I looked past the balcony.
The army of blue monsters had split up. Some were taking a longer route across, others were trying to make the jump from one broken path to the other.
And they were succeeding.
…I got another idea.
I looked at the giant caudron I shot at before.
I looked at the support chains that held it up.
You see my idea yet?
I trailed the gun at the chain.
-KABOOM-
Missed.
"Damn it!"
-FEEEEEE-
Another loud note shrieked.
-KABOOM- -KABOOM-
The mortar was fired upon, engulfing me in black smoke.
-KABOOM-
I was able to fire the gun one last time before the smoke became too thick to handle.
I hurried out of the small room, coughing violently from the smoke.
I looked around the hallway.
Another door at the end of the opposite side.
I quickly stepped over the fallen guards and opened the door.
A tiny steel stairway, connected to the wall, let right down to the main pathway.
It didn't even look remotely safe.
But I had no choice.
I quickly ran down as fast I could, keeping my eyes on where I was stepping.
But I took a few sideways glances every now and again, and the results were promising.
I could see prisoners, angry, violent, overheated prisoner engaging the monsters.
They looked like black and white dots engaging the bigger blue dots.
Still, I couldn't find the Minotaurus…
-BOOM-
A giant wave of gray fur moved right in front of me, crushing the stairway into the wall.
The giant looked down at me with beady eyes, it's foot jammed into a stone wall, a giant club over his head.
My brain couldn't react fast enough to comprehend what was happening.
And so I….just fell over.
With no way to defend myself, I just…fell over.
His club swung right above me, almost skinning me completely.
In fact the shockwave of the force it cause was enough to knock the wind out of me.
And I fell towards the boiling lava bellow.
Hot air blasted me in the face as the red bubbling sea grew closer to me.
This is it? Am I really going to die?
-WHOOSH-
I stopped.
Something wrapped around my waist and yanked on me.
Melissa had wrapped her tail around my waist, and was struggling to keep me up.
"Just hold on!" She ensured me.
I had never been so happy in my life.
She dived down, scooped her arms between mine, and landed on the main platform.
Mathew was there to meet us.
"Did you do it?" I asked Melissa.
She handed me the keys. "See for yourself."
It was a glorious sight to behold.
Dozens of prisoners were engaging the giant blue monsters.
The prisoners had already begun stealing their weapons and returned fire. The giant monsters were trying to shove them off the railings, but they fought back just as hard.
I could see one prisoner, a huge hulking man, swinging around a giant hunk of metal attached to a long chain.
There were swordsmen and gunmen and cannon men.
It was an army fighting back.
-KABOOM-
A cannonball was flying towards us. The three of us split to dodge it.
-BOOM-
It was caught…by Hukufu.
He was in his beast form; his giant claws crushing the cannonball like it was candy.
"Just asking but…what are you?" I asked Hukufu.
He shrunk down to human form, brushing his hands together. "There has been legend of cursed fruit in our tribe: eating one will give you powers beyond reason. I have eaten one of them. It has granted me the power to take the shape of a bear."
"A devil fruit." Mathew said.
The wave of prisoners began to push back the blue monsters. Their yellow commander took a few steps back.
He barked an order at one of them, then let loose another loud note on his flute.
They immediately retreated, leaving their wounded behind.
The prisoners cheered in victory.
But I didn't.
Something was wrong.
-CREEK-
-SHUNK-
As soon as the last monster ran past the gate, a huge metal wall dropped, blocking the exit.
They trapped us!
The prisoners gathered around the wall and tried to destroy it.
I looked at my group.
"What are our options?" I asked them.
"Knowing the Marines," Mathew said, "they are prepared to destroy this entire level to maintain order."
I looked around.
Wait…Look at that steam.
Steam was rising up from the boiling lake bellow.
Steam was escaping through a large hole in the ceiling.
I didn't notice it before: there was a giant hole where light shown into the 4th level.
"We can get through there!" I said, pointing at the hole.
"And how ya gonna pull that one out?" A voice said from behind me.
I turned around to see a disarmed devil guard standing behind me.
All four of us were ready to attack him, but he held up his hands in surrender.
