Chapter 60: The Battle for Bellwood Part 1
I really hope you guys think this chapter is good. Personally I think next chapter is better, but this one turned out pretty well I think.
This particular episode in the series is awesome, which is why I was hesitant to mess with it. But I did for the sake of the story. I just hope it turned out okay.
They had expected Lo Soledad to be an infestation. It had always been a nest for foul bugs and other diabolical creatures. Tonight shouldn't have been any different.
It was anticlimactic to drive up to it while it looked like an abandoned military base.
Kevin was the first to arrive, parking the car right in front. As Evan and Sam led Dark Star out of the Challenger, Cooper arrived on his transformers robot, creating a lot of noise pollution with each step. Alan Albright flew in on a flaming piece of rock, lit up like a torch. And finally Ship swooped in with the rest of the gang and Paradox who probably could have just teleported himself to the base.
Dark Star surveyed the area and asked, "Why are we stopping here?"
Cooper fixed some goggles over his eyes and took a good look inside. "It's a cloaking field."
Kevin absorbed some of the metal from his car. "Once we go inside, it's on." His fist even trembled for emphasis.
The Pride donned their masks, the pupils in their eyes turning jagged. Charlie cracked his knuckles. Beck hefted a large pipe wrench over his shoulder. Newt smirked and said, "Let's rock."
Ben, who had walked out in front of everyone, turned around. "Okay, nothing fancy. We go in we destroy the hyperspace jump gate. We capture any High Breed we can find. That's it." He went to use his Omnitrix.
Those are your parting words? Ventus scoffed. You can do better than that.
Ben quickly set down his arms and turned to face his team one last time. "One more thing: whatever we were before, today we're a team. We look out for each other. We win or lose, together." And then he slammed a hand on the Omnitrix, letting the metamorphosis take place.
"CANNONBOLT!"
"Does he always talk like a Pokémon?" Charlie whispered to Carter. She quickly shushed him.
"Haven't seen him in a while," Gwen noted happily.
"What can I say?" Cannonbolt said. "I'm feeling nostalgic." And then he led the troops through the cloaking shield. Like always, it was snowing in the land of DNAliens. Unlike the norm, they had been busy setting up the weather towers the Pride destroyed earlier, as well as putting up newer ones.
Thunder crackled overhead with lightning flashing. Dark Star caught a snowflake in his covered fingers and rubbed them. "Snow?"
"The aliens like it cold," Carter told him. "In hindsight, we probably should have told you all to bring jackets."
"Doesn't matter," Cannonbolt said. "I get the feeling it's gonna get pretty hot in here."
He was right. As soon as the DNAliens saw them, they immediately stopped what they were doing and ran to attack them. And there were thousands of them.
Dark Star shot a ray of black energy at them. The DNAliens in the front line fell to the ground, temporarily exhausted. The ragtag group of heroes then ran up to the offensive, except for Cannonbolt and Kevin; the latter drove his car into the fray while the former rolled into a ball and wheeled in. He even crushed some DNAliens in his path.
Kevin went to the left, using his car as a battering ram to smash into some aliens. Gwen quickly stepped on some mana steps to get above the horde, who were shooting slime and red lasers at her. With some crafty and awesome martial arts moves she weaved out of the fire while at the same time dropping monsters.
Kevin was eventually seen atop the Lo Soledad water tower. He then jumped down it and landed in the middle of a horde. The force plus the velocity of the impact sent snow and the nearby DNAliens flying. Once the snow had cleared Kevin appeared crouched on the ground, holding up a piece of earth. He then threw it against some DNAliens just as fire rained down from the sky. Alan Albright appeared throwing down fire bolts from the safety of the sky.
Whatever fire Alan left Sam used in place of her own. With flaming fists she set DNAliens on fire, letting them go once they started to run away from her. One alien tried to get her from the back; she sent red lightning their way and continued brawling, kicking and punching and burning enemies.
Evan and Carter were walking in the middle of the fray. Stone walls guarded them as they walked, blocking the attacks from the DNAliens. If an enemy did get through, Carter used the snow on the ground to freeze them solid, or Evan would send an ivy wrap to bind them.
And then the stone walls came crashing down, thanks to a wayward ball of fire. Charlie went crashing through one wall and slammed into the other, going through it as he finally landed in an abandoned building. Temporarily abandoning the fight Evan and Carter made their way over to him.
