Hey guys, CJ here! It's been a while.

I decided to post the entire story, all my chapters here throughout the week. I haven't edited them for a while, because I know that if I did, I would change them, and honestly... I like the way they are right now, even if I've grown a lot since I've last written them.

In other words, these chapters were written and edited 2 years ago, which means that I've improved a lot since. Hope you guys like what you see despite this story being a bit outdated.


ALLIANCE OF WORLDS

~ Chapter 3 ~

The street immediately stopped ascending and, for a while, floated still in the air. The calm was interrupted by a small rumble that grew more intense. The street had begun its descent, hovering its way down. And for a while, all seemed to work well: Slam had done well to direct the street towards its initial place, and Rev had long since secured every citizen he could spot nearby. Duck – and this was a surprise for him – brought the statue to the museum only to find out that multiple artefacts had been affected by Massive's abilities, and the curators, guards and director begged him to get them all back in their place before they were damaged. That annoyed the fowl a lot, but when someone begged... He was a sucker for it, especially if he was being compensated by glory and praise (and a reward, if possible).

3.03 kilometers. Those numbers displayed on Tech's wrist monitor corresponded to the distance left between the ground and the debris. It was a slow process, but they were getting down faster than he'd hoped. Unfortunately, his hopes were crushed once he saw his machine vibrant violently, releasing bursts of sparks and smoke. A loud quake signaled all that the street had increased its speed of descent. Tech's predictions unfolded before him, and he acted by spinning his head towards the leader and motioning his hand towards the converter. "Ace!"

The hare's eyes gleamed in crimson color. "I'm on it!"

From the leader's eyes came the burst of infrared laser, hitting dead central the machine's core and causing it to spark up and vibrate to life once more. The machine resume transmitting energy through every crack and crevasse of the street and, in a matter of seconds, the crash decelerated. The street hovered its way down like before with the help of the leader maintaining his laser vision. Relieved of an enormous pressure, Tech resumed his post by observing his machine and verifying its accuracy. He then locked his gaze to his leader as he moved his fingers to the switch. He needed to shut the machine down as soon as possible to prevent his leader from taking drastic measure, such as self-sacrifice. Though he hoped for a safe outcome, Tech's own intelligence categorized his hope as a means to deny a fact.

The worst was to be expected.

Ace Bunny had battled many powerful foes, but this was a situation he was unfamiliar with, which made it one of the greater challenges he had yet to face. His laser vision and the core of the machine had created a connection so strong, so intense, yet so overwhelming that the leader felt his energy being sucked out of his eyes. It was a demanding procedure, but he had to keep firing his laser to ensure the safety of everyone. If he had to deplete his energy till he dropped dead, then so be it. Although, he really prayed it wouldn't be the case.

Lexi had obeyed her leader's order and stood beside him, watching hopelessly as he shot his laser without any interruption at the machine. She felt remorse gnawing at her, her body still as stone while her conscience told her to move, to do something. But what could she do?

Ace's knees buckled and he dropped to the ground, but the ray of laser persisted. Lexi scuffled to his side, worries flooding her mind when she had a good look at him.

"Ace! Talk to me. What's happening?"

His jaw clenched in sheer pain, his body heaving strained and irregular breaths, his limbs trembling as he was unable to sit on his own without the help of Lexi's arm. Even in this condition, he didn't stop.

Unable to get a response from him, Lexi turned to the Brainiac for answers. "Tech, how long till we reach the ground?"

"We're still 1.21 kilometers too high from the ground, Lexi!" Tech shouted as he checked his monitor, "We need more time!"

Panic struck at her like wildfire engulfing a forest. She could not predict what would happen by the time they land, much less wait for that to happen. Her mind screamed at her to get moving, because growing roots wasn't going to solve anything!

... Roots!

The most unexpected and nonchalant idea popped in her head. During one of the Loonatics' missions, where the team paid a visit to the island of Apocalyptico, Lexi had temporarily acquired the ability to manipulate plants with her telekinetic abilities. She thought they had disappeared after the mission, but recently, she began to sense that they were slowly returning. In fact, she noticed how her mood swings influenced the plants around her: flowers either bloomed vigorously when she was happy, or they dried up and died when she was depressed. Ever since, she had been practicing, using her powers to grow plants on her windowsill. However, she had never used them as intensively as she did on the mission, and that was nearly a year ago. She didn't know what she was capable of now.

Well, one way to find out.

As she steadied Ace with her left arm, she used her right hand and placed it gently on the ground. She closed her eyes and focused on her thoughts, shutting out the noise, the calamity... Everything. She tried to sense the earth, or to be part of it, as one of the Amazonians on the island had told her to do. There was something that was brewing deep inside her, a vague energy, nigh undetectable, that channeled through her arm into the ground. Yes, she began to feel the very life of the concrete stone, but she sensed no plants that could aid her.

No wait, there was something. Telepathically, she searched throughout every crack, tracing down a life-force that had been caught on her sensors. Yes, there was a small root. That alone sufficed to get the job done.

