AN: Sorry for the wait. There was apparantly a slight problem with my beta-reader's e-mail service provider, or whatever it's called, and the edited chapter got lost somewhere in mid-transfer. Anyway, hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to be up.
Somewhere away, at the base of a sand dune, Craven gave a small groan, puling himself into a sitting position.
"Elise?" The robotist turned to the redhead, who had landed next to him when they fell down the sand dune, and helped her up. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah." Elsie confirmed while rubbing the back of her head. She then looked up the sand dune to assess how far they'd fallen. "Now what?"
"Hold on." Craven took out his control pad. "I'll call NIGEL. He can help us find the way back to camp."
"I just hope the others weren't…."
"I'm sure they managed to escape that fox." Craven assured. After sending her a supporting smile, Craven turned his attention back to calling NIGEL. After what seemed like an eternity, the yellow robot appeared. "There he is! Come on; let's follow him back to camp." However, just as the pair began to follow NIGEL, the ground shock slightly. Moments after the shaking began, the ground erupted. When the sand settled, the mutant fennec fox, Coomba, had appeared in front of them. Beneath the mutant's paw was a crushed yellow robot.
"NIGEL!" Craven cried. "NOOO!"
"Mendel, come on!" Elsie cried, yanking Craven's arm in an attempt to get him to run. Craven and Elsie fled from the fox, but just couldn't shake it. As they ran, they came across a large jutting rock in the desert. Hoping to loose the mutant in the rocks, Craven and Elsie changed directions and ran straight into it. Unfortunately, they ran into a dead end which Coomba successfully cornered them in. Coomba slowly inched forward, preparing for the kill. Craven and Elsie cringed, bracing for the fox to pounce. But when the mutant was in mid leap, a black and white blur streaked by and collided with the fox. Craven and Elsie turned to where Coomba had been knocked aside. Standing protectively between them and the mutant fox was a second mutant. This one was a mutant giant panda. Coomba and the panda began circling each other, like wolves preparing to fight. Simultaneously, they leapt at each other, clawing and biting, in flashes of fangs and claws. As the mutants fought, a gloved hand dropped onto Craven's shoulder. The hand was revealed to belong to a young Asian woman with emerald green eyes.
"You two might want to get clear." She suggested with a smile. "Bamboo can handle the Wild One." Shaking off their surprise, Craven and Elise followed the woman up the rocky edifice, the woman occasionally pointing out footholds to them. As soon as they reached the top, a loud echoing bark was heard. Looking back, the trio saw the fox running off.
"Coomba." The woman sighed. "A true feral, that one. Not even Aaron would suggest incorporating him into our home." With that, she turned to Craven and Elise. "You two were unharmed, I hope?"
"Yeah, thanks to you getting there in time." Elsie breathed in relief. "Those two mutants would have gotten us for sure." A large, amused grin appeared on the woman's face.
"Two mutants?"
"Well, yeah!" Craven exclaimed. "If that fox didn't kill us, that panda would have."
"What, Bamboo?" Now the woman appeared to be fighting back a laugh. At that moment, a high-pitched yip was heard. Looking down, the three of them saw the mutant panda. Only now, he was the size of a full-grown rabbit.
"How's that possible!?" Craven gaped. "It shrank!" To Craven and Elise's further surprise, the woman knelt down, extending an arm to the creature. The mutant panda jumped onto her arm and quickly climbed up to her shoulder, where it took up perch, perfectly docile, nuzzling her cheek with his nose.
"For starters," the woman announced. "Bamboo is a 'he', not an 'it.' Secondly, that's his special mutant ability: rearranging his molecular structure to alter his size. Thirdly, he'd never harm anyone, unless that someone tried to harm me."
"Are you saying you tamed that mutant?" Elsie asked incredulously.
"The word 'taming'. You make it sound like Bamboo's a simple pet, or an animal trained to jump through a hoop. No. Bamboo's my partner, and my most faithful friend. But that's not important right now. Coomba might return at any time. It would be best to return to my home. We'll be perfectly safe there. If you'd follow me. Unless, you want to take your chances with Coomba?" The woman began to walk off, Bamboo still sitting on her shoulder.
"Hey, wait!" Craven called after her. "How are we supposed to trust you? We don't even know you!"
"Luna."
"What?"
"Luna." The woman repeated with a casual smile. "I'm called Luna."
Elsewhere, Aaron had led Nick, Randy and Monique into the heart of Utopia, and was grinning at the stunned expressions on the three members of H.E.A.T.'s faces. They stood staring out at a jungle paradise. Exotic trees of all species filled the monumental area. Within the center of it all was a clearing that had to cover at least two square miles. The clearing even featured a waterfall that emptied into a crystal blue pool.
"It's some kind of underground oasis!" Nick gaped in amazement.
"And it's the best place to maintain our society." Aaron beamed in pride for his home. "Anywhere else, we'd have to worry about people from the outside world stumbling in and raising a riot that would cause mass hysteria."
