The Adventures of Rajada: page 14

Rajada stepped out of the cockpit of the battle suit. There had been no guards, no turrets, not guns or force-fields. The lot was empty, littered with scraps of metal.Rajada checked his position again. This was the location of Balthazar's lab, but nothing remained. His clones, his technology all of it gone. Rajada picked up a chunk of metal off the ground. It was surprisingly light and crumbled into dust with the slightest touch. Anything that Balthazar had created with his powers had become nothing. Rajada shuddered a little, his fears confirmed. You can't fix things, people, places; anything touched by your powers was temporary, limited to your lifespan, or in this case, your ability to retain your power. Balthazar would live but his creations would not. Rajada prepared for the trip home. There was nothing left to do here.

...

Rajada entered the room containing the time machine. A masked worker was welding in the new tank. After a moment, he stopped and turned to Rajada. "Hey hey!" he said cheerfully, "Just got that new tank installed, so she's not going to explode any time soon. You want me to remove the modifications he made as well?" Rajada glanced at the unfinished modifications Balthazar had made to the machine. "No," Rajada replied. "It might be dangerous, I need to study them first, make sure they can be removed without further catastrophe." "You're the boss," the worker said, picking up his welding unit. "See you tomorrow!" he said as he left the room. Rajada just stared at the machine.

---

RTSPlayer ran through the colorful corridor. The murmurs of the crowd were lost in the chaos. 500 points. He was only 500 points ahead. Sliding around a corner, he spotted the wall he was looking for. Leaning against it, the wall moved in an inch, then slid off to the side. Perfect, it was still there. The Double Damage hovered ominously as ever, but something was off. This Double Damage glowed a beautiful golden color. RTSPlayer's eyes widened as he slowly scooped up the power-up. As his Pulsator began to burn with excess power, RTSPlayer glanced at his wrist. 250 points ahead. He sprinted for the nearest exit and found the point target. 250 points, no, 500. RTSPlayer's gun glowed as an extra 250 points flowed into his wristband. A missed Hyperstrike shot flew by his head. Spinning around, RTSPlayer spotted G-MO about to ready another shot. But RTSPlayer fired, getting five quick headshots on G-MO before he ducked back into cover. 1000 points! Another target, another volley of hits, was there any doubt he would win?

Suddenly, Rajada rounded the corner with a Triplestrike. RTSPlayer drew his Wildfire, but Rajada had stopped, placing on a strange Electro Shield. A bubble encompassed Rajada as he prepared to fire his Triplestrike. RTSPlayer took several shots at Rajada, but they all bounced off, most of them flying right back at RTSPlayer. Two of Rajada's rockets splashed RTSPlayer's suit power. He was hurting for batteries now, so he retreated into the previous room. But Rajada was right on his tail. Two more near misses. A sickness was overcoming RTSPlayer. He was slowing down, his eyes losing focus. Suddenly his suit power fizzled out. RTSPlayer fell to his knees, but he wasn't teleported out. He mashed the emergency button of the belt, but it just broke off. "Game over..." RTSPlayer spun around and was face to face with Rajada's Triplestrike. The rockets were tipped with long needles dripping with a green fluid. Rajada pointed the gun to RTSPlayer's gut and fired.

---

RTSPlayer opened his eyes. It was still dark out, and his sprain was bothering him a little bit. Scanning the room, RTSPlayer noticed an odd shadow near his window. A chill ran through him as he realized it looked like the silhouette of a person. Grabbing for a Secret Shot on a nightstand with one hand, RTSPlayer flicked on a nearby lamp. Rajada stood in a corner of the room, looking out the window. "Oh, you're up." RTSPlayer lowered his gun as Rajada turned to face him. "How the he-" Rajada interrupted. "Your door wasn't locked. Well, it wasn't locked in an acid-proof way. I'll replace that by the way." RTSPlayer sat up in his bed, annoyed. "Raj, it is 3 AM, what do you want?" "Oh, nothing, just checking in on you. You've got a nice place, uh, minus the partially dissolved front door. Sorry about that again... How's the le-" "What do you really want?" RTSPlayer said sternly. Rajada was silent for a moment. "I don't think I can properly explain it withou-" "Raj, yesterday was a disaster, you nearly got us killed numerous times during what should have been an incident-free tour of the lab. Give me one good reason I shouldn't just punch you in the face right now and go back to sleep." Rajada thought it over for a moment, then walked over to the side of the bed. "Balthazar did something to my machine. He had nearly finished, so after a few tests I found he was creating some sort of tunneling device out of my time machine. He was able to... well, I won't bore you with the technical details, let's just say you're going to want to see this for yourself. It will change your life. G-MO is already waiting for us."

WHAT SHOULD HE DO?

1. Punch Rajada in the face and get more sleep.

2. Get up and go with Rajada.

3. Ignore Rajada.

4. Activate Plan B.