The Adventures of American-man: Dreamworld
By Paul G Jutras
Chapter One: Doorway of Doom
October 31, 3086, a historical team uncovered a weird chest with pictures carved
all over the outside. Each was dressed in hiking boots, knee-high socks, too
tight shorts, sleeveless shirts and pit helmets. As one of them broke open the
chest a mist rose out and formed into a skull headed demon. Rays shot from it's
eye socks, transforming the girls' skin to plastic. As they fell over, the
erotic tight feelings of their skin caused them to orgasm.
On October 31, 1987, A Japanese-American name Chris Jackmarr stood before an
American-man comic poster and poised like a super-hero. He wore a tight-fitting
stars and stripes shirt with a bright red "A" over a white boarder emblazoned
across the chest, a white belt, blue tights and a short red cape. He had a
narrow jaw, short brown hair and brown eyes.
In his room, he was preparing for the costume concert.
An autumn wind blew a book open to the story of a demon. Chris firmly believed
in the 'Lord of the Dead' as much as he believed that he would one day make a
difference.
"Hey, Chris!" A startling voice turned his attention to the window. "Aren't you
ready yet? The girls are waiting!"
As Chris walked to the window, he poked his head out and saw a young man. He was
dressed in a leather jacket, a white T-shirt, jeans and leather boots. "Be right
down!"
"Got to go!" screamed Chris as he passed his sister on the stairs without
looking back at her.
"It isn't fair, Mama!" Millie complained as she stomped her barefoot. "Chris is
going to the party!"
"Will you hush, Millie!" Mrs. Jackmarr held a phone receiver as Millie stormed
downstairs. "Your brother is two years older and in the band. He can handle
himself."
"Blek!" Chris stuck out his tongue and stepped into a pair of knee-high boots.
He picked up a guitar and ran off.
"Surf's up!" Chris leaped from his front door to the back seat of a Cadillac. He
landed beside Roberta Chow, who wore a mermaid costume, and looked at Joe and
Nancy's fifties outfits in the front seat.
They drove a long, lazy loopy along the shape of the circular driveway. Leaves
fell from almost bare trees. "All right, then," said Joe. "We're off to the
beach party!"
"Should we be leaving so early?" Nancy ran a comb through her hair and smiled at
Joe. As they started down hill, she could see the ocean on the horizon.
"We want to beat the guests and set up, don't we?"
At that moment, in the beach parking lot, a dog's barking drew the attention of
a uniformed officer. The policeman stared speechlessly as a figure materialized
from out of a rainbow light. When the light died, the officer saw the samurai
armor the man was dressed in.
"Where's Jackmarr- san," the man announced, his voice harsh to the ear.
"H-Halt or I'll shoot!" The officer stuttered like a rookie as he drew his gun.
"I said freeze!"
Transmuting into a tall, fury Sasquatch, his hand snapped the dog's neck like a
clamp. The officer fired effortlessly as it's other hand outstretched toward
him. The officer's screams were down right blood curtailing. "Ahhhh!"
The convertible arrived at the parking lot, the music from the radio caused the
monster pain. It dropped the officer and fired a force beam from its arm. The
explosion knocked the kids and instruments out of the car. "H-Hey!"
"Roberta!" Chris cried out with concern as she fell back into his arms. She felt
flushed with pleasure as her fin fused onto her lower torso and made a real
mermaid out of her. He failed to notice that his body was also glowing. "You
okay?"
Roberta just reached down and felt her costume. A smile stretched across her
face. "Fine."
"Got to get away from here before that thing--." Chris murmured fearfully as he
crouched in the creature's shadow.
"--Attacks!" Chris gasped for breath as the creature slammed him onto the beach.
With one hand on his throat, the other swept across his face. Blood gushed out
of his mouth.
Grabbing the monster by the shoulders, Chris braced his foot and rolled back.
The creature was flipped off of him. As Chris sat back up, the creature came
from behind and wrapped its arms around his upper torso. He heard the sound of
his spine cracking as he gasped, "What kind of creature are you?"
"Let's bail!" Joe yelled. Seeing he couldn't reach Chris, he helped the group
back to the car, Roberta pleasuring herself as she laid in the car's back seat.
He grabbed the gearshift between the seats and put it into drive. "When a game
like Demons and Devils comes to life... I'm gone!"
Chris lay on the beach like a broken puppet. A golden halo surrounded his soul
as it rose out of his body and into a blinding white light. Sasquatch looked
away to see Joe and the girls roar off. "Hang on to your hats girls!"
Back at home, Mrs. Jackmarr's attention turned from her housework to a crack in
the framed photo of her son. Her Japanese heritage told her that it meant an ill
omen for a loved one. "C-Chris?"
*****
"Hello?" Chris called out as he walked along a bank of iridescent fog. Wearing
only a hospital gown, he followed a series of geysers and Greek statues while
waited for someone to answer him.
"Huh?" He looked lovingly at a statue as it came to life. She appeared to be
young, somewhere in her twenties. She had blue eyes and blonde curls. She was
wearing a white tunic and sandals.
"I am Clotho..." the girl cooed in a sweet soothing voice. "You are needed to
help save the universe."
"No, no, no!" the boy exclaimed. He ran up a staircase of clouds with his head
lowered and shaking back and fourth. "I must be going out of my mind!"
Chris stood frozen in place as Clotho appeared ahead of him. "H-How did you..."
She reached up and whipped the tears from his check. "Not to worry! Things
aren't that bad! Just come with me! You have nothing to loose!" she sang.
A look of fear froze on Chris' face as he looked around at a void of
nothingness. "I'm..." He began but couldn't bring himself to finish such a
disturbing thought.
"Dead?" she answered for him as she walked around a steaming geyser. "Yes."
"The Fates preordained your death, but you can be reborn." Clotho turned back
around. "Listen to the light in your soul and let justice be done."
"Reborn..." Chris asked. "But how?"
"By entering the body of your descendant." she gave a smile. "It's the only way
to avert the crisis ahead."
"Let's do it. I once made a promise that I'd find my father." Chris stepped
beside her. "He's been missing since his ship left for Hong Kong. I want to live
to keep that promise."
"Fear not." Clotho gestured ahead with her hands while Chris listened to the
trumpets of judgment. "Everything will be alright. And you'll have a chance to
keep that promise."
Hesitantly, Chris stepped into the geyser and felt tingly all over. As a mist
held him hostage, hands of smoke began to mold his soul as if it was clay. He
struggled effortlessly to free himself. "I'm feeling really strange. What's
happening to me?"
Then the mist let him go, and Chris disappeared into a tunnel of white light.
Chapter Two: New Girl In Town
In the year 3086, a groan came from behind a closed bedroom door. A wooden name
plaque read: CHRISTINE
Inside, Chris Jackmarr woke up in bed from a dream like state to find himself
tangled in bed sheets. He was wearing an over-sized T-shirt and bikini panties.
His foot slid up a shaven leg. "Where am I?" he asked.
"AH!" Chris' piercing scream echoed as he looked down at himself. His arms had
brushed up against a pair of breasts. "The only explanation that makes sense is
it wasn't just a dream." Chris tossed the blankets and looked at a busty body
with long, slender legs.
