New Kid On The Block

Chapter 12 – Show Time

Hey Guys! Hope you are all good wherever you are in the world ;) hope you all had a great holidays. So, I just wanna thank you guys for giving me such a warm welcome back, feels like I've never been gone! And thanks for all your great reviews and feedback they are great! I just want to quickly thank everyone for their opinion when I asked how long you think the chapters should be, and I have decided that I shall simply make the chapters as long as I feel like it! Hope you all don't mind ;)

So anyway, onto the action! So when we last left them, the Loonatics had the lives of millions in their hands, a particular pressure falls on Blaze as it is his first mission. Will the Loonatics be able to stop the missile and save Acmetropolis? Time to find out! Hope you enjoy guys!

"Rev! Stop de ship!" shouted Ace above the raging alarm as he glanced out of the ship's large window.

Rev, as always reacted quickly. "I'm-on-it-chief!" he shouted back as he dashed to the pilot's seat and flung himself into the chair. He then grabbed the brake lever and slowly began to pull it down and gradually, the ship began to slow down.

The alarm continued to wail like a banshee throughout the ship, adding to the already tense atmosphere.

"Can't anyone turn that despicable thing off!?" moaned Duck as he plugged his feathers in his ears to try and block out the ear shattering sound.

Tech turned and glared at his teammate "Not really the most important thing right now Duck!" the coyote argued "Now let's go!"

Blaze was confused; the sudden alarm had caused him to panic slightly. Cmon Blaze, pull it together he told himself.

At that moment a blur of yellow dashed before the tiger's eyes. "Let's go Blaze" called Ace as he looked behind.

Blaze quickly regained his composure and ran after his leader towards the cargo hold. The tiger almost tripped as he dashed through the airlock door. He gave a waiting Slam the thumbs up to show that he was the last through, and the Tasmanian devil hammered a large green button which caused the airlock door to slide shut with a whoosh.

The cargo hold was full of loonatics gear; their bikes, the jetpacks, along with a variety of weapons and gismos that only Tech knew what they were and what they did. The Loonatics' spacesuits all hung along one of the walls in the cargo hold. Blaze's suit, which was brand new, was right down the end near the cargo hold door.

Ace did a quick head count to check that everyone was there and had to quickly remind himself that Rev was staying in the ship. "Okay guys, suit up" the bunny commanded.

They all ran to their individual suits and began donning them. The suits were big and heavy and they had a lot of extra "toys" that had to be strapped on. This meant that the high tech suits took a long time to put on. Duck still had bumps and bruises to prove what happens when you try to put the suits on too quickly. Eventually, they were all in their suits with their jetpacks strapped on.

Blaze had obviously taken longest being inexperienced and hadn't had much practice, but he had still managed to get his suit on not long after the others. As he walked to join his teammates at the cargo door, he slightly untightened one of his gauntlets which, in his nervous shaking he had strapped on to tight. He took his place next to Tech.

Ace looked at all his teammates who all nodded back to say that they were ready. The bunny raised his arm to his mouth and spoke into his com. "We're ready Rev, open de cargo door."

By now the ship had come to a complete stop and there was a small wait as Rev frantically searched for the button to open the cargo door, he finally found it and pressed it.

Back in the cargo hold there with a massive sucking sound as the door started to slowly open. Tech stood with a case in his left hand, which contained the tools he would need to hack the missile. Even though the coyote was experienced in this sort of thing now, he was still nervous. But he wasn't he noticed, as nervous as his teammate standing next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could plainly see Blaze's worried eyes staring blankly at the opening door. "Nervous?" he asked simply as he turned his head to look at the tiger.

Blaze continued to look straight ahead, seemingly at nothing. "Just a bit" he answered with a slight chuckle. The truth was he was terrified.

Tech smiled at Blaze's comment as he turned to look down at the growing opening in the cargo door. He knew what was troubling Blaze. "Y'know Blaze" he began as he looked at his teammate again "If you don't think you can stop that missile on your own, I can help you."

Blaze considered Tech's proposition for a moment. In secret he wanted to scream out yes, but he realised that Tech had the most important job of them all in this mission. Anything else for the coyote to worry about could divert him from concentrating on his task. He turned to face his friend. "Thanks Tech, but you've got a job that you need to focus on too." He said with a gentle smile.

