Chapter 3 – The Amnesiac
A fleet of KND S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s were flying over the ocean. Samurai Jack sitting on top of one of them, holding onto his sword stuck in the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.'s roof. He was fixated on the horde of Fusion Monsters that had appeared in Forsaken Valley out of nowhere, as well as the green explosion behind him that occurred moments after the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s departed. "If Lord Fuse has that many minions under his command… then we may all be doomed." – he thought.
As Jack was contemplating, the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s had almost reached the mainland. A silhouette of Monkey Mountain up ahead was getting more and more defined, and the beach below was also visible. Jack, lost in his thoughts, hadn't realized they were almost at Mount Blackhead until they reached the shore. As they flied over Monkey Foothills, Jack noticed a horde of Fusion monsters gathering. Not as numerous as the one in Forsaken Valley, but still a terrifying force. Clearly, Lord Fuse was making major moves all over the world.
After flying over and around the treetops of the Twisted Forest, the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s descended into the KND Jungle Outpost on Mount Blackhead. The panicking people in the ships poured outside to find their way to safety, some still thinking the horde was after them. Jack quickly leaped off the roof and went to look for Numbuhs Three or Four, but they were already running to the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s themselves.
"What are all these people doing here? Who authorized this?" – Numbuh Four was yelling. "These S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s are not supposed to arrive this early! Jack?! What the bloody hell is going on here?"
After Jack explained the situation, everyone was silent.
"I can't friggin' believe it." – Numbuh Four muttered. "We couldn't have lost the entire Darklands just like that!"
"All those poor people!" – Numbuh Three exclaimed. "There must be something we can do to help!"
Numbuh Four ran to the nearest communicator, and Numbuh Three and Jack followed him.
"Tetrax! Tetrax! Are you receiving me? Tetrax?" – Numbuh Four was trying to get through. "Tetrax! Lieutenant Steel! Anyone? Urrgh!" – he yelled while throwing the speaker on the floor in frustration.
"This is the last thing we needed! First, we get readings of a bunch of monsters congre… congru… conjugating in Monkey Foothills and now this? We're preparing for a siege! We'll be lucky to even send a rescue party to the Darklands with this kind of attack!" – he yelled. Then he looked around. "At least all these new arrivals will help in battle." – he added when he looked at the people that came with the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s.
"I'm afraid they won't. After the attack they saw in Forsaken Valley, I do not think they will be in any condition to battle." – Jack said and shook his head.
Indeed, the new arrivals had already flocked to the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s departing towards Townsville, to the Monkey Skyway Agents, and to the southern gate of the outpost.
"Bloody cowards!" – Numbuh Four kicked a rock in frustration. "It doesn't matter! We'll save your sorry butts! You'll see!"
"Hey. Dude. Dude!" – he heard.
What? Where? Who?
"Wake up!" – he heard again.
He opened his eyes. A guy in his teens, somewhere around 16, 17 years old, was standing over him. Tall. Black hair. Brown eyes. He wanted to ask – "who are you?", but what really came out of his mouth was…
"Who am I?"
"What?" – the guy asked.
"Who… I'm not sure. Who are you?"
"Me? I'm LG Shala." – the person told him. "Now who are you?"
"I… don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?" – Shala demanded. "You're the guy that was standing on the edge of the airship with me, aren't you?"
"What airship?"
"The one in the air!" – Shala told him while pointing both hands up.
"I don't see a ship."
"Well, there isn't one now! It disappeared!" – Shala yelled.
"Is the sky supposed to be green?"
"Well, never mind that now. We need to figure out what is going on. Wait, wait, hold on a second. You really don't remember who you are?"
"I, uh…"
"No, uh, no memories of anything, at all? Really?" – Shala asked him.
"I guess I know some things. Like how the world is supposed to work. Children go to school, adults go to work. But I don't think I can remember anything specific. Wait, I think there are people I can remember…" – Naver strained his mind, but his head was hurting too much, so with a painful sigh, he had to drop it.
"Okay, maybe you'll remember more as you come to. What about your name?" – Shala asked again.
"I… Nuh… Naver." – Naver responded.
"Never?"
"Yeah. Naver. At least, that's what I think it is."
