AUTHOR NOTES
Wow, I am just disappointed with the lack of response on that last chapter. What a bummer.
Still, that's acted as a further catalyst for a light break in the fic for anyone that started reading this to go catch up. It's going to be initialised right after this chapter. I placed it here for a good reason, and you'll find out more when you read it. It won't be long until Fletch FINALLY meets up with Emperor Ariel. In Homestar Runner terminology, will it be a case of Ariel Get or Your James Over?
Still, there won't be a complete break from the Theoropolis backdrop. Next week, I hope to put up an intermission comic on my Deviantart archive nonetheless - the colors for that are almost done. Then after that, it's back to your regular reading schedule.
Either way, thank you very much if you even read this. All comments on this are very much appreciated.
Peace out,
-Rexy-
Days turned to weeks, and then weeks turned to months. In the amount of time that passed, Han and I became close friends, moving our way up the school ranks together and ensuring that we would both follow the same route in life no matter what curveballs it threw at us.
Even by the time we both started to go to middle school and Akumi started making her way to high school, we still maintained many of our traits from the past 2-4 years. And that meant being able to show a light-hearted glance towards such threats, like the menacing elder kids.
On one instance, Han even convinced me to raid an eighth grader's locker. It was left to be unlocked upon first approach, and it didn't take too long until he came out with something. Reluctantly, I ended up doing the same to another locker and coming out with a similar result.
"Hey, that was fun!" Han chuckled to me as we made our way back outside. "I thought we'd never get to stalk the jocks and run off with their sandwiches like that!"
I looked down at the sandwich with a blank look, the bag itself being covered in a thin plastic bag. "I somehow think that it might have been the wrong thing to do, but what can I say?"
"Yeah, you said they liked pinching yours. I can't blame you for that."
I sighed as I looked at the bag. It was true that no matter what happened, my feeble appearance – most notably on my missing eye – still made me a target for bullying after all these years of defense and having Han as a guardian.
But that didn't concern me. No matter what happened, I came through the building with lunch in my hands. I suppose it wouldn't hurt the jocks too much – an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, I should say.
"Bon appetit!" Han cheered on.
We gave each other a high-five and opened our lunch bags, anticipating what will be inside. I opened mine and found an interesting arrangement of bacon, tomatoes and gherkins on mine. Somehow, they might have mixed up the sandwich concept with one of burgers.
With a sigh, I removed the gherkins from the sandwich and started to eat it, but when I was only reaching my second bite, I looked back at Han. He was looking at his sandwich filling, his face looking more solemn than the usual.
"…Han?"
Cautiously, I placed my sandwich back inside the plastic bag, placed it upon the wall I was sitting on and shuffled closer towards Han. As soon as I did, I took a look at his facial expression. He seemed to be hard focused upon his own sandwich filling.
Personally, I couldn't understand how a cheese filling would make him feel anguished like that. But before I could think any more, he placed the sandwich on the wall and looked on at me with his glowing green eyes.
"Hm?" he murmured, wondering what was up.
"You look a little bit concerned. Is there something on your mind?"
Han tried to speak again, but before he can even do that, he sighed again as he looked back at his own sandwich. His hands starting to twitch, he reached out and took a hold of the bag before turning back to me.
He showed me his sandwich. But I still couldn't see anything special about it – all I can see were varying arrangements of cheddar, Danish blue and smoked cheese. I couldn't see many specialties about it.
"Looking down at this artistic arrangement of three types of cheese has told me how much I would have loved to know my father."
I couldn't help but blink at what he just said. "Huh?"
I tried to look harder. But in the arrangement, I actually noted something. The Danish blue was arranged so that it fitted the shape of a man's head, and the smoked cheese faced an arrangement of dots and a strip that represented a smoking pipe.
I don't understand how a vision of an old-fashioned gentleman could resemble an appearance of any kind of male that you wished to have known, but still curious over how Han didn't have a father consistently staying with him, I turned to him, waiting to hear more.
"I was left to be raised alone by my mother", he said with a more upsetting voice tone. "It's always been the pair of us alone in a shanty house."
I still looked confused, looking on at Han's clothes – the same pattern that I usually came to see from him, from the orange/black triangle shirt down to the purple waistcoat. "If that's the case, how were you able to afford such nice things, like that trench coat you're wearing?"
"I don't know. My mother did tell me that my father was a great painter in his time, but I haven't seen too much of his stuff to be sure."
I still took great involvement in the listening. I try to wonder about how a wonderful person to a beautiful wife could be to paint a bunch of pretty pictures, but didn't even stick around to see his child get born.
I showed a more solemn look as I came to approach him closer and closer. But before I could even do that, he just stood up from his position on the wall, looking straight on at the cloudy sky above us.
"Still, even though my mother is a very nice and sensitive being, she has been frail for a very long time."
"Frail?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"As of now, she's only just reached her 50s. Though she's a great chef and cleaner, I've had to learn so many things from her to fend for both of us, ready for when her day of judgment would finally arrive."
Han's face started to look even more unsettling as I came closer and closer towards him. Once that happened, he turned to me with a wide-eyed look and his glowing green eyes again. That alone left me to think of his current situation.
To think, the most optimistic kid I might have ever known and served as a great help through the end of elementary school had family problems. Firstly he never saw his father and now his mother gave birth to him at a late age in life? To me, that felt hard. I was about to respond to him, but he placed his hand on my shoulder before I could even do that.
"I know you may think it sounds like a very tough existence", he started assuring me, "but this is something that I'm coming to enjoy more and more so as the days roll on."
"I'd probably feel the same if I was in that boat."
That was something that I felt. In spite of facing one of the toughest family setups in history, he seems to be happy that he's still alive and bracing the days for what they are. It made me feel lucky that my time living under a roof with Mom and Akumi seemed to feel more like an extra.
