Part 4 of 5 of the Totem Arc. I don't own this game at all

Chapter 32: Book of Prophecy: Part 4: Stretch

Holden slowly wakes up in the middle of the night to find Blossom sleeping silently on his chest. She looks so sweet, innocent, and beautiful sleeping as is that, Holden decides to not wake her up and to just stay where he is. He puts his arm gently around her shoulders. Since it is rather dark outside and nowhere near dawn, Holden drifts back to sleep.

Holden awakens several hours later to find Blossom is not with him in the tree. Holden looks outside the tree and finds a path to the top of Devil's Bluff. There is a long familiar shadow that is being cast down the path. Holden decides to see who is at the top of the bluffs at this time of the morning. Holden climbs up the path and makes it to the top to see Blossom being illuminated by the rising sun. She looks incredibly beautiful and serine. He walks over slowly and stands beside her.

She looks at him for a brief moment and then replies happily, "The sunrise is gorgeous, isn't it?"

Holden nods in agreement and responds, "It is Blossom, but I can think of something even more gorgeous than this."

Blossom looks at him with a questioning look and responds, "Well, what is it?"

Holden smiles and he turns to look at Blossom. He puts his hands on her shoulders and kisses her. Blossom closes her eyes, puts her arms around him, and enjoys the moment of bliss as his lips connects with hers.

After a few moments, they pull apart slightly and Holden whispers to her, "I love you Blossom."

Blossom smiles radiantly and whispers back, "I love you too, Holden."

They sit on the edge of the cliff, holding hands watching the sunrise.

After ten minutes, the two finally stand up and head back to the tree to collect the blankets, the unused umbrella and the raincoat.

Blossom folds up the blanket, looks at Holden and says, "Do you think that you're going to be done with this stealth operation by tonight?"

Holden nods and replies in a reassuring voice, "I should be and once I'm done I'll be back at the tree house. Is there something going on that I need to know about?"

Blossom smiles. She isn't going to tell him about the surprise welcome home party.

She then replies in an innocent tone, "No, I was just wondering. Bubbles is going to be making dinner tonight so don't be late."

She places the blankets in the raincoat and places them under her arm.

She then kisses Holden lightly on the cheek and comments, "Good luck on your mission."

She gives him one last smile before flying upward above the canopy of the trees and flying off southwest towards Sector V. Holden watches as she flies out of sight and then heads back towards Devil's Bluff.

As Holden arrives back at Devil's Bluff, he spots Hoss near one of the stone structures talking to one of the SCAT agents in the area.

Holden slowly approaches Hoss, who's' eye widens from shock of seeing Holden and says, "I see you survived the horrors of the temple. Well, since you tough enough I might as well give you the next Totem location. It's up on canyon ridge over looking Nowhere. After you're done that, go see that yellow bellied dog Courage at the Bagg residence. He knows where the next one is."

Holden smiles, shakes Hoss' hand and replies, "Thanks for the help Hoss, see you around."

Holden leaves Devil's Bluff and returns back to the path he and Blossom had come down earlier. After walking for twenty minutes, Holden finds the Totem near the edge of the cliff that leads to Nowhere. Holden places his hand on the Totem and feels the warmth as the magic works on it. Holden walks across the top of the bluff looking for a safe way down into Nowhere, but after an hours walk, he eventually finds a shoddily constructed ramp down to the floor of the bluffs that leads into Nowhere.

Several minutes later, Holden reaches the bottom. A few meters away there was a signs that reads, "Welcome to Nowhere! Population: 3" Holden rolls his eyes, and then laughs to himself, as he walks past. An hour later, Holden arrives at the Bagg homestead to find an old beat pickup truck with the hood up.

As he approaches the truck a voice calls out, "Hey! Can you give me that wrench?"

Holden hands the person the wrench and after several moments the person that is fixing the truck stands up and looks out from behind the hood. It just so happens to be Kevin and he is in an auto repair jumpsuit.

He then takes a drink of water from the bottle that was on the bumper of the truck and replies, "So, what brings you out here to Nowhere, Holden? It can't be for old geezer Eustace's hospitality."

Holden rolls his eyes and says, "I'm out here to see Courage or Juniper about a Totem. Where are they?"

Kevin frowns and says, "Courage is inside with Muriel and Eustace. I haven't seen Juniper today yet. Just don't drink anything they give you here."

