I don't own fusionfall

Chapter 44: Relapse

Outside the Utonium house at four o'clock that morning, a voice is heard whispering, "Shhhh! You'll wake mi amigo Holden. Be bien quiet Courage and be car…"

A loud earth shattering scream rips through the night. A lamp is heard falling onto the floor with a loud bang because Courage has bumped into it when he had bumped into something in the dark. His fright has caused him to jump so high that he lands on something soft.

The door opens and someone flips the light switch. Blossom is in her night clothes with Bubbles in a blue night gown standing behind her.

"Holdie, why is your hair shaking and why does it have black spots?"

"It's just Courage."

Holden has his pistol in his hand and he places it down on his desk next to a stack of yet to be filed reports that were to be sent to Dexter. Bubbles walks into the room and takes the fuchsia haired dog off Holden's head and cradles him in her arms. Eduardo is standing outside the window on a ladder.

"What's with all the noise? I was having a good dream about bashing a fusion." Buttercup enters the room rubbing her sleepy eyes.

She is in her sleeping clothes which comprised of a set of green sports shorts and tank top and has a large green blanket draped around her shoulders.

"So, what do you two need that's so important that you have to break into Holden's room in the middle of the night." Blossom says with irritation in her voice.

Courage jumps out of Bubbles' arms and starts yipping and dancing on his hind legs.

"He says Mrs. Bagg was kidnapped by Fusion Courage from the Foster's hedge maze. She was taken to the Firepits in the Darklands. He came here to ask for your help Holdie." Bubbles says as she quickly translates what Courage was saying.

"Si Si, Madam Foster was with Mrs. Bagg as well and was taken too by Fusion Ed. Mi amigo needs to save them" Eduardo says quickly, before trying to enter the room, but finds the window is too small for his huge frame.

Holden pats Courage's head, and then looks at Eduardo and replies, "I'll go save them. You two don't have to worry."

Eduardo smiles broadly and replies, "Si! Thank you mi amigo Holden. I'll be at Foster's if you need me."

Eduardo disappears from the window and into the night.

Holden starts to stand up from the side of his bed, when the Professor walks into the room, having heard the previous conversation and replies, "You're not going anywhere young man. You're not ready."

Holden looks at him and replies, "Professor, I'm fi…"

The Professor then says over him, "You might be physically fine and able but what about mentally?"

Holden looks down at the floor and sits back down on the bed. The Professor is being overprotective again like when they were younger.

"I know you're right Professor, but I still have to…"

The Professor speaks over him again in his parental tone, "If you're not going to listen to me then I just have to go with you."

Blossom eye widen and she then exclaims, "Professor, that's too dangerous! One of us should…"

The Professor shakes his head and interrupts, "No Blossom. You already have an assigned task to do, as does Buttercup and Bubbles. I want you to give your arm guards to Holden, so he can have a bit of extra protection."

The Professor leaves the room and goes downstairs. Blossom goes to her room reluctantly and comes back a moment later with the guards she normally wears and places them on the bed. Holden takes the arm guards and slips them on.

"They're not your best look little bro. They look better on Leader Girl than on you." Buttercup says, nearly laughing.

Blossom sits down on Holden lap, places her hand on his check and replies in a low voice, "Don't be mad at the Professor. He's just concerned. At least he's not making you use the Dynamo."

Holden gives her a small smile and replies, "It's understandable after everything that's happe…"

Holden is interrupted by Bubbles' shouting. "OH MY GOD! IS THAT AN ENGAGEMENT RING BUTTERCUP? WHEN DID ACE GIVE IT TO YOU?"

Courage jumps from fright because of the shouting and lands on Holden's head again.

Blossom stands up giggling and replies, "She got engaged the day of our cat fight Bubbles."

Bubbles smiles from ear to ear and hugs her green clad sister, who then turns bright red.

Holden finally stands up, places his hand on Buttercup's shoulder and replies, "Grats sis. I'm happy for you."

Buttercup smiles and replies "Get your butt moving before I pound you. If the Professor comes back up here, he'll yell at us."

Holden nods, gathers up his equipment and runs downstairs to where the Professor is waiting for him in the kitchen.

The Professor smiles and replies, "Good. At least you're listening me. Dexter gave me this to use just incase I need to assist someone."

