At the mystical forest known as Fenster, a curious Spark continued to inspect the flaming bird atop Mara's shoulder while the others ; Chris, Josh, Leah and Trevor Hilfmann continued to catch up on what had happened to this point.
"Interesting..." Chris commented, as Trevor recapped the events that led them there.
Upon tracing the energy signature present in the portal to the local Fenster Forest, it was only a matter of time before Trevor and his two young charges would eventually find their way deep into fairy territory. The next question was, what link did the Fairy Colony of Fensteria have with the mysterious new dimension Lexi found herself in, if anything?
Leah sighed and glanced over at Spark as she hovered about, "It's uh ... nice to see you again little friend... just wish it was under better circumstances..."
Spark nodded, taking her eyes off the mesmerizing phoenix as its feathers crackled and sparked with each slight flutter. The phoenix almost seemed momentarily dissappointed that it was no longer the center of attention.
"Wait..." Leah said, suddenly realizing something, "Chris, how long you been coming out here? Are you and Spark ... uh...?"
"Huh?" Chris scoffed a bit, face turning bright red, "What? No ... we uh just ... ran into each other..."
"Totally!" Spark giggled nervously, turning away a bit to hide her own crimson blush, not that it would be as noticeable on her with how much red she already wore, "We just ... were catching up, I ... I ... yknow, am just doing my thing... and uh ... fairy stuff, yknow?"
"Uh-huh..." Leah said with a smug smirk, "I know for a fact you don't exactly love leaving the colony and yet here you are ..."
"Can we stay on topic, please?" Spark huffed a bit, "Lexi is missing and she's probably one of the sweetest humans I've ever met ... we need to figure out what happened to her ... I may have a few ideas..."
"What do you mean?" Leah asked
"Well ... for the past couple weeks I've felt these odd disturbances... it's gotten a bit better but it started about 2 weeks ago ... like some kind of ominous sense in my body, I can't explain it ... it's like a dimensional rift was briefly opened..." Spark explained, shaking her head as she tried to move past the memories of the horrific experiences.
"...a couple weeks ago..." Leah murmured, "that's when Lexi got sucked into the portal... there's gotta be a connection"
"Absolutely..." Spark nodded, looking over at Mara and Penelope once more, "Quarz... something..."
"Uh ... gesundheit?" a confused Josh chimed in
"No... I ... can't remember the name of the dimension, but that firebird looks like a mythical creature from..." Spark started before Penelope simply huffed
"Heh yeah ... she doesn't like being called mythical..." Mara chuckled nervously, "it's a bit of a sore subject..."
After a brief moment where the rest of the group rolled their eyes at Mara, Trevor leaned in and further inspected the starnge firebird, finding the whole thing very intriguing as someone who usually believed strongly in science and logic. This was all something out of a fairy tale.
"Anyway..." Leah sighed with a frown, "you said this thing is from some other dimension?"
"That much I'm sure of ..." Spark nodded, "I just ... can't remember the specifics... let's just say other dimensions and stuff from grade school kind of went over my head ..."
"Cuz you're small, right?" Chris chuckled with a snort. Well, he thought it was funny.
"what? No... wait what?" Spark rolled her eyes, not even completely getting the joke, "Why would it ... my teachers were also ... fairy sized... anyways ... yeah no, I'm sorry ... I do want to help you find Lexi but I'm not the most well informed on other dimensions ... however ... I know somebody who might be..."
---
Back at Paradox Peak, a pair of battles were unfolding, one inside and one outside the Citadel. By contrast Paradox's stronghold of a castle had a few things in common with Vektor's but they were more technology related, namely the fact that both castles had a surplus of it, at least for the young Alexis Cole from Miniborough.
That's about where the similarities ended, with dark colors and deep greens being the order of the day, likely dictated by the narcissistic Pandora. Whoever came up with the color choices, Lexi felt as though in a sinister video game as she watched a few lumbering shadowy figures making their way down the spiraling stairs as Ruby, Sapphire and herself were trying to make their way back upstairs.
"Saph!" Ruby asked, trying to keep her sister as calm as possible despite the coming storm, "do you have any idea where they're keeping your sword?"
"I ... I don't think so?" Sapphire replied, shaking her head wearily, "I just remember one of those demonic horse looking things taking me back here ... I had a brief encounter with Paradox and he snatched the sword from me before I could do anything ... it all happened so fast ..."
As Sapphire recounted the horrible ordeal, Lexi dodged a heavy punch from an advancing foe, looking over at Ruby and Sapphire for answers
"So .. what is the significance of this sword, anyhow?" Lexi said, shrinking to evade another punch before growing back, hesitantly throwing a punch of her and connecting the lower jaw of the jagged crystal knight. Sometimes Lexi herself forgot how sturdy the armor she wore was ... it was akin to having hands made of steel so while her human instincts could tell her to hold off on punching something as solid as what appeared to be green diamond, her strength was actually supplanted sufficiently to deal with such things thanks to the Quartzarian armor.
"The sword ... the radiant sword..." Ruby explained, dodging a sweeping kick and helping Sapphire up as she struck from the side, "it's one of the strongest weapons in the realm ... there's no wonder why Paradox would want that kind of power ... I mean technically, he helped to forge it..."
