The 99th
Platoon – WWW's Dream: Uniting the Tediz
(A/N Well it's nearly over. The story is winding up and I
couldn't be happier. I'm fresh out of ideas. I believe Escape From Batula's Castle
will have to wait, that one is nearly double this. The title comes into play at
the end. Explaining the title: Chess is a game of both strategy and…sacrifices.
Read and Review.)
Chapter 15: Chess
They had entered the
section of the base that was not flooded. Yet. The wall had suddenly given way.
20 or so Tediz who were relieving their selves in the bathroom found themselves
facing very wet, very pissed off soldiers. The shark fin slicing through the
water and racing for the water-dry land boundary broke the stillness.
The Platoon clambered frantically into the once-was bathroom. Deja fiercely
kicked a Tediz into the water, where his body sponged up. The others followed
suit. The Tediz cried pleas of help as they saw their fellows being torn to shreds
by the rabid creature, and knowing that they awaited the same fate. WWW
appeared behind the group. He had floated off when the line between him and
FlatFeet was cut.
The last Tediz made a futile attempt to escape. The shark bit it round the head
and shook it violently in pure animal rage. WWW armed a grenade and he tossed
it into the greedily awaiting mouth. It exploded and to everyone's surprise the
head shattered into metallic pieces. The body fell behind, miniscule wiring
devices visible where the head used to be.
Deja leapt at WWW. She kicked him into the water. Everyone looked shocked at
her.
"You idiot! Don't you get it?! Rico has no way of surviving that! You're just
like every other Tediz! Self-centred and heartless!!"
"I…I didn't think…"
"That's exactly my point!!"
"I'm sor-"
WWW was yanked underwater. Violent impact noises were heard under the water.
Everyone's faces lit up. Only one person *WHAMS* like that.
*WHAM**CRASH**PUNCH*
"BLONT BLOO EBLA BLOO BLAT TO BLEE ABLEN!!!!" A surge of bubbles then...
"Sarge!"
She leapt into the water and swam over to him. As she went to touch him blue
sparks passed from his body to her fingers.
"Not just yet." They laughed. WWW floated up next to them with a bruised eye.
"Good to have you back Sa-"
*WHAM*
-The Control Room-
The first Technician, shaking from head to toe, walked up to The Voice.
"S-s-sir?"
"HhMmMm…"
"Sir, they, they destroyed Gnasher sir. Sir! No, sir plea-"
*KA-BLAM*
"OrDeR aLl UnDeRwAtEr UnItS tO
ThE SiTe. FlOoD cHaMbErS 237 to 358"
"It shall be done…"
-At The Site-
A whirring noise could be heard coming from all around them. The Platoon stared
helplessly, not knowing what was happening. The door to the bathroom burst with
incredible pressure and the Platoon were swept along the length of the base.
After some time they slowed to near stop. Tediz could be seen taken off guard
by the sudden water. They were no threat. The jet-propelled Scuba Tediz were.
"Attack!"
The water was at knee height. But rising ever so slowly. Snickers saw a Tediz
aiming helplessly as the water pushes him around. Snickers grabbed his throwing
knife and threw it at the Tediz causing his stomach to burst green ooze all
over FlatFeet. Snickers grabbed his knife out the Tediz stomach and flicked it
around into his belt. He grabbed the spear gun out of the dead Tediz hands and
slid it in his back pouch. As the room filled up halfway the Platoon fought on
helplessly and aimlessly looking for away out......
The fight continued, the Platoon fighting with any weapon they could lay paws
on. Water splashed into the air as vicious attacks struck. Greenish blood mixed
with the usually clear liquid. The battle seemed as if it wouldn't end. Out of
the blue, a Tediz head was removed from its shoulders. The body fell. The
assailant was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, Dark dropped in from the shadowy ceiling. His sword drawn, he began
his merciless attack. The steel blade of Dark's sword was a blur when he swung
it. It beheaded a nearby Scuba. The Tediz fell into the water, spurting more of
the green blood that had been oozing out of every Tediz that died.
