Happy 2024 everyone! Now for the first chapter of the New Year!
Lori dodges a fireball as it flew by her head barely missing her head. She then proceeded to dodge an electric blast that followed soon after. She looked across from her at her opponent, Climate, who's hand was coated on ice. Without a word, Lori sped towards Climate as blasted ice towards her. Without hesitation Lori leaped over the ice and landed in front of him and prepared to strike.
"That's enough." A voice said. Lori lowered her fist and turned towards the voice: Miros of the Eleven Masters. He waved his hand and the Climate illusion disappeared. Lori then proceeded to bow to her master. "Done well, you have."
"Thank you master." Lori says as she stopped bowing. "Definitely made a good choice of opponent. Jax is one of our strongest enemies."
"The reason I picked him, that is." Miros said. "Reason you came before, he was. Faster, you've gotten. However, faster you must be." Lori nods with determination. "Good. Rest now. A visitor, you have." Lori nods and steps out of the room. As soon as she stepped out she heard a familiar voice calling her excitedly.
"Lori!" Lori turns and gasps when she sees Lana running towards her arms outstretched.
"Lana!?" Lori cried out shocked. Once the six year old was close, she proceeded to pick her up in her arms before spinning her around and then embracing her. "Lana what are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you but this is so unexpected."
"I'm here to do some more training." Lana said.
"Training?" Lori asked. "Why do you need more training?"
"Apparently I still have some stuff to learn because I couldn't learn it last time." Lana explained. She then perked up. "Oh yeah there's so much I gotta tell you!" Lori tilts her head as she sets the younger Loud back on the ground.
"Ok. What happened?" Lori asked.
"We stopped Xander and Helios." Lana told her. Lori's eyes widen.
"What?" She gasped.
"It happened a few days ago." Lana explained. "We encountered them in the sewers while searching for a giant gorilla." Lori pinches the bridge of her nose.
"Hold on hold on. Back up a bit." Lori said. "Did you say 'Giant Gorilla'? Like how big?" Lana thinks about it.
"Um, roughly shorter than Squatch but bigger than Tremor." Lana replied. Lori let out a groan.
"Great. Now there's a giant gorilla now." Lori says. "So basically we've made little progress in putting people away. We put away two but gain one. On top of that we got the Terror Crew, Pike and Mercer as well as maybe Clockwork but we're still unsure about him." She let's out a sigh. "Alright Lana, who's Luna focusing on hunting?"
"Mercer." Lana answers catching Lori by surprise.
"Mercer?" Lori repeated. "Why?"
"Luna is concerned about the possible issues he could cause in the future and we've kind of ignored him for a while." Lana explained.
"Yeah true, I haven't thought of him in months." Lori said.
"We're going to put Mercer in the Dungeon. No matter what!" Lana said.
"Hey, when you get a lead give me a call." Lori tells her as she rubs the young girl's head. "There's no way I'm missing that." Lana smiles and nods.
"Lana." The two sisters turn to see Komu approaching them. "As much as I hate to interrupt your reunion with your sister, we have work to do."
"Right, I'll get back to my training. But I'll sure we'll catch up in our downtime." Lori said.
"I'm sure we will." Lana said.
"See you later Lans." Lori says as she headed back to join Miros. Lana turned back to Komu.
"So, should we get started?" Lana asked. Komu nods and leads her through the temple.
"Tell me Lana. What creatures have you been able to turn into outside of the dragon?" Komu asked as they walked.
"Let's see I turned into a Gargoyle and a Griffin." Lana said. "But I had some trouble with the griffin."
"I believe it." Komu says. "While the griffin isn't as powerful as the dragon or gargoyle, the different instincts of the griffin would make it hard to control."
"Like different animals. Is it like that for most hybrids?" Lana asked,
"It depends on the animals that make it up." Komu answered. "Some animal hybrids act differently than other. Like how some animals act differently than others."
"Yeah I get that in a way." Lana said.
"Now as I said before, when you were here last time you didn't finish your training because you had yet to defeat the hunter." Komu explained. "Do you know why that was the case?" Lana shakes her head. "Because you hadn't gotten over the adversity your siblings went through. Your siblings went through a form of adversity that they were able to overcome. You at the time hadn't been able to do that because you hadn't come across such an adversity until the hunter arrived. It wasn't until you finally defeated him that you were ready for the next leg of your training."
"Yeah I'm ready." Lana replied.
"Then follow me into this room so we can begin." Komu said as they approached a door.
"Yes Master." Lana says. Komu opens the door and they see a large jungle. "What's this place?"
"The Jungle of Legends." Komu answered. "This is where you will do your training."
"I always wanted to go into a jungle anyway." Lana said.
"Shall we begin?" Komu asked.
"Yes please." Lana replied.
"Good." Komu says. "Prepare yourself." Lana looks at him confused when she hears a roar in the distance. "Your training is survival. The creatures here are mythical animals like your dragon, gargoyle and griffin. You must survive till you reach the end of the jungle. However it will not be easy. You will most likely have to fight your way there against the creatures that call this jungle home."
"Which most likely will not be easy since I know personally how powerful they are." Lana finished with a sigh. "Well I guess I have no choice. Better get moving." She's about to run off when Komu puts a hand on her shoulder.
"One more thing." He says. "Consider this a test. If you can't learn to adapt, you will fail."
"Ok learn to adapt. I can do that." Lana said as she gulped.
"Good. Then if you're ready, you may proceed." Komu tells her. Lana nods and runs into the jungle. Once she's gone, Komu lets out a sigh. "I know you're there. I'm not asking you to go easy on her. However I do request that you don't kill her." The only response he got was a large shadow flying above.
Back in Royal Woods, Lincoln is at the base flying through an obstacle course, he shot down down some targets with his fireballs. He than throws a massive fireball at a big target. Then Lincoln landed on the ground and smirks. "How was that?" Lincoln asked.
"Well you didn't set Mr. Cuddles on fire this time so that's a plus." Soothsayer replied while Mr. Cuddles glared at the pyro, the top of his ears singed. "However you still throw to wildly with your smaller fireballs. You need to focus on hitting the target perfectly. Not throw your fireballs randomly and hope they hit."
"Yeah I know." Lincoln said.
"Well that and I think he needs to pick up his flight speed." Clyde said,
"Agreed. You were too slow." Soothsayer agreed. "When racing to stop crime you need to be fast or else you risk not making it in time."
"I'll be faster next time Soothsayer." Lincoln said.
"I know." Soothsayer says. "For now work on your target practice." Lincoln nods and walks off. "Lynn! Your turn!"
"Alright." Lynn said as she stretched for a bit and walked past Lincoln.
"Good luck." Lincoln muttered to her. "Soothsayer is awfully critical today so be ready." Lynn nods and got at the start of the obstacle course redesigned for her powers.
"Thanks." Lynn whispered back.
"Alright Lynn. This obstacle course is different then Lincoln's." Soothsayer tells her. "This will test your strength as well as your durability so don't hold back."
"You got it Soothsayer." Lynn smirked right when Clyde shoots the starting pistol and Lynn took off. She smashed some targets with her bare hands.
"Hmm. Not bad." Mr. Cuddles said as he wrote some notes. Lynn then charged forward and flipped a container over before moving on.
Lynn then shoulder tackles a stuffed dummy of Squatch, then uppercuts a stuffed dummy of Nuke, and punched a statue of Tremor. Then she stopped a falling safe from landing on her.
"Her agility is getting better." Clyde pointed out as he also wrote down some notes. Lynn sets down the safe and then kicked a Rampage dummy before saving a dummy in a stroller from a falling car.
"And finished." Mr. Cuddles says as he finished up his notes. "Not bad Lynn." He looked up at Soothsayer and saw he was frowning. "But you don't agree, do you?" Lynn looked at Soothsayer waiting for him to voice his thoughts.
"Clyde. Mr. Cuddles. Go prepare lunch." Soothsayer told the two. "I wish to speak with Lynn alone." Clye and Mr. Cuddles exchange a glance before walking into the base leaving Soothsayer alone with the thirteen year old superhero.
"What's up?" Lynn asked nervously. "Did I do bad?"
"Walk with me." Soothsayer ordered. The two then started walking around the base towards the creek.
