HuniePop: Space Adventures

Chapter 1: So It Begins

Warning! This series WILL contain spoilers to the HuniePop 2 arc which has not yet been released, so read at your own risk!

Ever feel like there was something you were missing in your life that you wish you could find? Well, it's possible to find that missing piece at some point in your life. For me, it was finding my girlfriend. One so beautiful that the world seems to come to a standstill. When I first found her, everything changed. The past two years were pretty crazy, but my girlfriend, Nikki Ann-Marie, and I worked through them together. Except, that's where the fun kinda ended. Don't get me wrong, I loved her and the life we had together, but it got a little… uneventful. This morning wasn't that much different aside from the fact that my phone was buzzing like crazy. I picked it up and looked at the screen, which had the name "Justin" at the top. I groaned. Justin was a childhood friend of mine. He was pretty funny and he barely had any friends when we were in school together. The only problem was that he was loud, arrogant, immature, and annoying.

"Hello?" I said, pretending to be half asleep.

"Dude, wassup?! Haven't heard your voice in forever!" Justin's voice yelled out.

"You literally called me YESTERDAY," I said, annoyed.

"Oh, it was? Weird. Anyway, I called to tell you that…"

"…Amy and Mitch's anniversary party is coming up in about a month," I finished. Amy and Mitch were also childhood friends of mine. They both got married two years ago and had their first child recently.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Justin asked.

"Dude, we've had it marked down on our calendars and YOU'VE BEEN CALLING AND REMINDING ME SINCE ABOUT A WEEK AGO!"

"It's seriously been that long?" Justin asked.

"YES, IT HAS!" I said in a pissed off manner.

"Then you shoulda sent me a note saying you did so I don't HAVE to remind you!" he implied. I groaned in disgust. WHY did I have such an annoying friend?

Nikki's perspective

"Yeah, so what do you think I should get them for their anniversary?" I said. I was talking to my friend, Maggie, whom I had known since the 6th grade. She was a bit of a nerd like me but was more of a lesbian.

"Don't know. I was thinking maybe I should get like a playset for Ai. She'd love that," she said.

"EXCEPT, you're forgetting that this is about Amy and Mitch. Not their daughter," I replied.

"Well, yeah, but I bet it would make things a lot easier for the two of them. You know Ai's gonna just bother them about it in the future."

"Still, you keep this up, she's gonna start thinking that YOU'RE her mom." Maggie laughed over the phone.

"Yeah, I guess so. So have you heard from Tom or Mikayla?" she asked.

"Yeah, they said they'd be there. How about Naomi? Will she be there?" I asked.

"Oh, very funny."

"I'm serious!"

"Yeah, she'll be there. I mean, I don't think she WOULDN'T be there without me. And how about Max?"

"Yeah, he invited Ichigo and Ryan to the party," I said.

"No, I mean… has he popped the question yet?" Maggie asked. I immediately blushed.

"Uh, no, he hasn't asked… yet," I replied.

"STILL? Girl, he's gotta ask at some point. It's been what? Three years since you guys started dating?"

"Yeah, almost three." As if on cue, Max came out of his room, sat down at the table, and slammed his head down with a loud bang, which made me jump a bit. After a pause, Maggie spoke up.

"I take it he's been talking to Justin," she said.

"You guessed correctly," I replied.

"Doesn't he just press the ignore button? It would save him a whole lot of trouble," Maggie asked.

"I guess he thinks that if he does, then Justin will call back and be like 'Why didn't you pick up?!'" I replied. Max looked up at me and smiled. I always knew how to put him in a good mood.

"What's goin' oooon? Are you… kiss…on the phone?" Maggie's call was starting to cut in and out.

"Sorry, Maggie, what was that? You're cutting in and out," I replied.

"I… you…. doing." All of a sudden, a brilliant, bright blue light shined with such intensity that both me and Max covered our eyes. After it died down, we looked back to the spot and saw a blue-skinned alien in a red bodysuit standing there. Both Max and I had wide eyes. Maggie was still trying to talk to me over the phone.

"Nikki, you still there? I lost you for a second," she said.

"Maggs, I'm gonna have to call you back," I replied, hanging up. I got up from the table and immediately hugged the alien. She was our good friend, Celeste Luvendass, whom we had met a while back.

"Celeste! So good to see you again!" I said.

"I'm pleased to see you two as well," she replied, smiling at me.

"What are you doing here?" Max asked.

"There's something I need to discuss with you two," she said.

Max's perspective

"Wait, really?" I asked. Celeste was sitting at the table with us, eating some of the breakfast we had made.

"Yes. You two helped me and I wanted you to join me on one of my missions. I thought that it would be a life changing experience for you," she said.

"But, wait. You mean… an ACTUAL mission? IN SPACE? FOR FRIGGIN' REAL?" Nikki asked, amazed.

