CHAPTER XIV
CUNNING INTREPIDS

SOUNDTRACK- Onward Quest
        Canen and Cevo boarded the Mystic Cloud, and drove it off edge of the island. It fell from the waterfall (and the mystic realm) and crashed into the material world’s ocean. When the craft surfaced with great buoyancy from its hoverpads, Canen engaged the aquadrives. The hovercraft dove into the sea again.
        This time the on board aquadrive core charted the fastest path to Intarma Island from their position. This is all while at the same time the core made sure it would not run into any obstruction underwater by reading from its topographical oceanic map database. The subwarp jets of the Mystic Cloud burst, rocketing the ship underwater at speeds close to thirty-five thousand miles an hour!

SOUNDTRACK- Blockade Battle
        Fox flew the Thunder Serpent through a maze of aqua-fighters. He called to one of the Delta-Fighters through the intercom, “Any Antilian- this is Fox Sage of the Thunder Serpent! I’m here to help!” He awaited a reply as he fired his massive plasma cannons at the black-dome like ships of Mensa.
        “This is Sunray Squadron Leader, First Lieutenant Mandell, copying you. Any help would be great! Just don’t shoot the yellow ships!” the voice said.
        “Mandell?” Audrey scratched her head. “Remember Canen telling us about his...”
 Fox looked at Audrey, “...son?”  A jolt from a ion blast shook the Serpent violently.
        “This is suicide!” Audrey yelled, on the edge of her seat. She watched the swarm of aqua fighters swerve all over, spraying ion beams at eachother.
        “Relax. Just trust my skill,” Fox said, quickly dodging GALL-Battletank firepower.
        “Skill has nothing to do with this!” Audrey shouted. “It’s going to take pure luck!”
        “HA!!! HA!!! Luck is one of my skills.”
        “I know- that’s what got me so worried!”
        There was an explosion and an alarm sounded in the cockpit. “Great!” Fox shouted. “Some dumb GALL-Battletank pilot drove right into us. Kamikaze, maybe... We didn’t explode, thanks to our trusty plasma shields!”
        “So what does that alarm mean?” Audrey asked.
        “Go see if you can replace a fusion cylinder...” Fox paused, concentrating on steering the Serpent through the cluttered battlefield of water. “...cylinder to the shield generator in the engine deck.” Fox said, navigating the Serpent through the battle while shooting down the enemies.
        “What! I don’t know anything about mechanics!” she replied, frantic.
        “Well, you don’t know how to pilot the ship, so just figure it out!” Another blast shook the ship off balance. Fox’s cunning skills quickly saved the craft from flipping over and sinking. “Our shields are down at twenty percent!!! GO!!!” he shouted at Audrey. She raced to the back of the lower deck.
        Rapid GALL-Battletank ion beams blasted at the Serpent, while Sage returned stronger fire. Huge bolts of glowing blue plasma shot out at the GALL-Battletanks. While at the Mana Acropolis, he and Cevo reconfigured the cannons to automatically lock onto their target- no need for someone up on the top deck firing.
        When a bolt would explode into the hull of a Mensan ship, the entire craft would become flames bursting out over the water. “AHHH!! I’ve got one on my tail!!! I can’t shake ‘em!!” Fox shouted, putting on a headset intercom.
        “I’m on it, Sage!” Mandell replied as his Delta-Fighter shot three ion beams at the pursuing GALL craft. It exploded in a eruption of oranges, reds, and yellows, as Mandell’s ship flew threw the flare.
        “Thanks, Mandell,” Fox smiled as he shot down several GALLs. Sage found it extremely hard to navigate and fight in what looked like a dense swarm of bees.
        Meanwhile, Audrey was down in the engine deck, trying to figure out where to replace this fusion cylinder with that. She finally found a compartment labeled, “Deflector-Shield Generator”. She switched the burned out tube with a new one. Audrey could hear Fox yelping in joy! “You did it, Audrey! The shields are back at full power!”