Lexi gave Ruby a quizzical look.
"It's ... complicated..." Ruby sighed, sensing a crystal knight was on the offensive behind her just before Lexi pointed it out. Ruby gave a calm look and just ducked out of the way before delivering a swift smack to the crystal knight's face.
"Speaking of complicated..." Lexi grunted as she threw up her metal plated wrist just in time to deflect a slash from an oncoming foe, sparks emitting from the impact, "Are we really not going to talk anymore about what you told me back there? Vektor and Pandora?"
"Heh... I ... don't technically have proof..." Ruby said, holding up her twin daggers as a shield as she once again got assaulted, the resulting impact turning the criss-crossing daggers back into seperate entities as Ruby's arms were involuntarily parted, swaying towards the ground.
Sapphire looked around whimpering a bit.
"I'm going to need some kind of sword if I'm going to stand a chance here..." Sapphire yelped, dodging a slash from a crystal guards powerful black sword as it slashed through the air with an intimidating screech and a residual yellow streak. "...also what about Vektor and Pandora?"
Ruby let out a sheepish grin.
"You mean ...?" Sapphire asked, a look of disgust on her face.
----
Outside the castle, things were just beginning to turn ominous for Vektor, Emerald, Lexi and Ruby as they neared the castle walls. The sky was still its usual shade of deep purple but swirling white lightning signaled the start of something a bit more sinister.
"Stay on your toes!" Vektor asked, prompting stoic looks of determination from Lexi and Ruby who both dug their heels in and put their arms out in fairly generic battle poses, causing Emerald to look a little confused, especially since she had never seen Lexi behave that way, despite only knowing her a short time.
Columns of white lightning fell from the skies above, shaking the very ground on which the warriors dwelled before a cackling filled the air. Vektor recognized it and so did Emerald.
Pandora.
Back inside the castle, things were getting ever more grim for the three heroes trying to see their way back up to the castle halls, sensing the literal coming storm with each crack of thunder they could hear even from below.
"The heck is that?? Lexi asked, stumbling and avoiding a punch, but her attempt to lunge backwards onto sent her into the unforgiving arms of a brutish crystal knight who gripped her forcefully around the waist. She struggled to break the vice grip or even size shift out of it but she was too constrained to do either. Luckily Ruby saw this and turned swiftly back to the ensnared superheroine from another dimension.
"Get down!" Ruby yelled, firing a blast of plasma energy from her wrist. Lexi got down as far as she could and fortunately for her, Ruby was a master markswoman and hit the face of the crystal knight squarely reducing it to rubble that rained down on Lexi as if a chandelier had fallen nearby.
"Thanks for the assist..." a nearly breathless Lexi said with a weak thumbs up
"You realize your suit can do that too..." Ruby reminded as another enemy crept up on her.
"I do ... at times ... still a lot to get use to..." Lexi replied with a sheepish shrug. Lexi then turned and delivered a swift blast to her foe, missing her intended aim by a bit but the blast was sufficient enough to graze a shoulder and leave a sizable crack in the knights arm, making its own sword now too heavy to hold with less matter attached to hold it.
Lexi looked around at the situation, momentarily seeming to see things in slow motion as she watched Sapphire surrounded by 2 encroaching guards. Ruby was sliding under a close-range melee attack before hacking and slashing with her own counter maneuver and Lexi could see the large glowing black sword being released by her own foe as a result of her attack.
"Here!" Lexi grunted, grabbing for the sword. She snagged it by the handle but even with her strengthened wrists and titanium aided grip, she found the weapon incredibly heavy, even compared to swords from her dimension -- not that she had held too many of those either. "Dang, this thing is heavy..."
Heavy as it was, Lexi let out a halfhearted wheeze as she lobbed it over to Sapphire who just barely caught it and was able to slash both guards across the stomach just in the knick of time, the slash leaving them both down for the count as they fell backwards with a loud powerful thud.
"H-Heh ... not a bad throw..." Sapphire commented, regaining her composure as the forces seemed to finally be thinning out and the girls could make their way up the tight staircase a lot easier. "Maybe just warn me next time..."
"Heh ... sorry..." Lexi sighed, "it's been a rough day ..."
Rough was only part of the whole story, as Vektor and his troops seemed to be paralyzed around a wicked swirling vortex of gale force winds that surrounded them in a tornado like formation.
"Well?!" Vektor shouted out, looking to his immediate left and right as Emerald, Cloak and Dagger at least attempted to push on through the winds, seeing the silhouttes of reinforcements appearing through a castle gate as it opened in the distance, "aren't you two going to fight?!"
Vektor was addressing Lexi and Ruby who seemed to be just stalling ; standing like statues, but also surprisingly unaffected by the wind as it circled around them both.
"It's not them, Lord Vektor!" Emerald grunted, getting checked by a fierce onyx clad warrior who had the element of surprise on their side. As the wounded Emerald looked around, over at Vektor she muttered, "...I figured by now you knew that ..."
