Chapter 22 – Imagination Confrontation
A pair of hover-vehicles sped along the barren landscape of Hero's Hollow. The area was dim and gloomy, yet illuminated by the murky, muted luminescence of numerous Fusion growths and Terrafusers polluting the area. Because of it, they could only see so far ahead until the path before them got obscured by the darkness.
"So how are you feeling about the mission right now?" – Alice asked Naver. Ever since her adventure with Jay, she felt like she had to carry the conversation at all times, or else things would get awkward. "This is gonna be your first time going alone. You're not nervous, are you?"
"No, not really. I'm usually more nervous when I'm with others." – Naver told her surprisingly casually.
"What do you mean by that?" – Alice turned her head towards him, thinking he was kidding.
"I don't know, I just… worry a lot that I might get someone killed. When I'm alone, though, it doesn't even cross my mind."
"And you're not worried that you might get yourself killed?" – Alice inquired further. "Aren't you worried for your own safety?"
Naver shook his head. "Not really." – he told her. "I mean, I don't have a deathwish or anything like that, but that doesn't really worry me, you know? If that makes sense? And it's not like I want be totally alone, either, I'd much rather be with company, even if I'm a little bit on edge, because what's even the point of even being around if there's no one, um… around?" – he rambled on. "I don't even know who I am, so being left alone with my thoughts, with myself, who I don't even know is supposed to be, that's just… weird. Like I don't know how to behave, I don't know how to think, but, well, I admit, I did want to go alone this time. You know, I just want to see if I could pull off doing a mission alone. Know what I'm capable of." – he rambled on.
"Whoa! Careful!" – Alice remarked as she noticed they were riding towards a pack of Shellworms, accompanied by a Giga Shellworm. Naver slowed down as well.
"Okay, it's a good thing that those were Shellworms and not Eyebulbs, cause we'd SO be caught by now." – Alice sighed in relief. "But that is strange. Shellworms don't usually roam around this part of Hero's Hollow. Better keep watch ahead so that we don't bump into any more of them."
"Maybe Fuse is trying to stop people from getting to Huntor's Crest from here?" – Naver blindly suggested.
"Yeah, that's probably it. Cutting off all contact IS Fuse's best bet. He's already succeeded at separating us from the mainland, and now, if we can't support each other… Maybe he's trying to push us to use the Monkey Skyway Agents so that he can pick us off in the air… not like the monkeys would ever agree to that." – Alice concluded. "Anyway, let's be extra careful when we go on."
"Agreed." – Naver nodded as they continued on.
"So, um, about what we were talking about earlier… has it ever happened before?" – Alice then asked to shake the uncomfortable silence away.
"Has what exactly happened?" – Naver unsurely repeated, not even remembering where was it that they left the conversation off on.
"You getting someone killed. Sorry, sorry, that's a personal question, I shouldn't make you think about it." – she immediately apologized.
"Yeah, it did happen." – Naver said darkly. "A couple times, even. First, I wasn't able to save Lars… this guy me and Shala met in Dino Pass. The guy whose NanoCom I'm wearing." – he explained to Alice as he held up his wrist to show it to her.
"Yeah." – Alice nodded.
"And then the SACT camp at the Infected Zone. It got attacked and they got everyone except me. Were you there? Did you see what happened? I did tell you you could take the RV."
"Yeah, me and Jay were there. It was horrible. So you really witnessed that attack yourself?" – Alice inquired further. "That must have been… traumatic."
"Yeah." – Naver sighed.
There was a pause in the conversation after that. Alice didn't want to bother Naver further.
"Sorry for asking too much. It's just that after those couple days with, uh, with Jay, with the conversations I've been having with him, I felt like I had to put his personality through a microscope and analyze every part of his character to be able to understand anything of what he's like." – Alice admitted. "And getting a sentence longer than two words out of him is nearly impossible."
"Don't worry about it. It's no bother." – Naver replied, really not wanting to feel like a burden to her.
Maybe he was right, thought Alice. She had gotten used to feeling like every line of dialogue with Jay was pushing too much. And after a while with him, it felt good to have a normal conversation with someone. Well, as normal as you could get on this island.
"Well, look at you, huh. I mean, last time I saw you, you were ready to call it quits and get evacuated to the mainland. Now you're volunteering to go on missions alone to help save the airship. That's awesome." – Alice tried to lighten up the conversation.
"You really think so?" – Naver's face brightened up.
"Yeah. You've come a long way." – she reassured him. Naver gave out a smile. Alice almost added "I'm proud of you" but felt like that was way too much so she decided to stop there.
"Thanks. Yeah, I feel like I'm growing into the role. We defeated Fusion Courage, then went to the Green Maw airship, now I'm going on a solo mission… and I'm starting to get the hang of my powers, too." – Naver responded.
"Now THAT'S something I'm really interested in." – Alice answered enthusiastically. "Go on."
"Well, uh, I can do stuff like, telekinetic pushes. I do those when fighting Fusion Monsters all the time. Also, I can temporarily create solid masses of… of energy, I guess, mid-air, that I can use as stepping stones. You might have seen me do that in the Infected Zone. Shala helped me out on some of this stuff, too, he explained to me that I can apply physics and stuff like that to make the lifting more efficient."
"Oh, really? Shala said that?"
"Yeah. I lifted a boulder."
"What else can you do with the solid masses of energy? Can you make them move? Take different shapes?" – Alice asked further.
"I… haven't actually tried doing any of that stuff." – Naver admitted.
"Come on. Let's try." – Alice stopped her hoverboard.
"Now?" – Naver stopped his hoverscooter and turned around to see if Alice was actually being serious.
"Yeah. When else? I mean, would you rather do it at the SACT base, with all the people watching?"
"Good point. We can try it now." – Naver agreed and unsummoned his scooter. Alice jumped off the hoverboard as it folded into a compact, disc-shaped state. As she was landing, she kicked her leg against the edge of the hoverboard and it flew into the air, spinning like a coin, and Alice quickly took her Bunny Bag off her back and opened it so that the hoverboard would land right into it.
The two of them found a good spot to train that seemed relatively monster-free. They piled up their backpacks under a tree and Naver stepped into the wide-open space. Alice stood to the side to be able to observe, but not interfere.
Naver readied himself mentally so that he'd be able to fully show Alice what he was made of. He wondered if there were any warm-up excercises for this. Like when people stretch their muscles before accomplishing athletic feats. In Naver's case, he'd have to stretch his neurons, which he had no idea if it even was a thing.
"So far, I can do it like this." – he said, took a step forward and voila – his leg was standing on a manifested gust of transparent purple-ish energy. His other leg was still on the ground, and Naver slowly shifted his weight to lean on the platform instead, allowing him to stand on one foot entirely on the platform before jumping off and dissipating the energy.
Alice was observing with great interest. "Can you make it wider so you can stand on it with both feet?"
Naver was sure that he couldn't, though he did try anyway. It ended up taking a lot out of him mentally, and after a brief success, the energy disappeared and he landed on the ground.
"I think it takes way too much mental effort to do it wide like that." – Naver explained to her. "Like, since the platform is wider and is the weight is spread around more, it's taking more energy to maintain. It'd be a lot better to keep it step by step."
"Can you hop from one platform to another to run a distance? Like, say, from that boulder…" – Alice pointed – "…to that tree over there. Without touching the ground."
Naver considered that distance. "I'm not really sure. I mean, that might be too far way." - he hesitated.
"Well, we'll see just how far you can make it, right?" – Alice still said.
"I guess you're right. Yeah." – he changed his mind and started climbing onto the rock.
"You can do this, Naver!" – Alice reassured him again.
Naver took one step ahead of him, onto the air. As he removed his other leg from the rock, he looked at where he was going to put his leg and manifested a platform there. So far, so good. With step three, he removed the platform he originally used and added one ahead of him where he was about to put his leg.
"If you keep going slowly like that, you're gonna get tired! You have to do it in one run!" – Alice advised him.
She was right. Naver could feel it as well. Though, if he started running, he'd have to manifest and dissipate these platforms a lot quicker, way too quick to coordinate with his feet, and he'd…
SLAM. Naver's platform gave out and he fell facefirst to the ground, not even having the energy to cushion the blow.
