Senior Mook gave off a blood-curdling shriek as it whipped one of its arms toward Brian.
Brian quickly swung his bat and knocked the arm away. He then quickly ran in to strike Senior Mook.
Senior Mook wrapped his arm around Brian's bat as he swung though and ripped it away. With one of his legs, he swept Brian's legs out from under him and Brian fell down.
Brian looked up to see Senior Mook's eyes glow bright yellow. Senior Mook shot out twin beams from his eyes. Brian quickly rolled away. Senior Mook continued firing beams so Brian kept rolling across the room until he was able to dart behind the desk.
"So you end up hiding in the end," Senior Mook taunted.
Brian knew he was at the disadvantage here. What he needed was a distraction. He looked out the window and got an idea.
"PSI Thunder Alpha!" he yelled.
A bolt of lightning came out of the sky and struck the building. The lights suddenly went out.
"You missed," Senior Mook retorted.
Suddenly, a chair crashed into him and he fell over, screaming. Brian had quickly picked up the chair and threw it at him when the lights went out.
Stunned, Senior Mook struggled to get his feet underneath him so he could stand up. Brian quickly ran over to him and held out his hands.
"PSI Fire Beta," he murmured.
"No!" Senior Mook gasped.
The flames already began encompassing the area and Senior Mook was thrown into the wall.
Brian quickly grabbed his bat and ran over to Senior Mook. As Senior Mook stood up, Brian struck him across the face with his bat. Senior Mook shrieked as he stumbled across the room, but he managed to snatch Brian's arm with his long tentacle and threw Brian across the room.
Brian crashed through the window and landed on the ground outside. The glass cut him in several places.
He stood up and noticed Senior Mook was already in front of him.
"This will work much better now that we're out of that stuffy office," Senior Mook said.
He quickly fired a beam which Brian dodged. Senior Mook then swiped at Brian with his arms. Brian knocked one arm out of the way with his bat but the other arm slapped him across the face.
As skinny as Senior Mook's long arms were, they weren't weak. Brian practically fell over when Senior Mook's arm struck him. Brian turned back around only to have his bat ripped away from him again.
"You cannot win," Senior Mook said simply, "PSI Brainshock Alpha."
Brian clutched his head in agony. The pain was overpowering! He couldn't keep his mind focused. Finally, the madness died away, but Brian felt exhausted. He fell down after stumbling for a bit.
"Look how easily you were affected by my attack," Senior Mook, "Normally it takes more than a Brainshock Alpha for me to take out my foes. You dissapoint me."
Brian struggled to get up, but his mind was still swimming. For whatever reason, he simply couldn't get his mind to think straight. He noticed several other Mooks had gathered around now and were cheering Senior Mook on.
"You should give up now," Senior Mook advised.
Brian stood up. He still felt shaky, but at least he could stand now.
"Ready for more?" Senior Mook asked.
Brian raised his hand to the sky. "PSI Fire..."
"Not this time!" Senior Mook yelled and quickly struck Brian in the face again. Brian flew back in the air and landed hard on the ground. The wind was knocked out of him. He gasped for air.
"Pitiful human," Senior Mook scolded. He moved over to Brian and picked him up by his legs.
"No..." Brian moaned.
"Are you going to plead with me now?" Senior Mook asked, "Are you going to beg for mercy?"
Brian felt like crying. He knew that wasn't a very manly thing to do but that's all he wanted to do now. He wanted to find his mom, crawl into her lap, and cry.
Senior Mook tossed Brian away. Brian landed with a thud.
"I think it's time to finish this," Senior Mook said, "It's time for you to die."
Brian searched his mind. He needed a way to at least stall Senior Mook for just one second, but how? He thought about Trevor. How exactly did he execute his PSI Repel? A force obviously had to be created with PSI energy and forced out of you at high speeds. Brian searched for the energy within himself. He knew he had to possess it.
Senior Mook moved closer to Brian as his eyes began to glow yellow.
Brian kept searching his mind and soul. Finally, he found the energy and he focused its raw natural form to be forced out of him.
"PSI Repel Alpha!" Brian gasped.
Suddenly, Senior Mook was lifted off the ground and flew back about ten feet.
Brian got up and ran. He didn't know what else to do, but he couldn't fight anymore. This wasn't for him. He needed to be home, and he needed to get there fast.
"Stop!" Senior Mook shrieked.
Brian continued to run away. Run away from Senior Mook. Run away from the war.