"Okay. Naver. Nice to meet you. Can you try to remember anything else?"
"I'm trying to, but… My head is really hurting right now. At least, I think it is. I don't remember how it feels like when it's not hurting. Do you get what I mean?"
"Yeah, sure. Well, that's just fantastic." – Shala said. "Only other person here and he just had to get amnesia. Hey, can you give me my Chill Caster back?"
"The what?" – Naver asked, confused.
"The thing in your hand." – Shala pointed out.
Naver looked at his hands. "Oh." He was holding some sort of blue gadget. He held it out to Shala. Shala took it and strapped it over his back, then helped Naver get up.
"Hey…" – Shala looked at Naver in the face. "Your eyes are purple. That's pretty cool."
"Purple?"
"Yeah. Were they another color before?" – Shala asked him.
"I… don't think I remember." – Naver responded. He looked around for a reflective surface to look at his eyes, but anywhere he looked, they were surrounded by a jungle.
"Gee, who would've thought." – Shala rolled his eyes.
"While we're talking about colors, what's up with the sky? Is it supposed to be green? Because I'm pretty sure I don't remember it this way." – Naver told him.
"No, no, it's definitely supposed to be blue. It might be because of a heightened dispersion of Fusion Matter in the air, but we'll chalk that up to the list of mysteries for now." – Shala said.
"Heightened dispersion of what?"
"Fusion Matter. You know, particles of it get diluted in the air, and with a certain concentration it…" – Shala started, but when he saw Naver's blank expression, he realized what Naver had meant.
"Oh, please don't tell me that you don't remember anything about the war, either!" – Shala exclaimed.
"The… war?"
"Dude, you're on the most dangerous place on Earth and you have no idea about the war we've been waging on Planet Fusion for the past year?"
"No, I don't think so. I've never heard of Planet Fusion." – Naver answered him.
Shala, without another word, without even looking up, pointed at something in the sky. Now that Naver had gotten up and had a better view, he noticed it. A giant green mass was hovering high up, obstructing a large portion of the sky. It had entire planets, as well as bits and pieces, stuck inside of it, as if glued together by some green goop. It hovered ominously in the sky, as if it was watching them with planets instead of eyes. This sight was unsettling. Unpleasant. Simply unnatural. And yet, Naver felt a vague sense of familiarity within it. He tried to chase this feeling down in himself, but as soon as he tried to, it was already gone, and if he tried to strain his mind to find it, the headache would get worse again.
While Naver was stuck gazing at it, Shala started walking back and forth again. "This is great. First this weird… phantom Fusion horde attacks, then something blasts the airship and knocks me off. Now the giant airship that's been hovering in the same damn spot for the last year is gone, communications are down, and I've got no vehicle, no Healing Nano, this…" - he looked at Naver, "this civilian with amnesia on my hands and now it's starting to get dark! Wow! This... is officially the worst day ever, and that doesn't even include all the things I had to go through in the afternoon!" - Shala yelled in frustration. "I - or if you want to come, we - should head to the Fireswamps camp. That's probably the closest base around here, Alice will help me figure things out, with the airship, and also with you" - he looked at Naver again, who was still staring at Planet Fusion instead of listening to Shala. "Hey dude, snap out of it. It gives me the heeby-jeebies too but if we don't move, we're gonna end up Fusion food. Come on!"
"Right." – Naver answered, his mind still lingering on a thousand questions, left unanswered. He followed Shala into the jungle.
"So, what's the deal with this planet? And what is this… Fusion, you called it?" – Naver asked Shala as they were walking.
"It's sort of like a… hive mind of green goop. We call it Fusion Matter. It creates monsters, and the whole system is controlled this guy, I guess like the queen ant, called Lord Fuse. He's like a… manifestation of the planet, I guess? He's been going around space, conquering planet after planet, and, well, now he's after ours." – Shala explained.
"Oh. But what is it that we're fighting? I mean, it can't be this Fuse guy all alone, right?"
"Yeah, no, obviously not. The Fusion Matter interacts with the environment to create Fusion Monsters. They infest cities, forests, even the oceans. But, then there's also the Fusions."
