Chapter 16 – Airship Trip
May 11, 17:54, Forsaken Valley
"Everyone, listen to me. You all need to calm down and take several steps back to allow the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s to take off!" – Tetrax bellowed. Though, the panicking mass didn't seem to be listening. It seemed like he'd have to use brute force to clear enough space to let the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s leave, so, with arms spread wide apart, he tried to push the mass away without harming them. One by one, the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s managed to take off. Though, that didn't mean the crowd wasn't still trying to get into them. Someone actually tried to jump for it and hang onto one of the rocket jets of the S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Tetrax had to pull her off it. Though, everybody was still in the state of a chaotic panic, even after the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s were flying over the ocean towards the horizon.
Then, before anyone could comprehend what was going on, the airship was hit with something as they saw a green light flash right in front of the airship, accompanied by deafening noise. The airship violently shook in the air as everyone stumbled. Most of the people held each other for balance, but there were a lot that fell down as well. Someone rolled along the floor and nearly fell over the edge. Tetrax managed to hold his footing, though. Overall, this caused everyone to panic even more.
"Listen up!" – Tetrax yelled. That had no effect on the crowd. So, Tetrax had to form a crystal bullhorn with his arms to amplify his voice.
"EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!" – he bellowed. This time, it worked. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.
"Thank you. I need you all to act rationally during this emergency situation so that we're able to fight off the attackers." – Tetrax told the crowd.
"That's one of the Mandark robots! Tell it to get us more S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s!" – someone yelled. Everyone else started shouting at Tetrax to get more help. Tetrax, seeing as they confused him with a robot, retracted his visor helmet, revealing his petrosapien head.
"OH MY GOD IT'S BEN 10!" – someone yelled.
"What? No, no. I'm not Ben Tennyson." – Tetrax tried to explain, but nobody was listening to him.
"Ben! Hey, Ben! Can I have your autograph?"
"Ben's gonna save us! Thank god!"
"Can you turn into Heatblast, Ben? He's my favorite!"
"What's it like being the most powerful superhero, but not being able to save the world?"
"Hey Ben, I told my girlfriend you're my best friend. Can I take a selfie with you so that she doesn't break up with me?"
"THAT'S NOT BEN 10! THAT'S CLEARLY ONE OF THE CRYSTAL GEMS!"
"C'mon, Ben, I wanna see Heatblast!"
"No, turn into Alien X and zap Planet Fusion out of here! How did you not think of this before?!"
"Hey, Ben, can I have your cousin's phone number?"
Tetrax was trying to explain that he wasn't, in fact, Diamondhead, but it was futile. The crowd started advancing because everyone wanted to touch Ben to see what he felt like in his alien form. This was getting out of hand, and Tetrax knew he also had to hurry and assess the damages on the ship, as well as scan for possible hostiles.
"Psst." – he felt someone tugging his elbow. Thankfully, it wasn't a crazy fan. It was Simon, one of the Mandark Industries technicians. "This won't work. These guys, they're gonna be like that for a while. You should get back to the bridge and let me handle this."
"Are you sure?" – Tetrax asked him, while taking a few steps back to avoid the crazed crowd.
"Go!" – Simon yelled. Tetrax nodded and sprinted towards the bridge.
"What hit us?" – He asked the other two technicians, who were frantically checking every screen.
"Unknown. Some sort of energy blast, seems to be related to Fusion Matter in origin. But, something's weird. By my estimation, it should have taken the airship out clean, but we're mostly afloat." – one of them, Jim, told him.
"What's the state of the airship?" – Tetrax then asked.
"Not good. Whatever that blast was, it took out both our shields and comms. We're defenseless and there's no way to call for backup, from mainland or otherwise." – he explained. "However, the Fusion Monster horde is gone."
"Gone? Clarify that statement."
"I don't know how, or why, but they're not there anymore, as if… they evaporated. I think it was all a bluff or something? What do we do now?" – the technician asked him.
"Activate cloaking immediately." – Tetrax ordered. Jim complied. "And we should get moving. We don't need the attacker to finish the job." – he added. "And activate the thrusters. No point in cloaking if we remain in the same location."
"What course shall we take, sir?" – Jim asked.
"North. Towards the Fireswamps. We might need backup, and Providence has the closest outpost."
"Understood." – Technician Jim nodded. "We have another problem, sir. Propulsion systems are also heavily damaged. Only the backups are working. We're gonna be moving extremely slowly. It's gonna take us many hours, most likely."
"That's… regrettable. Just do it at maximum available speed!" – Tetrax ordered.
"But sir, what if someone down there needs to get on the ship?" – the other technician, Macy, asked.
Tetrax paused to consider. "Unfortunately, they're gonna have to fend for themselves." – he then responded.
"And if a S.C.A.M.P.E.R. from the mainland tries to land here?" – Macy asked again.
"The airship is damaged, and we need to find a safe spot to land if we're to have any chance of repairing it, and thus, reestablishing contact with the mainland. So, all of that is going to have to be delayed, as well as any active operation on the ground. In the meantime, I need you all to do a full manual assessment of the damage in the of each system on the airship. That includes both the engine room and the ship's exterior. We're not going into any possible upcoming battle unprepared." – Tetrax declared.
Jim nodded, while Macy groaned. "That's gonna take hours…" – she mumbled. Then he spoke into his communicator. "Simon, we need you. Get over here. Simon?" – the communicator only gave off static. "Oh, right. The comms are down." Macy ran outside to get Simon.
"What do we do about the people here?" – Jim asked. "I assume the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s weren't able to evacuate all of them away? They're gonna need someone to take care of them."
"Why? Aren't they all trained to fight in the war?" – Tetrax asked her.
"You've seen it yourself out there." – Simon, who had arrived with Macy, asked Tetrax. "They're panicking. On edge. None of 'em have been in a situation like this before. I mean, sure, they were trained at the Academy or whatever, but judging by the reaction we all just saw, they're gonna need a firm hand to command them."
Tetrax sighed. "We'll to the best we can. I'll see if they've calmed down." - Tetrax said and went back out. He fully expected more Ben 10 fans, so this time, he decided to keep his visor on.
"Everyone, I have an announcement to make." – Tetrax declared with the diamond bullhorn. The crowd's heads turned towards him, all fifty of them.
"The airship has been damaged by an unknown attacker. So, to prevent any more harm from coming to you or the ship, we'll be parking it in the Fireswamps to conduct repairs."
"I can't go into the Fireswamps, man, I've never been this deep into the Darklands before!"
"Fireswamps? What is that, like Swampfire?"
"I need to get back to Townsville, I was doing a mission for Johnny Bravo and he promised to give me his spare shades."
"When are the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s coming back?"
Tetrax shook his head. Simon was right. While he was thinking about how to get through this, someone made a run for it and tried to jump off the edge of the airship.
"Stop him!" – Tetrax yelled. Fortunately, this person tried running through the bazaar, which was filled with Mandroids that were able to hold him. "Let me go! I need to get to somewhere with wi-fi to watch the new season premiere of High School Heights!" – he yelled. He was restrained immediately. However, that would prove to be a problem. Anyone trying to get off the airship with no comms, no S.C.A.M.P.E.R. and the experience of a newly-trained recruit would be killing themselves. And some of the panicking people would be stupid enough to try it. Tetrax went back into the control room, but not before ordering the Mandroids to be on full alert for any more jumpers.
"So, when do we start the movie?" – Macy was asking right when Tetrax stepped in.
"Hold on… you think NOW is a good time to do that?" – Simon asked her.
"What? I've been looking forward to watching the Kung-Fu Cop Partners sequel! It's the first one in 8 years!"
"Yeah, well, it was gonna suck anyway. They recast the cop partners with Carter and Briggs!" – Jim retorted.
"What? I like Carter and Briggs." – Macy told him.
"They're gonna turn the franchise into another Carter and Briggs franchise instead of the actual Kung-Fu Cop Partners. All they're gonna do is yell "Awwww… DADADADADA!" while driving in donuts, like they do in every movie. We'd be better off watching that Cemetery in the Sky remake." – Jim told her.
"You clearly haven't seen the trailers. This sequel is gonna be a love letter to the original…" – Macy was gonna keep explaining, but then they all realized Tetrax was behind them. He still had his visor on, so they couldn't tell what mood he was in. Though, it couldn't have been happy.
