Chapter 9 – Four-Star Spectacular!
Shala now officially crossed into the Fireswamps. The charred ground, the streams of lava, all of that stuff. Finally! Now all that was left to do is get to the Providence outpost before it got dark and he'd be basically home free. So, with renewed determination, he ignored the hunger, the thirst, and even the need to take a leak as he steadily followed along the path, with the Chill Caster in one hand and Heatblaster in another. "Whew, forgot how actually hot it was here. Guess it's not gonna be a breeze this time, without the hovercar" – he thought to himself. He remembered the fiasco with the hovercar during his adventure on the Crest, so he thought he'd better pay attention to his surroundings this time. But first, it would be better if he reviewed his Nanos. "Alright, let's see. Nano Humungosaur with Snare. Cosmix. That's what I used when we were being chased by rampaging Triceraclopses. Triceraclopses? Triceraclops? Triceraclopi? No, that sounds dumb. Whatever. Now, I also have my Nano Val Hallen".
"Dude, what's up?" – Val Hallen greeted Shala as he got summoned."
"Electric guitar explosions that Damage all monsters in the blast radius." – Shala was muttering to himself. "Always useful in a fight, but he's also Cosmix. Dammit, that means that I'm missing one, aren't I? Well, as soon as I reach the outpost, I'll get to the Nano Station. After taking a couple hours off to rest up, that is."
"Now you're speaking my language, dude." – Nano Val Hallen told him about that last comment. Shala smiled and gave him a fist bump.
"Nice. And then I also have…"
Uncle Grandpa enthusiastically greeted Shala with "Good morning!" as he appeared to replace Val Hallen.
"Adaptium. His Freedom's alright, but right now I wish I had a Sneak instead. So that means I'm missing a Blastons one. Now, how are my Boosts, Potions and Gumballs?"
He did stock up before he left on Demongo's errand, so he was still good. Only the number of the Boosts was dwindling a bit. "Excellent." – he muttered to himself and kept moving.
The Providence outpost was not too far from the Fireswamps/Dinosaur Pass border, so it wasn't long before Shala saw the familiar white wall ahead. The journey there was not, however, without a Lizard Queen encounter, and even though the Chill Caster didn't work so well in the Fireswamps and the Lizard Queen was more or less immune to the Heatblaster's fire, Shala managed to deal with it. But by now he was totally dehydrated, and couldn't be sure if the wall he was seeing was a mirage or the real deal. As he approached, it didn't disappear into thin air, which Shala was pleased with, but something still felt off. The gate was closed, as usual, but there were supposed to be a couple of Providence Agents standing on top of it at all times and even more patrolling along the walls. Instead, the place seemed to be deserted, at least from the outside, and not even a noise could be heard from behind the walls. Shala tried to shout "Hey, you guys, is anyone there?" but the voice barely escaped his throat because of the dehydration. He yelled louder, despite the throat getting sore, but still, there was no response. Now Shala was starting to worry, and the worriedness was soon replaced by fear. He pushed the gate, but it was impossible to open from the outside. Quickly, he took off, and ran around the camp towards the northern entrance. He even noticed semi-fresh blood stains at some spots, which made him even more anxious to see what was going on. The northern gate, luckily, was open, but the sight Shala beheld made him wished he had never found a way inside at all.
The first thing that caught Shala's attention were the bodies. Dozens of bodies, most of them in Providence armor, all lined up on the ground around the walls. They looked like they were dragged there. Towards the center of the camp, where the observation towers were supposed to stand, was only a bunch of wreckage. Behind them were the barracks – one of them was totally collapsed, while the other had a gaping hole in the wall and the roof torn off. Then there was the small detached building (the Captain's quarters), which was also wrecked.
After having to process all of this in a matter of seconds Shala tried to give out a scream, but no voice escaped his throat. "Alice! She's… No. Someone dragged all of these bodies to the side. Someone was left alive after the battle. There's a chance that she's still alive" – he told himself as he reluctantly started going around the camp, mesmerized, looking at the bodies. He was aware that Alice didn't usually wear Providence gear, but he couldn't rely on the consistency of her wardrobe for this. Shala observed that all of the bodies had their masks off and eyes closed – another sign that someone must have survived to do this. All of them were visibly injured too, so it wasn't hard to determine the cause of death.
Eventually, the horrible weight was slightly lifted from Shala's heart as he checked all of the bodies and none seemed to resemble Alice. There was a charred corpse that Shala couldn't identify, but that one was definitely male. Now that he was positive that Alice probably wasn't among the dead, he tried to rationalize what just happened. Without realizing it, he started walking back and forth.
"Another horde of monsters. Obviously. And it looks like they were for real this time. Shala looked at the gates. "They don't seem to be torn down. So, the monsters found other ways in" – he thought. He looked around. Some of the walls were charred, the ground they were standing on was dug through. "Then the survivor, or survivors, must have opened the gates as they left… and headed north. To Huntor's, obviously. Wait, Huntor's? Yeah. Huntor's. Definitely. So, guess that's where I'm going next. Even though I was on a mission there just now. And on foot, this time. Ugh."
The frustrated groan reminded him that his throat was still sore. "Oh yeah. Thirsty. Hungry. Maybe there might be some food or water left behind? Or gear… Or a maybe even a vehicle. Anything would be welcome at this point." – he thought to himself as he headed towards the barracks.
