Chapter 5: Run
The strangers quickly sprung from the dining chairs; they brought out their weapons: guns, swords, fists and all, waiting for the first move. Brawler turned to Swordfighter and Gunner, he uttered one word that put them all on edge. "Run!"
The trio ran towards the pantry, hoping to escape the residents of this manor. The sound of an alarm blasted throughout the building, creating an almost deafening noise. They almost reached the storeroom until a metal barrier suddenly shut over the door, closing off their exit.
With the sounds of many footsteps coming in their direction, they tried to look for a way out of the kitchen. Right next to the barrier was another door, open slightly outwards to a long hallway.
"Come on, let's go!" shouted Brawler, as the trio left the kitchen.
They were running through hallways left and right, with the strangers quick on their trail. A metal gate descended from the ceiling and was falling to the ground, Swordfighter and Brawler managed to get past the bars before it touched the floor, but Gunner was not too lucky; she wasn't fast enough. She was stuck on the other side.
"Gunner!" shouted Swordfighter as he pressed up against the bars, looking at the shooter in the eyes.
Gunner scanned the gate, looking for a way to get through, but to no avail. "There's no way through, I can't come with you!" cried Gunner, pure fear running through her veins.
"I think they came through here!" said someone, further down the hall behind them.
Gunner shrieked and ran towards a corridor to the left of the gate, disappearing out of sight from the sword and the fist. "No! We have to go after her!" said Swordfighter, putting his hand though the bars.
"We can't get to her, she out of reach!" Brawler said, put a hand on Swordfighter's shoulder "We need to go now!"
'But!-"
"FOUND THEM!" yelled a deep coarse voice. The residents has spotted the two fighters, and is now running towards them at full speed.
"NOW, SWORD!"
Swordfighter looked at Brawler with deep sadness in eyes. He didn't want to leave Gunner behind, but if he stayed here he'd be at the mercy of these people. So they both sprinted away from the mob, putting a great distance behind them.
Sword looked behind him as he ran; the crowd was stopped by the gate, preventing them from going after the two. Half of them split off from the horde, heading towards the same corridor that Gunner went through seconds ago.
As the sword wielder turned his head back to focus on evading the residents, he thought out loud, deeply worried for her teammate 'I hope Gunner is okay.'
She was running through the halls in a blind panic, getting more lost by the second. Tears began to well in her eyes from the fear and stress from the chase. She doesn't want to get caught, she can't get caught. If they catch her, she'd be at the mercy of her captors, who knows what they got in store for her.
Gunner turned a tight corner, hoping to find a way out of this mess. Instead however, she came across some of the people that were chasing her: An anthropomorphic wolf, a tiny yellow mouse with black ears, a fat penguin with a hammer, a princess dressed in pink, and a kid with a red baseball cap. All of them stopping in their tracks the moment they saw her.
The canine pulled his gun from his holster and aimed at the girl "Halt! Don't take another step!" he shouted in an authoritative voice.
Gunner froze, fearing that if she moved even an inch, the wolf would pull the trigger; but she heard the raging footsteps thumping behind her. They were getting louder. They are coming closer. They are going to get her.
NO! She needs to keep running, she wants to live!
Gunner's body sprinted on its own accord, she headed straight towards the group, hoping to evade and push past her hunters.
The canine opened fire, shooting out a powerful projectile of green energy. Gunner ducked as she ran, barely dodging the blast as it flew past her head. The shooter slammed into the wolf, knocking him to the ground.
Next was the child, He raised both his arms and shouted on the top of his lungs. "PK FIRE!" a small yellow light bolt came out of his hands, hitting Gunner with pin-point accuracy.
The pain instant. The flames engulfed her like she was drowning in water. She screamed in agony as she was caught ablaze, thrashing around for several seconds as the fire surrounding her died out. She looked down at her body for any damage, but once again found nothing. Despite being burned alive, no injuries were visible on her.
Gunner was stunned, surprised that she somehow escaped unharmed once again. The shooter was taken aback however, when she heard the sound of high heels coming nearby.
