Chapter 14 – Demon Recon
Alice woke up. For a moment, she didn't realize where she was. She expected to wake up in the Providence barracks in the Fireswamps, in her bunk bed shared with Cindy, but even before opening her eyes, she realized something was off. It was the air. The hot and sweaty Fireswamps air had been replaced with the fresh salty smell of the ocean that she hadn't realized she had been missing so much.
She opened her eyes and looked around. It was true – she was in the RV, parked in the Forsaken Valley jungle. She could even see the ocean up ahead. She got the urge to get up and run straight into it and just start swimming as far out into the ocean as she could, but as much as she wanted to, there were more important things to do.
She looked over to the passenger's seat. There was Jay, who had dozed off to sleep. Considering he had been up through the entire night the last two nights in a row, Alice thought he deserved to sleep it off this time. Instead of waking him up, she decided to stare at him from up close for a little bit, though from a "safe distance". She looked closely at his features, like his shaggy, unwashed and uncut hair. The dark circles under his ever-tired, ever-restless eyes, still twitching, even in his sleep. The almost-invisible blonde stubble that had to have been there for weeks. She examined every wrinkle and pimple on his face. Just what exactly was this person that she had come across, this person that was so selfless, yet so self-righteous, so devoted, so stoic and so lonesome?
It was a mystery. And Alice found herself wanting to sink her teeth in, to dig deep and to uncover the person that he truly was deep down. To find the hole that he had put himself into, and to get in there with him. And maybe, if he'd let her, to help him get out from there.
And yet, as much as she wanted to, she knew that she'd have to drag him out kicking and screaming. And as much as she wanted to watch him sleep peacefully, or, as peacefully as Jay could get, there were more important things to do.
"Alright, up you get." – Alice told him.
"Hnng." – Jay woke up with a jump. "I fell asleep? Why didn't you wake me?" – he asked Alice.
"Felt you could use the shut-eye. Don't worry, I had it checked on the monitors, we weren't in danger of monster attacks." – Alice assured him.
"Still… What time is it?" – he looked at his NanoCom. "7. You should have woken me up earlier. We've wasted enough time as it is. Demongo's trail is getting colder by the second." – he said as he got up and out of the RV. Alice rolled her eyes and followed him. "Same old Jay…" – she thought to herself.
"Come on. We should get started on the western part of the coast." – Jay said.
"Hold on." – she told him.
Without a word, Jay stopped, waiting for what Alice had to say so that they could keep going.
"We need to strategize about this. We've been looking for Demongo's hideout all day yesterday, and all we've wound up with was Frillo after Frillo."
"Frillo?"
"Frilled Killer." – Alice clarified.
"Okay. What do you suggest?"
"Well, as you've already seen, Frilled Killers are always on high alert. One whiff of something wrong and they immediately call the whole army on you. How would Demongo hide whatever he's hiding if this place is crawling with Frilled Killers?" – Alice said.
Jay slightly nodded. He opened up the hologram map on the NanoCom. Alice went over close to him so they could inspect it together.
"This is the area that we covered yesterday." – Alice circled it with her finger on the map. "And this is where we are now. If we go along the beach, we'll get to that cliff over there." – she pointed at it on the map. "And I know for an absolute and indisputable fact that that place has the most Frilled Killers of them all."
"How so?" – Jay asked.
"They're the ones that relay Fuse's orders to the mainland. Seems like the Fusion Wi-Fi is better up there. And if that's the case, then there's no chance of Demongo using that place for his hideout."
"Hrm." – Jay grunted. "Would it make sense for Fuse to have his entire communications hub localized in one area?"
"Yeah, like ours was any better. The comms are still down and the airship's still missing. And anyway, one attack and the Frilled Killers would have an army of Triceraclopses and Terrordactyls on your ass. Dark Horntails, too, if necessary. So, it wasn't exactly ever easy to take down with our forces spread thin." – Alice told him. "Although…"
"Although?" – Jay inquired.
"With all the Fusion Monsters that seem to be moving north, towards the Fireswamps… that leaves this place practically empty. And that leaves the Frilled Killers open and vulnerable for attack."
"But there's no point in going there now if Demongo's lair isn't likely to be there."
