It had been a couple of hours since the dimension travellers returned safely, and are now starting to gear up for their battle. Those that didn't go and help Chad's injury heal up are still working on it right now. As this was happening, some footsteps could be heard on the corridor as a black feminine figure came into one of the rooms with a service tray. Once inside she came to a stop, and looked on at Chad and Gadget. Then she came out of the darkness.
"Hey look - medicine is served!" Misty smiled.
They both rose and looked down... at a bottle of cod liver oil and a teaspoon.
"And after that there's a treat", she said while lifting a china lid over a silver plate, revealing a strange dish. "Runner beans on toast!"
Chad's eyes lit up at the sight of it, while Gadget uncontrollably turned green at the sight of it. During that time, he rose and started dashing towards the tray. When he got there... he looked down at his leg and smiled.
"Hey, I can finally run again!" he gasped.
"All that for the most gruesome snack on Earth", sighed Gadget, rolling her eyes.
"Ditto", Misty shrugged. "By the way, I heard that Travis is making good progress with the detection for Tiko and Sgt. Soup."
"Really?" both Chad and Gadget exclaimed in unison.
"Yeah!" the turtle smiled. "I heard that he built a radar to find him - with the help of Bubble, of course."
"So what's it meant to be - a metal detector?" Chad asked.
Misty rose her eyes. "How did you guess?"
Gadget's eyes widened. "Er... to detect Soup's armour?"
"Correct, brain-dead!" Misty leered to her. "Once we've found them then it's gonna be a free- for-all when we get to them!"
"Hey people - I've found them!" shouted Travis's voice from the corridors.
Misty looked on towards the main door. "What the...?"
The other members of the gang started speeding down the corridor towards Travis's room, where he and Goliath have come across a hidden surprise. Quickly Misty and her team made it over as well, seeing the amazing discovery.
"OK kitty, what is it this time?" Brio asked him.
"You're not gonna believe this, but they're hiding over at Miami Beach."
Most of the group gasped at his remark.
"Isn't that where Neo dude here nearly got grinded in half?" blinked Snappy.
"Well where else can it be - the scrap yard???" Neo responded while rolling his eyes.
Snappy started to blush. "Sorry there...!"
"Back at Miami Beach, you say?" Gadget said while she rubbed her chin with one finger. "Hmmm..." She then raised an eyebrow. "Now I don't like the road that this is going down."
"Neither do I, but it's our only hope", Bubble frowned. "I mean, what if they have a more dangerous machine in there?"
"Yeah like... c'mon people, there's always something better than that so- called 'Iron Maiden'", Kiwi growled under her breath.
"Well think about it this way", said Travis. "We know for sure that Tiko and Sgt. Soup are tough criminals as they are already, but we need to be really careful with them, as well as paying our full potential, even with our Chosen One with us."
Neo raised an eyebrow. "Travis, for a kid you've got some serious thinking power here."
"Thank you!" the young cat smiled.
Misty then started to leave the room. "OK people - now that the basics have been ruled over for one last time... LET'S MOVE!!!"
She slammed the door open and ran out of the room, and the others soon followed her. Who knows what kind of surprise awaits the corner. Like Kiwi said, it could be more gruesome than the Iron Maiden, but gruesomeness isn't the main fear of heroes.
The warehouse among the beach showed itself to be just as deformed as ever. Along the tinny surface, a set of feet, with black strong boots, were thumping away at the floor in one direction... and then another... and back again.
The anger starts to increase a bit more as a powerful-bodied soldier could be seen walking around the area. But wait - he sooner enough revealed a tail from behind him - an ox's tail.
The face can be easily recognised now - it's Sgt. Soup, with a face filled with envy.
"HOW I HATE THAT CHOSEN ONE! ALWAYS FOILING OUR PLANS!!!"
"Hey hey, calm down", Tiko blinked as he followed him.
"WHY SHOULD I, BLUE BOY?" he faced his angry expression towards Tiko. "Our business is gonna be ruined... AND IT'S ALL THAT BROTHERLY BASTARD'S FAULT!!!"
"Please Soup, let's not lose our heads here", Tiko smiled sheepishly.
"LOSE OUR HEADS?!?" Soup then panicked. "HEEEEELP!"
Tiko gave out a sigh of disgust behind his back, as well as covering his eyes with his hand and shaking his head.
"I know you seem pretty angry right now, and very outnumbered, but we can't lose now."
"Screw your backside", Soup shouted back. "You've said that all the way and it never worked!"
"I know, but having seen that we're the toughest members of the crew, they're never gonna stop us now!"
"But what if they find us? And eliminate us BOTH???"
