Defenders & Artefacts: Broken Rules

Location: Gym

Discoveries: Baby Vandagyre, Wooden board, Cirrus

Azul was ready, his fear set aside, prepared to prove himself as a defender and write his own story. It was time for him to leave the Gym and make his way upstairs to the ground floor. He had kept track of his friends’ actions through his wristband and, although they had managed to master the weapon once, Albugineo had inflicted damage on Verde and Purpura. He started moving towards the exit of the room, where the stairs should be. Passing over fallen punch bags and old t-shirts left lying on the Gym floor, he turned left. He entered the Stairs to Basement with his bag tightly hanging from his back and the Cirrus swiftly flowing through the air, following him like a loyal Petpet.

The narrow corridor had two torches lighting the way, one on each side of the room. At the end of the corridor, the hatch door was open and he could also see the light entering from the Foyer. He climbed up the steps, passed the threshold and entered the Foyer, while the Cirrus was following close behind. The airy Petpet was zooming and swirling around Azul, oblivious to the danger that awaited them. It was very quiet in the Foyer. The only audible sounds were the baby Vandagyre’s soft breathing and the soft wispy noises made by his floating companion. Azul had made up his mind. He could stay here and hide, like everyone would expect him to do, until the troubles passed. However, his friends and colleagues were both on that side of the house, stuck with the enemy. How he wished he had got to know Blanca better in the past, before all of this predicament. He kept wondering if things would have turned out differently had he shown his interest and had he truly bonded with and understood her.

Armed with either newfound bravery or good old foolery - it was difficult to distinguish in dire situations like this one - he started walking straight, towards the door that led to the Abandoned Room. He knew Blanca was in there therefore he had to be extremely careful with his next moves. He stopped just before entering and glued himself on the wall right next to the door, trying to peek inside. He slowly leaned into the room, only poking in enough to allow him to quickly scan the room. In spite of the disorganisation in the room that made it extremely difficult to make out figures, out of the corner of his eye he could identify her aura which gave her location away. She was standing close to the centre of the room, right next to a broken grandfather clock which was broken into two pieces and surrounded by broken tiles. He couldn’t be certain, but he believed that she was looking away from him, towards the door that led to the Ballroom.

He quietly let go of the wall and leaned back into the Foyer. He checked that his bag’s compartments were all properly zipped closed and that the baby was still sound asleep. He then put it back on his back, and passed the strap three times around his waist to make sure that he wouldn’t accidentally drop it. He checked that he had no items hanging out of his pockets that might fall out and make a noise. He raised his index finger and placed it on his nose and mouth, making a shushing gesture to the Cirrus. He saw the little cloud glee and made a surprisingly soundless backflip in the air. He hoped that it had understood the assignment. Lastly, he made sure his wristband was properly strapped around his wrist. With a deep breath he entered the Abandoned room, stooping low, almost slithering on the floor. With miniscule movements, he crawled his way to the left hand side of the room and took shelter behind an old set of drawers. There was enough space for him to fit between the furniture and the wall. He hadn’t made a sound, or so he hoped, thus Blanca shouldn’t have taken notice of him. His plan was to keep an eye on her while the rest of his friends were mastering the weapon and dealing with Albugineo. He understood what his role was in this. He wasn’t here to hide. He was here to act.

Purpura

Location: Hall of Heroes

Discoveries: Mask, Moehog skull, Pair of dice

Purpura opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor, pressed against the brick wall of the Hall of Heroes. She was staring down at the ground as she rubbed her head. She felt some pain but nothing too concerning right now. Her clarity had suffered but she was still conscious and undefeated. The amethyst and mauve tiles of the floor caught her attention.

She quickly straightened her torso and looked around, in shock. Everything was bathed in shades of purple. In the middle of the room where she was standing moments earlier, right on top of the Altadorian sun, stood the malicious Wocky. Even though his eyes were closed, from around the eyelids the venomous green light of his eyes shone and was trying to escape.

“Why am I in the mind world? I need to exit, go find Verde and check that he is not hurt,” she thought, panicking. That’s when she noticed a very faint purple haze emanating from Albugineo, like the frost that quickly condensated on glasses when one walked from a cold to a hot environment. The haze was slowly moving through the air of the mind world. She traced it back to its source.

