Mirage ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the golem, getting some much needed distance away from the beast and regrouping with the rest of his team. The golem erupted in a fit of rage, slamming its fists against the ground and causing the whole mine to shake violently, nearly knocking the others off their feet/hooves had they not been expecting it.
"I don't think it looks happy to see us again." Derpy said, slowly backing away."
"Yeah, you think?" Wraith charged up her fist with her portal powers and stepped forward as a sign to the golem that she wasn't going to back down this time. "We can't run, we have to fight it."
"Wait, what!?" Mirage exclaimed, holding onto the Bamboozle Gem with his life. "We can't fight that thing! Without weapons from Talos we are inca- incapa-... unable to even hurt that thing, and yet you want to try and beat it!?"
"We have no choice!" Wraith replied. "You're right, we can't hurt it, not directly, but we can work around that. Everyone, try and find something to help us beat the golem. Perhaps the unicorns could use their magic to hurl boulders at it."
"Great idea, Wraith!" said Twilight.
"Yes dearie, splendid idea indeed." Rarity added, as she and Twilight charged up their magic.
The golem was angry and hostile, there was no doubt about it, but it had one goal in mind: to retrieve the Bamboozle Gem. Due to this, the golem was persistent with aiming specifically for Mirage, as he was the one who was in possession of the gem at this time. It was relentless, flailing its fists down towards Mirage, only barely missing and launching him into the air with every attack.
Mirage was in full speed now, his heart racing and his breathing rate like that of a running dog. Mirage turned a corner and used his suit to create a decoy of himself, which continued the mines while the real him crouched down behind some rocks for cover. The golem entered the area and saw the decoy running away. It let out a roar before chasing after it. Mirage watched as the golem followed after his trap and took hold of the advantage by running in the other direction.
The decoy hit the wall on the other side. The golem stopped dead in its tracks and cocked its head in confusion. The decoy continued to run into the wall, even though it wasn't going anywhere. Furious, the golem roared once again, turning around and heading back for the others.
"Alright, that thing is distracted, but not for long." Mirage shouted, placing his hands on his knees and catching his breath. "What's the plan?"
"Me and Wattson have devised an idea that could work." Crypto started. "We can lead the golem back to that big cavern that you and your team crossed over when we were split up. Once it's in close proximity, Twilight, Rarity and Cadance will use their magic to push it into the cavern, forcing it down and into the void below."
"I like it, but how do we get it to get that close without realizing our plan?" Rarity asked. "I don't think it's going to just willingly walk up to the edge of the cavern without thinking twice about it."
"We will use the gem. It seems to only care about obtaining that, so if we can use that to lure it there then we should be good." Wattson answered.
"Okay, let's make this work. We have one shot at this, so we can't fail." said Wraith.
"Ummm, it looks like it found us again." Derpy said, pointing at the approaching golem. The rock monster descended upon the group without hesitation, running at full speed towards its target.
"Mirage, take the gem and lead it towards the cavern, I'll buy you some time." said Wraith. Mirage nodded, running towards the location while Wraith got closer to the golem. "Hey ugly, let's get this thing started properly!" The golem roared at the relatively small human and threw out its fists. Wraith, predicting the attack, used her phase tech to shift her whole body into the void dimension, granting temporary immunity to herself. The golem lifted its fists, wondering if it had made contact. Instead of seeing a smashed-up Wraith, it saw a trail of blue particles rushing away from it. The speckles flashed for a moment and sent Wraith back into the real world shortly after.
"If anyone else has a plan, now's the time." said Rarity. Twilight used her magic to pick up a rock and chucked it towards the golem. It was headed straight for it and seemed to collide with it soon enough. Except it didn't. The rock simply phased through the golem. The rock monster chuckled in delight, scoffing at the alicorn for her failed efforts.
"Wha- what!? What just happened!?" Twilight exclaimed in surprise, wondering how the golem managed to dodge the attack the way it did.
"Oh my gosh…" Crypto said, getting a bunch of sudden readings from his drone.
"What is it, Crypto?" Wattson inquired.
"The gem is made almost entirely of the Bamboozle Gem! What you threw the rock at was a decoy!!!"
"A decoy!?" Rarity screamed. "But how? We didn't even see it create a clone of itself at any point."
"The Bamboozle Gem not only creates decoys, but also turns the user invisible." Crypto said, explaining the effects of the gem. "It's the same material used to create Mirage's suit, so it mimics his powers! Be careful, it could be anywhere!"
Wraith and Wattson grouped together and stood their ground. They could hear the golem carelessly stomping around, but they were unable to physically see it. Even then, they continued searching, trying to find something, anything that would give them the upper hand. That's when Wraith got a warning. The voice in her head shouted, "behind you!" She had to act quickly.
"Wattson, plant some fences around me." Wraith ordered.
"You sure about this?" Wattson replied, raising her brow.
"Trust me." Wraith stepped back and stared straight ahead of her. Meanwhile, Wattson played down the first of her nodes, preparing for the second. "Alright, on my command." Wattson held the node in her hand, waiting for Wraith's command. The stomping stopped, notifying the two Legends that it was close. Then another voice warned Wraith. "He's close, get him!" Wraith knew it was time to act. "Wattson, now!"
