Loonatics Unleashed

Episode 3

A few days passed. Myka grew accustomed to the quiet hotel room. The bird like creature was forever sealed in its life sphere and the town remained calm for the time being.

Being that his solider is gone now, he’s probably laying low until he could find a new specimen. That’s why I must make my escape now.

She made her way to the window, when something picked her senses. She turned to find a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and unfolded the paper.

Myka,

It read…

I don’t usually do something like this, but I felt you needed something to connect our friendship with. I hope as you read this you can still consider me as a friend. Please realize that we all want to help you get home. I’m not completely sure how to get you back, but I do know that you won’t be alone. In fact, I will not let you. This may be a little on the bragging side, but my group and I have been promoted to the guardians of the universe…

She paused for a moment. “Is that supposed to impress me?”

She went back to the note.

This means that we protect, well the universe. So, if you decide to go through with this on your own and you run into any trouble, it means the universe is in trouble and it means that we’ll find you. And I’ll make that a promise. Until next time, Tech.

“Well coyote, that is very noble of you and just a tad bit on the sweet side, but please realize that as your friend I’m protecting you and the others…not so much from me but from the guy that is after me. For he is a much bigger threat.”

She moved to the window and opened it.

“Please understand Tech, I do need friends, but I can’t get close to anyone, because it means hurting them.”

She peered outside the window, the breeze welcomed her, as she gazed down the building she realized it was too big of a drop. She gazed towards the horizon in the lightly, gloomy purple skies.

“Looks like I’m flying.”

She stood up to the ledge and released a solar disk sphere below he feet. Before she could jump on, a knock at the door startled her.

“Myka!” someone cried out.

She slipped on the ledge and let her body tense up and caught herself before she could make a deadly fall. She pushed her hands on the window sills and pushed herself back in.

“Myka? May I come in?”

“Whoa!”

She landed on the ground with a thump.

“Myka?”

As she pulled herself up, she let out a low groan.

“That’s going to leave a mark,” she muttered.

Suddenly, the door opened, and someone caught her eye.

“Lexi!” she shot up in surprise.

“Hey.”

“Hello…uh, how did you get in?” she pulled the key out from her pocket, “I took the hotel key from Tech.”

Lexi pulled out a key. “Extra hotel key, just in case of emergencies. I did knock first and then I heard a loud noise, almost like something fell.”

“Well more like someone,” she admitted guiltily.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine…”

She caught sight of Lexi’s gaze towards the window.

“I just…needed some air and I had a clumsy moment.”

“Right…”

“I assume you released Tech of his guard duties.”

She nodded. “And although I understand why Ace and Tech are so weary of you, but you can’t get to know yourself again being cooped up in here the whole time. So, I have a proposition for you.”

“Proposition?”

“Yeah, we can get out for awhile and meet the city. You get to know yourself more and I keep an eye on you. Sounds fair, right?”

Myka gave her a blank stare. “Uh…”

“I mean unless you want to stay here?”

She took another glance at the window.

“I guess my escape plan will have to wait.”

She turned back to Lexi.

“Sure, why not. After all, I was thinking I could use some air.”

“Alright then, let’s get going,” she smiled.

They made their way out and started their outing into downtown.

“Wow,” Myka gazed around. “Downtown Acmetropolis is big.”

“Yup as Rev would say, Acmetropolis has everything, so pay attention because I’m going to be giving you the grand tour.”

Myka looked at her blankly and smiled. “Very well Lexi, lead the way.”

They walked down the path through a bunch of clothing stores, vendors that sold jewelry, scarves, accessories, and other trinkets. The Chinese parade was going on. People under a dragon made it dance through the center of the street. Music played happily. They browse through music stores and Myka listened to new music and people. She realized quickly that the culture was enriched and full of life. As she sat on the bench with Lexi eating a rice bowl with sweet and sour chicken and watched the show, she realized she never really got to know a planet. She was always running away from them.

