Chapter 10
The Dark One
Curse me… Me and my ideas…
Wallabee was at the moment insulting himself for the lack of forethought. He was walking in a remote hallway of the house, where no light was found: his SPLANKER had no flashlight applied on it, so the darkness was almost complete. The hound he had been chasing had disappeared from his sight basically as soon as he ran after him, and the boy was considering the possibility that it had been just an hallucination.
All right, now I'm going back and meet up with Numbuh One, he'll sure know what to do… Or maybe not, I'll lose too much time… Oh man, what the crud is happening to me?
Before Wallabee could continue his internal argue with himself, his movement was stopped by the sudden appearance of a entrance on the right side of the hallway. While Wallabee's eyes were already adjusted for the dark, he wouldn't have seen it if it weren't for what seemed like an unknown noise coming from the tall portal.
Numbuh Four had no idea where to go at the moment, so he thought it was a good choice to follow the sound and investigate. He therefore went through the entrance, continuing to keep a hand on the left sidewall in order to have some type of reference to rely on.
While he walked, the noise began to get slightly louder. It was weird… Numbuh Four couldn't say what was emitting it yet. As he got nearer to the source, Numbuh Four questioned his ability to decide what was good and what was bad to do. Whatever was emitting the sound, it wasn't something pretty.
However, Wallabee exited the second hallway before he could make up his mind and turn around. The room he was in now was big, but he couldn't quite catch what type of room it was because of the lack of light. In any case, he could now listen correctly to the noise… and smell the horrible stench that permeated the air.
"What the… ugh!" Wallabee lamented while he blocked his noise with his free hand "What is going on here?"
"Hello, Wallabee."
Before Numbuh Four could realize who had addressed him, he was dazzled by an electrical light. When he regained the use of his eyes, the dimensions of what was in front of him nearly made him swallow his tongue.
An enormous chandelier on the ceiling of the room had been someway turned on, and the entire chamber was now illuminated of a feeble light. It was one of the enormous node rooms of Foster's, which were constellated of doors on the sides that were linked with just as many hallways. This room in particular had two separate floors, the higher one being a terrace that circled the entire hall. An automatic electric spotlight, surely a recent addition, was directed to the Aussie's location.
The most striking object of the sight, however, wasn't the chamber itself, but what it contained.
Numbuh Four continued to remain motionless, shocked, while he stared at the enormous thing in front of him. The monstrosity was gigantic: its height reached the upper floor, and it blocked the entire room, cutting it in half with its body. It wasn't a normal creature, nor a beast or an animal. It was a mixture of black material that twirled and moved inside the entire thing, in all likelihood the same the dark hounds were made of. There were no eyes nor limbs or anything similar: if it wasn't for the internal movements, as well as the horrible noises and the smell the thing emitted, it could have been mistaken for a simple wall.
And just at the centre of the above mentioned hall, there was an opening that let Wallabee see into what looked like a control room. Inside, five kids watched Numbuh Four with evil smiles. Each one of the Delightful Children kept in one hand a black bulge that was linked directly with the black material around them. They seemed unfazed by the appearance and odour of the monster they were controlling.
"How pleasant it is to meet you here! We've been waiting for you, you know. In fact, we would have wanted to meet all of Sector V… But, guess what? You've been the first one to arrive, so you'll be the first one to experiment the… abilities of our new creation!"
Wallabee was finding it hard to believe what he was seeing. "You… you.. you did… that? … the dogs… what in the world…" he stammered.
"We made a little error before, Wallabee…" the Delightfuls explained "We've referred to our cute little pets as 'imaginary friends'… In fact, they're not exactly our new imaginary friend. The real one is the friend you're beholding right now!"
The Delightfuls had already tried to summon big monsters against the Kids Next Door and in particular Sector V. The Ice-Cream one they fought before in their early KND days was only an example. But this thing… It hurt the stomach just to watch it.