She focused harder, bringing out that hidden power towards the miniscule root. She nourished it with her energy, and rapidly, multiple arms burst from its form and grew larger in size. The original root became the seed, stretching its stems through small cracks until the whole street turned into a system of roots controlling the whole. These extensions breached the bottom of the concrete ground and rapidly collided with each other, swirling and intertwining. A thick stalk had been formed, and it shot out into the open, passing through the tornado's conduit down towards the crater where the street had been. It plunged into the ground and re-created an architecture of roots, spreading out as deep as possible and stems strengthening as they grew thicker.

Slam was too busy creating this whirlwind to alert his friends about this new turn of event, but he knew he could count on Rev to take action. Though the roadrunner had been running all over the place, plucking people from the ground and dropping them off or waving them off, he could afford a moment of distraction to send out a calling signal via wrist-device to his team up on the streets. Of all of them, only one answered: "Tech here. What's the situation?"

"Yeah-I-was-just-wondering-did-you-decide-to-involve-mother-nature-in-your-plan?"

There was a short moment of silence. "What are you talking about?"

"Well-you're-going-to-find-it-really-hard-to-believe-but-a-large-vine-just-burst-out-of-the-gravitationally-modified-street-and-just-perforated-the-ground-where-the-street-had-been, and-if-you-ask-me-I-think-that-it's-helping-us-to-bring-the-street-back-down-a-lot-faster-but-that's-just-me-how's-it-going up there?"

Tech listened intently, however annoying Rev's fast talk was, and squinted his eyes in momentary, puzzling reflection. A vine? How could it come to be? The last time any of these powers were used were in Apocalyptico, and...

His eyes flashing in sudden realization, the coyote spun his head towards the female hare, witnessing her in deep meditation. Of course. Nobody was capable of such power, except for Lexi.

Lexi could feel the drowsiness approaching, trying to take over her. Feeding the plants her energy exhausted her, drained her, but if Ace could do it, then so can she.

"Lexi!"

The female hare squinted her eyes when she momentarily lost connection she fought hard to maintain. The result was a strong quake joined by a resounding series of crunch and crack. Tech was nearly brought to his knees, and he noticed beneath his feet a fissure widening into a crevasse, revealing roots that began rip apart.

The female hare clenched her teeth and drowned out the noise once again. She sought out that power deep within her, though it was tougher to reclaim the connection due to her weakened state.

Tech felt a different rumble this time, and looked at his feet once more. Roots and vines shot out and perforated the concrete opposite to them, pulling each side into one another and closing up the crack, almost like a suture to an open wound.

This moment was too vital to have any further interruptions. To prevent from the coyote from breaking her concentration, she allowed herself to yell out a desperate retort. "Not right now, Tech, I'm busy here!"

The large vine began to retract, pulling along the floating street gently down, but in a much faster pace. Tech could tell from his surrounding that Lexi's contribution helped greatly, and the last thing he should do was to make the same mistake twice. He brought his wrist monitor to his face and patched to all team members, excluding Lexi. "Loonatics, listen up! The vine is Lexi's doing. She's helping us bringing the street back down, and I need you guys to focus on putting that street back to its place. Rev, you help Slam to keep the street in a stable position by creating a whirlwind around the tornado; we don't want it drifting into another direction or colliding into a building. Keep in mind that we're going down a lot faster than before, so once you're close enough to the ground – and I mean no less than 20 meters – move from there or you'll be crushed!"

"No-problemo-Tech-old-pal-we'll-be-gone-before-we're-smashed-into-pancakes!" Rev said, followed by a strained grunt from the Tazmanian.

The whole street rumbled quietly as the stem continued retracting, moving at the speed of 2.74 meters per second according to Tech's calculations. For him, speed took now precedence in this mission; the leader had been breathing unsteadily for a while by using his laser-ability non-stop, and Tech knew that Ace was drawing nearer to his limit.

Tech pulled his wrist-device towards himself and switched it on. "Duck, we could really use your help right now! Where are you?!"

It was then he realized that he had taken temporarily the role of the leader, calling all shots and making sure that everyone was doing something to help out. That whole responsibility wasn't unfamiliar, but it was a weight he hated carrying.

Before he could form any more thoughts, his monitor flashed to life, signaling 20.89 meters and counting. The brains swiped his finger over the monitor and clicked on two names that popped up. "Slam! Rev! Get out of there now!"

"All-right-Techie-we'll-be-outta-there-in-no-time!"

The rumble had decreased, which meant that Slam had stopped using his Tornado Maximizer and Rev had stopped running. Moments later, however, a loud roar erupted from the speaker, which also could be heard from his surroundings. Tech knew it came from the Tazmanian, for it was an animalistic cry so fierce that gripped at his heart. And from that roar, the coyote could make of a sentence:

"Get her away!"

Tech immediately pulled the device towards his face, unable to mask the anxiety in his voice. "Rev, what's going on down there?!"

"I'm-securing-a-girl." the roadrunner reply was brisk and brief. That was never a good sign.

"Tech!"

He looked up. "What is it now?!"

He couldn't speak, for he was shocked beyond words.

The Loonatics' leader slumped into the girl's arms, drawing shallow breaths.

"He's unconscious, but he's still using his laser vision." Lexi said, concerned, "He's not stopping."

The question was why.