"Glad to see the engineers hard at work. Mandark should give you all a raise." – he said.
The technicians stared at each other, unsure of what Tetrax meant. Then, Macy cracked a laugh.
"Alright, who taught Tetrax sarcasm?" – she asked. Though, the eyeless stare through the visor from the petrosapien was enough to get her to gulp. He was even scarier with the helmet on, since you can't even see what he's thinking.
"Until this issue is fixed, you are all working non-stop overtime. Everything else is irrelevant. None of us have the time to drop our guard and watch movies. Not even to sleep. The lives of those out there rest on your shoulders. As do your own. As I said, I need a full assessment of the airship, I need someone monitoring the radars and sensors at all times, and I need one of you on crowd control. You're the only ones I can rely on not to panic, so I need one of you to do it. Actually, no. Find Shala. He's bound to be around. He'll have to manage the crowd while you lot stay at the control center." – Tetrax ordered. Simon immediately went out to look for Shala. "And Macy…" – he turned to Macy. "I'm not watching anything else with Carter and Briggs in it after what you showed me last time. Once we get out of this mess, we're watching what Jim said."
"Yesssss…" – Macy cheered silently. Jim frowned.
May 12, 04:00, Dinosaur Pass
"Are you affirmative that Shala isn't anywhere on the airship?" – Tetrax asked Simon.
The airship had crossed the border between Forsaken Valley and Dinosaur Pass. Most of the people were asleep. As there were no beds anywhere, everyone was just lying around, wherever they found comfortable. Most of them were under the open sky, which was cold, though it was mid-May. And, there were several people up and awake, unable to fall asleep due to paranoia. Though, there was one guy desperately trying to sell the Blossom Dynamo Armor Set for a price that, let's face it, no one would have bought for anyway, even if they weren't in an emergency situation. Simon was patrolling them with the help of a couple Mandroids, ensuring that no incidents occur between the people.
"Well, he's not playing hide and seek now, is he?" – Simon told him. "Maybe he ran away with the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s."
"Unlikely. Last time I saw him, he was right over there on the edge, ready to take on the horde of attackers on his own." – Tetrax retorted.
"Well, there ya have it. He simply fell over the edge. Happened to me a couple of times, even." – Simon told Tetrax. "And with the airship cloaked, there ain't no way he'll make it back up. He's down there on his own."
"Shame. His assistance would have been useful." – Tetrax told him.
"He better not die down there." – Simon said. "He owes me 200 Taros." – he added under his breath.
"Who, Shala? No. He's resourceful. At least, when he needs to be. He'll turn up. And I believe there's an Earth expression for this."
"What expression?"
"We're not getting rid of him that easily."
"Guys, we have a problem." – Jim ran to them.
"What is it?" – Tetrax asked him.
"Macy didn't specify. She said you'd better come and see for yourself." – he answered.
Tetrax nodded. "You stay here and keep watch after the people." – he told Simon as he ran towards the bridge with Jim.
"But I wanna see what's going on too." – Simon mumbled while watching Tetrax leave.
"There you are. The sensors are detecting a large mass of Fusion creatures to the north of us." – Macy told them as Tetrax and Jim entered the control room.
"Specify." – Tetrax ordered.
"Most likely it's the ones indigenous to the Fireswamps. The heat sensors are going off the rails too."
"Well, duh, they are in the Fireswamps." – Jim told her.
"You're not hearing me. Yes, they're in the Fireswamps, but there's a larger than usual amount of heat radiating from the north, though from a very specific direction. At the very least, this indicates a large amount of Magma Hulks and Creepasauruses."
"Must be leftovers from whatever it was that attacked us." – Jim said.
"No. We don't even know if whatever attacked us was real. It didn't show up on any of the sensors, did it?" – Macy corrected him.
"You tell me what the hell damaged the airship, then." – Jim retorted. Macy was at a loss for arguments.
"The Providence outpost is under attack. Hmmm…" – Tetrax mumbled, not listening to either of them.
"Well, we should better get over there as quickly as possible and help them out!" – Macy told him.
"Hold on… Look at this." – Tetrax pointed at the airborne radar.
"Tha- I didn't even think to look at that! Oh, shit…" – Macy mumbled.
"A horde of airborne monsters? Terrordactyls or Fusionflies? It's gotta be Terrordactyls, right?" – Jim asked.
"No, it's gotta be Fusionflies. If it were Terrordactyls, they'd be coming in from right where we are now. You seeing any Terrordactyls around, Jim?" – Macy theorized.
"Whichever it is, they're going to tear the airship to bits if they get anywhere near us in the ship's damaged state." – Tetrax said. "Stop the airship immediately while we decide the new course."
"But what about Providence's people, Tetrax? Surely their outpost will be decimated without our help!"
"They'll be decimated with our help or without it. It is a hard decision to make, I know. Once again, unfortunate."
"Well, we gotta at least warn them! They probably have no idea that there are Fusionflies coming at them!" – Macy protested.
"The communicator's down. We'd have to send someone down there in person, and I don't think anyone in the panicking mass outside is fit to carry out this mission. Unless you wish to volunteer?" – Tetrax asked Macy.
Macy stared at Tetrax. He had his visor on, so his emotions were yet again masked, but she still wondered how he felt about all this. Maybe the visor was on to prevent his own shame from leaking out?
"It's the middle of the night, and there's a rampaging horde out there. You'll be volunteering for your grave. Don't do it." – Jim advised her.
Macy froze for a moment, not even able to breath while considering, then sighed in shame. "No… I guess not." She wished she had a visor of her own so no one would see how she felt.
Tetrax was silent for a moment to let her make peace with her decision. "Then… we set a course to the north-west." – he then declared.
"Towards the Huntor's Crest SACT camp?" – Jim asked.
"No, we'll have to avoid it. Fuse is certainly playing at something. First we are under attack, now Providence. We have to assume he might be trying to pick off the SACT and the Plumbers as well. So, we need to find a safe spot until we can assess the situation clearly." – Tetrax told him. "No contact with any ground base until then. We cannot, I repeat, we cannot allow the airship to be detected in its current damaged state."
"Got it. To the north-west… That puts our course directly over the mountain river that runs down to Huntor's Crest, though. Isn't that the area where Fusionflies are nesting?"
"If we are correct and the Fusionflies are the ones attacking Providence, that leaves that area vacant. It's the fastest way over the mountains without having to raise altitude, which the ship might not be able to handle." – Tetrax explained. "Though, we have to hope that we fly over the area before the Fusionflies return."
"Okay. So where are we setting dock? Huntor's?" – Jim asked.
"Huntor's is gonna be filled with Fusionflies again once this attack is over. And it's the obvious place to go, so Fuse will start looking there first. I'm thinking… Hero's Hollow."
"WHAT? Are you kidding? You know what happened the last time we had an airship in Hero's Hollow, don't you?"
"Yes, Jim. In fact, I was there. You were not. And our only alternatives are on the Precipice, which might be another subject to attack, or the Dark Glade. Well, either those locations or Fuse's Lair itself. You think he'd be a good neighbor?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever. We're all dead anyway, so let's go on a cross island adventure while we can. Why don't we invite Cheese on board while we're at it?" – Jim mumbled to himself while entering commands into the ship's navigation system.
May 12, 07:00, Dinosaur Pass
"Attention, everyone. Attention, everyone. To all who are able, I need everyone to gather on the deck, at the location designated as "the bazaar". Please gather in an orderly fashion." – Tetrax declared on the airship's PA system. Almost everyone who was sleeping got quite a shock from the loud declaration.
Tetrax then went to the bazaar himself, to address the people stranded on the airship. Simon followed him.
"What's the problem? Was the PA system damaged as well?" – Tetrax asked Simon, as barely any people showed up. As they looked around the airship, they could see others, still sleeping around.
"Yeah, I think you just made the announcement too early. Most these guys are still in their dreams." – Simon told him.
"I declared curfew at 11 PM last night. I thought 8 hours of sleep was sufficient for humans?" – Tetrax asked, unsure.
"Yeah, well, you gotta keep in mind that us humans are an unruly bunch. Even when it comes to the rules of biology. Here, I know what to do." – Simon said and ran towards the control room. A couple minutes later, the PA system yelled "Awwww… DADADADADA!" at full volume, forcing everyone to wake up and cover their ears. Simon came running back a moment later.
