[Skree's POV]

I'm drumming my fingers on the windowsill of the ice cream shop, looking out onto the street, when I feel the shop's radars sense something. From the energy patterns it looks like zoodles, and also Zealatom's ship… but the zoodles' energy signature is off, plus zoodles should only exist in small numbers in CB CIty… They're in the main square, near HQ. I pull up Jay's comm feed on my Heads Up Display, and send him a message.

Ey Jay. Getting some strange energy feeds from the main square. Looks like zoodles but their energy is way off, and they might be attacking Zealatom's ship. Want to check it out?

[Jay's POV]

I'm making dinner when Skree's message blips into existence in my HUD.

"Oy, Chaser! We've got some weird energy activity in City Center! Imma go check it out, finish making dinner please!"

I hear Chaser holler "bUt the oNLy thinG i kNoW hoW to COok is MaC ANd cHEeSe!", but I'm already running for my computer, which I shrink into its portable size and snap onto my forearm.  I'm racing for the garage when I hear Jam say "Don't worry, Jay. I'll make sure he doesn't burn the house down."

I jump into the nearest hovership and open the garage door, zipping out over the city. It's beuatiful. I can see a horde of little toppers racing towards a thread in the Inkwell, little messengers sent by CBers to keep threads from slipping below the streets into the sewers. Wi-Flies buzz around. I think I see an admin racing down the street towards the commotion in City Center. Speaking of which… I log onto my computer, connecting to the Waterfall House's powerful scanners. They pick up Zeal's ship, crashed several dozen yards from the castle, and a horde of zoodles. But like Skree said, their energy is definetely off. And they do appear to be attacking Zealatom.

As my hovership gets closer, I can make out Zealatom, along with a whole lotta pointy sword things, threatening the zoodles. I can see Scuttles swooping about, their antennae twitching. I see a few other CBers as well, along with another admin.

I bring the  hovership lower, hovering near Zealatom. I frown. Zeal will harm the zoodles. I can't let that happen. They've obviosly been tampered with, but they are innocent. I holler to Scuttles "Can you toss me a zoodle?"

Scuttles wordlessly swoops down, grabs one, and throws it in a perfect spiral to me. I snag it out of the air and inspect it. It's got a computer chip on its head, and it is hissing and struggling. I snap the chip off and it goes liimp.

I turn to Zeal. "Zealatom! Don't hurt the zoodles! They're being tampered with!"

—–

Ack, sorry if this doesn't make a whole ton of sense. It's 9:00, far too early to be awake, and this isn't my best writing. :/

I shake off a pile of zoodles. I've been bitten by a several of them. I'll get bandaids later. I hear Chaser or Jay or whichever one it is ask if I can get them a zoodle, and I grab one and throw a perfect spiral to them. I used to be on the varsity football team. I turn towards Zealatom, who is now threatening the zoodles with a whole lotta swords. I rip one more zoodle off my left wing and toss it to the squirming mass below, then turn and land on the ship's deck next to Zealatom. Over the sound of hundreds of zoodles squeaking, I hear Jay yell to Zealatom not to harm them.

"Yes, do try not to kill any zoodles. They definetely aren't normal." I murmur.

As Leotea

—————————————-

Something is wrong with the carrots, so I set the hose on the blueberry bushes and go over to the carrots. 

Aphids. It's always, always aphids. I walk over to the ladybug terrarium to get some ladybugs, to eat the aphids. There are only a few ladybugs left. I take them and walk bank to the carrots. Halfway there, I look up and see Zealatom's airship. If I squint, I can also see Suki. And a swarm of zoodles.

I let go of the ladybugs, and they fly away.

My first thougt is: Darn it. Now I'll have to go buy more ladybugs, and some carrot seeds. 

My second is: I should probably tell Avara and Cora. 

——————————————————-

As Cora

—————————————-

Everything is as it should be. There are about a dozen customers sitting and eating, and I have time to eat the bagel I packed.

Until Avara runs in, apron still on, with Leotea on her heels. I'm about to yell at Leotea for tracking mud into the restaurant, but Avara shoots me a look, so I stay quiet, and set down the bagel.

