batonmaster500TheFirstDecade Drakonus was so caught up in his thoughts, he almost missed the sounds of his squad desperately roaring to him. He turned to see the indestructible hatch in the rock, the only entrance to the Moles' headquarters, open. It was held open by a mole, waving for the cats to enter, and enter they did, running and sliding into the hole beneath the hatch. "GO," Drakonus roared at the top of his lungs, time feeling to him as if it slowed down, "GET TO THE HATCH. IGNORE EVERYTHING ELSE!" Dragons zoomed toward the hatch half a second after "go" left their King's mouth, firing laser bursts and preparing more fire in their throats... but it was too late. All of their shots went off into the distance above the hatch, a quarter of a second after the mole slammed it down, the three cats having gone in with him. The dragons, upon getting above the hatch, tried in vain to pull it open again. Drakonus literally fumed as he turned around to see the flygon pulling his lower body out of the dune. The one called Wingman grinned in relief at the same sight Drakonus scowled at, and the Dragon King launched a volley of fire at the green reptilian without warning.
Wingman barely leapt to the side in time to dodge the fire blast, which transformed the sand he'd been clawing through moments before into an abstract glass sculpture. His overwhelming feeling of relief at the sight of the cats getting safely into the Moles' headquarters was quickly extinguished, in order for the Paradigm leader to devote his full attention to fighting the Dragon King. The flygon jumped backward and used his wings to hover above the sand, as Drakonus viciously cut the glass spikes down to size, having aimed for Wingman's neck. Wingman parried several lightning fast sword swings from the Dragon King in quick succession, never breaking his concentration; his life depended on it, after all. The flygon could tell that his plan to take the Dragon King down with him wouldn't succeed at this point; his lone chi grenade was buried somewhere in the sand now, and the other dragons, rapidly approaching again, would be on him any minute, before he could strike a finishing blow against Drakonus. "If you're truly our creator," Wingman panted, "what kind of god slays his own 'children'?" "One who has no other choice," Drakonus growled remorsefully, "for the time being. My plan will save, not destroy, every life on this world, but I must first prevent a being like Paradox from interfering with it." Wingman nodded, transitioning the nod into a duck to avoid a deadly swing from his opponent. "I understand; you're suspicious and alarmed by Paradox's apparent power, as I am." Drakonus seemed to look at Wingman differently after that, his focused fury faltering, even. The flygon didn't hesitate, taking the opportunity to push forward with a stab attack to the left side of the dragon's neck, currently a vulnerable spot.
batonmaster500TheFirstDecade Drakonus regained his focus just in time to dodge the fatal strike, and in that moment, as Wingman got closer to him, he noticed a strange change in the dragon's expression. Drakonus' pupils grew into thinner slits as his eyes widened, staring at Wingman's right eye. "I see..." The dragon said as he ducked down and grabbed Wingman's now vulnerable right wrist with his left hand, squeezing it and causing the flygon to let go of his sword. "So that's how it is." "Wha--?" Wingman started, before being pulled down and thrown onto a rock face below where the flying combatants had been fighting. He saw stars, before Drakonus came into view, looming above him. It happened in a split second; the Dragon King plunged his sword down into Wingman's field of view, aiming to the right, and then everything went black.
