ACT I [EXT. / ANGOLAN SAVANNAH / AFTERNOON]
After the defeat of the Tsetse Nightmare, resulting from the explosion of the Soldier Droids, Umeme, Radi, Friska, and Doc are busy bringing all the pieces of the Nightmare into the large open trunk of the Hopper hovercraft. While Friska does so in a formal yet struggling manner, and Doc carries multiple pieces with relative ease, Umeme and Radi make a little game out of it, as they each use their speed to create miniature cyclones with enough force to carry a set number of shards and place them in the trunk -- rinse, wash, repeat; whoever brings in the last shard is declared the winner. The peregrine scouts around for some more, but is quick to notice that they've essentially finished cleaning up.
Radi: Huh, I guess we're done.
Umeme: [speeds over to Radi] Maybe you're done, [reveals something from behind his back] but I have the last shard. Guess that makes me the w-
Radi: Hey Umeme, you have a little somethin' crawling on your tail.
Umeme: Wait, w-what? [frantically turns to check while his fur stands on end] Is it a bee?!
Radi: [swipes the shard while he's distracted] Yoink!
Umeme: [turns back] Hey!
Radi (while still in flight) tosses the Nightmare shard up in the air and -- as a means to cancel out its weight -- shoots a lightning bolt directly at it to add extra air for the propelled piece, heading straight for the trunk. Radi then proceeds to turn around, cross his arms, and close his eyes, confident that he made a clear shot from such a far distance.
Radi: Nuttin' but net in 3... 2... [hears the sound of shattered glass rather than a clank to the trunk]... uhh... 2½?
Umeme: Dude, you just went up.
Radi turns back to see that the shard hit the windshield piece of the hovercraft instead of its trunk, leaving a rather wide and noticeable crack resembling a spider's web. Friska, who's right next to the hovercraft, spots the speedsters from far away and responds with a peeved glare. Even though Radi's the one who did it, he slowly points his finger over to Umeme, who soon slaps it away from him.
Minutes later, the group of four have now head off -- with Friska pondering.
Friska: So, just to recap. We're heading straight towards a black meteorite that suddenly transformed into a ziggurat, housing monsters?
Radi: Y'know, there's a lot of ways to kick off the weekend -- and this is not one a' them.
Friska: Wait, and what about Terra?
Umeme: Haven't heard from her in a while now. Let's just hope she's... [sees something from far away] wait...
Far in the distance, a glimmer of green light shines brightly as it closes in quickly towards the gang. Umeme, following the other three as they notice as well, puts their high speed venture on halt. Despite the rather alarming speed of the green light, the group of four recognize that glow from anywhere -- Terra. The jellyfish makes a swift yet graceful descent to the ground, appearing before Umeme, Radi, and company.
Umeme: And here I thought we'd be coming to you. What happened?
Terra: ... It's all gone.
The four respond with wide-eyed surprise (well... technically just three).
Friska: [exits her hovercraft alongside Doc] Wait, for real? Like, "gone" gone?
Radi: Already?! Aw man, ya' could've at least saved some for the rest of us!
Umeme: (chuckles off Radi's disappointment) Guess I had nothing to worry about. (to Terra) So how'd ya do it?
Terra: Apologies, but you misunderstand. I mean it's all gone missing.
Others: ...???
Umeme: So how'd it do it?
A flashback shows Terra finding and heading full speed towards the shadowy pyramid-like temple. While doing so, she stores up a large quantity of telekinetic energy from her right hand in order to unleash a powerful attack. But before she has the chance to unveil it to the source of the Nightmares, the whole thing glows in a blinding purple light. This forces Terra to evade her eyes from the piercing glow, and after a brief moment, she opens them to see that the temple in its entirety is nowhere to be found in the crater. As well as the whole wastelands.
Seeing literally no reason to stay, the jellyfish makes a contemptuous departure. Focusfully unaware of something silhouetted from afar. Its shape looks to be that of an aircraft, gradually making its way towards the same spot she was just in. But having little relevance, the flashback comes to a close.
Friska: Wait, you're telling us it just up and vanished?
Doc: More specifically, it teleported to a safer location.
Terra: I'm afraid so. But wherever it is, I intend to find it before any more of those dark creatures run loose.
Radi: "Dark creatures"? Eh 6/10 at best, but I think "Nightmares" has a way cooler ring to it.
Terra: ... (takes a moment to think about it)... Hm, not bad.
