Disclaimer: I do not own W.I.T.C.H. This is a work of fan fiction.
"Blunk and Napoleon's Excellent Adventure" Chapter Five
Deeper and deeper into the factory, Johnny and Frankie fled from their pursuers. "At least I was rights about da smell." Johnny thought, "Dat Goblin shouldn't be ables ta track us now." The two men rounded a corner, found more corridors deserted except for themselves.
"I don't get's it Johnny." Frankie said. "No way dis place is totally empty 'a peoples, dere's gotta be someone somewhere!"
"Yeah, there's us." Johnny answered. "Aw heck, I'm sure dere's a manned control room somewhere. We just got's ta finds it."
"Maybes up top? Let's tries da stairs." Frankie said, indicating a stairwell going up.
"Yeah, let's."
"I hear them." Napoleon said. "This way." He ran off down a long narrow corridor surrounded on all sides by hot, whirring machinery. Blunk, Elyon, and Miranda followed. They winded their way through twisting passageways, arriving just in time to see their quarry disappearing up the stairs.
"We follow?" Blunk asked.
"Not so fast." Napoleon said. "This is where we should split up, come at them from different directions. I'll follow up here, the rest of you should look for another stairwell."
Miranda said "Good thinking. We can cut them off, leave them without a way out."
"Blunk wondering, what we do when we catch them?" the Passling asked.
Elyon answered 'The same thing we did last time we caught them. Tie them up, phone in an 'anonymous' tip to Irma's dad about where they'll be."
"Actually, maybe you should just stay here where it's safe your majesty." Napoleon said to Elyon. When Miranda nodded in agreement the Queen was surprised.
"What? You know I'm not staying out of this!"
"Yeah, we know." Miranda said with a grin, "But we also know Caleb would have both our heads if we didn't at least try."
"This is true. I'll tell him you tried. Now let's go." Napoleon ascended the stairs behind Johnny and Frankie, while the others searched for another way up. Padding quietly upwards, the cat found himself on, appropriately enough, a catwalk. It was suspended above a series of open-topped vats containing various colognes at different stages of being mixed. The two crooks were visible about twenty feet away, walking in the opposite direction. He followed, still undetected.
Meanwhile, Blunk had found a second set of stairs about a hundred feet to the west, and began climbing while Elyon and Miranda continued searching for their own way up. At the top, Blunk peered around the corner and saw the men walking towards him. He waited, wanting to spring out at the best possible moment.
On the floor below, Elyon and Miranda found a freight elevator. "Should we use this?" Miranda wondered.
"I dunno… I kinda expect it'll make a lot of noise." Elyon replied. "On the other hand, there is another option here." She grabbed ahold of the drive cables and started climbing. "Good thing I did well in gym class."
"You know," Miranda said, "When future historians study this part of Meridian's history, they'll never believe the Queen actually did things like this…"
Elyon stopped climbing and looked down. "I'm not exactly orthodox, am I?" she asked.
"Not even close."
Johnny and Frankie made their way carefully along the narrow catwalk. "I think we tooks a wrong turn Johnny." Frankie said.
"Yeah. Dere's no control center ups here." Johnny answered. He looked around. "Look, dere's another staircase up here. We'll takes it back down, finds a ways outta here."
"Sounds good Johnny." Frankie said. But as they approached the stairwell, suddenly Blunk leapt out at them.
"Raargh!" he exclaimed like before, "Me scary goblin! Give up now, me let you live!"
Abandoning the caution with which they had previously walked the narrow path, both men turned and started to run back the way they came from. They made it less than half-way back to the first stairwell when they saw something that made them stumble to a halt. A small black cat sat in their path.
"Johnny, dat's da cat what was laughin' with da goblin!" Frankie said.
"Hello boys." Napoleon said. "How about you just give up now and save us all a lot of trouble?"
Both men stared down at Napoleon. "Youse can talks?" Frankie exclaimed. "Aw man, jus tink o da moneys we could makes with a talkin' cat on our sides Johnny!"
