Chapter 11: Back in the present…

Four lone flashlights danced like fireflies in the darkened cistern, casting light upon the concrete cavern carved out by man to divert flood waters into the sea. Their light climbed up the cold dank walls and swept across the ceiling edge, whereupon they found a gaping hole in the otherwise featureless walls.

"Where did this come from?" Asked one of the flashlight holders, his voice echoing in the darkness.

"It must have been from another monster attack," His companion spoke, "I've never heard of an underground attack, though."

"You never know about those creatures," said a third voice "They bring nothing but suffering upon this city. It's best to be rid of them once and for all."

"So? How is everything?"

"Everything has happened as our master predicted," The third voice said, "The gang has escaped the authorities, and is now on their way to the hideout."

"Naturally," the fourth person said, "It is unfortunate that we had help from such filth, but even the lowest wretches have their uses. Our fool of a mayor remains ignorant of his own peril. He sits on his throne while his castle crumbles beneath him."

"The people remain innocent and pure. In time, we may coax them to our side."

"What of the strong willed and the obstinate? What should we do with them?"

"Naturally, the soil must be fertilized for the next generation. Those who do not yield will be confined here, until they repent, and those beyond saving shall serve to fertile the soil. When the stones have cracked and the ground is nourished in blood, this city will bloom like the Rose."

"And the Rose will grow strong!"

"Well that was interesting," Boomer said as the four voices echoed up from the cavernous space. He sat huddled behind the broken wall, trying to reduce as much movement as possible. Trapped in his arms was Bubbles, held tightly with his hand clamped over her mouth. The only sounds she could make were her moans of protest, as she earnestly tugged at his wrist to let go.

"Shh, be quiet." Boomer said, looking down to her, "They'll hear us."

A muted screech of disgust was all that she could say in reply.

Boomer craned his neck to peek over the broken wall, and he watched the flashlights dance through a narrow viaduct. After they had disappeared, He waited a few minutes longer before finally releasing his captive.

"Alright! They're gone now." He stood up and dusted himself off. "That wasn't so bad was it?"

She slapped him. Hard. "You brute! How dare you handle me like that!" she screamed, "I'm a lady, not some kind of pet!"

Boomer laughed, and rubbed the angry red welt on his cheek. "Aww, but you're so soft and cuddly, and I want to hold you in my arms forever!"

She made a sound halfway between a screech and a snarl and whirled around to fly away. But just as she was taking off, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back down.

"What now!" She shrieked turning around. She wanted to hit him again, but he slipped past her before she had the chance.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not 100% sure that they're gone yet," he said, "I think it's better if I go first."

"Why?"

"Don't take this the wrong way," he said, "But when you fly, you shine like a beacon in the night. Anybody down there would see you."

"Sit tight," he went on, "I'll call you when it's safe."

With a single bound, Boomer leaped up and latched onto the ceiling with his hands and feet. He crawled like a spider into the cistern. The pair of disks on the side of each of his shoes began the glow like neon lights. As he crawled, his hands and feet both left eerie marks on the ceiling that gave off a faint glow, just like they did before.

"So that's why I couldn't find him," Bubbles thought wryly to herself, as she remembered those marks she had found on the train tracks and then along the stairs.

She watched him crawl deeper and deeper into the artificial cave. Only the hand and foot prints marked his movement, while the rest of him was shrouded in the darkness. She saw him get to closer and closer to one of the colossal pylons that supported the ceiling. These oblong pillars kept the many tons of earth, rock, and water from falling in and crushing anything inside. It was like how the Titan Atlas kept the sky from falling down and squishing all of the inhabitants on Earth—at least that was what the Greek myths had said.

Suddenly, Boomer let go and dropped like a rock, but before Bubbles could cry out in shock, he had landed on a narrow shelf that ringed the pylon capital. It was just wide enough for one person to walk around without the fear of falling, but that was cold comfort considering the dire consequences of such a fall at such a height.

Boomer walked around the pillar and peered into the void for any signs of movement. When he was satisfied that there was no one down below, he trotted back around to call out to Bubbles. He cupped his hand to his mouth and shouted, "There's nobody here! The coast is clear!"

His voice echoed off the concrete walls and filled the cavern with instant dissonance. He watched as she drifted into the cavernous space. Her light blue vapor trail lit up the whole chamber with a turquoise hew. So bright was she that Boomer had to shield his eyes with his hands.

