AnimeGirl 144 A/N: Hiya everyone. We're moving on, and this is the last chapter that has Alice gain Nanos. And by now, I think people can guess which two Nanos are about to appear (the two I want desperately in this game!). We're almost finished with the story so just hang on a little while longer. The real action begins next chapter.
Note: Command center and command deck will be used interchangeably; same with hospital ward, hospital wing, and med bay.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except maybe my character (it's half-and-half because I use the name in FusionFall, sort of). Everything else in FusionFall is the property of Cartoon Network, except something that is owned by Teletoon, and then Toonami.
Title: What Gets Me Through the War
Author: AnimeGirl 144
Chapter Twenty Eight: Space Heroes
Numbuh 362 sighed as she watched her subordinates work feverishly on their computer systems. Much like what was occurring on the Earth, the Fusion Matter coming from the planet was interfering with their 2x4 systems. On some days, all systems would be working; on others, they'd be down. Being so close to Planet Fusion affected them terribly, and it was causing the Soopreme Leaduh to age quickly. Some of the senior officers were doing their best to regulate the work to keep her away from the stress, but it wasn't enough. She still had to watch over her workers, and some of them hadn't returned to Earth yet; their parents were already informed, but it was still a straining ordeal.
Sighing again at hearing Numbuh 86's yell, Numbuh 362 sat heavily in her seat, wondering how far they'd get before Fuse took over the moon completely. By some miracle, there wasn't any real attack on them like the Earth had suffered some three months ago (although, from what was gathered in their brief open window to speak with Earth, that had stopped thanks to Alice setting up the totems). While everything else was down, their defense system was thankfully still online since the main generators were hooked up to it. With the defense still on, the Moonbase could still protect itself against the invading planet. But once again, Numbuh 362 had no idea for how much longer they'd be able to hold off the alien planet.
"Numbuh 90210," Numbuh 362 said when she saw him enter the command center, "What is the diagnosis on our three guests?"
"They are waking up now. I've left my nurses in charge of watching over them until I returned," the eleven year old doctor responded to his commander's inquiry. "I came up to ask if you wanted to see them."
Numbuh 362 nodded and left the center in Numbuh 86's control. When the two operatives arrived in the hospital ward, Numbuh 362 was greeted by two teenagers who stood at attention when she entered. Pushing aside her distrust of teenagers, Numbuh 362 nodded her head in their direction.
"You can stand down," she said. "You two are not really under my orders."
"It's to show we mean no disrespect," Dark answered her.
"And to show that we mean no harm," Alexis piped up. "You two came back just in time too. Betty is waking up."
Numbuh 362 moved to the side, and saw that Betty was awakening from her very long coma. The Galactic Guardian slowly opened her eyes and looked around before shooting up in her bed, looking startled. Alexis quickly pushed her back down.
"Easy now. You're going to give yourself a headache doing that," Alexis chastised as she looked at her.
"Where am I?" Betty asked. "What happened to my team? And how did I get here?"
"Easy questions to answer," Alexis responded with a nod at Numbuh 362.
"You're in the medical wing of our Kid's Next Door Moonbase," Numbuh 362 answered. "Your team is here as well, and they are being treated. My doctor says that they will wake up any time now. As for how you got here, a girl named Alice and her friends found your crash landed ship and brought you to the hospital in Offworld Plaza. You and your crew were moved here a few days ago to help make room for the war victims."
"That's right," Betty whispered. "I was returning to Earth to assist against Planet Fusion when we were attacked. We must have been knocked out."
"You and your crew are very lucky. None of you were badly injured, which is why you were brought here," Numbuh 90210 added.
"Thank you for your hospitality. When my crew and I are better, we'll be leaving," Betty said.
"There's no hurry. Besides, your ship is still being worked on down on Earth," Dark answered. "Ben hasn't replied back on when it will be ready."
"And we have received no words from Dexter," Numbuh 362 added. "At the moment, we won't know when we will be. When we do, we'll alert him of your status. In the meantime, it would be beneficial to everyone if you rest."
