Okay, this story was inspired by the true story of Balto, a half wolf-half dog that saved a small town in Alaska during a terrible epidemic. If you haven't seen the movie "Balto" and the sequel "Balto II: Wolf Quest", you should. They are awesome movies.
Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, Vamps, Gena, and Cassie belongs to guestsurprise, and Ally belongs to Sparkling Lover. All other characters belong to their respective owners. Also, "Balto" and "Balto II: Wolf Quest" belong to their owners.
One Town's Last True Hope
Rachel pulled the blanket up more over Kuphulu as he shivered a little from being cold, but the warm blanket helped to chase away the chills he had from a mission the day before. It had been on an ice planet and he had fallen beneath some ice and gotten soaked. Thankfully, he was getting better.
Rachel then saw Ally helping Heatblast, who was recovering from a broken arm and some bad bruises. Many of the aliens at the Grant Mansion were in similar condition from the mission and Rachel had called Magister Tennyson to request sick leave for two weeks for her brothers. The Magister had kindly granted it, knowing how hard the Grant Mansion aliens had worked at that mission that had almost taken a turn for the worse. The owner of the Grant Mansion now helped Shocksquatch take some medicine with some water. The gorilla-like alien placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Thanks, kiddo," he said. "You're a good nurse."
That made her smile as she reached up and squeezed his hand gently. "Thanks, Shock," she said. "You get better for Jessica and the kids."
"I plan to," he said with a smile before closing his eyes to rest.
Rachel soon headed downstairs where Rook was with Four Arms, Alien X, Grey Matter, and Upgrade. A terrible hurricane-like storm was raging outside and they were getting supplies ready and making sure the generators would be able to run if the power went out. Rachel glanced out the window and heard Gena come up behind her with Cassie.
"This storm is awful," said Gena.
"Do you think it'll cause a lot of damage?" asked Cassie.
"Hopefully not more than perhaps some tree branches and flowerpots," said Rachel. "But I don't know. It's pretty bad."
Just then, her cellphone rang and she answered it. "Hello?" she said.
"Rachel, it's Sergeant Williams," said the person calling her.
"Hello, Sergeant," she said. "Is everything alright?"
She heard him sigh before he told her the awful news. Dr. Animo had created a terrible virus a few days before and although Whampire, Vamps, and Ultimate Wildmutt had stopped him, part of the virus had been unleashed on the town and almost all of the town was sick with the virus, which was a combination of the flu, diphtheria, and a cold. The whole town of Staybrook was officially under quarantine and the doctors had no medicine to help cure the sick people. Even the children were severely ill and what medicine that was available wasn't enough to help.
Rachel sat down in a chair as she listened to the sergeant ask if the Plumbers perhaps had some medicine that could help and fast. Because the sick people didn't have much time before they would die. A day and a half at most. She nodded to herself and promised the sergeant she'd ask the Plumbers and get back to him. She hung up and turned to Rook, who knew something bad had happened.
"Guys, Sergeant Williams told me that Dr. Animo was able to release some of the virus he created into town. Almost everyone is sick and what medicine the hospitals have isn't working," she said. "Do you guys know if the Plumbers have anything that can help?"
"Yes," said Four Arms. "The Plumber Space Station medbay has medicine that can cure any aliment and it also provides immunity."
Rachel glanced outside in the storm and then back at them. Upgrade stood up. "How bad is the sickness?" he asked.
She looked at them. "The town of Staybrook is under quarantine," she said. "They all have a day and a half at most, maybe less."
Rook looked at his brothers and they looked at him. Rachel stepped forward. "Guys, can you do this for the town? You're the only aliens here that aren't injured and the storm is preventing any medicine from coming in on the roads," she said.
Ally looked worried. "Can the Proto-Truk withstand this storm?" she asked.
"Yes," said Rook and he stood up. "If we wait until the storm stops, everyone will die."
Alien X stood up too. "Rachel, can you and the girls hold down the fort while we get that medicine?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yes," she said.
"Then let's get ready," said Grey Matter. "But how will we get the medicine to Sergeant Williams in the storm?"
Rachel gave it some thought and remembered something. "Way Big and his brother have been working on underground tunnels to Uncle Russell's store, the library, the Jocklin Mansion, and the police station. We could deliver it that way," she said.
"Good idea," said Upgrade and they all went to get ready. Soon, Four Arms was hugging Gena and Cassie, Alien X was hugging Isabella and Camryn, Ally was hugging Grey Matter, Upgrade was hugging Shelby, and Rook was hugging Rachel. They didn't say much as they knew this was going to be a hard mission.
"Be careful," said Rachel. "Come back safe."
"We will," said Rook as the five aliens headed out. The seven girls watched from the blurry window as the Proto-Truk took off to the sky.
"Good luck," said Gena softly and the others echoed her, worry filling them as they hoped their loved ones would be back in time to save the town.