"Clotho-san!" He looked around the room for her and screamed. "Are you here?"
There was a canopied bed against a side window with frilly pink curtains, a full
length, freestanding mirror and a full size dresser with a cat shape clock and
lava lamp.
Climbing out of bed, his vision focused on the sixteen year old girl in the
mirror. She had short brunette hair with the end flipped up. He stared at the
long lashes of his brown eyes, which were her brown eyes. "I swear she'll suffer
for--!"
He had just touched the cool smooth surface of the glass, when he saw Clotho's
reflection step from the portal. "Remember, you were summoned because the
universe is about to die!" She interrupted as his head whipped around angrily.
"What'd you do to me?" Chris asked accusingly.
"What does it look like?" Clotho scowled with a frosty glare in her eye. "I told
you before! You had to get a new body, and you don't have any idea what it took
to do it!"
"I am a man!" Chris screamed angrily. "You didn't say anything about my
descendant being female!"
Clotho took a deep breath and her face softened. A slight smile appeared. "I
thought I'd explained everything." Her voice became like honey. "Listen, it's
the only way to find your father and stop the time demon. The rebels outside the
city can help you."
A worried look appeared on Christina's face as he wondered how he'd explain to
the rebels that saw him as a her as his life became like his favorite Japanese
comic as Clotho passed through her like a ghost. He couldn't stop her from
stepping into the vortex. "Wait!" he cried.
"If I'm going to spend the rest of my life as a girl," growled Chris to himself.
"Then I better see how much my descendant likes to show off."
Hours later, Chris sat down on the end of the bed and pulled on a pair of
pantyhose. He was dressed in a long dress, which showed a mile of leg and a yard
of cleavage. "I'm no good at this stuff."
He stood up and stepped into a pair of three-inch heels. "Damn it!" Chris tried
to balance as the shoes caused a pained expression on his face. His stride was
at a constant tilt.
'How am I supposed to walk in these things? Oh, man, I can barely move.' Chris
thought as he teetered out of his new apartment and wondered how he'd get down
the staircase. Chris blinked. Much to his surprise, and relief, a monorail ran
through Christina's building. He climbed aboard and said: "Take me to the city
limits."
The Federation Wall station had been constructed right after the third world
war. When it was safe to venture out beyond, the monorail station was added to
provide access the ruins beyond. Dim light flickered inside the monorail car.
As a vacuum lock door slid open with a loud WHOOSH, Chris passed through the
Federation city's defense wall, seeing the ruins and scorched earth beyond.
"What the hell...?
Chris watched for some signs of life. As he saw a piece of paper blowing in the
wind, he realized how frightening silence really was. He'd of felt better if he
saw someone. Even the sound of birds would be welcomed. "I think maybe I'm a
little over dressed."
As Chris picked a direction, he walked briskly down the street. Paranoia filled
his mind with the idea of the time demons eyeing him from the shadows. Just
waiting for the right moment to kill him a second time.
A scream startled him and caused him to stop. He saw not the rebels but a horde
of monsters tearing a businesswoman's clothes to pieces. Gasping at the horror,
he noticed that the victim's breasts were erect and her body was sexless. When
her shoes and socks were removed, it could be seen that her toes were fused
together like a mannequins.
As a pair carried the naked plastic woman off, the others turned to Chris'
direction with toothy grins. "Stop her!" shouted the apparent leader as the
monsters transmuted into the form of masked samurai warriors.
Chris started to run as bolts of energy exploded by his feet and crackled about
his body. He could feel the earth beneath his feet buckle and obtrude an already
slow escape. He stumbled, kicked off his shoes and continued in his stocking
feet. "Dumb move, those heels." Chris leapt forward, slid across the hood of a
hollowed out hover car and ducked down. The beam stuck a woman dressed as a
ballet dancer and froze her in place.
The ballet dancer didn't have time to panic as her skin took on a glossy
appearance and a pleasure sensation tingled in her groin. As the tingle rose up,
her chest transformed and caused her to feel lightheaded. Her lips became smooth
and hard with a painted appearance and her eyes reflected plastic. The samurais
turned on the inert woman with building orgasms washing over her, allowing Chris
to escape.
Suddenly a pair of arms appeared from nowhere. Before Chris could prevent it,
they grabbed his breasts - Christina's breasts from behind. All he could do was
let out a quick cry as his breasts hardened and his clit moistened with a
sensation totally unfamiliar to him. He's body seemed to freeze up as he was
pulled back into the alley.
"Quiet!" A young man's voice came in a whisper. Wide-eyed Chris stared as the
samurai troop marched pass the alley's entrance in search of their target. The
foot troop completely surrounded a duo-cannon mannequin gun tank. "There's
little time."
"That was too close." The young man touched a brick wall and opened a secret
door. He was dressed in a red T-shirt, black leather jacket and pants. He wore
scuffed up boots. "You trying to get caught?"
Beyond the door was a futuristic lab with wall-to-wall computers and
transparent, hover keyboards. A giant video screen hung on the wall over the
main console. In the center of room were all the mannequin men and women that
the rebels had rescued.
"What are you talking about?" Chris sat down cross-legged; removed one shoe
removed and rubbed his sore foot. After what he had witnessed outside, he
couldn't help but feel sorry for the inert men and women around him.
"Tied feet, pussycat," The man was so preoccupied with Christina's beauty that
he didn't hear a word Chris said. The man got down on one knee, cupped
Christina's foot in one hand and began to rub gently. A surge of relief flowed
through Christina's body with pleasure. "Allow me to make you feel better."
"I don't know why you're here." The man stared with sparkling eyes. As the man
drew closer, Chris stood up and crossed his arms over his breasts, Christina's
breasts. It felt a little strange, but he didn't want the man looking at his new
curvaceous body. "The time police should have evacuated you."
"So much for friendship." He whispered to himself. Chris first slipped on his
descendant's shoe, and then watched as the video screen came alive with Mark
Driver's image. He wore a pair of coveralls with stripes down both sides, boots
and gloves. "Ahoy over in the time lab! Soto, you over there?"
"Yes sir!" The man dressed in leather saluted with one arm across his chest.
"Cadet Soto, report to Sunhill Sodas immediately. Don't tell anyone. Your
questions will be answered later." He paused when he spotted Christina. "Chris,
is that you? I thought your guardians had you return to the city after our last
attempt to protect you?"
Chris bit his lower lip until it hurt. He had no idea who he was talking to, but
he obviously knew Christina, someone who was only a name on a plaque for him.
Mark took a deep breath and turned to face Christine's partner. "You're
responsible for her, cadet," he ordered. "You've got to get her out of the
ruins."
"Come with me and I'm sure Mark will make things clear." Soto said as a platform
lowered the two underground. Chris watched artificial lights switch on and a
concern look on his new partner's face. "I don't know why I trust you, but I
do." Chris replied. "All right, let's go."
The two zipped along a moving sidewalk. Artificial light filled the underground
passage as Chris handed Soto an electronic map pad. "Wow! This is like in my
favorite comic."
Soto hesitated. His eyes moved up from Christina's shapely legs to her gorgeous
face. His eyes looked deeply in Chris', but saw no sign of joking. "What do you
mean... trust me?"
