E Revolution

by Giampi

The end is here.

8. 8th Revolution: Vulnerability

E. Revolution

-=8th Revolution=-

::Vulnerability::

"Today is the beginning of a new era in the battle against the universal cosmic destroyer…we must embrace this bright new future, welcome it, for only by joining forces will we be able to overcome our adversaries and strike fear in their hearts! Together we will triumph in the name of…"

Maxwell Labs spread his hands wide in a grandiose gesture, like that of a proud king, and rested his eyes on the entire ensemble of SANCTUARY's forces, lined up in rows and standing straight in one of the base's assembly halls.  Ness and Jeff were in the back, with the lower classed soldiers; Orange let them borrow two of his old uniforms from his first days at SANCTUARY, which bore blue stripes instead of the usual red, so as to give them some degree of inconspicuousness. 

The speech, which had gone on for far longer than it should have, was doubly boring for Ness than for anybody else—his precognizant powers had decided to kick in the night before, and he knew Labs' speech by heart before the military man was even able to come up with it.  He tried his hardest to stand up straight, but his shoulders kept wanting to slump down, and his gaze faltered more than once. Inwardly he envied Professor Andonuts, if only because he wasn't present at the speech.

"…the commanding advantage that your assistance will provide to DREAMERS! Dismissed!"

Jeff shook his head and let out a sigh of relief. "Finally. I think my feet are glued to the floor…"

"Tell me about it," replied Ness. "I don't think I ever want to stand still in one place again as long as I live."

A large, moving blur to Ness' left side immediately drew his attention, and within seconds Apple skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Hey, Ness, Jeff, I'm glad I…" Apple swallowed hard. "…caught you. The Prof wants to see us at the Silent Garden now. That Labs character too."

Ness and Jeff glanced at each other.  The blonde adjusted his glasses. 

"We'll be right there," said Ness. "We just have to swing by Paula's room first."

"Oh, okay…" Apple nodded vigorously and spun on his heel, ready to take off in the opposite direction. "Just try not to take too long, okay?"

Paula welcomed her two friends with open arms, surprisingly. "I made a painting yesterday, and I think it depicts a sunset. Would you like to see it?" Her tone was uncharacteristically cheerful.

"Sure," said Ness. "Although…what do you mean, you think it looks like a sunset?"

"Come and see for yourselves," quipped Paula, and within milliseconds she had already dragged both boys to a canvas splattered with red and yellow paints, mixing here and there to produce a spotty orange.  All in all it didn't look like a sunset at all.

"I have been working on it for a while now," commented Paula as Ness and Jeff studied it. "Do you like it?"

"It's very…abstract," said Ness.  The moment he said it he realized that his comment could be taken the wrong way, and he was quick to amend it with a, "but I like it a lot."

"Well, good!" Paula beamed. "I am glad. Perhaps you might like to hang it up in your room…"

Jeff was quick to wave her off. "Um, we'd love to, really, but…" his eyes darted around in search of an excuse; they found none.  The blonde was forced to look at his watch in an improvisational manner. "Oh, look at the time, gotta run, sorry we can't stay," he said hurriedly while he grabbed Ness' arm, taking care not to make contact with his skin, "We'll talk later, okay?"

"All right," replied Paula. "Let me know when you have time."

"Will do," answered Ness, still being half-dragged by Jeff. "Bye!"

The moment they were outside the door Jeff released his friend and breathed a sigh of relief. "Did anything about that seem wrong to you?" he queried.

Ness nodded. "I don't think I've ever seen her this cheerful. It was kind of awkward…"

"Plus it's the first time she's ever mentioned not being sure about something she made," finished Jeff. "You think maybe she's going through one of those days?"

Ness rolled his eyes. "You're imagining things," he said. "…I think. Now come on, we're already late as it is."

As was to be expected, Labs was pacing impatiently along the Silent Garden by the time Ness and Jeff arrived.  Professor Andonuts and Poo didn't seem to mind, as they were sitting at a table, and the researcher was sipping tea; even Apple and Orange seemed to be enjoying themselves by chattering during the downtime, something that made Maxwell Labs' ire seem all the more dramatic.

"I don't you how they did things when you got here," sneered Labs while pointing threateningly at Ness with his finger. "But I run a tight ship. When I say I want to see you now, I mean now. Got it?"

Ness gulped nervously. "Yeah—I mean, yes sir."

"Good." Maxwell Labs regained his composure somewhat. "Now, I called you here because I want to send you—all of you—on a mission of the utmost importance. I'm sending you to Onett."

