Kyaaah~!
I didn't get too many reviews for my chapter one, nor did I get many favorites or follows, but that's okay, I just love writing anyway! Haha! But it'd be nice if someone would post reviews you know? I love receiving any form of feedback! It gives me more motivation to continue writing! Oh well, I guess I was hoping for too much when I wanted the story to get popular fast. I'm too big and dreamer and too proud sometimes…I hate that about myself. *sigh…*
Anyway, some replies to my two reviewers;
Loonaticslover13: Thank you thank you THANK YOU for the first review this story has received! First reviews for anything I do is always the most exciting part of being an author or writer or whatever! I love reviews so once again thank you so much for providing me with my first! I've read some of your stories, mostly Acexi but they got my attention! I'll probably read and review on them soon okay? Oh and by the way, about the joke you mentioned in your review…was it my reallllllllllly lame joke at the end?O.O
Eve ivy: Thank you for my second review! And yeah I make it a point to include as much of the true series plot in as possible, to make it seem almost like it really happened in the show! I love doing that because it adds extra 'spice' to the story. Know what I mean?
That's it, now continue reading and I hope you like chapter two!
PART TWO: PARTY TIME
Two days passed since the incident, and Ace had shown absolutely no sign of regaining consciousness, though Tech and Zadavia assured the team that his vitals were perfectly normal and that recovery was definite.
"It's probably just the shock of what happened that's keeping him down." Zadavia theorized when the Loonatics gathered at her base to check on their leader,"After all he was in close range of the crystal's power release when it exploded and was also buried under a lot of debris."
"I guess but he should be showing at least some signs of awakening." Tech argued. His statement was not too encouraging. Lexi was silently fidgeting with her uniform.
"Will he really wake up soon?" She asked like a worried child, completely out of character. Tech blinked at her, then patted her shoulder comfortingly.
"Don't sweat it Lexi," he reassured her, "no matter what his vitals are normal so nothing should happen."
Lexi wasn't too convinced, but she went along with it. After all, worrying wasn't going to make Ace wake up any faster. In fact, it'd probably just make the time seem to go slower. Worry does that to people.
"Don't worry Lexi, Ace will be fine." Zadavia reassured, "In the meantime I'll need you all to be on high alert. The crystal's residual energy may still be in the atmosphere and could pose a threat."
There was no opposition to the order. After seeing what that thing was able to do, nobody wanted to see it happening again. The crystal was very mysterious, and since it came from another planet, it was highly likely that whatever energy it released earlier came with destructive side effects. In short, no one wanted to see what happened to Ace happen to an innocent person within Acmetropolis.
"We-should-head-back-to-HQ-then-cuz-from-there-it'd-be-a-lot-easier-to-head-to-some-disaster-area-in-case-something-really-did-happen-oh-but-don't-take-this-the-wrong-way-Zadavia-it's-just-cuz-you-know-your-base-in-underwater-and-everything-so-it'd-be-a-little-harder-to-leave-and-you-know...Mmhf!"
Rev's words were ceased when Tech clamped down on his beak as usual. Slam laughed lightly. Rev gave him a raised eyebrow when his beak was released, one of false annoyance which was easily seen through.
"Alright, be careful on your way back." Zadavia told them, and the Loonatics said their goodbyes and turned to leave.
"You guys gonna leave without me?" a familiar voice suddenly said from behind their boss lady, spoken in that Brooklyn accent that the team had missed for two days. The five anthros and Zadavia turned to look and there was Ace leaning against the wall, a set of crutches from the room he had been resting in by his side, giving them that same, teasing look he almost always had on his face. They all stared at him incredulously.
"Eh, what's up doc?" Ace asked, and a second later the team was on him, Lexi tackling him first.
"Ace! You're up!" the female bunny exclaimed with joy.
"Yeah Lex but if ya don't let go, I won't be up much longer! One of my legs's still broken." Ace joked, and Lexi said a quick sorry before letting him out of her vicegrip.
"You sure you're feeling better chief?" Tech asked, looking slightly uneasy but he was hiding most of that pretty well under a mask of complete relief, enough that no one but Zadavia noticed, "It's great that you're up and all, but you did suffer some pretty serious injuries."
"Good as new Tech," Ace answered, "Nuthin' ta worry about except the leg. But if somethin' does go wrong I'll need an appointment with ya."
The team and Zadavia all laughed at that.
"In any case," Zadavia said, "Ace, I suggest you take a short break while we make sure you've fully recovered is that alright?"
Before Ace could answer, Duck cut in. "You got it boss lady, and don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens as the temporary chief."
