Hey everyone; thanks for your patience! Time to see what happens next on both sides of the story! Don't worry—this chapter is going to be action-packed for sure. ;)
Chapter 5
Now that Tweak had all of her disguise put together and decreased the chances of her friends tracking her location, it was time for the hard part of the plan: finding Miskit. But as she thought about the arachnopod incident, her encounter with Trellis, the information she'd learned from the library books, and her close encounter with the elf soldiers, she began to realize she'd have to do something else first. If she was going to help Miskit successfully, she would need to come up with some strategies on what to do in case she encountered the elf soldiers again—or worse, their king.
Since she'd opted against becoming a stonekeeper, Tweak knew the best thing to do right now was learn how to defend herself from the villains. Not by using her words either; with these villains, the chances of that working were very slim. She would have to learn self defence skills and reflexes—the kind of stuff Kwazii was a pro at. Peso was good at self defence too, but only if it mostly involved using bandages, which he'd discovered over 300 ways to use. Considering the fact that both of her friends had developed those skills through their personal interests (Kwazii's pirate life and Peso's job as a medic), Tweak decided she stood a better chance in Alledia if she learned a few skills mechanic-style.
She thought back to when she'd watched "The Princess Bride" with Dashi and Shellington and remembered the intense sword duel scene between those two men. Maybe she could start by practicing the moves she'd seen them do by jumping around and pretending her tools were swords. There was even a chance she could teach herself reflexes and gain better agility, if she just recalled all the fancy flips she'd seen Kwazii do.
Tweak left the closet and headed outside through an emergency exit door, arriving in an huge empty lot. She could use this place to train; that way no would see her and no suspicions would arise. After glancing around just to be sure she was alone, the engineer decided to start off by practicing some of Kwazii's moves. She began by stepping back a bit and then charging forward, even letting out that yell he usually did when doing this part. Next, she tried to do a flip in midair like he always did, but she wasn't able to stay in the air long enough and ended up taking a hard, disoriented land on the pavement. Two uncontrollable somersaults, a yelp of fear, and she was on her back, breathing heavily and beginning to realize that training herself would be a lot harder than she thought. It was a good thing her fall was softened by her hood and backpack—otherwise she would have been hurt!
Okay, thought Tweak, let's try something else. She looked around and saw some old mattresses lying next to the mall's dumpster. They were a little torn and had some cobwebs on them, but they could come in handy. Walking over to the dumpster, she pulled each of the mattresses into the middle of her training space, arranging them so she'd have a softer place to land. After that, she was ready to try again.
This time skipping the yell and instead observing her surroundings carefully, Tweak stepped back and then ran forward, this time doing so for a few extra seconds. Then she jumped and tried the flip once more. She was able to nail it this time, but unlike Kwazii's flawless lands on his feet, she touched down on her rear end, somersaulted for the third time, and ended up on her back again. She sighed. Something told her this was going to take a lot of practice.
Try another move, she told herself, See where that leads. Tweak remembered the midair pirouette Dashi had done on the trampoline just before the ball accident and decided to try that. It seemed a lot easier than the flips Kwazii always did, and there was a chance that succeeding with the pirouette would help her succeed in mastering a proper landing when doing the flips. Maybe she could even use the dance moves she already knew (thanks to the crew's musical creature reports) to her advantage, in case she'd have to dodge any magical attacks later on.
Using the mattress she was on as a trampoline, Tweak jumped as high as she could, spun around, and landed on the ground next to the mattresses. On her feet—YES! She smiled and celebrated the victory by trying out a new move: jumping upside down, leaping off the ground using her paws, and landing feet-first on the mattress. Once she accomplished that task, Tweak chuckled. This was actually starting to feel kind of fun!
After taking a moment to catch her breath, she stepped down from the mattress and prepared for the next training phase. Now imagine yourself in battle. Against…uh…let's say those elf soldiers. Don't let them know you're as scared as the bunny they decided to call a fugitive. As far as they're concerned, it's someone else that's up against them. Closing her eyes, Tweak imagined she was back at the old post office, with the elf soldiers coming toward her. Their menacing stares, their sharp drool-covered teeth, the sword that had been pointed at her. She wasn't scared of them, not this time. She was Mechaniteer now; the mechanic-based heroine who showed only courage. This time it was the elf soldiers that would get to experience fear.
