Hey, it's me Zap R. I just wanted to tell all of you readers out there that before you review my story (because I know you all cant wait to review it), to remember one thing: this story was written about a video game. Don't expect a plot that would rival that of Romeo and Juliet because you're not going to get it here. Well with that out of the way, enjoy the second installment of BLASTER MASTER: THE CONTINUING STORY
"Well now. Wasn't that the landing of the century," Alex said after picking himself up off the ground.
"Hey, I've never flown a tank before, OK. I'd like to see you do any better," Eve shouted back," And besides, you were supposed to be navigating. Why didn't you tell me how far off the ground we were?"
The two of them continued there fighting. Jason on the other hand couldn't help but notice how far underground they were. He suddenly had a very intense feeling to go back up above ground and hide under his bed. Quickly though he fought off those feelings of fright and decided to concentrate on the job at hand.
"Well let's ask Jason who he thinks is right." Alex said glaring at Eve.
"What I think," Jason said calmly," is that we are all way to nervous about being thrown into this job at the last second, and that we should concentrate on beating up this Plutonium Boss real badly and then getting home. Can you imagine how famous we all are gonna' be?"
"Oh yea," said Alex getting into the spirit of things," everyone's going to want rides with me and my tank. Ill be the most famous kid in school!" He completely missed Eve rolling her eyes and whispering a soft "yea right" under her breath.
"Well then, lets get back to saving the world!" Jason said as Alex spun around and got back to his navigational controls. He looked up at the monitor screen in front of him and got a puzzled look on his face. He randomly pressed a few buttons but still had the same puzzled look on his face.
With a sigh Eve reached back and pressed a large, round, red button labeled "ON/OFF". All the screens lit up and the navigation controls started working.
"I knew that," Alex said.
"Sure ya' did," came a gruff voice from one of the monitors," and that was some speech you gave there Jason. Really stirs up the emotions. Its good to see that the world is in such caring hands."
All three pilots spun around to stare at the face that was on one of the monitors. It wasn't a pretty face. Many scars and an eye-patch covered it.
"Who the heck are you!" Alex screamed at it.
"The names General Halfback. Have just been put in charge of Project Sophia. Roughly put into little-kiddy terms; I have to watch over you and make sure that you don't die…"
"Well that's encouraging." thought Jason.
"…before you kill the Plutonium Boss, that is." he finished.
"Just what I always wanted," said Alex sarcastically," a guardian angel. Should I switch him off?"
"Not quite yet," said Eve," maybe he can be of some help."
"Let me send you over to Ensign Connors, he knows everything there is to know about SOPHIA III and the entire PB project. He's the one you want to talk to." The face of the General disappeared and was replaced by the face of a middle-aged man with very thick glasses. He looked very nervous.
"Um…yes, I'm Ensign Connors. What can I help you out with? How about a recap of SOPHIA and the previous projects? Maybe some navigational assistance, how to use the controls, how the-"
"Could you tell us about SOPHIA itself. We have a lot to learn. And not much time to learn it all in," Eve said cutting him off.
"Of course. The controls work almost like a car's but with a built in jump-mode. This enables you to reach higher ground easily; Jason is sitting behind the weapons control. From there he can aim the gun and switch to any of the extra weapons. At this point you don't have anything except the main cannon. When you pick up weapons then they will light up on the weapons screen. The navigation is kind of simple. We transmit data to you, and you use the maps that we send you in correlation with the old ones found inside of SOPHIA's main database. Anything else?" he stopped and took a deep breath.
"Uh, no, nothing. That's probably it for now, unless you guys can think of something." Eve said just slightly amazed that he got all of that out in one breath.
"Ok then, good luck with the mission. If you need anything then you should just call and we'll help out. By the way, all of your families have been informed about this and are keeping it under wraps for us. Just thought you should know." The face of Connors disappeared and was replaced by a map filling up the entire screen. Alex studied if for a few seconds and then announced that they would be heading forward down the tunnel.
"That's a pretty good idea, owing to the fact that there only one place to go and that's forward down the tunnel," Eve said glancing over her shoulder.
"Hey I'm trying to help, just go," Alex replied looking hurt. Eve pressed on the gas pedal and they all sped off down a long tunnel that eventually opened up into a cavernous area. Alex noted that up ahead there would be an area known as "The Gate".
Eve stopped SOPHIA on a cliff and Alex aimed the external camera at what appeared to be the biggest metal gate that had ever been created. Eve found a path leading down the side of the cliff and they drove up to the gate. Jason and Alex decided to go outside and examine it. They both put on a helmet and grabbed one of the 3 guns that was stashed in an overhead compartment.
Upon closer inspection they found that the gate had been ripped open in one place. It didn't look cut open; more like someone had forced their way through it. There was a lot of debris around the gate from some sort of a cave in or something. And on the wall there was writing. Jason called to Alex and they both cleared out some of the rubble. And there, written in gold letters was a message. It read:
Beware. Beyond this gate is the underworld. If you cherish your life and the lives of all those on the planet Earth, DO NOT OPEN THIS GATE.