Slam made a series of grumbles in protest. Duck went all 'diva-mode' and audibly inhaled a breath with a hand on his chest. "I do care! It's just that I'm still the best one for the temporary chief."
"Duck, get over yourself," Zadavia said, exasperated but also smiling slightly in amusement, "Lexi's the second-in-command so when Ace is down, she leads."
"But-Duck-two-days-ago-you-said-you-were-really-glad-to-hear-that-Ace-was-going-to-be-fine-I-mean-you-did-shout-in-total-joy-after-Tech-and-Zadavia's-health-report-on-Ace-and-the-really-good-news-and..."
"Alright just shut it roadrunner!" Duck exclaimed, slightly blushing. Ace let out a brief laugh and patted Duck on the back.
"T'anks Duck, I didn't know ya had a heart." the bunny teased. Duck just 'humph-ed' and headed to the ship. The rest of the team then once again bid a temporary farewell to their boss before following the duck with the tantrum, Slam and Lexi supporting their leader on his crutches. Once they left, Zadavia rushed into the room Ace had been in. She immediately started to check on the last scan done on Ace. It was great that he was conscious and feeling much better, but the abnormalities she and Tech discovered over the past two days were disturbing.
Ace's fast recovery and slight DNA alteration was two major abnormalities already, but Tech had found that Ace's brain patterns had become a little unusual, and at times, the leader of the Loonatics had been declared dead by the machines, but somehow his heart was still beating and he was still breathing. It perplexed Tech and Zadavia to no end.
Zadavia was sure that Ace would have had to stay with her for another week after finding out about all this. She and Tech had secretly decided on that and planned to tell the rest if Ace did not wake by the time-span of three days, and he had woken up one full day earlier than the expected period of time.
To the Loonatics' leader's astonishment, Ace's last scan reported that he had made a full recovery except for the broken leg. All other signs of injury, such as the concussion he had at first, were gone without a trace, as if he had only broken his leg and nothing else happened. However, that wasn't the case. Ace's injuries were so severe, every scan had reported that the chances of him living was only 0.2% at first. It improved over the first six hours of Zadavia and Tech's treatment, but that night the latest scan still only reported a pathetic 3.1% chance. And that chance had become 100% in only two, no, one day and fourteen hours? It was impossible, even for a genetically altered anthro superhero.
"This isn't good," Zadavia said to herself aloud, "the crystal's energy must have done something to Ace. If he absorbed any of the crystal's destructive energy, he might be destroyed himself. I must let Tech know."
Without another thought, she hurried to the main room of her base to contact the genius Loonatic. She reached for the button, then stopped. Biting her lip, Zadavia realized that the team would not have made it back to their HQ yet. She didn't want the others, especially Ace, finding out about about the problem, no matter how serious. They had just gotten their leader back, and if she told them all, even though it was only a hypothesis, they would still panic and would be forced to continuing to worry about Ace's possible death again. Zadavia couldn't let them go through it a second time, at least not so soon. So, she chose to wait a while more, until she was certain the Loonatics had made it back.
In the Loonatics' ship, Ace was forced to sit out of piloting for obvious reasons, but he didn't seem to mind, although he did make a few jokes out of not being able to do anything after a few days out of action. Slam was the one who reassured him that nothing too exciting had happened while he was out though.
"Hey Ace," Lexi spoke up, "Mind telling us why you were freaking out that day? You know, the day we went for that mission that got you your broken leg?"
She seemed uneasy as she said it, as she was remembering the horror she felt then, but being a strong person, she was luckily able to say it without any clear discomfort. Unluckily, however, Ace was staring at her like she had grown a third eye or something. "Freakin' out? What'cha talkin' 'bout Lex?"
Lexi blinked at her leader. "You were really panicked and really wanted that crystal destroyed, like you would lose it if it wasn't destroyed."
"Huh? I t'ink I'd remember somethin' like tat. But I don't." Ace replied with a confused tone and expression.
He wasn't lying. The look on his face made it crystal clear, but Lexi, Tech and Rev had seen it with their own eyes. Their leader had been so panicked, so unlike his usual self, up to the point where he appeared ready to yank his own ears off. It would be extremely difficult for all three to have been hallucinating.
"Maybe he has some minor memory loss from the concussion he got that day," Tech reasoned, though there were a million butterflies forming in his stomach at that very moment, "Mind if I give you a quick check-up back at HQ chief?"
"Um...sure." Ace answered with a little uncertainty. Then he laid back into his chair and folded his arms across his chest, looking thoughtful. His ears drooped a little.
