Chapter 2: Stage 2

The commandeered respawn room was a lot brighter and cleaner than the mining shaft, but it was also much tighter quarters. It was cramped enough with nine men trying to regroup from a gunfight, let alone add a visitor from another realm.

Preferring to let her elementals heal herself than trust in the medicine of this strange world, Melia sat on a bench next to the Engineer, who was working on the long-range teleporter while explaining to her the nature of the respawn system. It had taken him a few minutes to return to the mine and retrieve it after the team had settled into the room, which cut into the time he had available to repair it - the Soldier wanted them to begin stage 2 as soon as possible in order to try and keep the enemy team staggered.

"...Unfortunately for you, it's out of the question to add someone to the respawn system in less than 72 hours. It's just too involved a process." He closed a panel and wiped his brow before opening another one and doing more work. "So if you want to keep fighting alongside us, you won't have a safety net, get me?"

Melia nodded. "I understand the risks." She was no stranger to near-death situations, though admittedly they were of more personal importance than just helping some strangers fight a war.

"Alrighty then." The Engineer reached for an unidentified spray can and covered the teleporter's innards with it. "Now on the other hand, our Medic can heal you no problem, no preparation required. You get hurt, just give him a call, and he'll do what he can to offer a hand. Either that, or just pick up one of those health kits the RED team has spread around the place. Just try not to take 'em from someone on fire."

"We move out in one minute," the Soldier announced. "Get going!"

The Engineer sighed; he was only about three or four minutes away from completing the fix. He followed the others outside and began erecting a dispenser while most of the team congregated in the tunnel that led to the next area. Melia slowly followed.

While applying the correct amounts of force in the exact locations to accelerate building setup, the Engineer turned to Melia. "Say, if you don't mind me askin', what's up with that necklace of yours? It looks like it's glowin' a bit weird."

Melia looked down at the necklace. It was quite simple: a pendant with a lens-shaped blue gem framed in red, hung on a silver thread. The gem was indeed glowing with a faint, pulsating blue light.

"Oh, um...it's from a...friend of mine. It's a...good-luck charm."

The Engineer nodded understandingly and began the construction of the entrance to the short-range teleporter system, which would deliver respawning team members to the front lines.

Having not thought about the necklace for some time, Melia found herself reliving some memories involving it.

The doorbell rang in its tri-tone. Not doing anything particularly important, it took Melia no time to answer it.

"Oh hello Shulk."

"Hi." Shulk was holding a box with three identical necklaces inside, each one housing a pulsating blue gem. "I've got a present for you."

Melia guessed what he actually meant. "You mean, for each one of us?"

"Well, yeah." He took out one of the pendants and held it out to her. "Alvis calls it a Vision Gem. He gave me six of them, so of course he means for me to give one to each of you."

"A Vision Gem?" Melia took it and gave it a look-over. "A means for people other than yourself to have visions of the future?"

"That's what I'm guessing. You know how he never gives a straight answer to anything. But from what he did say, I'm pretty sure it'll only work once, and you have to be wearing it."

"Fascinating..."

"So I'm trying to lead the group down the cave," Reyn began. "You know how them Ponspectors are, always jumpin' ahead to be first to catch glimpse of something. Well, suddenly I can't see nothing but this big flash of light. I didn't clue in to what it was for a bit, I thought I maybe banged my head on the ceiling at first. So we come to a wide spot in the cave and one of the Nopon runs into a big rock spire. I guess it was eroding wrong, because that made it break apart and send the whole cave into a big collapse. Then it ends and I'm back in the real world. It took me a bit to figure out what just happened, but I got it soon enough. Kinda surprised they responded to me yelling out that it might collapse, to be honest. We turned back and made sure to warn anyone who might be 'eadin that way."

"Mine was kinda like that," Fiora said, "except I was just sitting at home when it happened. I saw something sharp come loose of an Armu's pack, which it then stepped on, causing it to blindly run into a group of children and through a fence into the sea. I ran outside and got the rider's attention, which made the sharp thing fall off in a different direction, so it never happened."

"It really is a lifesaving ability to have," Sharla added. "I was about to give someone a particular type of medicine before I was interrupted by seeing them have a fatal allergic reaction to it. He had no idea he had an allergy."