Charlie stepped out of the mess he made. He was charred from head to foot with wisps of smoke coming out of his beanie. He took it off, revealing his fiery hair and using the hat to try wiping some char off his strange armor. It was sleek and silver under the dirt, and seemed much more breathable than normal armor.
Charlie looked up and shouted, "It works, Beck!" The two Pride members whirled around to see Beck with his pipe wrench, braining a DNAlien before he gave a thumbs up.
Carter turned back to Charlie. "Did he throw you into those walls?"
He shook his head. "No, it was a giant horde of aliens." He then stepped past the two of them to join his friend in the fighting. Evan and Carter looked at each other, shrugged, and went to join them.
While Gwen guarded Kevin so he could deliver a curb stomp battle on some DNAliens, Paradox just calmly walked into the middle of the fray, hands in his lab coat pockets. Just as he was about to become Swiss cheese thanks to all the lasers, he took out his pocket watch and opened it, activating the blue glow. Just as red lasers began to swarm him, they suddenly slowed, as well as the DNAliens. And then he just walked out of the horde like a total boss.
Paradox stumbled upon Azmuth, who had become stuck in some wayward green sludge. Using his time powers, he suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He fixed the slime a disgusted look and said, "Now that is just revolting." And then he disappeared. Sam, who had been knocking down a few DNAliens, plucked Azmuth out of the muck.
Cooper used his powers to lock onto the DNAliens hiding in the alleys. Once they appeared in his line of sight, the chest of his robot suit opened, and dozens of missiles shot out of it. They hit the targets, blowing up on impact.
Carter quickly froze the feet of the DNAliens coming at her so they were stuck in place. As Evan, Beck, and Charlie laid into them with fists and other weapons, Carter turned to look for Newt, who had somehow disappeared. Now that she thought about it, Ship was gone too.
Sam ran by and Carter called out, "Have you seen Newt and Ship?"
The redhead stopped. "No, I've been looking for them. Figured I'd give Newt Azmuth for safe keeping." She held up the Galvan in her hand.
Azmuth huffed indignantly. "You act as if I am a wayward child."
"You're a scientist stuck in battle," Sam told him. "You kind of are one."
"SHIP!" came the mighty voice of the Galvan Mechamorph. All three of them looked up to see him send flying missiles at the enemy. They all hit random parts of the base, but they still got the job of taking out DNAliens and destroying buildings done, with impressive explosions to boot.
"I'm assuming your friend is with him," Azmuth pointed out.
Dark Star sent black energy out of his fingertips, aiming it at all the DNAliens running at him. At first he merely sucked up enough energy to disorient the enemy for a while, but after a while he was soon overcome. A few DNAliens ganged up on him, beating him to the ground. One even punched his mask off, revealing his hideous, skeletal face.
And so the gloves were off. Sending a pillar of energy at them, Dark Star sent the DNAliens up into the air, forcing them to land painfully on the ground. He clamped his hand over the beaked mouth of one alien and sucked the energy right out of him, turning it into a gray, skeletal husk. He did it again with another DNAlien, and another, and another in an endless loop.
"Yes," he said huskily as the energy went flowing through him. His face began filling out and turning into a normal pale skin tone. "Yes!" he said, hovering into the air as he absorbed more energy. At this point his hair was growing back on his head, turning back to its former golden shade. "YES!" he cried out one final time as his face finally turned back to normal.
And then Cannonbolt came rolling up. "No!" he cried out. "Stop hurting them!"
"This is a battle," Dark Star/Michael pointed out. "We do what we must to survive."
"I hate to agree with our evil vampire teammate, but he has a point," Sam said popping up out of nowhere-or the shadows, as was usual. "Still, these DNAliens aren't really aliens at all," she told Dark Michael. "They're just ordinary humans who have been brainwashed into working for the High Breed. It'd probably be best to show a little compassion."
"Remember our deal, Michael," Cannonbolt said. "We take them down, not out. Understand?"
With a grimace Michael stopped the flow of energy, his face reverting back to its revolting form. He hovered back to the ground and picked up his mask. Putting it back on, he said spitefully: "You're a fool, Ben. What would you do? Cure them?"
Cannonbolt smiled. "Actually, that's not a bad idea."
Sam turned to him, shocked. "Can the Omnitrix even do that?"
