Episode 24: Entangled in foes
K+
It was a beautiful, clear night, and the stars that twinkled in the sky shone even among the lights of the city. Our heroes, at Ilana's pleas, had gone out to eat at a nice, fancy restaurant. This one wasn't Luigi's in that it wasn't primarily Italian food, but otherwise the high quality and high prices made the two indistinguishable. Ilana felt comfortable nestled in one of the restaurant's booths with Octus beside her on her left and Lance across from her.
"Thanks for coming with me, guys," she said to her guardians. "My father and I almost never went out to eat because of all the people that would try to follow us when we went out of the palace."
"Do you know what to order?" Lance asked Ilana.
"Sure. I'm just getting a basil and carrot salad."
"Didn't know that existed," he replied. "But it's not gonna fill you up. Why don't you eat more meat?"
"There's nothing wrong with it," Ilana countered. "I just don't like meat like you do."
"I don't especially like it, I just don't shy away from it," Lance replied. Octus, who was using his Mr. Lunis hologram, spoke up. "Our waiter is approaching."
A stocky waiter with a thick black beard approached. "What'll it be, folks?"
"I'll have the prime steak", said Lance.
"Good choice; that's food a real man can eat," the waiter replied with admiration. "What about you, miss?"
"Oh, I'll just have the basil and carrot salad," replied Ilana.
"And you, sir?" the waiter focused his gaze on Octus in an almost unsettling manner.
"Fried shrimp, all the way!" said Octus. The waiter locked eyes with the robot for a moment, as if he could somehow see through the hologram. But then his demeanor suddenly changed:
"Comin' right up!" the waiter said suddenly, and left. Within minutes the trio enjoyed their delicious meal.
"Ilana, are you sure you don't want any steak?" Lance asked.
"No thanks, I'm fine with the salad. It's actually not that bad. You want some?" she asked. Lance looked at it with disgust and went back to his steak.
"Guess it's a taste you just grow into," Octus suggested to the princess. "In fact, it was a while before I even began to enjoy food consumption." And then the robot munched on a juicy fried shrimp. He was about to swallow when he detected the Rift Gate opening. Lance noticed the robot's blank expression and instantly knew what was going on.
"Rift Gate? What was it this time?" he asked.
"Nothing. Nothing at all," Octus replied. "It opened, but there was nothing that came out."
"Good. Perhaps it was just a space anomaly or something. Let's keep eating!" Ilana said hastily.
"Don't tell Ilana-" Octus whispered to Lance, but he was cut off. "Don't tell her what?" the solider asked.
"-I was going to say don't tell Ilana that some salads have meat in them," the robot finished.
When they returned home, everyone had full stomachs and big smiles. "Great choice, Ilana," Lance complimented as they stepped out of Octus' van.
"Thanks. I didn't know it would be so good! We got lucky, I guess," she replied. As they all left the car to go into the house, something caught her eye. It was hard to see it perfectly because it was dark, but it looked as if there was a strange plant growing in the yard, right in the middle of the lawn.
"Hey guys, turn on the light inside, would you?" She asked. As Lance and Octus went inside and did as she asked, the light from the inside of the house shone through the doorway and directly at the plant. The first noticeable feature it had was that it was entirely a dark purple color, much darker than the color of Lance's shirt. It was about a foot in height, and two wide, thin leaves grow on opposite sides of its thick stem. At the top there was neither a bud nor a flower, but just another leaf that lay flat at a ninety degree angle. Most disturbingly, the tip of the leaf was pointed directly at the house.
"Must be a weed of some sort," Lance said, shrugging his shoulders. "If more pop up, we've gotta get rid of 'em."
"No, we shouldn't. I think it's pretty," Ilana objected. "In fact, I think I'll replant this by the windowsill." Octus analyzed the plant while Ilana went inside to get a small gardening shovel, gloves, and a pot.
"It seems to contain compounds not commonly found here," the robot told the princess when she got back. He noticed that she had the shovel and the pot, but couldn't find any gloves. "Perhaps, in case you are allergic or if it is poisonous to touch, you should-" But Ilana was already at it while the robot spoke.