Tech contemplated hard as he quickly studied the monitor and Ace. After analyzing the results, the answer dawned him.

"By Volt! It's the machine!"

He pressed on the button of the generator to turn it off. But it disobeyed its master.

Panicking, he used his magnetic powers to strip this machine apart. "This'll hurt me more than it'll hurt you!" he said as bits of the machine were thrown in different directions. The machine died down as a vital piece was ripped off the generator. The ray of light ceased, dimming from the machine's energy-panels. With the connection broken, Ace's head fell back onto Lexi's shoulder. As she felt the hit, she immediately ceased all intra-psychic activity with the plants and pulled her hand from the ground to hold the back of the leader's head. With a loud thunder, the street landed back to its rightful place, and upon impact our heroes crumpled to their knees.

A cloud of dust rested above the ground. No sound of jeering children emanated. There was only an eerie silence, as if death was lingering in the air.

In the dust, the shadow of a lone figure rose from the ground. It appeared to be none other than Tech.

He supported his heavy, hurting skull, clearing his thoughts as he opened his eyes. It was heavy enough to make the first three steps staggering, but got a better control as soon as he was able to take in his surroundings. "Is everyone all right?'' he inquired out of concern.

Lexi's body, sprawled on the floor a couple of feet away but covering her leader's back, twitched and then motioned. She pushed herself to her feet, rubbing her temples. "I'll survive..." she muttered.

After having regained her last thoughts, she anxiously picked up the team leader. "But I don't know if I can say the same for Ace."

Tech hurried to Lexi's side, inspecting his teammate with the following: pulse, breathing... He wanted to check the eye dilatation, but he presumed it to be unwise after what had happened.

"His condition is stable." Tech concluded, "He's exhausted all of his powers, more than he should have, but he'll be fine. But I'll run-"

But a blast of wind cut his speech, and the face of a panicked Rev. "Guys-guys-guys-you-gotta-come-quick-we-don't-have-time-Slam-"

And from there on, Rev spoke so fast that none of his words were comprehensible. He made so many gestures in a short amount of time that the two heroes couldn't decipher the message. But it could not mean anything good.

Hating being kept under confusion, Tech grabbed Rev's beak to silence him, but Rev's pant still provided noise, although less annoying. "Cool your chatterbox, Rev! What about Slam?"

"Where is he?" Lexi asked.

Tech released his beak, and the runner was left breathing irregularly until he could summarize the news.

"SLAM-IS-UNDER-THE-STREET!"

They were paralyzed to their bones, shocked beyond words. But little time did they have if they wanted to save their big friend, so they all bolted to the location where Slam was last seen by Rev, the latter leading the way.

"How the heck could this have happened?!" Lexi shrieked in worry.

Good question. How indeed could the big brute not succeed? He did have sufficient time to get out of the crater before he could get crushed by the huge debris, despite his slowness. Nonetheless, the whole situation changes if the life of a child was endangered.

Let me take you back a couple of minutes back in a different point of view.

Two kindergarten teachers had been taking their young students to a field trip, during which they would visit Metropolis' museum of natural history. While everyone was following their teachers, one young girl had taken another path, focusing on playing with her special ball. She unintentionally dropped it, and it bounced off her foot, rolling away from her. Of course, she ran after it, even if she had to descend a pit to get it back.

Now when Slam and Rev ceased their activity, they immediately went to take cover at a nearby corner. But when Rev saw that there were still several citizens near enough to the pit to be hurt, he sped through the area and secured them. However, he had overlooked the girl. It wasn't easy to perceive her; other than having citizens to worry about, the girl had been playing in a pool of mud that had covered her from head to toe. And at such an age, she was as much naive as oblivious to the danger that literally befell her.

Fortunate was Slam to have been close, or he wouldn't have been able to hear the child's squeal of amusement. About in the middle of the bed of dirt, he had seen a moving form, apparently splashing the muck around in amusement. He soon realized with horror what it was.

He spun his way to the pit and dove his hands into the muck, grabbing and pulling out the mud-dipped giggling girl. She wouldn't be laughing if she knew what was happening and going to happen next.

Little after he caught her, a roar boomed from above, and the Tazmanian tilted his head up. The street was crashing down on them.

He immediately released a monstrous roar as he spun his way out of the pit. He saw Rev sprinting to him, however, his animal instincts kicked in and he threw at full force the girl in the Runner's direction before either of them reached the edge of the crater, shouting with the tone of the most animalistic beast he ever used and that shook the very ground. "GET HER AWAY!"

Have you ever seen how fast a bullet can fly? I doubt you would have, because it's impossible to see, let alone notice it. At that velocity the girl was flying, and only Rev was able to see it. He stopped in his tracks and sped backwards. What was a second felt a thousand for him, and he leapt in the air and caught the girl like a rugby player would catch a big, rectangular pillow instead of a baseball during the game. The impact was strong, which left him somersaulting backwards. But as soon as he had landed and looked up at the crater, only to see the street falling atop a purple figure.

A wave of dust blew at them like a hurricane, and Rev Runner rapidly shut his eyes and pulled the girl's head to his chest, shielding her from the bits of debris that lingered in the air. The force of the wind was powerful, attempting to blow the two off their feet. But Rev resisted, kneeling forward, pressing the tip of his feet against the ground. Try all he wants to; he couldn't keep up forever.

