As he was dragged away to die, UA stared back at
Krakken, "Don't let them take you this easily! Fight them
every step of the way! Fight them!"
Seconds after the door closed, Krakken snapped his
necklace with his teeth. Holding it in his mouth, he
slipped his Crystal into his hand. All it took to destroy
the shackles were a few blows. "I'm sorry, UA. You would
just slow me down. Oh, please forgive me." Krakken wiped a
few tears from his eyes. Suddenly, he paused and looked at
the tears on his hand, at what they had done to him... And
resolve filled his sorrow-torn face.
Reality 84
Kisutsu pulled Nity down a long passage way.
"Where are you taking me?" asked Nity.
Kisutsu looked at him with shame in his eyes and didn't say a
word.
"Look you got the wrong guy, I'm not from around here--"
"What do you mean?" asks Kisutsu.
"I mean I am not thw Nity from this reality or whatever it
is, I come from a place where the CFs are still strong and
the Vile are weak, where I would NEVER betray the Crystal
Fighters and neither would you."
Kisutsu stops "Oh thank the gods! You ARE the real Nity, it's
me Kisutsu, they same thing has happened to me I just
appeared here today like you"
"Yeah right I wish."
"It's true!"
"Then why are you working for the Vile?"
"I don't know I have just been playing along so I don't get
killed."
"Then we got to find away out of here!" Kisutsu nods his
agreement.
A figure comes up behind the two "What's wrong did you
forget the way to mines Kisutsu?" Lavaz asks a dangerous hint in his tone.
"No"
"Then get the prisoner there now, Dolomite wants to see you."
"Sure I will hurry up.." Kisutsu pulls Nity around the corner
where there is steel door, cries of anguish can be heard from
behind it. "I will be back for you tonight."
"You better be, whatever is behind that door doesn't sound to
inviting" says Nity.
"I'm sorry." Kisutsu unlocks the door with a key and opens
it. Nity walks in and the door closes.
The site is horrible, in the rocky cliffs and holes, skinny
overworked and dirty slaves pick away at the rocks with
their rusty tools and the sounds of whips crack the air.
A Vile comes up to Nity. "Oh goody a new worker to break in"
says the Vile and his whip lashes out at Nity's back with a
thundering clap.
"Aggggghhhhh" the sound escapes Nity's throat.
Reality 4
Ziyaluah had never spoken a lie, it was against her morals
and those of her mother, but it was hard to speak of
something that she was now so ashamed of, "I..yes..I had a
part in that." then she lifted a hand to hold off any
remark, "It was wrong and I'm here to fix it." she hoped
that her voice didn't betray how hopeless the situation
seemed. She knew she didn't have enough power to shift
more than one of the Crystal Fighters back to their own
reality, let alone all of them. How many were there? 12?
14? She could barely shift herself, but she couldn't ask
for help from the others, they were completely loyal to her
mother. At that thought she realized that she was betraying
the trust that had been placed in her when she was a
circle-member, and she was now disloyal to the Circle as
well as her own mother. Such a thought was so painful to
her that she almost stopped explaining what had happened to
the crystalline entity before her. She did her best to
focus on the problem at hand, the only two solutions she
could figure out were to find some of the CFs with strong
psi powers, or some with enough technical expertise to solve
the problem using technology, or maybe even a combination of
the two.
Ganthet stares at the woman with his normal serious face.
"I...I trust you," he says. Something about her seemed
right. "Are the others trapped in strange realities as well?"
He swings his fist behind him and connects with the nose of
one of the Vile Four. They'd finally taken a notice to
them. He focuses and a wave of harmonic energy
surrounds the pair. "That should keep them out." It was
fortunate, this was a byproduct of his enchanted energy
field, he might not have been able to do this before.
Reality 5
Entropy and Tala wandered aimlessly through the ship, not
knowing one part from the next. The ship's design was
extremely alien, almost looking as if it had been grown,
rather than built. As they passed a row of long,
blister-like containers in one hallway, one suddenly burst
open, sending a dissected alien corpse to the floor,
leaking a strange fluid. Both Tala and Entropy jumped back,
not only startled by the break in the silence, but disgusted
by the method by which it had emerged.
"Good god, what the hell is this thing?" Entropy said,
leaning in to examine it a bit. Dipping a finger in the
solution, he tasted it, then quickly spat it out.