SOUNDTRACK- Onward Quest
        When Cevo and Canen approached the island surrounded in dark clouds, they felt very cold. A change in fate! Something huge was about to happen. Cevo revealed plasma cannons hidden within his armor. As the two slowly walked up a long flight of steps outside to the front doors of the complex, the two Mensan guards spotted them. Before they could begin firing at the two intruders, Cevo discharged two glowing blue plasma bolts at the soldiers. Within seconds the bolts sped up the steps and slammed into the chests of the Mensans.
        When they approached the entrance, Canen bent down by the two dead soldiers and began searching for the access cards to unlock the glass doors. His head whipped up in answer to a blast from Cevo’s plasma cannons. The glass of the huge doors burst into the building in a massive explosion. The shards sprayed at the guards inside, stabbing into their flesh.
SOUNDTRACK- Event Horizon
        “Hmmmzt. Let’s go,” the robot said, smashing what was left of the doors’ metallic frames that held the glass. Canen shrugged, dropping the front door keycards and drew his Onyx-Sword.
        They walked right inside. Ten troops that guarded the lobby stared at the glass stuck into them, but oddly, they seemed to feel no pain. Canen ignited his blade. He rushed at all of the soldiers, taken them on at once. He attacked with the glowing-black sword, wielded tightly in his fists. It sliced right through their necks, their heads flying. “Too easy,” Canen smiled. His grin faded when he noticed no blood spilled from the cadavers.
        The headless soldiers rose from the shard covered floor. Canen’s brows narrowed in response to his confusion. They were all decapitated, yet they still lived. Some shot at the Canen and Cevo with their ion blasters, while the others that had dropped their weapons rushed at the leader of Revenant. They began throwing punches and kicks, boasting their martial arts training. Canen threw some shadow magic out from his Onyx-Blade, but nothing happened. His energy absorbing power didn’t drain them of anything. They seemed flawless against it.
        Cevo punched one of the ion blasting soldiers hard with his huge iron fists. He flew back ten feet and smashed into a wall. Cevo hit the soldier in his chest, smashing the computer systems strapped to them. That soldier did not rise again. Cevo repeated this to the others that fired ion blasts at him.
        Meanwhile, Canen was surrounded by six headless guards that fought him intensely with only their fists and boots. He chopped off some of their arms or sliced into their legs, but nothing happened; they kept fighting. After seeing what Cevo did, Canen began to understand why they were impervious to his magic and his chopping. He drove his sword into the flat computer boxes strapped to their chests. Once the six guards fell to the ground, they did not rise again. “Life support systems,” Canen concluded in the empty lobby. “They seem to be using the DreamSeed technology.”
        Cevo made a noise, “Hmmmzt. My heat sensors showed blue, which means very little heat at all. That could only mean they were dead to begin with.” The robot bent down and tore open the mask of a guard’s helmet. He scanned the face within. He repeated the process to two other heads that laid on the marble floor. “My on-line archives show they were Mensan troops that died during the Mage-War.”
        “Hmm,” Canen rubbed his chin. “Intarma and Mensa dug up their dead army, bringing them back to life. Why?”
        “Hmmmzt. It seems the original mission of Intarma and Mensa did not die with the Mage-War as we thought.” Cevo shook his head.
        “World wide domination- they’re trying to take over the world again!” Canen shouted.
        While most of the life-support systems on a soldier’s chest were disabled, one gave off an alarm. Cevo lifted his metallic foot and smashed it. “What do you make of that?” asked Canen.
        “Must be a back-up bacon,” Cevo pointed to four dozen Mensan soldiers that rushed into the lobby and took cover by massive marble pillars.
        “FREEZE!” One of them shouted, pointing an ion blaster at Canen and Cevo. The two looked at each other, readying their weapons.

