Super Soaker Central

Spinner and his troops scrambled out of the vehicles and ran towards the entrance, blasting away at the men running inside, who saw them and returned fire. Some started to retreat back towards the building they had come from, but they were rounded up by the militia; others jumped for the doorway.

The door opened outwards, however, and they didn't have a chance to shut it before they had to defend themselves against the streams of water wending their ways through the doorway. Spinner rushed to the building's wall, and aimed a few shots at those just inside the doorway. A couple of water bombs chucked into the doorway completed the first stage of the attack, and they heard footsteps running away, into the building.

"Forward people, but keep your eyes open," ordered Spinner, "There's bound to be some hidden enemies there." They regrouped and plunged forward, into the dark lower levels of the building.

Toaster was slowly driving through the streets, laying out a search grid for any remaining Tempest forces. They had been unable to locate the fighting they'd originally set out to, but he figured clean up was just fine. He needed a break.

Eyleascial was following the Armadillo at a distance, in case Tempests heard the vehicle coming and hid. So far they'd only seen a few enemy soldiers, and one jeep. Luckily, they hadn't seen any tanks since the fighting moved off. Toaster was beginning to doubt the Armadillo's frame could take a tank bombardment.

Reminiscing while keeping his eyes peeled, the leader of the Sabres turned a corner.

Racer and Monsoon headed up the stairs, with one door, no name on it. They kicked it open.

Ten water balloon launcher armed elite Tempests were there, ready to fire, Racer and Monsoon took out four, but that wasn't enough, so they retreated down the stairs and, with a little bit of sniping, the team managed to shoot the rest of the elites.

They progressed through the door and a voice greeted them...

"Here, fellows, throw your weight behind this door. It's locked," called Spinner, "On second thoughts, five of you get ready to fire at whoever's on the other side. Ready? One...two...three..."

They hurled themselves again at the flimsy wooden door, and it splintered and cracked before them, falling vertically downwards. Sure enough, two or three Tempests were there with CPS 2100s, but the cover fire repelled them, and they fled down the corridor to the right. "After them," commanded Spinner, "Let's keep the initiative with us." Forward the party went, after the departing soldiers.

Force and Sophie were doing their best to keep the Tempests at bay. Force shot another Tempest trying to charge them. He aimed at a group of them and fired. Nothing. "S***!" he exclaimed. Opposite him, Sophie had also run out.

Force took his last remaining water balloon. He threw it. The Tempests ducked for cover. Then they got up again and started advancing. With no water left, Force and Sophie had to surrender. They lowered their guns and raised their hands.

The Tempests moved forwards to cuff them. Force spotted a water balloon launcher on the one that was approaching him. He kicked upwards between his legs. The Tempest was stunned. Force grabbed him and the water balloon launcher. Pointing it at his head, he turned towards the Tempests, "All right, weapons down or I shoot. And release her." He motioned towards Sophie. The Tempests slowly put their weapons on the floor and let go of Sophie. Sophie picked up a CPS 2100 for herself, and kicked the other guns away.

"Now move away down the corridor," Force demanded. Hesitantly, the Tempests moved backwards. "Come on, or I'll shoot him." Force walked towards them, guiding them back. They were heading towards the room at the end. "In there." They went into the room. Force stood outside the door. He smiled evilly, pointed the water balloon launcher at them, and fired. Quickly, he hit his hostage round the head and then slammed the door shut. He wedged himself against it.

The Tempests behind tried to shove the door open. Then, Force spotted some keys on the Tempest lying on the floor. He pointed at them, and Sophie grabbed them. She quickly locked the door. "Well that was close," Force commented. He picked up a modded CPS 1500. They headed back down to the stairs.

As they reached them, Stingray's head popped up, "We've got trouble. Loads of Tempests." Force looked at Sophie and sighed. They headed down, weapons ready.

Toaster was getting a bit tired of their search. They had been at it for a while, and the Sabres hadn't spotted a single Tempest.

