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SITE WARS: Episode V - Attack of the Hunters (Part 2)
By Vader
JohnArnold and River stood on a walkway at the very top of the now empty arena, their faces covered with soot, their heads hanging low as SamFan approached from ahead. "This way, gentlemen," she said in manner that was trying to hide her pity, but failed miserably, escorting them across the hall. JohnArnold gave her a look of despair as they walked, and she did her best to ignore it, but couldn't help but flash a look of sympathy. They came into the large booth that Acro had been in when the Demolition Derby had started, and the large, decorative doors swung open.
"River, JohnArnold! I'm sorry that you've lost, but I can't make any exceptions. You haven't prove yourselves worthy to me," Acro said with a shrug, a sorrowful Para, Cyros, and Tango next to him. "I don't mean to make you feel bad, but all of the allies I have now have won the Derby in the past. It is a way to truly see what people are made of. I guess the Admins weren't meant to team up with smugglers, eh?"
"I don't know. I guess not," JohnArnold sighed. "Are you sure you won't- . . . oh never mind. Thank you for giving us a chance, Acro. I really appreciate it." The Admins were about to turn, walk away and walk into life of aimless wandering across the galaxy, without any hope of defeating the Flooders . . . when suddenly, there was a shot.
The bullet flew past Acro and went right into SamFan. It was a moment of complete shook for JohnArnold. What had just happened? She stood there, her eyes empty, bending low, and fell to the floor with weakening strength. "No!" John yelled, rushing over to her as another bullet whizzed into the wall, spraying small chunks of rock across the floor.
River whipped around and saw him - another hunter in blue and silver armor. Ready for action, he jumped out of the box and went running down the bleachers towards the figure, the hunter turning to make a run for as he did so. River continued running as a fast as he could, his lungs aching, his feet tiring. He ran half way around the stadium at top speed when the hunter jumped over the side of the top of the arena, igniting his jet pack and rocketing off in the distance toward the southern end of the city.
Recognizing it was useless to jump after him without a jet pack of his own, River looked for a way to catch him. His eyes darted around the stadium, and then they came to the Admins' mini-chopper, resting in the center of the arena. The blown engine had been repaired and it should work. He started running towards it quickly, dashing across the many seats and then lunged. He gripped an ad banner and then swung down to the bottom of the arena, leaping from another ledge.
He dashed inside the mini-chopper and plopped into the pilot's seat, igniting on the engine. It started up, whining, and then faded away. "Oh come on!" he impatiently yelled and smacked the ceiling. The engine came back as he wiped some sweat from his forehead in relief. He gripped the controls and shoved them forward. As he did so, River heard a repetitive beeping, knowing it meant he had a message waiting for him; but he had no time for answering messages now. He brought the vehicle upward, retracting the landing gear back inside the ship, dust from the bottom of the arena blowing up underneath him. He drove the mini-chopper forward, over the rise of the top of the arena and out to the beyond.
He saw immediately the small speck zipping through the air - his target, the hunter. He immediately rapid fired upon the hunter, but assassin was too far out of range. He kicked in the acceleration and his craft launched forward. He fired more bullets, but the highly-maneuverable jet pack, fastened to the hunter's back, made him able to dodge the bullets extremely well.
The hunter zipped across the city as it started to pour rain. River's eyes scanned the horizon to see where his prey was heading for. After a few seconds, he pin-pointed the destination - a small landing pad where a battered green, brown, and silver ship was docked. The hunter accelerated his jet pack and then slowly turned it down, dropping low to the landing pad. River realized immediately he was about to embark on a treacherous chase that was going to involve taking off this jurassicpark.com. He wasn't about to leave Para here, on this website, without him.
He swerved away from the landing pad quickly and accelerated at full speed back to the arena. He swerved quickly in between the billboards and found himself back to where he'd started from in no time. He switched on the front computer to see the hunter's ship taking off through the city as a blip on a monitor map. River rushed to lower the mini-chopper to Acro's booth in the top of the arena, opening the side hatch for the others.
"We have to follow him! He's taking off! We can't let him escape!" River yelled. "Para come on!" Para, without hesitation, rushed inside the chopper, followed by Cyros and Tango. But JohnArnold was bending low next to SamFan, who was laying on the floor as Acro was busy getting the medics for help with her bullet wound. "John, hurry!" River called with urgency.
"I can't go! I must stay with her! Leave before the hunter gets away!" JohnArnold called back, waving for them to leave him. He then bent his head low to meet SamFan's forehead, squeezing her hand . River couldn't believe that John wasn't coming with them. But it was obvious he certainly wasn't joking - and there was no point in arguing about it. He activated the hatch and it snapped shut. He turned the mini-chopper around and accelerated after the hunter, using the blip on his comp map to guide him.
He left jurassicpark.com and caught up behind the hunter's aircraft, which was rapidly escaping the site and veering in an unusual course. River looked down and checked the computer and groaned - the hunter was head for an advertisement field. "You can't follow him into there!" Para cried, watching the electronic map. "It's too dangerous!"
"We have to keep up. We can't let him get away like this," Tango said in a calmer manner. Determined, River slowed down his pace a little as they entered the field. The ads glittered with their flashing lights, several of them rocketing strait for the mini-chopper.
"Look out!" Cyros yelled. River aimed and fired as two huge ads and blew them up just as they were about to destroy them.
"You guys take over the ning! I'm going to have a hard enough time taking care of the piloting!" River told Cyros and Tango. The other two Admins ran to the back of the mini- chopper and flipped up several switches, pulling out a new compartment to man the back machine s. They immediately started spewing out bullets at the approaching ads. He kept a close eye on the hunter, who was about to make a horrible, horrible stunt in an attempt to lose them - he was piloting his craft to enter inside an ad.
River grunted in disapproval as he steered right after the hunter, entering the ad through a narrow gap and steered through the winding passageways inside. Para gasped as they slammed into the side of the tunnel spinning and slamming against the other side. River rushed to steady his vehicle and keep within sight of the hunter. He came over a rise and had his prey in sight. He unloaded his turrets, hoping one shot would make a hit. However, there wasn't much luck. The hunter zipped into the very core of the ad, which was far more spacious. All in a second, the assassin fired a missile upwards and then swerved into another passageway, firing at the top of the passage to cause an avalanche behind him, preventing River from following. "Blast, this is why I these hunters!" River exclaimed. The missile made a direct hit at the top of the advertisement, causing shudders all around them as the ad began to be destroyed.