Fortunately, forever didn't last long. The tidal debris storm passed and calmed down only seconds later. The hero and the girl held by him were both tainted with specks of whitish-grey dust, but fell apart as their support had sped off.

He had dropped the girl at a shop a couple of blocks from the crash site. No sooner had he told her to wait there, assuring her that he'd return, had he sped off to aid his friend.

He arrived at the site in no less than ten seconds, and a stillness so morbid had reigned the area. Never in his life had Rev's heart beat so wildly, not even for a speed course, and here he was scarcely moving his limbs. He was convinced that he could reach his friend in time. But the roar and the beastly look on Slam's face made him do the exact opposite from what he would usually do. He would've cowered if it hadn't been for the girl being catapulted his way. It was that intimidating.

"And-then-I-found-you-guys." Rev concluded the story he tried summarizing. And during that quick explanation (and his summary was explained, mind you), the team had been trying to reach him through his communicator. The response remained the same.

"Fascinating. His survival instincts must have acted up, and he must've known that even if Rev had reached him in time, he couldn't keep the same speed when trying to get out. Carrying both of them, let alone Slam, would decrease the chances of survival. And Slam knew that by instinct. Of all of us, though he's sentient, he's more connected to the nature than any of us."

Lexi, carrying the limp body of Ace by the shoulder, stared incredulously at Tech. "Tech! How could you speculate things right now when our friend is dying under the rubble?"

"I have the perfect reason to do so." replied the coyote, "My heat sensors detect nothing underground but little lifeforms."

"Oh-dear-O'kolumbo-Slam-is-dead-crushed-terminated-and-I-let-him-die-by-my-wings-because-I-wasn't-"

"Rev!" Tech shouted, "I said I detect none of Slam's heat signs. Even if he were dead, his body would still give off some signs of temperature. Until hours later, when his body's as cold as Einstein's drink, that is."

"So, Slam's not under there!" Lexi averred.

"But-I-saw-him!-But-I-saw-him!-I'm-a-hundred-no-a-thousand-percent-sure-that-I-saw-him!"

And as Rev was going to brag on how convinced he was, a flash behind them caught their attention. "Don't you guys ever tell him to stuff it, or do I have to always do it?"

When our heroes turned around to the source, they all rejoiced as they saw Duck stand beside Slam and ran to him in sheer relief.

Rev was the first to jump in his arms. "Oh-Slam-ol'-buddy-I'm-so-so-so-so-so-glad-to-you're-not-dead-crushed-and-flattened-into-a-pancake!"

Tech came up next and scrubbed the fur on the Tazmanian's head. "I knew you weren't a goner!" he exclaimed, but he knew that he was denying what he really had in mind.

Though everyone suspected what might've happened, it didn't hurt the Duck's ego to brag on about it. "This big ol' brute was saved by yours truly. Just when I got out of the museum, I wanted to check on you guys, just to see if you could handle things without me. Which didn't seem to be the case, since the brawn of the team decided to save that brat's life by risking his own. But did I let this happen? Never! So I quacked myself to the pit and quacked myself out of there before we were toast."

He allowed himself a pause, inspecting his nails as he pondered. Funny choice of words. I'm starting to regret having skipped breakfast.

"It was no big deal, although I do deserve some credit." he emphasized 'some' to state the obvious.

Slam's lips formed a huge grin, and looked down at the duck. Danger Duck gulped and quivered, knowing what was coming. But before he could run for it, the beast had scooped him along with Rev and Tech in a huge hug, laughing his throaty laugh, squeezing the eyeballs out of everybody just like a balloon.

Lexi, though relieved, would have been more worried, had it not been for the last concerned teammate. After seeing her and the leader limping at her side had Slam's hug been loosened. He released the bunch, who were still coughing, and marched hesitant steps towards the hares.

He grumbled words, pulling a worried frown on his face. But she understood what he asked. "Don't worry, Slam. Ace's alright. He just needs to rest up."

Duck, being way curious as ever, pushed Slam slightly to the side. "Woah... Talk about being K.O.! I mean for Ace, is that even possible?"

As the team's acting leader, Ace had never allowed himself to faint in front of his teammates, fearing what imbalance it could bring to the team. He always fought hard to never let that happen to him. But there was a price to pay, if he had to unwillingly go over the limit. And seeing him in such a state shook the team to its core, each one shocked in their unusual own way. For example, Rev, who hadn't even said a word about his leader.

"We can celebrate this later, guys." Tech stated, "Duck, take Ace and quack back to HQ."

"Huh, funny thing, I don't think we'll be able to celebrate, no offense, big guy." Duck stated, taking the load clinging onto Lexi's shoulder.

"What makes you say that?" Lexi was as confused as the others.

"I've been to the museum." he replied, "We've been had."


Making his way through the darker, narrow alleyways of Metropolis, the villainous criminal stalked the place with pride and mischievous joy. He played around with a small sack at the size of a baseball, never keeping his eyes off at what appeared to be a prize.

