Cyan went over and crouched down, observing the chamber thoroughly. "No buttons or locks." He muttered.
"Maybe there's a lever somewhere around here...?" Lycanthropy suggested. "Let's search around."
Cube nodded. "Good idea..."
The group split up, looking for the lever hidden in the piles of leaves. Eventually, Barracuda found it, shouting out to the others to the best of his abilities. "I found it!"
With one firm pull, the chamber slowly opened up with a loud, ringing noise. There was a ladder, big enough for all sizes to climb down. Everyone gathered around the entrance, their hearts racing.
"So... who's going down first?" Cyan asked.
Without any sort of hesitation, Dot raised his hand. "I'll do it, I have a plan..."
"What is it?" Cube asked.
"I'm sure the others are down there... We can't just go in a group, that'll make us more vulnerable..." Dot let out a sigh, looking down at the ground. "I'll distract them, and I'll let you guys know your cue..." He redirected his determined gaze at Cube. "I'll need one of your triangles for this."
"O-Oh, yes, of course..." Cube took one of her triangles off of her head, lending it to Dot. "Here you go..."
"Are you sure you have this under control?" Blixer asked, tilting his head a little.
Dot nodded his head. "Yeah." With that, he climbed down the ladder, going deeper and deeper into the chamber of darkness...
Once he reached the bottom, a metallic, eerie facility hall greeted him. Dot shook the small triangle in his hand, and it glowed a bright blue. "Hey. Do you hear me?" He lifted it to his mouth as he spoke.
"Yeah, I hear you..." Cube responded on the other end.
"I climbed down the ladder successfully... just wanted to let you know that I didn't get attacked on sight..."
"You don't say stuff like that out loud!" Lycanthropy chastised, leaning over Cube's shoulder.
"Sorry, sorry..." Dot let out a bitter chuckle. "But that's all I had to say." He hung up and continued walking down the corridor, scanning the area.
Everything just reeked of despair, faint blood stains decorating the floor and the walls. Dot shuddered, trying not to imagine what might've happened in these halls.
After a while, Dot stopped dead in his tracks as a sword came flying past him, grazing his skin. His blood ran cold as he immediately realized who was behind him.
"Well, well, well," Hexia smirked, "look what we have here?" She stood confidently, sword in her grip.
Whimsy was cheerily standing beside her grinning. "Whatcha doing here all alone, buddy?" He said. "That's a pretty bold thing to do~"
Dot slowly turned around, shaking as he hid the small triangle behind his back. "I... I just wanted to look around..." he lied weakly.
"Look around?" Hexia let out a derogatory laugh. "After what you've done? Don't be ridiculous, traitor."
"Silly Dot!" Whimsy giggled. "Isn't that right, Hexia?"
"Whimsy," Hexia's serious gaze faced him. "Don't speak in my direction."
"A-Ah, yes, sorry~"
"This isn't right! You've turned people into animals! This isn't what Paradise should be!" Dot shouted. "This is wrong!"
Suddenly, Whimsy lunged towards Dot, staring at him intensely as his playful demeanor faltered. "Hey, can you not make it seem like this is all our fault? We may be accomplices, but you ultimately started this."
Dot's eyes widened. "Ah..."
"For example, who kept his dreams secret from his friends? You. Who manifested the boss and started the corruption? You. Two of Paradise's greatest heroes are dead, and whose fault is it?" Whimsy paused, grinning widely. "C'mon, whose is it?"
Dot's heart was pounding, but he knew that he had to play along for this to work. "M... mine..." He exhaled between heavy breaths. "It's my fault..."
"Yep! Even though you're a traitor now, you contributed greatly to this project!" Whimsy chuckled dryly.
Hexia observed the scene for a moment, then she slammed the blade of her sword into the ground, causing more blades to burst out of the ground beneath Dot. He let out a wail as it penetrated his legs, falling to his knees and dropping the triangle.
Hexia sauntered over to him, crouching down and picking up the blue triangle. She stared at it silently, her eyes scanning it intensely.
"Oooh! Trying to hide things from us, are ya? Silly Dot, you know you can't do that~" Whimsy teased. "Now, then..." He pulled out a card with an X mark on it. "This talk's been going on for far too long..."
"W-What?!" Dot stuttered. "No!"
"Don't worry, this won't kill you, Mr. Shadow won't allow that... it'll just shut you up for good." With one swift motion, Whimsy threw the card at him.