Orange raised an eyebrow, and it arched over the rim of his sunglasses. "Onett, sir? What's in Onett?"

Andonuts cleared his throat. "We suspect that a Giygas swarm similar to the one in Fourside is planning to attack there."

Maxwell Labs scoffed indignantly. "Correction, I suspect it. My contacts were the ones to detect an anomaly near the western coast, not yours."

Professor Andonuts sighed; he had been dealing with this attitude ever since Maxwell Labs arrived. "Regardless of who detected it, we need you to go and stop it. If at all possible, detain Giygas before it reaches the city. Understood?"

"Loud and clear," said Ness. "When are we leaving?"

"Immediately," said Poo, who stood from his chair. "This mission is covert, so we need to change into civilian outfits. I suggest you get moving."

The others turned to leave when Maxwell Labs raised a hand. "One moment. There's one more thing. One of my guys is going with you."

"What?" Poo removed his sunglasses and looked to the professor. "I thought we were the only ones going along on this mission."

"As did I," added Andonuts quizzically. "I was informed that this mission would involve SANCTUARY only."

"It's a last minute change," said Maxwell Labs dismissively. "He'll meet you in the hangar in half an hour." He smiled, satisfied. "Now you may go."

Ness and Poo traded looks, but said nothing.  They simply marched out of the Silent Garden with their friends, and then went their separate ways.

Half an hour later Ness arrived at the hangar and found Poo speaking distractedly with a young man of around his age, dressed in green clothes and running a hand through his brown hair, which hung in bangs around his face.

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Tony," said the youth when Ness approached him. "Commander Labs sent me. I'll be coming with on this sortie."

"Um…pleased to meet you," said Ness.

"Tony was just telling me about the details of this mission, which Commander Labs somehow forgot to give us." Poo said that last phrase with a more than evident tone of acrid indignation. "Apparently, we can't let anyone know we're there, which means no psychic powers for the duration of the mission."

"What?" Ness' brow furrowed. "What do you mean no psychic powers? How do they expect us to defend ourselves?"

"You'll see that psychic powers are not necessary when battling Giygas," interrupted Tony. "We have done it before and have obtained great results."

Ness noticed a slight, derisive scoff from Poo, but decided to ignore it.

Shortly thereafter Apple, Orange, and Jeff arrived.  It was hard not to stare at the two technicians, neither of whom Ness had seen out of uniform until that moment, but, like most of the things he had seen that day, Ness chose to ignore them.  The five members of SANCTUARY plus one boarded the Sky Runner that had been set up for them, and within minutes they had taken off.

"So, why are we really going on this mission?"

Jeff had made the question instinctively, not really thinking about whether or not he had said it out loud.  Not surprisingly, Tony was the first to try and quell any possible insurgence with a reassuring smile on his face.

"Commander Labs already briefed you, you're supposed to—"

"We heard him the first time," interjected Orange, eager to get into the conversation. "And we know he's lying out of his ass."

Tony sighed, smile still plastered on his lips. "What makes you say that?"

Orange scoffed. "Look at us. We're in civvies, Ness and Poo are barred from using their powers…it's all too suspicious."

"He wants to get us out of the way."

Orange turned to look at Poo, who was sitting calmly in his place with arms crossed and closed eyes obscured by his sunglasses. "Meaning?"

"Think about it." Poo raised a hand and began pointing to each person in the Sky Runner as he mentioned them. "Jeff, the boy who's presumable 'infested' with Giygas; Ness, the wild card who was let into SANCTUARY at a moment's notice; Professor Andonuts' personal assistant and bodyguard."  Suddenly his hands waved over Apple and Orange. "Two scientists to make it look official…" finally, he jabbed his thumb at Tony.

"…and finally, one of his own men to baby-sit.  He wanted to get rid of anyone who posed a threat to his plans." He lowered his sunglasses and cast a piercing stare at the DREAMERS soldier. "Am I right?"

"Commander Labs only wishes the best for both his men and for you," replied Tony smoothly, flicking an unruly bang of hair out of his face.

"But then, what's he planning?" Apple twiddled his thumbs, his nerves jittered by the conversation at hand. "Do you think he wants to take over SANCTUARY?"

"Nothing of the sort," replied Tony quickly, eager to end the discussion post-haste. "Commander Labs made it explicit at this morning's speech…"

"Which was delivered only to SANCTUARY members," retorted Jeff.

Tony's smile faded. "Listen, I'm telling you, this isn't a diversion."