He entered the one with the hole in the wall, as it was still semi-intact. Most of the bunk beds were toppled over, pillows and mattresses ripped, but thankfully, no bodies in here. He started scavenging the bedside chests for anything edible or drinkable, but no luck. The survivors probably took everything with them. "Yeah, I don't blame them" – he thought. "I'd do the same if I was stuck in this hellhole. Which, well, I am."
Suddenly, he heard a rusty squeak coming somewhere from outside the barracks walls. Shala's heart jumped and he quickly turned around, but a figure was standing outside the wallhole, pointing a gun at him. "Don't move!" – he demanded. Shala was so startled to see a guy instead of a monster that he genuinely froze – didn't dodge, didn't get his gun, nothing. For a split-second he thought that the living dead were attacking him, but no, that was probably impossible, as the stranger could talk.
"Hands in the air! Now!" – the guy yelled. Shala didn't move.
"What gives? Did I ever do anything to you, man? Or, do you think I caused all this or something?" – Shala asked. He wasn't sure what the stranger wanted with him, but he wasn't gonna let a random dude with a gun boss him around, no matter which end of the blaster he was on.
"Don't be getting any funny ideas, LG Shala! You know exactly what you did! You…" – the stranger kept yelling, but then he felt something poking him in the back. Shala noticed yet another mysterious figure with a very familiar blade standing outside the wallhole behind the angry guy, prodding him in the back with the tip of his sword, ready to strike.
"I'd advise that you put your gun down and that YOU don't get any funny ideas before this gets any more violent than it needs to be." – the new guy said.
Shala leaned to the side to look at him better. Then it hit him – this was the amnesiac!
"Yo, Naver, is that really you?! Man, did you show up at a good time or what?" – Shala exclaimed with a smile on his face.
"Hey, dude! What does this guy want with you? Hey, I told you to put your gun down!" – Naver prodded the stranger in the back a bit more.
"Now what the hell is going on here?" – Shala heard a female voice outside the barracks. Naver looked to the left, and there was a girl pointing a gauntlet-like weapon at him. "Drop the Aerial Slicer!" – she ordered him.
"What's going on now? I can't see who's there!" – Shala shouted.
"I don't know who you are, lady, but if you shoot me with that thing, I can't guarantee if your friend's spine remains intact!" – Naver shouted while looking at both of them back and forth nervously.
"Don't listen to him, take your shot!" – the guy with the spine in question yelled, but the girl didn't want to risk it.
"Well, what about the guy inside?" – she asked.
"What about him? He's unarmed!" – he answered.
Still, no one dared move.
Shala was still standing in the barracks, now getting bored of this already. Seconds were passing by, very slowly.
"So, while we're standing around in a quadruple Mexican standoff, does anyone wanna play two truths one lie? You ever played two truths one lie, Naver?" – Shala yelled. "What about you, dude? Or do you prefer the alphabet game?". Shala looked towards the wall where the girl's voice was coming from and gave a smug smirk. "Of course, Alice always hated the alphabet game, so maybe we should play twenty questions instead! What do you say, Naver?" – he went on.
Naver looked at the girl, confused, the turned back to Shala. "Alice?" – he asked uncertainly. Alice turned her head slowly towards the barracks, then facepalmed (with her gauntlet still on) and started giggling at the absolute absurdity and stupidity of the situation, which turned into a loud laughter. Shala broke out in laughter as well. Naver was looking from one of them to the other, still confused as to what was going on, but lowered his blade. He gave out an awkward chuckle. Jay looked at Alice, then hesitantly lowered his gun as well. His face was as serious as ever, though.
Alice finally stopped laughing and went into the barracks. Shala was still dying of laughter, but he held his arms out to hug his cousin. Even though she was older, Shala was considerably taller than her. "Okay, okay, I know this whole thing was ridiculous, but I'm still really glad you're not dead." – he told her.
"Yeah, well, I can't get rid of you that easy, can I?" – she answered jokingly.
Naver and Jay looked at each other in uncertainty. "Uh… I'm Naver" – he introduced himself as he held out his hand, but Jay didn't shake it. He just mumbled "Jay" as he went into the wallhole. Naver followed him through.
"So, Alice, I just have one question." – Shala asked her. "How the hell does your hair get even worse every time I see you?"
"And that joke certainly doesn't get any less unfunny every time I see you." – she answered.
"Not my fault that you get your hair done by Bobo the Monkey." – Shala mumbled with a smile.
"Okay, seriously, what is going on here?" – Naver asked.
"Oh, sorry. Alice Quickfeet. Shala's my cousin. Sorry about the whole standoff thing, I didn't realize that Shala was the one inside."
"Yeah, and it took me a bit to realize it was probably Alice standing outside." – Shala told them.
"Don't worry about it. I'm Naver. Nice to meet you." – Naver answered Alice as he held his hand out again. Alice did shake it. Unlike someone else in the room.
"And I'm Shala, although it looks like in some cases, my reputation precedes me." – and he looked over to Jay, who still hadn't introduced himself to Shala. But then Shala noticed Naver's new armor. "Oh hey, Naver!" – he gave Naver a fist bump. "You're SACT now? Does this mean you now remember who you were before you lost your memory?" – Shala asked him as he leaned forward to read Naver's name tag on the SACT armor. It said "Ridha Snivad".
Shala read it out loud. "Snivad. Okay, I can see why you'd rather be called Naver."
Naver laughed. "Come on, this isn't actually mine. They just had an extra set at the SACT camp and, well, it used to belong to this Snivad guy I guess." – he told Shala.
"So, Alice, who is your trigger-happy mystery man?" – Shala asked.
