HuniePop Space Adventures
Chapter 4: Welcome to the Jungle
I stared at the Crucible with determined eyes. Whatever it was that happened to me back on Gaia Prime, it was still inside me. Constantly growing and building power. Something about it felt evil. It felt bloodthirsty. It felt… free.
"Max?" Nikki said, breaking my thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"You've been staring at that thing for 10 minutes straight. Is everything OK?" Nikki asked, sitting beside me. I just smiled and gently hugged her.
"I'm fine. Just trying to think," I said. Nikki just gave me a sad look.
"Are we gonna talk about what happened on Gaia Prime? It looked like you weren't in control back there."
"There's nothing to talk about."
"Yes there is. You pulled the Crucible out of the pedestal and then you got struck by lightning. After that, your hair, eyes, and skin changed and you fought like there was this monster inside of you, begging to be let out."
"All that rage. It felt like I was partially in control. But, it felt like someone else was pulling the strings. And yet, it felt like freedom… somehow," I said.
"Max, what is going on with you?" Nikki asked. I smiled and began to gently caress her head.
"Listen, whatever's going on, we'll figure it out together. I promise that you won't lose me," I said. Nikki smiled and kissed me.
"Max. Nikki. You're needed on the bridge. We're nearing our destination," Celeste's voice said over the intercom. We got up and went to the bridge, where the ship exited hyper space and stopped in front of a green planet. It looked a bit like Earth, except the landmasses were a bit bigger than on Earth. And there didn't seem to be a single trace of any sort of building.
"What planet is this?" I asked.
"Do you remember the Slashers you fought when you first met me?"
"Yeah, they're from the planet Saurian, right?" Nikki asked.
"Well, this is that very planet. The planet of Saurian," Celeste said.
"And we're here why now? I thought that this place was like a nature preserve," Amki asked. Celeste pulled up a hologram of the planet on the center table and it zoomed in on a small village of sorts.
"We have received word that the local's village gardens were hit by an unknown army of unknown origin. They've been flattening the jungle with tank-like weapons, burning the trees, and upsetting the local wildlife. To make matters worse, they seem to have some sort of weaponized creature with them," Celeste explained. A video of a dinosaur-like creature killing the locals was then shown. The creature had the head of an Allosaurus, but its hands had a fourth finger that looked like a thumb and it had a blade-like tail. Aside from that, the creature was about 50 feet long, had pale bluish skin, and three rows of spikes running down its back.
"What species is it?" I asked.
"No one knows. But it does have DNA from other species such as the Slasher and the Pack Runner or, as they're called on Earth, Allosaurus. To make matters worse, it can camouflage and shoot barbs out of its tail. Its been rampaging across the country and killing everything in sight. The villagers are able to hold their own in a battle, but not against something like this. If we don't deal with this, the results could be catastrophic."
"Question: this army… when did they first show up?" Odango asked.
"Roughly two days ago."
"And I'm guessing that this is connected to Info's attack on Ares?" I asked.
"In part, but it's still unclear at this point if the attack on Ares and the attack on Saurian are connected in some way. But what's clear is this: if we don't deal with this attack, thousands will die," Celeste said.
"So, what's the call?" Nikki asked. Celeste pulled up a map with a route planned out.
"We'll be teleporting to here: Herbivore Valley. From there, we'll make our way through the jungle to the village. Our goal is to take the army by surprise and attack from behind," she explained.
"Why can't we just teleport to the front lines? We have the kind of weapons to take out this sort of thing, right?" Amki asked.
"Because we'd risk losing the element of surprise. Plus, if it gets more bloody than we expect, a lot of the villagers could get hurt in the crossfire," I said.
"Plus, that 'Diabolus Rex' is probably also using stealth as its weapon, given the fact that it can camouflage," Nikki added. Everyone except me gave her confused looks.
"Diabolus Rex?" Amki asked.
"What? I can't give an unknown creature a cool name?" Nikki asked. I smiled and drew her closer to me.
"I think it's a good name for it," Eva said.
"Well, the Diabolus Rex should be our second-to-top priority. Protecting the locals is our first. If we can kill the Diabolus Rex or lure it away from the village, we can focus our efforts on the army and get the villagers to safety," Celeste said.
"Any questions?" I asked. No answer. "Suit up."
"Dude, what is that even from? Who says that?" Amki asked.
"Stephan Amell. From 'Arrow'," I replied. She gave me a confused look.
"It's a TV show on Earth. It's not important right now," Nikki said as we headed to the armory. While I was there, I began to stare at the Crucible again, trying to examine it more closely. Nikki once again broke my thoughts.
