Imbue, Chapter 9: Facing the Truth
Imbue, Chapter 9: Facing the Truth
It was morning and the group with the exception of Narcy and Luna were sitting down eating breakfast at Snow Wood. Suddenly, the door swung open with seven snow-covered characters standing directly outside the doorway. They came in and took off their jackets.
"Blimey! It's cold out there!" exclaimed Rusty while taking off his gloves.
"So....Did you miss us?" asked Paula sarcastically.
"Wait...Weren't you guys..." Cyan started to explain, but was cut off.
"Left outside in Winters? Yes!" said TsuramiSea.
"Luckily we had Dr. Andonuts and Jeff with us!" said Captain Poo thankfully. "Apple Kid also had lots of compasses and other direction devices..."
"Sorry guys. We thought you were just hiding somewhere here," explained Anthadd.
"Ah, it's okay! As long as ya give us some of that grub!" chuckled Rusty.
Following that meal, Anthadd and Charles continued to train in the ways of Stellar.
"It is harder than I thought," Charles commented.
"Don't worry. I had much the same problem. Focus on your heart for a second, then aim at that tree and call out, 'Scorpius Blade!'" Anthadd pointed at a solitary tree.
Charles closed his eyes and slowed his breathing.
Holding his clawed hands as in a meditative state, Charles slowly opened his eyes.
"Scorpius Blade!" he cried.
From Charles' heart shot a blade of pure energy. It piereced the tree smoothly, causing the trunk above the point of contact to fall.
"Timber!" Charles exclaimed.
"Way to go!"
X-015 was still yelling to himself, trying to get through to Rockwell.
"Don't you forget this... evil will reign." X-015 chuckled, "I killed your precious friend, Luna... and more will follow..."
Then a voice echoed through X-015's mind, "Perhap so, but don't forget... there is a balance of good and evil."
"You're talking nonsense. There is no balance, you freaks have left us in the shadow for so many years... it's time for us to step in..." X-015 chuckled.
The voice was silent for a few moment and then once again said, "Oh, if you only knew the truth. Luna, whom you claimed to kill, will be avenaged..."
X-015 gave out a loud burst of laughter and said, "Oh, you mean that pitiful group? Ha, you make me laugh. They couldn't destroy me..."
The voice chuckled and said, "Oh, is that true? How did Skulryk and Mike managed to take you down?"
X-015 spat and yelled, "It was a setback! I'll show you..."
"Mary had a little lamb..." the voice sang.
"Shut up, I hate that song. Just hearing that... makes me blindsided. Now, Rockwell... why don't you be a good boy and go to sleep?" X-015 chuckled as he turned Rockwell off.
Meanwhile, Luna, who is still in Venus' body, was taking a small nap...
"Mary had a little lamb..." A mysterious voice sang.
Luna awoke, wondering what was that voice...
"Mary had a little lamb?" Luna asked herself, trying to figure it out.
Narcy bursted through the door and said, "Something's up. Stonehenge is showing tremdous amount of energy sparking through the place."
"Should we tell Anthadd? And where's Mike?" Luna asked.
"I told Anthadd, he's worried about it. I don't know where Mike went to..." Narcy answered as quickly as possible, "Come on, there's a meeting in Maxwell's lab."
Mike was sitting outside, looking at the surroundings and all the snow. He looked up to the sky and saw that the clouds had come back. He chuckled slightly to himself. He looked around some more. As he gazed to the South, he saw that there was a lot of light emanating from the general direction of Stonehenge. He saw Dan running to the building. Mike called out to him.
"Hey Dan, where are you going?"
"I'm going to Maxwell's Lab. There's a meeting going on. I wanna hear what they're talking about."
"Do you know what the meeting is about?"
"No. Come and find out!" With that, Dan ran into the building.
Mike, not having anything else to do, ran into the building as well to get to Maxwell's Lab.
"It's quiet," Charles noted.
"Too quiet," Anthadd amended. "Perhaps we should investigate the school. That is, verify the benevolence or malevolence of any happenings there. Your view on this? Do you concur or not?"
"What'd you just say?" The Strong Watcher blinked a few times.
"Should we check the school? That is, figure out if something good or bad is going on. What do you think? Do you agree?"
Charles opened his eyes wide.
"Oh. Yes, we should. I agree."
