Chapter 9: Temptation

Having made her getaway a good ten minutes ago, Rachel found herself sprinting away from the mansion as fast as she could, but she knew she couldn't keep sprinting for much longer. Her breath had become quick and hoarse, and her chest felt heavy. Still, it'a not like the young blonde had much of a choice right now; she had to keep moving through this lifeless terrain. If there was one thing Rachel was certain of the moment she'd successfully escaped from the mansion, it was this; Grandfather was not only furious, he was (also) on her trail. If she had any hope of defeating him, she would need to think up an elaborate plan to ware him down. She'd also need a secluded hiding spot to rest for at least a little while.

Unfortunately, that plan of hers would have to wait. For the young girl jumped back and gasped the moment a pair of menacing, yellow eyes appeared before her.

"Running away, I see?" Grandfather asked Rachel while she glared at him.

"Of course not!" she sternly replied. "I just need a little time to regroup, is all."

Rachel smirked as she ran away from the sinister pair of eyes. But the blonde was startled when she found herself face to face with that same evil gaze just a few seconds later.

"Perhaps," he replied. "But I'm afraid there is nowhere for you to run or hide, any longer, My Dear. I have complete control over your dreams, now."

Pretty soon, Rachel found herself surrounded by (what had to be) millions of pairs of eyes. Each set was laughing evilly at her, acting as if she'd already lost.

But the young blonde never flinched; she just stood there, looking (somewhat) amused with her enemy's antics.

"Well, I won't deny that," she said with a smirk. "But you're going to have to try a lot harder if you want to scare me."

"Don't forget who you're dealing with, here, Missy," the satanic demon replied. "I can always target your weak points. Or maybe, I don't have to…"

Hearing that made the young blonde stare at his disembodied gaze in dumbfounded confusion.

"What?" she asked.

"Think about it, My Dear. For all your talent and charm, you are still an insecure, flawed child with regrets over your actions," he remarked. "But I can give you a fresh start, I can make you into a flawless Citizombie, if you give into my powers."

The dumbfounded Rachel took all of ten seconds to think over his proposal before finally choosing to speak.

"Not interested," she bluntly replied.

Grandfather growled in frustration.

"Oh, come now!" he yelled. "You are in constant suffering and pain! Surely, you could benefit from living without your insecurities!? Without your flaws!?"

"Sorry; I'm more interested in experiencing failure, or triumph than one or the other," she sternly replied.

"Fine, then," the old man retorted. "But whether you like it or not, you're going to hand over the Kids Next Door to me, personally!"

"I'd rather die than live to see that happen," she sternly retorted while her opponent could only sigh.

"So, it's going to be the hard way, is it?" he asked.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake and crack. From the leftover cracks, rose a literal army of old and evil looking Citizombies. Their very appearance surprised Rachel, they even made her cower in fear for a moment as the army slowly closed in on her.

"So, My Pretty," Grandfather said mockingly as the young girl stared coldly at him. "Any last words before you submit to servitude?"

Rachel mused over his words for a second or two, before speaking up, again.

"Not really," she replied. "Other than "No means no.""

"Like what you say matters, here," said a familiar, Irish sounding voice that caught the girls' attention.

When Rachel turned around, she was surprised to find herself face to face with a Citizombified Fanny, lunging towards her young opponent with a creepy smile.

Though Rachel was stunned, she immediately threw her staff up in defence as the two clashed. Leaping into action, the young blonde sent a powerful back kick to her zombified friend that took her down in one swift movement.

Using her staff as a defensive weapon, the girl masterfully dodged a line of zombies that dare to try and touch her. Throwing her staff up into the air, she then sent a few knuckle-sandwiches towards some Citizombies, and even grabbed one from behind her, flipping them over her significantly smaller body.

And just in time as her staff finally came back towards the earth, allowing her to catch it just before it could make contact with the ground.

Yes, thing seemed to be going well for our heroine. But unbeknownst to either Rachel or Grandfather, Alex and Wally were hiding behind a small hill not far away from what had become a battle area.

And just what were they doing behind this hill? Why, they were watching over their friend through a pair of binoculars, of course.

"Sugoi!" Alex quietly gushed.

"I'll say; this is like watching a video game!" said Wally.

Amused, the mutant girl turned to stare at her blonde friend.

"And you say I gush too much," she replied.

"Hey, I can gush once in awhile. Can't I?" he asked.

She chuckled.

"Hello, Two-Seventy-Three," said Nigel through the Brainwave Receiver. "Do you and Numbuh 4 still have a trace on Rachel?"

"Yeap," she replied. "We got her in our sights-"

"And we're gettin' te' watch her kick some serious butt!" the short Aussie replied.

