It's only a single piece finale, but we don't skim on the action. We have a full five preludes in addition to the finish to our story!

I don't want to say too much but I am very partial to the cleverness I feel I pulled off in this story. And pay attention as you might find this story warrants a second or third read through to catch it all.

 
Prelude 1/5

The skies had clouded up with an unnatural quickness and a disquieting uniformity. The crack of thunder seemed to precede the lightning which caused it. The air had a dirty, bitter taste to it unlike the normal gentle rainfall usually found in the Degrassi area. More than a simple inexplicable aberration in the weather pattern, it brought with it an unmistakable sense of impending dread.

The wind whipped itself to ferocious levels under the incoming storm.

A pair of figures braved the winds and made their way out of the main area of the city, watched by only a few stray snakes. The first, Konall Bearsmasher, lumbered on without any acknowledgement of the wind. The second looked more wary of it, although his attention, like Konall's, fell on greater matters.

"That went better than I expected," the ambidextrous space elf Glyn commented in reference to the dozen or so brawlers and fighters following the two, having joined after a moving speech by Konall on rising to retake control of Degrassi from the Knob Goblins.

Konall nodded. "Yeah, I'm not surprised. There's probably a lot more that are getting sick of having my sister and the Felines in control here. Personally, I'm looking forward to kicking them out."

As they continued on in silence, Glyn took a few local readings with his cysuit's sensors. It confirmed what he already knew. "I'm going to hazard a guess that the storm isn't natural."

"Good guess," Konall said. "Probably tied to my sister's latest dark arts."

Glyn nodded and started to speak when something got his attention. He frowned and turned to Konall with a sense of urgency. "We need to get moving. Now."

"What?" Konall asked. "Worried about getting your suit wet?"

An image flashed inside of Konall's mind, superimposed over his field of vision. He started to protest when he realized what the image was. He couldn't make out the details but it was clear bodies were starting to fall in the bookstore. He could pick up on the screams of the philosophy students and brawlers he'd already recruited.

Something was very wrong. Glyn and Konall broke into a dead run, leaving Konall’s bewildered backup behind.

 
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Prelude 2/5

Elsewhere, Sebastian and Jen received a similar vision, courtesy of a nanite powered transmission.

"What the blazes was that?" Dash asked, holding his temple. The rush of sound and imagery disoriented Dash but he could make out terrified Gnollish teens screaming and a couple corpses in the vision.

"I'm trying to find.." Jen started saying. "Ah. It would seem some of your old enemies are up to a massacre. Unless you have an incredibly good reason, I'm authorizing them to step in to stop the massacre."

"Absolutely," Dash said. "But tell them to stay defensive til we can get there for backup. Judging by the vision, Mimi’s behind this. We need to get there as.."

"Where are they?" Cattaras demanded, piecing together the information. Ignoring the small watersnakes gathering to watch the strangers, Jen pointed towards the farms in the distance.

"Don't rush off, Catt, we need..." but Dash was talking to thin air. With a burst of chi inspired speed, Cattaras vanished into the distance. Dash shrugged as he and Jen took off.

 
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Prelude 3/5

Their movements didn’t go unnoticed.

Over in the distance, Becky Joy and her squad of four Knob Goblins (Goblina, the veteran soldier Darson, and brothers Red and Green) had promised to keep Sassy Snake company. She was feeling a little down over her earlier failures to track down a Gnollish farmer named Shava. After all, Shava’s nephew had died in Sassy’s arms of a stab wound. His last wish was for her take his blade and tell his uncle in Degrassi Knoll not to sell his farm nor his mushrooms.

Sassy wasn’t terribly surprised that Becky seemed interested in helping out the local Gnollish people of Degrassi Knoll. She was only slightly more surprised that Becky was actually pretty good at helping people, judging by Sassy’s brief time with her so far. Becky might act like a playful little girl but she could be a pretty smart woman when she chose!

Something else grabbed Sassy's attention; Becky quickly noticed and asked, "Whatchya lookin at, Sassy?!"

Three figures were moving at various rates in the distance. One moved ahead so fast, it looked like a streak and at first, Sassy wasn't entirely sure if it was her eyes playing tricks. But two other figures moved to follow the streak.