The Sugemo Adept and the Strong Watcher began to trudge forward towards Snow Wood, hoping that what they would find there would be of a benevolent type, rather than malevolent.
They jumped over the slight crests in the hills to reduce travel time, and resultingly arrived at the Boarding School much sooner than they would have anticipated.
Entering the school, they assumed that the quiet suggested a mass meeting of their peers, and entered the locker room. They found nothing there, and so proceeded to check Maxwell Labs' room.
There they found their friends. Maxwell was dictating something.
"Sorry we're late..." Anthadd said meekly, moving for he and Charles to sit in chairs in the rear.
"Well...Anyway..." Maxwell cleared his throat with what sounded like a slight tinge of anger and continued. "As you probably guessed, there isn't exactly alot we at Snow Wood can do for you. You're dealing with more than we could do without giving the information out to everyone here; However, there is one thing we can do. Long ago, Snow Wood was a militairy base. During the war with the countries surrounding Eagleland in the 194x's, it was used for attempts at making super-powerful humans. Even then we knew there was alien life down there; We were attempting to harness it, to play god. A young man by the name of John Topolla spearheaded the project."
Narcy double-taked, nearly falling out of her chair.
"He had been the creator of the process known as Imbuing. Our first tests succeeded. We were able to Imbue labrats into each-others bodies. Later we got to Chimpanzees. And then came our first test. We Imbued a soldier into the body of a Mook. It looked so promising, but slowly his personality was being taken over by the hostile mook's. It was only a matter of months before the project ended in tradgedy. Many scientists were killed when the mook, who had almost completely overtaken the soldiers life-force, went berserk. After this failure, the government shut down the base, and made it the Boarding school you see today. However, I'm off the subject. The reason I tell you this is that one of the tunnels dug by the government in the search for a Mook to Imbue still exists. I know for a fact that Fake has gaurded the entrances. However, this is hidden. I think it's your only chance. Tomorrow, you will be escorted to the room the tunnel connects to. From there, though, you're on your own."
Once the meeting was over, the group departed from the room to take a rest before looking for the tunnel. As Luna was at her dorm's door, Narcy stopped her.
"Are you okay? I'm worried about you." Narcy asked.
Luna nodded and said, "I'm okay... I was just... thinking about something."
"Well, I hope you'll be ready for tomorrow..." Narcy sighed, "I hope grandfather learned something from this..."
Narcy left Luna, who went into the dorm to take a rest. After 20 minutes, she woke up, getting ready to go to the washroom. As she reached for the door, she bumped into an unknown force. She fell to the floor with a groan.
"Who's there?" Luna asked.
"I know that voice... Luna, isn't it? I thought I killed you..." the force growled.
"X-015? No... it couldn't be..." Luna gasped.
"I'm afraid so, my dear... but we can't win them all, can we?" X-015 chuckled.
X-015 cocked his laser and said, "This time, you will stay dead."
Luna blinked and a voice was heard in her head, "Mary had a little lamb..."
"Mary had a little lamb..." Luna whispered to herself.
"What did... you say?" X-015 growled.
She spoke up once more again, with more volume, "Mary had a little lamb..."
X-015 stood there and said, "If you say that one more time, I'm going to kill you..."
"Do it again, Luna..." the voice echoed through her head.
Then she built up her courage and began to sing.
"Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was as white as snow, everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go..." Luna sang with Venus' vocal chord. Each note sent to X-015 was like a knife stabbed into his heart...
X-015 howled and grabbed his head, "Stop it! I hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Oooh..."
Luna sang the song over and over, trying to keep X-015 at bay. Then a gun shot was heard through the room. X-015 fell down to the ground with a quiet thud. Narcy loomed over the body of X-015.
"Are you okay, Luna?" Narcy asked.
Luna nodded silently, but then gasped as X-015 lifted himself off the ground.
"Thanks Luna, Narcy. I needed that." Rockwell sighed.
"Rockwell? You're back again?" Narcy asked.
"Yeah, but not for much longer." Rockwell rubbed the back of his head.
"What was that all about, Luna? You were singing about Mary and her lamb..." Narcy asked Luna out of confusion.
"I don't know... a voice told me to..." Luna scratched her head and looked at Rockwell, "Was that you?"