"What is it?"
"Not sure, but it tastes like some kind of acid. These
people were probably dissolved in transit. What a waste."
Giving a quick genuflect he got up and continued
on, followed closely by Tala. Unbeknownst to her but
knownst to him, he had picked up a small chip hanging from
the alien's neck...
Reality 13
Tala waited, leaning against a large, framed mirror. It had
been in her family for years, and this was where she always
went when things were going wrong. She waited for Entropy to
get back. He knew more of the men, and he would only pick
the best, she hoped.
She turned to glance into the mirror, not surprised at all
to see both sadness and anger warring in her eyes. It had
been this way always...hadn't it? She reached out to stroke
the mirror's surface. ~Say a blessing for me, Mom. I could
really use your help now.~ A sound behind her made her turn,
and she nodded to Entropy.
"Did you find enough men?" He sighed, and shook his head.
"No one wishes to travel to that realm again, not after so
many losses last time. It appears there will be only two of
us, my Queen. You..and, I."
She tilted her head to the side, not surprised by
this..well, not too much anyway. Straightening, she
beckoned him to her side.
"You know there is no one else I would rather fight with,
Entropy."
She took his hand, then once again stroked the mirror.
This time, the polished silver glass became more of a ebony
color, swirling with shades of a deepest midnight hue.
She squeezed his hand lightly, then stepped into the
shadow portal, already knowing how to control the crystal,
which was odd..considering this was what..only the second..
Now wait, where had that come from?
Reality 14
UA lands the ship and heads to the door. He looks back at
the CFs, then heads out. He falls. He lands on the ground
hard, then turns back to the ship. Gone. He looks around.
He sees the remains of the castle and tower in a barren
wasteland that was once Crystalia.
"DAMN IT! I was having a dream in a reality! What the #$@ is up with
this?!"
Reality 4
Ziyaluah titled her head to acknowledge the harmonic energy,
she hadn't noticed before that there was anything else going
on. She wasn't used to this type of existence. "Yes...the
Crystal Fighters..odd name, that is what you call yourselves
isn't it? The ones from your reality have been tossed into
other realities. I can identify them from the other
millions of 'others' that they have. But like I said..I
don't have the strength to bring them all back to their own
reality."
Reality 84
Pick axe in hand, Nity was thrown down into the deep cavern
of rocky layers where he met with horror the faces of
billions of tortured souls all in continuous motion of
picking at the rock around them.
~I wonder what the Vile have these people digging for?~
thought Nity. He looked down the cavern at hundreds upon
hundreds of hungry slaves of species he'd see before and many he hadn't
species.
Then the whip cracked against Nity's back again. His muscles
tensed and his throat hurt as he held back the scream of
pain. "Get to work" a vile said from behind.
Nity turned to the rocky walls of the corridor and slowly
picked away at it with the axe. The whip struck him three
more times, each crack of the whip was followed by a holler
of pain. Nity dropped to his knees. "Faster!" the Vile
said then turned and walked away.
"Are you okay?" a sweet voice asked as the hands reached down
and help Nity up.
"Yeah I....I think so" Nity answered looking to the familiar
face of a woman, her eyelids were sewn closed over her eyes.
"Your eyes what did they do to you are you okay"
"It's all right I am blind anyways don't worry about me, your
new I can tell by the way that Vile picked on you." said the
woman with a very familiar face that Nity couldn't put a
finger on.
"Yeah I just got here.." replied Nity.
"Come meet my friends, we stay just a little ways down the
mines" she led him with one hand while the other brushed
against the wall so she could find her way.
Nity looked at her face, that familiar face, he would have
realized it to be that of Rupay's if so much pain and
suffering hadn't been molded into it.
Reality 666
They were going to kill him.
Old UA hung limply from the rough arms of the guards
holding him. Glancing upwards with despair in his eyes, he
wrinkled his brow in annoyance at the coarse ropes binding
his hands. The champion of time long past looked at what
appeared to be a mirror of some sort. No, wait, it was some
gate. There was something on the other side of it...
another world... HIS world.
"It was an experiment, really." UA whipped his head
towards the booming voice. Apparently, it had come from
the one on the throne; the king. "We had never intended for
you to come through. None of us wanted our world to be
polluted with pale-skinned feebs. But now it has. Never
again."
