Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Norbit and Kuro sprang high in the air as they began leaping onto every floating platforms to Sage's aid. They finally saw that Lady Shade pinned Sage to the ground with her claws at the center of the large floating platform.
"I will crush you like the vile insect you are." Lady Shade said with a dark smile. "And then, I'll do it again with your children."
Sage slowly gathered white energy and released a large quantity of white light from her eyes, causing the entire floating platform to crumble and making Lady Shade and Sage fall at the same time.
"Mother!" Ariana shouted.
Lady Shade tried to spring into a nearby floating chunk, but Sage created a sphere of white energy in her hand and shot it at the black mage mutant that released several chains to wrap around Lady Shade. With that, Sage and Lady Shade vanished into the skeletal abyss as they continued to fight each other.
"Your efforts to stop me are futile, witch!" Lady Shade yelled.
"I wouldn't be so sure!" Sage yelled back.
As the white mage and the black mage mutant have now engulfed in the red light, Sage used her white energy chains to hit Lady Shade against the wall of an endless underground area. Sage then screamed as she fell farther down alone in an unknown place where she landed on the ground in pain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, the K-5, Norbit, and Kuro watched Sage and Lady Shade vanish into the skeletal abyss.
"Sage!" Ezra cried.
"Mother!" Kuro shouted.
"No!" Kirana exclaimed.
The K-5, Norbit, and Kuro moved to the edge of the floating platform as they looked over at the broken floating platform that both Lady Shade and Sage have fell off from.
"I...I can't...believe this." Camilla muttered sadly.
"No, she has to be alive." Kirana said with a sad frown.
"But that drop is at least 2,000 feet down. Not even she could survive that fall." Ariana replied sadly. "I'm not even sure if your aura sense can't track her."
"So, what do we do now?" Talia asked.
"We have to keep going." Kuro declared. "For our mother!"
Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, and Norbit nodded their heads in agreement.
Suddenly, the six mages and one robot turned around to see powered up Jinx and Crystallia standing on a nearby floating chunk.
"You should have run when you had the chance." Jinx grinned.
"Now, it's time for us to knock you guys out!" Crystallia smiled.
Jinx and Crystallia leapt down on the floating platform to confront the K-5, Norbit, and Kuro. Crystallia unloaded a machine-gun barrage of crystal shards from her palms while Jinx unloaded a machine-gun barrage of pink energy waves from her index fingers. The six mages and robot scattered out of the way to avoid the attacks. Kirana and Camilla sped through the attacks without getting hit as they both jumped high above the mage mutant and fired a simultaneous psychic energy blast that drove Jinx and Crystallia to the ground together.
Before Jinx and Crystallia can get back up on their feet, Kuro threw a black smoke bomb at them and the six mages and robot ran past the mage mutants to escape out of the ruined catacombs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the Crete Fortress, the six mages sat in the living room with silence just when Leia entered the living room.
"I got here as soon as I can, Kuro." Leia said. "I left Kale temporary in charge of the Shadow Clan until we come back. So what happened? Is Sage alright?"
"No. Sage disappeared." Ariana replied sadly. "She fell down in the catacombs inside the Holy Trinity Cathedral."
"What? But that's impossible." Leia murmured.
"Kuro and Kirana definitely lost their aura sense with our mother." Camilla added with a sad frown.
"But that doesn't mean we can't give up hope on her." Leia said.
"Leia's right. Our mom is still alive back in that cathedral. Right, guys? Right?" Talia said as she looked at her older siblings.
"My children."
Everyone raised a brow in confusion and looked at the source of the voice. It was Ezra but his eyes were glowing blazing white as he stood up.
"It is me; Shiroibara Sage." Ezra spoke as he was possessed.
Everyone was stunned with shock and stared at Ezra with concerned looks.
"I can only communicate you through spiritual connection with Ezra to tell you that I am alive." Possessed Ezra said.
"Sage, I can fly down and bring you back to the fortress for recovery." Norbit said.
"Not right now." Possessed Ezra informed. "Lady Shade is hunting you all down. You must stop her before she can shatter your hearts."
