Heyo~!
To past readers: How have you all been since I finished the prequel to this? I am pumped to write this, so I hope you'll all be happy to read this! Hopefully it'll be even better than [The Chaos Crystal]!
To new readers: Hello! I'm CrazyCartoonistOtaku, just call me Xyla. Thanks for clicking on this story and welcome to [Beyond Death and Memories]! Oh yeah, this story is a sequel to my other story, [The Chaos Crystal], so you really have to read it to get what's going on. If you find that troublesome or anything, it's okay, I understand. But either way, I hope you will love this story, and its prequel in case you decide to read that after all!
To everyone: Kyaah~! I'm so happy to be writing a new story! I've worked pretty hard on this after my first story, so this is my second ever posted fanfiction! I know I'm a little overly-enthusiastic but that's what ADHD can do to a person, heheh! I'll be adding OCs this time around, though I don't really want to because I dislike using OCs, but most of them will be very minor and (no offense to them intended) insignificant to the main plot line except for about seven or eight of them at most. Okay now, I'll end the author's notes here and move on to the full summary plus the disclaimer.
Full Summary:
Two months after the dreaded Chaos Crystal incident which took Ace's life, the team finds that there are a group of thieves, skilled and stealthy ones, were on the prowl, and they were after some pretty important and dangerous items. After a certain scientist gets taken, the team learn that their enemies are a powerful group of six super-powered beings. The team pursues them, but each of them all have negative feelings towards this group. But there is another distraction, and he is greatly confusing the Loonatics, as this distraction is a normal anthro citizen of Acmetropolis, but the problem is that he isn't just being targeted by the group of thieves, he looks and acts exactly like a certain former leader of theirs.
Disclaimer: As usual, I refuse to repeat disclaimers, so I DON'T OWN LOONATICS UNLEASHED! WHY ELSE WOULD I POST ON ?! Okay I'm high, sorry. XP
P.S After writing the summary, I pretty much gave away what this story is all about didn't I? Haha, oh well, enjoy it anyway! Xyla, out!
PART ONE: THEFT BEFORE YOUR EYES
Two months had passed since the incident involving the Chaos Crystal. The city planet of Acmetropolis acted as if it was already forgotten, but not its protectors, the Loonatics, who lost one of their members during the last fight of the entire thing. They lost Ace Bunny, the leader of the superhero group. The city held a public funeral for him a few days after the culprit, Chaos Ace, the part of Ace which got possessed by that crystal which Deuce brought into Acmetropolis, separated into another body from the Loonatics leader, was cast into oblivion along with Ace. Practically everyone in the city showed up. The Loonatics were grateful, but after two months when everything had died down already, all of them were feeling pretty empty.
Tech kept making stupid mistakes when inventing new things and when attempting to repair things in the HQ tower. Duck gave up on ever being the one in charge of the team and acted less egoistic. Slam eat less, slept more and often ended up staring at the floor when he was alone. Rev was spending a lot more time with his family members, who had been victims of Chaos Ace but were saved by Ace before any real damage could be done. They didn't even remember why they were all in comas in the Acme hospital when they recovered.
Lexi was taking things hardest. They say that if given time, even the most painful wounds will heal. But was that really true? The female bunny, now the new leader of the Loonatics, didn't believe that. To her, the pain she felt seemed to hurt even more as time passed. Ace was really tight with her, she didn't know anyone else to whom she ever felt so close to. And he was gone. It just wasn't fair.
The others and their boss, Zadavia, were all worried about her as she always looked so down. They knew it would happen, but they never expected it to be so serious. Lexi was able to keep her cool during missions, but once everything was done and the villains were thrown (often literally) into jail, she would rush back to HQ by herself via jetpack to cry in her room. Obviously, the missions were making her miss Ace. It really wouldn't be surprising if she had feelings for him, although that wasn't too clear. In any case, Lexi was definitely going to be down for at least another three months or so, and no one could do anything about that. But all of them knew they had to move on whether they liked it or not. Protecting Acmetropolis was still their top priority.
