Depths of Dimensions/Part 2J (SR)

Back to the overview.

Back to 1J.

to 2J (SL)

to 2J (SO)

Part ???: Put Your Head In The Game

A magenta rift in time opened, and out of it, Kennedy and five other anthromorphs fell. Kennedy landed on his back, but quickly recoiled of it and jumped right back on his feet. Scanning the area around them for anyone else, Kennedy wiped his hand by his forehead with a "Phew...." knowing that they were all safe at the moment.

Kennedy looked straight forward, confused. There were walls around them - thin walls, actually. They were very tall, about twenty times a grown human's height, so it'd be impossible to jump over them. Also, after a few couple meters, the path split - one going into the left, the other going into the right. Hmm.... looks like it's a maze.

Keira landed slowly on the ground, snatching her axe in time before it fell onto the ground. Her eyes scanned the area around her, observing every part. She then saw the path split in two, and the main idea clicked in her head. 'It's definitely a maze. Way to go...' she groaned mentally.

Flyby came zipping out of the portal, running up a wall and backflipping off it. "Where am I now?" He said, not having heard Kennedy.

Lee flew out of the portal as well, smacking into one of the maze walls. He picked himself up, getting a good look at Flyby for the first time. "Oh, crud.." He muttered.

Iris shot out of one of the portals, her left eye still glowing. She landed on the ground, glowed yellow for a second, and stood up. Her eye was no longer glowing, and she looked excited, as if she was about to say something. However, her expression quickly faded to one of confusion as she noticed where they were. "Where...is this?" she asked, looking around. "And why would someone put us in this...maze?"

The winged one snorted, “Clearly the villains would; they must be playing a game with us.” ‘And I don’t like the feeling of this,’ she growled in her mind. “I’ll take the left, and play dirty if I have to,” she continued, before sprinting towards the left part.

Flyby laughed. "I'm going with her." He said, then took off after Keira.

Iris stared after the two for a few seconds, then turned to Kennedy (who looked slightly more responsible than Lee) and asked, "What should we do now?"

A few seconds after Flyby and Keira departed, an explosion went off in their direction. Three sticks of dynamite went off as Kennedy facepalmed and looked to Iris. "I say, after those two get back, we split up into equal groups. Then, we'll be safe (as long as there aren't so many splits that we'll eventually be alone)." Kennedy tapped his forehead. "I'll try to keep all of your energy signatures in mind."

"That...sounds good," said Iris nervously, backing towards one of the walls for protection. "I'll just go with whatever group needs an extra member..."

The winged one zoomed in a straight line, before turning to the left, then right, or which ever way that wasn’t a dead end.

Flyby ran after her, then stopped, shouting. "Hey, you hear an explosion?"

"Explosion..." Keira muttered, while halting to a stop. She flew up into the air, seeing Flyby. "I did hear it," she yelled over to him, "But let me try to find a way out first. That explosion sounds like trouble." After that, Keira landed back on the ground, and sank into the ground, becoming one with her shadow. She was using Shadow Sneak to move around without getting caught.

Flyby simply stood there, blinking in confusion.

Three more full sticks of dynamite fell from the floor right in front of the duo and immediately exploded.

He shouted this time. "Hey! Shadow-girl! Stuff's going boom out here!"

Iris, hearing the explosion, looked at Kennedy and said quietly, "Should we go help them? They might have gotten hurt trying to come back here and might need help now..."

Lee stared at the ground. "If I know anything, my dad can handle himself..."

Keira came back, emerging out of her shadow on the ground. "Firstly, my name isn't Shadow-girl. It's Keira. And I do know that there was an explosion," she growled. "I'm going to scout the place, but you better watch your step."

"You got it, Keira." He grinned, the girl was beginning to impress him, and he began using the walls to spring over any explosives.

With her wary eyes scanning the place, Keira soared up high, getting a bird's eye view of the whole maze. "Now," she muttered to herself. "I'mma wait here till an explosion happens."

The two received a telepathic message from Kennedy - You must learn to strategize and not barge in headstrong. Rendezvous back to us so that we can form a proper plan. To Iris and Lee, it'd look like Kennedy was simply putting his index finger to his head and closing his eyes.

Keira warped back to Kennedy, landing smoothly on her two feet. "I got a nice view of the maze," she shrugged. "So what's the plan Kennedy?" Electricity was crackling around her, as she waited for the tiger to say something, and for Flyby to come back.

Iris backed away from Keira, looking worried.

Flyby zipped in, his power joining Keira's electric storm. "Alright, what now?"

Kennedy observed the group when everyone joined together, assessing everyone's strengths and weaknesses. "Healer, I've seen you heal Ion. I suggest you go with the more foolhardy group. Lee... you're a good assistance unit. I'll be strategist/direct attacker, and the two electrokinetics should go in different groups." Kennedy faced Flyby. "No offense but Keira is stronger than you by quite a bit, so you shall travel with Lee and I. We should take the right path, since it seems safer." He then looked at Iris. "Healer, are you okay with going along the more dangerous path? Keira can take some damage, but could you make sure she's not overtaxed?"

"I think we can handle the more dangerous path," Keira nodded. "As long as me and her don't have any problems with our HP and strength," she finished, before looking at the more dangerous path. 'Hopefully this goes well,' she sighed.

Iris, looking quite frightened, pushed herself against the nearby wall and nodded in agreement.

Keira then looked at Iris, before walking over to her side. “Hey, you okay?” she asked her. “Oh, and I’m Keira by the way, in case you didn’t know,” she greeted her with a real, kind smile on her face.

Iris, who now just looked somewhat worried, said, "I'm...okay. Just worried. And my name's Iris. ...Nice to meet you."

”Ah, okay then,” Keira nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll tank damage.”

Iris remained silent, not having any idea what "tanking damage" meant, but not wanting to ask and possibly offend Keira.

Flyby's ears turned downward. "Yeah...Fine." He shuffled his feet against a wall for a moment. "Jeez, how'd I get on a team?"

Lee, who had completely switched from the one that fought Tina to the one that frequently fell off things, was trying to stay...out of this, if possible. He dragged his feet to where he was standing behind Kennedy. "When are you going to tell them you're less useful than normal?" Onyx silently said, then proceeded to laugh at him. Lee just stared at the ground, not saying anything.

“We should head off,“ she growled, breaking the silence. “We must find a way to get back to the rest of the heroes.”

Kennedy nodded. "I agree with Keira. We should get going. Healer, Keira, if I need to contact either of you, I'll do so telekinetically." He tapped his forehead before walking forward. "Now, then, let's go."

Lee and Flyby followed Kennedy.

Iris turned to Keira and said, "I'm really sorry, but I'm...not very fast. Maybe I should hold onto you if we need to move quickly?"

”Yeah, but for now, let’s just walk,” she suggested, and started to walk towards the dangerous part of the maze, followed by Iris.

Power Battle

On Keira and Iris' path, there were a multitude of ticking bombs waiting for them. The landscape was also very rocky, with craters that could easily be overlooked (that sadly also had bombs in them). The walls strangely had holes in them - too small to escape through, but large enough to fit a thin object in.

Iris, who wasn't very familiar with modern technology, stopped walking, gestured towards the bombs, and said, "Do...you know what those are?"

"I believe those are time bombs, they explode when a some force is put on it, or when the countdown is out," Keira explained. She was now debating whether to fly, make it explode first, or just, 'YOLO' to the other side.

Iris, who now looked very worried, said, "Do you know how large an area they'll explode?" She started looking from side to side quickly and said in a hushed tone, "Are we safe?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll use my electrokinesis to trigger them, then just hold on to me, and we might as well fly over the bombs," Keira decided, before pausing, and making sure if Iris was okay with that.

"Sure..." said Iris worriedly. Her left arm began twitching slightly, causing her to grab it with her right arm.

"Hmm, if not..." Keira then started shooting lightning bolts at the bombs, and as they exploded, she shielded Iris by standing in front of her.

Iris, who had assumed that the bombs would be deadlier than they were, was shocked at Keira's act of self-sacrifice, but calmed down somewhat when she realized that Keira was still alive. "...Thank you for getting rid of those bombs..." she said. "Can I heal any injuries that you might have sustained..." Iris trailed off and started looking blankly into the distance with a pained expression on her face, apparently lost in thought.

"No problem," Keira nodded, sighing. "And yeah, I might have some slight burns from the blow," she added, and faced Iris so that Iris could heal her.

Iris snapped out of her trance, looking slightly relieved when she saw that Keira's injuries were fairly minor. "Thank you," she said. "I'll make this as fast as possible." Her right eye started glowing a bright yellow, glowing yellow cracks appeared on her right arm, and a beam of light shot out of her right hand, connecting her hand to Keira. After a few seconds, the beam and the cracks disappeared, her eye stopped glowing, and Iris collapsed onto Keira, who was now fully healed. "This...is temporary," said Iris, muffled somewhat because her mouth was against Keira. "I'll recover soon..."