Finally giving up, Toaster shut off the engine and hopped out. He was going to listen for the fighting so they could join in. He chided himself for not doing this before, which would have saved them a lot of time.

Straining, Toaster turned around, listening hard. Nothing. No sound reached them. Toaster surmised that the fighting must have been over by now, or else they'd hear it.

Turning to Bukan, he said, "I guess the fighting stopped."

"No. The fighting's just beginning!" said a voice from between the buildings.

A few dozen Tempests left their hiding spots, guns at the ready. From around the corner, a supertank came into view. Jumping back into the cab, Toaster started the engine as Wontwood crushed the supertank with a well-placed Broadsword round.

The Sabres were outnumbered nearly three to one, but they'd faced tougher odds before. Realising that the Armadillo wouldn't be going anywhere, Toaster locked the cab doors and climbed out on top of the vehicle, manning one of the unused Geminis. The Tempests were lashing out with everything they had, but the Sabres had the advantage of an armoured vehicle and the Geminis' semi-automatic firing rate.

Toaster surveyed the scene. Unconscious Tempests lay all around, guns scattered across the street. These were actually just a small portion of the attackers. Once these men had gone down, the rest of them retreated with their tails between their legs. Hopping down and ordering Bukan to follow, Toaster began to restrain these Tempests with the plastic cuffs they'd found after a previous attack like this. After the insensate fighters were securely bound, Toaster and Bukan moved them off to the sidewalks.

It was then that Eyleascial rolled up.

"Where were you?" an exasperated Toaster demanded.

"I saw a Tempest group in one of the alleys. I chased them down!" Eyleascial shot back.

Calming down, Toaster realised that the Tempests had meant to distract Eyleascial so the main group could take on the Sabres without the young woman coming in to re-enforce them.

Deciding to check back with the rest of the militia, Toaster and the Sabres headed back to Central Square in the hopes they'd find some militiamen there that could answer some questions.

"I can't get through to Forceuser on the radio," said Spinner to himself, "Funny." But then his mind turned to other matters as the few Tempests ahead of them ducked into a side room. The door slammed. "Quickly, guys, before they can lock it!" called Spinner, as they threw their weight against the door. It moved open a couple of centimetres as they battled against the force of the enemies trying to close it on the other side. Spinner jammed his foot in the doorway. Whipping out his XP 15, he pushed his arm round the door and called, "Hands up!"

There was a gasp of fear from the enemies on the other side of the door, and the pressure was released. Spinner and the other were able to move in, covering the Tempests.

"Okay guys, looks like your fighting is over for today. Let's have some information. Where's our other party?"

One spoke up, "If you're talking about the ones that tried to infiltrate the building earlier, we eliminated them. None were left."

"WHAT?" yelled Spinner, "Forceuser, Monsoon - finished?" His fists clenched, and his knuckles whitened. "You will pay," he ground out from between his teeth, "Oh my goodness, you will pay..."

His eyes were full of hatred as he called. "Sergeant! Tie up these men and gag them. Be quick."

As the sergeant performed his duties, Spinner stared fixedly into the middle distance. Forceuser...Monsoon...Racer...all over for them. This couldn't be. They had to be avenged.

The sergeant was finally finished with them, and turned to Spinner. "Ready, Sergeant?"

"Ready, sir. What next?"

"We're going through this building to find every last Tempest and punish them. They're going to pay for what they've done to the others. Let's move!"

The sergeant moved obediently towards the door, and Spinner followed.

"Right," said Spinner, "Let's move it. Anyone you find, blast them with all you've got. Let's blaze through this building."

Spotting Racer's GTO, the duo ran into the building and gunned down many of the Tempests in the lobby.

"Come in, Force!" Nat said in the radio. Ed was demolishing the last few soldiers.

"Force, d'you copy?" No answer.

Ed threw the last Tempest on to a table. "Anything, Nat?"

