With the golem distracted, Trevor had enough time to finally stop being dizzy, and he even had time to aim his attack, too. Perfect. With him focused on Jason or Shaula, I can drill right through the core, and defeat it once and for all. Trevor thought as he waited for an opening. He found one once the golem tried its best to launch one of its rocks at Jason, and that was when he attacked with another drill, this time, severely damaging the core. The golem stopped its attack and started flailing around as if it had lost a part of its brain, and it ended up flat on the floor, with its damaged core in full view of everyone. "Alright, guys, just one more hit to that crystal thing should destroy it... ugh... really wish I didn't get motion sickness so easily..." Trevor said as the dizziness hit him, yet again, and he fell back to the ground, this time, closer to where Shaula was. That's what they wanted him to do, right? They wanted him to use his flame drill attack on the golem while it was distracted, right? Either way, that's what he did, and the battle was already almost over, that move having proven itself quite useful when dealing with enemies, at the very least... it just had certain side-effects associated with it, unfortunately. The already tough to see cave started spinning around for Trevor, again, making it nearly impossible to tell which way he was facing, where he was, or where he was going... or even if he was going anywhere.

So with this, Trevor was able to go and deal enough damage to the golem with another of those spinning attacks. She looked at the golem, shaking her head quickly and getting back to normal. She then looked at the golem. Should she use the same move again or go attack in another way. She thought about it. Considering how that wall might not break if only 1 of the them use the move, she looked at the group.

“We need to make sure this thing does not kill us!” she then said before going and using the same move, using the flame drill attack and finishing the golem before landing, the golem breaking into pieces. She then stumbled forwards and fall face first on the ground, groaning from all that. “Ughhhh… the world need to stop spinning so much.” She says, feeling a bit sick. Good thing she didn’t barf out any slime or anything, or else that would be disgusting, that is for sure. Geez.

“Give us some time to get our… bearings back.” she then says, trying to get back up. One thing for sure, once that metal wall is gone, she probably won’t use that move again.

Jason tosses the now empty gun aside, the gun fading away, and his talon fills with a steadily growing fireball that keeps getting brighter and whiter the longer he holds it. "Keep that middle part open!" His wings glow, and he points his talon at the glowing core in the center of the golem. He takes a deep breath, and shoots the white ray of fire into the golem, beginning to liquefy the stone that makes up the creatures body. "Arg! Get the dumb thing to turn so we hit the heart! That should kill it!"

---

The golem's chest had been opened up by Trevor's fire drill, exposing some sort of gem. That, however, was something the others could deal with. Right now, Mia was worried about Trevor's injuries. He was still able to fight and move around, but that hit he took earlier did seem to do some damage. Thankfully, with the golem distracted she could easily get to him. "Trevor, hold still for a minute." She placed her palm on Trevor's shoulder, and vines began growing over Trevor's body, healing his injuries. "I know it feels a little strange. Just bear with me for a moment."

Shaula

---

Jason blasted fire at the golem to destroy its crystal but wasn't getting anywhere fast. Its rocks were completely blocking his attack, only melting under the fire very slowly. Nearby, Trevor and Celina were still recovering from their attack on it as Mia ran over to help them, leaving Jason on his own to kill the golem before it regenerated. Rocks around its feet had already begun to roll towards it.
None of the others were free, so it seemed that she, Shaula, was going to have to help Jason. She shot water at the golem to make it turn, but it wouldn't budge. In fact, the water only solidified rocks even more. She cut the water off and made a wide arc around the golem to come at its side, inching closer as the fire kept it down. Most of the rock had already begun to melt again. She put her hands on the golem and pushed nearly as hard as she could, her hands beginning to boil against the rock. With one final push, the golem was turned enough to give Jason a clear shot at the crystal, and Shaula backed away, shaking her hands to stop them evaporating any further.
"If this portal thing doesn't work," she said, looking directly at Trevor, "just remember that it's your fault we're stuck here. Those thieves had better be telling the truth."