"We never said this mission was a diversion."

Ness had hit a nerve.  Tony withdrew after that and replaced his plastic smile.  He reached out and placed a reassuring hand on Jeff's thigh, and gave it a squeeze. "Look guys, I'm serious. There's nothing going on. Please, just try to relax."

Jeff squirmed uncomfortably and silently wrestled his leg away from the cadet's grip.  No one else seemed to notice.

After a few excruciatingly uncomfortable minutes of silent flight, the Sky Runner's hydraulic legs touched down softly on a wooded area near a hill in uptown Onett.  The six passengers descended warily; while Apple and Orange extracted their equipment from the craft's interior Poo reached for the pocket in his sleeve and withdrew his phone.

"This is Kai Poo," he said. "We have touched down at our target destination. What are our orders?"

"I can tell you that," replied Tony. "First, Apple and Orange may use their equipment to scan for abnormalities. In the meantime, the rest of us will patrol the city. May I suggest splitting up into pairs?" As he said those last words Tony's eyes fixated on Jeff.

Poo stored his cell phone. "I agree. You can go with Jeff."

Jeff's red eyes were filled with panic. "What?! Why can't I go with Ness?"

"You two will probably goof around if you're together," said Poo matter-of-factly. "This way we can focus. If we're going to be used as bait then we might as well be prepared."

Jeff looked pleadingly at Ness, who shrugged. "We'll meet back here in two hours, then," he suggested. "That way we can share what we found, right?"

"Good thinking," chirped Tony. "We'll reconvene in two hours."

Ness caught Poo stalking off and jogged to catch up to him, but not before he looked at Jeff, who seemed to plead, "please hurry" through his eyes.  He tried to signal a response, but before long he was out of Jeff's sight.

"You know, this town isn't half bad. I could really picture myself living here."

Ness dug his hands into his pockets and breathed in the quaint, small-town atmosphere of downtown Onett with relish.  Currently he and Poo were walking down a small avenue of stores and restaurants, each one colorfully decorated and bustling with people.  There weren't many cars to pollute the air around them, and the fresher air this brought as a consequence seemed almost palatably delicious to Ness.

"Normally I'd agree, now isn't the time to be talking about things like that," said Poo.

"Why not? Haven't you ever thought about what you're going to do after this is over?"

"…'this'?"

"Yeah, you know, this thing with Giygas. I mean, it's gotta end sometime, right?"

Ness' last phrase stirred something within Poo, and he decided to nip that conversation in the bud then and there. "…you picking up on anything, kid?"

"Nope, not yet," replied Ness dreamily. "I'm drawing blanks…"

Suddenly, a piercing scream met Ness' ears.  He and Poo looked briefly to each other before their imaginations took effect, conjuring images of monsters attacking the populace before anyone could prevent it.  They both took off running in the direction of the scream, and after rounding a corner found its origin.

Two teenagers in scrappy clothes held an elderly woman pinned against the wall of a building while a third, dressed in a pink suit, teased her neck sadistically with a knife.  His slicked-back, blonde hair shone in the midday sun; his blue eyes were obscured by sunglasses.  He didn't look much older than Poo.

"It's just a few gang bangers," mused Poo from afar, somewhat relieved. "Leave them be."

Ness cocked an eyebrow, aghast. "What? They're mugging an innocent old lady…can't we do something?"

"It's not our duty to involve ourselves with trivial affairs."

"Our duty is to protect people," retorted Ness. "Isn't that what we'd be doing now?"

Poo adjusted his shades coolly and straitened his clothes.  Inwardly he knew that Ness would help that old lady, with or without him.  Finally he gave Ness a nod, showing the boy that he conceded to rescuing the old woman.  The youth smiled in satisfaction and took off towards the three criminals.

"Hey, you guys!" Ness ran up to the three gangsters with clenched fists, while Poo lingered a few steps behind him.

The gangster in pink, apparently the leader, turned his head calmly towards Ness; his knife was still trained on the old lady's neck, who was struggling to keep the blade away from her skin. "And just who might you be?"

"It doesn't matter! Let that woman go!"

The man in pink chuckled. "Looks like we got a couple of heroes here," he said coyly. "We don't have those in Onett anymore…you must be from out of town."

"So what if I am?"

The leader of the gang glanced at his two henchmen and jerked his head towards Ness and Poo.  Immediately the two scraggly teens let go of their prey, who took advantage of the situation and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her.  The one in pink sheathed his knife in his buttoned-up jacket and adjusted his loosely-made tie.

