Mason felt that familiar heat rise in his veins as he stood, panting against the dark void floor. His clothes, despite being made of the upgraded metamaterial, were singed to all hell. His body was racked with sweat, and he could barely feel most of it.
Even so, he kept on going. Once the heat in his veins reached a point, he gripped his hand and slammed it against the ground, shattering the glass-like floor of the area that Catalyst came up with.
Amernenthia clenched her fists as she fell, stabbing her upgraded arm deep into the wall and slowing down her fall. Mason took the full force of the fall, bending his knees and grunting as he reached the very bottom.
Catalyst had managed to erect the stadium through a combination of his needles and a very fine attribute of reality bending. It was a marvel to look at, but even more so to fight in.
Amernenthia snarled feral, stabbing her long arm into the ground forcibly. Dark radiant energy flowed through it, directly into the dimension's floor. Dark visages and Smokey apparitions soon shot out of the ground with force, emerging as some sort of twisted forest.
Mason pursed his lip, finding it harder and harder to see through the smoky objects as they gained mass whenever he looked at them. There was a reason why she was called The Trickster.
Mason took in a deep breath and calmed himself. He had raw energy flowing through his veins, he had to control it.
His ear flicked as he heard a sound, and he quickly kicked out his knees to fall on the glassy floor just in time to miss a shadow-like ball of fire that was aimed just at his head. He pounded his fist into the ground, quickly getting up to his feet.
He barely knew how to fight, and here he was, fighting against a mercenary with some sort of magic-science thing. He grinned at the thought, turning his head as another sound flickered, and he quickly dodged another ball.
Mason quickly shifted his paws, gripping the handle of his umbrella hard and closing the canopy. Grinning, he heard Amernenthia's footsteps, and he arched his Umbrella's trajectory, saying "Scarlet Arc".
A beam of Red Boson Energy shot out from the end of his umbrella, going at such a high speed that it propelled the umbrella backwards and recoiled, stinging Mason's arm. As it reached the apex, it quickly changed course and shot directly into the ground.
And not a moment later, a huge explosion rang through the arena, shattering even more of the glassy textures floor. Mason hugged his shoulder, but he knew that Amernethia wouldn't be taken out by that. Not by him of all people at least.
Knowing this, he placed his hand against the umbrella's shaft, twisting his hand against it to awaken the upgrade inside. Another thing that Amaranthia taught him. That upgrade item could be whatever he wanted it to be.
With a fever, he slashed with his right hand against his right flank, sword hitting sword-hand as Amerenthia attempted a surprise attack. Mason grinned, shifting hi weight again before she had time to react, "Red Tether!" He yelled.
The idea just popped inside his head. He whirled his left hand around and slammed it against the flat side of Amerenthia's sword-hand upgrade, leaving a sticky red residue behind on it as she brought her arm back for another attack.
Mason also left another gooey spot on his own sword. She taught him to think outside the box, as Red dealt with body modifications. Smiling broadly, he gripped the handle of his sword and flung it at her like a throwing knife.
She had time to block it, but not enough to see Mason yell, "Scarlet Blast!" At the top of his lungs, slamming both of his hands together and redirecting all of his residing energy into it, blasting out a massive amount of energy straight to her.
Instantly, the residue began to awaken, creating a large red oblong limb attached to both swords. As the nearly hit her chest, the arm on her own sword, along with Mason's own, shot out and took the main front damage, allowing her to not get as badly hurt.
Still, the blast managed to knock her backwards several meters, even damaging her suit. Still, she laughed it off and got back up, "That was interesting. Should've just let me take the blast though, it wouldn't have hurt."
Mason chuckled, walking up towards Amernethia with a large smile. He felt a rush inside his body like nothing before, a shot of adrenaline coursing through every part of his body. Everything became hyper focused as more red boson energy coursed through his veins.
He ignored it though. This had been happening for a while, ever since they started training in actuality. He could more or less tune it out, but it did make him not be able to concentrate that well for a while.
As soon as Amernethia finished restoring the area, she helped him out of the spot he was in. Catalyst managed to snag a few chairs with him, and Mason made his way to one while he rested. After all, they only had forty minutes left before they had to leave.
Before he got to his own chair however, B-64 made it a point to get Mason with him at all times. With that, he managed to get his attention by cooing rather loudly, and gestured for him to come closer. Mason did so with a smile.
He sat upon B-64's lap as Axel took his turn. The final one to do it, in fact. Mason felt at home with B-64, warm and fuzzy and nice. Everything seemed to be right with him, and even his hypersensitive body felt more at ease in his presence.
Even Mason knew his attraction was definitely love. Even if it hadn't been that long ago that he had met him, in that amount of time he truly did develop strong feelings for the protogen, and from what Mason could tell, it was the same for B-64.
"How was it?" B-64 asked him now that he was close enough to talk to. Mason chuckled and snuggled close to his chest fluff, sighing deeply. B-64 draped an arm around Mason's body, hugging him.
"It was hard. I made most of it up, to be honest." Mason chuckled out, trying his best to get comfortable. B-64 smiled warmly, fully embracing Mason.
"All I know, is that you looked really, really awesome down there." Mason smiled even wider, if that was possible. Just that compliment from B-64 was enough to send him over the moon.
Soon enough, Axel was done. The entire arena that Catalyst had erected was almost completely destroyed in a mix of pretty much everything: Burnt, frozen over, smashed to bits and torn to ribbons by air. It was quite a sight to see it rebuild itself.