Suddenly realizing what he had said, he stammered. "Uh, well..." He wondered how
he could explain the face he wasn't really the female rebel Soto had worked with
before.
"Who are you, skirt?" demanded Soto, passion turning to betrayal. "Where is the
real Christina Jackmarr?"
Gently, Chris turned and ran his fingers through his hair. Soto stared ready to
go for his blaster. More pressing than his need to follow Mark's order was the
one to know if he was staring at an earth traitor.
"Why don't we get going and I'll explain everything." Chris stepped off the
moving sidewalk and followed the trail shown on the electronic map. They
followed a flashing light and low buzz to a ladder that ran up the sidewall. "I
think that's some kind of silent alarm going off."
"These creatures you're fighting have the ability to time travel. They saw me as
a potential threat and tried to destroy me for good." Chris explained. "All the
afterlife could do to offer me a second chance and find my missing father is to
be reborn in a new body. If this wasn't so serious, I'd say I was living my
favorite comic, American-man."
"I-It can't be!" Chris said nervously. He watched as a force beam shot from a
figure and hit the museum's female guard. Her knight stick dropped to the floor
as her painted fingers separated, her back automatically arched to show off her
breasts and an orgasm exploded inside her already sealed pussy. Her fluids
splashed inside plastic vagina, keeping her aroused.
Perspiration appeared on Chris' forehead as he came through a trap door and
ended up face to face with the same beast, which killed him once before.
"Ho, Ho, Ho!" Sasquatch laughed as he grabbed Chris by his dress and raised him
into the air. Chris responded by crescent kicking him in the ribs. "The earth
will be ours!"
"Let me go!" Chris cried.
He pushed back and tore the dress. Chris dropped to the ground, but managed to
land on the palms of his hands. The demon suddenly flanked him as Chris rolled
underneath a display case containing a medieval sword. Standing up through the
case, he placed one hand on the hilt and the other of the blade. "Damn! I'm
beginning to understand. You're part of the problem!"
"What use is that sword against a threat like him!" Soto yelled, as he stood
puzzled at Christina's actions.
"Let Justice Be Done!" He spoke the phase told to him and watched as Christina's
naked body was suddenly bombarded with energy. A strange transformation began.
When the light died down, Chris was too shocked at what he was wearing to
realize he had become a man again. He gasped as he stared at the rippling
muscles, which filled out his circus costume. "My Halloween costume? How'd that
happen?"
Before American-man could act, he was blown into the air. Sasquatch had fired a
force beam from his arm and blew up the museum's floor. "Kiyaaa-!"
"American-man!" Soto cried from across the room. He watched as the tile floor
cracked beneath American-man's back. The hero's arms and legs flared wildly in
the air.
American-man groans as he sat upright and touched his forehead with one hand.
Receiving an awful headache from the explosion, he felt like the room was
spinning. "Ooooh..."
When the dizziness wore off, American-man regained his feet. He pointed with the
first finger of one hand while his other closes into a tight fist and started to
glow. "Not so fast, Sasquatch!"
American-man quickly ran toward Sasquatch with his fists glowing. The creature
raised its open palm only to have it shattered by the punch. "Noooo!"
"Power Punch!"
Sasquatch quickly sidestepped and vanished in a puff of smoke as American-man
watched his flying dragon kick catch only air. "Don't know what you are--but
you've got to be stopped!"
"Holy Molley!" Soto ran up to him. "How'd you do that?"
"I... I don't know..." American-man stood with a puzzled look on his face.
American-man's puzzled face suddenly turned to horror as he doubled over in
pain. Soto watched as the sword blade started to glow and light up the room.
When the light died down, "American-man" was gone and Christina Jackmarr stood
in his place. A look of shock and confusion fell on Soto's face as he looked at
Christina's disappointed face.
"I should of known..." Chris said.
Chapter Three: Serve And Protect
Chief officer Johnson took a deep breath before entering the building of the
31st century's world president. The cold metallic building wasn't his favorite
place in the city, but it was the one place where Detective Samantha Lightman
had to talk to him.
The secret service, which normally stood at attention, was leaning against the
wall and talking. "I'm not sure why we do this..."
"Don't you blokes have posts?" Johnson spoke in a British accent. His tall,
handsome form towered over the agents as he stood in his traditional trench coat
and fedora.
"--On our way!" They said together and took off running.
"How can I help you?" he asked when he walked into the office of President Akane
Tsusumi with a smile.
The president motioned for him to take a seat and pulled out a series of
folders. As he sat down he looked in the direction of Detective Lightman. The
barefoot president was dressed in the armor of a sorcerer while Captain Lightman
wore a white blouse with a gray business suit.
"About time you showed, Chief - you ever think to check your E- Mail? My God,
you can--!"
Johnson heard plenty to know that he had kept Detective Lightman waiting. He
might of heard more, but choose to block out the rest of her little speech and
turned his attention to the files on the president's desk.
"I, uh, I suppose you want to know why you're here?" President Tsusumi asked.
"This Mark Driver, he said. "We're to believe he's behind the attack on
Federation City yesterday. He's also suppose to have a hideout in the ruins on
the outskirts of the city."
"Well," the president said, still watching Johnson as she maneuvered into a more
comfortable position, "I think he's innocent."
"That's our job." Lightman interrupted, looking up from a file. "We need to
bring him in for questioning."
Just then, the desk intercom came on. "Johnson in?" A computerized voice came
over the intercom as a monitor rose out of the president's desk. Johnson sat up.
"Put it through.
He looked over and found the female image was wearing a playboy bunny costume
and a pair of spike heels. He reached over and turned up the volume.
"You got anything on Driver-san? Some think he's the key behind the deaths and
disappearances."
"No information."
Johnson rubbed his temples as the girl interrupted. "Bloody Hell!" But we're
still on his tail," she said. "The Phantom Army was spotted in the ruins."
Johnson thanked the girl and had just turned off the video screen when a man
stepped into the room. He had a shiny metallic body that included cloven hoof
feet, wings and a fork tail. He also had no hair. He held a gun. "Tsusumi-san, I
didn't know you had company." he said like a robot.
"Blimy!" Chief Johnson froze, afraid that the wrong move would cause the
intruder to shoot. But even as he watched the president duck behind her desk, he
realized that the man would most likely kill them anyway.
President Tsusumi had half-risen from behind her desk when the intruder raised
the blaster in his hand. "Don't do it!" he snapped.
Automatically Johnson charged toward him. He didn't stop until the knuckles of
his fist connected with hard skin of his target. "You just made a b-i-i-i-g
mistake, blaggard!"
"Let me up," said the intruder as Chief Johnson pinned his shoulders to the
ground. Johnson had to use all his strength to hold down. "You won't get away
with this!"
"What the hell are you?" President Tsusumi asked. The eyes of the intruder
started glowing.
"I was as human as you before I was hired by my dark master, Demonoid." He saw
Johnson look shock when the man spoke in a harden voice and growled. "You and
your time police can't stop him. You don't have magic or demon hunters to save
you from his wraith."
