Chapter Fourteen: Extraction Point
What Makoto had done was sort of impressive.
Since the Monsoon was a lightning user, she'd wanted to beat it. A matter of pursuing power had morphed into more chaos.
Fish were being sucked into the hole created from the merging of the Monsoon's lightning, Sailor Jupiter's Supreme Thunder, and sunrays. They looked like they were swimming as they tried to escape from the too-strong quicksand. Hopefully, wherever the fish were ending up wasn't fatal.
The Monsoon kept pressing the button on its remote control, grinning, its head turning in 360 degrees. Makoto grinded her teeth harder. She would make sure it cowered instead of relished during thunderstorms.
Makoto charged toward the Monsoon, balling her hand. Behind her, Minako and Sandy followed, Sandy saying, "She looks scarier than a bear whose honey was stolen." But Makoto's emotions weren't besting her. Her anger, her "scariness" focused her. Besides, she wasn't always angry, unlike what her classmates at her old school believed. She would be eternally grateful to Usagi for taking a chance on her, giving her a group of friends when she hadn't had any.
For now, this robot was pissing her off.
The Monsoon's head stopped, and the robot looked squarely at Makoto. It laughed at her, pointing at the quicksand.
"We'll take care of everyone falling in the hole, Mako-chan," Minako said. "You focus on that robot."
"Gladly." Makoto jumped, reaching the Monsoon. She drew back her fist—her punch was going to be all Makoto Kino, nothing of Sailor Jupiter—and swung. Her fist shattered the Monsoon's glasses, stopping its laugh. The Monsoon spun, end over end, and crashed into the sand, eyes whirling, electricity covering it.
Makoto wasn't done with it yet.
Her tiara's antenna pulled lightning from the sky. With the civilians around and the unexpected effect of her lightning on the sunrays, she wouldn't risk summoning a storm to destroy the robot.
Sailor Jupiter put her hands to her tiara, gathering electricity into her palms. She spread her hands and the electricity between them, passed the electricity between her hands like a ball, enlarging the electricity each time it landed in her palms. She jumped, hovering above the Monsoon, aimed her hands at it.
The Monsoon shook, as afraid as the fish were when it attacked, trying to make itself smaller. Even in Bikini Bottom, it couldn't shrink itself.
"Sparkling Wide Pressure!" She threw the electricity. It pounded down on the screaming Monsoon, covering the robot in a mixture of green and white. If people saw green and white-tinged lightning, they'd know it was from Sailor Jupiter, not from nature, and to run as far as possible. Not that they'd be able to escape, but they could try.
"Holy…" Sandy from behind.
"Keep saving everyone," Makoto ground out between clenched teeth. Needed to concentrate on this lightning.
"We are. It's just, wow."
Usagi had once told Makoto that, from a distance, her lightning looked both frightening and beautiful. Her lightning tore attention away from whatever one was doing, commanded one to watch and revel in its power. Well, Usagi hadn't said anything about reveling in power, but Makoto liked to think that others felt more powerful when they saw her lightning.
The robot burst, its flying remnants trailing smoke. Makoto stopped the flow of lightning and landed near the remaining scorch mark.
No time to celebrate. She turned toward the fish being sucked into the quicksand. Larry had joined Sandy and Makoto, pulling the fish away from the quicksand (he didn't have a bias toward the "babes" but pulled everyone to safety).
Makoto had started the quicksand, so she would end it at the source.
She hurried toward the quicksand, grabbing fish and throwing them away as gently as possible.
Wrapping her chain around three fish, Minako pulled the fish out of the quicksand. "What are you doing, Mako-chan?"
"I'm going to stop the quicksand. Keep doing what you're doing."
Minako set the fish onto stable sand. "Is that the best way to do it?"
"I'll find out." Makoto, Minako, Sandy, and Larry would never progress if the quicksand wasn't stopped at the origin.
Makoto jumped inside the hole. Like a badass.
Or she would've liked to. Instead of jumping into the hole, the quicksand shoved her on her ass and dragged her inside the hole, compliments of the suit she wore being heavy as hell. But she could've dragged herself out if she wanted to. Honest.
Makoto fell for a long time, sand cascading and roaring around her. Hollers echoed from below. She landed on her feet, but a fish from above crashed onto her head, slamming her to the ground. Two chances of badassery, denied. At her expense, someone hadn't gotten hurt.