"Loonatics, we have a problem." Zadavia announced one day, personally delivering the message instead of using the holographic communicator she normally used. That was quite a surprise for the anthro superheroes.
"What's up Zadavia?" Tech asked first, and the Freeling ruler told them to follow her into the HQ's lab. No one questioned the request and obediently followed her in. Once inside Zadavia turned on the computer and inserted a disc into it. At once, reports, both pictures and videos, of the recent mass robberies within the city showed up on screen.
"I believe you are all familiar with these reports?" The Loonatics boss asked.
"Well yeah, Misty Breeze covered the story twice." Duck said, folding his arms. Zadavia rolled her eyes but decided not the make any comment on his tone. It was actually already a lot less annoying and self-centred, which was a cause for worry on its own. The mallard had been badly affected by Ace's death as well. To think he really gave up wanting to be the leader.
"What's wrong with them?" Lexi asked, trying to hide her dread of having to go on a mission again but horribly failing. Everyone else noticed, but said nothing as they knew it would only make her feel worse.
"Well until recently, the robberies have only been those of money from banks, so we left the police to handle them." Zadavia explained, "But then the latest robbery took place at the nuclear plant, which is really bad news. A lot of the technology which was about to be transported to the new research facility was stolen. I've managed to confirm that the robbers are the same as those who only went after money. Which is why I need you all to investigate."
At the mention of the research facility, all the team members stiffened. After all, it was where Ace had first gotten possessed, and it was also the place where he disappeared from their lives forever, as the last fight they had with Chaos Ace had been right there. Their unease did not go unnoticed by the Loonatics boss, as she sighed sadly.
"Loonatics, I know it's going to be hard for you to go back in there," she said, feeling pretty depressed herself with all that had happened. "But you all have a job to do, as the police wouldn't be able to handle this as well as you all can. I'm sorry but…"
"It's okay Zadavia, we understand." Lexi cut in, "Just don't…"
As she trailed off, the Loonatics boss let out another sigh.
"Alright. I won't say anymore. Now you have to head out." She told them, and Lexi nodded her head as she let out a breath and then gave the order to head out. The others all nodded in agreement, then they all left Zadavia to finish up in the lab. She watched them go, remembering the time when she watched the full team of six leave for the final fight with Chaos Ace, only to return as a team of five. Suddenly, she felt a strange pang of emotion on her chest. She gasped, but realized it didn't hurt. It only surprised her. What…was that? Little did she know she would soon find out.
"Ow!" Lexi gasped, feeling a throb in her chest. They had just arrived at the research facility, which was rebuilt just enough so that it was at least appropriate for certain activities within the last two months. At once the rest of the team turned to her.
"Lex, are you alright?" Duck asked with concern. The female bunny nodded, the feeling leaving as soon as it came. She glanced around, wondering what made her feel like that all of a sudden, but nothing in particular caught her attention. Then, Duck yelled the same thing she did at the same time as both Slam and Rev. "Ow!"
"Huh? Are you guys all…OW!" Tech exclaimed as he felt the throb as well. His hand flew to his chest like it did with everyone else. Lexi blinked. Did they just experience the same thing she did? Of course, she asked them.
"Well-I-guess-so-but-why-did-we-all-feel-the-same-kinda-sensation-when-we-walked-in-here-could-there-be-some-sort-of-weird-energy-in-the-air-or-something?" Rev asked but received no answer to his question as the others just looked at each other nervously. That throb was something strange and out of place after all.
"Well, we'll have to check up on it later. Right now we have to go ask the scientists about what they know about the robbery." Lexi suggested. Apparently, the throb at least did some good, as it took her mind off Ace for a while. The others agreed with her, though they weren't any less worried, and the entire team headed for the laboratories. Well, almost the entire team…
A scientist named Richard let them into the labs, and the team was greeted with the sight of many state-of-the-art tech, and the genius coyote in the group was showing his interest, but he was still pondering over the strange throb in his chest, and feeling a little depressed at being in the place where his team leader died, to actually go nuts over the machinery like he normally would've.
