CHAPTER 15
Unknown DeDenidean flying fortress. Located over a highly protected airspace vital to DeDenidean security. Has only suffered minor hull damage from a failed enemy air raid.
Cloudy Park, Poppyland, 2000 hours
The surrounding environment was becoming more dire for Pinkobashi and his loyal compatriots especially with all the bleak weather. The swirling hostile winds were blowing at the members of Galaxy Squad with tremendous ferocity, forcing them to hold onto something occasionally. The constant presence of clouds surrounding them nearly made them lose their way in the thick white mist that could not have eluded even Ruby's scope on her sniper. It seemed somewhat strange that all the planes in the air were unaffected by the storm. Their airborne communications were jammed, with no way for Galaxy Squad to reach out to Commander Zero or update the progress of their objective. The frequent cracks of lightning and booming thunder made them lose their concentration for a brief second. The mighty deluge of rain was ferocious, pounding them with great pressure. Oddly enough, it seemed welcoming. Under the heavens, the situation was not so excellent either. Pinkobashi stuck close to Sash, for they developed a fierce bond. This mission would serve as another excellent opportunity to test their strength in combat once again. The pink blur pointed out an imposing grey structure that looked like a tower in the center of the flying fortress, reckoning that it must be the main control apparatus. After that structure was presumably destroyed, the rest would crumble, and the war would soon be over. However, there was no need for Galaxy Squad to remain optimistic. They imagined the imperious King D6 scrutinizing their actions and calculating their every move, ready to draw all of Galaxy Squad into another trap and catch them off guard with the perfect strategy. Any way of operating with recklessness would be tantamount to suicide, especially at this critical juncture in this phase of Operation Hard Rain. They knew how their enemy was operating by this point. The weak would be washed away in the turbulence while the strong would attain their well-deserved glory. There were no signs of the presence of the elusive KRACKO prototype, yet the members of Galaxy Squad assumed that it was heading their way and ready to deploy against the test subjects. Everything was operated on by a hunch and a rumor regarding its real capacity for destruction on a wide scale. Nothing could presumably counter the weapon. They felt that anything they threw at it could be annihilated by its manipulation of the weather to its own ends. Ruby foresaw the annihilation of several major cities within a few hours of its deployment and the complete devastation of the armies of entire nations within days. The range in potential casualties calculated by Isha ranged in the tens of millions, yet even with the margin of error, was fairly accurate. The Poponian military would lose all the progress it gained since the major victory at Green Greens. The planet itself would be scarred by the widespread ruination. Combined with the massive aerial war machine produced by numerous DeDenidean munitions factories situated along its border with occupied Poppyland, the rogue nation would be utterly unstoppable. It was clear to the members of Galaxy Squad that they had to act hard and fast. Operation Hidden Rain was the last chance they had to do any considerable damage.
Isha calculated that the odds still held in their favor, but it would not be absolute. They were unable to see what was going on from their side of the battlefield due to the frequent atmospheric disturbances. She tried to remain calm in the midst of the dire situation.
"I have determined from the location on the base's map that there is one more critical area before the main control system can be breached..." Isha made it clear to the other members of Galaxy Squad as they readied their weapons for another ensuing enemy engagement.
"Excellent...I'm intrigued by your findings, Isha. I'm looking forward to seeing this whole thing we're standing on going up in smoke." Alexander reckoned.
"Alexander...I warn you that it will not be easy."
"That is perfectly clear to me..."
"Galaxy Squad...this is the situation...we need Pinkobashi and Sash to provide air support for any enemy jets that detect us on radar and eliminate any hostiles."
"We get you, sir!" The rest of Galaxy Squad agreed and they headed toward the area. As they moved forward, there were strangely no enemy contacts as of yet. Blaze knew that they were devising something big in preparation, perhaps a massive army on the other side of the area.
Sash was the right choice for him to overcome the numerous rough winds blowing ahead.