"Hey, just chill, my friend. I know you seem depressed and all, but we have an easy way to get through." Tiko then picked up a wrench lying across the floor. "Remember - I'm the Master of Machinery here. Alone, I've constructed a truckload of robo-soldiers, and with them... we're gonna beef up the security."
"Now that's the plan I'm talking about!" Soup smiled.
"Yeah - the good alliance have to be INVISIBLE to get in!"
There were silence for a couple of seconds, and then they both started vilely, quietly, and then the volume kept on getting increased, and the echoes could be heard throughout the building.
From the inside of the building, two known eyes could be seen looking through some holes in it. From outside, they were shown to be Neo's, with his companions waiting alongside him.
"I hate to tell you this, but if we have to get in we have to be invisible!"
"Oh stop being such a wuss over things, will ya?" Misty then pushed him out of the way. "Lemme take a look."
She looked into the holes, and in front of her eyes... were a truckload of robo-soldiers patrolling the main hall.
"Yikes!" she screamed.
"Told you!!!" Neo shouted back at her.
Misty then made her way back towards the others. "So who cares if you were right and I was wrong?" She brought her eyes back towards his. "Watch my wrath, jumbo-head - you're soon gonna..."
Gadget then stepped in front of her. "Don't think about it. Even now we need him here - you never know how tough Sgt. Soup will harm us. Every battle we've had someone killed, including your recent boyfriend, Goliath's brother and last time it was my mother. I want this to change when we come in here. Right guys?"
"YES!!!" everyone cheered around her.
"Excellent!" she smiled while looking on at the front door. "Now the only problem is, how on earth are we gonna get in?"
"Leave that to me!" Brio smiled as he brought out a small pistol.
He stuck the end of the pistol inside one of the holes, and took out several magazines filled with bullets. He pulled the trigger and... that caused a lot of banging and smashing to take part on the other side.
He kept on firing for a while, looking in a top hole for accuracy, and after a minute or two... the firing stopped.
"All clear!" Brio smiled.
Snappy gave out a wolf whistle towards him. "Hey Brio dude - that was excellent work there! You deserve it!"
"Ah, it was nothin'", he said back while he blew the smoke away from the gun's nozzle.
"Now that that's been sorted, how are we supposed to get past the steel door?" Corona asked.
As she stopped speaking the door immediately opened in front of their eyes, causing them all to gasp.
"Oh my gosh, how did that happen?" Kiwi questioned.
"I'm thinking that it could be one of my bullets that went for a long distance run", shrugged Brio.
Chad gave out a light chuckle. "You're a good shot!"
While they spoke, Neo was left to step right in front of the others, looking on towards the warehouse's interior. "There it is - the main corridors, free for us to run in!" He turned towards the others. "Well come on people - let's go!"
"Yes, but please, for the love of Pete... be careful in there", Bubble frowned.
Neo responded with a wink. "We will, and that's a fact."
So they started walking through the corridors carefully, and with caution. Snappy, Brio, Boron, Goliath, Corona, Misty and Travis were briskly walking (and racing) their way to the front of the queue, as they know that they could never be too careful. It wasn't long until the whole gang came across a junction in the main corridor, where there were two wooden doors, each of them slightly open.
"I suppose this is where we find out where the baddies are then", shrugged Gadget.
"What, after just three minutes and 27 seconds of running down the corridor?" Travis asked.
"I don't know", sighed Gadget.
"Hey, how about we check out what's behind those doors!" Snappy started to smile.
Brio gave out a nod. "Good idea."
So both of them went up to the doors and peaked through them. Then they closed them... with surprise spelt all over their faces.
"THE BOILER ROOM!!!" Snappy exclaimed.
"SERGEANT SOUP!!!" followed Brio.
"Don't panic, please!" Neo said while bringing his hands out. "Now that we've come across the two important pieces of the puzzle, we now should be ready to go in and close down the warehouse like we did last time."
"It blew up last time because of a careless Mozzarella, NOT our strength! Ha!" Misty then started laughing sadistically. "I'm right and you're wrong! Ha-ha-haha-ha!"
Bubble then pulled her back by her pigtails. "Wait until he finishes, woman!"
Neo then gave out a light sigh. "Yes, now can you please be silent while I give out the team plan?"
There was silence.
"Good", he smiled while turning to the door ahead of him. "There's the route to the Boiler Room over there, and we need some of the toughest in the team to try and destroy that, in which will eventually destroy the warehouse." He turned towards the others. "Brio, Bubble, Misty..."
"Good riddance", she growled under her breath.
"...Chad, Kiwi and Travis", Neo continued, "your job is to try and destroy the machinery in there. But be careful in there!"
