FUSIONFALL OR:
HOW WE GOT TOGETHER TO FIGHT THE INVASION
PART 6: FIRST CONTACT
"This is the Townsville News Network with breaking news. Thousands of reports are coming in from all over the continent of bulbous green objects crashing into the earth, causing disastrous levels of damage. Appearing to be alien in nature, what scientists have rapidly begun to call 'terrafusers' also seem to have the worrying ability to spawn creatures made of a glowing green goo, that go on to attach themselves and bond with items from the surrounding environment. These resulting 'fusion monsters' are now attacking everything and everyone in their paths, with no clear way to stop them. Current advice from the city mayors is to stay inside and block all entries, and allow any active heroes to defend their local communities."
The newsreader's warm voice floated juxtaposed with the alarming footage that cycled on the television's screen. An old CRT, it lay like a lazy beast atop the stand it called its nest, surrounded by a shrine of other retro gadgets and thrifted toys. The living room it resided in was similarly frumpy – with a wooden floor covered in maybe a dozen shagpile rugs, velvet curtains adorning the windows, antique lights fitted between the panels on the wall that antagonised the huge chandelier that hung from the ceiling. It was a veritable time capsule of vintage décor that clearly indicated the owner's dated (and rather eccentric) taste. But for the residents of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, there was no other place they would rather live than under Madame Foster's care.
"Mac, Bloo, get out of the way," called out Frankie from the tiny couch in the centre of the living room, squashed between the numerous imaginary friends that huddled around her for comfort. Granddaughter to the Madame, she had grown up around the chaos of the home, eventually stepping up as its much-loved primary caretaker. "Mac, Bloo, come on!" she yelled again, blowing her dyed red bangs out of her face as she leaned forward to throw a pillow at them. Far in front, Mac and Bloo, a young boy and his bright blue imaginary best friend, were sat on the floor and had been edging forward until they were so close that they were practically in the studio with the news team. They feigned not hearing Frankie, hoping that she would eventually give up and let them continue testing the age-old theory that you could indeed see further into the screen if your nose was less than half an inch from it. Unfortunately, their plan was foiled not a minute later when they were grabbed by two furry paws that dragged them roughly backwards by their collars. They looked up to see Mr Herriman, the head of house and leporine imaginary friend to the Madame, who ignored their protests as he dumped them unceremoniously back at Frankie's feet. "And how many times must I add that you will ruin your eyes if you sit so close," he said, walking back to his position standing by the couch's arm. Frankie reached down to rub the boys' heads affectionately, tussling Mac's already messy brown hair and tickling the back of Bloo's neck.
On the screen, new footage was being shown of people running in all directions, diving to escape the blast of terrafusers slamming into buildings and herding each other away as mechanical horrors came to life from the wreckage of crashed school buses and hovercars. To call it 'worrying' was an understatement. Frankie brought her knees up under the blanket she was sharing, hugging them to her chest as she peered over. Beside her, Eduardo, a big hairy purple monster with great horns and fangs, pulled her in close. "Don't worry Frankie, Eduardo will protect you," he said, his softly spoken voice revealing the gentle personality that really lay behind his fearsome appearance. Frankie smiled and leaned into him, hugging his fluffy body. Eduardo smiled back, until his face fell. "But who will protect Eduardo..?" he murmured.
Thankfully, the screen responded to his concerns with even more new footage of people fighting back – heroes, superpowered and non, flying into the scene to rescue people and hold off the invaders. Moreover was the images of the ingenious things normal people were already banding together to do by themselves, building mazes of barricades to divert the monsters and setting up traps to capture them. At one point, the footage changed to show an aerial view of a group of kids stood back to back in their cul de sac, deftly fending off mutants made from discarded newspapers and uprooted fire hydrants. The residents of Foster's gasped when they heard where the fight was happening – Peach Creek. That was just two neighbourhoods over from where they were.
