X.p.l.o

[cosmichedgehog]

Okay, so our heroes are in safety, but for how long? Could they possibly beat a giant green monster?

Chapter 44: Slaying a Skaét
‘So, let me get this straight. You’re gonna make a wormhole big enough for the Skaét to walk through, which should lead it straight to Jupiter?’ asked Jay. ‘That my plan is,’ said Z.T. Dinozaur. ‘Could work,’ said Jay. ‘But how do we make him walk through it? Skaéts are intelligent, and I think this one is particularly cunning. He won’t be like “Hey ,a wormhole, let’s walk through it and see what happens…” We need a strategy.’ ‘Gladiator in arena consilium capit…’ said Jack dreamy, in a language Jay vaguely recognized as Latin, though he didn’t know what it meant, and really didn’t care. ‘It means the gladiator makes up his plan in the arena,’ said Jack when nobody replied. ‘Too late, that is. Seneca.’ ‘You think?’ said Jay. ‘Something, we must try,’ said Dinozaur.
At that instant, the Skaét bashed again against the building.
‘Hold on the building will for a while. But I must Wormhole make outside, or Skaét can’t get though it.’ ‘Okay, then. Here’s the deal: The four of us have to distract the monster to buy ZT some time and then make sure it walks through the Wormhole when ZT’s ready. Just lure him, provoke him, whatever,’ said Jay. ‘I know it’s a worthless plan, but it’s the only one I’ve got.’
Suddenly Robbie opened his mouth. ‘Now wait up. I think you owe me an explanation, hot shot.’ He looked at Jay, rather angry. ‘Who are you, where am I, what do you want, what is a Wormhole, what is he,’ -he pointed at Z.T. Dinozaur, who looked slightly offended- ‘and what the heck is that!’ He pointed at the Skaét, who’s shape could be seen through the windowless wall. Jay sighed. ‘That’s all for later. Most importantly for a while, we’re on your side, your good friend Chistina Lucky or whatever his name is turned into the monster you’re referring to, which is a Skaét, that man over there is my friend Z.T. Dinozaur, and we’re about to go and do crazy things and risk our lives, all because of you… So you’d better stay here, stay out of trouble and please don’t cause any. This is not for my pleasure either, here you are thank you.’
Jay was being more rude to Robbie than he meant to, he just had to unload his stress, but Robbie was clearly not happy with the answer. He was about to scream back, but Kandy interposed. ‘Please, guys, please. Least thing we need is a fight. Well, unless it’s a fight with that big green thing… Robbie, please sit down. There’s nothing you can do- for now. It will all be explained to you later, but first we have to get rid of that monster.’
The Skaét bashed against the building again, harder than ever. ‘Which we’d better do quickly,’ Kandy added. ‘Well, come on, let’s go! Hover Bikes!’ said Jay. ‘Kandy, would you take Jack again? Thank you. Okay, we lure it away, while ZT stays here making that wormhole. When he’s done, we lead it in. Robbie, you stay here too and guard Troy. Or Trojan, as you know him. Should he regain consciousness, he’ll tell you everything. Come on, go, go, go!’
Everyone got on their Hover Bikes. ‘ZT, we’re ready. You can open the door.’ ZT pushed a button in the wall. The door opened and they raced out.
The Skaét wanted to bash the building again when three black things drove between his feet. This was the least he expected, the imbeciles had come out! Well, they asked for it…
As Jay had expected, the monster turned on them and chased them through the night. Z.T. Dinozaur came out of his building, unnoticed in the dark. He pushed a button on his watch and a few feet in front of him appeared a black dot. It grew and grew and developed to a Wormhole, but it was way to small for anything as big as a Skaét to go through. He had to wait…
‘Split up!’ said Jay. The three Hover Bikes all went in different directions. The Skaét was puzzled for a while, but decided to just follow one of them at a time.
These were Kandy and Jack. Kandy drove as fast as she could, while Jack held on tight. There weren’t many buildings, but the Skaét was getting close… Jack reached to his Repeating Laser Blazer gun. He couldn’t get a good aim, so he just fired over his shoulder at random. When he looked into the driving mirror of Kandy’s bike and saw to his pleasant surprise that he must have hit, cause the beast wasn’t following them anymore…
The Skaét was furious. Something had hit him between the eyes and had to work that off. There was another Hover Bike nearby…
Jay’s. Jay saw that the Skaét noticed him and immediately sprinted the other way. The Skaét was, again, behind him. ‘Enough! ZT, how’s progress?’ he screamed though his radio transmitter. ‘Not good. More time, I need. Five minutes,’ was the answer. Well then, as long as nobody’s still eaten it’s going well, Jay thought.
While Jay was being chased by the Skaét, the Skaét was being chased by Searain. She had pulled her stolen PPP gun and tried to get a good aim, which wasn’t easy while she was trying to drive fast at the same time. She fired, missed, and immediately drew the Skaét’s attention. Kandy and Jack also appeared again. Now the Skaét, distracted by all the bashing and blasting, had to choose a target again…
Kandy and Jack, again, were nearest for the time being, but Jay and Searain kept driving in front of the Skaét’s feet, which was rather confusing. They all looked like each other that much…
Meanwhile, the Wormhole was still not quite big enough. How much more time would ZT need?