Radi: Aha, I knew it! [elbows Umeme] Looks like it's catching on, huh?
Terra: Y'know, it'd be pretty irresponsible of me. Not telling you all to stay out of this whole mess.
Doc, as well as Friska, sees that the two speedsters take a slight offense to what she just said.
Terra: But knowing you, you'd probably refuse in a heartbeat. Right?
Umeme and Radi glance at each other momentarily and turn back to take appreciation for Terra's "compliment".
Umeme: [walks over to Terra] Well, I did say we owe you one for saving us, so I figured we do it by storming that ziggurat. [scratches behind his left ear] Though given the circumstances, that might take a while.
Terra: You can say that again. Look, I'm not gonna stop you four from wanting to chip in. But at the very least, I suggest starting small with your first "Nightmare".
Radi: First? Hold on, we-
But it was too late, as the jellyfish flew off leaving behind a brief burst of dust.
Radi: ... Rude. What does she mean by "first"? We've taken down plenty today.
Umeme: I mean, she's technically not wrong. That mannequin creep, those hamerkops -- that were all her. Hell, we couldn't even beat that bite-sized bird.
Radi: Okay, well... what about that giant bug and those haywire robots?
Friska: Pretty sure just watching them kill each other doesn't count, Radi.
The peregrine tries to find a legit vouch, but as much as he doesn't want to admit it, both the cheetah and hare make a point.
Radi: (lets out a heavy sigh) ... Alright fine, we got 0 wins today. Ya' happy?
Umeme: Obviously not; The only thing we've gotten so far are nothing but close calls. We needa step up our game before more and more of them pop up.
Friska: Yeah, but it's gonna be tricky figuring out where they'll pop up.
Doc: Actually, I believe I have a solution to that.
The robotic turtle's eyes begin flashing a holographic screen, containing some rather vital information. This catches the three with intrigue.
Doc: Before that hamerkop ran amok to the lab, I managed to attain a small portion of data from it. Apparently, these entities are powered by a potent energy of unknown origin.
Umeme: That purple glowy stuff? Yeah, we-uh kinda learned that the hard way.
Radi: No kiddin'. Got anything we don't already know?
Doc: Affirmative. [eyes cease flashing as he points at the hovercraft's trunk] As we speak, the husk pieces we've acquired contain remnant particles of said energy. If we were to implement that into a radar system, then it could be possible to detect their whereabouts.
Radi: Radar huh? Beats gettin' ambushed by a long shot.
Friska: Hmm... Y'know, my hovercraft has a detachable GPS. I can reverse engineer it into a tracking device, but I'm not so sure the rest will work out.
Umeme: [speeds over to Friska, placing a hand on her shoulder] Pfft, you kiddin'? With an IQ like yours, this oughta be easy as pie.
Friska: [crosses her arms] Okay -- and what if that's a hard pie to swallow, flatter-box?
Umeme: Either way, it's worth a shot. Doesn't change the fact you're the best I know at this sorta stuff.
Friska: ...
Blushes on her cheeks aside, the hare soon responds with determination in her eyes.
Friska: Alright. Let's see what we can do.
...
A few hours have passed, as Friska is currently working to create a Nightmare tracking device, with Doc providing her the tools necessary to accomplish it. She had just finished recalibrating the hovercraft's GPS functions -- a simple task -- and is now synchronizing its signal frequency / wavelength with that of one of the Nightmare samples -- a not so simple task. As for the two speedsters, Radi is blissfully biding his time in the form of a nap on top of a nearby tree, while Umeme's a tad too impatient to do the same. To cope, he repeatedly taps his fingers on the front surface of the hovercraft, which he's currently laying on. Unintentionally, this starts to distract Friska, as her keen ears twitch with every sound.
Friska: Uh, Umeme -- ya' mind not tapping your fingers?
Umeme: [see's that what he's doing is distracting] Oh, my bad.
Friska proceeds with her tinkering, only to be distracted again by Umeme, who instead of tapping his finger"s", uses just one finger.
Friska: Umeme!
Umeme: ... [lets out a sigh as he slides off the hovercraft] How much longer is this gonna take?
Friska: I never said this would be a sinch, y'know.
Doc: I concur. The energy from this sample appears quite difficult to synchronize with. Completion of this process will take longer than anticipated.
The impatient cheetah is unsatisfied waiting that long for results, and so he thinks concisely of a clear-shot idea that will help speed up the process.
