Lexi stared back, her breathing slow for once in a very long time as she could finally recover from the torment she was just put through by the sadistic woman, Pandora. She could certainly see where the expression "Pandora's Box" originated from, even if nobody else here seemed to appreciate the namesake.
The weary warrior Lexi could hear very little save for the smallest drops of water as they pinged off the concrete surfaces and the slight shuffling of feet, mainly from Sapphire as she scooted back further despite Lexi's friendly greeting.
"Am I really that scary?" Lexi thought with a frown, before deciding that yes, maybe with the armor she WAS kind of intimidating. Then again, this Sapphire girl hailed from the place the armor was made in. This whole dimension seemed to be part medieval wonderland, part futuristic city but mostly just a chaotic dystopia.
"You ... you ..." Sapphire muttered, pointing to Lexi and her dimly lit silhoutte just feet in front of her eyes. She had been the first human Sapphire had seen in some time since being captured. The only other ones to check in on her (a term she used lightly since this wasn't exactly Motel 6) had been a few fearsome crystal warriors or Paradox himself. "Wh-Who are you?"
Sapphire herself tired of this feud between the two most powerful beings in the land. She hated how it was tearing her homeworld apart and just wanted it to end. Despite all that desire inside of her and the fact that she had in her possession (usually, it had since been confiscated) one of the most powerful weapons known in the cosmos, the radiant blade, she was a reluctant fighter, only choosing to do so if she absolutely had to.
Lexi could tell almost immediately the way that the young woman carried herself was different from the others and pretty much a stark contrast to anyone else. While she wore armor, hers was a bit more incomplete, only covering her shoulders and one arm, whereas the rest of her clothing looked fairly "regular" compared to the other denizens of this land. She also had by far the most expression on her face, even if it were of a downtrodden nature. Lexi could feel and understand her pain. She missed her family and friends, it came through almost instantly, as did the trepidation the blue haired woman looked at her with. She wasn't like the steadfast Emerald or the stoic and sassy Ruby, and even less like the aggressive, overly confident and at times bullheaded Vektor. These traits in conjunction with the rather foreign nature of everybody else Lexi had met there to this point (except for maybe the chipper young male mechanic) had Lexi cracking a genuine smile for the first time in a while.
"My name is Lexi .... um, I know this is going to sound crazy but I'm from um... another dimension?" Lexi said with a bit of a sheepish shrug as if to say 'ta-da' -- although her travel to this land had been less than voluntary. Sapphire nodded in an analytical way, not displaying any form of surprise but more just taking it all in.
"Oh, okay..." Sapphire said, a somewhat unexpected response given her anxiety just a moment before. Now she seemed more interested in looking Lexi's costume up and down, noticing that despite her being an interdimensional being, she seemed to be dressed very similar to most Quartzarians at the moment
"Okay?" Lexi chuckled, "no ... uh ... no wondering how that happened or being in total disbelief?"
"Well I mean..." Sapphire explained, not sounding sad but not sounding happy either, she was just kind of analyzing the situation to this point, "I remember this portal thing swallowing Vektor when those creatures attacked the palace ... I remember Emerald being a fake because of a paradox crystal and well ... things haven't exactly been normal for me for a long long time"
"Tell me about it" Lexi shrugged, kicking a rock as if to try to be friendly and break the ice.
"W-Well I suppose I could tell you about it..." Sapphire said, following a lengthy pause "but it may take a while and we don't really have much time for such a story... and ..."
"Hon hon hon..." Lexi smirked, almost trying not to laugh but not in a mean spirited way. She found the antics of the young warrior cute, and she couldn't deny the blue hair gave her a nice "Sonic the hedgehog" vibe. "It's just an expression ... I mean, I'd be HAPPY to learn more about you but it's just my way of saying that ... well, I can relate ... maybe not EXACTLY but it's been a weird last while for me as well..."
"Oh. Oh..." Sapphire nodded, seeming a bit embarassed that she had misunderstood. Sapphire then scooted closer to the bars that kept her imprisoned within Paradox' lower dungeon.
