i don;t own fusion fall. Please comment if you wish
Chapter 18: Heronapped
The next morning, Holden asks Blossom to get him up at eight, but after sleeping soundly from a long peaceful night, Holden wakes up to find his clock reading the clear digits of 9:30. He immediately jumps out of bed carelessly, almost hitting his head on the ground, but still landing with a loud thump. While picking himself up rubbing his head, he feels that something is usually wrong. Holden pulls out his nancom and then suddenly hearing a high pitched laugh.
"What delightful chaos." Him appears with a mischievous grin on his face.
Holden scowls and says, "What do you want Him? I need to talk to Blossom!"
"Now, that would be just a waste of time. NOW LOOK AT THIS."
Him's TV appears in the room. Holden had always previously wondered what channels he had on it, but now isn't the time to wonder about such things. On it is a shadow of Him. Blossom had barely woken up in the middle of the night when she was attacked by a fusion powered Him in her room back home at the Utonium house. Holden isn't even sure what had happened but instantly saw that she was laying on the floor unconscious moments after.
"Now you see why the chaos is so delightful. Fusion Him came through my neighborhood last night and caused so much noise it woke me up."
Holden tries not to lose his temper but furiously shouts, "WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL SOMEONE AND TELL THEM WHAT HAPPENED?"
Him scoffs, "Where is the fun in that Holden? All you need to do is fetch Blossom from the fusion phony of me. THEN AFTER THIS WAR I CAN HAVE MY FUN."
Holden gives him a dirty look, "Where is he? What infected zone?"
Him laughs, "Charles Darwin Middle School. It's located in the Habitat Home area near Endsville. Have fun now. Ta-ta" Him disappears.
Holden barely leaves the room after getting ready when his com goes off to Coco's very rapid and confusing speech pattern. The translator function on the com didn't seem to work, leaving Holden perplexed to what was actually said.
Mac appears on Coco's nancom, "I think I can help you translate. She said that you need to talk to Wilt because the fusions over in Habitat Homes are on the rampage. Billy seems to have painted over a set of posters called Re:Fuse that the imaginary friends put up. Those posters keep the monsters in a docile mood and Wilt has replacements in case of emergencies. He's over at the Cul-De-Sac right now."
Mac finishes explaining and then hangs up.
Holden knows that he defiantly doesn't have time to eat or mess around. He bolts out of the tree house and runs all the way there. As soon as he gets to the doors of the Cul-De-Sac he pushes them open and runs to Wilt.
"Whoa! Holden, what's the rush? I know you got the message from Coco but you need to talk to Billy about who asked him to paint over those posters." Wilt says noticing how frantic Holden is.
"Wilt, I don't have to time. Just give me the posters and I'll deal with everything. I'm not sure how much time is left but I have to hurry."
Wilt unsurely hands over the posters and states, "Can you at least tell me what's going on? Maybe I can relay a message for you."
Holden quickly responds before taking off, "Send a message to Dexter and the Professor and tell them Blossom was kidnapped last night by a fusion and that I'm already on it." Holden runs off through the door leaving the bewildered Wilt still confused.
Holden's first stop in Endsville is to talk to Billy, who is actually outside his house playing with Runty.
He spies Holden and runs up to him, "Holden want play Pat the Baker with me? You can go first."
Holden shakes his head, "Billy you need to tell me who paid you that twenty bucks to paint over those Re:Fuse posters."
Billy looks as if he is going to cry but then says, "It was a man all covered in green and black and he had a key on his belt and a pipe. I last saw him going to Charles Darwin."
Billy then, unaware of his disturbing actions, boldly picks his nose in front of Holden.
Holden feels like he wants to throw up.
Across the street, is a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. The KND operative spots Holden approaching and explains, "We have orders as of this morning that a S.C.A.M.P.E.R will be positioned here in case the one in City Station breaks down."
Holden sighs, "I could have used that yesterday. Who ordered that this one be stationed here?"
