Muriel spooned a hearty amount of scrambled eggs from out of the skillet and onto her niece's plate, her aged brows furrowing in concern as she looked at teenager. "Are yah positive yah wish to leave? Yah've only been here a couple days."
Alice smiled up at her aunt and nodded in confirmation. Unlike the last time she'd taken up refuge at the Nowhere farmhouse, Alice was feeling ready to resume her duties. She was careful to stay away from any news, but Suzy kept her updated on the happenings of the world, and public opinion was swaying. The news cycle had moved on from reporting on Alice's connections to Fuse, primarily because the likes of Dexter and DexLabs, Ben and the Plumbers, the Powerpuffs, the Urban Rangers and the Kids Next Door put out statements expressing their support of the girl, which stirred up a conversation on Alice's character. Harangue showed she had Fusion DNA, but if she was really on Fuse's side, would big names like Ben and the Powerpuffs ruin their own image by supporting her?
The question didn't stop Harangue from continuing his smear campaign against the thirteen-year-old girl. He kept tying her to events that she hadn't been involved in, smearing her name nightly for the benefit of record viewership. While Douglas had programmed the Dexbots to delete any posts that hinted at Alice's address, Harangue managed to find where she was hiding out and sent interns off to get video of her. The poor interns were greeted by a rolling-pin wielding Muriel who told them in no uncertain terms to leave the property or there would be trouble. Although sweet by nature, Gale wasn't the only Reid sister who could exert violence when it was needed, and going after her niece who was still just a child certainly put Muriel in a violent mood. When the crew didn't immediately scatter, Eustace rushed out with his mallet, swinging it through the air in a clear show of intent that had the interns running back to Downtown. Harangue painted Muriel and Eustace as being under Alice's control, but the two elderly had no problem with this; they had protected their niece, and that was all that mattered to them.
"I want to get back out and help," Alice informed her aunt and uncle. "I can't stay here forever."
Eustace released a displeased harrumph, sticking a slice of bacon into his mouth and chewing. "Sure you can. Let that yahoo handle the mess. He probably started it."
Alice smiled indulgently at her uncle, but didn't raise the issue of Eustace bad mouthing Dexter. The old man had a grudge with the inventor, and literally nothing was going to stop his griping. Selfishly, it made her feel warm that her uncle would care for her so much he'd insult Dexter.
"I really hope I'm not the 'yahoo' in this sentence."
Alice turned slightly, watching Alan step into the kitchen from the outside. He had been sent up to the farmhouse almost immediately after Harangue aired his attempt at getting a shot of the girl. Although Eustace protested having a stranger living with them, Muriel overruled his complaints and welcomed him to the house. Since they didn't have any guest rooms left - Eustace flat out forbade the boy from bunking with Alice since Suzy wouldn't be around to keep an eye on him - Muriel and Alice had set up a nice room in the barn's loft. Telekinesis was a useful power to have when moving furniture.
Eustace ignored the half-alien boy, choosing to occupy his time at the table by reading the morning newspaper. If Alan was offended by being ignored by the old farmer, he didn't show it as he took a seat next to Alice, happily accepting the morning meal laid before him by the woman of the house.
"So I heard you're heading out today?" Alan asked.
"Yes," Alice answered. "I want to get back out in the world and help."
Eustace made a grumbling noise, but he didn't peek out from behind his newspaper. Alice sent him a quick apologetic smile, and then turned that apologetic smile on Alan.
"I'm sorry for having you come up here. Nowhere isn't as exciting as Downtown."
Alan sent her a perplexed look. His tone matched his perplexation. "Not exciting? This place is chalk-full of excitement. I'm pretty sure I read one time of an ancient pharaoh coming back from the dead because his slab was stolen."
Courage whined as a shiver shook his entire body head to toe. He really, really, really didn't want to remember King Ramses II and his stolen slab. Eustace, in his rare moments of agreeing with Courage, had similar sentiments and sent a glare over his newspaper in the half-alien boy's direction.
"Besides," Alan hurriedly added upon seeing how upset the farmer and Beagle had become, "it's nice to get away from the city. Even with an alien invasion going on, Downtown still finds a way to be crowded. I'm a country kid, so this reminds me of home."
"And we adore havin' yah here," Muriel contributed, stopping by to give his cheek a quick squeeze.
Alan smiled at the elderly woman, waiting until her back was turned before he rubbed his stinging cheek. Alice and Courage shared a chuckle at his expense, which earned them an amused look from the half-Pyronite.
"I know I can't stop yah from doing what yah will, but I can't help worrying about yah," Muriel told her niece, taking a seat at the table to enjoy her own meal.
"I'm sorry about that, but I'll be okay. I have Suzy and Junior to help me, and my Nanos are more than willing to lend me a hand when I need it."