The fish rolled off her, flailing, screaming.
Makoto raised her hands. "Calm down, please, sir. My name's Makoto, and I'm here to save you."
"You're too scary to save me. And you hurt my leg again." The fish scurried away. Makoto grabbed the fish by the shoulder, stopping his momentum and flopping him onto his back.
"My leg!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you more."
Flailing, the fish smacked Makoto, but she hardly felt it. Another advantage of being the toughest Guardian, behind Sailor Uranus. But one tiny disadvantage: others thought she was scary. Her intimidating stature bothered Makoto because she ran off potential suitors, but she couldn't change it and had to deal with it the best she could.
"Sir, sir, I can help you get out of here, if you would please stay still for a moment."
The fish stayed still for a millisecond and then started flailing again. Makoto was going to have to get rougher than she had already. Great.
She grabbed the fish's arms, let him to the ground as gently as she could. "Gently" ending up being her slamming him to the ground, which wasn't gentle at all.
"Mylegmylegmyleg!"
Surely, Makoto was hurting other parts of his body, not only his leg. Or was his chanting some sort of nervous tic? Makoto held down both his legs with one arm and clasped his arms behind his back, holding his hands together.
"Sir, the longer you struggle, the longer it'll hurt."
He stopped. Makoto hated roughhousing innocent people. She could've let the fish go, but he could've gotten more hurt. Especially his leg.
"Sir, do you know where we are?"
"Don't go to the beach, Fred, they said. Or you'll hurt your leg, Fred, they said. Or worse, your eyes, they said."
His name was Fred.
Fred talked to himself.
Would it be better if he was on the quieter side or talking all the time?
While she waited for him to quiet down, she looked around. Darkness surrounded her. How helpful.
Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the sounds around her, drowning out Fred's babbling. Water dripped on stone. Was she in a cave?
Makoto liked to think of herself as the bravest Guardian, but apprehension made her not want to move. She had to, though, else she'd never leave.
"Sir, we're going to move forward."
"Which way's forward?"
Hopefully, the darkness kept Fred from noticing Makoto's expression twitch. "I'll…figure it out." Before she moved from the top of him, she said, "You won't kick again, will you?"
Fred stared at her. Blinked.
Makoto stared at him. Blinked.
They stared at each other for a long time.
"This is really awkward," Makoto said.
"I agree."
They kept staring at each other.
"We should move," Fred said.
"I agree."
Makoto stood. Fred stood. He didn't flail. He was calm.
Until a growling and ticking noise came from the distance.
Fred flailed, jumped, turned every which way, screaming. He was drawing attention to her and him. Not good.
One light at a time, the area lit up, the bulbs lined at the sides of the cave. Really not good.
Makoto had to leave, but she had to save the rest of the fish.
Where had the rest of the fish who had fallen here gone, anyhow? Were their whereabouts connected to the lights?
Whirring noises echoed throughout the underground area, combining with the falling sand. Makoto and Fred turned in all directions. She stepped in front of Fred, maybe between the fish and whatever the hell was coming. The lights were blinding, worse than the sun in Goo Lagoon.
Being the strongest Guardian had afforded her the luxury of being unafraid of almost anything, except not being accepted because she had been rejected so many times.
SpongeBob, Patrick, and Sandy were different.
Like Usagi, they accepted anyone, regardless of looks and background. Even Ami and Rei had been reluctant at first to accept Makoto. They had likely accepted Makoto because she was with Usagi—couldn't speak to Usagi without dealing with Makoto. Usagi brought the Guardians together.
Without Usagi, the Guardians and Mamoru would be alone.
Makoto couldn't let her reverie distract her. Since she didn't know what was coming after her, she should be paying attention, but there was nothing to pay attention to but lights and the whirring.
"My biscuits!" Above.
It started with the biscuit crumbs pattering on her head. It ended with a kid falling on her head, knocking her flat on her face. Another time she could've looked badass, subverted.
A short, blue fish that looked like a kid, the first kid fish she had seen, rolled off her.
"Have you seen my biscuits?" the boy said. "I had four of them, but I lost all of them when I fell down here. Now I don't have any, and I didn't even eat one."
