Chapter 3: Unusual Maniac Attack

The lights flash on, and Johnny says, "Finally. Now some videogame time." He grabs the controller and turns on the console, starting a new game he bought. Mary walks in and watches her brother play, then asks, "Hey Johnny, what game is this?"

"Just a videogame you'll probably won't be interested in."

"Oh yeah? Try me."

"If you want. It's an RPG horror game that lets you travel around the world and a bunch of battles and explosions all around. Oh yeah, and everything is about mythological creatures, powers, and places. The best part is the zombie apocalypse."

"Sounds awesome."

He twists his head in surprise, and asks, "Are you serious? You're actually taking an interest in videogames?"

"Of course. I've got nothing else to do."

"What about making your projects and testing them on me?"

Susan walks in and says, "We're taking a break from the lab for a while, little brother. Which means I can finish my book." She jumps on a chair and opens to her chapter, and Mary asks, "So, can I play?"

"Hmm. I guess I can let you try. Grab that controller."

The teen sits next to the game expert and he helps her through the character creator, and soon Mary's character is a redhead sorceress with a wooden staff. "I look gorgeous."

"Yeah, and I look like the handsome warrior that gets the princess."

"Whatever."

Hugh walks in and was about to say something when he spots Mary playing along. He shrugs and walks back into the kitchen to start his meatloaf.

"Okay. Now that we have your player, let's see what you got." Johnny says.

Electricity shoots across the overhead power lines, and if anyone looked, they wouldn't find anything unusual. The energy transfers to different wires and shoots across houses and stores, then flows into a satellite dish. After charging up, it shoots into the air and flies over the Atlantic Ocean. There has got to be another way to get to base.

Soon, the power dashes over a land surrounded by salt water and hits another antenna. It surges down into a mountain and out of some wires, forming into a man again. He walks through a doorway, which closes behind him, and stops a few feet from a large throne. He bows, leaning out his right leg, fist over heart, and says, "Master Kronos."

The throne turns around and a large man appears. The man has golden eyes, fangs sticking out, and claws extending from his hands and bare feet. His skin is pale as snow, and he wears a light blue shorts. "Rise, Shockwave."

He does, and the leader asks, "So, did you complete your assignment?"

"Uhm, about that-."

In a flash, Kronos grabs the man around the neck, baring his fangs. "Your assignment was clear, Shockwave. Even an idiot could accomplish it."

"Yeah well, I just had bad timing, alright? But I did get one person."

"And you think that'll make up for your mistake!? Nobody can compare to Johnny Test! He has the power we need to take over this pathetic world."

"Well, the victim I got is Johnny Test's sister, Marylyn Test. She might be useful."

The grip slackens on Shockwave's neck, and Kronos says, "Marylyn Test, huh? You have confidence in her?"

"From what I know, she is almost like Johnny Test, you know, more spirit than her twin sister. And she is one hot girl."

Kronos drops the electric man and walks back to his throne. "Forget that. You have no shot with her."

"I am not going to ask her on a date!" He says, rubbing his neck. The leader sits down and turns to a large computer with multiple screens, and types with superhuman speed. The middle screen, largest of all, flashes and Mary Test appears, playing with her little brother. He watches for a while, then ask, "When does the power surface, anyway?"

"How am I supposed to know? And why do you sound like you know her power?"

"Because I do know her power. The same way I know Johnny Test's power." Kronos watches Mary for a while longer. "Maybe I should send a motivator." he says with an evil grin. The leader snaps his fingers, and a metal door slides up to let in a brute with brown hair, brown skin, brown eyes, with large hands and feet that seem to merge with the dirt on the floor. "Master Kronos. You call?" he says with a hoarse voice.

"Earthstorm. If I'm right, you've been waiting for an assignment."

"Yeah."

"Well, your wish comes true. I am sending you to a town called Porkbelly-"

"It famous for pig meat?"

"Do not interrupt me. Ever." Kronos warns dangerously.

"Sorry." Earthstorm apologizes.

"As I was saying, you are going to that town to find and…interrogate a person for me."

"Interrogate means smash?"

"Uhh, sure." Kronos lies, smiling.

The brute grins and pounds his fists. "What person?"

This young lady." he waves a hand to the screen, still showing the sister.

"Eh heh heh. Pretty girl."

"Yes, but don't let her charm fool you. She is a dangerous being that will stop our plans. You know what to do to these beings."

Earthstorm grins wider and walks away. Shockwave watches him go and asks, "May I ask, why him? He's a stupid idiot that breaks everything."

"Which is why he is perfect for the job, Shockwave. Give him time."

"Alright. I hope you know what I'm doing, sir."

