Liam saw the horde chasing Vulk, and the loudest pitch scream erupted from his throat; he tried to move, but he was frozen in fear.
"OH, SCHINXELS! RUN!!" Flain yelled as the mixels took off as Liam was still frozen in fear at the horde, but at the last second, Vulk grabbed the scruff of Liam's shirt and took off screaming.
The group ran from the swarm as fast as possible through the empty streets until they ran into a fork in the road that went upwards to a bridge or downwards to the forest.
Flain quickly thought of something. "Oh, schnix! Liam, you go left; there might be a hiding place there! Take Vulk with you and keep him as safe as possible, and if you find Zorch make sure he's safe too!" Before Liam could protest, Flain pushed him and Vulk downwards towards the forest.
Liam fell down the hill clutching Vulk in his arms. "Liam, watch out!" Vulk screamed as Liam dodged a boulder that was at the bottom of the mountain. Liam skidded to a stop, and he let go of Vulk. Liam then collapsed
"Liam, are you okay?!" Vulk said, looking over Liam. Vulk gasped when he saw the large cut on the side of Liam's ankle. "Oh, my maximum! Here let me help!" Liam was about to ask how Vulk would help, but then he saw that Vulk was heating his fingers.
"Uh, Vulk, I don't think that's a good idea!" But Vulk didn't hear. A quick pain burst through Liam's skin, but as soon as it was there, it was gone. Liam looked down and gasped at the now cauterized wound.
"Flain used to do it to me when I got hurt." Loaned nodded, still amazed at the healed wound. Liam got up and looked at Vulk.
"That was amazing, but right now, we need to go and save Flain and find Zorch!" Vulk nodded. The two high fived but Liam flinched when he burnt his hand. "Sorry!" "It's okay, Vulk."
The two then took off, ready to rescue Flain and find Zorch.
Zorch had managed to escape the nixels, and now he was behind the speed shop hiding in a dumpster.
"Great first I find out what Liam is a big fat liar, then Vulk yells at me for being right, and now I have to deal with nixels! Stupid weird world." Zorch grumbled to himself. "You also have to deal with an angry teenager interrogating you."
"Yeah, that to… wait" Zorch looked up and saw Jess looking down at him with an angry expression. "Oh, it's you." Jess scoffed. "Of course it's me, now you better tell me where Liam is, or things are about to get ugly." Zorch laughed. "Oh really? Sorry but I know that you guys have no powers, so it might be best for you to run off to mommy and let me go."
Zorch gasped when Jess snatched him out of the dumpster with one hand and pinned him against the wall with her foot. "Now it's best to start talking, speedy boy. First off, what are you and what were you doing with Liam?" Zorch started sweating. "Nothing! He was doing something terrible to us!"
Jess raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms. "What would Liam 'softest boy in school' do that's so terrible." "He was manipulating us! He said that he didn't know what we were even though he did! He's a liar!"
Jess scoffed."Okay, if this is because I mentioned mixels at the speed shop? Dude, it's been seven years since mixels first aired and five since it was canned. Liam forgot about it, okay, hell, I forgot about it too until I saw you guys trotting along, Liam. If he's a liar because he's forgetful, then I guess I lie about a bunch of stuff."
Zorch raised his hand to make a point, but then it finally hit him. "Am I in the wrong?" He thought. No, he couldn't be; he was right about so many other things. Why would he be wrong about this? But Vulk did make a point back there, and the Jess chick also made a point.
"Now enough about Liam, he needs to introduce his story himself, now time to answer my questions 'Zorch.' One, are you a real-life mixel? Two, how are you here, and three, what's a nixel?" Zorch took a deep breath in. "I'll tell ya if you let me down."
Jess thought about it for a bit and shrugged. "Fine, but if you try anything, you're dead." Zorch nodded, and Jess let him go. "To answer your questions, yes, I'm a mixel, infernite specifically; I'm here because the nixels screwed up with a plan and a nixel is an annoying tiny creature that's currently behind you."
Jess twisted around and saw a small pointed-eared nixel that was trying to sneak up on her, Jess immediately punted it into the wall, and she grabbed it midair by where the throat would've been. "Aight, now that this little creep is taken care of, I have one last question. Where are Vulk and Liam?"
"Oh, they're probably over there where the nixel swarm was heading. Wait.. uh oh." Zorch looked up and saw a confused Jess still clutching the terrified Nixel. "Excuse me? What's a Nixel swarm?" Zorch let out a nervous chuckle.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you this, but nixels can gang up in large hoards and maybe destroy an entire market square if possible." Jess just stared at Zorch. "So you left Liam for dead." She said with her anger level rising. "N-no! I mean, he has Vulk with him, and wait.. Oh, my max, he has Vulk with him! We need to go!" Zorch sped off, and Jess quickly took after him.