"Don't worry, Octus, it's just a plant, it can't hurt me," she replied. When the plant was secure in the soil of the pot, she took it back to her room, hoping that plucking it from where it had grown to grow it somewhere else wouldn't harm it. "It's no big deal," said Lance when she had left. "At most she'll just get a bad rash or something."
But that night, Ilana acquired something worse than even a thousand embarrassing rashes. Around midnight, roots emerged from the soil of the pot of the strange plant. They reached out and touched Ilana's skin as she slept. Now the roots felt the powder belonging to the same plant on her skin. Because Ilana had touched the plant, some of the powder secreted by the leaves was clinging there. The powder served as hundreds of miniature sensory organs. The plant's roots would detect whenever the powder had landed on any living thing. Now that the powder clung to Ilana's skin, the roots of the sentient flora knew that it had found a host for the next phase of its alien life cycle. The roots crawled up Ilana's body until they reached her outer ear. The roots felt their way through her ear canal until they reached her auditory nerve. When they brushed up against it, the nerve served as a pathway through which they could learn about Ilana's personality and thought patterns. Soon, they gained enough information to learn how she thought and spoke. They also analyzed the structure and shape of her body, externally and internally. The mysterious roots, having gained the necessary information, drew back from her ear canal and out of her ear. But they did not return to the soil of the pot just yet. They dragged themselves on the floor, secreting a substance consisting of various organic compounds. Enough to create a new organism, in theory...
Several hours later, the material clumped together in the shape of Ilana's body. Over a gradual process, skin, organs, bones, and even muscles and nerves were formed. Then a face resembling Ilana' own formed on the head of the thing. In minutes, this thing took on the appearance of Ilana, copying her entire being, down to the last freckle. When the clone was complete, she opened her eyes. She stood up, chose an outfit from Ilana's closet, and put it on. She then placed her hands over the temples of the sleeping, true Ilana. The clone Ilana transmitted a neurotoxin from her fingertips into the real Ilana's brain. The true Ilana would now remain unconscious. Her heartbeat and breathing had stopped altogether. She was in a state of suspended animation, in body and mind. Octus would be unable to detect her presence because she was not dead, but not entirely alive. Clone Ilana placed true Ilana under her bed. If Octus tried to scan the area for signs of life, he would find nothing except the false Ilana, a replica in every way. It was foolproof. But underneath the skin and organs of the cloned Ilana lay the true being, sentient and malevolent, with the intention to join with its fellow cloned individuals to resurrect their god.
Ilana's clone was the last to show up for breakfast the next morning. She said nothing as she sat down at the table, where she was welcomed by a plate of scrambled eggs. Clone Ilana didn't recognize what they were initially, but she was smart enough to know that she would have to eat them in order to keep suspicion away. She reluctantly and slowly ate the eggs, while Lance looked on with concern.
"You usually like eggs. Did you have a bad night?" Lance asked.
"No, no," Ilana replied hastily. "I'm just not that hungry this morning." Lance glanced at Octus, and the robot scanned the clone Ilana. It appeared that nothing was wrong, except for the obvious sign that she was unusually quiet.
"You seem irregular this morning," Octus said as Ilana swallowed the last chunk of the scrambled eggs. "Do you think it may have something to do with the plant?" He asked. Ilana's eyes widened and knew that she hadn't been faking normality well enough. She looked up to face Octus, accessed Ilana's memories, and thought of a good response:
"The plant died this morning, actually. I'm a little sad about it, but I'll be okay. I just can't believe it died so quickly. I made sure to water right before bed, but-"
"-Sometimes, things just die," Lance interrupted. "Kind of funny, really. I told you not to be a vegetarian, then you find a plant, and it dies the next morning. And now you've just eaten eggs for breakfast." Ilana faked a smile, unsure if he was just being humorous.
"Guess so," Ilana replied. "I'll be in the van when you guys are ready." Octus tried to follow her, but Lance caught his arm and held him back.
"I don't get it," Octus asked him. "Did you mean funny strange, or funny humorous?"
