Chapter 15 – Hero's Follow
"Yo, Naver?"
Naver didn't react. Shala looked back forward.
"What, you still don't wanna talk? Come on, the SACT guys are the ones you're mad at, not me!"
Naver looked at him, but still didn't say anything.
"Well, if you're gonna be quiet, I'm gonna have to do all the talking then, it seems." – Shala told him. "Well, Naver, we're following the airship's signal and are about to cross into Hero's Hollow. I'm not sure how much you know about Hero's Hollow, but there was a huge showdown here in the early days of the war. I hadn't gone to the Academy just yet, so I was watching it go down on the Dexlabs cameras. It was this epic last stand, all the superheroes showed up, and…"
"I know about Hero's Hollow. Lars told me everything about it." – Naver said grimly.
"Oh, so you do wanna talk." – Shala said and "drove" his hovercloud next to Naver.
"Well, I don't wanna… talk, really. But I don't wanna hear about Hero's Hollow either. Lars fought in that battle, and I'm not sure how exactly, but it was clear that it messed him up." – Naver told him.
"Oh." – Shala said. "Well, I bet Lars didn't tell you about… these!" – he said and pointed up. Naver looked up and saw an enormously tall Fusion creature, standing on four slender legs.
"What… is that?" – he asked in awe.
"People call them "Roamers"." – Shala explained. "They hang around these parts."
"Roa… you mean to tell me those things walk around?"
"Well, yes and no. They don't… actually move around, as far as I know. But you got people out there swearing they see them move, or that they change location, or other stuff like that. This one, however, has been here, completely stationary for months, and nobody's seen it move a muscle. Or, well, I don't think these things have muscles exactly, but you get the point." – Shala told him as they approached the "Roamer". "So, it's more of an ironic name than anything, really."
"But… what does it do?" – Naver asked, still staring up in awe.
"It marks the border between Huntor's Crest and Hero's Hollow. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine." – Shala shrugged.
"People seriously go past… that?" – Naver asked.
"Oh, not just past it, Naver. No, ohohohoho." – Shala gave an evil laugh. "We go under it!" – he yelled and passed right in between its legs. Naver cautiously hovered around it from a distance. Then he stared at it for a while as it swayed its "head" to the side.
"You're nuts." – Naver told Shala.
"You're not living a life if it's a life without nuts." – Shala retorted.
They went down a steep hill, into the valley. Rows of huge Terrafusers were on either side of them, contracting and squeezing out Fusion Matter. Naver looked up. Now that the trees had made themselves scarce, he could see the open sky. And it was getting a darker and darker grey, until there was barely any light shining through it at all. The landscape was more illuminated by the Fusion Matter that came in every shape and size all around. And because of it, everything Naver saw had a slight green-ish tone to it.
"That's one reason to call it the Darklands." – he thought.
Ahead of them was a field, full of broken-down robots. Dexbots, Mandroids, with a couple of other brands scattered here and there too. They were spread around the battlefield, in various states of battle damage. Some, mostly still composed, while others, shattered and shred to pieces. Occasionally, a spark would light up among the circuits and a body part would give out an unnerving twitch. Besides the robots, there was a bunch of broken-down tanks and weapons turrets, as well as crashed KND S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s. and other vehicles.
"This is from the battle, right?" – Naver asked grimly.
"Yeah. I mean, not all of it. The actual battle was from here to Green Maw. This is just a portion of it. They tried cleaning all this up, you know." – Shala told him.
"Clean it up? Why?"
"Well, all these robots are still good for spare parts. So Dexter had a crew of cleaning bots trying to get all of this out of here and maybe rebuild the forward base."
"That didn't work out too well, did it?" – Naver asked.
"No, it did not. After the battle was lost we lost pretty much any footing we had in Hero's Hollow. They tried dumping the robots in the Fireswamps at first, but then the Eyebulbs hated the idea of losing their toys." – Shala said. "Fusion Monsters. They like the shiny things." – he added, as he realized Naver probably didn't know what Eyebulbs were. "Speaking of which, be on your guard for those guys. They look small, but before you know it you've got fifteen of them ganging up on you." – he warned Naver. "Or five hundred, even. But I bet they won't be a match for me and you. Now that we're out of the Firepits, my weapons work properly on the monsters, and with you and your powers… I'd say nothing short of Lord Fuse himself should be able to take us down!"
Naver just stared at the wreckage.
"Though, joking aside, keep your eyes open. The Fireswamps are a walk in the park compared to this place." – Shala added.
Naver nodded. "Where to now?" – he then asked. "Through the wreckage?"
"And actually have to deal with the Eyebulbs? No, thank you. A confrontation avoided is a confrontation won. Come on, let's go around here. And as I said, keep your eyes open."
"I'm keeping them open, I'm keeping them open." – Naver replied. "Although I wish I had kept my Radar Nano." – he mumbled. "What can the Treasure Finder do, exactly?"
Shala facepalmed. "That one has a very specific niche. So, it's useless. You should have at least reconfigured your Nano setup before storming off from the camp like that."
"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time! I mean, what else was I supposed to do? Stick around after giving the SACT the yelling of a lifetime? I probably can't even show my face there anymore."
"You worry too much about what other people think of you." – Shala told him. "I promise you, no one wo- shut up, shut up, come on." – he started whispering and dragged Naver away to hide behind a tree.
"What is it?" – Naver whispered back.
"I think I saw an Eyebulb." – Shala told him, and peeked from behind the tree.
Naver peeked too. Shala was right – there was a monster there. Though, this one was, yet again, different from all the others he had seen so far. It looked like a bunch of vines, or, rather, Terrafuser roots, come to life. There was a single giant eye in the middle of the bundle.
"That's the monster?" – Naver asked, unsure.
"Yeah. Looks all cute now, but wait till it sees us and calls its legion of friends. We're gonna have to fight off the entire Hero's Hollow if that happens."