"Bunch of looneys." he laughed, "They'd really think I was stupid enough to repeat the same mistake like in the past."

What he meant was that he tried stealing a huge trophy worth of several millions in cash. Thanks to his powers, he was able to levitate it, just like the statue. Of course, he would've gotten away with it if it weren't for the Loonatics.

He stopped toying with the bag and caught it in his hand, pulling out a wondrous beauty of an artefact. It was the eye-shaped symbol of Egyptian antiquity, an artefact crafted with gold and its pupil replaced with the blood diamond, a rare gem now worth several millions for only ten grams. And that gem there weighed around 800 grams.

Coupled together with gold, which has also gained a rise in value throughout the centuries, this artefact was worth more than ten of the statues he made look like he was going to steal.

At the mere thought of it, he grinned widely. "A little play to get what I really wanted, that's all. I don't like this sneak and steal stuff, but on the bright side, not only did I put up a great show, I also got to show off my powers. I really wonder how they'll react when they figured out what I've really stolen."


"You mean to tell me that this WHOLE incident was a ruse to hide what he was really stealing?!"

Lexi was fuming, venting out her anger on (as usual) Danger Duck. The Duck had told the group of the item the director of the museum reported to be stolen. No one could or would accept to believe that they've gone through more than a mere trouble just to get duped and have the crook get away with the real prize.

"That would explain why he decided to bail out when things got sticky." Tech stated, pulling out his jetpack.

"Anyway, I'll catch you guys later back home!" Duck said rather quickly and quacked out of the site.

He had all reasons to get away. He didn't want to see or be there when Lexi flipped out more than she already had.

"I can't believe it!" the female shrieked, kicking a piece of rubble away from her, "After all we've gone through, with Ace and Slam nearly biting the grass, we totally blew our mission!"

Tech nodded gravely, preferring it to speech. He tilted his head to the side when something caught his eye, and smiled. "We may have failed in capturing Massive, but we didn't fail as much as we believe. Look over there."


Not too far away, Rev and Slam were surrounded by a group of children cheering at their city's superheroes. The two, especially Slam, had come under the request of the two kindergarten teachers who were more than thankful for saving one of their students.

Both heroes were happy to come. Unfortunately, the roadrunner had more reception than the Tazmanian devil. Actually, all the kids went to the red-clad hero.

You might think that Slam would sink his head, whimpering because of his huge, frightening form, but you are mistaken. In fact, this situation suited him perfectly. As all kids went for Rev Runner, he looked at the kids' faces, trying to recognize them. To his surprise, he found a young girl standing right beside him, gawking at him. She was sucking her thumb while she clenched a blond-haired, pink dress-wearing doll in her other arm.

One of the teachers, a slim young woman of brown, straight and long hair walked to the girl's side. "I can't thank you enough for saving her. She's such a sweet child." She gently pushed her towards the beast. "Go on, Alice. Say thank you."

She resisted the push at first, but staggered lightly forward. The Tazmanian smiled, but kept his mouth shut. The poor, unfortunate beast had already scared off many other people with his immense, sharp teeth when he only flashed a grin, and he didn't want to repeat the same mistake.

As he recalled why he searched for her, he reached for his back pocket and pulled out an object that made the child gasp.

"My bawlly!" She shrieked joyously as she saw her special ball being given back to her. She grasped onto her ball, laughing as happily and as glad that she was wrong, for she thought to have lost it for good.

True, she had lost it. When thrown out of the pit, Alice was flying too fast to cling onto her muddy ball, so it slipped out of her hands. It bounced and rolled onto Slam's side. He had realized that it belonged to her, so he picked it up before Danger Duck appeared to save him.

It did Slam some real good to see the kid being so happy to have her belonging returned. Behind the monstrous appearance, he was just a misunderstood, sensitive being who longed for a bit of affection. As long as people laughed because he did something good for them and not cower away, his heart would just burst with happiness. That alone was enough for him.

But something completely unexpected happened. Alice, overwhelmed by joy and gratefulness, jumped into the arms of the Tazmanian and buried her face into his fur. Of course, he was surprised. She was the first to ever have hugged him. He didn't know how to react. There was this warm feeling in the pit of his stomach that rose up to his head, it almost made him dizzy. And he loved it.

He gently patted her until he let it rest on her back, caressing it. She let go and looked up at him. "My name's Alice. What's yours?"

"Slam." he tried to pronounce it as clearly as possible, without scaring her.

She giggled and picked up the doll she had dropped earlier when she hugged the big fellow. She looked at it, contemplating.

"This is Maggie, my favowite dawl." she uttered, "She likes big cats, and she thinks you're cute."

She looked up at Slam with big eyes. ''Can she stay with you?"

Slam grumbled a laugh and nodded. The girl smiled excitedly as she gave Maggie to Slam and ran off to her classmates, dribbling her ball. And as he watched her disappearing amongst her friends, he rubbed the back of his head, grunting in embarrassment. But he smiled.

The teacher came up to him, and stretched her hand to shake his. Once again, he was surprised. No civilian dared to shake his, preferring to congratulate him through the team's representative.

The teacher raised an eyebrow as she saw his surprised face. "Is there something wrong?"