Date and time: Night of July 16th Location: Mole Headquarters
The cats had each needed to grab onto a ladder built into the entrance tunnel after dashing through, to avoid falling straight down. They'd then been escorted by the mole named Obsidian through a spacious tunnel, lit up by some sort of glowing purple crystals. Myora tried not to think about Wingman on her way through the tunnel. She hadn't known the flygon well, having just been recruited to Paradigm, and in fact hadn't met him until the previous day, but Wingman's sacrifice had nevertheless saved Myora and her friends from the Dragons, and enabled them to complete the mission by coming down here. The cats soon saw purple light at the end of the tunnel, and were led into a decent-sized cavern, with the glowing crystals lining the walls. There were entrances to nine other tunnels in the cavern, accessible through stone staircases molded into the walls of the cavern itself. There were a modest number of moles walking throughout the space, some of whom stared at the arrivals curiously. "You'll have to forgive my fellows for staring." Obsidian said. "Many of them have never seen beings from the surface." Myora barely heard him, entranced by the device in the center of the cavern: a massive tower of a machine, reaching the top of the cavern and piercing through like a needle. Four tubes, filled with a glowing blue liquid, snaked around the tower, connected to a thick ring near the top, just below the "piercing point". The tubes converged at another thick, black ring around the bottom point of the machine, which first appeared to be floating, before Myora realized the machine had been built from the ceiling down, like a stalactite. From the point flowed a constant stream of the blue liquid, pouring into a perfectly circular hole dug elegantly into the floor of the cavern, which presumably had tunnels dug through it to prevent it from overflowing, and to dispense the liquid to other pools in the headquarters. Several solidified orbs floated in the pool. "So this is how you siphon your fuel from the chi rivers." Kyle observed. "Magnificent, isn't it?" Obsidian said proudly. "My great-great-great grandparents had designed it." "They were definitely ahead of their time." Shift praised. Then he said to his fellow cats, under his breath, "such a way to harvest chi, rather than just taking it from Cavora's pool or the chi rivers, could be damaging to Chima's environment. Wingman would probably want us to look into that." Myora and Kyle nodded quickly, and followed Obsidian into one of the other tunnels branching out from the central cavern.
***
Here they stood, in the cave where destiny (or was it Paradox?) had led them. A complex machine, whirring and shaking, stood in the center of the room. At its base was its power core: a hideous amalgamation of at least ten chi orbs, and one golden chi orb, all fused together.
batonmaster500TheFirstDecade Two staircases came up on either side of the round, glass container holding the chi amalgamation in place, connecting into a short staircase leading to the top of the machine, wherein a metallic ring sat, wide enough to fit three beings standing side to side. "And now," Obsidian said, turning to the cats, "the reason you're here: to bear witness to the Moles' greatest invention of all time." "The reason we're here?" Kyle inquired. "Paradox told us to have you three here when activating the portal for the first time." Foremole revealed as typed on a keypad built into a wall of machines and chiputer screens, chi flowing throughout. "He was very specific: 'the cats named Myora, Kyle, and Shift, and the flygon calling himself Wingman.'" "So he really did plan for us specifically to come here..." Myora breathed, sharing an alarmed look with Kyle and Shift, though the latter tried to remain stoic. "Wingman too." Shift spoke, crossing his arms. It wasn't phrased as a question. "Indeed." Monty confirmed, walking into the cave and setting down a clipboard with wild scrawling written on it. "Obviously, this didn't work out quite well, but three out of four ain't bad, right?" "Those Dragons managed to 'defy the passage of fate', as Paradox would say." Obsidian muttered, shaking his head. "Even he didn't foresee that, but I suppose they didn't appear until just yesterday anyway, so can blame him?" "It's too late to try and get Wingman." Foremole affirmed as he finished typing in whatever commands he'd been entering into the wall of chiputers. "Paradox will just have to accept that." "So..." Kyle started, peering at the machine, "why us?"
***
A few hard knocks rapped on the hatch that served as the only entrance to the Mole Headquarters. The mole on guard duty looked through the slit in his above ground station nearby (convincingly camouflaged as a rock among the others). The guard had been powerless to stop the Dragons earlier. After all, if he'd tried to snipe any, that would've given away the existence of another "entrance", one that could be blown to bits depending on the amount of chi-enhanced firepower, since this guard post wasn't constructed out of the same rare metal as the entrance hatch. However, he now resumed his duties on watch this night, and what he saw with his chi-vision goggles made him both relieved and confused: the three experiments who'd continued working with the Moles rather than escaping with the others several days back, but also the infamous Tsarlok, his wrists and neck chained. The parrot led Tsarlok by the chain, as the rabbit knocked on the hatch. While the guard was glad the experiments had made it back, proving them to be useful and loyal weapons, he was off-put by the prisoner, considering Tsarlok was meant to be eliminated. Nevertheless, the guard spoke into his radio, "It's the experiments, and they brought Tsarlok as a prisoner. Let them in."