Her Nanos had been near inconsolable once she'd turned her NanoCom back on. While their separation was shorter than her training at Providence, it was the unexpected shut out that had them confused. Alice had to swear to the two of them for an hour straight that she wouldn't shut down her device without giving them a proper warning before they let the subject go. When Nano Boomer found out what Harangue said about his girl, he had nearly zipped out of the farmhouse with the intention of taking a baseball bat to Harangue's head. Alice managed to talk him out of it, although she did catch her Nanos playing darts with a photo of Harangue's face as the target. She really didn't know where the photo came from, and even less sure where the darts came from, but she wasn't going to ask. They'd never meet Harangue, so the human was safe from the vengeful wrath of her two Nanos.
"I don't trust that boy," Eustace complained from behind his newspaper.
"Oh, now hush, Eustace," Muriel admonished her husband, lightly swatting his arm. "We love all of Alice's friends, and we enjoy having them over. They're such wonderful darlings."
Eustace grumbled in disagreement, but made no further complaint. Muriel smiled pleasantly at the victory, cutting up her scrambled egg with a peppy hum. Alice's NanoCom chimed, interrupting the breakfast. Eustace peeked over the topic of his newspaper long enough to murmur something unintelligible before returning to his paper. Alice checked her messages, seeing it was from Suzy. Junior and her were leaving Endsville. Alice tapped out a response and then spooned the remainder of her breakfast onto Courage's plate, which the dog dug into excitedly.
"Leaving already?" Muriel asked.
"Yes," Alice answered from the sink, washing up her plate. She placed it on the dish rack and wiped her hands on the towel hanging off it. "Suzy and Junior have already left, so I'm going. I'll call tonight."
"You'll be safe, right dear?" Muriel asked, her tone colored in concern.
Alice smiled at her aunt in sympathy, stepping across the kitchen to rest a kiss on her aunt's forehead. She conveyed as much reassurance as she could, to help alleviate some of her aunt's worries. She couldn't make any promises to her aunt, but she wanted to give the elderly woman a peace of mind.
Alice landed within the limits of what had become known as Mojo's Volcano. A quick scan found that she had beaten her friends to the rendezvous spot. The area was empty of other people, despite being within a stone's throw away from Tech Square. This was by no means an accident, especially because Mojo had a great dislike of "lesser-minded" people stepping foot on his territory. This was his lair, his kingdom, and you were only allowed in if he permitted it. The Mojo Minions scattered around the area kept the unwanted out.
Well, they used to. With their forces spread out across the globe, it was harder to keep Mojo's home secure from the uninvited, and he was being pestered by Spawn Simians, Wild Wings, and Doom Diggers. He also suspected that his gadgets were being stolen, which was the reason for Team Super Star's being there. Mojo wanted to set up whoever it was that was stealing from it, being a Fusion or human. Alice had her reservations about helping Mojo given the fact he was a villain, but she couldn't deny that his technology winding up in the wrong hands did nobody any favors.
Alice turned when she heard the unmistakable sound of Puffy AmiYumi's "Boogie-Woogie No. 5" approaching from Morbucks Towers, the volume increasing as it ventured nearer. Alice didn't even have to see where it was originating from; she already knew it was blasting out of Suzy's stereos. A moment later, Alice's two teammates arrived, coming to a stop by the alien girl.
"Hey Alice," Suzy greeted, hopping out of her hovercar. "Did we keep you?"
"Not at all," Alice greeted in return.
"Have you made contact with Mojo?" Junior asked, putting away his hoverboard.
Alice opened her mouth to answer, but a different voice cut in before she had the chance.
"Finally! You miscreants have kept I, Mojo Jojo, waiting for too long!" Mojo complained, stomping his way over to the three friends. "Wasting my time gives the thieves the opportunity to run off with my technology which makes me, Mojo Jojo, very upset, and if I, Mojo Jojo, am very upset, it shall be a very bad day for you. Do not forget that you have been called to deal with this problem so that it will no longer be a problem."
Junior huffed at the simian's exaggeration. A glance down at the NanoCom showed they were actually two minutes early. He kept any snarky remarks locked up behind tight lips, however. Mojo was just being his usual dramatic self, which would be hilarious if the simian wasn't a genius with any number of death rays on hand and an entire army at his beck and call. As the personable member of the team, Suzy stepped forward to soothe Mojo's ruffled feathers.
"Not to fear, Mojo," Suzy assured the Simian Supreme. "Team Super Stars is on the case, and we're the best. Your thieves will be apprehended."
"Hmph!" Mojo harrumphed skeptically. "You had better be as good as you say, Team Super Stars, because I, Mojo Jojo, do not settle for mediocre because I am not mediocre and so I will not accept mediocrity. Handle the thieves before I must deal with you, which will make me even angrier since I am busy and cannot waste time dealing with you all for not dealing with the thieves." He searched around in his pocket and pulled out his communicator. "My sensors have picked up these thieves who would dare try steal from me! These are who you are to catch and deal with."
