Amber raised her hand, pointing her palm straight at Alice as she released a stream of fire at the blue-haired girl. Alice's eyebrows dipped in concentration and raised her arm up, a wall of energy erecting with the motion. The wall held, protecting Alice from the flames. She dropped the shield when the fire died away, watching as Amber made a run for her. The alien formed an energy ball in each of her palms and threw them to slow the E.V.O. down. Amber's hands burst into flames, consuming them completely. She raised her hands and whacked away the oncoming energy balls, paying no mind to them as the attacks hit the wall behind her. Seeing that her opponent was still oncoming, Alice jettisoned into the air, missing capture by just seconds.
Alice spun around in the air, maintaining eye contact with her opponent. She raised up her palm and fired an energy beam at the woman. A wall of fire sprouted from the ground, absorbing the energy beam. Alice cut off the beam and raised up both hands, forming an energy dome over the raging fire. She couldn't see Amber inside of the dome, and so she began to slowly shrink it, smothering the flames that burned inside. As she was shrinking her dome, something bright red from beneath her caught her attention. She glanced downward, spotting a red circle forming on the tiled ground, not unlike what the Fusion Monsters did with their Fusion energy. Alice flew backward, out of the path as a beam of fire jetted upward just inches from her. With her attention momentarily broken, her dome significantly weakened, allowing Amber the chance to overpower the energy dome and break it into pieces. Moving quickly, Amber ran for the wall, leaping on to its side. From there, she leaped at Alice, bursting through the beam of fire that had obscured Alice's vision. Catching the girl by surprise, Amber gripped Alice by her face and shoved her downward. The blue-haired girl's back hit the tiled flooring, causing the girl to grunt in pain. Amber tightened her grip for a moment, a warning that she could set her face a flamed, but she didn't follow through with the threat. She released her hold on the girl and stood up.
"Training over," the woman stated.
Alice breathed in through her nose, letting air fill her lungs. She pulled herself up into a standing position, interlocking her arms behind her back. She did her best to keep a neutral expression, not unlike the ones Amber always wore, but the briefest look of anticipation entered her eyes.
"Have I graduated?" Alice asked.
"No."
It was a testament to how Alice had accustomed to Amber's demeanor. Instead of flinching or being upset by the answer, Alice waited patiently for Amber to continue with her assessment.
"However, your skills have improved," Amber conceded. "You pass."
The smile Alice had been fighting back broke free. It was officially the end of her training session, and she'd be reunited with her friends. It left her with a bittersweet feeling in her chest; she was excited to see her friends again, but saddened to leave her training.
"Thank you," Alice said sincerely.
Amber waved her hand, like she was swatting away the gratitude.
"This was not an act of generosity. I was doing this to ensure the Earth a better chance of winning," she explained dispassionately. She turned away from the girl, making an exit for the door. Alice followed behind. "Clean up. Your team will be here shortly. Your communicator is waiting for you in your room."
Alice nodded at the woman's retreating back, not saying anything more as she went in the opposite direction of Amber, heading for her own quarters. She was a little upset that their training was officially over. Even if Amber trained her for selfish reasons, Alice was still thankful she had trained her at all. It had only been thirty days, but Alice's reflexes, endurance, defenses, and even her offensive abilities had been greatly improved. She wasn't at Amber's caliber, but the training had boosted her confidence, and she felt ready to return to the fight.
There was a planet to save.
Alice stood at the garage door of Providence's hangar, keeping an eye on the Nowhere desert. Nano Boomer sat on her shoulder, his head resting against her head. She was absent-mindedly petting his hair, calming down the little Nano who had remnants of tears in his eyes. His reunion with Alice had been dramatic, and earned the two a few looks from the agents operating in the hangar. Nano Bubbles was still in the NanoCom, and had expressed her own happiness at seeing Alice again. Once Nano Boomer was calm enough to go back in, Alice would pull her out so that they could have their own reunion.
The eerie silence of the Nowhere desert was disturbed by a high-powered engine from up in the air. Believing it to be a KND S.C.A.M.P.E.R., Alice stepped out of the hangar and looked up into the air, searching for the air craft. To her surprise and confusion, a racecar styled aircraft hovered in the air. It looked KND built, but had no markings to claim it as their technology. As it descended closer to the dirt, Alice was able to pick out two occupants in the airplane. The front seat was occupied by a boy, probably the pilot, Alice didn't recognize. The passenger of the aircraft sat behind the boy, and she was able to identify the girl as her friend Suzy. When the plane was only three feet off the ground - kicking up dust as it hovered over the desert floor; although Alice avoided being hit by the little pebbles kicked up by erecting an energy shield in front of her - Suzy hopped out of her seat, over the side of the plane, and landed on two feet. She waved a hand at the pilot, saying something to him that Alice couldn't make out; the plane's engines washed out any other noise. The sunglass wearing boy gave a nod in acknowledgement and lifted back up into the air, giving the redhead a thumbs up before speeding off.
Suzy ran over to Alice and threw her arms around the girl. Alice accepted the hug without flinching, and even chuckled when she heard Nano Boomer squawk when the impact nearly sent him off her shoulder. The Nano had no intention of sharing his favorite person, but he didn't say a thing to the redhead; he settled for simply glaring at her in the hopes she'd get the memo. She didn't.
"It's been so long!" Suzy cheered as a form of greeting. She pulled back from the embrace, keeping her hands on Alice's upper arms. "How have you been? How did it go?"
Alice smiled, happiness flowing through her system upon seeing one of her friends again.
"I'm doing alright," Alice answered. She looked in the direction the mystery airplane had gone off in. "I thought you and Junior were coming in a S.C.A.M.P.E.R."
Suzy shrugged in reply. "Ace was in Sector V and he owed me a favor." She gave her area a look around, frowning in confusion. "Junior said he was on his way last I spoke to him. I can't imagine the Center of the Earth has any traffic jams."
As if on cue, the earth began to rumble. Alice and Suzy broke their embrace, staring at the ground as it began to crack open. Some masked Providence agents still in the area, startled by the earth shaking, rushed over to the hangar's entrance. All eyes focused in on the crack forming in ground. The crack separated slowly, like it was being pulled apart by invisible hands. Once it had opened to its widest, a circular craft with a drill attached to the top of it and four mechanical spider legs attached rocketed out of the opening. The craft landed just at the edge of the opening in the earth. The agents, expecting the unidentified craft to contain an enemy, held up their rifles and aimed it at the craft.