In the blink of an eye, a pink fist punched the card away before it could hit Dot, making it shatter on impact.
"I knew something was up, you were way too quiet..." Blixer came into view, along with the others.
"Yeah, I knew this would end badly!" Lycanthropy added.
"Seems like I was a bit too late~" Whimsy giggled, scanning each and every one of his enemies. His heart pounded with excitement, eager for battle. "Welcome, my friends! It's so exciting to finally see all of you in the same group..." He paused. "Well, most of you~"
Cyan hissed, immediately figuring out what he was hinting at. "Shut the hell up..."
Hexia only sighed, and went into her fighting position, prepared. "Come on already, let's begin."
With those words, the battle began. Hexia swung her sword with great elegance and beauty, while Barracuda used his snakes.
Cube transformed her arms into claws, and once she aimed them at Whimsy, he used a card to turn the attack around, redirecting it at Cube.
Cube squealed as she barely avoided her own attack, and instead, it hit Lycanthropy.
Lycanthropy stood in shock, processing the blow.
"L-Lycan?!" Cube panicked, her heart rate increasing. "I didn't mean to-"
She let out a shriek as Hexia sliced her chest, thankfully not deep enough to be fatal.
Meanwhile, Whimsy was now busy battling Blixer. The heroic side seemed to be on the losing end, as Cyan and Trian hurriedly avoided the flying projectiles.
Cube took a deep breath, she didn't want to do this again, but she doesn't really have a choice, does she? She closed her eyes and let the corruption enter her bloodline.
Now reawakened, Cubic summoned her saws, throwing them at Hexia-Hexia's eyes widened slightly as she was taken off guard, then her expression quickly changed back to normal again. "Oh? Now this is getting interesting..."
"I still don't know what's going on, but..." Cubic glared. "All I know is that I need to stop you."
With those words, the battle continued: Cubic lunged at Hexia, putting all of her training to use.
Saws and claws flew everywhere, some hitting the metallic walls of the facility.
After several minutes of chaos, the fight finally came to its conclusion. Whimsy and Hexia found themselves worn out and battered-but the heroes were just as bruised.
"You may have bested us, but mark my words..." Whimsy grinned mischievously. "The master of darkness has no mercy~"
Hexia was silent as Whimsy used a card to make themselves vanish with a blast of smoke. Cubic coughed up some blood before returning back to her normal self again.
During the fight, Dot had managed to use his magic on himself, but was now even more exhausted than before. "Do... Do you guys need any help?"
"Obviously!" Lycanthropy shouted. "Did you not see us get pummeled a minute ago?!"
"Lycan, calm down..." Cube sighed softly, then turned to Dot. "Don't tire yourself out with too much magic usage, Dot... That's dangerous..."
"I can handle it, this is the only way to make up for not doing anything during the battle..." Dot responded with deep guilt in his voice.
"We... we could take a break," Barracuda suggested, "heal for a moment..."
"But, Sunny's in danger..." Trian shivered. "We can't waste any time!"
"Just let him do it." Cyan demanded. "Blixer can carry him if he gets too tired."
Cube opened her mouth to say something, but given Cyan's expression and what Trian said, she just sighed and nodded her head. Everyone else seemed to silently agree as well.
Dot closed his eyes and chanted; light energy glowed from his hands as he performed the healing ritual. After a few moments, the group's injuries had vanished-however, Dot collapsed afterwards.
Blixer picked the exhausted shape up, throwing him over his shoulder. "Thanks, bud..."
Cube rubbed her arm in guilt, but it had to be done...
"Alright, let's go, everybody..." Cyan continued to walk down the metallic, dark path, everyone else following him.
It took about an hour or so until the small triangles above Cube's head began to glow. "I-I sense it! The last piece! This way!"
Quickening their pace, it didn't take long until the group finally found... him. The shadow beast, tall and dark, holding the last piece of the Tree of Life.
It felt surreal to finally see this monster again, after everything he's done to Paradise...
Shadow Shape chuckled, sitting upon his throne of death. "It seems like you've finally arrived..."
Cyan couldn't help but fume at the sight of this beast. "You scum..." He growled.
"Oh, Cyan... You could've been such a great member of the team. So upsetting that things had to end this way..."
"Shut the hell up, you vile piece of shit!" Cyan snapped, summoning his sword. "You kill and make shapes suffer without feeling the slightest bit of remorse! You're worse than how Blixer was back then! You deserve no redemption!" he yelled with all of his strength.
