Crystal Ch. 10

"Why hasn't she moved?" Shell asked. "With the amount of females she keeps kidnapping, and the bugs she has, it would seem like she'd need a lot more room."

"The Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge is a big region, so she probably is still using it," Commander Shinobay said. "Then again, she does have two cities on either side of her base, so she is most likely using them as well."

"That'll be easy to deal with after this is over," Ghost commented. "What I'm really worried about are the heroines and Olivia."

"Trust me when I tell you I know how you guys feel," Commander Shinobay said. "Pollen has Dr. Walton and it tears me in two that we're meeting on the opposite side of the battle. But remember, they are under Pollen's control. They're not thinking about their feelings for anyone of you."

"So I'm going to have to kill my girlfriend?!" Zipper exclaimed. The heroes looked to the Commander in astonishment as they realized they were in the same predicament.

"We are not killing anybody, nor will the military be killing anyone," Commander Shinobay informed, relieving every hero of the proposed solution. "The military and we will be equipped with special modified tranquilizer guns so that they can bring down any female they encounter. That does not mean Pollen will do the same; she has real bullets so we're going in with a disadvantage. Add to the fact that she knows we're coming soon, on her turf in case anyone forgot, and this is suddenly looking like a suicidal mission."

"But we're heroes, failure is not an option," Osprey declared.

"We're going in there and stopping whatever plan Pollen has," Shell added.

"We are bringing everyone back, male and female," Ghost said

"No matter how many times we fall, we will rise," Zipper joined in.

"We're going in full force, no holding back," Jasper said.

"Pollen has no idea who she's messing with," Max smiled.

"That's my boys," Commander Shinobay grinned. "Let's go kick some ass!"

*****

"General Miller, it's a pleasure meeting you again," Commander Shinobay greeted as he and the heroes arrived in Alexandria, Louisiana in the afternoon.

"I should be saying that to you, Commander," General Miller said as they shook hands. He then greeted each of the heroes one at a time, shaking with them as well. "Have you been informed about what the plan for the attack, Commander?"

"No, they didn't mention it," the Commander answered.

"Well, to put it simply, we're going to gas the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge from three different directions," General Miller informed. "We have large canisters that will embed itself into the earth and release gas in the air."

"With the girls still there?" Commander Shinobay asked astonished.

"It makes it easier for us if we do it this way," General Miller said. "It's not deadly, it's just something to knock the girls unconscious and put the bugs on the ground."

"And the trees?" the Commander inquired.

"Ever since the trees showed up, it's been the Government's top priority to remove them the best way possible," General Miller answered. "The gas should negate her abilities long enough for her to be apprehended with minimal casualties as possible."

"That's fine and all, but I'm more worried about the canisters being too close to one of the girls and her ending up critically injured," Commander Shinobay voiced his concern.

"Let's just hope everything goes smoothly," General Miller said.

"And be ready when it doesn't, Commander Shinobay agreed.

*****

Deep in the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge, the captive females were busy. They were moving large, frozen blocks of Dr. Genie's mind control serum from the hollowed tree to the river where a container made of ice was waiting for them. When the container was full, Crystal made another one while she sent the full one down the river like the other twelve. As for the rest of the heroines and villainesses, they were on the lookout for any military personnel that might have tried to sneak in. The large bugs were in the trees above, waiting on Pollen's orders.

Inside the tree house in the hollowed tree, Dr. Genie and Dr. Walton were working together to create more of the mind control serum working four times as fast. They made the serum to where any male that tasted it would experience extreme pain as his body would morph itself into a female's body, inside and out. However, it did nothing to regular females but put them under Pollen's control.

Even Pollen was busy working. Unlike a certain lazy leader who has everyone else do his dirty work, Pollen was having the trees help by creating a defensive wall to stop attacks that she knew was coming. But even as she made them line up, there was no military personnel showing up to engage her in combat. She knew an attack was coming, but the direction of the attack was oblivious to her.

Gradually, she heard the sound of aircraft approaching and ran back to the hollowed tree. Controlling the females, she had them move to the hollowed tree as well, halting progress as they listened to the sound of the jet drawing closer. Looking up, they saw the jet fly overhead, leaving black specks as it passed by.

