For the first time in my life, I don't know what to think anymore. This has never happened to me before, to any of us. In all my years of being a princess over this beautiful nation, I've never met an enemy that I couldn't fix or send away. One by one, many have come in my long years, and that many have fallen, to either me or my champions... all but one; Malideus. This one being, not anything of this world, I'm sure, came and trashed every illusion of hope I'd ever had that good exists in all living things, somewhere. But him... every offer I'd made him, every time I'd offered to save him, he'd always laughed and spit in my face every time. I want to believe that there is nothing good in him, only horrible, empty void... but I can't. I don't really know ANYTHING about him, except he wants to be evil, if only for evil's sake. But he was possessed by 'The Narrator' before, and I don't know if it's him or it anymore.

Alas, I don't know, but what I do know is that because of him, me and my sister are both in bed, recovering from several broken bones, and thankfully nothing worse. To think that I would be such a fool, though... I simply can't defeat Malideus, no matter what I do. But... I have to try, somehow. I have to find his weakness, for I know he has one; I've seen it before. He has a strange attachment to his allies, one anyone could exploit. He has used hostages before, I know, but I don't know how he'll react to having one of his own being taken hostage themselves, seeing as he turned into a monster when I stole his staff. But, if it means defeating him, then I have to hit where he's weakest, even if I end up dead myself.

Suddenly, breaking me from my lament, the element bearers walk into my room, looking like they'd done something horrible. And who can blame them? They lost Malideus, just when they thought they had him. I'd feel like they did, too, in their position.

"Princess? We just came to check on you." Twilight says, looking a bit ragged. But, I still put on a smile to comfort them, and reply:

"I am well, Twilight. Please, speak what troubles you." I say, and Twilight suddenly looks surprised.

"W-what? Um, Nothing's troubling me, princess! It... It's just..." She stammers, so I finish her thought for her.

"It's about your trouble with Malideus, isn't it?" I ask, and Twilight looks me in the eye for a second, absolute fear present in them, and then she falters, looking to the floor.

"It... it is. I hoped we could catch him... but I don't know what we're going to do. He keeps... escaping! He beats us at every turn, he kills without remorse, and he uses magic worse than ours! How can we beat an enemy that we can't even match with our elements?" Twilight asks me, and, for the first time in my long, long life, I don't have an answer. All my time as ruler of this land, I've relied on the Elements of Harmony to protect us, perhaps a little too heavily. But, to be fair, no other enemy we faced ever posed the same kind of threat to us as Malideus did: The others simply wanted to rule us. Malideus wants to destroy us. But, I know, if not how to defeat him, at least how to subdue him.

"... Twilight, I don't know how we can truly defeat him, this is true. Malideus is powerful, surpassing even us in his strength. But, I know how we can at least stop him." I say, developing a plan in my mind. At this, the six perk up, and Twilight is first to react.

"You have a plan, then?" Twilight asks excitedly, and I can't help but smile: just as hopeful as when she was but a filly.

"Yes, I have an idea, but it requires patience: we can't execute it until Malideus has opened himself up. Go and wait, I will have spies overlooking his hideaway. When Malideus makes a single error, I will send you six and Nathan, and I assure that it will be his last." I say, and the six are hence dismissed, though I will see to it that they get the revenge they so crave. Malideus... I don't know what is causing your insanity, nor do I care. But I will put an end to it soon, and on that day, your fate will be sealed.

And so, we return to Malideus' perspective

I was furious at this... this travesty! No, furious is an understatement... I'll think of a good word later. But right now, I'm so far beyond angry at these two right here, I'm going to likely kill them!

"You fucks would DARE betray me after all I've done for you!?" I scream, gripping Xenia and Flitterfeather's scrawny necks. Immediately, Flitterfeather, like the coward he is, panics and tries to worm his way out of my wrath.

"Sir, please understand! He... he had a sword to my throat, practically! He was going to kill me if I didn't do it! What was I supposed to do!?" Flitterfeather asks, further angering me.

"Have a spine, that's what! You doing what he said only delayed the inevitable! Now, I'm going to feed you BOTH to Gondon!" I yell, and Gondon perks up at the sound of me threatening to feed someone to him, smiling like a maniac. Flitterfeather, at this point, had stopped talking, and Xenia now spoke up, eager to convince me to put them down.

"Wait, b-boss... You can't kill us..." She says, and I tighten my grip around her throat.

"And why not?" I ask coldly.

"Be-because... you need us... to get inside...!" Xenia finally says, and I loosen my grip on her, but do not let go.

"No I don't. Now, you both have fucked up SOOOO royally, I can't even look at you two without wanting to puke. So, here's what's going to happen. You're going to die here, and I'm going to bash Stargazer's face in with a rock. Well, it's been nice knowing you two, but here, our roads part. Any last words, scum?" I ask, my voice full of ill-concealed bitterness. Finally, Flitterfeather begins to struggle, and he speaks:

"He set several traps for you, sir! Xenia knows where they are, and I saw a few myself right around here! You need us to get through!" Flitterfeather cries, and I almost snap his neck for his cowardice, but I refrain, seeing that it would do little good. So, I release him, throwing him coughing and sputtering to the dirt, but still keeping my stranglehold on Xenia.

