Dr. Zomboss paced back and forth in the shooting range, waiting for Punk, Glitter and MC to arrive and receive further training. Within a few minutes, the trio arrived and stood in front of Zomboss.
"Took you three long enough. Are you prepared for the next phase of your training?" Dr. Zomboss asked the teenagers.
"Yeah, whatever…" Punk muttered in response.
"Yes…" Glitter answered quietly.
"Oh let's get it started in here!" MC excitedly replied.
"Good to see enthusiasm from at least one of you! Now, do you remember what I said last time about abilities?" Dr. Zomboss said.
"That we needed to have them?" Punk replied sarcastically.
"You said we needed at least three abilities!" Glitter answered.
"Three is the magic number, after all! They should all come from your imagination. That is, you need to be creative with the equipment you already have, or come up with your own new techniques. Foot Soldiers and Scientists tend to stick with the equipment I already gave them, but my All-Stars and Engineers have formed their own methods of destruction. Charge Tackles? That was their idea. Riding Jackhammers? Also their idea. My hope is that you three can do the same." Dr. Zomboss explained.
Dr. Zomboss recalibrated the targets in the shooting range before continuing.
"Punk Zombie, you will go first. Show me what you are capable of!" Dr. Zomboss instructed.
"What, you mean just come up with a fancy attack?" Punk asked Dr. Zomboss, holding his arms out in a shrug.
"If you like. Or you could choose to be useless. That's also an option. By which I mean it isn't!" Dr. Zomboss responded sarcastically.
Punk grumbled as he stepped into the shooting range with his weapon, trying to come up with an ability.
"Alright, come on, Punk! What's something you're already good at?" Punk thought to himself.
Punk looked at his spiked shoes for a few moments until an idea struck him. He crouched down and eyed a target in front of him before jumping forward and kicking the target away, causing it to fly out of the range. He quickly turned his attention to another nearby target and did the same thing.
"Go Punk! Kick those targets' asses!" MC cheered.
"Hmm…so it's like a Charge Tackle, only more energy efficient. Not bad…" Dr. Zomboss muttered.
Punk stopped to catch his breath, attempting to come up with something else.
"Ok, now what?" Punk thought aloud.
"Punk, remember your brass knuckles?" Glitter called out to Punk.
Punk suddenly remembered that he had brass knuckles and took them out of his pocket. After putting them on, he ran up to a target and uppercut it, causing it to fly up into the air.
"Rising Uppercut!" Punk battle cried.
"Yeah! Just like in the arcade games!" MC said.
Punk stopped again, but this time he was out of inspiration. He couldn't think of any other moves. Glitter noticed that Punk was out of ideas and tried to come up with something to help him. She looked at her smartphone and saw her pop song playlist on the screen. Suddenly, she had an idea.
"Punk!" Glitter called out.
"Yeah?" Punk responded.
"Put on some Punk Rock music!" Glitter instructed.
"What are you doing? You can't just listen to music! You're training for a war, not a concert!" Dr. Zomboss stated in dissension.
"Trust me! It works for us!" Glitter pleaded to Dr. Zomboss.
Dr. Zomboss was about to say no when he remembered Glitter's apparent rainbow capabilities. Maybe she knew something he didn't.
"Fine, you may use your music…" Dr. Zomboss stated, curious to see what would happen.
Punk took out his smartphone and put on a Punk Rock song, turning the volume way up. As the music blared, he began to bang his head and stomp his feet, feeling energized with each note.
"Alright! You hear this, you stupid targets! You're all going down!" Punk yelled to the wooden targets.
Punk pressed a button on his weapon and started shooting a torrent of piercings at the targets around him. Sawdust began to fly everywhere as he mercilessly destroyed several targets, stomping to the beat of the song.
"Wait, what?! How is he doing that? I didn't program the weapon to do that!" Dr. Zomboss exclaimed.
"That's his jam, doc! Nothing's gonna stop him now!" MC answered, cheering wildly as he watched Punk's rampage.
"Hold on. You mean to tell me you become more powerful when you listen to your favorite music?" Dr. Zomboss asked in disbelief.
"Pretty much, yeah." Glitter replied.
Dr. Zomboss looked up again at Punk, astonished at this new revelation. Never in his unlife did he have mercenaries with this specific quirk. When he thought about it, the implication was fascinating.
