Skye was a new recruit to the team, only joining a month ago. She works as an engineer, studying the behaviour of Machines and how they work.
A few days after the events that occurred in Cynthia’s duel against Dominance, Skye had sent out a few Drones to hover over the Arena, in order to track who goes in and out, dropping weapons and helping the team, controlled by the D.F.E. Also made by Skye.
She also creates some of the weapons used by the team - specifically Buck’s Duplicating Blades, Hope’s Dagger and Shield and The Hooded Man’s Fists of Metal Spikes- in order to help them destroy the TERRORs.
Trustworthy? Probably.
~
Skye enters the Base. Cynthia is still recovering from some of her injuries, but she seems to be ok for battle. Hope seems to be rubbing her back in comfort, as Cynthia looked like she was sobbing, in all humiliation, anger and sadness.
“Hey, guys. I bought some supplies you might need.”
Hope stuck her thumb up.
“Okay.” Skye looks curiously. “I made some new D.F.E’s considering that the ones the rest of you guys have will expire tomorrow. It’s so hard to make such small devices with a long lasting battery… but this version of D.F.E should be a lot less faulty now, hopefully.”
Cynthia looks up and gives a friendly smile, but still no response.
“I’ll just.. put them here…”
She puts the box of equipment on the centre table and backs away slightly. Still no signs of conversation.
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The Hooded Man stands up eventually and broke what seemed to be an awkward silence:
“Skye, come here for just one second.”
“Sure..?”
Skye seemed to be confused, but willingly went with Him to ask what happened while she was temporarily gone in order to get some supplies.
“What’s wrong, Josh?”
Yes.
The Hooded Man’s name was Joshua.
“Don’t call me that! Not here anyway.”
“Just tell me what happened. Did Cynthia get the Swords back?”
Joshua looked at her disappointedly.
“I think it’s obvious that she didn’t. She found Dominance in the Arena. He’s gone back to being a Lead Terror and is now keeping the Illumina. He betrayed us.”
“I expected that. Once a TERROR, always a TERROR.” Skye says, frustrated.
Josh looked down awkwardly.
“Wait, I- I didn’t mean.. you. You’re different.”
“Different how? I.. I..”
Buck walks past, silently, mysterious, almost looking sad with… regret?
“Oh, hey Buck!” Skye exclaims. “Whatcha.. uh.. doing?”
He looks up. Something was off about him. Just like Cynthia. Clearly something happened when Skye was gone. Buck, however, did not see the two standing around and was caught off guard when his name was mentioned.
“Oh! Uh-HEYYYY!!!”
“You’re not meant to be down here.” Josh added.
“And neither are you?” Buck pointed at the duo. “Up to no good are ya..? Freaks. Why don’t you guys just get a room?”
“Oh, be quiet. Me and uhh… “The Hooded Man” are not... well… we are BUT we aren’t doing anything weird.”
“Sure.. sure.. whatever. Anyway I’m just gonna go.. this way. There’s something I’ve hidden for a surprise for Hope. Her birthday is soon, remember.. uh… Skye?” Buck began to make his way to… the tech room?
“Yes, I’m aware. But why hide it in the tech room?” Skye questioned.
Buck didn’t know what to do or say, so he pretended to not hear as he continued walking, shakily. He always acts before he thinks, no wonder he looks so suspicious. But something was DEFINITELY wrong.
“Why is everyone acting so weird today? Josh? Josh? Tell me. Please.”
“Ok, forget this.” Josh elbowed Skye slightly. “Buck’s a traitor. We worked it out just before you arrived. Or so I thought.”
“What..? What are you on about..?”
“Don’t listen to him, he’s.. lying.” Buck walked back to them, picked a piece of paper from his pocket, a transcript of some sort, of the call between Axel and Cynthia after the fight with Dominance.
“Axel, Cynthia’s boyfriend. He attempted to stir some sort of lie about me that I told him that Cynthia was completely fine, that the Swords were fine..”
“It just makes sense for you to do something like that. Me and Cyn have been suspicious of you since you joined the team. If you really are a TERROR, I guess you didn’t really need to be careful, gaining Hope’s trust and all. But, it doesn’t make sense that Axel would just lie about something like that. Axel isn’t a TERROR. More importantly, Axel barely even knows you?” Josh explained.
“I know just as much as you do, buddy.”
“I don’t trust you, Buck.” Cynthia interrupted. She made her way down due to her suspicions. “Nobody except for Hope that is. Was that your plan all along? Get close to us so you can betray us? Screw us up at the part where we win?”
“I’M NOT LYING!!! Your idiot waste-of-time boyfriend is!”
“YOU ARE!”
“Are you jealous of her relationship or something..?” Skye whispered to herself, indicating to Buck accusing Axel.
“GUYS, ENOUGH!” Josh thrusted his fist into a window, shattering it with his bare hand.
“Josh… Your hand.” Skye held his hand in her own gloves. “It’s bleeding.”
