“Enough of this! Give us Gosia’s Crystal now.”
“As if.” Al replied.
“Have it your way. What a shame we have to trash such a wonderful little roller-rink.”
Green pulled his gun so that it aimed right at Alfred’s chest. Marcie and Flux tensed beside him.
ZING!
Alfred opened his eyes wide with shock as an energy rifle round flew from the right, traveling through the air faster than sound until it stopped in the middle of Green’s head. The man in the tuxedo dropped to the floor, instantly dead. Alfred turned to see where the shot had come from.
Up on a balcony to the right was an old woman. In her hands was a long sniper rifle, still smoking at the barrel from the powerful energy round that had just been blasted out of it. She wore a nice white dress and two golden hoop earrings in each ear. Her face was wrinkled to where one could tell she was quite old, but her eyes flared with fire. Her gray hair was neatly pulled into a bun on the top of her head. Two fine red wooden sticks stuck in her hair.
“Nobody’s trashing this Roller-Rink. You’ve already destroyed my ceiling! And do you realize how long it’s going to take to wax that floor? A hell of a lot longer now that Leprechaun boy is bleeding all over it!” the old woman yelled out to the Huck men.
“Jenni! Looks like you haven’t missed a beat. Thanks for that by the way.” Alfred called up to her.
“Anything for you Al, now come on- let’s get these bastards out of here!” she yelled back.
“You guys hold them off while I get a gun!” Alfred instructed his companions as he ran towards the counter near the entrance.
By now most of the rollerbladers and crowd had made it safely out of the doors and were all taking off in spaceships in the parking lot.
“Hey, they killed Green! The boss isn’t gonna be happy- get ‘em!” a man called Blue directed the other men.
Al zig-zagged all the way across the rink floor, bullets beginning to pepper the ground around him. He could see Papari up ahead ducking under the counter and every few seconds popping up to unload a clip from an assault rifle.
“Hey old man, you got my shoes and an extra gun?” Al yelled to him as he ran.
Papari smirked and grabbed Al’s shoes, throwing them over the counter. There was something big and metal in one of them- it was an energy revolver. Alfred was about to reach it when someone landed right in front of him. It was a man in a yellow suit. He looked to be unarmed.
“Just a second there slick. You’re not going anywhere.” Yellow stated.
“Oh yeah? And who’s going to stop me? You, Banana man?”
“Enough talk.” the man replied, reaching his arms behind his head and pulling out two longswords.
Alfred looked around quickly, Marcie was tied up with a guy in red. Flux was firing his own energy revolver at two of the guys up on the hoverboards. Papari was busy keeping Jenni covered while she aimed down at a man in orange. Al had no choice but to take this guy on himself.
Reaching to his waist he grabbed and flicked open his Rift Blade. The man with the swords paused for a moment to laugh.
“That’s not much of a sword.”
“You must not know much about Rift Resolvers, eh Banana man?”
“All I know is my boss wants that crystal and you have it. Therefor, you die.” he swung one of the blades out, but Alfred met it quickly with his knife.
They went on like this for a couple of minutes, with Yellow on the offensive and Al simply trying to block all of his attacks.
Sling!
Alfred grimaced as the edge of one of Yellow’s blades sliced into his shoulder.
“You’re not bad, but how long can you keep this up?” Yellow asked.
“You’re right, probably not much longer. So let’s make this quick!” Al yelled as he jumped back from the man, and reached into his jacket pocket pulling out Henry.
Al threw Henry on the ground beside Yellow, who dove away from the golden egg.
“HAHA what’re you doing on the ground over there?” Alfred chuckled, raising up his Rift Blade in his right hand.
“Nice trick. I thought it was a grenade, but it didn’t get you anywhere.” Yellow sneered, beginning to get to his feet.
“It got me some distance for a nice throw, eh Banana? Or should I call you Banana Split now?” Alfred laughed at his own cheesy joke.
“What’re you talk- ugh!” the man choked in pain as Alfred pulled back his arm and threw the blade in one swift motion, sticking it in Yellow’s chest.