Betty nodded. At that moment, an operative ran in, out of breath from his sprint from the command deck to the hospital wing.
"Sir!" the operative cried. "You have to come see this. Something massive is heading straight for Earth!"
Numbuh 362, Betty, Alexis, Dark, Numbuh 90210, and the other operative ran onto the command deck, watching from the view screen as a massive ship (still small compared to the Earth, but still big enough to be considered massive), completely covered in Fusion Matter but also missing parts, headed straight for Earth. The tip of the ship was already entering the atmosphere, and that was all that could make it in. A bright light appeared and created a sphere around the Earth, protecting it from the other broken pieces that were now reduced to float in space.
"What was that sir?" an operative at his station asked, turning in his chair to look up at his leader.
"I don't know, but I want to find out," Numbuh 362 said. "Numbuh's 229 and 122. I want you two to gather a piece of that ship so we can examine it."
Both operatives stood to their feet, and saluted their leader.
"Yes sir!"
"Do you think it's a foe?" Betty questioned.
"For the Earth's sake, I hope not," Numbuh 362 responded gravely.
"You are in luck then. That ship is not an enemy," a new voice said from behind the group.
Numbuh 362, and the others, turned to see the newest guest. The Soopreme Leaduh's eyes widened as she stared at a boy who stared back at her through his sunglasses.
"Numbuh Infinity?"
Alice's P.O.V.
It was the sound of something that was similar to a loud explosion that woke us up in the morning. Mallory nearly fell out of her bed as I sat up in my own. We both ran out into the hallway to see from the windows that something bright entering through the atmosphere. We stared in shock, hardly noticing the boy's arrivals. The thing, looking to be part of a spaceship, was on a direct course for Tech Square. We were unsure if it would actually hit the place, but we continued to watch it until it was out of our sight. Once we couldn't see it anymore, we immediately ran for the nearest T.V., finding Six and Bobo already viewing the incident on the screen. The news was able to catch the ship part hit the waters next to Galaxy Gardens, and Dexbots were already on the scene trying to find if there was a living body in the ship.
The camera was able to zoom in on the side of the spaceship, revealing the letters: ABSO. I couldn't make out the rest of the letters since it was probably on another piece of the ship, but I did feel a pull to it. Was it an alien tech? We watched it for a few more seconds before my NanoCom went off; I've trained myself to always reach for my NanoCom and keep it on my hip. It was Dexter, asking me to go and check out the ship. I agreed and promised to return when it was over. I left Providence and arrived at Galaxy Gardens in no time, and began to help with the salvaging. When I entered the ship, I found myself in the control center. Slumped over a seat was a suit of armor, and in the armor's hand was a small circular device. I placed the body in a sphere and lifted it into the sky, pulling it with me as I left the ship. The Dexbots had pre-warned me that there seemed to only be one life-source, and so I went for it.
I brought the body to City Station's hospital since it was the closest hospital. I alerted Dexter of where I took it and waited for the doctor's diagnosis. Dexter arrived by time the doctor returned.
"Were you the one who brought the body in?" the doctor asked.
"Yes," I answered.
"I am afraid you will have to take it somewhere else," the doctor said.
Oh no. Is he dead? I thought with some fear.
"What happened? Is he alright?" I asked.
"The he in question isn't human, nor is he a humanoid," the doctor asked. "He's a machine."
I didn't see that coming. I blinked and nodded.
"Okay," I said.
"Bring him to Dexlabs," Dexter spoke up from beside me, having been silent since arriving. "I'll be able to stabalize him, and hopefully get him to wake up."
I brought the body to Dexlabs and hoped there was enough time. On my journey to Tech Square, I was able to see what had become of the alien ship. The ship had finally hit the bottom, leaving a small part of the ship poking out of the blue water. Dexter and Computress had set up their med bay for the body and hooked him up to it immediately. I stood on the sidelines, not knowing what to do. DeeDee, who had come to Tech Square to visit her brother, kept me company.