Umeme: Okay, maybe -- and I'm just spitballing here -- you guys could charge the tracker with its energy?
Friska and Doc pause what they're doing in response to Umeme's "idea", but instead of brushing it off as impossible, they both consider it as hypothetical.
Umeme: I mean, if it worked for those droids earlier, then it might just work for this device. Plus it won't, y'know, try to kill us.
Friska: Hm... Well... what's say you, Doc?
The terrapin automaton takes a closer look at the Nightmare sample, and as he scans the foreign object for more data, he soon finds out that the purple energy is a form of plasma -- something akin to solar winds, aurorae, or... lightning...
After further inspection of the sample, Doc opens up his stomach compartment and places it inside. He then closes his stomach and unveils a long, prehensile adapter cable from his finger, plugging it into the reverse-engineered GPS. Doc now closes his eyes and concentrates solely on his internal systems. The process appears to take quite some time.
...
Okay, make that much time. And the longer it takes, the fewer hopes Friska has for Umeme's theory. Even fewer hopes from Umeme himself for that matter.
Umeme: (sighs) So much for that idea. [scratches the back of his head out of slight embarrassment] Sorry for wasting your time guys -- just go back to what you were d-
To their sudden surprise, Doc's entire metallic body is shocked by the purple energy coursing from inside him.
Friska: (shouts as she jumps out of the hovercraft to a safe distance) (gasps) Doc!!
Umeme: Crap!!
The intense sound of crackling electricity kicks Radi immediately out of his nap, waking up in an abrupt manner and confused to a blur.
Radi: W-w-what happened?! What's going on?!
Answering his question: through his perseverance, Doc is keeping his circuitry composed long enough for the Nightmare energy to be converted into electrical energy, passing through his body and charging the tracker in the process. And with that, the spurting of sparks finally ceases. Radi dives down from the tall tree and floats over to see if the others are alright. While Umeme and Friska are okay, the same can't quite be said for Doc.
Umeme: (worried) Oh no... [jumps back onto the hovercraft, along with Friska] Doc -- Doc, you okay?
Eyes closed, Doc's only response is that of silence, with his body rendered as motionless as a doll. Back on her seat, Friska quickly scooches over to him and tries to shake him awake, but still no response. And after a few moments of suspense, a sign of relief arrives in a few beeps/boops. Finally moving -- albeit briefly -- the robotic turtle automatically retreats into his steel hard shell. It would seem that Doc had initiated a much needed reboot for his internal systems.
Umeme | Friska: Phew... | Oh thank god.
Radi: [floats down over to the others] So, uhh... Anything important I missed? Intentionally speaking.
The team of four minus one notice a strong surge coming from the charged tracking device, which begins fully functioning with a loaded up energy scanning system, spanning an approximate 500 mile radius. As evidence of its success, the device detects a cluster of energy particles close by. "Close" as in "right inside the Hopper's trunk". Meaning that Umeme's spitball of a theory has essentially hit its mark.
Umeme: Actually, I think you woke up just in time.
Before the three could briefly celebrate Doc and Friska's accomplishment, the Nightmare tracking device soon spots a lone yet large energy signature not too far from where they are now.
>> >> >> NOW LOADING...
ACT II [EXT. / ANGOLAN SAVANNAH / CONTINUOUS]
The cheetah and peregrine are shown rocketing their way towards the objective location, with Friska's hovercraft right behind their trail of sparks. As for Doc (still inside his shell) he's been placed in the back seat, still rebooting himself for the time being. They quickly stop at a safe distance, as they spot a large centaur-like Nightmare; the upper body of a man, the lower body of a black wildebeest -- and surprisingly -- the head of also a black wildebeest. The hoofed horror is seen minding its own business (in a sorta meditative position) in the middle of its surroundings -- parts of which are scattered with flickering flames and burnt grass. Not too far from the beast lies the husked remains of another Nightmare, appearing to have also been centaur-like. Some key differences are that it wasn't as large and had the head/lower body of an eland. As to not catch the wildebeest's attention, Friska leads the two over toward some nearby, unscorched vegetation to conceal their presence.
Umeme: (notices something)... Hey Friska, lemme see the radar for a second.
Friska: [gets out of the hovercraft and hands it to him] You break it, I break you.
Looking closely, Umeme sets his sight not on the wildebeest's energy signature, but rather the complete lack of energy particles coming from the eland's "corpse". Unlike the husk pieces inside the trunk, the radar isn't picking up the slightest trace from the eland.
