Chapter 7: Missing in Action

(Intro)


Battle Force 10 were in a Battle Zone filled with crystal tracks. They've secured the Battle Key and were heading back towards Earth. "I've got a visual on the Earth portal. In fact, clear as crystal." Vert said. "Very funny, Vert. Can I borrow that for Open Mike Night?" Spinner asked. Suddenly, as the team turned a corner, Zoom nearly slid over the edge. "Uh-oh!" He exclaimed as the crystal started cracking. He revved up and sped off to catch up with the others. "Whoa, that was a close call. You okay, Zoom?" Spinner asked. "Yeah, I'm cool." Zoom said. "Hey, that makes me think of a joke. Wanna hear it?" Spinner asked. "Now I'm not saying that Zoom's cool, but he's much more cooler than this Crystal Maze Battle Zone." The others laughed at this, so did the slugs, as Spinner activated a drum effect. "You are really gonna dominate Open Mike Night at Zeke's tonight, dude." Zoom said. "Okay, cut the jokes for now, guys. Let's focus on getting the Battle Key home." Olivia said.

Suddenly, a spear was fired in front of Zoom. He quickly avoided it as 2 more were fired at Vert and Olivia. "Ambush!" Vert exclaimed. "It's the Vandals!" Olivia exclaimed. The Vandals were on a second track on the team's right. Kalus fired an arrow from his crossbow, nearly hitting the Saber's tire. The team sped forward as the Vandals were right behind them. Kalus fired another spear at a bigger crystal, causing the tip to break off and strike the middle of the track. The team drove to avoid it as the path began to crack. "Guys, we can't go through the portal yet. Not with the Vandals close enough to follow." Olivia said. "Liv's right. I'll draw them off." Vert said. "No, Vert! I'll draw them off! You guys protect the Battle Key!" Zoom exclaimed. "Hold on, kid! It's too dangerous!" Olivia objected. "I'm not a kid!" Zoom snapped. "Vert, back me up here." Olivia said. "I have to agree with Liv, Zoom. You can't take on 6 Vandals by yourself." Vert said. "Trust me. I can handle it!" Zoom pleaded. "Okay. Thump 'em and dump 'em and then catch up to us." Vert said.

Zoom braked as the team went through the portal. Then he turned around and drove to face the Vandals. "I will rip you APART!" Kalus exclaimed. Zoom leapt the Chopper onto the crystal pierced into the track and drove on it, causing the track to break apart. The Vandals fell as the track fell apart from underneath their tires. Zoom leapt back onto the other side and drove back towards the portal. "That was awesome!" He cheered. But then he remembered that he was alone. "Oh man! They never see me do the cool stuff." He complained. Just then, the track started cracking from under him. "Uh oh." He drove as fast as he could towards the portal, the track broke apart too quickly, causing him to fall.


As he fell, he activated his Chopper's propellers. But a crystal shard hit the front right tire, causing him to veer off course and crash into another crystal on the bottom. The Chopper was heavily damaged and so was his com-link on his wrist. "Ugh! Com-link's busted." He complained before he looked up at the portal.

Meanwhile, the team made it through the portal back to Earth. Vert exited the Saber and ran up to the portal. "Vert, close the Stormshock, now!" Horace exclaimed. "No! Zoom's still in there!" Vert exclaimed. "Anytime now. He's coming." "Zoom? Come in, Zoom! Where are you?" Olivia asked through the com-link, but she only got static. "He's taken too long. What could've happened to him?" Ivan asked, starting to feel worried. "Maybe the Vandals caught him." Sherman said. Vert thought about this and hustled back to the Saber. "Liv, we're going back! You guys hang!" He exclaimed as he hopped back in the Saber. "Right behind you, bro." Olivia said. Vert drove through the portal with Olivia following. But as they passed through, they saw that there was no path. "Whoa! Where's the bridge?!" Olivia exclaimed as she activated her jets and flew back through the portal. Vert eyed a crystal ramp with his specs, rotated the Saber and rode it back through the portal. Agura closed the portal after the Wheelers made it through. "What happened?" Talia asked. "What'd you see?" Agura asked. "Trouble. No bridge, no Zoom, no signal." Vert said. "No response from him either." Olivia said. The others were now getting worried. "This is awful. Without Zoom, who's gonna be our scout?" Spinner asked, worried about Zoom. The slugs feel the same too as the rest of the team about their missing scout.