Once Sash and Pinkobashi flew over the brownish colored ground of the flying base, they came into contact with a strange jellyfish. Sash was visibly freaked out by its gargantuan size and its multiple tentacles with several electrical sparks travelling up and down its bulbous head. The Master Green scrutinized its targets before skidding on the ground and springing into action. The jellyfish stayed still and created a spark shield around its body, causing sparks to surround, forcing the members to not get too close and avoid being fried. Jim opened fire with his machine rifle, spraying bullets that pierced the thick hide of the creature but still damaged the creature Pinkobashi fired a single charge shot from his copy ability weapon that created a powerful explosive shot. Ruby fired her Fire Sniper directly at its head, the attack briefly knocking them back. The creature jumped into the air and generated a spinning star to toss it at the group, forcing all the members to jump out of the way. Pinkobashi swallowed the star before it impacted the ground and spat it back at the creature. Isha tried to freeze the oncoming projectiles but that did not work, so she resorted to using her ranged icicle attacks that tore through its skin with ease. Ariana fired her cutter blades from her Cutter Blade Shotgun to fly under the electric bolts at Once the creature landed and fired two lightning projectiles in the air, Alexander rushed to their aid and readied a powerful slash from his sword copy ability weapon that yielded great damage, yielding a powerful explosion that turned the jellyfish over on its head and made it fall to the ground. The sparks no longer trailed around its gelatinous body. Soon Master Green was ready to start sparking up, ready to sacrifice itself. Pinkobashi fired a single beam whip that disintegrated the giant jellyfish. A small explosion still rebounded throughout the room that did not cause any damage. They sighed with relief when a door leading through a dark hallway mysteriously opened.
After defeating the Master Green, the group entered an area that resembled a box-like room held up by columns with nothing inside except a dark black block under an open white bag.
"So that's how you animals get captured?" Pinkobashi reckoned. "The bag is quite tight. You just cannot resist."
"Indeed..." Sash responded. "It's, how you say, tough, yet we don't suffocate inside it."
"Such barbaric treatment!" Isha sputtered.
"I'll say!" The swordfish responded.
"We are unable to break the chains ourselves, so they deactivate when the traps are no longer in effect..." The gerbil joined in.
"That's odd! You never told us about how you all get caught so easily!" Jack quipped.
"We are unable to resist the bind. It's that simple! We have somewhere to go!"
"Are they ever interrogating you? The enemy must want you for something!" Blaze asked.
"They don't need to do it...they know everything about us!"
"That's strange..."
The winds along the cloud cover were picking up through the base and pushing the members of Galaxy Squad through the area, alerting them to the wandering groups of Poppy Brothers mercenaries that readied their various weapons. Three of them immediately opened fire. The shells of assault rifles could be seen zipping over their heads when they ducked.
"We've got company, men! Open fire!" Alexander growled to his supporters. The enemy moved close on to their position in a plan to overwhelm them, the perfect time to strike. However, the members of Galaxy Squad made quick work of them just like the regulars. Ariana opened fire with her cutter ability rounds on the enemy forces to eviscerate the first one to pieces. The other two were torn by Ruby's sniper round picking them off one by one. It was strange that they did not call for backup. They quickly descended the base and encountered another trio of Poppy Brothers that tossed their frag grenades at them. Blaze picked up one of the active bombs and lobbed it back at them, only to find that he missed, before he unleashed his powerful Burning Flamethrower to incinerate two of them alive. The enemy was no match for a warrior like him. Isha froze one of the Poppy Brothers alive and kicked back the ice cube into the other, knocking him out. Once Jack landed on the lower level, he fired a spark blast that tore through the unwelcome hirelings in seconds. They broke through one of the areas to find a large brown Rocky lumber toward them.
"Rocky at 12 o'clock!" Pinkobashi shouted as he charged and launched a powerful blast of energy that shattered the hardened Rocky into small pieces of rubble and left a small cloud of dust. They quickly slipped through and rolled under the Gordo that was floating a few feet above them. The cloud block beneath them vanished, and they found themselves right near a pool of water. There was no way to tell how deep the area would go. It was strange for a flying fortress to have a pool full of water inside it so high up in the clouds. The team thought it was for some kind of reactor coolant. It was also strange to have large frogs breeding inside it.