A bang startled a man shaving in his bathroom in Threed and he cut himself slightly on the cheek. He looked out his window wondering what that was, but could only see two girls walking by. He shrugged and continued to shave.
"No sign of them," Angela said, looking around.
"No telling how fast they move either," Karen said, "They may have already been here."
"But if they were here, don't you think there would be some destruction somewhere?" Angela asked.
"Probably," Kayla said.
They walked towards the center of town still looking around for a sign of some sort. That's when Angela noticed it. A figure moving swiftly around the buildings. It wore a big cloak but it moved in a way that wasn't quite human.
"Look at that," Angela whispered to Kayla.
Kayla looked at the strange figure.
"People don't walk like that," Kayla remarked.
Angela nodded and began to walk after the figure. Kayla followed.
They followed it towards the cemetary as it shifted around tombstones. It finally came to a sudden stop behind some trees and they could tell it was looking past the tree.
They followed it's glance and could see what it was looking at. It had found Porkle and the cyborgs.
Almost human, but not quite.
The cyborgs all resembled the typical person, but it was obvious that they enhanced all their innate abilities with the help of cybernetic attachments, thus making them more of a threat than your average person.
These were the notes Elder Mook was making in his mind as he stood behind the trees, hidden and cloaked. His eyes manuevered slowly around the tree so that he could get a better view of the cyborgs, and he focused his sensitive ears in their direction so that he could properly hear what they were saying.
"Commander Porkle," one of the cyborgs said, "Are we to proceed with the primary objective?"
"Yes," Porkle replied, "I am just making some adjustments before we continue. Our last battle provided some interesting data for me and I have yet to properly compile it."
Elder Mook could see why Porkle was the leader. He was taller than the other cyborgs and he also seemed to have the most cybernetic attachments. He appeared to be a complete hybrid: half man, half cyborg. Elder Mook wondered where such a being could have come from.
"Very interesting indeed," Porkle commented, "These powers those girls posessed. They showed certain potential to be advanced in many ways, but they are not without weaknesses. Next time we meet they shall not be so lucky as to be underestimated again."
Elder Mook swiveled one of his eyes around. He wondered why two girls had begun to follow him, and now he understood why. They have already encountered the cyborgs, and from the sounds of things, the girls managed to do some damage.
Elder Mook found this interesting as well and wondered if this could mean what he was thinking.
"It's time to move out!" Porkle called, "We musn't delay much longer. News of our presence in Fourside may soon leak to other cities. We cannot be discovered prematurely or else we risk failure."
"Yes, sir!" the cyborgs responded.
The cyborgs began to move off quickly. Elder Mook waited a few seconds and then left the shelter of the trees to quietly move after them, knowing what he had to do now before it was too late.
Children. Fragile. It really was as simple as that. For all the potential children may have, they still lack the brute energy to back it up. Therefore, they were weak. They were easily disposed of.
Shendi understood all of this as he watched Kayla and Angela. They had just left their hiding spot and were following after Elder Mook. Shendi quietly moved through the grass as he kept his eyes on them. He moved in closer and closer with each step.
Finally, he was merely a few steps behind them, but his uncanny silence kept him hidden still from their curious eyes. Their tender legs continued to step forward and their tiny arms pulled them close to any nearby trees to help them hide.
After Shendi grew tired of observing them, he deliberately stepped on a branch. The girls spun around, but children can be so slow.
Shendi gripped the smaller one by the throat and pressed her up against the tree.
"NO!" the taller one cried.
"Entrapment Pforce," Shendi whispered.
The taller girl no longer could move.
The shorter girl gasped for air as her puny hands tried to push Shendi's firm arm away. Shendi looked deep into her wincing face and into her tearing eyes.
Her gasps became short choking noises as she gritted her teeth and sweat began to fall down her face.
Shendi stroked her face with his other hand, wiping up the sweat. He brought his hand to his mouth and licked the sweat.
She looked at him in horror, but her pupils were shrinking. The vision blurred.
Shendi slowly grinned as he felt the life draining out of her.
"STOP IT!" the other girl screamed, "STOP!"
The girl's grip on Shendi's arm slowly loosened, and then her arms fell limply to her sides. Her teeth slowly moved apart, and her eyes slowly closed.
Shendi listened to her dying lungs until he could no longer hear them, and then he released his grip and watched her lifeless mass fall to the ground at his feet.
"NOOOOO!" the other girl screamed.
She had tears flowing down her cheeks as she struggled still to move despite the fact that it was impossible.
Shendi turned to the other girl and smiled. He thought of a few different ideas until he decided on one. He held out one hand towards the girl.