"Oh, good," replied Patton as he breathed a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, he came to find that the remaining Sector V members were all staring at him. And with devious looking smirks on their faces, too.

"What?" he asked while his cheeks flared up with red blush.

Meanwhile, Rachel had found herself in another struggle with a Citizombie, its hands wrapped tightly around her staff as the two glared each other down. That is, until the young girl flipped the staff up towards the old minion, and socked it in the face with the boxing glove.

She then gracefully cartwheel over to another on coming Citizombie, and took it out with a quick, but powerful back kick.

The funny thing about this, though, was that there was a huge row of Citizombies behind this particular one. So when Rachel kicked it in the face, it caused a domino effect where one Citizombie toppled over another.

Grandfather rolled his eyes with aggravation, but Rachel was quite amused by this. She even let out a chuckle beneath her confident smirk.

Unfortunately, knocking her opponents down like bowling pins left her wide open for an attack as another one of Grandfathers' minions came up from behind the girl, and elbowed her (hard) in the back.

Rachel groaned in pain as she collapsed to the ground, wincing, and unable to do a thing about the flood of cackling Citizombies closing in on her. Not surprisingly, their master was quite amused, as well.

But what about Wally and Alex, you ask? Well, they were still watching through their binoculars, horrified by what they saw.

"Uh, Nigel-kun; we've got a problem!" said Alex.

"What!? But you just said that everything was under control!" Nigel reminded her.

"Well, that was before Rachel-san got elbowed in the back; now she's down and a horde of Citizombies are closing in on her!" she explained.

Hearing that, Pattons' eyes widened in fear.

"We gotta do something, fast!" Wally replied.

"I'm with you on that one!" Alex agreed.

"Wait a minute, you two!"their leader barked. "We need to come up with a battle plan first!"

"Seriously?" the mutant girl asked. "I don't think now's the time for that!"

"Yeah," the boy agreed. "And I want ta' get in on that action."

"Well, yes, but we still can't risk blowing our cover!" Nigel defended.

"Oh, and what, you don't trust us to be on our guard?" she asked. "We're not amateurs, you know."

"She's got a point, Boss," Abigail remarked.

Unable to take much more of this, Nigel just let out an annoyed sigh; he knew when he was beaten.

"Alright, just be careful," the boy commanded.

"Will do, Nigel-kun!" Alex chirped. "You ready to intervene, Wallabee-kun?"

"Are you kiddin'? I've been waiting' fo' this moment since we got here," replied a smirking Wally. "You take the left side, I'll take the right.

"Got it!" she replied.

Soon, the mutant girl flew up into the air, while her friend ran towards the horde and leaped off of a nearby cliff.

The short Aussie landed to the ground with a great thud and smirked confidently at his unsuspecting opponents. He whipped out a pair of twin JOYSCHTICKs, ready to unleash a can of whoop arse on these disgusting creatures.

Wally jumped into the air, he used one of his weapons to punch the closest Citizombie he could find. Rest assure it, the minions were now aware of his presence.

Landing on the ground once again, he then proceeded to punch a few more opponents in their guts before he started twirling around in a fast moving circle, using his two JOYSCHTICKs to take out a whole row of Citizombies like they were bowling pins, or something.

"Two-Seventy-Three!" he yelled to his friend, as if to signal her cue.

But from atop the hill, the mutant girl remained there in stoic grace, or at least until she opened her eyes to reveal that they had turned a menacing pink colour.

"Telekinetic Magatama!" she yelled (as best she could).

The telekinetic energy around her body transformed into two, pink rings with magatama beads circling her wrists.

Alex then floated up into the air, and freed the rings from her wrists. Once they left her being, the two rings began growing at an alarming rate until they were big enough to rival that of Grandfathers' physicality, himself. Alex then stopped their growth with her hands, and opened her menacing looking eyes, once more.

"Barutan Himitsu!" the mutant brunette cried out as she began to twirl around in one place at a fast speed.

As she did, the rings began to move in sync with her movements, going down towards the Citizombies and knocking them around any, and every which way.

In fact, Grandfathers' minions went down so fast, that neither he, nor Rachel could do anything other than stare wide eyed as what was unfolding before them.

Her work complete, the mutant girl ceased twirling around and dispersed the rings. The moment she opened her eyes, they were still that menacing, cold looking pink colour. That mystique and menace all went out the window, however, the second she placed her hand over her mouth, like she could barf at any second.

That wasn't an inaccurate assumption, either. The second she floated down to the ground, she actually let Wally catch her in his arms and even let him hold onto her.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked.

"Wallabee-kun," she began. "Do you mind looking for a secluded area? I think I'm gonna hurl."

The short Aussie let out an annoyed sigh when he heard that; in hindsight, he should have seen this coming.