"You make me sick, both of you... But if what you're talking about is true, then I guess I can't kill you yet, as you're the only two stupid enough to come to ME. So, you tell me where they are, and I don't tear your innards out with a rusty fork. Got it?" I ask, and Flitterfeather rapidly nods his head, and Xenia stops struggling, finally.

"Wait, what about me!?" She asks, clearly scared.

"What about you? You took potshots at me, and half-blinded my newest recruit, and now you expect me to forgive you?... Tell you what: I'll let you go, Xenia, but if I EVER see you again, I will feed your upper half to Gondon, and let the devils have a ball with your lower half. Got it?" I ask, and before Xenia can answer, I drop her, pick up Flitter by the throat, and shove him toward the cave. "Lead the way." I tell him, and soon, we're off.

Three hours have passed, and still we're walking, Flitterfeather just going this way and that, as if avoiding someone. Well, the 'who' doesn't require much thought, nor does the 'why'. But still, we're nowhere near the cave. Hell, I don't know WHERE we are.

"Flitter, you'd better be going the right way." I say, cracking my knuckles subconsciously, and Flitterfeather gulps, but keeps walking.

"The t-traps Stargazer set pretty much surround the cave everywhere, but one way... w-we're almost..." Flitterfeather tried to speak, but soon, a giant, black something crashed through the trees, and he squawked once, then ran for his miserable life, probably thinking I'd set off a trap. Well, he's gone, and all I see in this clearing is a boulder, a tree, and a space chunk that fell here for no reason. So, seeing nothing better to do, I approach it, my curiosity slowly growing the closer I get to it.

"Well, this is new... What is it you've got here, Stargazer..?" I ask, approaching the dark mass, which I now recognize as some kind of stone, but almost pitch-black, and it looks metamorphic, like granite, but the fractures indicate sedimentary composure... Hey, so what if I took geology in high school? Don't judge me! Anyway, so, I see this thing, and, as if on instinct, I pick it up. But right then, Kinua speaks up.

"Hey, Boss, are you sure you want to be picking up random stuff from the sky, especially after all these traps Stargazer had laying around for us?" She says, but I ignore her, weighing the stone in my hand and examining it. I saw no traces of burning, so coming from space wouldn't have been an option, had I not seen the writing:

It was... well, odd was an understatement, really. It looked so familiar, but so... alien. This thing, whatever it was, had to be from space, or something.

"Boss?" Kinua inquired again, breaking my concentration. Suddenly, though, I got another idea: If this rock wasn't from space, surely Kinua, being as old as she is (despite looking like a 15-year-old) would know what it is.

"Kinua, you're old, right? You know what this is?" I ask, holding the rock to her, whereupon she snatches it from me, obviously miffed at me for calling her 'old', and examines it thoroughly. "Hey, what are you doing? Give that back!" I then cry, trying to reclaim the rock. I already had plans for it! Plans involving Stargazer's face and the stone's bulk being shoved into it at terminal velocity!

"Back off, Mal, I'm still looking! It's got some kind of writing on it..." She says, and, despite the oddness of it all, I find myself getting pissed at her for simply having the rock instead of me.

"It probably says "you're a faggot"! Now give it back!" I yell, ready to destroy this impetuous little... wait, was I seriously just thinking of destroying Kinua over a dumb rock? However, soon after I realize my error, Kinua does, too.

"Fuck off, Mal! I saw it... wait, are seriously fighting over a dumb rock?" She asks, and I shake my head clear, and glance at the stone once more.

"Man, what is up with this thing?" I ask, confused. "It's like I want it, but just looking at it makes me pissed." I finish, and Kinua blinks, horrified at her own outburst. Suddenly, without any warning Gondon rumbles quietly, then points to a tree, and speaks.

"Maybe... You should ask that child... Over there." He says slowly in his tired, drawling voice, and I look over to where he's pointing, but I find nothing.

"Uh… Are you sure there’s someone over there, Gondon? All I see is a couple rocks and a tree.” Kinua finally says, and I squint, seeing a shadow, but a faint one. Is that... have we been followed?! By Gwyn, we have! It's a trap!

"Hold up, Kinua. That tree over there. Gondon, shoot it down!” I command, and Gondon, almost instinctively, opens his massive, trapinch-like jaws, unhinging them, and the familiar blue glow of a building laser begins to light up deep in his throat.

"No." I hear a small, but terrifying, voice say, and Gondon suddenly shuts his mouth as he falls to the ground, pressed to it like a beached whale, which I would have laughed at if I wasn't ready to piss myself in terror.

"Fat guy, you’re being subjected to twenty times this planet’s gravity. I could increase it, but, well, I don’t want bits of demon all over me.” The voice says again, and I see a small hand, palm flat and out, come out from behind the tree, and then, the whole freakshow appears, revealing... a kid? A HUMAN kid?! WITH MAGIC!?!? Well, this is certainly the wierdest thing ever, but not the scariest, not by a long-shot. So, I then put my hands out, and try to reason with the boy, before he crushes my replacement for Razmatozs.

"Woah, woah, easy, kid. Let the ham-beast go, I kinda need him.” I say slowly, pointing to Gondon, who, once again, has fallen asleep, despite being crushed by his own fat. Suddenly, the kid smiles, and I cringe as he speaks, Malice evident in his voice.