"Thanks Iris," she muttered over to her. The winged one laid Iris down, letting her rest for a while. "If only you were an electrokinetic; I could transfer you some energy..." Keira then flew up, taking a good look at what was ahead; before landing slowly down next to Iris.

Iris, who seemed to be regaining some of her energy, propped herself up on one arm, looked up at Keira, and said, "Thank you...for...protecting me back there. It...was really nice of you. I—" Her voice stuck for a second before she continued, "I...didn't know you were that kind." Iris collapsed, propped herself back up again, and said, "...Thank you."

”You’re welcome,” Keira sighed. “I’ve been mistaken by many, and judged for years, I think it’s time for me to change their minds.”

From the walls, a storm of arrows came out from each side, trying to hit the duo.

Keira looked up, and used her axe to deflect the ones that were going to hit Iris. She then shouted over to her, “Run, Iris! Don‘t get hit!!” And she flew up, either destroying, or deflecting the arrows with her axe.

"I can't run," said Iris, trying to pull herself into a standing position and falling over when she was halfway up. "I'm in no condition to run...I can't ever run, but now I can't even move..." A look of panic overcame Iris's face. "I'm lost," she whispered. Her left eye started flickering blue, her left arm started uncontrollably twitching, and blue sparks started appearing near her left hand.

The winged one looked back at Iris, with her eyes widening. 'Fleet... Help me...' she pleaded, before he responded by surrounding her with a dark aura. Her right eye went black, before swirling around and around, like Fleetway's. She controlled the aura, wrapping it around the arrow storm, and destroying it into bits.

She then landed smoothly, her eye returning back to normal. 'Thanks,' she smirked internally. She soon came to check on Iris, kneeling down near her.

Iris turned to Keira, an entranced expression on her face. Her left eye now glowing a bright blue, and sparks continued to appear near Iris's left hand. "It's so close..." she said. "I can almost...touch it..."

The winged one was confused, but looked at Iris, waiting for her to say more. Her right eye became spiral, colored in red. 'Something's happening,' Fleetway's voice muttered in her head.

"The portals..." said Iris. "They're so...close..."

From the sky above the girls, Turles and his mother fell, Turles' mother hitting the ground first and Turles himself falling on her shell. "O-Ow..."

Keira snarled, before jumping back. She then groaned at who it was. ‘Seriously? The mobian?’ Fleetway’s voice growled in annoyance. Now she and Fleetway were having a mental debate, while in reality, the winged one turned to Iris, sitting next to her.

Iris's eye stopped glowing, the sparks disappeared from near Iris's hand, and Iris slumped back into her prone position momentarily before pulling herself into a seated position and looking at Keira with a confused expression. "What's...going on?" she asked, her eyes moving from side to side.

"Two mobians fell out of a portal," she bluntly stated.

Turles rubbed his head. "Ow... There's this bug-robot thing, and it's really hurty..." As if on cue, an orange bug like creature that looked like a human but with giant green eyes, a mouth cannon, and a blade for a left hand appeared around the corner.

Iris looked at the creature. Her left eye started glowing blue again, and the left corner of her mouth bent upwards into a half-smile. "Keira..." she said. "If you can distract that thing, I think I can..." Her left arm started twitching again, and her left hand started opening and closing, seemingly at random. "...help...move it...elsewhere..."

The winged one muttered a single curse in a language that she and her father speak, directing it at the being. She then Shadow Sneaked underneath the being, attacking it from the bottom, and lunging from its underneath it, her two scythes in her hands.

The bug-like robot blocked Keira's attack with its blade before surrounding itself with a green force field of energy. It then let the energy explode, trying to blast Keira back to Iris and Turles. If it succeeded, it would point its fist and them, turn it into a machine gun, and fire multiple bullets at the quartet.

Keira was blasted backwards, before she gained momentum, and flew up. She circled around the robot like an eagle finding prey, before landing on the robot, striking it with her blast of energy.

Iris had started coming up with a plan. She was going to place a portal behind the bug-like creature, and when it started extending some sort of attack in front of it (like its sword), she was going to place the portal there and thus launch it towards the robot's back. However, just as she was about to execute this plan, she heard Kennedy's first yell, causing her to lose focus. Wait... she thought. Keira needs my help...but they need my help too...Keira's counting on me, I'll help her first... And then she heard the second yell and completely lost focus. "I can't take this any more!" she shouted, closing her eyes and collapsing onto the wall. "Keira, help me!"

When she heard Iris’ scream, Keira looked back, before continuing to combo the robot. “Iris, go help them, if I’m too weak, I’ll rely on my Dark Form,” she shouted.

Iris heard Keira's voice and managed to use that to regain her focus. She wasn't quite sure what Keira had said, but had gotten the gist of the message: that she was supposed to help the others. "Thanks..." said Iris, opening her eyes, getting up, and starting to leave towards where the others were. After a few seconds, Iris stopped and turned her head to face Keira, her left eye again glowing brightly and with a similar half-smile to before (this time a bit more nervous-looking), and said, "Stay safe...I need you..." She turned back towards the passageway and kept going, this time moving fairly quickly.

The winged one kept fighting in a harsh way, aggressively using her speedy combos. First, her combo string went like this: Shadow Sneak —> Lightning Rain —> Fly —> Drill Dive —> Dark Axe. But either way, the robot might have found a way to ruin it. So she used a second combo... Axe Slay —> Drill Dive —> Dark Tornado —> Shadow Sneak —> Dark Lightning Storm —> Snare Drago Strike —> Clawing Stab.

Meanwhile with the girls (and Turles), the bug-like robot was sent flying into a wall by Keira's continuous attacks, being slashed, blasted, and bruised. When it came out of the wall, it was about to dash to the trio again when an ice sword emerged through its chest, causing it to crackle with electricity before exploding into a cloud of dark smoke. From the smoky cloud, five javelins were thrown at the heroes. Turles and his mother both ducked into their shells.

At this, Keira started flapping her wings, but as she was about to boost herself into the sky, one javelin hit her right leg. This slowed her flying start. The winged one winced at the pain, and as she rose into the sky, Keira pulled the javelin out of her injury. This left her right leg bleeding, but she ignored it, and still rose up confidently.

From the smoke, Kana skated out on icy rollerblades, allowing her to skate around the maze. Determined to defeat Keira, she turned her skates into shoes and eject blue flames from her feet, allowing her to fly. From there, she tried to spin dash into Keira with cryokinetic energy charged in her, aiming for one of Keira's nerves.

The winged one snarled, Kana had hit her. But it wasn’t enough to send her cowering behind a rock, though. She got knocked back, and some icicles gormed on where she got hit. Electricity zapped all around her, as she flapped her wings. The ice slowly started to melt, and she freely blasted into the air.

Kana burst into the air with rocket thrusters, following Keira. She created ice swords - one in each hand - and threw them at Keira, like they were discus. Then, Mecha Alexia tried to focus water around Keira's head. If Keira wasn't careful, Kana would trap Keira's head in an ice block.

The winged female dodged the ice swords, and turned to face Kana. She then used Snare Drago Strike, creating an electric dragon, and aimed her finger at Kana. Making a finger gun, she then ordered the dragon in a language that only the mobians of the Underworld Dimension knew; sending dragon in a frenzy, its target being Mecha Alexia. She then flew higher.

Kana, seeing the electric dragon Keira had made and knowing fully well that water conducts electricity, accessed her ergokinetic energy supplier and turned her arms into a huge fused triangular cannon. "OPERATION: OVERLOAD CRYO (ERGO)!" the robot chanted before firing a large blue beam of energy at the dragon.

Meanwhile, in the sky... The dragon made one last roar, and exploded into a wave of black electricity. Keira looked back, snarling. The winged one then Fusion Shard Warped infront of Mecha Alexia, before charging at light speeds at her, and whacked her on the head with the sharp part of her axe. She then used Lightning Rain on her, before warping again to where she left Turles and his mom. At that point, Keira went into speed-flying position, ready to attack Kana from below.

Kana took the blow lightly since it had not done that much damage, for she had blocked Keira's attack with an ice shield. Grabbing onto Keira when she warped, she was soon with Turles and his mother. Turning her arm into a cannon, she was prepared to fire an icy bullet when a shell hit the back of her head.

Kana turned around, and Turles had just been thrown by his mother (which was their plan). Turles then got out of his shell and started whimpering, seeing the robot tower over him. If Keira didn't react quick, Turles was soon going to frozen in a block of ice.

Keira had little time to register what happened, but when she saw the robot towering over Turles, she growled, and whipped out her twin scythes, and charged up her electricity. Once she was done, Keira disappeared into nothing but wind and a slight blur, being now at the speed of light. She then slashed Kana’s head and neck, before shooting towards the sky, watching Kana like an eagle watching its prey.

Kana didn't see Keira's attack coming and was knocked back into a wall, leaving a crater in it before falling down. Her quills were slightly cracked. Then, Mecha Alexia's irises flashed red, and she boosted up into the air again, trying to stab Keira with an ice sword.

At that moment, Keira's face was dripping with sweat, trying to hold off Kana's ice sword. With all the force she could muster, the winged female growled, and flew backwards, Keira's hands trying to push the ice sword's handle away from herself.

