A Meerca's Mission

      “So why haven’t they reached out to me already?” Matatat asked, looking at Chuychu with exasperation. “If they know I’m one of them, they should’ve found me and let me in on the big plan!”

      “Maybe they didn’t know how to reach you?” Chuychu asked, barely containing the lie with her voice. She looked back at Killua and Macer, who backed her up with hesitant nods.

      Matatat stroked his chin, but seemed to accept this response with a firmer nod. “Makes sense. Most people don’t know me yet. So how do we find them? Can you use your magical powers?”

      Chuychu had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “That’s how I figured out that there were supporters around in the first place. Now, getting them to work with you will be another story entirely.”

      “Well, where are they? If you tell me, I can just go talk to them and become friends!”

      “It’s not as simple as-” Killua began to snap before Macer cut him off.

      “I’m not sure if it’ll be easy to become friends with them. You might have to prove your worth,” Macer said, his paw over Killua’s mouth.

      “Then I’ll get in there and rough ‘em up! Give ‘em the good one-two punch! Then they’ll see how strong I am!” Matatat said, doing some karate moves on the spot.

      “Let’s… not start with that,” Chuychu said, suppressing a sigh. “I’ll take you to them, but you should let Killua and Macer do the talking. How does that sound?”

      Matatat frowned, but nodded. “Fine, let’s go!”

      Although Chuychu did not physically accompany them, she used her magic abilities to send directions in her voice directly to Killua and Macer’s heads. They followed her instructions, until it led them to where they needed an ID to get in.

      “Darn, I’ve had this problem before,” Matatat said, snapping his fingers. “I was gonna try and copy someone’s ID card, but I couldn’t get enough of a good look at one.”

      “That won’t be a problem,” Macer said, pulling something out of his bag.

      Matatat peered at the card in his hand. “That’s just a blank piece of paper.”

      “Look again,” Macer said, tilting his hand so slightly that the movement could barely be seen.

      “Wait, what?” Matatat said, blinking quickly and rubbing his eyes. “How did you get that to turn into a Space Station employee ID?!”

      “Psychic paper,” Macer explained with a small grin. “Chuychu gave it to us. It’s like something out of some science fiction show. You can have anything you want appear on the piece of paper. I could have it become a note from King Altador, a spaceship pilot’s license, or a Chia Police ticket.”

      “Doesn’t work on faeries though. We tried,” Killua grumbled.

      Macer pressed the card up against the ID scanner and the light on it turned green. There was a small beep, and then the door in front of them opened in the blink of an eye.

      “Whoa! That’s awesome! Can she get me one of those too? I could make it look like an autograph from Dr. Sloth!” Matatat said excitedly.

      Macer and Killua looked at each other awkwardly. “Uh, well, once we find Sloth, you won’t need to fake his autograph. You can get a real one,” Killua said, rolling his eyes.

      The eye roll was either not seen by Matatat, or ignored. “You’re right. Gotta focus on the mission.”

      After giving Matatat a hood to keep him as hidden on the cameras as possible, they started making their way through the hallways of the employees-only area, continuing to be guided by Chuychu’s voice in the heads of Matatat’s companions. However, after a few minutes, they found themselves being confronted by two Mutant Grundos.

      “Oh hey, they must be bodyguards or something! I bet I could talk to-” Matatat started to walk toward them, but one of them wound his fist back before the Meerca could finish his sentence.

      “Look out!” Killua shouted, reaching into his bag and pulling out his Wand of the Dark Faerie. At the same time, Macer pulled out a Sword of Skardsen.

      “Whoa, where did you get those?!” Matatat tried to ask, but his question was ignored as Macer slashed at the first mutant with his sword.

      As the first Grundo groaned in pain and stumbled back, the second Grundo raised his arms to try and grab Matatat. Matatat raised his fists and started circling them with a grin, but it was Killua who dealt the first blow with his wand, leaving Matatat to land a weak punch right after.

      Both Grundos found their footing again and each charged for the group at once, not targeting anyone in particular but simply trying to clobber their way through. The team of three also charged forward, Killua and Macer with weapons in hand and Matatat screaming in fury as he raised his fists. The latter party threw out punches indiscriminately, just hoping to hit any target, while the first two each took on one Grundo themselves, pummeling the pair of goons into submission until they were both knocked out on the ground.

      Matatat looked down at his fists in awe. “Did… did I get them? Did I help?”

      Killua looked like he was about to say something snarky, so Macer cut him off. “Yeah man, we couldn’t have done it without you! You gave them a good walloping!”

      “Really? You mean it?” Matatat’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

      Killua sighed and crossed his arms, speaking in monotone as if it was painful to say. “Yeah. We would’ve gotten thrashed if it weren’t for you.”

      Matatat jumped in the air, trying to click his heels together but failing. “Yahoo! This is the greatest day ever! I bet those Space Station goons knew that we were here in the name of Sloth.”

      Macer and Killua shared an uncomfortable look, but Chuychu’s voice in their heads told them to stay silent and keep moving. So with the next directions being beamed into their brains, they kept sneaking through the halls, trying to get to the Sloth supporters that worked in the control room that ran the power for the whole building. Although the two protectors could get through secure areas with ease, Matatat would be very quickly recognized by any Space Station employee, Sloth supporter or not. That meant that they’d have to try and be as unnoticed as possible, even with a hood over the Meerca’s head.