"See, what did I tell you?" Boomer cried as she landed next to him, "It is the East! And Juliet is the sun!"

Bubbles blushed, but rolled her eyes at the corniness.

"I've got some drain plans," Boomer said as he lifted his arm and uncovered the wristwatch-like device strapped onto his forearm. With a twists of the bezel, he activated a projector, and a schematic of the area appeared as a hologram. His face glowed in the simmering blue light as he studied the plans.

"I see," he said, "So there are rings of catwalks—five stories of them—wrapped around each pillar."

Each ring of walkways, he could see, was disconnected from the others and were normally only accessible by scissor lifts and crane buckets.

"There should be an exit on the other side." He said, pointing to the spot on the map.

He led Bubbles around the pillar and pointed down to the distant end, where, three sodium vaper lamps illuminated a massive floodgate, large enough to let two trucks pass through side-by-side. "Looks like it's down there."

"I can carry you down there." Bubbles suggested, "It will be faster."

Boomer looked at her and smiled. "I appreciate your offer. I really do. But my ego wouldn't allow it. I really want to go down on my own," he said, "However, it would be great if you could show me the way down."

"Hey, listen," She said testily, "I'm not some kind of fairy that you can use like a flashlight."

"I know," he said, "I just realized that I couldn't get down without your help anyway. If you weren't here, I would've been stuck here, blind, waiting to be rescued."

He smiled. "You are my sun and stars."

Oh god! Can he be any cornier? Bubbles thought. "So? What do you want me to do?"

"Well, let's see." He turned back to look at the map and then pointed to a certain spot. "Could you fly to this place and wait for me?"

Bubbles flew to the space between four great pillars, and she let her ambience light up the cavern in blue-green hue. She watched as Boomer turned off his device and backtracked to the far end to get a running start. She watched as he broke into a sprint, and he leaped across the two-meter gap, with his arms flailing like windmills. He landed on the neighboring concrete shelf, and discovering a thick metal pipe protruding from the neighboring wall, leapt onto it and slid down its length to the first walkway, below. He twisted around and flung himself back across to the lower platform. As he landed, he tucked into a ball and rolled along his back, transforming the downwards momentum into forward speed.

"Over here!" Bubbles cried, as she flew over to a neighboring catwalk. There, she hovered over a walkway section, where the railings had left a meter-wide opening. Boomer ran towards the void and launched himself off to the opposite platform. He sailed over the gap, and caught onto the rungs of a ladder that dangled off the end.

Bubbles followed his progress down to the middle level, trying to anticipate his next possible route. As she did so, she scanned around for any path he could take to get down safely. She spotted two horizontal pipes hanging in parallel to each other, and she flew over to it.

"Look!" she said, "This is the place."

Boomer waved, and ran over to her location. He leapt onto the metal railing and used it like a springboard to launch himself across. He caught onto the metal bars and, using the momentum, to swung over to the next one.

"You're almost there!" Bubbles cried, "Keep it up!"

Boomer smiled a tired smiled and swung over to the neighboring walkway. Just as he caught onto the hanging ladder, the bolts holding it in place snapped. There was a horrendous screech of metal, and the ladder was torn from the metal walkway. Boomer felt his hands slip, and he felt his heart shoot up into his throat. He didn't remember screaming as he plunged down into the abyss.

Bubbles saved him. She had dived and caught him in a tight embrace. Then, she levelled out mere inches from the ground and went hurtling across the cavern.

"Balloon Popper!" she cried and conjured up a giant bubble with her wand. It caught the two of them in a wet embrace and safely absorbed all of their momentum.

Once sufficiently slowed down, Bubbles and Boomer dropped out of the giant bubble and fell into a heap of legs and arms.

"I thought I was gonna die!" Boomer cried as he disentangled himself, "Thanks for saving me!"

"Baka." Bubbles said, smiling despite herself, "In the end, I had to carry you anyway."

They stood up, dusted themselves off, and walked towards the giant floodgate that now loomed in front of them.

"There should be a switch to activate that thing, Somewhere..." Boomer said, looking around for any sign, but Bubbles found it first.

"Look! There it is!" she said, and pointed towards a spot in the adjacent wall. "Over there, in front of that little doorway. It's a control panel mounted on the railing."

