Disclaimer: I do not own The Troop unfortunately. Although other made-up characters and monsters I do.

A/N: Another day, another chapter, I was inspired and had the time. Thanks for the opinions and reviews. I take them all into consideration, it's my first time writing fanfic so some feedback and critiques (not flames) are always appreciated. Enjoy!

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Chapter 4

They arrived at Riveridge creek an hour later. It was a public park that had people going about their business relaxing, so they had to stay as inconspicuous as they could. They put their weapons and other essentials in camping bags and ventured into the woods as if they were merely going out to explore Mother Nature's wondrous works.

Felix was leading with his GPS-like device the Spectrometer that showed where the paranormal residue was located. They were getting pretty far into the woods where there were no other people around. Hayley noticed they were walking almost parallel to a stream.

"So are we getting any closer to that residue that you've been talking about?" Hayley asked. It was starting to get dark, and with the season transitioning into winter she could definitely feel the chill in the air. This is usually the time where monsters started coming out for the day.

Monsters liked their world to be kept a secret. They liked to cause chaos in society but if they happened to fail trying, they wanted to be sure that there was always another on the way. They liked to keep things in the dark, or camouflaged so no one could go after them. Say a monster such as a Pyrocter's caused a fire in an office building it would just go on and find another building it could set fire to, it wouldn't care about taking credit or showing the whole world their work, they were "humble" if that was the right word for it. They didn't need people to know about them. So in reality, people would think people caused the monster's work. Another benefit for them is that people would start to turn on other people creating more chaos and the whole cycle resets its selves. It's a win- win for the monsters.

Hayley thought it was much easier that they stay hidden anyway, despite the trouble that they had trying to look for them, it was better than people living in terror or snarking them every minute of every day.

"Yeah should only be a half a mile away from us now,"

"Good, keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary." Jake stated. Hayley glanced at him. He looked so serious and focused. When he was out on one of their mission it's as if nothing else mattered but that moment and what needed to be done. This was definitely a good trait because it was a matter of life and death in some of these situations, but for Hayley he seemed to be too serious, self-assured and headstrong. Hayley had been there a little bit longer than Jake but when he joined he seemed to take charge right away. It was a balance of give and take with him. She had to remind him sometimes that she could take the lead and was right about strategies and facts as well. She memorized their handbook the first week it was handed to her after all. What did Jake do? Well in his words, follow his gut and instincts. She had to sigh though because for some inexplicable reason their team managed to get in the top 5 in the International Troop rankings. She was grateful, but did not know how they ever got up there.

"Yeah but your weapons should signal if any monsters are gonna pop up anywhere, remember they are just prototypes so be careful with them," Felix said proudly.

A few minutes went by. Hayley needed to get her mind out of the suspense of this particular misadventure.

"So why are you in such a hurry to get out of here Felix? Do you have plans tonight?" Hayley teased.

"Plans? What plans? Who said anything about plans?" Felix was looking everywhere and anywhere Hayley noticed, but then again he could be looking out for some monster activity.

"Oh I didn't say anything about it, but Jake might have said something about it," She tried to catch Jake's eye trying to coax him to play along. He was still searching for anything unusual anywhere they passed. She finally caught his eye, and made a face and asked him to play along for a bit.

With Felix leading ahead of them, Jake gave Hayley a glare, shook his head and mouthed a "not now!"

Hayley ignored him and pressed on, "Yes Jake said a certain cheerleader that was not me was looking for you and wanted to ask you something, right Jake?" She knew for a fact that Demi asked Hayley before their last class that day that she wanted to talk to Felix and ask him something. Grant it, she didn't know what that was about but never the less she was intrigued. She wouldn't be the type to lead him on if there wasn't a chance of course. She had a good feeling about them. She knew Jake wasn't one to hurt his friends feelings too and used that to her advantage.

"Yea she was looking for you after…5th …dot. Wait what? I mean period! She wanted to ask you sometea something! I mean…" Jake finished off. Hayley just finished completing that sentence in a short stint of charades and whispers to Jake. He could be so dense sometimes. Jake looked thoroughly annoyed and mouthed something along the lines of You better be telling the truth to Hayley.

She smiled her most charming smile and mouthed back a Don't I always. She couldn't help but wink.

Jake rolled his eyes, smiled and shook his head. Hayley wondered what he was thinking about just then.

"Really Jake? She did ask?" Felix stopped walking and turned around.

Jake and Hayley stopped walking abruptly to avoid crashing into him.

"Yeah, man she did but maybe we can walk and talk about it," He moved past him and realized his didn't know where to go. He turned back to Felix who was still standing still.

He repeated his earlier question, "Really Jake? She did ask?" Hayley answered before Jake could get a word edgewise.

"Yes! I happened to witness it from across the hall, heard the whole thing," She rushed out.

"I wonder if she wanted the notes for Calculus. You know, Holly is in my Calculus class second period, " Felix continued smugly.

Hayley was already nodding excitedly, "Yep, Yep Demi was apparently looking for you everywhere," It didn't hurt to exaggerate a little…

She just noticed that there was something slightly off about his last sentence. "Excuse me did I hear you say Holly? Why would Holly be looking for you?"

