Chapter 29: The Hero's Duty Soldiers Vs Licortwist
Meanwhile, back in Hero's Duty, Tamora and some of the Hero's Duty soldiers were walking around. Ever since Pallet had found out that Licortwist and Steven had entered Hero's Duty, Tamora had the Hero's Duty soldiers searching for Licortwist and Steven, but they had disappeared without a trace. The Hero's Duty soldiers that were with her had just arrived at a body of water that had a thick layer of fog and a couple of rusted storage containers that had rusted scientific equipment (for bonus levels, whenever it was arcade hours), and a solder named Icarus Stora was telling a story to Markowski.
"And then, she said..." Icarus was saying.
However, before Icarus could finish speaking, Tamora held her hand up, and everyone became silent.
"Wait, what's that sound?" Tamora asked.
At first, the other soldiers thought that Tamora was hearing things, but after a few seconds, they heard the faint sound of something buzzing and clicking. They realized that it was coming from the body of water, so they ran over to the water's edge. There was nothing at first, but Tamora and the soldiers looked deeper into the fog, and they noticed that something was coming their way. Tamora turned to the soldiers.
"Come on!" Tamora ordered.
She and the soldiers hid behind one of the storage containers. They then peeked out the side of the storage container that they were hiding behind to see that Licortwist was standing on the licorice pieces, which were transporting him above the water, and he was coming out of the body of water with the last metal scrap that was needed for the portal. Tamora then turned back to the Hero's Duty soldiers.
"Alright, men, take down Licortwist. He might be a kid, but he's extremely dangerous. Don't hesitate with anything." Tamora said.
But unfortunately, Licortwist had heard Tamora speaking. He lifted a storage container with the licorice pieces and revealed himself to the Hero's Duty soldiers. Another soldier, a private named Leland Lockload, took out a camera and took a picture of him, while everyone else, even Tamora, was frozen in fear.
"Ah..." Markowski stuttered.
"Am I the only one seeing this?" another soldier, a corporal named Flint Ferland, asked.
Lockload took another picture of Licortwist, but he accidentally had the flash on, which irritated the 9 year old Licorice themed racer. He accidentally dropped the storage container, but Tamora and the Hero's Duty soldiers jumped out of the way before the storage container could fall onto them. The Hero's Duty soldiers then took out their machine guns and started shooting at Licortwist. However, Licortwist got over his shock and had the licorice pieces form a shield, which blocked the bullets. Tamora took out her radio and turned it on.
"Attention, all soldiers report to the bonus level. I repeat, all soldiers report to the bonus level at once! Bring all heavy artillery! Bring all heavy artillery NOW!" Tamora ordered into the radio.
Tamora then put away her radio and focused back on Licortwist while she waited for the rest of the Hero's Duty soldiers and the artillery to arrive. Licortwist brought down the licorice shield and started attacking the Hero's Duty soldiers with the licorice pieces, while the Hero's Duty soldiers fought back with their weaponry. Unfortunately, the Hero's Duty soldiers were slowly losing because Licortwist used the licorice pieces to start to gradually overpower them.
Meanwhile, the game characters that had been locked up in Frosty Massif had finally escaped from the mountain, and Creamy led them out of Santa's Sled. Once they were back in Game Central Station, the game characters met up with Frostbite Willow, Frostbite Wynter, and the Sugar Rush racers's Frostbites, who had just gotten out of Sugar Rush and were heading back to Santa's Sled. The game characters thought that they were still bad and prepared to attack them, but then Frostbite Willow told Creamy about how she and the other Frostbites had turned good. Creamy then told the game characters that Frostbite Willow, Frostbite Wynter, and the Sugar Rush racers's Frostbites were good, and some of the game characters didn't believe them, but most of the game characters chose to believe them. Frostbite Willow then sent a signal to all of the Frostbites that were in the games to become good and leave the game characters alone, and they agreed and left the games. Frostbite Willow, Frostbite Wynter, the Sugar Rush racers's Frostbites, and the remaining Frostbites then headed back to Santa's Sled while the game characters headed back to their games in order to wait for Licortwist and Steven to be defeated. However, some of the game characters didn't return to their games, and after hearing that Licortwist and Steven went into Hero's Duty, and the Sugar Rush racers and Cinndon went after them, they crowed around the Hero's Duty game portal.
The Hero's Duty game portal had been blocked off on the other side, where the game characters listened to the chaotic echoes from inside Hero's Duty. Worried and confused, the citizens of the arcade exchanged looks, wondering how everything was going. Some of the Hero's Duty soldiers patrolled the gateway with their guns loaded and armed, while tanks that had been in different parts of the arcade rolled in and drove across the plaza towards Hero's Duty, their chains and metal clanking against the marble floors.
"Alright, people, move it! Heavy artillery coming through!" one soldier shouted as he pushed open the crowd to let the tanks pass.
"Kohut, where the heck are those tanks? We're getting slaughtered down here!" Tamora's voice roared through Kohut's helmet receptors.
Kohut tapped the side of his helmet to respond.
"Yes, Sergeant, they're on their way! Hold on!" Kohut said as he anxiously watched the tanks pry open the entrance to Hero's Duty and squeeze in.
The sides of the tanks scraped against the walls of the tunnel, causing red sparks to fly in all directions.
"Hurry up! Licortwist is getting... GAH!" Tamora started to say.
"T.J!" Kohut shouted as he listened to Tamora in peril. Kohut then darted towards the entrance and ordered "Alright, let's move it! Go, go, go!".
