The minifigures stood in mourning for moment, then burst back into action, fueled by rage. Trek blasted the monster several time in the eye with his pistol, Thenso unleashed Last Blasts, Dark Thunder and Maelstrom Breath on it, Meyer unleashed armies of Maelstrom and jabbed it with his staff, and Vanda caused total destruction.
By the end, the creature had been disentegrated into nothing and a huge smoking crater was blasted where the ground used to be. A thin layer of snow was covering the hole already.
The minifigures stood still for a while, trying to come to terms that Extreme was gone. When Vanda's pet Spiderling came over to her, she almost cut it into three pieces, but then realised it was her pet and place dher hand on it's head. It hissed affectionately.
Then the Maelstrom made a vital mistake: a Stromling Elite came into the crater.
Meyer looked at it once, and it nearly smashed from the anger in his eyes. Then, before it could move, Meyer reached out to it. Maelstrom tendrils curved form his hand, and created a glowing fist around the Stromling's neck. It made a strangled noise, then Meyer threw it aside, and it had a similar fate to Extreme.
Then an army of Maelstrom marched into the crater. Trek was ready to begin firing, but the Paradox prefered a simpler solution. They stood, and combined their power.
They combined Vanda's speed, agility and power, Meyer's unusual yet destructive powers, and Thenso's all-round effectiveness, and created a blast nothing could survive.
Energy swirled around the Paradox members, and the Maelstrom army back up a bit. The minifigures created a huge swirling whirlwind so big Trek was almost swallowed.
He backed up and knocked into a Stromling. He turned and blasted it down to make a gap in the awed Maelstrom army and slipped in. They didn't even notice.
Then the whirlwind of Paradox got so strong it had to be released.
The Paradox minifigures let all the stored energy in the whirlwind be expanded in one huge, destructive blast. A wave of pure destruction, glowing with power, exploded from them, and blasted in every direction. Any Maelstrom too close was instantly vaporized, and the others were turning to dust quickly. The blast approached Trek.
Vanda's eyes, blazing red from the power, widened, and she raised her hand towards Trek. The blast bent to her will, twisting the blast's path, curving the maelstrom of energy in a path around Trek.
All the Maelstrom outside the crater was blasted back into walls and smashed into dust or off the edge of the planet. As the blast ended, Vanda was instantly exhausted. Her eyes returned to normal and she collapsed. Meyer caught her and lay her down.
The three conscious minifigures sat in silence. Partly because Extreme was gone, and partly in shock of how much energy Thenso, Meyer and Vanda had created, and what had been within it...
Vanda awoke soon after and the minifigures discussed the whirlwind that they'd created. They were amazed and frightened of the power they'd made, and the shadowy figure that was within it: a silhouette of the Darkitect.
How had they made so much Maelstrom power build up that they made the very source of it appear in their personal maelstrom whirlwind?
"But wait," Vanda said. "Is Typhonus the source of the Maelstrom?"
"Well, he is, isn't he?" Thenso replied. "That's what every possible sign points out... you were there, right? You were at the Temple when it exploded?"
"Yes," Vanda admitted reluctantly. "I was inside the Venture Koi at the time. It was under Baron's orders. I escaped the explosion in an escape pod."
"What did you see of the battle?" Meyer asked curiously.
"Not much," Vanda said. "I heard something and looked out the window. The Spider Boss was trying to smash the others. I saw it grab Typhonus and drag him in. But..." Her expression turned confused. "There Nexus became corrupted... when the Spider Boss entered, not the Baron. Then it got really corrupted when he entered it. I guess all those chaotic thoughts..." She shivered at the thought.
"Well," Trek said, breaking the tension, "we'd better get somewhere safe. It's getting dark and we need to find somewhere to sleep."
With that, they stood and walking back into the Mech Caverns labyrinth, sealing the entrance with boulders.
They finally found their way back to the ice field, but not without fighting a few Corrupted Mechs on the way. They emerged out of the cave.
The Stromling Elite that had led the horde away before was standing on the far side of the trench. He raised an eyebrow (do Stromlings have eyebrows?) when he saw Extreme not with the minifigures.
The minifigures walked up to the trench, jumped right over, and Vanda stood face to face with the Stromling Elite leader.
His brethren growled as if to charge, but he held up a hand and they took a step back. It was obvious now that this was no normal Stromling Elite.
He exhaled with something like a cough. "I am Ralli Deeko," it said, "and I am here to destroy you."
Before he could even move and arm, Vanda's ninja reflexes kicked in. She kicked Ralli square in the chest, doubling him over, flipped behind him, threw him to the ground, and placed a foot on his chest.
He coughed, and this time it was not exhaling. "You think you can destroy me?" he said. "Do you know who I am? I am Ralli Deeko, brother of Talli Reeko, who has bested-"
"About three newbies," Thenso interrupted. He laughed, amused. "You think you can destroy us?"
Ralli growled. "I may not be able to alone," he said, "but my minions can."
The Stromling army charged.
Temporarily distracted, Vanda lowered her guard and looked to the Stromling army charging. Ralli took advantage, knocking her legs from beneath her and rolling away.
Thenso fired a few blasts at the Stromling Elite then jumped after him, leaving Trek, Vanda and Meyer to hold of a few hundred Stromling Elites.
Trek began shooting down Stromlings, Vanda began cutting them up and unleashing power, and Meyer began summoning Maelstrom, smacking them with staff - which turned them into ash - and firing blasts.
Just when it seemed they had won, there was an explosion and two figures - a Sorcerer and a Stromling Elite - were sent flying in opposite directions. Thenso hit a rock wall and fell to the ground unscathed, whereas Ralli was sent sprawling towards the edge of the area and began desperately scrabbling not to fall into the abyss below. The four minifigures walked over to him.
"H-help!" Ralli cried, slicing off a chunk of ice with his arm. "I-I'll smash! I'm too cool to die!"
Trek began laughing hysterically, but the Paradox looked at Ralli with something like curiousity.
"Mmm," Vanda said. "We could use you for study."
Ralli squeaked and almost fell again. "No! I don't want to be kept as a prisoner!"
"Oh, well, then," Vanda replied, "I suppose you're due to meet with the abyss."
Then Ralli slipped and fell out of sight.
Next chapter will be up tomorrow. I know this is a really short chapter, but the last one was pretty long, sooo, I guess it makes up for it.