Odds and Ends: Fight and Flight
Hey, y'all! It's me, Chicflick! I know the last chapter ended horribly, so I'll try harder on this chapter. And to my readers, I am sorry for not posting this sooner. But the good thing is, I finally figured out how the story will END! I'm not telling, either. HA! By the way, Word is back, so my writing should be better!
"So, Jack, where do you plan on taking us this time?" Kate asked unenthusiastically.
"Well, I'm getting tired of Arizona, honestly," he told her.
"How about we get on a plane and fly to some other state?" Kate suggested. Well, she didn't really like Arizona that much either. Screw college; she'd rather see the rest of the country. "I know this airport that's back in Tuba City."
"Hm, an airport, huh? Meh, why not?"
Jack was just about to board his bike, when his bandicoot ears picked up a strange noise. It sounded like... an aircraft.
'Crap,' he thought.
"Kate, you need to grab your shotgun."
"What? Why? I told you I don't know how to use a gun!"
"Learn!" he snapped. She was taken rather aback by his sudden assertiveness. She reached into the bag that Machete had given them to carry their guns, and grabbed her pink colored shotgun.
'Okay, okay. How did the guys in the movies do it?' she thought nervously. 'Cock it and load it, was that it?'
As Jack was loading up his Uzi, Kate was struggling to figure out how the gun worked. Jack, being done, grabbed her gun and loaded it. "Careful. These have a good kick." She nodded, feeling helpless. Jack motioned for Kate to kneel behind the bike when he spotted an object appearing into the atmosphere.
When the large purple ship landed, a cloud of dust stirred in the ground, eventually settling back into the earth. The airship was large—sort of indigo colored, might I add—and Jack spotted a large "N" on the side of the oval-shaped aircraft.
Cortex.
"That dunderhead never knows when to stop, does he?" Jack muttered loud enough for Kate to hear it.
"What dunderhead? Oh, crap. It's that yellow oaf again, isn't it?" she groaned.
Jack ignored her, but she kind of expected it since he was so concentrated on the aircraft. Speaking of, the ship's small door slowly opened, revealing the short man in the lab coat; Cortex himself.
Cortex looked straight at the motorcycle, and saw he was in gunpoint. He smiled crookedly, revealing his even more crooked teeth.
"Well, it's seems the little ones got some toys," he shouted so they could here it.
"Yeah, well, go screw yourself, you jackwagon!" Kate shouted before Jack could even retaliate.
"Nice," Jack told her.
Although that kind of talk would usually infuriate him, Cortex just reminded himself of the purpose the girl would serve in helping him rule this dirtball of a planet. "You are both a nuisance, but today I will be taking the girl from you, you little orange rodent," Cortex shouted.
'Marsupial,' Jack thought, irritated at the fact that everyone thought bandicoots were rodents.
Jack got back to the real world when Cortex started talking. "You see, I have brought reinforcements to kill you, Crash, and capture that girl."
"I have a name you know!" Kate shouted.
"Hm. Yes, well, that name will be changed when you are mine," Cortex muttered under his breath. "N. Gin! Send out the robots!" he barked. Just as it was said, a couple of seconds later a small cluster of blue-tinted, bulky robots walked out of the ship and approached the motorbike, but halted about 10 yards from it.
Just as Cortex started walking up to the entrance, he commanded the robots. "Kill him."
Jack grinned wide, ready for the onslaught to begin. Although they were ready, the machines were still motionless. Jack began to grow curious, and slowly stood up; only to have a bullet just wiz past his ear. He kneeled to the ground again, seeing bullets start to fly above their heads.
"Close one, 'ey Jack?" Kate said to him.
"I've been through closer shaves, believe me," he replied. Although Jack wasn't one to become frantic while being shot at, he wasn't exactly excited to be used for target practice. It brought back the memory of how he first met Pinstripe. That rat was firing at him like a machine turret gone mad, and all Crash (Jack) had to defend himself with was a small couch to hide behind. Not exactly a way to make a first impression.
"Okay, Kate. I'm not sure how long this motorcycle can withstand the shooting. We have to move," Jack ordered.
"But we'll get shot!" Kate protested.
"Give me a grenade. It will cause a distraction, hopefully."
Kate did as told, and Jack ripped the small screw out using his teeth, and very carefully rose to the seat, and chucked the bomb at the robots. It exploded on contact, destroying at least the three nearest to the explosion. The others were slightly dazed, if robots could be dazed. Jack quickly grabbed Kate and the bag and sped of to the side of Machete's store. There, there was a dumpster filled with trash, which Jack assumed would provide a great shield.
The head robot, which was purple and larger than the rest, looked around for a sense of heat. They only saw the hot blotch in the sky, the sun, and certain warm spots on the ground. "Directive has disappeared. N-Bots assemble."
"Yes Alpha," they replied in unison.
They gathered, and formed a small battle position; the followers in two rows of three, and the Alpha aligned in the middle row. "N-Bots, attack."
