As a part of my birthday celebration, I'm updating every one of my fanfictions. So here's the next chapter of Shades of Grey! This is original content and the episodic villain, Poison Oak, is based on the DC Comics villain, Poison Ivy. Like Ivy, Oak can manipulate plant life and hypnotize male organics to do her bidding. Thanks for all the reviews, favs and alerts!
Also, Zacnichols123 of deviantART is writing a Loonatics fanfiction about Tech and Skye, with my permission to use her of course, about the two getting sucked into a worm hole and back in time. It's pretty good and I'm really enjoying it. Check it out if you're interested and have time!
I can't remember if I finished revising it. I'll probably go back and look through it if I have time.
Review Replies:
Amazon: Thanks, I hope you like this chapter :)
Music: Thank you!
monkey: Here is it ^^
lover13: Thank you. As I mentioned in the beginning, AcexLexi will be another main pairing, but as the focus is TechxSkye, AcexLexi will be less of a priority.
Champion: Thanks, I'm working on it.
Anon: Thank you. I mostly write insertion fics, so they are my usual preference. Loonatics Unleashed is a widely hated series, and I can see why, but I still enjoy it. It is true that there aren't many LU fics out there, at least good ones. I don't know of any fic like that, but that is an interesting premise, but I think Duck would be more focused with people loving him and that wouldn't happen if he was a villain.
drk: Thank you. I hope you like the original content
Spud: It's not so much that she's an anthro, it's more the fact that she's got robotic limbs. It really made her a social outcast. As I said earlier, this chapter is original content, so it did not happen in the original show.
I do not own Loonatics Unleashed, only Skye, Poison Oak and other OCs. This fanfiction is not associated with the official Loonatics Unleashed series.
Normal POV
"So got a date for Mitch's party tonight?" asked a teenage boy.
"Yeah, I'm taking Kelsey. How about you?" asked his friend.
"Nah, all the hot girls are taken."
"Why don't you ask Oakley?"
"Are you crazy? Her? I'd rather go with a mop, at least it'll be more stimulating." The two boys laughed. Little did they know, this "Oakley" they were talking about happened to be nearby enough to overhear their conversation.
"Ugh! Those boys, all they care about is looks! But I'm pretty!" Oakley was a young teenage girl with bushy short brown hair and often wore baggy clothes. In her anger she noticed cracks forming in the sidewalk. Thin vines sprouted from the cracks and a beautiful yellow flower bloomed right in front of her face. Before she knew it, the flower was snapped off by a vine, which placed it in her hair.
'Ever since that stupid meteor, all this weird plant stuff has been happening,' thought Oakley. All of a sudden Oakley sneezed just as a pizza boy passed in front of her. "Oh I'm sorry," she said. However, the pizza boy looked strange. There was this look in his eyes, which were glowing pink, like he was hypnotized. Oakley just stared at him and walked away, only to see that he was following her like a zombie.
"Look stop following me!" she cried at him. He instantly stopped. Oakley stood, quite shocked at how quickly he responded. "Pick up that can and throw it at that boy over there," she said pointing to the teenager who made fun of her. The man did as she commanded.
'Looks like that meteor isn't as stupid as I thought.'
Tech strolled into the main room. Everyone else seemed preoccupied with their own business, the rest of the boys sitting on the couch watching a game while the girls sat at the kitchen counter with drinks in their hand. Tech's eyes landed on Skye, who briefly looked in his direction before quickly turning back and averting her gaze from him. Her blonde bangs fell over the right side of her face, obscuring her eyes from Tech's view even more. Tech quickly dashed over to the couch and sat next to Ace.
"Uh, chief…I need some help…" he whispered, careful not to alert the others around him, all of whom were well distracted by the Basherball game on the television.
"What do you need help with?" asked Ace, puzzled, before quickly adding, "Oh, right. Can't it wait until after the game?"
"Ace!" cried Tech.
"I'm only kidding. What's up, Tech?" asked Ace, turning to Tech.
"I tried talking to Skye when we were building the nano-bionic armor earlier, but she didn't want to talk."
"Well, did you ever think that maybe it's because you guys were building armor to help us fight someone who stole all our superpowers and time was of the essence?"
"Well, when you put it that way…yeah, but what if she doesn't feel the same way about me? What if she rejects me? I don't think I can take that kind of rejection…" he muttered, his ears hanging low.
"Tech, you'll never know if you don't try," said Ace.
"Ace, this isn't a fairy tale. I know how this works. Guys like me, don't get girls like her," he said, pointing at Skye with his hand.