The kid had fallen down a pit of quicksand, and he was more concerned about his biscuits. Seemed like he had his priorities straight.
She looked up. "I don't see your—" One at a time, four biscuits dropped into her mouth, stuffing her cheeks like a chipmunk's.
Makoto chewed slowly, the kid staring at her. She couldn't do anything but chew.
It took her five minutes to finish chewing those biscuits.
She swallowed.
The kid had watched the whole time.
Fred was massaging his leg.
She had eaten his biscuits.
At least they tasted damn good.
"I'm going to take you all out of here," Makoto shouted above the whirring.
The kid stomped on the ground. "You ate my biscuits."
"I'll buy you more." Makoto took his hand. "We have to go. Somewhere."
The kid tugged his hand, but Makoto held. After what happened with Fred, she was not letting him go. "My mom made those biscuits."
"Oh." Makoto glanced at the ground. "I'm really sorry. They just dropped into my mouth." She couldn't have done anything; hadn't seen the biscuits coming. Thank goodness she hadn't choked. Dying from choking on biscuits would be quite a way to die after enduring countless supernatural attacks and traveling to different dimensions.
The kid grumbled, kicked the sand. Fred grumbled, massaged his leg. Makoto looked around. No signs of life. Maybe the whirring was a sign of the robots, but she couldn't see them.
Makoto had to move. The whirring had gotten louder since the kid had fallen.
"Let's go." Makoto winked. "I promise that I'll make you my own homemade biscuits. They'll be on par with your mother's."
The boy huffed. "Yeah, right."
Makoto didn't have time to argue. She took Fred's wrist and led the two deeper into the sand-walled area, her eyes finally having adjusted to the light for her to see only sand and stalactites. The ground had the consistency of sludge, like it had mixed with the water on Goo Lagoon, forcing Makoto, the kid, and Fred to drag their feet. She hooked Fred under one arm, making sure not to touch his leg, and hooked the boy under the other. She rushed as quickly as she could.
A quake from the surface shook the stalactites. Ahead, one snapped from the ceiling, rocks flying, some pelting Fred's leg. Fred yelped.
The stalactite crashed feet from them. Makoto pivoted, running around the stalactite and taking Fred and the boy with her.
"Boy, you sure are fast," the kid said. "You must be a superhero."
"I'm…kind of a superhero." Easiest way to explain.
"You can't be 'kind of' a superhero. You either are or aren't."
"Okay, then I am." Makoto was starting to like this boy, and she had a feeling that he was starting to like her.
"My name's Billy, by the way. Thanks for cushioning my fall, even if you did eat my biscuits."
"Nice to meet you, Billy. My name's Makoto." Billy was handling being in a cave well, unlike Fred, who had an affinity toward screaming at everything.
The quaking continued. Makoto quickened. Had to find the rest of the fish that had fallen and get out. The whirring drowned out cries for help.
A snapping noise, like a breaking tree branch, sounded above. Rocks battered her.
She, Fred, and Billy looked up.
A stalactite was falling toward them.
Fred's pupils contracted. "This does not look good."
"My biscuits would be smashed if someone hadn't eaten them." Billy side-eyed Makoto.
Makoto was glad she had eaten them, too. They were damn tasty.
The fish here were getting to her. A stalactite was about to kill them, and she was thinking about stale biscuits.
Makoto wouldn't be able to move in time.
She had to fight the stalactite.
She placed Billy and Fred onto their feet. They slogged through the sand in a futile attempt to escape.
But Makoto didn't put them down so that they could escape on their own. She put them down so that she could attack.
Even underground, the wind brushed Makoto through the slivers in her suit. She felt connected with the wind, the electricity the clouds held, the sun. Lifting her arms above her head, she spun, generating an electric orb in her hands and forming a wind that expanded into a cyclone. Fred and Billy screamed. She wasn't hurting them—the cyclone had been formed where the stalactite was falling—but guilt crashed into her stomach. Hated making others afraid of her. She wasn't soft-spoken, but she cooked and cleaned and kept a good house with a warm atmosphere and, among her circle of friends, she was the confidante. (Not that her friends didn't trust one another. One didn't save another's life multiple times and then not tell that person everything. But Makoto was more in-tune with her friends' emotions than her friends were with their own emotions.)