"Fusions, as in different from Fusion Monsters?"
"Yep. Fusions are like these evil Fusion Matter clones of some people. Like, superheroes, for example. The ones that are the most important in the war."
"Fusions, Fusion Monsters, Fusion Matter, Planet Fusion, Lord Fuse… Is there anything else with "Fusion" in the name?"
"Hey, I'm not the one who came up with it, take it up with Dexter or something."
"Dexter. The boy genius kid?" – asked Naver.
"The one and only." – Shala said sarcastically. "Oh, so him you do remember!"
"I… yeah, I remember some people. Vaguely. Like famous people, the ones anyone would know." – answered Naver.
"Right, well, that's a start. What else do you remember about Dexter?"
"Dexter. Age 19. Height 5'5. Blood type 0-. Wei-"
"Hold on." – Shala interrupted. "You're telling me you can barely remember your own name but you know Dexter's blood type and all that really specific stuff?" – he asked suspiciously.
"I…" – Naver was at a loss for words. His mind was blank, but this information had to have come from somewhere. He tried to think about it very hard, but that just got his headache acting up again. "I can't explain it. I just do." – he finally said.
"Of course you can't." – Shala answered in disappointment. Though, finding out Naver's identity wasn't Shala's priority right now. They had to get to safety, either at the Fireswamps camp or back on the spaceship, which seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
"No wreckage, no message, not even a postcard from Tetrax. Where could it have gone?" – he was thinking to himself, but then Naver grabbed his jacket to stop him.
"I think I can hear something over there." – Naver told him and pointed to their left. Now that Shala listened carefully, he could hear it too. He nodded, gestured at Naver to be quiet and to follow him as he drew the Chill Caster and carefully approached the direction the noise was coming from.
"Why are we moving towards the monster?" – Naver asked, but Shala ignored him. Not too fond of the idea of being left alone in a monster-infested jungle, he followed Shala. So, carefully, with one step after another, they moved towards of the source of the sound. Naver was anxious to meet what was causing it, which would most likely be monsters, but he found himself curious as to what they would look like. An unpleasant cold sweat of anticipation ran down him, and Naver realized this was the first ever time he felt himself sweat. He was getting more and more reluctant about moving forward, but each time he forced himself to take just one more step.
"Can I also get a weapon to defend myself, you know, in case it really is a monster or something?" – Naver whispered over to Shala.
"Okay. Here's my Aerial Slicer." – Shala summoned it from his NanoCom and handed it to Naver. "But it would be better if you don't join the fight, so only use it if you have to. And try not to hit me with it!" – Shala whispered to Naver. Naver nodded. Now he felt a little bit safer. As they approached the clearing the sound was coming from, Shala gestured at Naver to hide behind one of the trees. Naver did so, which gave him the time to look at the sword Shala gave him. He felt like a kid getting a new toy. In fact, he WAS a kid getting a new toy. His first ever, even. It didn't exactly look like any sword he knew, but then again, he did wake up half an hour ago with no memories, so he was pretty accepting of learning new concepts.
Shala, who was leaning up against the tree that was next to Navers, moved out and ran into the clearing. Now the noises started getting diverse – Naver could hear blasts that were coming from Shala's "Chill Caster", but he was sure that he could hear other types of blasts as well. All this on top of otherworldly roars which must have belonged to monsters. He wanted to see what was going on and, despite the fear of getting seen, he forced himself to move and peek from behind the tree. He saw Shala and another person fighting the monsters.
Whatever Naver might have imagined, these monsters were definitely different. In fact, they looked like dinosaurs more than anything else, although they had metal parts all over their body. Shala and the other guy were shooting at the monsters, but it was clear that the blasts weren't strong enough to take them all out because the dinosaur things kept coming closer as the fighters took steps back to keep the distance. Soon, the monsters would surely reach them.