Surprisingly for all the technology and magic that Lexi had encountered in this strange world so far, the prisons were fairly similar to what most would consider a prison, except the bars were a thicker gold instead of silver and the shape of the cells resembled cathedral windows with the dramatic and pronounced curviture of the their shapes. Honestly, Lexi wondered why one would use so much expense on something that was just going to be used to hold prisoners anyway but that was the least of her worries as she thought about everything else still in play.
Last she knew, Vektor and the others were still heading her way, towards the keep of the dreadful Paradox and his overpowered sister Pandora. On the bright side, Lexi had found the kidnapped Sapphire but she wasn't quite sure what to do next ... how to set her free or even if she did, where to go.
On top of all that, the young and sometimes snarky heroine hadn't even gotten the proper chance to brag about the fact that she herself, the one and only Alexis Cole had been the first ever to escape the so called inescapable Pandora's Box. Okay, so maybe she kinda cheated but the whole thing was kind of rigged anyway.
"Sooo ... Miss..." Sapphire asked in curiosity, "if your name is Lexi ... why does your belt say SG?"
"Oh!" Lexi smirked, her hands briefly tracing the edges of the belt, framing it a bit as if to show it off like a Power Ranger. Heck, she kind of felt like a Power Ranger in her purple suit which also held a mini car in it. Wait ... the car... dare she grow it back and just trash the castle? Nah seemed too extreme. Oh right. She still never answered Sapphire's question. "My name is Lexi but ... I'm also a uh ... superhero... named ShrinkGirl"
"Superhero?" Sapphire asked, "so like ... a knight or wizard or something?"
"Heh not exactly ..." Lexi said with a nervous giggle, "although such things seem a lot more common in your world ... I'm just ... well, I'm not really sure what I am ... I'm kinda just a girl who can shrink .. although from what I understand, people in your world can do that too..."
"Heh, yeah..." Sapphire replied a bit nervously, suddenly clutching her wrist defensively. Through the fingertips that shielded the armored wrist Lexi could make out a similar type of build out that Ruby and Emerald had, except Sapphire's had nothing in it. No glowing gems, but instead the slots for where they would go.
"Wait... you can ... do that too, right?" Lexi asked with a nod
"I could ... maybe..." Sapphire sighed nervously, "It's not really something I ever wanted to do ... I just ... don't know what it could do to my body, yknow??"
"What do you mean?" Lexi asked
"I don't know ..." Sapphire sighed, nervous that she might have been sounding too whiny to the friendly brunette Lexi but instead Lexi would just stand and listen with a smile, "...using stones and gems to alter ones being, even temporarily, it just seems dangerous you know ... like ... plus being small...? Kinda scares me"
Lexi frowned a bit, not at the last part so much as Sapphire's point about changing oneself through various means like that. Lexi had no reassurance that her own shrinking wouldn't have repurcussions up the road. She had already experienced some of those horrific electrical disturbances in the past and even while in Quartzaria. Her condition was likely chronic and permanent though. At least the Quartzarians just used their tech and magic as temporary boosts of energy.
"Anyway, I'm just ... I'm rambling..." Sapphire shrugged, trying to force a smile, "I'm glad somebody came here to save me ... but where are the others?"
"They should uh ... hopefully be on their way" Lexi replied although truthfully, she had no way to know. "For now we need to find a way to get you out of there"
"It sucks..." the suddenly pouty Sapphire responded, pacing a bit in her cell, "if I had the radiant sword I could..."
"The ... what?" Lexi asked
"The radiant sword..." Sapphire sighed, "it's this really powerful plasma sword I've had since I was a kid ... admittedly it's almost TOO powerful, it scares me a little but ... I guess everything seems to .. scare me..."
Lexi would frown, pressing her hand to the cell bars, "Hey hey, don't be so hard on yourself Sapphire ... you're stronger than most, I promise you"
"You really mean that?" Sapphire asked, with half a smile
"Uh yeah!" Lexi smirked, "you got that cool armor stuff going on, heck, you probably can move faster than the others since you didn't overdo it with 100 pounds of armor and a million magic effects and that sword of yours sounds totally badass!"
"...badass..." Sapphire muttered, "...what does that mean? Is it a good thing?"