"You're right, Tech. This isn't a fairy tale. I can see something between you two but you're never going to have your chance to be happy with someone unless you take a risk." Tech was about to respond with something, but was interrupted by Zadavia's call.
"Loonatics, we have a problem," said Zadavia, her hologram appearing.
"What is it this time Zadavia?" asked Ace.
"There have been a series of break ins throughout Acmetropolis. Jewelry stores, high end clothing boutiques, anything holding things of great value have all been hit."
"We have a suspect?" asked Skye.
"Several. Security cameras have captured footage of several men committing the crimes. However all these men seem to have nothing in common in the daily lives to connect them."
"What do you mean?" asked Lexi.
"Some are teenagers, some business men, some even homeless or the elderly, and yet they all show the same patterns. They all seem to be acting as though they are unaware of their surroundings, not stopping to consider the consequences of what they are doing. It is truly a strange occurrence. I've managed to track some of the criminals to this location." As Zadavia was speaking, a map appeared on the screen with a blinking dot.
"That's one of the old warehouses down by the harbor," said Tech.
"Sounds like a perfect place to hide loot," said Ace.
"Exactly, all of the criminals are depositing their stolen items in this warehouse and leaving to continue with their daily lives. Those who have been apprehended have no recollection of committing any crime. Get over there and figure out what is causing this irrational behavior. Zadavia out." The Loonatics made their way to the warehouse and saw it covered with vines and flowers.
"I'm pretty sure it didn't look like this the last time I was here," said Duck.
They began walking towards the warehouse. They saw the door open and many men with blank expressions on their face walked out. The Loonatics quickly took cover in some nearby bushes. A couple men walked by, not noticing them and disappeared back into the city.
"Those must be the sheep, so where's the shepherd?" said Ace.
"It looks like they're hypnotized," said Lexi.
"That would explain why they're mindlessly robbing stores," said Tech.
"Um, guys. I don't think this is a good place to hide," said Skye.
"And why not?" asked Duck.
"Because there is a whole cluster of Venus Fly Traps behind us!"
"Venus what?" asked Slam.
"Carnivorous plants!" replied Skye.
"What's so bad about carni-whatever plants?" asked Duck.
"Carnivorous means they eat meat!" cried Tech.
Everyone else turned and saw extremely large Venus Fly Traps about to bite them. They all jumped out of the bushes in time to evade the plants. Ace fired a laser beam at the plants while Lexi fired a Brain Blast and Duck shot some eggs, easily shredding the Fly Traps.
"That was close. We can't mistake anything for a regular plant. A flower could really be a lethal trap. Everyone stay alert," said Ace. They cautiously entered the building and were greeted by a beautiful voice.
"Ah the Loonatics, I wondered when you would be coming to meet me." They looked up to see a young girl with beautiful curly red hair wearing a dress made of leaves and flowers. Her legs were crossed and she playfully curled her feet around some vines.
"So at last we meet the puppeteer," said Ace.
"At last indeed, you can call me Poison Oak. Now what kind of host would I be if I didn't offer you a seat?" She raised her hand multiple vines came up and wrapped around the Loonatics tightly. "I suppose I should be honored that you would come after me. Besides what kind of girl wouldn't want the brave Loonatics to come after her, especially their dashing leader, Ace Bunny?" As she spoke, she came down from her throne and walked up to Ace, lifting his chin with her finger.
"Sorry, but super villains aren't my type," he replied.
"You say that now, but you'll change your mind," she stood back and stuck her hand in front of her mouth and blew pink little spores into Ace's face.
"Hey, watch it!" Ace's tried to get away from the spores, but they had already entered far into his nostrils.
"Ace, are you ok?" asked Lexi. Ace opened his eyes and they were glowing pink like the men that left the warehouse earlier.
"Ace only answers to me now, and so will the rest of you boys," said Oak blowing more spores onto the Loonatics. Slam, Duck, Tech and Rev tried to avoid the spores, but the vines restraining them prevented them from doing so. They all opened their eyes and they were glowing as pink as Ace's. Oak retracted the vines, releasing all the Loonatics.
"Guys…you ok?" asked Skye. The boys turned around, not answering her.
"Sorry ladies, but it looks like the boys choose me over you," said Oak.
"Choose? You're just hypnotizing them!" cried Lexi.
"I'm done with you two. Destroy them," ordered Oak. The boys took a stance and prepared to attack.
"Ace! Fight it! You don't want to fight us," said Lexi. Just as Ace fired his laser beam, Skye grabbed Lexi's arms lifted her up into the air and flew right out of the warehouse.