[cosmichedgehog]

The story reaches a climax: Will ZT's plan succeed ?

Chapter 45: The monster’s wrath
Robbie sat on the edge of the pool where the strange submarine was floating around. He looked at the lifeless body of the one who he thought to be David Trojan, still wearing his black fighting suit. The other were also wearing such suits, including that arrogant boy who seemed to be the leader. He heard the noise of them fighting the monster.
Who were they? What did they know about the monster outside, who was, according to the arrogant boy, actually Christiano DaLuci’s alter ego? And what did they have to do with him, Robbie? Wait, Trojan was part of them. Maybe he could tell.
Robbie walked to Troy’s body. Softly, he shook his shoulder. For a while, nothing happened, but then, Troy made a moaning sound. ‘Mwaaaeeeuuuuh… Not now, mommy. I don’t wanna go to school…’ ‘Ey! Wake up!’ said Robbie. ‘Bwaa… Huh? Hey! You’re Robbie B!’ Troy opened his eyes. ‘Where am I?’ ‘I’d rather ask you, pal. The other guys are outside fighting a green monster…’ ‘Fighting a WHAT?’
Troy stood up but fell down immediately. ‘Ouch… Pain… Well, Robbie, if you would explain what’s going on here I’d be happy to do the same.’ ‘Well, you know when we were having that chitchat with DaLuci, you got knocked out. Then I gave that big gun to one of those girls. DaLuci angry, and the next thing I know I’m on the back of a motorcycle with that same girl getting chased by a monster. That arrogant boy told us…’ ‘Arrogant boy? You mean Jay?’ ‘Dunno his name, but he was blonde and had a sissy ponytail.’ ‘That’s the guy.’ ‘Anywho, he said that DaLuci was some kind of alien- a Skate or something- and that he had turned into a monster. They’re fighting it now.’
‘You don’t say!’ said Troy. ‘I’d like to help them, but I’m hurt… Anyway, you wanted an explanation from me?’ Robbie nodded. ‘Well, that’s fair,’ said Troy. ‘You can call me Troy, see? We belong to a secret intergalactic organization named XPLO…’

The Skaét was furious. It roared, stamped its feet and spread its wings, though it didn’t seem to be able to fly. It was hard to believe that this monster was a cunning master criminal only an hour ago. Everyone was shooting at it, but it didn’t seem to notice. It lashed out at anything that moved with its jaws or its blade-like arms.
The Skaét was now at its most dangerous, but it was also easier to distract. Though none of the XPLO weapons anyone had really did any harm, Searain’s stolen PPP gun was indeed quite effective. She hit the Skaét in its lower jaw, which seemed to hurt badly.
Jay couldn’t help but applauding that. He would regret that, because he got smacked off his Hover Bike by one of the monster’s flailing blades. He fell flat on the ground. The Skaét approached…
But Searain fired again, and this time the Skaét was hit on the back of its neck. It turned on Searain now. Jay swiftly stood up and embarked again, trying to distract the Skaét. Safety in numbers.
But suddenly, Jay heard a voice from his radio transmitter. ‘Done, it is.’ Jay’s heart jumped up. ‘Guys, it’s done!’ he told the others.
Now, they changed strategy. In V-formation, they drove back to the building. ZT Dinozaur was there, in the shadows, next to something big, round and dark, but the Skaét didn’t see that. In its frenzy, all his attention went out to the three pests on motorcycles he was following. It was as if they would run straight into the wall…
But just in time, Jay, Kandy and Searain all made sharp turns, all in a different direction. The Skaét wasn’t so agile; it ran on and before it realized what it was doing it walked right through a gigantic Wormhole.
‘Quickly, turn it off!’ screamed Jay to ZT. ‘Right!’ ZT pushed a button on his watch and the Wormhole disappeared.

‘Heh… heheheh… It’s.. gone…’ said Jay feebly. He tumbled off his Hover Bike and put off his helmet. Jack, who had fallen off Searain’s Hover Bike while she made her spectacular saving turn, came staggeringly walking at him. He raised his thumb. ‘Well, gentlemen… Veni, vidi, vici.’ Then, he smacked on the ground. Searain and Kandy also came. Kandy was panting and Searain’s tail shoved crumpled over the ground, but they seemed unharmed. Also ZT came out of his dark corner. Nobody said anything, until Kandy started giggling of pure relief. Her giggle became a highly contagious laugh. Searain started giggling too, as did Jack, and soon all five could hardly speak for laughing.
The double door of the building opened. Robbie, who noticed that the din had stopped, came out, with Troy over his shoulder. Troy had explained everything to him and Robbie didn’t like what he had heard, but when he saw the scene outside he could hardly suppress a grin. Troy laughed, too.
Under the watchful eye of a now all but full moon, they laughed. Another mission was over. There was one more recruit to go.