Alice turned to Jay. "Hold on, hold on, why did you almost attack Shala?" – Alice asked, now with a confused, but testing look in her eye.
"To be fair, he didn't actually pull the trigger…" – Naver crammed in, but Alice shushed him.
"I told you before that I've been tracking Demongo. And Shala here just so happens to have been doing missions for him. He steals the chronoton particle, just hands it over to Demongo…" – Jay was explaining, but got interrupted by Shala.
"Steals who in the what now?"
"The chronoton particle, you idiot! You gave it right to Demongo. Next thing we know, Demongo takes off, something happens to Mandark's airship because the comms are down, and you happened to be on that very same airship, then coincidentally, this camp" – Jay circled his hands in the air to signify the Providence outpost – "suffers a siege and is destroyed. So, it wasn't unreasonable to believe that you might be working with Demongo and that you'd probably have a clue to his whereabouts. And that is why I didn't tell you I was looking for him," – he turned to Alice as he kept going – "that's also why I raised my gun. If he's really working for Demongo, I needed to be sure he wouldn't escape me."
"Guys?" – Naver tried to intervene, but everyone ignored him.
Alice snorted. "Seriously? This guy, one of the minions of Demongo?"
Jay looked at Shala from top to bottom. "Yeah, that's clear to me now. He's just some dunce Demongo tricked into doing the dirty work for him."
"Guys, seriously…" – Naver started again, but nobody was listening.
"Dunce yourself! Listen, I suspected Demongo all along. I knew that it certainly wasn't a Fusion Lair I broke into and it wasn't really an "overrider cortex" either that he was asking for, in fact I was about to tell Jack-"
"If you knew, why did you still give him the orb?" – Alice asked him with a raised eyebrow.
"GUYS!" – Naver yelled. Everyone turned to him. "THANK YOU. If any of you had listened, I've been trying to tell you that someone I kne- uh, know saw Demongo last night. The people at the SACT camp in Dinosaur Pass told me that they saw Demongo flying south. Along the river."
"WHAT?!" – Jay asked. "Where? Where did they see him?"
"West to the Infected Zone, where the river flows along." – Naver answered. "Near the border between Dinosaur Pass and the Fireswamps, as they said, but more towards the mountains."
"That's where the source of that river is, right?" – Jay asked Alice. She nodded. "What the hell could Demongo have been doing there? Doubt it was his idea of a shortcut."
"There's…" – Alice tried to look for the words to explain it. "There's something there. Something extremely weird. Not a lot of people are aware, but there is what seems to be a remainder of human life living here, not so many years ago. Some sorta primitive tribe of humans." – Alice explained.
"A tribe of savage humans? Seriously?" – Naver asked in disbelief, then looked at Shala for confirmation.
"Like the one on the Precipice, then?" – Shala asked Alice.
"Something like that. Although, this might a different tribe from them. The remains of their, uh… settlement is in the mountains that border Fireswamps and Huntor's, a bit north to the source of the river. We never got the chance to explore it, seeing as there are no archaeologists in the Darklands, and regardless, we're more concerned with securing the area from Fusion Monsters." – she explained. "There have been other primitive settlements that have been popping up here and there on the island, like the one on the Precipice, yeah."
"So, let me get this straight." – Naver said. "On this island, there's evidence of dinosaur life from not long ago." Alice nodded. "And this is the main frontier of the Fusion invasion." Shala nodded this time. "And now you're telling me that primitive tribes of savage humans have been living here, at the same time as the dinosaurs? Just what kind of crazy island is this?"
"It is what it is. We kinda stopped questioning it long ago, when the priority became defending against Fuse's monsters." – Shala answered.
"How old is that settlement?" – Jay asked Alice.
"We can't be sure. A researcher told me their culture seemed to be from the Holocene epoch, and said that means approximately 12,500 to 500 years ago, which is a very wide range. Either way, the settlement is clearly recent. Maybe as recent as less than a decade ago."
"Well, if they're that recent, then that does pose one interesting question." – Shala raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah. Why aren't they here anymore?" – Naver said it.
"Chalk that one up to the pile of mysteries in the Darklands, I suppose." – Shala said, as no one had an answer.
Everyone was quiet for a moment. It was uneasy to think that the island was filled with secrets, and there was no way to get away from them. No communication with the outside world, so they were stuck with these mysteries.
"Do you guys have any water or snacks? I'm famished. All I had to eat were these berries I found in Dinosaur Pass and I'm kinda… not even sure if they were poisonous or not."
Alice threw a look at him that said "are you kidding me right now?" without having to speak a word.
"And I'll explain all about the missing airship business after that. But seriously, though, I could eat a whole Wooly Behemoth right now, tusks and all."
After sitting down on the few intact beds and sharing a light meal, Shala explained the disappearing horde, the departure of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s along with Jack, the explosion, how he found Naver and how he'd been roaming the jungle all night and all day to Alice and Jay. Now, there was a silence between all four of them.
"So, Jack's on the mainland." - Jay repeated.
"Yep."
"And you just found him in the bushes?" – he asked about Naver.
"I saw him on the edge of the ship before I fell off. At least, I'm pretty sure it was him. He must have fallen off with me." – Shala explained.
"I see. And he lost all of his memories?"
"I'm right here, by the way, dude." – Naver interrupted.
"Okay, okay, now it's time for you guys to explain. What the hell happened to this outpost?" – Shala asked Alice.
"What does it look like it happened? We suffered a huge invasion. Not quite as big as the one you described, but ours was real. We barely fought them off, but then the Fusionflies started coming in and by then all was lost." – Alice told him.
