Too Far

Part 8 - "Ending?"

Mr. Snake felt the wind from the helicopter propellers as he sat next to Professor Marmalade. He glared at the guinea pig, his pink tongue flicking in and out.
"I'm starting to see why your friends dumped you!" Marmalade yelled, the sound of the helicopter drowning out his voice.
"I don't have any friends!" Mr. Snake spat back.

"Snake!"
Snake looked down at the road and saw a blue car following them. Driving it was Mr. Shark with the crew. "Shark?"
"Snake come back! We need you baby!" Shark yelled.
"And you need us!" Ms. Tarantula added.

"Aww, there they go again making it personal." Marmalade put his paws together. "I'll give you one last chance to give me the meteorite!"
"Oh yeah?" Mr. Piranha said. "Whatcha gonna do, Whiskers?"

Marmalade narrowed his eyes and took the helmet from Snake, putting it on. "This." The guinea pig pressed a button, sending an electromagnet wave through the air. Piranha looked behind him and saw a wave of guinea pigs coming at them.

"Go! Go! Go!" Shark floored the gas pedal and drove ahead of the guinea pig wave but soon they caught up.
"I shouldn't have called him Whiskers!" Piranha screamed.

"Whoa, hey," Mr. Snake hissed. "Let's diel this down a notch, huh? Besides you'll never get them, Wolf taught him well." Mr. Shark drove on the guinea pigs and they tried to hit them or run the car off the road.

"Hmm, right." Marmalade took Snake's tail in his paws. "But now that I think about it, it might be good to exploit their greatest weakness."
Snake nodded. "Yeah." He paused. "Wait..."
Suddenly Marmalade threw the serpent out of the helicopter.

"Snake!" Shark gasped. Snake gripped the helicopter landing gear with his fangs. "Whoa! Whoa! Okay! You can have the space rock!"
"Good boy, Shark." Marmalade signaled the wave of guinea pigs to move and they cleared, leaving the crew in a circle.

Cuddles pushed a button and a claw attached to a chain descended from the helicopter. Mr. Shark instructed Mr. Piranha to take the wheel as he climbed to the back. "Not so fast! Pull him up first!"

Marmalade narrowed his eyes. "If you insist. Cuddles!" The helicopter ascended and Marmalade looked at the pit in front of them. "You want him? He's yours." The guinea pig kicked Mr. Snake in the face, causing him to lose his grip on the landing gear.

"SNAKE!" Mr. Shark stepped on the gas. Snake felt nothing but air under him as he plummeted down. Shark drove over the guinea pigs, and saw the bridge ending up ahead. "Guys, this is gonna sound crazy, but we're gonna jump it."

"Crazy?" Piranha echoed. "You're finally speaking my language!" Shark floored the gas pedal, resulting in the car picking up speed as it came ever nearer to the broken bridge. The crew gripped the car seats and seat belts. "WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT!" Piranha boasted.

The crew made it a little way off the bridge then fell as gravity took over.
"We're not gonna make it," Tarantula said.
Snake watched as his friends slowly lifted out of the car when they were all falling. So, I guess this is it, huh? He prepared for the impact of the hard ground.

The speeding sound of a car slowly became louder.

"Huh?" Snake looked up. A gray wolf jumped off the edge of the broken bridge.
"Wolf!?" Shark exclaimed. Mr. Wolf pulled out a grappling hook from his suit and fired it: it hooked onto the edge of the road and he quickly grabbed all of his friends.

"Wolf!" Snake gasped. "Your awake!"
"Yeah...!" The canine held onto the grappling hook, but the weight of everyone was starting to weigh on him. "Love to explain! But can we get up there first?"
The crew started to climb up the rope.

Diane looked over the edge. "Hang on, guys!" The fox helped pulling them up.
Wolf coughed and collapsed on one knee, trying to catch his breath.
"How did you...? How are you awake?" Tarantula asked.

"Well..." Wolf coughed again and stood. "Turns out the hospital had a lot of anti-venom, but Marmalade had stolen it."
"And he blackmailed Mr. Snake into helping him do bank robberies," Diane added.

Police sirens wailed in the distance and soon they skidded to a stop in front of them. "Well, well, well." Police Chief, Misty Luggins, got out of the car.

Wolf's ears went down. "Oh boy..."
The police chief grabbed Wolf by the collar. "There is absolutely no way you are getting away this time!"
"Wait!" Diane spoke up. "Chief, they weren't stealing the meteorite, they were bringing it back."

"Ha! How could you know that? Unless..." She gave a smug grin. "Unless you were conspiring with a bunch of known criminals."
The governor took her glasses off. "Well, it's time I came clean about something. I am-"
"A real fan of redemption arcs. Yeah, we know." Wolf cut in.

He took the handcuffs from the chief and snapped them around his own wrists.
"What?" Misty blinked. "You're... You're turning yourselves in?"

Wolf nodded. "We may not have stolen the meteorite, but we did steal a lot of other things." The crew came up and held out their "hands" to be handcuffed. "It's time we came clean. Start a clean slate."

While the police chief went on a rant, the helicopter flew by, black smoke coming out of it. "Cuddles!"
"And here is Professor Marmalade! He's bringing the meteorite back!"
Marmalade blinked. "Huh? Oh yes! Bringing it back. That is what I'm doing."

"You got to be kidding me." Ms. Tarantula spat.
The helicopter made a bumpy landing and Marmalade stepped out. "Yes! I have brought the meteorite back." He started clapping and the light admitting from the space rock flickered off and on.

"Hey wait a minute. This isn't the meteorite!" The police chief clapped. "It's a lamp!"
"What!?" Everyone gasped. Snake hissed and chuckled.
"Snake," Wolf started. "What did you do?"

"The ol' switch-a-roo." Snake used his tail to snap and a second later a bright blue beam shot out in the distance. Snake hissed and the shock wave blew his hat off.
Marmalade just stood there eyes wide and Wolf patted him on the head, then got in the police car.