“I guess if I’m going to get to know a planet, I’m glad I get to know this one.”

“Myka?” Lexi broke into her thoughts. “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just taking in the sights. Acmetropolis sure is something. Thanks for showing me around the planet, Lexi, well at least the downtown part.”

“Sure, well I know the others are weary of you, but I knew we couldn’t keep you in that hotel forever. Especially, if Fauna said you need to get to know yourself again.”

“Get to know myself again…she has no idea how realistic that saying really is.”

“Well there are definitely more places to see, you up for it?”

She nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

They got up, when something pricked her senses and she stopped in her tracks.

“That feeling…”

“Myka?”

“Huh?”

“Something wrong?”

“I think I’m sensing something…”

“Huh?”

Suddenly, people began running towards them, screaming, “Monster!”

“Monster?” they questioned.

They look ahead and saw a red furred lion with horns on its head coming towards them.

“Lexi, could it be possible that’s one of the famous sites here?” Myka asked skeptically.

“No, no this would be considered new.”

They took a step back.

“I was afraid of that.”

It let out a huge roar and charged towards them.

“Dodge and run,” Lexi cried.

They leaped out of the way and then ducked into an alley.

“Okay.”

They each tried to regain their breath.

“What is that thing?” Lexi asked.

“I’m not…sure, but we need to lead it away from the city.”

Lexi nodded. “Yeah. I’ll call the others we’re going to need some help with this round up.”

She pushed a button on her wrist and it sent out a distress signal. The roar brought them back to the lion in front of them.

“Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about a cage,” said Lexi.

It tried shoving itself through the small opening, making the edges of the wall crumble.

“We might need to rethink the cage idea…” said Myka.

Pieces of the alley began to fall, and the lion shot fire orbs from its mouth. Instinctively, they placed their arms over their heads. A bright dome emerged over them and the crumbling pieces bounced off and the fire orbs disintegrated before they hit them.

“Huh?”

“Whoa? You can do that?” Lexi asked.

“Apparently, I can,” she said halfway surprised.

Lexi activated her jet pack and took a place in the sky. She outstretched her hand to Myka.

“Come on, let’s get out of here while we can.”

Myka looked up and then back at the lion. Then she took Lexi’s hand. Her shield spiraled back and formed a flat platform under her feet. She caught her balance and began floating on her solar disk.

“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

She chuckled nervously. “Sometimes, I even surprise myself.”

The roar of the lion brought them back to the alley.

“That creature is definitely the same ore of the bird. Which means he found a new specimen and in a quick amount of time. And since this guy can breathe fire it also means that he’s hurting the elements of the world, just to get to me.”

She gazed over the city.

“Well he can conjure up all he wants, I will take down each one if it means protecting the people of this planet and once I’m free I will save these creatures too.”

They flew down and landed behind the lion. Lexi used her brain blast and aimed sharply at its leg. It let out a yowl of pain and turned towards them. It growled at them and started chasing them through downtown. Myka shot a couple of water orbs below its feet and made it slide down a thin sheet of ice. It shook the city with a loud thump and looked slightly stunned for a moment. He pulled itself up and aimed towards the girls. He parted his mouth and unleashed another fire ball. They both dodged it.

“Okay,” Myka cried, “time to cool your jets.”

She placed her hands in a nearby puddle and channeled in her water power and shot huge strong pumps of water at the beast. It knocked him down again, but he got right back up.

Lexi let out a grunt. “Man, I think he is stronger than that bird thing we fought.”

They dodged another fireball.

“The bird was weak at the time,” Myka explained, “this lion beast is fresh and at full strength.”

“Then maybe we should try to weaken it before we try to catch it.”

Myka put up another shield as the lion unleashed a couple more fireballs. “The bird also didn’t breathe fire, we need to get around those.”

“So, we get rid of those things and we bring him down,” Lexi said simply.

Myka thought back to when she and the others took down the bird. “The only way to really defeat this thing is to bring it to its spirit form.”