Alfred watched as a rift opened in the middle of the man, sucking his body into the portal from the inside out.
“Ouch, I bet that hurt!” Al said as he picked up his knife off the ground, and ran to his shoes and gun.
Quickly he slid his feet into them and picked up the energy revolver. Looking behind the counter, he saw a man in blue choking Papari around the throat with both hands. Alfred closed his left eye, and took aim with his revolver.
CRACK
The bullet exploded powerfully out of the revolver, hitting Blue right in the side of the head. His hands slowly released the old man who was coughing as he tried to regain his breath. Alfred ran the rest of the way to him.
“Thanks kid!” Papari said to Al.
“No problem! Now come on, let’s take care of the rest of these guys.”
They both took cover below the counter and began firing rounds at what was left of the Huck men. Soon enough there was just one more remaining, the man wearing the Violet suit that had been laughing before. He was firing nonstop rounds at Marcie. She ducked, dove, and danced all over the floor, making sure her head wasn’t hit. Other than that she simply let the bullets hit against her armor, it would take more than energy rounds to pierce through the rare metal.
Alfred laughed when he saw Violet continuing to pull the trigger but no more bullets were coming out. He was out of ammo. Marcie stopped her dodging and stood up straight. She touched something on her arm that opened a small case, from which she pulled out a throwing star.
“Woah, red-armor chick has some cool weapons! What, are you like a ninja or something?” Flux asked while catching his breath.
Marcie turned at him and glared, “How do you not know my name!”
“Um Mary? Margret?” Flux offered.
Marcie rolled her eyes and turned back to Violet, who had an odd look on his face.
“Hey lady, do I know you or something?” Violet asked, not seeming to realize he was in a very bad position.
“No.” Marcie replied, a serious look in her eye.
“Wait a second, yes I do, you worked for- UGH!” the man grimaced as Marcie stuck the throwing star into his arm.
“Haha look at that, she just got my arm!” Violet seemed okay with this and reached his hand down as if to pull it out.
But just as he was about to pull it out, Alfred noticed Marcie had an amused look on her face. Everyone in the rink watched as the star started to spin faster and faster as it moved up Violet’s arm, cutting deep and sending blood flying everywhere. Violet screamed in pain as the star went up to his shoulder, then down his chest and finally dug deep into where his heart was before finally coming to a halt. The man dropped dead on the floor, essentially a giant pile of scraps.
“Wow. That’s some throwing star you got there Marce.” Alfred said as he, Papari, and Jenni made their way over to her and Flux.
“First of all, don’t call me Marce. Second, that’s a vein-chaser. Stick it in an enemy and it will find the nearest vein and trace it back to your heart, cutting the whole way.” she explained.
“How...lovely.” Flux said awkwardly.
“Sorry about all the blood Jenni.” Marcie said to the old woman, who held hands with Papari.
“Oh it’s fine dear. I’m glad to see Al has someone like you watching out for him. I’m angrier about that big hole in my ceiling, but we’ll get it fixed up soon enough.” she replied, and Marcie looked embarrassed for a moment.
“Um excuse me everyone, but there is something coming through the hole right now.” Henry announced.
Al looked up at the sound of Henry’s voice. Sure enough, a small spacecraft was hovering just outside of the hole. A balcony unfolded from the door of the ship, which then slid open. A large man wearing a black tuxedo stepped out. On his tux there was a blue rose pinned. He was quite tall and sturdy in stature. It was hard to make out too much of the details of his face, but Al noticed he had a scar stretching across his left cheek. He had a medium-length beard as well, that made him seem even more intimidating. The man stood on the balcony for a moment clapping his hands slowly before laughing a little.
“Well, well. Looks like the legends are true about you Alfred Moreno. Took out my whole little well-dressed squad, and managed to steal away my prized assassin too.” the man looked only at Al, ignoring Marcie and the rest of them.
“I take it you’re Sham-Bon then?” Al asked, meeting his gaze all the way.