Mojo handed over his communicator so Suzy could see. Junior and Alice leaned in to get a view of the perpetrators. Alice recognized the three intruders in the photo since they went to her school, which ruled out Fusions being the cause of Mojo's problem. Caught on Mojo's security cam was Mitch, Sperg, and Terrence, a trio of bullies who Alice actively avoided. She had no personal dealings with Sperg and Terrence, but she had been tormented by Mitch for a good number of years, the boy taking great fun in making fun of her hair. Buttercup and her sisters tried to intervene where they could (like that time Buttercup smacked him for mocking her Halloween costume), but they couldn't be everywhere. It did completely end in the fifth grade when her mother caught him in the act of pulling her hair, threatening to cut it. Alice still didn't know what her mother said to him, but Gale Spacebyte put an absolute end to the behavior; Mitch ignored her presence from then on out.
"You can count on us," Suzy confirmed, saluting the guide. Dropping her arm, she waved at her team to follow behind. "Let's get going team."
Alice and Junior followed behind Suzy, moving past the villain to his platform elevator. Mojo followed them with his eyes, sneering at them until the platform lowered the three to the sublevel of the property. Suzy pulled out her NanoCom and called on Nano Numbuh Five, activating the Nano's Secret Agent to make them invisible to the Spawn Simians that occupied the sublevel. Their mission wasn't to take out the Spawn Simians, so they wanted to avoid drawing attention to themselves before they could apprehend the three bullies.
"Alright," Suzy started. "Separately, the three aren't very smart, and together they're still not very smart. They'll probably get aggressive and try to attack us, or try and run away. We'll need to stop them from either."
"I can handle that," Alice piped up.
Suzy grinned and nodded. "Perfect. With our plan set, let's go and grab us some troublemakers."
"You nimrod! You forgot the spray cans!"
The loud accusation echoed in the sublevel terrain, surprising the three teammates to stillness at its suddenness. The friends looked at each other, the surprise of hearing the voice morphing into disbelief that the person would be so loud with so many enemies flying around.
"Me?! I wasn't the one grabbing the cans!"
"I sure wasn't grabbing 'em!"
"We can't spray paint without the spray cans you morons!"
Suzy's right eye twitched just once, the only evidence of her being annoyed by the obnoxiously loud boys. She smoothed her face over, wiping away any evidence of her less-than-chipper attitude. Junior was much more willing to show his annoyance, releasing a tired sigh and placing a hand on his forehead. "How have they made it this far?" It was purely a rhetorical question, but Suzy shrugged in response anyways.
"Let's go get them," Suzy stated, leading the way to the source of the noise. "Alice, mind going ahead and keeping them in place?"
Alice nodded and floated up into the air. She flew forward, bright blue eyes scanning for the trespassers. She easily spotted them in the middle of a three-way fight; Mitch was knocking Sperg on the head with a fist, Terrence had Mitch in a headlock and giving him a noogie, and Sperg was kicking at Terrence. The boys didn't even notice her arrival, so it made it incredibly easy for her to simply encase them in a force-field bubble. The action of being encased momentarily ended their fighting, looking at the force-field in surprise. Mitch wiggled out of the headlock. He went over and pounded on the bubble's wall, but it didn't give.
"Hey! What gives!" Mitch demanded, pounding it harder.
"Look!" Sperg shouted, pointing up at Alice who was descending back to the ground. "It's the Fusion Girl!"
Alice didn't flinch from the derogatory name Harangue had so graciously bestowed on her; she didn't want the boys to know that the name hurt her. The only evidence that she had been affected was by the twitch of her fingers.
"Let me outta here!" Terrence cried out, banging his fists against the force-field's wall. "I don't wanna get eaten!"
"She can't eat us! She'd just turn us into one of those Fusion freaks!" Sperg shouted at the tall boy.
"That's even worse, dude!" Terrence shot back.
A loud, ear-shattering whistle interrupted the boys' shout-fest. The three bullies immediately covered their ears, releasing cries of pain from the noise. When the whistling ended, they removed their hands and looked to the source. Suzy stood with her hands planted on her hips, a bright smile plastered on her face.
"That's better. Now then, boys," Suzy addressed the three captured bullies. "Mind telling us what you were up to?"
"Hah! Wouldn't you like to know!" Terrence mocked.
"You'd be correct," Suzy continued, an eyebrow raising upward. "That's why I asked."
"Oh. Uhhhhh." Terrence was stumped, scrambling for a comeback.
"It's none of your business," Mitch cut in. "Now get us outta here."
"Nuh-uh-uh," Suzy said, wagging her finger at the three boys. "The only way you're getting out of this is by telling us what we want to know."
"Oh yeah? And what if we just bust outta here ourselves?" Sperg challenged. "I bet Fusion girlie over there can't keep this up forever."