"Those people over there," Sassy said. "I'm pretty sure one of them is Sebastian Dash. You're familiar with him, right?"

"Yes! Is that Aleenie? I can't tell, that girl has brown hair.. oh! Maybe it's Katherine Swift crossed over with Aleenie! Or maybe it's Aleenie's friend and she's also a space elf, and we're supposed to play tag with them?!" Becky let out a squeal of delight over the thought of a game of tag with Dash and his friends.

Sassy frowned. "Or maybe something serious is going on."

Becky gasped! "I never thought of that."

"We are the law," Darson said.

"You didn’t say ‘haw haw!" Becky protested.

"He's a'right!" Red agreed. "It's our duty to ... er.. be that thing. The law."

"We better go and tag them," Becky said. "And then ask if we can help, just in case!"

"Good idea," Sassy said. Goblina nodded in agreement. They started towards wherever Dash and not-Aleena and the streak were moving towards, with Green lagging behind, cowering slightly.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Green said with a shiver.

 
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Prelude 4/5

Zed listened carefully from the hiding spot he'd chosen moments earlier when he'd gotten a tingle in his nose and realized Becky was near. Not wanting to (putting it politely) interrupt her patrol so she could question him again, he'd ducked behind the nearest shed, where he could keep an eye on the six until they passed.

Then it became obvious they were following Sebastian Dash. If Zed had to guess, the streak of light was the local sheriff, Cattaras Whiteclaw. Of course, Zed remembered the space elf Jen. If she was around, likely the other elves would be nearby.

They were obviously heading towards the mushroom farms, where Zed expected Konall was likely to also show up. Zed's next course of action was clear; he'd shadow Becky Joy's group and make his way south to see what was going on.

He just hoped Gail didn't show up with those brownies of hers, as that was the only way he could imagine that things could get any worse.

 
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Prelude 5/5 Earlier

 
A familiar group of scrawny knollish twenty-somethings gathered around a table at the Degrassi bookstore.

"So we're in agreement?" asked a female Gnoll. Her hair was pushed up into gray bows and looked ready to spill out. She used a finger to pull her thick glasses down her nose slightly. "The constitution clearly states we have no legal obligation to pay taxes on our own private thoughts?"

"Absolutely," another responded. "But we should get back to our original topic, since I don't really think they were going to do that, anyway."

"What was that, again?" she asked.

"Rollcall!" The only other girl in the room blurted out excitedly. As the only two females who attended these meetings on a regular basis, the two had grown to be bestest of friends even though they each secretly longed to be considered the alpha female of the group of Gnollish youngsters who dedicated themselves to the pursuit and discussion of philosophy and higher matters.

"Rollcall will have to wait." Two mysterious elven beings, dressed in their black cysuits, walked into the room. "Who are you all and where's Konall Bearsmasher?"

Having decided to split off and explore on their own, they'd missed Glyn's meeting with Konall. Eventually, they wound up at the bookstore after finding out he'd been using it as a covert meeting place. If you think about it, the fact they'd been able to pick up the information off the streets with relative ease spoke poorly of the meetings' secrecy.

Several of the students seemed to recognize them. "Space elven ranger ninja force! Raven and Tarvel!"

"Ah," Raven said. "Drop off the ranger, ninja and possibly force parts. How did you know of our identities?"

"We keep up on the news," one of the girls responded. "Seriously, people from space are big news."

"Makes sense," Raven said. Tarvel started to say something but there was no time. "Can you secure the perimeter?"

Tarvel nodded and started for the door. As she opened the door she suddenly stumbled, fighting to keep her balance. The others quickly suffered similar effects as someone kicked the door open from the other side. Tarvel barely managed to form her suit into the form of a shield in time to avoid a bullet aimed at her chest. The deflected bullet flew over the heads of the philosophy students, sending them into a panic. Worse, a second wave of nausea washed over the space elf, weakening her and leaving her primed for a force bolt to take her off her feet!

As Tarvel crashed into the students, Raven went on the offense as his suit formed a couple throwing daggers in his hand. The threats were familiar. "Soul shield, shadow puppet guy, back for another beating huh?"

A familiar male and female stepped through the doors. The male glared at her. "I'm a shadow puppet KING, damn you!"

