//------------------------------// // Bringing Down the Labs: PT2 // Story: Chronicles of the Planeswalkers // by Eagle Heart //------------------------------// Aquila facepalmed in frustration, Redik had been non-stop talking about how much zombie ass he kicked. He told Redik that he'd get him back for killing Luminoso, he just didn't say when. "And I was all like 'Come at me, bitch!' and it came running at me! It tried to attack me but it was futile! I put the throwdown on it and slammed it on the ground!" Redik said having a strange kind of boastful strut. Aqula sighed. "Redik...shut up." Redik bro-punched Aquila's shoulder "Hey, i'll shut up when you actually kill one." Aquila grunted and pushed Redik back, he grabbed a branch and kept walking, Redik kept talking. Aquila pulled the branch back and let go, it swung back and smacked Redik right in the cheek, "OW!!!! JUST OWWWWWW!!!!" Redik yelled holding his face after he fell back onto his back. He has a huge red mark going across his face now. "Was that the payback?!" Aquila laughed and said, "No, that was to get you to be quiet." Redik sighed and got up, the red mark was bleeding a little and it hurt quite a bit. He ran and caught up with Aquila, keeping his mouth shut. They finally reach the next place, it was a cave, they both walk inside. Then, something strange happens, they start to hear something, but they aren't quite sure. Redik starts rapidly tapping Aquila's shoulder, he's starting to get frightened. "Aquila Aquila Aquila! What is that?!" he says quietly as they walk in. The cave was dark, all they could see were each other, even then very faintly. "I don't know, it's even creeping me out some." Aquila says. "There's no use in turning back, I'm not doing all the work again." "O-okay...i'll t-try not to...AH WHAT WAS THAT?!" Redik yells as he hears the noise of some creatures. "Calmati (Calm down)!" Aquila says, he grabs a hold of Redik and pulls him forward to him. "I need you to stay quiet and have a spell ready at all times. Understand?" Redik nods, but nervously. After a few minutes of walking, they stop hearing the noises. Then a unholy scream of unholyness could be heard and the cave lights up. "Oh...merda." Aquila says. Redik eyes widen. "Aquila?" "Yes?" "We're going to die aren't we?" "Probably." They would be in a large cavern, a near army of zombies would have them surrounded, though they were not light what they've seen before, they seemed more fleshy and less bony, and they were very slow in their movements. "Well...if we are going to die...we might as well take a whole grappolo (bunch) with us." Aquila says, sighing. Redik's eyes then turn from fear, to anger. "Screw that!" he turns and punches one in the face, but it was strange, its head flew right off. "What the shit balls on a stick?!" Redik says. He punches another in the shoulder and its arm falls off. He picks up another and it would be light as a feather and throws it into the large group. "Alright lets kick some ass!" He jumps into the crowd, leaving Aquila's sight. Aquila smirks and charges in, tearing off the arm of one and swinging it around, smacking another and sending it flying, he throws the arm into another. He grabs one and swings it around, causing about 5 to fall apart from the force. The one he was holding does too. He continues on to destroy any who come near. He spins and slices the neck of one with his hidden blade. He continues the spin and sends his fist into the gut of the beast, sending it flying back into its bretheren knocking an unbelievable amount of them down. "Porca puttana, questo è più divertente che pericoloso (Holy shit, this is more fun than dangerous)." he says as he just keeps killing and killing. Meanwhile a giant bonfire could be seen in the middle, it would be made purely of zombies, somewhere a couple hundred of them. There Redik is, standing on top of it, blasting away at zombies as they try to climb up. "BURN BURN AAAAAHAHAHAHA! I WILL NOT BE DENIED THIS VICTORY!!!!" He says as he blasts away, being both pissed off and having fun at the same time. Zombies have scared him way too much now, he's had enough. He would kick one down and fire a fireball at another. Something snapped in him, but it is unclear what. Perhaps it was simply the desire to live, or he was fed up with these zombies, and he wants payback. Back where Aquila was, he was getting over run, multiple ones attacking him all at once, he needed to get to where Redik was. He throws a few off of himself, he brings out his hidden blades and runs forward, stabbing two in their chests, he sprints forward holding them up, using them as battering rams. He reaches where Redik was. "Redik! We need a plan!" "I already have one!" Redik replies back. "You do?!" Aquila says a little surprised while kicking one back. "What is it?!" "KILL EVERYTHING!" He yells as he throws one off. "Fine with me!" Aquila says, he starts to climb up the pile and stands next to Redik. For about 2 hours they fight, and fight and fight. Until all the zombies were dead. Aquila and Redik would be panting, the pile twice as big as before. They both sit down and cover their noses, the entire cave smelled like burnt zombie, the kind of food rich people