Vanda and the others ran to the platform edge. As Extreme fell, a Space Marauder Wormholer appeared in his hands. He hit the ground and blew dust and rocks everywhere. For a moment, there wasn't a sound except the trickle of rubble and dust.
Then the rocks exploded and Extreme emerged, Wormholer firing in machinegun mode.
"Ahahaha!" Sutoro yelled. "Onwards!" He jumped down, and came down softly. He began twirling his katanas, cutting down Maelstrom.
Meyer shrugged and jumped down. On impact, he released a blast of energy, sending lightning bolts flying at nearby Maelstrom.
Vanda jumped down and began slicing up the enemy.
Extreme led the group through the waves, blasting down Maelstrom. His Wormholer unleashed pure energy, cutting holes in the Maelstrom enemies. He threw clusters of bombs at them, destroying rock and throwing enemies in the air. Sutoro called down lighting bolts, shot Shinobi Bullets and rushed enemies. Vanda's katanas began glowing brighter as she cut down more enemies. Then, suddenly, she raised it, and a glowing Paradox eye appeared above her. A blast of Maelstrom energy came down upon her, decimating everything around her. She created a ten-foot wide crater, and, inside, liquid Maelstrom flowed in a huge underground lake.
They cleared the area and examined the Maelstrom.
"I think," Sutoro said, "we just found the increase in Maelstrom energy."
"Whoa." Extreme backed away.
A spurt of Maelstrom came up from the purple, bubbling liquid and formed a Ronin Invader. The creature settled on the edge and began trying to attack the minifigures. Meyer quickly smashed it.
"If this liquid can form and create Maelstorm creatures," Sutoro said, "I don't want to know what it could do to a minifigure."
As if the liquid had heard him, a tendril of Maelstrom reached out from the it. As fast as lightning, it snatched onto Sutoro's ankle. He yelled in pain and Maelstrom energy began seeping up his leg.
Vanda sliced the tendril with her katanas, but it simply formed back together. Sutoro fell over, unconscious, and began glowing purple. He was being infected. Finally Extreme opened a Notion Potion and threw the contents onto the tendril. It sizzled, then disappated.
"Sutoro?" Meyer asked. "You ok?"
Sutoro groaned. Then suddenly he sprang up. His skin was purple, and his eyes were a blazing red. His katanas radiated Maelstrom.
He came at Meyer but he dodged and Sutoro lodged his katana in the rock.
"Sutoro," Vanda said. "We don't want to hurt-"
"I will destroy you!" Sutoro rasped. "Face the wrath of the Maelstrom!"
And he lunged at Vanda. "No!" Meyer jumped in the way of Sutoro. He raised his staff, and Sutoro's blades struck Meyer's staff. There was a moment of silence, and then, with a horrible crack, the staff snapped.
A blast of energy was unleashed, sending Sutoro tumbling away and Meyer crashing down in front of Vanda.
Sutoro hit the ground and rolled several metres beforing coming to a stop.
"Meyer!" Vanda said. "Why did you do that?"
Meyer looked up. "I couldn't let you die," he said. "You're the Faction leader."
There was a horrible shout and Sutoro came limping back at them. His left leg hung behind him.
Meyer stood up. His staff lay in two pieces at his feet.
"Stand down." Extreme walked up to Meyer. "You can't fight him anymore, not without a weapon."
As Sutoro got closer, Extreme began charging up his Wormholer.
"Extreme!" Vanda objected. "You can't just smash a-"
Suddenly, a blast slammed into Sutoro from the left, and he was blasted into the ground. Sutoro was fine, but he looked dazed. His skin and armor was normal, along with his weapons.
"What was that?" Meyer asked. Everyone looked to the left.
"Why," a voice said. "It was me, of course."
A Rank 3 Sorceror was standing to the left. He looked at the group of minifigures.
"What?" he asked to their blank looks. "Usually, when I see Maelstrom, I blast it."
"Who are you?" Vanda marched forward.
The Sorceror looked surprised. "Ah, hello, Miss Darkflame. I am Thenso."
Vanda looked suspicious. "This is an unknown area. Why and how are you here?"
"Well, let's see," Thenso said. "I was blasting from Nimbus to Nexus Tower in my Darkwarp, when I saw this and approached. I landed safely and began exploring. When I returned to my landing site I found the smoking ruins of my rocket and quite a number of Maelstrom. I've been here a few hours."
Suddenly a katana lodged itself in the ground next to Thenso.
"Eek!" he said. "That was close."
Another katana whizzed by, barely missing his head.
"Ah!" he said, jumping around. "I'm not a target dummy!"
Then a bolt of lightning came down and struck him. He yelled and electricity coursed through him. He collapsed.
Vanda looked at Sutoro, who was standing. His hat was powering down from shootign lightning.
"Sutoro!" Vanda yelled. "What the heck was that?!"
Sutoro shurgged.
"Can I blast him now?" Extreme asked.