The female waved her hand dramatically at Raven; he stumbled under Soul Shield's powerful life force absorbing abilities. Tarvel was still down; Raven would be in trouble if they kept this up. As anticipated, dark miasma started to gather around him into forms. He lashed out at Soul Shield with one of his daggers. She threw up a shield which barely stopped the momentum of the dagger. Instead of fighting the newly created dark forms, Raven grabbed one and threw it into the male, sending him back. To his surprise, a blast of energy slammed into Soul Shield's protective barrier, causing it to crack and causing her to wince, her energy strained. Tarvel’s attack, no doubt.

Things were looking good until Raven's sensors picked up a third lifeform. A female. Not wasting any time, an Asian looking girl caught him square in the chest with a leaping kick, sending Raven back. She had a primitive pistol on each hand.

"Ohh, you brought me target practice! How nice!" Mimi said, almost screeching as she started firing point blank into the confused, terrified students. Their screams drowned out the rising hissing noise from outside the bookstore. Bodies started dropping almost immediately, most wounded and a few already dead.

Raven quickly broadcast the battle images to his elven allies as well as Dash and Konall. Raven leaped back into action, but was taken down by a force blast from Soul Shield.

Damn it!

 
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The weight of the image pushed Konall on faster than he usually moved, even in battle. He'd seen the students being massacred in the vision. As the leader of the rebellion, they were his responsibility. A lone snake scampered out of the way, barely avoiding being crushed by Konall's boot. An ominous burst of thunder shook the lands.

Glyn's outfit had shifted from casual colorful clothing to more traditional dark grays and black, reflecting the moody weather. He kept up quite well with the larger Bearsmasher. His cysuit kept the area scanned.

"Not much further," he assured Konall. Seconds later, his sensors caught something. "Something's moving in, it might be an.."

Before he could get the last word out, an orange and black streak zipped past them. Glyn automatically finished his thoughts. "Ambush? Nevermind. That's.."

Konall interrupted him. "Cattaras, I know."

Konall pushed himself to move even faster. Meanwhile, Cattaras used the last bit of his chi inspired speed to burst into the bookstore.

"Enough!" Cattaras demanded, hoping to bring the fighting to an end. "What is going on here?"

Kadlin uncloaked, seeming to appear out of nowhere. Mimi had been fighting off Glyn while simultaneously snuffing out innocent lives, but as the fighting drew to a stop, the students started trying to get out. Kadlin fired a burst into the air. A mystical, menacing air of power crackled around her.

"No!" she demanded. "This is a rebellion inspired by my brother. As you've failed to stop a rebellion under your nose, Cattaras, I've taken your job upon myself. They all die."

Konall's would be rebels began to scream for their lives. That stopped when Cattaras roared.

"No!" Cattaras walked over, starring the smaller Kadlin down. She didn't move. "This is my territory. No one dies until I get to the bottom of this."

Instead of answering him, Kadlin simply nodded to Mimi, who turned and fired a shot off at Cattaras. He dodged to the side, using his chi-speed to avoid the blast and take her down. "Enough of this, Kad-"

Whatever Cattaras planned to say, Kadlin cut him off with a powerful blast of hot sauce. He barely dodged it. It left a hole in the wall. Even before it spattered off the black armor of the large figure on the other side of the hole in the wall, Cattaras had Kadlin by the throat, his claws digging into the flesh and muscle of her neck.

"I said, enough!" Cattaras said. That was all he was able to get out. Holding her by the throat made him a perfect target for a lightning attack. Cattaras let go, staggering backwards, as the large figure lunged through the hole in the wall.

Cattaras found himself trapped from behind in the arms of the Black Paladin!

Cattaras roared and struggled against the Paladin but it was in vain. Soul Shield and the unnamed shadow puppet king moved in to finish Cattaras off. Cattaras could feel Soul Shield trying to drain his lifeforce. Shadowy figures came to unlife around him. A powerful blast suddenly cut the figures down! Tarvel stumbled to her feet and fired another shot, being careful to avoid the injured and fleeing Gnollish rebels.

"Hey, shooting things is my angle, pal!" With that, Mimi aimed each of her twin pistols and shot Tarvel square in the chest. Tarvel's cysuit adjusted to absorb the impact, but it still slammed into her like, well, twin bullets. The force of the impact knocked the wind out of her.