Vektor looked over in surprise to notice "Lexi" and "Ruby" changing into crystal knights themselves, each holding a sword that crackled green and white.
"The hell is this sorcery?" Vektor asked, feeling deeply hurt even though the people behind the magical veils were never his allies to begin with
"I can answer that one!" a gloating Pandora replied, floating high above the action, several feet above the castle gate as she seemed to suck the black winds back into her fingertips as she raised them high, waving them away as effortlessly as puffs of cigarette smoke. It seemed she wanted things quieted down so that could be heard clearly as she mocked her foes.
"Pandora!" Vektor sneered, running fast without even thinking now that the winds had subsided, nothing would stop him from --
CLANG!!
Vektor, in his foolhardy ways was of course met with strong resistance in the form of 2 hulking onyx guards that stood like a literal stonewall in his way. Even with his expertise and well designed armor Vektor wasn't prepared for such a mighty slam and so like Emerald, he remained down on his side, just peering up at Pandora and the chaos that surrounded her.
"Bravo Team Vektor..." Pandora sneered, her feet hovering just inches off a black and silver cloud which coursed with lightning and moved with her as she hovered laterally around the makeshift arena. "You were able to make it to Paradox Peak and ONLY after we pretty much opened the runway for you and made it as simple as possible ... and you STILL barely got here... way to go!! Gold star!"
"Th-That was ... an open runway?" Emerald sneered, her vision still hazy as she tried to stand. An onyx guard would be there to foil her efforts but despite having the advantage, the enemy was quickly called off by its mistress, Pandora.
"Now now..." Pandora giggled, "There will be PLENTY of time to kick our foes while they're down so to speak ... but let's get to the main event...!"
Pandora cackled once more and snapped her fingers, causing a pair of the castle walls behind her to recede as if they were made of smoke. In the center of the two walls was a pedestal, and on it was the radiant sword, turned downward like the legendary sword in the stone with lightning crackling out of it, snaking into the sky and surging with power.
"The radiant sword..." Vektor groaned a bit.
Stepping out from behind one of the solid walls as if coming on stage was the main leader himself, Paradox, wearing his glowing black and green armor and finally receding the visor on his faceplate so Vektor could see into his eyes. Paradox didn't pick up the radiant sword but rather paced around it, as if to celebrate the acquisition.
Pandora snapped her fingers again, her power seemingly limitless as she conjured up a wall of haze that slowly took a pattern, appearing high above the skies as if it were a jumbotron, with the image of Paradox on it, amplifying not only his image but his voice as he spoke out boomingly.
"You realize ... with the acquisition of the radiant sword, the wide array of paradox crystals and my sheer advantage of troops against you ... this fight is all but over..." Paradox sneered, "but ... regrettably... it didn't have to be this way ..."
"V-Vektor...?" Emerald looked over a bit weakly as she finally got to her feet. It appeared the guards were only there in case any of the Vektor loyalists (or Vektor himself) tried anything as they simply remained in battle ready stance but never once tried to keep Emerald down. "What does he mean by that?"
"Who knows?" Vektor grunted, his voice full of anger, "It's probably another trick! Everything he does is a trick, everything SHE does is a trick!"
"HAH!" Pandora laughed, floating down to Vektor's level and gently parting the guards with a tap of her finger on their shoulders. She now stood just inches from Vektor who was on one knee, his fists clenched tightly beneath his armor. "That's rich coming from you ..."
"Tonight is not just about claiming victory!!" Paradox laughed, pleased to see his plan in full motion. "It's about the truth! The people of Quartzaria deserve the truth and on this day... this night ... they shall get just that!!"
Paradoxs booming words echoed over the hilltops, down the mountains and towards the bustling and unruly city below. The supporters of both Vektor and Paradox stood in the streets in stilled silence able to make out the image of Paradox on the large magical display even from their position many miles away.
As Lexi (the real Lexi), Ruby (see : previous) and Sapphire made their way up the stairs, they'd be surprised by the ever changing structure of the castle as Pandora's modifications now made reaching the center hallway a bit tougher but they could all see the glowing sword as it appeared to be more than a few floors up.
As they ran, Lexi couldn't help but ask Ruby the curious question again.
"Really though?" Lexi asked, "Vektor and Pandora?"
"What do you think started this whole thing?" Ruby scoffed
Lexi finally stopped running altogether, confusing both Sapphire and Ruby as they all gathered in the dimly lit hallway
"Lexi what are you doing?" Ruby scolded with a hushed whisper, "we're sitting ducks right here"
"I'm not doing ANYWHERE!" Lexi sighed, "Until you tell me what's really going on ... who's side am I on here? Who's side are YOU on?"
"I just want the fighting to ..." Sapphire whimpered
"Not now Sapphire, I'm sorry" Lexi snapped, cutting her off. She held no contempt for Sapphire at all, but she was caught up in a moment that left her further puzzled and enraged.
"You want the truth...?" Ruby sighed, "you probably couldn't understand it all being from ... whereever you're from but basically this whole war is futile ... no matter who ends up being the leader of Quartzaria, we either get an incompetent asshole who's full of himself and bent on getting credit for every little thing OR we get a deceitful lying piece of shit who doesn't think before he fights and used backhanded means to attain leadership in the first place!"