eat. "Okay, now i'll be quiet, you did manage to take down two or three." Redik says to Aquila. Aquila just sighs and chuckles. "Why don't we go outside, make a fire and go to sleep?" Redik shrugs and stands up offering a hand. "Fine with me, it's not every day I get to be even more awesome." They both leave the cave. Aquila walks out first and starts gathering the things needed for a fire. Redik walks out and stares at the cave entrance, wondering how he's going to seal it off. Aquila eventually makes the fire and they both sit down, having simple conversations, mainly about random things like, fish, types of wood, the proper way to make a fire, and women, oh how Redik loves women. Redik finally gets tired and lays down on the wet grass, staring up at the dark leaves of the Everfree, he drifts off into sleep. He dreams about cake. Aquila climbs up into a tree and finds a comfy spot to rest in, he lays in the branch and also falls asleep, but he has a nightmare, one of if they fail their mission and how all would be lost if they did. Morning arrives to the forest and the rays of the sun start making their way throughout the woods and into our heroes resting area. Aquila is awoken from his slumber by the warm beams of light, meanwhile on the ground Redik is having a nice dream and seems to be oblivious to the light over him. Aquila jumps down from the tree and starts walking towards his partner, and then it is when he heards Redik whispering something in his sleep. The assassin interested in what his companion may be dreaming decides to just kneel down next to him and listen instead of waking him up. "No no your majesty, I don't think that's perverted at all hehehehe. If you let me, I think i could show you something perverted if you know what I mean that is huhuhuhuhu hehehe. Aquila doesn't want to imagine what kind of weird fantasy his friend is having and decides that the best course of action is, of course waking him up; In the kindest way possible of course... right? POW! "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Redik suddenly wakes up after reciving what he most likely think was a strong kick to his perverted face... his face. "The fuck is your problem, why did you kick me in my face?!" asks Redik "I saw a fly and decided to squish it. Oh wait, there it is again!" says Aquila. "No no wait! OWWWWWW!" Redik lets out, being kicked in the face again. "It is time to go and look for the last lab and besides, you were having a really nasty dream, it was making me sick. God only knows what you were dreaming." says Aquila. "For your information it was a really nice dream. Argh! Why did you have to wake me up?! Me and her majesty were about to-!" POW! "UUUGGGHHH!" says Redik as he is interrupted by a kick to his stomach. "Shut it, I don't even want to know." says Aquila. Redik stands up and grumbles. Meanwhile, they get ready to leave in search of the remaining monster/zombie/gross thingies labs. After some small preparations both our heroes depart into the depths of the forest in search of their next target. Following the path indicated in the map, that Aquila memorized, they soon find themselves in a very dense part of the forest making their search for the next lab slower and more difficult. "Ah man, how are we supposed to find that damn thing in this place, we can barely move ourselves!" says Redik losing his patience. "Relax would you fool, it's not that big of a problem. In fact, I think this could work in our favor." says Aquila "Huh? How could this be a good thing?" asked Redik with a clear feeling of doubt in his words. "Simple. I'll just climb to the top of one of these trees. Since the base is supposed to be here and of course it should be something big and easily noticeable." says Aquila before having his speech completed by Redik "And by that reasoning it would stand out among the trees in this area?" asked Redik with a hint of uncertainty in his voice. "Correct. Wait for me down here. Meanwhile, I'll go up there and check our surroundings." says Aquila. As Aquila says this he jumps and takes hold of a branch neer him and starts making his way up. Aquila climbs and climbs with great agility as expected from an assassin. For anyone watching him, it wouldn't be weird to confuse him with a well dressed monkey. When he finally arrives at the top Aquila starts using his trained eyesight to see if he can spot it out. He looks around and see if he can find something special in their surroundings. After a few seconds he finds what he was looking for or at least what he thinks he is looking for. To the north of their position, relatively close to them, what appears to be a giant tree house stands above all the other trees. Aquila smiles to himself and jumps down to meet and inform Redik of his finding. "Hey hothead. I think I have found what we were looking for." says Aquila. "What really? Well that was fast." answers Redik. "Told you it would work." "So what is it?" "A giant tree house." "...eh? Did you just say, a giant tree house?" "Yes." "..." "...is there a problem with that?" At this question Redik just gives a wide creepy smile and replys that their is no problem at all. Aquila feels a little disturbed, but for the sake of his sanity, he