"Count yourselves lucky, to be saving others' lives with your visions," Dunban chuckled. "All I could save was my own skin. I was having a walk and saw a vision of tripping on a rock, which caused me to fall in such a way that my sword cut my left hand off. Simple but brutal."

"Riki's vision also helped save self from doom. Riki was ponning about with Oka when Riki saw big bright light. In light, Riki make legendary Nopon joke. But somewhy, Oka not like joke. Oka slap Riki and run away with baby cry face, saying she hate Riki. Light go away and Riki come back to real time. Riki still wanted to tell joke, but decided it not good time. Riki invented nice thing to say instead."

Everyone laughed at Riki's antics before turning expectantly to Melia, waiting for the story of her vision. But after a few seconds of waiting with no results but a disappointed stare, they realised that her pendant was still glowing blue, unlike their own which had gone dark after expending their power.

"You...you haven't had a vision yet, Melia?" Shulk was a mix of confused and worried.

"No, I have not. Several things have happened in the past month that could possibly have merited one, yet nothing has occurred."

"Well..." Shulk shrugged. "That's kind of a good thing, I guess? I mean, you only get one, so if you've only had a few "possibly"s so far, you know it's not being wasted before something big happens...right?"

"Perhaps."

"Gates are down, go, go, go!"

The Soldier's voice roused Melia from her thoughts. She waited for the blue team to charge outwards before squeezing herself across the right side of the area, slipping into the alley behind a building.

Raise defences in case I am ambushed. She summoned two elementals: an earth one and an ice one, covering both physical and non-physical attacks, leaving her third slot open for now. I will wait for the main force to-

She heard the screams of a Medic, Demoman, and Heavy. Something had killed them all in a short time span, leaving no time to react.

That is unfortunate. I shall have to wait to make my move until they return.

Melia peeked out from the corner of the shack. She could see the holographic logo of the capture point on a wooden structure to the left, across a mostly-empty field.

There is most certainly a rifleman somewhere, covering the wide area. Only once I can ascertain his position can I determine how to advance.

A low-pitched howl of wind pushed through the alley. Melia was going to ignore it when she realised that the air was still; it had to be something that was only pretending to be wind. Something that used an innocuous noise to conceal itself. Deciding that it could be a threat, she whirled around to see...an exact duplicate of herself.

"What is this nonsense? Who are you?" It probably wasn't the best way to respond, but it was the most obvious.

"I should ask you the same question!" The voice was identical to hers - almost. It had just the slightest tinge of uncertainty, and the vowels were very slightly off in ways that only someone who had known her voice for years could detect.

Still confused but with an inkling of a guess as to what was going on, Melia looked closer at the imposter's appearance. For the most part it was a perfect facsimile, but that line of stitches on the sleeve was just a bit too far inset, the feathers weren't fluttering realistically, and the staff's proportions were just slightly off. It would fool anyone else at a glance, and perhaps even her friends if they didn't have the real thing to compare with, but not her.

This must be some sort of trick, likely a form of holographics. "Your disguise is impressive, but far from faultless. Show your true self!"

"I won't need to." The duplicate smirked and raised a bulky, black-and-grey revolver that glowed and crackled with red energy. "Because who else is going to know?"

"Uhuh, gerh yoo arh!" The BLU Pyro came around the corner and opened fire. The RED Spy immediately dropped his disguise and planted one shot into the rubber-suited adversary, but couldn't get off a second shot before being roasted.

"Rrhts gu gyhs uhghn fmkym." Just to be sure, the Pyro bashed the Frenchman in the head with a sledgehammer.

"...Thank you." Melia couldn't quite trust the faceless one, but he at least seemed to be cheerful and on-the-ball.

"No krawglm! Ehnyfng fr uhn ehyngl." He ran off towards the point, intercepting the incoming RED Demoman with a blast of air that turned his own grenade against him. He then proceeded into the lower level of the left wooden building, which based on the sounds was where all of the action was taking place.

If everything is happening on the left, I should be able to advance on the right, and inconvenience the enemy from behind. Hugging the right rock face, Melia dashed around a silo and continued until she entered a tunnel. Keeping to the right, she heard a beeping around the corner.

