Chapter 3: Surface Problems
During the night, I decided to keep watch while the kids and the kwamis were asleep. One of the benefits of having a robot body. Don't have to sleep as much as I needed to. Though I do miss being organic, even if I was a mutant turtle. I didn't want to be thought of as just a machine instead of a living being. For most of the night, it had been filled with snores from Gordy, Hikaru, Sora, Thora (with some sparks of a little discharge going through her follicles, Plagg, Lobbo, and surprisingly Kipo. With a volume comparison, Kipo's snore outmatched the others. While most of them were sleeping soundly, Wolf had been sleeping with her guard up. It's surprising to find a little girl no older than the age of 10 actually sleeping like that. I just wish I had the time to give myself the facial expression upgrade because I felt like I had a smile watching these kids sleep so peacefully. Though it all changed when I heard some groaning and looked to Axel to find him rolling around in his sleep. By the looks of him, it seemed like he was having a nightmare. I couldn't help but wonder what he was dreaming about to make him so stressed. Whatever it was, it looked like it was intense.
From what I could remember, it was nighttime and I was running through the city ruins, trying to get away from this large Mega Mutant that was chasing me. I couldn't see what it was for the shadows of moonless night concealed it. The only thing I could see of it was its own silhouette. From what I could tell, it was some kind of feline with three horns pointing forward, two dragon wings, some kind of hands for front paws with five, sharp claws, and a dragon tail with four spikes on it (two facing upward on one of the two sides). By hiding in one of the old buildings, I managed to escape it. Barely, that is. After it walked off, I tried to take a breather when I heard a voice.
"Axel…" I tried to look around to see if there was anyone else, but saw I was alone. It was only a short moment that I heard it again.
"Axel…" The voice sounded so bizarre. It sounded like it was disembodied, almost like an echo. And strangely, it sounded… familiar.
"Axel…" I looked around again, still there was no one, but me.
Hearing a bubble pop, I looked to my northeast and saw, just a few feet away from me, was a big puddle of this glowing green ooze. Just by looking at it, I knew it was only one thing: mutagen. This wasn't the ordinary mutagen either. This was the kind that was designed to mutate anything on contact. After looking at it for a while, it started bubbling. It was odd because I had never heard of mutagen that bubbles like boiling water. It was only a moment of this that some of it started piling up in one place, rising up as it turned into something else. It wasn't long until it formed a hand, a human hand to be exact. After the hand was formed, it began to stretch out, the mutagen gathering up more and creating some kind of arm. After becoming long enough with its new arm extension, the hand planted itself on the ground outside of the area of Th mutagen. It then gripped the ground as more of the mutagen gathered itself in a pile, making it look like something was pulling itself out of the mutagen. It wasn't long until another arm made of mutagen formed from the pile and planted its hand outside of the covered area, almost right next to the first hand. After a while, I saw that some of the mutagen had formed into what looked like a human torso. It even had a head and a neck. When the head lifted itself up, I was shocked by the form the mutagen took. Though it looked disfigured, I recognized the face on the head to where I realized why the voice sounded familiar. What it took the form of… was the form of Yoshi, my older brother.
"Axel…" the creature said as it began pulling itself out of the puddle, more of its body forming from the mutagen.
"Yoshi?" I asked, shocked and horrified to see this disfigured form of my brother before it stood up with a complete body.
"Axel…" it said as it slowly walked over to me, its arms up as though to grab me. "Axel… help me…"
"No, you're not my brother!" I said, feeling absolutely terrified. "My brother is dead!"
"Axel…" It just kept on getting closer to me.
"No, get away from me!" I then took off running, trying my best to get away from it.
But, while running through the streets, I came across another puddle and another Yoshi creature came from that. Taking off running, I came across another. Repeating my actions, I came across the same result. No matter where I went, I would come across another one of those Yoshi creatures. Before long, I was being chased through the ruins by an army of Yoshi mutagen monsters that were all calling my name. After a good while of running, I was surrounded by those creatures as they began closing in on me. I was trapped with no way to escape. I thought it couldn't get any worse until I was then grabbed by a familiar clawed hand. I tried to break free, but the grip was too strong and all I could was watched as I was brought up to the face of that beast that was chasing me earlier. I was horrified as it growled at me, glaring at me with blue slit eyes with green sclera. As this happened, I began to hear another voice, this one echoing as I looked to the beast in fear.
"Axel… Axel… Axel!" the voice said as the beast then roared at me, showing its large, sharp fangs. "Axel, wake up!"
It was at that moment that I sat up and began gasping, waking up from that nightmare. After a moment of that, I managed to calm myself down, sighing in relief that it was just a dream.
"Axel, are you okay?" I then looked to my side and saw Uncle Donnie kneeling down beside me. Even though he couldn't show any expressions, I could tell he was concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I told him. "Just had a bad dream."
"You sure you're okay?" he asked me. "It seemed pretty intense for a bad dream."
"Yeah, Uncle Donnie. I'm fine. Don't worry about it." I said to him, trying my best to give him a reassuring smile. When I saw had risen, I saw my chance to change the subject. "Anyway, it's morning. Better get ready to move again." It was with that I got myself up and got dressed in my morning clothes.
Still, I thought back to the nightmare I just had. The reason for this was that I had that nightmare before. Every once in a while, I would have that nightmare. The same beast chasing me and the mutagen monsters of Yoshi cornering me. I knew what it was about, though I had no idea why that kind of feeling just popped up again at a time like this. Pushing that aside and making sure I got my morning clothes on (and on right), I then went on to wake up the others so we could start moving again while the sun was still up.
After waking up our group (and most of them getting dressed) and getting all backed up, we then continued on our journey to find Kipo's Burrow with Wolf leading the way. As we walked Kipo then asked me a question.
"Hey, Axel. I've been meaning to ask you."
"Well, what you want to ask?" I said to her.
"In that story of how all this happened, your uncle said something about a group called the Dark Gang." She said to me. "I'm guessing they're like some bad guys."