Suddenly, at the bottom of the horrendous creature, various holes opened, and every one of them spawned a dark hound much similar to the one Wallabee fought before.
The blond boy instinctively moved back as six of the beasts got nearer to him with ravenous growls. He knew that he could deal with one of them, maybe even two or three at max. But six? He wasn't totally sure he could do it, not alone, but he wasn't giving in that early. However, before he could think of a plan B, the creatures stopped their approach with no apparent reason.
"Huh?" Wallabee was disoriented. He directed an angry glare up at the Delightfuls: "What are you five doing?! Just send those things fight me already!"
"We've just realized an interesting way to make your demise… interesting, Wallabee" the Delightfuls answered. The tallest child moved the hand that kept the black matter, and suddenly a cage made of the same thing was revealed on the top of the creature.
The Delightful Children laughed maniacally as Wallabbe watched in horror what the cage contained, or better, who was trapped inside. Numbuh Three was visibly knocked out cold, and from the distance Numbuh Four wasn't able to tell her current conditions.
"Shall we see if our little lone hero can save the princess this time? ATTACK!" the five children ordered with a yell. Immediately, the six hounds zoomed forward towards the operative.
Numbuh Four braced himself, charging his SPLANKER. The initial confuseness and fright for the sight of the imaginary friend the Delightful Children had created had been soon replaced with anger and determination. He wouldn't have been defeated without a fight, that was for sure.
But it was still surprising to see a spice red beam scoring a head shot at one of the dark hounds. The other five beasts stopped their attack, taken aback by the event.
"I should tear your head off, Numbuh Four, but that'll have to wait!" a British accented voiced came from behind him.
"Numbuh One!" Numbuh Four said "You couldn't come at a better time!". Along with his leader came the two idiots… also known as Mac and Bloo.
"…WHAT IS THAT THING!?" Bloo shouted as he pointed at the enormous monster in front of them.
"Oh… my… god…" Mac babbled while he stared at the same object, thunderstruck.
Numbuh One didn't seem to be as surprised as them by the appearance of the Delightful Children's new best friend, even though he did make a low gulp. That wasn't enough to distract him from the task at hand.
"Nigel Uno!" the voice of the Delightfuls weirdly boomed "Just in time to join the party! And we see you've brought some new friends with you!"
"I wouldn't already say he's our new friend…" Bloo specified.
"The feeling's mutual, but still, that doesn't change the fact that now you're going down, Delightful Children!" Numbuh One announced. For some reason he was still wearing his sunglasses, though it didn't seem they were preventing him for watching the hounds in front of them, even in the faint light that illuminated the chamber.
The Delighful Children didn't do nothing but laugh at the menace "You don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation, Nigel. Too bad for you… You'll soon discover how much you were in error. Kill them!"
The hounds resumed their approach to the group of kids. Numbuh One kept his SPICER gun ready to shoot.
"All right, if we follow a strategy, we shouldn't have problems dealing with the hounds. Numbuh Four, you will… Numbuh Four?"
Nigel scanned the area, but Numbuh Four had completely disappeared. "He's left while you were talking with those children" Mac said, trying to be useful while he kept his own spice gun aimed at the enemies.
"Ugh... Numbuh Four, what are you trying to do now?" Numbuh One thought out loud while he continued to look for the combat specialist around him. While giving a glance to the monster the Delightfuls were controlling, he noticed the form of a cage on the top of it. When he realized who was trapped there, he instantly knew what Numbuh Four was planning.
I hope you had a good idea this time, Wallabee, Numbuh One thought before reacting to the first swing of a dark hound's claw.
Oh, man, why am I doing this…
Numbuh Four was at the moment in the second floor of the chamber, on the edge of the terrace, and he was looking at the commotion happening below him. He had sneaked away from the chamber easily while the others were focused on the Delightfuls, and, after entering one of the hallways, he'd immediately found the stairs that brought to the upper part of the hall. Numbuh One, the traitor and his imaginary friend were fighting with the remaining dark hounds.