"So, exactly what was stolen? We only know that it was nuclear technology." Tech asked Richard as all the other scientists were engrossed in their work, with a few construction workers here and there, repairing the still-damaged areas of the facility. Richard scratched his head lightly, his eyes full of worry.
"Well Loonatics, you aren't wrong, a lot of our nuclear research products were taken." he explained as he led them to a smaller lab, one that could only have at about four or five people researching at a time inside. In fact, it was so cramped Slam was forced to stand outside and wait, much to his dismay. Duck decided to keep the big guy company while the rest went in with Richard, who apologized for the tight space. He told them it was due to his and four others' personal offices were more heavily damaged than most of the other rooms when the crystal that was brought in went out of control. Thus, all five people had to use the only room left, which was really nothing much more than a larger walk-in closet.
"You see, while a lot of our research does not focus on the nuclear energy itself, we need the nuclear technology to carry out other forms of research. Currently, we are working on something to restore Acmetropolis's natural atmosphere, something that hasn't been done in over 700 years." Richard explained, and the present Loonatics looked surprised.
"That-sounds-like-a-really-huge-project-I-mean-there's-air-pollution-to-clear-up-mass-trash-destruction-land…oof!" Rev started to say before Tech clamped his hand down on the roadrunner's beak. Seriously, he had superspeed so it was understandable, but Rev's constant stream of words were really quite annoying sometimes, even if he did slow down a lot since two months ago. Luckily, Richard didn't seem to mind much. Instead he flipped a switch and one of the super-computers whirred to life.
"Yes, it is a very big project," he agreed, nodding his head, "expensive too. But look."
On the computer screen were multiple images of the world from over 700 years before, green earth everywhere and blue skies watching over everything that lived down below. Lexi gasped.
"The world used to look like this?" she asked, and Richard nodded a little sadly.
"We humans and anthros destroyed that world with too much science and pollution, but now, with our superior technology, we may be able to restore it, at least to a certain extent, and recently one of the scientists accidentally discovered a way to clean air using nuclear energy. However, I'm afraid I can't provide you details as that man is a superior, so at the moment, only they know anything about the actual project and planned to reveal it to everyone else once the tech had arrived." He told them with a little remorse. Tech patted him on the back.
"Don't worry. Anyway, who's this scientist? We may have to talk to him to find out what the thieves were after." He asked after reassuring the man. Richard gave him a grateful smile. Then, he told them that the scientist's name was Dr Truman, but he was in the Acme General Hospital, due to the serious injuries he had received in a vehicle accident a week earlier. The Loonatics thanked Richard and left to head to the hospital to find this Tyson guy.
On the way to the hospital, the Loonatics deciding to get there via jetpack as it wasn't too far from the research facility, the team all glanced at each other nervously.
"For some reason, I have a bad feeling about everything…" Lexi commented, her green eyes shifting with unease. Flying beneath her, Rev let out a huge sigh.
"I-know-right-I'm-really-getting-weird-vibes-from-this-mission-for-some-reason." He said, and Slam growl-whimpered in agreement. The Tasmanian devil looked so nervous he looked like he would snap at any second. Duck groaned.
"Jeez, you people are all so superstitious." He said, rolling his eyes with disapproval, though in truth he felt strangely uncomfortable as well. Tech said nothing and was simply lost in thought. He was a little conflicted as to whether he should even participate in the mission, as he had been really confused lately. He kept having weird dreams about something, but he could only remember bits and pieces of them each time, and every time he tried to recall those dreams, everything became fuzzy and his head would start to pound. It was a great annoyance, but it also caused the coyote a certain degree of worry. It made him feel like he was going mad.
"Look, there's the hospital. Let's land." Lexi suddenly said, breaking Tech's train of thought. However, he reacted a little late and Rev only had time to call out the "Te" part in his name before he slammed into a road sign.
"Yow!" he exclaimed as he frantically tried to regain control of his jetpack. He succeeded, but he was dazed to say the least. He shook his head a little and went to land where the others had done.
"Woah-Tech-you-okay-there-buddy-it's-rare-to-see-you-space-out-like-that-and-I'm-sorry-for-being-a-little-slow-with-my-warining-I…"
"Okay Rev I get it!" Tech snapped. The roadrunner flinched. Tech immediately recoiled.