"But how can we beat her when she's a powerful mage mutant?" Ariana asked.
"Remember to never be afraid." Possessed Ezra said. "Everyone must work together to drive her away. Hurry and waste no time."
Ezra's eyes stopped glowing white and his eyes were back to his original color before he fell down, but Norbit caught him.
"Ezra, are you alright?" Norbit asked.
"Yeah, but what happened?" Ezra moaned.
"Sage had possessed your body in order to communicate us from spiritual connection." Norbit said. "She told us that she's alive."
"She is?" Ezra gasped. "What's our plan now?"
"We're going back." Kirana declared as she stood up from the couch. "We'll search every place of that cathedral to find our mother and stop anyone that gets in our way."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Lady Shade was leaping back to one of the nearby floating platform as her claws attached themselves to the chunk below that caught Tigress's attention from above.
"Mistress Shade! You're alive!" Tigress gasped sharply as she helped the black mage mutant up. "But is Sage finally gone?"
"Maybe. But she is a clever witch." Lady Shade replied. "Send Zelena and Rhona to search every inch of the catacomb. We have to be sure Sage is perished."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Crete Fortress, seven mages and one robot were preparing to suit up. Ariana and Talia put on their Ringu Bracelets. Kuro, Ezra, and Norbit got their weapons out in preparation. Camilla cracked her knuckles hard in preparation. Leia and Kirana readied their magic in preparation.
"So what's the plan?" Talia asked.
"Ezra, Norbit, Kuro, Leia, and I will guard you, Ariana, and Camilla from Lady Shadestrike." Kirana explained.
"I'll keep track of mother's aura." Ezra added. "My magic can help her recover if she's in trouble."
"Sounds like a plan." Talia said. "But what if Shade is still alive and her crew shows up?"
"Then, we'll be ready to take them on. For Sage." Camilla said as she held her hand out.
"For Sage!" Kirana, Camilla, Ariana, Talia, Ezra, Norbit, Kuro, and Leia exclaimed as they placed their hands on top of Camilla's hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Sage slowly woke up from her unconscious state and looked around the place with wide eyes. The entire place was a barren underground wasteland filled to the brim with many broken columns and statues scattered around the area.
"Oh, my head." Sage groaned. "I must flee out of this place."
"Don't leave just yet, Sage." A familiar female voice spoke through the air. "We need to protect each other, old friend."
"Who are you? Show yourself!" Sage demanded.
"Remember me, Shiroibara Sage?" A female voice asked.
A familiar woman slowly stepped out of the darkness with six mystical jellyfishes floating above her. She has light pink skin and red eyes. She also wore a long-sleeved black bodysuit, dark pink thigh-high boots, and a dark pink hooded cape.
"Your master. The Kurage Queen!" A mage woman said.
"Vela? But I've defeated you. What are you doing here?" Sage asked in disbelief.
"I've hid myself in here ever since my defeat, except this time you will not escape from me and my Kurages." Vela explained.
"I would rather die than be trapped in here with you!" Sage spat.
"Is that so?" Vela smiled.
Six Kurages scattered around the area and formed a large circle around Vela. They rose into the air and hovered several feet above the ground. The mystical jellyfishes started spinning faster and faster until they fused together with Vela.
Only thing Sage could do was watch with a horrified face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The K-5, Norbit, Kuro, and Leia walked through the cathedral entrance as they stood at the center of the room.
"We'll stay here on look-out. The rest of you, start searching for our mother." Kirana ordered her younger sisters.
Talia, Ariana, and Camilla nodded their heads as they ran off to the stairs all the way down to the catacombs.
"We must be ready just in case Shade had survived that fall." Leia said.
"And If she did, you have to take her on." Kuro said to Kirana.
"And I will...for Sage's honor." Kirana said with a nod.
"I need to make a spiritual connection to Sage, but I can't be distracted." Ezra noted as he sat down crisscross applesauce and began to meditate.