"Only one way to find out." He poked the surface of the emblem on his chest and ordered, "Omnitrix: revert the DNAliens back to human." A green beam of light erupted out of the emblem and struck a DNAlien lying unconscious on the ground. The colors melted off it, the body turning a brown color before the mold turned into a human.
The light beam faded away. In Ben's voice, the emblem spoke. "Genetic damage repaired."
"I can't believe that worked," Sam said pleasantly surprised. And then she saw Cannonbolt with his hands on his knees.
"Again," he panted.
"Maybe you should wait," she told him, alarm rising in her.
"As many as we can," he said, to himself or to her, she didn't know. Green light erupted out of the emblem again, and the light struck all the DNAliens nearby, turning them back to human form.
As the light began to taper out, DNAliens began to attack again, this time with more lasers. Sam quickly got in front, putting up a fire shield as the barrage began. But Cannonbolt got out in front of her and struck down the DNAliens, their now human bodies hitting the snowy ground.
Beck went to the center of the healing fray, his hyperactive mind going at a million miles per hour. He looked up at Cooper, who was watching the scene with a calculating look in his eyes. "You thinking what I'm thinking, Coop?" the Hispanic boy called out.
"Yeah, I am," Cooper called back as Cannonbolt fell to the ground.
"Warning: energy reserves depleted," Ben's voice rang out again. Sam ran to the fallen alien, putting a reassuring hand on his back.
"Carter, get over here!" she screamed worriedly. The Goth came running, turning the snow on the ground into an ice slide so she could get there faster. When she finally slid to a stop, she got on her knees and propped Cannonbolt up, her hands glowing blue-green.
"Cycling to recharge mode," Ben's voice rang out as the Omnitrix symbol turned red. Cannonbolt exploded into light, and Ben fell face first into the snow, exhausted.
The DNAliens hiding nearby took the chance and sprang out, readying their laser weapons. Carter threw up her hands and sent spikes of ice at them, distracting them long enough for Sam to get at them.
"Gwen, a little help here!" Sam cried out as one tried to get her in the back. She happily obliged, sending out a mana tentacle strong enough to take out all but three of the enemy. One of them was punched out by Evan. The other two had their heads slammed together by Kevin. A few DNAliens were on the roof, shooting lasers down at them. Dark Star took a few out with his powers.
Carter was trying to wake Ben up, but to no avail. He wasn't injured, so her powers wouldn't work. He was simply exhausted. What he needed was some time in a healing pod, but that wasn't an option.
"Why isn't he waking up?" Gwen asked anxiously as Kevin began to lightly slap his unconscious friend's face.
Evan and Carter clutched Ben's arms and lifted him up off the ground. "Now is not the time to catch up on your beauty sleep. We have a war to win," Evan scolded him. Ben slowly shook his head, his eyes opening.
"What happened?" he said slurring his words.
"You misused the power of the Omnitrix," Azmuth growled. He was standing on Paradox's shoulder-Sam had given him to the professor for safekeeping earlier.
Fully awake, Ben protested, "I was helping people!"
Azmuth crossed his arms. "You were wasting your energy on pointless exercise." Ben glared at him.
Paradox smiled at him. "Good intentions, Ben. But in matters like this, timing is everything."
"I am so sick of the time jokes," Sam muttered under her breath.
Ben ignored her. "What do you mean?" Looking at his pocket watch, the professor just kept smiling.
"It will come to you."
As everyone kept fighting around him-even Sam, who had only stopped to snark- Ben looked at his now-red super weapon. "Are you saying I can't use the Omnitrix to cure the DNAliens?"
Cooper chose that moment to walk up to them in his badass robot suit. "Now that I've seen you do it, maybe you don't have to."
Beck chose that moment to yell out, "Pride, to the transformer!"
The robot suit glowed blue and began to separate. And then, like puzzle pieces they reassembled themselves into dozens of red laser guns, these ones much smaller and sleeker than the DNAlien version.
"What are those?" Ben had to ask.
Cooper smirked and took one in his hands. He aimed and fired at the DNAlien Evan was fighting. It instantly turned back into a human female. Evan caught her before she fell.
"I need that gun!" Evan whooped happily.
"One shot will revert a DNAlien to human," Cooper told them.
"And it won't hurt them?" Gwen asked as she took one from the hovering ring.