"Alright, men...underwater ops...let's go." The commander reminded the rest of the squad.
The team returned their copy ability weapons in their backpacks and prepared to dive in. They all deeply inhaled and swam down into the pool following the big splash. Pinkobashi was the last to jump in the water. A single Sir Slippy swam toward the soldiers. Alexander sprayed some water at the fat frog to implode it. They swam up and followed the Glunk that was spurting at them. Alexander found a black doorway below and the others quickly followed him. One bothersome Sir Slippy that followed close to them was quickly sprayed. The tunnel became even deeper and more expansive to the point that it resembled a large maze. All the walls had a strange wavy pattern designed around it, while the obstacles in front of them had a checkered pattern. Pinkobashi kept thinking of a possible exit as his team swam past a Sir Slippy that did not notice their movement. Isha eyed an open space for them to swim up and dodge more of the frogs. Two Sir Slippies that were swimming next to each other at the bottom of a passage were swiftly dispatched by the water spout attacks of the puffballs. The Sir Slippies were not much of a nuisance underwater as they were on land. Pinkobashi's air supply was quickly escaping him. They quickly swam through another door to avoid the Sir Slippy that was right next to the door. Once they frantically swam through the other side, they found some kind of air pocket. Pinkobashi held on tight as Sash flapped through the waves to come soaring out of the water into the air like a missile. The wind was seemingly pushing all of the team upward, with Sash being the only one able to fly against the wind moving toward him. They flew above the water just as two Gordos moved away from the opening space. The rest of the team had to time their flight. easily. The falcon and puffball climbed through the treacherous skies, surrounded by multiple enemies making their approach on them, barely realizing that they were closer than ever. Numerous Deeparatroopers falling on Drifter parasols were descending onto the fortress, along with multiple Bronto Burt VTOL jets hovering at a high altitude. Four inactive Parachutes were dozing away, unable to wake up and angrily collide with them in midair. The pair reached close to what looked like a cloud cover where the wind stopped pushing them upward and dodged the approach of an incoming Burt jet. All of Galaxy Squad quickly puffed up and reached the top area, avoiding the chance of being shot at just like Sash and Pinkobashi. They all landed softly on a platform near the edge and entered a final doorway marked by three glowing stars on top of it. They were quite surprised to find that they were able to successfully evade their opponents. The many flying ships of death were getting closer to their position, but unable to reach them or get a lock.
"The final sector has been cleared..."
"Now all we have left is the main control room..." Isha shushed them as she spotted two Waddle Dee elite guards armed with heavy chainguns. Alexander and Jack snuck behind them and wrestled them to the ground before slicing them to death with their sword copy ability weapon. Pinkobashi readied a charged blast that annihilated the door and devastated the surrounding area with a mighty thundering explosion. The guards' bodies had both vanished in the fiery blast, unable to even flinch. The alarms were not surprisingly activated once the heavy door exploded and fell down flat on the floor.
"Let's move!" Alexander shouted as he jumped and sliced off one of the security cameras. They quickly encountered a giant computer in the center of the room, followed by numerous other complex machines surrounding the central unit in the middle along with multiple screens. The screen showed a map of the surrounding enemy squadrons in the air and the active weapons system on board the flying fortress. Each one of the cannons and rockets were fully intact, along with the fighter bays wholly undamaged. All of the members of Galaxy Squad were trained to read and listen to the DeDenidean communications networks, and it was very clear to them through Isha hacking into the battle network that they had the plans. Time was of the essence.
"Isha...what is it?" Pinkobashi asked Isha as she jacked in some kind of flash drive to jack in with the computer mainframe. Within a few minutes, all the classified data was transferred.
"I finally found out the purpose of this base..."
"It's pretty obvious...it's positioned in a geosynchronous orbit directly over the enemy lines...I've brought down one of these similar things a few years ago...They must have built one to rival the one DeDessian flying fortress over Ukrainon...it's armed to the hilt, but it definitely has the same weaknesses. I'm surprised the enemy isn't putting up much of a fight."