"Alright. Let's go," he replied.

Wally then placed her arm over his shoulder, and started walking her towards the first place he could find to take cover under.

As for Grandfather, well, he was not pleased. Not that he showed it, he just continued to watch as his little target used her staff to pull herself back onto her feet.

"I just don't understand it," he replied. "How could this have possibly happened? You no longer have any control over what you dream here."

"Who can say," she replied. "Maybe I have a Guardian Angel looking out for me."

"Oh, I doubt that, My Dear," the old man confidently retorted. "Now, my minions; decimate this rebellious little lamb, and make her one of your own!"

And like puppets on their strings, the Citizombies began slowly creeping towards the little girl. Rachel watched as an evil smile grazed each of their individual faces, throwing her staff up in defence as she got ready to take on these monsters.

But her back was still sore, her muscles were aching, and her breath sounded heavier than before. To top it off, there were too many Citizombies. She couldn't possibly take them all on at once.

As much she didn't want to, the young girl realized she had no choice; if she still had any hope of winning this war, she would have to flee the battle. There was just one question on her mind, now; how was she going to get out of this one? If only she had some MARBLES on her.

Wait a minute; she did! She'd packed some in her backpack before coming into her dream realm, earlier. Now all she needed was a clever ruse to escape.

"Well, no problem there," Rachel thought to her herself.

She lowered her staff to her side, as if she were admitting her surrender. As if on cue, the minions leaped to dog pile on her. None of them ever noticed the devious little smirk on her face before she pulled out three MARBLES and threw them to the ground, encasing the area in a thick smoke.

When the smoke cleared, the young girl was nowhere to be seen. And while the Citizombies were shocked by this sudden revelation, Grandfather was not. If anything, his eyes appeared angry, like he could erupt any minute, now.

"Curse that child!" he hissed.

Refusing to loose his temper, though, the old man breathed a deep sigh and turned towards his minions. He felt his blood pressure rising, however, upon seeing that his henchmen looked completely clueless about what to do next.

"Well don't just stand there, you fools!" the demonic man growled. "Search the area and look for that troublesome girl, she couldn't have gotten that far!"

His minions cowered in fear for a moment before answering.

"Yes, Master," the monsters replied in unison as they went to their task.

…..

Unbeknownst to them, however, Rachel had managed to hide in a small crevasse not too far away from the battlefield. It wasn't what the young blonde would call cozy, but it would have to do.

But before she could settle down into her hiding spot, Rachel took another quick look outside, just to make sure she was in the clear. Seeing no one in sight, the little girl breathed a sigh of relief as she sat herself down, finally ready to relax for a bit. It would have to be a short break, but a few minutes of peace was better than nothing, she reasoned.

"That was close…too close," the young girl whispered to herself.

Rachel then sat herself down and placed her back against the rock wall. When her back hit the rocky surface, though, she yelped and sat up straight. In all the excitement, she had completely forgotten that her upper back still hurt. Not that it mattered, though. Sore back or no, she'd have to go back out there, eventually.

Yet even at a time like this, the young girl couldn't help but scold herself for such a sloppy performance.

I mean, seriously; taking out a row of enemies like dominos? What was she thinking? Sure, being a fighter and an acrobatic required her to think on her feet. But a move like that left her wide open to an attack.

Geez! How embarrassing!

Maybe she should have agreed to Grandfather's proposition; that way she wouldn't be making such stupid decision. In fact, maybe it would be better for the young blonde to become a so-called "perfect being." She could lead the Kids Next Door into a bright, prosperous era.

"Wait; why am I even thinking about this!?" the young girl thought to herself.

Come to think of it, why was this offer starting to sound so appealing to her? She considered it for a few seconds, at best. Still, it didn't change the fact that she was actually entertaining the idea, even now.

Now Rachel could feel herself going numb; she just told Grandfather to his face that she would rather live with her flaws. Why would she suddenly start to think that being perfect would be better? Was it the curse's doing? That was possible; Grandfather did say that it would start affecting her mind, sooner or later.

And yet, the young girl couldn't lie to herself; she had made so many blunders in the last few months; the whole Tag incident, her handling of Grandfather's reawakening, not to mention the whole mishap with the Teen Treaty. These were all mistakes she wished she could go back and correct, the idea of becoming a flawless being seemed appealing to her.

"No! I can't think like that!" she told herself.

She even tried shaking her head, just something, anything to get the thought from her head. And yet, the young blonde couldn't deny it; this was exactly how she felt.

Now, Rachel could really feel a sense of numbness overtake her at the realization. Of course, that didn't last long. Because pretty soon, the young blonde began screaming as she felt a painful surge all along her shoulder, and even going up the side of her neck.

