Episode #22: It Was A Feint?! The Terrifying Rage of Omicron!

Finnaly, Alicia was treating an injured Zymon, while Tai Ma stood next to them with his arms crossed over his chest. Zymon's shirt and cloak we're both removed, and Alicia used the water like aura soaked into his back and healed him.

"You weren't very careful..." Alicia said. "You even wasted most of your energy, and from what I heard this Omicron wasn't that injured even by the end of the fight."

Zymon just looked at the ground, eyelids almost closed.

"Theirs more to a fight than just firing off all your energy. Flashy is cool, but not always the best." Tai Ma agreed.

"Yeah..." Zymon replied sadly. Tai Ma and Alicia noticed his tone, and Alicia quickly finished.

"Alright..nothing to bad. I'm gonna go heal my husband now...right after I hit him for getting injured." Alicia said, walking away. It was just master and student now, Zymon with his back to his Saiyan master.

"What a mom..." Tai Ma joked. Zymon continued to look to the ground, sad.

"Yeah..." Zymon agreed, an image of his own mother flashed in his mind. Tai Ma scratched the back of his head, than sighed.

"So, we're gonna have to work on that fighting style of yours...." Tai Ma said.

"Yeah..." Zymon droned. He suddenly felt Tai Mas head on his head. Zymon's eyes grew wide. He turned, and for a split second he thought he saw his father. But no, it was Tai Ma looking back at him. The veterans face was saddened as well.

"And you can't leave again until you do..." Tai Ma said, sadness in his voice. Zymon turned, and bent his head down. His face was the same as before, but his half closed eyes gleamed fiercely. He balled his hands into fists, and agreed.

"Right." the distorter replied. Suddenly, Terra's "OWWW!" was audible. Bolt also screeched in surprise. Tai Ma began to laugh, and Zymon smiled.

Boosts:
+20% for the Antarctic battle
+25% for the Yellowstone battle

+25% for Tai Ma, Alicia, and Eddy (Lambda)
+28% for Corey, Zymon, and Charger (Omicron part I)
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The heroes continued on with their banter, while very high up in the sky, an unmanned drone soared above the clouds. The drone then released a canister straight down towards the group, the grey, metallic tube fell until it hit Ed square in the cranium, making a sound similar to a giant gong. The Saiyan comically fell backward onto the ground before announcing that he was ok. Eddy picked up the still intact canister and shook it, trying to open it with no success. However, the metal coccoon reacted once Bolt had sent a signal to it. By reacting, the shell began to heat up very fast, fast enough for Eddy to yell in pain and throw it several yards away where it simply melted from its own heat.

"We are to return home immediately," Bolt spoke up, climbing onto Jasper's back. When no one budged, the robot mentioned that "was an order straight from the President himself". The majority of the veterans took off back towards Peach Creek right away. The rest, despite their wounds, following shortly after.

As the gang flew back to peach creek Streak could not shake the feeling that something was missing so he began to look among the others. It took him a while to look at everyone before he finally figured out what he was looking for.

“Wait, wasn’t Charger coming back with us?” Streak asked which made the others look around.

“Maybe he decided not to join us” Drew said with clear signs of happiness in his voice.

“There he is!” yelled Savannah pointing down to what looked like a giant dust cloud. A closer look showed it was Charger running behind them.

“Oh great, he can’t even fly…” Drew said in an annoyed voice. Savannah flew downwards towards Charger and a few seconds came back holding him in her arms. Charger had a look at annoyance in his face from being picked up.

“You never learned to fly?” Streak asked.

“Never bothered to…I can’t use my elemental powers in the air” Charger responded as he finally gave up on trying getting free from Savannah.

“Perfect…” Drew said still annoyed, the gang continued to fly for Peach Creek with not much said between them.

Closing the distance between Yellowstone and Peach Creek in a bout half an hour, the heroes stopped above the city. The sun was setting, and the heroes we're all tired.

"Next time, we have got to remember Senzu's..." Eddy complained.