River zipped down the closes passageway as a huge ball of fire followed him at an alarming rate. He smashed against the side, losing one of his s in the process. As the fire lapped the back of the craft, threatening to cause the engine to over-heat and implode, River rushed out of the abnormally large ad and back outside, into the thick field of blinking lights. In the blink of an eye after he escaped, the entire asteroid blasted open, sending shattered pieces of it everywhere, spitting fire and smoke after the mini-chopper.
River wanted to relax after the intense situation, but he knew it would not make any sense to do so at all. "Look, there he is!" Cyros pointed out. Sure enough, to their far left, the hunter was still on his way. River continued to trail him, moving farther and farther into the ad field, having barely any room to maneuver with their already tired and brutally damaged craft. The hunter was getting farther and farther ahead of them as they made ridged turns in every direction to avoid being blown to smithereens.
"I can't go after him anymore in here!" River exclaimed, getting a new idea. He turned the ship upward and shot strait up, dodging the ads over and over as Cyros and Tango blew them up. Finally, he exited the mass of ads to find himself above the entire field. He immediately accelerated forward, seeing the hunters ship far below and ahead of him. "We're going to follow him from up here . . ."
The hunter checked his screens. That pesky mini-chopper was not behind or ahead of him. He'd expertly gotten rid of him in the ad field, and he had nothing to worry about now. He got out of the thicker part of the field and swerved to the left, down towards a rocky-red colored website, having no idea the mini-chopper was far above and behind him.
River set down the mini-chopper gently on the rocky terrain. He'd tracked the hunter here, and the blip on the control board showed the assassin's ship had landed in a settlement that was located up ahead. "Great shooting, you two," River smiled at Cyros and Tango, who were wiping the sweat from their brows after what seemed like an eternity of intense shooting at advertisements. "Well, this is UFX. This must the source of where those hunters came from. I wonder if Raptor-Rex and Vader are here . . ." River trailed off.
"Send them a message and tell them where we are," Tango suggested. River nodded and looked down on the dash board to begin recording his message. But then his remembered the repetitive beeping that had been going on ever since they left jurassicpark.com. He saw the button flashing for the waiting message. After he pressed it, a green-lit image appeared. As he suspected, it showed Vader and Raptor-Rex. The background was a red-rocky terrain as far as the eye could see - River recognized it as the site they were on, UFX.
"JohnArnold, River, Para, Cyros, Tango, we've made a horrible discovery," Raptor-Rex spoke. "We've tracked down the hunters' source only to find that a man named Nick Van Owen is conducting-" suddenly, the camera went blurry and was rocked back and forth. When the stilled, the camera was facing up at several men in the same armor. All of them were recognizable hunters with the silver and blue armor . . . except for one.
"That's Jedrek Div! I knew those hunters' armor looked familiar!" River exclaimed, pointing to the man who stood in front of the hunters, wearing identical armor as the other, only his was colored battered green and maroon. The others in the mini-chopper looked at him in a puzzled way.
"Who is Jedrek Div?" Para asked.
"He is the right-hand man to the Leader of the Flooders! The Flooders must be here! The hunters must be associated with the Flooders!" River yelled with excitement.
"Hold on now," Para stopped him. "Raptor-Rex says that a guy named Nick Van Owen is behind all this."
"I can't be! It's . . . . Nick Van Owen must have teamed up with the Flooders! It all makes sense now," River said, dazed. "The Owen family have always had a long running history of feuds with the smugglers of jurassicpark.com. If Acro was rebelling against the Flooders, then perhaps the Flooder teamed up with Nick Van Owen to destroy him!"
"That doesn't make sense. Why do the Flooders need to teem up with a smuggler? They are already very powerful," Tango said.
"Well, we want to team up with AcroIguana because he has something we don't - a large group of men that can be trained as Admins. Therefore, similarly, Nick Van Owen must have the something the Flooders don't - that would be only reason they would team up. The only option I see is that Nick has information - valuable information that could incriminate Acro. But I'm not sure what the info could be."
Then he fell silent. He realized Jedrek had said something on the message they had received, but the sound was no loud enough. Para reached down and backed up the record, turning up the volume so they could hear it again. "Take them to Prison 4," Jedrek said in a stern tone. River quickly paused the message.
"See the city in the background?" he asked, pointing to the settlement that could be see behind Jedrek Div inside the message. "That's the city ahead of us, the one the hunter landed in. Come on, we have to save them!" River loaded his Z-94 along with Para. He stepped outside with Cyros and Tango, who had drawn their swords, ready for battle. They closed the hatch to the mini-chopper behind them, starting forward in a strong march, ready to do whatever it took to rescue their friends.
The Admins entered the city silently, creeping inside the shadows behind the many structures that lined the lonesome streets. Most workers were at the towering device in the center of the settlement, whatever that structure was. Because of this, it made the Admin's sneaking far easier, able to move along without encountering anyone thus far. Just as they were thinking it, a group of hunters were seen strait ahead in their path. On order to get away from them, they continued forward and entered a large dome to their right, doing their best not to make any noise.
Once inside the dome, it appeared empty of anything useful. There were just a few crates lined up against the walls, and that was pretty much it. But Cyros had other thoughts in mind. He proceeded up to one of the crates and pushed it away from the wall it hugged. Right behind it was a cramped shaft that led a path into darkness. "Whatever is back there is something they don't want the likes of us to find," Cyros said. "Let's go." He entered first, crouching low, and then River and Para followed, with Tango in the behind.
They continued along the deep tunnel, and it seemed like hours had gone by when they finally came out the other end. They found themselves underground, in some sort of cave. There was a deep chasm below them and a rickety bridge of wood set up over that chasm - proving to be their only way across to the other side of the cave. "Be careful," River whispered. Not sure what they were getting themselves into, they started going across, not daring to look down. Shakily, they held onto the rope that served as their only railing as they crossed.