Thankfully, with everyone else's attacks, the golem broke apart, leaving behind some coins that Trevor couldn't get a good look at at this moment. He was still absurdly dizzy, and he was also still in some serious pain from the golem's attack, however, he soon felt someone, or something healing him. Trevor tried to turn around to see them, but the room was still spinning... soon enough, however, he heard Mia's voice telling him to remain calm as the vines stopped him from moving while they healed him. It... wasn't exactly Trevor's favorite way of healing, since he hated being unable to move, but it was certainly effective, and the pain left him pretty soon after they stopped him, and soon after that, the world stopped spinning, again, and Trevor picked up the silver coin that the golem left behind. "Silver, huh? Do you think it's worth ten of the copper ones, or...?" Trevor wondered out loud as he put the coin away in his pocket. He then remembered "Oh, right, the wall," and he performed his spinning attack, yet again, this time on the giant wall, and... he seemed to break through, since he found himself in a new room where there was actual sunlight! Well, okay, it was shining through some sort of glass roof that revealed that wherever we were, there was nothing but snow for miles around on the surface. Trevor then looked around, and noticed that this place was full of crops, some rotten due to not being picked in time, some wilting due to a lack of attention, but... some of them were still doing well enough. It seems like they made that glass roof so this place could act as their greenhouse... shame that they had to put up that wall thanks to a certain ghostly visitor. Trevor thought as he made his way through the greenhouse, and towards yet another cave entrance... one that had a bunch of signs around it, and a knocked out, robed phoenix nearby... at least, Trevor ASSUMED he was just knocked out, and not dead, but he was the furthest thing from a doctor, so he had no idea.

When Celina saw that the golem was defeated, she let out a sigh of relief. She calmed down and shook her head a bit, still a bit dizzy from all this. When she saw the silver coin and heard what Trevor said, she nod. "Ya... probably worth more then copper.. I would guess either 10 or 100." she then said calmly before moving forwards after Trevor was able to make the hole in the door. She passed the hole and saw the wilting farm and look down a bit. She shook her head. "That ghost probably stop those poor mole people from getting the food here. I hope they had other farms also." she then added before seeing the robed pheonix. She stayed back, looking at them. Were they dead? She didn't know that. She looked at Mia calmly. "I... am unsure if its safe to go check if that guy.. or girl is still alive... hard to say... I would advise using caution here." she then said calmly, before looking at the phoenix again. Something felt wrong here for her

Jason walks into the room after them, and looks at the unconscious phoenix. "Hey Mia, can you heal this bird creature? It might be important." He walks over the the robed form, his wings glow softly as he get closer to the other phoenix. He kneels next to it, checking it for wounds, and draws a chain and manacle with his talon, clamping it around the phoenix's wrist to stop it from either flying away or attacking them. He keeps drawing more chain, until he's a good three feet away from the unconscious one, still holding the chain. He sits on the ground, his wings softly glowing, and he begins drawing in the air with his fire magic, making a twisting and rippling drawing of a sword.

---

Mia was quickly called upon to check the bird lying on the ground. She placed two fingers on its neck to check for a pulse, and leaned in close to listen for breathing. Both were present, which meant that, without a doubt, this bird was still alive. "I can feel a heartbeat, and they're still breathing, too. As for 'guy or girl', I'm not sure, either. It's not as obvious as it is with humans."

She began looking over his body for injuries, though all she could find was some minor bite wounds and scratches. They were certainly to small to have been left by a dragon. The mole people were the most likely from the mole people they'd seen earlier. "They may have been possessed by the ghost at some point. Look at these bite marks, he seems to have fought the moles." These injuries weren't nearly enough to render him unconscious. It was likely something else, possibly the ghost leaving his body to possess someone else. "I'm going to heal them. I think the ghost left this body to possess someone else, but just in case I'm wrong, we should be ready for a fight." With that, vines sprouted from Mia's wrist, and began covering the phoenix's body. She was ready to jump back at a moment's notice. Even with Jason's chains holding it down, she was still an easy target if it decided to attack.

---

Trevor broke through the wall. On the other side was a greenhouse filled with wilted crops, its roof made of glass to let sunlight from the surface in. Above them, it seemed the planet was covered in snow just as Trevor had said. It would be blinding in the sunlight. Celina was more concerned with the mole-aliens' farm. Shaula replied, "Well they probably have more hidden around those caves of theirs. They didn't seem too keen on getting back in here when they built that wall."
When they saw the phoenix on the ground, Jason was the first to walk over. Shaula almost yelled at him to be more careful, but stopped herself short when she saw what he was doing. He had drawn a chain and manacle to keep it down as Mia ran over to check its pulse. Shaula hadn't realized she was holding her breath until Mia announced there was a heartbeat. And then Mia dropped a bombshell and said the phoenix had been possessed by the ghost.
"Hold up, you think it left to possess someone else?" Shaula gripped her backpack closer and glanced over her shoulder. "That thing could still be in here with us!" She fumbled with her backpack and took an Orgone emitter out, not taking her eyes off the room around them. Occasionally, she glanced at the phoenix as Mia's vines healed it. "I don't suppose anyone actually knows what a ghost looks like, do they?"