Paladin looked towards the source of the distraction then returned his attention to Cattaras. Or rather, where Cattaras's body had been a moment ago. Right then, several cobras wrapped themselves around the Paladin's armored legs.

Konall burst through the front door, sending it flying off its hinges. Unfortunately for Mimi, the door flew through the room to slam into her, knocking her out. Glyn quickly followed in and moved to aid Tarvel with the wounded. Kadlin also found herself under the assault of several snakes of a more poisonous variety. A powerful burst of magic sent the snakes flying.

"Is that all you have?" Kadlin asked, raising the glaive over her head. She was so close! They weren't going to stop her now. "Siding with the KOKOL lowlifes, Cattaras? Pathetic."

"We're not with KOKOL anymore," Konall warned his sister. "Give up the glaive, Kadlin. You've got to know it's using you!"

"Save your breath," Kadlin answered. "You'll need it to beg for mercy."

Glyn took a formal approach. "You're outnumbered, Kadlin Bearsmasher. Surrender."

"Outnumbered?!" Kadlin scoffed as the Black Paladin, Soul Shield and the Shadow Puppet King gathered around her.

"You heard the man." That was the voice of Sebastian Dash, who'd snuck behind Kadlin, along with Jen. Meanwhile, support for Konall poured in through the hole in the wall in the form of Sassy Snake and Becky Joy. Zed Shinestone quickly followed through the door to take his place for the big fight.

Kadlin turned towards the last of the protesters who were fleeing. "Kill them."

"Protect the Gnollish and take these jerks down!" Konall ordered. Even the brawlers were out of their leagues here. But with Sassy, Becky, Zed, Dash, Cattaras and the four space elves on his side, he wasn't finding that much of a problem.

Tarvel looked like she was having problems moving after the abuse she'd taken.

The space elves moved to protect and evacuate the bystanders, with Jen and Glyn taking charge.

After a brief staredown between the two forces, one member from each side - Cattaras and Black Paladin- charged forward. Paladin swung his sword at Cattaras who easily dodged it. The 'big cat' circled around Paladin and sprung off Black Paladin's badassium armor, using the momentum to dive towards Kadlin! Paladin spun to stalk Cattaras, but a blast of ice caught him from behind, staggering the Paladin.

Cattaras's chi powered speed made him a blur to the naked eye but something moved faster still to remove Kadlin out of his line attack. Cattaras recovered, landing on all fours before he could slam into the wall. It didn't help much. A body slammed into Cattaras at inhuman speed, sending both through the nearest window and to the fields outside.

Cattaras turned, but saw nothing. "Face me, coward!"

A figure in odd, yellowish armor appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Cattaras looked him over then actually smirked in defiance. "You move pretty fast. Scrawny thing, though."

"Time mage," Slit said. "Enough talking. Die!"

Inside, Soul Shield's attention turned to Sebastian Dash, who collapsed, holding his ribs as the life force was sucked out of him. Black Paladin chased Becky and her Knob Goblins outside the door. As soon as Paladin exited the door, a massive python dropped down on him. He struggled to throw it off and then found himself surrounded by Becky Joy, her four Knob Goblins, and Sassy Snake!

"Sassy, I don't think he wants to play 'hey law who's got the paw' with us," Becky said.

"That's 'haw haw who's the law?' Sassy corrected. "And no, he doesn't seem like the game playing type, which is unfortunate for him. Let's finish him off."

"Don't you wanna go and sing and dance and heal the poor Gnollies and stuff?" Becky said, frowning at the idea that Mimi shot them.

"I can't!" Sassy said. "Not yet anyway. The snakes around here are different. They need me to command them. I think."

Becky threw up an ice shield as Paladin charged at her. It barely slowed him down. Goblina pulled Becky to the side.

"I think he's done listening to us talk," Goblina said. Meanwhile, Konall circled around his sister as Dash fought his way to his feet, only to fall to his knees.

"Your friend's in trouble," Kadlin said, her back to Konall. "But if you'd rather die by my hands.."