The princess was charging straight forwards with a frying pan in hand, winding up her weapon of choice to strike the intruder head-on.
Gunner yelped and pointed her cannon at the noble, discharging a blue beam at her attacker. It hit the women in pink with great force, blasting her into the kid, taking them both out of commission.
She continued to move forward with a purpose, still running for her life.
'Okay, I can do this' She thought 'If I dodge their attacks I can escape this unscath-'
Her thoughts were interrupted when she tripped over the mouse, who howled out the word "PICHU!" in pain.
Gunner face-planted to the floor, getting a mouthful of rug. She opened her eyes in a daze, feeling very disoriented. The shooter's blood ran cold when she noticed the feet of the penguin, standing a couple of inches away from her. Looking up, the shooter saw the bird raising a large hammer over its head, preparing to hit her with a downward swing.
She rolled to her left just as the mallet struck the ground. Gunner quickly sprang upwards, heading pass the penguin with great speed.
The girl went as fast as her legs could take her, staying out of reach of the mob. Gunner thought she was in the clear until she came stumbled across a dead end.
Oh god no, she's going to be cornered! There has got to be another opening!
"SHE WENT THIS WAY, COME ON!"
Gunner looked backed at the hallway behind her, the sound of stomping and voices coming closer. She must escape, there has to be a way.
The shooter quickly scanned her surroundings and found a brown door, opened slight inwards to mysterious darkness.
She went inside and shut the door. The girl turned her back around, letting her eyes adjust the blackness. It was hard to see, but it appeared to be a bedroom, the design was very elegant. Like it was made for a king.
Gunner went towards the bed and crawled right under the frame, in hopes of not being discovered.
The door slammed opened, hitting the wall with a loud thump. The feet of many hunters poured into the room, like the ocean invading the hull of a ship.
"Where the hell did she go!? We almost had her. Dammit!" said a Loud gruffly voice.
"Calm down Bowser." said a voice in her head, the tone being very relaxed and modulating. "She couldn't have gone far, I'm going to take a scan."
"What do you me- Oh that's right!" Exclaimed someone, sounding very dignified. "Your aura vision, good thinking Lucario!"
"Indeed." said the relaxed voice before taking a deep breath, he stayed silent for a couple of seconds before whispering to the group.
It was hard to hear exactly what they were talking about, but she did discern a couple of words.
"I…..under….bed."
Under the bed!? How did they find her so fast?
Everyone quietly surrounded the piece of furniture, two large hairy hand grasped the edge of the bed frame, preparing to lift the bed up.
'They found me!' thought Gunner 'I got to do something! But what?!' there was nothing on her that can-Wait her cannon!
She looked at her weapon, with a lightbulb turning on in her brain. If she can't run away from her problems, she just have to beat to them to a pulp!
A gorilla wearing a red tie heaved the bed up with great strength, tossing it to the side-now exposed to her assailants.
Gunner out of desperation, aimed her blaster at the group, discharging many projectiles of yellow energy from the end of the barrel.
Everyone dodged out of the way of the spray, except the Gorilla.
The ape was shot multiple times before being thrown into a red headed swordsman and an astronaut. They all slammed into door, knocking it off its hinges as the three of them crashed into wall, just outside in the hallway.
A ninja with a white scarf pulled out a bunch of needles, she jingled the thin pieces of metal in her hand before throwing it in towards the direction of the shooter.
Gunner rolled forward, narrowly avoiding the needles that had embedding itself into the wall.
She got up, standing on one her knees. She charged up her cannon before blasting out a ball of green plasma, the orb heading towards the ninja with the great speed.
A 2D stick figure saw the attack and quickly leap into action. He stood in the way of glowing sphere and pulled out a bucket seemingly out of nowhere. The globe of ionized gas turned into white light as it was absorbed into pail.
Did the ball of intensely hot and glowing plasma, just went into his bucket? What the hell?!
Gunner heard the floorboards creek over on her right, a blue jackal-like creature was standing next to the shooter, staring deeply into her eyes as to say: 'make your move'.