[cosmichedgehog]

This may well be the shortest chapter I wrote so far... It didn't need to be any longer. The cot of a new adventure!

Chapter 46: Old Familiars
‘Well, all of you, you really did well!’
It was only an hour after they had beaten the Skaét and Jay, Troy, Kandy, Jack, Searain and Robbie were already back in Office 1027’ Wormhole chamber. They were escorted by ZT Dinozaur. They were awaited by Makad Minus and G. Bay.
‘I’m serious, you really did! You may have saved a lot of people from that Skaét, not to mention you helped catching a wanted criminal. This will probably mean the roundup of Invo! You’re heroes!’ said G. Bay, who was almost hopping around of excitement. ‘Ehh, right. Well done you guys,’ said Makad. ‘I hope you all get along a bit.’ When she said that, Troy, Jack and Searain exchanged meaningful looks. Jay and Robbie had been arguing during the whole way back, but nobody said anything.
‘Okay then!’ said Bay. He shook hands with Robbie. ‘Pleased to meet you… Boy, do we have news for you guys! Bit first, Robbie, this is for you.’ He gave Robbie a SIAB. The button was white this time. ‘Put it on, press it, and you’re invincible…’ said Bay, but he was interrupted by Searain.
‘Not quite.’ She showed him the PPP gun she stole from DaLuci. Bay stared at it for a moment, then said: ‘Woah… A PPP! A real one!’ He almost cried of happiness. Makad rolled her eyes.
‘I think I’ll keep it,’ said Searain. ‘Okay, that’s fine,’ said Bay. ‘And as for you,’ he said to Robbie; ‘we need to get you a weapon as well.’ He ran off again to come back with was may weapons as his arms could carry. To Bay’s great fun, Robbie picked the biggest one he could find, a so-called Bazooka Bomber. ‘Be careful with it. It can shoot only one Bomb at a time, but its impact is huge. I think you could bring down a Skaét with this…’
‘Okay, well, your next recruit,’ said Makad. ‘Luna Manar. Female, twenty-nine.’ ‘Oh, great,’ said Jay. ‘I take it it’ll be a heck of a job again trying to find her.’ ‘Well, that may not be as bad as you think…’ said Makad. ‘Bay!’
Bay, who had given Robbie the SIAB and the Bazooka Bomber, said ‘Right!’ and turned on a large computer screen in the wall. On the screen appeared a face, a face made of green pixels…
‘File!’ said Jay. ‘Aha, so you still know me…’ said File. ‘I thought you would forget about me, seeing as how you did such a wónderful job without me…’ He abbreviated the word wonderful so much that it had to be sarcastic. But Jay smiled. ‘Good ol’ you… Finding Luna Manar will be a piece of cake.’ But Makad said: ‘Well, File has been fixed by members of XPLO’s elite team of engineers, you know, who call themselves the Flashing Fixers… But File is far from his old self. They made File’s artificial intelligence, his animations, his personality, everything. But his mainframe supercomputer, the actual powerhouse, was almost irreparably damaged. File’s original 100 TeraFlops have been reduced to hardly two.’ File looked sad. ‘Suddenly… I’m not half the bot I used to be…’ he sang. ‘So, what does this mean now?’ asked Jay. ‘That File will still be able to help you, but don’t count on him to be as precise or fast as he was.’ said Bay. ‘He can no longer appear on every screen he’s installed to. He is dependant on this.’ Bay pointed at something that looked like a TV that stood on the ground. It was connected to the screen File was on with a cable. Bay plugged it out and File disappeared. At the same time, he reappeared on the screen of the TV. ‘This is now File’s main body,’ said Bay. File can appear only on this screen, and on every screen he is connected to a that moment.’
They all looked at File. The computerized face looked rather embarrassed. ‘Yeah… Um, that’s true…’ he said. ‘But don’t worry, I can still help!’ Suddenly, the TV started to shake. From both sides, a steel arm came out. Two steel feet appeared from underneath the TV and lifted it up in the air. The TV had turned into a strange-looking robot, about four feet tall. File talked, with the voice he always used for his infamous self-promotional babble.
‘Filebot! I’m fast, highly enduring, and powerful! I have a built-in laser cannon and rocket engine, allowing me to fly! I can turn into a self-driving motorcycle and a digging machine, I’m a hundred percent waterproof and am able to fight! Not only dad, I can still perform high-quality tracings, just for you! Filebot, always there to lend a helping hand!’ File concluded his dramatic speech with a genuflection.
Kandy applauded, Jack laughed. Troy wanted t laugh too, but he was apparently hurt in his ribs; laughing hurt. Jay saw that, and said: ‘Mrs. Minus, that’s all nice, but… We’re more dead than alive right now. After that battle with Christiano whatshisname we could all use a day of sleep… or six…’ Makad laughed. ‘Well, not six. But I understand what you mean. If I’m sending you off to find Luna Manar now, you’ll be exhausted before you get there. I’ll give you a half a day off, but tomorrow evening, you’re going again. Why tomorrow evening? I’ll tell you tomorrow afternoon. You need some rest now. Come, there are enough bedrooms in the Home Chamber…

[cosmichedgehog]

originally posted by J. Mand on 16 January 04.