"So did I do bad or not?" Lynn asked,
"How do I explain this Lynn?" Soothsayer began.
"Oh God. It must be bad." Lynn says with a sigh.
"You see Lynn, you didn't do bad but you didn't do good either." Soothsayer explained. "You basically did the same as last time you did the obstacle course which means one thing."
"I haven't improved." Lynn finished. "I don't get it. Have I not gotten stronger? I mean I felt stronger after the training at the temple. Did the training not work?"
"I assure you Lynn that you did get stronger." Soothsayer assured her. "However the issue seems to be that you haven't gotten stronger since then."
"This sounds like one of those zen riddles." Lynn said. "But I'll work hard to get stronger."
Soothsayer sighs. "Sadly Lynn I'm afraid it's not that easy." He tells her. "I'm afraid the only way you can get stronger is for you to push past your limits. But I don't know if that can happen with the style the L-Crew fight with. As you know the L-Crew fight with the motto 'teamwork wins battles'. Because of that style, you haven't needed to push yourself past your limits because you've always teamed up against your opponents."
"Which means i didn't need to push myself." Lynn finished. She crosses her arms. "Well I could try and face guys stronger than me alone but that probably won't go over well with Lori. Well I guess there's only one thing I can do: train until the time comes to fight a tougher opponent solo."
"Yes, that is correct." Soothsayer said. "But remember not to let your ego get to you."
"Yeah I got it." Lynn replied,
"Then let's head back to the base to continue training." Soothsayer says before walked back to base.
In the base, Luan sat alone on the floor meditating. She took a deep breath as she tried to relax her mind with little success. As she sat there, she remembered why she was doing this and it started during her adventure in the Multiverse.
Flashback- While waiting for the portal home
Ms. Appear followed Mako to a training area in Tetherby's building after defeating all the ninjas. While her alternate self and siblings worked on the portal, Mako requested she follow him. When they got to the room, he sat on the floor.
"Sit." Mako ordered. Ms. Appear did so. "I've seen you fight. You're quite skilled."
"Thanks." Ms. Appear said with a smile.
"However." Mako continued causing Ms. Appear's smile to disappear. "You lack focus. Your forcefields while able to block anything, are limited to your lack of focus. Your mind is loud and unfocused causing your forcefields to suffer for it causing you to not reach your full potential."
"So how can I reach my full potential?" Ms. Appear asked.
"Simple, you need to empty your head from all distractions." Mako said.
"Easy for you to say." Ms. Appear says with a sigh. "I'm third-in-command of my team. I'm surrounded by distractions. Weather it's keeping my team from getting killed or training to keep my powers in line. There's just so many distractions."
"That is why we're focusing on relaxing your mind." Mako tells her. "When your mind is focused, your forcefields will get stronger no matter what form they take. For now start with simple meditation."
End Flashback
"Ok I need to clear my head from all distractions, negative thoughts, jokes and puns." Luan said as she sighs.
However her thoughts were still crowded and distracted as well as filled with jokes.
"Well this isn't working." Luan sighs. "What am I supposed to do? Mako says this should be second nature for me. What if my forcefields fail?" She shakes. "No. Can't think like that. Gotta get rid of the negative thoughts. For now I just gotta keep trying."
"Fourth eldest sibling! I require some assistance!" Lisa called from another part of the room.
"Alright. I'm coming!" Luan sighed as she gets up and walks towards Lisa.
"Alright Lis what's the issue?" Luan asked when she reached the lab area. However she was confused when she didn't see Lisa. "Lisa?"
"Up here." Luan looked up at the ceiling and saw Lisa stuck in the roof. "Little help please."
"Lisa, how'd you get stuck in the ceiling?" Luan asked.
"Experiment went wrong and launched me in the ceiling." Lisa explained. "Now can you please help me?"
"Alright hang on." Luan groaned but it turned into a snicker. She created a platform a forcefield platform and floated up towards Lisa.
"Much appreciated." Lisa said as Luan freed her.
"Yeah no problem." Luan says. "So what were you working on?"
"Well it's complicated you wouldn't understand." Lisa replied.
"You can tell me. I think i can understand it." Luan said.
Lisa sighs. "I was trying to run tests on my mind." She told her. Luan looked her confused.
"Why?" She asked.
"Do you recall our first meeting with Mercer when he took control of myself, Lincoln, Lucy, and the twins?" Lisa asked and Luan nodded. "Well I was trying to see if he left anything in my mind to track him with." Lisa sighs. "Sadly I accidentally overloaded my system before it could find anything."
"So we can't track Mercer that way." Luan said with a groan. "Damn it."
"He could be anywhere in Royal Woods. Waiting for the right time to strike. That and the last time we fought him, Lincoln nearly turned Royal Woods into a scorched town." Lisa explained.
"So is there any other way to track him?" Luan asked. Lisa thinks about it before an idea comes to mind.
"Perhaps we have Ryker track him." Lisa suggested. "We give Ryker a picture of Mercer and have him keep an eye open for him. Once he finds him, he follows him to whatever his hideout is and the BAM! We get him." Luan looked her processing her sister's plan. After some thought she figured that it wasn't bad.
"Other that the fact you willingly said BAM, this plan could work." Luan says. "As long as Ryker doesn't make it to obvious that he's tracking him, we should be golden. Alright. We'll do that plan. I'll have Mr. Cuddles call Ryker later." They see Daniel heading towards the exit. "Hey Daniel! Where you headed?" Daniel stopped in his tracks.
"We need a few more parts to finish repairs on the Road Rage." Daniel told her. "So Fury and I are gonna do what we usually do to get parts." He pauses. "Yes we're also getting chocolate. I'll see you kids later. Call if you need me." He hops in the L-Monster and drives off.
"You think Road Hazard can help us?" Luan asked.
"Perhaps. If he doesn't mind searching for Mercer?" Lisa asked,
"But he's also trying to fix his vehicle." Luan said. "We'll ask him later. For now we should probably go out to patrol soon. When's Sam getting here?"
"In a few minutes I believe." Lisa replied.
"Then we'll take that time to figure out a plan." Luan says.
At the docks, a fat fair skinned man wearing glasses with tape in the center snuck around the crates set around the dock area.
"So far so good." The man said. "All I need to do is find something to help me get revenge on those two nincompoops that beat me up and put me in jail! And then they'll remember the name Steve Rukes!"
"You looking for something?" A voice asked.
Rukes freezes and slowly turns around to see three guns aimed at him.
"Um uh." Rukes stammered as he put his hands up.
"Grab him." One of the thugs ordered the other two. The two thugs nod and grab him. They then proceeded to drag him away further into the docks where they roughly throw him to the ground. Rukes looks up and sees Southpaw standing over him.
"Who the hell is this dork?" Southpaw asked.
"We found him wandering around our turf." One thug said.
"Say the word and we'll kill him." Another thug said.
Southpaw crouched down to glare at Rukes. "You got a lot of nerve to be sneaking around here." He growled. He prepares to snap his fingers when Rukes stops him.
"Wait! I can assured you that I have very good reasons to be here!" Rukes pleaded.
"How so?" Southpaw asked.
"I'm a great Hacker. I get can into bank accounts in a snap." Rukes said.
"Please. Virus can do the same thing nerd so you ain't special." Southpaw tells him. He then smashes his fist into his palm. "Maybe I should beat your ass myself." Steve starts to panic when an idea comes to mind.
"What if I'm a customer?!" Rukes asked.
"What are you in the market for?" Southpaw asked.
"I want to get revenge on the two L-Crew members. Firecracker and Parkour." said Rukes.
Southpaw scoffs. "Please. For hardware like that, you'd never be able to pay for it." He says. "Go home nerd. You can't afford it and we sure as hell ain't handing that stuff out for free."
"How about I pay you back later?" Rukes asked.
"That doesn't work here." Southpaw growled as he lifted Rukes by his shirt. "Now get lost!" He then proceeded to throw Rukes into the direction of several crates where he lands in front of an open one. He looks inside and sees a large mech suit with large pincers on one arm and cannon on the other. There was a round glass cover over where the person would be seated.
"What's this?" Rukes asked. Southpaw looked in his direction.
"Not for sale." Southpaw growled. "Even if it was, you'd never be able to afford it." This gave Rukes an idea.