"I wonder what happened to him," DeeDee pondered.
"Part of his ship looked like Fusion Matter hit it," I said. "I think he went up against Fuse."
DeeDee looked worried as she looked at him. I too began to worry when it turned into an hour and there was still nothing. Dexter was trying to figure out the circular device, but nothing seemed to have worked. Computress continued to keep an eye on the body before she looked up from the clipboard.
"Dexter. The body is activating," Computress announced.
Dexter went to the body's side as the machine was activating. The body attempted to sit up, but Computress pushed him back down.
"Where am I?" the body asked, revealing his male voice.
"You are in my lab on the planet Earth," Dexter responded. "My name is Dexter."
The head was looking at Dexter before saying, "So you're the kid we sent the video to."
"That was you?" Dexter asked in surprise.
The robot attempted another sit up, and was able to do so.
"Yeah. Name's Toonami Operation Module, but you can call me Tom," Tom said, before looking around his surroundings. "Where's my ship, the Absolution?"
"Part of it is in the water," Dexter answered. "The rest is unknown."
"Dang. Now I need to get the Mark III," Tom muttered to himself. "Where's Sara?"
"Sara?" Dexter asked.
"Yeah. She's the ship's AI," Tom answered. "I had her back-up into her memory chip."
"This?" Dexter asked as he presented the circular device.
Tom took the device and pressed the center of it. A white light began to glow from the device before a female AI appeared like a hologram.
"Greetings Tom, and others," the AI, Sara, said. "I am surprised your plan had worked."
"My plans always work," Tom responded.
Sara made a hum like she wanted to argue the point, but dropped it as she looked around.
"The ship is destroyed," she informed.
"Yeah. Just found out. Mind calling the Federation and have them set up for a new ship?" Tom asked.
"I will see what I can do. Until then, I shall go into hibernation," Sara said, disappearing without another word.
"Guess I'll be here until I can get a new ship," Tom stated, getting off the bed that he had been on. "How's the war with Fuse coming along?"
"We're nearly ready to defeat Fuse," Dexter answered.
I worried my bottom lip at hearing Dexter's answer. It only reminded me of my responsibilities. What if I failed? A hand on my shoulder made me come out of my thoughts.
"Alice, are you alright?" DeeDee asked. She was worried and I felt bad for doing that to her. I felt bad whenever I made someone worry about me.
"I'm fine. Just thinking," I responded. "I need to call my friends. I forgot to tell them that I was here."
I was about to head out to call Providence when a Dexbot rushed in. The bots never had any emotions for their faces, but the simple speed at which it was going alerted everyone that it was urgent.
"Dexter. A Fusion Monster has escaped from the sunken ship," the Dexbot informed.
"The Matter. It must have gotten one of your items and made a Fusion," Dexter said, looking briefly to Tom before his eyes flickered to me.
I nodded, immediately running out of the building and grabbing my NanoCom while simultaneously searching out for the Fusion. It didn't take long for Providence to pick up, and it was a masked agent that appeared on the other side.
"Who are you and state your-" he was promptly pushed out of his seat by Mallory.
"Alice! Where have you been?" the pop star urgently asked.
"There's no time. I need the boys to head for," I paused as I continued to search out for the Fusion. It was moving fast! "I need them to head to Offworld Plaza. A Fusion is in that area."
"The boys overheard and are on their way. Good luck!" she hung up.
"I'm going with you," Tom's voice said from behind me.
I turned to look at him, but since he wore a helmet, I couldn't see his eyes (or if he even had eyes).
"Are you sure? You may need to rest," I said.
"I'm a robot; I'll be fine. I can't let someone go around using my name," Tom said with determination.
I couldn't really argue with him, so I agreed and allowed him to come. I placed him in my bubble-sphere again and flew us to the Hospital, getting their faster than the boys. We landed somewhere beside Ben, who promptly ran up to us.