Kana didn't chase Keira this time - instead, she created a thick ice wall for the winged hedgehog to crash into. If Keira didn't realize where she was heading, then she would bump into it at full speed.

The winged one widened her eyes, before squinting it, and smashed her head at the ice wall. She winced, and spin dashed in mid air. Fleetway... she muttered, I need your help... And from that moment, she did uncurled from her ball, before doing tornado drill, making a hole in the ice wall.

A sky blue seal stumbled and looked over a hill to see a group of bizarre Mobians adjusting their stances and whirling through the air. Regardless, the all terrain skater picked up a forceful, almost frightening vibe from the group in question. Who are these people? What are they fighting for? These and other questions ran through his head, but were willfully smashed. "Come on Rigel, they're the first people you've seen in this god-forsaken place."

Little by little, he cautiously sneaked down the incline towards the warring parties, only to notice that Turles and his mother were staring directly at him.

"Rehmkan..." He whispered under his breath. This was an Oarkaae expletive that literally translated to "whale excrement". He felt his shoulders curve and collapse into his body a bit, as some help weapons and even emitted a purple aura.

"So...Yeah... Who are you people?" His voice gradually softened over time as he posed that query, slightly muffled by the blue scarf around his neck and jaw.

Turles and his mother, covering their ears, looked to the newcomer. Turles' mother was the first to speak. "We're victims of interdimensional portals."

Kana, looking at the newbie, Keira, Turles and his mother, decided to call in assistance. Speakers popped out of her shoulders and sent a call saying "AZUL! AZUL! AZUL! ASSISTANCE NEEDED!"

At this point, the chaos being that was Azul arrived, spinning to face the newcomer. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to interfere."

Rigel furrowed his brow, dissaproving of this guy’s tone, sarcastically chuckling. “Well excuse me, I’m not going anywhere till I get some damn answers.” Was this going to make the other guy angry? Oh well, at least Rigel has his... He reached for his belt loop on the side of his pants, but his tonfa was nowhere to be found. He didn’t have it with him before he was teleported to this place.

”...damn it,” he thought to himself.

A portal opened in front of Rigel, and Azul jumped out, trying to hit him.

Keira turned to face Kana again, and saw that she had called for help. Fleet... I need you...

Rigel widened his eyes at the dimensional rift in front of him, only to be be greeted by the man that was telling him to buzz off. He immediately snapped out of the curious daze and rolled back. Even though he was shell-shocked, he still knew what to do next. As he tumbled, he pressed a button on the neck of his boots, resulting in an electronic whirring noise and two blades expanding. Almost as if it were choreographed, he fluidly returned to a standing position and assumed a defensive stance. The ground around his blades began to slowly frost and ice over, forming a bright sheet of ice closely around the seal.

"Uncalled for. Maybe it's just culture shock, but in my country, that kind of $%!T would get you beheaded."

Even though he wouldn't admit or show it, Rigel was quite a bit scared. He knew he wouldn't get anywhere if he didn't assert himself though, thus submission didn't appear to be a wise decision.

Azul stopped moving forward, instead just standing and watching Rigel.

As Rigel stood up, he turned to stretch his neck and dusted off his vest. It was only after a few seconds when he noticed that the weird-looking blue dude wasn't attacking, just sort of... staring. The seal pivoted around before finally meeting eyes with the creature again, who's gaze was still deadlocked.

"Hoy! What the Hell are you looking at?" Was this guy even a real Mobian? He certainly didn't look like any species Rigel had seen in Alchemia. He was hard to read too, his behavior didn't make any sense.

Azul took the step to the left, still watching Rigel. "Might I ask how you got here?" He asked, no mouth to move in order to produce the words.

While Keira called for help, Kana fired ice in the shape of a fist at her, seeing how she was distracted. Turles ran to Rigel. "This man is a part of the team who brought you here!"

Rigel looked at the approaching turtle and back to who he thought was a blue demon. "I thought one of you would be able to tell me that." He looked down at his puffy vest and held out his mittens "Do you think I came here on purpose dressed like this?"

After a quick sigh, he pulled his scarf down, exposing his mouth.

"Look, I'm not here to pick a fight. My name is Rigel Akvase and I'm a demi-chief from Oaarkae. This doesn't look like anywhere I've seen in my home continent though."

"I'm only here for one purpose... To that end, I will propose something: you help me end the Dryden, I will take you home." Azul said, continuing to pace around Rigel.

Once she got back to focusing, she got hit by the ice fist, sending her spiralling downwards. Keira then managed to get a hold of herself, and quickly did a flying loop to save herself. Her wings propelled her into the air, and she started firing her lightning bolts at Kana. Keira then went behind the series of bolts, using Drill Dive to accelerate - aiming straight for Kana’s neck.

Kana created another ice wall, but the lightning attacks easily broke it, allowing Keira to sail through. However, Kana then unleashed a triangular beam of energy from her chest, trying to blast Keira back while she thought of a plan for survival.

The winged female applied more pressure on the attack, as she drilled through the beam. She then slammed Kana with her axe, sending her downwards. Keira then sent another series of black lightning bolts, hoping that at least 5 or so might hit—considering that it‘s destructive. Kana dodged them all, backflipping several times so that they all hit the ground, forming craters. Kana then created multiples blades of ice and fired them all at Keira, trying to throw her off.

Keira spun to the right and left, dodging the ice blades. She then used Snare Drago Strike again, sending her dragon. Ordering it to attack Kana, she then fired black lightning bolts at her, before swooping under Kana. Keira charged up her electricity, and flew up from underneath Kana, with her axe all charged up with black lightning.

Kana swooped to the back, which left Keira in the way of her own attacks, the dragon and the lightning bolts. While in front of her, Kana released another triangular blast from her chest.

As her own attacks hit her, the winged female absorbed them all, and used the power of the electricity that she had absorbed, to counter Kana's blast. Keira then used Shadow Sneak, and reappeared at Kana's back, and jumped on her, using Clawing Stab, if she landed on Kana. Kana created two ice swords, and before the winged hedgehog could get close enough to claw her, she slashed at Keira's face twice with both blades. At this, Keira took out her axe, and blocked the attack. The winged one then made a powerful flap, and rose into the air, accelerating upwards. The swords broke into sharp ice shards, and Kana manipulated them to fire them all at Keira.

"Cyrokinetic," she muttered. "And her beams and stuff, etc." She then did aerial loop-the-loops, and used Drill Dive, breaking the ice shards. If she hit Kana, she'd find herself stuck in the middle of an ice clone while the real Kana was above. She did, hit the ice clone, but as soon as she found out that it seemed off, Keira quickly blasted the clone with a shot of black lightning, before looking around her. She eventually found the real Kana, hovering above her, before growling. Kana turned her arms into cannons and fused them before firing a large cryokinetic blast of energy downwards at Keira. The winged female dodged it, before standing still, and closing her eyes, focusing for a bit. Kana, seeing the focused Keira, created three ice javelins and threw them at Keira's head. Still closing her eyes, her hearing picked up the wind changing a bit, and a cold chill came up her spine. At this time, she opened her eyes, and shot a black electric bolt at the javelins. Then, she twisted one arm here and there, as if controlling something, before snapping her finger. The electricity spread to one javelin to another, destroying them. She then whistled, and snapped her fingers, before she closed her eyes again. Kana tried to Spin Dash into Keira's cheek, and if her hit landed then Keira's face would be frozen in a block of ice. It hit Keira, but not fully, just enough to freeze a part of her cheek. Keira side-stepped, and used Lightning Rain, aiming it, so that Kana would be in the middle of the attack. Keira then sprinted to Kana's left, using Snare Dragon Strike, which again, created another dragon, homing on Kana. Before firing a huge area damage ball of black lightning from Kana's top right, aimed to be overlapping the lightning rain attack. If the ball managed to hit the ground, it will explode, obliterating everything in its range, and leaving a massive, deep hole in the ground. The winged one decided to then get out of the way of all ranges, using Shadow Sneak, and stayed on her spot.

Kana quickly assessed all of the attacks and burst to the right to dodge the lightning attacks, though she was struck by one of them. Glitching a little, Kana burst up into the air to dodge the orb of black lightning, able to avoid its warpath. She started flying around, tricking the dragon into crashing into the wall and blowing it up. Kana was a bit damaged, but she was still able to battle Keira. She waited for Keira to make her next attack, trying to find a way to escape and rendezvous back to Azul.

As a shadow, Keira watched everything. She then saw Kana just waiting there, injured. Keira then chose to get close to Kana’s feet, being right under her. Attempting to sneak attack, she blasted another electric ball into the sky, quickly making it explode with a beam of black electricity, before whizzing out of the way, turning back into a shadow. Before Keira could rise, however, Kana saw the differing shadow and blasted a large cannon blast downwards, threatening to injure Keira by a lot.