But still, he helped me through my toughest times with my eye injury. Having seen that he had a rough past that could get the better of him, I knew I had a duty of my own, at least to repay the favor.
"No matter what, I'll back you all the way. I'm pretty sure that with what you're doing, we'll never fall apart from whatever life would throw at us."
Almost out of instinct, I removed his furry hat from his head and brought my hand upon his blonde hair, still as short-cut as ever. The rub left him to chuckle slightly and look onto me with a small smile showing upon his face.
"Thanks… Fletch."
I smiled back, knowing that we were bound to remain friends through thick and thin, whether it is through physical weaknesses or hidden weaknesses. Quickly I placed back the hat and re-arranged it so that it would fit onto his head better.
We both looked onto the midday sky once more. A beautiful glare of gold was starting to show among the clouds – the sunlight poking its way through, and shining down among the playground as if it was a peaceful spotlight.
I knew from that moment that my time with Han as a friend could end up being a little more demanding, but no matter what, it gave me a further instinct to understand why I should remain as a friend to a guy who helped me through thick and thin – to help in return.
Day 4
John Moors Citadel, 8:35PM local time
The citadel's interior looked dark and gritty, with gray walls covering the openings. There were a few torches lined up among the walls, but they all looked so dimly lit that they were unable to cast light for further than six inches each.
That atmosphere didn't distract Fletch though, as he led the group raising the spear above his head, casting a more potent light than five of those torches put together. It grew that intense he even used one of his hands to shield over his good eye as he walked.
He turned around a corner and saw another corridor pointing ahead. Yet before he could walk, he faced several vibrations upon the spear. He started to gasp as he felt the power quivering all around it.
"The spear is shaking more violently now!" he then gasped. "Emperor Ariel must be really close!"
"I can't believe the time is fast approaching", Sora replied. "It won't be long until this city is back in shape once more."
Sora showed an optimistic facial expression as he made his way around the corner. He looked straight on at the corridor ahead, and took a few steps forward, ready to appreciate what would be at the end of the road.
The rest of the group made their emergence around him, also looking on at the darkened end of the corridor. Yet in spite of their coming success, Jade's facial expression showed a more concerned approach than those for her comrades.
"But…" She paused. "There is one thing that still is of concern to me."
"What is it now?" asked Spider-Man.
"What separated us from the Emperor, aside from the water, were a pedestal and an electric defense system. Do you suppose something could be suspicious?"
"Maybe he was just being overprotective."
"He's right", Darkwing joined in the conversation as he placed an arm around Spidey's torso in a friendly fashion. "I was feeding off out-of-date grub before Ariel suddenly showed up. As calm as he was, he decided to step in, give new jobs for us retired persona, and establish a democracy to look over the city. I am really grateful for him for that."
Darkwing gave out a cheery smile as he took a further step forward, slamming his webbed feet straight down onto the floor as he did so. They echoed with a watery delay around him, in spite of the ground being as dry as brimstone.
Fletch looked closer and closer towards the duck, before he too ended up turning towards the boy, sharing his facial expression with him. That left him to show a reflective look, thinking back on the trials that hey faced to get to the citadel in the first place. And then, he came to a conclusion.
"So that's why you want him back so much", he pondered aloud. "he's very protective of the city."
He gave out a light smile as he thought about the response. Maybe he took hiding here to reflect on the city's current circumstances, under tough security to boot, he thought to himself. Though he may be the one they needed to help them, they may need to help him in return. That look alone gave him a curious glance.
"Man, the more I think of it now, the more I would love to meet him in person. Hopefully he can also help me track down Han and Akumi too."
"I'm sure he will", answered Ratchet as he walked towards the boy's right-hand side. "Hopefully everyone should be in good enough spirits to keep going the way we are."
"You have it spot on", Joanna followed up. "With a wise figure like Ariel making his way back to the open, the city will soon restore its former glory once more."
Joanna showed a positive look as she made her way straight through towards the door. As that happened, Fletch's face started to look more optimistic; he knew that not only he was getting closer and closer towards the city's restoration but also to Han and Akumi.
It didn't take them too long to make their way towards the end of the corridor, where they were greeted by a large cobalt steel door. Even Fletch's spear didn't show enough power to illuminate it in its entirety.
"This is the door! He surely must be in there now. Hands crossed everyone!"
The group nodded together as the held onto each other's hands, looking straight on at the door. Just like the route to the Goose's Heart, it was covered in ornate markings, though the only difference between the two was the obvious color scheme.
Fletch looked closer between the two knobs, and saw a spade-shaped hole. With a confident look, he pointed his spear forward, causing the tip of the weapon to light up with a powerful platinum white energy.
"For Theoropolis!" he cried out loud.
He then pointed the spear straight towards the hole, and once that happened, it managed to cast a light straight inside the hole. A picking sound was heard, and as soon as that happened, the padlock fell to the ground.
Slowly but steadily, the door started to open, lighting up the area with a much more intense set of white light upon the group, Fletch lifted up one hand to protect himself from the glowing energy, trying to shield his eye from blindness.
Maintaining that position, he walked into the light, with the rest of the group to follow. It can be seen that through the light at the end of the tunnel, it won't be too long until they would stand foot-to-foot with Emperor Ariel.
The light-filled room was actually an area deeper inside the Imaginarium. Bright and colorful chandeliers rested upon the ceiling, with a checkered stone floor gracing the ground and finely textured golden walls coming around them.
Yet in spite of that, the room was completely empty, cold and felt as if it lacked civilization for what sounded like months, or even years. In spite of this, Fletch managed to maintain a confident expression upon him.
He took a step forward, his shadow on the floor shrinking thanks to the amount of light intensity that managed to cover the room. A few steps later he looked at his spear, which by then was glowing significantly more intense, as if it was trying to compete with the chandeliers.
"Where are you Ariel?" Fletch made his shout. "We know you're in here. We really need your help!"
