GALACTIC UNITY
By: Mark J. Hadley
* * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER
12:
“Monitor”
“Scatter!” Blossom quickly ordered…the Powerpuff Girls immediately took off, each in a different direction, as Monitor 14 opened fire at where they were a moment ago. Bright white bolts of energy leapt from his weapons and ripped through the dense foliage by the edge of the clearing. The girls regrouped in the air, looking down at the Monitor who, in return, aimed his weapons up at them.
“All right, we’ve gotta make this good,” Blossom shouted. “Plan delta-rho-eight, go!” As another volley of blasts shot up at them, they split up and surrounded him from a distance on three sides, in a triangular formation. They flew a circle around him once to try and confuse him, then opened fire with their eyebeams on each side.
Unfortunately, his armor turned out to be as tough as it looked. The beams struck his frame, but didn’t show any signs of damage. He was staggered a little by the impacts, but was otherwise unaffected. “No good,” Blossom said. “We need something stronger…”
Buttercup flew directly towards him from behind and said, “Let’s see how he likes this!” She raised a fist, ready to strike him in the back, but at that moment, the Monitor noticed her approach. With a surprising level of agility for something so big, he slid to one side, the weapon on his right arm retracting back into its panel.
Missing her target because of the dodge, Buttercup ended up soaring past him instead, and spun around. The Monitor had activated some kind of sword-like weapon made of energy from his right arm, and was swinging it towards her. She noticed it at the last second and bent backward to avoid the swing. The bright red glowing ‘sword’ very narrowly missed her…she swore that it trimmed a few millimeters from her hair in the front.
Buttercup gritted her teeth at the near-miss, and hovered back to a safe distance in a hurry. She fired another blast from her eyebeams, but the Monitor raised the energy sword, rebounding it harmlessly away from him.
Bubbles shouted, “Now what? We can’t get close to him!”
“Maybe we can,” Blossom shouted back. “Plan Beta-Alpha-Two, now!” Blossom and Buttercup quickly flew to opposite sides of the Monitor, who continued to try and hit them with blasts from his left arm’s weapon. Bubbles, in the meantime, dove into the ground, burrowing into it. The other girls finally got into position, and both of them charged the Monitor’s left and right sides simultaneously.
He was about to jump aside, but Bubbles emerged from the ground directly beneath him and grabbed hold of his legs, holding him in place. Blossom struck him on the left shoulder with a strong punch, while Buttercup struck his right side with a kick. The impact caused some good-sized dents in his armor, and sent him off balance.
Bubbles was about to pull his legs out from under him, but he recovered…he grabbed Blossom’s leg with his left hand, and before she could try to break free, he swung her like a club into Buttercup, knocking her away. He tugged one of his feet up from the ground fiercely, pulling Bubbles along with it, and with a strong snap of his leg, he kicked her off, flinging her into one of the treetops.
Now that he had the upper hand once again, he raised the energy sword and was about to swing it at Blossom, who was still dangling by her leg from his grasp. Although she was vulnerable in this position, she was hardly helpless. She reached up and grabbed his fist with her arms, pulling on it. Just in time, she pried the fingers apart and dropped safely to the ground underneath the blade’s swing.
From here, she had a good, clear shot at his legs, so she kicked as hard as she could. It knocked him off-balance, and a second later, he tottered backwards, landing on the ground with a *THUD*. Blossom leapt into the air, and soared down towards his chest with both feet, but before she could strike him, he ignited a pair of thrusters on his feet and slid across the ground out of the way.
Without shutting off his thrusters, the Monitor pushed his hands against the ground beneath him, changing his angle so that he stopped sliding across the ground, and flew up into the air instead. His energy sword retracted from his right arm, and the blasters emerged again.
Buttercup picked herself up from the ground where she had been knocked, and rubbed her head, “All right, that’s it…no more Mrs. Nice Gal!” In a flash of green, she shot up from the ground, flying directly at the Monitor. He started firing blasts at her, but she expertly weaved through them without getting hit. In an instant, she was upon him, and struck him in the chest with a strong uppercut.
She was surprised, though, because she didn’t do as much damage as she had expected. Another dent had formed in his chest armor, but it stood up amazingly well under such a powerful blow. Before she could back up, the Monitor brought both of his arms around, grasping her in a bear hug. Buttercup gasped…she was constricted, and could barely breathe.
Blossom shouted, “Buttercup!” and started firing her eyebeams again, trying to strike him in the arm or something to get him to let go of her sister. He simply dodged to one side, not releasing his grasp. Buttercup continued struggling, but found it impossible to break free…
Just then, Bubbles emerged from the trees where she had been kicked. She flew down to the bottom of the same tree and tugged on it, uprooting it. Flying up, she swung it in a giant arc, and it slammed into the Monitor’s side. The blow knocked him down towards the ground at an angle. He released his hold on Buttercup halfway down, and she immediately flew to safety before he impacted into the ground.
The Monitor had swiveled around just before hitting, however, and landed on his hands and feet in a crouched stance, almost like he was kneeling. The girls flew back together in the air above him, and he slowly stood back.