"I'm not looking for redemption... I'm looking for power, and it seems that I finally have it now..." With that, the beast snapped his fingers, summoning the tormented souls of darkness. "Enough chat, let's begin!"
The battle started off intense, particles flying everywhere, but Cube was determined. She wanted to save Paradise, she had to save Paradise, the place she'd sworn to protect.
But... something she saw made her stop dead in her tracks.
The dreadful, unnerving sight of the broken pieces of a ship and damaged helicopter parts had put her into a state of shock, processing what she was seeing.
Shadow Shape noticed and took advantage of her horror, sending an attack flying towards her. Cube was a second late to react as it struck her in the leg.
"Agh!" Cube cried, dropping to the ground.
"Cube!" Lycanthropy shouted, running to her. "Shit, it's poisoned!"
Cube groaned, staring at her injured leg, which was glowing with a venomous magic. She tried to get up, but couldn't.
Cyan stared at the scene, not noticing Shadow Shape sneaking up behind up. He flinched heavily upon feeling his shoulders be grabbed.
"Let's get out of here, shall we?"
"What..." Cyan didn't have time to protest properly as he was suddenly teleported to a pocket dimension.
'Cyan!" Trian yelled out, beginning to curse under his breath.
"Oh Sunny, no!" Barracuda's singular eye widened in shock.
Cyan found himself in a blank void, surrounded by nothingness. The intense panic he was feeling made him oblivious to the whispers that were starting to grow louder and louder. Once he snapped out of it, he shuddered in disgust.
"What the hell is this..."
"Take a good look at my power." Shadow Shape was formed by the darkness, grinning devilishly as he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, two familiar faces appeared, and a pit formed in Cyan's stomach.
Jade's hanging body and Gold's decapitated form loomed over him, their corpses decayed and rotted with black goop. Cyan nearly vomited at the sight, shaking.
More bodies began to pile up around him, making him even more nauseous.
"These are the poor souls you failed to save. All these bodies, and you call yourself a hero?"
"You... damn you, you piece of shit, stop it!" Cyan shouted.
"You could've saved them all, you know? But you were too foolish... too arrogant..."
Cyan couldn't stop the trembling in his voice. "Stop..."
Shadow Shape laughed. "It's all your fault. Two of the so-called 'heroes' of Paradise are dead, and the blood is on your hands."
Tears began to fall out of Cyan's invisible eyes, his mind starting to fall apart. "I didn't know, I didn't... please stop..." He dropped to his knees, holding himself.
"You're completely worthless. It'd be better if you just crawled into your pit of filth and died."
Cyan started to hyperventilate, his heart pounding. No matter what he did, he could still see their broken bodies. The imagery seemed to repeat constantly in his head, reminding him over and over of his fatal mistakes. He began screaming for it all to stop, finally breaking down and sobbing loudly.
Shadow Shape only watched with intense delight, immensely enjoying the suffering of this fallen hero, this disgrace.
Soon, Cyan went completely silent, and time seemed to stop for a moment.
"Ah, have you been broken already?" Shadow Shape sighed with slight disappointment. "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted~" He summoned a dark sword, dripping with death.
He began to approach Cyan, who was defeated in a kneeling position. He raised his weapon up, ready to strike.
"Any last words, Cyan?"
The beast's words were only greeted by silence.
He smirked. "How pathetic..." As he brought the blade down, the finishing blow was suddenly parried by a bright light.
Shadow Shape blinked, processing what just happened. "Huh?" His expression turned into one of shock upon finally realizing who stopped him.
Dot was standing confidently in front of Cyan, holding his light sword at Shadow Shape with determination in his voice. "Leave him alone."
Cyan was surprised as well, tears streaming down his face. The man he had a disliking towards for so long... saved him?
The shocked expression on Shadow Shape remained for a moment, then slowly transitioned into one of amusement. "Oh? What's this all about, Dot?"
"I've been watching this for too long... I can't just stand there and watch you hurt another one of my friends!"
"Don't be ridiculous, I know you're still afraid of me. You've been keeping this pitiful phase of rebellion up for quite a while, but I'd recommend dropping the act. It's still not too late to join me again~"
"Never! I'll never listen to a monster like you ever again!" Dot spat at him.
"Hm... this'll be interesting." Shadow Shape summoned his attacks once more. "So be it. Let's have some fun..."