"Yeah, apparently, X-015 has a problem with it. I'll never figured them out..." Rockwell chuckled, "But I have to go now. If I stay here, X-015 will break out and try to kill you both. Narcy, take a shot at me."
Narcy raised her gun and held it there for 5 seconds. Her hands were trembling and she dropped it to her side.
"No, I can't. I'll kill X-015, but not a human being..." Narcy said as she looked at the ground.
"So, I must resort to the last action..." Rockwell sighed as he began to fade away.
"Rockwell, what are you doing?" Luna asked.
"Like I said, we'll cross path another time, another zone, another dimension..." Rockwell said with a smile as he completly fade away.
Meanwhile, Rockwell appeared before Miss Fake, who was still in the dark about Rockwell reappearence in X-015's form.
"Ah, X-015, did you manage to terminate the group?" Miss Fake chuckled.
"Yes, in fact. I did. I'm going to celebrate with a little ditty. It's sure to spark the place up." Rockwell chuckled in X-015's voice.
"Oh, entertain me..." Miss Fake laughed.
"Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was as white as snow, where Mary went, the lamb was sure to go..." As he sang the song, Miss Fake gave a curious look.
"I thought you hate that song?" Miss Fake asked him.
"Perhap so... here's the firework..." Rockwell chuckled.
Then a loud beeping was heard.
"Self detonation in 3... 2..." a voice boomed from within X-015.
"Shoot him! Before he destroys us all!" Miss Fake screamed.
But it was too late...
"1... 0..."
X-015 began to glow and said, "What the?! NO!!!"
The body exploded in a great fury.
Meanwhile, Anthadd was resting on his bed, when he felt an earthquake.
"Eh, what's that?" Anthadd mumbled as he looked out the window.
Outside, he could see a firey mushroom cloud from the Stonehenge.
"What the..." Anthadd gasped as Mike bursted into his room.
"Did you see that?!" Mike screamed.
Miss Fake sat there, coughing.
"Idiot... Rockwell's effort was heroic but futile..." Miss Fake coughed once more again.
"Ma'am, status report on X-015, 0%." A blackened Starman DX reported.
Miss Fake sat there, staring at the Starman DX.
"Aw man, why did he have to leave?!" Mike asked.
He looked around.
"I guess that everything didn't go according to plan. 2 of 3 isn't so bad... or is it?" Mike wondered aloud. He left the room and ran for the tunnel to Stonehenge as fast as he could.
Once at the tunnel entrance to Snow Wood, Mike pulled out his Vindicator again. He ran through the caves, hoping that there weren't any snakes or monsters that could eat him up. He knew that he had to hurry.
He dove out of the hole that lead into the Stonehenge base, nearly breaking his ankle. He saw that he was surrounded by smoke. He knew that he had to move towards the source of the smoke. Oh man, please let that have been X-015 that exploded. If so, I may be able to save Rockwell. The part that contains his existance may still be intact... Mike thought to himself.
He ran through the halls, firing the Vindicator at starmen that got into his way. Sirens started going off again like the last time.
Mike knew that he would have to move much more quickly lest he be overrun by security forces. He also hoped that the others would arrive so they could help him.
"What was that?" Charles cried, rushing into Anthadd's dorm room. Cyan had already arrived.
"An explosion in the direction of Stonehenge," Anthadd explained.
"We should find that underground passage Maxwell spoke of," Cyan commented.
"But where would it be?" The Strong Watcher raised his hands as if to ask, 'Where?'
"Perhaps it would be more facilitative to fly there." Anthadd appeared as if he was in deep thought.
Charles flashed back to a few years ago.
Charles' Memories (First Person Point of View)
I woke up suddenly!
"What's that?" I cried, ripping the tent flap open.
Tessie? I thought, dumbfounded, as I saw the purple plesiosaur rise from the depths of Lake Tess.
"I've got to get a picture of this!" I fumbled for my camera, but I seemed to have misplaced it.
"Aaaaaaa!!" Sebastian shrieked in fear to my left. I turned!
"Sebastian!" I ran towards Sebastian, gripped in Tessie's flippers. But I tripped, and went crashing into the snow.
When the snow cleared, Tessie flew southwest. Towards Stonehenge...
A few years later...
"What do you want?" I struggled against Miss Fake's hold.
"I want your body," she hissed evilly.
