A Daring Mission

Chapter III

ABBEY

Music: Underground from Gradius III Arcade

The cave was slightly cold, and very dark. As we began exploring the cave, Ariana protested, "Guys. this is just a waste of time-"

After she said that, the ground said goodbye to us and we all plummeted a good 3 feet or so. Luckily Quavando somehow thought ahead and turned into a dragon right before we reached the bottom, cushioning us with his wings.

"Thanks, Quavando," some of us muttered as we got up. Elle immediately ran for the wall and tried to climb it, but Sam touched her shoulder and said, "Elle, take a deep breath."

"I don't wanna stay down here!" she complained, beginning to have a slight panic attack.

Sam sighed, and then told her, "We're just going to look around down here and see if there's any sign of Luke. Okay?"

Elle closed her eyes for a moment, then dropped down to the ground. Then Sam took charge, saying, "Okay, here's how this is going to work. We'll split up and search around this cave. I'll be with Heath, Joseph, Quavando, and Sean, and you girls go together."

"Why are we splitting guys and girls?" Shanna asked.

"Cause there's an even number of us. Now get hunting."

And so we split up and began wandering around, almost aimlessly. For a while, none of us said anything. Ariana used her phone as a flashlight. Finally, the silence was broken by Shanna. "This is stupid."

"I agree," Isabelle added.

"Look, I'm sorry, guys. I was just a little curious. I didn't expect it to go this far," I sighed.

Then we heard the sound of nearby footsteps, and all five of us stopped dead in our tracks. "W-what was that?" Elle asked, taking a step back.

Shanna put up her fists and I grabbed a nearby rock. We inched slowly around the corner, and ran into... the guys of our group.

"What part of 'split up' do we not understand?" Quavando sighed.

"You can say that again," Sean added.

All of a sudden, we heard a rumbling. It seemed to come from behind a patch of rocks. "That can't be good," Heath muttered.

SEAN

The 10 of us slowly advanced towards the rocks. Heath grabbed a random stick from the ground and held it up, as if to make it obvious he had a weapon.

"You have a gun, you know," I retorted.

"Shh! I want that to be a surprise," Heath grinned. I rolled my eyes in response.

When we finally got near the rocks, Shanna heaved them all aside. Sitting there was a small, blue blob.

"It's... just a blob," Elle said, puzzled.

"Yeah, and you know what else it is? A waste of our time," Ariana sighed. We began walking away from the blob, and Ariana said, "Quavando, fly us out or something. We need to get back to business-"

She stopped talking when the rumbling sounded again. We turned around to find that the blob had turned into a giant, blue worm.

Music: Stage Boss from Gradius V

"Oh boy," Ariana sighed. Sam added, in an overexaggerated game show voice, "Time to battle!"

Quavando turned into a dragon, and I ran with Shanna to start beating the thing. She whispered to me, "Sean, I'm gonna try something. You may or may not feel dizzy and/or sick after this."
She then picked me up by the legs and spun me around. I stuck my fists out, striking the worm with every punch. I saw lightning strikes and knew Isabelle was helping. Just then, Quavando breathed fire, and the worm burst into flames.

I guess that angered the worm, because it started spitting venom at us. We all immediately retreated after that.

"Quick, Quavando, fly us out!" Sam yelled. We all hopped on his wings and he flew out of the cave for us.

Quavando has the ability to morph into several creatures, but mainly, a dragon. This helps us in battles, obviously, but it also helps in terms of escaping, since he can fly. There wasn't much room left over on Quavando afterward however, because he could only hold up to 10 people on his wings at a time.

"Thanks, Quavando." Joseph said upon exiting.

"No problem," Quavando replied

We traveledl on for a couple more minutes, then stopped to rest. While resting, I asked Ariana if we're anywhere close to where Luke is.

She closed her eyes for a little bit and says, "Not even close."

This was not going to be a short task...

---

Music: Haunted House from Super Mario 64

MEANWHILE, BACK AT GOLGAKU'S MANSION...

"Luke! Get me some water, please!" Golgaku yells.

"Yes, master," a brainwashed Luke replies. Luke was brainwashed to not only obey Golgaku's commands, but also to believe he was a state alchemist who would stop any intruders. Sad, right?

Golgaku receives his water when his lieutenant walks in. "It seems the kids have escaped from their house prison. What should I do?"

Golgaku mumbles, "Should've figured." Then he says, "Ah well. Send some soldiers after them. And send the dogs, too."

"The dogs? Golgaku, what do you want with these kids? I thought-"

A gun is pointed to the lieutenant's head. "I want them here. That's all I will say for now. GO GET THEM! Also-" He looked at Luke. "-take him along with you."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. You are dismissed."

LUKE (in his unbrainwashed head)

Wow. This is really happening. I look at my brainwashed self and regret ever doing this. I mean, I hate being someone's "weapon", but being brainwashed to do it? Not my best decision.

Then I remember the others- Sam, Sean, Shanna, Elle, Ariana, Abbey, Isabelle, Heath, Joseph, and Quavando- and wonder what happened to them and what will happen. I heard they were locked in Heath's house but escaped. I assumed they were searching for me, which is expected from me, as they would do anything for their friends.

I hope they're okay, and will be okay. Oh wait, this is my brain. My actual thinking brain that can't do a thing about anything. Oh well.

They should be powerful enough to defend those guards. And me. At least, I hope they should be.