"WE'RE GONNA CRAAAAAAAASH" Orb cried out in horror "BRACE YOURSELVES FOR IMPACT!"
Hub immediately sprung into action, engulfing his team and latching on to every part of the ship to shield them from the crash. Fortunately, the forest's tree were tall enough to act as bumpers to slow the ship's speed down so the eventual impact with the ground didn't completely destroy it.
Dweller emerged out of the wreckage carrying his team on his shoulders, with Orb crying digital tears over his wrecked ship
Orb: "Let me go, let me go! I'll stay and here and fix it, you guys go ahead and look for our target!"
Hub: "As you wish. Can you guys remind me what we're looking for again?"
Elika: "It says here that the first half of Medley's location is a line of code engraved on a stone pillar somewhere in this forest."
Foonish: "Which by the way, I don't understand how it's called a forest but looks exactly like a jungle. Who named this place?"
Elika: "King Shark."
Orb: "That figures."
The three agents advanced forward with Elika at the lead, considering she has the map for the place downloaded on her MEE6, when they suddenly heard a rattle from behind the bushes. Foonish jumped up on fear and his behind Pika, while Hub brought out his revolver. What out of there however was a small lizard, prompting the three to let out a sigh of relief.
"Is that them?" said a woman's voice, in a place separate from our team's "Yesss honey, but it ssseems that there are three of them and not jussst two." followed the voice of a slithery man. These two figures were the two pets sent out by Medley to deal with our heroes, standing far away from them where they can't be seen. "Use your snake eyes ability to try and pinpoint their location so I can get the jump on them." "You? Cccynder dear, I wouldn't want you to get hurt, I'll help y-" and before he could finish his sentence, he felt Cinder claws poking his neck.
Cynder: "Don't let me repeat myself again, Xeno. I said I'm doing this alone, that means I don't need your help, got that?"
Xeno: "Y-Yesss ma'am." he said, drooling.
The duo looked like they were out of an episode of TMNT. Xeno had a serpent's tail for legs, his face was a mix of reptilian and human, and his outdated fashion sense made it even worse. He was wears jeans all over, his jacket had torn sleeves and a choker with a chain attached to it. He also had a tattoo saying "Cynder's slave" on his arm.
His wife didn't look that much better either. She had the head of some cat-like animal, between a panther and a leopard, and wore black armor with golden outlines, sporting a jean jacket matching her husband's. She also had some sort of weird machine on her hips, and was literally yanking on Xeno's chain.
Upon venturing further into the "forest", Foonish started noticing that the trees and animals all looked off. Like they all had a blocky texture to them, as if they were Legos, but were completely organic. This was due to experiments performed on this jungle a long time ago by the Kick faction. Their elite scientists have developed a chemical that could supposedly harden anything to the point where gunshots would hardly be effective on it. This would certainly have been a perfect recipe for an invincible army, one that could one-up Shark's at the time. Unfortunately, this didn't work as all the chemical did was turns anything it was used on to a blockier form, making it a lot more durable but at a cost. Any creature with enough intellect would slowly become deranged, feasting on the flesh of its own kin. Animals and plant life would however be unaffected. What was worse was that it spread like a virus, by saliva, blood, even consuming fruit from infected trees. And when Shark discovered this, he took over the forest and its entire planet as his own territory with the help of Angelite, only to then abandon it completely when he couldn't control this newfound power, leaving anyone in there behind. Fortunately, Pika read about all of this beforehand so she warned Foon not to consume anything from the forest.
