Luff: What are you trying to say? I did write it quickly, just not when I was supposed to…
S. Chensu: Nothing, just pointing the fact out. Anyway, reviewer (the few that we got) replies.
the funk master- Did you ever find the monkey? Don't kill it please, they're very rare!
Snow-the-hedgehog- We think you're a new reviewer so welcome! And we haven't had many people who /love/ the story but it's very cool! And here is the new chapter…at last.
Yugi and Mai- Will you please stop reviewing chapters more than once? You're making it look like we've got more reviews than we actually have so your comments are very welcome but could you keep them to one and review together please? Thank you. And no Yugi, you cannot have the dragon or the Book of Knowledge. And Chen would like to solve Yami's grumpiness. And Mai, we already knew you fancied him! And we think Marik sounded like an alien, like Mr Burns in the Simpson's episode when they thought he was an alien. For yoooooouu…
Luff: It's the last 'level' episode and as usual, it belongs to Eggman.
S. Chensu: So without further ado, here we go!
Episode thirty-two: Trouble's finiteEggman felt relieved as he left the strange room behind him, feeling puzzled by what he had been told not moments before. He tried to look around again for the person he had seen, but it was to no avail. Instead, he turned his attention to the area that was now surrounding him.
The first thing he noticed was that everything appeared to be made out of crystal, which was shining clearly in the darkness of the night. He walked up to one of the buildings, a house, and touched it with his hand. Sure enough, his gloved hand slid easily over its glittering surface, thereby confirming his suspicions. But it wasn't just a small area of land; it was a whole town, and gave the impression that he was in some sort of fairytale world that had been doomed by a curse.
"What happened here?" He asked himself as he continued along the crystalline road, having to go slowly so that his heavy machine didn't slip. He carried on with this slow trot for some time, not really making any progress as the town seemed to last for ever. "Surely there must be something here that's more of a threat than some crystal…?"
As if to answer his question, a loud cracking sound reverberated behind him. He jumped, before swivelling around in his seat to try and find the source of the noise. At first, he couldn't really see anything that could be conceived as threatening, but he kept his eyes peeled as he moved slowly on. There was a faint glow coming from each lamppost, as if they sought to light his way; either that, or it was for a different reason…
"What the…?" Eggman froze as he saw – at least he /thought/ he saw - something dark rise up in front of him. There it hovered in mid-air, taking on no particular form; it just hung, as if suspended by invisible strings. Eggman thought his mind might be playing tricks on him, so he switched on the lamp that was placed at the head of his machine, and almost immediately regretted it afterwards. "ARGH!" He yelled as the shadow thing made a horrible screeching noise that sounded like someone was scraping their nails down a blackboard, before suddenly swarming forwards and engulfing his body in the cursed mist. "Help!"
Eggman yelled again as a blinding flash of light pierced the impenetrable dark, causing the black mist to flee into the shadows. He blinked and looked to where the light had come from, but he saw nothing. He didn't have much time to think though, because he heard yet another cracking noise from behind him.
"Ohh…" It was now that he realised that the lampposts were not as friendly as he first thought. There were about a dozen of them, all in a circle facing him. He watched as they hopped towards him, now appearing to be a lot more menacing than the first impression gave.
We fall right in and suffer the sinsTry to pull things round when the air starts to thin
We nurse regrets, restricted in our own belief
A new disease
"Right, you lampposts want a piece of me? Well then get a load of this!" Eggman charged up the laser canon on the Hornet before loosing off the most powerful laser it could muster, carefully aiming it at each post so as not to misfire at anything else by accident. He watched with familiar pleasure as the lampposts dissolved into nothingness, remembering when this kind of thing was commonplace in his everyday life. Well, maybe not attacking /lampposts/, but it was close enough. "That's better…" But to his dismay, Eggman saw that that was absolutely nothing compared to what was waiting behind them…
We shake new hands, the victims of fate
We tread new ground misfortune conveys
You tear yourself apart
Wishing to be born again
A different man
"Oh no! I can't do this, there's too many!" Eggman struggled to keep up with the pace of the enemies, only just managing to strike them as they reached within a metre of his machine. He had been hit several times too, and he had a bleeding gash on his arm. The shadows had decided to rejoin the fray too, blocking his sight so he couldn't see where he was shooting. "Out-of-my-/way/!" He yelled as another black cloud swarmed around his head. I don't know…if I can do this…
Comfort in sound
It's all around
Ease back the strain
Come heal your pain
Comfort in sound
It's all around you now
Comfort in sound
"This is it… I'm done for…" Eggman despaired, as there seemed to be no way of escaping, the lampposts and shadows pressing in all around him. "Who would have thought it? The great Eggman defeated by a couple of lampposts…"
Despite his obvious defeat, Eggman continued in vain to blast away all the lampposts and shadows, not ready to give up quite yet. There must be an end to them, surely? But the more Eggman overcame them, the more he began to realise that this would never end. After all, this world seemed to be able to summon the impossible into being /quite/ possible. Eggman's thoughts flashed back momentarily to the person who had led him through the previous 'area'.