"Max, seriously, the more you stare at that thing, the more worried I get," she said.
"I'll be fine. I promise," I said.
"That's a whole load of crap and you know it! Max, something has been wrong ever since we got that thing! You probably don't want to admit it, but I can tell! And that's what worries me-!" Nikki started to say before I drew her in for a kiss. After the kiss, I hugged her tightly.
"That's such a dirty trick," she said.
"How so?" I asked.
"Every time I worry about you, you kiss me. I swear, it's like you think I have no right to worry."
"You have every right to worry about me. Look, whatever it is that's inside me, we'll find out how to stop it and we'll do it together, OK?" I said. Nikki looked back up at me and smiled.
"OK," she said. After we had gotten our weapons and armor ready, we beamed down into Herbivore Valley and immediately came face-to-face with one of the planet's creatures. It's three horns and large frill were unmistakable. A Triceratops, one of the most recognizable dinosaurs from the Cretaceous Period. We stood absolutely still so it wouldn't instantly trample us, but it just snorted and walked away. Aside from the Triceratops, surrounding us were a number of other plant-eating species.
"Well, this is an interesting situation we got into," Odango said.
"These are herbivores. If we move through the herd quietly, we shouldn't have any issues," Celeste said, walking on the route we were supposed to. As we moved through the herd, I saw that most of the species around us looked exactly like some of the species that used to be on Earth. Parasaurolophus, Gallimimus, Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, all different species that we had only seen in books or movies. Odango couldn't help but pet one of the Parasaurs, while Nikki and I stared out at the rest of the herd.
"This is so beautiful," Nikki said.
"It is. We should come here more often," I replied. But before any of us could react, Amki suddenly came crashing to the ground. I turned and saw that she had tripped over the tail of a creature with an armored back and a club at the end of its tail. An Ankylosaurus.
"Hey! I'm walkin' here!" Amki yelled, annoyed. The Ankylosaurus seemed as annoyed as Amki and slowly got up and moved.
"You OK?" I asked, helping her up. She just got up and brushed herself off.
"I'm fine. I just wish these stupid things wouldn't look like freakin' rocks!" she said in a huff.
"Then you should look where you are going," Celeste said.
"You should've warned me then!" Amki said. One of the Parasaurs' heads suddenly just shot up and looked around, signaling a warning trumpet to the rest of the herd. Several of the other dinosaurs surrounding us also looked up in fear.
"OK, everyone just don't move!" I whispered to the others.
"We aren't moving!" Amki hissed sharply through her gritted teeth. I tried looking in the same direction as the rest of the herd, but I couldn't really see what they were scared of. But as I turned to the forest line bordering the valley, I caught a small glimpse of movement. It was running on two legs, had razor sharp teeth and claws, and killing claws on both feet. To make matters worse, there were about 8 or 9 of them.
"Raptors," I said quietly. Without any warning, the first raptor jumped out of the woods and tackled one of the Parasaurs to the ground, biting its neck and killing it. As soon as the first Parasaur went down and its blue blood gushed onto the ground, the rest of the herd went flying into a stampede, safe for the Brontosaurus, which were simply too big for the raptors to attack.
"Head for the trees! If we can get there, we may have a chance of losing them!" Celeste said. The six of us began to run alongside the herd to try and lose the raptors, but the herd, with the exception of the Stegosaurus, was outrunning us. Quick thinking, I grabbed Nikki and jumped on top of one of the fleeing Gallimimus. Although we were a bit heavier than expected, the Gallimimus continued running, not even slowing down a bit. Celeste and Eva got the same idea and jumped onto the back of a Parasaur with Odango and Amki in tow on a Triceratops. The raptors continued to pursue us, catching up to us. However, as one jumped into the air to tackle us, Nikki shot at it with her arm cannon, which killed it instantly. Two more leaped onto the back of the Parasaur Celeste and Eva were on, but Celeste decapitated one and Eva blew the other off with a concussion blast. Seeing the odds falling out of favor for them, the remaining raptors broke off and retreated, allowing us to flee into the jungle. After we were far away enough from danger, the three dinosaurs we were riding slowed to a stop.
"OK, THAT was AWESOME," Nikki said as we got off our mounts. As the three dinosaurs ran ahead to get back with the herd, Celeste checked her wrist map.
"Well, that high speed chase seems to have shaved a lot of time off of our current timetable. However, my recon drones have received word that the soldiers have nearly breached the village's last line of defense. After that, the soldiers will only have the village gates to worry about," she said.