“Very poor choice of words, but I’ll humour you, little shadow.” The kid says, and Gondon seems to have at least been released, but the kid immediately looks at me... and I'm hoisted ten feet into the air by my own armor! Oh god, Stargazer sent a demon baby after me! Ignoring my fear, though, the thing speaks again, as if entertained by my misery.

“Magnetism; you’re wearing way too much metal.” He says, and with my confidence gone, I cry out:

“CRAP! Demon baby! Kinua, help your boss!” Anyway, Kinua looks ready to help, but one look at the demon baby, and she threw her hands up, and backed away. Coward. Before I could reprimand her, however, the little hellspawn spoke again, further cementing my fear of it.

“Demon baby? I’m a toddler, little shadow.” It says, raising an eyebrow, and I immediately go for my Deus ex Machina, without so much as a second thought.

"GOBLADA!" I shout at the top of my lungs, and as expected, a mass of dark, stone blades erupt from the ground, and all of them stop short of the 'toddler', causing a mild look of worry to appear in his face. Finally, the thing acknowledges me, and begins to start one hell of a speech.

“Well, this was fun and all. Now, for the sake of getting this little cliche over with, allow me to introduce myself.” It says, and with that, it's skin started to boil and bubble like a witch's cauldron, and though I may have seemed stoic, I was ready to scream. Hell, even miss Doom-and-Gloom, Kinua, looked ready to throw up. Clearly, she wasn't used to watching demon toddlers transform. Then again, neither was I.

“I am the Makuta.” It said at last, and at that, it tore it's face... it's OWN FACE, off of itself, revealing the face of the ugliest bug I'd ever seen in my life. Really, it was nasty. Like, cockroaches-in-the-pantry nasty. The thing was pitch-black, with glowing red eyes, and no mouth or anything to speak with. But still, it talked. And so, with that, I replied with my wittiest retort to date:

"What... The... Fuck..?" I muttered. Yep, that was it. That was, in fairness, all that needed to be said. What the fuck, that was it. This thing was basically a monster in a child's skin, and that alone was enough to terrify me. But still, this only seemed to amuse the thing before me, and it talks again, in a REALLY deep-but-cultured voice, like a fancy earthquake.

“I am the Emperor of Shadows. All other beings of Darkness do not understand. I am not a manipulator of shadows.” It said, and as if on que, the little toddler body explodes, revealing... well, a robot! Like, a really big, scary, evil robot! Gunmetal grey, pitch black, red undertones, all coloring this tall, bulky, horrifying monstrosity that held some kind of bident, and looked like something from one of those Japanese animes. Oh god, Bolas, save me!

“I am shadows. I am fear. I am anger. And I… am nothing.” He says, and I don't know what the other two did (I think Kinua passed out), but I Farted out of fear. Yeah, I did that. It was that freaking scary. I mean, I was pretty sure that this guy was going to kill me, you tell me you wouldn't have reacted like that. But afterward, I regained my bearings, and I replenished my faith in the sun and Lord Bolas, giving me the strength to speak and try diplomacy this time.

"Eh… Cool, I guess. Can you put me down now, mister Makuta? I kinda don’t like heights, and you are really… you know, I’ll just stop at ‘put me down, please’.” I say, and the one called 'Makuta' seemed surprised at me for saying that, and both his eyes turned blue, for... some reason.

“Put you down, please? That’s very polite, little shadow.” It said, and I suddenly found myself on the ground, dropped like a sack of potatoes. “As you’ve found my Makuta stone, I am obliged to help you, fellow human.” The Makuta said, and I suddenly stopped, looking at him, and I find myself... very confused at his choice of words. 'Human'? Since when did humans look like THAT? Still, I felt I had to ask, at least, despite that horrifying ordeal only moments before.

“Wait… You? Human? No offence, guy, but you look more like a bionicle reject than a human…” I say, and Makuta... seems to take exception to that, but still let me live, and even begins explaining things to me:

“Oh, little shadow, I am NOT a Bionicle reject. In fact, I have taken the form of the main villain of Bionicle, Makuta. But I was once a man.” An illusion then pops into existence, of a rather skinny human boy finding the mask he wore, putting it on, and then going to Equestria. Well, that is odd... he made one hell of a transformation. I wonder... is that going to happen to me!? I certainly hope not.

“I fought the sisters, and at my final battle, I was imprisoned in Tartarus, a prison designed for me. I was still a man then.” He says, and I soon find all my suspicions quelled, but I still find myself having questions. I mean, I'm talking to a BIONICLE for crying out loud: Who wouldn't have some questions, you know? So, I ask away.

“Yeah, great story and all, but what does this have to do with your Makuta stones and why YOU are in MY world?” I ask, slightly suspicious. Yeah, he may seem friendly enough (That's debatable), but a lot of invaders pretend to be friendly, and you let one thing slip, then BAM! You're dead, and your humanity's gone. All of it. And this guy looks like he wants some. I mean, he's wearing a mask, he's obviously hiding something. But, nonetheless, he answers my question graciously.

“Invading?” Another eye turning blue. “I did not invade, I came because, well, you touched the Makuta stone. It’s an ancient stone, imbued with my dark aura of anger. Oh, and when my eye turns blue, it’s me raising an eyebrow, in case you were curious.” He says, and I'm confused at first, but then I realize: I thought he was an invader, but never said it! Oh boy, he reads minds now. Fucking wonderful. Can this guy GET any cheaper?