“It’s.. nothing.”
“Heh, Josh? That’s your actual name?” Buck asked.
“That… That doesn’t matter right now.” Joshua directed himself to Cynthia. “I don’t trust the guy as much as you do, but for now, we gotta stick together if we want to take down Dominance.”
“I promise you, I’m not… I’m not a trait-”
“Shut up.” Cynthia interrupted.
“But..”
“Shut up.”
Buck held his head, let out a sigh and turned around.
“Whether you trust me or not, it doesn’t matter now. The only reason why you don’t trust me is because your stupid boyfriend says I lied? I don’t even know the guy! You have to trust me if we’re gonna beat this idiot together.”
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Beep! Beep!
Suddenly, a beeping noise began to emit from Skye’s D.F.E. The drones were detecting some kind of strange energy radiating from the Arena.
BEEPPPPP!!!!!
“Oh god.” Skye’s eyes widened.
“What?” Josh raised an eyebrow, not like anybody could see it anyway, half his face is covered in his hood.
“The Illumina! It’s activated! It’s there! In the arena!”
“Wait, does it only detect Swords when they are activated?” Josh asks.
“Correct.”
“Well then let’s go! We’ve got no time to waste!” Buck seemed persistent.
“Hate to say it, but Buck is right. It’s only a small matter of time before Dominance becomes powerful enough to unleash Telamon.” Josh sighed.
“Yeah, if the myth even existed. Heh.” Cynthia chuckled out. Josh and Buck look at each other, eyes locked.
“Let’s… go.”
Everyone leaves, but Skye stays down, looking at Cynthia. She notices and looks back. Skye reaches out her hand, indicating for her to come back.
“What’s up?”
“Cynthia, I know… he’s my brother and I do want to protect him, but you’re a good friend to me and I have to trust that you’ll do the right thing.”
“What… what are you talking about?” Cynthia scratched her head.
“Zephyr. Ever since word got around that the Swords were missing, He’s become extremely frustrated. He wants his authority back, Cynthia. He’s going to kill you, Cynthia, and it’s only a matter of time before he appears in that Arena, so you have to promise me one thing. Please… don't hurt him. Talk sense into him, please.”
“Talking sense to that idiot is impossible.”
Skye’s left eye twitched.
“He’s my brother, Cyn. Please. If you two fight, and Zephyr does something stupid then… I… I have to choose family over duty.”
“…Fine.”
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After making their way back to the centre of the base and discussing a plan with Hope, the team ventures onward to the Arena. Skye was talking over Hope’s D.F.E and was left to watch over the Base, keeping tech controlled and communicating over the D.F.E.
Influenced by the Illumina’s raw power, the pink mist appears again only thicker, stronger. An explosion is heard from a distance.
“What? What was that?” Hope looked from the left and right.
Buck held his blade out. Josh stared at him from a distance.
“You ready? If I’m the traitor you think I am, then watch me.”
All kinds of machines began to emerge from the ground and walls, Attackers, Defenders, Speedsters and the human TERRORs like Conjurer, the Swordsmen and the Undead being summoned by some unknown force.
“Let’s do this. Hope, stand back! Cynthia, get in front! I’ll take care of this side!” Buck points at Josh with his blade. “And you, you’re gonna help me too.”
The fight had begun. Dominance was yet to appear, but it wasn’t exactly hard to not feel his presence.
Cynthia charged out front, using her Linked Sword to counter the Machines. Attackers began to start chasing, and Defenders rushed on the frontline to guard them. It took a while for her to slash down the Defender before taking on the Attacker, successfully killing the two. While Cynthia handled the Machines, Hope stayed back, using her shield to bat the enemies away for her. A Speedster charges straight towards her, but before she could think, Josh is suddenly blasted by a Conjurer shockwave directly into her.
“Hey! Watch yourself!”
“My bad. Hey, Buck! I thought you said you were helping! Where were you just then?”
“I’m trying to handle these men!”
Swordsmen had Buck completely surrounded, but Buck didn’t seem worried, he seemed confident. Suddenly, Hope’s D.F.E begins to make noise again.
“Hope, you there?? It’s an emergency! I can detect the Firebrand activating near you!”
Another Sacred Sword.
“The… what?”
“Somebody has it! And I can only feel its power getting stronger!”
It abruptly stopped.
“Hello????”
“BUCK!”
Static.
“TRAITOR..!”
The communication cut off.
Suddenly, the temperature in the arena began to accelerate RAPIDLY. Speedsters begin to slow down, Attackers almost begin to melt, and Defenders begin to spark. Cynthia looks around, and sees Buck. He has a gigantic blade stabbed into the ground. He pulls it out, and creates a catastrophic explosion, flinging everybody back, TERRORs and the Team.
Pant… Pant… Pant…
Fire, soot, smoke spread across the whole arena- No. This wasn’t just an arena. This was a warzone. A ring of fire.