Naver turned back around and leaned back against the tree. Only now had he noticed what the tree they were hiding behind looked like. In fact, it looked more like a Fusion than it did a tree. It was filled with weird Fusion growths hanging from it - sacs of Fusion Matter so heavy that they were weighing the branches down, like water balloons. They looked as if they were ready to pop at a moment's notice. If they were anything like actual water balloons, they needed to steer clear of that tree. And Naver had to tell Shala about it.
"Uh, Shala?" – Naver asked.
"Shush!"
"Shala." – Naver said again, and jerked his hand.
"Not now. I think it might hear us." – Shala whispered without looking.
"Is the tree supposed to be like that?" – Naver asked as he peaked out to look at the Eyebulb again. This was, however, a bad idea, as the Eyebulb actually saw them.
"Stand still, maybe it won't-"
The Eyebulb's eye opened up and hissed, revealing a set of jagged teeth right in the middle of it, oozing with viscous Fusion Matter. Naver was so unnerved by that that it gave him a tiny jumpscare, though, it was enough for his back to touch one of those Fusion Matter sacs, hanging on by a thread. It got ripped off and fell down. At the last moment, as it exploded at their feet, before it managed to cover them with Fusion Matter from top to bottom, Naver gave it a telekinetic push and most of the explosion got sprayed in the other direction.
"Dude! I told you to keep your eyes open! Now it's definitely gonna see us!" – Shala told him.
"Sorry, I-"- Naver was about to explain, but the lifted weight caused the branch to start shaking up and down, and the vibration made a couple more Fusion sacs fall down. Shala and Naver dodged and jumped away from the tree so that they wouldn't get hit.
"Didn't you notice these FM bulbs hanging here?" – Shala went on.
"I was trying to warn you about them!" – Naver protested. While they argued, the Eyebulb started crawling towards them at full speed with its tentacle-roots.
"What do we do now?" – Naver asked.
"Run, Naver, Run!" – Shala yelled as he summoned the Flying Brain cloud from his NanoCom. Naver did the same with the DexLabs Jetbike.
As they hovered forward, dodging Fusionized trees left and right, they kept driving by other Eyebulbs. It was impossible to avoid them, no matter which direction they went. Some of them took notice and tried to follow.
"Ignore them and keep moving forward. If you stop and fight, they'll gang up on you. We'll shake 'em loose when we get to a Fusion-free zone." – Shala told Naver. Then he looked around at the infected landscape. "Relatively speaking."
Naver nodded, but he was still unnerved by all the monsters on both sides of the road. After all, all it would take was one hit and the sudden attack would turn into a sudden death. Just like what happened before. Shala didn't seem too worried about it, though. Maybe that was a better way to go about it.
"Why is your hoverboard a brain?" – Naver asked.
"That's all Agent Torres would give me. I bet he was shitting his pants, giggling at the supposed irony the giant brain is supposed to represent." – Shala answered. "Listen…" – he added a while later. "Sorry about snapping at you before."
"What? Oh, no, no problem. It was my fault, anyway."
"Sometimes you're so good I keep forgetting that technically you're still a rookie."' – Shala told him. "Don't beat yourself up." – he encouraged Naver. "Though, that doesn't mean that I'm gonna treat you like one, either." – he added with a smile.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you." – Naver answered.
"Okay, I think we're in the clear. Let's stop here." – Shala stopped and got off the brain. It disappeared into his NanoCom. Naver did the same.
"Now, while we're in a monster-free zone, and I use the term loosely, I wanna see something." – Shala told Naver.
"Okay. See what exactly?" – he asked.
"I want to check out your powers in action." – Shala told him.
"Oh. Alright. I can try. But I have to tell you, it doesn't always work as well as I want it to." – Naver warned him.
"Okay. So how exactly do your powers work? Willpower? Determination? Concentration? Something along those lines?"
"Uh, I guess…? I've never had to describe that before." – Naver answered. "At first, I tried straining my mind really really hard, but that wasn't taking me anywhere. The forces just kept going all over the place and cancelling each other out. So, I think what I have to do, is keep my mind free but focused, flowing but narrow at the same time, if that makes any sense to you."
"No." – Shala said. "No, it does not. But, honestly, I'm more interested in the more physical side of your powers." – he admitted.
"Physical, how, exactly?"
"Like, what is it exactly that makes things move? Is it some form of energy? Does it have to be expelled from your body or is it something found in the air that you can control? Is it visible? Is it tangible? Can it remain stationary or is it only fleeting? Stuff like that."
"I don't… know all that exactly. The most I've tried is, uh, pushing things away. You know, like those monsters in the Fireswamps." – Naver shrugged.
"Okay, some creativity is needed. Maybe try being slightly more open-minded and free-flowing than usual."
"I also held… or rather, tried holding a tree to stop it from falling over. And lifted a stone."
"Okay. That's perfect. Lifting a stone into the air. Yeah. That's exactly what I need." – Shala said. "Come on. Let's find you a stone." – and he waved at Naver to urge him to follow.
"Okay, this is it." – Shala said soon.
"Where?" – Naver asked, bent down and looked at the ground closely.
"Dude. It's right there." – Shala pointed at the huge boulder in front of them.
"WHAT?" – Naver yelled. "That's… a lot bigger than what I meant."
"Oh, come on. It's not that big. And we are here to test your capabilities, are we not? Come on. Let me see how you tackle it."
Naver looked weirdly at Shala, then back at the boulder.
"Alright. Here goes, I guess…" – and used the rush of his powers. The boulder didn't move, but it was clear that Naver was straining.
Shala examined the boulder closely as Naver was trying to lift it up. There was a hint of purple energy, flowing through the air like wind. Shala reached his hand out and waved it in the air over the boulder to feel it. He was met with resistance, but then Naver stopped.
"Hey, come on, you can do more than that!" – Shala encouraged him.
"Not when you're waving your hand through my powers and messing up the flow!" – Naver retorted. "All this heavy lifting is probably gonna give me another amnesia attack."
"Oh, you can feel it when I touch your powers. Interesting. But yeah, stop. You're doing it completely wrong, anyway."
"Since when did you become a telekinesis expert?" – Naver asked.
"I'm a scientist, Naver, I'm an everything expert." – Shala told him.
"It doesn't work that way."