The Tediz picked up on the presence of the panther and more began to run at
him. The front one felt the blade pierce his insides. The army of Tediz mixed
with more Scuba Tediz dashed at him. Dark quickly slashed the Scuba to the
right's diaphragm, making the greenish blood fill its lungs and suffocate it.
The Scuba on the left lashed out, catching Dark's cheek with a knife. Dark
lunged at it with anger, shoving his sword into its chest. The blade severed
the bear's aorta, making blood not possible to flow to other parts of the body,
disabling all the limbs and pretty much killing it.
Pyst charged down the corridors, shotgun in hand.
"Mon! On your left!"
A Scuba glided towards Mon. Pyst blew its jet clean off, Mon put a bullet in
the Scuba's head.
"Thanks man!" said Mon.
"No prob!" The remaining Scuba Tediz made a quick retreat.
"Did we get em?" asked Ricy.
"Probably just scared them off," said FlatFeet.
"Keep your guard up!" Sarge ordered. Pyst slinked over to Deja.
"Hey, uh, about that mouth-to-mouth bit earlier. I know you don't really want
some trigger-happy psycho putting his lips on yours," he began.
"Pyst!" she yelled.
"Don't get angry! Let me finish!"
"Behind you!"
Pyst turned, in time to see a shark fin speed towards them.
"Its another one of those metallic-shark thingies!"
Pyst loaded up his shotgun and fired. The buckshot seemed to have no effect. He
chambered another round and fired again. The shark accelerated, it thrust out
of the water and opened its mighty jaws. Pyst shoved Deja into her cousin's
protective arms. The shark snapped its jaws onto Pyst's leg.
"IS THAT ALL YOU GOT!!! COME ON! BITE ME MUTHA FUCKER!!!"
The shark dragged Pyst under and sped away, leaving a trail of blood in the
water. Pyst could be heard cursing in the distance, till finally, he went
silent...
"Damn..." Sarge whispered. The pressure became too much for the upper levels (204-367)
to hold. Sarge looked up in time to see the cracks forming on the walls and
ceiling. A Scuba Tediz started to glide towards him, harpoon outstretched
when...
*GGGgGgRrRrRroOOoOOOaAaAAaNnnNNnnn*
Sarge twisted the harpoon around stabbing the Tediz. He took off the air
tanks and mask. He looked at Deja.
"If I don't come back with him, I'm not coming back at all. Don't worry. Keep a
seat warm for us on the boat. Kay? Tell the guys not to follow. Tell them, fix
WWW then get outta here. We'll be back by then. If we're not..." He left it
hanging.
"Shhh. Shutup and go," she whispered.
"This place is gonna flood any second now. Look," he pointed to the ceiling.
"Take this." He handed her the oxygen tank.
"You can't make it through there on one breath." Sarge snorted. Then he smiled.
"I got big lungs. Be right back." He placed the mask on, hugged her and filling
his lungs with air, he dove under. He followed the faint trail of blood.
Deja ran/swam back to the rest of the Platoon.
They finished off the remaining Tediz and ran to Deja.
"Where's Sarge?" asked Ricy.
"What's wrong" questioned Stealth.
"He's ok isn't he?" asked Squeaky.
"Did he find Pyst?" Oreos queried. Deja shivered but she refused to break out
into sobs.
"H-he's gone t-t-to bring back Pyst. He told us to fix WWW-or something-and go
to the b-boat. We gotta get outta here, the place is gonna cave in with all the
water damage.
"We can't leave here without him!!!" yelled Mon.
"Lets go and find him!!!" added Snickers.
"No!!! I know he means a lot to you guys, and he means a lot to me too, but he told
us to just go to the boat." She stifled the urge to run to a corner and break
down. Like Dark, she had a part to play. She noticed that large cracks began to
appear in the walls.
