"What?!?" shouted the Robot Master.
"Please, forgive me, I didn't mean to say it, it slipped." begged Clayton.
"Stupid!" yelled the Robot Master, slapping Clayton's cheek.
"Ahh!" screamed Clayton in pain.
"No matter though, I have an agent onboard."
"Then why did you hit me?" cried Clayton, holding to his jaw.
"I have to be amused somehow." laughed the Robot Master.
"So what, you got another robot spying on them?"
"No." hissed the Robot Master, sitting on his throne and turning towards his computer "I have something much better."
Back at the base, Flamer and Morgan arrived only to be met by four squealing girls.
"Ohmygosh, it's Flamer!" cooed the green cat with the blue dress.
"Who's the other guy? He's kind of cute." said the blue hedgehog with the red and green shirt.
"Can I get their autographs?!?" cheered the red mongoose with the green dress.
"May I cook you something?!?" asked the yellow bunny with the cyan apron.
"Girls girls, please." said Flamer, backing away from the fan girls "We just got back from an important mission we're really tired."
"Afraid you're not going to be doing much resting." said Jerome, walking up to Flamer with a pink female hedgehog following behind.
"Who is that?" asked Morgan.
"This is Jess. She's our cartographer." said Jerome.
"Nice to meet you." said Jess, extending her hand to Morgan.
"N-N-Nice to meet y-you." shivered Morgan, shaking Jess' hand awkwardly.
"Hope you guys are ready for a long trip." said Jerome.
"Long trip? We just got back." complained Flamer.
"I know, but we got info that the bots are heading to the Temple of Nowhere." said Jerome.
"Temple of Nowhere?" asked Flamer.
"That may be why they needed Nas for." said Morgan.
"Yeah but why Nas? He doesn't know anything about temples, he's more of the fossil guy." explained Flamer.
"We figure it might be a trap." said Jerome.
"That means I'm going with you." said Jessica.
"Me too." spoke Felina, coming from the base.
"Felina, I know you're worried about Nas, but..."
"Jerome, I'm going, and I'm not letting you stop me."
Jerome looked at Felina. She had a serious look upon her face. He knew that no matter what he said she was going.
"Alright." said Jerome.
"We'll take the Faller 9." said Flamer.
"Good idea." agreed Morgan.
"Good." started Jerome "I wish you all luck."
As the four made their way to the Temple of Nowhere all the way in the Desert Zone, the Robot Master approached the entrance of the temple with Clayton and Nas behind him.
"Now..." said the Robot Master "open it."
"I don't know how." answered Nas.
"You are the archeologist, are you not?" asked the Robot Master, staring down at Nas.
"I am, but..."
"Then open the door!" ordered the Robot Master, pushing Nas towards the temple's entrance.
"Okay... I guess I just... um..." stuttered Nas, looking over the door.
"Use the key!" shouted the Robot Master.
"Oh, right, the key." said Nas, reaching into his back pocket for the necklace Clayton took from the princess.
Nas nervously pointed the key at the door which began to shake and split open.
"Go!" ordered the Robot Master, pushing Nas inside.
"We're almost there." said Flamer, guiding the Faller 9 to the Temple of Nowhere.
"Should be just below according to the coordinates." said Morgan.
"Then we'll start going down." nodded Flamer "I was never good at reading these things."
On the desert sands below, the Faller 9 came down gently. Flamer, Morgan, Jess and Felina hopped out of the cockpit and headed to the entrance of the temple.
"Let's be careful in here." said Flamer.
"Don't worry, I've been in temples before." said Felina.
"Yeah, but they don't call this one the Temple of Nowhere for nothing." said Jess "I'd definitely take Flamer's advice and try to be cautious and take things slow."
"But what if Nas is..." started Felina.
"I'm sure Nas is fine." said Morgan.
"Thank you." smiled Felina.
"Come on, let's go." said Flamer, leading the way with a ball of fire in his hand.