SOUNDTRACK- Event Horizon
        Abant crept through the corridors of the vast GALL-Warship. A blue glow and a chilling temperature surrounded his Onyx-Blade. The pulsating rhythm of the magic surging through the blade had a bizarre resonance in the silence of the ship. The soldiers were dead of feeling, so they did not detect the cold Abant’s blade brought about.
        He, too, discovered the soldiers were zombies, kept alive by DreamSeed technology. Abant found that his Ice magic was powerful against the life-support systems the soldiers had on their chests.
        He came to a large room in the GALL-Warship that had about thirty soldiers lined up. This looks as if they are preparing for invasion... Abant thought. I’m going to stop that.
        Suddenly the soldiers noticed that it began snowing in the room. The pipes and wires along the walls and floors became covered in ice. They looked up at the ceiling to see a massive sheet of ice covering all of it, as man-sized icicles dangled from it, thirty feet up. The icicles began to vibrate until they cracked off the huge sheet of ice.
        “Look out!” one of the soldiers shouted as the six foot tall  spike of ice crashed down onto him. A hail of these huge icicles fell to the ground, wiping out most of the soldiers by crushing their life-support systems. About ten soldiers rose from the shattered ice on the floor, immediately spotting and firing ion beams at Abant. He reflected them with his Onyx-Blade. The beams bounced back and sliced through the soldiers.
        The zombies rushed at Abant, but he jumped in the air, at least twenty feet, and grabbed a dangling wire. He swung across the fifty yard long room on this wire, while discharging sharp, arm-sized icicles from his blade at the soldiers. He let go of the wire, flying through the air while still shooting the cold spikes of frozen water.
        When he landed, ion beams were still soaring at him. He jumped backwards, and because of his strong legs, his back flip tossed him fifteen feet high. At the pinnacle of his leap’s arch, he flipped over, the steel floor rushing up under his feet. His right palm glowed yellow as it shot frozen balls of ice at the troops.
        They crashed into the troops’ bodies, two hit life-support systems. Abant couldn’t give perfect aim while swiftly moving through the air. When his boots slammed onto the floor once again, a blizzard burst from his Onyx-Blade, darts of hail flitting at the soldiers, stabbing into them like ninja-stars. This forced the remaining troops’ life-support systems to explode in an electrical fireworks show.
        Abant stood in the troop-mobilization hanger of the GALL-Warship, gazing at the snow drifts that covered it. He smiled in satisfaction of his performance. However, his mind raced. There must be a DreamSeed reactor on this ship, he thought. If I can destroy it, the soldiers will return to their death...

SOUNDTRACK- Event Horizon
        Several floors above, Janus pressed his ear against the cold metal vents of his cell. He had been thrashed during one of the repetitive rituals his father had just performed on him moments ago. Janus’s left black-eye was swollen shut, as his lips dripped blood. Through the vents, he could overhear his father, who had just departed his cell, speaking to the Mensan soldiers, “Sir! Did you hear that?”
        “Hear what?” Jonnan grunted, sliding on his blue sunglasses and rubbing his blood-covered knuckles.
        “A message has been sent to everyone. We are under attack!” the guard replied. “They are requesting for backup. Canen and Cevo have been identified as the attackers.”
        “Canen! What is he doing here?” Jonnan demanded to know. Then it hit him. Jonnan turned around, looking back at the thick metal door, as if trying to see past it at his brutally beaten son. Jonnan glanced down at the blood on his fist. Janus had been pummeled by his father so severely, that he knew if Jonnan came back one last time, he was going to die for real...
        “I think they’re trying to save him...”

