Lisa rejoins as a navigator for Lincoln after having learned of the stakes that may befall them. Hopefully their skills should prove invaluable as they trek towards the next level.
"I'm sure glad that I came at the nick of time when I did." Lisa said. "Otherwise, we would've been in real trouble."
"Yeah. Thanks again, Lisa." Lincoln said continuing his walk. "So you're not gonna question everything as we continue are we?"
"No promises." Lisa said bluntly.
Lincoln lightly sighed from her typical bluntness. "Fair enough." 'Guess we figure this out as we go along.'
"So what our objective this time?"
"Just make it to the end of the stage, and try not to die." Lincoln spoke in a straight tone.
Lisa takes note of that. "Strange, you seem to have taken an nonchalant nature about this life or death situation."
"Well, I only got two lives left, so I don't have too much to worry about."
"Lives?" Lisa said confused.
"Oh right, lives." Lincoln remembered how his brainy sister isn't exactly familiar with gaming terminology. "How lives work is like having additional chances to try again when you mess up. Every time you die..in the game at least, you lose a life. Lose all of em-"
"And your game session is terminated?" Lisa interrupted, pausing Lincoln momentarily.
"Well...yeah! Though it's usually called a game over."
"I figured as such. If that's the case, don't get too complacent because you have an insurance policy. Losing all of your lives, especially a single one would be wasted time. And we need all the time we need."
"Got it." As Lincoln affirms, he then stops spotting something at the distance.
"Lisa, I see something straight ahead." Lincoln comes closer to what looks to be a oddly textured green cave. "It looks like a cave, but it isn't any cave that I've seen..if I can get off the road, I can see what it is."
"It looks to be a Brassica oleracea var. capitata. Street name, cabbage." Lisa said as she looked at the side of the thing, thanks to the side view on constant display on the TV screen. Yes, the thing that is exposed from the earth is an oversized, though slightly wilted, green cabbage. "Whoever decided this cabbage to masquerade as a cave must've had a vegetable kick or some chemically-enhanced fertilizer. Which would be impossible." Lisa pauses as she was about to rant..but then breathes a sigh. "But seeing the weird phenomenon that has happened so far. Who am I to judge?"
Lincoln finishes marveling at the display as he then says. "Well, since I can't go around it, no thanks to the road. It looks like we have no choice but to go in."
And so Lincoln goes in the cave. As the screen fades out to black, it then shows the status screen of..
LEVEL 3
LIVES 2
Before it fades back to Lincoln now inside the cave.
"Hmm." Lisa hummed as she scanned the environment. The inside of the cabbage cave looks to be it's usual green, minus a few yellow patches, with some of the cabbage leaves strewn on the walls. There's also a few holes that looks to be burrowed into.
"Lincoln, it may be another aesthetic detail but considering the many holes and yellow marks that dot this place, it shows signs that activity has been done. Be wary."
"Got it. Heh, I guessing this is what the inside of a cabbage looks like." Lincoln said looking around the area as he walks forward.
"Not exactly. Usually the inside looks to be more complicated than that. Though I would question how we can both see the inside of this cave without a light source."
"Lisa, Let this be the time that we're glad not having to search for a flashlight power-up."
Lisa hummed a bit before she agreed with a "Noted."
As Lincoln goes further, he spots a blue orb floating above. Nirvana.
"Aw, yes!" Lincoln cheered as he ran towards the orb
"Is it another one of those orbs?"
"You bet!" Lincoln says as he then jumps and touches power-up. His blue mailman costume returns to his person. Finally, after being depowered for so long. Nothing can stop him now!
Suddenly, something falls from the ceiling and it makes contact with Lincoln's head causing him to suddenly revert back to his everyday wear. "Ahh! What the..?!" He checks behind him to see brown stuff falling from the ceiling.
"What is that stuff?" Lincoln said.
"Hmm, considering the color, and density. It could be bug excrement."
Bug excrement?
"Yuck!" Lincoln backs AWAY from the dripping substance having learned that yes, what was plopped on his head was bug poop.
"Great, an embarrassing way to lose a costume. What's next?"
