Chapter 11 – Under the Crest
"I'm just saying, Radicola is always good, but I still wouldn't drink it just about anytime. I have this special set of criteria for it." – Shala told Naver as they were exploring the underground caves.
"Set of criteria? We're still talking about soda, right?"
"Yeah. There is a time and a place to drink Radicola so that it tastes better." – Shala explained with a completely straight face, but Naver looked at Shala as if he was talking crazy.
"Okay, like right now, for example. I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, and a bit tired. So, even if I had the chance, I wouldn't drink any right now. I mean, I guess I might, since it's been a while since I've had it, and I can't wait till I drink it again." – Shala explained. "But yeah, if I were to drink it right now… For one, my taste buds would be too dry properly feel the taste of it, and also, I'd be distracted by the feeling of hunger, and the taste of Radicola wouldn't register so, I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I'd want to." – Shala kept rambling on passionately about Radicola.
"And you keep track of all that when you drink soda?" – Naver asked in bewilderment.
"Pretty much, yeah." – Shala casually replied. "As I said, there is a specific set of rules. I try to avoid drinking if I'm hungry, if I'm too full, if my mouth is dry, or, if I've had too much water. Also, it tastes completely different right after I've woken up, and I actually kinda like it, but that bit's kinda complicated. Like, waking up in the morning-"
"You mean, afternoon." – Naver remarked.
"Oh, shut up." – Shala rolled his eyes. "Anyway, between waking up in the morning, and waking up after an evening nap, those two have a completely different feel to it. It's like Radicola tastes substantially different if I sleep a couple hours in the evening. I still don't know why it's like that. Well, I have a theory that the taste buds may not have fully woken up, but then that doesn't explain why it tastes different from-"
"Dude. you have a problem." – Naver shook his head.
"You're only saying that because you've never even had any. You'll probably be singing a different song when we've reached Tetrax's ship. That's where the vending machine for them is. And then you'll see. Oh, you will definitely see-"
"Hold on, hold on." – Naver interrupted. "Look at that. Is this normal for these caves?"
They had reached a steel door. A sealed one.
"No. But we did see a wall like this earlier, so this must be the way inside." – Shala supposed. "Oh hey, I saw a door like this a couple days ago. Right before all this started. Yeah." – Shala pointed out as he approached it.
"What's behind it?"
"Demongo told me it was Fusion Mandark's lair, but he lied. It was some sort of, uh… storage unit. That's where the chronoton particle was. The thing Jay got all worked up about, remember? This might be another one of these "storage units" or something." – Shala told Naver.
"Did Alice or Jay ever mention anything like this?" – Naver asked him.
"All Alice said was we'd find the exit a bit after we passed the rock formation that looks like a butt. We passed that just now, right?"
"Yeah. After you stopped laughing." – Naver remarked. "Has there been a fork in the path since then?"
"I think there were a couple side passages but they were too narrow. There was also a hole in the ceiling that was dripping Fusion Matter. And Alice said that at this point we're just supposed to keep heading forward." – Shala recalled.
"Well, I guess that's what she meant. How do we get this thing to open, though?" – Naver asked while staring at the keypad next to the steel door.
"It might be 2709 again." – Shala remembered the last time he got the door open. As Naver typed in "2", "7", "0" and almost pressed "9", Shala quickly added "Hey, careful though. There's a couple turrets that activate if you get it wrong."
"Oh, now he tells me." – Naver rolled his eyes.
Fortunately, they didn't have to guess, as the door started opening up on its own, and revealed a narrow steel-lined tunnel up ahead, illuminated by bleak blue neon lights. The passage stretched for as long as they could see.
Shala and Naver looked at each other in uncertainty, unsure about going in. "Well, if Alice and Jay got out of there alive, we should do fine. Right?" – Shala asked, Naver shrugged, and they both reluctantly headed inside.
After a couple minutes of eerie silence, they reached a second door. Shala stood there, looking at the walls, hoping to see where the cameras watching them were. There had to be cameras around, why else would someone open the first door for them? Before Shala got the chance to, however, this door opened up as well. From what they saw in the next hallway, Shala and Naver weren't sure if they preferred this or the empty bleak tunnel from earlier.
This hallway was filled with what looked animal parts. Hunting trophies, actually. There was the skin of a tiger, or a tiger-like creature on the floor as a carpet. To their right was the skull of some horned alien on a stand. The walls were filled with hung heads of fantastical creatures. As Shala and Naver passed by, among others they saw the heads of a three-eyed, three-horned beast with huge fangs, a what looked like an alien donkey, a chimpanzee wearing an eyepatch and a tall fez, grinning stupidly… They passed the taxidermized remains of a large, purple sabretooth cat-like alien. Then there were more heads, such as a moose with 6 eyes, the gray, eyeless head of what Shala recognized as a Null Guardian and some sort of weird lizard. Naver looked back and noticed a pair of giant horns that were decorating the doorway from which they came in. They reached the end of the hall, where stood a reconstructed Terra Claw without the Fusion Matter bits.
Shala and Naver looked at each other again, hesitant to say anything.
"Ever seen anything like this before?" – Naver asked.
"Uh… Definitely not. But there's no other door here, so maybe we missed one among the trophies, or in the long hallway?"
"Maybe we should head back before it's our heads hanging on this wall." – Naver remarked.
With no other way to go, they turned back and passed by each of the trophies once again. The lizard, the Null Guardian, the moose, the chimp with the eyepatch… As Naver looked into the chimp's remaining eye, suddenly it winked.
"Come on, guys, don't leave yet, you can stick around." – the mounted monkey head told them casually. Shala was startled, but not as much as Naver, whose powers almost kicked in out of shock.
"Heh, heh!" – the monkey's head laughed. The hallway's wall opened up and slid in opposite directions, revealing a chimpanzee who just had his head stuck through a hole in the wall.
"What the hell?" – Shala asked him.
"Wait… Bobo Haha, right?" – Naver asked.
"What were you doing in the wall?" – Shala demanded from Bobo. "And what's up with this place?"
"Guys, guys, I'm just a lowly butler." – Bobo told them with a grin on his face. "I'd suggest y'all direct all questions at the of generous host of this fine establishment." – he said hint of irony in his voice and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder.
Only now did Shala and Naver look around the room they had stepped into. The walls were, of course, covered with more trophies, with the biggest creature's head resting on the fireplace. There were also various types of guns and other hunting equipment displayed, mounted on the wall. They seemed well looked after – not a fleck of dust in sight. Near the fireplace was an armchair, with a globe next to it. Shala and Naver leaned over to the right, expecting this mysterious hunter to be sitting inside, but it was vacant.
Instead, a door opened up and a tall lion-man wearing a safari vest and pants stepped in. "Oi! What's this?" – he growled at Bobo. "I told you lot not to bring any new…" – he yelled at Bobo, but suddenly stopped at the sight of Shala. "Ah…" – his face contorted into a furious smile. "It's you!"
