Emental: the Series [Work in progress]

Part 36: The 4 Muskateers

Leela jolted awake from her peaceful rest. She sat up from her bean-bag chair and looked around the tree house. Ken was sleeping on the carpet in front of her while Danny and Izzi were sleeping together in another bean-bag chair across the room. The entire room was extremely dark. The pale light of the moon cast a beam of light through the window in the wall. Leela stood up and walked silently towards the window and looked outside. There were a few Hellific roaming around in the grasslands, but it was extremely quiet. There was no moaning, not even a rustle from their foot steps.

"How are you holding up?" Ken suddenly whispered behind her. Leela jumped to his voice and spun around. Her hand clutched over her chest.

"You're awake?!" She whispered back. Ken scoffed and stood beside her, looking out the window.

"Kind of hard to sleep on wood after you've been sleeping on grass for so long. Pretty scary world out there isn't it?" Leela let out a sigh and frowned.

"I don't know anymore. The worlds always been scary in a way, but this is just crazy."Ken chuckled.

"An average reaction from a little girl such as yourself." He said. Leela grumbled and turned her head away from Ken.

"I'm not little... I'm cute." She grunted. Ken laughed silently and turned towards Danny.

"Do you mind if we raid your house tomorrow? We'll need all the supplies we can get when we leave."

Leela gasped and turned back to Ken.

"And leave me behind to fend for myself!?" She exclaimed in a whispered tone. Ken placed his hands on his hips.

"You know, you are free to come with us."

"Oh. In that case I guess it's okay." She said. Ken smiled and put his hand on Leela's shoulder.

"We'll make sure you don't get infected, okay?" Ken said in a soft tone. Leela swatted Ken's hand away.

"Can you not treat me like a 5 year old?" Leela asked sarcastically. Ken chuckled and sat back down on the carpetted floor.

"Yeah whatever. Just get some sleep. We have a lot of work tomorrow."

Danny and Ken suddenly jolted awake the sound of a girl screaming, and it wasn't just a small cry, it was an actual blood-curdling scream. They both jumped up and bolted out of the tree house, with Izzi barely even awake in Danny's arms.

"What happened!" Danny asked frantically. Ken lept from the ladder and landed on the grass below.

"How should I know!?" Ken exclaimed.

"Danny, help me!" Leela exclaimed from a white house near where they slept. It was early morning, the sun hadn't yet risen, but the sound of Hellific groaning was very noticeable from where Leela was. Danny and Ken with Izzi in hand quickly dashed the front step and quickly twisted the door knob. Locked. Ken pushed Danny aside and kicked at the door. With a loud crack, the door swung open. Inside, there were several Hellific crowding around another door in a hallway. The house looked very neat except for the broken glass on the floor. The walls were painted white with tan carpet. On the walls were several framed pictures, some of which had Leela in them.

"Danny, is that you!?" Leela exclaimed from the Hellific mob. All the Hellific's suddenly turned around and glowered at Danny and Ken.

"Unfortunatley, yes, it is us." Danny said as all the Hellific staggered towards them. They both turned to run, however at the entrance stood 2 more Hellific. One Hellific on the inside lunged towards Danny, to which he stepped away and thrust two fingers at it. A large lightning bolt shot from them and hit the Hellific with such force it went flying out the door and knocking the other two Hellific away.

"Danny, find some cover." Ken ordered, a large flame danced in his palm. Danny nodded and hid under a small table nearby. Another Hellific wandered in through the door and charged towards Ken.

"Leela, brace yourself!" Ken exclaimed, snapping his fingers. An explosion shot through the room, hitting all the Hellific and blowing out every window in the house.

After the smoke had settled in the room, it revealed that all the Hellific were motionless and lying on the ground. The entire room was in ruin and charred. Papers were scattered everywhere and both Danny and Ken's barrier's were completely broken. Danny crawled out from under the table, which was utterly destroyed now, and stood up.

"Ken, tell me why you don't do that in every mob?" He asked, flopping his arms over Ken's shoulders, to which he threw Danny off him in annoyance.

"It consumes a lot of my soul energy." Ken thrust his hand forward towards Danny, a tiny puff of fire appeared and then dissipated. "Looks like I'm out for now." He sighed. Suddenly Leela kicked open the door she was hiding behind. Despite there being an explosion, she was in good shape and was only covered in a little dust.

"Ken, do you know how much money it's going to cost to fix this!?" She exclaimed. Ken scoffed loudly.

"About tree fiddy." Danny said sarcastically from behind Ken.

"Leela, Apocalypse. Remember?" Ken said, completely writing off Danny's remark.

"Right..." Leela replied, grabbing Danny's hand and pulling him towards the door she was hiding behind. "Anyway, Kitchen is this way."Inside the kitchen, which was also completely trashed, were several white, ceramic, tiles covering the floor. There was a single counter that ran around the entire room with cupboards above them. A single refridgerator sat at the opposite side of the room with a blown out window just next to it.

"Hey, there are some sodas in the fridge if you're interested. Help yourselves." Leela said casually as she opened one of the cupboards and looked around. Danny instantly dashed to the fridge and swung it open. In front of his face were several cans of artificially flavoured goodness. He snatched one and popped it open, however, Ken grabbed it from Danny and tossed it away.

"Danny, the last thing you need is caffiene." Ken said, presenting a plastic bag to him. "Now fill this up with stuff that won't go bad on us." Danny groaned and looked over to Leela, who had the contents of the soda that Ken threw levitating in her hand as a tennis-ball shaped orb. She brought the orb to her mouth and sipped at it. Danny scowled and angrily filled the bag with various canned goods from the cupboard.Several minutes later, Danny, Ken, Izzi and Leela all grouped in the kitchen.

"Okay so are we just going to crash at the tree house until we run out?" Leela asked. Ken shook his head.

"We need to get back on the road. Can you show us into town?" Ken replied. Leela gasped.

"But what about those monsters!?" Ken shook his head.

"We'll be fine. If you like, you can come with us. Just be careful and stay behind me." Ken said, nudging Danny.

"Is there a place that you know that can protect us?"

"Yeah, if you're with Danny, Izzi and I, you'll be safe." Ken said.

"That doesn't sound safe at all."

"Listen, the disease spreads very slowly, if we travel fast we can hit a town that hasn't been infected yet and gather some data on the an Emental Stones." Leela raised an eyebrow at Ken.

"You're looking for those... in the middle of an apocalypse?"

"Long story. A friend told us to get them for him. I'll explain it on the road." Ken said, motioning towards the door outside. Leela exhaled and hoisted a plastic bag heavy with various food items over her shoulder.

"Sure, let's go get the bags you guys have from the tree house." Leela said, following Ken out.