A wave of shock washed over her as she realised that the purple haze was originating from her. She looked down at her hands, her body, her long Zafara ears. The haze was slowly seeping from her body and was being absorbed by Albugineo.

“He forced me into the mind world using clarity,” she realised, “Orion warned us about this, he is trying to steal my essence!” She knew that she had to exit right away using her clarity as well. She helped herself up by pushing against the floor and put away the Moehog skull. The mask! A chill ran down her spine as she realised that she had entered the mind world, even unwillingly, while still wearing the mask which increased her intelligence but decreased her clarity. She had no control over her physical body, in order to remove the mask, as she was held under his trance. Her clarity was dangerously low and she didn’t know if she had enough power to fight back.

She closed her own eyes and concentrated. She felt a weak power flowing through her, but her will was strong. She needed to break free for Verde and for Azul. She needed to escape for the rest of the Defenders. She had to do it for her parents. Using every ounce of clarity she had left, she concentrated on exiting. For a split second, the tiles started shifting to cream and brown, and then back to amethyst and mauve. She fixated harder on her clarity. The sun entering the room suddenly lost its purple hue and changed to its usual yellow and amber colour. For some time that could only be described as an eternity, the colours shifted back and forth, back and forth. A yellow zap, like electricity shot from her mind and hit Albugineo, breaking the hazy connection between them.

The room returned to normal. Purpura opened her eyes and started running. Ignoring her head that was throbbing. She ran behind the statues, passing the Thief, the Gatherer, the Gladiator, aiming for the exit door. She quickly glanced behind her to assess her foe’s next move. He had opened his green eyes and had turned to her direction, watching her leave the room. The green glow of his eyes felt as if it was poisoning her from afar. Undeterred, she entered the Ballroom and shuddered remembering her previous experience in this room.

“Verde, quickly get up, it’s not safe there,” she shouted, running towards him. “How are you feeling?” she asked, with a worrisome voice. He was lying on his stomach with half dazed eyes. In his left hand held tightly was a stringless bow; the weapon. He gingerly opened his eyes fully and stared up to see her. He felt like he was back at Camp, during one of the unexpected drills. He half expected to see Sergeant Brexis walk in and inform them of a mock mission where they would have to quickly don their uniform and report to action. His feet were in pain, and so was his tummy.

“Back for more adventures?” he joked at her. She smiled back, realising he hadn’t lost his humour, and with a mindless gesture she corrected the mask on her face, which got skewed from running. She then extended her arm for him to grab on and helped him stand up.

“Give me the weapon, my intelligence is extremely high while I wear this mask,” she informed him and pointed at the mask. She glanced towards the door that led back to the Hall of Heroes to check if Albugineo was approaching. He hadn’t made his move yet, they still had time.

“Keep an eye at the door, he might be approaching,” she advised Verde, as he handed her the weapon. She inspected it closely and saw part of her mask reflect on the steel cold surface.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on her intelligence. With immaculate ease she entered the mind world, feeling the power flowing through her once more. The Ballroom was bathed in the familiar, by now, shades of purple. The weapon retained its quarter part of shiny, black metallic look but the rest now boasted a shade of dusty plum colour. She concentrated further on the weapon and, within seconds, magenta coloured letters appeared, floating in front of her eyes. This mask was Fyora sent, she desperately needed to keep hold of it when the mission finished; but she didn’t want to worry about this right now, although fleeting thoughts did cross her mind from time to time, about these artefacts’ future.

“Scan initially, swift work is perfectly executed” read the sentence in front of her. Even though she had done well during Lightning Lenny’s course and she would have loved to be more proficient, she couldn’t claim that cryptic clues were her forte. Despite that, she let the mask lead the way.

“Scan,” she said out loud. She knew - either on her own or through the mask’s power - that this was the definition or a synonym of the word she was looking for. “Then we have initially,” she continued her thought process. This served as the pointer which signified that she had to take the first letter of each word in the following sentence, which in turn would provide her with the answer. She quickly scanned the sentence, taking note of each initial letter that followed: s, w, i...

