It was another morning at the Williams home, and Roland came downstairs to find his father and grandmother eating breakfast at the table, while his mother was standing in the archway between the dining room and the living room. Abbie Williams had her hands on her hips and was shaking her head.
“Morning,” Roland called.
“Hey son,” Aaron greeted.
"Morning, baby,” Nano said as she stirred around her bowl of granola cereal and fruit.
Roland saw the breakfast his grandma was eating and gave her a knowing look, before he peered over at the television. The news was showing an aerial shot of some expensive looking shops, and the reporter was talking about LA’s long history of high-profile robberies.
“What’s going on?” He asked.
“Someone robbed a jewelry store on Rodeo,” Nano said. “Stole forty million dollars in jewelry just last night.”
Roland whistled as he grabbed a pitcher of orange juice and poured himself a glass. “Dang, I hope they have insurance.”
“Mmm… they won’t after this,” Abbie said, before she walked over and kissed Roland on the cheek. “Morning, sweetie. Are you going to sit down and eat with us?”
“Nah, I’m going over to the park to train with Marco so I’m gonna keep it light.” To that effect, he grabbed a waffle and spread some jam over it.
Abbie frowned. “What about the dojo?”
Roland paused. “Well, Marco quit yesterday, and since we were only going there to train with him, we all followed.”
Nano didn’t like what she heard, and got up from her seat. “I’ll see you out the door, baby.”
With a nod to Nano, Roland bid his parents farewell and walked with her out onto the porch. Soon as the door shut, Nano turned to her grandson with a concerned look. “What did Brantley do?”
Roland was impressed. “You just knew, huh? He basically forced Marco to quit.”
Nano palmed her forehead. “Lord have mercy on that boy, he’s a mess. Been a mess since he was in high school.”
That reminded him. “Hey, Nano, did you save Brantley’s life or something when he was a kid?”
Nano stared at her Grandson, uncomprehending, before something clicked on in her head. “Oh, oh! He told you about how we met?”
“Yeah, he said he was a gangbanger who got in too much trouble until you saved him.”
Nano hummed and shook her head. “I don’t remember it happenin’ like that. The Brantley I knew was a shy boy who liked to buy anime tapes from my old video store back in the 90s. One day he got picked on by some other kids down by the creek, so I told them to knock it off and took him home to his Mama.”
Roland slumped his shoulders. “How can one man be so sorry?”
“Don’t be so hard on him,” Nano said, “Frankly? For as much of a child that man is, he’s kept his dojo goin’ all these years and he genuinely loves what he does. That’s why I was surprised when you said you were goin’ there.”
At that, Roland laughed. “The man gives up when he can’t get a tape out of a VCR? Or afraid to tell his number one student that he can’t promote him to assistant? How can he take the pressure of running a business?”
As soon as he asked that question, he stopped. “… Wait, how does he do that?”
Nano hummed. “Askin’ the real questions, baby. Why don’t you go an’ train with your friend, ol’ Nano is going to go see how Brantley’s doing and maybe give him some advice.”
There were worse things to wish upon someone but getting a firm talking to from Nano was up there. Roland, however, was fine with condemning Brantley to that fate. Bidding Nano farewell, he climbed on his bike and headed off.
@@@@@
Under a tree in Echo Creek Park, Marco adjusted the gray belt of his karate gi’s top, checked the sleeves, and dusted the shoulders off. Today was his first day going solo, and he wasn’t about to start off on the wrong foot.
“All right Marco,” he whispered to himself, “Today you are no longer the student, you are the Sensei. Teach them well, better than you were taught. You can do this.”
Space Unicorn~! Soaring through the Stars~!
Marco grabbed his phone and answered it. “Huh? Star? What is it?”
“Hey Marco,” Star said with her usual outpouring of energy. “You weren’t here when I woke up, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I just came to the park to do some training.”
“Oh! Oh… okay! I was just wondering if you were okay, have fun training.”
Marco smiled. “Thanks.”
“Bye!” She ended the call, and Marco looked at his phone with a bemused smile.
Space Unicorn~! Soaring through the Stars!
Marco answered it again. “Star?”
“Did you eat breakfast?” She asked.
“I got some from Britta’s on my way here…” Marco replied.
“Right, okay! I’ll just um... have breakfast and go hang out with the girls then, bye!” She ended the call again.
Marco stared at the phone, in full confusion.
Space Unicorn~! Soaring through the Stars!
He answered it yet again. “Is something going on?”
“Oh… I um… was just wondering if you had some time to talk, but if you’re busy training we can talk later, bye!” Star ended the call abruptly.
He waited for it to ring again, but this time it didn’t. He rolled his eyes and was just about to call her back, when a man dressed as a butler stepped around the tree and pointed a smartphone of his own at him. He stared at the man, who stood there and said nothing otherwise.
Marco saw the red recording light on and put away his phone. “Can I help you?”
“You sure can,” Jeremy said as he followed his butler out from behind the tree but kept said butler between him and Marco. “Tell me, Marco, how does it feel to finally overcome your stubbornness and admit to being a loser?”
Marco rolled his eyes and turned away from Jeremy. “Go away, Jeremy.”
Jeremy smiled, a rich, condescending expression as he walked around him and into the camera shot. “Come on, the world wants to know. Seven years at the dojo, five of them as a green belt, what made it all worth throwing away?”
“None of your business,” Marco toned back. He had half a mind to leave if he wasn’t waiting for Drew, Jo, and Roland. “Who even told you that I quit?”
“Ap-ap-ap-ap… this is your interview, not mine.” Jeremy said. “Come on, give us something, Marco. What was it like to realize just how lame you are, and that everything you do is for nothing because you’re a giant dork who can’t even beat an eight year old?”
Jeremy turned and looked at the camera. “By the way, ladies? He’s got no girlfriend. No game to get one, either.”
Marco’s expression darkened, and he faced the child with the same calm glower he stared down Jara with when she threatened to kill Star. “It’s not can’t. I won’t beat up an eight year old.”
Jeremy paused. “What?”
“You’re eight, Jeremy. I’m not allowed to hit you because you’re half my age. If I hit you even once I’d kill you.”
Jeremy Birnbaum recoiled from Marco, the words swinging into him like a hammer straight into the bell of his young ego. “Wh-what? No! I can beat you, I have beaten you!”
“Every time we fought I held back.” Marco looked at his phone, still opened on Star in his contact list. “And honestly? Now that I’m not at the school anymore, I don’t have to do that, or care what you think or do.”
The response threw Jeremy completely off. Marco was supposed to be yelling at him, grinding his teeth, flailing to get him to go away and leave him alone. “H-hey. You’re the one who quit the school, you’re a quitter… doesn’t that mean anything? How are you going to be anything if you quit, huh?”
Marco stared at Jeremy, the kid looked angry that he wasn’t taking the bait. “Buzz off, kid.”
Jeremy seethed and assumed a fighting stance. “Fight me, Marco! I’ll show you!”
Marco spun around in place and swung a kick into the tree beside him, hitting it so hard that the trunk visibly shook and the tree’s leaves loudly rustled overhead. Jeremy hopped back, his eyes wide at the sight of the deep crack Marco’s shin left in the side of the trunk. Pulling his leg free of the cracked and splintered wood, Marco turned to Jeremy and glared down at him.
“That’s how hard I will hit you, if you don’t leave me alone.”
Internally Marco screamed because of how much it stung, but he maintained his glare.
Jeremy looked at the crack in the tree, then at Marco. His left eyelid spasmed, as his mind tried to grasp how hard the older boy would’ve had to hit the tree to do that. When Marco faked a lunge towards Jeremy, the eight year old yelped in fear and stumbled back, falling against his butler’s leg. To his merit, the butler didn’t seem affected in the slightest.
“Now, if you don’t have anything else to say…” Marco trailed off, as the head of a giant snake descended from the tree directly above the heads of Jeremy and his Butler. First staring down at the two below it, the snake’s tongue slithered from its mouth to taste the air, before rising up to point at Marco.
That’s a giant snake. Marco thought.
Its eyes gleamed.
That’s the giant snake! Marco thought, with much greater alarm as the gleam turned into a glow.
Both Jeremy and his butler noticed Marco’s attention drift upward and looked up together to see the giant snake looming just over them. Jeremy’s eyes grew wide and sparkly at the sight of the biggest reptile he’d ever seen, while his Butler had a more reasonable reaction, shrieking like a hysterical woman and running for his life.
Marco jumped hard to his left, away from the tree and out of the path of the two solid beams of light that fired from the snake’s eyes and scorched the grass for a meters long line.
It fires lasers?! He thought while he backpedaled from the tree.
The snake dropped down from the tree in front of Jeremy, the kid watching in amazement as it slithered after Marco at high speed, its long body undulating behind it. Mouth opening and long venomous fangs bared, the snake lunged for Marco, who once again sidestepped to avoid it by the barest margin.
“Whoa!” Marco turned around and jumped into a backflip to avoid the snake’s fangs as it came around. Landing on the other side of its body, he ducked down when the tail came up and lashed for his chest. “Ah!”
The snake came for him, fangs first, as he crouched then sprang high, stepping on the snake’s head and leaping off it to somersault through the air and land facing the snake.
Marco looked up at the snake as it reared its head and hissed loudly. “Okay… found the giant snake…”
“Ssss… I’ve found you… prey…” The snake hissed back.
Jeremy’s eyes were glimmering like diamonds. “IT TALKS?!”
Marco looked at Jeremy. “You need to leave!”
The snake attacked again, biting at him. He dipped clear of it, but rather than follow through the snake pulled back to bite at him again. Marco kept rolling and juking, staying a margin away from the snake that thinned with every bite.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Yeah! Get him! Bite his arm off!” Jeremy yelled before Marco punished one more failed bite with a powerful vertical chop that drove the snake’s head into the ground. “Aw!”
The snake’s undulating body thrashed as it brought its head out of the ground, one of its coils slamming into Marco and pushing him back. He only just regained his footing when the snake fired its eye lasers again, and Marco dove out of the way into a roll.
The boy pointed and laughed. “Aw, is Marco afraid of a widdle snake?!”
“Jeremy, it’s trying to kill me!” Marco shouted back as he avoided another bite.
He laughed harder. “Then you’d better dodge it, if you think you’re so good!”
Marco vaulted over the snake and landed in the first of three backflips away from the monster, opening the distance before landing in a low fighting stance.
Drew, Jo, and Roland should be on their way. I need to hold out until they get here!
The snake brought its head up, then lowered it to the ground, tongue slipping out to taste the air.
“Fast,” the snake said, “But you are not fast enough.”
“Then why don’t you show me how fast you are?” Marco asked.
The snake’s entire body flickered, before it crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye and headbutted Marco in the stomach, launching him into the air.
I didn’t know what I was expecting…! Marco thought over the internal howl of pain from taking a body shot like that.
Looking down, his eyes widened when he saw the snake coming up at him, mouth wide open to bite into him. In the next instant his world was spinning as something slammed into him hard and he was brought to the ground.
Huh… didn’t feel a thing. He thought with his eyes tightly shut.
“Marco! Marco, are you still with me?”
That was a familiar voice. “Huh… wha…?”
“Mr. Diaz, snap out of it!”
Marco’s eye shot open, and he realized he was being held by Brantley. “Sens… Brantley?”
He got up and placed a hand on his stomach. “Nngh… what are you doing here?”
“I came to, like, apologize for yesterday… but you’re fighting a giant snake.” Brantley said. “Is this something like the monster-arm thing again?”
