In town, where civilians were whipping out their phones and running for their lives (not knowing that the other threats were gone), Luna stared blankly at Xophtré. "You seem interested in my plans. What exactly would you like to know, just wondering?"
"Hm? Oh, I dunno," Xophtré answered quite blatantly, "I didn't really come in with any questions in mind, but looking at the current situation, I guess I could ask what we should do right now, while the heroes are off in the little predicaments you put them in?"
Xavis' body suddenly jolted upward again, his eyes running lines of code at a quick pace; his energy signature growing. He was almost awake.
Luna focused her scepter on him, just in case he wanted to try anything funny. "I would like for you to tell me about your past. I know my fair share about you - however, if you manage to give me a bit more info, then I might reveal my full plan to you."
The humanoid calmly leaned in and gently pushed the scepter's tip away from himself with one finger, before asking, "How much would you like to know?"
Luna scoffed, not liking Xophtré's attitude. "I want to ask why you really came for me. I know a couple of my allies are only playing nice so that they'll get the scepter. What's your story?"
"You're the one behind all this, correct? You're the one causing the dimensions to crumble; you're the one who set me free! You're the one with the power to traverse the worlds -- a power I had t≥ke# f∞om me!" He took a few seconds to breath -- not that he actually needed to, but it did seem to calm him. "You are the reason I am here. And with your power, I can get revenge on the gods... and with mine you won't have to worry about them. Now, what of my past would you like to know?"
"Okay. First question... where did you get your power from?" Luna asked greedily, wanting the source for herself.
"Hmm... I guess the best answer would be whatever freak, universe-wide event corrupted my code and turned me into what I am now," he answered. "So I'm sorry Luna, but there's no feasible way for you to attain the power I have. Next?"
Luna snickered quietly. Unless I steal it from you myself, she thought before retaining her poker face. "Next. In which dimension or point in time were you born in?" If I travel there, and then make it so that Xophtré doesn't attain the power but I do, I'll be unstoppable!
"Pfft, like I would know!" Xophtré exclaimed with a slight laugh, "Not that it matters, anyway. That world is long gone, and no power of yours is gonna bring it back. Even if you were to go 'back in time,' it wouldn't change anything. It's like that vase from earlier: erased not only from space, but time as well." He suddenly looked to his right, towards nothing in particular. "Yes, and I don't care." He was quiet for a moment, before speaking again. "Oh, I know she is." He looked back to the rabbit. "She won't, though." He leaned in slightly, arms folded behind his back. "Anything else, Luna?"
"Okay, mysterious..." Inconvenient and bothering, but mysterious.... "What was your childhood like? Your... early days?" If I can't get it from him directly, I'll have to aim for the next best thing.
He sighed, and started walking in a circle. "My childhood... it feels so long ago..." He looked off into the distance, reminiscent -- sad, even. "It was average, I guess; not entirely great, but not terrible either. My parents broke up when I was really young and I lived with my mother and eventual step-father. He was cool. I was a single child until I was nine, then was the oldest of three two years later. I had pretty bad anger issues until I was twelve, when I decided to suck it up and stop caring. I was pretty smart and did well on tests, but always had a reluctance towards homework. I was an introvert, and never had too many friends at one time. And for a long time I was an artist, and had interest in writing and game design, but was more one to just come up with ideas."
He paused for a moment to help break up this large chunk of dialogue, "Existential dread and general teenage emotions caused a bit of a depression for a little while, and I felt like I was losing myself. And then..." He abruptly stopp¢d. "Th«n..." hi; ton¿ lowered. "And then the event happened. And I began turning into what I am now. And I lost everything."
"My memory after the event is hazy, and of what little snippets I do remember, I'd much rather forget. Now the first solid thing I can really remember after all that is waking up in a prison of some kind with another voice in my head and my arm looking like this." He raised his thick, dark-gray right arm, then lowered it after a moment. "Needless to say we broke out, and began to terrorize the world as my body slowly turned into this... 'sludge.' But with every piece of myself lost, I became stronger. Until eventually my original body was gone. And then she finally showed up."
Luna faked interest, waiting until she got a name. "And then what?"