The enemy constructor again, with another defensive turret. She paused to consider her strategy. It would target her and open fire the instant she showed herself. She didn't have an anti-Mechon staff ready, so there was no way she could outdamage it, especially if it was being repaired.

The Pyro's grenade deflection bubbled up in her mind.

"Braap." The RED Engineer sat in his chair behind his sentry, waiting patiently while guzzling his beer. He knew the BLU Spy wouldn't bother with a sentry this far away from the active point; he'd rather get the backs stabbed to help the team immediately. And if someone wanted to sneak to their respawn room, they wouldn't take this tunnel, as it'd be quite the detour. He also knew that the BLU team tended to keep using winning strategies, which in this case would be "send the team on our left and the wildcard on our right". As far as he was concerned, it was inevitable that his quarry would be the first to come this way.

Almost right on cue, Melia leapt out from around the corner.

"REFLECTION!" She spun her staff, forming a ring of hexagonal mirrors around herself. The sentry spun up its barrels and launched its rockets, but the shiny panels spun around Melia's body with unnatural speed, bouncing every one of the shots right back to where they came from. Within two seconds, the sentry had destroyed itself.

"Aha!" The Engineer sat up and pointed. "Get 'er!"

There was a whooshing sound from deep in the tunnel's corner. Melia was about to turn around when a massive pair of hands grabbed her, pinning her arms to her sides. One of the hands had a leather watch wrapped around the index finger.

"Get your filthy hands off me!" She tried kicking backwards and hit what felt like a knee, but it had absolutely no effect. She wasn't going to unload an elemental into the enemy; it would only deal damage without affecting his grip, and if the huge hands were any indication he would be able to retaliate to devastating effect just by squeezing.

"Heh. You are no match for me." The RED Heavy, arms bare with rippling muscles showing, lifted her off the ground with zero effort.

"You just hold still, missy." The Engineer had walked up and extracted some sort of radar pointer from his pocket. He pointed it at Melia and performed some sort of scan, passing a red beam up and down her body. The bell of a successful capture was heard in the distance.

"That'll do it." He reholstered his Wrangler and hurried to pack up his chair. "I gotta go get set up on 4. Heavy, have fun with your meatshield." Toolbox in hand, he dashed out the gated exit.

"Heh heh heh. It is good day to be giant man."

"Unhand me this instant, you grotesque creature!" Frustrated, Melia tried to clip the Heavy in the head with her staff, but she didn't have enough reach.

Luckily for her, reinforcements arrived. The BLU team's Engineer, Soldier, and Pyro all entered the tunnel, with intent to get a forward base established.

"You!" The RED Heavy was ready to gloat. "What sick man sends princess to fight me? Shame."

"What's your mamma taught you about takin' what ain't yours?" The Engineer was busy holding a toolbox over his shoulder; he couldn't engage.

"Drop the civilian at once, commie!" the Soldier hollered.

"Hrhf!"

"Fight me! I dare you."

"Yeh!" The BLU Sniper peeked around the corner and fired a quick shot, pegging the Heavy in the head.

"No!" The Heavy lifted Melia up higher, covering his head.

"You can't even be a coward right, you waste of potatoes!" The Soldier snatched the Engineer's pistol off his belt and peppered the Heavy's now-visible feet.

"Uh-oh!" The flaw in his plan was exposed; the Heavy was far too large for a Melia-sized shield to effectively protect. He started trying to back off and get out the other end of the tunnel, but the Soldier pursued with the pistol, and the Pyro hammered his toes to help take him down.

With no more resistance, the Engineer dropped his toolbox and unpacked the pre-built dispenser, followed by somehow obtaining another toolbox and turning it into a teleporter exit. His teammates gathered around the dispenser to recover from the incidental wounds they had taken earlier, with other teammates wandering in and out of the tunnel.

Melia was about to thank the team for saving her again, but the Engineer waved her off. "What was that all about?" he asked.

"The enemy constructor used a handheld device to perform some sort of scan on me."

