Chapter 14: Garbage Chute

"AAAGH!" said Han.

Han had landed on top of some garbage at the bottom of the chute, joining up with the rest of the group. Knuckles and Chewie were banging on the door with all their might.

"The garbage chute was a really wonderful idea! What an incredible smell you've discovered!" Han said.

"RAAGGGH! RGH!" said Chewie.

"Yeah, looks like we've really hit rock bottom," said Milena.

"Milena, will you please shut up?" said Derek.

"Those one-liners aren't helping us here, sis," said Dayton.

"Well, those one-liners aren't opening this stupid door!" said Knuckles.

"Well, it was either down here, or up there and have you guys go all macho action hero on us," said Sally.

"I think you've watched too many holo-vids, Sal," said Sonic.

"Lets get outta here! Get away from there!" said Han.

Han then took aim at the door as soon as Chewie & Knuckles stepped aside.

"No, wait-!" said Luke.

Han fired, and his blaster shot ricocheted, and then it continued to ricochet off the walls of the chute, forcing everyone to duck to avoid being hit. Eventually, the shot stuck a garbage piece and it was over.

"Will you forget it?! I already tried, but it's magnetically sealed!" said Luke.

"Put that thing away or you're gonna get us all killed!" said Leia.

"Yeah, we ain't gettin outta heah by force, we need to use our heads heah!" said Bunnie.

"They're right, your approach is as bad as Sonic's! Just shoot or smash stuff until it works!" said Sally.

"Absolutely your worships, look, I had everything under control until you led us down here! You know, it's not gonna take 'em long to figure out what happened to us!" said Han.

"Very good, Captain. OF COURSE THEY'RE GONNA FIND OUT! Unless we can get out!" said Milena.

"It could be worse," said Leia.

Suddenly, everyone froze at the sound of a growling noise. Tails, Amy, and Cream were especially spooked.

"It's worse," said Han.

"There's something alive in here!" said Luke.

"Yeah, right," said Jericho.

"That's your imagination," said Han.

Sonic then flinched.

"Whoa! What was that?"

Luke, Rotor, and Antoine flinched too.

"Something just moved past my leg!" said Luke.

"Eek! Something slimy touched moi!" said Antoine.

"Luke's right! I felt something, it's-WHOA!" said Rotor.

"Whoa! LOOK!" said Seraphine.

A tentacle briefly appeared through the water, but quickly disappeared back under the water. Luke & Chewie then pointed at it.

"Look! Did you see that?" said Luke.

"What?!" said Han.

"Is it a monster?" said Cream.

"I think it is, Cream!" said Amy.

"Everyone! Be quiet and calm down!" said Sally.

"No way! I'm getting out of here!" said Knuckles.

"This ain't no time to panic!" said Geoffrey.

"This is the perfect time to panic!" said Knuckles.

"They have a-"

"Quiet Milena! Quiet everyone!" said Dayton.

Everyone went silent. An eye peeked out from under the water and looked around, before going back under, undetected. Then suddenly, two tentacles grabbed Luke and Sonic by the legs and pulled them both under the water.

"KID! LUKE!" said Han.

"SONIC!" said Jericho.

"LUKE!" said Leia.

"SONIC!" said Sally.

"SONIC!" said Knuckles.

"LUKE! LUKE!" said Han.

"ARRRGGGHHHHRAGGGGHHHH!" said Chewie.

Knuckles grabbed his heavy blaster and jumped over to help, as he, Jericho, and Han brushed aside some garbage hoping to see Sonic or Luke. But soon, the two of them surfaced, with tentacles wrapped around their necks. Leia then grabbed a pipe.

"LUKE! Luke, Sonic, grab hold of this!" said Leia.

"Blast it, will ya? My gun's jammed!" said Luke.

"WHERE?!" said Han.

"ANYWHERE! JUST GET THIS THING OFF US!" said Sonic.

Han, Jericho, Geoffrey, Seraphine, & Knuckles fired a few shots into the water, trying to help Luke and Sonic up. They then fired again, but suddenly, Luke and Sonic were dragged back under.

"Luke? LUKE!" said Han.

"SONIC, NO!" said Knuckles.

"I can't watch!" said Amy.

"Me neither! Tell me when it's over!" said Tails.

The water grew still again, as silence took over once more. Soon, they heard a metallic clanging noise. Following that, Luke and Sonic popped to the surface, splashing. Han rushed to help Luke up.

"Help them! What happened?!" said Leia.

"Where'd it go?!" said Sally.

"I dunno! It just...let go of us and disappeared!" said Luke.

Sonic was splashing and flailing his arms around violently.

"AAHHHH! WATER! HELP! I'M DROWNING! I CAN'T SWIM! HELP ME! AAAAAHHHHH!"

Jericho and Knuckles rolled their eyes and reached in and lifted Sonic out by his arms.

"Sonic, you forgot that it's knee deep?" said Jericho.

"Wha..?"

Sonic was then lowered back down into the water, able to stand as he did before. His face turned red.

"Uh...heh heh...I guess...we were lucky this time, huh?"

The other Mobians just facepalmed in disbelief. Leia turned to Sally.

"Is he always like this in water?"

"Even in tiny puddles," said Sally.

Leia then facepalmed as well.

"But even so, why did that creature let us go? Did something spook it?" said Sonic.

Then they heard a loud creaking noise.

"I got a bad feeling about this," said Han.

