AUTHOR'S NOTES
Here we are again. Though the readership with this thing still hasn't been brilliant I'm glad there's been some people that have been reading it well enough. Thanks for all input so far.
Yep, it has been shown; not even Mario, the most famous videogame mascot that ever lived, could stand up to the powers of Ripto, possibly the most overused villain in the Spyro the Dragon franchise. I too find it to be really odd, but for the purpose of a tale like this, what has to be taken to account is the realism of what certain personnel could pull off at any certain time. If Mario had something other than attacks by jumping, kicking koopa shells, using the occasional hammer and fireflower, he could even measure up to some of the more armed Samaritans like Guardian Jak.
But no worries though. I still respect Mario through and through. Otherwise I would never have got New Super Mario Bros for one thing. :p I'm sure things will lighten up down the line, trust me.
Now that we're on this talk about Samaritans, when we last left Fletch and his team, they were to go to the Senatorial Housing with Mario's Wing Cap to trace the last surviving Samaritan in the entire city. And yes, THIS is the kind of climax that I was hoping to go with. Both this and the following chapter could be a bit on the short side, but I think it's well required especially after what the previous few have shown.
Thanks again!
Peace out,
-Rexy-
It didn't take me long to visit Han's house again. Several days passed since I saw the paintings and subsequently saw Akumi's anguish over her lack of contact with her birth parents. Even now I somehow felt sorry for her.
When it came to expressing personal problems, I just didn't know who else to turn to outside Han. My mother never even bothered to tell me anything relating to Akumi being an adopted child, and the kids at school were mainly too immature to understand.
So by being able to confront him at his house that week, I managed to sit him down at a nearby coffee table, exchanging glasses of warm orange juice, and getting him relaxed to the point that I could finally tell him my problems.
"Han, you need to help me out", I spoke out to him.
"What can I do for you this time?"
"It's Akumi" I began to recap. "She's been really upset lately because her real parents have been unable to contact her in a long time. I don't understand what happened. Do you think they might have left her behind on purpose?"
Han looked at me, peeking his eyes over the rim of his soccer ball mug. Looking really concerned, he placed it down and looked at me square in the eye. He seemed to be starting to get really serious about all this.
"Fletch, unless her birth parents are completely vicious and painful, she doesn't seem to be the person to be left alone like this."
"So what is it that you're saying?" I asked him with caution.
"They might have forgotten about her."
"But that's what I told her; they might have moved house, or anything like that. It certainly didn't aid the situation, to be honest."
I ended up shaking my head as I spoke, knowing that Akumi can't recover from telling her that some other event might have happened. There was something that needed to be done, and I wanted to find it… yet it was found in front of me when Han got up picked up a fountain pen from the fireplace.
"Well, if there's anything I can do to help you", he spoke as he twirled the pen around, "how about you write to someone about it?"
"Like who?" I asked with a raised voice tone. "Who else would trust someone with one functional eye?"
"They won't sense it in letters, silly."
He gave out a chuckle as he went towards a nearby fax machine in the room. He pulled out several slices of paper from the paper tray and went on to get a card with black horizontal lines on it next to it.
"Look, I say we should write it to the local newspapers. If the press pick up the plea, then we'll be one step closer to getting the attention of her birth parents."
He placed the paper and card down near me. I looked down at them – how would I figure that at some stage in my life, I'd end up writing to someone about something, especially at such unnatural events like detecting a sister's real parents?
I thought really hard. Though he seemed to be stretching it with the writing idea, I didn't want to see Akumi cry about this for any longer. I can't stand to see an elder youth than myself get upset over anything. I knew that I was in to help her out.
"I'll do it", I pledged to him.
And so, that marked the beginning of a long and tedious process that came around for the next few days. Several draft letters were written out, spell checked, and spat out before being drafted out once again.
Once that were done, several photographs were gathered around my home, trying to get people associating with Akumi. It's a shame that I saw more toddler photos than the usual, but I'll make do with one of her happier ones of that variety, so that her parents could identify her easier.
The letters were checked through over and over again, and once we had the final draft, they were sealed up inside a brown envelope, ready to be sent towards the address of the nearest newspaper firm we could locate.
In due time, we then made a journey towards a nearby letterbox. The weekend was very quickly approaching, and we thought that it could end up being really late to get the response through sometime soon.