"Yeah, but… imagine how much damage could we do to Fuse's forces if we got rid of it here. It would disrupt and disorganize Fuse's armies all over the world! And, well, on the off-chance that Demongo's lair really is there, we'll find that too."
"I thought you said the Frilled Killers would have surely found it." – Jay told her.
"Yeah, but, what if he used his demon magic or whatever. I mean, your sensors aren't picking him up, maybe the Frillos aren't either." – Alice shrugged.
Jay didn't respond. He was silently considering it. Alice waited patiently, hoping he'd agree to do it.
"No." – Jay had decided. "Our mission is Demongo. We get killed by the Fr… I'm not calling them that. We get killed by the Frilled Killers, nobody's around here for miles. Hell, nobody's even gonna find out what happened to us because the comms are still down. Plus, we don't know the extent of Fuse's forces here. If the Frilled Killers didn't migrate, chances are, something else could have stuck around, too."
"Jay, listen to me. I know these creatures. I know their behavioral patterns. And for the past two days, I've been studying their movements on all this radar equipment. The Terrordactyls? They're long gone. And even if they weren't, they stay away from the beach. You can spend the entire day looking up and you won't see a single one. The Triceraclopses are too. Their footsteps are no longer showing up on the seismic tremor detectors. All the radar tech is right here in this van. I can show you myself, if you doubt it. And the Fossil Crawlers? The more we wipe out of those, the more we halt Fusion Monster production, so I say let them come all they want. And I understand that the Demongo mission is important, but we're talking about Fuse coordinating his armies around the globe here. Who knows when are we going to have another opportunity with the Frillos defenseless like that?"
After taking all that in, Jay sighed.
"Fine. Considering that we were going to search that area later anyway, we'll do it your way. HOWEVER, keep in mind that our main priority is still Demongo. I can't stress that enough."
"Alright, you got it." – Alice told him, delighted that somehow, she got him to agree. "Let's get started then. Daylight's burning."
"What's the strategy?" – Jay whispered over to Alice, as they were sneaking up on their first group of Frilled Killers from behind a boulder. "Do we just attack the one and have it attract all the others here?"
"No way. You saw how many ganged up on us yesterday when we got seen. They aren't the fiercest monsters, but in numbers… No, I think a sneak approach would be better." – Alice responded.
"Too bad neither of us has Sneak Nanos."
"We don't need to. We've both got Stun. One of us leads with that, then we finish them off with the guns and your Val Halen Nano before they even snap out of it. Your Buttercup is even Blastons, that's perfect against the Frillos." – Alice explained.
"Okay. If the others see us from the distance, we hide and regroup until our Nano powers recharge. Can't risk tackling them without them. We've got the second Stun in case we need to make a quick getaway." – Jay expanded. Alice nodded. "Now. Scorpion Predator or Couture Rifle?" – he asked her.
"I don't know, whichever one makes the less noise. We're going for subtlety here."
"Understood." – Jay nodded. "Though these can only target one at a time."
"That's fine. Okay. We go out on three." – Alice told him. "Get your Drain Nano out."
Jay pressed his NanoCom, and Nano Val Halen showed up, yelling "Let's rock out, dudes!".
"Shush!" – he was silenced by both Alice and Jay before he had the chance to play the guitar and attract the monsters. Val Halen was joined by Alice's Nano Van Rook, who declared "this job better be worth the time."
"Okay. On three." – Alice said, while counting down with her fingers. "Three… Two… One… Let's go!"
Alice and Jay got up quickly from the different sides of the boulder, holding their weapons tightly. Nano Van Rook threw Stun pellets around the monsters, but before Alice and Jay started shooting, they realized that it was now a horde of twenty or so Frilled Killers. Three of them got stunned, but the rest of them stared at Alice and Jay. At first it seemed like they didn't know what was going on. Then a couple of them started hissing.
Alice and Jay looked at each other. "ABORT!" – Alice screamed, and both of them bolted as quickly down the hill as they could. The horde of Frillos chased after them, hissing, roaring and flapping their frills while spraying Fusion Matter everywhere. Jay summoned his hoverboard from the NanoCom, but Alice didn't get the chance, as it was in her backpack. Despite that, with the help of Nano Rex, she was still running ahead of Jay while huffing intensely. She looked back. Slowly, they were putting distance between them and the monsters, and surely enough, the Frilled Killers abandoned them and went back to their posts to keep the Fusion information flow going.
