Ch 5
The pressure remained oddly stable as they climbed down the stone stairwells to the lower levels of the mines. Air was still circulating from the ventilation system that survived the collapse. Even then, Wren was growing weaker as they went on. More than once they halted the progress to let the chef catch his breath. The monsters were growing more aggressive and actively began to hunt them. Running from packs of monsters when Wren could no longer keep conscious long enough to cook up exploding meatballs to use on them, Caleb and Pepper managed to elude the creatures long enough to wait for the chef to revive, then rest for the next mad dash to freedom.
"This should be the nineteenth level if my calculations are correct." Caleb remarked as Wren finally came around for what seemed like the tenth time since they made it into the mid-double digit levels. He peered at the chef worriedly. "Wren, you're looking worse the further we go. What's happening to you? My sensors indicate that the environment is very similar to the one we were in when we first entered Moria. There shouldn't be anything affecting you this way."
"I... I don't know. I've been feeling lightheaded since..." the chef murmured vaguely and blinked, "...since Pepper tried that probe and I did everything I could to block her out." He sighed and dropped his forehead into one hand for support. "I think I busted something doing that."
"You should have said something earlier." Caleb sighed and held out a hand, the other going over his 'heart', "First Aid!" The mana swirled over the young chef and he breathed a little easier. "Feel better?"
"Much, thanks." Wren answered cheerfully and looked around, "So, how many levels are in this place anyway?" Pepper stalked towards the darkness, fur rising as her eyes narrowed, wings lifting in preparation for flight or combat.
"Don't know, but get ready. We've got company." Caleb growled, scrambling to his feet and grabbing the spoon tightly in one hand.
"Aren't these the same bunch that just keep chasing us around?!" Wren exclaimed in disbelief as the monsters stalked towards them, chops slathering as their eyes glowed brightly in the darkness. Pepper uttered a shrill scream at them as she backed up, maintaining her ground in front of the two men.
"Yes. I don't know how they keep track of us, but it seems like we've become their favorite group of prey to hunt." Caleb muttered, "I don't know how much mana is left in my free use crystal. It will take time to recharge if I drain it and Pepper has a hard time pulling mana from the lantern's light without snuffing it out."
"Can Pepper use her Mana Light or Lethal Flora to get rid of them?"
"There's too many of them for her to blast with Mana Light and they always seem to stay out of reach of her Lethal Flora."
"Okay. Then I guess this qualifies..." Wren sighed and stepped forward, passing Pepper by. Caleb yelped in surprise.
"Wren! What are you doing?! Get back here! We have to distract them with fireballs and escape!" the doll yelled.
"I'm as sick of running as I am being yanked around by the cooks of the divided Wonder Organization!" Wren declared and pulled the Wonder Fork free, spinning it with both hands above his head. "I'm getting rid of these things for good!"
"With a single fork?!"
"Trust me! The Wonder Fork has one ability that can only be used if all other options are unavailable! Here goes!" Wren declared and brought the fork down before him, bracing his legs. Caleb could only make out a few words as the blonde murmured under his breath, "... fury... fire..." The fork suddenly flashed white, filling the cavern with brilliant light that forced his friends to look away. "Incineration!"
It took some time before Caleb and Pepper's vision returned. The light had long gone and Wren was giving the fork its last few twirls before sliding it onto his back once more, a long, slow exhale of breath escaping his mouth. Caleb looked around as the mana beast trotted forward, sniffing at the rocky ground in confusion.
"Wren, what happened? Where did all the monsters go?" the doll asked.
"Ah, well... you see those little shadows all over the place?"
"Yeah? Oh? Ohhh... Ouch."
"Uh huh. That's why monsters don't really mess with a Wonder Chef that much." Wren muttered and put on a smile, "So, where's the next stairwell?" Caleb stared at him, wide-eyed, while Pepper jumped and pawed at the shadows burned into the rock. "Oh come on! It wasn't that bad! It's not like I cast Judgment on them or anything! I'm no angel!" Wren exclaimed in exasperation and spun on one heel, "Let's go!"
"With an ability like that, who needs Judgment?" Caleb asked the empty air and ran after him, whistling for Pepper to come along.
"Okay, we've reached what appears to be the twentieth floor of Moria." Caleb remarked after another few hours. "Our time down here is now calculated to be five days and thirteen hours, which would have been less if we hadn't been chased in circles from floors fifteen through nineteen by those stupid monsters." Pepper bounded ahead, clacking happily as she shoved over rocks, stalagmites and statues with her legs and large paws.
"She's enjoying herself." Wren chuckled, "Hey, Pepper! Target practice!" He picked up a few fist sized rocks as Caleb held up the lantern. "Use Mana Light, okay? See if you can hit these!" The chef threw a rock into the air and Pepper watched it arc before firing a beam of light at it. She missed and the mana beast whistled in disappointment.
