Big Book of Echoble One Shots

Unwanted Visitor (S)

TW: Violence, Choking, FLux Buddies 2.0 #107 interpretation

Nano teetered delicately on the tips of her toes. Gently, she lifted the small glass ball between her fingers and placed it carefully down on its pedestal. He had just stepped back to admire her work when the ground beneath her feet shuddered violently. The walls of her aura hut shook and the glass balls she had so delicately placed went flying in all directions and shattered on the floor.

"Hey Nano, did you feel that?" Said Lalna through her earpiece.

"Yeah..." Nano replied. For a second she stared sadly at the glass dust scattered across the floor before taking flight up through the hole in the roof and out into the open air. She flew straight up and scanned the compound from high above. Upon catching sight of a smouldering crater where half of her noodle hut used to be, Nano let out a strangled cry.

"What? What happened?" Lalna asked, alarmed.

"My noodle bar!" Nano fell into a dive and landed sharply, jogging over to the edge of the crater. At the bottom she could vaguely make out what used to be a table and chair and several charred logs.

All of a sudden, she heard movement behind her. Nano spun around and came face to face with Lalna - at least, that was her assumption before she noticed his bloodstained lab coat, hungry red eyes, and gun levelled at her head. A spark ignited at the end, and with a flap of her wings Nano took flight just as a blast of flame shot through where she was standing just moments before.

"Lalnable! Lalnable Hector!" Nano screeched into her communicator as she took off. She met Lalna just above their botania hut and spun around, drawing her word. As she expected, Lalnable was right behind her. He, too, had stopped, and the Flux Buddies found themselves in a standoff.

Lalnable's dirty, white-feathered wings beat the air so hard that Nano could feel it even from where she was hovering a good ten metres away. His whole face was red with rage and Nano thought she could see tears glinting on his cheeks. He reached for something on his back and brought forth what was very clearly a rocket launcher.

"Where is she?! Where is Specimen Five?!" Lalnable demanded angrily.

"Like we'd tell you!" Lalna shouted back, his fairy wings swivelling with deceptive elegance.

"You will tell me!" With a scream of fury Lalnable shot towards them. Lalna and Nano dodged to the side, losing a bit of altitude in the process, as he sped past and circled the base in a wide arc.

From the other side of the compound Nano saw something flying towards her. She tucked her wings in and dropped, letting the rocket soar over her head and explode against one of the derelict raptor pens. She shifted her grip on her sword and signalled to Lalna that she was about to attack.

Together they sped towards Lalnable, who saw their advances and few in the opposite direction. They engaged in a chase around the compound. As he flew, Lalnable aimed his flamethrower downwards and set the wooden rooves ablaze. They continued on like this for what seemed like forever until, in one feigned dodge, Lalnable managed to clip Lalna with a spray of some kind of acidic red liquid. He let out a yelp of pain, clutching his shoulder, and plummeted towards the ground. He seemed to be trying to fly, but the acid had eaten through part of one of his wings, and he couldn't keep aloft.

Lalnable, too busy watching Lalna fall into the pool below, failed to notice Nano speeding towards him. She collided with him at high speed, and the two of them were knocked out of the sky. Nano instantly regretted her decision, however, and attempted to pull out - but not soon enough. Lalnable grabbed her arm and swung her in an arc towards the ground, which she collided with painfully, but not too much so as they had only been at roof height at the time. Unfortunately, the pain incapacitated her just barely enough for Lalnable to grab her around the neck and pin her to the grass.

"Where. Is. she? Where have you put my dear Specimen Five?" Lalnable hissed. This close, Nano could smell the stench of death wafting from his tattered coat and carried on his breath.

"Go to hell!" Nano choked out.

"Don't fuck with me!" Lalnable screeched, tightening his grip. Nano gasped, the edges of her vision seemed to be closing in. In one last attempt she kicked out at Lalnable's abdomen with her feet. He didn't seem to be expecting it, and so the shock of being hit in the stomach caused him to release his grip. Nano rolled to the side and staggered to her feet, taking in greedy breaths of air.

By now, Lalna had recovered and dragged himself out of the pool of water he had landed in. Lalnable swivelled and took flight just before Lalna's sword would have impaled him through the chest.

"You two will tell me where she is, now!" Lalnable yelled angrily, aiming a large, dark-teal gun of some description at their botania hut from where he hovered just above. "Enough of this! I will level this entire building!"

Purple particles swirled around the barrel of the gun, and a clicking, whirring noise could be heard from inside.

"No! Billy's in there, Billy penguin!" Nano cried. Frozen-limbed, she stared up at the cruel smile that had twisted itself across Lalnable's face.

"Where is Specimen Five. Once chance or your pet dies."

"The meteorite! Inside the meteorite underneath the portal." Nano said. Lalna slapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Lalnable lowered his gun and, with one graceful swoop, shot off towards the portal. The Flux Buddies followed, circling the meteorite like hawks after prey.

They saw him emerge with the compact cube under one arm. They dove, swords bared, but Lalnable was too fast for them. In a flash they had lost sight of him.

A few seconds later ear-splitting explosion rocked the ground and vibrated the air. Nano clenched her hands over her ears and struggled to stay airborne. She took her hands away just in time to hear a loud, sadistic laugh blown towards her on the breeze.

Nano didn't want to look, but her head turned on seemingly on its own accord and she was assaulted with the sight of the charred ruins of her botania hut and everything inside. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she landed awkwardly at the edge. A searing pain shot through her ankle, but she didn't care. It was all gone, her plants and runes, everything - and Billy, Billy was dead. With the force at which the hut had been destroyed she doubted that there would be anything left to bury.

Nano covered her face with her hands. A few seconds later she heard a growl and felt the displacement of air as Lalna took flight from beside her. She looked up in time to see him shoot off towards the speck on the horizon that was Lalnable.

"I'll get him, the cheating bastard, I'll get him!" Nano heard Lalna mutter furiously into his communicator.

"Lalna no, it's not worth it!" Nano cried.

"But I can catch him!"

"And have him blow you up like my hut?"

Silence. For a few moments Nano had no way of knowing whether or not she had succeeded. Then, with the soft flutter of wings, Lalna touched down wordlessly at her side.

"Now what?" He asked quietly.

Nano snuffled and wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.

"We mourn Billy, and get our revenge on that bastard." She stated.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Credit to bashcat99 on tumblr