"I will make sure Ezra is not distracted." Norbit said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the catacombs, Jinx and Crystallia looked down at the skeletal abyss where Sage had disappeared.
"Now, that's a long way down!" Jinx said.
"Definitely indeed." Crystallia said. "Well, you better light up a sphere if we're gonna jump down to find Sage."
"Yup, this is definitely the spot."
Jinx and Crystallia turned to the source of the voice as they detected Camilla, Ariana, and Talia standing on a floating platform not so far from where the mage mutants are standing.
"Looks like the K-5 are looking for Sage as well." Crystallia said.
"So here's our chance to strike." Jinx said. "If they find Sage's body, we take all of them and get them back to Shade. It's perfect!"
Ariana and Talia summoned jet turbines from the Ringu Bracelets as they walked close to the edge of the floating platform.
"Alright, let's do this!" Talia exclaimed.
"We have to do it slowly and carefully, Talia. Got it?" Ariana warned.
"Always, Ariana!" Talia answered. "Now, let's find mom."
Talia backflipped off of the floating platform and soared down to the skeletal abyss with her jet turbines while screaming in joy.
"Talia!" Ariana shouted.
"Hey, Ariana! This abyss is definitely deep!" Talia exclaimed as she flew back to floating platform above. "I don't know how are we're gonna find mom down there!"
"Our mother is down there somewhere." Ariana said as she flew up next to Talia with her jet turbines. "Let's go."
Ariana and Talia soared deep down to the skeletal abyss, leaving Camilla on a look out on the floating platform as she was unaware that two mage mutants were watching her carefully on a nearby floating platform.
But when Jinx and Crystallia leapt quietly on the floating platform, Camilla stopped looking down at the skeletal abyss and shot two large red orbs of psychic energy that hit both Jinx and Crystallia that sent them flying away to the ground.
"Jinx and Crystallia?" Camilla asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Now, bring us your mother or we will break you down!" Crystallia demanded.
"Not. A. Chance!" Camilla shouted.
"Let's take her down!" Jinx said as she was engulfing her hands in pink energy.
Crystallia shot multiple rapid crystals at Camilla from her palms, but Camilla moved out of the way with fast speed. Jinx swiftly jumped on Crystallia's shoulders and fired a large crescent wave of pink energy at Camilla that threw the red mage kunoichi off balance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Talia and Ariana hovered themselves into the skeletal abyss with a purple and orange bubble of psychic energy generating light.
"Mom? Are you down here?" Talia called out.
"Quiet, Talia!" Ariana said. "We may not know if Lady Shadestrike survived the fall as well."
"Well, if you have any other ideas of finding our mom, I'm all ears." Talia retorted.
"This abyss can go on forever. She could be anywhere down here." Ariana said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Sage stood motionless as she was confronted by Vela's new form. She now had long thin dark pink hair-like fins above her eyes and two big black pectoral fins each with four pink square-shaped nails. She retained her bodysuit, but her legs are replaced by a long bright pink fish-like tail that shows her visible navel. Her long fish tail had small pointed black fins around her hips and the tip of the tail is pink. She also had one transparent pink fins that draped around her waist where her fishtail begins and one near the tip of her tail.
Sage got into her fighting stance as she engulfed herself with her white magic that increased her strength and speed.
"Ha, do you really think you can defeat me in my new form?" The Kurage Queen taunted with a smile. "Let us see who's the superior now."
The Kurage Queen and Sage charged towards each other with everything they got.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the Holy Trinity Cathedral, four mages and one robot were still waiting for the other three mages to find Sage. Ezra had just finished his spiritual connection magic trick to send to Sage and he got up with a thumbs up. But Kuro and Kirana suddenly sensed two dark auras coming from behind them with their aura senses.
"It's Lady Shade and Tigress! They'll be here in a second!" Kirana alerted.
"We can't keep both of them away from the catacombs." Leia said.
"Leia's right. We'll bait them on the surface and take them both down." Kuro said.
"How can we finish them both?" Norbit asked.
Kirana, Ezra, Norbit, Kuro, and Leia then turned around to see Tigress and Lady Shade walking out of the portal made of black energy.