Pulling out her wrench, Tweak held it out in front of her just as the sword rose toward her. The blade was instantly blocked by the tool, taking the soldiers by surprise. That one soldier who kept having food cravings munched on an apple, which only added to his teammates' frustration. "Alright," said the soldier with the sword, "you asked for it. I challenge you to a duel!"
"Challenge accepted," replied Tweak. The soldier scoffed and tried to harm her with the sword, but she blocked it with her wrench again. Then they were in a huge sword/wrench battle against each other. The other elf soldiers cheered their teammate on as he tried all kinds of tricks and moves to try to defeat his opponent. But Tweak found a way to either block them or dodge them, all of which she did using various tricks of her own; some she'd unknowingly learned from the dances she did during creature reports, some that came naturally from her skills as a mechanic in general, and some she was in the middle of learning from watching Kwazii in the past. The imaginary (though she had to admit it felt real) duel lasted for quite a long time, until, lost in the moment, Tweak jumped up, flipped right over the soldiers' heads, and landed on the ground behind them. She felt a soft texture as she landed and snapped back to reality, discovering she'd managed a feet-first landing on one of the mattresses. Finally—she'd mastered everything!
Tweak fell backward onto the mattress. She was exhausted from the effort, but satisfied and proud. Now she would be able to help Miskit and his friends for sure, and her friends would hopefully stay out of trouble with the elves. Then she yawned, and as she began to doze off, another positive thought made its way into her mind: with any luck, her training session would also help her get used to the different time zone.
The Gup X was the strongest and toughest submarine owned by the Octonauts. Perhaps it was a little big for a job inside the house where the crew had met Miskit, but it was also the only thing capable of breaking through the brick wall down in the secret basement room. They had no choice but to use it—even if it meant leaving a trail of destruction through the front door, the entire basement, and parts of the secret room. Peso instantly began to feel nervous as they plowed through the rooms, so Captain Barnacles said, "Don't worry. After we find Tweak, we'll come back and help repair the areas we went through."
After a nerve-wracking ride down the stairs in the secret room (and a quick pause en route to pick up Tweak's toolbox and bring it into the gup), the captain told Kwazii, Peso, Shellington, Dashi, and Tunip, who were all sitting behind or next to him, to hold on. The other vegimals and Professor Inkling had decided to stay at the Octopod to ensure nothing happened to it, but they had wished their friends luck in saving Tweak. Now, here was everyone inside the Gup X, finally about to plow through the wall that their friend was apparently behind. With a loud crackling noise, in they went, bricks flying out of place and landing on the floor and stairs behind them. As everyone else braced themselves despite them being in no danger of getting hurt, Barnacles steered them forward, scanning the tunnel they were heading through for Tweak. She was nowhere to be seen, and just as the captain considered turning back, the Gup X suddenly plowed through another brick wall, entering what appeared to be a mountain's cave. Wait…a mountain's cave? They weren't anywhere near the mountains! Or at least, the house wasn't; they were definitely in a mountain, despite how odd that was.
Confused, Barnacles stopped the gup, examining the area outside. The others did too, but unlike his friends, Kwazii wasn't confused at all. In fact, he appeared quite worried. And before anyone else could ask what was going on, he said, "Captain…I think we're in Alledia."
Barnacles started to deny Kwazii's statement, but stopped himself as he noticed the bricks flying back onto the wall by themselves, filling in the gup-shaped hole in it. A huge cave in the house's basement had been strange enough, but this was far more strange. The only reasonable explanation to the situation was the fact that Kwazii had been telling the truth all along—Alledia really did exist, and they'd just unearthed the passage leading to it.
As these facts sank in, the crew suddenly realized something else, and the energy within the Gup X grew tense. Tweak must have discovered the passage to Alledia as well; why else would she leave her toolbox next to it, and how else could she have disappeared so mysteriously? If that was the case, she had to be in this peculiar land too, which meant she was probably in danger of being discovered by those "amulet-wielding beasts" Kwazii had mentioned.
When a minute passed and Barnacles didn't have anything to say, Peso asked, "Um, Kwazii…what kind of things can the amulet-wielding beasts do?"