"Absolutely. Of course, two of my other friends will also be going on this mission with me . But, they've never seen a human before. Unless you two are busy right now…"

"No! We aren't! I mean, we have this anniversary party we're going to, but that's not for another month," Nikki said, hugging my arm.

"Also, life's been pretty uneventful lately. I think we needed a new adventure as of late," I said.

"Then it's decided! We shall head to Outpost 45 and gather my friends and be on our way to our first mission together!" Celeste said, standing up and raising a fist to the sky.

"There's just one problem," I said, pointing to our two cats, Momo and Quill.

"Oh, yeah. Plus the fact that if we're gone from our jobs for too long, somebody will suspect that something is up," Nikki added. Celeste just smiled and pulled out a small remote.

"I actually figured that you would say that and I came prepared," she said. She pressed a button on the remote and two beings that looked a lot like me and Nikki appeared in a flash of blue light.

"These two androids were created to fill in for you until you return. They will mimic everything, your behavior, your routines, your activities, even your personalities. No one will suspect that you ever left the planet."

"Uuuuuh, well, that's handy," Nikki replied, examining the android that looked like her. "Does my butt look that big?"

"No, it looks fine Nikki. So, what do we do now, Celeste?" I asked.

"Simple. Stand over here with me," Celeste replied. Me and Nikki did as she asked and we stood on either side of her as she fiddled around with a device on her arm.

"Um, shouldn't we get dressed first?" I asked.

"There's no need. And… synchronize," Celeste replied, pressing a button on her wrist. Before either me or Nikki could react, a flash of blue light engulfed the three of us. Before we knew it, we were in some sort of teleporter room with high-tech suits on.

"Welcome to my ship. It's called the SS Centurion," Celeste said, spreading her arms out. Nikki and I couldn't help but look in awe at the interior work of the ship. There was a cafeteria, a gym, sleeping quarters, an armory, and a med bay. The ship had all sorts of cool stuff inside! Celeste showed us the cockpit last.

"And this is where we discuss our missions, examine our terrain, and, of course, where I pilot the ship."

"WHOA! This is like Waverider mixed with Millennium Falcon type crap! THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Nikki said. I couldn't help but chuckle at Nikki geeking out. I looked out the window of cockpit and saw the Earth. It wasn't too far away, but it was far enough away for me to see how beautiful it was from space.

"So, where are we right now?" I asked.

"We are cloaked in orbit around Earth's moon at the moment. But we will be moving shortly," Celeste replied, sitting in the captain's seat.

"Wait, this ship… can CLOAK?!" Nikki asked.

"It can. I usually activate it when I am near Earth or trying to elude notice from unpleasant individuals. Now then," Celeste said before turning to us.

"Have a seat. Strap yourselves in," she said. Nikki and I immediately sat in two of the seats surrounding the command chair and lower the metal harnesses. Celeste smiled and turned back around. The ship slowly hummed to life and turned away from Earth, staring into the unknown. Both me and Nikki held each other's hands, eagerly waiting for what came next.

"Oh, before I forget, this ship functions on a hyperdrive engine. Barely any time will pass since you left because we will be moving so fast. However, because this is your first hyperspace jump, you may notice some… side effects."

"Wait, what side effe-!" Before I could say any more, Celeste pushed a lever forward and the whole ship blasted off at surprising speed. Within a few short seconds, we arrived at some sort of asteroid which had a whole colony of aliens walking around. Celeste landed the Centurion on a landing pad and turned back around to face us. Well, as far as I could tell, she might've. Everything looked extremely blurry.

"I can't see anything. It's all blurry," I said, rather loudly. I couldn't hear very well either. But I could kinda hear that Nikki was vomiting. Hopefully not on the floor.

"That's normal for your first hyper jump. Such side effects include temporary blindness and deafness, nausea and…" Celeste started. But she was interrupted by Nikki.

"Oh, flubse, throm wes intref!" Nikki said.

"Linguistic disorientation," Celeste finished.

"Whet diff yei teff op thug?!" Nikki blabbered. I shook my head trying to clear my vision, which did. My hearing also started to improve.

"OK, I think I'm starting to see a bit better," I said.

"I did say temporary blindness and deafness," Celeste implied.

"Sho, mei gidderesh isk alfo tenpararoy?" Nikki asked. Her speech was also starting to improve.

"Yes, your speech will also improve. Now then, we must meet with the others. I highly recommend not drawing too much attention to yourselves."

"Why? Are humans considered a nuisance? Or a delicacy?" I asked.

"Most aliens have no problems with humans. But it doesn't hurt to be cautious around any type of species you see. Some are exceptionally violent," Celeste said.

"Oh, perfect," I replied sarcastically. We exited the Centurion and made our way through the crowd. Just like Celeste had said, several of the aliens, both big and small, didn't pay any attention to us. Several were simply conversing with one another in their own language or buying from shops or eating out together. It looked rather… peaceful. When we got to the center of the marketplace, Celeste stopped us.