The lion-man grabbed Shala by the jacket, picked him up and slammed him against the wall. "You're the one that broke into my storage facility first, aren't ya? You hacked my keyboard, destroyed my defense turrets, and stole my chronoton particle!" – he roared. "And now, if you know what's good for ya, you're gonna give it back." – the lion pulled him so close that Shala could see the chipped texture of his fangs.
"Hey, put me down, dude! I don't have the chronoton particle anymore!" – Shala answered while trying to pull away from him. "I gave it to Demongo!"
"I know you gave it to Demongo! You're gonna get it back from him!" – the hunter roared and dropped Shala to the ground.
"Who the hell is this guy?" – Shala asked Bobo after he sat up. When he heard Shala ask that, the lion-man growled.
"I am Huntor!" – he pridefully declared. "The greatest hunter in the universe!" – he added with a bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes.
"Yeah, I'll say…" – Shala muttered as he looked at the trophies behind him. Come to think of it, he had found a box with even more of his trophies in this Huntor's storage unit back when he got the chronoton particle to begin with.
"Hold on, Huntor? As in Huntor's Crest?" – Naver asked.
Huntor gave out a growl as confirmation. "Aye."
"As it turns out, he's had this secret base down here since before the war even started." – Bobo explained to them. "Nobody knew it was here until a couple weeks ago when this bozo started hunting me down and kidnapped me as his bet when I was trying to track down Fusion Courage's Lair in the Firepits!"
"I've explained it to you already, Bobo, I couldn't stand being caged in my own lair. I haven't had the chance for a good hunt ever since you humans discovered my hunting island. And to pursue one of the remaining EVOs left on Earth, well, I couldn't resist myself." – Huntor explained himself. "Sharing my base with you is already punishment enough…" – he groaned to his teeth.
"You're lucky this chimp is potty trained." – Bobo retorted.
"Hold on." – Shala intervened. "Okay, suppose you had your secret lair here, sure, but then how the hell is this area even called Huntor's Crest if nobody knew you're here?"
"I'd very much like to know that myself. Maybe you should ask your Petrosapien mate up on that airship." – Huntor told him.
"Yeah, if we ever find it…" – Shala mumbled.
"So is this where Alice and Jay were? And all the other Providence Agents" – Naver asked Bobo.
"Oh, them? Yeah, they're still here. We're all here now, under Huntor's gracious hospitality. Come on, I'll take you to the living quarters." – Bobo led the way, stepping forward with his knuckles then swinging his legs.
"Now wait just a second there." – Huntor grabbed Shala's shoulder with his paw-like hand. His claws gripped Shala's skin. "Don't think for a moment there that I'm gonna forget your debt!" – he groaned at Shala.
"Okay, okay, what if I told you I already did something for you in return?" – Shala asked him. Huntor raised a furry eyebrow. "Me and Naver just got back from killing Fusion Courage. Your base is near the Firepits, right? I don't think Fusion Courage, whose famous quotes include stuff like "I like seeing you suffer", would have made a good neighbor for you. And what do you even need the chronoton particle for, anyway? You were keeping it holed up in a separate storage facility. It's not like you were using it!"
"Hrrrrrngh…" – Huntor groaned in consideration. "True, I wasn't gonna mess with the bloody fabric of time… But still. It was bounty reward, given by a Chronosapien, and I can't just have it known around the intergalactic bounty hunter market that Huntor let a barely-evolved ape from a backwater planet steal a chronoton particle from him!" – Huntor told him.
"Oh, come on. How could there possibly be an intergalactic bounty hunter around here to find that out?"
"Tetrax Shard, for one." – Huntor told him.
"Well, Tetrax and his ship are missing, and I don't think he's the gossipy type either way. Come on, I did help you by getting rid of Fusion Courage, didn't I?"
"Yeah, we totally did!" – Naver confirmed.
"Mrrrrh…" – Huntor growled. "Fine. But I'll still be keeping a close eye on you!" – Huntor told him and sat down in his armchair. Considering themselves dismissed, Shala and Naver followed Bobo.
"You're seriously lucky we happened to have gotten rid of Fusion Courage." – Naver told Shala as he left.
"What I'm wondering right now is why the hell Alice or Jay didn't tell us about this fucking guy. You'd think something like an alien bounty hunter living in a secret bunker wouldn't have slipped their minds that easily, would it?"
"So why did you not want to tell Shala and Naver about Huntor?" – Alice asked Jay as they were riding their hoverboards through Dinosaur Pass.
"What? Oh." – Jay gave a sly grin. "Huntor was who Shala stole that chronoton particle from, and I just wanted that to be a surprise for him as he got there. I wonder how he reacted to him." – he said. That was probably the most expressive Alice had seen him so far.
"Anyway, how many more people are gonna bite my head off just for this stupid chronoton particle?" – Shala kept on ranting. "Tetrax, Jay, Huntor… if comms get restored and the first message I get is Dexter giving me a bullshit lecture about this, I swear to god…"
"Come on. I'll give you a tour of the facilities." – Bobo told them as he led Shala and Naver to the elevator. As they entered, he pointed at the top button. "That's the living quarters." He pointed to the one beneath. "That's where the food storage is, and on the other side of the hall is the main computer room." Then he pointed to the next button. "That's where we are now. Huntor's trophy hall, rear exit to the Firepits, weapons storage. And finally, at the bottom we have the garage, and another room Huntor isn't letting me into. Tour's over. Any questions?" – Bobo stared at them.
"That… wasn't a real tour." – Naver said.
"If you wanted a real tour you should have gotten here yesterday. I already gave one to the guys that arrived then." – he told them as he went out on the second floor. Shala and Naver stared at each other.
"I don't know, he did lay out the basics pretty well." – Shala said with a mild tone of sarcasm. "But he forgot one thing. Where do you think Huntor has a toilet?
"Does he even use a toilet? Seems to me he'd have a litter box." – Naver cracked, and both of them laughed.
"Seriously, though, I gotta go. Now. I haven't seen a toilet in two days and there's no way I would have gone over an active volcano. You think there'd be one in the living quarters?" – Shala aked. Naver shrugged. Seeing as they didn't have a lot to choose from, Shala pressed the top button and the elevator took them up.
As they got out and stepped into the living quarters, a bunch of Providence Agents that were around in the room stared at them.
"You're the new guys?" – one of them asked.
Shala nodded quickly. "Uh-huh. Where's the bathroom around here?"
The Agent pointed at one of the doors on the other side of the room, and Shala rushed there. "You should probably-" – the Agent tried to tell him, but Shala had already locked himself inside.
As Shala turned around, he saw that the "bathroom" was a narrow, tall room, totally empty besides a set of buttons on the wall. They were all labeled with scribbles Shala couldn't understand. He randomly pressed one of them, and hot air started blowing from the ceiling.