Tech nodded in appreciation and the two anthros turned back to face the door which was now halfway open.

As they waited silently and patiently, Rev's voice suddenly erupted from their com's. "By-the-way-guys-I-forgot-to-mention-that-we-are-right-above-a-pretty-big-asteroid-field!"

They didn't really know what to make of this information, but it gave Blaze an idea. "Hey guys, if those bots try to stop us from disarming the missile, we could try to draw them down to those asteroids. Then, not only will we have the upper hand in fighting them, but we'll be keeping 'em away from Tech too."

"Good tinkin Blaze." Approved Ace. There were nods of approval and looks that said: "Why didn't I think of that?" from the others.

The door was now almost completely open. Ace gave the others a quick sideways glance and just before he was about to turn back, his eyes locked with Blaze, the tiger's eyes burning like the sun, the tiger was clearly nervous. Ace reassuringly nodded to him which was returned by his teammate.

The large cargo door clanked as it finally came to a halt. Blaze silently gasped as he gazed out in awe at the thing that had been a mystery to him all his life: Space. "Im finally here…" he said to himself contentedly.

But there wasn't time now for them to admire the scenery. They activated the jetpacks on their backs. Ace was the first to take the plunge; he leaned forward and like a bullet from a gun, shot out of the back of the ship.

This was the signal for the others to follow and they promptly did so. One by one they followed Ace into the surrounding space. Blaze had taken to flying with a jetpack well. Back on Acmetropolis when he had first started learning, it hadn't taken him long to get the gist of the jetpacks controls.

Lexi and Slam had gone to take a closer look at the asteroid field and had discovered that it was perfect for the situation that Blaze had mentioned to them; a mix of asteroids with patches of flat ground for fighting on, and asteroids with rugged terrain and large caves for leading the bots on a wild goose chase. All in all, a perfect place to distract the bots away from Tech.

Eventually they all gathered in front of the ship. And there, they waited…

A couple of minutes went by and still nothing, no sign of the missile. Another couple of minutes, still nothing…

Eventually Duck, who being Duck, naturally got impatient. "Is this thing gunna get here any time this century?! Im getting old here!" Usually the others would tell Duck to stop whining, but they were all in their heads asking the same question that he was.

Hmm Duck's right thought Ace. The bunny turned around to face Rev, who was inside the ship still perched in the Pilot seat. Ace raised his arm to speak into his com "Wat's de Radar sayin bout de missile Rev?"

Rev looked down at the radar screen for a few moments before speaking urgently into his own com. "One-minute-away-Ace-and-its-headed-straight-for-us!"

Ace turned back around and stared into the distance, squinting his sparkling sapphire eyes as he used his enhanced vision to look for any sign of the incoming missile. And then…

"Dere she is…" Ace whispered as he pointed straight ahead into the distance where he saw a faint orange glow. "Do ya see it?" The others looked to where their leader was pointing but obviously, because their eye sights weren't as adept as his, they saw nothing.

Then, Lexi's super hearing started to pick up a faint rumbling sound. "Do you guys hear that?" The rest of the loonatics strained their ears, but to no avail.

But then, after a few seconds went by, there it was…

Tech was the first of him, Slam, Blaze, Lexi or Duck to see it, the faint orange glow which was getting brighter and brighter with each passing moment. "I see it now!" he exclaimed, and they all looked to where Ace had originally pointed. And true to Ace's word, there it was.

Not long after that, they all head the rumbling that Lexi had mentioned. But as the missile drew closer, the rumbling turned into a roaring, crashing tirade that sounded like a herd of wildebeest running from a vicious pursuing predator, pounding the ground with their hooves as they run, coming nearer and nearer.

40 seconds…

The Loonatics were all slightly taken aback by what they saw. Even though it was far away, they could tell that the missile was incredibly large. But none of them were as shocked as Blaze. His heart sunk as he finally laid eyes on the missile. The time had come to prove himself…

30 seconds…

"You okay Blaze?" came the soothing voice of Lexi.

Blaze nodded timidly and smiled in response. Ace came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Blaze turned to face his leader; he was quivering slightly as his nerves grew. "Yer gunna do great Blaze, we're all behind ye." said Ace.