Rotor looked around.

"Yeah...and if this is a garbage chute, it means that..."

Suddenly, the walls started to move, towards each other, to crush whatever was inside.

"The walls are moving!" said Luke.

"Don't just stand there, try and brace it with something!" said Leia.

Milena opened her mouth, but Dayton put his hand on it.

"Don't you dare say anything pertaining to the walls closing in!" he said.

"Less talk! More work!" said Derek.

Chewie, Jericho, Bunnie, and Knuckles began to push against the walls to try and hold them back.

"Help me!" said Leia.

Han grabbed a piece of pipe that Leia was holding and placed it between the two walls, while the other Freedom Fighters tried pushing or using whatever junk they could find. Amy pulled out her hammer and begun slamming the walls.

"Wait a minute!" said Luke.

"C'mon! I'm not gonna die like this!" said Amy.

Luke finally grabbed his comlink.

"3PO? Come in, 3PO!"

"3PO?! Where could he be?"

3PO's comlink was left on a counter in the control room, just as a squad of troopers breached the door to the room. One of them banged his head on the door as he came in.

"Take over. See to him," said the lead trooper.

Then they heard a banging sound from a nearby closet.

"Look! In there!"

The troopers went to the closet, where R2 and 3PO were hiding.

"They're madmen! They're heading for the prison level! If you hurry, you might catch them!" said 3PO.

"Follow me!" said the lead trooper.

The troopers begun filing out of the room.

"You stand guard."

One trooper remained to stand at the door to secure the area. 3PO quickly grabbed his comlink and turned to R2.

"Come on."

R2 extended his third leg and begun to roll out, but before he and 3PO could make it out, the trooper stopped them.

"All this excitement has overrun the circuits of my counterpart here. If you don't mind, I'd like to take him down to maintenence," said 3PO.

"All right," said the trooper.

3PO and R2 then left the room.

Back in the chute, things were getting tighter by the second as the group scrambled to try and hold out as long as they could.

"3PO? Come in, 3PO! 3PO!" said Luke.

Tails ran to help Amy hold back the walls, which were as unstoppable as a train.

"Sonic, we need help here!" he said.

"I'm trying my best here, Tails!" Sonic said.

"It's gonna take a miracle to get us outta here!" said Seraphine.

"A miracle that won't end with me dying with this woman!" said Jericho.

"Hey, you think you got problems?! I'm gonna be stuck here and die with her!" said Derek.

Milena rolled her eyes as she placed another pipe between the walls.

Han tried to help Leia get atop a pile of garbage.

"Get on top!" he said.

"I can't!"

"Where could he be?! 3PO! 3PO, WILL YOU COME IN?!" said Luke.

Inside the Millenium Falcon's hangar, 3PO and R2 saw the Stormtroopers guarding the ship.

"They aren't here, something must have happened to them. See if they've been captured. Hurry."

"Whistle, Beep, Beep," said R2.

R2 also opened one of his compartments, where he produced NICOLE's handheld, having stored her out of sight. R2 unfolded NICOLE and she reappeared.

"Yes, R2, it was cramped, but no time to ponder, please hurry," she said.

"One thing's for sure, we're all gonna be a lot thinner!" said Han.

"Oh, you think?!" said Jericho.

Rotor moved to help push against the walls with all his strength.

"Get on top of it!" said Han.

"I'M TRYING!" said Leia.

"Bweep blip blip dweep whoop," said R2.

"Thank goodness they haven't found them! Where could they be?" said 3PO.

"Aren't you forgetting something, 3PO?" said NICOLE.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Whistle, beep, blip," said R2.

"'Use the comlink'? Oh my, I forgot. I turned it off."

3PO then spoke into his comlink.

"Are you there, sir?"

"3PO?!" said Luke.

"We've had some problems..."

"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME?! Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level, will ya? Do you copy? Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level! SHUT DOWN ALL THE GARBAGE MASHERS ON THE DETENTION LEVEL!"

R2 and NICOLE became frantic as they begun working.

"NO! SHUT THEM ALL DOWN! HURRY! Oh no..." said 3PO.

"Whistle, beep!" said R2.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" said NICOLE.

"Beep, blip, whistle!" said R2.

"Almost..." said NICOLE.

The walls were almost fully closed, the heroes pushing with their last ounces of strength, when suddenly, they stopped moving. Everyone opened their eyes and begun to laugh and scream with joy.

"WHAT?! HA HA! ARE YOU THERE, 3PO?!" said Luke.

But to 3PO, R2, and NICOLE, their screams sounded of terror.

"Listen to them, they're dying, R2 and NICOLE! Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough! It's all my fault! My poor master..."

NICOLE covered her mouth in horror.

"We're all right! You did great! HAHA! Hey, open the pressure maintenence hatch on unit...where are we? 3263827!" said Luke.

The droids and the A.I. were suddenly very relieved.

"Oh...thank goodness. I was certain my processors were not fast enough."

"Beep bop beep." said R2.

"Yes, R2. That was close indeed, now let's find that unit and get them out," said NICOLE.

Sonic and Knuckles hi-fived.

"YEAH! WE DID IT! FREEDOM FIGHTERS ONE, GARBAGE MASHER ZERO!" said Sonic.

"YEAH! It'll take more than that to kill this Echidna!" said Knuckles.

Knuckles pounded the wall in triumph as they worked to catch their breath while waiting for the door to open.