"Hey hey hey, don't get all depressed," Duck complained, "it should be us feeling down since we all got this stupid pa-MMPH!
Rev had followed Tech and slammed his hand down on Duck's beak, silencing him. Ace blinked in surprise. Rev laughed nervously.
"Oh-it's-nothing-Ace-Duck-was-just-talking-about-this...this-er..."
Rev shut up. A rare sight. Ace looked amused as he raised an eyebrow suspiciously. Rev made another nervous laugh before dashing off to another one of the ship's rooms with Duck in tow. Slam laughed, Tech sighed in exasperation, Lexi rolled her eyes and Ace smiled, looking less concerned.
About ten minutes later, the team arrived at their HQ. Once again Lexi and Slam helped Ace to his room. It was a little late already, but everyone except the leader remained in the main room.
"Alright-we-can-finally-prepare-that-surprise-welcome-back-party-for-Ace-you-know-the-surprise-Duck-nearly-ruined-in-the-ship-and-who-am-I-kidding-I-can't-stay-mad-about-that-and-we-really-should-get-started-I-mean-we-only-have-until-tomorrow-morning-to-finish-up-because-if-we-don't-finish-by-then-it-won't-be-a-surprise-anymore-and-that-would-be-a-huge-bummer-after-all-the-hard-work-we-would-probably-be-putting-in-and-I-really-want-to-see-the-look-on-Ace's-face-when-he-sees;what-we've-done-for-him!" Rev said happily as he sped around hanging the streamers and other decorations he had prepared beforehand, and he probably would have said more if he didn't accidentally slam straight into Slam.
"Woah slow down there Rev," Lexi said with a smile, "We all wanna help out, but if you keep that up the rest of us might as well sit back and let you do all the work."
"Heheh-sorry-about-that-I-just-really-really-really-want-to-let-Ace-know-how-glad-we-are-that-he's-alright." Rev replied, slowing down a bit. He then started to distribute the decorations to the rest. Duck was grumbling, but not complaining. It was simply his way of showing he wanted to help without hurting his pride.
As they were setting up, Tech noticed his communicator was silently blinking. There was moving but a series of rainbow rays flashing on the screen. The coyote knew what that meant.
"Ah, sorry guys I forgot I had to check something in the lab," he told the others, hiding his guilt of lying quite effectively, "I'll be back in just a bit alright?"
Slam made a few grumbles of approval while Duck made some comment about Tech just wanting to skip out on the work. It earned him a smack to the head from the large tasmanian devil. He yelped in protest, but the rest ignored him and gave Tech the okays. He made a quick apology again before dashing to his lab. Once inside, he answered Zadavia's call.
"What's wrong Zadavia?" He asked quietly, already suspecting that she was calling about Ace, otherwise she would have used the main communication system. The Loonatics' boss was looking anxious. She quickly told Tech everything she had discovered.
"Seriously?!" Tech exclaimed, almost a little too loudly, only to be shushed by his boss.
"Sorry, but really Zadavia? How's that possible?"
"I don't know. But the rate of recovery and the alterations could pose a major threat to Ace's life. I need you to make sure he'll be alright somehow."
"I guess that could be arranged. I've set up some appointments with him tomorrow, since he seems to be missing fragments of his memory. I could do some extra scans while I'm at it."
"Good idea. Give me a report of the results?"
"Of course boss."
With that, Zadavia nodded, appearing slightly calmer. The then signed off with her usual ending phrase. Tech turned the communicator off and headed back outside to the main room. However, just as he left his door, a swift movement caught the corner of his eye. He turned quickly, but saw nothing. He got confused. The others should be in the main room, and if Ace was there, Tech wouldn'tte seen him. He still had a broken leg after all. The coyote decided to check with the others before jumping to conclusions.
When Tech re-entered the main room, a lot of the decor was already up and ready. There were only a few things left to do, excluding the food which they planned to settle early in the morning.
"Hey were any of you near the tab just now?" He asked the remaining Loonatics.
"No we were all here," Lexi replied, "something wrong?"
"Ah no," Tech said, "I think I'm just a little edgy."
"Whatever," Duck said, "just help us finish the rest or else you'll be stuck with full breakfast duties."
Rev nudged him. Lexi rolled her eyes(again). At once Duck began to grumble as he tossed Tech some of the remaining decorations, which mostly consisted of some streamers and balloons Rev and Slam had blown up. Aside from that, there was also the banner that read "Welcome Back Chief!" that still needed to be hung. Rev, Tech and Lexi were the ones who made it. It wasn't something they usually did, but hey, they nearly lost their leader and that wasn't something they wanted to see happen. They were just too glad Ace was still alive.