"Here they come!" Leia exclaimed.
"Mistress Shade!" Tigress said, pointing her finger at the four mage ninjas and armored robot.
"Kuro!" Lady Shade called.
"Time to roll!" Ezra shouted.
Kirana, Ezra, Norbit, Kuro, and Leia ran out of the building through the exit doors.
"I'll end Kirana and Ezra myself." Lady Shade ordered Tigress. "You can destroy Norbit and Leia, but capture Kuro for me."
Tigress grinned sinisterly as her left eye started to glow in a dark orangish light and began following after the mages and robot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Camilla grunted as she formed a red force field made of psychic energy to protect herself from Crystallia's rapid crystal shards. Camilla extended the force field to force Crystallia away from her, but she then moved away to avoid incoming pink energy waves coming from Jinx in quick speed. Jinx came at Camilla with a jumping spin kick, but Camilla ducked away and got behind the luck mage mutant. Camilla quickly dodged five more bad luck strikes and countered with a spin kick, which Jinx had blocked it with her right fist.
"You almost fight like a boy." Jinx chuckled.
Jinx leapt backward and landed on her knees to cast a bad luck spell that created a very wide chasm running straight down toward Camilla, causing her to jump high in the air and landed on the safe spot of the floating platform. Crystallia and Jinx came together as Camilla cracked her knuckles hard twice.
"That's it, tough girl. Now, it's time to get real serious!" Crystallia said.
Crystallia charged forward towards Camilla, who waved her hands in the air and summoned a bunch of red psychic energized fist-shaped lasers that was sent to explode the crystal mage mutant on impact. That made Crystallia flying into Jinx to the ground as Jinx fell down. As Crystallia and Jinx both looked at the red mage, Camilla put her hands together and generated an intense red burst of psychic energy that filled the entire platform. When it cleared, Jinx and Crystallia knocked out in a daze.
"Well, this fight wasn't very impressive." Camilla said with a grin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Outside, four mages and one robot quickly climbed up to a nearby building rooftop.
"Did we lose them?" Kirana asked.
"I think so." Leia replied as she took deep breaths.
Kuro suddenly sensed a familiar aura in his surroundings.
"Look out!" Kuro warned.
Tigress came up jumping in the air and landed down to swing her leg that fired a dark burnt energy bolt horizontally at Kirana's chest that sent her falling to the alley.
"Kirana!" Ezra shouted.
He charged at Tigress with his magic, but the tiger mage mutant kicked him hard on his chest and made him fall next to Kirana. Norbit launched three mini missiles at Tigress, who dodged all three missiles and blasted a burnt orange bolt at the robot's chest to knock him back. Leia turned around to fight Tigress, but she immediately got punched to the edge of the rooftop. As Tigress was about to strike Leia, Kuro jumped in front of Tigress and shaped his shadow into fifteen fists to punch the tiger mage mutant forward. Tigress began firing blades of burnt orange energy at Kuro, who kept evading the blades with fast speed.
"You will be welcomed to a brainwashing trip, boy!" Tigress hissed.
Kuro growled as he transformed into his mutant form and began attacking Tigress with swift kicks surrounded with light energy that knocked the tiger mage mutant onto some power lines, electrocuting Tigress and knocking her out in the alley.
But Kirana wasn't doing too well. She grunted in pain as she was struggling to get up off the ground. Ezra weakly got up on his feet and groaned in pain as he held his arm. The two mages suddenly heard heavy footsteps and turned their heads to see Lady Shade in her direction.
"Aw, great." Ezra sighed.
"Oh boy." Kirana murmured.
Lady Shade clenched her right hand into a tight fist and punched Kirana and Ezra into the street, causing a huge panic from the innocent civilians. After the screaming citizens ran away from the battle, Lady Shade walked slowly towards Kirana and Ezra immediately got up to block her.
"Get away from her!" Ezra threatened.
"Step away, orphan." Lady Shade snapped.
Lady Shade punched Ezra to the street and grabbed Kirana by the neck.