"Fusionflies? In the Fireswamps?" – Shala repeated with disbelief on his face.
"I know, right? That's like seeing you actually working hard. Never happens."
"So, uh, what happened next?"
"We waited the night out in the cellar."
"You guys have a cellar?"
"Stop interrupting! After our group of survivors, around 30 people, got out, we headed towards Huntor's Crest. On foot. Wasn't easy. Lost even more people on the way." – Alice told him. "We crossed paths with Jay for a second, who neglected to mention he was looking for you even though I asked him if he'd seen you…" – and she side-eyed Jay sternly. "And then we got the survivors to safety. Now, we're gonna resupply, restock, get back to base and take the fight to Fusion Courage." – she concluded.
"Stop right there, we're in." – Shala told her.
Naver turned his head towards Shala, as in, "what do you mean by we", but before he could protest, Jay beat him to it.
"You?"
"Oh, let me guess. You don't trust me or something?" – Shala asked Jay.
"You? Nah. I'm not saying I don't trust you. Now that I've met you, I realize, you're not actually a traitor, you're just an idiot. Now him…" – and he jerked his head towards Naver – "him I don't trust."
Naver was surprised by this. "The hell did I do?" – he asked.
"Nobody knows your past. Not even you, as you admit. Couple that with your random appearance out of nowhere and all the weird events that have been happening all around, and it's safe to say that there's something suspicious about you." – Jay answered calmly.
"Oh, like you're just an open book." – Naver retorted. "Neither of us knows anything about you. How did you even know this particle was here? Who sent you to find it? Why do you really care? And why are you even here?"
Although, those last couple of questions might have been directed at himself as well as Jay.
"Perhaps you can answer that?" – Naver now turned to Alice. She looked at Jay, who was sitting next to her, but Naver was right, Jay didn't tell her any of that either. Jay remained silent.
"Yeah. Some team we are." – Naver muttered.
Shala nodded. "Fusion Courage is shaking in his boots. Although, something about Jay seems familiar to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, though."
"Okay, enough of this." – Alice interjected. "You two" – she pointed at Naver and Jay. "You guys are definitely coming along on this. Don't try to argue, it won't help. And you" – she turned to Shala. "Try not to piss him off by working for the enemy again, and I think we'll all get along just fine."
Shala mumbled something like "never even had actual proof that Demongo was the enemy" but quietly enough for Jay to miss it.
Naver looked up into the sky through the torn-off ceiling. "It's getting dark, I think. Shouldn't we find shelter?"
"Well, we've got four walls and beds here, right? Can't we just crash here for the night?" – Shala proposed.
"And no ceiling. What if it rains?" – Naver retorted.
"That's irrelevant, as long as our position is secure." – Jay stated.
"Rains? Dude, we're in the Fireswamps, it doesn't rain here. Right?" – Shala looked over to Alice for confirmation.
"We've got bigger problems than the rain. What if the Fusionflies come back? And even without all of that, I don't know about you guys, but I'm not sleeping here. Haven't you looked outside? They all died fighting alongside me." – Alice answered.
"What about the cellar you spent the last night in?" – Jay asked her.
"No way. I'm not going down there for another night. Once was enough." – Alice refused. "That flickering blue light still makes me sick, it reminds me of how I felt right when I saw Captain Calan die. No, we're going to sleep someplace else. It's north from here, so it's on our way anyway. And it's as secure as it can get too."
"Well, spit it out already, where is it?" – Shala asked impatiently.
"Back when this camp was first built, we had a couple of Providence assault vehicles here, flown in via jet. Massive armored trucks decked out with guns."
"You guys have those here? Why haven't I seen one before?" – Shala interrupted, again.
"They crashed. This was a while ago too, before I even came to this island. And White Knight didn't bother to send us any replacements, so I didn't get to see them either. Apparently, they were on some mission or something when they crashed. Noah told me that one got smashed into a tree, sideways, while the other is toppled over upside down. And the engine exploded, too. But both of their interiors are intact. That's where we're going. Any objections?"
Alice looked around the room. Naver said "sure". Jay nodded.
"How far is it?" – Shala asked her.
"Oh my god just move your ass. Come on. Get up. We're all going now. But first we need to check out the wreckage of the Captain's quarters. That's where the truck keys are. Without the keys, we might as well stay here."
Everyone got up.
"Oh, by the way, Shala, before we get out of here, there's one thing I need you to do." – Alice told him as she led everyone to one of the collapsed sentry towers, the very same one where she, Doyle and Donnie did a stake-out.
"You do know a lot about Dexbots, right? DOC-27 was in this tower when it collapsed and he got buried in the wreckage. Can you like, check the damage? Maybe he could be restored. Plus, DOC was where I stored most of my research, Peggy and Jon too, and, well…"
"Okay, okay, show me the damage."
After digging through the rubble, they found the Dexbot's wrecked body. It was definitely beyond repair – his body was misshapen, one of the arms completely crushed, and the floatation device he had instead of legs was torn off clean.
"Well, his head seems to be intact." – Naver remarked. "So maybe-"
"The head isn't where the memory unit is." – Shala muttered. He tried to open a panel on its body, but it was stuck. "Dammit."
"Stand back, I can rip that shell right off." – Jay suggested.
"Not without damaging the personality chip, you can't." – Shala protested as he slowly turned the body over. The head detached from the body and fell off with a clang. Naver grimaced. Shala ignored the head as he broke the casing off of DOC's back. Slowly, he started dismantling or simply breaking off the pieces until he reached the memory drive from the behind. Now, he carefully approached it, with his hand almost shaking, and with surgical precision he slowly extracted the memory unit, with the personality chip attached to it. He examined it, then handed it to Alice.