"You're not going to like this one bit...the test procedure for the KRACKO unit is scheduled here to take place directly over the very area we are standing over in ten minutes...it's an advanced prototype..."
"Right..." Alexander agreed.
"The scientists must not have had any moral qualms in unleashing their project..."
"It's classified...everything is so damn important to them!" Jack reckoned.
"The only way to destroy all of those enemy forces is to drop it directly on them..."
"This whole fortress is going to be turned into a weapon!" Blaze was delighted.
"All we have to do is set the charges and get out of here...destroy everything...do it!" They shattered and smashed all the controls and sensors to the point that one of the sparks caused the room to nearly implode and destroy the whole room with all of them in it. They rigged to destroy a giant armory full of a cache of explosive weapons directly next to them.
"Now! The main reactor is directly underneath this very room! Blow it up!" Isha shouted to her friends as they covered the central area at various critical points.
Jack fired a series of spark blasts one after the other at a chamber, the blasts crashing against the hardened shield protecting the reactor yielding a powerful explosion that engulfed a tenth of the base. The massive explosion gave the enemy the impression that there was some kind of technical failure in the engine room rather than an act of deliberate sabotage by the Poponian military, but even with the security cameras destroyed, there was no way to assess the damage as an accident. It looked from the point of view that the massive base was falling apart, but was still not falling onto the enemy forces several thousands of feet below. A sudden flash of a great lighting bolt ripped right through an open area, overriding the core.
"Excellent job!"
"Anything for you, lass!"
"The coolant has been damaged. Core temperature rising. The reactor is overheating! The last thing we have to do is to destroy the KRACKO unit before it can become fully operational! Hurry! We don't have much time!" she warned the rest of her friends.
"The intensity of the storm is ripping through the fortress! It's catching us off course!" Ariana warned as she struggled to push herself through the storm.
"What the hell?!" Pinkobashi shouted over the horrific winds.
They ran to the massive pinnacle of the fortress itself. A giant malevolent shadow overcast the entire fortress once they reached the final point. All of Destined Providence could expect to see the massive fleet of enemy aircraft floating over the clouds in formation, but the planes no longer were present in the air. A massive cloud structure immediately appeared in the way to the point that they could walk on it. A massive wind blew through the area, followed by a series of lightning strikes that tore a giant crater a few feet near them. A flurry of blinding sparks and flashes devastated the skies until a giant burst created an opening for something wretched to appear behind the thick white clouds. The shadow hovered and wooshed below them without creating a sound. A sudden bright flash of lightning and thunder invited Galaxy Squad and their animal allies to the hell that was about to be unleashed.
BOSS BATTLE!
Directly underneath the clouds that Galaxy Squad was standing on, a white eye immediately popped out, watching them from behind, before retreating into the white cloud. It then glowed and fired a powerful blast of electric energy energy at them. It then fired another blast, then another before retreating again and popping out on another end of the cloud. The creature looked menacing with its glaring eye always watching them from afar. It then appeared, with Galaxy Squad noticing, before it fired a chain of beams directly from its eye as the creature came close to them. Pinkobashi immediately charged and fired a powerful electric blast directly at the creature, the impact causing its eye to spin around as if it were knocked out.
"Good hit, lad!" Pinkobashi was congratulated by Jack.
More protrusions were spotted as the Kracko unit was chasing them, forcing Galaxy Squad to run before the eye jumped out of the cloud and hovered a few meters directly above them. Four small white floating orbs spun around the large cyclopean eye. The single iris of the creature was colored a sky blue that prominently stared inward. The eye peered at them with a devilish look and stared into their souls. The eye glowed and sparked before discharging an explosive lightning bolt that seared into the ground like a laser before the ensuing blast erupted. Much of Galaxy Squad was taken aback by the sudden move, but they were all still able to fight. The premature form of the KRACKO showed itself and continued its attack.