Today’s January 16, which means tomorrow will be January 17 (duh). If you go waaay back to chapter one, you will notice that tomorrow it’s exactly one year ago that I published the first chapter of XPLO. Nice, eh? Time for me then to go and have a little “freetalk”.

I still feel like XPLO has just begun. There’s so much more to come, it’s all in my slightly chaotic mind. My worst fear is that it will stay there forever- I have written stories in the past that I just wouldn’t finish. I haven’t held onto a story for this long though, and with nearly 50 A4 pages, I ought to give myself a handshake…
It’s been incredibly fun for me to make a team of heroes consisting of everybody’s favorite Lounge Lizards. Of course, I was affected by the admin’s decision that I couldn’t include members anymore without permission from them (have you noticed how much Troy gets battered in the story? ) but that’s fair enough.
Writing is difficult. Sometimes I just forget all about XPLO for like two weeks because the story reached a point where I don’t know what ought to happen. Then I really have to force myself to write and I’m not always satisfied with the result. Also, I noticed that- due to differences in my own knowledge about the XPLO world- there are quite some plot holes. But there is also stuff that I am really proud of: The first fight with the Fridgicans, the deliciously evil Christiano DaLuci (Jay (the other Jay) noticed that DaLuci spelled backwards was I C U La-D: I see you lady… Weird, never struck me like that…) and the random adventures of bringing the team together.
I will go on writing in the future- I hope I can manage to keep it up, but with all the support I get that won’t be too much of a problem. I’ll lift a tip of the veil for you: The last member, Luna Manar, will join the crew and the complete team of seven will face Queen Z, the space terrorist that wants to claim her little part of the universe. Thanks for everything, and rock on!

[J. Mand]

New year, new forum, new host... So that means: New XPLO!

Also, apperently people wonder wether or not they are allowed to post their comments in this topic... You can post here as far as I'm concerned.