“As for your world… well, you were the first to touch it. And yes, I can get cheaper.” He says, and I immediately get the message: Stop thinking. Unfortunately, I have yet to implement it yet, seeing as I was too terrified to talk directly to this ugly bug. Crap, I hope he didn't hear that.

“Well, that’s kinda cool… but if you’re the ‘god of all black and evil and death’, then why are you helping me? I’m just your everyday warlording wizard, I’m a dime a dozen. Why help me?” I say, hoping to lure him into... something. Ah, I'll think of the word later, for now, I just need to get him to not think me a threat, so he doesn't kill me. As for his offer... I think I could have use of him, if he's telling the truth. I mean, Tobi and Yoshiasswipe helped me, despite my motives... even though they traumatized me afterward.

“First, the word you’re looking for is ‘submission.’ Second, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a fellow human being… a very long time. And isn’t it an instinct of our species, to help each other out when we really need it?” Okay, that got me off-guard. First, he fucking read my mind AGAIN, and second, he was right, I'd just kinda detached myself from the rest of humanity, seeing as I'd become something... else. But still, he was right. Besides, I made WAY too many enemies for anyone else to randomly want to help me, what, with all the people I mindlessly murdered. But hey, maybe he’s into that… or she. I might have to ask that...

“I’m a guy. Couldn’t you tell from the illusions?” i chuckle at his silliness. “You must understand, Malideus. In this form of Makuta, I am simply… well, I hate to use the term, but I’ve evolved into this form. I was powerful before, but in this form… I am, not to brag too much, on terms with a physical god.” Images of his evolution process appear. Pictures of gears appearing under his skin, patches of skin turning to metal, an inside view of his body turning into mist within a shell of armour… yeah, interution and mind-reading aside, that vision alone may have scarred me on par with Yoshmitsu and Tobi. That was nasty. But, that answered my unasked question, so I ask one I actually want to hear:

“Alright, you answered that for me… a bit too much info, but whatever, the more I know, the better. But, what I want to know is this: Despite all you know about me, you still seem like you want to help me out… why? What’s your angle, robot?” I ask with a reasonable level of suspicion, absolutely no Impetuousness. And lo, ask, and you shall receive.

“It’s one of my powers, little shadow. How about a taste of fear?” He says, and he points a finger at me, making me uncomfortable. Uh oh. Before I can even put up a mental defense, though, I suddenly am face-to-face with my worst fears, from towers, to the undead, to Yoshimitsu and Tobi. Yes, I have a phobia of those two now, lay off. Anyway, Makuta seems confused by this, and I don't know what I did, but everyone's giving me funny looks. What did I do?

“Enough.” He says, and like that, it stops. “Too much fear and your heart might have stopped.” He finishes, and I finally feel my mind become unclouded from lack of oxygen (was I screaming?), and I look around, at the odd looks. Man, to use this level of fear as a weapon... maybe he's as bad as me, maybe worse. But then again, how much worse could he be? Last I checked (dunno from WHERE, exactly), Makuta Terridax got his head crushed by a piece of planet HE destroyed, thanks to fate. As for me, I'm fateless, so I'm immune to inconveniences like that. I just... wait, he isn't listening to my thoughts, is he!? Quick, abort thought train! Think of kittens!

“I may have assumed his name, little shadow, but I am not Teridax. Though I am just as intelligent, as cunning, as black-hearted, I am not he.” Makuta says, and before I know it, I'm in the stratosphere for some reason. Okay, he wasn't kidding about the whole 'on par with a god' thing. Suddenly, I heard his voice, despite him being miles below me.

“Little shadow, I have a thousand ways to kill you for that thought, and 941 of them hurt.” Makuta says, and suddenly, I'm falling, then rising, then falling... and then I'm sick. Is this one of those ways he intended to kill me? If so, it's working. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he finally stopped, and he dropped me like a sack of rocks, from a foot or two in the air. Dizzy and humiliated, and understandably traumatized, I make my response to his display of power.

"“Ai’ight, You made your point… uh, Teridax, was it? Or do I just call you Makuta?" I ask, not willing to make enemies with this guy. But before I can make any more snide remarks, Makuta slumps to the ground, and starts Idly doodling. Oh, what did I do this time?

“Call me what you wish, little shadow. I don’t care. I don’t care about anything much anymore. Four thousand years alive, and a brat like you has to be uppity… I tell you, right now I just don’t care.” Makuta says, and I begin to feel... bad. Guilty, even. Wait, is this guy manipulating emotions?! I want to ask, but I'm afraid I'll break him further, and I remain silent. But nonetheless, he replies to my thoughts, which is annoying as fuck, but whatever.

“I can’t control guilt, little shadow. Now, you have a problem. It’s in the back of your mind, and I could access it, but I would rather not risk you becoming a mentally retarded moron, or simply a vegetable.” he says, and I shrug. Finally, we're at the job... I thought the violent introduction would never end.

