//------------------------------// // 84 - It Takes Two // Story: Lateral Movement // by Alzrius //------------------------------// Lex indulged himself for only a moment, watching as Lirtkra’s thrashing slowed and finally stopped. He knew it was unseemly to take any sort of pleasure in killing, regardless of the nature of his enemy, but he couldn’t help but feel a wicked sense of gratification at seeing the creature die. It’s justice, he silently assured himself. This thing has undoubtedly killed ponies. Probably more than a few. Since it was completely unrepentant, and given that there were no other systems or social mechanisms in place to punish it for its actions, that meant that – even if it hadn’t been trying to kill him, justifying using lethal force in self-defense – this would have been an acceptable penalty for what it had done. Besides, it wasn’t like the thing had been a pony. Those were the only lives that had to be preserved at all costs. Turning his mind back to more practical matters, Lex wrapped his teeth around the trident, trying to pull it free from Lirtkra’s corpse. But the weapon refused to budge, wedged firmly into the floor underneath the dead sahuagin, and Lex gave up trying to dislodge it, knowing that he only had a little over ten seconds left before the scroll’s magic ran out. To say nothing of Monitor and the Cripple, who were probably about to move in and check on whether or not Lirtkra had succeeded. Instead, Lex turned and quickly sifted through the debris that had been scattered around during the fight, locating a broken piece of wood. It took only a moment to ignite it thanks to the spreading fire, and he gripped the makeshift weapon tightly as he exited the space behind the bar through the same gap that he’d entered. As soon as he emerged, Monitor raced towards him, not wasting a second. But Lex had anticipated that, and he threw the burning brand, not towards the onrushing creature, but onto the large patch of grease that the Cripple had previously conjured and which now lay directly in Monitor’s path. It instantly went up in flames, forcing Monitor to throw itself to the side to avoid plunging directly into the sudden inferno. At the same time, he heard the Cripple whisper the words to a spell and a moment later felt drowsy, but he shook it off, turning and making for the door, knowing that the scroll’s magic was about to run out. With any luck, the flames would spread quickly and those two would be caught in the blaze, because he didn’t have any plans left for dealing with them… Lex had hoped to at least fall back to a safer area before the scroll’s magic ended, but he was still fatigued due to the Cripple’s spell, and couldn’t move as quickly as he wanted. He had only just exited the building, the flames that had been covering his body finally sputtering out, when he felt the magic finally give out, and he collapsed on the spot as the burst of vigor it had given him terminated. Immediately, the wounds he’d taken felt as though they’d worsened a hundredfold, the pain making him reel. For a long moment, it was all he could do just to remain conscious, and it was only with the most extreme effort that he managed to get his hooves under him. He had almost succeeded when he noticed something drifting next to him, and he gave a start – almost falling over – before he recognized it. It was the spectral hoof he’d conjured, back when he’d been intent on creating an aperture in the restaurant that the undead ponies could enter through. After he’d done that, he’d directed it to hover off to the side, hoping to be able to use it to surreptitiously deliver another spell when his enemies weren’t paying attention. But he’d never had a chance to do so, and now that he’d left its immediate presence, it had followed after him. It was fortunate that it had. The reason that the spectral hoof was able to deliver spells on his behalf was because a sliver of his own life force was embedded in it. As he looked pointedly at it and concentrated on dismissing the spell, Lex felt that life force return to this body, helping to mitigate the collective agony of his wounds, albeit only slightly. Still, it was enough to let him stand without having to put all of his effort into doing so. Now, the next order of business was to return to his incorporeal state… He had only just started to concentrate on returning to shadow-form when a nearby window shattered as Monitor leapt through it, the Cripple following closely behind. Lex didn’t have time to do anything more than curse his enemies’ tenacity before the Cripple turned towards him and hissed a spell. Despite its voice still not having risen above a whisper, the volume of its sibilant hissing rapidly rose, and Lex had just enough time to realize that it was making a sonic attack before the sound wave reached him. Or rather, it would have reached him, but at the same moment the attack was unleashed another voice – soft, melodious, and undeniably feminine – rang out, singing the same words as the Cripple and unleashing the same spell at that exact moment. The clash of magically-enhanced noise melded into perfect harmony, and an instant later they both ceased, having negated each other harmlessly. Blinking at the sudden assistance, Lex looked behind him, where the counter-magic had come from. He already knew who he’d see, though; he’d know that voice anywhere. Across from him, Monitor and the Cripple were also looking at where the newcomer was boldly striding forward. The former had no reaction save to blink its bulbous eyes, whereas the latter