"More than that." I then began to tell her about the Dark Gang. "The Dark Gang were the worst of the worst, the baddest and most dangerous group of villains that ever lived."
"That bad, huh?"
"Yeah. Do not want to cross paths with them. They're really vicious, especially with their elemental powers."
"Oh. Wait, what?" I looked and saw Kipo was shocked. "You mean those guys are elementals like you?"
"Yeah. They're the Element Gang's greatest nemesis, possessing the same elemental powers. Like the Element Gang, the Dark Gang are descended from a group of villains as well, the very first villains in the world. For over 800,200 years, the Element Gang and Dark Gang have always battled each other, constant clashes generation after generation."
"So your family has been fighting these guys this whole time? Why?"
"Because those battles decide the fate of the world."
"What do you mean?"
"You see, Kipo, the world haves a sort of balance. The Element Gang and Dark Gang are a great part of that balance. Two sides of the same coin. One of good, one of evil. One of light and one of darkness. The Element Gang fight to preserve the balance and ensure all those who live in this world can live peacefully. The Dark Gang try to disrupt that balance and try to obtain control to force upon their idea of perfect order. That has always been the fates of the two groups of elementals since the very beginning."
"Really?"
"Yes. The reason for this is that the two groups are intertwined with each other by fate. From what Uncle Donnie has told me, many historians of the past believe that the Element Gang and the Dark Gang are the greatest powers of balance, the Element Gang being the great power of good and light while the Dark Gang are the great power of darkness and evil. For every generation, the two groups would have one final clash that will decide on how the world will be until the next generation. The deciding clash occurs when both sides are at their strongest. If the Element Gang wins, the world goes on as it had done before and the world will not have to deal with any attacks until the new Dark Gang is born and is old enough to cause trouble. If the Dark Gang wins, it is said that the world would be plunged into complete darkness as it would be put under their rule."
"Well, how does that work?"
"No one really knows for sure. The secret behind the destinies of both the Element Gang and the Dark Gang has always been a mystery. No one has ever figured out the true reason for why these two groups are made the champions of these two forces, only that it is how it is."
"So you got, like, the biggest duty in the world, huh?"
"Yeah. It's a burden that I have to carry just as much as the Fire Dragons that came before me."
"So you guys are just gonna be fighting those guys forever?"
"Actually, there is gonna be an endpoint. A long time ago, it was prophesized that there one generation from both sides would have one final clash that would be the true endpoint to it all. That very generation is known as 'The Ultimates', the strongest elementals in the entire world."
"Wow." Kipo was impressed by this. "So that battle will finally end it, huh? No more evil in the world."
"Not exactly. The world still needs its balance. Even with the Dark Gang gone, there will still evil just as great as them lurking around somewhere. It goes with an old saying we have in the Element Gang: 'Where there is light, there will always be shadow. Where there is shadow, there will always be light'. No matter what happens, the world will always find a way to balance itself. It's much like night and day. This world needs the sun to begin the day and bring light. It also needs the moon to bring the night and give chance for the day to begin anew. I know there are things that we wish we could live without, but our world could not be able to survive without them. It's just how it is. You get it now?"
"I guess." Kipo looked a little unsure before she shrugged it off. "So the Dark Gang are elementals like you and the others?"
"Oh, yes. The Dark Gang are consists of elementals, just like the Element Gang." I then began explaining what I knew of the Dark Gang. "Though I don't know much about the more recent Dark Gangs, I do happen to know of the Dark Gang members that existed before the outbreak. That Dark Gang consisted of these six members: the lying ice elemental DarkFang, the trust breaker earth elemental Tristone; the air elemental thief DarkPunchette, the cruel water elemental DarkRang, the dark and gloomy lightning elemental DarkBlaster, and, coming from a long line of them, the terrible twosome known as the Dargon Twins. The younger brother was known as the jet black brawler Neo King and the older was the fire elemental leader of the Dark Gang, the worst criminal in history Dargon."
"Whoa. So what happened to the Dark Gang? I'm just wondering because it doesn't seem like they're a problem now."
"No idea. The last time there was a Dark Gang attack, it was during my father's time. After he and his team defeated them, the Dark Gang simply just vanished."
"Vanished? Where did they go?"
"No idea. Many come to believe they have gone into hiding, waiting for the right moment to rise back up."
"So why are they hiding?"
"Well, my father believed that, because the world had changed so much, the Dark Gang are now trying to reassess themselves with it, trying to find a way of getting an advantage in this. With this Beast War going on, I would have to say they are having a pretty difficult time with it." Seeing Kipo's look of worry, I then tried to reassure her. "Hey, don't worry. If the Dark Gang ever decide to show their faces again, the Element Gang will be ready for them. I promise."
"Thanks, Axel." She smiled at me.
"No problem. Now let's get you back to your Burrow." Returning the smile to her, we both continued walking and followed Wolf.
"Huh. I haven't been to one of these in a while." Uncle Donnie said as Wolf decided to have us stop at what looked like a small store which, like any other building in the world, was taken back by nature.
The store had one tree growing out of the room, had moss on parts of it, and was littered with vines. When we got inside, we saw the store was filled with shelves with what looked like food products laying on them. There was even some kind of large cases with doors of glass. Though the place looked like a mess, it was actually less wrecked than most places you find around Los Vistas.
"Anything that looks useful, take." Wolf told us as she went scavenging through the shelves.
Searching around, I found a medical kit with medical supplies that were still good. Well, some of them I could tell were good. The rest I wasn't sure for I haven't seen medical products like them. Deciding that they could prove useful, I closed the case before stuffing it into my bag.
"Come on, come on!" Plagg said as he searched around the store. "What's a guy got to do to get some cheese around here?"
When I heard a loud crash, I went over and saw Kipo near one of those containers before she plucked some kind of carton from it.
"October 3rd, 2020." Kipo said as I walked over to her, no doubt reading what was on the carton which I found out to be milk.