Boomer groaned. "So it's one of those controls." He said, "You can't open the gate unless you keep pressing it. Otherwise, the gate would close on its own. It's going to be really hard to press it and then run through the g—"

"I'll do it."

Boomer looked at Bubbles in surprise.

"It's difficult for you to get up there anyway," she said, "I can fly over there, and fly through the gate. It will be easy."

"But…"

"Go!" She said, "I can't let you have all the fun."

With a rare smirk, she flew to the metal basket before he could say another word and alighted on the narrow platform. She found the controls for lifting the door, and pushed on the big red button.

The giant gate groaned into sudden life. It rose up three hundred feet, clanging and cracking all the way up. For what seemed like ages, a gap grew wider and wider until it bathed everything in glorious light. Before fore long, there was a loud bang, and the gate stopped to reveal the gigantic causeway.

Boomer winced as the bright sunlight hit his eyes. Too accustomed had he been to the darkness, that the sudden brightness made seeing impossible. He stumbled through the opening and leaned onto the metal railings on the other side.

He was standing on some platform hang off the side of a gigantic hole in the ground. It was a magnificent concrete pit, perfectly round except for a number of other girders and walkways that ran along the cold grey walls. It wide enough to house a Titan II rocket snuggly in its bowels and deep enough to seem bottomless. When he looked up, Boomer could see the sky blue a circle of bright blue stretched across above him. He could also hear all the din from the city, fall in like a cacophonic cascade.

Suddenly, a loud clang coming from behind, and when Boomer turned around, saw that the gate was closing. It was coming down much faster than when it opened.

Shit! She's not going to make it!

I'm going to make it!

Bubbles let go of the button, and the giant gate immediately started closing. She vaulted onto the metal railing and pushed herself off like a starting swimmer. She flew as fast as she could, diving straight towards the shrinking gap of light. She had barely made it through the narrowing opening, before the gate came crashing down. She slid onto the metal walkway, and the grating scraped against her body, shredding her elbows and knees.

"Ugh!" Bubbles winced as she pushed herself up. Her clothes had taken up most of the damage, but she was painfully aware of the bruising that was developing underneath the layers. She twisted around and sat there, leaning against the railing.

"You are amazing!" Boomer said, as he sat down next to her. He unhooked his backpack and pulled out a large canteen. "Here, drink this."

Bubbles took the vessel and poured its contents into her mouth.

"Ah," she cried, "This isn't water?"

"It's coconut water," Boomer said, "I always carry some around with me. It's better and healthier than the normal stuff."

Bubbles smiled and took another swig. The drink was good, and there were even bits of coconut meat floating in the liquid. Bubbles loved it so much she drained the whole thing in a single gulp.

"H-hey!" Boomer laughed. "Leave some for me!"

Bubbles blushed and gave the canteen back.

"It's good, isn't it?" he said, "Luckily that I have another one."

He pulled out a second vessel from his backpack, and tilted it to his mouth. Bubbles watched him drink his fill, letting the liquid flow into his mouth.

He's really a sweet guy. She thought, And Cute, too. But why does he have to be part of that group? If only we had met under different settings. If only...

Her eyes fell upon the backpack sitting in his lap.

I nearly forgot.

Without warning, she jerked forwards and lunged for the bag.

"Oi!" Cried Boomer, dropping the canteen, but it was too late. With her prize in hand, Bubbles sprang to her feet and summoned her bubble wand once more.

"Balloon popper!"

With a single stroke, she'd cast a giant bubble and let it engulf the Blond-haired boy entirely. The canteen tipped over and fell into the gaping pit.

"Tch." Boomer glared. "Is this your way of thanking me? How cruel of you."

"I'm sorry," Bubbles said, "But you're still a person of interest. You were involved in that heist, and you have something I need." Bubbles pulled open the zipper and rummaged inside. "Please relax, I promise to give it back to you after I..." She trailed off.

It's not here!

She pulled the compartment out wider, but all she could see were the empty canteen and some scraps of paper. That's impossible! Where is it?

Then, a strange sound made her look up. It was coming from Boomer, who had his head down and was shaking uncontrollably. When she got closer she realized he was laughing.

"Oh you won't find it there?"

What?

He lifted his head in a Kubrik stare. "It's not there." He grinned, "I left it behind."

"Left it behind? But where?"

He jerked his head to the floodgate, to the cavern beyond it.

"You left it in there? But all that time, you were jumping around. How could you?"

"Did you forget where we started," He said, "Remember hole in the wall?"

"You left it in the office?"

Boomer cackled. "While you were crying your eyes out, I'd walked right past you and was busy stashing it in one of the drawers. You didn't ever look."

Bubbles glared. "Then I'll just go back there and look for it."

"You'll be too late. Someone will have already picked it up, by the time you get back." His smirk widened. "That is if you could even find the place again."

She snarled at him. It was rare for her to snarl. In fact, she probably only snarled at him. "It doesn't matter. I have you trapped with me. There's nowhere to escape."

"And then what? Are you going to keep me in here? Do you think I would stay in here until you get your answer? No, I think not!"

His giant slingshot appeared in his hands, and he stabbed the bubble cage with its butt. There was the great bang, and the bubble burst open. He dropped to the to the walkway, kneeling.

"Now," Boomer said, standing up. A dark aura appeared, coming off his body thick as smoke. "Not only did you drink all of my coconut water, but you also denied me of its sweet joy. I will have pay you back for that."

Bubbles held her bubble wand in front of her, bracing for whatever he was going to shoot at her, But Boomer didn't shoot anything. He charged straight at her and, with a savage backswing, knocked the wand out of her hands. Then, he whirled around and thrusted his staff towards her like a spear. It bounced off the floodgate and landed on the wet concrete.

She fell back and narrowly avoided being stabbed in the face. Then she lost her footing and landed painfully back on her bum. Boomer loomed over her.

No! Not this!

She reached out for her wand, and it came to her just as Boomer raised his staff to deliver the final blow. She lifted her bubble wand up and blocked the coming attack, and the two weapons clashed together in an audible crack.

Bubbles pushed herself back onto her feet, and lunged forwards with a thrust of the loop end of her wand. But Boomer was ready for her. He parried the attack, and he spun around to deliver another savage swing to her vulnerable side. She twisted around and blocked that attack as well, but the impact sent her weapon vibrating, and she barely kept a grip on it.

Boomer was pleasantly surprised. This girl could fight! "You're really good at this! How is it possible?"

"I—" She started to say, but had to block the incoming overhead swing. This time, she tilted her weapon to deflect his staff.

This is fun! Boomer laughed. I haven't had a challenge this good in years!

He leapt back before she could hit him.

Suddenly, a helecopter appeared overhead and sent a torrent of wind down into the giant pit. Akira grimaced, barely able to stand in the downwash. He could hardly make out the tiny metal basket descending into the pit.

Then, Boomer's wrist started vibrating, and when he went to answer, a very peeved Mrs. Bellum appeared in hologram. "Where have you been? I've been trying to contact you for ages."

Boomer sighed. "I'm sorry, Bellum-sama, we got mixed up with the girls."

"Well, in any case, has the package been delivered?"

"Yeah, I left it in the bureau, it should be in the usual place."

"That's good." Said the voice, "I'll have Brick or Butch pick it up."

"Oh, have they escaped?"

"Barely," Ms. Bellum sighed, " Get into the basket. I'll tell you about it when you get back."

"What about her?"

Boomer nodded to Bubbles, who now was staring at the hologram with shock and confusion.

Bellum sighed. "Well, it was inevitable this would happen. Tell her to get in too."

Boomer grabbed his backpack, and zipped up all the pockets. Lukily, none of its contents had spilled during the fight. He climbed into the metal basket and gestured to Bubbles to do the same. When they were both in, Boomer yanked on the cable, and the whole apparatus rose into the air. They were already halfway up the pit, when Bubbles finally crystalized her thoughts.

"Why do you know Ms Bellum?" Bubbles asked. "How is she involved in all of this? I thought..."

"You thought I was your enemy," Boomer finished for her, " You thought we the Rowdyruff Boys were working against you. You thought I was someone for you to fighting and stop in the name of protecting this city."

He sighed. "The truth is far more complicated than you could imagine."

Bubbles looked up at him. "I don't understand."

"I know," Boomer sighed again, "Look at me. Don't I look familiar to you?"

She blinked. "I don't..."

Then, she gasped. "Akira? Is that you?"

Boomer felt the corner of his mouth twitch upwards. "It's me, Miyako-chan," he said, "We are going to have so much to talk about."

A/N: I had an alternative ending written. Stay tuned for more.