Naver felt like he had to do something to help. Even with no fighting experience, he had to do something! But what if the monsters killed him and then finished off Shala and the other one? What if he turned out to be more of a hinderance than a help? Shala did tell him to only use it if he had to. But of course he had to, else the others would get killed! He wanted to move, but he hesitated. He tried to, again, but his feet wouldn't budge. Once again, he tightened his grip around the sword and tried to start running… if he made the initial push, the first step, keeping himself in motion would be easy. He only had to make that first step. As he watched one of the monsters snap its teeth at Shala, who thankfully dodged, Naver dug deep into himself and braced for takeoff… and a second later, he found himself running forward, ready to strike, without even realizing that he overcame himself. He felt like he had just found himself diving into ice cold water – and now he couldn't even stop if he had wanted to. He even recognized that he had felt like this before too. Before he had time to think about anything else, or even about what was he doing right now, he jumped over Shala and the other guy with a flip and sliced one of the monsters clean in half as he landed.
"Whoa!" – Shala stood there, dumbfounded. Before he even had time to think, Naver made another swift motion, stabbing the monster next to him in the stomach. Shala managed to snap out of it and finish off the third monster afterwards. As all the remaining monsters were down, one by one, they started dissolving into Fusion Matter, only leaving the metal parts behind. Shala and the stranger held out their wrists, and the watches they were wearing sucked in all the Fusion Matter the monsters had left behind. Naver looked at the two of them as they did this, then at his own wrist. He didn't have a watch like that.
"Nice shooting." – Shala told the third guy, but he shook his head and said "Yeah, but not nice enough. If not for his slicing, we'd all be Frillo food right now." – and jerked his head towards Naver. "I'm Lars. Lars Heckwood." – he added and held his hand out.
Naver was still in his adrenaline rush, staring at the ground where the monsters were. Then he stared at Lars's hand.
"LG Shala." – Shala said and quickly shook Lars' hand. Then they both looked at Naver.
"Wh-" – he flinched. "I'm Naver." – he said quickly after snapping out.
"Is there something wrong, man?" – Lars asked him.
"I… I don't… it's just…"
"Found him an hour ago in the bushes. Apparently, he has amnesia. Didn't even know that we're in a war." – Shala explained to Lars.
"Seriously? Amnesia? Well, maybe he was a ninja or something. I've never seen anyone slice up Frilled Fiends like that."
"Yeah, seriously." – Shala agreed. "I assumed you were like a rookie or something but you're even better than me with that thing."
"Oh. Thanks, I guess. But, I don't really know how it happened. You want your sword back?" – Naver held it out to Shala.
"Nah, keep it. It'll be more useful in your hands than it ever was in mine, and you might just need it again soon." – Shala answered.
"You guys? It's nightfall." – Lars told them. "Don't you think we should be getting back to the ship?"
Shala shook his head. "The ship's gone."
"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
"Gone, as in, poof! It's not there anymore. I was looking for it myself but I've got no way to track it down. You haven't seen it, have you? It might have gone north."
"There's a ship?" – Naver asked, confused.
"It's sort of like a base of operations, as well as the entry point into the Darklands. It connects us with the mainland. Most people who wanna pretend they're hot stuff, you know, say that they've fought in the Darklands and survived, but don't actually want to go into the deeper parts of the island… well, they all just hang around the Mandark Industries ship in Forsaken Valley." – Lars explained to Naver. "I have no idea where it went though. I was tracking a flock of migrating Horrordactyls all day, gazing at the sky the whole time. The back of my neck still hurts from that. I'd have seen the ship if it had flown anywhere near here, I'll tell you that. I was just heading back down south to the airship myself when I got attacked by a pack of those Frillos. Thanks for that, again." – He told Shala.
"Yeah, but then again, the ship has cloaking, so…" – Shala said.
"Wait, hold on. How would the ship have flown over us here?" – Naver asked in disbelief.
"What do you m… ohhhhhhh." – Shala facepalmed. "No, Naver. Not that kind of ship. It's more like an airship, it flies up in the sky. Not a boat ship."
"Oh. Yeah, like that was obvious."
"Sorry, I just keep forgetting about the amnesia." – he told Naver. "Anyway, the disappearance of the airship isn't the only weird thing that happened today. Right before it, there was this massive horde of Fusion Monsters heading towards it. I'm talking, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. The sight of them scared the hell out of everyone on that ship, they immediately filled up all the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s and were gone faster than you can say Alpha Cephalopod." – Shala explained to Lars.