"It's still intact. Probably. Keep that bagged, don't let it be exposed to any heat, cold, certainly don't get it wet-"
"I know, I know."
"Do you?" – Shala raised an eyebrow.
"My friend collects vintage Zombie Pirate comics, this is basically the same thing." – she told him as she took off her rucksack to find a way to carefully store it. "You guys go on and find the key's in Calan's shack, me and Jay are gonna go down the cellar and get the remaining supplies. Didn't get the chance to do that since Jay apparently found you two and I heard your voices."
"Hey, uh, Alice, before you go down, did the Nano Station get wrecked? I need to change my Nanos." – Shala told her.
"What Nano Station? We don't have a Nano Station here." – Alice answered.
"Oh, dammit." – Shala muttered.
"It's a pain that I've got to live with, yeah." – Alice told him as she headed towards the cellar hatch.
"Oh, come on, more rubble?" – Shala complained as he and Naver approached what remained of the Captain's quarters. "Needle in a haystack…" – he muttered.
All four of them left the northern gates. Alice got a disc out of her rucksack which expanded into a hoverboard, Jay summoned one via his NanoCom, while Naver summoned a jetbike. Shala looked around at all of them. "Wait, all of you guys have your own vehicles? Seriously? What the hell am I supposed to do? Don't you have some sort of vehicle in the outpost?"
"There used to be a Providence Stealth Cycle, but it got smashed during the, uh, battle last night, I think…" – Alice said uncertainly.
"You can ride in the back with me, I guess." – Naver proposed. As Shala had no other choice, he sat behind Naver on the jetbike, even though the seat could barely fit two people and Shala had nowhere to put his legs.
And they took off north. Alice was speeding forward, leading the way, with Jay slightly behind. Naver and Shala were a bit in the back, as the jetbike was slower.
"So whatever happened to the guy we met in the jungle? What's his name? Lester?" – Shala asked Naver as they were speeding through the Fireswamps. He had to raise his voice to be heard through the jetbike's noise.
"It's Lars. And, uh… He didn't make it." – Naver told him.
"Damn. Sorry to hear that. He seemed like a good dude. And the SACT camp? You know, Lars mentioned it was somewhere in the Pass but I had no idea where, else I would have tried to look for you guys."
"It was at the Infected Zone. You know, Dinosaur Graveyard?"
"Oh yeah. I actually haven't been to that one. How bad is the infection there?"
"I'm not too sure, it was the most infected place I've ever seen, but then again, it's the only infected place I've seen so far. I'll get back to you on that."
"So they let you borrow their gear and their jetbike? That was pretty cool of them."
"Yeah, it was, but... soon after I got there that camp got raided by a bunch of Dark Horntails. I was the only one that made it."
"Whoa, dude, seriously?" – Shala asked. Naver stayed silent. "And I thought I had it bad, but this must have been the worst day ever. Right after waking up with amnesia, too…"
"Yeah, I don't get it. Death seems to follow me wherever I go. Is it always like this in the war?"
"It gets like that sometimes, but I've never seen a such a series of events. Unfortunate."
"You know something?" – Naver asked Shala.
"Know what?"
"Don't tell the others, but I got to that Providence outpost a while before you guys did. I didn't touch anything, though, but seeing so many dead soldiers was a whole other thing. At this point, I've seen a lot more dead people than I have alive."
"If you got there before, why didn't I see you there?"
"I kinda… hid when I saw you coming. In the other barracks, the collapsed one. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to see you alive, but… I don't know why, I just thought… maybe if I didn't meet you again, I wouldn't have to see you die. Maybe you wouldn't die at all. After all I've went through so far, I'm just scared of seeing people die all around me after this stuff. Even now, you, Alice, Jay too… I'm scared some unkillable monster is gonna show up and tear you guys to shreds and I'm gonna be forced to watch it, just like before."
"Don't worry, Naver. That's not gonna happen, at least, not as long as I have a say in it. And you shouldn't throw in the hat either. Once we get through this, you'll see that it's not all death and the monsters. All in all, this world is a pretty amazing place. That's why we're fighting now, that's what we're here to protect."
Naver considered his words. On one hand, it was great of Shala to try to cheer him up, but after all that he saw so far, it was hard to believe that any of it got better.
Fusion Doyle was flying forward at full speed. Fusion Six was right next to him, on his hoverboard. They were speeding through the jungles of Huntor's Crest.
"Have we gotten close to Demongo yet?" – Fusion Doyle asked, his voice obscured by the metal skull helmet he was wearing.
"He's still in the area." – Fusion Six told him after checking the sensor on his wristwatch.
"Just a little closer" – Fusion Doyle muttered as he was zooming forward.
Suddenly, there was a blast, coming right towards Fusion Six. He saw it in time and leaped high in the air. The laser went right under him and hit some tree in the distance, while Six landed right back on his hoverboard without losing any of the momentum.
"Hey, Meena, I think I see a monster up ahead!" – they heard a voice from behind.
Fusion Six and Fusion Doyle looked back. There they were in the back two of them, now following them on a hoverboard and a jetbike.
"Humans. Let's just kill them quickly and then get back to Demongo." – Fusion Doyle proposed, but Six stopped him.
"No. We don't have time for this, we'll lose the Demongo signal. Turn your jetpack off, we disappear into the jungle. Lose them, then keep looking."
