Lilybug: Shadow's Reign

Chapter 3: The Corruption Spreads

"Why is the ground turning black?" Lexi questioned. "Is the grass being infected too?"

"Yep, we gotta stop this now before it's too late," Lily stated.

The team barricaded the surrounding area to try and keep the infection from spreading further. Their efforts were worthless however, when the true villain revealed themself.

"Your efforts to stop me will not work!" The villain yelled, corrupting the ground around her. Ruby, remembering what the villain had done in the past, began to tremble, triggering flashbacks that she didn't want to remember.

6 years back, in Ruby's home reality

"Mom? Dad? What's going on outside? Ruby asked her parents. "Nothing sweetie, just stay out of sight from anyone, okay?" Her dad replied to herself, locking down the house. Soon after, Ruby could hear her parents' screams of pain as their killer yelled "Do not defy the Great and Mighty Shadowclaw!"

...

"Ruby? You okay?" Lexi tried to make sure Ruby wasn't going to be infected. "I-I'm fine..." Ruby replied. "We need to get out of here... We can't beat Shadowclaw..."

In a hidden bunker

"You said her name was Shadowclaw, right?" Lexi asked Ruby, who was still shaking with fear. Ruby nodded her head, signaling to Lexi that she was correct.

"I recognize that name. My twin sister, Lucy, used to be a cheerful little girl. One day, about a month after her 6th birthday, she just... stopped talking, refusing to respond to my family's attempts to comfort her. I tried to help her, but my efforts did nothing. My mom took her to all sorts of doctors, but none of them could figure out what was wrong, or why Lucy would not speak. Eventually, at another doctor's office, Lucy had just... given up... she destroyed the room she was in, killing my mom. I had to hide to keep my life safe. Once I thought it was safe to go home, I went back, but I did not anticipate Lucy destroying everything in my home, leaving marks, reminders essentially, of what she had become, a horrifying, destructive monster, taking over the kindest person on the planet... I-I'm so sorry she killed your parents, Ruby." Lexi teared up a little bit, but was able to resist weeping.

Ruby was trying to resist sobbing in front of everyone, but hearing Lexi speak to her like a mother would to their daughter caused her to just break down. Lexi hugged Ruby to try and help her calm down, while Ryder and Lily tried to figure out what to do.

"We can't do much to stop this shadow goo- sludge- whatever it is," Ryder stated. "Everything we had experimented with fails. Building upwards? It just climbs. Carving a ravine? It bridges over. The only thing I've seen successfully destroy it is burning it with my fire, but if I fall to the corruption, then we lose."

"Well, I guess we have to play the waiting game then," Lily had stated, right as the door started to creak.

The goo had arrived at the bunker door, and the team wasn't ready to fight.

The only way out was to burn the corruption, which meant Ryder had to be as mentally stable as possible. This would not be an easy task, but it was possible.