"I know you can do better than that." – Alice shook her head. "Try doing it quicker this time."
Naver got up, walked back to his boulder, then tried running. One, two, three, SLAM. It happened even quicker than he could process it. As he expected, it was way harder to coordinate the stepping stone distances in such a quick succession with such wide gaps between steps. At least this time he reacted to himself falling and tried to cushion his fall with his mental force, though it wasn't enough.
"Again!" – Alice told him.
"What are you, a gym coach?"
"Practice makes perfect, Naver!" – she said firmly, showing a side of her that Naver hadn't seen before.
"Umm…"
"Naver, listen. You do want to perfect your skills so that you'll be at your optimum in the actual battle, right?" – Alice asked demandingly.
"Yeah, I guess, but…"
"Then no buts. Come on, try again!" – Alice interrupted. "Up you get!"
"Up you get!"
"Whohaoh!" – Shala exclaimed, jumped awake and fell out of his bed. His head, upside down, looked up to see an unimpressed Jay standing over him.
"Mmmmmmhh, what time is it?" – Shala moaned, climbed back into his bed and covered himself with his blanket.
"It's seven. UP!" – Jay yelled, and Shala nearly fell out of his bed again.
"Seven?! Are you kidding me? I only went to sleep like, a couple hours ago!"
"What were you doing up all night?" – Jay asked him.
"Working on some tech." – Shala instinctually lied as he looked out of his sheet, as this was a tried and tested excuse he had used many times over with Tetrax or Jack.
Jay raised his eyebrows. Shala looked around the room and realized – his room was empty, as he hadn't even bothered to unpack his garbage bag yet. So the lie didn't fly by Jay.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Why'd I have to end up with a roommate like you? Gee, you're like the second Samurai Jack around here." – Shala grumbled to himself.
"What's that supposed to mean?" – Jay inquired, his ears burning up at a Samurai Jack comparison.
"Well, he's always like this too. Only he has the courtesy of at least letting me sleep till the sun is up." – Shala whined as he put on his pair of Piped Pants.
"We're in a-"
"And now you're gonna say we're in a war and we don't have the time to lay about doing nothing. I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times. So tell me, Jay Zoomringer, now that I'm up, what do you want me to do?"
"I'm going to restock on my supplies." – Jay told him.
"Yeah, well, have fun, I guess."
"You're coming." – Jay added with a certain tone in his voice.
Shala groaned, then sighed, then moaned, but there was probably no use arguing with this guy. Well, he was up, at least. He reached into his bed's compartment, got a Radicola for himself from the minifridge and followed Jay.
"What?" – Shala asked nonchalantly as Jay threw a disapproving glare at him. "It's like a morning coffee."
Jay glared at him further, without saying anything. Though he didn't need to. His disapproval was clearly visible through his glare.
"I'm trying to make up for all the lost time I spent not drinking Radicola while I was away." – Shala told him.
"Good grief." – Jay shook his head as they both left Shala's room. They headed to the exit, and neither of them stopped by the bathroom to wash their face or brush their teeth.
"Gee, when did she turn into such a demanding mom?" – Naver thought to himself. Heh. Mom. The thought of having parents never occurred to him until now, surprisingly. This was probably the closest he'd get. So, he complied with Alice's training protocol. It's not like he minded, anyway. Improving his powers was definitely necessary. It's just the way Alice was going about it…
Back onto the boulder. One, two, three, four, five… Aaaand down he went. Though, he managed to cushion his blow entirely, landing safely. That was some sort of progress, at least. But at this point he was getting tired both mentally and physically. All the running and falling was taking a toll, not to mention how all of the platform pressure was giving him a headache.
"That was much better! Come on, I'm sure you'll make it next time!" – Alice encouraged him further.
"Again? How much longer am I supposed to do this?" – Naver whined.
"We're trying to get you to reach that tree, aren't we? That's easy!"
Naver looked at that tree over there. With five steps, he had only reached halfway until this one.
"Gee, why don't you try and do it…" – Naver thought to himself, but got up anyway.
Attempt one, attempt two, attempt three. The furthest Naver managed to reach were 6 steps.
"This is gonna take forever! We're out here on a mission!" – Naver objected again.
"Don't you feel that it's gotten easier to run like that?" – Alice remarked.
"What do you mean?"
"Try doing once more with your eyes closed." – Alice advised.
"HUH?"
"You heard me."
"I think you're wildly overestimating my abilities here." – Naver stated.
"Just trust me on this one. Weren't you the one saying you wanted to know what you were capable of?" – Alice reminded him.
Naver sighed. It's not like he had any other choice. Well, no, actually, he did. But for some reason, he chose to go through with following Alice. He stepped onto the boulder once again. Anxiously, he closed his eyes. If he fell down this time, it would definitely hurt, as he wouldn't be able to see where to cushion his blow. What's worse is that he wouldn't be able to see the moment of impact anymore, and the surprise would make it a whole lot more painful. But he still went through with it.
With eyes closed, he started running… one, two, three, four, five, six, seven! At that point Naver felt so out of his depth that he was overwhelmed by the sheer distance and lost his balance. When he opened his eyes, Alice was standing over him with a proud grin.
"When you do something over and over again, no matter how complex it is, it gets stored in your muscle memory. Eventually, your brain "skips" the necessary calculations made for the process and does it automatically. This goes for pretty much everything that requires complex muscle coordination, and most of that stuff people do on a daily basis without realizing it. Handwriting. Walking. Balancing yourself on a surfboard. Playing the piano. In Shala's case, performing combos in Primal Fighters. My point is, after you've done it enough times, it's engrained into your muscle memory. I guess in the case of your power, neuron memory, eventhoughtechnicallyallmemoryisneuronmemory, but I digress."
"Oh, yeah, I guess you have a point. I don't have to focus on when and where I'm creating the stepping stones, right?"
"Yep. I knew you had done it before, on the ship, as you've told me. And that means you've probably done it before you hit amnesia, too. All we had to do was reawaken the muscle memory. It's like riding a bike. Oh, yeah, that's the perfect analogy. That's literally what people mean when they say "it's like riding a bike". Heh."
"So can we move on from this exercise now?" – Naver asked hopefully.
"You still haven't reached that tree, though." – Alice remarked.
"Aw, come on!"
"You trust my methods now, don't you, Naver?" – Alice tried to persuade him.
"Yeah, I guess." – Naver sighed as he got back onto the rock.
Though, Alice's methods turned out to be extremely effective, as Naver immediately reached the tree on his next attempt. He ran and crashed straight into it and fell down, but that still counted as reaching it.
"Hell yeah, that was awesome!" – Alice cheered him on. She knew that asking a lot of him, but she also knew that it would be totally worth it. The only thing Naver needed was encouragement to go through with it.
"So, what next? Are you gonna come up with some other impossible challenge?" – Naver asked as he approached her.
"Come here. I wanna see something. Create like a, uh, one of those energy gusts here, in front of me."
Naver, not really sure where she was going to lead with this, complied.
Alice observed Naver's energy with fascination. She looked at it from various angles, from up close and far away, then tried running her hand through it. Naver felt her hand cause ripples across his energy field.
"Can you make it solid? Like when it's solid enough for you to step on?" – Alice requested, to which Naver complied. When she tried running her hand through it again, she was met with resistance. It was as if she was touching a solid cube. She pinched it to test its resistance and shape, then she bent down and picked up a twig from the ground, then put it on top of the energy field. It stayed in the air.
"Can you control that field? Like could you move it around and stuff, and use it to move this twig?" – Alice inquired.
Naver started shifting his mental energy – and it worked. Slowly, the energy carried the twig across the air.
"Can you make it do something more complicated? Like bring us the backpack from over there?" – Alice pointed at where they had left their backpacks.
Naver complied once again as he made his backpack levitate into the air then slowly brought it to him.
"You can do it quicker than that, Naver, come on! A snail is gonna be faster than you at this point!" – Alice encouraged him.
"If I do it any quicker, the hold is gonna break! It's gonna slip out!" – Naver objected.
"Not if you strengthen the damn hold, it's not! Make it go around the straps if you have to!" – Alice ordered, and Naver did just that. As Alice expected, it worked – Naver was levitating that bag back and forth at quick speed. He could even make it turn upside down.