The hatch opened, and the rabbit immediately jumped through, the mole who'd opened the hatch hidden from the guard's view. The guard wasn't sure whether the experiments would be praised or punished for capturing Tsarlok when they were ordered to eliminate the cat, and he didn't care much. The parrot followed the rabbit with Tsarlok in tow. The guard hadn't bothered to learn the experiments' names. Why should he? They were just living weapons, after all-- The guard's thoughts were interrupted as the mink suddenly aimed her chi sniper rifle directly at his position, and it was over before he had time to blink.
***
"Yes, why you indeed?" Obsidian replied to Kyle's question. "Only Paradox knows. He's so frustratingly secretive, yet so helpful all the while, especially when creating this portal machine with us." "I have two questions that need answering." Shift stated, giving Foremole a glance that said, not so fast before the operator could activate the machine. "First, how did you Moles and Paradox know all our names? There's no way he's omnipresent. Second, how did he arrange for Wingman to bring us all here? Very convenient, I must say." "The answer to both of those questions," Obsidian said, "is that we'd worked with Wingman in the past, and he told us the names of the two cats in Paradigm, along with the name of the Cat Usurper's sister, as Paradox requested. Again, I don't know why Paradox was so specific about gathering you three here, but that's how he learned your names." "That... makes no sense!" Kyle said, baffled. "Wingman was suspicious of Paradox! He knew very little about any of you--" Obsidian held up his hairless hands before continuing his explanation. "Let me finish. We blocked out Wingman's memory of his corroboration with us through hypnotherapy. We do this with everyone from the surface who only temporarily works with the Moles, so that if they're ever captured or interrogated by their enemies, they can't reveal our existence and location." "Ah, I see." Kyle said, nodding slowly. "Er, sorry for interrupting." "That's why Wingman had the subconscious urge to 'find out' what you and Paradox were doing," Shift said, looking at the portal machine, "and to gather us three for the mission. All the pieces are fitting together. Only one question remains, and that's why Paradox is so fixated on us." "Precisely," Obsidian agreed as he looked to the machine, "and we Moles are in the same boat as you in that regard. All of this was Paradox's condition for helping us to finish our life's work. I can't say I'm not suspicious of him and his strange powers, but his help in making our dream possible cannot be understated. My theory is that Paradox is from a different world than ours, much like Chima's Pokemon population, and he wants to go back. Hopefully this won't all be somehow ruined by the absence of Wingman."
"Wait," Myora said suddenly, "one more question: why did you want to construct this portal machine in the first place? Can this really teleport someone to a different universe, like how the Pokemon were 'brought' here during the Creation?" "That's what we're hoping for!" Foremole said enthusiastically. "Not only do the Pokemon confirm the existence of other dimensions with their own worlds and sentient life, Paradox --if he's from another world as we strongly suspect-- implies the existence of other Chimas!" "Other Chimas??" Myora replied. "That's impossible, there's only one Chima... right?" "The theory of the multiverse suggests that there could be many different versions of 'our' world." Monty explained. "Ones with different geography, different species inhabiting it, different rules, everything." "Yes, yes!" Foremole said, his excitement rising as he flicked a couple small switches on his wall of panels. "Now... let's begin the experiment. This will be the most ambitious venture in the history of science, and the Moles will achieve it!" The scientist reached for a lever on the leftmost chiputer, connected to the portal platform with numerous chi tubes. "Wait, Foremole." Obsidian cautioned. "I share your excitement, but we should wait for Paradox to arrive, right?" "If he's not showing up, that's his loss!" Foremole said impatiently. "He can always be here for later test drives, if not for Test #001." "H-hold on!" Myora said, quickly walking toward Foremole. "This is all happening so suddenly! We practically just got here! Do you even know if this machine's safe?! What if it eviscerates this whole--?!" "There's only one way to find out whether it's safe, and whether it works!" Foremole growled, roughly pushing the cat aside. "Myora, we are about to bear witness to the discovery of a multiverse!!!" Myora looked up to see Foremole pulling the lever even as his his fellow moles and the other cats ran toward him in alarm. Lightning sparked all over the ring, and an endless, mesmerizing tunnel of blue light materialized within it as the whirring sounds grew deafening... and the ground started to shake all around them. At the same time, Myora managed to hear the arrival of others to the room, and as she got up and turned toward the entrance of the cave, she found herself face to face with her brother.
