Ch.67: Floral Skies; Drzost
“And now, Line up! And staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart launching!” The announcer shouted, waving his arms wildly, creating small red and purple explosions of smoke.
With that, the first one to act was Rez’s team. Launching a large kai-may in the shape of a bell that came hurtling at our base. But the moment it reached the highest point it sprouted arms with helicopter blades that spun into blue disks, keeping it in the air in the middle between our bases. The bell shimmered with a pulsing blue light that highlighted all the panels that made up the thing.
*RQSHHHGHHTTTTSSS*
A loud screech filled the air like a loud speaker. “With this we’ve won! HAHAHAHA! I won’t lose!” Rez shouted in joy over a loudspeaker. Pouring out of the bell came several shiny paper airplanes that circled the bell like hornets protecting a hive.
What the hell are we going to do? Our bases are stuck facing each other, we can’t pull off our plan like this! Looking around my eyes instantly moved over at the launcher. it sat on gears with a crank wheel that looked connected to the gears, raising an eyebrow, I looked at Phoebe who smirked. We still got a way!
“HAHAHAH! With this you’re forced to play my game! Win or lose, I’ll have shown the world a new way of playing! A better way!” the pixie known as Rez formerly known as Caitlin shouted. She knew her actions taking almost two years would take fruit. She was happy to begin a new age of Kai-mays and ridding it of its trash history as she led the world into a freer age.
Taking a seat, Rez adjusted her case attached to her meabhrúchán, four holes in the backs of all pixies, a sour reminder how the pixie race never sought to move past their loss. Content to live aimless lives of melancholic play and pretend. She knew that their life was poured into them but yet they never tried to regain their former glory. Tightening her connections with her aniacushla to the pins in her meabhrúchán, she would just have to be better than them. Evolve like the gnomes did, change like the world around her did.
“It should be about time for them to send their first merger attempts at play. Even if they prepared the same scalpels I did, I highly doubt they’ll push past my defense. Heheheh!” She told no one in particular.
And just as she mentioned the other team they did send up their first volley of Kai-mays straight at her Tronic Maz. Smiling with delight to see how her hovering base matched up to the gnomic bases of old. “Hopefully I can match even one tenth of their might!” Rez shouted with a gleeful smile to her empty base.
Phoebe’s kai-may squad was one that looked like a harpoon head with tear drops on the sides, followed by small pair of flying crescent shaped ones and one that just oddly circled their base.
“Odd…Phoebe is actually thinking this is some base defense game?! I didn’t think of that!” squeezing with her aniacushla, her case opened, pulling out a note pad to write on. “Note to self, add tower defense to game then add more tricks so Phoebe can’t claim copyright infringement.” She tapped her chin as he watched Phoebe’s pitiful attempt to improve her game before she could. If that wasn’t following the others then they might’ve made a few leads and this one was merely waiting for its lead to come out.
Looking back at the three approaching her secondary base, the Tronic Maz, she watched as the two following the lead split into four, making eight smaller kai-mays. The grouping of twins flew around the lead probably acting as a shield but the moment one of her kai-may v2.Oh shot at the lead, one of the eight was shocked by its lead. This sent the twin rocketing into the one that got approached, hitting it and exploding into a cloud of glowing red powder. This did destroy her own kai-may but since the Tronic Maz could just produce more, Rez found this to be a weakening effort at best.
This process happened again and again, filling the air with more clouds of powder until the lead was alone.
“You’d have to do better than that Weebez!” Rez shouted as their lead was being approached by more of her seeker kai-mays.
But the moment it got close to the left over powder floating in the air, the lead shot out a bolt of blue lightning. The powder bulged, swelling into a giant cloud that seemed to surge with blue lightning. It chased after the lead with cloudy tendrils while the lead began to circle her Tronic Maz faster and faster. The chasing cloud began to expand further swallowing up her floating fortress only allowing glimpses of it as blue lightning raced around. The worst part was the cloud only kept growing until even her base and view was blocked out by red cloud.