Marco shook his head. “I wish, we need to get out of here. That thing’s got laser eyes and it’s fast.”
“Yeah, I just saved you from it,” Brantley said.
The snake tasted the air and hissed. “Before I tasted power… now I taste the same power and nothing more… ssss… move aside, or become prey, too!”
“And I say to you, continue your reckless hunt…” Brantley assumed a fighting stance. “And you will become the hunted.”
Marco got ready to fight as well. “I’m serious, Brantley, this thing is no joke!”
The snake flickered again, but as it did Brantley struck Marco in the shoulder–shoving him out of the way of the snake’s fangs. Marco fell away from him and the snake’s passing body. Recovering, Marco landed on his feet and hopped back.
“From your right, Mr. Diaz!” Brantley shouted.
Years of being Brantley’s student kicked in by reflex, and Marco jumped left, dodging the snake as it appeared to bite his right arm. Marco stared at the snake, and his eyes rolled towards Brantley in disbelief.
… What?
The snake slammed into the ground and slithered along it before coiling up to face them both again. It watched Marco and flicked its tongue again to taste the air. Over by the tree, Jeremy’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “Aw!”
Brantley looked between Marco and the snake. “Mr. Diaz, breathe deeply, and do exactly as I say.”
Marco took a deep, lung-filling breath, and glanced at Brantley again. “Now, wha-?”
“Duck, now!”
Marco ducked and watched as the Snake’s flickering afterimage passed over his head.
“Now roll to the right!”
Doing as told, Marco dove and rolled, and the snake’s open mouth ate the dirt where he’d been crouching.
“Forward! Double time! Keep breathing!” Brantley shouted.
Marco obeyed, leaping forward and running to avoid the snake’s thrashing body. From under its own coils, the snake’s head emerged, and it flickered as it pursued Marco.
“Jump up and back!”
When he did, Marco went up and over the snake’s head attacking his back and did a handspring off its body to land behind it.
The snake let out a very angry hiss, as its eyes lit up.
“Backflip, Mr. Diaz!” Marco did it and escaped the twin beams of death from the snake.
“Cartwheel, left!” Once more Brantley’s instructions paid off, and Marco evaded the barely visible snake.
Where is it…?! Marco thought.
“Now, with your left elbow and knee!” Brantley shouted.
Marco felt a killing intent behind him, but before anything else, he listened.
“Turn around…” Brantley ordered. “… and Clip the toenail!”
Marco spun in place while bringing his knee up to catch the chin of the snake, as his elbow came down into the top of its head. The two blows closed the snake’s jaws with such speed and force that its fangs had no time to close properly–and they tore through the snake’s lower jaw, barely missing Marco’s attacking knee as they punched through.
Marco watched with wide eyes as the snake jerked away from him and began to thrash about, a green and red ichor spraying from its wounds. The snake fell onto its back and rolled around in dying, agonized spasms. Jeremy sagged even lower, his mouth hanging open.
Turning to face his teacher, Marco just shook his head. “Wh-what was that? How did you do that?”
Brantley crossed his arms. “Once you have achieved oneness with the universe and know its precise timing… you can see everything unfold before you.”
It was all Greek to Marco. “What are you talking about?”
“Nevermind,” Brantley said. “Why was that giant snake after you?”
Marco sighed. “It’s a long story-”
“Here’s the short version: you’re doomed, baby!” Typhus called out, and both Marco and Brantley turned to see him standing atop a nearby hill, brandishing his sword and surrounded by a squad of Scabs.
“OH MY GOSH!” Jeremy yelled.
Brantley did a double-take. “Whoa, sick cosplay.”
“Revised short version: That’s not cosplay, he’s here to kill me, and he’ll kill you too if we don’t get out of here!” Marco warned as Typhus pointed his sword ahead and the Scabs broke into a run down the hill at them–brandishing their flame-shaped swords.
Rather than run, Brantley assumed a fighting stance. “Don’t show them your back, Mr. Diaz, show them your fists!”