"What in the…" – Shala thought to himself as he turned it off and pressed another one. What only could be described as a set of alien brushes and scissors (though vastly different from Earth ones) came in from the walls and started grooming his hair.
"Guess this doubles as Huntor's beauty salon." – Shala thought as he promptly disabled them. With the next button, a viscous liquid poured down on his head, which Shala identified as hair conditioner.
"Really, Huntor?"
He clenched his butt as he couldn't take it anymore. He pressed another one, and finally, a hole in the floor opened up. Shala didn't even care anymore that it wasn't a proper toilet. After doing his business, he now looked for the button for toilet paper. But, as expected, he got it wrong again, and ice-cold water started pouring down on Shala, drenching him completely. As he looked for the drier button with his pants still down, water started spraying him from the behind. At this point Shala was fed up with this alien toilet/waterboarding chamber, but at least he didn't have to wipe his ass anymore. He simply pulled his pants up, opened the door and stepped out, still completely wet. The water was still flowing in the toilet behind him.
As soon as the Providence Agents saw him, they all started collectively laughing their asses off, and Naver joined them in it.
"Wow, when you meant you had to go, I didn't realize you had to shower that badly!" – Naver remarked, smirking.
"Shut up! It was involuntary!" – Shala growled at him.
Though, not one to get bothered by things like this, Shala joined in on the laughing. After everyone calmed down, the dark-haired Agent from earlier then showed Shala and Naver how to use the bathroom and what each of the buttons did, and Shala dried off properly.
"So." – the Agent said. "Who exactly are you guys? How'd you get here?"
Before Shala got the chance to speak, one of the other agents beat him to it – "I think these two are the guys we saw with Alice and that other guy. What was his name again?"
"That was Jay." – Naver said. "I'm Naver, and this is Shala. Nice to meet you, erm… all of you."
Shala sat down on one of the wolf skins that covered the floor, as the "living quarters" didn't have any beds. Naver did the same.
"We were on Mandark's airship as the whole thing went down." – Shala told them.
"You were? Seriously?" – one of the Agents asked, astounded.
"Yeah. So, uh, before we tell you guys all about it, could you, like, call everyone else here? I already told this story like twice and I don't wanna have to repeat it."
"I'll go! I'll go!" – one of the girls enthusiastically volunteered, and left to get everyone else. In the meantime, all the Agents present in the room introduced themselves.
"And what's with the guy over there?" – Shala asked about the dude sleeping on the other side of the room.
"That's Noah." – Agent Alvarez, the Agent from earlier, told him. "I think he hasn't slept ever since our outpost was under siege. And that was two days ago, so he's earned it."
A couple of Agents approached Shala and Naver. Though, they belonged to SACT, not Providence, which they found unusual, as everyone here was supposed to have come from the Providence outpost.
"Hi. I'm Agent Henshaw. This is Agent Bock." – one of them introduced themselves. "Are you a new transfer?" – she asked Naver.
"I, uh…" – Naver tried to answer, but then realized he was still wearing SACT gear himself. "Oh, I'm not really a SACT Agent." – he explained the misunderstanding. "I was just at the camp in Dinosaur Pass and needed help and they gave me this."
"Oh." – Agent Henshaw said, almost disappointed. "How are they over there? What's Amara up to?"
Naver bit his lip, trying to think of how to tell them. From the expression on his face, Kate realized what had happened.
"Oh." – she said again. "Something like that happened here too. We lost another one of our own during the siege. What about the other Agents down there? Are they okay?"
Naver shook his head grimly. Agent Henshaw quietly said "I understand" and went away.
Not knowing what to say, the other SACT Agent just said "Nice to meet you two" and followed her.
"By the way…" – Shala said. "What was the deal with Bobo and the fake head mount in that trophy room?"
"Oh, he went through with it?" – Alvarez asked. "Huntor has that hole in the wall and greets everyone like that. Gets a laugh out of it. He did it to us when we first got here yesterday. And ever since then Bobo has been talking about how he wanted to do it next time."
"Heh." – Shala chuckled.
As Julie brought everyone interested in the news from down south, Shala explained all about the pretend-attack on the airship, the blast that knocked him over, finding Naver, meeting Alice and Jay and finally defeating Fusion Courage.
"Oh, man, seriously?" – Agent Valdez whined when Shala told them how they defeated Fusion Courage. "I was hoping that we'd go out and kick his ass ourselves!"
"It's good enough that he's been dealt with." – Fix told him.
"Yeah. I'll be able to sleep at night properly knowing everyone has been avenged." – Agent Thompson agreed.
"Okay, now, which one of you guys is Winthrop again?" – Naver asked them. "Alice told us to give him something."
"Winthrop's in the infirmary right now." – Thompson told him. "He got pretty banged up on the way here."
"Okay. C'mon, Shala." – Naver told him as he got up. Shala would have rather kept resting, but he got up and followed.
"Hey, which floor was the infirmary again?" – Shala asked him.
"I'll take you guys!" – the girl from earlier, Julie suggested.
"Okay, then."
As Shala and Naver entered the infirmary, which was actually on the same floor, down the hall and to the right, they were met with the ugly side of the war. Several injured Agents were lying on a bunch of beds. One girl had her entire right arm missing. There was a guy whose entire upper body was covered in bandages. Another girl, covered with burns. And finally, one with more injuries than they could count. Between all of them, the medic herself looked the most miserable, with her head hanging low and an almost expressionless face. Besides the medic, there was another girl that caught Shala's attention.
"We're looking for Jon Winthrop." – Shala said awkwardly.
"That's me." – the bandaged guy said. Shala and Naver walked over to his bed.
"So, you're the two new guys, huh? What's up?" – Winthrop asked them.
"We were with Alice, and, well, she told us to give you a couple things." – Shala told him. "Naver, give him that stuff. I'll be right back." – he said as he approached the girl with the missing arm.
"Hi!" – he said as he approached her. "I'm Shala."
"Agent Zebedee. What is it?" – the girl asked.
"I noticed your situation and I figured you could-"
"You say "use a hand" you're gonna lose one yourself." – Zebedee cut him off harshly.
"Whoa. I was just going to say use some help. I'm a Dexlabs scientist… a former Dexlabs scientist, and I could make you an artificial robot arm. If you want to, at least."
"Really?" – Zebedee asked, not exactly excited but certainly intrigued.
"Yeah, I've done it before. I don't have anything to build the arm with, though, and I've still got to locate the Mandark airship, but after that… yeah. I could do it. I'll think about the details of the whole thing on the way, and who knows, it might be…" – Shala's grin reached his ears – "handy."
As Shala was annoying Zebedee with more puns, Naver was talking to Jon Winthrop about the stuff Alice sent him.
"For one, we recovered the hard drive of the Dexbot you guys had at the camp." – Naver said.
