An unusually short chapter but there wasn't much I could do with it, other then add YET ANOTHER chase scene. Is it just me or do they do a lot of chasing and running in this movie?
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Chapter 12: The Deal
Meanwhile back at the village, a small carriage with the words 'L.L. Asylum' had pulled up to the local tavern. It was past midnight so all the lamps were out and the streets were empty. A dark figure in a green cape then emerged from the carriage and knocked on the tavern door.
The door opened a smidge, followed by a female voice who whispered "Hello? Who's there?"
"Long Feng from Lake Laogai Asylum." the figured replied. "I believe you sent me a letter saying that a Mr. Jet requested my presence here tonight."
"Oh yes, of course." said Meng as she opened the door. "Right this way sir. Jet has been expecting you. He's waiting in the back room."
Removing his hood, the dark and serious looking man followed Meng through the tavern and into the back room where Jet was waiting, his feet propped up on a wooden table.
"Ahh, Long Feng." Jet grinned as he sat up straight. "So glad you could make it on such short notice."
Long Feng had no reply but handed his cape to Meng as he sat in a chair across from Jet. "I'll have you know Mr. Jet, that I don't usually leave the asylum in the middle of the night. But your young female friend said you would make it worth my while."
"Of course." He said snapping his fingers at Meng. Immediately she went to a nearby drawer, withdrew a large sack and handed it to Long Feng.
Opening it, he grinned when he saw a large amount of gold pieces inside and took one out. "Ahh, very good. Okay, I'm listening now."
"See it's like this." Jet said as Meng began pouring them cups of water. "I have my heart set on marrying the water tribe inventor's daughter, Katara. However, for one reason or another, she's been resistant to my advances."
"More like she turned you down flat." Meng mumbled to herself. Overhearing her, Jet stuck out his foot as she walked by, causing her to trip and drop the water jug.
"Anyway" Jet continued as Meng struggled to clean up. "In order to make her my bride, I believe a little…'persuasion' is in order."
"I see." Long Feng said taking a sip from his cup. "And how exactly do I fit into all this?"
"Look, everyone in this town knows her father is a lunatic." Jet said seriously. "In fact he was in here earlier tonight, raving about some demon in a castle."
"Raving you say?" Long Feng asked curiously. "Interesting. But I should point out that I have evaluated Hakoda before. Aside from being obsessed with his work and having an overactive imagination, the man is harmless."
"His mental state doesn't matter!" Jet said. "The point is that Katara will do anything to keep him from getting locked up."
"Yeah, even if it meant marrying him." Meng added. Jet then threw her a dirty look, prompting her to shut up and go back to cleaning.
"So let me see if I understand you correctly…you want me throw Katara's mentally harmless father into the asylum, unless she agrees to marry you?"
"What do you say Long Feng?" Jet asked, grinning devilishly as he pulled another sack of gold out of his pocket. "Do we have a deal?"
Long Feng looked at the second sack of gold before looking seriously at Jet. "I must say Jet, that is the most despicable, low down, malicious plan I've ever heard of…and I LOVE IT!" he said as he grabbed the sack and opened it up. Holding up another coin, he then turned to Jet and held out his hand. "I believe we have an agreement."
"Excellent" Jet said chuckling evilly to himself as he shook Long Feng's hand.
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Up at the cottage, Hakoda was going through all his things, grabbing maps, compasses and anything else he could fit into his bag. After being ejected from the tavern and receiving help from no one, Hakoda decided to free Katara himself and began preparing for his journey back into the woods.
However, the horseless wooden carriage that brought him back to town remained a problem. Since dropping him off, it had kept a vigilante post behind a tree outside his house and would thwart any attempt he made to re-enter the woods. Although unsure of how he was to get around it, Hakoda knew he had to do whatever it took to save Katara.
"If no ones going to help me, then I'll go back alone! Now where's that cheese grater compass? Ahh there it is." he then grabbed the object off the desk and shoved it in his pocket. "I don't care what it takes. I'll find that castle and...well one way or another, I'll get her out of there!" Grabbing his bag and sword, Hakoda extinguished all the lights and walked out the front door.