"Oh yeah ..." Lexi sighed, rolling her eyes, "Totally can't relate to THAT at all..."
"Look, a lot of it took place a long time ago, even I don't know the full story!" Ruby started, but the earthquake finished the abrupt discussion shaking the three ladies to the ground even in their armor. Something big was stirring under the castle, they could feel it.
Meanwhile, Paradox and his enchanted sister Pandora continued on with their regalia, leaving Vektor, Emerald, Cloak and Dagger helpless to watch as the swirling illusion of his face continued to rain down thunderous words to the people of the Quartzarian City below
"He calls them ... Paradox crystals..." Paradox proclaimed, "....he neglects to mention that HIS father, the late great Hyperbole commissioned me to help craft them as a way to help his armies spy on potential threats ..."
Emerald looked over, honestly not knowing of this fact. She did know that Paradox and his sister had been sorcerers in their kingdom many years ago before betraying the kingdom but she always thought the Paradox Crystals were purely a nefarious thing, set forth by Paradox and his batallion as a way of combatting Vektor. At least ... that's what Vektor had everyone believing.
While Lexi remained a bit dazed and confused from all that she was seeing and learning, she decided now was the time to put those doubts aside in favor of helping her allies, even while her mind was clouded with doubt as to who her allies truly were. Sapphire seemed to be the only one with any semblence of innocence. Something about this whole battle struck her weird, and that was saying something considering all the Minnesota native had seen to that point.
"Let's go!" Lexi said, suddenly leading the charge, as she pointed up towards the top of an adjacent staircase that led to the center platform from which Paradox broadcasted his ominous message.
"Wait!" Ruby snapped, pulling Lexi back for a moment, "what exactly is the plan here? We can't just charge in there..."
"Y-Yeah ... I'm with Ruby..." Sapphire nodded in agreement, "Even if I had my sword, I'm not sure I could ..."
Lexi thought for a moment, agreeing that perhaps some foresight was needed rather than just recklessly charging in. After all, she really didn't want to end up trapped in that labyrinthian cube again.
"Wait..." Lexi nodded, turning to the pensive Sapphire "The sword... that's like ... your sword, right? You can wield it...?"
"I ... I suppose..." Sapphire replied, her voice a bit droned out over the sounds of thunderclaps and quakes around them, "assuming I can get it out of that ... th-thing he has it in..."
"Leave that to us!" Ruby said, showing a bit more bravado
"Huh?" Sapphire asked
"Look sis ..." Ruby sighed, putting her hand on Sapphire's shoulder, "I know we're always giving you a hard time but you're ready for this ... there's a reason why you're one of the few who can successfully wield the full power of the radiant sword..."
"I ... I don't know ..." Sapphire whimpered, "I'm still not exactly a master swordswoman ... even with that blade..."
"Just use your instincts" Ruby said, coaching her nervous sibling up, "Lexi and I will distract them ... just go for the sword, okay? You got this ..."
Sapphire sighed, as she took a deep breath. Lexi noticed her evident anxiety and put a hand on her other shoulder, eliciting a shocked lurch from the nerve ridden female warrior. Feeling apologetic, Lexi gave a nervous grin to Sapphire
"S-Sorry ... all I was going to say is ... remember how scared you were about shrinking?" Lexi asked. Sapphire nodded, "w-well, at least in your world it's a power that a lot of you are able to wield, along with who knows what else? For me, I had no idea shrinking was even possible... I was scared out of my mind the first time it happened but I powered through it ... you can do this, okay?"
Ruby just looked over at Lexi and nodded with a smile, then glancing over at the purple armored superheroine as the three began to make their advance.
"Hey Lexi..." Ruby sighed, "if we make it out of this alright ... I promise we can ... talk about all this ... or at least what I know of it..."
"I know" Lexi said, "for now, let's just kick some ass..."
"People in your world are really fascinated with the word 'ass' huh?" Ruby quipped, impressed that Sapphire was now ahead of the duo. Unfortunately she wasn't the only one to notice this detail.
Three of Paradox's black onyx guards turned their attention to the trio as they made their way up the steps.
"Wh-What do I do?" Sapphire asked, armed only with the sword she had been gifted from Lexi earlier in their battles. She dragged it awkwardly along as a lumbering guard prepared to throw an attack of his own with a sharp sable blade, which crackled with a menacing red glow.
"Use the sword!" Ruby said, a bit matter of factly as she dodged an incoming attack herself.
The guards were brutish and strong for sure but also slow as all hell. Lexi could definitely use this to her advantage as she vaulted over one of them and slid backwards a bit. She sensed another one behind her but was able to anticipate the incoming attack and performed a backhanded slap similar to one Ruby had executed in an earlier altercation, shattering the face of the gruesome foe.
"Not bad, newbie" Ruby smirked, sticking her twin daggers through the lower torso of a guard before it could finish advancing on her.
Sapphire was holding her own despite her unfamiliarity with the dynamics of the foreign sword she held. She seemed a bit outmatched as the Black Onyx guard had a more powerful blade. It seemed like every time Sapphire countered the slashing motion, it left her with a sense of whiplash with each resulting blow.