Meanwhile, back in the Battle Zone, the Vandals started recovering from their defeat. "You FOOLS!" Kalus exclaimed angrily. "You are the one who missed the human with your crossbow!" Krocomodo exclaimed. "Iguanarox would've made a better shot if he was still Vandal Warlord!" Griz exclaimed. Kalus roared out of anger and dominance. "But it was a really good try." Hatch said. "3 cheers for Captain Kalus! Huzzah! Huzzah. Huzzah?" He stopped himself sheepishly as the others glared at him. "Kiss-up." Raptor grumbled. "This battle is lost. Let us return to Vandal to prepare for the next." Kalus said. "Wait! They have left one behind." Krocomodo said, spotting Zoom working on the Chopper. "I think I'll eat it." Sever said with hunger. "No! We catch it and use it as bait. The humans will return to save one of their own. And when they return through the Stormshock, we will be ready." Kalus explained. "We start the hunt now!" "Ooh! I get chills every time he says that. Anybody else get chills?" Hatch asked, shivering. The others just groaned in annoyance. "Sometimes I can't believe we're related." Raptor groaned.

Zoom attempted to fix up the Chopper, but every wire he crossed just went off in his face. "Great! Everything's busted." He groaned. But suddenly, he turned and saw the Vandals coming his way. "Oh, man!" He grabbed his bow and arrows and ran into the crystal maze. "I don't have a Chopper, but I still got moves."

Later, the Vandals arrived at the Chopper. Hatch used his Scarib's stinger to pick up the Chopper and inspect it. "I found the shell. But the soft parts are missing." He said. Sever and Griz got out and started sniffing the air for Zoom's scent. Krocomodo sniffed from the crystal ground. "His trail…leads this way." He said, pointing towards the crystal canyon. As they started following the trail, Sever tried to shove past Krocomodo through a gap. "I'm really hungry." Sever complained. "You're always hungry!" Krocomodo exclaimed. The Vandals all started trying to push through each other, only to get wedged into the gap as Kalus drove up. "Fools! You're wasting time! Do you think the human is simply going to wait for us?" He asked. Zoom watched this from atop of the crystals. "Actually, I am." He said. He drew back his bow and fired an arrow at one of the crystals, hitting its weak spot and causing it to crack and break off. The Vandals gasped as they saw it fall towards them. "RETREAT!" Krocomodo exclaimed as they scattered out of the way before it could crush them. Zoom leapt down towards Kalus with a yell. Kalus drew back his crossbow and fired an arrow at Zoom's head. But the arrow only snagged his headband before he kicked Kalus off his Fangore. "And the score is Fuzzface: 0!" He exclaimed. Suddenly, Krocomodo and Sever tossed chains at his wrists. They tugged to keep his arms at bay while Griz took his bow and arrows. Kalus got up and glared at his new prisoner. "So…listen, about that Fuzzface crack…" Zoom tried to say. But Kalus growled vengefully.

The Vandals chained Zoom to a post and started driving circles around him. Sever cackled as he drove towards Zoom. But he leapt over the Water Slaughter. Griz and Raptor began to drive in between him. But he leapt out of the way, causing them to crash into each other. But then, Hatch came driving right up towards him. But Zoom leapt over the Scarib too. But he landed on the Riptile. "Stop moving! You're not making this any fun!" Krocomodo exclaimed. "It's fun for me." Zoom said. He leapt off the Riptile, causing Krocomodo to crash into Sever. Then Hatch crashed into the Riptile's back. "Yeah!" Zoom cheered before walking over to Kalus, who was looking through a scope for any sign of the portal to Earth. "See? It's over. The Stormshock is sealed. The Earth is safe. There's no reason for them to risk opening it. I'm the least important guy on the team." He said. "They will be back, small one. They suffer from the same thing your whole feeble race suffers from." Kalus said. "Cat allergies?" Zoom asked jokingly. "Compassion." Kalus said. Zoom put this all to thought. 'They wouldn't really risk reopening the portal to save me. Would they?' He thought.


