Part 1 of 5 for the Totem Arc. I hope you enjoy part one.
Chapter 28: Book of Prophecy: Part 1 Stealth Mission
After three hours of walking from Mount Blackhead, Holden finally reaches the small camp where Gwen is at. Gwen is sitting at a table with a man in a black cloak and scythe. The man looks up and Holden recognizes the person as Grim, the supernatural being who is bound to Billy and Mandy forever.
Grim smiles as Holden approaches and says, "Hey mon. Long time no see."
Holden sits down at the table next to Gwen and looks over at Grim and responds, "Are you on vacation from your store and from Billy and Mandy?"
Grim nods but responds coldly, "Yeah mon, but it got interrupted last week by Finn, Jake, and Princess Bubblegum. Finn was obsession about rescuing princesses from the Ice King. Here, I picked these up while I was helping them."
Grim releases two nanos from his com and they float into the air. One is of Alien X and the other is Waybig. They float over and enter Holden's com and join the other nanos Downtown.
Holden then looks over at Gwen and says questioningly, "So what's this stealth mission you need me for about?"
Gwen smiles broadly and says, "Well it's hard to explain, but a few weeks ago, May Kanker got her hands on a book that had weird potion recipes and magic spells. She tried to use one on Ed to make him love her. I caught her just before she gave it to Ed. The only way I could get it from her was to trade Ed's jawbreaker for it."
Holden knew there was more to the story and responds, "Something happened to the book didn't it?"
Gwen frowns with a nod and says, "Some fusions showed up and tore the book apart, taking it with them. I managed to recover all of it. What I didn't expect to find was this."
She hands Holden the back of the spine.
He looks at it intently and responds, "Runes? That's an interesting place to find them."
Gwen nods in agreement and continues, "Well, that's where Grim comes in since he knows about runes. I asked him to translate for me."
Grim takes over the conversation and then states, "It's a hidden prophecy mon. This talks about a system of Totems scattered around the world that sets up a defense network that can protect the world in time of crisis."
Holden raises an eye brow in interest and says, "And you want me to take the spine and active the Totems by pressing the spine on it?"
Gwen smiles, knowing that Holden would catch on quickly and comments, "Yes, there's a slight problem. There's a fusion of Numbuh 1 in there guarding it. There was a fusion of Grim, but we took him out before the other one showed up. This is why we need this to be a stealth mission. If Fuse found out about these Totems, he would destroy them all and who knows what will happen if he did. You don't have to do this. It's not even a real mission, but it's up to you."
Holden thinks for a few moments, nods and then says, "Give me the spine and I'll see what can be done."
Gwen hands the spine to Holden, who then leaves and heads up to the mine that was up the hill from the camp. As soon as Holden is out of visual range, a note then appears in front of Grim with the name of two souls he has to reap. The last name for both souls says Wren. Grim dismisses the last names as a coincidence, due to it being the same as Holden's.
Grim then stands up with his scythe in hand and says, "I have to go child. Two souls are in need of passage to the great beyond."
With that, he laughs and disappears with a puff of black smoke.
Inside the Crystalline Caves, Holden looks up at the huge crystal growing up out of the center. It is an impressive sight and he thought about bring Blossom here on a date when things were back to normal after the war. He steps onto a small crystal that was nearby and spots the Totem fifty feet from where he is.
He looks up into the cavern above his head and spots fusion Numbuh 1 flying around lazily. It suddenly spots Holden and dive bombs at him. Holden steps off the side of the crystal to safety, and the fusion plows into the crystal. The fusion then falls off the edge of the crystal and onto the ground with a thump. The little fusion spawns floating around the head of Fusion Numbuh 1 disintegrate. Fusion Numbuh 1 stands up looking dazed, but before it can recover it bearings, a blade slices through its neck and it too disintegrates. Holden with blade in hand, looks down at glasses that remain on the ground.
They begin to glow and then produce a nano Numbuh 1, who then shout, "KIDS NEXT DOOR BATTLE STATION!"