“Swipe!” she exclaimed triumphantly. She let the mask direct her next moves as she gave in to the flood of intelligence, like a stray seaweed ebbing and flowing during a stormy Maraquan tide. She held the weapon in her left hand and turned it to the horizontal position, straightened her back and held an upright position. All these steps were known to her, since Verde had already cracked the first clue. Unbeknownst to her, her right hand swept across the air in a sudden, fluid motion, slicing from left to right just above the bow. With her palm extended, it never touched the surface; instead, it hovered, a mere breath away, as if banishing a smudge from the air itself.

She felt a tingle of energy under her left hand, a pulsating sensation under her paw, almost like a heartbeat. She glanced down to see an arrow of pure energy trembling in place, hovering between her hand and the bow. Rays of energy coursed from point to nock, forming the arrow itself - jagged, chaotic lines with no true body to anchor them. Half of the bow had now changed to its black metallic surface while the other half still maintained its dusty plum hue, which signified success. Purpura rotated the bow out of its correct posture and the phantom arrow disappeared from sight.

“Two down, two to go,” she reassured Verde as she exited the mind world. Verde was guarding her while she was in the mind world, juggling between paying attention to her body, which had been frozen in place seconds earlier, and keeping watch on the door for any unexpected movement from Albugineo. Purpura handed the bow back to Verde and checked her wristband to see any updates from Azul. With horror, she saw that he was in the same room as Blanca. Her initial instinct was to run to his aid. Unfortunately, she was out of movement.

Verde

Location: Ballroom

Discoveries: Bite, Stringless bow

Verde received the bow from Purpura and fiddled with it in his fingers, examining the boundary between the dull grey and the metallic black on the surface. He concluded that there was no trace of paint - no ridge or rough texture between the two colours - and accepted its magical nature. The time had come for him to attempt to solve another cryptic clue and bring the defenders one step closer to victory. Thus, he closed his eyes and concentrated on his intelligence. He was struggling to enter the mind world, he was still tired from Albugineo’s attack.

After a few tries, he managed to enter the mind world and the room was bathed in shades of green. He could feel his head pulsating; this was taking a toll on him and he could feel his energy levels being low. Verde wasn’t someone to give up easily though, so he concentrated further on the bow held tightly in his hands. The vibrancy of the lime green writing that appeared in front of him felt like sharp knives, but he read the sentence nonetheless.

“It is to involve someone and it’s back to withdraw” He stared at it, utterly confused. This sentence didn’t make any sense, which was partly the point of cryptic clues. He had nowhere to start from. He regretted not paying closer attention during the course. His head was being unbearable now, he could feel it trying to pull him out and return him to the mind world. The green hue that had consumed the surroundings started fading, the colours shifting back to their normal tones. The transition was unstable though, bouncing erratically between the two worlds. He clung desperately to the mind link, not letting it go.

Until he could not. He was forcefully ejected from the mind world and the first thing he saw were the rainbows greeting him, cast from the chandeliers above.

“I couldn’t do it, I am too tired,” he said with a croaky voice. “It was too difficult to maintain the link, but I will try again.”

“Don’t you dare!” Purpura cut him off and pushed him against the shoulders to stop him. Verde turned to look at her. “You are not trying again, you are just tiring yourself out. Run away from here with the weapon, Albugineo will soon be arriving. I have no movement left, but I will try to hold him off for you. When you feel ready, then you try again,” she advised him, while pointing at an unexplored door on the left hand side of the room. Verde looked at her, then down at the bow and then towards the door. He decided to take her advice. Just like in his past explorations, he needed to be sensible with his effort and try to not overwork himself.

“Oh, and Verde?” he heard her soft voice as he was about to cross the threshold to the new room, “Keep the bow safe please, get it working and I would be interested in studying it further when all of this chaos is over.” Verde nodded at her direction, flashed her a grin and pushed the door to open.

He found himself outside. A cold breeze brushed against his face, softly tickling his cheeks and ruffling the thin fur on his head. In the sky, the sun was shining. Verde stood on thick soil and, sparsely scattered around him, stood graves of Ghost Neopets. He had no information whether the graves were currently inhabited, with their owners sleeping or if they had been deserted back when the house was abandoned. It was a rare sight to see a Ghost Neopet out of their grave, especially on a sunny day like this. He proceeded further into the Graveyard with caution out of respect for the presumed sleeping tenants, taking soft steps. Suddenly, a blue long haired creature with two little horns emerged from behind a tombstone. It moved quickly, stepping from pebble to pebble. No taller than Verde’s knees, it started charging toward him, head first with the mighty horns leading the onslaught.