The eye took to the air and tried to annihilate them from above. Even if it appeared small, it was incredibly agile. Jack fired his homing spark, but the creature gracefully zoomed over it. Jim chucked one of his frag grenades at the target as hard as he could, but the Kracko dodged the strong blast. Splash tried flopping to safety to find a good firing point, but he needed to stay behind for cover. Sash tried to draw its fire by taking to the air and getting it into their firing range, but it was unable to be an effective plan of action. Ariana fired a volley of her cutter blades when it flew down to try and zap them, but none of them touched. Ruby tried sniping it, but the flying enemy was too fast and she missed, her one shot zipping through the eye. Alexander's sword beams were unable to hit it. Blaze's flamethrower was too weak to reach the enemy when it descended. The creature launched its spinning four orbs as projectiles that sparked and zapped. The members of Galaxy Squad quickly dodged the attack once it collided with the cloud they were standing on and exploded. Jack fired his homing spark directly up at the naked iris but the iris fell into the cloud formation. Two small little clouds with a single eye in their centers floated up and tried to run into the members. The sinister floating creatures were given the name of Co-Krackos, for they attacked in tandem. Pinkobashi successfully inhaled one, while Alexander inhaled the other. The Kracko eye popped out again from the cloud and was open to attack from any area. Isha and Blaze were kept at close range and used their copy ability weapons. Jack fired a spark blast at the Kracko, seemingly stunning it for a second as it kept moving. Alexander and Pinkobashi spat back the Co-Krackos as stars to collide into the creature with great impact, the last registered hit yielding a great explosion. The single eye rolled on the ground, leaving a small trail of puffy smoke. Galaxy Squad knew that the weakened Kracko Jr. was history, but they were wrong. It quickly launched itself back in the air, with its orbs reforming and spinning faster than before.
"What the hell?!" A shocked Jack was at a loss of words. Few were shaken and stirred as much as the animals. "What is it doing?"
"It's reforming..." Pinkobashi noted as they all looked up to the eye in the sky. Only this time, the creature would be much more dangerous. The orbs spun and a large cumulus cloud cover formed directly over the eye. Twelve spikes immediately formed out of the shape of the enormous cloud. It now reached its second and final form, a fully mature Kracko. The monster slowly hovered toward them, a massive shadow encroaching over the darkened clouds. Two Co-Krackos fashioned themselves into existence and floated toward them at extreme speeds.
"Take it down! Now!" Alexander shouted to his subordinates.
"Sir Yes Sir!" The rest of the team responded.
Ruby pinpointed and fired a burning shot with her Fire Sniper right at the eye, causing it to stall slightly. Pinkobashi and Blaze each quickly inhaled one of the Co-Krackos and jumped to spit it at the Kracko as it hovered down toward them. The giant cloud floated over them and glowed before firing off a series of explosive lightning bolts of pure energy, forcing Galaxy Squad to scatter at the wrath of the almighty thunder beast. Jack fired an explosive homing spark at the creature's eye in the hope of putting it out of its misery, but the blast barely connected and still had a strong yield. Ariana fired a volley of her explosive cutter blade rounds, with one of the blades striking the beast near the eye with a well-placed hit. The Kracko floated up to the middle of the arena and spawned two more Co-Krackos out of the top. The Co-Krackos popped out and flew toward the members of Galaxy Squad. Alexander tried to inhale one of them, but it was too fast, the speed forcing him to dissipate it with a single strike of his sword copy ability weapon. The creature glowed and fired off more lightning beams in random directions. Jack and the animal friends danced around the bolts, barely getting shocked to death themselves. Isha sucked up the Co-Kracko that was on the other side of the battlefield and spat it at the Kracko monster, but the creature flew slightly upward to avoid the attack. The nerd did not underestimate the reflexes of the enemy. Alexander lept in the air and took to the air with Sash to get close for a mighty giga slash attack, but with the strong hit dealt they both nearly shocked themselves in the process. Kracko flew down for another pass, raining down more lightning bolts in quick succession and forcing the puffballs to take aim from a different position. Pinkobashi charged and fired a quick charge shot with his beam copy ability weapon, the hit yielding a powerful explosion. All the running and dodging was starting to wear on him. Isha moved under the cloud to hit it with a few of her icicle projectile attacks and Ariana ran to hit it with a group of cutter projectiles. The creature flew over them and fired more lightning bolts, yet the bolts were homing in on their location as if they were like tracer bullets or heat-seeking missiles, barely zapping them each time. Blaze tried to burn the eye but it was too far away for him for the flame to reach under it.