"Fine." Vanda marched over to Thenso. Extreme charged his Wormholer and suddenly Sutoro was unconscious again.
Extreme, Meyer and Vanda decided to keep Thenso and Sutoro seperate.
Thenso was calm, and even joked about the incident. Sutoro, however, was not so calm. When he regained consciousness, he tried to attack Thenso again. They held him back and he finally agreed to stop.
Then they faced their first problem: how to destroy the Maelstrom liquid. Imagination could destroy it, but they didn't have enough. They couldn't move the whole Imagination Nexus here either.
Finally they created a plan: Someone would stay back at the liquid pool, and the others would go on.
"I will stay," Sutoro said. "I have caused too many problems today."
They agreed and the others set off.
After walking for a very long time, they found the end of the area. There were Spiderling Invaders and Mech Invaders standing on the edge, guns pointed to the sky. Vanda spotted familiar pillars of cliffs with smoke coming off the top.
"This is where we came in," she said.
"Let's raid." Extreme charged his Wormholer.
"Extreme," Thenso said. "Destruction to not the solution to everything!"
"Extreme!" Vanda said. "For once, charging in like that is not the solution."
Extreme stopped charging his Wormholer. "What do we do, then?"
Vanda thought. "Well..."
Suddenly something exploded in front of them. A horrible voice that sounded like an injured man on a battlefield yelled, "Nexus Force!" and chaos ensured.
"Looks like that's it." Extreme charged his Wormholer and cut down a line of Stromling Invaders.
A Doomslicer appeared in Thenso's hands and he summoned a Spiderling. It jumped up and charged towards the Maelstrom. Meyer picked up the nearest weapon - a fallen Pirate Invader's claw - and began hacking at the enemy. Vanda began cutting up the liness with her katanas.
They mowed down the lines slowly. Extreme and Thenso lead the force, cutting down Maelstrom. Meyer noticed that Thenso was humming some song that Meyer had never heard before. Vanda kept unleashing blasts of energy.
After a time, they thinned out the Maelstrom enough that the rest scuttled off in fear. Then they sat and cooled down.
"How did we do that so fast?" Thenso asked. "We couldn't have taken down so-"
"You didn't." A Sentinel Knight came into view. He held a Powerjouster over his shoulder. On his shoulder, three blue bars indicated he was a high rank. "I'm the leader of the Sentinel reinforcements. Come with me."
"What?" Meyer asked. "We called for no reinforcements. Anyway, Sutoro Hatto is back-"
"Come with me," the Knight repeated. "Duke Exeter has ordered us to retrieve you."
"Why?" Vanda asked.
"His reason does not matter." The Knight wasn't going to give in. "He has ordered us."
"Wait a second," Thenso said. "What is going on here?"
"I just explained," the Knight said. "Duke Exeter has-"
"No, not you!" Thenso said. "You. Meyer, Vanda. What is going on?"
Vanda was surprised for a second. "Duke Exeter found an increase in Maelstrom energy here. He sent us - Sutoro, Meyer, and I - to find and destroy the cause."
"Oh," Thenso said. "Right."
Extreme held his Wormholer in a defensive position. "Who are you?"
The Knight looked at the Wormholer with no fear. "I am the leader of Sentinel reinforcements. Come with me."
"Alright, that's it," Meyer said. "You're not a real Nexus-"
There was a loud zapping noise, and the Knight exploded into dust.
Vanda jumped. The others were surprised. They looked in the direction of the noise. Standing next to them was a Sentinel - fully armored. He held a three-barrelled blaster in his right hand, and a huge cone-shaped weapon in the other. His armor was bulky and futuristic, and his helmet had a gleaming blue visor.
"Hey there," said Nikolai Gammapulse. "I was wondering where you were."
"Nikolai," Vanda said calmly. "What was that?"
"Oh, that pile of dust?" Nikolai replied. "That was- Oh. Um... I don't know. A spy? A Stromling? A minifigure? Could be anything with what's going on in the tower."
"What's going on in the tower?" Meyer asked.
"That's what I came for," Nikolai said grimly. "Quickly. Let's go."
She led them to a small Sentinel camp. It consisted of a few sandbag lines, some metal, and an automatic turret. The camp was under siege. Stromlings and Mechs battered the sides, denting the metal and bursting the sandbags.
"Hey, Nikolai!" a Sentinel called. "We can't take any more of this! We gotta get out of here!"
"Got it!" Nikolai replied, shooting down a Stromling Invader. She called down a quick Orbital Strike then dived into the camp.
Bullet Mullet was standing inside. "Nikolai," he said. "Get to the tower! We'll be right behind you."
At the back of the camp was a small launchpad.
"What?" Thenso asked. "How are we meant to fit a rocket onto-"
"You're not." Nikolai stepped on the pad, and was flung into the air.
Extreme shurgged and jumped on. The rest jumped and found themselves standing on the landing platform for Nexus Tower.
"We have a situation inside," Nikolai said. "Come on."

Again, next chapter will be up tomorrow.