Chapter 5: The Wishing Rod
Jungorou: "So, who should go first?"
Cypress: "I think you should. You are the smallest out of the 3 of us, so you'll be the best for judging what's ahead."
Jungorou: "Got it. If that's the case, then we'll go in order from smallest to largest, so Shep will be watching our backs."
Shep: "On it."
As the trio made there way down the stairs, the first thing they noted was how all three of them fit into the door. It made for a nice change of pace considering that Shep didn't have to break the wall just so they could all fit into the maze this time. It was a dungeon with walls of stone, illuminated by mounted tourches on the wall.
Despite being a maze, they'd only be aimlessly walking for a few minutes before finding something out of the ordinary, and it wasn't pretty.
Jungorou: "Wh... hold on."
Jungorou would see a large splatter of what seemed to be blood over a wall on top of a helmet from one of the silver men.
Jungorou: "...i am not walking past that without a plan."
Shep: "Yeah, i say we do something to check if there's someone waiting behind a corner we can't see from here."
Shep would slide one of the stones out of the walls that surrounded them and threw it where the helmet was. The moment the stone hit the floor, a toothed limb would reach out of the darkness and rip it away. Jungorou immediatly knew what it was, and he was dumbfounded.
Jungorou: "How... how the fuck did he get here so fast?"
The group decided to start muttering, as they knew that the limb behind that wall was finding it's nearest targets with sound, and if they were to speak too loud, it may end up figuring out where they are.
Jungorou: "If that thing's tracking our sound, then i say we take turns creeping past the gap in the wall. I'll go first, as i'm the one that's going to make the least sound, and i can grapple you guys over if things go pear shaped."
Shep and Cypress simply nod as Jungorou starts walking over where the disembodied helmet was. He was about halfway through the gap in the wall when he would look back at the team to check if they were still okay. But right in that moment, Jungorou saw the last thing he wanted to see behind them... the man in bronze.
Shep and Cypress were still focused on what was in front of them, so Jungorou started rapidly pointing behind them as the bronze man raised his arm.
???: "GUESS WHO?"
Shep and Cypress only barely had enough time to see the man before he would unleash another puff of fire over the group. Jungorou knew that the fireball would have reached him had he not made a break for it, so he ran the rest of the distance, disturbing the toothly limb, and prompting it to briefly chase him before it got incincerated by the man in bronze. This would lead to the group being split for the time being, and even though the burns briefly startled the larger two, they were quickly able to put it out thanks to Shep's intuitive thinking, as he turned his hand into a water sprinkler that put out the two of them before the fire could do any significant damage.
Meanwhile, at the other side of the maze, Jungorou was running through the corridors alone, as he was unable to bring himself back to the group incase there was anything between them that would get in the way that he couldn't handle on his own.
Jungorou: "My... god... WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO..."
Jungorou would interrupt himself as he assessed the room he was in, as there was a glow that briefly blinded him, but when he came back to his senses... he was able to see The Wishing Rod in it's full glory. It was magnificent, made of a sparkling white material that radiated off the hilt of the rod. Jungorou instinctively started running towards it, with nobody else in the room able to take it from him-
Molar: "Hssssssssssssssssssssss... forgetting someone?"
Upon hearing the hissing, Jungorou stopped dead in his tracks, instinctively whipping out his blaster and pointing it towards Molar, who was once again laying on the ceiling before landing uncomfortably close to Jungorou.
Molar: "I'm glad you were able to join me, Jungorou. After all, the other intruders made SURE that it would just be me and you, so i get to give you a little bit of a chat before i cake your body with bite marks."
Jungorou would try to make a snarky remark to Molar, but he'd very quickly be silenced by Molar getting close to his face and gesturing to him.
Jungorou: "You-"
Molar: "Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... you'll anger the puppies."
Just then, Molar's back would pulsate with enough force to bring six fanged limbs out of his back, and all of them were directly staring at Jungorou.