"Keep trying! Don't give up!" Caleb cheered as Wren tossed another rock into the air. Pepper aimed a little more carefully, then timed her blast and squealed when it hit. She leaped about and looked at them for more. "Good going! Throw another one!" They practiced her shooting skills for a little longer as they walked along. Pepper grew better at aiming and timing her attacks, shooting each rock with pin-point accuracy.
"She's going to be a lethal creature when she gets older." Wren commented as Caleb kept his eyes open for a gate or doorway that may lead them to the Moria Gallery.
"Yeah. Good thing Pepper's on our side. Hey, have you noticed something odd about this place?" the doll asked warily. Wren laughed as he tossed another rock further out into the darkness, testing the mana beast's ability to see in the dark. Another accurate shot.
"No, not really. Why?" the chef finally responded, hurling one last rock as far as he could. Caleb stopped and looked around with a frown on his face.
"Because we've been wandering around here for hours and not a single monster has tried to jump us." he answered. The rock hit something fleshy before Pepper could fire off the shot and a pair of eyes snapped open, then narrowed in a fury.
"Meh, if anything managed to survive Incineration, they'd be too freaked out to follow us." Wren dismissed the thought, "Don't worry about it. Let's just find the Gallery and those recipes. I really ought to tell the Wonder Organization to just chill out. Stuff some fruit cocktail down their throats and tell them to lay off."
"You tend to get violent when you're irritated."
"Well, if I'm leader of the whole thing, why should I have to be yanked around by the Wonder Cooks?"
"Probably because they're actually worried about you deep down inside." Caleb remarked thoughtfully, "Think about it. You've got the Ultimate Recipe in your head. All those Wonder Cooks are constantly training and blocking the Dark Chefs' access to large concentrations of ingredients, like restaurants and stuff. Why? Well, if they get a hold of those ingredients, the Dark Chefs will be able to gather enough strength to lay siege on wherever your headquarters is and get to you." Wren gave him an incredulous look. "Don't give me that look. You've got your vulnerabilities too, Wren. What I mean to say is that though you are the leader of the Wonder Organization, you have the responsibility of protecting everything your family stands for, and that may include allowing others to make decisions about your life that will offer the best chance of preserving that legacy. That includes the ruling on mandatory death or exile for those that leave the position."
"Whose side are you on?" Wren complained and both men jumped as Pepper made a strange sound that seemed a cross between a growl and a hiss, followed by a response in the form of a reptilian hiss. "What was that?"
"I dunno, but it's freaking Pepper out." Caleb muttered and carefully stepped forward, spying a shimmering violet streak in the earth, "Hey! I recognize that!" He ran ahead and knelt before the metal that lay on the ground, covered in grime and dried blood. "This is the Excalibur! This is Kratos' sword! What's it doing here?"
Pepper suddenly shrieked in a fury and began firing blasts of Mana Light as a large green dragon swooped down from the darkness, screaming. Caleb jerked up in shock and leaped back out of the way, sword forgotten as the rush of wind from the creature's scaled wings covered it further with dust and rubble. Wren ducked, holding onto a nearby stalagmite as the dragon flew by and began to turn for another pass at them. Pepper took to the air, shrieking still as she fired Mana Light once more, carpet bombing the air with the beams as the dragon moved swiftly to evade and launched an attack of its own.
"Move it! Run!" Caleb yelled as he raced towards Wren, "Back to the stairs! We'll lose it there! Pepper! Come on!" The fireball from the dragon slammed the ground, sending rubble and the doll flying as Wren cried in terror and darted for cover. Caleb landed roughly and scrambled to his feet, ignoring the partial burns and rips in his clothes as he scanned the area for his friends.
"Over here! You okay?" the chef called out from another mound of rock and debris. Caleb began running after him again.
"Yeah! Keep running! Don't stand there!" the doll shouted.
Overhead, Pepper began hurling boulders at the dragon, grabbing them from anywhere her attention caught and using the full strength of her psychic powers to launch them at the monster. A shield of fire began to circle the dragon, slamming aside the rocks as it flew right at her. Pepper stood her ground for the moment, flapping her wings as she loosed her claws, then charged for the dragon, shrieking madly. They collided halfway through the cave; Pepper breaking past the shield with little harm due to her FireBlossom bloodline; the dragon opening its mouth to reveal rows of sharp jagged teeth that had ripped apart thousands of prey in the past.
"Go, go, go, go, go!" Caleb barked out as the two men clambered over rocks and pits to get to the stairs, "Peppermint! Get down here! You're going to get hurt!" The mana beast ignored him, busy with digging her claws into the creature's scale hide, trying to inflict damage that way as she bit down into its shoulder. The dragon roared out in pain and flew into a wall, crashing both of the creatures into the rock. "PEPPER!"
