I'm sorry.. I haven't updated in 84 days.
I have an excuse though... I have no idea how valid it is. I've had a few personal issues, school started, then family problems, then homework and state band auditions are coming up. I wrote this chapter like twice as fast as normal though, so I guess that counts for something.
Anyway, this is either the second or third to last chapter, and then I can work on something else. I did work on it though, and I can post it immediately after I finish witing this story. Anyway, review, or do whatever you feel like doing. Enjoy!
-and here is where I woud try to put a line break to start the story and end the ANs, and realize three months later that the way I do line breaks on iOS doesn't work-
"Claus!" Lucas gasped, "Ninten!" Lucas opened his eyes as he panicked. Lucas looked around quickly. He barely saw anything, as it was almost pitch black. There was nothing clearly visible around him, except for the silhouettes of his unconscious friends. The floor was hard, cold concrete. He noticed something that was lining the wall, which was near beside him. He looked closer, and reached out to feel it. There were metal bars, which only meant one thing. They were in a prison.
Lucas tried to comprehend what had happened. He didn't remember anything. He had no idea where he was, aside from the fact it was a prison. Lucas almost stumbled in the dark over to Claus, who was still unconscious. Lucas shook his older brother awake. "Claus," he whispered, being cautious of the potential situations, "Wake up. What's going on?"
Claus was completely unaware of everything. Keeping his eyes shut, he answered, "Lucas, go back to sleep."
"Claus, I'm serious," Lucas replied, "Open your eyes. I don't know what's happening."
Claus opened his eyes and blinked twice. He sat up, looking around, clearly confused. "What happened? Where's Ninten?" Claus then noticed Ninten, three feet away from him, unconscious on the floor.
"I don't know what happened," Lucas answered distraughtly, "Claus..,"
"Hold on, I'll figure something out," Claus looked around. This was clearly a prison of some sort. Noticing how dark the room was, Claus decided it would be a good idea to light a PK Fire to create some visibility. He gestured his hand to hold a small flame, but nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. "Lucas, I can't use PSI."
"Neither can I," Lucas said, "I feel too weak to try."
"Ninten," Claus whispered to his unconscious comrade, "Ninten, wake up." Ninten didn't stir even slightly. Claus frustratedly shook Ninten awake, "Come on, Ninten." Claus slapped Ninten on the cheek. Hard.
Ninten quickly sat up on the floor, now awake, clutching his cheek. "Owww."
Lucas, watching this transpire, was startled, "Claus! Why would you do that?"
"YEAH! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?" Claus had a slight grin on his face as Ninten expressed his anger.
"You weren't waking up," Claus plainly answered, and shrugged.
"I didn't know I was supposed to wake up yet!" Ninten argued.
"Clearly," Claus nagged.
"Claus, Ninten," Lucas interrupted their quarreling, "Stop. Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Ninten asked.
"Well maybe we could've heard if you weren't shouting," Claus mumbled.
"Shut up," Lucas impolitely quieted them.
Ninten, startled with Lucas's uncharacteristic bluntness mouthed, "Alright then, Lucas."
After waiting a few moments they discovered that Lucas had been right, there was a sound. It sounded like whispering. But the whispering wasn't of pigmasks, because the voices sounded too young to be pigmasks.
"Who's there?" Claus called.
"Nobody!" a voice answered. The voice clearly belonged to a young girl judging by the way the voice sounded, as well as the childishness of the response.
"Then who is talking?" Ninten asked.
"Nobody," the young girl's voice answered again.
"Do you think we're stupid?" Ninten started to become aggravated.
"Ninten, calm down," Lucas said, taking caution in making things not turn out terribly.
"Ninten?" the voice asked.
"Yes?" Ninten impatiently replied.
"Ninten!" the voice shouted, Ninten's eyes widened as another identical voice joined the chorus, "Ninten!"
"Minnie! Mimmie!" Ninten called back upon recognizing the voices. "How did you get here?"
"The pigmasks made us come here," one of them called from another nearby room.
"They promised to let us out when they found you," the other said.
"Oh," Ninten's expression grew solemn when he heard that. His family was in prison because of him. "I'm sorry." Lucas and Claus also seemed saddened by the fact that they had as well been part of the reason Ninten was going through some of his own hardships.
"You can get us out with your special magic, right?"