"Yes it does, shut up." – Shala jokingly said. "Now, I want you to apply a little bit of… basic physics to your lifting."
"Apply… how, exactly?" – Naver asked, unsure what he meant.
"Alright, how do I explain this… Okay, come here." – he told him. Naver approached Shala, who was standing at the boulder. "Try to lift this up with your hands, not your powers. And tell me what you're doing and exactly how you're doing it."
Naver approached the boulder, unsure of what good this would do. He still knew that the boulder would be too heavy for his powers. But, since Shala wanted him to try, why shouldn't he?
He went around the boulder to find a good spot to grab onto. Then he steadied his legs, bent down, grabbed and tried to lift. The boulder got raised on its side by an inch or two. A bug came running out from under it. After a couple seconds, Naver had to drop it.
"Alright, now what did we learn from that?" – Shala asked him.
"I don't know, the fact that there are bugs down there?" – Naver said while trying to feel his arms. They felt like they were about to get torn off.
"Come on, there's more than that. Okay, what did you do first?" – Shala asked again.
"I grabbed the boulder."
"EEEEH!" – Shala imitated a buzzer. "Wrong. You did something else before that."
"Which is…?"
"You'll learn better if you figure it out for yourself, rather than me telling you." – Shala explained.
"Okay, then… I approached the boulder, and then I grabbed it."
"No, Naver, come on. You looked for a good spot to grab onto, first, so that you don't lose your grip, didn't you?"
"Oh. Yeah, I guess I did."
"Alright, what did you do next?"
"Is this gonna be like this the whole time?" – Naver asked, slightly annoyed.
"Yes. Come on, answer the question."
"I lifted."
"You lifted? How?"
"With my arms? What kind of question is that?"
"Okay, I'm gonna explain it to you once, so that you remember the principle and realize what I'm asking for. When you grabbed it, you steadied your legs, because you aren't just lifting with your arms. You are using your entire body as leverage, starting with your arms and shoulders down to your back, and ending in your legs. Now, I don't know how exactly do your powers correlate with your physical body parts, but let me tell you something. Leverage is key physically as well as mentally. You don't lift the rock by pinching it at the top and pulling it up. No, you find a good spot to grab it from down below, where it's easier to grab from and it's easier to leverage your body with. And maybe, if you stiffen your body and use it as leverage, or, well, do something like that with your mind, the same principle might just apply to the telekinesis." – Shala explained. "Did you get all that?"
"I, uh, I guess so. Is this what you meant by using basic physics?"
"Exactly." – Shala nodded. "Now, would you try again?
"Yeah!" – Naver said enthusiastically. Shala moved away from the boulder and let Naver do his magic. Naver stiffened his legs, with one behind his body to leverage against. He didn't know how to stiffen his mind, though, but he tried his best. And, through great effort, both mental and even physical, the boulder, though shaking intensely, started rising ever-so-slightly.
Shala approached it and watched it closely. "Hmmm…" – he mumbled something. The purple energy, which seemed to be a manifestation of Naver's telekinesis, was still present, this time, pushing the boulder up from down below.
"Yeah! Now we're cooking! I told you you could do it!" – Shala cheered him on. Then he ran his hand through the air under the boulder to try and touch Naver's powers to see what they'd feel like.
This disrupted Naver so much that he dropped the boulder. Shala managed to get his hand out from under it at the last second, or else it would have gotten crushed.
"Dude!" – Shala yelled. "This is my second favorite hand! You almost crushed it!"
"I told you not to disrupt my powers, didn't I? That's what you get for sticking your hand under a massive boulder!" – Naver retorted.
"I take it back. You're the worst rookie ever. I'm sending you back to the Academy as soon as we find the airship." – Shala joked.
"Sorry, I was learning from the best, Mr. Everything Expert." – Naver replied sarcastically. This got a good laugh out of both of them.
"Okay, but seriously, though, if your powers are about as strong as a spiderweb, then the monsters will tear right through it." – Shala said after they calmed down. "You should try making them harder. Or, hell, solid. Or at the very least, getting used to other things touching it without disruption. Else you might let go at the wrong moment, and, well…"
Naver's heart sank. Shala didn't know this, but this was exactly what had happened to Lars. A reminder of that was the last thing he needed. Without a word, he approached the boulder he had been trying to lift and sat down on it.
"You, uh, you okay?" – Shala asked him.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." – Naver answered and got up.
"Good. Now that was just the first lesson in Shalakinesis. Now we should try something else. Follow me." – Shala told him.
"Sh… what?" – Naver laughed and followed him as Shala led him to a tree. "Another one? Really?" – Naver asked. This tree was another mutated one, with Fusion pods hanging from it.
"Yep!" – Shala said.
"I don't think it's a good idea for me to practice near here. Don't you remember what I did at the last tree like that?"
"That's exactly what inspired me. Now, I want you to pick one of these Fusion pod things off – only by using your powers. And you have to do it without popping a single one." – Shala told Naver.
"Then move away from the tree and don't try to feel the powers, or else you're gonna blame me for almost getting squirted too." – Naver said jokingly. "Okay, but how exactly am I supposed to-"
"You need to focus and concentrate on just a single one of those pods."
"No, I know how to do that, but-"
"Well, let's see it then, shall we?" – Shala said.
"Okay then." – Naver said and prepared himself. He held his arm in front of him. He didn't know if this was actually controlling his powers, but at least it was helping him focus. He applied mental strength to the pod that was the farthest away from others, and pulled. The branch swayed down slightly, but the pod wouldn't move.
"Harder!" – Shala encouraged him.
"If I go any harder…" – Naver said, but he didn't need to finish that sentence because the skin of the pod got ripped and all the concentrated Fusion Matter spilled out.
"Okay, this time, try applying the force only to the, uh, the stem thing connecting it to the tree. So that it doesn't rip or pop or anything like that."
"Here goes…" – Naver said and put his arm in front of him again. It looked pretty cool to do it like that, too. It still wasn't coming off, so Naver tried twisting the pod around itself to help rip the stem. It worked! And the pod fell down on the ground and exploded Fusion Matter everywhere. Shala and Naver were far enough from the tree not to get into the splash zone, though.