"Then-"
"aaaAAHHHHH!" Xavis yelled, his limp body surging upward before collapsing once again. With his boot up and diagnostic scan complete, he lazily placed a hand to his forehead and sat upright with a tired groan. The air started heating up.
"Well, looks like someone's finally awake," Xophtré said, looking to the hedgehog with a sharp-toothed grin.
"Huh...?" Xavis groaned, opening his eyes to see this unfamiliar speaker. "AH!!" he exclaimed once he saw Xophtré, scooching backwards across the ground in fear. Simultaneously, he saw the humanoid creature normally, but also as a black silhouette -- a hole in reality which shouldn't exist. "W-what are you!?"
Luna growled and glared at Xavis, angry by his interruption. "Silence, you bufoon! The puppets don't talk to the important people! Either be our footrest or shut up and wait until the meeting is over!" Luna's third eye was glowing through her hair, but when she looked at Xophtré, it was gone. "I apologize for him. He is not the smartest ally of mine."
"Okay, first of all--" Xavis began to retort, standing upright. However, he immediately fell to his knees as his collar discharged electricity into him. Luna chuckled as Xavis felt the electricity surge into him, shaking her head in disgust. The hedgehog panted as the shock ended, his eyes flickering. "I..." he huffed, "...am not... your ally... and..." He suddenly got a headache, grasping his forehead with a pained expression.
"Hmph. Rather defiant, isn't he?" Xophtré said, beginning to walk towards and around the captive hedgehog, "And strong, too. Not just physically, but in will. I'm honestly surprised you've managed to hold him for so long, or even to begin with."
"It'd be a different story if she didn't find me unconscious..." Xavis retorted, his headache then increasing.
"Oh really? What makes you so sure?"
"Let me out of this thing and I'll prove it by kicking both your asses!" His headache increased again.
Luna's third eye started to glow red through her hair when Xavis continued to talk, resisting the urge to blast him. "Now listen here, mutt! I could defeat you without this staff, I just happened to be lucky!"
Xophtré chuckled, grinning as he stopped in front of him. "Oh, now we can't have that. You're supposed to be the slave. The pet. We really can't have you saying or thinking such things." He moved in closer. "Or at all, for that matter~"
"What--" Xophtré placed a finger on Xavis' forehead, and the hedgehog's eyes turned to static. After a moment the finger was released, and his eyes returned. However, the normally vibrant orange of the hedgehog's irises was now dull and faded, and glazed over his pupils. His head lolled to the side with a blank, expressionless face.
Xavis Pyrovolt was, for the moment, gone.
When Luna saw Xophtre knock Xavis out, she was calmed, but slowly made a realization. "Xophtré? I don't like him either, but he's a valuable asset to the mission!"
Xophtré chuckled again, turning to Luna. "No, no, he's still every bit as valuable as before -- maybe even more now that he won't talk back, or even think of disobeying us." He folded his arms and looked back to the blank-eyed hedgehog. "Or think at all, really."
Luna propped her head against her palm, smiling. "Ooh... that sounds especially useful. I was just wishing that I could have found out a way to shut up that nuisance without killing him. I'm so tempted to just trick him into thinking that I haven't killed his loved ones and just kill that 'Melissa' girl right now, but I guess that's the lingering humanity in me talking."
Xavis twitched, and the air began to warm.
"Hmph. Well, just know what I've done isn't permanent -- I've only temporarily disabled him. I can't say how long it'll last, but we'll know when he comes back," Xophtré explained. "Now, where were we?"
Luna easily remembered what was easily the most memorable part of his backstory - it was really the only part she cared about. After she found out, she would wait for either her allies or her enemies to finish her plans, kill the heroes herself, and jump in time to Xophtré's power source. "You were talking about how your life was 'miserable,' and then 'she' showed up."
The humanoid looked like he was about to say something, but held himself back. He sighed. "Nova," he said in a slightly agitated voice, "She was the Error Handler of my dimension, responsible for keeping the place in balance and free of, well, errors. triangular bi≤´¢ clearly did a good job of that... Hey, don't butt in! I don't need your comments!" His attention was drawn off to his right, though quickly returned to Luna.
