Chapter 6.1.3: Robotic Warfare
The next day;
Melody, Kai Shin, Barrett, Kurama, Arteza, and Rodney were all in the forest sparring with each other. Kurama, Arteza, and Kai Shin were surprised at how fast Melody is moving along with her unusual attacks. They had never seen anybody use their own body as a projectile, especially not like how Melody was doing it. This made it hard for Kurama, Arteza, and Kai Shin to deal with her attacks, since she was too fast for them. Barrett and Rodney however had an easy time since they were used to sparring with Melody, and both of them knew that she was actually holding back during the entire sparring session, as she only used her super speed.
When they were taking a break;
Melody: Nice job Barrett. You have certainly improved your fighting style since last time.
Barrett: Thanks. You did good too. Even if you were holding back for the entire fight.
Kurama: Hold on, what do you mean "holding back."
Melody: He means I wasn't using all of my abilities and powers. But I could tell you were holding back yourself, Kurama. And so was he.
Arteza nodded. They really were holding back, wanting to gauge Melody's power.
Kurama: Heh. frak it; I'll admit I wasn't using my accelerated perception. but my powers still aren't all there yet. I managed to get to 50%. Once I get all my powers back, you'll be running scared. especially once I use my fear powers.
Arteza simply nodded, saying nothing.
Kai Shin: Let's not get into a debate about our powers and holding back during a fight. As it is right now, I need a shower. You three kids certainly gave me a good workout. See you guys later.
Before he could get that far however, Hermione and the rest of Sector S came running to them as fast as they could, since they had come all the way from MKND HQ.
Hermione: GUYS! WE GOT A PROBLEM ON OUR HANDS! EGGMAN'S ARMY HAS BEEN SPOTTED ADVANCING TOWARDS HERE!
Melody: That is not good. ALRIGHT LISTEN UP EVERYBODY! NUMBER 7.2, YOU, ME, AND NUMBER 96 ARE GOING TO ATTACK THE ADVANCING ARMY AS A DISTRACTION. NUMBER 7.1, YOU GO AND GATHER YOUR OWN SQUAD AND YOU WILL BE THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE! THE REST OF YOU FORM YOUR OWN TEAMS AND BE READY IN CASE WE HAVE TO USHER THE VILLAGERS TO SAFETY OR CATCH PARTS OF THE ARMY THAT GET PAST MY TEAM! GAMMA THIRTEEN, YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO! MOBIAN KIDS NEXT DOOR, BATTLESTATIONS!
Kurama grinned, he and Arteza drawing their chokutos and equipping their rifles.
Kurama: Alright guys, Let's get evil!
They all disbanded, and as soon as Kurama's team heard that, they knew exactly what to do. They had heard those words so many times over the years, and when Kurama said that, he meant it .
With Kurama's team…
Kurama: Rodney, you're with us. Kai, Barrett, you're with me too. Starting from now on, we're Fireteam Lancer-1. You guys got it?
Rodney: I'm in.
Barrett: Me too.
Kai Shin: Roger that.
Arteza: Da.
Arteza was going to limit himself in speech as much as possible, as he didn't want to say anything that might get them caught, no matter how slight.
Kurama: Kai, Barrett, go left; Rodney, take the right with us.
They split up and started pressing forward, shooting at the robots. As the army of robots began to surround Lancer 1, Rodney, Arteza, and Kurama ran out of ammo and didn't have time to reload their rifles.
Rodney: Crap, I'm out!
Kurama: Me too!
Arteza: Same!
Suddenly, Rodney gets an idea to hold them off. a wicked smile crosses his face.
Rodney: Kurama, Arteza, let's firebomb them!
Kurama and Arteza smiled their wicked smiles like Rodney.
Kurama: Awesome idea, Rodney! let's do it!
Arteza: Yeah!
Kurama, Arteza, and Rodney loaded their grenade launchers with firebomb grenades.
Kurama, Arteza, and Rodney: Firebomb out!
With practiced precision, the three of them fire the launchers on their M-3227 Hedgehog rifles. hitting their targets, a white phosphorus and thermite mix splashing over many of the robots, melting them together and creating a barrier of fire and metal, which gave Kurama, Arteza, and Rodney a chance to reload. Rodney pulled a full 60 round mag from his jacket and tossed it to Kurama, before pulling another one out for himself, then tossed another to Arteza.