"Oh really?" cackled a distant voice. "Why do you think that's so?"
The voice managed to attract his attention. Quickly as he could, he looked around the room, trying to look around for the voice's source. The empty walls made it impossible to try and detect anything.
He made his walk straight into the middle of the room, where the cold wind currents caused his hair and clothes to flap gently. Joanna soon followed him, looking around in the process, also trying to detect the mystery figure.
"What manner of a voice is that?" she asked the boy. "Is that Ariel?"
"No, it sounds… more familiar."
His teeth gritted together and he held onto his spear even more. He pointed it on towards a random wall ahead, which ended up having flapping wallpaper in the wind. A foot was seen sticking out from it.
The wallpaper itself was torn down, revealing a passage into the room. And from inside, there came a familiar figure in a blue suit, with the black springy hair, large head and distinguishable N mark on his head. Fletch recognized him in an instant.
"Senator Cortex!"
"You caught on quick", said Cortex in a devious tone. "I question your meaning on searching for the Emperor in the purpose of bettering the city."
With a sly scowl upon his face, Cortex made his walk towards Fletch and Joanna, his expression looking more increasingly sinister over time. He soon brought out a small laser from his pockets, intending to use it upon reaching them.
"What you don't realize is that no matter what you face from your travels, your journey will cease right here", he informed with a toothy smile.
Sora took a step forward from the opposite end of the room. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Fletch looked behind him and saw Sora making his way towards him, with his keyblade withdrawn and being held within his hands. He made a stop to the opposite side that Joanna stood.
As that happened, all three of them looked on at Cortex, whom by then managed to come to a stop 20 feet away from the group, twirling his laser gun around like a cowboy in a spaghetti western movie.
"You'll find out sooner or later", he replied. "We will duel to see how far your destiny will take you. Either you will be slain by my hands, or you will fall by the devil spawn residing in this tower."
The mention of "devil spawn" somehow left Fletch to blink. He looked around the room – it looked really peaceful considering it was on an isolated stretch of land far from the population of the city itself.
He also thought back to the journey from outside. Aside from the encounter of shadows that they faced when saving Axel and Praxis, they didn't face anything around the island. With a hesitant look, Fletch turned straight back to the Senator.
"But I don't see any devil spawn!"
"Yeah!" Darkwing exclaimed from further behind him. "If this is a cryptic puzzle, I'd rather work this one out later. For now, we attack by fists!"
Fletch gave out a loud gasp. "Darkwing, no!"
Fletch tried to respond by stepping forward, but before anything could be done, Darkwing immediately pushed the boy with his hands and charged towards the scientist, head first. All that Cortex could do was smirk at the duck's decisions.
"You've just faced an early demise, fowl being!"
Cortex maintained his sinister expression as Darkwing came closer and closer. But before anything could be done from the duck's point of view, the Senator aimed his laser gun straight to the ground.
As soon as Darkwing ended up being 10 feet away, he fired the laser, only to see it strike upon the ground with a strong plasma blast. Darkwing's foot was caught in it, leaving him to scream as soon as he stepped in range of the laser shot.
"Yeeargh!" he suddenly panicked. "What kind of laser energy is this?"
"Darkwing, get back here!" commanded Sora.
Sora's plead didn't affect Darkwing, as he ended up hopping around the room with his foot having smoke emerge from it. It didn't take too long until he managed to focus a straight direction – the torn hole in which Cortex came from.
"Whoa, help!" the duck began to flinch.
Without any second thought, Darkwing ended up tripping up over his other foot, bringing his hands straight out to roll onto the ground and fall straight into the darkness of the hole. A smash was heard from inside.
Cortex gave off a loud cackle from inside his mouth, which echoed all around the room in spite of the wallpaper and chandelier placements. The sound left Sora to raise his keyblade into the air and make his charge.
"Let's go!"
Cortex looked on at Sora making his charge; looking shocked over how he could try and deflect power from a large steel weapon, he ended up taking several steps back while shaking his own hands.
"Let's see how you like it when facing someone your own size!" the key bearer exclaimed.
Sora continued to run, and it didn't take long until he was ready to swing the keyblade straight down towards the Senator. But before anything could be done, he brought out an orange cube from one of his pockets.
In the space of two seconds, it opened up to reveal itself to be a red hover-board. He quickly jumped onto it and made his hover straight towards the sky, only just escaping Sora's swing of his keyblade by the skin of the teeth.
The key bearer reacted with an annoyed sigh as he looked up at Cortex, whom by then made his hover up towards the ceiling and performed a loop around the circumference of the chandelier. His shadow was easily seen upon the ground.
"What a coward, deciding to fly up there purely out of lack of instinct", sighed Joanna from another corner of the room.
"I'll shoot him down!"
From nearby, Ratchet managed to step right in front of Joanna, pointing what looked like a rocket launcher type weapon towards the ceiling. She looked on at the lombax while shaking her head while maintaining a leer on her eyes.
"Ratchet, no, you'll just miss him with a gun like that!
It was too late. Ratchet fired his weapon straight up towards the ceiling. Out from there came a missile, shooting itself with a trail of gray smoke that would almost attempt to cover the floor if strong enough.
It managed to reach Cortex, but having noted it as it was halfway through its ascent, he took a hold of the front of his hover board with his hands and barrel rolled out of the way, causing the missile to miss and strike the chandelier instead.
With a face filled with determination, Cortex managed to hover his way back towards the ground, still holding onto the board with his hands as well as standing upon it. By the time he reached the ground, he released the hand grip and stood upright.
He made his way around one area of the room, continuing to point his gun forward. It didn't take long for him to make his way towards the middle of the room, pointing his gun straight onto Fletch, whom reacted by bringing up his spear for defense.
A boom was heard, causing Cortex to look straight up into the air. The sound itself actually came from the chain of the smashed chandelier, which by then was starting to swing in the air on one of its chains.