"Heh, it's very good" Lexi grinned, "but tell me, where's that sword now?"
"Paradox has it..." Sapphire sighed, looking down at the floor, expressing disappointment, "I didn't really have much of a choice but to give it up when he had me surrounded ... still, I wish I hadn't been so weak ... maybe I could've done something with the sword, made sure it didn't fall into the wrong hands..."
"Hey hey ..." Lexi cut her off, again offering some friendly words, "Are you ALWAYS so hard on yourself? C'mon ... I'm not from around here but these are some tough customers and like I said you're doing great ... yes I know you're in a jail cell but we'll get you out, we'll get you your sword thingy and you'll help me save the day"
"Save ... the day?" Sapphire asked, a bit confused and worried about the idea, "I mean... I'll help but I'm not really a hero like you or Vektor or ..."
"Why?" Lexi shrugged, "because you don't wear flashy armor? Because you don't have a belt with your superhero name on it? You're a hero ... a lot of people are heroes on the inside ..."
"You mean like ... they ate a hero?" Sapphire asked, confused. To be fair, this wasn't exclusive to Sapphire. This entire dimension tended to struggle with taking certain phrases too literally.
"Heh no hon, I just mean ... never mind .. look Sapphire you're stronger than you think ..." Lexi sighed, putting her hand through the cell as much as she could reach it in through the bars, almost touching the young woman as sparks emitted from her purple armor covered hands.
"Wh-What are you doing, Lexi?" Sapphire asked, understandably worried this time.
"Okay so ..." Lexi sighed, looking a bit nervous herself "I know we just met, but ... do you trust me?"
Sapphire pondered this for a decent amount of time before finally sighing and nodding
"I do." Sapphire said, "I don't know if it's because I'm in a desperate situation and need help or just ... I want to believe that you're as good as you say you are but ... I also see kindness in you, I can't ... I can't explain it..."
This sentence alone made Lexi smile but she kept her steely resolve as she continued to beckon Sapphire closer.
"I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" Lexi said, "but you're going to have to ... well... you're going to have to ... shrink"
At this Sapphire stumbled back, her trust suddenly shaken a bit at the very notion of it.
"Sh-Shrink?!" Sapphire gulped
"Look, I understand ... it's scary, trust me I know ..." Lexi sighed, "I've done it a bunch but I still get scared sometimes but I'll protect you, I promise and it won't even be for long, I just need to shrink you and get you out of the cell, then we can grow you back, okay?"
Sapphire took a deep breath, finding herself left with very few options. She didn't want to stay in the cell any longer but the prospect of being small, even temporarily really terrified her. Still, it's not like she had NEVER done it. Her sisters had liked to prank her as a kid by slipping her a shrink stone unknowingly. Of course that was just a prank... this was a bit more serious.
"Okay..." Sapphire said, her anxiety quite apparent as she stepped closer so that Lexi could use her electrical field triggered shrinking powers on her, "...do what you need to do"
"It'll be quick I promise" Lexi nodded, reaching forward and watching as a swarm of protons zapped from finger to finger like small lightning rods, leaping off of her person and onto Sapphire, slowly bringing her down to a much smaller height. Lexi would back up a bit, feeling a little awkward herself. Normally she'd only use her shrinking powers on foes, or maybe friends like Leah who wanted to do it for fun. She felt kinda bad watching Sapphire shrink, watching the young woman's face grow from worried to downright terrified as she watched the purple warrior grow and grow in height compared to her now shrunken body.
"Okay..." Sapphire let out a low whisper, now small enough to simply walk between the bars if she so wished.
"You're going to be okay..." Lexi repeated, her hand, normally soft and warm a bit more cold and metallic now as she had it encased in the armored glove. She used that palm to sweep up the tiny Sapphire as if catching a shrimp in a fishermen's net, lifting her small friend up and giving her a friendly smile. "I gotcha, okay? Now let's get you out of here..."
Lexi would take but a few steps forward before hearing a loud SCHWING!! sound
She turned cautiously, keeping the small Sapphire cupped in her hands as she inspected the source of the sound, an adjacent jail cell.