Umeme: I didn't think there'd be another husk here. How come it's not showing up on the radar?
Friska: That's prototypes for ya'. [takes back the radar] I'll iron out the bugs after we deal with that thing. Not sure how though.
Radi: [having peeked through the bushes] I know how though.
Friska: (in slight surprise) ... Mmmalright, I'll bite. How?
Radi sways Friska and Umeme to peek through the bushes as well and take a clear look at their current foe. The scene zooms in, revealing that the Nightmare isn't meditating; rather, it's napping -- to Umeme and Friska's bewilderment of course.
Umeme: It's... catching Z's?
Radi: Yup. But it'll be catching a KO soon enough.
Friska: Hm... taking it out in its sleep would save us the trouble, but maybe we should come up with a plan B just in case.
Radi: Pssh, forget about "B", Friska. I'm going for the highest grade here. Speaking of highest, [floats off ground] one pierce through the heavens is heading straight his way. [flies up n' out of the scene]
Friska: (to Umeme) You think that'll be enough?
Umeme: "Heads or tails", Friska. Let's see which side lands.
High in the air, Radi has acquired enough altitude to perform his signature diving stoop. Through his bullet-like descent, he begins to build up the momentum needed to land a hard blow on the sleeping giant. And he almost pulls it off, but suddenly, at the last second, he sees a flurry of arrows (seven in total) coming out of nowhere and aiming directly at the Centaur Nightmare's back area, all while it's still sleeping. The peregrine manages to halt his diving stoop in a rapid flash step, heading back to the cheetah and hare doing so, and ragdolling onto the dirt as a result. Umeme and Friska are completely jaw dropped by what just happened far in the distance.
Umeme: ... Uh, question. Can a coin land in between?
Radi: (walks back over to them, dusting himself off) Uh, better question, where the hell did those arrows come from?!
Friska: Wait, you were just in the air. Wouldn't you be the first ta' know?
Radi: (off-screen) I was in the zone, okay?!
Umeme: [setting his sight elsewhere]...?
Through Umeme's P.O.V., he sees the barrage of arrows and pinpoints them to a high mound with a lone tree. Said tree appears to be rustling vigorously, and as the cheetah looks closely, he sees that it's a group of San celebrating in howls of triumph.
Umeme: [points at the arrows' initial source] Hey, check it out. Looks like those guys up there beat us to the punch.
Radi: What?! Aw man. [notices something] Uh... is what I would say, if that centaur had already husked up by now.
Umeme and Friska notice this secondarily, seeing that despite being dealt such a fatal injury, the Nightmare appears completely unfazed by the batch of arrows. The wild dogs made sure to coat each one with an extra dose of diamphotoxin (a strong toxin produced by beetle larvae) capable of putting down even the healthiest of prey; however, this Nightmare is a far cry from your average prey. Even with such a large amount, the least it could muster was waking up the beast from its nap. This cuts the canines' celebration short as they all bear witness in shock.
Awoken from its slumber, and standing at an imposing 10ft tall, the centaur pays its focus on the flurry of arrows pierced through its back area (top half). Umeme, Radi, Friska and the San group almost simultaneously gasp as they watch the Nightmare effortlessly rip all seven arrows out of its back. And knowing exactly where they were shot, the beast throws them back with tremendous force. Said force creates a bursting rush of wind, which blows off almost every leaf from the tree. And if that wasn't surprising enough, how 'bout the fact they all miss? By perhaps the thinnest stroke of luck, the wild dogs appear completely unscathed -- hanging on tightly to the sturdy branches. However, judging by the Nightmare's tight glare, seems like just it wanted to get a good look at its victims first.
The group quickly climb off the tree and try to head for lower cover, but before they even have the chance, the centaur unveils an abnormally large rungu(a wooden throwing club) -- and stands up on all fours -- excluding two. Using its fiery breath, it creates a fireball on the tip of the rungu and launches it straight for the high mound. Upon impact, the blazing club creates a swirling tornado of fire that surrounds the mound and traps the San group from within. The trio gasps in utter shock behind the bushes.
Radi: (worried) Uh Friska, I think I can settle with a B right about now!
Friska: [quickly heads inside and starts hovercraft] Work in progress! Just get those people outta there, Radi!
Radi: Ain't gotta tell me twice!
Post haste, Radi flies around the Nightmare's field of vision. As for Umeme...
