Chapter 3: Surprises

Duh! I don't own slugterra, just the plot and Nicole.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

4:56 PM

My alarm vibrated and I jolted up. My slug, Webber, was already beside me.

"At least it was only a nightmare," I sighed with relief as I lifted my

Arachnet. Webber chirped sadly and I knew I was lying to myself. I quickly

went to bath and changed my clothes.

At half past four, someone knocked on my door. I opened it and I saw it

was Twist. He was surprised to see that I was ready and he was no doubt

impressed.

"You are going to need this," he said as he gave me an ordinary blaster.

"I was planning on using my own," I replied.

"His orders, not mine." he shrugged his shoulders.

"What about the slugs?" I asked feeling panic welling up inside me.

Twist shook his head. "He uses ghoul slugs and if you really care about

your slugs you would leave them behind."

I subconsciously nodded my head. I returned my blaster and slugs and

then locked my room.

"You must do whatever he says without hesitation or he will get angry or

worse. Most importantly, expect anything." Twist advised me.

"I will keep that in mind. Thanks Twist." I said. After checking out the

blaster, I would probably be beaten by Dr Blakk if i were

to duel him today. I bet he isn't the patient type.

Grateful for the tip, I knew I had a compass to steer the depths of his anger

to my advantage, if the situation ever arose. Although I steeled myself for

the harsh training, fear slowly turned into suppressed panic. I followed

Twist to an arcade that was well lit and spacious.

"Good luck and remember what I told you." He whispered before vanishing into the dark labyrinth of the citadel.

With all of the remaining confidence I had, I cautiously treaded the black

shiny floor since I was expecting a booby-trap to catch me off-guard. I

summoned some strength to reassure myself.

I hope he is training other students as well. That will make it easier to cover

your mistakes or learn from other people's.

Warily, I moved towards the centre of the large room. I looked at my blaster and then I remembered that I had left behind my friendly ammunition. I regretted following Twist's advice partially.

At least my guardian had taught me some martial arts.

Blakk was in for a surprise. I thought with a smile.

A few seconds later, something small and dark whizzed towards me. I summersaulted and dodged it by a few millimetres. A black-red vapour trailed the ghoul. My heart skipped a beat. Dr Blakk leapt from where he was hiding from, a one metre high stile, to about four metres from where

I was.

I faced him while trying to avoid looking into his black eyes because I knew I

would chicken out. After about an eternity, Dr Blakk raised his multi-shot

Harbinger Firestorm and fired three consecutive shots.

The first ghoul was aimed at my head. I ducked it easily. The second target

was my chest. I twisted my body sideways and the ghoul missed and collided

into the wall. Several jagged pieces chirped off. I was not so lucky

with the third one though. It was a ghouled Rammerstone and it was

aimed for my left arm. It was harder to dodge it since I had assumed that

position when I had dodged the second ghoul. I decided to jump upwards,

but the ghoul grazed my knee.

I landed on one of the pedestals and then jumped off with more grace

than I could muster. I tried not to show him that I had been hurt. I ground

my teeth and endured the pain in silence. I wasn't going to allow him to

even think I was weak.

One of the ghouls were now going back to Blakk and I quickly picked it up

discreetly. Now I was fully armed. He loaded more ghouls into his

large black and red blaster.

When is he ever going to run out of his ammo? This guy must have an

invisible arsenal of them somewhere. I wondered.

He fired his blaster. I had to act fast and I knew I could not take more of

those ugly ghouls. There was something about them that gave me a headache.

Oh well, I would have to figure that out later. Right now, I had to survive

and prove my worth to Blakk.

I dodged the ghouls easier than the first time and I could see he was

getting exasperated.

"Impressive, but can you keep up?" inquired Dr Blakk.

My motivation renewed by his comment and I was more determined to defeat him even if the odds were against me. With my arms streamlined against my body, I ran like an arrow and then cartwheeled to avoid a ghoul.

If only I can get close enough. I thought as I dodged more ghouls. If I could

see where he kept his ghouls; maybe I would be able to disarm him.

When I was only one meter from Dr Blakk, I dived and karate chopped his right hand. His

Harbinger thudded heavily on the floor. I was impressed with myself but the victory

was short lived.

Before I could lift my blaster from my belt, I felt intense pressure on my

left eye. I staggered then quickly regained balance although I could see only darkness and

stars. I managed to run again and I grabbed his blaster although I wasn't

surprised when I was awarded with another excruciating blow.

At least, it was my right shoulder. I can still use my left hand. That man can

punch harder than anyone I had ever challenged to hand-to-hand combat.

I tried to think clearly when my mind was about to shut down.

Focus! I commanded my nervous system. Dr Blakk was now furious. I had

to use his blind rage to my advantage. As I dodged another blow, it was

accompanied by a cold gust of wind.

I have to act fast. This guy is taller than me so it's obviously difficult to

reach his pressure points. I avoided more blows. I ran around and he

followed, blinded by rage. I was the prey and he was a predator. Immersed

in my thoughts, I realised I was cornered and I had nowhere else to go.

He raised his arms and wove his hands together for one final double blow. I knew

this was my final chance. I hit one pressure point between the ribs, in the

middle of the chest, and he froze only momentarily. Those two minutes

were exactly what I needed to recollect myself and load my blaster. As I

moved away from him to the other side of the room, I pointed my blaster

at him with my left hand.

Rage seemed to be a fuel for his strength and he flexed his muscles and

turned. His eyes became darker than any shade of black that was known to

all mankind. I fired his ghoul and he leant backwards, and his fist hit the

poor ghoul off-course.

This is the end. I thought as he yelled like a wounded animal.

He picked up a heavy table that I could have sworn weighed a ton and

smashed it where I had been standing a few seconds. I dodged some of the

debris easily.

Blakk picked up some of the debris and threw it where I was standing. I

dodged one of the larger chunks but I didn't see the smaller ones.

One of them hit my right shoulder again. It was excruciating. I knew that I was going to

pass out soon enough.

With the strength I had left, I stood up, but I had little balance. He moved

faster than I had ever seen and as I tried to cartwheel out of the way, he

grabbed, with an iron grip, my leg in mid-air.

Ah, man! This was my last thought as he smashed me like a rag-doll onto the

floor.

Then darkness.