"Are you insane?!" – Tetrax yelled at him.
"What?" – Simon asked, as if it was nothing.
"You might as well turn it up even higher, the deep trenches of Kumari Kandam couldn't quite hear that! You might attract the monsters!"
Shala, making his way through Dinosaur Pass, got a jumpscare.
"Wait, what?" – he mumbled.
He thought he had heard some sort of yelling.
"Must be nothing. Man, I really need to get some sleep." – he told himself as he went on his way towards the Fireswamps.
"Well, we needed to wake up the people SOMEHOW."
As a matter of fact, it worked. Most of the sleepers got woken up, and now they were looking around, startled, for signs of danger.
Tetrax sighed. "Just go, gather them up here."
As Simon went around, trying to prevent another panic that he himself caused from escalating, someone entered the control room where Jim and Macy were watching the sensors.
"Alright, which one of you infidels just played that?"
"Uhh… dude, what?" – Macy turned around.
"Over the intercom. I just had my eardrums destroyed by a demonic, unholy sound." – the guy told them.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Simon set the volume to the max to wake the people up." – Jim told him.
"It isn't the volume that I'm talking about! My critique is of the content that I listened to without any forewarning or consent!"
"What was it that he played?" – Jim asked Macy.
"It was the Carter and Briggs yell. Like his way to callback to what we were talking about last night, probably." – Macy told him.
"Precisely. That was the opening of Carter and Briggs VII: Carter and Briggs on Mars, to be more exact. That abomination deserves to be erased from the collective human history, as with the rest of that franchise!" – he yelled.
"Okay, I get being pissed at being woken up, but what is your problem with Carter and Briggs?" – Macy asked him.
"Uh, Macy?" – Jim asked. One of the sensors had started beeping and flashing.
"Wh- what is- ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU JUST A BLIND CONSUMER THAT TAKES IN EVERYTHING HOLLYWOOD SHOVES DOWN YOUR THROAT? First of all, the movies are overly-marketed, mass-consumed blockbusters that sheeple flock to every year! They are bland, repetitive, and worst of all, the whole franchise started off in a medium that is despicable and, in every way, inferior to film: television." – the guy went on a rant.
Jim rolled his eyes, but then told Macy "Macy, I need you for a sec", but Macy's blood started pumping so hard she got heated.
"Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep." – the sensor kept going.
"Oh. I get it. You're one of those film snobs that only ever watch weird and disturbing films no one's even heard of and scoff at anything that manages to make its money back at the box office because oh, you're so special, nobody else is smart enough to have heard of your favorite movie. Admit it, you're just jealous that Carter and Briggs is taking away viewers from 40 year old lost media or something. Now get out, we've got an airship to pilot here. Your life depends on me, you know!"
"MACY THIS IS IMPORTANT! THE PHOTON LOOP IS DESTABILIZING!"
"BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP" – the alert was now louder and quicker.
"An airship? It offends me that someone with your level of intelligence is even allowed to pilot something like this!" – the guy went up to Macy and prodded her shoulder with his finger to emphasize. Macy could smell chips from his breath. "In fact, I am scared for my life! Are you gonna start flying the ship around, making donuts with it like your children's franchise heroes?"
"MACY, THE DECOMPRESSOR!" – Jim yelled again, but he couldn't reach it because he was holding down a button and a dial in place and had his hands full. Meanwhile the force field sensor was still filling the room with the almost aggressive beeps.
"Yeah, well, if it's people like you fighting out there on the front lines, the whole planet is doomed anyway, so might as well do something fun until you get us all killed."
"Remember you, you… Wait, what's your name?"
"MACY."
"Macy! The cloaking's about to shut down!" – Jim yelled again, but was ignored by the movie buffs. Now he was trying to reach for the decompressor button with his foot, but still it was just barely out of range.
"BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP"
"Remember that you, Macy, have made yourself an enemy today." – he said menacingly and turned back.
"Well, what's your name?" – Macy asked him.
"You don't deserve to know my name." – the guy said intensely and turned back. "It's Wayne!" – he then added while leaving. "You'll remember it!"
"Umpf!" – Jim fell down on the floor as he barely managed to keep the two buttons and the dial active for just a second, resetting and reactivating the cloaking. The alarm finally shut down.
"Can you believe that guy?" – Macy told him, still oblivious to what he was trying to tell her earlier.
"I never thought I'd meet someone more obsessed over dumb movies than you." – Jim said after all that. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"
"He dissed Carter and Briggs!" – Macy told him.
"It wasn't even you that played it on the speakers, it was Simon. Couldn't you have let it go? You almost got everyone on the airship killed over a movie."
"I AM NOT DOING THIS AGAIN WITH YOU!" – Macy yelled and turned back to the monitors. Jim sighed. "Wait, did you say killed?"
"Wayne was right about it, too." – she mumbled under her breath, but quietly so that Jim wouldn't hear her.
While the film snobs were having their argument, Tetrax was trying to explain the emergency protocols to the people stranded on the airship.
"We are unaware of the nature of the attack, but rest assured that we've assessed the condition of the airship and will be docking as soon as we reach a safe location in order to conduct necessary repairs."
"How long's that gonna take?" – someone from the crowed yelled. "Yeah!" – someone else agreed.
"With the damaged propulsions, I estimate we will reach the docking site sometime tomorrow, in the afternoon. The repairs, however, are unknown. Days, at the very least. Possibly longer. In fact, with the propulsion systems I'm not even sure if we'll ev-" – Tetrax was saying, but then Simon elbowed him in the side. It hurt Simon more than it hurt Tetrax, but he got the message. It was best not to aggravate the mass further.
"Well, what do we do until then? Where are we supposed to go?" – another person from the crowd yelled.
"Yeah, where do we sleep? I was freezing my shins off last night out in the open!"
"If we're here for the long term, I'm sure we will be welcome at one of the bases on the island. Until that is possible, however, you will be housed here, in the airship's interior. Whichever way it goes, eventually they'll send a search party for us and all of you will be able to get off the island if you want to. Until then, we need to rationalize the supplies. I'm talking food, water, weaponry. I'm gonna need all of the food establishments to hand over your stock so that we may ration them accordingly."
"Uh, dude?" – the guy wearing the Burger Frenzy uniform piped up. "Not that I don't love your plan, but the company terms say that we are not required to surrender the supplies, not even during the end of the world, rupture, or any other apocalyptical scenario."
A couple of other food court workers nodded in agreement as well.
"Rest assured, you will be compensated accordingly by Mandark Industries. We just need to make sure that people don't panic buy and consume the food inefficiently, which will then lead to starvation."
"But that would interfere with the company's policy on sales..." – the Burger Frenzy guy objected again.
"And if I seize the supplies anyway?" – Tetrax asked.
Simon elbowed him again. "You wanna get your crystal ass sued?" – he whispered.
"I'm a bounty hunter. That's… half of what I do."
"Not by multibillion-dollar Earth conglomerates, you don't."
"Alright, then. The next thing we need to discuss: the armed forces. The ship might be subject to another attack, and this time, I will need all of you to be armed and ready to defend it. We need people on lookout, working in shifts. The rest of you need to be on guard, ready to defend at a moment's notice. Furthermore-"
Whatever Tetrax was saying until now, this was what got the crowd riled up.
"What? I didn't sign up for no guard duty!"
"The monsters here are too dangerous! I can't deal with them!"
"Not only am I working a minimum-wage job in food service, now I gotta actually go out there in WAR?!"
"You're Ben Tennyson! You're the one that's supposed to be protecting us!"
Tetrax sighed.
Then, a short rainbow-colored sponge-like creature, wearing a green striped bandana and a high school varsity jacket broke away from the crowd and stood next to Tetrax.
"What is this, guys? Come on. Are we MEN or what?" – he addressed the crowd. He was met with confused looks, as people were unsure if he was also part of the ship's staff.
"Which earth species is this creature?" – Tetrax asked Simon. Simon shrugged.
"YOU THERE! Why don't you wanna fight? Are you not defending what's yours?" – The multi-colored guy pointed at a random dude wearing a beanie and jacket among the crowd.
"Honestly? All of you guys have got cool guns and stuff like that, and that's cool and all, but I don't even have one, sooo…"
"What?" – Tetrax retracted his helmet into his armor, thinking he misheard him. "What's your name?"