"Noted. Well, we all need our rest. We can discuss what we do next in the morn-" Drew began, before being cut off.

"Is that!?" Alysha said loudly, pointing down to the streets below. Laying there dead, was a "Echo Tango". A small puddle of blood was gathered around its head. The group immediatly noticed another, and another. All dead. One was laying on its back from a lamppost. None of them appeared horribly decimated.

"It's a trail..." Tai Ma said in shock.

"And its leads to..." Terra began.

"My House...!" Corey said. Indeed, the bodies did seem to form a trail down the street to Corey and Streaks apartment building. Bodies lined the roof here as well. But what got their attention, was the large whole in the side of the building.

Right where Corey and Streaks home was...

The gang rushed down, and landed inside of the dwelling. What sat their waiting for them gave everyone a shock, even Kaia.

"It's..you..." Jasper stuttered, stepping forward.

The room lacked any light-source, only what shined in from the outside. Half cloaked in shadows he sat in a comfortable looking armchair, which seemed off given the circumstances. The android sat with one leg crossed over the other, and his elbow on the arm of the chair to prop his hand up to his chin.

With his glowing orange eyes Project Odysseus looked to each the NESF team. A faint smile slowly spread across his face. Next to him Mr. Noodle was frozen up to his shoulders, his face turning blue.

Project Odysseus, otherwise known as Otis, pointed to Mr. Noodle casually. "I have been trying speak to our friend here about how there seems to be some... extra-ordinary occurances, but it seems that he just keeps giving me the cold shoulder." The Android's near monotonous speech destroyed any sense of humor from the pun. The warriors stood alert, even though they were bruised up, they could still fight Otis if they had to.

"You think we are scared of you, tin can? We know you are behind all this! I don't know where you found the aliens, but it explains why the rest were Androids." Eddy pointed at Otis with an accusatory tone.

"It couldn't be him, why would those aliens be here then, and more importantly, why would they be dead? Jasper was especially upset about the other Androids arrival, but knew something didn't add up.

"That is because whoever wants you dead also wants me out of the way, and that is not an acceptable outcome. Perhaps your friend could explain the situation." The ice encasing Mr. Noodle's body quickly thawed into water, drenching the agent who only so briefly rubbed his hands together for warmth.

It was standard procedure to have biten the cyanide pill hidden in his glasses by now, but Mr. Noodle knew how fast the Android beside him could react. He would have to talk to his superiors after this, but the agent began to speak with a slight amount of stuttering from the cold in his voice. "It is true, the capsule you received was one of distress, a small platoon of Echo Tangoes, which I presumed you have seen already, landed not far from here. I presume that they were patrolling the area, and somehow spotted me, most likely due to a security leak. Before the Echo Tangoes could make mincemeat of me, Utonium's pet project appeared from nowhere and fought them off. From what I can assume, the Android knew of my connection with you and held me hostage since then as leverage for a proposition. "

"Wouldn't want to leave a bad impression by killing our friend now would we?" Otis added, still scarce of actual emotion despite his words. In more ways than one, Otis was different than when they last met. This left the heroes, especially Jasper, weary of the events at hand. In the latter's case, the Android was starting to become more and more... hostile to Otis, out the outside Jasper remained relatively calm but attentive, while on the inside he wanted to finish off Otis like he should have before.

The inside was winning.

Otis got up from the chair he was sitting on and took a step at the others who were still on their guard in case anything was to happen. Jasper took a step forward as well so he would be in the front of the group and face to face with Otis. There was a small moment of silence as the others stared and wondered if Jasper was going to be able to keep his cool so to speak.

Otis looked over for a moment and saw Bolt hiding in the back of the group with the twins and a small smirk appeared on his face.

“I see, so you were replaced already?” Otis said with a slight mocking tone. It was not much but in Jasper's current state of rage it was enough of a spark to ignite the flame inside him. This was not figurative as fire started to form all over his body. There was a quick flash of light and suddenly both android were outside and in battle.

