Loonatics: United

The Wrath of Tenebrous

Episode 129: Scattered

"Go, Randy! Go!" Vale shouted with excitement while raising his fist and jumping.

"You got this, Amigo!" Akinyi exclaimed, having stood up as the rest.

Edison had his arms crossed, looking at the blurry red and blue halos that made the water fly as a breeze that reached his face. He emitted a brief chuckle.

Suddenly, they stopped running, a few steps after the line Rev had established with the rock, recovering their breath. "So? Who won?" Vale inquired.

"Woah…" Rev chuckled while placing a hand on Randy's shoulder. "Good job, man."

Randy chuckled too while rubbing his arm. "Thanks."

"What, you won?!" Akinyi approached him.

"Yes he did." Rev said. "He's in pretty good condition."

"Yay! I knew you would, Amigo!" Akinyi kissed his cheek then hugged him strongly.

Randy blushed while hugging her. "Yeah…thanks, Aki." He smiled with bliss.

On the meantime, Tech and Slam were taking some rest under the shade of a tree that grew from a crack on the rocky wall, they laid down over the soft grass, next to a house. "My nose was too accustomed to the polluted air of the city." Tech took a deep breath then exhaled. "This feels nice."

Slam grunted with disinterest, saying he was bored.

"Relax big guy, now that you have the chance." Tech said.

A male, orange furred caracal arrived, who wore a brown jacket and pants of the same color. "Hello!"

"Hey." Tech replied.

"Sorry for interrupting you, I need some help here, I'm building a shed and the motor unit of my robot is failing. I can't lift the materials without it, so I thought you and specially your strong friend here could give me a hand." The caracal said.

"Oh, sure." Tech got onto his feet and stretched. "Come on, Slam."

Slam grunted with apathy while standing up.

"What did he say?" The caracal inquired.

"That he's pleased to help." Tech gave him a smile.

"Oh, nice! Thanks a lot! The house's over here." The caracal began to walk away.

Slam looked at Tech, telling him he didn't say that.

"Hey, be nice." Tech patted his arm, then Slam sighed. They both started to follow the caracal.

"Where could he be?" Duck pretended a great intrigue while looking around, walking between the metallic houses, under the shade of a long orange tarp. "Jay…" He had spotted the trembling barrel on the corner of a house, seeing the fingers of the kid over it. "I wonder if he's behind…" He teleported to the place where the barrel was located and then lifted an empty barrel. "…Here!" Duck heard Jay's innocent, childish laughter. "Dang it! Where could he be?!" Jay covered his mouth to hide his chuckles. Duck smirked then looked into the barrel where Jay was hiding. "And…got ya!" He placed his hand on his head amicably.

Jay laughed and got onto his feet, poking his head out of the barrel. "Oh, I was so close!"

Duck chuckled. "Yeah! You're very good at hiding!" Jay tried to get out of the barrel. "Oh, let me help you." Duck carried him gently then placed him on the ground. "There you go."

Jay hugged him. "That was very fun!"

Duck patted his head, looking away with a child-like feeling, one he had never experienced, the contrast between that moment and the life he had back in the orphanage immediately came to his mind. "It was." He chuckled briefly and looked at him. "So, another round?"

"Yes!" Jay jumped with happiness.

Lexi was in her room, laying on the bed. The lights were off, the scent of the old metal reached her nose gently, as well as the sweet aroma of the quilt. The pain in her hand had vanished completely, her mind was focused only in the tranquil darkness. She took a deep breath, then held it for a moment and finally exhaled slowly, Lexi then repeated the action a couple more times. "He's confused." She began to speak in her thoughts. "Or angry?" Ace was before her all of a sudden. "Baby." She approached him and placed a hand on his face. "What do you need?"

"Time." A deep, male voice echoed in her mind. Lexi began to fall deeply asleep, laying on the tender softness of the bed, feeling warm and safe.

Kufai handed Ace a mop. "Let's get to work, then."

Ace raised an eyebrow. "Uhm, what?"

Kufai sighed. "You see those green puddles on the ground? We're gonna clean them."

"Uhm…" Ace looked at a group of villagers that were passing by, who clearly expected him to do the task. "…okay."

"Good, we'll start from here." Kufai approached a puddle and began to clean it, mopping with effort.

"So…" Ace approached a nearby puddle, then began to mop it with hesitation. "…these are from the, uh…"

"Nurkeys." Kufai replied with a chuckle. "I told you they were messy."

"Yeah." Ace kept mopping, doing his best to bear the pestilent odor of the green substance they were cleaning.

Rev and the Maniacs were returning to the village. "Well, that was an awesome time, guys! I gotta go see what the others are doing, not that you're boring or anything I mean I literally just said I had an aweso…"

"Later, Rev." Vale said.

"Okay, see ya!" Rev hurried away with his super speed.

Edison sighed. "I hope the ship gets fixed soon."

"Really?" Akinyi inquired. "I kinda like it here, so, I wouldn't rush these guys up."

"That man is out there destroying entire civilizations, the best we can do now is exactly that." Edison argued.

Akinyi chuckled. "Since when do you care?"

"You think I don't?" Edison asked with a frown.

"Come on, you just follow orders and get paid for it." Akinyi explained.

"Same as you, then." Edison was clenching his fist.

"At least I got some sense of duty, you know?" Akinyi spoke with arrogance. "You're like, uhm, a robot. No feelings or bonds, no regrets. That could come in h…"

Edison punched her all of a sudden, right on the snout, making her fall to the ground. "You don't know what I've done!" He exclaimed with a broken voice.

Randy screamed with rage and rushed towards him with his super speed, punching him on the stomach, sending him several meters ahead. Edison smashed onto a wall, breaking it with strength. Vale helped Akinyi stand up. She rubbed her bleeding nose, then looked at her red stained fingers. "That brat."

Randy approached her rapidly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

Akinyi cleaned her nose using her arm, letting out a brief groan. "Yeah, thanks." She looked over shoulder, seeing the hole that Edison's impact had made on the wall of a house.

Vale looked at Akinyi, having no words to say. Then he looked into the hole on the house.

Edison was getting onto his feet. "Gah!" He fell down, groaning and fighting the lump in his throat. The house he had broken into had a tall ceiling, almost all of the scraps were rusty, but the place was in good condition, generally speaking. Edison was glaring at the dark ceiling, still trying to gain strength to get up. The lump in his throat broke, he began to cry, getting his face on the cold ground, with his heart hurting more than the rest of his body.

Randy's glare was locked on the hole, his fist ached, there was regret in his eyes. He was rubbing his knuckles. Akinyi approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She took a step towards the place with hesitation, then began to walk towards it more decidedly. Vale and Randy looked into each other's eyes, then they glanced back at the hole on the house and decided to follow Akinyi.

The tears flowed through his fur, Edison's mind was returning him the memories he had locked down for years, his sobs were mere silence to him, the voices and screams in his thoughts were much louder. He laid there, broken, abandoned. Suddenly, Edison felt a pat on his back, he looked up slowly, sobbing with pain and self-hatred. He saw Akinyi offering him her hand, Edison took it and she helped him stand up along with Randy and Vale. He kept crying, unable to say even a word. Randy's glare was lost on the patterns of the old, metallic floor. Akinyi was looking into Edison's eyes continuously, while Vale was just glaring at the front, thinking on what had happened.