Rogue Chaos- The Void’s Edge: Visions
The moment that Kleese yelled for the group to run after the Sentry, Shayne and Aurox were the first ones to run. Despite Mellka asking for them to proceed with caution, the teen didn’t really care about that. She just wanted to make sure that Discord was okay because there was no telling when the Varelsi would show up and attack the Sentry. But as they made their way across the ravine, it turns out that the Sentry itself was okay and also undamaged.
“Oh thank heavens! There he is!” Kleese breathed a sigh of relief, just as Wolf now hollered something else now that he came back to his senses… mostly.
“Mom? Dad!? Oh, YOU’RE HOME!! YOU’RE FINALLY HOME AHAAAA!!!” It screamed, sounding like it was crying in the process.
“Are you sure that Sentry’s okay?” Ghalt asked again, only getting an annoyed groan from Kleese as Shayne soon approached the youngster.
“You okay, Dissy?” She asked him as the youngster hopped off of the Sentry and onto her shoulder. He shivered a little, but seemed okay for the most part. “Glad you’re still in one piece… How’s Wolf taking the whole… you know… escort thing?” Discord pulled out a large newspaper roll and smacked it on the Sentry’s head.
“Bad! Bad Wolfie!”
“Ow! I’m sorry!” The sentry apologized. All of that just leading to Shayne facepalming herself before she saw something hit the sentry from behind. “Ow! Fellas… MY ASS!! THEY’RE HANDING IT TO ME!! HELP!! THEY’RE HANDING ME MY ASS!!” Shayne turned to see that the attacks were from a few Thrall Brutes on the large structure along with some Varelsi Marksman in the distance.
“Mellka, if you’re going to make a grand entrance right around now, then it would be a good time! Wolf is getting flanked from two sides right now.”
“We’re on our way, hang tight!” Mellka’s voice rose up on the intercom as Shayne looked back at Discord.
“You think you can focus on the thrall up there, Kiddo?” She asked, looking back at the youngling as he conjured a replica of Mellka’s machine pistol and began to aim it at the thrall.
“Say hello to my little friend!” Discord said, firing the machine pistol rapidly. Mellka & the others arrived, seeing Discord shooting down the Thrall down easily.
“Darn it!” Marquis spoke “I was hoping to use Hoodini.” He pulled his hat off, followed by a small robot owl popping out of the hat. Discord appeared next to him.
“HOODINI!!!” Discord cheered, picking up and snuggling with the robot owl.
“... VARELSI!!!” Rath shouted. Discord screamed and threw Hoodini at the portal with oncoming Varelsi, causing an explosion. He stared awkwardly at what he did.
“You’re lucky that I have more.” Marquis said.
“Great.” Mellka said, observing more portals opening. “Discord, you may wanna-” Discord pulled out a laser pointer and aimed it around the Sentry. The Sentry noticed the red dot and began to chase after it.
“Mine! It’s mine!”
“Go get it!” Discord said, sweating and running away from the Varelsi. He aimed the dot at the shield. The Sentry bashed right through it, taking a huge amount of damage, but still standing.
“Did I get it?”
“Yes you did… Yes you did…” Mellka sighed. “Still, we should at least get rid of all the Jennerit up top if you don’t want thrall being shoved down your throats during the launch sequence.”
“The way up needs three of us to power it up so it can send two to destroy the rest from the looks of it,” Shayne informed the others upon inspecting the mechanism. “Any volunteers on who will-.” Before she was able to finish that sentence, Mellka and Discord sat on two of the other power conductors that launched Rath and Marquis up onto the second floor. While they were up there, they heard Rath shouting out in glory as he began to slaughter the thrall up there.
“Your limbs will make perfect mementos of our time together, FREAK!!” The Swordsman mocked as he continued to cut through the group.
“You disgust me…” Marquis sighed. “Not you Rath, the others…” Discord grunted as he read an issue of a certain comic book. Which wasn’t long until the way through was powered down.
“Barrier down, let’s press on!” Mellka rallied the group, just as Ghalt began to speak up. “No matter how many times, I’ve seen them. Varelsi portals always scare the living hell out of me.”
“That is a sincere reaction to something that’s impossible,” Kleese added on. “Mathematically speaking, Varelsi Portals aren’t even suppose to exist. How can someone with a feeble mind not understand a living, physical paradox?”
“Feeble mind?” Mellka questioned. “What the hell is that suppose to mean?”
“Did I not explain it? It means that I think you’re stupid.” Kleese groaned. Just as the Sentry was in position, one Varelsi that was WAY bigger than the others spawned out of nowhere, startling the others.
“OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT THING!!!”
“SHUT UP, KLEESE!! Don’t panic!!”