Date and time: Night of July 16th Location: Chamber of the Experiment
"Ts-- Tsarlok?!" Myora stuttered, clambering to her feet. "Small world, eh sis?" Tsarlok growled quietly as the parrot, rabbit and mink with him moved in to attack the moles in the room. "The experiments?!" Monty said, dodging for cover as the mink shot at him, and glancing at the shaking portal machine, seeming to consider. "You were supposed to take out Tsarlok! Why are you here?! Why is he here?! Why're--" "THIS IS FOR EIGHT!" The parrot screeched, swooping across the room and cutting down Monty even as he tried to jump into the portal. "AND FOR REVENGE!" Obsidian had already run into the nearest tunnel, and was now coming back into the room behind a hastily-gathered group of Mole guards. The three invaders who'd come with Tsarlok fought the guards, as Tsarlok himself walked toward Foremole with a monstrous grin. "Wait!" Foremole cautioned, holding his hands up and stepping backward, toward the chiputers. The scientist's look of wild joy had morphed into one of fear. "Do you not see what's happening? It's a reactor breach! This place will fall apart on top of all of us, unless you let me--" "What, pull a lever??" Tsarlok scoffed. "Anyone can do that. Now hurry up and d--" Tsarlok's oncoming slash with the knife in his robotic hand's gauntlet was blocked by Kyle's own blade. "YOU!" Kyle roared, kicking Tsarlok back and slashing, only to be parried himself. Without hesitation, Foremole whipped around and grabbed the lever. As he tried to pull it, however, bolts of electricity shot wildly through it and up his arm, sending the mole flying backward. He knocked down both Tsarlok and Kyle, who were in the middle of his irrevocable trajectory. "This is chaos." Shift breathed hoarsely, grabbing Myora's arm. "We need to get out of here, Myora, Ky--" "ENOUGH!" Tsarlok roared, swallowing a chi orb to double his power, before bringing a blade down toward Kyle. "I'll be the one... TO END ALL OF THIS!" Kyle rolled away in time to dodge the attack, and leapt up as Shift moved to engage Tsarlok in battle. Myora looked toward the portal, finding herself staring at the mesmerizing vortex even during all the insanity happening around her. "Myora, snap out of it!" Kyle said, shaking her shoulders. "Let's go!" "Kyle..." Myora said, shaking her head to get out of whatever trance the portal had put her in... only to realize that the portal didn't do anything; she had truly considered it, of her own free will. Myora turned to glare at Tsarlok. "Let's go through the portal." "Wha-- Fine!" Kyle conceded hastily, not having time to argue for or against any point, as the floor began to crumble and his footing became uneven. "Go! Now!" The two cats weaved and and dodged between falling rocks as they ran toward the sputtering machine at the end of the room.
Tsarlok glanced over Shift's shoulder to see Myora and Kyle running toward the portal machine. "I won't let you esca--!" He was cut off as Shift took advantage of his opponent's three-second distraction to aim a knife swing at Tsarlok's neck. Tsarlok saw this out of the corner of his eye, in time to move enough to prevent the blade from reaching its target. Instead, the knife slashed across Tsarlok's right cheek, as he dodged down to the left while slashing at Shift's right leg with his own knife. Shift grunted as he stumbled down, and Tsarlok, going around him and coming up behind, brought his gauntlet knife down horizontally, slashing across the cat's back, and hastening Shift's fall to the continuously crumbling floor. "NO!" Kyle cried, looking back. Myora, however, continued her dash toward the machine, her eyes focused on the vortex. "...Don't let it be in vain!" Tsarlok clutched at his cheek cut, which was positioned dangerously close to his throat, as he ran toward the other two cats. "Da[rn] hairball got a hit on me..." He growled in pain as he caught up to Kyle in time to grab his shoulder. All Tsarlok could think to do in that moment was to pull his arm back and throw Kyle away from the portal with all his might, even as Kyle tried to turn in response to the touch. Immediately after this, Tsarlok looked forward to see his sister turn toward him with the angriest expression he'd ever seen on her face, aiming a chi blaster at him. His eyes widened. "If you were so obsessed with coming here," she began, her earlier bewildered expression replaced with one of cold determination, "then this is where you'll stay, you patricidal piece of filth!" And with that, Myora fired, hitting and damaging her brother's prosthetic arm, as he brought it in front of his face in time with chi-enhanced reflexes. Still, the cat was sent tumbling back off the stairs of the portal machine by the force of the blast.