In shadow form, Keira smirked, seeing that Kana was trying to attack her. It did hit her shadow, but she herself didn’t get injured. Keira then appeared, smirking like a maniac. This meant that her power play was only beginning, but had a plan in mind. Standing where her shadow got hit by the blast, Keira closed her eyes, yet again. Kana, deciding that Keira was a waste of time, looked for Turles and his mother while still being cautious for Keira.

Charging up her electricity till it’s peak, Keira flew upwards at the speed of light, before following Kana; maintaining her speed. Deciding to slow her down, Keira blasted another explosive ball in front of Kana, and continued zooming around at light speed. However, Keira had to call off her attack, or else she'd hit Turles and his mother in the process, who were right next to Kana with mouths agape.

Widening her eyes, Keira flashed in front of Turles and his mother, forming an electric shield. She then stood outside of the shield, trying to decrease the damage, while she absorbed the electricity that hit her. Kana and Keira took the hit, and Kana, jolting with electricity, fell down on her stomach, now deactivated.

The winged one's body was crackling with electricity, and turned towards Turles and his mother. "You two okay?" she asked the two. Turles nodded, whimpering, and his mother was patting his head, mouthing a "thank you" but too frightened to actually pronounce the words.

Keira nodded, disabling the shield. "C'mon, we should get of here," she muttered lowly, still standing in front of the two. "Sorry for scaring you," she added, looking at the now deactivated Kana. "I tried to get her before she did anything else to you two; I'm okay if you consider me a... Monster..." Keira trailed off, stopping herself before she rambled randomly even more.

Turles and Turles' mother were actually more scared of Kana than they were of Keira - however, they didn't bother to correct Keira, his mother thinking It's just a phase and Turles too tired to care. Turles did say something, though - "That new guy probably needs some help with that blue guy."

At this, Keira looked af Turles, hearing what he had said. She then turned to look at Turles, before muttering, “Gonna find the rest.”

Interventions

Interventions: Setup

Kennedy waved to the females before facing Flyby and Lee. The males' path was less trigger-happy - simply a straight path with zig-zags and loops. However, red eyes were all around them, watching the triad, and if you tried to, you could hear the ground rumbling. Kennedy didn't try, however. "So, hedgefox... Care to tell me more about you?"

Flyby shook his head, not sure what to say. "There's not much to say? I'm a kid with some powers, who gets mixed up with some critters."

(Spoiler free version - Lee)

Kennedy shook his head. "Let's start simple. Your name is?"

"Umm, Flyby. Flyby Freeborn. Or at least that's the name I was given." He answered. "Can't say I remember my parents..."

Kennedy smiled. "Now we're past that hurdle. What would you say your occupation is? Or, what do you do for the entirety of your life?"

"I used to go gang-running, but... things got crazy, I had to fight some monsters, learned I was different from the other powered people in my city and that it came with a responsibility." He scratched his spines. "But truth be told, I've never really fought evil unless it got up in my face."

"Well, isn't that-" Kennedy was cut off when a green laser storm was fired at the triad from all directions. Kennedy was hit by a few in his limbs, but he deflected the rest.

Flyby jumped over any that came near him.

Lee hid around a corner. Though the lasers seemed to pass by Lee, Kennedy and Flyby had an onslaught of more lasers coming for them. Sighing, Kennedy teleported constantly, avoiding them.

Flyby was skillfully dodging them. Lee, however, was using his vantage point to try and figure out where the lasers where coming from. Suddenly, the lasers seized, and they turned into bullets rapidly firing at the trio.

Kennedy grunted. "Where are these coming from?"

Flyby laughed. "Bullets are MUCH easier to dodge than lasers!" He began running, sliding and jumping over them. 

Lee was still mentally dissecting them. Kennedy sighed as the onslaught stopped. "That was annoyi-" he then fell down a black hole, it being a full thirty seconds before they could hear a crash.

"Errrrm....?" Lee said, looking down the hole. "Kennedy?"

Flyby ran over, looking down as well. "Oh, crud, what now?"

Kennedy was annoyed when he fell, probably because it was an effect of him not being able to see or sense anything. "I can't sense a thing... but I can feel an enormous amount of pressure." You don't need energy-senses to hear an organism licking its lips in excitement. Kennedy tried to light his hand with energy to create a light, and he succeeded, but when he saw the creature, he jumped back a couple of meters. "FLYBY! LEE! GET DOWN HERE NOW!"

"Ladies first." Flyby insisted, to which Lee smacked him.

"G-get in there." Lee added angrily.

"Fine, whatever." The Lightning Renegade replied, jumping down into it.

The hybrid followed, landing on his face.

When the duo fell down the hole, they'd see something that was honestly hideous. It seemed to be a cross between a basilisk and a frog, and it was about ten feet tall. It had three tongues, eight legs, and four arms, and its five bloodshot eyes were scattered across its face. Seeing this monster tested Kennedy's gag reflexes, and as if that wasn't enough, there were five more behind it.

Kennedy looked at the two hybrids behind him, yelled "SCATTER!" and teleported away in a flash of purple light. At that moment, the frog monsters leaped at them.

"On it, bossman!!" Flyby yelled, trying to run back out of the hole.

Lee gazed upwards at the creatures. "Umm........." He literally could not run or fight.

"I do think Kennedy is trying to kill us." Onyx stated.

Two of the frog-like beasts intercepted Flyby's run, sticking their tongues out at him as they drooled. They slurped it up before firing it in a ball-like projectile at the hedgefox, an orb of saliva coming from each of his sides. Flyby looked at both of them and simply ducked, letting the two balls hit each other.

When Kennedy saw a frog monster leap at Lee, he teleported in front of Lee, threw a Chaos Grenade inside of the beast's mouth, grabbed Lee's arm, and teleported a couple of meters away, stopping any of the frog guts from getting on the duo. Kennedy looked back at Lee, said "You know I meant it when I told you to scatter, right?" and teleported away again.

"I-i was in a hole.." Lee replied.

Iris arrived near the hole just in time to see Flyby running towards the edge of the hole. Stepping out of the way so that he wouldn't hit her when he emerged, she called over to him, "Excuse me, is anyone else still in there?"

Kennedy looked to Iris, momentarily distracted. "YES! LEE, FLYBY AND I ARE ALL-" As he was vulnerable, a frog monster rammed into him at full force, causing him to be stunned for a moment. Angered, he created a large purple orb of Chaos Energy and manifested it before him. Then, he fired it forward, yelling "ERYNSPHERE!" The frog monster was disintegrated.

Iris carefully looked into the hole, noticing the steep walls of the hole. A plan started coming to mind. "Would it help if I attached handholds to the walls of the hole?" she called in. Then, remembering that Kennedy hadn't seen her most recent power acquisition, she added. "I think that I can make portals now...so I could use them to attach rocks to the walls."

Kennedy looked to Iris after having fired the blast, smiling. "Yes, friend, that would be much appreciated. But please.... attempt to not get hurt or physically injured in any sense. I don't know if I'd be able to live with myself if-" Kennedy never finished his sentence, for another frog monster leapt at him. Kennedy saw the attack coming, however, and turned his arm into a purple energy blade. Kennedy then extended it and stabbed the frog monster in the stomach, killing it.

Iris faltered for a second, her left eye flickering off and then back on. "Right," she said, sounding slightly less confident than before. "I'll do that..." Focusing on a nearby sharp rock, she opened up a portal near the top of the wall of the hole and then under the rock, causing the rock to attack to the wall as planned. Encouraged by this, she repeated the procedure on other nearby rocks, gradually adding handholds down the walls of the hole.

Kennedy saw what Iris was doing, smiled, and continued to battle against the frog monsters. Now able to recognize their speed and power, Kennedy quickly found out a way to counter their attacks.

Iris finally placed the last rock near the bottom of the hole, then called down, "I think that you can all climb out now!" Kennedy heard, stabbed the last monster that had come near him, and started running so quickly, he was dashing up the handhold. When he burst out of the hole in a flash of purple light, he landed right next to Iris.

"Nice thinking, healer. We (probably) wouldn't have been able to escape without you." I could've simply flew out and take Flyby and Lee along with me, but I needed to take care of the monsters. Whatever the case, I should at least help the shy girl's self-confidence.

Iris smiled, again her odd left-half-smile. "Thanks," she said. "I..." Her left eye suddenly flickered, and her expression changed to a worried one. "Where are the other members of the group?" she asked.

Flyby was out of the hole already. "I think it's just the shrimp in there."

Lee looked around, almost pulling the tape off his ears before stopping. "I-i'm coming up!" He shouted, climbing the rock ladder.

Iris, relieved, returned to her previous semi-confident expression. "That's good," she said. "I'm happy that I was able to help everyone get to...wait, Keira's..." Without finishing her sentence, she started moving towards the part of the maze where Keira was.

Kennedy, sensing the battle between Keira and Kana, started following Iris, quickly catching up to her and beckoning for Flyby and Lee to follow him. "Keira's having a battle right now. We mustn't waste any time!" Kennedy started flying a meter off the ground, getting in front of Iris. That's when a circular bomb fell in front of them and exploded immediately.

