The Outcasts: Rise Of Bonez

19 - Solving The Hunger Puzzle

The atmosphere of the planet felt strange, and not in a good way. It smelled bad, and even though it was hot and dry, there was a cool breeze blowing through the area, which made it feel uncomfortable. Even though the large sun shone brightly overhead, making the place seem unbearably bright, the heroes could still sense the uneasiness of the environment.

Batsy looked towards Fast Maker, who nodded back at him and ran off, beginning to map out the planet in his mind. As he left, the bat mutant peered towards the rest of the group. Lola and Rift could be seen admiring the odd bone plants that littered the landscape, while Centa kept his eyes peeled for danger.

At the same time, Graviton, XLR8 and Black Star stood close together, discussing how best to move forward once Ben returned. They didn't have much experience fighting Ribbertons, so they knew that it would take teamwork to win this battle.

"I am so glad we're doing this together," Black Star spoke to her twin. "Onyx, I know you can handle yourself in combat. I'm sure you'll do great."

"Yeah, me too," Graviton replied. "This'll be fun. Trust me."

The group had no idea how long Fast Maker would take to search the planet, but they figured it wouldn't take him more than ten minutes. So, they waited patiently, studying their surroundings. Apollo soon joined Centa's side, keeping guard in case anything dangerous approached.

"Are you okay?" the Russian whispered.

"Yup, just gotta make sure we don't get killed," the centipede mutant responded, sounding slightly defensive. "Nothing wrong with that."

Apollo chuckled, before continuing to look around the land. While the planet was barren and mostly featureless, there was a small rocky hill in the distance, which came across as normal looking, well, for this planet, to begin with. But the longer Enzo stared at it, the more he began to realize that it wasn't quite right. Something about it seemed off. He couldn't quite put his finger on it until he saw it starting to shift.

It turned out that it wasn't a hill at all, but a large dinosaur-like monster with bone detailing, who was curled up asleep upon the ground. But when he saw it moving, Apollo became uneasy, nudging Centa in the back and pointing to the creature in question. The two gasped as the creature slowly rose, its eyes falling on the group. The beast seemed to be giant, being nearly half the size of The De Vil Rocket.

"Oh crap," Centa muttered under his breath, catching the attention of the other heroes.

The creature opened its mouth, revealing a row of sharp teeth, before slowly turning its entire body towards them, its big black eyes seemingly staring straight through them.

"What the hell is that thing?" Apollo exclaimed, not expecting such a massive creature to suddenly appear.

The group gathered, preparing themselves for whatever was about to happen as the dinosaur-like creature took a step towards them. It let out a ferocious roar that echoed through the air, causing the heroes to jump back in fear. Speeding up its movement, the alien monster moved closer and closer to them, growling with each passing second.

"Time to fight," Centa muttered.

He pulled his gun from his holster and aimed at the creature's head, firing several rounds into its skull. But instead of causing any damage, the bullets merely bounced off of its boney body. Meanwhile, Apollo drew his bow as Lola erupted into her Blinding Light form, aiming to daze the creature. As the two attacked though, it seemed to only do so much damage, and it was clear that they weren't enough to stop it

The creature finally caught up to them, knocking Lola to the ground. Graviton would smirk, attempting to use his gravitational abilities to turn it to dust, but that didn't work either. The dinosaur-like monster simply kept coming, jaws open wide to attack. It grabbed Onyx in its mouth, snapping its jaw shut as the pirate yelled out in pain.

Black Star gasped in horror, instantly pulling rocks from the ground around her hands, forming a shield that she slammed into the dinosaur-like monster. She managed to knock it backwards, with it spitting Graviton onto the floor. Meanwhile, Batsy, XLR8 and Rift charged in, all three of them unleashing their own respective attacks against the alien creature. But as they did, it snarled at them, brushing off their blows effortlessly.

"What are we gonna do?!" Rift cried out, sending his telekinetic knives towards the beast.

But it simply dodged the projectiles with ease, before lunging towards the hero with its sharp claws. Luckily, he was able to block them with his armoured suit, but it was clear that he might not be able to hold out for too long.

XLR8 began to evaluate the situation, realizing that this monster was strong enough to kill them all if they were unlucky. The problem was that it had no weaknesses - it could probably destroy them all without breaking a sweat. As he continued to study its fighting pattern, he noticed something strange. It seemed to continuously fence the group off from the direction in which it came, making it look as if it was trying to guard or protect something nearby. Looking over yonder, the Bramnium noticed a stockpile of dead and decaying food laying in a pile behind the creature. That had to be what it was guarding!

"Wait a second!" XLR8 shouted, suddenly leaping forward. "We need to show it that we're not a threat, maybe then it'll leave us alone!"

"And how the hell do you expect us to do that?" Centa groaned.

"I think it believes we're after his food source," the alien yelled. "We need to convince it otherwise!"

Lola, quickly having an idea, transformed back into her original self, backing away from the alien. Holding her hands up as to show she meant no harm, Lola approached the creature, looking up into its eyes. The animal roared again, turning its body around to face her, before opening its mouth.

"You can have it all!" she said, holding her arms up high while smiling warmly.

Immediately, the creature slowed down, lowering its stance slightly. The heroes gasped at the sight, with the others quickly catching on. Apollo and Centa slowly placed their weapons away, before Batsy stepped forward, too holding his hands up. He walked towards the beast cautiously, its bone tail twitching as it watched him approach. Before any of them knew it, the hero was within arm's reach of the creature, reaching out his hand and placing it on the side of the beast. Rift and XLR8 stood still, trying not to make any sudden movement as the two Rockatrayen twins surrendered themselves to the monster.

"We aren't here to steal from you, we're here to find our friends..." Black Star tried to explain, not sure what else to say.

The creature grunted, nodding its head in response as if it actually understood what they were saying. With that, the creature lowered its posture even further as if to welcome them to its home, howling in a happier tone than before. A grumbling sound echoed from the beast's stomach, causing the heroes to look up in fright. Looking back to its food pile, they realised most of it was rotten or just unedible.

"He's hungry, someone get some food from the ship," Lola said with a smile, before turning to the heroes with her thumbs raised. "That means you guys! Now!"

XLR8 and Rift sprinted back towards the nearby De Vil Rocket, soon returning after a little while of waiting. They raced back over to the alien beast, with XLR8 first offering it some extraterrestrial fruits and vegetables that he carried from the ship. However, the creature ignored him completely, instead turning its attention to Rift.

Inside the cybernetic hero's hands sat a bowl of a porridge-like substance. Lola recognised it as the food she tasted earlier, inside the rocket's cafeteria. Rift held out the metal container, letting the creature smell it, before placing it on the ground. The beast lapped it up like a dog, almost immediately wolfing down the entire thing.

"Well, I guess that got through to him," the Bramnium said with a shrug. "Good ol' suldridge, a great Super Food that sustains all when travelling through the cosmos!"

The creature continued to eat, licking its chops as it devoured the nutritious meal. When it finished, it sighed happily, flickering its eyes before peering towards the rocket with wonder.

As the heroes stood around and chuckled at the sight, Fast Maker was spotted in the distance, approaching rapidly, huffing and puffing as he hurriedly rushed over to the group. As he slid to a halt, with his mind full of information, he would be taken aback once spotting the large boney dinosaur-like alien.

"What did I miss?" Ben asked as he tilted his head.