"Do you mean PSI?" the other of Ninten's sisters corrected.
"Yeah! That stuff!"
Ninten let out a frustrated sigh, "No, I can't. The pigmasks took it away." Ninten actually felt helpless. His sisters and friends were in prison because of his decisions, and he could not do anything to get them out. "Guys, I screwed up bad," Ninten said gloomily.
A door opened from the hallway. Someone was coming. The door to the cell that the three boys were in was opened by four pigmasks. "You," one of the pigmasks pointed at Lucas, "Come with us, you're going to see King Porky now." They roughly grabbed Lucas by the arm and bound his wrists together.
"Agh," Lucas grunted in pain as the pigmasks contorted his arms to uncomfortable angles. "Wait, please don't," Lucas begged them.
"Hah, look at this," one of the pigmasks snorted, "The kid is trying to protest against the king's commands."
"You know what that deserves?" another pigmask grinned beneath his mask. He shoved Lucas to the floor. Lucas attempted to stand back up, but the pigmask forced his foot onto Lucas's back before he could. All the other pigmasks laughed. Ninten couldn't bare to look at this.
"Stand back up, kid," a pigmask ordered. Lucas struggled to do so, but couldn't with half the weight of a fat pigmask on top of him. The pigmask gave him a light kick to the ribs, with which Lucas cringed. "Why aren't you standing? Do what you're told, stupid child." The pigmask kicked Lucas harder, and Lucas's eyes watered from the pain.
"Please, stop," Lucas begged and pleaded, "It hurts!" he cried. The pigmasks all laughed in one way or another.
Claus gritted his teeth with a burning rage as he watched this. He wanted to do something so badly, but PSI was not an option in this situation.
"Are you going to do anything, 'general?'" a pigmask mocked Ninten, and the others joined again in a chorus of terrible cackling.
Ninten didn't answer, and remained quietly looking at the floor.
"Stop," Claus interrupted the pigmasks, staring menacingly at them.
"What was that?"
"I told you to stop it. Now," Claus commanded the pigmasks.
"So you think you can tell us what to do?"
"I told you to leave my brother alone," Claus reiterated, more angrily.
"He's your brother, eh?" a pigmask asked, "We'll make sure to take care of him after King Porky sees him." The pigmask speaking tugged Lucas's arm and dragged him out of the room.
"No! Let him go!" Claus shouted before the door had shut. As soon as he said that, a bright flash erupted from nowhere, and the pigmasks were all lying against the opposite wall in a coma. Claus immediately rushed over to Lucas, whose breathing was quick and shallow. "Lucas, are you okay?"
"Claus," Lucas whimpered in pain, "It hurts."
Claus only gritted his teeth in frustration, not knowing what to do. He looked at where Lucas's side had been kicked. It was red and swollen.
Ninten walked out of the room and was surprised at Lucas's injuries, "Dang. Those pigmasks kicked him hard."
"Those bastards are going to get what they deserve," Claus muttered, "Lucas, can you stand?"
Lucas tried to sit up straight. Half way up he flinched and went back down. That was enough to assure Claus that the answer was a solid "No."
"Claus, wasn't that PSI you just used though?" Ninten asked, "Can't you heal him."
"No I can't, Ninten," Claus replied with impatience, "I can't heal, remember?"
"Maybe..," Ninten walked nearer and bent over near Lucas, and tried to use PSI Lifeup on Lucas with the little bit of psionic energy he had built up, and Lucas's broken ribs healed into a large bruise. "It kind of worked."
"I feel like I can walk now," Lucas did his best to assure his friends, as he slowly stood up. It still physically hurt him a lot to stand, but he was well enough.
"Ok good. We need to start moving before the pigmasks realize we've gotten out," Ninten started quickly pacing over to where his sisters were being kept. He tried the door, "I can't unlock it. Claus, do you have any PSI left to break it?"
Claus was able to get a small fire to start in the palm of his hand with PK Fire. He heated the lock enough to bend it and open the door. Soon enough, Ninten's sisters were freed from their prison cell. They quickly rushed out and hugged their brother.
"Who are these people with you?" one of them asked childishly.
"My friends," Ninten answered quickly, then looked back to Claus and Lucas "Guys, we need to get them to a safe place. This is the best time to take down Porky. We're already in here. You two go find him. It's your fight to win."
