Terminus Part I: The Journey There (Draft)

Chapter 25: The Million

"Smart thinking building that elevator," said Amperes.

"And good job jump-starting the generator," said Halberd.

Patricia arrived on the roof of the clock tower and marvelled at the sight of the island. That marvel turned to shock as she saw the thousands of aliens still walking around.

"You really have to wonder whether we're even making a dent in this invasion," she said to herself.

Aboard the mothership, Two-Seven reported that only twenty-seven thousand of their troops remained.

"Damn this whole thing!" Phenos said in frustration. "You know, I might just have to go down there and deal with them myself."

Aboard the Psychic, Chonk's cell door was detached and deformed on the floor. From inside the cell, tendrils emerged and lifted the door, proceeding to fold it into a ball.

"I told them that they couldn't hold me," said Chonk.

Chonk decided that despite his thirst for revenge, he would not wreck their ship. He thought it would be more worth his time to go out and see what all the noise outside was about.

Crock was still going strong, having taken out at least ten thousand troops by himself. As he went, he thought to himself, It would seem I'm a bit out of practice. Struggling with twenty-eight strength? That's not what got you through the Terminus. Thirty-five strength used to be your easy minimum.

Milangelo fought bravely as well, using various hooks as the enemies came to him. However, he had chosen an unfortunate position that presented little challenge. During a brief period where he had no enemies to fight, he heard Patricia call him from the top of the clock tower.

"You should really find somewhere with more aliens to fight!" she said to him. She then suggested that he go left, and fight a section of troops that faced no current opposition.

Milangelo obliged and soon discovered that there were indeed a lot of aliens on this part of the island. He remembered what both James and Crock had been able to achieve during the fight, and thought that trying it himself was worth a shot.

He started with a base of three-strength, and multiplied it by two to achieve six-strength. He noted in his head that he would need to get stronger if the multipliers were to mean anything.

He delivered a swift array of punches and kicks, all in the style of those who had taught him self-defence during his years as a reclusive millionaire.

Brandon saw that despite the effectiveness of his stares, the approaching aliens did not think twice about coming towards him. About a thousand or so even had the idea of not looking Brandon in the eye, which got them closer than most. Brandon was also strong, however, and activated six-strength, and then multiplied it by five, to achieve thirty-strength. He then used his warm-up technique: Monster Fist. This technique, although it only ever managed to disarm the Kraken for a few seconds, would be more than enough for the aliens approaching him.

He soon realised it would be a better use of his time to take the offensive. He began to pummel the approaching aliens, easily taking down thousands every minute. Having subdued all the aliens in his immediate vicinity, he started making his way around the island, eager to get this over with.

A few thousand years can make you forget that it's been a few thousand years, he thought. I'm a lot stronger than I was before. I don't need to fear an invasion.

Persimmon fought against the alien fighters, using various techniques he had learned during his flavour fighting course. He recalled the words of his teacher: Like food, each and every martial art has its own flavour. A chef's primary concern when creating food is to blend the flavours to give the diner an experience like no other. It should therefore come as no surprise that doing likewise for martial arts is very important. This, more than anything else you have learned in my course, is the essence of flavour fighting.