Wallabee hoped that his leader didn't think of him as a coward. He sure wasn't one to keep away from a fight, but this was another case. In fact, he could say that what he was going to do was comparable to jump down a five hundred metres high cliff.
The operative followed the trail of the terrace until he reached the part right over the black imaginary monster created by the Delightful Children. The five children didn't seem to notice him, they were too much concentrated on the fight to do so, and Wallabee didn't let this occasion go unused.
He climbed over the edge of the terrace and let himself hang from it. He tried to reach the top of the enormous thing with his shoes, but feeling nothing but air, he decided to let himself fall and pray that he wouldn't be discovered.
Wallabee landed on the surface of the monster lightly. Thank goodness he did not see dark hounds or anything else come after him, but on the other hand for one of the few times in his life, he felt disgust at the weird feeling the material he was standing on gave him. Leaving alone the smell that was barely bearable.
Trying to ignore the nausea, Wallabee marched over the monster, as much stealthily as possible, heading for the cage that was placed right over the Delightfuls' control room. He heard growls around him as another group of dark hounds was spawned and sent towards the three fighters below. Wallabee was aware of the fact that he needed to be fast.
In the end, he succeeded in reaching the 'prison' where the 'princess' was kept. Numbuh Four grabbed the black bars of the cage and, ignoring the sensation of millions of insects crawling under his hands, tried to push them away and create an opening. Despite the fact they weren't made of metal, the bars did not move of a single inch. Before he could think of another way to free his teammate, Numbuh Four saw that the prisoner was beginning to wake up.
"Numbuh Three?" he called.
"Uuuhhh… Ow… Wally? Is that you…" Numbuh Three whispered, visibly feeling an headache. The first thing she realized was where she was currently laying on.
"Shhhhh!" Numbuh Four immediately shushed, putting an hand on Numbuh Three's mouth before she could scream. They stayed in this position for five seconds before Numbuh Four actually let her speak properly.
"Listen, Kuki. Numbuh One is distracting the Delightful Children and therefore the thing we're standing on. You need to stay silent until I find a way to get you out, okay?"
"It's difficult, Wally. It's… horrible…" Numbuh Three whispered. She sat down in a corner of the cage and hid her face under her overlong sleeves, suffocating the faint whimpers she let out.
"It's not beautiful, I know, but you have to try! Think of something you like, I don't know… like Rainbow Monkeys!" Wallabee suggested. At first, he actually didn't believe he had actually suggested to think about Rainbow Monkeys.
Still, the suggestion did the trick: "I'll try…" Numbuh Three whispered back before falling in silence.
Numbuh Four drew out his SPLANKER, the only weapon he was currently carrying, with the purpose to use it to destroy the cage where Numbuh Three was imprisoned. However, he suddenly felt that someone, or something, was watching him. The fast movement he saw out of the corner of his eye afterwards eventually made him suspicious.
Turning his head, Numbuh Four at the last second realized the threat and evaded the lunge. When he became able to watch the new enemy, he knew he was in deep trouble.
A tendril was protruding from the monster's body like a natural extension of it. The tendril acted like it had its own soul as it moved around Wallabee and kept its sharp, dangerous tip directed at him.
Wallabee did the same as he continued to keep the tendril under his sight, ready to use the SPLANKER to defend himself. He was so focused he did not notice the creation of an opening behind him, from where emerged five kids with evil smiles.
"Oh, Wallabee, you really wanted to save your precious Kuki there, didn't you?" the Delighfuls mocked, thus making Wallabee jump in surprise "How cute… Too bad your struggles will result to be useless!"
The tallest out of the two girls tightened her grasp on the bunch of black substance the five kids were still keeping in their hands. As on cue, the tendril zapped towards Wallabee.