Meanwhile Orb was working on Monkey Egg, swearing up a storm and insulting WaterGuy's mother when he heard something from inside the ship. When he went to check it out, it appeared as though the hologram projector was barely transmitting a message from FM. After kicking it hard enough, it started working again, with FM saying: "Attention agents, we just had word that an enemy airship is heading towards the forest at high speed, and by the pace it's going it might actually catch up to you. That vehicle belongs to some of the most notorious criminals out there, the Mudassassins." Orb was ready to call Elika on her MEE6 when he realized that his was busted from the crash. "In any case, be careful and don't show them mercy, because they won't show you any. They already plowed through 13 ships on their way to their destination, and they won't hesitate when it comes to hurting government officials...I..El-" the hologram started glitching again, before shutting off completely. Before Orb could turn around and go tell his team, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his side. Expecting he was stabbed from behind he turned around only to find nobody was there. For a split second he started doubting if this wound was also inflected upon him when they crashed, but that thought soon dissipated from his mind when his helmet-face suddenly cracked, with the crack increasingly growing as if someone was stabbing it repeatedly. Before it completely broke, Orb pushed away whatever was in front of him, thinking he was dealing with an invisible threat, and he was right since he felt something. Before this invisible man could run away, he noticed something stuck to his chest, they were a few of Orb's BLOONS which almost immediately made him start floating. Now stuck to the ship's roof, Orb could finally have a word with this guy, all while pointing a canon he got from the ship at him: "You must be one of those Mudassassins. Stupid name by the way. I thought you were supposed to be all strong and smart, so why the hell did you go for the more DURABLE part of my body when you could have just stabbed me in the chest or something genius?"
"Uh...I don't know really. I just usually go for the face. I didn't think it through. Also I'm Skele, nice to meet you." said the invisible man
Orb: "We're off to a fantastic start. Alright Skele, if you don't want to have a hole in your stomach you better tell me where you friends are."
Skele: "I uhh..I don't really know. I just turned this invisibility thingy on as soon as we landed and I ventured out on my own. I guess this is why they put a tracker on me. They say I'm stupid, is that true?"
Orb: "I don't see why- wait did you say a tracker?"
Skele: "Uh oh..maybe I wasn't supposed to say that yet."
Skele then threw a nitro-boosted dagger at the canon's mouth, rendering it useless. Before he could throw a second one, Orb activated his jetboots, dragging him across the roof and driving him out of the ship. While he was being carried by Orb outside, he took that opportunity to inflict a few more stab wounds on Orb's back, prompting Orb to let go of him where he continued floating, trying to grab on to any vines and tree branches he could find but it was too late, he was already leaving the atmosphere. Orb however didn't feel good about killing him, and despite FM's words he deactivated his BLOONS, sending Skele crashing back down, breaking his body on multiple tree branches and finally landing on top of the ship, unconscious. Now with his invisibility device broken, he was fully visible.
It seemed like the more the trio advanced through the forest, the thicker and tougher the plant life blocking their way got. It didn't help that the number of lizards and even snakes staring at them kept getting higher with each step, Hub even suspected that they were being followed by these creatures, which was actually the case. Cynder was jumping from tree to tree as silently as possible, tailing the team while being aided by Xeno contacting her using a communication device designed by Medley. Just as she was getting close, Hub sprouted out a few eyes in every direction to look for incoming threats. Upon seeing this through the reptile's eyes, Xeno yelled at his wife to stop before she gets caught, she however didn't listen as she was steadfast on getting to the agents. Right as she started getting in Hub's sight, he suddenly fell to the ground, clutching his chest.
"DUCK! I'VE BEEN SHOT!" he screamed, making the other two duck and stopping Cynder in her tracks.
"I shot him as you ordered me. Doesn't seem to have bled or anything, and now all three of them are out of sight" said a French woman in a latex suit holding a sniper miles away from the team of agents.
"Whoever that is seems to be tough. We'll focus on him. You did well, Red. Or, rather, Widowmaker did." said a voice from the woman's earpiece
Red: "She's one of my favorite Mudae cards, just under- wait...do we know where Skele went yet? Honestly, this is why he doesn't have his own Mudae technology."
"Frankly I haven't checked. That idiot's gonna be the death of us. I'll go look for him while you deal with these guys. If they cause a problem, Nyvlem and Riley are already on their way, so you'll all dispatch of them easily. Good luck."
Red: "Thanks, Syndalas. Good luck to you too, finding that moron."
Putting her eye back on the scope, Red Eclipse still couldn't find the three agents, as they were slowly crawling towards her, covered by foliage. Red quickly packed up her sniper rifle and jumped away from tree to tree to reach a safer spot to snipe from, fearing that she's been located by Hub.
