//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11: Surrounded 
// Story: The Origins (#1) 
// by LightningStar626 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 11: Surrounded

~Frank constantly struggled to get back up on his feet but his body felt as if it was betraying him. Like a deflated balloon, he just laid there, completely crumpled up, hat over his eyes.~

"No…!"

~Frank gaped at the air, but then collected his wits as he felt something lumpy underneath his jacket. He reached inside slowly, because his arm was still in pain, and pulled out the enlarging ray. The settings were jumbled up. But, without a word, he flexed his fingers as he prepared to squeeze the trigger. The barrel was aimed for Sunset's back.~

Karly spotted what he was doing instantly, and shouted. "Sunset, look out!"

~Sunset and the Rainbooms (including Lightning) turned around but neither she nor them were quick enough to dodge. Would they even have had time to dodge? The Mane 6 didn't know how fast a laser travelled. But they found out right then and there, as a green laser from the ray was fired and flew through the air and hit all seven of them head on. Despite it only being aimed at Sunset, they were all close enough to her to also be affected. Hot green glowing substances splattered all over them completely. Rarity let out a scream as it dripped all over her clothes, before feeling her head throbbing and lightening. She wasn't the only one. Soon enough, all six of the Equestria Girls and Lightning collapsed to the ground, the world around them fading to a blur and getting larger and larger by the second. Sunset wondered how this was happening, only to realise the world wasn't getting bigger, they were getting smaller! Frank switched the setting on the ray from enlarge to reduce. Before she knew it, Sunset and her friends were the size of mice. Only Karly remained the same as she didn't get hit. But, looking at the sight of her friends that were now no bigger than her own hand, she shouted in horror.~

"Nooo!"

Benjamin noticed her and glared. "Hey! Agent Crystal wasn't affected by the ray!"

"Quick, get her!" Frank ordered.

~The siblings nodded and sprung forward to grab Karly, only for the shy spy to teleport away at the last second, causing them all to crash in a heap on the floor together.~

Scoot emerged from the pile first. "You forgot she can teleport now."

Frank emerged next, grumbling. "Pffft! I didn't forget! I just…temporarily failed to remember she can teleport."

"How far do you reckon she could be?" asked Wendy.

Benjamin shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno. She could be anywhere. Maybe in France, maybe in Spain, maybe in Japan, maybe in Russia, maybe in Brazil, maybe in- "

"WELL," Frank interrupted angrily. "Whatever the case, she's gone."

"Should we try to find her?"

"...nah. Forget it. Everyone knows Karly Crystal is a weak coward, what damage can she do?" said Frank. "All that matters is that we stopped the major threat to our dad's succession and more."

"What the hell, man?! Undo this right now!" Lightning chirped. It sounded like her throat was ingested with helium.

Pinkie Pie burst with laughter. "HAHAHAHA! Lightning! Listen to your voice! It sounds funny! Heyyy! Listen to mine! I'm Tiny Pinkie! How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood!? HEHEHEHE!"

"Oh god…!"

~The boys replied with a laugh. Frank's face suddenly relaxed and he took a thick glass jar in his hands. Wasting no time, Frank kneeled down before the girls and rammed the jar over their heads, trapping them inside the container while they growled and yelped at him. Charlies then came with a metal lid for the mouth. Between them, they managed to scoop up the girls so that they could carry them easily. Hopefully, if they used their magic powers, it would be weak in the process and they wouldn't get free.~

"Good thing I kept this jar as a souvenir from when I raided that shop in the city," said Frank. "Come on, guys! Let's get them up to the castle! Wait till dad sees them. Come on! Move, now. Quickly."

~Weary and scared, Fluttershy trembled as they were stumbled away; trapped in a glass jar, unable to break out. Lightning immediately began to think how they were going to get out of this, and about Karly. By the time they disappeared, Karly poked out from behind the nearby rocks, (as that was where she teleported to), wondering what is going to happen now. Should she attempt to solo the rest of the mission by herself? After all, it's only after she's lost everything that she's free to do anything. 'It should not be that difficult', as she imagined that's what Lightning would have said if she was the one that was by herself. Thanks to her newly found teleportation abilities, Karly could easily sneak into the castle, find out her friends' whereabouts, set them free, and triumphantly complete the mission with them. So, after much debating with herself, she came to the conclusion and said yes. Building up her tiny confidence, she will show everyone what she's made of and prove them wrong. But before she set off, her boosted optimism came to halt when she heard a murmur of male and female voices. She listened carefully, then inched her way along the rocks as she could get close to the speakers but stay hidden. There was an occasional clutter of steel, and the sound of footsteps, so they were coming this way as they talked. There were four voices, two male, two female. They seemed to be angry with each other and discussing vital information that made Karly conflicted.~

"Sonata, you were supposed to take Lairry to the fieldlands so he would not get in the way." said Aria's gritty, impatient voice.

"How was I supposed to know which way it was?" said Sonata. "I forgot where I was even supposed to take him anyway- "

"Then you ask him! You could have gone to the food court instead, and enjoy your favourite, stupid, disgusting seasoning mince wrapped in a tortilla. Whatever it's called…"

"Don't you ever talk about tacos like that!"

"Or what?"

"What exactly is going on here?"

~The two siren girls made a turn and saw Olliee and Lairry standing by the exit with a bold look upon their faces. There was a silence, and then Olliee went on.~

"What is Adagio Dazzle up to?"

"Nothing that concerns you." Aria pouted.

Larry didn't buy it. "Really? 'cause it just sounded like you were trying to lure us away somewhere, so we would not 'Get in the way'."

"No, no! That's not…it!"

"I think she's trying to take dad's throne and everything else we've worked for! She's got an entirely different idea on how to deal with the Rain…whatever-they're-called, and wants to do it her way! Besides, I would also like to think she wants to experiment- "

"To experiment? No, to gain power!"

"Hush! Sonata!"

"What? We can't convince them."

"Wait. What do you mean, 'gain power'?" asked Olliee.

"Oh, she's hosting a theatre in the main room tonight! That's where she will drain all the negative power from your minions all at once, then next will be Twilight Sparkle's! That's why we tricked your other siblings into taking her and that other man upstairs to Adagio, pretending to be your dad! It's all part of our plan!"

"Sonata!" Aria shouted, but it was too late. Enough was said. Olliee and Lairry gasped.

~And Karly couldn't help herself either: a little gasp also escaped her, and at the same time she tensed and shivered, and her foot knocked against the rock. The four were alerted by the sound it made.~

"What was that?"

"Behind that rock- "

"Quick!"

~Throwing Aria and Sonata aside, Olliee's feet ran towards the rocks. Karly tried to scramble away, but there was so little place to go, and before she could move more than a few steps, her legs tangled up together and she fell down. After recovering, she saw herself staring up at the upside-down faces of the Devil brothers and siren sisters. They were just as startled as she was. But, with little more freedom to move, Karly shot herself back to her feet and cleared herself away.~

"Agent Crystal." Lairry said her name.

"How did you get here?" Olliee asked, grumbling as still annoyed at the two sirens.

Karly looked to and fro behind her, trying hard not to shake or stutter. "W-well, I could…possibly ask you the same thing?"

"Well, I'm actually not one hundred percent sure myself, but one thing I do know is that we can't stay here for long."

"Who even are you anyway?" Aria asked Karly, squinting between her brows at her and making her uncomfortable. "Is it just you around here as well?"

Karly couldn't speak at that moment, so Lairry spoke up for her. "This is Karly Crystal. An enemy of our dad's. And it seems like she's here alone."

"Wait, I thought she was called Khloe. Or Kira? Or…Khara?" Sonata raised her brow.

Karly sighed quietly. "Devil always gets my name wrong, and it never ends."

"Ah, yes. Now I am aware of you." said Aria. "So, generous of you to tell us about her and her friends, Olliee."

"And now that we know about them, we can make sure they don't foil the plan. Couldn't have done it without youuu~." Sonata sang.

Karly was silent. "...you told them our backstory?" she said at last.

"...she was very persuasive." Larry admitted.

"Hey, we told you ours, so I see no reason why you shouldn't tell us about yours!" Sonata said.

"Really, I didn't care. It was just to distract you long enough so you wouldn't know what's going on." Aria shrugged.

