Chapter 5 – Crogs
Eva quickly swerved in front of Kross. He glared at the Arrow. He could guess the rebellious Eva had gone and taken Jordan's place for the race. Everyone could tell by the way Eva flew.
She saw an opportunity and took it.
The Earth team were in first. Sul then quickly got in front of them.
'Uh Molly, can I ask you something?' Eva asked, nervously looking at the Crog warship.
'Sure, what is it?' Molly asked.
'Does Aikka have anything to do with the Crogs?' Eva whispered.
Everyone gasped. They were shocked.
'Is that a trick question? Aikka has nothing to do with them! If anything, we have something to with the Crogs!' Molly yelled in shock.
'We have an alliance with the Crogs? God damn it, this place is becoming more different by the second!' Eva yelled.
Kross appeared on the communications screen.
'You are getting on my nerves. I told you earlier, you are supposed to let me in front to deal with Sul and you stay behind and make sure the others don't get past you. But I guess your rebel pilot has a mind of her own,' Kross glared.
Eva stared evilly at him.
'Yeah, so what?' Eva asked.
'You could pay for that later…it may not be me but someone will get you,' Kross smirked at her.
Eva rolled her eyes.
'You obviously haven't met my Avatar. He'd kill you,' Eva smiled.
Kross raised his eyebrow.
'Are you so sure?' he asked.
'Yes, I bet if you hurt me, the Avatar would kill you in a heartbeat. So don't even think about it,' Eva smirked.
Everyone listened in wonder.
'Fine, but you are messing with the wrong race. You will suffer later,' Kross finally said to Eva.
She stuck out her tongue.
'I'm not afraid of any Crog. There's a lot more to fear than you slime,' she switched off the communications link.
The communications link flashed on again. There was the rest of the Earth team.
'Are you nuts? Do the Crogs rule your planet? I bet not,' Stan yelled.
'Oh. You could have said!' Eva shouted back.
'Watch out!' Molly called out.
Eva quickly swerved out of the way. Aikka came up behind. Molly aimed the guns at him sadly.
'Don't,' Eva whispered.
She swerved the Arrow so the guns didn't face him. Molly kept moving them back so Aikka was the target.
'I don't have any choice. It's this or my planet,' Molly sighed.
'You do have a choice. I bet you want to do what is right. This isn't right. It is only one Crog. It is only an alliance,' Eva told her.
Molly nodded. She stopped trying to aim at Aikka. He put down the bow he had been loading up. Eva stopped swerving the Arrow about.
'You must both be crazy!' Maya yelled.
'Maybe I am. But there is a lot worse than Kross out there. Believe me, there really is,' Eva sighed.
She turned off the communications link. She went ahead and swerved in front of Sul who had been in first. She could feel the glare of Kross. She ignored it and went on to the ring.
It stood there in its lonely state in a large area.
Eva started heading towards it. Something was then heard.
No one could see or hear what was going on in the pilot area. Eva was the only one who could hear it.
'Kross is right. One of you is going to pay for today. But you will get taken for other reasons too. They will become clear soon…' a voice said.
'What do you mean?' Eva yelled.
'That would be telling…' the voice disappeared.
Everyone could see what was going on now. Eva was worried for a moment then remembered Molly was wearing her protective necklace. She relaxed.
She flew towards the ring.
Kross fired a beam and it accidentally bounced off Sul and his star racer and cut a beam of the huge glowing globe. It began to glow even more brightly until it almost blinded everyone.
Eva quickly flew through the ring. Everything then went white.
A beam went out of the pit and the globe was fired out. Everyone in the Earth team was shocked.
'Molly! Ruby! Do you hear us?' Stan yelled.
The screen that had been showing static now flared back into the colourful view of Ruby.
She sighed.
'Is this the Earth team? It's Ruby. We are both ok. We went through the ring before the light destroyed it. We are coming back up,' Ruby smiled.
'Yeah, I guess the Avatar wanted to scare us and he did a good job of it!' Molly appeared on the other communication link on the other side of Eva.
Eva flew up and was taken back by the Earth team's beam.
She opened the Arrow's hood. Molly came out of the turret.
'We are never doing that again,' Koji sighed.
'You were better than Jordan but…' Stan shuffled about, trying to think of a suitable answer.