      “Alright, so the control room shouldn’t be too far away now,” Killua said, focusing in to get the mental instructions from Chuychu. “Only one more door and one more hallway. But what happens after that is anyone’s guess. Not even Chuychu knows what will happen.”

      “She can’t read minds?” Matatat asked.

      “Well, sort of, but not really,” Macer said, tilting his head back and forth. “And that can’t predict their actions perfectly. They may be happy to see you, or they may be ready to fight.”

      Matatat raised his fists excitedly again. “Well, if they’re ready to fight, they’d better bring it! Or else they’ll be pummeled by my fists of fury!”

      Killua sighed in exasperation. “Right. Fists of fury.”

      After getting past the door and through the hallway, the group of three arrived at one last door that said “control room” on it. It looked heavier than the others, and actually had a handle on it, unlike the other doors that just slid open.

      “Ready to go in?” Macer asked, looking to Matatat for the final word.

      Matatat found that his heart was starting to beat faster and faster. His palms were sweating, and he started to fear that he would actually have to face a fight against real Sloth supporters rather than become best friends with them. Despite a voice in his head telling him to run away and never come back, Matatat nodded. “Let’s do it.”

      Macer scanned the psychic paper card one more time, and the door made a loud “ka-chunk!” sound. Nothing swung open automatically, so Macer reached out for the handle and pulled on it. The door opened up to reveal two Grundos sitting in front of a wall covered top to bottom in monitors. On each of the monitors was a view of different areas of the Space Station. Every location was covered, including outside the door they had just opened. Since the two employees had probably seen that they were coming, they both swiveled around in their chairs to face the new arrivals.

      “Yeaaaahh, whaddaya want?” The purple Grundo on the left asked.

      “I’m Macer, and this is Killua,” Macer said, gesturing in turn to the Draik on his right. Matatat was behind them, partially blocked by their bodies so he wasn’t immediately spotted. “We’d like to speak to you about… business matters, if you don’t mind.”

      The eventide Grundo on the right drummed his hands in his lap. “Business matters? What’s that supposed to mean?”

      “We’ve received information that you two share… the same loyalties as us,” Killua answered, a small smirk on his face.

      Both Grundos looked nervous. “What are you talking about?” The purple one asked.

      “We’ve become aware that you’re loyal to Sloth. And we’d like to help you,” Macer said with a curt nod.

      “H-how’d you figure that out?” The purple Grundo looked like he was about to bolt out of the room.

      “We have our ways,” Killua said, his smirk only growing. “But we have no interest in revealing your little secret as long as you let us help you. We’d also like to work for him.”

      “Yeah! Me too!”

      Everyone’s eyes went to Matatat, who had jumped ahead of his partners.

      “We told you to stay behind us!” Killua snapped.

      “But I wanna help! I’m the biggest Sloth fan of all! I helped beat those big, scary mutants, I can beat any of Sloth’s enemies no problem!” Matatat said excitedly, throwing punches at an invisible enemy in front of him.

      “For the love of…” Killua groaned, rubbing his face with one hand.

      “Hey, it’s this guy!” The eventide Grundo said, leaping to his feet. “Those Grundos weren’t enemies, you imbecile, they’re meant to keep nosy people like you out of our business!”

      “Yeah, they’re loyal to Sloth too,” the purple one snarled, reaching over for a handheld device on the table next to him.

      “Wait wait wait wait,” Macer said, holding his paws in front of him. “Now let’s not rush to throwing us out or anything. We want to help you. I know our Meerca friend here is… enthusiastic, but we’ll keep an eye on him so that all of us can work together as allies. Just let us help you, or even better, let us plead our case to the big guy himself.”

      “Not a chance, this guy has been causing problems here for as long as I’ve worked here,” the eventide Grundo said. “There’s no way we’d give him any info about the great doctor.”

      “Yeah,” the purple one said, chuckling, “not like we’d tell you guys about Sloth’s base on Althrax, we don’t need you poking around there.”

      “STAN! What was that for?! You just revealed his location!” The eventide one said, smacking his buddy on the shoulder.

      “Ah peas, I’m gonna get in so much trouble…” Stan said, wincing and rubbing his shoulder.

      A slow grin spread across the faces of all three in the party. “Well, that’s helpful info. I think you should let us waltz on out of here right now. Unless you’d like us to tell your boss who you’re working for,” Macer said.

      “Ugh, fine, but stay out of our way, and don’t you dare go asking any of the Grundos on the maintenance deck for any more Sloth info, they’re even bigger fans and know better!” Stan said angrily, before receiving another smack from his coworker.

      “You did it again! Shut your mouth!”

      “Oh, like you’re so good at your job, you didn’t even see this dumb Meerca coming!”

      The two started bickering, leaving Macer, Killua, and Matatat free to leave the room and head back to the main deck where they started. They strolled through the employees-only halls with their heads held high, all feeling optimistic about the new information they had just gained. But Matatat couldn’t help but still feel a little nervous. If other Sloth supporters weren’t jumping to let him into their ranks, what would that mean for Sloth himself?

To be continued…