"That's not what a want to talk to you about. We're checking out that plant," Lance said, heading up the stairs and dragging Octus with him. When they arrived, they found everything to be normal. And the plant was dead, just as Ilana had described.
"When I scanned Ilana, she was perfectly fine," Octus told him.
"But her mood wasn't. She was nervous, nervous about something," Lance reminded him.
"Maybe she just didn't want to talk about how her plant had just died," Octus suggested. Lance scowled dismissively.
"No. No one cares when a plant dies. Not like that. Not after what we've been through. One or both of us will have to keep an eye on her as much as possible today at school, got it?"
"How can you be sure?" Octus asked. Lance sighed quietly.
"I just know," he replied curtly.
When the trio arrived at school, clone Ilana got out of the car first, thinking that her ruse would be more convincing if she immediately went to class like the real Ilana would. Lance whispered to Octus:
"You follow her as much as you can. I'll check out some of the other kids here. I think whatever's going on with Ilana isn't limited to her." The two split up, and Lance went to his first class of the day. Lance took a seat near the back of the room for surveillance. Everything seemed normal until Lance saw an extra student take up a usually empty seat behind him while the teacher's back was turned. It was Kristin, who Lance knew wasn't supposed to be in the class. As the teacher lectured, she spoke:
"Hey, what's up?"
"You're not supposed to be in the class. What are you doing here?"
"Just seeing you, that's all. You wanna get out of here?"
"I wish. Something's not right with Ilana today. She was sad because this plant she just got died. Seriously? Mourning a plant?"
"I guess that is pretty weird, but grieving is a natural process," Kristin reminded him. "Maybe she's still a little upset, and you just have trouble seeing it?" Lance thought for a moment. Maybe she was right.
"I...guess so. I'll talk to Ilana later. See you around, then?"
"Sure thing," Kristin said, forgetting to whisper. At this, the teacher turned around and singled her out.
"Young lady, I don't think this is your class! You can't just barge in her and-"
"It's cool, I'm leaving," Kristin said, winking at Lance. The students snickered, amused at how the teacher had failed to see her before. The teacher in question glared at Lance, who just shrugged innocently.
When Kristin left the classroom, Ilana sidled up to her. Because classes were still going, no one else was in the hallway when they spoke.
"Thanks for getting him off my back."
"It was nothing. He's not all that sensitive, is he?"
"No, he isn't," clone Ilana replied. She hung her head and added, "That plant was like...a new hopeful thing that had come into my life...and now it's gone." Feeling pity, Kristin gave her a hug. Ilana hugged back, tears on her cheeks. When Kristin left, Ilana wiped them from her face.
"That should do it," she said to herself. She hadn't bothered to spread the plant's powders to Lance because he wasn't likely to touch anyone. The species had to reproduce before it could overwhelm. For the parasite to form a clone of its host, the latter had to be asleep. So by tomorrow night, clone Ilana knew, the summoning could be arranged.
Later in the school day, Lance and Octus met back at the lockers, eyeing Ilana as she talked with Jason. Lance noticed her clasp his hand affectionately. Lance tried to shove out the thoughts of suspicion from his mind.
"Maybe I just overreacted," Lance finally said to Octus.
"Perhaps," the robot replied. "But I have noticed something: Early in the day, Ilana attempted to evoke pity from her friends, and students who are usually mean to her. But now, she has taken to becoming friendlier with everyone, as is more typical of her personality."
"She's adapting her behavior to try and ease our suspicions!" Lance said rapidly.
"We don't have any proof of-" Lance ignored Octus and confronted Ilana.
"Stop," he said sternly.
"Stop what?" she asked.
"Stop this...ruse. Stop pretending to be...just stop acting the way you've been acting!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," clone Ilana said, feigning innocence. "I'm not really sad over the plant anymore, if that's what you want!"
"I don't care about that stupid plant! I'm asking you to be normal!" Lance said, on the verge of shouting.
"Hey, leave her alone!" Jason cried. Lance ignored him.
"Just stop playing this stupid game and go back to being your normal self!" Lance cried.
