Chapter 4: Blazin' Blasters! (L)

Morning had finally come, as everyone awoke, Joshua was sitting in front of the portal all night. Sleep had not come to him, his eyes were tired and blood-shot. Ever-increasing visions of destruction kept flashing before his eyes, screams of terror crying for help. Joshua couldn't shake them from his head. For the entire morning, he sat there, unfazed as his vision became nothing but death. The Darkness was clouding his sight...where was this happening?!

Television reports announced that two whole cities had been obliterated during the night by some unknown threat. Laughter and flame erupted around him as he tried in vain to shake it all from his head. Noticing the portal had enough power for another warp, he set the coordinates to Carrotus. Electrical energy flew everywhere, before the vortex began to form, the figure materialize, before the portal closed.

"...Nice to see you again, Jazz. Seems you haven't changed since I last saw you." Joshua said without emotion.

Jazz looked around, the surroundings somewhat unusual. It took him a few seconds to realise that he was in Joshua's dimension. He placed his blaster in his backpack and shook Joshua's hand.

"Anything to say about Devan and his army?" Joshua asked.

"There's no sign of him on any of the planets within our sector. I guess he's retreated to some asteriod...or some other base..." Jazz sighed.

Joshua at Jazz, his face covered with worry and anger. If there wasn't any sign of Devan in the Video Dimension...then...the only possible place he could be...was Earth...Letting out an angry yell of frustration, he hit the wall with his fist, causing it to make a large dent, crack and cause his knuckles to bleed.

"Great...This isn't getting any better...With him here...the army he has following him would be able to flatten most of the cities nearby...perhaps...Ngh...Aaaaarrrrghhhh!!!" Joshua yelled

"Joshua?!"

Everything went black. Reptiles swept through those cities, striking down the human inhabitents...capturing any pets they could use to mutate into one of thier own warriors. Burning fire...a large robot...an immense surge of darkness, before everything erupted into flame. Explosions erupted around the army, giving them a hellish look, as they marched off, leaving the city in ruins...

"Ugh....Aaaaaagh! No...no MORE!!!" Joshua yelled, thrusting his arms out to the side.

Two huge blades of energy cut through the floor, leaving deep gashes. He fell to the floor, tired. It wasn't right! This...This couldn't happen now!

"J...Jazz...Go...go to the location...on this map...Survery it...and look for surviors...I...I can't...I can't..." Joshua groaned, handing Jazz a map.

It seemed fairly damaged, but readable. Jazz nodded in response, before he raced off out of the HQ, blaster charged. Joshua remained motionless, unable to move...hardly able to breathe...all of the energy seemed to have left him. He tried to move...somehow...in someway. He didn't care....even if he had to crawl. Mustering enough strength to use the Force to activate a lever, his body collapsed...

Meanwhile...

A green blur of speed made it's way through it's unfamiliar surroundings, glancing down at the map a few times to make sure of the direction. It only took a few miniutes to reach the destination at his speed. Below was nothing but ruins, just like in Joshua's vision. Racing down to the ground, making his way to the center of the city, nothing could be found. Pieces of scrap metal were here and there, but nothing helpful.

He called out a few times, waiting for a response, only to have his voice echo back to him. Something made him twitch a little. Slowy reaching for his blaster, he quickly turned and fired, unleashing a wave of laser fire. The unfortuante turtle who got caught in the attack was vaporized instantly. Jazz carefully approached, studying the shell.

"Yep. A troop of Devan. My wager is he'd be hiding somewhere nearby...I better watch my back." Jazz warned himself.

Slowly walking through the ruins, taking down anything that was one of Devan's troops, something more dangerous seemed to draw closer. He stepped cautiously forward, finding a huge hole that had been blasted open. A small beeping sound could be heard, before Jazz ran in the opposite direction. Missiles flew straight where he was standing before, blasting the ground into oblivion. A large machine, which bore some resemblance to Robotnik's Egg-O-Matic hovered in front of his. A huge eye-ball was in the cockpit, unblinking, while a huge flail swung slowly towards him.

[Target Located. Proceeding to GOTO 210]

[GOTO 210: Intruder Indentified: Subject name: Jazz Jackrabbit. Reciving orders...Proceeding to GOTO 320]

[GOTO 320: Objective finalized. Target is to be terminated. Destroy by any means...]

(Note: I'm suprised no-one's put that in a level with Bolly in it...)

Jazz was slightly amused at his foe's slight intellectual increase, he kept a smug grin on his face, recalling that it was only a huge piece of metal. He leapt into the air, before he stomped straight down at the cockpit. Unexpectedly, a huge wave of energy was generated across the veil of glass, causing many volts of electricity to race through his body, throwing him back.

"Ow...So...Ol' Shell Beak's made Bolly a bit stronger huh? No matter! Never underestimate the power of a rabbit with a gun!" Jazz yelled.

Between the waves of missiles, Jazz managed to fire a formidable assult of laser fire. The robot began to spark a little, but only a few cracks could be seen. More damage was going to have to be done if it was going to be stopped....

The chain had been shortened, making it less of a threat. The missiles still managed to be fired at a rapid rate, some actually reaching thier intended target. Things didn't look all that promising...

[Foe is Weakened...Preparing Eye Laser...Confiriming Target...]

Jazz realised this was his last chance. Quickly charging up his gun, he leapt into the air and fired a powerful round of laser fire, causing the glass covering Bolly's eye shatter into pieces. The remainder of the lasers collided with the eye, causing it to grow blood-shot, then shrivel up and vanish into nothingness. The machine no longer piloted fell to the ground, before exploding.

[Error...System...Terminating...Unable...to repair...damage...GOTO FINAL...]

[GOTO FINAL: Program...Terminate...ed...]

Jazz wiped away the small beads of sweat, before dusting of his fur. It seemed that Devan had been getting stronger...a potential threat it seemed. Unable to do anything else, he raced back to Gaming Force HQ...