Task 1: The Three Ed Boys Grunt

Chapter 6

The three Ed boys, Kevin, and Julio continued to follow their eccentric friend Rolf in pursuit of the rats trail. Unfortunately, Rolf's navigation had lead them well off the beaten path, into an unfinished portion of the sewers reminiscent of a rocky cavern rather than a man made structure.

Rolf was currently leading the boys down a steep and narrow tunnel, the floor of which was made of smooth rocks. To make matters worse, a small stream of sorts flowed through the tunnel, causing a significant amount of ankle deep water to rush past the boys feet at a rapid pace, the sound if which emanated throughout the tunnel with a constant hiss. The rushing water, combined with the steep slope, smooth rock, and lack of areas to hold onto on the narrow wall, made navigating this tunnel quite treacherous.

Despite the struggle, Rolf continued to press forward, carefully making his way down the confined path with the nervous boys following close behind.

"Rolf this is a mistake, it's a dead path," said Eddy, "Let's turn back before we all break our legs!"

"I have to agree," said Double Dee in a distressed manner, "Please Rolf, I'm begging you, let's turn back while we still can. Our lives depend on it!"

"The rodent is close," said Rolf, "Push onward I say!"

Against their better judgement, the boys continued climbing down the slipper rocks. Eventually, the small cavern opened up ever so slightly, offering the boys a bit of proverbial breathing room. However, there was quite the silver lining to the additional space; as the tunnel continued, the stream continued to cut deeper into the rocks, forming a rather deep valley. The remaining rocks remained level, forming a narrow "cliff" of sorts; the space was such that the boys were forced to shimmy along the wall with their backs pressed to the surface, keeping their center of gravity behind them to avoiding plummeting into the water below.

"Whatever you do," said Kevin, "Don't look down!"

"This hombre is nuts!" said Julio, "Hell with this I'm going back."

Unfortunately, as Julio adjusted his position, he managed to lose his footing. In an effort to stabilize himself, he proceeded to grasp the rocky wall with both of his hands, unintentionally dropping his flashlight as he did so.

"Ah shit the light!" yelled Julio as the flashlight fell towards the water.

Instinctually, the street smart boy leaned forward in an attempt to grab it; however this proved to be quite the mistake, for he quickly lost his footing. His right sneaker slipped off of the cliff, causing him to lose his balance and slide downward, falling onto his back as he did so. The boy emitted a scream as he began to travel down the rocks at a rapid pace in the manner of a water slide, with the murky water acting as a lubricant.

As Julio let out a small yelp, Eddy attempted to grab the boys shirt collar in an attempt to pull him back up to safety; however, despite his best efforts the momentum of Julio's 130 lb frame pulled him downward, at which point he too became a victim of the waters intense rush. Without warning, the force of the boys combined momentum caused the thin and eroding rocky outcropping to crumble, causing the remainder of the boys to tumble downward as well.

The six boys rapidly slid down the rocky outcropping in a single file line, each screaming their heads off as they did so. The tunnel twisted and turned in a cartoonish fashion, behaving much more like a high intensity flume ride. After around fifteen seconds of sliding, the boys fall was finally broken as they landed in what appeared to be pool of water.

As the boys recovered from their intense experience, they each attempted to observe their surroundings, a task which they immediately found to be impossible; due to the complete absence of light, this new chamber was pitch black.

After catching his breath, Double Dee decided to speak up.

"My goodness," said Double Dee, his high pitched voice echoing through the chamber, "Is everyone accounted for and okay?"

"A-Okay," said Ed.

"All good here," said the voice of Eddy.

"Rolf is uninjured." said Rolf.

"Good," said Kevin, "You dorks owe me big time for this."

"All good here bros" yelled Julio, "Just a minor setback."

There was a slight pause.

"Well," said Eddy, "Now what do we do?"

"Are you serious?" asked Double Dee in a frantic manner, "What can we possibly do in a situation such as this!? My repetitive warnings have gone unheeded and now here we are, trapped in the bowels of the sewers with no way of contacting the outside world for rescue, forced to spend the rest of our natural days...

Double Dee was silenced as a hand suddenly covered his mouth.

"Quiet Ed boy," said Rolf in a whisper, "Listen...we are among the vermin."

The boys remained silent for a few moments, heeding Rolf's advice. Eventually, the slight sound of splashing filled the air, along with a series of small squeaks; a common vocalization emitted by rodents.

"Ah ha!" yelled Rolf, "Rolf has you now! The hammer of discipline will prevail!"

At the conclusion of Rolf's statement, a loud splash filled the air from within the darkness as Rolf seemed to jump away from the Ed boys position. A struggle ensued within the darkness, as the sound the rats rapid squeaking and Rolf's swearing in his native tongue echoed through the cavern.

"Rolf man, are you nuts!?" yelled Kevin, feeling his way around in an attempt to find his friend, "Talk to me man, I'm ready to help!"

"Hang on bro!" yelled Julio, "I think I found my flashlight, give me a sec!"

With a slight click, Julio ignited his flashlight,fully illuminating the chamber with its white glow. The boys had landed in a large, square shaped chamber that appeared to be a cistern of sorts. The room was around 40 foot square, with a dome-like ceiling extending to a height of around 20 feet. The floor of the room sloped downward toward the center, which was filled with a waist-deep pool of murky water.