"Good bye, Kirana." Lady Shade said.
Lady Shade started crushing Kirana, making the blue mage kunoichi scream in pain.
"No! Kirana!" Ezra cried, before he ran up to Lady Shade and delivered a powerful kick to knock the black mage mutant back and drop Kirana on the ground.
Ezra knelt down to check his eldest sister.
"Kirana?" Ezra asked.
Suddenly, the teal mage ninja was grabbed by Lady Shade and slammed to the street three times before he was held up and the black mage mutant began to choke Ezra, who was struggling to get her hand away and running out of air.
"Shade!"
Lady Shade stopped from what she was doing and looked up to see Norbit, Kuro, and Leia jump on a black car.
"Let my brother go, monster!" Kuro hissed.
"Don't you dare disrespect me, Kuro!" Lady Shade hissed as she threw Ezra away and extended her claws.
Leia started firing several spheres of dark energy continuously at Lady Shade from his hands. Lady Shade slashed the air and released a large black crescent blade of energy from her left claw at Leia, knocking her back to the ground.
"Leia!" Kuro shouted.
Norbit blasted three rockets at the black mage mutant, who made a powerful clap to send the rockets away and hit Norbit that made him fall next to Leia. Kuro jumped up from the car and attacked Lady Shade with his dark energized fists, but the black mage mutant blocked the attack with a protective force field.
"You have a soft spot somewhere on you, freak!" Kuro shouted.
Kuro skillfully dodged a quick slash from Lady Shade.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, the heat of battle between the Kurage Queen and Sage had become intense. Vela jumped high into the air to perform a horizontal spin that enveloped herself in dark pink energy at high speeds into the white mage. Sage avoided the attack with remarkable speed and delivered a powerful spinning double-kick at Vela. The Kurage Queen regained her strength as Sage backed away from her.
"Join me, Shiroibara Sage." The Kurage Queen offered. "We'll embrace the darkness together."
"After countless times, my answer will still be no." Sage declined. "I'd rather die than joining the likes of you."
"Very well then. You die!" The Kurage Queen roared.
A set of purple and orange psychic energy arrows came raining down to the Kurage Queen, making her screech out loud in pain as she collapsed onto the ground.
Sage looked up to the source of that attack and found two of her daughters lowering themselves further into the underground area.
"Leave our mom alone!" Talia yelled as she and Ariana landed in front of Sage in their fighting stances.
"You cannot get rid of me with the help of your daughters, Sage." The Kurage Queen said with a devious smile. "I am your master! Your queen! And you will obey me!"
With that, the Kurage Queen rushed forward at the mage family.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the city, Ezra, Norbit, Kuro, and Leia were the only ones left battling Lady Shade with Kirana down and out. Leia kept firing many dark energy spheres at Lady Shade, but that attack has no effect against the black mage mutant. Norbit kept blasting missiles at Lady Shade, but she kept dodging them. Kuro jumped up in the air and landed right in front of Lady Shade to strike until he got knocked back by her. Ezra summoned ten teal energy balls to launch at the black mage mutant, but Lady Shade managed to avoid them. Lady Shade started levitating forward to Ezra in fast speed, but Kuro stood up in front of the black mage mutant.
"Rōzu, Stop!" Kuro yelled. "Please don't do this! You can do something good for once in your life! Something without hatred nor the desire for revenge."
Lady Shade was touched by Kuro's words and moved closer to him with an apologetic face.
"Kuro, you know I never meant to hurt you. Just call me mother and everything will be the way it was." Lady Shade pleaded. "The two of us together."
Kuro looked over at Kirana, who was crawling away to the sidewalk. But his eyes narrowed when he looked back at Lady Shade.
"You were never my mother!" Kuro screamed.
Kuro's right fist engulfed with a mix of light and dark energy as he punched Lady Shade right in her gut that made her weaken in pain.
"No!" Lady Shade exclaimed weakly as she started twitching rapidly. "I can't be weak now!"
