Commander Vincent answered. “He is being held prisoner. Remember, all three of you together are much too dangerous.”
“Therefore, I know you well. However, you don’t know ME well.” Vincent gave a cold, cruel laugh. He was evidently almost as insane as Bolt and The Mastermind. (Thomas and I did find this humorless joke very amusing.)
“First, I must tell you, I am very creative. In fact, if I wasn’t a Supreme Commander in The Great One’s army, I could be an artist, and inventor, and all those other creative jobs. HA! HA! HA! HA!” (Once again, Thomas and I detested Commander Vincent’s bad gag.)
“So, of course, I have decided to let you choose you OWN punishment. However, your punishment cannot be too weak, and second, I must decide if your decision will be accepted. So, choose. I will give you as much time as you like. In the meantime, though, you must have food.”
FOOD. The word was tantalizing. FOOD. It was such a fascinating word to anyone who had not eaten in a time. Especially us.
So, Commander Vincent brought us a surprising gourmet meal. “I will give you time to think. Take your time...but you have one hour to have an ide—”
“I’ve got it! This is something that would amuse someone like you.” I blurted.
The Commander narrowed his eyes. “State your plan.”
It was extremely risky, but it was the only way. “Kill us yourself. You’ll have quite a fun time.”
Thomas gasped. “Edward, NO!”
Vincent’s eyes lit up. “Hmmm...Let me think...amuse...fun...kill...ah, yes! Of course I could kill you! Permission granted. And, since I truly want to amuse myself, you may have weapons.”
The onlookers, the green monsters, the black creatures that were in Ground Mode and even the light-green Mini-Commander with the jetpack gasped.
“You...you can’t, Comman—” stuttered the Mini-Commander.
“I shall do as I wish, Truman! Do not try to join.” He fixed his eyes on everyone else. “Do not take action. Is that clear?”
“Mm-hmms” and “Yeps” and “Yeahs” rose up from the group, although they were reluctant, Commander Vincent’s army agreed to the terms.
“Good.” Vincent turned to us. You have thirty minutes to prepare yourselves. Guards, take them to their rooms.”
Chapter Ninne
Soon, we were taken to a battle arena, where Vincent was waiting for us. We held our weapons, while a green runt gave a pair of SD-98 5Elements Attack claws to Vincent.
“Prepare to die,” snarled Commander S.J. Vincent.
He rushed at us like a cyclone. We barely had time to deflect his powerful attack. I unleashed an armload of counterattacks and dodges, and Thomas did an impressive backflip and attacked in midair, but we were equal to Vincent.
He unleashed a torrent of lightning (5Elements Attack Claws had this special feature) and cackled madly. The onlookers cheered, and we screamed. Vincent did not speak, but the expression of his face said it all: he was fighting to kill. His claws radiated with extreme heat, showing us his anger.
Vincent unleashed a vicious surprise attack on Thomas, who fell to the ground. Vincent unleashed a powerful force field with his electric power, which blocked me. He raised his claws up to kill Thomas, with a maddening glint in his malicious eyes.
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Vincent looked up in surprise.
“NOT THOMAS, YOU (cussword)!”
My rushing attack was so powerful, it exploded the force field, and Vincent flew 60 feet into the air with a screech. He landed on the ground with a THUD. He scrabbled the ground and pushed himself up. “You...you will be...d-destroyed...you i-idiots...” and then he fell onto the ground and did not move.
The onlookers gasped and then uttered loud battle cries and came after us.
“Let’s get out of here Thom—” I began.
“STOP!” a voice said. It was a high, shrill voice, like Gavin IV’s. Had the man risen up from the dead?
A man stepped onto the battlefield. He appeared to come out of nowhere.
“I am Gavin III.” He went on:
“It seems you have defeated General Vincent. Therefore, I must put my anger on you, Edward. Stand back, droids, and do not say a word, or else you idiots will be dismantled!” The droids gasped.
“Prepare to die.” And so the fight began.
Gavin III looked a lot like Gavin IV, only they had a different personality. Like General Vincent, Gavin III preferred surprise attacks, and did not like to rush into battle. Like Gavin IV, though, Gavin III enjoyed taunting us while we battled, unlike Commander Vincent.
“You idiots will be destroyed soon! By ME, Gavin the III! Nothing can save you now, you hear me?! Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING, will save you!” He unleashed a huge billow of air from his Attack Claws. We were pushed back. It hurt us a lot, but we quickly realized that General Gavin was not trying to kill us with air. He intended to use his Air Element to push us off a nearby cliff!