As Trevor was looking at the surface, noticing a small, golden, glowing thing off in the far distance, his team both detained, and healed the mysterious robed phoenix... as the life seemed to refill their eyes, they shot up, and screamed, as if they had woken up from a particularly bad dream. Once they were calm enough to speak, they said, in a rather feminine voice... "Y... you're not here to fight me? Wait... no, I remember YOU!" she then pointed at Trevor, and continued "You beat me up back on Earth because we stole that artifact!" after that remark, she tried to fly towards me, but the chains were keeping her from doing that. "Please, madam, calm down, we aren't here to finish you off, or anything, though, I would like to ask... where IS that artifact?" Trevor then replied. Thankfully, this response seemed to actually calm her, a bit, and she even informed the group "Right... that... well, the thing teleported us to an empty room with a ghost dragon, and that dragon said something about a 'test of strength' and a 'test of will', or something... he then asked to borrow a body, and when we said 'no', I... kind of blacked out. I have some memories of fighting my partner in crime, but... not many, and... once that was over, I just, well, woke up, here, chained to the ground, but oddly unhurt, given what happened before. I... think the ghost is just beyond the door behind me, but... be careful, he's not weak," Trevor then nodded, and said "Thank you... sorry that he took it, but uh... may I ask what it DOES, now?" the phoenix woman shook her head, and responded with a simple "I don't know what it does," later adding "But, apparently, I wasn't 'worthy' of it, somehow,"

Celina just listened to what Trevor and the mysterious woman said, hearing about the ghost and how he could control someone and how she was unhurt after all that but chained. She though about it. "This may be bad.... we might need to find a way to go and fight the ghost itself and not hurt our team..." she said before thinking a bit at this, looking at the group. They probably will need to find a way to pin down the one that is controlled and stop them from using their magic, but how to even do that? Also.. if she ends up controlled by that ghost... it could be very bad considering how slime might just slip through anything possibly. She look worried at this and look at the group. "Once we face that beasts... we will need to be certain to pin down the one that is controlled and knock them out." she then said worried, unsure how to proceed here

Jason nods. "But won't the ghost just leave them, and possess someone else? We don't know how it works. All we know about it is that it apparently kidnaps people and puts them though a test of some kind." He looks at the chained women, and sighs. "What's your name, miss? Sorry about the chain, but I was worried that you'd respond with violence. As you did. I'll remove the chain if you come over here." He flaps his glowing wings, and looks around the room. "Is the ghost still over there?"

---

The phoenix woke with a scream that made Shaula jump; for a moment, she thought it was still possessed. Once it had a moment to calm down, it explained how it had ended up here. After running through the portal, the other thief and it had been attacked by the ghost, which stole the artifact and declared them 'unworthy' of it. Shaula put away her Orgone emitter. "You stole the artifact from Trevor?" she said. She looked at Trevor. "And you don't even know what it does? Here I am thinking they just stole your phone or something."

Meanwhile, Celina and Jason were discussing how to fight off the ghost. Celina seemed ready to let it possess someone, but Jason thought it would just take another body after being defeated. "If we go through with this - which, just so we're clear, I'm still not convinced. Apparently, we don't even know if this artifact can get us back." She shot a look at Trevor. "Why let it use one of us? There's plenty of those mole-alien-things back there. Just let the ghost use one of them, then knock it out. Simple."

---

The phoenix let out a terrified shriek as they woke up. It was somewhat startling. Mia was expecting them to wake up slowly, especially after seemingly being knocked unconscious. As she withdrew her vines, the phoenix - who, based on the voice, she assumed was female - explained to them what happened when she encountered this ghost that they were after. Apparently, it was just up ahead.

The others immediately began strategizing, talking about how they would take down the ghost. Mia decided to chip in as well. "Keeping our distance might work. That is, if he needs to get close in order to possess someone. The truth is, until we know exactly how this ability works, there's not much we can do to prepare." Shaula seemed to have a plan as well, but Mia was quick to shoot it down. "Shaula, the ghost can just leave the mole and possess someone else. Even if he couldn't, I doubt he'd be stupid enough to fall for a trick like that."