"Yeah, Kipo, I would put that down if I were you." Nooroo said.
"Yeah. That milk is really expired, by 200 years." I said, agreeing with the kwami before Plagg flew over to us.
"Kid, you just said the magic word!" Plagg excitedly said, looking at the carton. "God, finally! Some actual cheese!"
"Um… are you sure you want to eat that milk, Plagg?" Nooroo asked him, a little concerned about what his fellow kwami was gonna do.
"Well, yeah. It's 200-year old cheese! The older it is, the better the taste, I always say." Plagg said to him before looking to Kipo. "Open that carton, girl! I'm going in!"
With that, Kipo then ripped the top half of the carton and Plagg went over to float over the opening, looking into the carton while licking his lips.
"Oh, my sweet gooiness! Come to Plagg!" the kwami said before he went straight into the carton with his mouth open, groaning in pain after he tried to take a bite.
"Yeah, I think Nooroo was trying to tell you that milk might be too expired to be eaten." I said as I took the carton from Kipo. "I have no doubt that this carton of milk has turned into…" After I tipped it to where it would pour, the milk that Plagg tried to eat slid out as a cube that shattered on the floor. "A carton of stone."
"Bleck! Oh, damn it!" Plagg spitted as he floated up into the air, trying to get the taste of stone out of his mouth.
"Found it!" The three of us look over to Wolf who had a spray bottle of spot remover.
"Spot remover?" Kipo asked Wolf, the Burrow girl confused by this. "That's used for getting out shirt stains. No offense, but yours may need a full spin cycle."
"Wait, we stopped here for spot remover?" I said, just as confused as Kipo by what Wolf wanted to find. "Why do we need that?"
Before I got an answer, the ground began to shake. That meant only one thing: a Mega Mutant was nearby. It was there that the rest of the group began gathering around us.
"Guys, why's the ground shaking?" Aurico asked before Wolf answered.
"Mega Bunny." Wolf said before she started walking over to us. "It's a good thing we're inside—Aaaah!" Just like that, she was then sent flying into Kipo by something large that crashed through the wall.
"Whoa!" Kipo said as we all looked up in surprise.
"Oh, boy." I said as we looked at the Mega Bunny above us.
"Defiantly a Mega Bunny." Wolf said as the Mega Mutant sniffed the air, like it was looking for something.
"What's this Mega Bunny doing here?" Aurico asked.
"Well, judging by how it is sniffing the air," Uncle Donnie said as he watched how the Mega Bunny was behaving. "I would have to say that it's looking for something?"
"3, is that…" Thora asked me before I instantly gave her the answer.
"Yep, that's Rabbecka." I said.
"Wait, that's the Mega Bunny you and Stella were gonna check up on?" Gordy asked in surprise.
"Oh. So that's the mother we saw yesterday." Kipo said as she realized it. "Man, the little ones are so cuddly!"
"Cuddly?" Aurico said with shock before looking at Kipo. "Kipo, tell me you did not pet one of the babies."
"Actually, she didn't." I said to him. "She more liked snuggled with them. And Stella and Thora did as well. They did it with the whole litter."
"And you let them?!" Aurico said with disbelief to me before speaking to the three bunny-snugglers. "Girls, do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Look out!" Brook yelled out as we all saw Rabbecka's paw coming down to us, causing me to grab Kipo as we all ran away and dodged the giant paw.
"Why'd you touch the babies?" Wolf asked out in anger as we ran. "Don't you know you can't touch the babies?"
"But they were so cute." Kipo answered in defense before another paw came in, nearly crushing us.
"Yeah, and you can smell like one of those cute babies just by putting your hand on one of them." Aurico told her as we ran through the aisles. "That's why that Mega Bunny's here! You, Stella, and Thora smell like her babies!"
At that moment, more paws came in until we cornered. Just then, one paw came up above us, ready to crush us. Seeing this, I decided to put an end to this madness.
"Everyone, get down and cover your ears!" I said and everyone did as I said. Well, all except for Wolf, who Uncle Donnie grabbed and covered her ears.
After seeing everyone was down and had their ears covered, I looked up at the paw coming down at us with determination. Taking a deep breath, I then unleashed a sonic roar. To explain, the sonic roar is a special Fire Dragon power that allows the user to unleash a sonic-emitted roar so loud that it can break glass. It was also as strong as a gale-force wind. After managing to push the paw back, I stopped as Rabbecka then retracted her paw and looked down at me. Now that I had her attention, I then went on to talk to her.
"Rabbecka, stop! It's me, Axel!" I said to her. Rabbecka looked at me for a moment, not with a glare but with a look of surprise. With this, she then gently walked over and kneeled down. After she got a whiff of me, she then began snuggling me as she recognized me. I laughed a little at the tickling affection I was getting. "I know, I missed you too." I then started petting her, greeting my old friend. "It's okay. Your babies are safe." I then gently patted her head. "I would like to spend some more time with you, but I gotta go. Keep doing what you're doing. You're a great mother." With a kiss on her forehead, Rabbecka then got up and hopped away back to her babies, shaking the ground until the vibrations couldn't be felt anymore. Looking back, I saw most of the group was relieved from this, leaving only Kipo and Wolf to look at me with shock.
"Thanks for calming her down, cuz." Aurico said as he tried to catch his breath.
"Damn! I just saw my life flash before my eyes!" Caldwell said with eyes widen in shock as he and the others got to their feet.
"Come on, guys." I said as I walked over and helped Kipo to her feet. "Let's get out of here."
"Not so fast." Uncle Donnie said, stopping us. "First, we got to make sure Rabbecka won't come after us again." With that, we then began following him as he searched the isles.
"Axel, how did you do that?" Kipo asked in shock.
"Do what?" I was confused by what she meant.
"What you did back there!" Kipo exclaimed. "How did you make friends with that Mega Mutant? I've never heard of anyone doing that!"
"Oh, you mean Rabbecka?" I said as I realized what she meant. "We go way back."