"And what I supposed to do with it in this condition? Ask Huntor if you can install it on his computer or something." – Winthrop snapped.
"Uh… okay, then. We also defeated Fusion Courage, and Alice found this thing – she said it was a Fusion Uplink. She also said you'd know what to do with this." – Naver told him as he handed it to Winthrop.
"Hmm… Yeah. This is good. We might be able to use this to tap into Fuse's flow of information." – Winthrop nodded slowly. "But I told you, I'm not doing anything like this while I'm in bed."
"Well what do I do with it? I can't keep this for myself!" – Naver protested.
"I don't know, give this to Doyle?" – Winthrop supposed.
"Wait, did you guys say that you got rid of Fusion Courage?" – the other girl asked them. "You hear that, Maison? Fusion Courage is gone!" – she told Maison, the medic, trying to cheer her up. All Maison did was nod and smile meekly.
"What's up with her?" – Naver asked.
"Too many lost patients." – she answered and shook her head with regret.
"Hey, listen, uh…" – Naver said, but he didn't know the girl's name.
"Cindy."
"Right. Cindy. So, I've had this problem… I woke up with amnesia a couple days ago."
"No kidding?" – Cindy asked, surprised.
"Yeah. So, I've been meaning to ask a doctor to do like, a check-up or something as soon as I found one. But, if she's in such a condition, well, do you think it's still okay for me to…"
"No, no, no." – Cindy stopped him. "This is actually exactly what she needs right now. Yeah. A patient that's not mortally injured. Come on. Hey, Maison!" – she called her as she grabbed hold of Naver's arm brought him to her.
Before Naver got dragged over to Maison, he gave Shala the hard drive and Fusion Uplink and told him where to take them.
"Yeah, alright, unless Huntor skins me alive and uses me as a welcome mat, that is…" – he muttered under his breath as he left.
Shala went down to the second floor and entered the room on the left. It turned out to be the food storage. "Lame." – he muttered. "Could have at least been the weapons dump. But I am hungry, though…" – he added. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to take anything without telling anyone else, though, so he just went into the other room – the main computer room.
This room was filled with numerous monitors. A whole wall was covered with them, with some extra ones sticking out. The monitors were filled with images of various locations – the beach on Forsaken Valley, the skull passage in Dinosaur pass, what looked like some ruins in the mountains, an overview of Huntor's Crest from a high angle, and even some of Green Maw. Some monitors showed different rooms and entrances of Huntor's Nest itself – Shala could see Naver, still in the medbay, as well as other Agents in the living quarters. There were a couple people in the computer room – Bobo, Doyle Blackwell, an Agent whose name Shala didn't remember, and Huntor himself.
"Hey. You're Doyle, right?" – Shala asked him. Doyle nodded. "Winthrop told me to give this Fusion Uplink to you. We got it from Fusion Courage." – Shala handed it to him.
"Uh… Thanks. Aren't you Alice's brother?" – Doyle asked him. "Or was that the other guy?"
"Cousin."
"Right. Cousin." – Doyle repeated. Then he looked at the Fusion Uplink blankly. "Did Winthrop say what was I supposed to do with it?" – Doyle asked Shala.
"I think he just wants you to hold onto it until he gets better?" – Shala supposed. "Also, um… I was hoping for a reward for it." – he added.
"Dude. I don't even know what this thing does." – Doyle told him.
"It lets you tap into Fuse's flow of information. And plus, we did get it by defeating Fusion Courage, so…"
"Fine! Fine. 500 Taros it is." – Doyle told him and entered the amount into his wristband (not a NanoCom, but still a Taro wallet). They both held out their wrists and the Taros were transferred.
"Yesss!" – Shala cheered quietly.
"I'm gonna get Winthrop for this…" – Doyle muttered and shook his head.
"And another thing…" – Shala added. "I also have here the hard drive and personality chip of that Dexbot you guys had at camp." – and Shala held out the hard drive.
"Oh yeah. I was with him when he got crushed. Poor guy. You're saying you can repair him?
"Jon said I should ask Huntor to install him on this computer here."
"No way in hell!" – Huntor, who until now was watching the screens with disinterest and seemingly not paying attention to their conversation declared. "I'm not gonna let your robot overtake my system and kick me out of my base!"
"No one's kicking you out of your base, you insecure dolt." – Bobo said. Huntor growled at him, showing his fangs.
"Then what am I supposed to do with this?" – Shala asked.
"Hrrrm… I've got a couple defunct robots down in the weapons storage. You can install it on one of them, if it's compatible. If any of them still work, that is."
"Fine. Also…" – Shala turned to Doyle. "I don't suppose I should get a re-"
"Install it first, then come see me for a reward. 200 Taros. No, 150." – Doyle cut him off, already slightly annoyed.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll go. But first. What's up with these monitors?"
"Let me tell ya." – Bobo moved over and jumped on Shala's back, hanging from his shoulder. "When Huntor here first built his base here years ago, he wasn't satisfied with just hunting wildlife by their tracks or even by their scent." – Bobo hung from Shala's other shoulder now. "So, like any great hunter, he put up hidden cameras all over the island and kept tabs on every region. Not even the smallest of lizards could escape his watchful eye." Bobo now jumped from Shala onto Doyle and sat on his shoulders. "And now that we have access to the cameras, we can use them to monitor the Fusion comings and goings, as well as any survivors that might still be out there."
"Bobo?" – Doyle said.
"Yeah?"
"You smell."
Bobo quickly gave him a nuggie, messing up his mohawk, and jumped off.
"Hey Huntor…" – Shala asked.
"Hhrm." – Huntor gave a groan of acknowledgement.
"Why would you choose this island? Didn't you have like a galaxy of planets to choose from?" – Shala asked him.
"Because of the… unusual properties of this land. For one, it's completely invisible to both radar and satellite. I came across it accidentally myself. And the characteristics don't stop there. This island is also home to many beasts and creatures that went extinct on Earth millions of years ago. They made for adequate prey, since they put up fight. They entertain me. And also, it was mostly uninhabited. No one to disturb the hunt."
"Mostly? What do you mean mostly?"
"There were some ruins of a primitive human settlement, but those were just abandoned settlements. But as I came to know soon after settling… Demongo came to visit the island from time to time."
"Demongo? The Demongo? He was here before the island got invaded?" – Shala asked, surprised. Doyle and the other Agent listened carefully as well.
"Every couple years, yeah. I saw him on my cameras occasionally. It looked to me like he was mostly interested in the area that you now call Dark Glade, but that's as much I've been able to figure out. Whenever I placed more cameras there to watch what he was doing there, he always destroyed them. So, he's aware that I'm around, but he keeps his business to himself as long as I keep to mine." – Huntor explained.
"Wow. Did you get that on tape? Your cameras are recording, right?" – Shala asked Huntor.