Cynder, who was still hanging onto a tree tried hiding herself from the sniper all while quietly contacting her husband
Cynder: "Did you see that?! I didn't know that there were any third parties involved!...Whatever, I need you to find and neutralize the sniper."
Xeno: "Already on it. It's hard switching eyes from lizard to snake to alligator from multiple locations, you know. It takes time. Also, just to let you know, there seems to be two more guys coming your way. Be careful."
Cynder: "I'm always careful. Keep your radio on, I'll still need your help."
Elsewhere, Orb was still fixing Monkey Egg, with Skele tied to a nearby tree. He then tried contacting his team again, and was successful.
Orb: "Guys, I have bad news!"
Foonish: "Yeah, we're aware. " he whispered "We're kinda in the middle of being attacked right now. Who are we dealing with?"
Orb: "A group of killers called the Mudassassins. I already got one unconscious here, but you guys shouldn't hold back like I did. This one was kind of an idiot."
Elika: "Alright Orb, sir, be sure to get here as soon as possible. Our location should be trackable on your MEE6, please hurry!"
Orb: "I'm almost done fixing the ship so it can work again. Not well enough to fly us outta here, not that we were planning on leaving anytime soon. Just hold on till I get there."
He then got under the ship to fix it from there like a car mechanic before leaving, while the other were still slowly crawling.
Red Eclipse was still waiting for anyone to show themselves when suddenly she spotted a glimpse of Cynder's armor, which was shining behind the trees' big leaves. Readying her scope, she carefully aimed at where Cynder's head would be, her finger on the trigger, and was about to shoot...until she heard hissing from beside her. Red turned her head to find a huge blocky snake staring at her, and before she could get a chance to get away from it the snake lunged at her, biting her neck and leaving her screaming in pain. Luckily she was far away from everyone so nobody heard her wincing. After swiftly killing the snake with a dagger, Red tried everything to get its venom out of her body, however it took time. That was exactly the perfect chance Cynder was looking for.
Xeno: "Dear, I did what you asked. Now's your chance!"
Cynder didn't waste any time, jumping off the tree to land quietly in the tall grass. But not as quietly as she would have hoped, as the three agents heard a thud behind them. With all three of them on the ground, on edge. Hub pointed his revolver, Neverending Sorrow, behind him, ready to shoot, while Elika was charging up her electricity. Foonish on the other hand heard something. The sound of footsteps coming towards them. So he covered his teammates backs by pulling out his glock and pointing it ahead.
Out of the shadows appeared two more Mudassassins, weapons out, Riley and Nyvlem. Riley had what appeared to be Nitro blades on his wrists while Nyvlem had Nitro blades on his elbows, somehow complementing each other. While the two stepped forward, not seeing the trio of agents behind tall grass, some gears started turning in Foon's head, all while Cynder was slowly approaching her prey without making any noise or showing movement. Unlike Hub, whose tentacles made noise while wriggling prompting Nyvlem to cut in the direction the agents were in, only hitting Hub in the process and making the other agents stand up to dodge. Cynder stopped moving as to not alert anyone about her attack.
Seeing how they weren't shot on the spot, Elika seized this opportunity to fire her finger guns at the two assassins, sending them back with a shock.
Nyvlem : "Argh, what the hell is Eclipse doing?!"
Elika: "Something must've happened to the sniper. Foonish, take your shot!"
Foonish, pointed his gun at them but hesitated :"Wait...Riley?! Is that you?!"
Riley: "Foonish?"
Nyvlem: "You know each other? If so, cut the introductions short and kill him Riley!"
Riley: "What the hell brought you here Foon? I thought you were still at the old man's place taking notes on how to be a circus performer."
Foonish: "Things have changed now. I'm more surprised that you turned out to be an assassin."
Riley: "Crazy how we ended up meeting again in these circumstances...now if you excuse me, please surrender. We're here for a very valuable code and I don't wanna hurt you to get it."
Foonish: "I don't wanna hurt you either but... I'm not letting you have that."