“Man, he just won’t go down…” Buttercup coughed, still regaining her breath.
“You’re right,” Blossom said, also a little tired. “We need to find some kind of weakness, fast…otherwise, he’ll just wear us down.”
Bubbles looked worried, “I don’t think he has a weakness.”
While they were talking, the Monitor retracted the blasters back into his arms. He held his hands out, and a small, round hatch on the palms slid open. “Watch out! He’s up to something!” Blossom exclaimed. They prepared to dodge whatever it was he was going to throw at them, but they weren’t prepared for what he did do…
A burst of sonics came from his palms, causing the entire area to tremor from the high- and low-pitched noise. The girls clamped their hands over their ears, trying to block it out, but it was far too loud. They suddenly found it difficult to stay airborne…whatever the sonics were doing, they were causing havoc with their equilibrium, and the girls were overcome with vertigo.
Buttercup tried to see straight so she could get a shot off at the Monitor, but she couldn’t…she reeled dizzily and finally descended, landing on the ground once again. The Monitor immediately stopped the sonics, and another set of panels slid open on the back of one of his hands. A bright green net, looking like it was made of energy, launched out of it towards Buttercup. Dizzy as she was, she couldn’t avoid it in time, and it surrounded her, holding her in place.
“Rrrg!” Buttercup grunted, trying to break free, “Lemme go!” Blossom and Bubbles were just beginning to recover from the sonics, and they saw what happened to her. The Monitor already had his blasters out again, though, and was opening fire on them to keep them away from her. They flew behind a stand of trees on the edge of the clearing to take cover from the shots.
“This is too much!” Blossom exclaimed from their hiding place. “What else does this guy have in his bag of tricks?”
“We tried everything…” Bubbles said, “…and we barely made a couple of dents in him…”
Blossom suddenly smiled, and said, “Not everything. Bubbles…plan pi-alpha-three, ready?”
Bubbles smiled back and nodded, “Ready!”
As Monitor 14 was walking towards Buttercup, Blossom suddenly burst out from behind cover. The Monitor, waiting for the instant she would make her move, already had his blasters trained on her and was firing away, trying to hit her. She duck under his first barrage of shots, taking a deep breath at the same time…by the time she flew above his second barrage, she was ready. She exhaled, unleashing a blast of her ice breath across him.
It was hard to tell if the move surprised him or not, since he was expressionless, but in any case, it managed to hit him. He was encased in ice, frozen solid, and his joints whirred in protest as they tried to move. Now that it was safe to come out, Bubbles flew from behind the tree and took a deep breath of her own, releasing a high-pitched scream…the waves from her powerful sonic attack struck the Monitor head-on, and although it shattered the ice from him, it also managed to blast him off of his feet, where he clattered to the ground nearby.
Blossom flew over and sliced through the green energy net that held Buttercup with her eyebeams, freeing her from it. Buttercup pulled the rest of the net off of herself, which disintegrated as it broke up, and said, “Thanks, Bloss!”
“No problem,” she replied. They all took a glance over at the fallen robot, who was lying on his back, unmoving. Even the optical light on his head was out. They cautiously flew over and looked down at him.
“I think we got him,” Bubbles said, “but just to make sure…” She flew down, and pulled her fist back, ready to smash in the head. Just before she punched, though, the optical light suddenly turned back on. It startled them all, and before they could do anything, the robot reached up and grabbed Bubbles. Due to the size of his hand, only the top of her head and eyes were visible. She gave a muffled shout…
Blossom quickly swung a kick to the Monitor’s head. The optic light was shattered, and he released his hold on Bubbles, reaching up to try and swat Blossom away. Buttercup had already moved down to his chest, though, and started unleashing a flurry of blows at it…cracks started to form in the armor, and finally it shattered, revealing the complex circuitry underneath.
All three girls flew back from him and fired their eyebeams together on that unprotected spot. There was a small internal explosion, and electricity began sparking across his entire frame. He tried to stand back up, but was nearly immobilized. In a broken voice, he said, “This…unit must…capture the Earthl--…error…repair sys--…sys--….--tems nonfunc--…error…err--…--rror”
Taking this as a cue to get to a safe distance, the girls flew up into the sky, and Monitor 14 exploded in a tremendous shower of sparks and metal that flew out in all directions. When it finally settled, the monitor’s head landed in the clearing, sparked a few times, and lay still.
Blossom wiped her forehead, and said, “Whew…that was close…”
“No kidding,” Buttercup panted. “No wonder they use those guys as law enforcement. They’re tough! It took all three of us to bring one down…”
Blossom looked back at the bunker and said, “Ok, it’s time to take it out. Eyebeams!” All three of them concentrated their eyebeams together on the bunker. The metal on the outside heated up, and the entire thing melted into a pool of molten metal.
“Piece of cake, right?” Buttercup said with a smirk.
Bubbles said, “I guess so. We can take off now?”
“Absolutely,” Blossom said. “With that bunker gone, we won’t get pulled back down here again. It’s time to get off this planet and get to Checkpoint Station 41. We’ve lost a little time, but not much.”
