Rising Shards

We were at a standstill. I didn’t want to make any sudden move and get my face pelted with lava or whatever the other ones fired from their blasters. Lophor seemed to relish in our hesitation, waiting to command his forces to attack.

“If this is really it, guys,” Kalei said. “I just wanna say…I actually do have a cheese fondue maker hidden away. I didn’t want the prefects to find out about it, so I kept it hidden in my drawer and secret from you guys. You were right, you really did smell it.”

“No way,” I said. “But the mouse hoarders story made so much sense!”

“I know, I put a lot of effort into that,” Kalei said.

“I was so hungry when I smelled it, I can’t believe this…” Oka said. “You better make us some when we get back.”

“I’m not even your roommate and I’m mad on their behalf,” Aira said. “Therefore, you owe me some cheese as well.”

“Fine, we’ll have a cheese fondue party after we fight off…” Kalei tried to count a rough guestimate. “Like a thousand guys.”

I really didn’t want my last conversation to be about a secret cheese fondue pot. I wondered what would happen if we really lost. Would anyone from back home be able to save us? To pull us out of this nightmare? Or were we still on our own?

Oka took my hand. No matter what, I had her at least. I smiled even as the blasters and cannons of all the drones prepared to fire on us. We could probably block some of them with out bloodsabers, and Exa-sized Laenie could block some more, but there was no way we could figure all that out quickly. I was sure Lillia and Kalei would try, but I didn't think I had the ability to.

“Now!” Lophor yelled.

I shut my eyes at the sound of a hundred drones firing at once, expecting a big burst of pain like when Lophor stepped on me. Instead, there was nothing. I opened my eyes to see all the blasts hovering in front of us. After a moment, they faded away. The air in front of us looked slightly warped, like we were standing in a bubble. It began to spread, like cloth in the wind, and the bubble revealed itself as many rainbow ribbons of energy. The energy ribbons fell to the ground and gently dissipated.

“Guess who figured out a cool thing to do with their energy ribbons!”

We all turned to see a familiar green haired Cani and a tall cat Kanibari behind us.

“Iris!” I said. “And Maia too!”

“Hey,” Maia said, rubbing her arms for warmth. “My powers don’t really, yeah, but I’m here too.”

“All the guys we were fighting in the cave just left.” Iris said. “So we followed em since they were probably going somewhere important.”

The drone soldiers turned to Lophor Hothon, clearly confused despite being what I surmised at this point to be Elka monsters slightly beefed up with their armor and weapons. Lophor was similarly confused that we hadn’t been exploded. And even more so when a sudden barrage of laser blasts came from behind us, wiping out an entire row of the drones. We turned again to see Amara land near Iris and Maia, blowing the smoke away from her claws. KJ and Rain were close behind her.

“The Leaping Tree Sniper!” I said, remembering the last time I saw Amara hit that move.

“You remembered!” Amara said, beaming widely. “See, KJ? It’s not that convoluted of a name for a move.”

“I still say something like ‘final laser barrage’ would be cooler," KJ said. "It’d be like Killerationer!”

“We’re just glad to have you here,” Oka said.

“You almost didn’t have us,” KJ said. “We’ve been a lot of fights in caves since we got here. And I only realized a bit ago that I forgot my void lens so I didn’t even get any good shots.”

“Well, it was mostly me doing the fighting,” Amara said.

“What? I contributed.” KJ said.

“It really was mostly Amara,” Rain said. “We’re very lucky to have her!”

Amara laughed nervously as KJ begrudgingly agreed.

“Are you ready for another fight?” I asked.

“I assume these guys aren’t gonna be stunned for too long.” Kalei said. “But you know, let’s all hang out and chat while they wait for orders from the big guy.”

“One more round with everyone here sounds lovely!” Rain said.

As the love trio cheered, a beam chasers staff landed like a javelin through a drone soldier a line back from the laser destroyed one. Then another staff got the one next to it. The Matora sisters leapt down.

“Didn’t think we’d uh,” Kai started. “That we’d…be here with…beams. Wait, no!" She smacked her face lightly. "Crap, I had a cool movie line ready, I was waiting for my opening and everything! Can I get a do over?”

“We’ll just have to give our best lines later,” Ko said, winking. I thought she was winking at me, which would be weird, but then I heard Lillia suppressing a scream. She stood right behind me and had a look of panic on her face as she quietly held in a “MMMMRRRRRRRHHHHH” sound.

There was chatter behind us as the rest of the class joined, not having the same affinity for dramatic entrances as the others.

“Hey, look!” Kalei called out, eagerly pointing directly at Nikki. Then she realized she was directly pointing at Nikki, who just nodded her head slightly. “I-it’s the rest of the class!”

“Sup,” Nikki said.

“Where did you all come from?” Oka asked.

“There’s a hidden tunnel or something we all met up in,” Nikki said. “Like an illusion we had to figure out. Then the Matora sisters started planning out entrances, it was kinda dumb.”

“I’m honestly not sure how we ended up first,” Maia said.

“Because I had to protect my friends!” Iris said, striking an action pose. “And the Matora sisters were too busy figuring out if they wanted to say the line from Killerationer 3 or Killerationer 4: Geyser of Vengeance. Then we had to have some people hold back to guard our lilac haired guest. Oh, and the love trio were in the middle of a really funny debate too, you were lucky I pulled myself away from it to save you.” She started laughing at the memory. “I really wanted to stick around and see if they got Rain to judge.”

“If only,” KJ said. “Maybe next time, right Rain?”

Rain chuckled. “Perhaps the next time we’re at big table!”

“I still say my lips are the most kissable,” Amara said.

"Lilac haired guest?" Aira asked.

“Why are you all just standing here?!” Lophor yelled, interrupting our vastly veered-off-the-rails conversation. “Why aren’t you—” A blue flash smacked into him, knocking him off balance. Kiki landed cleanly and rushed to stand in front of us, her blade pointed at the nearest drone soldier, who looked back and forth between her and Lophor Hothon, still waiting to really attack again.

“Kiki!” I said. “I was wondering where you were.”

“Were you really?” Kalei asked.

“I mean, I…” I scratched my head.

“When would you possibly have time in the middle of all this to worry where she went?” Kalei asked.

“It’s a good question,” Kiki said. “I wasn’t particularly worried or thinking much about where you were.”

“Alright, can we lay off my girlfriend?” Oka asked.

“Yeah, lay off Oka’s girlfriend!” I said. “Who is…me.”

“You don’t have to brag about it.” Kalei said.

“I’m not bragging!” I said. “It’s just nice to say it out loud, is all.” Oka nodded.

Lophor angrily stomped on the ground on the leg I hadn’t sliced. “Enough of this! Attack them! Attack!”

With another order finally delivered, the drones began to attack again, turning the canyon into a light show instantly. This time, I felt a lot better about our chances as we all ignited our bloodsabers and charged forward.