All around him, his teammates wore encouraging smiles. "Thanks guys" he said as he forced a smile. He gave them all a final look before determinedly turning to face the oncoming missile.

20 seconds…

From that moment he shut everything out, nothing else mattered; it was just him, and the missile. Blaze cleared his head of all other thoughts as he reached out with his energy to find the missile.

The others looked at eachother, serious looks on all of their faces; they knew he could do it…

10 seconds…

Blaze continued to hunt for the missile with his energy; he was close now, very close. And finally There you are he thought to himself as he found it. This was it; there was no going back now…

5…

The lives of millions were in his hands,

4…

His friends were believing in him,

3…

He just had to believe in himself,

2…

Blaze, was determined to prevail,

1…

This is it!

Blaze pushed with all his energy as he took control of the raging missile, which was getting ever closer. His teammates, who were behind him watching it all unfold, became wide eyed as the missile became engulfed in Blaze's deep cobalt blue aura.

It felt incredible; he could feel the weight of the missile, the shape of it. Blaze now realised the enormity of his task. With a groan, Blaze began to push against the giant metal object with his magnetism as he tried to slow it down.

As the others watched, they noticed the look of effort covering Blaze's face. "You ok dere Blaze?" asked Ace.

But Blaze was concentrating too hard to reply. His energy drained out of his body like water down a plughole as he continued to fight against the large missile. Even though he was starting to tire, he could feel that it was starting to slow. However, it was also getting extremely close. He was running out of time.

The roaring of the missile's jet thrusters was ear shattering. It was now or never. Blaze let out a loud shout as he gave everything he had left. And finally, after a few nerve racking moments, the missile came to a halt. He had done it. But Blaze's job wasn't done yet, even though the missile had stopped the thrusters were still blasting, which meant that Blaze had to keep it under his control until Tech deactivated the thrusters. Blaze turned around wearily to look at his friends, who all gave him beaming smiles.

"Tech, Slam yer turn." yelled Ace over the racket of the missile as he darted a look at the coyote and Tasmanian devil.

Tech nodded "On it chief, let's go Slam" he said as he gestured to the now stationary missile. Slam mumbled in agreement and both of them jetted away, and headed for the destructive weapon.

Ace, Lexi and Duck flew over to Blaze, who was clearly exhausted at this point, and yet somehow was hanging in. "Almost dere buddy." Assured an impressed Ace.

"You're doing great Blaze" commended Lexi with a wink.

Blaze was able to muster a small smile of appreciation. But his strength was seriously waning. His vision was getting blurry, the voices of his friends started to sound distant, as if he was drowning under water. He was beggining to black out…

Tech and Slam turned off their jetpacks as they landed on the missile's metal surface. They were looking for a wire panel which contained the wire that controlled the thrusters. According to Tech, the cover for the wire panel should be bright red. You would think this would make it easy to find, but the two loonatics had a surprisingly challenging time trying to locate it.

After a while of searching, Slam had found the said bright red cover and pointed it out to Tech. "Behji ba ruda!"

Tech jogged over to join the Tasmanian devil. "Good eyes Slam" commended Tech with as he knelt down, placing his case of "toys" next to him as he began to observe the panel. The bright red cover was bolted down by eight strange looking bolts which required a certain type of alloy key to undo them, that unfortunately Tech didn't have, which was less than convenient (OBVIOUSLY :P). The coyote scratched his furry head as he pondered his options. He could have used the laser on the right arm of his space suit to cut the panel but that would take time, and time wasn't on the loonatics' side. But then an obvious idea came to him: Slam. He looked up at the Tasmanian devil, towering over him. "Would you be so kind Slam?" he asked as he tapped the panel with one of his claws. He had to shout because of the deafening crashing sound caused by the missile's thrusters.

Slam cracked a wide grin as he knelt down. Tech backed off a bit to give his friend room. Slam then powerfully smashed his claws into the metal that surrounded the panel and grunted as he ripped the red cover off. "Peti ra hubg" he mumbled as he let go of the metal cover, letting it float away into space. He makes it look like ripping a piece of paper from a notepad noted Tech humourlessly, who never failed to be amazed by Slam's incredible strength. "Thanks buddy" said the coyote. He then knelt back down to examine the contents of the wire panel. As he had predicted, it contained a number of different coloured wires. They were coloured red, green, black, white, orange and blue. Now, which one to cut? He wasn't completely sure, but Tech thought that the orange wire was the one that controlled the thrusters. But then again, he didn't want to cut the wrong wire. Then he remembered that on the flight, he and Rev had gotten bored and had looked on the ships computer about the missile's wires and their various functions. Maybe Rev knew…

"Yo Rev, you there?" asked the coyote as he spoke into his com.