"Jamie." – said Jamie.
"Jamie, you came to the Darklands… without a weapon? Did you lose it? Surely we can find you a replacement."
"Nah, I'm more of a lover than a fighter, so I'm not really fit for all that war stuff anyway…"
"I… don't get it. What was the purpose of you arriving here?" – Tetrax asked while straightening his jaw with his hand.
"I hear chicks dig dudes who've been to the front lines." – Jamie told Tetrax nonchalantly. Someone from the back of the crowd shouted "yeah!".
Simon sighed. "Not when you just stand around not doing anything." – he said to himself.
"Get out of my sight." – Tetrax told Jamie with disdain, and the guy with the beanie left with his hands in his pockets without saying another word.
"Now, where were we?" – Tetrax asked Simon. "Please, no further interruptions." – he then addressed the crowd. "Those of you who are fit to fight, will have to fight. Simple as that. Else, the Fusions will kill you. You should have known that before you had decided to venture into the Darklands. Any questions?"
"I only ever got here to trade at the bazaar-" – a different guy started, but Tetrax didn't let him finish.
"I said no interruptions!"
"But you asked if we had any ques-"
"If you don't have a weapon, or don't have an effective one, or need some other type of gear, we will try to provide one for you. The Mandroids in the marketplace have a considerable stock, which I am authorized to give away to you in an event like this."
As soon as everyone heard Tetrax say that, they all looked at each other and immediately ran over to the droid drome – a section of the bazaar that was reserved exclusively for Dexbots and Mandroids to sell their merchandise (Mandark Industries got a nice percentage from all the sales Dexbots made while on the Mandark airship).
"What are they doing now?" – Tetrax asked, straightening his jaw again.
"You… you told them you were giving away free gear. Probably should have seen this coming." – Simon told him.
"Stop! You're tearing the Mandroids to pieces!" – Tetrax yelled and dove into the crowd, trying to keep them away from the robots. It would be easy for Tetrax to erect a crystal wall between them to keep them apart, but that would damage the integrity of the airship even more.
"Do you want me to get to the PA system again?" – Simon asked eagerly.
"Absolutely not!" – Tetrax told him. "MANDROIDS DEACTIVATE!" – he then yelled.
"Good thing you did that, else the crowd might have gone and activated their self-defense protocols." – Simon said.
"Everyone get away from the robots!" – Tetrax yelled through his crystal bullhorn again. By now the crowd already sorta recognized him as the one that's supposed to be in charge, so they let go.
"If any of you start another riot today, I swear to Sugilite, I'm dropping you off the airship. Into the wilderness. Now calm down and disperse. We need to do inventory checks before we start giving out the weapons. Until then, you will have to wait." – Tetrax told the crowd. Disappointed, scared or annoyed, one by one they dispersed.
"Did you just say we?" – Simon asked, which meant he'd have to do the inventory too.
"Yeah. Sorry, I meant you. You're on inventory. Oh, and check if you can get the Dexbots to give up their catalogue too."
"WHAT?"
"I gotta determine where to put 50 humans without them complaining. You're the one with the easy task." – Tetrax told him and went away with heavy steps.
May 12, 8:47, Dinosaur Pass
"Out of all the people in the Darklands, I had to be stuck with the rookies…" – Tetrax thought to himself.
After monitoring the airship's systems and checking everything on every possible radar the airship had (and making sure the cloaking doesn't overload again, no thanks to Macy), Tetrax stepped into the living quarters of the crew. The crew, of course, was made up from Tetrax, Jim, Macy and Simon. Each of them had a small cabin to themselves. Besides them they had 4 more rooms, one of which was occupied by Shala, the other by Samurai Jack, and the third one by the airship's janitor - Rocky. Both Shala and Jack them were temporarily off the airship, and considering Tetrax hadn't noticed Rocky's hard-to-miss orange shape anywhere on the ship since the incident, it was safe to assume that he escaped with the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s. The remaining two rooms were always vacant. Still, those were only 8 rooms, only 4 of which were vacant. Nearly not enough for the approximately 50 other people on the ship.
Tetrax went into the first vacant room. It was completely empty besides the bed, the table and chair, and the cupboard. No window – the lighting was artificial. He looked around at the room's measurements. The bed would be for one human, sure. But he'd have to house more than one per room if they didn't want to sleep under the Darklands' starless sky. He then looked at the table. Could humans sleep on tables? Or on the chair? He then opened the cupboard, and considered it for a second. Nope.
He then looked into Rocky's room. For an individual tasked with keeping the sanitary conditions of the airship acceptable, his room wasn't all that clean. There were a couple of sixpacks on the table and some empty cans in the corner, and a lot of chip crumbs and other dust all around. There was a single AB/CD poster above Rocky's bed.
Then he stepped into the room that was until now occupied by Samurai Jack. Immediately, the exposed parts of his skin could feel the smell of Jack's favorite herbal tea all around the room. To Tetrax it smelled weird, but he had pleasant associations with it. Jack's room itself was already as good as empty, even the table and the chair were gone to make room for the training mats Jack had laid down on the floor, turning it into a minituarized dojo. This look was complimented by a set of wooden training swords hanging from the walls. Jack looked into the cupboard. A spare kimono was folded neatly in it, with only a single sandal on top of it. Tetrax smiled, remembering what happened to the other one. He then closed the cupboard. He'd have to move Jack's stuff somewhere else, but these mats could definitely be used as mattresses. Alright.
After that came his own room. A thin layer of dust covered the surfaces just like in the vacant rooms – Tetrax rarely ever came in here, using it as his storage room more than a bedroom. He never needed one anyway – he spent most of his time at the bridge in the control room. Everything was well here, only he'd have to move his hoverboards, pellets and spare equipment somewhere else, somewhere no nosy rookie would get to. He said he was giving away Mandark Industries gear, not his own.
Then, Tetrax opened the door to Shala's room. Immediately feeling disgust as the horrible smell touched all of his exposed face, he took several steps back and closed the door. "Dammit, Shala." – he muttered. Shala made Rocky look like a neat freak in comparison. From the brief moment Tetrax was inside, he saw garbage everywhere. Tetrax shook his head. The engineers were busy monitoring the ship and keeping the people in check. He shouldn't distract them from their duties, and they probably wouldn't be a fan of the idea of getting evicted…
Tetrax sighed and went for the communal bathrooms. In there, he accessed a hidden panel behind the wall, and opened the door to the laundry room. The laundry room was kept hidden and exclusive for the airship's staff so that the one single washing machine wouldn't be occupied with a hundred people's laundry. In there, Tetrax walked past a table and a chair (probably the ones from Jack's room), opened the utility closet and looked for the garbage bags. He had never seen them as a roll before, so it took him a moment to locate them, but once he realized what it was and how to use it, he took it, along with the vacuum cleaner. He then braced himself, activated his visor helmet to cover his skin from the smell, and entered Shala's room.
May 12, 8:58, Dinosaur Pass
"ACCESS DENIED!"
"Access override!"
"ACCESS DENIED!"
"Emergency override code: Astronometrics101!"
"ACCESS DENIED!"
"What the hell am I supposed to do with you?" – Simon sighed. He was trying to get the Mandroids to relinquish the gear that was supposed to be on sale.
"EVERYONE, LISTEN TO ME!" – Simon then heard someone yell.
"Oh, boy." – he thought. Someone was making a scene. Again.
"DO NOT LISTEN TO THE GEM GOSPEL! WE ARE IN DANGER! WE HAVE LEFT OUR HOME DIMENSION AND ARE DRIFTING THROUGH THE VOID! DON'T YOU SEE THAT THERE WERE NO STARS LAST NIGHT?"
"Uh, dude, do you mind?" – Simon approached him. A dude with curly hair and square glasses, was standing on a table at the food court and yelling nonsense. The others looked mildly annoyed.
"DON'T EVEN TRY TO SILENCE ME! YOU HAVE THESE PEOPLE CAUGHT IN A WEB OF LIES! THE PICTURES OF TIME AND SPACE ARE BEING REARRANGED AS WE SPEAK!
Simon sighed. "I don't have the time for this. Can you shut him up?" – he asked the Mandroid he was with. "AFFIRMATIVE." – it responded and activated a large laser canon in its arm.