Lars flinched.
"You haven't seen any horde like that coming through Dinosaur Pass, have you?" – Shala asked him.
"Believe me, that would have been impossible to miss. Certainly no… Cephalopods or any other monsters. Just the Horrordactyls moving north-west for some reason." – Lars answered.
"Yeah, so that means that the horde really was fake. Because as soon as it was ready to attack, it all disappeared completely. I mean, I didn't see it vanish, I fell off the ship, but it was gone completely."
"You fell of the edge?" – Lars couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah, there was like an explosion or something. I remember green light."
Naver's head hurt at the mention of the green light. He remembered it too.
"And the entire airship shook in the air and I fell off right after I saw…" – Shala was saying, but then he turned to Naver. "You!"
"Wh… me?"
"You were there with me! On the edge of the airship! I saw someone standing there in the distance as it was going down. You must have fallen off the edge just like me. You don't remember that? Maybe that's what caused the amnesia in the first place."
"I guess… I remember the green light, so it must be true. I don't remember anything else, though." – Naver strained his mind, but the headache was too much.
"Right, you remember Dexter's blood type, but not what happened a couple hours ago." – Shala said sarcastically.
"Dexter's blood type?" – Lars inquired.
"0-" – Naver answered before Shala got to explain it. "I really have no idea how, though." – he added.
"Perhaps you worked at DexLabs, then." – Lars suggested. "That doesn't explain your proficiency with that sword, though."
"I'd know if he had worked at DexLabs." – Shala told them.
"Okay, okay, none of that is of any immediate importance." – Lars told them. "We should get moving. The Frilled Fiends might have called for their friends."
"Fair point. Come on, let's go." – Shala agreed. "By the way, you don't happen to have a vehicle, do you?" – he asked Lars as they started walking north.
"Nah, I prefer to move on foot. Healthier that way. And anyway, we'd need a hovercar or something to fit all three of us, and that's a tad bit out of my price range." – Lars told him.
"Yeah, don't sweat it. We just have to walk, then. All the way to the Fireswamps." – Shala sighed.
"The Fireswamps? Isn't that a bit too far away? Why are we going to the Fireswamps?"
"What? It's the nearest camp around here, isn't it?" – Shala asked him.
"Actually, there's a small outpost of SACT researchers right here in the Pass, it's a lot closer." – Lars told him.
"Get out!" – Shala said, excited. "Oh, my god, that's amazing. I thought we'd be walking for days! Really, at Dinosaur Pass? I haven't heard of it before." – he told Lars. Naver listened without saying anything, as he knew nothing of the lay of the land.
"Yeah. It's right near the-" – Lars was about to explain, but got interrupted by a roar. They all looked back and saw several robotic-looking Triceratops-like monsters heading right for them.
"TRICERACLAWS! RUN!" – Lars yelled, and all three of them took off running.
The monsters chased after them. Naver could feel the shockwaves they were sending with each step, causing a massive thud with their weight. He didn't even need to look back to feel, judging by their stomps, the "Triceraclaws", as Lars had called them, were faster than them and catching up. Shala and Lars must have felt that too, as they started shooting while running. It wasn't working, though. Naver saw Shala press a button on his watch. A small figure appeared in the air, resembling a dinosaur as well. Something brown, with a tail. It moved towards the monster and did something to it while yelling something Naver couldn't hear. As a result, the Triceraclaw fell down and got left behind. Though, there were still three of the monsters left running, coming after them.
One of them caught up and tried to ram Shala, who was running behind. Shala had to dodge to the side. Now the Triceraclaw was right behind Naver and next to Shala. Naver, without realizing what he was doing, jumped onto the monster's back, quickly found a weak spot in its shell and stabbed it with Shala's Aerial Slicer. The monster stumbled and started dissolving, while Naver jumped off and kept running ahead.
"Nice moves back there!" – Lars shouted while shooting at the remaining two monsters. Now, Shala was the one running ahead of them. Naver heard him shout "THE CLIFF IS UP AHEAD! I'M GONNA RUN TO THE LEFT! YOU GUYS FOLLOW ME!"