He takes out an Omega Grunt for his com.

Courage jumps off Holden's head and onto the table and starts to jabber. "I'm coming to! ARROOOO! I need to make sure Muriel is alright!" says the live translation on the Holden's com.

"Just stay close to me Courage and you'll be fine." Holden says, while adjusting the guards, because they were cutting into his arms.

"Holden, we're going to be taking the Dynamo to the Darklands."

"Can I at least…"

"I'm not going to allow you pilot it young man, not after what happened with the S.C.A.M.P.E.R."

Holden gazes at the floor, sighs, and follows silently behind the Professor with Courage on his heels to the Dynamo hanger below the lab.

Three hours later, they step out of the Dynamo and into the harsh heat of the Firepits outside the infected zone.

"Holden, have you been to this area before?" The Professor asks.

Holden shakes his head and replies, "I've never been inside. I was out here scouting with Hoss a few days before Dexter gave me that assignment over in Los Soledad."

The Professor, Holden and Courage use the telepad and enter the zone. The inside is covered in mutated spore pods and many fusion dinosaurs roam the area.

Courage then starts to jump up and down and then starts jabbering. "Muriel and Madam Foster are in the central area! How are we going to get there? AROOOO!" Is the translation that came up on the Professor's com.

While Courage has been jabbering, Holden has been observing the platforms movements around them to come up with a plan on how to get to the central area of this zone.

Holden motions to them to follow him and replies, "This might take sometime, but I think I found the way over there."

After twenty minutes of slow moving platforms transportation, they finally reach the center area. The Professor looks behind them to see a gradual slope that would allow them to leave easier.

Inside, the echo of a voice is heard, "Courage help me!"

Courage jumps up and down quickly and yips. "MURIEL I'M COMING WITH HELP!" translates Holden's com.

Then they hear a second voice, "Don't worry Muriel. My granddaughter probably already sent someone for us." It is Madam Foster's voice.

The Professor takes a deep breath and replies, "The fusions are probably going to be in the same room where the hostages are."

As they traverse the lair, nothing impedes their progress, but Holden has an unsteady feeling like they are being watched.

Then, all of a sudden their path is blocked by a set of falling rocks. Holden closes his eyes and knows something is up.

"Professor, stay behind me. I think the fusions are luring us into a trap. Maybe if we split up, one of us can…"

The Professor snaps back at him, "No! That's a horrible idea. Let's go back and find another route there together."

As they back track, they find a fork split in the path.

"We should go right." The Professor says, now leading the way.

Unbeknownst to Holden, Courage takes the Omni-Range Pitch Pistol from his waist and goes down the left path. A few minutes later, the Professor and Holden hear the sound of fighting and they run into the cavernous opening. Courage is firing the pistol at the two fusions and running around like a chicken with his head cut off. The Professor opens fire and hits both Fusion Courage and Ed in the back, while Holden focuses on the fusion of Courage while trying to close the distance between them.

Courage in the meantime, takes this opportunity to untie Madam Foster and Muriel. He lifts them off the ground, one in each of his front paw and runs out of the open cave yipping. "The things I do for love!", was the translation that appears on Holden's com, but Holden wasn't paying attention.

Holden is finally able to get close enough to crescent kick Fusion Courage and sends him flying into a jagged piece of wall and turns it into goo. Fusion Ed closes in to attack Holden from the side, but Holden parries the punch. The fusion then use an Adaptium corruption attack, but the Professor counters with summoning nano Holden, causing the fusion's attack to bounce back.

The nano promptly uses Observe, which stuns the fusion. The Professor then flanks the fusion while it stunned and fires on it twice on the upper back and three times on the lower back before it collapses into nothingness. Two nanos appear briefly and then disappear into the Professor's com.

Then, a voice is hear saying coldly, "It seems like master's plan was flawed again. Before you ask, Fusion Deimongo isn't here, but I shall defeat you and bring you to him."

The voice laughs and Holden and the Professor look up to see a fusion of Tessa floating twenty feet above them. The fusion lands and then launches a flurry of punches at Holden. Holden blocks a few of the punches. The arm guards are helpful in deflecting some of the blows. The last punch hits Holden squarely in the chest and it pushes him back ten feet and causes him to double over from having the wind knocked out of him.

