Rogue Chaos- The Heliophage: This is taking FOREVER!! (Part 2)
“Don’t even think for a moment that this is over yet!!” Rendain’s voice boomed as everyone felt a shift in the void as they turned to see something… familiar arrive on the central platform. And that was when Shayne soon spoke up.
“Hey, wait a minute… That’s the same conservator that we killed on Bliss! How the hell is it still alive!?”
“Reasons.” Discord only concluded.
“Well, whatever it is, the last time we faced that thing it tried to screw around with your mind and almost gave you nightmares,” Shayne told him. “Plus, if Rendain is trying to bring back old enemies that we have to kill before letting us have a crack at him, we need to get through them quickly.”
“I was a child!... And suffered mild amnesia, but Dissy is back, baby! And, I find this will help.” He snapped his talon and down came various cat-like robots, and they all wore matching spandex suits that only differed in color.
“Voltron?” Eris asked.
“It's better than Big Bad Beetleborgs.”
“… Eh, valid point.” Eris told him in response, shrugging her shoulders.
“Team pose!” Out of their will, they posed, which made a huge explosion. “Form into one!” They were beamed to their own cat, where each turned into a limb, making one giant, Humanoid robot, wielding an equally large sword. The giant robot then took that same sword as it slashed the Conservator in half with little to no effort before turning around and blasting off into space.
“Well… that was rather quick…” Shayne then replied.
“Anticlimactic would be more accurate,” Aurox then mumbled before turning to notice something. “Oh hey, look It’s that same thrall that Discord ran over with a train.” Turning around, that all saw that Aurox was right and that what looked to be Warlord Nix was now back… and preparing a mortar strike.
“… What was this about a train?” Eris asked out of confusion.
“We’ll tell you later, but right now, we need to move!” Shayne told her, grabbing hold of her and pulling her out of the way of a mortar shell that was bare inches away from hitting the draconequus as the team focused on laying a suppressive barrage in response to the Jennerit Thrall’s airstrike.
“I like planes.” Discord blurted. A plane flew past them, taking the hit, and crashed into the train, knocking it,and its only passenger, back to the planet below. However, instead of getting hit by it, the Thrall took the liberty of blasting it out of the sky before it could crash on him. Leaving Discord relatively surprised.
“Okay, is this like the Mr. Freeze fight in Batman Arkham City? If so, then we’ll be screwed unless we find another way to surprise him.”
“Already have that.” Eris spoke. “Knife.” A giant knife came out of nowhere and sliced the general in half. “Can't believe I had to use the Annoying orange”
“Yeah, that used to be popular… now it’s annoying as f**k…” Shayne grumbled as both draconequui looked at her in curiosity. “Orendi made me watch it after I lost a bet on the first day Whiskey Foxtrot was brought into the rogues.”
“Please, I don't want to play the pronoun game.” Discord mumbled. “For now, I have a Fluttershy to save!”
“You MISCREANTS!!” Rendain roared, “No matter… There’s no need in order for me to kill you myself… I have people for that.”
“More unoriginal, bland looking Minions with lackluster A.I.? No thanks.” Discord folded his arms in disapproval along with giving a thumbs down. But that was when they heard a big crash land nearby as Sweetie Bot soon spoke up.
“Uhh… Discord? I think you just happened to make this guy angry.” What the android pony meant by that was the huge Varelsi gunhulk that the group had encountered on Ekkunar.
“And great… we got the same Varelsi from when you guys were retrieving the Codex off Ekkunar. Where’s Orendi when we need her-?” Shayne asked, just as Varelsi began to spawn underneath everyone’s feet. “Aww crap! Everyone run!”
“No need to tell me twice!” Discord yelled, throwing Eris onto his back and picking up Shayne and Aurox as he raced to the nearest place where there wasn’t anything creeping around. Up from above though, Sweetie Bot provided some extra space for them to land as she used her death laser to clear a landing spot for Discord and the others while Caldarius surveyed the situation from above.
It was then that the shock trooper noticed something and called out to the others as he landed nearby. “I think I found something that could help.”
“Anything really works at this point… so what did you see?” Eris then spoke up.
“Well, based on the footage I remembered when Discord and his team last took this guy down, they used Varelsi Breaker Turrets to get rid of that monster’s shields. So if you set them up-”
“Then we defend them and when the guys shield breaks down, we attack?” Sweetie Bot then asked, rolling her eyes. “You do realize that Discord and I were there when we on that mission and you were surveying us from the skies right?”
“True… But Shayne and Aurox weren’t there and neither was Eris…” Caldarius countered as he looked around. “There seems to be four of them spread out. But two of them are over here and two are over there… and that is being swarmed with Varelsi.” He pointed out as more Varelsi troops soon began to swarm in. That was when Discord thought of something… whispered it to Eris… and then both of them got an idea.