Chapter 47: Jay meets Jay
Jay and the others had slept at the base, and wouldn’t have to go anywhere until late-afternoon, so they would have some time to rest. Searain wanted to get to see the base, and Jay consented to show everyone around, except for Troy, who was still in bed, revalidating.
‘Well, this is the entrance hall. ‘Nuff said.’ He showed them the entrance hall, the large, mainly empty hall with lights hanging from the ceiling and the office building inside. ‘That building is Office 1027. Not much is happening there at the moment, because most people are training for the big mission now. All in Cape Gargoyle, our big space base, but usually this place is really crowded. I wouldn’t know half of what’s all going on here usually…’ They walked on. In the wall, there were several gates. ‘Let’s see, this one leads to the Wormhole chamber, we’ve all been there, and this one goes to the machine room. Might be interesting to go there.’
They went trough the gate. Unlike the Entrance hall and the Wormhole chamber, this hall didn’t look like a cave. It’s walls were made of isolating material. It was quite hot in there. It was entirely full of machines.
‘The Supercomputer, the Energy supply, all other machines, it’s all here,’ said Jay. ‘I hope you remember not to touch anything. There are some people at work here, feel free to ask them what they’re doing. Don’t keep them from their work, though.’
They all stared in awe at the machines, except for Searain. She was really excited, and walked around examining all the machines. After a while, she noticed a guy working at a long, plated engine. He had removed a plate and was working with all kinds of funny looking tools.
‘Excuse me…’ she said. ‘What are you doing?’ The man, about thirty, tall, wearing a cap, smiled and said: ‘I’m checking this generator here. It definitely needs some upkeep.’ ‘What is that generator for?’ ‘It’s a nuclear fusion power engine.’ ‘Nuclear fusion?’ ‘Yeah. Being dependant on gas doesn’t do, you know.’ ‘I see. So that’s the kind of power you use here.’ ‘You didn’t know?’ ‘No, I’m new’ ‘Oh, wait, aren’t you one of Mand’s crew?’ ‘Exactly.’
The technician smiled. ‘Lucky you. That Mand guy’s crazy. Nice, but crazy. Makad is crazy too, giving him that assignment…’ ‘Well, you’re full of faith…’ ‘Oh well. I don’t know how he’s gonna stop Queen Z, but I trust Makad. And I’m not the one to decide…’
Searain looked at his cap. It said “Flashing Fixers”. She remembered that name… ‘You’re one of the Flashing Fixers?’ she asked. ‘Yeah, I am. One of the few humans, actually. Earthlings, that is. And I believe the only one that actually gets taken seriously by the Martians.’
Searain didn’t fully understand him, but she nodded. ‘So, what’s you’re name?’ she asked. ‘Jay.’ ‘No kidding?’ ‘Nope. The Jay you know, Jay Mand, isn’t really called Jay, you know. He has this terrible Dutch name, Jerome or something. Nobody ere could pronounce it so he decided to change it to “Jay”. But it’s confusing sometimes to have two Jay’s around…’ ‘I see.’
Meanwhile, the other Jay walked into the scene, followed by Jack. Kandy and Robbie were on the other side of the room, looking at a machine that produced Hover Bikes.
‘Ah, Searain. There you are. I see you’ve met my namesake.’ ‘Namesake? So you’re named Jay too?’ asked Jack. ‘Yep!’ said Jay-with-the-cap. ‘Actually, my real name isn’t Jay,’ said Jay Mand. ‘It’s Jeroen.’ ‘What?’ ‘Jeroen.’ ‘Herone?’ ‘JE-ROEN!’ ‘Youroon?’ ‘See, that’s why I prefer to be called Jay.’
‘I’d say,’ said Jack with a twinkle in his eyes, ‘that we call you Jay 1 (he tapped Jay Mand on the shoulder) and you Jay 2 (he pointed at Jay-with-the-cap). Everybody cool with that?’ ‘Fine by me,’ said Jeroen Mand, now Jay 1. ‘Okidoki,’ said Jay 2, while taking off his cap to scratch is head. ‘So it’s settled,’ said Searain. ‘Well done, Jack.’
Jay 2 turned out to be an excellent technician who knew everything about XPLO technology. He could describe exactly what all the machines in the machine room did, without using slang or unclear language. Searain hung on his lips. She was very interested in technology, and made exited sounds every time Jay 2 told her something she found to be interesting.
Jay 1 and Jack soon got tired of it and joined Kandy and Robbie. ‘We’re going to see the laboratory,’ said Jay 1. ‘You comin’?’ ‘No,’ said Searain. ‘I think I’ll stay here for a while.’ ‘Okay. Just make sure you’re at the Wormhole chamber at four PM!’

At that time, Jay 1 and his followers returned to the Wormhole Chamber. They were awaited by Searain, who was looking a bit dreamy, and Troy, who was a bit pale but looked good.
‘Well, everyone,’ said Makad Minus, who came walking in, followed by G. Bay and Filebot. ‘You all want to know why I’m sending you away at this time?’ Six faces nodded. ‘Well,’ said Bay. ‘There are no windows here, but it will be full moon tonight.’ ‘And as it happens,’ said File from his strange, walking computer screen, ‘Luna Manar has only been seen at nights with a full moon. Always from midnight to one AM, and always at the same place.’ ‘Where?’ asked Jack. ‘Croatia,’ answered Makad.

[cosmichedgehog]

:NOTE -- yes please post your comments on the story. (it is allowed and encouraged ) but ever so often we do have to thing things down a bit, so some comments might get deleted after a couple of months. So try to be constructive and not spammy. :

Great Chapter J. It's hard to imagine that you have been writing on this for over a year. I guess it has a life of it's own now. keep up the good work.

[Kielo91]

This is a wonderful story you have been writing, J. I've been anticipating every chapter along the way. I think every chapter is worth the wait, because no matter how you right the story, J., it always seems to get better and better.

[J. Mand]

Our heroes travel to exotic locations this time... Croatia!