Rodney: Here!
Kurama caught it and swapped out the empty one in his rifle for it, Arteza doing the same.
Kurama: Thanks!
Kurama smiled, glancing at Arteza. Arteza didn't give anything away, but he was happy all the same. .
Kurama (in thought, with Arteza): Samantha would love to see this. Hell, she'd love to be right here by our side, right in the thick of it.
Arteza:(in thought, with Kurama): yeah, and if only she knew about me.
(It shows Melody and Hermione, preparing to drop down into the mist of the advancing army)
Melody and Hermione were in the S-Hurricane, carrying out their own play that Melody had come up with. Melody had put together a plan on the go, and it was skillfully executed.
Melody: You ready Karma Chameleon?
Hermione: I'm ready, are you Ice Queen?
Melody: You know it! Let's do this!
Melody and Hermione then jump out of the S-Hurricane and into the army as a distraction like Melody's on-the-fly plan. Hours then began to start carefully shooting at the enemy army, when he suddenly had his plane getting shaken up from a different potential threat in the sky.
Horus(To Melody and Kurama on the ground): Guys, We've got incoming!
Back on the ground with Kurama, Arteza, and Rodney, they were still mowing down more and more robots, having to stop every so often to use a grenade barrage again.
Kurama: Horus, what the heck are you talking about? I know we've got incoming! Like dude, we're being swarmed down here!
Horus: Not on the ground. In the sky!
Kurama and Arteza looked up to see Tara's gunship, Into The Nothing, flying overhead. They heard Tara's voice come over the radio, and the thing was, they only had one-way comms right then. Her receiver was malfunctioning, and getting a signal through wasn't going to be easy.
Tara: Alpha-1, this is Oblivion. I'm coming in hot.
Kurama: (over the radio) Tara! Tara, stand down! (Speaking to Jenny) Jenny, I can't get Tara on the radio!
Arteza(growling): S**t!
Jenny: Crap! Alright, I'll try! (Over the radio) Tara, come in; Tara, do you read me? (in frustration) Frak! She's not responding!
During this Tara and Horus got into a dogfight. Horus dodged Tara's gunfire and missiles, making Tara more and more determined to take him down.
Susan: Jenny, if you need a boost, you can hack in!
Jenny: Thanks! Farid, can you help me?
Farid: Yeah! I'm coming, just hold on! SUSAN! BEHIND YOU! (in thought) Desert Spear, don't fail me now!
Farid aimed his signature sniper rifle at a robot that was about to shoot Susan. With practiced ease, he squeezed the trigger, putting a hole in the robot's head with a 250 grain Lapua Scenar GB488 *VLD bullet.
*Author/Editor's note: This stands for Very Low Drag, and is used for specialized bullets that are aerodynamically optimized for long-range shots. At the time, it was what Farid had loaded here.
Susan(looking back and smiling softly): Thanks.
Farid worked the bolt and ejected the spent casing. He then pulled another .338 from his jacket and loaded it, catching the spent casing in his hand. He put the casing in his pocket, and pushing the bolt back, he smiled.
Farid: No problem. Sorry about how we met.
Susan: It's okay. Hakuna Matata. No worries.
Farid nodded, and with that, Farid and Jenny hacked into Susan's systems to get a boost to their communications gear. Susan activated her powerful energy shield, which kept any and all gunfire and attacks away from her while she was busy in stasis while Farid and Jenny were using her as a communications booster.
Jenny: Come on, Farid! Work faster, man!
Farid: I'm working as fast as I can! I need to get back out there and headshot these 'bots!
Jenny: I know, I'm sorry.
Farid: Jen, it's fine. We just need to get this done. We're both under pressure.
In the sky...;
Tara: Come on, you little sucker; I got your number! Die already!
She was getting rather frustrated with the junker plane, as she saw that her bullets should have been hitting it, but the junker had some sort of shield that was deflecting all of the bullets, making them ricochet off and fall to the ground.
Horus: HA! I know you are Gamma 13, but even you can't get past my new upgraded F.B.M.* I just installed into the S Hurricane!
