Chapter Eleven: The Chase
(Outside)
Dingodile had to literally drag Tiny out of the basement, but finally got the huge tiger to agree to come out to the graveyard. The front door to the mansion opened as Dingodile poked his head out to see if the coast was clear. The Australian looked around several times before feeling safe. He gave a sigh of relief and looked into the mansion.
"The coast is clear, mates." Dingodile announced quietly. "The gunshots have quieted down and Ah don't see Mr. Psycho around."
With that, Dingodile tiptoed down the front steps, Tiny and Coco following behind him. However, as the trio passed by a bush at the bottom of the steps, Xigbar stepped into view, tiptoeing after the three friends and carefully aiming his gun at Dingodile's head.
"Ah guess we gave ol' Xigbar the slip, guys." Dingodile said.
Tiny chuckled. "What a drip!"
"Ya sure said it, Tiny." Dingodile agreed. "That guy's the biggest drip Ah've ever met!"
Xigbar's good eye narrowed. "Hey! Who are you guys calling a drip?" He asked, giving away his cover.
"You." Dingodile and Tiny replied before realizing what they had just said. The two best friends turned around and found themselves staring down Xigbar's gun. "YOU?" With that, Dingodile and Tiny ran off in terror.
"Now I'm gonna blast the both of ya!" Xigbar shouted, waving his fist in the air before giving chase.
"Get back here, you homicidal maniac!" Coco shouted at Xigbar as she ran off to stop him.
Xigbar chased after Dingodile and Tiny, shooting at them whenever he got the chance. Because she was so much smaller than the others, Coco had trouble keeping up with everyone. At first, Coco was wondering if she would ever manage to catch the others, but wasn't expecting Dingodile and Tiny to turn around while they were running and run at her again. Xigbar apparently wasn't expecting this either, as he didn't get the chance to shoot at the oncoming targets until they had already passed him.
Seeing Coco, Dingodile promptly grabbed her arm and pulled the surprised girl along with them to keep her from getting trampled. Xigbar quickly turned and started chasing the friends again. Eventually, the black-haired gunman stopped running.
"Great. I gotta reload my gun." Xigbar sighed as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a sack of gunpowder. "Just you wait until I reload this, Koopa! I'm gonna get you after this!"
After loading his gun again, Xigbar shoved the sack of gunpowder back into his pocket, unknowingly making a hole in it, starting to spill gunpowder on the ground.
"Okay, Koopa." Xigbar chuckled. "I'm back in business!" Xigbar quickly aimed his gun again and attempted to fire another round of ammo into the forest, where the friends had gone. However, nothing but a click was heard. "Huh? Now what the heck's wrong with this stupid rifle?"
Xigbar quickly pulled out a match and lit it to see what the problem was. He quickly saw what was wrong. "Whoops! Heh. I've got the safety catch on." With that, Xigbar threw the still-lit match over his shoulder, unknowingly making it land in the growing pile of gunpowder, which quickly lit up.
"Okay, NOW I'm ready." Xigbar nodded. "Here I come, Koopa! Ready or not!"
With that, Xigbar ran off, leaving a continuous trail of gunpowder behind him, which was quickly igniting. As Xigbar ran past a tree, Dingodile, Tiny and Coco poked their heads around from behind it.
"I think we managed to shake him." Coco noted.
Unfortunately, Xigbar heard this and did an instant about-face. "That's what you think!" He said as he took aim. Unfortunately for him, he caught a glimpse of the spark floating down the trail of gunpowder. "Huh?" He asked allowed.
Instead of running (which he should have done), Xigbar simply stood dumbfounded as the spark approached him. When the flames finally closed in, an explosion rocked the area, leaving a blackened Xigbar with burnt clothes standing in place.
Naturally, the three friends found this funny, as they started laughing at Xigbar. However, Xigbar didn't take too well to getting laughed at, as he opened fire again. This caused Dingodile, Tiny and Coco run off in fear.
Sheriff Sam chose that time to show up. As the short sheriff stopped his car, the three friends ran by with Xigbar in hot pursuit. Sam jumped out of his car angrily.
"What did I tell you about shooting people, you smackin', rackin', frackin' maniac?" Sam shouted as he started to give chase. "Don't make me go through with my ticket threat, Xigbar!"
Seeing that the gun-wielding maniac wasn't listening, Sam stopped running, coming up with an idea to get Xigbar to stop. "I'm firing a warning shot, Xigbar!" Sam threatened. "This is going to get you to stop!"
Sam pointed his pistol into the air and fired. However, he was unknowingly standing underneath a tree, and he shot off one of the branches. The branch fell directly on top of Sam's head, knocking him down. Dingodile, Tiny and Coco ran past the sheriff with Xigbar still chasing them down. A couple of Xigbar's missed shots struck the trunk of the tree, making it break. The tree tipped over and started falling down.