"Yeah, well dis one ain'ts on our sides." Johnny replied. "Maybe ifs we back away slowly like…" Johnny started to do so, then looked over his shoulder. Blunk was still coming up behind them. "Then agains, a cat, evens a talking cat, should be easier ta gets past than a goblin…"
As Johnny turned back towards him, Napoleon said "You think so bub? Well, lemme ask you a question: You humans keep your pet dogs in all different sizes, from five pounds to over a hundred. But all your pet cats are little. Why do you suppose that is?"
Johnny and Frankie looked at each other, confused. "What is this, a pop quiz? I dunno, why?" Johnny asked.
"Simple:" Napoleon answered. "A hundred pound dog is a friendly German Sheppard that loves you. A hundred pound cat is an apex predator that eats you."
Still confused, Frankie asked "So? What's dat got ta do withs anything?"
"This." Napoleon answered. He then transformed into his Regent form.
Frankie screamed, while Johnny pulled him back saying "We takes our chances wit da goblin! Runs Frankie!"
Blunk was continuing forward along the catwalk when he felt a sudden heavy vibration go through the metal. It continued and grew stronger, accompanied by a clanging sound. Then the two men he had been pursuing suddenly came running straight towards him at full speed. Blunk screamed but didn't have time to run, nor anyplace to move out of their way. Johnny reached him first, shoving through and forcing the Passling off balance. Half a second later, Frankie barreled through as well. Blunk was knocked loose from his handhold and fell towards an open-topped vat of cologne ingredients…
As they reached the top level of the elevator shaft, Elyon and Miranda heard a loud scream, followed by another, louder shriek in a more familiar voice. They looked just in time to see the Passling falling into the top of a cologne tank. "Blunk!" Elyon shouted.
"I've got this." Miranda said. She pushed off from the cable and transformed, midair, into a large hawk. Flying now, she swooped down into the tank and plucked Blunk out of the liquid, carrying him back up and depositing him on the catwalk. She then landed and returned to her human form.
Still shaking with fear, Blunk gasped out his gratitude. But as everyone gathered around, he noticed something… "No!" he screamed, "Where Blunk's smell? Blunk not smell himself!"
"Whoa. I can't even smell you." Elyon said. "I can't smell the cologne you were dipped in either though. Weird."
"I guess the two scents cancelled each other out." Napoleon said. "How about that, a stink-free Passling."
"This horrible." Blunk muttered. "This is like, worst day ever of Blunk's life. First lose house, then insulted by morons, now Blunk even lose his smell." He shook his head sadly.
Elyon said "Well… Now that you don't smell, I'm sure mom and dad won't mind if you stay in our basement 'til you get your new house built. That's something good, right?"
"Blunk suppose so." The Passling answered. Then, "Hey! Where dumb crooks go?"
"They got away while we were worried about you." Miranda answered.
"Don't worry, they can't have gone far." Napoleon added. He then ran off in the last direction he had seen the men running. Blunk followed, grumbling about really having a score to settle now, and the girls followed along behind.
"We dids it Johnny!" Frankie exclaimed as they ran out the front doors of the factory. "We got's rid o da goblin! It's drownen in perfume!"
"Outta da fryin' pan Frankie, but into da fire." Johnny answered. "Goblin down, giant cat-thing still after us!"
"Oh, yeah. Whatsa we do Johnny?"
"For nows, jus' keeps runnin'. I'll tink 'a something."
Several minutes later Napoleon, having followed the men's trail outside and down a back street, stopped behind a large bakery. He could still smell the trail, but was waiting for Blunk and the girls to catch up, because something he saw on the building's loading dock had given him an idea. "What's up cat?" Elyon asked as she approached.
Napoleon replied "Take a look." He continued to look towards the dock. He explained his plan. As he did so, a malicious grin spread across Blunk's face.
"Blunk like plan." The Passling said. "Let's do it."
Nodding, Napoleon leapt up onto the dock, confirmed no one was around to see him, and went to work. Within two minutes, they were ready. "Now," he said, "Let's find the losers and put an end to this chase…