Pinkobashi fired a beam whip while Jim fired his machine gun at the eye, hurting it slightly. The Kracko summoned two more Co-Krackos that descended on the group. Ruby inhaled one of the small clouds and jumped to spit it back, but the other Co-Kracko flew in the way, negating the hit. She had no choice but to fire a burning shot at the giant cloud's angry eye. The Kracko returned to the middle of the cloud that Galaxy Squad was standing on and fired more lightning blasts from left to right, with the members of the team dodging at shooting it. Jack fired a homing spark at the eye when it stayed still, the strike creating a great explosion. Alexander jumped and readied a powerful giga slash that generated a thunderous blast. It looked to the team that the creature was briefly stunned, but it still kept moving. The Kracko launched off two more Co-Krackos for Pinkobashi to inhale them both and fire back as one large star, the hit colliding into the beast's eye with great force. Pinkobashi readied for the Kracko floating over them and spawning one more set of Co-Krackos after them. With two final Co-Krackos returned to sender, the giant one-eyed cloud creature immediately disintegrated. All of Galaxy Squad watched the powerful glow of the fiery blast and the booming thunder of the ensuing mach front that ripped through the skies. The glowing rose disappeared and was stifled by the sullied environment. Everything dissipated in the radius of the explosion when the thunder god Kracko no longer existed. With the slaying of the angry god, his kingdom was tearing apart at the seams. The anarchy of the mighty storm kept tearing through as the DeDenidean flying fortress was losing its altitude. Numerous planes were zipping through the chaos, failing to regroup with the remnants of the base personnel.
All of the team members reloaded their weapons in anticipation of more sudden threats.
"Excellent...the KRACKO Unit is no more!" Alexander celebrated his victory.
"I knew you could do it, lad!" Jack shook Pinkobashi's arm. "We all did!"
Thunder and frequent lightning strikes tore through the shattered foundations. Galaxy Squad quickly zipped through the corridors as they hastily cobbled together an escape route, running through the hallways while always staying alert for a surprise attack at any moment. Fires were spreading all around the base, with the team quickly outrunning the explosions. They all approached what looked like a ruined hangar where there were no enemy reinforcements.
"Isha...status report..." Alexander advised her over the blaring alarms and shrieking booms.
"Not good...we're about three minutes to impact..."
"Three minutes?!"
"Where's the best place for a high-altitude jump?"
"Anywhere...but I found the best spot on the map! Follow me!" They all followed the techie.
"It's now or never!" Ruby contemplated as she eyed the timer on Isha's electronic clock.
"Our chances of surviving the drop, much less the explosion, are less than one percent!" Isha spouted as the winds howled all around the facility. She found no hope in praying. All she had to worry about was the timing and precision of the jump. Everything had to be on the mark.
"We're almost there!" She reminded them as they ran to the edge of the fortress on the outside. They could hear the loud sounds of destroyed enemy planes being smashed against the walls of the destroyed hangars. Numerous bloodied Dee corpses littered the premises. The pinnacle of the flying fortress was rapidly fragmenting in the horrific maelstrom of death. They collected themselves before getting ready for the highest altitude jump ever performed. Each of them put their weapons away and did a quick series of stretches. Gravity would do the rest for them. There was only one thing left.
