Chapter Six:

Inkweaver Detected

She soared through the skies over the countryside of the Mushroom Kingdom, surrounded by a bright aura of power, scanning the land for a sign of the magic anime pen once wielded by the axolotl who created it. Melony held her sword at the ready, her eyes blazing with great determination as she sought for the missing Inkweaver.

After Axol's death, protecting Inkweaver was very important, alongside finishing the late manga writer's not-yet finished project. The events on Anime Island made it clear that letting Inkweaver fall into the wrong hands wasn't an option, only a pure-hearted manga artist could use it.

Melony kept alert. At any moment, with Inkweaver in the hands of whomever had stolen it, living replicas of anime characters could come to life and begin terrorizing people across the Mushroom Kingdom. On top of that, as it was known that Inkweaver was powered by Inkling ink, the thief could be nabbing Inklings for their ink by now.

Wherever the thief was, it was only a matter of time before Melony found them. And when she did, she would subdue the thief, and take back the Inkweaver. Once that was settled, Melony could rest and have that movie date with Jaxl.

Her hand gripped the handle of her sword, and the nigh-omnipotent watermelon warrior continued to look around until her instincts warned her of inevitable danger. Melony gasped, and swerved hard, right as a glowing blue orb of light streaked past her. The waifu warrior straightened herself, and looked around for her attacker, knowing they were close.

Moments later, she saw someone streaking her way at incredible speed. One look at who was coming at her, and Melony's eyes widened as she recognized her incoming attacker: Vegeta, a replica of him in his Super Sayan form anyway.

False Vegeta, surrounded by that unmistakable orange aura that surrounded characters summoned by Inkweaver in the past, glared at Melony with fierce intensity as he streaked his way towards her. The watermelon waifu swerved hard, narrowly dodging the Sayan replica's line of attack.

"MY STRENGTH IS OVER NINE-THOUSAND!" False Vegeta shouted as he swerved around, facing Melony with full fury.

"You are a fiction." Melony replied, "Your strength means nothing..."

"TAKE THAT BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

False Vegeta threw himself at the watermelon-turned half-deity, and tried to punch her, but Melony dodged every last punch thrown by the Vegeta replica with precise speed and timing. Left, right, left, right, right, right, left. The punches kept coming, and Melony evaded every blow without breaking a sweat.

Now, it was her turn to fight back. Melony held her sword firmly, and focused on her inner strength as well as her power. A mighty aura of deity energy burst forth from within, surrounding and strengthening Melony as she let out a battle cry, and she charged at False Vegeta. She kicked him in the face, sending the replica flying into a mountain...

Usually, when a replica summoned by Inkweaver was taken down, they would fade. However, False Vegeta was a little different, especially as he had all the strengths and knowledge of the real Vegeta. The hillside exploded as Vegeta flew back into the air, surrounded by a torrent of golden light, indicating he was getting stronger.

"YOUR STRENGTH ISN'T EVEN OVER NINE-THOUSAAAAAAAND!" False Vegeta boasted, "I CAN BECOME STRONGER THAN EVER, AND I CAN OUTCLASS YOU AS WELL AS GOKU! I AM THE GREATEST SAYAN OF THE AGE, AND NO ONE CAN EVER TOP ME!"

"Vegeta, where is the Inkweaver?" Melony demanded, her voice firm and serious.

"The pen of unimaginable anime power?!" False Vegeta exclaimed, "The artifact that gave me life and strength as wielded by Doctors Cortex and Pootis, the greatest minds in the universe, who will use Inkweaver to change the world in many ways?!"

Melony was shocked. "Did you just say... Cortex?! And Pootis?!" She cried, "As in, Doctor Neo Cortex, and Doctor Pootis?! Crash Bandicoot's nemesis is teaming up with one of the world's most ridiculous supervillains, and THEY STOLE INKWEAVER?!"

"That is correct!" False Vegeta nodded, "And with Inkweaver's power, and their intelligence combined. This chaotic world will be corrected, and I will ensure eternal peace and victory for all time! Anime shall unite the world, along with science, no matter the odds. AND I AM THE GREAT CHAMPION OF WORLD CHAMPIONS!"

Despite the ridiculousness of the revelation, Melony was furious. She charged False Vegeta while he was boasting, and punched him in the face. And then, she slashed through his shoulder with her blade and removed the Sayan replica's arm, making False Vegeta cry out right before Melony grabbed him by the throat.

"Where are the doctors?" Melony snarled.

"No! This is humiliating!" False Vegeta grunted, "Why should I tell you?!"

Melony roared, and threw the injured, sentient anime replica warrior towards a very large mushroom in the field. The watermelon warrior launched herself, flying towards the replica of Vegeta with determination to deliver the final blow before he struck the big shroom. She flew closer, brought up her sword, and slashed the Sayan through his torso.

BOOM! The injured False Vegeta crashed into the mushroom, and his body vanished in the dust. Melony descended to the ground slowly, and, when the explosion settled, she found the two people responsible for the Inkweaver theft: Doctor Cortex, and Doctor Pootis!

In fact, that mushroom had been no ordinary mushroom, it was some kind of mobile lab/hideout that the two villains had been using in the Mushroom Kingdom countryside. And neither of them had tried to relocate it during Melony and False Vegeta's fight, talk about supervillain laziness.

And in Doctor Cortex's hand was Inkweaver.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'VE BEEN EXPOSED!" Doctor Pootis cried.

"Don't hurt us! We can explain!" Doctor Cortex dropped to his knees, cowering in fear as Melony came closer, "Spare our lives, spare our lives!"

Melony grabbed the Inkweaver from Cortex's hand, and slapped him across the face. Then, to add to the humiliation, she kicked Pootis in the balls. The masked and caped supervillain fell over, his hands covering his groin, as he yelped in agony. Never did he think he'd be humiliated like this, exposed and kicked in the nuts by a watermelon waifu.

"Uh, we can explain?" Cortex said with a sheepish smile.

Melony aimed her blade under his chin. "How did you and Doctor Pootis team up and why did you steal Inkweaver?" She asked in a threatening manner.

"Doctor Cortex and I have discussed collaborating for a long time!" Pootis said quickly, waving his hands in a panic, "And we've discussed working together to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, and I offered to help him kill Crash Bandicoot once. This is not how I expected a collaboration like this to go."

"WHY DID YOU STEAL INKWEAVER?!" Melony shouted.

"Heh-heh! Actually, we didn't, it was given to us while we were in the middle of discussing ideas for a villain collaboration." Dr. Cortex explained.

"By who?"

"Some fellow in an orange jumpsuit, claims he commits crimes with direction and magnitude, quite an odd guy. I swear he got stuck on the moon once." Pootis interjected, "He claimed this was all his idea, but I feel like someone paid him to take Inkweaver and give it to us."

Melony backed away, filled with surprise as she processed the information and held Inkweaver firmly. It was remarkable there was more to Inkweaver's theft, and the collaboration between Neo Cortex and Doctor Pootis than met the eye. They hadn't stolen the Inkweaver, despite Vegeta's claims, it had been some guy in an orange jumpsuit.

Wait a minute.

Guy in an orange jumpsuit, committing crimes with direction and magnitude. Direction and magnitude, that term was important, especially as they matched the description of...

Melony's eyes widened as she thought about it more, and a name popped into her mind. No, no way.

And yet, even without visual proof, it was hard to deny. The thief who'd somehow broken into the house, stolen the Inkweaver, and given it to Doctors Neo Cortex and Pootis, likely in an effort to throw Melony off the scent despite the fact both villains were stupid, was none other than Vector Perkins, known for committing crimes with both direction and magnitude.