Umeme: (off-screen) Hey!
He jumps out of the bushes and surges strongly with an aura of electricity, as to quickly make his presence known to the beast.
Umeme: Lookin' for a fight?! I'm game if you are!
The centaur unleashes a curdling, spark-igniting bellow, which causes the blazing rungu to come back directly to him. Reunited with his linked weapon, it rushes towards the cheetah at ramming speed. Umeme revs up and bolts towards the Nightmare at high throttle, getting ready to punch as hard as he can; however, when it looks like he's about to unleash a direct hit, the centaur suddenly lifts his four legs high in mid-air. In a split second, Umeme appears right under the Nightmare.
Umeme: Ah shi-
Such profanity goes completely censored, as the centaur strikes all hooves down into the earth -- creating a burst cloud of dirt and dust. The dust cloud begins to clear away, with the Nightmare walking out of a fairly wide crater he left. The wildebeest centaur suspects Umeme to have been flattened like a coin under its own weight -- but unsuspectingly -- both its horns are grabbed with a firm grip. This surprises the centaur, as it's revealed that the cheetah is still in one piece.
Umeme: Sorry. Missed me by just a millisecond.
Umeme emits his electricity upon the centaurs' entire body, riling it up with every surging discharge. This leads to him bucking the beast around in a rodeo-like fashion, to which he starts to enjoy at the moment.
Umeme: [trying to keep a firm grip] Slippery one, aren't cha? You'll have ta' try a lot harder than that to-
Friska: (off-screen) Look out!!
Umeme sees that the Nightmare is bucking towards the Hopper hovercraft. He shouts from surprise and quickly jumps off the centaur's back, giving Friska an opportune moment to set her hovercraft to offense mode. In said mode, it shoots out miniature bombs that latch onto the Nightmare, soon blowing up all over after a series of countdown beeps. The centaur; however, blows the resulting smoke away from it in a powerful and agitated bellow. Meanwhile, the scene cuts over to the group of San, still trapped inside the blazing tornado. Mari begins to cough from swirling smoke, which Quaku tries to blow away from his younger brother.
Quaku: (coughing from the smoke as well) There's gotta be a way out of here!
Suddenly, the hunter gatherers see that the fiery tornado is surrounded in an even bigger tornado, coated in a shade of electric blue. Radi manages to use his rising wind speed to put out the flaming twister in its entirety, thus saving the wild dogs. Ceasing his own twister after that, Radi lands over to see if the San group is okay.
Mari: (clears throat) You have our deepest thanks, my friend. I thought we'd be consumed by that demon's flames.
Radi: You fellas alright?
Quaku: For the most part. But I can't say the same for this land. If there's any bright side to this, it's that only one of those beasts remain.
Radi: (via his thoughts) Oh if only.
Mari: We tried laying low for a while so we could take it down at its most vulnerable. But it seems "vulnerable" is an understatement.
Radi: So the hunters became the hunted, huh? Poetic, but not in a good way. Anyway, don't sweat it. I'll go deal with Mr. Hot-Breath over there for ya'.
Radi flies off back to the conflict at hand in a burst of speed. The scene cuts back over to the enraged Centaur Nightmare charging towards Umeme, dragging his rungu across the rough ground and engulfing it in flames. The beast gives it a good throw, propelling it like a boomerang in which the surrounding flames control its movement. Despite this, the agile cheetah manages to evade the targeting rungu until it returns to sender. Umeme then leads said sender up a hill and evades a powerful incoming whack by jumping over the Nightmare. The centaur turns around to go after him, only to get knocked back by Friska's ramming hovercraft.
Umeme appears to have landed on the top of the vehicle, using it as a foothold to launch himself towards the beast and headbutt its stomach, adding an electric discharge for more effect. This attack pushes the Nightmare back further from them, giving Friska enough time to unveil dual cannons from her hovercraft, which shoot a barrage of liquid-turn-hardened substances that encase the Nightmare's lower body entirely (rungu included). It tries to free itself anyway it can, even by breathing fire on the substance, but it appears not even its passionate flames for freedom are successful. Friska hovers over to Umeme, whose head is still aching after that hard headbutt, rubbing it as to try and ease the pain. The hare unveils her windshield and asks if he's okay.
Umeme: (in a groaning manner) In hindsight, a punch to the gut would've been a lot less painful.
Friska: (jokingly) Way ta' use your head though, Umeme.