The creature's eyes lit up like fire. It thrust its arm forward, shoving Johnson
off of him. And then it rolled to one side, when Lightman motioned for her gun.
"RAAAAGH! Get off!"
"You're crazy!" she told Johnson as the creature dodged her laser blasts. "What
were you thinking?"
Cursing, Lightman kept on shooting. The gun blew apart a chair and the president
slumped behind the chair to avoid being hit. Johnson heard her shout: "Goddamn
gun, couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!"
Then Johnson came up being her, intending on taking the gun away. The sound of
an energy discharge brought the secret service running into the office. They
were just in time to witness the demon disappearing in a puff of smoke. "Are you
alright?"
"I'm fine." The President replied. "At least we now know who is behind The
Phantom Army."
It was the voice of Chief Johnson, and the agent detected a note of fear in it.
There was good reason for it. Johnson checked the power level of his gun while
Lightman helped the president to her feet.
"You guys can go," President Tasusumi said. "I want to talk with these two a
little longer."
"Right."
"I certainly was impressed with your actions today," she said firmly. "How'd you
like a chance to follow up the investigation? Check on the disappearances in not
only Federation City, but London, Hong Kong, and Tokyo too?"
"I'm listening," Johnson said.
"I mean it, said Tsusumi. "I've learned that Crusher, the most notorious bounty
hunter, is here on earth. I'll bet that was him who attacked us, and if things
go well - if you manage to bring Driver-san in - you might get another crack at
that Demon lord."
"We accept the challenge!" Johnson and Lightman saluted with their arm across
their chest.
Chapter Four: Demon Attack
"He must have been after the sword." Chris concluded. He was kneeling in front
of the spot, which Big Foot had vanished. His trembling hands gripped the handle
of a magnify glass. He could barely hold it. "We'd better leave."
"Oh... yeah, no kidding." Soto eyed Christina's body. Even though he saw the
transformation, he couldn't get over the fact that his girlfriend's body was
being possessed by the soul of a twentieth century man.
"Come on." Chris sighed and handed Soto the magnify glass. He took one last look
at the twentieth century items, which were now museum pieces, which were dug up
in the aftermath of the last world war. "I need your help to stop the demons and
find my father."
"The Rebel Enforcers have been trying!" Soto stepped beyond a revolving front
door. "I've even been labeled as a loose cannon. What more do you want us to
do?"
"Whoa!" Chris said, starring out at the city and seeing the monorail track,
which ran along the canyon's wall. In the distance of Federation City,
skyscrapers surrounded the spaceport and predestine footbridges. Some people who
traveled to the HumMech/ Mech factory, indoor ice rink and other shops were
scantily clad. Some others were completely covered in clothes of different eras
and parts of the world. "What's with the Mardi Gras?"
"You'll get use to the clothing shortage," Soto said. Following the crowd out of
the monorail station, Chris turned to Soto and asked, "Er... What exactly
happened to Jackmarr-san's family anyway?"
"Vanished when the Phantom Army arrived in town," Soto replied. "Christina was
made a ward of the city."
Out of the corner of his eye, Chris spotted the shadow of a winged robot. It's
reflection on a glass skyscraper showed the robot gargoyle that attacked the
president. "Huh?"
At exactly that moment, Chris felt the tingly sensation of an electrical
discharge that caused him to orgasm and freeze solid. A HumMech dressed in black
and white battle armor grabbed Chris by the arm, stopping Christine from
knocking her to the ground.
Looking pass the officer, Soto saw a truck, towing an anti-gravity coffin in
their direction. He knew that it would be Christine's transportation to the
factory to be made into a machine. He quickly kicked the remote out of the
HumMech's hand used it on her. The robotic woman shorted out, giving Soto time
to unfreeze Chris.
"They rebels took off, running to a chain link fence. He held Christina's shoes
in one hand as he somersaulted over the fence and landed on his tiptoes. "Did
you see a demon in that crowd?"
"Fill it up!" Soto told a pair of robot control gas pumps as he walked two bikes
from his hiding spot. They started to fill the super-charged motorcycles when
his partner turned his head and said: "What demon?"
"He's flying over the city with some kind of wings," Chris told him. "He had
horns on his head and a tail." Chris climbed onto the bikes and set a course for
their destination. Soto lead the way through the streets and pass a bridge.
"This is no place for jokes, girlie."
Funny how the demons vanished, when they went out of their way to kill me in the
past, Chris thought. The two appeared in the costume crowd outside Sunhill
Sodas. It was obvious that they were beneath the crowd's notice.
"What the Hell?!" Chris stepped into Sunhill Sodas and saw Nancy's exact double
sitting at the bar and talking. Linda was dressed in a white sailor suit mini-
blouse with a blue neckerchief and skirt. She wore athletic socks and saddle
shoes. Her blonde hair was pulled straight back in a ponytail. "This morning I
made it just before the school gate closed."
"What's the matter?" Soto asked.
"Nothing," Chris replied, turning his attention back to his partner. "Just
thought I saw someone I knew."
"Good Afternoon." Mark Driver interrupted, bowing slightly. He had the bow
returned to him. "I've been waiting."
They made their way toward a table where a brown skin, man name Luke Peters sat
in yellow overalls and a green crosspatch. He had a white helmet with a green
visor hanging on the hook behind him. "Welcome back, Mark." he said jokingly.
"Got tired of hunting rabbits on the moon?"
"Cut it out, Luke," Mark said. Chris could only stare wide-eyed as a chocolate
malt suddenly rose up and dumped over Linda's head. "But it was Luke who was
making fun out the Japanese rabbit myths."
"Linda, you okay?" Luke asked with concern as he took some paper towels and
helped clean her up.
"No problem."
"Mark, can you tell me what's going on?" Chris asked.
Mark's mind ran back to the memories, which burned most vivid. It was last
Halloween, and Mark was part of an historical dig. Wisps of clouds passed over a
full moon as a pair of women raised a chest with carvings from the earth.
"What in the world is it?" Mark asked.
"I don't know." One of the women said. "Looks like the trip was worth missing
the Cherry Blossom festival. Better take it back, Mark."
The lid of the chest seemed to open before their eyes. A ghostly skull rose up
and petrified Murry as Mark ran fearfully into the desert. He heard the demon
say: "Worship me as your new God!"
"This is too weird." Mark thought, turning on his wrist homing device. "I feel
like I opened a Pandora's box."
When he later got to Federation City's hospital, Detective Captain Samantha
Lightman joined Mark in a blue policewoman's uniform. Murry's plastic body was
studied along with the female mannequins. "I'm really sorry, captain."
"You don't know how I feel, Driver-san, but D.N.A. testing will soon prove you
guilty. I'll see your put in a virtual reality prison for this."
It was at that time a Phantom Army declared war on earth. Ever since, they've
chase after the fifteen-year-old rebel leader through a half-demolished
neighborhood with the task of killing him. He remembered how the latest chase to
the rebel headquarters went that morning. How glad he was to see the spiked
gables and turret tower of the Victorian mansion.
Bright rays shot past Mark's head as he ran breathlessly down the ruined street.
A glance over his shoulder confirmed that the masked samurais still dogged his
tracks. His feet thundered down the pavement, keeping him out of their range.