"You're the one who's not acting normal!" Ilana screamed. It was forceful enough to make Lance stop. "I just had a bad morning, and now you're just trying to make things worse for me! I actually want to take things more optimistically, but you've done nothing but try to spy on me and hate me the whole day! Why would you do that to me? Why?" Ilana's eyes were beginning to water as she spoke. Jason glared at Lance.
"You've done enough damage to your sister. Now why don't you get out?" he said. Lance turned around and went away, unsure what to say or do. He decided on going back to Octus.
"You were right. Sorry I didn't listen."
"It will take a while for her to forgive you," Octus said.
"I know. She will at some point, though," Lance replied hopefully.
That night, clone Ilana waited in her room, still wearing what she had worn from that morning. Lance went into her room to check on her.
"Hey, look, I'm sorry about today. I just...didn't think you'd be that upset over a plant. I mean, what with Tashy and Octus dying, I thought..." he sighed at his own perceived insensitivity. "I guess I should've been more considerate."
"Yeah," clone Ilana said. "Could you leave me alone right now? I forgive you and everything, but right now I just want to be alone."
"Sure. Goodnight," Lance said, closing the door and turning off the lights. As soon as his footsteps faded, clone Ilana changed into her pajamas and went to bed. Or so it seemed. The creature with the human disguise closed its eyes, but it wasn't going to sleep. It was searching for another one of its kind, which had hopefully been created tonight now that it had spread its powders through touch. At first, there was silence, but then a voice answered:
"Are you the Parent?"
"Yes. How many others are there besides you?"
"5,000, Parent. We have enough for the summoning. I grow impatient."
"Patience. All of the city must fall asleep first. There are many who are unaffected. Tonight and tomorrow, see that this is not so. Go into the night and infect the humans." At clone Ilana's unspoken command, thousands of people emerged from their homes and headed through the night, all as silently as possible. The only thing they had to do was simply touch the others in their sleep. Just a tap with a single finger was enough.
Their species spread like wildfire that night, and as they did Clone Ilana woke up and got out of bed to join them. She glanced at the clock. 2 AM. She slowed her metabolism and vital functions to make her virtually undetectable by Octus. Next, she reached under the bed, grabbed the real Ilana, and placed her back on the bed. As she did this, she restored genuine Ilana's vitals to make it look as if she was simply asleep, rather than in a state of suspended animation. Clone Ilana quietly opened the door of the room. But not quiet enough for Lance not to hear. She crept to the top of the stairs when she heard a voice.
"Ilana?" Clone Ilana turned around to see Lance peeking out of his bedroom. Clone Ilana obviously had no idea of Lance's insomnia at this time.
"Just getting a drink of water," she said hastily as she went down the stairs. Lance was about to close the door when Octus appeared, a finger over his mouth.
"Shhh," the robot whispered. "You'll wake Ilana."
"What are you talking about? She's downstairs," Lance replied.
"No, my sensors indicate that she is in her bedroom, and still asleep," Octus said, confused.
"But I just saw her go downstairs!" Lance said. Octus sighed, pointing to Ilana's door. Lance went in to check on her. Genuine Ilana was asleep. Octus hovered over Lance so as not to make any noise as they observed the princess.
"But...that doesn't make any sense," Lance protested. "I saw her before!" He was about to go downstairs when Octus' sensors caught a flash of movement out the window.
"Wait, what's that?" Octus asked himself. Lance looked out and saw movement as well. He could just make out the silhouette of Ilana. A realization hit him as he looked back at the sleeping Ilana.
"One of these Ilanas is a fake, set up by the Mutradi!" Lance cried. "The Ilana we went to school with yesterday was not the real Ilana!"
"Doesn't that seem a little...preposterous?" Octus asked.
"It's the only explanation!" Lance cried. He sighed. "Just like the coup. No one saw it coming, and I got a little warning of it. If people had just believed me...Octus, you have to believe me!" Then Lance got an idea. "Octus," he asked, "Shouldn't you have been able to see Ilana-or, the Ilana I saw-on your scanners, and not just a vague shadow?"