Avara tells me quietly, "Get the customers to the Zoodle HQ. We have an emergency."

I reply, "But why the Zoodle-"  

"Just go! There are some zoodles harming CBers, and it's not natural. Leotea and I will try to help the CBers, and we need you to take these people to safety."

"What CBers?"

"Zealatom, and Suki." 

I cup my hands around my mouth and shout, "Attention everyone! There is an emergency outside, and we need to have an emergency evacuation to the Zoodle HQ!"

With a few murmurs of surprise, everybody follows me out the door. We all walk to the nearest bus stop, where there is a bus to the Chirp at Cricket region. 

The bus ride is normal, but there is a feeling of dread in everyone. We all feel an urge to run to Zoodle HQ, and after showing that I am Avara's AE, they let us in. They know Avara is pro-zoodles.

Our small group is safe, at least for now.

A CBer tells us the details of what's happening, and they say they'll let me know if they need me to help. 

But I worry about Avara and Leotea. I know they will try to communicate with the zoodles, Zealatom, and Suki. Telepathy with Zealatom and Suki shouldn't be too hard or dangerous, since they're CBers. But Leotea and Avara could be in danger if the corrupted zoodles can tell if they are trying to communicate. 

——————————————————-

Zealatom~

"On days like these… Zoodles like you-" 

"Hey! Zealatom!" 

"What now?!" I am just about to finish my little speech when there is a wooshing sound from behind me, and a slow humming.

A hovership levitates not far away from us, with who I see to be Jay leaning out the side, trying to get my attention. "Don't hurt the zoodles! They're being tampered with!"

"Great." I mutter. Then, careful not to break eye contact with any zoodles, I shout back: "Then what do you suggest? We're overflowing with them." A pause, filled with the angry hissing of zoodles.

"Well… not really. They have a chip on their heads. Find a way to get it off and they'll faint."

"Now that's really helpful." I remark. "What can I do? Activate a electromagnetic pulse powerful enough to fry whatever mind-control device the zoodles are wearing? That's-"

"Why NOT?" The intercom inlaid into ___'s deck suddenly bursts on, making all of us jump. The digitalized voice on the other end comes over loud and clear, clearly very exited. "This is just the time for something like this!"

Oh no. Not now.

"BINALAR INFUS!" I shout angrily, forgetting the zoodles. "WHEN DID YOU UPLOAD YOURSELF TO THE SYSTEM?!"

"Aw, Zeal! Did you actually think that 50 GB's of mobile hardware would be enough to stop me?" Infus's proud grin is loud enough to hear. "So much for leaving me as a half-baked idea, huh? Bringing Lindel and Terra but not me. And now look at this mess you've got yourself into." 

"Infus…"

"So, need my help?" The intercom buzzes. "I've got it all worked out with ___ over here in cyberspace." Before I can talk back, he continues. "To top it off, I can be your translation middleman. You need something like that, don't you? How unfortunate that you left my body back there. I'll have to manage with ___ for now, so don't think about deleting me anytime soon."

I glance at Lindel. He shrugs indiffrently. Terra is holding in laughter until his face goes purple.

I survey the situation once more, thinking everything over. 

"… Fine, I need help! Please!" I throw my hands up in surrender. "Do your thing Infus. Sorry for shouting at you."

"Hah! Knew you'd come around in the end!" Infus responds joivally. "Activating… NOW!"

A light buzz traverses the square, passing in the blink of an eye. It sets my teeth on edge, but the effect is instantaneous. All zoodles freeze, dropping to the ground in convulsions, then stop moving altogether.

"That settles it." I sigh tiredly, waving away all weapons. "What next?" 

NEW AE!

Name: Binalar Infus, Infus for short. Infi, if you dare to.

Pronouns: He/him

Personality: misvchevious(Can't spell that right) and playful, likes trickery, surprises, and tech. Very jumpy.

Appearance: Currently blank(only for now)… What would you expect from sentinent code? Shares a body with ___. (just kidding. Appearance coming with next POV)

Skills or powers: Converting between code and reality. Jumping from server to server with no need of internet connection. If there is a vessel to upload to, I can attain a new body.

