Cubic Intrigue

"Ritom," Phoenicia looked at her new gauntlets. "I fail to see how exposing my arms makes me a better fighting companion."

"Chillax, droid gal!" Ritom spun his tools away. "It's supposed to give you more agility! And come on, I think Phoenicia revealing more of her body is pretty cute! Am I right, Elysia?"

"Well, yeah," Elysia flipped her knife in her hand. "I kinda like it. You look good, Phoenicia."

"Thank you!" Phoenicia smiled, swinging her fists to test Ritom's upgrade.

"And I politely ask!" Enshiron swiped up his violin from a tab. "Would you kind people care to take pleasure in a feast for the ears?"

"Yo, Elysia!" Naivern shouted. "Have you heard little Shien play his clarinet?"

"Little! Hey!" Shien flailed his arms at Naivern.

"Really?" Elysia stopped her knife flipping. "I thought it was just a weapon."

"Nope!" Ritom took his goggles off. "From his tiny body is a lot of hot air! You should hear his jazz!"

"I am not tiny!" Shien stomped.

"Easy there, shortie," Naivern stroked his head. "You wanna jam some intonation?"

Naivern opened a tab, bringing out her red electric guitar.

"You'd be a lot shorter once my jazz overpowers you, loud girl!" Shien smiled, summoning his cyber clarinet from a tab.

"Oh ho, really? Bring it, short stack!" Naivern lifted her hand high. "Nobody overpowers my forte!"

The rest of the group watched the two perform. Shien bent the notes, facing his clarinet in the air. Naivern's fingers landed through the strings, creating a background melody.

"And yet, you two have the audacity to leave me, Enshiron Kiiros, from the jamming fun?" Enshiron chimed, playing his violin. "Let us fill the atmosphere with satisfaction for our ears!"

Phoenicia, Ritom, and Elysia walked with their little band. Elysia could feel her Vulpi ears flutter with every note Shien bent with the strings. She smiled. The only time she enjoyed music was when Master Fermato played his cello for her. As she flipped her knife in her hand, she felt happy to hear beautiful music again. The silly group horsed their way through Tetrachrome to the Saberdome Arena.

"Almost there!" Shien tossed his clarinet up. "Just a couple blocks away!"

Catching his clarinet, he pointed to the large dome-shaped building. It had shining blue hexagon windows that blinked in sync with the booming music within Tetrachrome.

"Alright! Now we are getting somewhere!" Naivern cheered.

An explosion shook the atmosphere

"What was that?" Shien jumped.

Phoenicia's two antenna hairs stood on its ends.

"Danger detected!" Phoenicia said.

From the smoky building came out a male player wielding a sword. The man faced his sword at the front doors. The group could see that his health was very low.

"Hey!" Shien ran. "What-"

A being made of white cubes jumped from the doors and stabbed the player with its blade.

"Ugh! Cubic Regime!" Naivern activated her electric guitar.

Naivern Misshia

Level 85

HP: [67,900/67,900]

Trait 1: Hyper DJ

Trait 2: Symphonic Jammer

The group then saw the player become muffled with gray particles.

"That's not how the UICA programmed our death effects," Phoenicia blinked.

"Wait, what?" Ritom questioned.

The man disintegrated as a black tab emerged.

🕱 Player Terminated 🕱

Account Destroyed

The gang gasped, for a tab never notifies a player's death. They saw more cubic men roll out, blasting other players down with their gun swords. The pale white cubic men grumbled with one another, charging at the group.

Cubic Warrior

Level 45

HP: [45,000/45,000]

"What do those tabs mean?" Naivern activated her DJ monarch wings.

"Dunno," Shien shrugged. "That was weird."

"Guys! They're coming!" Elysia cracked her steel knuckles, charging at the cubic people.

"Wait!" Shien grabbed her back. "Let Naivern start things off. Ya good, loud girl?"

"Sure thing!" Naivern soared up into the sky.