Molar: "I'm not sure if you were able to tell with my little trick before, but these head seeking heart rippers find their next meal solely from sound. I don't know about you, but i'd be VERY cautious about running your mouth when these sound seekers are out."
Jungorou could only stare, as almost any action he could do would release even the most minor of sounds.
Molar: "Wow, isn't it fascinating how many different actions cause for a sound to come out? You speak, it makes a sound. You tighten the trigger? It makes a sound. You grunt? It makes a sound. Hell, even if you try to step away, it makes a sound! I have you in checkmate, Jungorou, and considering that i don't often get the opportunity to play with my catch before i start my feeding frenzy, let's add a bit of salt and pepper to the mix to give this bucket of guts a little more of a kick."
Molar would step closer to Jungorou, sprinkling two containers of salt and pepper over his arms, legs and face. Again, Jungorou could only stare as it all happened, but his arm was slowly moving closer to the pocket on the right of his chest, as he was considering releasing The Playbox to get him out of such a tricky predicament. Molar would then take a step back, waiting for the inevitable moment where Jungorou would make some kind of sound.
Molar: "You know something, i admire your resilience, Jungorou. Most people would have just tried to gouge my eye out the second i try to tell them anything, but you.... you got the memo the moment i brought it up to you, and when i'm done feasting on your remains, i'm going to at the very least be left with the memory of- THE WISHING ROD'S GONE!"
Jungorou instinctively started running towards where The Wishing Rod once was, only for Molar to step to the side and reveal that it was always in the same spot. The sound of his running footsteps were enough for the fanged limbs to barrel straight towards Jungorou.
Molar: "AND THE COCONUT'S BEEN CRACKED! I'LL SEE YOU INSIDE OUT, YOU JOLLY GREEN GI-"
In that moment, somewhere in the distance, some would would start blasting, presumably from Cypress playing a tape at the highest volume he can handle. The volume of the tapes were enough for the head ripping limbs to soar right past him and towards the source of the sound. Jungorou would move his hand away from The Playbox's pocket, and would chuckle to himself.
Jungorou: "Too soon, Molar. This bacon's still raw."
Molar: "YOU LUCKY BASTARD!"
Meanwhile, in the distance, the man in bronze was still in hot pursuit of both Shep and Cypress, and the man in bronze was setting up another cloud of smoke to ignite. Cypress had the idea to try and blast some extremely loud music to physically push the smoke away with the sound waves.
Shep: "CYPRESS, are you SURE this will work?"
Cypress: "I DON'T KNOW, but it's our ONLY option to push back the smoke!"
The man in bronze would then ignite the smoke that was occupying the air, and sure enough, the flames wouldn't reach either of them. They still screamed in agony to see if it would trick the man in bronze into letting his guard down.
Shep: "FUUUUUUUUUCK, IT DIDN'T WORK, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Cypress: "WHY DID I THINK THAT WOULD WORRRRRRRRRRRK!"
Right on cue, the man in bronze tried to run straight through the fire to land a physical blow on either of them. However, he was in for a bit of a surprise when he'd get to the other side of the fire.
???: "You know, it wasn't very wise of you to give AWAY the fact that you're in PA-"
*DONK*
Shep: "And you should pay more attention to what's being fabricated, you pyromaniac!"
Right as the man in bronze crossed over the wall of fire, he would end up getting hit square in the head by a frying pan that Shep was carrying. This had the effect of making him collapse to the ground.
Cypress: "So then, how do you suppose we execute this flame chucking mosquito?"
Shep: "Oh that's easy."
Shep swishes both his hands, turning them both into plasma cutters.
Shep: "We decapitate him."
Shep would start walking closer to the man in bronze so he could carry out a clean strike to the head to take out the bronze bandit, but right in that moment, Cypress sees something rushing behind him.
Cypress: "WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE?"
This would distract Shep enough to look behind him, and what he would see were the 6 fake limbs that Jungorou was being pursued by earlier. This was their first time seeing it, and they were more than a little offput by it.
