Chapter 6

The gang pulled over in Acme Brazil.

"Well, that ride was reasonably short," Nathan sighed as he made his way to the door. He started to pry it open…to find that it wouldn't open. "Uh…help?"

Slam walked up and pried on it as well. Nothing.

"Wait a minute…" Claire walked over there and waved her hand over the door. "It's not the door…it's the key…it's power's leaking, we're right over it!"

Slam quickly pried up the floor of the shuttle, revealing a mound of dirt below it.

All the Witches in the group set to zapping away the dirt.

They had bored their way into a catacomb.

"I'll take this one," Ace said, whipping out the GSS.

"Not without me, you won't," Lexi smirked as she jumped in.

Ace went after her and found himself in a maze. "OK, now what?"

Claire looked in. "Go left! I'll guide you from you here while the others get a ladder to pull you guys back in!"

Ace nodded and led Lexi down the left hall. At every turn, Claire's voice echoed down the hall telling them clairvoyantly which way to go.

"Wait!" Claire's voice suddenly sounded at one hall, making them both stop, "To the right."

The two rabbits turned to look.

There was a pedestal there with a box.

They quickly started to—

"NO, DON'T STEP THERE!"

Too late. Ace had broken a tripwire. Suddenly, a large carnivorous cat-beast jumped up.

"WHOA, BIG KITTY!" Ace cried, whipping out the sword.

The two rabbits quickly set to fighting it.

Lexi took one kick at it and jumped past it, brain-blasting the box open and taking the green-black key inside. "I got it! Now what?!"

"Step on its tail so Ace can stab it in the heart!"

Lexi quickly obeyed, making the cat rear back and growl, giving Ace a proper opportunity to shove the sword through its chest.

"Yes!" Ace cried as he and Lexi started off, "We did it."

"Not quite."

They both froze.

"What do you mean?" Ace asked.

"His heart's in his stomach."

They then both turned around to find the cat monster getting up and growling.

"You couldn't have clarified that?" Ace demanded, "Anymore bright ideas?"

"Just one: run."

The two bunnies quickly ran top speed down the hall, not even pausing to take all of Claire's direction instructions. Finally, they returned to the entrance, where the others were unrolling a rope to pull them back in. They quickly grabbed on and climbed up.

The cat-beast, however, gained and jumped at Lexi to snap its jaws on her foot. She gasped and kicked him off with the other leg, jumping up out of its reach as soon as she could.

Once both of the bunnies were in with the key, Claire threw the floor back in place, sealing it back to how it was magically, then snatched Ace's sword and shoved it through the floor.

Suddenly, all the growling on the other side ceased.

Claire quickly took the sword back and gave it back to Ace, mending the hole she'd just put in the floor.

Zara quickly set to healing Lexi. "We'd better get going to Australia. I believe our new friend's waiting for us."

Meanwhile, Trinity placed the new key in the circle of the other three. She then looked at Quinn, who also knelt there inspecting the engravings on the keys forming an image. "I told you."

Meanwhile…

Mary was still following the glow from the bracelet that would lead her to Keenan. She finally came to the docks. "Well, I certainly can't swim across the Atlantic." She then noticed a boat. "Hey! Where's this boat going?"

"At the moment? Nowhere," the captain answered.

Mary then pulled out a pouch and tossed it to him. "Give me a ride?"

The captain looked inside and his eyes widened. He looked at her to find her merely smiling. "Hop in, kid."

She quickly did so and thus they were off.

Later…

Gail lay asleep on a seat in the shuttle. Suddenly, it stopped moving and she was lurched enough to fall out. She got up, rubbing her now-sore head. "What was that?"

"We're here," Tech answered.

Sure enough, the Loony gang was by now at Acme Australia.

Gail smiled. "OK then. Let's go meet our new friend." She walked out of the shuttle.

Acme Sydney was amazing, lights and buildings and the ocean and the Sydney Opera House (that hadn't changed at all in the near thousand years it'd been standing).

"Wow," said Gail, "This place is huge! How many people live here?" She then noticed the sign.

Acme Sydney city limits

Pop. 13,586,279

Gail groaned. "Oh, well, that's gonna make finding one mutant easy."

Yuri sighed. "Don't worry. We just follow Adam and Claire."

"On it," Adam said before walking off.

"Going," Claire added before going the other direction.

3…2…1…

They both switched directions.

Yuri sighed. "Or maybe we are doomed."

After a few minutes, Claire bumped into someone going down the street. "Oh, sorry."

"Sorry," the young man added before continued.

Suddenly, Claire stopped. She turned around. "Hey."

He stopped and turned to face her.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

He shrugged. "OK…"

She looked him over. Sandy brown hair, bluish-brown eyes, sandy complexion…and a read of power. "I don't suppose you happen to know of anyone around here…relatively different?"

He looked at her for a second. "What do you mean by 'different'?"

"You know…sort of…magical, maybe?"

He made a short nod. "Well, see…the thing is—" He quickly knocked her down and ran for it. Once he got to the end of the street, he made a quick left…only to get thrown into a wall. "I'm not joining the Dark Side! I'm—" He then turned around. "You're the Loonatics."

Rev nodded. "Yup-good-guys-although-I-can-see-how-you'd-make-t he-assumption-that-the-Dark-Side-might-be-coming-f or-you-after-all-they-do-work-like-that-they-are-p retty-evil—"

"OK, could you shut up? I didn't catch a word of that and it's really freaking me out."

The rest of the Loony gang came up.

"So…introduction time?" Kyra asked.

He sighed and shook himself off. "My name's Wayne. I specialize in track and field, swimming, undoing mistakes, and seeing repercussions before they happen."

"Wait, so how did you not know we were Loonatics and not Dark Side?"

Wayne thought that over… "OK, to be honest, I wasn't thinking enough to use my powers, I was kind of busy running away."

Kyra smirked. "So, on to the reason we're here: we need your help."

"Well, why didn't you say so? I'm in. You know how much trouble it's been trying to hide in Australia? This place is insane! Every single corner I turn, I have to listen to that accent talk about didgeridoos, the barby, and all things pickled!"

At that one, Kyra laughed. "Alright, already, let's get going." She started to lead him off. "It's really that bad?"

"Well, the accent and the koalas and the kangaroos—that much you get used to. But the Opera House over there echoes to Indonesia. You have no idea how much torture it is to have to listen to that every night."

"So why'd you come here to hide from the DS?"

"…you know, how about you guys start explaining if I'm gonna be on your team?"

"Because that would take up the entirety of the rest of the ride to Japan."

"Japan? I thought we were headed back to HQ."

"Normally, we would be but now…special circumstances, though."

"And a time limit," Claire added on, "We have like ten more days to get our plan in motion."

"…we have a plan now?" Howie asked as he led the gang back into the shuttle.

Gail thought that over. "…apparently, we have a lot of work to do."