"Yeah, while that mother was still a baby, she used to live in the Tribe." Aurico said, surprising Kipo. "Once she was all grown up, it was time to let her go."
"So you mean you had been friends with a Mega Mutant since you were little?" Kipo asked me.
"Yeah, I've known her since I was baby. We had some good times too." I said to her "My dad found her orphaned, her mother and siblings killed in some hunt by some Wonderbeasts. From there on, we grew up together. In a small sense, we're kind of like siblings. Once in a while, I try to find her and see how she and her babies are doing. Like my dad always said 'family helps family, no matter what'."
"Whoa! That is so cool!" Kipo said with eyes filled with awe. "So you get to see those adorable babies whenever you want?"
"Yeah, but there's a downside to that." I then started explaining. "You see, Mega Bunnies are really protective of their babies. When you pet them, you end up gaining their scent. That basically tells the mother two things: you're either a baby who got lost or you killed the baby, made it your dinner, and now your dead." Kipo then gained a look of shock. "Luckily, I managed to sort that mess out with her. It isn't her fault though. It's just in her nature."
"Now he tells us." Stella said as she and Thora slouched in despair.
"If you knew this, then why didn't you stop her or your friends then?" Wolf questioned me, sounding irritated.
"Well, I was going to, but I decided these girls had to learn the hard way." I answered her. "I knew what was going to happen and had a feeling we'd stop at a place like this." I then gave her a smirk. "You aren't the only one who plans on ahead to you know." She growled in annoyance upon hearing this.
"Aisle 6: baking goods, aisle 7: drinks." Uncle Donnie said as we passed those aisles. "Oh, here we go. Air fresheners." Standing behind him, we saw a couple of spray cans littered around the aisle.
After getting out of the store, me and the others watched as Uncle Donnie, Musa, and Wolf spray Thora, Stella, and Kipo down with spray, the three girls coughing as they got sprayed.
"Okay, is this really necessary?" Stella asked as Musa continued to spray her.
"Yeah, I'm with Stella." Thora said as she coughed with Uncle Donnie spraying her down. "This is so not fun!"
"Sorry, girls, but this is the only way to get rid of the babies' scent." Uncle Donnie said as he kept on spraying. He and Musa kept at it for a moment before stopping. "Okay, that should do it."
"Okay, Wolf." Kipo coughed as Wolf kept spraying. "I'm pretty sure you got the baby scene off me."
"You can't be too careful." Wolf said to her before the can stopped spraying. "Huh? Oh, all out." She then tossed it as the can was out of spray.
"Oh, thank goodness." Kipo sighed in relief.
"It's a good thing I found another one." Wolf then shook the can before she continued spraying, much to Kipo's displeasure.
"Argh! You gotta be kidding me!" Kipo groaned out.
"What scent are you spraying her down with?" I asked Wolf.
"Summer Rain." Wolf answered me.
"Hmm. You know, I actually like this smell." I said after taking a few quick whiffs of the spray. After she was done spraying Kip down, I then went on to ask her. "So, Wolf, how far are we from where need to go?"
"Not too far. We're almost there." She said, pointing her staff over to a building in the distance. It was inside a waterfall and attached to thick parts of wood from a tree.
"Wait a minute. Wolf, are you seriously taking us to a Wonderbeast turf?" Aurico asked as we were all shocked. "Are you nuts? That's Mod Frog territory! Those guys will be on us the second we go in there!"
"Mod Frog?" Kipo asked.
"The Mod Frogs are another Wonderbeast pack here in Las Vistas." I said as I explained. "They aren't really fond of humans."
"Like hell!" Aurico stated to everyone. "From what I hear, the Mod Frogs work for Scarlemagne! They'll catch any human that goes into their turf! That's practically giving Kipo to him on a silver platter!" He then turned to Wolf. "Why the hell are we going there for?"
"You want to get Kipo back to her Burrow as soon as possible, right?" Wolf coldly said to him. "This is the quickest way. Unless you don't want my help and know how to get there yourself, you better suck it up and keep up."
"She does have a point, Rico." I said to my cousin. "We had to expect we'd come to face this kind of situation. If we're ever gonna get through this and get Kipo back home, we're gonna have to take some risks."
Hearing him grunt and groan as he tried to argue, trying to find the right words to do so, but he eventually just groaned out in defeat and said "Fine! But, if Mod Frog tongues start shooting at us, I'm blaming this on you, Wolf."
As the sun begins to set, we reached the entrance to the building. Though going through it wasn't exactly easy as most of it was flooded with water. Well, for most of us. Uncle Donnie avoided it by using his mystic bo staff to flying up the building to the top and Brook didn't have a problem thanks to his water elemental powers. Brook even took Mandu with him as he would get her inside the building faster than the rest of us. After they went ahead, the rest of us soon followed, taking deep breaths and swim up to where they were. After reaching up there, we all tried to catch our breath before Uncle Donnie and Brook came over to us.
"Hey, what took ya?" Brook said as he looked down at me with a smug.
"Hey, it wasn't easy getting up." I told him as he helped me out of the water, Aurico and I joining him and Uncle Donnie to help us get the others out of the water. "Not all of us have amphibious lungs." When Uncle Donnie offered his hand to Wolf, she pushed it away and pulled herself out of the water.
"That is way better than taking the stairs!" Kipo said as I helped her out of the water, sounding like she actually liked it.
"Not really." I said to her before Aurico and I got on all fours and shook ourselves dry.
"Ugh! I hate being wet!" Lobbo groaned out before he shook himself dry like me and my cousin.
After that, those of us with clothing wrung out the water from our clothes, getting them dry before we started following Wolf. When we got to a flooded hall, Wolf used her staff to get a lily pad that was floating by.
"Get on." Wolf said and me and Kipo got on the lily pad with her.
I even held Mandu so she could join us. It wasn't long until Uncle Donnie got some lily pads for everyone. Each only took three people. The kwamis didn't take much space, so they were okay. Though, because Uncle Donnie was made of metal, he decided to use his staff and turned it into something that floats, something he said he got the idea from something called an umbrella. Between the three of us and Uncle Donnie, everyone formed 5 groups behind us: the first lily pad had Kylo, Sora, and Brandon; the second one was ridden by Thora, Stella, and Hikari; coming on Lily Pad 3 was Aisha, Nabu, and Musa; on the fourth one, it was Hotaru, Gordy, and Riku; and lastly, there was Brook, Aurico, and Caldwell.
"Kipo, if we run into any… thing, act like you're from the surface." Wolf said.
"From the surface. Got it." Kipo said before she leaned her head forward and tried to put on a serious look in an attempt to mimic our guide.
"Um… Kipo?" I asked her. "What are you doing?"
"I'm from the surface where life is hard." She answered, making her voice deep. "You gotta be tough as nails, iron and fire, wearing dead animals."
"Good. You're catching on." Wolf said as we made a turn into one of the rooms.
"This is my angry surface face." She made a fake grunt, still using the deep voice which made me chuckle. Though her act was short-lived as she suddenly perked up. "Whoa! What's that!?" She jumped off the lily pad and landed on a floating chair which swirled and floated over to a hanging telescope tied to a window seal.
"A telescope?" I said as I realized the reason for coming up here before I spoke to the lone warrior. "So that's why you wanted us up here." Kipo grabbed the telescope and looked through it, gasping in awe.
"There's so much to see when you're not in a cave." She said as Wolf and I floated over to her on the lily pad.
"Focus, Kipo." Wolf said, getting the Burrow girl to start looking for her Burrow.
"Where are we?" Aurico asked as Kipo looked around through the telescope.
"Seeing as we are in Mod Frog territory, the level of elevation we are at, and the fact there is a telescope placed here," Uncle Donnie answered Aurico. "I would have to say that this is a lookout point for them. Now I see how they knew where everyone was going."
"You see anything, Kipo?" I asked the Burrow girl.
"No. Wait!" Kipo answered before she gasped in surprise. "I see something! It looks just like the clover in my emblem!" Seeing her gain a smile, I knew we had to be on the right track. "That must be it! Wow." She then pulled herself away from the telescope as she looked out the window, still smiling. "So that's my home."
"Let me see!" She then let me have a look into the telescope and I saw this large structure that was shaped like a clover. "Whoa! It really is shaped like a clover!"
"Huh. Looks like an old highway intersection." Uncle Donnie said before I pulled myself from the telescope and we all looked to him as he was no doubt using his visual sensors to look at the Burrow. "It's a collaboration of roads people in my time used to travel."
"How far is it from here?" I asked my uncle.
"Oh, a couple of miles." Uncle Donnie answered me. "For us to walk there, it is…"
"A day." Wolf said, giving the simplified answer. "But we'll have to get over Skyscraper Ridge."
"That looks dangerous." Kipo said, looking at the pile of skyscrapers through the telescope.
"It is." I said to her. "The Mod Frogs scour the place. Means we'll have to use a lot of stealth to get through there."
"You know, I'm really sticking my neck out, Axel." Wolf said to me. "And for what?"
"So Kipo can get home." I said to her. "I know we're asking a lot, but I really appreciate you helping us out. And I'll make good on my promise, to both you and Kipo."
"Thank you. I just wish I knew how to repay you. All of you." Kipo said to us and the rest of the group, speaking honestly. "Wait, Wolf, since you don't want to be a part of Axel's Tribe, then you can come stay with me if you want. I'm sure there'd be a place in my Burrow."
"And go all soft and mushy like the rest of you mole people?" Wolf said, rejecting the offer. "No thanks."
"Well, Wolf," I said to the little warrior, "now you got two options to choose from besides living alone: living in the Tribe or living in a Burrow." With that, I then spoke to Kipo. "Though I do have one favor to ask." Getting Kipo's attention, I then took a deep breath before speaking again. "If it's not too much to ask, I want to talk to your father."
"My dad?" Kipo said to me with surprise. "I think he could have some time to chat. Why do you want to talk to him?"
"Well, it's the reason Miwa allowed me to help you." I said, explaining the reason to her. "You see, there's this sort of secret that has been with my family, one that started before I was born. I was hoping your dad might give us some answers to it."
"Hey, do you mean he knows why you and your dad—Mmm!" Caldwell said before Brook and Aurico covered his mouth and stopped him from revealing that little secret of mine.
"Yes, Caldwell. It's the answer for that." I said to him before glaring at him. "And we're not gonna talk about it until we get to the Burrow, got it?" With Caldwell giving a nod of compliance, I then motioned Brook and Aurico to let him go and he didn't say anything else.
"So that's what this is about, huh?" Uncle Donnie said to me. "At least now I will get to know what your old man was hiding all these years." There was a short moment of silence until Brook spoke out.
"Tongue!" Brook shouted, right as a tongue fired right at me, Wolf, and Kipo.
By dodging the tongue, we watched it retract to reveal what was attacking us. It turned out to be a Wonderbeast Frog with a small mustache wearing a suit and a necktie. This was what we called a Mod Frog. As the Wonderbeast retracted his tongue, he croaked and readjusted his necktie.
"Mod Frog!" Aurico said as the Mod Frog glared at us.
"Humans." The Wonderbeast said before he charged right at us.
Wolf then sprang into action with the frog shooting his tongue and wrapping it around her staff. However, this proved to be a mistake as she twirled it, making the frog come to her. As the fighting continued, Aurico casually walked over to the desk and grabbed an ink jar.
"Wolf, duck!" my cousin said as he threw the jar, the little warrior ducking as it went over her and hit the Mod Frog. With the ink pouring out of the jar, the frog gasped in shock as it left a large stain on his white shirt.
"My shirt!" He said before he licked his hand and frantically tried to wipe it off. He then began to panic as his wiping became more frantic. "It won't come out! It's setting!"
"What the…?" Gordy said in confusion before Aurico spoke to him.
"I heard from the Order that the Mod Frog really like staying clean and tidy." Aurico explained. "Make enough of a mess on them or their suits, they'll be too busy trying to get clean to care about anything else."
"Not bad… for a Tribe boy." Wolf said, my cousin giving her a smile of pride.
"You're a…" Kipo said before I covered her mouth, stopping her from blurting out the proof she was from a Burrow.
"Kipo!" I whispered to her as the Mod Frog looked at us in confusion. "Ix-nay on the Urrow-bay, remember?"
"Hey, frog boy!" Uncle Donnie said, getting the frog's attention. "If you want that stain out, I think we got what you need. Wolf?"
"Spot remover!" The Mod Frog said with surprise as Wolf held up that spray bottle. "Give it to me!"
"We'll give it to you," Uncle Donnie said to him, "only if you let us go and not say anything about this."
"Let you go? Look, this is my private office." The frog said, confusing all of us. "Was there an 'Enjoy the view sign' on my door? I think not."
"Listen, let's talk this out." Uncle Donnie said to him. "Mutant to mutant."
"Ha! You're supposed to be a mutant? Look more like a tin can, if you ask me."
"Actually, I really am a mutant. It's complicated. The point is, we're sorry for intruding. We're just doing a little scouting."
"Yeah, we were just scouting." Wolf added before the frog then questioned us.
"Scouting? Scouting for what?" This surprised my uncle.
"Um… uh…" Uncle Donnie tried to come up with an excuse before I decided to do it for him.
"We're Mega Mutant hunters!" I told the frog. "And we were just trying to get higher ground. Let us go and we'll be out of your hair, or whiskers in your case." What I said only made that frog groan in frustration.
"Just give me the Spot Remover and then I'll decide what to do with you." He said.
"Okay. Wolf?" I said as the little warrior presented the bottle before throwing it towards the window, making the frog run after it.
As he caught it with his tongue, we took this chance to give him the slip and left the room. I even
"Oh, thank good…" I didn't hear him say anything else as Uncle Donnie closed the door and we all went as fast as we could to get out of the building.
"Hurry! Before he gets rid of the stain!" Uncle Donnie said before we went through the window.
It was at that moment that my fellow flying elementals (that being Kylo, Thora, Sora, and Aurico) and started using our powers and got to flying. Gordy managed to hitch a ride with Kylo as she used her air elemental power to propel herself in the air, Brook rode on Thora's back, Uncle Donnie transformed his staff into a rocket and had Wolf and Hotaru ride with him, Sora used his elemental power to form some wings and carried Aisha and Nabu, I used my metalbending to hold onto Kipo, Mandu, and Caldwell as I flew, and Aurico had Stella, Musa, Hikari, and Riku with the use of his metalbending as he flew. As we flew, the kwamis followed us as we all went as fast as we could toward Skyscraper Ridge. Yeah, Sora is an elemental as well. I'll explain later. It's a good thing we were able to travel fast while flying or less that Mod Frog would be able to catch up to us.
After looking at the closed door and looking out the window to see the group flying away, the Mod Frog turned his attention to the ink stain on his shirt.
"Mega Mutant hunters, right." he spoke to himself in anger as he used the spray on the ink and tried to rub it out. "Obviously those guys are from that Wonderbeast Tribe, the home of that annoying Order. Most of them were just a bunch of kids, some were just a bunch of pipsqueak Wonderbeasts. Hell, even one of them even looked more like a Burrow girl to me." After rubbing out the stain, he then paused at what he said and looked at where they left. He then remembered what had happened earlier when Kipo saw him. "Huh. Maybe…" He then gained a smug as he put a hand under his chin, "that's what they got."
After getting a good enough distance from that Mod Frog, my fellow fliers and I then decided to land as we had managed to give us some time before more Mod Frogs came around. After that and catching our breath, we then continued on walking toward Kipo's Burrow. As we kept on walking, the sun set and the night began. Despite what had happened a few hours ago, it felt nice to see a star-filled sky.
"This never gets old." Kipo said as she looked to the sky, sighing with content.
"Yeah, it's a nice night." Uncle Donnie said, sounding pretty calm.
"Lesson 5 on the surface." Wolf said as she twirled her staff, facing the stinger behind Kipo's head and making the Burrow girl nervous. "Looking up can get you killed."
"Yeah, but here's a lesson from the Tribe." I said as I moved Wolf's staff away from Kipo. "Enjoy the little things. It's good to take a breather once in a while."
"Oh, speaking of little things," Kipo said with a questioning look on her face, "why didn't you tell me about the one detail that Sora was an elemental like you?"
"Well, it's because he isn't." I said to her. "Not exactly like me and the others anyway. You see, Kipo, Sora is the descendant of this element hero that was part of an elemental trio of allies to the Element Gang. Aisha and Nabu there? They descended from the other two members. How that works is a bit complicated."
"Seriously?" Kipo was surprised by this. "Is everyone here an elemental but me?"
"No. Wolf, Uncle Donnie, Riku, Hikari, and Hotaru don't have any elemental power."
"Okay, but why didn't you tell me those three had powers?"
"Well… the reason I didn't tell you is because… they can't actually use those powers."
"Wait, what?"
"They know how to use those powers to some extent, but not completely. Heck, Sora can barely use his." Sora rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"How come?"
"Well, it's because they haven't gotten enough elemental training to use the full extent of them. Their parents didn't think it was a good idea to teach them more than a few tricks to help them out a bit. Sora was even lucky to make some wings for himself. They are pretty skilled as ninjas. But as elementals? Not so much. And they're not exactly comfortable talking about their inexperience."
"Oh." There was a moment of silence before Kipo spoke up again. "So are we gonna set up camp?"
"Yes, but first we need to find a good place to take shelter." I said to her. "The Mod Frogs now know there are humans around, so we need to find a place to hide."