"And now comes the main part of what I wanted to teach you. Or, well, see if you could do. Draw your sword."
"My sword?" – Naver repeated in disbelief.
"Yeah. Your weapon is a sword, isn't it? Come on, get it out." – Alice encouraged him again.
"Well… okay." – Naver summoned the Aerial Slicer from his NanoCom and grabbed it by the hilt.
"What I want you to do is to hold your sword like you did that bag." – Alice told him.
"Okay, but I think you'd better stand back. That thing is pretty sharp, we don't want it accidentally hitting someone." – Naver advised. Alice moved just a tiny bit away.
"How are you holding it? By the hilt or the whole thing all around?" – Alice inquired as the sword was levitated in the air.
"The whole thing. You want me to do just by the hilt?" – Naver asked her.
"Yes. Imagine that your mental energy are your fingers, holding the sword. Imagine that you can move it around forward, backward, sideways. Imagine… imagine that you have total control over it, just like you do over your hands. And now, I want you to attack with that sword. Perform a slice or something, like you would if you were holding it." – Alice instructed him.
Naver tried doing just as she had told him, but it slipped out of his "fingers" and flew sideways, falling onto the ground.
"Good thing I told you to stand back." – Naver said.
"You know what I'm gonna say now, don't you?" – Alice asked him.
"Try again?"
Alice nodded.
After a while, some progress was reached. Though, definitely wasn't as skilled at telekinetically wielding the sword as he was with his own hands – he had to constantly recall the sword to himself and physically perform the motions to remind himself how it's done, then try to replicate it with the sword. Eventually, with the promise that Naver would constantly practice those moves, even when Alice wouldn't be around, she relented.
Naver sat down in front of the very boulder Alice made him climb over and over again, leaning against it to rest. Alice sat down next to him.
"You know, what we really should do is get you to fight some Fusion Monsters to test the telekinetic sword-wielding in battle. Practical application always works so much better than just memorization." – Alice remarked.
"I can see why Shala said you were always nagging." – Naver responded to that.
"As if you'd be better off listening to what Shala says." – Alice said jokingly.
"Come on, he's a nice guy." – Naver jumped to defend his friend.
"No, I know, but still. He's a guy that you could say is pretty averse to responsibility. So, I wouldn't really prioritize his advice on important stuff, you know? I know him better than anyone else."
"I guess you have a point." – Naver admitted. "So what's Jay like?" – he then asked her.
"Jay is… well, he's complicated." – Alice told him, not even knowing where even to begin with describing him, though the "he's complicated" line was dangerously close to "we're complicated" which was a reality Alice was dreading to face.
Before the conversation had to go any further, to Alice's relief, they heard movement near them. Ironic that at this point Alice was glad there was a monster threat nearby. Both of them were immediately put on alert.
"Looks like I'm gonna get the practice you wanted for me after all." – Naver remarked as they got up and peeked from behind the rock.
"What could it be?" – Alice asked herself. "It's not a Shellslug. They make a distinct noise you can recognize them by."
"Maybe Eyebulbs?" – Naver suggested.
"Eyebulbs would have seen and attacked us by now."
"Even from behind the rock?"
"Yeah."
"Well, whatever it is, it's gonna be super dangerous, so maybe I shouldn't start practicing my telekinetic sword stance while we're at risk of facing the deadliest, most dangerous monsters in all of the Dark-"
"I like cereal." – someone said from behind them so suddenly that Naver got interrupted and jumped on the spot out of the shock. Alice unintentionally let out a short yell.
"Goddammit." – she then facepalmed.
"Goddammit." – Shala uttered once he and Jay reached the bazaar. "7 AM. You wake me up at 7 AM… and NOBODY'S… FUCKING… HERE! I mean, what did you expect? Who in their right mind sets their alarm clock thinking "Oh, I gotta get up at 7 tomorrow, can't wait to get rid of all this garbage to sell to all of the OTHER people that are also gonna be there at the crack of fucking dawn!" Seriously! I'm going back to sleep." – he declared and turned around, but Jay grabbed his shoulder.
"There's still the robot vendors." – he said calmly.
"Ughhhhhhhhhhh. Fine!" – Shala overdramatically extended his sigh as he begrudgingly followed Jay to the bot spot. "As long as it gets you off my back. And please make it quick!" – he complained all the way till the Bot Spot. "Alright, what are we looking for, exactly?"
"Grenades."
"Grenades?"
"My stock depleted during our fight with Fusion Courage." – Jay explained.
"Grenades it is." – Shala said as they approached the appropriate Dexbot, which had a hologram of a round bomb with a lit fuse on it hovering above its head to distinguish it from the others.
"Very nice weather we are having today." – Shala said before the Dexbot even got the chance to. "Alright, what's in stock?"
"Unfortunately, due to the emergency situation all of our stock has been reassigned." – the Dexbot told them.
"Reassigned? What does that mean?" – Shala questioned it.
"Stock in current position off: Mandark Industries Research Station staff, designation: Simon Fieldcheddar." – the robot answered.
"Simon's got them? YO, SIMON!" – Shala turned around and yelled at Simon, who was at a stand several feet away. He was sleeping on the counter.
"WHAT?" – Simon asked without lifting his head, clearly annoyed that someone wasn't letting him sleep. Shala could relate.
"THIS BOT'S SAYING YOU SEIZED ALL THE WEAPONS!"
"I DID!"
"WELL, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT?" – Shala yelled as he approached Simon's stall. Jay followed.
"Tetrax made me reprogram them to gather up all the supplies so that we could hand them out to people who actually needed them. So, what can I do you for?" – he asked after being forced to wake up. "And why the hell are you bothering me this early about this?"
Shala shot a smug look at Jay, who remained unamused.
"Simon, my man, a good friend of mine is in dire need of replenishing his grenade stock. Can you hook us up?"
"That depends." – Simon answered, suspiciously changing his friendly tone to a seemingly indifferent one. "When are you gonna pay back those 200 taros you owe me?"
"Which two h…" – Shala asked, but then remembered. "Oh, yeah. Hey, you know I'm good for it."
"You've been good at saying you're good for it for the past few months. I just wanna know if it's gonna happen before or after we all get wiped out by the Fusions so that at least I can treat myself to a good last meal before it all goes down."
"Listen…"
"I've heard enough." – Simon cut him off.
"C'mon, Simon, you know I'm strapped for cash. You've probably heard about the hovercar I, um, failed to return…"
"Didn't you order the jumbo-sized pizza at Burger Frenzy yesterday?" – Jay turned to Shala.
It was Simon's turn to raised an eyebrow with an unamused look on his face towards Shala.
"Not. Helping. Jay." – Shala said sternly. "Simon, isn't this supposed to be a handout station? I could tell Tetrax that you're extorting us over a couple sticks of dynamite…"
"And I could tell him what really happened on your Fireswamps mission last month, LG."
Shala gasped. "You would not!"
"Well, I don't wanna, either, but if you tell on me, you're not leaving me a whole lot of options here." – Simon retorted.
"For god's sake, I'll pay his debt, just show us what you've got." – Jay, who had had it up to here with their bartering, interrupted."
"Okay, then." – Simon immediately brought up a hologram of all available stock. "Alright, so I've got Caliente Bombs, Whizbombs, Grape Grenades, Petrosapien Shards based on our very own crystalline captain, there's some Apples of Discord and…"
"Are any of them sound-based?" – Jay inquired.
"Sound? You mean like, supersonics? Ultrasonics?" – Simon asked him. Shala was surprised by that too. That was oddly specific…
"…Yes."
"Nothing like that comes up on the registry. Mandark's been working on ultrasonics, from what I've heard, but that was for canine mind-control, not grenades. Shala, you hear anything like that from DexLabs?"
"Well, no, but they could have made something like that after I left. The only thing that comes to mind is my Sonic Smacker prototype that I gave to Alice, but that's more of a ranged gauntlet… Wait a second, does this have something to do with Alice?" – Shala turned to Jay.
"Who's Alice?" – Simon asked, but both Shala and Jay ignored him.
"I found Alice's Sonic Smacker highly effective and would like to add something similar to my arsenal." – Jay explained. "That's all there is to it." – he added, though that extra line sounded suspiciously like him trying to defend himself, when he didn't need to.