“Okay, we have an idea… but it might require some assistance.” Eris said, before looking at Shayne… and looking up at Aurox as she scratched her chin before smiling a little.
“Uh… why are you looking at me like that?”
“Simple… our idea requires you to do one thing… you need to throw us over there.” Eris told him. Personally, Aurox was questioning why she wanted him to do that when the bounce pads were only a few meters away, but he just went with it. First throwing Discord over there as he armed himself with a pair of rocket bracers before throwing Eris over to join her son.
“You know… I think I saw that in a holo-movie once.” Shayne said, before snapping back to reality and getting ready to lay the beatdown on the Varelsi Shulks that were headed their way. Both sides were managing to hold off the Varelsi rather well as the turrets broke through the Gunhulk’s shields and disarmed it of it’s weapons. Yet, the hard part came after it’s weapons were gone… and from it came claws. Ones that could pull unsuspecting victims towards them.
And the first one that happened to get caught… was Shayne and Aurox. “Aw crap-!” Being yanked mercilessly was one thing… but being freed in mid flight by Discord as he used a katana blade to sever the tether that the Gunhulk used to pull the teen and the djinn was something the two of them did not expect. But what he did also caused the Varelsi to lose an arm too.
“Wow uh… thanks for the save.”
“No problem… now let’s finish off this guy. I’m getting bored with how Rendain is just throwing minions at us while he sits back. Rather lazy if you ask me.” The draconequus replied, just as Shayne had her hands form a finger gun and Aurox disappeared from behind her. “Hey, where did dad go?”
“Wait for it…” Shayne told him, keeping him in suspense before they all heard Aurox roar out in fury as what sounded like a large bell going off as a glowing circle formed under the Varelsi.
“I HEAR THE BELL FOR DINNER!!!” From underneath the Gunhulk Aurox revealed himself in a powerful eruption that went off like a volcano as it caused the massive Varelsi they were facing to turn to explode as it’s physical form faded away. Soon returning to Shayne shortly afterwards and holding out what looked to be a beating Varelsi heart. “Eat the heart, Shayne!”
“Uhh… No thanks. You go ahead-.”
“Heart eating is a TEAM activity!” Aurox insisted. “Isn’t that right, Discord!?”
“I thought you told me that you dined on souls.” The draconequus questioned.
“Both of them are delicacies to me. I eat the hearts of enemies and drink their souls!” The Djinn boaster just as Eris and the other caught up with them… and the female draconequus had a particular question for them.
“Uh… I don’t mean to interrupt your bonding moment with my son, but aren’t we suppose to be doing something right now-?”
“Stop KILLING EVERYTHING!! RRRGH!!!” That furious outburst from Rendain answered her question immediately as they all turned to see a blood red fire burning in his eyes. The battleborn had managed to really piss him off right now… and he was not going to let the petty resistance that was the Battleborn foil his plans anymore.
With anger in his voice and a burning sense of rage in him, Rendain left the safe confines of the void that he was in and returned to the center platform. “Solus is doomed. There is NOTHING you can do! There is nothing ANY of us can do!! SUBMIT TO THE INEVITABLE!!!!”
“Screw that!” Discord declared, having a purple set of headphones on as he looked to be wearing some shoes and cargo shorts. “Okay, who cued the JRPG look? This is supposed to be a first person shooter for god’s sake!! …… Oh sorry, I meant hero shooter.”
“Or Overwatch clone!” Eris added. “Even though WE technically came out first.”
“Whatever…” Discord grumbled, tossing the headphones and clothes aside. “Hey, is it just me or is Rendain sort of… losing it?”
“RIP OUT THEIR HEARTS!!! TEAR THEM LIMB FROM LIMB!!! LAUGH MANIACALLY AT THEIR DEATHS!!!!” He shouted as black crystals began to form around in a spiral formation before shooting at the group. “SUMMON ALL BATTALIONS!! DESTROY THE BATTLEBORN AND THE CHAOS HELLSPAWNS!!!”
“So clichéd.” Discord grumbled, snapping everything away. Rendain stared, his eyes twitching. “And how did you defeat my kind? For all the comments saying how I'm a runt, I'm clearly beating you with plenty of time to spare. Perhaps I should Binge watch all of the DBZ series… including GT.” BUM-BUM-BUUM!!!
Shayne just sighed at Discord’s comment, only to realize something. The longer the fight dragged out, the more difficult it was to hit him. They all had to be constantly moving because of the ongoing attacks that Rendain was using to cut them down to size, but he was getting more elusive with each time he did attack. This was making it hard for some of their team like Caldarius and Sweetie Bot to land a decent hit and when he attacked them, they were in immediate need of repairs and forced to make a tactical retreat.
