'Kay, people, time to begin the desert world of this story. Soon as we clear a space segment. By the way, imagine that Nigel is making a ton of Bolts for every enemy he kills. XP Play the "Sargasso Space Hideout" from Star Fox: Assault. Here we go.
Chapter 7: Meet Dib!
Galactic Offense, Act 2
Mission: Reach Planet Secco!
The two operatives were off on their ships again, charging through an even bigger fleet of Irkens. Several giant ships fired at Nigel's Arwing, but he performed barrel rolls and deflected their shots. "I'll try and cover from above." Ava said, flying straight upward.
"Good luck, Ava. I'll just break through." A series of 10 small ships were coming at Nigel from behind. The bald Brit flew over a big ship and went downward, then made a series of turns around more flagships, but the Irkens stayed on his tail. However, he was able to hide behind one of the flagships and let the Irkens go past. He got behind the Irkens and dealt away with them with a single Smart Bomb.
"All ships launch the force-fields. Invader Tak wants Secco's atmosphere secure." At his command, the flagships dropped generators up ahead, creating a series of barriers to block Nigel's path. Nigel rapidly began to shoot the generators to make the shields vanish. There were too many coming up, so Nigel was forced to shoot Smart Bombs and blow the generators away. He was able to get past the shields as he was coming up to another flagship, which seemed to be firing missiles directly upwards. More missiles were attacking the flagship from above, and the ship began sinking as Ava flew down.
Nigel flew by the ship to the next squad of flagships. Hatches opened on the ships and released more giant combat robots. The robots zipped around side-to-side and fired at Nigel, but he dodged and locked on with energy missiles, successfully shooting down the two robots. Two lines of robots emerged from ships up ahead, swerving back and forth as Nigel flew between them. They tried to shoot him, but he performed more barrel rolls and shot some of them with his Arwing.
"Captain's Log: I feel cold... and it's dark... and lonely... out here in space."
"What are you doing?" Ava asked.
"Oh, nothing. Just making up a little captain's log."
"Are all of you humans so dramatic?"
Nigel was currently flying below some flagships that had satellites latched on the bottom. The satellites aimed at the Brit and released sonic waves, which made his ship shake. Nigel took aim and fired energy missiles at the satellites to wipe them out. He barrel-rolled to avoid other sonic waves as they flew past. Up ahead, another combat robot emerged from a flagship, protected by a green shield. "He's quick, be careful." Ava cautioned. Nigel tried to fire an energy missile, but the robot swiftly avoided as he countered at Nigel. Nigel hit him with lasers and dealt some damage to his shield. When he eventually broke the shield, the robot stopped in place in an instant, attempting to make Nigel crash, but Nigel quickly slipped out of the way.
"The fact that all these big ships throw so little fire makes them seem kinda lazy." Ava said.
"Lazy?! Men: show her just how... WHAT'RE YOU TWO LAZIN' AROUND FOR?! Get off autopilot and stop readin' that junk!"
"We will, Sir."
"In a sec."
"Duuugh."
"Okay, I think we're almost at Secco's atmosphere." Ava said as they closed in on the massive, light-brown planet. "Just a few more ships to go and... what's that?!"
Nigel looked behind and saw there was a giant drill ship chasing him, with several smaller drills surrounding it. "Whatever it is, it's about to mend me into a smoothie!"
"Hold on. I'm coming in." Ava flew her Heart Star down behind Nigel's Arwing and turned it around, latching the back of her ship to Nigel's with two claws. She was now facing the Irken Driller as she started to shoot lasers at the surrounding drills. Each drill she took out kept the ship back, but it still kept on them. The drill came even closer as Ava took out more of the smaller ones. When they were all wiped out, she focused on the big drill. She rapidly mashed her buttons as the big drill was just inches from her ship. But just before it could pierce them, she was able to wipe it out. "Well, that was easy."
"Ahhh, conshlarg it! Next time, dispatch the autopilot..."
"Sorry!"
With the fleet left in their dust, the duo continued to Planet Secco. (End song.)