"Alright guys," Tech said, "since there's only a little left to do, why don't you guys hit the hay first and let me finish? I did kinda miss most of the preparations."
"You sure Tech?" Lexi asked and Tech answered in affermative.
"Okay then. Nights guys." Lexi said as she headed for her own room, but not before Rev and Duck. Rev because of this super speed, though not leaving before thanking Tech, but Duck's hurry was due to wanting to be rid of his work. Sure he was an ego-maniac, but he can be pretty lazy when only his team members were watching him, even if whatever he was doing was for a good cause. Still, it was hard to hate the mallard. He did keep most things entertaining within the team.
Soon Tech was alone in the main room. He set to work on the remaining decorations. Hanging the banner was the hardest part. He had to make sure one side was completely secure before he could hurriedly do the other side since he had no one helping him, but he was able to finish up everything with time to spare.
Tech checked the clock before resigning to his room. When he noticed that he could still stay up an hour and still have enough rest for tomorrow, he rushed to his lab instead and contacted Zadavia again.
"Hey Zadavia, sorry for bothering you but could you send me the scans on Ace?" He requested, "I want to do some comparisons on it with his normal conditions, to find out exactly how much he had changed to calculate danger levels and such."
"Alright." Zadavia agreed, "I suppose it can't cause harm and since I don't have Ace's normal scans I don't have much choice but to send them if we want to do a comparison. Wait a few moments and they'll be there. Give me a report in the morning. Zadavia, out."
A few minutes after the conversation ended, Tech's main computer blinked, indicating a message received. He opened the file and downloaded the scans before uploading them to his analysis program. He also uploaded files from the time he examined Ace during the first Sypher incident, as well as the files he had recorded around the time when the Loonatics were first gathered. He even added in some files from Ace's training programs. Twenty minutes passed as he ended his thorough analysis. The results were not what he expected.
From the data he had gathered, he could conclude that Ace was the worst off during the Sypher incident, when his powers were drained. The Normal and After-Training files were almost the same, only showing slight fatigue in Ace's body for the After-Training. The current scans from Zadavia matched what she had told him, and what they had discovered over the two days. A full recovery save for the broken leg which was fixing itself faster than the normal calculated possibilities. The alterations in his conditions had made themselves clear, but they didn't show anything particularly negative, even though Tech had scanned those several times. He had expected to find some threat, but in that category, he came up blank.
"Huh, I guess Zadavia was worried for nothing," Tech concluded, thought still doubtful. He looked at the clock again and noticed it was already unbelievably late. Deciding to leave the data as it was for the moment, Tech left the lab and went to his room to sleep, unaware that one of the hardest challenges the Loonatics would ever have to face will start from the moment he would wake up only a few hours later
The morning came sooner than Tech would have expected. It seemed like only a few moments since he'd fallen asleep, but his alarm was already ringing and screaming at him to get up. Well, that and a high-speed banging on his door which could only mean that Rev was on the other side.
"Tech-wake-up-wake-up-wake-up!" the roadrunner was shouting, "We-need-you-out-here-to-help-us-with-the-last-minute-touches-so-we-that-is-to-really-say-I-can-rush-over-to-one-of-the-many-restaurants-in-town-to-get-something-to-eat-for-the-party-since-none-of-us-have-time-to-cook-and-for-some-reason-nearly-all-of-us-overslept-probably-due-to-excitement-resulting-in-none-of-us-being-able-to-sleep-or-something-but-seriously-just-WAKE-UP-we-need-to-make-sure-everything-is-alright-and..."
Rev was finally silenced with Tech slamming his hand down on the button that opened his room's automatic door. He was giving Rev the usual annoyed-face, with one eyebrow raised and glaring at the roadrunner. The two may be best friends within the team, but that didn't stop Tech from getting a little tired of Rev's hyperactivity on certain occasions.
"Okay Rev I'll go help out. Just go get the food." Tech growled, still somewhat cranky from getting shaken out of bed. Rev nodded and sped off. The coyote yawned, then trudged out of his room and headed to the party area. He was never good with parties, so he wasn't really sure what to make of the roadrunner's excitement about one. But who could blame the roadrunner? He was the youngest on the team and sometimes the most soft-hearted so next to Lexi, (since she and Ace were best friends), Rev must have taken the hardest blow when Ace was thought to be dead. In short, Tech understood why Rev was so glad, but not why he need to throw a party because of it.