"Got to go faster!"
An alley entrance was just ahead. Mark quickened his pace and ducked into the
shadows. "Can't let them catch me!"
"That's the guy!" screamed the samurai leader, not noticing that Mark's hand
opened a secret door. They turned the corner only to find that the alley was
empty. "He--He's vanished?"
Minutes later... Mark stepped out of the secret passage. He left a grandfather
clock behind and knelt at his family shrine. "Father, could what's happening
somehow be related to my escape from the dig site?"
Mark looked over at a trunk covered in cobwebs and dried blood. Big double
windows on the first floor shined light down on it. "I've had just about enough
of those devil troopers! I wish that Murry and I never found that chest!"
"That's when I called Soto." he said, shrugging his shoulders. Chris got up and
moved toward the front door. While Mark was talking, Chris had noticed an eerie
fog rolling under the door from outside. "What's going on?"
Before Chris could receive an answer, the door exploded off its hinges and fell
forward. "A samurai bolted on top of the door with the faces of his troop
leering out of the fog behind him. Chris was pinned under the door. "Bring me
Driver-san!"
"Get off!" Chris stood up and knocked the samurai off balance and into the
troop. The rebels rushed Mark out of the shop.
"Well now." The Samurai removed his helmet. "Looks like you've got a lot of guts
woman!"
"Ah--." Chris leaped up to avoid the demon's sword blade. Seeing how the demon
with horns, fork tail and cloven hoofs look at him, he was reminded of why he
traveled into the future.
She's fast, the demon thought, feeling Christina's foot collide with the side of
his face. "Get out of here!" he ordered as he pointed to a construction zone
tower with an exterior glass elevator. Mark and Luke sat on one motorcycle while
Linda rode off on her moped. "We'll meet there."
"See you at Dr. Brown's lab, then." Luke confirmed.
Decking Christina, the demon sent his opponent through Sunhill Soda's front
window. Glass rain down - forming a bed for Chris to fall on. Chris landed next
to Soto's motorcycle.
"So whatcha waiting for legs?" Soto plowed his cycle into a demon wearing a
death shroud as Chris snap-kicked another in the face. "Let's do it to it.
Transform!"
"Let Justice Be Done!" Chris cried, watching the air surround him with
electricity and the ground exploded skyward. The muscle mass of his arm
increased while his chest flattened and his hair and eyelashes shortened.
"Let's try it again," American-man snarled. He watched as his sword sliced
through the troop leader's waist. The two cried and slapped a high-five. "All
right! We did it!"
American-man grabbed Soto by the waist and took off into the air. "Okay. Let's
go."
"Watch out!" Soto shouted.
The two became a blur of colors, flying under a flagpole and around several
buildings. Finally they flew straight into one of the windows of a building with
its top floors still in the girder stage. Soto released American-man's shoulders
in a computer room and heard the sound of approaching footsteps. "Company's
coming."
Chapter Five: Tower of Terror
The door slid into the wall and an armored man rushed into the room. Holding a
knife in one hand, he drove the handle end into Soto's chest, while firing wrist
missiles at American-man. "I knew that I'd find you..."
As the mini-missiles flew at him, American-man dropped into a crouch, so that
they'd sail over his head.
"Cannonball Punch!" American-man retaliated by grabbing hold of his left wrist
and pouring on a blast of power until the bounty hunter, Crusher impacted with
the wall.
Crusher dropped to the floor, catching himself with the palm of his hands.
"Computer...Activate Crusher A-1."
A energy beam suddenly fired from a mounted blaster." I'm in trouble." Chris
murmured as his costume shimmered away, being replaced with Christina's dress.
His chest enlarged, his waist drew in and his hips rounded as the hair on his
legs faded. Watching his hair and nails lengthened, American-man was soon
replaced with Christina Jackmarr.
"W-e-l-l, your nothing but a dame in disguise." Crusher snickered, walking over
to a console. "I'm not impressed."
"The name's Chris." Chris poised with a horizontal arm behind a vertical one.
"Don't forget it."
"Don't mess with me!" The hunter lay down a wall of fire that forced Chris and
Soto to dive behind a console. Crusher chuckled as he stood before the console
and pressed a button. "Hiding won't do any good!"
Then a small door opened in the floor. Chris jabbed his sword into the door
flap, gripping the hilt with one hand. He dangled like a pendulum, loosing his
shoes and noticing that Soto was holding onto him. "Let go, you pervert!"
"Now then, who get to die first?" Crusher stood over the trap door and swept a
spray of laser fire over their heads.
As Chris slipped they plummeted into darkness. "NNNOOO!" Chris slid together,
dropping out of the opened end of a chute and into mid-air. "Look out!"
Chris landed on his back while Soto landed face down. He immediately put his
head on Christina's chest. "Ecstasy!"
Chris glanced up with a look of shock. He saw that Soto was laying on him with
Soto's face rubbing against his- Christina's - breasts. "What the hell are you
doing?"
"Get off me!" Chris cried, thrusting his arm forward and shoving Soto away.
"Don't like this." Chris looked around a circular room with no doors or windows.
It was quite obvious that none of the workers had even started in their area of
the basement.
Soto moved his arms along the walls, looking for a secret passage. His foot
bumped into a flashlight on the floor. "All we really got to do is find a way
out!"
"This is nuts!" Chris said, pacing around the room. He could hear the groans of
his stocking feet - Christina's stocking feet - walking across the creaking
floorboards. "Are you sure you can get us out?"
With flashlight in hand, Soto ran its beam along the room. It was at the far end
of the floor that he spotted a large hole among the rotten boards. "I believe
so..."
"Can you take a look at this?" Soto asked, shooting the beam of light into the
hole and along a coffin lid.
"What is it?" Chris got on his knees and peered into the hole. They watched as
the wooden lid splintered. A crack began to split down the middle.
The lid of two out of three coffins exploded. Soto watched in horror as a pair
of silhouettes rose up through the smoke. "It can't be!"
Chris swiveled his head to Soto. "You see them?"
Soto nodded. "Uh-huh." He couldn't believe his eyes were seeing male vampire
mannequins with ghostly white plastic skin rising out of one coffin while a
black female vampire rose from another.
"Crusher's gonna pay for this!" Chris looked up as the vampires rose to the
ceiling. Their eyes were blood red and their fang filled mouths let out a
hissing sound. "Did you hear that?"
The sound of more wood splintering got their attention. Getting back on their
hands and knees, they peaked back down into the hole. A dark, curly hair man
appeared wearing a white toga, which left the bow arm bare. He wore metallic
bracelets on his wrists, leather boots and held a golden shield. "Good thing
Athena's shield was stored when I went to sleep!"
Soto could only stare in shock. "Who the devil?"
"Hyaaa!" He flew out of the pit and as high as the vampires in a signal leap.
Energy beams fired from tiny slots in his right bracelet and knocked the
vampires to the floor. "Zeus... guide my aim!"
"Mark!" Chris spoke into his descendant's wristwatch com-link as he watched the
air fight. "We've fallen into a trap and need your help!"
"Chris, you're alive!" Chris heard Mark's reply over the com-link. "We're so
sorry. It'll take us some time to loose the police and even longer for us to
reach you."
