Sakura’s Turn
Sakura knew what the plan was. She had agreed to it… heck, she initiated it, for crying out loud! Rose had joked about her “Hero Instincts” waking up… and Sakura had to bitterly agree. She was still conflicted, but all she knew at that exact moment was that her dad was in danger from bad guys, and she was gonna rescue him.
However, apparently the assholes knew they were coming. The good news was that it meant there were less civilians. The bad news was that they hadn’t gotten very far into the mines.
A new set of Mages appeared. Sakura said, “I’m starting to think this was all planned!”
Aunt Susie said, “Oh, it was, dear! I know an expertly thought-out plan when I see one! But that’s the beauty of stories… the heroes always kick ass no matter how well-written the plan was!”
She threw another giant fireball, instantly destroying the new group. But the Knights were approaching. Crisis’s arm had turned into a “laser cannon” and was shooting narrow beams of blue light. All of his shots were one-shots, but there were too many.
Crisis said, “Ideas how to do that, Miss?”
Susie said, “Admittedly, Crisis, games were Wonder’s thing! The games I played were farming games! Oo, I wonder if I can learn magic for growing things? Remind me later!”
This time she cast an ice spell, putting up a thick wall of ice. “Mana refill!”
Sakura chanted: “Mana Pour!”
She panted as her arm tingled. She was used to boosting her family’s stats. A family that never needed extra mana. This spell was hurting her arm.
“DUCK!!!”
They instantly all ducked, and a wave of darkness surged over them. It took out nearly every Knight in the cavern. The ranged Mages and Hunters quickly hid, and the Rogues went invisible.
Sakura looked, and saw a robed Guardian standing there. A few walked up. Robed said, “We were instructed to give you backup to get Shaman Wonder to safety.”
Sakura smiled in relief, summoning her mace. “Great! Here, I’ll boost your stats real quick, and we’ll get to a elevator!”
****************
Rose’s Turn
Lady Thunder said, “These assholes! What the fuck?!?”
As soon as they started heading towards the main gates, a ton of Knights, Rogues, and Hunters appeared. While there were a few Light Oracles among them, the majority were wearing the local garb of Talcini.
Rose growled, “They planned this all along! They never planned to allow any of us to live!”
He pulled out his bongos and started playing. Everyone’s stats in their party were boosted. Pal cast a strong shield around them. Izuku whistled, and his masses of bunnies and wolves appeared. As well as a new creature he had picked up on the beaches weeks ago… Undead Antibodies.
This new addition took everyone off-guard, and they were running around. Lady Thunder looked in shock. “You have Antibodies?!? That young?!?”
Izuku smiled. “I think I got my dad’s talent.”
Rose smiled. “It also helped that they found a few shipwrecks. I gotta make a song for wonder… Pirates VS Cowboys!”
Lady Thunder chuckled, then energy focused in her hand. She called out, “Lord of Lightning! Please answer my call from beyond the Voids!”
She made a throwing motion, and a ton of lightning bolts smashed from a clear sky. Rose said, “Ooooooo, your name makes sense now!”
Lady Thunder smirked. “What? You thought it was because I was loud?”
“People are assholes.”
They both laughed, and returned to the fight. Rose switched to de-buffing their enemies. It did make them fall faster, but they rose pretty quickly. There were healers among the lot.
Rose felt a sinking feeling. They were outnumbered. They weren’t gonna…
Then there were screams.
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Blood appeared. He signed, Anyone hurt?
Izuku said, “No, Uncle Blood! So far we’ve kept them from hurting us! But about half of my Undead are getting pretty badly damaged!”
Blood nodded. My Rogues and Knights specialize in damage that cannot be magically healed. We’ll get these torn up quickly.
Rose nodded. “Good idea! Add them to the party, and I’ll boost them!”
Blood nodded, and his fingers flew. Rose got a pop-up about 50 new members to the party. He quickly gave them all boosts to their general stats and definitely DEF.
Izuku said, “What do we do? I don’t think we’re gonna get out!”
Rose said, “And all the leaders are dead! The ones who might be on our side…”
Suddenly, the Guardians began to move.
Rose could have sworn there was more than before. But the blood-and-dirt ripoff of Tribe Lightwraiths moved through and started cutting people down. But, Rose noticed, none of their allies.
Lady Thunder said, “What the…? OH!”
She looked at the crew. “Apparently this whole thing violates the original contracts! They’ve gotten the civilians and children in town to safety, and are now gonna help us!”
Rose said, “Great! Wait… there are some in the mines?”