The more they watched, the more the black spots got bigger until they weren't specks but a long cylinder objects. Seconds later, the cylinders struck the ground with a loud crash. When each of the cylinders were secured firmly in the ground, the top half twisted, revealing holes that released thick black smoke in the air. Every bug that was nearby collapsed or fell to the ground immediately, twitching before lying completely still.

Upon seeing the damage done, the girls dropped to the floor so that they wouldn't breathe the smoke. However, the smoke didn't affect them in the slightest as more bugs were collapsing or falling from the air.

"Fly away! Fly away!" Pollen ordered the remaining bugs. Even with her orders, there were still some bugs that breathed the smoke and ended the same way as the others.

The sound of aircraft alerted her that another attack was about to happen, but this time she wasn't going to be taken by surprise. As the jet approached, Pollen had the girls take gas masks that was taken from the nearby military bases and put them on. Just like the first one, the jet flew by, leaving black specks to fall to the ground.

Just as how the first group of black specks landed, the second group landed the same way, albeit in different locations. This time, instead of black smoke, it was green smoke that was released from the cylinder. Pollen had no doubt that this gas was intended for her. However, instead of running to safety, she let the gas flow through her nostrils. She could feel her power fight the intruding smoke and fail, but she didn't let that bother her one bit.

"Mistress!" Pollen shouted. When the villainess showed up, Pollen ordered, "Push the smoke above the trees so the girls can see clearly. And if another plan comes, bring it down."

The villainess nodded as she got to work. Taking control of the white smoke, Mistress sent it up in the air to where it seemed like it was a cloudy day over the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge. As she finished working on that, another jet was approached and Mistress took action. Staying beneath the treetops, Mistress waited until the canisters were released before she took control. As they fell, she made them arch and sent them back up to the jet. The velocity of the canisters were so fast that they went right through the jet before the pilot even knew he'd been hit. When he did realize, he ejected himself out of the aircraft and watched crash while he parachuted down safely.

*****

"I guess we can take that as a sign that Pollen wised up to our attack, right Commander?" General Miller sighed.

"No doubt about that," Commander Shinobay replied.

"Then Commander, if you don't mind," General Miller said before turning to his troops. "ALRIGHT, THAT SMOKE WILL NOT LAST FOREVER SO YOU HAVE, SO YOU HAVE LESS THAN TWO HOURS TO GET YOUR ASSES DOWN THERE AND FREE THOSE GIRLS FROM POLLEN'S CONTROL! MOVE OUT!"

"YES SIR!" the troops responded before loading up into the military vehicles.

"Alright guys, here's the plan," the Commander said, bringing the heroes together. "The military is going to be focused on dealing with the girls. We will be taking on the heroines and villainesses. That's about ten to seven. It's kind of lopsided, I know, but we didn't come this far to give up. Osprey, you're in the sky. Find Mistress so we can deal with her immediately, since she is the biggest threat. Shell, you and Zipper going ahead of the military. Locate Ruthless and deal with her. Ghost, you're retrieving the girls that has been tranquilized. Max, you and Jasper are going behind enemy lines and bringing down her headquarters. I'm staying behind to deal with any girls that attempts to break through our lines. We came here for victory and we're not leaving without it."

"Yes sir!" the heroes said. Disbanding the group, the heroes turned to see Cherry stand behind them with a smirk on her face.

"Damn it," Commander Shinobay muttered as she teleported away. "We're still going with the plan. Get it done and get it done fast."

The heroes immediately went into action. With permission, Max had made a vehicle that could contain each and every one of them, falling in line with the military. For a while, nothing happened. It was a peaceful drive on a deadly mission. But as they drove closer, shots were fired as the girls in the trees were taking aim at them. Max made the vehicle bulletproof, but was unable to do anything as a couple of military vehicles swerved off the road.

"Max, take us ahead of the military," Commander Shinobay ordered. "It looks like we're going to have to draw the girls' attention so the military can arrive."