"Hold on," Suzy called, raising her hand up to stop the agents.
The side of the unidentified craft opened, revealing a ramp that extended out of the vehicle and touched down on the desert ground. Almost as soon as the ramp touched down, black forms roughly the height of a toddler came rushing out. Alice couldn't quite figure out why they looked familiar to her, but she pegged them as demons. The small demons rushed around their area, climbing the walls of Providence and even attempting to climb Alice, Suzy and the Providence agents; the latter was thwarted thanks to Alice raising an energy dome over their group. The demons bounced off against the dome, but Alice couldn't tell if they were doing it to break down her barrier or play with it. Seeing the maniacal grins on their faces as they bounced off her barrier, Alice ruled a little from Column A and a little from Column B. Nano Boomer growled and zipped to the edge of the force-field, sticking out his tongue and making faces at the small demons, which excited the invading group.
"That's enough!" a voice rang out from the craft, stilling the movements of the small demons.
The small demons - along with Alice, Suzy and the agents - looked to the mouth of the craft, where Nergal Junior could be seen. With a fierce glare focused on the small demons, the boy stomped his way down the metal ramp. At the base of the ramp, he raised his arm up sharply and pointed at the craft.
"Inside, now," Junior ordered. The small demons made some noises in a language Alice didn't recognize, but Junior clearly knew it fluently because tendrils spurted out from his back and wiggled around in aggression. "Now!"
The demons made more complaints in their native language, but obediently rushed up the ramp into the craft. Once the last of the small demons entered, Junior pulled out a small remote and pressed the large red button on it. The ramp retracted and the door began to slide close. Just before it was shut, Junior hurled the remote at the small opening. The remote made it inside the craft, and once the door was closed shut, it lifted itself up on its mechanical legs, and hopped into the crack in the ground. The ground pushed back together once the craft cleared it, and there were no markings to prove that it had ever been used as an opening between the surface world and the Center of the Earth. Junior heaved a long sigh, and then spun around, facing his two teammates. The danger had passed, so Alice dropped her force-field and the Providence agents returned to their stations in the hangar, turning their heads over their shoulders to give the half-demon boy a look (presumably, since their masks were still on). He ignored the looks of the agent, choosing instead to focus on his teammates. He approached the two hesitantly. While he was happy to see the two of them after so long, the cheeky grin on Suzy's face unsettled him.
"When school goes back into session, you should join theater," she commented. "You're the textbook definition of dramatic."
Junior glowered at Suzy, his cheeks a bright pink from embarrassment. "This was my dad's idea," he grumbled. "He always likes to show off."
"Well, you could have kept a few of them around, they could have been of some use," Suzy commented.
"No way," Junior argued, giving her a flat look. "They're annoying at home already. I don't need them involved with my life more than that."
"What are they?" Alice asked cautiously, not wanting to upset Junior further if it was a difficult subject.
"Annoying," Junior grumbled.
"That can't be their name," Suzy joked, her grin widening when she saw the look he sent her. "Oh, oh! Let me guess. Nergalings?" Junior blinked at the redhead, taken aback that she had guessed the name correctly. Seeing the look, the girl shrugged. "Mandy and I talk."
Junior's eyebrows came together in worry. Mandy wasn't the most social human being on the planet, and something about her and Suzy in communication with each other raised red warning flags in his mind. He didn't bring it up at the moment since he was happy to see his teammates again, but it was put in the back of his mind to be addressed at a later time.
"Did you two have to wait for me?" Junior asked.
"I just got here," Suzy answered him.
Alice shook her head. "I haven't been waiting long."
Junior nodded in acknowledgement. "Okay, next question. Where are we going next?"
Alice looked to Suzy first to see if she would make a suggestion first, but the redhead was silent. Emboldened, she raised her hand, getting their attention.
"I'd like to go see my aunt and uncle," Alice suggested. She hastily added on, "If that's alright."
"I'm all for it," Suzy remarked, and an excited light shone in her eyes. "And I got just the thing to take us there."
Alice soared through the desert sky, taking the lead since she knew the way to her family's house. Beneath her, her two teammates were riding on some of DexLabs newest creations. While she had been in isolation for thirty days, DexLabs had rolled out a line of hoverboards, jetbikes, gliders and hovercars. Suzy had purchased vehicles for all three of them, reasoning that even if Alice flew everywhere, she may grow tired and want to ride around to conserve her energy. It was for that reason that a Dynomutt Dasher, a hoverbike in the shape of the canine hero Dynomutt, was sitting in her NanoCom. Underneath the flying alien, Suzy was riding in a Diva Dynamite Hovercar, blasting the Hex Girls' hit single "The Witch's Ghost" on the radio loud enough to be heard even by Alice. Following behind, Junior was balancing on a Valhallen Shredder, which was a hoverboard in the shape of Valhallen's famous guitar in the color green. With their newest forms of transportation, the group of three was able to pass through the Nowhere Desert quickly.
From her aerial advantage, Alice easily spotted the Bagge homestead, which stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of Nowhere. The girl reached the farmhouse first, landing at the base of the steps just as Suzy and Junior pulled up. Suzy switched off the radio, which let the three teammates hear the rickety front door swing open and slam against the outer wall. The patriarch of the household stomped outside; the local newspaper rolled up in his right hand like he would use it as a weapon.
"What's that racket?!" Eustace barked, lifting the hand with the newspaper up over his head. He shook it back and forth threateningly. "Yah darn kids and yer rotten - huh, Alice? Is that you?"
Alice raised her hand and waved. "Hi, Uncle Eustace."
The elderly farmer didn't get the chance to greet her back. A feminine, Scottish voice called from inside the house, "Alice? Is Alice here?"
"She is," Eustace called back into the house, his tone only revealing a slight annoyance.
Muriel popped up at the doorway, pushing past her husband and rushing down the steps. She wrapped the blue-haired alien in a hug, lifting the girl's feet off the ground. Courage, responding to Alice's name, rushed out of the house and stood next to the reuniting family, hopping up and down in his excitement.
"Oh, Alice! I'm so happy to see you," the woman gushed. She set the girl back down on her feet, pulling back and leaving her hands on the girl's shoulders. "I've missed you."
