Author's Note: Hey, did you know that surface tension is caused by cohesion on the surface of a body of water? Or that Amino Acids aren't proteins until they have a peptide bond connecting them, and the cell membrane is made of Phospholipids and Proteins? Did you also know that I've been studying for my Biology class? Well anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 51: Boom Goes the Briefcase
Enter Pax:
I was resting peacefully and soundly in my bed, the sound of the train wheels against the tracks soothing my mind, when…
"AUGH! HELP!"
I suddenly bolted upright in bed, which was a bad idea, since I was in the bottom bunk of a bunk bed.
"OW!" I rubbed my head in pain.
"Are you okay?" Koops asked, stepping down from the top bunk.
"Head hurts a little, but I'm alright," I said, sliding out of my bunk and rubbing my head. "The real question is who screamed and why?"
We soon had our answer: A Rat Businessman (the irony of this almost made me have to leave the room in laughter) had screamed because he lost his briefcase.
"Well it's just a briefcase, right?" asked Goombella when he told us this. "Worst case scenario, your boss chews you out for losing a few papers."
"You don't understand!" the Rat said. "That suitcase held an experimental hot sauce!"
"…why would you keep…" I started. Everyone looked at me, but I just sighed and shook my head.
"On second thought, I shouldn't even really be asking these questions anymore," I said. "Continue."
"This experimental hot sauce, though…" the Rat said. "It's highly dangerous!"
"How dangerous could some hot sauce really be?" Leon asked.
"If mixed with Coral and Gold, a chemical reaction will take place creating a HUGE explosion!" the Rat said in a panic.
"You mean like some Coral Earrings and a Gold Ring?" I moaned, face-palming.
"That's it!" the Rat said. "That would easily do it! Why?"
"Oh… no real reason," I said as calmly as possible, waving my hand. "Don't worry, we'll get right on it. Come on guys, let's go back to our room and… think this over."
"WE HAVE A BOMB ON THE TRAIN WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" shouted Koops in our room, running back and forth.
"Koops!" Vivian caught him and held him by the shoulders. "Please. Calm down."
"Calm down?" Koops asked, but he did seem calmer with Vivian gripping his shoulders. "We have a BOMB on this train! If that thing goes off, we're all toast!"
"And it won't help anyone if we panic," Goombella said. "Now, we've gotta keep this under wraps. If anyone else hears about this bomb, we'll have a widespread panic on our hands… or lack thereof."
"Luckily," I said, pulling out a stack of papers, "I managed to swipe these from Pennington's room."
"Is he alright?" Vivian asked.
"Oh he's fine," I said dismissively. "Perfectly comfy in that closet, I even threw some food in there before re-enforcing the lock on it."
"Nice one," Goombella encouraged.
"Should we let him out when we reach the town?" Vivian asked. We all paused to think.
"…we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," I shook my head and looked at the notes. "Alright… well, he's been on this lead and has a few clues to guide us."
"An idiot's clue is better than no clue," Goombella said. "What are they?"
"Exhibit A," I said, pulling out a picture. "…a picture of the Bob-Omb family and a little arrow pointing to them saying 'they explode, watch out'."
"Why that little… I've never been more insulted in my life!" Bobbery huffed. "Just because we CAN explode doesn't mean we blow up trains!"
"Exhibit B," I said, pulling out the next picture. "A poorly drawn picture of the missing items."
"Is that Pennington on the botton of the page with a cowboy hat?" asked Leon, pointing.
"Huh, that's supposed to be Pennington?" I asked, squinting at it.
"If you ask me, it looks more like a cheese ball," Goombella said.
"With a beak?" replied Leon. "Nah, you can at least tell it's a bird."
"I dunno," Koops said, looking at the picture. "What do you think, Flurrie? …Flurrie?"
Enter Flurrie:
"…and THEN, back in the 50s, the Train Guard Union was set up," the guard continued. "That's when my grand pappy was born, you see. It was a cloudy night in a big city…"
Oh Stars strike me down, I thought, my eye twitching.
Enter Pax:
"…eh, I'm sure she's sleeping in," I shrugged, moving on. "Now Exhibit C… a detailed map of the train with side notes of the exact chemical compound of the hot sauce and how it reacts with the coral and-holy frig!"
"So Pennington's an idiot savant?" asked Goombella, looking over the figures. "Dang, he actually wrote all that correctly…"
"No, I refuse to believe he wrote all this," I shook my head. "Nuh-uh, no way."
"Well if he didn't, who did?" reasoned Koops.
"…wait a minute," I blinked, looking up at him. "Koops, you're a genius!"
"…I am?" Koops asked.