Rook had a hard time driving through the storm but he managed to steer fairly well as Alien X and Four Arms sat on either side in the back to balance the weight. Grey Matter called the Plumber Space Station and Magister Tennyson, who was up there, authorized three cases of the medicine for them to pick up. Upgrade was watching the storm closely on the radar, ready to merge with the Proto-Truk if they got blown off course. "Careful, Rook," he said. "Winds are going to get stronger."
"On it," said Rook, grateful for the update.
Four Arms sighed. "I'm worried," he admitted. "If we can't get that medicine or get back in time, Staybrook could become a ghost town."
Alien X nodded as he checked on the reports. "Oh, no," he said.
"What?" asked Grey Matter, sensing something wrong.
The Celestialsapien looked at them. "The Jocklin Brothers are sick too," he said and showed them a list of the sick ones. "Out of the whole population of Staybrook, only two percent aren't sick, but more people are getting sick by the minute."
"The mad doctor's virus will destroy the town and another few towns as it spreads," said Upgrade as he was looking at similar reports. "We have to get back in time to stop it or no one will be left."
The aliens pressed on, soon making it out of the storm, and reaching the space station, where the medicine was brought out to them and they loaded it. "Be careful," said Magister Tennyson. "The storm you came through is getting worse. It'll be hard to get back."
"We'll be careful," said Rook.
Grey Matter looked worried. "We better hurry," he said. "We'll need a lot of time to get through that storm to be back in time."
Thanking Magister Tennyson again, they loaded up and blasted off. Rook steered the Proto-Truk into the eye of the storm, knowing it was the safest area to fly through, but communication would be impossible with the storm.
"I hope the girls are doing okay," said Upgrade.
"Me too," said Alien X.
"Hey, our girls are tough," said Four Arms. "They can handle anything."
Rachel looked out the window as the storm kept going. She was very worried. It had been ten hours and they hadn't heard anything from the guys and she had just gotten off the phone with Sergeant Williams earlier and he had told her more people were getting sick and her uncles were part of the sick ones. She was now very worried, as was Sasha, who was currently helping Whampire. The aliens were getting better, but still had to recover. Chromastone, one of the almost fully recovered aliens, went over to Rachel and she turned to him, hugging him and he hugged her back, rocking her gently to help her. "They'll make it," he said to her.
"I hope so," said Sasha. "I don't know what we'd do if we lost our uncles."
"Or the whole town," said Rachel. "This town and some surrounding towns won't survive if that virus isn't stopped."
Ally stood up. "It will be," she said. "Rook, Four Arms, Alien X, Upgrade, and Grey Matter will make it through. We can't think negatively now. Everyone's counting on us too."
"You're right, kiddo," said Heatblast, smiling at her. "And that's what we'll do."
Rachel agreed but noticed that they had only slightly more than a day left. Come on, guys, she thought to herself. Please be back soon.
As the storm was moving, Rook tried to stay in the eye of the storm, but knew they were getting thrown off course. "Guys, we'll be too far off course by the time the storm disperses," he said.
Upgrade stood up. "Then let's go through it," he said. "I'll merge with the Truk."
"But the storm could hurt you, Upgrade," said Four Arms worriedly.
Grey Matter pulled something out of his pocket. It was a gray-colored cube. "Put this on," he said and they watched as a body suit came over the Mechamorph. "It's waterproof and should protect you from the storm."
Upgrade nodded, but Rook was uncertain. "I can try to drive through the storm," he said. "Like before."
"But the storm is worse now and we had a hard time the first time," said Alien X. "The wind's too strong for me to form a portal."
Upgrade looked at them. "I have to," he said and glanced back at the medicine. The others did too and then nodded, watching their friend go out and merge with the Truk. The waterproof suit helped keep the rain out, but it didn't help much beyond that, but Upgrade was only thinking about how many people would die without the medicine as he helped Rook to drive the Proto-Truk through the storm.
Sergeant Williams sighed. Everyone was now gravelly sick and time was becoming short. He had just called Rachel for an update and she had sadly told him she had heard nothing from the guys yet, but they couldn't give up. He agreed wholeheartedly, but he couldn't do much beyond telling everyone things would work out.
At least, he hoped so.
He then saw Brian Forhowser come in. "Any word?" he asked quietly.
The Sergeant shook his head. "I wish I had better news," he said.
The Superintendent of the Schools nodded. "We just need to keep hoping they'll make it in time," he said. "They've never let us down before."
"But something like this hasn't happened before," said Rachel as she came in from outside. The storm had let up so that she could drive over to the station, but the roads going into and out of Staybrook were badly flooded still. "I'm sorry, I haven't heard anything."
"And it's almost been twenty-four hours," said the police sergeant. "Everyone with the exception of us is sick."
