Disclaimer: I don't own anything here. The short story "The Most Dangerous Game" is owned by Richard Connell. I think he's dead though...
Author's Notes: I'm glad to see that everyone likes this story. I want to ask your opinion on something. Would you read a third story ? (tomatoes fly) All joking aside, I want to know what you think about it.
Danny wakes up, rubbing his head. His vision is fuzzy and he feels like he can't speak. "Jimmy? Timmy?" he slurs out. Finally he can see straight, and all he can see is green. A green hedge, to be exact. "What the heck is going on!"
Timmy stirs and stands up shakily. "Where are we?
Jimmy leans up. "It seems that we are in a deadly setting, like a labyrinth of sorts. And Danny, do us all a favor and don't freak out. You're useless when you freak out ."
Danny stares at the green plant wall in silence. "So what exactly do we have to do?"
"That's easy" comments Timmy. "Survive."
"I have to guess that we have to make our way through this, and hopefully beat them up. " Jimmy walks over to the only opening leading to the maze. "Well, let's go."
They walk carefully into the maze. There is a cardboard box in the corner of the first corridor on the left. "Hey, I wonder what's in here? Someth" Timmy leans over and opens the box.
"No, Don't!" Danny dives for the box, but it's too late.
"I am the box ghost! And your doom is coming! But if you can defeat me, you can win this cylindrical box to take along with you..." The Box Ghost pops out, waving the thermos like a battle trophy.
"Oh come on!" Jimmy scoffs. "Danny?"
"Done" Danny transforms, hovers in mid-air and casts a lazy ecto blast at the Box Ghost, deftly swiping the thermos from his hand. "If the rest of this is like this, we've got it made." Danny sucks the protesting Box ghost into the thermos.
"Well, this obviously isn't the way." Timmy turns to the right. "This way it is."
They continue down the path. The hair on the back of Jimmy's neck prickles up. "You get the feeling that something bad is coming?"
"Oh great" Timmy says sarcastically. " It's nice to know the paranoia hasn't really set in yet"
"No, really, I feel it too." Danny holds up a finger for silence. "It's funny, but..."
They continue down the path. "Do you see that?" Jimmy asks fearfully.
"Vicky?" Timmy shrieks. "No Way."
This Vicky was very different from the one that the boys had come to know. For one point, this Vicky had claws. Metal and deadly, these things were part of Timmy's nightmares. Vicky is waving the claws menacingly, as if to signal, bring it on.
"Ookay.. That has pretty much scarred me for life." Danny points a finger carefully at her.
"Ditto." The two younger boys give him a frightened look and dart behind him.
"What are you doing?" Danny looks at them.
"Well, you're the only one here with powers. We're pretty much useless right now." Timmy points out.
"Jimmy, did they frisk you before they threw you in here?" Danny asks.
"No." Jimmy searches frantically through his pockets. "Aha" He takes out two things. " I have a mini laser and a freeze ray. Take your pick, Timmy"
Timmy scratches his chin. "I'm going to take the freeze ray, if that's okay with you." Timmy fires the freeze ray at the wolverine-ish creature about ten feet away. Vicky is encased in the ice, frozen like an ice sculpture gone horribly wrong.
Danny nudges the "sculpture" away from the only available exit and they walk through. "I wonder what's waiting at the end?"He thinks aloud absently.
"Don't dwell on that, right now, let's just concentrate on getting out of here". Jimmy walks determinedly to the end, where there are two possible exits.
"Should we go left or right?" Danny asks.
"I dunno." Timmy takes a coin out of his pocket. "Heads it's left, tails, it's right."
"I wonder.." Jimmy feels the hedge. "Danny, can you fire an ecto blast at this? Maybe it could blast through, leaving a straight path through."
"Somehow, I think this might not work." Danny lets out a large blast. The blast doesn't affect it at all. Instead, it bounces off and hits Danny square in the chest. "Ow..." groans out Danny.
"Guess that's out" says Timmy sourly. "Am I to assume the mini laser would not work either?"
"Yep" Jimmy looks up and stares at the sky. "Um.. can you fly up and see if you can lead us to the right path from a birds-eye view?"
Despite his injuries, Danny does it, and meets the invisible shield that apparently covers the top. Danny is flying far too fast, and meets it, bouncing back, and leaving a Danny-shaped dent in the dirt.
"That looks like another no." notes Timmy as he heads down a path leading to the right.