*Author's Note: If you haven't watched the show, Codename: Kids Next Door, this acronym stands for Flight. Buffer. Magnetizer. Its purpose is to generate a magnetic field around a plane to repel ANY projectile coming at the plane. Horus upgraded his to withstand anything, including nukes, as he didn't want to risk Eggman blowing up more of his flying inventions, thereby risking the lives of those on said inventions.
The more Horus's FBM made her weapons useless, the more pissed she was, and she decided to pull out her secret weapon - a nuke! Tara had a homebrew nuke and she was intent on using it.
Tara: Alpha-1, this is Oblivion. Get to cover; this is a Code Bloody Arrow. I repeat; all callsigns on this frequency, Code Bloody Arrow. All callsigns in the battle area, code Bandersnatch Grey. I repeat; code Bandersnatch Grey. EAT THIS YOU ANNOYING PIECE OF FRAK!
By this time the radio was working again, and everyone heard that. Tara almost fired her weapon, when she heard some response from her team, but stopped from firing when hearing the were all freaking out, trying to warn her off.
Jenny (Over the radio. She had finally gotten through due to Susan willingly letting her and Farid hack into her systems, in order to give them a boost.): TARA STAND DOWN! THAT PLANE YOU ARE TRYING TO SHOOT DOWN IS AN ALLY!
Tara: WHAT!?
Kurama: (over the radio) TARA! PLEASE! STAND DOWN! That junker you're battling is an ally! Jenny's right! Look, I don't have time to explain! Just break contact with the junker and focus on the robots! Give us a gun run with the Scalpel! Don't waste your missiles or rockets! These things have crappy armor! A Hedgehog-Light assault rifle can punch through them!
Tara slammed her fist on the console, growling.
Tara: Frak! alright, mark your targets! I'm coming in!
Kurama: Rodney! Purple smoke, now! we're leaving!
Rodney: Right! Smoke out!
Rodney took a 45mm smoke grenade out of the pouch on his belt. He opened the grenade launcher on his Hedgehog-Light carbine and shoved the grenade in. Lining up the sights on the launcher, he pulled the trigger. The grenade hit one of the robots and a cloud of bright purple smoke enveloped it.
Rodney: (over the radio) Tara, hit them now! we're moving away!
Melody: (over the radio) Kurama, we still have people to evacuate!
Kurama: (over the radio) how many? The gunship can only seat twelve!
Melody: (over the radio) Fortunately, including you, your clone, me, Rodney, and Hermione, we only have 13! One of you two will have to stand!
Kurama: (over the radio as Arteza nodded to him) Good! (To Tara) Tara, as soon as you're done, we need a pickup. We have twelve civilians to evac, and I have one clone with me. (to Melody and Hermione) Melody, break contact and get over here; You too, Hermione! I don't want you guys to get shredded by a 57mm cannon shell!
Melody: (over the radio) Ok, Kurama!
Hermione: Right!
Back in the sky, Tara was lining up for the gun run, and if anyone was in the way, well, they'd better hope they had super high luck.
Tara: Got it. Beginning gun-run now. Danger close.
Tara took over for Horus and flew low over the battle area, firing the massive three-barreled cannon. The cannon shells chewed through the horde of robots with little resistance. While this was happening, Hermione, Melody, Kurama, Arteza, and Rodney went to where the remaining kids were. Kai Shin and Barrett met them as well.
Kurama: Alright, kids, we need to go. all of you, get close and hang tight.
Kurama took a smoke grenade out of his bag and pulled the pin, tossing it a few feet away. A cloud of green smoke rose from the grenade. Tara flew to where the cloud was. She landed the gunship, with the rear door open and the engines still running. Kurama,Areza, and Rodney ushered the kids into the gunship, climbing onto the open ramp. Kurama and Arteza stood, while Rodney sat in the middle of the gunship, between the two rows of kids, and Barrett and Kai Shin sat down as well. Kurama slung his old Hedgehog-Heavy rifle over his shoulder as Tara closed the ramp and took off, Arteza discreetly taking Kurama's hand in his own.
Kurama: Alright, guys, strap in and hang on. You'll be alright. Tara, we're good! Just follow Horus! (to Rodney) Alright, Rodney, hang onto us. Put your rifle on safe, and let it hang by the sling.