Sam jumped to his feet and stamped his foot. "That does it, Xigbar! You've had your warning! When I count to three, I'm a-shooting!" He threatened. "One! Two! Thr-" That was all Sam could get out before the tree collapsed directly on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Sam's gun fired harmlessly into the air again.
Xigbar arrived at the hollow stump of a separate tree and smirked. "Oh, you can't fool ol' Xigbar!" He aimed his gun into the trunk and prepared to fire. "I know you're in there."
"Hey, Xigbar!"
"Huh?" Xigbar asked as he looked back and saw Coco standing by the mouth of a cave.
"Not in there." Coco said. "They're hiding in here."
"Oh. Thanks." Xigbar said as he arrived at the mouth of the cave and fired one shot in before realizing what he was doing. "Hey! Wait a minute! You weren't pulling my leg, were ya?"
"Hmm…Could be." Coco replied.
Suddenly, a loud roar was heard as a huge, figure stepped out into the open. The figure was that of a huge brown and gray rabbit with red eyes, standing at twice Xigbar's height. The rabbit let out another roar, causing Xigbar to run away in fright. The monster ran off after him. After they were both gone, Coco ran over to the trunk Xigbar was aiming into earlier.
"He's gone, guys!" Coco announced. "You can come out, now."
A very relieved Dingodile and Tiny rose from within the trunk. "Oy. That sure was some quick thinkin', Coco." Dingodile remarked.
"Yeah! Now we can continue to the cemetery!" Coco replied brightly.
Dingodile and Tiny's eyes snapped open. "C-C-C-CEMETERY?" They shouted together as they passed out, falling into the trunk again.
(Graveyard)
After she got the boys to wake up, Coco led them into the gloomy graveyard. For some reason, the cemetery was coated in a thin layer of fog, making it seem that much scarier. Coco was the only one that didn't seem to mind, but Tiny was completely nerve-wrecked.
Tiny was always afraid of graveyards, having watched many old cartoons in the past. He knew that whenever that Great Dane and the mystery-solving gang entered a graveyard, they always seemed to encounter something wanting to get rid of them. The others had always assured him that there was nothing to worry about, it still didn't change the fact that the huge tiger was terrified of the graveyard.
"Oy. Just look at the size of this place." Dingodile noted. "How are we gonna find the clue in a place this big?"
"Well, we know it's here somewhere." Coco replied. "We may as well keep looking, because I'm not sure where exactly it is myself."
Tiny was the only one not paying attention, as he was constantly looking around to see if there were any ghosts coming. At first, Tiny was starting to feel satisfied that there wasn't anything around, but instantly had second thoughts when he thought he saw a flat gravestone on the ground move.
Tiny gave a quick shout and grabbed his friend's shoulder. "Dingodile! Dingodile!" He said.
"What is it, Tiny?" Dingodile asked, stopping. Coco wandered off to continue the search.
"Tiny thinks he see gravestone move!" Tiny replied.
"Really?" Dingodile asked, eyes widening. "Which one?"
"T-That one!" Tiny pointed out. "Over there!"
Dingodile looked at the gravestone for a few seconds, but didn't see if move. "That one? It looks pretty still ta me, Tiny." He noted. "Just don't worry about it, okay?"
With that, Dingodile kept walking. Tiny followed, but looked back as he did. However, the gravestone shook again, this time a little more. Tiny quickly grabbed his friend's shoulder again.
"It move again! It move again!" Tiny replied. "Look!"
"Aw, come on, Tiny. Knock it off." Dingodile scolded. "Gravestones don't move! Now come on! Coco's gone on ahead and we gotta catch up with her."
Tiny sighed, thinking that he was starting to see things, and followed suite. However, after a little longer, Tiny looked back again. His eyes snapped open when he saw a huge gravestone following them, two skeleton feet at the base. Tiny, now knowing that he wasn't seeing things, grabbed Dingodile's shoulder in fear and whimpered.
"Tiny, don't tell me ya saw another headstone move." Dingodile sighed.
"Y-Yeah! Tiny did!" Tiny replied.
The huge gravestone fell forward, revealing the skeleton ghost behind it.
"Oh, Ah asked ya not ta tell me that!" Dingodile replied.
The two friends screamed and ran off to hide somewhere. The skeleton ghost was about to follow when he saw Coco approaching.
"Guys! Where are you? I think I found something!" Coco called out.
The skeleton ghost growled. Coco seemed to be the only one of the three not afraid of him, so he wouldn't be able to scare her. The skeleton ghost turned tail and ran off for the time being.
Coco arrived at the base of a tree and looked up, seeing Dingodile and Tiny clutching the branches high off the ground in fear. "What are you guys doing up there?" Coco asked.
"View better up here, Coco!" Tiny replied.
"Well, come down!" Coco said. "I think I found something!"
To be continued…
Sergei (the huge rabbit from Rayman: Raving Rabbids) is playing the bear's role