To Save A Race (pt. 2)

[Talon]

((MONTHLY CAMPAIGN))

The entire plant complex was empty. All the humans were strangely vacant, no signs of struggle apparent anywhere. What was worse was that groups of the biomechanical monstrosities known as Cromians were freely entering and exiting the buildings as they pleased, all of them hauling what gave their race life- Cromian Cells. Masses of these pulsating, fleshy black sacks were being placed on larger Cromians and were being hauled towards the city, where their hosts and Patriarch were waiting for them.

In the middle of the complex, located all around the three nuclear-powered generators, were nests for these things to be grown. While the straight radiation would've been a horrid environment for them to thrive, they were in fact being supplied by the electricity these nuclear power provided. Atop the central structure's roof stood the be-tentacled crustaceous Cromian known as Crysalia, and the spiky reptillian Cromian called Pyraxus. The air was shimmering with heat around the latter, and whirling with particles of frozen droplets around the former.

"All is progressing as planned... soon, our race's numbers shall be bolstered greatly..." Crysalia implied, tendrils writhing.

"And Lord Nexus will be appeased as well.... still, something bothers me..." Pyraxus muttered, jets of fire erupting from his spines.

Crysalia merely rolled her two pairs of eyes, hissing,

"And what might that be? The Harbinger is no longer a threat to us! And none of the locals have any sort of radiation manipulation! Hell, we're in control of the only thing that could kill us at this point!"

Pyraxus's orange optics narrowed as he growled in response,

"I'm well aware, Crysalia... but... it's like the humans say... 'it's a gut feeling'... I suppose I'm just paranoid, what with one of our members missing. It is as you said, all is going as planned."

The two went back to overseeing the operation, ready to destroy anyone who would dare think of interfering with it.

[Blaze]

Minutes later, a glowing dragon slowly came into view, his eyes locked open as he was dripping with Sweet and breathing hard, the inner turmoil between Eko and Nosis had begun.
Blaze looked up to see all of these 'creatures' and slowly made his way in front of one, he looked it over confused.

[glow=red,2,300]I'm in no shape to be helping them with their load... why should I help them at all?[/glow]
He thought as Eko interjected.

Your no good to anyone, why convince yourself otherwise? You know you'll only fail.

Do not allow Eko to eliminate your cause, be strong and you will emerge victorious.

Nosis added

The confused Anthro nodded and extended his hand out to help the alien-like being, vaporizing it on contact. The dragon look on in shock at what he had done, before gaizing down at his hands. He quickly winced in pain and dropped to his knees as spikes ranging from nine inches to two feet long erupted from his spine leaving blood splatter on the ground behind him. The anthro leaned against a nearby tree and closed his eye to rest.

You dropped your guard!

immediately after closing his eyes, Eko took control over Blaze's body. His wings molded and formed with his back, reveling two more spikes about three and a half feet long, both his eyes went black with a red ring in each.

[glow=red,2,300]YES! FINALY![/glow]

Eko stepped away from the tree, as a quiet chuckle exited his toothy maw, which escalated into a loud laugh. The evil red dragon slowly made his way toward another cromian.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

"Well... this looks like it'll be both promising... and turn out really crappy at the same time." Hollow Cynder muttered as she flew overhead. Scowling, the dragoness angled herself and dove, landing roughly on the ground and looking around.

Upon sight of the Cromians, her scowl deepened.

"Oh yeah... definitely gonna be crappy..."

[Talon]

The masses of Cromians all stared at the two newcomers for a second, murmers going through their numbers for several moments.

"There are hosts not being controlled...?"

"Lord Nexus overlooked a few?!"

"This can't be possible...!"

"GTFO!"

After those minutes of murmuring, they all went back to their business, shrugging it off and ignoring the intruders completely, even the two Eko had approached, the former's hand having already regenerated. Meanwhile, Crysalia and Pyraxus were eyeing the two warily. Pyraxus seemed about to say something before Crysalia held a clawed finger up to silence him.

"They're hardly capable of stopping the plan... I don't wanna hear it."