Lady Shade started to run away and Kuro ran forward towards her, but he protected himself from rapid burnt orange energy bolts with a light energized force field. Tigress landed in front of Lady Shade and carried the black mage mutant in her arms before disappearing out of sight.
"No, we can't let them escape!" Kuro snarled.
Kirana was struggling to get up as Ezra, Norbit, and Leia ran over to examine her.
"Kuro, Kirana's in no good. We need to get her back to the fortress." Leia informed. "I know how you feel with Shade right now, but we'll get her another time."
Kuro looked back to see Tigress leaving with Lady Shade.
"You're right. Let's go." Kuro said.
Kuro helped Ezra, Norbit, and Leia with Kirana as they took her back to the Crete Fortress for medical attention.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in the underground area, three mages and one mage mutant kept on attacking and blocking moves from each other. Talia then moved forward at lightning speed as a living beam of orange psychic energy with enough force to attack the Kurage Queen. But Vela shot a column of dark pink energy from the ground with a swipe of her hand that knocked Talia away. Sage summoned several large rings made of white energy that encircled her body and sent all the them hovering around Vela to point towards her, firing down at the evil mage woman one-by-one when Sage turned away and snapped her fingers. Vela got back up and surrounded her entire body to form an energy ball that hit Sage multiple times, sending the white mage away to crash on the ground next to the unconscious Talia. Vela then created a huge sphere of dark pink energy from her hands and fired it straight to Sage, but Ariana stood in front of her mother and summoned a large transparent purple force field made of psychic energy to stop the attack from hitting Sage.
Ariana lowered herself down to take deep breaths and then looked up at the Kurage Queen with cold, glowing purple eyes when her purple glowing clover-shaped birthmark appeared brightly on her forehead. Sage's eyes widened in shock when she saw Ariana glaring dangerously at the Kurage Queen. Ariana then shot twenty purple psychic energized spheres that exploded the Kurage Queen on impact, but that left the purple mage kunoichi too fatigued to aid Sage as she collapsed herself to the ground when her glowing birthmark started to fade away.
Sage looked at her downed daughters before looking back at the Kurage Queen.
"Well, that was so easy I almost feel sorry for them." Vela grinned evilly. "Your daughters' efforts are impressive, but they are destined to fail just like you."
Sage closed her eyes for a moment as all of the memories of her teenaged daughters, her preteen son, her teenaged son, and her husband were powering her strength. Sage opened her eyes and got back up on her feet to stare at the Kurage Queen.
"You better prepare yourself, Vela." Sage said with a deadly glare. "I am not to be messed with!"
Sage gathered white light in her hands and opened her hands to release numerous homing beams of white light that inflicted a substantial amount of damage to the Kurage Queen, driving Vela back in the air by that attack. Vela screamed and dropped down to her tail on the ground in pain.
"Now, fear the power of the pure light!" Sage yelled.
Sage gathered a large quantity of white light around her fists and then rushed at the Kurage Queen with a punch that explosively released the stored light upon impact. Vela screamed agonizingly as she was quickly swallowed up by the blinding radiance.
As the white light faded away, Sage had dropped her knees just when Ariana and Talia slowly got up from the ground to regain their consciousness.
"Mother!" Talia and Ariana shouted happily.
Ariana and Talia ran up to hug Sage, who hugged them back with a bright smile.
"I'm so happy to see your smiling faces again, my daughters." Sage smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in her fortress hideout, Lady Shade slowly stumbled into Viral's lab and sat on her bed as neon green lines began cracking on her navel area.
"Donna! I need a stronger mutagen dose! Now!" Lady Shade demanded.
"Yes, mistress Shade." Viral said quickly.
Viral immediately hooked Lady Shade up to several life-support machines around her arms, legs, and waist. As she hooked an I.V. loaded with glowing mutagen, the substance flowed smoothly into Shade's body. Tigress only watched the whole scene with shock and surprise as the mutagen drip was suddenly starting to heal Shade's navel area back to normal.
Then, Lady Shadestrike released a devilish smile as she strongly felt the synthetic mutagen strengthening her once again.