“YOU CAN’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, DAMMIT!!! WE’RE DOOMED!!! WE’RE ALL DOO-O-MED!!!” The sound of some slapping him was heard and a brief bit of pain from Kleese as he snapped at the captain. “Captain! ...You… you slapped me!”
“Kleese, stop panicking.” Ghalt spoke with irritation in his voice “Everyone else, figure out how to kill that thing!!”
“You hit like a GIRL captain!!”
“Sexist…” Shayne snickered as she paid less attention to the old geezer and more attention to Discord.
“KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!” Discord screamed, pulling out both Oscar Mike’s tactical rifle AND Benedict’s Rocket launcher as he tried to open fire on it. Only for the bullets and rockets to be deflected off the outer exterior of something that was shielding the Varelsi from harm.
“...Crap! More Varelsi!!! And they’re shielding that conservator!” Melka spoke. Rath was quick to dispose of his nearby Thrall, though Marquis, without looking through the scope, took out his two Thralls. The place shook violently.
“We’re seeing some colossal localized anomalies building nearby!” Kleese informed them all. “This CAN’T be good!” Then… darkness. Everything… it was pitch black. Discord could hear certain voices… faintly, with the group they’re in, but, other than that, nothing. He took out a flashlight, but, everywhere he pointed was just an abyss… that was, until he heard some new voices.
“...Discord? Is that you?” A very gentle, quiet voice asked.
“W-who's there!?” Discord squeaked, looking everywhere.
“Discord, this better not be any-” The voice screamed, followed by the faint grunts and howls of the Varelsi. “DISCORD!!! HELP!!!” Discord shook himself and ran around.
“Where are you!?” he shouted. He heard a loud roar, followed by another voice, this one sounding like a male with a pretty attractive sounding voice.
“Get away from her!!!” Sounds of a struggle were heard, followed by heavy breathing from afterwards.
“Oh dear! You're hurt!”
“It's nothing… I can't believe it… he's here!”
“Who? Are they responsible for… for those… monsters?”
“... Rendain… I thought he'd never be here.”
“Discord, are you okay?” Shayne asked, growing concerned for him as she killed another Varelsi Shulk that tried to grab him. “Discord?!”
“Mama!” The youngling shouted, having the teen scramble to where he was as Shayne sent Aurox to smash some Varelsi heads together. “Mama, I’m scared!!”
“Discord, hang on. I’m right here!” She said, rushing to the draconequus. During this, she saw the rift began to de-stabilize when Aurox killed a few more of the beings from the void, “Everyone. Cut the Varelsi down to size! The more you destroy them, the more likely we can get out of here!!”
“You heard her,” Mellka snapped, punching another Shulk in the face before sending venom canisters flying everywhere. “The quicker we destroy them, the sooner we get out of here!” Shayne tried to contribute as well, having the youngling latch onto her back as she threw boomerangs at incoming enemies and directed Aurox to spawn at a location to pull enemies in with Tag Team. Her augmentation on the ability, known as Aurox Beckons, allowed for Aurox to pull in numerous opponents into a specific targeted location as well as apply a brief slowing effect to the monsters. But right now, Shayne’s first priority was Discord… but while trying to help him, she heard something that wasn’t exactly… normal so to speak. Discord saw multiple equine silhouettes, most of them about as tall as Shayne, but two of them were taller than the rest. However, one towered over them all, and it wasn't equine shaped, but almost snake-like.
“Discord… I… I can't really believe you held all of that pain.”
The teen didn’t know what was going on, but she felt the youngling on her back shiver in fear from it. Having Aurox back, she noticed a Channeler on it’s own as she pointed at it. “Hey you, come here… NOW!!”
“Fluttershy… I'm… I'm sorry… I promise I'll be back.”
Aurox obeyed the command, lunging at the channeler as it was pulled towards Shayne. With her boomerang, she stabbed it in the face as everything around them began to disappear. Now they felt the snow from Bliss once again as everyone realized they were back to where they were.
“Y-you’re alive!! What on earth just happened!?! You just-. OH FORGET IT!! We’ll discuss it later. KILL THE CONSERVATOR!!” They heard Kleese roar as it screeched in agony. Shayne, keeping Discord close, looked at Aurox.
“Guys… Let’s teach this void filth what happens when you mess with one of us!”
“Ah HELL YES!!” Mellka cheered, firing off another clip of rounds into the conservator. “Kicking ass and taking names! All in a day's work!!”
“Cheers.” Marquis added, letting a Hoodini robot out.
“Go Clockwerk!!” Discord cheered, staying on Shayne’s back. Over time, the Conservator took heavy amounts of damage and fell to the ground. Just in range of Discord holding one of Ghalt’s shotguns with a pair of shades on and his hair slick back. “Hasta la vista… Baby.”