Planet Secco
After their mini space battle, Nigel and Ava had landed on Planet Secco. They stepped out of their ships, and what they saw did not bode well for Nigel. Planet Secco was nothing more than a vast desert. Sandy fields stretched for miles and the sun shined bright in the cloudless sky.
Numbuh 1 put his left hand up in front of his face, trying to shield his sensitive eyes from the hot sun. It was at this point that he was regretting giving Numbuh 5 his only pair of sunglasses. And the fact he was wearing a sweltering astronaut suit didn't make it any better.
"What's wrong, Nigel?" asked Ava, noticing he was breathing heavily.
"It's this heat. This astronaut suit's making me sweat like crazy, and this sun makes it hard to see straight. I'd take this suit off, but I'm not wearing anything underneath."
"Well, isn't that bad luck. Guess we better find whoever this kid is and get out of here, quick."
Nigel looked over to see that Ava didn't look as affected as he was. "How come you can withstand this heat?"
"I dunno. Guess it's because I like to spend a lot of time at the beach on Planet Aquaria. And I'm not really wearing any sort of hot clothing like you are."
"Yeah... Why does Dimentia let you go around in your normal clothes?"
"Beats me. You think she's a sexist?"
"No way! Otherwise, she would've picked Numbuh 86 to join!"
Ava chuckled at this, despite not knowing who "Numbuh 86" was. "Well, anyway, we should get going." And with that, they walked off into the desert with the sun still beating into Nigel's eyes. As they walked forward, strange music could be heard close by.
"Welcome to Planet Secco, where the sun shines ever so bright and rainfall is exceedingly low." Nigel and Ava stopped and looked around to see where the Spanish sounding voice had come from. They finally noticed four owls wearing sombreros standing on a nearby rock to their left, playing different instruments. One owl was playing a guitar, the other was playing a horn, another was playing a violin, and the last one was playing an accordion. The owl with the accordion spoke. "Many creatures struggle to adapt to the harsh conditions of this planet. Most creatures would eventually adapt to the unbearable temperature, but the poor-sighted human... he is going to die."
"HEY!" the owls looked down to see Nigel and Ava looking at them strangely. "Do you mind telling me who the heck you are?!"
"Oh, uh, we are your mariachi band. The author has instructed us to follow you around and sort of narrate the story as it goes along."
"Isn't that the author's job?"
"Well, sort of. We don't narrate the WHOLE thing. Just the beginning and end of scenes. Your scenes, anyway."
"Well, then why weren't you on Flora?"
"The author couldn't really find a good spot to introduce us there. Plus he thought it'd make more sense if we were introduced on a desert planet."
Nigel sighed. "Does this mean you're all going to be stalking us the whole way?"
"N-No, no! I wouldn't consider it 'stalking.' Just following you around, playing music and narrating the story at some parts, you know?"
"That still sounds like stalking." Said Ava.
The leading owl sighed. "Look, just go along with your progress and pretend we aren't here. We'll keep a good distance."
"Fine." Nigel sighed. And with that, Nigel and Ava continued walking down the desert as the mariachi band played their Spanish music.
"And so, our heroes continued down the desert, unsure of where they were going, as the hot sun continued to make the bald Brit sweat."
"But when is he going to die?" asked the owl with horn.
"Uh, soon, compadre. Soon." (Play the "Desert Stage" Theme from New Super Mario Bros. Wii.)
Stage 3: Secco's Sandland
Mission: Find the unknown child that was taken to Secco.
The duo began their trek in the scorching sandland, walking through a small field of rising sand geysers. Monstrous sandworms called Moldorms burrowed through the ground and popped up to snack in them, but Ava sliced them away with her blades. Nigel shot at a few Moldorms that were behind them as the two followed a path down a sandy hill into a valley surrounded by hills. In the distance were strange sand people in strange masks and raggedy robes fixing up their long guns. The beings seemed to notice the operatives coming as they got onto hoverbikes and started riding toward them.
"Who're the guys in robes?" Nigel asked.
"Dryans. Also known as 'sand people.' They're the local inhabitants of this planet. They normally don't like outsiders."