Mac and Bloo scrambled up from their seats and hurried to the windows. They plastered their faces across the glass, craning their necks to see if anything had landed near the house yet. Nothing so far. The labyrinth appeared to be undisturbed, and the street in front was quiet. The surrounding courtyard was also devoid of activity, since everyone had been called inside since the first announcement. The boys couldn't help but sigh in disappointment. They knew it was better to be safe of course, but man, wouldn't it be so cool if... Wait.
What was that in the grass outside?
No, wait – who was that in the grass outside?
Oh no. Oh no no no.
Cheese had let himself back out to play.
Mac and Bloo strained to pull the window open. They leaned out to shout to him, slapping on the window frames to try obtain his attention. Frankie and the others got up from the couch at the sound of the commotion and came over to the windows as well. When they saw Cheese they all began to join in, yelling their voices hoarse to somehow persuade him to look up and listen for once. It was no use. Cheese was in his own little world, singing gibberish as he swung his toys around in the air, role-playing whatever strange new character or obscure philosophical concept he was obsessed with lately.
"Oh, come on," Mac muttered. He swapped a glance with Bloo, who rolled his eyes. Frankie felt a force push her to the side and turned to see Mac running after barging past her. "What are you- hey, get back here!" she shouted, realising what they were going to do. "Mr Herriman!" she called to him, as he dived to catch Bloo, missing him by a hair. The boys hurtled down the stairs, skipping over the last few steps to the landing and grabbing onto the banisters to swing into the next set. They crossed the foyer to the front door, yanking it open and sprinted to where Cheese was sitting in the grass. Still blissfully dormant to their presence, he was rudely awakened when they grabbed him by the arms to pull him up to his feet. Cheese screeched as they pulled him back towards the house. "Letmegoletmegoletmegoletmegoletmegoletmegoletmego!" he howled, digging his feet into the ground and going limp to try slowing them down.
"Cheese, we told you to stay inside buddy, it's not safe!" Mac pleaded as he struggled to pull him.
"But I want to plaaaaaaay," Cheese whined.
"Yeah, well playtime's over pal!" Bloo retorted.
"Come on Bloo, don't shout at him. Just help me bring him back inside," Mac told him off. Bloo grumbled and complied. They slowly began to make progress, pulling him a couple of feet forward when-
BOOM.
A terrafuser slammed into the earth in front of them.
The door to the house swung open as Frankie and Mr Herriman finally came following. As soon as they took one step out, they froze, finding themselves face to face with the massive thing. Steaming with residual heat from the impact, it was surrounded by a small crater that had crumbled the ground around the front porch, including the stairs leading up to it. There was no way for them to get around it to the boys. They were trapped in.
"Mac, Bloo, Cheese, are you okay?!" Frankie's frantic voice reached blindly for them.
"Yeah, we're okay!" Mac replied. The boys had been thrown back a few yards, but the softness of the grass had cushioned the impact. Mac pushed himself up onto his elbows. He wasn't hurt, but he was sore from landing on his side. He looked over to see Bloo and Cheese looking similarly unharmed – Bloo was rubbing his shoulder, while Cheese was actually laughing, giggling with glee as if he had just come off a fairground ride. "Again, again!" he cackled.
"Okay boys, stay calm. Don't come any closer, we're going to come get you," Frankie continued.
The boys nodded, mesmerised by the alien object. Up close, they could see how textured its surface was – layers of hardened green sheets that overlapped each other, spiralling around its form like petals on a hideous flower. What looked like black vines sprouted from a dense base, crawling up its side with clawing fingers that dug in through the petals. It had a faint glow about it, a lucid fluorescence that pulsated ever so slightly.
Frankie called out to the boys again. "Mr Herriman's going to see if he can come round from one of the back doors. I'm going to stay with you while he gets help, okay?"
"Okay Frankie," Mac replied.
"Don't worry, you're going to be all right," Frankie said.
"I'm not worried, I'm bored," Bloo said. "Why won't this thing do something like the ones on TV?"