"Anyway, she finally showed up to fix me, but that of course didn't happen. I didn't want to be fixed. I liked what had happened to me, and because of it I was able to fight her off." He chuckled, his voice changing to more of a growl. "We broke her~ Yes, thank you," he said back in his normal voice, quickly righting his posture, "I'm not entirely sure how or why, but we were able to steal some of her code -- a chunk of herself, basically -- and this gave us the power to traverse dimensions." He put his hands in his pockets and turned to the side. "Not without a cost, though. That first portal, it was unstable, and consumed my home dimension as a power source. After that begins my interdimensional escapades, which I'm sure you already know plenty about, and would definitely take too long for us to discuss here."
He looked back to her. "Was there anything else you wanted to know, or will we finally get onto what we'll be doing for the time being? Or was your plan just for us to talk until the heroes make it out of their predicaments?"
Luna cursed underneath her breath. All that power, strength she could only have if her mother gave her permission to wield it, was simply given to him by resisting? She would never have it... unless she could possibly break in somewhere he was. Whatever the case, she needed something to keep the interdimensional monster occupied until either her team or her opponents finished up their targets.
She started to walk forward, and simply by waving the scepter, a rift in time and space appeared, flashing so many colors it could've literally make the normal Mobian's eyes bleed. "Xophtré, come with me. I'm going to start organizing the arena that our pets will battle in. As for the nuisance," she trailed off, looking at Xavis. She pressed a button on her remote to cause a leash to pop out his collar, and she yanked it a few times. The hedgehog silently stood and walked up to her, though somewhat sluggishly.
"Ooh, nice," Xophtré replied, walking up to the portal.
Luna got in Xavis' face, enjoying the amount of torture she was causing him. "I'm wondering just how this feels for disgusting 'heroic' scum like you. You're probably thinking the same one-dimensional thoughts every 'savior' does: 'You're not going to get away with this.' 'We will stop you.' 'You won't succeed.' But if you had half a brain, you would see my plan will succeed. Everything is dancing in my palm! The 'heroes' haven't achieved anything. I'd officially say that you have a decent amount of intelligence if you would just succumb to my will without the stupid collar already."
The air started getting even warmer.
"Well," Xophtré said, turning to Luna and gesturing to the rift, "Ladies first."
"If you would be so kind to stay a few moments," Tel-Eth says, floating down from the sky with Ion and Skye. "I have some prisoners."
"Ooh, you got the show-off," Xophtré said, "Nice."
Skye had her eyes glued to the floor, before glancing at the three villains in front of her. The white wolf stayed silent, trying to find a way to dash out of there. But at that moment it was impossible.
Luna grinned furiously, looking like she was legitimately happy instead of "oh this is also going to the plan" happy. "Well, Tel-Eth, I must say that I am the most impressed! Not only did you manage to fool the fools, but you took some of their own with them? How perfect. You will be rewarded handsomely for this!" Luna tapped the scepter on the ground, causing the top of it to unfold like a blooming flower. Inside was a purple gem, and then, Luna struck it against her knee, causing a shard to break off. She handed that purple shard to Tel-Eth. "Here. It has as much power as... a Chaos Emerald, I'd say?"
"Uh, are you sure breaking that's a good idea?" Xophtré asked.
Tel-Eth takes the shard. "What is this, exactly?" He asked.
Luna chuckled. "Oh, you both worry too much about what you don't know. The loss of power for me will be so little, it's as if I didn't lose anything, so I don't have to worry about you strangling me now, Xophtré," Luna said with a non-friendly tease.
"Alright, whatever you say," the humanoid said nonchalantly.
The bunny then turned to Tel-Eth. "It's a shard of the gem that powers my Distortion Scepter. I only gave you this because I'm trusting you. If you ever turn tail... I will give you hell twelve times over." With that, Luna levitated into the portal, dragging Xavis along with her.
"Hm. Well, after you, Mr. Trustworthy," Xophtré said to Tel-Eth, then looking to the two captives. "And don't forget to bring them along."