Verde jumped to the left to avoid it, and fell onto soft soil. He fell on his back and he could feel the cold damp, ground soaking his clothes; unfortunately he wasn’t in his waterproof uniform. He saw the creature stop on its way and turn around sinisterly to reveal itself. It was a Petpet, a Faerie Drugal. Its face was shrouded in darkness, obscured behind a curtain of heavy, long, turquoise hair that waved back and forth - partly stirred by the breeze, partly due to the rage emanating from within. Its hair was beautiful and sleek, and almost looked like it was made of expensive silk. In the centre of its forehead shimmered a shiny swirl symbol, in the same colour palette.

“This will be the second creature with strange symbols I get to defeat today,” Verde exclaimed enthusiastically and hopped on his feet from the ground. The wind felt more like a thin sheet of ice on his back now, as it caressed him rhythmically against the damp clothes. He readied himself, two fists extended outwards, knees bent to maximise his springing momentum in order to be prepared for anything this Petpet would potentially throw at him. He didn’t want to hurt it but he had to defend himself, even more so now, given the circumstances. The Faerie Drugal started charging towards him once more. Its two sky blue wings started flapping on its back, providing it with even more speed. As it was heading towards him, Verde spun out of its path at the last second. Extending one leg, he tripped the Drugal on its way. The Drugal, unable to find its footing again given the momentum with which it was running, it started stepping on its long hair. Once a sleek bundle of silk thread, the Petpet now resembled a tangle of untamed yarn. As it started rolling in the wet soil, dirt clinging to it and dirtying its polished fur, it gradually grew more transparent until it disappeared into the ether. Even though Verde had promised Purpura to find a suitable place to hide far from Albugineo, he was stuck in the Graveyard with no other available door.

Blanca

Location: Abandoned Room

Discoveries: Crystal ball

Blanca’s aura tingled with urgency. The warning manifested as waves, splashing against her skin - an unspoken alert to nearby threats. Azul was here. She clicked on her wristband to check the map and the white light emerging from it blended with her soft aura. In the square labelled Abandoned Room were a white and a blue dot. She was right. Azul was hiding somewhere in this room and he had come to meet his demise, just as she predicted he would. Trying to reach his so-called friends, his only option was to come upstairs and pass through the Abandoned room, like a marionette on a string.

Albugineo was taking very good care of her other two old colleagues, but this fight was hers. As she was looking down on her wristband, she heard a squeaky sound and looked up at once. The sound came from the left hand side of the room. She quickly ran towards the direction of the sound - or as quickly as she could - given the desolate state of the room, jumping over overthrown furniture and broken tiles. She saw a Cirrus levitating above an old piece of furniture. With its face smiling, it was doing tricks in the air: spinning around and tracing the infinity symbol in the air, surely expecting an applause from a non-existent crowd. Blanca curled her lips cruelly on sight and she almost let out a cackle. She knew Azul had found a Cirrus companion that followed him around his exploration of the house, never leaving his side. This meant that he had to be hiding somewhere near the set of drawers. She started moving even closer, taking light steps to minimise the noise, while the Cirrus kept doing the same old tricks.

“You will soon meet your defeat as well, annoying Petpet,” Blanca thought, “Just wait…”. Having arrived only a few steps away from the furniture, her plan was to check behind the set of drawers. The Cirrus continued its act, having changed its repertoire to backflips, leaving behind small puffs of mist while it flipped.

Suddenly, from behind the drawers emerged Azul, with a baby Vandagyre in his arms. With lightning fast motions he swept up the dust that was piling on the nearby carpet and quickly swirled it around with his arms, filling their surroundings with tiny suffocating specks.

“I am really sorry, little buddy,” Azul thought regretfully. The dust caused the baby to start crying and making clucking noises, ever increasing in volume and pitch with each passing second until they reached their peak and the whole room was filled with a high pitched noise that felt like it was piercing their ears. Even though Azul was prepared this time, Blanca was caught unawares.