"Of course I do. I always know."

"NEW HIGHSCORE."

"Yeah!" screams Mary, jumping off the couch. "In your face, Johnny!"

He just stares at the screen, mouth agape. "H-h-how?"

"I guess you're not the only game master in this city, little bro." She throws the controller back and walks into the kitchen, the controller bouncing on Johnny's head. He sighs and turns the game off, switching to TV. The young teen switches channels, trying to find something interesting, but soon gets bored of the TV. "Man, I am so bored."

Susan looks up from her book and says, "Why don't you read a book?"

"Yeah. As soon as I do my homework."

"Suit yourself. But, I can't figure out something."

"What would that be?" the firehead asks.

"Well, there's this weird feeling in my stomach, like there's something bad happening."

"Well, I guess that always happens whenever I test your stuff."

The twin puts her book down. "True. All the more reason why I think we should check it out."

"What'cha guys talking about?" Mary asks, walking out with a soda can in one hand.

Susan answers, "We are going in town and see if there's something wrong happening."

The twin stares at her for a while, then says, "That was way off from what I was thinking."

"What were you thinking?" Johnny asks.

"We go and see what else I can do with my powers." She takes a sip while Susan crosses her arms. "Mary, what did I say before?"

"Aw, c'mon. Don't be such a party pooper."

The firehead chuckles and says, "I am liking new Mary more and more."

Susan continues to look at her sister, a look of obedience on her face, and Mary sighs. "Fine."

A rumble rolls across the house, making the twin drop her soda can onto the floor. Soon, it vanishes and Johnny asks, "What was that?"

The cartoon vanishes on the TV and the grey-haired anchorman pops up, saying, "We interrupt the usual program to give you this news, coming to you live. A massive being has been spotted in the city of Porkbelly, terrorizing everyone in its sight!" A cameraman turns to reveal a large man destroying cars and breaking brick walls as easily as play-dough. "What makes this man unusual is that rock and dirt seem to obey his command, like he is a male Gaia." A pillar of dirt shoots up, demolishing a gas truck and sending a mushroom inferno into the sky. Helicopters fly in and the anchorman says, "Well, it seems that this day is saved. The military has finally arrived!"

He spoke too soon. The man growls and punches the ground, and dirt flies into the air and destroys the propellers. The copters fall down and crash into buildings, making the man laughs hysterically when a black car appears, followed by tanks. The general on one tank yells, "Fire!" and missiles shoot at the man. He grins and pounds the ground again just as the missiles explode. Everyone cheers at the success, until the smoke clears to reveal the large man still standing, and he yells, "Stupid people annoy Earthstorm! Earthstorm will destroy!" He grabs a car and throws at the anchorman, who ducks along with the cameraman. "Okay, he seems really angry, so can somebody help us! We're all going to die!"

Johnny shuts the TV off, and says, "That looks like one big baddie. So this looks like a job for-!" he looks around and notices someone missing. "Hey, where's Mary?"

Susan and Johnny turn their head to the door, which is hanging ajar. "Uh oh." they both say.

"I am starting to really hate that personality change. When she gets back, I am gonna bring the old Mary back." Susan announces.

"Uh first, we have to go find her first, Susan."

Dukey walks in, eating a steak, and asks, "Hey Johnny, what shall we do today?"

"Go rescue Mary from a killer maniac in the city." answers the firehead.

"Oh, that's nice. WHAT!"

In the city, Earthstorm destroys another building and yells, "You humans annoy Earthstorm! Earthstorm will bury you alive!"

A person at the side says, "Oh, I have got to move out of this town."

Mary runs toward the maniac from behind and yells, "Hey, big dope, why don't you just-!" She gets pulled behind a car, and the brute turns but sees no one. He scratches his head in confusion and continues his destruction of the city. Mary pushes the person away and sees that it's her brother. "Johnny, what are you doing?" she orders.

"Saving your butt, sis. Why did you just run after this guy? You'll get killed out there!"

"Not with my powers!"

"Mary, I may be your younger, careless brother but I do care for your safety and if you fight that thing with your metal arms, you'll get captured by the Mr. Black and Mr. White and be tested painfully! Do you want that?"

"Well, no." she mutters sadly.

"Then just come back home before you're killed!"

The car they are hiding behind is lift into the air and Earthstorm grins. "Earthstorm will crush you all!" He throws the vehicle down, and Johnny grabs the twin's hand and pulls her out of danger. The brute yells and charges the two, and the firehead runs through the town, heading into alleys and climbing fences. Earthstorm just destroys whatever is in his path and continues to run after them.