"Then you'll deal with me," Junior warned, his voice dipping into a demonic range.
The half-demon's warning was accompanied by four tentacles spurting out of his back, wiggling around in the air menacingly. The action alone was creepy enough to get the point across, but Sperg paled considerably and backed away. As the only one who was experienced with Junior going full on demon mode, he had firsthand experience to not mess with Junior when he was in such a mood. Terrence and Mitch, while having no prior interactions with the half-demon, were cowards and quickly recognized that they couldn't bully their way out of this one.
"Fine, you wanna know so badly?" Mitch demanded. He fished into his back pocket, producing a flyer and pressing it up against the wall. "Here ya go."
Suzy stepped forward to read the flyer, leaning in so she could get a better look. The flyer was crudely made, but her eyes were drawn to the large lettering that spelled out BULLY ISLAND.
"Bully Island?" Suzy read out loud. "Wasn't that place shut down?"
"Hah! You wish," Mitch laughed.
"Some kid's older brother reopened it and letting people in, but you have to pull off a prank to join," Sperg contributed smugly.
"And our prank is going to be the best!" Terrence added smugly.
"By stealing Mojo's tech?" Alice asked in confusion.
Stealing didn't fit a prank; it was actually a crime. And stealing from a criminal made it an even dumber crime. Though considering who they were currently dealing with...
"Yeah, we stole some tech," Mitch responded, crossing his arms and shrugging unrepentantly. "Gave it to some green skinned kid with a sock hat. But turns out they weren't part of the deal, so we had to change plans and decided to graffiti the monkey's base." His eyes narrowed as he turned to look at Terrence. "Or that was the plan until this idiot forgot the spray cans!"
"For the last time, I wasn't gettin' 'em!" Terrence argued, throwing his hands up in anger.
"You were told to do it you doofus!"
"Oh yeah!?"
Terrence pulled Mitch into a headlock again, giving the boy a noogie while Mitch proceeded to kick at Terrence's legs. Not wanting to be left out of the whole affair, Sperg began to give Terrence a wedgie. Suzy shook her head at their juvenile acts and turned to look at Alice.
"Alice, are you good to hold them a little longer?" Suzy questioned.
Her question garnered a nod of affirmation from the alien. It also stopped the brawl happening inside of the force-field bubbly.
"Hold it! You said you'd let us out!" Mitch argued.
"Yeah! You can't hold us!" Sperg yelled.
"Of course we'll let you out," Suzy assured the boys, turning to smile at them. Although looking friendly, something in the way she smiled put the three bullies on edge. "I just never said we'd let you out right this moment. We're bringing you back to Mojo." The boys' eyes widened, and their mouths dropped. "We'll let him decide your punishment."
"No way!" Mitch screamed.
"You can't do this!" Terrence complained, unceremoniously dropping Mitch.
The teen bum rushed the side of the bubble in an effort to break it but ended up bouncing off it and landing on his behind. The other two boys didn't get the hint after watching their tall comrade fail to break free and proceeded to hit, punch, bang, knock, and kick at the side of the bubbles' wall, hoping for an escape. Alice shook her head at their futile efforts and followed her two teammates back for the surface. It was a surprise that their loud noises hadn't called the attention of the surrounding Simian Spawns, even with Nano Numbuh Five providing them stealth cover, but maybe even the Fusion Monsters didn't want to have anything to do with the obnoxious boys.
"Ohhhhh Mo~jo!" Suzy called, waving her arm wildly. Mojo wasn't where they had last left him, so they made the journey to the volcano, finding the brilliant simian holding a conversation with a bunch of his agents. The simian tensed upon hearing Suzy's call, and begrudgingly turned his attention to her. The redhead grinned and raised a hand to gesture at the captured boys. "We have your thieves."
Mojo's nostrils flared as he raked furious eyes over the three boys who were refusing to keep quiet. They hadn't properly recognized the danger they were in.
"Hmph. I see you have managed to catch my thieves who were daring to steal from I, Mojo Jojo. Now release them to my care so I may exact my revenge upon these scoundrels for daring to steal from I, Mojo Jojo," Mojo ordered, stepping over to the bubble so that he could peer inside. "They shall know the meaning of fear, and that this fear is named Mojo Jojo!"
The simian waved his minions over, and three of them obediently came to their master's side. Alice dropped the force-field bubble as ordered, and the three minions immediately grabbed the boys, keeping them in place.
"Hey! Take your stinkin' paws off me, you stupid, dirty monkey!" Mitch demanded, struggling from his hold.
Mojo scoffed, pushing his chest out more as his shoulders came back. "Take them to my lab so I may exact my revenge upon them for stealing my technology which I shall have my revenge for. I shall begin with having my technology retrieved from wherever they have placed my technology."
"They took it to Fusion Double D," Junior answered, watching as the simian minions carried out their master's order. "Somehow it was able to trick them."