"Biometrics way low…" – Nano Rex complained. "You and me both, huff, buddy." – Alice responded and put him away. She stopped too.
"How the hell did you manage to outran the hoverboard?" – Jay asked in awe, after he caught up.
"My name ain't… huff… Quickfeet… huff… for nothing. Whew!" – Alice answered while panting. She practically came crashing down instead of sitting down on the sand to catch her breath.
"Well, quick feet or not, I don't think we're gonna have a lot of success there. Don't think Demongo would, either."
"Nonsense." – Alice said while getting up from the sand to sit down on her hoverboard. "We just took the wrong approach. See how they stalled before attacking? All we need is that future gun of yours. The bigger one. That Scorpion, right? And, as long as they're not willing to abandon their posts to keep chasing us, we can attack and run over and over again. Partisan tactics."
"You don't quit, do you?" – Jay asked her.
"As if you've ever thrown in the towel." – Alice retorted. Jay raised an eyebrow.
"Fine. But first, we hide and wait. Make sure they haven't summoned backup."
"Fair enough. I needed to catch my breath anyway." – Alice told him and sighed.
A couple hours and fifty or so Frillos later, Alice finally relented and their hunt was over.
"When we get back to the others, we should tell them to send more people here. HUNTOR, IF YOU'RE HEARING THIS-" – Alice wanted to notify the cameras, but Jay cut her off.
"Fuse will have noticed our interference, he'll probably have sent backup by then. Don't forget, whatever made the airship disappear is still out here, and we don't even know what it is."
"Fair point. Alright, now, which part of the beach do you think we should check out next?" – Alice asked him.
"We did the entire area that's east from the Kumari Serpent meet-up boardwalk. Today, we did the hill with the cliff. The rest of the beach is covered in Frilled Killers, just like here, but there is one spot that is completely free of them." – Jay told her while displaying the map.
"The isle." – Alice finished it for him. Jay nodded.
"Cool. That's where we're going, then." – she added.
Alice looked happily in the distance towards the ocean. The open space, the waves lulling back and forth… she was very exhilarated that that was their destination. Not far from here, sure, but still.
"Well, come on. Let's go already!" – she told him as she got up and grabbed her Bunny Bag and her hoverboard and rode it into the ocean. The water under her was getting dispelled in all directions. Jay summoned his hoverboard and followed her. Alice felt the refreshing, cold drops falling on her skin, cooling her off from the summer sun as the waves made way for the hoverboard. She bent down and put her hand in the water and watched the trail it made along the water at high speed. Some of the water splashed Jay, who was right behind her. She laughed.
"Hey!" – Jay yelled from behind her.
"What? I thought you weren't bothered by the rain?" – Alice laughed again as Jay caught up to Alice with that enigmatic smile of his.
"Now he's about to splash me…" – Alice thought, and for a moment there, it really seemed like Jay was about to bend down and do it, but then he hesitated and stopped. His expression changed, he forced that smile off his face, looked away and went up ahead.
Alice was severely disappointed. "I thought I might have been finally getting through to him…" – she thought.
"Anything?" – Alice yelled.
Jay jumped down from the palm tree. Alice took his silence as a "no".
Alice sighed, fell onto her knees, then leaned back against the palm tree Jay had climbed. "So, we dug through the beach." – Alice said. She paused, waiting for Jay to say anything. He didn't. "That rocky area near the lake." – she went on. Jay was still silent. "And the plateau over there. And there's nothing visible from up there either." – she said while waving her hand to try to cool off. All of the monster fighting and lair searching under the summer beach sun had gotten to her, even though she was used to Firepits levels of heat.
"I've looked here before. Didn't find anything then, either." – Jay told her as he sat down near her. He was also extremely sweaty from the beach heat, and even though it was running down him like a river, he tried not to look bothered by it.
"Let me see your sensor thing. For the chronoton particle." – Alice asked.
"I'd rather not." – Jay told her.
"I'm not gonna break it or anything, come on."
"You don't even know how to use it." – Jay objected.