"Oh, CRUD!" he shouted before kneeling down, almost not avoiding the attack. The tendril didn't stop itself and Wallabee was forced to continue to jump sideways and dodge the various attacks coming from the tentacle.
Then, Wallabee realized that if the Delightful Children were really controlling the monster, he only needed to take them out to win this fight. So, after dodging the nth lunge, he charged towards the five arch enemies of the Kids Next Door.
"Smart move. But predictable…" the Delightfuls said as the boy that wore a Football mask sent a second command with his hand. Numbuh Four was sent flying on the opposite direction as something struck him from below with an uppercut.
While the boy licked a first trail of blood that streamed out of his mouth, he watched in what could be seen as fright the new addition to the monster's arsenal: a giant hammer made of the black substance.
The hammer was quickly sent against him, and Wallabee had for the umpteenth time to move away quickly in order to save himself from being crushed. "Run, Wallabee, run!" the Delightfuls laughed as they watched the boy try to evade the attacks.
Then, Wallabee found himself entrapped between the hammer and the tendril from before. This time, he had no places where to go.
The Delightful Children were sure that this was going to be their first member of Sector V they succeeded in disposing of. At least, they were of that idea until they heard an unnatural, loud lament coming from the inside of the imaginary monster.
Taken aback, the Delightful turned to the source of the disturbance: Numbuh One and Mac were currently shooting with their guns at the centre of the monster, and the creature, despite its size, didn't seem to like it one bit.
"What? Is that all you can send against us?" Numbuh One taunted. Around him there were either stunned dark hounds or black puddles.
"I expected a bit more from you, being this our first encounter!" Mac added.
"Tsk, nothing surprising from someone who willingly helped Mr. Herriman…" Bloo finished, trying to sound boastful.
"How you… Umph, we'll see how courage will be left in you after this!" the Delightfuls fired back as the blonde girl and the boy with the hidden face once again moved their hands. The tendril and hammer that were going to attack Wallabee moved away, heading for the three fighters… as well as another hammer and an entire group of tendrils.
Wallabee took advantage of the distraction right away when he saw the Delightful Children descend inside the creature once again. He ran towards Numbuh Three and prepared the SPLANKER.
"Watch Out, Kuki, I'm taking you outta there!" Wallabee said before pushing the trigger. Numbuh Three was already watching him with a half-opened eye, and her answer wasn't the one he expected.
"WALLY, LOOK OUT!"
Turning to avoid the attack of another tendril, Wallabee was instead greeted by the sight of a dark hound, his white eyes staring right into his ones. The creature that had sneaked behind him without being heard was too much near to escape.
He was not even able to curse before the hound struck him with a blow right on the face, successfully knocking him out.
Bloo rolled on the floor, and the black hammer fell at his side, breaking the pavement but missing him. The imaginary friend was then forced to stand up and run away from the swings of a pair of tendrils that tried to slice him in multiple pieces.
Mac and Numbuh One weren't in a much better situation. They had the advantage of owning each a spice gun, but that was found to be effective only against the blades. The hammer was heavier and it didn't react to the spice rounds shot to it, so the two of them were spending the time trying to shoot at as much tendrils as possible while avoiding the hammer's attacks.
The various weapons were controlled with a series of long channels that acted as the tentacles of an octopus. The Delightful Children weren't happy of the fact that their enemies were still alive, but when a dark hound appeared in front of them, they knew that Numbuh Four had fallen into the simple trap they had prepared.
Thus, when the various tentacles returned to their master, Nigel, Mac and Bloo didn't understand the reason of it.
"What? Are they calling black mamba nukes now?" Bloo sarcastically said while he directed an annoyed glare at the monster.
"They… Oh, no!" Numbuh One gasped. Bloo didn't see where the problem was until he noticed what him and Mac were watching.
The black tentacles were manoeuvring the cage in front of the Delightful Children's location inside the monster, under the control of the dumpy, short girl… and inside the cage Numbuh Four and Three lay, the former trying to recover from the previous hit and the latter still keeping her eyes shut and shuddering in fright.