"There are only two people who would make something like this," I said, holding up the plans. "A GOOD detective, and the person wanting to blow up the train. Seeing as there are no good detectives on this train, that only leaves the latter. Now, if we can figure out where Pennington found this and trace it to whoever wrote it out…"
"We'll find the guy trying to blow us up!" Goombella finished. "You're right! Koops, you ARE a genius!"
"I… well, I guess I am!" Koops said proudly, his fists at his sides.
"So now we gotta figure out where Pennington found this," I said, looking at the plans.
"How do we do that?" asked Vivian.
Moments Later…
I shined a lamp into Pennington's face. We were back in his room, and I set up his table and chair as an interrogation area.
"Pennington!" I said. "We know you found these plans, so talk! Where did you find them?"
"Alright, just back off!" Pennington said, standing up. "If anyone's going to be doing the questioning, it's ME!"
He then pushed me out of the way and stood at the other side of the table.
"You feelin' LUCKY, punk?" he asked before running back to the chair.
"What do you mean?" He ran back to the interrogator's side.
"DON'T play dumb!" he hit his fist against the table. "Even though it may be a little hard for you."
"Now that's just uncalled for!"
"I'M the law, I say what's uncalled for! Now TALK!" He pushed the papers toward the empty chair. "Where did you get these?"
"I told you," Pennington said, sitting in the chair and looking at the papers, "I made them myself!"
"You've told that story a thousand times, but I don't want to hear stories!" Pennington made a slapping motion, then sat down in the chair and slapped himself across the face.
"This train is in DANGER!" Pennington continued, standing as interrogator. "And if you don't talk, you'll blow up along with us all! IF we let you go that far…"
"N-now come on…" Pennington twiddled his thumbs nervously. "You don't mean that, right? You're joking?"
"I never joke."
Pennington gulped.
"Alright, alright!" he said, covering his head. "I found it in Zip Toad's dresser while he was out to eat! I thought it was a script for a new movie he was in! Please, have mercy!"
"Hmph." Pennington turned to us. "I'm done with this punk. Take him away."
We all looked at each other, then back at Pennington.
"Okay," I shrugged, picking up Pennington and shoving him back in the closet.
"So Zip Toad?" asked Goombella. "Why don't we give him a little talk?"
"Right," I nodded, leading the group out of the room. As soon as I opened the door to Zip Toad's room, he turned around, holding the suitcase open with the gold ring and corral earrings above it.
"Dude," I said, holding out my hands. "Don't do it. You'll go down too!"
"No I won't!" Zip Toad said, glaring at me. "You, Mr. Perfect, will PAY for thwarting me!"
"…thwarting you?" I asked. "What do you mean?"
I motioned with my hand behind my back for Vivian to move through the shadows. I guessed she got the message because I felt my Nightmare hand react to a Nightmare power happening.
"You don't recognize me, do you?" asked Zip Toad.
"…no, I've never seen any of your movies," I shook my head. "Are they any good?"
"Oh I guess, if you're into that sort of thing," Goombella shrugged. I could tell she was trying her hardest to stay calm. "I mean, they're sort of movie length soap operas."
"I happen to like them, personally," shrugged Zip Toad. "I mean, five stars by the cri-WHAT am I saying? I'm NOT Zip Toad! I'm…"
There was an explosion of purple smoke, and standing there was…
"The Body Snatcher!" I gasped.
"…my name's Doopliss, you know," the body snatcher said. "Not like it did me any good, keeping my name hidden…"
"But… but I destroyed you!" I said. "Well… technically I blasted you out of my body, then the Nightmare body lost my soul, then my soul went back into my own body."
"Yeah, and that blast took me somewhere REALLY strange," Doopliss said. "Everything was dark and scary, but then these two Nightmares in witch hats came. They told me they'd make me immortal if I would just blow you and this train up!"
"…wait a minute, WHY would you want to be immortal?" I asked. "That's pretty impractical. I mean, you get to watch countless wars and stuff, never get to move on to another life or anything…"
"Well… shut up!" Doopliss said. "It's cool! And why am I still talking to you? I have a bomb to set off!"
"How will you do that without your stuff?" I asked, pointing. He turned around to see Vivian holding the ring and earrings. He looked down to his hands and saw they were empty.
"…oh COME ON!" Doopliss stomped his foot. "That's not fair!"
"Now then…" I summoned my sword. "Do you want the easy way or the hard way?"
Doopliss looked at how hopelessly outmatched he was.
"…easy, please," he bowed his head, holding out his hands.
"That's better," I said, taking his wrists in my Nightmare hand, transforming it into a locked rock-hard block of Nightmare flesh before dragging him out.
Author's Note: Sorry for the late update. And in case you're wondering, yes, I did well on my test! Also, I figured out how to make money AND raise my school's average GPA: I'll start a tutoring business! Welp, until next time, this is Pax the Dreamer, signing out!