Frankie sighed. Bloo had a point though. As they watched, the terrafuser remained still. The only thing that indicated activity was that gradual pulsing, the colour shifting through various shades of green. They waited, keeping a fearful eye on it, waiting for Mr Herriman to come trotting down the side of the house with help in tow.
That was, until they heard a very subtle, but very deliberate – crack.
From the side facing the boys, one of the sheets on the terrafuser's surface detached itself. Almost immediately, more began to follow, peeling themselves off and falling to the ground one after the other. The more they fell, the more it revealed another layer underneath, a soft, gelatinous tissue that began to swell rapidly through the crevices the fallen petals left behind. As it swelled, the boys could see the vines were beginning to move, wriggling and squirming across the terrafuser until they too were pulling themselves away, but to reach out and feel through the air like blind, infant limbs.
More sounds began to emit from it. A rustling, as even more vines sprouted from the base, but thicker ones, tentacles snaking out that rose up and stabbed into the ground, penetrating the earth and burying themselves like roots. Then there was the hissing, as the bulging flesh above expanded further and further, till it also started to split, but this time to secrete a viscous liquid that seeped and dripped out onto the ground, bubbling like acid corroding its surface.
The boys grimaced as they picked up on the smell that emanated from the substance. An acrid scent, tart on the tongue and sour in the mouth, making their eyes water with its pungency. "F- Frankie," Mac coughed, wiping his lips to try to get the taste from them. "What do we do?"
Frankie could barely respond after also getting her senses attacked. She motioned for the boys to copy what she was doing, pulling off her hoody to cover her nose and mouth with it. Afraid to tell them to move away in case it might somehow attract the terrafuser's attention, she waved with one hand to reassure them that help was coming.
But the boys had stopped paying attention to her because the next stage of the terrafuser's evolution was happening.
From the puddles that had dripped all over the ground, shapes were beginning to form. Lumps that rolled around, gathering mass, making wet squelching noises as they slid over each other. Mac and Bloo watched with disgust, but that disgust soon became horror when the lumps ripped themselves away from the ooze and began to contort, stretching into a distinct familiar shape and growing ghastly little faces that told them that they had finally reached the forms that the creatures on TV had taken before they attacked.
"Frankie!" the boys screamed as they clambered back from the fusion monsters that had noticed them.
"Boys!" Frankie shouted as she instinctively ran towards them, before forcing herself to halt as more monsters spilled out in her direction too. In the span of seconds, the terrafuser's spawn had them outnumbered. In the distance, they could hear Mr Herriman coming up with Wilt, but it was too late, the monsters were already on them, and there was nothing that they could do, except-
BOOM!
A colossal fist came pummelling down, obliterating the terrafusers and its fusion spawn completely.
Mac, Bloo, Frankie, Cheese, and a baffled, just-arrived Mr Herriman and Wilt looked up to witness their unexpected saviour. It was a robot – a giant, humungous, big freaking robot, its steel blue frame towering over the house itself, its arms and legs painted with scorching flames and… eight-balls? Didn't matter, because the robot was now lowering itself into a squat, leaning forward to reveal it had a 1970s Plymouth Barracuda in glossy scarlet for a head.
"You guys okay?!" came a voice from inside the car. Two men leaned out from the windows – in the driver's seat was a large, fat man with spiky bleached hair and a goatee, while the passenger was a small, thin man wearing a fisherman's beanie over his jet black bangs.
Frankie stammered, still in shock. "Y- Yeah… We're okay."
The fat man chuckled. "Didn't expect to get saved by a giant robot, did ya? I'm Coop. This is Jamie." He indicated himself, then his friend. Jamie grinned and waved, sending a cheeky wink in Frankie's direction. "And this," Coop slapped the side of the car to indicate the robot, "Is-"
"MEGAS!" Mac and Bloo screamed with delight. "Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh you guys are so cool I can't believe that we got saved by MEGAS…"
Coop roared with laughter. "You guys know us, huh? Well, we are your neighbours!" He pointed back in the direction they came from with his thumb. "We live just up at Goat's Junkyard. This kinda stuff isn't new to us, obviously, so when we heard the call we hopped in to help out. Boy, am I glad we got here in time before things got nasty."