Without wasting a second, they—excluding the Alpha—flew into the sky with their built-in jet packs. One of them spotted Jack, who was looking at them with a shocked face. "Directive. Fi—"
Kate, who had just learned how to fire her shotgun, shot the head clean off of the robot. Jack looked at her, surprised. Even she had the same astonished look on her face. Hey, at least she wasn't as helpless as before.
"Jack!" Kate shouted. He snapped back into reality when he realized he was staring at her. "Look out!"
He turned around to see a robot heading straight towards them. 'Crap,' he thought. He fired his gun at it, watching as bullets would tear holes through it at lightning speed. The N-Bot hit the ground, but held up a cannon arm to fire. Jack shot it off using the Uzi, and then severed its head by doing the same.
"Five down. Time to bring out Carmelia," Jack said aloud. He reached into the bag and grabbed the chrome weapon. He gripped the trigger, pulling it back to feel a burst of green energy fly straight towards the group of flying robots, destroying two of them. The others were slightly alarmed. The two left turned to face Jack.
Jack decided to see what the pink circles lined on the barrel did, so he pressed it, and to his surprise, it sank in. They were buttons. Jack pulled the trigger again, and this time, a white beam shot out, melting the three completely in half.
"Sweet," Jack mumbled.
"I take it you love that gun now, am I right?" Kate said.
"Wait, we have one left," Jack said.
Spoken N-Bot, Alpha, was approaching the dumpster. "Directive. You are afraid to fight in person."
"What? Aw, heck no. I know you're not calling me a coward, mate," Jack said, standing up.
"Directive. You are hiding behind the human trash deposit. Your actions clearly state that you are afraid to fight me."
"Okay, now you are just a downright stupid robot, 'Alpha'. So tell me, you retarded chunk of metal. What exactly is your mission here?"
"Mission is to destroy Crash Bandicoot and capture the human girl, Kate Clark."
"And why, pray tell?"
"Crash Bandicoot is a defiant. Kate Clark is needed for the use of Master Neo Cortex's plan of world domination. Crash Bandicoot, prepare to die." The N-Bot held up its large cannon arm and fired at him. Jack (who was hoping Kate didn't ask about Crash Bandicoot) dodged the bullets with ease, having agility on his side.
Without wasting a moment, he tried shooting the robot. But, to Jack's misfortune, the robot had a freaking deflector shield, which shot the beam right back at Jack. He didn't expect it, so he tried to dodge. The heat beam missed the important stuff, but it grazed his arm, totally melting through his jacket, and singeing his skin and fur.
'That HURTS!' he thought. Grabbing his arm and wincing in pain, he remembered that he was in the middle of a battle. Thinking of how he could destroy the robot and dodging the bullets at the same time, he pressed another one of the six buttons on the barrel. When he fired this time, small energy bullets came out, and fired back at him. Well, that one won't work.
Jack suddenly felt a pain in his right leg, and saw a hole punctured into his jeans. Now, it was starting to hurt to run. Starting to run with a limp, Jack pressed another button, aimed at the robot and fired. This time, the robot was engulfed in a blue sphere, and the sphere shrank and shrank until nothing was left.
"Huh. Pretty cool," he muttered.
He could easily hear Cortex's screams of rage with the ship. Jack started to snicker. As the other-worldly aircraft began to take off, Jack heard gunfire from behind. Machete was pointing one of his many shotguns at the ship. "Eat bullets, you alien son of a—"
He was unheard from the rest, because the take-off was too loud. Machete just flipped it the bird and turned around, about to head back into his store.
"Hey, thanks, Machete!" Jack shouted.
"Eh," Machete said loud enough for Jack to hear. Then he muttered, "Pssh. Americans."
'Australian, thank you very much,' Jack thought.
Kate got up from her sanctuary behind the dumpster and walked over to Jack. "Nicely done, young Padowan."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm used to it. Although I'm not used to using guns..." he trailed off.
"What? How the heck do you operate a shotgun and a freaking alien gun and NOT know how to use them?"
"Meh. I improvise."
Kate just stood there, dumbfounded. Jack was heading over to his bike to check the collateral damage, but a strike of sudden pain rushed up his leg. "Gah!" he shouted in pain. He remembered he had a bullet in his leg, and when a gust of wind blew against his burnt arm, he nearly thought it was sizzling.
"What's wrong?" Kate asked.
"Uh..." he winced when he took another step towards his bike."Um, I uh... Nah, forget about it."
Kate started to notice he started to walk with a limp, and she assumed that a stray bullet had torn through his leg. "You got shot, didn't you?"
"I said forget about it," he said a little louder.
"Well, Jack, if we don't treat it, it could get infected,"
"Meh. It'll go away—" he started, but winced again when his leg throbbed in pain. Kate rolled her eyes at his ignorance, and ran over to help support himself by letting him put an arm around her shoulders. Jack wasn't expecting this, but decided it was faster than limping to his motorcycle. "Thanks," he told her.
"Don't mention it," Kate replied with a smile. Jack returned the smile, but it couldn't be seen due to his helmet.