Kennedy took the hit, shielding Iris, and before Iris could heal him, he glared at her. "Don't heal me, child. Your energy signatures are dangerously low, and I sense trouble ahead. Go help Lee, the hybrid with blue tufts, out of the hole."

Flyby, who had jumped clear of the blast, ran back to try and help Iris and Kennedy.

Surprised by the explosion, Lee fell back into the hole.

Iris was noticeably alarmed by Kennedy telling her not to heal him, and her left eye flickered wildly before finally staying on. Iris then started moving towards the hole, but turned around after a second and said (while backing towards the hole), "If I help Lee...will you help Keira? We need someone helping everyone here..."

From the smoke, three figures emerged - Kennedy grunted as Medusa, Blizzard and White all jumped out. White crossed his arms and looked sideways at Mac's Chaos counterpart. "Oh, you're here. I honestly didn't expect you to make it this far. Did we not put enough traps?" White got into a stance, ready to attack Kennedy, but Kennedy looked back at Iris, his gaze without a hint of nonsense.

"If you go and I go, that's leaving Flyby alone to deal with these three. Lee doesn't need any help-" His aura flashed purple as he looked away from Iris and to White. "I sense an energy signature near him, and it's unfamiliar enough to say it's not a villain. Luna presented all of our enemies in the first battle, so it is most likely someone on our side. Same with Keira - someone new is near her."

While Kennedy was busy monologuing, Blizzard frowned and looked around. "Uh..." She looked at Iris and leapt at her, fist ready. "I'll take on you!"

Kennedy, noticing this, yelled, "FLYBY, AT ARMS!" and attempted to stop Blizzard's sudden attack with a low roundhouse kick to the cheek.

It hit her and she fell to the ground from the kick, clutching her cheek in pain. "Ow... that hurts... a lot..."

Which left Flyby to go against White: round two.

Blizzard looked around confused as she finally stood up. "Oh my god, my brain feels like it's going to explode..."

Iris, watching Kennedy, Blizzard, Flyby, and White fight, quickly figured out a plan of action. These people are handling themselves, I'll be useless in a fight, and they're in between Keira and me, so I'll go get Lee, she thought. Since she was already near the hole, she quickly walked over to it, bent over (leaving her vulnerable to attack from behind, although she didn't think of that) and called down quietly, "Lee, can I help you get up here?"

Lee looked up. "I'm no help up there! Besides, I think there's something else down here..." He said, moving around in the cave's dim light.

Blizzard leapt at Iris, ready to try and punch her again. "I guess I'll try to fight you again, girly."

Interventions: Speed Battle

Flyby's body lit up with electricity. "Gotcha, bossman!"

White leapt at Flyby and stopped before he could run into Flyby. Then, White shot fire from his legs like a jetpack, using them to boost him up and knee Flyby in the stomach. If it hit, White would fly over Flyby and kick him in the back several times before crashing down to the ground. The blow connected, but Flyby dumped a bunch of lightning as a reflex.

White's legs were temporarily nonfunctional due to the electricity being sent through them, and White landed on his stomach after the attack. Growling, White looked up at Flyby. "It looks like you've gotten smarter, kid." Slowly getting up, White started to dust himself off. "What you don't understand is that I'm working against Luna, just like you. But you'll have to go down before I can do anything." White bolted at Flyby, slid through his legs, turned around and tried to kick Flyby in the crotch from behind. Flyby jumped this time, springing to behind White and attempting a lightning dash.

Flyby hit White in the back, blasting the rabbit forward. White ran up to Flyby and started kicking with what seemed to be a fusion of Dance and action. He did this while shooting bullets at Flyby, trying to trap the hedgefox. Flyby jumped into the air, doing a lightning spin and dodging the bullets.

White dodged the lightning spin by jumping back, Flyby's attack leaving a small crater in the floor. White was about to attack again when he saw Blizzard attacking Medusa. "Blizzard, what the hell do you think you're doing?! She's on our side, remember?!" White then ran at Flyby, used his legs to boost himself over him, and when he landed, he turned around and tried to sweep Flyby off his feet.

The Hedgefox fell in a heap, looking upwards in shock. White backflipped, trying to hit Flyby in the stomach with an upside-down kick. Flyby gathered his marbles and smirked, shooting a burst of electricity at White. White was hit in the back and blasted into one of the maze walls, but he recoiled off it, sending him flying forward while upside-down. He tried to drag Flyby's face in the ground when he landed, and if he succeeded he would throw Flyby up and kick him to the side.

All attacks hit, leaving Flyby unconscious. White grabbed his body and slumped him over his shoulder, now frowning. "Now, I have another traitor to take care of," he said, glaring at Blizzard. Then, he dashed near her group hoping to find them... but instead fell into a hole.

Interventions: Moral Battle

Iris didn't even try to block Blizzard's punch. As such, Iris was hit fairly hard, collapsing onto the ground a short distance away. However, after glowing yellow for a second in the part of her that Blizzard hit, Iris stood up, albeit slowly. "...Why are you fighting me?" she said. "I'm a healer."

"I dunno," Blizzard replied. "I need to do something."

Kennedy teleported behind Blizzard, aggravated. "You cowardly fool. Attacking a child? I disapprove." He tried to trip the Pyro kinetic with a sweep kick. If the attack landed, he'd teleport into the air above her and fire Chaos Spears rapidly at her.

The kick hit Blizzard, knocking her backwards to the ground. Kennedy floated into the air, frowning. "Get out of my sight immediately, you DISGRACE!" Kennedy started firing a storm of purple Chaos Spears downward to Blizzard. When he was done, he yelled "ERYNSPHERE!" and fired a large purple orb at Blizzard.

Blizzard stood up, rubbing her abdomen in pain. She quickly ran behind a piece of debris for cover. One of the Spears grazed her leg in the process, however, and she yelped in pain. She crouched down and examined the charred flesh closely. It was bad, very bad. While Blizzard checked her wounds, a large orb of purple Chaos Energy neared her.

Blizzard heard it coming and jumped out of the way. Kennedy cursed and turned his arm into a purple sword, and then extended it, trying to stab Blizzard in the leg.

He managed to pierce her leg (the same one the Chaos Spear grazed). Blizzard shouted some profanity of her own at Kennedy before she quickly limped behind a wall for cover. Kennedy saw her cowering and flew behind her afterwards. When she hid, he appeared in front of her. "Listen here, you worthless creature. Had you attacked anyone else, I might've shown you mercy. But no.... you attacked a poor, defenseless child. And for that, you will pay back in spades!"

Blizzard dodged quickly, and tried to hit him in the stomach with a punch of her own. "This battle isn't worth it! First we set up traps, now everyone's running around bashing each other! This wasn't the original plan!" She was talking to herself more than Kennedy. Kennedy caught the punch and nonchalantly tried to slap Blizzard in the face with the back of his hand.

Blizzard tried to bite his hand as he tried to slap her. Kennedy hissed at Blizzard as she bit his hand, but instead of waving his hand like crazy, he simply sighed and turned his hand into a sword again, hoping to counter Blizzard's attack.

At this point, Iris—who had been watching the battle between Blizzard and Kennedy from the sidelines and trying not to get involved—couldn't take it any longer. "Please, Kennedy and...other person, stop fighting!" she said. "I know that the...other person here may be doing something bad, but like she says, this is all pointless! Besides, what you did to her leg is terrible! If you're going to have to fight, you don't have to be making her suffer like this! Could I at least...fix it before you keep fighting?" As soon as Iris finished speaking, she clapped her hand over her mouth, shocked that she had had the gall to deliver a tirade to two aggressive people hitting each other.

Blizzard released Kennedy's hand from her mouth, and looked at Iris with a confused expression. This girl, who was on the other side, was standing up for her. Why? Blizzard hit her earlier, after all. 

Kennedy, who had just had the expression that said "I'm going to kill you until next week," turned his expression into a more confused one as he looked at Iris, levitating into the air. "That's... awfully kind of you. Perplexing, I'd say. Levels of empathy I can't and might not ever be able to reach. I.... I want to agree with you. I want you to heal this woman. But at the same time... you can't. Healing the female I'm battling is like healing Luna. If we can knock her unconscious, that puts her one step above her. So, until I defeat her, she gives up, or she tries to do something else to make me really want to say 'yes,' I'll have to say..." Kennedy slammed his arm into one of the maze's walls, trying to smash Blizzard face. "No." Not right now, at least. I'll have to try to see what I can do to this lady later. 

Blizzard ducked down and moved off to the side a bit. She decided in that moment that this was getting ridiculous. She was only in this alliance to kill Elias. That was the only thing keeping her in the game. He was probably dead by now. Scratch was a pro at making sure no one survived her tests.

Besides, Luna would probably kill them all anyway, after she got what she wanted. Blizzard could change sides. For now.

"What if I changed alliances?" Blizzard asked hastily.

Kennedy looked confused. "Well, that was sudden." I must've scared her into submission. I must control my temper with people like her... Kennedy pointed to Medusa, who was just standing there, watching everything. "Either convince her to join us too or punch her in the face - flip that coin." Kennedy then sent a mental message to Iris - I'm trusting you a lot, Miss - wait a second. Do I know your name? Anyway, I'm trusting you a lot. I don't want you to get hurt. You're a very brave person, you know.

