WC: 2769

When it's clear that killing this Ravager isn't going to be an easy task, Etho and Impulse enlist the help of an old friend--much to Impulse's displeasure.

-

"We need to get them all out of there." Surprised with himself, Etho spoke up and took initiative, filling the shocked silence with a commanding voice.

"Everyone inside the Keep right now is in that Ravager's way. We need to round everyone up and bring them to the outskirts of the kingdom--that's safer than in the center. If you're close enough, bring the people you find to the Crossroads, or even to the old Ruins if you can. Anywhere safe."

He hesitated momentarily.

After killing all of those other Ravagers, Etho was used to taking the lead in things like this. But this wasn't just the Wanderers in danger anymore--it was innocents. Civilians of the Keep who had no idea this was coming. Hell, even Tango was in there right now.

This whole plan involved hundreds of people, even if they weren't participating directly. And he didn't want to think about what would happen to them if things didn't work out.

But...no one interrupted him. Instead, the group was looking at him expectantly, with a mix of nervousness and anticipation. They trusted him to make the right decision, and that made him feel a bit more confident.

"Grian, you fly ahead," he continued, noting Grian's newly healed wing. "Scout out where the Ravager is and tell the rest of the group where it is. If needed, distract it and lead it somewhere else--just keep it away from everyone else."

Etho started to group the Wanderers in pairs of two, directing them to each sector in the Keep. Each group had to be responsible for multiple sectors, and each one had at least two dozen people living in it. It was going to be hard keeping track of everyone, especially with a Ravager around destroying everything.

"And, Impulse," Etho finished, turning to the only Wanderer not paired with someone. "You're with me. We're going to figure out how to kill this Ravager, or at least buy time for everyone else."

»»————-　★　————-««

Finding the Ravager wasn't hard. All they had to do was follow the trail of destruction. The problem was when they found them--the right dead center of the castle courtyard, a big, open, heavy-traffic space.

"Fucking hell," Impulse groused as he stepped over a deep crater made by the Ravager in the stone tiles. "It's next to the castle. Of course it's next to the castle."

"Hey, at least that gives the rest of the group more leeway when they're evacuating everyone," Etho said. "And it's not like people are around anymore," he added, gesturing to the empty courtyard. Of course, they could be gone in more than one way...

Etho studied the Ravager, which was currently in the process of headbutting the fountain in the center of the courtyard like it took personal offense to the structure. It hadn't noticed him or Impulse yet, which was good.

"It's huge," he noticed immediately. "How did we never come across this guy? With all the damage it's doing right now, surely we would have run across something that let us know it was here."

"Maybe worry about that after all this is over," Impulse said. "Now, how do you want to do this?"

"It's strong, too," Etho muttered, more to himself than Impulse. "Maybe even more than the one in the Fortress. The best chance is probably to attack it close-up, but we can't do that, so..."

"So what?" Impulse prompted, eyes on the Ravager to make sure it hadn't noticed them yet. The fountain was reduced to rubble at that point, and water was spilled all over the walkway.

"We can't do this on our own," Etho deduced. "Scar or Grian could have helped attack it from a distance, but we don't have any of that. Hell, we don't even have weapons right now. With everyone else helping get the civilians to safety, we don't have anyone who can come."

Impulse thought for a moment, then sighed, almost sounding resigned.

"Okay. I know someone who can help. He knows the Ravagers well, he should be able to tell us what to do...if he's willing to help, of course."

Etho was confused. "But Xisuma is--"

"No, no. Not X." Impulse turned to face Etho, and it was clear he didn't want to ask this person, whoever it was, for help. "I'm talking about the person who let loose the Ravagers in the first place."

It sank in.

"Oh, you don't mean..."

"Yeah. I do. I think it's time to pay our old friend Tango a visit."

»»————-　★　————-««

Etho wasn't sure what to expect.

Some shock, maybe. Definitely some surprise. After the initial confusion, a few statements like "How are you here?" or "I thought you were dead, what happened??"

But what about after all that? Would Tango feel happiness upon seeing his old friends? What about resentment because they were here all this time and he never knew? I mean, how would you react if you found out that two of your old friends--who you thought were dead or missing--actually turned out to be alive, and were responsible for killing the Ravagers?

What Etho didn't expect, though, was for Tango to just glance up at them boredly when they entered the throne room.

"About time you two showed up."

Whatever scathing remark Impulse was about to say died in his throat as he realized Tango had the higher seat, literally. The king was lounging on his throne casually, which was a big shift from the chaos happening outside.