Mary turns around and was about to activate her arms, but the firehead pulls her away. "Don't even think about it!"

"But-"

"Just run!"

The man jumps in front of them and grabs the boy. "Fire head boy annoys Earthstorm!" He throws Johnny a while away until crashing into a building.

"Johnny!" The twin tries to run to him, but something holds her back. She looks down and widens her eyes as the dirt covers her feet, and looks up to see the brute chuckling. "Time to smash." He raises a large hand, laughing, and swings down when something stops his attack. His face falls stupidly and looks down to see Mary swinging a large metal hand at his head. He is sent flying across town and Mary creates metal boots, breaking the dirt off, and runs to her brother. "Johnny, are you okay?" she asks as she helps the firehead up.

"Yeah. I faced worse crashing." he grunts.

The twin smiles, but the ground starts shaking the city and a large dirt mound rises in front of the two. It explodes and Earthstorm walks toward them. "Making Earthstorm mad!"

Mary starts to create her arms when a pickup truck drives by and a person grabs the two into the bed. They look up and see Susan smiling. "You two okay?"

"Yeah, but who's driving?" Johnny asks.

The window slides away and Dukey's head pops in. "That would be me."

Everyone screams, and the dog scratches his head. "What's the matter?"

"That!" screams Susan, pointing ahead. He turns and sees a wall of dirt rapidly coming closer. Everyone screams and Dukey quickly turns the wheel, narrowly avoiding the dirt. More columns of stone erupt from the ground and the pet swerves into a skinny alley. Johnny, who jumped to the passenger seat, yells, "Are you insane?"

"Do you want to drive?"

He was about to answer, but Dukey interrupts, "Don't answer that."

At the exit of the alley, Earthstorm pounds the ground, and dirt covers the end from brick to brick. Dukey panics, "We are going to DIE!"

Mary hops off the bed of the truck and morphs her feet into a hoverboard-like ride with jets, and shoots toward the wall. "Mary, what are you doing?" screams the twin.

She ignores her sister and creates the mega hands. The wall comes closer and closer to the teen and when it's a foot away, Mary jumps and smashes through the dirt, as well as crashing into the dirt villain, making both of them fall down a hill, crashing into the park and scaring everyone out of their wits. Earthstorm grabs the teen around the waist and swings her into trees, breaking them in two and sending leaves everywhere. When he's done, the villain throws Mary across the town and she crashes down, digging into the road and stopping by a store. Moaning, she slowly gets up and asks herself, "How did I survive that?"

A roar enters her ears and Mary turns to see Earthstorm falling toward her. She quickly creates an arm and punches at his fist, and the connection creates a rush of wind, sending almost everything back, and the metal arm breaks apart. The twin takes a couple steps back, clutching her human arm in pain. The villain chuckles and says, "redhead girl weak. Earthstorm will crush!"

The teen tries to morph her arm again, but is too weak to produce even a finger of metal. C'mon c'mon c'mon. You can do this. A shadow covers her, and she looks up to see fists falling down toward the teen, the laughing Earthstorm trailing behind. Mary closes her eyes as she readies the impact, but two claws fly and grab the hands.

"Doh?" grunts the villain.

The twin opens one eye and sees the metal claws blocking Earthstorm's attack. "Huh?"

"Hey, over here."

Both heads turn and see Johnny. Mary follows the claws wires and sees the backpack on Johnny's back. "Thanks Johnny."

"Don't thank me. Thank the Turbo Action Backpack."

"Earthstorm hates backpack!" He pulls his arms away, bringing the claws and throwing a screaming firehead into the air.

"Johnny!"she screams in fright. Two jets morph on Mary's back and shoot out bright orange flames, sending the twin into the air. She flies around the buildings and catches her brother before he becomes a stain on the black road. Johnny says, "Wow. Nice jetpacks."

"Thanks." She hovers in the air and they look down at the destroyer, and Mary says, "Nice try, Earthstorm, but everyone knows that earth doesn't fly!"

The villain growls quietly, but then grins. Johnny says, "He's smiling. Why is he smiling? And is he sinking into the dirt?"

Earthstorm is sinking into the ground, the head slowly vanishing underneath the road. The siblings stay quiet for a while, then Mary asks, "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Everything rumbles on the ground, sending rubble everywhere and some buildings collapse into dust. Dirt tendrils move through the cracks on the road, slowly ripping it to reveal the dirt underneath. A large earth pile rises up, higher than the tallest skyscraper while forming arms and details, and stopping at the flying twin. The big mound on top shapes itself into a head with empty eyes, cement brick and tree teeth, and slit nose. The thing opens his mouth and makes a rumbling sound, almost like a laugh to Mary. "Whoa. Didn't see that coming."

