Okay, well... here's the next chapter for those who like this story (aka. ShiningGalaxy as of so far notice. :D Thanks ShiningGalaxy!).
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Disclaimer: Team Galaxy (c) Marathon and respective owners
Claimer: Anything else (c) me
Chapter Two: Not All As It Seems
Emma cautiously landed the Hornet on the green planet, and hesitated before getting out of the driver's seat. "Come on, let's go. But be careful, I have a feeling something's wrong," she said.
Josh laid a hand on her arm. "It's okay. Come on, let's hurry and find out what's going on," he told her.
Hurriedly but cautiously, they all climbed out of the Hornet and looked around. They had landed at the edge of a city, and large green trees surrounded them. The sun shone brightly above them and clear blue skies were seen. A large stone castle could be seen in the center of a huge town just inside a large stone wall.
"It seems quiet," Yoko commented.
Emma pulled and activated her laser blade, holding it up with both hands in a defensive position. "Something's wrong. It shouldn't be so quiet," she said.
Suddenly, an arrow flew from out of nowhere and Emma deflected it with her blade. "Duck!" she shouted, and they all immediately dropped to the ground as dozens of arrows flew overhead. Dozens of guards leaped out from various bushes and surrounded them within seconds.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Emma demanded.
"Princess, please come with us. Our master wishes to see you," one of the guards said.
"Who would be your master?" Brett asked.
"Master Christopher," the guard replied.
"He has no business on our planet," Emma hissed in reply.
"He is, as he is now ruler of Alasparx. But all he needs now is his queen, you," another guard said before knocking her out with a blast from his staff.
Swiftly, Josh caught her in his arms, his blue eyes filled with worry. "Emma!" he exclaimed, holding her against him protectively.
"Oh man... we're in trouble..." Brett sighed, trying to stay calm.
"Josh! What do we do?!" Yoko exclaimed, beginning to panic.
Before he could answer, all three were blasted unconscious, and collapsed to the floor.
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Josh's eyes fluttered open and he found himself in a large grey room, lying upon a large fluffy bed. He turned to see that Yoko and Brett were also lying upon large fluffy beds. Fluffy was curled up at the foot of his bed. He looked to find himself have changed back into normal clothing instead of his uniform. He was wearing his lucky brown leather jacket with his red t-shirt, and old worn out jeans. Brett was in his normal blue, green and yellow getup, and Yoko was in her normal karaoke-worthy clothes. He looked on the tabletop near him and found all of their weapons on it.
Well... at least my team is safe, he thought, well... not all of them. Where's Emma? Where did they take her?
He looked over and shook Yoko gently by her shoulders. "Hey, Yo, wake up," he muttered.
"W-W-Wha? What?! Where am I?!" she exclaimed, snapping up.
"It's okay, I think we're inside that huge castle," Josh replied, "Brett and Fluffy are safe with us."
"W-Where's Emma?" Yoko asked worriedly, her golden eyes sparkling.
Josh's blue eyes dimmed. "I-I don't know," he admitted, "They must have taken her somewhere."
Suddenly, Brett snapped up and shouted, "Don't hurt me!" Then he realized where he was and looked at his teammates. "Um... H-Hi guys. Where are we?" he asked.
"I think we're inside the castle," Josh told him, "We've got to find Emma and get out of here. Or at least call backup or something. I think we'll need help on this mission."
Brett grabbed his wrist computer off the table and tried to send out a distress signal back to Galaxy High. "We don't have a signal," he informed the team, "They must have blocked out our communications."
"So now what should we do?" Yoko exclaimed.
"Find Emma, get out of here, and wait for backup to come," Josh listed, "Either that or find Emma and get back to Galaxy High as fast as we can."
"I like the second plan better," Brett said.
"Yeah, the feeling's mutual here," Yoko agreed worriedly, "Come on, let's hurry up and get out of here. We can take that door over there." She pointed to the wooden door on the west side of the room, across from a glass window, overlooking a guard-filled courtyard.
Josh bent down and began to shake his ultra-pet. "Come on, Fluffy, wake up, boy. We've got to go," he said.
The ultra-pet rose his head and blinked at his master before whimpering quietly.
"I know, boy, but we've got to get out of here," he replied.
They grabbed their gear and armed themselves. They opened the door and looked carefully for traps and security cameras, as well as guards.
"Clear," Brett affirmed, and they quietly made their way down the hall, watching carefully in case they heard the footsteps of guards.
Suddenly, they heard a round of loud, heavy footsteps, and luckily, the nearest door to them was unlocked.
"Hurry, get inside," Yoko urged, and they quietly burst in through the door and closed it after them.
They pulled out their weapons as their eyes surveyed their new surroundings. Fluffy suddenly purred and ran over to the foot of a bed, leaping onto it and nuzzling against the hand of a girl wearing a long light-blue dress. It was simple, with no sleeves and a v-shaped neckline. A blue crystal flower pendant hung from a long golden chain around her neck.
"Emma!" Josh exclaimed, holstering his blaster and heading to her side. He was surprised at how beautiful and elegant she looked in her dress, and her weapons were sitting on her bedside. He propped her upright against his shoulder and shook her gently. "Emma, Emma, wake up," he stated, taking note of her sweet jasmine scent.
Her aqua eyes fluttered upon and met his blue ones. "J-Josh? I-I just drank that... oh..." she said, realizing.
"Sleeping pills?" Brett guessed.
"Yeah," she confirmed, "Argh... I was just stupid enough to drink that water Christopher gave me. I don't know why, something just came over me."
"Why are you so cold?" Josh inquired worriedly, "Are you feeling alright?"
"Cold?" she asked, before noticing that she was slightly shivering, "O-Oh..."