Android Zero began with a flurry of punches of kicks, growing more and more reckless with each strike. However, Otis did not retaliate, and merely evaded nearly every attack. "Now this isn't a very warm welcome," The Android announced,

"You weren't invited!" Jasper scissor-kicked his foe, his carelessness rendered him open to an easy counter by Otis, yet the Android did not take it. "I don't know why you are here, but I know where you are going, the junkyard!"

"You'll just have fighter less willing to stand against the alien menace then." Otis recovered from the attack, and retreated several yards away. "Whoever made these hostile Androids also wants me out of the picture. They are not creations of..." The Android paused for a short moment. "...Master."

Jasper was still fuming, but simmered down just enough to listen. The Android also began to take notice of Otis' new appareal: a black vest with no shirt underneath, chrimson pants and dark blue shoes. "What do you mean they want you dead too?"

"It means just that, the Androids and their alien slaves are out to get all of us. In response to a pursuit of me to a small town, I headed off to destroy an outpost near Mount Everest. Luckily someone had beaten me there and killed all the aliens guarding it, then destroyed the complex beforehand. Wouldn't have wanted to get into such an unknown myself, but I digress. It is only probable that we have only fought the exploratory part of the enemy, and that much more powerful foes awaits. It is better to have the chance to win as comrades than to die as enemies against this threat."

"And just how could we possibly trust you after what you have done?"

"I'm not asking for your trust, I am asking to help. We can finish our fight another time, Android Zero, but for now there are more pressing matters to attend to."

Jasper and Otis stood there for a while without saying a word, there was still a small aura of fire around Jasper’s body but he had calmed down. He was faced with a difficult choice and did not know which the worse choice was. During their last battle Jasper and Otis had proven to surpass the others when using their Overdrive core to its max capacity which will come in handy if needed. But on the other hand Otis had blood on his hands from what he has done while under Utoniums command.

The others arrived soon after to see Jasper had calmed down and his flame aura had finally gone away but they wondered what had caused him to stop his attack.

“I once again give my offer; shall we join forces under a common enemy?” Otis asked. Jasper let out a sigh and turned around walking away from Otis and passed the other.

“Jasper…?” Bolt started as he wondered what his was going on with his friend.

“You make your choice; I’ll go along with it as long as I have to…” Jasper said as he flew off for reasons the others could only guess.

As Jasper left, he took one last look to the others. The look on their faces made things seem less about him. This wasn't an easy decision for anyone. Except Charger, who had no real idea what the hell was going on...

Without saying another word, Otis slowly landed down into the apartment. He was immediatly approached by an annoyed Drew.

"Don't get the wrong idea...if you try anything..." the Saiyan said.

"You wouldn't be able to stop me..." Otis replied with a straight face. The Saiyan's anger rose in response to this, but soon diminished. It was just the Android proving that this alliance was for the benefit of protection, not friendship. Drew outstretched his hand, and the android took it.

"We'll have to keep a close eye on you than." Drew said, and they shook hands. At this point, Makuta was the only to notice Noodle sneak off.

The sun was almost completely set now, marking the dawn of this new alliance with a certain dramatic effect.

The younger Saiyan and hedgehog looked to the hole in the wall and sighed.

"Okay, who wants to help us fix this?" Corey asked. "Anyone?"

"I'll fix it for you. It's the least I can do for how you helped me back there. This will take a while though and unfortunately this won't be a quiet job so you may want to spend the night with someone else." Said Charger.

"Thanks, I appreciate that. Well Streak it looks like we're crashing at Drew's." Replied Corey. Corey looked at Drew, who gave him a menacing glare upon hearing the invitation for Streak to sleep over. "On second thought maybe you should go to Terra and Alicia's house."

Streak simply nodded in agreement. Rolf approached Charger and spoke.

"Allow the Son of a Shepherd to assist you Animal of Earth for Rolf possesses a variety of tools and has talented skills as a carpenter."

"Sure. And by the way my name is Charger."

"Is this a test?!"

The sun finally set and the rest of the NESF set out to their respective homes to rest. Corey and Streak had already left, leaving Rolf and Charger alone in the apartment. The two were observing the damage dealt to the wall. They were seeing what they would need specifically in order to fix it nicely.