-Jason Frudnick
Obviously by the size of the hole that was ripped into the gate, something or a lot of large somethings had not seen this sign.
"Uh, Jason? Did you feel that?"
"By 'that' are you meaning the way the ground shook like something large was walking towards us? Because if that's it then yes, I did."
"Yea that's what I meant." At this point two large robotic ape-looking things walked out of the gate. But unlike real apes, these were twenty feet tall.
"Run!" they both shouted in unison. The apes seeing something to take out there anger on immediately gave chase.
Jason looked over his shoulder and saw the robotic apes gaining on them. Remembering his gun he slowed down and fired a few shots over his shoulder. The laser rifle bucked slightly in his hands but otherwise didn't protest to trying to kill whatever it was following them. The first robot moved out of the way of the shots with amazing speed. Unfortunately the second wasn't so smart. It took the shots Jason had fired directly in the head and exploded leaving behind small pieces that floated back down to the ground.
The first robot obviously realizing that the same could have happened to him decided to put on the speed. The next time Jason looked over his shoulder the robot was about 30 feet away. He turned back around in tome to see Alex trip over a rock and fall flat on his face. Jason, not having enough time to react, tripped on him and fell on his back. He looked up and saw the robot jump into the air in an effort to squash them. And as the ape was just about to land on them, everything slowed down. Jason thought about his Mom and about how he would never see her again. He closed his eyes and waited. But the bone-breaking end never came.
Instead when he looked up he saw a cloud of dust floating down toward them. He sat up and turned around and saw SOPHIA sitting there. Smoke was coming out of the barrel of her main gun.
"Sorry guys," Eve said over there helmet microphones," I couldn't find the 'fire' button."
Alex sat up and looked quite relieved that he wasn't dead.
"Just come over here and pick us up and I'll forgive you. Hey Jason, do you think all the guys we fight will be that easy?" Jason didn't stop laughing until he got into SOPHIA and had strapped back into his seat. The rest of the trip through the gate wasn't as eventful as their first encounter with it. As they came to the end of the tunnel from the gate, they all froze. There in front of them was the biggest lake they had all ever seen. The fact that it was all underground was even more amazing.
"Hey guys," Alex called out," Look what I found. I think your gonna like it."
Eve who was thoroughly enjoying the beauty of the lake didn't like having her enjoyment interrupted.
"Oh good job Al, way to wreck the moment. Cant you even take in the beauty of what your…what's that?
She had just noticed the very old looking book in Alex's hand. It had the words "Journal of Alex Bufoni" written on it. Alex was flipping through the pages trying to take it all in at once.
"I didn't know he kept a journal," Eve said," and where did you find that?"
"It was under the seat. Not to hard to miss. It starts to talk about SOPHIA and this crazy girl with red hair. He wrote that he freaked out when she made him go and try to find some powerups for her tank and ended up getting captured."
"Does he mention anything else? Like where were supposed to go from here. Anything that would help us."
"Yea, he says that later on Jason tells him that he found the first powerup for SOPHIA under a lake. There was a hidden ladder and he took it up to find a secret room."
"Well Alex," Jason said," hope you can swim, because it looks like you and I are heading under that lake."
"Oh wait! It also says that if anyone else should try to con one of his relatives 500 years after writing this to take a swim in that lake, that they should laugh and point at them."
"Oh well," Eve said reaching for her helmet," if I go I'll get all of the fame and fortune."
30 seconds later, Alex had decided that he wanted fame and fortune more that staying in SOPHIA and being safe. As he reached the water he turned around and took one last look at SOPHIA. Jason heard him mumble something about never getting out of this hole, and he continued forward into the water right behind Jason.
Their trip to the bottom of the lake was uneventful. There wasn't a single bot in the entire lake.
"Hey Alex, have you noticed the lack of robots trying to kill us?"
"Yea now that you mention it I have. I just thought that it was a good thing and decided not to knock it. Hey, isn't that the ladder over there."
"It has to be, that's the only place with light surrounding it. Lets keep moving or this floor is gonna' suck you under."
The two made there way over to the rusty ladder and started climbing up. There was light at the top of the ladder and they climbed towards it. About halfway up they broke out of the water and could see more clearly where they were going. After some time of climbing they finally reached the top of the ladder. At the top they found a door in the side of the wall. Both boys made sure there guns were ready and charged in. Only to find the entire place empty. One of the walls was caving in and there was a large hole in the ground. But other that that there was nothing stopping them from whatever lay ahead.
"Ok, now I'm getting' nervous." Alex said.
They continued down the only passageway that wasn't blocked up, ready for action. But action never came. They took each corner with caution, opened each door ready for something to jump out and attack. But that something never showed up. Finally they came to a large open room that was especially beat up. There were holes in the walls and on the ceiling like there had been a big battle here some time ago.
"Well Jason, you're the smart one. Now what do we do?"
"NoW…yOu…diE."
Both boys spun around in time to see a giant blob or what looked like pure radiation coming directly at them. It entered the room and the door slammed shut behind it.
"iVe SpenT 500 yEarS GettINg strOnger anD OncE I DesTroY yOu I Will be oN my maSteRs goOd siDe aGain."