Heeding his orders, Max made his makeshift vehicle rise over the military and take a shortcut straight to the front line. The moment the vehicle landed, it disappeared and the heroes initiated the plan. Osprey immediately flew above the trees while Shell and Zipper went deep into the forest to look for Ruthless. Jasper and Max had to stay back for a while until the military could catch up and then they flew up to look for Pollen's headquarters. Only Ghost and the Commander was left with the military when the fight really began.

The girls had stationed themselves in the trees while the military took cover behind their vehicles. Commander Shinobay and Ghost, on the other hand, were standing in No Man's Land, where bullets were flying all over the place. The Commander was obviously protecting himself via his force field as Ghost was intangible. The moment a girl was shot in the leg, Ghost ran into the enemy lines and pulled her back to the military's side. However, the times that happened roughly equaled the times a soldier was shot, with it usually being the same soldier that made the shot.

Deep in the forest, Shell and Zipper had their hands full as they battled Ruthless. As it turned out, she was a very different fighter than what Shell was used to. He had already lost count of how many times she kicked him in the face, swept him off his feet, and threw him against a tree. Zipper had been given the same treatment, but he wised up to her tactics quick and put some distance between them.

As she came at him with a barrage of punches, Shell made an impromptu lunge and caught her by her waist. Defenseless, he felt her punches rain down on his skull, but he held on tightly and slammed her against a tree. The attack actually took her by surprise and she slumped to the ground in a daze. Sensing an opportunity, Shell pulled out a tranquilizer to put Ruthless out of the fight. But before he could, he heard leaves rustling above him and looked up . . . to see Dot staring down at him.

"Kitten?" he said as Dot jumped down.

*****

Up in the air, Osprey was circling the treetops, dutifully looking for Mistress. One of the problems with that were the trees. Fortunately, they weren't moving, but it still didn't make things easier for him to spot Mistress. Another problem were the females in the treetops. They were constantly firing at him to the point where he had to speed up his flying. He did screech a few times but that didn't bring down as many girls as he had liked.

As he made double backed to look for Mistress, a beam fired from below the trees hit him in his abdomen. Gritting his teeth, Osprey forced himself to bear with the pain as he struggled to maintain control. Unfortunately, that proved to be unwise as a bigger beam hit him square in the chest. Instantly, he fell, breaking branches or bouncing off them and hitting the ground with a thud. There was no mistaking that it was Hyper that fired at him and she stepped in his view as he stood up.

Hyper moved first and fired beams from both hands. Osprey ducked then flew up in the trees, still reeling from his wounds. Hyper followed after him, firing beams to flush him out into the open. When that didn't work, she flew up to higher branch than he was and fired down upon him. Osprey dodged by jumping out the tree, rolling to ease the pain. When Hyper flew at him to finish him off, he hit her with a screech that caused her to drop like a rock.

Limping, he moved as fast as he could to tranquilize her but it wasn't fast enough; she was standing before he could cover half the distance. Knowing he didn't have time to dodge, Osprey screeched at her before she could hit him with a beam. She stumbled, but didn't fall. Retaliating, she fired her beams at him. Just in the nick of time, Zipper raced onto the scene and tackled Osprey to the ground.

"I got her," Zipper said, passing him a vial of Rapid Recovery Medicine.

And before Osprey could think of a response, Zipper ran to confront Hyper. She fired at him as well but Zipper sidestepped the beams and crashed into her. They wrestled on the ground, vying for the position on top and Zipper won. Hyper immediately reached out to grab him but Zipper moved too fast for her to catch him her grip. He turned the tables on her when he pinned her arms against her chest, making sure her hands weren't facing him.

"Osprey, tranquilize her for me," Zipper called.

Having already administered the medicine, Osprey was back on his feet, racing to give Zipper a hand. Seeing him drawing closer, Hyper rolled Zipper over, putting her back on top, and started ascending in the air with Zipper hanging on. Osprey leaped at that moment and caught her, forcing them all to crash back to the ground. Immediately, Hyper started flailing her arms and legs, hitting Osprey and Zipper in the face, but they held on to her as Zipper tranquilized her.

"I'll take Hyper back to Commander Shinobay," Zipper told Osprey.

"Let me," Osprey suggested. "I can look for Mistress while I'm at it. And besides, you still have to get back to Shell."

"Oh man, I forgot!" Zipper exclaimed, racing off to the other hero.