Shala facepalmed. "What the hell was that?" – he yelled.
"I did exactly what you told me to! You told me to apply the force on the stem!"
"Well, obviously, you need to still have something holding it, or else it's gonna fall on the ground!" – Shala told him. "I like how you did the twist, though. That was good thinking. But we should try again."
Naver gave it another go. He tried doing it without raising his arm, this time, to see if it would work the same. Apply force to the stem, while holding the pod up from the bottom… all the while trying to avoid the other pods… He was getting better at maneuvering his power in tight spaces. And, the Fusion pod was off!
"Nice job Naver! Now try to do another one while still holding the first one in the air. I wanna see those Fusion pods flying!" – Shala told him.
"Then you better learn how to juggle." – Naver mumbled.
"Okay, okay, I got it. I got the perfect training method." – Shala said, excited.
"I can already see this going horribly wrong." – Naver told him.
"You ready, Naver?" – Shala asked while holding a Fusion pod.
"I'm still not too sure about this!" – Naver replied, with his Nano Numbuh Four out and ready in case he needed to Heal.
"What are ya, a chicken?" – Numbuh Four encouraged him.
"See? You should listen to him! Alright, I'm gonna start now!" – Shala yelled.
"As long as it's one at a ti-" – Naver was saying, but he had to stop in order to catch the Fusion pod with telekinesis that Shala threw at him. He didn't quite measure his force so it popped, spraying him with Fusion Matter.
"Numbuh Four!" – Naver yelled.
"I'm comin', I'm comin', hold ya bloody horses!"
"Here comes another one!" – Shala yelled as he threw another one of the pods from the pile.
"Wait, no!" – Naver yelled, but it was too late, Shala had already thrown it. This time, despite not being ready, Naver barely managed to catch it without puncturing it.
"Double shot!" – Shala yelled, and threw one after another in a quick succession while Naver was in the process of putting the first one down gently so that it wouldn't pop. He somehow managed to catch those two as well, but it was hard for him to catch his breath because of all the close calls.
"Shala, stop!" – Naver yelled, but before he had the chance to put the two Fusion pods down, Shala threw two more. Naver caught one, but the missed the other one completely and it flew right past his head. The other three were orbiting around him.
"Seriously, dude!" – Naver yelled, but then got hit in the face with the blobby, deflated skin of a previously popped Fusion pod.
"Alright, that does it!" – Naver said, dropped the three Fusion pods and directed his powers towards Shala instead.
Shala felt something grab from both sides him near the shoulder area and pull him up.
"Hey! Put me down!" – Shala yelled.
"How's that for Shalakinesis?" – Naver laughed. Shala started squirming and flailed his legs around, but Naver tightened his grip and held Shala's legs in place too.
"Oh, so NOW he can hold a moving target. What happened to disrupting your flow?" – Shala yelled mid-air.
"Wait, hold on!" – Naver yelled and let go of Shala. He fell down with a loud thud.
"Alright, alright, we can call it Naverkinesis!" – Shala said while getting up.
"Shush! Something's out there!" – Naver told him. "We gotta hide!"
"We ain't hiding behind that tree, I'll tell you what!" – Shala told him. They hid behind that boulder that Naver previously tried to lift instead. They heard rustling through the plants.
"Prrrrrapapapapa. Bbrrrh Bbrrrh Bbrrrh Bbrrrh. Hshhhhhhshshaaaaaaap."
"What is that?" – Naver asked.
"Doesn't sound like any monster I've seen before." – Shala told him. "Maybe it's Fuse himself."
"Is it another Eyebulb?" – Naver asked.
"That thing's peepers would have seen us by now. No, it doesn't sound like that either. Okay, you stay put, and I'm gonna check. If it goes badly, I want you to do to that thing that you just did to me just now, okay?" – Shala instructed.
"Okay." – Naver nodded. "Unless it's too heavy."
"We've been over this, you need to use leveraging and-"
"Yeah, well, my powers are tired because someone's been throwing Fusion pods at me all evening!" – Naver retorted.
"Okay, okay, whatever. I'm looking up in three. One… Two…" – Shala was counting down. Naver waited in tension.
"I like cereal."
A small yellow creature was right behind them. Naver yelled, lifted it up with telekinesis and flung it away into some bushes in panic. It happened so quickly, he didn't even have a good look at it.
"What the heck was that? That wasn't a Fusion Monster, was it?" – Naver asked.
"Oh no…" – Shala gasped. "Worse."
"Worse?"
"We should get out of here, quickly, before it..." – Shala was about to say, but the creature came back running.
"Doitagain doitagain doitagain doitagain doitagain!" – it kept yelling.
"Aaaaand we're screwed." – Shala sighed. "Naver, meet…"
"Cheese." – Naver finished his sentence.
"Cheese." – Cheese repeated.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you have that thing. Wait, you haven't figured it out where that came from or what that means, have you?" – Shala asked.
"Have you?" – Cheese repeated almost immediately as Shala finished it.
"No, not really. So, what about this Cheese?" – Naver asked.
"Cheese." – Cheese repeated again.
"He's bad news, that's what he is."
"What he is." – Cheese kept repeating what they said.
"Isn't he an imaginary friend?" – Naver asked. "What's so bad about him?"
"About him?"
"I've had enough Cheese to last me a lifetime. You know, from DexLabs." – Shala told him.
"Dexlegs." – Cheese repeated again, albeit poorly.
"You met him at DexLabs?"
"Dexlegs."
"Yeah, so Dexter was studying Imaginary Energy, and Dee Dee wouldn't give him hers, so he requested an imaginary friend from Foster's Home. You know, Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends?" – Shala asked Naver.
"I like cereal." – Cheese said again.
"You said that already." – Shala pointed out.
"I like chocolate milk."
Shala sighed. "So, Foster's Home sent us this… Cheese for Dexter to study. And it was on that day that Dexter realized how good he had it when Dee Dee was his sister, and not Cheese."
"Cheese."
"But then Dee Dee herself showed up, and it was the double trouble team-up of hell. No project was left undamaged."
"Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee…"
"It was that bad?" – Naver asked.
"Let's just say that was the reason the Fractal edition of the Vector Gun got delayed for months. And that was just with me. EVERYONE had major setbacks that day. Especially, well, obviously Dexter."
"…dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee…"
"Anyway, they managed to develop a Cheese Nano, at least."
"Ooh! Nanonanonanonanonano!" – Cheese started yelling, and jumped at Shala's wrist.
"Oh. He knows what Nanos are." – Shala said. "Fine. Maybe they'll talk to him." Then he summoned Nano Uncle Grandpa.
"Good morning!" – Uncle Grandpa said.
"Night, night." – Cheese told him.
"Good morning!" – Nano Uncle Grandpa said again.
"Night, night." – Cheese repeated obliviously.
"No, it's good morning." – Uncle Grandpa told him.
"Good night." – Cheese changed his tune.
"Something's wrong with this kid." – Nano Uncle Grandpa told Shala. Shala sighed and unsummoned the Nano.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" – Cheese started yelling.
"Why's he doing that?! He's gonna attract Fusions!" – Naver yelled to be heard over the wailing. He had to press his hands against his ears.
"I think he wants another Nano!" – Shala answered.
"Yeas." – Cheese calmed down immediately.
Shala pressed another button on the NanoCom.
"HUMONGOSAUR!" – the new Nano yelled.
"Ooh! Bunny!" – Cheese shouted and started clapping.
Nano Humongosaur looked around, confused.
"Bunny bunny bunny bunny bunny!" – Cheese started hopping around the Nano.
"Yeah, this is gonna be a huge problem for us. We can't get onto the airship until we've rid of him." – Shala said.
"Why not?"
"Why n… you know what happened the last time, don't you?" – Shala asked, as if it was ridiculous that Naver didn't know.
"Amnesia, remember?"
"But you told me Lars told you about the Battle of Hero's Hollow!"
"Well, he did. I don't… What does Cheese have to do with that?" – Naver asked.
Cheese was now futilely trying to tug Nano Humongosaur's tail. Humungosaur floated high up in the air so that Cheese wouldn't reach him, but that didn't stop Cheese from trying. At least he was distracted.
"The whole reason we lost that battle, was, well, him." – Shala pointed at Cheese. "He somehow showed up on Dexter's airship and… accidentally disabled the force field shielding."
"How did he manage to disable the force field?"
"He thought it was…" – Shala looked at Cheese suspiciously. "A cho-co-la-co-te-co mi-co-lk machine."
"A what?" – Naver asked. "Oooh. No, I mean, how the hell did he even manage to activate the controls for something like that? Shouldn't it have had, I don't know, some kind of security, at least?"
"Yeah, well, there's no security that Cheese can't get past. Neither physical, nor digital." – Shala said.
"Well, if you say so…"
"I need a smoothie…" – Nano Humongosaur said and disappeared, as his stamina had run out.
"Smoothie! Smoothiesmoothiesmoothiesmoothiesmoothie…" – Cheese started yelling.
"Great. Ben just had to remind him of smoothies before he left." – Shala shook his head.
"So now, what do we do about him?" – Shala mumbled to himself.
"Well, we can't just leave him here!" – Naver told him.
"Why not? He's been here on his own this far and look at him. He's fine." – Shala said.
"But what about the monsters?" – Naver asked.
"Monsters? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" – Cheese started yelling. Naver had to summon Nano Gumball to calm him down.
"What about them? They're weakened by Imaginary Energy, aren't they? They're not gonna put a finger on him."
"Couldn't we… I don't know, leave him with the SACT, at least?" – Naver suggested.
"Oh, great, that's just amazing. "Hey, you SACT guys! You absolutely suck! I never want to see you again! By the way, here's this destructive force of nature that was responsible for the biggest disaster in the Fusion war so far. Hope the next one happens to you!" Yeah, I'm sure they'd be absolutely fuh… fuh fa fi…" – Shala stopped himself mid-swear. "We don't need Cheese to be learning THAT kind of language. Anyway, yeah, they'd be absolutely flipping thrilled at the idea!" – Shala rejected it.
"Well, what do you suggest we do to him?" – Naver asked.
"I have osteoporosis." – Cheese said.
"Quiet, you! Anyway, Naver, what we're gonna do is…" – Shala lowered his voice. "Just get him away from us. And he can get back to… whatever he was doing before."
"You sure? He's gonna be fine?"
"Well, he's been fine here for months! He's probably doing more damage to Fuse's plans unintentionally than the SACT are at their full strength." – Shala told him.
"Okay, okay. What do you think we should do?" – Naver asked him.
"Hmmm…" – Shala thought. He picked up Cheese walked several steps, and dropped him. Then he walked back to Naver. Cheese followed him.
"Great work, boy genius." – Naver said sarcastically.
"Quiet, you. I haven't forgotten that stunt with the telekinesis. Hold on, maybe you should try that."
"You sure?" – Naver asked.
"Go on. Only, gently."
Naver used his powers to pick cheese up and floated him away as Cheese yelled "Wheeeee!". As far away as he could, even out of sight.
"Are we clear?" – Naver asked.
"Maybe we should hide." – Shala said.
But before they got the chance to do so, Cheese came running back, yelling "Doitagain doitagain doitagain doitagain!"
"Hmmm… I guess we'll have to walk for a bit until we figure out a way to get rid of him." – Shala said. "But we have to get rid of him quickly. It's gonna be nightfall soon."
"Cheese."
"Is everyone here?" – Severin asked.
"We're missing Larry." – Cody looked over the room. "I think he's on the night shift right now."
"Good. We can begin." – Severin said.
"Wait, don't you think Larry should be included in this too?" – Jessica asked.
"Someone's gotta be out there on watch, or else Steel's gonna flip his shit." – Enzo replied. "And it's not like he'd be a valuable contribution." – he added. "He'll stay there for me for this meeting."
Cody groaned.
"Before we begin, I need everyone here to understand that this stays between us. None of you go blabbing to Steel." – Severin declared. "And by that, I mean you, Maldonado."