"Killjoy…" – Fusion Doyle muttered.
After several "are we there yet?"s from Shala, Alice jumped off her board as it neatly folded itself into a small circle. The other vehicles disappeared into their owners' NanoComs.
"Okay, they're supposed to be here somewhere." – she said. "Noah told me the chase happened on this path and then got derailed into the rocky area somewhere over there, I think he mentioned a hill…"
"You haven't actually seen those trucks?" – Naver asked. "I thought you said they were gonna be safe!"
"Well, they are. Noah assured me that the last time he saw them, the shell was still intact."
"Well, as long as we don't get eaten trying to find them… or, you know, while inside." – Naver said.
"So, uh… we spread out?" – Shala suggested.
"Not a chance. I'm still keeping a close eye on you two." – Jay refused as he pointed at Shala and Naver.
"Oh, not this shit again…"
"Maybe you should do what he says in case he goes all trigger-happy on you." – Naver whispered to him.
"A guy like that? I can take him. All he did was catch me while my back was turned last time."
"Yeah and I saved your butt there so at least do me a solid and don't start fights with this guy? We've got enough monsters to worry about without you two butting heads every five minutes.
"Well why aren't you asking him that?" – Shala asked.
"Because, you saw him." – Naver answered and imitated Jay in a fake deep voice. "Nobody knows about your past. Not even you."
Shala laughed. "Yeah, as if he isn't hiding anything." – he added, but then Alice (who was already far ahead) yelled.
"Will you guys keep up the pace? We found the trucks already, and we've got a problem."
As Shala and Naver caught up to Alice and Jay, who were standing on top of a hill, they did see the trucks. However, they saw the problem as well, which was very large, or rather, very numerous. The trucks were on the other side of the field in front of them, and there was a considerable distance between the two assault vehicles. However, the obstacle was that the field was littered with Magma Hulks. Tens of them, walking around alone, in trios, orbiting Master Magma Hulks.
"Okay, I see what you meant with the whole uh, problem thing." – Shala told Alice. "So how are we on firepower? I've got this Chill Caster that won't work in this heat and a Heatblaster that won't work on the lava golems over there, so…"
"We don't have to blast our way through, though. Can't we just get around that mass of, uh, Lava Golems?"
"They're called Magma Hulks. And, no, we can't walk around them, there are streams of fire coming out of the ground everywhere in that area." – Alice pointed to the left from them.
"No, I don't mean that side. How about we cross that lava stream to the right with our vehicles? They'd float over the river of lava, right?"
"Vehicles might work, but the noise is gonna attract the Hulks anyway. Plus, that's the flipped over truck on the right side, and I was going for the other one on the left…" – Alice suggested.
"We should come up with something quickly before those things notice us!" – Jay told them.
"Don't worry, they're not gonna see us way up here." – Alice retorted. "This is… a great vantage point actually. Oh, what wouldn't I do for a good long stakeout up here, watching those Hulks…"
"Then if we want to avoid a confrontation, we're gonna have to take the long, long way around and to the back. By that time, it will be dark… And there's still the question of camping out for the night with the monsters nearby."
"The assault vehicle is armored, it can withstand a bunch of Hulks. Plus, it's also decked out with guns, that should help us keep them away when we're in." – Alice told them.
"I thought you said the engine was totaled?" – Naver asked her.
"Even if the engine and the main battery are, the guns run on a different circuit in these things. Providence knows how to load out a tank, I'll give 'em that." – Shala answered. "So, guess we're taking the scenic route, then."
Alice got her hoverboard out of her backpack, Jay summoned his from the NanoCom, as did Naver with his jetbike.
"And just when the pain in my buttcheeks was going away…" – Shala mumbled as he got on the jetbike behind Naver.
"Get it open! Get it open! Quickly!" – Shala was shouting and whispering at the same time while Alice was trying to get the top hatch of the Providence assault vehicle open. The back door was jammed, and the only other way in was through the hatch on top. However, this way, they were in clear sight of the Magma Hulks and it was only a matter of time until one of the bumbling monsters would notice them.
"Can't you see I'm trying? This one's stuck too!" – Alice hissed back.
"Maybe we'll have better luck in the back again?"
"Forget the back! We need to get in. Now. Are you sure you used the key?"
"Of course I did!" – Shala answered while frantically mashing the button on the keychain. But then they heard constant beeping from the other truck, which was some distance behind them.
"Oh, these are the wrong keys!" – Shala rummaged through his pockets to find the other key as he ignored Alice's "You think?!". All of his belongings spilled out – a couple random weapons parts, a screwdriver, a tiny communications dish, a part that he kept from DOC-27, an alien battery… Finally, he found the other key. Quickly, pressed the button on the keychain, almost dropping it in the process, Alice got the top hatch open and jumped into the truck. Shala collected his belongings and followed her. Naver and Jay, who were waiting for them behind the truck, climbed on the roof and into the hatch.
"How's the situation out there? Did they notice us?" – Alice asked the others.
"No, I think they heard beeping from the other truck and headed towards its noise, so we're in the clear." – Naver answered.
"For now, we are." – Jay added.
"Well, this is the diversion we're gonna need for our getaway, then." – Shala concluded, and they finally looked around to check out the interior of the truck. It was huge. The Providence assault vehicle could hold an entire squad of grunts, their weaponry, and a Providence stealth cycle to boot. The truck itself was also armed to the teeth, inside and out. It was outfitted with machine guns on each side, laser guns, rocket launchers, you name it – it had it. There were two seats in the back dedicated to operating the firearms, and the dashboard at the wheel had a few secret weapons of its own. In conclusion, as Naver put it:
"Whoa. This is like a whole moving fortress!"
