GALACTIC UNITY

By:  Mark J. Hadley

 

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CHAPTER 17:

“Pursuit”

 

 

Drax Kanard was most intrigued by the last sets of transmissions he intercepted.  So they’re going to Vahlexei? he thought.  The location of the Omega Particle…hmm…perhaps if I arrive there soon enough, I can not only destroy my targets as planned, but also acquire the particle for myself.  Ahh yes…to become the greatest warrior in the universe, to have all fear my name… Still masked from their sensors, his ship made a singularity jump and began the pursuit…

Nearby, Mojo was turning his ship around, to head off on another course, when something caught his eye.  There was a brief flash of purple light nearby, as though someone had made a singularity jump…yet, nothing showed on his sensors.  Puzzled, he increased the power of the scans, and suddenly picked up Drax’s ship.  Realizing this new danger, Mojo thought, The Powerpuff Girls have no time to combat a bounty hunter…their mission will not be successful, and they will fail!  Clearly, something needs to be done to help them…but what?

 

*              *                *

 

                Buttercup geared up for battle.  She was arming herself with whatever weapons she could get her hands on.  Since Xianea didn’t have any weapons, this amounted to a cutting torch and a small medical laser.  “You won’t need all that,” Blossom reminded her.  “You’re gonna be able to fight just as well without it.  Probably better.  Our eyebeams are stronger than either of those…”

                “I know, but a little extra firepower never hurt anyone,” Butterup said.  Blossom sighed, and decided to just let Buttercup have her ‘weapons’.  She was understandably tense; they all were.  Losing the Earth was bad enough, but this was too much.

                Bubbles looked almost as angry as Buttercup.  She stood off to one side, warming up for the fight by throwing punches and kicks into the air.  She wore a serious, determined expression that Blossom had only seen a rare few times before…each of those times, it had preceded a fierceness of fighting that rivaled even Buttercup’s.

                Blossom herself had been going over all her battle plans.  She had to be ready to think of them and use them instinctively, rather than thinking about it for too long.  Alyxk was telepathic, after all, and she realized that if she thought about her plans too much, he might be able to read her mind and be prepared for it.  This is going to be trickier than I thought…

                The trip was almost over.  They were mere minutes away from the planet, and Xianea was preparing to slow the ship back down again.  The self-repair systems had fixed nearly all the damage to the ship.  There were still a few minor systems out, but the important ones, like the singularity generators, were functioning perfectly.  She looked across the readings and said, “We’re now within sensor range of the planet.  I’m seeing a ship in orbit still.  Strange, they must not have landed yet…”

                “That can’t be,” Blossom said, flying up to look over her shoulder.  “I wonder why?”

                “Whatever the reason, they’ve probably picked us up on their sensors as well,” Xianea said.  “Be prepared for a fight.”

                Blossom nodded, and flew back to where the other girls were.  They both stopped what they were doing and signaled that they were ready also.  The ship grew closer to their destination, and finally, with a lurch, Xianea dropped the ship out of faster-than-light travel.

                Vahlexei became visible.  It was a large, barren world…it looked like the entire surface was covered with mountains and desert.  The idea that anyone could have lived there in the past seemed laughable.  There wasn’t much light, either…the nearest star, though it shone brightly, wasn’t enough to illuminate this world any brighter than the light from a full moon.

                Alyxk’s ship was nearby, drifting along in orbit.  It was moving slowly, and releasing small metal objects out of the back.  Xianea scanned them quickly, and said, “Gravatic mines.  It looks like he’s trying to lay a protective minefield.”

                The communications screen lit up.  It wasn’t Alyxk’s face, though, but Ykrsk’s.  The text rolled across the screen, and the computer pronounced it, “What?  Impossible!  How did you make it here so quickly?”

                “We had a little help,” Blossom responded.  “Whatever you’re planning, it won’t work!”

                Ykrsk didn’t look happy, but then he said, “It’s too late, though.  I dropped Alyxk off on the planet surface already…he’ll find the Omega Particle before you know it.”