Holden looks at him questioningly and asks, "What's wrong with asking for a drink?"

Kevin replies, "Muriel puts vinegar in almost everything she makes. It's best if you just make something for yourself while you're here."

Holden nods and heads to the front door which opens and a fuchsia haired dog on its hind legs comes out of the house followed by an elderly woman.

The woman smiles and says, "Oh my. We have company. Courage be a dear and bring the lad a drink would you?" Courage nods and runs back inside.

Kevin sits down on the front steps of the house and says, "Welcome to dullsville Holden. Only thing out here is dust and weirdness."

Courage exit's the house with a bottle of water and hands it to Holden.

Holden takes it, pats Courage's head and replies, "Well, as I said, I'm out here looking for a Totem. Gwen has me activating some ancient defense network to buy us some extra time against Fuse."

Courage then starts to freak out and flail his arms around wildly.

Holden's com beeps and a translation of what Courage is trying to say appears, "ARRROOO! You mean that scary obelisk type thing east of here?"

Holden nods and says, "Yeah, that's the thing I mean."

Courage then changes shapes and turns into what appears to be Vilgax and then into another Totem and back again.

Kevin cocks and eyebrow and replies, "So Vilgax knows the location of the next one, well that's great. I don't have to warn you about anything new at least."

Holden, in the meantime gulps down his bottle of water, and gives the empty bottle to Courage and says, "Thanks for the drink Mrs. Bagg. I haven't really had much to eat or drink since yesterday."

Muriel smiles and says, "Anytime."

Holden leaves the farm in the direction Courage had indicated. Holden walks for forty-five minutes, until he finds the Totem near the sea. Holden runs over to the Totem and activates it and then begins his trip to talk to Vilgax.

Outside City Station, Ben is messing around, playing Sumo Slammers Online with his Plumbers badge. He and Julie are waiting for the skyway minions to start work so they could catch a quick trip back to the hospital at Off World Plaza.

Julie looks at him and says in an angry voice, "Is that all you're going to do today Ben?"

Ben shakes his head and finishes up his match and logs out and then responds, "I'm done. I was personally planning to check into something Vilgax said about Planet Fusion's history with Ghostfreaks species, the Ectonurites."

Julie smiles glad to see Ben is being serious for a change and then replies, "So, do you think Blossom found Holden at all?"

A S.C.A.M.P.E.R. flies overhead and lands, as Ben shrugs his shoulders and responds, "I have a feeling she might have. We can ask her when we see her later this afternoon."

Julie then says while pointing over Ben's shoulder, "We might not have to ask her. Holden's right over there." Holden is just stepping off the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. when Julie spots him.

Ben and Julie both run over to him and they both say, "Did Blossom ever find you last night? She was rather worried about you."

Holden laughs and replies, "She found me sometime last night. We watched the sunrise this morning before she went back to the tree house." Julie smiles and responds in an excited tone, "Sounds romantic. I'll ask Blossom for the details when I see her later this afternoon."

Holden turns red, but responds, "Where are you two headed off to?"

Ben frowns and then replies, "We're going to Off World Plaza to investigate something for Grandpa Max."

Holden yawns a bit, then smiles and replies, "I'm headed that way also. I need to talk to Vilgax about the location of next Totem."

Ben sighs and then frowns before commenting, "So we both have reason to talk to him. You can talk to him first, since what you're doing is vital."

A few of the skyway minions appear and all three teens fly over to the hospital.

Holden walks over to the entrance and looks up at Vilgax and replies, "I heard that you can tell me where to find the location of the next Totem."

Vilgax looks down at Holden, snorts and then replies, "I do know human, but only if you comply with a request I have for you. It shouldn't even be that strenuous for someone like you."

Holden sighs at how rude Vilgax is being, but replies, "Alright Vilgax, what do you want me to do?"

Vilgax then replies, "I want to run a test on you to see how your biochemistry has been altered after you absorbed the power from the Book of Prophecy. These tests will not be invasive nor will it hurt. After that, then the location of the Totem will be yours. The scanner is over there near the corner of the building."

Vilgax points at the device and looks rather displeased that he could not inflict pain on anyone. Holden walks over to it and carefully places his hand on the scanner.

A few moments later, the scan is done and Vilgax muses, "This is rather interesting. Well, no matter. That Totem you want is in Steam Alley north of here. After that, go find that Lee girl. She went back to that farm owned by the vile human Eustace Bagg earlier this morning."