Marco looked from Brantley to the Scabs. “… Right.”
The first Scab reached Brantley and jumped to swing its sword down at him. The slash missed wide, and Brantley snap-kicked the Scab in the chest and head, sending it flailing. He weaved around a stab from a second Scab and used the momentum to back fist it in the side of the head, before punching it in the dead-center of its face with his other hand as he let out a powerful kiai, snapping its head back.
Marco danced on his feet, backing up from the wild slashes of two Scabs, before he retaliated with a jumping crescent kick that spun them around onto the faces into the grass. A third leaped to fall upon him from above with a stab, and Marco rolled from under it and swept the Scab off its feet when it landed.
Another Scab jumped at Brantley to tackle him, and ate two punches to its torso then an uppercut that made it crumple to the ground. “Haaa!”
He performed a chop to stop the swing of another Scab, grabbed it by the arm and neck and threw it hard to the ground onto the one Marco swept.
He ducked, and Marco soared over him to drill a flying kick into the face of another Scab. Rebounding off it, he stood back to back with Brantley and the two circled in place to face the Scabs surrounding them.
“So these are like the Scabs in the comic?” Brantley asked. “You destroy ‘em with head shots, right?”
“Yeah, I haven’t been able to do that yet,” Marco said.
Brantley looked over to the side and glared at Typhus as he reached the bottom of the hill and walked over to the Snake’s body. Marco looked over with him and clicked his teeth.
“Yo, Snake Head. Stop playing dead, baby.”
The injured Snake stopped thrashing, and rose up, a large glowing slit appeared down the middle of its belly. In a spray of its ichor, its humanoid body emerged and stood, hoisting aloft the snake across where its head and shoulders should be.
“IT’S SNAKE HEAD! FROM THE LATEST ISSUE!” Jeremy shouted.
“Hey, nothin’ for the big man, Bio Lord Typhus?” Typhus asked Jeremy.
“I like Noxic better!” Jeremy called back.
Typhus shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, he is pretty cool.”
He then gestured to two Scabs. “By the way, grab the kid, too.”
The Scabs leaped over to Jeremy, who recoiled and assumed a fighting stance. “Ha! If you think that loser was tough, I’m a black belt!”
“Jeremy! You’re eight!” Marco yelled.
Brantley called over. “Run away, you toolbag!”
Rather than listen, Jeremy unleashed a karate chop. “HEEYAH!”
The Scab grabbed him by his arm and hoisted him in the air. Surprised at first, Jeremy began to thrash and scream, kicking in vain at the Scab, which was smart enough to hold him at arm’s length. “Hey, let me go! Let me go!”
“Ssss… prey captured…” Snake Head said with pride. “Plus more.”
“Great, hostages!” Typhus said as the two Scabs dragged Jeremy over to his side and pointed their blades at his throat. Seeing the gleaming edges of the weapons, Jeremy squeaked and went still. Both Marco and Brantley lowered their guards with grimaces.
Typhus chuckled and walked over to the circle of Scabs. “All right, time for the real hunt to begin. Grab up your phone and call the Butterfly and the Beetles to come over and save the day.”
Marco glared at Typhus. “I won’t.”
Typhus broke through the circle and grabbed Brantley by his gi, hoisting him off the ground. “Do it, or I start taking chunks off your battle bro here, baby.”
“Sensei!” Marco blurted out.
Brantley stared Typhus in his eyes and called out to Marco. “No matter what he does to me, Mr. Diaz, don’t give him what he wants.”
Tightening his grip on Brantley’s gi, Typhus chuckled and drew his red arm back, its muscles bulging causing its spikes to lengthen and sharpen. “Pretty brave of ya, but it’s gonna hurt.”
Brantley smirked. “Do your worst.”
Just as Typhus accepted his challenge, an Input Magnum bolt struck him in the side of the head and he dropped Brantley. More bolts shot across the park, perforating the heads of the Scabs surrounding Marco and standing over Jeremy. Even more bolts pounded into Snake Head, knocking him backward and to the ground.