Pointing a strange object towards the gateway, the King
grinned in triumph. Distorting dangerously, the image
warped and... shattered? UA's world was no more. "The
great thing about portals like this is that they can lean in
and destroy either side with the right... provocation." The
blue-skinned ruler gestured towards the strange object.
"Now the only thing left on that side is pure emptiness.
Anything that is not empty is immediately destroyed when it
encounters it." A smile formed on the Aldezaarian king's
lips, "Guards. Take him to the portal."
Realization finally sunk in, "You-- you destroyed my--
now you're going to..." His face wracked with ruin, UA
wailed the cry of the impotently desperate. He thrashed
wildly, letting panic grip his mind in shocking talons.
Something hard slammed UA in his lower back, sending him to
his knees.
The ancient hero felt himself being dragged across the
cold floor, but he could do nothing. He braced himself for
the hurtle into nothingness.
"No, not yet. I want to do this personally."
UA felt strong hands grip his back, preparing to hurl
him into the gateway.
Krakken's crystal pierced his father's back with ease.
Writhing in his death throes, the king fell forward. UA
frantically tried to avoid his falling body, but was dragged
along by the corpse's reaching arms. They both fell through
to be destroyed by emptiness.
With them went Krakken's crystal.
The grievously furious prince of Aldezaar watched all of
this from the balcony. He saw him throw kill his father.
He saw UA fall with him. He saw his crystal die.
this is the real Krakken; he sneaked onto the scene. The
other one doesn't have a crystal, because he obviously
didn't become a Crystal Fighter.
Krakken's body spasmed in agony as the crystal was
annihilated. Before he could completely recover, the archer
on his left fired, skewering his side. Spinning around in
pain, Krakken was hit in the back twice by archers on his
right.
He could dimly make out the sound of the shafts breaking
as he fell. As Krakken blacked out, he remembered one
thing: It had all been for naught. UA was dead, his crystal
was gone... Wait, there was some point. His father was
dead, once and for all. He passed into unconsciousness with
a bittersweet smile on his lips.
As the archers walked over to finish him, the glass dome
above the throne room shattered, a cutlass-bearing man
letting his weight break the glass. That man had blue skin
and white hair, like all Aldezaarians. This man looked
exactly like Krakken.
He was.
Reality 5
"I'm really beginning to hate this ship." Entropy said as
they arrived in the same corridor they'd passed a full hour
ago.
"Beginning?" Tala asked, leaning up against the wall. A
moment later, she had been absorbed by it. Entropy looked
back, wondering what that noise was. "Tala?" No response.
"Hey, Tala, where are you? This isn't the best time for
jokes, especially ones from you." Entropy said, forgetting
for a moment that this universe's Tala might be more akin to
troublemaking.
Almost instantly, he heard something. A loud series of
clanking noises were coming from the nearby hallway, like
footsteps. Peeking around, he noticed that the ship wasn't
entirely dead.
"(*^&*(%%(*%&*^*(HJKLUI_&*&GYH(&^T&GH*)" The lead
security robot
said in a strange alien language. Entropy didn't
understand, but he thought it was pretty close to "Prepare
to die, resistance is futile" By how the other 6 robots
leveled massive rifles at him and started firing. Diving
for cover as the barrage began, Entropy took another quick
look at the machines, and morphed into one, looking as close
to the lead one as possible. Maybe they'd understand him.
As the contingent rounded the corner, the leader gave off
another strange series of sounds. Entropy tried to look
convincing, pointing down the hallway. It apparently
worked, the soldiers turned and started trudging down the
hall, guns leveled to fire if so much as a speck of dust
were disturbed. Shifting back to his human form as they
went out of sight, he continued down the hallway when his
surroundings began to blur. "Oh boy, I knew I was gonna
screw up somet-" before he can finish, he is gone...
...And crash-lands in what looks like the bridge. Groaning
and pulling himself up off the floor, he quickly shifts back
to the security droid as he hears movement.
Nokomis steps out from a doorway, casually ignoring the
droid. Entropy is about to slip out so he can attack her
from behind...But before he can, he notices Tala rush out
from the other door. Entropy instantly morphs back, getting
out his sword. Nokomis smiles, looking at both her sister
and Entropy with the word "Trap" broadcasted all over her
face. An electric charge suddenly surges through Entropy,
dropping him instantly. Nokomis begins to move towards
Tala, but Entropy is able to stagger to his feet, pointing
his sword at her. "Mortuum!" He cries, firing off a blast
of black energy. It passes through Nokomis with no effect.