"Ah…sorry Rev. I've feeling a little on edge for some reason." He told his best friend with a guilty look on his face. Lexi looked at him strangely as Duck rambled at him about how "despicably stupid" it was for the group genius to do something like that. Rev and Slam did not comment on that, but it was clear from the looks on their faces that they felt the same way, though they appeared to be a little more worried than the mallard was.
Lexi wondered what made him so distracted. Out of all the Loonatics, distracting Tech had always been hardest. The only way to completely distract him was to bring in some experimental sample he had never seen before, and doing that wasn't easy in a fight, so he was mostly safe. So what would he have to be so caught up by that he would crash into a wall? The female bunny wondered if she should ask the coyote, glancing at him with slight worry. As she did so, however, she suddenly saw Ace standing there in Tech's place. Shock filled her eyes.
"Ac…!" she started to say, but she held herself back as the illusion disappeared and Tech stood there once more. But the coyote noticed the pale expression on the current leader's face.
"Lexi…? Are you…" he started to ask.
"I'm fine!" the female bunny cut off, her gaze turning to the floor they stood on, rubbing her forearms as if it would shield her from something terrible. She didn't need to say anything. The team could already guess what happened. After all, Tech hiding things and Ace not telling anyone else about what he had been worried about on the first day of the Chaos Crystal incident were both factors that led to the Loonatics leader's death.
"Hey Tech," Lexi said softly before they decided to head downstairs to meet Tyson, "You know that if there's something wrong, you have to tell us right?"
Tech was silent for a moment, and then he let out a deep sigh. "Alright, I'll tell you. But right now it's not immediately important so I'll tell you the moment we're done with this meeting okay?"
Lexi didn't seem fully satisfied with the answer, but the coyote had a point. They had a mission to complete. Talking about personal problems would only delay them and there was a risk to someone attacking Dr Truman, in case the thieves were planning something and needed the scientist to help them somehow. So, the female bunny just nodded, agreeing to his terms, then the Loonatics headed down the flight of stairs leading to the wards.
"Man-I-don't-like-this-place-every-time-I-came-here-before-was-to-see-my-Ma-and-Pa-and-Rip-and I-really-didn't-like-seeing-them-totally-knocked-out-and-looking-like-they-were…" Tech clamped his hand onto Rev's beak again, silencing him before he had the chance to say something stupid such as the word 'dead' or remind everyone that his family members had ended up in the hospital because of Ace. It would definitely not make anyone feel better. However, he had been a little harsh on the poor roadrunner, as he had the beak in powerful vicegrip, and Rev found it slightly painful. Plus, it was getting a little had to breathe.
"Tech, that's enough!" Lexi said, noticing Rev's evident discomfort. Tech gasped at his brutality and let go at once. He apologized like crazy to Rev, and luckily the roadrunner forgave him. Still, the coyote felt really guilty, and from then he kept some distance between himself and his best friend. Rev noticed it, but he also knew that if he didn't give Tech his space when he was troubled, the coyote would never get over his worries.
"Well this should be the place." Duck said when they reached a door with the nameplate labelled 'Dr Tyson Truman'. Lexi knocked and called out to the scientist inside, only to be answered with a raspy "Come on in."
Lexi flinched. That voice that had answered her was creepy and sinister. It reminded her of Chaos Ace, but this guy didn't speak with an accent, and he had a much deeper, older voice than Ace. Lexi mentally slapped herself for having thought of the former Loonatics leader. She knew it was just going to distract her if she wasn't careful. She chose to trust her instinct and barged through the door, shocking the others a little as they had not expected such a move. However, their surprised was replaced by horror when they found a strange masked figure before them, holding an unconscious man by the neck against the wall. He was dressed in a hooded cloak and wore light armor beneath it. In his other hand, lying slack by his side, was a long dagger that gleamed despite the limited lighting in the room.
His mask, made of light metal, covered his entire face, with dark blue spiky hair sticking out messily. Through the eyes of the mask, the Loonatics could see a sinister, laughing pair of sapphire blue eyes. When he spoke, his voice was mechanical, clearly disguised with a machine.