The operative then responds, "Dexter asked us to station a few in other locations. He also sent one to the Darklands."
Holden let out a breath of relief since now there wouldn't be much of a transport issue for him. Holden leaves for the all animals school and thinks about the description Billy had given. It sounds like Fusion Father and Him are in cahoots together but Holden still can't really prove it.
As he enters the Habitat Homes area, Holden sees that many of the fusion monsters seem to be fighting each other. As he makes his presence noticeable to them, they instantly stop and stare at Holden. Holden hopes that since he is at a safe distance from them, they wouldn't attack but since they are highly aggressive, he decides to play it safe and keep his distance.
Finding the first painted over poster location doesn't turn out to be that much of a task but, and fortunately the rampaging monsters seemed to calm down but their aggression; still a cause for concern. The next poster location is in the edge of a plaza and is full of toxic ground and assorted monsters.
Holden breathes a sigh of relief when he find he is able to get a clean break and put it up the poster since the fusions started to fight among themselves once more. The last poster place turns out to be located near the tennis courts of the school and luckily is out up without a hitch.
The sounds of the rampaging fusions lessened and they appear to have calmed down. The monsters around the telepad strangely disperse and Holden is able to enter the infected zone. Inside is a lake of fusion water, leaving no way to skirt the edges to get to the other side where the school stood. He was left with two unappealing options: swim through the toxic water using nano Blossom's antidote…but the risk for that is too great to attempt, only because he doesn't know if it will work in water. Or, Holden can use the platforms that floated unsteadily above the water to slowly make his way across. Holden decides to pick the latter of his options and slowly makes his way across. On a building just northeast of Holden, he vaguely spies what looked like to be another fusion and then continues to jump off the last platform onto a jump pad and then onto one of the smaller school buildings.
He frowns at the sight of a Fusion Numbuh 3 guarding the lair entry realizing the only way to take her out is from a distance, but to do that he needs to first find another jump pad to get him to the other roof top. Holden carefully manages to find the jump pad that is greatly needed and hides behind a cooling unit. After steady aiming at the Fusion Numbuh 3, he fires.
The shot files through the air, hitting the fusion in the chest. Holden hops over the cooling unit and keeps firing on the fusion which soon melts into a puddle. As with the Bubbles fusion back in Pokey Oaks, there is no nano generated.
Inside, Holden finds flames along the walls that beckon him forward. He feels uneasy and knows that Fusion Father is close.
From far away he hears the fusion's voice, "Come on now you brat, don't be shy! Come out where I can see your sorry butt."
The path of flames lead Holden deeper until he finds what looks to be a control unit and Fusion Father standing nearby.
"So, you're the upstart. You won't stop this plan child! I'll have to destroy you." A green flame engulfs Fusion Father.
Holden strafes to the left and avoids a large ball of goo that flies out of the cloud toward him. Holden does a controlled burst of three shots but unfortunately misses twice. He then spies a weakness in the Fusion's strategy and switches to his melee weapon while running forward. The sword runs through the fusion. Holden, with all his strength, pulls it up so it splits in two. The fusion drops a key that looks like it goes to the control unit but also carries a pipe.
From the pipe, arises nano Father who quickly starts to try to scold him but then disappears. Holden picks up the key and uses it on the control console. He hears something power down and a fake wall to a new corridor opens. Without a moment's hesitation he sprints down the new path in undying hope to find Blossom.
Blossom is semi-conscious but she doesn't seem to notice because of the dream. She is sitting on the couch at home with her sister Bubbles and their father, but something seems wrong, as if someone is missing. Dexter enters the room with a grim look on his face like he has terrible news to share. Blossom hears someone calling her name in the distance but she can't tell who it is. The voice sounds stronger and finally, after long minutes of someone calling her name, she slowly opened her eyes. At first, the figure is just a blur but then Blossom recognizes the voice.
"Holden?"
Whatever had happened to her, she was relieved that Holden was the one who found her. Blossom attempts to stand but falls back down on her weak knees. She feels like her energy has been sucked away.
