Disclaimer : I don't own anything.
Note : Ok, this is the shoddy bit I was talking about. There were just parts I got stuck at, but I broke through it forcefully, because if I didn't I don't know if I ever would've gotten past this part in the fic.
Still...sorry.
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(With Tommy, Normal POV)
Tommy, Zack and Jason were standing in the center of an underground laboratory, being outnumbered by a large number of Esthar soldiers. There was also a Moomba there, and a short, old man with long black hair and wire-rimmed glasses in a lab coat.
They stood on a narrow catwalk over a seemingly endless abyss, that was lined with panels. There was an elevator at one side, and a door leading to that large, green ruin that was previously seen floating over Esthar.
"The skinny one and the big one, head down to Lunatic Pandora!" one of the guard yelled, pointing to Zack and Jason. "You're gonna stay there and work! The rest of you, get back to work!"
Zack and Jason were forced to leave, heading into the unknown and leaving Tommy with a nasty guard, another worker, and the Moomba.
The poor Moomba looked weak and skinny, staggering a little as it walked to it's station and secured a safety rope around it's waist.
"Don't roam around and no talking!" the guard ordered as Tommy sighed and rubbed his stomach as he knelt and picked up a wrench, setting to work on a panel.
"I'm hungry..." he muttered absently, rubbing his stomach some more.
The guard stomped up to his station and glared at him. "You! I said no talking! You're such a wimp! You were fed three days ago! When I was your age, I worked all day and night...without sleep!"
As the guard stomped off, Tommy's mind shot to his friends. Zack and Jason weren't really the 'Do-as-you're-told' types, but they did go along peacefully enough. "I wonder if Zack and Jason are workin', too...?" he quietly mused.
Unfortunately, the guard heard him and stomped over again. "No talking! How many times do I have to-"
The sound of a chime cut him off and Tommy jumped up happily. "Oh, meal time!"
"You keep working!" the guard quickly ordered with a sneer. "That's what you get for opening your big mouth. That beast keeps working, too!"
"You can't be serious!" Tommy yelled angrily, looking at the poor, starving Moomba. "My job will be done in two or three hours, tops! His won't be done for days!" How could they be so cruel?! The Moomba never said or did anything to them!
"He just won't be fed for a few days." the guard said with a shrug. "If he wants to eat, he should learn to work faster."
Another guard came from the doorway that Tommy's friends had been taken through and frowned. "Hey, give me a hand with the big guy!"
"Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone!" the guard ordered with a sneer. "The camera's watching you." He then walked off, following the other guard and allowing Tommy a moment of relief.
Looking at the Moomba, he noticed it stagger again and frowned as he knelt beside it. "You all right? You look exhausted." It was true. There was bags under it's tired blue eyes and it seemed to yawn every now and then, which was pretty cute if you imagined a lion cub yawning. They just had that type of face. "Do they feed you all right? Got a fever or something? Or you scared of heights?" he continued in worry as the Moomba seemed to gaze dully around the room.
It gave two short, hesitant purrs before picking up a wrench and working on a panel next to a drop off.
"Grr grr?" Tommy repeated, not realising how funny he looked. "Your stomach's going 'grr grr'?"
There was a laugh and Tommy turned to find the other worker laughing before he looked at him with a kind smile. "That's funny. I think that thing's 'grr grr' was it's way of saying 'thank you'. You know, you're the first one to actually care about his well-being. Those Moombas get worked to death for no reason, and only get half the food and sleep comapred to us humans."
"Experiment! Experiment!" the voice shouted over the intercom. "Let's just do this!"
There was a massive tremor through the entire room before it settled down.
The short, older man from before took the elevator down and ran to Lunatic Pandora. "Bahh! It iz a failure!" he shouted angrily as he ran.
The Moomba seemed to move and Tommy watched as it looked around before standing. "Huh? What's up? You need a tool or somethin'?" When the Moomba nodded, he smiled and stood. "You wait right here and I'll go get it." he mentioned as the Moomba crawled back over the ledge of the path and hung on to the railing. He picked up a screwdriver and was about to take it back over, when the guard came to the door and called to him.