"Aw, crap." Both boys said in unison and ran in opposite directions. The large blob thing stopped and tried to go both ways at once. It immediately found that this wouldn't work and decided to go after Alex instead.
"It's coming after ME! Hey Jason! If it isn't too much trouble, do you think you could HELP ME!"
Jason looked out from behind the rock he was using for cover. Sure enough, the blob had his buddy pinned to the wall and was slowly advancing on him. Reaching down he picked up a small rock and threw it at the blob. It hit him and made a squishing sound as it bounced off of him. Alex used this slight distraction to run towards another wall.
"Hey! What are you throwing rocks for?! We have these!" Alex shouted pointing at his gun, "Well, what are you waiting for? Start shooting!"
Jason aimed his gun directly at the center of the blob and fired off a round. The laser bounced off of it and flew at Alex missing his head by inches.
"Stop shooting! Stop shooting!" Alex shouted diving behind a fallen rock praying that he would live through this.
Jason looked down at his gun and realized that the normal laser blasts weren't going to be enough to take this guy down. Looking down at his gun he noticed it had another button on it. He pressed it and felt something in his gun switch over.
"Hey Alex! I think I found second gear! Press the button on the handle of your gun. Once you've done that fire away!" Jason shouted. He took aim and fired off a round from his own gun. A small round ball about the size of a tennis ball flew across the room and exploded the moment it came into contact with the radiation creature. When the dust cleared they saw a really mad, but in every other way, completely unhurt radiation creature.
The creature, now realizing who was the biggest threat, started to advance on Jason. The grenade that Alex had fired off missed him by inches and instead ended up exploding on contact with the ceiling. Jason was about to make some pretty sharp comments to Alex about missing a creature standing 10 feet in front of him, when he heard a noise. It started small and then picked up. After a few seconds he realized that it was the sound of the roof above them slowly giving way and caving in. He looked up in time to see a huge rock fall from the sky and squash the creature like a huge fly swatter.
"Woo-hoo!" Alex shouted," Did you see that? Squashed like the over size pest you are! And by me no less. Boy were you pat-" he was abruptly cut off due to the fact that when the radiation creature exploded it plastered him to the wall with green and blue slime. Jason who had seen all of this from behind the safety of his rock fell over laughing.
"I fail to see what's so funny," Alex said in a dignified voice, peeling himself off of the wall.
"Are you kidding, with that slime on your faceplate your gonna' fail to see a lot!"
"AS PATHETIC AS YOU TWO HUMANS ARE, I TOO MUST AGREE. THAT WAS QUITE HUMORUS, IN FACT IT WAS THE SMARTEST THING THAT GOOD-FOR-NOTHING CREATURE HAS DONE SINCE I CREATED HIM." When in times of great fear many different creatures do different things. In this instance Alex had decided that it would be wise to curl up into a small ball and pretend that he was a strange colored/smelling rock. Jason on the other hand, wasn't so easily frightened.
"Ah, the Plutonium Boss. Here at last," he said toward the ceiling," Are we going to kill you now or kill you once you have stopped hiding."
"ME? HIDING? I'VE BEEN WAITING 500 YEARS FOR ONE OF YOUR ANCESTORS TO COME AND FIGHT ME. BUT THEY NEVER CAME. NOW WHO'S COWARDLY? BUT WHERE ARE MY MANNERS? YOU CAME TO KILL ME. LET ME HELP YOU OUT!"
With those last words, a panel by the door slid open revealing a large gun. It was at least 6 feet long and had the word "CRUSHER" written on the side of it. Alex uncurled himself and shakily helped Jason carry the gun out the now open door, down the ladder, up the side of the steep lake and finally back to the safety of SOPHIA.
Eve welcomed them back and stared at Alex (his suit was glowing slightly), and helped them to install the gun inside of the cannon port on SOPHIA. They all climbed into SOPHIA and Eve told them where they were supposed to go next.
"I read ahead in that journal Alex found. It talked about a place with a giant head that shot out blasts from its mouth, and that the only way to defeat it was with the crusher. So while you two were out I did a little exploring and found the spot."
She finished driving SOPHIA up the side of a steep mountain and drove into a smaller looking cave.
"But when I got to where it talked about all I found was its remains," she said pointing out towards the head of a robotic creature that was the size of SOPHIA herself," It looks like it was blown off that wall, but then the wall was covered back up to prevent other people from getting through it."
Jason aimed the main gun at the wall and fired off two quick rounds. Two balls of white-hot laser sped at the wall and blew it away effortlessly. Behind the rubble was a path that led toward a small tunnel. Eve swiftly jumped SOPHIA over the fallen rubble and hurried on down the tunnel. The inky black of the passage finally gave way to a distant light off in the distance. But nothing could have prepared them for the sight that lay ahead.
There, at the end of the tunnel, was a forest filled with the biggest trees that the 3 travelers had ever seen. And in the middle of the forest was a pretty torn up building. The windows were cracked, the walls were caving in, and the roof had completely collapsed.
And there, hanging from part of the wall that was still standing, was an American flag.
The End of Chapter 2.
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