Alice smiled at her aunt. "I've missed you, too, Aunt Muriel."
Courage whined, wanting to be acknowledged by the girl. Alice smiled down at the dog, and bent down, being released from her aunt's hold. She stroked the pink dog's head, getting a pleased noise from the loyal canine.
"I missed you, too, Courage," she said, cooing at the canine.
"Come inside," Muriel urged, her smile reaching her ears. "I have a surprise for you." She noticed the two guests still standing next to their vehicles, and offered them a sweet smile. "Your friends are invited as well."
"Thank you, ma'am," Suzy said, picking up the ends of her dress to give a little curtsey.
Muriel led the way into the modest abode. Eustace followed in after the party passed him, giving his niece a pat on the shoulder to welcome her home, a blank look to the redhead girl, and an unkind look as the only boy on the team passed him by (granted, he always had a sour look on his face, but Junior's sixth sense picked up that Eustace was especially unhappy with the boy being around). Muriel led her niece and her three friends to the lone table in the kitchen, ushering them to take a seat.
"Now, you all must be famished from your journey," Muriel stated. "Let me grab something for you."
She gave a wink to the pink haired dog, who nodded back chummily. He hopped over to the cabinet under the sink, busily looking for something in it. The two guests looked to Alice in questioning, but the girl looked just as confuse don what her aunt and the dog were up to.
"Now dearie, close your eyes," Muriel instructed, moving over to the refrigerator's door.
The farmer's wife didn't open the door until she saw that her niece, still confused by her aunt's behavior, did as instructed. From the refrigerator, she pulled out a plate that contained a cake with cream cheese topping, a 'Happy Birthday' written on the top with blue icing. Muriel raised a finger to her lips, silently asking for Alice's two friends to keep quiet. Although the two had been surprised to see the cake, they quickly complied with the woman's silent request. Suzy, her face bright with giddiness, pulled out her NanoCom and raised it up, beginning to film. Courage closed the cabinets door, holding in his furry arms a collection of confetti poppers. He offered one to each of their guests (minus Alice) and cautiously offered one to Eustace. The old farmer mumbled something rather unkind under his breath, but snatched up a popper under his wife's warning glare. All smiles once more, Muriel approached the table and gently, carefully, placed the plate down in front of Alice. The elderly woman held up three fingers, and then counted down.
"Happy birthday, Alice!" the elderly woman led the cheer, the other members in the home (even the grumpy farmer and the pink dog) expressing the same sentiment and pulling the string on the confetti poppers. Alice's eyes flew open, the birthday cake greeting her sights first. Her eyes moved around the room, staring in surprise at her family and friends.
"My birthday?"
"Of course, dear," Muriel said. "Now, today isn't your actual birthday, but we couldn't celebrate it because you were at Providence."
Alice pulled her NanoCom and checked on the date. She hadn't given it much thought when her NanoCom had been returned to her. Her birthday had been six days ago. She had forgotten her own birthday.
"Is everything alright?" Muriel asked in concern, bending down so she could get a better look at her niece. "Do you not like the cake?"
Alice quickly shook her head. "No, no. It's not that." She looked down, an embarrassed blush coloring her cheeks. "It's...I... I forgot about my birthday."
"Because of your time at Providence?" Muriel asked for clarification. When she saw her niece give a nod in affirmation, the woman rested a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder. "It is a shame we couldn't celebrate on your actual day, but that's in the past. You're here now, and that's all that matters."
The words warmed Alice's heart, and the color in her cheeks died down to normal coloring. A warm, grateful smile spread across her face and she nodded in agreement.
"You're right, Aunt Muriel. Thank you." She looked at her family and friends, saying with clear gratefulness in her voice, "Thank you for being here."
"Of course we'd be here for your birthday," Suzy assured the girl.
"We don't have any gifts, though," Junior admitted sheepishly.
"I don't need them. Having you here is enough for me."
Suzy smiled brightly and reached over the table, giving the girl a one-armed hug, mindful of Muriel who was cutting the cake into reasonable pieces. Alice accepted the hug with her smile growing a bit wider. Courage didn't want to be left out, and so he wrapped his own arms around her leg to show his love for her. Alice reached down and ran her fingers through his soft fur.
"Who'd like some cake?" Muriel asked the party guests, holding up two plates with a slice of cake on each.
"'Bout time we get to eat," Eustace grumbled as he joined the group of kids at the table.
Despite his grumpy attitude, he paused long enough beside his niece to give the top of her hair an affectionate stroke before he took his seat beside the birthday girl. Alice smiled at her uncle and took a bite of the cake, tasting that the chocolate cake didn't have a hint of vinegar, which was her aunt's favorite ingredient to add in her cooking.
"Soo... how old are you?" Junior asked, cutting part of his cake with his fork.
Suzy reached out and whacked the boy on his arm before Alice had the chance to answer.
"Junior, you can't just ask a lady how old she is!" Suzy lectured, shaking her head at the boy's question. She then stuck her fork in her cake and asked, "So how old are you, Alice?"
Junior shot the redhead a flabbergasted look. "I just asked that!"
"Yes, but I'm a girl," Suzy retorted with a flippant hand wave, "so it's okay for girls to ask other girls."
Junior narrowed his eyes at the girl, his eyebrows dipping downward as he tried to decipher if Suzy was lying or not. Suzy ignored the boy's concentrated look and stared expectantly at her blue-haired friend.
"I'm thirteen," Alice answered, taking another bite of her cake.
"As I suspected," Suzy said with a sagely nod.
"That makes you the youngest," Junior pointed out, pointing a finger at the redhead girl seated next to him.
Suzy stuck her nose up in the air, pretend arrogance rolling off her person. "It does. Feel free to be jealous of my youthful glow, old man," she joked in a mock haughty tone.
"Are you thirteen, too?" Alice asked her half-demon friend.
"Yeah. Birthday was in January," Junior answered. "Back before all of this-" he waved his hand to the window, indicating the larger world outside, "started."
Suzy leaned closer to Alice, stage whispering conspiratorially, "Can you believe he didn't invite us?"
Junior sputtered at the blatant accusation, his cheeks burning a bright pink.
"Hold on, we barely even talked back in January," Junior protested. "And my mom threw a family party."