Would Billy not be afraid? He was different than many other children who she had scared with her displays of power. Like when she was sitting in the park, alone, as usual, until a group of kids had called her to play baseball with them since they were one person short. She had meant to restrain her power but had gotten so entranced by the game that she hit a baseball into the distance, never to be seen again, breaking the bat in half. The kids had scurried away.
Were the people here different?
The cyclone clashed against the stalactite, shattering it, a booming sound echoing. Chunks of rock clattered to the ground. Makoto lowered her hands.
Billy screamed louder.
Despite being different species, the fish weren't different than the humans above.
Billy stopped screaming. "Why do you look so worried? I'm giving you a victory screech."
Makoto's expression blanked. "A, a what now?"
Fred screamed louder, too. Another "victory screech."
Makoto waved her hands downward. "I appreciate your screaming for me, but we have to quiet down. The robots might figure out our whereabouts, if they haven't already." Thanks to the big boom from the falling stalactite.
Billy grumbled, kicked the sand. "Aw, you're no fun."
The three ran toward a lake of goo several yards ahead, stalactites hanging above. Makoto carried Fred and Billy, Billy's eyes alight. They let her take them under her arms. They weren't afraid of her. Even though they had to know that humans ate fish, they accepted her.
Humans could learn a thing or two from these fish.
More rumbling from above. The lights turned off, leaving them in darkness.
Billy screamed. A real scream, not that screech from earlier.
Makoto slowed. The cave was nearly pitch-black.
Another snapping noise. The stalactites were about to fall.
Makoto tried to push off from the sand, but it was too soft, and she was sinking again; the closer she came to the goo, the softer the sand became. She plodded ahead.
In the sand, she wouldn't be able to outrun falling stalactites.
Before she could channel energy to fly, the whirring stopped. A G-Love, a Fodder, a Chomp-Bot, and, her favorite, the Monsoon, peeled away from the wall, rushed out of the darkness. The Monsoon's eyes darted between herself, Billy, and Fred, the robot challenging itself to electrocute three people using one lightning strike. The Monsoon took pleasure in others' pain, the opposite of Makoto. Makoto had inadvertently caused others pain so often that she wanted to use her powers for good. Being a Guardian might explain the reason behind some of her power, but much of her power had to be natural.
Since becoming a Guardian, she had accepted not only her power, but also herself.
She had always been confident, but being friendless before she'd met Usagi had discouraged her. Now, Makoto had the chance to protect others.
She'd have to fight while carrying Fred and Billy, keeping an eye out for Fred's leg.
Lightning scattered around her tiara's antenna. She struggled through the mud-like sand, the Fodder and Chomp-Bot wheeling and scampering, respectively, through the sand like it was butter, the G-Love and Monsoon floating.
Four against negative one. Fred and Billy couldn't fight, so Makoto subtracted two people from herself. Ami would agree with her logic.
The Chomp-Bot neared her, hacking its rancid breath. While Makoto was too tall for its breath to explode in her face, the odor of Patrick's socks, fish, and pizza wafted into her nose. But the Chomp-Bot's breath reached Fred and Billy, both of whom sputtered, Fred sounding like he was going to throw up. Billy vomited, the orange-green glop splattering in the sand, softening it more. Makoto slipped, crashed on her back, holding fast to Fred and Billy. Her biggest adversaries could be the civilians.
Makoto kicked the Chomp-Bot, and it shattered against the wall. The Fodder's electricity coursed up her leg. She yelped, drawing her foot back. Since Fred was in her line of sight, she hadn't seen the Fodder, and the whirring was all she could hear.
Before the electricity could spread to Billy and Fred, Makoto let go of them, and they plopped onto the sand, sinking some inches. The sand down here wasn't like the quicksand above.
Maybe the other fish who had fallen here had been sucked into who-knew-where.
Makoto's heart dropped. Of course not. The fish's clothes and accessories would've been scattered about.
Maybe the other fish had swum away in the goo.
Maybe the robots had gotten to them.
She couldn't speak robot, but she would force them to tell her what happened to those fish. Fists were the universal language.
Makoto kicked the Fodder, and it spun upward. She grabbed it. It jabbed its wand onto her helmet, and the electricity spread from her helmet to upper part of her suit. The electricity pierced her suit, and she writhed, dropping the Fodder. She may rule over electricity, but that didn't mean that she was immune to it.