Deeper in the temple the Robot Master, Clayton, Nas and the robot guards walked until they came upon a room with a sand puzzle.
"Solve it." commanded the Robot Master, pushing Nas into the room.
Nas looked over the puzzle upon the wall and the four vases sitting on the pedestals. He took a closer look at the buttons and read the writing on each one.
"Here we are." said Nas, pressing the button on the second pedestal, causing a hole to open above the vase, filling it full of sand.
"What about the rest?" asked the impatient Robot Master.
"Give me time please." said Nas, looking over the puzzle, and then pressing the third button.
"How do you figure this stuff out so fast?" asked Clayton, looking clueless.
"I play video games." answered Nas, pressing the first button and then going to straight to the fourth.
After hitting all four buttons the puzzle wall opened up, revealing a set of stairs leading down. The Robot Master approached, commanding his robots, Clayton and Nas to go in first.
After walking for ten minutes through the winding hallway, Morgan, Flamer, Jess and Felina came to the room with the sand puzzle.
"Looks like a puzzle." said Felina.
"Think you can solve it?" asked Flamer.
"I know I can solve it." answered Felina excitedly.
While Flamer and Felina looked over the puzzle, Morgan and Jess stood back as they tried to figure it out.
"I never liked puzzles." said Jess.
"Really?" said Morgan "Me neither."
"They're so annoying to solve." said Jess, rolling her eyes.
"I know right." chuckled Morgan.
"Sometimes I wish these types of places were easier to get into."
"You've been in a other temples?"
"A few. A long time ago. With my parents. They breezed through each and every temple they've visited."
"They sounded pretty great."
"They were."
"Did anything happen to them?"
"They died on one of their adventures. I was a teenager then, and I was a lot more mischievous. After getting their hands on the treasure they were seeking someone attacked them from behind. I don't know who it was. But I remember those red eyes."
"Got it." said Felina, pressing the final button and causing a door to open.
"Let's go in." said Flamer.
After getting past the door the door shutting tight right behind them.
"It's dark in here." said Morgan.
"I got a light." said Flamer, creating a fire in his palm "Follow me."
In the deepest part of the temple the Robot Master, Clayton and Nas entered a room with a pedestal in the center. On the pedestal was a brass chest.
"There it is." hissed the Robot Master, pushing Nas towards the pedestal "Open it! Now!"
"I don't even know how." said Nas "I had a hard enough time trying to complete that stupid puzzle."
"You made it look so easy though." said Clayton.
"Shut up!" commanded the Robot Master "Open it."
Nas slowly reached for the chest and flipped open the lid. As soon as it was open the room grew darker. Ghostly howls filled the air as a cloud of black dust circled the room, engulfing the pedestal and the chest.
"W-We gotta get out of here!" cried Clayton.
"Not until I get what I want fool!" shouted the Robot Master.
Once the dust disappeared and the howls dissolved the Robot Master approached the chest, finding a red jewel inside of a gold medallion. The Robot Master placed on his neck. He felt overwhelming power surging through him.
"This is great." laughed the Robot Master "I am now the most powerful thing in the universe!"
"The Squad is going to stop you." said Nas, gritting his teeth in anger "You won't get away with this!"
"I already have." chuckled the Robot Master "Hit him."
The robots behind Nas lifted their guns, hitting him over the head, knocking him out cold.
"Nas..."
"Nas... wake up."
"Where am I?" asked Nas, holding to his throbbing head.
"You're in the Temple of Nowhere, remember?" answered Flamer.
"Yeah, I remember... oh no."
Nas jumped up and went to the small chest, now laying in the floor.
"He took it." said Nas.
"Took what?" asked Flamer.
"The medallion." said Nas "With that medallion he's got more power than you can imagine."
"Then we need to get it from him." said Morgan.
"But how?" asked Felina.
"I'll tell you how." started Flamer "We work up the guts to take the fight straight to those bots."