"Thank you, Luna." Tel-Eth said. He followed Luna into the portal with his captives. This was easier than expected. Tel-Eth thought. If what Luna says is true, I won't even have to initate the last phase at all. With this power, my people will return to life. I can remake my world. Ironic. Years of war for the Chronosabre and all I needed was this. As long as Vendeta or the other Rulers don't stand against me...my final victory is assured. I am coming, my people.
Xophtré soon followed suit, with the rift closing behind him.
When the five went through the portal, they all had to float, because below them was an incredibly large body of water. It looked like a broken-down stadium - there was dust, mud, dirt, and bugs everywhere. Just looking at the mess made Luna want to cringe. Xophtré yelped as he immediately fell into the water.
The hybrid sighed as the scepter glowed purple. She started waving it around like a director, and all of the pieces of the messed-up stadium started to come together. There was still dirt, mind you, but she was crafting it into a circular plate-like surface. When she was done, it looked similar to this, with red ring in the inner circle and yellow around that. However, as it now covered all of the water, Luna had to fix it.
Luna fired a purple laser from her fingertips and ran it in a circle around the arena, causing it to shorten. Then, the scepter radiated a vibrant color, and Luna fired a white flash at the part that she'd cut off, disintegrating it. Now, it looked like an arena with the possibility of someone falling into the water. Something just wasn't right...
Ah, of course. Luna waved the scepter again, opening a portal to an alternate dimension. Out of it came piranhas as large as sharks and with electric fins, just for overkill. Luna, smiling, giggled at her creation. "Oooh, nice."
Luna started waving her scepter around again, creating the spectator seats by taking things from alternate realms. When the first row of seats were completed (with a glass window in front of them), Luna said, "Take a seat. This could.... take a while, to say it lightly. Also, please take her. I don't need a corpse disturbing me." Opening another portal, the petrified Scarlet came out of it while still in a bubble.
"Of course." Tel-Eth said. He and his prisoners floated over to the stands. He put his prisoners into their seats before getting the Distortion Shard out of his pocket.
"Let's see what this can do." He said. Vines formed around Skye and Ion's legs and arms, keeping them firmly attached to the seat. "Not bad. At least I won't have to carry any dead weight." Tel-Eth sat down next to Ion.
Xophtré stretched his arm and latched onto the top of the glass from within the arena, then pulling himself up and over and landing in front of the others with a wet slap against the floor. Drenched and looking rather unhappy, he took a seat a couple spaces down from the others. Tel-Eth shapeshifts to make his clothing perfectly waterproof, the water draining off him like a leaf.
Xavis on the other hand mindlessly walked up to Scarlet and placed his hands on the bubble, then looked to Luna with his dead stare, as if to ask "where to?" Luna didn't reply - instead, she looked at Xavis as if he were an idiot, waved her scepter, and caused a circle to appear through the glass wall. She motioned for him to take her there. The hedgehog seemed to understand, and gently pushed the stone fox through the hole.
I really should get smarter pets, Luna thought, annoyed as she continued to build the stadium. "Ah, Tel-Eth, you are a psychokinetic, correct? Do you think you could assist me? The spectator seats are quite large, you know, and this could speed up the process."
"Of course," Tel-Eth said, floating over to Luna and helping her move the spectator seats.
The white wolf growled, looking at the vines. "Keira and the rest will get us," she muttered to herself.
Beginning to grow bored, Xophtré decided to entertain himself with the two captives. Still dripping with water, he walked over to Ion and Skye and leaned in front of them with his arms folded behind his back. "So, what do you two think so far? Hm?" He asked with a malicious smile.
"I think I had enough of whatever the hell Luna is plotting, I know how inter-dimensional travel can affect timelines and realities, unlike Luna who doesn't seem to give to flips about the consequences, she might not even fulfill her goal and wipe everyone from our realities!" Ion yelled at Xophtré before looking at Skye. "and I won't let it happen, I have friends and from the looks of it, so does Lu--" Xophtré suddenly shoved a large potato into the hedgehog's mouth to shut him up. Ion did notice Luna's reaction to him when he looked at her before the current conversation, like she knows the feeling but just won't admit it because of her pride as a Black Arms princess.