'You didn't do the things Kross said!' Jordan yelled.
Eva rolled her eyes.
'I have never followed a Crog and I never will. If you want to, then fine. But if I have to race under his orders, then you can forget it. I'd rather die than do that. It isn't right for us humans to be controlled by them,' Eva got off the Arrow.
Maya sighed.
'She is right. There is only one Crog here and we are bossed about by him! We will have no more! If it means our planet is at stake, we will use the Ultimate Prize to get rid of the Crogs forever!' Maya yelled.
Everyone nodded.
'Yeah, the Crogs cause everyone pain. I suppose we should have thought about that earlier,' Jordan sighed.
Eva nodded. Molly then smiled weakly.
'Well, we need to keep this friendship with Aikka. If we get help from him, the Crogs could finder it harder to control us if we have Nurasian support,' Molly then said thoughtfully.
Everyone cheered in approval.
'We should celebrate our victory and choice,' Maya smiled.
'This is the closest we will ever see her being nice and human,' Stan whispered to Koji.
Everyone then got ready.
'Hey! We should get Aikka!' Molly grinned.
'That is a good idea. Oh yeah Ruby, the Avatar wanted you before the race so I guess he must be desperate now,' Jordan smiled.
Eva nodded and went off with Molly. They went off into the main Avatar ship. Molly went one way, Eva another.
She arrived at the pool. The Avatar was already waiting for her.
'You did not arrive before the race, like we had planned,' Canaletto told her.
'I know. I was too busy proving the Earth team's theory that I'm a pilot back on my universe. What have you found out?' Eva asked.
Canaletto was silent for a minute.
'He didn't believe me. He thought I was taunting him; he is grieving your loss with the others. You were right, you both have a bond, but for him, it is too deep to handle his loss. It has cut him deeper than I hoped. I may never be able to tell him. You may never be able to go back home,' Canaletto said.
Eva tried to take it all in. She couldn't. It stuck there like a lump in her throat that she just couldn't get rid of.
'But, I do live…didn't you try to say?' Eva asked.
'I did. He thought, along with the others, I was teasing him about your final moments on your universe. There could be another way around this though…' Canaletto looked a bit thoughtful.
'What?' Eva cried.
'I could show you are still alive. But for that I will need something that does prove it to everyone. Do you have anything?' he asked.
Eva thought for a moment.
'I don't know, couldn't I talk to them?' she asked.
'I suppose you could, but it will be like a normal communications link for you. You will just have to stare in the pond. Wait for a minute and watch the pond,' Canaletto then answered.
Eva stared at the pond. The pond then bubbled a bright blue colour and it showed just white all around.
'I want to say something,' Canaletto muttered.
'Yeah, well I don't want to listen,' a familiar voice said.
Eva stared at the pond and grinned with delight.
'Cool!' she yelled.
She covered her mouth quickly. She hadn't meant it to be that loud. It was just so weird it was this easy to get a link with Jordan…
There was a silence. Molly tapped Eva on the shoulder. She had Aikka with her.
'Come on! We have a celebration to go to!' Molly grinned.
'Uh, wait a second,' Eva looked at the pond.
Molly raised her eyebrow. Aikka sighed.
'Bye! Err, hope to see you soon! And remember, it's Ruby talking!' Eva then yelled into the pond.
She turned around to Molly and Aikka. They were surprised.
'I'm done, let's go,' Eva smiled.
'What was that about?' Aikka asked.
'Oh, that was just a tiny link to my universe seeing as some people like my Avatar don't believe in me!' Eva made sure the pond could hear her voice.
'Ah. Are you ready for our mini bash?' Molly asked.
'Yeah!' Eva grinned.
The trio all walked off together. Canaletto hadn't said anything.
'Well, I hope you are glad you believed me earlier. Of course your girlfriend is dead…that is why she is here, isn't it? I am not making any more links, but if you want to, feel free. Then I will know you are not a fool,' Canaletto finished.
He turned the pond back to its original state before anything else could be said. It was black now it was dark.
Canaletto then spoke.
'If the Avatar has feelings for her, he will be getting a link back. If not, then I will have to pretend he couldn't do it…for forever. I just hope her heart is not broken. I have a feeling she had already suffered too much.'