Buck begins to sweat. He immediately tries to hide the blade back into the pack Skye had created to store all of the weapons. But it was too late, Cynthia had already seen, and so did Josh.
“HELP! HELP DAMN IT! BUCK!”
Hope was SCREAMING. She was hanging on to a bridge for dear life.
“I CAN’T HOLD ON ANY LONGER!”
Buck rushes to Hope, but Cynthia hurries behind him, grabbing her sword and bashing the hilt into him, winding him.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, CYN?”
“Let go with your left hand and grab onto me!”
Hesitantly, she grabs. Cynthia pulls her up, allowing the two to steady their breathing, but Buck begins to stand back up, unsheathing his Duplicating Blades from his pocket.
“You! Do you have any idea what you’re doing? You’re so stupid! I’m NOT a traitor, Cynthia, and I’m not going to keep saying it…”
“So what’s that in your pack, Buck?”
Josh was propped onto a stack of Attackers. He just deeply gazes at Buck, unsettling him.
“Nothing! Just some backup blades for… me!”
“And the Firebrand?” Cynthia became agitated.
“It’s… wait, what? I dont-”
Lightning strikes. A boom of thunder is heard, and the mist begins to clear as raindrops begin to drop from the sky.
“You’re back.” Dominance begins to take a visible form as he moves. “Too bad I can’t stay invisible forever huh? Effects wear off when I move. But it’d make my job a whole lot easier.”
“Hey, you!” Says Hope’s voice from behind. She lifted her dagger, immediately throwing it straight into Dominance’s leg (the same leg Cynthia was able to injure), completely caught off guard.
“Ugh! You… You idiot!”
Dominance rips it straight out of his leg, like it was nothing, and throws it straight back to Hope. She immediately raises her Shield.
“This is anything but a fair fight! I was thinking it was just gonna be us again, Cyn. Too bad they didn’t tell me about your plan.”
“Who’s ‘they’?” Cynthia holds out her sword, just wanting to fight already. She needs to win. She needs closure.
Dominance simply chuckles, and points, their hand stretching towards Buck’s direction.
Josh directly looks at Buck once more, and a smirk appears across both of their faces.
“I was right, wasn’t I?” Josh clenches their fist.
Cynthia’s heart drops.
“Buck? No. No no no no no! Say they aren’t talking about you, please! I don’t know why you have the Firebrand, or why you’ve been acting so shady for so long, but please don’t tell me you’re…”
Hope falls to her knees.
“Buck? YOU have the brand?” Her voice trembles. Realizing what Skye might’ve said before she got cut off. “Buck! How? Why? WHY? WHY? You… I TRUSTED YOU! You really are a Lead Terror, aren’t you? Have you always been one? Did our friendship not mean anything to you in the first place?”
Dominance lowers themselves.
“Well, I’ll be taking my leave… Cya, idiots.”
“Not so fast!” Joshua grabs on to them, pulling them straight into their Spiked Fist, puncturing the side of their body. Dominance immediately fights back, grabbing the Illumina and thrusting themselves upwards. Josh hangs on to his legs, but Dominance ends up dragging Josh with him. Cynthia and Hope jump up to, an attempt to grab onto Josh to help pull Dominance back down. The Illumina began glowing rapidly, as if it were trying to warn Dominance about something.
“The… the voices…”
Cynthia looked confused, but Buck was just standing up straight, watching the Illumina in awe.
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Suddenly a shadow appeared above the Arena, a small one, but it seemed to get closer. Then, above Dominance’s face until…
SWISH!
Dominance drops back down, Josh dropping with him at a quick rate, hitting the ground extremely hard.
The Illumina lost its glow.
His body, slashed into two. Immediately...
…
Buck’s face nearly showed some sort of sad emotion, almost… regretful.
Is believing in this faith… really worth the death?
Dominance lifted his hood, and looked directly into Buck’s shaky eyes.
“Buck..? What’s going on..?”
“This had to happen. Don’t worry. I’ll see you in the Sunrise. You served a great purpose- Telamon is aware, and you will be rewarded.”
Dominance smiled.
“Thank… you…”
Now a stab, this time, piercing through his skull.
A mysterious figure, standing just behind Dominance’s corpse. The Ghostwalker Sword, being held in this entity’s arm. Another Sacred weapon.
Hope backed away, even Josh felt a gush of fear.
“Who… Who are you?” Cynthia froze up.
“He’s come for you, Cynthia.” Buck took out the Firebrand from the pack, along with a strange machine, made by Skye to disable D.F.E’s for emergencies, snuck from the tech room earlier. With the last amount of energy Josh had left, he quickly attempts to charge at Buck, but a blade is immediately thrown at him, grazing his arm.
Buck had teleported away, just before the disabler was activated.
“DAMN IT.”
Flick!
A disabling sound was heard from the D.F.E’s.
Cynthia’s heart quickened. Taking a step back, realising who this mysterious person was.
Skye was right.
“Zephyr.”
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and then Add to home screen.