"Put my sister down..." the woman sneered from the other side of the bars.
Even from behind bars she looked positively menacing as her long dagger protruded out from the bars. Lexi leaned in and expressed a bit of shock when she realized who she was being threatened by.
"...RUBY?!"
----
Back on the streets of Minitropolis, chaos reigned ... at times literally.
Even with the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Giovanni and the seeming silence from Byron Biggs who was normally more of an upfront and aggressive leader figure, the Chaos Crew had taken it upon themselves to spread their unique brand of widespread crime throughout the city. The Mini Troop were doing their best as usual to hold them back but it seemed to have gotten much much worse in the wake of Lexi's disappearance.
To that end, a determined Trevor, Leah and Josh were on the case as they were in Trevor's car to investigate the area of Lexi's disappearance, right around the street that the cop chase ended abruptly due to the energy portal that was produced there.
"This is a nice car you have here, Mr. Trevor sir..." Josh said, impressed to be in the scientists car, a silver Toyota Avalon. "...does this have heated seats?"
"Focus, Josh..." a momentarily chuckling Leah piped in, sitting in the back and pointing out that they were close, "it was right around here ... are you picking up any readings?"
"Leah ..." Josh smirked, "all due respect but I'm the right hand man here ... I'll ask the doctor the pertinent questions ... now ... are you picking up any readings?"
Leah slouched in her seat and just rolled her eyes, checking her phone again with a frown. She knew it was a long shot but she kept hoping to see a message or something from Lexi. Any attempt to call her was met with further hopelessness. "Please be okay..." Leah worried in her mind thinking about her best friend. She knew Lexi could hold her own against anything. She was strong-willed, super positive, charming, smart and resourceful. But would that be enough to get her out of a strange dimension? Heck, knowing Lexi she could make friends anywhere ... the people in that other dimension likely loved her.
-----
"Put her down now before I cut you in half, don't think I can't ..." Ruby sneered, pointing the blade at Lexi and although she was still set behind the gold bars and her dagger just barely reached between them, Lexi still felt fear, not being fully aware of Ruby's full powers.
More than fear though, Lexi felt confusion.
She held out Sapphire now in her open palm to show Ruby that her sister was safe, albeit smaller.
"I can grow her back right now..." Lexi nodded reassuringly, "in fact I will, if that's what you want ... I'm on your side ... but ... you already know that..."
"I don't know anything, Lexi..." Ruby snapped, "I don't HAVE sides, I don't know allies ... I just fight ... that's all I've ever done ... I fight for my family ... and for all the crap I've given Saph in the past I know she's probably the most pure of heart person I ever met ... so if you lay a finger on a hair of her head..."
Sapphire smiled briefly at this comment even if she just wanted the fighting to end
"Pl-Please..." the now tiny Sapphire chimed in, although a bit hard to hear in the large room, "Just ... just don't fight each other, please"
"I have no intention of fighting her, Sapphire" Lexi nodded
"You wouldn't last more than a second anyway..." Ruby said with a sneer but a slightly concealed grin as well. She then tilted her dagger down for a moment, disarmed for the time being, "...although I am a bit impressed you found your way in here... where are the others though?"
"Oh... well um ... of course I did..." Lexi chuckled nervously, trying to make it appear easy and not let it be known that she got kidnapped and narrowly escaped the ridiculous Pandora's Box. "and well, the others are on the way ... including ... wait ... you..."
Ruby looked back in shock "What do you mean, me?"
"Ruby..." Lexi asked, "...you got attacked by Pandora, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember ..." Ruby nodded, quickly deducing in her own mind what happened but not sure how to broach the topic with Lexi or her easily rattled sister, Sapphire "Those damned crystal birds got the jump on me ... Pandora was able to teleport me here pretty quick while you were all busy fighting off the crystal beasts ... pretty slick move of Emerald though to use her growth stone like that ... I would've used mine but ... don't have one on me..."
"Wait wait wait ... so it was never YOU in the hovercraft?" Lexi asked, still confused as she kept her hand out gingerly, keeping her tiny friend Sapphire safe within her palm, "then ... who did we save?"