"Remain here until I get back. Hopefully it won't take long for me to find them," she said. With that, she disappeared into the crowd. Me and Nikki stood by a wall in silence, watching the crowd go by.

"Pretty weird," Nikki said.

"How so?"

"That they aren't paying us any attention. Like we're not out of the norm."

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied. I suddenly noticed a couple of aliens cursing about a robot that wasn't responding. The robot looked feminine with orange and yellow hair. Her skimpy outfit was a brilliant green and pink combo with giant arm sleeve cuffs. And her face looked cute. I started to make my toward the stand where the robot was with Nikki holding my hand through the crowd. When we got there, I started to closely inspect the robot, trying to see what was wrong with it.

"You're wasting your time, Terran. No one can get the damn thing to work," a voice said. I turned and saw a rather small, old, red female alien sitting next to the robot, fidgeting with a different contraption.

"How much are you willing to sell it for?" I asked. The alien looked at me and gave me a small chuckle.

"If you can figure out how to turn it on, I'll give it to ya for free. Most of th' people here just want it 'cause it looks shiny. Maybe YOU might get somethin' out of it," she said. I took a closer look at the robot and saw that some of its wires were exposed. That was probably the reason that it wasn't turning on. After fidgeting with the wires for a little bit, the robot suddenly jolted to life, her eyes flashing.

"Greetings! I am Odango, your personal rice cooker and companion! How may I serve you today, Master?" she said, smiling. I noticed that the alien was smiling at me, possibly impressed that I knew how to fix something.

"Well, I'll be. She's all yours, Terran," the alien said. Odango stared eagerly at me, smiling.

"Um, hello, Odango. My name is Max and this is-," I started. But when I turned around, Nikki was gone. I frantically searched the crowd, looking for her.

"Is something amiss, Master?" Odango asked.

"My girlfriend. She's a human with blue hair," I said.

"Fret not! I can scan this entire area and locate her for you!" Odango said. She gazed out into the crowd, her eyes moving at super speed. After a while, her eyes glowed and she dinged.

"There! Over by the outskirts alongside those brute-like monsters!" she said. Sure enough, Nikki was over there, except she was getting HARRASSED by the aliens, not walking alongside them. I immediately grabbed Odango's hand and ran over to them. Nikki looked like she was in fear for her life, one of the aliens licking her face.

"You look like a real beauty. What's your name, Terran?" one of the aliens asked. Nikki just whimpered.

"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" I yelled. The alien brutes turned around to face me.

"Um, that possibly wasn't the best idea, Master," Odango said, her voice becoming fearful.

"Yeah, I realize that now," I said through gritted teeth. One of the alien brutes walked up and towered over me. But I didn't flinch nor cower in fear as the alien looked me over.

"The blue-haired one… is yours?" he asked.

"Yes, she is. And I don't appreciate you treating her like that. Now, please, let her go and we can resolve this peacefully," I said, trying to be smart. Unfortunately, the brute grabbed me by my suit and looked at me menacingly.

"And what are you gonna do about it, punk?" Before I could answer, one of the other brutes went flying past us, crashing into the wall behind us. The brute holding me turned around and saw the other brute holding Nikki was in a hold by a red, muscular, four armed female alien that was easily towering over him. She had short black hair with a streak of red running down it and her outfit looked like what a female gymnast would wear.

"You know, I thought we had an agreement. This is MY turf. That means that any bullies that set foot on this rock and cause trouble get roughed up," she said. She then grabbed the alien she was holding and pulled a backwards suplex on him, driving the alien's face into the ground. The brute holding me let me go and tried to make a run for it, but the female alien grabbed him by the back of his neck before he could get a head start.

"Wait, Amki, hold up! We weren't bullying them, I swear!" he said, trying to get free.

"Bullying, horseplay, sexual harassment… they're all the same to me pal. Now, beat it," Amki said, turning around and throwing him into one of the stands. She turned around to face Nikki, who was rubbing her arm.

"You OK?" she asked.

"Yeah. Thanks for the save. Both of you," Nikki said, looking at me. I just smiled.

"But it was mostly me, right?" Amki asked.

"Stay OUT of trouble. Was your temporary deafness still in effect when I said that?" Celeste said, walking up to us. Behind her was another alien, but she looked more human. Her hair was green, her eyes a burning bright orange, and she was wearing a high tech suit and headset.

"Long time no see, Celeste," Amki said.

"You as well, Amki. Max, Nikki, I'd like you to meet my friend, Eva. She is a mech pilot from the planet, Technus," Celeste said. Eva gave us a small bow and a smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Celeste talks so much about you two," she said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Eva. So, is this everyone?" I asked.

"Yes. Thankfully, Amki Trem'r stands out in a crowd, so it wasn't hard to find you here with her," Celeste said.