"WHOA WHOA WHOA!" – Simon yelled. The crowd screamer also gave a yelp when he saw the laser gun. "I meant WITHOUT obliterating him?"
"SPECIFICATIONS ACKNOWLEDGED." – the Mandroid responded and shot the guy with a tranquilizer dart.
"These damn Mandroids. Freaking murder bots, man…" – Simon muttered to himself.
"You can read about it on… my blog…" – was what the disruptor managed to mumble before he fell down from the table and started snoring. Loudly.
"Can you help me drag him away from the middle of the deck?" – Simon asked a nearby Plumber girl. She gladly obliged, glad that the conspiracy guy stopped bothering everyone.
"Become a technician, she said. It will be a good use of your intelligence, she said. Thanks a lot, mom!" – Simon was talking to himself while dragging him away. Or maybe he was talking because he wanted the Plumber girl to hear him. He did find her pretty hot. He even thought he heard a chuckle from her, but didn't dare talk to her further.
"Right. You. Give me those damn weapons or I'm taking you apart screw by screw!" – he told the Mandroid after he had finished dragging the guy to behind an empty kiosk.
"ACCESS DENIED!"
May 12, 9:32, Dinosaur Pass
"Hey, Tetrax. Fancy seeing you here, you never come down to the cabins." – Macy told Tetrax casually.
Tetrax was in the laundry room in the process of dropping off the plastic bag with Shala's belongings indifferently shoved inside it along with the garbage from his room.
"I'm heading down to do the weapon's system scan." – she then explained.
"Alright." – Tetrax said and Macy went on her way. "Wait!" – he then stopped her. "I'm gonna need you to tell the others something. The three of you… have to clear out your rooms."
"WHAT?!" – She yelled. "You're… kidding, right?"
"I'm afraid not. We've got 50 people out there, and I have to put them somewhere."
"Yeah but why our rooms? There's just 3 of us. How big a difference does that make?"
"4 people in each room, that's already 12 of them housed. And it's not just you three either, alright? I'm giving my room away too."
"Well, that's easy for you to say, you barely even use it. Where am I supposed to put all of my stuff?! I got a collection of DVDs in there! Where the hell am I supposed to put it?"
"The laundry room can function as a-"
"THE LAUNDRY ROOM? I'm not putting all that stuff in the laundry room! You know some of them are vintage, there's some VHS tapes that are gonna get damaged by the dampness! And where are we even supposed to sleep, anyhow?"
"Temporarily in the bridge. And you're not going to have too much time to sleep anyway, I need you on call 24/7 until this crisis is resolved."
"FINE! Fine. But just so you know, I'll be asking for a raise." – Macy reluctantly agreed, knowing it was pointless to argue against Tetrax.
"You do that. Take it up with Mandark, it's of no consequence to me."
"Can I at LEAST take a break after this weapons check?"
"30 minutes. And if the others want to take a break, do it separately."
"Yesss…"
May 11, 14:11, Dinosaur Pass
"Name?"
"Shannon Westerburg."
"Training?"
"The Academy."
"How long ago was that?"
"Couple months. January, I think."
"Any experience fighting in the Darklands before?"
"Yeah, I recovered a Gooby Trap from Dinosaur Pass and fought some of those triceratops monsters."
"Alright. Any weapon preferences? Melee? Rifle? Rocket?"
"I think I'm best with shatterguns."
"Alright, I've got a Magnetic Spreader."
"Magnetic?"
"Yeah."
"But-"
"Next!"
Shannon went away disappointed with the Magnetic Spreader, while Simon sighed and wrote her name down on the "maybe" list, which was much shorter than the list right next to it which he had dubbed "babies". The next person approached Simon and the Mandroids.
"Name?" – Simon asked without looking at the person.
"Tobias Wilson."
"Alright. Training?"
"Absolutely none." – Tobias said proudly.
Shocked, Simon looked away from the hologram of the weapons catalogue he had compiled and looked at Tobias. That was the multi-colored cloud guy with the varsity jacket that interrupted Tetrax earlier, looking at Simon with a smug grin.
"No training?"
"Don't need any. I'm a lean, mean Fusion fighting machine."
Simon raised an eyebrow. "Right. You get a Custard Buster."
"Awesome, dude!" – Tobias grabbed it from him and ran off while staring at it with wide eyes, but then bumped into some kid with a blue t-shirt and knocked him down.
"Hey, watch it, stumblebum!" – Tobias yelled.
"It's Butter Fingers, actually." – the kid told him while getting up.
"What?" – Tobias asked.
"Butter Fingers. That's what everyone calls me."
"Hm, right."
"Hey, nice weapon, dude. What's it called?" – Butter Fingers asked him.
"Oh, this? That's just a little thing called, um, the X-Custer Buster 9000. It's the most powerful model on the market, and the guy there told me to be careful with it or it'll bring the whole ship down. Of course, I'll have to make some modifications to make sure it's up to my standards…"
"Wow! I've got a Block Pistol. Wanna see?" – and he summoned the weapon from his NanoCom.
"Pfft, that old thing? That's garbage. You should really just ask them to give you a new one instead. In fact…" – Tobias ripped the weapon out from Butter Fingers' hand and broke it over his knee, then ran over to the edge of the airship and tossed it overboard.
"No, stop!" – Butter Fingers yelled and followed him, but it was too late.
"Trust me, kid, I did you a favor there."
"But… my mom got me that weapon." – Butter Fingers muttered.
"Oh."
While Butter Fingers was still looking over the edge, watching it get left behind as the airship drifted away, Tobias looked around nervously and started running. He then bumped into someone. Again.
"Ow! What is it with people today!" – he complained, but then he looked at who he had bumped into – a beautiful red-haired girl wearing some kind of armor. (It was Plumber gear, though Tobias didn't know that.)
"Whoa." – he muttered.
"Hey, careful there." – the girl told him. "What the heck are you, anyway?"
Tobias, with his face in a semi-frozen state, could not answer.
"Are you… an alien?" – the girl asked. Tobias shook his head slowly, his mouth still open.
"An EVO, maybe?"
Tobias shook his head again.
"What the heck are you then, a cryptid? A magic creature? Someone from Lumpy Space?"
Tobias didn't really know what any of those were, but suddenly, he found his mojo again.
"Hey, if you wanted to see my lumpy space, all you had to do was ask!"
The girl opened her mouth, but then, realizing what he had said, furiously slapped him across his spongey face and stormed off.
"That was… awesome…" – he muttered longingly as he stared at her walking away. He was also rubbing his cheek, which was starting to hurt.
May 12, 15:02, Fireswamps
"Ouch! You kicked the thong guy!"
"Haha, classic." – Macy chuckled.
"Do you mind?" – Jim asked her. She was lying on the floor of the bridge, with her pillow under her head, watching a movie through a hologram from her NanoCom.
"Nah, you can be here, I don't really mind."
"I MEAN, do you mind going somewhere else? Some of us are trying to keep the airship afloat."
Macy, without even getting up, dragged herself along the floor and moved to the corner. Jim looked at her disapprovingly.
"What? Apparently, this is our bedroom now. I'm making myself comfortable."
"You got time for that?"
"Tetrax said I can take a break." – Macy told him.
"Why do you get to take one?"
"Because, Jim, I have been working extremely hard, you know?"
Jim rolled his eyes. "Well, if you're taking one, then I'm taking one."
"No, he said we have to take breaks separately. Mind the exhaust overload." – she told him without looking up. Jim corrected the output.
"You've got five seconds until my partner opens a can of whoopass on you punks." – someone in the movie said.
"Is that… are you trying to psyop me into watching Kung-Fu Cop Partners again?" – Jim noticed.
"What? Noooooo…"
"Why are you trying to get us to watch that movie?!"
"What? It's a good movie!"
"There's millions of good movies, doesn't mean we have to watch them all!"
"Well, I'd like you guys to enjoy the stuff I enjoy, alright?"
"Why are you even watching a movie right now? You were pretty vocal about not getting to go to sleep last night. Wouldn't that be a better use of precious break time?"
"Yeah, but I'm trying to decompress here. 30 minutes of Kung-Fu Cop Partners is gonna help me way more than sleeping." – Macy explained.
"Speaking of decompressing, did you decompress the proton cannons?"
"Yes, I did, thank you, no need to remind me for the fourth time."
"Just checking."