"Is he going to stop?" Dr. Zomboss asked, unsure if Punk would run out of ammo.
"He will…" Glitter answered.
Punk kept shooting until his weapon started clicking, indicating that he had expended his ammo. He stopped and took a deep breath, attempting to wrap his head around what just happened.
"Holy shit. Never thought I could do that!" Punk stated between breaths.
"Dude, Punk! That was awesome! Save some for us!" MC called out.
"Is it my turn now?" Glitter asked Zomboss.
"Yes, of course it is. And I permit you to use your music player." Dr. Zomboss replied.
Glitter stepped into the firing range as she twirled her Ring Boomerangs around her wrist.
"Abilities, abilities…" Glitter muttered.
Glitter looked down at her smartphone and played a song with a fast tempo, creating a burst of energy within her and causing her to skate forward at a high velocity. Her breathing quickened as she skated around and vaulted over the wooden targets.
"Hey, Punk!" MC said.
"Yeah?" Punk responded.
"Is it just me, or do you feel energized just listening to that music?" MC asked Punk.
"Weirdly enough, I do. Huh…" Punk muttered.
Glitter screeched to a halt as she changed the music to an EDM track. Her head swayed left and right as she found new inspiration in this music. She twirled one of her rings and launched it at a nearby target. However, instead of destroying it, the ring wrapped itself around the target, as if to hold it in place. Without a second thought, Glitter launched a normal ring to the target, reducing it to splinters.
"Woo! Glitter, you're on fire!" MC cheered.
"Yeah? Well, I'm not done yet!" Glitter responded.
Glitter changed the music one last time to one of her favorite songs, "Unliving on a Prayer". Upon listening to the song, she began to burst with joy and energy, so much so that a large rainbow aura began to form around her.
"Look Punk! It's Glitter's rainbows again!" MC pointed out.
"I have eyes, MC…" Punk replied sarcastically.
"May I ask what the rainbows do?" Dr. Zomboss suddenly asked.
Punk Zombie glanced at Zomboss, wondering how to respond.
"How do I say this? It's like…you know how sometimes, you have those days where you feel like nothing can get you down? Like nothing can hurt you? Well, her rainbows seem to make it so that you literally can't be hurt. Don't ask me how…" Punk answered.
Zomboss held his chin in his hand, intrigued by Punk's answer.
Glitter skated around the firing range with a wide smile on her face, as if all of her worries and sorrows had been lifted from her shoulders. As the song ended, she screeched to a halt and exhaled a deep breath, brushing her hair to the side in pride.
"That was awesome, Glitter!" MC cheered.
"Thanks MC. That felt great!" Glitter replied as she climbed out of the range.
"Well, I ain't gonna wait around anymore! It's my time!" MC shouted enthusiastically as he jumped into the range.
As MC prepared his music player, Glitter walked up to Punk and gave him a great big hug, still hyped and giggling from her training.
"Man, I didn't even recognize you out there! You were something else, Glitter!" Punk commended.
"Thanks, Punk." Glitter said with a grin.
MC pulled out his Mic Mace and turned it on, as if he was performing at one of his parties.
"Yo, MC in the house! Time to turn it up!"
MC began playing a song called, "It's my Unlife", much to the surprise of Punk and Glitter.
"Wait, a rock song? I thought your jam was rap?" Punk called out.
"It's an instrumental, man! I rap to this all the time. I'm gonna start it now!" MC replied.
As MC whipped away at the targets before him, he began rapping in time with his strikes.
~So you keep tellin' me to get off of your lawn?
~Well, I'm just gonna stay on it from dusk till dawn!
~You take me for a dummy? You take me for a fool?
~Not when I've got microphones and rapping as my tools!
~You ain't gonna stop me; this trucker's got no brakes!
~I'll get your precious brains, no matter what it takes!
~It's my unlife!
At this moment, MC jumped high up into the sky, kicking up dust as he ascended.
"Meteor Strike!"
MC came crashing down on a group of targets, causing splinters to fly and shaking the ground beneath him. As he stood up straight, he twirled his microphone one last time before pocketing it and walked back to his friends.
"Go MC! Woo!" Glitter cheered.
"Oh wow, rapping that wasn't total garbage!" Punk sarcastically commented.
"Don't act like you weren't completely awestruck by my wicked power!" MC replied with a smile.