had gone perfectly still, its expression hidden by its blurring spell. Marching fearlessly onto the battlefield until she was standing between Lex and the creatures intent on hurting him, Sonata Dusk glared her enemies down. “Okay you ugly whatever you are’s! If you lay another, um, claw, I guess? Or maybe fin…? Whatever. On my boyfriend, then I’m totes gonna kick your scaly butts right back where you came from! Unless you came from here, in which case I’ll kick them somewhere else!” The complete silence that reigned in the wake of her speech made her nod to herself, grinning smugly. She had so told them! “Sonata, what are you doing? Get out of here!” hissed Lex. She looked back at him with a frown. “No way! You made me a promise that you were coming back, and I’m here to make sure you keep it!” “These creatures are incredibly dangerous! You need to get back to where it’s safe before you get hurt!” Sonata turned around so she was facing him directly, stamping a hoof in consternation at his attitude. “Forget it! Every other time there’s been a fight, I’ve either done nothing but cry or needed to be rescued by you! This time I’m going to be the one helping you when you need it, and that’s that!” “Don’t you dictate to me! I don’t need-” “YOU!” The Cripple’s hoarse whisper was barely adequate to contain the fury in its voice, and it was enough to draw all eyes towards it. “Forget that other pony!” it rasped, pointing a blurry limb at Sonata. “I want her dead, NOW!” “Huh? What’d I do?” asked Sonata confusedly. But Monitor was already rocketing towards her, even as the Cripple began to hiss another spell. Cursing, Lex cast a spell of his own, moving to stand in front of Sonata as he unleashed a compact gout of acid towards Monitor. But the pudgy creature easily avoided the shot, ducking under it to let the acid hit the ground and sizzle as it ate at the stone. In an instant, Monitor was in Lex’s face, and he had just enough time to grimace in fear – not for himself, but for Sonata – before it lashed out with a punch that sent him staggering away before collapsing, the world spinning as renewed agony exploded through his brain. But Monitor’s diverted attention gave Sonata the opening she needed. Biting back a cry of concern for Lex, she instead focused on taking the ugly fish-thingy out. Stepping back to make sure she was out of its reach, she sang a quick enchantment, and it had just turned towards her when she felt the magic take hold. Instantly, Monitor’s body stiffened into rigidity, unable to move. “Hah! I told y-” Her victorious declaration was cut off as the Cripple finished its spell, and four darts of light shot out to slam into Sonata, each hit drawing a pained yelp from her. The Cripple immediately launched into another spell, but Sonata was faster, rattling off an enchantment that ended in a loud scream, but one which was heard only by her enemy. She’d once used this to snap Lex out of his rage, back when he’d mistakenly thought Fireflower was attacking her. Just like then, the amplified sound interrupted the spell that her opponent was invoking, leaving them momentarily overwhelmed by the pain in their ears. “Hah!” she laughed, unable to resist the urge to strike a triumphant pose. “How do you like me now?” So intent on her victory was she that she didn’t notice that Monitor was beginning to move, its head turning jerkily towards her as it fought against her paralysis spell. But Lex, lying a few feet away and barely able to move, saw the danger. He tried to call out a warning, to let her know that the enemy she’d dealt with was still a threat, but the simple act of trying to speak sent a wave of nausea through him, and it was all he could do not to black out again. Across from Sonata, the Cripple cast another spell. Lex didn’t hear what it whispered, but Sonata apparently did, because she…started to laugh? For a moment, his brow furrowed at the sight, but as her laughter continued, growing louder and more raucous, his eyes widened, realizing what had happened. A moment later, Sonata collapsed to the ground, peals of laughter making her shake uncontrollably, caught in the grip of the Cripple’s spell. Cursing as he realized that Sonata was incapacitated for the immediate future, Lex tried to think of what to do. He didn’t have any way of eliminating the magic that was currently affecting Sonata. Worse, he was completely out of attack spells! But even as his mind raced he saw Monitor clench a fist, and knew that he was almost out of time. Even concentrating hurt, but Lex forced himself to do it anyway, calling upon his horn’s dark magic as he formed a single black crystal. It wasn’t very large, and was crudely formed, roughly the same shape as a kitchen knife. But it would do. Slowly, Lex wrapped the pointed crystal in his telekinesis, a purple aura covering it as he lifted it towards Monitor. Normally such a thing would have been simplicity itself, but now the strain made him grit his teeth in effort. Even as he heard the Cripple whispering another spell, he forced himself to focus on what he was doing, even as he saw the blurred creature send a cone of flames washing over Sonata, hearing her cry out in pain before her voice dissolved back into artificial laughter. Snarling as much in exertion as in anger, Lex slowly lifted the crystal to Monitor’s throat. Just a little more! Just a little more and there’d be one less enemy to worry about! But the creature was starting to tremble, visibly straining against the magic keeping it paralyzed, and Lex knew that it was about to break free. Just a little