Struggling Aftermath

Last chapter, a few things have happened mostly in Center city, as Dummy Tramp has made his move to have the U.S. Military mobilized and have them conduct a wide manhunt for the real Joey, after the "fake Joey" and "fake Heroman" made headlines as their "terrorism" caused extensive damage in the U.S., and its not only taking place here, but also at several parts of Southeast Asia where he obliterated several nations there, in which it caused a lot of pressures to its neighboring countries' citizens, including especially the WORLD LEADERS from the United Nation…after witnessing on live TV that "Joey Jones" has massacred the U.S. President and most of the senators at the Senate House...with surprising results...

Much to Axel Hughes' shocking reaction, Tramp brought in Dr. Minami, and told him and everyone else within the Pentagon that he has given the scientist "full pardon" and will participate in "finding ways" to neutralize "Joey Jones" and "Heroman", and Highes himself is caught in the middle, as he is now at the mercy of Tramp as he has to find a way to bring "Joey" back alive to know if the teen is really him or an impostor.

And lastly...at the end of last chapter, another new villain makes his debut much like Zeroid and Falconoid did...and this again puts Joey in danger as the new enemy "jumped" from the rivers of South Platte River...

With that said…HEROMAN…ATTACK!


Previously…

As Joey is roused from his "unconsciousness", there he slowly asked where he is, and when told, Joey wobbles himself to get up, telling the campers that he must get to the authorities to let them know that he is being framed and that the "Joey" being hunted is an impostor, but the scientist, who introduces himself as "Doctor Shibata", told Joey that he cannot at this point and asked him why he is here and how he got the wounds, in which Joey explained all he knows, and the campers slowly believe him, which they say that it's probably better for Joey to show up to the Colorado authorities to explain, and that the campers will be witnesses to this, so as to give credibility to Joey's alibi.

However, something jumped out from the water, and landed on the ground, and there the campers, and Joey are taken by surprise at the entrant who showed up, he appeared to be a "gill man"-like figure, whose face had a resemblance to a humanoid fish, and it was wielding a spear gun and has an oxygen tank-like backpack behind it, and Joey slowly gets up, sensing that the entrant is probably another mechanical being and is probably after him just like Zeroid and Falconoid.

"Ra-ha-ha-ha! I found you, Joey Jones!"

"What the...?"

"You will not leave...you will die here!"

"Are you after me? Are you with those other two?"

"Correct! I am one of the "Cybernoid Five"...!"

"Not again..."

"I am Aquanoid...and I will kill you!"

"You won't!"

The new entrant, who introduced himself as "Aquanoid", proclaims that South Plate River will be his "burial ground" and will never leave alive, and when one of the campers went in front of Joey, he told Aquanoid that he will not let anything happen to the boy, which the enemy snickered and made its move, which moments later, would shock Joey and the other campers.

"Acid Spray!"

Aquanoid fires a spray of liquified acid which slowly dissolves the camper and he melted away along with his bones, and Joey stared wide-eyed as he realized that not only is he in danger, but also those around him, and now he is contemplating on fighting the enemy, as he activated his "controller" and now the gauntlet is formed around his left forearm, ready to take on his opponent, not caring if he gets more bodily damage as long as he can protect those who are willing to protect him.


Now…

The scene shows that Joey is now ready to take the fight despite the injuries he sustained, but then
another camper took out a shotgun rifle and opened fire at Aquanoid, but the mechanical being is unfazed as the bullet dropped down after hitting him, and you can see the bullet is already dented, and Joey knew that the campers would be killed if they get involved so he tells them to leave, but the campers refused, seeing that the REAL Joey is in danger, and would get in to bigger danger if the authorities caught him here and shoot him on sight, so they chose to defend him and would stay alive to become witnesses to prove the real teen's innocence.

"Blast! Everyone...get out of here! it's me he's after! I'll handle him!"

"We're not leaving you, kid!"

"We'll help you!"

"But...!"

"You're a wanted person...and if the authorities see you, they'll just shoot you down!"

"We'll help you!"

"We're the only ones who can prove your innocence!"

"But...!"

However, Aquanoid fired his spear gun, which houses a harpoon dart and struck the other camper, hitting him by his neck and he died in an instant, and then sets his sight on Joey, as the teen boy began to tinker with his "gauntlet" to make his next move, which the campers are surprised to see Joey taking the risks just to protect them, and they are now convinced that the Joey who is with them is really genuine and the Joey who is terrorizing other countries is a fake.

"Engage!"

A force field barrier emerged around him and there Aquanoid fires his spear gun, but the harpoon just bounced off, and there Aquanoid makes his next move in an effort to get past the barrier that Joey made, confident that he would penetrate the forcefield that the teen made.