"Thank you," Frankie replied. She rubbed her arm, then walked over to where the remains of the terrafuser were. The thing had completely disintegrated, dissolving without a trace save for a dark patch where the ooze had made contact with the ground. "What are these things?" she wondered out loud.
"No idea," Coop replied. "But this whole place is crawling with them. We've been running around from here to Pokey Oaks, and that's not even mentioning what's probably going on up in Endsville. I mean, it's not like we've never dealt with anything alien before, but we've never seen anything like this."
They all stared at the patch. It seemed that the thing was gone for good, destroyed by MEGAS' fist. But what if… something regenerated from it? Frankie shivered at the thought. No, the most important thing was that they were all safe for now. She called the boys over to join her, putting her arms around them to hold them tight in relief. They turned to head back home, when-
BOOM BOOM BOOM.
Three more terrafusers landed in the street in front of the house. And this time, fusion monsters instantly began spilling out. Frankie looked up at MEGAS, meeting Coop and Jamie's gazes. The guys nodded, motioning to get behind them.
"Get inside, shut the doors! We've got you," Jamie shouted. Frankie nodded and grabbed Mac and Bloo, the boys already protesting that they wanted to get into the car to help. Mr Herriman and Wilt came forward to help her, Wilt picking up Cheese with his one hand and flinging him up on his shoulder as they ran in through the doors. When they clicked shut, Coop and Jamie turned back to the console in front of them, cracking their knuckles as they prepared to engage. They flicked some switches, pushed up some sliders, and Coop twisted the key in the ignition. Jamie hit a button, waking up the speakers that began blaring out music. The guys bumped fists, and MEGAS revved its engine.
"Looks like the party's just getting started."
Meanwhile, back in the city the battle raged on.
Dexter, piloting his own ROBO-DEXO, stamped on terrafuser after terrafuser as they came torpedoing into the streets of downtown Townsville. The robot's giant feet thundered on the asphalt as he navigated around the city blocks, expertly controlled arms swinging through the air with open palms to catch and crush as many as possible before they landed and took root. All around him monsters continued to spawn, the gremlins surging from the terrafusers that slipped through, chomping down on ruined material only to violently mutate into twisted nightmare versions of what they copied. Metal groaned as they leaped up onto the slider tracks, using them as a platform from which to launch themselves into the buildings and hook themselves onto the floating billboards that flailed desperately from the weight.
Fortunately, Dexter wasn't alone. Weaving through the monsters were the other heroes - running, flipping, and flying as they took out one beast after the other in formidable fashion. Flashes of pink and blue light danced around the ROBO-DEXO as Blossom and Bubbles ripped through the terrafusers in droves, appearing at times in several places at once with the efficiency of their dispatch. Up ahead, one of the offices ruptured all across a middle floor, an outpour of glass shards raining down from it. From the cavity came a herd of ape-like mutants, made of up filing cabinets and other office supplies, swinging themselves from the edge to begin shimmying down the outside surface. Instantly, there was that flash of light as Blossom appeared before them, mouth wide open as she blew a torrent of cold that froze them in their tracks. Not a split second later was a second flash followed by a deafening scream, as Bubbles flew past to shatter the statues.
Dexter's visuals went dark as a terrafuser landed right across the ROBO-DEXO's face. Before he could react, the dark was scorched away by an explosion of fire and in its place, Dexter found Heatblast now hanging on. Heatblast gave Dexter a thumbs-up through the robot's lens, then dived off, throwing himself back into the midst of the swarm below. Random bursts of brilliant crimson flared up along the path he took, cutting through the crowd with the equal amounts of power and furore that earned him his namesake.
