed, making Caela speak up.

"Oh, no! We need to go!"

With that, the group took off before Shiro was the only one caught by the giant mouse and eaten alive as a health bar appeared and went all the way down before Meklavar spoke as it belched.

"No! Shiro's dead!"

At the castle's lounge, one of the mice was chewing on a game piece resembling Shiro before Coran moved it away.

"Shoo, shoo!"

At the lounge, they were playing a game similar to their quest as the innkeeper's building was shown as a hologram with Jenny sitting next to Pidge while Belle sat next to Shiro and Coran before the former of her company stated his confusion to the latter.

"Did I really die in the game?"

"Yes."

"But that doesn't make any sense. The mice aren't playing the game."

"Don't worry. You can just make a new character."

Shiro, however, already knew what he wanted as he spoke up while placing the game piece on the board.

"I'm going to be a Paladin again."

"Oh, come on now. Do you really want to play a Paladin? I mean, you could be something completely different: a maven, a mage, a cleric, a klazgool, a bard."

"I don't know what's more fulfilling than being a Paladin."

This made Coran lose his temper as he shouted.

"BUT YOU'RE ALREADY A PALADIN IN REAL LIFE!"

Moments after Coran's shout, Lance and Allura arrived with Jenny looking up from where she sat hopefully.

"Is everything alright? We heard yelling."

"Is Ayame here?!"

Lance and Allura looked at her confused before the former answered.

"No, Jen. It's just me and Allura."

"Oh, man... sorry, you guys. I just really wanted to play this with Ayame. I even came up with her own character and everything."

As she explained the character's details, Ayame appeared in a silver robe with white garments inside along with a weapon that consisted of a canesword in her belt with longer hair under her hood as it peeped out of the corner of it.

"She would've been called Noctem and have this awesome robe in white and silver. Oh! And her weapon would be a canesword with a red blade and silver hilt!"

As Jenny squealed at this, Lance grew a bit frightened.

"Okay, exactly how long have you been planning that?"

"Anyway, Ayame said she'd come here when she's done helping Lotor manage the Galra Empire. But it's starting to feel like an eternity! It might as well be a hollow promise..."

As Jenny moaned at this, Lance spoke to the others.

"Right... what's going on in here?"

Coran took the liberty to answer as she sulked.

"We're playing Monsters and Mana."

"Monsters and huh?"

As Coran explained, Pidge chimed in.

"It's a game."

"It's fun."

As Lance leaned closer to the book, he grew very suspicious.

"I don't know. How can a game that needs a book be fun?"

"Well, you ought to read it and find out."

"Nah."

Jenny only looked at Lance as she spoke while making puppy eyes at him.

"C'mon, Lance. Please, play it with me."

As she pleaded to him, Lance found it hard to turn down a request from Jenny before he replied.

"Oh, okay."

As Jenny hugged him, Lance felt squeezed by the pressure as he tried to understand her enthusiasm.

"Geez! How fun is that game?"

While Lance tried to extricate himself from her grip, Coran spoke in reply to Lance's question.

"I've been playing Monsters and Mana since I was a boy. My band mates and I, the Pirate Polychoral, used to play it all the time. I was always the Lore Master."

Just as Lance successfully freed himself, Jenny blushed upon realizing how clingy she was as Allura spoke.

"So, how do you play?"

"Okay, so each person creates a fantastical character. The character is represented by a figurine on this holo-map to help them track their action. But the real fun happens in the mind. Each player gets a turn, and every turn they say what they want to do. The Lore Master, me, knows the difficulty of the task. The person must roll a 20-sided die to see if they can accomplish their action."

This made Lance widen his eyes before he spoke with Belle correcting his assumption.

"A 20-sided dice?! How big is that thing?!"

"Calm down, Lance. It's a normal-sized dice. It just has 20 sides."

"No, no, no, no, no. It's got 20 sides? It's gotta be the size of a Yalexian pearl."

As Coran presented the dice, Lance was proven wrong as he realized this, making Jenny giggle.

"Oh."

"So, now do you want to play?"

"Don't you guys have something better to do right now? Like, I don't know, Universe-defending stuff?"

To answer him, Pidge spoke up first, followed by Shiro, Belle, Allura, and Jenny.

"Hunk and I ran into a snag upgrading the Castle's shields. We're running a diagnostic, but all we can do is wait."

"I'm trying to take a mental break. We've been going really hard, lately."

"Me, too. As much fun as it is to train, I don't want to exhaust myself."

"I'll play. Lotor's busy handling his imperial responsibilities, and Alphus and I are at an impasse with the comet ship. Plus, it sounds fun."