As the two continued talking, Nyvlem seemed to be running out of patience, and all five of them were slowly being surrounded by a swarm of lizards, frogs, small snakes and even some turtles. Hub, who was on the ground noticed this, sensing that these animals were aggressive he sprouted tendrils from his body catching them before they could reach his teammates and bites them, while the two Mudassassins sliced the reptiles coming their way with ease. Xeno's coordinated attack to help his wife failed, but that didn't stop her from lunging at Hub anyway.
"First seal: Limbo. Your sneak attack was fruitless, little kitty." Cynder was furious, her plan of taking out the strongest asset in Hub has failed. Now the six of them are in a stand off.
"Come on, come on, almost there! How many loose screws are in this thing?!" Yelled Orb
"About as many as the stab wounds you're about to receive."
Orb couldn't get out from under the ship, he couldn't defend himself or attack the stranger. So he stayed still.
"My name is Syndalas. I'm that imbecile's superior." He said, pointing at Skele. "I believe that was a kind gesture, what you did. Keeping him alive. Too much for him, really. You would have done us all a favor if you let him die." Unbeknownst to him, Skele was no longer knocked out and could hear what he said.
Orb: "What are you here to do? Kill me?"
Syndalas: "That's exactly right. I was going to make it slow and painful like the rest, as I take pleasure in how much pain I bring to my victims. But as an act of respect to you and what you did, I'll make it quick. How does dropping your ship on you and dying by its weight sound to you?"
Orb: "Monkey Egg."
Syndalas: "What?"
Orb: "My ship's name, is Monkey Egg. And it can never hurt me. It only hurts my enemies."
Orb immediately pressed a button on his wrist, activating the ship. With the press of another button it started floating and turned around facing Syndalas who brought out his Nitro boosted greatsword, with all of its cannons pointing at him. Orb, now out of that tough spot was ready for a real fight.
Red, still bleeding, barely recovered from the bite glitching in and out of her Widowmaker form. Before her transformation completely wore off she clutched her sniper rifle and aimed it at Foonish and fired, hitting him in the chest. As Foonish fell down with his two teammates in disbelief, Cynder yelled out "Now, Xeno!" into her communication device. Suddenly they heard something coming at them at high speed, and before they could react an explosion suddenly irrupted near Hub, tearing him to shreds and knocking Elika out. The assassins were also sent back by the shockwave, while Cynder had a few minor wounds. This was Xeno, holding up his foul-shaped rocket launcher, who fired at them from far away.
Confused, Red couldn't see anyone behind the rising smoke, her transformation wearing off completely. Before Cynder could celebrate, an enraged Riley rushed out of the smoke to vent his frustrations out on her, sending a barrage of slashes her way while she parried them with her sharp claws.
While the two were fighting, Hub was slowly reforming, his clothes were torn to shreds so there was nothing to hide his monstrous appearance. Seeing this, Cynder used her tail to put Riley in a chokehold, yelling: "He's not down, another one!"
Xeno fired a second rocket, but this one didn't explode. Cynder looked in shock to see that Hub caught it with his bare tentacle hands, with it still not running out of fuel.
"I know where you are." Said Hub with blood shot eyes, redirected the rocket's trajectory to somewhere else and letting go of it.
Red Eclipse was attempting to use her Mudae device to turn into another character, but before she could have the chance a bright flash passed before her eyes before BOOM! The tree she was on was completely incinerated, and her charred body fell off and unto the ground where it splattered.
Xeno, horrified, ducked down hiding his rocket launcher. Cynder was caught by surprise by how powerful Hub was, using this to his advantage Riley chopped off her tail, making her run away and into the woods while screeching in pain.
Nyvlem got up, looking around him and assessing the situation, when he noticed Red's sniping spot had been obliterated. Bawling his fists in anger, he knew what has befallen his comrade. Riley and Nyv both focused their attention on Hub now, intending to take him down together, both having their hands on their Mudae devices. When suddenly, Foonish got up, very slowly.
Hub: "Kid?"
Riley: "Foonish, you're bleeding! Please, stay down!"
"My name isn't Foonish. My name. Is. Gustavo."