Chapter 17: The Fallen Four and Claymen
"You mean to tell me these bastards have a PSI user?" Kumatora snapped at Poo.
"Three…" Poo replied quietly as he led the four of them through a tunnel. "My friends and I were...it's hard to say."
Lucas fidgeted and kept his hand near the remote the Pigmask captain had given him. The Pigmasks were stupid, and he wasn't sure if he could trust Poo yet.
"If you're concerned about my intentions, I hate working for these...piggly freaks." Poo muttered.
"Um...Poo…" Duster said. "Do you have any of your other friends?"
"No, we've been separated, it's to prevent our uprising." Poo replied. "I do not know what has become of them, and I'm afraid of what they'll do if I rebel. I can get you to where you need to go."
"These bastards are really kicking it in."
"I do not have the time for this." Poo replied coldly, gripping his sword. "I can get you to the egg in the dumpster...then you'll have to get far out of here."
A lightning bolt suddenly struck the ground in front of them, making Lucas yelp as he jumped.
"Where are these stupid things coming from?"
"Thunder Tower," Poo replied, his tone increasingly bitter. "It is where Fassad and the Pigmasks launch their tyrannical raid of lightning strikes on Tazamily. They're using my Friend Paula's stolen PSI energy to do so."
Lucas felt an insurgence of rage build up. That girl in the pink dress he had seen back in the laboratory had to be her. These people were sick.
As they walked through the highway area, Lucas noted Poo's increasing glare towards all the weird chimeras walking around.
"I truly do apologize for all the awful things that are going on here." Poo said, as Lucas looked over at him with Kumatora and Duster also increasingly looking irritated. "We were taken by surprise by that Pig King. Now...we're destroying the world."
Poo eventually led them to a landfill, where the four of them were relieved to find the destroyed clayman, thankfully with the egg of light still intact.
"Okay, the egg is right there, let's go ahead and grab that thing and get the hell out of here." Kumatora said.
"Look out!" Poo quickly casted a PSI Shield over the four of them as another five bolts of lightning struck the ground, narrowly missing all four of them.
"We need to go to Thunder Tower." Lucas said, turning towards his companions. "If we can stop the lightning that Fassad uses to scare the people of Tazamily into submission, maybe we can help your friend Paula, and encourage people to rise up against them."
"Focus on that egg." Duster hopped down and went to reach for the egg.
Suddenly, the hollow eyes of the claymen covered in trash flashed as its big arm smacked Duster back.
"Dammit, not again. PK Fire β!" Kumatora blasted a heatwave from her fingertips as Lucas jumped down. The Claymen's trash pile was set ablaze as a stink cloud erupted. Stopping Lucas as he gagged the smell of burning rotten...puke?!
Boney whimpered as he bit down on a saltwater gun and sprayed the burning trash, at least putting a stop to the rancid odor. Kumatora growled as she fired a PK Freeze to stop the Claymen in its tracks. Duster pushed himself up and kicked the frozen statue, making it shatter.
The Claymen shook as it unleashed another rapid punch with an even worse smelling odor. Lucas quickly changed his metal rod against the arm. The smell of the burnt puke made him gag a little...wait...wasn't Poo…
Before he could even finish his train of thought, a streak of gray shot past him and a clean swipe of a silver sword sliced the claymen trash pile in half.
Poo sheathed his sword as the clay trash slid apart. Then, the fallen four member then turned back to Lucas.
"You still have much to learn about using your powers properly if you wish to stop everything that is going on." Poo replied calmly. "Even if I could escape and train you, it wouldn't be enough...if only I had my friends."
Duster picked up the egg and walked back over to Kumatora and Lucas. "Alright, we got ourselves the egg. Is there anything we need to do?"
"I'd recommend getting the egg out of here." Poo replied.
Lucas looked back up at the Thunder Tower with the gun firing off another bolt of lightning in the direction of Tazamily village.
"And what about you?" Lucas asked as Boney whimpered for a doggy treat.
"Well, I can't exactly go into the tower myself, especially if that's where they're holding my friend Paula or Jeff…I'll be punished immensely. So I guess I'll go back to the factory."
Lucas looked down at the vest he was wearing. Then, a thought crossed his mind, maybe if the pigmasks at the factory were stupid enough. Perhaps Poo could get them through the gates by pretending to be this commander that they worshipped. Though...how exactly were they confusing the commander for him? Maybe he had some similarities to one of Poo's friends?
"Um Poo…" Lucas said nervously. "Do you think you can maybe get us through the doors of Thunder Tower? I really think it would be beneficial for us to destroy that Thunder Machine, it might even help save your friend Paula."
Poo looked at with concern. "I don't think that is wise Mister Lucas. You and your friends aren't experienced enough to deal with them."
"We're gonna take these fuckers down if it's the last thing we do." Kumatora snapped at the boy. "Especially now that we know that their enslaving people like us."
Poo shrugged his shoulders. "You are quite adamant. Much like Ness. I can sense great courage. Perhaps you probably could do it?"
"So...you'll do it?" Lucas asked.
"Indeed, I can take the risk. Let us make haste."
Sorry that this chapter came out a bit later than normal. I kinda got delayed doing a bunch of stuff this morning so I couldn't get it out when I needed it to. We're all good now that I've got it out. Hopefully I can still maintain that streak when school starts back up in person. We're still rolling out, don't worry.
Hope you've been sticking around, I've been trying to keep this story interesting, and I have planned out Ness and Co. From the start. So I hope everyone is enjoying it.
See you all, next month.