Meanwhile, back at the Salt Flats, the team were still thinking about Zoom. "Crazy kid. Taking on the Vandals alone? Obviously got in over his head. But then again, that's pretty much how we live every day." Spinner joked. The girls all chuckled at this. "That's very true." Talia said. "But why would Zoom even decide such a rash act? That's usually my role in this world." Horace said. "Maybe he's trying to awaken his own powers." Sherman said. "Probably. Since Vert and Olivia have already woken their past lives' powers, maybe Zoom was trying to awaken his by proving himself." Agura said. The others put this to thought. "That's it. I'm going back in." Vert said, hopping back into the Saber. "And we're going with you." Agura said as she and the rest of the team started up their engines. "Uh, if I might point out a warning. You said the bridge was out. How are we gonna get back home afterwards?" Stanford asked. "My brother doesn't plan that far in advance, Stan." Olivia said. "Right. Speed, power and attitude, dudes! Follow me!" Vert exclaimed. As the team revved up their engines, Vert used the key to reopen the portal and they drove right back into the Crystal Battle Zone.

Meanwhile, Zoom sat in front of the Vandals as they waited. Just then, Krocomodo saw the Stormshock opening. "The Stormshock is forming!" He exclaimed. Kalus turned to see it through his scope. "They will hold it open until they find you. Vandals, prepare to attack!" Kalus ordered. The Vandals psyched themselves up for battle. "No! They should've just left me!" Zoom muttered.

The team entered the Battle Zone, but ended up falling. They managed to land on the crystal and started driving down it. "I've heard of bumpy rides, but this is ridiculous." Spinner said, his voice shaking from the driving. "Good one, big bro." Sherman chuckled. Just then, the Buster started spinning rapidly before they reached the bottom. "Looks to me like you may have just invented Extreme Car Slalom." Horace said. "Hey! I'll do the jokes around here." Spinner said. "But how are we gonna get home?" Ivan asked. "It seems that to do so, we have to get from there to there." Agura said, pointing between the broken bridge and the portal. "It could work. But it's risky. Structurally, that ramp can only take one vehicle at a time." Sherman said. "Okay. But if we have a way back to Earth, so do the Vandals. That pass is the only way out." Vert said. "So, what's the plan, buddy?" Ivan asked. "Olivia, Sherman, Spinner, Ivan, we go look for Zoom. Agura, Stanford, Talia, Rayona, Horace, stay here and guard the exit." Vert instructed. "Got it." Agura said. "Yeah. No Vandals are gonna get past us." Rayona said. "Since we might be here for a while, anyone mind if I play a bit of violin to pass the time?" Stanford asked, bringing out his violin. "Play away, Stan." Talia said. Stanford climbed out onto the Reverb's roof and started playing Believer.

Meanwhile, Krocomodo watched through the scope as Vert, Olivia, Ivan and the Cortez brothers split up from the others. "Captain Kalus, the humans' portal remains open. They have split up. The leaders come this way." He said into a radio. "I have old business with those 2. They are mine to snare." Kalus said before turning to the others. "You! Destroy the others. Take the Stormshock portal. You sub-creatures are so easy to hunt." He said when he came up to Zoom's face "Ugh! One word: Mouthwash." Zoom said, smelling Kalus' breath. "Take him!" Kalus ordered, shoving Zoom away. Sever, Hatch, Griz and Raptor cackled as they walked up to Zoom.

Meanwhile, as Vert's team continued, Vert put on his specs and located the Chopper's beacon. "Sherm." He said. "I see it. That's the beacon from the Chopper. We're getting close." Sherman said. "Zoom! Can you hear us?" Ivan asked through the com-link. "I got a signal from the Chopper, but nothing on Zoom." Vert said. "It's this crystal maze. I think it's blocking our communication signal." Sherman deduced. "I don't think it's the maze. I can still hear Stanford's violin through his communicator." Olivia said, listening to the violin song through the com-link. Vert used the zoom function on his specs and located the Chopper. "There's the Chopper. Now let's go find Zoom." He said.