"Ah the Loonatics. I expected you to come." He said in that false, raspy voice. The Loonatics all got into their battle positions, but the masked guy's other hand shot out and in less than a split second, the dagger he held was at Dr Truman's throat. At once the team retreated a few steps as they knew for sure that the masked guy would kill the scientist if they made even one small move.
"You're sure smarter than I thought," he chuckled, "sorry, but you won't get to question this guy. My team and I have other plans for him. So see ya."
In one more insanely swift movement, the masked guy swept his cloak out and threw something similar to a smoke bomb onto the floor, where it exploded into a strange, thick indigo fog. Of course, he and Dr Truman vanished after that. Lexi gasped along with the rest.
"How did he…?" she asked, but Slam cut her off by pointing to the floor where the masked guy had been standing moments before. The female bunny looked down to see a card, light blue in color, (jeez what was with that guy and blue?!) and on it, there was some writing and a strange-looking emblem on it. The writing, in neat cursive, said:
'Stay out of our way.
Should you interfere, we, the Blue Guardians, shall show no mercy.
May we not meet again Loonatics.
Sighed,
Veneficus'
"What the heck kinda name is that?!" Lexi couldn't help but exclaim after reading it out loud, "And who the heck are the Blue Guardians?! And what's with the blue?!"
"Don't look at me sister. How would I know?" Duck responded uselessly. Lexi gave him a glare.
"'Veneficus'?" Tech repeated, looking thoughtful, "That's 'wizard' in an ancient language, Latin I think."
"'Wizard'-are-you-joking-that-sounds-like-something-kids-would-come-up-with-though-he-did-look-something-like-a-wizard-from-those-awesome-video-games-you-know-with-the-cape-the-mask-and…" Rev ranted before Duck threw an egg at him. The roadrunner shook it off but gave the mallard an annoyed stare.
"Really-Duck-you-had-to-do-that-outta-all-things?" he asked. Duck folded his arms across his chest and huffed.
"Quit acting like idiots! This guy isn't a joke!" Lexi snapped, silencing everyone else, "Come on, we'd better head back. I need to report this to Zadavia ASAP."
Duck grumbled something like "Yeah yeah sure", but the current Loonatics leader didn't notice as she stormed out of the room. However, she didn't get far as a nurse came running by at that moment and crashed into the female bunny, knocking them both down.
"Ow!" Lexi exclaimed, and the nurse got up to help at once, apologizing with a flustered look on her face. She was a feline anthro nurse, something the Loonatics didn't see very often.
"I am so sorry! I was looking for a patient, he just constantly leaves his room and I was put in charge of him since he's an anthro like myself." The nurse said as she pulled the female bunny to her feet. Lexi brushed off some dust that had gotten onto her uniform, and then turned to look at the nurse. She had light greyish fur and striking dark eyes. Her nametag had her name printed neatly in capitals, reading 'Sylene Shorthair'.
"A patient?" Tech asked out of curiousity. Sylene was about to reply, then someone angrily shouted her name. She flinched and another nurse came stomping up to her, looking extremely annoyed.
"I believe I told you that you needed to keep the patient in Number 103 in his room at all times!" she shouted at the feline, who cowered behind Lexi, her ears flattening in her fear. The nurse, a human obviously a senior, gave her a harsh glare.
"Really, it's no wonder Jack always runs out. You hardly seem serious." She scolded. Sylene gave her an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry, but he's more playful than a newborn kitten. I didn't expect him to play all those tricks on me!" she reasoned poorly. Her senior let out a sigh.
"Alright, then I'll help you look for him. I suppose, since you've only recently started they didn't make the right choice assigning you to him. Come now, we better find him before the doctors do." She told Sylene and took the feline's hand. Only then did she actually seem to notice the Loonatics.
"Oh dear, you must be the Loonatics. I apologize for my junior, and for acting so rudely in front of you." She said as calmly and politely as she could. Lexi gave her a light smile.