"Let me borrow it." Rukes suggested. "I use this to steal millions of dollars and destroy the L-Crew. In return, you get the money." Southpaw hesitates before pulling out his phone.
"I gotta make a phone call." Southpaw says. "Don't let him near that!" The thugs nod and aim their guns at Rukes as Southpaw got on his phone.
"So you guys been working for him for a long time?" Rukes asked but the thugs didn't even replied. "Now you guys are silent."
Then Southpaw hangs up and turns towards Rukes. "Alright fine, you can borrow it." Southpaw replied. "But if you damage it, the price goes up."
"Yes of course." Rukes says nervously. "I'll bring it back in perfect condition."
"If it's broken. I will break you." Southpaw threatened.
Rukes gulps and climbs into the mech. He pulls a couple levers and starts it up. He then piloted the mech out of the dock. Once he's gone, Southpaw turns to the thugs. "Let our boys on the street know that if that mech is damaged in any way, shape or form to let me know."
"Right." One of the thugs replied.
Lana is walking through the jungle and hears running water. "There must be a river near by." Lana said as she ran towards the sound,
She heads towards the sound and sees a river. "Man. I wonder how far I still gotta go?"
She then hears rustling coming from the bushes. Lana looks behind her and see a brown griffin with a white head. "A griffin?!" Lana asked as the Griffin walked towards the river and drank from it.
Lana watched as the Griffin drank from the river for several minutes before the Griffin stopped drinking and stared at her. Then much to her surprise, the Griffin spoke.
"Are you gonna just stand there and stare at me?" Griffin asked. "It's getting a little unnerving."
"You can talk?!" Lana exclaimed,
"Of course I can talk." The griffin replied. "My name is Gilbert."
"Well this is unexpected." Lana says. "Hey Gilbert, I'm kinda lost. Which way to the other end of the jungle?" Gilbert stares at before answering.
"It's north from here." Gilbert answered. "However I'd advise against going that way." Lana looks at him confused.
"Why?" She asked. Gilbert then glares at her.
"Because then I'd have to kill you for trespassing." He answered.
"Oh I get it. This is your turf and I have to fight you." Lana said.
"You are smart little one." Gilbert said,
"Then I ain't gonna back down!" Lana shouts before going lion.
"Then have at you!" Gilbert screeched and charged towards Lana, Lana dodged Gilbert's talons, and countered with a swipe from her claws.
Gilbert then takes flight and starts circling her from above.
"What's he gonna do?" Lana thought, not taking her eyes off the griffin. The griffin then proceeded to dive bomb her ramming his body into her knocking Lana back into a tree. Lana gets up and glares at the griffin who went back into the air.
"Is that all you have?" Gilbert taunted.
"I got plenty more tricks up my sleeves." Lana growled as she morphed into a pterodactyl and flew up in the air to attack Gilbert.
Lana rams her beak into Gilbert's side causing the Griffin to growl in pain only to swat Lana on the head causing her to lose her balance in the air and start falling towards the ground.
"If that was one of your tricks I'm not impressed." Gilbert told her.
"I'm not done yet." Lana muttered to herself.
Gilbert then slams his claws down on her back sending her crashing to the ground forcing back to human. Gilbert lands in front of her with an unimpressed look on his face.
"And here I was expecting more." Gilbert said with a sigh. "You're strong but not strong enough. You never stood a chance." Lana looks up and growled.
"I'll show you not strong enough." Lana growled before transforming into a griffin herself. Lana let's out a screech.
"Now we're talking." Gilbert said and flew towards Lana and the two griffins began their fight.
Lana slashes at Gilbert's face causing the griffin to counter with a slashes of his own to her torso. Lana rears and slams her front legs down but Gilbert avoids it and rams his body into hers.
Lana slashed Gilbert's face with her claws, but gets pecked by Gilbert. Lana grabs Gilbert by the neck with her claws and roars at him.
"Trying to assett dominance are we?" Gilbert growled. "But it's not going to work!" He then pushes her away and slashes her side. Meanwhile, Lana felt the instincts taking over.
"Damn it. I'm slipping." Lana thought. "I can feel the other instincts trying to take over."
"What's wrong little girl?" Gilbert taunted. "Why don't you just give up?"
"No. I'll never give up." Lana growled. "No matter who I fight. I won't back down!"
Lana flew up in the air and gave Gilbert a piledriver knocking him out and Lana reverts back to her human form and pants. She looks and sees that Gilbert isn't even getting back up. "Did I win?" Lana asked herself.
She grabs a stick and pokes Gilbert with it who doesn't respond. "He's out." She says. She looks around and prepares to leave but hesitates. With a sigh she goes gorilla and picks up Gilbert where she then carries him into the shade where she gently places him down before turning back. Satisfied, she runs off into the jungle. Once she's gone, Gilbert gets up.
"Impressive." He says. "She overpowered the instincts of the griffin in order to beat me. However that's only the first of many tests." He senses something looming in the jungle. "She's strong but brash. We should continue to test her." He hears a growl followed by flapping. Once the presence is gone, he thinks back to his fight. "She carried be into the shade instead of leaving me by the river. Perhaps there's more to this human than meets the eye."
Lynn opened the fridge in the base's kitchen and took out a meatball sandwich. "Good no one ate my sub." Lynn said as she began to eat it,
She feels like someone is behind her and sees Petty standing behind her staring at her sub.
"What that?" Petty asked.
"It's my meatballs sub Petty, it's really spicy." Lynn said.
"Can Petty hand some?" Petty asked.
Lynn hesitates before breaking her sub in half and handing it to Petty who happily accepts it.
"Careful Petty." Lynn warned. "It's spicy."
Petty eats his half of the sub in one bite and begins to pant. "Hot! Hot! Hot!" Petty cried out.
"I warned you." Lynn said right before the alarm goes off. "What's going on?"
"Believe it or not we got a mech suit attacking a jewelry store." Clyde answered. "So that's a new one."
"A mech suit?" Lynn asked. "I better go check it out."
"Not without back up." Clyde said.
"Yeah I know. I'll ask Lincoln," Lynn said.
Lynn runs outside to see Lincoln with Mr. Cuddles infront of a whiteboard.
"I think we can make your fire hotter." Mr. Cuddles was saying while Lincoln was taking notes.
"Yo bro!" Lynn called getting their attention. "We got a mech suit robbing a jewelry store." Lincoln and Mr. Cuddles exchange a glance before looking at her.
"Well that's a new one." They say in unison.
"Yeah I know. Let's go over there and stop that robbery!" Lynn said as she pressed a button on her watch and was already wearing her super suit with a puff of smoke.
"What's with the smoke?" Lincoln asked.
"Thought the costume changes could use some flare." Mr. Cuddles answers. Lincoln just looks at him. "Yeah I didn't like it either. I'll fix it later." Lincoln rolls his eyes and presses the button on his watch putting his costume on with a puff of smoke.
"What about Luan and the others?" Lincoln asked.
"I'll let know about the mech." Mr. Cuddles said. "You two go stop that robbery."
"Alright then." Lynn said,
"Then let's go! Luan, Lisa and Sam can meet with us later." Lincoln said before the two ran out of the base.
Rukes exits the jewellery store with a sack in his hands. "Man I love this thing." Rukes smiled. "Now where's Firecracker and Parkour?"
"Hey buddy!" Rukes turns and sees Parkour and Firecracker staring up at him from the ground. "You got a license to pilot that thing?" Parkour asked.
"Firecracker and Parkour! We meet again." Rukes said.
"Do we know you?" Firecracker asked.
Rukes looks at them appaled. "You don't remember me?" He says. Parkour and Firecracker look at him in the mech before looking at each other before looking back at Rukes.
"No." They say in unison.
"You guys broke into my house in Great Lakes City!" Rukes pointed out.
"Were we in Great Lakes City with this guy?" Parkour asked.
"Wait. Is he the guy we beat up and gave a wedgie too?" Firecracker asked. Parkour thinks about it and shrugs.
"I think so?" Parkour answered still unsure.
"Yes and I have spend months rotting in prison thanks to you two!" Rukes shouted.
"Well you shouldn't have been trying to hack into the bank to steal money from people you fat dork!" Parkour retorted.
"I wanted to get rich. But now I want to revenge, now you two will die!" Rukes said as he charged towards the two heroes.