Looking on at the structure, it looked as if it could fall anywhere. But before he thought even more, the other chain snapped, causing the glass structure to fall straight towards the ground, leaving Cortex to flinch and make his way to a wall.
The chandelier itself made a bang towards the floor, landing mere inches away from Cortex's feet and sending glass shards straight across the floor. Cortex managed to defend himself by using his arms to cover his eyes, though at the cost of having some of the glass shards cut through his jacket.
"Get me out of this mess!" he whimpered weakly.
"Not so fast, aren't you now?"
Spidey made his way from behind the chandelier and pointed his arm straight at Cortex, whom at the time was seen flinching while trying to pull out some of the larger shards from his arms, wincing as he did so.
With no time to lose to take out some of the others, he jumped back onto the hover-board, made his way over the chandelier and continued to fly. That caused Spidey to turn towards the Senator and point his arms at him.
"Stick to the ground, NOW!"
Another web stream was shot from his hands, shooting its way straight towards the scientist. He was then caught around the stomach, leaving him to try and hold onto the hover-board, trying to escape from a fall.
Spidey reacted by pulling back on the web stream itself, towing the Senator straight towards the floor. That soon left him to give up as he forced himself to place the hover-board away and fall to the floor.
"I hope we've got him paralyzed now", Spidey spoke while he locked his hands together.
"I hope so"', nodded Fletch with agreement, "The sooner he falls under, the sooner we'll keep looking for the Emperor."
The group then looked at Cortex's fallen spot. He still seemed to be fine, but by then he was lying on his back, covered in webs and struggling to break free. But eventually, the snarl turned to a smirk.
"You guys don't stand a chance against me now."
Fletch looked at him with a blank look. "Huh?"
No sooner than he managed to say that, the webs suddenly broke themselves open, and from right there it was seen that he used his hover-board to make his way straight back towards the ceiling again.
Once at the top, he pointed his laser gun towards the ground, shooting down towards the group below. Some of them merely dodged the shots. Some of them, namely Fletch, Jade and Sora, took the time to deflect the shots back towards the Senator.
As the deflected shots came to him, he too managed to dodge out of the way by a series of barrel rolls and somersaults. Eventually he charged his way straight down towards the team, his hair flapping in the wind as he did so.
"What the heck is he doing now?" Ratchet pondered out loud.
"Outta my way!"
Nearby, Joanna came near Ratchet and brought out her pistols, pointed them straight into the air and shot them, trying her best to strike the Senator as sharply as she possibly can. The sound of the fire was heard in the air along with emptied bullets falling to the ground.
Up ahead, Cortex continued to retaliate by performing various barrel rolls and somersaults to either dodge the attacks or deflect them with his hover-board. He showed a confident expression as he continued with that.
Joanna kept shooting, trying to keep up with his flips while that happened. But it didn't take too long until after several rounds of bullet power, she had to give up and place them back into her gun pockets.
"He's too fast!" Joanna flinched with a wide-eyed look.
"Not as long as I am here", Jade responded by stepping close to Joanna while turning to her left. "Spidey, shoot me up there!"
Spidey managed to follow her orders; he went towards her, placed one hand upon her, scrolled it around her waist and removed it, revealing that he placed a web string around her torso. Maintaining the web stream, he used his other hand to send a web stream towards the ceiling, making his move up there.
Once up at the top, he made a circumference around one of the broken chains from the chandelier's fall, placing the web into there to act as a hoist. He then used his other hand to climb down to the floor again.
Jade looked on at Spidey's progress, smiled and looked straight up to the ceiling. "You're mine, Senator!"
With a smile, Spidey pulled down on the web that attached himself and Jade, and hoisted her straight up towards the ceiling. As soon as she got there, she brought out her Dai-Jo and stuck it out as a means of initial defense.
She quickly shot out a blue energy sickle from her weapon straight towards the Senator, whom reacted with a jump over it and a clumsy barrel roll from the landing. He then retaliated with several lasers, in which she managed to deflect with her staff.
From down below, the combat between the two looked like a blue and green light show going on above, lighting the group from down below in their respective colors, flickering at a blistering speed.
"Jade, watch out!" Fletch cried from below. "His lasers are getting more intense!"
Jade looked on ahead of her, and she ended up seeing that Cortex was shooting significantly faster as time went on. She knew then that she had to do more than just keep blocking off the shots.
There, she used her staff to not only deflect the shots, but also try to strike him with some high and low shots. Sometimes he was left to hover up and miss a few shots, or duck to the ground and skimming her feet with a few more.
It seemed as if she managed to get the upper hand, until… a snap was heard. She looked up, and saw that the web that was supporting her was slowly starting to snap. She started to show a more determined look as she continued to block.
"Come on, Cortex. You can be faster than that!"
All that the Senator could do was allow his face to develop into a more monstrous expression as he kept shooting at her. His clumsier shots left her to smirk as she knew that in spite of her being in danger, she found a weak spot in his temper.
With that, she found time to block some shots while find more opportunities to attack on others. Slowly but steadily, the scientist started to lose his footing and have problems trying to keep himself onto the hover-board. After a few seconds, that caused him to end up hanging on the edge of his board with his hands.
"He's almost down!" Jade exclaimed while looking down. "Fletch, Spidey, get in there now!"
Spidey followed her command, took a hold of Fletch with one of his hands and aimed his hand towards the ceiling with another. He aimed another web stream, this time hoisting them both up to their level.
Once up towards the top, they saw their situation. Jade was still seen, continuing to fire sickles from her Dai-Jo towards the hover-board, rendering Cortex unable to hoist himself up. That gave Fletch a smile upon the opportunity.
"Get down!!" the pair shouted in unison.
He aimed his spear straight towards the scientist, which by then was starting to glow an intense shade of platinum upon it. And then, as soon as it was fully charged, it spewed a powerful beam of white energy.
