Adventure of a Lifetime

Chapter IX

LUKE

Music: Galaga Remix/Pac-Motos Final Boss from Namco Museum Remix/Namco Museum Megamix

Thomas got up slowly, and wiped off drool from his face. Then his body started flashing white, first slowly, then rapidly. After that, his veins started to become visible, and they were flashing as well. Next, muscles grew on his arms, legs, and chest. And finally, he began growing. And growing. Until he was about as tall as his robot was.

"Alright. Time to take you all down!" Thomas cackled. Then he started taking slow steps, but he wasn't heading for us.

He was heading for the city!

"Guys, hurry! We've gotta stop Thomas before he destroys the city!" Anastasia urged, and so we ran after Thomas. Heath and I got our guns out and began shooting, but none of them seemed to have any effects.

Sam facepalmed. "You idiots, he's probably got radioactive power on him. A little bullet isn't gonna do crap to him."

"There's gotta be another way, then," Heath muttered. Then he looked to Sam, then Sean and Shanna. "Sam, can you make balls of energy?"

Sam then charged up an energy orb. "Yeah..."

"If we could combine that with Sean and Shanna's strength, it might be enough to take Thomas down. Let's give it a shot," Heath suggested.

SEAN

Heath's idea was far-fetched, but far-fetched is the best we've got right now.

Shanna and I stepped "into" the energy orb, and then Sam stepped back, as if preparing to throw it. He then lunged forward, and threw his hands forward, throwing the energy orb at Thomas' back. Shanna and I stuck our fists out, closed our eyes, and hoped for the best.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Shanna standing next to me, unharmed. I also saw Thomas, lying on the ground, and shrinking. He was beginning to lose power, so Luke stepped up to him with his sword-arm.

"Any last words, Thomas?" he smirked as he got ready to slice.

Thomas, groaning in pain, looked straight up at Luke and growled, "You'll never truly defeat me. We Zabadoofs are unstoppable. You can kill me now, but I'm telling you, I'll be back. Just wait and-"

Music: Historic Soldier from Gradius ReBirth

He didn't get to finish, because Luke sliced Thomas right in the next. Blood started shooting everywhere, and Thomas began gagging as he took his last dying breaths. Eventually, smoke began forming around Thomas, and within seconds, he vanished into a cloud labeled "Poof!" and the narrator in monotone voice said, "Poof."

We then started either cheering or breathing sighs of relief. Shanna exclaimed, "It's over! It's all over!"

However, Chomata was the only one who didn't seem satisfied by this victory. In fact, he looked like something else needed to be done.

CHOMATA

Music: Destroy Them All (v1) from Salamander PC-Engine

"You guys, there's something else we should do," I told everyone. I had just thought about Archie, and how he wanted to rescue his friend, Hannah.

"What now?" Anastasia sighed.

"Well, when I was teleported away, I met this kid, Archie. He had a friend; I believe her name was Hannah. Apparently they tried to stop Thomas by themselves, and their attempt was foiled. Archie got away, but Hannah didn't, and they mutated her. I think we should go back and attempt to rescue Hannah and revert her back to normal," I explained.

Sam nodded his head in agreement. "Y'know, that actually is a pretty smart idea, Chomata. I say we go to wherever you were and do just that."

"Do we HAVE to?" Shanna moaned.

Heath looked at her calmly, but sternly, and told her, "We might as well. Mr. Button might consider it a bonus."

Then there was the matter of actually getting back to the Zabadoof Fortress. We went back to the rubble and were surprised to find that Thomas' cockpit was still intact, so we went inside. I noticed that a monitor was turned on, and it apparently gave us the option to teleport somewhere. I chose the Zabadoof Fortress, and then everything around us turned white.

"So, we're going to where you were teleported to earlier?" Sean asked. I nodded in reply and muttered, "Uh-huh."

Eventually, I saw the Zabadoof Fortress forming around us, and then we were officially inside the Fortress. I looked around and saw a hallway leading to the room I started in after my teleportation.

But the minute we all stepped out of the cockpit, an alarm went off.

HEATH

Music: Boss from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Guards came from every side. In a matter of seconds, we were surrounded by Jiggler soldiers with guns. I figured there was no way we could take them all down before they got us, but Sam had other plans. He charged up an energy orb and took out a whole group of Jigglers. The rest of them ran off, and so did we.

"They've probably called every guard in the area on us," Sam muttered, darting his eyes back and forth. "We better split up to try and find Hannah. Use your powers to your greatest advantage."

I went with Luke, and neither of us had any idea where we were going. We eventually ran into a couple of robots, which weren't too happy to see us. I jumped up and pounced on both of them, and I was surprised to find that that actually destroyed them.

"Weaklings," I muttered as Luke and I moved on.

I eventually got a glance of Sean and Shanna, who weren't too far from us. They ran into a couple of Jigglers that were running away, looked at each other, and smiled. Then Shanna proceeded to pick one of them up and spin it around ON HER PINKY FINGER. Luke and I stood there and awe while Shanna spun the Jiggler around, and then threw it at the other Jiggler, knocking both of them out.

Their satisfactory moment didn't last long, however. Another group of retreating Jigglers came and surrounded them. The twins cowered in fear, but then all of the Jigglers had... hearts appear in their eyes, and they moved towards somewhere else. Then an energy orb (which was probably from Sam) took them out.

Luke and I looked at each other, and we both said, "Anastasia," at the same time, then moved on to find Chomata. Eventually, Sam, Sean, Shanna, and Anastasia met back up with us, and we agreed to find Chomata together. We advanced into the hallway, but a line of robots blocked our path. Then I saw Chomata appear behind the robots, and shoot them with what appeared to be an electric bow and arrow.

"Found this in a weapons room. Figured it'd come in handy. Follow me!" he yelled to us. He led us to a room labeled "Prisoner room" and opened the door. Inside were row upon row of Jigglers, guns pointed at us.

Then Sam said, "Alright, time to test something out," and began standing in place in a very... awkward pose. Then he vanished from our sights, and began zooming around the room at INCREDIBLE speed. Apparently, his speed was enough to wipe out row after row of Jigglers. When they were all cleared, he stood triumphantly as we all cheered for him.