"Excuses, excuses."
Suzy laughed behind her hand as Junior's face turned an even brighter pink bordering on red. Alice bit her lip to stop herself from laughing, although Courage from beside her snickered into his paw. Eustace hurmphed.
"Keep it down! I'm tryin' to eat here!" the farmer complained.
His complaint was met with a harsh thwack from his wife's wooden spoon. The old man yelped from the pain to his arm, rubbing at it to alleviate the pain. He sent a glare at his wife, but she fired a hard glare right back at him.
"There'll be none of that," she lectured her husband. "Let them enjoy themselves."
Eustace grumbled under his breath, but didn't voice further complaints. Satisfied that her husband had been put in his place, Muriel took the chair on Alice's other side, bright smiles once more upon her face.
"That's better," Muriel commented lightly. "Now Alice, what were ya doing up in Providence?"
"What'd you want with them G-men?" Eustace added on.
Alice momentarily tensed up, her fingers tightening around the fork in her hand. She had been so excited to see her aunt and uncle again, that she forgot she'd have to give them an explanation about her time at Providence and her joining the war effort. She took in a deep breath and placed her fork on the plate.
"I..I was training."
"With them?" Muriel asked at the same time Eustace groused, "What for?"
Alice's right index finger drew indiscernible patterns on the table top as an outlet to relieve her nervousness. She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, grabbing onto whatever courage she could.
"I've joined the war effort." She was mildly pleased to hear how steady her voice was.
Muriel clasped a hand over her mouth, gasping from behind it. Eustace's eyebrows drew downward and his lips dipped into a deeper frown. Courage whimpered lightly, anxiety filling his large eyes as they swerved from the Bagges to Alice and back repeatedly. Alice dropped her eyes to the table, watching her finger trace the top of the table sporadically.
"I signed up over two months ago," Alice continued explaining. She stopped her mindless tracing and flipped her hand over so that she could stare at her palm. "My alien DNA gave me powers, and I joined to use them against Fuse's forces." She curled her fingers into a fist. "I'm sorry for not telling you."
Muriel reached out and laid her hand over her niece's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze of encouragement.
"You have nothing to apologize for, dear," Muriel assured her niece. "It is very brave of you."
"You're not..." Alice paused as she searched for the right word. "Upset?"
"Heavens, no," Muriel quickly reassured. "We'll be worried, of course, but we're not upset." She brushed a stray hair from Alice's eyes, smiling gently at the teenager. "There's nothing you could do to make us upset. We love you."
Alice smiled gratefully at her aunt, feeling her shoulders relax as the weight of her decision rolled off her. "Thank you."
"You haven't done anything too dangerous, hmm?" Eustace questioned, sticking a piece of the cake in his mouth.
"No," Alice answered quickly, shooting a quick look at her teammates to not call out the lie. Uncle Eustace would probably not want to hear about their near-death in Devil's Canyon. Her two friends returned the stare with subtle nods of understanding.
"Would you tell us some of the things you've done?" Muriel asked. "We get updates from the Nowhere News, but they don't cover everything."
"Of course," Alice answered with a smile. Then, uncertainly, "But... you're not surprised about the powers...?"
"Not at all," Muriel replied happily.
"Your mother had powers, too," Eustace piped up. He shoved the last of his cake in his mouth, and with his mouth full, said, "She had the power to annoy me."
"Eustace," Muriel admonished.
"It's true!"
Alice turned the doorknob and pushed the door open, revealing to herself and her two friends standing behind her the guest bedroom that had been her room for three weeks in January. The same wood flooring that existed in the hall bled into the guest room, though the room had blueish-grey wallpaper instead of the yellow with flowers pattern found in the hallway. White curtains hung over the only window in the room, currently drawn back so that the sun's light could peek into the room. A queen-sized bed was snug up against the wall, with two nightstands situated on either side. On the nightstands sat basic looking lamps. A dresser sat at the foot of the bed, and on top of the dresser were three picture frames.
Alice stepped into the room and spun around, extending her arm inward like she was showing it off; she sort of was. She had already given a tour of the lower part of the house to the two so that they wouldn't get lost. The house itself wasn't very big, all things considered, but this was Nowhere, and the Bagge farmhouse was resting on a cemetery; anything could happen at Nowhere with absolutely no logic attached to it.
"Here's the guest bedroom," she announced to her friends.
Junior and Suzy stepped through the doorway, giving the sparse room a look around. There wasn't much to inspect, but they still made a show of looking around. Alice moved further into the room, ran her hand over the surface of her NanoCom, calling out Nano Bubbles. The Nano stretched out her arms, releasing a sigh as she heard something pop.
"Hi, Alice!" Nano Bubbles chirped, waving her hand at the teenager. Alice gave her Nano a wave in response.
The Nano noticed their new location and gave it a look around. Her little blue eyes caught onto the picture frames sitting on the dresser. She zipped over and studied the picture frames situated atop the dresser. Alice followed behind, already knowing what each frame had. One frame had a picture of a young Alice with a much younger Courage held in her arms. Another frame contained the picture of the entire family, including her cousin Fred. The final frame held the photo of Alice and her mother on Halloween night (Alice was a princess that year). Nano Bubbles stared at the photos with a look of awe in her eyes.
"Is this you?" Nano Bubbles asked, pointing to the photo of her and Courage.
"Yes," Alice answered. "When I was younger."
"Ooooh, you were so cute!" Nano Bubbles gushed, her voice raising several octaves. "And the puppy!"
Alice giggled a little behind her hand, finding the Nano's bubbly personality contagious. The Nano continued her own tour of the room, zipping around the room at breakneck speed. She inspected every nook and cranny, and even pressed her little face up against the window pane so that she could observe the Nowhere desert outside.
"It's going to be warm tonight, so use just a blanket," Muriel announced as she passed by the open door. "I'll go and grab some pillows."
"Thank you, Aunt Muriel," Alice called after the woman.
"What's the sleeping arrangement?" Junior asked.
"I mean it's pretty obvious," Suzy commented.
"The boy sleeps on the couch."
Three heads turned as one to the doorway. Eustace stood in the hall, staring into the room. His bony fists were planted firmly on his hips as he stared down Junior. Junior returned the stare down with an annoyed look of his own.