"Okay, well, the Dexbots and Mandroids weren't carrying them, but maybe they're still in circulation at the bazaar." – Shala proposed. "We can check it out once people are, you know, actually awake." – he told Jay. "Any idea who might have them?"
"I've been hearing about someone ever since Tetrax made me start doing handouts." – Simon explained. "He's never come to me for some reason, but he's always out, looking for some kind of deal for a quick turnover. Word on the bazaar is that if it's not available anywhere else, you go to him."
"His name?" – Jay asked impatiently.
Simon just shrugged.
"Where do we find him?" – Jay asked further.
"No idea. Ask around." – Simon answered.
"Well, for that, we'll need the people to wake up, first. Until then, we've got time for breakfast." – Shala declared and headed towards the food court, nudging Jay to go with him. He waved Simon goodbye. "Later, 'Cheddar."
"Um... hi, Cheese." - Naver awkwardly said.
"CHEESE! OF COURSE! WHAT THE HECK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO NOW THAT WE'VE GOT THIS THING ON OUR TAILS?!" – Alice yelled about Cheese, who had found them and was refusing to leave.
"Hi, doggie." – Cheese told her, none of this going by him.
"Oh, my god…" – Alice put her thumb and index finger in between her eyes, trying to figure out what to do. "Okay, how did you and LG shake him off again?" – she asked Naver.
"We, uh… that's the thing, he sort of, went off on his own."
"Can't he do the same thing again?" – Alice asked. "Go on, Cheese! Shoo! Shoo!"
But Cheese wasn't listening to her, as he noticed Naver, and miraculously remembered Naver lifting him up into the air, so he scuttled towards Naver and started reaching for his arm, yelling "Fly! Fly!"
"What's it doing now?" – Alice asked in annoyance.
"I think he remembered that I would lift him up with my telekinesis to make him calm down."
"That's a great idea! Then you just drop him off far, far away from us!" – Alice exclaimed excitedly.
"Nope. Tried that. He comes back." – Naver shook his head.
"FLY! FLY! FLY!" – Cheese kept yelling in the meanwhile.
"Okay, okay!" – Naver said as he lifted Cheese up with telekinesis, though he was completely worn out from practicing with his sword.
"Wheeeeeeeeeeee!" – Cheese wheezed in joy as he floated carelessly through the air.
"So what do we do with him? We obviously can't bring him into Huntor's Nest. The whole place will be in shambles by dawn!"
"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Maybe we could bring him to the SACT camp?" – Naver suggested, though he knew that was a long shot.
"I guess it could be worth a try? I don't think Steel's gonna take him, though. But if we don't find a way to get rid of him, fast, we're gonna have to spend the night out here and not at a camp, which would be REALLY ANNOYING."
"I pooted."
"We can tell." – Alice retaliated in annoyance.
"Why does everyone hate this guy so much?" – Naver asked. "I mean, yeah, he's annoying, and yeah, he blew up that ship… but, like, why the heck was he even there in the first place? You know, whoever brought him to the Darklands is to blame for this one. Like, there had to have been multiple steps in the process for Cheese to wind up at that control panel at that time, don't you think?"
"Well, I don't know who brought him here! But…"
"Or do you expect me to think that he swam here on his own? No, somebody definitely could have stopped this one. And Shala disliking Cheese I can understand, because Cheese messed up DexLabs that one time, but what's he ever done to you?" – Naver asked Alice, thinking that Alice's opinion on Cheese was a bit unfair. He had to put Cheese back on the ground, as he had gotten too tired, but Cheese didn't even seem to mind, as he forgot that he was supposed to be floating.
"LaaaaAAAAaaAaAaaLALALAlalalaALALALLLALALA!" – Cheese sang to himself, extremely jarringly off-key, as Alice and Naver were talking.
"You were saying?" – Alice raised an eyebrow. "But it's not just that. I just don't really… get Imaginary Friends."
"What?"
"I mean, what the heck are they? They're not animals, they're not people, they're not plants, they're not real, they're IMAGINARY, but they walk and talk and interact with the world as if they were actually real!" – Alice exclaimed in frustration.
"They look pretty real to me." – Naver pointed out as Cheese banged a rock up and down on the ground.
"Yeah, and that's what's so frustrating about them! I am a scientific mind, Naver. I can't just accept wacky creatures popping out of thin air, just like that! Like, how am I supposed to classify something like that? Are they supposed to belong to an animal kingdom? Are they aliens? Nobody knows! And I know Shala shares similar frustrations with Imaginary Energy as well."
"But you don't have a problem with a Demongo, you know, a demon, with magic, running around this place." – Naver pointed out. "Or your time traveler friend."
"Well, yeah. Demons and magic are just primordial aspects of the universe that humanity hasn't yet comprehended. But even with that, they have rules. Time travel has rules. They make sense. THIS…" – Alice pointed to Cheese, who was currently gnawing on a rock – "this, however, makes zero sense."
"I don't know, I think you're just thinking too much about it." – Naver hesitantly told her.
"Lady. Hey, lady." – Cheese started tugging on Alice's arm.
"I really hate that argument. Thinking too much about it?! How could humanity ever advance if it didn't think too much into things? You think we'd be able to make rockets or cars or electricity or fire without thinking too much about stuff?!" – Alice had taken a personal offence to Naver's statement.
"Lady. Lady, hey. Hey, lady." – Cheese kept tugging Alice's arm.
"Well, you can't solve it, and thinking about it obviously brings you nothing but frustration, so wouldn't it be the best to drop it?"
"Lady."
"WHAT?!" – Alice yelled in full force right at Cheese's face.
"I gotta go potty." – Cheese told her with a bothered face.
Alice sighed in frustration. "Go behind that rock." – she pointed, and Cheese complied.
The two of them stood on the other side of the boulder Naver had been training on, waiting for Cheese to do his business.
"Go potty? What does he even eat?" – Alice mouthed.
"I don't know!" – Naver shrugged.
"Well he better be done quick, cause we need to figure out how to…" – Alice said, and then it hit her. "…get rid of him…"
When they realized that this was their chance, they looked at each other in shock. Quietly, they snuck away from the rock in the opposite direction, and once they were out of earshot, started sprinting away from where Cheese was at full speed.
"Okay, I think that should put enough distance between us." – Alice finally said.
"Between who?" – Cheese asked her.
"GAAAH!" – Alice yelled in shock. Naver go jumpscared again and flicked Cheese away with his telekinesis, but that was just a thrilling ride for Cheese as he just got up and came running back.
"Do you have some chocolate milk?"
"Oh, god, why?! Why did it have to be him? Why couldn't it have been Cephalopods or something? Terra Claws! Heck, I'd even take the Worms!" – Alice whined.
"Well, you're the one that wanted us to train for so long at that place."
"So you're saying you don't want to know the full extent of your powers?"
"I'm just saying we wouldn't have come across Cheese if you hadn't insisted I practice that long." – Naver pointed out.
"I want chocolate milk." – Cheese said again.
"We don't have any chocolate milk!" – Alice told him.
"Give me some chocolate milk." – Cheese repeated.
"WELL WE DON'T HAVE ANY!" – Alice yelled right in his face.
For a split-second, Cheese looked straight at her with cold, empty eyes devoid of any sanity, leaving Alice to wonder in terror at what would he do next, though to Naver, it was obvious.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…" – Cheese started yelling while flailing his arms around.
"Noo, Cheese, I'm sorry, just please, please, be quiet…" – Alice tried to calm him down, but it was too late.
"…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…"
"C'mon, Cheese, shh, shh, shhhhh…" – Naver said as he picked Cheese up like a baby.
"What are you doing?" – Alice whispered.
"I don't know!" – Naver whispered back in desperation while cradling Cheese. He seemed to have calmed down, and even started sucking on his thumb. Though, it didn't seem like he was getting any sleepy. Alice and Naver weren't that lucky.
"Ughhhhhhhhhhhwhatarewegonnadooooo…" – Alice groaned in extreme frustration. "Alright, maybe we'll be lucky and the SACT agrees to keep him. Come on." – she told Naver.
With a tap on the NanoCom, Naver summoned his hoverscooter, but before he got the chance to sit down, Cheese jumped out of his arms, ran in front of him and sat on the seat, grabbing the handlebars.