Pyaraxus snorted, causing several bursts of fire to erupt from his frame, then muttered,

"We might as well pass the time somehow... the operation is going smoothly, there's no need for us to oversee it at the moment."

Crysalia sighed, bringing a back-tendril to her chin.

"Well... I suppose that's true... alright, fine. But let's try to wrap it up quickly."

Both nodded, then leapt off of the structure and smashed into the ground not far from the new pair. Crysalia smirked between her mandibles and asked,

"I'm sorry, but this area is off-limits, you'll have to take a detour."

Pyraxus glared at Hollow Cynder, then muttered,

"You helped the Harbinger slay Avialus, didn't you...!"

Both readied themselves, taking differing stances as the air around them started to get hotter and colder respectively.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

"Avialus? I don't reca- OH! Green and ugly, yeah, I remember him. Wasn't exactly durable once he lost his regen!" Hollow Cynder replied tauntingly, and before either Ether Lord could react, the Hollow dragon had sprayed a large torrent of black fire at the two, enveloping them in the corrupted heat that slipped around Pyraxus' natural resistance to such an attack.

The dragoness then charged at Crysalia, magic poison manifesting on her claws and fangs. She lunged, stabbing the Cromian's chest with her claws and biting her claws, introducing large amounts of them venom into Crysalia's system. Hollow Cynder then jumped away, redirecting herself at Pyraxus and loosing a red-tinted screech at the Fire Ether Lord. As the screech washed over him, fear seemed to manifest in his mind and jab at his joints, causing him pain. Hollow Cynder pinwheeled, and slammed Pyraxus down with the flat end of her blade.

While such would normally not slow the Ether Lord down, once he laid eyes on Cynder once more...

It appeared to him that Hollow Cynder was practically glowing with gamma radiation, and that her claws, fangs, and blades had all been replaced with it, held in that form by magic.

Hollow Cynder hissed, then lunged at Pyraxus again.

[Blaze]

Eko ignored Crysalia's warning as he walked up to another Cromian, before pausing in mid step.

[glow=red,2,300]"...oh...A female..."[/glow]

The scard dragon sniffed the air and looked over to Cynder as drool ran down his chin, his breath slowly became visible and he started toward her, Eko let out a small grunt as the first of the three Gates of Ren were opened.

[Talon]

Both still in pain from Cynder's black fire, Pyraxus howled in anger and shock at Hollow Cynder's 'new state', then dove out of the charging dragon's way, screaming angrily to Crysalia,

"IF THERE ARE NONE WHO POSSESS THE ABILITY TO HARM US, THEN WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

Crysalia scowled at Pyraxus, of whom had his eyes wide in an emotion she'd never seen him show before, and scoffed as her system began neutralizing the venom she'd been pumped with.

"Stop being stupid, you hot-headed jackass! She's not emitting any form of radiation whatsoever! I don't know what the hell would make you think th-"

The Ether Lord of Water suddenly paused, then glared at Cynder.

"I see... it was that sonic attack... you've affected his psyche with it... an interesting attack. However...! Don't assume it to work on me! We Cromians have adaptive resistances to such attacks, thanks to our collective sub-conscious!"

With that, the Water-themed Cromian rushed forward and slammed into Cynder's flank, knocking her away from Pyraxus. Her multitude of tendrils snaked around and hooked into Hollow Cynder's side, then gave a shrill laugh.

"You're f*cked now..."

It was then an icy pain began to shoot through Hollow Cynder's body, spreading out from the tendril's point of impact.

"My tendrils can control the temperature of their surroundings... and bring it to levels so low they can freeze nigh anything they touch! Let's see you function with about 20% of your bodily fluids frozen!"

She then kicked off of Cynder to reveal about a dozen, frosted-over holes in the ebony wyrm's side, all about a foot deep or so. Wasting no time, Crysalia followed up with a backflip-kick to Cynder's bottom jaw, sending the wyrm staggering backwards.

"damnit Pyraxus, get a hold of yourself! Are you going to let some feeble trick stop you?!" She shrieked.

Pyraxus was still standing several dozen feet from Cynder, Crysalia's words coming through but failing to register with the fiery beast.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

Hollow Cynder painfully brought herself back to her feet, but was otherwise unaffected by her frozen body fluids.