"He can handle himself," Konall said defiantly. He let his rage build up. It would fuel him in battle, give him the reflexes and determination he needed to go through with this fight. His sister's fists crackled with dark energy. "I'm taking the glaive one way or another, Kadlin."

"You want a fight?" She mocked him. Instead of engaging him, she blew a small hole in the side of the wall and walked out. "Too bad."

"I'm not done with you yet!" Haxxor at the ready, Konall charged through the hole, making it considerably bigger. However, a pair of brutes rushed, slamming into Konall and sending him back into the building, which shook with impact.

"But I'm done with you, dear brother." Kadlin pointed a finger into the sky and dramatically fired off a single fire burst. Konall wasn't sure if she was boasting or sending a signal. Right now, his attention was on the two brutes and guard surrounding him.

Not good, Zed Shinestone thought to himself. Shadowy clones of the other fighters surrounded him. They looked like they were made of smoke but obviously had some substance to them. Beyond that, Dash looked to be in trouble against the Soul Shield fellow. A shadowy wraith in the image of Cattaras Whiteclaw dove at Zed but it lacked the speed or power of the real thing. Zed's spear ran through it and it vanished in a large puff of smoke. He used the momentum to swing his body around, using his hunting spear to destroy another two of the dark formed enemies.

The bookstore shook. Other than Dash, Zed and their opponents, the others had moved the fight outside the building, which was probably good. It looked ready to collapse any moment. Highly acute hearing alerted Zed to some of the activity going on outside. A multitude of snakes hissed. The air cracked with the sound of ice magic, over which Zed could hear Konall's battlecries and those of the others.

Something out of the corner of Zed's eyes drew his attention back to his present situation; a shadowy clone of Zed himself swung a staff at Zed's head. Zed leaned backwards, head touching the ground as he let the smoky staff cut the air where his chest had been a moment ago. Using his flexibility to his advantage, Zed kicked at the shadow puppet, but it avoided with grace nearly equal to Zed's own.

Zed paused to wonder how many of the abilities a shadow puppet could copy. If they could unleash Kadlin's magic or Konall's rage, he’d be in trouble. Ahh, the perfect opportunity to test the theory; one looking like Becky Joy formed in front of him with an ominous, serpent-like giggle. She immediately took aim at Zed. Zed positioned himself between the shadowy version of the ice mage and the shields of Soul Shield, who had taken to punching a near defenseless Sebastian Dash repeatedly. The shadowy female figured fired not ice but a powerful burst of shadow tentacles, which Zed sidestepped. The blast caught Soul Shield's protective barrier dead on, causing her to yell out in pain. She dropped Sebastian Dash, who immediately pulled a pair of steel ball bearings, attached by a thick rubber cord. Dash nailed Soul Shield with it as Zed took out a shadowy wraith in the form of one of the male space elves. Zed and Dash then turned on Soul Shield, taking her last shield out with their weapons, Dash's broadsword and Zed's spear. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

"You'll pay for that!" yelled the shadowy puppet mage, who summoned a new horde of shadow puppets, pushed on by rage. Outside, Cattaras felt two daggers slice his body. He lashed out, hoping to catch Slit, but it did no good. Slit's ability to bend time let him move at a fair rate faster than Cattaras's chi let the man-tiger move. Cattaras rolled to the side as Slit rushed in, lashing out at Slit. Slit dodged backwards in time (not literally) to avoid the counterattack. His intuition at defending against Cattaras Whiteclaw's attacks was amazing- and unnerving. Cattaras rushed forward in another chi inspired attempt to get the advantage, hoping to weave one way and then shift back, sending his body into Slit's and hopefully stunning the thyme mage. Yet the mage seemed to sense it coming. He dodged forward the very second Cattaras shifted his weight. It let Slit avoid the attack. As if the time magic wasn't bad enough...

Of course, time mage. If he was seeing a moment into the future. Cattaras took a long shot, clearing his mind of all thoughts and battle instinct. The elders had often spoke of how the future wasn't set but dictated by Feline and Goddess. Cattaras let pure instinct take over and focused his thoughts on pure chaos. He wasn't sure how long it took or what happened. It felt like both an eternity of focus and a split second of chaos. Then he found himself standing over an unconscious Slit; neither were quite sure what happened, but there was a small chunk missing from Slit's armor.