"Don't you recognize me lad?" He said, like we were friends or something.
That voice…
He took off his hood, and it revealed to be…some guy I didn't know.
He had a rounded face with short black hair.
"Who are you?" I asked.
He looked at himself and shrugged. "Sorry, forgot I was wearing this."
He violently shook his head, and his head began to change.
It got wider, and more importantly his hair changed into a huge mop or fiery red.
"Much better." He said.
He cracked his neck, and his back began to hunch over. His arms and legs even began to shrink.
Before long, he was back to that hunched over troll of a man.
The man who took that first group of prisoners from me.
"You survived?" I asked.
He made a bow. "I knew we were outmatched the instant I saw the Minotaurus. So I knocked one of those lout's out and took his place. I'm pretty darn good at what I do, if I should toot my own horn."
Hukufu looked at him with distain. "You're the tiny chieftain."
"Name's Newmen. Pleasure to meet'cha sir."
He held out a skinny hand, and I shook it out of courtesy.
"Why should we trust you? You already took one group from me," I said, "what makes you think I'd let you do it again?"
He scoffed. "Trust me, I won't. Turns out I'm no good at leading an army. What matters is how to get a large number of people out and through that hole in the ceiling."
"It should lead us to Level 3." Mathew said. "Level 4 generates the heat used to heat up Level 3."
There were no visible ways to climb up the wall.
Maybe we can toss a chain upward, and we can climb up? No no, there's no chain long enough to reach that height.
Then again…there was the giant cauldron.
Giant chains suspended it from the roof of the prison level.
"Melissa, fly up there and see if there's anyway for people to climb up. A service duct or a ladder or anything."
She nodded and flapped her wings.
-BOOM-
The platform shook.
-BOOM- -BOOM-
Prisoners shouted in pain.
The Minotaurus was on the move, plowing through rows of escapees and heading this way.
"Um, Hukufu…please stop that guy!" I shouted.
He smiled. "Such a foe will be remembered, even as I pass out from drinking too much mead!"
He turned into beast form and charged the monster.
-BOOM-
The Taurus swung his giant mace at Hukufu, who stopped it with his mighty furry paw. The monster head butted him, digging his horns into Hukufu, but he didn't budge.
The monster used his hooved foot to trip Hukufu, pushing him out of the way and headed towards me!
I took a step back to try and run, but he was too fast.
-SWOOP-
And in an instant I was in the air, with the Minotaurus swiping at air as I moved farther away.
Melissa dropped me off at a higher platform.
"There are several service ladders that lead straight to the next level. But are inaccessible from our position." Melissa said.
I looked up desperately at the chains.
If only we could lower them somehow.
The chains were coming down the ceiling, out of small holes in the stone.
"Where are the chains coming from?" I asked her, pointing at the ceiling.
She looked up to where I was pointing. "Well, the chains looked like they were hooked up to giant power wenches, to lower the pot. But each chain has to be powered manually, otherwise the pot tips to one side and all that lava pours out."
I grit my teeth. "Must be specially designed to dump lava on the prisoners. Cruel bastards. I never really hated the Marines until I got here. Well, we're gonna need four people to be up there to lower the pot all the way down."
I looked around and found Mathew and Newmen trying to deal with the weary prisoners.
-BAM-
Hukufu landed one good solid punch to the Minotaurus' face, and he fell to the ground.
"HAHA! Victory! I shall sing of this day for many years to come!"
All the prisoner's cheered as Hukufu shrunk down to his human size.
But that was only one problem dealt with. We needed to deal with the other.
"Mathew! Newmen! Get over here!"
They looked my way and made their way to me.
I told them my plan.
Mathew shook his head. "It's a fool's plan. Those chains will be too hot for any man to climb."
"I'd disagree with ya mate." Newmen said. "These men have been in these heated conditions for God knows how long. Besides, they'd rather go through the fiery pits of hell to leave this cursed place."
"We've got to try." I said. Then I looked to Melissa. "Take them up to their positions. If there's guards up there, beat'em down. Wait for the signal."
As Melissa took Mathew off to the first position, I turned to the prisoners.