The two stopped at the fork in the road where they saw the hoard in the distance carrying away a red mixel, but they couldn't tell who it was due to distance.
"Okay, we'll talk about you leaving Liam for dead later right now. We need to find out how to catch up to those grey fuckers because if you go too fast over there, it might cause a forest fire."
Zorch nodded and started looking for transport until he and Jess saw an abandoned shopping cart, and Jess and Zorch looked at each other and smiled.
"I think I have a plan," Jess said as a smirk grew on her face.
Meanwhile, Liam and Vulk ran after the nixels who followed Flain onto the bridge covered in trees. "Alright, Vulk, it's time for you to do whatever you do!" Liam said as the duo snuck up to the swarm.
Vulk quickly heated his hands to max temperature, and Liam grabbed him and threw him at the Nixel swarm. Vulk flew through the air, and he landed in the middle of the hoard, and he smacked rows of mixels away with a giant fiery clap.
As Vulk got closer to the middle, he began to feel his energy drain, his claps became slower, and he got slower with every step. But then he got to the middle of the hoard, and he saw Flain desperately trying to fight off nixels.
"Big bro!" Vulk quickly ran to the middle and hugged his brother. Flain was quite surprised. "Vulk?! What are you doing here? I thought I told you to run off with Liam!" Vulk shook his head.
"No! I didn't want to leave you for dead! Now come on, let's mix… where's the cubit?"
Vulk quickly checked himself, as did Flain, but neither of them had the cubit, but then Vulk remembered something.
"I left it in Liam's bag!" He cried out. Now neither of them could do anything because they used up all of their power until a chorus of screams echoed out into the night.
The mixels looked forward and saw that a red and yellow blur was rushing through the nixel hoard, burning those on the sidelines and running over those who dared enter its path.
Then out of the hoard burst into the air was Zorch, who was pushing a shopping cart with Jess and a terrified Liam clinging to Jess.
The cart crashed down onto the pavement, and Jess jumped out of it and landed gracefully while Liam tried to get out and fell on his face. Flain just stood there with his jaw on the floor, and Vulk was happy that they had made it.
"Zorch, your back! I thought you didn't need us!" Vulk went over and hugged his brother. "I don't! I just didn't want you to get hurt because you wouldn't have any power by now." Zorch crossed his arms.
"Oh hey Liam, I thought you wouldn't come back for me," Flain said a bit sheepishly. "Of course I came back for you. I'm not letting someone innocent die!" Liam said.
Flain didn't get the time to reply as the nixels attacked. Jess was able to bash a few with a tree branch, and Zorch ran over as many nixels as possible. Vulk Liam and Flain were cornered as they had nothing to defend them until a dawning realization hit Flain.
"Liam! You have the cubit! Throw it over to Vulk and me so we can mix!" Flain called out. Liam felt around in his bag and grabbed the cubit, but he was interrupted by a Nixel headbutting him in the gut.
Liam slid across the pavement and screamed from the road burn tearing up his skin. Vulk quickly ran to Liam's side, but Flain pushed Vulk out of the way of a Nixel attack. A pack of nixels picked up flain and Liam, and they found themselves thrown off the bridge and down into the foliage below.
"FLAIN! LIAM!" Zorch Vulk and Jess screamed, but they were interrupted by the nixels.
The two screamed as they fell, and then they landed on the cold moss-covered dirt leaving behind a few scars. Flain and Liam were alone again as the Nixel swarm brewed on with their friends and family inside.
Flain got up and shook off his pain as he looked around, and then he saw Liam on the ground unconscious. Flain went over to Liam and realized that Liam wasn't on the floor because of unconsciousness but pain. Flain realized that when he saw the state of Liam's leg.
It was torn up badly, and it was bending backward due to the fall. The wound had opened back up.. It looked as if the magma lands had landed on Liam's leg, and Flain knew there was no known way of coming back from that. Flain finally broke from everything.
"Oh, maximum mixel. I failed everyone again. Damnit! Why! Why do I fail every time I try to protect something! Why did the council choose me as the infernite leader after dad died? Why.. why, why."
Tears began to well in Flains eyes, but they were pushed away by a trembling hand. Flain looked down and saw Liam looking up at him with a small smile.
"Don't cry; it's going to be okay. think your dad would be proud, and I can understand about losing something precious, but you can do good!"
Liam tried to get up, but the pain from his broken leg stopped him.