I looked on at my envelope – I always thought my writing looked like a spider crawling across my page, but in spite of that, Han looked really confident that the entire thing would work. I assumed that there was only one way to find out - to actually place it in the letterbox.
"I hope it's been addressed clearly", I sighed at the sight of my writing.
"Fletch, stop panicking over nothing", Han sternly replied back. "There's nothing flawless about your handwriting, no matter how unconfident that you could get over it."
He smiled back at me, and it was then that I felt the instinct to look back at the letter, back at the letterbox, and at the letter again. My confidence boosted, as I somehow knew that this could be a working idea.
"Here we go!"
I stepped towards the letterbox and slipped the letter inside the dark rectangular hole that managed to grace it. Once I released my grip onto the letter as it fell with all the other postage inside, there was no turning back.
Shaking my fists slightly, I turned back to Han, whom was seen smiling and folding his arms at me. His heavy spell of optimism is something that can be of a great aid at such a serious moment in time.
"It's been sent" Han confirmed the placement. "All we got to do is make a wait for it."
"I sure hope that they pick it up well", I spoke as I placed my hands together. "I don't want to see Akumi get all heartbroken over nothing."
"I doubt it. I'm sure there's something that can be done to make her feel comfortable again."
He then made his walk towards me and placed his hand on top of my shoulder, as if he was my soccer team coach – if I was even in a sports team to begin with. Continuing to look at me, I placed my hand around his shoulders and we both walked back to his house together.
The skies above me never felt so peaceful and relaxing. The few trees that were around the avenue we walked down drifted by gently in the breeze, with several doves sweeping across the sky and hovering their way down the street.
"So what do you say we should do in the time being?" I asked Han as we walked under a weeping willow.
"How about we all play Monopoly together?" he made his suggestion. "It should be easy enough. We can do it with three of us. It'll also take Akumi's mind off the whole thing."
"You're on!"
I gave out a determined glare. Sure, a board game should be a great method to help calm down the nerves as far as I'm concerned. Maybe I should let her buy Boardwalk, give her two community chest cards to open with or put Han or myself in Jail straight away in order to give her some advantage this time, I thought while thinking of potential ways to relax her.
Whichever would happen, I somehow knew that the next few days are not going to be easy. Who would have figured that a plea to detect someone's real parents would actually go as far as contacting the local papers?
Whether it would end up in the pages itself or not, I'm just glad that I at least took the next step in order to reunite her with her real family. And even if the application fails to occur, I'm still going to stick around as a potential guardian for her, just like I promised to my mother a long time ago.
Day 6
Senatorial Housing, Philips Cosmopolitan District – 4:05PM
The skies were slowly tinting towards a blue-purple-crimson shade, with the silver clouds being shadowed as time slowly consumed and the sun started to make its journey towards the Western horizon.
In that time, Fletch and the group were seen making an ascent up a long flight of stairs, heading up a hillside right at the northernmost point of town. They showed exhaustion as they got further and further up, unknowing of how many more stairs they should climb to make their way to the top.
And then, they finally reached the top. They looked around, and paid their attention directly towards the building in front of them – the Senatorial Housing itself, intact and standing still in all of its majesty.
"It's been a long climb", Fletch remarked as he tried to regain his breath, "but we're up there. I hope this is the right place."
"I'm sure this is it", Jade securely stated out loud. "It feels very political in structure, not to mention symbolic. The guys at Club Ubi would really appreciate photographs of this area if they required them."
Jade looked straight up towards the top of the building, and saw the roof shining gently with a purple tint as the sun continued to set. She then made her observations around the rest of the building, knowing for sure that it could be a powerful place to traverse inside.
"Are you ready to use the Wing Cap?" Sora asked Fletch as he took a hold of his standard blue cap and gave him the Wing cap.
Fletch gave off a solemn yet grateful nod. "Though I still feel bitter over the events from back at the Green Goomba District, I'm still ready to go through with this."
Fletch sighed as he took a tight grasp upon the Wing Cap. He then looked on at the front door with a blank stare, and it didn't take too long for his expression to make a change to a more serious one.
"Let's go."
With that remark, he placed the Wing Cap upon the top of his head, and marched his way straight towards the front door itself. With every passing step, he could see more of his reflection among the shiny gloss-like surface.