"How could living here cause a riot?" Randy voiced his disbelief.
"Because it's part of human nature to fear what they don't understand. Here in Utopia, however, we try to evolve beyond that. Throughout history, so much bloodshed has grown from fear and mistrust. Utopians will not continue that tradition. We live in unity with nature, and with all creatures."
"And how would that induce fear?" Monique asked.
"It would be best if you see firsthand." Aaron led the group down a path that went into the jungle. Godzilla had already gone off to make his own evaluation of the new surroundings. The small group stopped by the waterfall. For a moment, there was nothing to see. But a sudden wind jostled the treetops, and a mutant bee and a mutant locust appeared.
"Aaron!" Nick cried in alarm, but the blue-eyed man just shook his head.
"There's no reason to worry, Dr. Tatopolus." Aaron stated. "Take a look." The mutant bee and mutant locust both hovered by the tree tops. To the amazement of Nick, Randy, and Monique, two men appeared, riding atop the backs of the mutants. The men started gathering fruit from the tops of the trees. "This is what Utopia is." Aaron explained. "Humans and Mutants living together in symbiotic harmony."
"You can't…" Nick sputtered. "Aaron, how can you…?"
"You are insane." Monique rebuked. "Mutants are dangerous. They cannot be tamed."
"And yet, they aren't attacking." Aaron pointed out.
"And how are you preventing that?" Monique persisted. "We have seen Mutants being controlled before. Mind control on Monster Island, neural stimulators, or have you altered their brains through surgery?"
"They are not being controlled." Aaron replied calmly. "The only thing keeping them in line is one simple thing. Kindness. They aid us, and we help care for them."
"I'm with Monique on this one." Nick stepped in. "We've faced Mutants countless times, and not one of them showed any signs of being cooperative."
"Is that right?" Aaron answered skeptically. "Not one mutant has displayed the ability to live alongside humans peacefully?"
"No. They haven't."
"Not even your Godzilla?" Aaron's response left Nick speechless. The momentary silence was broken by Randy.
"So, you actually ride Mutants? Cool!" Nick and Monique's looks wiped the impressed grin from his face. "What?"
"I still think you're out of your mind." Monique announced.
"Aaron, putting the Mutant issue aside for now," Nick inputted, "there's still the matter of Elsie and Mendel. They're still out there with that mutant fox. Or are you going to tell me that it's one of your 'tame' mutants."
"I assure you, Dr. Tatopolous. Coomba is not associated in any way to Utopia. As for your teammates, it appears some word is coming now." Aaron gestured to the two men who had been with him upon rescuing H.E.A.T. from Coomba. "Amicus, Kinley. Have you found anything?"
"Just the remains of the camels they brought, Aaron." Kinley replied. "Which is probably good news for the missing pair. Coomba won't be looking for prey, since he just fed."
"I see." Aaron nodded. "Well, keep looking. Coomba isn't the only danger out there. There are plenty other threats, and not necessarily the Mutant kind."
"Aaron!" A twelve year old girl suddenly appeared. With her was a mutant mongoose and what appeared to be a baby mutant sugar glider.
"And there's my precious trio." Aaron grinned, giving the girl a half hug and scratching the underside of the mutant mongoose's muzzle before making introductions to H.E.A.T. "The mutant mongoose, Tiki Tavi; my symbiotic partner in Utopia. And my sister, Ellen, with her partner, Foxglove." Ignoring the skeptical glances of Nick and Monique, Aaron knelt down to speak with Ellen. "So what's going on, Ellen?"
"Aaron, she's back!" Ellen declared in excitement. "She just returned! And she found their missing friends!"
"Well, that is great news." Aaron smiled. "Thank you, Ellen." The girl grinned at the gratitude, and left with Foxglove. Aaron turned to Nick and the others. "Well, it seems like your friends are safe. Best to go meet up with them." As the four headed off, Nick spoke up.
"Who's back, Aaron?"
"My second-in-command." Aaron explained. "She's the one who searches the world, looking for any mutants who are wounded or orphaned and need out aid. This time, she'd been gone for almost three months." As Aaron finished explaining, they came to the entrance to Utopia, where some other Utopian members were gathered around Craven, Elsie, and a young Asian woman who was accompanied by a rabbit-sized mutant panda. The woman was handing a Utopian member a woven basket that contained what was left of NIGEL, assuring Craven that he'd receive any help he needed in rebuilding the robot.
"Luna!" Aaron went up to the Asian woman who smiled back at him before they bowed in respectful greeting. "Welcome back."
"Good to be back, Aaron." Luna nodded. "Hope I'm in time for the…." Luna was cut off in mid sentence. Monique had suddenly run up to her and punched her to the ground, where she sat nursing her sore nose.
"Monique, what are you…?!" Nick began. However, Monique's furious shouting interrupted him.
"Give me one good reason not to give you twice that much." She hissed. Luna slowly glanced up at Monique, looking suddenly weary.
"Hello again, Monique." Luna greeted. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"