In a panic, Cypress would turn off the music, which would lead to the limbs suddenly making a 180 and heading in the opposite direction.
Cypress: "Change of plan, we're following those limbs!"
Shep: "ON IT."
Just to be safe, Shep would clip a miniature camera on the front of the bronze figure's armour incase he was able to bring himself up before they could reach him again. Both Cypress and Shep would grab the limbs and joyride them as they brought themselves back to their original desination.
Meanwhile, Jungorou was able to make the most out of the limbs suddenly changing paths by shooting strands of money between each of the 6 limbs, causing them to tangle themselves up as they swished around, which would eventually result in Molar being completely stuck with nowhere to go.
Molar: "Mmmmph, You're going to REGRET staying here to take me out, Jungorou! You're too late to evacuate the maze before the limbs will come back, and once they do they're going to take your head with them!"
Jungorou would look over at Molar, step back a few studs, and smirk.
Jungorou: "I don't think those limbs are going to help you."
Molar looked over, and the 6 limbs would show up once again, but it was yet to notice both Shep and Cypress who had now brought themselves to the front of the limbs by shuffling themselves forward.
Molar: "I don't know why you're so confident, Jungorou! You DON'T have the speed to outrun them! You DON'T have the strength to overpower them! And as a matter of fact, you DON'T have enough time to run, as they're just about to turn the corner! YES! NOW PERIS- W- W- Wait, who the hell are th- NO- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
Shep would leap off of the limb, jumping straight for the incapacitated Molar. The moment he landed, he swung at Molar with a diving kick to the face. It was strong enough to catapult him to the wall on the other side of the room and back. The moment it happened, all 6 limbs would snap off their back due to the sheer force of the kick physically tearing them off.
At this point, Molar was laying on the ground, still covered in money wraps, with no sound seeking arms to protect him, and all hope would fade out of their eyes as Shep slowly started walking towards him.
Shep: "You know, i'm pretty sure you're all too familiar with the term 'Go pick on someone your own size', am i right?"
Molar: "Whatever kind of punchline you're about to pulverize me with, I WANT NO PART OF IT!"
Shep would them have another smug spread to his face as he slowly lifted his right arm higher and higher.
Shep: "Well, unfortuantely for you..."
Molar: "NO, NO HAVE MERCY!"
Shep: "...I DIDN'T GET THE MEMO!"
Molar: "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
And with that, Molar would let his clenched fist down at full force, pulverizing Molar into a chunky orange pile of mush. The rest of the group stared at Shep, amazed that he was able to put that much force into a simple punch. Cypress then starts to do a golf clap.
Shep: "Really? You clapped for that? After all of these years of crazy stunts i've pulled to save your hide THAT'S what you find impressive?"
Cypress: "Yup."
Shep: "Alright, i respect it."
Right as they start to celebrate, the man in bronze would catch up to the group, running into the room head first with both of his arms preparing another puff of smoke.
???: "I don't care HOW many times i'm kicked down, that WISHING ROD WILL BE-"
The man in bronze stops himself, as he looks straight at the location of The Wishing Rod. On cue, the rest of the group look in that same spot, and they witness something truly horrifying. The Wishing Rod had already been picked up during all of their fighting... by one of those small silver soldiers.
Tin Soldier: "Oh, prestigious Wishing Rod, LET US BE FREE!"
The Soldier would then stab himself through the chest, illuminating the room with light. Once the burst of light faded away... the man was gone.
The room fell silent, as Shep, Cypress, Jungorou and now the man in bronze had all just witnessed the artefact they were fighting so long to obtain getting swiped from right under their noses because they were so focused on ripping the guts out of each other.
As the room was silent, the man in bronze decided to make a run for it, and nobody in the group decided to chase him, for The Bastion's shame was too strong for them to continue an active pursuit. Shep would fall to his knees, and sulk.
Shep: "...we've failed."