"Hey Alice, are you here to fight that Fusion that just ran by?" Ben asked.
I nodded.
"How many will that make once you beat it?" Ben asked.
"41," I responded.
Ben whistled and nodded.
"That's a lot of Fusions," he commented.
The boys arrived at that moment, and introductions were quick. With all that aside, we headed into the Infected Zone.
"Where is this thing?" Tom asked.
I closed my eyes and tried to feel out for the Portal. It was getting easier and easier to find them, but it still took up a lot of my concentration.
"The Portal is high up, to the left," I answered by pointing in the general direction.
Brent whistled, "That's a long way to go."
I smiled at him.
"Not really."
I constructed a bubble that encased around them. Once sure they were secure, I brought them behind me to where the Portal laid. Once we arrived, I placed them safely on the ground and removed the bubble.
"Your powers are definitely cool," Brent commented with a smile.
I smiled at him with a small blush before entering the Portal. Tom looked around in wonder.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"In Fusion Tom's lair," Palmar answered.
"That thing made it quickly then," Tom stated.
"That seems to be a power of theirs," Trent commented.
"No offense, but let's get this done! I want to kick some Fusion butt!" Brent said with a fist pump.
"Nice spirit," Tom commented as he began to walk through the underground lair.
"Be careful for Fusion Monsters," I warned our accompanying body.
"Like those?" Tom questioned as he pointed at a pair of Thuggards.
"Yep," Brent said as he brought out a Sunny Side Bomb and threw it at the pair.
The pair was hit and immediately headed for us. Tom didn't look to be worried; if anything, he looked almost excited, if his body language was anything to go by.
"This will be good," he said as he got into a stance and shot at the oncoming Monsters.
Brent and Tom were able to get rid of the Monsters on their own, allowing Palmar, Trent, and me to move on and defeat some of the other Monsters that stood in our way. All five of us made it towards the clearing without a scratch.
"This your normal jobs?" Tom questioned as we advanced to the location of the Fusions.
"Pretty much," Trent responded.
"Must be fun," Tom responded back.
I wasn't sure if he was joking or not, so we let it drop as we faced a Fusion version of Tom. The Fusion had weird looking things moving around it. I didn't recognize the three that looked like floating TVs, but Tom did.
"He's got the Clydes," he muttered.
"Clydes?" I asked.
"Yeah; They're helpers of mine on the Absolution," Tom answered.
"Enough chatting, more fighting," Brent said.
"Bossy," Trent muttered under his breath, but he followed his brother's lead.
We began to fire at Fusion Tom and Fusion Clydes. The Fusion Clydes were handled by Palmar and the twins while Tom and I faced the Fusion version of him. Fusion Tom was smarter than other Fusions I had faced, and was moving around more, dodging our hits, but we were able to still get some hits on it. The Fusion was a good shot, being able to target us with near pinpoint-accuracy.
"Are these Fusions always so hard to beat?" Tom asked during his firing.
"Sometimes," I answered.
I called out Nano Double-D, and he immediately used his Sugar Rush, which was able to slow down the Fusion, allowing us to hit it easier. Fusion Tom released a mechanical snarl and lunged at us, though with the snare, he was moving slowly. I switched out Nano Double-D for Nano Coco. Nano Coco used her Egg Bomb once she appeared, stunning Fusion Tom in its spot. This gave us the chance to shoot it, and after a few hits, the Fusion Tom turned into a Nano Tom.
"Greetings," Nano Tom greeted as he circled around us.
"What's that?" Tom asked.
"It's a Nano version of you," I answered as I cupped the Nano in my hands.
"So a Nano huh?" Tom said, looking at the Nano.
"Sweet. We've got a new Nano," Brent commented as he, his brother, and his friend arrived.
Nano Coco and Nano Tom disappeared into the NanoCom at Brent's comment.
"So now what?" Tom questioned.
"We head to Dexlabs," Palmar answered. "We've stopped the Fusion, so there's no reason for us to be here."