"I can't believe this is happening." Chris raised his leg up. When the male
vampire got close enough, his foot impacted the vampire's face and sent it
sprawling. Its mannequin body shattered upon impact with the floor.
"Too easy!" The Greek man dropped down and used his shield to shatter the female
one. He then did a flip and landed in front of Soto and Chris. The two could
only stare with puzzled looks on their faces.
"Who are you?" The two asked at the same time. They couldn't hide the bewildered
looks on their faces. He got down on one knee and kissed the back of Christina's
hand.
"Perseus is thy name." He smiled as Soto looked jealously as his treatment of
Christine. He then looked in the direction of the shattered vampire on the
cavern floor.
"Ah, who cares?" Chris crouched down, grabbed a wooden beam and climbed into the
hole. "We've found our way out!"
"Hey!" The guys followed Chris into the pit. Chris was already making his way
along the slippery, wet rocks. An elevator shaft was the only light. "Wait up!"
"Wait up!" Soto repeated as Chris got both a foot and a handhold in climbing up
the circular elevator shaft.
At the same moment, Mark and the others were forced to hide behind a barricade
formed from a portion of cut away corner wall. As a laser from Captain
Lightman's blaster sliced across Mark's shoulder, he could picture the pleased
expression on her face. "That was close."
Joining them was Roberta's futuristic twin, Starshine Chow. She was sixteen
years old with raven hair that flowed down to her hips. She was dressed in a
Chinese silk shirt and blue denim shorts with the cuffs rolled. She wore
metallic mid heel sandals.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into another crazy adventure." Starshine
ducked and covered as lasers went whizzing overhead. Mark began checking the
power level of his blaster and realized that he had to act. "This is all your
fault."
"I hope the others are doing better than we are." Mark lay down a blanket of
firepower. The police dropped face down as Starshine led the others from the
barricade.
"Move it!" Luke ordered as he led them down a ramp, across and catwalk and then
up a staircase.
Back in the elevator shaft, Chris and the others continued climbing. Demons on
different floors had opened the elevator doors and opened fire upon them.
"Platoon 1 follow me." The leader's clothes tore as he transmuted into a demon.
"The rest of you, find me Dr. Brown!"
"Go for it, Chris-san!" Soto said, watching lasers bounce off Perseus' shield as
Chris tried to force open the door on the top floor. "Get that door open!"
"Hang in there, Soto-kun."
One stray shot caused the area above Chris to explode. As he began to fall, he
cried out for the powers and prayed he didn't need the sword. "Let Justice Be
Done!"
Suddenly, Christina's dress had vanished from his female naked body and the
American-man costume began to take its place. In a whirlwind of power he had
changed. American-man looped around, grabbing Perseus and Soto as he headed back
up the shaft. "Now we fight."
American-man exited the elevator at the same time as the others reached the top
of the stairs. In the evening sky they stood on a floor, which was mostly
girders and spotted ghost like demons. Even the roof above him gave the
appearance of a metallic spider web. "I want...my sword!"
"What are you going to do?" asked Crusher, not realizing that American-man had
scanned him for the blade. American-man ricochet off a girder, his arms
stretched out before him. He directed the force of his blow upward, knocking
Crusher to the metal web above them. The others directed their attention to the
spirits.
"This is pointless." Chris leapt to the same girder as Crusher, they blocked one
another punches. A dart shot out of HumMech glove like a bee stinger and pierced
American-man's hide. Flinching back in pain he heard an unfamiliar laugher above
him.
"Ha Ha-Ha!" Crusher laughed. "I have more than just sexual instruments built
into my body. American-man somersaulted over Crusher, grabbing his sword.
Crusher's mini-missiles missed him and blew off samurai's head. "I was looking
for that."
Before American-man could do anything a cocoa skin man appeared in a skin suit
and white lab coat. "They're not beaten yet." He said, holding a lamp in one
hand and rubbing it with the other. "Vickie, get out here."
As Soto watched the smoke raise out of the lamp he couldn't help but recall the
fog outside Sunhill Sodas. He couldn't help but wonder whose side they were on.
"Now what?"
"Dr. Brown?" Mark ran over scientist and his wife. He could see the smoke
encircling the scientist's body like a python. Something's weird about his body,
he thought.
"Get them off the roof, Driver-san!" Dr. Brown stretched from the tower to the
high school roof. Vickie had channeled her magical powers to make John Brown's
body like rubber.
"Hai, sensei Brown," Mark said.
"This way!" Mark turned to confront The Time Police. His Rebel Enforcers had
already started to slide down Dr. Brown's back. They were followed by Mrs.
Brown.
Realizing something was wrong," Chief Johnson knew what he had to do. "Move
out," he ordered, and made a run for it. High school boys in two-piece uniforms
with buttons down the shirt joined high school girls in sailor suits in starring
in surprise.
"Oh, My!" Linda shielded her eyes as the tower's front and roof exploded. Rubble
rained down to the street below. "There goes Brown labs." Dr. Brown stood beside
his wife as Vickie congealed into the form of a white humanoid girl.
Her harem outfit included a bra top and Turkish trousers. "I hated to do it. But
I couldn't let my inventions fall into those monster's hands."
"Linda!" Starshine looked over the edge of the high school roof and pointed to
where demons were chasing some girls off the volleyball court. "Hey,
girl...Looks like playtime's over."
Chapter Six: Doom At Dawn
"What exactly are they doing here?" Starshine asked. She lead the rebels down
the high school's fire escape while American-man dropped to the ground in a
single bound. "They've always stayed outside of the Federation Wall."
"Try asking them." Linda opened the driver side of a hover roadster and looked
across the roof at Starshine. A gang of samurai storm troopers charged through a
screaming crowd - poising as rebels to turn the humans against themselves. One
of them had eyed the two. "Where's Driver-san!"
"Hold it!" Captain Lightman reached the bottom of the fire escape as the girls
climbed into the hover car and pulled away. The officers carried blasters and
Billy clubs.
"You're all under arrest!" Lightman's gunshot streaked across the sky and blew
the car over in an explosion. Soto's head darted in the direction of Linda's
scream. The upside down car went screeching across the ground with sparks flying
from underneath the roof. It slid right into the arms of a transformed demon
with the girls trapped inside.
"We have the righta way!" Starshine shouted as the demon's hands caved in the
car's hood. Less than a foot from the creature, Perseus frisbeed his shield and
cut off its arm at the elbow. Blood gushed out between halves as it screamed in
pain. "Kiyaaa!"
"Well Done!" Soto crossed over to the upside down car in a quick stride. There,
he paused for a minute and looked back, thanking Perseus. Trying with all his
might, Soto grabbed the passenger door with his bare hands and ripped it off its
hinges.
He took Linda by the hand and helped her out of the car. "Soto, thank heavens.
Where are the others?"
"Right here!" Mark pulled up in an eight-passenger hover car.
The push of a button caused its bubble roof to rise. Starshine rose to her feet
and brushed herself off. "Now we can get outta here."
"Oh, come on," Starshine said. As the shadow of a giant saucer shaped space ship
fell over the city, she looked to the sky. "You can't be serious!"