The force caused Cortex to let go of the hover-board and fall towards the ground, ready to face his doom. It seemed as if that he would be unable to survive a multiple feet drop, with his face starting to show more anguish as he was ready to hit the ground and accept his fate.
He closed his eyes tightly, ready to get embraced within the darkness.
Not long after that, he felt a sharp jab upon his stomach. This was the end, he thought solemnly to himself. This was the time when his existence would come to a close for good, he continued to think.
He steadily brought himself to opening his eyes. And the first thing he saw was Spider-Man's eyes. He showed a confused glance as he made a further look around him; he came to the conclusion that he was saved from the fall by him, being able to swing to the ground with Fletch in one hand and web control with another.
With a confident smile, he placed Fletch onto the floor and hoisted himself back up towards the ceiling to claim Jade. That left the boy to look on at Cortex's position on the floor, his face looking relieved to know that he had been spared.
"You…" he gasped. "You have such unbelievable wits!"
"Okay, thanks", replied Fletch with an expression of half-irritation and half-sarcasm. "Now tell me where the Emperor is."
Cortex paused before blinking back deviously. "Should I tell or should I not?"
Fletch gave out a blink. He thought that after combating him and saving him in quick succession, there could be something that needed to be told about the Emperor's location. Could it mean that he would refuse to change his attitude after a deed like that?
The boy started to show a more hesitant look as he crouched down, taking a hold onto Cortex's right hand with one of his own. He looked upon him with the most expressive glance with his remaining eye.
"Even if I do want to help you, I can't tell", said the Senator. "You're the one with the spear. You're the one who's meant to find out about all this."
Fletch blinked quietly. No matter what kind of attitude change Cortex might have or not, he still had a point. At the end of the day, they both somehow knew that the spear he maintained had a specific purpose.
Taking a deep breath, he raised it into the sky once more. But instead of facing a force pulling him straight towards a certain object, the light energy was seen pulling from all sorts of directions, leaving him to show a concerned look.
"I can't seem to notice a stable direction", the boy flinched. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, but I think we're in trouble!"
Not long after that comment, Spidey managed to descend to the ground with Jade in his possession. He looked on at Fletch's spear, and it was confirmed that the weapon was flickering with the light energy completely surrounding him.
In addition, the sound of various thudded footsteps was heard. The sound caused the group to remain still in their tracks, with the exception of Darkwing, whom was seen climbing his way out from the torn wallpaper wall, showing an equally surprised expression.
The thuds started to become more intense, to the point that the shattered glass from the fallen chandelier were seen bouncing around in all sorts of locations, disintegrating even more with every thud that occurs on the ground.
As a result, the walls started to break apart, and through there, there came a lilac bird creature with a long neck and wings with large feathers placed onto them, many of them being white with a black stripe going down them. It came into the room and showed a terrifying glance onto the gang.
"Fletch, what's wrong?" Sora asked the boy.
"Nothing, it's just…" Fletch suddenly started shaking and covered his face with one of his arms. "A goose took my eye when I was younger, and now I don't even want to look at them!"
Fletch's cowardly expression caused him to take cover behind Spider-Man, knowing that he was unable to take care of a goose that was the same height of him, let alone a more gargantuan version. The others showed similar expressions of fear, except for Darkwing, whom looked on at it as if he was researching information based on him.
"It looks very abnormal. Do you think it wants to meet and greet us?"
Fletch shook his head from his position, and steadily but surely, he came out from behind Spider-Man and aimed his spear straight towards the mutant. But as soon as he did that, a white energy was seen towing sharply in the direction of the monster, as if the creature was a magnet.
"It seems as if it's bent on making us stop visiting Emperor Ariel, even though…" He started to tremble nervously. "For some reason… it seems to be corresponding with the spear."
"Do you think there's something like a demon roaming around the city, wanting to devour the missing persona?" Darkwing questioned the group with a sarcastic look.
"It's a long bet", Joanna started, "but that could be the only solution we can provide so far. For now, we have to run out together!"
Fletch's face dropped, feeling he was again robbed the chance to see Ariel. "But Joanna…!"
"Come on, before this place crumbles down!"
Joanna made her dash straight towards the exit, which left her to try and wade through the ruined glass from the last battle and try to reach for the door. All that the others could do was follow suit in spite of coming far.
But as soon as they managed to reach the door, the goose started to slam its feet straight towards the ground, causing an earthquake to occur. That left various rocks in the tunnel ahead to start falling.
"Quick, Fletch!"
Joanna brought out her hand, slowed down in her strides and waited for Fletch to catch up. By that point, he was still looking upset due to failing to be able to locate Emperor Ariel inside the building.
With a solemn sigh, he took a hold of Joanna's hand, leaving them both to run together and catch up with the others. But as soon as they were halfway down the tunnel, the quakes started to become significantly more intense.
"He's coming fast!" the boy whimpered.
Fletch started to show a more fearful expression as the quakes continued, this time getting to the point that rubble was starting to fall from the ceiling, developing from pebbles to stones to boulders that could stand to be the same size as him.
They were just about to reach the front door, but before anything could be done, the boulder ended up landing directly in front of them, causing the group to be completely blocked off by the way out.
"Drat, the exit's blocked!" Fletch began to panic. "We're gonna die!"
"No we're not!"
Ratchet showed a face showing a growl upon his teeth. He turned away from the fallen boulders and looked down the darkened corridors leading back up towards the giant room ahead, his hands feeling the urge to take a hold upon his wrench.
A loud honking noise was heard from inside. And it was by that intimidating sound that the lombax had a clear vision in his head over what to do. He started to pace into a run straight back into the room.
"We're going to fight this thing off fair and square. We will make it, trust me on this one!"
With a leer in his eyes, he started to storm his way straight into the room, ready to swing the wrench in whichever directions he could upon entry into the room itself. It wasn't long until the rest of the group decided to follow his example.
