Chapter 13 – Long Limbs Larry and Lost Legs Alan
*Hey there, everybody! If I've said it once, I've said it a million times, but Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is now just 7 days away here in the United Kingdom! I know, I know. I can sense you all warming up your trigger fingers now. But please, don't let that stop you from reading on in this 'delicious' chapter of the story! Unfortunately, it's a little shorter than usual, but it has a whole lotta' content, so enjoy. Thank You.*
The Clakker behind the counter was silent for a minute. Then, he slowly spoke.
"Now listen here, whoever… whatever ya' are. I ALWAYS got bounties goin'." I stood and watched whilst he leaned behind the desk and produced a tattered wanted poster.
"Now," he said. "I'm gonna guess you're new to this, so this guy's probably the easiest option. The pay's good too, mind." On the poster was a picture of an Outlaw known as 'Long Limbs Larry.' He was incredibly tall, almost 8 feet by the look of it. The reward was 200 Moolah, a rather healthy sum under the circumstances.
"I'll take it." I told the Clakker, and left the shop. Now I was to decide how. I had my rifle, but it was almost out of ammo. I had a baton, but I wasn't too confident about hitting this 'Long Limbs Larry' around the head with it. For now, though, it would have to do.
About a half hour later, I'd reached the location enclosed on the poster. An enormous ravine lay ahead, and at the other side, a shack. The shack was guarded by very lightly equipped Outlaw guards. They shouldn't be too difficult to overcome, I thought. My concern was more about the bridge across this ravine. There wasn't one. What there was was a long, thick rope that was tied off at each end of the sheer cliff face. I seemed sure I recognised such a rope from somewhere. Anyway, mustering up my courage, I began to tread gently across the rope.
About halfway across the rope, I began to see more clearly that there was also a small number of slegs guarding the shack, along with the Outlaws. There was also another building, resembling an outhouse of some description. The door to the outhouse was just ajar, when suddenly it swung open. Out of the tiny room stepped an Outlaw. A rather tall Outlaw. Not 8 foot, oh no. He was over 10 foot. I gasped, and slipped suddenly. In an instant, I was dangling from the thick rope, clutching at it for dear life. I looked down, and saw that the ground was not visible at all from this height. I gulped, and thought quickly. There was only one way. I had to get rid of any unnecessary weight. I didn't want to, but I had to. I reached down with one arm, and slammed the enormous release button on my mechanical legs. They slid away from me, falling down into the abyss. Great. Now I couldn't walk.
After climbing back onto the correct side of the rope, I crawled back to the side that I had begun on. I looked across the ravine in dismay at the Outlaws guarding the shack. How was I to get them now? There were 7 of them, I'd established, as well as 5 slegs, and of course, Larry himself. There were two buildings, a shack and an outhouse. Outside of the latter were stacks of barrels reading something I couldn't quite tell. I needed a plan, and fast. I had lost my legs, my gun and my baton. I had found a small cave entrance atop the ravine, and I was now sat inside it, desperately trying to think of a plan. That's when I stumbled upon an extraordinarily lucky find. Above me in the cave, hanging from the ceiling asleep, were Boombats. Only 5 or 6, but they might come in extremely handy. If I could reach them, that is. And that's when I found something else. A Bolamite. Just one, lone Bolomite, crawling along the ground. I snatched it up and attempted to throw it at Boombats. Sadly, it missed, but I managed to catch it again.
After no less than 8 more attempts, I threw the Bolamite with force, and it hit one of the Boombats. It instantly spun its' rope-like web around the Boombat, and they fell to the ground together. I crawled across to where they had landed and then pondered. Now all I needed was a way to fire them across the ravine. Suddenly, without warning, the ground began to rumble. A deafening noise filled the cave. It resembled that of a plane in the real world. I crawled out of the cave quickly and peered into the sky. An enormous object slid into view from over the clifftop. It was a structure apparently fashioned from some form of cloth, which was brown and dull. It creased massively at 20 or so regular intervals around the shape of a disc. In the centre was a huge, blinding light taking up over 40% of the disc itself. Within it were much smaller, blue lights, arranged in a grid pattern. And, as you've probably guessed by now, there were two enormous numbers in yellow, at either side of the lights. They were the number 25.
For a few moments, I just gaped at it, wondering if it really was what I thought it was. I snapped out of that quickly, realising that it really was what I thought it was. It was Vykkers Labs 25, and it was exactly where I'd been heading since I set out from Rupture Farms. If I could have, I would've climbed right up the hill right now and jumped aboard, but alas, without legs I could not scale the sheer face of the cliff. And of course, if I had, I'd have no story to tell, would I? What I did do, without any further hesitation, was throw the Bolamite I had in my hand, with the Boombat still wrapped in its' web. If the Bolamite could hold on to the base of the ship for long enough, it would let go right above the shack, and hopefully capture at least one of the Outlaws. It was a very weak plan, I'll admit. There was nothing at all to guarantee it would work. But at first, it did. I saw the Bolamite hit the base of the ship, and hang there as it hovered slowly over the ravine. This was it, I thought. It was now or never.