"They'll wake up with a little headache," Cooper told her honestly as he started to shoot again. Everyone began to grab at weapons; Ship even docked so Newt could get one. Beck took three and called out, "Pride, to me!" The four huddled together. No one could see what they were doing, but at the end of the meeting Carter and Sam had their respective scythe and Dao swords out while Evan was left with one single laser. All three blades were glowing a suspicious green color.
"This better work Beck," Carter growled as she ran to the front and cut the first DNAlien she saw. A green light appeared out of the gash before it spread over the body, turning the alien back into human.
"It actually worked!" Sam cried out happily before she went to join Carter.
"Of course it did!" Beck scoffed as the two girls disappeared to the back of the line.
Evan turned to the others. "Keep the front lines going! Carter and Sam will take them out by surprise in the back while we take them from the front."
Once the Omnitrix was recharged, Ben grinned and slapped down the dial. As Jetray he took two laser guns and started shooting at enemies from above. He could see Carter and Sam in the back, bobbing in and out of the shadows as they sliced at DNAliens, turning them human again.
Once he flew near the arch, Ventus said, Do you have that eagle Phineas gave you?
Is it safe to use it here?
No one's going to see us from so far away, the god in the boy's head reasoned. And if they do Newt can explain it away. Besides, now seems like a really good time to take out that arch.
Ben agreed. As Jetray he flipped through the air, but he fell to the ground as human. Taking the gold tube out of his pocket, he sent electricity through it, turning it into a thick pole with the majestic eagle perched on top. As he neared the ground, he could feel the words burn his arm, but he could remember them verbatim.
"Memores sint reprobi!" Ben cried out as the butt of the staff hit the ground. Energy was being pulled from him-Phineas was wrong, he didn't send the pole energy, it took it from him- forcing his knees to buckle as he helplessly slid to the ground yet again.
But something was appearing above his head. Lightning shot out of the eagle, streaking the sky violently as storm clouds gathered around it. The lightning began to take form, turning into a ball, then a ball with large wings, and then an enormous eagle made entirely out of lightning. It opened its mouth, and instead of a bird-like scream a thunderous boom rang out. The wings spread out, covering the entirety of the arch. There was a flash of pure blinding light and suddenly the arch blackened, sparks flying out as it short circuited.
And then the eagle was simply gone. The army base seemed unusually dark without its holy light, but thanks to it the arch was destroyed. With protesting bones and an exhausted soul Ben turned to the hundreds of DNAliens in front of him…only to find unconscious humans littering the ground. His brain on the fritz, Ben could barely make out a simple question in his mind.
Yeah, the eagle did that, Ventus said as Ben's eyes closed.
Before the eagle attacked, the front line had been mostly covered. Gwen was using her powers as a shield as she ran headfirst into the fray, shooting at the enemy randomly. Kevin had grabbed two lasers and with a war cry ran headlong into battle, jumping on top of heads and shooting wildly into the mess.
Alan was overhead, shooting fire and lasers alike while Newt steered Ship around the battlefield, aiming erratically below. Beck and Charlie stood back to back while they shot their weapons, Cooper weaving in and out of the fray with his weapon. Paradox walked calmly as he was shooting, with Azmuth on his shoulder. The Galvan was too small to hold a laser, but he still took a shot, only to fall off the professor's shoulder. Only Dark Star remained entirely stationary as he took hits at the enemy.
Suddenly Kevin looked up and saw a glint from a top one of the weather towers. There was a red laser charge flashing. He looked to his left, saw Sam, and yelled out, "Sam! Up there!" She looked up just as the weapon fired. "Here!" he shouted, weaving his fingers together and kneeling down.
Sam ran up, put a foot inside the latch, and let herself be thrown into the air heading towards the laser. Flames erupted from the soles of her boots, giving her a much needed boost. With fire in the palm of her hands she sent a laser of her own at the offending shot, disintegrating it. Just as she fell Sam sent a small ball of flame at the sniper, watching as the spot exploded and the DNAlien fall. Ducking into a ball she fell to the ground, landing with a sonic wave strong enough to force numerous DNAliens to fly in the air.
And then the eagle appeared in the sky, startling everyone, even the DNAliens. It was massive and bright and seemed to crackle with lightning. It loomed over the arch like an avenging angel. It opened its beak, but instead of a sharp bird cry thunder boomed, resonating out of the throat in a deafening roar. And then it burst, the light exploding over the army base and blinding everyone.