***
Myora sighed in exhausted disappointment as Tsarlok blocked the shot. Still, it had sent him flying backward a good amount. Myora looked desperately toward Kyle, who was getting to his feet. He was close to the 'experiments', as the Moles called them, who were fighting their apparent former captors, but neither side seemed to care much about the cat. Kyle locked eyes with Myora and desperately nodded. She swallowed and nodded back. Turning toward the portal, she prayed that Kyle would get out of this cursed place safely, before jumping into what looked like an infinite hallway of light, wherever it may take her.
***
Tsarlok looked up to see his sister pouncing into the vortex, just before it finally sputtered and vanished. The metallic ring began to shake and tear itself apart even more than it already had. Tsarlok roared in anger, and turned to glare at Kyle. Tsarlok lost all interest in the ongoing battle around him between the experiments and the Moles, in favor of pouncing at Kyle in a primal rage.
Kyle tried to parry Tsarlok's oncoming blow, but his speed didn't match the other cat's current double-chi state. Besides, Tsarlok thought, it would be safer to knock his opponent out first this time around, to prevent being injured again; if it weren't for the two orbs of chi, Tsarlok would've been exhausted by now. The gray cat, in fact, feigned the knife slash, tricking Kyle and kneeing him in the stomach while he was focused on trying to parry. As Kyle grunted and fell to his knees before him, Tsarlok grinned monstrously and brought a chi-strengthened elbow down atop the other cat's head, knocking him out. He stood over the comatose Kyle, reveling in the chaos happening around him. Tsarlok swallowed yet another chi orb, his last one. He howled and held his shaking shoulders, barely able to contain the power. "With this much chi," he growled viciously as the walls caved in atop moles and chiputers alike, "I'm the only one with the speed to get out of here in time. That the rest of you will be crushed is clearly already set... heh-heh-heh-hAAAHHH-HA-HA-HA-HHHAAAAHHHAHHA--!!" Tsarlok broke off his laugh, and his eyes twitched as he shuddered, using all his willpower to keep the three chi orbs, one in his harness and two in his stomach, from turning him feral. He looked at the tunnel he'd come in through, grinning with a razor-sharp teeth. "Yesss..." he said, looking back down at Kyle, "...my wretched sister may have escaped, but everyone else in this cave other than me won't. Even if that tunnel gets blocked off, I can smash through those boulders! Might as well take my time, to ENJOY THIS--!" As Tsarlok brought his robot sword-arm down on Kyle, his wrist was suddenly grabbed by a light-colored paw. "W-- WHA--?!" Tsarlok stuttered as he looked up to see Paradox, even while his entire cybernetic forearm was crushed and twisted into a metallic heap with two swift motions. "My my, you truly are a monster," Paradox said calmly, throwing Tsarlok a few feet back, "aren't you, Tsarlok?" "PARADOX?!" Tsarlok roared. "HOW ARE Y--?!" "Sorry for the intrusion," Paradox said, hoisting Kyle up over his shoulder, "but I needed to make sure you didn't overstep your boundaries here. I've been manipulating this story, making sure the pieces are in place as best as I can, and this isn't Kyle's time." "W-- what?" Tsarlok stammered quietly as his first two chi orbs fizzled out. "I'm not omnipresent," Paradox admitted, "but why do you think it was taking so long for Myora and Kyle to get to the portal? As if they were slowed down by an... invisible power, to prevent you and Kyle from jumping in?" "You've been... planning events," Tsarlok breathed, shakily getting up onto one knee, "and making sure they go the way you'd planned, when you're able to..."