Kwazii leapt down from his seat. "They can do all kinds of dangerous things, me hartie. One blast from their amulets, and you could find yourself floating face-to-face with the creature, or flying away from it faster than you can think! The beasts can also use their amulets to gain the power of flight, communicate with each other from any distance, and even revisit their memories. And let's not forget the strange voice that speaks to them from the amulet, threatening to make them lose control of their anger and transform into giant, extremely dangerous versions of themselves!"
"Jumping jellyfish!" Shellington exclaimed. At the same time, Peso gulped nervously, and Tunip fainted.
"We have to find Tweak before those beasts do," stated Dashi, worry in her eyes. "She could get hurt out there!"
"I hope Miskit's with her at least," said Kwazii. "Silas knows more about Alledia than any of us, and he said that if anything happened to him, he would store all his memories inside of Miskit with his talents. He should be able to protect Tweak until we can find her."
Barnacles thought for a moment. "He's probably with her. But in case he isn't, we're going to find her."
The Octonauts steered the Gup X out of the cave and were surprised to find it was nighttime. Hadn't it been the afternoon when they'd arrived at the house? "About that," said Kwazii, in answer to everyone else's confusion, "Whenever it's nighttime on our planet, it's daytime in Alledia." Some of his friends groaned, and he couldn't blame them. Different time zones could be very difficult to get used to.
For a few minutes, they traveled down the snowy path outside the cave, admiring the scenery around them. Tweak was nowhere to be seen, but this didn't surprise the crew too much. If she'd entered Alledia last night, she had probably ventured a long way into it by now. Hoping it would help them find her, the Octonauts tried to remember exactly everything Miskit had said to them regarding his mission in Alledia. He hadn't exactly wanted to mention all the details, so the crew mainly had to rely on Kwazii's knowledge to succeed on their mission. Miskit did say a few helpful things though: "Tonight I'll probably have to go on a dangerous mission to save my family, and I'm…not sure I'll be back for a while." Then, after Tweak had offered to help him with that mission, he'd said, "No, it's way too dangerous, even for you all. Trust me, you're better off here, where it's safe."
Shellington was upset. "He still didn't tell us much? Even though he knows Kwazii knows about Alledia?"
"He must have not wanted us to worry," said Peso, although he was clearly put off by it as well.
"Well, it certainly worked on Tweak," Kwazii added sarcastically. "Now, for all we know, she could be involved in that battle as we speak."
As soon as he said that, Dashi froze. "She is," she murmured. "That's why she went inside Alledia. She wanted to help him, and she left her toolbox next to the passage so we'd know where she went."
"But why did she have to leave so late at night?" Kwazii asked. "Did she know I was gonna sneak outside in the Gup B last night?"
Captain Barnacles turned around in surprise. "You tried to sneak out last night?"
And before Kwazii had a chance to cover up his slip of the tongue, the gup veered off the path it was heading through, now that the captain's attention was no longer on where it was going. The crew screamed and held onto their seats as their vehicle half drove and half fell down the giant vertical slope that apparently resided right next to the path they'd been on. There were many pointy rocks attached to the slope, so as they fell, Barnacles mustered all his strength to steer them in a safer direction. There wasn't a lot of room to dodge the rocks as they came and went, but thankfully this gup was strong enough to overpower the rocks and send them flying as it plowed through them. It took a little bit of extra effort to get past the bigger rocks at the bottom, which there were a lot of, but after a few seconds of pushing, the captain managed to steer them through those as well. The ride was a lot faster after that, and everyone was relieved when they somehow managed to maintain a right-side-up landing once they reached horizontal ground again.
"Is everyone alright?" Barnacles asked. He turned around to examine everyone. Dashi, Shellington, and a now-awake Tunip had managed to stay in their seats and only appeared a little frazzled by what just happened. Kwazii and Peso, on the other hand, had fallen out of their seats at some point and were now sprawled out on the floor, hugging each other in fear. They were very close to the control panel, so the captain guessed they'd come dangerously close to landing on the windshield and had just barely managed to avoid it.
Once Dashi confirmed that everyone was okay and Kwazii and Peso were back in their seats, Barnacles continued driving forward. It was even darker down here than it was outside the mountain cave, since there were now many rocky slopes towering around them, blocking out a lot of moonlight and starlight. They had to use a flashlight setting within the Gup X in order to see where they were going, but once they turned it on, the light it produced awakened a giant creature that was sleeping nearby. As it roared and stood up, Peso let out a yelp and hid behind Kwazii in fear. This creature was kind of like an octopus, only a lot bigger and stronger. For some reason, its mouth was surrounded by its tentacles instead of residing above them, and even more strangely, it had very very sharp teeth. Sharper than the teeth of sharks, Shellington noticed.