"Uncle Eustace..."
"Don't worry, Mister Bagge." Suzy bounced over to Junior and slung an arm around the boy's shoulder. She smiled brightly at the farmer, showing all her pearly whites. "I'll keep an extra eye on him. And if he steps out of line..." She paused, summoning her Camp Oar from her NanoCom, "I'll put him down."
"What the- No!" Junior protested, glaring at the girl.
Suzy ignored her friend's protesting, keeping her sunny smile pointed at the owner of the house. Eustace eyed the redhead for a tense moment before nodding his head in consent.
"I like this one," he told his niece before leaving the kids to the room.
Junior shrugged off Suzy's arm, giving the girl a fierce glare. Suzy met it without a hint of fear, returning her melee weapon without having to glance at the action.
"Calm down," Suzy told him. "I wouldn't hit you so hard. Plus, it got him off your back so I consider it a win-win."
Junior sighed irritably and face-palmed himself. Something suspiciously like "Stupid redheads" was muttered under his breath, but Suzy and Alice couldn't hear it properly. Muriel poked her head in at that moment, a sleeping bag and pillows held in her arms.
"Here you are, dearies. Some extra pillows, and I brought your mother's spare sleeping bag for your friend."
"Thank you, Aunt Muriel."
Alice moved forward and took the items off her aunt's hands. Junior took the sleeping bag and pillow offered her, and Suzy tossed the other one onto the bed she and Alice would be sharing. The redhead fell backward onto the bed, sighing as her back hit the soft mattress. She pulled the NanoCom from off her hip and held it up to her face.
"Time to buy some cute pjs," she announced. "You should grab a pair too, Junior."
Junior rolled his eyes, but dropped himself onto the bed and pulled out his own NanoCom. Alice already had a pair sitting in the dresser drawer. Her mother had them leave spare clothing at the Bagge house just in case things went south in Peach Creek and they had to leave without packing.
A tugging on the bottom of her dress pulled her attention downward. Courage had a paw wrapped on the fabric, muttering in a gibberish that Alice couldn't decipher. Alice bent down to look at the dog better, though the blue blur that zipped pass her and collided with the pink dog.
"Puppy!" Nano Bubbles cheered, nuzzling her face into the dog's fur.
Courage whined in confusion, looking from the Nano currently bear hugging him to Alice, a clear look of "HELP" in his eyes. Alice touched her Nano's back, getting the girl's attention.
"Nano Bubbles, why don't you help Suzy pick out some pjs?"
Nano Bubbles nodded without a hint of hesitation. "Okay!"
Like a speeding bullet, Nano Bubbles released her hold on Courage and zipped over to the bed, dropping down onto the bed with a small thud. Alice looked back to her favorite canine companion, watching him release a sigh of relief.
"Now, is something wrong, Courage?"
Courage shook his head, though he pointed animatedly to the hallway. He whined out even more gibberish, hopping from one leg to the other in apparent urgency. Alice followed his pointing, but found nothing waiting there.
"Do you want to show me something?"
Courage nodded his head rapidly. He bolted out of the room, and Alice followed after him quickly. He guided her up the stairs that led into the attic. Alice followed him up the stairs and into the barren attic room, where the only occupants was a desk, chair, lamp, printer, and the family computer. Courage walked over to the computer and booted it up. Alice approached the dog, standing behind the chair to watch him. She was curious to know what he was doing with the computer. She'd seen him use it before, but what could he possibly be using it for currently?
"Hello, twit. Here to ask even more ridiculous questions?"
The words were typed out on the screen at the same time a British voice spoke them. Alice frowned at the computer's attitude, but Courage rolled his eyes and moved the cursor on the screen. He went to the email function and pulled it open. Alice leaned in closer to see what was in his emails. She blinked and then squinted her eyes as she carefully read them over. The majority of the emails were coming from Double D, although she caught a few from Gwen, Dexter, and Mandark. She scanned some of the subject lines, her eyes widening when she took in their content. She drew back from the screen so she could look at the pink furred beagle.
"You're helping Double D?"
"Mm-hm."
Alice smiled and chuckled a little behind closed lips. She rested her hand on Courage's scalp and gave the dog a little pat on the head.
"You're a very brave dog, Courage," she praised the animal. Courage leaned into the touch, sighing with pleasure at the praise. "Let's go back to the others."
Night fell in Nowhere, and the Bagge farmhouse was as silent as a tomb. All lights were off throughout the house, indicating that the occupants were asleep and that things were at peace. Since this was Nowhere, however, the peace wasn't meant to last.
The loud crack from the sky ripped Junior from a dreamless sleep. It was a sound very similar to the start of the invasion, and it was this comparison that had Junior shimming out of his borrowed sleeping bag. He gave Alice's room a quick sweep, to see if either of his teammates had heard the sound. Both girls were still sleeping, undisturbed by the loud noise, but Courage was sitting straight up, his little body quaking. His superior canine hearing probably picked out the noise better than the girls. Quietly, so as not to wake his sleeping teammates, he moved to the only window in the room and pushed back the curtains. Almost instantly, he was able to pick out something bright falling through the sky. It was too large to be considered a falling star (and something similar to a jetstream seemed to be following the object), and it was falling in the wrong direction to be considered a product of the military's. Junior followed the object's trajectory, watching it get closer and closer to the ground before he couldn't see it anymore.
Frowning, Junior looked over his shoulder. Alice and Suzy were still asleep, but Courage had left his place at Alice's feet to stand at the window next to the boy. The dog was whimpering quietly, probably so he wouldn't wake the girls. Junior looked back out the window, in the direction that the object had gone in. There was no telling where it had landed, but his stomach knotted at the idea of letting it be left alone. If it was something from Fuse, then he wanted it eliminated as soon as possible. His eyes drifted over to his teammates for a third time. He knew he should wake them up, but he wanted to get a jumpstart on investigating the mysterious object. Quietly, he padded his way past the bed, grabbed his shoes, and slipped out of the room. He moved cautiously through the hallway and down the staircase, putting on his shoes once he was at the living room's couch. He was finishing up with putting on his shoes when he heard the stairway creak. He whipped his head around, finding the pink dog hopping down the stairs.
"Are you coming with me?" Junior whispered to the dog.
