Never Look Back Part II: Looking Away

Chapter VII

Ben

Music: Beware the Forest's Mushrooms from Super Mario RPG

After Luke was finished reading, a blinding light appeared, and the next thing I knew, we were in what appeared to be an underground hedge maze.

This mission just gets weirder.

We walked around for a little bit, trying to find the point of this place. I didn't see it. Luke also asked, "So, is this what the monsters did to you? Teleport you to random locations?"

Rachel replied, "No, this is new."

I saw a bunch of monsters and killed them almost immediately after doing so. There was nothing interesting to see other than the fact that we couldn't find the way out of this maze.

After trying to find a way out of the maze, Rachel gasped and went, "Um, guys, is it hot in here, or is it-"

Music: JCE9000GT's remix of Fire Scramble from Gradius III SNES

She didn't have time to finish, because we had just walked into an inferno pit created by the monsters. We were ambushed by many monsters and fireballs, and even prominences came out of the flames!

Music (after the ambush): Yoshiko and Yoshio's Love... from Gokujou Parodius

This entire ambush lasted for about a minute and a half, and when all seemed calm, a monster head appeared. It flied around, spitting lasers all over the place, and boy, it looked creepy.

We managed to destroy the head within less than a minute, and then Luke went, "Let's get out of here, and continue from there."

"I agree," I reply.

Rachel

Music: Close Quarters from Nemesis 3 MSX

Our one goal at this point: Get out of this stupid maze.

We walked around the maze, taking every path we saw. It was getting increasingly hot from the inferno that we were just in, and I was way more than ready to leave.

After about a minute of no progress, we located an exit. "Yes!" I screamed, motioning to Luke and Ben to follow me.

Even better- we managed to find the base of the monsters! We all cheered and whooped, and then rushed for the base. Right then, though, Ben said, "Um, shouldn't we wait for the others?"

So we did. We sat down for a minute, and right when I thought they wouldn't show, I saw four small bursts of light...

Sam

Being famous in a town where you just killed a gigantic cyclops apparently has people swarming all over you, asking us questions about who we are, what we were doing, how we were able to kill the monster, etc. We wished to remain anonymous (people can be very nosy), but still, people were asking us questions. While we were in an alley, though, another light formed.

"Oh great, where are we going now?" I asked. But then I saw a few piles of grass arranged in a maze-like fashion, and then saw Rachel, Ben, and Luke!

"Oh my gosh! You guys are okay!" Shanna screamed, wrapping Rachel in a bear hug. Luke seemed shocked at all that happened. We told them about our quarrels and such, and they just stayed silent.

Elle whispered to me, "I think they know something that they don't want to share with us."

Well, it doesn't matter. Then Sean yelled, "Look guys, we're near the base!"

I looked to where Sean was pointing, and sure enough, there was another base that almost looked like the first one. That made us cheer even louder.

I then said, "Okay, I don't know if the dreams are still present with us, but just in case they aren't, let's get some rest. We'll need to be ready for when we go into the base."

So we all sat down and went to get some sleep.

---

Music: Buoy Base Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy

The Monster Master is making sure all is good with the plan to destroy the kids. "Alarm systems on and prepared?"

"Check." his main monster says.

"Guards ready for fighting? Remember, no more guardian rushes. Those are lame."

"Check."

"My Rock of Doom ready for transmutation?"

"Check."

"Outside weapons set?"

"Check."

"My lunch ready?"

"Um... check."

"Good." Right as the Monster Master heads to eat, he is stopped by Austin's monitoring monster.

"Sir, it seems that Austin is failing to cooperate with us. He refuses to tell us what he and his friends have done in the past few weeks. What do you want me to do?"

The Master sighs. "Well, it looks like we'll have no choice. Put those energy-draining wires into him. We'll be forced to kill him by slowly draining him of his energy. Everything is set in case his friends arrive, so they should be good. For us, anyways."

The monitor walks back into the room as Austin fearfully asks, "Um, what are you doing to me now?"

The Master smiles and walks in. "Have fun with your life- it won't last much longer!" he says as the wires are inserted into Austin's cage. They are then stuck all around him, and his monitor turns on the machine that activates the energy-draining power.

The Master smiles. All is going according to plan, he thought.