"I'm not seeing this," she went on. Within a minute, the ship beamed down an
equally large robot, which looked more like a demon on the outside. Fire
streaked out of the Demonbot mouth, setting the town in flames. Alarms sounded a
full alert as a laser split one sky- scraper in half. The building toppled to
the ground below.
"This is it!" The driver of the Federation mecha thought, as he and Demonbot
faced off like two boxers in a ring. The Federation mecha used lasers and
rockets while the Demonbot used Hellfire. "This time I can't loose!"
At the robot feet, Time Officers and Rebel Enforcers worked feverishly to defend
the city in hand-to-hand combat. "Lighting strike!" American-man leaped back and
fired a mystic blast from his sword blade. The saucer's laser struck the ground
before American-man's feet. The sizzling mystic beam from American-man's sword
blew apart the head of the Demonbot.
"Got it!" American-man cried. First American-man gave Soto a high-five, and then
Soto gave American-man a high-five. Linda felt her heart leap into her throat.
Standing beside American-man, she could see that the other saucers were
releasing more Demonbot.
"We've to act quickly before they build-up the body count." American-man zoomed
into the air toward one of the Demonbot. As American-man approached the
Demonbot, it's fist launched pass him. American-man's eyes widen at the shock of
seeing it impact a skyscraper. The building crumbed down into a cloud of dust.
"Holy Geez! What was that?"
"How am I gonna stop all of them?" He watched as the Demonbot fist magically
replaced itself. American-man stabbed the monstrous machine with his sword, flew
up the front, and sent its mystic beam through its circuits. "Lighting Strike!"
"Nuts!" American-man's grim face eyed the other mecha- demons attack on the
futuristic city. A city that was starting to look like the ruins beyond
Federation Wall.
American-man zigzagged around the skyscrapers, smashing through the hull of one
mecha after another. He left a trail of explosions in his wake. The reddish-
orange sky over the city lit up like fireworks. The Federation mecha continued
attacking each other with brand new weapons. The Time Police launched its claws
like missiles.
"Stop it!" yelled American-man, tearing off the head of the Demonbot. The
Federation mecha combined its weapons into a single blast. "You're supposed to
protect the people!"
"Ma'am President, Hi! We're in a bit of a sticky wicket here." Chief Johnson
spoke on the videophone. "Our weapons barely have any effect on them."
"Oh boy." Johnson muttered, stepping out of the phone booth. American-man
dropped out of the sky and landed in front of a group of storm troopers.
American-man had his hands full. The four demons fired plastic at point blank
range. Hands moved fast enough to create a wind that would keep it harmlessly
away. "Too fast for you, huh?" he grinned.
"Come on and fight!" American-man shouted over his shoulder. The four demons
quickly moved and surrounded him. American-man leap straight up as the four
demons fired upon them with a spray that could turn them into mannequins.
"Watch it!" Johnson gritted his teeth. "Get any of that stuff on us and we won't
be going anywhere for a long time. Chief Johnson watched American-man drop back
to the ground.
"Look out!" cried Starshine, seeing Big-Foot's arm firing out a plasticity on
several of the town's citizens. Big-Foot aimed a blast of energy into American-
man's back. The beam forced American-man to his knees as he cried out in pain.
"Down boy!" Starshine came up behind Big-Foot and clubbed him with a rock.
American-man He got to his feet, feeling slightly shaken.
"How is he?" asked Chief Johnson.
"I think he'll be okay...just shaken up a little." Starshine watched as
American-man stumbled forward. "Don't think he was hit long enough to for the
change to take place. He touched American-man's hand and notice it felt much
smoother than normal skin. It took on a surreal tone to it.
American-man looked up to the sky. A two-headed winged demon swooped down from
above. American-man braced his leg and raised his sword. "No. No way."
"I'm not going to die again!" American-man took off into the air. Tackling the
demon, he watched as a beam shot out of the sword and created an energy gate in
mid-air.
"Oh, My." Linda watched the gate close up as the demon and American-man vanished
inside. "Where did they go?"
Chapter Seven: Search and Destroy
Soto took one look at the rush of chaos within the city and slipped through a
vacuum lock door built into Federation Wall. At this point one couldn't tell one
side of the wall from the other. He looked to Johnson. "See your, Chief."
Mark had already moved through a sea of rubble and reached the four-foot
cemetery to the Rebel Enforcers secret headquarters. Luke unlocked the door and
let the girls go in first. "I wonder when we first started to think of this
"Monster house as home?"
"Hey baby!" Soto called out as he stepped up beside Starshine. "How about a date
later?"
"What?" Starshine sat down on a window seat with her legs folded up and her arms
wrapped around them. She couldn't believe her ears. "We just lost our best hope
in winning this war and you're hitting on me."
"Just who is American-man anyway?" Starshine went on. "Why is he suddenly
helping us?"
"You just go make yourself pretty." Soto avoided the question with a quick kiss
to the cheek.
"All right." Starshine flashed a crooked smile. She got to her feet and stumbled
barefoot to the stairs. The dim hall was illuminated by the incandescent glow of
candle shaped electric lights. Soto turned on a holographic music disk player.
A half an hour later, Luke Peter had fixed up all but two of the Rebel
Enforcers. Only one was still downstairs. "You're all set." Luke was saying to
Mark. "Next."
As in reply, Linda walked over and took a seat in front of Dr. Peter. He treated
her burns and injuries from the car wreck that the demons and Detective Lightman
caused. Linda purposely tried to avoid eye contact. Her feelings toward him were
loud and clear.
"That's everyone...except Christina." Luke stood up and looked around the room.
"Anyone know where she is?"
"I didn't want it to come to this." Soto sat before a dust covered computer.
"Christina is American-man She's transformed into some kind of supernatural
hunter."
"A supernatural hunter?" Starshine appeared at the top of the stairs. An image
of Mark's story about warriors fighting demons filled her head. A story he had
told when the demons had first showed up in the city. Luke looked sarcastically
and turned toward Perceus. He began to wonder just how many of Mark's old
legends might actually be true.
"Okay. Forget it." Soto caught a glimpse of a girl's shimmering plastic skin in
the shadows. The rebels had rescued and researched ways of reversing the plastic
process for the past year. Being the ladies man that he was, Soto kept as many
of the ladies where he could run his hands on their smooth harden skin.
"An odd reading has been picked up by the space station." A voice came from the
Mark's lips. Some time officers have been dispatched to check on it."
Luke stood before Soto and held up a fully charged blaster. "We won't have a
better time to search for American-man."
Hours later, the rebels went racing along the desert in the bubble top hover
car. As they neared a western ghost town, they heard the sound of cheers coming
from the saloon. "I've heard some towns were repopulated." Mark said.
"Repopulated by the mutants the last world war created," Linda winced.
"It's a place to start." Mark stopped the car and opened the bubble. "Maybe
someone seen American-man or Christina."
"What makes you think he's here?" asked Starshine.
"I don't." Mark stood outside nervously. "Anyone knowing him will get us the
location...for a price."
As Mark gave the door a push, he and Luke were the first not to believe their
eyes. The bar was filled with fully clothed animated cartoon mannequins.