"I'll punch her, gladly," Blizzard replied, smiling for the first time in a while. "She'd likely never switch sides. I never liked her anyway- she was a creep." She limped over to Medusa and said, "Hey, lady. Your ally just turned into your enemy." Then she attempted to strike her face with a fist.

Medusa was happily humming a tune when for the second time, Blizzard successfully landed a punch. Medusa spun around before turning to face the fox. "What are you doing? You're a ssssssstrage perssssson if you're attacking. I ssssshall remind you that I am one of alliesssss."

"Not anymore, snake-skin," Blizzard replied. Suddenly she launched a fireball at Medusa. "Fried snake-skin!" Medusa responded by turning her arm into a snake and firing a purple beam at the fireball, blowing it up. Then, Medusa raised her arm and slammed it down, trying to hit Blizzard with the 'head.'

Blizzard dodged quickly, wincing as pain ran through her leg. Then she attempted to launch a spear of fire at Medusa.

Iris, noticing Kennedy in her head, started thinking back to him. Yes, Kennedy, you know my name already— SHUT UP! I never told him my name! Kennedy, please excuse this other voice in my head. My name's Iris—he knew that already—BE. QUIET. PLEASE!...Kennedy, thank you for...trying to protect me...he isn't—...focus...focus...focus...Kennedy. If. that. person. is. on. our. side. now. can. I. heal. her?

Kennedy chuckled as he levitated down to Iris. Not at all, Iris. You have free will. But... ah, never mind. Do what you would like. Kennedy thought to himself, What is that other voice trying to tell Iris? She never told me her name, and I was trying to defend her.

Iris sighed in relief. Thank you, she thought. I'll go heal her now. She then walked over to near the place where Blizzard and Medusa were fighting and started cautiously moving to the side that Blizzard's injured leg was on, trying to achieve a line of sight between her right eye and Blizzard's injured leg so that she could heal it while avoiding being in the line of fire herself.

As Blizzard launched another fireball at Medusa, her leg came into Iris's line of sight, causing Iris to start channeling her healing powers at it. Blizzard's leg started healing, but there was no guarantee that the process would finish before Medusa attacked again.

Medusa bent over backwards in order to dodge the attack, but then she noticed Blizzard's leg started healing. "What the? How issssss that possssssible?" Medusa blasted her arm forward to punch Blizzard in the gut from afar.

Iris put her left hand (the one that she wasn't using to heal Blizzard) over her own mouth to make sure that there was no way that she could tell Medusa what was going on.

Blizzard leapt to the side, dodging. "Well, I have been experimenting with genetics recently," she lied, so Medusa wouldn't realise what was really happening. She then launched two fireballs at Medusa- one to distract her, while the other would loop around to hit her from behind. If it hit, it would give Medusa burns, but nothing life-threatening if treated properly. Medusa jumped into the air, dodging them both and leaving them to crash into each other.

"You remind me of my dad," Medusa said, glaring at Blizzard. "You act like I actually mean ssssssomething one sssssssecond, and then the next, you're gone, and now you're an adversssssary." Medusa hissed, and her put her arms out. They extended to Blizzard and tried to bite her face.

Blizzard actually felt bad for Medusa for one second. But it was only a second. She quickly dodged the punch and attempted to deliver one of her own. "I just realised that I didn't need this alliance anymore. I got what I wanted- Elias is surely dead. I'm sure Scratch made sure of that."

"You have too much faith, and at the sssssame time, far too little," Medusa said before wincing. Blizzard's punch hit, and she retracted her arm. "This allianccccccccce was nothing to you, wasssssssn't it? No opportunity to ssssstart over, jusssssst pure ssssselfisssssshnesssss." Medusa growled, and for a second, her eyes were watering. "Now I underssssssstand why they call ussssss 'villainsssssss' - ssssssimply becausssssse of people like you." Medusa ran up to the wall, recoiled off it, flipped, and extended her arm, trying to bite Blizzard's leg with it.

"What happened between you and your father?" Blizzard asked, dodging Medusa's attack. "Is whatever happened the reason you are in the alliance?"

"Perhapssssss you need to sssssssee thingsssss from a different angle," Medusa said, retracting her arm. "Life issssssn't fair. People are bad. And if you don't know what'sssssss going to go your way.... you jussssssst need to forccccce things to. I joined the alliancccccce becaussssse I'm not going to be the one hurt anymore. If people are going to feel pain, I'm not going to be one of the people reccccceiving it. But yet..." Medusa hissed, walking slowly to Blizzard. "Just when I thought I wasssss ssssafe, traitors like you ssssstill emerge. It really issssss depressssing. However... it isssss not my job to quesssssstion your moralsssss - that isssss, if you even have any. If you join them, I will defeat you. I will no longer be weak." Medusa turned her arms into normal arms and slithered to Blizzard, trying to uppercut her in the chin.

Iris kept healing Blizzard, despite her conflicting thoughts. I feel kind of bad for Medusa...maybe I should help her...but I started healing Blizzard...I might as well finish that...even if Blizzard isn't the best person...she's counting on me...and I can't let her down...

"Who said you were weak?" Blizzard asked, blocking the punch. "I'll admit, I didn't like you when we first met. But now you're doing a real good job of making me feel terrible. Besides, something tells me that when Luna gets what she wants, she's not going to just hand over that pretty little sceptre of hers just because we helped get rid of a few problems like our enemies..."

Meudsa retracted her arm again, turned it into a normal arm, and slithered to Blizzard, trying to punch her in the cheek. "I'm not a hopeful. I know Luna'sssss not giving away that sssssscepter. I don't want it like a lot of our - or, in your casssssse, former - teammates. I don't want some extravagant way to live.... I just don't want to die."

Blizzard was hit in the cheek by Medusa. The fox fell backwards on her rear, rubbing her cheek. "Then why are you in this alliance in the first place? When Luna gets what she wants, she'll probably erase us from existence. Because she'd see us as a threat. Then we're all dead." Blizzard jumped back on her feet, back into a battle stance.

Medusa turned her arms into snakes again and extended them, trying to get them to bite the fox's legs. "It'sssssss better to flip a coin with a chanccccccce of good luck rather than leave the coin alone with no hope of sssssucccccceeding. We don't know if Luna'ssssssss going to betray usssssss or not - but if ssssssshe issssssn't, then I will take advantage of the ssssssituation. You are sssssimply giving up on what you don't know."

Blizzard jumped above the snakes and threw a fireball at her at the same time. Medusa quickly retracted her arms again so that they'd consume the fireball, converting it into purple energy. Medusa fired a purple laser at Blizzard, and if they hit anything, they'd surround it with rocks.

Blizzard dodged to the side, then jumped over Medusa with a flip. Then she turned and attempted a nerve pinch on Medusa's shoulder. If she succeeded in pinching her, Medusa would go unconscious.

(Yes, it's a Star Trek thing. Lol! -Julia)

Medusa quickly turned around when Blizzard flipped over her, and when Blizzard tried to pinch her Medusa slapped her hand away. She was about to try to punch Blizzard in the face when Kennedy teleported in front of her and caught the punch, making special care not to do any sort of harm to Medusa. With a somber tone, he said, "I'm sorry. I know what it is like to lose something - something big, something that was a part of you. But sometimes, you just have to do without that something - sometimes, that something is gone for the better." In my case, that is far too literal.

Medusa flinched, jumped back, and put her arms out behind her. She closed her eyes and started yelling childishly, "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME! What do you even know about yoursssssssself?! You think that you're the hero, the goody-two-sssssssshoes that everyone has to follow because you're doing 'the right thing.' Well, guessssssss what? Ssssssssometimes, the right thing is the wrong thing! And you're doing the wrong thing, sssssssso, ssssssso much!" Tears started coming out of Medusa's eyes. "My life hassssss been hell-"

Kennedy's empathetic look turned into a bit of a darker one. "I'm sorry, but I don't think you can pull that card on me. If I can make any inferences from my interdimensional travels, then I know that you aren't the only one who has bad luck. That doesn't give you an excuse to give up and run away."

Medusa glared at Kennedy, pure anger in her eyes. "Sssssssstop acting ssssssmart! You don't know what you're sssssssaying! You don't know what 'morally grey' even meansssssssss! I bet for you, it'sssssssss jussssssssst heroesssssss and villainssssssss, and I'm the 'villain.' But no! You can't judge people jusssssssst on what sssssssside they're on! People have feelingssssssss, and backstoriesssssss, and people can be complicated! I'm complicated! I don't even know what I'm ssssssssaying anymore!" Medusa started to break down in a quiet fit of tears, and Kennedy, worried, looked to Iris and Blizzard, sending a telepathic message that said I. Need. Help. Please.

Iris didn't need Kennedy's message. Before he had even sent it, she had walked over to Medusa. "Shhhh," she said quietly, putting a hand on Medusa's back. "It'll be all right soon. Even if it's not good now, some day, it will be." She put her other arm around Medusa. "Please, trust me. It'll all be fine soon."