"One...two...three...go go go!" Alexander ordered as they slipped into the clouds undetected. Alexander was the first to make the jump, followed by Jack, Blaze, Ruby, Isha, Ariana, Sash, Jim, Splash, and Pinkobashi. The winds were blowing through the air, pounding against the extreme area. Pinkobashi welcomed the chilly embrace as he watched the lightning and thunder pound in his mind as the burning flying fortress fell to the ground below. Once the clouds were no longer blocking their view of the dark skies, they could spot a massive series of enemy bases linked together. Numerous enemy planes and helicopters were flying away. Everything was ready for departure, the premises swiftly being evacuated. It seemed they were freely falling over enemy airspace for about a minute when they all puffed up. Splash and Jim were able to firmly hold onto the legs of Blaze and Jack respectively a few seconds after the impact of the winds were too dangerous to keep them from flying alone. Pinkobashi was the last to see a bright red light grow larger and larger as a thundering burst tore through the dark skies, seemingly blinding his vision and forcing him to shut his eyes. He felt his skin burning and incinerating in the hellstorm itself along with the rest of the members of his team. The area was utterly decimated. The massive fiery explosion could be seen and its shockwave felt for several miles. Pinkobashi quickly remembered his bout with the strange mysterious warrior following them and finding a Crimson Core. He could feel the presence of the masked assailant holding the item in his hardened glove. He knew from his clairvoyance that he had six of them, yet he never knew the real purpose of the thing. The pink puffball was tortured by the thoughts of the fire engulfing everything, creating and destroying, before he felt the possibility of being annihilated and born again from the ashes. His dreams turned into nightmares, and once he felt vulnerable again in his time of reflection, he lost his way. He kept recalling the enemy air raid in his mind, yet that would not happen to one city, but dozens. Pinkobashi woke up once the animal friends and his puffball kin shook him out of his slumber.
"Pinkobashi...you're awake..." Sash reminded him.
"Where am I?"
"You're directly in the impact zone..." The gerbil responded. "We're all inside a crater..."
"According to my calculations...we all touched down about a few miles from the epicenter of the explosion...if we were too close we would have been incinerated by the blast wave..." Isha corrected.
"We landed safe and sound...none of us were hurt..." Ruby was excited.
"We did it?"
"We sure did..."
Pinkobashi was surprised at the impact of the blast and the outcome of the great leveling. There were no survivors. All they could see were the shadows of the Waddle Dee soldiers that vanished in place of the explosion amid the ruins of miles of the annihilated landscape. Alexander, despite the ruined frequency, successfully established contact with the elite Commander Zero. They could hear him loud and clear.
"Commander Zero...Commander Zero...come in..."
"I hear you loud and clear, Commander Alexander of Galaxy Squad..."
"We heard a giant explosion directly over the enemy position..."
"We destroyed the fortress...The KRACKO Unit has been destroyed...The mission...Operation Hidden Rain...was a complete success..."
"Congratulations...Galaxy Squad...I hereby give my thanks to you...you deserve a break..."
"We don't need any time for that...A hero's work is never done..."
"I'll relay to the General...he's on the line..."
"General..."
"Yes...Commander Alexander...I've heard of your success...The flying fortress has been destroyed..."
"Affirmative!"
"Great to hear!"
"All the surrounding enemy facilities near the impact zone were completely destroyed...no sign of survivors...The border security has been completely neutralized..." Alexander could see the numerous battalions of Poponian tanks rolling over their position.
"You really delivered them a mighty blow..."
"They won't be able to recover from that..."
"I wouldn't be so sure..."
"What's our next mission?"
"You're going to enjoy this. This will be your toughest mission yet. Your task will be to search for the final enemy stronghold codenamed Dark Castle...we have rumors from intelligence that King D6 has holed himself inside along with seven of his elite commanders in each of the main sectors...this area serves as a secondary capital...the area is heavily guarded and full of traps both inside and out..you will have to search and neutralize the main target...King D6...by any means necessary...we could bring an end to the war ahead of schedule...this is our only chance...this mission, should you accept, will be incredibly dangerous...However, I have the utmost confidence in your abilities that you are all fit for the task of this most important undertaking...This will put your elite combat skills to the test..."
"We understand!"
"Do you accept the mission?"
"Yes, General!" They all reached an agreement.
"Make our nation proud, Galaxy Squad!"
"Send us a plane..."
"Duly noted...Let's bring it all down!"
"Commander Alexander out!"
The call ended. Pinkobashi was quite ecstatic at what was about to happen. They said their goodbyes to their animal friends as they zoomed off into the night. Even if the DeDenidean army was at the point of collapse, he was still bothered by his thoughts. The storms never left.