"And I've been trying to resist certain urges I've been getting lately. I figured Ayame would help, but of course, she's too busy."

Hearing about her urges, Lance grew interested and vied to join in.

"Well, what exactly are those urges?"

"Well, stuff no one should tell little children."

This made Lance widen his eyes before he spoke.

"Okay! Let's play the game quick before anything gets in the others' heads!"

With that, Coran handed him and Allura a card each.

"Here you go. Create your characters with the interface loaded onto these. It will keep track of your stats. Now it's time to begin the heroes' journey."

At Aurita, in the forest, the group of five were walking through as they remained unaware of an archer readying her arrow before they heard the movement of a creature behind them before Meklavar stopped their movements with her hand. As they looked around, Caela looked above her to see the archer fire her arrow before she shoved them away.

"Take cover!"

With that, the arrow struck a plant creature with an orange mustache behind them before it poofed. After that, the archer jumped off of the branch before landing in the ground as she bruised her ankle before she spoke.

"Ow. I'm the mystical archer, Valayun, searching for the rune stone of Lapham. What quest are you on?"

Caela spoke up to her as she shook her hand.

"Block's town was cursed by the evil wizard Dakin. We were able to track him through the emerald crystals."

Suddenly, a small rock landed on the ground before it poofed to reveal a man with wolf ears in his hair and a tail with a red cape on his back and standard armor as Block spoke in surprise before Caela turned to him.

"Hey, hey-hey, hey!"

"Whoa. Who are you?"

"The name's Pike. I was going to rob you clodhoppers of your junk, but it sounds like the bigger score is helping you jack this wizard with the crystals."

This made Caela give a smirk before she spoke.

"So, you chose a thief, huh?"

"I'm not a thief!"

"Too bad, 'cause you would've stolen my heart."

This made Pike blush before he spoke in an embarrassed voice before he got in a groove, poofing randomly beside his compatriots.

"That's not the point! I'm a ninja assassin, the silent killer. My victims never know I'm coming 'cause I don't say a word. They look around and don't see anything, so they drop their guard, but what they don't realize is that I'm lurking in the shadows silently watching!"

As Pike laughed, Caela only held her hand out as she spoke and it glowed blue.

"Zipper."

With that, Pike's mouth instantly clamped shut, making him drop a bag of coins before he tried desperately to open his mouth again as Meklavar stifled her laughter before Caela undid her spell, making Lance breathe again dramatically as she spoke, making him realize his flaw.

"You were saying, Mr. 'Ninja Assassin'?"

"Oh. Sorry. Anyway, I do steal things. In fact, that's a lot of what my character does."

With that, Pike poofed away before poofing next to Caela.

"So, you're a magical fairy warrior princess, huh?"

This made Caela turn to Meklavar before she spoke to her and then turned back to him.

"See? He gets it. Anyway, I'm Caela. I came from the Realm of Caelum to retrieve its Crown. Without it, my realm wouldn't be able to sustain itself and it'll be shrouded in darkness."

Pike only grew interested in the rich part of her explanation.

"Crown of Caelum. Mmm..."

Valayun then spoke to her members, making Caela interested.

"Well, it's very fortunate that I arrived here. I can aid you on your quest"

"How?"

"I'll summon a mount."

With that, Allura shot her arrow to the sky, creating a pink portal before a winged horse creature arrived and flew toward them as the group gasped and widened their eyes in surprise. Not long after, the group flew to the Feldakor Mountains with Meklavar, Block, Valayun, Shiro, and Titania on the creature while Caela flew with Pike on her back as they took to the skies and made it to their destination. At the entrance, they could only see vast darkness before Block spoke up.

"Did anyone remember to bring torches?"

At the Castle lounge, Shiro grew confused.

"I really think my character would've remembered to bring a torch."

Coran, realizing he's still new to the game, what with his lack of imagination in picking someone else, corrected him.

"Oh, yeah? Why don't you check your little inventory there? Oh, no torches, eh? Then I guess you forgot to bring them."

This made the group groan before Allura and Jenny spoke up.

"Oh, I have something!"

"Me, too!"

Inside Carthian's Lair, Valayun and Caela lit up the otherwise dark halls with the former using an arrow while the latter used her glowing blue hand. When they got there, they noticed a wall of mortar in the shape of a door as Block spoke.

"It's just a wall. But this is where we're supposed to go, right?"

With that, Meklavar analyzed the door while Pike walked to it.

"Maybe there's a secret here."

"Maybe you just have to knock."