"How did you guys ever manage to get it crashed?" – Shala asked.
"Maybe they let you sit at the wheel." – Jay answered. "I saw the crashed hovercar at Huntor's, that was yours, wasn't it?" – he asked with a smug tone.
Shala opened his mouth, but he couldn't think of any comeback to that, but he had to retort with something, so he just said "Oh, shut up."
Everyone made themselves comfortable on the seats in the back. Then, Shala noticed Jay's massive blaster on the floor, which he still hadn't put away.
"Say, is that a Scorpion Slayer you've got there?" – he asked Jay as he went to take a closer look.
"Don't touch it." – Jay growled at him.
"Come on, I just wanna take a peek! Yours looks different!" – Shala told him as he grabbed the gun.
"I don't want you messing it up." – Jay retorted, as he grabbed the gun too.
"I'm not gonna break it! I wanna check out the mods you've got!" – Shala tried to jerk it out of Jay's hands.
"I'd rather not take the chance."
"Give it to me!" – Shala said as he pulled the Scorpion.
"How am I supposed to be sure you're not gonna mess it up?" - Jay pulled back.
"I'm the one who designed this damn thing!" – Shala finally pried it out of Jay's hands.
Jay was surprised. Naver was astounded.
"Designed it?" – Jay asked.
"Yes. I did! Or at least, the prototype. Back then it was called the Scorpion Stinger. I designed this gun. I made my Chill Caster. I designed the Sonic Smasher that Alice's got. I'm not actually some clueless moron, you know, I was the head of weapons engineering at DexLabs. Any DexLabs gun you're gonna see out there, chances are, I made a contribution to making it." – Shala explained.
"Whoa, that's so cool!" – Naver exclaimed.
Jay looked at Shala from top to bottom again.
"So, you're DexLabs? Hmm… How long exactly have you been working there?"
"Shortly after the invasion began. But I've quit after that. Dealing with Dexter just as a person is a hassle. The annoyance gets amplified majorly when he's your boss. I'd rather take some time to myself, you know? And so, when the academy was founded after that incident with that time tra-" – Shala cut off mid-sentence, staring at Jay. "Hey, hold on a second…" – he muttered as he observed Jay's face closely, from every angle. "Say, have you ever volunteered for a DexLabs experiment?" – Shala asked him.
Jay's face was unchanged, but Shala could tell that he did get a reaction by the restless eyes. "It is you, isn't it?" – Shala asked, now sure. "That's right! You're that kid! The time traveller!" – he exclaimed.
"The time traveller?" – Naver asked, confused.
Jay groaned. Took a pause. Then he gulped and started telling the story.
"Fine. I own up to it, yeah. I am that time traveller. Over a year ago, before the invasion began, I volunteered to be the test subject for a time travel project at Dexlabs. It was supposed to be a controlled experiment, I was gonna go only one second into the future, but, uh… Let's just say, an agent of chaos altered the conditions."
"Dee Dee…" – Shala said while squinting his eyes.
"With the push of a single wrong button, I was accidentally sent years into the future." – Jay continued explaining, as Naver and Alice silently listened. "I was thrown into a planet-scale war – this war. Only in the future I was in, we were losing. Hard. Most of Earth's surface had been already infected- no, terraformed into something similar to the surface of Planet Fusion itself. As I got there we lost Tech Square, as well as some of Earth's remaining defenders, the number of which was continuously dwindling. Of course, I didn't take that all in at first, but over the weeks there I slowly realized how dire the state of the planet was."
"But then Mandark and Numbuh Two figured out how to send you back." – Shala concluded.
"Eventually, we managed to rebuild it, yes. But in the meantime… I have seen things that I don't wish anyone to go through." – Jay said grimly.
"Alright, so that means that this Scorpion gun you've got here is from the Future?" – Shala asked about the gun that started this whole thing in the first place as he examined it closely.
"By then it was called the Scorpion Predator." – Jay told him.
"By then it will be called the Scorpion Predator." – Alice corrected him. "Or, wait…"
"Tenses are always confusing when it comes to time travel. You should just try not to overthink the rules." – Shala told her. Jay slightly nodded to confirm that. Then Shala went back to examining Jay's gun. "Yeah, I can see the new stuff on this. It seems like Cam finally figured out how to get the ion feedback supercharged… Yes, yes, this is definitely something. I approve." – he concluded. Then he turned back to Jay. "See, was that so hard?" – he asked him as he tossed the massive gun. Jay was barely able to catch it due to the massive size and weight of the blaster. He raised his eyebrows.
"What did I just tell you about breaking it?" – he asked Shala while staring through his soul.
"Hey, so does this time travel thing work? Did you meet your future self there?" – Naver asked Jay suddenly.
"No, from what we could tell, I disappeared from the timeline until I reappeared during the Battle of Tech Square. I was completely gone. There was no future self to be found. That meant that this was the timeline where I was absent from the war. This is what it all led to. And when I went back in time and actually helped out during the war, even brought back useful information of the future, the timeline was changed. I hope I did enough to avoid the unholy future that I've seen."
"Right, right. Then… did you meet any of us? In the future, I mean?" – Naver asked him.
"No, not that I can remember. Were any of you considering leaving the Darklands these past few days?"
"Nope" and "Nah" came from Alice and Shala respectively. Naver chuckled, as he had no way of knowing what he was intending to do in the days prior.