"Skye what are you doing? We can't just leave them!" cried Lexi in protest.
"I don't like it as much as you do, Lex. But there's nothing we can do for them now," said Skye.
"Skye look!" Skye turned her head and saw Rev catching up to them quickly.
"Lexi, I know Rev's our friend, but with more than half of us under Oak's control we can't afford to get captured!"
"You're right, as much as I don't want to hurt the guys, they aren't giving us much of a choice. I hope he forgives us. You fly, I'll shoot," replied Lexi. Skye zoomed through the city, closely followed by Rev. "I'm really sorry about this, Rev!" Lexi shot a few Brain Blasts at him, sending him right to the ground.
Rev stood up, seeing the girl fly out of sight. He was about to take to the air again but was stopped by a voice in his head. 'Rev dear, that's enough for now. The girls won't have anywhere to hide. Come back for now.' Rev turned around and headed back to the warehouse.
"He's not following us anymore," said Lexi.
"Oak must be calling him back. We should take advantage of this and return to HQ. Zadavia might have some insight on this," said Skye.
Once they arrived back at HQ, Zadavia's hologram appeared instantly. "Loonatics, we have a problem."
"You got that right. Turns out Poison Oak's behind the robberies and now she's got the guys working for her," cried Lexi.
"Precisely. I did some research into this Poison Oak and found that she had received some sort of plant manipulation powers from the meteor that gave you yours. Add that to a life of being rejected by males and you get a bitter young woman."
"But how is she controlling them?" asked Skye.
"She is able to control all forms of plant life and she can emit spores from her mouth that must have some mind control properties over men, which explains why you two were unaffected by them." Suddenly an alarm went off and an image appeared on the screen next to Zadavia's. Slam was punching at the main door while Tech, Ace, Duck and Rev stood behind him.
"It's the guys and it doesn't look like they're friendly anymore," said Lexi.
"You must get out of the tower immediately. If Poison Oak gets the two of you, there will be no stopping her. Hurry!"
"What do we do?" asked Lexi.
"We put the bionic armor on, then grab as many weapons and supplies as we can," replied Skye. "We should take these too," said Skye holding up two belts.
"What are they?"
"Specialized belts designed to copy any outfit scanned and put it on the wearer. It'll basically make disguises for us." Skye and Lexi grabbed the bionic armor and disguise belts and grabbed a couple or supplies.
"We'd better go," said Lexi.
"We'll have to leave from somewhere where they can't see us leaving," said Skye.
"How about the sewers?"
"Good idea." Lexi and Skye slowly made their way down to the sewer access at the base of the tower and walked along the tunnel until they resurfaced several blocks away. "What now? I bet Oak's got control over all the males in the city. If any of them see us, they'd contact her and she'd send the guys after us," said Lexi.
"That's where these come in," said Skye pointing to the belts fastened tightly around their wastes. "They'll be looking for Skye and Lexi, the Loonatics, but not Skye and Lexi, the civilians."
They pressed a few buttons on the belt and their uniform disappeared, being replaced by street clothes. Lexi wore a pink and green shirt and jeans while Skye wore a mid-sleeved red shirt and sleeveless black hooded jacket.
"Hey, your arm and leg look normal," said Lexi.
"Yeah I designed the belts to changed our physical appearance too. We should probably change our fur and hair color too, just in case," said Skye. They pressed a few more buttons and Skye soon had brown and white fur and black hair while Lexi had grey fur and blue hair.
"This should give us a low profile. We have to find somewhere where the guys won't find us," said Lexi.
"Or somewhere normal. If the guys don't recognize us, they won't know it's us. I still have my old apartment that I had with my dad. We could hide out there for now, at least until we figure out how to get the guys back."
As they started walking to Skye's old apartment, they spotted Ace's Zoomatrixes hover slowly through the street. Lexi made a move to hide. "No, act natural. We can't show that we have to hide from them. It'll arouse suspicion." Lexi agreed and waked calmly beside her. Thankfully, Ace did not notice them and flew right by. They soon made it to Skye's apartment and settled in.
"Looks like we're going to be stuck in hiding until we can come up with a plan," said Lexi.
With the guys under Poison Oak's control, Skye and Lexi are forced to lay low until they can come up with a plan. But how can they beat her when they have to get through their friends first?
Next Chapter - Garden Trimming: Skye and Lexi are ready to take down Oak with modified bionic armor to combat her plant powers, but they'll have to get through their teammates first, all of whom are showing no mercy.
Review! ~ZP