“Guys! He’s trying to push us off a cliff.” I screamed.
Just then, Gavin stopped. There was sweat rolling like waves down his face, even though he had barely moved.
It was then that we realized that using Attack Claws required a great amount of anger, and Gavin III did not have much anger. He usually managed to keep his cool, even in the worst situations. He had taken a gigantic risk by trying to use his Attack Claws.
So I took control of the situation. While Gavin III stood panting, I thrust my sword across his chest.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!”
Gavin III fell to the ground and died. The soldiers backed off, and then fell to the ground and disintegrated.
“W-what happened to those s-s-soldiers?” I s-s-stammered.
“It seems that they were connected to Gavin III.”
“What”
“That means that they are...well...connected to Gavin III. They have sworn their allegiance to him. If he becomes stronger, so do his minions. If he feels angry, so do his minions. If Gavin dies, they die too.”
“Oh. Come on, let’s get Tobor and bust out of here.”
Chapter Tenn
Tobor apologized greatly. “I had no idea! I knew him for so long! I never suspected him doin—”
“All right, all right, all right. We forgive you.” I groaned.
“Great! Let’s check that map.” Thomas exclaimed.
Tobor opened up the map. Since we had exited Mt. Death, the only way to go was to go to Death Hills.
“Huh. Since we have to go to The Death Hills, I’m guessing that Dastard took a shortcut around it. But I can’t see the shortcut!” I moaned.
“S-o-o-o-o...let’s head through Death Hills!” Thomas said.
“WAIT JUST A MINUTE!” Tobor yelled. “Death Hills is rumored to have a dangerous madman with a gigantic spiked club. He is a cannibal, and has lived in Death Hills for centuries. You can’t kill him with time. You must steal his weapon and hit his weak point, which is his neck. Only then can he die.”
“Sounds fun,” I said.
“All right, then, let’s go. Just telling you.”
* * * * * * * *
After a while, we came to Death Hills. We saw a fire, and Thomas, forgetting Tobor’s warning, ran towards it.
“Thomas, NO!”
It was too late. Thomas came up to the campfire, where a wrinkled, ugly old man with a huge club was sitting. “AAAH...FOOD...EAT...NOW!!!” For some odd reason, he looked just like a wrinkled version of Gavin III or Gavin IV.
I took out my sword. Tobor uttered a battle cry, and Thomas took out his blaster and, remembering what Tobor had said, aimed for its club.
The cannibal swung his club first. Thomas ducked just in time. Where the club hit, there was now a deep hole.
We were so engaged in the battle, all of us forgot to do a sneak attack.
I finally snuck up behind him and aimed at the madman’s le
g.
“YEEOUCH!”
Using my sword, I lashed at the cannibal. He fell to the ground with a thud.
Thomas then removed his weapon, and I brought my sword down on his neck.
You know what happened next. The events that come next would have been so violent; I cannot put this horrifically terrifying event into appropriate words.
After the madman was defeated, all of us ran out of the cold, bare ground of The Death Hills as fast as our legs would let us.
* * * * * * *
The map told us that our next target was The Black Forest. As we traveled, I wondered what The Black Forest would look like. Would it be ominous or just plain scary? Would it be desolate, with just a single tree, or would The Black Forest be so vast that it would cover half of Dimension #3?
My countless questions were answered when we arrived at The Black Forest. It looked like any other old forest would look like. In fact, Black Forest was BORING. It didn’t look like a black forest at all!!
Thomas seemed to have read my thoughts. “Tobor, are you SURE that this is Black Forest? Let me see that map.” Thomas took the map. He shook his head. “Yes, this is it.”
And so we went in. Black Forest was even more sinister than at first sight. The forest was completely black in the inside, and witches popped out of everywhere. They threw magic spells at us, and we had no choice but to shoot them down. However, that didn’t work! Our bullets literally deflected off them. It was quite annoying. In fact, when a witch’s spell forced me to the ground, I actually looked at the floor of The Black Forest. It was covered with bright red apples from bright red trees. And then, an old habit got a hold of me.
When I was still on Earth, I had a habit of hiding in a bush and shooting apples at passerby. They were so annoyed; I started a club that was devoted to throwing apples. “There, take that, you annoying witches!”
I picked up an apple and threw it at the witch. It actually hit the witch and she fell to the ground, and Thomas shot the witch with a bullet.
This went on. I kept throwing apples, and Thomas shot down the witch. When the witches dropped magic wands, we took them. We then used our new wands to make deflector shields that would deflect other witches’ spells.