“Spirit form? You mean that glowing sphere, like the bird?”

Myka nodded. “Even though I was its target, it was cornered at one point. If we can do that with this guy he’ll rely on his other powers, which means it will be easier to weaken him and lure him away from the city. Without powers or energy, he’ll be brought down to its spirit form.”

Lexi thought for a moment and then revealed a smirk, as if she had gotten an idea. “Okay, then let’s commence phase one.”

Myka looked at her surprised. She has never encountered someone with this much confidence before. Not to mention confidence with even one of her plans. She’s not even sure if Lexi is even questioning her tactics in her mind.

“Let’s capture this twisted freak of nature,” Lexi said.

Myka’s surprise look turned to a force of determination as she gave a confident nod. She took a step forward and slammed her hands not the ground and created craters around the mutant lion’s feet. He struggled to move but the gravel buried his feet nice and tight into the concrete.

“Okay, we got him trapped,” she said, “we need to weaken it now.”

“Any suggestions?” Lexi asked.

“Get him to use his fire balls. You can slow them down with your brain blast, I’ll do the same with my water power.”

Lexi nodded that she understood. Myka waited for a few moments until the fire balls dispersed, then she lowered her shield. The fireballs started up again and Lexi took the first punch and shot laser fire at the balls of fire, making them disperse like small fireworks. Myka joined in and shot her water orbs. They kept going until the fire balls started to slow down themselves.

“I think he’s about ran out of ammo,” said Myka.

The lion stared right at them, breathing heavily. Myka could tell that he was out of fire power, but he was not out of the war just yet. Knowing the strategy of the creator of these beasts, they don’t always go down easily, which means they have some sort of secret power up their sleeves. The sooner they get this lion beast in spirit form the better.

“Alright,” Lexi chimed in again, “I say we get kitty away from the city.”

“We need to confine it somehow,” Myka responded.

“How did you and Tech defeat the bird?”

Myka thought back. “It was a light power of some sort,” she explained. “Now that I think about it, it was a mixture of both mine and Tech’s powers, so maybe…Lexi do you trust me?”

“Huh?”

“I mean…to combine our powers. We can create a diversion that will help lure the lion out of the city, even if we can’t get it back into its spirit form, it will still be easy to try to capture it for good.”

Lexi thought about what she said and smiled confidently. “Okay then, let’s give it a try.”

They faced the lion.

“I bet if we combine my brain blast and your light power we can create a moving cat toy.”

“Worth a shot.”

Myka and Lexi took to the skies and blended into the dimly sunlight. They each channeled in their power and combined it together, letting them hit the feet of the lion. He gazed into a disk with a mixture of bright light and pink. Myka flew back down and removed the gravel off his feet, then she connected her light power to the disk.

“Here kitty, kitty,” Myka taunted it, “follow the pretty light.”

They drag the pool of light through downtown until they came to the pier. Lexi gazed over the horizon and came in view of the water.

“Lead kitty cat towards the ocean,” she said.

Myka nodded. “It’s possible that this thing may follow us because its after me, which means this thing will follow us no matter what.”

Together they dragged their cat toy to the edge of the pier. The mutant lion was so intense in the pretty light that he didn’t see the water until it was too late, and he slipped into the water. He scrambled in the water.

“One more attack,” Myka cried.

Myka channeled in her light power and Lexi with her brain blast. Their powers merged together and crashed into the mutant lion. It managed to withhold the attack until their powers formed into a solid mass and became a barricade around the lion.

“Well not exactly what I had in mind, but it will do,” said Myka.

“Yeah works for me, except what about its spirit form?”

“Well I was hoping that last attack would help but at least we have him tamed and weakened for now.”

“I guess its better this way, considering Tech will want to analyze it, and we can avoid bringing it back to life if its not in a glowing sphere yet. Question is how do we get this guy back to HQ?”