"And then they start killing innocent people," I said.
"Correct."
"Is there a way we can get there faster?" Nikki asked. Celeste walked us over to the entrance of a vast canyon.
"There is, but it's extremely risky. If we continue through this canyon, we should be able to get there before they breach the gates. The only issue is that this canyon goes straight into carnivore territory. We would run the risk of running into any number of carnivorous species in that canyon," Celeste said.
"Like what?" I asked.
"Slashers are the most common. But I've heard that Pack Runners and Bonecrushers live in this area too."
"Bonecrushers. You mean…" Nikki started.
"Tyrannosaurus Rex," I finished. T-Rex was the most ultimate predator that Earth had to offer. The thought of running into a dinosaur of that magnitude would be anyone's worse nightmare.
"What happens if we take the long way around instead?" Odango asked.
"A few casualties, but not too many," Celeste said.
"So we either take the long way and several unarmed locals die or we run through a canyon and risk getting eaten. What do you guys think?" I asked.
"I vote taking the long way!" Odango said, raising her hand.
"Well, we have the weapons to deal with large predators. I vote the canyon," Eva said.
"Same. I need to punch something," Amki said.
"If it means saving the people with no deaths, canyon it is!" Nikki said.
"So, the canyon it is," I said.
"Agreed. Odango, if you wish, you can stay in the middle of the group. You'll have the most protection from us," Celeste said.
"I think I'll do that," Odango said, seeming a bit disappointed.
"Alright team, let's move out!" I said.
"Dude, stop with the superhero quotes, you aren't funny," Amki said. I just ignored her and the six of us walked into the canyon. Amki and Eva took up the rear while Nikki and I stood in front. Celeste was in the middle with Odango, who was terrified. After a few miles of nothing, Nikki finally spoke up.
"This isn't so bad," she said, quietly.
"Yeah, it's too quiet," I said, keeping my shotgun in front of me.
"REALLY wish that you brought the BFG," Amki said.
"And I told you that that gun is too dangerous for me to use around a whole bunch of civilians!" I said. I suddenly heard snarling and growling coming from around the bend. I immediately got up against the wall and peeked around the corner. Sitting in the middle of the pathway was a whole bunch of raptor-like dinosaurs. They didn't seem familiar to me, but when I saw their tails, I instantly recognized them. They had blades on the end of their tails.
"Slashers. A whole pack of them," I said to the others.
"I told you we should've gone the long way!" Odango said quietly.
"Is there any way past them?" Nikki asked. Celeste pulled out a small device out of her pocket and showed it to me.
"This releases a burst of soundwaves at a noticeable frequency. It should get their attention long enough for us to pass through," she said before she threw the device off to the side of the path on top of a cliff. The noisemaker immediately started blaring, drawing the attention of the Slashers. One roared and the whole group jumped onto the cliff where the device was, giving us enough time to sneak by undetected. For the first few minutes, we moved safely through without any problems. But then, the noisemaker fell onto the path in front of us and a Slasher came down on top of it and tore it to pieces before looking up at us and growling.
"Oh boy, here we go," I said. The Slasher immediately raised its head and called the rest of the group over to us. The first two attacked from above, but Celeste stabbed one with her katanas and Amki grabbed the other's head and smashed it into the side of the wall. The Slasher in front of me jumped at me and pinned me to the ground, but I was able to shoot it off with my shotgun.
"We need to move! NOW!" Celeste yelled. The six of us began to run throughout the canyon while the rest of the pack pursued us from the rocky ledges above. A few Slashers jumped down and ran behind us, nearly sinking their teeth into Amki, but Eva forced them back with her concussion blasts. The blast caused some rocks to fall onto the Slashers behind us and block our way back. When we came to a split in the path, the team split into two groups: me, Nikki, and Odango took one path, while Celeste, Eva, and Amki took the other path. As we ran down the path, Nikki and I shot at the Slashers. We managed to hit a few of them, but a lot more still remained. Pretty soon, we reached a dead end. There were no craggy spots within arm's reach that we could climb up and there was no other way we could go around. There weren't even any good places for me to grapple onto.
"Damn. Now what?" Nikki asked.
"We stand and fight," I said, turning to face the pack. The pack slowed to stop in front of us, baring their teeth and claws, ready to pounce on us.
"WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE, YOU BIG UGLY LIZARDS?!" Odango yelled in fear at the Slashers. Nikki and I gave her a look like she was crazy, but the Slashers stopped in their tracks and then ran away in fear.