An item you always have: A mobile hard drive. It contains all my memories… but I can't hold it just yet. I have no hands for now.

Where you live<In the CB city, or just what your house is>: I am Zeal's house. HAH! Try me! 

Other: Steampunk? Yes. Coding? Yes. Music? Yes. Musical steampunk cats with augmented coding systems? YES. (This will be explained. In time.)

I'm listening to loud Hamilton music in headphones when Pouty gently bites my hand to get my attention.

"ow!" I yell, more in surprise than pain. I pull off the headphones. "did you do what I asked, Pouty?"

"yidid caost oldme ththe zoodl zarea cting weird- atkng cbers nxtto admin casle!" Pouty says urgently.

I didn't even try to figure out most of it, instead focusing on the important parts. "zoodl… atkng… wait, attacking? Chaos told you that zoodles are attacking CBers?!" I exclaim.

Pouty huffs, nodding. "ystht iswht isaid. zoodl atkng cbers!"

I jump out of my beanbag, grabbing my custom helmet and shoving it on my head. no time for the rest of my armor. I rush down the hallway to where the teleportation device is. I leap into the beam of light, my fist closing around my Stygian Iron sword handle.

I land on the roof of an airship- Zealatom's airship. it seems to be damaged, with zoodle bite marks all over it. 

I get my balance on the slippery surface, then look out, shocked, at the scene. "what in the three moons happened here?"

~Suki~

"Darkvine!," I yell. "The zoodles' computer chips have been deactivated. We should be fine now, but we need someone to help us bring them to the Pro-Zoodlers Base. Avara and her AEs should already be there.,". Suddenly, Yumiko starts growling softly. "Wait, Darkvine!I take back what I said! There's more!,"I say.

I turn to Darkvine.

"You don't want to know. But actually, you should probably know, so I'll tell you. The zoodles were attacking Zeal's ship, and they were acting wrong, and they were discovered to have these lil computer chips on their heads that were messing with them. And then a lot of other stuff happened and then one of Zeal's AEs did a computer thing that disabled all the chips and now they are all unconsious. And that one down there might be having a heart attack." I point at a zoodle. It's writhing on the ground in a way that doesn't look good. And then it goes limp like all the others and I can see it's little zoodle chest rising and falling in normal breaths. "Ope, nevermind. It's fine."

Fluffles, my corn snake (which is a real type of snake, not a snake that looks like corn), flickers his tongue out and makes a little snake noise, which I, using my creepy-crawly powers, can interpret as a swear in snake language.

"Watch your little forked tongue, Fluffles." I mutter to him. He makes the snake equivalent of a "humph" and is silent. Fluffles is my pet, but he also doubles as my CAPTCHA, and he has a bit of a spicy vocabulary when it comes to snake language.

[Chaser's POV]

"AAAHHH the pan is burning!!!" The pan is indeed burning, flaring up with bright fire and almost burning my eyebrows off.

Jam appears over my shoulder.

"You can't even warm up some olive oil without scorching your eyebrows!" He says. He picks up a random metal pot lid and puts it on the saucepan and moves it off the heat.

"That isn't even the right lid for that pan." I point out.

"No, it isn't. But the glass lid that corresponds to this one might shatter from the heat. You always use metal lids for putting out grease fires. I wonder where Jay is. At least Jay can cook."

"I can cook!"

He snorts. "Yeah, sure you can make mac and cheese. Look, just go fetch Friendo and the CAPTCHAs and we'll handle it."

So I wander off and fetch Friendo, Rowan (Jay's AE), and Knowt (my AE). They're watching a movie.

"Jam needs your help in the kitchen."

"Goway. Weare wtchn movie." Knowt says grumpily. Knowt is always grumpy because he can only say five-letter words.

And then we get all get a ping in our HUDs with a message from Jay. It says:

Yo guys. You might want to get over here now. Like, right now. It's urgent. Skree's already here.