"You bet your hide they are. I've been saving Demongo's appearances separately, or else it would be impossible to find in the amount of recorded footage." – Huntor answered and opened one of the folders. He played one of the videos, and it showed a ten second clip of Demongo flying in Dinosaur Pass, which by then looked completely uninfected.
"That's it? It's just him flying around." – Shala told him.
"I told you, Demongo destroyed every camera I placed closer to the Dark Glade. The ones I have set up now aren't catching anything special about him.""Fine. I'm gonna download those files then if you don't mind. If I manage to connect my NanoCom to this alien software, that is. Say, do you have any Demongo footage from… The past three days?" – Shala asked Huntor again.
"The past three days?"
"Yeah, right after I… uh, entered that storage facility of yours. Demongo's gone from the outpost on Huntor's Crest… or, well, your Crest, I guess, and if anyone's ever going to get your chronoton particle back his whereabouts would certainly be useful."
"Sorry mate, I've been keeping track of the battle these Providence people had. I didn't get to see the siege itself, but judging by the number of Fuse's forces attacking, it had to have been glorious!" – Huntor chuckled. "But you are welcome to review the footage."
"Nah, now that I think about it, it probably wouldn't be of much use." – Shala changed his mind. "If he already can detect your cameras, he'd take precautions and move around them so as not to be seen. Well, anyway, have you guys caught anything else on these cameras lately?"
"Yeah." – the Providence Agent told him. "It's been less than a day and already we've been learning important stuff. Like look here for example."
Shala moved over. "Is that the Dark Tree?" – he squinted his eyes.
"No, here." – the Agent pointed to the screen next to it, which showed a bunch of Frilled Killers running somewhere.
"That's just a bunch of Frilled Fiends." – Shala said.
"Monsters down there have been on the move for a while. This camera is in the northern part of Forsaken Valley. After passing there, they usually go through right here." – the Agent pointed to a different screen, where the force field around Dinosaur Graveyard was visible. "That one's in Dinosaur Pass. And if you wait long enough, you'll be able to see them over there." – the Agent pointed at a screen depicting the Fireswamps, or maybe the Firepits – Shala couldn't tell.
"Whoa!" – Doyle suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone else in the room. Everyone looked at him. "Valdez, where is the camera over there?" – he pointed at one showing a dim forest.
"That's up there, on the Crest. Not far from here." – Huntor answered.
"Can you rewind the image?" – Doyle requested.
Huntor opened the video feed on the main screen, then rewound it in slow-motion.
"THERE!" – Doyle yelled.
The screen depicted the unmistakable figure of Fusion Agent Six, riding his hoverboard. Huntor rewound it back a couple more frames and what followed was Fusion Doyle, flying with his jetpack.
"Holy bejeezus!" – Bobo exclaimed. "That's Six! And you too!"
"Hrm. That guy again." – Doyle muttered.
"Fuse has a Fusion of you, dude?" – Valdez asked him.
"Yeah. I never really cared about that guy being around – a Fusion's a Fusion. Doesn't really matter if it's me or anyone else." – Doyle said.
"Well, whoever they are, what are these two Fusions doing up there?"
"Beats me." – Doyle told him. Valdez shrugged.
"I heard those two usually carry out Fuse's special missions." – Bobo told them. "Six told me he keeps track of his counterpart. They do stuff like sabotage, tracking, assassinating… Pretty much like real mercenaries."
"Wow. Are they any good? I mean… how dangerous can they be?" – Shala asked him.
"Are ya crazy?" – Bobo jumped on Shala again and shook his shoulders. "Six is the sixth deadliest man on Earth!"
"So, what? That makes Fusion Six the sixth most dangerous Fusion, then? I don't think that's too bad. This is the Darklands, pretty much every Fusion here cracks the top ten."
"Let me finish!" – Bobo yelled. "The only reason Six is only number six is because of his humanity. An encounter with him won't put you down under – most of the time, anyway. Now, when you take this guy, and make a counterpart of him that has none of his conscience or feelings or anything even remotely close to a heart" – Bobo leaned closer towards Shala's face. "You just hope he's not after you. CAPISCHE?"
"And a Fusion of me would also be extremely dangerous as well, wouldn't you say?" – Doyle added.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Point is, those two out there, they're bad news. You think they're trying to uncover the base?" – Bobo asked Huntor.
"I'm already up to my neck with these worm beasts. The last thing I need is a pair of Fusions trying to uproot me!" – Huntor replied.
"We need to check the recordings for any more sightings of those two." – Shala said. "But… is viewing each camera manually the only thing we can do? If I were to install the Dexbot, it does have an image recognition feature…"
"Already told you, not bloody happening!" – Huntor yelled. Shala rolled his eyes.
"Alright, you'd better get going and install the drive in that robot if you want your reward!" – Doyle told Shala.
"Hold on a second, I still need to download these Demongo sightings. Who knows, maybe Jay will get some use out of them. By the way, uh, what are the eating arrangements like around here?" – Shala changed the subject. "Is dinner served at specific times or are we just handed out rations every day and we can eat whenever?"
"Hrnnnnnn…" – Huntor growled.
"I told you, Huntor, you will be reimbursed as soon as contact is reestablished with the mainland." – Doyle told him.
"I very much doubt that your Providence will be able to reimburse my Chritchellite Harvest Brew or the Snorkdro steaks."
"Alright, enough." – Doyle said firmly, tired of putting up with Huntor. "I know you don't feel good about a bunch of earthlings showing up in your house and eating your food. I wouldn't, either. But complain all you want, you know that you need us. There are more and more worm attacks trying to dig you out, and it's only a matter of time until they breach the walls. You're gonna need someone to defend it, or else they'll open this place right up like a sardine can. Now, you may not admit it, but you wouldn't be able to stop them. So, either cut the crap, or we leave this dump and go back to our old base, to the SACT base, the Plumbers, anywhere else! And we'll leave you to fend for yourself. Just like you left the people of Earth on our own for the past year – until we came knocking on your door." – Doyle told Huntor very firmly, and Huntor didn't doubt his threat was an empty promise. He chose it was best not to respond to that and just growl silently.
"Wow…" – Shala muttered.
"But to answer Shala's question, no, no one's really made any plans like that for the food." – Doyle added.
"Then it's the jungle rules. Belongs to whoever gets it first." – Bobo ran out into the hall. "Hey!" – Shala followed him.
"I really, REALLY hate monkeys." – Huntor groaned through his teeth.
"So, what's up with that guy?" – Naver asked Cindy about Winthrop as Maison sat him down on one of the beds.
"Oh, him?"
"Yeah, he doesn't look like he's in a good mood. Are those because of his injuries, or…?"
"That guy's never in a good mood. But right now, he's even worse. No, he…" – Cindy whispered as to not let Maison or Winthrop hear. "His girlfriend died in the Fireswamps battle."
"Oh. I'm sorry. Were they close?" – Naver asked her.