The Tazmanian snapped out of it and shook his head in disagreement. He took her hand and shook it, a huge smile now plastered on his face.

The teacher, chuckling, returned the smile. "You know, if you're not busy with your heroic duties, why don't you come once and visit once in a while LeBron's kindergarten school at South-East Acmetropolis? I believe Alice and the other kids would really love it."

The beast stammered a bit, and felt a blush spreading across his face. But he quickly shut his wide-open mouth and smiled again, nodding excitedly his head.

"Great. Well, I hope to see you soon. Take care."

Slam grunted words, but the message was clear to the teacher. And with that, she left to join her students and the other teacher, leaving Slam Tazmanian with a huge grin on his face. And a short while after, waking up from his what appeared to be mesmerizing dream and noticing that he was the only Loonatic left in the area, he blasted off with his jetpack into the sky and flew back to the Loonatics' headquarters, forgetting that his life could've ended that very day.

But who's not to say that it'll end in another day? After all, this is merely the beginning of the greatest, if not the most extraordinary adventure he has ever faced.


Have you not ever asked yourself if there are any other worlds out there beside our own? And I don't mean aliens, which is only a term given to a race that is unknown to us, or that is everything but us. I speak of the civilization of worlds that could live only a few lightyears of our own, or that live in different galaxies, different dimensions and timelines. Yes, killions of worlds that house amazing creatures, sentient, each having some particularities, and I don't by superhuman abilities as we would call it. In my view, every living being is as extraordinary as the other. I just find it unfortunate that not many people see it the way I do.

And what's incredible is that we know some of these worlds.

Let me put it this way. There exists Cybertron and Moebius, however the distance between them is undeterminable. They are neither near nor too far from each other. Just like the many variations of planet Earth, where, in one of them, there are us, and in another, there are mutated turtles hiding in the sewers of New York. I dare you to make a science out of this. It is highly complex and would require more than just a lifetime to understand only a small fragment of the whole.

There is, however, one knowledge that can be passed on. A connection exists between these killions of worlds, and there is only one place where it is easily perceivable.

The area has many names, but the one that is often used (which is rather rare) is the Hall of the Sacred Planetarium. It is a vast, spacious room, entirely engulfed by the darkness if it weren't for the uncountable numbers of floating, shining spheres that spread about. They were aligned in a proper order, and despite the same size each one had, you would notice that each was different. A particularity, if you like: one could shine a specific color, one could shine in its own way... It is hard to describe. Every lambent Quasar, as they are called, gave off a different feel about it, so you would know that, even if two shone in a similar way and had almost an identical color, they were still unlike one another.

And as you may have guessed, these quasars represent worlds.

But as I said, there is one true connection that binds these planets altogether.

Far atop all of these quasars, overlooking them as their sun, a huge, intense light shone down on them.

It may not have been powerful enough to fully eradicate the darkness, nor was it destined to do so.

Light and dark are supposed to complete one another, as do the sky and the ground. The quasars are more visible in the blackness than surrounded by light only.

Now if you looked closely at the said sun, the first, most apparent detail you'd notice would be the multiple, thin, illuminated strings flailing from the sun's surface. If you'd follow one of these strings, it would eventually lead to a world and would be latched onto the ring of light that emanated from the Quasar. It was the same thing for every other world.

If you focused your eye-sight to the said sun, you'd also understand that ''sun'' doesn't quite cut it. In fact, it appeared to be a hollow sphere that contained an odd form in it. Focus harder, and you'd define the shape to be that of the symbol of infinity, often used in mathematics. And strangely, the very light that constituted the symbol seemed to meander along its loops. You could even say that the light being so intense could be the result of this process. The symbol has many names, but to make things clearer, it is known as Ashura. A great power it is. But what can it do?

I'm afraid that the time is not yet ripe for you to discover its secrets. For time calls us to another place, but do not worry. You'll see this hallowed place sooner than you think.


Back at the world of the Loonatics, things weren't going as smoothly as expected. Quite on the contrary, criminal activities have doubled since the Loonatics last brawl, especially the rumor about the leader, the team's undeniably best fighter, had gone down and is now under recovery. The other rumor that motivated the criminals to do their biddings more than ever is the team's actual status. It is said that some of them were too weakened to fight another crook and needed time to heal themselves. There had even been gossips about Duck, stating that he had to save Slam, or else one of the Tasmanian's many friends would publish scandalous pictures of the fowl.

Well, as you can tell, most of them are true. Once the Loonatics had reached home, they were as beat as heck. Tech had gone immediately to the HQ's medical bay, where Duck had put Ace on the operating table. He had said he didn't know where else to put him, since Tech scolded him for doing that. So, along with Duck's help, Tech couldn't do anything else but drag the unconscious bunny into Q-Ray pod, a horizontal tank that could be filled with water and healing chemicals. What's more, it could change from horizontal to a vertical position, and these two positions were required for different procedures.

Thanks to Tech's wide range of intellect, the Q-Ray surpasses any medical equipment in Metropolis: if you knew how to use it, you'd know ...

As Ace Bunny found his place, the coyote went for the controls, and immediately his fingers began to work.