"Oh, well, that was easy," Odango said, smiling.
"Yeah, but that's not a good sign either. If they're running scared, it means that they're scared of something. And if predators go running, it means there's a bigger predator nearby," I said. Before anyone could say anything, a drop of drool fell on Odango's head and the sound of deeper growling was heard. The three of us looked behind us and saw a larger carnivore peeking it's head over the canyon wall. It's head and the size of its teeth were completely unmistakable. A T-Rex. In all its glory and terror, the monstrous creature's enormous jaws were inches above our heads before it opened them and let out a terrifying roar that sent chills down me and Nikki's spines and made Odango go into a complete panic. The Rex broke through the canyon walls, but I grabbed both Nikki and Odango and slid under the beast, narrowly missing the snap of its enormous jaws. We ran back into the jungle with the Rex hot on our trail.
"Must go faster! MUST GO FASTER!" Odango screamed while trying to shoot the Rex with her arm cannons. They barely did anything against it and the monster roared in anger and snapped at her.
"Max, we've reached the village! How are things on your end?" Celeste said through the comms.
"We're headed there now! Only problem is we got a Rex on our tails!" I said as I shot the Rex with my shotgun.
"Max, keep that thing away from the village! We already have enough problems as it is!"
"I actually have an idea! Has anyone seen the Diabolus Rex?"
"Some said it was lurking around the eastern gates, but they're having a hard time holding it off. Why?"
"Because I'm gonna start a fight between these two monsters! Rex against Rex!"
"Where are you going with this?"
"If two major predators are in each other's territory, they'll fight! Only the strongest one wins!"
"So, wait, we're gonna do a Jurassic World final boss thing?!" Nikki asked.
"That's exactly what we're doing!" I said as we jumped over a log, which the Rex smashed its way through.
"And if that doesn't work?" Celeste asked.
"I'll improvise!" I replied. I shot the Rex again, which diverted its attention to me. As I ran to the left, the Rex pursued me instead of Odango and Nikki. I fired my grappling hook at a nearby tree and swung around behind the Rex. As I landed on the ground, I saw the trees beginning to shift and move. The Rex noticed as well and roared into the trees as the Diabolus burst into view and bit the Rex on the neck and wrestled it to the ground. However, the Rex got back up and headbutted the hybrid and bit it's snout, throwing it against a bunch of trees. Their blue blood dripped from their wounds as the two paced in a circle, looking for each other's weaknesses. The Diabolus then rushed in and attacked the Rex again. The Rex, however, dodged the attack, bit down on one of the Diabolus' arms, and ripped it off. As the hybrid roared in pain, the Rex ran in again and bit the Diabolus' neck, wrestling it to the ground. As the two creatures continued to fight, Nikki ran over to me.
"So, how's that whole 'predator against hybrid' thing working?" she asked.
"Could be worse. What exactly are you doing?" I asked. Nikki just smiled and created an arm cannon.
"Helping you, of course," she replied before running in and shooting at the Diabolus.
Nikki's perspective
The Diabolus lunged at me as I shot at it, but the Rex grabbed it by the tail and ripped off the blade at the end. The Diabolus , however, turned back around, grabbed the Rex by the neck and slammed it on the ground, causing one of its teeth to fall out. Before it could land the killing blow on it though, I began shooting it in the face with my arm cannon again. The Diabolus' back then tensed up a bit before its tail sprouted spikes and flicked its tails at me, which threw some of the spikes at me. I was able to get out of the way before any of the spikes could impale me. I hid behind one of the trees, preparing a stronger version of my arm cannon. But, the Diabolus smashed through the tree and roared at me again. I aimed and fired at its head, which did a bit of damage, but still wasn't going down.
"Nikki! Get out of there!" Max yelled. I turned and ran while still shooting the Diabolus, but I should've been more concerned with where I was going, because I tripped over an exposed root and fell to the ground. Before I knew it, the hybrid had caught up to me and grabbed me by the leg with its jaws. The good news was that my armor was stronger than the creature's bite force, causing one of its teeth to chip. The bad news? It decided it wanted to eat me whole. I was able to create a hook and latch onto the creature's tongue before it could swallow me.