"Can't get him. Nothing but the damned static."

"Fine, I've got another way." He walked over to the Tempest lying on the table. "Where're your friends?"

The soldier glared at him. "Go screw your girl, jerkoff."

Ed slammed him on the wall and punched his eye out.

"Lemme handle him," Nat said. "How 'bout she screws you?" she purred at the Tempest, and he smirked.

"Be my guest, you slut. Maybe I'll play the teacher."

"Mmm? But this particular girl knows of many techniques."

"Nat..." Ed started to open his mouth, but she just laid a finger on his lips and moved over as if she wanted to kiss him.

"BDSM. Act envious," she whispered when she got close.

"What's-mmf!" Nat kissed him, getting him to shut up.

"You'll see." She took out a whip from her pocket.

(Two minutes later)

"ARRGGH! Stop it - OWWW!"

"I told you, we could do this the easy way..." She used the end of her whip to tickle his nose "Or the hard way." She made to stamp on the guy's stomach.

"OK, OK I'll talk, I'll talk, I'll talk!" he babbled. There was fear in his eyes as he eyed Nat's heel. "I-I'll radio them, ask them wh-where they are." He shakily took out his radio, but dropped it again.

"Naughty boy." She smacked him again.

"S-sorry." He pressed the 'talk' button. "Cm'in, Ricardo."

"Ricardo here, everything ok on your side?"

"Yes, the intruders have been eliminated. Where's your group?"

Force was firing at the many Tempests, but they were running out of water.

Suddenly the troops turned around, gunning at two figures. Ed and Nat charged them, returning fire and dodging many of the shots.

When they finished off the last of them, Ed let out a small sigh of relief. "Where's Racer and Monsoon?"

"They went up the stairs." Force pointed.

"OK. Let's go, Nat- dammit!" Nat was struggling from the grip of a Tempest.

He jabbed his water balloon launcher on Nat's head. "All of you get outta here before I take her out!" he screamed.

"Nat!" Ed aimed his Blazer. The others raised their weapons.

"Get out!"

"Let her go!"

"No way in hell!"

Then a shot from behind. The water balloon smacked on the back of the Tempest's head. He loosened his grip and Nat punched him on the nose, rendering him unconscious.

"Rick?"

"Ok Ed, what you did was pretty low," Rick said as he walked towards them.

"Whaddaya mean?"

Rick wasn't looking at Ed. "Leaving me behind. You knew I had no means of transport."

Ed's eyes widened. He had forgotten about that. "Rick, I -"

"Forget it."

"I knew I wasn't a good mentor."

Rick looked at him. "Really?"

"Really. I just tried helping you." Ed was looking away this time.

"Ed, if I did anything wrong, I wanna say sorry."

"No, I should be apologising. You didn't do anything wrong at all."

Rick shook his head. "Maybe I shouldn't have walked away when you were -"

"Blabbing on about a car?" Ed laughed softly. "You had every reason to."

Nat was suddenly angry. "You two are so stupid!" She stormed up the stairs as they gave her bemused looks.

Rick sighed as they ran after Nat, "Girls are so hard to understand." Ed grinned.

Slightly further up, Nat muttered, "Boys are so hard to understand."

Toaster was trotting around Central Square, searching buildings for militiamen. All he'd found so far was unconscious Tempests and some spent weapons. He exited the building and headed for the next one. Before he entered, he heard Eyleascial call out.

"I think I've found something!" she cried.

Dashing over, Toaster climbed up to the floor that Eyleascial had called from. She was standing at a door, her pistols at the ready.

"What is it?" Toaster whispered, coming up beside her.

"I saw someone in there. They don't seem to notice that the fighting has ended here. He nearly got me when I looked in." Eyleascial hissed back.

Hoisting the Red Baron and an oversize water balloon, he signalled for her to open the door. As soon as the portal swung open, what looked to be a 20X stream blew through the doorway. Swinging quickly in with the doorframe, he saw a militiaman frantically pumping his gun. Toaster called to the man, "We are militia! Don't shoot!"