“That’s right. You keep your little crystal for now, but I am in need of it. And I will have it.” Sham-Bon spoke as if it were certain.
“Not while I’m alive. What do you want it for anyway?” Al asked.
“Oh, a variety of things I suppose. I was going to use it to save Hemphion of course. But seeing as how the very child I raised has decided to turn traitor, perhaps I’ll use it to destroy her village instead.”
“You’ll never destroy us and you’ll never get the crystal!” Marcie yelled furiously up at her old boss, her emotions getting the best of her.
Alfred turned to his right, his eyes opening wide as he noticed Jenni was aiming down at Sham-Bon with her energy rifle.
“You wrecked my Roller-Rink, scum!” she growled as she pulled the trigger.
The bullet smacked dead-on into Sham-Bon’s head, which flung backward in an unnatural way after being hit by the bullet. But his solid body didn’t drop, it remained standing upright. Alfred watched in surprise as the king’s head slowly raised back up from where his neck was bent backwards until he was perfectly fine. Even the bullet hole had sealed itself back up.
“It’s going to take a lot more than that to kill me. I will have that crystal Moreno.” the head of the Huck Family declared as he stepped back inside of the small spacecraft.
The door collapsed shut behind him and whoever was piloting the ship took off into space. Everyone turned to Al once Sham-Bon’s ship had left.
“Well what’re you looking at me for? We’ve got some work to do and I need to figure out how to use Gosia’s Crystal to create a new sun. I think I may know a way to do it, but I need some more information. Luckily I’ve got about ten years left to work it out before the sun explodes.” Alfred sounded confident- as if he had taken Sham-Bon’s declaration as a personal challenge not to let him get his hands on the crystal.
“Not quite...I hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but that’s what that report on the news was about that you turned off. You see, during our trip here four years have gone by on the planet Hemphion. So it’s got approximately six years left until uh... well you know.” Flux gulped as he finished speaking.
“Alright, six years- I can still do this!” Al announced, not discouraged in the slightest.
“No Al, you’re not realizing the bigger problem that raises.” Marcie began, a look of concern growing in her eyes. “By the time we travel to Hemphion to try and save it, it might be too late.”
Alfred did not look nearly as confident now. He looked as if he wanted to say something but couldn’t think of what he could possibly do if it would already be too late by the time they got there.
“Wait! I have just performed the calculations and if we leave for Hemphion in the next hour there will still be about three days remaining until the sun explodes. Hemphion’s surface might be a little warmer than usual- but it will be liveable all the way up until eight minutes after the sun explodes. That’s how long it will take the force of the explosion to travel to the planet. Oddly enough, I retrieved most of the information regarding Hemphion’s sun from the royal Huck Family’s database.” Henry spoke up and explained.
The team looked around at each other. It was hard to be optimistic with only three days to learn how to create a new sun. Alfred looked down for a moment, seemingly disheartened by what everyone was beginning to think. Then he looked up and spoke.
“Three days and eight minutes. If we leave as soon as possible that gives us just a little more time. Hey old man,” he turned to Papari, “How’s about lending me a ship?”
Papari looked surprised for a moment, then a smile came over his face.
“That’s the Al I know- you got it buddy.” The man exchanged a look with his wife- there was no mistaking the pride they had in the young man they adopted.
“You can’t be serious Alfred! This is beyond what I can ask of you, you’ll be risking your life for a planet that you have no attachment to whatsoever. If we fly to Hemphion there won’t be time to get far enough away to escape the blast of the sun. It’s suicide.” Marcie spoke fiercely as if she couldn’t be convinced to let Alfred take on the responsibility.
“It’s not suicide if he pulls it off.” Flux spoke up, a grin on his face. Marcie looked at him in surprise as he continued, “You’re forgetting one important detail here red- I mean Marcie. You’ve got Al Moreno on your side. And me too. Besides, worst case scenario we open a couple rifts and get the hell out of there!”
“Don’t forget about me!” Henry piped up excitedly.