Chapter 48: The final recruit
‘Croatia? Where is that?’ asked Robbie. ‘Honestly, don’t you know anything about Europe?’ asked Jay. ‘It’s a country on the Balkan Peninsula, you dweeb.’ Robbie sighed. ‘Why should I even care where the stupid county is?’ ‘Oh, I bet all you care about is America? You yanks are all the same…’
‘Hold it, both of you!’ said Makad. ‘You’re acting like kids, please listen! Anyway, Luna Manar. There’s a full moon tonight and we expect that she, like last month and the month before, will be near a tiny village by the sea called Cérvar. Your in luck, we’ve got a small Wormhole chamber in Pôréc, a nearby town.’
‘Ill lead you the way,’ said File. ‘On hover bikes, it won’t be more than a half an hour riding. There’s a campsite nearby, which, of course, isn’t open during the winter season. We’ll wait there until it’s midnight. Then we have an hour to find Luna Manar. That means we have to find her though. If we don’t, we have to wait a month until the next full moon.’
Bay opened a Wormhole. Jay, Searain, Jack, Troy, Kandy, Robbie and File all walked through (one at a time, the Wormhole wasn’t big enough for all of them at once) and found themselves in a tiny, dark room. There was barely enough room for all of them. The rest of the room was taken up by one computer and the Wormhole attached to it. There did not seen to be a Wormhole operator.
‘Okay, this is one of those fully automatic Wormhole chambers,’ said File. ‘They’re not part of an HQ, just transporters from and to places where nothing ever happens that should interest us. The door should go open any second.’
Just when File said that, the wall facing the Wormhole swung open. A heavy, monotonous, quite robotic voice said: ‘Welcome to Pôréc. Enjoy your stay.’ The open door revealed a small staircase that led outside. They all walked up and found themselves in a wild garden that looked quite uncared for. It was surrounded by a tall, moldered wooden fence. There was a gap in the fence. They all did the next best thing and climbed trough the gap.
They were now in the middle of a cozy-looking town. At least, it would have been cozy if there would be anybody around and if the sun would shine. But, as neither was the case in the end of January, the streets of Pôréc, a town relying for the most part on tourism, were deserted ad cold.
File, who was eager to take the lead, said: ‘Okay, we’d better walk first until we’re out of town. Then, we take our Hover Bikes to Cérvar. Just follow me…’
But Jay said: ‘Now hold it, robot. You’re getting a bit over-confident. You’re meant to serve mankind, remember? I’m in charge here, so I’ll make the plan.’ ‘Why are you in charge?’ said Robbie. ‘Because,’ was the answer. ‘Now here’s what we do: We walk until we’re out of town. We don’t want to cause trouble. From there on we could just drive our Hover Bikes. File, you can lead the way.’
‘That’s exactly what he said!’ muttered Robbie. ‘Whatever,’ said Jay. ‘Just walk on.’
‘Well, guess who’s in a bad mood…’ said Jack to Troy, who was walking next to him. ‘You said it…’
There wasn’t a good atmosphere during the walk through Pôréc. Maybe it was the discouragement of the environment, the cold or the continuous tension between Robbie and Jay, but hardly any words were spoken. As soon as they were out of town, Jay told everyone to activate their SIAB and the Hover Bikes. File transformed from a humanoid robot into a rather cheesy looking bike. File went in front, followed by Jay and the rest. The Istrian landscape looked quite dull to Jay; the soil consisted mainly of light-brown clay with scrubs or olive trees growing on it. There was a coast, but it was a rocky coast rather than a beach. The water was clear, but there was not more to be seen in the water than more rocks.
After a while, File said: ‘Her it is, folks. Cérvar.’ Cérvar was a small group of houses rather than a village. ‘Nowhere to stay here. The road leas to nothing more than the campsite. There’s nobody there at the moment, ideal to stay for awhile.’
While passing Cérvar at not too high speed, Jay’s eye fell on a tall tree, shaped like an umbrella. It was a strange tree, and Jay found that there was something mysterious about it, although he couldn’t tell what i was, because the next thing he new, they stopped because they could go no further. In front of them was the gate to the campsite. As was to be expected, it was closed.
Jay deactivated his Hover Bike and armor. The others followed his example. File turned into a robot again. ‘We can’t get in like this, but don’t fret,’ he said. ‘Stand back everyone!’ Everyone who was near File was wise enough to do what he said, because at the next moment, on File’s rear end two big rocket engines appeared, as did two big wings on both sides. ‘Take off!’ said File. And, indeed, File took off in the air. In his plane mode, he flew above the gate and hovered in the air. ‘Yes… this should be doable…’ he said.
Then he flew back to the ground, grabbed an astonished Troy by the shoulders and lifted him. ‘Hey? What’s this supposed to mean?’ said Troy. ‘Ease up, ease up…’ said File. File lifted Troy over the gate and put him down safely on the other side. He did this with everyone.
Now that they were inside, the waiting could begin.

[Kielo91]

That's very interesting, J. I can't wait to see what happens next!

[Raindragon]

XPLO is still a superb story! It's well-written and the plot continues to be gripping! Congratulations on your brilliant tale J Mand!

Referring to your "freetalk": You said - 'Of course, I was affected by the admin’s decision that I couldn’t include members anymore without permission from them'. I'd just like to let you know that you're more than welcome to add me at any time. As far as I'm concerned you have my permission.

[Kielo91]

If somehow you decide to add more members to your story, I would really love to be in it, J. I love your story so much!

[J. Mand]

I'll think about it, might put you in as... No, let's not spoil the surprise...

For now, enjoy the newest episode!