"You know nothing of dimensions, kid. Even if what you say is true, why should she care? I never did, and I've done far worse things than her, and still just barely missed my goal," the humanoid said, moving in close to the hedgehog, "And really, what are you going to do about all this, Show-Off? What hope do you or any of your "friends" have against us? Hm?" He put a finger under Ion's chin and forced him to look up, staring him in the eyes with an unstable gaze.
”Keira might,” Skye growled, looking down. “I have faith in her. Once she unlocks her true demon power, with the help of Fleet, she’s gonna be our Dark Lightning.”
Luna ceased her bulding, sighed, and teleported to Skye. Her third eye was glowing red very brightly through the bunny's hair, indicating she was trying to keep her temper under control. "I'm insulted by you, you foolish brat! You believe a teenager and her emo dark side will defeat me?! How stupid are you?! You are still lost in a naive dream, as if it were a memory! I'm not the same, it would seem - I'm the only one awake!" Luna's glare turned into a smirk. "And when I mutilate your winged hedgehog friend, I'm going to show you something harsh - I'm going to show you reality. And trust me, little girl, you are not going to like it. So why don't you shut your large mouth and let me take over? I promise you - your death will be painless. Or did I mean painful? I'm ninety-nine percent sure that the latter would be lots more enjoyable."
”I’m not scared of death,“ she said quite calmly. “And plus, you might want to keep me alive, because I can deal with her.“ “Third, Keira and the rest will come,” she calmly added. “I’m not scared of anything you say; I believe in the Lightning of Destruction.” The white wolf then smugly stared at Luna and her ally, saying, “And Luna, why are you babbling about killing me and Ion? And also telling us a glimpse of what you‘re gonna do to Keira? Don’t you have some other random bleh stuff to deal with, if I were you, I‘d just ignore us, and get straight to work. Unlike what you’re doing, which is, pretty dumb.”
Luna's face bulged in anger and she hissed, her tongue lashing out. "Do not disrespect me, you little girl, or I will throw you out of this chair this second and my allies will rip you to pieces!! Shut your damned mouth if you want to live, you hear me?! Shut it RIGHT NOW!" Luna was losing her temper with Skye, but she wasn't joking - if Skye didn't shut up soon, Luna was about to take the vines off, throw her into the arena, and have some fun.
"LUNA!" Xophtré yelled, turning to the rabbit, "Calm down, now isn't the time for--"
"Well that's got her going," Skye smiled. "Ya know, I don't think that being angry with me will change anything, so if you'd please, throw me into that arena, and I'll find a way to escape, if there is even one. Second, shut your loud speaker and walk away. Geez, have I never seen anyone with this anger level. You should really take anger management courses. I've heard that they help with anger and anti-aging." After she was done, the white wolf quickly muttered a spell that would cast a white lightning shield around her, and when someone touched it, it'll explode, dealing damage, and sometimes temporary blindness if the light in bright enough.
Luna, more willing to listen to Xophtre than her temper, decided to quit arguing. "You are a real brat. I'm already placing you higher than that idiot Mac on my hitlist. If I were you, I'd stop talking - I could go back in time and kill all of your little friends while they were toddlers, so zip it."
"She should care, besides, what would happen if she lost her friends and/or family from your world being erased from existence! I went through that hell before and like hell i would let it happen again! I am not afraid of you and surely you would know by now that you, Luna and everyone here can relate to something I and possibly many other heroes and villains like us have, or could of, go through!" Ion said with a stern yet uberly menacing glare. "You have lost something, I can tell, we all have but, know this: Actions have consequences, You Mess with the Space-Time Continuum, You rip it apart."
Tel-Eth floats over. "Tell me something, Ion. If you had the chance to bring back everything you lost, to correct all your mistakes, would you? What would you do to correct them? Don't tell me you wouldn't do anything to fix things. The ones who stand against us, these Savours, act like they're a force for good. All they're doing is keeping us in a nightmare reality when utopia is moments away. We have reality in the palm of our hands. We can fix everything that you could not, no, would not. Do you still believe we are evil, Ion?"