"What the hell?" Entropy says, moments before another
charge hits him, knocking him unconscious.
"You said it yourself, dear. I'm a literal god here, none
of your little tricks can hurt me." She turns to her
sister. "Now, if you'll just give me the Crystals, I might
not kill him."
Reality 84
Rupay stops by a group of workers picking at the wall their
backs are turned.
"Hey you guys I would like you to meet someone." says Rupay
and the others turn around.
~Oh my goddess, the Crystal Fighters they look terrible!~
think Nity as he sees there tortured features.
"I'm sorry I didn't catch your name before, what is it?" says
Rupay to Nity.
Reality 13
They appeared within the foyer of Nokomis' castle, where
she sat upon a throne, her lips curved into a most wicked
smile.
"Entropy..so good to see you again, and so soon."
Tala blanched, what was this? Seeing him again? Her gaze
went to him, and he had an almost comical expression of
shock on his face. "Nokomis, step down. You are no longer
queen. I defeated you once..I will do so again."
Nokomis just leaned back, a smirk replacing the smile.
"Oh no, sister..that wasn't you that defeated me. You know
it..and I know it."
Entropy just turned to look at her. "What does she mean?"
Tala frowned, something was very off here, she could feel
it.
"Not me, whatever do you mean?"
An obvious ploy to stall for time, Nokomis was up to
something..she didn't know what. If she could teleport now,
as well as use her magics..gods only knew what she had done.
Or was about to do. Tala nudged Entropy, this was between
them now. No need for him to hurt..unless, there was no
other way. He begin to step back, understanding what she told
him with her eyes.
"You know what I mean. You are not of this time, and I can
tell you why. Better yet...I'll show you." Nokomis gestured,
and she turned to look. A portion of the wall slid open, and
there, bound in chains, was..her?!? What in the world?
"You see, Sister? It is as I told you. You are not of this
place. Now, hand over which is mine."
Nokomis began to walk towards her, hand outstretched. The
woman in the chains, begin to struggle, once she saw what
was happening. There was something off about her.. something
wasn't right. Tala frowned, then narrowed her eyes, and
looked towards her sister.
"Truely, Nokomis..you have learned nothing. Do you think I
cannot see through your illusions? Recall, I have your
Crystal. I have what you had. I am more powerful than you
ever will be again. And. You. Will. Not. Win!"
Nokomis faltered. This wasn't how she was supposed to be
acting. Her sister was a push-over, which was she had been
able to capture her, and fool her with a shadow image of
their brother. Unles..she had been tricked. The woman she
caught wasn't Tala..just a mocked up girl. Growling, she
lunged at Tala, who easily saw it coming, and ducked. The
fight was on.
Reality 5
Eyes flaring with rage at her sister, Tala charges, whipping
her hands through an elaborate motion and firing off a blast
of pure white energy from the green crystal around her neck.
Nokomis shrinks back, avoiding the shot, and points back at
Entropy. "Do I have to repeat myself? I'll kill him if you
don't give me your Crystals. Clenching her fists in anger,
Tala reaches up to them, but Entropy's sword suddenly
appears, sticking several inches out of Nokomis's gut. She
sighs, turning to face him. "You can't hurt me, don't you
get it yet?" A wave of black lightning flashes from her
hand, hitting Entropy squarely in the chest and knocking him
into a wall.
Reality 84
"Nity" the soft long whisper of his name comes out of Tala's
mouth.
"The &*(^%^ traitor!" says Pyro darkly.
"You have a lot of nerve showing your face here." Zelda spat
as she stepped up to Nity
Nity is trying to take all in when Zelda swings her pick
axe. Nity dives back and the end of the axe just misses his
throat. Nity slams to the ground on his back but is
instantly being pulled up by UA who slams him into the wall,
then slams his face into the ground. Blood erupts from Nity's
nose and mouth.
Entropy gives Nity a savage kick to the ribs and breaks a
couple. Nity is hauled back up, this time by Krakken who
jump kicks his head. Nity flails back and hits a wall and
slumps to the ground.
Reality 5
He once again staggers to his feet, Tala
running to his side to help him.
"Are you all right?" She asks.