"Hold up, did you say Demi-" Felix started, his confusion apparent.

Jake interrupted them; he was looking upwards with a defeated sort of look. "Walk and talk people, please walk and talk…" Trying to lead the way but finding no one was following behind him. He let out a frustrated sigh and started to walk back to his friends.

"-Of course I'm sure I said Holly, why would you say Demi-" Felix asked, intrigued.

"Why would you say Holly, you've never even talked-"

All of a sudden they felt the ground shake slightly. They all looked at each other and suddenly formed a small circle facing their backs to each other. They got their gun blasters loaded and ready. Hayley just noticed that it was almost dark. Their eyes were used to it now but it was still a hindrance when trying to spot any monsters anywhere. Hayley spotted something slither on the ground.

"Right there!"

"Over there!"

Jake and Hayley said pointing at different directions.

"What where?"

"Where?"

Hayley spotted the one Jake was talking about. So there was at least two.

"It's the Basilisks, don't worry all you have to do is point your guns at them and shoot, the guns should detect what they are and figure out what laser to use, you won't even need a reflection" Felix said trying fiddling his gun trying to get it cooperate. For some reason it wouldn't turn on.

"Remember not to look at them in the eyes or you turn into stone," Hayley reminded them.

Jake shot one of them that started to move towards them. It gave a ear-piercing shriek and then it lay still and motionless.

"Wow these things are impressive, Felix," Jake started aiming for the other Basilisk when all of a sudden the Basilisk that was laying on the ground jumped up onto Hayley's back and started clawing at her. She struggled trying to get it off. It was much bigger and heavier that the ones in HQ if she remembered it correctly.

"Felix you get the one on that side I'll get the one on Hayley."

"Hayley grab onto the branch of that tree and I'll pull it off." Hayley grabbed onto a branch of what looked to be a sturdy tree while Jake tried to pull it off. Basilisks were very poisonous, it was pertinent that they get it off as soon as possible before it stuck its fangs anywhere. They sort of resembled a giant, rooster with deformed features.

"Remember to keep away from his fangs Jake, for some reason it's stronger than before," Hayley managed to get out. She could feel the coat that she was wearing slowly thinning as the Basilisk tried to latch onto her. There was a loud shot and the Basilisk was once again motionless. She could still feel it clinging onto her though. Jake started pulling it off, with a strong force of exertion and finally pulled it off, but in the process lost his balance and stepped backwards dropping the stunned Basilisk on the ground. He continued backwards and fell in the stream. He was soaked from head to toe when Hayley came up to help him. That included the gun Felix warned him to be careful with, as well as his camping bag.

"Hayley, Jake watch out!" Felix warned. It was the Basilisk; that was most recently stunned. Hayley was getting ready to shoot it again.

"No! Wait! Come here little Basilisky here pooty cutie!" Jake said in a screeching baby voice, he also started crowing like a rooster. It was the one sound that could defeat them, they hated it. Hayley moved out of the way as the Basilisk started running to Jake who was now out on the edge of the stream. "Yep you know you want this," Jake continued. He stood at his full height. The good thing about the dark was that you couldn't exactly see the monster's eyes just a dark looming shape. Just when the Basilisk was about to pounce on Jake, he moved out of the way. The Basilisk in mid-air was treated with the sight of its own reflection in the stream. It turned into stone and floated away as it landed in the moonlit reflected stream.

"Well that was close," Felix joined them by the stream. Blaster still in hand.

"Yeah, close, what happened to the other Basilisk, did the G900 work for you?" Jake inquired.

"No for some reason the specific laser designed to tackle it didn't work, which is strange since I just tested it on the Basilisk in HQ," Felix pondered.

"So where is it?" Hayley asked looking around.

"The only thing that worked for it was the stunning ray, which reminds me we better start moving before it wakes up," Felix started moving getting his GPS device out again.

Once they were a good distance away Felix spoke up again. "It should only be a few minutes away,"

"So quick question, why didn't your gun blaster pick up the monster and warn us?" Hayley inquired.

"Well my theory is you guys were too busy chatting about girls, cheerleaders and all things nice," Jake piped in. Hayley knew that was a jab at her.

"No that's not it Jake because it warns us with a loud ringing, which you would even have heard, it must not have sensed them because it didn't detect their body temperature. This prototype has specific ranges of a monster's temperature to detect it. They are programmed to detect a Basilisk's temperature as well. Again I tested it on the ones in HQ, I have no idea why it didn't work," Felix said. Hayley could tell he looked stumped.

"Hey its okay, we're fine, you'll figure it out when we get back to HQ," Hayley offered.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, we are all good. Mistakes make us grow," Jake tried to explain. Hayley noticed that he seemed to let things go much easier with Felix. She didn't know if it was a guy thing, or they were better friends but it had irked her for some time now. Anyway she knew this wasn't the time to bring it up.

Felix looked cheerful again. "Yeah, I'm sure it was a bug or something, Good to know I didn't present it to the scientists and heads of the International yet, now that would have been embarrassing," He laughed at himself briefly.