The two heroes turn to each other and start playing rock-paper-scissors causing Rukes to stop in his tracks.
"What are you doing?" He asks.
"Seeing who gets to beat you up." Firecracker answers as he played rock to Parkour's scissors. "And I win. So you're mine."
"Lucky." Parkour grumbled.
Firecracker flew up in the air and smirked. "Wanna see something cool." Firecracker smirked and flew towards Rukes with his whole body being engulfed in flames and rams Rukes and his mech down.
The mech stumbled a little before regaining it's balance. Surprisingly, the mech didn't take much damage.
"Is that all you have?" Rukes taunted with a snort.
"I got more tricks up my sleeves." Firecracker said as he threw fireballs in the air but they didn't even hit Rukes. Rukes looked around and see the fireballs floating in the air. Firecracker threw his hands down and the fireballs exploded knocking the mech down.
"How'd you like that you nerd?" Firecracker taunted.
"I'm not done yet you bullies!" Rukes growled as the mech got back up.
"Will you stay down!" Firecracker shouted as he prepared a giant fireball and throws it towards him.
Rukes smirks and pulls a lever raising the arm cannon on the mech. Rukes then presses the button firing the cannon and destroying the fireball.
"My turn Firecracker." Rukes says.
Rukes began shooting at Firecracker but the young pyro was dodging most of the shots, until one hits Firecracker knocking him to a wall. "Firecracker!" Parkour cried out as she glared at Rukes.
"Whoops. Did I do that?" Rukes taunted while Parkour scowled.
"You're gonna pay for that nerd." Parkour growled.
"I will do no such thing meathead!" Rukes shouted and charged towards Parkour.
Rukes pulled a never causing the pincer arm to swing at Parkour who ducks underneath it before she jumped up and punched the mech.
Parkour then shoulder tackles the mech and punched the mech. But Rukes swats Parkour to the side causing her to crash into a building. Parkour got back up and glared at him. "That was a mistake." Parkour said.
"Then bring it on you simpleton." Rukes challenges. Parkour let's out a shout and leaps out of the building where she proceeded to punch the mech sending it stumbling back.
Rukes quickly recovered only to have Parkour beat up Rukes over a bunch of times. "I'm taking you out of your suit, nerd!" Parkour shouted.
"Get off!" Rukes shouted before swinging his arm cannon knocking Parkour off the mech. "I can't let this get damaged more!"
"Too bad you dork!" Parkour shouted as she got back up where she's joined by Firecracker.
"You alright?" Firecracker asked.
"I'm fine, we need to end this fight right now." Parkour said.
"Like a team up move?" Firecracker asked.
"Sounds good." Parkour said. "This dork is going down." However before either of can move, their watches go off. "Hello?"
"Where the hell are you?" Parkour gulped at the voice.
"Hey Ms. Appear." Parkour answered nervously. "How's it going?"
"Oh nothing much. But I heard on the news about you two fighting a mech!" Ms. Appear shouted.
"We got it under control sis." Parkour replied.
"I doubt it." Ms. Appear said.
"I promise it's all under control." Parkour says.
"Parkour I'm literally watching the footage." Ms. Appear said in a deadpan tone.
"Oh you are?" Parkour asked. "Are you on your way?"
"Sigh. We're almost there but we're gonna have a serious talk when this is over." Ms. Appear says.
"Ok thanks," Parkour said as she hung up. "So yeah Ms. Appear is pissed."
"I've seen her angry since fighting over the good spot in vanzilla." Firecracker said.
"Don't forget the sister fight protocol." Parkour says. Firecracker looks at her with a deadpan stare.
"I'd prefer to forget that." He said.
"Excuse me!" Rukes shouted getting the two heroes attention. "I'm still here you know!"
"Yeah we hear ya!" Parkour scoffed,
"We're not deaf!" Firecracker shouted.
"Then you both can die!" Rukes shouted before firing the arm cannon at the two. But before the blast can hit, a forcefield pops up and blocks the attack.
They look up and see Ms. Appear creating the forcefield and she is not happy. "Hey sis." Firecracker greeted nervously.
"Don't hey sis me." Ms. Appear said.
"We're in trouble aren't we?" Parkour says.
"Oh you don't even know." Ms. Appear replied.
"Can we talk about this after we beat that nerd in the mech suit?" Parkour asked.
"Yeah we're on it." Ms. Appear replied.
"We?" Firecracker questions. Suddenly, Genarocker flies in hitting the mech with her giant fists which were spinning.
"How'd you like that nerd!" Genarocker taunted.
Genorocker kept punching Rukes' mech until it started to break. So at one last resort, Rukes raised his cannon at Genarocker, but before he can fire Genarocker smashed the cannon with her fists. "No that's going to cost me a lot of money!" Rukes shouted.
"Wait what?" Genarocker says before getting knocked away by Rukes who then uses the mech's jets to fly away.
"This isn't over L-Crew!" Rukes shouted.
"He's getting away!" Parkour shouted.
"Let him go." Ms. Appear ordered. "We'll look for him later. For now you two are in a lot of trouble."
"Dang it." Parkour and Firecracker say.
Lana is running through the jungle and looking around the trees. "I must be getting close." Lana thought,
"Actually you're not even close." A voice says. Lana stops in her tracks and looks around. "You have a long way to go little one."
"Hello? Who's there? Show yourself!" Lana demanded.
"My you are a rude one." The voice says in an amused tone. "Very well." Lana here's flapping and sees a large bird landing nearby. The bird Lana noticed was colored like the sun.
"What are you?" Lana asked.
"I'm a Phoenix young lady." The Phoenix replied.
"Let me guess. I have to fight you to move on?" Lana asked.
"Sadly yes." The Phoenix says. "Though I do detest violence." Lana sighs.
"Figures." Lana says. "Do you have a name?"
"Why yes. My name is Famke." The Phoenix introduced herself.
Smoke: Twenty bonus points to anyone who got that reference.
"So how am I going to get past you without fighting you?" Lana asked.
"Simple. You can't." Famke explained. "You see little one you can't move on until you defeat me. That's how this jungle works. It won't let you progress until you defeat me."
"Ok so I have to beat you in Trivia or answer a riddle?" Lana asked.
"Dear one." Famke says with a sigh. "We both know the answer to that." Lana sighs and nods.
"Ok but I do have another question before that." Lana says. "What's the whole point of this? Komu said I had to get to the other end of the jungle but didn't say anything about this. What's the point?"
"Simple dear one." Famke answers. "You should consider us tests. The jungle is vast and you still have a ways to go. However the jungle is magic and won't let you get any farther until you beat that zone's occupant."
"So I'm barely meeting any progress. Great." Lana groaned.
"Enough talk." Famke said as she spread her wings. "Prepare to fall!" She takes off into the air with a screech.
Lana sighs and morphs into a pterodactyl and flies up in the sky where she sees Famke spreads her wings and flames emerged from her body. "Let's end this quick." Lana said.
"I couldn't agree more." Famke says as she flies after her. "However I'm afraid the results won't be the ones you want." She flapped her wings unleashing a wave of heat at Lana who barely gets out of the way.
"Great I can't touch her because of the fire. How am I suppose to defeat a Phoenix?" Lana thought.
"Why are you running little one?" Famke taunts. "Are you too afraid to fight back?" Lana let's out a growl and does a u-turn where she flies straight at the Phoenix.
"I'll show you who's afraid." Lana growled.
"You must be a fool to attack a Phoenix head on." Famke taunted.
"This better work." Lana thought as she closed her eyes and think really hard.
Lana felt her body shift as she flew at Famke who's eyes widen at what was in front of her. In front of her the pterodactyl was no longer there. Instead she was faced with another Phoenix.
"Impressive." Famke says. "Let's see what you can do."
Both Lana and Famke charged at each and tackled each other in the air. They both pecked and clawed at each other. "Let's see if you can wield the power of the Phoenix!" Famke shouted.
Lana let's out a screech as she pecked at Famke. The two separate and Lana's wings engulf in flames. With a single flap she creates a heatwave that hits Famke head on but she quickly recovers.
Famke counters with heatwave of her own, but Lana dodged the heatwave and head butt Flanke in the chest. "I need to beat this fiery chicken." Lana thought.