"Excuse me…"
The Neon Mixtape Trio turned to look at Dr. Zomboss, who was holding his head in his hand and tapping his foot, attempting to say something to them.
"I…I am at a loss for words. That was unlike anything I have ever witnessed before. When did you learn you had these powers?" Dr. Zomboss questioned the three.
Punk, Glitter and MC looked at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say. Glitter eventually worked up the courage to speak up.
"Well honestly, we've had them for a while. Maybe we always had them and only found out late into our childhood, but I guess we were at least aware of them. I always feel a little better when I listen to pop music. Punk wins a lot more fights when punk rock is playing in the background. MC gets pumped on a lot of songs, and he always ends up the unlife of the party. I guess we just never thought that we'd end up using them in a war." Glitter explained.
"I understand. Listen, I just want to say this; and it pains me to say it. I was wrong about you three. I just assumed that you were lousy, inattentive, ungrateful teenagers unfit for a battle. Because that was how every teenage zombie I came across turned out to be. But you three…you are all clearly more than meets the eye. I think you will all do perfectly fine in the field." Dr. Zomboss stated.
"You're…you're letting us fight?!" Glitter asked.
"Be ready by tomorrow, and I will assign you to a team and task you with a simple objective." Dr. Zomboss answered with a nod and a grin.
"Yeah! Come on guys, let's go home and celebrate!" MC shouted as he jumped.
MC quickly left the room, Glitter following close by. Punk stayed behind a little bit in order to take in the information he received.
"We're soldiers now…didn't think that was how things would turn out for me." Punk muttered as he too went home.
Dr. Zomboss looked out past the firing range and onto the field of dead purple grass that lay beyond. It had been a while since he had been impressed by trainees. It was an odd feeling that he simply could not shake. His contemplation was interrupted by his ringing smartphone, which he promptly answered.
"Hello? Who is this?" Dr. Zomboss asked.
"It's me, your future self."
"Future Zomboss? Why and how are you contacting me on my smartphone?"
"There's no time for that! You need to call me again on your computer. Something terrible has come up."
"I see. I will do that straightaway! Goodbye!"
"You summoned me, madam?" Hoodie asked.
"Yes, I was wondering if you have pain pills convenient. This is giving me a terrible headache." Druid Rose replied as she was quickly typing prompts into her computer.
"I will go see the pharmacist and bring some right away." Hoodie stated.
"Yes, please do…"
Druid Rose suddenly stopped typing as a look of horror spread across her face from underneath her mask.
"No…NO, NO, NO!" Druid Rose shrieked.
"What is it madam?" Hoodie asked with deep concern.
"Timeline Beta…it is gone!" Druid Rose stated.
Hidden under the dark hood, Hoodie's face grew pale.
"Do you know what this means, Agent Hoodie?" Druid Rose said quietly.
"The beginning of the end…" Hoodie answered.
"Hoodie, go meet with Shadow Flower and her friends, and bring them here. I will contact the other agents myself." Druid Rose commanded.
"Right away madam!" Hoodie said with a salute before running off.
Druid Rose typed another prompt into her computer, bringing up a microphone as she began to speak into it.
"Attention all agents across all of time! Code Crisis! Return to your designated eras and await further orders. Do not time travel beyond that! I repeat, cease all time travel after you return! We will not recruit any more agents from here on out! The time to act is now!"
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, that took a really long time for me to start back up again. So as you can tell if you are reading this, I'm back! At least for a little bit anyway. I want to quickly apologize to everyone for my silence. I've been meaning to continue writing both my Heroic Hearts and Time Snare fanfics for a while now, but I was experiencing a bit of burnout and had to focus on classwork. That doesn't mean I've been completely idle however; I've been working on some original work in the meantime, such as more concepts for Realm of Mythos and more recently, Robot Master OCs for a Megaman fangame I've been imagining! I will be relatively active on Deviantart for a while, and I will post some journals and polls there, so come by when you have time! One of the polls will be an important one, because I require everyone's opinion in regards to my PvZ fanfics. As much as I want to work on both at the same time consistently, I've found that to be too much for me at times, so I would like everyone to tell me which story they would rather see me focus on, Time Snare or Heroic Hearts. That doesn't mean I'll stop working on one or the other entirely, it will simply give me a direction to take. Thank you everyone for continuing to support me and my work! Hope to see you on Deviantart!
"I'm thinkin' I'm back!" ~John Wick