The strange creature leapt forward and jumped on top of the Gup X. The vehicle was too tough for any harm to be done, but the Octonauts could hear many discomforting sounds above and around them as the creature bit on the roof and wrapped its tentacles around the ship, trying unsuccessfully to swallow them whole. Thankfully, Tunip knew exactly what to do in this situation: load a compartment inside the gup with fish biscuits and press a button, sending the snacks flying outside the ship and far into the distance. This instantly distracted the octopus-like creature, causing it to leap off the gup and head out in search of the biscuits.
"That was an arachnopod," Kwazii said as everyone else tried to calm themselves. "Silas said there are many of those living in the mountain areas. Those beasts don't wield amulets, but they're very poisonous!"
The rest of the crew glanced at each other nervously, not saying a word. They hadn't even encountered any "amulet-wielding beasts" yet, and already they were beginning to understand why Miskit had been so reluctant to tell them about Alledia. More importantly, they were beginning to understand just how much danger Tweak was in; unlike them, she'd arrived in Alledia with absolutely nothing to defend herself with!
As Barnacles took a deep breath and continued steering them forward, he and his teammates could only hope Tweak hadn't encountered an arachnopod. Or, if she had, that she'd been able to avoid being swallowed whole.
KA-BOOM!
Tweak jolted awake and flew into a sitting position. It was now morning, and clearly something really bad had happened while she'd been asleep. Fiery explosions were being set off somewhere in Nautilus. She wasn't in any danger of getting hurt because of the distance between her and the explosions, but that didn't mean everything was fine. Rasia, Trellis, Rico, and Enzo were probably in danger; especially Trellis, since he and Luger were still being hunted by the other elves on top of everything. After all they'd done to help her, she had to do something to help them. Even if it meant risking her life.
After making sure she had all of her supplies with her (which she did), Tweak left the area and ran through the streets, trying to figure out where all the explosions were coming from. As she ran, she could see she wasn't the only one outside now. Everyone was awake now, but unlike her, they were running away from the explosions rather than toward them.
Three minutes later, Tweak arrived at the library just in time to see many people escaping into an underground cabin next to it. Recognizing Rasia in the middle of that crowd, she sighed with relief and then continued running, planning to go to Rico and Enzo's bar next. She'd mastered the layout of the city enough to know that the bar's back alley was the one Trellis was in, so she wouldn't have to go too far once she was done with the cat brothers.
Unfortunately, not long after she'd left the library, a crowd of people evacuated from the mall she'd gotten her supplies from. It was so big that she got swept into it, not managing to find a way out until most of the crowd found shelter inside another underground cabin. After that, the engineer raced away from the area, now trying to avoid any underground cabins she might come across. The fewer crowds of escaping people she came across, the faster she'd be able to get to Rico and Enzo's bar so she could make sure they were okay.
Tweak dashed through town, hoping she was going the right way. After passing many buildings and still not finding the bar, she started to cross the street, when suddenly a greenish-grey vehicle came zooming over. It looked like some kind of cross between a pickup truck and an armoured tank with three rows of seats, and it was going super fast. There was no roof over the vehicle, so she was only just able to make out who was in it as the vehicle drove past her. A beige robot with red eyebrows and a daring, reckless expression was driving, and a human boy—Navin, she realized—was sitting next to him. A fox was standing in between the first two seat rows, and Tweak was relieved to see Rico and Enzo in the second row. Emily and her mother, who had apparently been rescued from the arachnopod, were sitting next to the cat brothers. Trellis and Luger were in the third row of seats, which added to Tweak's relief. She wouldn't have to go back to the bar after all.
As the vehicle sped away, Tweak managed to glimpse someone else in the back row of seats: Miskit. Her heart skipped a beat, and suddenly she found herself looking around frantically, trying to think of a way to pursue the vehicle before it got too far away. Luckily, at that very moment, two half-human-half-chihuahua adults, one man and one woman, came out of one of the nearby buildings. The man was pulling a motorcycle out with them, saying to the woman, "Forget the explosions. We have only one chance to get this thing to safety before those elves take it and learn it has the power to fly like an airship!"