However she felt like her body was burning from the inside out. "What's happening? My body feels like burning to a crisp. Like I'm overheating."
"You look like you're losing your footing little girl." Famke said.
"I'm just getting started." Lana growled. "Now I'm ending this fight."
Flames engulf her wings and she begins the spin getting faster and faster until she's just a spinning inferno that slams into Famke knocking her out of the air. Lana turns back to human in a nearby tree and sees Famke unconscious falling full speed to the ground. Lana jumps out of the tree towards the unconscious Phoenix before turning in a gorilla and grabbing Famke into her arms before adjusting herself to where she's underneath the firey bird. She then changes to an ankylosaurus right before she hits the ground landing back first completely unharmed. She changes back to gorilla and gets back to her feet still holding the unconscious Famke where she gently places her back onto the ground.
Lana morphed back to human form, drops to her knees and starts panting. "What just happened? My body felt like it was on fire." Lana said.
"The power of the Phoenix." Lana turns and sees Monkey sitting on a nearby rock. "Their bodies burn with the power of the sun. Or something like that."
"Monkey." Lana gasped.
"Good to see you again Lana. Now I get you probably have a lot of questions but we can do that later." Monkey said. He hops off the rock. "C'mon. We got places to go." He walks passed her and with some hesitation she follows. Once they're gone Famke wakes up.
"She's strong." Famke comments. "And she prevented me from crashing to the ground so she has a kind heart as well. Perhaps she will make it all the way." She then sees a large shadow cover her and the area. "So you saw all that?" She gets a growl as a response. "She's stronger than she looks. Don't underestimate her." She gets no response but the shadow disappears. "Be careful small one. The challenges get only harder from here."
Lincoln and Lynn were back at the base with Luan scowling the two. "What were you two thinking?! Taking on that mech all by yourselves! Have you considered calling for backup first!?" Luan shouted.
"We thought we could handle it and you were busy." Lynn says as she rubbed her arm. "We didn't want to interrupt you."
"Well you were wrong!" Luan said. "Lynn this is like what the 3rd time you tried to take on a bad guy by yourself?
"He was just some nerd in a mech suit. So what?" Lynn shrugged,
"So what is that you went out there with no information!" Luan shouted. "You had no clue what that mech had weapon-wise but you still went out there with no plan! Have you learned nothing from past mistakes?" Lynn looks down at the ground not answering. Luan then turns to Lincoln. "As for you Linc, I expect more from you." She then storms away.
"I expected something different when she got to me." said Lincoln.
"Honestly, that cuts deeper than anything." Lynn told him. Lincoln sadly nods.
"Yeah. She is right though." Lincoln says. "We should've gone with a plan."
"Like call for back up." said Lynn as she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Or waited till the others were ready to go." Lincoln said with a sigh. "Yeah we messed up."
"Big time." Lynn agreed. "Luan is stressed out enough as it is with Lori being gone. The last thing she needs is us adding on to it."
"Listen Lynn, next time we face off against a threat like this. We come up with a plan and call for back up." Lincoln said.
"Agree." Lynn replied.
"Glad you learned your lesson." Luan says suddenly appearing between them surprising them both.
"You never left?" Lincoln asked.
"Nope." Luan answers. "Wanted to see if you learned anything from this experience. Listen with Lori not here for who knows how long, Lana currently doing whatever training she needs to do and Lucy occasionally training with Jack, Luna and I can't afford to suspend anyone. That being said I need you two to get your battle hungry tendencies under control."
"We'll make sure of it." Lincoln and Lynn said.
"Execellent." Luan said. The three do a group hug. Lisa then sticks her head into the room.
"I sensed a family group hug." Lisa says. "I refuse not to partake in it!" She runs over and squeezes in the middle of the three. "Better. Anyways, I did research on the mech."
"What did you find Lisa?" Luan asked.
"Was it stolen or imported from Japan?" Lincoln asked.
"Well no." Lisa replied. "Apparently it shipped in from another country as a prototype for the future of fighting metas. However the shipment was intercepted and stolen."
"And only one group can successfully do that." Lynn says.
"The Terror Crew." Luan growled. "Lisa go get Sam. We need to start forming a game plan."
"Way ahead of you." Lisa nodded and ran off.
Lana was sitting down on a rock while eating a banana. "I must be getting close, but what else will I face next. I just hope it's not a unicorn or a Pegasus." Lana said as she ate.
"Also where did Monkey go?" Lana questions. "He told me to follow him and disappeared." A fruit dropped in front of her followed by Monkey.
"You still look hungry." Monkey says. "Hungry for food and information. Like you're probably wondering the point of all this and I can't answer that. Not yet anyways. Answers will come at the end of the jungle. But I can answer some questions."
"Of course. You have vague answers do you?" Lana asked.
"Yes, I do." Monkey said,
"Yeah of course this wouldn't be easy." Lana says with a sigh. "Is my next trial nearby at least?"
"Yes it is. But I cannot say who you will face against." Monkey said,
Lana sighs and stretches. "Well I better not keep them waiting." She said before walking further into the jungle until she comes across a cave.
"Welp here goes." Lana gulped as she entered into the cave. "So dark in here."
"Are you afraid of the dark young one?" A voice asked. Lana stopped in tracks.
"Where did the voice come from?" Lana asked.
"If you're afraid, you should turn back." The voice tells her. "There's no room for fear here."
"No! I'm not afraid and not to some voice!" Lana growled.
"Then let's put that to the test shall we?"
Lana tenses up and hears footsteps coming towards her. As the steps go closer she sees the source of the voice: a large Gargoyle.
"A gargoyle? Shouldn't you be in France, being freiends with a guy with hunch back?" Lana asked,
"I haven't heard that one before." The Gargoyle chuckled softly.
"Also shouldn't you be a stone statue in New York City while also fighting crime at night?" Lana added. Again the Gargoyle chuckled.
"Another one I hadn't heard yet." He said. "You must be exhausted by now small one."
(AN: For those reading this, imagine him with Keith David's voice)
"Look let's get this over with." Lana said. "Who are you suppose to be? Goliath?"
Again the Gargoyle chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint you but no. I am Azerom." Azerom said. "A pleasure to meet you small one."
"And let me guess. I have to fight you in order to pass?" Lana asked.
"Correct." Azerom said. "Shall we begin?"
"I guess." Lana says with a sigh. "It can never easy can it?" She goes grizzly and let's out a roar.
"Let's begin." Azerom said as he flew towards Lana abs tackles her to the ground.
Lana slashes at Azerom but it does little damage. Azerom then picks up Lana and throws her across the cave.
Lana runs towards Azerom and slashed the Gargoyle with her claws, and bit into the Gargoyle's neck.
Azerom smirks and forces her off of him before slamming her into the cave wall.
"Is that all you have?" Azerom asked. "I was expecting more."
"I got more where that came from." Lana snarled as she morphed into a tiger and lunged towards Azerom and slashed and bit the gargoyle.
However Azerom was once again unfazed. "If the bear couldn't harm me, what makes you think your little kitty can?" He growled before backhanding Lana sending her flying.
Lana recovered and morphed into an eagle and flew back. Then morphed into a rhino and charged towards the gargoyle.
Azerom puts his hands up right when Lana gets close and gets pushed back as he tries to hold her back. After being pushed back a few feet, Lana is unable to push him farther.
"Come on!" Lana grunted as she tried to push back the Gargoyle.
"Is this all you got?" Azerom taunted.
"Never!" Lana grunted as she tried to push the power Gargoyle but to no avail. Azerom sighed.
"Pity. I thought you were stronger." Azerom says before slamming Lana onto her side.
Lana morphs back into her human form and panted. But she looks up and thinks of a plan. By then she morphs into a Gargoyle as Azerom smirked.
"Ah so you bring it out." Azerom says. "But how long can hold it?" Lana let's out a growl but knew he was right.
"I can't hold this form long and when the time runs out, I'm basically powerless." Lana thought. "I don't know what to do here."
"Are you whining child?" Azerom growled. He rushes forward and grabs her by the throat before slamming her into a wall. "Remember this child. A Gargoyle does not whine. He roars!" He let's out a roar and goes to strike her but she quickly becomes a bat to avoid it. "What?"
"That worked!" Lana thought. "Wait I wonder if I swap forms, will it reset the timer?"