As he finishes that sentence, Lincoln then sees some black and white striped eggs. Shortly after, the egg hatches and it pop out some sort of beetle. This beetle has red and orange in a sort-of leopard print on it's back along with slight yellow accents. "Lisa, what kind of bug is that?" Lincoln questioned.
"It's a..." Lisa drones for a few seconds as the bug fully wakes and proceeds hops towards the offender. That's not like Lisa to drone on like that. Oh well, no time to waste. Lincoln retaliates by jumping on the bug flat. But as he's done that, another egg has been hatched popping put another beetle. As he sees the bugs going in and the many eggs along the pathway, Lincoln then gets an idea. If he jumps on all of the eggs, they won't hatch. Lincoln then goes at full speed bopping on the bug and then the eggs, one by one, so the beetle won't hatch.
Except the opposite happened...
"Lincoln, wait! Stop bouncing on the eggs." Lisa warned.
"Why?"
"Look behind you!"
Lincoln looks behind. To his surprise, ten to maybe eighteen bugs, are hopping right behind the boy.
Upon retaliation, Lincoln bops on two of em that are the closet. Amidst the confusion, a couple of the beetle hops over Lincoln's head and boxes him in from the front. As he just now grasps on the situation, a beetle hops on top of Lincoln's head making contact. As a result, Lincoln does the Lost a Life pose and falls off the screen.
LEVEL 3
LIVES 1
"Dang it." Lincoln cursed as he's down another life. Fortunately, he's spawned back to where the orb is located, so he won't have to go far.
"Curse my lack of entomology. That would've helped you there." Lisa said.
"That's okay. I'm gonna try this again!"
"Wait Lincoln, I suggest to consider carefully before you take your next course of action. We don't have many chances left." Lisa warned.
She's right. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and the bugs overwhelmed him because he hatched the eggs. So with that and Lisa's guidance in mind, he now goes for take two. "Thanks, Lisa."
He grabs the power up and makes his way forward, this time he dodging the falling object with the right timing. Now for the eggs. Being careful, Lincoln carefully jumps over the eggs one by one. They're spaced far enough for him to safely cross over but it's still tight for him to cross without accidentally bouncing on one. And then, with no time at all, he clears the last egg.
"Phew, that was close." Lincoln wipes his brow after that egg skipping challenge.
"Now shall we proceed?"
"Lets." Lincoln says as he then leaves the area. Unbeknownst to the party, the eggs that were skipped over begin to crack their shells.
As Lincoln continues walking, two pathways split on top and bottom.
"Two pathways." Lisa mused.
One pathway continues forward and other one is elevated above the path going upwards.
"I'm going top." Lincoln says.
"I recommend going forward, we don't know what lies upwards."
"There could be something that could help us up top, so we can at least give it a try." Lincoln said as he hopped at the upper platform.
"Then be careful." Lisa said as Lincoln begins his ascent. The way up to the top was slightly jagged in a stair-like formation as a few gaps and spider enemies threaten the way. Fortunately, the spider enemies are just the ones that only crawl towards the player like the earlier levels and the gaps while a bit perilous were not wide enough to cause a major threat. With Lincoln's platforming skills, he clears those bit by bit. Now he's almost at the top, only separated by a few more pits.
"You know, I'm surprised you haven't questioned about the pits on caves." Lincoln said.
"Caves are sometimes known for their erratic structure and dangerous environment. I don't know how accurate it's portrayed since caves are different every time so it's not too important. Though due to the recent bugs out there, we hope it doesn't lead to any further mishaps."
After a hop and a skip over the perilous gaps, he gets to the top. It's a dead end. There's also a sweating tomato with it's eyes shut.
"I found another tomatling!" Lincoln said spotting the tomato.
"Go do your thing, elder brother." Lisa said.
He touches the tomato and the tomato goes up in the air before it shines white regaining it's human form. "Yay!" The tomatoling cheered before the thing landed.
"You must be brave to make it here. This power up should help you." The tomatoling said before it spawned an orb above itself before it leaves stage left.