Rodney nodded and let the rifle fall. He put his arms around Kurama and held onto him tightly. Kurama put his left arm around Rodney, holding him tightly, as Arteza brought up a 3-D holographic map for Rodney, Kai Shin, Barrett, and the kids to see. He looked around at the kids, smiling.
Kurama: You kids are very lucky. I know it's not a particularly pleasant ride, but my cousin Tara is a highly decorated pilot. She'll keep us safe.
Tara: Alright, everyone; hang on. I need to take another run at these guys. We got heavy armor inbound.
Kurama: do what you need. we're good. Brace yourselves kids.
Tara banked the gunship, heading straight for the big robot that had shown up. Tara waited for the weapons systems to lock on to the robot, and when she heard the tone in her headset, she knew it was time. .
Tara: Good tone, good tone. Firing missiles…Now. Dragon Foxes away.
Tara hit the weapon release, launching a pair of Dragon Fox Omni-Target missiles. The missiles streaked away as their engines ignited. Banking hard, Tara veered away as the missiles struck the robot square in the face. The force of the explosion tore the robot's head from its body. As the body of the robot fell to the ground, Tara smiled.
Tara: Boom, headshot.
As they reached the landing spot,Barrett and Kai stood up. Kurama held on to a handhold in the ceiling of the gunship while Rodney held his other hand. When Tara landed, she opened the ramp and shut down the engines. Kai Shin and Barrett jumped out and made sure it was clear. waving to Kurama and Barrett called out to Kurama.
Barrett: Kurama, it's all clear.
Kurama: Alright, kids; we're clear. Say thank you to Tara before you leave. Me, my clone, and her will help you with the jump seats.
The kids nodded and smiled at Kurama and Arteza as Tara got up and walked into the rear bay of the gunship. She took off her helmet and shook her hair out. She was wearing a woodland camouflage flight suit. Kurama, Arteza, and Tara helped the kids out of the jump seats and Rodney led them out of the gunship, all of them thanking Tara for rescuing them. As soon as everyone was out, Rodney ran back to Kurama and Arteza's side. Kurama, Arteza, Tara, and Rodney walked down the ramp of the gunship and sat down. Tara hugged Kurama, and well, she didn't want his clone to feel left out, as she did love his clones as much as she loved the real Kurama. Kai Shin and Barrett sat down with them.
Tara: It's so good to see you, man. things have been seriously crappy after whatever happened.
Kurama: I hear ya. My week started out pretty sucky.
Kurama pulled Rodney close alongside Arteza and put his arms around them. Rodney smiled, and both snuggled closer to Kurama.
Kurama: But after I met Rodney here, everything was fine. Me, my clone, and him are a team now. Rodney, this my cousin Tara.
Tara: It's nice to meet you, Rodney.
Tara shook Rodney's hand and pulled him into a hug.
Rodney: Yeah, they've been teaching me how to fight like them. They're my best friends.
Tara let go of Rodney, nodding. Just then she noticed Barrett.
Tara: That's wonderful. Rodney, you've got the best instructor around with Kurama. And who's this with you, Kai? We got another recruit?
Kai Shin smiled and put his arm around Barrett.
Kai Shin: This is Barrett. Barrett, this is Tara.
Barrett: I'm Kai's assistant rifleman and spotter.
Tara shook his hand and hugged him.
Tara: I'm so happy that we've got such enthusiastic new recruits. So which tracks are you two on? I know Kai was Army and Kurama was a Marine. so, I'll guess Rodney would be on the Marine track, and Barrett is on the Ranger track like you.
Kurama: Tara, you're exactly right.
Tara: Oh, by the way, why the constant clone? I mean, I've just never known you to keep a clone active for more than a day or so.
Kurama: Yeah, well, I've been really stressed and all, and I mean, yknow….
Tara: Oh….oh Sheila's not here….that makes sense cause Sheila's not with us. You hate sleeping alone. Well, at least you have someone to cuddle with.
Kurama and Arteza nodded, and there was a little mischievous smile they both had for a moment. Tara didn't catch it, but Rodney did. Rodney wasn't stupid. He knew that if his two dads were 1:"Gay"(Bisexual) and 2: Married, they were doing more than just "cuddling". But in any case, Tara was just happy that Kurama did someone with him, and she hugged Arteza and told him that, making Areza giggle to himself.