“Yes, and they’re working on that too. But apparently most of the forces are there.”
Izuku laughed dryly. “Well, they are gonna soon fear the bunnies.”
********************
Wonder’s Turn
Wonder and Sheriff ran up the different tunnels. They had faced off a few enemies, but they were soon coming upon undead bunnies feasting. Sheriff said, “Your son?”
“Yeah! But if he’s not here personally, that means things have gone to shit up above!”
They continued to work their way up. Wonder and Sheriff were able to easily shoot any who they came across that the bunnies hadn’t taken care of. There were a few terrified civilians, but they were bypassed.
Wonder said, “Why aren’t we finding any elevators?”
“Safety! The Original Architect stopped all elevators at level 50 to keep people from directly accessing the Summon Point. There is a mini-town there for hard workers who continue down, or those who wish to summon and make contracts with us at the source. We’ll probably face a lot of opposition there.”
“No way to bypass?”
“Probably, but none that are safe.”
They came upon an underground river. A group of Mages fired upon on them. Wonder said, “Yismil! Shield!”
The slug that was riding in Wonder’s quiver complied. A yellowish shield appeared, deflecting the majority of spells. The few that got by stung, but Wonder didn’t feel any side-effects. And checking his stats, he was fine.
Sheriff fired at them, felling a bunch at once. Then Knights with giant shields appeared. Wonder yelled, “Garados!”
Garados jumped out of the Beast Inventory, and into the water. Suddenly a water sprout appeared and slammed into the line of Knights. Most were knocked out, indicated by a KO symbol that floated into Wonder’s vision.
Most Mages realized they were in the shit, and ran out screaming. A few stayed, firing lightning spells that bounced off the Yismil’s shield.
Then there were more screams down the tunnels.
And one eerie chant, full of darkness and bloodlust.
“ZUNE ZUNE ZUNE ZUNE ZUNE ZUNE ZUNE ZUNE.”
Sheriff shuddered. “Those are not the cute and friendly ones in your group, are they?”
Wonder shook his head. “No. Those are their very cute but dangerous brothers, the Warrior Class.”
The Knights charged, and they were distracted from the incoming chanting. Garados shot a water beam, but one on the side blocked with his shield. The others pulled out swords and charged. Sheriff and Wonder both shot 3 out of 6 down before the survivors got to the shield. They started to pound and crack it…
Wonder shouted, “MEGATRON!!!”
They all froze, obviously knowing the name from Transformers.
They should have also known the Wrecker Rule from Transformers Prime. 39, if Wonder remembered the number right. But that wasn’t the important thing.
A giant lizard of metal and teeth fell from the ceiling, shrieking in its delight for a new meal. The knights stood no chance.
Sheriff said, “Sir… where did you get that?”
“Actually, they was a present from Ralton. I think they were supposed to be a dowry.”
The creature smiled, blood dripping from its giant jaws. Sheriff said, “Noted!”
Suddenly, a massive bolt of darkness came streaking at them. Megatron jumped in front of beam, but it burned through him and the shield. Wonder had to scream in pain.
Luckily, while it hurt like hell, when the light died down, only his clothes were burned off and his skin was bright pink. Yay, high DEF.
The Mages smirked, and prepped for another. Wonder re-summoned his bow, and shot them all dead.
Wonder panted as he got up. Garados shot them both of water, cooling them down before the burns got really bad. Wonder looked at Sheriff… and he was so charred, Wonder didn’t think he survived. But Sheriff gave a wobbly thumbs up. He grasped, “I… alive… but… gotta…”
“Retreat and recover, Sheriff. I’m not gonna push yah beyond your limits.”
Sheriff nodded, and vanished. Wonder huffed. Outnumbered. And while his Tamer skills were saving him, he was clearly not doing well.
He checked his beasts. Yasmil and Megatron were alive, but they would be in recovery in the Beast Tamer screen for a while. Garados had not gotten directly attacked at all, thankfully.
That left Wonder only three other battle-compatible Beasts, and the shark was only good in water. And the other two he had were meant for defense and spying, not melee attacks like Megatron or Garados.
Wonder walked to the river, allowing Garados to climb up him. “We’re gonna have a hard time, Garados.”
“Zune-Zune, Myzune!”
Wonder blinked, and looked. A bunch of chibis wearing dark mage robes and armor were in one of the caves. Wonder weakly waved. “Hey…”
A few that must have been healers ran over. A few armored and robed ones stood guard while the others marched into other tunnels.
Then the caves started to shake.