Attatched are his coordinates. It's on the group chat, so all of us along with Cheese and Jam will have gotten it. Friendo flicks off the TV, and the CAPTCHAs jump off the couch. We race for the garage, passing the game room with its foosball tables, the AE drafting room with unfinished plans for AEs named Cease & Desist, Dante, Smog, and a handful of others, and the Random Room Where Stuff Piles up with its Piles o' Stuff.

Cheese and Jam are already waiting for us and already have the hovership booted up, the engine revving. Jam is in the pilot's seat. Oh dear. Jam has… how should I put it… unconventional piloting methods. Riding as his passenger is taking your life in your hands. He flies like a desparate racecar driver. To be fair, it's very fast. He's probably our fastest pilot. But when he pilots, the hovership is always a hair away from smacking into the side of a building. He likes going full speed and taking sharp turns.

And he is taking off. Oh my. I'd better hold on.

After a harrowing ride, which I won't go into great detail on because this comment is already long, we arrive with a hard stop in the main square. And  we see chaos. Jam swears. One of the admins, standing in front of HQ across the square, gives him a glare. Like Scuttles' snake, Jam has a very salty mouth.

((why do i keep saying "lore" instead of "fir"? i changed their name a while ago, but I guess i'm still not adjusted to it? maybe i'm just tired :/ anyway, in my previous post, where it says "Lore," just imagine it says "Fir" ok)) 

Mirage's pov~

"Aw, poor zoodle," I murmur, cradling the unconsious zoodle in arms. I hold it close to my chest, hoping we can get to the hospital wing at the Zoodle Base in time to help it.

"So, what's this all about? Zoodle brainwashing?" Fir asks. They're skipping alongside me, asking questions I've already answered. Well, that's Fir for you, I guess: skipping along carefree and being annoying. They're my younger sibling, though, so what can you do.

I respond, "Like I said the two times you asked before, we're not sure — yet. All we know is that there are computer chips attached to the heads of the zoodles attacking Zealatom's airship, and when we took off the chips, they fainted."

"That's not good," Fir says, rubbing a hand over their face, their normally sunny facade slipping. 

"No, it isn't," I agree, readjusting my hold on the zoodle. Its breathing is slow and even, which I'm guessing is a good thing. 

"Well, even the anti-zoodlists wouldn't do something like this. Sure, they take zoodles captive, but they would never brainwash them, never cause them to harm a neutral CBer. Almost crashing into the Admin HQ…I don't think this is the work of a CBer, Mir." A crease has appeared in Fir's brow. They're thoughtful, worried, and anxiety just doesn't look right on my sibling's face. 

"It's all right, Fir," I say quickly. "We'll figure this out." I'm not normally the one consoling them — typically, the roles are reversed, with them comforting me when I'm nervous or scared.

Fir and I decided to take the long way to the Zoodle Base — this way, we don't have to walk through the main square, don't have to see the chaos unfolding. pangolin, on the other hand, decided to cut through the square to get to the Base quicker, as well as to help anyone she can along the way. However, as we're walking, we can hear shouts, screams, hissing, and the sounds of a hovership.

"We gotta help them…," Fir says, glancing off in the direction of the main square.

"pangolin told us to go to the Zoodle Base and get help for this zoodle," I reply. I want to help the other CBers and zoodles as much as they do, but I'm not one to disobey pangolin. I'm not one to join the fighting. I'll help them best I can, from a distance. I don't want to hurt anyone, only to help. 

Fir seems to sense this, and they agree with me reluctantly. We hurry to the Zoodle Base as fast as we can, and enter. The zoodles at the door (thankfully, these don't have the computer chip) let us in after we show our pro-zoodle verification. We run along the halls and into the stark whiteness of the hospital bay. I set about rifling through the cabinets, looking for anything that could help the zoodle. At some point, Fir slipped off — probably to head back to the main square and help everyone they can. 