As Pike did so, the bright light came before it revealed a door as Caela spoke to him.

"Wow, Pike! You found the door!"

"What can I say? I'm good at puzzles and junk."

As he tried to open the door, Meklavar spoke up.

"Wait. There could be traps. You have to check for them."

"Why do I have to check for 'em?"

"Because you're the thief. You're the only one in the group with that skill."

"How do I even check for traps?"

At the Castle, Coran gave Lance the instructions.

"You roll the 20-sided die, adding your check for traps skill to the roll. If it's high enough, you'll remove the trap."

"And what is it's too low?"

This made Coran giggle before he answered.

"You activate the trap."

With that, Lance blinked nervously before tossing the die. Unfortunately, the number it landed on was too low for Pike to deactivate it.

"Oh, man!"

With that, the handles pressed forward before clamping itself shut on his hands, causing the door to tip over before the ground broke apart and the group fell through a hole that led to pointed spikes just below them before Block used a spell and Caela shouted her own.

"Levitation!"

"Divine Wings!"

At that moment, six chickens were being used to lift them while Caela flew with her wings before Shiro spoke.

"Great work there, guys. Let's keep going."

As they pressed onward, they overcame a fair amount of dangers, such as a lizard-like creature, a quicksand pit where Caela and Pike ended up falling prey to with Block using his staff to help pull them out, and a swarm of angry bats. After much of their trials, they finally reached the center of Carthian's Lair as Pike spoke exhaustedly.

"Okay, what's next?"

Fortunately, their struggle was over as they found themselves surrounded by gold and jewels with assorted artifacts.

"Oh, Mama Mia. Look at all this treasure!"

As the group of seven gazed at them in awe, they went towards it and looked at them as Meklavar and Pike spoke.

"It's our reward for getting past all these traps."

"This is more like it. We fall for traps in real life and we never get any treasure."

With that, they took interest in the relics they found as well, starting in the order of Valayun, Meklavar, Pike, Titania, and Block as they received the following artifacts.

"Wow! A quick-draw quiver with a magical creature summoning arrow!"

"Oh, sweet! Gloves of Transmutation! These bad boys can transmogrify the elemental matter of any object!"

"Awesome! And I got an invisibility cloak!"

"Nice! And I just got an energy magnifier! Anything I fire out of this guy will send X10 of its power at anyone in its way."

"A bowl that is never empty of food. Out days of vandalizing innkeeper's vases are over!"

As for Shiro and Caela, the latter noticed a small golden crown with a blue jewel before she realized what it was.

"Is that... what I think it is? It is! It's the Crown of Caelum!"

As Caela put it on and grew amazed at it, Shiro picked up a pointed sword which ignited in a fiery blaze as he spoke.

"Wow, a blazing sword. Hey, guys, check it—"

Before he could finish, he was suddenly struck by a red and black lightning bolt, much to the group's horror before Meklavar saw a silver headband left behind.

"Ooh. He dropped a rare item."

Suddenly, they heard malicious laughter far away before they saw the innkeeper standing amidst them.

"Fools!"

As the innkeeper stood with her hand in an black-red electric spark, Caela can take a guess who she really was.

"What? The innkeeper?! You're Dakin?!"

"That's right, you dumb-dumbs! I only run the inn to trick foolish adventurers into gathering valuable crystals for me. Thank you for bringing them directly to my lair."

As Caela glared at Dakin, Pike grew confused.

"Who is this guy?"

"She told us she was the innkeeper. But it was all a trick! Dakin was using us the whole time!"

With that, Dakin laughed as he turned into his wizard form while he spoke.

"This is where your adventure ends."

With that, Shiro appeared again before he spoke and raised his sword.

"I am Shiro's twin brother, Gyro, here to complete Shiro and Titania's quest."

Meklavar and Titania grew annoyed with his choice.

"A Paladin again?"

"You could've at least come up with something more original. Like, I don't know, Ryou?"

Dakin didn't care about who they were called, much less about their concerns.

"Only fools would enter my tomb of horrors. Though, I can't say I'm not impressed, especially since one of you hails from the Realm of Caelum. But you forget that I am the most powerful wizard in all of Aurita."

Caela only stared daggers at him before she spoke.

"Like we care about that! You won't get away with cursing Block's village!"

"Your quest is in vain. I've already siphoned off their life force. You would have to permanently defeat me in order to restore it."

"Sounds easy enough."

"Ah, but it isn't! For instead, I will become the most powerful being in all of the planes!"