"No," Claus rejected Ninten's idea, "Lucas is injured, he can't do this right now. He can take those two to safety, and you come with me to find Porky, Ninten."
"No, Claus," Ninten said, again, answering quickly
"Claus, don't do that," Lucas asked, "You can't do it alone either." Claus was confused by this statement. "Claus, PK Love might be strong, but I don't think you have enough energy right now to take on anyone."
Claus became angered because Lucas was right. Claus couldn't use much more PSI without collapsing. Lucas or Ninten couldn't do so either. Ninten also needed to keep his sisters safe, which Claus understood completely, as he was trying to do just the same with his younger sibling.
"Fine," Claus gave in, but not without needing to give up his stubbornness.
"We'll come back for Porky some other time, but we aren't in a good position to fight him or any other pigmasks right now," Ninten reasoned. "Let's go get my sisters to a safe place and regain our energy, then we'll be able to come back." Ninten led them out of the hall of prison cells.
As they exited the prison room, the found that they were in a palace-like building. There was no one in the halls, but caution was still important. If a pigmask found them escaping they would be forced to either run or resist. Neither of those were options considering they were drained of energy to use PSI, Lucas was injured, and there were two little girls with them.
"Ninten where are we going?" one of Ninten's sisters asked.
"Shh," Ninten answered hastily, and then looked away from them and refocused on their task. As long as they didn't make too much noise they wouldn't be noticed.
That would be true until a pigmask came walking through the hallway in the opposite direction. The pigmask stopped and stared at them on the other side of the wide hall.
"Ninten," Lucas whispered and gestured slightly, "There's..-"
"I know," Ninten answered back quietly, "Hopefully he doesn't do anything." The pigmask began approaching them, and their hopes were ruined. They all froze.
"General," the pigmask said. Everyone was surprised, but let out a sigh off relief when the pigmask, who clearly hadn't kept updated on the current events, addressed Ninten. "Are these the prisoners that King Porky said to check on?"
"Uh..," Ninten thought for a second, "Yeah, yeah they are. I'm just going to.. um.. take them outside for a few moments."
"Why would you take prisoners out of containment?" the pigmask asked, "They will be able to escape."
"Well, you know," Ninten started, making up excuses, "There's been some concern recently with the prisoners being mistreated, and I just wanted to show the world that we treat our captives more humanely than anyone else. You know what I'm saying right?"
"Ummmm," the pigmask processed and reprocessed what Ninten had just said to him, "Yeah, I know what you're saying. We don't want anyone to get angry for us not letting the prisoners get sunlight or fresh air, right? Then people won't like us."
"Like they don't already not like you," Claus said under his breath.
"Silence, prisoner," Ninten turned around, causing Claus to roll his eyes in annoyance. "Let's go." Ninten began to lead the two pairs of twins towards the exit.
"General," the pigmask stopped him, "This prisoner seems to be injured." The pigmask pointed at Lucas. "Should we treat him to the instant revitalizing machine, if treating the prisoners well is a new policy?"
"Yes," Ninten responded rather quickly, "That would be good. Can we actually put both of these boys in there? They're complaining about not having enough energy to do anything. I'm guessing the food here needs to be improved if they can't get enough energy from it." Ninten was making up whatever lies he could to make it easier for them to get out safely.
"Get in," the pigmask, for some reason, said with a polite tone. He gently nudged Lucas and Claus towards the instant revitalizing machine. Lucas hesitantly stepped into the metal plated machine. Neither of the boys had seen one of these before, so they were skeptical about the effects of the machine. But Ninten was trusting of it, so it should be fine.
The door to the machine was closed, and there was a bright flash from inside of it. The pigmask opened the door for Lucas, and Lucas stepped outside without any kind of bruises, and with his PSI energy restored.
Claus went through the same process. When finished, Ninten started leading them away. "Thank you, sir," Ninten thanked the pigmask, "Now I'll be on my way."
Once the pigmask was left alone, a pigmask colonel, accompanied by five other pigmasks, came up to him. "What do you think you're doing just standing around?"
"The General came by with some prisoners he was taking outside," the pigmask explained, and pointed down the hall towards Ninten and the four others with him.
"You fool! That isn't the General! He was discharged, you moron!" the colonel shouted. "Get him now!"
The group of pigmasks, along with the one who had recently shown his unintentional kindness towards prisoners, pursued the escaped prisoners.