                “Not if we land and find it first!” Buttercup shouted.

                “Do you honestly expect me to stand by and let you land?” Ykrsk said.  “I may not have finished the minefield, but that doesn’t matter.  I’m more than capable of finishing you off myself.”

                “We’ll see about that,” Blossom said back.  The communication screen shut off, and Ykrsk’s ship slowly turned towards them.  Blossom looked at Xianea, “We don’t have any weapons, do we?”

                Xianea shook her head, “No…Alyxk made sure that his explosives took them out as well.”

                “Looks like we’re going outside again,” Blossom said.  “Ok, everyone, suit up!”  The three of them flew back to the airlocks and put on their spacesuits as quickly as they could.  Xianea, in the meantime, started making evasive maneuvers, as purple blasts of energy began firing at them from Ykrsk’s ship.  A few of them grazed the hull, but Xianea skillfully dodged most of them.

                The girls finally emerged from the ship, out into the battle.  “What’s the plan?” Buttercup shouted, as they approached the enemy ship.

                Unsure of what the range was of their species’ ability to read thoughts, she decided not to risk it, and ordered, “No plan…just improvise!”  She started out by diving low, underneath the ship…Bubbles tried to circle around the ship’s left side, while Buttercup just charged it head-on.  Surrounded from these three angles, Ykrsk turned towards its upper right side, the only opening.

This ended up leaving all three of them right behind him.  Buttercup grinned and said, “We’re on his tail…I think we’ve got him now!”

At that moment, though, a small hatch opened in the back, and one of the gravatic mines he had been laying emerged from it.  The girls quickly stopped flying, to try and stay at a safe distance.  Bubbles, who was the closest, must have been a little too close, because the mine lit up, and started drifting towards her.

Not good, Blossom thought, and shouted, “Bubbles, move!”

Bubbles started to fly in the opposite direction, but the mine followed her, picking up speed as it went.  She flew back and forth in an erratic pattern, but it stuck with her.  “I can’t shake it!” Bubbles yelled.

“Hang on!” Blossom said.  She looked back at Ykrsk, whose ship had now come about and was preparing to fire on them.  She suddenly had a flash of inspiration, and said, “Bubbles, fly this way!”  Not quite understanding, but willing to try anything, Bubbles started heading over.

Buttercup, in the meantime, soared over a volley of blasts from the ship, and tried to punch through the top of it, but the hull was too strong, and all she managed to do was to put a little dent in it.  Ykrsk responded to this by rolling the ship quickly…one of the wings struck into Buttercup as it came around, knocking her away.  She spun helplessly for a few moments before she regained control.

As Bubbles flew over, the mine hot on her heels, Blossom said, “Head for Ykrsk!  When you get close to him, just fly right past him, okay?”  Bubbles nodded, and kept flying, making a beeline for the ship.  Perfect, Blossom thought.  She’ll fly that mine right into the ship…hopefully, it’ll disable him…

No sooner than she had thought this, though, but Ykrsk quickly turned the ship to face Bubbles, and a blast from his weapons streaked toward her.  She ducked, but then noticed that she wasn’t the target; rather, the mine was.  The blast struck it, and it exploded behind her, the force from the explosion pushing her forward a little.  Thankfully, she was far enough from it that it didn’t cause any damage.

I knew it, Blossom thought.  He’s reading my mind!  Ok, think…do something unpredictable…  She cleared her thoughts, and just started darting around randomly, changing directions every few seconds.  Ykrsk tried to line her up for a shot, but couldn’t do it.  All of his blasts went wild, not coming anywhere near her.

The other girls followed her lead, and pretty soon, they were all buzzing around his ship like flies.  Ykrsk was obviously confused; he wasn’t flying in any complex patterns, but rather, was just flying in a straight line, like he was trying to figure out what to do next.  Blossom still wasn’t sure what they were going to do next…but out of the blue, she just decided to shout, “NOW!”