Chapter 49: Winter vacation on a summer location
The rest of the evening was spent resting and walking around. Jay had to admit that the campsite was very beautiful. He had to remember this location for a vacation in the summertime…
The campsite was completely deserted but File somehow managed to open the restaurant and turn on the heating. They all sat down at a table. Only Troy took a nap on a bench. Jay and Robbie avoided each other’s company. Nobody said anything for a while, until Jack said: ‘Who fancies a little card game?’ Jay didn’t really feel like it, but all the others nodded and Jack got a deck of cards from one of the many pockets of his raincoat. ‘What do we do? I like blackjack myself…’
They played, also File, with a snoring Troy filling the background. Soon they decided File couldn’t play anymore because he won every time. ‘You aren’t cheating, aren’t you?’ asked Jay. ‘Course not, it’s my game chance calculation program!’ said File. ‘And a bit luck of the draw of course…’
They played on without File, who amused himself by juggling with empty bottles. Nobody knew where he got those, but he was really good with them. The cheesy robot-TV was incredibly agile.
As soon as they got enough of blackjacking, they started chatting. Jay, who was a bit moody, told the others he was going to take a walk outside. Nobody protested.
Jay walked out and immediately felt the cold surrounding him, but he didn’t go back in; he needed some time alone. He was in doubt of everything, but most of all he doubted himself. Fights with Robbie, fights with File, irresolution, he didn’t turn out to be much of a leader. He knew very well that no important space mission would work with an arguing crew, but it was obvious that he didn’t get along well with Robbie. And File was maybe not a human being, but some kind of person regardless. Still Jay didn’t really consider apologizing to anyone.
The evening had already fallen early and after a while, Jay decided to return to the restaurant. When it got in sight, however, Jay noticed a light at the rocky shore near the building. He decided to check it out.
The light source turned out to be a light on top of File’s antenna. Everyone had gathered there, also Troy. ‘What’s happening here?’ asked Jay. ‘Well,’ said Jack. Jack sat on the ground and Jay saw that he was undressing himself. ‘Troy challenged me; If I would take a swim here, he would too. Well, he don’t know me very well…’ ‘You really gonna swim? In there?’ asked Jay, looking at the sea. ‘I sure am.’ ‘You’re nuts! That water’s freezing!’ ‘Nah, not freezing. Maybe a little on the cool side. Well…’ Jack had stripped down to his underwear. ‘I’d undress too if I were you, Troy.’ And without further ado, Jack ran into the sea. Troy swallowed loud. The girls giggled, while Robbie grinned.
Jack appeared from the water. ‘C-c-come in! It’s-s-s g-g-great! Really ref-f-freshing!’ Troy moaned and started to undress. When he was also in his underwear, he stepped to the waterside and hesitated. ‘Well, you comin’ or what? We made a bet, mind you!’ said Jack from the water. ‘He doesn’t dare!’ said Robbie. ‘Don’t dare, just do it!’ said Jack. ‘That’s right, Troy!’ sad the others. ‘Okay, okay, I’m going!’ said Troy. With much hubbub, he put his toe in the water. ‘Brrrrr!’ He immediately pulled it back. Robbie sighed. ‘Oh please, get yourselves together, man!’ He pushed Troy in the back. Troy fell forward into the water.

File had coffee and hot chocolate, and again, nobody knew where he got it. He also put the heating at maximum. Neither Jack nor Troy had a towel, so they had to wait in the restaurant half-naked until they were dried up before they could put on their clothes again. But they both had had great fun, and so had the others on the waterside.
Troy had laughed and admitted that the water had been, indeed, refreshing. He had also sworn that he would take revenge on Robbie, one day.
The atmosphere was a lot different now, everyone had cheered up, Jay too. The hours passed and they enjoyed themselves talking about their adventures. File acted as a juke-box and put on music from the eighties.
After a while, File started to make the sound of a horn. ‘What’s that?’ asked Jay. ‘That’s my alarm clock! It’s time!’ said File. ‘It’s a quarter to twelve, so we got to get a move on! So everyone drink their coffee, quick!’
Everyone made ready and they went. File quickly put everyone over the gate. They walked back to Cérvar.
‘Well, it’s not twelve yet,’ said Jay as they approached. ‘And seeing as how this is a really small village, finding Luna Manar doesn’t need to be a problem. Especially not if File can track her.’ The mysterious tree came in sight. ‘I think we should just wait here until it’s time,’ whispered Jay. He didn’t really know why, but he didn’t want to make too much noise.
At that moment, a clock, far away, there was no church in Cérvar, struck. One, two… eleven, twelve. ‘Well, File, start tracking,’ whispered Jay. File’s face turned into a loading screen. The others watched the progress, but Jay’s attention was taken by the tree. It was, indeed, a beautiful tree. He looked down and saw…
‘Hey, there’s someone standing near that tree!’ he said. ‘That’s her!’ said File. ‘That girl by that tree! That’s Luna Manar!’

[Kielo91]

Ooh, you really construct wonderful cliffhangers, J. I'm very impressed so far.

[J. Mand]

Here it is! Chapter 50! With Luna's long-expected debute in XPLO. And of course, dragons are involved.