"What--" Impulse spluttered, losing his cool as he stared down Tango. "How--how? Why are you not surprised?? Why the hell are you just--sitting here and not helping everyone outside? Did you know about all this? Wh--"

"Nice to see you again, too, Impulse," Tango said dryly. "Been a few years, hasn't it?"

"Don't act so casual right now!" Impulse said, his voice hitching up an octave. "Your people are in danger out there, and you're just sitting here? What's wrong with you!? Why aren't you helping them?"

"There's a maniac yelling bloody murder at me in the way," Tango said, completely deadpan.

Etho stood off to the side, watching his two old friends argue. He's mildly surprised at the shift of events, but he was also kind of amused by how easily they fell into the same old routine--arguing constantly, with Impulse repeating things like "You're being too reckless!" and "What's wrong with you?" and Tango just sitting there, used to it all, trying to hide his boredness.

After a bout of yelling at Tango, Impulse paused to catch his breath and regain his composure. This obviously wasn't how he expected this exchange to go, but Etho actually wasn't too surprised. It was just how the two acted, and it was kind of reassuring knowing not much had changed in that department.

"How did you know about us, well--being alive?" he spoke up again, sounding calmer now after his initial outburst. "Etho told me you thought I had died after going to investigate the Forest. Did you always know? What happened?"

Tango paused for a moment, his sarcastic facade fading for a bit. "I did think you were dead. Both of you. It wasn't until I found what was under that trapdoor."

He pointed down, to a small wooden trapdoor between them and the throne. Etho remembered vaguely what it was used for--there was a small pool of molten lava underneath, and old rulers used it to....well, dispose of disobeying citizens. Tango had never used it, though.

"What's so special about this?" Impulse asked, flicking open the trapdoor and peering at the popping lava below.

"There's a tunnel under there, below the lava. It's not actually a pool of lava, it's a thin blade that doesn't even hurt when you drop through it. It leads straight to the old throne room in the Ruins, which happens to be the room your base camp is in. I just stayed hidden and watched you. That sounds creepy, actually, but--"

Impulse interrupted him by launching into another round of heated arguing, but things clicked for Etho.

"That's why you weren't surprised when we came in," he said, which was the first time he spoke since they entered the throne room--and the first time he'd spoken to Tango in a long time. "Just how long have you been watching us?"

"Ever since I found out where that trapdoor led. I knew Impulse was there, but I didn't know about you, Etho." He studied Etho. "I mean, I never saw you in the Ruins."

"I was out exploring the rest of the Dungeon," Etho said, shrugging a bit.

"Makes sense." Tango cleared his throat a bit, shifting with his own clothing. "You always liked doing that here--exploring the Forest."

Tango's appearance hadn't changed much. His attire was always more relaxed than past kings--he just wore a velvety red cloak over a plain gray shirt. Etho remembered he used to swap out the cloak for a red bomber jacket whenever he was hanging out with Impulse and Etho back in the day. A three-pointed crown balanced crookedly on his head, unintentionally making him look like a false ruler of sorts.

It was less noticeable, but Etho noticed that Tango's cloak was held together by a golden pin with a small crown embossed on it--like his own. The three of them had matching pins, but Impulse had let go of his a long time ago. His emerald green cloak had a small clasp shaped like the Wanderers' emblem.

"Uh, you've changed a lot since I last saw you," Tango continued somewhat awkwardly. Funny how that was--he acted so calm around Impulse, but when faced with Etho he lost that. "Are those finger gloves new?"

"Why do people keep asking about these guys?" Etho asked, a smile growing under his mask as he pulled on the fabric of the glove on his right hand.

"But they are new, right?"

"Right."

"This is all very nice," Impulse said, coming between the two of them with an irritated expression. "But we're in the middle of a crisis here. Tango, do you know where that last Ravager came from or not?"

A frown momentarily formed on Tango's face before fading away quickly--it was so subtle that Etho was the only one who noticed. "Alright, alright, fine, Impy--Impulse."

Etho caught the slight hesitation there as Tango used his old nickname for Impulse by habit.

"The reason why you guys never found this Ravager was because it was always kept here, in the Keep."

When Impulse opened his mouth to protest, Tango gave him a pointed look to make him shut up.

"No one knew about this, save for a few guards that helped me corral it initially. It was kept down in the old castle dungeon--the one way below the Keep, closer to the lava underneath the Crossroads than the buildings above."

"Wait," Etho spoke up. "You're telling me you kept a Ravager underneath the Keep, where it could have gotten out easily. And it didn't? How did you get it inside in the first place?"

