Adventures in Parodyverse: Elemental, Part 3


    The wall behind Anna, Liu Xi, and Vinnie exploded again into rubble.  This time, Lara Night was furious.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Where’s the Time Machine?”  she asked angrily.

    The other three pointed out the large, lumbering wheeled robot through the protective flames.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No, this is still wrong,”  the robot grumbled.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh, no you don’t!”  Lara hissed through clenched teeth.  She extended her arm and blasted Time Machine with such a powerful jolt of electricity that he quivered for an instant and then melted entirely from the heat.  The wall behind him exploded violently, and large chunks of concrete fell outside, down several floors into the moat below.

    The heated air from the lightning expanded violently an instant later, and exploded, shattering both walls and the ceiling.  It tossed Lara, Liu Xi, Anna, and Vinnie through the rear wall.

    Liu Xi quickly rounded up a gust of wind to slow their fall, and then produced a large pool of water at the bottom to catch them, which dissipated right after.  Then she siphoned the water from their clothing.

    Once they were on the ground and dried, she and Vinnie grabbed ahold of Lara, so they could help the blonde sit up.  She was swaying, shaking off the dizziness from the explosion.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Well, if prisoners weren’t escaping before, they sure are now.”  Vinnie said, looking up at the damage.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh shut up, you’re going to make her feel worse.”  Liu Xi replied.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sorry.”  Vinnie whispered.  He wasn’t heard, though, because Liu Xi noisily stopped the new escape in progress by creating thirty foot high stone walls around the entire complex.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why didn’t I think of that before?”  Anna whispered to herself.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You could almost be the Lair Legion all by yourself.”  Lara commented to Liu Xi.

    The Chinese girl laughed, and shook her head.  “That would take a lot more than I have.  The four of us make a nice team, though.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Let’s not congratulate ourselves just yet,”  Vinnie noted.  “We took out Time Machine, so the Machine Shop can’t keep resetting stuff on us.  But we still have the rest of them to go, and prisoners to contain.”

    Anna nodded in agreement.  “It took the entire Lair Legion, at great cost, to round up the Machine Shop and imprison them the last time.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh, great.”  Vinnie groaned.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“But,”  Anna added, “We have two of their greatest weaknesses.  Lara’s lightning seems to harm them severely, and Vinnie’s spells affect them as easily as they affect any human.  And Liu Xi of course has the choice to manipulate their metal or crush them with earth.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“And you have something special to stop them as well.”  Liu Xi pointed out.

    Anna blushed at hearing that, and she looked away.  “I don’t like to use that.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I’ll make you a deal,”  Lara told the android.  “The three of us will do our best.  If it looks like we’re going to get hurt, you protect us.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“That’s a great plan!”  Speed Machine announced, before rushing through the protective ring of fire Liu Xi was maintaining, and plowing into all four of them, using weight to knock them down hard.

    However, Speed Machine didn’t expect that Lara’s lightning was multi-directional.  All she needed to do was ground herself to the other four by touching them somehow, so they wouldn’t be lethally shocked - and since they had all been knocked on top of her, that part was easy.  Lightning seemed to come from herself, as well as Liu Xi, Anna, and Vinnie.

    Speed Machine tried to outrun all the tendrils of electricity, but in the end, they were attracted directly to the metal frame.  The robot suddenly shook in a seizure, and then dropped.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“That was so cool!”  Liu Xi enthusiastically said.  “Faite was right, lightning really is a combination of elements.  I could feel it!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You think you could make some too?”  Lara asked.

    Liu Xi shrugged.  “Not such strong ones, but I think I can.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Good.  We might need it.”  Lara pointed out Mean Machine and Fighting Machine, who were both just climbing the new stone wall around the prison.

    Vinnie grabbed two plastic packets from his pocket and held onto them tightly, waiting for the two robots to get into range.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What do those do?”  Liu Xi asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’ve heard of forget-me-nots, right?”  he asked with a smirk.

    When the two robots were close enough, he ripped open the packets.  One struck Fighting Machine, who immediately forgot why he was there, and stumbled around, confused.  The other hit Mean Machine, except that one was a condom.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oops.  Wrong packet.”  Vinnie said, sounding embarrassed.

    Then Master Machine joined them, as well as Sex Machine, Fax Machine, X-Ray Machine, Dream Machine, Wind Machine, and Weight Machine.

    A powerful blast of hurricane-force wind from Wind Machine knocked the four to the ground.  As X-Ray Machine began to power up, Lara quickly raised an energy shield around herself, Liu Xi, Anna, and Vinnie.  The shield started heating up quickly as radiation sparkled all over it.

    Anna knew they wouldn’t last long with the quickly building heat - and if Lara weakened first, she, Liu Xi, and Vinnie would soon die from radiation poisoning.  And then there were two more of the Machine Shop just climbing over the wall as well.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You three escape now, I’ll keep them busy.”  Anna said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hell no.”  Lara replied plainly.  “If we flee, we all flee at once.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Anna, how long does your shutdown power last?”  Liu Xi asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I...don’t know for sure with them.  Could be minutes, or hours.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Is it long enough to put them back in cells?”  Lara asked.

    Anna knew what they were getting at now.  They didn’t have to be defeated, just disabled long enough to lock them down.  She closed her eyes.

    The advantage the Machine Shop had was also their achilles heel - they were in constant communication.  Anna’s computer brain quickly located all of their transmissions, and overwhelmed them.

    It didn’t take long to have an effect.  Master Machine was just beginning to speak when he froze and fell silent.  A few of the Machine Shop fell to the ground.  In an instant, they all appeared lifeless.

    Liu Xi tapped her now dead digital watch and shrugged.  The shrieking escape alarm at the prison fell silent.  Police cars that had just arrived with SWAT to provide backup suddenly went dark and rolled to a stop.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“That’s why I hate using that,”  Anna pointed out.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“At least now that the police are here, they can get these guys back into cells.”  Lara pointed out.  “You did good, Anna.  Never be afraid of using what you have.”

    The blonde then fell silent when she realized that she should probably follow her own advice.


---


    Lara Night led Anna, Liu Xi, and Vinnie through the front door of the Lair Mansion.  All four of them walked past Flapjack, who leered at each one of them as they walked by - even Vinnie, which creeped him out a bit.

    Then the blonde spun around and walked backwards to speak to them.  “We rocked!”

    Anna nodded in agreement.  “This is going to be good for the Lair Legion.  If our secondaries and auxiliaries beat someone that tough, there’s not much hope for the bad guys.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“We shouldn’t tempt fate like that.”  Vinnie pointed out.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why not?”  Liu Xi asked.  “You did by hooking up with me.”

    Vinnie blushed and kept silent.  He knew she meant that his evil family would never approve, and would probably try to have her killed, if they knew.

    Which reminded him.  He saw Faite approach, and decided to intercept her.  “Can I um...talk to you for a minute?”

    Faite eyed him for a moment, then cocked her head to indicate he should follow her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You trust him with her?”  Lara asked Liu Xi.

    The Chinese girl shrugged.  “He knows now that he only gets bad luck from anyone but me.”  She then stopped Anna to ask her a question.  “Do you feel more confident about leading now?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I do.”  Anna nodded.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Me too.”  Liu Xi whispered.  “I’m starting to think Yuki planned this for a long time.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Malfunctioning?”  the android asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  The elementalist shook her head.  “Us.  Working together like this, with you leading.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  Anna nodded again.  “Yes, she probably did.”


TO BE CONTINUED?


-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2011 by Jason Froikin, and may not be 
--    reprinted without permission.  
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
--  Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
--  Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin