Travis put on his nicest outfit for the meeting, and set out. Billy had a little tuxedo on as well.
Their boss wore the standard leather jacket as he sat on his chair at the meeting table.
"Okay people. Omega really wanted us to do this, so here we are. First order of business, I've heard rumors that we're going back. These rumors are true. We will be back very soon. This means our technicians will have to work very hard these next few days to get us back on track. Omega also explained that we are to hold off the mind-wipe until further notice. You got that?"
Everybody nodded or said otherwise.
"Good. Today, we will test the ships again. We need them in top-form if we want to rise again. This concludes today's meeting, get to work."
Travis and the others dispersed.
The rest of their shifts, with the exclusion of Billy, went on as normal. Billy and the other technicians worked on the ships and vehicles. The only thing different was that they had the agent to take care of and he was no hassle.
Travis went home at the end of his shift. Nothing achieved today…
3 took a plate of fries from the fridge and dumped them into the microwave.
The fries tasted hot on the outside, but when she bit into them, they were actually cold in the middle. As well as the fact that they tasted and felt like salted wet sand.
The fries were gone from 3's plate in a matter of seconds, due to their odd tastiness.
Once the fries were gone, 3 dumped the dish in the sink and traversed toward her basement.
The basement was very orderly and clean, unlike most of her rooms.
In the center of the basement was a huge, leather punching bag, mostly seen in buff men's training rooms. 3, clearly intent on beating the heck out of this bag, threw off her gloves and approached the bag. The first punch felt very good. A large amount of stress felt lifted when 3 thrust her fist into the bag.
Thirty minutes of 3 beating the bag with her bare fists passed.
The indent from 3's fists had grown inward a little. 3 wiped a lot of sweat from her face and sat down. That felt way better than I expected.
3 pulled out her phone, still panting and out of breath from the training session.
3 felt a small beacon of happiness glowing in her soul before nearly throwing her phone, due to a loud ring and the distress screen showing. 3 ran to the dryer and pulled out her MVP costume.
Simon stood in the street while a handful of people with weapons demanded to see the fabled MVPs.
Simon took a deep breath and shouted.
"HEY! Send forth your most skilled swordsman. I want a fair battle."
The people halted and one moved forward. "Alone, are ya, MVP scum? Don't worry. We're not here to kill you. Not yet. We're here to deliver a message. Very simple. But, for kicks, I'll accept your challenge."
Simon laid his hand on his sword holster, and the one in front of him drew his.
As quick as the wind, the man jumped forward, but, even faster, Simon yanked the sword from it's holster and swung upward, slicing the man's eye.
The man clutched his eye. "AAH! You… I don't think anyone understands the urgency of your situation, so let me explain. Our boss kindly instructed us to get you here. I had no idea you would be alone. Normally these things-"
"Just say whatever speech you have prepared and get this over with."
The man looked shocked, as if he had just been interrupted.
"Ok. If we haven't made it obvious, we're back. The message. Very short, not any school essay. Prepare your troops. This time, we aren't pulling any punches. And we're keeping track of every move you make. The turn-based game is started and it's your turn. Hope your merry army is ready-"
Simon jabbed the man's chest with his knee and held him up by his collar. "You've said your speech, now listen to mine. I have no regrets. You dare mess with the flow of time and space, we'll always stop you. Think about that when I lock you up."
The man's six others started talking among themselves. "Should we detonate the rookie now? He's of no more use to us."
Simon quickly kicked back the man before he… exploded, putting a very bad scene in the road. Simon held back from upchucking and looked to the group.
A person wearing a medieval doctor mask stepped forward. "You're all alone. This gives us any chance to surround you."
Simon turned and locked eyes with another group of six people.
Crap.
They started closing in. Right as they got close, they lunged, and Simon felt something grab him and flew out from the middle of the crowd.
The twelve people stood in a puff of smoke, facing each other.
"Next time, call us BEFORE you're about to die." L said from beside S, loading one of his guns.
"HEY! Where'd he go?!"
L and S, both wielding their weapons, turned to the crowd. "Say… what do we do about them?"
"I highly doubt we have a choice of what to do at this point."
L made a small scowl under his mask, but quickly wiped it off when he saw the group running out of the smoke. They exited the smoke and looked directly toward the two agents and bared their weapons.
The one in front jumped forward and then flew back when his jaw connected with a heel kick.
"Take that!" 3 yelled.
The rest of the people charged at the trio.
Four pursued L, but he laid down a puff of smoke and appeared behind them, firing as fast as his signature dual guns could.
Three more attacked S, he repeatedly countered and struck the ones who weren't fast enough to dodge his quick strikes.
The last four attacked 3, who simply blocked and punched, or kicked, when they exposed sensitive parts.
In time, the group of attackers were all on the ground, knocked out.
"Yeah! We did it!" L cheered.
"That's our job, L. By now I'd think you'd be used to it." mumbled S.
"How do we bring 'em in? We didn't bring the ship." 3 said, scratching her arm.
Just then, they turned and saw the captain landing the ship behind them.
"Oh hey fellas! Just happened to catch the message. Anyway, how many'd you bag in this time?" The captain yelled from the ship.
"Thirteen. One dead. Bomb planted in his chest." S yelled back while L removed his mask to hurl.
"Oh cool. Put them in the cells while I wrap the dead one."
Once done dealing with the people, the captain dropped them all home with the same message for all of them. "Get ready. We have to take off soon. Pack your bags and be ready to depart."
Travis went to work the next week and stared when Billy was preparing the MR2.
"I thought Boss said no…"
Billy turned around, a wrench in his little hand. "Omega gave the okay to wipe 'em. This kid won't know what hit him."
Travis shrugged and went to his post.
The day went on as planned, except for the fact that the captured agent had to be told to shut up seven times, because he sang loudly to the music he blasted in his ears, and that Billy had to have sixteen cups of black coffee delivered, because he couldn't "leave his work."
During his lunch break, Travis entered his office, a small twinge of hunger nagging his mind, but he ignored it.
The desk was neat and organized, with a lamp for decoration reasons, given that his ceiling light worked(which, half of the time, didn't.)
Travis picked up his trusty hunting knife and started sharpening it.
Once the knife was sharp enough, Travis stood up and stared the mannequin in his office right where the eyes were supposed to be.
The mannequin had several marks and scratches, a few holes, and a huge dent in its side.
Travis, who had just brandished the sharpened knife, put his hand on the head of the mannequin.
The plastic was cold. It felt terrible, sticking his hand there, but Travis felt a whole lot better when he thrust his knife into the mannequin's stomach area, piercing its plastic body.
Travis stared at the eye holes for a good while, before tearing the knife out at full speed.
Travis holstered the knife and turned to the exit, satisfied.
As Travis exited his room, he saw a line of people at the portal room.
Just as Travis questioned it, his boss walked up and explained the deal.
"Ok. So we've been told the details. We're gonna take something, and Omega wants YOU to lead a squad of four."
Travis pointed to himself for a minute, comprehending the details, but his boss spoke again.
"Do you accept? Because we kinda need the object."
Travis solemnly nodded and his boss wrote something down.
"Good. The heist begins on Thursday, don't be late."
Travis turned around and progressed down the hall, tossing his knife into the air.
Luigi and his double cherry self nodded, knowing the plan. Luigi packed his MVP bag and left for the backyard, where he opened a portal and jumped in.
The ship was a mess. Luigi took it upon himself to clean it.
There was a lot to clean up. There were knives lying around, just waiting to be stepped on, there was a half-eaten omelette, for whatever reason there would be somebody's breakfast in a corner, molding. There sat some weird bugs under 3's seat, Luigi executed the creepy bugs in the ship and continued. There were bandages spilled in the medical cabinet, the weapons cabinet was unruly and disorderly, and the costume cabinet(which was for S's pleasure,) had empty hangers and the clothes were all over the floor.
Luigi felt like he had accomplished something when the ship was in ship-shape.
Just as Luigi was thinking, he turned around and slammed into 3.
3 kicked Luigi across the room, out of reaction.
"AAH! Sorry! You scared me!"
Luigi stood up, after checking to make sure he wasn't bleeding.
"I was wondering where you were. Now all we need is-"
Simon flew in through a portal planted in the wall, right into his seat.
"Simon."
Simon quickly stood and set his knives in the weapons cabinet.
"Well, today marks our set-off. If we could only find the-"
The captain fell into the driver's seat. "Oh, you're all here! Good. Strap in, we're heading off in a few minutes."
The few minutes passed faster than anyone had anticipated.
"You all strapped in?"
Everybody nodded.
"Good. Setting off in ten…"
They all put away their electronics.
"Nine.."
Luigi readied his throw up bag.
"Eight.."
Simon sheathed a knife.
"Seven…"
3 was asleep.
"Three…"
Luigi quickly panicked when he realized that the Captain had skipped four numbers.
"Two…"
Luigi shoved earmuffs on himself, as did Simon, and Luigi put them over 3's head.
"One. Opening gate."
The lights went off, and the view from the windshield became a blinding white light.
Once at their destination, they piled out of the ship. They all questioned why Luigi had run into the base so fast, but their questions were answered when they saw him hurling in the bathroom.
Simon walked into the sleeping quarters right as 3 yelled something about claiming beds.
Luigi darted in and hopped to the top of the bunk bed. "I got the top bunk!'
3 ran in and nabbed Luigi's hat from his head and darted off.
Luigi jumped off the top bunk and chased her down the hall.
Simon, through the chaos, had placed his suitcase in the recliner that sat in the lounge, as well as his knife belt. The captain had set up in the captain's room, which was really a thing. The captain's room had a larger bed, a mirror, a bathroom, the wi-fi password, and it's own personal wardrobe. The agent's room had a bunk bed and a wardrobe. Not much.