And then it was simply gone. The night looked unusually grim without the eagle, as if the darkest hour had physically appeared. But then Evan gave a sharp cry and pointed at the arch, the blackened relic appearing. This was followed by a triumphant shout from Carter as she waved a hand over the fallen humans in their midst. Everyone cheered, but it was cut short as another onslaught of the DNAlien horde was within sight.
And to make matters worse red lights appeared out of the arch. Instead of sparking to death the jump gate was being activated.
"No, it can't…" Evan muttered as his eyes widened.
"How is that thing powering up?" Gwen asked as she surveyed the damage from down below.
"It must have some sort of backup system," Sam told her. "Though how it survived that eagle is beyond me."
"What do we do now?" Alan asked anxiously.
"We keep breaking it," Carter said darkly as she sent a wave of icicles at the arch. They completely shattered against one of the lights. "Well that sucks," she muttered. "What's it made out of?"
"Neutronium-carbon alloy," Paradox told her.
"Dude, that was rhetorical," Carter scoffed as she turned to face the team. "If there isn't a way to destroy it from the outside, there has to be a way from the inside. Paradox, where would the controls be?"
"How should I know?" he asked irritably before his eyes widened in shock. "Everyone back away, it's about to-"
Purple light fizzled out of the jump gate, revealing a blue and violet vortex. The wind picked up exponentially, forcing nearly everyone to brace for impact. A body was thrown at them; it was being savagely pulled apart by the rapid winds. Vines erupted from the earth, plucking the person out of the air and bringing them to safety. It only took a moment to see that it was Ben that Evan had saved, looking ragged and beaten, blood dribbling out of his nose.
And then something black appeared out of the vortex. Everyone turned in time to see large oval ships coming out of the jump gate. There were dozens coming out, all aimed at the nearest town. Sam could feel warm, familiar hands on her shoulders. She quickly crossed her arms to touch them as she gazed despondently at the incoming armada.
"Oh come on!" Evan shouted bringing his hands to his head as the armada grew in size. And then four of the ships exploded fire bursting from the hulls. They slowly descended far away from Lo Soledad, landing in the desert.
"…what," said Dark Star.
Snow crunched on the ground, followed by the sounds of footsteps. Everyone turned to see Lucille and Cordelia walk up to them, wearing red and black respectively. Cordelia had a wicked looking sniper scythe over her shoulder, while Lucille had red gauntlets that looked far too sleek to work.
"Lucille?" Sam asked.
"Cordelia?" Evan asked.
"You have a sniper scythe?" Carter couldn't help but ask.
"You're not going anywhere near this thing," Cordelia told her sharply. She hefted the absurdly dangerous scythe into her hands. "The shock alone could tear your arm right off your body."
"Well shit," Carter muttered under her breath.
"Just to let you all know, we'll try to take care of all these ships for you," Lucille said cheerfully. "But you'll still have to close the jump gate. There's just too many for us to handle."
"And how exactly are you going to handle it?" Dark Star had to ask. Lucille shot him a look.
"Like this." Aiming her gauntlet at the nearest ship, she fired three shots at it. As she expelled the gun shells out of her weapon, the wing exploded, pieces falling down as the ship swerved dangerously to the right. It narrowly passed over the buildings before it loudly crashed into the neighboring rock sediments.
Cordelia turned to the group of DNAliens that happened to be just standing there. With a burst of speed she ran towards them, her scythe outstretched. With serpentine grace she sliced through the horde, the scythe practically an extension of her arm. Shots were fired out of her weapon, the shells hitting the ground smoking. Gliding to and fro, her braid was a whip behind her as she sent a storm of bullets into the fray. At the very end she hefted her sniper scythe over her shoulder and walked over the cold bodies as a rain of gun shells fell to the ground.
Lucille smiled and clapped, her gauntlets shining in their active form. "This is why I love fighting with you," she said as the scythe wielder came near.
Cordelia turned back to the group. "Any more smart remarks?" Everyone quickly shook their heads. "Good. Now keep fighting the army here and for gods' sake, take out that jump gate!" Darkness passed over the two women and they disappeared.
Sam looked at the standing army less than fifty feet away from them and then stared at Ben's bloody, unconscious face. "Easier said than done, Cordelia," she said bitterly.
If you think this chapter is too short, don't worry; next chapter is gonna be longer. Like, way longer than usual. Over 7,000 words! 0.0
So, thoughts anyone?