"Yes, you're right, I should have been able to see more than that," Octus said.
"And how does this one look?" Lance asked.
"Perfectly normal," Octus said, agreeing with Lance. "But which one is the fake?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," Lance replied. "The Mutradi could be this Ilana, waiting for us to drop our guard so that we can attack. Or maybe this is the real Ilana, and the Mutradi went off somewhere?"
"Why would a Mutradi just go off somewhere and not take an unconscious Ilana with it?" Octus asked him. "We don't even know if that thing we just saw was-"
"Octus, listen to me!" Lance shouted. "I'm going after that Ilana, and you go watch this one!" he said, hurrying into his room to put on some clothes and get his armor. When Lance had dressed, Octus asked him:
"Should I wake her up?"
"No! She might be a Mutradi. Either way, get ready to receive a message from me," he said as he opened the window of Ilana's room and jumped out the window.
"Lance!" Octus called. Lance turned around.
"What?"
"I trust you," he said. Lance gave a quick thumbs-up, turned on his armor, and flew off into the night.
It was several minutes before he could find the clone Ilana on his scanners. She just barely registered. The real Ilana would be very noticeable to a machine's sensors, but this one wasn't. This assured Lance that he was pursuing some sort of Mutradi. He followed the clone Ilana until it arrived at a fountain in downtown Sherman. Lance saw her and gasped. She was with thousands of others, perhaps millions. Was this the entire population of Sherman? Like the clone Ilana, they just barely registered on Manus's scanners. Lance turned off his armor as he got up close. He saw everyone congregate around the fountain, place their hands in the water and chant. Was it just Lance's imagination, or was everyone growing slightly greener, and was the water getting murkier with the chant? Something told him that these people, even though they looked like people he knew, couldn't possibly be human. Lance stepped out from his hiding and placed and cried, "What's going on?!"
Clone Ilana turned to face him, pointed a finger, and unleashed a blood-curdling, inhuman scream. The others turned toward him and did the same. Then, in swift, coordinated motion, they tugged at their own skin. It and the clothes they were wearing peeled off in seconds, and Lance saw what these things really were.
. . .
Back in the G3 airship, the troops were all over the place, scrambling to put on their uniforms and grab the flamethrowers being issued to them. Solomon spoke to them from the intercom as they made their way to the hangars to get into their fighters or troop carriers. "I want 7 divisions in the troop carriers to relocate in the outskirts of Sherman," he ordered. "Make your way into the city from there. I also need three divisions to cover the residential areas. Kill any plant-like creatures that come for you. Leave no stone unturned. Provide assistance to our allies, the Galalunans. The rest of you in the fighters, prepare your aircraft for combat. You will provide fire support, but don't drop any bombs on the city. We need no traces of this battle. Now, go!"
Solomon himself, meanwhile, was speaking to his superior in a room in the heart of the airship. Solomon switched off the intercom. "I hoped Modula would not be able to send this species of Mutradi," the man with the metal hand said to him. "I don't know how he can command these savages to do his bidding. And will we be able to obscure our identity?"
"There won't be any explosions, or any damage to the city anyone would notice," reassured Solomon. "We've been monitoring the city for signs of life, and it looks like everyone almost everyone has been incapacitated and replaced with the Mutradi, save for the trio. I'm more concerned about waking everyone up afterwards. Any solutions?"
"I have just perfected an injection to administer that will awaken them," the man with the metal hand replied. "You don't need to worry your little Earthling head about it. You worry about the monsters; I'll worry about the people." Solomon managed a smile.
. . .
It was obvious that they were plant-like in nature. They were humanoid and about five feet tall, with green skin. They each had two arms with veins visibly running down to their hands, which had three flexible, root-like structures which served as fingers. They had wide, thick waists, with vertical muscles lining the walls of their midsection. Their legs looked quite strong, with powerful, four-toed feet. Their chest and shoulders resembled their waists in that they, too, had muscle fibers seen just underneath their skin. But their faces were a truly fearsome sight: they had no neck or chin, just a head that seemed to rest between their flat shoulders. Their eyes were yellow, with tiny white pupils. Their ears were large, pointed, and protruding from the sides of their faces. They had no noses, and mouths full of rows of teeth like a shark. Lance took off in his armor as they swarmed around him and called Octus.