"Oh, look what we have there…" the five villains sang together "Don't they look like the best couple ever? A shame that such a scene is going to be terminated… Look, Numbuh One. Look while we slain your operatives in front of you!"
Suddenly, various blade tendrils appeared from the enormous imaginary friend's body and raced for the cage where Numbuh Four and Three were trapped in. The fastest of them was only a meter away from it when a spice round hit it, disintegrating the entire tentacle.
"I won't just look while you do your business, Delightful Children!" Numbuh One said resolutely "I'll do whatever is needed to stop you, and I won't give up anytime soon!"
"You can do whatever you want, Nigel" the well-behaved kids replied "Everything you'll come up will at most delay the inevitable…"
Three more tendrils dashed towards the cage. Numbuh Three screamed and grabbed Numbuh Four's neck for dear life, thus nearly strangling him. Nigel shot two consecutive rays from his SPICER that vaporized one tentacle each, but he wasn't enough fast to hit the third one…
…which was still struck by a third round.
"Mac. Why are you helping these Kids Next Door? The same ones that treated you like nothing more than an object for their experiments?" the Delightfuls asked, showing a far bigger knowledge of Mac's past than everyone else had expected.
The SPICER trembled in Mac's hand as he thought over the question.
"Because… Because they aren't like the scientists at the Deep Sea lab. These operatives had at first tried to bring all the imaginary friends away… But because they believed they were imprisoned here. And when they realized they were wrong… They didn't persist, but they helped us."
Now the boy's grip on the weapon wasn't so insecure as before: "They helped us in fighting the imaginary friends you sent against us. They came to our aid outside, where the others were fighting your henchmen. You were the cause of all the mess from the very beginning! I should have realized who you really were when I saw you this afternoon: when I served in the Kids Next Door I was only briefly told about you, but now I believe you are far worse than those descriptions. You tried to kill not only these operatives and me, but also my friends, including my best one!"
Mac's face was empty of any trace of fright or doubt. "I'm technically still a Kids Next Door operative, but even if I wasn't, I'd still help Nigel and his teammates now. No matter what happened in the past!"
"Pathetic…" the Delightfuls commented with a sickened tone "You really sound like a Kids Next Door. It doesn't really matter… We'll get rid of you and all your friends as well!"
A new series of tendrils zapped towards the cage where Wallabee and Kuki were kept. Nigel and Mac tried their best to eliminate the tentacles, but these as the two kids continued their defence got nearer and nearer to the two imprisoned operatives. Bloo was powerless without weapons and could do nothing but gape at the scene.
Numbuh Four began thinking that this was really the end. Maybe this was his last chance to…
"Numbuh Three?"
Numbuh Three was hugging him tightly and she didn't seem to want to let him away anytime soon. She opened her eyes to watch in his ones, and the blond boy swallowed.
"Ahem, now, Kuki, there was this thing that I wanted to tell you, but I didn't have the courage to say, so…"
"You really like Rainbow Monkeys like I do?" Kuki asked.
"No, of course no, I have already told you-… Ugh, nevermind. I just wanted to say..."
He was stopped by a tendril that succeeded in entering the cage and was destroyed only two meters away from them.
"Oh, no, do you mean I'm going to die with another nut stuck in my teeth!?" Kuki squeaked.
"No, no, no! Kuki, I just… I… Oh, crud. I L-…"
Unfortunately for Wallabee, this wasn't going to be the moment he had been waiting for. But it wasn't a tentacle piercing through them to stop it. It was a definitely more noisy cause. Something like an explosion that actually deafened the two operatives.
Suddenly, the channels that were keeping the cage up disappeared, therefore making it vaporize and letting its content fall. Kuki and Wallabee began screaming at the same time before eventually reaching the ground, hitting it hard. The Asian girl landing right over the Australian boy.