He squeezed the trigger, causing the conservator to dissipate into space junk as Kleese finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Perfect! Much better than the unnecessary sequels! Wolf unit!! Your moment of sacrifice has come. Initiate DEATH MARCH!!”
“You got it buddy,” Wolf said as it propelled itself into the portal. “Oh and hey, you got to tell me what a death march is when I get back-.”
KA-BOOM!!
Discord pulled out a trumpet and played a funeral song, Marquis taking his hat off, adding the drama to the scene. Only to be brutally interrupted by Kleese. “Did we do it? Did we actually do it? …… YYYEEESSSS!!! HAHA!!! WE TOOK THE FOUNDATION OF SCIENCE AND SHOVED IT DOWN THE VARELSI’S THROATS!! SUCK IT RENDAIN!!! …… Ahem, good job everyone. Now that Nova is no longer affected by the portal, I’ll have her pick you guys up. You all deserve a ride home after that.”
However, the word home only added to the saddened state that Discord was in… and Shayne was personally worried for him.
Upon returning back to base, the draconequus child that Shayne was raising still was down in the dumps. All of the other Battleborn members were too busy celebrating the fact that they survived another day, yet Shayne was concerned for Discord. It didn’t seem fair for everyone else to be happy, but he was left to be miserable. Orendi originally suggested that she serve him ice cream because it was a dish other than revenge that was best served cold and with sprinkles, but it didn’t seem like the proper way to handle it. Now, Shayne was with Discord in their room, just by themselves and the young teen wanted to try and get the youngling to speak to her, but still seemed scared and too nervous to do so.
“Allow me.” Aurox spoke. The djinn floated to the Draconequus. “... I still have that soul offering.” Discord turned to his father with an annoyed look.
“Aurox…” Shayne growled.
“Oh! Sorry! Just wanted to make things better.” he floated back to Shayne. She rolled her eyes and turned to Discord.
“Hey, Dissy, what's wrong?”
“Nothing.” Discord replied, turning from his family.
“... You did a good job today.”
“Thanks.”
“... Did you see something in the void? The dark area where we were all separated in.”
“I couldn't see it… but I heard it.” He replied, looking back at her. “I heard… voices of someone…”
“Voices?”
“Yeah… I… I think… I think it was… my REAL family!”
“Your… real family?”
“Seems our ‘child’ figured he was adopted.” Aurox blurted.
“Aurox!... Sorry for that. Care to tell how?”
“... Well… there was a sweet sounding woman that called for me… then… those… those monsters attacked her. She was scared… I was scared… but… I heard a man yell at them. I… believe he was my dad. He fought them off… hurt, but was fine. I… I think I may have ran away… and… Oh no!!! He's looking for me!!!”
“Who?”
“My dad! He left my mom and, I believe, her family behind!”
“Her family?” Aurox asked.
“Uh… I couldn't exactly see… but my dad was really tall & snake like, and my mom… I think she's actually Whiskey’s plushie.”
“... Fluttershy? The Pegasus? Really?” Shayne held Discord in a caring hug.
“I think the void must've messed with your head, son.” Aurox sighed, folding his arms. “We all panicked in there and I think I accidentally slapped Rath in the face.”
“Aurox, I believe Discord… I heard something similar to that in there… But this is just a piece of a bigger puzzle we can’t solve just yet… Discord… Remember when we had to fight the Varelsi today and you were scared?” Shayne asked, nervous about bringing the subject up.
“Y-yeah.”
“Well… I want to help you in making sure that you don’t need to be scared in facing them… So,” Shayne told him, going to her closet to pull out a spare sleeveless jacket that was around Discord’s size in sleek black with a patch that was the Emblem of the rogues, sewn onto the back of the jacket. “I want to give you this.”
“... You made that… for me!?”
“And when did you sew?” Aurox added.
“I had Orendi help me with that since she wanted to help as well and it turns out that have four arms helps with needles and threads,” Shayne replied to Aurox before looking back at Discord. “Anyways, I made this for you Discord because I wanted you to feel confident in the future battles we’re going to face. Even if I won’t be able to be there with you all the time, I can be there in spirit every time you have this on. Welcome to the Rogues, little guy; You deserve it.” Discord practically squealed as he put the jacket on. He looked at himself in the mirror, impressed by his new appearance as he did a few heroic poses to see how he looked while wearing it
“Thank y-you so much, mama!!”
“You’re welcome, Dissy.” She replied. Unknowingly to the teen, the new surge of confidence and bravery that had been obtained through the bonding of parent and child had filled the youngling with DETERMINATION!!! … and the showers shut down with him singing.