#It is lucky that I was here to help you, do you know what you would have had to deal with if you were alone?# Eggman remembered all too clearly what they had said before.
"Now I realise…yes… I wish that person was here now…"
We suffer love together as one
An empty heart with nowhere to turn
We find ourselves looking back another way
A brand new day
Just as soon as he had said that, another blinding flash of light penetrated the imposing darkness, wiping out everything in sight. Once it had dimmed down, Eggman once again tried to find out who it was who had destroyed the enemies; and this time he was successful. A pearly-white figure stood in front of him, glowing as if they were made of light themselves. But, it was not the same person that he had seen before. Despite this, Eggman was nevertheless exceedingly grateful that he still had his life, and, fortunately, even now had all the bits of his body attached to the right places.
"Thank you…whoever you are…" The figure hastily waved away his thanks, before beckoning him to fellow them.
"This way…it will not be long before they come back again. Hurry!" Eggman did as he was told, pushing his machine to its limits to keep up with the speedy spirit.
Soon the creaking and groaning of the lampposts was out of earshot, and the only thing that Eggman could here was the wind rushing past his ears and his own beating heart. His eyes never left the racing spirit, for fear of losing sight of them, even though there were many things that passed by him that tempted him to look away; but the thought of more attacking lampposts and shadows was enough to put him off doing it.
"Stop!" Eggman screeched to a halt and nearly crashed as the spirit came to a large door, waiting impatiently for Eggman to gather himself and his machine up from the pile on the ground that they had managed to make. "Hurry up." Said the spirit with clear annoyance in their voice as Eggman dusted himself off, moving the machine to stand next to them.
Comfort in sound
It's all around
Ease back the strain
Come heal your pain
Comfort in sound
It's all around you now – yeah
"Now you will have to face your test." At Eggman's nonplussed expression, they rolled their eyes and pointed their finger wearily at the door. "There. Read that." Eggman leaned forward and peered closely at the huge double doors. They were clearly ancient, carved out of some heavily stone material the likes of which he had never seen before; it was covered with scars that looked like they had been made by some ancient and mythical beast, and huge chunks had fallen out of it to leave what once must have been beautiful doors to look decayed and…well, decayed.
Written on the door was a riddle in large old-style writing, which, compared to the rest of door, looked relatively new and showed up clearly in the darkness of the night. It read:
Pronounced as one letter,
And written with three,
Two letters there are,
And two only in me.
I'm double, I'm single,
I'm black, blue, and grey,
I'm read from both ends,
And the same either way.
What am I?
Eggman stared at it, dumbfounded. "Err…"
"If you want to save your friends, you have to solve the riddle…" Eggman scratched his head. "And as one of the most intelligent people in the world, as you claim to be, this should be a breeze for you… But don't delude yourself. Think about your answer before you say it, because you only get one chance."
"Oh, this is just perfect… Um, okay, let's see…" Eggman read the first sentence again. " 'Pronounced as one letter'…well that doesn't rule out anything… 'And written with three'… Um…well, let's start with vowels… 'A'… nope, not spelt with three letters. 'E'… err…" Eggman furrowed his brow as he thought. "What is it? Not 'E'…"
"Read the rest through first…"
"Maybe…maybe it's 'See'… But, that's not 'blue, black and grey'… Or 'Sea'… No, that's spelt with three different letters… But that can be blue…and grey…not sure about black though." Eggman sighed; his head was beginning to hurt. "Oh, bother…"
Solution gone, emotions ablaze
A life so strong just faded away
You find yourself searching for a quick release
A new belief
"Wait! I think I know what it is!" Eggman thought for a moment, before saying triumphantly, "it's 'Eye'! Look… 'Pronounced as one letter…' it's pronounced like 'I'… 'And written with three…yes…two letters there are…' there's 'E' and 'Y' yes, yes, it all works."
"Are you sure that's your final answer?"
"Yes! I can't see how it can be anything else…" And with his final words, the great doors began to rumble before swinging inwards to reveal a large, darkened room. Eggman stepped in cautiously, casting his gaze around the dank walls with torches in brackets. Not really seeing anything, he went in further, before coming to an abrupt stop in front of a ball of light.
"What…is that?" He turned around to question the spirit, but they were nowhere to be seen. He frowned, before shrugging and turning back to the light. "Well…I suppose I should touch it then…" He reached a hand forward, hesitated, and touched the light. In an instant he vanished into thin air.
Comfort in soundIt's all around
Ease back the strain
Come heal your pain
Comfort in sound
It's all around you now
Comfort in sound
Luff: Wow…let's do that again!
S. Chensu: NO! Not again! Oh yeah, we forgot to say we don't own anything and the song is called 'Comfort in Sound' by Feeder, one of my faves!
Luff: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN. You quite finished yet? Anyways, please read and review, and hopefully we will see you all next time!
S. Chensu: On Tuesday. Roughly…