Chapter 11 – Travel
'Gotta get away!' Savage told herself as she moved through the air in her ship, 'Can't let him get my ship!' She tilted the joystick down, sending the strange creature into a dive of some sort. Nightmare followed closely, determined to get his mask around the ship. He heard a loud splash, and was quickly swept away by a large wave of salt water. His body wasn't used to it, the wet, salty liquid of the ocean. He tried moving his wings, but found that they would sooner fold than work under water. With a few pushes of his claws hands, he surfaced, looking around for the ship. "Damnit!" he told himself, and then thought of something, "No!" he told himself again, and once again dunked his head. The ship swam just like a whale, the large tail propelling it deeper and deeper into the depths that he knew he would most likely be crushed under. "Damnit." he said under water. He found his voice strange, no bubbles emerged from his mouth, and he could feel the energy in his body begin to fade. "I need a better source of energy!" he said, and pumped his arms to swim back to shore. "I hate the water!" he said.
"I hate the dark!" Mittens said as she and her friends and husband walked down a large darkened corridor. The bat and the lizard had joined them on the ground while Dustin walked behind Bolt, "You don't seem to mind it when…" Bolt began, and quickly received a glare from his wife. "Look dog, if we wanted to hear about your love life we'd ask!" Dustin said. Bolt growled as he continued down the hall, "Can I please just have one bite of his neck?" Dark Bolt asked, "I promise not to swallow and I'll go for the throat, kill him quickly!" Bolt just flattened his eyes, his annoyance beginning to grow. "Just thought you might appreciate the bastard getting what he's asking for!" Dark Bolt explained.
"Uh, thank you for saving us?" he heard the bat say. "Any time!" Bolt responded. "My name is Whisper. I'm a really big fan of yours!" the bat continued. "Whisper huh?" Bolt asked. "Well Whisper, it's a pleasure to meet you!"
"This is Click Tock! That…THING was planning to use us like he used Shelde and Pyth." Whisper said for his lizard friend. "Who was Shelde and Pyth?" Mittens asked. Suddenly Click Tock blushed and shied away behind Whisper, "Sorry about him, he's a bit shy!" Whisper explained, "Shelde and Pyth were the scorpion and mouse he used to make that first…thing!"
"That was a mouse?" Bolt asked. Whisper and Click Tock silently nodded in sorrow. "She was so nice to talk to!" Click Tock said. His voice was soft and kind, almost childlike in sound. "Sorry!" Bolt said, and again the lizard shied away. "Click Tock had a cage next to the mice and rabbits. Shelde was the only one willing who would try and talk to him." Whisper explained. "Sorry for your loss!" Mittens said. "Whoa, whoa!" Dustin finally said, "What the hell are you and you new animal friends even saying?"
"Oh yah I forgot." Bolt said, "Clueless here can't speak animal!"
"Watch it!" Dustin countered. Mittens glared at the both of them. "You two must have some skills." Rhino said as he rolled his ball up to a door. "Well, I don't know about that…" Whisper said, and Angelira flapped her wings, leveling her eye to the hole in the wall. The light scanned her, and focused solely on her left eye. "Welcome back, Angelira Avona." the computer said, and the room lit up with a green light. "Guests detected, shall I grant them access?"
"Sure, just don't let them use anything without permission!" she responded. Dustin simply growled, "Acknowledged!" the computer said, and the wall next to the door opened up. "Ok…Didn't see that one coming!" Dustin said in surprise. "You weren't supposed to!" Rhino said with pride.
The moment they all entered the room, they were all in shock. People ran back and forth getting stations ready, the giant screen in front of them got Dustin thinking about football, and Bolt turned his head, spotting the O-TIP. With a smile, he walked on over to it, and barked. "Well done Rhino, looks like the one we had in our basement!" he said. "I like it!" Mittens said as she joined him. "Is this that…O-TIP…thing?" Dustin asked, "Yah, this is what will get us to Savage first!" Bolt said. "You mean get me to Savage first!" Dustin corrected. Bolt and Mittens turned to him, "Don't argue, the plan is, I go into the ship and get her out. You two and fuzzball keep that Nightmare thing off of her trail!"
"Wait, why should we go with your plan?" Bolt asked. "Because it's the only one I've heard, and it has the least amount of 'Getting You Killed' I can think of, and trust me I've had a lot of time to think about it." Dustin told him. "I didn't know you cared!" Bolt said. "Don't get me wrong, we're still not friends! But Mittens is right, I'll do anything for that alien." Dustin told the dog. Bolt lifted his eyes in surprise, thinking about what the human had said, "Alright then!" he responded, "Just don't get yourself killed in their ok?" Dustin turned away from Bolt, "Hell, I'll slap her silly if I have to!" he said, and walked towards the machine. "How does it work?" he asked. "We' need someone to operate it from this side. The senshol is kind of like a dispatcher and informant." Rhino told him. "Set me up!" Dustin said. "No one has had any experience!" Rhino told him, "You might get teleported into the ocean floor, or even a wall!"