As soon as the team reached the Chopper, they got out of their vehicles to look for Zoom. "No Zoom. Where is he?" Olivia asked. Just then, Vert noticed fresh tire tracks on the ground. "The Vandals were just here." He said. Just then, the slugs spotted Zoom's headband and brought it to Olivia. "Zoom's headband. Those savages must've torn it from Zoom's head." Olivia said as she took it from the slugs. "Okay, you guys pack up the Chopper and get back to the pass. I'm going after Zoom." Vert said as he hopped back into the Saber and drove off. "Wait. You're going by yourself?" Olivia asked through the com-link from her wrist. "You're coming back, right? We kinda need you after all." Spinner said through the com-link via his wrist. "We need Zoom too. Don't worry. We'll both be back." Vert said. "Wow. He took off faster than Horace's last date." Spinner joked. Olivia and Ivan laughed hard at that as Sherman loaded the Chopper into the Buster. "Oh, yeah. That's a keeper." Spinner said. Sherman shook his head with a smile at his big brother's sense of humor.

As Vert continued to drive, he put his specs back on and followed the trail, passing by the spot where the Vandals had Zoom chained. "They're close." He said. But just then, as he turned a corner, he picked up another beacon. And just up ahead, Kalus was coming right towards him. Vert glared as he slammed on the brakes. "Only room for one of us on this road!" He exclaimed. "Excellent observation, human." Kalus said. He fired an arrow from his crossbow, hitting the bottom of cliff. "Oh. Nice shot." Vert said sarcastically. "I hit what I aim at." Kalus said. Suddenly, the cliff started to crack. Before Vert could do anything, the cliff shattered and he fell, driving down the slope. Kalus cackled victoriously before driving off. As he rolled down the slope, Vert activated the Saber's side-blades to try and slow down. "Come on! Come on!" He grunted. Just then, he saw that he was heading for another cliff. He slammed on his brakes to try and stop. Finally, his blades managed to snag into the slope just before he almost slid over the edge.

Meanwhile, Olivia, Ivan and the Cortez brothers met back up with the others and waited for Vert and Zoom. "Well, I'm bored." Rayona said. "Hey, Spinner? You got anymore jokes to pass the time?" Agura asked. "Actually, I do have one. How many Vandals like Hatch does it take to screw in a lightbulb? No one knows. Since they're roaches, once the light comes on, they scatter like dust in the wind." Spinner joked. Everyone laughed at this. "Say, guys? I've been thinking. I wonder what kind of powers we had in our past lives and what they can do once we awaken them." Talia said. "Who knows? I don't remember exactly what powers I had as Virgo. But I can't wait to find out when they awaken." Agura said. "Hey, Stanford? I just remembered something from Apocalypse City Zone. When we were stuck in that compactor, did you have something to do with why they suddenly started ceasing?" Olivia asked. "Uh, no! No, no, no. The, uh, compactor just, uh, had a…malfunction." Stanford said in denial.

Just then, before Olivia could say anything else, the Buster picked up 5 beacons. "Incoming!" Sherman called. "Finally. Action time." Horace said. The Vandals cackled as they drove towards the team. "Alright, who's ready to swap paint?" Agura asked. Everyone prepared to face the Vandals. "Here we go, team." Olivia said. Just then, Spinner noticed something on the Riptile. "Wait a minute. Check out that hood ornament!" He exclaimed. "Oh no!" Sherman exclaimed with a worried tone. The others were just as shocked and worried at what they saw. Zoom was chained to a bone on the front Riptile!