Although it seemed everything was going fine, the silence was interrupted when bullet fire went zipping into the cave wall on the other side of the cavern, causing points on the wall to crumble. The Admins whirled around, readying their weapons. The group of hunters they had seen in the streets up above were on the ledge behind them, intending to . Tango, who was in the back of the line crossing the bridge. Started forward, deflecting blots as the hunters started to move forward onto the bridge. "Keep going across! I'll hold them off long enough!" Tango yelled to the rest of his comrades behind him.
Reluctantly, the others followed his command. They started to run to the other side, but the rickety bridge began to creak, forcing them to slow down. From behind them, their ears still picked up the metallic pings of Tango's twirling sword that was deflecting all bullets aimed at them. River glanced behind him to see the hunters slowly advancing towards Tango. "He needs help!" River cried.
"Wait till we all get across. Then I'll go back and get him," Cyros said. They finally got to the other end and wiped the sweat off their brows from the nervousness of crossing. Immediately afterwards, Cyros ran back towards Tango in the center of the bridge. When noticing his approach, Tango deflected one more shot and then turned and ran towards his friends. "Come on! You can make it!" Cyros encouraged. The hunters ran further after Tango, bullets pinging everywhere. It seemed like a hopeless situation, for the hunters would be following them wherever they went and two Admins with swords would be no match for an entire troop of hunters.
When Tango had come halfway across the bridge, he abruptly stopped. As he raised his sword high, a look of horror came over Cyros's face. "I'm sorry my friend," Tango said in a distressed tone as the hunters drew ever closer. He swiftly chopped down on the bridge as Cyros leapt away, back to the other side of the cavern, landing with a thud on his shoulder at River and Para's feet while the bridge ed and fell from Tango's hard blow. The bridge, Tango, and the entire troop of hunters fell into the darkness of the chasm.
"No!" River yelled. "Tango!" All of them were feeling equally sick from watching the sight. There would have been no other way to stop the hunters, they all knew that. But it was still a gut-wrenching, horrible incident. "It's times like these when I want to rip the guts out the Leader of the Flooders!" River exclaimed, pounding the cavern wall, a tear falling down his cheek.
"Control your feelings, River. We all feel terrible, but we can't stoop to the level of the Leader of the Flooders himself," Cyros warned. Para walked over and put her arm around River's shoulders to comfort him. "I know we all fell like stopping, but we must continue to rescue Raptor-Rex and Vader. Let's go," Cyros added in a low tone. Knowing that was the truth, they all slowly walked into the continuing cave.
They at last came to a light at the end of the long tunnel, rushing forward to the end where the light's source beamed outward. They crouched low on a ridge, observing the spotlights that shed beams of light all over a huge mine below. Minerals were being harvested everywhere by young men who were working as miners with hunters as overseers. "What the heck?" Para exclaimed. "They must be mining for fuel or something."
"Probably minerals that power that huge machine we saw when we snuck through the city," River speculated. Their eyes scanned the entire area. Cyros's eyes were the first to catch several signs in the very back of the mine. He pointed, and there was no need for the words. The signs read, "PRISON 3" and "PRISON 4". The Admins slowly started to get up and crept around on the small ledge, lining the massive cave's face.
Finally, when they got to a dark corner, they dropped down, weapons ready. "Alright, let's do one for Tango," River said with much in his voice. Cyros was going to warn him about letting feelings getting the better of him, but decided it wasn't the time now. They moved quickly and quietly across the side. Just then, from behind, the familiar sound of bullets rang out. One zipped right by Para as she ducked.
Behind them, hunters ran up to them, rapid firing. Para tried to get up, but in her duck, her foot had gotten stuck in between two rocks. The hunters were nearly right on top of them. "Run!" Para yelled to River and Cyros as they tried to help her. But she was right, either they left or they all would be captured, leaving no hope at all for rescue. So Cyros pulled River away, who was dragging to try and help Para. Some of the hunters picked her up in a rough manner and took her while others still fired at the remaining two Admins.
"I love you! Hold on!" River yelled to Para as the hunter dragged her into the prisons in the back. Cyros was a bit alarmed to hear River say that he loved Para, but when he began to think about it, it all made sense how this came about, as River and Para had been spending far more time with each other than ever before recently. Brushing aside his straying thoughts, Cyros took out his cable launcher and shot it at the ceiling of the cave. He grabbed River and they were pulled up as the hunters still fired from below.
When they reached the top, Cyros spotted a natural shaft on the top side of the cave. "Hold on, River," he said. They both rocked backwards and swung on the cable across to the wall and lunged into the cave, away from the blazing s below. Now they had three people to rescue.
Two hunters escorted gruffly Para down a long, man-made walkway set in the middle of the mine. They dragged her around the corner and meeting up with four other hunters - two were escorting Vader, and the other two, Raptor-Rex. Relief flooded into Para at seeing that her life- long friends were safe . . . for the time being. "Va-" she began to talk, but the hunter smacked her head.
"Shut up," the hunter mumbled. Raptor-Rex and Vader gave a nod to acknowledge her. Frustrated that she could not even get a word out to the other Admins, Para just stared longingly at the ceiling, hoping that River and Cyros would come for them, somehow, someway. She was shoved into a large cell at the end of the hallway along with Vader and Raptor-Rex.
They were all thrown against the walls and their feet were put in chains to detain them. After the hunters turned and exited the room, the Admins tugged on the chains as the door to the cell slid closed, yet it was useless. "What do you think they'll do to us?" Para asked urgently. Raptor-Rex sighed.
"I can't be sure. But I can only suspect horrible things," Raptor-Rex replied. "Did you receive our message?"
"Yes," Para nodded. "But River said that the Nick Van Owen you spoke of has allied with the Flooders. He saw in your message that the man in the green armor with the hunters was the right hand man of the Leader of the Flooders named Jedrek Div. He also said the Owens have a long history of feuding with the smugglers of jurassicpark.com."
