Rutger himself wasn't in his vendor stall, instead, he was holding a Gem Hammer. Down the hallway, Stromlings were emerging from the portal. Rutger smashed them into bricks easily, but more kept coming. As they watched one with a chainsaw form an arm emerged.
"Rutger!" Meyer yelled.
"Meyer?" Rutger said, glancing back. "Ah, zere you are! I have been holding zese Stromlings for ages! I'm so tired, I vill not be able to hold them for much longer!"
"Don't worry, we've got it," Vanda said, coming forward and holding them off. Rutger stepped back. He looked as if he'd drop his hammer at any moment.
"Rutger," Meyer said, "where'd you get that Gem Hammer?"
"Oh," Rutger said. "Mr. Ree came by a vhile ago. He gave me zis zen went into your Paradox room. I haven't heard from him since..."
"That's bad," Meyer said, standing back up. Vanda, Thenso and Extreme had pushed the Maelstrom back already. "You did good work, Rutger. But now you need to rest."
Meyer was about to charge at the enemy when there was an explosion, and Thenso, Vanda and Extreme flew backwards. Extreme nearly slipped into the teleporter, but Thenso grabbed his hand and pulled him out.
Then there was an insane laugh and Admiral Flogmore marched into the room. "I have defeated many of you!" he cackled in a horrible voice. "And you will be my next-"
Suddenly there was a flash of lasers, a firing sound, and Flogmore collapsed into bricks - and a minifig in a dark grey suit, wearing tinted shades. He held a Gat Gun Sprayer, a Foreman's Radio and wore Shard Armor.
"Mr Ree," Thenso said.
"Hello," Mr Ree said, giving Thenso his Gat Gun Sprayer and getting out a Double Blaster. "I see you've come to rid your room of the Maelstrom?"
"What's going on in there?" Vanda asked.
Mr Ree looked frightened. "Horrible things, see? It seems as if the Darkitect's creations are coming to life from the Shadow Orb, see?"
"That - is - very - VERY - bad," Extreme said.
"Yes," Ree agreed. "So I've been fighting some things that noboy's ever fought before, see? There's huge tunnelling beasts, merciless canines with fangs... it's some scary stuff, see?"
"Sure sounds like it," Meyer said grimly. "But we have to go in. Come on."
They walked up to the portal. Suddenly someone burst out of the portal behind them. It was Nikolai.
"Sorry I'm late!" he said. "Had to get some Maelstrom."
"Ah, Nikolai," Ree said. "You might need this, see?" He threw Nikolai a Fleur-De-Lis Shield.
"Thanks," Nikolai said, grasping it in his hand. "Let's move on."
He walked up to the portal. Then they all jumped in. After a few seconds, they emerged into the Paradox room. And it was a horrible scene: no Maelstrom creature the same. Each was different, and newer ones kept appearing out of the Shadow Orb.
Within the huge armies of Maelstrom, they saw rhinosaurus with skeleton faces, sharks with horse bodies, apes with six arms and huge boulders, and much more indescribable things.
"Oh," Vanda said, horrified. "This- this is horrible."
Nikolai took a step back. "Uh," he said. "This is... not natural. At all."
"What in Imagination did he do?" Meyer asked. "No sane creature could ever - EVER - make anything... like- like this."
Suddenly one of the creatures turned in their direction. It saw them and charged. Everyone was frozen in horror except Extreme, whose helmet filtered the image into something better. He raised his Wormholer and fired, turning the creature to dust.
"Guys!" he said. "Snap out of it!"
"Wha- what?" Nikolai asked. He shook his head. "Oh. Right. Maelstrom."
The only one unaffected seemed to be Mr Ree. "We need to smash this, see? It's the only way to-"
"Look out!" Meyer dragged Ree out of the way as a small bug flew past and slammed into the wall. It began burning through, but Meyer blasted it with his Gat Gun.
"Thanks," Ree said, standing back up.
"Let's go," Thenso said. "We have some Maelstrom to smash."
They raised their weapon and charged. As one, the Maelstrom turned to the charging warriors. Then they, too, charged. Lasers flared, swords sliced, and soon the area turned into a place of Maelstrom. Meyer had again unleashed a tornado of Maelstrom, and they were "serving the Paradox," as Meyer said. Vanda had summoned massive blasts of Maelstrom.