"Hey, guys! Check it out!" Aurico called out as we went over and were amazed by what he found.
"Whoa!" Kipo exclaimed as we saw a tree with a bunch of bikes hanging from its branches. "That's a lot of bikes."
"Yeah. This might make traveling a little easier." I said as we started walking over to the tree. "That is if there's some that are still intact." We all stopped as we heard Mandu whimpering.
"Hey, what's up with Mandu?" Musa asked as we saw Mandu looking like she was scared.
"Oh, the poor thing is frightened." Stella said as she walked over to Mandu before the piglet ran off. "Wait, Mandu!"
"Why is that pig running?" Gordy asked, confused by this.
"Oh, I don't know." Aurico sarcastically said before he glared at Wolf. "Maybe it's because she had enough of being around someone with a nightmare stick!"
"I'm not the one who spooked her." Wolf said before a buzzing sound hit my ears.
"Wait, do you hear that?" I asked out as I listened to the sound.
"Yeah, what is that?" Aurico asked.
"Quick, hide!" Wolf said before we all took off hiding in nearby bushes.
"Oh, Tribe boys!" said a familiar voice as we all took a peek and saw the Mod Frog from earlier riding on the hood of a long, black car being pulled by a Wonderbeast Dragonfly and had some friends with him. "I figured out where your little friend is from." He then hopped off the hood and the dragonfly stopped pulling. "Hard to believe you found a Burrow girl. Shocker that you tried to keep us from the mother lode of humans." He then shot his tongue out, but it wasn't any of us in the bushes. What he caught was actually Mandu. We all watched silently as he unwrapped his tongue and held the little piglet. "Oh, just a pig." He sounded a bit disappointed by this. "Well, at least we have a snack." There, we watched as he started carrying Mandu back to the car, the little piglet struggling to escape.
"No! I won't let them take her!" Kipo said, getting ready to charge out when Wolf stopped her.
"And risk our necks for a Wonderbeast?" Wolf said, holding her back. "See? This is why I work alone!"
"If you like to be alone so much, maybe you should be!" Kipo said, getting out of Wolf's grip and going out of the bush.
"Can't let her do this alone." I said with a sigh of defeat, beginning to leave the bush as well before Wolf stopped me halfway.
"Are you serious right now?" She asked in disbelief.
"I promised nothing bad would happen to Kipo and I'm going to keep it." I said to the little warrior. "Besides, what you said to Kipo, wasn't that the same thing you said to me the day I earned the favor from you?" With that, I then ran out of the bush and stood beside Kipo, speaking to the Mod Frog. "Hold it right, fly breath!"
"Put that pig down!" Kipo demanded, making the Mod Frogs stop and look at us.
"Burrow girl. There you are." The frog said turning around to face them. "And along with your Tribe friend." He chuckled as his two associates exiting out of the car, one of them being a red-eyed tree frog holding a bat with nails and the other being a large bullfrog wielding a flail.
After getting into fighting stance, I then turned around as I heard panting and saw Wolf running away. For some odd reason, I was getting a sense of déjà vu from it.
"Uh… That pig is a bloodthirsty killer!" Kipo said, trying to scare them into letting Mandu go and give us a chance to escape. "She'll rip you limb from limb!"
"Mmm, yeah. I'll take my chances." The frog said, seeing right through the lie. "Besides, even if it is, I'm sure we can handle one little pig." He then whistled out and, from out of nowhere, more Mod Frogs armed with weapons came out and surrounded us. This actually surprised me. "What? With a war going on, we have to be ready to take a crack at it." As he cackled, I then got in front of Kipo as I prepared to protect her from the frogs. "Give up the girl, Tribe boy. A little guy like you's got no chance against us."
"So you think you can handle me, huh?" I said to them before I gained a smile for the surprise these frogs were gonna get. "Well, how about a couple of ninjas?" This actually confused him.
"A couple of what?" he said before the others jumped out of the shadows, shouting out as they surrounded me and Kipo and formed a barrier between the two of us and the Mod Frogs. The frogs were surprised by this as Uncle Donnie and the others got ready to fight. The frog with Mandu then growled out in anger. "Don't just stand there! Get them!" It was with that, all the Mod Frogs surrounding us charged and the fight began. I even got into the fight, joining my fellow elementals as we fought hand-to-hand with the frogs.
Though those frogs fought hard, they were no match against the power of ninjitsu. Though I have to say I was surprised why I saw the kwamis join the fight, managing to trick some of the frogs into beating themselves to the ground. Within the struggle, I heard a scream and looked to see Mandu had bit the frog holding her in the hand, making him let go of her. As the frog tried to recover, Mandu ran over to Kipo, the Burrow girl scooping her up.
"Guys, we got Mandu! Let's go!" I said before we then fought our way through the Mod Frogs and made a run for it.
As we were running, I looked back and saw the Mod Frogs chasing us, the trio of them riding in their car at high speed. I grabbed Kipo and we tried to use our speed to get away, but that dragonfly was too fast for us to outrun. Just when I thought they were gonna catch us, I felt something grab the hood of my hoodie and looked to my side to see Wolf had picked me up with her staff, riding one of the bikes we saw earlier.
"Wolf!" I said as me and Kipo smiled at the little warrior.
"You came back!" Kipo said to her.
"Yep." Wolf said, not sounding so thrilled.
"Kipo, get on the bike!" I said to the Burrow girl and she did what is said. After she did, I then got my wings out and started flying. I then used my metalbending to hook myself to the bike. "Hang on!" With that, I then started flying with some speed, dragging the bike with girls on it.
