//------------------------------// // 4-gotten: Hot Mess // Story: The Sparkle in his Eye // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Eventually, the Wigwump's carcass fell through the bottom of the shaft into a pool of lava where it slowly dissolved. Twilight and the others carefully landed on relatively solid ground nearby. Putting her jetpack away, Twilight shrugged her shoulders as she focused her attention forward. "Let's see what awaits us now," she muttered, leading the way forward through the only path available. As she did, she muttered under her breath, "I miss exploring..." Not far ahead, a railway station could be seen through the dark forest...and Twilight was so focused on getting to it that she nearly tripped over a yellow, egg-shaped device. "Whoop!" she grunted as she caught herself before levitating the device up. "...what's this?" she wondered, scanning the device for anything dangerous before pressing what looked like a button on the front. The device immediately popped open, revealing a screen that displayed a scene similar to the foliage around them. The same voice they'd heard in the alter-space labs spoke as the image shifted, sounding very tired. "Holo-diary entry 005." The image shifted to show a swarm of some sort attacking a massive burning structure. "They came during the night, hundreds of them, and they attacked without warning. I stood atop Zuzo Fields and watched in horror as Commander Spog and his armies lay waste to Uzo City. Through ribbons of fire, I saw my creation, bloated and terrible a deadly moon hanging silently amongst the destruction." The image shifted upward, revealing a silhouette of the ship that had brought them to this world. "Ephemeris." Flames covered the screen, and a new image appeared. A strange figure silhouetted through a window, holding what looked like a strange white cat. "What plans does my enemy have for this ark? I can't explain it, but I feel as if some dark fate haunts us all from the future, and Ephemeris..." The flames shot across the screen again, and the image changed to a close up on the figures face, eyes glowing white and the mouth pulled back in a sharp-toothed grin. "...is the key." The image shifted again, this time to the same structure now a wasteland, with a hunched figure staring out over it. "These things will not stop with Magnus. We are simply the first steps, and I, Doctor Frumpus Croid, cannot shake the feeling that it was my work that made it possible." Slowly, the image dissolved into static. Alister frowned, rubbing his chin. "We seem to have picked up several useful bits of information," he murmured. "Yup!" Twilight agreed. "We now know that ship's called Ephemeris. An interesting name, to be sure. Certainly shows originality." "And he called it an ark," Nefarious added. "Sounds like it was originally meant as some sort of emergency transport, maybe." "And whoever's controlling it now is the bad guy!" Qwark proclaimed firmly. "...right?" Groaning, Alister put his hand to his face. "Yes, Qwark, that's the bad guy we're trying to stop." "Thought so," Qwark confirmed. "I mean, he was in a menacing silhouette and everything!" Alister just shook his head in frustration. "At any rate, we need to find Commander Spog, both to cripple enemy forces and get more information." "There's a rail station up ahead," Twilight indicated. "Hopefully, we can ride this one without more distractions." The rail station ride proved as uneventful as Twilight could have hoped for, and as quick. Before long, they arrived at the area designated as the Northern Extra-terrestrial Sorting Terminal...or N.E.S.T. for short. As luck had it, another shop satellite had landed nearby, allowing the group to purchase three new weapons. The first weapon, the Critter-Strike, was the latest in the long line of humorously effective transformative weaponry dating back all the way to the Morph-o-Ray, this one turning enemy hostiles into pigs. The second was the latest model of Mr. Zurkon, this one utilizing the FTF tech to coordinate its attacks with other Zurkon synthenoids. The third was a Pyro-Blaster, a flamethrower of Kerchu design, the FTF tech creating a fiery magma blast. Twilight eagerly purchased everything for everyone. "You just can't get enough of the new toys, can you?" Qwark joked teasingly. "Nope!" Twilight replied eagerly. "I wonder what I can make with these? I mean, I've already made the Bearded modifications to the Mr. Zurkons-" "Bearded?" Nefarious asked curiously. "I altered the Mr. Zurkon's to be able to generate a facsimile of my magical energy," Twilight explained. "In addition to massively increasing their firepower, it enables a wide variety of attacks that can get around most defenses." She hesitated. "However, for these ones, I removed the 'Locate City' self-destruct sequence." Nefarious stared at Twilight for a time. "...and now you play tabletop games, too? Twilight, you are making it very hard for me to stay focused on saving this planet." Twilight chuckled indulgently. "At any rate, there's really not much I can do with the Critter-Strike...but the Pyro-Blaster...oh, I'm going to have fun messing with a fire weapon again...maybe I can add ice or lightning functions..." "Well give me the Critter-Strike, then," Nefarious interjected, picking up the weapons in question. "I bet I can make something interesting with them. Maybe I can design it to make the pigs explode-" "Black Sheepinator and the Qwack-o-Blitzer," Twilight countered distractedly. "Okay...what if I tweak it so the pigs attack-" "Qwack-o-Blitzer." "...oh! What if I tweak it so that when the pigs get squashed, they release Nanotech?" "Ooh!" Twilight piped up eagerly. "That's new! How are you going to do it?" "Most of these monstrous mutations and robotic rampages we're dealing with involve runaway nanotech in some way, shape or form," Nefarious explained logically. "If I tweak the energy wave of the Critter-Strike so it stabilizes the Nanotech inside the target, it'll be stored in the pig form until broken open like a biological nanotech crate!" "Bet I finish with the Pyro-Blaster first!" Twilight challenged. "You're on!" Nefarious barked back eagerly. Sighing, Alister leaned back against the nearby cliff face they'd soon have to scale. "We'll be here for a while, won't we?" he asked to no one in particular. "I'd give it ten minutes, unless Twilight insists on waiting for Nefarious to finish," Qwark countered calmly. "In the meantime, I'm going to take a mini-siesta. Wake me when they're done." With that, Qwark lay back against the cliff face and immediately began snoring.