Rhea smashed the wall of the other side of the food court, the crew finally left the food court. There is still a few hundred meters until they reach the next core. Mutated glitches floated in the air, trying to look for survivors.
"I wonder why Cluster didn't kill us each time he meet us, I mean, he have the ability to do so but, he chose to not." Havoc got bored and broke the silence.
"He is surely playing with his food, and that will be the thing that caused his downfall."
Albur listened to Havoc and Mysty chatting, he don't have the mood to speak now.
Suddenly, the ground trembled, as if a mini earthquake had occurred. From a distance, a huge gust of smoke rose, it seems that there is an explosion.
"What.....?"
"Did you guys see that?"
The crew looked at the black smoke, they were all confused.
"That's not Cluster's doing right?"
"Its surely not."
"Probably just some virus lifeforms playing with fireworks. They destroy things like how cats do."
Rhea rolled her eyes and continued to follow the direction given by the energy detector. The crew looked at the explosion for another few seconds before continuing to follow Rhea.
But as Albur moved his eyes away from the black smoke, he noticed something. A silhouette, a familiar silhouette. Albur squinted his eyes, trying to see more clearly.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you following the crew?" Havoc asked.
"I think...there's something there...."
"Huh?"
Mysty noticed Albur is left behind, she sighed, but when she is about to yell at him to remind him to follow up, she noticed he is looking at something.
"Guys, wait."
Rhea and Covie turned around, Mysty walked to Albur's spot.
"Albur, what are you doing? We gotta move on."
"Wait...Mysty....I think there is something there....."
Mysty looked at the direction Albur is looking at.
"What. Where?"
"Very far away from us."
"Just use the rifle optical scope." Havoc scoffed.
Albur suddenly remembered his rifle does have that, he opened the cover of the scope and looked through it. Mysty squinted her eyes and looked at that direction. Albur saw the silhouette, Mysty saw it too. It have a square head, with a hump on it. It also appears to have a claw at its right hand, it isn't walking normally, its more like limping.
"Wait...."
Albur and Mysty met eyes.
"Is that...."
Rhea and Covie walked to the two's spot.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Rhea....look at there...."
Rhea looked at the direction Mysty is pointing at. Rhea used her computer half of the head and activated binoculars mode. She saw the silhouette, and was shocked. Her hands begun to shake, she slowly closed the binoculars.
"That's.....John?"
Covie's eyes widened, she stared at Rhea in disbelief.
"What? M-master...?"
Albur gave Covie his rifle and let her see through the scope. Covie was flabbergasted.
"That's...master?"
Albur started walking towards the silhouette. Trying to verify that he isn't seeing things. He stopped, and looked closely. Its the same square head, same robot claws, Albur breathed in a little.
"Hello?"
He yelled. The silhouette heard it, it slowly turned.
"A-Albur?"
It was Johnson's voice, clearly its his. Albur paused, the whole place was silent. The crew couldn't believe their eyes, neither could Albur.
"Master.....is alive?"
"Unbelievable...how?"
Albur held back the joy, and yelled again.
"How am I sure its really you?"
The silhouette turned around, the same square head, same claws, same display face. It is, Johnson. His neck tie and bow tie is scorched, claw marks are seen on his body, blood stains are also seen.
The crew looked in disbelief. Albur was sure, he couldn't hold back the joy, and ran to him.
"Man! What have you been through? You're alive this whole time?"
Johnson smirked,
But. Something feels a little off.
As Albur slowly approached Johnson, he realized something, he is way taller. At first its because of their distance Albur didn't notice it. Johnson is now literally 3 meters tall. Albur slowed down his steps.
Also, Albur knew very well, Johnson would make robotic clicking voices when he moves his finger tips and the faint tick when he blinked, but this time, there is no sound. Albur gripped onto his rifle,
"Hey bucko! What are you ....looking at? Where's Covie? I .....need help."
Johnson started to approach Albur. But then, Albur saw and heard something strange. Johnson's screen is cracked, but there is no blood coming out. His size is also abnormal, very abnormal. But before Albur could give a conclusion, Johnson already gave.
It isn't Johnson.
The screen slowly cracked into half, it then split. Revealing a large open mouth filled with razor sharp teeth hollowed inside its head. Its robot claw begun to grow extra fingers. Johnson's voice became distorted, and turned into a roar.
The crew also found out something isn't right. Albur slowly backed away.
"You're not Johnson...."
"I-I....a-a-am.....Johnson..."
Albur recognize it, its not Johnson, its not another virus lifeform. Its that same monster that he and Johnson encountered earlier. And its got Johnson's shell on it, its being enlarged by virus substances to fit the monster in. Its right hand is not normal, it is Johnson's minigun, dripping virus substance fluid, and red liquid.