"Do you have any wooden beams and some concrete at your house Rolf?"

"Yes. Rolf will return shortly with the tools and supplies."

Charger nodded and Rolf flew out the whole and to his house. After a few seconds of flying he landed in his backyard. Night was settling in and the animals were quiet. Rolf could see the light on in his house and he could also see the shadowy figures that were his parents. He smiled but suddenly he was interrupted by a voice that called him.

"Rolf!"

Rolf looked behind him and saw nothing. He looked around and still he saw nothing. Normally he wouldn't bother with a voice calling him in a situation like this but this voice was different. The feeling Rolf felt from the voice was very similar to how Other World felt. From what he was sensing, it was a spirit that was calling to him. Rolf’s family both feared and honored the spirits but Rolf wasn't sure if this spirit was a good one or an evil one. His Great Nano nor his father showed him how to sense the evil within spirits.

“Follow my voice Rolf.”

Rolf looked to the left to see his Shed door open. Rolf gulped before walking towards his shed and poking his head through the door. What he saw didn’t surprise him. The interior of the shed was basically the same as the last time he was here. His father probably rearranged several things during his absence.

“Rolf! You know where I am.”

Rolf had a feeling of what this voice was talking about. He exited the shed and walked around the shed’s perimeter and finally stopping when he saw the water faucet on the shed’s side. He turned the knob and immediately a trap door opened and Rolf fell into a dark chasm. Rolf used his ability to fly to slow his fall before touching down lightly on the ground. Rolf grabbed a torch that was burning on the wall and proceeded to enter through a door that led to the Secret Chamber of Shepherd Elders. This chamber was built by Rolf’s father under his Great Nano’s supervision. The chamber was used by the family as a safe haven, a court room to enact judgment, and a quiet room to meditate and clear one’s mind. It also served as an area for animals to roam freely when supervised. Rolf entered the main chamber that was seen during the episode “No Speak Da Ed”. The elevated throne at the end of the room had two large raging fires burning with a banner with the Rolf’s family crest on it. Symbols of sheep could also be spotted along the walls. Rolf approached the elevated throne and looked to and fro for the voice.

“I am here Rolf.”

Rolf looked to see an indistinguishable face in the midst of the fire burning on the right side of the throne. The Son of a Shepherd felt fear coursing through his veins.

“What business do you have with the Son of a Shepherd, oh spirit?”

“I have come here for your help Rolf.”

“What assistance may Rolf provide you with? And how do you know Rolf’s name?”

“I saw you at the check in station back in Other World, and I had to let you know about what you’re up against before you fight it.”

Rolf remained silent and allowed the voice to continue speaking.

“We don’t have much time so I’ll be quick. Tomorrow will be a very important day. You and your friends will be up against a very dangerous enemy. In fact this new threat will hurt one of your friends, badly. He will endure the most intense physical punishment that you have ever seen and sadly there will be nothing that can be done to save him from this. You're probably wondering why it's you who I'm talking with and the answer is because you're the only one aside from you father and grandfather that can see me. Be sure to survive tomorrow and return home. Do what must be done from one good neighbor to another.”

Rolf nodded his head in agreement. This spirit was a wise one. Rolf would pay special heed to this spirits message. “Rolf shall heed your warning spirit of the departed!”

“Thank you Rolf. Now go! You are needed with your friends now. I will be here for when you need to seek my advice.”

Rolf nodded before flying out the door and back up the chasm to the surface. He reentered his shed and quickly grabbed his toolbox along with several wooden beams and several cans of paint and lastly a cement mixer that was spinning fresh cement. He flew back to Corey's apartment all the while thinking of what he was just told. He landed in the apartment to see Charger reading a magazine that was on the living room table. He lloked up from the article he was reading and spoke.

"What took you so long?"

"Rolf is sorry. The Son of a Shepherd was preoccupied in other matters. Let us now get to work."