"Yeah, see there is a reason you brought it out here man," Jake said patting Felix shoulder as they walked. It looked to be one of those brotherly gestures of reassurance.

They walked in silence after that. Each one lost in their own thoughts.

"Guys there it is, placed right at the edge of the stream there," Felix announced. He started running towards it with Hayley and Jake right behind him.

It looked to be a white chunky substance clustered together in a small patch by the edge of the stream. To a passer-by it might have looked to be projectile-vomit at a first glance. Felix kneeled down and opened his camping bag getting ready to collect some samples of it.

"Good now we can get out of here," Jake said.

A loud roar was suddenly heard from out of nowhere. Hayley felt a gust of wind pass by. They turned around and saw a Heraptacore towering a few feet away from the.

"It's a Heraptacore, Felix you keep collecting samples and me and Jake will distract him long enough" Hayley formulated.

She couldn't believe it was a Heraptacore. There hadn't been a live sighting of this monster for over a hundred years. It was extremely elusive and dangerous. According to the field handbook it had the power to suck one's energy and fuel it for its own body. The only way to capture one's energy was to rip its heart out and eat it. They were extremely elusive and probably haven't been seen for a hundred years because they also have the ability to teleport from one place to another. Which was why they were classified as Level 5, the highest category for describing a dangerous monster. While the theory was that they might have died out which is the reason for no sightings, Hayley had a feeling it was really that no one who witnessed them had come out alive. Unfortunately she was drawing a blank on how to defeat one. She was sure she had read it in the handbook.

"This night is just not our night, well at least we can go out in style saying we took on a Heraptacore," Felix vented.

"Felix just collect samples, we'll take of this, A Heraptacore huh? Hayley try the blaster on the thing, mine is busted from the water, aim for his eyes, the manual said the only way to defeat it is to puncture the eyes," Jake yelled.

Felix busied himself on the samples as fast as he could. Meanwhile , Hayley aimed the blaster and pulled the trigger. The Heraptacore dodged it.

"Okay I'll distract it while you aim for the eyes," Jake ran towards the monster and jumped onto it hanging on to its neck. To Hayley the Heraptacore reminded her of those Tyrannosaurus Rex, with it scales and slime and jagged teeth. It was two to three feet taller than them, and once Jake grabbed onto his neck, the Heraptacore moved every which way to try and get him off. Jake had a tight grip and would just get dragged along. Almost like a limp doll.

"Hayley now!!!" Jake shouted.

"What? Oh right," She tried to shoot it again. This time she shot the eye but aside from a few blinks nothing happened. She had to think of something fast, Jake was getting beaten up, the Heraptacore was growling and slamming him to the tree with his back. Still Jake held on.

She had an idea. She ran towards the Heraptacore with her gun in tow. As the monster swerved forcefully to one side she was on the receiving end and was thrown back and landed hard against a wide tree. She was still wearing her camping bag and felt the stabbing pain from that and her arms when it hit against the tree. She felt the pain running up her back as she got up. She knew would feel the bruises and pain tomorrow, surely after this. She grabbed her gun again and ran towards the Heraptacore who still had Jake hanging on his back. She stumped on the monsters feet, partly to injure it but also to get leverage to climb up a little and grab onto his arms that were flailing everywhere.

She suddenly saw a flash of bright light surround them, and felt dizzy and light headed. She must have hit her head harder than she thought at the tree. She used the arm of the monster to keep steady and focused on the task at hand, she used the narrow end of the gun blaster to puncture the eyes of the Heraptacore.

After an ear-piercing moan, the Heraptacore fell to the ground motionless. Hayley disentangled herself, as well as Jake slowly. He looked bruised and battered as she did. Another second later the monster disintegrated.

They stood there catching their breath for a few minutes before trying to speak.

"Are you okay?" They both asked each other. They both nodded simultaneously.

"That was unbelievable," Hayley said. She couldn't believe what just happened.

"Yeah, that was crazy, you were awesome Hayley, I can't believe you did that," Jake replied.

"Me neither, see Felix I told you that your guns are useful," Hayley said turning around.

"Felix?" She asked. He was nowhere to be found.

"Jake what happened? Where's Felix?" Hayley asked trying not to panic.

"Felix! Where are you man?" Jake asked looking around.

Hayley could sense that something was wrong. The scene looked different. Where was the stream that they were near, where was the white residue, where was Felix? All the questions were running through her mind. Right now all should could see was a small cave and that they were still in the forest, but it was so thick that there was hardly any light passing through. She grabbed onto Jake for reassurance that she wasn't alone.

"Jake where are we? You don't think the Heraptacore teleported us here before we killed him do you?" Hayley feared the answer.

"I think that is exactly what he did, Hayley. There is no sign of anyone else around," Jake said. He was fiddling with his watchcom. It was malfunctioning because of the water from the stream. Hayley tried hers. She looked at it properly and realized it was banged up. It was from when she got thrown onto the tree she just realized. Her watchcom was broken too.

Panic got the better of her, "Jake!" She screeched in a high voice, "What do we do now?"


A/N: Hoped you liked it! Reviews are always appreciated. Makes for faster updates. ox