"I think we should teach you guys a lesson in Onett-style politeness," he snickered. "Rule number one: never, ever, mess with the Sharks."

The two lesser gangsters lunged at Ness and Poo angrily.  Ness lashed out with his fist and connected with one of them; Poo merely stood there, arms crossed, and let his attacker come to him.

When his aggressor was close enough, Poo flicked his hand out and extended two of his fingers, catching the gangster's fist.  With one quick, elegant motion he then grabbed the teenager's wrist and flipped him over by the arm.  The gang banger landed painfully on his back and was unable to find the strength to get back up.

Ness, although not as graceful as Poo, was obtaining similar results.  He grappled with his own opponent for a moment before kneeing him in the stomach, after which Ness grabbed him by the collar and flung him face first into a nearby wall.  He slumped down, unconscious, immediately.

The gangster in pink furrowed his brow and reached for his knife, a look of anger plastered across his face.  He was about to lunge when the sound of a siren filled the air around them.

"Damn it, the cops…" he quickly stored his knife and began running in the opposite direction, away from Ness and Poo. "You'll pay for that! You better watch yourself from now on!"

Ness breathed a sigh of relief as a white police car skidded around the corner and screeched to a halt a short distance away.  Two policemen stepped out of the squad car and ran over hurriedly to the scene. 

"Looks like he got away this time," remarked one of them. "He left his buddies behind, though."

"Yeah." The other policeman caught sight of Ness and ran up to him. "You two! Just what were you doing out here?"

"We saw some gangsters picking on an old lady," replied Ness. "We just wanted to help."

"Well, looks like you got lucky this time," said the cop. "Next time, though, you might just get hurt. The Sharks are a mean bunch; you don't wanna mess with 'em."

"So we heard," said Poo. "Just who are they, anyway?"

"Newest and baddest gang in town," replied the cop. "They're led by some punk named Frank Fly. He's about yay high, blonde, wears a suit."

Ness dug his hands in his pockets once more. "That's the guy we just saw…he ran away when he heard you coming."

"Figures." The policeman and his partner, who had handcuffed the two younger gangsters, ushered their quarry into the car and got inside. "You better watch out for Frank and his guys, you hear?" said one of the policemen. "One wrong move and you're history."

With those parting words, the car drove away and left Ness and Poo by themselves in the middle of downtown Onett.

An hour later Ness and Poo rendezvoused with their other teammates on the hill where they had landed.  Apple and Orange had managed to conceal the Sky Runner with the help of some leaves, and were still calibrating some very sophisticated-looking devices on a portable table.  Jeff and Tony were there as well; the blonde looked much more at ease and much less like the nervous wreck he had turned into two hours before.

"We didn't find anything in the city," announced Poo. "What about you guys?"

"Nada," replied Jeff. "This city's really boring. Pretty, but boring."

"We've heard some police reports on our scanner about a gang running around, but that's it," chimed in Apple, who had a set of headphones placed loosely over one ear as he worked on a device, presumably a computer. "Also the weather service says it's going to rain tomorrow. No sign of anything else, though."

"Yeah, we got nothing," added Orange. "We checked the sky and the sea, just in case, but we haven't found a thing."

Agent Poo removed his sunglasses; it was starting to get dark. "Oh well. In that case we should think about finding a room for the night. We'll continue monitoring from there."

There was a collective nod.  The two technicians began putting their things away and packing them up when Tony noticed something unusual near his feet.

"What a strange species of flower," he commented.

The DREAMERS cadet bent down to pick it up when his actions drew the attention of both Ness and Jeff, who stared at the plant curiously.  The former gasped in surprise.

"Don't touch it!" Ness ran up to Tony and grabbed his hand, which was a mere centimeter from touching the blood-red petals of the flower.  As he got close to the plant his pupils dilated.

Jeff joined Ness and delicately plucked the flower, taking care not to get his fingers pricked by the multitude of thorns covering the stem. "It's Giygas…I can feel it," he said. "This flower's been infested by it."

Orange shot Jeff a quizzical look. "Really? How's that possible? We ran a soil check as soon as we got here."

Apple looked up from his equipment. "We did?"

Orange glared at his partner. "Didn't you do it?"

Apple gulped. "I thought you did."

Poo walked up to the scientists and gave them one of his piercing stares. "In that case, I think you better do it now," he said sternly.