Mojo grimaced at the mention of the Fusion, and he subconsciously flitted his eyes to the blue-haired alien. Alice kept her face smoothly neutral to not give away her emotions upon feeling his eyes on her, although she hid her arms behind her back to hide how tightly she was clutching her wrist.
"Hmph. Then I shall have them go back to this Fusion Double D and retrieve my technology that this Fusion had them steal from me. This is the most appropriate retribution for these thieves stealing my technology to which they had stolen and given to this monster," Mojo stated. "I am grateful for your assistance on this matter. I have no further use for you, so remove yourself from my property at once."
With a dramatic flair, the simian spun on his heel with his cape flapping with the swivel. He didn't bother to see if the team would actually do as he asked; he simply assumed they would leave his property without delay. Of course, there were still some Monkey Minions hanging around who would be more than happy to do their master's bidding. So, to not cause a problem, the team obediently left the property without a fuss. As they crossed Steam Alley's border, their NanoComs chimed off with a new message. Another day, another job from Jimmy Jones.
Subject: Vine Time
Plumber Nathan over at Galaxy Gardens says that the vegetation is growing out of control because of some Fusion Matter infection. Grandpa Tennyson thinks injecting some of Wildvine's DNA into the local plants will reduce the infestation. I'm sending over the DNA and the coordinates on where to inject the DNA. Good luck.
-Jimmy Jones
"That's not far from here," Alice commented, putting her NanoCom away.
"And it doesn't sound very hard," Junior added, looking up from his device. "We could be in and out within minutes."
Suzy grinned, placing her fists on her hips. "Let's get it done, Team Super Stars."
Suzy released a long whistle as she surveyed the infected zone's landscape. "They weren't kidding about the infestation."
The Galaxy Gardens (nicknamed Tyrannical Gardens on the forums) was supposed to be a beautiful botanical garden, and yet it looked more like an unruly jungle with the way the branches were taking over the space. While the branches still looked normal, the team of three could spot patches of Fusion Matter splattered at random along the bark. The earth had also been affected by the Fusion Matter's properties, creating crevasses and lifting the ground to create hills that hadn't existed before the invasion. In short, it looked like nature had run wild.
"They look pretty low," Suzy commented, placing a hand under her chin to study the branches. "Could you still fly through, Alice?"
Alice studied the plants as well, noticing that they covered so much of the infected zone that there was hardly a ceiling. If she was going to be flying, it would be tight.
"No," Alice said. "They're hanging too low."
Suzy nodded in agreement. "Okay, then we're going to be doing this by foot." She glanced over at their half-demon teammate. "We may be relying on your freeze ability for this one."
"I'll be ready," Junior responded, lifting a hand and lightly touching his glasses.
Suzy nodded and pulled her NanoCom out, accessing the map. With Nano Numbuh Five resting up from her use over at Mojo's, Junior and Alice were in charge of keeping an eye out for enemy Fusion Monsters. Luckily for the team, Alice's natural Fusion Monster radar allowed her to sense how close or far away the monsters were, so they wouldn't be ambushed by a surprise attack.
As she stepped off the DexLab Warp Pad, Alice felt herself step on an object that had a different texture than the garden's dirt. Looking down, she found that she had stepped on a green blanket. She scooped it up and inspected the object, surprised to find that it had dirt stains but was untouched from Fusion Matter. And then there was the fact that it was sitting in the gardens all on its own.
"Alice?" Junior called, noticing Alice had stopped walking. "What do you have?"
Alice held the blanket up so her teammates could see it better. The two stared at it quizzically, just as surprised to see it as Alice.
"Well that's awfully random," Suzy noted, walking over and feeling the blanket in her fingers. "I think I've seen this blanket before."
"Yeah, probably," Junior commented. "It's a blanket, a pretty plain one, too. You've probably seen it on the store shelves."
Suzy's eyes narrowed as she scrutinized the blanket further. "Yeah, maybe..." she muttered noncommittedly.
Alice suddenly perked as she sensed a trio of Fusion Monsters not too far away from them. Half a second later, they all heard a cry for help in the direction Alice had sensed the monsters. With a single glance at each other, they rushed in the direction of the cry, momentarily abandoning their mission. Alice placed the wayward blanket into her NanoCom without even looking, deciding to deal with it later.
Getting to the source of the cry was an obstacle, given the unruly tree branches growing in the infected zone, and as well as the fact that the terrain had created hills to the point that the team had to use floating leaves to get up and over a gate that was in their way. When they came upon the source of the cry, they found a young cow huddled on the ground, curled into a fetal position with its hooves covering its eyes. Overhead was a trio of Skeeter Spawns harassing it.