"Whoop. There she goes! We should back up a bit," Ritom said.

"What?" Elysia tried to break away from Shien. "But we are going to fight!"

"We are! I mean space for Naivern!"

"The loud girl's gonna blow!" Shien dragged Elysia away.

"I say to you comrades! The show's about to commence! Please keep a safe distance at all times with your seatbelts on!" Enshiron smiled.

"But I was going to punch them!" Elysia clenched her teeth.

The gang watched to see Naivern dive down on the cubic enemies. She slammed the ground with fiery force, sending the cubic soldiers flying.

The cubic soldiers scattered about the streets. Naivern dealt massive damage to them. She jammed on her electric guitar to launch plasma synth waves at the enemies. The cubic warriors panicked as Naivern slashed them in half. Elysia was stunned.

"You see, Elysia," Phoenicia taught her. "Naivern possesses rare DJ weaponry, fully capable of devastating area attacks. Along with her DJ related traits, Naivern is exceptionally powerful."

"Uh-huh," Elysia replied.

"Yay! The enemies are scattered!" Shien jumped up and down. "Let's help our loud girl!"

Shien ran into the heat of battle, slamming the cubic men with his spinning clarinet staff. Elysia quickly joined in, pummeling the enemies with her knuckles. The rest of the gang nodded to each other, clashing their weapons with the cubic men's gun swords. One by one, the cubic soldiers fell, disintegrating into blue hexagons.

"Look out, people!" Ritom grinned. "Relax, and let your mechanic do the work!"

"And there's the one and only cue!" Enshiron shot a cubic warrior down with a cyclone blast from his violin. "Everyone get back!"

The rest of the group jumped away. Shien dragged Elysia from charging at the rest of the cubic enemies. Ritom's pyrotechnic blade transformed.

"Look out, buddies!" Naivern flew. "There goes our mechanic!

"Chillax, people! And, hoorah!" Ritom shouted.

Ritom's sword became a huge flamethrower, scorching the horde of cubic warriors. The street was filled with smoke and blue hexagons. Ritom spun his transforming blade back, smiling at the group.

"How was that?" Ritom shouted with triumph.

"Awesome!" Shien yelled as the group clapped.

"Did I impress you yet, Elysia?"

"Well, yeah," Elysia marveled at Ritom's fiery powers.

"Too bad your fire's forte falls short in comparison to mine, mechanic!" Naivern chuckled.

"Wanna bet, loud girl!" Ritom ran to her.

"Bring it! It's fire on fire!"

"Not again, guys," Shien laughed.

The gang laughed together. Phoenicia could still feel her antennas stand on its ends.

"I do not believe the fight is over," Phoenicia looked around.

"Huh?" Ritom stood next to her. "What do ya mean, droid gal?"

"What's that?" Elysia shoved her knuckles back.

The group looked across the street to see a rectangular platform hovering towards them with a few cubic warriors on top. On the armored platform was a cubic man holding a glowing machine gun.

Cubic Gunspeeder

Level 57

HP: [63,350/63,350]

The cubic gunner shouted as the machine gun set the streets ablaze.

"Crap, gunspeeder!" Shien protected the gang along with Phoenicia.

"We need to take cover!" Ritom said. "Let's go behind that building."

The group retreated just as Ritom said. All except Elysia, who was blocking the shots with her tungsten machete.

"Elysia!" Shien dragged her away, defending her with his clarinet staff.

"What? Hey!" Elysia flailed her arms.

The cubic soldiers jumped off the gunspeeder. They cheered as the gunspeeder hovered about the street. It laid oppressive machine gun fire at the group. Shien and the others took cover behind a nearby skyscraper.

"Shien! What's the big idea?" Elysia stammered. "I was going to slug them! I could have ended it here if it weren't for you!"

"Elysia, you were gonna get yourself killed!" Shien replied. "You're very welcome that I saved your life!"

"I didn't need help from someone six inches shorter than me!"