But as soon as he managed to reach the door, two white orbs appeared from the gutters, opening up hatches etched onto them. They revealed themselves to be red lasers, attempting to strike Fletch; he quickly stepped back away from them, gasping at the sight of them.
"Damn!" he shrieked. "Why do we have those lasers coming out?"
"Maybe the Wing Cap won't fit on just about anyone", frowned Ratchet. "I don't understand."
Darkwing soon made his way towards Fletch and Sora with his hands outstretched. "Hey, give me that!"
With an exclamation of determination, Darkwing threw his hat to the ground, snatched the Wing Cap away from Fletch and made his walk straight towards the door himself, his fists getting clutched tighter than snowballs over time.
The lasers continued to try shooting, this time focusing at Darkwing as he came closer and closer towards the door. And as soon as he found a stable position, he raised one hand in the air and shouted towards the building.
"I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the borrower that returns all possessions from Mobius to the Mushroom Kingdom! I am Darkwing Duck!"
Unfortunately for him, the red lasers managed to strike him and knock him towards the floor on his back. As soon as the impact faded out, he was seen in a burnt state with feathers starting to fall out of place and several fresh holes coming through his cape.
"So much for that idea", he weakly mumbled in pain.
Joanna responded back with a shake of the head. "Maybe security has tightened up since the whole scare with Ariel leaving this place. How else can we get inside though?"
Joanna focused her attention to the rest of the team, whom mainly ended up showing blanks upon one another. How could the Wing Cap fail at a critical moment like that, she thought hard to herself.
Yet before she could think of any ideas herself, Sora looked towards his pockets and withdrew the COM link device from his pocket. Holding onto it tightly, he made a run towards the side of the building.
"Sora, what are you doing?" Spidey tried to ask.
"I'll be right back! I've got an idea, but I need to contact Fox!"
Spidey tried to run to catch up with him, but before he could do anything, Jade placed a hand upon his shoulder, indicating that the key bearer should be free to do whatever he should be doing.
They all looked on towards the back of the building, wondering what Sora is implying to assist the team at a moment like that. They thought hard over the past experiences with Fox – firstly they helped the team with grouping Fletch with Sora and Darkwing to tackle the missing persona case, secondly they eventually stormed the John Moors District, and thirdly they were the first to inform the group about the Seven Samaritans.
Whatever they could do in this current phase could be anyone's guess at that moment in time. All that they could do is wait and see what would happen as a result, even if it could take the rest of the evening.
Unknown to the rest of the team, Ripto was seen making his way straight towards the back door of the building. By then, several deep footprints were seen of him traversing among the soft lawn that graced the housing's rear.
He soon made a stop towards the door itself, which was shown to be of a copper color and a significantly more square formation than what was seen upon the building's front door. Just as similarly, he could see portions of his own reflection upon it.
Yet, he didn't focus upon that, as instead, he pointed his own sceptre towards the door, causing it to glow with an eerie red aura and reflecting back strongly in his own eyes without him screaming out for pain.
"The time has come!" he cheered sinisterly.
A charged shot of red aura energy made its way towards the door, striking it straight towards the middle of it. As it then fell towards its hinges, he made his way straight inside the building, ready to continue his journey inside.
His reflection was seen just as strongly among the checked tiles that formed the floor, and even that showed a more distorted viewpoint of his own progressing determined facial expression with each passing step.
And then, he made a turn to the right. A large set of golden doors was seen directly in front of him. Bearing their status in mind, he gave out a broad smirk as he started to approach them, somehow being heavily aware of what would be beyond the passage.
Fifteen minutes passed and Sora didn't make his return towards the rest of the team. By then, Darkwing resorted to sitting on the floor with Fletch coming next to him. Spidey and Jade looked on together, with Ratchet and Joanna being at their opposing sides.
And then, Sora finally did emerge from the side of the building, still using the COM link device to communicate to the receiving end. The call was soon over, leaving him to pack it up and place it back inside his pocket.
Making a steady walk to the rest of the team, a more stern face than the usual managed to grace his body. Darkwing leered upon it with a slanted look in his eye, and bearing that in mind he stood up and placed his hands on his hips, looking on at his partner.
"Okay, Smart Alec", he addressed Sora with a leer. "What was your intention to contact Fox for anyway?"
"If in doubt, ring HQ", the key bearer responded while folding his arms. "They're bringing someone over to help us out here. And they claim that they'd get this sorted out in a matter of seconds."