"So the Flooders are here. It makes sense now why there is the building of clone machinery here. The Flooders must be backing i-" Vader was cut off from telling Para about their discovery as the door to their cell slid open once again. Two hunters came in and stood by the door, s ready as they stood in formal salute position to another figure that entered, clothed in black with horns ejecting from his bald scalp. The person's blood red, tattooed face was certainly hideous to behold as he came in and stood in the center of the room.
"So, we have Admins spying," he said with a disgusting grin. He tugged on a chain that he held concealed behind his cloak. At that, footsteps shook the cave's ground as worry overcame the Admins. Two carnotaurs came rumbling into the room, their eyes darting around and then stopping when they came upon the Admins. The hunters and the horned man stepped back as the two vicious carnovores headed for the prisoners.
The male reached out and hit Vader and Raptor-Rex, knocking them down onto the floor. The carnivore bent down to snap the Admins' necks, but they rolled away quickly and backed into a corner as the horned man watched with ish glee. Next, the carnotaurs went for Para. The female dinosaur reached down and picked her up by the stomach into the air, tearing at her jumpsuit. Para jabbed her elbow into the carnotaur's eye and it dropped her to the floor, its teeth ripping away all of Para's jumpsuit, leaving her with only a skimpy under-suit on. Raptor- Rex and Vader cringed when they saw the teeth marks left in Para's flexing, muscular abs.
The carnivores smacked her to the floor. "What a perfectly good waste of beautiful woman," the horned man hissed as the other carnotaur smashed Vader and Raptor-Rex into the corner with Para. All of the Admins cringed as the dinosaurs came down on them for the . Out of nowhere, there was a flash of silver and a loud shriek as the Admins were alarmed. In the next instant, they saw that both dinosaurs lay in a pool of deep red on the floors, their heads chopped off right off.
Cyros and River leapt towards Para, Vader, and Raptor-Rex. River immediately hugged Para close and they shared an extremely intense kiss. The hunters shot out at them while Cyros deflected the bullets backwards. He pulled out his cable launcher another time and fired at the ceiling. "Everyone grab on!" he cried as the horned man pulled out a sword and leapt for them, twirling. But the Admins were already whisked to the top of the cave. The Admins were surprised the man that was so similar to an Admins, but didn't pay too much attention to it.
"There's our weapons down there in the holder!" Raptor-Rex pointed to the hallway outside the cell they hung above. They all swung on the cable and them dropped low into the hallway. The horned man twirled around and ran from the cell into the hallway just as Vader slammed the door between them shut and bolted it. He turned around and he, Raptor-Rex, and Para took back their weapons from the rack.
"Let's go!" River declared. The Admins ran away as the horned man started to cut through the door to the cell with his sword, sprinting out of the prison and back into the mines. All the workers and hunters were aroused at the sight, turning to fire, but it was too late. The escapees were exiting the mine through another cave.
In the cave, the Admins bounced against the walls, since there wasn't any light at all. They kept running and running as long and as hard as possible. The cave began to slope up, heading back to the surface of the site. They burst out on the familiar rocky-red terrain, panting so hard, they felt they had to stop to catch their breath for a moment. River and Para took the moment to embrace once, sharing another kiss. "I love you," they whispered to each other.
"We can't stay any longer! I'm sorry but we have to go!" Raptor-Rex announced. All of them made themselves resume their running again. As they made their way across the rocky terrain, they saw that just meters ahead of them was their mini-choppers. It seemed they were home free . . . just when a loud whir came from behind them.
The Admins glanced over their shoulders as they ran. The ground shook as a giant drill ejected from the mine and a large mining tank burst onto the surface, filled with hunters. A large cannon came out of the top of the tank and fired. The blast smacked into the rocks just beside the fleeing Admins, shattering stones to bang against the escapees' bodies. Another blast came up just ahead of them and they swerved from their course, spun, and then continued forward.
Several more blasts wrecked the terrain as the cannon gained on them. The huge tracks of the tank were nearly upon the extremely tiring Admins. They exerted themselves with loud gasps of air as the tank began to come on them and crush their bodies.
The next second was confusing. There was the sound of a blowing up, a flash, and then the Admins saw that the tank had been completely blown up, rocketing high in the sky and then falling back down to crash into a nearby canyon. They stared above them to see a glorious site - a huge warcraft that was flying above them, had just saved their lives. It came down low and picked up the drained Admins, sucking them into the bottom flash elevator and deeper into its bowels. It them turned and blasted away from the surface of UFX.
The Admins lay on the floor of the aircraft's corridor, recovering from the terrible ordeal. A door on the other end opened, revealing their old pal JohnArnold rushing towards them. "I am so glad you're safe!" John said, leaning down and helping his good friends. The Admins could not reply, for they were too out of breath. It just fleet good to know they had been rescued. "Let me help you," John said, lifting Vader up and pulling up the others from the floor as they gasped.
"Thank you, John," River panted, barely getting the words out.
"I'm just glad you aren't . We're picking up your mini-choppers right now. Come on, I'll take you to get some water. AcroIguana and SamFan are waiting," John gave a reassuring smile that everything was fine now. Together, the group all moved down the hallway slowly and came to the end, where there was a lavish room - the giant pit of the expensive warship. SamFan lay in the corner on a cot with Acro hunched over her. When he heard the door close and the Admins coming in, he rushed over to them.
"I am so sorry about all this!" Acro mournfully told them.
"Why didn't you tell us we were walking into a trap? Why didn't you tell us about Nick Van Owen?" Raptor-Rex immediately barked. Acro hung his head low.
"I'm sorry. But Nick was after something else besides me - that's why he sent in the hunters. They were after a commission approved by the Court of the Outer Rim that convicted me and my entire band of smugglers of brutal massacres. We were all to be sentenced to as punishment. But we had been framed for that crime - by Nick Van Owen himself. I managed to get a hold of the commission and I have always kept it safe with me, so that nobody else would know out our sentence, therefore preventing our punishments. If Nick was to expose this commission by getting a hold of it, everyone would turn against me and he would get his revenge." When Acro said this, the jigsaw puzzle all fit in. Nick had a personal feud with Acro and was trying to destroy him and allied with the Flooders because they both wanted Acro wiped out And trying to find out the answer to the puzzle had led them to discover the Flooders' rebuilding clone machinery that had its debut during the prime of the Admins a long, long time ago.