"Earth grow, girl!" the monster roars, raising a fist. The redhead flashes around the dirt hands and stone column attacks, asking, "Johnny, do you have a plan?"

"Just staying alive!"

"That doesn't help!" She lands on a stable roof and sets her brother down. "Here you go. Now go hide somewhere safe."

"What are you going to do?"

"The only thing I can do." The teen shoots back to the beast, and Johnny yells, "Are you nuts!"

Earthstorm watches his target fly in closer, pulling a dirt grin. "Now Earthstorm will smash redhead girl!"

"You can try." She places her hands together and a large, spinning drill forms. The mega beast swings an earth arm toward the small girl, roaring to an earsplitting volume, and comes in contact with the drill. His hand bursts to pieces, and Mary keeps on flying while the villain yells in pain. "And fail!" she finishes. The teen digs through Earthstorm's chest, destroying brick, cement, and dirt, then blasting out of the back and watches the beast crumble to pieces. The redhead hovers down to the road, grinning victoriously. "Now that's how you defeat a monster." She widens her eyes at what she said. Whoa, I think I'm getting cocky.

"Mary Test!"

She turns her head and sees the SSGA, Mr. Black and Mr. White as well as the General, walking toward her. "Uh oh."

The general, wearing a tan suit and hat with a bunch of pins on them and dark sunglasses, asks, "Mary, that has got to be the most outrageous things I have ever seen!"

"How, on Earth, can you create those things?" asks Mr. Black, a white man with white hair wearing sunglasses and a black suit.

"Uhm, uhh…" the redhead mutters.

From behind, Johnny flies down next to his sister and says, "She got it accidently and no, you will not do any dangerous experiments on her!"

"Who said anything about dangerous?" the general asks.

"Don't play innocent with me. I can pretty much read your minds."

The black agent with black hair and wearing a black suit and glasses, Mr. White, says, "Man, he's good."

The ground rumbles again, and Earthstorm crashes out of the ground, angered. "Redhead girl shall pay!" He grabs Mary around the waist and starts squeezing the air out of her. She tries to create anything, but finds out she's still tired from their last battle and her breath is quickly depleting, but Johnny quickly says, "Backpack, punch Earthstorm!"

A boxing glove pops out of the pack and shoots toward the maniac, but the glove digs through the chest, getting stuck. Earthstorm looks down at the glove then at the bewildered teen, who asks, "Uh, is your whole body pretty much dirt?"

"Yeah."

"Ohhh. Okay. Super Backpack, slice off hand!"

The glove retreat back into the pack and a saw blade shoots out, cutting the hand holding Mary. Both fall down and she gasps air back into her lungs. "Thanks Johnny."

The maniac roars and rips the blade apart. He starts to reach for the Test's, but someone behind him yells, "Hold it right there, Dirt Boy!"

He turns around and sees the agents and the general holding a fire hose, which is connected to a fire hydrant. Mr. White says, "You say you're made entirely out of dirt, then you should know what happens when it mixes with water."

"Uh oh."

The general yells, "Fire!" and Mr. Black pulls on the handle, letting a powerful water blast fly at Earthstorm. Upon contact, he screams in pain as flecks of mud fly off, and his whole body becomes an unstable mud body, which starts dissolving. The dirt man makes a last pitiful shriek before draining down into the sewers, and the agent shuts off the water hose. "Hopefully that's the last time we see that maniac."

Mary gets up to her feet and dusts herself off, saying, "Thanks for the help."

"No problem." Mr. White answers.

The general asks one more time, "So are you sure we can't-"

"No!" all the Test's say.

Behind them, a small flying machine goes down the drainage and into the sewer, where the muddied Earthstorm is laying defeated. A small tube extends from the machine and sucks up the mud, then flies down the sewer and out to the ocean. By nightfall, the flying machine hovers to the secret base and enters a certain room, where it spews out the mud. After leaving, electricity shoots out and envelops the mud, drying it and shaping it back into Earthstorm. He sways from the transformation and asks stupidly, "Where am I?"

"You're back home, Earthstorm."

He turns and sees his boss, Kronos, walking in. The super villain looks down guiltily and says, "Earthstorm failed mission."

"Oh no. You didn't fail. You did everything I wanted you to do."

"But redhead girl beat up Earthstorm like punching bag. She be pretty, but mean."

"I feel your sadness. Why don't you go to the kitchen and have the cooks make you a buffet?"

He shoots out of the room and to the kitchen, just as Shockwave walks in. "What's the plan now, master?"

He grins wickedly, chilling the electricity man. "You just wait."