Loonatics: United

Dark reality

Episode 108: Home

After a brief and loud noise, the Loonatics appeared back in Alumia, inside the building where the motor had exploded. The people around them yelled with surprise and astonishment while looking at them with glares of confusion. "What the..?" Tech expressed while looking around, seeing no damage in the place, also noticing that it had been completely renovated.

A young caracal gasped when running into them. "Woah…you're alive!"

"Uhm…yeah." Duck raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry…everyone thought you had perished in the explosion." The caracal said. "Well, two months without showing up certa…"

"What?" Ace interrupted. "Two months? We were gone for two months?"

"Well, yes." The caracal said.

"Dang it…Susan!" Tech rapidly ran away from them and exited the building, activating his jetpack and flying en route to the apartment.

"Thanks." Ace looked at his comrades. "Come on." He gestured at the exit.

Susan was laying on her bed, taking a nap, then she heard someone knocking the door. She opened her eyes slowly and then got up from the bed, walking out of the room. She headed to the main door and opened it. Her eyes widened greatly and a lump formed in her throat while gasping, seeing her boyfriend and the others right before her eyes. "H…honey."

Tech embraced her strongly, she then started to cry on his shoulder. "It's alright, baby." He kissed her head. "I'm here."

The light of the sunset entered through the transparent sliding doors of the living room, Susan, her parents and the Loonatics sat down on the couches, having some coffee that Sylvia had prepared. "There was even a funeral, both here and in Acmetropolis." Susan said.

Ace sighed. "They were just…days for us."

"What matters is that you're back." Declan stated.

Susan took a sip from her cup of coffee. "What happened to them? The…Chaos Warriors."

Tech got thoughtful. "Who knows?" He drank a bit of coffee. "Maybe they're dead, maybe not. Trapped in that world."

"Well, let's not think about those men, they're gone, you made it back here, I say we should go out somewhere to forget all the matter." Sylvia proposed. "What you think?"

"Sounds like a good idea." Ace responded.

On the meantime, in another planet, with a purple sky covered by light green, glowing clouds, a pair of guards stood before a tall metallic door that served as the entrance to a great temple, with antique architecture, gray and with glowing blue details. The guards were two panthers, a male and a female, the male panther wore a gray, metal coated vest and a pair of breeches, metal coated as well, while the female wore a leotard of the same characteristics. They held long and sharp spears, looking at the front with cold stares.

The ear of the male twitched, he then looked upwards, seeing a black ship approaching. He grasped his spear stronger and looked at his partner, speaking a pair of words in a strange language and gesturing at the ship.

The ship landed on the red, rocky ground. The two panthers hurried towards it with their spears ready, yelling in their language with a warning tone. The door of the ship slid open, revealing a man in a black bodysuit, with a long cape of the same color and a feline helmet, black as well, with red glowing eyes. "Oh…" The deep and distorted voice of Alfons made the two panthers back away instinctively, pointing their spears at him. "I guess I'm not welcome here." The female panther let out a scream and rushed towards him. Alfons aimed his hand at her and clenched his fist, turning the panther into a gooey mix of black and red that splattered over the ground. Her attire and the spear were intact. The male gasped with shock and then yelled at him, running towards him and jumping with his spear ready to strike. Alfons clenched his fist again, and the panther suffered the same fate as his partner.

Alfons walked down the ramp of the ship and then it closed automatically behind him when he got his feet over the red ground. He started to walk towards the temple then all of sudden, a big group of guards, panthers as well, came out of hiding and ran towards him hostilely. Alfons aimed his hand at them and turned all of them into that black and red substance. He just kept walking until reaching the tall door of the temple, he placed his hands over it and started to push in order to open it. After getting the door fully open, he looked at the sword that was exposed over a rocky stand at the bottom of the place, the inside was also gray and glowing blue as the outside. He began to walk towards the sword, over the black marble floor, his steps echoed greatly inside the temple.

He finally approached the sword, the blade was black while the handle was golden. "Dominate their minds and hearts." Alfons said while approaching the handle with his hand, and right when he touched it, he felt a strong pain in all his body and his mind as well, a reinvigorating energy invaded his being. After letting out a powerful scream, he found himself kneeling down while grasping the sword with strength. Alfons got onto his feet slowly, looking at the sword with pride and malice. "I'm Tenebrous…" He said with conviction. "…your will…and owner."

A few weeks passed, the Loonatics were returning to Acmetropolis. Tech was piloting as always. Duck had fallen asleep on his seat, Slam and Rev were just quiet while Ace and Lexi talked. "I've heard those names many times, you know? Sometimes in dreams, other times my ears just catch someone saying them, I don't know why."

Ace nodded, his gaze was locked on the ceiling. "Judith and Mathew." He looked at her with a smirk. "We can't name them other way now."

Lexi chuckled while resting her head on his shoulder. "No, we can't."

"When will that happen, though?" Ace inquired.

Lexi sighed, placing her hand on his chest. "Only God knows."

Ace nodded, with a glare of intrigue in his face. "Yeah…for now…" He kissed her head tenderly. "…let's just wait for the future."

After a couple hours, they arrived at Acmetropolis, where the night was just starting. Tech got the jet in the hangar then they entered the HQ. Duck stretched while yawning. "I don't know you guys, but I'm gonna go see my girl."

"Same." Rev said.

Slam growled, saying he was going to see his girlfriend as well.

"Alright, have fun guys." Ace entered the kitchen and served himself a glass of water, drinking it immediately, exhaling with relief after finishing it.

Lexi and Tech got in the kitchen afterwards. "Wanna watch some TV, boys?" Lexi asked. "I kinda feel like it."

"Yeah, sounds good to me." Tech said while approaching the cupboard, taking out a bowl of cereal.

They headed to the lounge, Ace took the remote from the table and turned on the TV, then sat down on the couch between Tech and Lexi. "Neat." An action movie was on.

"I think I've seen that one before, but, meh, I don't think there's anything better to watch anyway." Lexi opined.

"I agree." Tech added, he then took some cereal with his hand and ate it.

The commercial brake started, an ad for a carbonated beverage began to display, with blue and gray shapes sliding while the brand of the soda, 'Slick' was being shown. An upbeat song was sounding. A male voice-over began to speak. "Wanna be like your new favorite heroes?"

Randy González appeared, wearing his bodysuit while holding a can of the beverage. "I never go out without my Slick!" He drunk from the can, then after a wavy transition, Edison appeared, with a quite serious face, holding a can as well.

"It's all you need to roar like me, yeah." Edison said with apathy and drunk from the can as well, then Vale appeared, pointing at the audience with a cocky smile, taking the ad more seriously than his comrade.

"Think you got what it takes?" Vale drank from his soda.

Lastly, Akinyi appeared. "Only cool girls like me know what's the real deal." She gave a thumbs up while taking a sip of her 'Slick' soda.

"Buy your 'Slick' and get a chance of winning a private meetup with The Maniacs! Acmetropolis newest heroes!" The voice-over said, then the ad ended.

"Uhm…what?" Lexi raised an eyebrow, completely intrigued by the ad they just watched.

"I…I'm gonna go to the computer." Tech stood up, with a face of great confusion just as the others.

"I follow you." Ace said and got onto his feet as well, just as Lexi.

Author's note: Thank you so much for reading! Things are about to get very intense and interesting. Let's jet, and God bless you all!