With that, Dakin fired a ball of fire at Caela only for Gyro to block it with his shield, relieving her before he spoke again, infuriating Titania.

"I'm going to evaporate you, just like I did with your twin brother!"

In retaliation, Titania fired a blue orb from her magnifier placed within her right palm at Dakin, ceasing his fiery blast as she shouted.

"Don't you dare talk about Shiro!"

Valayun then turned to the others as she spoke.

"Let's get him while Titania keeps him busy!"

As Titania drew his attention with her blasts, Valayun fired her arrows at Dakin, causing him damage before he was forced to engage his black lightning storm, electrocuting Meklavar before Valayun fired an arrow to heal her.

"Healing arrow!"

As Meklavar recovered health, Gyro flailed his sword in preparation as he spoke.

"I will avenge my twin!"

As Gyro moved closer to Dakin and Titania, the latter fired a blue blast from her magnifier again, forcing Dakin to use one hand to block it while using the other to shoot fire at Gyro before Block shot out a water.

"Water spout!"

As Block got his mark, Dakin retaliated with a fire blast at him before Pike reappeared by taking off the invisibility cloak and teleporting to another area as Block targeted Meklavar.

"Embiggen!"

With that, Meklavar grew to the size of an ogre before smiting her axe on Dakin, defeating him before she spoke.

"We did it!"

With that, Block, Caela, and Valayun shouted in victory.

"Hunk-a-lunk!"

"Great!"

"Hooray!"

"We defeated the bad guy!"

Pike grew more excited about the profit.

"Yeah, I hope those stone villagers have a little cold hard cash for us."

Caela only gave him a punch in the arm, making him embarrassed before Shiro spoke up on the merits of their outing.

"Wow. This game is so amazing. It requires problem solving, teamwork, creativity, all the skills you want to imbue when doing team-building exercises."

Pike didn't want to focus on that as he piped up.

"Stop trying to ruin our fun with learning!"

However, they were visited upon by sinister laughter as the dust cleared to reveal a gigantic dragon with a mustache as Caela spoke.

"Whoa, he's big."

"Fools! You did exactly as I planned. Only by being slain by seven pure of heart on this evil altar could I become the all-powerful Coranic Dragon!"

Faced with such a powerful adversary, Meklavar turned to the others and reminded Caela of their current worth.

"We aren't powerful enough to defeat a dragon, much less a Coranic one."

"Maybe by ourselves. But we'll have to defeat him together. Somehow..."

With that, the dragon breathed fire on Block, knocking him back while burning his leg as Caela turned to Valayun.

"Block's down, Valayun!"

"I'm on it!"

With that, Valayun shot three arrows into three pillars, creating stepping stones before firing an arrow at Block's injuries.

"Fire healing arrow!"

As Valayun healed Block, she herself was thwacked by Dakin before Caela moved in in an attempt to distract him.

"Hey! Over here!"

With that, Caela flew around, infuriating Dakin before he swatted her to the ground and aimed to squash her with his tail, only for Pike to interfere and teleport away just as Block and Valayun gave the bad news.

"I'm low on mana. I can't cast any of my big spells."

"I only have one summoning arrow left."

Gyro then spoke up as he was joined by Titania.

"Get back. We'll draw its attacks."

As Titania began firing blasts at Dakin, Gyro only used his sword to slash at his legs.

"Begone!"

However, Dakin grew unamused before kicking the two away with Gyro shouting out as Caela spoke.

"Darg!"

"We need a plan to take him out!"

Then, Block had an idea as he spoke.

"Secret!"

With that, their sclerae went blank while in the Castle, everyone was in a group huddle before Coran tried to listen in, only to be cut out of the conversation by Hunk.

"Hey, I cast 'secret.' You can't listen to us. Got it?"

Everyone gave him a smirk before they went back to Aurita and resumed their battle.

"Secret received!"

"Let's do this."

With that, Pike infuriated Dakin with his taunts.

"Nanny-nanny boo-boo! Nanny-nanny boo-boo! Come on, come and get me!"

As he fired, Dakin missed as Pike used his cloak to reappear and disappear simultaneously. While this happened, Block sent food everywhere before Meklavar used the gloves to turn the food into oil, Valayun summoned a magical winged creature again before Titania fired her blast and Gyro, who rode on the mount Valayun summoned, used his sword to burn at the oil, creating a blue barrier with red fire that trapped Dakin before Caela's crown jewel glowed blue, casting a blue field directly underneath him as she spoke.

"Evil sorcerer of Aurita, Begone!"

With that, Caela used the field to create a blue beacon of light that burned and defeated Dakin as he screamed, the bright light from her spell barrier disintegrating him.

