[OPENING SCENE — BRATZ HIDEOUT, DEEP UNDER SKYVAULT]
Smoke coils through the rusted corridors. Gang insignias of the Savage Bratz burn on the walls like a warning. Inside a flickering war chamber, KRAKK paces like a caged animal. Around him, lieutenants nervously glance between broken monitors showing the previous Nullborn battle.
Krakk (growling):
"She wasn't supposed to wake up. Not yet."
He throws one of his own lieutenants through a dented wall.
Krakk (snarling):
"Nullborn's rising. If the Vanguards don't die soon… none of us will matter."
He stares at a glowing crystal fang — pulsing faintly with Rift energy. It hums louder the longer he holds it.
[SCENE SHIFT – PRIVATE CHAMBER – KRAKK'S INNER CIRCLE]
A handful of Savage Bratz elites gather around Krakk. One of them, Toxyn, a tech-armored riot girl with a chain-blade, speaks up.
Toxyn:
"Boss… I thought Nullborn was our final card. Now it's acting like it doesn't even see us."
Krakk (quietly):
"Because it doesn't."
He approaches the Rift Fang again.
Krakk:
"Nullborn isn't a beast to tame. It's a machine built by a ghost — Mother Null. She don't give a damn about us. We're ants in her ashtray."
He looks at a holo-feed replaying the Nullborn fight.
Krakk:
"I planned to use the Vanguard. Burn them out. Drag their corpses to the tower. Then trigger the fang. Wake Nullborn as the city lay dead, and offer it all… like tribute. That would've made her listen."
Toxyn:
"Then why'd she wake early?"
Krakk:
"Because someone else did it. Maybe a rogue Brat. Maybe something worse. Maybe even Nullborn itself — felt the city pulse and rose on instinct."
Lieutenant (shaken):
"Then it's not yours anymore."
Krakk (fuming):
"It was never mine. But it could've been ours. If I delivered the city in ruins."
[FLASHBACK – EPISODE 17, REVISITED – KRAKK'S RANT]
We now re-see the moment Krakk hurls the Brat.
Krakk:
"She wasn't supposed to wake up. Not yet."
He breathes heavily, watching SkyVault burn.
Krakk (growling):
"Nullborn's rising. If the Vanguards don't die soon… none of us will matter."
Now we understand the truth — Krakk's plan was to kill the Vanguards first, prove the world was worthless, and then wake Nullborn as a way to gain favor or be spared by Mother Null.
[SCENE – ASHFANG TOWERS – DEEP BELOW THE CITY, BLACK VAULTS]
Inside an obsidian-lit throne room, walls of bio-flesh and crystal pulse like a heartbeat. DRAYVEN, the true leader of the Cinder Strain, leans over a map of SkyVault. A shimmering orb levitates in front of him — showing Krakk's hideout.
Drayven (calmly):
"The brute's plan was sound… but flawed by ego."
A monstrous figure kneels before him — part man, part charred insect.
Drayven:
"Krakk believed Nullborn was a god that could be reasoned with. But she listens to nothing but the void. Her children obey silence, not violence."
He raises a hand — the orb shows Nullborn moving through the outer districts.
Drayven:
"She was always going to awaken. I simply helped her… hear sooner."
[SCENE – VANGUARD HQ – STRATEGY ROOM]
Kael stands over a projection of the Nullborn's attack path. Veya leans against a console, arms crossed. Yuna's hands are trembling slightly, reviewing biosignature data.
Yuna:
"It measured us. Not for fun. For judgment."
Irion (coldly):
"And Krakk just lit the fuse."
Echo-7:
"Nullborn's activation pattern was triggered off-schedule. It wasn't supposed to happen. The Rift Fang… was meant for a ritual."
Tari (quietly):
"Then someone jumped the gun."
Kael:
"Or Mother Null decided to start early."
Veya looks up, flipping one of her pistols casually before holstering it.
Veya:
"Doesn't matter who started it. Point is, it's happening. We're the firewall."
[CLOSING SCENE – BACK TO KRAKK – ALONE WITH THE FANG]
Krakk sits by the Rift Fang. The glow pulses slower now. He looks tired, older. Outside, SkyVault screams in distant echoes.
Krakk (to himself):
"Fine. If I can't give her a broken world… I'll break it myself."
He slams a dagger into the table.
Krakk:
"No more tributes. No more patience. Vanguard dies. Now."
Behind him, the glow of the Rift Fang flares with red light — and a distant scream echoes across SkyVault.
[TO BE CONTINUED…]