We left the Portal, the Infected Zone, and headed back to Dexlabs. When we entered, we found Dexter studying what was on his computer screen. The screen was a video feed of the Earth, and from where we were standing, we saw that the screen contained debris.
"The debris is from your ship," Dexter said without turning to look at us, addressing Tom.
Tom made a low whistle as he stepped forward.
"Yep. The Feds won't be too happy with me," Tom stated to himself.
A little beeping noise pulled our attention to the screen. Dexter typed on the keyboard and brought up a pop-up screen with Numbuh 362's face on it.
"Dexter, we need Alice to come to the Moonbase," Numbuh 362 stated.
"Right now?" Dexter questioned.
"Yes," Numbuh 362 responded.
"Alright," Dexter said with a nod. "I'll send her over there in a moment." With that, he closed the pop-up.
Dexter turned to look at us and motioned for us to follow. We said goodbye to Tom, and followed him into another room with four pairs of pads; one of each pair was on the ground, and other on the ceiling. Dexter motioned us to them.
"What is this?" Brent asked from where he stood on a pad.
"It's a transporter pad I've made to transfer between the Earth and Moonbase," Dexter responded from behind a console.
"Is it safe?" Trent responded.
"You're my first test subjects," Dexter responded casually, making me worried.
Before the twins, who looked livid, could argue with Dexter, we saw a blinding light that made us cover our eyes. When the light died down, we found ourselves in another room, with a Kids Next Door operative behind a console similar to the one Dexter had.
"They made it through Dexter," the numbered operative said.
"Of course they would! My inventions are top notch!" Dexter said from the other line of the conversation before the operative ended it.
"Follow me," the operative said, motioning for us to do as he ordered.
We followed the kid operative, looking around the Moonbase as we followed him. Brent stopped when we passed a large windowt that revealed the space outisde. His eyes were wide, causing us to stop and wait for him.
"Man. I never knew space was so big," Brent stated to the group as he caught up.
"It's why it's called space," Trent muttered.
We entered what I considered the command center and was met with Numbuh 362, and another operative that had sunglasses. Standing beside Numbuh 362 was Alexis, Dark, and the girl I remembered seeing in the crashed spaceship; if I remember her name correctly, it was Betty.
"Hey Alice, boys," Alexis greeted. "Welcome to the party."
Dark just nodded in greeting while Betty smiled. The other boy stepped forward, coughing into his fist.
"Let me introduce myself," the boy said. "I am Numbuh Infinity. I am in need of your help."
"Shoot," Brent said, earning himself a glare from his twin.
"My scanners have picked up our presence of one of our operatives for the Galactic Kids Next Door," Numbuh Infinity said.
"What's that?" Palmar questioned.
"Confidential," Numbuh Infinity responded coolly. "The operatives' life signature is somewhere in Hero's Hollow. I need you to go and find the operative and bring him back to the Moonbase. You may use this to find him. It is already locked onto his signature."
I took the tracker from the other operative and plaed it on my hip.
"Who is the operative?" Trent asked.
"Chad Dickson. But he also goes by his number, Numbuh 274," Numbuh Infinity answered.
I felt my lungs tighten at the mention of his name. Memories of the first day of Fuse's invasion sprung to my mind as I remembered how he had been consumed by the Fusion minions, and disappeared. But he was alive now?
"Alice? Alice are you alright?" I heard Numbuh 362 asked.
I straightened up and nodded, trying to recover quickly while keeping my eyes off of them.
"I-I'm fine," I answered to the leader of the Kids Next Door.
Numbuh 362 didn't look like she believed me, but she nodded.
"I'll have Numbuh 1701 transport you near the entrance of the Hero's Hollow," she said. "When you've found the missing operative, call us and we'll beam you back up."
I nodded numbly, following Numbuh 1701 again.
"Are you alright Alice?" Palmar asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," I answered, avoiding eye contact.
"You're lying," Palmar responded.