"Yeah right, Tempest scum!" the militiaman cried as he jumped up and fired again. Toaster just managed to dodge, and swung back into the hall.

"HEY! I'm Toaster. I'm the commander of the Sabres mercenary group! We're on your side!"

"Sure, and I'm the king of France!" the militiaman called back defiantly.

"That's it. Gimme that," Eyleascial hissed as she grabbed the water balloon from Toaster and chucked it at the guy in the room, dodging a stream as she did so.

"RAE! What the hell? Why did you do that?" Toaster exclaimed.

"He wasn't going to give up, so I made him," Eyleascial said matter-of-factly, standing over the now insensate militiaman.

Toaster hauled the militiaman out of the room and into one of the office spaces. He took the gun, which appeared to be a homemade in a MXL shell, and set it across the room from the unconscious young man.

Still keeping an eye on the militiaman, Toaster proceeded to enlighten Eyleascial as to the finer points of diplomacy.

Force and Sophie ran up the stairs after Ed and co, leaving Stingray and Piranha at the bottom. As they got to the top, they came out into a smallish room, with a shut door at the end. Lying on the floor was ten elite water balloon launcher armed Tempests.

They moved towards the door. Force stood in front of it, ready to kick it open. The others raised their weapons. Force kicked. The door swung open...

The militiaman was coming around. He groaned and felt his head, finally opening his eyes when he found no suspicious lumps.

What he saw was the nozzle selector of the Red Baron, next to the barrel of Eyleascial's weapon. Backing off, the militiaman seemed startled, as he was entitled to be. He looked up at the duo guarding him, and asked, "Where am I? Who are you?"

"You're in the office space about ten feet from the door of your little hideout, and we're Toaster and Eyleascial of the Sabres," Toaster said calmly, lowering his gun and offering the man his hand. "We would like to know who you are, and if you know anything about the fighting in the city."

"I'm Charles. And I don't know anything about the fighting. I thought it was still going on here," the militiaman replied.

"Well Charles, the fighting stopped about two hours ago. It moved on to another part of the city. We assume the militia drew the Tempests away, to allow someone to escape, or infiltrate somewhere," Eyleascial said as Charles got to his feet.

"Humph. Sounds like Neko, leaving me here without a clue as to what's going on. I don't think he likes me, you know," Charles grumbled.

Rolling his eyes, Toaster went to retrieve the kid's weapon. As he did so, he heard a shout from out on the square. He forgot about Charles' gun and dashed to the window. Looking out, he saw Monkey waving to him, and gesturing to the rubble of the toppled building. Thinking someone might be trapped, Toaster dashed down the stairs and across the square to the debris. He had been right.

A young man wearing militia colours was pinned under a section of wall. He looked to be all right, but he couldn't move and he looked like he was hurting from the pressure.

Toaster looked around at the rubble pile for something he could use to help. He spotted a 4x4 beam and hoisted it over. Using it as a lever, he pried the wall off the man, and Monkey dragged him out. Seeing an XX50 under the section, Monkey put the militiaman a safe distance from the wall and grabbed the gun.

Toaster let the wall down with a great crash, and picked his way over to the wounded kid. He seemed to have some serious bruising and possibly a strained ankle, but luckily nothing was broken. He was outcold though and he may have had a concussion. Picking up one side and Monkey the other, they carried the militiaman into the office building and laid him down on one of the desks.

Charles was walking around the office, looking for something. When Toaster and Monkey came in and laid the militiaman down, Charles hurried over.

"That's Neko! Humph. Probably got run over," Charles guffawed.

"Actually, he was trapped under a section of wall from that building we demolished earlier. He may have been trying to stop the supertanks from knocking this building down," Toaster chided the militiaman.

"Oh. Well, I'll see if there's a first-aid kit around here," Charles said, hurrying off.