"Hey, I believe in beginners luck!" Dustin said. "In that case, stand on the platform and take this!" Ducker said as he walked into the room. In his hand he held another of the wrist communicators. "WHAT?" Rhino shouted, "You're just going to give him one of those?"
"I wished there was something I could have done for my wife and child back then. I know time travel is impossible but I thought about it every day!" Ducker said, catching the other human man's attention, "But there is something you can do for the one you love!" Ducker said as he handed the wrist com to Dustin, "You can get in, and get her out. I can't take an opportunity like that away." Dustin looked Ducker in the eyes, searching for any kind of betrayal. He reached his hand out to grab the watch, but it was quickly pulled away, "But if you dare put any of my people at risk I'll hunt you down myself, and I'm not as nice as Bolt!" Ducker said as he nearly pressed the tip of his nose to Dustin's, the brow of his eyes curved to a downward point as he glared menacingly at the other man. "Yah, I get it!" Dustin said, and the watch was returned, allowing Dustin to grab it. "Get a position on the ship!" Ducker said as Dustin walked towards the O-TIP, strapping the watch to his left wrist. "Huh, looks pretty straight forward!" Dustin said as he walked onto the platform. "Target sighted. Calculating point of transport." said one of the solders at the computers. They had been changed, wearing instead of military uniforms, an off white shirt and slacks with a jacket over top, a badge on their left lapel showing their new ranks as was decided and named by Kelly Nortlund and Ducker. "Oh by the way, it feels funky for the first time!" Bolt shouted out. "What?" Dustin asked, right before he disappeared. "Oops!" the senshol said, "I miscalculated the speed."
"By how much?" Ducker asked. Suddenly everyone heard static over the com line, and Dustin's face appeared on screen, "Ok dumbasses! Who's the genius who landed me in this thing's ass?" he asked. "Not by much!" the senshol said. "You were right about beginner's luck!" Ducker said. "Har, har, #$%$ off!" Dustin said in response and held up his right middle finger. "Just get over to her and see if you can help her make the right choice." Ducker told him. "Do you know how long that's going to take?" Dustin asked, "This thing is huge!"
"And it's going to take longer if you don't stop complaining!" Ducker told him, "We were never able to map the inside of the creature, just keep your watch on and try to find the bridge!"
"You mean the head?" Dustin asked with sarcasm and frustration in his voice. "Look smart ass, call it what you want, you're girlfriend is up there having a psychotic breakdown!" Ducker told him, his anger beginning to show with a sigh. Dustin glared at the screen, and grumbled something in audible before the screen went dark. Bolt was chuckling the whole time with Mittens and Rhino at his sides and Angelira on his back. It stopped once Ducker turned to them, "Now it's your turn!" he said. "Actually, I'd like to make a quick stop first!" Mittens said. Ducker, Rhino, Angelira and Bolt all looked to her curiously, "To Neutros please!"
"Neutros?" Ducker asked. "You know our communication equipment won't work there!" Mittens nodded, "I know, but I've been thinking about something ever since I faced Dark Bolt that last time!" she said. Everyone turned to her, "I need to master all of my magic to be able to face Nightmare properly, I'm just going to get in the way with everyone getting stronger and me…just staying put!" she explained. "But Mittens," Bolt began, "you have gotten stronger, look at all the things you can do!"
"And look at the things I can learn!" Mittens responded softly, "I can cast spells, yes! But I don't really understand them. I need to do this Bolt!" Bolt looked into her pleading eyes, the shine of tears ready to spill let him see his own face in them. He finally sighed, "I'm going with you!" he said. "No we need you here!" Ducker said. "It'll be like we're only gone a few minutes!" Bolt told him knowing full well that it wasn't the truth, "Neutros' time frame moves much faster than ours."
"It'll be nice to see Neutros again!" Rhino said. "My home!" Angelira said, "I wonder how much it's changed in these eight Earth years?" Ducker placed his fingers to the bridge of his nose, "Uh, fine!" he said, "Lock in pre calculated coordinates for the Avona home on Neutros please!" Kelly swiped her fingers along the pad, "Pre calculated coordinates set." she said, "O-TIP is ready to transport." The four heroes climbed aboard the platform, and stood there watching it light up, "Preparing to teleport. Destination Neutros!" Kelly said as everyone heard the hum of the machine. "Good luck!" Ducker said, and they disappeared. Suddenly one of the senshols at their computer lifted their head in realization, "Wait." she said in a slight confusion, "I thought Earth was faster than Neutros!" Ducker looked to the girl, then back to the O-TIP, "DAMNIT BOLT!" he yelled!
End Chapter 11