Kurama: Oh, hey, Tara, I wanted to ask you something; how the frak did you get a nuke? You weren't carrying one when we last saw you. I mean, we never planned on nuking the place like that. We were gonna hit it from the carrier.
Kai Shin: Yeah. What the crap.
Tara: Now that's something you won't believe. I actually found it. It was still in good condition. I rigged up a missile and put the nuke in as the warhead.
Kurama: Vintage nukes…..ok…..Where was it?
Tara: In this base I found after I got here. It was full of robots. It wasn't hard to take the nuke. Those things aren't that tough. but I'm surprised a Hedgehog-Light can kill them. I tore those suckers up with a Chimera rifle when I took the nuke.
Kai Shin: Oh crap.
Barrett: Double crap.
Arteza looked at Kurama, both knowing this wasn't good.
Kurama: Ok, we need to see Melody right now. a nuke is not something I'm keeping from her. That would be wrong on so many levels. and a shiza nuke at that. What the frakking crap. Look, Tara, get that thing safed and Kai and Barrett will help you get it put away. Rodney, let's go.
Rodney: Got it.
Kurama, Arteza, and Rodney went and found Melody.
kurama: Melody, the three of us need to talk to you, right now. In sorta private.
Melody: This is serious, isn't it?
Kurama and Arteza nodded and Melody followed them and Rodney over to Tara's gunship.
Kurama: Yeah, we've got a serious hardware problem.
Rodney: a shiza.
Melody: what the heck is a 'shiza'?
Rodney: an improvised explosive device or weapon. in this case, a rigged up nuclear missile. Kurama's cousin Tara almost launched it.
Melody: a nuke?
Kurama: Rodney's right. Tara stole a nuclear bomb from one of Eggman's bases.
Arteza: That's what all that stuff about 'Bloody Arrow' and 'Bandersnatch Grey' was about.
Rodney: Kurama and him taught me all about these kinds of weapons. I know what it can do. We need to keep it in a safe place, Melody. We might need it sometime in the future.
Kurama: He's right, you know.
Arteza: Strategically, we're really in need of more firepower.
Melody nodded, understanding.
Melody: Just bring the shiza over, and we are going to lock it away with the other nukes that the MKND has raided from enemies over the years.
Tara came around from the other side of the gunship, toting the nuclear missile on her shoulder. She had her flight suit partly unzipped and tied around her waist, revealing the Resistance: Fall of Man alien skull t-shirt she favored. She carefully set the missile down at Kurama and Rodney's feet.
Tara: Um, No. I'm sorry, but, this is mine. I'm keeping it with me.
Kurama and Arteza sighed, slightly annoyed at that.
Kurama: Alright. look how about this; we put it in a secure container, Me and Tara write our names on it, and we store it with Melody's stash. I'll put a seal spell on it; that way, when we need it, all I have to do is unlock the container. Ok?
Tara: Works for me.
Melody: I can accept that.
Rodney scanned it with his bracelets that Kurama and Arteza made for him.
Rodney: This is the shiza? Crap, this thing is old. The markings… huh. Its 40 years old. Did you touch up the markings? They look new. And the body of the missile… is only 10 years old. wow. you put this together well.
Tara: Kurama taught you well, sweetheart. and thank you. Kai, Barrett; here's the missile.
Tara noticed Melody and knelt down. She smiled at Melody.
Tara: Hi, I'm Tara Avro. I'm Kurama's cousin.
Melody smiled and shook Tara's hand.
Melody: I'm Melody. Thank you for helping us.
Seeing Melody, Tara had a weird feeling that she was familiar. Tara knew she couldn't be their Melody, but….
Tara: It's no problem. I'm just surprised that whoever was flying that junker actually survived a dogfight with me. Speaking of that, is he around? I wanna talk to him. Horus, I think, is his name. Least, that's what I heard over the radio.
Melody: I'll get him for you. And I must admit, you were very impressive. It is rare that I see anybody that can rival Horus, Hoagie, or my cousin, Tails, when it comes to flying planes.
Melody ran to get Horus, leaving Tara to kill that over.