"Don't push her! She'll tell us when she's ready!" Brent said, standing up for me.
Palmar scowled lightly, but nodded. I felt bad for causing a rift again and sighed silently under my breath.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"It's alright, Alice," Trent said, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"I saw Numbuh 274 be consumed by Fusion Matter," I responded.
The three boys (and perhaps the operative too) fell silent as we headed into the transporter room. We stepped onto the pad, and appeared at the entrance of Hero's Hollow. I held the tracker in my hand and followed it to where the tracker said Numbuh 274 was being held. We stayed silent for most of the trip, and as we got closer to the source, I could feel the familiar pull I had when around a Fusion. In a matter of minutes, we were standing face-to-face with a Portal.
"Another Fusion to take care of," Brent commented.
"And this one is holding a person hostage," Trent added.
"Let's go then," Palmar stated, stepping onto the Portal's pad.
I turned off the tracker and followed. We moved through the underground lair, coming across no Monsters, which was somewhat odd. We were continuing down our way when we were stopped by the sound of something hitting against metal. We followed the source of the sound, coming to find Numbuh 274, still in full armor from when I last saw him. He was using his shoulder to hit the metal bars, hardly noticing us as he continued his task.
"Let. Me. Out!" he ordered as he tried to exit the cell.
"No worries dude. We're the cavalry," Brent said with a smile, his fists placed on his hips in a heroic pose.
Numbuh 274 stopped his hitting and turned to look at us. He didn't look so sure.
"Who are you four?" he questioned.
"We're your rescue team," Brent said.
"Who are you?" Numbuh 274 questioned again, his voice sounding tight.
"My name's Alice," I greeted. "These are my friends, Palmar, Trent, and Brent."
Numbuh 274 turned to regard me curiously.
"You've changed since the last time I've met you," he said.
I smiled tightly as I looked at him.
"Yes. I've discovered a lot," I said. "Please stand back."
He did as I requested, and after calling on Arthena's help, I was able to deform the bars enough to let him get out. He dusted himself off once he was out of his cage.
"Thanks for the help. You have a plan for getting us out of here?" he asked as he looked at us.
"Yes, but we have to stop the Fusion that's here," I answered.
"Sounds good," Numbuh 274 said, taking out his weapon. "Lead the way."
We continued through the lair and made our way to the clearing, finding Fusion Numbuh 274 standing around with its own weapon in its hand. Turning at the sound of our approach, he shot at us, sending Fusion Matter balls in our direction. We fired back in response. The Fusion was hit by all five of us, and changed shape in a matter of moments, changing from a Fusion to a Nano Numbuh 274.
"I'm a Soopreme Leaduh," the Nano said before disappearing.
"Now we can leave?" Numbuh 274 questioned.
I nodded and we left, standing outside the Portal once we were done. I brought out my NanoCom and called Numbuh 362. Within a matter of seconds, we disappeared from Hero's Hollow and appeared in the Moonbase. The operative gave a salute to Numbuh 274, which surprised him.
"Good work," Numbuh 362 said as we entered the command center.
I was surprised to see the group from before, along with Numbuh One there. Even he seemed surprised.
"It's good to see you again Numbuh 274," Numbuh Infinity said to his operative.
"They can't keep me down," Numbuh 274 said with a grin. "But thanks for the assistance Alice."
I smiled lightly at him.
"It wasn't any trouble," I said.
"Good work Alice," Numbuh One said, making me look at him.
He wasn't looking at him, but he seemed relaxed, and he looked like he was almost smiling. I smiled lightly again. Perhaps things in this war were changing for the better.
A/N: Haha! Tom and Numbuh 274 have appeared! We're now down with gaining new Nanos, but we still have two chapters left. Can you believe it? The next one will be longest, so I hope you'll enjoy!
Also, if this chapter sounded a bit Star Trek-ish, It's mostly because I'm writing my argument essay on it.
Till, then, this has been AnimeGirl 144! Bye bye!