Catching up with the rest of the group, they all soon got the idea and made joined me in outrunning the frogs. Uncle Donnie turned his staff into a rocket again, Brook got on Thora's back as she flew, Gordy hitched a ride on Kylo as she used her powers, and Aurico grabbed Musa and Stella as he took off. As for the others, Sora had the rest of the group gather around him as he tried to do something. After a moment of trying, he managed to create a wave made of shadows for them to ride on, something he was proud of doing. With everyone being able to catch up, we then gained some speed as we tried to escape the Mod Frogs. When he hit a turn, Wolf used her staff to propel the bike and keep it from crashing. Along the way, Hikari jumped off the wave and started following us on a skateboard. We thought we managed to lose them by reaching some stairs with Hikari riding her skateboard on the railing, but we soon had the leading frog on our tails. Just when he was about to catch me, Kipo, Mandu, and Wolf, Hikari came in and stamped her skateboard on him.
"Take that, froggy!" Hikari said as she rode the Mod Frog down the stair, the rest of the group and I waiting there for Hikari to rejoin us in the escape.
When he tried to get up, Wolf stung him in the head with her staff and knocked him out, making Kipo gasp in shock.
"Is he dead?" Kipo asked in worry.
"No." Wolf answered, taking the stinger out of his head and leaving a swelled bump on the frog. "But when he wakes up, he'll have a bad headache and possibly some memory loss."
"For once, I'm glad you carry that Stalker Scorpion venom." Aurico said to her as she got back on the back.
"Come on, let's get out of here before the other frogs catch up." I said before we all made our quick escape, running into an old, abandoned house.
"We'll hold up here until morning." I said as I closed the door. "Hopefully, the frogs will be off our tails by then."
"We better block the door just in case." Uncle Donnie said before we all started grabbing things to block the door like a couch, a shelf, and even a table.
"Normally at night, I'd be home, doing my homework and eating a muffin," Kipo said as we finished the barricade and slumped down on it, "not running away from homicidal frogs!"
"Kipo, quiet!" I whispered as I covered her mouth, hearing a groan from outside.
"Ow! Oh, my head." Hearing the voice of that frog, I knew he and his goons were coming by the house. "I… Wait a minute, why are you two following me?"
"Uh… Jamack?" One of the goons asked. "We're looking for those humans?"
"Oh, right. Yeah." The leading frog (who I guess was named Jamack) said, sounding a little out of it. "Let's get back to that."
I then gave a sigh of relief as the frogs started walking away.
"They're leaving." I said as I pulled my hand away from Kipo.
" Hey, Wolf." Kipo whispered. "Since we had our first fight and made up, that makes us officially sisters." She then put a hand on the little warrior's shoulder.
"Don't." Wolf sternly said to her, reminding her that she didn't like to be touched.
"Oh, right!" Kipo quickly retracted her hand.
Right there, we thought we were in the clear until… suddenly, we heard some crying.
"What is that sound?" Aurico whispered as we wondered what that crying was.
"Sounds like it's coming from upstairs." Caldwell said at the same volume.
"Oh, crap!" Gordy whispered with worry. "If those frogs hear that, they're gonna come in here and find us."
"Axel, you, Kipo, and Wolf go see what's making that noise." Uncle Donnie said to us, making sure his volume was low. "We'll keep an eye out for those frogs."
"Got it! Come on!" I said to him before Kipo, Wolf, and I went upstairs and followed the sound to a room.
When we got there, we found the crying coming from something small and wrapped up inside a cradle. Judging by the sound, I believed it was a baby.
"There's a baby here!" Kipo whispered as we spotted the baby. "Why is there a baby here?"
"Guys!" Gordy said as he and the others came over, keeping his voice down. "The frogs are coming!" Just then, we heard the barricade fall to the floor as being the sign the frogs were inside the house.
"Everyone, inside!" Uncle Donnie said as we all went into the room and he carefully closed it behind us.
"3, what the hell is going on?" Aurico said to me as Gordy and Riku stood at the door, ready to push back the frogs in case they tried to get in.
"Well, apparently there's a baby around here." I said, motioning to said infant in the cradle.
"A baby?" Aurico asked with shock. "What the hell is a baby doing here?"
"I have no idea." I said before Wolf spoke out.
"We have to shut that thing up!" She whispered, ready to attack with her staff.
"Okay… okay." Kipo said as she picked up and cradled the baby. "We really need you to hush, little baby."
"Somebody, please shut that baby up!" Gordy said as he and Riku stayed at the door. "He's gonna get us caught!"
"I'll put him to sleep." Wolf said, holding up her staff. "There's a slight chance this'll kill him."
"Don't you dare!" Kipo said, getting away from Wolf.
"Wolf, what is the matter with you?" I said before Kipo gasped.
"Kipo, what's wrong?" I asked her as she had a look of shock on her face.
"Um… nothing!" Kipo quickly told me before Wolf walked over pulled the cloth surrounding it off. We were all shocked to find that it wasn't a human baby, but really some kind of Wonderbeast larva.
"What the hell?" Aurico said as he saw the larva. "That's not a baby, it's a larva!"
"A Wonderbeast?" Wolf said, not liking this one bit. "Are you kidding me?"
"It's still a baby!" Kipo retorted before we heard the frogs.
"They're here! I know it!" Jamack yelled out, giving all of a sense of fear.
"Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap! Oh, crap!" Aurico said in a panic as we heard the sounds of rummaging.
"Uh, does anybody know any grub nursery rhymes?" Kipo asked in worry.
"I'm afraid not." I told her before we heard Jamack again.
"Check every room!" Though we didn't show it as much as we were feeling it or concealing it as much as Wolf, we were all panicking from hearing that.
"Crap infinity!" Aurico said as we found ourselves trapped.
Author's Note: Hey, guys! Sorry it took me so long. I hoped you like the chapter. And if you liked that little bit of elemental action from Sora, you'll be seeing a lot more of that as he, Aisha, and Nabu learn how to get more of a handle on their powers. And you'll be seeing a lot more ninja action too. And the powers of that trio will be revealed in a later chapter, a much later chapter. Seems like the group is in bit of a pickle, huh? As to why there is a baby Wonderbeast there, that'll be explained in the next chapter as the group will encounter something else on the surface. That's all I got for now. Don't forget to leave a comment to tell me how you think of it. See ya in the next chapter!