"We can't talk of this any more right now, we must escape here. You mini-choppers are ready for you. The rest of my fleet is waiting above the site. John will take you below to get into your choppers. I'll take you back safely to jurassicpark.com," Acro said before they could contemplate more on Nick Van Owen. The Admins knew it was an urgent situation. It was time to leave.
JohnArnold, Vader, Raptor-Rex and Cyros sat in their mini-chopper, and River and Para sat in the other, flying out into the skies away from UFX. John, Vader, and Raptor-Rex, had been told of the horrible of Tango and were very depressed over it. But they couldn't begin to think of it now, for they had to focus on escaping - something they found hard to do at hearing of their friend's .
As they traveled, a worried voice came over the radio as several blasts were heard from behind. The small mini-choppers were sent twirling when bullet fire hit them. "What is going on!" Vader exclaimed, groaning at the thought of being thrust into yet another life-threatening situation similar to the one they just got out of. They looked behind them as the hurried voice on the radio turned to static. They could see Acro's ship was being taken back to UFX by Flooder crafts that were overwhelming it.
"Mayday!" JohnArnold broke onto the radio to Acro's fleet ahead of them. "Acro is being captured! Acro is being captured!"
The Admins whirled their mini-choppers around, back towards UFX. Acro's warcraft was surrounded by Flooder jets, ready to fire a missile directly into their captive's hull if he dared tried to escape them. "Hold on now," JohnArnold said over the radio to River and Para. "We can't get too close or else we'll be blown out of the sky." After an acknowledgment from River, John flipped the frequency to communicate with Acro's fleet above them. "This is JohnArnold. Do not attack the Flooders. It'll only end up getting Acro ed. We two mini-choppers will take care of it. Over."
"How do you intend to do that?" a haughty voice came back.
"Look, Acro trusted us enough to consider us as his associates. You need to trust us now, or else Acro will be gone forever. We'll wait till Acro's on UFX again, and then we'll sneak in and free him. Trust us." There was a long pause before a reluctant answer came through.
"Alright, fine. But you have to hurry. They may him even if we don't attack the jets."
"Don't worry. I'm taking care of everything. Acro will be back soon," JohnArnold quickly assured him, switching the frequency, knowing they had no more time to waste on talking. "Vader, ready a homing beacon to fire onto Acro's vehicle." The Admins quickly got up and opened a panel on the side of the interior of the mini-chopper, taking a long, black cylinder and loading it into a chute near the back of the vehicle. He gave a thumbs up to John as he closed the panel again.
JohnArnold maneuvered to a slightly different angle and locked on to Acro's vehicle with his control monitor, firing a split second afterwards. After a moment, there was a small, confirming beep to show that the tracker had been attached to the back of Acro's warcraft and the display on the control panel pinpointed the exact spot where it hit. "Now all we have to do is wait with River and Para until they get Acro down to the site. We'll land far away from them so we won't be noticed," John said.
He turned back the frequency to speak with River again. "River, once we land down there, you and Para go ahead and get Acro while the rest of us create a diversion. Got it?"
"Got it," Para replied, John hearing her reloading her pistol on the background.
"Now all we have to do is wait . . . with patience."
The Flooder jets escorted the massive warcraft of AcroIguana over the surface of UFX, heading for another city, separate from the one in which the clone machinery was being built. They approached the unfamiliar settlement, landing on a pad that was set high off the ground on broad metal legs. Another black, thy plane was already parked there, waiting for the party to arrive. The Flooders rushed out of their jets' pits after securing the landing gear and stood guard by the hatch of Acro's vehicle. After forcing the hatch open with their force jabbers, they ran inside.
The tattooed-faced, horned man stepped away from his th-plane and walked over to Acro's with a wicked smile on his face. The two Flooders at the base of the hatch bowed to him, but he simply ignored the gesture, to happy about his capture of Acro. After much anticipation, Acro was brought out, struggling against the Flooders soldiers' grip on him, and behind him was SamFan, who was bandaged up from her shoulder to her waist. "Here are the two that were in the pit of the ship, My Lord," the Flooder commando reported. "We suspect the rest of the crew is hiding towards the back of ship, trying to trick us. We're bringing in a squad now to search all over the place."
"Excellent," the horned man congratulated, staring deep into Acro's eyes with . "And hello there, Acro and SamFan. Long time no see."
"Nick Van Owen, your are one filthy-"
"No, I'm not going to stoop down to your level of an insult contest, Iguana. And you shall address me as Archduke NVO of UFX," he hit him. "Commander, I want these two detained in a separate cell from the rest of the crew. I want to keep a special eye on them."
"Yes, My Lord," the commando saluted.
"You, my friend, are about to suffer a most unfortunate and brutal fate," NVO hissed, grabbing Acro's jaw ly. Acro pulled himself away, and, at that, NVO waved for to Flooders to go and take the prisoners away. As they did so, a large ship came tumbling in with a massive underbelly and landed gracefully on the pad.
The hatch to the -bellied ship opened, and hordes of Flooders filed out, running up into Acro's vehicle to search it out for the rest of the crew. They sprinted down the corridors everywhere. One group entered the last elevator on the very end of the hallway and went upwards. They waited impatiently until they reached the second to top floor, and then exited. But as soon as they did, everything went black.
The Admins jumped down from their perch atop the elevator and smacked the Flooders down with their swords and pistols. "All's clear. Nobody else is on this level yet," Raptor-Rex sighed. He, Vader, JohnArnold, Cyros, River and Para all ran down the hallway, slashing open all the doors on their way down, looking for the rest of the crew, before their enemies got to them. At last, River shot open a door to find that the room behind it was empty . . . but the shaft on the ceiling had been ripped open.
"Look!" Let's go!" River pointed. All of them filled the room, jumping up into the shaft one by one. They found the air-duct was very confined and claustrophobic, they had to crouch their heads low and hug the bottom of the shaft to even get an inch through it. Before they knew it, they heard voices from below. JohnArnold, in the front of the train of Admins, put his hand up to halt. He looked below them, and through a vent, in a hidden cubicle, was the rest of the crew.