And even more so, Catalyst was a sight to behold. He had used up the majority of his needles in constructing the arena, which for some reason could expand and turn into a sort of malleable clay like thing that catalyst controlled, and sculpted into an arena
He looked like B-64, if Mason squinted closely enough, but then again most protogen looked the same. His 'fur' underneath the needles was a pained dirty beige, and what made up his paws was completely stripped, revealing a host of circuitry that gave Axel headaches just looking at it.
When Axel came up from his bout with The Engineer, he looked ragged and worn, but woefully prepared for anything. His upgrade item, that Axle Wrench, was almost ripping at the seams with goo-y slime being excreted. Mason could definitely tell that he put his all into it.
Catalyst gave them all a twenty minute respite to rest and get water (Which he also brought with him), before telling them that it was time to get out. Before leaving, however, Axel asked why the Obsidian-1 Team wasn't going with them.
"It's because they are damaged beyond normal comprehension. Their entire inner organs, their blood, everything about them is completely destroyed. B-04 wrecked their bodies to an extreme end. They can't survive outside."
And that was the end of it. Catalyst wasn't going into details, and no one really wanted to ask him about it.
He led the group to the main exit from that place, a large white pillar sticking out from the bleak darkness. Catalyst stopped right in front of it, placing a clawed hand against its surface. Catalyst leaned forward, and whispered something against a key-hole looking indent in the pillar.
The pillar shook for a moment, before splitting apart at the seams, revealing what looked like a swirling galaxy inside. Catalyst gestured for the others to follow him as he slowly entered through the portal.
Mason took B-64's and Hannah's hand, and entered through the portal right after Catalyst, and the others swiftly followed.
The appeared, not in the lab, but a sort of dressing room type area. There were scattered tables and desks, and on many of them lay large amounts of clothes and devices. B-64 attempted to scan them all, but got nothing at all. Like they didn't exist.
"Your upgrades' new clothes for you, however fitting or not fitting them may be to your individualism, are not ideal. Upgrades are more so weapons than anything else, and at the moment, you have to allow your clothes to disappear." Catalyst gestured around the room.
"We have a Nano-metamaterial crafted from exodioum and hardorian, two exotic metals that blend easily with one another. These clothes are crafted for your body, as you will need armor for this upcoming fight." Catalyst picked up what looked like the clothes that they were originally gifted, but a little different.
Each one was slightly more bulky, a little less flexible. And as each one took their turn changing in the other room, found that it was skin tight. Catalyst impatiently waited, and once they were all done, instructed them to get out of the room.
Catalyst then grabbed two large canisters, one labeled "Ebony Crusade", the other "Ivory Crusade". Axel briefly wondered what that meant, but quickly discarded his thoughts as everyone left the room.
The outside light was blinding, all of them save for the Protogens had to close their eyes. Heat radiated out from every object and living thing in that area, creating the perfect inhospitable environment.
"The Vortex, what we have to destroy, is only a hundred miles from here. I know this is a lot to ask of you in such a short time, but there is little else we can do." Catalyst told the group as he walked out into an open field.
Catalyst grunted harshly as he pulled one of the last remaining needles off of his body. He was quivering at this point as his body adjusted to the heat. He steadied himself, and thrusted that last needle deep into the volcanic ground.
From that needle, an expanse of black material steadily grew from it's point, like fast growing flower petals blooming. The dark metal grew out in a thin plane, reaching an apex around half that of a cylinder as it curved.
Catalyst groaned, but gripped another needle and ripped it out, "I don't care about your planet, nor really any other person. But Ion wants to save it, and I trust you do as well." He walked towards the black metal and stabbed the next needle into it.
The needle quickly grew in size, finishing the cylindrical device that Catalyst was creating, "And that means, you will have to fight. We haven't done much training, and neither has the upgrades really taken to your systems, but it's what we have to work with."
Catalyst grabbed the last needle, snuggled right up against the base of his neck, and ripped it off. He stumbled forward, stabbing it into the end of the cylinder. The needle quickly grew into what looked like thrusters, and Catalyst had a moment of levity.
He sighed shakily, getting his bearings as he struggled to get up. B-64 wanted to help him, but decided against it. If he wanted help, Catalyst would ask for it.
"Mason. You are going to be the main front of this. You have to bring this one-" He held up the canister called Ebony Crusade, "-to the main fuse room. I'll take the other one to the backup room. Axel, you'll come with me, and Marissa will go with Mason."
Catalyst turned his head to B-64, quickly shooting a thought to him, "I'll not be of much help, but Axel should be enough. You have to get to Ion quickly, cause a ruckus. Something that will give him an excuse to stall while we get these things in their place."
B-64 nodded, assuring. He grabbed Mason's hand.
"What about Hannah?" Axel asked, gesturing to the small child. Catalyst seemed to cease his serious demeanor almost instantly.
"Honestly I forgot she was here." He responded, "But no matter. We can get her to another Eon-Gate that is linked to that particular dimension and let her stay with the others. We can't worry about her as a liability."
Mason gulped and looked down at his sister, and she looked up and smiled at him.
________________________________________________________________________________
So, heya!
I won't be the first to admit that my 'fight' scenes aren't anything to write home about, but I 'm okay with how this turned out.
I do kind of wish that I thought this plotline out a little more. In the beginning I had a lot figured out, but I still am deciding on certain things right now.
Some bad decisions could completely tank a story, and I think that's what's happening right now. I hope that this chapter, and the ones before, are at least somewhat enjoyable.
And I really hope that everything makes some sense, because I'm also not that good at explaining...
Anyways, thanks for reading, and I hope that you liked it!
~ Candle