They hurried back to Xianea’s ship…it was still several hours to their meeting with Mojo, and they weren’t that far from the station, but they decided it would probably be best to be there ahead of time, so that they have an opportunity to rest up before they attempt their rescue operation. As they headed back, Bubbles couldn’t help but think, I hope they don’t keep sending these guys after us. I need time to rest, I don’t know if I can keep up with any more of these fights…but we’re going to have to do a lot more fighting to rescue Xianea. Oh, I hope she’s all right…
* * *
Xianea sat quietly in her cell, somewhere within the Paradise Fringe station. They had tossed her in there a while back, with the cryptic warning that they had plans for her. That was a few hours ago, and they still hadn’t come back.
Her thoughts were on the Powerpuff Girls. They’re all alone again, she thought. If only there were some way I could still help them…but I’m powerless to do anything in here…
The door to her cell slid open, and she sat up. Two of the large Gyahembu guards entered, and two more figures. One was Drax Kanard, the bounty hunter that had captured her, and next to him…she had never seen him in person before, but she still recognized him as Belfiust, the head of the Gyahembu.
Belfiust narrowed his eyes at her and said, “So, Centraxian…we have you at last. It’s a shame you had to be involved with the little incident involving Ykrsk’s release. It’s those Earthlings we really want. And now that we have you, they’ll undoubtedly come to rescue you.”
Xianea tried to avoid eye contact with him. She knew that he spoke the truth. It was in their nature to help out people in danger, and the girls would probably be flying right into their trap. She didn’t want to say anything that would confirm this, but even her silence told them enough.
“Although,” Belfiust said, scratching his chin thoughtfully, “something puzzles me. We’ve been keeping track of some of your activities lately…some of our contacts told us that you flew directly into Hkratth territory, just so you could visit their library. That seems a little unusual to me, risking one’s life just for a little bit of knowledge. So why did you do it?”
Xianea finally looked him in the eyes, and said matter-of-factly, “I’m a Centraxian, that’s our purpose.”
“Yes, but the Earthlings aren’t Centraxians,” he said back. “Yet, our sources say that it was their idea. So what are you really looking for?”
Xianea said nothing in return, staying firm against his questioning. I can’t let them know, he thought. The danger is far too great…
Belfiust gave a small chuckle and shook his head, saying, “I didn’t expect you to be cooperative. Well, it doesn’t really matter. I suppose you’re probably expecting us to try some cheap trick, such as torture or whatnot, to get you to talk. We don’t resort to such crude methods…no, we have something much more reliable, don’t we?”
Drax stepped forward, pulling a small, round device from his belt. Xianea’s eyes widened slightly as she recognized what it was. The Repository of Knowledge back on Centraxia was equipped with the only device capable of reading the knowledge contained within a Centraxian’s genetic programming. This technology was forbidden to others, and in fact, its use was forbidden outside of the Repository itself. However, other species have sought to duplicate the technology, and some have succeeded on a small, less-efficient scale.
This device was one of those that were built from this technology. She was suddenly seized with dread…her own genetic programming was going to betray their plans to the Gyahembu…and worse, they would likely find out everything she knows about the Powerpuff Girls as well…knowledge that could be used against them…
The two guards grabbed her arms, holding her down, while Drax fixed the device onto her forehead. A jolting surge ran through her body as it began its scan. She clenched her teeth against the pain that this inefficient device invariably caused, and shut her eyes tightly. Drax continued to examine the readouts from it, as he accessed the information he was looking for.
After a few long minutes of searching, he gave a grunt of satisfaction as he found what he was looking for. “It appears they went to the library to find a journal written by one of the Zadron. They’re now looking for another member of that same race named Ghoraan, who apparently knows the precise location of…”
He hesitated, re-reading the display. Belfiust said, “Well? The location of what?”
“The Omega Particle,” Drax said slowly. “It actually exists…”
“Hmm…” Belfiust said, a smile slowly creeping across his face. “Really…if I could get my hands on that, why…we’d be the greatest power in the galaxy. No, in the universe!”
Drax finished copying the rest of the information he needed, and detached the reader from Xianea’s forehead. She slumped back and gasped for air, relieved that it was over. Drax hooked the device back on his belt, and said, “Now we prepare for the Earthlings’ arrival…”
“Yes,” Belfiust agreed. “We have other important matters to attend to as well. He turned around to the door of the cell, calling for his aide, “Hey! I need you to check all our contacts…try to find a Zadron named Ghoraan. Search everywhere…we must find him!”
The guards released Xianea, and started out of the cell, following Belfiust. Drax stayed for a few moments longer, and grinned cruelly, saying, “Thank you for the information. You’ve been a great help to us, Centraxian.” He laughed, and left the cell, sealing the door behind him.
Xianea collapsed onto the ground, partly from exhaustion, but also from grief. Her worst fears had been realized…and the girls were going to be heading right into the heart of it. She silently hoped that something could be done…they had to find Ghoraan before the Gyahembu did, or all was lost. Girls, she thought, please hurry…but be careful. Everything is depending on you, now…