Gunner discharged her laser at the canine in surprise, the canine vanished out of thin air as the beamed touched him. Disappearing without a trace.
'Where'd it go?!' thought Gunner, now more confused as ever.
She suddenly felt someone kick her back, sending the shooter flying towards the stick figure. The 2D entity tossed the contents of the bucket into the air right into Gunner; it was burning oil.
The liquid petroleum blasted the girl into the celling, leaving cracks and fractures to where she landed. She stuck there for a moment before heading towards the floor with an embarrassed thud. Gunner struggled to get on her hands and knees but felt something warm and radiating entangle her entire body.
Somebody in red and orange armor was coiling her up with a blue energy beam, it seem to be emitted from a cannon-like device that was attached to its right arm.
"Roy! DK! Are you alright?" the concerned canine said to the ape and swordsman who reentered the room.
"We're fine, just had the wind knocked out of us. Nothing we couldn't handle." Said the red head.
The knight looked at the restrained girl on the floor with curiosity "So this is the intruder?"
"Yes, but there are two more still running around." Spoke a feminine voice, it seem to come from the person in the armor, she looked towards the group and said "We need to catch them as soon as possible, we don't know their intentions. For all we know, they came here to spy on us."
"Okay. Donkey, GW, and I should go out. Find the other intruders. And try to capture them.
"You go and do that." Said the lady in the armor, she turned to look at the shooter and said "We'll handle this one."
Gunner silently whimpered in her bindings, filled to the brim with fear at what they have in store for her.
Swordfighter and Brawler ran up a flight of stairs. They open the door and found themselves in a hallway connected to a balcony. Looking over the railing, they could see the tables that the diners were eating at earlier. They appear to be somewhere on the second floor
The door they previously went through busted open, letting their pursuers into the hall. "Halt!" shouted someone, as it passed through the crowd. It was a creature that had a round body, its color was dark blue, and it wore an intimidating mask; with only the eyes visible. "You're under arrest for trespassing! Surrender now and we promise no harm will come to you!"
"As if we're going to listen to you!" said Brawler, who yelled back in rebellion "You all can rot in hell!" He materialized a metal ball in his hands and threw it towards the creature.
The masked fiend covered himself with his cape, vanishing before the metal sphere could hit its target. He reappeared next to Brawler and Swordfighter, the caped knight raised his sword high up before slashing at the two with great skill.
Brawler evaded to attack by rolling out of the way, his friend however, was not so lucky. He wasn't fast enough to dodge the sword, the blade hit him with great force, sending him flying off the balcony.
Swordfighter landed on one of the dining tables; breaking it in half. He survived, but he was in a huge daze from the blow, the sword wielder was practically seeing stars.
"DAMMIT! NO!" shouted Brawler, who watched his partner fell to the room below, powerless to anything at all. He looked backed at the mob in outrage; after clenching his fist and gritting his teeth, he ran further down the corridor-keeping his distance from the residents.
Many of the hunters gave chase whiles a good portion of them dropped down to the first floor to deal with the sword fighter.
The blade wielder slowly rose up; still feeling a headache rummaging throughout his skull. He watched as his enemies were getting position to take him out; an elf in a tunic, a large yellow rat, and a green dinosaur all charged forward to make their first move.
The elf was first, he jumped in the air with grace before plummeting down towards the ground; the sharp end of his blade pointed straight towards the blue fighter.
Swordfighter jumped backwards, avoiding the attack. He swung his sword to the side, hitting the elf. His pointy-eared assailant was launched far away from him, crash landing with his face on the floor and butt in the air.
Swordfighter felt something hit the back of his head; which broke with ease, leaving a slimly spot on his hair. He turned around to see the dinosaur throwing large green spotted eggs at him, the reptile eyeing the sword wielder with determination.
It threw another egg at him but this time Swordfighter was prepared, he ducked to ground with ease, grabbed a metal kettle that has spilled on the rug, and threw the object at the animal.
The container hit the dinosaur straight on the nose, knocking it down to the floor.
