Chapter Ten

(OMGosh, I am so sorry that I didn't upload this chapter last night! I was planning on uploading this chapter last night but I was just so busy and so tired that my eyes just closed on their own and woke up around eleven thirty at night with my bedroom lights still on. This sort of thing rarely happens and I usually stay up and write chapters 'til midnight or much later than that.

Yeah, life stinks for me sometimes.

All right, all right, all right, I'll cut to the chase.

Here it is, the chapter that y'all have been waiting for.

-imaginarytoon1)

Beatrice:

My vision was slowly coming back to me and I thought I heard the Toon Patrol laughing. As soon as my vision was back to normal, I looked around the big room that I'm sitting in right now. Almost everything was white, the walls, the floor, and even one thick pipe that was dangling from the ceiling. The only thing that wasn't white was a black sheet of paper (it was approximately twenty feet away from where I was sitting) that was nailed to the wall on my left. I guess it's a note.

Like the walls, the ink was white. But the funny thing was that the writing looked blurry on the black paper.

As I was getting up, I heard a rattling sound for a brief second. I ignored it and I walked to the note. I was about seven and a half feet away when I felt something pull me back and I heard the rattling sound again. I looked back and I saw that I was chained to a thick metal pipe. Then, I looked back to the note and the writing still looked a little blurry.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, you're finally awake." I heard Smarty's voice say to me.

I looked to my right and behind me, I saw the Toon Patrol crowding a small entrance that was pretty close to the pipe that I was chained to.

"This is the first part of the challenge, Birchwood." Wheezy said in his deep voice. "As you can see, you're chained to this pipeline. All you have to do is try to make it to the other side of the room and try to cut the chain apart before your eight minute timer stops and before the room is completely flooded with water."

"I thought that you said that the challenge wasn't really a life and death thing." I interrupted.

"Well, Boss and I talked about that part and we decided to kind of make the challenge a small life and death game. Oh, the three chances in each game part has changed, too. Instead of three chances during each game, you'll have three chances throughout the WHOLE game."

Oh, gosh! I shouted nervously in my head.

"The instructions are nailed to the wall and you're supposed to read them before you start the game." Greasy said.

"Now that you've mentioned the instructions, I find it very hard to read them. I see the white scribbling but from where I'm standing, the scribbling looks blurry." I said.

"Hold on just a second."

I saw Greasy walk to the note and he tore it off the wall. He hands me the note and then, he walks back to the other Toon Patrol members and watches as I was about to begin reading the note.

"Just say 'okay' when you're done and the challenge will begin." Wheezy said.

I nodded my head and I heard the Toon Patrol leaving the room. The instructions said,

If you want to make it to the other side of the room, then you better think fast.

Although it isn't seen now, there is a bone saw on the other side of the room.

But the problem is: You're chained to a thick pipe line.

If you can figure out how to make it to the other side, then that's good.

You must figure out how to go to the other side while the room is slowly getting filled up with water and with eight minutes counting down as you go.

If you make it to the other side, cut your chains with the bone saw before eight minutes is up, and you're finished, then stomp on the square tile with a red circle in the middle of that high platform in front of you. The water will drain out and we'll let you move on to the next challenge.

-The Toon Patrol

After reading the instructions the first time, I re-read them a couple of times and then, I put the note down on the floor. I noticed a big thin roll of black duct tape next to my right foot.

I looked at a little note that was attached to the tape. It had Greasy and Psycho's signatures on the paper part of the tape. I'm not sure if Smarty will be mad at Greasy and Psycho just because they left a small roll of duct tape for me to use.

I put the tape in my hoodie pocket and I looked around the room for a second and then, I created a plan that could work.

"Okay!" I called.

Then, my eight minutes began after Smarty says, probably speaking through some hidden speakers, "Eight 'millets' begins NOW." A loud school bell rings and I had to cover my ears for a second. When the ringing stopped, I saw that a small circular drain becoming visible on the middle of the room. That drain, too, was kind of blurry. Water started coming out from the drain and a puddle expands as more water comes.

I checked the part of the chain where it makes a curvy slope on the pipe. I shook the chain and the curvy slope moves up as I shook it. That was good. Step One in my plan is checked off in my head.