"Lean forward, please." – Maison told him as she got a needle.
"They were kinda, uh… on again-off again, I guess. But from the way he's reacting to it, seems like nothing's keeping him going anymore." – Cindy told Naver as he leaned forward. Meanwhile, Maison injected a needle in his lumbar, which started dripping fluid.
"Yeeesh!" – Naver cringed in pain.
"Don't worry, it's already over." – Cindy assured him as the medic collected his cerebrospinal fluid. She then took it to a computer console that was in Huntor's medlab to get it examined.
"At least she's gotten familiar with the equipment." – Cindy said as she looked at Maison. "Any kind of distraction is probably good for her right now."
"What about you? Are you like… a nurse or something?" – Naver asked me.
"A nurse? Ha! I'd make a better undertaker than a nurse. No, I'm just here for moral support. With the way Maison's been, she needs it more than ever."
"Yeah, it's nice that you're with her. I'd probably go crazy in this war if… if I had to be all alone. Good to have at least one person there for you." – Naver said.
"Yeah, you said it. Fix, the guy Maison's with, is supposed to be here with her, but somehow he keeps finding more important things to do." – Cindy said, annoyed. "If you ask me that whole relationship is one-sided, but I don't know how to talk to her about it."
"Well, I'm not good with stuff like that, either." – Naver admitted. "But if she's always depressed like that, something must have happened to her, right?"
"Well, that's what the Battle of Hero's Hollow did to her. She still blames herself for all those deaths."
"Oh. Yeah. I knew a guy just like that. Also a survivor of, well, that battle." – Naver responded.
"Really? How is he?" – Cindy asked.
"Dead." – Naver said, his feeling of guilt coming back.
Cindy shook her head. "Quiet, now." – she shushed him as Maison approached them again.
"After the brain scan didn't reveal anything, I analyzed the cerebrospinal fluid, just in case. And… it's certainly a bit unusual, even though nothing in it suggests a possible pathology." – Maison told Naver.
"Oh. Alright, then. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention before… I, uh, have powers, so maybe those results might not be exactly accurate compared to a normal person?" – he said with great hesitation, unwilling to open up about his powers to new people.
"What?" – Maison asked, confused.
"A bit after my amnesia, I discovered that I had telekinetic powers." – Naver explained. He's said this much, might as well explain everything. "I'm not even sure if I had them before, or if it was activated by the amnesia thing, but that might be why the cerebral… fluid thing is different."
"I see." – Maison answered. "Well, I'm not a superhuman biology expert, but… as an educated guess I'd say that there is nothing physically wrong with you. Yeah. Your amnesia was likely caused by your powers."
"Caused by my powers? Wow." – Naver said. "I'd never even thought of that. Well, thanks, uh, thanks for the check-up, Maison. I'm gonna go find Shala. Bye Cindy, Winthrop. You guys." – Naver said goodbye to the other Agents on the other side of the room and left to find Shala.
"Oh, by the way, if you see Doyle, tell him to come up here!" – Cindy told him as he left.
After sitting in the corner of the weapons storage for half an hour, tinkering with Huntor's robots, he finally managed to get one running.
"Finally!" – Shala sighed from relief. After figuring out how to connect the hard drive to the robot (and then duct taping the drive to the robot's side because it wouldn't fit in the case) the Dexbot was finally online in its new body.
"Hello. I am DOC-27."- he said. He then adjusted his new eye lenses. "My optic receptors seem different." He tried to move. "So does my motoric system. What has happened to me?" – he asked Shala.
"Your old Dexbot body got pretty banged up. Actually, really banged up. Luckily, your hard drive and personality chip survived and I managed to transfer it into this new body provided by an alien bounty hunter." – Shala explained.
"I… see. Thank you for your assistance. My records indicate you are LG Shala, former senior weapons designer at DexLabs. Is this information correct?"
"Yep. That's me." – Shala sighed. "Emphasis on the former part." – he then stressed. "Come on. Let's get you to Doyle. At least with the reward I'll be partially able to repay for that crashed hove-" – Shala cut himself off, as it was a Dexbot he was talking to, and he wasn't sure if DOC-27 was aware of Shala's debt for the hovercar.
DOC-27, using legs instead of a hover module for the first time ever, moved forward with a few unsure steps. "Bipedal walking mechanics were not programmed into my consciousness."
"Come on." – Shala told him. "I know you're programmed to both mimic and adapt. Just watch how I walk and copy what I do." And, following Shala's footsteps, DOC-27 left the armory and entered the hallway.
Naver went down onto the third underground floor, into Huntor's cabinet. There, Huntor sat in his armchair, legs resting on a stool. He was cleaning out his fingerclaws with his massive knife.
"What is it?" – Huntor asked without looking back to see who it was.
"I wanted to ask you about a couple stuff." – Naver told him hesitantly.
"What is it with you people and constantly asking me about everything? I swear to Rh'aag you people won't leave me alone!"
"Well, that is to be expected, you know. You're some strange alien bounty hunter living on this planet in secret, meanwhile there's an ongoing alien invasion right on your doorstep. People are gonna want some answers."
"Hrrrrrn, fine." – Huntor growled irritably. "What is it that you wanted to ask?"
"Actually, it's about just what I said. The alien invasion right on your doorstep. I understand hiding yourself here to hunt or whatever it is you do, but don't you think it would have been a good idea to reveal your base when Fuse took hold of the Darklands? This place is secure from monsters, and your cameras would have been invaluable to the whole operation, don't you think?" – Naver asked him.
"Three words: not my problem." – Huntor said carelessly as he leaned back and put one leg over his other one.
"But your help could have saved lots of lives!"
"Again. Not. My. Problem. I only let these Providence people in because they had already found my base – and I'd like some help defending against the worm attacks. And knowing Bobo, he would have let them in anyway. Otherwise, I could care less. I'm not one of your earthling superheroes, I'm not going to sing and dance and die for a worthless cause." – Huntor told him.
Unsure of how to respond, Naver simply left. In the hallway, he bumped into a large purple robot, which was accompanied by Shala.
"Excuse me." – DOC-27 apologized.
"Oh, hey man. You exploring this place?" – Shala asked. "What did the doc say?"
"She couldn't find anything, so it must be something related to my powers. Is this the Dexbot from the base?" – Naver asked.
"Hello." – the robot greeted Naver.
"Yeah, Huntor wouldn't let me install him into his main system so he let me use one of his old robots instead."
"Query: Is this Huntor entity the bounty hunter you stated earlier?"
"Yep. That's him. I'd have you two meet, but I'm looking for Doyle to get my reward. Naver, do you know where he is?" – Shala asked him.
"Yeah, Cindy wanted to see him so I sent him up to the medbay." – Naver answered. "Come on, I'll come with you. By the way, what did you want to talk to that girl in the medbay about?" – he added.