"Hey!" Lexi barked, standing just behind the Onyx guard to lend Sapphire a hand, "Tall dark and ugly! Over here!"
The guard's eyes simply glowed red and he'd turn to face Lexi briefly.
"Too slow!" Lexi winked, shrinking out of sight and buying Sapphire the time she needed to lodge her sword into the shoulder blade of the backwards facing Onyx Guard. The strike wasn't quite enough to slay the foe but Sapphire found that the sword was now lodged in the firm stony material. She'd hesitantly shove it in further, twisting it a bit before pulling it out, finally resulting in the Onyx guards collapse.
Lexi grew back and winked, "Nice one!"
"Th-Thanks..." Sapphire said after a moment of stunned silence. She didn't exactly love fighting but she was happy to be helping in the battle.
Ruby rolled her eyes as she heard Paradox's ongoing monologue, "now might be our chance while he's still rambling on ... c'mon!"
Down on the castle entryway, Vektor watched on helplessly as Paradox continued his spectacle, aided by his sinister sister, Pandora. He then glanced down to notice a ring of green energy forming around himself and his fellow warriors.
"What do you say, brother?" Pandora giggled, as a portal began to form under the group, threatning to swallow up the ground from underneath them, "Shall we add this lot to the collection?"
"In due time" Paradox chuckled, still gloating over his assumed victory
Pandora simply kept the portal open, ready at a moment's notice to snap up a new group of victims. The cunning grin on her face was soon met with unexpected opposition though, her focus broken like so many shattered diamonds by the grating but familiar voice of a foe she thought to be left for dead.
"Hey, box lady!" Lexi smirked, pointing her wrist towards Pandora, the cannon end slowly glowing as it charged up a plasma blast.
Pandora shook her head in dismay, the portal dissipating from under Vektor, Emerald, Cloak and Dagger.
"You!! You can't be real! You're a paradox illusion! You have to be!" Pandora shrieked, her rage suddenly overtaking her as even her pink hair began to crackle with an imposing electrical haze "You're trapped in the cube!"
"Actually I prefer to call it a box!" Lexi smirked, firing off the slow charging plasma beam.
Pandora grunted as she threw up a swift forcefield of magical energy in the nick of time to dispel the blast.
Paradox would let out an annoyed groan, which would be the last thing heard of his public announcement as Pandora focused all of her energy instead on combatting Lexi and Ruby as they both ran towards her now. Paradox let out a frustrated grunt, just shaking his head in anger.
"Sister! Don't let up now!" Paradox shouted through the chaos, deciding instead to march on towards the radiant sword where it remained perched in the thick stone stronghold emitting lightning that ascended into the sky.
"Now's our chance!" Vektor cried out, sensing that Paradox and Pandora were divided. Vektor threw a mighty shoulder check into an imposing guard, throwing it onto the ground. With Pandora now going solely for Lexi and Ruby, her magic was no longer enhancing the strength of the guards which helped to further even the odds with Emerald, Cloak and Dagger assisting the fight.
Pandora would sneer, and although her emotions were a bit clouder she wasn't dumb enough to not notice Sapphire darting across the pillar lined battlefield in the near distance, making an intentional sprint for the radiant sword and where it stood.
Ruby, as if following the path of Pandora's gaze to a tee, smirked as she slid into the sorceress's line of vision
"Hey, why worry about her?" Ruby smirked, "she's just a rookie, right? Don't you want a real challenge?"
"Don't toy with me, child!" Pandora said dismissively, casting a protective glowing green aura around herself as she floated towards Sapphire. Ruby went for the intercept and found herself simply in a neutralizing position, able to momentarily hold back the magically enhanced Pandora even as her own feet were sliding in the opposing direction as if a wall was moving against her.
"Ruby!" Lexi shrieked, trying to lend a land as two crumbling looking guards materialized out of pure rubble. These creatures were far from natural, seemingly rock zombies conjured up by Pandora but they had enough functionality to prove difficult obstacles for Lexi who stood roughly half their size.
"That should keep you busy, silly girl!" Pandora smirked, feeling as though she barely needed to use a small percentile of her total power to thwart the upstart brunette from Minnesota.
"Oh, that hurts, Pandora... why worry about her when you got lil ol me here for the taking?" Ruby grunted, trying to jab the tip of her red dagger into Pandora's torso but the striking blade was repelled so hard by the green aura that it actually flew out of her hand, clattering to the castle ground where it remained, leaving Ruby momentarily defenseless.
Lexi lurched left and right, trying to see around the imposing shadowy creatures that blocked her view, acting as though she were a quarterback trying to avoid being tackled. She may not have been able to overpower the creatures who were basically made of castle walls, but she didn't need to be stronger, just smarter, or maybe ... smaller.
Lexi would press her heel down and lurch back and to the left so as to throw the pursuing enemies off track. Which way was she going? It appeared she was preparing for a dash to the right. Anticipating this, the stone zombies would plan their advance accordingly but they'd be dead wrong.
