Race of Discovery

Spiritual Guidance 4.0.

Admiral was early as she pounded on the door to the Ringtown base. The other three waves arrived later as she paused.

"I don't think anyone's inside. And if they are, they might be dead."

"Don't say that. If Star is the Kingdom Ruler, I don't want to be a victim." The younger members giggled before Star's voice filled the air.

"What's with the tsunami?" They turned as she went over. Admiral frowned.

"First of all, that's not funny." Star smirked as she continued. "Second, we're here for Lapis." She paused.

"Wintown. Elita needed help, so he volunteered. Most of the base is either in Fall City or Summerland except him and me. I stayed here." Midnight raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Cause I'm not on speaking terms with Aria, didn't want to work with Lapis and they don't want my flames in Summerland. You'd better get moving north."

~

Upon arrival, Chris led them to where Lapis was. His reaction said it all.

"No. I didn't kill the guy in Fall City. That was Billy."

"We aren't here about your damn family! But if you bring them up, we will use them against you!" He shot a look back.

"I ain't afraid of them!"

"That's why I have Billy on speed dial!" The horror that crossed the taller Ranger's face said a lot.

"What?!"

"Yeah! I have to keep you lot in check somehow! But instead of calling Star, Billy handles you much better." Chris left them to their discussion as they joined him. Upon hearing why they were there, he could only curse quietly.

"No." Blue sighed as he turned away. "I'm not doing that."

"Lapis-"

"No." Midnight paused.

"Are we having this problem like the problem with the holidays and the shelter?"

"Probably." Hearing Porcelain agree made Lapis turn.

"Pardon?" Midnight sighed.

"You never took part in things like Christmas at the shelter. Are you going to bury yourself in something like work or the ground to escape this?"

"What are you talking about? I did not." Porcelain frowned.

"Yeah? And I'm at every Kithicor Doomsday Meeting. It's funny how those two lies are just as far from the truth as each other." Lapis remained quiet as he looked away. Admiral spoke up finally.

"Lapis. We're not asking you to like the Kingdom Ruler. We're not. We're asking you to get your allies to leave them alone. The Afterlife Alliance is trying to ground the kingdom so that they can monitor who it is."

"It's not that hard-"

"Lapis." He went quiet again. "You guys will never be able to officially kill off the Spirit Kingdom. It's like trying to kill off the Earth Kingdom. That seems to be working out great." Hearing a chuckle escape Blue made him turn around.

"What?" Blue pushed her bangs out of her face.

"As the current Earth Kingdom Ruler, I am very much not dead." Admiral paused.

"Remind me how many people have tried to kill you?"

"2. Yellow has gladly sent them to hell." Midnight let a giggle out as Porcelain paused.

"All we're asking is that your allies allow the Afterlife Alliance to deal with the Spirit Kingdom. They have a plan that'll keep them in check."

"Hopefully." Midnight added. Yellow had told them that she and the rest of the Alliance weren't sure of the plan fully working. "They haven't tested it out, so they aren't sure it would work."

"Well, they would know if they were given a chance to secure them in the alliance. But we know what the cause of that is." Lapis turned away from them as he sighed.

"It's not like the ruler's treating us any better." Blue paused.

"It's because you keep trying to kill them. What would you do if you constantly had a target on your back?" Lapis didn't answer for a good moment as he finished up what he was doing.

"Not doing it." A sigh escaped the other Rangers as he stormed away. Blue simply called someone. And Lapis heard it.

"Tell Ghost Road to go ahead with the mission." He halted his tracks as she continued. "Yeah... He's not agreeing over here. I'll call Yellow about the body count. Yeah, make sure they know to leave no one standing. I can try one more time but- yeah. I'll call you if he changes his mind." She hung up before turning around, knowing he had stopped upon hearing that. "What's it going to be, Lapis?" The other three paused as they turned. "Are you going to call and tell them they are going to end up in body bags or are you going to convince them to back off? Choose wisely."

~

Emerald purred as he answered the second call.

"You got him?"

"Yeah. He backed down after I hung up. You didn't send the mission, did you?"

"I waited on you. I'll let them know that the mission's off."

"Good. Lapis is going to turn in his work and then call. Monitor it at your own risk."

"I'll monitor it regardless." She seemed to laugh before hanging up.

~

The group understood the backoff from Lapis, which got the seniors down to the Shrine early the next morning. Red gulped.

"Oh geez-" Seeing the condition of the shrine must've made him uneasy. "Ghost Road mentioned the shrine when I was repairing the rifle once... but he didn't say it looked this bad-" Yellow gulped.

"This was the work of Lapis's allies. They really damaged this..." Green gulped.

"This may take longer... we'll keep it in mind, but let's see if we can get an identity out of Star. If not, the best we're getting is the alliance."

~

Star fired back again, but her answers had changed. Instead of fully denying the accusations, she hinted at the identity, clearly linking herself. But again, when asked if she was the ruler, she evaded them.

Yellow was able to secure Spirit's entry into the alliance. But that was it. Yellow sighed as they grouped up.

"So close-" The others giggled before she glanced around. "Hush. Before it's a one way ticket down." Lapis went pale as Blue purred.

"Leave Lapis out of this. I've already scared him with a death sentence." Sage rubbed the bluenette's back as he trembled. Yellow sighed.

"Regardless... this is as far as we're getting."

"We have a plan for now. We'll focus on it later. What's next?"