"Oh, her? I told her I could make her a robot arm, and she said that if I didn't stop making hand puns, the first thing she'd use her robot arm for was to choke me. You know, I'll have to keep that in mind while designing it."
"Cool, uh, I guess. Do you have any ideas for it?" – Naver asked him.
"Lots. I wasn't sure if I had the right materials for it, but there's loads in that weapons storage room. I can whip something up from Huntor's garbage. But not right now, that'd take me days and we still have an airship to find."
As they got up to the living quarters, they realized that almost everyone was already gathered there already. The Providence Agents, the SACT members, the Dexlabs Academy recruits. Even Huntor came in to see why was everyone gathering.
After Noah came in, he immediately went to talk to Doyle.
"Valdez told me you guys saw Fusions of you and Six running around up there."
"Yeah, well, sorry Noah, but not everyone is important enough to get a Fusion." – Doyle responded with a smile.
"Yeah, well, the last thing we needed was another you running around." – Noah remarked sarcastically. "How'd you even manage to let them make a Fusion of you, anyway?"
"A couple months ago I, uh, lost my duffel bag and immediately, Fuse used it to surface some new Fusions. Out of my old helmet, a Fusion of me – and out of his, a Fusion of Van Rook – my old mentor. I didn't really care what Fusion me was up to, imitation is the highest form of flattery and all that, but I couldn't let a Fusion of Van Rook be around. Sure, he was a mercenary, a nasty old bastard, not too unlike…" – and Doyle nudged his head towards Huntor slightly without him noticing – "…but it just didn't feel right. I guess it couldn't sit right with me because it kinda ruined his death. So, I took care of it myself. Well, I had a bit of help from Alice." – Doyle told him.
"Oh yeah, I remember that time you and Alice went away to fight some Fusion. So that was your old mentor?" – Noah asked.
"Yep." – Doyle nodded. "I'm sure you'd feel the same if a Fusion of Calan surfaced soon."
"Alright." – Cindy addressed the whole room. "Now that everyone's here, the reason me and Doyle-"
"Just you." – Doyle cut her off.
"The reason me and Doyle gathered everyone here is to discuss what are we going to do next."
"What do you mean?" – Agent Trapezanidis asked from his bed. "We've already got what we need right here, safety, food and all that."
It was good that Trapezanidis couldn't see Huntor, whose eyes were throwing daggers at him.
"Right now, maybe yes, but we can't sit down here on our asses forever. Or have you all forgotten that we're still in a war here? We wait forever on orders from HQ. Who knows when will the signal come back?" – Cindy retorted.
"You've got a point." – Agent Zebedee responded. "What are you suggesting we do then? It's gonna take a while until we can repair our camp. And if what that guy says is true-" – she pointed at Shala. "-then Mandark's airship is gone as well. Seems to me that we should just move out into the SACT outpost. It's not that far from here and-"
"No." – Noah stopped her. "We don't know what might have happened at that outpost. Valdez told me Fuse has been sending his troops from Forsaken Valley and Dinosaur Pass up north here. It's possible that the SACT outpost has already been destroyed, just like ours. If all of us go there now, we'd just get stranded again."
"But if it hasn't yet, then we need to go down there and help them!" – Agent Riordian protested.
"I agree. Which means that we should only send a small group up there to check what's going on. If the camp's been destroyed, we can find the survivors and bring them back here. If the camp is about to be under attack, we can help defend it. As soon as the situation is secure, we can move out there and be out of Huntor's fur completely." – Noah answered.
Huntor growled quietly when Noah said that. Doyle heard him do that and smiled.
"We should also send a couple people up to the Plumbers camp on the Precipice." – Astrid Aquajack suggested. Noah nodded in agreement.
"And me and Naver are also gonna go – we're going to locate the Mandark Industries airship. It still should be out there, somewhere." – Shala said. Naver nodded to confirm that.
"I'm volunteering too, of course." – Noah added.
"Who else is going?" – Cindy asked.
"Finally, an opportunity to leave this dump. I'm in." – Bobo agreed.
"Me too." – Valdez joined in. "I've been meaning to crack some Fusion skulls for a while now."
"Hell yeah. Don't think you can leave me out of this!" – Doyle said enthusiastically.
When Noah heard Doyle say that, he threw a sharp look at Doyle. "Can I speak to you outside for a second?" – he asked Doyle.
"Why, what is it?"
"Come on." – Noah told him and got Doyle out of the room into the hallway.
"Look, are you sure you want to leave this place?" – Noah asked him as soon as they were out in the hallway.
"Why wouldn't I?" – Doyle asked him, confused.
"Well, after what happened to Calan, I think the remaining Providence Agents need someone new in command. And I think that's supposed to be you." – Noah told him.
"What? Me? Why the hell would you think I'm leadership material? I'm just a hired muscle for Providence. Officially, I'm not even a member."
"But you're the most experienced one here!" – Noah objected.
"Yeah. At shooting and flying. Strictly solo work. Leading a bunch of people is not something I'm good at. I barely even work with people at all. I even tried to get my family killed on several occasions!"
"You… what?" – Noah was shocked.
"Before I found out they were my real family, that is."
"Whatever. Point is, you've got a strategic mind. You'd be the best at doing this. I mean, have you seen those people? They're either inexperienced rookies, or depressed husks like Fortier, scarred by the war. You'd be like a figure of authority for them."
"Don't you talk to me about strategic minds. I listen when you're discussing battle tactics or plans of action, and you've got a good noggin'. Don't downplay it. Plus, I hear you were the top cadet at boot camp. So, how come you're the one that gets to go? You're the one that should be leading these people!" – Doyle told him.
"Me? Dude, I'm nineteen! An teenager shouldn't be in charge of a paramilitary strike force! Plus, I'm not that good at telling stubborn people what to do. Years of hanging out with Rex and Bobo is enough proof of that. I can be the voice of reason all you want, but no one ever listens. Hell, I can't even convince you to stay here and take up leadership of those people!" – Noah told him. "If I can't do that, what kind of leader would I be?" He sighed, then considered something for a while. "Okay, okay. How about this. We both stay." – he suggested.
"Hmmm…" Doyle thought.
"You'll still be the leader, but I guess I can help out with the strategizing, if you insist on that." – Noah added.
"Yeah, but still. I was hoping I'd get the chance to talk to my spare parts guy to fix my jetpack." – Doyle said.
"Can't you just ask one of the guys that's going to do that for you?"
"Yeah. Even more reasons for that Shala to ask me for money. Hmph." – Doyle shook his head. "Alright, you win. I still don't think I'd make a good commander compared to Calan, but if you're here to have my back, then what the hell. Yeah. I'll stay." – Doyle decided. He held out his hand and Noah shook it.
"Oh, hey, Doyle!" – Shala peered his head into the hallway. "You still owe me the 150 Taros. And also, everyone in there is waiting for you two, so, yeah. Take as much time as you want."
