And the plot continues to thicken! What kind of dark mysteries will our heroes uncover in the jungle? Read on to find out~
Time Until the End of the Earth: 4 Days, 15 Hours, 59 Minutes
"You remember the plan?" Numbuh Five whispered. She was standing in the cockpit of the small DexLabs transport that had come to retrieve her and her team, hand braced against the back of the pilot's chair.
"Of course," Zigzag responded, only half turned towards his captain as he ogled the little ship's highly advanced controls.
"Oh yeah?" Numbuh Five asked. "Tell it to me." Zigzag's eyes never left the instrument panel as he spoke.
"You, me, Commander Levin, Angel, and Grey are going to fly this thing past the base thingy, because getting shot out of the sky once wasn't enough for you. When they start firing on us, we pretend we've been hit and go down nearby. Hopefully a bunch of fusion monsters will abandon the communications place and come to finish us off, letting the others sneak in and find out what Fuse is up to." Zigzag tilted his head to look at Numbuh Five as he added, "Meanwhile, we'll be blasted to smithereens by evil robot dinosaurs with great cable reception."
"Follow Numbuh Five's orders, and we might just get to blast a hole in Fuse's forces." Numbuh Five grinned when Zigzag failed to look convinced. "Look at it this way—at least you'll get to blow up fusions. Better them than your teammates."
Zigzag flashed the older KND a dirty look at the reminder of his earlier failed attack plan. She ignored the look completely.
"Stay alert," she said, clapping him on the shoulder. "You wait for my signal, then all you gotta do is pretend you can fly this thing for fifty feet, drop us back down in the trees, and then you can hurl grenades till your heart's content."
"Yeah, yeah," Zigzag said. Adjusting his grip on the ship's controls, he asked, "So, when is this signal coming?"
Numbuh Five shook her head at the boy's sass as she pressed the radio transmitter at her neck.
"This is Numbuh Five," she said, "you guys almost ready?"
"Almost, Numbuh Five," Blossom said, working to keep her tone casual. "Just finishing loading the last of the gear."
"Just a little bit more to go," Numbuh Four agreed. Pink eyes narrowing, Blossom's gaze trailed across Fuse's clearing, skimming over the strange building before landing on the southern tree line. She could just make out the spot where the ferns were shifting as Numbuh Three and Numbuh Four moved into place nearby an already hidden Juniper. She glanced at one of the nearby Triceraclaws, waiting to see if it would respond to the disturbance.
"That's the last of it," Numbuh Three chimed, as the rustling bushes stilled. Blossom's eyes slid shut in relief as the Triceraclaw shuffled off, completely oblivious to the KND hiding not ten feet away.
"Looks like you were right, Rex," Blossom said. "It all fit after all."
"I told you it would," came Rex's slightly smug response.
Although aware that they were most certainly being listened in on by Fuse, it had been Rex's idea for the group to keep up radio communications. Reasoning that sudden radio silence might alert Fuse to the fact that they'd discovered his secret base, he'd further suggested they talk in code; keep Fuse thinking they were simply loading up and heading home. That three of the war's most powerful fighters had been flown in without warning would certainly have Fuse on high alert—no reason to rile him up any more than they had to.
"Alright all, better get buckled in," Numbuh Five announced. "We're heading home."
"Coming, coming," Rex sighed and the sound of a loading bay hatch door slamming shut echoed faintly through the trees. A moment later and the roar of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.'s engines announced the exit of Numbuh Five and her team. Blossom watched through the treetops as the clunky K.N.D. vessel lifted into the sky, hovering uncertainly before turning towards the Fusion base.
Triceraclaw satellite dishes swiveled towards the ship as it approached, a cluster of frilled fiends turning their metallic noses skywards. Blossom held her breath, waiting, as the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. came closer.
A whirring sound pulled the power puff's attention back to the base as a turret spun into view on its roof.