Wattson placed the second node on the ground and rolled out of the way. The two nodes soon connected to each other's frequencies and began to raise the pylons. And with that, an electrical current shot out of both nodes, joining circuits and creating an electric fence. Just as expected, the golem was seen caught between the two nodes and was electrocuted, preventing it from moving for a short time. To prevent this advantage from going to waste, Cadance, Rarity and Twilight shot beams of magic straight at the golem's face. The beams connected and knocked the golem of its feet and onto the floor. A noticeable crack along it's chest appeared, letting everyone know that it was damaged.
"Well that worked well." said Cadance, stopping her beam.
"I'm getting readings, the golem is unable to cloak itself now!" Crypto said, informing the others on their successful strike. "However, it can still clone itself, so don't lose sight of the real one."
But his words came out too late. The golem was still after Mirage and the Bamboozle Gem, and it was right on his tail. Mirage came so close to the cavern, but the golem leapt into the air and landed right in front of him, blocking him from going any further.
"Ugh, why does everyone have to like me?" Mirage said sarcastically. "It's getting annoying having so many adoring fans." The golem began to clone itself, multiplying at a rapid pace and sending its decoys all around Mirage, cornering him until there was nowhere left to run. Then, the golem began running in circles, throwing off everyone and making them lose sight of the real golem.
"Shoot, I lost him." said Derpy.
"So did I!" Cadance exclaimed.
"What are we going to do?" Mirage shouted, spinning around carelessly as he still tried to find the real golem. "Think of something fast, I'm about to become rock soup in no time!!!"
"Get back, I have a plan!" Crypto shouted, typing in some code to send over to his drone. I'm launching an EMP protocol, everyone stay low and be still!" Hack began to glow bright as a sphere of electrical energy emitted around the drone. The golem took the time to turn away from the fearful Mirage and instead face the glowing drone, staring at it like a confused child. The EMP hit its peak and sent electricity flying everywhere. The golem roared in pain as its body was electrocuted, forcing all his decoys to disappear, revealing the real golem to the group.
"There, get him!" Mirage ran for the cavern, closing in on it with only a few meters left to go. The golem quickly turned around and ran after him. The others followed right along with Mirage, never leaving his side.
"Woah, woah!!!" Mirage came to a stop as he peered over the cavern, his toes hanging off the edge. The golem laughed at him, knowing that Mirage would either have to go through him or fall to his doom. "Oh boy, I'm about to regret everything." Running out of options, Mirage knew what he had to do. "Twilight!"
"What?" She asked.
"Catch!" Mirage jumped off the edge of the cavern and into the void beneath. Everyone gasped in horror, scared for Mirage. Twilight wasted no time, rushing after her human friend. The golem tried to block her path, but Twilight was agile and got past it without too much trouble.
The golem stared at the pit, wondering if it should jump in after them. Now was the time.
"Now!" Both Cadance and Rarity shot one last beam of magic straight towards the golem, knocking it off balance and towards the void. The golem tried to recover, but the impact was too much, and it was soon sent plummeting down to its doom. The golem roared one last time as it fell, its volume fading as it continued falling deeper into the pit.
The sounds of rock hitting the ground let them know that the golem was no longer a threat. But there was still no sign of Mirage or Twilight. The group stood by, patiently waiting for the others to return, giving them a happy ending. It was silent. The sounds of a few rocks falling all around the mines echoed throughout, but
nothing else was heard. Time flew, but nothing hopeful was happening.
"Come on, Mirage. You can't die now!" Wraith shouted. "Don't do this to us."
"... You're right, I can't die!" Everyone looked over the edge of the cavern to see Twilight rising from the shadows with Mirage in her back. "I have like nine lives. Well, not really, but it's the thought that counts."
Twilight landed on the ground, kneeling down and allowing Mirage to safely hop off of her. Mirage touched down and smiled with a look of victory on his face.
"Well, well, well. Looks like you actually did it." said Crypto, giving Mirage a pat on the back.
"I did." Mirage said with a laugh. "You guys almost seem like you didn't believe I could do it. Especially you, Wraith. I've never heard you sound so stressed before."
"Let's just hope you never do that again." Wraith said with a smug look.
"To be fair, I did save your life." said Twilight.
"Huh? Oh, right." Mirage turned to face the princess of Equestria and bowed before her in a humorous way. "Thank you kindly, your majesty. Without your aid, I fear that I may be nothing but a puddle of my former self."
"Never use that analogy ever again." Rarity said, acting like she was gonna throw up.
"Noted."
"I take it that golem won't be anymore of a problem, right?" Cadance asked. "The last thing I need is another report regarding golem attacks within the mines."
"No, that thing is nothing but a pile of old rubble." Mirage said victoriously.
"Wait, you do have the Bamboozle Gem, right?" Wraith inquired. "The last thing we need is to have to do this all over again."
"No worries, guys." Mirage pulled out the sparkling gem with pride. "The journey is over. We have our prize."