"Where're you going?"questions Jimmy.
"I'm getting moving. My mom and dad are dumb, but they're going to notice if I disappear for too long." Timmy thinks for about a second or two , dashes back, and helps Jimmy support the groggy Danny.
Jimmy goes back to the path where Timmy was "You sure this is the.." He trips over a white trip wire, dropping Danny and setting off a booby trap.
"Duck!" Danny pushes himself off the ground, tackling Jimmy to the ground. A flurry of knock out darts whiz right over their heads. They all get stuck in the hedge.
"That was close." Timmy brushes the dirt off of him. "A little too close for comfort"
"I'll say" Jimmy frowns. "This looks to be more dangerous than I thought"
"Well, DUR, Captain Big Brain, you should have known that going in this place." Timmy remarks blandly.
"If we make it out of here with our heads still attached, Turner, you're so going down."Jimmy glares at him mockingly and continues walking.
"Calm down." Danny scowls at them. "We're going to be okay."
The trio continue to walk in the twisting maze in silence. Timmy feels something in his pocket. "What's this?" He pulls out a mp3 player. "Cool, I forgot I had this. You guys don't mind if I play this, do you?"
This results in a glare from them, but Danny speaks. "Um, fine, I suppose so."
Timmy turns it on, and the speakers blast his theme song, but instrumental. "Not so bad, eh?" he asks.
"Not so bad." echoes Jimmy. "It won't be so boring this way."
The song ends, and the instrumental version of Danny's old theme song comes on. (Author's Note: you can hear this at butch hartman .com ) Danny's ears prick up to a odd sound.
"Does anyone else hear a... snarling sound?" Danny says tentatively.
"No.. but with all the crazy stuff happening lately, I think we should address it." Timmy shuts off the player.
Danny, Timmy and Jimmy turn a final corner.
"Remember how you said with the music it wouldn't be boring?" asks Danny as he looks at the snarling creature in front of them.
"Yeah, so?" Jimmy replies, never taking his eyes off the Twonky's back.
"Looks like you got excitement." Timmy whispers back.
"In truckloads" Danny adds.
"Well, on a positive note, it looks like we hit the center of the maze" says Jimmy weakly.
"Yeah, it's a nice place to possibly meet our doom." Timmy rolls his eyes.
Meanwhile, back at home...
"You seen Danny?" Sam asks Cindy over the phone.
"No, why? Oh wait,i know the answer to this." Cindy sighs. "You wanna beg for another chance."
"No, because I just got a frantic call from Danielle. She woke up, and he was gone." Sam takes a quick glance at her black and purple watch. "And it's 7 now.."
"Well, Jimmy hasn't been answering the calls that I left on his wrist phone. All I keep getting is the message that says ' If I'm not picking up, that means I'm not here or you're Cindy Vortex.' How can you not be there to pick up a phone call, when the phone is attached to your wrist" Cindy lets all of this out in a sniffling breath. "I think that means we're broken up."
"That message could be old.." Sam reassures her. "From when you guys were sworn enemies"
" Still.." Cindy lets out a sob.
"We should look for them. Wherever we are, we know that whenever they go on a big adventure like this, they're always together." Sam suggests.
"But where could they be?" Cindy thinks aloud, the crying absent. "Oh yeah..." there is a rummaging sound on the her end of the line. "Got it!"
"What's 'it'?" Sam says, interest showing in her voice.
"A tracking device." Cindy says smugly. "I gave Jimmy a multi-purpose tool that has actual useful stuff in it. A laser, a freeze ray, you know.. But what he didn't know was that I put a tracking device in the casing when I bought it"
"But how do you know he's using it?" Sam questions.
"Because I tracked the signal to a place that isn't his lab, Danny's house or Timmy's house."Cindy answers.
"And what are we going to do with this information, pray tell?" questions Sam, who is thinking that Cindy's rationalizing that Jimmy had it in his pocket or on his person was flimsy and full of holes at best.
"Save them.. duh." Cindy's disdain shows clearly in her voice.
"And how are we going to get there?" Sam asks, even though she's fairly sure she already knows the answer.
"Hover car. But I think it needs gas." is the response she gets.
"Danielle coming?" Sam says.
"Of course." Cindy sighs. "So are you in or out?"
Sam's frown curves into a smirk. "In.. always.."
So, was that an unexpected twist or not? Answer my question please...