"Well, Mark." Luke spoke in a whisper. "Is this what you expected?"
"No. Not really..."
Moments later, the saloon went from looking like a wax works museum to that of a
motion picture. The mannequins just started moving like they were actually
alive.
"Uh, huh." Linda's head was spinning. She watched a waitress slither by with a
snake tail from the waist down and a try of drinks in her human hands. "I
believe you."
"What's going on here?" Perseus watched the two dimensional, talking animals
standing between three and four feet tall. Only the human toons were as tall as
him. "May I help you?" A pig headed bartender called over to them. He stood
behind the bar and cleaned glasses.
"Have you seen either of these people?" Soto's hand slid photos of American-man
and Christina Jackmarr across the bar top. "Perhaps we should discuss it in the
back room." The bartender looked up from a handful of photos.
"We're not that dumb." Perseus grabbed hold of the bartender's shirt and knocked
him unconscious with one blow to the top of the head. Mark looked over his
shoulder and saw they had all gotten up from their seats and surrounded them.
"Sweet dreams!" Soto tumbled across a table and threw a dagger between a monster
mannequin's eyes. It was quickly pinned to the wall.
"Don't sweat it. These guys are pushovers." Starshine avoided a bear's punch by
dropping into a crouch. Grabbing the bear by the wrist and ankle, she flipped it
over.
"That's right!" Mark drove his fist across one human toon's jaw as Luke kicked
another across a table. Linda screamed as an energy beam fired from a woman's
palm and knocked her down. The woman's Arab clothes covered her entire body -
including her head and face.
"Where'd she come from?" Linda stuttered, looking up at a non- mannequin
vampire. The pale skinned woman had hypnotic eyes and fangs, which glistened in
the low light. She held of wine glass filled with blood in one hand.
The vampire let out a slow hiss and shot her fist forward. Linda dropped to the
floor, seeing the vampire's fist hit a wooden support beam.
"S-S-Sink your fangs into this." Linda tried to sound brave as she thrusts her
hand into the vampire's face. The vampire recoiled backwards, dropping her glass
to the floor.
"Where did these things come from?" Luke swung his leg in a roundhouse kick
against a plastic face. "How do they move? They're mannequins!"
"Run!" Mark raced to the front porch. A ghostlike cry came from the shadows
outside. He couldn't tell where it was coming from. Perseus pointed toward the
hover car. It was then that Mark saw a demon with razor blades in place of
fingers. The creature continued its low, eerie howl as it attacked the car.
"How are we gonna escape now?"
"How indeed?" Starshine broke in.
The two of them turned and stared at her, then listened to the sound of
approaching footsteps. "Now what?"
"The game of cat and mouse is over!" Crusher stepped from the shadows with a
plastic rifle in hand. "You think you're invincible. But I'll win here like I do
in the space arena."
"Shall we?" Crusher asked his demonic partner.
"Playtime," the creature growled. The two raced to the front of the saloon and
prepared to grab the Greek hero.
"I'm not playing!" Perseus caught hold of Crusher's fist with one hand, while at
the same time, swinging his foot into the razor demon's ribs.
"Didn't your mama ever teach you to share?" Soto leaped into the air and headed
straight at Crusher and the demon. He separated his legs and drove the sole of
his boots into both Crusher and the demon's chest. "Split kick!"
The other rebels moved swiftly to their partner's sides, and saw that the bounty
hunter and demon were knocked out cold. A trail of blood ran down from their
foreheads.
"You guys okay?" Linda stood with a look of concern. Soto glanced over to the
smoking engine. "Guess we'll have to find American-man on foot."
"Maybe not," said Luke, looking off into the desert. "I had my cadet training at
a nearby government base. If it's still abandoned, we can use the orbiting
satellites to see if he's on the planet."
Chapter Eight: Animals Ho!
In the depths of space, far above the earth, American-man soared out of the
other end of the dimensional gate and came down like a falling meteor.
"Whoooooooaaa!"
"Ah-choo!" American-man stood in a crater and sneezed. He held his finger under
his nose. "Somebody keeps talking about me."
The governments of the 2nd dimension thought all it would take was a few bombs
to bring world peace. They were wrong. One early evening the bomb went off.
Centuries of technology were blown to dust, leaving no trace of survivors in the
fortress of that earth's strike force, Wild Animals. From across the dunes of a
once-green planet a shocking and unbelievable sight: a truck moves swiftly down
a ramp into a large circular complex. "Bring me any survivors."
Inside at a table sat the remaining members of Wild Animals among them was
Missy, with her rabbit body of golden brown fur, Zebran with his horse's body of
white fur and black stripes. Finally was a set of twins, Myare and Lionheart,
with cat-like faces, brown manes, golden fur and tails. Each was dressed in
camouflage tank tops and shorts.
"I thank you all for coming to this emergency meeting," Col. Rock Lionheart
said. Hearing the sound of intruders above, "Spread out the group," he yelled,
rising from the table. From the vent came voices, "We've got them trapped in
there."
The Wildanimals ran to a rock tunnel, slimy with veins piercing through the
ceiling and walls. They looked horrified as tentacles wrapped around Myare's
ankles and pulled her into the darkness beyond them. "Lionheart, help!"
"Myare!" Lionheart screamed, racing forward and seeing her lying in a center of
the pool motionless. He quickly dove in and swam over to her.
"Still alive," He cried in relief. She seemed well. He hoisted her up in his
arms and carried her out of the pool.
Before they could leave, a large group appeared at the doorway. One of the
warriors removed his helmet to reveal a human head inside.
"Drop your weapons!" Jack Clarkdale, the surviving enemy of the Wildanimals,
ordered as his troop held up their laser wands."
"Surprise!" Zebran said, appearing from the darkness behind them.
"No!" Jack screamed. "Not this time!" A trap door opened under the group, who
fell toward the underground swamp.
"You forget as an ex-member of the Wildanimals I helped to build this fortress,"
He said. "I hoped the radiation of the bombs would have killed you all!"
The Wildanimals heard Jack's laugher as they traveled along the earth made slide
and landed in the swamp. Snakes hissed as the swamp goo stuck to the animal-
people's bare feet, slowing them down. Unfortunately for the Wildanimals, Jack
Clarkdale was a master tracker. He followed their path through the swamp and to
an old cabin.
Missy trudged up beside Col. Lionheart. "What do you think our chances are?"
"Right now. Not good." Lionheart looked back over his shoulder and saw Jack
Clarkdale was right on their tail. "They're catching up."
Climbing up into a ventilation shaft, Col. Lionheart knew that the troop would
soon follow them into the crawl space. "Perhaps we should leave them down here."
Myare said as Lionheart helped her up.
"We can't - that's what separates the good guys from the bad guys." They rose to
the surface. They looked out at a world, which needed to start over from the
ground up. With Clarkdale captured, a new golden age was about to begin.
"We'll take those," Col. Lionheart said. He held up a gun as the others disarmed
the troop.
"I - It can't be." One of the troopers stammered as he spotted American-man a
top a nearby sand dune. He removed his helmet and revealed the three-dimensional
head of Einstein Brown. "After being banished here by my brothe