"Oh, crud… How can this get worse now?" Numbuh Four moaned. He was pretty sure he had at least one rib shredded now.
"Enough complaining, Numbuh Four! You'll have all the time you want for it after we leave this place!" a female voice ordered. And it wasn't Kuki.
"Numbuh Five?"
A black hand appeared in front of him "Yes, and you should get up now before I reconsider going under this thing to help you!"
For once, Numbuh Four ignored his pride and grabbed the hand to help himself stand. Around him he noticed the form of an imaginary friend… the tall, red one he had seen in the first part of the mission. He was at the moment helping Numbuh Three to remain steady on her own legs with his lone hand.
Then, the blond boy watched over him only to see the blackness of the creature body. They were really under him, but this zone had been completely blown out by the explosion that freed the two operatives.
"Let's go, quick!" Numbuh Five said while he put Wallabee's arm around her shoulder. Wilt and Kuki followed them suit and in some seconds they were out of the creature's range and joined with the rest of the group.
"Guys! You're all right?" Numbuh Two asked worriedly as he ran to meet them.
"I'm okay… I think…" Numbuh Three answered. She wasn't too much hurt fortunately, tough her head still hurt from the previous knock-out.
"Never been better in my life…" Numbuh Four said ironically while he gritted his teeth for the pain he was feeling. Yep, maybe even two ribs shredded.
"Man, you really need some help!" a female voice said. Numbuh Four found his lungs out of air as the Red Demon kneeled in front of him and began controlling his face: "We should call an ambulance as soon as possible!"
Wallabee was still trying to catch on the fact she had not tried to kill him when Numbuh Five cut her off: "We'll think about it when we're out! Move!"
"You're not going anywhere!"
"COCO!" Coco suddenly squawked when she saw a group of eight dark hounds appear from the same entrance to the room they had come from.
"We've been planning this for an entire month, and we're not letting you get out of it alive!" the Delightful Children shouted in anger. The shortest boy moved his hand, activating the last and unknown command…
…the problem was, nothing happened.
"What are you waiting for? Do something!" the other four Delightful Children yelled furiously when they realized that the command had not been received.
The addressed boy was even more confused, but he had not the chance to give an explanation. The internal room the Delightfuls were in began shuddering, and various parts of the creature's body began falling from above them in large chunks.
"What's this? What are you doing?" the five kids said together to a listener that could only be the creature itself. There were already hints of fright in their voice, feelings that their control over the enormous monster had somehow been taken away from them.
Unfortunately for them, those thoughts proved to be right when, without even having the time to scream, the Delightful Children found a hole suddenly appearing under them. The group of evil youngsters was literally sucked into the creatures' body.
All of this happened under the incredulous eyes of the Sector V operatives and the Foster's gang. But it was only the beginning.
Slowly, the various black tentacles and life wires that linked the black form with the chamber began getting cut by an unknown force, and the 'wall' separated in different parts that moved on the pavement like giant blobs.
These 'blobs' later crawled to attack on each other, and in the centre of the room a new form began its transformation.
It was in that moment that a memory came back to Frankie's mind. The young woman nearly chocked herself in the consequent gulp, one that was noticed by Wilt.
"Frankie? You're all right?" Wilt asked worriedly while he walked to get near her.
"I'm okay, It's just… Oh, god, it's happening… It's one of them…" Frankie said while staring at the morphing monster.
"What?" Wilt wasn't catching on what she was saying.
"Them? Them who? Who are you talking about?" Numbuh Five asked when she overheard the last words of the redhead.
"My grandma, she told me once… She told me that imaginary friends can indeed be created to be a bit mean or dangerous. Like the ones we keep in the cage outside, or the extremosaurus we've had to do with before you came here. But my grandma was sure that even those imaginary friends had an inner good heart, and it was mainly due to their creators or their appearance that they acted the way they did. However, this wasn't the case for everyone…"
"Cococo?" Coco asked, entrapped. It was the first time she had been listening to Frankie talking about this, and she was sure the same could apply for Wilt.
