The Return of the Gamesmaster
Disclaimer: Same as before.
A/N: I am very sorry for the really long delay. Writer's block, time, other stories, and a fried computer are all to blame! But I'm back now and I hope you like this chapter and please review on your way out! Your feedback inspires and motivates me to update faster! Thank you! Now on to the chapter!
Chapter 10: Time's Running Out
"What the hell is that?" Duke cried, sitting bolt upright and covering his ears.
"I don't know, but it's loud enough to wake the living dead!" Scarlett replied, sitting up as well.
"Technically, that's impossible," Destro told her. "If the dead were living, they wouldn't be dead."
"It's an expression, metal head!" Beachhead said witheringly, shaking his head.
Destro glared at him. "I have had enough of your mouth, Ranger boy!" He shot back angrily.
"Shut up, all of you!" Serpentor screamed. "We have more important things to worry about than stupid, childish squabbling!"
Zarana nodded. "He's right," she said. "Like finding out what is making that obnoxious noise!"
"I'm not sure I want to know," Scarlett said with a groan. "It can't be good."
"It's not," Duke agreed. He pointed to the left. "Look!"
They all looked and couldn't believe what they saw. Giant green and yellow robots, at least a dozen of them, were marching toward them, crushing everything underfoot that was in their way.
"They gotta be at least fifty feet tall!" Destro exclaimed. He was right. The looked roughly humanoid, with two arms and legs and a head. They had optical sensors where eyes would be on a human and a narrow rectangular opening for a mouth. They carried guns and glowing lights blinked on their chests. The ground shook with every step they took.
"We are dead meat!" Beachhead announced. There was no way they could fight or outrun those things!
"No, we are not!" Serpentor thundered sharply.
"We'll think of something, Beach!" Duke told him.
Beachhead shook his head. He hated being like this, but he was realistic. "What can we do? We sure can't outrun them, and we can't fight them! And we sure as hell can't hide from them. They're bound to have sensors to detect our body heat even if they can't see us!"
Destro looked at him incredulously. "Don't tell me the Joe ranger boy is just giving up!" He taunted.
"Shut up, Destro!" Beachhead snarled. "You don't know the difference between realism and stupidity!"
"He's right, Destro!" Zarana shrieked. "We're all going to die!"
"They're almost here!" Duke cried.
"Somebody, do something!" Serpentor yelled.
"Wait a minute!" Scarlett broke in as an idea came to her. "If they can sense our body heat, then maybe we can hide it!"
"How the heck can we do that?" Beachhead asked.
She pointed to some trees off to the left that had some weird fruit on it. We start a fire there. They'll be drawn to it, and that'll buy us some time," she replied.
"Time to do what?" Destro wanted to know.
"There's no time to get a fire started!" Zarana shrieked.
"Take cover!" Serpentor cried.
"I don't know!" Scarlett yelled at Destro as they all took off running. Suddenly the robots opened fire from the guns they were carrying. As they all ducked and rolled, trying to avoid the deadly energy blasts, she realized that Zarana was right. They had no time to set the trees on fire! Their only hope was a miracle!
"Everyone, we found the island!" General Hawk's excited voice boomed from the speaker, startling Lady Jaye so much that she almost jumped out of her seat. After all this fruitless searching, she had been just flying and not concentrating on anything. But now she sat up straight and reached for the radio.
"Where? Where is it?" She shouted back.
"Finally!" Gung-Ho exclaimed.
"Where's my sister?" Zartan cried.
"Calm down, everyone," Hawk said. "It's a small island in the South Pacific, south of New Zealand."
Thank god, Snake-eyes thought in relief. Now we can get them back. He shuddered, thinking about all the gruesome possibilities of Scarlett and the others' conditions. Tears welled up in his eyes under his mask. Hold on, baby, I'm on my way!
"What are the coordinates? We need to go now!" Zartan demanded.
"I'm uploading them to your computers now," Hawk answered. "The squad that found it is going to insert itself covertly. Everyone, get going with all haste! I will meet you there. Yo
"Cobra!" Zartan, the Baroness, and the rest of their team added.
On the island, the captives were panting and out of breath from running and evading the giant robots.
"Don't these guys ever quit?" Beachhead asked between pants as he dove out of the way of a blast.
"I don't think so," Destro answered as he dove behind a honeysuckle bush. 'They're robots; they just do whatever they're programmed to do.
"Yeah," Duke said panting. And in this case, that's to kill us!"
"Will you guys shut up and concentrate on finding a way out of this!" Serpentor snapped as he dodged a blast. The maneuver caused him to roll into some bushes.
"I'd like to shut him up permanently," Beachhead muttered to Duke.
"Never mind him," Duke replied. "We have bigger things to worry about!"
"Yeah, like surviving!" Scarlett told them, flipping out of the way of a blast.
"Well, we won't be doing that much longer if someone doesn't do something!" Serpentor screamed as he got to his feet.
"Listen, buster," Scarlett began, getting very pissed off at his attitude. "I don't see you coming up with anything!"