"Huh?"
She sprayed me with an odd mist. I began to doze off, but I had the sensation of being flown southwest. Towards Stonehenge, as Sebastian had been, a few years ago...
"I can't go!" Charles cried. "It brings back too many bad memories..."
"Memories of what?" It was Sebastian!
"Memories of flying to Stonehenge... memories of your kidnapping, of mine..."
Sebastian's eyes shimmered.
"Brother..."
"You two are brothers?" Anthadd demanded, surprised.
"Yes, we are," Sebastian replied, "and if Charles doesn't want to go, he shouldn't have to."
"Could you excuse us for a second?" Cyan inquired. "I need to discuss plans with Anthadd."
"Sure." Charles and Sebastian left the room, closing it behind them.
"How should we deal with this fear of Charles'?" Anthadd asked.
"It's not a fear of flying itself, I sense that... it's a fear of flying to Stonehenge. We'd have to go to Stonehenge from wherever we fly to."
"How about we fly across Lake Tess, but land nowhere near Stonehenge, and walk the rest of the way?"
"That sounds prudent."
Anthadd walked over to the door. He knocked abruptly. "Charles? Sebastian? You can come back in now."
Mike had been running through the base. He suddenly hit a dead end. "Blast! Blast doors!" Mike yelled. He went to the control panel and attempted to disable the lock. Knowing that he didn't have much time, he shot the panel. The panel exploded, only leaving a tangle of wires that looked like oodles of noodles. The door then opened, allowing Mike to continue on his way.
He ran down the hallway, only to run into a bunch of starmen. "Oh man! This isn't good!" Mike exlaimed as he turned around. He saw that he was surrounded. He dove into a hole in the ground and started hitting starmen one by one. However, it was a useless effort because they kept on coming.
He knew that he had to get out of that area. He charged a round and fired at a group of 5 starmen, blowing them up. He sprinted for the opening and closed the door, knowing that he wouldn't get much time by doing that. He then ran on his way, towards the source of the smoke and what may be Rockwell... or something else.
As soon the smoke settled down, Mike looked at the figure and quietly said, "Rockwell?"
The smoke-shrouded figure move his arm, as if it was freshly born.
"Who is it?" the figure asked.
The voice seems so familar, that it had to be someone that he knew.
"Rockwell, is it you?" Mike asked the figure.
The figure stepped back a bit and then said, "Yeah... who are you?"
Mike sighed with relief and said, "It's me, Mike and I'm here to rescue you. Come on... we gotta get out of here..."
The figure stepped into the light and revealed Rockwell in his true form.
"How did you get back into your own body? Never mind, let's get out of here fast..."
Rockwell nodded and follows Mike out of the Stone Henge, back to the school. Only if Mike had knew what danger he brought along with him.
Meanwhile, at the Snowwood School...
Mike met up with the group, with Rockwell around the corner.
"Guys, I found him..." Mike panted, as if he was chased by Starmen.
"Found... who?" Narcy asked.
"Rockwell..." Mike replied, "Rockwell, come here."
Rockwell stepped in front of the group, looking at everyone. The whole group went up to him to welcome him back, all except for Skulryk.
"Something's not right..." Skulryk thought, looking carefully at rockwell, who seemed to be confused. Then something happened.
"That isn't Rockwell!" Skulryk said suddenly as he punched Rockwell in the stomach.
Rockwell fell to the ground, with a groan.
Narcy pushed Skulryk aside and said, "What are you doing?!"
"It's not Rockwell! It's a impostor!" Skulryk yelled out.
Luna helped Rockwell up and asked if he was okay. Rockwell nodded.
Narcy looked at Skulryk and said, "What do you mean?"
"His aura is different from when I battled him as X-015! Even as a robot, he still had some of Rockwell's aura! This ISN'T HIM!" Skulryk said quickly.
"That's impossible, if that was true, we would have known now..." Narcy shook her head.
"Excellent, all is going according to the plan..." laughed Miss Fake.
"Whateva floats ya boat," reasoned Rusty. "Guess Paula and I will be fixin' to go out back and practice some fightin' while Rocky here cleans himself up!"
Rusty slapped Rockwell on the back a couple of times. Rockwell snapped back and clenched Rusty's left arm.
"What are ya doin', Rocky?"