Elsewhere, the operatives of Sector V fought along the rooftops. Numbuhs 1, 3, 4, and 5 darted all over the buildings and their attached structures, guns blazing, slingshots snapping, grenades blowing up small mountains of fusion monsters they tricked into congregating together. They were inexplicable – masters of their craft, pulling off techniques and manoeuvres more advanced than the actual adult military who were being overwhelmed in the areas they defended.
But perhaps the most curious sight of all was those who flew above: a horde of monkey minions, led by Mojo Jojo, who swooped down to back up their unlikely allies and support their movements. It made the heroes uneasy to have the simians among them, but the reality was that they needed all the help they could get. Still, the past was not something that they had forgotten, and each hero kept a watchful eye for any sign of betrayal.
Dexter's brow wrinkled as he looked at the ever-increasing number of heat signatures on his visuals. He brought his forearm up to wipe off the sweat coating his forehead, feeling how tired his body was getting from the non-stop effort. Despite the rate at which they were taking the monsters down, Dexter couldn't help but notice what the numbers on the screen were suggesting. Too many of the terrafusers were regenerating too quickly. What they were doing wasn't working.
"Professor?" Dexter barked into the comms that connected him to Dexlabs. "Have you and Computress found anything useful yet?"
Utonium's voice quickly returned to him via the speakers in the pilot's chamber. "Actually Dexter, yes, an intriguing finding – the terrafusers that have successfully implanted are releasing some sort of chemical in the air, the concentration of which seem to be correlating with nearby monsters' movements. Could this be a signal?"
Dexter glanced around to find the nearest rooted terrafusers. Over there – under the overhang of one of the office entrances. He tapped a setting to change visual modes, revealing the dispersion of gaseous particles in the air. Sure enough, streaming from the puckered opening in the terrafuser tops was a thick mist that spread outwards, hanging over every monster engaged in some sort of attack. Moreover, Dexter could see that a large part of the mist seemed to continue drifting upwards, and away from where the main battle was taking place. Dexter narrowed his eyes. "Professor, I see the chemical. But tell me – where is the concentration highest?"
"Ah, you noticed too. In addition to the 'signals' for the monsters, each terrafuser also appears to be contributing to a network of dense clouds that are forming from here to the far north. GPS indicate that they go beyond the city limits towards the Wilds. That could be where the source is – but if we want to pinpoint the exact location, we'll need to follow it."
"I see." Dexter considered this information. He watched as his teammates struggled to save the city, doing their best, not knowing that this way was ultimately futile. He made a decision.
"Computress, prep the carrier. I'm heading to the Wilds."
"Very well, Dexter. Carrier is being dispatched," Computress confirmed.
Dexter switched comms to activate the ROBO-DEXO's outer speakers. "Everybody, listen! We are losing this battle – we have to go!"
Heatblast called out from the ground. "Go where?!"
"To the source! The Professor's made a discovery!" Dexter replied.
Numbuh 1 rolled away from the fusion monster chasing him, twisting to finish it off with a well-placed bolt, ending in a kneel. He nodded, acknowledging Dexter's message. He stood up and signalled Numbuh 5, instructing her to take lead whilst he joined the team. Sector V nodded and resumed fighting without him.
Blossom glided in to a hover in front of the ROBO-DEXO. "How far do we have to go?" she inquired. "To the Wilds," Dexter responded. "Perhaps even beyond," he added.
Blossom looked uncertain. "I can't leave Townsvile vulnerable," she said. Bubbles appeared beside her, having heard Dexter's call. "Blossom, you go," she said to her sister. "I can stay behind, we'll be fine."
Blossom looked into her sister's eyes, worried about leaving such a burden on her sister's shoulders. She looked from Bubbles to the ROBO-DEXO, hesitant. "Are you sure?" she asked.
"YES, SHE IS!" came a booming voice, proudly announcing itself in reply.