"Yes, Coco. When a creator creates a friend with the only and only purpose to do evil, and nothing else… when there is a complete lack of love in the process of creation… That's when a Dark One is created. Not an imaginary friend, but a monster who won't listen to anyone… not even its own creator, and won't be pleased until every living being around is… dead."
Numbuh Five, Four and Three as well as Coco and Wilt watched the new-born monster in front of them. The Dark One had by that moment completed successfully its metamorphosis.
The previous wall-like look was long gone. The newly born creature was definitely more similar to its spawnlings, as it shared the four-legged animal general look with them. However, this one wasn't wolf like: its body was definitely more muscular and well-constructed, resembling more the one an animal similar to a feline. However, the most notably feature of the Dark One were its fangs: in addition to a series of sharp teeth two, long, saber-like canines exited out of its mouth, both of them too big to be kept inside its jaws.
The size of the creature was proportioned to the size of its previous form. Enormous.
The Dark One's head mechanically rotated and its two, white, ominous eyes fell on the group. Then, it roared, releasing a sound wave that cracked every glass object in the near rooms and hallways.
While almost deafened by the call of the creature, the operatives, the imaginary friends and Frankie were all able to hear the yelps of surprise of the dark hounds behind them which were supposed to fight them and the footsteps of their fast retreat.
In the end, the Dark One made an initial step towards them.
"RUN!"
Numbuh Five mentally apologized when Numbuh Four wheezed in protest at her sudden movement, but she was sure that if they didn't want to be caught by that monstrosity they needed to run now, or else they'd be doomed.
But while she was moving, she heard another roar coming from the Dark One's position. This one was different, like it was a call of annoyance.
When she whirled her head to get a look to the giant smilodon, the creature was watching the opposite direction. It didn't took her too long to realize who had distracted the Dark One.
Numbuh One!
Numbuh One felt sweat forming around him when the white, unemotional eyes of the smilodon fixed on him. However, the saber-toothed creature didn't really care about him yet as it turned around another time to return to his previous occupation.
That wasn't what Numbuh One wanted. He needed to distract the creature and bring it to pursue him. Being alone and relatively healthy he would have been able to sneak away if necessary much easier than the other, bigger group. With that thought, the leader of Sector V once again raised his SPICER and shot another spice ray at the monster. The Dark One growled, but it didn't bulge and ignored it.
Numbuh One persisted in his attempts to capture the creature attention's, but it was now completely focused on the group on the other side of the chamber. His gun alone wasn't enough to do any damage. He needed more fire power, but how could he…
The eyes under Numbuh One's shades widened when another spice ray hit the creature in the same spot he was aiming. Together the two shots were able to pierce through the Dark One skin, harder than the simple surface of its previous form, and the monster this time definitely felt the hit.
Nigel gave a quick look to the responsible of the second attack. Mac seemed to be nervous, but that had not been enough to stop him from helping him.
"Well, now he's mad…" he said as the monster slowly rotated his body to face them.
"That was something I wanted. Thanks for the help, Numbuh Two-Hundred-One, but now you'll have to get away with your imaginary friend. I'll make him follow him and…"
"No."
Numbuh One blinked at the sudden interruption: "Huh?"
"We have attacked him both. If we separate, there's a chance he could attack me and Bloo instead of you. We'll escape together, I know some passages in the house we can use to make that beast lose us."
"I… appreciate your help" Numbuh One said awkwardly "But it's not necessary. I won't order you."
"Well, my decision remains the same!" Mac affirmed, a strange smile on his face.
The Dark One gained their utter attention when the beast made a step towards them. When its leg touched the pavement, the entire room lightly shook under its weight.
Mac and Nigel both raised their spice guns to send a final message of war to the monster, but they were interrupted by the third party member.