Holden nods in thanks and heads north to find the Totem. When Holden arrives at Steam Alley three minutes later, Holden realizes that this place really should be an infected zone. The infection isn't spreading that far, but from the looks of thing it is just going to get worse if left unchecked. Most of the fusion monsters in the area are made out of machines from the refinery, but Holden manages to stay out of their line of sight.

The Totem is in south eastern part of the alleys refinery area, behind some cargo containers. Either someone had gone to great lengths to hide it or it could have been dumb luck, either way it didn't matter. Holden climbs over the fence and touches the Totem, which instantly activates. Now it is time to double back to Nowhere and find Juniper.

Two hours later, Holden arrives back on the desolate farm in Nowhere. Courage is out back with a small watering can tending to what looks like a garden of vegetables. Courage turns around and looks over his shoulder before screaming and jumping high into the air. As soon as he land, Courage scurries over to hide behind Holden's leg. An elderly gentleman comes from behind the house laughing hysterically and he has an ugly mask in his hand.

He then responds with relish in his voice, "Stupid dog! That's what you get for bring in trouble making teenagers." Courage is whimpering at the look that Eustace is giving him.

Eustace then looks at Holden and replies, "What do you want? If you're here to sell something, we don't want any."

Holden frowns at the manners shows by the elderly man and responds, "I'm looking for Juniper Lee. Is she anywhere around here?"

Eustace scowls and replies, "She's in the barn with that bum Levin. Now leave me along."

Eustace storms off, back into the farm house to watch TV. Holden enter the barn with Courage in tow and finds Juniper and Kevin playing poker with two mutant eggplants.

Juniper looks up, smiles and says, "Holden, I have a plan on how you can active the rest of the Totems at once."

Holden smiles, sits down on a bail of hay and replies, "That's the best news I've heard all day. So what do I have to do?"

Juniper stands up and says, "Go to the Magic Tree at Mount Blackhead and ask it for some of its Magic Sap and then go to Area 51.5 here in Nowhere where the Totem is. The sap will allow the Magic Tree to help you spread your powers to the rest of the Totems, thus activating them all."

Courage pulls on Holden's shirt tail and starts to jump back and forth. He is jabbering away when the com beeps and a translation comes up saying, "The Magic Tree used to live here in Nowhere years ago before the farmer chopped it down. Just tell it I sent you and you won't have an issue."

Holden smiles at the dog and says, "Thanks Courage. I'll be back in two hour or so."

Holden leaves the barn and takes the skyway service back to Mount Blackhead.

When Holden arrives at the base, Mac runs up to him and says, "Juniper called ahead and said you would be coming to talk to the Magic Tree. It's at the center of the base and it's where I hang out with Coco."

Holden walks over to the tree with Mac. Holden looks up at the wise face that could be seen half way up the trunk.

The tree then speaks, "Young one, what can this wise old tree do for you?"

Holden gulps unsure what to say at first but then replies, "I need some of your Magic Sap so I can active the rest of the Totem network."

The tree gives what appears to be a smile and from the side of one if its roots comes a bottle filled with sap.

The tree then replies, "I wish you luck my friend. My this task of yours keep our world safe for a while longer."

Holden nods in thanks and takes the skyway back to Nowhere.

As Holden arrives outside the farmhouse, Juniper runs up to him, panting and says, "Fusion Gwen attacked the farm twenty minutes ago. She's been trying to reverse what you started with the Totems. She said she would only stop the attack if we sent her the person who has the power to use the Totems."

Holden frowns and replies in an alarmed voice, "Did she hurt anyone and where is the fusion right now?"

Juniper looks northward and replies, "She didn't hurt anyone, but She's just outside the entrance to the Area 51.5 infected zone or as Courage calls it the Nowhere Triangle. She gave us an hour to send you Holden. She wants to duel you and she said you can only take one weapon with you."

Holden places his gear down near the door of the house, expect for his rifle and then says, "Juniper, you and Kevin make sure the fusion doesn't try to pull anything while I'm gone."

Juniper nods once, and replies, "Don't worry, Kevin and I have it covered."

Holden then nods and heads north towards the infected zone. Juniper suddenly is overcome by a bad feeling as she walks back into the farmhouse to talk with Kevin.

Well tell me what you think. I thought the sunrise scene was a nice touch but to each his own. Review if u want to comment