It didn't take too long until he managed to reach the room. And as soon as he got there, he made a stop right at the door, looking up at the giant goose mutant that stood before them. He resorted by swapping his wrench for his R.Y.3.N.O in an instant.
"Eat dust, sucker!"
He launched various missiles from it towards the beast, hoping to try and hurt it. They all managed to hit them with various clouds of yellow powdered smoke surround them, leaving the beast to roar and take a step back.
Ratchet withdrew his weapon and proceeded with trying to knock the legs with his wrench, but before he could layer a strike upon him, the goose managed to leap straight into the air, flapping its wings as fast as it could.
It resorted with sending out shards of black and white crystals from out of nowhere, showering straight down on the lombax. He reacted by rolling out of the way and pulling out another pocket weapon from his possession.
"How do you like this taste in medicine?" he casually remarked.
He unveiled it, showing itself to be a machine gun type weapon – a B6 Obliterator. He pulled the trigger, causing various sparks to fly above, striking the creature and causing it to take many other steps back.
That procedure managed to continue for several seconds, yet unfortunately for the lombax, the ammunition was going down really quickly. That left him to look towards his ammo counter hesitantly – no sooner did he end up with 20 bullets out of a possible 400.
"Dang, my ammo's almost starting to run dry!" Ratchet started to exclaim. "I need backup!"
"Hopefully he won't be as fast as Cortex was!"
Quickly, Joanna managed to step forward, holding her pistols tightly. She made a brief glare towards the goose mutant, which retaliated by swinging its head to the ground, trying to attack her.
"Let's go!" she shouted towards the creature.
And so she made her run straight towards the monster, rolling her way across the floor and making periodical stops, shooting from her pistols trying to pierce its body. Some of the shots caused it to wince, while various others caused it to use its wings to shield itself against her coming attacks.
"I seem to be piercing him left right and center! But he doesn't seem to show any signs of giving up!"
"Don't worry about it", Sora re-assured from the sidelines. "We'll try everything we can."
Sora managed to step forward and point his keyblade into the air as he did so. Nearby, Darkwing looked on at him with a curious glance, poking his head through the torn alcove. A small gust started to form among their immediate surroundings.
"Darkwing! Fuse!"
"Wha…" Darkwing reacted by holding onto the wall. "Aaaargh!"
The winds picked up, causing him to end up flying straight out from the hole and into the air, weaving his way straight through its legs. As soon as he reached Sora, a flash of purple showed up in the air, resulting in a change in outfit for the former and a disappearance for the latter. The key bearer's costume now showed a purple color code around him.
"What the Heck was that?" Fletch asked the rest of the group with amazement.
"I can recognize this technique from his training for his role in Kingdom Hearts II", Ratchet remarked. "His clothes would allow him to fuse with an ally and take a new form depending on their power. I think given his fusion with Darkwing, I would call that the "Courage Form" between you and me."
"This looks…" Fletch struggled to finish his sentence. "Interesting?"
Fletch gave off a curious blink as Sora was seen making his dash straight across the area, raising his keyblade into the air and firing several purple plasma shots straight from the tip of it. The mutant goose responded by making various snaps towards the keybearer, who responded with several jumps in the air and repeated fire.
"Fire!!"
More shots were triggered from inside it, causing the creature to wince even further as the intensity increased. But in spite of that, the damage taken in was far from significant, to the point that it then started to step in various sets of directions to try and evade the creature as much as it could.
"He's getting a little too quick even for me! This isn't looking good!"
"How else can we attack from a distance from here if we aren't powerful enough?" Fletch started to ask with a more fearful tone.
"Out of the way!" exclaimed a hidden voice.
The group then looked up, towards one of the columns that graced the entryway that they came through to begin with. The shadow that stood on top of it soon leapt its way straight down towards them, showing it to be a familiar figure – a figure that they indeed managed to fight once before.
"Senator Cortex?" Spidey reacted at the sight of him.
"I've faced this creature before. He should be no match for me!"
Cortex leered straight towards the creature, pointing his laser gun straight towards the monster's crooked head. It retaliated with an ear-splitting roar straight towards the Senator, leaving it to start making a dash across the room, using its beak to try and inflict any damage directly towards its opponent.
The Senator however responded by running across the room, hoping to find a way to further inflict damage towards the creature. Yet it wasn't long after that that he managed to see his jet board, tossed onto the floor as if it was a used toy. Seeing his opportunity, he dived for it and climbed onto it.
"Take this!"
Hovering a few inches above the ground, he pointed his gun straight towards the creature, shooting whichever set of green lasers he could towards its face. It then retaliated by launching purple plasma shots from its own mouth, causing them both to engage in a duel on who would get disintegrated first.
"Wow, those lasers seem to be intense!" Jade then gasped from nearby. "Do you think he'll make it?"
Spidey gave off a mild nod in response. "I just hope we didn't weaken him too much since that last battle, but we'll see how far he takes it!"
All that Jade and Spidey could do was watch on with caution as the fight was soon taken straight into the sky. The shots were then sent to the point that both Cortex and the mutant goose ended up surrounding the area where the chandelier once stood. Their reflections were easily seen among the chain that used to support it.
"Not this time!!" the Senator leered.
The creature responded by launching more shots upon him, leaving Cortex to duck and take a hold upon the chain, swinging underneath it like an adult gorilla and making his way straight towards the monster, in an attempt to attack it by means of using the flat burning surface of the jet pack.
The creature was then struck upon its stomach, leaving it to end up wincing upon the attack and shrieking upon the contact. That left Cortex to hover down towards the floor, soon making his way gracefully among the tiles like a figure skater. It didn't take too long for the mutant to catch up, doing everything in its power to catch up towards the Senator.
"Up!!"