Brett went over to them and did a brief and quick scan of Emma's body temperature. "It seems there's some minor cold virus in you. Either you caught a cold, or there was something in that water that's doing this to you."
Josh held her closer against his chest, wrapping his arms around her. "Here, I'll keep you warm," he reassured, tucking her head under his chin.
"Y-Yoko," Emma breathed, shuddering slightly, "If you look in my closet, you should find a dark blue sweater in there. Grab that for me, would you please?"
The 15-year-old karaoke marshal obeyed and got her the dark blue coat, handing it to here. "Here, this should help."
"T-Thanks," she chattered, slipping on the sweater.
"Why are you wearing that dress anyway?" Brett implored, "It's not very helpful if you're trying to escape."
"Christopher threatened me that either I wear this dress he brought for me, or else he kills all of you and the trapped citizens of Alasparx. I couldn't let that happen. I've got to protect my people, and my team," she explained, her aqua eyes dim.
Fluffy nuzzled into her hand.
"Did this Christopher hurt you in any way?" Yoko asked, worry dancing in her golden eyes.
She shook her head in reply. "No, well... not yet. He wants to get information out of me, and he'll get to me through you guys, so you've got to get off this planet and get back to Galaxy High," she told them.
"But how about you?" Josh implored, not liking where the conversation was going.
She looked him directly in the eyes and said, "I'll have to stay here. Look, all of you are in danger, especially you, Josh. I can't explain everything now, but Brett, when you get back to Galaxy High, go on my laptop in my room and when it asks for a password, type in, '06849485Sparx', and it'll get you in. Find the file that says 'Emergency Folder', and you'll find all the information and answers you'll need there."
"06849485Sparx, got it," Brett confirmed, memorizing that password in his large brain.
"But what will happen to you? We can't just leave you here!" Yoko reasoned, her eyes wide.
Emma stood up, slipping out of Josh's arms and letting her straight black hair fall around her shoulders. "You have to. I'll try to find my own way out of here, but I have to make sure you four are safe first. I'll take you as far as the Hornet, but from there, you've got to escape on your own. Chris will most likely have caught up with us and I'll have no choice but to stop him there," she ordered, "We've got to go now before Chris discovers that you've gone from your room and that I'm gone too." She wrapped her brown weapons belt around her waist against the blue fabric of her dress.
They carefully opened the door and slipped out. Hurriedly, they made their way down the hall and Josh made sure that the hall was empty before they went through.
"Get us to a window, I've got an idea," Emma suddenly whispered to Josh.
"What's your plan?" Yoko inquired.
She grinned. "I hope you aren't afraid of heights," she said.
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When they arrived at a window, Brett looked outside and confirmed that there were no guards below.
"Okay, now what?" Yoko implored.
Emma pulled out a slender flute from her weapons belt, and softly began to play a high, sweet melody. Within a few seconds, four large, light yellow birds flew towards them and hovered just underneath the windowsill.
"That's crazy!" Brett hissed, eyes widening.
"Emma, how is this possible? Do you know these birds?" Josh asked her.
She put away the flute and carefully leaped upon one of the birds' backs, half-ignoring his question. "I'll explain later, yes, I do know these birds, they're my friends. Just get on and they'll take us to the Hornet. We're running out of time."
Without another word, they obeyed and leaped onto the backs of the feathery creatures. Then they were flown back to their red and white Hornet, still parked at where they were first attacked. Suddenly, they heard loud sirens and knew that they were now being hunted. When the birds left them nearby their Hornet, they saw dozens and dozens of guards running towards them, weapons drawn.
As they neared, Josh drew out his blaster but set it to a different mode. "Dazzler Mode." The bright light temporarily stunned the guards and Emma kept trying to badger them onto the Hornet.
"Come on, hurry up," she badgered.
Brett, Yoko and Fluffy already hurried onto the Hornet, and Josh hesitated as he stood beside Emma.
"Come on, Josh, you've got to go!" she pushed, "Before Chris gets here."
"I-I can't bring myself to leave you," he admitted.
"Josh," she said sternly, "the moment you get back to Galaxy High, tell Principal K my situation and to keep an alert out for me. If I don't manage to get back safely in two days, something bad has probably happened to me. Just go, now!"
He forced himself to run into the Hornet and they closed the hatch, Emma standing back.
Without warning, a dark-haired man fazed into view and dozens of guards were with him. His golden eyes blazed with fury and most of the guards were archers.
"Go! Now!" Emma yelled, and Josh started up the Hornet and it lifted off the ground, creating a whirlwind of dust, covering the small area.
"Fire!" Chris ordered, and the archers released their arrows, and the team's Hornet just flew out of range, but unfortunately, Emma was not so lucky.
When the dust cleared, they all saw Emma lying on the ground, her body motionless, various arrows jotting out from her body. Her aqua eyes were closed and her hand was limp. Blood began to pool around the wounds she received, and already spots on her dress began to be soaked with blood. Chris began to run over to her, as well as the many guards.
No... Emma... Josh thought, hesitating to leave her. But he knew he had no choice. There was the rest of the team to think about. He had to keep them safe and take them back to Galaxy High. With a heavy heart, he drove at warp-speed and left the green planet, as well as a fellow team member behind.
"They're not following us," Yoko confirmed, looking at her radar screen.
"Hornet Number One to Galaxy High, reporting," Brett said into the communication device, "Reporting danger on Alasparx. Returning now to Galaxy High. I repeat, returning now to Galaxy High."
I swore to myself that I'd never leave a team member behind, Josh thought grimly, swerving around various asteroids, And now... that team member may not ever make it back to Galaxy High... alive...
If any of you are wondering, most to all things will be clarified in the next chapter mostly. :D
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