"What if there's something you missed? I need to be sure." – Alice insisted.
"I'm not going to give it up." – Jay groaned.
"Fine. Be that way. So what's the plan then? Do we check the island more thoroughly, or go back to the original search with the Frillo infested beach?" – Alice asked him.
Jay didn't respond. He was just sitting there, with his hands wrapped around his knees. It looked like for the first time ever, Jay had run out of options.
"Hold on a sec…" – Alice told him, got up and went towards the ocean. She splashed water against her face to cool off, but that wasn't enough. To properly escape the summer heat, she'd have to be submerged in water, which didn't seem like a good idea. And yet…
"Hey, tell you what." – she told Jay as she got back to him. "We should wait until the evening. When it's low tide, maybe something will reveal itself on the shore." – Alice tried to cheer him up.
Jay paused before responding to consider Alice's idea. "Sounds good. Come on, let's go hunt some more Frilled Killers while we wait for that, then." – Jay agreed and got up, ready to go.
"Nah, I think I'd rather stay here."
"What? What are you planning on doing here?"
"I don't know, just cool down. We've been hunting and searching all day. I'd rather relax for a bit while there's free time. I could check if the hoverboard can double as a surfboard."
"Alice, we're in a war. There is no free time to do anything, certainly not to… use hoverboards as surfboards. We've got something to do."
"Yeah, there's always something more to do. But sometimes a break is necessary. You can hunt the Frilled Killers if you want to, I'm gonna stick around here though." – she told him and lied down on her back.
Jay went over to her. "You don't happen to be related to LG Shala, do you?" – he asked her rhetorically.
Alice rolled her eyes and laughed. Jay sat back down next to her.
"You're not going?" – Alice asked him. "You don't need my help to take down the Frillos."
"No, it's not the Frilled Fiends." – Jay answered.
"Dude. You can just call them Frillos. Short for Frilled Dinos."
"That still sounds ridiculous."
"Yeah, whatever."
They were like that for a while. Staring into the ocean. For a moment there, the salty green mass of water had them both forget about the heat that was boiling them alive. Then, Alice looked away and stared at Jay instead. Just what exactly was this person she had come across? As Alice was looking, Jay didn't seem to notice it, or, at least, didn't react. She decided to try something.
"Let's surf." – she told him.
"What?"
"You heard me. You and me. Surf. Together. Come on, it'll be fun."
"I don't surf."
"And I don't quit, as you have already noticed. Come on, we've got the boards… well, hoverboards, not surfboards, but I'm pretty sure if you disable the hover mode it'll function just fine."
"Alice." – Jay said firmly. "I don't surf."
"You don't respond with sentences longer than three words either…" – Alice mumbled sarcastically. "Come on! When else are you gonna get free time, especially at the beach?"
"Taking a break is one thing, but I'm not gonna go do something as inadequate as… surfing while there's a planetary war going on!" – Jay protested.
Alice sprang up and grabbed Jay's arm. "It wouldn't kill you to drop the stoic schtick for once. You should have fun too, Jay, come on, the summer's on!" She kept pulling to get him to get up, but it was futile. Jay wouldn't budge.
"Okay, be like that." – Alice told him and started taking her gear off. "I'll go in alone." – she said as she grabbed her hoverboard and disabled it while still keeping it expanded. "You can just watch me."
"You don't even have a swimsuit. You're gonna get wet!" – Jay yelled as Alice ran into the ocean.
"A master surfer like me? No way, Jose!" – Alice responded. "YOU'RE GONNA WISH YOU'D TAKEN ME UP ON THAT OFFER!" – she added while paddling.
Paddle. Paddle. Paddle. She kept rising up on the water as she paddled rhythmically with her hands. She remembered how on each wave, before the rush of a lifetime, there was a lifetime of paddling. All the little details that you forget about. Her arms and sides were already cooled off and wet, though her torso and head were still hot and sweaty. Wouldn't it have been better if she had submerged herself once to cool off completely before going in? Too late for that now. Steadily, the water kept rising. Her first wave in the Darklands! She popped up with great anticipation of the rush, her heart aching with nostalgia. And as the waves were speeding her makeshift hoverboard to the shore, she noticed Jay, watching with pleasure despite what he had said before. Alice decided to show off a little.