"Hey you! over the by elevator! Go up and get one of the guards! Tell 'em it's an emergency!" he ordered.
"Right away!" Tommy answered instinctively. Emergency? I wonder if it's Zack and Jason?
"Now!" the guy yelled before taking off.
"Oh, right!' Tommy was about to get on the elevator when he remembered the tool and quickly turned to the precariously positioned Moomba. "Oh, here, catch!" he called, tossing the tool towards the Moomba.
It reached out for the weapon but lost it's grip on the railing, falling over the ledge with a squeak. Tommy cried out and rushed to the railing, managing to grab it's paws and bring it back over to the path. "Geez! That was too close! I'm so glad..." He paused and shook his head, feeling the fear fading. "So...glad." He felt horribly guilty for almost knocking the poor Moomba off the railing, but from the look on the other workers face, and the Moomba's face, he guessed he did something right.
"You're such a...nice guy." the other man stated in mild shock. "Not many guys like you these days. You seem like you'd be a good candidate for our leader."
"Leader?" Tommy questioned in confusion.
He nodded. "That's right. A lot of us are dissatisfied with the way Adel is ruling Esthar. We maybe be disorganized now, but someday we'll gether our forces and remove Adel from power. We're over-throwing the ruler of the country. A sorceress with immense powers. A half-baked plan would never work. We're waiting for our moment to strike... Most of us involved with the Adel resistence are specialists. It's easy to research ways to fight Adel, but... There's no one to lead the movement." He sighed and looked around with a frown. "That's our current situation. We've been looking for someone like you... Someone who's strong and courageous."
Strong...and courageous?
"Hey!" the guard was back and he wasn't happy. "Did you go tell them?" Looking at us, he frowned deeply. "What're you doing?!" Walking up to the Moomba, he took in the safety cord that was looped over the railing. "You're up to no good again, aren't you?" he demanded, raising his hand to strike the poor Moomba.
Jumping up, Tommy grabbed the guard's arm and glared at him. "Stop it!" he ordered.
He dispatched the guard with ease, only to have another take the elevator down and grab his arm angrily. "Don't move!" the guard ordered with a glare.
"Darn it... I did it again." Tommy cursed quietly. With a groan, he shook his head. "Well, too late now." Grabbing the guard back, he held him away from the elevator and turned to the worker and Moomba. "Get on and go!"
They hesitated a moment before doing as he commanded and leaving him to the guard.
Zack and Jason walked through the door and Tommy grinned in relief. "Zack, Jason! Great timing!" Then a guard followed after them with a gun pointed to Zack's back. "Or...should I say bad timing?"
"Keep moving!" he ordered them.
Jason rolled his eyes and Tommy let go of his guard, backing over to them with a shrug. "It's not so bad. 2 heads are better than one, and 4 heads are better than two."
Jason gave him a confused look and Zack raised an eyebrow. "...So, who's the fourth one? Don't tell me...you're starting to hallucinate." he groaned.
Getting an idea, Tommy grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I can just see it..." Kneeling on the ground, off to the side, he let his eyes widen in 'surprise' and acted relieved. "Oh...my sweet Kell...you make your Uncle so happy!" he cried happily.
Sending silent signals to the others, he made sure they were ready, and on the silent count of three, they attacked the guards, once again, managing to take them out with ease.
"JAAAIIIIIIILLLLLL BREAK!" Tommy roared with a grin as he and the others boarded the elevator and took it up. Sneaking past the security guard, he managed to catch a snippet of conversation from between the short man and a taller, younger man.
"Dr. Odine, to use Lunatic Pandora as a weapon, you'd need something massive to move it. And you are researching that now?" The man asked with wide eyes. Chuckling a little, he sighed. "How do you come up with such bold ideas? I could never come up with such brilliant ideas."
"I forgot." the Dr. answered with his thick accent.
They managed to get out of the office and bid farewell to the Moomba before talking to the man at the entrance. It turned out he'd waited for them. As they spoke, the younger man, Dr. Odine's assistant, came walking out of the lab with a troubled frown.