"Bit late for that now."

"Because of you, Sonata! Ugh, you are the worst."

"Well, you are too!"

~They gave each other a needy slap. Meanwhile, Karly stared off as she thought of everything she had now learned. The fear she felt of it all was almost physical pain. Adagio was going to steal the minions' negative power, use it to make herself powerful, overpower the Rainbooms, drain them of their magic so she could gain more, then possibly take hers and Lightning's as a bonus, become the most overpowered god-like being in the world, take over the world, then move on to the next! She found her voice at last after she all that put together, and screamed.~

"I have to help them!"

"And what makes you think we're just gonna let you run off and do that?" Aria sassed.

"Good question."

~As a last resort, Karly snapped her fingers and, like a ghost, she faded into the air, leaving only a few magenta sparkles floating in her place. They disappeared later, though, after a moment. The four were left stunned.~

"What the…?"

"Where did she go?!"

"Up to the castle, obviously."

"We can't let her do that! Let's get back up there, quick!" Olliee prompted. "Don't think this makes us forget about you two and what you've done though. We'll talk about it later."

~Aria and Sonata were the ones he was talking to. They nodded silently, even though Aria didn't care as much, before the four turned back to where they came from and raced up there as quickly as they could, with Olliee taking the lead.~





~The music of a saxophone filled the dry airs of Devil's Castle. A quintet of minions stood on a small stage playing jazz in the cantinas of the castle. While everybody else was having fun. Playing cards, drinking boos, and enjoying the music as they waited patiently for the proper show Adagio had in store for them to begin.~

"No matter how many times I hear Adagio's singing, I'm amazed! Each time, I'm like, 'WOW!'" one said to the other.

"Got any reverse cards? Aw, weak, dude, you don't? Sooooo VERY LAME!" another minion said, playing cards with his worker.

"You know, This castle..It had a name before Adagio came...some time ago...Levil's Castle? Tevil's Castle? Just Evil Castle? Darn it, just not remembering. Guess it doesn't matter." one minion pondered.

~A cheery, short intermission piece of music echoed in the castle's speakers on the wall, and after it ended, a minions' deep voice appeared.~

"Minions! Get to the Theatre! Adagio's show tonight will begin soon!"

Bursts of cheers came from the crowd. "YES! FINALLY!"

"I've been craming for ten hours!"

"That seat up front is mine!"

"Get the slushies quick!"

~Rushing to the theatre, all excited, the minions clambered on top one another when going through the door until they were all jammed inside. Dr. Devil watched them coldly before looking about to see the cantinas were now deserted, and that all the controlled minions had gone into the theatre. The doctor then tapped his foot repeatedly, straightened up the goggles that were perched on his head, and looked down at his largely-oversized fancy hi-tech watch, seemingly waiting for the minions that weren't in Adagio's control to come and find him. He also wondered about his sons and why they haven't come yet.~

"UGHHH, where the heck is Olliee?! I need him to prepare!" he bellowed. "That Lairry had gone off too. He better not be off playing video games or something, we're in a spot of crisis!"

He suddenly heard his name being called. "Master Devil! Master Devil! I've gathered all the minions I could find that haven't interacted with Adagio Dazzle!"

~A smile curved from the doctor's lips but it soon turned back upside down when he saw only a total of nine minions behind his back, out of his two hundred clones, this was all he had.~

"This is IT?" he bellowed.

"Unfortunately, yes. But, if we play this stealthy, we might still have a chance." said the minions, lightening his spirits.

Devil still seemed unconvinced, but he had no other choice. "Very well, and I guess we'll have to go on without my sons." he cleared his throat. "Right, minions, forget about the other six 'Rain-blanks', or whatever-they're-called. Adagio is going against our plan, and is doing her own. We need to end it. BUT, under no circumstances, must you let her stare you down, or gain anymore power, this means, you mustn't let her get to Mr. Secret, or the tech girl, especially her! You see any minion with green eyes, finish them! Then, take their place, and pretend to be under control. Once we have her surrounded in that theatre, I'll go for her neck. Then, we'll have more than what we bargained for! Ya got that?" they nodded. "Good. Now get to the theatre! There isn't a moment to lose!"