Ion looked at him. "Can't you see that Luna is abusing the dimensional barrier to get her way! She might not even keep you here in the first place. She may think you're nothing in the future, even if she isn't, She will eventually become corrupted and not even care about you anymore!" Ion then looked at the Humanoid. "and for you, You have no idea how many times I have went through something like this and besides, You're not from my dimension and the gods don't exactly like dimensional distortions for personal gain! No mortal, God or, Even those whom are more powerful than gods will cease to exist if this keeps on! This is a pointless game that you, me, and everyone else are pawns of, That includes you! Tel-Eth!" Ion said sternly. "No one wants to be pawns in a damn twisted ga--!"
Tel-Eth chuckles. "Oh, how little you understand." He said to Ion as he floated away to continue building the stadium.
Xophtré, tired of the hedgehog's pointless ranting, shoved another potato into his mouth to shut him up and walked away to help with the arena's construction.
"Are you sure these potatoes will be effective?" Tel-Eth asked Xophtré, who simply shrugged in response.
At this, Skye looked at Ion, blinking for a good minute or two. Then she let out a short moment of laughter, before shaking her head.
(Sorry, I just really wanted to write that.-Skyblade)
(That's fine. Now we wait on Max/Luna... -Xoph)
Luna was humming a tune as she made the finishing touches to the arena when her scepter glowed purple. Sighing, Luna waved it, revealing a rectangular image showing Tina's face and Scratch lumped over the bat's shoulder. Tina spoke first, seeing Luna glare at her. "Hey, Luna, I think we have our first winners."
Luna rolled her eyes. "I'm unimpressed, but at the same time unsurprised. I'll open the portal for the group." She waved her scepter, and the video faded, showing that Tina had gone into the portal. A multicolored rift appeared in the spectator seats, and Tina and Scratch fell into it. Luna saw Tina pop her head into the portal, and listened closely to what she was saying.
"I mean, I'm sure Luna would be happy if I just left you guys he-" Luna was infuriated. She couldn't believe a simple disciple was going to let her victims get a way out!
Everyone could hear Luna yell, "NO I WOULD NOT! GET THEM UP HERE, TINA!"
Out of the portal, Schnee and Vendeta arrived. Schnee sat two rows behind Tina, wondering when everyone else would come. I'm sure Ken and Mac could handle whatever some bunny freak threw at them.
Luna, reading Schnee's mind, growled. "I heard that, fool." Schnee didn't hear Luna, however, so the bunny decided to let it go.
Vendeta looks up at Tel-Eth. "Let me guess," Vendeta said. "You've changed sides."
"Unfournately, yes," Tel-Eth replied. "Luna had far more to offer than your so-called salvation."
"I should have killed you when I had the chance," Vendeta continued. He sat down next to Schnee, noticing Ion and Skye captured in the front row.
Yet another Mobian fell out of the portal; this time, it was Lena.
Xophtré walked up beside Luna, looking to the portal. "Hmm. It appears three of those idiots have decided to stay in there for some dumb 'survival' nonsense," he said with a harsh, disapproving tone, then turning to the rabbit, "Should we bring them through by force? Or do you have a plan that accounts for stragglers?"
Luna laughed haughtily before looking at Xophtré, smiling. "You actually think I'm going to give up this opportunity? They're going to kill themselves for me! They're going to starve, rot, and then... we can use their bodies as trophies after we've secured our victory, no problem. Moebius scum makes me want to vomit, anyway," Luna said with a sour expression. "...but, I have something planned for them. I didn't have all of those armies conquering alternate dimensions for nothing," Luna said with a smirk.
Xophtré raised an eyebrow for a second, then quickly lowered. "Alright," he said, pocketing his hands and looking elsewhere. He then sighed. "I'm bored. Where's the slave, I need some entertainment."
Ion bit into the potato, chewed the piece that was in his mouth and swallowed with the potato hitting the ground. "Damn Jerk!" Ion said under his breath before coming up with a plan. He then nodded at Skye, giving her a signal that he has a way of escaping and reuniting with his group that they where in but, he needed to see them return before he enacts his plan.
The white wolf nodded back at him, and asked Ion quietly, “I honestly don’t know how to escape anymore, what’s your plan, Ion?”