It only lasted for a minute, but she could still feel the tingling sensation on her neck as she went to rub it, only to find that it felt old, and wrinkly. Her eyes widened in realization; it had transformed.

"No…," was all she could muster.

Did she not have as much time as she thought? Was the curse taking less time to infect her? She didn't know. She didn't want to know. It was just too horrible to even imagine.

By now, Rachel felt so defeated by everything that was happening, that the only thing she could do was bury her head in her arms and sob quietly to herself. If only there was someone here to comfort her. If only he was here.

No, Patton wasn't with her right now, but at least she could think about him and their conversation from yesterday.

How he bravely confronted her regarding her lie towards him, how he chose to put his own feelings (whatever they were) aside to focus on her problems.

And most importantly, how he actually allowed himself to hug her in a public place, to comfort her in her moment of grief.

"Grandfather won't lay a finger on you, this time. Not on my watch."

Just remembering that made her smile.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish you were here, Patton," she whispered to herself between her sobs. "You always know what to say when I'm scared…"

It was then that Rachel wiped away the tears from her face, and her eyes lit up again with a fiery determination. Regardless of what was happening, the young girl knew she would have to find the satanic old man, and fast.

….

Wally and Alex, meanwhile, weren't doing much better, either. Mainly because they were still secluded in their hiding spot, which was a clearing just a few feet away from where the

battle had taken place.

As for what they were doing, well Wally was holding back Alex's curly hair for what felt like forever. And Alex, herself? She was throwing up the remains of her breakfast. Or rather,

finishing up.

"You feelin' any better?" he asked.

By now, his friend was hunched over with laboured breath and chewed up cereal bits coming out of her mouth.

"I think so…," replied Alex.

Before the brunette could say anything else, though, she threw up a little bit more, causing the blonde boy to roll his eyes.

"I knew twirling that fast was a bad idea," she mused.

"Well, that's your fault, mate," the boy replied as he let go of her curly hair. "You should've known betta'."

Alex shot him a glare.

"I know that!" she replied while wiping off any excess fluids with her sleeve.

"Yeah? Well maybe ye' should think before you act next time," he snapped back. "Huh? I think we just roll reversed there, for a second."

"Do you even know what term means?" she asked.

"Of course I do," he said beaming with pride. "I'm a lot more edumacated than you think, ya know?"

She snorted.

"Yeah, I'm sure you are," she replied with a sigh. "Still, at least Rachel-san's okay. Even if we don't know where she ran off too."

"Yeah," replied Wally as he sat down beside his friend. "But man, oh ,man, it was worth it! Those Citizombies aren't so tough! I don't get why Numbuh 362's so afraid of them!?"

"I can't say I blame her," the girl replied. "I wouldn't want to become a puppet on a string, either."

In a fit of confusion, Wally turned to face her.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Don't you have any memories from when you were a Citizombie?" she asked.

"Of course I do!" he replied. "I just choose not ta' think about them, is all."

"Well, did you ever feel like doing any of the things you normally like to do?" she asked.

The blonde boy actually took a moment to think this over before answering her question.

"No," he replied.

"That's exactly my point," she replied. "It's like what Drosselmeyer once said; "Marionettes' are at their freest when they're being manipulated by their strings." That's all the Citizombies are, really."

The short boy was silent for a moment.

"Well, when ye' put it like that, yeah," he finally said. "Why would she wanna go through that, again?"

"Why would anyone want to, really?" she replied. "That's why we need to help her defeat him."

With that, the young mutant stood up on her feet, again, and faced her short friend.

"I'll go this way and start looking for Rachel-san," she declared.

"Okay," he answered. "I'll contact Numbuh 1 and let 'em know what happened."

"Got it," the girl said as she flew off. "Oh, and thanks, Wallabee-kun!"

"Yeah, yeah," he said with a wave of his hand.

Unbeknownst to them, however, they were now being monitored by Grandfather. And he looked enraged. A growl escaped his mouth as he threw his fist down onto the arm rest of his chair.

"I should have known that mutant brat would try and intervene in my plans!" the satanic man growled.

He took a moment to let his hands clench themselves into fists before breathing a deep sigh, and allowing them to relax.

"No matter; I'll deal with those two, soon enough," the old man replied as he focused his attention back to the main crystal ball.

What he saw was Rachel looking around, making sure the coast was clear before running out of the crevasse she'd been taking refuge in.

"What am I going to do with you," he asked himself.

"I wish you were here, Patton…"

That caught his attention; he looked up to see a monitor screen of the blonde girl, crying, whispering to herself for her beloved.

And Grandfather smiled; seeing this gave him an idea. An awful, awful idea.

"Well, My Dear," he replied sinisterly. "If I can't persuade you, perhaps your dear Patton can…"

End Chap. 9