Author's note: Wow, my reviewers are absolutely eating up this story. Save me a few bites, okay?
-
Chapter 9: VS Nack
-
I looked down as I descended the rope ladder, and saw a large circular mine cart track that circled the whole room, with one cart on it, directly below me. Nack stood beside the track, with his gun aimed directly at me. "What are you waiting for?" he told me.
Realizing that Nack would probably have the advantage if I just climbed down, I let go of the ladder and opened my wings, gliding over and hanging onto a large stalactite. "Can't fool me," I gloated.
Nack was not so easily fooled, though. He aimed his gun at the base of the stalactite and shot a … cork at it. At the same time, he gave the mine cart a shove, sending it rolling around the track. The strike to the stalactite's base caused it to break free, and I dropped.
I tried to open my wings to glide to safety, but it was too late; I fell directly into the mine cart as it came around. I couldn't brake the cart; it was going way too fast.
As I went around, Nack stepped into the center of the circle. "Enjoying the ride?" he taunted me. "I'm going to make sure you don't interfere with me ever again!" He shot another cork, aimed in front of me.
Man, this guy has lousy aim, I thought to myself. I mean, he wasn't even aiming at me. Wait a minute! Aimed to the front of me like that, it'll hit me as this mine cart approaches! This guy's smarter than he looks!
Thinking quickly, I punctured the cork with a well-aimed feather, knocking it to the floor. Not to be outdone, Nack followed up by throwing a blockade of Glassite Diamond material on the tracks as a roadblock, but I shattered it with a properly aimed Ice Feather.
Nack was stunned. "How did you-"
I took advantage of Nack's hesitation and nailed his hand with a feather, knocking his gun across the room. It landed near the tracks, and Nack ran over to fetch it just as the mine cart was approaching the same spot. Just as Nack was picking up the gun, I snatched it from him.
Furious, Nack took a stick of dynamite from a pile in the corner, lit it, and threw it at me. I grabbed it and held an Ice Feather to the fuse, extinguishing it. "Hey," Nack demanded, "quit messing things up!"
"Naw," I replied, "it's way too fun." I aimed Nack's gun and pulled the trigger. It didn't fire, though, and Nack burst out laughing. There was no ammo. "Okay," I quickly added, "you get points for that. But next time I'll be a bit more careful."
Another stick of dynamite landed right in my cart as I threw the gun away. I threw it back at Nack, but he grabbed it and threw it back. The stick went back and forth until Nack missed it, and it exploded in his face.
Furious, Nack grabbed another stick of dynamite, but I shot a feather at him at the same time. I hit his hand again, causing him to drop it. Him dropping the stick was more important than it seemed, since it landed right in front of a pile of other dynamite sticks. When it exploded, it detonated the others as well.
Noticing what was happening, Nack panicked. "Uh-oh! I have explosives stashed all over this mine. That last dynamite stick explosion started a chain reaction that'll destroy this whole mine in about five minutes! I'm scrammin', Salmon!"
Nack ran towards an exit. Luckily for me, he tripped over a track switch lever on the way out. The track was diverted, and I hit a dead end and was thrown clear. If not for the circumstances, I would have paused to reflect on the absolute stupidity of that last line, but every second counted, so I dashed through the exit after Nack.
-
This chapter kind of fell flat, but it's not the worst thing I've written. (Right?)
Quote of the Chapter:
"Sam and Clover investigated Cleo's office once Cleo had left. It didn't seem too suspicious. In fact, it was suspiciously unsuspicious… if that even makes sense."
-Narrator, Cherry-Lime Dr, uh, Nightmare, Ch. 5