She visualized the electricity that was hers to command, not the Fodder's. It better not be thinking of spreading to Fred and Billy.
Yes, come back up, toward her antenna. The electricity surrounded her helmet, and she parted her eyes.
"Wow," Billy said. She could barely see him around the electricity. "Her head looks like a disco ball."
Makoto liked to think that she looked quite badass, but the image Billy had given her of a disco ball stole that badassery. Again.
She launched the electricity. The Fodder writhed, its eyes rolling. The Monsoon's eyes lit up, and the robot pushed the button on its remote control. A dark cloud descended toward Makoto, Billy, and Fred, the wide-eyed civilians near her even though they should've at least attempted to move away.
Lightning shot from the cloud, clashed with the electricity around her. The Monsoon's electricity grew a head like Pac-Man's, mouth clamping down on her electricity.
No. Makoto visualized her electricity. If it was a beast…
That's right. Had always thought of herself as one, especially when her parents died, when person after person rejected her.
Her electricity elongated, grew fangs. An eye formed in the middle, the electricity growing a body that was long, scalelike. Her electricity roared, shaking the cave, the stalactites swinging, the Monsoon's electricity drawing back. Debris rained from the ceiling. A part of her worried about a cave-in, but she was in control. She wouldn't create another disaster.
"What is that thing?" Fred yelled.
"You two had better move." Makoto's voice rumbled like thunder. She hadn't meant to sound scary, but she had to encourage them to run to safety.
The fish scrambled, found their footing in the soft sand, moved away from Makoto and her lightning dragon.
The Monsoon's eyes widened so that they were twice the size of its glasses. The frozen Fodder stared at the dragon, the monitor that served as its eye with a line across it, pulsing, the pulse quickening the closer Makoto's electricity came to the Monsoon's. The G-Love had stopped and backed away, trying to be inconspicuous, but Makoto saw it. After the Monsoon, it would be next.
Her electricity's mouth opened, its roar becoming louder, more debris falling. Her dragon's mouth engulfed the Monsoon's electricity, her dragon growing larger. She pointed to the Monsoon, which flew toward the goo. She would not let it escape.
Her dragon flew to the Monsoon, its electricity zapping the Fodder as it passed over it. The Fodder fell to the ground, smoke rising. It hadn't been destroyed yet. Not until it guided Makoto to the other civilians' whereabouts.
Her dragon coiled around the Monsoon. The robot wasn't laughing now.
"Tell me where the other fish are," Makoto said.
The Monsoon stared at her.
Makoto shut her hand into a fist, and her dragon squeezed. The Monsoon's glasses shattered. "Now!"
The cave shook more vigorously. If she kept going, then the cave would collapse.
She had to control her powers, but when she was angry…
With their short legs, Fred and Billy weren't covering much ground. They had moved only a few feet since they had started putting effort into getting away. If they weren't faring well, then the other civilians couldn't be faring well, either.
The Monsoon pointed to the goo.
"They're under the goo?"
A nod.
Makoto squeezed once more, and the Monsoon broke, its pieces flying like a whirlwind. Some people might not like that she wasn't merciful toward the robot, but the robots had given so many fish hell, she resolved to give them hell, too.
A grin spread on Billy's face. "That was awesome."
Fred pointed to the ceiling. "I declare that another victory screech is in order."
Makoto released her fist, and the dragon dissipated. The cave stilled. All was quiet, save the ever-present whirring noise.
The Fodder still stood near her. The G-Love tried to be unnoticeable, but the tips of its fingers gripped the corner of a wall. Makoto launched a lightning strike onto the G-Love, and an explosion sounded from the corner, the hands collapsing onto the ground. Broken, too.
The Fodder remained. It was going to help her find everyone in this goo, whether the goo agreed with its body or not.
Fred opened his mouth, shaping it into an "O" shape.
Makoto winced. "Please don't screech. We'll draw attention to ourselves, and more robots will come." Which was partly true. She had brought enough attention to themselves and just didn't want her ears to fall off because of that victory screech.
Makoto shoved the Fodder forward. It wheeled ahead, stopped at the goo, head bobbing. Makoto stopped behind it, kneeing it lightly.