"Um, Cheese?" – Naver asked.
"Horsey go! Horsey go! Horsey go! Vroom vroom, horsey!" – Cheese kept yelling while hitting it with his heels.
"Cheese, get off." – Naver told him and tried to pry his arms off the handlebars.
"Nggghhhhh!" – Cheese groaned, trying to get Naver off of him.
"Cheese, it's not gonna go unless you let me do it."
"No, let me, let me!" – Cheese resisted. "Go, horsey, go!"
Naver sighed, unsummoned the scooter back into his NanoCom, which caused Cheese to drop on his butt, then summoned it again and quickly got on until Cheese had the chance to.
"Hey, no fair!" – Cheese protested and climbed on Naver's body, trying to pry his hand away.
"Alright, let's just go. This isn't gonna get any better." – Naver remarked while Cheese was grabbing his face and tugging his mouth corner.
"Yeah, I'm calling it. We are not finding a place to stay tonight." – Alice put it out there. Then, Cheese suddenly looked at her funny, and started running at full speed towards her.
"Go horsey! Horsey go! Go!" – he started yelling as he clung unto Alice's back and climbed onto her neck. He had grabbed her side ponytail and another clutch of her hair as if they were the jetbike's handlebars and kept yelling "VROOM VROOM HORSEY!"
Naver had no idea what to say. Alice, however…
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! GET OFF! AAAAAAAAAH!" – she started screaming. She tried to get him off, but lost balance and nearly fell off her hoverboard, though she managed to retain it after some rocking.
Cheese, however, had a completely different reaction to it. He started going "shh, shh, shhhh" while running his finger down Alice's mouth, just as how Naver had done it to him moments ago.
"Gahahahahahahahahaha!" – Doyle and Noah broke out laughing as they watched the scene unfold on the cameras.
"Poor Alice." – Noah added, feeling guilty about laughing about it.
"I still don't understand. What manner of beast are these "Imaginary Friends"? Are they all like this… Cheese?" – Huntor asked while scratching his ear.
"No, they're not like him, most are pretty sane, but, well... I don't really know how exactly to describe them." – Noah told him.
"So they're not rare on this planet. Hrm."
"Well, true, but each and every one of them is unique." – Doyle interjected.
"Be that as it may, Alice made a smart choice bringing it here. If that creature so much as touches anything he'll join my hall of taxidermized trophies." – Huntor growled.
"Wait, a second, which camera is that?" – Noah pointed at a different one. Some sort of shadowy figure seemed to be moving around it.
"Why that's… That one's another of me secret hiding stashes! Someone's breaking in again! It's not that Shala or Jay, is it?!" – Huntor yelled.
"No, neither of them left the Mandark airship." – Doyle pointed out. "Rewind it. That and all the other cameras in the vicinity. There's gotta be something…"
"Any idea what they might be after?" – Noah asked Huntor.
"Whoever it is, they know their way around your cameras, Huntor. None of them are picking up anything, and the only picture we have is too obscured. It's a wonder Noah even caught it at all."
"Naw, that storage unit was just for useless buncha crap… except…"
"Except?" – Noah and Doyle asked in unison.
"There mighta been a teensy ethereal catalyst in there… 'Course, I never had any use for it."
"Ethereal catalyst… Wait, you said they knew not to get caught on camera, right? Gotta be Demongo, then. Right?" – Noah concluded.
"Yeah. Except…" – Doyle told him as he pointed to the monitor, which he had tweaked the brightness and contrast. As a result, the skin tone of the perpetrator became visible. It was green.
"WAKE UP, BIG DOG!" – Shala yelled at the Stick-It employee who had been sleeping on a plastic chair.
"Whoa!" – Big Dog woke up falling out of it. "Dude, what time is it? Even the Spawns are asleep!"
"Hey, the world's getting filled with money, and you're spending your time catching some Zs?" – Shala asked him. He ignored Jay's glare at him for his hypocrisy, despite being very well aware of it without even having to look at him.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's not like any of it is coming my way." – he grunted while getting up. "Since when are you up this early, anyway? I have never, EVER seen you out and about until noon."
"That's what I told him." – Jay confirmed.
"Okay, okay, that's enough from you two. What I'm wondering is how come you didn't run away with all the S.C.A.M.P.E.R.s last week. Wait, was it last week? I've lost track. Two of my usuals, by the way." – he ordered.
"Today's the 16th, right? That makes it 5 days ago. As for the reason I'm out here, well, I got bills to pay, don't I? I kinda need this job." – Big Dog explained.
"Dude, out here? With the monsters and everything? And Fuse?"
"Well, you've never met my landlord. Life advice, dudes, stay in school." – Big Dog told them as he handed them their Stick-Its.
"Yeah, that might be too late for that." – Shala answered as he bit on the crispy roast piece of pork sideways. "So what are you gonna do if the monsters start coming?"
"Well, I did get something in case something happens…" – he smiled at them and pulled out a weapon from behind the meat freezer.
"What the hell is this?" – Shala asked, astounded.
"Nice, eh?" – Big Dog proudly shook his head while holding the pistol in front of him for them to see.
"Can I see it for a sec?" – Shala asked him, still having that confused expression on his face.
"Be my guest." – Big Dog complied and handed it over.
Shala looked at it from one side, then the other, then stared right down the shaft.
"Is it awesome or what?" – Big Dog asked him.
"This… is garbage." – Shala said without taking his eyes off the thing.
"What?" – Dog's expression immediately froze.
Shala pointed it into the air and pulled the trigger. A ray of heat burst out, but dissipated before it could make it any far.
"This isn't even good enough to heat up what you call "meat" in here." – Shala flicked his hand at the freezer with the gun still in it. "Freakin' Fuzzy Lumkins carries a better piece than this piece of… you know what… Where the hell did you even get this thing?"
"The Discount Weapons Outlet…?" – Big Dog said hesitantly.
"The Dis- really? I mean, seriously? Well, that explains it." – Shala said while carelessly tossing the gun back to Big Dog, who struggled to catch it and almost dropped it. "That two-bit store is just Con Carne trying to sell off his useless conquer-the-world inventions from like 30 years ago. Everyone knows that."
"Whatever, man, I mean, I got bills to pay, so, that's all I could get on this budget."
Jay was gnawing at the Stick-It in silence, observing this conversation.
Shala sighed. "Okay, look. Give this thing to me. I'll see if I can at least optimize the heat transfer so that it doesn't dissipate before hitting the target. I mean, you should just ask Simon for something that's not a piece of garbage, but if you wanna keep this thing, at least I'll make it work for you." – Shala took it off his hands. "By the way, how did my business idea go with the Monkey Skyway Agents?"
"Total success. Except, ever since we lost connection with the mainland, the monkeys refused to leave the airship and there's no point in their competitions anymore."
"What Monkey Skyway Agents business idea?" – Jay asked Shala as they walked away.
"I'll tell you later."
"Sorry, but we can't let you in. Steel's got a policy." – SACT Agent Anderson regrettably told them.
"But it's getting late! We're gonna have to camp out there!" – Alice protested.
Cody sadly shook his head and pointed to the series of signs that were bolted to the gate. The first one depicted a picture of Fusion Spawns in a crossed out red circle, the second one depicted a similar picture of a spy in an incognito costume, and the third one depicted Cheese in the same fashion.
"Did you really have to have a sign made?" – Naver asked.
"Steel's thorough." – Cody shrugged. "Listen, Naver, I still owe you for the favor earlier. Don't tell anyone, but if you sneak in, I won't say anything. Jessop won't either, right?" – Cody looked over to the other Agent guarding the gate.
"Oh, yeah, we're like, totally homies, so, whatever. It's cool." – Agent Jessop confirmed.
"We'd be stupid to try to sneak around with Cheese on our hands." – Alice shook her head. "C'mon, we'd better go." – she told Naver and Cheese.
"Hope you find a place to stay!" – Cody waved them goodbye.
"That Cody guy looked familiar. But I'm pretty sure I've never met him before…" – Alice thought to herself.
"I know where we can go." – Cheese suddenly said.
"What?!" – Alice said in shock. Her and Naver looked at each other.
"I mean, how bad could it be?" – Naver shrugged.