"See what I mean?" – Doyle looked at Noah.
End of Chapter 11.
Extract from Alice Quickfeet's Fusion Monster research log:
Creepasaurus Rex
Fusion Matter type – Blastons
Power Level – 29
Boss: Captain Creepasaurus
Location: Fireswamps (excl. Providence outpost area and main foot paths)
Height: 6'8''-7'2''
Boss height: 7'7''-8''
Weight: 150-160 lb.
Boss weight: 210-220 lb.
Special types of attack:
Eruption – yes
Corruption – all 3 types
Boost Drain
Description:
Most likely based on dromaeosaurid theropods such as the Velociraptor or Achillobator. Body consists of raptor-like structure, only infused with lava rocks, coal, and other typical Fireswamps terrain. Because of this, their outer body temperature is extremely high (depends on the material), and it burns just to touch them. Their inner body temperature, however, is relatively low and does not exceed the standard median limit of Fusion Matter, 90°F.
Behavior:
Creepasauruses most commonly resort to hunting alone. They are extremely territorial and often even hostile against each other. If they catch another Creepasaurus trespassing on their territory, one of the following things occur:
1. The Creepasaurus chases the intruder off its territory.
2. They battle each other for supremacy. These battles sometimes end with death. The victor usually claims a part of the opponent's territory. In the event of a fatal match, however, the survivor doesn't claim all of the territory, as it won't be able to control that much anyway. Instead, each neighbor from surrounding areas gets a piece.
For this reason, anytime younger Creepasauruses spawn, it always stirs up conflict between the population, as they can only set out to claim already established territory. This is why Fuse only allows new Creepasauruses to spawn when there's a massive drop of Creepasauruses in the ecosystem. The most dominant Creepasauruses, even more so the Captain Creepasauruses control the largest area of land. Creepasauruses tolerate other monsters (Lizard Queens, Magma Hulks, Tar Titans) to an extent, but if they feel threatened or overrun by a number of monsters, they will not hesitate to attack them too.
A common characteristic of the Creepasauruses is their roar. It serves to instill fear not only in humans or other prey, but also trespassing peers trying to invade their land.
Because of these characteristics, multiple Creepasauruses are usually never seen in the same area, unless under Fusion control.
The Creepasaurus Rex process of hunting human prey is different from attacking other trespassing monsters. When a Creepasaurus notices something that might look like a human or anything else suspicious from around 60 feet away, they first stare at it, then roar at it two or three times, then approach to investigate. The only way to avoid confrontation before it starts approaching is to back away slowly outside their range of clear vision, or to stand completely still, not drawing any attention to yourself. Once the Creepasaurus decides to investigate, it starts moving towards the point of interest slowly, and at this point backing away slowly won't help. You either have to outright run and hope it loses track of you, engage in combat, or hide without it noticing. At around 30 feet the Creepasaurus can make the target out clearly and starts sprinting. At this point combat is inevitable.
Creepasauruses can run up to 20-30 mph, so it's almost impossible to outrun by foot. One should either use a vehicle or a Run Nano (preferably gumball-boosted). Because of their territorialism, one of the best ways to defeat Creepasauruses is to provoke one, lure it to the territory of another and then hide. The two Creepasauruses will engage each other and both will be weakened extremely easy to take down. This will not work, however, if the second Creepasaurus Rex notices you. It will simply wait until you defeat the other Creepasaurus, or until the Creepasaurus kills you. After that it will hunt or chase away the victor.
NOTE: THE FOREMENTIONED TACTIC DOES NOT WORK ON FREAKASAURUSES REX IN THE FIREPITS, AS THEY ARE NEARLY NOT AS TERRITORIAL AND HOSTILE TOWARDS EACH OTHER AS CREEPASAURUSES ARE. THE TWO WILL TEAM UP AGAINST YOU.
When in a direct battle, either against humans or other Creepasauruses, they have several forms of attacking: biting, clawing, occasionally headbutting, and breathing fire (doesn't work on other Fireswamps creatures as they're fire resistant). The reason they're able to breathe fire despite average inner body temperature is because of a heat-insulated gland-like organ that opens up into their gullet. They can also use Eruption attacks, as well as attack the NanoCom directly with Boost Drain and Corruption. All 3 types of Corruption attacks occur, but by far the most commonly used one is Blastons for some reason.
As numerous tests have confirmed, a weakness of the Creepasaurus Rex is supersonic waves. Blasts with the Sonic Smacker with over 2000 khz shatter the lava-infused shell, only leaving the Fusion Matter innards behind, which will likely dissolve on their own.
The area of spread of Creepasauruses is relatively large – they can be found just about anywhere in the Fireswamps. Despite being extremely territorial, there are, however, several areas that are considered "neutral territory" among them. For example, areas heavily populated with other types of creatures are considered off limits. Creepasauruses may roam around there, but they can't "own" it, as it's full of Magma Hulks, Lizard Queens, etc. The largest of these areas are:
1. The field full of destroyed Dexbots in the south-west area of the Fireswamps, as it's full of Lizard Queens.
2. The western side, moreso towards the Firepits.
3. Area surrounding a hill 200 feet east of the western road.
4. Crash side of two Providence Assault Vehicles towards the north-east of said hill.
5. An area west to the Providence outpost.
Another good example of "neutral territory" is the main roads that run north from Dinosaur Pass towards the Firepits and the mountains. As there's a lot of human foot traffic in the area, Creepasauruses reserve it for hunting humans and don't usually engage each other if met there. Despite that, Creepasauruses don't stay off their territory for too long so that it doesn't get captured by an invader. Another gray area is the Providence outpost; however, it is because they don't dare approach it due to the security turrets. I like to think they recognize this area as our territory, just like how they recognize theirs.
When encountering Freakasauruses Rex from the Firepits, Creepasauruses usually feel threatened (and possibly emasculated) by their larger, more assertive counterparts, and attack immediately. Freakasauruses aren't as quick to anger, but they will defend themselves if provoked. For this reason, Creepasauruses don't like to go too north so that they don't cross over into the Firepits.
While under Fusion control, all of the territorialism is immediately negated. Fusions can order them to stray off their grounds, work together, even hunt together with little to no incidents. However, there are several instances of a Fusion trying to force Creepasauruses and Freakasauruses to cooperate, which usually fail. Even Fusion control isn't strong enough to stop them from attacking the larger species, so after several failed attempts, Fusions are now extremely careful not to mix the two types together.
Known Fusions that have controlled Creepasauruses Rex:
Fusion Courage
Fusion Van Rook
Fusion Ed
Fusion Demongo (an isolated incident)
UPDATE: 13/03
Need to see how Creepasauruses react to holes and tunnels dug by Undertaker Worms.
Need to investigate in the future whether or not will the Creepasauruses divide up the newly taken over territory – wrecks of the Providence outpost, or will they still respect the humans' land.