"So you think you can outsmart me, eh? Acid Spray!"

Firing streams of liquified acid, Aquanoid is surprised to see that even the Acid Spray had no effect, and there he makes his next move while Joey appeared calm and not letting his guard down, though his body is shaking due to the wounds he got despite his torso being covered in bandages.

"Darn...I'm still in no shape to fully fight...!"

"Then how about this? Bubble Bombs!"

Several bubbles appeared and went for the forcefield-covered Joey, which exploded upon contact and dusts covered the area, but when the dusts are cleared, Joey is still in one-piece, and is still protected by his forcefield, and there the mechanical villain appeared to get irritated but then an evil idea came to his head and shifted his attention towards a large tree and uses his Bubble Bombs at it.

"Okay...maybe this would make you change your mind...Bubble Bombs!"

The bubbles went towards the tree and exploded, and it caused the tree to tilt at its side and threatens to fall onto the campers, and there Joey is forced to deactivate his forcefield and uses his gauntlet to give him enhanced speed to move and save the campers, managing to get them out of the falling tree, but this gave Aquanoid the opening he needed, and fired his spear gun and the harpoon was fired, narrowly missing his target but the harpoon's tip grazed Joey's left cheek, and the wound was deep enough to cause bleeding.

"AAAARRRGGGGH!"

By then Aquanoid went towards the teen and the two grappled and struggled, with the mechanical villain gaining the edge and started to punch the boy away, but Joey aimed his gauntlet at his opponent and pressed the "orb", which fired a blast that sends the mechanical villain reeling, and there Joey used the gauntlet to give him enhanced speed and he began to "spear" Aquanoid, which sends him towards the raging river, but Aquanoid grabbed onto Joey's arm, which dragged him along and the two combatants are swept away by the channel, with Shibata telling the other campers that they must follow them and try to save Joey.

"Oh no!"

"The kid!"

"Everyone...let's follow them!"

"But...with the rivers traveling that fast..."

"We have to try! We can't let that boy die like this! We have to help clear his name!"

"He's right!"

"Okay, we'll help!"

"Let's go!"

And so the campers began to board their vehicles and are now going to follow the path where the directions of the raging waters lead them, and are hoping that Joey would survive the situation that has befallen the teen, worried that he might get killed knowing that he is no match for his opponent and with the wounds he has, the campers are indeed concerned that Joey sacrificed himself to save the campers knowing that he is the target and chose to take that risk to ensure the safety of others.

-x-

The scene shifts to the raging rivers where Aquanoid is strangling Joey as he intend to drown the boy, but Joey held on, and tries to reach the gauntlet's orb, and managed to press it to cause a laser to fire, hitting Aquanoid on his face, and the mechanical villain is forced to release his hold, and Joey swam up and managed to get his head above the water, gasping for air, and he looked around, where he realized that he is just a few minutes away from reaching the waterfall, and this would certainly put him in danger if he falls there and might get drowned by the currents.

"This is bad...! I need to get out of the waters...! Better use..."

Just as he is about to use his gauntlet to make use of his enhanced speed to get him ashore, Aquanoid emerged and began to strangle him again, and is making sure to weaken him enough to prevent escape and Joey is in danger again as he is about to be drowned by his assassin, and thinks of a way to escape his current predicament and find a way to get to the main city of Colorado to let the world know that the Joey Jones who is terrorizing the world is a fake.

"Ha-ha-ha!"

"~Gurgle...!~"

"Now you die!"

"~Gurgle...!~"

"There's no one to save you!"

"~Gurgle...!~"

"Any last words?"

"~Gurgle...!~"

Joey uses his gauntlet to fire a laser and struck Aquanoid by his eyes, and when the mechanical assassin turns around, he uses the gauntlet to fire another blast, hitting his "scuba tank" which exploded, but in turn caused shrapnel to scatter, hitting Joey's body and again he is injured and further weakened, and is unable to make a move as he is nearing the waterfall, and there the two are there, which both plunged down as they reached the end of the channel, and you couldn't tell what has become of them, whether they survived or not.

-x-

At Center City, Matthew Danton is seen at his lab, watching the news about "Joey" and Heroman causing more havoc and is now pondering on finding a way to summon the REAL Heroman, as the scene shifts inside is drawer, where the REAL Heroman, in toy form, is seen, which slowly revealed that when Joey is taken from the wreckage and being loaded inside an ambulance several months ago (after Gogorr was defeated), Danton noticed Heroman's toy form within the wreckage and secretly took it, which shows that it was charred and wrecked, and he secretly studied it to see if Joey's gauntlet is capable to restoring it though Danton opted not to show it to Joey seeing that peace has been restored.