Chapter 50: The girl by the tree
‘Well then, let’s go meet her!’ said Robbie. ‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea…’ said Jay. ‘Why not?’ said Robbie. ‘Isn’t this the gal we need to find?’ Before Jay could protest, Robbie had ran off to the tree. Jay cursed in Dutch and followed him. The others looked at each other and then collectively decided to follow them.
Jay had gained up on Robbie before he came into the girl’s sight. ‘Robbie, what do you think you’re doing?’ ‘What do you think I am? I’m trying to be constructive, unlike you!’ ‘I am constructive, but unlike you I don’t rush recklessly into a lot of trouble!’ Suddenly, Kandy arrived and immediately interfered. ‘Now stop fighting! I’m sorry, Robbie, but I agree with Jay on this one. We’d better look at what she’s doing first.’ ‘How’d you wanna do that without getting seen?’ sad Robbie, irked. ‘SIAB helmets have infrared vision,’ said Jay. ‘There.’
Jay hid behind a conveniently placed scrub, activated his SIAB and adjusted his vision. The others were all behind him. ‘What do you see?’ ‘Why don’t you look for yourselves?’ ‘Those SIABs flash when they’re activated. We don’t want a light show to startle the whole place.’ ‘Oh, alright then. Well, there’s that girl there by that tree…’ Jay focused his infrared vision on the girl. She was kneeling in front of the mysterious tree, with her eyes closed. She was mumbling something, but Jay couldn’t hear it. Jay also noticed that Luna Manar was very pretty.
‘She’s sitting there…’ he said. ‘It’s like she’s praying or something…’ ‘Well then, what’s the problem?’ said Robbie. He ran off again. ‘No, Robbie!’
‘Yo there!’ Robbie called to the girl. But at a couple of meters distance, Robbie stopped. He looked at her and was stunned. He didn’t know why, but he could no longer move. His eyes were fixed on the girl and her tree.
Jay had ran after Robbie again, but suddenly saw him hesitate. He looked at the tree to see what got Robbie’s attention, but he didn’t see anything special. He could now hear the girl mumble, but he couldn’t make sense of what she said; It was as if she was speaking in a strange language, but not one that Jay knew, or even recognized. ‘Well, Robbie, what you waiting for? You wanted to speak to her, now do it, too!’ he hissed to Robbie. But Robbie didn’t answer.
Suddenly, there sounded a low, heavy voice that didn’t belong to any of the XPLO crew, nor could it be Luna’s. ‘The ritual has been interfered. The magic circle has been broken. The gate will close.’ For a moment, there was utter silence. Then, the girl said softly, in the purest English: ‘No…’ She stood up and touched the tree. ‘The gate is closed… I can’t go back…’
Then, suddenly, she turned around and looked at Robbie and Jay. File and the others were in the background. They saw a totally flabbergasted face. ‘The gate has closed… What have you done!’ she said.
Jay stepped forward. ‘The… gate?’ ‘You!’ Luna screamed at Jay. ‘This is your fault! Who are you?’ ‘Err, Jay Mand, XPLO agent. This here’s Robbie, my frie… colleague, and that,’ he waved at the others, ‘is my team.’
‘Why did you have to interfere?’ Luna said, almost desperate now. ‘Now I can’t get back!’ ‘Err, listen, miss… err, Manar, I didn’t mean to do you no harm but what I come for may be more interesting…’ ‘More interesting?’ Luna cried. ‘You… ruined it… I can’t go back…’ She was crying.
Clumsily, Jay walked to her to comfort here. ‘There, now. So, you can’t get… back. Well, maybe I can help you find your…’ Luna suddenly looked up to him. She was no longer crying, but she looked so furious that Jay recoiled. ‘You can’t help me! You did this! Now suffer the consequences!’
She looked at the full moon. ‘Yes, Lords of the Seven Arts of Pai. This is the moment when we will see if I am worthy!’ Then, her voice changed. She sounded much louder and more powerful now, while she chanted some kind of poem.
‘Servant of the Ancient Elders, Envoy of the Eternal Ones, let the defender of justice and piece meet the engine of destruction and havoc! Let them join hands to bring us light and form a force to conquer all!’
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the moon emitted a blinding light. The light reflected on Luna. The light became brighter and brighter… Robbie covered his eyes… So did Troy, Searain, Kandy and Jack… Even Jay, who wore his protective helmet, couldn’t look at it… even File, who wasn’t even human, had to turn away… It went on and on…
Then, it was over. Jay looked. His eyes had to get used to the sudden dark again. He looked at where Luna had been before the great flash. His view became clearer and clearer… Suddenly, Jay realized what he saw and received the shock of his life.
Luna was no longer there. But that wasn’t the reason. Where Luna had been was now an enormous creature. It had a sleek body covered in blue scales, a tail that ended in the shape of a flare, enormous paws and a head that could be either of a reptile or a mammal, with a peaky snout, golden eyes and a lot of teeth.
Jay realized that he was face to face with a huge dragon.

[Luna Manar]

I am dragon, hear me roar.