Jeremy sat up as the Scabs disintegrated around him, and he gawked in silence at the very sight of the Big Bad Beetleborgs themselves standing on the preferred end of the avalanche of fire they unleashed onto the Magnavores–their armor gleaming in the morning sun.
Marco sighed in relief and helped Brantley up as Stingerborg, Strikerborg, and Hunterborg lowered their weapons.
Brantley looked at them and nearly broke into tears of joy. “Dude. This is like the most nerdgasmic day of my life.”
Typhus got up, and faced the Beetleborgs. “Just the bugs I wanted to squash, baby!”
Stingerborg nodded to Strikerborg. “Get ‘em.”
“I’mma get ‘em!” Strikerborg shouted as she charged Typhus, who met her charge in kind, the red spreading across his body as he bulked up and out.
“PAYBACK TIME, BABY!” Typhus roared, swinging his punch.
Their fists met, and the shockwave blew Jeremy, Marco and Brantley away from the battlefield, sending them tumbling across the grass. The force of the impact sent both Stingerborg and Hunterborg stumbling back, but they managed to stay on their feet.
Typhus and Strikerborg both landed on the edges of ground zero. The more experienced former was the first to recover and lunge at the Beetleborg, swinging his sword across her chestplate in a downward slash, then swung straight across, sparks flying from her armor with each hit.
Stingerborg came in fast, shooting Typhus repeatedly with the Input Magnum. After taking several shots, Typhus swung his sword to deflect two more bolts then fired back, Stingerborg rolling out of the way of the fire. Getting back up to a knee, he fired several more shots, hitting Typhus in the side and the shoulder.
“Grr…!” Typhus shrugged off the bolts, but Strikerborg’s rising uppercut was a tougher no-sell, lifting him into the air like a rocket.
As Typhus sailed in a ballistic arc towards the park’s lake, Marco and Brantley both got up. Jeremy was a little slower to get up, groaning as he rubbed his head.
“So, you’re friends with the Big Bad Beetleborgs–who are real,” Brantley said.
Marco looked at Brantley. “They’re not my friends, we just happen to share common interests.”
“What, fighting the freakin’ Magnavores?” Brantley asked. “With the karate I taught you? Marco, do you have any idea how cool that is? I’m freaking out right now!”
Hunterborg opened fire on Snake Head, the monster taking several shots, and staggering back. Raising its head, it fired a burst of beams from its eyes that danced off Roland’s armor without doing too much damage but causing him to stagger. With the opening Snake Head vanished from where he stood and appeared in front of Hunterborg, lashing at him with the snake’s tail.
“Gah!” Roland grunted before the snake’s head came up and fired its beams point blank, knocking him down.
Stingerborg and Strikerborg aimed their Input Magnums and fired, and Snake Head vanished–appearing behind the latter to kick her in the head while he used the snake to fire beams at the former. Both Beetleborgs went spilling to the ground, but Strikerborg turned over and fired at Snake Head, the monster fading away from sight as the beams went through it.
“It’s fast!” She shouted before she was grabbed around the neck by the snake tail and swung into her brother. “Oof!”
Marco took off towards the fight. “Sensei, stay with Jeremy!”
Brantley was about to shout affirmative, when he stopped. “… I’m your Sensei again?”
Waving Strikerborg around with its tail, Snake Head fired its beams at her fellow Beetleborgs, forcing them both to roll out of the way. In a full sprint, Marco jumped, twisted himself through the air, and came down with a diving kick that caught Snake Head between its shoulder blades. The blow sent the monster crashing into the ground, and Strikerborg was able to free herself.
“You bastard!” She growled, firing her Input Magnum at the prone monster together with Hunterborg and Stingerborg.
The much faster monster vanished, and the beam shots only kicked up dirt and grass.