It screeched, and charged at Albur whilst roaring.
"AWWWW SNAP!!!!!"
The crew realized it isn't Johnson, Rhea's jaw nearly drop onto the floor.
The crew hurried to Albur's spot. Albur quickly held onto his rifle and fired a Hyper Blast at the monster. It dealt no damage to it.
Mysty pulled Albur away using her grapple hook hiking stick before the monster slashed Albur with the robot claw. The monster roared and charged towards the crew. Rhea switched on the protective helmet and rushed towards the monster. Both of them strike each other, with their claws and fists being blocked by each other.
The monster aimed the minigun at Rhea and fired it, but Rhea fired 3 huge bombs from her left hand's palm, 1 one of them blocked all of the bullets and the 2 headed straight towards the monster and exploded when they hit it.
The monster backed off a few steps and roared again, it then, vanished.
No warning, no notice, no monologues, it just vanished, out of thin air.
"What?"
The crew looked around, but then, Covie's expression shifted to extreme fear of realization.
"Guys...I think..... that is....digital world.....travelling...."
The crew stared at Covie in total shock,
"It vanished into the digital world?!"
Covie trembled as she nodded.
The crew looked around them cautiously, Albur charged Virus Corruption to its full power. Mysty charged two orbs at the twin pistols, Rhea activated a command in her system, the battle bot suit's shell opened up and revealed tons, and tons of rockets launchers.
Suddenly, the monster appeared in front of the crew and swung its claw. Covie was hit by the slash, her screen shattered, and she was sent away tens of meters. Albur quickly pulled the trigger on his rifle and Mysty fired out the 2 orbs. The fully charged Virus Corruption hit monster's head while the orbs hit its stomach.
The corruption slowly damaged the monster overtime. Rhea took the chance and fired every rocket launcher. The rockets hit the monster, but Rhea did not stop. She pushed Albur and Mysty away, then, even more rocket launchers appeared on the battle bot suit.
Rhea fired all of them at once, the monster immediately vanished. The rockets hit the ground, creating an extremely massive explosion. The shockwave sent the whole crew flying, a large mushroom cloud emerged.
Albur landed shoulder first, accidentally pulling something in it. He groaned as he slowly stood up. He stared at the mushroom cloud, the light of the fire painted his face orange. Nearby buildings were shattered, collapsing as the mushroom cloud rose higher.
"Albur? Albur? Where are you?" Havoc yelled from a distance. Albur heard it, he quickly followed Havoc's voice.
He found his rifle on the ground, the hatch of the power slots were facing downwards again. Albur picked up the rifle and sighed.
Albur looked around him, then, he spotted Mysty. He quickly raced to her, she is also staring at the mushroom cloud.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine..."
Havoc took a glance around,
"Where's Covie?"
The 2 froze, they forgot about her. They turned to the building ruins. They yelled out Covie's name, and looked in the ruins. Havoc scanned the whole area, finally, he found her.
"Over there! In that pile of ruins!"
Albur quickly ran to the pile of building ruins Havoc said, he dug into the ruins, Mysty came to help. They finally found Covie in the ruin, badly damaged. Albur quickly pick her up.
"Covie? Can you hear me?"
Covie's torn wires emitted a bright electric spark, Mysty quickly took out the regenerate engine from her body and used the repair beam. Slowly, Covie was repaired, Mysty put the engine back. Covie slowly booted up, and opened her eyes.
"Oh....man...what happened?"
Albur and Mysty sighed in relief.
"You alright?"
"I guess so...."
Covie floated using her propellers. She looked around, and flinched when she saw the mushroom cloud.
"What happened? Why is there a mushroom cloud?"
Albur looked at that direction, and sighed.
"Rhea gone crazy. Come on, let's go find her."
The mushroom cloud slowly faded away. The crew walked to the battle field, the floor is scorched black, the virus substances caught in the explosion became crunchy.
The crew at last found Rhea in the middle of the battlefield. Her battle bot suit is glowing pure red, steam emerged from all of her rocket launchers. She kneeled on the floor, and exited the suit. Her entire body is flashing electric sparks, and like his battlebot suit, her body is glowing bright red.
Then, the monster appeared in front of them. It stared at them, and made a distorted laugh, as if it is mocking the crew. But when it wanted to continue attacking them, it suddenly froze.
The crew took out their weapons, ready for its attack. But the monster looked around in fear, it stared at the crew for a second and roared at them before fleeing away.
"Hey....come back..."
Rhea took a few steps forward, before kneeling down.
"...I'm not finished.....with you....."
Rhea collapsed on the ground. The crew was shocked, they quickly rushed to her.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In the building ruins, a scarecrow peeked at the crew. It smiled.