"But how?" Darkwing asked in return.
Sora gave out a shrug. All he could do was believe the words of a very close set of outside figures from the main combat. With that, he sat down next to Fletch, with Darkwing making his seating next to the key bearer.
"Did someone use a communications device out here?"
The shout caused the group to all turn straight towards the steps that they just walked from. And they saw from the base that a figure was seen flying a few inches above the ground with a familiar looking jet board.
The figure then came closer and closer towards them, before being able to show itself in full view right at the top of the steps. The distinguishable blue suit, yellow toned skin and engraved N marking on his forehead made him instantly recognisable.
"Senator Cortex!" Fletch called out to him.
"I knew I'd be needed somehow", the Senator remarked while punching the air. "What problem do you have?"
"Look, we have a tool that Mario used to get inside the building", Fletch briefly stated concerning the functionalities of the Wing Cap. "But it won't let us."
Fletch then walked towards Darkwing, reclaimed the Wing Cap from his hands and showed it towards Cortex. The senator brought his own hands towards it and looked at it himself, then at the doors. He then gave out a shaken sigh.
"I'd call it tight security now. Ariel has changed a lot of ideals around during his time of rule here. Why, I just don't know."
At the sound of the remark, Fletch sighed with tension, knowing that in the end the Wing Cap was proven to be useless. Feeling defeated, he lowered his head to the floor and hung his arms as loose as sausages in a butcher's shop.
"Luckily, there's another way to get inside", Cortex spoke again, this time with a rare smile showing on his face. "Stand back because this may take more room than implied."
Fletch soon looked up, focusing upon Cortex as he made his way straight towards the front door. Expecting more lasers to shoot out, Fletch ended up shielding his eyesight, hoping not to see anything crucial happen as a result.
Several seconds later, he heard nothing. He regained his focus, only to see Cortex placing one of his hands upon the door. And upon contact, a mild blue aura managed to surround the panel itself.
"By the order of Senator Neo Cortex, I command you to open the door for access to the Senatorial Housing!"
With his exclamation, the aura started to give off several pulses of energy, sending them around his immediate area like sound waves from a boom box. Upon the sight of them getting more intense, he soon released his grip upon the door.
He then ended up turning towards Fletch, revealing that he had some sort of wristband underneath one of his sleeves – possibly the tool required to pass through the tough security, the boy thought to himself.
In that amount of time, the door flashed a bright shade of cyan, before quickly fading out and allowing the door to open slowly. The hallways of the building were seen easily from several footsteps away from the door.
"You did it!" Fletch cheered from nearby. "Thank you very much! I never thought you'd turn out to be so useful around here."
"I know", Cortex spoke with doubt. "But I still feel worried about seeing the rest of the Senate in this state."
Cortex lowered his head, thinking so much about his more differing methods to aid the city's restoration. But his feelings were soon challenged as soon as Fletch came to him and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Look, you only did what you thought was right in the end. We can't deny that. We already went through this talk two days ago. Now, let's go inside the building and track down the last Samaritan!"
Fletch pointed straight towards the door, holding his spear with one hand. Looking determined, he made a brisk march straight towards the steps that lead directly inside the lobby of the building itself.
The others soon followed one by one, though amongst the group, Cortex still looked insecure about his re-approaching towards the Senatorial Housing. As far as he was concerned, he didn't approach the building for several days at a time.
Yet, so much could have happened in those several days. The longer the delay he would spend between when he left the building and his re-union with the rest of the Senate, the tenser he could be. He knew that the time to act was now.
As the group went further and further into the heart of the Senatorial Housing, the hallways started to get darker and more damaged. Fletch looked around, and started to see chandeliers barely remaining firm upon their respective ceilings, picture frames about to fall off and various vases shattered into thousands of pieces.
Looking fearful that something might have happened, he took a hold onto Darkwing's arm, whom in turn held onto that for Cortex, whom consequently held onto Ratchet's arm; the lombax then gave off a disgruntled shake of the head.
Their shadows continued to extend as the mood became tenser and the light from outside started to gain a significantly more red tint with each passing second. It was as if they were in a preliminary scene for a horror movie.
"So by Cortex's description, there's 9 staff other than Ariel and himself that work here", Jade summarised the current situation. "But how do we find out who's the Samaritan?"