Umeme: [rubs his head briefly to ease the pain] Right back atcha. Now we got him right where we want him.
The two take a breather that is cut short when they see the centaur also taking a breather, as it used all its methods to break free -- all but one. Using sheer will power, it tries to rip free from its entire lower body, to which the two assume from looking. However, unexpectedly, the centaur pops right out of both the lower and upper(ending at the shoulders) portion of its body, becoming a small minotaur-like Nightmare.
The cheetah and hare are both caught by open-mouthed surprise, but after mere moments of silence, the minotaur runs for it downhill. It seems to really be booking it, only to have its path blocked by a bolt of electricity shot by Radi.
Radi: Leaving so soon, all-of-a-sudden small fry?!
Not only must the Nightmare avoid that, but another flurry of arrows shot by the incoming San group as well.
Quaku: It's payback time, demon!
Behind the Nightmare, the speedy cheetah also blocks its way, prepared to give it a face-full of electricity.
Umeme: Nice little trick you pulled there -- but that won't be enough to get the slip on us.
Unbeknownst to Umeme, the Nightmare forces its rungu, still stuck in the hardened encasement, to begin spewing out sparks. As soon as Friska catches notice of that, she realizes that it's about to explode and closes the windshield shut the moment her hovercraft gets caught in a fiery explosion, along with the discarded body.
Umeme: [quickly turns around] FRISKA!!
The cheetah draws his utmost attention towards the possibly hurt hare, letting the shortened beast escape past him. Radi also takes notice of the explosion, and sees the hovercraft wildly tumble downhill out of the smoke. While the two speedsters bullet over to Friska, the running Minotaur Nightmare desperately tries finding some tall grass to hide in. It spots a sizable patch from away and rushes right for it; however, the Nightmare suddenly begins to slow down, as the harsh effects of the diamphotoxin finally start to kick in. Back to Friska, despite appearing slightly banged up and in a daze, she regains her senses and gets back up. But in doing so, she accidentally pressed an eject button for the same seat that Doc (again still in his shell) is now laying on after briefly tumbling around the Hopper. He's sent straight out of the hovercraft and up into the air, and since he isn't strapped to a seat belt, he flies right off the propelled seat.
Friska: (gasp) Doc!!
Radi is prepared to fly full throttle and catch him, but gets stopped by Umeme.
Umeme: Hold on, wait!
Radi: Wait for what?! Doc's about ta'...
Abruptly, a bonk followed by a thud can be heard by the trio. They turn to see that it came straight from the Minotaur Nightmare, out cold after getting hit in the head by Doc's hard metallic shell. Silence occurs between the trio, as well as the arriving hunter gatherers who saw the whole thing.
Umeme: Bullseye.
Radi: Did... did that seriously just work? Why?
Umeme: I got a better question. Why are you complaining?
Radi tries to respond to that but realizes that his point has been taken.
Radi: Hm, well when you put it that way...
And so, the peregrine propels himself high into the air and reperforms his diving stoop, piercing down through the clouds and straight towards the subdued beast. But right before he comes into contact with the Nightmare...
CUT TO BLACK
>> >> >> NOW LOADING...
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ACT III [EXT. / ANGOLAN SAVANNAH / SUNSET]
After hours of rebooting his internal systems, robo turtle finally awakens out of his shell mode, and sees Umeme, Radi, and Friska hurrying over to him. They had just finished putting out all the flames created by the defeated Centaur Nightmare.
Doc: Frisk-
Friska: C'mere you! [hugs Doc as tight as she can]
Doc: ... [hugs her back, but not as tightly to avoid breaking something]
Radi: Well, look who's finally outta sleep mode.
Doc: Correction, it was a much needed system restart. [sees the sun setting]... Though I didn't expect it to take so long.
Umeme: You definitely missed a lot, Doc. But in a nutshell, the "Nightmare Radar" was a success. [Friska shows Doc the fully functioning tracking device] All thanks to you.
Doc: ... Impressive.
Doc sees that clumped particles of energy are coming from inside the trunk of Friska's hovercraft, which appears to be partially wrecked after that fiery explosion. Even one of its pieces falls off, just to add salt to the wound.
Friska: (lets out a defeated sigh) Can't say the same about my Hopper though.
Radi: Man, are these Nightmares unpredictable or what?
The San member Quaku climbs down a tall tree after navigating a way back home.
Quaku: [walks over towards the group of four] "Nightmares"... Is that what those demons were called?