Professor Utonium starts shooting at the back of the fusion causing some minor damage. The fusion turns and runs at the Professor and from the looks of things, it is getting ready to use fusion spit, when all of a sudden a thin blade slams through its chest forcing it to stop. The blade disengages and then it splits the fusion in two.

Holden stands behind the disintegrating fusion with an Epée in his hand. "I knew there was a reason I took fencing when I was younger."

A nano of Tessa appears before them, but soon it sneers at them and disappears from view.

Holden bends down to pick up the item that is on the ground in the remains of the fusion matter. It is a photo of a five year old cyan haired girl in a teal dress with a black stripe on it. She is floating next to two adults, who are hugging her in mid air. They are all smiling, but the smiles are cruel.

He turns it over and there is writing on the back that reads, "October 7, 1998. The day we dumped the imperfection and the mistake to die!"

Holden turns the picture over to look at it again and then starts to hyperventilate before he looks at the ground and starts to cry. The Professor walks over to him and takes the picture from his hand to look at it and then frowns.

"They were happy that they were going to have me killed. THEY WERE HAPPY AT HOW CRUEL THEY WERE TO ME!" Holden screams as his tears fall from his eyes.

The Professor hugs Holden tightly and says, "Everything will be alright."

"How can it be alright?"

The Professor seeing the pain in his godson's eyes, replies, "This photo made the pain of what they did to you worse. Your parents can't hurt you anymore and neither can Tessa, so just forget about the photo."

"HOW CAN I FORGET IT, WHEN ALL I REMEMBER IS THEM ABUSING ME AND CALLING ME AN IMPERFECTION AND MISTAKE BECAUSE OF THAT EXPERIMENT!"

"What they did to you was inexcusable. There is no amount of restitution that can make up for how cruelly they treated you. Those names don't hold any meaning, because they aren't true. I know those words are hurtful, but the people who called you them aren't your family. The girls and I are your real family and I've raised you along side them, even while you had to deal with their enemies from time to time. You persevered and overcame those hardships to become the brave, strong, defiant, and observant individual that we've all come to know and love. I'm proud of what you have accomplished, even if I don't say it that often and I'm proud that I have you as my son. Now, we need to bring Madam Foster and Mrs. Bagg back to the Foster's house."

Holden wipes his eyes with his arms, still looking upset, but follows the Professor back to the Dynamo.

Two and half hours later, the Dynamo lands out front of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

Frankie runs out of the house and hugs Madam Foster tightly. "Grandma, you're all right!" Frankie says excitedly.

Madam Foster laughs and replies in her usual upbeat voice, "Well, of course I'm alright dear. Did you think that Holden and Professor Utonium would just let something happen to me?"

Frankie smiles and replies, "Not at all grandma."

Frankie looks over at Holden and replies with gratitude in her voice, "Holden, thanks for saving my Grandma. We owe you and the Professor big time."

They head back to the house with smiles on their faces, followed by Courage and Mrs. Bagg.

The Professor turns around to go back to the Dynamo, when Holden finally speaks after his long silence, "Professor, you were right. Right about you and the girls being my real family. You raised me since I was little, along with the girls and treated me like you treated them, as one of your own. A lot of people say you are like my dad, but that's not true. You are my dad since you cared for me for so long. I should have seen that sooner after what Tessa said to me. If you hadn't insisted on going with me, I might have been captured by Fusion Deimongo, because Fuse is using that past against me."

Holden takes off the arm guards due to them cutting into his arms.

The Professor smiles and replies, "That's what I'm here for Holden. Now, let's get the Dynamo back home."

As they head back to the Dynamo, the Professor's com rings and he answers.

Dexter appears with a concerned look and says very quickly, "Professor! Brick has broken Tessa out of the Citysville Dexlabs facility about an hour ago. Apparently, she and Brick have been dating for sometime and no one seems to know where they have gone off to."

The Professor has a stunned look on his face, but eventually replies after thinking for a few moments, "Put everyone on high alert and tell them to be on the look out for her."

The Professor hangs up and he and Holden go back to the Dynamo, discussing a plan on how to deal with Tessa.

This chapter took so long to write just because I was trying to get the right thing to say with the Professor. Tell me what you think either in review or in a PM. Expect a battle in a few chapters involving Tessa.