Lexi yanked her body out of harm's way like a rubber band, weaving under a punch that would barely be able to strike her face had she not ducked down so low, but as long as she was going to dodge under her attackers, she decided she may as well go all the way and so she made herself small. Very small in fact.
So small that for a moment or two, it appeared Ruby's fallen dagger was moving on its own as if being carried by a tribe of ants. Unfortunately unlike real ants, Lexi didn't gain the added strength that such insects posessed. Still, she smirked, having achieved her goal as she grew back, now gripping Ruby's dagger in her hand triumphantly.
"Yo Pandy!" Lexi teased, holding the dagger up as if to tease. Pandora looked back for just a moment but then went back to focusing on Ruby, her eyes glowing green as they sparked intense jade flames that surrounded Ruby.
Sapphire watched on, nervous about how to proceed. It wasn't exactly a clear path for her to make it to the sword. Even as she was able to evade the slow moving security of the crystal guards, she anticipated Paradox making his way up towards the balcony where the sword dwelled and even if she could beat him in a foot race to it, what then? She couldn't take her mind off seeing her sister and Lexi struggle either.
Ruby grunted, breathing hard as she was down on a knee, looking up at Pandora who gave the girl a sadistic grin. It was no longer about stopping them from beating Paradox, getting the sword or any of that, she seemed to have just one thought on her mind. Blood.
"If you didn't like my box joke, you really won't like this one!" Lexi cried out through the noise, loud enough for Pandora to hear as she leapt for the attacking woman with the dagger gripped tightly in her hand. She raised it way over her head and proceeded to begin a windmill motion with her arm as if intending to plunge the dagger into Pandora's head.
Raising an eyebrow, Pandora would simply tsk, disengaging the green aura to turn around and surround Lexi in a bit of an aura herself, this time to telekinetically hold her in place just short of stabbing her person.
"Really>" Pandora smirked, her bravado getting the best of her as she missed Lexi's final move.
As the valiant ShrinkGirl had been in the middle of her windmill motion, Pandora only assumed she was aiming straight for her. She missed Lexi's slick behind the back pass to Ruby. So while Lexi remained frozen in motion and no longer a threat, her own shield was down allowing Ruby to go for the strike into Pandora's side.
"GOTCHA BITCH!!" Ruby screamed, a bit of vileness in her own voice as she dug the dagger in and twisted.
Sparks emitted from Pandora's side and she screamed, smacking Ruby hard to push her away, but the damage was already done as a long red gash emerged within Pandora's garish green and pink dress that looked as though made of pixels and diamonds. The place where Ruby struck now resembled a TV with a dent in it.
Lexi gave a sheepish smile, her body still caught in the magic bubble but she could still speak
"You still wanna hear my joke?" Lexi smirked
"I don't wanna hear... another word from you, you vile THING!!" Paradox shrieked.
Ruby got back up and struck Pandora with a swift left hook to the cheek.
Pandora slid back on her feet, Lexi breaking out of the magic hold thanks to Ruby's thunderous blow. She'd wink and nod to Ruby for the assist.
"Wh-What was the joke?" Ruby asked
"Oh, I was just going to say I prefer Spotify..." Lexi grinned
"...I don't get it" a dumbfounded Ruby replied.
Lexi just sighed, but wasn't entirely surprised.
Emerald followed closely behind Vektor as the two of them were able to storm the castle with exceptional speed -- Cloak and Dagger staying behind to defend them while Emerald swatted away a couple more advancing guards who seemed to be generating from under the very ground they marched upon.
"So you're really not going to tell me?" Emerald exclaimed breathlessly as she fought on, Vektor seemingly more concentrated on the radiant sword and Paradox in the distance, "...what he was talking about?"
"It's ancient history, Emerald!" Vektor sighed with a dismissive grunt, smashing a foe who stood in his way. "Now cover me, I'm going in!"
"Vek--!!" Emerald started, her focus detracted by a strong grip that held her tightly from behind. "Ugh!! H-Help!!"
Vektor was too ensnared in his own greed though, and he had his sights set on the radiant sword. This may have been his only chance to get it back while Paradox and Pandora were both distracted, although he noticed Paradox getting every closer to the sword in the large stone.
Pandora's body sizzled with green lightning as she'd press her hand to the wound bestowed upon her by Ruby. A gathering of magestic sparkles would swirl around the wound and begin to heal it as she shook her head and tsked.
Sapphire looked on, seemingly frozen with indecision as her glance darted back and forth between the sword in the stone, and her two allies.
"Go!!" Ruby said reassuringly, seeing Sapphire in doubt, "we'll handle this!"
Sapphire just nodded, still unsure but she wanted to get to the sword before ...
"Got it!" a growling voice cackled, as Paradox's metallic black hand reached onto the sword handle and firmly pulled on it.
Lexi and Ruby both looked up nervously at the sight while Pandora simply smriked, confident that her side had won. But perhaps it wasn't that easy...
Paradox was able to yank on the sword, causing bright white flashes of lightning to crackle out but that was about as far as he would get, the sword remaining stubbornly plastered to the stone in which it dwelled.
"Well?" Paradox groaned, looking towards his sister, "A little help?"