First off, Tech started analyzing the hare's condition. For that, he needed X rays, blood sample, heart rate... The type of things doctors and scientists need to know.

Many screens of the main computer displayed results, and Tech pondered while looking at them, nodding. "Hm. No irregular heartbeat, no abnormal symptoms..."

He stopped in his speech when one he looked at one particular monitor, blinking as a sign of warning. He rushed to its controls to discover two of Ace's organs initiating abnormal activities. His eyes.

Thanks to an X-Ray that could look at one layer of flesh at a time, Tech could depict the activity of Ace's eyes. And at that moment, a virtual transmission came in.

"Good afternoon, Tech. I trust you are busy analyzing Ace's condition?"

The transmission came from none other than the team's supervisor, Zadavia.

"I'm busy most of the time, but when it comes to friends, then I have a lot of time to spare." Tech replied back, offering a smile, "What can I do for you?"

Zadavia was momentarily silent, staring at the scientist with hardened eyes. "I shall start with the most important concern that I have. How is Ace Bunny's condition?"

Tech had anticipated that question, so he gave an answer after having remembered all the observation. "He is still unconscious. His condition is stabilized, his neuron activity functioning properly. But I cannot tell what the Gravigigafier could have inflicted upon him, and what consequences he might have to endure."

"Yes, I've heard reports of that on-site invention. Do please explain its functions."

Tech sighed, and his fingers tampered with the controls. The computer created a hologram of the machine and Ace staring at it. "As you know, combining everyone's Gravitifier gave birth to a greater invention, the Gravigigafier. Its role as a gadget is to modify and control an object's gravitation by inducing or reducing its weight. This one was meant for larger objects, like that approximately 762-ton street."

"I see. And with that device, you were able to bring the street back down."

"Yes, by maintaining its modified weight and gradually returning its former one. But the process was complicated, and dispensed too much energy to maintain the whole block of granite in the air. The machine's core was in need of huge amounts of energy, and if it didn't get any sooner, it would cease to function. With the atmosphere's fluctuation already interfering, it would have cancelled Massive's power, and the whole street would have crushed a small part of the city along with any unfortunate citizen."

"And that is why you required Ace's laser vision to provide the machine with enough energy."

"Affirmative. But something went wrong. Something that I hadn't added to my calculations."

"What do you mean?"

"I had predicted the machine to cease generating the modified gravitation, and thus asked for Ace's assistance. But when he started using his powers, an unbreakable bond had been created between Ace and the machine's core. Ace couldn't stop using his power, because the core was constantly absorbing it. Little by little, Ace's energy drained, up to a point where his life was at risk. I had to interfere. If Ace had continued, he would have died out of energy depletion, so I dismantled the machine. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to prevent him from being in this state."

"You did all you could, Tech." Zadavia said, "What's important is that you are all alive, and I believe that you dismantled the machine at the right moment. Had you done that sooner or later than that precise moment, either Slam and the girl would have been crushed by the street or Ace would have died out of energy drainage. Your whole team would have agreed to that. You and your team have done well in saving this city."

"We may have saved the city, but Massive escaped with what he stole from the very beginning. And we fell for the masquerade."

"True, you may have failed the mission by letting him escape with the stolen artefact. But do not worry, you'll live to battle with him another day. You've put the priority in saving the lives of Metropolis, and knowing you have protected them to the end is a greater success than capturing a thief which you can confront at any time at any day."

Zadavia gave him a smile to cheer him up. "A job well done, Tech Einstein Coyote."

The coyote smiled back, hoping his blush was well hidden behind the mass of fur on his face. "Thank you. I will see to it that Ace will be back in top shape."

"That is also another important matter I wish to talk to you about." she said, "But I need everyone to assemble at once for a meeting."


The whole crew stared at the hologram, some gasping while others kept still at the news that was revealed to them by Zadavia. But none of them was as appalled as Danger Duck.

"Whaaat?! You're letting the geek of the team be the Loonatics' new leader?!"

"Substitute leader, Duck." she stated strongly, "Ace will need some time to recover from the battle, and we don't know how much time it will take. We need an acting leader by then, one who will lead this team until Ace can reclaim his title. Have you a problem with that?"

The fowl gulped as he composed himself in front of Zadavia's piercing stare. "Well... I just want to know why you'd choose him, and not someone who's got this... heroic flair."

Lexi groaned at Duck, shielding her disgust with her palm. Though they shared the same sentiments, Tech however assessed the situation. "I have to agree with Duck... Somewhat." Tech added, "I am not complaining, but I don't understand why you choose me from everyone else."

"If you put it that way, I believe an explanation is required for everyone. As you all know, Ace fulfilled well his role as leader. He was strong and agile, but compassionate and smart. Leadership constitutes these virtues, and though Tech may not be as strong and agile as Ace, his strategic intellect can greatly surpass his flaws. He is best when it comes to assessing a situation and fast to plan the next move."

"That may be true, but I don't think I'm fit for that role."

"I'm afraid you cannot refuse, Tech. We are in a crucial situation where the team is weakened, and people will take advantage. Although it's been four hours since the incident, rumors of the team's actual state, especially Ace's, spread fast. I need you to step in." She looked over to the hare. "Lexi, I'm counting on you to support and counsel Tech as his assistant."