"'We Cromians have adaptive resistances to such attacks, thanks to our collective sub-conscious' eh? Sucks to be you guys then... THE SUB-CONSCIOUS IS EXACTLY WHAT MY FEAR ELEMENT TARGETS!!! ALL YOUR COLLECTIVE DOES IS INDUCE A MINOR AMOUNT OF MY FEAR INDUCING MAGIC INTO EVERY CROMIAN!!! THE ONLY REASON YOUR NOT EFFECTED RIGHT NOW IS BECAUSE THERE'S SO LITTLE OF IT IN YOU!!!"

At that declaration, Hollow Cynder suddenly released another red tinted screech at Crysalia, striking the Water Ether Lord before she could react, and subjecting her to the same state as Pyraxus.

"And what's better, its so deeply rooted into your subconscious, you'll have trouble breaking free of my grip, even if your conscious mind knows that there is nothing to fear... Instinct is a difficult thing to over come..." Hollow Cynder hissed as she closed in, noticably unhampered by the frozen fluids in her body as energy started gathering in her maw.

"Cero." With the word spoken, the beam of Hollow energy flew out at Crysalia.

[Blaze]

Immediately after firing off her attack, Eko flash stepped right in front of Cynder, taking the full impact of the blast. The dark red dragon stood there looking down at her as melted and burnt flesh fell to the ground. Eko then brought his face withing inches of Cyinders and sniffed.

[glow=red,2,300]"Hmm..."[/glow]

The anthro then stood and turned to Pyraxus inhaling deeply, then let lose a massive flame blast engulfing him completely. Eko stopped and waited, not knowing if his attack did any real damage.

[Talon]

Pyraxus strode out of the fire, completely unharmed and scowling under his faceplate. He glanced at Crysalia as she staggered back from Cynder's mental assault, then growled to the Water Ether Lord,

"She has a point... we've nothing to fear... it's an illusion, despite our instrincts warning us... why must we fear what we've already felt anyway? True, that substance is the only thing that can kill we Cromians... but we're already willing to endure the pain and possible death. Our positions as Ether Lords are a sign of this."

He paced over to Crysalia after smashing his tail into Eko, sending him rolling down the nearby slope that led up to the several power plant structures. He glared at her, arms at his sides and growled,

"Are you so willing to let something as trivial as fear stop you from your mission? I thought you were better than that... but I suppose I was wrong... you've... dissapointed me, Crysalia..."

Crysalia, still a bit shaken by Cynder's attack, merely took a half-step back, then clenched her own claws, eyes narrowed and tendrils writhing.

"I... no... I never...! I will not let this trivial emotion stop me! I swore that on the day we'd evolved to our current status! You know that! You of all Cromians should know that I refuse to give up on anything!"

Pyraxus seemed to do something... unexpected, just then. His eyes narrowed in a light way, almost as if he was... smiling.

"I know, Crysalia... I know... now... get off of your feet... and help me show these cretinous vermin that the Cromians are not going to give up! We'll continue to fight on for our race's future! No matter how many unfortunate, innocent souls we are forced to assimilate!"

She nodded to him, and both assumed their positions once more.

"Your tricks won't do you any good now, worm... now stop hiding behind your lies and fight us!" they barked.

With that, they both rushed forward- Pyraxus taking up the melee position as his right arm's plating split apart in several regions, revealing a myriad of white-hot vents.

"PYRO-DRIVER!!"

A pillar of sudden flame sent Hollow Cynder flying after Pyraxus had slammed the appendage into her sternum. As the metaphysical Hollow went airborne, Crysalia rushed up and over to the ebony wyrm, hissing,

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

Her tendrils all abruptly lashed forward while simultaneously freezing solid, the action causing them to splinter and shatter into hundreds of shards of ice, all of which lodged themselves in Cynder's already-ravaged chest. As the dragoness touched back down to earth with a crash, both landed next to eachother and growled at Cynder.

[Azure_Ghidorah]

"Not really." Hollow Cynder lied, snarling at the Ether Lords.