Naver looked forward. A cliff? Here, in the jungle? But it was true. Though, before he could run to the left to follow Shala, Naver felt something hit him in the back. The Triceraclaw had caught up with him. Before he knew what was going on, he felt the ground get ripped away from his feet, and suddenly, he was freefalling. So was the monster. They fell off the cliff and into a canyon. Naver was facing up, seeing the sky get narrower between the two cliffs, not even knowing when to brace for impact. Freefalling. For a second there, Naver got scared that this was the end.
The landing was as unexpected as it was painful. Thankfully, he didn't hit his head. Naver heard water splashing near him. They must have fallen into a river or a lake. He tried to get up, but his leg was hurting. Was anything broken? Slowly, he felt himself blacking out. The last thing Naver saw was Lars, who had apparently fallen in with them, getting up to fight the Triceraclaw, who still hadn't lost its fighting spirit. Lars was shooting at it, but the blasts were as ineffective as they were before. The monster charged towards Lars, about to trample him.
A fear ran through Naver. It was not a fear of self-preservation. It was a fear that he'd lose Lars and would be left all alone here. Alone with no identity or sense of purpose. "NO!" – he shouted. He felt a surge of power rush through his brain, and something happened to the monster. As if someone pushed it, it got knocked against the wall. Naver saw Lars grabbing the sword as he lost his vision completely, passing out. "Splash, splash, splash, splash…"
A girl in Providence armor was running in the Fireswamps. Exhausted. Thirsty. In pain. She had only one thing in mind: to keep running. She had to reach the outpost and warn them. The attack. She had to keep running.
She was being chased by Lizard Kings. She didn't dare look back. The sight of them might cause her to stop running. Or it might cause her to stumble at fall. Unarmed, injured… She couldn't take them on. There was no other option. Keep. Running.
She kept repeating that in her mind: "Keep running. Keep running." She was trying to reassure herself, but her determination was waning. "Keep. Running." – she told herself again.
She was out of breath. Despite that, she kept running. There was no time to stop to catch her breath, as the Lizard Kings were gaining on her. She didn't even need to look back, she could hear their legs, crawling across the charred ground. She could feel the heat, radiating off their bodies. She was terrified that they'd reach her before she reached the outpost. She wasn't scared for her life, but she was scared that her warning wouldn't reach them. The outpost. So, ignoring her own lungs shriveling up in pain, she kept running.
Even ignoring the pain in her throat, in her chest, she spoke into her communicator. It proved to be non-functional, but she had to try again anyway. "Alice! Noah! Calan! Is anyone there? Anyone?" but yet again, she was met with a frustrating silence, only broken up by her panting and by the monsters chasing her. She would have tried to warn them anyway, regardless if they were listening or not, but she couldn't find the air in her lungs to talk for that long. With each step, she was losing hope. Giving up flashed through her mind. But even the thought of that offended so much that she found it in herself to keep running. She had found her second wind.
There was an indiscernible shape ahead of her. As she kept and kept running, it materialized into the white walls that surrounded the outpost. "Real? Or mirage?" – She thought to herself. She was so exhausted that even in her mind, she could barely form coherent sentences. But it didn't matter to her anymore. Whatever it was ahead of her, she had to make it till there, at least. It didn't even matter if it wasn't real. At least she had a visible goal in her reach. And that gave her the strength to keep running.
Several Providence Agents jumped down from behind the barricades as soon as they saw her and started shooting at the Lizard Kings. The girl, exhausted, didn't even understand what was going on at first. If she had kept running, she would have probably smashed into the wall, but one of the Agents caught her. She collapsed to her knees. The Agents helped her up and carried her into the camp.
"Alice…" – she muttered. "Need to see… Alice…"
One of the Agents went to find Alice, while the other helped her to the medic's tent. Soon, Alice and Noah ran to her. "Cindy! Oh my god! What happened?" – she asked.
"I was… mission in Firepits… to find Agent Haha. Found tunnels under… underground. Infected Zone. They led me to fuh… Fusion Courage. Overheard. He's planning an attack."
"Are you sure of that?" – Noah asked her.
Cindy nodded feebly. "Prepare. Hundreds of monsters…" – and then she lost consciousness.
End of Chapter 3.