Chapter Fourteen: The Dangerous Trek Through The Temple
Inside the Temple of Reckoning, Mojo Jojo was sprinting down a long hall at full speed, looking back occasionally to see how far ahead he was from a torrent of lava rushing behind him. He wasn't too far ahead of the lava but enough ahead to where if he didn't stop his stride even for a fraction of a second, it wouldn't catch up. Mojo saw an opening ahead with a rope directly in front of him, and below there was a pit where large razor sharp grinders were spinning below. He had to time his jump perfectly or instant death would occur. He made one giant leap for the rope, grabbing it with his right hand.
The momentum swung him counterclockwise around the pit, the chimpanzee hanging on extremely tight and trying to resist the urge to look down. Mojo was quickly looking for his exit point, and after two full laps around the pit, he spotted a door that was quickly opening and closing. He knew he had to time his release point to where he could get through the door. He made one final lap around the pit before he made his leap, the door opening just as he went right through. He couldn't contort his body enough to where he would land on his feet, so he simply braced his fall as best as he could before immediately getting back up to continue his journey.
In the meantime, Simon Bar Sinister and Cad Lackey were also making full-on sprints down a large hall on their side of the temple, though they had to look out for things ahead of them. Large and pointy spikes were appearing from the left, right, above, and below them, and they either had to duck, jump, or dodge left or right to avoid them. One spike coming down from above would have gotten Simon for sure, but Cad grabbed him at the very last second and both men managed to avoid the spikes.
The ground suddenly sloped downwards, Simon and Cad sliding downwards on their feet, both men falling towards a pit where it replicated the highly gaseous atmosphere of Jupiter. However, there was a rope ahead that they saw and immediately grabbed a hold of, the two human villains hanging on tight. They swung downwards towards a narrow tunnel, almost having to get skinny to fit right through. All kinds of rocks, bricks, metal, and other hard materials were shooting at them inside of the tunnel. The barrage of hard materials could not be avoided, so they took care to make sure it didn't hit their faces, their bodies taking a massive beating. After coming out of the tunnel, there was a narrow opening towards the top that they both saw, but it was tilted in such a way that the straight posture the two were in wouldn't get them through. Simon and Cad let go of the rope and launched themselves towards the opening, having to contort their bodies sideways in midair to get their bodies to go right through, taking a small tumble but getting right back up and continuing their journey.
In the meantime, on the outside of the temple on the right side, The Powerpuff Girls were still unable to find the way inside the temple, the three of them growing increasingly frustrated. They tried many of their superpowers in an attempt to break down the door by force, but still no luck.
"FUCK!" Buttercup shouted loudly. "Mojo's inside and we're not and if he gets a hold of that fucking jewelry, all is fucking lost!"
"FUCK, FUCK! Everything's fucking fucked!" Blossom shouted out loudly as well, the frustration in her voice.
"Damnit, girls, what are we gonna do?" Bubbles asked worriedly.
Blossom regained her composure long enough to go into deep thought. But something hit her like a ton of bricks, and she lifted her head up like a lightbulb went off on top of it.
"I got it!" Blossom said, looking at Buttercup. "Buttercup, remember that Focus power you were testing that one time?" Blossom then asked.
"Yeah, so fucking what?" Buttercup replied.
"Try it right now, it might just be our only hope!" Blossom ordered.
"Shit, Blossom, I really don't think it works like I thought." Buttercup rebutted. "It was something I was bullshitting with. And besides…."
"Damnit, Buttercup, we don't have fucking time for a billion fucking questions or concerns! Make like Nike and Just Do It!" Bubbles shouted, interrupting Buttercup.
"Yeah, what she said, Buttercup!" Blossom added.
"Okay, okay, I'll do it!" Buttercup agreed.
Buttercup sent a small beam of energy to her right hand and conjured up a small triangular device called a Focus within a few seconds. She put it on her right ear and tapped it once, a small holographic image spitting out. In the image, it flashed a silhouette of Mojo. Buttercup tapped the Focus again, and the Mojo silhouette moved. It revealed the exact steps Mojo took to get the temple door open, the silhouette disappearing when Mojo entered the temple.
"So that's how Mojo got in!" Blossom said.
"Well, repeat the steps and let's fucking go!" Buttercup demanded as she tapped the Focus again, the Focus fizzling away.
Blossom held the button and reached her left foot back, getting that one block on the ground to sink down, the door opening. Without saying a word, the girls all entered the Temple of Reckoning to try to catch up to Mojo, the temple door shutting after a few moments.
Meanwhile, over on the left side of the temple, Underdog tried everything in his power to get inside as well, but of course there was no dice. Forcing himself in with his superpowers did not get him any results either, so he stood there in disbelief with his hands on his hips.
"This fucking temple is making me mad, but I must get inside to stop Simon and Cad." Underdog said angrily.
After thinking for a few moments, Underdog nodded to himself as an idea came to his head.
"To test my new power now is the time. And I'll make Simon pay for this crime." Underdog said.
The Capitol City hero conjured up a small pen-like device that he called the Heat Check. He waved it along his immediate area to try to find any sort of clue as to how Simon and Cad got in. He saw mostly blue at first, but he started to get signals of yellow, orange, and finally red. He focused his pen all around the red areas and managed to draw up a motion of the way Simon and Cad entered the temple. After going through it again and again, Underdog felt confident that he found the way Simon and Cad got inside.
"So press the button and wave around. That's the way to enter this sacred ground." Underdog said.
He simply followed the steps that his Heat Check power revealed, pressing the button repeatedly while waving his hand around, eventually getting the door to the temple to open.