"He s-said we'd meet in the helicopter. He usually does what he says." A loud
boom was heard when one of the support beams of the room collapsed. Bits of
plaster from the ceiling rained down. The platoon all raised their hands to
cover their eyes.
"She's right! This place is gonna crash!!" warned Chael.
"Look mon! Tha' exit! Light!" yelled ILZ.
"Sir they're going to run for it."
"HoW pRrEdIcTaBlE. ShUt ThE gAtE.
SnIpEr, I wAnT yOu PoSiTiOnEd OuTsIdE iN cAsE aNy Of ThEm MaKe It OuT."
"Yes sir." The Master left the control room.
"I wAnT tHeM aLl DeAd. No MoRe MeSsInG wItH tHeIr MiNdS. It EnDs HeRe.
NoW."
"Yes sir."
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
*BLEEE-T BLEEE-T BLEEE-T*
The walls were sustaining obvious damage now. Mini-geysers of water were
spurting out pressurised nails at high speed. They were shooting out of the
wall with the force of a small cannon. Twisted ducked as one went whizzing past
his head. It shredded the concrete behind him. He swallowed hard. He looked at
the corridor they had to cross to get to the outside. A rectangle of light,
guarded by nails that could cause your head to explode like a soggy cantaloupe,
that seemed to be so, so far away…
"LETS GO!!! MOVE IT OUT!!! WE'RE NEARLY THERE!" Dark surged forward dashing
with all of his feline grace.
"WE'RE HOME FREE!" started Stealth. Then his voice wavered. "THE GATE IS
CLOSING!!!!"
True too, too true. The door was dropping mechanically and methodically to a
close and sealing their doom in one blow. Oreos' heart skipped a beat.
In an instant he saw all his life flash in front of his eyes. He was in charge
at that moment and he had let them all down. He remembered, as he stood there
cold and soaking wet, when on rainy days he used to curl up in a blanket and
watch James Bond reruns over and over again. Dr. No, Moonraker, Live and Let
Die, GoldenEye, GoldFinger…
"THAT'S IT!" He snatched Mon's medic helmet. "Odd Job, don't fail me now!"
"Hey! What are you doing with my helmet!?!?!"
He flung the helmet with all his might and will power. It skimmed lightly over
the water…once…twice…three times…and landed directly underneath the closing
gap. The hat started to crumple, and Oreos' heart sank. Then…
"IT WORKED!"
The hat was keeping the door open by a thin slit. But it was enough. Dark was
closest to the door. He quickly tore out the mainframe operating the door.
CoolGuy and RedStorm ran near and used every last ounce of strength they could
muster to shove the door back into an upright position. When they had, Dark
wedged his body underneath, holding the rigid steel in place.
"NOW!"
Mon and Oreos ran at the rear. The
others ran past the sweating, struggling panther. They couldn't know.
The last flat head nail vibrated rigidly in its place. It was all that held the
structure together. It vibrated violently, putting up a final battle. Then the
pressure became too great.
Mon didn't even have enough time to think about screaming. Before he knew it
his leg was a bloody mess. As he fell back, stunned into silence, he saw It.
Billions of gallons of water packed into the all too small corridor raced like
liquid stallions towards the Platoon.
Oreos doubled back and grabbed Mon by the shoulders.
"It's all over…don't even try…" he muttered.
"You're gonna hate me for this later!" Oreos yelled as he kicked Mon in the back.
The Squirrel went sliding along the water towards the exit as Oreos also flung
himself. They slid fast towards the way out where the others awaited.
Lucky they had put distance between them and the wave because when it did hit
it wasn't as strong as it was at first.
They all went down; hit with a force rivalling a Flak 88 shot a close range.
They slipped, slid and were washed in a blurry heap outside. More water carried
them and they were flung violently into the dunes.
Someone aimed for ILZ's head and shot silently.