"Get over to where I am, now! Don't bother with Ilana! I just need you!" he cried. Octus flew to his location as fast as he could, leaving Ilana behind on Lance's orders. Minutes later, the robot met the soldier in the sky. On the ground below, thousands of plant monsters roared in challenge. The two fighters hovered closer to the ground to prepare for combat.
Inside the Manus robot, Lance pointed his arm down and fired his machine gun at the creatures, spraying bullets throughout the square. They scattered; some were wounded, others were unharmed. But none, Lance observed, were killed. Most dodged the fire, and those that did not had lost a few limbs. But to Lance's astonishment, they grew back in just seconds. He tried a new tactic: He brandished his sword and began slicing the creatures as if they were vegetables.
Octus wrapped his gel-like body around a few that were rushing behind Manus. He grabbed them and slammed them to the ground multiple times. While they were dazed, he threw them up in the air, floated up to them and punched them back down to earth, his hands crackling electricity. But Octus only managed to kill three in this process. He floated a few feet above the creatures' heads, trying to analyze them for a physical weakness. He had scarcely begun this process when one of the plant creatures leaped up and struck him with root-like claws. Octus came crashing back down, heavily wounded. But he did not give up. He wrapped his gel around ten or so and zapped them with more electricity. They died almost instantaneously.
Lance, meanwhile, was continually slashing at the creatures that came his way. But their limbs regrew themselves rapidly, and individuals that Lance thought he had killed came back to join the fray. One dodged one of Lance's attacks and latched on to the Manus robot's head. The others took the initiative to deliver kicks to its arms using their powerful feet. Because Lance's own arms were located just beneath Manus', he felt the surprisingly painful blows. A small group of the plant creatures leaped up on the hand that was carrying the sword and pulled it apart from him. Now they had his weapon! Lance tried to grab it back, but 40 or so plant creatures knocked Manus down with him still inside. Manus landed with a thud. Lance felt a sharp pain in the back of his skull. A few of the creatures were still attached to Manus' eyes. They kept slashing with their root-like claws until the visual sensors of the Manus robot were temporarily destroyed, until Octus could find time to repair them after the fight. Manus was now blind. Lance felt several sharp blows from inside the armor. He cried out in pain. Had his armor now become his grave? "Octus! Help me, quick!" He screamed in agony again. Suddenly, his armor took so much damage that it simply shattered. He and Ilana's armor, as well as Titan, had a system which deactivated the robot upon taking intense damage. This was so that the armor would never be completely destroyed. But now Lance was helpless. A human, no matter how strong, couldn't fight these things off. And he knew it. Lance thought he was going to die. He looked around for Octus. He was trying to make his way to him, but 30 or so creatures were pinning him down. They were doomed.
But just as Lance was ready to give up hope, soldiers dressed in red, futuristic looking uniforms appeared. G3 had come to save them! All of the soldiers were carrying flamethrowers. Lance looked up and saw G3 jets firing low to the ground. Their accurate firepower scattered the plant things in every direction, stunning a majority of them. The G3 troops on the ground burned almost all of the nearby plant creatures. With every single dose of flame, 60 of the creatures died. They continued this process until none were left. Almost none...
"Hey! You guys okay?" Solomon asked Lance and Octus.
Octus was mostly uninjured, but Lance was bleeding across his side where one of the creatures had scratched him. "Medic! Stat!" Solomon called. Lance went unconscious before they could reach him.
. . .
As Lance slipping into sleep, Ilana was doing the opposite. She felt a needle slide into her arm as she opened her eyes. As she woke up, she saw a man with the same needle was standing over her. She was about to scream when she saw a G3 soldier behind him.
"It's okay. He's with us," the man who had used the needle on her said reassuringly. His voice made it seem like he was old and tired, but it was strangely comforting. Ilana nodded in understanding.