"I've seen you in action, and by what I've seen, you're an amazing leader, and whatever the council is has made a good choice in making you leader, you care about your brothers, which helps you be an empathetic leader and you're good in action like when you burnt that broom! Now I'm fine if you don't trust me because I'm not the best person with the best father, but I know you can find them. So let's stop moping for now and save everyone! Somehow. Maybe with the cubit?"
Liam got the cubit out of his bag and held it up to Flain. Flain sighed.
"Liam, I'm sorry about this. I'm sorry about breaking on you, and I'm sorry about not trusting you. I was too scared to underestimate you since I once underestimated the nixels, and now they're the mixels number one enemy. I thought humans would be the same, but now I know that I was wrong. So let's do it! Let's save everyone!"
Flain grabbed ahold of the cubit, and then something that neither of the two expected happened. The cubit opened up and created a whirlwind sucking the two in, and then out flew a humanoid phoenix-like creature with a head of fire and one large horn in the middle.
The Phoenix opened their eyes and looked down at themselves in surprise. "Dude, did we mix?" They said in a mix of Liam and Flains voices.
"Wow, I didn't know we could even mix, and my leg feels better! Well, how about we save the others during this little confidence boost Phoenix away!"
Phoenix rocketed into the sky and looked down, seeing that the Nixel swarm had cornered Zorch Jess and Vulk. Phoenix also spotted the shopping cart and an idea popped within their minds.
Jess and the mixels were cornered. Zorch and Vulk were out of energy, and the nixels broke Jess's stick. The group could only back away and pray that something saves them, and something came.
Suddenly rows of nixels were burnt to a crisp by a wave of fire that washed over them and landed in front of the group as a ball of fire. The fireball opened up to reveal that it was a mix of Flain and Liam. The mixels gasped, and Jess was just confused and slightly amazed.
"Liam, is that you?" Jess asked with amazement in her eyes. "Well, I'm half of Liam if that's what you want to know. Now come on, let's get out of this mess!" Phoenix said. "But, how?" Said Zorch, still shocked that mixels could mix with humans.
Phoenix flew over and picked up the shopping cart with no struggle. "I've got an idea!"
John was outside of his house writing some poetry but looked up when he heard screaming as he saw Jess soaring through the air in a shopping cart being carried by a phoenix and in the cart next to her were two red monsters, one was having the most incredible time of its life while the other was about to puke. John looked at the seven-hour energy he was drinking, and he quickly pushed it off the branch.
Phoenix landed the shopping cart outside of Liam's home, and then in a poof, they unmixed. Liam just laid on the ground in shock while Flain was quite happy, and he was shocked too, but he was mostly pleased.
"Dude, did you guys see that! Liam and I mixed! I thought mixels couldn't mix with nonmixels, but it can happen apparently!"
Zorch high-fived Flain."Dude, that was awesome! The mix was so cool too! It had wings! Motherfrixing wings!"
While the commotion was going on around Flain, Jess went over to Liam.
"So you 'mixed' with someone. Honestly, I didn't know what mixing was until I saw that fusion of you and Flain. How did it feel?" Liam shook off the shock. "It felt like I was me, but it also felt like I was Flain at the same time. It was so weird, and I think I also saw bits of Flains memory."
"What do you mean?" "I mean, I saw moments. I saw Zorch and Vulk get sucked up by a weird portal thingy, and then I saw them falling through the air, but the last one I saw was the weirdest. It was of Flain, but he was frozen in place, and there were more mixels around him, but they were like grey-colored zombies." Liam was quite confused, but then he heard a quiet gasp.
Liam turned to the group of mixels, and he noticed the awkward look on Vulk and Zorch's faces. Flain was uncomfortable by the memory Liam mentioned, but he asked Liam a quick question before Flain got offended. "Was that your first time mixing?"
Liam nodded. "Of course! I never knew that kind of mixing was even possible until I mixed with Flain! The only mixing I knew was mixing ingredients!"
Zorch zipped behind Liam. "Aww, baby's first mix! But it looks like you need to learn what not to do when you mix." Liam was perplexed. "Wha-what do you mean?"
Flain coughed and stepped up. "Well, when you mix with someone, your minds become one, and when that happens, you can get access to the other person's memories. Usually, we mixels don't look into each other's memories since it's considered extremely rude, but we can forgive you this time since it was your first time mixing." Flain said.
Liam nodded. "But what about the zombie memory? What was that?" Liam asked. Flain had a sharp intake of breath, and Vulk rubbed Flains back. "Should I tell him about it?" He asked. Flain shook his head. "No, I think it's finally my turn to tell it to someone." Vulk nodded and sat on the stairs of Liam's porch.