*****

Regarding Shell, he was having a tough time staying on his feet as Ruthless and Dot attacked him simultaneously. They had smartly realized that attacking him from behind brought better results (for them) rather than engaging him head on. And he couldn't run, since he was more or less trying to keep them occupied until help arrived.

And thankfully, help did. As Ruthless leaped from the trees to kick at Shell's head from behind for the seventh time, she was caught midair by Zipper, and they crashed a few yards away. Now on even ground, Shell was now able to focus on Dot, who swiftly raced forward and attempted to rake him across his face with her sharp claws. He caught her arms effortlessly only to have her flip him over judo style. However, he didn't let her go. Regaining his balance, he tossed Dot in the air, jumped up and caught her, and landed on top of her, putting his weight on her as much as possible. He quickly tranquilized her, then gave her a kiss and apologized.

"Shell, you can make out later," Zipper called as he was keeping Ruthless from stabbing him with a thick branch. "Help me out here!"

Leaving his girlfriend, Shell rushed over and grabbed the branch out of her grasp. Focusing on him, Ruthless kneed him in the face then slammed him on the ground. Before she could do anything else, Zipper put her in a headlock and pulled her away from Shell. She tried spinning him off, but Zipper held on for dear life. When Shell got back to his feet, he ran over and shoved her down. With Zipper pinning her arms, Shell tranquilized her in the shoulder and watched as the villainess slipped into unconsciousness.

"Damn, fighting Asphalt was never this hard," Shell panted. "All I had to do was knock him out with my fists and that was that. I hope Crystal likes fighting Ruthless because I'm never fighting her again."

"Come on, let's take the girls back to the Commander," Zipper said, draping Ruthless on his shoulders.

*****

Max and Jasper was having a tougher time with their mission than anybody else. Initially, they were flying above the region, flying towards Pollen's headquarters, since it was the biggest tree in the area. That changed when Jasper was hit with a bullet and went down. Unable to leave him, Max followed and manifested a shield sphere around them while Jasper self-extracted the bullet from his leg.

"I told you to stick close to me so that I can provide cover for you," Max rolled his eyes. "But no, you had to make a point and do things your way."

"Will you shut up?" Jasper growled as he pulled the bullet out. He took a bottle of Rapid Recovery Medicine and drank some quickly and stood up a few minutes later as he felt it course through him.

"It's hard to when good advice is offered and a person refuses," Max shrugged, "then suffers from not taking the good advice."

"Alright, alright," Jasper covered his ears. "Fly us out of here."

"There's no point," Max shook his head. "It's easier for me if you just walk with me under this shield."

"Then why fly in the first place?" Jasper asked.

"Because it was faster," Max simply stated.

Leaving it at that, Max led Jasper deeper into the forest, searching for Pollen's headquarters. They had seen it up over the other trees when they were flying, but now that they're on the ground, it was hard to tell which direction they were even going. At one point, they thought they were going in the wrong direction, but then they'd see a girl running towards them or towards the fight behind them and they'd strengthen their resolve that they were going in the right direction.

They eventually came across it when they stepped into an area where there was a ring of grass only around the tree, informing them that Pollen had used those trees.

"Well, let's get started," Max said.

There weren't any girls around them so Max made the shield sphere disappear and let Jasper get to work. He made a small fireball and tossed it at the tree, the turned to leave.

"Hey, where are you going?" Max asked.

"Back to the front lines," Jasper replied. "If you didn't know, fire burns trees."

"Then why isn't this one burning, genius?" Max crossed his arms.

"What are you talking about?" Jasper asked, turning to face Max.

True to Max's words, the tree wasn't engulfed in flames, nor was there a smell of burnt wood either. Confused, Jasper lighted a bigger fireball and threw it at the tree with all his might. It immediately started to spread the moment it made contact with the tree and Jasper smiled. His smile faded though when he saw the fire be extinguished and again, not a trace of evidence was left that the fire was there. No longer joking around, Jasper made a humongous fireball, almost twenty times larger and flew up in the air. When he was high enough, he flew down at high speed and slammed the fireball against the tree. Like a bomb, the fireball exploded, lighting a few other trees on fire as well.