Alfred nodded to Aaron, showing he was thankful for his faith and support.
“It’s settled then. We’re leaving for Hemphion as soon as possible. Aaron, let’s give Papari a hand getting the ship ready.” Alfred instructed.
The three men (with Al carrying Henry in his pocket) headed to the parking area behind the building. Marcie remained standing where she was until she felt a wrinkled but firm hand grasp her shoulder.
“For anyone else that never lived on Hemphion, it might seem foolish to risk their life to save a planet they have never been to or know nothing about. But for Alfred, I’m afraid everything in the Universe is valuable. He swore his life to guarding it- and nothing will change his mind if he thinks he can help save one of its planets.” Jenni explained.
Marcie’s face changed to a soft smile as she replied, “He really is something isn’t he?”
“We sure think so! Now come on, let’s see if we can give those boys a hand getting the ship ready.”
And with that the old sharpshooter and the young assassin headed after their friends.
8 Jashi
“Alright everyone, strap in! We’re about to go to hyper speed and you don’t want to be standing up when I tell Henry to get this puppy blasting off into space!” Al appeared to be back in high spirits as he spoke to Flux and Marcie.
They had said their goodbyes to Jenni and Papari, who had already begun repairing the damages done by Sham-Bon’s men.
The three of them strapped into their seats while Henry configured himself to set the ship at high speed.
“Hello ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to this wonderful flight to Hemphion today. There will be no refreshments during the duration of this trip. The flight will take an estimated thirty minutes. And now as we are about to enter high speed, you should feel a slight bump and then will be able to enjoy the rest of the trip strapped into your seat.” as Henry finished speaking the spacecraft leapt forward at insane speeds toward the planet Hemphion.
After a few moments Flux had fallen asleep in his chair, and Marcie turned to talk to Al.
“Do you know how you’re going to do it?” she asked anxiously.
“I’ll be honest- not exactly. I know the key lies in something to do with duplication. A spiritual entity told me that Gosia’s Crystal has that power. So if I can find a way to make a copy of a healthy sun, I should be able to replace the one that is set to explode.”
“But...even if you could somehow figure out a way to do
all of that- won’t Hemphion’s current sun just blow up into the new one you create?” Marcie looked doubtful.
“One step at a time. I’m going to give this everything I’ve got, okay? So just bear with me and try to help as much as you can.” Alfred tried to reassure her.
“Well, I don’t know how much help this will end up being, but there’s a group of people I want you to talk to when we get to Hemphion.”
“Who are they?” Al questioned.
“A community of people known as the Gazers. Many will have likely begun to doubt their wisdom by the time we arrive. But my mother told me when I was little that her parents had been Gazers before they passed away- and that they knew all sorts of secrets about Hemphion. They might know something that can help.”
“Hmm.” Alfred thought for a moment before speaking back up. “Sounds like a cult.”
“Look, like I said they’re a little weird- but just listen to anything they might have to offer, I think it could help.”
“Alright alright, enough nagging. I’ll give the mystical Gazers a chance to speak their minds. If they’ve got any left…” Al said the last part under his breath.
The two fell silent and the rest of the trip went by fairly quickly. Alfred was studying his Rift Blade when Henry broke the silence- waking Flux in the process.
“We will now be returning to moderate speeds and will land on the planet Hemphion in a few minutes.”
“Yaaaawn. So what’d I miss?” Flux stretched in his chair, blinking in the white light of the spacecraft’s interior.
“We’re about to land, come on.” Al replied.
They could feel the ship shake as the propulsors slowly decreased their power output. Alfred led the way down into the exit bay and out of the entry hatch. Henry had landed the vehicle in a medium-sized clearing surrounded by dense trees with full heads of orange-red leaves.
“Uh...Marcie? I thought we were going to start by going to your house. This looks more like a forest.” Flux arrogantly pointed out.
“We are, but there wouldn’t have been anywhere closer where we could’ve landed the ship. Follow me, both of you, so you don’t get hurt.”
Al Moreno And the Crystal of Gosia Page 7