"Knowing Cheese? Pretty bad." – Alice shook her head.
"Well, do we have any other ideas?" – Naver asked her.
"But where could he possibly be taking us? SACT just told us no, Providence was wrecked, I doubt he's been to Huntor's or at the Mandark airship's new location. And no other camp or outpost comes to mind around here."
"Well, it's either this or camping it out here. With the Wooly Behemoths." – Naver remarked.
"I guess we don't have that much to lose. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we'll follow Cheese."
They had to go on foot from there, as they couldn't trust Cheese to drive. It went for at least an hour, and Cheese was leading them back where they came from, but not towards Hero's Hollow, rather in the direction of the Precipice. Though, it seemed like Cheese knew where he was going, and not at all wandering randomly. Along the way, Alice and Naver made a couple attempts to shake him off by hiding while he kept going, but Cheese always managed to turn up every time they thought they were safe, so they had to carry on, following Cheese.
"Where exactly are we going, Cheese?" – Naver asked after a while.
"Broootheeeer." – Cheese said cryptically.
Alice and Naver exchanged confused glances. What exactly did he mean by that?
"Whoa! Centurion!" – Alice yelled in fear as she grabbed Naver's shirt to stop him as a Jurassic Centurion appeared in front of them. Both of them immediately readied their weapons in case the Centurion attacked. Cheese didn't seem to mind, however, as the tiny creature walked right in front of the Fusion Monster as if it was nothing. Alice and Naver expected it to attack, as it very clearly saw Cheese, but weirdly, nothing happened. What was stranger that it looked down at Naver and Alice as well, but didn't seem to do anything. In fact, it turned away and walked off.
"What the heck just happened?" – Naver asked while his heart was still beating in an adrenaline rush. Judging by Alice's reaction to it, this Centurion seemed to be pretty dangerous.
"I… the only explanation I can think of is that it's the Imaginary Energy around Cheese. Imaginary Energy affects Fusion Monsters, you know. It makes them weaker, and as we just witnessed, docile in some cases, I guess." – Alice pointed out. "Though I do admit, the Darklands Monsters' reaction to Imaginary Energy is a rather unexplored aspect of their physiology for me. Mostly because the only Imaginary Energy I'd have to work with would be… him." – she said about Cheese, who picked up a pebble on his way and licked it. Alice shook her head in disappointment.
"Hey, at least with him around, we'll have an advantage with the monsters. Lucky, huh?" – Naver looked on the bright side.
"Far from what I'd call lucky." – Alice snarked. "We still don't know where he's taking us, and this doesn't seem to be in the direction of Precipice's Plumber outpost. I have a bad feeling about this." – she said as Cheese led them to what seemed to be most infected and Fusion-infested patch of the land. Though, other Fusions were also seemingly ignoring them. Neither of them dropped their guard, however, and kept their weapons tightly gripped at the smallest hint of hostility.
"This is seriously creepy…" – Naver remarked as they walked past a horde of Shellslugs. They were keeping as close to Cheese as possible to remain in his Imaginary Energy field. At this point it would be impossible to turn back without invoking the wrath of all the Centurions all around them.
"Yeah… but I'll admit this is an amazing opportunity to study them from up close. Although it is way too dangerous…" – Alice admitted.
"I think we've arrived." – Naver stated as they reached the cliffside, which had a visible cave entrance, though partially obscured by the terrain and the Terrafusers.
"I think I know where he's leading us…" – Alice told him as Cheese went in completely without any worries.
"Really? Looks like a Fusion lair to me." – Naver responded.
"Yeah. Or, rather, more specifically, the Fusion Control Center that used to be on the Precipice."
"Fusion Control Center?"
"Yeah. There were four total, and they were the major centers of operation for the Fusions. That was all earlier in the war. They're all deserted now, though. This one was run by Unfunny Bunny."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean, Fusion Herriman."
"Herriman? You mean, the imaginary friend, Mr. Herriman? Age, 56. Creator, Madame Foster. Height-"
"Yeah, you don't need to list off his rap sheet. Wait, was that the thing LG mentioned earlier about you?" – Alice inquired, interested in Naver's quirk.
"Yeah, I got no idea why it happens. So, what's with the Control Center, then?" – Naver returned to topic.
"Right, right. So Fusion Herriman was researching Imaginary Energy and its reactions with Fusion Matter until got offed by some guy named Edgington. As far as I know, the control centers were being checked regularly to make sure they were empty. So is this where Cheese hangs out, then? The question is, why?"
"Well, there's only one way to find out." – Naver hesitantly said. Alice looked first at him, then warily looked at where Cheese was going, through the Terrafuser jungle.
"Part of me is tempted to just let him go off alone…" – Alice muttered, but then sighed. "Alright. Let's go. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to know what the hell Cheese is up to in there, anyway." – she told Naver as she activated her hoverboard and followed Cheese, hovering over the Fusion vegetation. Naver did the same with his jetbike.
"Well, well, well. Look who we have here. My ears have been burning – heard you guys have been asking around about me." – Shala and Jay were confronted by an unshaven guy in his late 20s wearing a stained vomit-green jacket and a pair of outdated headphones.
"If it isn't the home intruder." – Shala replied upon seeing him.
"Hey, hey, I was given your room fair and square by the ship's captain."
"And then it was returned to me equally fair." – Shala retorted.
"Of course. Let's let bygones be bygones, shall we?" – Wayne told him, though he gave them a cheeky smile that meant that he was definitely gonna pull something. "So what can I do ya for?"
"I need a stock of supersonic-based grenades." – Jay cut to the point. "Do you have them, or no?"
"As a matter of fact, I have just the thing." – Wayne remarked as he scrolled through his NanoCom and pulled one of them out. "However, what do you boys offer in return?" – he asked, looking specifically at Shala.
"I'll pay as much as you want." – Jay told him.
"Sorry dudes, but that won't cut it." – Wayne shook his head.
"Well, what do you want, then?" – Shala asked him.
"You know what I want, Mr. Shala. Your room. Not the entire room, of course, I'm not THAT greedy, so I'd be willing to let you share, but I'd be the one that gets to keep the bed." – Wayne told him while looking dead in the eye.
"Seriously? That's it?" – Jay impatiently said. "Sure." – he told Wayne.
"Oh, no no no no no, hold on a minute." – Shala objected. "That's not happening. A) I won't get my peace and quiet with him around, and B), he smells."
"So that's how you're gonna be then. Then no deal." – Wayne shook his head.
"Oh, come on! We've been asking around about you all morning!"
"Sorry, bro, but everything has its price."
"Since when are you the local scalper, anyway? I thought your whole thing was being a movie buff!" – Shala yelled at him.
"Well, you're fairly mistaken on that." – Wayne sneered. "I'm any kind of nuisance the plot requires to be."
"What?" – Shala asked. "What plot? What is he talking about?" – he turned to Jay.
"The plot of the movie we're in right now, duh!" – Wayne told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Though, Shala still didn't get it, and Jay didn't care about whatever it was he was talking about. "What, don't you think this whole alien invasion thing doesn't sound like an action movie plot to you?"
"More like a poorly paced cartoon." – Shala remarked. "Wait, did you seriously join the Academy and come all the way here to the Darklands just so you could live out your action movie fantasy?!" – he yelled at him.
At that point, Jay had had enough. He had grabbed Wayne by his green jacket and pulled him closer.
"I've got an entire timeline to save with billions of lives at stake, and you're here talking about movies? You're. In. My. Way." – He said slowly to emphasize his point.
"Okay, okay, take it easy, Rod Tango, you've made your point!" – Wayne backed down and backed away. "Okay, it's 320 Taros a pop."
"Finally!"
It seemed that Alice's hunch was correct. They had arrived to the Fusion Control Center. Unlike other Fusion Lairs, (though Naver had only ever been to one), this one seemed like it was actually built, ad not improvised in the depths of some random cave. The walls and ceiling of the chamber were lined with metal plates, a sight that reminded Naver of Huntor's Nest, though he wondered how or why did the Fusions ever come to build this structure. And of course, to complete the atmosphere, every square inch was covered with Terrafusers, their roots, or Fusion Matter.
"Do we still think it's a good idea?" – Naver anxiously asked, having halfway changed his mind. He felt his palm getting sweaty where he was holding the handle of the Aerial Slicer.