Charger nodded. Charger went to work with the wooden beams. Using a hammer and some nails, repaired the damaged support beams in the wall. Rolf, meanwhile, was readying the cement. Once Charger was finished with repairing the wooden beams he set out to fix the wires that were disconnected. Rolf paused from his cement mixing to help Charger reconnect the wires and soon enough the electricity was back on. The two looked at each other before shaking hands on a job well done. An hour passed as the two were sealing the wall back up with the cement and the job was nearing completion. Once the cement was dry they quickly painted over it and the wall looked as good as new. Thanks to their above normal human speed they were able to do a job that would have taken a day or two in only three and a half hours.

"We're finally done." Said Charger.

"Yes indeed. Do you have any place to wash and fill your empty belly?"

Charger stared in a bit of confusion but he was quick to understand what Rolf was saying.

"No I don't. I'm not gonna sleep here if that's what you're asking. That paint will take a while to dry and wet paint drying doesn't exactly smell too good. Ill sleep outside."

"Nonsense! You will come and have dinner with Rolf and his family. Rolf also has much space for a visitor."

"Sure."

The two made their way out of Corey's apartment and to Rolf's house. They walked there, obviously in no hurry. They arrived and Rolf led Charger inside and introduced him to his family. Rolf's family treated him no differently then anyone else, something that Charger appreciated in contrast to Drew. He didn't understand why Drew was so hostile towards Anthros. After dinner Rolf excused himself from the table, leaving Charger to talk with Rolf's grandfather and father who both took a liking to Charger. Rolf went to his shed and used his super speed to clean the shed spotless. Next he set up a hammock in a comfortable corner, away from all the tools and animal feed bags. Rolf quickly went back inside to see Charger watching the Arduous Field Worker Pageant with Rolf's family. Charger didn't understand what he was watching but he went with the flow of things.

"Animal of strength, follow Rolf."

Charger nodded and followed Rolf outside. Rolf led him to the shed.

"You have the use of Rolf's shed as shelter for as long as you may like."

Charger quickly noticed the hammock but he then turned his attention to the tools and supplies arranged throughout the shed. Charger shrugged and turned to Rolf.

"It isn't a five star hotel but it'll do. It's not the worst thing I've ever slept in I can tell you that."

Rolf nodded and bade his friend goodnight before returning inside to tend to his nightly chores. Charger made himself comfortable in the hammock and went to sleep.

The long day was finnaly at its end, and all had fallen asleep (all that slept anyway), except one.

At the groups training site Kale lay leaning against a rock, both hands behind his back. The hilt of his sheathed blade rest on his torso, the rest of the sheath on the ground. The blind Saiyan was asleep, no extra clothing on to help with the cold night whatsoever. A few yards away sat his master, still awake.

Makuta was partially blanketed in the moving shadow of the trees above him. He was in his standard meditative stance, but his mind was anything but clear. He had to much to think about. To much he felt he had to know.

"Who is the one behind all of this...think...Otis said that that it was not Utonium, and the aliens being present solidifies that fact. The tower at Antarctica, was apparently only a distraction for us to go after. Omicron stopped attacking when Yellowstone became unstable...and finnaly their is the Echo Tangos here at Peach Creek...as if the one behind this at least half expected his own men to fail..."

Makuta brought his head back, closing his eyes. He took a break, keeping his chin up. He stayed in this position as he thought.

"With this, I can conclude a few things. They are someone who has the ability to create androids...or a connection with someone who can. Someone who also has these Echo Tangos at their command, who go as far as to call him master. But than theirs the fact that this individual has to know of us to know to have taken so many precautions..."

Makuta exhaled, and brought his chin down. He looked at the ground, eyes half closed. is fingers dug into his knees.

"But more than that...what is this sense of unease I feel..."

-------------------
Otis walked through the forest of Peach Creek, eventually leaving it to find the cul de sac kids swimming hole. Going over to the cliff above said body of water, Otis sat down. Leaning against the cliff with his knees up, the android simply sat.

The moonlight soon became obscured by some passing clouds, leaving only Project Odysseus's glowing eyes visible...