Lucas looked backwards, as none of his group had heard the shouting from behind, and saw the pigmasks following them. "Claus," Lucas said worriedly, "They're behind us."
Claus looked back, and Ninten did as well. "We need to run," Ninten told them, and all responded by dashing forwards for a few seconds. However, they were soon brought to a halt. Pigmasks had come to their only escape option. There wasn't any way out.
They looked around, seeing they were trapped in the front and the back. "Can we fight them?" Claus asked Lucas and Ninten.
"No," Ninten said, "My sisters are here with us, and I'm not going to risk them getting hurt."
"Claus, we can't," Lucas said, "We've tried this before. It didn't work."
Claus was silent, and he didn't know how to respond to their current situation.
The pigmasks closed in around them. "Put your hands up and stand on your knees!" a pigmask shouted. Ninten's sisters did so immediately out of fear, the three older boys exchanged glances, and did so as well as they realized there wasn't any leader of the group, a colonel dressed in white, approached them. "What were you trying to do?" the pigmask asked sarcastically. No one answered. "Anyone? No?" The pigmask smirked, "There's no escaping here. I thought you would've known that, general," he smirked as he mocked Ninten like the rest of the pigmasks would.
"Here I'll work out a deal with you," the pigmask colonel started. "I know King Porky's plan, as do you. I know one of you here can use PK Love. If the one with said ability can step forwards and surrender, I'll let the rest of you go."
Neither Claus nor Lucas moved or said anything for a suspenseful moment.
"If no one steps forward, you will all taste King Porky's wrath," the pigmask added.
Still, neither said anything for a brief moment. Then Claus took a deep breath, "It's me," he said.
"Claus..," Lucas tried stopping his brother.
The pigmask smirked, "Prove it." Claus then proceeded to use PK Love by levitating a multicolored hexagon in his palm, showing his ability to use PK Love. "Very well," the pigmask said, "The rest of you will be escorted to the exit."
Ninten, his sisters, and Lucas started to leave with five pigmasks alongside them. Lucas looked back to see Claus and a few pigmasks beginning to walk in the other direction.
Lucas's stomach turned with guilt as he looked forward again, and then to the ground. He found himself guilty for what had just happened. An idea popped into his head, and Lucas thought for a moment before Claus and the other pigmasks were too far away. "Wait," Lucas called back to the pigmasks who were taking Claus to Porky.
The pigmasks and Claus turned to see Lucas coming after them. Claus, a generally quick thinker, picked up on his twin's idea before Lucas had proceeded to do anything too drastic yet. "Lucas, don't do it," Claus answered back, "Just go. I'll figure this out." Lucas hesitated in his approach, considering his brother's request. "Lucas, please."
"I can use PK Love too," Lucas said, unconfidently as Claus cast his eyes down. Lucas demonstrated the same way Claus had done previously.
"And so you can," the colonel grinned beneath his mask. "Take him as well."
Two pigmasks came towards Lucas and brought him, along with Claus, to where Porky was located in the enormous building.
Claus and Lucas and the dozen pigmasks walked through the wide hallways. "Lucas, it wasn't worth trying," Claus said quietly. "Now we're both captured and I don't know if we'll make it out."
Lucas didn't have an answer. He only looked at his older twin with a frightened and regretful look on his face, "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to be alone, and I didn't want to be alone."
"Lucas, I'm fine on my own," Claus answered calmly, realizing how guilty Lucas felt at the moment, "I know you are too. I'm doing my best to not let you get hurt, and I'm also doing my best to not let myself die either." Lucas's expression was blank with mixed emotions. "We'll be okay, Lucas. Porky is nothing."
Eventually, after walking through the hallway for several minutes, they reached a large, silver metal door. On the side of the door, Porky's name was boldly engraved in a gold plate, with the title 'King and Ruler of the Universe' alongside it.
The pigmask colonel knocked on the door, "King Porky Minch, we have PK Love users for you, ready to do your bidding."
The automatic door opened slowly. Inside the door was almost complete darkness, and there was an aura of despair emanating from the room as well. There was an outline of something, barely visible through the darkness. It looked like a large spider.
The twins, as well as the pigmasks, shuddered as a very rough and distorted voice said, "I have been waiting for this moment for many, many years."
The spider turned around. Inside the body of the spider was the demonic pig king, Porky Minch.