Paddle. Paddle. Paddle. Did she always get tired this easily? Surely, she must be out of practice. Though, now that she was all warmed up, this was much easier. As she popped up again, she stood on her hands. For a moment there, she was doing okay, but then she looked up to see if Jay was watching and that's when she lost her footing (or rather, in this case, handing), and the next thing she knew, the hoverboard flied out of her hands and she was momentarily upside down in the air on the water frontier before she fell into the wave.
There's the soak that she wanted.
As she got washed up to the shore, she got up, laughing uncontrollably, then lunged right back into the ocean to get her board. After she caught it, she swam back to shore.
"Don't tell me that's all you've got, Quickfeet." – Jay told her. "I thought a master surfer like you wasn't gonna get wet?" – he added with a smile.
"Even a kook like you should know that it's not a real surfing session if you don't get wiped out a couple times." – Alice told him and laughed.
"Don't call me a kook!" – Jay told her. Though, he didn't even know what a kook was.
"What do you want me to call you then? A grom? You're gonna have to get in there and ride the waves with me then!" – Alice teased.
"Alright. Then maybe I will!" – Jay snapped back.
"You will?!" – Alice asked excitedly.
"I will?" – Jay repeated, only now realizing what he had said.
Paddle. Paddle. Paddle. Swimming was an exercise he had overlooked, he thought. Though, it wasn't as if he could visit a swimming pool regularly on his missions. No, this would remain a one-time thing.
"You're doing great, Jay!" – Alice told him while paddling besides him. "Now all that's left is to turn around and pop up! Like so!"
Though moving at high speed, Jay sprang up and balanced himself on the hoverboard effortlessly. Then, he felt it. The adrenaline pumping into his heart as the waves rushed him up and forward. This was nothing like riding a hoverboard. Well, sure, the principles were the same, but riding a wave had certain… energy that Jay couldn't explain. He hummed a tune that sounded suspiciously close to "Summertime Lovin'".
"Hey! How about you show me that one-handed wipeout again!" – Jay teased Alice.
"I was just rusty!" – Alice tried to defend herself.
"Sure, you were. I bet I could do it myself." – Jay told her.
"Don't even try! Actually, no. I dare you to do it. Come on, flyboy!" – Alice encouraged him.
This time, Jay tried to stand on his hands, and he'd have successfully stood on his hands, too, but in all the excitement, he had failed to realize one thing – the board was wet. As he leaned on his hand and raised his legs up, slip, and they were back down and just like Alice before him, Jay had flipped into the water. Though, before hitting the water he managed to collide with Alice as well, making for a wicked double wipeout.
Jay swallowed a lot of salty water before he got washed up on the shore, with Alice on top of him. He felt his heart beating as quickly as ever.
"It's just the adrenaline." – he told himself firmly.
"Next time, leave the stunts to me." – Alice told him while breathing heavily.
"Next time…" – Jay said while getting up from under Alice. "Next time we're both sticking to the mission." – he told her, de-summoned his hoverboard and went to sit on the beach.
"What? Don't tell me you're done?" – Alice asked, surprised.
"I'm astounded by how you talked me into this in the first place." – Jay told her.
"You loved it, though, didn't you?" – Alice reminded him.
"Momentary lapse in judgement." – Jay said. Though, he was trying to reaffirm himself more than he was trying to assure her.
"This ain't over!"
"Your hoverboard's drifting away." – Jay reminded her.
"Don't you… wait, what?" – Alice yelled as turned around and saw the hoverboard getting carried away by the waves. "Huntor's gonna kill me!" – she said while running into the water to get it.
They were lying on their backs on a boulder, both completely wet.
"However momentary of a lapse it was, it was still fun. It was fun for you too, wasn't it?" – Alice asked.
Jay grunted. Alice took that as a yes.
"Finally, hardened stoic time ranger Jay Zoomringer lets loose!" – Alice said in triumph.
"Do not get used to it. That was just this once."
"And we're back to the brooding edgyman." – Alice rolled her eyes.
"I still don't get how you managed to rope me into this."
They laid on the boulder for a moment, relaxing in the sun. Now that they were both cold and wet, it was pleasantly warm.