The boys caught sight of Rolf almost instantly; the foreign boy stood still near the center of the room, his entire lower body submerged in the water. He had in fact managed to capture a sewer rat, cradling its black furred body in his fist while staring into it's small eyes with an expression of anger. However, the added bonus of being able to view their surroundings unveiled the true nature of the situation. After a few seconds of staring at his captive, Rolf's eyes were drawn downward toward the water at which point he realized he was not alone.

The eyes the remaining boys widened with surprise as they laid eyes on a literal "varmant pit". Around thirty additional rats occupied the small pool, swimming around Rolf in a disjointed pattern, intermittently squeaking as they did so. Above the pool, fifty or so additional rats had taken up post on the water pipes that meandered through the chamber near the ceiling, some munching on small morsels and others using their hind legs to occasionally scratch their ears. In addition to the rats, hundreds of large brown cockroaches occupied the walls, quickly scattering as Julio panned the light around the room.

"Well, it's safe to say we found our rat problem..." said Eddy in a whisper, his eyes quickly darting around the room.

"Lord and Heaven Above..." said Double Dee in a quiet and distressed manner, his face turning a sickly shade of green as he placed his hand over his mouth.

"Swimming beast in the cavern," said Ed in an absent minded manner, "Watch for Rolling Rocks!"

Rolf, standing in the heart of the varmant pit, slowly rotated his head, observing the swimming rats around him with an expression of surprise as he dropped the rat he was currently holding. After a few moments, the tall boy regained his composure, adopting an expression of determination.

"Rolf see's through your trickery" said Rolf, "Your plans to intimidate Rolf using numbers only serves to strengthen his resolve."

At that point, Rolf took hold of his sleeves and proceeded to roll them up to his armpits, revealing his well developed bicep muscles. However, just as Rolf was preparing to once again dive into the water, the sound of Eddy's voice filled the air.

"Hey!" yelled Eddy as he pointed to the far side of the room, "Who the hell is that!?"

The boys turned towards the direction indicated by Eddy's finger, coming upon a surprising sight. In the far corner of the room, they took notice of a large humanoid figure. The individual had entered the room through a small side tunnel, and seemed completely oblivious to the boys presence. They were dressed completely in black, complete with a full face ski mask, and carried a large pet crate in their right hand, not unlike those used to transport cats and dogs to the vet for an examination.

The boys watched in disbelief as the figure placed the crate in the ground adjacent to the pool of water, and proceeded to open its front door. Without hesitation, a series of fifteen rats exited the crate at a rapid pace; the rats scattered quickly, with some opting to enter the pool of water and others entering small pipes and conduits lining the wall, on their way to other sections of the sewer or to the surface.

"What's he doing?" asked Ed.

"Looks like he's releasing rats dude!" said Kevin.

"Who in their right mind would voluntarily release rats into a sewer system?" asked Double Dee.

"I don't know, but he's gonna get an ass whoopin' from me for doing it!" said Julio, "C'mon, let's nail this son-of-a-bitch!"

At that point, Julio began dashing towards the figures position, the remaining boys opting to follow his lead.

"Hey you!" yelled Julio, drawing the individuals attention, "Stop!"

After taking notice of Julio and the Eds, the figure stood erect and began dashing down the tunnel in the opposite direction, prompting the boys to give chase.

The boys continued their pursuit the masked figure through the dark sewer tunnel, making tight turns and dodging junk piles (knocked down by the culprit in an attempt to slow the boys progress) as they did so. Despite their best efforts, the culprit began to gain a substantial lead on the group, who began to succumb to exhaustion.

"Curse my un athletic ways..." said Double Dee.

"Damn it," said Eddy, "We're losing him."

"Hopes not lost yet chacos!" said Julio, "We're back in familiar territory! I know these sewers like the back of my hand. Eddy, follow me! The rest of you keep chasing him down this tunnel. We'll get him right where we want him!"

At that moment, Julio veered off the path into one of the side tunnels with Eddy following close behind. As instructed, the remainder of the boys continued to give chase, hoping that the ordeal would be over soon.

Around ten seconds after Julio and Eddy let the group, the figure rounded yet another corner and proceeded to make a mad dash towards a wall mounted hatch, which acted as an access/egress back to the surface. Unfortunately for them, they were soon stopped in their tracks; Eddy and Julio had beaten him into the hallway and, using Julio's rope, formed a tripwire of sorts across the small tunnel. As planned, the perpetrators right foot became entangled within the rope, causing his large body to plummet to the ground with an audible thud.

Wasting no time, Ed and Rolf pounced on the suspect, preventing him from escaping with their large body mass.

"Boy I knew this would come in handy," said Julio as he approached the suspect, rolling his rope up in the process.

"Great plan," said Eddy as he approached the suspect with a grin, "Now let's just see who Mr. Mystery really is."

At the conclusion of his statement, Eddy placed his hand on top of the figures ski mask, pulling it off with one swift motion; the eyes of all six boys widened as they laid eyes on the person they least expected to see.