Apple reached into the pile of equipment at his feet and produced a small silver case, which he tossed at Orange.  The latter then opened it up and extracted two electrodes attached to wires, which he dug into the ground.  After adjusting some knobs and typing a few commands into the small number pad inside, he was joined by Apple, and the two laboratory workers stared at the readout intensely.  Everyone else waited a short distance away, anticipating the verdict anxiously.

After a few seconds Apple and Orange looked to their companions and gave them the only answer they could.

"Oh crap."

Shortly thereafter the scientists packed up as many of their things as they could and took off after their co-workers, who had begun running in the direction of downtown Onett.  There were still several people outside, despite the fact that it was dusk; they lingered from cafés to restaurants and back, oblivious to the imminent destruction of their town.  Thus, they reacted in the most natural way when Ness, Jeff, and Tony began running down the street, yelling for everybody to go home and hide, and to stay away from any strange plants…

…they ignored them.

The SANCTUARY agents, determined to warn everybody despite what they thought of it, rounded a corner and headed into a deserted street lined with old buildings, with Ness and Poo in the lead.  Surprisingly, they crashed into a pink-clad figure with slick blonde hair almost immediately.

"Hey, watch it!" Frank Fly got up and dusted his vintage polyester off, unaware of who had bumped into.   When he saw Ness and Poo lying in the ground in front of him, his eyes filled with anger and he reached for the knife in his coat. "You two! First my crew, now me? I'm gonna make you pay!"

Ness held up a hand to try and stop Frank.  Jeff and the others looked on, confused. "Look, we don't have time for this," he explained hurriedly. "You need to get away from here as fast as possible."

"No way, you're not getting away from me this time," snarled the gangster. "I'm going to cut you right here, right now!"

Frank was about to lunge when Ness caught sight of something very big behind Frank.  His pupils dilated, as his worst fears had been confirmed.

"Look out!" Ness tackled Frank to the ground mere seconds before a massive, insect-like creature swooped down and tried to grasp at the spot where Frank's head was previously.  The insect flew back up with a buzzing noise and sped around the corner before anyone had a chance to look at it.

"Was that…" gasped Jeff.

"A bee," said Tony, eyes wide. "It's a giant bee…"

Poo ran after the Drone-Giygas as it rounded the corner, and was greeted with the sounds of loud buzzing, glass breaking, and people screaming.  The insect, which was apparently by itself, was preparing to swoop down on an innocent bystander when the agent lashed out with his hand and shot a star-shaped discus of energy; the blast connected with the insect in mid-air and sliced it cleanly in half, showering the innocent man in fetid entrails.  By then he was the only one left still there, and he ran away as quickly as possible.

"What the hell is that thing!" yelped Frank, who had taken to following Ness and the others as they ran towards Poo. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"We don't have time to explain," replied Jeff. "But it's bad, trust us. You got a place where we can hide?"

"Me and my crew hang around the old arcade two blocks from here," replied Frank, out of breath.

Tony jogged next to Frank and pulled out a billfold from his pocket, which held his identification card, and flashed it at Frank. "In that case, in the name of the Eagleland Military I'm commandeering your establishment as a shelter. Get everybody you can and gather them up there, understand?"

Frank's blue eyes nearly jumped out of his skull. Say what?!"

"There's no time to argue," interjected Jeff, who grabbed Frank's arm and led him away. "Let's move!"

Apple and Orange trudged behind the others as best they could, but their equipment was heavy and they had to stop to catch their breaths.  Orange's face was covered in sweat, not just because of the fatigue, but also because of his own scorn for his mistakes.

"It was the soil! It manifested in the soil so the plants could absorb it, and then it let the bees get infected through the pollen!" his lament fell only on Apple's ears. "What an idiot! How could we have missed the soil?!"

Apple tried to comfort his co-worker. "Look, there's nothing we can do now…let's just get moving and hope that the bee was the only thing infested."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Orange quipped back angrily, eyes on the brink of overflowing with tears. "That was just a solitary bee! What do you think is going to happen when the pollen gets taken to a beehive?!"

Apple answered Orange's question by pointing to a spot in the distance. "That."

Orange straitened up and looked to the place Apple was indicating with his hand.  There, on a distant hill in the middle of a wooded area, was a gigantic beehive, a cylindrical monstrosity that towered over the city and was crawling from top to bottom with monstrous bees.  Several monstrous vines had grown around its base to provide the structure with support; the infernal buzzing reached his ears even at that distance.

Orange's glasses slid to the tip of his nose, and his jaw fell open.  For the second time that day, he uttered the only two words he could come up with to describe that situation.

"Oh crap."