The fowl was again appalled, and opened his beak. "And before you say anything, Duck," Zadavia began, cutting him off, "Lexi has done a great job so far with Ace. She has constantly supported Ace, and given him great advice when he needed help."

There have been already 18 reports of theft, kidnappings and havoc. The current ones are Sagittarius Stomper hijacking a car containing destructive weapons, and Pierre LePew breaking into Acmetropolis Hall."

Everyone groaned. "It's gonna be one of those days again..." Duck muttered.

"You-mean-those-days-where-we-have-no-time-for-break-breathers-naps-siestas..."

"I knew this was going to happen..." Lexi moaned as Rev went on, followed by Slam's throaty sigh.

"Well, I guess we've gotta get the job done." Tech said upliftingly, "We've gotta secure the Hall and prevent Stomper from using the weapons. Zadavia, display the location of the Stomper."

As a digital map of Acmetropolis was brought to the screen, a red point flashed onto the Hall in Western Metropolis. Another dot had appeared, blinking in the South-East. "Okay, we'll divide the team into two: Slam and Lexi, you'll go to the Hall and see what LePew wants. Report to me via the communicator. The rest of us will deal with Stomper."

"You got it." Lexi said, "Come on Slam, let's jet!"

"I will leave you to your mission. Good luck, Loonatics."

"Thanks, Zadavia. We'll take care of this and I'll keep you informed." Tech said.

"I do hope so. Zadavia out."

The hologram dissipated, and the remaining three Loonatics dashed for the gear room.

"Way to go, oh great leader." Duck complained, as he went to strap the jetpack on his back, "You gave us the toughest work."

"That's what you think." Tech said as he went for a particular desk, "If I stand corrected, LePew won't be a piece of cake, either."

"Oh-but-you-do-have-to-admit-that-the-big-ol'-brute-Stomper-takes-the-cake-because-Pierre-LePew-is-definitly-undisputedly-easier-to-take-on." Rev commented rapidly as he waited at the room's exit. He was nervously tapping his feet against the ground so quickly you couldn't if he was moving his feet at all. "Stomper-is-a-viscious-dangerous-mean-tough-cranky-heavy-crook."

"Aren't they all?" Duck said rather dryly, eyeing conspicuously at the runner.

"I don't like Sagittarius Stomper either, especially whenever he drops off gifts for us." Tech quickly tilted his head up, and wiped the perspiration off his forehead. He took a specialized gun and tossed it at Duck. "Here. And try not to break it, okay?"

The fowl caught the gun, and inspected it like a worthless toy. And like a toy, he swung it around its holster. "And what's that supposed to be?"

"A plasma gun. What else?"

"I can see it's a gun, but I don't need it when I have powers."

"Yeah..." Tech replied nonchalantly, "You mean the power orb randomizer? It's sometimes very ineffective..."

"Listen, buddy," the fowl said as he tapped on Tech's torso, "My powers are different, but way better than your stupid gun. In fact," he loosened the straps on his back and with heavy clunk, the jetpack dropped to the ground, "I don't need this jetpack when I can quack myself outta here. I don't need your stupid gizmos when I can beat him up with my heroic powers. And I think that you-"

"Wooooaahhhh-I-think-you-guys-should-cool-it!" Rev quickly intervened, "We-got-Stomper-on-the-loose-remember?"

"Well, Duck, if you think you don't need my gizmos, then why don't you quack yourself to Stomper and keep him busy until we arrive?"

The fowl pulled off a shocked face, gaping at Tech. "You're joking, right?"

"What?" Tech said, pulling off an innocent smile, "You say you're strong enough to take Stomper on without my gadgets. I thought that's what you wanted. Plus, didn't you also want to show what you can do?"

The Duck thought a while, and then smirked. "Of course I said that, and I meant it! I'll see you guys later! But... don't take your time, okay?"

And pfzit! he was gone, leaving the unsuspecting Tech devilishly satisfied.

"Okay, Rev, I'll be using my turbo-jetpacks to get to you guys. Why don't you go already and make sure that Duck's doing okay?"

"No-prob-Boss-Stomper-won't-even-know-what-hit-him-in-the-first-place!" And zoom, he was gone too.

Tech finished up quickly some modifications on his wrist gadget, and strapped himself with his first prototype of the turbo-boosters. He had worked on it for quite some time. It had some quirks and bugs, but according to him, it should work. Theoretically.

The genius left the equipment quarters and headed for the take-off platform via elevator. He tampered again on his wrist gadget. "Computer, lock down all access to HQ after my departure, as usual."

After having gained the platform to the 15th floor, he exited the building and looked at the sky and down to the city, glowing in unanimously greenish color. The entries to the building were closed off from any possible breaking and entering. It was strong, titanium alloy that protected this building, and he made sure it was unbreakable, which saved many times the hide of his companions.

He took a deep breath, and jumped off the platform, drooping down to the buildings. He activated his jetpacks, and with a huge, loud blast, he soared through the sky, smiling at the thought of another successful achievement.


Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is appreciated, but as I've mentioned before, the last time this chapter was edited was more than 2 years ago. So be nice. ;)