“What the dagen ear! She’s ruining my show and stomping on my chance to advertise my game! What even is this powder and how is Phoebe alone doing this?! My team made sure to keep them locked away!” That’s when some of the powder got into her mouth. “Sweet?! They put fairy sticks into them!? Shit!” She knew that fairy sticks, though a sweet snack that even gave some mana would act differently if magic was applied to them. Acting too soon before she could figure out what it did would make for a fatal mistake. Making her a fool to all that saw her! Making me a fool and setting my hard work back another year!
You annoying cockatrice dung! If you think I’ll sit with my wings smashed then you’ve got another thing coming!
“Think that pissed her off?” I asked Phoebe as we loaded a few kai-mays into the other two launchers.
“You know it! But let’s finally start the event we came to experience!” Phoebe announced with a proud smirk.
Placing our weapons on their launching tubes we each grabbed a level before nodding at each other before pulling them. A little nozzle poured a silvery fluid underneath the tube and onto a square plate which started glowing a pale gray as it absorbed the fluid. After a few moments, a gear moved quickly with a ticking sound, sending a small arm with a metal bulb hitting the metal plate from the side.
The plate flashed before shooting the kai-mays skyward with a soft hissing sound like a ribbon quickly flicking in wild wind. they went flying in opposite directions while a trail of glitter followed behind them that sparked softly in the night sky. Each kai-may was made to look like a fairy’s wings, spinning masks, one was even in the shape of kidd deco. A few others looked like flattened air planes, a couple looked like a flower put through a kaleidoscope with its petal like wings twirling and changing shape as they flew. but we saved a few, these were more tubed shaped like a pencil or a missile, much less pretty and more built for a quick reaction.
The ones we shot into the air flew away from the bases, slowly getting farther and farther away from this mess of a reminder. Hopefully everyone here will see these and not be forced to see their past as some game to forget about. I couldn't help but smile at the work we put into these somewhat magical petals and I can't wait to see what happens next!
luckily Phoebe put her hand on my shoulder signaling me that our show was about to begin! Turning back to the group I launched, the lead was shaped like a fish made of interlocking triangles with scales that sparkled like a rainbow, it had three fairy wing kai-mays following it and one frowning mask chasing the fish. The frowning mask suddenly caught up to the rainbow fish, flying in front of it as it released a black mist of purple embers that seemed to swallow the fish whole, hiding away the color it had in its misty shroud.
after the fish was completely gone in the mist, the frowning mask only seemed to grow bigger before the fairy wings that were following the fish dived into the mist. that's when rays of light began piercing the dark mist and something surged forward, denting the mask until cracks began forming around its edges. a moment longer and it pushed against the mask again but this time pushing the mask forward as a large crack grew through the face, light began shining through the cracks until the mask was swallowed in light.
SNAP
The sound echoed across the dungeon as the frowning mask broke in two, disintegrating into white sparks that fell like rain. The moment the sparks hit the ground, the barren dirt shuffled slightly as something small poked through the dirt. while the thing that broke through the mask zipped forward in a beam of golden light, snaking its way through the dark sky as diamond shaped glints fell from its movement. The light coiled into an S before its light dimmed, revealing a long snake like body with scales that glowed like a blazing flame. it had three pairs of wings that were like blue burning torches with white flames that gushed like rushing water, filling the sky around it with so much light that you’d think a mini sun was born. its head was pointed with frills making its head look like a star from the front, it was no longer just a colorful fish, it was now more like a dragon!
looking back at Phoebe, who only gave a proud smirk. she didn’t have some inspiration did she? well… hopeful this works though. looking behind her I saw her own group of kai-mays had formed a running silver giant humanoid who had a spear with little golden bells attached to the sides. It had a skirt made of twelve smaller little planes that swung almost like tassels or jewelry as the figure ran further towards the horizon, glowing a soft blue. while each step made red rings rain down from its feet as it shifted its weight and its body swayed like a gentle ocean wave. Seeing this made me think of what people might’ve considered a humanoid god, slowly dancing away, creating light and stepping on the air itself. maybe by seeing this, all the sprites and people would be filled with some joy? I mean this was basically fireworks and kites fused with magic! but oddly enough i couldn't hear the announcer any more, wasn't he supposed to be giving a play by play?