To Lincoln's relief and excitement, it's the white wing. Upon jumping and touching it, he's back to the winged white wear. "Sweet! Looks like the trip was worth it after all."
"ROAR!*
That roar alerted Lincoln and Lisa. Lincoln quickly looked left and right, trying to spot the source. "Lincoln, above you!" Lisa shouted prompting the boy to look up. Burrowed on the ceiling, it's the same red colored beetle except this one is huge! The oversized bug pops out of the hole, going to the ground to where Lincoln is standing. Lincoln dodges out of way from the big beetle's landing, just avoiding being squished. Lincoln quickly turns the other way and runs out of here. He jumps over the slanted gaps and rushes down the pathway he once came to get outta here. Lincoln looks back and the bug is on his tail, easily crossing over the pits due to it's large size.
Lincoln touches down back by the two pathways. "Um, Lisa. Which way?" Lincoln said in a panic.
"Right. Turn right." Multiple hopping sounds comes from behind. He looks back and sees the hopping beetle enemies from earlier return and they're numerous.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Lincoln says as he then runs to the right. The small bugs give chase and the big bug just landing at the bottom joins in.
From a distance, Lincoln sees a few gaps that stand between him and the exit. He quickly jumps over the gaps which are thankfully are just as simple as the path on top. As he runs to the last pair of gaps, Lincoln then suddenly stops. Looks like this particular set of gaps has a few platforms that are too narrow to quickly cross over unless you want to fall to the abyss. This one needs to be crossed carefully.
"Dang it, these platforms are too narrow to cross over quickly." Lincoln groaned looking at the gaps ahead of him. With the bugs closing in, it looks like that he's gonna have to chance it.
"Wait a minute, Lincoln." Lincoln stops before he does an action. "Your white attire. What does this power up do?"
"Become extra armor from enemy attacks?"
"It has to serve another purpose. Based on the wings on your hat, I assume this one commands flight?"
"Lisa, I'm not sure that it can work like that...or if I even know how to make it work."
"Whichever the case. A course of action must be decided quickly." Lisa says, as the bugs gets ever closer.
Lincoln looks towards the gaps and looks back to the approaching beetles. "Well, here goes nothing." He walks backwards as far as the threat allows before getting a running start. He runs at high speed and then as he gets to the edge, he closes his eyes and then JUMPS!
No feeling of falling is coming from Lincoln, does that-
"Yes. As I deduced!" Lisa spoke brightly.
Lincoln opens his eyes and looks towards the ground. His position is elevated from where he jumped and surely enough he's not falling! Turns out that the little wings on his hat does work!
"Woah. I'm flying! I'm flying!" Lincoln cheered as the hat wings flap to keep him aloft.
"Actually, you're floating." Lisa says as Lincoln proceeds to levitate over the perilous platforming pits to the other side.
The little bugs that were chasing him fall to the abyss below while the big one, apparently seeing the danger, stops and walks back to where it came from.
"Phew. That was close." Lincoln says as he wipes his head and lands safely to the other side.
To his surprise, the bell is only a few steps away. Lincoln took no time to run forward and ring that glorious bell.
0*~*~STAGE CLEARED~*~*~0
As the bell finishes ringing the screen fades out and fades back in to the plains.
"Glad to get outta that one."
"Ditto. This white garb should prove invaluable moving forward provided we don't lose it."
"You read my mind." Lincoln looks to the distance and sees the looming fortress from only a few miles away. "Now the fortress shouldn't be much further. Come on!"
Hope you don't mind the (maybe) few story liberties of me presenting video game stuff to script. Either case Lily's fortress shouldn't be too far off.
Review responses:
yellowpikmin88: Heh, that's video game bosses for ya.
Omni Spectator: Telling ya bud, cheating in a interdimentional cartridge could bring consequences...
Ya. they're in a video game so no need for a ho-drum presentation!
Chernoman: Looks like my writing skills are leveling up as the story continues. :)
"Stakes don't go too deep...for now it's for the best." That's the plan.
If you wanna help improve this author's writing or just leave a cheer. Don't be afraid to leave Comments and/or constructive criticism. See ya next time.