ignores his friend and starts leading the way to their target. Along the way Redik's mind is in a state euphoria and panic at the same time and Aquila is able to hear some mumbles coming from behind him as Redik goes saying stuff like: "Wood good yes, wood burn good, burn burn, no fire bad, fire hurt, but burning feels soo good, he hehehe hehe hehehehehe..." Aquila decides to ignore the mumbles and just keeps pushing forward... while staying a couple feet away from Flame-Butt the Psycho Flamethrower. After some time the two make it to a small clearing in the forest that has the giant tree house in the center, they notice that standing infront of what appears to be the main door, two giant zombies stand guard. "Okay we need a plan." says Aquila. "How about... you stay there and cower in the corner, and I go kick their asses?" says Redik "As much as I love that idea, I'm not sure I want to drag a dead dumb ass around with me." says Aquila. "Okay...got any better ideas?!" Redik says while crossing his arms and pouting. "Use you as a meat-shield while I prendere a pugni (pummel) things, sounds pretty nice about now. But sadly, you're only good at one thing, burning things. So..." Aquila looks around for a second... He snaps his finger as he hatches an idea. "Got it!" He runs over to one of the trees and takes two rather thick branches. He brings them back and begins to sharpen them with his hidden blades. "What are we? Cavemen?" Redik says. "You're pretty close." Aquila says as he sharpens the branches. Redik facepalms and groans. Redik sits there, bored, as he waits for Aquila to finish. After a couple minutes, Aquila finishes sharpening the branches. "Okay, light the tips on fire. Just the tips." Redik does so, not even sure what the plan is yet. "So where do I come in?" "We're going to impale them with these branches, they're long enough and strong enough to support the weight, and the fire will make sure they don't get back up." Aquila explains. "Ooooohhhh...I don't get it." Redik says. "Stabby stabby." Aquila says handing one to Redik. "Oh okay!" Redik says taking it and he charges. "No not yet! Damn it!" Aquila charges too. Aquila runs up to his. It realizes its enemies and it charges too. Aquila readies his branch and clashes with the zombie, he impales it in the stomach and forces it back into the side of the tree house. It falls to its butt and stops moving, it catches on fire and doesn't move at all. Aquila looks left. "...Redik you dumbass!" Redik missed...HE MISSED. "AHHHHHHH!!!!" He yells running in circles, the zombie chasing him. Aquila runs and picks up Redik's fallen burning branch. He charges and pushes Redik interrupting his running and screaming. Aquila jumps up and stabs the beast in the face with it. It falls over and screams an unholy wail. It thrashes around until it's consumed in the fire, then it stops. "By the time I've saved you 1,000 times, you'll have almost saved me once." Aquila says, offering a hand to help Redik up. "I had it under control!" Redik says not accepting the hand. "Sei un bugiardo. (You're such a liar.)" Aquila says. "Stop speaking in gibberish!" Redik says. "Forse non voglio. (Maybe I don't want to.)" Aquila says back. "GRRRRRR!" Redik growls back. Aquila just laughs. "Whatever! I'm burning this place down so we can go!" Redik says walking up to the tree, already conjuring his spell. 'For once I think his destructive attitude is coming in handy.' Aquila thinks to himself. After having destroyed the lab our heroes are ready to go back to the village when all of a sudden they hear grumbling and pain noises coming from the burning building behind them. When they turn around to see who or what is making those noises, the two take notice of a limping figure coming out of the building. "The hell is that? Is there still a living monster, or would that be un-living? or non-living? GAAAAH! I forget this stupid zombie things always get me confused!" Redik says putting a hand to his hand. "It doesn't seem to be one of those creatures, but a normal pony." Says Aquila to Redik. As Aquila says this, the misterious figure comes out of the building. A very badly burned pony in a lab coat appears before them. "You fools! Argh... you have done all this and you two have still failed. ha ha haha AGH!" says the mysterious pony. "What do you mean?" Asks Aquila. "My master was already alerted from your, UGH! Pre-precense and decided to put the final phase of his plan in motion. You are too late." the strange pony weakly says. "Aquila look!" announces Redik. Aquila turns back and sees Redik signaling to something. That's when he notice the rising smoke not coming from the tree behind them but from far away in the distance, most likely from the village. "You fools have fa-failed... gahahahahahaha UGH! AGH! AAAAaaaaaaaggggg." The evil Burned pony scientist dies and leaves our to heroes in their dismay. "Great now what!?" says Redik angrily, crossing his arms. "We run Redik... we run as fast as we can and hope that we are not as late as he told us we were." says Aquila And so, the two run into the forest heading for the village, ready to face whatever it is this misterious foe has unleashed upon the inoccent ponyfolk that live there.