Upon seeing him, Tommy, Zack and Jason all got in defensive stands, but relaxed as the man from before assured them he was an active member of the 'Adel Resistence, or AR'.
"The Dr's done it again." the man groaned in worry. "He's found a new toy that he prefers over a big one like Lunatic Pandora. Some child named Kelly."
"Kelly?!" Tommy yelled, running up to the man.
He nodded in confusion. "You know her?"
Tommy nodded frantically. "Where is she? Where's Kelly?!" he demanded hurriedly.
"Dr. Odine would probably know her whereabouts." the assistant put in with a nod to the building.
"We're going back, then." Tommy said determinedly.
The men didn't want to let them go, but they insisted, so the man they saved from below told them that they'd help any way they could. It would be practically impossible for the three of them to get around Esthar, or find Kelly without help.
Tommy hesitantly agreed. "Fine then! We accept your help. In return, we'll help you with your 'Anti-Azel' movement or whatever."
Jason rolled his eyes and shook his head and ack gave an annoyed sigh. "It's ADEL." he corrected.
"ANYWAY, let me go save Kelly and I'll take you up on that." Tommy said.
"Is this Kelly your special someone?" the man from below asked curiously.
Tommy grinned and nodded. "Yeah, you could say that."
"Tommy, she's like a daughter to you." Zack pointed out.
He shrugged. "Hey, she's still a 'lady'. Imagine how she'd react if she found out I was talkin' about her like a baby! I say 'special someone' out of respect...and fear."
"I see..." Zack grinned. "You have a point. It's better not to make her angry. Remember the 'J-incident'?"
Tommy shuddered. "Yeah, she put jam in my shoes."
"You were almost in tears."
The three made their way back to the lab, but the Dr had disappeared from his station, so taking the elevator down, they found him on the level below. "Hey!" Tommy rushed forward and cornered Dr. Odine. "Where's Kelly?!"
One of the guards they'd knocked out before, entered from behind them and sneered angrily. "I can't believe you guys came back!" he cried as another guard joined him and they rushed forward.
In his blind haste to get the answers from the Dr, Tommy kicked their asses in seconds. "Where is she?!" he demanded.
"Vat are you saying?!" the Dr asked in confusion, trying to act innocent. "I do not know any...Kelly." Seeing that they weren't buying it, he laughed nervously. "...Ok, I vas lying! I know a Kelly!" He called before rushing off.
Spinning on his heel, Tommy raced forward and cornered him in the elevator with Zack and Jason. "Well? I swear you better tell me..."
The elevator doors opened and Dr. Odine rushed out and out of the building.
"Wait" Tommy demanded, managing to get a hold of the Dr. "Tell me where she is!"
"...In O Labs." he said quickly. "Kelly iz there." he stated before squirming free and rushing off.
Managing to get the directions from their new allies, Tommy and the others managed to hop a car to Esthar and headed through the town until they found the Lab that he was talking about. They easily dispatched the guards that confronted them, and searched for a way to get inside and unlock the doors.
They found a window that looked into a large, green room, and in the center of that room was a crying Kelly. Her hair was mussed and her dress was torn, showing she wasn't treated that well.
Upon seeing her, Tommy felt tears come to his eyes. "Kell. Kelly! KELLY!! He screamed, pounding on the glass, but she didn't show any sign of hearing him. "Dammit! She can't hear me!"
Looking around, he checked the control panels, but none in the room seemed to help any, so he headed upstairs, dispatching more of the Esthar soldiers before finding a panel that unocked the door.
Making his way back down, he raced into the room without a second thought and scooped up the clearly terrified little girl. "Kelly!"
"Uncle Tommy!" she cried happily, hugging him tight.
He bit his hip, thinking back to the heavily pregnant Kat who was waiting for them back in WinHill and he gave the little redhead a kiss on the forehead. "Sorry I'm a little late, but..."
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Ok, shorter chapter because I had it all in one but then realized it was like twice as long as it should be, so I broke it into two.
Hope you liked it.
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"Hmm...very interesting... This iz quite interesing indeed... So this iz vat happens..."
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R+R please.
Thank you.
Tenshi.