Ruby let out an exhale. Lexi already knew the answer
"Pandora's a pro, what can I say?" Ruby groaned, crossing her arms, "she was able to poof me out of there pretty quick once she had me secured... my guess is she only kept up the charade with the birds to try to capture Emerald as well or maybe she was just toying with all of you ... but whoever you THINK is Ruby right now ... clearly isn't ..."
Sapphire tilted her head, looking up at Lexi and nodding
"She's telling the truth" Sapphire said hesitantly
"You sure?" Lexi asked. After all, she had no way of knowing if THIS Ruby was a fake or some sort of trap concocted by Pandora or Paradox. But then again, what purpose would a fake Ruby serve since Pandora, being the cocky bitch she was definitely thought there was no way Lexi would escape her stupid box thingy, let alone find her way down towards the prison.
"I'm not always the most observant..." Sapphire sighed, hanging her head as she paced around in Lexi's palm. Ruby shot her shrunken sister a bit of a saddened look as the usually confident and razor focused young woman seemed a bit more pensive and regretful in this moment, "...but I know my own sister when I see one ..."
Lexi nodded, and although she wasn't super familiar with how all this shape shifting worked, she could understand knowing somebody as well as the two ladies knew each other.
"So wait..." Lexi asked, "you said you didn't have a growth stone on you? Do you have any other kind of power stone that can help you out"
Ruby shook her head and sighed, showing her own wrist which was missing power stones but her wrist gauntlet appeared to have been mangled as if damaged in an intense struggle, "those asshats took any power stones I had ... surprised they didn't take my paradox inhibiter but they probably didn't know where to look..."
Ruby was of course referring to the crystal that could keep her body and mind protected from the effects of the paradox crystal. It, much like Lexi's was installed in a small compartment of her armor just behind her neck. But it alone didn't possess any useful power that could've helped the trio out.
"Okay well ..." Lexi sighed, "I COULD shrink you? To get you out of there? Unless you can think of another way to break these bars?"
"No chance..." Ruby sighed, "the only weapon strong enough to do that kind of damage is ... well, yours..."
Ruby looked towards the tiny Sapphire who perked up upon hearing it
"...look sis..." Ruby sighed, "I know Emerald and I have given you a hard time since ... well, forever... and we should've stood up for you more often whenever Vektor would put you down ..."
"I thought Vektor considered me ... part of his ... team?" Sapphire whimpered, trying to correct the crimson clad woman
"Uh... he was kinda just ... blowing smoke, sweetie" Ruby said, part exhausted but also saddened by that fact as well, "he needed you ... his forces have either deserted him or been killed by Paradox's forces... you were one of the last people he could trust, plus he values your weapon, the radiant sword too much ... he kinda just ... said what you wanted to hear... but I'm telling you the truth, maybe too late, when I say that ... we really do love you a bunch sis... Emerald and I..."
Lexi, not wanting to kill this moment but also trying to stay focused, found herself gently closing her fingers around Sapphire in some kind of instinctual emotional reaction to hearing the exchange of such heartfelt feelings between the two sisters. She wasn't sure what kind of upbringing or past the two had but it seemed these were words that needed to be said.
"Well..." Lexi exhaled with a nervous smile, shattering the silence within the dark and echoing chamber, "as much of a nice reunion as this has been ... can I give you a shrinking special escape?"
Ruby shrugged but then nodded, stepping closer to the cell
"I keep forgetting you don't need a power stone to initiate a size change..." Ruby said with a bit of an envious smirk
"Well, I mean I can shrink but I technically can't grow .. at least not beyond normal height" Lexi confessed, keeping Sapphire safe in her hand before reaching out with her other to try to shrink Ruby now.
"You sure about that?" Ruby asked, "Have you ever tried it?"
"I... I guess not ..." Lexi sighed, trying to remain focused on her mission of shrinking the red haired woman, "n-now hold still... I can't promise this won't feel a little ... weird"
Ruby shrugged as the shrinking slowly took hold, a cascading wall of sparkles emitting from Lexi's hand to initiate it and finally Ruby would end up as tiny as her blue haired sibling, walking out from between the large gold grates that had kept her captive. Somehow despite being just a few inches tall, the mini Ruby still looked powerful and mighty, her armor making tiny clanks as she walked along.