"Oh, God, this bites on so many levels!" I said. My inner thoughts were practically groaning at how stupid that remark was. The Diabolus roared in pain as it shook its head around, trying to get the hook free of its tongue and lower jaw, but I was hooked in pretty good. Suddenly, the Rex came in from the side, ramming into the Diabolus and making it stumble a bit. From its mouth, I could see the Rex staring the Diabolus down. The Diabolus roared and charged ahead, biting down on the Rex's neck. I was within inches of the Rex's neck, but the Diabolus forced the Rex back to the ground. I couldn't see Max anywhere and it felt like I was again on the brink of death. The Rex, exhausted from the battle and the amount of wounds it had, was too tired to get back up. But as the Diabolus prepared to deliver the killing blow to both the Rex and me, it suddenly stopped in its tracks and started to gurgle. I looked back and saw blue blood coming up from the creature's throat. And then, the Diabolus' head crashed to the ground, its blood bursting up through the throat and spraying all over me. After a while, I unlatched my hook from the jaw and tongue of the beast and crawled out of its mouth. Max had the Crucible in hand, standing next to the body of the Diabolus Rex. He had decapitated the monster. He ran over to me and held me tightly, even though I was covered in blood.
"Are you OK, sweetie?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I SWEAR that wasn't part of the plan," I replied, laughing a bit. Suddenly, the Rex got back up, shaking its head a bit before walking over and staring at us for a while, growling softly. Max held me close and gripped the Crucible tightly, prepared to fight. But, the Rex just let out a strong exhale through its nostrils, turned to the Diabolus' body and grabbed it with its enormous jaws before dragging it away into the jungle.
"You're welcome," I said. Max holstered the Crucible and picked up the tooth the Rex had lost earlier.
"Well, guess that's another souvenir for the shelf," he said, pocketing the tooth.
"Celeste, this is Nikki. The Diabolus Rex is down," I said into my comms.
"Perfect. Then perhaps maybe you and Max would like to help us wrap up?" she asked.
"Pretty much. What is you need help with?"
"There is a tank filled with soldiers at the west gate. Could you please destroy it?"
"Oh, hell yeah," I said as me, Max, and Odango raced over to the other side. On the way, Max grappled a soldier and shot him and I stabbed one with my sword. When we got to the tank, we killed the soldiers surrounding it before Max grabbed a grenade belt off of one and jumped on top of the tank. He stabbed one of the soldiers on top with his arm blade, then pulled one of the pins on the grenades and threw it into the tank. The three of us managed to get out of the way before the tank exploded in a fiery explosion. Any other soldiers within the blast area were killed by the fire or the flying debris. Odango stood up, dazed and disorientated, while Max helped me up.
"You know, I really don't get this whole 'hero' thing," she said, struggling to stay standing.
"Well, nobody is supposed to get it. You just have to face the right way," Max said.
"That's just the thing. My processors aren't meant to deal with these levels of stress! It's just not how I'm programmed!"
"Maybe. But the whole point of being a hero is saving the innocent. That's all it really is," I said.
"Is that so? Because it sounds like-!" Odango started to say before her entire body was covered in electricity and she fell limp to the ground, her entire body shutting down.
"ODANGO!" I yelled, running over to her. But something suddenly wrapped around my neck and yanked me backward. In the midst of the smoke was a blonde-haired alien in some kind of dominatrix outfit with a whip. Her eyes were a vivid pink, but her sclera were black. Max ran over to face her, but he was knocked to the side by another individual. This one WAS human, his slick, black hair brushed to one side. He was wearing some kind of armor.
"You miss me?" he asked before punching Max square in the face.
"NO!" I yelled, running over to get him. But the blonde alien wrapped her whip around my neck again and held me against the ground. The human continued to follow up his punch with a few more punches to Max's face and chest before Max caught his fist and punched him away. In a fit of rage, Max grabbed him by the collar and prepared to beat him, but not before his body suddenly went tense and he began to choke. I looked to the side and saw a figure walk out of the smoke. He had some white robes on, but he had a mask that resembled Ultron. Behind the mask was long white hair that was flowing in the wind a bit. And one of his clawed hands was outstretched like he was choking him without psychically touching him. The human prepared to punch Max again, but the robed figure stopped him in his tracks.
"Enough. Let us not take this any further than we already have," he said in a half-robotic, half-demonic voice. The human backed down as the robed figure touched Max's forehead with one the clawed fingers on his other hand, which made Max fall unconscious.
"I could've knocked him out myself," the human said.
"I am more capable than you, Philip. Now then, let us head back," the robed figure said, still holding Max with his telekinesis.
"Milord, what of this one?" the blonde alien asked, tightening the whip around my neck. The robed figure came up to me and stared at me with his glowing, red eyes.
"We'll take her as well," he answered as he held his finger up to my forehead and the whole world went dark.
To Be Continued…