May 12, 15:24, The Fireswamps
"Alright, you four, move in. Yours is the fourth door on the right." – Tetrax said. The four people he pointed at got up and entered the living quarters, then went inside what was now their cabin.
"Aw, man, this is bogus. I was hoping I'd get a room with some hot chicks." – Jamie said. "Not with some jock, smelly nerd, and a random kid." – he referred to the rest of the new inhabitants of the room.
"Hey, who you calling a kid?" – the kid protested.
"You don't exactly smell like potpourri either, man." – the smelly nerd told him.
"Whatever." – the jock grunted. "At least you're not sharing your room with…"
"OPEN YOUR EYES! WE ARE ON THE INFINITE TRAIN TO UNKNOWN! IT OPENED UP THE FIFTH DIMENSION! YOU CAN READ ABOUT IT ON MY BLOG! KEEP THE EARTH WEIRD!" – muffled screaming could be heard from the room next to them.
"SHUT UP, RONALDO!" – someone yelled at him.
"Good point." – the guy in the beanie told him.
"Might as well get to know each other if we're living together. I'm Troy."
"Jamie."
"Wayne."
"You guys can call me… the G-Man!" – the kid yelled.
"You call yourself the G-Man?" – Troy asked.
"More like the G-spot." – Jamie mumbled. Wayne sniggered.
"You got a problem with that, punk?" – the G-Man, not hearing Jamie's comment, yelled at Troy, despite being half of Troy's height.
"Hmph. Whatever, "G-Man". So, who's getting the bed?" – he asked. They all just realized there was only a single bed in the room.
"I CALL IT!" – Jamie yelled.
"You can't call it now! If you were going to call it you should have called it when we entered the room. Now, the statute of limitations has expired." – Wayne objected. "Why didn't I think of doing it first?" – he then told himself.
"You can't call the bed. I'm the one that's gonna be sleeping in it!" – the G-man yelled.
"The bed's too big for you! You'd be wasting free space!" – Jamie told him.
"I say we arm wrestle for it." – Troy said, and flexed his big buff biceps.
"Absolutely no way." – Wayne said.
"Punchies, then."
"You're gonna punch a kid?" – Wayne asked him.
"Pfft. As if he could beat me at punchies." – the G-Man shrugged it off. "Hey, what did I tell you about calling me a kid? I'm 13!"
"Good enough for me." – Troy said casually.
"Not like he ain't asking for it." – Jamie told them. "So how about rock paper scissors?" – he then suggested.
"That's… more my forte." – Wayne agreed.
"No. That's completely random. Someone's gonna luck out and everybody's gonna get pissed." – Troy protested.
"What we need… is a skill-based contest where the Infraggable Krunk over here can't brute force his way to victory." – Wayne decided.
"Good luck finding a challenge like that." – Troy smirked.
"We do a staring contest!" – the G-man yelled.
"Hm." "Alright." "That… works." – everyone agreed.
"So do we do it in rounds or like, all four at once?" – Jamie asked.
"Yeah, who's gonna supervise it if we do all four at once?" – Wayne responded. "No, we do it in rounds."
"So who's going up against who?" – Jamie asked.
"I can take on all three of you at the same time!" – the G-Man boasted.
"Hmph. Alright, let's see how you do, kid." – Troy stepped forward.
Both of them stood in front of each other with their eyes closed, ready to begin. Wayne and Jamie were standing from the peripheries, anticipating eagerly.
"Fifty taros says the jock wins." – Jamie told Wayne.
"You are SO on, dude!" – Wayne accepted.
"Alright, three, two, one, GO!" – Jamie yelled.
Both Troy and the G-Man opened their eyes, staring at each other. This was it. The battle to obtain the bed. For who knows how long, they'd have to stay on this airship, and this was their only chance to get comfortable. The G-Man felt sweat dropping down from his forehead. His eyes were twitching. He stared at Troy – who didn't seem like he was feeling anything at all. If he didn't do something now, he'd lose. He gulped.
"FWAH!" – the G-Man yelled and shook his hands in the air, trying to get Troy to flinch. It didn't work. "SHADOO! BOOM! PFFFFFFFRHHHH!" – he kept trying to do something, but Troy wasn't moving at all. Then, momentarily, Troy clenched his fist and raised it extremely quickly, as if he was going to punch him. G-Man immediately dropped on the ground and held himself, scared silly.
"Dammit, dude, come on!" – Wayne yelled. Jamie gave him a smug smirk. "No fair, that was cheating!" – Wayne then objected.
"Your guy tried to cheat first. And failed. So, nope." – Jamie replied.
"And the first loser is… G… I'm not calling you that. What's your actual name?" – Troy asked him.
"You can simply call me… Gus." – Gus stood up and got back into his cool guy routine as if nothing had happened.
"Alright, time for round two." – Wayne declared. "You wanna make it a double or nothing?" – he asked Jamie, whom he was about to face.
"You're dreaming if you think you can outstare me!" – Jamie replied pridefully.
"Aha! Hahaha! We'll see. So you're on?"
"Like gold on a leprechaun." – Jamie replied. The others exchanged confused looks. "Let's go, already!" – Jamie told them.
"Okay. Three two one GO!" – Troy yelled.
"Hey, I wanted to yell go!" – Gus whined. Troy ignored him.
Jamie and Wayne were locked in a struggle of stares. It went on for 30 seconds, then a minute, then two minutes. Jamie's eyes were burning up, but Wayne was undeterred. Knowing his time was almost up, Jamie tried blowing air into Wayne's eyes, but Wayne was undeterred. Jamie then gave a sudden screech to catch him off guard, but Wayne was undeterred. Giving up, Wayne closed his eyes and fell down on the floor.
"Ahahahahahahaha! I have gone on for an EIGHT HOUR MOVIE MARATHON without even blinking once! ALL OF YOU WERE KIDDING YOURSELVES IF YOU THINK YOU EVEN HAD A NANOCHANCE OF BEATING ME!" – Wayne yelled cheerfully. Of course, there was the final round between him and Troy, but then he said:
"Whoa. Eight hours? No damn way I'm attempting this. You keep the bed." – Troy stepped down.
"Hey! What about losers' finals?!" – Gus yelled.
"Dude, just let it go." – Troy told him.
"Now you owe me 100 Taros, man!" – he told Jamie, who still had his eyes closed because they were hurting so much.
"Unhhhh… why on earth were you even doing it for 8 whole hours?" – he asked.
"It was an Oshataki Yamagata marathon. I didn't want to miss even a single frame." – Wayne proudly declared.
"Uh… what?" – Troy asked.
"Only the greatest filmmaker of all time! Of course, you dunderhead haven't heard of him." – Wayne told him condescendingly.
"Watch it, nerd. I can still resort to punchies." – Troy warned him. Wayne gulped and decided not to push his luck.
May 12, 15:48, The Fireswamps
"Come fly with us, come die with us…" – Jim sang to himself as he sat on the edge of a floating platform, swinging his legs in the air. The platform was hovering right under the airship's underbelly, and Macy was using it to do a manual check of the airship's laser turrets.
"Don't fall over." – Macy warned him without looking away. They were hundreds of feet in the air, and the safety railing was on Macy's side.
"You'd have to be an idiot to fall over like that." – Jim responded.
Macy chuckled. "You mean, like Shala."
"Pffft. I guess. I mean, there was the explosion…"
"True. Wonder how he's doing down there." – she told him.
"Eh, he's come back from worse. I mean, the horde ended up not being real, right?" – Jim told her as he exhaled and lied back on the floor.
"Think it was Fuse himself?" – Macy asked.
"Hm?"
"Whatever attacked the airship. We know it wasn't the horde. Maybe it was Fuse." – she said while un-twisting a bolt with a wrench.
"Naaaah. You think he'd risk coming out of his lair?
"What? He must be super powerful if he's been able to wage war on us this long." – Macy told him.
Jim shrugged. "Or maybe he's actually super fragile and that's why he's been covering himself with defenses. Could go either way."
"Well, whatever it was, it certainly did a number on the engine."
"And the force field. And the comms. We're lucky we still have an airship to stand on." – Jim told her. "But we're the ones that have to repair it all, though."
"Yeah, well, I don't think the Providence Agents were that lucky." – Macy said. "You think we can catch a glimpse of their camp from here?" – she asked and looked over the edge of the small platform.