"Well, we didn't come looking for trouble." Nigel said as he tossed a grenade toward the Dryans' bikes. The sand people backed up and tried to shoot the operatives, but Nigel dodged and hit them with his S.H.O.O.T.E.R.. When the Dryans had enough, the got on their bikes and sped away across the valley. "Well, they don't put up much a fight."
"Keep your guard up. Sand people usually return, and in greater numbers."
"Well, that would be great if they were setting up a football team or something."
"'Football'? I'm not sure what that is, but they have this game where they find ball-shaped cacti and kick it around."
"Yeah, that's it. My country, at least."
The group proceeded along the valley as swarms of Moldorm jumped above the ground, the two operatives using their weapons to keep them back. They hurried through the valley as more Moldorms came their way, getting too tired to fight them all. When they reached the end of the valley, they found a 20x40 weapon stand.
"Step right up, step right up for some ice-cold drinks in this scorchin' hot desert!" Numbuh 20x40's hologram exclaimed. Nigel licked his lips, reaching in to grab a drink to quench his thirst, but- "Nah, just kiddin'! You'll have to find a lemonade stand or somethin'." Nigel put on a furious look. "But what we DO have is this new N.I.N.S.T.A.R.! Ever wanted ta be a ninja, well now's your chance! Only 1800 Bolts!"
Nigel reached in his pocket and held his Infi-Cube under the transporter, allowing the Bolts to be sucked in. "Enjoy, Kid!" Nigel took the mechanical shuriken and observed it.
Galactic Kids Next Door: N.I.N.S.T.A.R.
Ninja Item Niftily Slices Terrorizing Attackers Rapidly
When the next swarm of Moldorms came out, Nigel hurled his new shuriken as it flew around and sliced every enemy in the area. The two operatives continued across the desert as tall, yellow cacti monsters, made up of stacks of ball-shaped cacti, rose from the sand. Nigel jumped back when a Pokey tried to fall on him and started tossing shurikens as they zipped back and forth and cut away each of the Pokeys' parts. When only their heads were left, Ava and Nigel were able to stomp on them before they kept moving.
The two operatives came to a giant sandy whirlpool, where large boulders were slowly pulled and sunk into the center. The two jumped down and jumped their way across the boulders as Sand Wasps came out and began buzzing around them. Ava aimlessly swung her swords around and cut the wasps away, but lost her balance as she nearly fell into the quicksand, thankfully saved when Nigel grabbed her arm. They continued across the whirlpool and soon made it out on the other side. They went across a small hill before coming to an even larger whirlpool. The whirlpool had several strange cyan-colored diamonds floating around in it.
As they tried to think of a way to cross, a Pokey popped out of the ground beside them. Strangely, the Pokey's head was glowing a cyan color. Nigel tossed his N.I.N.S.T.A.R. and cut away the Pokey's pieces before taking out its head. A cyan-colored Wisp with a tiny lightning bolt on its head came out and instantly flew into Nigel's body. He felt the Color Power coming on as he grabbed onto Ava and yelled, "LASER!" His body became a cyan laser as he launched at a floating diamond and ricocheted all around them, going a great distance past the whirlpool before they changed back.
"DID YOU SEE THAT??" Nigel yelled.
"I...I barely saw anything..." Ava said, her eyes dizzy. "Be careful where you aim that thing in the future."
The two pressed forward in the desert as more sand geysers rised from the ground. When the geysers went down, the operatives were taken by surprise when sand people were shown to be behind them, ducking just before the Dryans could shoot them. Nigel tossed his shurikens at them while Ava flipped behind one, grabbed its robe, and flipped overhead to catch his head in the robe, then pushed him into other Dryans. The sand people got onto bikes and sped away as the two continued.
Ava and Nigel soon came up to a towering cliffside, watching the sand people climb their way up. The operatives found two walls that were close together and decided to Wall Jump between them to get upward. They made it partway up the cliff, peeking around to find two sand people scooping water into buckets from a small pond. "Gllrr, glrgle-glrgle. (Y'know, Freddie dug up some weird stone around the old wasteland the other day. Says it's some ancient thing that can control time.)" A Dryan said in some strange language which the operatives couldn't understand.
"Blrrgle blrgle. (Naah, that's crazy. Probably dug up some fossilized poo and now he's braggin' about it.)"