Barry scoffed.
"Why can't we tell Steel?" – Amy whispered over to Jenna.
"Steel said that we're supposed to continue on ignoring the information that one of us is a mole. Also, he's pissed at Severin for causing that scene with that Providence Agent so he assigned him a week's worth of the monkey toilet duty." – Jenna explained.
Amy giggled. "Dieter must have been relieved to have a week off."
"Am I keeping you from your private gossiping time, ladies?" – Severin approached and asked them condescendingly.
"What? Fuck off. You don't even have the authority to call this meeting in the first place." – Amy snapped back.
"Why don't we just get it over with?" – Edmund asked. "I mean, it's obviously Maldonado. Can't we just kick him out or something like that Providence Agent and be done with it?"
"Me? Why are you jumping immediately to me?" – Barry asked.
"No one's kicking out anybody." – Jessica tried to say, but got ignored.
"Come on, you're the bookkeeper. You spend the entire day in Steel's shack, going over all of his files. You don't even have to do the chores like the rest of us. And, I mean, really, if I were a spy, I would immediately try to gain the commanding officer's trust and get access to all the secret files."
"Oh. You really don't want to go down this path with me." – Barry replied. "First of all, if you were any sort of effective spy whatsoever, you wouldn't put yourself in the most obvious position like mine. Sure, you'd have access, but you'd make yourself the prime suspect. What you are supposed to do is blend into the background and become unassuming. Like that guy." – Barry pointed at Diego, who was leaning against the wall in the corner. Eleven heads turned toward him, and he started looking around suspiciously. "I don't even know that guy's name even though he guards the warehouse right next to Steel's quarters. Second of all, you really don't want to see this outpost without me. I do all the intellectual work around here! Each week I spend hours sending out and receiving invoices for provisions, ammunition, weaponry, supplies. I keep track of everything that Jessop, Abnett, Torres and Chase sell. I have to make sure all the numbers add up. And I haven't even brought up my picture-perfect memory of this island, especially the Crest and all of its landmarks. So kick me out, I dare you. The outpost will collapse within a week."
"No one's kicking out any-" – Jessica tried to say again, but she was interrupted. Again.
"Yeah, good luck sending all the invoices and accepting deliveries now that all comms are cut off." – Dieter joked. Everyone in the room, except Barry, laughed.
"Shhh, guys, you want Steel to hear us?" – Amy shushed them.
"I'm telling you all, it's just not me." – Barry said again.
Enzo scoffed. "You're not important around here as you think you are." – he said.
"You did not just say that." – Maldonado said in shock. "You don't do JACK. SHIT." Jessop turned his head towards them when he heard his name. "Besides bossing us around when Steel's not here!" – Maldonado yelled. A couple other Agents nodded.
"You seriously think my work and your work are on the same level?" – Enzo asked condescendingly.
"Alright, shut up. I don't want to talk to you any more than I have to." – Barry said. "Now, what about Edmund?" – Barry pointed his finger.
"What about me?" – Edmund asked.
"You immediately accused me. Maybe it is you who is the impostor and you're just trying to keep the heat off of yourself." – Barry pointed his finger again.
"Are we seriously going by he who smelt it, dealt it?" – Amy asked.
"Stop pointing with that finger!" – Edmund yelled.
"Stop accusing me!" – Barry retorted.
"Hold on, hold on. You are acting like children." – Brock intervened. "Now, while we are on the subject of Edmund Jesse, I have a legitimate piece of information that I'd like him to explain."
"What is it?"
"I occasionally hear someone walking around outside my tent in the night. They pause somewhere near the wall, where there are no watchmen, then turn back in about 10 minutes. And I'm like 80% sure that that person looks like you. Until now I never really cared but now that we know there's a spy among us that could be seen in a whole different light. Care to elaborate?"
"Oh." – Edmund said. "You hear me."
"So, it is you?" – Severin inquired.
"I, uh… I like taking late night walks."
Severin raised an eyebrow. "When everyone else is asleep?" – he asked.
"That's it, he's the spy!" – someone yelled. The sound came suspiciously from the part of the room where Barry was standing.
"Oh, how come Torres gets a whole tent to himself? He's not sleeping either, mind you. Okay, what I do is private, but I'm not the spy, alright?" – Edmund admitted.
Everyone was still staring at him.
Edmund mumbled something.
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that." – Brock told him.
"I keep a diary!" – Edmund yelled. "And I like to do it away from prying eyes, thank you very much."
"You… what?" – Brock chuckled. A couple other people smiled. Barry laughed obnoxiously.
"Oh, shut up, you." – Edmund told him.
"Anyone else got any bright leads?" – Jessica asked. "Or can we get this ov-"
"I read on the internet that there are some celebrities out there who are like, government plants, and they put military propaganda and other stuff in their movies." – Jessop said.
Everyone looked at him.
"Relevance?" – Severin asked, annoyed.
"And I was thinking, since Cody is a celebrity, sorta, maybe he is like one of those government plants and he's the spy." – Jessop went on.
Now, everyone looked at Cody.
"Jessop. You do realize, that the SACT is a government organization, right?" – Jessica asked him.
"Oh. Yeah, but I was thinking, more like the feds…"
"WE ARE THE FEDS!" – Jessica yelled.
"I thought we were the deepstate…"
"Oh my god, you people are all idiots!" – Enzo yelled.
"Can't we just all pretend Enzo is the impostor so we can kick him out?" – Amy suggested. Approving murmurs and nods spread around the room.
"The worst part of being stranded out here is having to share living space with that guy." – Jenna agreed.
"He stole my sandwich." – Dieter piped in from the back.
"I liked it better when he was bitten by a Fusionfly on the mouth and had his mouth swollen and couldn't talk for like a week." – Brock added.
Enzo scoffed, several times, not finding anything to say, then stormed out of the room.
"Uh, you guys… you do realize he's probably gonna tell Steel on this?" – Jenna asked.
"Oh." – someone said.
"Well, what are you guys looking for? Hit the lights! Enzo's supposed to be on wall duty anyway, we might get away with pretending we're asleep!" – Amy yelled.