It had the desired effect; all three of them darted towards the ship at the same time, and started pounding on it.  Where the hull was strong enough against one Powerpuff, it couldn’t withstand three.  By the time they were done, the right wing was torn completely off, and the main engine in the back was smashed and inoperable.

“Good job, girls!” Blossom said, as the three of them reconvened near the airlock of the now-disabled ship.  They were about to enter, when the front half of the ship separated from the rest of it.  It looked like little more than an escape pod.  It was retreating, not towards the planet but back towards the stars.

“Do we go after him?” Bubbles asked.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Blossom said.  “We’ve got more important things to worry about…like, Alyxk, and the Omega Stone.”

Xianea’s voice came over the radio, “More than that…we’re in trouble, girls!”  They had almost forgotten about Xianea, and took a glance over at her ship.  It was madly dodging blasts from another vessel that must have arrived while they were fighting…

“That’s Drax’s ship!” Buttercup exclaimed.  “He followed us!”

“Oh no…” Blossom said.  “Xianea won’t be able to win that fight, not without weapons…we gotta get his attention!”  She flew a little closer, until she was sure she was within sight, and started waving her arms, “Hey!  Over here!”

Drax’s ship broke off from the attack, and turned towards Blossom and the others.  Over their radios, his voice suddenly spoke, “Powerpuff Girls…there you are.  I’ll deal with the Centraxian later; she’s no threat to me.”

Good, Blossom thought.  Now to lure him away…  “Girls…planetside, now!” she shouted.  The three quickly turned around and flew down towards Vahlexei.  As she expected, he pursued them, all they way down to the surface of the planet.

It was indeed a barren wasteland.  There were large rock outcroppings here and there, but for the most part, it was just wide-open stretches of nothing.  There was a dim, eerie light over everything, from the light of the distant stars.  It almost looked like the deserts in Arizona, but the three moons in the sky above reminded them that this was an alien world.

As they flew low across the surface, Bubbles glanced behind them and said, “He’s gaining on us!”

                “Hey, let’s duck into there,” Buttercup said, pointing at a large ravine in the surface.  It was fairly deep, and large enough to accommodate people easily, but it was too small for a ship to follow.  They flew down into the ravine and landed on a small ledge, looking back up to see what Drax was up to.

                Drax’s ship hovered over the ravine for a few moments, then it flew out of sight.  They could hear its engines nearby, and a moment later, there was a soft rumble as it landed.  Blossom listened carefully, and said, “Keep your eyes open…he’ll be here anytime…”

                “What’s the plan?” Bubbles asked.

                Blossom shrugged slightly, “I’m not sure yet…”  She looked back up at the sky, at the moons visible above…There’s something significant about them, she thought, but what is it?  The answer hit her a moment later.  Of course!  “Hey, remember how we were supposed to align something in the temple with the planet’s moons?”

                “Yeah…so?” Buttercup responded.

                “So,” Blossom said, “it makes sense for the moons to be directly above the temple we’re looking for.  And the moons are pretty might right overhead…so we must be close!”

                “Hey, yeah!” Bubbles exclaimed.  “We need to find it…and fast!”  They all agreed on this…who knew where Alyxk was right now?  He may already be at the temple…maybe even acquiring the Omega Particle at that very moment.  Unless they could get there as quickly as possible, all was lost…and they still have Drax to worry about…

 

*              *                *

 

                Xianea watched the girls descend to the surface of Vahlexei, with Drax right on their tail.  She knew she had to follow, but just before beginning her descent, her sensors picked up the approach of another ship.  Oh no…just what we need, more company, she thought.  She relaxed a little, though, when she saw who it was.

                The ship came into view as it slowed to sub-light speeds.  It immediately sent a transmission to her, “Centraxian, this is Mojo Jojo.  I have decided to make a change in plans, and not return to Paradise Fringe, for I had detected the ship belonging to the bounty hunter named Drax Kanard.  He was following you, and I have chosen to come to your assistance once again.”