"Come now, dear brother..." Pandora giggled, "I thought you were the strongest warrior in the universe... surely you don't need MY help..."
Paradox didn't even dignify the sassiness with a response, instead opting to continue pulling on the all powerful weapon.
Sapphire, despite being within a few feet didn't even move, she simply stared and watched, heart racing, her impulses telling her to run even though she was so close. Paradox, for what it was worth, didn't even pay attention to her, his entire being was focused only on the sword or else he would have had a shot at dispatching with the still and silent blue haired woman.
Ruby and Lexi were about to intervene when they both found themselves floating off the ground, gravity seemingly disengaged as they were surrounded by the same green lightning that seemed to pilot everything which Pandora controlled.
"Now to deal with you clowns!" Pandora sneered, lifting the two women higher and higher.
Ruby and Lexi struggled to move, but only little shifts here and there occurred within the seemingly inpenetrable lightning prison. Not only that but there was an increasibg sensation of constriction on both of their bodies as if they were about to be tied together.
Lexi felt it again, the electrical tingling but it wasn't from Pandora's lightning, it was a surge she was too familiar with.
"R-Ruby ..." Lexi grunted, her lips barely able to part as the paralysis was still battling against her own will and the white sparks that threatened to rip her armor apart amidst the green sparks of Pandora's spell. "Y-You ... m-may ... want to ... st-stand back..."
Ruby looked over a bit worriedly. Wasn't the interdimensional hero's name SHRINKGirl? Why then, did she appear to be ... growing?
The struggle between Paradox and the radiant sword continued as he pulled on it harder and harder, seeming to get pulled along with it.
"What IS this infernal madness?!" Paradox asked before suddenly another hand gripped for the handle, but it wasn't Sapphire.
"Hello, old friend" Vektor sneered, gripping the sword and yanking it towards him. This time the sword swung like a seesaw in his direction but remained lodged deep in whatever rock Paradox and Pandora had encased it in.
"You never give up, huh?" Paradox growled, "once I grab this sword ... I will strike you down and I WILL expose the truth..."
"You lack the strength and might to wield this sword!" Vektor snapped back, yanking it further in his direction while Paradox offered an opposing pull.
Pandora, seemingly fed up with the whole thing, turned away, snapping her fingers and dropping Ruby and Lexi harshly on their butts. Lexi seemed to be her normal size again after having started to expand but her body was still sparking, white electric sparks coursing through her as she lay there, breathing faster and faster. Ruby leaned over her in concern once she was able to move.
"Lexi? Lexi?" Ruby asked softly, trying to graze Lexi's armor around the chest area but getting zapped by a wayward spark. "...what the hell?"
"Will ONE of you numb nuts just get the damn sword?!" Pandora shrieked, beginning to float up towards them. "Don't you idiots even remember how it works? It's not about strength, it's about purity of heart..."
"Surely you don't still believe the fairy tales, sister" Paradox sneered, yanking the sword back towards him and holding the handle close. Vektor wouldn't budge though and he would shove the sword back in his direction, neither one of them able to dislodge the sword entirely.
"Gee, what a shock..." Ruby muttered under her breath, while trying to tend to Lexi who was slowly getting to her knees despite being surrounded by a white glow, "...they're both too big of assholes to get the sword out"
Lexi would nod weakly, a small giggle emitting from her despite her condition. She'd try to stand but fall back onto one knee, Ruby there to brace her, feeling intense static cling coming from her just by being near.
"Lexi... Lexi, don't push yourself, please..." Ruby sighed.
Pandora was levitating herself up closer and closer towards the action. At this moment the sword was the focus of the two warring men, Vektor and Paradox, the sinister sorceress Pandora and the young but weary Sapphire who watched on. Finally one voice cried out and broke through the chaos.
"ENOUGH!!"
Sapphire took both hands and placed them firmly on the sword, sparks shooting out in both directions to jar Vektor and Paradox' hands from it. They both looked over in shock.
"I have had ENOUGH of the fighting!!" Sapphire screamed, yanking the sword out slowly but effectively. It didn't look to be an easy feat and the strain on her face was evident but she was able to accomplish that which neither of the supposed "strongest warriors" could.
Paradox looked over at Sapphire with disdain and while Vektor felt some displeasure for not having the sword himself, he felt some selfish pride that his side had "won"
"Ha ha! You had it in you all along Sapphire, I knew it!" Vektor proclaimed, sounding like a proud father for a moment, "we all came here to rescue you!"
"Oh don't make me laugh..." Paradox growled, "you came here for the sword and nothing more ... you would've left her to rot if I agreed to trade the sword for her!"
"That's not true!" Vektor snapped
"ENOUGH!!" Sapphire repeated, slamming the sword on the ground and repelling both men in a flash of light.
Lexi smiled a bit, happy to see Sapphire taking charge for a change. Pandora seemed less pleased.
"We didn't get this far to be brought down by the likes of YOU, blue girl!" Pandora shrieked, firing off a blast of green lighting that struck the sword's former holder, the stone. The lightning coursed through the surrounding structure, creating cracks in the ground. "Hope that sword gives you the ability to fly..."