The Fodder jumped onto a wooden raft floating in the goo.
"Can you two swim?" Makoto said to Fred and Billy. Asking whether fish could swim would seem like a stupid question, but SpongeBob and Patrick couldn't swim. How could someone live underwater and not know how to swim?
"Sure can." Billy jabbed a thumb onto his chest. "I was at the top of my swimming class."
"I learned when I was a toddler." Fred shuddered. "That was the first time I hurt my leg, when I was learning how to swim. I've been traumatized ever since." His eyes grew distant. "It was a bright and cheery morning, the day I hurt my leg…"
"I'm sorry, but we have to hurry," Makoto said. The story of how Fred hurt his leg would have to wait until never. "Please stay ahead of me."
Fred and Billy dove into the water, Makoto diving in seconds behind them. The Fodder, mouth trembling, waited for them. It dared not move after the display of Sailor Jupiter's power.
The goo was thicker than water, more sludgelike than the sand. Must be sludge from above ground.
Ignoring the shiver that coursed from head to toe, Makoto dunked her head underwater. Thanks to the deep sea dive suit, she didn't have to hold her breath or close her eyes, nor did her eyes feel like fire danced on them.
Makoto shoved thoughts of what goo was made of into a corner of her mind. Time to focus on saving the other civilians. Besides, the robots might have gotten to them, and she might end up having to fight them in the goo.
Under the sludge was deep darkness, as though the goo wasn't blue but black. She looked down. The expanse stretched forever, perhaps leading to hell.
"Is anyone here?"
No answer. Maybe the fish couldn't talk underwater, so they couldn't answer. Nothing moved around her, the goo static.
The whirring came from farther below.
Taking Billy and Fred would be dangerous, but keeping them with the Fodder, out of Makoto's sight, would be more dangerous. She poked her head above the goo.
"You two, please follow me," Makoto said. "It's time to investigate what that noise is." She glared at the Fodder. "You're coming too." Didn't want the Fodder telling its robot friends where Makoto, Fred, and Billy were.
The Fodder shook its head. If it dove underwater, it would short-circuit and explode.
"Where are the robots and the other fish?" Makoto said. The robots were everywhere. Where the civilians were, the robots would be.
The Fodder pointed toward the whirring coming from under the goo.
Makoto couldn't risk leaving the Fodder. With a pang of regret, she punched the Fodder into the goo. It exploded, sending a swell of goo to Makoto, Fred, and Billy; they bobbed up and down as the swell passed.
"Can you two come with me? We're going to search for the rest of the fish who were taken down here, and I need your help, too."
"But we can't breathe." Fred glanced at his leg.
Makoto suppressed a groan, not wanting to hear anything about anyone's legs for the rest of her life. "I know. We won't be down there long. And you can come back up for air when you need it. I'll keep a close eye on you both."
Glitter filled Billy's eyes. "Sounds like fun." The boy crossed his arms. "I, I mean, what's in it for me?"
Makoto blinked. "Uh, more biscuits?"
"Works for me. Let's go." He dove underwater, then Fred, then her. Swimming down, she cut through the goo. The whirring grew louder the farther they swam. As Fred and Billy held their breath, their cheeks puffed up. Makoto sometimes struggled to keep pace with them, which was to be expected since they were fish. They held their breath longer than humans, too. Another advantage of being a fish.
Lights lit up the area once more.
Makoto winced at the light, resisted the urge to shield her eyes; the blinding light guided them someplace, possibly where the rest of the civilians were taken. Confident that they could overpower anyone, did the robots want to lead others into their den?
A brighter light shone in the distance. Fred and Billy swam to the surface, Makoto following. Both took a breath and then dove back underwater. The three swam toward the light, Billy and Fred at Makoto's sides. Air whooshed from the brightest light, where an opening was carved out of a boulder on the ground. The whirring noise grew louder.
Makoto put a finger to her lips. Fred and Billy nodded. She swam to the opening, the air buffeting her, covering the opening with her body so that whoever might come wouldn't see Fred and Billy and both would be able to escape if anything happened to Makoto.
She peered around the corner and almost gasped.