Everyone immediately rushed to their beds. Brock climbed out of the window.
"If Severin's lucky, Enzo might get that toilet duty instead." – Jenna whispered over to Amy.
"They can both drown in feces for all I care." – Amy told her and giggled.
"I like chocolate milk."
"You said that already."
"I like chocolate milk."
"Gee, I didn't realize that."
"I like chocolate milk."
"I like it when people are quiet."
"I like chocolate milk."
"AND I LIKE RADICOLA!" – Shala couldn't take it anymore.
Cheese, who was sitting in Naver's lap at the hoverscooter, also yelled "I LIKE CHOCOLATE MILK!"
"AAAAARGH!"- Shala screamed.
"Okay, Cheese, we're gonna play a little game." – Naver suggested.
"I like games."
"This game is called the, uh… the Silence King. And if you are silent, you win. You got that?"
"Yeas." – Cheese said.
"Whew." – Shala sighed in relief. He looked at the tracker he got from Huntor to look for the airship.
"Did I win?" – Cheese asked, exactly three seconds later.
"No, Cheese, you have to be silent a little longer."
"Okey." – Cheese said. "Did I win?" – He asked again, four seconds later.
"No, Cheese, you have to be quiet for a really really long time." – Naver explained.
"Okey."
Naver gave Shala a thumbs up. Meanwhile, Cheese tried to grab the steering of Naver's scooter.
"Cheese, no!" – Naver yelled.
"You talked first. I win!" – Cheese yelled.
"Let it go!" – Naver tried to grab Cheese's arms, but he resisted.
"Aaaaa." – Cheese resisted.
Naver tried to grab the steering over Cheese's arms, but he started yelling again, so he had to let go. But he got another idea. He used his powers to change the direction of the steering. Cheese felt resistance, and looked at Naver, but Naver put his arms behind his back to show he wasn't doing anything. Cheese tried to grab the steering again, but it wouldn't budge.
"Horsey is broken." – Cheese said.
Now Shala gave Naver the thumbs up, but then Cheese started screaming.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"What do we do? He's gonna attract monsters!" – Naver asked.
"Just let him drive!"
"He'll crash it!"
"I pooted."
"Okay, that's it, we're walking." – Naver said and unsummoned the scooter. Cheese was still screaming, so Naver had to pick him up with telekinesis and have him fly around for a bit to calm him down.
Although, all that was too late. They had attracted Shellworms.
"Great, just great." – Shala muttered as he summoned his Heatblaster. Naver got the Aerial Slicer and approached the monster.
As Shala was shooting at them, Cheese approached him.
"Fireworks!" – Cheese said. "GIMMEGIMMEGIMMEGIMME!" – he started yelling.
"Absolutely no way. That's dangerous."
"Nnnnnnnnh!" – Cheese tried to reach for it while Shala got it away from him. Cheese started climbing Shala's body, hanging onto his jacket, to go for it.
"Hey, Shala, what do I do with these?" – Naver asked. "They jump before I can get a hit on their legs!"
"I don't know, use your powers or something!"
"Didn't you say that they were weak to Imaginary Energy?"
"Well, I don't know how that works exactly! I'm not an expert on imaginary friends!"
Meanwhile, Cheese was crawling all over Shala, still trying to reach the Heatblaster.
"Figure something out! I thought you were supposed to be the everything expert!" – Naver yelled.
Out of options, Shala grabbed Cheese by the scalp and pointed him towards the monsters while walking towards them slowly, as if he was performing an exorcism with a crucifix. It worked – the monsters became timid, slightly retreated, and Naver managed to get a hit on each of them. With the frog-like legs cut off, the lame monsters were easy enough to finish off.
"Bye, kitty." – Cheese said as they dissolved into Fusion Matter.
"I guess he's useful for something, isn't he, Shala?" – Naver said.
"Shalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala…" – Cheese went on babbling.
"No. No, he really isn't. I'd rather be eaten by the Shellworms." – Shala answered.
"Okay, but are you sure it's… humane just to leave him out here like this?" – Naver asked.
"Look at him, he doesn't even notice it!" – Shala told him. "Plus, ten minutes alone with him and you'll be the first to ask that we tie him to a Fusionfly and send him off flying far away."
"Yeah, but still… It was an innocent mistake."
"It's not the matter of punishing him. He's just too dangerous to have anywhere around. I mean, you know what he did to the DexLabs airship. Who knows what damage he could do to the Mandark one? Or Huntor's."
"If you ask me, he shouldn't even be in the Darklands in the first place. How did he even end up here?"
"Nobody knows. Tell you what, once we ditch him and find the airship, we find a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. that's willing to take him back to the mainland, and then we come back here and find him. If there's a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. left up there, that is." – Shala said.
"But what if deep down he's really going through it and we just can't see?"
"Naver. Listen. Cheese is the second least intelligent being I have ever come across. I don't think he is capable of emotional trauma."
They both looked at Cheese, who was at that moment, trying to chew through a tree.
"Yeah, but Imaginary Energy or not, he shouldn't be left unattended for months!"
"He's not unattended, he bothers the Plumbers and the SACT on a regular basis whenever they try to pass through here. He'll be…" – Shala pointed at the tree again, but Cheese was gone.
"Oh, no. Where did he go? Cheese!" – Shala called out, but then he realized this is exactly what he was waiting for. "What am I doing? Come on! Let's run before he comes back!" – Shala told Naver, summoned the Flying Brain and hovered away. Naver lingered for a moment, looking in the direction he thought Cheese might have gone in, then followed Shala.
"That's just Cheese for you. Never goes away when you want to get rid of him, and the moment you're not looking, and, you know, especially when you actually need him, he'll be gone."
"We didn't need him, though, right?" – Naver asked.
"The day when I need help from Cheese is the day I'm retiring from the war and becoming an adult diaper model."
"Now I can't get that image out of my head." – Naver shook his head. "Hey, uh, what is this thing?" – he asked Shala.
It was some sort of Fusion growth, or maybe actually a piece of technology that was sending a green beam into the sky.