"I am gonna warp us out but, I need to wait until our group arrives!" Ion whispered to her.
"I wouldn't recommend it," Tel-Eth said, leaning over Ion's shoulder. "This way you stand a chance of living. You won't have you annoy the two gods facing you."
"I wouldn't count on winning either" Ion then thought. "So much for an escape plan! I am starting to think that Luna has something planned for me and Skye! I hope to Chaos that it isn't the case!" Ion thought to himself then he had an idea. "I have a proposal for you! Why not let me and Skye partake in the battle with my friends and allies and not have our Fusion Shard at our side?" He said this knowing he is connected to his fusion shard in which allows him to use the fusion shard without it being on his wrist and he is trying to trick them, this plan wasn't foolproof but, it was worth a shot.
Luna chuckled, laughing a little before lowering her eyelids and giving Ion a cold, hard glare. "You think I'm a fool?! You provide the power, but you have zero brains - the wolf friend provides the smarts, but she's a mouse compared to me. I'm not going to let you simply play around and-" Luna's eyes opened wide as her scepter stopped glowing. "Ooh, the arena is finished. Now to waste time." Luna floated through the glass, not even bothering to go through the hole, to Skye, Xavis, and Ion.
Meanwhile, Xavis hadn't moved from the spot he was directed to put Scarlet. Instead, he leaned against the bubble surrounding the petrified fox, gently caressing the container with his loosely controlled hands. "...e...sa...?" he mumbled to himself quietly, "...essa..."
Luna rolled her eyes. "Stop fooling around, pet. With your defensive skull, and few taser shocks shouldn't lower your IQ - though honestly, I doubt it was even that high in the first place. That girl?" Luna pointed at Scarlet. "She was a fool. With those few seconds she had, she decided to protect someone she didn't know and didn't care about. She came to her senses far too late, and she paid the price. Sometimes I miss her.... but my aim is getting better," Luna said with a twisted smile. Xophtré could be heard giving a single, loud clap at the pun. "All the so-called 'heroes' you're fighting against? They're all going to end up like her. It's simply a delayed reaction."
Xophtré suddenly rose up from behind Ion and Skye. "You do remember I basically turned him into a vegetable, right?" He asked Luna with an unamused expression, "He can't understand a word you're saying. All he does understand is how to follow orders. You're just berating a brick wall at this point." He sat down in the row of seats behind the captives. "Unless, of course, you're talking to all of us, but I don't think anyone else cares or is listening." He then took a sip from a large glass of iced tea that came out of nowhere. "But that's none of my business." He was being rather passive-aggressive towards the rabbit...
Luna shrugged. "To be completely frank, sometimes I simply like to hear myself talk," Luna admitted.
The white wolf had simply rolled her eyes at their conversation. Looking back at the floor, Skye decided to randomly think of new moves, not really caring where she was right now.
Ion pretty much useless at this point, with no way to escape. All he could do was to just sit still as he was out of options. This alone started to bring memories he never wanted to remember, which gave him doubt that they can ever win. "...If only I knew sooner about this! I would've gone back in time, snapped that scepter in half, and burnt it to a crisp so no one could ever use it!" Ion closed his eyes, looking grim, as he had pretty much lost hope at this point.
Xophtré yawned.
”I wish we had a freaking plan!!” Skye growled, shuffling around on her chair.
Suddenly memories came back to Ion which reminded him of one thing: his reason to resist.
Luna tapped her scepter on air, and an image of Kana with Iris, Kennedy, Chase, Lee, Flyby, Keira, a golden figure, and the turtles appeared. "Where is Azul?!" Luna yelled before turning around. "Tel-Eth, could you please send a telepathic message to Xavis to get over here? I need you two for an assignment."
"I don't require a message," Tel-Eth replied, telekinetically pulling Xavis over to him and Luna by the hedgehog's collar. "What do we need to do?"
"Since that blue coward we call an ally is being of no help, I need you to head to the maze and help Kana, who is going to be overtaken relatively soon," Luna replied.
"Understood," Tel-Eth said, grabbing Xavis' collar with his left hand. "It seems we have things to do, mutt," he tells the hedgehog. "Ready?"