That explains how they were shot down last time, she thought as she watched the gun barrel lock onto the ship. Her jaw clenched at the sight, and it took everything she had not to dive in front of the shot that blasted from the weapon and straight towards her friend and her young team.
The ship jerked to the side just before the shot could tear through its hull, just like Numbuh Five said it would. Her skilled hands made the bullet, which just grazed the size of the ship, look like it hit full on as she allowed the shot to rip quite a bit of material from the hull.
From their hiding places Rex and Numbuh Four called out over their radios, alongside Numbuh Five's false distress calls, continuing the illusion that they were onboard the falling ship. The trick seemed to be working—almost all of the fusions gathered around the base were starting for the trees, all heading in the direction of the falling ship as it vanished back into the treetops. Believing the falling ship to contain five of the Earth army's top fighters, Fuse was unwilling to spare a single monster in such a powerful potential victory.
It's working! Blossom cheered mentally as the clearing around the base emptied of fusions.
As soon as the clearing was vacated a figure in red and black burst from the trees, Rex making quick work of the small space between himself and the base. Blossom watched as he worked his way around to the main entrance, hands falling across the large mechanical lock on the door. Under his gloved fingers the device sparked and glowed before deactivating with a flash of light.
Rex communicated his success with a thumbs up in Blossom's general direction before slipping through the now open door.
In the distance the sounds of fighting began to pick up, lead by the blasts of Zigzag's grenades. The few remaining Fusions turned their attentions towards the fighting, and Blossom, seeing her opening, prepared to make a dash for the base. She was crouched, about to spring, when another blast echoed through the air, much closer than the others.
"Rex!" Numbuh Three shouted as a window on the side of the base blasted out, spewing black smoke into the air.
"Kuki, wait!" Numbuh Four shouted as, across the clearing, Numbuh Three broke cover and ran for the base. Blossom could see the red medic bag bouncing against the girl's shoulder and thoughts jumped to her sister and the girl's own matching red bag. Bubbles could ignore everything happening in the battlefield at a moment's notice when she needed to, the injured soldier who needed her help becoming her only priority. It seemed Numbuh Three, dashing headlong into Fusion monsters and an explosion, could do the same.
"She's going to need backup," Blossom barked, and even as the words left her mouth Numbuh Four was bursting from the trees, making a beeline for the base.
And then suddenly, in a flash of green, he was airborne. His pained gasp echoed over Blossom's headset, followed by his yelp as he hit the ground, bouncing with the impact before rolling to a stop on his side.
"Numbuh Four!" Numbuh Three shouted, almost through the base door when she turned, her gaze finding her teammate.
"I've got him!" Blossom shouted, "Go find Rex!"
"Okay," Numbuh Three said, her voice only a little shaky as she disappeared into the base. Lifting into the sky, Blossom started to close the distance between herself and Numbuh Four—
When a streak of green shot between them, materializing into the last thing Blossom really wanted to see.
Inside the base was dark and smoky, the haze distorting the multitude of blinking lights and buzzing display screens. Numbuh Three did her best to hunker low, trying to stay below the smoke as she scanned the room, looking for any sign of the older boy she'd followed in. It was hard to make out anything in the gloom.
Carefully Numbuh Three crept to the right, the direction the original blast had come from. Despite her uncertainty she held back the urge to call out, knowing it would do her little good if Rex was unconscious or otherwise incapacitated.
The sound of soft shuffling reached her ears and she stopped, senses on edge. A moment later and someone coughed softly before mumbling a curse. Numbuh Three darted forward, relief flowing through her as Rex's figure emerged from the haze, propped against a blast-marred wall as he fanned smoke from his face.
"Rex," Numbuh Three hissed and she scooted towards him. The older boy froze, frowning into the smoke as he searched for the source of his whispered name. Numbuh Three's hand on his arm caused him to jump.
"Oh good," he breathed once he'd spotted the medic. "Is anyone else with you?"
"What happened?" Numbuh Three asked, eyes searching Rex for any injuries.