"When the world's in trouble, I am not slow. It's hip hip hip and away I go!" Underdog said before entering the Temple of Reckoning to try to catch up to Simon and Cad, the temple door shutting after a few moments.
Back inside of the temple, Mojo was further along, having to go through quite the dangerous and arduous path as he continued his ascent through the temple. As he was sprinting along, massive gusts of wind were either pushing him back, forward, left, or right, lifting him off the ground, or pinning him down to the ground. To make matters worse, he had to time jumps perfectly on several different platforms that were rising up and down at varying speeds or he would fall in a boiling pit full of green acid water that would eat his flesh and bones upon impact. The wind gusts were random in nature, so he had to figure it all out as he went. He had a near fatal jump where the wind gust blew from his right as he was in midair, but he managed to grab and hang onto the platform he was jumping towards until the gust died down, getting right back up and continuing on.
The next obstacle in his path was a slight maze combined with a memory test. Flames would light up on either side of him in rapid succession, and Mojo would face several forks in the road. Taking the wrong fork would result in a crushing death as evidenced by the drawing he saw just before he started to take the first fork in the road. To further complicate things, the boiling green acidic liquids were trailing him, so he couldn't even stop. Mojo ran through the maze and let the flames guide him through. He had a very large scare where he nearly took the wrong fork, but he stopped himself just a hair before he took the right direction, continuing his journey.
Simon and Cad were also further along in their trek through the temple, the two of them having to go through seemingly endless hordes of horror. As they were sprinting along, they were approaching an area with trampoline-like bouncing pads and some poles that were all moving in many different directions. They saw an opening high above, having to do some perfectly timed jumps and acrobatics to get to it. They were not afforded a moment to catch their breaths as a massive drill-like spear was hurtling towards them from behind.
They both took a giant leap, managing to get onto a bouncing pad and being launched upwards, having to turn their bodies in midair to grab one of the poles, holding onto it and swinging the full vertical 360 degrees on them like a gymnast, timing their release points to get as much elevation as possible. They both had to get skinny again as they did so, going through the middle of four holes before they landed on another bouncing pad, which launched them up to the way out above, but another pole blocked their paths. So to get through, they both had to turn around in midair and arch their bodies to go over the pole like a gymnast, getting through the hole and immediately getting back up.
Simon and Cad had to get back going immediately in the next area because the walls from either side of them or above and beneath them were swiftly closing in. The villains had to do feet-first baseball slides when the walls were closing in from above them, head-first baseball slides when the walls were closing in from below them, and simple dodges when they were closing in from either side. Cad at one point lost his balance and fell, but Simon was there to pull him up with all of his strength and save him from certain death. They both eventually regained their footing and got through all of the closing walls, Simon and Cad continuing on.
The Powerpuff Girls and Underdog, who were on the right and left sides of the temple, respectively, also had to go through the same traps that Mojo, Simon, and Cad went through. Fortunately for the heroes, their trek was a lot easier because of their superpowers of flight and speed. The only issue for the girls was the wind part while Underdog had some slight trouble with the walls closing in on him. But they were still significantly behind the villains, who had nearly made it to the apex.
On both sides of the temple, Mojo, Simon, and Cad had to make another mad dash, having to go through an optical and auditory illusion section where the world was seemingly spinning around them, apparitions appearing in front of them, and very disturbing sounds that they all heard. The spinning made their eyes strain hard, the villains suffering a good case of vertigo, while they were very spooked by the sights and sounds that they all saw and heard. But despite the huge mental assault, they all made it through.
They made it to a platform where they thought they would have a moment to catch their breaths, but it suddenly rose up without warning and sending them skywards. A barrage of all forms of axes were being hurtled at them from all directions, but they were able to avoid them due to the speed that they were rising up. There was a door above that they went through, but it had a foot guillotine on it that would catch their feet. Fortunately, they had the wherewithal to bend their knees up as they were going through the door and landing on top of it, avoiding the foot guillotine. The Townsville and Capitol City villains continued their journey on their quest to retrieve the Forbidden Necklace and the Bracelets of Despair.
The Powerpuff Girls and Underdog of course continued their trek through the temple to hunt down their respective villains, but again, their trek was easier simply because of their superpowers. However, one difficult obstacle that they had to go through that Mojo, Simon, and Cad already went through was a pitch black area with no lighting whatsoever. The ground underneath them spun clockwise very rapidly, and the room had a force of gravity strong enough to pin the heroes down enough to where they couldn't fly. So they had to stand on the rapidly rotating platform and find the way out in the dark, Blossom using her eyes as headlights like from the battle with the Boogie Man while Underdog simply used his night vision power. There was a button that they had to push to disable the strong force of gravity temporarily, the Powerpuff Girls and Underdog able to push it and fly right up through the rapidly opening and closing door.
After getting through that obstacle, the Townsville and Capitol City heroes continued their trek to stop their respective evil villains, having to save the world from certain doom if the Forbidden Necklace and the Bracelets of Despair fell into the wrong hands.
END OF CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Music Credits
Song Artist/Source: Mortal Kombat 4
Song Title/Source: The Prison
Year Song Released: 1997
When Played: During the trek through the Temple of Reckoning, before the Powerpuff Girls and Underdog enter.
Song Artist/Source: Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
Song Title/Source: Quan Chi Battle
Year Song Released: 1997
When Played: During the trek through the Temple of Reckoning, after the Powerpuff Girls and Underdog enter.
Song Artist/Source: Mortal Kombat 4
Song Title/Source: The Screw
Year Song Released: 1997
When Played: During the trek through the Temple of Reckoning, at the last part where Mojo Jojo, Simon Bar Sinister, and Cad Lackey are at the optical and auditory illusion section.