Lastly, Swordfighter faced the rat, who'd glared deeply at his very being. He dashed towards the rodent, ready to send it to kingdom come.
The creature looked up in the air and screamed on the tops of its lungs "PIKA!" A thunderous storm cloud formed up above, sending a bolt of lightning at the sword wielder. It hit him with great power, sending the fighter crashing into a wall-far across the room.
He strained himself to get up, as he opened his eyes to see a guy in overalls squatting to the ground before launching sideways straight towards him.
He felt his blood pressure spike as he dodged to his left; avoiding the man as the green plumber got his head stuck in the wall-struggling to pull his noggin out of the barrier.
A kid in a red cap sporting a badge on his shirt pointed at the blade-wielder with his index finger. "Squirtle, use 'water gun'!" he ordered to the blue turtle standing next to him.
The tortoise gave the human a nod before turning towards Swordfighter and breathing out a large stream of water. The pressure of the spray pushed him to ground, making the blade-wielder wet in the process.
"Okay! We got this, now use bite!"
The creature ran to the downed swordsman, it leaped in the air as it opened up its jaws to take a huge chomp out of him. Swordfighter caught the animal before it can lay its beak on him, he threw the beast off him; the shelled-foe heading towards a grandfather clock.
The turtle hit the clock with great momentum, shattering the glass panel as it slumped to the floor. The critter got up to its feet, rubbing its head from the impact. The creature heard something creaked behind it, the tortoise turned around in confusion, only to see the clock slowly tumbling down upon the unfortunate soul.
It screeched out the word "SQUUUIIIIRRRTTLLL-!" before it was crushed by the heavy clock; which broke apart the moment the timepiece made contact with the floor.
"NO! SQUIRTLE!" shriek the human, who extended an arm in the direction of his pet.
A blanket of blinding light covered the pile of junk. When it dissipated, a faded statue of the tortoise laid where the clock had crashed down-forming some sort of pose whiles attached to a golden base underneath.
'What the Hell?!' thought Swordfighter in bewilderment 'what happened to the turtle?!'
He was so distracted by what happened, that he didn't noticed a pair of twins-dressed up in parkas, pressing their hands against the ground.
A surge of intense cold emanated from their palms, freezing the ground solid. A trail of frost was heading towards the sword-wielder, trapping his feet in ice.
Swordfighter yelped at the sudden drop of temperature that was numbing the lower part of his body. He looked down to see that everything up to his thighs was encapsulated by frozen water.
The pair of Eskimos turned their heads towards a kid with blond hair, and an elf in a white dress.
"Zelda!" said the twin in blue
"Lucas!" said the twin in pink
"We need some help!" shouted both of them at the same time.
The elf and the boy nodded without hesitation. The girl projected a red fireball from her hand, whiles the blond yelled "PK THUNDER! Discharging a ball of purple lighting-leaving a trail of electricity to wherever it went.
Both projectiles soared through the air like sharks searching for prey, and they were swimming to the trapped fighter-looking for blood.
Swordfighter skipped a beat when he saw the two spheres getting closer. In his terrorized-state of mind, he began to hack the ice with his weapon-being very careful not to cut off his own legs off.
The orbs were half-way to their destination.
He managed to get rid of a good chunk of the ice, but he still has ways to go.
The balls are coming closer, getting bigger by the second.
One of his legs are free now, the other one is still stuck. Swordfighter pulled on his own leg-praying that he will be success.
They're almost here!
He broke his foot out of the frozen water, landing on his rump as the pair of globes zipped past him-missing the swordsman completely.
Swordfighter heard the two projectiles hit something-making a large bang, but he didn't care what it was. He's more focused on getting the hell out of here. A door leading out of the dining room was in walking distance of him, the blade-wielder got up and sprinted towards the exit.
Unfortunately, two more of his pursuers blocked the path, a blue-haired swordsman and the same creature that had knocked him down here in the first place-they won't let him leave without a fight.
But if a fight is what they want, then a fight is what they'll get.