                “Excellent, we could use all the help we can get,” Xianea replied.  “The girls are currently down on the planet surface, and Drax is in pursuit of them.”

                Mojo frowned, “Then there is not much time to spare and we must act hastily.  We must both descend and find where they have gone to, before it is too late.”

                Xianea nodded, “I agree.  They descended into the fifth quadrant below…you scan the northern half for his ship, while I begin searching the southern portion.”  Mojo nodded back, and his face disappeared from the communication screen.  Both of them angled their ships downward, heading for the planet surface.  Xianea thought, Hang on, girls…help is on the way…

 

*              *                *

 

                The girls flew along the length of the ravine.  Blossom figured that as long as they used it for cover, it would be harder for Drax to find them.  The only problem was, they couldn’t see anything on the surface.  Locating the temple would be a problem if all they could see was the inside of the ravine.  Every few hundred feet, one of them poked their head up over the side to see if they could spot it.

                “Why are we staying so low anyway?” Buttercup huffed.  “It’s just one guy.  I know he was tough and everything, but I’m sure we can outrun him, right?”

                “We can’t take any chances,” Blossom told her.  “If we get into a fight now, we’ll lose valuable time.”

                “We’re losing valuable time right now by not searching the area as fast as we can!” Buttercup insisted.

                Blossom thought about that, “Hmm…you know, you’re right…maybe we should take the chance.  Every second counts in this situ—“

                Bubbles interrupted her, “Hey, look!”  She pointed ahead in the ravine.  Along one side of the chasm, there was an intricately carved pattern, the first sign of some kind of civilization they saw on this planet so far.  Flying over curiously, they examined it closer.  It looked like it was carved right from the rock face, like a giant stone archway, at least a hundred feet across, with long columns running down the length of it.  There were several statues of an unidentifiable alien species, strange creatures with squid-like heads, all gathered around a larger carved figure, a monstrous demonic-looking beast.  Below this beast was a set of stone doors, sealed shut.

                “This must be it!” Blossom said.  “The temple!  And unless there’s more than one way in, it looks like we’re the first ones here…girls, this is our lucky day!”

                “Not quite,” came a voice from overhead.  Looking up in alarm, they spotted Drax…he was hovering in the air above them, with a jetpack on his back and his laser rifle in one hand.  In the other was some kind of small, palm-sized device…it didn’t look like a weapon.

                “Drax!  But how…” Bubbles began.

                “…did I find you?” Drax finished for her.  “Easy.  I built this device to home in on your unique biochemical structure.  What was it called…Chemical X?”

                Blossom gasped, and said, “How do you know about that?!”

                With a smirk, Drax said, “You were scanned by the Galactic Monitors.  Luckily, you told Xianea about everything else that was left out in those scans.  And while she was in our custody, I learned everything she knew about you from her memory storage.  Gives me quite the advantage, wouldn’t you say?”  He raised the rifle and said, “But enough talk.  It’s time to meet your end, Powerpuff Girls!”

                The girls immediately flew off in three different directions as Drax fired.  The orange laser that issued forth from the rifle struck the door of the temple instead, blasting a hole in it.  Blossom decided to seize the opportunity and shouted, “Now!  The temple!”  She shot quickly through the new gap that was created, and both Bubbles and Buttercup were right behind her.

                Drax quickly hovered down deeper into the ravine.  He frowned…the hole wasn’t large enough for him to squeeze through.  Not that it mattered….he merely aimed his rifle and fired again, carving the entire door off of its frame.  As it feel into the depths of the chasm below, a smile crossed his face, and he flew in after them.  What a most exhilarating hunt, he thought to himself.  But now I have them cornered.  There is no place to run inside now…and thanks to my scanner, there is no place to hide, either.  I have one more surprise in store for you as well, one which will spell your doom.  It’s all over, Powerpuff Girls!  Your fate is sealed…

 

TO BE CONTINUED…