Whimpering, Courage spared a glance to the top of the stairs. He released a sigh and seemed to mutter something, although it sounded gibberish to Junior. Then, with reluctance painted on his face, the pink beagle nodded his head in agreement. Junior frowned, not eager to be taking an unarmed dog along with him, but he wasn't going to waste time arguing with an animal. If things went south, he could always send Courage back for help.
The two slipped out of the house without a sound. They moved away from the house, heading in the direction Junior had seen the object fall. When the Nowhere Triangle infected zone came into view, Junior took his Valhallen Shredder out of his NanoCom and stepped on it. He glanced down at Courage, raising an eyebrow when the beagle didn't immediately step on it.
"C'mon," Junior urged the pet. "This will be faster."
Courage groaned in distress, but pulled himself up onto the hoverboard. His legs wobbled a little in fright, and he wrapped his arms around Junior's leg to keep himself steady. Seeing that his passenger was with him, Junior moved the hoverboard forward, moving at a moderate speed as he approached the infected zone. The jetstream trail - which at a closer distance made it easy to see that it was actually a smoke trail - led past the Nowhere Triangle Infected Zone, so he had them move to the eastside of the zone.
The light from the full moon helped brighten the landscape, giving Junior the ability to see the roaming Fusion Monsters. Although he did his best to avoid the monsters, three Aubergine Masters did come close enough to notice their passing. With a growl, the three eggplant monsters chased after them for a fight, but the hoverboard was too fast for them to keep up, and they were left in the dust. Junior smirked smugly at seeing the creatures retreat, but he forced himself to survey their flat landscape again. Just because he got lucky with the Aubergines didn't mean he could get cocky. Devil's Canyon was his constant reminder to stay focused.
The rest of the travel was uneventful, with Junior able to avoid encounters with the Desert Clawdads that tried to give chase. The dry desert air gave way to a crisp, sea breeze, which told Junior that he was getting close to the ocean. He was also getting close to the crash site, which was only a rock's throw away from the back of the infected zone. A few Desert Clawdads were in the area, but the monsters didn't seem interested in what was situated in the crash site. Junior stopped at the outskirt of the impact site, surprised to find that it wasn't fusion related.
Sitting at the bottom of the small crater was a red and white spaceship. The nose of the spaceship was dug into the desert soil, making the spaceship tilt forward unevenly. Smoke lingered off of the metal, which meant that it had burned on entry into the atmosphere rather than part of it being on fire. Various holes and scraps were along the spaceship, and the Fusion Matter situated around the openings made it easy to identify who had been the aggressor.
"Wait here."
Courage whimpered back in the affirmative, giving their area a glance around. Junior stepped off his hoverboard and slid down the small crater the spaceship had created on impact. He moved to the spaceship's side, searching for a way inside. He couldn't see any doorway available to him, but there was a hole that looked close to fitting his size. With the use of his tentacles, he pulled the opening wider, making it much easier for him to slip inside without scraping his body against the metal.
There were no lights in the spaceship, so Junior pulled out his NanoCom and turned on its flashlight feature. He swept the bright light through the tiny space, finding wires were hanging from the ceiling and items littered the ground. Some were covered in Fusion Matter, but it looked like the majority was on the outside of the craft. He moved through the spaceship, which was easy to do since the spaceship wasn't very large. He didn't see any living creature as he ventured through the space vehicle, which he didn't know if that was a good thing or bad thing. He came upon a sliding door that was opened slightly, probably jarred loose from the crash landing. The door resisted, but Junior was able to push it open with the help of his tendrils.
He entered the new space, his eyes noting that there were three chairs situated in the room, two situated in front of a console and the third elevated above the two. He approached the elevated chair first since it was the closest to him, and found the chair was being occupied by a redhead human. He put his fingers to her neck, and found that she had a pulse. It was slow, but it was there. He scanned her person carefully, seeking out any injuries that could be life threatening. He didn't find any, just a bruises and cuts, so Junior momentarily abandoned the girl and went to check on the two bodies in the front two seats. One was a robot, so Junior went to the other body who was flesh and blood. The being looked younger than him, and looked distinctly alien with his green skin. Junior checked the alien's pulse, finding one as well. Like the girl, Junior couldn't spot any life-threatening injuries on his person.
The half-demon tested the seatbelt function, annoyed to find that they wouldn't retract with the energy off. He searched the enclosed space for something sharp, and was lucky to find a piece of the wall sitting on the floor. It was sharp, and he was able to saw through the leather of the strap. With all the straps removed from the three occupants of the ship, Junior thought over what he'd have to do next. He could carry one of the space people on his glider with the help of his tentacles, but trying to balance himself, Courage, and the three space people on a single hoverboard was out of the realm of reality. He didn't want to have to repeatedly go back and forth between the house and the spaceship and leave Courage alone like a sitting duck with the others. He released a sigh, his mind providing the only viable response to the situation.
Alice jolted awake at the sound of her ringtone. She quickly silenced it so that she wouldn't wake her visitors. She checked her NanoCom, finding that a message had been sent by Junior. Sitting up in her bed, the alien girl surveyed her room and found that the boy was missing. Suzy was awake next to her, looking at her own NanoCom. The bright light coming from the device illuminated the way Suzy's brows came together.
"We gotta go," Suzy whispered to the girl, throwing off the covers.
Alice blinked at her teammate, and then looked down at her own NanoCom where Junior's message was still waiting. She read over it quickly, her eyes doubling in size when she finally took in its contents. She slipped from underneath the blankets, quickly searching for her shoes and slipping them on seconds later. When she saw Suzy had put on her own shoes, Alice opened her room's door and exited into the hallway, hearing Suzy following behind her. Just as she reached the top of the stairs, she heard a door open further down the hall.
"Alice?" Muriel sleepily called for her niece.
"Go back to bed, Aunt Muriel," Alice called back in a staged whisper, hoping to not wake her uncle; he was always extra cranky if his sleep was disturbed. "We have to go check something."
"Be safe, dear," Muriel answered back with a yawn, retreating back into her bedroom.
Alice continued down the stairs, moving quickly but lightly to not wake her family members further. When she stepped out into the warm desert air, she spun around to look at Suzy for instruction.
"Go ahead of me," Suzy instructed, already moving past the house. "I'll be right behind you, but get to Junior as quick as possible."