Rachel looked worried and Brian Forhowser placed a hand on her shoulder. "I think prayer would be the best option," he said gently.
All three did so right then.
The storm was weakening, but still very strong and Upgrade was having a bit of trouble staying merged with the Proto-Truk, but he held on with all he had and saw his body glow a bit and realized Alien X was helping him. Grey Matter kept his eyes glued to the charts. "We're almost out of it!" he cried out to his friends. "Upgrade, just hang on a bit longer!"
"Doing my best!" Upgrade called back, his voice filled with pain as he felt some hail stones hit him. Alien X felt himself starting to weaken.
"Grey Matter, how long?" he asked.
"Almost there!" cried to small Galvan. "Four Arms, we need more weight in the front!"
"Got it!" said the Tetramand as he raced forward and sat in the front passenger seat and watched Rook try to steer in the harsh winds. The extra weight helped a bit to act like an anchor, but it wasn't easy to drive in.
"Try to contact Rachel! Or Sergeant Williams!" said Rook.
Four Arms tried, but the weather was interfering too much and they couldn't get a message out. The aliens looked at each other and knew that it was going to be very rough very quickly, but they weren't going to give up.
They focused on getting through the storm, thinking about their girls and the people counting on the medicine they had.
Rachel had left the police station and saw how quiet town was and how sick several people were and watched some nurses try to help the Jocklin brothers. Charles saw her and smiled reassuringly, but she saw he was in pain.
She raced home, but Shelby reported no contact from the guys and they had less than four hours before everyone died. "What if Daddy and the others don't make it in time?" asked Camryn, who knew the situation was bad.
Rachel turned to the six-year-old, her face showing worry. "They will make it," she said. "There's still some time."
But even she knew that the situation was very dire now and wondered where the guys were.
Suddenly, the computer came to life with a transmission. "Four Arms to Grant Mansion. Do you copy?"
Rachel recognized the frequency. "It's them!" she said happily, knowing they were calling from Rook's Proto-Truk, which had a unique frequency that only the Mansion could pick up. "Guys! We read you!" she said.
"Rachel, we need an update," said Four Arms over the radio.
"The situation's critical guys. We have a little over three hours before the virus wipes out everyone. What's your E.T.A?"
"Out of the storm and right above you."
Rachel saw that they were indeed right over the Mansion and opened the access doors for them to land. The Proto-Truk was badly damaged and they saw Upgrade collapse into the back of the truck as it landed and Four Arms quickly loaded the medicine on a platform where Goop was waiting for them and the polymorph took the three boxes to the To'kustar quarters and the giant brothers quickly got the boxes and Rachel down the tunnel and to the entrance to the police station they had set up.
Sergeant Williams heard knocking from the large grill nearby and quickly got it open to find Rachel there with the medicine. "Are we in time?" she asked as he helped her into the station and they both grabbed the boxes of medicine and loaded them onto the Sergeant's desk.
"We have two hours," he said. "We can't do injections. There won't be enough time."
Rachel gave it some thought and looked at the instructions. "The only way to distribute this medicine is in gas form, according to this," she said. "Do you still have the gas release system Frankenstrike built into here a few years ago in case some suspects got too violent and needed some knockout gas?"
"Sure do," said Sergeant Williams. "Will we need gas masks?"
Rachel read the instructions. "No, it'll give us immunities to other sicknesses," she said.
He nodded. "Let's do this, then."
She nodded and they got to work, flicking the gas valve system to the emergency healing setting and pouring the medicine into it. Thankfully, it didn't take long and they released the medicine in gas form and then waited patiently, going down near the sick bay, which was under the police station, watching as everyone received the cure and got up. By the time the medicine did its work, everyone was well again and both Rachel and the Sergeant looked at the clock and saw they had three minutes left before it would have been too late and they sighed in relief.
"We did it, Sergeant," said Rachel. "They made it in time."
"Thanks to your fiancée and your brothers," he said. "Hopefully someday, the town will know that the aliens here in Staybrook are heroes."
"Someday," Rachel agreed and headed for home while the Sergeant helped the people get back to their homes.
Gena, Isabella, and Shelby were tending to Upgrade and Alien X while Four Arms watched over Ally, Cassie, and Camryn. All three girls hugged him and he returned the hugs, thankful that it was over.
Rachel then came in and saw Rook sitting nearby and she ran up to him, tackling him to the couch and hugging him. "They made it," she said softly and then spoke up for the others. "They all made it."
Those few words had the aliens all cheering happily and Rook smiled at Rachel. "They're going to be okay," he said to her.
She nodded. "Yes, they will be," she said. "Thanks to you and the others."
He smiled at her again. "And thanks to you and the girls for not giving up," he said, earning himself a kiss from her and they kissed for a bit more as relief filled them that the town was okay and they were all safe.
Because of the town one last true hope that would always come through for the town, no matter what.
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GoldGuardian2418