Alice flung out her arm and created a force-field dome over the cow, protecting it from the Fusion skeeters. Because they were dumb, the Fusion bugs continued to bang into the dome, realizing they were not hurting the cow and yet not knowing why. With the cow protected, Junior and Suzy jumped into action. Junior skewered two of the Skeeter Spawns on his tentacles while Suzy whacked the third until it turned into Fusion Matter. When the three Skeeter Spawns were defeated, Alice retracted the dome and approached the cow, who was still shuddering.
"Are you okay?" Alice asked, kneeling down so she was next to the creature. "Are you hurt?"
The cow uncovered its eyes, looking upward to Alice's voice. Seeing no Fusion Monsters hovering over it, the cow sat up and released a cry of relief.
"Oh, thank you!" the cow declared ecstatically. She wrapped her arms around the alien into a bone-crushing embrace that had Alice momentarily gasping for breath. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU! I was so scared!"
"I-it's okay," Alice assured the cow, patting her on the back. "How did you get in here?"
"Oh, I've been here for so long," the cow answered, breaking away from Alice. "I got trapped in here, and those scary monsters wouldn't let me out, so I've been hiding."
"Did you try calling for help?" Suzy asked.
"No phone," the cow answered sheepishly. "Oooohhh, I can't wait to see my big brother! I bet he's been worried sick about me since I've been missing. His name's Chicken, by the way." The cow gasped dramatically and clapped her hooves to the side of her face. "Oh! I forgot my manners. I'm Cow."
"Seriously?" Junior asked in a deadpan. "Who named you?"
He released a grunt of pain from Suzy's elbowing, but Cow didn't even notice that the boy was less than impressed with the on-the-nose naming.
"Oh, could you help me get out of here? It's been so long since I've been home, and I'm missing it soooo much," Cow requested.
"We have a mission to complete first, but you can tagalong," Suzy answered. "We'll bring you back home right after."
"Ooh, an adventure? I like adventures!" Cow said enthusiastically, clapping her hooves together. "Let's go!"
Suzy consulted her NanoCom again, finding that they weren't too far off from their destination.
"Stay close to Alice," Suzy advised the Cow. "Alice, mind making a bridge to that land mass over there?"
Alice nodded in agreement, holding out both hands and forming an energy platform, bridging the space between the two hills. Cow stared at the make-shift bridge in amazement, looking from it to Alice several times.
"You made this?" she asked. "Do you have superpowers, too?"
"Yes," Alice answered, making sure the platform stayed intact as Suzy and Junior crossed. "It's your turn."
Cow skipped across the bridge, a playful grin on her face as she found the entire thing so much fun. It almost felt like whiplash to see the girl go from cowering from Fusion attack to playful in the span of a few minutes. While Suzy and Junior went on ahead, Cow waited for Alice, honoring the orders to stay close to Alice. Instead of using her bridge, Alice dissolved the platform and flew over, landing beside the bipedal animal.
"That's so cool! Could you tell me how it happens?" Cow asked. She reached and gripped Alice's bolero shrug. "Does this give you your superpowers?"
"No, I was born with it," Alice answered, subtly moving herself out of Cow's reach. She smiled shyly upon seeing Cow's eyes shine brightly. "Let's keep moving. We're safer in large numbers."
Suzy and Junior, trusting Alice to catch up when she made it over, continued onward to their destination. Jimmy Jones' coordinates led them to one of the large fountains that the botanical gardens were known for having, only now it had tree branches growing out of the fountain along with the water it contained. Suzy pulled out the injector containing Wildvine's DNA, posed to inject it into the side of one of the tree branches. Then, faster than the blink of an eye, a tree branch thwacked the injector out of Suzy's hand. Before the redhead could recover, roots jetted out from under the ground, wrapping themselves around Junior and Suzy. The duo struggled to get out of the hold, but every time they moved, the roots tightened their hold. With Suzy's arms pinned to her side, unable to rely on her Camp Oar to break out, and Junior's tentacles unable to expand due to the root's constraints and the fact that he couldn't freeze something that didn't have eyes, the duo were effectively trapped.
"Junior! Suzy!" Alice called out, raising her hand.
A root shot out and wrapped itself around Alice's arm, dragging her down without hesitation. Alice grunted when she hit the ground, feeling more roots shoot up and encase her body. She wiggled, but the roots held strong and tightened, pressing her deeper into the earth.
"Nano Boomer!" Alice called to her NanoCom.
Her Nano appeared, managing to slip by the roots that were just barely wrapping themselves over her device. Without a single need to ask what he had to do, Nano Boomer called forth his trusty energy bat, using Batter Up! on the root holding down her arm. The attack connected but didn't seem to do any damage. It did draw the ire of the plant life, since a tree branch raced out and thwacked the Nano into the trunk of a nearby tree. Nano Boomer whined but recovered from the hit. Wielding his bat like a sword, he combatted the tree branch that wanted to beat the Nano like it was a game of whack-a-mole. With Nano Boomer busy defending himself against the tree branch, he would be unavailable to get Team Super Stars out of their predicament.
