The Undercave [Incomplete]

Chapter 12 - Earning Iron

The rest of the group did the same and wielded their weapons, apart from Jake who was fiddling his watch around in his hands. A finger soon pointed to the crown of it, which appeared to belong to Cliff when he glanced up. And so, he pushed the button down and lashed the watch forwards, causing it to stretch and allowing spikes to emerge from it, turning it into a barbed whip. He stared at it in astonishment, before snapping out of the trance and rushing forward behind the others. Sheri decided to waste no time and aimed a fan at the miner's torso. She then launched it forward with a flick of her wrist and it flew over his head. Not from her poor aiming, but from his fast reflexes. Sheri caught her fan as it came back towards her, halting the rest of the group before a chilling chuckle erupted from the figure.
"Nice try!" He yelled in an unexpectedly high voice, "But it's just not good enough!" An evil grin stretched across his face, sending an uneasy silence over the group. Before Sheri could throw a fan again, two of the iron shards held in his belt began to glow, just like his gloves had, and lifted up into the air as his hands did. "Now, let the master, Metallicus, show how it's done!" He thrusted his arms forward, sending the two shards flying towards the group. Cliff budged his way in front of Sheri and held his shield up, allowing the metal to dent it before falling onto the concrete. The corners of the miner's mouth tilted downwards, before forming another sickly grin. "You know, it's a bit selfish to steal the show like that." He slipped one of the metal shards out of his belt and spun it in his hand. As his fingers twisted the iron around over and over, they began to glow, slowly moulding the centre into an arch. His hands soon came to a halt, and his fingers moved to one end to pull a string of metal to the other, making it into a bow. He then reached his hand behind his back and pulled out a pole with a pointed tip. "Let me take over once more." He pulled the pole back in the string and let go, shooting forward the arrow at full speed. Realising that his shield wasn't going to be able to stop this projectile, Cliff clutched the handle of it and concentrated his hardest on creating a force field. When the sound of a distant clunk was heard, he knew that it had worked. But it vanished when a growl came from the Cuniculator. "Okay," he began, starting to walk slowly towards them, "Maybe I'll just have to teach you up close!" With this, he pulled a shard from his belt and sprinted towards them, gritting his teeth.
"Sheri, now!" Lana yelled, pointing her staff at the pocket in Sheri's jeans which the CND was in. Before the Miner could get within ten metres of where they were, Sheri slipped the CND out of her pocket, flipping the top open before following Rachael's instructions and launching the capture program. As soon as she clicked the last holographic button, a lime green ray beamed out of the antennae of the device, freezing the miner mid-run. It scanned him up and down, causing him to flicker before breaking him down into pixels and returning into the antennae with him. After a few seconds, a slow spinning hologram of the cuniculator replaced the screen.
"Woah..." Sheri whispered in awe, watching the image as she held its source in her hands. The sound of Rachael's voice in her memory reminded her about her friends' aunt who was waiting outside. She spun around and set off towards the opening, causing the others to snap out of their trance and follow her outside. "Rachael!" She exclaimed as her feet reached the sunlit concrete. "Look!" She held her hands out in front of her, drawing a gasp from Rachael.
"Metallicus..." She muttered to herself, before realising the excitement on Sheri's face gradually turning into disappointment. "Well done! How did you capture him so fast?" She took the device and examined the hologram.
"He was at the end of the passage," she explained, "He must have seen or heard us come in."
"So you didn't even get to the twilight zone?" Sheri shook her head. "Wow. I knew I had a good feeling about this." She turned towards the opening when she heard the footsteps of the others. "Come on, we're going back."
"What?!" Lana questioned, "Already? We didn't even get to explore it!"
"Lana," Rachael sighed, "We've got what we needed. The plan was to explore in order to capture one. We have one!" She pointed at the device in her other hand. "Our objective for today is complete. We'll come back another time, now let's go!" She then turned and started to walk away before Lana could reply.

"Um... Rachael, can I ask you a question?" Rachael glanced at Sheri out the corner of her eye.
"Sure. What is it?"
"Well, what is the twilight zone?" Sheri asked as she stepped over a deceased log.
"The twilight zone is the middle part of a cave. In the Undercave, it's where they built the factory, but they hollowed it out beforehand. It's gigantic. Bigger than the Abscond..." She trailed off. "The secret lab." Sheri nodded, letting her head turn towards a woodpecker sitting on a branch of an oak tree. She squinted, making out an unusual pattern in its feathers.
"Hey, Rachael," she pointed over to the creature, "Look!" Rachael's eyes followed the direction of Sheri's finger, leading her to see the same green bird that she had seen the previous week.
"It has the symbol..." Rachael whispered in awe. "I knew it."
"Can the CND capture two at the same time?"
"No. We'll just have to leave it out here. At least it's found a way to live out here."
They carried on walking through the woods to get back to the car, but every step of the way, there was a question lingering in Rachael's mind that she hadn't noticed at first. Why weren't there any sentries guarding the entrance?