However, with the fake "Joey" and "Heroman" on the loose and causing destruction, Danton is now pondering on finding Joey himself and is thinking of places where he is likely to be taken, as he is convinced that the REAL Joey is missing and an impostor has taken his place. He mentally wished he had an idea that would form a lead on where Joey might be so he would commence the search and have him try to "reform" the REAL Heroman.

"I wonder where the REAL Joey is taken...if only I could get a clue as to where he is taken..."

By then, members of the N.I.A. arrived and Danton is surprised to see them, though he noted that Hughes is not with them, and the next scene gives out a tense atmospheric moments that would cause Danton to be apprehensive and get worried, which slowly makes it self apparent that something is definitely not right here and slowly sensed that something "sinister" is at work here.

"Matthew Danton...?"

"Yes...that is me..."

"We are from the N.I.A..."

"N.I.A. you say?"

"Yes..."

"What brings you here?"

"We would like to invite you to come with us...to tell us where Joey Jones is...we know you're his friend and..."

"The Joey Jones on TV right now is a fake...an impostor...and the REAL Joey is kidnapped...that I believe...and I don't think me coming with you would help matters...wait...why would you "invite" me...?"

As Danton demanded to know why he is "invited" to be taken along, the rest of the N.I.A agents pinned Danton down and handcuffed him and dragged him towards a waiting van, where the teacher struggled to get some answers but is forced inside and the van cruises off, and no one outside the neighborhood noticed it as most are out or some are glued to the TV about the incidents involving "Joey" and "Heroman", believing that the young hero has turned "bad".

-x-

The scene later shifts to the streets, where Psy and Lina are walking together, and they are discussing about where to find the REAL Joey, as they are convinced that the "Joey" and "Heroman" they saw are fakers, and they felt that the REAL Joey is taken somewhere, and they hoped that either Danton or Hughes would find leads that would help pinpoint the whereabouts of the REAL Joey. Lina was emotionally worried about him and wished that Joey would be alright.

"This is bad..."

"Joey is kidnapped...and now an impostor is framing the REAL Joey..."

"And if Joey is somewhere...he probably be aware of what's happening right now..."

"I wish there's something we can do..."

"For now...we pray..."

"Yeah..."

"Let's hop Professor Danton and Mr. Hughes would have better luck in solving this situation..."

"I hope so..."

Both teens are unaware that several minutes ago after leaving Danton's lab, N.I.A. agents came and seized Danton and took him to an undisclosed place, and as the two teens are about to part ways, another van arrived and out came several N.I.A. agents, and after getting confirmation of their names, they told the two teens that they are "invited" for questioning regarding Joey, which Psy declines the "invitation", stating that the Joey who is wanted is an impostor and reiterated that the REAL Joey remained missing.

"Simon Kaina?"

"Yes...that is me..."

"We are from the N.I.A..."

"N.I.A. you say?"

"Yes..."

"What brings you here?"

"We would like to invite you to come with us...to tell us where Joey Jones is...we know you're his friend and..."

"What? What for? I have no idea where he is as you saw on TV that..."

However, the agents grappled onto Psy, taking his crutches and began to handcuff him, and Lina became worried of this which Psy told Lina to run, but before she could, other agents showed up and handcuffed her and the two teens are loaded inside the van and are being taken to an undisclosed place, with apparently no witnesses to the incident which would surely caused both Psy and Lina's family to get worried.

To Be Continued...


Hope you like it...and though this chapter focused heavily on the battle between Joey and Aquanoid, it certainly gave you readers something to up the suspense factor a bit, but at least you get to see Joey doing some "Heroman" actions so it'll make you feel like watching Heroman even though the REAL Heroman hasn't shown up yet.

And now shocker #1...Danton is taken by the N.I.A. agents...because of the pretense of being Joey's "friend" and claimed that Danton knew where Joey is, in which the teacher honestly answered that he has no idea about it, and there he gets taken away. Definitely something is off since Hughes is in command of the N.I.A. and it would be suspicious that Hughes would do this.

Next is Shocker # 2...the very same N.I.A. agents have taken Psy and Lina as well, and this is surely sinister as someone is doing this, and whether Hughes plays a hand on this or not, it would surely cause much more problem for Joey's friends.


Preview:

The next chapter will show you whether Joey Jones survives the waterfall situation or not, but again he is again being attacked by another new enemy while still in the "waters", while another "important someone" within Joey's life is taken by the N.I.A. agents, and there the culprit behind this will be revealed...