Caleb stood still and watched in horror as both dragon and mana beast fell to the ground in a tangled heap. Sporting dirty, mussed fur and bleeding from several deep claw wounds the dragon's legs had inflicted upon her, Pepper struggled to rise, crying softly in pain as her wings flapped weakly. The dragon shifted and climbed to its feet, a difficult maneuver as it had no true forelimbs to work with. The mana beast looked back at it tiredly, but bared her teeth anyway. She began to turn around, scratching at the earth in preparation for yet another battle.
"Call her back! She won't survive another hit like that!" Wren yelled from where he stood not far from the doll. Caleb remained numb from shock, watching silently as the dragon roared and took to the air once more. "Caleb! Snap out of it!"
Pepper shrieked and resumed her initial barrage of Mana Light, firing erratically into the air after the dragon. Her body shone with the light of the attack, filling the cavern with a brightness that it had never seen. Caleb shook his head and stood his ground, going into spell casting mode.
"I will not allow you to hurt her anymore!" the doll shouted in rage, "You will pay for what you've done!" The dragon opened its jaws to launch another huge ball of fire. "Wind Blade!"
"Don't attack it, you idiot! Caleb!" Wren shrieked as the dragon was hit dead on by the blades of concentrated air. It threw its head as it fought to regain control, loosing the attack far off its mark. Pepper ran for cover, ignoring her pain and wounds in favor of making sure she at least lived to heal them. Caleb stared up at the incoming flames in horror as the realization of what he had done hit home. He cried out once, then again when he was bodily slammed, then thrown aside from the point of impact. He and Wren tumbled through the air, finally landing yards away from the smoking pit.
"Wren!" the doll cried in concern, climbing to all fours and crawling quickly to where the chef lay on his back amidst the broken rubble and rock, arms spread against the debris, "Wren!" The doll immediately knelt to cast First Aid, concentrating as hard as he could to heal his friend.
"Ouch..." the blonde managed to gasp out and looked up at his friend through lidded eyes, a slight grin on his face, "Heh, saved you this time." He cringed and coughed. "Remind me... not to... do that... again." he added between wheezes, "I made something... to knock out... the dragon. It's... in that sack there." Wren turned his head towards a brown satchel that looked stuffed and was seeping juices. Caleb followed his gaze in confusion, the spell fading as he lost focus. "I threw together some meat and herbs, plus some extra special ingredients, into that sack and cooked it over the lantern." Wren coughed again and closed his eyes. "Not my best meat stew, but the mix should be powerful enough to put that thing to sleep for a long time."
"All right. I'll get it to eat the stew." Caleb murmured and turned back to him sternly, "You focus on getting better. I don't know if that First Aid helped or not..."
"It did. Go...!" Wren griped and watched the doll swallow hard before snatching up the satchel and running towards Pepper. He smiled slightly. "My mission ends here, my friend. Sorry." he whispered and closed his eyes once more with a sigh.
"Pepper! Got enough strength in you for one more run at that thing?" Caleb called out, running after the mana beast as the dragon circled overhead, screaming in a fury. Pepper looked up at it with a tired expression, then shook herself off and nodded. "Okay! Get me in close to it and I'll jump off to launch this stew into its mouth. You get out of its way when I jump." he explained hurriedly as he climbed onto her back. Pepper whistled questioningly, looking up at him in worry. "Don't worry! It'll work! And I can land as hard as I want from the height this cave gives us! I won't get hurt!" With a sigh, Pepper pumped her wings, then leaped into the air, ready to face the dragon once more.
It shrieked when it saw her and flew straight for Pepper, mouth open to bite into the young mana beast. Caleb crouched on her back, gripping her fur tightly with one hand, then leaped up, hurling the dripping satchel of meat into the creature's open mouth. The jaws snapped shut and the dragon swallowed quickly before resuming its chase of the mana beast. Caleb spun through the air, flailing about as he hit the ground once more. Something shattered and he felt the drain of power almost instantly.
"Ugh! No...!" he cried weakly and grew faint, "Switch to secondary power! Reroute additional energy from free use crystal!" Whether the order he gave himself worked or not, he didn't know, only that he had promised he'd be safe when falling and had proved himself wrong as he slipped into oblivion.
Determined not to give the creature a chance to harm her friends, Pepper slammed the dragon once more, diving down to pin it to the cave floor. With a shrill cry of pain, she pulled herself from the monster and stumbled away, finally collapsing in a heap mere yards from it. The severe damage done to the cave floor from the clash of beasts was more than it could bear, and a huge crack split it open, sending both dragon and Excalibur into the depths of the twenty-first floor.