“Well, you’re right… and I thank you for not turning me into a vegetable, by the way. As for my… plight, as it were, I have a slight… uprising in my ranks. But, you seem like a… trustworthy-ish guy, so I’ll probably need some help from you… If you’re cool with killing a bunch of usurping, traitorous criminal scum, that is.” I say to get his attention, and lo and behold, it works, seeing as he jumped at that opportunity like Gondon at a squirrel. Finally, after jumping up, he responded.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had a fight… hang on.” he turned to a tree and scowled. “JARVIS! Come out where the nice wizard can see you.” He says, and I instinctively stare where he's looking, wondering who 'Jarvis' is... and a freaking leech the length of my arm appears! Oh god, what kind of minions does this guy have!? suddenly, Makuta spoke up, jerking a thumb at me

“You, stick with him. I’m not dealing with your annoying British butler attitude.” He says, and I'm confused to what the little thing is saying, because I can't hear it, but I cringe at the thought of that thing following me... but I quickly can the thought, worried that it, too, could read minds. Then, before I could blink, another portal appeared, and I instinctively flinched, thinking that another emissary from another universe was invading, but alas, Makuta simply opened another portal, and reached through it, and suddenly, he yelled:

“LEERAHK, GUURAHK, PANRAHK! GET IN HERE!” Makuta shouted, and three different... things... leaped through the space-time vortex: One blue, one green, one brown, and all of them hunched, ugly, and looking like giant praying mantises with hands and different staffs... so, tribal mantises. Still, I suppress the thought, since I don't want to be destroyed before I can smash Stargazer's face in with Makuta's stone.

“Accompany Malideus, ensure that he doesn’t kill himself while I deal with his uprising.” Makuta says, and I get steamed quickly. Okay, I can put up with portals, weird-ass servants, and snarkyness, I played Morrowind, I beat Daggoth-Ur. But when you get all 'smarter-than-thou' with me, that's where I can play, too. But, I remain silent, and Makuta raises his staff.

"Do me proud, boys, do me proud." He says, and then, after a brief 'lead the way' moment, we're off. Well shit, I forgot about the traps!... eh, Makuta can handle himself. He is a god, after all.

Later...

So, we are nearing the cave, when suddenly, Makuta stops me, and begins to ask me something I have a hard time answering.

“Tell me, any of your minions good at perceiving things at high speed? Like, near the speed of sound?” He asks, and I try to think of a snarky answer, but I suddenly remember not to, and go with a simple one instead.

“Only one I can think of is Mizzy, that girl can see anything, I bet… That, or at least Otsuna… Maybe Kherrie, but I’ve never tested that. Why?” I ask, and I can feel the gears turning in Makuta's head (so to speak), and he asks one other question.

“Loyal?” He asks.

"Mizzy’s pretty loyal still, Kherrie and Crush are too, Oh, and Hezafen. But I would not try going after him, anyway: I tested it: dude’s pretty much immune to godmodding… er, magic and stuff. Just don’t hit them, and you should be fine.” I say, getting a bad feeling that he was looking for people to absorb, or something. Hopefully, I wasn't on that list. Thankfully, he seemed to abandon the thought, and he called to his bug-looking minions:

“Guurahk, Panrahk, Leerahk. New mission: kill anything other than ourselves that tries to leave the caves.” He commands, and I get a bad feeling, suddenly: Where was Kherrie? She's always outside, with Hezafen... Could they be..? I have to check. But before I can, Makuta grabs me, and we suddenly fly into the wall of the cave, and I'm not dead. #2weird4me!!!!

“Huh… Agh, what was that?! Did you put something else into my head!?” I cry, remembering the two chucklefucks and how they 'helped' me.

“Relax; we’re in your hide-out. The wall, to be precise. One of them.” Makuta says, but contrary to his advise, I do NOT relax.

“The WALL!? What are you trying to do, sneak up on them? Thats… actually not a bad plan. But how the heck are you doing this? It took me months to master minor teleporting, and you’re doing it at the snap of a finger!” I say, completely dumbfounded. Then, I remembered: virtual god.

“Teleportation and Intangibility. And for HOW, I’ve had four thousand years of practice.” Makuta corrects, and I still stare at him, out of it. “Now, tell me which ones are loyal to you.” He says, and I snap out of my stupor, and reply with another witty, but relevant, remark:

“Simple: I’ll just walk in there, and you follow me. If they attack you, destroy them, if not… leave them to me, I’ll deal with them myself. You think you can handle that?” I said, eyeing him suspiciously. What? I still don't trust him not to absorb me. Still, we burst out of the wall, ready to fight any adversary. The only problem with that?
There are none. None at all. Everyone's... gone, even Stargazer.

Where did he take everyone?

“Huh..? Where… Wait, I hear fighting…” I say, and even Makuta listens in, and sure as hell, fighting was heard, metal against wood and flesh, and Gondon just ate someone. Yes, I can distinguish that sound, and if you ever heard him eat, you would too. but other than that, the other sounds are completely foreign to me. “Hey, Makuta, what do those… things of yours sound like when they fight?” I ask, and Makuta's air turns grim as he turns toward the noise.

“That is them winning, my friend. Hopefully, they won’t damage your friends too much. Panrahk is the Fragmenter, capable of demolishing most of a town. Guurahk is the Disintegrator, reducing to dust any opponent. And Leerahk is the Poisoner, who lacks in close range but possesses a highly potent poison.” Makuta says, and I want to believe him, but I had a demon, an overpowered timberwolf, and a super-mage, who I was tempted to leave to Makuta.