About half an hour later, everything was completely ready. Ace normally left his room around seven, and it was about ten minutes until then. Tech decided to use the time to tell Zadavia about the results of the analysis, telling the rest he was going to invite her for the party. It wasn't a lie, but Tech still felt bad for hiding the truth, even though there didn't seem to be any real complications with Ace.
The coyote went to his lab to make the call so he could send the full reports directly to Zadavia if proven necessary. He used his main computer instead of his normal communicator and soon Zadavia appeared on the screen. Tech told her about what he had found. Like he had been the night before, Zadavia became thoughtful. Then, as expected, asked for the full report. Tech sent it to her at once. She received it almost at light speed, thanks to Tech's quick data transfer program. The Loonatics' boss read through them quickly.
"I see," she said, "well in that case, we have nothing to worry about. Let's just hope there isn't any form or error."
"Yeah..."Tech agreed, then he changed the subject.
"So Zadavia, we're having a party to celebrate Ace's recovery. You feel like coming?"
"I suppose I should." Zadavia replied, "Since we seem to have no clear worries regarding his condition at the moment, we should celebrate the fact that he's still with us. I'll be there soon. Zadavia, out."
As she logged off, Tech heard a thump against his lab door. It sounded like metal against metal which wasn't unusual, but Tech wasn't sure why any of the other Loonatics would drag some metal around and walk past his door. The coyote rushed to open his door, but found that there was no one there. It was strange. Tech began to wonder if he had suffered some side effects from the crystal that day. He did seem to be seeing and hearing things.
It wasn't long before Zadavia arrived for the party. Her ships were mostly faster than the Loonatics', since she only really used them in emergencies. Once she had arrived, Lexi and Duck were sent to fetch Ace. In the meantime, Slam offered Zadavia a few treats while Rev was bouncing around like he just had three cups of coffee with four spoonfuls of sugar each. Tech was afraid he might wreck the place.
The lights were out, and a minute later, they were all turned on at once as Ace and the other two got to the main room. Rev was the first to make it clear it was a party. He rushed right up and shouted in Ace's face, "SURPRISE!"
Ace was so shocked he fell to the floor. He sat up laughing though.
"Aw shucks guys," he said gladly, "ya shouldn't have. But Lex and Duck? I'd have liked it betta if you two caught me from fallin'."
Lexi playfully apologized with a chuckle and helped him up while Duck folded his arms across his chest. "I ain't catching some clumsy rabbit."
"Duck, fer the last time, it's 'bunny'." Ace corrected once he was on his feet again, emphasizing on his last name, knowing that Duck wasn't really being mean, he was just trying so he wouldn't look like a sap, though everyone knew he could be a softie anytime he wanted to be. (And even sometimes when he didn't want to be.) Lexi brain blasted him and he jumped straight onto the sofa and started to complain. It was good comedy.
The party was great for all seven of them. Of course everyone knew they had to take to the food first before Slam gobbled it all up, including the table, but other than that, none of the Loonatics, or Zadavia, could remember a time when they all just had fun like that.
"At least somethin' good came outta me almost dyin'," Ace joked. The team didn't really find that funny and soon some cushions were flying. Ace complained that it hurt, but he was laughing the whole time so no one took him seriously as they continued to have their fun. However, the fun was to end. A huge crash sounded outside, and from the windows, everyone could see a trio of buildings, not too close but also not too far from the HQ, was breaking apart and crumbling. Shock filled their expressions as the top of one of the buildings exploded.
"Looks like we'll have to put the party on hold." Lexi announced, though half-heartedly. She glanced at Ace, who wasn't in his uniform, and his broken leg, the crutches beside him on the sofa.
"Go on guys," the Loonatics' leader said, "I wouldn't be much help anyways. Good luck out d'ere."
"I'll stay here and keep an eye on him," Zadavia offered, "so don't worry, and be careful Loonatics."
"Alright then! Move out!" Duck exclaimed, trying to take the position of leader before anyone else could. The rest ignored him and just went ahead without waiting for him to lead. Lexi cast a concerned glance at Ace, but he gave her an encouraging smile, which she returned. Then, they headed out to investigate the collapsing the buildings, the Loonatics first official mission without their leader.
Huh I was sure this was longer than chapter one. Aw man why can't I write chapters exceeding 5000 words? I managed to write over 10000 for a school essay on Nazi Germany! And although I do like history despite my ADHD, I didn't exactly like Hitler in any way and got a little depressed writing it! And yet I'm writing less for something I do like…?
…I'm a failure…I will now go sit in the corner and sob, so please cheer me up with some reviews!
P.S. If you spot any grammar or spelling mistakes, or something I did wrong that made the characters OOC or something, let me know! Thanks!