With a mocking wave, Pandora vanished to a safe vantage point, poofing Paradox over with her on a tower across from the action.
"SAPPHIRE!" Lexi shrieked, her own electrical polarity sapping her strength and setting her back down for the moment but that which weakened her shortly made her stronger as a determined scowl struck her face as fast as the very lightning that surrounded her.
"Oh NOW you use magic to help me ..." Paradox said sarcastically standing beside his sister as they watched the spire begin to crumble with Vektor and Sapphire atop it.
"Hey just be glad I helped at all..." Pandora said with another flippant roll of her eyes, "and what was THAT anyway? You and Vektor have a petty little measuring contest over the damn sword? What happened to taking back our kingdom?!"
"In due time ... we're not out of moves yet, assuming they survive this..." Paradox smirked
"You don't mean ...?" Pandora asked, seeming a bit worried
"I do ... release the KRAZACKEN!" Paradox chuckled with a malicious shout into the skies
"...the ... what?" Ruby asked, hearing the word echo throughout the palace walls. It was then the tremors from earlier grew even stronger "Oh shit..."
Lexi just remained kneeling there, her state constantly cycling through weakened, stronger, angry, weakened, sad and angry.
"Hold on!!" Sapphire shrieked, jamming her sword into a castle wall and sticking it through as a means to stay aloft but not for long as a large black claw big enough to hold her and Vektor swiped them both up.
Whatever this creature was was both large AND fast seemingly vanishing in a streak of black lightning before re-emerging, the size of a dragon-like behemoth, 2 sharp indented claws, one closed tight holding Sapphire and Vektor, its eyes a bright yellow like a rabid werewolf and its teeth crackling with electricity as it got ready to incinerate the two girls, Lexi and Ruby down below.
Before the Krazacken could finish its attack though it cried out in pain, its firm scaly fist opening to reveal the source of its pain, Sapphire -- who cleverly gouged the creature with the sword, causing white sparks to fly out and sending the massive beast into a state of confusion.
"Excellent Sapphire!" Vektor said, now reaching for her hand, "Now give me the sword, and I'll finish it off..."
Sapphire gave Vektor a bit of an uneasy look.
"Come then..." Vektor said, a bit huffy, "give me the sword ... I can strike the beast in the heart, we can end this ... you WANT to end this, don't you?"
As Vektor stood impatiently imposing himself over Sapphire, the Krazacken and its menacing face loomed behind, eyes glowing.
"You guys, look out!" Ruby screamed, as a couple of zaps of lightning firing off from the creatures eyes. Sapphire ducked down but Vektor lunged forward, not to save Sapphire but to try and grab the sword. He'd miss and fall a decent distance before clattering onto the castle ground by Lexi and Ruby.
Ruby looked at Vektor, his armor scuffed and his face beat red with pure anger.
Sapphire just looked down while standing atop the claw of the Krazacken at Vektor and his disheveled self. Even in the chaos, she was able to perceive what had just happened. He didn't care about saving her ... he just wanted the sword. Pandora was right.
Lexi even gave Vektor a bit of an angry stare.
"L-Lady Lexington?" Vektor asked, a more soft concern in his voice
"Why don't you stop worrying about ME and the damn SWORD and help your friends out?!" Lexi shrieked, lightning still emitting from her body as Vektor widened his eyes, backing away a bit and simply watching.
"Lexi what are you saying?!" Vektor whimpered, "I've been trying to help us all fight this battle safely and restore honor..."
"I don't want to hear about HONOR anymore!! As far as I'm concerned the only one with any honor in this whole messed up dimension is HER!" Lexi shouted, pointing up towards Sapphire who blushed a bit at the statement.
"Hey... what about me?" Ruby shrugged
"Yeah ... you're not bad ... and your cool blonde sister's a'ight too" Lexi smirked
"Look ..." Vektor sighed, as if trying to bargain his way out of something, "I don't know how things are done where you're from, Lexi ... but here in Quartzaria ... the strongest survive ... power does all the talking ... the citizens want to feel that they're safe and weakness will not be tolerated..."
"Ummm you guys?" Sapphire whimpered, making a weak leap off of the Krazacken's claw as it slammed it down on the ground. She narrowly avoided being squished and instead tumbled against the wall in a heap, the sword also clattering there next to her. Vektor briefly eyed the sword like a hungry cat eyeing a mouse.
"Vektor, if you touch that sword..." Ruby sneered, "you'll be showing your true colors now more than ever..."
Vektor just sighed and crossed his arms.
"Ruby ...?" Lexi asked, now actually levitating off the ground a bit, her armor starting to show serious signs of fatigue as it wailed and bent against the strength of the lighting that surrounded her like strands of fiber, "You might wanna get out of the way hon"
"Huh?" Ruby asked, simply stepping to the side as Lexi had a clear path at both Vektor and the Krazacken behind him.
"I'm about to ... as they say in MY dimension ... kick some ass" Lexi sneered
"His or ... HIS?" Ruby asked, pointing to both the gargantuan creature and Vektor's trembling form.
"....both"
Giantess World
