Adventure of a Lifetime

Chapter X

ANASTASIA

Music: Last Struggle from Gradius III SNES

We eventually found who I assumed were Archie and... Hannah. Archie was trying to lead Hannah into some sort of device. When he was asked what it was, Archie replied, "I'm trying to unmutate Hannah."

"So... we didn't have to come here?" Shanna questioned.

Archie shook his head. "I've been unable to get this thing to work on her. For some reason, she isn't transforming back."

Hannah then emitted a series of untranslatable growls. Sam looked at all of us, a determined look on his face, and said, "Well, I think that the only way to get the evil out of her is to fight her."

Archie didn't seem too happy about this, but he nodded and replied, "I guess it might be the only way."

Music: Shower of Stars from Otomedius Excellent

Sean and Shanna took the first move. Shanna grabbed a nearby desk and threw it at Hannah, which got her attention. As Hannah advanced towards Shanna, Sean grabbed her and threw her on the ground HARD.

But all this did was make Hannah angrier. She got up and stared at the two of them, growling, drool dropping from her mouth. Sam yelled, "FIRE!" and then he started shooting a bunch of fireballs at Hannah. Meanwhile, Heath was apparently on the ceiling, shooting at Hannah from above.

Now weakened, Hannah saw her opportunity and burst for the door. However, Chomata appeared right in the doorway out of nowhere, blocking her off. That gave Luke just enough time. He sliced right at her arm with his sword-arm, and she fell to the ground in pain.

And finally, Sean and Shanna came to deliver the final blow (and just so y'know, I didn't mind getting to fight. It was epic enough as it is).

LUKE

Music: Time Attack from Super Mario Galaxy 2

I wasn't sure what to expect. Right now, Hannah was lying on the ground, probably dead. But that wasn't it.

She started changing skin color, from a brownish-green to a very light tan. Her face slowly formed into a more human-like complexion, and before our very eyes, was the real Hannah.

"You guys, why is she not waking up?" Archie asked urgently.

Sam shrugged. "Eh. Probably just unconscious. She should wake up soon."

Then an intercom voice came on, and said, "BASE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 75 SECONDS." All of us jumped up in fear and Sam instructed, "Oh crap, let's move, guys!"

We all began running in some random direction. Archie was carrying the unconscious Hannah in his arms. Sam led the pack, and it seemed as if he knew where he was going. Sure enough, we managed to find an exit very quickly.

"How'd you do that!?" Sean exclaimed in wonder.

"Mind power," Sam replied, smirking. But the happy moment soon changed when a piece of ceiling fell off and blocked off the exit. We turned around and more rubble blocked us off from behind as well. Fire was emerging from both sides, trapping us in.

"What are we gonna do?" Shanna asked nervously.

Thinking quickly, I turned to a wall and used my sword arm on it. Due to how weak it already was, the wall collapsed, and we were relieved to find out it was the outside.

Once everyone (or so we thought) got out, Sam did a quick check to make sure everyone was there. After he did, a panicked expression appeared on his face and he yelled, "WHERE'S ANASTASIA!?"

HEATH

Of course, we assumed Anastasia had gotten trapped back in the rubble somewhere. Since I could run the fastest, I was chosen to go back and look for her.

Of course.

I ran back to the base, which was beginning to collapse altogether. The second I ran back inside, the intercom announced, "BASE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IN 20 SECONDS."

Luckily, Anastasia didn't take too long for me to find. I found her sitting right next to where the exit used to be. I threw my hands up and yelled, "Why are you still here?"

She jumped when she saw me, and responded, "Oh. I, uh, didn't realize you guys had found a way out."
I just sighed.

"Well, we've gotta move," I stressed. I grabbed her by the arm and ran. By the time we got back to the rest of the group, the base exploded into a huge ball of fire.

Music: Title from Namco Museum Vol. 3

Archie now was trying to wake up Hannah. "Come on, girl, you can do it." He looked to Sam, almost in tears now. "Please tell me she's not dead!"

"She can't be," Sam responded, although he didn't look too sure. "All we did was remove the evil from her. That couldn't have killed her."

And luckily, it didn't. Hannah began coughing, and her eyes fluttered. Finally, they opened fully, and she moaned, "W-where am I?"

Archie wrapped Hannah in a bear hug, saying, "Oh my god, thank goodness you're alright," and stuff like that. I will admit, the moment did make me get a little choked up, but after a few seconds, it did get a little old to me.

Well, glad that's over.