"So uh ... you gonna grow us back now or just sneak us out as action figures?" Ruby quipped up at the mega sized ShrinkGirl who shook her head and gave them both a snarky look.
"Alright, alright, hold on..." Lexi sighed, tapping Ruby very gently and watching as she began to regain her form and size before doing the same to Sapphire, setting her down and restoring her to normal size.
So there they stood, the purple armored Lexi, the blue haired half armored anxious but helpful warrior Sapphire and the red and gold Ruby who just looked like she was ready to bash the skulls in of anyone who got in her way.
"I just want this shit to be over with ..." Ruby said out loud, drawing a confused and concerned look from Lexi
"I ... I could understand why but ... what do you mean?" Lexi asked
"This whole bullshit never would've even started if Vektor hadn't ... ugh..." Ruby sighed
"Hadn't what?" Lexi asked
As the ladies spoke, Sapphire seemed focused on something else. Sapphire seemingly had the ability to pick up on little things like sounds in the distance or even small details most wouldn't notice. While she was still listening to Lexi's and Ruby's conversation she could also hear footsteps from a higher level of the castle that were causing small reverberations in her mind as if to signal their impending arrival.
"You guys..." Sapphire said, a bit worried, "we may not have much time before more of those monsters are upon us..."
Lexi nodded and began to head towards a large and ascending staircase with Sapphire to her left and Ruby to her right. As Ruby seemed eager to take the first steps up, Lexi was also eager to find out more about what was happening. Lexi put her hand gently on Ruby's armor plated shoulder, causing the woman to turn back and look in surprise.
"Ruby..." Lexi said, a bit of a burning curiosity in her voice, "what were you going to say ... about Vektor?"
Ruby sighed, "Guess there's no point in you not knowing ... you know Pandora?"
"All too well..." Lexi sighed. Ruby leaned in and whispered something in the purple armored ShrinkGirls ear. As she did so, Lexi's eyes opened wide, backing away as if having just heard the juiciest bit of gossip.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Lexi scoffed
----
Back at Trevor's makeshift lab in the back of Aztek Parts and More, Josh found himself fascinated with a series of waveforms on the scientists computer monitor ; the result of a reading he had taken while they had checked out the site of Lexi's disappearance, the portal which had opened up on that fateful street in the city.
"Are you sure?" Josh asked, confirming the doctors theory upon showing him the readings
"This is ... remarkable" Trevor said, "not only is this further proof of Dr. Giovanni's work .. but proof of ... possibly something else which Dr. Max was looking into at one point of his career but this is where things get REALLY crazy ... I wouldn't be surprised if neither of you believed me"
"Try us" Josh said, eager to hear the doctors theory. Leah was also intrigued, although maybe not as much as Josh.
"There are traces of an energy type here that Max was looking into a long while back ... may still be .. it's ... and I have no other way to describe this ... fairy energy" Trevor said, realizing how ridiculous that sounded
"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" Josh said, "not that I don't believe you ... just ... a scientist talking about fairies reminds me of Dr. Crocker from Fairly Odd Parents ... you think you could say it in a bit of an angry voice?"
Trevor and Leah both rolled their eyes.
"I can't explain exactly what I mean by that but ... some of this energy is nothing that originates from earth ... and while Maximillian wasn't as invested in other dimensions as Giovanni, I know he had been making some progress on trying to discover some kind of ... dimensions of ... fairies?" Trevor said, words coming out of his mouth sounding stranger and stranger by the second to him "He really bought into the legends about Fenster Forest in particular ..."
"Uh... about that..." Leah chuckled nervously
"Hmm?" Trevor raised an eyebrow
"Oh yeah, she's met fairies..." Josh nodded enthusiastically
Trevor nodded, remembering that Lexi had mentioned a type of magic energy shield around her SG medallion. He had kind of written it off as her being excited or figured the belt had some scientific properties but fairies? And in the Minitropolis area? What else was real of Giovanni and Maximillian's past research?