“Mm…” Myka groaned, “Hopefully Tech has learned by now not to tamper with these creatures, they have already been through enough, and I don’t want to take down another creation for the second time…not to mention this thing can spill a lot of my secrets, we have to bring it to its spirit form before the Loonatics confiscate it.”

The mutant lion stood in the shallow water and let out a loud roar. The sonic waves broke through their cage.

“Uh oh,” they cried.

They dodged another blow of fireballs.

“Uh…I think we need a new plan,” said Lexi.

Myka stared at the lion trying to come up with some sort of idea. Then her powers caught her eye as they merged in with Lexi’s. Her brain blast element merged with her water element and created a swirl of electrical waves.

“That’s it,” she cried.

“What’s it?” Lexi asked.

“I have an idea, we need to combine our powers again, but this time…”

Instead of explaining her plan, she grabbed Lexi’s hand and channeled in both of their powers straight at the lion. It was a direct hit and sent the mutant lion flying to the deep end of the ocean, although he managed to stay up float, he was still scrambling in the water.

“This is strange,” Myka thought, “first the bird wouldn’t teleport and now this lion has a water weakness? Usually, amateur weaknesses don’t phase these creatures.”

“Myka,” Lexi cut in, “how do we contain this guy?”

“Lead him to us and say please,” a voice echoed in the air.

They turned to see a ship behind them. Someone familiar rolled down the window.

“Ace,” Lexi cried.

“What’s up girls?” he responded. “Have a nice stroll into town?”

The lion roared again breathing an orange glow from its mouth and aimed it right at them.

“Look out,” Ace cried.

They flew down and Ace flew up. The fire orb soared in between them and ended towards the water.

Instinctively, Myka turned to the others, “we have to lead it farther into the ocean.”

“Not a bad idea,” Ace said thoughtfully, “it will be easier to capture too.”

The girls flew down to the lion, as it let out another roar with a fire orb.

“Watch out,” Myka cried.

They dodged another blow.

“Time to cool off kitty,” Myka countered.

She conjured up a water orb and blast the mutant lion. He shook it off and growled at her. She and Lexi flew together towards the docks.

“Come on you, big fur ball,” Myka taunted.

It charged after them. They stayed right on the border line where the shallow and the deep ends meet and waited until just the right moment to leap out of the way.

“On three, Lexi,” said Myka.

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three.”

They leaped up into the skies and the lion stumbled into the deep side of the water. It squirmed and splashed around. With no way to regain balance it can’t attack back which means this creature will just continue to be weaken by the water.

“Try binding it Ace,” Myka cried, “it’s already weakened, with it trapped, it will eventually give up.”

The ship released the retracts and bind its legs together. She took the chance and released a form of her light power and aimed it right at the lion.

“Alright, pretty kitty, back to the spirit sphere from once you came.”

The light power became blinding and the monster looked away and became weak for it to fight back and shrunk into a light sphere.

“Well that’s what I call a wash up cat,” said Lexi.

Myka smiled and flew down to the light sphere that floated onto the water. Lexi joined her.

“Hey, it really did turn into a glowing sphere, just like the bird,” she said, “it could mean that the guy that’s creating these weird things could be the same guy that is after you.”

Myka picked up the sphere and held it in the palm of her hands. “You think someone is after me?”

“I think you do,” she pointed out.

“Huh?”

“You feel it’s the reason why you need to run as soon as possible, right?”

Myka looked at her blankly then caught onto what she meant. “You heard me at the hotel room.”

“I didn’t mean to pry my super ears do have moments when they want me to know something. At least that’s how they have been acting lately.”

“I see.”

“Myka, do you think someone is after you?”

She looked deeply into the sphere. “It is so much more than that, Lexi.”

Ace flew down on his jet pack at met the girls. “Hey ladies, need a ride?” he asked and held out a jar for the spirit sphere. “I have a first-class seat for our shiny friend here.”

“Ace, your timing was impeccable,” said Myka.

“Yup that’s Ace for you, he is always one step ahead, somehow,” Lexi praised him.