"YES SIR!" saluted Kiwi.
"The rest of us should go next door and make a good attempt at slaughtering Sgt. Soup and his crew."
"Yeah, but I'm not sure if we could defeat him, what with his club and that", blinked Gadget.
"Don't worry about that - there's always a way to get round everything", nodded Neo.
"But..." she then sighed. "...never mind."
"OK, now that you know your objectives we'd best get to action quickly!"
"RIGHT!!!" the others cheered on in front of him.
Then they split up from the group into the two teams and headed into either door.
Sgt. Soup sat alone in the darkness. He knew that he had a chance of winning, much higher than the others, but what if after all these years he finally gets defeated and taken to jail? After teaming up with a punk that had hardly any experience in crime, he had thoughts around his head that his end could be very much nearby.
But the thoughts... were interrupted by a set of footsteps coming across the room. He looked up... and saw one half of the good alliance right before his eyes.
"Huh?" He breathed in heavily. "YOU?!?!?"
"What's the matter?" Neo smiled. "Are you scared?"
Soup then screamed before he looked towards the back of the room. "NO I'M NOT SCARED AT ALL!!!" He then sighed with stress. "Look at me - am I glowing red in rage?"
"I doubt it yet", smiled Gadget, as the room suddenly started to circulate with several glowing colors around it, "but you will be soon... so EMBRACE YOURSELVES - WE ARE THE SAVIOURS OF THE 20th CENTURY!!"
They all stepped forward one by one, smiling viciously towards Soup, whom just responded with a step back.
"The name's Neo Cortex - pure and simple leader... and the Chosen One!"
"Gadget Medulla - up and ready to kick your butt!"
"Corona Grizzly - the bear with the fiery attitude!" she sneered as she pointed her flamethrower out towards him.
Boron and Goliath rushed to the front and started guarding the three of them. "That's Sir Goliath and his son Boron", Neo nodded. "The deadliest wolverines in town!"
"And Snappy Gator, the loooove machine of the United States", he winked while speaking with a romantic voice.
"HA! You don't scare me!" Soup growled towards the group. "You're just a crew of street rats!!!"
"Wanna bet, skint?" Gadget said with a laugh.
"OK, but it's not gonna be pretty." He rushed to the back of the room... and pulled out a long steel club! Soup then started swiping it. "En guarde! Touché!"
"Oh, that is SO clich", Neo said while rolling his eyes.
This could be it - Sgt. Soup is now alone, and is now outnumbered against six others. But his weapon could come in handy - you never know.
Over at the boiler room. the lighting in it seemed like it was perfectly lit as the remainders in the gang saw the main boiler machine right ahead of them... plus a lot of boxes.
"Er, Brio, I think you've found a lot more than just the boiler", nodded Kiwi.
"What do you mean?"
"Look at Travis - he's trying to break the boxes open! I have a bad feeling that he's getting really suspicious right now."
Travis turned towards the parrot. "Stick your beak out of my business!"
"Sorry", the parrot said sheepishly.
He kept on hacking away at the crate... and it was there that a part of the wood snapped off! From there he tore the rest away and saw... goodness-knows-how-many bottles of milk!
"Yummy!!!" he shouted. "Hey, can I take one home?"
"No, because they're part of Tiko and Soup's plans", Bubble said in a calm voice.
"Really?" Chad said with a confused glance. "How can milk get involved at a time like this...?"
"That's for me to know - and you not to find out!"
Bubble's eyes widened at the sound of the voice. "Uh-oh..."
"Watch out people - this dude's gonna mean some serious harm!" Misty exclaimed with fear.
From the shadows, the person with the voice showed himself as... Tiko! Immediately he was showing off his teeth with a vile looking smirk.
"I'm afraid", Kiwi said while shaking her wings. "I'm very afraid."
"RUN!!!" Misty shouted.
Immediately, Tiko brought a shotgun in his hand. He pulled down the trigger, causing it to bang. And as that happened, Misty escaped from the clutches and dashed out of the room, regardless of what could be behind her. All she could hear were more footsteps, as she made her way down the main corridor towards the main entrance. Finally she stepped out into the light, and onto the smooth sandy shores of Miami Beach. At this point sweat was pouring down her face, and as she looked back... she saw Chad and Brio following her. Finally she stopped and panted for air.
"Did we lose him?" Chad asked her.
"I think so", she smiled.
"What about the others?" Brio asked.
Back inside, Tiko was on a ladder on the way up the boiler, holding onto Kiwi's feathers as tight as he could.
"How about I put the parrot into the Birdie Boiler!" he smirked as he placed Kiwi in the top of the boiler, which started to turn red.