"What're saying?" asked Nas.
"I'm saying no more individual missions, we all go into their base, guns blazing." answered Flamer.
"We could be killed." said Jess.
"We're soldiers, we should be out there risking our lives anyways!" Flamer responded heatedly.
"He's right." said Morgan.
"What?" said Nas "You're willing to go straight to their base and get killed?"
"No, but I think it's time we infiltrated that place. Give them an attack they won't see coming."
"But we're not ready for that yet." said Felina.
"Felina is right." agreed Jess "I know tensions are high, but we need to think this through rationally."
"Rationally?!?" stormed Flamer "Is that all this team does is think?!? We're an army! We started this whole thing! We should be..."
"Enough!" yelled Jess "If you want to go then go. We're not stopping you."
"Don't mind if I do then." said Flamer walking out of the room "You coming Morgan?"
Morgan looked at Jess, he could see the sadness and worry in her eyes. He felt bad for her. But he also wanted to take down the Robot Master as soon as possible.
"I-I'll stay here for now." answered Morgan, making Jess smile.
"Suit yourself." said Flamer, leaving without the rest.
Outside the Temple of Nowhere the Robot Master and his army approached the helicopter to head to their base, until they were stopped by a voice coming from the temple.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"And who may I ask is asking?" asked the Robot Master, slowly turning towards the entrance of the temple.
"It is I, the great Luma."
From the darkness of the temple entrance stepped out a scrawny old cat, wearing a coat with bandages wrapped around his waist and his forehead.
"I believe you have something that belongs to me." said the vile cat "I would like it back."
"How do they say this? Finders keepers, losers weepers?" laughed the Robot Master "The only way you're taking this medallion is if you fight me for it, and I doubt you'll be any match for me."
"Maybe I wouldn't be any match for..." snarled Luma "But my son would be."
From the shadows of the entrance of the Temple of Nowhere a taller, younger and slender cat, wearing a long black coat and carrying two cutlasses and with glowing red eyes revealed himself.
"Luma the second." chuckled Luma "Kill them."
Luma II lunged towards the Robot Master who blocked the cutlasses from ripping through him.
"Strong one you are." laughed the Robot Master "But not very clever."
The Robot Master kicked Luma II away and dodged him as he swung his cutlasses at his head. Luma II, getting too carried away slashed apart a nearby pillar, causing it to fall on him and giving the Robot Master enough time to escape.
"They are getting away." growled Luma II, getting up unscathed and shaking the dust off of himself.
"Let them go." said Luma.
"But they have the medallion!"
"I have an army at my command. Follow me."
As Luma and Luma II walk back into the temple, Flamer sneaks around the corner and sees the two approaching. He hides behind the wall and stays quiet.
"My brothers. They will be able to get the medallion back." said Luma II.
"It isn't the medallion that gave us all power you imbecile." yelled Luma "We have all power already."
"But we can still be beaten. With the medallion we could be invincible."
"We are vampires. There is strength in numbers. Beating us will not be easy."
As the two walked away Flamer knew he had to warn the others. He ran back in the direction he came and bumped into Morgan.
"Ouch." yelled Morgan.
"Sorry." said Flamer.
"I thought you were leaving." said Morgan "Why'd you come back?"
"Because now we don't just have robots to deal with. We have vampires too." panted Flamer.
"Vampires?!?" shouted the others in unison.
"Shh." shushed Flamer "They might hear.
"What do we do?" whispered Nas.
"Let's get to the Faller 9. Quick." said Flamer, turning around and leading everyone to the entrance of the temple.
As the team left the area the vampires wandered deep into the temple where they kept a ruby orb. Luma looked inside and saw the squad flying away.
"Hmm. Other visitors." smiled Luma, seeing the sight of the base in the orb.
"Father, what about..."
"Silence." commaned Luma as he looked deeper into the orb "Oh yes... this is where we begin."