"Well… we're in this deep." – Alice shrugged. "Come on. I'm tired by now so whatever happens happens."
"Maybe it would have been smarter to just wait on the airship and set out the next day." – Naver sighed. "I wonder how Shala and Jay are doing."
"Yeah, well, we couldn't have seen Cheese coming, could we?" – Alice responded.
"Oh, for the love of…"
An unknown voice spoke ahead of them. Though from the distortion it was clear that it would be a Fusion. And they were right. A tall green blob stood before them.
"Fusion… Bloo?" – Alice asked in confusion.
"Brother." – Cheese walked up to him.
"How many times am I supposed to tell you that I'm not that dim-witted blue slob?" – Fusion Bloo whined at Cheese.
Naver and Alice warily looked at each other in shock. The Fusion wasn't expressing any sign of hostility towards them. In any case, they pointed the weapons right at him, in case this was a trick.
"Why did you two have to bring him here? I had finally gotten rid of him!" – the Fusion now turned to them.
"I wanna play! I wanna play!" – Cheese kept yelling while jumping up and down in front of Fusion Bloo.
"Hey, don't look at us. He's the one that brought us here." – Alice objected.
"Play! Play! PLAAAAAY!" – Cheese kept insisting.
"ALRIGHT!" – Fusion Bloo yelled in his face. "We'll play hide and seek. You hide and I'll seek."
"Okay." – Cheese answered. Alice and Jay were standing there, watching the entire scene unfold.
"That's how you usually get rid of him. Only thing is, he's gonna forget he's supposed to be hiding and come back to annoy you." – Fusion Bloo explained it to them.
"Ohhhhhh, that's what we SHOULD have done!" – Alice facepalmed.
Despite promising to play hide and seek, Cheese wasn't doing anything, just staring at Fusion Bloo.
"Why are you just standing there? You're supposed to hide!" – Fusion Bloo yelled at him.
"Nuh-uh! Close your eyes!" – Cheese pointed at him.
"What? Fine." – Fusion Bloo covered his eyes with his hand and started counting. "One, two, three…"
"Nuh-uh! Count slowly." – Cheese told him.
"ALRIGHT WHATEVER! One… Two… Three… Four…"
Cheese then turned towards Alice and Jay.
"Is it really a good idea to close our eyes around a Fusion?" – Alice asked, but Naver just went with it and nudged Alice to do the same.
After Fusion Bloo had reached thirty, they all opened their eyes. The things Cheese was making them go through… He wasn't even hiding! He just stuck his head behind a Terrafuser, with his entire lower body still visible. Still, for the sake of having several Cheese-less moments, both Alice and Naver, as well as Fusion Bloo, pretended he wasn't there.
"I assume you two asked him to bring you here to kill me?" – Fusion Bloo turned to them. "Well, whatever. Put me out of my misery. Just please make it quick."
Naver and Alice looked at each other again, their jaws dropping. Was this Fusion really letting them kill him?
"You're saying-" – Naver started.
"Yep."
"Seriously…" – Alice interjected.
"Uh-huh."
"No, but really. You mean, you're…"
"For the love of Fuse, yes! I can't stand to spend another day trying to research while this… this creature barges in anytime he wants and proves that even Fusions can get migraines…"
"You haven't tried killing him?" – Alice asked him. Naver gave her a disapproving look. "What? I'm sure he's thought of it already!"
"If I could kill him, believe me, I would have already done so." – Fusion Bloo shook his head, or rather, his face, since his head was just an extension of his torso.
"And you're not gonna try and kill us?"
"If I did, then who would off me? I don't even care anymore, I just wanna plop back into the hivemind." – Fusion Bloo sighed.
Apparently, Fusions can sigh, noted Naver.
"Since you're so willing to cooperate, why don't you answer a couple questions for us about Fuse's plans?" – Alice pressed him.
"Hey, don't push it. I only need one of you alive, you know." – Fusion Bloo threatened them. "Are you gonna do it or no?"
Naver just stared at him with his jaw still open. He extended his hand in the direction of the Fusion, then towards Alice, then his other hand, and kept moving his hands back and forth because he had no idea how to express just how ridiculous this situation was.
"Wait, how can we be sure your Centurions aren't gonna hound us the moment you bite the dust?" – Alice hesitated.
At that question, Fusion Bloo gave a sly smile from the corner of his jagged mouth.
"Well, that's bound to happen one way or another…" – Alice sighed, and before Naver could even think of what to say, she walked up to Fusion Bloo, directed her Sonic Smacker point blank at him and released.
"Finally…" – Fusion Bloo muttered as he got splattered across the floor, then absorbed into Alice and Naver's NanoComs. In his place rose up a cute little blue blob – Nano Bloo.
"Okay, this one's very cute." – Alice smiled when she saw him. She and Naver looked at the NanoCom to pick his powers. "What's this one?" – she asked as she tapped Juicebox Belch. Nano Bloo immediately burped upon the power selection.
"I take it back." – Alice then said. "If I wanted to hear that I'd just hang out with Shala."
Naver laughed as he picked Bloo Glue.
"What the hell happened here?" – he then asked Alice.
"Well he didn't seem to be willing to give out any information, but it's pretty obvious that he took over the Imaginary Energy research after we took out the Unfunny Bunny. He tried to study the only actual source of Imaginary Energy he had, which was Cheese, but Cheese thought he was Bloo, whom I guess he considers like his brother? I don't know what exactly was up with that." – Alice explained.
"And why the hell did he just let us kill him?"
"I… actually have an explanation for that too. See, there's been a pattern of erratic behavior with Fusions of Imaginary Friends. For example, Fusion Eduardo actually gave away the location of his own lair in Orchid Bay. Something similar happened with Fusion Coco last year up on Monkey Mountain, where not only did she give away her own location, but her egg led us to Fusion Mojo as well."
"Wow. How do you know all that?" – Naver asked, genuinely impressed.
"I scour the forums and gather information on reported Fusion and Fusion Monster sightings. You know, for my research."
"Can I go over your notes sometime? It'd definitely be useful. You know, being new to the Darklands, and all."
"Sure. But first, we've got to deal with…" – Alice said as Cheese came out of his "hiding" spot and waddled to them.
"Where's Bloo?" – he asked them.
"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…" – Alice froze.
Fortunately, Naver's quick thinking kicked in. "We were playing hide and seek, right? He couldn't find you and he's the one hiding now!" – Naver yelled.
"Nice save." – Alice mouthed, impressed. "Alright, let's get out of here. All this and we still don't have a place to stay." – she told Naver.
"And the Centurions?" – Naver reluctantly asked.
"Just keep Cheese really close to us, preferably with your telekinesis, and they might be docile, right?" – Alice suggested. "Come on, Cheese, we're gonna look for your brother over here now." - she told Cheese as she carelessly grabbed him by top of his head and carried him with her, not that he minded it that much.
"Worth a shot." – Naver sighed.
Shala and Jay had returned to Shala's humble abode. Shala was lying around on his bed, while Jay took the same corner as the night before.
"So do we like… hang out now, or…?" – Shala asked, not really certain of what Jay would want to do next. Who knows what else would he make Shala do?
Though, Jay ignored this little comment of Shala's altogether, seemingly lost in his own train of thought.
"Hello? Prime timeline to Jay? Anyone home?"
"Heh." – Jay laughed. Or rather, exhaled audibly, but that was as much as you could get out of him.
"What's so funny?"
"You assumed that our timeline would be the Prime Timeline."
"Well, I was just kidding, but… you mean to tell me that it's not?" – Shala asked curiously.
"I don't know, maybe. Maybe not. But you can assume that every timeline's gonna assume they're the Prime. If such a timeline does exist, that is." – Jay went on.
"Since you've been to the Future, which, from what I've gathered is a different timeline, would it be right to assume that that is the Prime Timeline, then?" – Shala inquired further.
"From what I understand, my presence here erased that timeline and replaced it with this one. The one I'm currently in. But I still don't know. Your guess is as good as mine, then." – he responded.
Considering how easily the Future got erased and replaced, Shala wondered if that could also happen to the timeline he was in. What would that even feel like? Would he be erased altogether or would his memories be altered to fit the replacement? And what of people that died but would have lived, or to the people that would now never be born?