"Do you remember what Blaze said about the emblems they wore?" Fletch replied back. "We have those to turn back to."
Fletch looked towards Darkwing, whom was seen struggling to hold all three emblems together in his arms. Suddenly, one started to fall but before it could do that, Fletch grabbed onto it and held it with his own two hands. The obvious dragon marking on the back showed that to be Spyro's.
"We have emblems from Spyro, Rayman and Mario. But what happened to the others?"
"I have two of them", Cortex reacted with a light smile. "However, odds are Ripto might have found Guardian Jak's by now."
In response, Cortex went inside his coat and pulled out two more green emblems. The marking of the hedgehog on the back of one of which showed that one to be Sonic's emblem, which was held alongside a similar emblem, except its back had the silhouette of a rat-like creature's head, complete with pointed ears.
"I found Sonic's after abducting him, and I was entrusted with Crash's as he almost always loses things."
"I never thought he'd end up doing that", Fletch shook his head with semi-embarrassment. "But still, up to now, they just served as keys to the city's many districts. Maybe it's a gift from the Samaritans to explore everywhere we can."
"You're on", Ratchet said quietly as he came to a complete stop. "Still, this place must be huge. We might end up taking a while."
Ratchet looked on ahead, seeing a set of double doors ahead and similar looking doors to their left and right. Looking towards a window just before the left turn showed that that route would lead towards what seemed like a storage area. Being curious over the best route of the remaining two doors, he walked towards the door to the right first.
He opened that door and saw nothing more than another dark corridor; he squinted his eyes, and saw the end in sight, which was nothing more than a way to a bathroom. He sighed, closed the door and walked towards the one ahead, but before he could open it, the sound of a rumble was felt upon his feet.
"Duck!" he exclaimed while pointing towards the door ahead.
In response, the entire group ducked towards the ground, just in time to see the door in front of them blown off from its hinges. A red aura shot above the group, finally landing on a nearby dresser, causing a flowerpot to fall over and smash and meet the same fate as the other damaged porcelain pottery.
"That blast came from the conference room!" Cortex shouted as he pointed towards the doorway.
"Right", Fletch shouted while gaining his standing position. "You lead us there, and we'll do the rest."
Cortex responded with a nod, proceeding to put away Crash's and Sonic's emblems inside his coat at the same time. Fletch and Darkwing followed on by stashing away the emblems they found together.
They all ran straight through the doors in front of them, seeing a more damaged corridor than what was seen in the route that they took prior to their arrival. The checked tiles on the floor were cracked, tears were seen in the wallpaper, and the door ahead was seen almost burnt to a crisp.
Cortex pointed towards the door, indicating that that would be their next stop – the Conference room. There was no time to waste; whatever the source of the aura was, the fact remained that they were there for one reason – to locate the last of the Samaritans.
The conference room, where the rest of the Senate usually met with one another, was seen in a more deranged state than what has been usually imagined. The main table was smashed into multiple parts, the chairs were similarly tossed around and damaged, and the large window that graced one of the walls was completely broken.
In one corner of the room, Ripto was seen making his walk straight towards one of the corners of the room, where a large mound was seen covered in wooden rubble. He soon made his walk straight towards it, pointing his sceptre forward.
Several paces later, he came to a stop, with his feet only just being inches away from it. He then took a hold onto some of the rubble with his other hand and tossed them behind him, further causing damage to the main table upon landing.
"Say your prayers, Samaritan", he cackled deviously. "You're my last remaining step to ensure that I follow up as Ariel's successor."
Several thrown slabs later soon showed the mound to be clearer. Yet it wasn't just any set of mound – it was a very tall figure. The figure of the Prime Chancellor was seen deep within the wreckage, knocked out cold and thus completely unaware of his current surroundings.
"I'm glad the chloroform did you good. I wouldn't have want to put up with any more of those cries for mercy after what I faced from my previous two prisoners."
"Hold it right there!" screamed a voice from behind him.
The door leading inside the conference room was swung open violently, almost causing it to fall from one of its hinges. Fletch soon stepped inside, and looked around the ruined room before focusing on the corner where Ripto and the Prime Chancellor were.
Upon seeing the sorcerer's face, he retaliated by gritting his teeth, withdrawing his spear and posing, urging to strike. His opponent retaliated by using his sceptre in a strikingly similar stance to the boy's.