Toaster smirked and left Neko to Charles. He and the Sabres resumed the search for others, hoping that they'd find something more helpful.

Monsoon and Racer saw Force and Sophie approach. Racer greeted them and gave them the plan, "Me and Monsoon...errr I mean we are going to storm the third floor." Monsoon sighed, "Yep, as long as the commander is mine."

Force and Sophie readied their soakers. "Okay, I'll peek up ahead to see what we're dealing with, okay?" said Monsoon. The others nodded and he crept to the next set of stairs. Looking above the stairs, Monsoon spotted a small room on the far side of the room, locked tight and barricaded with a squad of elite Tempest troops guarding it.

He went back down slowly and accidentally slipped. "Hey, what the hell was that?" asked one of the Tempests. The enemies ran over to the stairs, only to get drenched with water balloons. The team unleashed a steady four streams of water at the group of ten Tempests from their weapons.

Done with the job, the four secured the final floor of the building. Monsoon picked the lock at the door and broke the wood. As he started turning the doorknob with his CPS 4100 ready, he thought to himself, "This is it. This is really it. He's all mine!"

The door swung open and Monsoon dove inside, did a summersault and opened fire on the individual behind a desk. The Tempest commander ducked under the desk just in time.

"Come out, come out where ever you are..." Monsoon whispered. The enemy commander popped out with an XP 15 and shot a stream of cold water straight at Monsoon's head. Monsoon used his CPS 4100 as a shield and soaked the last man in the way of peace on the south island.

Monsoon threw him to the ground and dumped the rest of his water on him. He tied him up and left him in the room, trashing the computer and radio on the desk. He locked the door behind him as he looked back at Racer, Force, and Sophie.

"So, how'd it go?" Force asked. Monsoon smiled, "Well, I think that this is all over now. The only things left to do now I guess are clean this island up and then celebrate!" The group all smiled. They went down the steps and into the sunlight.

As they exited the building, they saw Spinner running over. "Force...Racer...Monsoon? You're all OK!" Spinner said, stunned, "I thought you had been eliminated." "Nope," Force replied smiling, "And we just took down the commander. I think you need to send out a message to the whole island, we've won." Force handed Spinner his radio.

"This small radio won't be big enough to broadcast to everyone on the island," decided Spinner, "Let's head to the local radio station." So, jumping in the jeep, they all set off.

Arriving at the station, nothing seemed to be going on, so they headed to the broadcast room. As they came in, they met two young men playing cards on the table. They scrambled to their feet as the armed party marched in. "No stress guys, we're friendly. What's been going on?"

The younger one spoke up. "Not much, really, sir. There's been nothing to broadcast since the Tempests fled the area."

"Okay, well here's some work for you to do. Get to the controls, and we'll make a broadcast on all main channels."

The radiomen obediently installed themselves at the controls, and signalled to Spinner to begin.

"Friends. This is Major-General Spinner of the North Island Militia speaking. After a fiercely fought battle, we are pleased to announce that the Tempest scourge has finally been cleared from the South Island."

All over the island, people stopped and listened in amazement to what was coming out of their radio. Back in the North Island, a massive cheer went up. An end to rationing!

Spinner explained some more essentials, but that was the gist of his speech. Once he had finished, he turned to the others. "There's one loose end that hasn't been tied up," he said, "Toaster, remember a certain sniper that took a pot shot at you?"

Toaster mused. "Yes, yes I do, come to think of it. Why, what about him?"

"Just wondering...is that guy in civvies with a CPS 2000 anything like him?" asked Spinner, pointing towards the window.

Toaster started. "Goodness me, you're right! Wait while I get him..."

"Wait," ordered Spinner, "let's just watch him for a moment..."

They watched as the figure crept along the road, keeping to the shadows. Suddenly, three rogue Tempests jumped out and attacked him with CPS 1200s. Dodging the streams, he let loose two blasts from the mighty 2000, jumped back while pumping, and shot the other one with another blast.