At the Castle, the Paladins reveled in their victory as Allura, Hunk, and Pidge spoke.

"So much fun!"

"Like, too much fun. Great idea to transmute that food into oil."

"Yeah. If only we could transmute the particle barrier's polarity."

"Yeah. To do that, you'd need some kind of quantum shift network to simulate a collapse is the wave pocket into a darkening perplexity."

"Yeah, and that would be impossible without..."

And just like that, Pidge and Hunk found a solution to their problem.

"Changing the Planck Constant!"

With that, Pidge and Hunk took of from the lounge as Lance and Jenny were left confused.

"Somehow, I understand the fantasy words better than the science ones."

"Not gonna lie. I'm starting to have trouble understanding it, myself."

While Jenny and Lance were left to figure it out for themselves, Shiro and Belle spoke with Coran.

"I can't get over how great that game was."

"Yeah. It really helped me realize that teamwork can be just as efficient in any battle."

"And... my head feels so much better. Thank you, Coran."

"The game isn't over yet. Wait until you find out who Dakin was working for. Maybe you two'll finally be able to avenge your master."

Belle smiled a bit as she spoke to Coran.

"How can you have an adventure ready to avenge our master already? We made all that stuff up."

"I also made it all up, Belle. That's the real magic of Monsters and Mana."

Then, Belle stretched her arms as she yawned before she spoke.

"Well, gotta check on Sapphire and Cilia. See you guys later."

Allura then spoke up to Jenny and Lance in excitement.

"That was incredible! It's crazy how long we've been playing."

"Yeah, I know, right? It seemed like no time at all. But then again, time flies when you're having fun."

Lance then spoke up to Jenny as they looked at each other.

"Yeah, we have a pretty good time together, don't we?"

"Yeah... we sure do."

Suddenly, Allura received a video transmission from Lotor as he spoke up.

"Allura, I have grand news. The ship is ready to begin testing."

This made Allura joyful as she spoke.

"Fabulous. Let's try it. Oh, but what about Alphus?"

"She's earned her rest for the time being. And... I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this..."

"It's fine, Lotor. Really. I'm on my way."

With that, Allura began walking away to the door. And just as she was about to exit, the door opened for Allura to see Ayame in her casual clothes and in her human form as she spoke.

"Did I miss anything?"

Hearing her voice made Jenny look at her in surprise as she spoke.

"Ayame! You came!"

"Of course."

As Ayame sat down, Jenny asked about her experience.

"So, how was managing the Galra Empire?"

"Honestly, it was kinda exhausting. There were too many requests to keep track of. I might've been able to do them if they didn't keep piling up. I guess... being an eventual Empress of the Galra Empire's... well, it's just not me."

"I am so glad you said that, because I really wanted to have fun with you tonight. Look! I made you a figurine!"

As Jenny handed Ayame her Noctem figurine, she grew a small smile as she spoke.

"Wow... how long have you worked on this?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't wanna know."

As she laughed to herself, Lance smiled sadly, feeling certain that Jenny wouldn't want to play with him this time, only for the former of the girls to speak to him.

"Hey, Lance. Do you want to play another round?"

This gave Lance a change in tone to his smile as he spoke.

"Yeah, okay."

As Jenny looked at Lance with a giggle, Shiro placed his figure on the holo map that changed to the inn as he spoke.

"I wanna be a Paladin again."

Those words caused Jenny, Coran, and Lance great annoyance as the first of the three groaned dramatically while Lance's eyes widened before he placed his head on the table and Coran froze up, confusing Ayame and Shiro as the latter spoke up first before his sister.

"What?"

"Should we be worried about this?"

Jenny looked to Ayame with a frustrated look as she answered.

"Yeah-huh! Where's the variety?!"

As Jenny then slammed her head on the table before moaning, Ayame only shrugged her shoulders before she placed her figurine on the holo map to join with those of Pike, Block, Shiro, Caela, Meklavar, Titania, and Valayun.

In her quarters, Alphus was sleeping on a bed as she was tossing and turning. While she did this, she had flashes of seeing a black silhouette of an unknown robot similar to Voltron yet different trapped in a white space and as well as its pilot. What terrified her the most was what she saw. The pilot of the unknown mech... was herself. What's more, she had blank yellow eyes as she roared in agony and anger, forcing Alphus to wake up as she took frantic breaths that slowed down as she looked at her hand, only to see a flash of it covered in moss before she grew frightened again with a yelp before she tried to figure out the cause of the events.

"What's happening to me?"