Getting on his motorcycle and Kate doing the same, he reached down to the wound in his leg, and (secretly) using his small retractable claws, grasped the bullet. He flinched when the bullet came out, and he tossed it onto the ground. Now the wound was bleeding immensely, and he just ripped a piece off of the white tank-top under his jacket (it was there to prevent chaffing) and wrapped it around his injury.
Sighing in relief, now that that was over, he tried to start the engine to his motorcycle, but it wouldn't start. 'Well, duh, Jack thought. 'It was practically destroyed by hundreds of bullets.'
Groaning, Jack simply covered his face with his hands. "Stupid robots."
"What now?" Kate asked.
"They destroyed my motorcycle," Jack replied.
"Oh... Hey, I think I saw and old one while we were behind the dumpster," Kate suggested.
"Really? Wait, how old?" Crash asked.
"I dunno. I'm not a bike historian," Kate remarked.
Jack ignored her statement, and jogged (in a limp-ish sort of way) to the dumpster. Kate was right. Underneath a large net, there lay a rather old looking motorcycle. Jack, suspecting that the bike was around 10 years old, got on it, and noticed the key was jammed inside the slot. "Thank you, Machete," Jack muttered aloud. He tried started the bike a few times, and thanks to his good luck, it started on the first try.
He figured the reason why it looked so old was because of the desert dust. Wiping the dust off the seat, Jack drove the motorcycle over to his previous one. "Hop on," he said with a mischievous smile.
"Gladly," Kate responded. She knew Jack was stealing, and since she was with him, so was she. 'Hey, my dad's in prison, one of my uncles' is on probation, and my older brother's on parole. What do I have to lose?' she thought.
Jack reached over to grab the duffle bag, and instructed Kate put the strap around her waist and put the bag in her lap. Kate did as told, and wrapped her arms around Jack's waist. Without wasting another minute squandering, Jack floored it, speeding down the country road.
As time passed by, Jack sped by a weird formation of four fields. And, just about a mile or two away from the road was a runway, and several planes. "Just my luck," he muttered.
Approaching the small airport, Jack drove into the parking lot available. Parking the bike (that he particularly couldn't care less about), Kate lifted the duffle bag strap from her neck, put it around her left shoulder, and dismounted the bike. Jack followed soon after, giving a bored sigh.
"It's about time we got to leave this place," Jack stated openly. Kate narrowed her eyes at him.
"What's so bad about Arizona?" she asked him.
"Well, personally, I'd prefer a more lush area if you ask me," he replied, unaffected by her glare. Kate just growled, and lighted up when she saw a bald man with a mustache next to a small airplane. "Uncle Gary!"
"Kate! Ah, how is my favorite niece doing?" he greeted, stopping his work.
"Great! I thought you were in Toledo, seeing Grandma," she replied.
"Well, I was about to leave, when they told me that she passed away," he said with a sad tone.
"Oh..."
"Well, I guess she's in a better place, right?"
"Yeah…"
"So, enough about me, what is my little girl doing at this here airport?"
"Well, I need to get out of Arizona. I'm moving on."
"Aw, my little Kate is growing up. Well, where do you need to go?"
Kate, who knew she wasn't in charge of that decision, became silent. Jack knew it was time to speak. "Hm… Kate, any suggestions?"
"What about L.A.?" she said.
"Too crowded for me," he said. "Hey, Kate, get in the plane. I'll talk to your uncle."
Kate rolled her eyes and did as told. Jack walked up to the rather stout man. "So, how far can this little aircraft take us?"
"Who are you, her boyfriend?" Gary asked.
Jack blushed, and Kate, who heard this, bust out laughing. "Him? My boyfriend? Ha-ha! Uncle Gary, you're funny. No, he's just a friend," she called from the plane.
"Yeah," Jack, who was still partly blushing, mumbled. "So how far can your plane take us?"
"Well, my friend, this plane can take us as far as to another continent. It may not seem like it, but I just fueled her up," Gary said.
"Another continent? You know what; I think I would like to go to Europe. Germany, to be specific."
"Germany? Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Alright. That will cost about…" he paused to calculate in head the amount. "…about $300. Discounted, because my little girl is with 'ya."
"Done deal." Jack shook hands with Gary, and got on the plane. He sat in the seat behind Kate. Her uncle boarded the plane and walked into the cockpit.
"You know, my uncle practically raised me. When my dad went to jail, he was there for me," Kate stated.
"Really?" Jack said, acting as if he cared.
"Yeah… So, where are we going?"
"Germany."
Kate's eyes widened in astonishment. "Germany?"
At long last! The next chapter is out! How'd you like the title? I'll work a little faster. I've been living my life, sorry.
Plus, I just got Internet for the computer I'm working on! So I can download it even faster! As mentioned before, Microsoft Word 2007 is back due to the new Internet connection.
The places (well, the towns and roads) are actually existent, to my surprise. I was actually kind of shocked. So, please wait patiently for another chapter of O.a.E.!
Next Chapter— Odds and Ends: Wir. Sind Verschraubt. (We. Are Screwed.)