There was a short silence before the voice of his best friend resounded through the com. "Loud-and-clear-buddy" came Rev's speedy reply.

"Good, just wonderin' do you remember off hand what wire controls the missile's rocket thrusters?" Asked Tech hopefully.

There was a short silence before Rev responded. "Be-right-back." And then was gone.

Tech waited for 30 seconds before his patience ran out. "C'mon Rev we're running out of t-" he began before he was interrupted by the road runner.

"Got-it!" exclaimed Rev and Tech rolled his eyes. "Okay-so-sorry-about-the-wait-but-you-know-these-things-take-time-and-this-time-was-no-exception-and-I-suppose-I-shoulda-known-the-answer-to-begin-with-considering-that-I-love-this-kinda-stuff-but-still-"

"Anytime today Rev!" cut in Tech. Now was not the time for Rev's verbal diahorrea he thought.

Rev then realised that he had babbled on too much for not the first time in his life. "Oh-right-sorry-guys!" He apologised "Blue-wire-Tech!"

Tech's eyes widened slightly Phew! Glad I didn't decide on orange! He said to himself gladly. "Cheers Rev." he thanked.

Tech was about to set to work when Duck's voice crackled through the com. "Mind hurryin' up Tech?! Im gettin' bored over here and Blaze looks like he's about to go into a coma!"

"Alright Duck keep your tights on." Joked Tech as he hurriedly pulled out a commando knife that Ace had gotten him for his birthday last year. He then leaned forward into the panel and slid the knife under the blue wire. He shot a sideways glance at Slam before jerking his hand upwards. Electricity crackled as Tech's knife sliced through the wire. Immediately, the roaring crash of the missile's thrusters stopped.

Tech turned to face Slam who was slyly smiling at him. Tech smiled back and gave his friend a high five. "Habiji blo ruba?" Slam asked as Tech got to his feet.

"Honestly Slam? Yes I was worried." He replied with a grin. "Come on let's get back to the others." The coyote said as he picked up his toolbox. They both turned on their jetpacks and then began to make their way back to Ace, Lexi, Blaze and Duck.

As they flew, a thought popped into Tech's head. Something that he needed clearing up. "Uh Rev, just outta curiosity, what does the orange wire do?" he asked, confused.

The reply from Rev was instant "Ah-now-that-one-I-remember! Well-long-story-short-the-orange-wire-controls-the-fuel-supply!" exclaimed Rev jubilantly. "Can-you-imagine-if-you-had-cut-the-orange-wire-Tech? Whoooee! That-would-have-short-circuited-the-missile's-fuel-and-the-whole-thing-woulda-gone-KABOOM! Goodbye-us!" the roadrunner ended with a laugh.

Tech's heart skipped a beat.

Meanwhile…

Blaze was really struggling now; his hearing had almost completely gone and had been replaced by a strange whining sound but he could still faintly hear the roaring of the missile's thrusters, he could barely keep his eyes open, his head was spinning and he felt incredibly weak. But he knew he had to hold on a little longer.

Ace and Lexi watched Blaze with concern, seeing that their friend was clearly suffering. But then finally the crashing sound stopped and both of them glanced over at the missile. The thrusters had stopped. Both bunnies looked at eachother and grinned. "Tech's dun it" reasoned Ace. He then looked back to Blaze. He gently began to shake the tiger. "Ye can let go now pal." He murmured in Blaze's ear.

Blaze just about heard the words of his leader and finally, with every last bit of his energy spent, he released his hold on the missile. The giant metal object was now just floating in space, motionless and soundless. Blaze quietly gasped as he slouched and fainted, but he was supported and held in place by Ace.

Lexi looked back over at the missile in and she noticed Tech and Slam returning "I wonder what happened to those robots that Zadavia talked about…" she said in wonder.