Swordfighter took out his blade in hand, and began to slash the assailants wildly with it. However his attackers proved to more experience in the art of fencing. He didn't even get a single hit on his assaulters.
An anthropomorphic fox steadied his blaster at the lone sword-wielder, firing a well-placed laser at his left eye.
The beam of concentrated light hit his pupil. In pain, the swordsman put his free hand over the injured eye-letting go of his stance. Leaving him wide open.
The man with blue hair kicked him in the stomach, sending the dirty blond a couple of feet away.
A soldier pulled out something from his belt and pulled on the pin with his mouth "Meta! Marth! Get out of the way!" said the serviceman as he threw the object towards the group. The swordsman and the creature jumped out of the way by the time it hit the floor.
Because he was hit directly in the eye with a laser, it made it much more difficult to see clearly; but he did perceive the item in question laying on the ground in front of him.
It appeared to be a small round metal ball with a lever attached to top. There also seems to be missing something, there was a small hole near the lever. It was like something had been pulled from here and-
Oh son of a-
The grenade exploded in his face, launching him a couple feet in the air before landing on the ground with a large thud. Yet by some miracle he managed to survive in one piece. However was disoriented and in a lot of pain, he saw his sword laying near him-just inches away.
The sword-wielder struggled to grab his weapon but it was snatched by a quadrupedal animal; it had a huge flower bud on its back with vines sprouting from the top. It clutched the sword with its plant like tentacles as it moved away from him.
The now unarmed fighter attempted to get up but was stopped when he felt something sharp poke his throat. Looking up he could see that the blue-haired swordsman pressed his blade against his neck, as well as a fox who aimed his pistol at his head whiles the solider steadied an RPG at his chest. Swordfighter sighed in defeat as he closed his eyes. The man raised both his hands in the air, muttering the words he never hoped to say.
"I surrender."
The sound of Brawler's feet echo throughout the corridor, dodging arrows made of pure light. He was still being chased by the mob; who was still hot on his trail. He sprinted faster to stay out of their reach, but found two people in the hallway. Blocking his path.
It was a monkey and an elfin kid, they we're having a chat; unaware of the situation at hand. They turned to the commotion to see a stampede heading their way.
They began to scream in terror as Brawler mowed them down with a shoulder charge. The fighter ran to the other end of the hall, punching the door open with brute force as he went inside.
The room he was in appeared to be an old dusty attic; Knick-knacks and ancient treasures were placed all over the room. Brawler would have been intrigued the sight if he wasn't being hunted down like an animal.
His pursuers busted the door of its hinges, letting them access to the room. His assailants came in all sorts and sizes, but the most notable one was a pinkish creature, with a purple tail extending from its stomach area. It floated off the ground a couple of feet before landing softly on the floor.
"You won't be able to escape you know." said the feline creature, projecting his thoughts into Brawler. "This mansion's security system has been activated, closing off all the exits. Not to mention you are outnumbered. Just give up. It'll make things easier for all of us."
Brawler's temper was heating up, this freak was mocking him, think he's just some coward. He is dead wrong.
"That's not happening." Said Brawler, the words seething through his teeth like venom.
"Then so be it." Said the beast, his eyes glowing a tint of blue. The residents got in position, ready to attack. This was his last stand, his last chance to escape this alive.
A fat man in a biker outfit went first, he went on his motorcycle as he speed towards the fist-fighter; his mouth grinning with delight.
Brawler side-stepped out of the way of the bike; punching the man in the gut, knocking him of his ride and onto the floor.
Then came the anthropomorphic bird who pulled out a blaster, firing off blue lasers at his main target. Brawler picked up the fatty and used him as a meat shield, blocking all the shots with his hostage's big belly.
He grabbed the biker by the feet, spinning a couple of times before sending the punk flying into the avian creature. The overweight man crashed into the bird, knocking them both down for the count.
Brawler heard footsteps coming behind, he rotated his head to see a buff swordsman and a doctor ambushing him from behind. The doctor was first, he spawned large colorful pills from his hands; which bounced off the floor with ease, having no respect to the laws of physics.