As he came towards a wall, he tilted his jet board to the point that he was ready to ride the upper regions of the wall as if he was riding a floor itself. Without much time to react, all that the mutant could do was slam its head straight onto the wall, causing it to see shooting stars above its head as it made its collision.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Fletch shouted towards the Senator from a distance.
"Stand back! He could kill you!"
Cortex took a tighter grip onto his laser as he hovered further and further above the creature. As that happened, the rest of the group held onto each others' hands and took a stand back as they saw the nozzle of the gun suddenly transform into an eerie shade of green with each passing second.
"Perish, now!!!"
Upon his cry, a powerful plasma shot was launched from the nozzle, giving off a swirling green and white glow as it fell further down towards the ground. It came closer and closer towards the mutant, whom ended up having a widened eye as it started to make its escape through the crack it entered from.
It then made its run through the darkness, stamping its feet steadily upon the damp grounds. But by the time it even ended up being halfway through, Cortex's plasma shot struck the entrance, causing the mutant's surroundings to shake. Various bits of debris started to fall from the ceiling as a result.
It continued to run faster and faster, noting that a boulder was going to attempt to trap another fallen wall leading to the way out. And then, it landed straight in front of the door, only to be knocked out and into the water by the mutant as it started to proceed in flying away, deeper and deeper into the night sky.
Back in the room, the debris left behind from the plasma shot ended up covering the room in its entirety. The strength of the smoke left Fletch on his knees, coughing as he tried to focus upon his coming surroundings. It didn't take too long until the room's visibility was gradually restored, giving him room to try and stand up.
Fletch's coughs became gentler as the mist became thinner. "What… happened?"
Spidey was also seen struggling to breathe within the mist. "I don't believe this…!"
Spidey tried to look ahead from his viewpoint, yet in spite of the restoring visions, nothing much was seen other than the ruins that managed to occur from the previous two battles inside the room they were in. Some of the other team members tried to look on, only to struggle to see beyond a few meters.
Eventually, a figure was seen amongst the mist, standing and facing the large torn wall ahead. It was seen standing there with its arms relaxed by its side, looking on at the hole as if it was an artistic artifact. The increasing visual strength of the room soon showed the figure to be the one that helped them combat the goose monster.
"Senator Cortex!" Fletch shouted out to him.
Fletch made his dash straight towards the Senator, trying his best not to step into any fallen rocks or glass shards left behind from the battle. Once he ended up being a foot away from him, he came to a stop and looked on at him, his remaining eye showing a glare of gratitude among the iris.
"Why…" Fletch struggled to compose his question. "Why did you save us?"
"I think I have a further explanation to make", Cortex sighed.
With a frown on his face, he made his pacing towards the rest of the team members, eyeing them one by one. Within that time, Sora's body glowed, causing Darkwing to separate from his body and his clothes to restore into the natural colors that they were before. Not long after that, the senator turned back towards Fletch with a blink.
"It has been known that you were sent to retrieve the Emperor by order of friends of Senator Peppy Hare. Am I correct?"
Fletch responded with a wink. "Fox seems to know him, I guess."
"However, that could be a foolish mistake on his part."
Having made that remark, he shook his head and made his walk towards a nearby wall, bringing his eyes onto the wallpaper pattern. Yet upon closer inspection, it was more than just a fancy pattern brought upon it – in the occasional rectangles were a cryptic language placed upon them – a sequence of boxes that made his eyes show occasional fear.
"A few days ago, I saw the truth in what Ariel was seeking for, thanks to some close observations around his private study and a letter he left behind for the Senate", he began to inform to the rest of the team. "It seems as if he wants to use his powers on the throne to a stronger extent than they are now."
"But he's the Emperor of the city", Fletch addressed with a puzzled glare. "Isn't he happy with what he has?"
"I don't know", replied Cortex, "but I saw that he wanted to take hold of various higher members of the city to accomplish that dream. And my role in this is to hide many of those personnel from his nose."
Sighing, he turned straight back towards the torn alcove that he emerged from, pacing gently among the floor as he did so. It didn't take too long until he made his stop, turned around and looked straight on at the boy, his eyes at that instance turning from a fearful glare to one that showed knowledge and expertise.
"You see, that monster you fought…"
Fletch looked on at him, curious to know more about the monster that they managed to fight. They remained in silence for several seconds, until Cortex managed to raise his hand and point straight at the boy.
"That was Emperor Ariel."
"He WHAT?" Fletch gasped at the top of his voice. "That wasn't what he looked like in the photograph! How is that possible?"
"I don't have time to make full explanations on this one", the senator sighed as he shook his head. "For now, I have the city residents that I managed to kidnap on the way here right next door, so they will hopefully be freed too and ready to go about their business."
Having said that, Cortex lowered his head once again, turned around and started pacing himself towards the torn alcove, the darkness of the tunnel starting to cast an eerie shadow among his face. His face was brought into an upsetting expression once again.
"I'm sorry for putting you under so much trouble."
Again, he lowered his head towards the ground, knowing for sure that though he did his best to guard the citadel, there was still a grave mistake that he might have made for fighting someone who could still declare themselves innocent. Yet, his doubts started to alter as soon as Fletch approached him by placing his hand on his shoulder.
"Don't feel bad about yourself, Senator. You only did what you thought was right."
Cortex turned towards the boy, and he saw among his facial expression that he felt so hopeful and full of life. In spite of facing a tough combat within the room just moments ago, seeing him emerge confident and refusing to let his spirit go is a sign that he would never give into the wrong influences.
With that, he pointed straight on towards the torn alcove, leading the group down there. Expecting there to be a dead end, their thoughts were altered when they saw a large copper brown door that resembled the entrance for a submarine. They all went through it one by one, ready to see what was on the other side.
Time passed, and the group started making their way down a nearby stairwell, walking steadily down the passageway. It didn't help that some aspects of their route was damp and slippery, making it hard to maintain their footing among the steep stairs and the moist handrail that went alongside it.