"The injection was to wake you up. I can assure you it's harmless," the man said. Ilana saw that he was wearing a lab coat, glasses, and a suit underneath the coat. He had messy, long, brown hair that showed signs of graying.
"I am one of G3's scientists," he said.
"Oh..." said Ilana. "Why did you wake me up? And where are Lance and Octus?"
The man with the metal hand explained what had happened with the plant-like Mutradi, and what it had done to her. Ilana felt terrible paying no heed to Octus' warning.
"I feel so stupid, just picking up a plant that I've never seen on this planet before," she said.
"Oh, there's no way you could have known."
"Thank you for reviving me," she said. "Hey, how come I've never seen you with Solomon?"
"I'm just a minor physician. I was only sent her to wake you up," he said. "But enough of that. You need to go and help your friends right now."
"Oh, that's right! Well, I've gotta go then!" she said, getting out of bed. "Uh, can I have some privacy while I get dressed, please?"
"Of course," said the man. As the G3 soldiers jumped out of Ilana's window, the man who had healed her grabbed a cane that had been leaning against her bed and walked out the door of her bedroom. Ilana hadn't noticed that cane before. She didn't think much of it. He probably needed it because he was fairly old. When she changed clothes, Ilana went outside into the night. G3 had already left, and she heard noises coming from downtown. She turned on her armor, ready for battle. She had already grown used to waking up in the middle of the night for some reason or another.
. . .
When Lance came to, he was in small building which they had commandeered for military use. Lance looked around and saw no regular civilians. "Where are all the..." he asked.
"They were placed into unconsciousness by those...things," the Solomon said. "That was some impressive fighting."
"What are you talking about?" said Lance.
"You fended off dozens of them without breaking a sweat until they started ganging up on you. You managed to kill a whole lot more than your robot."
"Octus? Where is he, anyway?" Lance asked.
"I'm right here," said Octus, who was standing to the side of the cot Lance was on. "I am sorry I couldn't help you," he stated apologetically. "Their sheer numbers made it difficult."
"It's okay. I'm just glad you're alright."
"I'm curious:" Solomon began. "Can every Galalunan fight like you when they're in those robots?"
"No; Lance happens to be one of Galaluna's greatest young soldiers," Octus replied before Lance could answer.
"Octus, you're embarrassing me!" Said Lance, laughing. But then he stopped when he remembered something important. "Wait, is Ilana safe?"
"I'm right here!" she called. Lance looked up to see Corus flying overhead. She turned off her armor when she landed. Lance got up from the cot, despite his lingering injuries.
"How did you wake up after-?" Octus began, confused. Lance touched Ilana on the shoulder in an affectionate greeting.
"This is the real you, right?" Lance asked. Ilana smiled and hugged him.
"Would a stupid alien clone know who her best friend was?" She asked. Best friend? Lance pondered the title.
"I think there are some stragglers left," said Solomon, almost deliberately interrupting the reunion. "G3 and I will go and revive the people. You hunt those last few monsters down." Our three heroes left at Solomon's instruction, returning to the fountain. From above they saw a few plant monsters that had some survived, still chanting as if nothing had happened to them. The few remaining G3 soldiers they could see were dead.
Before the trio could reach the survivors, a massive, monstrous plant-thing emerged from the ground, destroying the fountain and absorbing the remaining plant Mutradi within its own body. The creature rose to its full height, finally growing tall enough to stare directly in the faces of our three heroes. It glared at the trio and emitted a low growl.
"Initiating Sym-Bionic Titan," Octus said. The monster even stepped back to allow them to form Titan, who came up to be around the same height.
