Once again, sorry for the delay in updating.


11. Set…

Eddy looked at the mess he'd made of the kitchen. It was impressive. He could fill a good few hours tidying this up. By then the fight may have started and finished, and maybe he could see Blossom again/prepare to spend the rest of his life as a Kryptonite salve. It was all good!

Still, the kids were probably hungry, and he had, in all the chaos, actually prepared some food. This had not been his primary objective, but it was a nice side affect.

"DINNER!" he called upstairs. Then he thought that perhaps he should go talk to them, they were probably very distressed. Then again, maybe it was better to keep things as normal as possible. He hadn't heard any movement, so he called up again.

"It's going cold!"

No response. As normal as possible, thought Eddy, so he left them to it for a moment while he started his dinner. That was the normal way; let them learn by experience that you come when you're called.

After ten minutes had past, he was getting concerned. Maybe they hadn't heard him. They were probably playing music loudly in there rooms… with headphones in. That accounted for the fact they couldn't hear him combined with the complete silence upstairs. Of course neither child had a music system in their room, but Eddy wasn't going to let a minor detail like that foil his perfectly logical explanation.

He went upstairs. "MJ," he said, knocking on her door. There was no response, so – being a parent – he went straight in. She wasn't there.

"That's funny," Eddy said to himself. He was speaking aloud now. The deafly silence emanating from the house was beginning to freak him out. He moved quickly across the hall way in to the Edwards room. Not to his great surprise, but to his extreme worry, it was empty too.

However, there were two pieces of paper obvious to the eye, lying on bed. One was a note that read:

Dad, gone for some fresh air with MJ, will be back soon. Edward.

The other was a collection of randomly scribbled notes, in a sort of brainstorm. Two of the arcs particularly caught Eddy's now petrified eyes. One said:

Ship will be over head at seven o'clock.

And the other said:

Puffs can survive in space.


Edward looked at the knocked out Guard. He glanced at MJ. "Well that's no way to get the air lock open," he said.

MJ nodded happily. "Yep, I made a good hit," she said. "Can we attack some more? Please?"

Why are you asking me, thought Edward. You're the Superhero, you're the one who dragged me here. I don't even know how to fly! But he could hardly say all that. So instead he said; "Perhaps we should be more subtle."

The sound of footsteps could be heard from round the corner, some one wanted to know why the door had been opened. A small smile crept over MJ's face, and a couple of dribbles of acid appeared around her mouth. She was ready for a fight.

However, Edward had another idea. He kicked open an air vent in the wall, and dragged MJ into it. The Kryptonites arrived moments later, and found nothing. "Just like in the movies," he muttered.

MJ was less impressed. "I could have had them!" she hissed. Edward turned round and looked at her.

"Keep the spider under control," he said bluntly, "you're supposed to like dark places." It hit the spot; MJ looked rather ashamed of herself.

"Sorry," she said, "but it really thinks it can win, I mean I really think I can win!"

"Good, but that doesn't mean we should test the theory."

MJ accepted this, leaving Edward to try and work out where to go. He could barely believe they were here. As far as he was concerned, MJ had almost just flown up to the ship – dragging him behind – and knocked o the door. Someone must have spotted them, surely. These aliens were far too arrogant, he thought. Now, which way was the way to the prisons?


Hump-RE knocked on the door. He got no response, so he gently pushed it open. The Prince was inside, calmly warming up for the fight by bashing a lead punching bag. He looked up.

"Ah, Hump-RE," he said, lazily hitting the punching bag so hard that the chain broke, "is it time?"

"Nearly time sire, so I thought you'd like one last situation update."

"Yes, that would be good. Proceeded."

"Of course sire. On earth, our forces have seized all their major military installations, and have thus far encountered only futile resistance. Everything is in place for us to take over the planet once you have killed the earthling-creature-thing."

"And no trouble from those mutants you worried so much about," the Prince asked smugly. Hump-RE winced.

"Not as yet sire," he said.

"Of course not," the Prince smashed another improbably large object with easy. "They know who the new masters are. If they play their cards right, a few of them may even be quite prosperous under my reign."

"Of course," Hump-RE coughed. "When are we going to tell the public that the king is dead?" he asked quietly. The Prince swung round.

"Soon enough," he said in a harsh whisper. "We can't do it now, that would just leave to a violent succession. Some of our people doubt my ability to lead; they would use it as an opportunity to attack. But, if we wait until I have established a new Krypton, then who would dare challenge me?"

"No one sire."

"Precisely. By the way, have we tracked the Hedgehog?"

"Arm-OR is working on it as we speak sire, torturing all the mobians until we find out were he could have gone."

"Having fun is he," chuckled the Prince.

"I believe so especially with the young female hedgehog."

The Prince laughed. "Good, good," he said, "but surely the Puff is the most likely to know where he is. She helped him escape after all."

"Yes, but it was thought that torturing her would ruin tonight's show. Maybe you could ask her just before you kill her, you know, pretend that if she does, you'll show her mercy."

"Good idea Hump-RE, I will. Shall we begin?"


Blossom tried to keep her self warmed-up in her cell. She had no idea when they were coming for her, but when they did, she needed to be on top form. She thought once more about what Goku had said. Be defensive, back off him, look for the opening, and when you get one punish him for it. She had the tactic. Now, she just needed to execute it.