Hmm Lex is right thought Ace, but he forgot all about it as Tech and Slam arrived back. "Good job guys." He commended, the coyote and Tasmanian devil nodded in acknowledgement.

Both Tech and Slam worriedly looked at Blaze, who was out cold. "He'll be fine." Assured Ace in a relaxed tone. "Okay Tech, what's next on de list?" the bunny asked, steering things back to the mission.

Tech paused in thought for a moment. "Okay, well now that we have stopped the missile's primary and secondary thrusters, we just have to find entry into the missile fuselage, find the container that holds the concentration of Axovorinium and then-" but he instantly stopped as he realised the looks he was getting from everyone.

Ace, Lexi, Duck and Slam all glared at Tech. "So, in a nutshell Tech?" asked Lexi with a slight frown.

Tech then remembered his teammate's short patience when it came to his lengthy explanations. "Basically, now we just have to find and disarm the stuff that goes boom." He said simply.

They all smiled in satisfaction. "More like it Tech!" Ace began with a smile and wink. "Now, let's jet!"

They all turned on their jetpacks and zoomed off towards their target. "Any money says that those metal heads that boss lady talked about are waitin' for us in there!" Duck commented as he flew up alongside Ace.

"If dey are in dere, we'll just have te improvise Duck." Ace replied as he thought about what they would do if they did run into the robots. He was holding Blaze up and noticed that the tiger was stirring as he started to regain conciseness.

Lexi was thinking the same thing Ace was, when suddenly her ears picked up a sharp banging sound coming from the missile. "Whoa hold up guys!" she exclaimed as she stopped dead and focused her enhanced hearing towards the massive floating object.

The others all stopped to look back at Lexi who was listening intently. "What's up Lex?" questioned Ace in wonder. As the bunny waited for his teammate answer, Blaze, who he was still supporting quietly moaned as he opened his eyes.

Blaze felt incredibly weak as he started to wake up. Every bone in his body ached; but he couldn't remember what had happened. He slowly opened his eyes and instantly saw that he was in space. As he wondered why he was here, suddenly the face of a black and yellow rabbit appeared in front of him, and instinct kicked in… "GET AWAY FROM ME!" the confused tiger shouted as he pushed the rabbit away. He was breathing heavily as he looked around and saw another rabbit, a coyote, a duck and a large Tasmanian devil all staring at him with shocked and worried looks spread on their faces.

Ace shuffled forward slowly. "Blaze, it's us! Yer friends…" he said concerned for his friend.

Blaze floated there, lost and confused for a few moments, and then finally it all came flooding back to him, his friends, the missile, everything. He looked at his leader. "A…Ace?" he asked wide eyed.

Ace nodded with a smile. The others all sighed with relief; this just showed that even though Blaze had become their close friend, his troubled past would scar him for the rest of his life. "I…I'm so sorry guys." Blaze apologised as he bowed his head.

Ace smiled sympathetically at his friend. "It's ok pal."

Poor Blaze Lexi thought to herself as she watched her crestfallen friend can't imagine what he's been through. But then her mind was distracted by a familiar sound: Bang! Bang! Bang! It was louder this time Lexi noticed, much louder. "Uh Guys?" Lexi said as she turned to stare at the missile.

The others all turned to stare at it too. They all heard the loud banging now… Bang! Bang! Bang! Then, there was silence all of a sudden as the banging strangely stopped. The loonatics waited tensely for a few moments and then…

BOOM!

There was a large explosion on the side of the missile. The shocked loonatics couldn't see what was happening, thanks to a thick cloud of smoke. They all watched warily for about a minute until the smoke finally cleared. And they all frowned seriously at what they were met by.

The Loonatics' weren't alone anymore…

Dun Dun Duun! So there we are guys! We will find out what is in the loonatics' company in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I know it was quite a long one but it was an important chapter and I wanted to treat you guys after the warm welcome back

On that note I want to thank you guys for all your amazing reviews so far. I can't believe I have got 42 reviews already after only 12 chapters! And a special thanks goes out to Keeanga, Loonaticslover13, Lucy Of Fairy Tail, Luna246 and tamersten, who all gave this Fic a favourite so thank you guys so much ;) please lemme know what you thought of this chapter and anything else you want to say by reviewing it's always great to see your guys' thoughts. Thanks again everyone, next chapter will be up soon!