I can't explain my plan at this moment because I'm—

A giant bucket…probably as big as six wooden barrels smashed together…is lowered into the room and it slowly began to tip over.

I took the duct tape out of my pocket and tore off four long strips of tape. I wrapped two strips of tape (one strip each) around my lower calves and I wrapped the other two strips around my wrists (one strip each). I quickly ripped off another long strip and wrapped it around the apple to keep it from falling out.

As a cascade of water was about to get dumped out of the wooden bucket, I ran back to the spot where the note was nailed on to the wall. I stretched my legs and cracked my knuckles and neck. I was about to do probably the most difficult…maybe dangerous…and impossible feat that not really a lot of people can do. I was about to do a backflip, land on my hands, hand-walk to the pipe, and climb up the pipe while I'm…upside down.

I took a deep breath and as soon as the water was coming out of the bucket, I did a couple of backflips and landed on my palms. I quickly hand-walked to the pipe and pressed my stomach against it.

"Six 'millets' and thirty-two seconds left!" Smarty called.

I opened my legs and I wrapped them around the pipe. I pushed up with my hands and began to climb the pipe like it was my favorite tree. The water was up to the tops of my feet when I jumped on to the pole.

"Oh, Dios mío! Mira que te vayas!" I heard Greasy shout in the speakers.

I have no idea on what he just said.

As the water continued to rise up, I climbed up higher and higher. The pipe that I was climbing on is the same pipe that is hanging from the ceiling of the room. At the other side of the room, the other end of the pipe goes upward, just on the left side of the giant wooden bucket.

I was about halfway up the pipe when Smarty shouted "Five 'millets' and twenty-two seconds left, Birchwood!" through the speakers. I know that I don't have much time to climb but I don't want to hurt my back while doing such an impossible thing.

"Take your time, muchacha! Don't rush!" Greasy said.

"HEE HEE HEE!" Psycho giggled through the speakers.

"Don't listen to Greasy, Birchwood!" Wheezy shouted. "You better get a move on or you'll never see your little cousin again!"

"Bilge rats!" I hissed under my breath.

Without trying to feel rushed, I motivated myself to climb for Lexi and for justice despite of the tape slowly losing its stick.

"For Lexi, for justice!" I whispered.

I climbed up and up and up until I finally made it to where the pipe was making a curve to the other side of the room.

"All right, Beatrice." I whispered. "You can climb up the pipe. Let's see if you can make it across the room without trying to fall in the water."

When I stopped at the curve of the pipe, I swung my chain up to where the pipe goes straight across the room. I pushed myself with the help of the wall and I zipped a quarter across the room. The water filling the room halfway up and I swung myself to the top of the pipe.

I was almost to the platform when I heard Smarty shout "Two 'millets' and thirty seconds, Birchwood!" through the hidden speakers again.

"It's…it's 'minutes', meat…meathead!" I shouted back while a little out of breath.

Then, another chain with a bone saw hooked on was lowered to the end of the pipe and I quickly crawled on the pipe like a cat running on a fence.

I grabbed the bone saw and with quick motions, I began to cut the chain. I tried not to saw the chain too hard because I didn't want to have any sparks of light to burn my legs.

"ONE MINUTE AND TEN SECONDS!" Wheezy shouted, surprising me.

In fact, Wheezy scared me so badly that I nearly dropped the bone saw. I grabbed it before it disappeared to the bottom of the room. The water was almost touching the pipe that I'm sitting on.

"FORTY SECONDS!" All members of the Toon Patrol shouted in the speakers.

Quickly, I began to saw the part of the chain where a huge dent was displayed. Then, I stopped when I noticed something on the cuffs of the chain. There were clamps on the cuffs! Why didn't I see them before?!

I threw the bone saw to the platform and I pulled the clamps, causing the cuffs to open and fall in to the water.

I carefully stood up on the pipe, turned to my left (where the platform was, along with the square tile with a red circle in the middle), and jumped. I landed on the platform and ran to the square tile while the Toon Patrol was counting down from ten.

"NINE…EIGHT…"

Five feet away…doing good…doing good…

"…SEVEN…SIX…"

Two feet away…almost there…

"…FIVE…FOUR…"

I stomped on the tile and immediately, the water stops flooding the room and disappears down the drain.

I sighed in relief.