"Three Tempests at once...that's good enough for me," declared Spinner, "Let's go down and talk."

Arriving on the street, they called out to the lone figure, who was repumping his gun slowly, "Hey there, nice shooting."

The figure looked up. "Thanks. I can't stand those Tempests." Then he recognised Toaster. "Oh no, hey now, nothing personal, right?"

Spinner cut in, "Don't worry mate, it's forgotten. We'd like to make you an offer though, join our side? We could do with a sniper like you to clear up the remaining Tempests. And we can always offer you some benefits."

The figure considered. "Get rewarded for shooting Tempests? Sounds good to me. Consider it a deal." They shook hands.

"Incidentally, what's your name?" asked Forceuser as they moved off.

The figure smiled. "Cloud."

The party moved off towards the militia camp, for some well-earned rest.

As they were walking off, Force turned towards his squad, "Well done men...and women. I think we all deserve a vacation."

Force put his arm around Sophie. "So where do you want to go?" he asked her, "How about camping?" "Reminds me too much of this war," she replied, "Plus, it's not very romantic."

"OK then, how about sailing?" Sophie glared at him. "OK, what about...hiking? Ow, that hurt. OK, OK, a nice relaxing stay on a hot island far away." "That's more like it."

Sophie kissed him. Force looked at her and grinned, "And I get to see you in a bikini...Owww." They walked off together, Force rubbing his stomach...

Monsoon, content with his personal victory over the Tempests was still empty with where he would end up. Having no family to go home to, he walked off toward 5 to hitch a ride somewhere when he heard someone calling him behind him...

Toaster was overjoyed. The war was finally over. It had been hard, and long, and he couldn't wait to get back to his family and friends. He was packing up the Armadillo, getting ready to go. There was just one little matter to attend to...

Toaster took off in search of one of the commanders. Spotting Monsoon, he ran up, calling out for him to stop. Monsoon turned around and waited for Toaster to catch up.

"Hey, Monsoon. Glad the war's over, eh?" Toaster asked.

"Yeah. Hey, I was wondering, could I maybe join the Sabres?" Monsoon inquired.

"Umm... well, the Sabres are really a local group..." Toaster started.

Interrupting, Monsoon said "Oh. I see. Well, I guess this is goodbye."

Stopping the militia commander, Toaster exclaimed, "But hey, nobody's stopping you from recruiting a squad in your town. We could start a national mercenary franchise."

"Yeah! That's a great idea! Here, let me give you some contact info, so we can keep in touch," Monsoon said, scribbling down a mailing address and phone number on a piece of paper.

Taking the paper, Toaster whipped out a professional-looking business card. It read:

-The Sabres-

Mercenary Fighters

"We slash the enemy, so you can stay dry."

Monsoon took the card, and was about to walk off, when Toaster caught him by the shoulder. "You need a ride?"

"Thanks, that'd be great." Monsoon replied, turning to walk back with Toaster.

As they walked off, Toaster said in an offhand voice, "You know, we are mercenaries, the Sabres. And we haven't been paid..."

Racer got in his 3000GT and drove away...Back home...And boy was it a surprise to his parents to see him driving a car with manual transmission.

He got on his modded computer and logged on to his favourite super soaker website, SSCentral, where he read a full report on the war in a thread called 'RP'.

A thought rushed through his mind, "We've been a team forever and we always will..."

Counting his money, Toaster grinned. So much had been accomplished during the Tempest War. The Sabres now had an out-of-town branch, and possibly could become a national group, the Armadillo had become the fighting machine that Toaster had always envisioned, and the team had grown tighter, more of a family. In particular, Eyleascial and himself. He thought that he and Rae were forming something special. He hoped he was right.

The Herc jolted a bit, and Toaster fell over. The Knuckleguard nearly fell off the trailer, which itself came off the Armadillo's hitch. "HEY! Nice driving!" Toaster snapped.