The fist-fighter maneuvered through the vibrant capsules, getting very close to the physician. He leaped far into the air with great agility, before drop kicking the MD in the face; sending him launching into a pile of boxes,
Whiles Brawler attempted to get up from his risky stunt, he saw the beefed up mercenary raising his large sword to strike him down. He rolled out of the way of the golden blade.
He rose up on one foot, winding his fist up behind his back as he punched the man in the crotch with all his strength. The swordsman collapsed to his knees-holding onto his pelvis. Brawler then grabbed both of the man's shoulders, performing a devastating head-butt. The blue-haired brute didn't stand a chance, he fell to the floor. Down for the count.
Suddenly the fist-fighter felt a surge of electricity run through his body, he screamed in pain as he was paralyzed in place from the shock. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see a woman in a ponytail aim her gun at the lower end of his back. A pink round creature with rosy cheeks came out from behind the women. Slamming a hammer into Brawler's spine.
The force of the hit launched the fist-fighter into a glass display case, shatter the see-through window. He slumped to the ground, hope was quickly sipping away from him. He was considering giving up until something long and metallic brush up against his lap.
It was a rocket launcher of sorts, the weapon was greenish in color and designed with a large opening on both sides of the firearm.
Brawler picked up the weapon and pointed to the direction of the hunters. A large firecracker came out of the barrel, the bomb was shot towards a kid with cartoonish eyes and a blue hedgehog-like creature. The explosion blasted the two into the wall; leaving a pair of open holes inside the brick structure.
The fist-fighter was surprised on how effective his bazooka was, he lips curled into a devilish smile before firing at will at the mob.
Everyone was either getting blasted or dodging out of the way, except a grey robot who stood defiantly as it fired lasers from its eyes. The beam hit Brawler's rocket launcher, knocking it out of his hands as it skid across the floor; far away from the fighter.
A red plumber saw the brawler unarmed, he saw as an opportunity. He got up from his cover and charged straight towards his target.
Brawler knew what the mustached man was planning, he formed another metal sphere in his hand as he threw it with great precision. However, Instead of the ball hitting the man, he took out a yellow cape and swung it in front of the projectile; reflecting it back at the fist-fighter.
It hit him right in the directly in the face, sending him flying towards a man with green skin and orange hair. The brute caught Brawler by the neck, he outstretched his hand holding the fighter away from him as the orange yelled out "Falcon!"
A guy in a blue suit and a red helmet turned his head in the direction of the caped thug, eyes widening at the intruder caught between his palms. They both nodded as the man named "Falcon" darted to the green giant.
He winded his hand backwards as fire began to engulf his arm. "FALCON PUNCH!" yelled the man in the blue suit, before punching Brawler directly in the chest.
The force of the fiery punch had send the fist-fighter straight into a wall. He flopped to the floor, the energy sapped out of him. He barely managed to take a breath as he was pushed against the brick by an unseen force.
It was the creature with the purple tail. He extended his arm at the fighter, pushing the fist-fighter against the barrier with telekinesis.
"I just got word that your friends have been captured." Said the beast, his voice having as very serious tone. "You're all alone, no one is coming to save you. Just give up whiles you still have your dignity."
Brawler looked at the beast in the eye, fury erupting from his core. "NOT A CHANCE YOU MONSTER! I WILL DIE BEFORE I LET THAT HAPPEN!"
"The stubbornness is strong with this one." The fiend muttered to himself, he turned his head to a small round pink creature on the ground. "Jigglypuff. I'm afraid the man won't go quietly, I think it's time to give him a good old fashioned lullaby."
"Lullaby?" said Brawler, becoming very confused.
The pink animal took a couple of steps forward; getting up and close to the restrained fighter. It took a deep breath before singing a song; Sounding quite soothing to Brawler's ears.
The fist-fighter felt very tired, feeling his muscles and mind relax to the rhythm of her voice. He tried to stay awake but the melody proved too irresistible for Brawler to handle. He took one last glance towards the floating creature before closing his eyes. Letting the darkness of sleep take him at last.