"But now, I won't hold back."

Hollow Cynder's body started to darken, white turning to gray, black turning darker then ever thought possible, and red the color of blood. An aura of black energy started to surround her as Hollow Cynder scowled.

"Well, you two are the first to see me in this state, my Fury State." the dragoness commented, before she charged at Pyraxus, her speed increasing past any expectations they had. Hollow Cynder clamped her poison drench maw over Pyraxus' face, injecting the Fire Ether Lord for a good thirty second before releasing and force feeding him more of her Shadow Fire. Then the finale of the string came up. Still close to Pyraxus, Hollow Cynder twisted her body length wise, building up speed rapidly as a large tornado erupted around her and the Fire Ether Lord.

Caught in the tornado's depths, Pyraxus was thrown about relentlessly, as the surrounding area started to be torn apart by the furious winds, the debris smashing into Pyraxus. Several lesser Cromians soon found themselves picked up by the winds as well. So furious were the winds, that they started to pull Crysalia in as well. To worsen the situation, the tornado soon gained a red spiral of energy on as well, serving to cut those caught in it directly.

"You enjoying the ride so far!?" Hollow Cynder asked while cackling at how helpless Pyraxus seemed.

[Blaze]

Eko quickly regained his footing, sprinted past Hollow Cynde , and drove into the tornado, biting down on Pyaraxus's throat and spewed fire down his esophagus. The spikes on Eko's back began to chip and break from the twisters massive force. causing him leap away and land next to the dragoness, bleeding badly.

[glow=red,2,300]HI CYNDER!! I took over Eko's mind![/glow]

Blaze's voice cheered within Eko's body.

[glow=red,2,300]"whats going on? wheres Solranous?"[/glow]

[Talon]

Growling as he attempted to regenerate from the repetetive attacks, Pyraxus simply replied,

"I have a question for you! You're extremely close to a massive supply of nuclear energy, of which I hear is extremely volatile. You've just summoned a vortex of high-pressure wind, certainly capable of tearing down most human structures..."

His armor segmented in dozens of places, massive amounts of heat starting to issue forth from his form.

"Said vortex is extremely close to a structure housing that massive supply of nuclear energy. Tell me, what is to happen to those generators if they are destroyed?"

A chorus of surprised yelps issued from dozens of Cromians in the area as they all shifted away from the tornado. Pyraxus was now visible as a ball of orange light in its confines, the massive amounts of heat being egenerated protecting him from the red energy spiral. Crysalia, still in shock at Cynder's failure to think out her plan and simultaneously focusing on regenerating against the tornado's energized portions, noted what Pyraxus was planning, and began to lower the temperature around her general area, the air gaining a blue tint quickly. Cynder's whirlwind began to slow down...

"You're a terrible stragist, you know. Though I would've enjoyed the resulting explosion taking you two down with the rest of us, I can't let that happen, as it would put a rather large dent in the procedure. So..."

Now Crysalia was outputting so much cold that she appeared similar to Pyraxus, enveloped in a sphere of sky-blue energy as the two whirled around on opposite sides of the tornado. The air pressure heightened within the cyclone as Pyraxus's heat generated a front of rising warm air, and Crysalia's cold created the opposite- a front of falling cold air. This action seemed to cause another 'mini-tornado' to form within the cyclone, and the two started to counter-act eachother, eventually breaking both apart. The Cromians all fell back to Earth, Pyraxus and Crysalia shaking themselves off as they did so.

"'Magic' or whatever it's called, I don't care... it's still subject to natural laws..." The Ether Lord of Fire hissed.

With that, he rushed forwand and drove a knee into Blaze's jaw with enough force to splinter it, then followed up with a backflip-kick to what was left of said jaw, sending the antrho flying into the air. Pyraxus's claws ingited in flame, and caught Blaze by the chest with his left claw as he fell. He lifted Blaze up as the fire began to eat away at the antrho's skin, and rumbled,

"Do not dare insult me with your pathetic abilities ever again... it shall cost you your life..."

