Chapter 36—The Plan
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"We'll need a distraction so that we can get to Emma and get her out of the cavern," I said. "Pronto and I will do that. Stinky and Yang will be plenty enough to make sure they don't get anywhere. Once that's done we spread out through the cavern to look for Emma. I'll go to the north, Eli to the northwest and Pronto to the northeast. If anything goes wrong, call the rest of us."
"Good plan, chief," Eli complimented me with a pat on the back.
"Thanks. Now, let's go."
We climbed back into our Mechas and Pronto and I went first into the cavern. He loaded Stinky as I loaded Yang so that, once we had clear shots, Mega-Morphed them. Stinky caused countless numbers of goons to begin gagging as Yang made sure they couldn't see anything.
"Now, spread out," I told them as I loaded my blaster with Freezer.
We set off through the cavern and I went at a full sprint to the house Red Hook used to live in, using heat-sensing technology on my Glasses to see through Yang's darkness. Because of that, I managed to avoid three goons, two misfired Hop Jacks, and a scared kid.
A few minutes later I arrived at the house, but my fears were confirmed.
Blakk's Mecha was outside.
"Eli, Pronto, I found Emma. I think Blakk found her as well, though," I told them once they accepted my call. They acknowledged me and began heading for my location.
"We need to make sure Blakk didn't get his hands on her," I told them. "I'll do some recon. You guys need to make sure no more goons try to get in here."
They nodded and I loaded Yang again as I dismounted Stryder and cautiously approached the house.
"What do you mean, the girl's not here?" I heard Blakk demand when I got close enough to a window to listen. I saw him slam his fist down on the table. "I thought we traced that call she made to the Shane boy!"
"We did, but she left before we could apprehend her," the goon told him. "She is extremely fast."
"Yes, I know she is. Just find her!" Blakk screamed. "Keep your eyes out for the Shanes, too. They'll most likely be on their way to save her."
I crept away from the window and sprinted back to the others, where I climbed back onto Stryder.
"Emma got away. We need to find her," I told them, revving the engine.
"Ah, the Shanes," Blakk said before we could get away. "How lovely to see you again."
"Run!" I yelled, hitting the throttle. I somehow managed to release some of my power into the Mecha, causing its eyes to glow a brighter blue as its speed increased so that we could get away.
"Where would she have gone?" Eli asked me.
We slowed then eventually stopped directly beneath the large rock with all the Grenukes hanging from the bottom.
"The one spot that would be too dangerous to go," I said, pointing straight up.
We rode our Mechas up to the top of the large arch-shaped rock, and that was where we found Emma.
"Emma!" I said to get her attention. She was sitting on the ground, watching everything go by below.
Her head snapped over in our direction, and was reaching for her blaster when she realized who we were.
"Jake! Mr. Shane! Pronto!" she gasped. She stood up and ran over to us at normal speed. I climbed off Stryder's back and she tackled me in a hug.
"Whoa, there," I replied. "You okay?"
"Of course she is now that the magnificent Pronto is here to help her!" Pronto yelled. "Why wouldn't she be?"
"First of all, you can't yell up here," Emma told him as his shouts echoed through the cavern. "Second, a bunch of goons are now headed our way," she added as a dozen of Blakk's men ran toward the arch.
"Capture them alive!" Blakk shouted as he approached us.
We soon began firing slugs, though, and it became apparent that they weren't shooting to capture anymore.
"I'm starting to run low on ammo!" I said when I launched my second-to-last slug, Stinger.
The others said nothing, though, and we focused on the battle.
When I ran out of slugs I just cursed and holstered my blaster, allowing by power to flow freely.
"Get behind me!" I told the others. They did as I said and I screamed, letting out a burst of energy just like the first time I used my powers. It pushed back all of Blakk's men and his slugs while allowing us to stay put.
"Good timing, Medic," I told my healer when she got back to me a few seconds later. "You're gonna need extra power to take down all these ghouls, though."
"Use Doc," Eli told me. The healer slug had arrived when we got to Quiet Lawn Cavern.
I pulled out my double barrel mod but hesitated. A fusion shot has never been attempted with slugs of the same species, and I wasn't even sure if they were compatible.
Eli sensed my hesitation, though, and launched Mo at me. When he hit me, though, I wasn't even sure if it worked. My vision wasn't blurry or affected in the slightest, but when I looked at the two healer slugs I saw their auras, which were compatible.
"Looks like gifted people aren't affected by Enigmos," I commented as I attached the mod and loaded the two slugs. I loaded the blaster with energy and pulled the trigger, launching the slugs high into the air.
When they reached their highest they let out an extremely bright light. It was even brighter than usual, but when it faded every ghoul on the arch had been healed.
"Whoa," I mumbled as I staggered back a step. Using my powers so much was very draining.
"Are you okay?" Emma asked me as Eli and Pronto continued the fight, pushing Blakk and his men back before finally making them run away with a fusion shot of Suds and Stinky, which created a major stink bomb.
"Yeah, just a little drained," I replied. "I'll be fine. We should get going, though, so that we can help Mark's cavern."
"My Mecha's not far from here," Emma told us. We rode over to her Mecha, and when she was ready we took off to go to Futuria Cavern so that we could help Mark.
As we raced to help Mark, Emma updated me on what happened to her. Apparently, Blakk found Emma's records and found her in Quiet Lawn Cavern. When she saw the first goon enter the cavern she took off for Red Hook's house, where she called me a few minutes later.
"Why is Mark's cavern being attacked?" I thought out loud.
"Blakk knew we would split up to help out our friends, so this would increase his chances of catching one of us alive," she suggested. I frowned and we hit the throttle, going full speed to Futuria Cavern. Even then, it would take us at least twenty minutes.
"Is your Mecha a Shane Edition?" I asked Emma. Shane Edition Mechas have most of the same mods as the Shane Gang's Mechas.
"Yeah, but my parents never gave me the key that unlocks the extra mods," Emma replied, catching on to what I was talking about.
"I have the master key," Eli told us, holding out a key. "It was so that we could unlock Jake's when he was ready, but this is an emergency."
We stopped our Mechas as Eli unlocked Emma's Mecha followed by mine.
"You're going to need helmets," Eli told us. "Unfortunately, I only have one extra," he added, holding out a helmet with the same blue and black design as Stryder.
"You should wear it," I told Emma when my mods were unlocked. "I'll be fine."
"No, you should wear it," Emma told me. "It's your helmet, anyways."
I kept insisting until she finally put it on. It didn't exactly go with her outfit, but it would work.
"Don't tell your mother I let you use this without a helmet," Eli told me as we all pressed green buttons on our Mechas.
As Eli and Pronto's Mechas transformed into vehicle mode ours did as well. Emma's transformed into a buggy similar to Trixie's Mecha as my body stretched so that I was practically lying down as Stryder transformed into…
"What's this thing called?" I asked Eli as I sat up.
"On the Surface they're known as crotchrockets."
"Mom is going to kill Kord when she finds out what he built me," I told him.
"It also has a dirt bike mode for use around your mother," he added. He pressed a button and I had to lie back down as a thick sheet of clear acrylic slid over my head for protection and aerodynamics.
"Let's go," Eli told us. We hit the throttle and left the cavern, going at more than double our original speed, easily getting to Futuria Cavern in less than ten minutes.