“I doubt that. I have a demon, an overpowered wolf, and a freaking super-crazy mage working against me… I think your guys are going to have to wait a while before they…” Suddenly, out of nowhere, I feel a bolt incoming, and I dodge before I see it, and it misses me by inches, shocking both me and Makuta. “Bwaoh, shit!” I cry, and both of us turn to see the traitor himself, Stargazer the royally-fucked, approaching with a definite swagger, like he owns the whole world. Sun and Bolas, what a bitch. Hell, even Makuta is not impressed by him at all, judging by that deep, disapproving frown that I more feel than see. Then, the bitch-lord spoke, his voice all high-and-mighty.

“Well, Malideus, I knew you’d show up sooner or later, but I didn’t think you’d stoop so low as to bring more golems. Honestly, can’t be bothered to fight me without the help of some useless robots?” Stargay-zer says, and honestly, it seems to hurt Makuta more than me. I'm just fine with hiding behind golems, but I don't think Makuta likes being called that. Ooh, he dun goofed now.

“Robots? You mean you survived them.” Makuta says, and I could feel him getting angry. Yes, feel it. It was like standing next to a furnace that happened to exert its own gravity. Suddenly, though, he turned to me, a malicious glint in his red eyes, and I tried to hide the fact that I knew he was mad. I think it worked, seeing as he didn't kill me. “How quick is his perception time, by the way?” Makuta asked, and I found my snark-level breaching normal heights, and I couldn't help what came out of my mouth next:

“He wears giant glasses, you tell me.” I retort, causing Stargazer to flare up, and growl a little before replying himself.

“They’re prescription!” Stargazer says, and I roll my eyes.

"Whatever, Four-eyes." I reply, further angering the traitorous, penis-gobbling scumbag.

“Hmph. One question: wait, no, nevermind.” Makuta suddenly says, and I turn to him, and he seems to have learned something new, that never came up in the brief conversation. Then, he turned to me, and spoke.

“Be thankful that my children were feeling rather cautious around hostages. The hostages are…” he seemed to focus slightly, reconfirming the details in his head. “About a mile thataways.” he then pointed to the northeast, and I felt a mix of relief and unbridled rage and determination sweep over me. How dare they keep hostages without my consent!? And how could my faithful let themselves get captured!? After I kill the jailers, I'm going to start paying my remaining minions, just so I can give them a budget cut.

“Alright, Makuta, You got four-eyes over here. I have other traitors to… discipline.” I say grimly, and I make my way out of the entrance, leaving the two to duke it out themselves. So, I begin my trek, but I stop when I see Gondon sleeping on a flailing Leerahk's legs, and I hit him with a branch to wake him off of the now-damaged robot-bug-thing. "GONDON! Get off that, you whale!" I shout, and Gondon shoots up, looking side to side, and then resting his eyes on me.

"Uh..? Oh, Malideus. I appear to have been knocked out by one of the traitors. Did I land on you by accident?" Gondon asked innocently, and I facepalmed, pointing toward the obviously-in-pain Leerahk, who looked at his legs pitifully. God, Makuta is gonna kill me for this, they look like they got stuck in a meat grinder, but for metal. Damn those spikes on Gondon's back!

"No, you landed on that thing! Listen, I don't have time to yell at you! We have hostages a mile that way, and I'm not walking. You think you can carry me? I'll let you eat some of the guards." I say, and Gondon tiredly nods, picks me up, and puts me on his back. Then, we're off, into the unknown. As we run, though, I hear the scream of a certain unicorn in serious pain, and I immediately get pumped for my encounter with the guards holding the hostages. I was never one to be outdone in terms of inflicting pain, you know. So, within an hour, Gondon's stubby legs have impressed me by rampaging all the way to the place Makuta said, which happened to be... the old castle..? What? Why this place!? I'm pretty sure the ghost of the tree of harmony is still haunting it, but I shake off my fear, and go in, for my faithful! Getting off Gondon's back, I then issue one last order:

"Gondon, tear down the door, and go nuts." I say, and Gondon immediately obeys, and I step in through the hole he made, to see a few of my former workers sitting around a table, playing poker until I busted in. Now, they're sitting around a card-laden table, staring at me in fear; Otsuna, Flitterfeather, and Kitsune, the traitors. Xenia isn't here, though... oh well, glad to see she at least followed THAT order.

"M-Malideus!?" Kitsune asked, and I cracked my knuckles in response.

"Naw, I'm mother-fucking Santa Clause, come to give you all the gift... of PAIN!!!" I say, and thus, I motion Gondon forward, and he moves up, staring at the three with hungry eyes and slightly drooling mouth. "Now, you three have ten seconds to run, and then I'm releasing my companion to hunt you all down and eat you. Any takers?" I ask, but Kitsune and Otsuna (Flitterfeather hides under the table) stand up, and challenge my obvious authority.

"You won't bother! We have hostages, and while you're dealing with us, one of us will run down and kill them!" Kitsune stupidly says, and I point to her with my staff, freezing her legs in place, surprising the fox-like diamond dog.

"Yeah, good luck with that. Now, you want this to be painless or not? If not, then tell me where the hostages are." I say, and Kitsune begins to tremble, but Ontsuna suddenly bolts to a hallway, attracting my attention.