"Nah, we're too far west. Already over the mountain range." – Jim told her.
They both looked at the ground from the top. A bird's eye view of the Fireswamps was not uncommon for those that flew around with Monkey Skyway Agents, though they never flew this high in the air. From up here, the jets of fire all melted into one big orange mosaic.
"Hey, what's that?" – Jim asked. Macy took a closer look.
There was a plateau up on the mountain, enveloped by cliffs taller than it. In the middle there were what seemed to be rocks. They weren't randomly formed, either, they were ordered in some sort of shape. Not necessarily symmetrical, but Jim could feel there had to have been a specific pattern to them. And some were square shaped, some triangular, and the only the one in the middle seemed to be round. Macy stepped away from the airship and took a picture of this weird plateau using her NanoCom, then enlarged a hologram of it.
"Wait, could they be houses?" – she asked.
"You mean, this place is inhabited? No way." – Jim responded skeptically.
"No, it's true! I remember Tetrax talking to a researcher or something and they were discussing ancient settlements here."
"Well, whatever it is, as long as they don't start throwing spears at us, they're fine by me."
Macy shrugged and went back to work, while Jim kept humming "come fly with us" while looking into the distance.
"Hey, you want a snack? Burger Frenzy's still open." – Jim suggested. "Might as well eat while I've got a break."
"How the hell is it that they managed to put a Burger Frenzy on a deserted island, anyway?" – Macy chuckled. "Yes. Get me a Number Two with a side of fries."
"What size?" – Jim asked as he controlled the hover platform to take them up to the airship's level.
"Extra thick!" – Macy yelled while he was leaving.
May 12, 18:25, Huntor's Crest
"How did it go with inventory?" – Tetrax asked.
"Fine. I made a list of all the weapons and a list of everyone that I gave them out to. The Monkey Minions asked for some, but I thought it would be best to leave that call up to you."
"Good decision. Can I see the lists?"
"Yeah, I'm sending over to your DexCom now." – Simon told him and opened his NanoCom menu. "Hey, it's not sending! What the hell? OH. Forgot. No comms. Uhhh… do you know if this thing has Bluetooth?"
"Nevermind that, just show me the list."
Simon summoned the two lists on two holograms through the NanoCom. Tetrax looked over.
"The Mandroid took some hacking into, though. Those twins made a really stupid interface for them and the override code wasn't working." – Simon said as Tetrax checked the list. "Hey, isn't Mandark gonna get pissed about all these weapons you've given away?" – Simon asked Tetrax.
"Not as pissed as he'll get if he finds the airship in pieces. What does the list labelled "maybe" mean?"
"Those are the ones with a bit of experience in the Darklands. More or less. Thought you might wanna use them in missions or something. The others…" – he pointed at the much longer list next to it – "probably wouldn't come back from one."
"Hm. Good. But I'm still not sending any of them out right now. I'm not ready to risk their lives when I'm unsure of their abilities. Additionally, if we're under attack now, like Providence, was then those 7 people are gonna be the only real hope the airship has."
"Well ain't that just great. There's another matter I need to bring up with you, though."
"What is it."
"The Monkey Skyway Agents."
"What about them?"
"For one thing, they're becoming agitated. This whole situation means their job was suspended until contact's reestablished. And also, well, now that they can't leave the ship, they've um… been stinking up the public bathrooms. There have been complaints."
Tetrax sighed. "I have battled in two intergalactic wars. And this is what I'm dealing with now. Okay, I'll figure something out.
"So, can I take my break now?"
"You humans and your breaks."
"Well we can't all be indestructible petrosapiens, sorry!"
"Go on. 30 minutes." – Tetrax told him and went to check on the monitors.
May 13, 02:11, Huntor's Crest
"TETRAAAAAAAX!"
"Hm?"
"Let us sleep!"
"No!"
For a moment there, they remained in silence.
"What are you thinking about, anyway?" – Macy asked him.
"The comms. Almost all of our problems can be solved if we reestablish contact with the mainland.
"So, you figure out a way to do that yet?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe? That sounds good. Maybe's good, right?"
"Yes and no. I have a suspicion…" – Tetrax said, but didn't elaborate.
"…Well?"
"Macy, Mandark Industries often steals technology ideas from Dexlabs, right?"
"I am under legal obligation to deny any such claims." – she told him. "Mandark might have wiretaps in this place." – she whispered.
"That's enough of an answer for me. In that case, I think there might be a viable replacement for this airship's communications system."
"Oh. Really?" – she asked, interested.
"Hm. Only problem is getting it. I'd have to send someone, and I think we all came to the conclusion that the crowd out there is not cut out for this task." – Tetrax told her.
"Understatement of the year."
"Yes."
"I mean, I guess I could do it…?" – Macy suggested.
"Absolutely not. You're too valuable to the airship as a technician. Or do you want the already broad workload to fall solely on Simon and Jim's shoulders?"
"I guess not. We're already burnt out as we are." – she said. She waited for him to respond, Tetrax stayed silent.
"Tetraaaaaaax! It's 2 in the morning!"
"Look, I need you to stay vigilant in case of another attack!"
"What are we even supposed to do? Simon's not even trained and Jim is hopeless with a gun!"
"Crowd control. Airship turrets. Sensor readings."
"We haven't slept for 2 days!"
"I gave you each a 30 minute break, didn't I?"
"Uhh…" – Macy was shocked. She looked at the half-asleep Simon and Jim in the corner, not sure if they heard what she heard. "I'm not sure you completely realize how the human body works."
Tetrax sighed. "Shala once convinced me that humans need 12 hours of sleep."
"Pffffffft..." - Maccy broke out laughing. "He did WHAT?"
"So you might understand how little I understand human physiology. It doesn't help that carbon-based lifeforms are needlessly convoluted." – Tetrax growled.
"Says the petrosapien that can shoot crystals from his body." – Macy remarked.
"Yes, because the human nervous system is not complicated at all." – Tetrax said sarcastically.
"Okay, we're getting off track here. Let us sleep!"
"Sorry, but no."
"Look at these guys!" – Macy pointed at the guys. Simon was fast asleep and dropped his head on Jim's shoulder. Macy gave a reluctant smile about it. "Is this who you really want to put in charge of crowd control?"
"Fine! Fine. You sleep. Don't ever say that I'm a bad captain." – Tetrax reluctantly told her.
"YEEEEAH!" – Macy yelled, and in the process, woke up Simon and Jim.
May 13, 7:02 AM, Huntor's Crest
"What do you think this means?"
"The captain had a wakeup call yesterday too, right?"
"Yeah, but he didn't call anyone out specifically yesterday. This time he said just the seven of us."
"Maybe we did something wrong?"
"Crap, what if he thinks we stole those weapons?"
"No way, that guy with the Mandroids was giving them away to literally everyone."
"Well, he can keep mine. How am I supposed to use a magnetic gun?"
"I think he has a mission for us."
"A mission? Now? Are you sure it's a good idea to get off the airship?"
"Quiet, here he comes."
Tetrax approached them. "Good morning, everyone." – he told them. The others stared at him a bit awkwardly, anxiously awaiting whatever he called them for. "My name is Tetrax. As you may already know, I am the captain of this airship.
One of the people Tetrax had gathered, Shannon, raised her hand.
"Um…" – Tetrax got confused. "I'm not familiar with that human sign language."
"Oh. I just have a question."
"Yes?"
"I thought Jack was the leader of the ship. Y'know, Samurai Jack?"
"No, not really. Though yes, Jack was the one that took on the responsibility of coordinating missions around the island, the airship and all its facilities are actually piloted by me." – Tetrax answered her.
"So it really is a mission that you're sending us on?"
"Well…" – Tetrax stopped for a moment to consider his words. "Yes and no. I do need your help, but I need to assess your skills before I can allow sending anyone off the boundaries of the ship. And currently, I don't have a way of doing it safely, so any potential missions will have to be put on hold. However… you might be able to help me out here, on the airship." – Tetrax told them. "As you might have noticed, most of the people on the airship are regrettably unfit for battle in the Darklands. The seven of you are the only ones that I know of with relevant experience."
"Um…" – another girl raised her hand. This time it was the one in Plumber armor. According to the list Simon had compiled, her name was Kim.
"Just ask the question." – Tetrax told her.