SOUNDTRACK- Event Horizon
        Canen’s boots rapidly scaled the marble walls of the lobby, as ion bolts shot into the plating behind him. The marble burst into small chunks, flying through the air. As Canen dashed along the walls, he swung his blade by every Mensan soldier that came his way. It was miraculous how swiftly Canen dodged the hundreds of ion beams the soldiers were firing at him. Nevertheless, the leader of Revenant managed to stab into the life-support systems of most of the soldiers.
        Cevo was taking the firepower in the chest, his metallic armor repelling the beams, sending them back at the soldiers. It did do him damage, but he was able to sustain. The tremendous robot threw a punch, while standing at the entrance of the rectangular lobby. The soldiers stood at the other end.
        A spring followed his fist, sending it clear across the room. He punched a marble pillar, forcing it to explode. The solid marble chunks crashed down on the soldiers. Amazingly, the Mensan zombies rose from the damage. Cevo fired head-sized plasma bolts from his cannons. The bolts burst into the soldier’s chests, frying their already dead insides and the life-support system circuits.

SOUNDTRACK- Blockade Battle
        Fox called down to the engine deck, “Audrey! How’z it doin’ down there?!?!?” He dodged a crashing GALL. She replied, saying she had twenty fusion tubes left for the shields.
        “This is Goldstrike Squadron Leader, First Lieutenant Rife,” A voice said over the intercom. “Your ship is smokin’!”
        Fox replied, with a huge grin on his face. “Thanks! Come to think of it, I am doing pretty hot!”
        “No! It’s literally smoking!”

SOUNDTRACK- Twilight Glimmer
        After all of the soldiers were defeated in the lobby, Canen sent Cevo to find a computer to download a map of the complex. There had to be one somewhere on the first floor. The leader of Revenant waited in the lobby, examining the life-support systems. The nearby elevator gave a ‘ding’ sound. Canen’s head whipped up as he watched the elevator doors slowly slide opened. “Cevo...” he called, but somehow he already knew the robot was too far to hear him. In the metallic box, stood a man in white suit with his blue sunglasses. Jonnan.
        “Long time no see, brother,” Jonnan smirked, stepping out of the elevator. He was concealing something behind his back.
        “So, you joined Intarma.” Canen’s eye twitched with anger. “After all father did for us.”
        “Do you know who I am, beyond Intarma?”
        “…” Canen again drew his Onyx-Blade from the holder strapped to his back.
        “Janus’s father,” Jonnan smiled.
        “Can’t be...” Canen’s eyes lit up in rage, “NOOO!!!!!” He shot a bolt of blackness from his Onyx-Blade. Jonnan quickly moved from its path, the bolt exploding behind him. Chunks of marble flew everywhere. Jonnan quickly revealed his RC-P53! Jonnan’s blood-stained finger smashed down on the weapon’s trigger... The rapid ion fire that shot out of this huge black gun burst through the pillars and five feet into the solid marble walls! One shot would absolutely kill!! The RC-P53 fired six shots a second, making the rapid firing noise almost unbearably loud!
        The two fiercely ran around each other, attacking, dodging, and blocking. Fortunately, the Onyx-Blade could repel Jonnan’s ion blasts. His huge black-glowing saber soared over Jonnan, after Canen’s twisted brother ducked from it just in time. Jonnan threw a punch into Canen’s jaw, which continued upward to crack into his nose. Canen leapt fifteen feet up and ran along the ceiling, shooting numerous bolts of shadow at his brother as he licked the blood that ran from his nostrils.
        Fragments of marble were exploding all around them in answer to the brother’s firepower. The chunks of wall and pillar flew around the giant room like a swarm of locusts as the two brothers dueled it out with the most rage that has ever filled their hearts.