"Blrgle glrgle. (I'm serious, man. If you had some Time Dust or somethin', you c'n go back to stop yourself from spilling the basket of Red Ice all over that lady at the bizarre.)"
"(For the last time, that wasn't my fault, that camel kicked me, and I-)"
"YAAH!" He didn't get to finish when Ava and Nigel jumped out, attacked them, and kicked them over the edge. Ava then looked around and saw a light-green, bulbous plant that was blue at the top by the wall. "Hey, Nigel, it's a Hydroplant. If these have water, they really give a bounce."
Nigel scooped some water from the pond in his hand and had a sip. He smacked his lips and said, "There's always something about desert water that just feels so refreshing." He splashed a little over his face before sucking some into his A.B.S.O.R.B.O., then proceeded to water the Hydroplant. The round plant grew larger, and the operatives were able to use it to bounce to a higher ledge. There, the mariachi band of owls was sitting in a hole in the wall of the cliff, playing their usual music.
"The beautiful part about deserts is there is always an easy way to cook steaming bacon. Instead of a grill, the bald scalp of a young operative should be a perfect substitute." The band leader said.
Some sand people spotted the operatives and tried to shoot them with blasters, but Ava flipped between two of them and kicked them upside the head while Nigel tossed a grenade at the one behind her. They found an orange light sticking out of a cactus, so Ava cut it open, releasing a Rocket Wisp. The Wisp flew into Nigel, who held onto Ava as he yelled, "ROCKET!", his boots becoming rockets as they shot even higher up the cliff.
They reached the top of the small mountain, where a sand person was staring through binoculars, standing by a rather long zipline. They knocked the Dryan out before both taking hold of the zipline hook and zooming down over a great distance on the other side of the rocky mountain. As they continued across the desert, more sand people charged out from behind sand dunes, roaring as they tried to cut Nigel with knives. Nigel back-flipped as Ava defended from her own assailants, kicking two's legs and knocking them down before bouncing off their heads and flipping upward to wipe out others. Nigel shot his opponents in the knees before tossing shurikens to knock them out. One last Dryan tried to ambush from behind, but Ava tossed a sword and stabbed the assassin. After taking her sword back, the two proceeded around the tall dunes that lay further across the desert.
"Well, this mission is already going smoothly." Said Nigel sarcastically as they continued walking. "The sun's in my eyes, I don't have my sunglasses, this suit is hot, and we really have no idea where we're going, do we?"
Ava nervously chuckled. "I guess we don't." The duo walked silently for minutes until Ava decided to break the silence with conversation. "So, how was your lunch with Dimentia?"
"Actually, it went... surprisingly well."
Ava rose her eyebrow at this. "Really...?"
"Yeah. She was friendly, she was understanding... It's scary to say, but... she seemed like..."
"Seemed like...?" Ava said, waiting for him to finish.
"...Rachel."
Ava recalls him saying that name back in the Floro Mines and felt the need to ask, "Who's Rachel? A friend of yours back on Earth?"
Nigel paused before answering. "Well, yeah. Her name was Rachel T. McKenzie. She was a friend. A really good friend. I mean, she was kind, caring, smart, brave, strong, and REALLY good at combat! There's no wonder why she became Supreme Leader!"
"Was she pretty?"
Nigel was a little confused by this question. "Well, yeah, I guess so. I mean, who wouldn't notice those choco brown eyes and that golden blond hair! (Plus she's really cute in that samurai outfit!)"
Ava smirked. "Sounds like you really love this girl!"
Nigel's cheeks turned red in an instant. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down! I LIKE her, but I don't LIKE-LIKE her!"
"'You don't like-like her.' Riiiight. Now how many times have I heard THAT one before?"
Nigel sighed. "Alright fine. To tell the truth, I... did sort of have a thing for her. I still remember when she took me to that amusement park to cheer me up after I broke up with my ex."
"Well, you just better hope Dimentia doesn't find out about this 'thing'."
"What do mean?"
"Well, Dimentia doesn't allow her operatives to be in those types of relationships. She says that love is an adult thing that we kids shouldn't trouble ourselves with."