But this also played out well for the teen. In the moment that Rendain was going to boast about their overconfidence, she commanded Aurox to chase after him and before the lothar could react, Aurox’s attack had briefly disorientated him. “Discord, he’s stunned! Finish him now!!”
“Go for the big finish!” Eris encouraged him.
“Got it.” He pulled a remote out of nowhere and clicked it. Appearing over Rendain was a moon-looking station… even though some people saw it as a moon.
“Uh… that’s no moon…” Shayne then realized, just as she and a few others were beginning to back up as Aurox grabbed Discord. “Everyone HIT THE DECK!!”
“Bye, boring generic villain.” Discord spoke, pressing the button and snapping his talon, sending the group far away from where the blast was going to take place and back at where the controls of the Heliophage were.
“Y-you’re all ALIVE!?! What the actual hell happened in there?!!” Kleese barked at them.
“I got bored. And what is Rendain going to do when he wins? He's going to be in darkness… nothing really fun to do in there if you can’t see anything.”
Kleese just rolled his eyes for a moment before another voice then spoke up. “Sorry for interrupting on this, but there has been something on my mind… Does anyone know what actually powers the Heliophage?” Nova then interjected. “To put it in Discord’s words… it’s a question that has yet to be answered by the authors.”
“I just told you this!” Eris snapped. “He has all other Draconequi in machines, powering everything! Like the Matrix, but minus the robotic emotion.”
“Yet, he’s not controlling you…” The Magnus mentioned. “And if he were controlling them, then how exactly would he force so many of them to break under his whim?”
“Reasons.” Discord simply spoke. Shortly after the Draconequus said that, they all saw a small pocket of the void open up as a battle damaged and scarred Rendain limped out. His left arm was gone, had burn marks over his entire body and he was trying to say some sort of final words that no one could decipher.
“Well… I say let’s give this bastard what he wants then…” Deande angrily spoke up. “Open up a Varelsi Portal… If he wants darkness so badly, he can have it while endlessly drifting in the void.”
“You guys get it open…” Shayne smirked. “I promised Aurox to let him tear the sh*t out of Rendain the first chance he got for mocking Discord… Now I say is the right time to give it to him.” Aurox grinned carnivorously as he looked at Rendain, who’s eyes were in fear as he snarled.
“What happened to all that good sh*t you were saying a second ago, Rendain!! Just grow back your arm! HIT ME!! FIGHT ME!!! ……… GIVE ME A HUG!!”
“R-really?” All that allowed for Aurox to do was launch at himself menacingly as he began to tear at every inch of Rendain before feeling satisfied. Looking at Discord in the process.
“And that son, is the best way for you to deal with bullies.” Aurox grumbled. That was the cue for Deande to open up the portal as it began to expand outward. Yet, the problem was that it was expanding rapidly and at an uncontrolled pace… and coming for them.
“Oh crap…… run-!!” Mellka yelled… until Discord grabbed an end of the portal and closed it with a zipper.
“Seriously? Just let me do what I have to do, and all is well.” He said, turning to the Heliophage itself. “So… now what?”
“We get the other Draconequus out of the Heliophage, that’s what! With Rendain out of the picture, he doesn’t have control of them anymore!” Eris pointed out to her son and extending a talon towards one of the main pieces of the Heliophage. An orb that replicated the sun. “Just crack it open and set them free!”
“And it shall!” Discord teleported to the top with a giant spoon. “Head my voice, Mortals!!! I, Discord, am your savior, and you will love me for the next eternites!!!”
“That… definitely is Discord alright.” Shayne smirked.
“He always had a flair for the dramatic.” Eris commented as the two of them watched the results of all their hard work from their campaign against Rendain. Right until Mellka asked a new question. “So… what happens now?”
“Well, Kleese managed to uncover a Jennerit hard drive filled with locations of stars that were originally darkened by the Varelsi,” Deande told the two of them shortly afterwards. “If what I know about Draconequui is correct, they can possibly-?”
“Shh! Discord.” Eris shushed them both as Discord whacked the machine with his spoon. It cracked wide open… followed by a huge explosion, firing all of the draconequus out, all celebrating for their freedom.
“We’ll discuss this later.” Deande sighed as they all paid attention to everything that was unfolding and all the draconequus that were flying out everywhere. Though, there was one in particular that flew out, but landed not far from where Eris and the others were. It definitely looked male from appearance, but it also seemed to know Eris somehow.
And of course, her first response was slapping this newcomer in the face.