“It can’t be!” she muttered, startled. She stopped moving, frozen in place and blocked her ears with both her hands. “This noise…”. She clenched her jaw and unintentionally closed her eyes tightly shut, as if to escape from this room. Her shoulders shrugged as she remembered the Creaky Hallway and its shrieking, rather, mocking noises. The dust was swirling around her uncontrollably while the baby kept releasing its sonic attack. Suddenly, the Cirrus attacked her, aiming for her face. She could feel its cotton soft surface pushing against her features, tickling her hands and pushing her backwards. She tried pushing it away, swaying left and right to make it drop, but it clung to her like a Turmacs clung to berries. She opened her eyes just in time to see it.

Azul seized his moment. Blanca saw him charging towards her, leaping over forgotten furniture and shattered tiles that lay abandoned in the room, with a fervour in his eyes she had never seen before. His eyes were filled with rage and a hint of sadness, as the light reflected on their wet surface. She had never seen him so real before. For a fleeting second she thought she heard him whisper.

“I am deeply sorry…”

The next moment she lay on the ground, defeated. Azul had used his full strength and won the duel, lowering her strength to a value below the minimum and rendering her unconscious. Her white aura had fizzed out and a crystal ball had fallen from her pockets. Azul knelt beside her, having fallen from the force of his tackle. He knew she would recover once they took her back to the headquarters, but he couldn’t avert his gaze from her. She had transformed back to the Blanca he wanted to get to know; but she would never be that individual again.

Albugineo

Location: Hall of Heroes

Albugineo let out a mighty roar that reverberated in the Hall of Heroes, his anger felt by every motionless statue. Blanca had been defeated. She had tarnished the family’s reputation and that infuriated him. In addition, the Zafara was stronger than she seemed as she had managed to escape his mind link while he was absorbing her essence. From his aura emerged two white knuckles and punched the ceiling of the room, making it shake. He was the mighty Albugineo, the best warrior that existed, and he wouldn’t allow any measly defender to stain his legacy.

“You can’t run from me little princess,” he shouted and his voice echoed. Vexed, he started gliding towards the exit. He knew where to find her. He floated through the door and entered the Ballroom. Amidst the rainbows cast by the chandeliers from the ceiling stood his prey. The vivid colours cast on the floor disgusted him, but he ignored them. He stared at Purpura for a long second. She looked ridiculous with that mask on her face that obscured her features; it would be a shame when it shattered into a million pieces.

Albugineo charged at her, like a mighty beast lunging towards a burlap doll. He did not care anymore. His arrogance got the better of him, making him forget his mighty aura and ranged attacks. Charging head first, he was gliding at immeasurable speed towards Purpura. As she saw him surge towards her, his aura left behind white wisps as if severed by the air he passed through. She recalled her training, specifically their course with Aisheena, the nimble Aisha who taught them everything about the art of evasion and acrobatics. Through exercises that demanded dodging incoming strikes while jumping from one precarious height to another, Aisheena had imprinted on them the importance of movement in these situations. Her movement had suffered today but it was her only salvation.

She had a split second to react. She concentrated on her movement and examined the still air around her for any miniscule disturbances due to Albugineo’s dash, feeling the flow of time decelerating. She could understand the perturbations that the invisible ripples formed in the surroundings, emanating from Albugineo. At the exact moment that she saw his malicious grin a few breaths away from her face, she dashed right and swirled around to face his back. With a mighty punch, she hit him right on the strange symbol that graced his back mane, pushing him forward and away from her.

Albugineo retaliated, despite the push. Drawing to a sudden halt, he turned around with his physical arm extended and he swung to return the punch. Purpura effortlessly leaped in the air, guided by the movement flowing through her; it was impressive what one could do in dire situations. She felt like she had her own aura around her, fuelled by her movement. Mid-flight, she twisted into a back-flip, her right foot snapping upward to deliver the final kick beneath Albugineo’s jaw.

“I carried out what I promised,” she thought as he saw Albugineo lying face down on the hardwood floor, arms sprawled, “I’ve managed to win more time for Verde.”

At what cost though? Twice in the past few minutes she had to breach Albugineo’s aura, the searing energy leaving her limbs ignited with pain. She realised she had lost a point in movement, this time accepting it without using the Moehog skull. Just as unexpectedly as he arrived, so he vanished. With a whoosh, his body disappeared from the Ballroom.

To be continued…