"And what do you think about this?"
"I don't know what to think about it. I never had a boyfriend, so I don't quite know what love feels like."
"The only girlfriend I had was Lizzie, and that wasn't a pleasant ride."
"You think Dimentia might be right then?"
"I'm not sure. But I think I may have a talk with her once this is done. Right now, let's focus on finding this kid."
"Good idea." They continued walking for a few minutes until something bothered Ava about Rachel and felt the need to ask, "What does the T stand for?"
Nigel just shrugged. (End song.)
"HEELLLP!"
The two exchanged glances and ran to the nearby sand hill to see where the cry for help came from. When they got to the top of the sand hill, they saw a boy in a cage surrounded by several Irken soldiers holding shock rods, Hunter Destroyer mechs, and more sand people. The boy in the cage had black hair with a spike, wore glasses, had a black jacket and a blue shirt with a grey frowny face, black pants and shoes, and a rather large head. What surprised Nigel the most was that he looked human.
"You think that's the kid we were sent to rescue?" Ava asked, whispering, so they wouldn't be heard.
"Probably. But what do we do about the enemies? There's too many to fight."
"I have an idea. Look down there."
Nigel looked to where Ava pointed to see a few cyan colored Wisps trapped in a capsule. "If you aim correctly, those Laser Wisps may let you wipe them all out.
"Okay. Here we go!"
Back down with the boy in the cage, he being brutally shocked by the surrounding Irken soldiers. "Dance, Earth worm! Invader Tak needs a new jester!"
"What happened to the old jester?!" The boy asked.
"Let's just say Tak's been waiting a while to throw her victory party. Now DANCE!" They were about to shock him again until they were met with lasers in the back. They turned around to see Nigel shooting at them and Ava readying her swords.
"Step away from the boy!" exclaimed Nigel.
"It's the GKND! Get 'em!" And with that, the Irkens started attacking them with their shock rods, while the Dryans drew out swords and started yelling battle cries. Nigel and Ava fought back with hardly any trouble. That is, until the mechs started firing heat seeking missiles. Of course, since it was already too hot in the desert, the missiles just flew wherever and exploded.
"I knew we should've did this at night!" said one of the soldiers.
Nigel, however, was getting really sweaty from all this and just wanted it to end. "Alright, that's enough! I'm ending this now!" With that, he shot open one of the Wisp capsules, freeing the Cyan Wisps. One of the Wisps instantly flew into Nigel's body, making him glow cyan. "LASER!" His body began to spin as he shot as fast as lightning at all the soldiers and robots, bouncing off of them and leaving a cyan laser trail in his path.
Ava ducked as he bounced around the area rapidly. The caged boy ducked and screamed as Nigel shot toward his direction and destroyed his cage. It was at this point the Wisp wore off. The boy stood up and looked at Nigel standing in front of him. "Wow! Thanks!"
"Don't mention it!"
"Hey, guys, we have a problem here!" Nigel and the boy looked to see the Irkens and Dryans recovering from the attack.
"You'd think that would be enough to finish them." The boy said.
"Great. What now?"
The boy looked over on the ground and saw a strange, mechanical backpack. "Hey! One of the robots dropped my backpack!" He ran over to his backpack and quickly put it on. "Check this out!" With that, he pushed a button on his pack and out came a floating disco ball that started playing disco and showing colorful lights. The Irkens and Dryans ceased their attacks and danced to the music. Nigel and Ava stared at them in confusion. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" the boy said, walking off. The two just shrugged and snuck off with him. Once they were far enough, the boy mumbled to himself, "3... 2... 1..."
BOOOOM!
The three looked over at the explosion in the distance, watching it form a cloud of sand. "Coool." Said Nigel before walking off.
Distant desert, sunset
"Wow! That disco ball thing you did back there was pretty cool!" Nigel exclaimed. It was already sunset and the three found their selves in a more vast region of the desert.
"Eh, it was nothing. Not as cool as that laser thing you did! Hey! Are you guys really GKND operatives?"
Nigel and Ava exchanged glances. "You know about GKND? But you're a human!" said Nigel.