Blossom turned in surprise. Floating behind her - pearly white teeth gleaming, golden winged helmet shining, gloved fists on hips was none other than the Eagle of the West, America's Dream, the one, the only: Major Glory. And right with him were the Infraggable Krunk, Valhallen, and the rest of the associated Justice Friends diving in to join the battle.
"The city of Townsville is safe with us, Blossom!" Major Glory reassured her. "Go on, join your friends on this adventure – we'll take care of it."
Despite still feeling a multitude of conflicting emotions, Blossom couldn't help but smile in relief at the sight of the heroes of the silver age. She met her sister's gaze, and both nodded, knowing that she would be leaving the situation in good hands. Blossom turned to follow Dexter to the carrier now pulling in above them.
But before she could take off, she found her path intercepted by Mojo Jojo. The villain threw himself in front of her with arms spread, hands open to indicate he meant no harm. "Wait!" he shouted. "I have heard your conversation with the boy in the robot, and I insist that you take me with you."
Blossom clenched her fists, teeth bared in anger at his audacity. "Get out of my way, Mojo," she growled.
"I cannot! Listen, the land that you are about to traverse is a land I know well. My minions are still stationed there too. If you take me, I can help you navigate the territory so that no harm will befall you."
Blossom's eyes widened. "Harm?" she said. "You're going to protect us from harm?"
Mojo's eyes cast down in shame. "I understand why you would not wish to accept the help I am offering to you," he said. Then he tilted his head back up to meet Blossom's gaze, eyes hardening back into the notorious glare of the Simian Supreme. "But I ask you this – do you really have a choice? Where would you prefer to keep me then, if not by your side? Are you willing to leave me here, by myself, to my own devices?"
Blossom hesitated. She wanted to grab him by the collar and throw him into the horizon, but she knew she couldn't… because he was right. She couldn't trust him, and he knew it. Which meant either allowing him to help so that she could keep him under her supervision – or allowing him to stay in Townsville.
"Fine. But if you try anything, you will regret it," she spat.
Blossom and Mojo landed aboard the Dexlabs carrier and headed to the bridge. They entered to find Dexter, Ben, and Numbuh 1 standing around a centre table. Their eyes widened when they saw Mojo following Blossom in. "What is he doing here?!" Ben snarled, already moving towards them with his hand over the Omnitrix.
"Ben, stop. I let him come." Blossom held up her hand. "He knows what the Wilds are like from his time in exile. He says with his base and minions still there, they can help us navigate it."
"Come on Blossom," Ben argued, "After what he did to-"
"I know what he did. Believe me, Ben, I'm the last person who wants him with us. But we can't deny he can help."
Ben pressed his lips together, holding his tongue. He nodded, a bitter look on his face reluctantly admitting defeat. Dexter spoke up to break the silence. "I can't say I don't agree. If the invasive activity has indeed been spreading from the far north, it is only going to get worse the further up we go. We need someone who knows what to expect." He turned to Mojo, warily meeting his gaze. "What should we know for the journey ahead?"
Mojo slowly approached the table, eyes shifting between the heroes, just as on guard as they were. He cleared his throat. "My minions' reports inform me that the first terrafusers landed in the region north-east of my mountain base. Most of the area surrounding is rainforest, and most of the wildlife are basic animals. My minions' reports also confirm that the behaviour of the terrafusers there are similar to the ones in the city, but with no intelligent defences beyond our capabilities, the infection is spreading with insurmountable speed."
Dexter took in the information. "Okay, then we travel as far as possible, following the chemical path. From what you say, it is likely that we will be heading into extremely dangerous territory. With the carrier's defence systems, we should be relatively safe travelling at this altitude, but I advise you all to stay alert. Ground-level conflict is to be avoided. We need to find the source of these signals and destroy whatever it is."
The heroes – Ben, Blossom, and Numbuh 1 – voiced their agreement. On the other side of the table, Mojo agreed too. Dexter looked that them all solemnly before nodding, and set the carrier in motion.
END OF PART 6