Expanding before her was a lab-like area with a titanium tile floor; metal ceilings; and creaking, whirring square machines lined throughout, funnels sticking out of their tops, opening to the floor. Unconscious civilians floated in tanks filled with green goo, breathing tubes snaking from their mouths to the upper part of the tank, where a narrow chimney pointed above. Looked like a scene out of the late-night horror movies broadcast on T.V.
Robots shaped like the civilians stood throughout, ranging from three feet tall to ten feet tall. A G-Love punched one of the civilian-robots, sending the civilian-robot into the wall, destroying it. A Fodder shook its head. What did that mean?
Were the robots testing these robots to measure their toughness? Trying to create their own army of new robots?
New robots based off real fish… What was their goal? To make more powerful robots?
Had to be. The fish easily destroyed the robots. Maybe they thought that by creating robot versions of the fish, they could fight evenly.
Since a lab was under Goo Lagoon, labs might be hidden throughout Bikini Bottom, where civilians were being tested, made into robots.
What happened to the civilians' bodies?
Whatever was going on, Makoto was going to put a stop to it, starting with this lab.
Makoto floated back to where Fred and Billy were. They were gone.
Makoto looked into the lab, panic and anger rising. Grabbing the fish's hands, two G-Loves pushed Billy and Fred toward two empty vats, the fish's mouths covered with three layers of duct tape. At least they weren't touching Fred's legs.
Makoto nearly slapped herself at the thought. This world was getting to her.
The robots must've gone through a back entrance, afraid to capture Makoto.
The antenna extended from her tiara. She was outnumbered, but she had fought against worse odds. No matter what, she would save the fish.
Electricity crackled around her tiara, coursed down her arms, to her hands. She tossed the balls of electricity onto the G-Loves, Billy and Fred breaking free of their grips before the electricity could reach them. The G-Loves writhed. All the robots, including the civilian-robots, faced Makoto. She didn't care to count them. She simply had to defeat them.
Between Makoto, Billy, and Fred stepped several robots. She wouldn't be able to reach them now.
"Billy, Mr. Fred," Makoto said, "stay against the wall. I'll save you."
They did as they were told. They trusted her even though she hadn't been able to keep them from being captured. Which was more than she could say for most humans, most of whom took one look at her and stayed away, listening to her out of politeness when she did talk to them but trying to get away in the first place so that she couldn't talk to them.
Makoto was familiar with the G-Loves', Fodders', Chomp-Bots', and the Monsoons' attacks but didn't know how the civilian-robots would attack. They seemed to be prototypes; maybe they would malfunction, and she wouldn't have to fight them at all.
Makoto tossed a ball of electricity to a short, chubby civilian-robot that looked exactly like a fish in the vat. It writhed, and the fish in the vat writhed, the fish's eyes opening but his eyes white like a demon had possessed him.
Makoto called back her electricity, and it retracted into her hands. So that was how things were going to work.
Somehow, those robots and the civilians were connected. If they were connected because the civilians were in the vats, then she first needed to rescue the civilians before she fought their robot selves.
The Fodders, G-Loves, Monsoons, and Ham-mers wheeled toward her. One Ham-mer was wheeling toward Billy and Fred, both of whom had torn off the duct tape from their mouths and stared at the Ham-mer. Having faith that Makoto would save them, staying where she said to. That robot would be first.
Makoto jumped, hovered above the robots so that she was level with the Monsoons. She threw balls of electricity toward the Ham-mer. A G-Love shoved a civilian-robot in front of the Ham-mer. It was too late; Makoto's electricity shocked the civilian-robot, and it thrashed. Before she could call back her electricity, a black cloud floated before her, electricity crackling underneath it. The lightning shot out. She placed a hand before herself to call back her own electricity at the expense of her own well-being, but the Monsoon's lightning electrocuted her. She hollered.
Fred screamed, Billy saying, "I'll give you my biscuits if you leave us alone." Somehow, Makoto had a feeling that robots wouldn't be interested in biscuits.
Makoto forced open her eyes and pulsed energy throughout herself, drawing back. The electricity still crackled around her. The Monsoon laughed.
More lightning shot onto her. She howled. Despite how much she wanted to defeat the robots, will alone wasn't enough. She couldn't fight back.
As each second passed, the electricity strengthened, and the world dimmed.
Please, let Fred and Billy and the other fish be okay. Please…