"Well, you see, my name is Dib Membrane, and I'm a paranormal investigator from Planet Earth. I heard rumors about a Galactic Kids Next Door from a few friends of mine who work in KND, and I've been trying to find their coordinates using a satellite. I came up here looking for a rogue Irken called Zim, who's been terrorizing the Earth for a while now. He went into space looking for some 'Number 1' guy and I followed him. I tracked him slowly on my ship until I got ambushed by these animals driving these cool looking ships! My ship got caught by this really long snake and I was dragged and sold out here. I don't know where they took my ship."
"Well, you must be desperate to catch this Zim guy if you came all the way out here." Replied Nigel.
"Yeah, but I never thought I'd actually meet GKND ops!" Dib bowed. "I'm honored to be in your presence."
"Riiiight. Hey, by any chance, have you seen any stars around here?"
"Uhhh, not really. But I did overhear the Irkens talking about some Brown Star being found inside an ancient pyramid."
"Do you think that's the one?" asked Ava, as they looked to the distance and saw a pyramid miles away.
"It's a long way." Nigel observed. "But if a Star Piece is there, I'm willing to look. Let's go, Ava."
"WAIT!" exclaimed Dib, running in front of them. "You have to take me with you! It's always been my dream to work with GKND and now's my chance! And check this out!" Dib said as his backpack turned into two mechanical arms which he placed on. "With these, I have ten times more strength than I normally do! So, can I join?"
Nigel thought for a moment. "Well, we could always use an extra hand. And I imagine the battles will only get harder from here on out. Aw, what the heck! Sure!"
Dib jumped for joy. "I won't let you down!"
"Okay! Let's go!" With the three headed off into the wild sandy yonder. (Play "Planet Tabora Mining Area" from Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando.)
Stage 4: The Wild Sandy Yonder
Mission: Venture the vast sandland and reach the Secco Ruins.
The trio of operatives and Dib trekked across the vast, deserted wasteland. The desert seemed much more quiet than before as the sun set in the distance, and much more vacant as only a few Moldorms jumped out in failed attempts to attack the trio. Small whirlwinds spun to life, so the trio kept a safe distance to avoid being sucked in by the windy swirls. The kids kept walking, straight ahead for what felt like miles, but the pyramid still seemed so far away. Eventually, the trio came to a massive gorge, where a thin pathway led into a cave. They crossed the pathway and entered the cavern, where Mutant Sandflies buzzed around. The sandflies flew at the operatives, hungry for their flesh, but the three rapidly swung their arms (Ava her swords) and smacked them away.
They continued to a part in the caves where three tall platforms led over a deep pit of lava. They jumped the first two platforms, but when they reached the third, it began to sink. Ava and Dib held onto Nigel as he shot his G.R.A.P.P.L.U.H. to a stalactite above the other side, successfully pulling them up safely. They found a room inhabited by lizard-like creatures with long necks, red scaly skin, and one yellow eye. The Dune Crawlers spat a poison acid at the operatives, who backed away from it as Ava started striking one with her swords. One of the Dune Crawlers charged at Dib, but he held it back with his mech arms and dealt a few punches before knocking it down. Nigel tossed shurikens around at the last two Crawlers, quickly taking them out.
"Hey, guys, look at this." Dib said as he was over by a wall, bending over something. Ava and Nigel came over to him to see it was a strange, blackish purple crystal with a slight phoenix symbol. "It's some kind of crystal."
"Strange... I've never seen one like this before." Ava said.
"I wanna take this home and examine it. I could make a fortune!" Dib exclaimed.
"Nah, just leave it." Nigel suggested. "There's no use adding extra weight on our shoulders."
The kids just shrugged and followed Nigel as they left the crystal behind, with Dib sparing one last glance. They crossed a narrow, snaky pathway over another magma pit, which led to the way out of the cave. They were outside again as a few more Moldorms jumped out to attack them, only to be defeated easily by Ava's swords or Nigel's blaster. The trio walked up a small hill where a sharp rock sat at the top. There appeared to be something sitting on the rock, and as they got closer, music could be heard, and they found it was the mariachi band.
