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Back in the depths of the Lost Lake, the three bears and the squirrel approached the big prismatic statue with the slots for the fragments.
- Your turn, smarty. - Amesynth teased Bubbles. The purple bear found it slightly annoying that the squirrel knew as much about bear technology as her, but she didn't hate her for it. As the only remaining bear on the surface of Crystallia who knows it, she was really competitive.
The squirrel shook her head, looking at her with disdain, but she obeyed and meticulously placed each fragment in its place. After a few moments of silence, the shards started glowing and the prism opened in half.
- Here he comes. - Bubbles said.
From inside the statue, a giant mechanical creature emerged. It was shaped like a big squid.
- Alright. He should be completely harmless for now, so if we want to find what's causing the weird behaviour of the mechanical fishes, we should have a look at how he reacts to each crystal shard. - Amesynth explained. - We need to inject him with an extract of each one in the core so we can fix him.
She proceeded to head to the compartment of the core in order to open it. She noticed how the security cannons placed in the rocks of the lake turned to point at her. The Spectral Guardian was built by the bear tribe centuries ago at the request of Damien, the leader of the fish tribe that lived in the Lost Lake during that time. The cannons were intended to protect the population of the place from every menace.
Cautiously, she introduced the emerald extract in the core. The cannons began to produce a rising noise, as if they were activating a mechanism.
- I need to be quick... - Bubbles whispered.
She nimbly inserted the second shard in the core, the sapphire one. This time, the compartment closed and the cannons began shooting medium-sized projectiles, big enough to destroy a house on one hit. Bubbles dived away from her position, but the guns followed her. The mechanical fishes started appearing, ready to attack her.
- Amesynth! There's a mechanism to turn the cannons off in each of them! Chalcelle could probably deactivate them with her crossbow if you tell her where to aim! - Bubbles shouted while she fastly dove in every direction possible to avoid the projectiles.
Amesynth nodded and Chalcelle looked at her. Moving quickly, she began explaining.
- Do you see that lever on the right side of the cannons? That's the way of turning them off! Go ahead! - She then looked at Quartzone. - She will be busy aiming and will be slower when moving. I count on you to protect them from the robotic fishes!
Chalcelle nodded, she quickly drew her crossbow and aimed at the lever of one of the cannons. It stopped firing.
- Good job! - Amesynth exclaimed.
Chalcelle did the same for the next few cannons. One of them remained, but she ran out of arrows, and a projectile crossed the water at quick pace. Quartzone hit it with both his blades and re-directed it back, impacting right into the cannon that initially fired it, causing an explosion that destroyed the rock where the gun was placed.
The compartment opened again and Bubbles introduced the last fragment, the ruby shard, hoping nothing else happened. The mechanical fishes started surrounding her, with their red eyes. Completely blocked, Bubbles praised that the injections worked. In order to help, Amesynth and Quartzone prepared their blades.
Instead of attacking her, the fishes just circled around her.
- Phew... - Bubbles sighed with relief.
- I think the Spectral Guardian is thanking us for the help. - Amesynth said.
Quartzone looked at the squid-sized statue. Despite being made out of stone, he looked like he was smiling now. The Scarf Bear didn't know why, but he smiled back at him.
- Let's tell Bertinus about this. - Bubbles smiled.
After doing so, and returning the shards to their temples, the heroes met at the entrance of the Lost Lake.
- Do you want to join the Crystal Guard? - Quartzone asked Bubbles.
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