Serpentor's eyes narrowed and his hands balled up into fists at her words. "How dare you speak to-ahhh!" His tirade was interrupted as a blast hit at his feet, sending him flying backward into a tree trunk and then crashing to the ground.
Beachhead snickered. "What a dumbass!" He exclaimed. "Too busy being an egotistical bitch to watch what's going on, even if his life's in danger!"
"Shut up, you fools!" Zarana screamed. "He could be hurt!" She started to run to him, but got knocked back as a blast came her way.
"This is hopeless!" Destro yelled as a blast shredded a tree to his left.
The Skystrikers and Rattlers reached the coordinates of the island in record time, thanks to their engine boosters. But they saw nothing except ocean.
"Did we come all the way out here for nothing?" Ace asked in dismay.
"Where the hell is it?" Zartan demanded.
"One moment," said the naval captain over the radio in one of the F-18s parallel to them. Suddenly the air shimmered and an island about half the size of Rhode Island appeared. It looked tropical, with forests inland and beaches surrounding it. Mixed in the forests were areas of grassy plains with a river running through it.
But what they didn't see on the scanners was signs of human life. "It doesn't look like there are any signs of life down there at all," Lady Jaye said worriedly.
But as they flew closer, Ace saw something that made gasp in horror. "Down there, guys, in the middle of the largest forest, what the hell is that?"
"I have no idea," Gung-Ho replied.
"It looks like a group of some kind of robots," The Baroness spoke up.
"They're too big to be robots," Lady Jaye countered.
"That's what they look like Lady Jaye," Gung-Ho told her.
"And they've got guns! And they're pointing them at something!" Buzzer exclaimed.
"Or someone!" Torch added.
"Or maybe more than one someone," Ace said worriedly.
Lady Jaye gasped. "Do you think it could be our comrades?" She asked nervously.
"Well, let's get down there fast!" Zartan exclaimed. If it was Zarana and the others they were after, there was no telling what had already happened to them! But he knew he had to get to his sister fast!
"Hold it, Zartan," Ace said firmly. "We have to come up with a plan."
"There's no time, flyboy!" Zartan retorted impatiently.
"Zartan's right, they're closing in on whatever it is!" Flint broke in. To their horror, the others saw that he was right.
"We've got to go now!" The Baroness shrieked. "Hold on, Destro, darling, we're coming!" She headed in as fast as her plane would go. The others were right there with her. They all knew that there was no time to lose!
Duke rolled out of the way of a fallen tree. "We can't keep this up much longer, guys!"
"Guys! Serpentor need help!" Zarana exclaimed, pointing at him.
Everyone looked. Sure enough, he lay where he had fallen, moaning and holding his head.
"Oh, no!" Destro cried and started to him. He was stopped by energy blast before he had gone four feet.
"We have to get to him!" Zarana shrieked
"We have to get the hell out of here!" Beachhead corrected her.
"No, we can't leave him!" Zarana cried frantically.
"We can't even get close to him lady!" Beachhead shot back.
"If we run, we might be able to draw them away," Duke pointed out.
"No, we have to save him!" Scarlett broke in. "Destro, I'll distract them and you run and grab him!"
"Good idea!" Destro agreed.
"Scarlett, no! It's too risky!" Duke protested.
She turned to him. "Duke, we don't have a choice," she replied. "He's the Emperor or Cobra and I hate his guts, but as a Joe, we have to try to save him! Destro, get ready!"
"Ready!" He answered.
As Scarlett darted forward with her arms up, Duke felt his heart lurch. If anything happened to her, he didn't know what he'd do!
"Now, Destro!" She shouted, evading a blast.
Destro took off and managed to reach Serpentor and pick him up. But as he neared the others, a blast struck him in the side, sending them both flying.
"No!" Beachhead exclaimed.
"Destro!" Zarana screamed in terror. "Serpentor!" She darted forward from the bush she was hiding behind, tears falling from her eyes.
Scarlett reached Destro, who was groaning and holding his side. She gently moved his hands and pulled back his the top of the uniform he always wore and winced at what she saw. Ugly burns and blistered flesh covered his side where the blast had hit. "Guys, he needs medical attention!" She said urgently. "These are second degree burns! And he may have internal damage beneath them!"
"So does Serpentor!" Zarana added. "He's out cold!" She sounded terrified.
"Uh, that's going to be impossible right now with these giant mechanical monsters after us!" Duke shouted back.
"Staying alive is going to be impossible for all of us for longer than a few minutes if something doesn't happened fast!" Beachhead exclaimed.
Duke, Scarlett, and Zarana looked around at the robots closing in on them in a circle and knew he was right!
"Serpentor's gonna die!" Zarana shrieked in terror, covering his body with hers.
"We're all going to die, Zarana!" Beachhead corrected her. "Unless a miracle happens in the next minute!"
The robots closed in tighter, weapons ready.
A/N: So what did you think? Will they be rescued in time? Are Serpentor and Destro all right? Stay tuned to find out and please review!