"We're Admins! We're here to rescue you!" John called down to them. He knocked open the vent and they all dropped down into the room. The crew was all on the alert and all had their s ready, aimed strait at the Admins' heads.
"We came to get you out of here before we rescue Acro and SamFan! They've been detained! We must hurry!" Vader told them.
"You were ones who met with Acro! I recognize you since I had been cleaning the ran- sacked room you passed through when SamFan first took you to him!" one of the men spoke out. "It's alright, they're telling the truth, men," he announced to his fellows, then turning back to the rescuers. "How did you get in here anyway, Admins?"
"We climbed up and came in through the top hatch of the vessel. No more time for talk, we have to get moving. Come on!" Para gestured. All of the crew got up from sitting on the floor and jumped back into the shaft. They crawled out, back through the beginning of the air- duct, and into the level's main hallway, dashing to the opposite end of the walkway the Admins had entered from, and got into another elevator, taking it up one floor.
All of them finally reached the top, a confined space with a short set of stairs leading upwards. They walked up and opened the top hatch, finding themselves outside, on the very top of the craft. "Our mini-chopper is not that far off in that direction," JohnArnold pointed east. "You can take it and go strait up to the smuggler fleet - they'll be waiting for you above the site. Now, we're going to rescue Acro."
"Thank you so much. You've save our lives," one of the crew members smiled as they all waved goodbye, climbing down the backside of the ship.
The Admins immediately rushed over to the other side to look down at the city below their perch. They noticed far below that Acro and SamFan were being put in a small cell in the outskirts of the city. "River, Para: take Cyros' and mine's swords for the time being. You can use them to rescue Acro and SamFan," JohnArnold said. He handed them to the two other Admins. "And please, I don't want them to die - be careful."
"We will. I promise," River nodded solemnly, afterwards quickly going with Para to get off the ship. JohnArnold sighed, his mind jumping to an image of SamFan and then back to the current situation, taking out two s.
"Do you see the series of tall power generators not far off from Acro and SamFan's cell?" John asked, getting an affirmative response. "Cyros and I will blow one of them up to create a diversion. Vader and Raptor-Rex, stand guard outside the power complex to make sure nobody interferes with our plan," JohnArnold gave the orders. "I hope that if Dan somehow knows this is going on, he'll let this all work out. Let's go."
All of them climbed off the ship and ran away from the pad. Stopping at one of the legs of the landing platform, Vader and Raptor-Rex drew their swords, ready for anything. They waved for John and Cyros to go ahead into the complex. They both ran and Vader and Raptor-Rex took their place in front of the complex, their swords in defense position, wary for any foe.
"My lord, take a look at this," the Flooder commando called to NVO. The ish- looking man wandered over to stare at the monitors in the control room of the landing pad. On it were two men, standing still in front of the power towers their sword drawn. NVO made a low growl under his breath.
"Admins. I'll take care of them."
River and Para crawled across the top of one of the huts that was located close to the cell Acro and SamFan were being detained in, waiting for the diversion to go off. "Para," River turned to search deep into her eyes, "I just want to tell you that, whatever happens, I love you," he told her with sincere affection. "And lets try not to die," he added with a small smile. "I want to be with you as long as time goes on for us."
Para nodded firmly, staring back into River's eyes. The two lovers would not die today. Not now. It couldn't happen. They wouldn't allow it.
NVO leaped at Vader and Raptor-Rex from behind, doing somer-saults through the air and landing directly in front of them. The Admins quickly set themselves in attack stance, ready for battle. "Prepare to die, Admins," Darth NVO said, as if telling them he looked forward to such an event. He flipped out a long sword from his belt that was similar to the Admins . . . only it was double bladed.
"So, where'd you get one?" Vader spat.
"Oh fragments of the Admin sword metal are still floating around everywhere in the remains of the Unnamed Site . . . along with the bloody ligaments of your deceased friends!" Vader and Raptor-Rex leaped at their enemy. NVO jumped around, turned, and blocked their blows. The two Admins struck low and he shoved their blades up, whipping around and slashing. Vader and Raptor-Rex were quick, parrying the blow aimed at their hearts.
And then one of the power generators blew behind their backs. There was immediately a loud alarm throughout the encampment as Flooder troops rushed towards the generators while the duelists never slowed in their fight.
"That's it, come on!" River announced to Para as the Flooders guarding the locked cell rushed away to the exploding power generators. Both of them leaped down from atop their hut and rushed in to save Acro and SamFan.
Inside, AcroIguana sat with his head bowed in a corner with a sulking SamFan, comforting her. They were both silent, and nothing could be heard in the sound-proof, silver walls of the oppressive cell. All they could think about was that all that they had worked so hard to build - their entire smuggling group - would be blown away and that they, as heads of the group, would be brutally ed. "Well, SamFan, it looks as if old Nick Van Owen will finally get his revenge," Acro sighed.
"Not today!" a voice declared heroically. Acro and SamFan's heads popped up hopefully to see the familiar faces of River and Para in front of their cell. "Hold on! We're breaking you out!"
"But . . . but you could have gotten away safely! You could have not risked your lives to come back here! What are you doing back here?!" Acro said, overcome wit surprise/
"We came back to save you, of course," Para said as River was rolling a barrel to stand by the cell.
"But I had lied to you, I made you go through the Derby, and I almost got you ed without telling you about Nick Van Owen! And you are coming back, risking your life for me?!" Acro exclaimed, unable to believe it.
"Looks that way," River said, opening the barrel and dunking the sword he carried into it. He pulled it out, having set the blade on fire with burning, clone machine fuel; Para did the same with her sword. Acro was stunned, he could barely speak.
"How can you possibly be doing this, Admins? I know no one that would this for me. I can't believe this is happening," Acro said, actually a bit touched by this.
"The Admins have done these types of things for others from the beginning of when they were formed, Acro. And we always will. And we'll do it for you no matter how many times you're captured," River smirked while he and Para shoved their flaming swords into the cell door, melting it down. SamFan was completely overjoyed by this and couldn't believe it even more than Acro.