"Probably should have brought a towel, though." – Alice remarked.
"Doesn't help that we're offshore and the RV is on the other side of the beach." – Jay added.
"Yeah, I suppose it doesn't. Now this time, we should definitely shower."
"What for? We were right in the water just now." – Jay told her.
Alice looked at him as if he was talking crazy. "You did not just say that."
"As you might have noticed, I don't have time to devote to personal hygiene. Only the mission."
"What is it with you? The mission, the mission, the mission." – Alice imitated Jay with a grumpy voice. "I promise you, the world's not gonna end if you take a day off." – she told him. "Certainly not if you shower." – she added under her nose.
"Won't it, though?" – Jay contradicted her. "It's all about causality. Like we discussed before. And I've seen how the world ends. It's not an image you can get out of your head easily, even if you do want a "day off", like you said."
"Okay, maybe not, but, well, do you have to go at this alone? I mean, wouldn't you rather have someone by your side? You're not Blue Falcon, and you're not some sort of Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. You're Jay Zoomringer, a human being."
"The sky." – Jay corrected her.
"What?"
"Atlas held up the sky, not the world."
"All the more reason to have someone by your side, carrying your load." – Alice told him.
"You don't understand, I just… I'd rather take all of this onto myself rather than burden others with me. That helps me sleep at night." – Jay tried to convince her.
"Yeah, once a week or so." – Alice commented.
"I can't ask anyone else to do it for me. It's gotta be me. Else…"
"Else what? What could possibly-"
"Else my trip to the Future would have been for nothing." – Jay admitted.
Alice paused for a bit, trying to process what he meant by that.
"You seriously think that?" – she asked him.
Jay didn't respond. Lack of protest usually meant yes with him.
Alice didn't know what to make of it. What horrors could he have possibly seen in the gullet of time that burdened him with so much guilt?
"So you never really left the future, huh?" – Alice asked him.
"Wh-"
"Well, physically, you did, but mentally, you're still trapped in there. I've seen it happen to people. Not with the future, obviously, but with other stuff. Like the Battle of Hero's Hollow."
Now it was Jay's turn to be quiet. "If this trauma is what's keeping me going, helping me fulfil my mission… then so be it. It is a sacrifice I am willing to make." – he said darkly.
Alice sighed. She didn't manage to get through to him after all.
"Though…" – Jay added. "Though, even Blue Falcon has Dyno-Mutt." - and gave her a light bump on her shoulder.
Alice smiled, then turned to him. "Did you really compare me to a dog just now?"
"I, um… That's not how I… I'm gonna leave." – he said, then without saying another word, got up and started walking.
Alice laughed, watching him leave. "How can he be this disconnected from society?" – she thought. She sat there, thinking about what Jay had said about his "sacrifice". She didn't even notice time pass by, and before she realized it, Jay was back already.
"Thirsty?" – he asked her as he handed her her water bottle.
"Yeah, sure. Thanks." – she took a sip. Only then did she realize how thirsty she had gotten from all the salt water, and started chugging down the bottle. But then she realized something else.
"Wasn't this bottle almost empty? Where'd you fill this up?" – she asked him suspiciously.
"The lake. Why?"
"The what? How?" – she took another sip just to make sure. "There's no way in hell that lake isn't saltwater. Where the hell would the source for clear water be on this bite-sized isle?" – she got up and ran towards the lake. Jay followed her.
Alice circled the lake. "Clearly, no rivers here. Could it be just rainwater? No, that doesn't make any sense. A lake this big, it's gotta have some sort of source. So that could only mean one thing."
"You don't mean…" – Jay asked.
"Yep." – she said, and looked into the lake. "And I think I found Demongo's hideout as well."
They both looked at each other, then back at the lake.
"So, which one of us is the better diver?" – Alice asked.
"I can't believe it!" – Jay yelled after following Alice down into a hole in the lake's bottom, through a cave then up into a tiny air pocket, big enough for them to breathe. "It's been right under my nose this whole time!"
"Well, at least now you definitely don't have to shower anymore. You've probably filled this year's quota by now." – Alice remarked.
"Not the time, Alice. Where to now?"