Tara: Kurama, before you go; I like your new look. you look good with fur on your face longer, and what, you shaped it into a goatee. Make's you look older. And harsher. Nice.
Kurama stroked his chin thoughtfully.
Kurama: Yeah. I thought, 'No regs. Why not?
Tara: It suits you. What doesn't suit me is how in the flying f**k was that junker able to repel my bullets?! That's not fair! I didn't see any signs of a f**king magic shield around that f**king thing! And my sensors didn't pick up anything f**king unusual! My bullets should have been hitting that f**king junker, not bounce off an invisible wall like in some f**king cartoon!
Kurama and Rodney, along with Kai Shin and Barrett, comforted her and helped her calm down from her frustrations from her dogfight, leaving about 5 minutes before Melody returned with Horus. She didn't have to wait long, as only a little bit later, Melody returned with Horus in tow. Tara had her favorite song playing, which helped soothe her nerves further.
Melody: Tara, this is Horus. Horus, this is Kurama's cousin Tara.
Tara shook Horus' hand. She smiled, feeling a familiarity with Horus as well.
Tara: So, you're the hotshot pilot who survived a dogfight with me. Dude, you almost got vaporized.
Horus: my plane is ok. But, 'Scalpel'? I heard that word at one point.
Tara shook her head and stood up.
Tara: yo, take a look.
She led Horus around to the nose of her gunship.
Tara: This is my plane. It's an ACV-88 Galaxy Fox gunship. We call this type a Jink, for short. This one is my personal one. Its name is Into The Nothing. I named it after my favorite song.
Horus: I think I know that song. Kurama and Rodney listen to that stuff. By the way, my "junker," as you called it, was one of my favorite planes, and it's named the S-Hurricane.
Tara: Then Rodney has wonderful taste in music. Now look at this.
Tara led Horus around the plane.
Tara: 57mm rotary cannon designation 'Scalpel', Air-to-Air/Air-to-Ground Dragon Fox Omni-Target missiles, unguided rockets, and anything I want on the sides down here. In this case, I have a pair of 45mm Silencer automatic grenade launchers. This setup is for close air support. but, I have other planes besides this one. if I had my F-211 North Star, you wouldn't have stood a chance.
Horus: I doubt it. Your nuke wouldn't have been able to even melt the paint off the S-Hurricane! And even if you did have your F-211 North Star, you wouldn't have been able to do anything to me in the S-Hurricane!
Tara (getting frustrated all over again): That doesn't even make sense, my nuke SO would have killed you! F**K MY BULLETS SHOULD HAVE HIT YOU IF THEY HADN'T BEEN ACTING LIKE THEY WERE IN A F**KING CARTOON!
Horus: Calm down Tara. Look, I had my Flight Buffer Magnetizer, F.B.M. active. That was why your bullets were acting like that. The F.B.M. blocks any projectile coming and makes the projectile act like your bullets. And I have a personally, and insanely, upgraded one in the S-Hurricane, making it that field be able to withstand anything, including nukes. If you want, I can give you one to install on whatever plane you want.
Tara (calming down, hearing Horus's explanation): I like that. And I want to take you up on that offer. That is a rather useful thing to have installed on a plane! Especially ones designed for combat. Though can I get more than one F.B.M.? I have a LOT of planes, and I know Kurama would DEFINITELY want to install one on his special plane, the War Wolf.
Horus: Sure! I have no problem with that! Let's go!
With that, Horus and Tara went on talking about their planes.
Meanwhile, with Kurama, Arteza, Rodney, Barrett, and Kai Shin…
Barrett: We're putting this crap on full frakking lockdown, right?
Kurama: Yeah, Barrett; don't worry about it. Which, speaking of this, has Kai gotten to the sections on Tactical Doctrine Concerning Nuclear Weapons and Fundamental Principles of Nuclear Physics for Special Forces?
Barrett: He got to the stuff about how and when to deploy a nuke, but he said he wanted you to teach me about how they work.
Kai Shin: Yeah. I thought it would be better coming from our resident physics professor. I mean, you are an alchemist. Plus, I wanted you to teach him about underwater combat. I know Folsom is our expert on that, but he kinda doesn't like Folsom right now.
