Prism Keeper Red leaps into the air again with a shriek as the prince boy literally *explodes* -- and she's not the only one who's surprised, it seems. As the shouts echo off the walls of the hallway, the floor beneath them comes to life, speeding them to some far off destination. It makes her think of those things in the airport that move people around quicker. Except, you know, terrifying.
"STOP YELLING!" Red screams as they slam to a halt in total darkness, lit only by the real, actual flames that are coming out of this weird guy. "You're gonna make it notice us--"
There's a whirring of gears, a scraping of metal like some skeleton trying to speak. And then two, menacingly yellow eyes open several dozen feet above their heads, rolling about in their sockets until they finally land on the pair of elementary school warriors.
Fighting against something like this in the dark is sooooo not what she signed up for. Eep.
"Umm..." she stutters, backing into Tadase as she gets as far away from those horrifying eyes as she can. "Can you, like, find some way to turn the lights on in here? Or just light on fire again? I'm not sure we can fight this thing if we can't see it." To demonstrate, she fires off a blast of red magic, which fizzles harmlessly in the dark. "I'll try to distract it while you do."
"And please, be try to be *quiet*!"
With that whispered warning, Red swallows hard, then kicks off into the blackness, encasing herself in crimson light to draw the attention of the Witch's eyes. "Hey! Over here! Bet you can't catch me, nana-nana-nanaaaa!" It would probably be a lot more convicing if she could keep the shaking out of her voice as she flies around.
Tadase is a little stunned. There's no time for apologies. But he's whispering them anyways. "I am so sorry - you can't say p... that word around me or that happens." he whispers, trying to get words in to explain. But then Prism Keeper Red is off, and Tadase is alone. Well, not entirely elone.
"Tadase, I don't like this!" Kiseki whispers, into his ear after she's dashed out. "Well, neither do I." he whispers back. "But she's gone off on her own and the least we can do is try to find some sort of light switch."
Tadase continues to fumble around in the darkness for some time, avoiding the harsh glare of those yellow orbs. His hand hits something metallic, and it feels kinda like a switch, so he tries to turn it. And tries again. And it's the second time when two smaller yellow eyes light up, revealing a gaping metal mouth that tries to take a bite out of Tadase! He jumps back with a small yelp, but a skeletal hand comes out of the darkness and swats at him, drawing blood!
"HOLY CROWN!" He calls out, loud enough to once again break all rules about silence - but also creating a flash of light as a giant silver-gold crown erupts out of his scepter, slamming into the automaton and crushing it against the wall. It makes a metallic scrapping noise as it slides off the wall and into pieces.
Red doesn't know what, but *something* Tadase did must have worked, because just as she's charging up to fire another bolt of magic, the Labyrinth's 'lights' flicker on, illuminating the true form of the Witch they're fighting.
The Prism Keeper screams.
Those yellow, ominously huge eyes belonged to a gigantic, metallic skeleton. Well, *half* a skeleton. It has a ribcage of rusted steel, a spine, arms that end in spear-like fingers, and a head with a full set of razor teeth. And bunny ears, of all things, as though Red needed another innocent thing in her life to be terrified of.
The lower half of the Witch seems to be some kind of sealed off room. There's a sobbing noise coming from it. Could -- could one of the Witch's victims be trapped inside?!
"Tadase!" the girl yells out once she's gotten her wits about her, still soaring about to avoid the monster's hands, which have shot out to grasp her now that she can be plainly seen. "There's someone in the room below the Witch, I think! Can you try to rescue the -- augh!"
Her flying is still not very practiced, and as she tries to barrel roll out of the way of the giant hand, it smacks her into a nearby wall. Some combination of adrenaline and heroic determination keeps her going, though, and she pushes away from it as soon as the ringing in her ears has let up.
"Alright, you awful monster! We're not going to let you eat those kids today!" Red yells, conjuring her Chroma Wand for more powerful magic. With a twirl in mid-air, the girl sends out multiple blasts of color that explode on impact with the Witch, coloring several spots of its body crimson and scarlet.
It lets out a shriek of fury.
Tadase looks up at the huge creature. He tries really hard to keep himself from shaking. He fails horribly, his scepter jittering in his hand like a localized earthquake as he points it at the massive creature. Kiseki is equally scared, but after a moment he steels himself for the fight, and does his best to keep Tadase's mind on what's important. "If there are people down there, Tadase, you have to be strong for them. And you have to be strong for the kids who have been wandering in here. A strong, brave King has to protect his subjects!"
Kiseki's little rant snaps Tadase out of his fear, and helps him fight against all the negative emotions swirling about. It's the reminder of what he is, what he wants to do, and the fact that this monster in front of him, terrifying though it may be, is trying to hurt people. And Tadase won't stand for it.
"Lets save them then, Red-chan!" he shouts. He begins to collect a massive amount of energy in the end of his scepter, causing it to glow a brilliant shade of golden white! "I won't let you hurt anyone. Not while I'm here." he says, his voice full of determination.
"IMPERIAL SEAL!" he calls out, and a shattering blast of energy bursts forth from his scepter. The lines break up, little bursts of energy that pepper the witch and surround her in an opaque white orb. She's still for now, but the witch quickly begins to fight out, one massive arm bursting through the orb's containment. "Now, Red-chan!"
Magic burst after magic burst further illuminates the dim light of the Witch's chamber, bringing about a much more cheerful atmosphere than the flickering shadows and smell of burnt pizza had originally created. This seems to make the Witch furious, and she begins to spin the upper half of her body, making Red's airspace a deathtrap of whirling razor blades. By some miracle, the girl manages to shoot out of the way, pure survival instinct carrying her further than her actual skill.
She doesn't think much when she hears Tadase's shout. He's set her up for the finishing blow -- now's the time to see the battle finished. And she knows exactly what to say.
"Chroma Prism Power! Red Rain!"
A flash of scarlet shoots from the jewel atop her Chroma Wand, making contact on the 'ceiling' above the Witch's head and raining down a barrage of bright, unrelenting color, until the metal skeleton breaks apart, collapsing in pieces around the main chamber.
The world goes all woozy -- and then, everything's back to normal. Well, as normal as an abandoned pizza parlor can look, with the unconscious bodies of at least a dozen elementary schoolers lying around in booths and on top of tables.
"We did it! We won!" Red yells, inadvertantly setting off a firework above her head in happiness. She turns on her heel to face Tadase...but before she sees him, a small black orb sitting on top of a dilapidated table catches her eye. "Huh. Hey, Tadase," she says, going over to pick it up, "do you know what this is?"
"Hmmm. I don't know." Tadase says, obviously more interested in the plight of the young children in the booths. Kiseki floats over to it. "Tadase, this thing isn't an X-egg, but it also isn't any good." he says, shuddering a little as he gets closer. "It's probably not good for anyone to keep." Kiseki adds, turning to the Prism Keeper. "We should probably find a way to dispose of it, Tadase." he adds.
"Do you think that's safe? Maybe it's still important to someone, like the x-eggs are." he adds, as he walks around checking on all the still-unconscious gradeschoolers.
Then, it hits him like a rock to the face. Etiquitte. He's not following it. And suddenly, he dashes over to Prism Keeper Red. "I'm very sorry..." he says, boowing "for my actions earlier. Thank you for your help!" He's red-faced.