Alice nodded and lifted herself into the air. She pulled out her NanoCom and opened up Junior's message again, pressing on the coordinates he provided. With her map app open, Alice followed its direction and moved northward. Flying was a lot faster than driving, and Alice was able to reach the crashed spaceship in record time. She spotted Junior pulling a body from out of the wreckage and Courage to help sit a body up against the spaceship. She levitated herself downward, surprised to see her pink pup so far from home. Courage heard her arrival and spun around, hopping from leg to leg in his excitement. She touched down on the dirt ground and caught the excited Courage in her arms.
"Did you come out here to help Junior?" Alice whispered to the dog, feeling him move his head in an upward-downward motion. "You're a brave dog."
Courage hummed in appreciation, and Alice stroked his fur in her appreciation. She looked away from the dog when she heard the sound of an engine coming up on them. Seconds later, Suzy arrived on the scene in her hovercar. She hopped out of the hovercar and left it out of her NanoCom. Both girls put their attention on Junior, who had just finished setting the robot body against the spaceship's outer hull.
"Junior, what happened?" Alice asked.
"I heard this thing enter the atmosphere," Junior answered, turning to look at the girl. "I went to investigate and came upon these three."
"You didn't wake us," Suzy pointed out.
Her half-demon teammate shrugged. "It was a split decision type of deal."
Suzy frowned at the answer but shrugged her shoulders, "Fair enough." She moved her eyesight to the three individuals resting against the spaceship. "Who are they?"
"Don't know. Not an alien expert," Junior answered.
"They don't look like Plumbers," Alice contributed to the discussion, earning nods of agreement from her friends.
"We should discuss this back at your aunt and uncle's house," Junior pointed out. "It's not safe to have this discussion in the open."
"I can take one in the hovercar," Suzy offered. "Will you be able to carry one, Junior?"
"I've got Courage as a travelling partner," Junior answered, jabbing his chin at the pink dog.
"Alice, can you carry two?" Suzy asked her blue-haired friend. "Like you did with us at Charles Darwin?"
Alice nodded her head with no hesitation. The frown that came to Junior's lips had Alice speaking up to reassure her teammates. "I practiced with Miss Ignis. I can do it."
"Okay then," Suzy said, clapping her hands together. "Let's go before those crawdads think we're food. I'll put the bot in my car. You take the boy and girl, Alice."
Alice dipped her head in acknowledgement and raised up a hand at the two-unconscious people. The spherical shape of her force-bubble enclosed the two inside of it, and she raised the bubble up into the air. She levitated herself upward into the air and towed the bubble behind her. She looked below her to see what her friends were doing. Junior was using his tentacles to move the robot to Suzy's hovercar while Courage hopped back onto Junior's hoverboard. When they had the robot secured, Suzy hopped into her vehicle while Junior hopped on his board. With everyone situated, the trio left the crash site and travelled back to the Bagge homestead.
The group of three managed to make it back to the Bagge's without a scratch; Alice was too high in the air and Junior and Suzy were too fast to be hit. Junior helped Suzy grab the robot from out of her car while Courage ran to the door and held it open for the group to enter. Alice shrunk the bubble down so that the two unconscious people inside could fit through the doorway. She levitated them to the couch, and retracted her energy bubble once they were on the furniture. Junior and Suzy brought the robot in and placed it on the couch next to its compatriots. Suzy knelt down by the fellow redhead and began inspecting her person. She did the same for the boy, but ignored the robot.
"They're breathing and they've got a pulse. Their injuries look to be bruises and cuts, but they could have some internal damage," Suzy reported to her two friends. "They're going to need to be looked at by medical professionals."
"Providence has the medical equipment to probably take care of this, but I don't think they'd be willing to help," Junior pointed out.
"Numbuh Three is a trained medic, but I don't think she has the qualifications for this situation," Suzy contributed.
"They need to go to Memorial Hospital," Alice said.
"That's pretty far," Junior pointed out. "The S.C.A.M.P.E.R. will only take us to City Station."
Suzy grinned. "Don't worry about that. I can talk the flyer into taking us to the hospital."
"Alice, dear?" Muriel called softly just before they heard the sound of wood creaking as weight was put upon it. "Are you back?"
"Yes, Aunt Muriel." Alice moved to the bottom of the stairs, spotting her aunt stepping down. "I'm sorry for waking you."
Muriel waved the girl's concern away, her eyes looking over at the backrest of the couch. She couldn't make out the figures properly, but she could spot the three heads over the couch's top.
"Oh my," the farmer's wife gasped, moving down the stairs faster. She stood behind the couch, leaning over so she could view the guests better. "Are they well?"
"We don't know, ma'am," Suzy answered.
"We have to go to Memorial Hospital to get them help," Alice continued. "I'm sorry Aunt Muriel, we can't stay."
"It's alright, dear." Muriel turned so that she was facing her niece. She cupped her niece's cheek, offering the other girl an understanding smile. "You three should change before leaving. I'll keep watch."
The three youngsters nodded; they had been willing to go out into the middle of the Nowhere desert with just their pjs, but going into town was different. Alice and Suzy changed in Alice's room while Junior used the guest bathroom. The three returned to the living room, where Muriel and Courage were still keeping watch. Alice collected the girl and the boy while Junior took the robot, Suzy following behind while Courage held the door open. Muriel and the dog stood on the porch while Suzy and Junior called out their vehicles. Alice looked from her friends and back to her family. She stepped back onto the porch and hugged her aunt with one arm (her other hand was still holding her passengers in a shield).
"Thank you for the celebration, Aunt Muriel. Will you say goodbye to Uncle Eustace for me?"
"Of course, dearie," Muriel told her niece, giving the girl a kiss on the forehead. "Be safe."
Alice smiled at her aunt and nodded. "Of course." She bent down and hugged the pink beagle. "Take care of Aunt Muriel and Uncle Eustace, okay, Courage?"
"Uh-huh," Courage agreed, grinning with all of his teeth on display.
Alice smiled encouragingly at her favorite canine companion and stroked the top of his head softly. She turned to look at her friends. Seeing that they were ready to go, the blue-haired girl stepped off the porch and levitated into the air. She offered Muriel and Courage one final wave goodbye and followed after her friends toward Devil's Canyon.