Shaula seemed to be a little confused, and while the others continued talking to the phoenix who revealed her name was 'Maria', Trevor answered Shaula's questions. "I uh... apparently chased the wrong thieves... the thieves I was supposed to chase stole my laptop, my TV, my phone, and at least one of my game consoles... but we're kinda in too deep at this point, and need a portal to get out," Trevor then answered the whole 'and you don't know what it does?' thing with "Again, it's not mine, and while I saw it used in battle, surely it does more than form a temporary shield around the user," Maria then nodded and walked towards Jason, mumbling "That stupid artifact, and the end of the world was NOT worth it... I am SO quitting the artifacters, after this..." which Trevor heard, and almost wanted to bring attention to... end of the world? Artifacters? Who the heck? Why the heck? Of course, she didn't say anything that would answer any of those questions, and simply said "Mind if I tag along for a bit? I just want to go back home, and you guys seem like you know where you're going... here, as a 'sorry for putting you through this' gift, I'll give you these," Maria then seemed to drop a few runes on the ground... one of them had a cross shape etched into it, and was glowing green, while the others seemed to have three arrows pointing outward in a few different directions, and were glowing orange. Curious, Trevor picked up the one with the cross shape in it, and used it on himself... he then felt like he knew how to heal someone using lightning magic... and while it only healed one teammate for some HP, it also seemed to give them back some of their lost magic, too... interesting. "Uh... once we get these runes sorted out, let's... get this ghost thing over with, alright?" Trevor said as he waited for the rest of his team to take their runes.

Jason picks up one of the runes. "Might as well find out what this does." The light on the rock vanishes, and his palms glow with the same marking. "One moment...Maria, was it?" He erases the drawing, and the chain fades away. He looks at his now glowing palms with interest. "Humm." He faces away from the group, and repetitively shoots several streams of fire out of the markings on his hands, blacking several spots on the wall. "This is very interesting. It lets me hit all targets at once. Where did you get these?" His hands glow red, and he begins drawing in the air, the light following his palms.

Now this was interesting. That thief, even if they were a thief, was giving the group some runes that could end up being useful for the next fight that happens. Celina looked at what everyone was taking and took a rune that was like the one that Jason took, seeing what it did. She smiled softly at this. “Well… that is rather interesting…” she said, thinking before trying to create a small bird and send it to the wall. The bird suddenly split into multiple birds before bashing at the wall, going some markings on it. She thought about it. “So… this should be interesting when I want to attack a group of people all at once. “ she then said, smiling softly as she thought about it. Won’t be really useful next fight possibly, but could be interesting when dealing with groups.

---

These runes seemed to enhance the abilities of whoever used them. As the rest of the group began trying them out, they found that their attacks split into multiple parts. As useful as this could be, Mia really had no way of taking advantage of it. She hadn't figured out how to properly use the light arrows yet, and she already had an ability than let her heal more than one person at a time. Eventually, there was only one left. "Shaula, you can take the last one. You'll get more use out of it than I will" She hoped that more of these runes would appear in the future, possibly ones that would be more useful to her.

"The end of the world was NOT worth it..."
That was the most important sentence Shaula had heard all day. Trevor may be a complete blockhead for jumping into a portal after a video game, but at least he had done one thing right. His portal had lead them straight to an agent of the New World Order. Even better: the agent might be ready to defect.
"Mind if I tag along for a bit? I just want to go back home, and you guys seem like you know where you're going... here, as a 'sorry for putting you through this' gift, I'll give you these, the phoenix said. It dropped four rocks on the ground, a glowing symbol etched onto each of them. Trevor, Jason, and Celina took the first three, and, almost like Trevor's earlier, the symbols vanished and appeared on their hands. Celina tried out her new power; apparently, these runes multiplied their attacks. "So... This should be useful when I want to attack a group of people all at once," she said with a soft smile. Shaula found that statement slightly unnerving.
"Shaula, you can take the last one," said Mia. "You'll get more use out of it than I will."
"Thank you, Mia." Shaula forced a smile. "I'll make sure I do." Without taking her eyes off the phoenix, she picked up the rock. Immediately, its rune vanished, and there on the back of her hand appeared the same symbol, glowing a bright, ominous orange.