But as fast as they could smash the Maelstrom, summon it, or turn it against itself, more enemies were flooding out of the Shadow Orb, and dangerously fast. A huge three-headed had perched itself on top of the Paradox circle dominating the room, and was blasting fire in all directions.
After almost as hour, the minifigures were cornered. They fought valiantly, smashing and summoning as fast as they could, but the Maelstrom spawned faster. With horrible spark showers, small pieces of the ceiling crashed down on the floor, threatening to crush everything.
"We've lost," Meyer said miserably. "There's no hope. We'll be smashed fighting or be crushed by the ceiling."
As the Maelstrom closed in, fast as lightning, a horrible canine hound barged in. Before anyone could hit it, it snatched up Mr Ree, and as soon as it had arrived, it had disappeared into the line of Maelstrom.
"Ree," Vanda cried. "No!"
To make things worse, a lion with the head of a huge python jumped into the small circle and snarled. It circled them once, then charged. Before he could react, the creature bit Meyer in the chest, sinking in it's fangs. Meyer yelled in pain, then the creature dived away as Vanda sliced at it.
"No you don't!" Nikolai roared. He touched his helmet, and suddenly the creature flew backwards at him, well in the range of a sword. He aimed his blaster and it turned to dust. Meyer sank to the floor. He had frozen still. Vanda unleashed a huge blast of energy, blasting down waves of enemies like dominoes, decimating the entire army. But Vanda looked at Meyer.
"Meyer," she said. "Are you alright?"
He coughed and looked up at her. "I- I think I'll be alr-" Suddenly he stopped. His eyes stood open, glassy and cold.
Around them, the Maelstrom line held back.
Then Meyer unfroze, and his outer layers seemed to shatter like ice. He emerged in a new form: a hideous, purple creature, with deep black eyes. Instead of a left arm, he had a skeletal talon. For a right arm, his Gat Gun Sprayer had solidifed over it, and turned red.
The creature stood and looked Nikolai in the eyes. He froze for a moment. Suddenly he began shaking and fell over. His armor began smoking.
The creature looked at Vanda. It tried to look at her eyes, but something seemed to stop it, as if something was battling for control of it's mind.
"You- you're not him," Vanda said shakily. "You're not Meyer. You're an evil creature, a servant of the Maelstrom. You came from the Maelstrom liquid, didn't you? You inhabited his body until now. Until that thing bit him."
The creature grew a mouth and smirked evilly. Then it said in a voice so hideous it burned into Vanda's soul, "Yes. I am a Jarzek, a mind-reaper. I take control of beings' minds, then use them for the Darkitect."
Vanda showed no fear. "Then," she said, "you should be rid from the world!"
On the last word, she thrust her katana into the creature's chest. It wheezed.
"I thought you would be reasonable," it cackled. "It appears not." Then the creature liquidified and dissolved, returning to the Maelstrom Domain.
The only think left was a tiny blue orb, floating in the air: Meyer's Imagination Spark. It was pure blue on one side, glowing with Imagination. On the other, it was red and purple, and radiated evil. The colours would swirl, a constant battle for control over Meyer's soul.
"Meyer," Vanda said to the orb. "Meyer."
Each word, the red and black seemed to disappear a tiny bit. The blue side seemed to grow eyes, and turned in her direction.
"Meyer," she repeated. "Meyer. You-"
Suddenly the red and black side exploded in a fury. It overcame the blue side, and only a small spark was left. In desperation, Vanda charged the orb.
As she touched it, there was a high ringing noise. It echoed around the area, and suddenly all the Maelstrom that Thenso and Extreme had been off fighting disappeared. A huge purple cloud of pure Maelstorm receeded into the Shadow Orb, and there was a roar: a roar of anger from the Darkitect himself, all his perfect creations of chaos destroyed, deleted, undone.
And Meyer's Imagination Spark began glowing. So brightly that the darkness on it dissapated, and then it exploded in a burst of Imagination.
And Vanda collapsed. She had spent all her strength and life force restoring Meyer's Imagination Spark. Her own Spark was almost depleted. She was dying.