"This is actually my first time in the Darklands, so I'm not sure why you think I have relevant experience…"
"You are a Plumber officer, yes?" – Tetrax asked her. She nodded. "For how long?" – he asked her.
"Two years." – she answered.
"There you go. That's more than enough for me."
"Okay, but the reason I'm here is because I was on my way to the Plumber outpost on the Precipice." – Kim told him.
"I may not be able to stop you from venturing out in the Darklands on your own, but I'd recommend strongly against it. Once the airship's defensive systems are fully operational, we will try to make contact with the other outposts. Until then, things are too uncertain." – Tetrax explained to her.
"Okay, but what is it that you want us to do, exactly?" – someone else asked Tetrax.
"I need you to watch over the people on the airship. The Mandroids only have rudimentary crowd control programs that sometimes get… needlessly excessive, and I need the rest of my staff to operate the airship. So when there's a panic or a scandal, I'd like you to help me keep things under control. And if the airship is under attack, I'd expect you to defend them from the monsters."
"Hold on." – Butter Fingers said. "There's gonna be more monsters attacking?"
"At the moment, the airship's cloaking system is functional, so they shouldn't be. However, I'd rather be prepared for any contingency. So yes, there might be a likelihood of Fusion creatures attacking the airship again.
"Hold on, hold on. What's in it for us?" – Troy interrupted them. "I mean, we're gonna be putting our lives on the line here."
Tetrax paused. "You knowingly put your lives on the line the moment you stepped foot in the Darklands. Maintaining the safety of this airship is your responsibility if for no other reason than to provide a shelter for your own self." – Tetrax told him with enough conviction to make anyone stand up and fight. "And… you'll get paid too." – he reluctantly added.
May 13, 13:41, Hero's Hollow
"Tetrax! Hey, Tetrax!"
"Hm? You've got news?"
"Jim and Simon finished the complete evaluation of the airship."
"Good. Where are we on the propulsion systems?"
"According to Jim's diagnosis, it's been severely damaged. It requires components that cannot be found anywhere in the Darklands. Yes, not even in the DexLabs airship. I've checked. And in its current state, it's going to take many months to fly from here to the nearest patch of mainland, which, barring the energy concerns, is made impossible because of food and water. Though, Jim said he's gonna take a closer look once we ground the airship."
"Hm. What about the comms?"
"Simon says that yes, it is possible to salvage something for it from the DexLabs airship. There's just the question of whether or not it will be working. And, of course, getting someone to go in there and bring it back… well, it's Green Maw. Not a lot of people come back from there."
"You let me worry about Green Maw. Now, shields."
"I've got good news with that one. The shields are fully functional, though not operating at optimal capacity. I think a system-wide reboot would help bring it back to 100."
"Okay. Do it, then."
"Oooof…" – Macy grimaced. "There's a small problem with that, though. During the hard reboot, the shields will be deactivated… and the airship will be vulnerable for 24 hours."
"Twenty… TWENTY-FOUR HOURS?!" – Tetrax exclaimed in surprise. He straightened his jaw, considering the course of action. "Alright, don't do it. I'd rather do that when all of the so-called "fighters" have been removed to a safer zone."
"You got it, cap." – Macy answered.
As they were talking, they noticed a Fusionfly fly right by the airship.
"Umm…" – Macy pointed at it. Tetrax was immediately put on alert.
"Are they able to see us now?" – she asked.
A couple more Fusionflies were flying straight towards them now. One of them spat Fusion Matter and it hit the force field of the ship.
"Does that answer your question?" – Tetrax told her. "Why is the cloaking down?"
"Shit! The bridge!" – Macy exclaimed as she ran towards the control room. Tetrax followed her. The monsters tried to get onto the ship, but were stopped by the force field.
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU LEFT THE BRIDGE EMPTY?!"
"I HAD TO TELL YOU ABOUT THE DIAGNOSTICS!"
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SEND SIMON OR JIM?"
"THEY WERE TIRED!"
"WELL, YOU JUST GAVE AWAY THE LOCATION OF THE AIRSHIP! NOW WE'LL HAVE TO RELOCATE AGAIN! AND THAT'S IF THE MONSTERS DON'T SHOOT US DOWN FIRST!"
When they reached the control center while arguing, they saw a single young red-haired boy inside, yelling at a monitor.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" – Tetrax picked him up by his shirt and yelled straight into his face.
"Oh, you mean, I wasn't supposed to do that?" – Gus chuckled nervously.
After Macy reactivated the invisibility field around the airship, Tetrax dropped Gus onto the floor.
"This is like being on an airship with a hundred Cheeses." – he muttered.
"So, um… what do we do now?" – Macy asked meekly, hoping that Tetrax wouldn't remember it was her fault.
"Did you shoot the Fusionflies down?"
"Yeah, the turrets were working on that side."
"We can only hope they weren't able to transmit this information to the Fusion hivemind. Still, we can't stay on this spot any longer. Move the ship to Green Maw."
"Green Maw? Are you sure? It's full of Cephalopods."
"I know, I know. But our location's all but compromised anyway, and at least we'll be near the Dexlabs airship for spare parts."
"Let's just hope nobody onboard saw the Fusionflies attack. We don't need another panic."
May 13, 22:04, Green Maw
"Uh, Tetrax?"
"Hm?"
"I've got something on camera two here."
"It's not more incoming monsters, is it? Has our location been compromised?"
"Um… no. It's actually, uh, Shala."
"Shala?! He's down there right now?"
"Yeah. He must have somehow found us. He's not alone either, there's some guy with him."
"That's… that's actually great news. Send a platform down there and bring them both up. Only…" – Tetrax paused to consider something. "Only, wait for a couple minutes before sending it down."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. I know just what to do with him." – Tetrax smirked, left the bridge and instead of going to the edge of the ship where the platform would deliver Shala, headed oddly towards the food court instead.
End of Chapter 16.
Extract from Alice Quickfeet's Fusion Monster research log:
Shellslug
Fusion Matter type: Blastons
Power Level: 35
Boss: Epic Shellslug
Location: Green Maw
Height: approx. 5'6''
Boss height: approx.. 7'6''
Weight: approx. 90 lbs.
Boss weight: approx.. 120 lbs.
Special attacks:
Eruption – yes
Corruption: Blastons only
Description:
The main body consists of a durable shell, with extremely powerful and agile appendages protruding out from it.
Behavior:
When untempted by human prey, Shellslugs strut around (as opposed to jumping around like how Shellworms do) with their massive feet. Usually dislikes contact with others of its kind, or even other monsters, most prominently Eyebores. After noticing a human, their main method of attack is using the massive strength of their appendages to "shellbutt" the enemy with their shell. The brute force is enough to knock anyone away and the blunt force trauma is extremely dangerous that can have long-lasting effects long after the battle. When confronted, they often retreat into their own shells, which are nearly impenetrable in this state. (Who the hell named them Shellslugs and Shellworms? They are turtles if I've ever seen any). A dangerous gimmick that differentiates the Shellslugs from the Shellworms is the so-called "playing dead" – it might retract into the shell to lure the opponent into a sense of security. DO NOT approach them in this state, as they attack with a Fusion Matter bite once the prey is close enough. Judging by strategies like these, the Shellslugs are a step above the Shellworms in the Fusion evolutionary tree.
Another differentiation I have noticed is that Shellworms usually jump at the opponent, hoping for the best, while Shellslugs have a much better understanding of weight distribution and are able to use it in battles more effectively.
Behavior of Shellslugs and Shellworms in relation to each other – unknown. Need further research.
The best known way to combat Shellworms is to try to hit it before it retreats into its shell – though, that is extremely hard. Several people have told me that when it tries to go for the Fusion bite bait, you run without looking back. I suppose that is another method of surviving the battle, though not with dealing with the monsters.
Area spread: Hero's Hollow, most notably around Green Maw, though leaking into other areas as well, which would make them easy to mistake for Shellworms. Some have suggested that they come from inside the lake. This is backed up by their anatomy – the massive flipper-like legs. Though, no one can actually go into the lake to find out how they behave in their "natural habitat".
Under Fusion control, Shellslugs start using Corruption and Eruption attacks, which for some reason, they do not use on their own. (Or do they? Must research further). I have a hypothesis that they'd be worse at controlling their weight distribution as well, unless the Fusion really concentrates?
Known Fusions that have controlled Shellworms:
Fusion Coop
?