A Daring Mission

Chapter XI

ABBEY

Music: Melty Molten Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy

The group of people happened to be Golgaku and a huge army he brought with him (what are the odds?).

"Well, well! If it isn't you damn kids," Golgaku laughed as a group of men on horses surrounded us from all sides.

"What do you want with us now?" I groaned.

Golgaku rode his horse around us slowly, his huge eyes glaring deeply at us. It was almost terrifying. "I thought I made it clear earlier when I said to not take what's rightfully mine."

"For the last time, Luke is not rightfully yours!" Shanna sighed. "Sir, I think you have a serious mental problem."

That just made Golgaku laugh even harder. Then he turned to a man at his side and told him, "Lieutenant, make sure none of them escape. They're coming with me."

"You got it, sir," the lieutenant said.

With that, we were led in a single file line by the lieutenant and a whole army of soldiers, likely hired by Golgaku. Speaking of Golgaku, he rode in front of us. Also worth noting is that we were all handcuffed.

"How did you even know where to find us?" Elle asked.

"Your little friend, Luke, helped us with that," Golgaku said, chuckling to himself.

"You USED him to find us!?" Heath exclaimed.

"We didn't mean to, but we didn't anticipate him going after your friend, Shanna, either."

Shanna blushed at that. No one said anything else until, finally, we arrived at some sort of mountain-like structure.

"A mountain? That's your best idea?" Sam laughed. Golgaku shot him a devilish glare.

"Young fellow, I wouldn't get too snappy if I were you. Anyways, this is my volcano, properly named Mount Golgaku," Golgaku said, laughing to himself some more.

"You own a volcano?" Isabelle asked, an eyebrow raised at him, looking at him as if he were the craziest person she knew. Which was probably the case.

"Indeed. And it's set to erupt on March 20th!"

"Today IS March 20th!" Ariana yelled.

"Well, would you look at that? Follow me."

ELLE

We walked up Mount Golgaku in total silence. Well, for the most part. I was right behind Sam in the chain gang line, and I tapped his shoulder and whispered, "Sam, we'll get out of this, won't we?"

He looked my way and gave me a solemn look, but didn't respond.

Out of the corner of my eye, I also saw Sean and Shanna trying to break through their cuffs, with no success. The cuffs were either made of steel or anything thicker, as the twins could not break through any of those metals. Also, I noticed Quavando trying to turn into dragon form, but the handcuffs on him made those attempts fruitless.

Finally, we reached the top of the mountain, and we all looked down into the bubbling, brewing magma, ready to go off any second. Shanna looked Luke's way and made a "Please" motion with her body language, but Luke simply turned away at the sight.

"Go down!" the lieutenant yelled.

"Uh, how about no?" I said frantically, trying to escape the grip of the handcuffs, with no luck. Out of anger, the lieutenant kicked me into the volcano... which ultimately led to everyone coming in with me.

Music: Big Core from Gradius V

The 10 of us proceeded to slide down into the depths of the volcano, and stopped when we reached a small ledge jutting out. Ariana was able to use her mind power to free us from the cuffs, For a while, we tried climbing up the volcano using various rocks and ledges as footsteps, but ultimately, it ended in failure. Quavando STILL couldn't use his dragon form because it was "too hot to be able to transform".

Eventually, Sam yelled to us, "Stop, guys." We all looked at him to find that solemn expression still on his face. A few seconds later, he added, "There's no point in trying. We just have to face the facts."

If the own leader of our group was giving up, then clearly, nothing could be done. We all dropped down to the ledge and joined him in our preparation. For the end.

I never expected things to end like this.

SAM

I had lost all faith. Not even Joseph's shield powers had the capability to protect us from the lava that would soon consume us all. As the rest of the group joined me, I saw people taking other's hands and sitting down and shutting their eyes. Elle sat down next to me, and I decided to hop on the bandwagon and take Elle's hand.

"Sam... I can't believe it's ending like this," Elle told me, tears slowly sliding down her face. "It was fun while it lasted."

"I'll miss you," I said to Elle.

"I'll miss you more," she said back.

Normally, we would've gone back and forth before getting bored, but we had decided it wasn't worth it. Time was almost up. Elle and I cuddled closely together and shut our eyes tightly.

Music: Historic Soldier from Gradius ReBirth

Then I felt myself rising up. At first, I thought it was because I was ascending into heaven. But then I opened my eyes and saw that all of us were rising. I also saw a blue ball around us, and I looked to where it was coming from.

It was Luke, who was using the Rock of Doom as a tractor beam to lift us up!

"I knew he'd come through for us eventually," I overheard Shanna say.

Music: Give My Heart to You from Nemesis 3 MSX

Luke carried us to solid land, then set us down and flew over to us. I embraced Elle in a hug, and Quavando and some others began kissing the ground. Shanna was the first to recognize what Luke had done, and she ran up to him, said, "Thank you," and gave him a tight hug.

But that's not the weird part. (well, it is, but what happened next is even weirder)

Luke blinked a couple of times, and after glancing back and forth a few times, asked, "Um, Shanna, why are you hugging me?"