Radi: Oh yeah, I actually came up with the name myself. Ya' like?
Quaku: ... Am I supposed to like the name of a creature that almost burnt me, my brother, and the rest of my people to death?
In all honesty, Radi has little to no words powerful enough to counter such a response. Hm, maybe this'll do the trick.
Radi: ... Uh...
Quaku: Well, no matter. It's getting late, so we should head back to our village now. Thank you again, my friends.
The grateful hunter-gatherer heads back to his group, eager to meet the gang again someday.
Umeme: [elbows Radi] "Catching on" huh?
Radi: (a tad miffed)... Y'know what? I'm in a good mood either way. I took out my first ever Nightmare, a-
Friska: (correcting Radi) "We" took out "our"!
Radi: [rolls his eyes] Yeah, yeah. And as a bonus, "we" didn't even need Terra's help.
Suddenly, the scene zooms out towards a distant tree that Terra, undetected, is laying up in.
Terra: ...
A flashback shows Terra flying at high speed, searching for the ziggurat's new whereabouts. She then appears above the clouds, scouring the area around her for any signs of the unearthly architecture, but to no avail. Terra sees the distant moon and its prominent crack, letting out an exhale in slight frustration -- but just then -- she spots a glimmering light across the land's horizon. After flying over to the light, it's revealed to be a starting battle between the three young ones and Centaur Nightmare. The jellyfish gets ready to step in and finish this; however, she stops and thinks to herself. Terra is well-aware of their capabilities (especially Umeme and Radi's) and understands that they want to help any way they can. So instead of interfering, she keeps her presence hidden and allows them to have a chance at defeating their first ever Nightmare. Three more flashbacks are shown, each one in which Terra uses her psychokinesis undetected:
1.) She kept the tornado of fire from spreading any further towards the wild dogs, waiting for one of the three to save them.
2.) She pushed the cheetah out of the centaur's devastating all-four hoof strike down. He managed to survive, assuming that his speed saved him -- all while he rushed up towards its back to rodeo ride it.
3.) She shut the windshield of Friska's hovercraft, doing so right before Friska could press the close button, as the hare's reaction time just wasn't fast enough. If not for the jellyfish, then the hare would've been severely injured from the explosion of the Nightmare's rungu.
The flashback(s) ends, with Terra watching the hunter-gatherers heading home while waving the others goodbye, as do the group of four themselves for that matter. After that, Doc gets inside the busted up hovercraft and takes the wheel this time. As for Friska, she's seen munching on a carrot (more specifically its leafy stem top) while making some tweaks and adjustments to the Nightmare Radar prototype. Despite some of the Hopper's damages, it's still up and running -- and husk samples of the Nightmares (some extra included) remain intact inside its trunk.
Terra: (via her thoughts) Hm, work in progress I suppose.
Terra starts to hear a series of chirps and tweets, and she sees that it's coming from a cut-throat finch that flies over and lands on her smooth, umbrella-like top -- finding it rather comfy. Not minding being used as a resting place, Terra responds with a softhearted smile. The scene then cuts back to the group of four, heading home as well.
Radi: So, Umeme. We still never finished our morning race. Wanna do it on our way home?
Umeme: Seriously? After the long day we just had?
Radi: Oh... well -- I mean uh-
Umeme: Ah just joshin' ya. I'm down. (jumps over to Friska, finished with her carrot top) You two gonna be fine on your way back to the lab?
Friska: Of course. [shares a quick kiss with Umeme before he jumps off the hovercraft] Take care, you guys.
Doc: Farewell.
As the two speedsters blaze off past the sunset, Doc turns to the opposite direction and begins a long trip back to the lab.
Doc: [gets a good look at the wreckage] Friska, are you comfortable sitting in here?
Friska: [still tinkering around] Nothing a few replacement parts here and there can't solve. Then the Hopper will be as good as n-
Accidentally, Friska gets the radar device to start buzzing out with purple electricity, shocking both her and Doc (déjà vu for the latter). This affects the Hopper as well, as its propulsion systems switch off briefly abruptly. This causes the hovercraft to drop onto the solid ground, receiving a little more damage than it already has.
Friska: ... Well uh, "good" in general. (lets out a nervous chuckle, only for it to get reduced to a bit of coughing)
Doc: Friska, do you mind adjusting the radar after we get back to the-
Suddenly, Doc blasts off right out the hovercraft after a remnant spark affects the eject mode for the driver's seat.
END