"Blossom, are you alright?" Holden asks with a hint of concern in his voice.
"I'm alright, but I think my energy was drained, that's all really."
Blossom closes her eyes for a brief moment and senses that even if her energy was drained, something else is wrong. She tries to use her eye beams and ice breath in the midst of an empty space. Nothing happens. Apparently, her powers were also drained along with her energy.
Holden frowns and knows that something isn't normal. "They didn't just drain your energy did they?"
Blossom nods, turns red and states, "This is embarrassing. I can't even defend myself if a fusion were to show up."
Holden summons his Deedee, Buttercup and Eddy nano and gives Blossom his back up pistol. "Protect her. Blossom, once I finish with this last fusion, I'll be back for you."
As he leaves the chamber he gives her a reassuring smile and then disappears into the darkness.
Finding Fusion Him wasn't all that much trouble. From the control console, Holden only needed to go a bit further.
As Holden approaches, Fusion Him smiles his usual deceiving smile invitingly and uninvitingly luring him forward, "Oh it seems that our plan to capture one of the young heroes has back fired on us. Her soul was just going to be an added bonus for it."
The fusion laughs. Holden realizes that he really isn't going to get any more answers. His sword is drawn already as he holds it tightly in his hand, lunges at the fusion. The fusion Him summons his own blade as Holden quickly reduces the space between them. They soon are busily locked in combat exchanging blows for over ten minutes. Holden jumps back and leaves himself open as the fusion attacks.
He does a rolling sidestep and is luckily able to counterattack the unprotected flank. As always, the matter fells to the floor. The item on the floor shows a mysterious light and a Him nano quickly materializes before him. There is also a book with a large white star on it which Holden briefly looks through. It belongs to Major Glory. The last topic covered in it talked about a program at Pokey Oaks.
Holden then heads back to where Blossom sat. When he arrives, there is clear evidence that she had persistently tried to get up again and again, but each time was met with the same outcome of once more landing flat on her bottom.
Now, let's get you out of here." Holden picks her up in his arms and leaves the lair.
Blossom's face turns bright red since she really isn't used to being carried, and quite frankly, her face unmistakably states that she is embarrassed about it. If Bubbles or Buttercup saw her now, they would be laughing.
They finally exit the infected zone and Holden makes a call, "Hoagie, I need a transport in Habitat Homes."
Hoagie appears on the com, "Why can't Blossom just fly you home…and why is she in your arms?"
Holden frowns, he defiantly isn't going to tell him that Blossom had temporarily lost her powers, so he simply states, "Hoagie, I don't have time for questions. Just send a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. and make sure the Professor comes with it."
Hoagie nods and the com disconnects. Three minutes later the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. arrives with the Professor.
He immediately jumps out at the sight of his daughter and exclaims, "Blossom, what happened? When Hoagie said you were being carried by Holden I knew something was wrong."
Blossom explains to the best of her ability what had occurred as Holden quietly holds the weak girl, occasionally shifting her in his arms to a more comfortable position.
"Let's get you back to Sector V so you can recover a bit." The Professor steps on the transport and then takes Blossom from Holden so he can get in the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. as well.
That night, Blossom is sleeping soundly in her room in the tree house.
Holden stood still awake watching over her when the Professor walks up to him, "She's going to need a full week before her powers are back to normal. She can fly a bit and use her cold breath but nothing else."
Holden sits down and sighs.
The Professor chuckles, "You really love her, don't you?"
Holden turns a bit red as he leans his head on part of the trunk of the tree that was exposed in the room and then responds, "Yes I do professor. I just don't know how to tell her."
"That time might be fast approaching...but anyway, I'm going to head back to the grove and keep an eye on Deedee."
The Professor then says his good nights, then leaves. Holden stays outside the room keeping guard over Blossom looking out a window as he starts to slowly examine the bright stars that he could see; trying to find a friendly piece of sky to rest his eyes on for the long night.