The plant beast had a massive body which served as a stem, with 2 root-like tentacles protruding from the sides. It used the tentacles as arms. Its legs were long and wide, with small tentacles protruding on the ends of each one that acted as toes; these legs supported its massive body and head. Like its small subordinates, it had no neck, but instead a massive, circular head, which was spherical and had no facial features save for a mouth with teeth. It almost looked absurd, but upon seeing Titan, it charged its body forward, jaws open. Titan ran out of the way, but the plant creature that was worshipped by the smaller plant-things as a god extended its arm-like tentacles and grabbed one of Titan's legs. With surprising strength, it lifted Titan from the ground with just one arm clasping a leg. It threw Titan up in the air. As the force of gravity forced it down, the plant monster leapt up and bit Titan's arm. Holding its arm by its teeth, the creature hit the ground, unhurt. Letting go of Titan's arm as it landed, Titan crashed to the ground with a mighty thud.
"Everybody alright?" Lance asked as their minds floated in suspended animation inside Titan's body.
"I'm fine," said Ilana. "Wait, that thing's attacking again!"
The creature had leapt up into the air and pounded on top of Titan.
"Any more attacks, and our outer armor will shatter," said Octus.
"Okay, let's try using a new weapon," said Lance. Titan stood to its feet and delivered a kick to the plant monster, knocking it down. "Initiating Sonic Boomerang, now!"
Upon command, a fairly large, flat, curved object the size of school bus appeared in Titan's hand. Titan threw the boomerang at the creature. It crashed into the creature, and it fell. But the boomerang kept on going. Just as the monster stood to its feet, the boomerang began to shine with an intense light and glowed. It turned around on its own and struck the creature in the back of its head, causing a massive gash where aquamarine spilled forth. The creature fell once more. Titan caught the boomerang, and prepared to throw it again. The creature tried running away, but Titan threw the boomerang again to strike again. As it sailed through the air, it spun faster and glowed brighter. The monster ducked its head, and the boomerang missed. Seeing that Titan was defenseless, it proceeded to charge again. It bounded towards Titan rapidly, but was much slower compared to the boomerang. The boomerang, now off in the distance, turned around, spinning faster and glowing even brighter. When it crashed into the monster, it severed its body in two. The plant monster died almost instantly, now reduced to utter scrap.
The trio powered down. "Wow that is some boomerang! We should use it more often!" said Lance.
"Fascinating," declared Octus. "When the boomerang is thrown, it gains more power and speed the farther it is allowed to go. And if it turns around without hitting anything, it gains even more power and speed as it comes back. I think this weapon is suitable only for long-range attacks, not close combat."
"Good to know," said Ilana. "You know, Titan seems to have so many weapons that only seem to show themselves when we absolutely need them. Do you think Titan is sort of...putting suggestions in our heads as to what weapons we should use?" she wondered.
"No, it's not that. I think Titan is just all of us fused into one, so we can all work together. We kinda have to discover new weapons on our own. I don't think Titan is a separate living being."
"Maybe Titan is all of our thoughts, power, and spirit in one physical body," suggested Ilana.
"I'm not so sure about that," said Lance.
"Maybe it's best if some things about Titan stay a mystery," said Octus.
Lance tried to change the subject. "So, after what happened then, are you still going to be a vegetarian?"
"Of course not!" she said, laughing. The three heroes suddenly saw a G3 ship carrying a large stone object flying overhead.
"What's that?" Octus asked, sending the message to Solomon. He allowed the call to be heard by Lance and Ilana.
"We don't anyone to know about this," Solomon replied to the three of them from wherever he was, most likely the G3 airship. "For a few weeks we'll be repairing the damage done to the city in the battle. Thankfully, it's minimal."
"What about the people? I thought you said you would revive them!" Ilana asked him.
"Is that you, Ilana? Don't worry about it. They're all in a state of suspended animation, and they won't need any food or water until after they are waked up. We can take as much time as we need to."
"Does 'suspended animation' even work that way?" Lance asked no one in particular.
"G3 certainly enjoys doing things in secret," Octus said as he broke communication with Solomon.
"Just like the monsters, they work right under our nose," Ilana said. "But…I think we can still trust them. Just because we don't know everything about them doesn't make them bad. Maybe it's for our own good."
"Maybe," Lance mused. He wasn't quite sure.
Author's note: I really hope there aren't any vegetarians offended by this. Anyway, if you enjoyed this, please leave a review! Substantial reviews are preferred, but you can still shower me with praise if you want, lol.