"Okay, so this old dungeon was built way back, before Redstone power cores and technology and all that. From what I've read, it was built when people were still moving from the old Ruins. The walls are actually made out of obsidian, which was easy to get since there was lava right next to the prison. Even a Ravager couldn't get out of that, it's that strong. Once you were in, you wouldn't get out.

"I originally trapped it in there so we could study it and maybe find a weak spot so it would make killing the other Ravagers easier, but--as you guys know--there's barely any. So we just...left it in there, not bothering to check on it anymore.

"That's when we shifted our attention from the Ravagers to the other problems the Keep was dealing with--and when you guys came in and did the job of killing the Ravagers for us."

Etho had an inkling of where this was going, and he didn't like it.

"...It managed to get out, didn't it? Obsidian didn't stop it, it just delayed the escape."

Tango's silence was enough to confirm it.

"Are you kidding?" Impulse interrupted, his tone rising again. "Your carelessness set that thing loose on the Keep, twice! Hell, if you were never experimenting with those beasts, then we wouldn't be in this situation right now! Think about all the lives you've changed, including--"

He paused, then looked down, avoiding eye contact with either of them.

"...Including ours."

"Hey, let me ask you something," Tango retorted, suddenly growing angry. "Why did you start killing the Ravagers, anyway?"

When Impulse opened his mouth to protest, Tango continued. "I know you, Impulse. It's not just to save everyone from them, or to make the Dungeon a safer place. With you, there's always another motive behind it all. Isn't there?"

"That's not true!" Impulse tried to protest, but it sounded hollow.

Tango glanced over Impulse's shoulder to look at Etho for confirmation. Etho hated putting Impulse in the spotlight like this--he felt guilty for doing so, especially since he was in the wrong as much as either of them were.

He was the one being selfish and questioning the whole operation before, after all.

"That doesn't matter right now," Etho snapped out loud, growing more and more irritated that the two were arguing yet again. Every angry thought he'd ever kept to himself when watching these two argue over the years came back and spilled out of him, long overdue.

"There's no 'right and wrong' side here. Okay? Stop acting like there is one, both of you, and thinking that you know everything and the other doesn't. We have to kill that final Ravager now. Think about everyone outside right now. Is a grudge between you guys that happened three years ago really worth more than all of that?"

He took a moment to catch himself. He was delaying killing the Ravager by reprimanding these two, which slowed them down more, but it needed to be done. They all needed to work together here, and that couldn't happen if two out of three people started arguing randomly.

"Tango," Etho said, continuing to talk before Tango or Impulse could start to sputter an apology or protest. "You're the one who knows this Ravager the most. How do we kill it? What's its weak spot?"

Tango bit his lip, trying to remember. "Um, well, it's strong--stronger than any of the rest. It broke through obsidian, for god's sake. It obviously can't be killed with a sword or bow, even if we had any. Its hide is tough and hard to break through, if you can even get close enough."

"Okay," Etho said, rolling his hand in a go on gesture. "What else?"

"It gets angry quickly. If you rile it up, you can lure it easily enough to where you want it to go. That's how we got it into the old dungeon in the first place. I'd say that's your best bet."

"That doesn't answer the question of how we're going to actually kill it," Impulse said.

"...I, uh, didn't think that far."

Before Etho could stop either of them, the two launched into another bout of arguing. He sighed to himself, trying to block out the din and focus on possible ways to kill this final Ravager.

Close-range fighting wasn't going to work. Anyone who could help with their special abilities--Scar's magic, Grian's wings--wouldn't be able to come and help. That meant that they had to rely on wits and somehow trick the Ravager into a place where it could be killed--like how Etho had tricked the first Ravager he'd faced, back in the Labyrinth, into falling into the void.

Falling...

An idea started to form in the back of his mind. He'd tricked that Ravager into following him into the void, so why couldn't he do it again? Hell, there was already an easy way to kill it nearby--they'd been walking over it less than an hour ago, when they were coming to the Keep.

And the popping lava far below the Blackstone bridges would be plenty enough to kill a Ravager.

"I have an idea," he said out loud, pushing past Impulse and heading to the throne room's exit. "Follow me--both of you. We're going to the Crossroads."

-

So I had to draft half of this and edit all of it on Sunday because I really wanted to get it out LMAO

Two more chapters to write! This project has been going on since January and I'm very excited to wrap it up <3 Thank you guys for sticking around this whole time, I really appreciate it!

This next chapter will be the climax of the whole story, but the epilogue has a little twist I'm excited to finally reveal :)

Thanks for reading!