River and Para formed a gaping hole in the door in no time at all. "Come on! Quick!" Para called, helping SamFan through. River helped Acro through next and the smuggler shook his hand enthusiastically.
"Thank you, very much. I mean it," Acro said firmly.
"Anytime, Acro. We have already saved your crew and they escaped with one of our choppers. Our other mini-chopper is not far. Let's go!"
JohnArnold and Cyros dashed through the power generators as fast as they could move. They had to have perfect timing to meet back up with Vader and Raptor-Rex, and then run to meet with River and Para - who hopefully had Acro and SamFan with them - at the second mini- chopper, so they could all get back to the fleet above UFX and go home. "Look!" Cyros pointed forward, watching Vader and Raptor-Rex dueling with a horned man near the large landing pad. "They are in the middle of fighting! There is no way they can come with us to the mini-chopper now!"
"This will be a set-back. We'll leave to go meet River and Para at the chopper and come back to pick Vader and Raptor-Rex up. It's the only way. Hurry!" JohnArnold responded as they ran around, through the other side of the city and back onto the rocky terrain to get back to their last vehicle.
NVO hit Raptor-Rex with a hard blow, forcing his sword back and jabbing him in the chin with his sword's handle. The Admin smashed to the rocky ground and swiped at NVO's feet at the same moment. The villain jumped high up, and Vader jumped up to meet him head on in mid- air, smashing their swords together with a hard blow. NVO landed behind Vader and chopped at his back, but the Admin swung his sword behind him to block and shoved the double-bladed sword away.
Raptor-Rex got back up and lunged at NVO, who whipped back around and smashed his sword against the Admin's left, right, left, right and finally blew it away, twirling around and swiping at Vader, who tangled his sword in a circle, slashing it past the tattooed man. The two Admins stood next to each other, ready to back each other up, their swords aimed forward.
Newly determined, they lunged at NVO as one, banging both ends of his sword. Vader pushed his end up and Raptor-Rex pushed the other end down, both forcing the sword to clang backwards. Raptor-Rex smashed the sword into the rock and then blew it in a hard blow, smashing the double bladed sword right in half. Enraged, he flipped around, swiping up both halves of his sword in doing so, landing on his feet again with two separate blades now up and ready. He ran towards the astounded Admins, forcing their swords away and hitting them both in the jaw with a swift blow from his elbow.
Wounded, the Admins tumbled to the ground, a bit hazy after the knock. NVO cackled and came down with his sword on them, piercing Raptor-Rex's arm. "Ah!" the Admin cried. He slowly forced himself up, only able to defend with on arm. NVO banged his sword away easily because of the Admin's weak grip, laughing heartily in doing so.
He pushed Raptor-Rex away as Vader got up, pulling his sword back and pushing Vader into the other Admin on the jagged ground. He hacked at Vader's stomach, causing him to groan in pain. He slashed around, making a deep gash at the legs of both Admins at once. is inevitable!" the loathing villain screamed as he brought both halves of his sword up to finish his opponents off. At that moment, JohnArnold's mini-chopper came down right on top of NVO, the blades ripping his arms off. The stunned NVO unleashed a venomous exhaling of anguish as Vader and Raptor-Rex reached out, grabbed the swords from his dismembe s, and flung them straight through his body. The villain fell to the ground in three pieces as a result, while the mini-chopper landed on his remains.
"Get in!" Cyros called to them, hanging out from the open ramp. Vader and Raptor-Rex climbed up the hatch in pain, getting help from Acro and River to get seated. JohnArnold took off through the smoke of the blown power generators and the bullets of the surprised Flooder troops below, soaring up into the skies.
"Fleet? This is Acro! I'm safe and we have to leave immediately. Accelerate to high speed!" Acro reported to his fleet over the radio of the mini-chopper.
"Yes, sir. We are glad to hear your voice again. We have high speed!" came the excited return. The battered vehicle filled with the Admins and Acro met the second mini-chopper that was manned by Acro's warcraft crew, and flew together with the rest of the smuggler fleet, zipping away from the website of UFX.
JohnArnold sat down next to SamFan as they journeyed away from UFX. She tugged on his arm. "Thank you. You saved my life, because of your strategic planning," she said, smiling for the first time since John had first left her so long ago. "You always were good at that. Remember JPDatabase, how we used to spend such wonderful times together? But then you left . . ." she trailed off. JohnArnold frowned.
"I won't leave you again, like I did then, SamFan. Don't worry," he promised, squeezing her hand. "Now get well from that bullet wound. I know you'll heal well."
AcroIguana stood on his balcony in his apartment, overlooking jurassicpark.com as the brand new morning began to transform to afternoon. It was peaceful now, and the that had him so worried on UFX had passed . . . or so it seemed. All he knew was that he was safe now, although there were dark clouds on the horizon for the fate of the internet. "Acro?" Raptor- Rex's voice spoke.
"Oh, Raptor-Rex, I'm glad you came," Acro said, turned around, smiling widely. "I wanted to talk to you about the alliance we had spoke of when you first arrived here." Acro approached the Admin, taking a breathe and then continuing. "I . . . . I was wrong about you, about the Admins. You are truly worthy allies, wether you won the Demolition Derby or not. I still can't believe you risked your lives to rescue me on UFX. I really didn't deserve it, either, after I treated you so badly and lied to you."
"Well, I am glad you're safe Acro. We all are. Admins were established to stop all the badness and we always want everyone to be at peace and be safe. You were no exception."
"Heh, you sound like River. He said something similar. Well, I've changed my mind. I've decided that my smugglers and the Admins shall, in fact, be allies from now on. The Admins are truly a great people," Acro grinned, shaking hands. Raptor-Rex was so overwhelmed with joy to hear this. Ever since the loss at the Derby, the Admins had lost all hope for an alliance and for a possibility to defeat the Flooders. Now, thanks to Acro, they would have a chance to go up against the all-powerful, despicable, Leader of the Flooders. "Together, we will do our best to destroy the Flooders once and for all."