Kurama: I get where you're coming from Barrett. My little sister Mia; man, is she a hard-charging pain in the frakkin' butt drill sergeant. She'd actually cuss at me and hurt my feelings for running off with Sheila and all. She did the same to my twin sister Samantha. Mom had to get on to her a lot for hurting our feelings. and imagine, she's 22 and she can make me cry. What's crazy is that Folsom picked up her drill sergeant routine. And clearly for the worst, cause I ain't fond of him now either. I just hope that me being gone has mellowed her out. Like, I love her and all cause she's my sister, but I don't hang out with her. she can be just plain mean sometimes.
Rodney: Man, your family is something, Kurama. I hope she stops being mean to you. And yeah, I don't like Folsom either, he's mean!
Kai Shin: Mira always said that the reason Mia was mean to Kurama was because he was the one who got the most freedom. Plus, he had the most destructive powers. Mira's theory was that Mia was jealous of Kurama; he devoted pretty much all of his time to Sheila and Samantha, he was the strongest, the smartest, and got whatever he wanted. it was the whole 'first-born child is most spoiled' thing. it only worsened when Samantha came into the picture.
Kurama: And you'd think I was a spoiled brat. no; I was the good kid. I kept to myself. Never gave Mom any trouble. It was Mia and her sour attitude that got Mom pissed. I mean, Mom would ground Mia for making me cry. and with Khalilah and Sophie, they were the middle ground. My problem was when I wouldn't shut up talking about a game I was playing, a book I was reading, or something I was learning about. Saami was the same way.
Just then Melody came up to them, solemn and grim. She was holding a scroll in her hands. Kurama and Arteza didn't have a good feeling about the scroll.
Rodney: Melody, what's going on? What's wrong?
Melody: Number 0, do you remember the speech I gave when I announced that you were going to be my successor, and promoted you from being an intern to an agent in the MKND?
Rodney: Yeah…?
Melody: Well, I unintentionally cursed you that day.
Arteza: The f**k?!
Kurama: Back that s**t up! What are you talking about? What curse?
Melody: Listen, this scroll I am holding has an old MKND spell written upon it. It is a very dangerous spell, which could give a person ultimate power or something along those lines. And…well the requirement for this spell to work, is to rip out the heart of the one who has a golden heart in a freaky ceremony, while the subject is still alive.
Barrett: But anybody can say that a person has a golden heart!
Melody: You are correct, but there is a catch. This person must be deemed to have a golden heart by the current person who wields the world ring of Hope and has to be announced to a large audience of mainly children. And since I am that current wielder, and there was a large audience of children that I announced that to….
Rodney: You unintentionally cursed me by unintentionally painting a target on my back.
Melody: Yes. I am so sorry Rodney.
Rodney simply hugged her, as she began to cry.
Rodney: I forgive you. I know you didn't do it on purpose. You're not an evil a**hole. And besides, you could have done that ceremony yourself and get that ultimate power for yourself. You are not that kind of person. Besides, you were the first kid to show me true compassion and concern. You always do what you believe is right. And I trust you.
Kurama: At least you told us. Now I know to look out for psychos who know that spell and eliminate them before they get to Rodney.
Ateza: F**k, this is gonna be a trick.
Melody: Fortunately, nobody knows about this spell and its true requirements. And I am holding the only copy of that spell that is known to exist. Kurama, you and your clone take this scroll and lock this down. And believe me, nothing can destroy it. I tried everything in the past. You name it, I probably did it.
Kurama: Did you use napalm on it?
Melody: Did it.
Arteza: White phosphorus?
Melody: Been there, done that.
Kurama: Lava?
Melody: Tried, but somehow it was immune to the heat and the properties of lava, and anything like lava, like molten steel.
Kurama and Arteza sighed deeply, worried very much about this turn of events.
Kurama: I'll try to destroy this scroll myself. I am not going to let Rodney get killed because of this spell. I know of too many freaks who would LOVE to get this spell and use it. I am not going to let anybody get a hold of this spell. OR Rodney.
Rodney: I believe you. I trust you with my life.
Melody (handing the scroll over): Please take this away.
Kurama: Done. I am always going to keep this on me until I figure out how to destroy it along with all its traces in this world.
Melody: Thank you.