With that, a massive, searing burst of white-hot fire sent Blaze flying through the air and landing hundreds of feet away, Pyraxus's tail swaying as he watched him fall. Meanwhile, Crysalia was back at Cynder, spouting off javelin-shaped blasts of cryogenic energy, all of which froze over good foot-sized areas of Cynder's frame with each hit.

"I'ce dealt with some annoying creatures before... but you most certainly... are in the top 5!" She hissed, launching off a blizzard-like wave of energy.

The swirling vortex of cold air and frozen shards washed over Cynder, revealing her front half to be coated in roughly two feet of ice...

[Azure_Ghidorah]

Hollow Cynder hissed, breaking the ice around her with a good deal of force... then sweatdropped at the near catastrophe she caused.

"Uh... Whoops...?" the dragoness weakly responded. Shaking her head, she continued, "Fine, so I'm not the 'sharpest tool in the shed' or however that human saying goes. You can't fault me for not knowing how explosive somethings can be. Hell, none of this technology even exists where my host was born. Now lets just get back to the fight!"

Hollow Cynder snarled, spewing some of her Shadow Fire at Crysalia, scorching the Water Ether Lord. The hollow wyrm then lunged at the Cromian, roaring as a Cero built up in her maw. She swiped at Crysalia with her claws, cutting the Ether Lord's face, before blasting Crysalia with a point-blank fully charged Cero, throwing Crysalia back several feet. Content that she was taken care of for now, Hollow Cynder turned towards Pyraxus, who's back was to her.

Seeing a chance to inflict some massive damage, Hollow Cynder started charging up pure mana, unchanneled into any element. As the energy reached its peak, Hollow Cynder whispered,

"Destruction Stream."

The mana discharged into a purple-and-red tinted black beam that surged at Pyraxus, the ground beneath it tearing apart as the beam passed over it.

[Talon]

Pyraxus bellowed in pain as the beam tore into, and through him, sending gore and chunks of metal flying as it did so. He staggered to his knees, panting as his faceplate broke apart, revealing the orange-tinted gray, bloodstained, biomechanical flesh underneath. His black teeth bared as he rose to his feet, whirled around at Cynder, and rumbled,

"Striking someone in another battle with their back turned... I knew you cretins were dishonorable, but that... is just low..."

He took a few wavering steps forward as the damage started to regenerate itself, panting as he did so. He tilted his head towards Crysalia, and hissed,

"Crysalia... I believe it's time to break... 'it' out..."

The burnt, blasted Ether Lord of Water rose to her feet, grunting. She nodded at Pyraxus, then yelled,

"GET THE REMAINING CELLS OUT OF HERE!"

The Cromian workers all doubled their pace, the remaining loads of the Cromian 'eggs' and leaving those still developing in the plant behind. Crysalia and Pyraxus then blasted themselves into the air, landing on either of Cynder's flanks, both about 200 feet from her. It was then both of their plating abruptly snapped upwards, giving them a much more jagged, imposing appearance. Pyraxus started to glow a red-orange in color as Crysalia began to glow a sky-blue in color, the air around them shifting and shimmering terribly.

"OVERDRIVE INITIATED!!" The roared simultaneously.

In a blur, Cynder had been struck rather hard, knocking her down as they rushed to their opposite sides, then whirled around, both shifting their feet apart as the did so. Pyraxus's chest slowly split open to reveal a pulsating, orange Cromian Cell, Crysalia doing the same, although hers was blue in color. Massive amounts of energy gathered into these Cells, expanding as visible 'bubbles' of crackling energy. Their outlines themselves now distorted by the sheer force of energy, they both roared,

"DUAL FORCE BREAK!!"

Each Cell then issued forth a massive wave of energy with opposing colorations that raced forth and slammed into Cynder's sides, the waves of extreme thermal and cryogenic energy ravaging her form like none other had as they swirled together to form one single, orchid-colored explosion roughly 500 feet in size with shockwaves going for at least a mile out. Both gasped as they shifted out of their Overdrive forms, and staggered onto a knee.

"That... should teach her... to stay down..." Crysalia panted.

Pyraxus glared at the smoking crater, trying to discern any figures in the haze as he attempted to gather his energy once more.