"Ripto?" Fletch questioned with surprise. "How did you get inside?"
"YOU again? I thought I saw the last of you on top of Mario's blazing apartment block!"
"You're not getting away with this. You're not taking the last Samaritan", Fletch acted defensive as he tried to identify with the Prime Chancellor. "Uh… whoever he is."
"That's not any Senate member", Cortex spoke while shaking his head with fear. "That's the Prime Chancellor - the King of All Cosmos!"
"So true", Ripto sneered while nodding his head. "With you having easy connections to him, we made a deal to save him till last. But now that you're out of it, you'll NEVER become an Emperor!"
"Neither will you!"
Cortex managed to push his way through the rest of the team and withdrew his laser gun as he made his progress. Once he was merely several meters away from Ripto, he pointed his weapon straight towards his head.
"You've come so far, and yet, you'll fall at a hurdle on a path that you shouldn't have taken in the first place!"
"You're asking for a fight, are you?" Ripto growled as he pointed his sceptre slightly higher. "You've had it!"
In retaliation, Ripto pointed his sceptre into the air, causing a series of falling sparks to fall straight towards the ground. The group retaliated by stepping back, only just missing their feet by several inches.
He then summoned a platform upon his feet, causing him to rise straight into the air with such powerful creative magic. Another wave of his weapon caused what looked like a spiked shielded barrier to show up around him.
He cackled as he saw that he was in a position to do whatever attacks possible without the possibility of getting hurt. The sight of that somehow left Fletch to push through the rest of the team and look up at him.
"We need to get past his defences, everyone!" He commanded the rest of the team… before going quiet. "But how do we do it? I don't think that I can get through with my spear!"
"Let me handle it!"
Cortex soon stepped forward, pointing his laser straight into the air. All that Ripto could do was cackle at the sight of his weapon. That in turn resulted in the senator starting to end up with a red face.
He retaliated by withdrawing his jet board, mounting onto it and flying into the air, shooting the weapon while noting a weak spot near the feet – the more exposed areas of his defences according to the position of the spikes on his shield.
"How slow do you seem to be?" the Senator cackled viciously. "You may be powerful, but you won't overcome my flight speed!"
Ripto roared as he felt the laser shots go against his feet. He then retaliated by disintegrating several spikes from the shield and taking the opportunity to launch various red orbs towards the senator.
In response, Cortex flew away – upside down on the jet board – and made his flight towards the ceiling of the room. Maintaining his position, he continued to find gaps in the shield to shoot towards the sorcerer.
"Incoming!"
The continuous laser shots soon caused the shield to disintegrate more and more, up until the last of the spikes managed to fizz away into nothing. All that Ripto could do was react with flying away from that part of the room.
It didn't take long before Cortex started aiming for the crystal platform that he was seen hovering on. Several dozen shots later, the platform disintegrated, and Ripto was sent flying towards the floor.
"This must be mine!" Fletch cheered as he made his pacing towards the scene.
Fletch then rushed to Ripto as he made his fall towards the ruins of the large table. He looked up from his position and saw the boy towering over him, his spear pointing straight down towards the sorcerer.
There, he retaliated by waving his spear into the air, trying to inflict whatever damage possible while finding ways to get past Ripto's blockages with his sceptre. It didn't take long until the latter was close to getting cornered.
"Knock it off!" He exclaimed as he used a red magical aura to generate a light barrier around him. "Get out of here, you miserable brat!"
There, he responded by using his sceptre to make similar attacks to what Fletch managed to pull off with his own weapon. But in comparison to how the boy attacked, he also threw in some magical flares among his attack range, trying to blind his opponent.
They managed to cause an effect on Fletch, which somehow made his attacks slightly less frequent than the usual. He then resorted to using the spear as a way of blocking whatever attacks came from Ripto.
"He sure can possess some physical strength as well", Fletch pondered out loud.
"Don't worry about that", Cortex responded from behind. "I'll try and give you a hand!"
He looked up, and saw Cortex hovering near the ceiling, being able to hold onto his jet board as he did so. It didn't take long until he managed to position himself at the head of the room, onto the ruins of the chair that the Prime Chancellor usually sat on.