"This underground water passage obviously connects the main Darklands to that isle. We just have to keep going. You stay here, I'll scout the way for more air pockets. And conserve oxygen!" – Alice warned him.
They kept going. Alice went in first, made sure that the narrow passageways were passable and the air pockets were reachable. Then she swam back the way she came from and fetched Jay. After a couple more tiny air pockets, they had to stop.
"I think we've got a problem. There are branching pathways." – Alice told him when she emerged.
"Oh."
"Yeah. We could suffocate or drown before finding the right way." – Alice told him.
"Not necessarily." – Jay corrected her as he got his Spectral Detector from him belt.
"Is that thing waterproof?" – Alice asked.
"I wouldn't have brought it with me if it wasn't. I might be able to use it here, at least. Let's see." – Jay said, activated the tracker and dived in. Alice waited while breathing slowly as to not waste the oxygen reserve. Soon, Jay surfaced.
"It's this way." – Jay pointed.
"You sure? It worked this time?" – Alice asked, excited.
"Yes. I finally caught a signal. Come on." – Jay told her.
Soon, reached a large cavern. They were finally able to get up from the water and breathe freely.
"Oh my god, my ear drums feel like they're about to burst and my eyes are like squished grapes." – Alice said while Jay was cleaning residual water out of his ear. "We must be somewhere under the river." – she added. "Wow. I had no idea the island was this porous, even this far south. Reminds me of where we first met." – she smiled and looked at Jay. Though, he didn't look like he was in the mood to reminisce.
"Hey, cheer up. This means all that searching paid off! We're finally gonna find out what Demongo's up to, right?"
Jay still chose not to respond as they moved forward. Soon, they saw what was irrefutable proof that this cave was, indeed, Demongo's hideout. In the chamber in front of them, they could clearly make out a man-made object, a shelf under the lights from their NanoComs. They approached it carefully and stepped into what could be described as a crackpot scientist's secret lab.
"What do you think all this junk is?" – Alice asked while scratching her head. The shelves were full of widgets and doohickeys, none of which seemed functional. "Reminds me of Shala's room. Except, less garbage."
"I'm not sure." – Jay said dryly.
"I thought you were the Demongo expert here."
"Well, I'm not a tech wizard. Though, all of these… items… I think they might be tech used in time travel. Besides that one, of course." – Jay pointed at the pair of pink earmuffs.
"These don't seem like Demongo's color." – Alice picked up the earmuffs and examined them. "Aren't you at least the time travel expert? How can you be not sure on these?" – she then turned to Jay.
"I saw Mandark using items resembling these in the Time Lab before I got back. I can't actually assemble a time machine myself, you know." – Jay snapped back as they looked around the rest of the room. It was a narrow, almost even had a claustrophobic atmosphere to it as it was illuminated by some of the machines. Though, there was another exit besides the one that they came from, as well. There were other devices, some massive, covering the room, and what seemed to be a workbench. There was another passageway on the other side of the room.
"Since when does Demongo use technology anyway?" – Alice asked. "I thought he was a magic demon or something."
"Desperate to achieve it's goals, there's no method evil won't resort to. Even if it goes against its very nature." – Jay said vaguely. "He must have run out of magical ways to… accomplish his goal. Look. That device is what's called a "tachyon dampener". That one's a chronoton stabilizer. That's an empty drive casing. And it all fits with the chronoton particle he had Shala steal from Huntor. Look at this. This is too dangerous to keep in his hands." – Jay said and picked something up from the workbench.
"Is that chronoton particle here?" – Alice asked him.
Jay looked around the room, then at his tachyon tracker. He groaned, which in this case meant a no.
"So, what's that thing, then?" – Alice asked about the device Jay was examining.
"This… Is called a chrono capacitator. According to Mandark, irreplaceable in any time travel attempt. That is to say, he's not an expert in the matter either, but…"
"And what exactly does it do?" – Alice inquired. "What is… well, what role does it play in assembling a time machine?"
"As I've said, I don't know a lot about how it all works. I know for certain, though, that this is what sparks the molecule displacement."
"The molecule displacement."
"Without it, you can't accomplish time travel. Well, I Numbuh Two said you might, but all you'll really be able to do is speed up time, or, if you mess it up, age yourself to dust instead. But using a chrono capacitator, you get removed from this point in the fourth dimension and get reinserted somewhen else. And it can kick you across the fabric of space as well as time." – Jay went on.