"HEY! HEY!" I screamed, trying to get their attention.
They weren't listening. They were too busy trying to break down the wall in frustration.
"SIIIIILEEEENCE!" Newmen roared.
They all halted. Then turned around to me and Newmen with looks of confusion, murmuring and glaring.
"Thanks." I said sheepishly to him.
"Go get'em boss." He said.
I stepped forward. "Listen everyone! That way is blocked, and no amount of cannon fire and pounding will change that!"
They grumbled and shouted in frustration and anger.
"Wait a moment! Wait a moment! There's still hope!"
I pointed to the ceiling. "That's our only chance of escaping this place!"
They looked to the ceiling and scoffed.
"How we gonna get up there, dumbass?" One of them shouted. Others scoffed and laughed.
"We're gonna climb the chains of that giant cauldron right there! I'm going to lower the cauldron, and when I do you all need to climb up to the next level! There are service ladders that should lead you from those chains to the opening in the ceiling!"
They stopped laughing. Some of them were still not sure.
"How we supposed to climb that damn thing?"
"This plan is stupid!"
"You trying to kill us boy?"
They were getting mad again, and moving closer to me.
I felt like they were gonna beat me up of something.
-BOOM-
Hukufu stood between them and me.
"Anyone who lays a hand on this little man will feel my strength!"
They stopped their advance.
I came from behind Hukufu. "Look. No one said this would be easy. But it's possible! It's our only chance of escaping this place! Do you want to cook in this giant oven for the rest of your lives?"
The responses ranged from "no" to "hell no!" to "GOD! FUCK NO!"
"Trust me! I'm in the same boat as all of you! The only way to get us all out of here is with this plan!"
"What about that girl? That flying girl? The one with the really nice boobs?" Someone said.
I scanned the crowd, looking for the one who said that.
It was…a boy.
Well not like a little boy, he looked about 16.
He had jagged black hair, black wide eyes, and was wearing a prisoner's guard jacket that was way too big for him over his prisoner outfit.
Kind of weird how a boy younger than me is in this prison, but I didn't want to think much on it.
"Yeah! I wanna ride from the pretty lady too!"
The rest of them agreed, and made lewd remarks about her as well.
I raised my hand. "Look! You saw the door! There readying to destroy this level any moment! We don't have time for her to fly every man up there! We'd all be dead!"
They still disagreed.
"Besides…don't you all wanna live to see her after we get out of here?"
They all agreed with that.
"So come on guys! Let's do this! FOR FREEDOM!"
"FOR THE TITTIES!" One of them shouted.
"YEAH!"
I just stood there, with a stupid look on my face as they cheered.
"Nice going there Ass-hat." Melissa's voice said from behind me.
"ACK!"
She wrapped her tail around my chest and yanked me off the ground.
"SORRY!" I shouted, as she rudely jerked me around. "Didn't…mean it…to go…like that!"
She sighed. "I'm just kidding. It's not like I'm bothered by it. I live off of men's lust. I feed of that stuff."
My impression of a Succubus changed more and more every second.
She flew me up to the top of the farthest chain, thought a tiny little hole and dropped me off.
"Get to the last chain, and wait for the signal." I said.
She nodded. "Let's hope this plan works."
"Why are you hoping?" I asked. "Don't you just have to fly out if this goes bad?"
She frowned. "Well, it will be hard for me to fight off all those guards and Blue Gorillas myself, and I would miss your company…"
"Oh…sorry. I didn't mean to be so rude." I apologized. "It's just…I'm just a regular guy! From the Outer Ring! I don't think I'm cut out for this kind of stuff…"
She put a finger to my mouth. "I'm sure I'd love to hear your life's story, but the bottom floor is literally hot lava and it's rising this very moment. So how about we get along with this plan before we all MELT TO DEATH!"
And with that, she dropped out of the room.
I looked in the small room.
The power winch was very big, with a small level on the side of it that I assumed was the lowered the chain.
The chain itself was massive close up, surely big enough for any man to climb on. Even someone as big as Hukufu.
I lowered it slightly to test it.
-VWOOSH-
The winch powered up and made an incredibly loud noise as the chain slightly lowered.