He then withdrew his laser and aimed towards Fletch and Ripto, both of them still engaged in fighting. He focused hard upon the latter, ready to make his move. The trigger was pulled… but that resulted in nothing coming out; looking close at the fuel compartment, he noted that there was no energy remaining.
"My ammo!" he exclaimed with a panicked expression. "What… what's going on? How can I run dry on a date like this?"
"I'll take it from here."
Sora managed to step in front of Cortex, aiming his key straight towards Fletch and Ripto. Knowing that it could take a while to separate the pair, there was an action that could still be taken in response.
"POWER!" he exclaimed while clutching his free fist to his chest.
"Not again…!" Darkwing frowned as he was lifted into the air by a purple aura.
The glow from his key caused Darkwing to end up being towed towards Sora, soon making his landing towards the key bearer. They both fused again, once again resulting in his clothes turning purple.
Sora first retaliated by using his keyblade to shoot various plasma shots towards Ripto, trying to separate him from Fletch. Yet, the intensity of his red flares made it difficult to land perfect shots from the current floor angle.
"Sora, hop on!" exclaimed a voice to his left.
The shout caused Sora to look to his left and see Cortex hovering nearby on his jet board. Having understood the capabilities of the technology behind it, the key bearer somehow knew that the senator was onto something.
And so he hovered his way towards the jet board itself and stood firm upon it. Then, they both took off towards the ceiling. Cortex then crouched down and locked himself onto the board with his hands and knees as the board then performed a few barrel rolls; Sora, however, managed to find a way to connect his feet so that he would never fall off when the board went upside down.
"Let's do this!" Sora exclaimed with confidence as he spun his keyblade around effortlessly.
Still hanging upside down, Sora pointed the key towards Ripto and Fletch, this time being able to come close enough to inflict some more significant damage. By then, the attacks by the former started to become significantly less frequent.
Several shots later, it soon got to the point that there were so many of Sora's shots that managed to rebound all over the conference room, causing Ripto to start to retreat away from Fletch and try to dodge the shots himself.
"He's running around like a headless chicken!" Ratchet remarked to Fletch from the sidelines. "What should we do?"
"Ratchet!" Fletch called out to him. "Let's whack their shots back! We'll do it!"
And after making that remark, Fletch and Ratchet stood together, back to back, holding onto their spear and wrench respectively, ready to take aim upon the flying purple plasma shots that flew over their heads.
They soon got started in deflecting them, attempting to strike them towards Ripto. Some shots managed to strike onto his body, while some of the others ended up flying out of the broken windows.
"Jade! Spidey!" Joanna called out to the remaining comrades.
Joanna turned back towards Jade and Spider-Man, whom were seen trying to shield themselves from the guidelines. Then, they knew that no matter how involved the others were, their input would still matter greatly.
In response, Spidey managed to shoot a web stream towards the ceiling and ascend towards it, before going straight back down – once again being able to create what seemed like a manual lifting system, just like when they fought Cortex at the John Moors district.
And then, he followed his move with allowing for Joanna to come underneath the same spot on the ceiling where the mechanism was located. She secured the web around her waist and then allowed for Spidey to hoist her up to the ceiling.
"What are you doing?" Ripto frowned towards his adversaries.
Among the plasma shots sent by Sora and deflected by Fletch and Ratchet, Joanna decided to send in several pistol shots of her own being deflected by Jade from the ground, the bullets being covered in a bright blue aura upon being touched. Many more of them managed to inflict damage towards Ripto's body, but in spite of that, he was still on hand to raise his sceptre to the air and allow a scarlet glow around it.
"LIMIT BREAK!!!"
And from the tip of the sceptre, several waves of red light energy started to shatter their way across the room, causing a burning set of lights to strike upon the bodies of the personnel inside the room.
Upon fading out, it was seen that the entire room was completely broken down, so that the rooms that connected it were seen through broad and visible cracks in the wall. Many of the personnel were also seen knocked out and sent towards the ground. Even Darkwing was separated from Sora's body and was left unconscious with his head stuck in a set of nearby rubble. All that Ripto could do was cackle with delight as he saw his surroundings.
"You're almost mine! Your journey is just about to make its end right here, losers!"
"Not as long as I'm here!" exclaimed a nearby voice.
The shout caused him to stop and look. Looking to the left and right left him to see nothing but ruins all around him. All that the sorcerer could do was blink with confusion… all before hearing a light knock on a nearby wall.