Rocky grabbed Rusty's other arm and attempted to crush his bones.
"Rocky?"
Rockwell kicked Rusty in the jaw.
"Ow! That really hurt!"
"What does it take to kill you?"
Rockwell dug into his pocket and pulled out a needle.
"This should knock out an elephant!" said Rockwell as he injected it into Rusty's forearm.
"Rocky? What in Pete's sake are you doing?"
Paula charged up behind Rockwell.
"PSI FREEZE!" she screamed as she closed her eyes.
As she opened her eyes, she was in horror. A frozen Rusty was lying on the floor. Her eyes widened.
Dan screamed, "PAULA! Look out behind y-"
Paula blacked out.
Rockwell smiled deviously. "Heh. You guys'll never wisen up, will you? You know, sometime I might actually feel sorry for you." He stepped across Paula, who was knocked out flat. "But until then, I'll see how many of you I can get." Rockwell's eyes glowed red. "How about you first, Dan? If it weren't for you, you'd all be dead right now! And we can't have that happening again, now caaaaaan we?" Dan stared back at the figure with a false look of calmness.
This angered the Mook. He had had enough games. "Rockwell"'s skin began to transform. His arms rounded into sharp tentacles.
"You won't beat me again, kids. Just look at your two friends."
Dan's expression hadn't changed. The mook had had enough. One quick slice of the tentacle. A shrieking laugh was heard as Dan's body fell to the floor and...disappeared? The mook only had a moment to be confused. He dropped to his knees and fell down. A burnt patch on the back of his head sizzled. "Heh heh heh..." Dan smiled as he kicked the mook aside and reholstered his Zapper.
"What the heck was that?" Mike asked.
"Heh heh..." Dan laughed, and showed Mike his game genie. "That...--" -- He smiled -- "--was two player mode."
TsuramiSea had peeked ever so slightly behind the door frame and watched what had happened. When he saw Dan take care of the situation, he turned away and walked down the hall.
Why did I even bother coming here, he thought. They don't need my help. For some reason lately, I've been doing that.... trying to help people that don't want or need any. I feel like I should do something about it, but they've got it under control, and there's little I can do. Tsurami tsked and went into the room where he was staying.
Tony was sitting in on top of the bed. "What was all the noise, fob?"
TsuramiSea sighed. "A mook, disguised as Rockwell, just tried to kill everyone again."
The fobby shook his head. "I hope we stop that madwoman soon! Why's she doing all this, anyway?"
TsuramiSea faced Tony and raised his eyebrows. "You don't know?"
"No," squeaked Tony, seeming somewhat offended. Then, calming down, he added, "I was too busy trying to find a way out of that base to care. But now that I think about it, it doesn't make much sense." He fell silent, allowing the two of them to think for a few moments. "Maybe she wants to find a way to create the ultimate lifeform?"
TsuramiSea was lying face-down on the floor. "Whut would th ultimet lfform do," came the muffled words. "F it were so grt, whut would be its prpose." He rose slightly to articulate. "Would it just be able to stay alive and keep a stronger lifeforce more effectively?"
The fobby rolled onto its back. "Assuming that all life exists to fertilize the rest of the world with its processes, perhaps," he drawled.
TsuramiSea considered this for a moment, then turned his thoughts to the recently missing party member. I guess unacat decided that he just couldn't get along with this group. But if he went off by himself... well, I hope he knows what he's doing.
TsuramiSea turned again to his thoughts after viewing the recent battle. "Tony, what do you expect to be able to do when we go to stop Miss Fake?"
Tony, with beady eyes fixed on a ceiling tile in the corner, replied, "Well, I'm a fobby. I can't do much. I can't even use the skills that my host knew. Maybe I can serve as a distraction... although I might be killed." He shuddered. "Although I'd rather not die, if possible. I trust the others can come up with something. Why do you ask?"
There was silence for a few moments. Then... "I don't know why I came along. You all seem to have the situation under control... I'm just getting in the way. I shouldn't have even tried to help unless Paula asked me, but I guess I was too nosy."
Tony grunt-squeaked a little. "You came, so you're helping us. You probably can't do more than me, but you're going to do something. Maybe you can figure out why Miss Fake is trying to generate beings with strong lifeforce."
TsuramiSea flopped face-first back onto the floor. Well, it was something.