"Dehydrator Pforce," he murmured.
The girl's eyes went wide with shock, as did the others that Shendi performed this on when they felt the water within them being drained out.
The girl's limbs began trembling and sweat poured off of her like rain. Her skin began to get parched. Her eyes began rolling around uncontrollably.
Shendi felt fascination overcome him. He enjoyed this one the most.
The skin began to crack, causing many cuts to bleed, but the blood too was drying out to be nothing but dust. Her skin turned grayish and her mouth dropped open as she uttered a strained grunt.
Shendi closed his eyes as the last of the water came out, and then he lifted his Entrapment Pforce to let the dried up body crumble to the ground.
Shendi looked at the corpses and smiled like a child in a candy store. The sheer fun of it all seemed almost too much to take.
Yes, this would be the perfect way to do it... in real life.
Shendi's mind pulled away from his imagination and his eyes rejoined reality as he looked at the girls continuing to follow Elder Mook.
"Yes..." Shendi slowly whispered, "That would be most invigorating indeed."
He broke fully out of his trance and continued to follow the fragile, little girls.
Jeff put the phone to his ear.
"Tony?" he said.
"How are you doing, old friend?" Tony asked.
"I'm doing good," Jeff said, "How did you find me?"
"I called your lab and Apple Man said you would be at Ness' house," Tony explained.
"I see," Jeff said, "Well, is there anything wrong?"
"I suppose you could say that," Tony said, "I received some disturbing news today."
"What is it?" Jeff asked.
"I'm afraid that the monster Kraken is alive," Tony reported.
"Kraken!" Jeff gasped.
Ness jerked forward in his bed, then winced at the pain it caused from his wound.
"Yes," Tony confirmed.
"How can you be sure of this?" Jeff asked.
"I met a boy who fought with him," Tony said.
"A boy?" Jeff asked.
"He said he came over from Raptorland," Tony explained, "He had fought some cyborgs over there and he believes that those cyborgs have come to Eagleland."
"I see," Jeff said, "Where is he now?"
"He's heading to Brindlewood," Tony explained, "There is some sort of disturbance up there, and he decided to go. Jeff, I fear that history is repeating itself here."
"I'm afraid I agree with you," Jeff answered.
"There's more," Tony said, "While talking with this kid, he mentioned that he was told that he was chosen to fight against this new evil."
"Chosen..." Jeff repeated as he looked at Mako.
"I could tell when I looked at him closely," Tony said, "He has the same sort of hidden fire that you had when you left Snow Wood twenty years ago."
"Then it is true," Jeff said, "As I suspected."
"I'm not sure what all is happening," Tony said, "But I figured you all would want to know about this."
"Yes," Jeff said, "This is very helpful. Thank you, Tony."
"No problem," Tony said, "I'll be keeping in touch with him, so I'll keep you posted. Oh, and his name is Brian."
"Okay, Tony," Jeff said, "Thanks for the information. It's helped a lot."
"Bye then," Tony said.
"Good bye," Jeff said and hung up the phone.
"There's another one," Ness said.
"Yes," Jeff confirmed, "His name is Brian, and he came from Raptorland."
"That's pretty far away," Paula commented.
Jeff nodded, "All I know right now is that he crossed the sea, fought Kraken in the process, and is now headed off to face something else. Clearly, my theory has a lot more premise than I thought."
"It's already starting," Ness said, "The new chosen ones have begun their fight."
"Then I must join with Brian," Mako spoke up, "If he is truly a chosen one, then I must find him and help him."
"Agreed," Jeff said, "Have you ever been to Brindlewood or Summers, Mako?"
"I've been to Summers," Mako answered, "Father took me to many places around the world. He said it will be important for me to be able to teleport to as many places as I can."
"He's definitely prepared you well, then," Ness said.
"So I shall go to Summers and locate Brian's whereabouts," Mako said.
"Shouldn't one of us go with him?" Paula asked.
"No, I believe he will be fine for now," Jeff said, "I need to go back to my lab and do some research. Hopefully I can find out more about what's happening, and you still need to stay here to guard Ness, Paula."
"Okay," Paula said.
"Are you ready for your adventure to begin?" Ness asked Mako.
"I am," Mako replied firmly, "I shall not let you or my father down."
"Do your best," Ness said, "I have faith in you."
"Thank you," Mako said.
He hurried out of Ness' room. Ness let out a small sigh and looked out the window, praying that everything will be all right.
Mako ran out of the house and picked up speed until a loud crack echoed through the trees, and he was gone.