SOUNDTRACK- Event Horizon
        Abant discovered the location of the DreamSeed reactor, right in the core of the GALL-Warship. He could not disable it, for it was heavily shielded with the strongest of metallic alloys. So he decided to go back to his original plan and find the king.
        After a few minutes of searching empty corridors (most of the remaining Mensan troops were piloting the GALL-Battletanks), Abant finally found the chamber the king was being held at. It was a long, dark corridor of stairs that lead to a deep sub-level of the battleship. The room the staircase took Abant to was vast, dark, and empty- fifty square-yards in size. Linked-chains dangling from the ceiling, which was so high that it was hidden in darkness. Two dozen round-columns of metal raised from the metallic floor on up to the shadowed ceiling. Rectangular pods of glowing red-light were attached to the round columns, barely illuminated anything. They glowed in their own strangeness.
        Power cufflinks, Abant determined. Below this room must be the main reactor, which shoots upward, its glowing-red energy, through the columns to the upper decks. But this was only a quick observation. Something else caught Abant’s eye...
        Directly in the center of the enormous room was the king locked in a iron cage. A pillar of bright white light shed down directly above the cage, as it too dangled on a thick linked-chain of iron. Abant began to run towards the cage, but the King Atreides held out his hand and shouted, “NOOO! It’s a trap! Turn around!!!!”
        The mage felt a powerful chill in his spine. Abant’s long ears filled with the deep and dreadful cackle of Sa’gaht!

SOUNDTRACK- Event Horizon
        Audrey was trying to figure out why the Serpent was smoking, but she couldn’t determine it from the inside. She climbed out to the open, fighting the fierce wind and water that the hovercrafts kicked up, she made her way to the smoking area. The quick maneuvers Fox put on the Serpent saved Audrey’s life, as ion beams shot at her from nearby GALL-Battletanks.
        Audrey became too scared to move, but then she remembered when she and Janus were on the hovertrain. It gave her confidence and determination, thinking of that adventurous moment she shared with the man she fell in love with.
        The squire climbed down to the area where smoke flew from the rear anti-gravity engines. The ship vibrated fiercely as it zoomed, at hundreds of miles an hour, over the sea. Water splashed up constantly, hitting her in the eye. Audrey finally reached the gaping whole in the hull. She used her Wind magic (an ability which makes her able to control air), to prevent the flames from receiving any oxygen. A semitransparent white dome was cast over the hole, making a vacuum inside. The fire stopped.

SOUNDTRACK- Twilight Glimmer
        Jonnan was running out of battery power for his RC-P53. The rapid ion beams that discharged from the huge barrel of his gun smashed into the ceiling, forcing the floor above them to begin to crumble down into the lobby. Canen leapt back down to the floor, and swung his mighty blade at his brother with more speed that he ever knew.
        It was then that Cevo finally returned, after hearing what was going on. He began discharging huge bolts of plasma, the highest intensity they could fire. The bolts soared past the two, crashing into the rubble that surrounded the elevator door. The explosions the blasts left behind sent larger chunks of marble and the existing smaller ones flying in every direction in answer to a huge BOOM!
        When the dust cleared, Jonnan was nowhere to be found. The ding of the elevator made Canen and Cevo turn their heads to see Jonnan smile at them just before the door closed.
        “Hmmmzt. The second floor is going to fall in!” Cevo shouted to Canen. “Come on!” Cevo took Canen by the hand and hulled him into the empty elevator shaft after prying open the doors. Just as they reached the shaft, the second floor, above the lobby, caved in. Trapped? Never.

SOUNDTRACK- None
        The Risotto extended from its collapsed position, shooting out from the darkness at Abant. He dodged it, watching the long pole soar past him and dent into the metal columns. Abant jumped back as the hundreds of metal knives instantly flung out at him. It then slowly retracted back into the darkness.
        Silence.
        The gear-like noise sounded and out it flung at Abant again.
        He quickly dodged.
        It retracted.
        Silence.
        Once more the Risotto shot, this time too quick for Abant’s reflexes. The end of the pole punched the old hybrid in the shoulder. He flew back ten feet, his shoulder bone cracked. Abant gritted his teeth, and held his glowing Onyx-Blade in front of him. Suddenly the room’s walls and columns became covered in ice, reflecting the light of the red-pods. This illuminated the room in a vibrant crimson. Abant could finally see Sa’gaht in the dimly-lit room. His old nemesis at last...