After Luigi had regained his hat, he made his way to the mission room. The room with the large TV and the pipes from which they go down to access their MVP costumes.
"Wow. It's been a year. I can't believe it. And look! We haven't gathered any dust!"
Simon strutted in with a knife balanced on his finger.
"Yeah. It really is surprising. Normally we would gather in that horrible excuse for a base, but now? I put in a good word with Alpha. We've got regal uniforms now."
The captain walked in and stepped into the pipe chamber and then stopped.
"There should have been a new recruit somewhere here, but Alpha said he's new. I've no idea where they are, but I'm getting impatient."
Just then, they heard something coming down the hall.
Like, little footsteps, coming fast.
Simon stepped back before he accidentally beheaded anything again.
Luigi fainted when he saw it.
3 made the weirdest face.
The being in the hall was... small. It had a pointy, little puff of blue hair, with ditto eyes, and freckles dotting his face.
"Hello… My name is Alph. I was recruited. Is this the right team?"
Luigi and Simon exchanged glances, equally confused.
The captain approached Alph. "Nice to meetcha, Alph! I do hope you like your time here! It's a big risk, learning the multiverse the way you did, but trust me, we'll do all we can to keep you safe. Now, meet your mates! This is Luigi."
Luigi waved, flashing an awkward smile.
"He's the one with the ranged weapons. This is Simon."
Simon quickly pocketed a knife and waved.
"Don't question the knives… that's his business. And then there's-"
Alph screamed as 3 tackled him.
"AAH! CUTE THINGS ARE MY WEAKNESS!"
Alph had the face of dread for a while, until Simon got 3 off of him.
"And then there's 3. She likes small things that she finds cute, and has shattered an entire nervous system with one punch. She contrasts."
Alph waved at 3, who was repeatedly elbowing Simon to let go of her, while her eyes were wide and she smiled like she was insane.
Alph turned to the other two.
"Well, it's very nice to meet my new comrades! Maybe, when the squid one decides to calm down, we could get to know each other!"
Luigi felt like he could have a new friend.
Simon felt like he could teach the kid some tricks.
3 wanted to hug the kid until he turned purple.
Alph found his spot in the lounge, right on the second lounge chair, and sat down his bags.
The agents all went to their beds and slept.
The next morning, Luigi got up before everybody, but found Alph in the kitchen, drinking a smoothie he had made himself.
"Oh! Good morning. I'm not sure what you guys eat, but we Koppaites eat fruit."
Luigi looked at the ingredients Alph had laid out.
Alph finished his juice, sat the cup in the sink, and walked away.
Luigi finally noticed the hunger biting at his stomach and made some food.
After breakfast, the agents migrated to the meeting room. Alph found himself a nice seat with a good view of the TV, and it was a good seat too, given his size, it had to be.
The captain trotted to the screen and turned it on.
"Today, we are going to work toward finding that scout that Gamma captured. This means we need everybody on deck- 3! Stop that!"
3 moved from directly behind Alph.
"Anyway. We're gonna have to reboot the signal antenna for a start. Alph. That is your mission. L will go with you. The rest of us are gonna start tracking the scout's last places, so as to catch a Gamma base."
Alph peeped his head out of the hatch that led into dead space.
"So, where's this antenna at?"
Luigi hooked a harness on Alph, then himself, before jumping out of the ship and pulling Alph out with him.
"Just follow me. We should be there in no time."
Luigi and Alph hopped over to a control panel on the side.
Alph sat there, fiddling with the controls for a while, until they both heard a loud rumble.
Luigi moved back when the large antenna started rising between his feet.
Alph smiled triumphantly.
3 and Simon heard the rumble, and a signal was caught.
"Look, there! A pocket dimension appeared where he was last. Just how are we gonna get there?"
Simon shrugged. "Let's let the captain figure that one out."
The captain met them all back in the meeting room.
"Ok. We found his signal. Get yourselves armed and ready. First thing tomorrow, we get a fellow agent back."
Travis kicked and wrestled with another Inkling. They were trying to run.
They shoved Travis back, Travis got up and tried again.
She nearly made it to the door, but Travis grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back into the room.
Travis picked up the nearest object, but he got hit with a bat.
"Stay down." They said.
They turned their back for a second, just a second, and Travis brandished his knife.
They gasped as Travis drove the knife into their back.
Travis yanked back his knife, causing them to fall over. Travis bent down, turned them around, and cracked a smile.
Travis stabbed their chest. And then he stabbed them again. And again. And again, he stopped after a while.
It took a while, but Travis cleaned himself of their ink, wiped the place clean, set her in her bed, and left, that small smile still on his face.
Author's note: There's a lot you don't know about Travis. What does he want? Who did he just turn into spaghetti?
Alph will be a very lovable member, and a Pikmin representative!
Anyway, I'm tired. The next chapter will be on the agent's perspectives, Travis won't be seen for the next chapter.
Stay safe, wear a mask, eat your greens, get plenty of exercise, brush your teeth, don't do drugs, stay in school, and have a good day!