"Oh, you," Amki said. We immediately went back to the ship and left Outpost 45 and headed off into the unknown again. I was busy helping Nikki in the med bay with her injury.

"That was brave of you, standing up to that guy," she said as I put a bandage around her wrist.

"For you? Always," I replied. Nikki immediately pulled me in for a kiss. But, it didn't last long, because we heard someone clear their throat. It was Amki.

"We're almost at our destination. Captain needs up front," she said. Both me and Nikki immediately went to the bridge just as we exited hyperspace, stopping in front of a red planet.

"Is that Mars?" Nikki asked.

"Close. The planet you are now seeing is Ares, which is somewhat the equivalent of Mars. Many alien species use this planet for breakthroughs in scientific research and genetic engineering," Celeste explained.

"And we're here why now?" Amki asked, unimpressed. Celeste pressed a button, which brought up a hologram of the planet and zoomed in on the research facility.

"24 hours ago, the research team broadcasted an SOS. They were testing a new form of energy when the facility came under attack from an unknown force of unknown origin. This was the last transmission they sent before the whole place went dark," she said. The hologram then pulled up a video of an alien pleading for help in an unknown language before getting pulled off screen by a clawed hand.

"Now, our mission is to search for any survivors and get them to safety and to find the source of the invasion and destroy it," Celeste finished.

"Seems simple enough," Nikki said.

"I actually predict a 49.6% chance it will actually be that simple," Odango said.

"Well then, let's suit up," I said, standing up. After we armed ourselves with guns and supplies, the six of us teleported down into the facility. However, when we did, the walls were soaked with blood and entrails.

"Aaaaaand the percentage just went up to 67.6%," Odango said, clearly scared. She was using one of her hands as a flashlight.

"It should be fine, Odango. Hopefully," Eva said.

"You call this FINE? There's blood all over the WALL!" Amki said.

"Be silent, Amki! The invaders might by listening to us," Celeste hissed.

"I don't see anyone here but us!" Amki implied. However, as this quieted down, we heard a noise that sounded a bit like snarling. I looked to the left and saw an unknown figure walk into view. It was hard to make out exactly was it was at the moment, but I noticed that it had small, curved spikes on its back and its skin was a shade of dark orange. Its clawed hands scraped the ground, slicing through the metal.

"You there! Identify yourself!" Celeste said, pointing her gun at the alien. Odango pointed her light at the alien, which gave us a better look at the its face. It had a gnarly looking head, with jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth and glowing eyes. We barely had any time to say anything because it immediately roared and lunged right at us, scattering the group. Me and Celeste started shooting at it, but it was moving too fast for us to land any killing blows. It also seemed to blink in and out of the shadows.

"Oh yeah! We're definitely not in any danger at all!" Amki yelled sarcastically as the creature lunged at her with its claws, just missing her neck and slicing into the metal wall instead. After Amki threw it off, it turned around to face us again, it held out its hand and threw a fireball at us, which missed and burned the wall instead.

"It can throw fire?! How is that even possible?!" Odango asked, her servers in full-on panic mode. The creature roared and lunged at Nikki, pinning her against the wall. Before it could slash at her, I came up from behind and shot it through the head, blood splattering all over the wall and on Nikki's face. The body slumped to the ground, creating a pool of blood around where the head used to be. Before I could walk any further, I started hearing snarling again, this time coming from behind. Celeste must've heard it too, because she immediately spun around and shot another creature in the chest that was clinging to the wall. The creature fell to the ground with a thud, gurgling to death from the new hole in its chest.

"Well, that was quite an entrance these things made," Eva said, stunned. Nikki wiped the blood off of her face as Celeste and I started to inspect the creatures. Something felt… oddly familiar about them. And then it hit me.

"Wait a-! These are IMPS!" I said, picking up one of the creatures arms.

"Beg your pardon?" Celeste asked, giving me the same confused look Amki, Eva, and Odango had.

"Imps! You know, from the game DOOM?" Nikki chimed in.

"What's DOOM?" Eva asked. Odango's eyes suddenly went white for a moment before returning to normal and holding up a finger.

"DOOM. A videogame released in 1993 depicting a space marine fighting off the forces of Hell on the planet Mars," Odango said. Me and Nikki just looked at her questionably.

"How do you even know that?" I asked.

"The knowledge of Earth isn't just confined to one planet," she replied.

"So, let me get this straight. You know what these things are based on you knowing, what? A DAMN GAME?!" Amki said, clearly pissed at how dumb that no doubt sounded to her.

"Well, based on what I've seen when I first met them, their knowledge is more reliable than I used to think. In any case, these aren't demons," Celeste replied.

"Wait, what?" Nikki asked.

"These are aliens like me. Except they aren't from Tendricide. They're from Infernus."

"What's Infernus?" Nikki asked.

"It's the second planet in this solar system. It is a place of unrelenting heat and the landscape is not unlike that of an Earth volcano. The first alien research team that went to go study Infernus barely even got two feet outside of their ship before the atmosphere burned their suits and scorched their lungs. But, these 'Imps' were the first lifeform that their ship's camera recorded on that planet. They were also responsible for the destruction of the third planet in this solar system, Gaia Prime," Celeste explained.

"OK, the sad story aside, how do we beat these things?" Amki asked.

"Imps usually prefer to fight at medium distance, throwing fireballs at their prey or they'll strike from an elevated position. Either getting up close and personal or shooting outside of their range will mostly do them in. And when they charge up their fireball, they'll be immobile for a short while, which will leave them vulnerable for a short while," Nikki said.

"Are there any other creatures we should be concerned about besides the Imps?" Celeste asked. Before either of us could answer, Odango spoke up.

"Master, I'm getting slight seismic readings from down that hallway," she said pointing down the long corridor. Sure enough, we heard a slight thud coming from down the hallway which grew louder and louder with each passing second. Before long, another creature, far larger than the Imps, walked into view, standing on two powerful legs with dark flesh-colored skin. It had a head that looked somewhat like a half exposed skull, except you could clearly see its glowing eyes. Aside from that, it had a row of sharp spines running down its back and on the sides of its elbows.

"What IS that?" Eva asked.

"THAT… is MINE!" Amki yelled before running toward it at full force. But before she could even land a punch on it, the creature grabbed her upper two fists and stopped her dead in her tracks. As it began to crush her hands, Celeste took advantage of its vulnerable position and opened fire on it. The shots didn't really seem to do anything against it and the creature threw Amki into Celeste, the two of them crashing into the wall. Celeste nearly didn't have time to recover before the creature began running towards us. It suddenly jumped up and punched the ground so hard that it created a shockwave which blew all of us backward. The creature then stood over Eva and the whimpering Odango, growling. Before it could do anything, Amki came in from behind and grabbed the creature's neck with her arms.

"I ain't done with you yet, you son of a bitch!" she said, trying to strangle it. But the creature suddenly tensed up and a couple of spikes came out of its back, one of the stabbing her through the shoulder. Amki couldn't help but let go and the creature turned to her again to fight her. I suddenly got an idea from seeing the creature fight.

"Celeste! Where's the nearest armory?!" I asked. Celeste fiddled with the mini map on her wrist as she continued shooting before finally locating it.

"Down this corridor, down the first corridor on the left, third door on the right! Why do you ask?" she said.

"I have an idea. Nikki, get its attention!" I yelled. Nikki immediately shot the creature in the face as it fought Amki. After throwing the alien to the side, it glared at us menacingly.

"Wait, what was the plan?!" Nikki asked.

"RUN!" I yelled, grabbing her hand. The creature roared and immediately chased us down the hallway, swiping at us every time it got close.

"Max, what are you doing? You are insane if you think you can simply outrun it!" Celeste said over our comms.

"That thing's a Hell Knight! They're known for being extremely aggressive and close combat!"

"So, if we can beat it to the armory…" Nikki started, nearly missing a swipe from the creature.

"We'll have an explosive surprise waiting for him," I finished. OF course, it DID look like suicide, what we were doing. The Hell Knight came close to grabbing us a few times but when we turned the corner into the hallway on the left, it was moving too fast to stop and ended up crashing into the wall, giving us a bit of distance between it and us. It was unable to grab us as we opened the door to the armory and shut it behind us, trapping the monster outside. Unfortunately, it was still banging on the door, trying to get to us.

"That door's not gonna hold him long," Nikki said.

"Then let's hope we can find something strong enough to kill it," I replied, looking around the armory. There weren't a whole lot of weapons that looked damaging enough. But as we were looking, something caught my eye. In the corner, there was a rather human looking weapon that stood out: a double-barreled, break action shotgun. Attached to the underside of it was some sort of grappling hook. As I was examining the weapon, one of the Hell Knight's fists burst through the metal door, trying to grab one of us.

"Nikki, sweetie, if you're gonna pick out a weapon, now's the time to do it!" I said, readying my weapon.

"Yeah, I can't find one that looks powerful enough!" Nikki said, rummaging through the armory. However, when the Hell Knight punched through the door again, she fell backwards into the wall and onto a strange artifact. The artifact suddenly jolted to life and formed a black and blue armored suit around Nikki's body. Before either of us could say anything, the Hell Knight finally tore the door down and grabbed me, throwing me into the hallway. I immediately pointed the shotgun at the creature and pressed a button on the grip which launched the grappling hook. It hit the Hell Knight in the chest and reeled me in close enough for me to land a punch on its head but it grabbed me and pinned me to the ground before I could land a second hit. As it prepared to kill me, Nikki came in from behind and, her hands somehow becoming blades, stabbed the Hell Knight through the back, allowing me to pick up the shotgun and blast it in the face. Its lifeless body fell to the ground with a loud thud, blood gushing onto the walls. Both Nikki and I sat on the floor, trying to catch our breath, and I noticed that the blades on Nikki's hands slowly reformed back into hands.

"OK, now THAT is cool. It's like you're a female Blue Beetle," I said.

"That's prehensile battle armor," Celeste said, walking up to us with the others.

"You know, I had that guy," Amki said, poking the corpse of the Hell Knight.

"By all means, feel free to take credit for it, FourArms," I replied, out of breath.

"So, what's this about prehensile battle armor?" Nikki asked. Celeste immediately pulled up a schematic of the suit she was wearing.

"It's a suit that was designed on the planet Technus, the same place where Eva is from. Basically, it can create any sort of weapon based on your thoughts," Celeste explained. Nikki immediately closed her eyes and her arm transformed into an arm cannon.

"Make that hella cool," I said. I suddenly heard Odango screech and ran into the armory. She eagerly held up a small chip in front of me.

"Look Master! It's a combat module upgrade! With this, I can finally fight alongside you guys!" she exclaimed. She immediately plugged the chip into her arm and her eyes went fully red for a minute before returning to normal. Her arms suddenly transformed into giant arm cannons and a couple of rocket launchers appeared out of her back.

"Combat Upgrade successfully installed! Defense Protocols engaged!" Odango said triumphantly. I just chuckled nervously. Eva walked out sporting a more armored version of her suit which had some glowing parts, and Amki had some kind of high tech gloves on her lower arms and she was holding a spiked ball on a chain attached to a gauntlet in her other hand.

"Ooooh, baby! This is a popular weapon from my home planet. They call it the 'Hellraiser'", she said, grinning. Celeste walked into the armory and eyed a pair of energy katanas on the wall.

"I thought guns were your thing," I said, walking up behind her. Celeste just smiled and took the katanas down from the wall.

"Who told you that?" she asked.

"MASTER! I'm getting movement from down the hall!" Odango said frantically.

"How many?"

"Around 60 individual targets!"

"Guess this is our target practice people! Let's test these babies out!" Amki said, getting into a defensive stance. Sure enough, around 60 Imps were racing down the hallway towards us, their fangs ready to sink into us. Before one of them could reach us, Odango fired a couple of rockets at the group. The explosion killed a whole bunch of them, but a large number still remained. Amki followed up, throwing her flail at one of them and then whipping it back and hitting a few more. A few Imps homed in on Eva, but her suit began to glow and she punched one of the Imps which created a concussive blast which tore the first one apart and knocked the others back. Celeste took advantage of their vulnerable position and sliced through them with her katanas. The last batch of Imps came right at me and Nikki, but we simply either shot them or Nikki stabbed it with one of her arm blades. After the dust cleared, not a single Imp was left alive.

"Whoo! Now THAT was a workout!" Amki said, stretching a bit.

"Yes. But, even with these weapons, we still can't fight all of them head-on," Celeste said.

"Well, is there a BFG-9000 somewhere in this facility?" I asked.

"Beg your pardon?"

"The Big Frackin' Gun! The most powerful weapon in DOOM history! It can easily wipe out entire groups of enemies without ever missing!" Nikki said, her eyes sparkling. Celeste took a quick look at her map.

"Well, there is no 'Big Frackin Gun' but there is a Bio-Force Gun stationed near the holding cells," Celeste said. Nikki and I groaned at how stupid that name sounded.

"How destructive is this BFG?" Odango asked.

"It says here that it's a powerful plasma energy weapon with devastating effects."

"Sounds like the sort of thing we need right now. But, what the hell is it doing in front of the holding cells?" Amki asked.

"In case if the threat got too serious. My guess is if one of them got out while they were doing research, it would lead to them trying to free the others. Unfortunately, if it's still there, it means that no one was able to use it against this threat. We should go retrieve it before we head anywhere else," Celeste said. As we moved down the hallway, a door suddenly just closed, separating me, Nikki, and Celeste from the others.

"Whoa, what the hell?!" I said.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Odango asked from the other side.

"Is the place going on lockdown?" Nikki asked, looking at the door controls.

"Impossible. The place should have been in lockdown already once someone pressed the alarm. It doesn't make sense that it would suddenly go into lockdown now," Celeste said.

"Wait, does that mean-?"

"Someone is watching us. It may very well be the leader of this invasion and he or she may have access to the door controls for this facility."

"And they're trying to split us up," I said.

"Is there another way around this door?" Amki asked, audibly trying to punch through the door.

"If you take the corridor to your right, you should see some signs pointing towards the holding cells. We'll meet there!" Celeste said. We immediately started to move down the hallway toward our destination, hopefully as quickly as possible.

Amki's perspective

BS. TOTAL BS is what this was. Once again, I got dragged into one of Celeste's "missions" and we were now knee-deep in the dead! Well, OK, I volunteered, I didn't get dragged. But still, I always hated it when missions like these went south. As me, Odango, and Eva continued to move down the hallway, we started hearing the snarls again. These things, I swear…

"How many of these things are there exactly? I mean, I can tell on my radar but what about the entire facility?" Odango asked.

"Possibly amounting to the hundreds. It's impossible to tell how many there are without a full analysis of this facility," Eva said. Hundreds of 'em? Bring it on. I was a reigning champion when I was growing up on my home world. Killing a bunch of demon-like aliens was nothing but a cake walk. However, as we got closer, it all went quiet. Like, DEAD quiet. And then we heard snorting. Like the monstrous Terrakin that live on my planet. They were like giant bull-like creatures with rows of razor sharp teeth. As we rounded the corner, we saw exactly what was making the snorting noise. It stood on two powerful hind legs, like the Hell Knight we encountered earlier, except a little bit bigger. Its skin was more pinkish than the Hell Knight's and its head had two large, curved horns. It was holding an Imp in its muscular grip. I really wish Max and Nikki were here 'cause I really wanted to know what it was called so I could make fun of how stupid its name was.

"Uhhhh, that's not a Hell Knight, is it?" Odango asked.

"Hang back. I'll handle this," I said. Yeah, I didn't really fare well against the Hell Knight, but I wasn't going to make that same mistake again. The… minotaur Infernite… thing dropped the Imp and stared at me menacingly, its mouth drooling. Its hand suddenly started glowing green and it threw some kind of plasma ball at me, which nearly grazed my arm. The creature then charged at me and I did the same. Our hands collided, creating a shockwave that smashed some of the monitors in that room. The two of us struggled to push the other away, but we were both evenly matched. I then got close enough so I could punch the monster in the gut and I was able to throw him into the wall. Unfortunately, I didn't see that another of the same creature had snuck up behind me and grabbed my arm, throwing me at Odango and Eva. They managed to dodge out of the way before I even hit the wall. Both monsters threw more plasma orbs at me, but I was a bit too fast for them. Odango took the lead of distracting one by firing missiles at it while I focused on the other. The monster's fists glowed green before it charged at me and swiped at me. It barely missed my neck, but I was quick to respond, swinging my flail at him and crushing its head with the end of it. The second monster immediately turned its attention to me and knocked the flail out of my hand and pinned me up against the wall. I broke free of its grasp and engaged it in hand-to-hand combat. I held up pretty well against it, but, damn, this thing could hit really hard. Odango opened fire on the creature again, which distracted it long enough for me to break free of its grip and grab it by one of its horns. I tried to rip its head off, but the monster just punched me, losing its horn in the process. Eva shot at it with a concussive blast which threw off the monster a bit, but it immediately turned back to face me. It roared and charged straight at me, but, using its own horn as a bat, I hit it so hard that I crushed its skull. Its lifeless body crumpled to the ground, blood splattering on the wall.

"OK, THAT was a bit too chaotic for me," Odango said, wiping some of the blood off of her face.

"Well, either way, thanks for the assist," I said, picking up my flail.

"We should keep moving. I would rather not be here if more of these things show up," Eva said. But, before we could move anywhere, we started hearing the snarling again.

"Spoke too soon," I replied.

"I don't know how much more my poor protocols can take," Odango said.

"They may have to endure a bit more. We will need to fight our way through them in order to reach the others," Eva said, powering up her suit. I picked up the two of them with my lower two arms and got into a ready stance.

"Then I'll run and punch! You two shoot!" I said. I began to run at full force down the hallway, sharply turning at corners pointing to the holding cells. At one intersection, there was a whole horde of Imps gathering around a flesh feast. By the time they had noticed me, it was already too late for them to react.

"WHAT'S UP, BITCHES?!" I yelled as I began to punch through them and Odango and Eva began to shoot.

Max's perspective

"Amki? Eva? Anyone? Respond!" Celeste said, speaking through her comms as we moved down the corridor. And listen, I really don't know exactly how people in horror films felt in situations like this, but this felt eerily similar to those types of scenarios. The hallway of the facility was dimly lit, one blinking on and off every now and again. As if it was preventing us from seeing where the next attack would come from. Nikki and Celeste were behind me, guns ready as we moved through the hall. The floor was soaked in blood, no doubt from the victims of the attack. The walls had deep gashes made by their sharp claws. You could probably even hear the screams of agony in your head.

"You know, I'm glad we came here, Celeste. You ask us to help you, you bring us to a planet literally overrun by bloodthirsty DEMON ALIENS. Yeah, this is working out reeeaaall great," I said, sarcastically.

"Hon, stop it," Nikki said.

"These scientists messed with a power they thought they could contain. That was their mistake. And we're here to clean up their mess," Celeste replied.

"Any word from the others?" I asked.

"Still nothing."