Xavis simply stared at him with a blank expression.
"Hold on, hold on," Xophtré said, appearing out of nowhere, "We can't send him out like this!" He moved in front of the hedgehog, placing his fingers around the sides of his head. "I'll see if I can turn on some kind of combat protocols." After a moment he released his fingers, and Xavis' eyes went dark. They relit a second later,his faded orange irises having turned red. He stood straighter, and seemed more alert than before. "There we go," Xophtré said with a grin, "The slave is now a weapon at our disposal." He folded his arms behind himself, looking proud.
"Thank you, Xophtré," Luna said before making a portal for the duo. "Tel-Eth, make sure you give them hell."
Tel-Eth nods and he and Xavis vanish.
Luna sighs before deciding to check on the other group. Tapping the scepter again, a purple screen appeared, showing Mac blocking the Genesis Lord's punch and Jim falling to the lava, Sephtis chasing him. "This isn't entertaining or challenging," she said to herself before turning to the heroes.
Schnee looked at Luna. "What do you want? Do we have to pin the tail on the pony now, or does the genocidal bunny want some pleasant conversation?" she snarked, annoyed.
"Shut up, child! I have orders for you and your two little friends. I want you to assist your pitiful allies. If not, they're going to have a shameful death, and while that would be enjoyable, it's not what I want. The reason I put these challenges up is because - never mind. Just get in there and help." Luna tapped her scepter, and a blue portal appeared in front of the three.
Schnee turned to Vendeta and Lena. "Don't you guys think it's strange how she's going to let us help them? She didn't even state her reason, she just cut herself off. But if they aren't doing well... I ain't hesitating to save them. You guys coming with me?"
Vendeta nods, quickly looking over his shoulder at Luna. Something's up with this, he thinks to himself. Honour or not, this is an extremely stupid move on her part. But she's managed to get this far, so she's not an idiot...this can't be a good thing.
Lena nodded at Schnee's question. "Of course I'm going. I know that little boy falling into the lava, and I'm not going to let him die out there. There's no way he'd survive that fight on his own."
Luna chuckled to herself, and the scepter glowed yellow before conjuring a multicolored portal in front of the trio. "I guess it's now or never," said Schnee, charging through. Vendeta followed, with Lena not far behind.
It wasn't much longer when the group came back, with Schneee, Mac, Vendeta, Jim and Lena all arriving in one piece, (un)fortunately for Luna. She frowned as she saw Mac's face, and she was about to go on another one of her winded tangents, but then she calmed herselves and smiled. "It's nice to see you all again. I'm going to enjoy ripping you all apart myself. I couldn't let them take that honor away from me~" Luna lied, keeping her real reasons secret.
"You have as much brains as your entire species did," Mac snarked, smiling but getting punch in the face with a portal created by Luna as a result.
"This is my attempt at controlling myself. Would you like to see what happens when I cease to have restraint?!" Luna shot back, her third eye glowing.
"Geez, you really have to work on your temper, bunny freak-" Schnee tried insulting the hybrid, but she ended up getting portal-punched alongside Mac for the second time.
"Go sit in the audience seats, and enjoy your time as it is. The next part of your disastrous journey isn't going to be fun for anyone... except myself. It's going to be amusing watching all of you lesser beings trying to rip yourselves apart." Next, Luna turned to Xophtre. "I took our allies who were in the volcano into a pocket dimension after these blundering idiots escaped, but I'm not sure where the Genesis Mouse is. Track him down for me."
Finally, Luna tapped her scepter, and Sephtis, Mercurius, and Flash were all on a pile on the ground. "Failures," she muttered.
Mercurius split into blobs of mercury, just before he landed. He then regrouped next to the pile of villains, dusting off invisible dust from his shoulders. "Well then," he muttered. Vendeta flies over to the audience seats and sits down.
"Alright then," Xophtre said, walking forward a bit, "It's been kinda boring here anyway, hopefully I'll be back for the action." With that he suddenly spread his arms out, large dragon-like wings and a reptilian tail erupting from his back. He gave a few test flaps with the wings before rising them up and quickly striking them down, launching him into the air. And he was gone without a trace.