Back in Hero's Duty, Tamora was thrown on her back as a licorice snake lashed out at her with one of its sharp teeth, making her let out a sudden grunt. She quickly pulled out one of her pistols and let out a angry cry as she shot the licorice snake between it's eyes. The licorice snake fell apart, and the licorice pieces fell apart and swarmed back over to the other licorice pieces. Tamora got to her feet, and her men pushed Licortwist back little by little.
"Don't hold back, men! Keep firing until you empty your clip!" Tamora ordered as she reloaded her pistol.
Her ears rang from the gunfire, and her armor was dirty and cracked. Despite her place of being front-of-the-line in battle being normal, this battle in particular was far more terrifying then the others. She knew well that if Licortwist killed her, she would never regenerate. This was a reality that not even she could quite comprehend. No longer was this a game... this was a war.
Then, in the mist of her thoughts, Licortwist growled angrily and summoned more licorice pieces and had them attack even more ferociously. The ocean of licorice pieces was enough to push Tamora's small army back. One by one, a Hero's Duty soldier was brutally torn apart by the licorice pieces. Tamora was dazed and all sound seemed nonexistent as she was in a state of confusion, like a bomb had hit her straight in the face. Her lip was now busted and she spat out a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
Wiping her mouth with her wrist as she stood up uneasily, she could finally hear the rumble of the tanks from the tunnel, causing the pebbles and rocks on the ground to vibrate and bounce. Looking back, she could see the lights from the tanks light up the black tunnel, and it gave her a relief to see that her back-up had finally arrived. The tanks came speeding out of the tunnel and immediately began their open fire. Fire and bursts of bright light from the lasers flashed all around, and the licorice pieces began bursting into large explosions of red candy dust. Empty bullet shells from the guns fell from the machine guns on top of the tanks and left a trail behind them as they pushed forward. Tamora ran to the side to let the tanks plow through the never ending waves of licorice pieces. And just as the tanks showed up, the familiar sound of wings buzzing was heard as the Cy-Bugs flew in, Queen Cy-Bug leading them. The Cy-Bugs had heard about what was going on, so they had come to help the Hero's Duty soldiers fight Licortwist.
"T.J!" Kohut called out as he ran to her behind the tanks.
Tamora spun around, on-edge, and had never felt so happy to see her top soldier run to her aid.
"Kohut, thank god..." Tamora said.
Tamora swung her gun around to shoot apart a licorice snake that swarmed too close to her.
"What are we going to do? Licortwist is too powerful!" Kohut asked.
"We need to keep fighting for a little longer, until the racers show up. Then we'll fall back and retreat back to Game Central Station while we can." Tamora replied.
"And what about our game?" Kohut asked as he flinched at the sound of an explosion in the background.
"Too many of our men have fallen. Our game is too far gone to save." Tamora replied. She then scowled and ordered "But, we are soldiers, and if we have to die to save the arcade, then darn it we're going to die. But I'll be darned if we die in vain. Go help the men, Kohut. Keep them alive for as long as possible.".
"Yes, sir!" Kohut shouted.
Kohut then saluted his leader and took off running towards the licorice pieces, shredding them apart one by one with a battle cry.
Licortwist growled as each of the Hero's Duty soldiers and Cy-Bugs gradually took out his licorice pieces. He still had a lot of licorice pieces, but they were ruining his plan. He took out a walkie-talkie and turned it on.
"Steven, get here now!" Licortwist ordered.
"Alright, Licortwist. I'll be right there." Steven said from the other line of the walkie-talkie.
Licortwist then put away the walkie-talkie and glanced at the tanks. He had the licorice pieces grab the tanks before crushing them and throwing them away. He then noticed that there was a shuttle hovering above him with a Hero's Duty soldier in it. He shot a licorice pillar up into the sky and grabbed the shuttle before it could escape. He swung it around and threw it towards a storage container, and the soldier that was inside braced for impact. But before he could crash, a marshmallow orb suddenly exploded before him. The shuttle crashed into the soft, bouncy marshmallow goo, which thankfully prevented it from crashing into the storage container. Licortwist recognized the sugary concoction and spun around to see the Sugar Rush racers and Cinndon jumping into the scene. The Hero's Duty soldiers and the Cy-Bugs stopped the battle, and they cheered upon seeing the Sugar Rush racers and Cinndon, who all looked horrified at the mess and destruction that Licortwist had caused.
"Licortwist, stop this!" Candlehead ordered.
"You know that this isn't right." Jubileena said.
Licortwist growled angrily, but then looked up. He suddenly grinned and turned back to the Sugar Rush racers and Cinndon.
"I'm not listening to any of you fools. But before you fight me, you'll have to deal with someone else.".
The Sugar Rush racers, Cinndon, the Hero's Duty soldiers, and the Cy-Bugs became confused. But after a moment, Steven flew in and landed in front of Licortwist. Steven turned to Licortwist.
"You called, Licortwist?" Steven asked.
Licortwist nodded and pointed at the Sugar Rush racers and Cinndon.
"Steven, destroy them!" Licortwist ordered.
Steven looked at the Sugar Rush racers and Cinndon, and he grinned evilly.
"With pleasure." Steven said.
The Hero's Duty soldiers attempted to protect the Sugar Rush racers and Cinndon by shooting their machine guns at Steven, but their bullets simply just deflected off of him. Steven laughed maniacally and used telekinesis to throw them back many feet away. The Cy-Bugs then attacked him, but Steven started taking out a lot of them with his powers, so the Cy-Bugs were forced to retreat. Steven then turned to the Sugar Rush racers and Cinndon.
"Well, racers, it's now down to just you and me." Steven said.