Nanos Numbuh 2 and 5 appear and take the high strung nano away into the com. Holden then approaches the Totem and presses the spine of the book to it. A mysterious light appears as the totem activates and the spine of the book disappears and is replace by a white-blue light that Holden then touches.
The light then vanishes and Holden feels a very strange sensation. It is if that light had given something to him. Now, how would he active the Totems since the spine is gone? Holden looks at the ground and spots what seems to be a robot skunk with a number six on it near the back side of the totem. Holden decides he would take it to Koki so she could care for it.
Holden exit's the caverns and returns to Gwen at the camp.
When he returns to the table she asks with excitement, "How did it go in there? Did you active the Totem?"
Holden responds with a heavy voice, "Fusion Numbuh 1 went out with a whimper. I did active the Totem but the spine is gone. What are we going to do now?"
Gwen laughs a bit and says, "The Power of Prophecy was transferred to you Holden. I can sense the magic in you. I can tell that you have the power to do this task. While you were gone, I found the location of the next Totem in the pages of the book. It's in the Really Twisted Forest infection zone near the entrance."
Holden looks around and then asks, "Where did Grim get off to?"
Gwen shacks her head and responds in a sad voice, "He had to go and take two souls to the other side."
Holden nods, understanding that Grim's job came first before anything else and says, "Once I finish up in Really Twist Forest, I'll contact you Gwen."
Gwen frowns, shakes her and responds quietly, "No, after your done there, go see Ben. I will give him the next location. I want to keep you off com chatter as much as possible during this mission."
Holden nods and walks back to Mount Blackhead.
Holden arrives at Mount Blackhead and is greeted by the kid with the claw weapon.
"I never introduced myself the last time you were here Holden. I'm Zak Saturday and this guy here behind me is Fiskerton." They shake hands before Zak continues, "I need to thank you for saving all of our butts here during that attack a few weeks ago."
Holden shakes his head and replies, "I didn't do much of anything Zak. I just sounded the alarm."
Zak smiles and said, "Well I need to go now. I have to go see my mom out near Hani-Baba temple. Nice to officially meet you."
Zak and Fiskerton get on their weird bike and take off northward.
Numbuh 3 then bounds up to him and says with a bubbly voice, "Did you bring me anything cute to look at this time?"
Holden nods his head and said, "Yes I have Koki. I found this little dude in the Crystalline Caves. I figured you were the best one to take care of him."
He gives her the skunk and Koki's eyes widen and she says with excitement, "Its Robo Bradley! Numbuh 1 has been looking for Numbuh 6 for awhile now. I'll fix him up and then send him to Dexlabs like Numbuh 1 asked me to if we found him. Thanks Holden."
She hugs Holden with one arm and bounds off in Number 4's direction.
Holden uses the back exit to the base and walks for an hour and half and finally reaches the barriers of the new infect zone. This zone had a filtration system like Leaky Lake did, but it was on much larger scale. Holden circles around looking for the telepad for twenty minutes.
He finally finds it near a bunch of Mojo's skyway minions who didn't look happy to be in the bug infected forest. The roar of a waterfall can be heard in the distance. Holden enters into the zone and sees most of the area is filled with toxic water. He uses the zip line and rockets across the water landing near a Grime Serpent, but it doesn't seem to notice him.
He uses his nano Numbuh 5 to aid him with its stealth powers. Holden waits for a platform and then uses it rise to the top of the small hill that was in front of him. Holden scans the surrounding area and finally finds the Totem on another hill close by. There is also what appears to be a large cannon on another hill and it has the Mandark Industries logo stamped on it.
Holden uses the transport cannon that was near him and blasts off towards the Totem. Holden barely makes to the other side and titers on the edge of the hill, before regaining his balance. He looks behind himself and notices that if he had fallen it would be into a fusion matter bath.
He walks over to the Totem, touches it and feels a warm sensation telling him that it is now active. Holden exits the forest and begins the two hour trip to Downtown and to talk with Ben.