"So many dunes here in the desert, certainly not the place for yoou to looose your car keys..." the band leader sang. "And someone could be watching you through binoculars, and you're just kids trying to find a Star in a pyramid, but it's so faar away..."
The pyramid in the distance was a bit closer now, but it was still rather far away. They continued their journey down the steep hill, toward a strange pile of bones. When they got close to the bones, they jumped back in surprise when a huge Sand Whale popped out of the ground. The Sand Whale had black and red armor, spikes along its fin, sharp teeth, and a single pink eye. The Sand Whale unleashed a beam of pink electricity from its eye that skimmed the ground and tried to zap the operatives. Nigel jumped the beam and tossed his N.I.N.S.T.A.R. at the whale while Ava tossed her blades at its eye. Dib tried to get close enough so he could jump onto it, but the whale only backed away and kept trying to shock him.
Ava ran around the Sand Whale and attempted to toss her blades from behind, but the monster noticed her and turned around. However, this allowed Dib to go up from behind and grab onto the whale's tail. He made it onto the whale's head and started pounding away. The whale was knocked to the ground, his electricity shutting off, and Ava ran to lay the final blow into its eye.
The whale barfed out a strange mechanical rod before sinking below the sand. Nigel walked over to pick up and study the rod.
Galactic Kids Next Door: Z.A.P.P.
Zapping Attacker Paralyzes Pests
The trio continued to another cliffside, where a long, metal rail led into another cave. "What would a rail be doing all the way out here?" Nigel asked.
"Maybe the Irkens installed it for some reason." Ava figured. "Anyways, we can probably grind on it. You two know how to grind, right?"
"Of course I do. Numbuh 5 used to teach me." Nigel said.
"Um, I might need a lesson." Dib said.
Nigel took a few steps back and ran forward, his boots allowing him to grind along the metal rail. Ava followed after him, and Dib mimicked their movements as they grinded into the cave. "Hm... that was easy." Dib said.
"It may get more trickier later." Ava reminded.
The cave was littered with old metal machinery and minecarts. The kids crossed an old minecart track over another magma chasm to reach some platforms. More Dune Crawlers waited for them, so Nigel tested out his new Z.A.P.P. by waving it forward and releasing a blast of electricity to shock the lizards. "Whoa!" Nigel waved it once more and shocked them again, wiping them out.
"Talk about overkill." Ava remarked.
They crossed the next few platforms to another point in the cave where Mutant Sandflies were coming out of a Sandfly Spawner. The annoying flies once again buzzed around and tried to snack on their skin, but Nigel wiped them out a lot faster using his Z.A.P.P.. The trio then found a rail that led over a lava chasm and proceeded to grind along. They went along the snaky rail and had to jump to a parallel one when it ran out of road. They kept grinding until that rail was out and jumped to another one on their left.
Soon, they were out of the cave, grinding over the very deep chasm over the canyon. Several broken minecarts were sitting on the parallel rails, forcing the crew to jump over them as they went. The rails went up a slope and were broken ahead, but they leapt over the gap and landed on the next pair. Pretty soon, the rails landed them on the next pathway through the desert. Parallel rows of columns rested on both sides as they continued straight ahead to the pyramid. In just less than a mile of walking, the trio finally arrived at the huge pyramid. As they stopped for a moment to catch their breath, they found that the pyramid was decorated with several bits of Irken technology.
"Well, these are the Secco Ruins." Nigel panted.
"Looks like the Irkens did some redecorating." Dib observed.
"If they have a Star in there, we have to get it from them. Let's move, team." On Nigel's command, the three entered the dark entryway of the old pyramid, the mariachi band playing music on a rock behind them,
"And so, our heroes found a new companion, and together, they trekked inside the dangerous pyramid, eventually leading to their untimely demise. In other news, saying 'R+R' at the end of every author's note. A desperate way to get attention? Or to make an idea in the readers' head click. No one knows..."
And so, there we have a double-stage. Anyway, Planet Secco comes from the Sonic X anime. You may already know Dib from Invader Zim. Well, you know the drill by now. I gotta get to bed, so later. Next chapter should have a big action scene. Um... R+R!
...
Spoiler alert: Those crystals won't serve a purpose until Legend of the Eight Firstborn.