more…! The very tip of the crystal had just pierced Monitor’s throat, drawing the tinest drop of blood when its arm snapped up and grabbed it, the paralysis magic finally failing. No! Lex tried to push harder, tried to force the crystal to drive further upward and finish the creature off, but succeeded only in finally hitting his limit, the purple aura around the crystal sputtering out as he couldn’t keep the effort up any longer. It was over. They had lost, and now…they were both going to die. As though she’d realized that herself, Sonata’s laughter suddenly cut off. It was so abrupt that both Lex and Monitor looked over at her reflexively. Even the Cripple seemed surprised. The only one to act in that moment was Sonata, chanting so fast that Lex couldn’t make out the spell she was intoning. But a moment later she looked towards Monitor and screamed. “GOTCHA!” The word contained so much force that it was felt rather than heard. It was the same spell that she’d used on the ship to launch two of the sahuagin overboard, and right now it was directed towards Monitor. …or rather, towards the crystal that it was holding, still pointed towards its neck. Propelled by the concussive waves of sound, the crystal was torn free from Monitor’s grip. It shot forward as though it had been fired from a bow, and it pierced the pudgy fish-creature’s head cleanly, exploding out the back of it before flying off to embed itself deeply in a nearby building. For its part, Monitor blinked once, and for the first time Lex could make out a discernable emotion on the thing’s face: surprise. Then it collapsed, dead before it hit the ground. Sonata smirked, before directing her gaze at Lex. “Told you I could help,” she grinned. Lex couldn’t help but return the expression, too relieved to do anything else. But that relief was short-lived as he noticed the Cripple moving. It was flying towards them, and Lex tensed, readying himself for whatever magic it was going to unleash next. Sonata, not hurt nearly as badly as he was, scrambled to her hooves. But their enemy passed over them without stopping, nor did it cast any magic. Instead it simply flew as fast as it could, and it took a moment for the pair to realize that it was running, apparently intent on quitting the field. “Ha!” whooped Sonata, shaking a hoof at the thing’s retreating figure. “Yeah, you better run!” “No!” snarled Lex, struggling in vain to get up. “Stop that thing!” “Huh?” Sonata blinked, looking at Lex in confusion. “It’s heading for the waterfront! If it escapes, it can bring others later!” There was audible anxiety in Lex’s voice. That thing knew where they were taking refuge. If it got away, it would be able to relay that information to whatever other undersea monsters it was in league with, which would severely compromise the shelter’s security. “Stop it before it gets away!” “But I, like, used all my hold-still magic!” “No…” Lex looked at the retreating creature, and felt his anger and frustration rising. After all the injuries he’d taken, all of the pain and effort he’d gone through, after having to stand by helpless while his beloved was injured right in front of him, the idea of it all being for naught was utterly unacceptable! That thing could not be allowed to escape! “STOP!” he roared. He didn’t have a plan, didn’t know what to do, simply pouring his frustration out as he demanded that it accede to his will. And then, to his astonishment, the Cripple obeyed, immediately coming to a halt. For a moment, he gaped, and he could see Sonata doing the same out of his periphery. Why had- No. He knew why. He just hadn’t realized that he’d known. “Like, what’s going on?” asked Sonata, going over to kneel down by Lex, glancing between him and the Cripple. “It’s the Night Mare’s power,” he replied softly, amazed that it had worked. He hadn’t even thought to use it during the fight, having written it off before they’d left Tall Tale due to the numerous failed attempts to have it affect anything besides Waterlily. It hadn’t worked on animals or ponies or anything else other than the aranea, and he’d lost confidence in its effectiveness to the point of having mentally written it off. Clearly that had been a mistake. “Wow,” said Sonata. “You know, that would have been a lot easier if you’d done that before.” “Yeah,” acknowledged Lex with a snort that was almost a laugh. Under normal circumstances he’d have been indignant, but at the moment he was too hurt and too tired to bother. Instead, he directed his attention back towards the Cripple. “Come here.” He could feel it struggling against him, but it was like a fish in a net, powerless to control what happened to it. Slowly, it turned around and floated back towards him, until it was hovering just a few feet away. Sonata bit her lip, tensing at being that close to something that had been trying to kill them less than a minute ago. “You’re sure you’ve got it?” “I’ve got it,” responded Lex confidently. “I’ll show you. Look.” He focused his will on the Cripple as he gave it an order. “Drop your blur spell immediately.” A moment later, the creature’s distorted appearance smoothed out, revealing itself. Lex was about to give Sonata a self-satisfied look when he heard her give a strangled gasp. “Sonata? What’s wrong?” She didn’t answer him, staring at the Cripple with a look of total shock on her face, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Lex was about to ask her again when she managed to regain some control over herself, her jaw working soundlessly for a moment until finally, one word passed her lips. “ARIA?!”