We quickly made it through The Black Forest. At the end of the path, was a familiar enormous, shiny, and white building.
“Hey, we circled around Dimension #3 and returned back and—” But then I noticed that the small village was not behind the building. But that could only mean...
“There are two enormous, shiny, and white buildings. The one near our destroyed village is The Office Building of Justice and Law. The one in front of us is The Mastermind’s Headquarters.” explained Thomas.
“Then let’s go. Hey, by the way, Tobor, what’s your last name?” Although I didn’t know why I said that, I said it anyway. Besides, what was Tobor’s last name.
“Bolt. Bolt is my last name. Now, I’ve got to recharge my batteries. I’ll place my charger in those nearby trees.”
* * * * * * * *
“REPORT, BOLT.”
“They have defeated Gavin II in Death Hills.”
“EXCELLENT! YOU HAVE DONE SO WELL, I WILL LET YOU DESTROY THEM YOURSELF.”
“Thank you, Great One.”
* * * * * * * *
In The Mastermind’s Headquarters, the first room was very large.
Tobor stepped into the middle.
“What are you doing, Tobor?”
“Prepare to die.”
“What-wha-Ha! Ha! HA! Nice joke, Tobor, old buddy. And look at that solemn face! You really did it this time, Tobor!”
“No. I must kill you. And my name is Bolt, not Tobor. I am The Apprentice. I rule over everything. You know the peculiar disappearances I made in Gavin Headquarters and The Marketplace’s airport. I had meetings with The Great One. And now, I must destroy you. Now, you will not live.”
“Now, you’re dead meat.”
Bolt rushed at us at a surprising speed, like Vincent. But unlike the Commander, he stopped right before us. Bolt was like Commander Vincent in many ways. For one thing, his claws burned brightly like Vincent’s had, revealing his hidden anger. Now, he could treat us any way he liked. Thomas and I fought bravely, but we were equal to him. He was like a tornado, destroying everything in his path, and we were like the puny people trying to flee from him.
I tried to pull a sneak attack on him, but he knew my strategy. He did a counterattack that knocked me off my feet. He grabbed my throat, and then I felt myself going down...down...down...down.
Chapter Elaven
I fluttered my eyes. Bolt! I tried to pull him down and choke him, but I was just too weak. I blinked. It wasn’t Bolt. It was a helmet. Bolt never wore a helmet, except for a green plasma disk on his head. How strange.
“Edward. Edward! EDWARD! EDWARD! EDWARD! EDWARD!!!”
I lifted my head up. I was on the ground, but my body didn’t hurt the tiniest bit.
“Is this heaven?” I asked.
A voice laughed. “No, Edward! It’s me, Thomas!”
I straightened up and peered at the so-called ‘Thomas’. Yes, I recognized that quirky, crooked grin. This was Thomas, all right.
“Where am I? What...what happened?
“Well, you blacked out. You’re still in The Mastermind’s headquarters, in the first large room.”
Everything I knew about Dimension #3 popped back into my head.
“What about To—I mean Bolt?”
“Oh yes! Right after you fainted, he stepped over you and was about to kill you when I tripped him and he fell flat on his face, if he has one.” Thomas snickered.
“Then, he rolled and got up. He hit my blaster from my belt and disarmed me. So I took your blaster, and I hit him. So that’s the end of Bolt. Oh right, and I took his club-thingy.”
“Oh.” I said. “But really, Thomas, ‘club-thingy?’ Really?
Thomas turned a deep shade of red. “Yes, club-thingy. Now let’s move to the next roo—”
“There is no next room.”
Thomas carefully observed his surroundings. “You’re right!” The room was a solid glass wall with bright stars painted in a starry background. The whole room was a map of Dimension #3. Yes, there was an entrance. But where was the door leading to the next room?
“How in tarnation did The Mastermind and get to the top of the building, then?”
“Oh, I’ve seen this before. You’ve got to feel it out. You know, it’s invisible.” Thomas started moving his hands along one side of the wall.
I rolled my eyes. “Okay. Right. It’s invisible. I’ll start helping you when The Mastermind can fly.”
“Hey look! The Mastermind! He’s flying!!”
“Very funny, Thomas. Very funny. Now quit joking. We’ve got an elevator or a door to find.”
Just as I finished speaking, we heard a loud rumbling. As we turned around, the entrance itself seemed to close up, all by itself. Just like that.
“I don’t understand...is the elevator in the wall? Should I break it, perhaps? Help me, Edward!” Thomas paced back and forth impatiently, waiting for high-quality ideas to burst into his head.