"Dammit. If they aren't responding, they must've gotten caught," I replied.

"Don't assume that. Amki is a lot stronger than she looks and she has won several fights against nearly impossible odds. This would be no problem for her," Celeste said.

"Against THAT many of them? I think even she would have her limits," Nikki replied. As we continued down the hallway, the ambiance became even more unsettling. Like something was hunting us.

"You know, this is why I dislike playing horror games. You never know what-!" I didn't get to finish because Celeste suddenly pushed us both up against the wall.

"CELESTE! WHAT THE H-?!" I started to yell. Celeste forcefully pressed her finger against my lips.

"Quiet! We are not alone here!" she hissed. I started hearing exactly was she was. It sounded at first like some sort of squishy noise, like someone walking through the mud. But as I listened closer, it sounded more like flesh tearing as well as the grunts and snorts of some sort of creature. Celeste immediately switched positions to a pillar in the middle of the hallway. She then motioned for me and Nikki to look. Both of us looked around the corner and down the hallway to where the noise was coming from. And there was where we saw it. The noise was coming from a large, pink, bulky, muscular boar-like beast eating the corpse of a dead scientist. The creature looked like it was covered in a thick layer of armor with tusk-like spines running down its back and jutting out of its elbows and tail. It mouth looked big enough to swallow a small alien whole and it was filled with sharp fangs and huge tusks. The creature violently thrashed and tore apart his prey, dark blue blood gushing all over the floor. Nikki was trying her best to muffle her whimpers of fear while I kept a close eye on the beast. It eventually got tired of toying with its meal and ate the rest of the corpse before leaving. After a while, both Celeste and I peeked around the corner to check if the coast was clear. As Celeste moved down the hallway, I began to try and calm Nikki down.

"Baby, look at me. Everything's OK. We're gonna be just fine," I said. Turns out I spoke to soon because the creature burst through the window behind us and chased us down the corridor, roaring. I pulled Nikki to the side just as he caught up with us causing him to hit the wall. The beast just shook its head and turned back to face me. I immediately shot at it with my gun, but the shots didn't seem to hurt him, much less faze him. It charged at me again, but Celeste came at it from the side and sliced into its skin with her katana. The creature roared in pain and immediately charged at her, slamming her against the wall. As it moved in for the kill, Nikki hit the creature with a piece of metal debris and then shoved it into the creature's mouth. But it just simply crushed the metal with its giant maw and growled at both Celeste and Nikki, its mouth drooling.

"Hey, Freakshow!" I yelled, shooting at the creature again. My diversion worked because the beast turned to face me, staring at me with its beady, glowing eyes, steam coming out of its nose. It pawed the ground with its foot before letting out a roar and charging at me full force. I knew I had to time the shot just right or the creature would tear me to shreds. My finger was rested on the trigger, ready to shoot. But before the creature could even reach me, it was suddenly yanked backward and thrown against the wall. Amki was back and ready for more. But so was the beast. As it stood back up, the center of its lower jaw opened up and spewed a fireball at her, but Amki easily avoided it and pinned the creature to the wall and used her arms to break its jaws open. Amki took a step back and then looked at me.

"Now, we're even," she said, smiling at me.

"What happened, you weren't responding to your comms," Celeste said, walking up to her.

"Fell out of my ear as we dealt with those ugly bastards. Sorry to scare you," Amki replied. As I moved away from the group, another door suddenly closed behind me, separating me from the group.

"AGAIN?! Seriously?! Who the hell is doing this?" Nikki asked from behind the door.

"Max, listen. The holding cells should be just down the hallway. We'll circle around and meet you at the top!" Celeste said.

"Please be careful, Max," Nikki said.

"I will. I love you," I said before running down the hallway to our destination. When I got there, I saw a pedestal holding a large gun in some sort of small levitation field. It's size and shape were undeniable. It was the BFG-9000. I saw that one of the alien scientists had tried to reach for it, but half of him was gone, his entrails spilled out over the floor. I took the BFG from its pedestal and continued walking through the holding area. But as I neared where Celeste said we would meet, I saw one of the holding cells was holding a human. A girl, to be specific. I couldn't put my finger on it, but she looked a bit familiar. Her hair was black, which was tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a black jumpsuit, similar to the one Celeste was wearing, and she was rubbing her finger across the glass. As I moved closer, the corners of her mouth formed a slight smile.

"I always knew that you would come back to me. You couldn't resist me, could you?" the girl asked. Her voice sounded oddly… familiar.

"Who are you? How do you even know me?" I asked. The girl just giggled lightly.

"You could never forget me. You were always destined with me…" She lifted her head up to look at me with her gray eyes and a wide smile.

"Senpai," she finished. My entire body immediately went cold with fear. I DID know who she was. She was the worst imaginable person I had ever met in my life. A cold, heartless person. My second ex-girlfriend.

Ayano Aishi.

To Be Continued…