"Sorry!" the pilot called out. They were getting a ride back to the nearest airport to their normal stomping grounds, and Toaster couldn't wait to be home. He'd have so much to tell everyone.

(Several days later)

Toaster looked out the kitchen window at the Armadillo parked in the backyard. It was ready for action, but still just idle. He'd heard before they left that there might be another conflict in the near future, so he'd given business cards to several Tempest commanders. He hadn't heard from Monsoon yet, so he assumed that the newest Sabre hadn't arrived home yet, or was still settling in.

Sighing and getting back to the mundanity of dishes, Toaster mulled over all the events of the war.

It was then that the phone rang, and the caller ID read Monsoon's number. Picking up, Toaster prepared to embark on a brand new era for him and his friends.

The original militia of eleven men chose to depart a few days after the battle was announced as won. They said their farewells to Spinner, Force, and the others, and then prepared to leave the island.

The militia was to meet up in their home city thousands of miles away. Most boarded planes while Duxburian headed down to the marina one last time to find a good boat. He then became lost in hopes for a new war in a new land and set sail towards the setting sun.

(Flashback to just after the battle)

"Sooo, what're we going to do with the loser?" Rick asked, prodding the unconscious Tempest commander with his big toe. They had stopped just outside the hotel Ed and Nat were staying in and Rick was trying to drag the commander through the doors, where his head had got stuck. Ed noticed Rick was doing nothing to prevent that.

"Just going to ask him a few questions, mainly about Mr T," Nat said, bending over to free the man's head.

(Five minutes later)

"Godammit, he's heavy." The door closed.

"Lucky he didn't wake up."

"Once he does, he's going to yell the place down." Rick tossed him at a corner.

****

(Classified location)

A Tempest commander approached a figure in a chair.

"Sir, I have tried contacting Commander Timothy at his newly-established base at South Island, but to no avail. The signal's gone."

"Look for his personal signal."

"Yes, sir."

The commander dashed to some controls, and a projector switched on, turning the wall directly in front of the figure into a computer screen.

"Feels like there's something under his skin."

"Well, he got under ours," Ed remarked.

"I meant literally." Nat pointed out a rather visible bump.

"A pimple?"

"Too big."

"Commander Timothy is unconscious, but it's not due to fatigue," the commander said.

"He's gotten himself defeated. Dispose of him."

"H-how are you so sure-"

The figure in the chair frowned. "Intuition."

"Very well, sir. I hope you won't regret this..."

A faint beep was coming from the bump.

"What the hell?" Ed leapt up and grabbed his Swiss Army knife.

"Er, you sure you know how to play surgeon?" Rick asked.

"No, but I rather he had a scar than being blown up." The bump was beeping faster now.

"Blown-oh crap!" Ed had pounced on the commander.

"Wha-? Wh-where the hell am-" Said man had woken up. He heard the beeping.

"No! No, I'm going to- ARRRGH!"

A blue capsule had fallen out of the newly-inflicted wound, beeping like there was no tomorrow.

"Window!"

Nat scrambled for the catch. The capsule was barely thrown out of the window when...

BOOM!

There was a sudden rush of wind while air was sucked out of the room, then all was still.

"That," said a very nervous Rick, "Was way too close."

The commander was wincing in pain.

(End flashback)

Nibor had been injured during a battle back on the main island. He was knocked unconscious and slipped into a coma. He awoke in the hospital in the town of 2 a month after the fighting had ended. He asked the nurse next to him, "What happened?" She looked at him, smiled, and said one word, "War."

With the fierce war finally over, Spinner regained his old house on the island and opened it up.

As he lay in a deckchair later that day, taking a rest, he thought about what Ed had told him about the Tempest commander being nearly destroyed by his higher command.

So there were more Tempests elsewhere. Tougher, cleverer, madder ones. They would have to be tracked down and dealt with...

...Some other time, as he lay back in his deckchair, enjoying the sun's rays on his face.

THE END

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