"What???" Ripto reacted with shock.
And through the wall itself, Fletch managed to break his way through, revealing himself to have guarded himself well against Ripto's limit break. Withdrawing his spear once again, he then used it to trap the sorcerer's cape into the floor.
"AAAARGGH!!!"
Ripto tried to retaliate by withdrawing his sceptre once again and pointing it towards the boy, but before he could even respond, Fletch managed to knock it out of his hands, sending it skidding its way across to the other side of the room.
Trying to free himself from the spear's tight grasp, Ripto tried to tug onto the floor and hold onto whatever tiles were stuck out near him. But in spite of his best efforts, nothing could seem to happen.
Having seen that the sorcerer has become stuck, Fletch then took it upon his own duty and make his walk towards the creature, before standing in front of him eye to eye. A look filled with disgust was shown upon him.
"Leave the Samaritan alone, Ripto", Fletch growled bitterly towards him. "You're not going to conquer this world with such a weak taskforce like that."
"Please", the prophet began to whimper. "You must be facing a mistake!"
"We are aware that you want to use six of the Samaritans to rule the city yourself. You are officially the greediest creature we have seen around here."
"STOP!" shouted a mystery voice.
The shout caused both figures to pause in their tracks, all before looking towards the front door. In spite of one half of the entrance being obscured by rubble and the door being knocked down, a figure was still clearly visible.
To their point of view, it was a very familiar female figure. The devil wings and tail managed to give everything away over her identity, causing both Fletch's and Ripto's eyes to widen simultaneously.
"Acting Guardian Etna?" Fletch identified her. "What are you doing here?"
"You know exactly what I'm doing", she growled bitterly. "I'm here to take away the attackers of this innocent young toad."
Fletch was taken aback at the response. "What?"
Ripto similarly responded with an awkward glare. "Etna, don't you DARE refer to me as a toad ever again!!"
Etna soon folded her arms, twitching her tail gently. "Fletch, face the facts - you tried to kill him. Not only that, but the Chancellor also looks close to death!"
"But Ripto said it was chlorofo-"
"SILENCE! I've had enough of your pathetic lies, especially since you came here to make many cruel assassinations around here."
And with a scowl on her face, she made her approach towards Fletch, taking several devious stamps towards him. That caused the boy to end up taking several steps back, before being cornered on a nearby wall.
He looked to his left and saw the King of All Cosmos, still out cold from entering the room to begin with. He looked to his right and saw the broken windows. Unless there was any escape from Etna, he knew that there was going to be no way out.
"You have to be kidding!" Fletch screamed with panic. "You gave me the spear, and you wished me on my merry way! Why are you confronting me like this?"
"Perhaps I did give something to you", she started, "but it's the treatment of it that counts. You know what happens from here."
She then scowled as she managed to reach for Fletch's spear, instantly taking a hold of it herself. For that, she now knew that once again, the boy has become absolutely defenceless – not a hope that he will ever be able to strike back from the coming situation.
"Guards, send them to jail!"
Not long after she chanted, a group of prinnies managed to make their way into the room. Two of which managed to surround Fletch and take a hold of him by their hands; she then stepped out of the way as they towed him away.
"Etna, what are you doing?" he tried to ask her.
Her eyes were fixed more on the prinnies than the boy. "Send them to the dungeons, before I reduce your salaries!"
She pointed towards the door, where the prinnies continued to pull the personnel through the door. Knowing that Fletch had faced a grim way through, he looked towards the rest of his surroundings.
Only this time, he knew that his friends won't be of much help to get him out of that mess, as they would all together be sent towards a dark and dangerous location for an unspecified amount of time.
"It's only a matter of time before the city will face its most glorious moments in existence", she cackled more deviously than the usual. "Thank you very much."
With that remark, she walked towards the middle of the room and looked around her. She saw damaged doors and windows around her, the smell of fear in the air and the presence of Ripto not too far from her.
With a relieved smile, the sorcerer made his walk towards her and soon made a step towards her right hand side. Holding each others' hands, they both looked on at their immediate surroundings together.
The red skies outside shaded their bodies with a tint of a sinister expressive atmosphere. In addition, the rubble and decay around the room made then realise one thing has come through as a result.
The time of the Senate of Theoropolis as they know it has cased and desisted.
-end of chapter-