As he walked through the darkness toward the edge of the woods, he saw movement behind some of the trees. Bracing himself, he charged head first into the woods, running as fast as his legs could carry him. He then heard a thumping noise and turned around to see the wooden carriage following close behind. Immediately it caught up with him but he manged to jump out of its reach and into a large open dirt trench. He then started running along it while the carriage followed overhead.
As soon as it saw a spot large enough, the wooden carriage jumped down into the ditch where it continued to follow behind Hakoda. It had almost caught up with him when Hakoda dove through a small opening under a tree trunk that had fallen into the trench. The carriage banged into the tree trunk and tried to get around it, but found it couldn't fit over or under the large trunk.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Hakoda followed the trench till it ended at the river. He spotted a small bridge and hid under it just as the carriage showed up. The carriage looked around the river bend, behind rocks and even stood on top of the bridge itself trying to spot Hakoda. Just then it spotted movement in the trees and charged toward it, vanishing into the woods. Hakoda waited a bit before eventually coming out. After seeing that the coast was clear, he went in the opposite direction of the carriage and started his long hike toward the castle.
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It wasn't long after Hakoda left that the Lake Laogai carriage pulled up in front of his house. Jet and Meng jumped off and knocked on the door but there was no answer. "Hakoda! Open up!" Jet yelled as he banged on the door.
"Hey look its open!" Meng said as she turned the doorknob. Pushing past her, Jet walked into the house but found it empty and the lights extinguished.
"Katara! Hakoda!" he called out, but still there was no answer.
"Guess they must've gone on a trip or something." Meng said looking into an open empty drawer as she smiled to herself. "Oh well! Looks like your plan's not gonna work after all Jet. May as well-"
"Wait till they get back." Jet said grabbing a key out of a drawer and began walking towards the door. "Which is exactly what you're going to do."
"I'm doing what now?" Meng asked looking towards Jet as he slammed the door behind him. Hearing a clicking noise, Meng began to panic and raced toward the door. "Hey Jet, you locked me in. Jet!?" She tried opening the door but Jet had locked it from the other side, using Hakoda's interchangeable lock and key.
"Wow. Who knew the old coot actually made something useful?" Jet said amusedly to himself as he looked at the key.
"Jet this isn't funny!" Meng said banging on the door. "Let me out!"
"Relax Meng." Jet said pocketing the key. "They'll have to come back sooner or later, and when they do we'll be ready for them."
"But you can't just leave me in here!" Meng said through the door. "I'll escape out the window or chimney!"
"You are not to move from that spot!" Jet shouted pointing at the window where Meng appeared. "Not until Katara and her father come home. If I see you in town before then, I'll have you kicked out of my gang and the tavern forever!"
"But...Jet..." Meng looked distraughtly out the window and watched as Jet hopped back on the wagon, which turned around and headed back into the town.
Narrowing her eyes in anger, Meng crossed her arms and started kicked the nearby bookshelf several times. "Darn it, darn it, DARN IT!" Just then the shelf lurched forward, causing all the books to fall off and land on Meng who stood underneath.
"Ouch..." she moaned as another book landed on top of her head.
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What a jerk :/ damn Jet and his sexyness
Some of you may be wondering why I didn't have the "Maison De Loon" song in this chapter and my answers are as follow:
1. I don't like the song
2. I feel that it adds nothing to the scene and actually ruins the creepy mystique of Monsieur De Ark
3. When I tried looking for the song, I kept getting compeletly different lyrics and was too lazy to just write out the real lyrics myself.
Sry if anybody wanted to see the song but it's my personal opinion that the scene is much better off without it.
Also, in other story related news, I have set up a poll on my profile page asking you the readers, to pick which movie/play you'd like me to 'avatarize' next. It's multi-optional so can pick as many as you like. If you have a request that isn't on my list, just send a review stating which one you'd like to see and I'll eventually add it to the poll.