"Oh no... NOT THE BIRDIE BOILER!"
The boiler gave out a light explosion. Because of that, Kiwi was sent flying high in the room, screaming as loud as she can... but as soon as she reached the ceiling... she banged her head and was sent plummeting to the floor. As that happened, Tiko started laughing vilely.
"HEY YOU!!" said Bubble's voice.
Tiko turned around to face him. "Hey you what?"
"Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"
"Like... you?"
"Oops..."
"Oh Bubble, you've BLOWN it!" frowned Travis from nearby.
Tiko leapt from the top of the boiler down towards the floor below, ready to body slam on top of Travis and Bubble. Both of them cowered in the corner, screaming their heads off.
As all this was going on, things were not looking too good for the others. Snappy and Corona were sent flying across the room into an air vent... and the shutters closed as soon as they came in.
"Oh no!!!" Gadget exclaimed with a frown.
"Oh YES!" Soup smiled as he showed his biceps off. "Is that skill or is that skill?"
The wolverines shook their heads.
"What?" Soup asked them.
" You may have more muscle than Hulk Hogan", started Neo, "but that doesn't mean that you're skilful, you big headed brute!"
"Awww, thank you!" Soup smiled. "That's the nicest thing anybody has said about me!"
Everyone else rolled their eyes.
That left Soup to swing his club down to the ground. "So what are you waiting for? Bring it on!"
"Yeah - we were just the appetizers!" said Snappy's voice from the airvent.
"Appetizers?!?"
Neo gave off an ambitious nod. "Here comes the main course!"
Gadget started giggling with him. "You bet!"
The wolverines leapt towards Sgt. Soup and landed on all their feet. As soon as they touched down, they started growling.
Soup then aimed his club towards them. "Stay away from me, you miserable mutts!"
He immediately swiped his club down... but this caused both wolverines to split up. He looked confused for a while... until Boron jumped on his back... and removed his helmet, showing him with curly hair! This caused everyone else in the room to laugh in his face... and him to grow red with fury!
"GET OFF MY HELMET!" Soup screamed.
He tried to hit Boron on the head... but missed and hit HIMSELF on his head! This made him collapse in a crumpled heap.
Boron pinned him down, and Goliath came near them, counting from one to three in barks. That left Boron to jump up and down, perform a cartwheel across the room and perform a pose, shouting "Ta-da!" at the top of his voice.
Gadget gave out a light giggle. "Give it up for the new WCW champion!"
"Yeah yeah, now can you PLEASE get us outta here?" said Corona's voice from the air vents.
"Don't panic - we'll go through it", smiled Gadget.
But behind their backs, Soup opened one eye and took an angry look for them.
"You may have won the battle... but not the war."
While the others were trying to free Snappy and Corona, he rose to his feet and held his club in a fighting pose. Now it started glowing a pale blue!
"Hard luck, wimps - you're outta this place for good!"
He came rushing with the club in his hand and was about to cause a smash to the ground with it, at their feet. But luckily enough, Neo turned to him just in time!
"GUYS! LOOK OUT!!"
Gadget turned around. "What the..." She then gasped. "RUN!!!"
Back at Miami Beach, the sun was already starting to set in the sky, and Misty, Chad and Brio were the remaining three on the shores. Chad was looking back at the warehouse, where no one came out for a long while. Misty sat in the sand alone deep in her thoughts. And Brio, with a twig in his hand, was drawing some technical diagrams on the sand. As the time flew further, Chad gave out a long sigh and turned back, facing the sea. As this was happening, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Ah!" he shouted before turning in the direction of the tap. "Oh... it's you guys!" He turned towards Misty and Brio. "Hey everyone! Neo and Gadget have escaped alive!"
"Oh goody", Misty said sarcastically.
"WOW!" Brio said with widened eyes as he rushed over to the pair. "But what happened to the others?"
"You mean the remaining four from our crew?" Neo asked before frowning. "I'm sorry... but after the attack we couldn't find them."
"Any sign of Bubble, Kiwi and Travis?" Chad asked.
"I haven't seen them at all since we split up", Gadget shrugged.
"Huh, you call that an apology?" Misty growled. "Mark my words - ever since they're still inside, it'll be easy to get 'em out!"
She tried to return to the warehouse, but Neo came and blocked her way. "But if we go back now in the state we're all in someone, or everyone, is gonna die!"
"You're right", Chad said as he hung his head low. "We need to rest over this for the night. We'll attack when they least expect it."
So the remaining five left the beach quietly under the red skies they're under. One sleep could be good enough to restore health... but can it be one too many? And when they go back in there, will the others be in there still alive?
-end of part 6-