Yes, Raptor-Rex truly was happy. Although now, after the discovery they had made at UFX of the advanced clone machinery, the goal of destroying the Flooders was the hardest goal anybody could ever set before them.
River softly knocked on the door to Para's bedroom. "Come in," she replied. He opened the door, to see she was sitting on her bed, dressed in her silky, angelic nightgown, staring out the window. She turned to see who had entered, and flashed an inviting smile. "Hi, River. Is everything alright?" she asked.
River just stood there staring at her, memorized, intoxicated. Being around her was simply the best feeling he had ever had. At that split second, his mind flashed back to when they had been sitting together in the mini-chopper, shortly after arriving at jurassicpark.com. They both said that they always understood each other, which was true. River had compressed his feelings then, but ever since, he had outwardly spoken to her that he deeply loved her. Now, he had to take a step further, for it burned inside of him to do so. He drew closer, sitting next to her on the bed.
"Para, this might sound strange but . . . I've had sort of this gut feeling that I always need to be by your side. Like I always need to protect you. That is why I'm always trying to save you from harm that we have encountered, although I know that you can defend for yourself perfectly," River told her seriously. He thought at first she might balk at it, for he had blurted out the sentences so suddenly. "It's like, I can't bear to lose you. I'm not sure if you understand that." He bowed his head, thinking he had just startled her and put themselves in an awkward situation.
"No, I know how you feel," she said after a moment, her voice soothing and understanding. "Because . . . I feel the same way about you." River's head bolted back up, to see her giving him a warm smile again. "I don't want to lose you either, River. We have formed a bond, there is no denying it. And I don't want to lose that bond."
"I'm . . . glad you feel it to. I want to ask you if you will spend the rest of your life with me," River mustered up the words, dropping off the bed to bow on one knee. And then, there was a pause. His eyes searched hers, drowning in her beautiful gaze. And before he knew it, Para bend over to him, kissing him more intensely than she ever had before.
"Yes, River. I love you so much," she whispered in his ear. And then he returned the kiss in the same manner, knowing in his heart and mind that they could now be certain that their feelings for each other were equal. The sunlight from outside came into the room through the window and glinted around the lovers as they continued to express their deep affection.
River walked outside a huge balcony over looking jurassicpark.com, where Vader was staring blankly into the orange sky as many smuggler ships were soaring off, past the moon. It was surprisingly quiet, for River couldn't make out one sound around them. He was also surprised Vader didn't hear him approach, so he stepped closer. Still, there was no response. River sighed, realizing the Admin was obviously in deep thought. "What's going on? Where are those ships going?" he asked.
"AcroIguana has decided to form an alliance with the Admins after all. He's currently sending out some of his troops to keep watch over jurassicpark.com in order defend, in case UFX attacks us," Vader replied blandly. He seemed to be lost in another world, unwilling to come out of it. River sighed again, trying to strike up a conversation.
"Well the way I see it, it's a victory. We finished off Nick Van Owen, we rescued AcroIguana and SamFan, and we basically saved Acro's entire smuggler organization. Yes I-"
"Victory, River?" Vader said, his words suddenly filled with intense emotion, slowly turning to meet his Admin apprentice's gaze. "You call it a victory?! It was a defeat! New, harder and the worst wars the internet has ever seen are now going to begin. The clone armies will march all over the internet, ravaging everything in their path - and we must devote ourselves to go against them. The Site Wars have returned!" At that, Vader stormed back into the mansion, leaving River to think about what he said.
And so River was left on his own, silent, lost in thought. Vader had obviously been among those who had fought in the early Site Wars, when the Flooders had first started the notion of a clone army. And he now, Vader seemed to be even more worried about this incident. As River thought more about it, he realized something horrible. Intense times would ahead. He, along with many others, would be intensely persecuted. They would undergo the worst trials they had ever faced in their lives. Would they even be able to endure it?
So, he was left completely worried, unsure, and alone in complete quietness, as the internet around him that had been his home for so long, was beginning to crumble . . .
THE END
(Written by Vader)
ICEBREAKER: This happens to be my favorite episode...just give us some interesting details about how you wrote it...
VADER: I wanted this plot to be two things: One, to have it be more complex than the others, and Two, to have it set up the major climax that would be Episode 6. I did this by loosely basing it on the basic plot of Star Wars: AOTC. I also had the opportunity to start of with a bunch of new worlds and characters. Since everything has been established in the previous episode, I could start off right away with a brand new plot and elements.
I: What inspired you for this title?
V: The title of Star Wars: Episode II, of course. Again, I like to pattern the titles of MY saga after Lucas's Saga. And since the plot of this episode of Site Wars revolves around the hunters' attempts at ed someone as well as the Admins' trying to uncover who's sending the hunters, I named it Attack of the Hunters.
I: I notice a big shift in action with this story, were you aware of that?
V: I take it you mean NEW action. Yes I intended that. There is tons of new characters and worlds that are involved in the action sequences so naturally, there is a lot of new variety in the action that's different from the other episodes.
I: Once again how did you respond to the way this story was received?
V: I was happy - as always. :) In fact I was probably more happy that usual. This episode was the most hyped of all the Site Wars episodes, and I was hoping that everyone's expectations would be met. Fortunately, despite the enormous hype, everyone loved it and I'm grateful.
I: Do you think this is the best story in your saga?
V: Yes, although I love all the episodes I've written, I've always considered this one my favorite, and I'm not exactly sure why.
I: When you were writing this story did you think of anything that you could add that would make EPISODE VI more intense?
V: I didn't want to show the clones in this episode. Even though the story revolves around discovering that a new clone device is being built, I wanted to save the actual event of hordes of ly clones fighting for the last episode - to make it all the more powerful.
I: How did you come up with the develop the ending of this story?
V: I wanted it to be a cliff-hanger ending that would really make the reader worry about the characters - River in particular. That's how I went about doing it and I'm satisfied with the result.<
* * *
Be sure to catch the last Author Interview in the final episode of the saga, SITE WARS: Episode VI - The Clones Return, NEWLY REVISED. Coming May 12th, 2002!
Please Comment!
5/4/2002 10:31:37 PM
(Updated: 5/7/2002 11:37:34 AM)
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