"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING? ARE YOU NUTS!" Bloo shouted "YOU'VE JUST LOST YOUR FREAKING MIND OR…!?"
Mac sighed. What he was going to do wasn't easy, but it was needed. He approached Bloo and, suddenly, shoved him away from himself,
"Off! What's wrong in you, Mac?"
"Go away, Bloo!"
After five seconds, all Bloo could say in response was "…what?"
"I said go away! Hide yourself somewhere far from here, it's mad at us, not you! We'll meet up later after we deal with it!"
"Deal with him? It's freaking more than twenty feet high! How are you supposed to…"
"We'll think about it! Now GO!" Mac ordered and pushed Bloo again, harder than before. Bloo moved back mechanically as he watched his creator and the bald kid shoot another round of their spice guns at the Dark One. The beast was now really mad at them, so much that after an ultimate war cry, it leapt and went through the entire space dividing them in a matter of seconds.
Seconds that were spent by Mac and Nigel by screaming in fright and running away through the nearest of the side doors. After landing, and leaving what could be called a crater, the smilodon right away began its pursue of the two kids. The creature crashed through the edges of the portal where the two kids had escaped into and disappeared into the shadows, completely ignoring Bloo, shocked and fixed to a nearby wall..
The members of the group on the opposite side of the chamber shared with him a similar state of emotions. The first one to actually scroll off from herself the surprise was Numbuh Five "All right guys, Numbuh One has bought us some time, so we better not waste it. Let's move!"
"Wait! Bloo has not come with them!" Wilt warned, pointing with a finger to a single blue dot.
"Cococo, cococococo…"
"Yes. I really can't believe Mac did do that. The Dark One… heck! How is he going to be able to escape that?" Frankie said, worried for the young boy.
"Don't worry about him, Numbuh One is one of the best Kids Next Door operatives I've ever known, he'll get both of them out of it. In any case, make it quick!"
Frankie nodded to Numbuh Five's suggestion, and shouted: "Bloo! Bloo, come on, we need to get out of the house while we can!"
The blue imaginary friend did not move.
"What's that idiot doing now? Can't we just leave him here?" Numbuh Four protested. Abigail was still helping him, using her shoulder to give him an additional support.
"I think… this may be more difficult than I expected. Give me a minute" Frankie said before walking away to reach the imaginary friend.
When she met up with Bloo, Frankie instantly knew that something had snapped in the little blue blob. She kneeled down to put herself nearer to him, and put a gentle hand on his head.
"He… did… go. He just… He… He…" Bloo stuttered with a tone that he was rarely being seen to use.
"Bloo…" Frankie began.
"He went away!" Bloo suddenly cried "He has just made himself being pursued by the most dangerous imaginary friend ever existed in the world with a guy who had just tried to capture him!"
"Bloo, we need to go. Mac can take care of himself, and that other guy in fact is the one that may be able to help him in that situation. But if you just stay here, his plan is going to be useless." Frankie tried with the reasoning.
"…you're right. You find somewhere safe, I'll go looking for him."
"Bloo…"
"No! I'm not changing my idea! Not in any… Any means!" Bloo cut her off, cleaning his face from tears he hadn't still recognized as his ones.
But Frankie wasn't going to mock him for his weakness as he thought she would. With unexpected lightness, she picked him up and put him on her chest, keeping him like a little child.
"I'm not crying… For… I…" Bloo babbled before eventually surrendering to the overwhelming feeling inside him of having just lost someone important.
"You've not lost anyone yet, Bloo" Frankie comforted, practically reading his mind "Mac is an intelligent kid and he's not alone. He'll make it through, trust me."
Frankie returned to the group that had been watching the entire scene until that moment. Every one of them, imaginary friend or Kids Next Door operative, was silent and didn't dare to comment. Still carrying the whining blue form, Frankie made a sign for Numbuh Five, who nodded in response and began leading the group out of the chamber where the Dark One had been first created.