"What was that? I am not short!"

"Shortie! Shortie!"

The two bonked their heads together with their teeth clenched.

"Good fellow people!" Enshiron stepped between them. "By any chance, could we focus on coming up with a wonderful plan to neutralize the gunspeeder?"

"I got one!" Ritom flipped his large sword. "Half of us distract those cubic goons while the others take down the gunspeeder from the back. We would box the enemy in."

"The plan should yield high effectiveness," Phoenicia cracked her knuckles.

"Guess you listened to Magnus' military lectures, Ritom!" Naivern grinned.

"Nah, I just watch a lot of war movies. I never listen to anything my big bro says!"

"I will draw their attention!" Shien's clarinet transformed into its shotgun form. "Which of you wanna come?"

"It would be my pleasure!" Phoenicia cocked her arm and leg gauntlets.

"Mind if I jam along?" Naivern's DJ Monarch wings flapped.

Shien nodded.

"The rest are with me!" Ritom ordered. "Elysia, since you want to punch some stuff, why don't you come with Enshiron and me?"

"Sure!" Elysia smashed her steel knuckles together, eager to fight.

Shien and Phoenicia jumped out in front of the gunspeeder squad, fending off the machine gunfire. Naivern flew beside them, sliding fingers onto her guitar's strings. A red hexagon shield defended the three from the cubic men's ranged attacks. Shien tried to shoot the cubic gunner. The gunner dodged, letting the shotgun shell hit the cubic soldier behind him. From the back, Elysia punched the cubic gunner off the vehicle. Ritom and Enshiron quickly took out the remaining soldiers afterward.

"Great work, guys!" Ritom waved.

The gang regrouped next to the gunspeeder.

"How are your antenna hairs, Phoenicia?" Shien asked.

"Still more danger," She blinked.

"Are you kidding me?"

The tired group heard mechanical groaning from the street. They saw two more cubic gunspeeders mowing the other players down. More black tabs and gray particles filled the air. Any player that fought back was obliterated by the gunspeeders. The two hovering vehicles slowly floated towards the gang.

"Uh oh," Shien exclaimed. "Any more handy military plans, Ritom?

"Ahh, I need to think for a moment!" Ritom sweated.

"Let's sic 'em!" Elysia cracked her neck.

"It would be an optimal choice to use this gunspeeder," Phoenicia hopped into the vehicle.

Suddenly, swarms of flaming dice landed on the Cubic Regime's forces. One of the gunspeeders exploded. The other gunspeeder fired into the sky. A girl dressed in purple floated above Tetrachrome with her red and blue wings, commanding the dice to finish off the other gunspeeder.

"That's cool!" Shien pointed at the flying girl. "Who's that?"

"A droid companion of mine, Ampyria Valderyion," Phoenicia smiled.

"Oh right, her," Ritom rolled his eyes.

"Attention to all players!"Ampyria yelled to the entire city. "This is Ampyria Valdyrion of the Syanic Police Force! Everyone must head to the Saberdome Arena immediately!"

"That's what we're doing," Naivern scratched her head.

"Tetrachrome is under attack by the Cubic Regime!" Ampyria sent the dice to scorch another cubic gunspeeder. "Please head to the Saberdome Arena as soon as possible! The Syanic Police Force will fend off the attack!"

"Guys! Look!" Shien pointed.

Everyone turned to the Saberdome Arena. A floating white tank escorted with a squad of cubic warriors blocked the entrance. The tank's rapid firing quad cannon killed off all the players that tried to enter. Swarms of black tabs erupted around the arena.

Cubic Flakpanzer

Level 65

HP: [71,650/71,650]

"Oh no!" Ritom exclaimed. "Everyone's being led to that thing!"

"It is imperative that we destroy that flakpanzer before it terminates anyone else," Phoenicia drove the gunspeeder.

"Let's go!" Shien swiveled his clarinet. "Ready, yall?"