The morning sky was colored a soft pink as the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. touched down in the courtyard of Memorial Hospital. Junior opened the sliding door, being greeted by a small team of nurses rushing out with gurneys to the airship. Leading them was a pink-haired girl clearly younger than him and his team; most likely a volunteer. Suzy had called the hospital during the flight so that the staff would be prepared, which is why none of them showed any sign of surprise when Junior began unloading the robot from the aircraft. He and the pink haired volunteer laid the robot on a gurney, and the pink haired nurse waved at her companion to rush it inside. Suzy and one of the nurse's was putting the green-skinned boy on another gurney, and Alice was at the entry way with the redhead girl. Junior moved and helped her bring the redhead out of the airship, putting her onto the gurney offered to him. All three occupants of the spaceship rushed into the hospital to be looked over, but the pink-haired volunteer - who Alice recognized as Kyra Xyrespace - hung around to have a conversation with Suzy.
"Coop should be here within an hour or so," Suzy said to the younger girl. "Kiva promised to get him up."
"Thanks," Kyra said to the other girl. "We were going to have Dexter come in, but he informed us that he was too busy." Alice detected a hint of bitterness in the girl's voice, but kept her opinions silent. "We'll send you an update on their status as soon as we check them over."
"That'd be great," Suzy replied with a bright smile. "Ben says he's on his way to look them over, since Junior found them in a spaceship. He may be able to identify them. If not, he has connections."
Kyra nodded.
"Good luck out there," she said to the redhead. She turned to run off, but paused when she saw Alice staring at her. The younger girl smiled and waved at the alien girl, then turned and jogged back toward the hospital.
"You know each other?" Junior asked Alice, coming over to stand next to her.
"Sorta," Alice admitted. "I'd see her at the hospital staff parties. She also came to the funeral."
Understanding flit across his face, though he shifted a bit uncomfortably at the mention of the funeral. "Right, that's why she's familiar."
"Okay! Numbuh 415's agreed to take us to City Station," Suzy announced, throwing her arms around Junior and Alice's shoulders. "Soo, wanna head over there and find a Mr. Smoothy's?"
"You think one is open at this hour?" Junior questioned, his index finger pointed upward. The sky was morphing from pink to orange. "It's still too early."
"I'm sure," Suzy countered. "They changed their hours to 24 hours."
"Well..." Junior trailed off, thinking over the proposal. "We can't exactly go back to sleep..."
"I'm okay with it." Alice put in her vote.
Suzy grinned and released her hold on her friends. She hopped back into the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. and pumped her fist into the air. "Then let's go, Super Stars!"
Hello and thank you for reading! Thank you for reviewing as well; it means a lot to writers to see what their readers think.
I debated on putting Alice and Amber's fight on the last chapter, but decided to move it here to show her progress. Amber's fighting is one of my favorite things to write, since she moves between her E.V.O. abilities and physical techniques.
Ace/The Kid from Codename: Kids Next Door wasn't going to be a character, at first, but when I was going to just have Suzy show up on a S.C.A.M.P.E.R., I decided to change her flight plans to this aviator. It furthers the list of characters Suzy knows, and it's a nod to a one-shot character. Junior's entry is a replica of Nergal's entry in Grim Adventure of Billy and Mandy because that is way too funny to pass up. Plus, we get to see the Nergalings. I like to think Junior is miffed by these troublemakers because they get in his way. Still debating if I'm going to bring them in later or just leave them as a one chapter thing. Also, Suzy and Mandy being on friendly terms is a nod to the episode "Johnny's Guardian Angel" in which, when Johnny wishes he was never born, we see that Suzy turns into a villain.
With the inclusion of vehicles, Alice can now fly freely since Suzy and Junior can keep up with her. The Dynomutt Dasher was introduced in Retro, but Diva Dynamite Hovercar and Valhallen Shredder are original to the story. Both seemed to be appropriate for their drivers. Alice won't have a lot of opportunity to use Dynomutt Dasher because of her ability, but Suzy didn't want her to feel left out, and Dynomutt Dasher was my absolute favorite vehicle, so I had to include it somewhere.
Alice was originally turn 13 last chapter; Ben was going to arrive with a birthday card from Courage. I scrapped the idea when I realized it made no sense. Why would Courage know to send a card to Ben? Ben was going to take her to her family's house, but that didn't mean he let them know ahead of time. Plus, if I did go with the plan, we'd just be rehashing her birthday thing twice. So it's better to leave it here. This also gave Alice the opportunity to tell her family about her decision, since Alice has been holding onto that secret for a while. There's no known birthdates for Junior and Suzy, so I just came up with the months for this story.
Juniper and Kevin aren't here in Nowhere because I didn't have a need for them here yet. My friend Buttercrush's A Girl Named Roxie has Juniper and Gwen teaming up to activate the Hani-Baba Totems, and I like the idea of her travelling around. Juniper is off doing some investigations of her own, so it's why she can't be in Nowhere right now. Kevin is still in Downtown with his car.
Courage showing off his emails is a nod to his assistance with the war, particularly his role as a liaison for Double D. Some of the other people he has had conversations with is a nod to his participation in missions, such as "Avoid the Planetoid" Parts 2 & 4 and "The Power of Prophecy" Part 1.
In my previous story, What Gets Me Through the War, I had a chapter dedicated to Alice and her team finding the spaceship while they were staying in Nowhere, which had Betty and her team inside. I always planned on having Betty, Sparky, and X-5 come back, and they were always coming back in a crashed spaceship. It's a nod to the Ben guide mission "Nowhere to Go," in which the player has to go and deactivate a scrambling signal coming from the spacecraft. Instead of a scrambling signal, Alice and co. find Team Betty.
Since Coop is good with fixing robots - two for two in the FF universe - Suzy felt like he was the best candidate to work on X-5. She didn't send a message to Coop himself, however, because he probably wouldn't respond for a while. Kiva is more responsible, so she sent it her way. Dexter was going to be called on originally as mentioned in the story, but I decided to change it to Coop, and Dexter's reason would be his busy schedule. He could have probably sent Douglas or Weasel, but since neither have worked on a suspected alien bot, he may not have. Any of the Plumbers could have been called on, but I like the idea of Coop coming in to fix up a third robot.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Hopefully I can get a schedule going for these chapters so they're not so spaced apart. See you all for the next chapter!