Lana began to morph into a gargoyle but she was struggling. "Come on! Come on." Lana said.
"Struggling little girl? Azerom asked
"No. I'm not!" Lana roared as she changed into a Gargoyle where she uppercutted Azerom causing the large Gargoyle to stumble backwards.
Azerom looked up and sees Lana charging towards him and tackles the gargoyle. Then Lana started to claw and punch Azerom's face over and again.
She rams him shoulder first pushing him through the cave. Azerom tries to bring his fists down on her but Lana morphs into a bat again to dodge it. She immediately turns back into a Gargoyle to continue her attack.
"This is working but I feel my body having a harder time maintaining this form. Gotta end this quickly. Luckily we're almost to the cave entrance." Lana thought.
"Come on little girl. Let's finish this fight." said Azerom. "In your gargoyle form or your weak human form."
"Heh. How about a fight against the sun!" Lana shouted. Azerom looked at her confused before he saw light out of the corner of his eye.
Azerom looked at his hands and sees that they were being turned into stone. "I was outsmarted by a little girl." Azerom said. "This never happened before."
He tries to get back in the cave but Lana blocks the entrance. Azerom let's out a roar as he fully becomes a statue.
Lana morphed back to her human form and smirked at the now petrified Azerom. "Looks like you're stoned." Lana said. "Man I wish Luan was here to hear that."
She then decides to test her powers to see if they worked. She closes her eyes and tries to shift but nothing happens. "Guess I pushed my powers a little too much in that one. No point in continuing yet while powerless. I'll take a quick rest." She walked towards the petrified Azerom and when she got close, she saw bird poop on his shoulder. "Now that ain't right." She pulls out a rag and cleans the bird poop off. "There you go. Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on your body till my powers come back." She climbs down and sits on the ground leaning against Azerom's leg.
A few hours later, the sun went down as Lana fell asleep and was awoken by rumbling. She looked up and sees Azerom shedding the stone from his body. "It's nighttime." He said. "You waited by my side?"
"I wanted to protect you." Lana said as she played with her fingers. "I figured you'd need someone to protect you while you couldn't protect yourself." Azerom looks at her surprised before looking at his own body.
"I'm actually clean." He says looking down at the six year old. "Did you have something to do with that?" Lana nods. Azerom looks at her before placing a large hand gently on her head. "Thank you small one. I owe you a great debt." He points into the trees with his other hand. "Head that way. You'll meet your final challenge there." Lana nods before running off.
"Thanks!" She says as she ran. Azerom smiles as she leaves before frowning as he sensed a familiar presence.
"She's coming to you now old friend." Azerom said seriously. "All I ask is that you don't kill this kindhearted child." He gets no response. Instead a large shadow flies over him. "Fight well young one. I know you can win."
Southpaw is on phone texting one of the suppliers until he hears footsteps coming this way. "I gotta go." Southpaw said right when Rukes enters the scene.
"Hey." Rukes greeted.
"You got a lot of nerve coming back here with that damaged suit." Southpaw growled as approached Rukes who was getting out of the suit.
"I'm sorry but I brought the jewelry!" Rukes tried to reason as held out the jewelry but Southpaw grabs him by his shirt.
"That doesn't even cover half of it." Southpaw growled. "Not only that but now the mech is damaged which means the price just went up. And you have failed to pay for everything. Now I think that means we have a problem."
"Wait! Please I can get the money!" Rukes pleaded as he raised his fist.
"Too late." Southpaw growled. He's about to hit Rukes when he hears shouting and gunfire stopping him in his tracks. "What the hell?" His earpiece goes off.
"Boss! The creature is back!" Southpaw's eyes widen as he sees a crate get tossed. He looks towards the direction the crate was thrown from and sees a large green creature rampaging around with a roar.
"Damn it." Southpaw growled as he dropped Rukes to the ground. "Damn it!" He charges at Fury who turned his attention to him.
Fury then punched Southpaw knocking him down. "We finally found you." Fury said right as Southpaw got back up.
"What kind of monster are you?" Southpaw asked. "It doesn't matter, I will end you."
Fury. Remember we're just here to get the supplies for the Road Rage.
"I don't care. There is a feast to be having here." Fury snarled. While they were distracted, Rukes snuck over to the mech and climbed inside.
"You won't be feasting anyone." Southpaw said as he tackles Fiury and began to beat up the monster, but Fury grabs Southpaw by the neck.
"You will be our appetizer." Fury said.
Fury on your right!
Fury looks to his right where he's blasted by a cannon. Southpaw turns and sees Rukes in the mech again.
"Sorry Southpaw but I'm afraid my debt is paid." Rukes said. Southpaw scowls but before he can say anything, Fury rushes forward and leaps onto the mech. "Get off!" Rukes as the mech fly into the air with Fury still on and heads to the city. When they're gone, Southpaw pulls out his phone.
"Hey Johnny." Southpaw growled. "We got a problem."
Back at the base, Lincoln, Lynn, Luan and Sam were going over some strategies. "So we're all in agreement." Luan said as everyone nodded right when the alarm goes off.
"What now?" Lynn asked.
"Looks like Rukes is back in the city." Clyde announced. "And he's throwing down with Fury?"
"Really? Fury can snap that nerd like a twig." Lynn stated.
"Unless he got that mech of his fixed." Lincoln replied.
"Damn it if he did." Sam says. "Better question is why the hell is Rukes fighting Fury in the first place?"
"Probably related to why left earlier." Luan answered. "But if that mech is operational then Fury might need help."
"Let's go help him and take down Rukes." Lynn said.
"The right way." Lincoln added.
"Right so here's the plan." Luan says. "Sam and Lynn will attack the front, to get Rukes attention. Linc and I will strike from above while he's focused on you two. Lisa, you'll make sure Fury and Road Hazard are ok. Everyone got it?" Everyone nods. "Good. Sam, you got any idea how to shut it down?"
"I just need to get close and hack it. But I need to get him off guard." Sam said.
"Then when you see an opening, take it." Luan tells her. "Everyone ready?" They all nod. "Then let's roll out!"
Rukes is shooting all the missiles he has at Fury. "Die you monster!" Rukes shouted as Fury dodged the missiles.
"Your pancreas will be mine!" Fury roared as he shoulder tackled the mech causing it to stumble. Rukes aimed the newly repaired arm cannon and started firing at Fury who leaps around trying to avoid it.
"Like hell you will!" Rukes shouted as he continued firing his cannon.
Fury continues to dodge only to get hit by the last one sending him crashing into a building.
You alright?
"I'll live." Fury responded. "However I can't keep dodging forever."
Backup should be on it's way soon. Just hang in there.
"I'll mange." Fury growled as he looked up and sees Rukes walking towards him.
"This is the end for you." Rukes said aiming the cannon at Fury.
"Hey nerd!" Rukes looks and sees Parkour and Genarocker charging towards him. "Eat this!" The two then proceeded to punch the mech sending it sliding back.
"Parkour back again?" Rukes asked.
"I'm here too!" Genarocker shouted.
"Wait. You're the one who damaged my cannon!" Rukes shouted.
"Damn right I am! But that's not all we're going to break!" Genarocker shouted.
"We'll see about that!" Rukes said with a snort. However before he can move, he's hit from above by several fireballs. He looks up and sees Firecracker and Ms. Appear flying towards him. "You!"
"S'up nerd." Firecracker smirked,
"We're here to stop your rampage." Ms. Appear said.
"It's not a rampage. It's just revenge!" Rukes shouted as he fired his cannon. As the five fought, Prodigy landed next to Fury.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"I'm fine." Fury growled. Prodigy sighed and nodded.
"I wish to speak to Road Hazard." Prodigy tells him.
"Very well." Fury nodded as he peeled back his face to reveal Road Hazard.
"Good thing you kids showed up." Road Hazard replied. "That guy was kicking our asses."
"What were you doing that caused you brawl with Rukes?" Prodigy asked as the two watch the rest of the team fight the mech.
"I was stealing from that gang you kids are always dealing with." Road Hazard explained. "That's how I get supplies to repair the Road Rage. Usually I don't go to the docks but I made an exception this time because the other places didn't have what I needed."
"You've been stealing from the Terror Crew?" Prodigy questioned.
"Look it's not the best option. But I didn't have a choice." Road Hazard said.