There was some rattling from the vent above, and Blossom suddenly heard the last thing she expected to hear.

"MUM!"

She swung round. Edward dropped out of the air vent and smacked into the floor. Blossom was still processing this shock, when MJ flew out of the vent and dived for a hug. Instinctively, Blossom provided one.

"Mummy, I've missed you!" she wept. Blossom stroked her hair as the Spider-Puff shivered in her arms.

"It's okay MJ," she said, still trying to process the fact that the kids were here, "what are you doing here."

"We came to rescue you," Edward said, "or, MJ came to rescue you, but she's not allowed out of the house on her own!"

Blossom laughed. "And how are you my boy?" she asked. Edward shrugged.

"I'm fine," he lied. "Can I have a hug?" Blossom freed an arm from MJ, and Edward move into the hold. She hugged him too. "Why did it all have to change," he asked tearfully, "why do things have to be different?"

Blossom knocked his cap off and starched the back of his head, like she had when he was young. "Things have always been like this," she said gently, "it's just when you're young, we try to protect you from it."

"Why do you stop?" MJ asked. Blossom thought for a moment.

"Because a time will come when you want to be free from protection. When you will want your independence. You might not feel it now, but you will. But when you start to want your independence, you won't want to be taught how to use it. So as a responsible parent, we try to teach you how to handle independence before you want it. If that makes any sense."

"It doesn't."

"Oh, well in that case, we stop because we do," said Blossom in a typical mum tone. MJ giggled.

"It's strange to think of you as a superhero Mum," she said earnestly. "I can't believe that your about to fight for the future of the entire world."

"She not," said Edward, pulling away from the hug, "lets get out of here…" He was interrupted by a buzzing from his pocket. He pulled out his mobile. "Oh shit its dad!"

"Don't swear in front of MJ," Blossom said. "Give me the phone." Edward did. Blossom picked up. "Hello?"

"WHERE THE HELL ARE… Blossom?"

"Hi Eddy."

"Blossom? But… I… oh shit they made it. They're with you aren't they."

"If you mean the kids, then yes."

"Are they okay? Are you okay? Is anyone okay! Oh shit oh shit oh shit…"

"Eddy, please, don't panic," Blossom tried to calm him down. "The kids are fine. I'm fine, for now. I think we're going to start the fight soon."

"No their not," said Edward quickly, "because we're getting out of here!"

Blossom put a finger on his lips. "No, I have to go through with it. Okay Edward, Eddy?"

"To you really have to?" asked Eddy. Blossom nodded, although Eddy couldn't see it.

"Sonic has a plan. But for it to work I have to win. So I have to go throw with it."

"Sonic's back? Oh good. Did you talk to him?"

"Briefly. He was okay."

"Humm, alright."

"Yep," Blossom said. MJ had wondered over to the cell door during all this. She now sprinted back excitedly.

"There are some people coming!" she said.

"Okay Eddy, this is it," Blossom said. "Anything you want to say?"

There was a lot Eddy wanted to say. He wanted to tell Blossom how much she truly meant to her, that she was the entire world to him, his entire life. That without her, the sun wouldn't rise and he would suffer perpetual darkness. He wanted to tell all the romantic blah that he'd said when he proposed, but this time it would mean more, because people are expected to say that stuff when they propose. But he couldn't. How would it help? She didn't need to be thinking of anything else when she was fighting. Especially not him.

So he said, "I'll have the kettle on when you get home. Love you."

"Love you to," said Blossom, and she ended the call. However Eddy felt, it didn't matter, because he'd done his job. For Blossom had found hope simply in the fact that he'd used "when" instead of "if".

The cell door was opened. "Eat this!" MJ spat, and she opened up with some web lines from her wrists. She'd nearly completely wrapped up one of the guards by the time Blossom had stopped her.

"Don't worry MJ," she said, "I have to do this." MJ looked hurt, but she stopped. Blossom now assessed the Kryptonite arrivals. It was Hump-RE with two guards (one of which who was now webbed up.) Blossom stood her ground next to MJ, while Edward moved himself protectively in front of his sister. Hump-RE approached, smiling politely.

"Ah, are these your kids Blossom?" he asked. She nodded. Hump-RE looked at them. "What delightful kids," he said.

"Don't come any closer," said Edward. Hump-RE stopped. Blossom smiled slightly. Good boy, she thought. She also thought Edward knew.

"Don't misunderstand me," Hump-RE said. "I'm not here to harm you. I'm only a civil servant. I just follow my master's wishes. His current wish is for you to come to the arena for your trial by combat."

"What about my children?" asked Blossom. Hump-RE looked at them, genuinely concerned.

"They better come in the royal box with me," he said. "We wouldn't want Arm-OR to get his sick hands on them. Or his lordship, for that matter… Anyway, we can't waist anymore time. Your destiny awaits."


Okay, please review. By the way, if you enjoyed "Thirty Seconds of Cell and Freeza" in the last chapter, mg34 has started a story semi-based on it, called "Law and Order, HFIL Department." If you click on my homepage and go to my favourite author's section, you'll find his homepage and can get to it from there. If you didn't, don't worry, but I wouldn't be a good brother if I didn't promote his story, and I promise you it's funny. Okay, I'll try and update quicker next time.