"One year ago during September, I think it was the 19th. Teslo and I were hosting the annual mix fest, and it would've been one of the best days of my life if it weren't for the nixels,"
"Zaptor had eaten all the hamlogna sandwiches, so the other tribe leaders and I had to go on a snack run, but when we came back, the nixels were there. They quickly spread an infection that they can make with their claws called 'nixing,' but some of the victims weren't fully nixed and, it was torture to watch them call for help as they slowly became lifeless zombies. It was the first time I failed as a leader." Flain was beginning to tear up. Zorch sped behind him and gave Flain some good pats on the back.
"But Flain then had the genius idea to go to one of the mythical mega cubits! Dude broke it with the help of the others, and now I'm no longer grey!" Zorch said.
"Yeah, and he helped save the mixel festival by putting extra mustard nuts on the hamlogna sandwiches so that zaptor can't eat them since he's allergic to mustard nuts," Vulk said.
"Heh, thanks, guys. Still, though that day wasn't the best day ever for me, it was one of the worst days in my life along with dad dying.. how about we talk about this more in the morning?"
The group mutually agreed. "Yeah, plus it's best I get home, or mom will be pissed; I'll see you guys later if you aren't hallucinations!" Jess ran off, and now it was just Liam and the mixels again.
Liam got up and noticed something drastically different about himself, and Flain saw it too. "Wait, dude, how are you standing? Wasn't your leg destroyed?" Liam looked down and gasped.
His previously destroyed leg was fixed, and after Flexing it a few times, Liam knew that it felt brand new, but he also saw that it was shining.
Zorch sped over and noticed the leg's unusual shine, but he recognized the shine.
"Wait.. let me try something," Zorch knocked on his skin, creating a Hollow sound. Zorch then knocked on Liam's leg, and it made the same sound.
Zorch then felt his skin, and then he did the same to the leg. Finally, Zorch licked himself, and then he licked the leg, which got Liam to kick him away instinctively.
"Zorch, what the heck!" Liam cried out, and Zorch shook off the shock of the kick. "Dude, don't you realize the implications of this! That leg wasn't like the rest of you! It's not made of whatever you're made of; it's made of mixel flesh!" Flain and Vulk gasped, and Liam looked at his leg in horror.
The group then looked at Flains leg, but it was no different. "Was this because it was damaged before we mixed?" Liam asked Flain.
Flain slowly nodded, and the dawn of realization hit him. "It's the healing system! When mixels mix, they're sometimes injured, so the cubit automatically repairs them! But because you are not a mixel, the cubit got confused, and instead of repairing it how you humans would have repaired it, the cubit tried to fix it by turning it into a mixel leg! Liam, I'm so sorry!" Flain said.
"Wait, it might not be all of the leg! Liam, take off your weird boots!" Zorch demanded. Liam obeyed and took off his boot, and everything went silent as a human foot did not come out of the boot, but a mixel foot did. It was an infernite red and only had two toes, and it was connected to Liam's leg by a grey ball joint.
Liam wanted to scream, but his mouth wouldn't open, he tried to kick, scream or cry over his now deformed foot, but he didn't. All he could do was stare as Flain was also frozen by shock. Vulk was majorly panicking, and Zorch was messing with it and asking Liams questions about it that Liam couldn't answer.
"I think I should go to bed right now," Liam said. The mixels looked at each other and nodded their heads.
Liam quietly opened the door and saw that his mom was still asleep on the couch. "Alright, the coast is clear," Liam said as the group went upstairs, careful not to make any noise that would wake Mrs. Botch.
Liam was still thinking about the portal, but now he had many more thoughts and worries to accompany that nice little thought, but Liams biggest concern right now was his leg.
Could he ever reverse it? Can he reverse it? If he mixes more, will he slowly turn more and more into a mixel? Liam laid down and tried to rest, but he couldn't. Liam looked up at the stars, and when he saw a shooting star, Liam made a wish. "I wish this were a dream," Liam said, not knowing that this would be the biggest adventure in his and many others' lives.
Flain looked up at the stars; yes, he was happy everyone made it out without being nixed, but what's going to happen now? How will he fix Liam's leg? How will he get home? But his biggest concern was his cousins.
How are they doing right now? Flain imagined Flamezer being terrified by humans, and then he saw Meltus crying all alone in an alley or Burnard getting chased by nixels.
Flain shook off his worries when he saw Zorch and Vulk sleeping in their beds. Flain knew that his brothers would help, and hell, maybe Liam would help too. Flain looked up at the stars again and saw a shooting star, and he made a wish.
"I wish that I can find and help everyone that fell into the portal, and if I can't, then I wish that someone helps these mixels no matter what!"
Flain cooled out his flame and went to sleep, not knowing that his wish would help everyone, mixel, and human.