Medusa put her hands over her eyes. "How can you know that, though? How can you know that everything will eventually get better?" Look at me, getting advicccce from a thirteen-year-old. The intelligencccce of children issss really blooming, I sssssuppose.

"You're right, it may not get better," said Iris, "but you'll recover. Nothing lasts forever. Not your problems, not your sorrows, not your pain...You'll heal, some day, even if your troubles never end. I know you'll heal. Everyone heals, some day."

Medusa wanted to be angry. She wanted to think she had a right to be mad. She wanted to just ignore everything the kid said and punch her in the face. Medusa's tears started to dry up, and she looked at Iris. "I guesssssss winning thisssssss with Luna is my way of healing," she said, before trying to punch Iris in the face. Kennedy teleported over to Medusa and caught her punch, accidentally hitting Iris' arm in the process.

"My apologies," Kennedy said while looking back at the ibex. "Do you mind if I... y'know what? She seems awfully persistent."

Iris collapsed to her knees, unable to take the emotional overload caused by the person who she'd been trying to emotionally heal suddenly turning on her. "Do whatever you think best," she whispered, falling onto the nearby wall.

Kennedy looked at Medusa with a somber look before squeezing the snake's fist. "Do you have any pride left? Seeing what happened with the fox - Iris, could you find out what her name is? - I'll let you go... for now. Whatever you do after this is your responsibilit-" Medusa didn't waste any time to try to punch Kennedy sideways in the way. Her punch landed, and Kennedy was knocked back a small distance.

Kennedy growled. "Exactly what I was saying." Not even bother to turn his arm into a blade, he grabbed Medusa by the arm, but her arm over his shoulder while she was still behind him, and elbowed her in the back three times, causing Medusa to feel her body weaken. Then, after doing a couple of movements, Kennedy had a situation where Medusa's arm was behind her back and Kennedy was behind her. Muttering a "Find peace, for my sake," Kennedy hopped her in the back, causing her to fall unconscious.

Kennedy looked at the unconscious Medusa with balled-up fists. "...This doesn't feel like a victory."

Iris, who had been watching the battle even as she was collapsed against the wall, whimpered, "Why can't we all just get along? Why does someone have to be...a monster? And why..." Iris's voice got more tense. "Why can't the monsters be good people on the inside? Why?...Why does it have to be this way?" Iris's left arm started tensing violently, and her left eye started flashing brightly. "Why?"

"That's just the way things are," Blizzard said. "Some people just do bad things for good reasons. Sometimes it's the opposite. You can't expect everything to be peaches and cream, no matter how much you want it to be."

Iris sighed and stood up. "Right...I know things can't be good or make sense all the time," she said resignedly. "I was brought up in a war, where everyone was hurting each other all the time for almost no reason, so I know everyone in the universe can be evil sometimes, Iris, so just shut up—" Iris put her hand over her mouth, shuddered slightly, then removed her hand and continued, "Yes, I know. Sorry for being so immature before. I just thought I had figured out something that I could finally do with my life to help people, only for it to go away, and I started thinking: Is this the way my life is going to be forever? That every time I find something really good to do with my life, it goes away before I can make it be really useful? I couldn't get good enough during the war to make a difference before it ended, I couldn't find a job after the war before I was taken here, I couldn't make anything better here...and you won't appeal to these people either, Iris, so like I said before, shut up already." Upon this other voice coming out of Iris, Iris looked incredibly unnerved and stood frozen against the wall for several seconds after the voice stopped speaking.

Kennedy looked somber when Iris said the first part of her speech, but when the other voice started coming up, Kennedy growled, his fangs showing (which didn't happen so often). This girl seemed to be bullying herself! Kennedy knew that the age range of people with depression has getting larger and larger, but this was different - almost like a completely separate entity was in Iris. Worried that this other entity would notice if he tried to search Iris' energy signatures, Kennedy simply began to spoke. "Iris, I myself do not know what is getting into you, but if it is another entity or voice inside you - I apologize if that sounds strange - then please kindly tell it to shut up." After rolling his eyes (at Iris' other self, not her main one), Kennedy began to reply to Iris again. "Anyway, Iris, I know what you're saying. You've grown up in a setting where pain was the norm, so you wanted to help from a very young age. Now... you're heartbroken seeing that you can't help anyone. As cynical as it may seem... some people need more than a prep talk in order to convince them to stop letting their rage be unleashed unto others. And if you have a troublesome life-" Kennedy's voice cracked, as if he were trying to hide in a fit of sadness. "I give you pity. I give you so much pity. But then... I suppose life's just cruel that way."

Iris's other voice started to speak, but Iris put her hand over her mouth, stopping it. It continued to speak to her in her mind, though.

Didn't you just say that? it asked. Why's he re-iterating what you're already saying?

To comfort me, I guess? thought Iris's normal personality.

Then, the two voices came as one: At any rate, we should probably go help the others now.

To Blizzard, and to Kennedy (if he hadn't been reading her mind), it would seem to come out of nowhere when Iris, after having been silent for a few seconds (actually having the mental conversation detailed above), abruptly said, "Who am I supposed to go help now?"

Keira, thought the other voice.

No, we have to ask first, thought Iris's normal voice.

Fine, thought the other voice grudgingly.

Blizzard clasped her hands behind her back, waiting. "And what am I to do?"

Kennedy grimaced before looking to the area White was in. "I guess he's next."

Blizzard frowned. "Let me guess... I'll be the one to kick his butt?" Kennedy simply nodded in reply.

"And...what do I do?" said Iris.

Blizzard let out a sigh. "Another day, another battle." She headed off to the hole, where White was.

Kennedy replied to Iris, "Come with me. If the fox needs assistance, we help. Then again... no. Let's go together, if you don't mind." Kennedy then followed Blizzard.

I guess we follow him, then, thought Iris's normal voice.

But Keira... thought the other voice.

We'll be better off if we follow Kennedy, thought Iris. Then we can come back for Keira.

OK... thought Iris's other voice, and Iris took off after Kennedy.

Interventions: Sidelines (The Hole)

Within the hole, a pair of sharp blue eyes set there sat on Lee. "Hello there," a voice said somewhat nervously.

Lee looked up to the mouth of the hole. "H-hi... I gotta go. I think someone needs help." He hurriedly began climbing the "ladder".

The blue eyed wolf walked closer to the wall Lee was climbing, allowing the light to shine on him. He was white with black stripes and brown wrist bands. He was also covered in bruises and was holding his left arm with his right.  

"Sounds like a big rumble up there, what's going on?" he asked.

The fox hybrid looked back down at him. "Nothing good, that's for sure."

Lee emerged from the hole, watching the chaos; His ears cocked back so nobody would notice him with ease.

The Blue-eyed wolf, Chase began climbing up the wall. Grabbing the footholds with his one good arm be started going up.

"I can do this, I can do this, just got to hold on." he said to himself. However, the two would find White and an unconscious Flyby (who had just past by Lee) fall into the hole, causing them to start to drop. If Chase didn't move, he'd find himself trapped underneath the duo.

Chase seeing two bodies falling down the hole right above him. He would jump to his right to avoid being crushed by the two. He used his claws to dig into that part of the wall since he had missed a handhold in order to avoid an fall.

"I hope those two are ok." He said as he watch the two pass by him. He then began his descent to help them out. White quickly got up and threw Flyby off him before getting into a stance.

"Okay, if you don't know where you are or how you got here, come with me. If you don't want to come with me, you can join KO Kid over there." White pointed to Flyby before continuing. "I believe that after that battle, I just want to get this whole thing over this, so could you please... not? It'll save you a lot of pain. I'm sure Luna would love it, actually, if you considered assisting us."

"And how am I suppose to trust you?" Chase asked still hanging on the wall.

White grimaced. "You aren't. Based on what I said, join me or fight. I suggest you join - that way, you'll live."

I am not in the mood to die today, so I'll go with him to the surface at least. If he turns out to be a bad guy, I'll just go over to the good guys, Chase thought to himself.

"Fine, I'll come with you," Chase said.

White nodded, slumped Flyby over his shoulder again, and started to climb up the handholds. So, the lightning kid's down. That should leave the ibex, Kennedy, and that other hybrid I hope that Azul and Kana aren't failing miserably, White thought while climbing upwards. He then rolled his eyes. Luna's making my life a pain in the ass. I can't wait to finish her.

Lee scurried up the handholds, thankful White hadn't noticed him hanging there. When he reached the surface, the hybrid dashed for cover.

Chase allowed White to pass him, then began climbing himself. He was surprised by how white could climb so easy with another guy on his shoulder. White climbed up onto the surface, saw Lee, threw Flyby to his right, and burst at Lee, trying to kick him in the stomach. Lee jumped away from the kick (and out of his hiding spot), showing a decent amount of athletic skill. White lightly growled and fired fire from his legs, causing him to be boosted up faster. Using rapid shots in order to keep momentum. He used this to send himself flying towards Lee and tried to kick him upwards in the chin.