"Normally I'd be against this but technically speaking you're taking dangerous objects out of the hands of our enemies so I guess you're doing a service." Prodigy says.
"Thanks." Road Hazard Said. "So you have a plan to take down that thing?"
"Possibly. We just need to damage it a little more." Prodigy answered. She turns to Road Hazard. "Think Fury is up to the task?"
Fury puts his face over Road Hazard's face. "We are on it." Fury smirked as he runs towards Rukes.
Rukes continues to fire at the L-Crew who successfully avoid the shots. While Rukes is distracted, Fury leaps up on top of the mech.
"Ah! It's you again!" Rukes screamed.
"Miss us?" Fury asked right before he started pounding on the glass.
"Get off me!" Rukes shouted as he tried to aim his cannon at him only for Prodigy to stop it.
"I don't think so." Prodigy says before flicking two finger causing the cannon to aim elsewhere.
"What the?!" Rukes exclaimed,
"We need to end this here and now." Ms. Appear said.
"Hold him still and I'll shut him down!" Genarocker shouted.
"You heard her." Ms. Appear said. "Keep in one place!"
We're on it!" Parkour said as she runs towards Rukes and holds down his leg.
Ms. Appear forms a forcefield around the mech's other leg holding it in place while Firecracker flies up to one of the arms and tries to hold onto it as Prodigy still holds the cannon arm in place. Fury then launched several tendrils at the mech wrapping around its body halting all movement.
Genarocker ran up to Rukes' much and placed both hands on the mech. "Here goes." Genarocker said. Blue circuitry appear on the mech causing it to Twitch as it starts to shut down.
"No. No. No!" Rukes shouted as he tried to get the mech to work. However the mech shuts down completely. "Damn it!" The L-Crew release their hold on the mech.
"Sorry nerd but that's it from you." Parkour says. "Time to go to jail."
"I don't think so." Before anyone can react, an energy blast comes out from the sky onto the road sending the L-Crew flying back. They look up to see Nuke.
"Nuke!" Ms. Appear shouted.
"Hello L-Crew. Long time no see." Nuke says. "I'm afraid I can't allow you to arrest Mr. Rukes here." He lowers himself till he's infront of the mech where he blasts the glass dome revealing a terrified Rukes. Nuke then proceeds to grab Rukes by his Rukes. "You and I have some business to discuss!" He then flies away with Rukes as the nerd screamed in terror.
"What do you think that was about?" Firecracker asked.
"I have no idea." Ms. Appear replied. "But I have a feeling Rukes is not going to prison anytime soon."
"Yeah but he's probably about to face a fate worse than prison." Genarocker says. "If this mech belonged to the Terror Crew, they ain't gonna be forgiving."
"Indeed." Prodigy agreed. "However the parts for the mech could be useful for Clyde's suit as well as repairs for the Road Rage."
"Hey at least that's good." Genarocker said.
"Agree let's take it back to base and strip down the parts." Prodigy said.
"Already got it." Fury says as he lifted the mech before walking away.
"Wonder how Lana is doing with her training?" Ms. Appear said.
Lana is running through the jungle and looks around her. "I just hope I'm near the end of this training session." Lana said.
As she runs through the jungle, she hears flapping coming from above her. She looks up and sees a large red dragon flying above the jungle. The dragon let's out a loud roar and shot flames from his mouth towards Lana.
"Holy crap!" Lana shouted as she barely avoided the flames. "This dragon isn't wasting any time. Which means I gotta be careful. Going dragon is too risky right now. Perhaps I should try to weaken him first."
Lana then morphed into a cheetah and ran through the jungle and then jumped off of a rock and morphed into a Falcon and flew up in the air.
She looks behind her and sees the Dragon flying after her. Once he gets close he tries to catch Lana in his mouth with the young heroine barely avoiding the powerful jaws. Lana then flies upward until she's over the dragon. She then proceeded to dive bomb at full speed at the dragon's back going t-rex right before reaching the back with the weight of the t-rex throwing off the dragon's flight.
The dragon spirals out of control and nearly crashed into the ground, but the dragon quickly recovers and flew upwards, and began to shake Lana off of it. Lana morphs into a Falcon and flew up again.
"Well that could've gone better." Lana growled. "Time to try something different." She goes to dive bomb the dragon again, this time going for his head. Once she's close, she goes gorilla and clutches one of the dragon's horns with one hand and starts punching the dragon with the other.
The dragon cringes in pain from the punches and tries to shake Lana off by doing barrel rolls. But Lana held on tight and kept punching the dragon's head. "Come on! Go down!" She grunted.
The dragon let out a roar as it started to violently shake his head in an effort to throw her off but Lana's gorilla strength allowed her to hang on.
"So this is the game you wish to play?" The dragon growled, speaking for the first time. "Then so be it."
"So the dragon talks?" Lana asked herself. "Just like the other ones. Let's end this!"
The dragon swings his head into the tree causing Lana to go back first into it causing her to lose her grip. She quickly goes monkey where she jumps to nearby tree right before the dragon set the tree ablaze.
"You're fast young one but do you really believe you can win?" The dragon growled. He then shot more fire at the tree Lana was on with her again barely dodging it. "Just surrender. You stand no chance here."
"He's not wrong." Lana muttered. "The only way I stand a chance is if I go dragon. But like the Gargoyle form, I can't hold it for long. What do I do?" An idea then comes to her. "What if I did the same thing I did with my Gargoyle form? Could that work? Only one way to find out."
The dragon flew towards the tree that Lana and snarls, but Lana begins to change form and size, and shows Lana in the form of a dragon and tackles the other dragon.
"So you've finally decided to give me a challenge." The dragon growled. "Show me what you can do!" Lana let's out a roar as she swings her tail at the powerful dragon who ducked it.
The dragon then bites Lana on the neck and shook her violently and tossed her aside. Lana quickly recovered from the attack and she slashed the dragon on the cheek.
The older dragon recovered and goes for another strike.
"Gotta time this right." Lana thought. The dragon goes to slash her but Lana quickly shifts into a hummingbird to dodge it.
"Impressive." The dragon says as he watches Lana fly around him. "But it won't save you."
"It worked before." Lana muttered as she flew upward again.
"That trick again?" The dragon asked with a snarl.
Lana shifts into dragon once again but this time she grabs the dragon by his torso, catching him by surprise and flew him into the air
"I'll only get one shot at this." Lana thought. "Better make it count!" Once she's high enough, she then begins to fly downwards to the ground still holding her opponent at full speed. Once they're close to the ground Lana slams him down kicking up dust. Lana, unable to hold the dragon form any longer, changes back to human.
"No!" Lana groaned,
"Do you yield young lady?" The dragon asked with a growl.
Lana looks up at the dragon shocked that he was still standing.
"No way." Lana gasped. "You're still standing. You're strong. A lot stronger than me that's for sure. But that's never stopped me before. I ain't quitting yet you overgrown lizard! You hear me? I ain't ever quitting!"
"Very well then." The dragon replied. "You may attack first."
Lana let out a growl as she tried to shift but to no avail. "Damn it." She growled. "I can't. I can't change."
"So you're powerless?" The dragon asked.
"Yeah. I am." Lana responded. "But ain't quitting. I ain't running away from you because if i do, I can't really call myself a hero can I? My siblings are counting on me to get stronger so that I can make sure we never lose to anyone so that's why I'll never quit! So bring it on you oversized lizard!" The dragon looks at her surprised before nodding.
"Very well." The dragon growled. He then lowered his head so that it was at her level. "You passed the test."
"Wait this was all a test!?" Lana asked.
"Indeed it was." The dragon said.
"I don't understand." Lana says. "I didn't beat you."
"You weren't supposed to." The dragon growled. "The test was how far were you willing to fight to achieve victory even when becoming powerless. In the end you showed you have the will continue fighting even when the odds are against you." Lana processed the information given to her for a few seconds before a new question came to mind.
"But what was the reason for all this?" Lana asked.
"Too see if you could push through the drawbacks that your forms give you." Lana turns and sees Komu with Monkey on his shoulder followed by Gilbert, Famke and Azerom who was being protected by the sun by a magic barrier.
"Master Komu." Lana gasped. The dragon looked down at the old master.