“Above you! Move back!” Brantley shouted.
Marco jumped backward, the Beetleborgs following his lead to avoid the shower of beams that Snake Head fired as it fell onto them.
Hunterborg raised his Input Magnum and hit some keys. “Don’t let him hit the ground! 9-6-7! Anti-Gravity Magnum!”
He opened fire, the solid beam striking Snake Head. The beam’s effect did not damage, but rather than continue falling, the monster levitated above the ground, and began to struggle.
“… Ssss?! What is this?!” Snake Head yelled as he tried to get some kind of purchase.
“Stingerborg!” Jo shouted as a plan came to her. “Use me as a springboard!”
Drew summoned the Stinger blade. “Got it!”
Running at his red counterpart, Stingerborg jumped and landed on her back as she doubled over. Standing upright, she shot her brother towards Snake Head as the Stinger Blade spun up and wrapped itself in power.
“Beetle… Break!” Stingerborg yelled while slashing through Snake Head’s snake and bisecting it.
The force of the impact sent the monster floating higher into the air before the Anti-Gravity effect wore off and it crashed to the ground.
Stingerborg landed next to Strikerborg and turned to her. “Good teamwork.”
As Hunterborg joined them, he turned to him. “And good idea with the Anti-Gravity.”
“Yeah, shit ain’t done though,” the green Beetleborg warned.
Marco joined them. “It’s not?”
Hunterborg shook his head and turned towards Snake Head’s snake… which now lay on the ground in two pieces. “That was Heavyznake, half of Snake Head’s body.”
Strikerborg looked towards Snake Head’s body. “The other half is…”
Snake Head got up, revealing that underneath the snake it wore on its shoulders was another, more tightly curled red viper, its head resting comfortably between the coils draped on its shoulders. Snake Head’s tongue flicked out, as its eyes shone a glowing crimson.
“What a glorious hunt… ssss…” Snake Head said as Typhus appeared again at the top of the hill.
“Snake Head! The cavalry is here, baby!” He shouted.
When Marco and the Beetleborgs looked up towards the Magnavore, they stopped when another crested the hill to join him, gliding effortlessly across the ground to reach his side.
Drew, Roland, and Marco all tensed up in silence, while Jo said exactly what they were thinking.
“… Oh fuck.”
Vexor stood calmly beside Typhus, looking down at the scene and taking count of the belligerents.
“The Butterfly isn’t here,” he murmured.
“I tried to get ‘im to call her… but he didn’t wanna cooperate,” Typhus explained.
Vexor hummed. “It will have to do.”
He held forth his right hand and opened it, revealing a blue gem set into the center of his palm. “Open forth, Gaohm Zone!”
“What?” Hunterborg asked before there was a flash of light and suddenly, he, Drew, Jo, and Marco felt the ground fall away from beneath them, and they were hurtling through a swirling tunnel of colors and lights.
“A dimensional tunnel?!” Marco yelled as they plummeted.
“This is bad!” Drew shouted before Roland vanished from his sight. “Roland!”
He disappeared next, leaving Marco and Jo. Marco reached for her. “We gotta stay together-!”
Jo vanished.
“Crap!”
There was another flash of light, and Marco landed hard–falling into the middle of… the Hill-Trank Plaza dojo. Standing up on the cushioned mat, Marco looked around in confusion. It wasn’t just the dojo, across the back walls were shelves of VHS tapes, and even the cash register from the VHS Depot.
He turned around in place. “… Okay…?”
He heard a low hiss, and turned around again, on his guard. “Is that you, Snake Head?”
Heavy, building shaking footsteps filled the room, and Marco turned around. He didn’t find Snake Head. Instead, a man with the hulking figure of the VHS Depot Manager and wearing Brantley’s gi loomed over him with his arms crossed. Looking higher, Marco took a step back as he saw the giant of a man had Jeremy’s head.
“Hey Marco…” Jeremy said with a chuckle. “… Let’s settle this once and for all.”