"What was that?" Newmen's voice called.
I looked around the room, wondering how he got in here.
There was a small table, where a handheld device sat on.
"I thought we needed to wait for the signal." His voice said from the device.
A radio! Just what I needed.
I grabbed it and spoke into it.
"Newmen! Newmen! Can you hear me?"
"Is that you boy? Where are…aha! A transponder!"
-CLATTER- -THUD-
"I hear ya boy. This makes things much easier." He said.
"I'll take it we don't need that signal anymore right?" Mathew's voice chimed in.
There was a radio in each of the rooms.
"Melissa? Melissa?"
"Sam? Where are you?" She asked. "Oh!"
-CLATTER-
"I found it." She said.
"Ok guys, on my mark. There's a red lever connected to the giant wench in the middle of the room."
"Got it." Mathew confirmed.
"Check." Newmen confirmed.
"Just wait…yeah! I found it." Melissa confirmed.
"Ok, on the count of three, we pull down on the lever all the way."
I put my hand on the lever.
"One…"
I gripped it tightly.
"Two…"
Pray to God this works…
"THREE!"
-CHUNK-
The chain began to lower.
I looked out the hole to see the cauldron lower.
The cauldron wobbled as it lowered, the bubbling red inside looking like it was going to splash out.
But it soon lowered past the main platform and went –PLT- right into the lake below.
"OK! CLIMB ON UP!"
I couldn't see anyone's faces, but none of them seemed eager to jump on the giant burning chain.
-CLANK-
Someone finally jumped on.
From up here, even I could see that shining mass of golden hair from his face.
Huhufu lead the climb. And after he jumped on, more and more of them started jumping as well.
All of them had begun climbing, every chain had people climbing upwards.
-WHOOSH-
Melissa flew in to the room, holding a radio the same as mine.
"Now what do we do?"
"We wait until they all get up here and…"
-BOOM-
The chain began to wobble.
Then it shook violently.
I looked down to see the commotion.
All the men were grabbing hold of the chain, but that wasn't the problem. The boiling lake bellow was beginning to rise!
The rising lava was causing the giant metal pot to rise, and the chain was shaking because of the change in distance.
"Melissa! Get back to the other chain!"
She nodded and dived out quickly.
"Ok guys!" I shouted on the radio. "we're gonna raise the pot!"
"Gotcha." Mathew shouted.
"Give those boys a hand." Newmen agreed.
"I'm ready Sam!" Melissa said.
"Ok, and RAISE!"
-CHUNK-
-VWHOWHOWHOSH-
I pushed the chain up as much as I could.
The chain whirled upward.
Until it hit the end and stopped.
-CLINK-
A giant hand grabbed the stone floor.
Hukufu pulled himself up into the room.
He was almost too big for the room's size.
"You did well Little Lamb. What's our next move?"
Soon more and more people began climbing up though the hole.
About twenty in all.
I called on the radio.
"Mathew! Newmen! Melissa! Do a head count of how many made it."
"Fifteen." Mathew responded.
"Twenty five on this end." Newmen shouted.
"I've got about twenty here!" Melissa shouted nervously.
"Ok now listen! There should be a door in each of those rooms. Find your way to Level Three. Radio back to me once you reach it."
The three confirmed, and I turned to my crowd.
"Ok guys. We move on to Level Three!"
"HURRAH!"
I ran through the door first, looked down the stone hallway, to see a long flight of stairs.
-BOOM-
The door was smashed off it's hinges.
Hukufu held it in confusion.
"I see no point in such tiny doors. No room for walking."
The stairway lead to another door, which lead to…
…an arid desert.
Cages, just as before. But there was a huge layer of golden sand over everything.
"Starvation Hell."
I turned to see the boy from before behind me.
"One of the others who was in the cell behind me spoke of this place. So undesirable. No food, no water. Just sand and dry air. Such an uncomfortable way to live."
"Yeah well if they wanted us to be comfortable, I guess we wouldn't be here." I suggested.
He looked at me with strange eyes.
"Was I talking aloud?"
I nodded.
"Huh. Odd. Didn't think I was."
This guy was a little odd…