"Hey, you sure sound like an expert to me." – Alice joked.
"It's just a vague consensus I got from listening to three supposed geniuses arguing to each other all day."
"I can imagine how that feels like. Hanging out at the Secret Scientist headquarters is like… I'd rather attend the global symposium on agriculture. At least it'd be more peaceful."
Before Jay got the chance to ignore Alice's joke, the ground, or rather, the entire chamber started shaking.
"Earthquake!" – Jay yelled.
The entire room was filled with rumbling of the earth while the walls started getting visible cracks.
"It must be the Undertaker Worms!" – Alice responded. "We need to get out of here!"
Pebbles and dust were falling everywhere now. The room was not going to last for longer.
Jay ran towards the way they came from. He was about to leap into the water, but Alice grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Are you crazy?!" – she yelled to be heard over the sounds of cracking stone. "Only one passageway gets blocked and you get trapped in there until you suffocate!"
"What do you suggest?"
"Come on! There was another passage across the room!"
As they ran back into Demongo's secret time lab, a big chunk of the wall got detached and fell on the workbench with a large thud, crushing some tools. Jay still had the chrono capacitator in his hand. As they ran out through the passage on the other side of the room, more and more boulders started falling around them, until the entire ceiling collapsed right behind them. Then it finally stopped.
As they ran from the collapse, they could hear a shrill voice, cackling a smug laugh among the shuffling of falling rocks.
"Did you hear the same thing I did or is it just me?" – Alice asked him as they finally got a safe distance away from the collapsing zone. Jay didn't answer, which, as usual, meant "yes".
"That could only mean one person." – Alice continued.
"Two." – Jay corrected her.
"Two?" – Alice repeated, in disbelief.
"It could very easily be Fusion Demongo, too."
"Wait, you think Fusion Demongo is a part of this, now?"
"Well, no. Not exactly. But I have to keep an open mind."
"I don't know, all the evidence so far points to regular Demongo." - Alice shrugged. "But it could be a red herring."
"I agree, but it's not the first time a Fusion masqueraded as their counterpart to manipulate people. However unlikely it may be, we still have to consider it as a possibility. That's how I stay prepared for anything." – Jay went on.
"Yeah, well, I doubt anything could have prepared us for this." – Alice said and shined her NanoCom flashlight ahead. "I can't believe it. We're stuck in underground caves. Again." – she said and shook her head.
End of Chapter 14
Extract from Alice Quickfeet's Fusion Monster research log:
Terra Claw
Fusion Matter type – Adaptium
Power Level – 36
Boss: N/A
Location: Fuse's Lair
Height: Approx. 18'-24'
Weight: ?
Special Attacks:
Eruption: yes
Corruption: All 3 types
Battery Drain
Description:
Massive stone creatures, towering in height. Has no legs, instead, has some sort of Fusion Matter growth that lets it hover off the ground. It is unknown what causes it to hover, Peggy suggests that the Fusion Matter is exhibiting the same anti-gravity proportions as it does in Infected Zones.
Has two arms and two massive arm-like structures coming out of its back. I have recently been able to examine a nigh-perfect reconstruction of a Terra Claw, and I can safely assume that they are comparable to wings. However, it is unlikely that they enable them to fly, as it already has the hovering gland instead of legs.
Appears to be made out of stone, but according to Winthrop's findings, geologically it is completely different from anything found on earth. Thus, it is reasonable to believe that they are created deep within Fuse's Lair, where the terrain has already been 100% terraformed into that of Planet Fusion. That same terrain is the building material for Terra Claws.
Behavior:
They protect the outer limits of Fuse's Lair, specifically, Fuse's Labyrinth. They take down intruders with swift and brutal force. Not much is known beyond that.
I have a theory that they might be under Fusion control 100% of the time. It is highly likely that there is a Fusion monitoring the halls 24/7, ensuring security.
Attack patterns:
TBA
Interactions with other monsters:
TBA
Boss form:
Not encountered yet
Known Fusions that have controlled Terra Claws:
Lord Fuse (?)
TBA