"Correct." Paradox confirmed as he and Kyle began to be enveloped in light. "Though you were supposed to have either fallen or been at Cavora right now, I must thank you for filling Eight's role, Tsarlok. Funny how things worked out despite the disaster at Cavora, isn't it? The remaining moles who'd worked directly with me won't be able to escape this place in time, all thanks to you and the experiments. One may assume that building them a sabotaged portal machine would work both to fulfill Myora's role, and to get rid of those moles, but I could never be too careful. Anyhow, it looks like this is where your part in the story ends. Goodbye for the last time, Tsarlok Tso." Tsarlok could only sit there on one knee as Paradox and Kyle vanished into billions of scattered photons, and as the portal machine itself finally collapsed completely. The chi reactor in the base of the machine at last exploded in a brilliant, beautiful blue-gold light. The light completely eviscerated the remains of the machine, and expanded with no sign of stopping, enveloping the cave and everyone inside. Some were still locked in combat when the warm wave of light brought peace to them, and others saw it, trying to run from the rapidly expanding light, but to no avail; the light could not be stopped, it could not be slowed, and it would catch up to everyone and everything within and directly above this cave, before likely dissipating after expanding one hundred square feet or so. Tsarlok continued to sit there in silence with his mouth slightly agape, dropping to both knees and staring at the light as it approached. "Hey, sis?" Tsarlok said. Was he saying it for the first time in this moment, or was it a memory? He didn't know. "Why am I like this? Was I always like this, or...? Hey, that light... That light is so pretty, isn't it, Myo--?" Tsarlok got a closer look at the light then, as it calmly continued on its path.
***
Paradox gently set the unconscious Kyle down in the alleyway; the place where he'd reunited with Myora. There weren't many people around this street at the moment. That was good. The cat's injuries didn't seem very severe. He'd have a bump on his head, maybe a bruise on his abdomen, but would be fine otherwise. Still, looking at the lone cat, Paradox couldn't help but grimace. "Wingman was supposed to be here now," Paradox recounted to himself, "right there next to him. First Cavora, then Wingman... Those Dragons... Drakonus... Is he really the god of this world? No wonder he's able to interfere with my plans. I may have to... postpone some things. Nevertheless, at least this segment went well for the most part." Thus, Paradox departed before Kyle woke up, so his story could continue...
batonmaster500TheFirstDecade Epilogue Wingman awoke to find himself hanging, arms up. Both of his arms were chained to the ceiling of whatever place he was in, with his hands and forearms completely covered by the large bullet-shaped clamps. His legs were also locked in the same clamps, chained to the floor. He looked around. The room was completely empty aside from a few lit torches, with no windows, and there was an open doorway into a glowing red hallway, but Wingman only saw the opposite wall of the hall. Everything was made of a dark gray metal, but it was painted with red stripes at some parts. It was while he made these observations that the flygon realized his right eye was gone. A bandage was wrapped around the side of his head. "Sorry about your eye, my fellow 'dragon'." Came a voice around the corner, as King Drakonus casually walked into the room. "I had to get rid of that pesky camera." "Camera...?" Wingman asked groggily. "Indeed." Drakonus nodded, walking further into the room and peering up at his prisoner. "I was surprised when I saw it, but I suppose I should've suspected it. Clearly, Paradox and the Moles captured you at some point in the recent past, surgically implanted that tiny 'eye camera', and then sent you on your way after likely hypnotizing you to make you forget about the event. From studying the camera, we found that it would be 'recharged' every time you plugged chi. That was how Paradox always knew where you were, and what you were doing. He wasn't watching you; he was watching through you. What better candidate for this than the being leading Paradigm, a faction he must've been wary of." Wingman slowly nodded as he wrapped his head around this sudden revelation. Drakonus was right; it all added up. All the pieces fit into place. "So then," Wingman began looking at the Dragon King with his remaining eye, "why did you keep me alive?" "As I said, I only slay the denizens of my realm when I have to." Drakonus answered. "And besides, I need you here, alive, in order to prevent Paradox from interfering with my plans." "How, exactly?" "As I'm sure you've figured out, every person Paradox involves himself with plays an important part in whatever he's planning." The Dragon King explained, now pacing back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back. "You know, it's funny; he and I likely both see each other as anomalies that disrupt the way things are supposed to go. Anyhow, I'm sure it'll mess up his plans, be it in a significant or small way, if you were to die. Thus, me keeping you here at my mercy creates a relationship in which Paradox isn't able to interfere with my plans, without running the risk of having his own plans ruined through your execution." Drakonus turned his back on Wingman. "Think of it this way: while you may be a prisoner and a hostage, I'm technically protecting you from Paradox." And with that, the creator of Chima left, closing the door behind him.