"Are you alone?" Rex asked. Numbuh Three frowned.
"Looks like someone's hearing was damaged."
"My hearing is fine," Rex said, ducking away from Numbuh Three's reaching hands. "Now did you come in here alone or not?"
"Of course not, silly," Numbuh Three said, waving her hand dismissively. "I've got…umm," she hesitated as she looked back, searching the dark room for a sign of her fellow fighters. "Hmm. Maybe it's just me."
"Great," Rex muttered. Numbuh Three frowned at him, but before she could say anything a nearby blast derailed their conversation. "Get back," Rex said, shoving the younger KND behind him.
"What was that?" Numbuh Three whispered. Her question was soon answered as the light of the small explosion illuminated the figure moving towards them from the smoke. She could just make out the dark shape of the wrench in his hands, swinging menacingly below a pair of glowing red eyes.
"That," Rex said, "is a problem."
"Why am I not surprised?" Blossom muttered as she stared down her sister's Fusion twin. Fusion Bubbles glared back, her narrowed red eyes the only sign of her anger. "I guess this place really is important, if Fuse would send you all the way out here to defend it." Blossom wasn't expecting an answer from the mute Fusion, who only continued to scowl at her. The pink eyed powerpuff grit her teeth, fingers curling into fists at her sides. She preferred to avoid a fight with the powerpuff fusions when she could—they were fairly matched in strength, and their fights tended to be punishingly rough—but with Fusion Bubbles now standing between herself and her teammate she knew there was little else she could do.
Or so she thought.
"Incoming!" June shouted, her voice sounding both over Blossom's headset and in the air beside her as something metallic flew into her field of vision. Fusion Bubbles had just enough time to look surprised before a flying Triceraclaw knocked her out of the sky.
"Nice shot!" Blossom called as the impact tossed Bubbles across the clearing. Seeing her opening she darted to Numbuh Four, who was just starting to lift himself up.
"What was that?" he asked, rubbing his head.
"Bad news," Blossom said. "Looks like we were right to check this place out."
"Don't tell me. Fusions?"
"Only the best."
"Guys, watch out!"
June's shout gave the pair just enough warning to Fusion Bubbles diving right at them.
"Hang on!" Blossom shouted, grabbing Numbuh Four's jacket as she threw them both to the side. Fusion Bubbles went flying past them, a black haired blur on her tail as June leapt on the Fusion's back foot first, kicking the monstrous Powerpuff into the ground.
"You've got to be kidding me," Numbuh Four said, hand fumbling for the Null-Void gun at his hip.
"Juniper, I'm coming!" Blossom shouted, rushing towards June and the Fusion she was only just managing to keep pinned down. With a mighty heave Fusion Bubbles regained her feet and, with a startled June still clinging to her shoulders, rocketed into the air. Blossom skidded and redirected, racing after them. Pink and green energy trails intertwined as she gained on her sister's fusion twin. "I'm almost there, hold on!"
"Working on it!" June called, struggling to keep her grip on the flying fusion. At the sound of her voice Fusion Bubbles looked back, one of her glowing red eyes finding June. A chill ran through the girl. "Uh, hey there. Nice weather for a flight, huh?" Fusion Bubbles's eyes narrowed. Twisting suddenly, Fusion Bubbles swung an elbow that buried itself in June's stomach and broke the girl's tenuous hold. Crying out in mixed pain and surprise, June's hands clawed empty air as, for a brief moment, she hovered weightless.
And then she fell.
The clang of Fusion Dexter's wrench against Rex's sword echoed through the shadowy base, trailing the pair as they danced among the maze of towering computers. No matter how quickly he moved or how unpredictable Rex through he was being, the Fusion continued to match him blow for blow.
"Don't you ever get tired?" Rex asked, ducking left to avoid one of the Fusion's precise swings. The over-sized wrench slammed into the ground, concrete cracking apart all around it, before swinging back up to meet Rex's blade. Fusion Dexter's eyes narrowed as he eyed Rex over their interlocked weapons.