But that’s when I heard a loud screech of a megaphone turning on.
“Hello?” *THUMP-THUMP* “I think my stream steal was a success? the light’s blinking soooooooooooooooo!” rang a familiar voice. “Thought you could send me packing by that little cloud!? well too bad! this gnome will never go down without!~”
a strange rumbling began roaring from within the powder cloud as the dungeon itself began shaking, sending us hopping and stumbling into the air like someone took the floor and flipped it into the sky! As we fell backwards, the cloud exploded in red and orange fire, burning away the powder and turning it into a black cloud of glitter. Then rays of gray light poured out, quickly spinning and wildly moving like aimless chickens before all making jerking turns, each one lining up on Phoebe’s silver giant.
OH shit! Turning to Phoebe I jumped on top of her trying to protect her just as the last ray of light merged into the others, a pulse of energy raced across the light before it slammed into the silver giant. The moment the energy hit her kai-may, the giant god erupted into a blazing explosion that not only ripped it apart but made the pieces glow with crimson veins before detonating too!
heat and wind crashed into our base, i could feel its pressure both crushing my body and trying to rip me off phoebe and send us both flying. my shoulders and back felt as if a thousand race cars were all grinding their tires into my body while a thousand people punched, elbowed and kicked my sides. The only thing I could do was charge as much mana into my body as I could while my back sizzled from the heat that slashed across me.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
The wind howled, the earth shook and roared as I held on to Phoebe screaming at the burning and whipping pain. Screens popped open that I could just barely see, Warning, was written in the ones I could see but all I focused on was protecting Phoebe. I had to make sure she was ok! Please don’t be dead! Why Are you trying to Kill her! YOU HAVE TO MAKE OUT OK NOT EVEN A BROKEN FINGER!
After the blast finally died down and all that was left in the air was a burnt ozone, Phoebe moved, looking around with a frantic face. “Oliver!” She shouted as she lifted him off her body. His body lay there with large dark holes and long gashes down his back, it looked like fire bit parts of his body. orange and blue energy floating away from the holes
“NO! OLIVER YOU HAVE TO BE OK!” She shouted fueled in panic, forgetting this was just an incarnation, she heard his screams and that’s all she could hear echo in her head on replay. She shook him hoping this was just a knock out, His back never looked so small before. “NO! HE’S OK! HE’LL WAKE UP and………….”
“HAHAHA! Did you see what my technology can do! No one can stop the advancement of the future! No one!” Rez cried over her loud speaker in a joyful voice. “Now to get rid of the other insult to my new kingdom!”
Much to Phoebe’s horror the beams of lights began moving again, turning quickly and aiming at the air Davoian she made with Oliver, his mana was used to amp up its appearance. and it was going to be destroyed, destroyed like Maeve’s town home! Ruined like Her smile!
jumping to her feet, Phoebe charged as much mana into her hands, into her very body, glowing a bright silver, brighter and brighter until she was only a glowing ball of light. eyeing the weird base bell thing in the air, she saw how it was opened up and scope like machines flew around it, producing the lights. the flying bell was now some sci-fi cannon like spaceship, its angular body made up of opened panels and glowing lights.
it was a big gun in her eyes. Her hair was now glowing a bright white, flowing in the air like she was in water, she raised both hands and- “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
A beam of silver magic bigger than her own incarnation surged forward, cutting through the air and announcing its incoming with a raging roar. as the silver beam rushed into the sky, foot by foot, it made contact with the first three scoped machines hovering around the cannon. the machines were quickly swallowed up, crumbling within seconds of being submerged in the beam, each one making a crushing popping sound as they were destroyed.