Several hundred steps later, they made their way to the base level. Cortex was the first to make it down, and as soon as he did, he turned to his left and saw a metallic door with a keypad placed to the left of it. He walked up to it with several long strides, twitching his fingers as he edged closer and closer.
"They should be right here. This area was guarded so that only people who knew the password to this place would get through."
With a smirk, he pointed one of his fingers and used it to tap in a number combination into the keypad. After it was inserted, a light above the door was lit a bright green color, causing the doors to open up slowly.
"This room is ours for the taking", he smiled with success. "Let's go."
"I hope everyone's okay", Fletch said nervously. "I'll be happy to see these guys finally escape from here!"
Fletch smiled as he started to pace his way behind Cortex. As soon as they both made it inside, the rest of the team followed one by one, thinking hard about the surroundings that could end up being right ahead of them. Yet, with the mist gradually clearing, not even the senator himself felt easy about what was to be seen inside.
"What?" he puzzled at the sight of the room.
Through the mist, he saw a dungeon setting. Yet in spite of that, the small cells that were placed to store any personnel were seen open wide, some of which with doors knocked off, and some others with iron bars being split and bent to allow easier access in and out. His eyes started to quiver at the sign of it.
"This can't be! How did the dungeon get torn apart like this?"
With panic, Cortex made his run straight towards the cells, his eyes showing a deeper sign of concern as he came closer and closer towards them. Upon a closer inspection, several fresh footprints were seen printed among the dense ground, pointing to and away from the cells themselves.
"Jak! Rayman! Sonic!"
His screams could be echoed across the room. No matter how hard he could shout at the top of the voice, nothing could change the fact that his 'prisoners' have gone missing. His limbs started to quiver like jelly baking under a hot sun, leaving him to turn towards the boy with that feeling starting to transfer to his face.
"Who…" he tried to re-compose himself. "Who took them all? I need answers!"
"Do you think it could have been Ariel?" Darkwing asked the senator.
"I doubt it. Unless he can utilize his beak for storage, I swore that he fought alone."
Maintaining a panicked glare, he turned back towards the emptied prison cells. He walked his way towards them, taking a hold among the bars as he did so. A whimper was seen emerging silently through his mouth.
"Still I just don't get this", his voice tone altered to form cowardly whines. "Who would take my prisoners from under my nose? Without them, how are we supposed to protect the city from Ariel's coming wrath?"
Fletch couldn't help but blink with confusion. "Coming... wrath?"
"He's the one that started the whole thing by taking Crash", Cortex bitterly responded. "I mean, what does he want with such a weak-minded bandicoot like him anyway? He had to pick the weakest link to the whole conspiracy!"
He then rose one of his feet to try and kick the walls and bars as hard as he could and doing everything he can to express his anger at the event. Yet, Fletch's expression showed one of concern, causing him to make his way towards the scientist and take a hold of him around the chest, pulling him closer to the center of the room.
"Please, don't feel so uptight about this", the boy ordered the senator. "For now, I think we should work together and see what happened. We should all go back to the HQ in the White Dragonfly district and re-think the strategy."
"Are you crazy?" Darkwing loudly questioned in protest. "This guy has been opposing us for most of the journey, and now you want to take him in? What if he is just a sly spy, just like Dimitri?"
"I can see that he has some good in him. Besides, even if Dimitri did block us from the island, he must have been doing some right things too by protecting us from that monster."
Fletch's glare upon Darkwing showed that he might mean something – a ridiculous decision to take on board a figure that has done everything that he could to prevent him from reaching the Emperor, true, but it could still relate to the missing personnel crisis at hand. In spite of his more reasoned glare, Joanna still showed a more confused glance as she looked on at her surroundings.
"This is something that I still don't get myself. Ariel saved the city from poverty, and now, according to Senator Cortex, he wants to conquer the world. What's going on?"
"Maybe Fox has some answers", Spidey jumped to what could be a conclusion. "With his connections to the Senate, I'm pretty sure that we'll learn something from him."
"That's true", nodded Jade. "And given that Axel and Praxis were also out to kill the Emperor too, we may be in for more than we bargained for."
"And with all this going on at once, I'll make the COM link as soon as possible", said Sora as he placed one of his hands close to a zipped pocket in his pants. "Fox's team as well as ours needs as much help from each other if we need to take that last battle into account."
With that, Sora went inside the pocket and pulled out the walkie-talkie device earlier used by Fletch to contact the crew. Holding onto it, he walked outside, hoping to utilize it on the way down. The rest of the team soon followed his footsteps.
"I suppose this strategy seems easier than beating the mucus out of it for no good reason", Ratchet shrugged.
"Of course", replied Fletch. "But for now, we have to get out of this place while we still can. We don't want any more goose mutants trying to blow this place apart."
Fletch showed a determined blink as they made their way back out into the open. Yet, they looked straight back at the stairs they came from – a set of steep, slippery and difficult to ascend set of stairs, hard enough just to make their way towards the base level, yet unknowing of how hard it could be to climb back up them.
Nearby, Cortex pushed his way through the group and made his way towards a blank wall up ahead. He pulled out a small boulder that was twice the size of his hand, causing the wall to open up slowly and show itself as a manufactured tunnel, crafted for underground travel. As soon as it was fully opened, they all went through together.
It didn't take long for them to reach light, in the form of a glass tunnel that extended itself through the canal separating the John Moors district from the mainland. Very little aquatic life could be seen aside from a few guppies and plenty of underwater plants, giving the scene a varied sense of unease in spite of looking so beautiful thanks to the moonlight casting through the water.
All that Fletch knew as he went down the tunnel was that he did his best in finding Emperor Ariel. And though the result was more unorthodox than he thought, he was found nonetheless. Regardless of the end result of their excursion through the citadel, he knew that his time in the city was bound to be granted an extension.
-end of chapter-