"That… is a Fusion Beacon. And we should probably get out of here soon."
"Why, what's it do?" – Naver asked.
"It sends out a signal to the Meteoric Sentries. To keep them in the area, and to control them."
"Why? Can't the Fusions control them normally?" – Naver asked, confused.
"I'm fuzzy on this subject, but from what Alice told me, those things aren't even made on earth. They get created from the meteoric rocks that Planet Fusion absorbs, then they fly down here from space."
Naver looked up. The thoughts of the monsters raining down creeped him out.
"And because of that, for some reason they can't be controlled by the earthly Fusions." – Shala explained. "Only by Lord Fuse. And the Fusions need to use these beacon things as a… mediator, because they are Lord Fuse's will incarnate."
"Lord Fuse's will incarnate?" – Naver repeated.
"Yeah, that's how Alice described it."
"Well, can he hear us?"
"I don't… know, exacty." – Shala told him, unsure.
"We should definitely get out of here, then."
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Gotta do one thing first, though." – Shala said and approached the beacon. "Ahem… Lord Fuse can eat my ass!" – he said and ran away on the Flying Brain.
"The everything expert, everyone." – Naver said sarcastically while following him. "Flying Brain my ass."
They drove in silence, led by Shala's scanner.
"So what's the deal with Nanos, anyway?" – Naver asked him after a moment.
"What do you mean?"
"I thought Nanos are created through defeating a Fusion. But you mentioned that they developed a Cheese Nano… at DexLabs?"
"Yeah, so… Nanos are developed in two ways, yeah. The first one is defeating a Fusion, sure. You've seen it happen, you've done it yourself. DexLabs is also constantly researching the existing Nanos, trying to improve them. But besides that, it's possible to develop Nanos from scratch under lab conditions, or, well, at Nano Stations. Well, not exactly from scratch. You'd need a boat load of Fusion Matter to do that. That's why we collect them while defeating monsters." – Shala told him and pointed at the NanoCom.
"Oh. I just realize I never thought about that before."
"Yeah. And there are a handful of Nanos right now that you can get like that, though, like Finn and Rex, or, well, Cheese. Everyone gets a couple at the Academy. Most of the Nanos are still being researched and developed, though, so, say, the Courage Nano that the four of us got from the Fusion – that's a unique one. No one else has those, unless they defeat another version of Fusion Courage. That's why I got the collar, by the way – the Nano Creation Items are useful for the Nano Enhancement Project."
"There's this one weird Nano that I saw in my NanoCom earlier. Do you know anything about a Nano of an ora-"
"Sh-sh-sh-shush!" – Shala told him while gesturing with his hand to quiet down.
"Wh-"
"Shut!" – Shala shut him up.
Naver shrugged, asking Shala what he meant.
"We're close! We've almost reached the airship!" – Shala yelled excitedly, pointing at the tracker. "Sweet, sweet Radicola, here I come!"
Naver rolled his eyes.
"It's over there, by Green Maw! Wait a second… I can even see it!" – Shala yelled again.
"Where?"
"Right there!"
"I don't see it."
"Of course you don't, it's under camouflage."
"Then how come you-"
"Because it's breaking the light particles of the glowing Fusion fog! It's there, though, high up in the air! Come on!" – Shala yelled enthusiastically towards Green Maw.
"How are we even supposed to get up there?"
End of Chapter 15.
Extract from Alice Quickfeet's Fusion Monster research log:
Eyebulb
Fusion Matter type – varies between all 3
Power Level – 33
Boss: Great Eyebulb
Location: Hero's Hollow
Height: varies between 2'-4'
Boss height: varies between 4'-7'6''
Weight: 22-45 lb
Boss weight: 50-80 lb
Special attacks:
Eruption: Yes
Corruption: Only the type they themselves are
Battery Drain
Description:
Bundles of Terrafuser roots come to life, with two roots as appendages and a single eyeball in the middle. They might still be covered in the dirt they came out of.
Behavior:
Eyebulbs are the Fusion Monsters that are the most adept at teamwork. While not strictly travelling in groups, they are just spaced out from each other enough for them to keep an eye on each other at all times. If one engages in combat, the others will surely see you and join the battle, making it hard for you to defend against large numbers. That doesn't mean that they always travel alone. They often travel in fours, with three Eyebulbs orbiting a Great Eyebulb while looking out in every direction, protecting the leader.
In combat, Eyebulbs try to snare you with their roots and spit and bite from their mouth-eye. Eruption attacks are also fairly common.
Under Fusion control, they are relatively the same, but their eyes make them extremely dangerous, allowing Fusions to be aware of a large area.
Upon distruction, the Eyebulbs don't dissolve back into Fusion Matter. They mostly do, but they leave behind an empty husk of the dead Terrafuser roots that used to make up their body.
The eyes are the Eyebulb's most distinguing feature. While having only one, as opposed to the three-eyed Eyebores, their ocular senses are extremely heightened, allowing to see even the tiniest of movements. As a downtrade, it doesn't seem to have the sense of hearing or smell. However, there have been various wild claims about the Eyebulbs and Eyebores, such as being able to see through solid rock. According to research I conducted with Peggy, there are no traces of X-rays or any other radiation in the Eyebulbs, so that sounded impossible. However, the claims that they could see humans while they were hiding behind cover were so common that it was hard to believe it was coincidence. I was puzzled on the mechanic behind this, but then something Shala said made me realize the solution.
"They can probably see the air itself."
An off-hand comment that was intended to be a joke, I'm sure, but it got me thinking. When you're afraid and running for cover, you are breathing quickly and heavily while sweating. Is it possible that Eyebulbs can see the slight changes you make in the air, even when hiding behind something? The vibrations you cause in the air molecules, as well as sweat evaporating from your body, is impossible to see by human eye, but it might just be possible with the Eyebulbs. After all, they have no other senses to register it. So, is it possible that Eyebulbs can see you talking or breathing?
Known Fusions that have controlled the Fusionflies:
Fusion Cheese
Fusion Kanker sisters
Fusion Jack
Fusion Tetrax (?)
Fusion Mandark