He decided to put the idea on the backburner. Instead, he pursued a different branch of the conversation.
"So the Future that you went through, what was it like?"
Jay did not answer his question. Shala assumed he was just being stoic as usual and that was his way of expressing that he didn't want to talk about it, but after Shala had given up on receiving the answer, Jay spoke.
"Lost cause." – he answered after stomaching having to talk about it. "Desolate. Hopeless. I was lost in a doomed time to a lost world… Imagine to yourself what the end of the world would be like." – he told Shala as the shadows of future past ran across his face.
"Okay…"
"It was probably even worse than what you just imagined. Those that survived had given up, and the even few that hadn't, knew that they were fighting to a bitter end."
"All that must have changed when you arrived, right?" – Shala asked, hoping to lift the tone up. "I mean, showing out of nowhere with the promise of getting back to the past, that had to have given them hope, right?"
"More or less." – Jay answered in an unusually casual tone.
"More more or more less?" – Shala insisted.
"Some more. Some less." – Jay gave a dry answer. "You'd get it if you'd been there."
"So is that why you're such an asshole?" – Shala asked him. Jay was taken somewhat aback at the question – Shala didn't look like he was mad at him. And yet, he was bad at reading people.
"I don't mean this in an insulting way, it's just…" – Shala explained. "You have little patience for others. You're rude. And you're always "my way or the highway". No, scratch that. The highway isn't even an option for you. I mean, I get that you're determined, but still…"
"Is that what you think I'm like?" – Jay asked him. "Well, you might be right. You don't go through what I went through and come out a… people person. And yeah, it is because of my journey to the future, more or less." – he admitted.
"Again with the more or less!"
"What you call "my way or the highway", I think of as…" – Jay paused to think about how he wanted to say it. "Lack of patience for mediocrity. Just my presence here made such a big difference in the timeline, but not big enough to win us this war. Everyone must strive to be better in order to win this.
"But everyone is already trying their best!" – Shala disagreed.
"Are they?" – Jay rhetorically asked. "Are you? You were there with me today. You've seen them hoard weapons for their own benefit rather than everyone's. You yourself have potential that you are squandering away."
"Great. Now you're sounding just like Jack." – Shala rolled his eyes.
Jay's ears burned up at that. What did he know about Jack to be making such comparisons? Though, he had a point, so he calmed himself down.
"I suppose I am." – Jay told Shala. "I probably got that from him. I… he trained me back in the Future." – he explained.
"No shit?" – Shala asked excitedly. "Dude, me too! Well, I mean, not in the Future, but…"
"Seriously?" – Jay asked somewhat skeptically.
"Yeah. Oh, hey, did he make you do that knee walk where you have to keep your balance and hold a cup of water and not let it spill?"
"Oh. You do know Jack." – Jay was taken somewhat aback. "Yeah. Yeah, he did. We did Shikko as a part of each warm-up." – he smiled. It was nice to remember a fond memory for a change. He thought about those training sessions that he never understood the point of until later, and nostalgia somewhat came over him. And he remembered something else that Jack had told him.
"Yeah, same. Except, he replaced the water with Radicola for me to give me incentive." – Shala told him. "Well, I never understood the point of that exercise, though." – he admitted. "I mean, when would I ever have to walk on my knees like that, especially on a battlefield?"
To that, Jay gave a disappointed glare. It seemed that Shala did not come to understand. Could he really be the one?
"How far did your training with Jack go?" – Jay asked him.
"Well, we did hand to hand, but, again, when would I ever use that on a Fusion Monster when I had guns, you know? And I can already hold my own with a gun. So I asked him to skip the hand to hand stuff and teach me the way of the blade."
"So… it really was you." – Jay said to himself.
"Huh?" – Shala asked, not really getting what Jay meant by that.
"Never mind." – Jay shook his head.
The next morning, after Shala woke up, he realized that he had slept in. He found it strange, as Jay would have surely woken him up, as per the "lack of patience for mediocrity". In fact, Jay had left the ship entirely during the night without giving anyone any sort of warning.
End of Chapter 22.
Extract from Alice Quickfeet's Fusion Monster research log:
Stone Drake
Fusion Matter type – Cosmix
Power Level – 30
Boss: Slag Dragon
Location: Firepits, (Infected Zone; mountains bordering Huntor's Crest)
Length: 12'-15'
Boss Length: 15'-20'
Weight: approx. 250-300 lbs.
Boss weight: approx. 350-450 lbs.
Special types of attack:
Eruption – yes
Corruption – Cosmix
Battery Drain
Description:
The Stone Drakes are large dragon-like Fusion Monsters that inhabit the Firepits. Their bodies are composed of the stones and rocks that make up the terrain. This stone armor is extremely tough, but it commonly has a gap around the back of the neck, which is the Monster's weak spot. However, it is extremely hard to reach that weak spot in combat, especially since it's guarded by a number of sharp horns protruding from the creature's head. It is worth mentioning that these are the only monsters found in the Fireswamps/Firepits that are not based on any form of fire or lava whatsoever. This is probably because of their proximity to Huntor's Crest – their natural habitat is on the borders of the Firepits, where the fire is rather mellowed out. However, the Stone Drakes in the Inferno Fields Infected Zone don't exhibit these characteristics either, despite being in the heart of the Firepits. It is worth noting that they share some properties, such as their reptilian appearance, with the Lizard Kings and Queens.
Behavior:
Stone Drakes are solitary creatures. They do not get along with other anything, be it other Fusion Monsters, each other, or even their Boss versions. In fact, they are prone to aggression towards even each other, and this does not stim from territorial disputes like it does with Creepasauruses/Freakasauruses Rex. A large group of Stone Drakes can be provoked into attacking each other if needed.
While hunting, Stone Drakes like to stay in one spot to wait for their prey to pass by. Their rocky composure somewhat helps them blend in with their environment, especially in the mountain areas, to hide in plain sight and ambush unsuspecting people. Usually, the Stone Drakes have a very narrow line of sight, only being able to recognize movement in front of them, which is a common trait in Earth predators. Moreso, they can only recognize movement – standing still might work as a last-ditch strategy if you fall into their range of view, and from then on you have to hope that it moves away if you want to avoid a confrontation. However, they make up for it by keen sight and reflexes – once they lock in on a target, they hardly ever lose track of it, even if it decides to stand still – they'll have memorized your location by now.
A valid strategy is fighting in numbers – since its range of sight is very narrow and it can't keep track of two opponents at the same time, one could distract it while the other sneaks up to strike the aforementioned weak spot. That is also another reason why they don't synergize well with each other – it's hard to keep track of both the enemy and the fellow Fusion at the same time.
In combat, their strategy is simple. They use their agility for quick and swift attacks using their claws and teeth. Despite their narrow vision, they seem to have a keen environmental awareness – one look at the surroundings is enough for them to make an assessment of the battlefield and avoid obstacles in the way.
The differentiation between Stone Drakes and Slag Dragons relies almost purely on their size – the Boss monster does not exhibit any traits otherwise. There is no order in hierarchy, as the normal Stone Drakes don't recognize their superiority, which might provoke their aggression as a show of force. However, it is safe to assume that the Slag Dragons are more dangerous in every way imaginable than their Stone Drake counterparts, including keener reflexes and faster attack speed.
The Stone Drakes mostly inhabit the mountain range that borders the Fireswamps and Firepits with Huntor's Crest. Their camouflage works better there, and their narrow field of vision is no longer a disadvantage as humans have to pass through singular, very narrow pathways along the mountainside at several points. However, a number of them can also be found in the Inferno Fields. (Despite being a quarantined area, they can travel in and out through the underground tunnels).
While under Fusion control, the Stone Drakes' behavior goes through a number of changes. If the Fusion is commanding them directly, they no longer have a weak field of vision, as the Fusion takes over that aspect. However, they also lose the keen reflexes and environmental awareness, which is matched to the Fusion. It is especially weak if the Fusion has various other monsters that they have to keep track of. Furthermore, multiple Stone Drakes can be around each other if under Fusion control with no signs of aggression towards each other – not even under provocation.
Known Fusions that have controlled Stone Drakes:
Fusion Courage
Fusion Van Rook
Fusion Ed