The Vandals cackled louder as they got closer. "What's the plan, Liv?!" Ivan asked. "Evasive maneuver! We gotta let them through!" Olivia exclaimed. Everyone quickly backed away. But Horace stayed in place. "Horace! What are you doing?! We gotta let them pass!" Talia exclaimed. "No! If they get through, Earth is doomed!" Horace exclaimed, preparing to fire. But then Agura snagged the Defender with her Tangler's grappling claw and pulled him aside, letting the Vandals through the pass. "Okay, okay. I can take a hint." Horace said. The team quickly drove after the Vandals. "They're gonna get through the portal! Somebody stop them!" Zoom exclaimed. "Stanford, go after Jaws!" Olivia called. Stanford drove ahead and readied his sonic cannons, taking aim at Sever. But as he fired, Sever drove in between the blasts. "No good." Stanford said. Sever cackled as he, Hatch, Griz and Raptor turned around to engage. "Hmm. Maybe I should crank it up a bit." Stanford said. He activated his sound boost jump to dodge the Water Slaughter's teeth attack. Then as he landed, he activated the side speakers and blasted the crystal floor, firing several shards at Sever. Unfortunately, that caused the entire structure to rumble a bit. "Careful with the long-range attacks. This pass can't take the impact." Sherman warned. "Right. Sorry about that." Stanford said.

Suddenly, Hatch drove right up to the Buster. As Sherman steered out of the way, Hatch activated a tail-chain, hooked onto the Buster and tried to pull it onto its side. But Spinner activated the rotors, snagging the Scarib and taking Hatch for a spin. Agura drove up, activated the Tangler's blades and sliced off the chain, sending Hatch flying. "Burn!" Spinner exclaimed. As Stanford passed him, Hatch restarted the Scarib and followed Sever. Meanwhile, Griz and Raptor were driving towards Talia and Rayona. "Time for a little fog." Rayona said, creating her fog mixture and releasing it. "Hey! What's going on?!" Griz exclaimed. "I can't see anything!" Raptor exclaimed. Suddenly, Talia's spiked pom-poms swatted the 2 Vandals. "Now that's what you call fighting blind." Talia said.

Meanwhile, Vert was listening to the fight from his Saber's com-link. "I'm missing all the action." He said. He stepped on the gas, started his blades and attempted to drive back up the slope.

Meanwhile, Agura chased after Krocomodo and Zoom as they drove towards the portal. Suddenly, a horn blared. Agura turned and saw Kalus as he made his way onto the pass. Kalus slammed into her, sending her into a spin. Zoom struggled against his chains as Kalus pulled up next to the Riptile. "Excellent. Struggle, child. Your friends' compassion is their weakness. In returning to save you, they have doomed your Earth." Kalus said. "They did it to save me out of friendship and determination! They never give up on me, and I never give up on them!" Zoom snapped. Suddenly, the symbol of Sagittarius appeared on his forehead, glowing yellow. "What?! Another one?!" Kalus exclaimed, caught off guard when he saw that. Zoom shouted as he broke free from his chains with great strength of his past life. Kalus and Krocomodo were shocked when they saw this. Just then, Zoom summoned a bow and arrow made of aura energy and shot it at Kalus, causing him to crash just as Stanford drove up next to the Riptile. "Zoom, get on!" He called. Zoom hopped onto the Reverb.

Meanwhile, Vert couldn't get any traction to drive back up the slope. "I'll never get there in time. Unless…" He said, looking down at the ramp and seeing the pass. "You know what they say. What comes up must come down." He turned the Saber around and drove back down the slope.

Meanwhile, Hatch and Sever chased after Stanford, Zoom, Ivan and the Cortez brothers. Hatch clamped his stinger into the Buster's tire. Sever bashed through the Reverb and the Dune Cat, making them spin out. Zoom worked to keep his balance on the Reverb as he readied another arrow, firing it at the Water Slaughter, causing it to crash. Hatch then made the Buster spin out of control. Raptor chased after Rayona and Horace, trying to strike them with his Fearing Mantid's raptorial claws. "Those claws are too close. I can't turn around to make a shot." Horace said. "It wouldn't matter. Even if you did make a shot, the impact would make the whole pass collapse." Rayona said. "Yeah, fair point." Horace said. Raptor finally managed to hook onto their vehicles and send them spinning out of control. Kalus chuckled at this. "You humans are dropping like Vandalian Rock Flies! Soon, we will enter your portal and your defenseless planet will be ours!" He exclaimed. "Will you stop TALKING!" Talia exclaimed, smacking the Fangore with her spiked pom-pom.