"Ugh." He shook his head. "I don't know what that could be about, but it won't be good, I can tell ya that for sure. We talk a lot o' trash about the RED team, but truth is, they're just as resourceful as we are. One of us comes up with a new weapon or strategy, the other copies it without much trouble." He paused. "If I had to guess, they want your staff, assuming that's where the magic happens. But if that were it, why not just steal it from you? It ain't encouragin'."

"Well, it's impossible to forcibly remove it from my grasp, but they wouldn't know that..."

*beep beep beep*

The Engineer had erected the final part of his nest, the sentry, and it had decided to lock onto Melia.

"...awwwww, hell." The Engineer scrambled for his demolition remote. "C'mon hon, don't let me down. She's on our side. Look at the blue, not the pink. Not red, no red anywhere at all here. Don't look at the shinies either, stay on the blue. Call her a spectator if ya have to, just don't shoot."

The sentry held its "head" perfectly still, as if it was trying to determine what team this new colour scheme was supposed to side with. After a total of about twenty seconds, it broke off and began its idle scan.

"Phew. Ain't that a relief." He put his remote away. "I shoulda calibrated her on ya earlier, my fault."

Melia felt quite uneasy. Even what seemed to be the most rational member of the blue team had made a critical, potentially life-threatening oversight.

"Hello again." The Soldier appeared out of the teleporter exit as the Demoman and Medic arrived through the tunnel entrance. "I found the sentry, it's on the right side in a near corner. Demo, Heavy, Sniper, take the left route and keep them occupied."

The rest of the team that was present nodded; the named members went off to follow the plan.

"Now for you, missy." He rubbed his hands together with the air of a kid ready to unleash his secret weapon. "I think those RED scumbags have decided you're some sort of free agent and aren't worth paying attention to. Not the first mistake they've ever made. Get ready to be the pointman on this next push of ours; we're gonna give you the crits."

"Er, what?" Melia did not agree with his assessment; while she had indeed acted alone so far instead of in conjunction with the team, the lengths the enemy went to in order to scan her suggested they realized she was a threat. And "the crits" didn't seem all that powerful to her; they'd raise morale and spirit, but the extra 25% damage wasn't a game-changer. "I beg to differ-"

She felt an unusual energy cover her body, reminiscent of the kind of ether fired by healing rifles, though in more of a sustained aura form.

"Move! Schnell!" The Medic had latched his healing beam onto her, his Kritzkrieg crackling with energy.

The Engineer finished reloading his pistol. "Follow Soldier towards the point and wait for the call, we'll be right with you. And get ready for some offensive power. You're gonna put the fear in their eyes, don't you worry."

While still not a fan of the idea, Melia dispelled her defensive elementals and replaced them with a flare and two bolts.

"Let's go." The Soldier carefully stepped out the gated door and through the building on the right, careful to not step into what could be the line of fire, with everyone else following. "Scout, give him the signal. Wait for the sap."

Melia didn't know what this meant, but the others did. The Scout ran back out and towards the left side of the battle, where the Demoman, Heavy, and Sniper were fighting from. A loud wooden crack was heard.

After about a ten-second wait, a loud clamp sounded through the walls.

"ATTACK!" The Soldier dashed out from behind cover and easily destroyed the sapped sentry. The rest of the BLU team flowed out of the building to join the fight.

"Now go!" The Medic pushed his patient along and activated his charge.

Stumbling out into view of the battle, Melia felt a huge surge of energy flow through her staff. It was kind of like the power generated by her elemental burst aura, except it was making the staff glow and spark instead of herself. She spotted the enemy Heavy first and shot a bolt at him. Expecting to need all three of her shots to take him down, she was stunned to see the single bolt blast him apart. She tried tossing the second bolt at the enemy Soldier, which eliminated him in one shot as well. Finally, she took aim at a group: the Demoman, Engineer, and Scout. The flare she sent their way detonated with enough force that the Scout and Engineer vanished almost instantly, while the Demoman was quickly finished by someone else's bullets. With the rest of the BLU team taking care of the others, there wasn't anyone left to attack.

"Whoooowhee!" The Engineer danced on the point as the whole team stood atop it and taunted in various ways. "Give'r!" He held up his hand.

Standing on the ground below the point, Melia reached up with her staff to tap the outstretched hand.