She leaned into kiss him on the cheek.

Ace blushed and kind of stumbled a bit as he walked over to Myka.

“Well…uh…technically we got a call from the mayor when mutant kitty got picked up on the radar,” he held out the canister to her, “here’s the storage for that luggage.”

Myka smiled. “Thanks Ace.”

She placed the sphere inside and the container sealed itself. “There,” she whispered, “now I say that’s enough sight seeing and destruction for you,” then she turned to Lexi, “I’m not sure of anything Lexi, but you could be right about the creations that happen to like terrorizing the city.”

With that in mind, they looked at one another and shared smiles. Then they hopped on the ship with the others.

“Alright, now that were all packed, let’s all aboard.”

“So, you’re idea of guarding someone with a high suspicious level by strolling across the town fighting off weird mutants?” Duck asked.

“Well fighting a mutant lion wasn’t exactly on my tour schedule,” Lexi admitted. “What’s your damage Duck?”

“Those creature thingies appear every time she appears in broad daylight. Coincidence? I think not,” he declared.

“Duck get a grip, would ya?” Lexi countered, “if she wanted to attack me, she would have done that by now?”

“Well-that-is-possible-but-she-may-be-creating-a-plan-to-gain-our-trust-and-then-strike-at-her-moment-no-offense-Myka-I-mean-you-seem-nice-and-all-but-can-we-really-trust-you?” Rev chimed in.

“Ha! At least someone agrees with me.”

“Well, that’s all considering what you guys think,” she said, gazing out the window, “then again, I’m not even sure if I can trust myself at the moment,” she turned to the others, “but if there is one thing I do know, its that I trust my instincts, so believe what you will, but my instincts tell me regardless who I am, my powers help tame these beasts. So, rather worrying whether you can trust me or not, be grateful that you have someone on your side to help bring peace to your planet.”

They all looked at her surprised.

“Sorry,” she replied, “I just…”

Then Tech touched her shoulder and smiled. “Its okay Myka, we get it.”

They gazed into each other’s eyes.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

They all exchanged looks of skepticism.

As they got back to the hotel, Lexi walked Myka back to her room.

“Thanks again Lexi, really.”

“Sure. Maybe next guard duty I’ll show you more sights, hopefully without fighting weird mutant monsters.”

All she felt she could do was smile, then she said, “I also wanted to thank you for giving me a chance. I know I’m a mystery to you people.”

“You are a mystery, Myka not just to us but to yourself. But you are also a person too. Just give yourself sometime and give the others some time.”

Myka unlocked the door with the hotel key and stepped in the room.

“Until then catch ya later Myka.”

She winked and smile as the door closed behind her. Myka turned away from the door and faced the window that she had left open.

“Lexi, you have treated me more than just a person, you have treated me as a friend. Therefore, I see you as a friend, I hope you understand that this means I must protect you and the others. That is why I must leave.”

She walked over to the window and activated her solar disk. She jumped on and flew into the distance. She looked back at the hotel and the Loonatics headquarters.

“Farewell my friends.”

She flew off into the distance and traveled through the galaxy until she was a mere speck.

***

Back at HQ, Ace guided Lexi up to the balcony at the top floor.

“Lexi,” Ace said sternly, “you were supposed to keep watch on our mystery Jane Doe, not be friends with her.”

Lexi gasped startled. “One, her name is Myka, two, I didn’t let her out of my sight, three, regardless of who she may be, she could use a friend.”

“We don’t know her, Duck and Rev have a point,” he stressed, “she may seem innocent, but we don’t know what she’s capable and if she will strike.”

“Okay Ace is this leader or boyfriend talk?”

“Both,” he pressed, “as your leader, I need you to obey my commands for your safety and as a boyfriend, if anything were to happen to you, I don’t know what I would do.”

She smiled thoughtfully. “Ace, you’re sweet for caring, but you know I can handle myself. Myka is still rejuvenating, any attacks she used wouldn’t be worthwhile.”