While Junior attempted to overpower the roots pinning him and Suzy tried to wiggle free, Alice focused her attention on the forgotten injector. She levitated the device into the air, moving it closer to the tree branch in the fountain. A tree branch shot out and slammed the injector to the ground, cutting off Alice's concentration. If it wasn't for Plumbers tech being sturdy, the injector would have been crushed thanks to the slam. Believing the injector was dealt with, the tree branch slithered away from the device. Narrowing her eyes in concentration once more, Alice levitated the injector into the air. Once again, a tree branch shot out, this time whacking the injector away from the fountain. The injector bounced off the ground from its momentum, and then rolled downhill until it was stopped at Cow's hooves.
While Team Super Stars had been tangled up with the gardens' roots, Cow had been mildly panicking, muttering, "Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no" over and over again. The herd animal hadn't even noticed that the injector was resting at her hooves.
"Cow!" Alice called. "Cow, we need your help."
"No, no, no. I can't!" Cow argued. "I don't have my blankie!"
"Blankie?" Junior demanded.
Alice's eyes widened and she glanced down at her NanoCom.
"Is it green?" she asked.
Cow stopped her panicking to look at Alice, nodding her head rapidly. "Yes, yes! I have a green blankie. Have you seen it?"
"We have it," Alice confirmed.
"What are you going to do with it?" Junior questioned.
"She'll become Supercow," Suzy answered.
Junior and Alice snapped their attention onto Suzy, surprise evident on their faces. Suzy didn't look at either of them, maintaining eye contact with their rescue. Cow stared back at the redhead, and a determined look settled on her face.
"I need my blankie," Cow requested.
"It's in my NanoCom," Alice answered, jerking her chin downward.
Cow rushed over to the blue-haired girl and tapped on the NanoCom. With Alice thinking about the item and Cow pressing on the screen, the blankie materialized in the cow's hooves. She hugged it to her body, releasing a hum of happiness to have it back. In one fluid movement, Cow tied the blanket around her neck, and it was like Alice could see the persona change from Cow to Supercow. Supercow stood taller, shoulders back and chest puffed out. Despite there being no wind, the green blanket fluttered dramatically like it was an actual cape.
"¡Supercow al rescate!" the superhero cried out, flying up into the air.
Two branches shot out, inbounding for the flying heroine. Supercow opened her mouth and chomped on the branches, taking out large chunks. In pain, the branches pulled away, disappearing back into the forest. Without missing a beat, Supercow scooped up the injector and flew for the fountain, dodging the tree branches that shot out to stop her. If a branch did manage to get close to her, she'd just chomp on it or punch it, splintering it into twigs. She dropped down into the fountain's water and jammed the injector into the tree branch. She pushed down on the top, and the Wildvine DNA transferred into the plant. The roots holding onto Team Super Stars released, slithering back to under the ground where they had come from. The branch playing whack-a-mole with Nano Boomer suddenly tensed and remained still, confusing a heavily sweating Nano.
Freed from their constraints, the team watched as the unruly plant life began retreating, becoming more manageable as Wildvine's DNA worked its magic. It wouldn't get rid of all the Fusion Matter that still plagued the infected zone, but the plants were back under control.
Standing on the fountain's side, hooves on her hips, cape flowing behind her, Cow reassured her three compatriots. "Mi trabajo está hecho, ciudadanos."
Suzy patted her dress down, ensuring it didn't get dirty from the roots. With a grin, she replied back, "Gracias por tu ayuda, Supercow."
Supercow grinned wider and pulled her blanket off. Just like that, Supercow reverted back into Cow.
"Oooooh! It's so good to be Supercow again! I've missed you, blankie," Cow said to her blanket, hugging the article close to her body.
"I can't believe I didn't recognize her," Junior said in a sigh. "She literally wears a paper-thin disguise."
"I figured it was her when she mentioned the blanket," Suzy stated. "It was strange that it'd be out here on its own. And she's been missing for a while."
"Dexter's going to be pleased when he finds out she's been found," Junior commented. "And in his own backyard, too."
Alice approached her teammates, her Nano regaining his strength while on her shoulder. "Should we bring her to Dexter?" she questioned.
Suzy thought about it for a moment, watching Cow as she happily celebrated being reunited with her blanket. "No, I'll send him an email. I think there's someone else Cow wants to see."
Cow had been listening in the entire time and perked up in excitement upon hearing Suzy's words. Without having to be flat-out told, she already knew who she wanted to see more than anything else.
"Oooh, big brother will be so happy to see me again!" she cheered.