Cattaras realized he was holding it. He threw it at the thyme mage. Cattaras grinned at his fallen foe. "Time for something different."

He started to focus his chi into speed when a large bear smashed him from behind. Cattaras fell to the ground, vision clouded. He forced his face off the ground to see the bear and another familiar figure. "You! How.. dare.."

The bear interrupted by slamming a meaty paw across Cattaras's head, sending him into unconscious. A familiar brightly colored boot stepped over Cattaras's now unconscious body. Elsewhere, Paladin swung a large axe directly at Sassy Snake's head, but Becky pushed Sassy gently to the side with a mild gust of cold air. Paladin caught his balance and swung at Becky but she nailed him with an ice blast, using the momentum to force herself out of range of his attack. Sassy quickly scooted up to Becky's side.

"Watch out, there's a swamp behind you!"

"Huh?!" Becky asked, careful not to be too loud about it.

"My snake friends," Sassy replied, "told me to be careful of the swamp land behind you. You might slip into it."

Becky made a face and stuck her tongue out at the Paladin. His only response was to charge at her! Becky froze the ground as Sassy pulled the two to safety. Paladin's own momentum and the now frozen ground threw him off balance. He crashed into the soft swampy land, sinking several feet in. Becky quickly used all her might to freeze him into place!

"Whoa," Red said as he hopped off the Paladin's head, sinking Black Paladin deeper into the now frozen section of the swamp. "That's what I call usin' your head."

"Or your ice powers," Becky said meekly. She held her ribs, worn out from expending her power like that. "Tell them snakies I said 'thankies' for the idea!"

Sassy nodded. She and Goblina helped Becky back towards the other fights at the bookstore as Paladin struggled against the thick ice entrapping him. The girls rushed towards the bookstore, where Dash and Zed pulled Soul Shield's unconscious body out just as the roof collapsed. The unnamed shadow puppet 'king' dove through the hole but debris caught him on the head, knocking him out. Konall quickly took care of Kadlin's Knob Goblins. The three surrounded her. Becky, Sassy and Becky’s Goblins did likewise. However, Becky found no heart for fighting Kadlin. She turned and left, signaling her Goblins to go with her.

"Last chance," Dash said. Kadlin responded by taking him off his feet with a bolt of fire and lightning. Sassy rushed to check on Dash. Zed dodged a similar attack. Konall simply deflected the attack with a shield designed to handle magic. Zed rushed at Kadlin, who used his own momentum against him by waiting until the last second, then zapping him with a similar bolt which had brought Dash to his knees.

Sassy brought every snake she could to throw themselves on Kadlin but she threw them away with a burst of electricity and wind. Konall grabbed her from behind.

"Let.. go!" she ordered.

"Give up the glaive and get out of Degrassi!" Konall ordered, preparing himself to be either shocked, burned, or something'ed. Instead, a hand reached through his chest and pulled Kadlin through. A little creeped out, it took him a second to realize what happened.

It was no surprise when he turned to see Kadlin and Jester King standing together. Jester King whispered something inaudible to Kadlin, and handed her a small berry. She rubbed it on her cursed glaive.

"You want me out? Fine." Kadlin turned to leave and raised her glaive towards the sky. Another single shot of black light shot forth from it into the skies, turning them dark. The skies began to twist violently into stormclouds and tornadoes. "A parting gift to keep you busy."

Konall thought about going after her, but realized they had a crisis on their hands here. Kadlin let out a humorless laugh as she and the Jester King departed. Their allies would likely soon follow.

"By the way," Jester King said in his high pitched voice. "They've summoned you to Farnsworthy's Tower."

"'They?' Who?" Kadlin asked. "The Empire?"

"No," Jester King said, smiling widely. "The ones who will explain the darkness behind the glaive to you. The ones who could truly make you a goddess."

As they walked off, it was Jester King's laugh, not Kadlin's, which seemed to echo through the cursed lands of Degrassi.

It’s always nice to have a Finale I can look back on and appreciate. And to get this one up barely over a week after the last one went up is something I’m rather proud of, with the added bonus of having written the entire thing myself. It’s a finale to be proud of.

We’ll be back to more activity for the next mission, Guild Warriors II. That is another fun one.