"Not much of a conversationalist, are you?" Rex grinned at his own joke. The Fusion looked less than amused. Pushing off, Fusions Dexter propelled himself away from Rex, landing in a crouch a dozen feet back. Rex, using the force of Fusion Dexter's push, did the same.
"Well this is going nowhere fast," he muttered as he eyed the Fusion for its next move. He'd barely been inside the base for a minute, just enough time to start a surface level interface with one of the computers, before green-and-glowy Dexter had rudely interrupted his work. However, that minute had been more than enough time for Rex to learn some valuable information about what, exactly, Fuse was doing out here in the middle of this fetid jungle. He just had to get that knowledge back to base, and now the only thing standing between him and his goal was one wrench-wielding Fusion.
"Come on," Rex muttered, eyes trained on the crouching Fusion. He knew as long as he kept making the first move Fusion Dexter would be fast enough to counter him every time. But if he could goad the Fusion into going first…
Fusion Dexter shifted, red eyes glancing between Rex and something to his right, hidden behind a bank of dark computers. Rex frowned, trying to read the Fusion's thoughts in his subtle movements. The Fusion looked back to him, vermilion eyes boring into his own, every inch of his body still as stone.
And then there it was—the almost imperceptible shift in the Fusion as it tensed its legs, tired of waiting on Rex. In the blink of an eye the Fusion was charging him, wrench scraping the floor as the gap between the fighters closed.
Rex brought his sword up defensively, bending his knees as he tucked his free hand behind his back. He could feel the nanites already pouring over his shoulder and he slowed them ever so slightly. This was going to be his one chance to catch the Fusion off guard, and if it was going to work his timing needed to be perfect.
Moving faster than it had any right to, the Fusion was in front of Rex. With his last step, Fusion Dexter leapt into the air, wrench swinging up over his head as he prepared to take Rex out with a single, crushing blow.
"Nice try!" Rex shouted. At the last moment his sword dropped, reabsorbing into his body as his smackhand finished forming, just in time to catch Fusion Dexter in the chest and send him sailing back across the room. The Fusion landed hard, skidding across the floor and back into the darkness of the base.
"Is he gone?" Numbuh Three asked.
"I don't know," Rex said, peering into the shadows. "I don't think I destroyed him, if that's what you mean." He was about to say more, when a faint sound, like a hum, cut him off.
"What is that?" Numbuh Three whispered. Rex strained his ears, nanites pooling around his head to enhance his hearing. There was something familiar about the sound, though he couldn't quite place it. He glanced around, trying to spot the sound's source. Nothing but dark computers filled his gaze.
Computers. That's why it sounded so familiar—the hum was coming from a fan, like the kind in a computer to help keep it from overheating. A big fan, judging by the amount of noise it was making, likely attacked to a mechanical something that was even bigger.
Something that let loose a piercing, bird like cry.
"Rex?" Numbuh Three called, gaze darting as she tried to see through the shadows.
"Not good," Rex whispered, stepping back. With his enhanced hearing he could pick up the sounds Numbuh Three couldn't. Under the bird like shriek dozens of sounds, subsonic and ultrasonic, fired through the air. His nanites were able to pick up the messages carried on a few of the frequencies—what ever was making the sound was calling to the other fusion monsters, alerting them that it was about to be on the move. Another sound followed, a different kind of hum that built on itself. The air around them seemed to be getting warmer.
"What's happening?" Numbuh Three whispered. Beside her Rex cursed. A high pitched sound filled the room, followed by the all too familiar ozone-like scent of a laser weapon preparing to fire.
"Get down!" he shouted, grabbing Numbuh Three and tucking her against his chest just as the heat building at the back of the room materialized into light.
The weapon fired, and the room around them exploded.
A terrified yell trailed June as she tumbled through the open air, only to cut off abruptly as her fall came to a sudden, painful stop.