"Just peachy." He groans. "Get ready to hit her again,
use everything you've got. Just wait for my signal."
Entropy steps forward, smiling at Nokomis. "Hey, Anyone
ever told you how good you'd look in better..." He suddenly
morphs into a huge spotlight, a computer screen with his
face on it hooked in. "Lighting?" The spotlight floods the
bridge with light, and Nokomis covers her eyes and shrinks
away from it, trying to get to an exit.
"Tala! Now!" Tala starts chanting a few inscrutable words,
all three Crystals she has glowing with an eerie light.
Energies from all over the ship and all across null space
are called to her hands, and concentrate there, forcing
themselves into the compacted space.
And Tala released the energy.
Nokomis's form was completely atomized as the raging
energies literally took her apart piece by piece, not so
much as an ash to remind anyone of her presence. Her
Crystal landed nearby, the sole survivor of the vicious
assault. Tala picked it up, juggling it for a moment to try
and cool it off. Suddenly, however, it began glowing, along
with the other three crystals, which loosed themselves from
around her neck. The four crystals began spinning, and drew
closer, each second glowing brighter. The two of them had
to shield their eyes from the light after a few more
moments, and then, it was over.
A single crystal, black, red, green and silver, fell
into Tala's hands. "Wow." She said, looking at it in
amazement.
"Tala, look!" Entropy said, amazed. Outside the ship,
there were stars. And a sun. And one very familiar planet.
"We made it!" Entropy proclaimed the obvious. "It worked!
The crystals did it! I can get back to the real Crystalia
now!" He attempted to stop his blunder, but couldn't cover
it up before something slammed into the back of his head,
knocking him unconscious yet again.
Reality 4
"It seems we're not coming up with any ideas, maybe...
maybe I can get us to one of the other Realities and another
Crystal Fighter..hopefully then the three of us will be able
to figure something out..otherwise we're going to be stuck
there, forever." Ziyaluah said.
"We should try and locate Ultra Avenger...or Zelda...or Eme.
Any one of them would be better suited to this than I,"
says Ganthet. "I could possibly transverse realities if I
match virbrational frequencies, but the odds are extremely
unlikely."
Reality 13
Nokomis managed to recover from her fumble, and tripped her
sister. Tala saw it coming, but wasn't able to move fast
enough, and began to fall. Nokomis saw it, sprang, but
instead of landing atop her sister, she fell onto the
ground. Tala snickered, rising out behind her. She grabbed
Nokomis, hauling her to her feet.
"For what you have done, for the crimes you have committed,
you will die. And this time, there is no coming back."
The red crystal glowed, and Nokomis was slammed into the
wall on the far side of the room. She slumped to the ground,
and Tala made a gesture as if throwing a spear, while
mumbling something in her native tongue. A rod of pure
light, brighter then any sun, began flying across the room.
Tala had to shield her eyes against it's glow, as did
Entropy. Nokomis saw it, and her eyes just widened..rather
like a deer caught in the headlights of an approaching car.
It struck her through the heart, pinning her to the wall.
Tala crossed the room, and stared down at Nokomis, the
anger that had been coursing through her began to fade. In a
move that surprised Entropy, she kneeled before her,
unhooking the necklace that had the four crystals in it. She
held it before them both, and Nokomis gave a short gasp.
Tala heard it, but said nothing. This was the only way she
knew to get rid of her sister for good, and to get her
brother's crystal back.
Reality 84
"The workers are fighting," says Lavaz. "Make sure you kill
all the troublemakers."
Kisutsu nods and follows behind Lavaz towards the mines.
~I hope Nity is okay, I shouldn't have left him in there..~
thinks Kisutsu as he resets his rifle from Fatal Blast to
Stun Blast.
Reality 13
Tala begin to murmur something in a
soft, lilting tongue, an old spell that a mage had taught
her. The crystals, all of them, respond to it. The black
rose first, spinning on it's own, then the other's(her
three, and her brother's), surrounded it. As the ones
surrounding the black crystal spun faster, a humming sound
could be heard. Blur lightning passed between them, her
brother's crystal becoming it's normal blue color, while the
other's began to glow, brighter and brighter. Nokomis'
eyelids began to fall, as the lighting was directed into the
crystal. It began to glow too, and after about a minute, it
blew.
Black shards of glass flew everywhere, and Nokomis simply
faded away, as did her illusions.
Main Island
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