Before she knew what she was doing, Tweak rushed over and jumped onto the motorcycle, glad to see its key was already inserted in the right place. "Sorry," she said, "but I'll have to borrow this thing for a while. See ya!" She started the engine and drove off, leaving the man and the woman standing there in shock and amazement.
It didn't take her long to catch up to the vehicle Miskit and the others were in. By the time she caught up with them, however, they were just entering the docking station where the Luna Moth was parked (a little roughly, Tweak couldn't help noticing; the robot at the wheel was apparently even more reckless than Kwazii). Instantly she realized the Luna Moth was exactly where they were going. She wasn't sure which area on the planet Rico and Enzo planned on taking their new friends, but if they needed an airship to do it, then it was probably pretty far away.
The motorcycle was now a few seconds behind the vehicle. Unfortunately, just as Tweak was about to call out to Miskit and let him know she was there and here to help, his vehicle veered to the right so its passengers could access the Luna Moth. Startled by this, she drove right past the turnoff and into a pile of barrels nearby. The impact knocked the motorcycle onto its side, taking her and several barrels with it. As she struggled to stand up, Tweak glanced at the Luna Moth and saw the vehicle had just come to a halt. Miskit, Trellis, and Luger must have heard her collide with the barrels, because they were staring at her in surprise and confusion. However, when Enzo got out of the vehicle and led his companions onboard the Luna Moth, the trio quickly turned their attention back to it, and one by one, each of the greenish-greyish vehicle's passengers made their way up the ramp.
Sighing, Tweak made it to her feet and propped the motorcycle right side up again, making sure she stopped the wheels from moving first; that way it wouldn't drive off on her. Suddenly she and the motorcycle were thrown back as a missile appeared from out of nowhere, striking the greenish-greyish vehicle and blowing it up just as everyone made it onto the airship. Nearby, a big metal green robot was standing on the docks, the explosive weapon having apparently come out from its gun-like hands. The Luna Moth's passengers must have sensed they would likely be next at the same time as she did, for at that moment, the airship turned on and then flew away from Nautilus, heading out to sea.
Tweak reactivated the motorcycle and started to follow the Luna Moth, but was forced to ride in the opposite direction as more missiles came flying out of the green robot's hands. On the bright side, none of them ended up hitting the Luna Moth. On the bad side, however, the missiles' courses were somehow redirected, causing them to hit various buildings and machinery around Nautilus instead. Screaming, she squeezed a random button on one of the handlebars, and suddenly wings appeared on either side of the motorcycle. It shot up into the air, where Tweak spent ten whole minutes trying to find a course that would protect her from not just any missiles that might be coming out soon, but also the fire and smoke building up around town.
By the time she finally escaped the destruction throughout Nautilus, the Luna Moth was nowhere in sight. The engineer groaned in frustration. It could take ages to find Miskit and his friends now! Then, remembering the map she'd printed out at the library, her frustration faded away. The map might be able to tell her where the Luna Moth was probably going—she just needed to land her own vehicle so she could get it out of her backpack.
After touching down behind the building next to the parking barrier (or at least what was left of it, since Miskit's robot friend had driven through it), Tweak unzipped her backpack and pulled out the map of Alledia. Examining it, she could see Nautilus wasn't exactly close to the huge water area, which she was almost certain the Luna Moth was heading for. However, there was a long river that could lead her to that area, and there were a few secluded locations within the huge area of water that were displayed on the map: an unnamed enclave, a place called Selina's Station, and Golbez Cycle, which was outlined in a swirly shape—a strong sign that it was a dangerous area. Miskit, Emily, Navin, and company could have gone to any of these places. It would probably take a few days to catch up with them, but it was worth it. Now that she'd made it this far, there was no way she was backing out.
Using a roll of tape someone had left inside the parking barrier building, Tweak attached the map to the motorcycle handlebars, placing it so that it wouldn't blow away. After that, she hopped back on, activated the motorcycle's engine and high-flying setting, and took off into the sky. Whatever those elves would try to do to the Luna Moth's riders next, she would be ready to save them. She was Mechaniteer.
Wow…I think that might have been one of the most thrilling chapters I've ever written! There was so much happening there, I can hardly believe it took about 20 days to get it all done. Anyways, feel free to express your opinions, and I'll see you in the next chapter. :)