Cow grabbed Alice's elbow and dragged the teenager towards the warp pad. Alice stumbled along but didn't pull away from the cow's hold. She threw a look over her shoulder to see her teammates following, Suzy already on her NanoCom to shoot out an email to Dexter and probably one to Jimmy Jones, too. She smiled lightly and looked back over to Cow, feeling that smile grow a little more from Cow's enthusiastic chattering about how amazing her big brother was. She hadn't been sure what her first day back would have ensured, but finding another missing hero was definitely a surprise.
A happy surprise.
This took far longer than I hoped it would be. The ending was especially hard for me to get; I was writing and re-writing it over five times before settling on this ending.
So the fun thing about FusionFall is that, along with the ability to write in a name, there was a name generator wheel. You could combine whatever words you wanted to come up with zany names. Spacebyte is obviously a name that would fit well with FusionFall but since Alice's backstory is tied with Courage the Cowardly Dog, I couldn't just have it be Muriel's maiden name. Courage is a weird, creepy show, but I think even Spacebyte would be pushing it. Can you imagine it? Muriel Spacebyte? Yeah, no. So, after finding no evidence of Muriel's maiden name, I looked for common Scottish names and found Reid. This makes Muriel, Dorothy, and Gale all Reid. The way Gale got her last name is that she thought Reid was too bland a last name, and so she had it legally changed to Spacebyte when she turned eighteen.
I thought about having the various factions go on television and express their support for Alice, but considering it'd just all be the same thing said, putting it as a wrap up was easier. This was also the explanation on why the other news outlets would have dropped her story. Not everyone is going to suddenly forgive her or like her, which will be shown as the story progresses. The Bully Brigade and Mojo have already shown their distrust of her, but we really shouldn't be using them as standards to judge on. Plumber Nathan was almost going to be shown to distrust her, but I figure Ben and Max's vouching for her would have appeased the Plumbers. Maybe not. This can be explored.
Jumping back to Plumbers, Alan's here! Kevin was originally going to be the one to stay with the Bagges, just like in the game, but when I re-read his reason for being there and realized he didn't want to stay in Nowhere, I couldn't bring him in. Why would a guy who really wanted away from Nowhere suddenly want to come up and guard the farmhouse? So this seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring in Alan proper. He was supposed to be here last chapter, but it didn't work out. Plus, this lets Kevin stay in Downtown and investigate the Dark Engine.
King Ramses II is a reference to the infamous episode (for me, anyways) "King Ramses' Revenge." The show just calls him by King Ramses, but there's so many. The wiki at least believes it's King Ramses II, so that's what I'm going with. I really dislike the episode, but if any news about Nowhere was to be known to the rest of the world, I'd figure a slab belonging to a pharaoh would be newsworthy.
"Boogie-Woogie No. 5" was used in Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Show, and can be heard on their album Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi.
I flat out believe Mitch, Sperg, and Terrence would be "friends." Internally, I consider them the Bully Brigade, because alliteration. Bully Island is from Codename: Kids Next Door and I was going to have Suzy know about this island with everyone surprised she'd know about it just to have her say, "What? I read" but none of it flowed organically, so it was scrapped. The story behind the island is that after the bullies took over the island from Jerry Rassic in "Operation: B.U.L.L.I.E.S." Eddy's Bro (who was going to be named Ozzy) found it after being run out of his trailer park by the Kankers. After he got the bullies under his rule, he opened it up to initiation and set up a contest for the best bullies to join (really, he just wants to do what Mojo does and have a group under his control). Them stealing from Mojo and giving it to Fusion Double D is a nod to the "Making Friends with Mojo" storyline. Alice and her friends were going to go into Galaxy Gardens to retrieve some Timber Creeper bark, but I opted to delegate that to the Bully Brigade. Also, I referred to Mojo as Simian Supreme. I dunno if this was used by Mojo at some point in PPG or FusionFall, but I did get the idea from dusky's FUSIONFALL, OR: HOW WE GOT TOGETHER TO FIGHT THE INVASION. Check out the story if you haven't already. And also check out buttercrush's A Girl Named Roxie to see more of Mitch, who is a grade A jerk.
Vine Time is a guide mission from the game, and I liked the idea that we had to tame the overgrowth (and I noticed, when replaying the game through Retrobution, that Max was really invested in plants, and this mission tied in with it). Like with the Nuclear Plant (which flips between "this is a timed mission because the radiation is dangerous" and "lol, take your time"), Vine Time implied that the infected zone was overrun, but the game was limited in showing it, so I expanded on its effects here.
Cow is our second missing hero found. I don't know what Legacy's plans were for her, so I opted to put her in Galaxy Gardens. I used google translate for her and Suzy's Spanish, so I am really hoping it's correct. Her blanket gives her superpowers, like the ability to fly and super strength, so for the story's purpose it's a blanket imbued with imaginary energy. I dunno how the show addressed it (it's been a looooong time since I've seen Cow & Chicken), but I'm just going to rule it as imaginary energy.
Thank you for stopping by, and have a wonderful new year!