“What the- a direct attack! That’s not fair!” Rez shouted as the scoped machines all turned to aim their lights at Phoebe’s magical mayhem. The cannon following the lights turned to face the beam but Phoebe waved and bent her fingers, making the beam launch several smaller beams at more spotlight machines. the smaller beams made contact and making the machines point their lights everywhere else, making the cannon fidget like a broken automaton.
“That shouldn’t be happening! Fine then! Manual control it is!” Rez angrily roared. the cannon froze before quickly aiming at the beam, a few of her metal kai-mays flew into the cannon’s sides as its barrel glowed. The beam had destroyed six more machines at this point and was nearing its way to the cannon mere feet away from vaporizing the cannon when it fired back its own beam that almost matched Phoebe’s own in size.
Phoebe’s beam was stopped as the cannon’s own was beginning to push back, the pressure from the cannon hit Phoebe like a tidal wave, crushing down on her body until she fell to her knees. her arms were shaking as she pushed even her own muscle into her beam, yet still the cannon kept hammering back her beam, bringing it closer and closer to her base. her arms were forming cracks and small pieces began falling off her body.
“NO! O-OLIVER I CAN’T LET T-THIS GO ON! I- AGGGGGGHH!” The pressure finally hit her as her arms made a popping sound and her incarnation started splintering and falling apart. this sent stabbing and piercing pain through her body as warning boxes appeared, warning of imminent incarnation failure and the process of being pulled out had begun. The beam pushed closer and closer; it was now a mere foot away from the base, ready to cut through it and produce a new landmark.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAArrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAggggggggggghhhhHHH!”
A roar exploded, filling the air with a burn pressure, feeling Phoebe with the sense of rage and pain. the winged snake that Oliver considered a dragon bolted into view as a blinding orange light began to burn the kai-may. its fiery wings sparked, changing into a darker hue until it was transformed into a dark crimson almost black jet like funnel. The black fires began spinning around the blazing kai-mai like miniature rocket jets, faster and faster, blurring into skirts of fire. The blazing dragon hurtled straight into the floating cannon, the impact twisting metal and tackled into moving.
“NOooooOOOoooooOooOOOooo! Stop it! Don't hurt my Tronic Maz!” Cried Rez to the point her voice started to sound raspy.
But the dragon didn't stop as it pushed its way into the cannon, the metal screeching like a tortured animal, it kept going until the dragon was fully inside where it began making a dim light. The light quickly grew harsher and brighter until a loud snapping sound rang out and the cannon and the dragon turned into a blinding flash. Lighting up the night sky, making everything look like the noon sun woke up.
Once the light slowly faded, the cannon was still in the air with a large melted hole in its side. It slowly turned to face Phoebe as its cannon began to charge another blast.
“Yeeess! It's more durable than a stupid peta-”
*CrAcK-CrUnCh*
The panels began to dent and pull apart, green stems punched holes throughout the cannon. Some growing thicker, pulling apart the cannon and uprooting its electrical wires and frame, others wrapping around the barrel until it began to bend it backwards. The cannon now looked like a crumpled up ball of tinfoil with green stems growing from it. The stems began to swell and bud, large red, green, purple and blue flowers popped into existence.
The cannon floated there a few moments longer, like a floating island garden, flowers swaying in the breeze before slowly falling from its place in the air. crashing into the ground like a large boulder, smaller parts crumbled off while its barrel snapped off, crashing into the ground like a sinking ship. This created two small mountains between the bases, one was the body the other was the barrel.
Phoebe sat there, eyes full of shock as she wondered What that was and how’d the dragon was able to act on its own. “Did he?!” Phoebe said as she turned around. There Oliver had sat up on his knees, his body slouched forward as his head looked up to the sky. He had protected her and this made Phoebe’s heart heat up as tears dropped from her eyes. with that Oliver’s incarnation started fading into a blue light, leaving nothing behind. “Hopefully he was alright after this.” She mumbled to herself before her eyes closed.