"Then you guys were likely in the Darklands in that timeline as well, when it happened…" – Jay told them.
"It?" – Alice asked.
"Something… big happened in the Darklands one day. Really big. And really bad. It was months before I got there, but as Samurai Jack told me, the Darklands – this entire island was gone. Possibly destroyed. So, as with most of Earth's defenders, you guys were probably dead in the future."
Alice whispered "whoah…", Naver gulped. Shala asked "so when is that gonna happen? How long have we got?"
"That's the thing…" – Jay told him. "Whatever happened, happened on May 11th." He paused to let the others take it in. Naver only now realized that he didn't know today's date.
"Hey, what day is it to-" – he started, and Shala quickly told him "It's May 12th. So that incident was…"
"Yep. Yesterday." – Jay finished his sentence.
"So, we're living on borrowed time?" – Naver asked them. "Is that it? Are we all gonna die any second now?"
"We better not. Not after all I've been through to make sure that timeline never comes to pass. Neither this island, nor the rest of the Earth falls. Not on my watch."
"Either that… or the Darklands never fell in the first place." – Shala hypothesized.
"What are you talking about?"
"Think of it. The only eyewitness to whatever happened to the Darklands was Jack, right? And the exact thing happened yesterday, in our timeline. The massive horde of Fusions, then the giant explosion… ever since then, comms are cut off from the mainland. So maybe the Darklands never got destroyed in the Future either, and the rest of the world just thought it was!" – Shala concluded.
"Hmph. Maybe. But whether they were or not in that timeline, we're still here. Still standing. And I need to make sure it stays that way. It's my mission."
"That's everyone's mission. Why do you think any of us are even here? To save the Earth, of course." – Alice told him.
"Yeah, sure. Except, the problems I've been solving are a little bit different. There have been several… threats. To the space-time continuum. Threats have been trying to exploit the time anomalies, the wormholes, the rifts. I've been stopping them."
"What threats?" – Shala asked, with disbelief on his face. "I've never heard of anything like that happening before."
Jay raised his eyebrows. "Exactly. The only reason the wormhole in Nowhere Triangle didn't destabilize and eat half of the Twisted Forest with it, is because I was there to stop it. Had I not been there, well, we'd be short of one Mount Blackhead right now."
All of these weird names and words confused Naver a bit. What was a nowhere triangle? What did it have to do with wormholes? Why was the forest twisted? And who in their right mind would name a mountain after a blackhead? But, he then remembered that he was on a real-life dinosaur island talking to a time traveller, so he just went along with it.
"So. What world-ending threat are you trying to save us from now?" – Shala asked rhetorically.
Jay stared at Shala. It was another one of his soul-piercing stares. "Demongo." – he said slowly.
"Demongo?"
"YES. DEMONGO. THE VERY SAME DEMONGO TO WHOM YOU GAVE THE DAMN CHRONOTON PARTICLE!" – Jay yelled.
"Come on, I said I was sorry! I didn't get the chance to tell Jack all about it and then…"
"Well, you don't have to worry about him anymore. After we deal with Fusion Courage, I'm going to track him down and put a stop to whatever he's doing."
"You mean, we're going. I'm tagging along on that." – Alice interjected.
"What? No, you're not. It's my mission, and my mission alone." – Jay protested.
"You can't keep doing your time threat thing on your own."
"I sure as hell can. I don't need anyone else for this. I've been looking for that particle for weeks now, on my own, and I'd much rather have it stay that way. This is just a temporary team-up for your Fusion Courage problem. After that, we split."
"You have seriously been working completely detached from everyone else all this time? How long exactly has it been since you've had real human interaction? How long has it been since you've stopped to take a breather and let someone else take over? Hell, how long since you've actually had a life? Friends, maybe? A place you can come back to at the end of the day, a bed to call your own? I've been with you all day and it looks like you're so hellbent on saving everything else from destruction that you've been destroying yourself in the process. You can't keep going like that. Don't you matter to yourself, at least?"
"So you want me to take others on my mission, which has proven to be almost suicidal? You want me to watch people die all around me, for me, in my hands? Nope. No way. I've seen too much of that already. This is why I work alone. I'm not gonna let that happen to anyone else."
"That… is not for you to decide. People put their lives on the line to save what they love. You're doing it for the same reason, aren't you? Can't you see that you need people in your life?"
"Hold on a second." – Shala interrupted their conversation. "How long has it actually been since you last showered?"
Jay tried very hard not to change his facial expression and not to look at Shala at all. Naver, however, tried to hold back a giggle. There was a pause, as no one really had an appropriate response to what Shala said.
After a couple seconds, Alice turned back to Jay. "You're not going on this alone." – she told him. He looked at Alice. Even though Jay was dead set on telling her no, he realized that she might be right – he really did miss having someone around. And considering she didn't look like she was ever gonna change her mind, reluctantly, he grunted "Fine. You're coming along." Then he looked at Shala and Naver, scared that they'd demand to come on this mission as well.
"You won't have to worry about me tagging along, I still got me an airship to find." – Shala told him. "What about you, Naver?"
"I don't… I, uh, well… no clue. I'll just come with you then. I mean, that's where I was last, right?"
"Alright! Then it's decided. Tomorrow, Fusion Courage. After that, Lord Fuse!" – Shala exclaimed triumphantly.
"I think you're getting a bit too far ahead of yourself there, with the whole, uh, Lord Fuse thing." – Alice piped in.
"Whatever."
End of Chapter 9.