"I've got you," Blossom gasped, fingers curled tightly around June's arm. June sighed, grinning up at the Powerpuff.
"Thanks," she started to say, before spotting the flash of movement over Blossom's shoulder. "She's coming back! Blossom, let me go!"
"What?" Blossom barked.
"It's okay, I'm close enough to the ground now," June said, gaze darting between Blossom and the Fusion. "Hurry!"
Blossom reacted instinctively to the command in June's tone, hands freeing the girl even as she spun, fist swinging up to intercept the Fusion diving towards her.
Fusion Bubbles, not expecting Blossom to release her teammate while they still hovered over the treetops, took the hit right in the jaw.
Down below June landed in a crouch, the ground beneath her cracking with the impact. Quickly standing, she turned to Numbuh Four, who was staring at her in awe.
"Have you got that gun of yours ready?" she asked. Numbuh Four hesitated, gaze darting to the weapon in his hand before his expression lit with understanding. He hefted it just as Fusion Bubbles recovered from Blossom's punch, eyeing the girl down the gun's sight.
"Blossom, look out!" he called as, with a blast of light, the weapon fired.
The blast left the gun like cannon fire, the boom echoing through the clearing as a thick bolt of light slammed into Fusion Bubbles. The impact was blinding, everyone forced to look away as the light cleared.
"Did I hit her?" Numbuh Four shouted.
"I think so…" June said, narrowing her eyes as she tried to spot the Fusion in the sky. Then, from up in the air—
"She's still flying!" Blossom shouted, already barreling towards the dazed Fusion. Twin punches sent Fusion Bubbles reeling back before she managed to block a third. The two continued to parry blows, moving too quickly for the pair on the ground to follow.
"What's happening, who's winning?" Numbuh Four demanded. He followed the flashes of green and pink light with his gun, but wasn't able to make the pair out well enough to take a shot.
"I can't tell," June said, scowling at the darting bursts of color. Her fingers curled into fists, but with the pair so high up there was little she could do to help. If they would only get a little closer…
And then they did, as with a flash of pink Blossom dropped from the sky, landing with a spray of dirt and grass in the middle of the clearing. She levered herself up on her hand, shaking her head as she reached for the red mark on her cheek. Up above Fusion Bubbles rolled, turning her flight into a dive aimed for the fallen Powerpuff.
"Blossom, look out!" June cried as she rushed across the clearing.
Blossom looked up, blinking to clear the spots from her eyes when she spotted the Fusion heading straight towards her. She gasped, scrambling to regain her footing, but even as she rolled to her feet she could tell she wasn't going to be fast enough—
And then, once again, something green and black darted across her vision, tackling the Fusion from view.
"Juniper!" She spotted the pair a dozen feet away, their tumble stopped by a well placed tree. Fusion Bubbles had managed to pin June on her back, her green fist pulled back, ready to strike.
And then the side of the fusion base blasted out.
Fusion Bubbles was distracted by the blast just long enough for June to kick her way out of the fusion's grip and dive to safety. Heart hammering, Blossom turned from her teammate to the blast, scanning the smoking wreckage. After a painfully tense few seconds what looked very much like a human Evo soldier emerged out of the wreckage. Rex sat up quickly, revealing the younger KND tucked protectively beneath him, only to duck down just as quickly as a Horrordactyl burst out of the wrecked building. Blossom could just make out the green and red glow of a Fusion copy on its back. As the fusion monster and its rider swooped past Fusion Bubbles leapt into the air and flew after them.
Numbuh Four broke the silence that fell once the fusions were gone, shouting Numbuh Three's name as he rushed across the clearing. Rex scooted aside, and Blossom could hear the older boy and the KND medic both assuring Numbuh Four that she was fine. Lifting her gaze, Blossom spotted June sitting up. She could see the girl's heavy sigh even from here. And as their gazes met Blossom could see the thought crossing the girl's mind—the same was crossing her own.
What on Earth was that all about?
Happy New Year, everyone!