"Get back here! Gondon, keep an eye on these two! If they move, eat them!" I yell, And Gondon nods, staring at Flitterfeather and Kitsune intently, while I hunt down Otsuna. It was a short chase, and I almost caught her once or twice, until we finally reached the old dungeons. Of COURSE they'd hold my faithful here. So, at last, I have Otsuna cornered, but I don't see her. So, I get to freeing my faithful first.

"Alright, come on... I say, jimmying the lock to the biggest cell with my claw, where I assume all the hostages are held. Then, once open, I see that they are. Or maybe not, but I don't bother with role call, I just pile them out, and Mizzy gets a few injured, and hauls them outside, Including Crush, Hezafen and Kherrie, until only Whip remains, looking at me with big, hopeful eyes.

"Thank you, Sir! We thought you'd never-" She says, but I interrupt her.

"Save the cliche' bullshit, Whip, we're not out yet. Come on!" I say, and I take Whip's hand, and I lead her to the dungeon's exit. We almost make it, when, surprise, surprise, Otsuna blocks my way, growling.

"Oh, Bolas above... Get out of my way, mutt, before I throw you into the sun." I command, But Otsuna does not obey, and continues to stalk toward me like a deranged animal.

"No! I was tasked with killing you, Malideus, and I will succeed." Otsuna says, and she then Lunges at me, forcing me to swing my staff to the side, and I knock Otsuna away, slamming her into a wall. Then, instinctively, I aim my staff at her, and before she can get up, I cast a nasty fireball at her, and the Timberwolf explodes into fiery wooden chunks, no longer a threat to me. This disturbs Whip a little, but before she can protest, I grip her hand, and run out into the main lobby with her. Then, once we reach it, we stop, and I don't like what I see. Instead of guarding like I said, Gondon is unconscious, several throwing knives embedded in his hide, and Flitterfeather's neck has been sliced, and he was dead... but not by Gondon. No... this was the work... of a ninja. Suddenly, I hear Whip gasp, and I look up to see where she's pointing: Kitsune, on top of a pillar, holding one big-ass throwing star. Where the fuck did she get that!?

"Malideus... It's over for you! You could have stayed away and lived, but now you've messed it all up. Please, don't take this personally." Kitsune says, raising her giant throwing star, but I make a talking motion with my hand, and she becomes flustered quickly.
"Are... you mocking me?!" Kitsune says, but I roll my eyes, initiating another snarky comment.

"No, it's my ventriloquism act; As soon as I kill you, I'm going to use your severed head as a sock puppet!" I threaten, and I raise my staff at her, ready to punish the traitorous cur for her betrayal. To think I hired her! What an idiot I was...

Kitsune sighed. "You really don't get it, do you? You have more enemies than you think, Malideus. You could have just let it lie, and stayed captured, but now I have to kill you. I liked you as a boss, and this is going to be a bad experience for me, but I have to do this." Kitsune says, and I want to know why, I mean, I REALLY want to know why, but I don't want to hear it anymore. No more cliche, no more betrayal, this ends here!

"Then do it!" I shout, furious. "Fucking kill me, then, you whiny little bitch!" I shout, and Kitsune sighs again, and begins the fight. It wasn't anything notable, really. Dodge this shuriken, avoid that star, nothing I haven't done before, and she looked ready to run out of shurikens and stuff. Clearly, she didn't anticipate a drawn-out battle. So, I dodged, and dodged, but then, Kitsune pulled something cheap: ninja stuff.

"I hoped you'd at least play dead, Malideus, but you're being a nuisance! If this is what you want, though, then have it!" Kitsune exclaims, and before I can ask her what the hell she's talking about, she attaches a tag to one of her throwing knives, and my pupils shrink at the sight of it.

"No..." I mutter, remembering Tobi and Yoshi. Then, as soon as Kitsune throws the tagged knife, I take Whip and take us both out of it's path, whereupon it explodes into more knives, going outward in a circle. Cheap Naruto shit!!!! And as if to further spite me, Kitsune keeps throwing these things, and I keep dodging. She has to run out of these at some point... right? Suddenly, I make a bad dodge, and a throwing knife finally catches the unarmored part of my arm, and grazes the skin, and causes me to stumble, just as she throws another knife, this one with TWO tags instead of one, and I begin to panic. Dammit, I disobeyed ninja rule number one: Never get cocky around a ninja! Anyway, I then tried to dodge it, and it missed me by inches, but not only exploded into knives (which my armor thankfully blocked), but the knives it shot EXPLODED! Like, boom! Fire, shrapnel, the whole nine yards. Damn, these guys really want to get rid of me! So, seeking to end this now, before I fucking die, I aim my staff at Kitsune as she prepares another tagged knife, and prepare to fire another death-bolt.

"This is it for you, Kitsune! You have failed me... for the last time!" I shout, but before I can fire the spell, Kitsune throws her knife, and time slows down as the knife speeds toward me, and I didn't even fire my spell yet. Then, in a single, painful instant, something shoves me out of the way, interrupting my spell, and I turn to see... Whip. She pushed me out of the way, leaving herself in the path of a death-knife. But the worst part was... she was smiling the whole time. Then, time sped back up, the knife contacted her... and she, well, exploded, a pained look on her face the whole time. I felt nothing but emptiness at that point, and I could only watch her lifeless body get flung into a wall. That... pissed me off. I watched, and before I knew it, I was out of it. But unlike last time, it wasn't just darkness. It was like seeing in tunnel vision, and watching it all kinda 'whoosh' by me... but I couldn't remember anything, only a few tidbits, including a laser, Kitsune getting torn in half, and tearing down a wall, but my memory goes blank at that point. All I could do was watch, and think about it.