Darn, I was hoping to hear what was going on before a fight broke out, Chase thought. "Wait wait what's going on here, why are you two fighting?" he asked while flailing his arms around.

Lee didn’t answer, too busy dodging White's onslaught.

Chase, seeing that the two were ignoring him, rushed over to Flyby to wake him up.

"Come on, get up please." Chase said as he began shaking Flyby.

The Hedgefox opened his eyes, looking around. "Wasshappening?"

"That's what I want to know," said Chase as he pointed to the chaos going on around them.

"I suppose I'm supposed to go whoop on someone now?" Flyby asked rhetorically.

"I still want to know why everyone's punching each other, I doubt this is for fun," Chase said, hoping to figure out what side to join before it got any more serious.

White, seeing Flyby awake, left the fight with Lee to dash over to Flyby and Chase and try to kick the hedgefox in the stomach.

Blizzard suddenly leapt down from the edge of the hole and kicked at White's head. "Sorry, but not sorry at the same time. A good supervillain has to do what a good supervillain has to do." White was taken by surprise, and she hit him before he could hit Flyby, knocking him to a wall.

Chase, who had entered battle stance when he saw White charge at him, gained a confused expression as he saw Blizzard kick White in the head. White, on the other hand, knew exactly what he needed to do. "So, I take it you've balanced the pros and cons of each side. You might want to check your math if you're going to battle against us. Even if you get past me, you'll have to deal with Scratch. Then, Luna'll be looking for your head in a void. Are you really willing to take that risk?" Not waiting for a reply, White leaped forward at Blizzard.

"Well OK then...back to my question," Chase said as he turned back to Flyby.

"Um... Ok, white rabbit guy is bad, the Symbyox lady was bad...?" The Hedgefox said.

"So should we help the lady?" Chase asked.

Blizzard attempted to punch White in the gut as he leapt at her. "Yada, yada, yada... that's all I hear. Maybe you should check your math. You know, you're pretty a pathetic villain! Not paying attention to your surroundings!"

"....what was that?" White said, his eyes now with a bit of anger. He fired a burst of fire from his robotic leg to boost him upwards and kick Blizzard's arm away as a counter. Then, White landed on his feet and glared at the fox. "You don't know anything about me! You don't know my motives, even! You only know I'm working for Luna, and even then, you don't know why!" White got into a stance. "People like you are why I'm doing this in the first place. One-dimensional eggs like you are going to be cracked." White burst out in speed before jumping over Blizzard and trying to kick her in the back of her head while airborne.

"Naw, I think she's good," Flyby said.

"Well, should we help out your friend over there?" Chase said, pointing towards Lee.

"You can if you want to, I'm not helping the boygirl." Flyby answered snarkily.

"Well, I guess I will, then," Chase said, then began to sneak off to Lee while trying to not get attacked by White.

Blizzard quickly avoided the kick. She looked at White with narrowed eyes. "Excuse me...? Did you just call me one dimensional?! WHY YOU DAMNED ********!" She threw several balls of fire at White.

White flipped in order to dodge the fireballs before landing on his feet and smiling at Blizzard. "I'm done with my rant, but it looks like yours is a lot more physical." White then got into a stance. "You're not even bothering to listen to reason, dumbass. Ready to lose?" From his legs, White fired multiple bullets at Blizzard's leg.

Wait, a mobian using bullets? Yup, definitely not home anymore, Chase thought as he snuck over to Lee. Lee was hiding behind a rock.

Blizzard managed to dodge most of them, but one grazed her on the side. "Fine then. What's your reason for working with Luna, 'Mr. I'm so ******* special?!'"

(Um, yeah, a lot of cursing from Blizzard in one day...- Julia)

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," White said before leaping forward and attempting to deliver quick aerial kicks to Blizzard's face.

Blizzard swiftly dodged, and frowned at him. "Seeing as we're already trying to kill each other, it doesn't really matter."

White simply replied, "I'd rather die because of you than because of my own stupidity." Then, White fired a flare of fire at Blizzard's stomach which would explode when it got near her.

Lee decided it was time to move, jumping towards Blizzard in an attempt to knock her out of the projectile's way.

He succeeded and Blizzard was unscathed. "Uh, thanks... random... stranger?" She stood up and dusted herself off. Then she looked at White. "As for you... if you're so hyped up on dying rather than just telling me why you're working with Luna so I can at least begin to frickin' understand what you're going through, then why don't you just let me kill you now and save us both the trouble of long, painful deaths?!...well?! Answer me!"

The Hybrid ran back to his rock, seeing his momentary usefulness had ended. White, seeing Lee shuffle on back, decided that since there were no more Rulers there besides a traitor, he could afford to spill it. "I'm a double agent... for myself. Luna trusts me a lot, so I'm going to take advantage of that to take the scepter from her. But... I need to look convincing."

"He's telling the truth," Kennedy said, apparently there the whole time, leaning by the wall. "I just read his mind. His intentions are... justified, I suppose you could say."

"Now who's a traitor?" Blizzard thought. She didn't say it, though. Instead, Blizzard told White, "Alright, since Mister Know-It-All up there says your reasons are justified, we'll make you a deal... I'll help you make you look convincing. In return, you can supply us with information. It's a win win. You get the sceptre, we get the bad guys. And I get to keep my legs."

Iris, who had likewise been lurking out of sight, said quietly, "May I go help Keira now?"

Kennedy looked to Iris and sighed. "Iris, I would say yes, but I'm afraid that you'd be hurt. I sense another person near Keira - we don't know if he's a friend or an enemy. No offense, but you aren't the most powerful - if he ends up going against us, while the chaos being challenges Keira, he's going to come after you. I don't like those odds," Kennedy said, before repeating, "No offense."

Iris stood silently for a second or two, looking pained, then said, almost whispering, "Kennedy, I need to tell you something privately. Can you connect to me via telepathy again?"

Kennedy didn't like the expression Iris wore - it made him feel depressed. He wasted no time to say, Yes?

Kennedy, thought Iris, I have another mind now. I don't know how, but I do. The thing is...this other mind...is...really...somehow...in love...with Keira. And it...she...wants to see Keira again. Really wants to see Keira again. I promised her that we could rescue Keira after everyone else, but now...you're saying we can't...and...it's...hard...to...manage...this...if...I...if I can't go, this will...be...hard...to...manage...Iris was grimacing by this point, visibly struggling with having two minds.

Kennedy's face shifted into a surprised one, and then one trying to reason things - Iris would be able to hear Kennedy thinking to himself. Well, I fear that she wouldn't be safe...then again, who am I to get in the way of young love? With a sigh, Kennedy said to Iris, Yes, you may go. You can create portals, can't you?

I can't create portals... thought Iris, followed by her other mind continuing, that's me. Iris's first mind then picked up again: Anyway...thanks for letting us go. I'll just warn you, though...I know you think I feel this way about Keira, but that's her. My other mind. I just want to see her as a friend...Iris looked pained again and said, Right, I'll go help her now. Take care of yourselves...don't die, I guess? Then, almost imperceptibly, Why do I feel like this will be the end? Iris then slowly walked off towards Keira.

Meanwhile, White was still looking at Blizzard. "If I go the 'Blizzard' route, then Luna's going to find me out pretty quick. I need to make it look..." White fired fire out of his legs, boosting him forward before he fired two flares of fire at Blizzard's chest. "...believable."

Something in Blizzard decided to secretly help him out a little anyway. And help her keep her legs. She dodged slightly to the left, but let one of the blasts hit her right in the right shoulder. The white Fox fell backwards onto the ground, clutching her shoulder in pain.

Chase who had witnessed all of this and had no clue what was happening. "Ok, I have had enough," he said and just bolted over to Lee hoping he could tell him something.

Lee was too busy standing around looking stupid. White, seeing the duo doing nothing, decided to burst forward and try to kick Chase in the stomach.

Kennedy stood there, thinking about what to do. He shouldn't let White attack him.... but then again, he wanted to see what the wolf could do. With his blade-arm out, Kennedy waited for something bad to happen

Chase realizing what was about to happen sidestepped to the left to avoid the hit. Blizzard stood up still clutching her shoulder. White's back was turned. She launched a fire ball at his back. If it hit, it would deal quite a bit of damage, but it wouldn't be life-threatening if treated. White missed Chase as a result of the wolf's dodge, but when he turned around to face him again, he saw the fireball. White leaped high into the air, dodging it before firing seven bullets, four at Blizzard and three at Chase.

Blizzard dodged the bullets quickly, throwing fire balls at White as she went. White fired flares of fire back at her, clashing with the fireballs and cancelling them out. White used this momentum to blast himself backwards. 

Chase went for covering not wanting to test how effective these bullets were compared to the ones back home. Ok I got to do something about his legs, Chase thought to himself.  

After White shot himself far back enough, he landed on the wall and recoiled off of it, bursting at Blizzard with speed. He'd fire a flare on fire at her head before shooting into the air over her, reloading his legs, and landing behind her.  

chase began grabbing some small rocks, hoping to jam the bullet and fire mechanisms in White's legs.