Just then, Vert drove right off the ramp and landed right into the middle of the pass. "It's Vert!" Olivia called, happy to see her brother. Kalus growled at the sight of his nemesis. "Vandals! Regroup and take out the leader!" He shouted. The Vandals regrouped with him and drove towards Vert. "Yes! Do it, Vert! Take them out and save the Earth!" Zoom called. As the Vandals continued driving towards him, Vert opened his hatch and stood up. He held out his hands and fired a huge beam of fire at the Vandals, who screamed as they got hit and fell into the chasm. But Kalus managed to pull out one last trick. He tossed a bola and caught Zoom's legs, pulling him into the chasm with them. "ZOOM!" The team cried. Vert ran over the edge and jumped down after them. "VERT!" Olivia screamed.

As Vert dived towards Zoom, he sprouted his Crimson Wings, caught Zoom and flew right back up towards the pass. "Thanks, Vert." Zoom said. "No man left behind, Zoom." Vert said as they reached the top of the pass. The team cheered as they saw their friends return. "Vert! Do not scare me like that again!" Olivia exclaimed, scolding her brother. "Haha, sorry, sis." Vert apologized as his Crimson Wings disappeared. Suddenly, the structure started rumbling again. Zoom hopped into the Jetray as the team started backing away from the edge. "Focus, guys. We've only got one shot at this." Vert said. The team revved up their engines to make the biggest jump of their lives. "Let's go!" Vert called. The team drove towards the edge and successfully leapt into the portal just before the ramp broke off. Meanwhile, the Vandals, having finally crashed at the bottom of the chasm, began to recover. But then, Kalus looked up and saw the shards of the ramp coming down on top of them. He screamed as they nearly got crushed.

Later, the team stood in front of the portal. "Zoom, lock her up." Vert said. "All over that." Zoom said. He reached out his hand and snagged the Battle Key, closing the Stormshock and locking up the Battle Zone. "Welcome back, kid." Spinner said. "Thanks, pops." Zoom said. Olivia then came up to Zoom and handed him his headband. "Hey, my headband. I thought I lost it." Zoom said as he took it. "The slugs found it while we were looking for you." Olivia said. The slugs hopped over and chittered. "Hehe. Thanks, little guys." Zoom said as he put his headband back on. "Hey, I got another one. What does it take to sending a group of Vandals falling off a mountain? A super-hot fire beam from our great leader." Spinner joked. Everyone laughed at this as he gave a bow.

Later, at Open Mike Night at Zeke's, Zoom gave quite the hilarious performance for the audience. "Thanks for all the laughs, everybody." He said before walking off the stage. The team was still laughing from his last joke. Even the slugs were laughing from their hiding spot. "Wow. Zoom sure is a tough act to follow." Sherman said. "Yeah. But I can equal up to him." Spinner said. "I know you can, big bro." Sherman said. "Up next: Spinner Cortez! Let's hope he's as funny as he looks." Zeke announced. "Deep breaths." Vert said. "Good luck, Spin." Zoom said. Spinner took a deep breath and walked up onto the stage. "Thanks, Zeke. Hey, everyone. I'm Spinner. So, how many aliens does it take to conquer a planet like Earth?" He asked. Everyone started thinking. "None! Because they're always foiled by a group of great protectors." Spinner answered. The team and the slugs laughed at this, but the audience didn't get it. "Meh. Guess you had to be there." Spinner said with a smile.

How was that for the next chapter? Zoom gets reckless and captured by the Vandals. But thanks to the compassion of Battle Force 10, he managed to awaken his powers of his past life, Zodiac Guardian Sagittarius, and used them to defeat the Vandals and prove that compassion is not a weakness. It's a gift. But what other Zodiac powers will the rest of Battle Force 10 receive? What secret is Stanford keeping about his telepathic power? Leave a review if you want.