Finally, some time later, I wake up, not really remembering where I am, or how I got here. Then, though, I see the cave mouth, and I look around, confused, and I see Makuta, looking pretty worn.

"Ooogh… What hit me…? What…? Makuta? What happened here?” I ask, unaware of anything I'd just been through. Nonetheless, he replied to my question, if in a slightly disbelieving tone:

“You turned into a demon thing, remember?” He says, and I look around, unable to remember any of it. A demon-thing? What? Well, even so, I just roll with it, seeing as this has happened to me before.

“Uh… yeah, I think so. But I don’t remember why… Well, no point dwelling on it. Is everyone taken care of?” I ask. Makuta nodded, but his tone turned somber real quickly, and he spoke something I almost dreaded to hear.

“Yes. By the way… you may want to see this.” Makuta says, and that cold, creeping sensation worms up my spine again, and I know something's happened... I just wish I didn't have to be reminded. Then, Makuta shows me what I dreaded most: I thought it was like a horrible, twisted dream from the depths of hell itself, but it wasn't Whip... was dead. Apparently, I'd carried her here while I was... out of it. But I didn't feel angry, for some reason. In fact, I really couldn't feel anything, really. “I’m afraid that she died before I could heal the body. If I’d managed to get there, I might have been able to save her.” I stare at the body, and Makuta awkwardly pats me on the back... but I don't acknowledge. We waited a while, and then Makuta spoke again. “If it’s any consolation, you might not have been able to save her. Now, I think the terms of our agreement are at an end.” Makuta finally said, opening the portal, and his three Rhakshi flew through, though I didn't see how. Makuta then reopened it, preparing to make the jump. But I shot my hand out, grabbing the towering robot's arm and holding him there. A fuckin' ballsy move on my part, but my emotions were a bit... rampant as of now, and my brain's danger centers were out like lights.
Anyway, I then looked at Makuta, thinking things I shouldn't have been thinking, like sorrow and stuff, and said something that, in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have said.

“You’re a god, and you couldn’t save her?! Or were you just exaggerating your abilities?” Makuta sighed.

“Malideus, there are some things that even the gods themselves cannot fix.” In that moment, I felt my mind start to slip again, but I grabbed at it, not wanting to go back to that horrible blackness. So, I simply kept talking, as that seemed to keep me sane.

“Why? Why do there have to be these limits on your powers?! Why?!” I yelled in a manly fashion, and I saw that Makuta was looking at me weird, like a parent trying to comfort a kid. As much as I tried to differentiate my self from who I was before all this... I'm still only a teenager, having never really dealt with loss like this. Maybe Makuta wasn't that different. When his bug-minions got hurt, he seemed to get pissed. And Celestia... Man, did she always get pissed. and yet, she won't kill me and be done with it. Was that her motherly instinct, too? Putting a rambunctious child in time-out until it could play nice? I... I need time to think. Almost all my inner circle is dead or gone, and I just really lost here, even though the victory was mine. Suddenly, with a wave of Makuta's hand, a large chunk of earth was torn out. He then moved Whip's body in, clumsily, and then gently dropped the earth back down and smoothed it over.

“I’ve done all I can. Jarvis?” The Shadow Kraata seemed surprised, and turned to Makuta, as if saying something.
“Jarvis, I think you need a holiday. Stay with Malideus, as his… assistant, yes.” Jarvis looked at him, then back to me. Okay, what? Before I could ask the question, though, Makuta spoke up, quelling my thoughts. “I feel that you need a companion. And Jarvis, for his faults, will serve you well. Jarvis! Tell Malideus a complete list of your powers later, but now, I must leave.” Makuta said finally, replacing his mask on his face, then turned to me one more time.
“Malideus… you have a dark power within yourself. Try to keep it under wraps from now on. If it gets out again… you might lose yourself entirely.”
And with that, he left for his own universe, closing the portal behind him, and leaving me with a feeling of confusion, and... Jarvis. At least I had calmed down... but I don't know about the whole leaving it here thing... Ah, well, I guess he's KINDA cute, like a legless cat, or something. But for the life of me, I don't know what use he'd be...

"Oh, you'd be surprised of the uses I have." A voice in my mind, different from my inner voice, sounded off, causing me to jump.

"Y-you t-talk!?" I ask, stunned, and the worm-like thing named Jarvis slides toward me, crawling up my arm.

"Only to those I direct my voice at. But more importantly, I have many, many other uses as well, all of them very destructive in the right hands. Care to hear them all?" Jarvis asks, and I feel my mood lighten already, if only marginally.

"Yeah... go ahead." I say, walking toward the cave.

Tomorrow... is gonna be a long, long day.

Author's Notes:

Made in Collaboration with SsendamtheMasked's story Casting a Shadow. Sure was fun, but now Mal has to start all over again, with only, like, one or two allies left.

Joy.