I sigh, sitting down on a bed with clean, straight white sheets. I don't know anything about medical procedures, much less how to go about doing them on a zuchinni-snake, and I need to find someone who does. I tap into the radio, which is hopefully broadcasting all over the base. I hesitate for a second, but I tell myself that there's no time for being shy. I take a deep breath and say, 

"Mirage to…uh, all personnel, well, everyone who can hear this. If you don't know by now, which you probably do, I guess, there's a…situation. Zoodles have attacked the airship of neutral CBer Zealatom. They appear to be tampered with — they have computer chips attached to their heads. If anyone has any medical experience, you're needed in the med bay, we have an unconsious zoodle on our hands."

This plot is getting moore intresting by the moment 🙂

Zealatom~

"So, any idea what to do next?" Lindel asks to no one in paticular. After Infus managed to fry all the chips, the city square has quieted down considerably. Most CBer's and AE's are standing to the sidelines, still rather confused at what is happening. Jay, Chaser and most of his AE's have arrived in hovercraft, trying to re-institute order as some pro-zoodlers start rescuing fainted zoodles. "Hey."

I turn to look over the railing. A Admin is waving at me from the ground. Wait, no. It's just a hologram coming from a Wi-Fly. The knowledge does not really help my nerves however. "Ah! I-" I gulp. "Sorry! I'll clean up all this, I promise. Heh heh." I do my best to smile. "Really didn't mean to give everyone a fright… zoodles are heavier than expected…"

The hologram moves its shoulders in what might be a sigh. "It is ok, Zealatom. We understand. Just, next time give city airspace a warning ahead of time, ok?" Only then I realize that I forgot the 'mayday' call. "O-oh, sorry. I won't forget, I promise." I flick one ear nervously.

"Good!" The hologram from the Admin flashes away.

I sigh, relived. "So." I turn back to everyone on deck. "Now, we start cleanup."

"Cleanup?" Terra sniffs. "I'm not cleaning up all these… Things! Its going to take an eternity! And, where should we put them? Send them to Zoodle HQ, miles away from here with ___ injured like this? Impossible, I say. Impossible!" Scuttles flutters their wings silently. "We should try, anyway. Long or not, we can finish it."

"Here!" Infus, who was no doubt waiting for us for the whole time, speaks over the intercom once more. "How's this: All of you clamber off for a moment, and I'll do the cleaning, hmmm?"

Lindel sighs. "How are you going to manage that? You don't even have a body."

"DO YOU WANT ME TO HELP?"

"Yes, yseseses…" Lindel retreats. "Whatever. Zeal?"

"Let him do his thing…" I wave a hand in defeat. Infus isn't one to argue with when he has decided on something. "Scuttles, Darkvine?" Both shrug as a ramp extends to the city square below. "Thanks for all your help. Let's go now. We can trust Infus, don't worry." The instant I step off the folding ramp, I feel Terra zap into my mind. Lindel just floats beside me, half off the ground and half on. "What now?"

"Thank you!" Infus says, voice rather muffled now that we're on the ground, looking up at __'s scratched hull. "Now get me a cat."

"A WHAT?" Terra moves my mouth, shouting. "CAT?"

"Yes. Cat." Infus huffs. "Or dog. And hold them up in the air for me. Look, that should be Koi over there. Invite her over, would you please?" I look, and in the midst of CBer's, I catch sight of Barnacle with Koi on his shoulder. "Barnacle! Koi! Could you both come over here please?" I yell.

They hear me over the clamor, walking over. "Hello Zealatom!" Barnacle grins at me over a pile of zoodles he is carrying. "Hope you had a 'soft' landing." "Phhht." I shake my head. "OF COURSE. I do need Koi's help over here, hope you don't mind lending a paw?" Koi looks up at me curiously.

"It won't hurt!" Infus shouts to make himself heard. "I just need a scan."

"What do we need to do?" Barnacle asks. 

"Raise Koi up in the air." Infus instructs. "And hold still." Rather amused, Barnacle complies, lifting a very displeased Koi up into the air. "And now?"

"Wait…" Infus mutters. A long robotic arm suddenly extends out from the hull with a scanner on its end. One quick wave over Koi, and it folds back. "There we go. Thanks Barnacle. Now please give me some space for this…"

We take a few steps back.  

~~~~~

Alright, I'm splitting this into two parts cause its turning out to be very long…