"Thanks for not killing her Kragon." Komu said with a smile.
"Don't mention it." Kragon replied.
"I don't understand?" Lana asked. "So I had to lose to pass your test?"
"No. Lana the test was to see if you can adapt to adversity and keep on going." Komu says. "Even when you were powerless, you stood your ground and never quit. Even in your other battles where you had to work around to hardships of those forms, you learned to adapt and push forward."
"Yeah I sure did. Didn't I?" Lana asked.
"Not only that but you showed kindness and compassion to ones that you thought were your enemies." Gilbert added. "You moved me into the shade after you beat me."
"You caught me before I hit the ground even at the risk of your own life." Famke continued.
"And you protected my petrified form even if it meant death." Azerom finished. "Your kindness and compassion were other factors that led you to passing this test."
"Even when you were powerless against me. You stood your ground." Kragon said.
"So did I complete my training?" Lana asked. Komu shook his head.
"No my dear." Komu replied. "This was just a test to see if you were ready for the training. Your real training begins tomorrow. Now I believe it's time for you to see what's at the end of the jungle." Lana nods and goes to walk through the jungle with Kragon following her. As the they walked further into the jungle she saw an opening in the trees.
"Is that the end?" She asked and the large dragon nodded. She walked through the opening in the trees and gasped at what she saw. A valley that spread for miles with mountains and rivers and forests. As Lana looked around in awe she saw mythical creatures all over. She saw a herd of unicorns running through the fields while a few Pegasus flew above them. She saw a pride of Manticores lazily lying about in the shade of a large tree. She saw more griffins like Gilbert flying around the valley to the river grabbing fish as they dived. Everywhere she looked their were mythical creatures as far as the eye can see. She even saw some that she didn't recognize and was curious to know all of them.
"Welcome to Mythical Valley." Kragon growled.
"Whoa." Lana said simply. "It's beautiful."
"The next couple days you will train here." Komu told her. "We'll start with helping you master the forms you already can become and teach you techniques that will help you work through the forms weaknesses. You don't have to stay here all the time because the techniques I will teach you are ones that Soothsayer can help you with as well. Once you feel you've mastered said techniques then you may return here and we'll teach you to turn into other mythical creatures and work through their weaknesses. So Lana, are you ready to begin?"
"Yeah. I'm ready to begin." Lana said with determined look on her face.
Ryker sat in the bar with a glass of whiskey in his hand. He hears the door to the bar open behind him as well as two chairs being pulled out on either side of him.
"Aren't you girls a little young to be here?" Ryker asked knowing very well who they were.
"No worries dude, we don't plan on being here long."
"Yeah we'll whisky away as soon as we're done. Hahaha. Get it?"
"What do you girls want?" Ryker asked.
"We need you to keep an eye out for someone if you could." Amplifier answered as she slid a picture of Mercer over to him.
"What makes this guy so dangerous?" Ryker asked.
"He can mind control people with anger."Ms. Appear said.
"We need you to keep an eye out for him." Amplifier tells him. "He doesn't know you like he knows us so hopefully he doesn't recognize you."
"I'll keep an eye on him." Ryker said.
"As soon as you find him, just follow him until you have a general idea where his new hideout is." Ms. Appear told him. "Remember don't let him see you or he'll suspect something. Just track him for the time being."
"You got it." Ryker nodded. "I'll make sure he doesn't see me."
"But as soon as you figure out where his hideout is, tell us." Ms. Appear tells him.
"Consider it done ma'am." Ryker said with a tip of his hat. "Now mosey on out of here before y'all get me in trouble for not throwing minors out."
"Yeah, we're about to leave. See you late dude." Amplifier said as she and Ms. Appear begin to walk out.
"Yeah we gotta rum." Ms. Appear said and chuckled causing Ryker to groan.
"Those kids are something else." Ryker says. He looks down at the picture of Mercer. "Hmm. Let's see if my tracking skill are still good."
Nuke threw Rukes down the ground at Johnny's feet causing the hacker to shake violently.
"So this is the guy who took the mech?" Johnny asked.
"Well what's left of it boss." Nuke said.
"Because of him, what's left of the mech is in the hands of the L-Crew now." Southpaw growled. "If I hadn't had to deal with whatever that creature was, the mech would still be ours." He smashes his fists together causing Rukes to flinch. Johnny gets up from his chair and slowly approached Rukes.
"Did you really think you could steal from me nerd?" Johnny asked with venom in his tone. He snaps his fingers and Gentlight approached Rukes and formed a light blade and aimed it at Rukes. "Give me one reason you should live."
"I'm very good at computers and hacking." Rukes begged.
"We already have a hacker." Johnny replied,
"I can be your back up hacker. Two hackers are better than one!" Rukes begged.
"Can you make program that'll let me sneak through online security undetected?" Virus asked out of nowhere. Everyone looks at him shocked before turning back to Rukes.
"Yes! Yes I can! With ease!" Rukes said quickly before immediately shutting up when he heard a growl from Squatch. Johnny turns to Virus.
"What you thinking?" Johnny asked.
"Past couple jobs, I've almost been deleted by security systems in computer systems like when we attacked Tetherby Industries." Virus explained. "If he can make program that'll make me practically invisible to system securities, that would make my job easier." Johnny thinks about it before turning back to Rukes. He then grabs Rukes by the shirt.
"Listen here and listen good dork." Johnny growled. "We'll take you up on your little offer but here's the thing. You're just another thug to us. We ain't equals. In fact you ain't getting paid until you make back every single cent that the mech cost. Do I make myself clear?" Rukes nods quickly. "Good." He shoves him to Virus who grabs him by the back of his shirt. "Get to work. Now!" Virus then drags Rukes to the computer area. Everyone then walks off leaving only Johnny and Southpaw.
"Hey boss. Sorry again for losing the mech man." Southpaw says. "Hate that it happened. I'll try to get it back if you want." Johnny raises a hand indicating to Southpaw to stop talking.
"Don't." Johnny said. "That mech was never gonna sell. No criminal has the money to pay for that. So perhaps you did us a favor."
"Still feel bad man." Southpaw says. "I'll make it up to you boss."
"Good. Then you can start by helping Golden Tiger train Zoya." Johnny said. "We're intensifying her training and your experience could help. Possibly even teach her some tricks with her metal arms."
"You got it Johnny." Southpaw said as he walks away. "Heck if she plays her cards right, Zoya could be running the Terror crew."
"Yeah she could be." Johnny said.
Candyman then steps up next to him. "So, about the next part of the plan, how should we approach this?" He asks. "This will definitely have to have careful planning."
"Which is why I'm leaving it to you." Johnny tells him. "Plan it any way want, but play it smart." Candyman looks at him and a large smile forms on his face.
"With pleasure." Candyman said before walking away. "One more thing. I do agree. Zoya will be a fine leader of the Terror Crew one day." Johnny smirks.
"Agreed."
Tetherby sat in his office with Mercer. He hears the door open and he sees Stuart walking in.
"Is it ready?" Tetherby asked. Stuart nodded and pulled a vile from his pocket.
"It's ready sir." Stuart replied. "I'm still not sure why you're concerned with the Terror Crew sir. They haven't targeted us since they attacked the company. So why are you turning focus to them rather than the L-Crew?" Tetherby stood up and turned to look out the window.
"Power." Tetherby answers. "They came here. They stole from me. They embarrassed me. Worst of all they want the same thing as me. The destruction of the L-Crew and control of this city. I will not be humiliated again." He turns to Mercer and Stuart. "Now, do as I told you and take care of the assignment I've given you. Do I make myself clear?"
"Understood." Stuart replied.
"We got it." Mercer said.
"If that's so." Tetherby says before turning around. "Why are you still here? Get going!"
Both Stuart and Mercer both exited Tetherby's office, as he looks out the window of Royal Woods. "Is there's anyone controlling this city. It will be I." He said.
Smoke: Hey everyone. Sorry this took a long time to write. We know this took 3 months, but we'll make sure we get it out fast next time. I promise.
Zachlor16: Yeah sorry. Also before anyone calls us out for having Lana master those forms quickly because of how fast she won her fights, just keep in mind that we weren't trying to drag the fight out too long. Plus Lana hasn't mastered her forms yet because technically she still has the problems. Again we'll try to get the next chapter out soon.
