Disclaimer: I do not own Calvin and Hobbes.
Chapter Two
The purple and pink monster loomed ever closer and closer. From the depths of its throat came a loud and awesome noise; a gigantic roar that shook this planet to its foundations.
Mrs. Wormwood gave a little gasp and fainted.
Susie shook Mrs. Wormwood saying, "Mrs. Wormwood, get up. Or you're going to get-"
The monster's huge claw came swooping down and, although it missed Susie by an inch, hit Mrs. Wormwood. There is a faint buzzing sound and Mrs. Wormwood disappeared. Susie, stared at where Mrs. Wormwood had been a second ago then looked off behind her into the horizon. There was a flash and she could see a silhouette of Mrs. Wormwood.
"Great. To wait, or not to wait, that is the question." She said; a slight twist of the famous quote from Hamlet.
By now though, the monster was stomping off in the direction of the rest of the red team. Rosalyn had gained a little more ground than Calvin's Mom, so the monster went for its nearest prey.
Calvin's Mom panicked then, seeing there was no way out, for surely by the time Rosalyn came back, it would be too late, she screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" The monster pressed its claws next to where its ears were and stumbled around for a minute, its ears ringing still with the scream. Calvin's Mom meanwhile, turned her face away and pointed the space blaster at the monster. A red ray blasted from it and hit the monster in the chest. The monster gave a groan and toppled over. When the dust had subsided, Calvin's peeked up. She looked around for a moment then a smile crept onto her face. "I did it? I DID IT! Oh yes." She started celebrating when Rosalyn ran up, panting.
Suddenly another monster, hideously ugly and gruesome, yet smaller than the first one, came out from behind a nearby mountain. Before Rosalyn could regain her breath, Calvin's Mom blasted it right away.
Susie tapped her foot, impatiently waiting for Mrs. Wormwood. Finally, she sighed and shouted, "Mrs. Wormwood! Hurry up or else the other team will make it to the finish line first."
Mrs. Wormwood ran down the slope as fast as she could. Then, with a blast of light, a hot ring of fire formed around her. Mrs. Wormwood looked franticly about for a way of escape. "What should I do?" She called to Susie.
Susie shrugged. "I don't know"
Mrs. Wormwood sighed. "Great." The ring of fire, which had been slowly closing in, enveloped her. A second later, there was nothing in that spot; no fire, no Mrs. Wormwood.
A deep voice came booming from above. "Mrs. Wormwood," it said. "Has lost her two lives. She has been transported back here with us."
Susie looked back to where Mrs. Wormwood had been, and then hurried after the rest of her team.
Rosalyn and Calvin's Mom hurried along, jumping over small boulders and climbing or running around the big ones. The air was hot and muggy. Rosalyn stopped for a moment to catch her breath. "Hey, I think I see the end of part one. It's funny though, why haven't we seen any monsters? Besides those two you zapped."
Suddenly, a geyser of searing hot flames erupted in front of them. Calvin's Mom had to jump back in order to avoid the balls of fire that were now falling steadily to the ground. From within the cascade of flames, a crack of a whip was heard. As the fire slowly lowered, a dark head with horns appeared. And a Balrog emerged from the fire.
Rosalyn shot a worried glance at Calvin's Mom: "Perhaps I spoke to soon."
The Balrog cracked his fiery whip, sending Rosalyn and Calvin's Mom scrambling for cover behind the nearest boulder.
"How did Calvin know what a Balrog looks like?" Rosalyn asked once they were safely (for the moment) behind a giant sandstone boulder. "He's too young to see the movie."
"I don't know!" Calvin's Mom whispered. "He's going to be in big trouble later."
Rosalyn said, "I think you should think about something else." The Balrog lumbered around to the side of the boulder which Calvin's Mom and Rosalyn were huddled behind. The fiery whip cracks out at Rosalyn, but she dodged it.
"Uh, Rosalyn?" Calvin's Mom said.
Rosalyn looked quickly back at Calvin's Mom just as the whip came swooping down, barely missing her. With a single moment of time on her side, Rosalyn got down on one knee. The Balrog rears its whip up again. The air was filled with tension as Rosalyn aimed for the Balrog's head and shot at it. Rosalyn could see the bolt of green light from her gun go zooming toward the Balrog. "Yes!" Rosalyn thought to herself. When everything goes in slow motion at the movies, it means that either something sad has happened or that the hero wins." The bolt hit the Balrog's head and bounced off.
"Uh, Rosalyn?" Calvin's Mom repeated.
"I'm, oof, kindof busy right now." Rosalyn said as she dodged the whip. Now that she could see her blaster bolts did not affect the Balrog, she was in trouble.
"Did you see any of the Lord of the Ring movies?" Calvin's Mom asked nerviously.
"Yes, why?" Rosalyn sighed.
"Because I think Calvin did." Calvin's Mom pointed a shaky finger to the north.
Rosalyn glanced over in that direction between dodges and groaned. "Great, orcs. Where did that kid learn what orcs are?
The voice of the referee boomed out to all. "Um, I forgot one itsy bitsy thing. You have walkie-talkies implanted into your blasters so you can communicate with your teammates. Sorry about that."
Rosalyn rolled her eyes. "Now you tell us!" she shouted.
The voice apologized, "Hey, I said I was sorry."
Rosalyn sighed and ducked behind a rock. She held the blaster up and proceeded to dial Susie. "Susie, can you hear me?"
After a few seconds of static, Susie's voice came through. "I can hear you. Mrs. Wormwood is gone. She's lost her two lives."
Rosalyn shook her head. "But it's only been 10 minutes!"
Calvin's Mom began to shoot some of the approaching orcs. "I could use some help!" She called to Rosalyn as the orcs got closer and closer.
Rosalyn spoke quickly into her blaster, "Hurry up and get here. We're up against seventy five orcs."
"I'll be here as fast as we can!" Susie said. "Over and out."