“Well, perhaps it relies on thought.”
Thomas looked at me as if I had just had a nervous breakdown. “Are you serious?! That’s impossi—”
“No, it isn’t. Bolt’s ship used thought to transport it, correct? There were no controls, except for activating the laser cannons. If that’s true, The Mastermind’s headquarters might use the same concept!”
Thomas studied my scheme for a minute. “Edward, YOU’RE RIGHT!!! Since you’re best at controlling thought, you should try to open the door.”
I blinked. I was?
Thomas seemed to read my thoughts. “You can do it, Eddy! You can do it!”
Never, in my entire life, had anybody called me Eddy. Never. Nobody called me, Edward B. Jones the III, ‘Eddy.’ I was irate. M
y brain was in chaos. My heart issued pandemonium. I was angry. I was every synonym of ‘furious,’ only ten times worse.
I drew in that confusion, ignored it, took a deep breath, and then concentrated. Suddenly, an elevator appeared out of nowhere.
“YOU MAY ENTER. I PREDICT YOU ARE...MASTER BOLT?”
“Er...yes. I am Bolt. Take me up to The Great One’s room. I...ahem, excuse me...have a meeting with Him.”
“I SEE. I...I SHALL FOLLOW YOUR ORDERS. GET IN.”
So we did.
The Last Battle
And, in seconds, we were at the top. The moment, we knew, was minutes or possibly even seconds, away.
“I KNEW YOU WOULD BE COMING HERE. YOU SPINELESS FOOLS.”
“Who...Who’s there! Show yourself!” I screamed.
“ALTHOUGH YOU ARE QUITE COWARDLY, YOU ARE ALSO CLEVER. AN OBVIOUS COMBINATION OF A PERSON’S NATURE.”
“I SPEAK TO BOTH OF YOU. YOU ARE CLUMSY, STUPID, AND FOOLISH. YOU KNOW I HAVE WATCHED YOU, OF COURSE.”
“Yes, you have. A twisted, evil servant Tobor was.”
The voice screeched. We covered our ears, but soon realized that it was not a cry of triumph, but it was...laughter.
“AH, YES! YOU MUST BE REFERRING TO MY APPRENTICE, BOLT! YES, HE WAS A ‘TWISTED, EVIL SERVANT.’ HE WAS QUITE USEFUL, AT LEAST UNTIL YOU KILLED HIM. A BROKEN BUCKET OF METAL AND ELECTRICITY IS NO USE TO ME. YES, THE TRUTH IS CLEAR NOW! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I WILL KILL MY OWN FOLLOWERS! IT IS NECESSARY FOR ONE TO TAKES.THERE IS NO ‘GOOD’ AND THERE IS NO ‘EVIL.’ NO, THERE IS ONLY POWER AND NO POWER, AND THAT IS IT. ALL THE STRONG, AUTHORITATIVE PEOPLE TAKE POWER. POWER IS SUCH A STRONG WORD. PEOPLE WHO DO NOT TAKE POWER...I GRIEVE SILENTLY FOR THEM. (The Mastermind probably wouldn’t really do this.) YES, THEY ARE SAD, TWISTED HUMAN SOULS. YOU SEE, LIFE IS LIKE A GAME. TO WIN, YOU MUST TAKE MORE OF YOUR OPPONENTS PIECES, AND BUILD UP YOUR ARMY UNTIL YOU SUCCEED!”
“No, it’s NOT!” I yelled suddenly. “Life is what you make of it! Life is like a roller coaster! Sometimes it goes up, and down, and even loops itself, but all in all, you need to hang on! If you do, you will be SUCCESSFUL! Life is NOT a board game! What a stupid link!! You’re such a horrible comparison-maker! Gee whiz and your servants call you witty! You’re a peanut!! ‘YA HEAR ME?!! A PEANUT, YOU ARE, BY GOLLY!”
“ALAS, YOU HAVE MADE A GOOD COMPARISON, MORTAL. BUT I AM AFRAID THAT THE TALKING PART IS OVER. WHAT YOU LEARNED TODAY, THE TIME THAT WE SPENT ARGUING OVER WHAT LIFE IS, THAT TIME WAS AN ABSOLUTE WASTE. YOU KNOW THAT YOU HAVE DEFEATED MOST OF MY ARMY. BUT STILL, I WILL REBUILD, AND I WILL KEEP CONSTRUCTING UNTIL I AM EVEN BETTER THAN BEFORE. TOO BAD YOU WON’T LIVE TO SEE THIS.” He seemed to ignore my comment about him being a peanut (which was true).