"Okay so yes ..." Leah sighed, "I may have ... well, Lexi and I ... we may have met fairies... and maybe even a whole ... colony of them... but as awesome as that was, how does it tie into this?"
"It may ... it may not..." Trevor shook his head and sighed
Suddenly something clicked in Leah's head as she thought about the other events that had surrounded that night.
"Wait! Max's new Enormo location... the Enormo East?" Leah asked
"Yeah..." Trevor sighed, shaking his head, "It's built there for a very intentional purpose... I remember when he first pitched it to the city council... he actually got very little resistance about it only because almost nobody cared or wanted to build on that land... the city board figured anything was more profitable than building nothing on it so they granted Max his request to build that lab there..."
"But really it's where he plans to do his evil fairy experiments..." Josh said in a mocking menacing voice
"You really gotta knock off the Saturday morning cartoons..." Leah sighed, her hand reaching into her purse for a moment as it grazed something familiar, she let out an exhale and took something out while Trevor continued to work on some formulas on his computer.
"What's this?" Josh asked, confused as he saw a red Spider-Man themed ball in Leah's hand
"This uh ... this is from Lex" Leah said, trying to lighten the mood for the time being, "She um... bought it for you for your birthday which ... is today ... so uh ... Happy Birthday ... heh, I realize it's not much ... I think she was probably planning to buy you the matching t-shirt or ... or something"
"Hah, it's awesome, thanks!" Josh smiled, looking at the cool Spidey ball that reminded him of something one would win from a vending machine in the 1990s.
Leah sighed, only thinking about how many birthdays she would give up just to see Lexi okay again.
----
As Vektor and his troops drew closer to the foot of the small mountain that acted as a sort of pedestal for the large ever-reaching black and green palace, who's spires shot up into the sky, Vektor would momentarily excuse himself from the crowd, activating his holo-comm to talk to a guard back at the palace.
This guard's name was Smoke, a rather slender young man who resembled a ninja both in the way he dressed and the way he often behaved, able to be stealthy and resourceful. Although what he was embarking on at the moment was more of a tech based endeavor and not one he truly agreed with.
"So ..." Vektor said, his tone a bit low as he spoke with Smoke, "is it done?"
"I think so..." Smoke said, looking down at a cell phone on a work bench, "but is this ... really ... ethical?"
"This is not the time to consider ethics..." Vektor shrugged, thankfully still out of earshot from the others "...besides I made a promise to the young lady to make the modifications... she'll be quite pleased to see soon enough that her phone can call through to other dimensions!"
"...that's... not what I meant, Lord Vektor" Smoke said with a tinge of regret in his voice, "I meant more .. the other thing..."
"Again, we ... had to take a look at ... certain ... information..." Vektor said, "...in order to make the phone compatible...'
"With all due respect ... I'm not sure I entirely believe that ..." the abrasive young man known as Smoke replied but the conversation wouldn't advance much further as Vektor thrust his wrist down and turned off the holo comm, being approached by Emerald as the batallion would cautiously make their way towards the palace.
"Sir?" Emerald asked, "we're within super close range of Paradox's Citadel and there's maybe 2 guards max guarding the front atria ... on top of that, he seems to have dropped the holo-wall that usually protects the front courtyard... this feels like a trap"
"You may be right..." Vektor said with steely resolve, undrawing his sword as she looked around at his remaining batallion and admired their courage and fight to have made it this far, "we've gotten too far to back off now ... if Paradox wants a fight he'll get one!"
Vektor, who was usually very quick to charge into battle without saying another word couldn't help but take note of Emerald's worried and skeptical look.
"Something is causing you pause, Lady Emerald" Vektor said, not so much in a caring way but more of an observational one.
"Well ... c'mon Vektor..." Emerald sighed, "I've tried to turn a blind eye to ... certain things but ... I mean ... we know what's really going on here..."
Vektor said nothing for a few moments before continuing to walk alongside Emerald to catch up with the rest of his troops.
"Aren't you going to say anything, Lord Vektor?" Emerald asked, sounding a bit miffed now.
"...everybody makes mistakes" Vektor muttered and wouldn't say another word until they got closer to the palace.
Giantess World