“Hey power couldn’t have fooled me the way she handled the lion king of mutants,” he said unconvinced.

“Ace, you do know I would have called you for help. Besides, everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves and more importantly they deserved to be heard. You should know that better than anyone.”

He glared at her.

“I’ll take your grumpy silence as ‘I’m right and now I need to make it up to the pretty bunny for the lecture, regardless of how caring I must be’.”

His face softened as he smiled and let out a reluctant sigh. He walked up to her, placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed her forehead.

“You are right,” he admitted, “but I think you need to be on your guard before becoming her friend.”

She sighed and then reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “You still worry too much,” she whispered.

She walked back to the elevator. “Just remember I know what I’m doing.”

He stared off after her and let out another surrender sigh. “I do trust you, Lexi,” he said quietly, he thought back to Myka, “just makes me wonder if all girls are this stubborn.”

“A girl is when she knows what she wants,” Lexi called back.

He looked at her confused and then realized she was listening in. “Those darn super ears,” he muttered.

“I heard that.”

He let out a small groan.

Suddenly, his communicator went off.

“Hey Ace,” Tech reported in, “Zadavia is on the line.”

He looked back at Lexi holding the elevator doors open. “Are you coming worried leader?” she teased.

He glared at her for a moment and then head over to her. They made their way down to the communications center.

“Hey Zadavia, how’s it going? How’s Freeleng?”

“Freeleng is standing strong,” she responded. “Just thought I check in, all is quiet in Acmetropolis I assume since Optimotas and Deuce decided not to take over the universe.”

“Well it was until someone else came along,” Duck commented.

“Duck,” Lexi snapped.

“What? I’m just speaking the truth.”

“Someone else?” Zadavia questioned.

“It’s a special case were working on…” Ace explained. “Someone is creating weird mutant creatures and causing havoc over the city.”

“I’m willing to put bet on miss Myka,” said Duck, “if that’s even her real name.”

“Myka?”

“Mystery girl that we found on the beach,” said Tech. “She has no memories of who she is or where she’s from.”

Zadavia listened intently. “I see. Do you know anything about her?”

“We’re still learning. So far we just know that she has strong powers and she’s somehow a link to the mutant creatures.”

“I understand. Probably best to keep an eye on her then.”

“Hey, Zadavia, is it possible that maybe you can do a little researching?” Ace asked, “So far she’s not in any missing person data base. Perhaps if we look outside Acmetropolis…”

“I don’t see why not, I’ll take a look and let you know if I find anything.”

“Thanks, here’s a photo of her.”

Ace uploaded a picture of her and sent it to Zadavia. She opened the file and looked at it with an expression that Ace couldn’t understand. She looked almost scared and confused.

“Something wrong?”

“No,” she managed to say, “no everything is fine. I’ll keep a look out.”

Ace looked at her as he hesitantly spoke. “Okay.”

“I must go, my brother and I have obligations to tend to, I’ll contact you as soon as I can…and Ace…”

“Yeah?”

“Take care of her to the best of your abilities.”

Ace nodded that he understood. “Got it.”

“And perhaps if its possible, I would like to meet her.”

“Meet her? Why?” Ace asked curiously.

“No particular reason, it will be just a way to learn more about her, plus she could probably use a source outside of Acmetropolis, one that has more of a wide range to hopefully guide her to her home.”

“Yeah…I guess so. You also suspect something about her, don’t you?”

She hesitated. “Only time will tell. Until then trust your instincts, be patient, and don’t let her out of your sight. Zadavia out.”

She logged off and the hologram shut off, leaving the Loonatics in complete silence. Ace finally spoke.

“Everyone, we are going to get just a little bit close to Myka, we still need to be on our guard, but we can also take in Fauna’s advice and still help Myka recover her memory. Something will spark even if its small and will hopefully give us a lead that can help her and help us discover where these creatures are coming from. Soon we will be able to take them down.”