"No worries. Well, we'd better get going then." She said. However, Rev offered to stay and help out with the search for the missing patient. Since he was fast it would help the nurses and he would still be able to catch up to the team on their way back to the HQ tower. Lexi granted him permission, then the rest left.
"So-what-does-this-patient-look-like-I-only-know-he's-an-anthro-from-what-you-said-but-you-know-that-isn't-much-especially-if-you-have-a-lot-of-anthros-here-or-something-and-if-I-find-him-but-doesn't-know-what-he-looks-like-it's-not-gonna-help-anyone." Rev asked, sort of, the two nurses, who seemed a little dizzy from his high-speed string of words. The senior nurse got over it faster and adjusted her glasses.
"Well thank you for wanting to help. He's a rabbit anthro actually, and he was brought in here a month and a half ago. He should be easy to find, since he's the only rabbit anthro in the wards at the moment, but he is, as Sylene mentioned, quite playful and energetic, so sometimes finding him is a little difficult." She told the roadrunner. Rev couldn't help but sigh a bit at the mention of a rabbit anthro, but he nodded and told her he would quickly run through the hospital to find him, thought the senior nurse requested that he move slightly slower than usual, so he wouldn't interrupt anyone who was resting. He gave her the thumbs up and sped off.
A short while later, Rev found himself in a hallway, where he tripped on something. He fell and let out a yelp, more from surprise than pain. Then he noticed that there was a slipper on the floor. It was one worn by patients and he thought that someone must have dropped it. That was when he heard the voice. A voice that sounded extremely familiar…
"Oops! Sorry about tat, tat slipper's mine."
Rev froze for a second, then looked up to see an anthro rabbit in front of him, dressed in a hospital shirt and pants. The roadrunner was completely speechless. The rabbit anthro looked identical to Ace, with grey fur and electric blue eyes. Most of all, he had the exact same expression Ace always had when he was enjoying himself. That teasing grin was unmistakable.
"A-A-A-A-Ace?!" he exclaimed, and the Ace lookalike blinked and cocked his head to the side a bit in confusion.
"Um, sorry, but who's Ace?" he asked, speaking in a Brooklyn accent, not different from the former Loonatics leader's. It was unbelievable.
"What-are-you-saying-you're-Ace-aren't-you-but-two-months-ago-you-died-so-how…" Rev was stopped by the rabbit holding his hands up.
"Woah! Whad'dya mean I died? And I'm not dis Ace guy. Da name's Jack, Jack Rabbit." He told the confused member of the Loonatics. Rev blinked. Was the person before him really not Ace Bunny? But how? He looked like a mirror image of the former Loonatics leader, not to mention the way he grinned, the way he spoke. But the logical part of Rev's mind nagged at him, telling him that there was no way the person before him could be Ace. After all, he died, didn't he?
Rev's thoughts were interrupted by Sylene's voice calling. Rev saw her running towards then, and he unconsciously reached out and grabbed Jack by the collar, stopping the rabbit from running away. Jack struggled a little, then muttered something about being caught earlier than usual. Sylene thanked Rev and took Jack's arm and dragged him back to his room. She was stronger than she looked.
"Ah well, see ya Rev!" Jack said as he was taken away. Once he disappeared, Rev dropped to his knees, unable to stand any longer. When Jack said his name, he realized how much he had missed hearing that, Ace saying his name. It was so nostalgic and painful, the roadrunner broke down and cried on the spot.
Done!
Alright! First chapter of this story is done! For the record, I think the title of this story is kinda strange. But it was all I could think of for now. When I think of a better name, I'll change it. Anyway, I wanted to use the name 'Buzz' for the Ace lookalike, but I found that I hated that name, so I ended up changing it to Jack Rabbit, since I liked the pun on the name. XD. And well, the Blue Guardians is actually a group from the manga Rave Master by Mashima Hiro, the creator of the Fairy Tail anime and manga, and I ended up using the name mostly because of the 'blue' theme, as none of the team members are blue in color and I thought a theme color like that for the opposing party would be fun. Hahaha! Oh well, hoped you enjoyed it. But updates will be a bit slow, since I'm getting a little busy okay? Sorry about that and see you next time!