Chapter 8: New Slime

SpeedBlade:

With the strange gas getting closer, I pull out my sword.

“Move,” I say, pushing Ms. Justice back. Once she is far away enough, I rise my sword before thrusting it down.

My sword going through the ground, I use my speed and run. Dragging my sword behind me as I run, I make a circle in the ground.

“This way,” I yell. Stomping my foot in the circle, it drops out and opens a pathway for us. I waste no time and drop through before helping the other down.

“We’re not out of trouble yet,” Justice says. She takes my hand as she drops down. Looking up, we see the gas cloud still after us.

"Go, go, go," I say. I push the others and the four of us run down the corridor. The next few moments are filled with nothing but confusion as we run through a maze of dark corridors. We turned left, right, and went straight. We kept on running until finally, JumpStart screams and stops us.

“Guys,” he yells, slowing down and letting his hands fall onto his knees. "Buys!"

"What," QuickShot asks.

JumpStart pants instead of answering. He takes big breaths while talking in between them. 

“Gas cloud. No more. No more. Running. Please. No, no more. No more running.”

We watch as JumpStart then faints to the ground.

Ms. Justice:

We all look at each other before looking down at JumpStart. Already, he had a sweat-made silhouette.

“JumpStart is right,” I say, realizing how tired I am. My shield feels like it weighs a ton, and my legs feel like they’re spaghetti. I fall against a wall and slide down it.

“We’ll rest for five minutes,” QuickShot says, also resting against a wall. “Afterward, we’ll go back out and search for Nitro. He can’t be too far away.”

“That a bad thing,” SpeedBlade says, still standing. “If he really isn’t too far, then I will keep a watch out. I don’t feel tired.”

“Thanks but no thanks,” I say, shaking my head and pushing myself up. “I’ll keep watch. You run fast, you get tired fast. You two get some rest. I’ll keep watch. If I see anything, I’ll wake you up.”

Hesitated at first, SpeedBlade nods his head and rests for a bit. I smile as I watch QuickShot drift in and out of sleep. Looking around afterward, I notice something going on in the distance. Slowly flowing out of a hallway, I see a cloud of green acid gas.

“Oh no,” I say, getting up.

By now, practically a sky full of acid gas had leaked into the hallway, and walking out of the gas is Nitro.

“Unstoppable,” he says, his fingers against the side of his gas mask. “I got the flash drive. Tell the boss I’m heading back.”

His fingers dropping to his side, he turns but stops. He freezes the moment he sees me. Rising his fingers, he places them back against the side of his mask.

“On second thought Unstoppable, tell the boss I’ll be late. I got some heroes to deal with.”

Opening his coat, he pulls out a metal can and switches it with one attached to his gas gun. Now shooting a blue gas, it rushes toward us.

“Time to go,” I yell, grabbing QuickShot, SpeedBlade, and JumpStart and shaking them awake.

“What,” JumpStart says, looking around. “What happened? What’s going on? Was I sleeping in sweat?”

“Time to go,” I yell again, “Nitro is here, and he got something new.”

“What,” SpeedBlade screams, looking at the blue gas as it pours toward us.

Realizing there is no way to fight off the gas or even defend ourselves, we turn to run. However, before we can make it far, a metal can fly past our heads and land in front. The metal can, old and rusted, starts to leak out more of the blue gas.

“No,” I scream, bringing up my shield.

“We’re trapped,” QuickShot says, looking at the gas clouds both in front and behind us.

“There’s no escape,” Nitro says as he unleashes more of the blue gas. “Just take a deep breath, and fall.”

Force together, our backs pushing against each other, we look for any signs of escape. SpeedBlade raises his sword high again, he stabs the floor and tries to cut another escape but something happens. As SpeedBlade is running, I hear a zip, and before I know it, electricity shoots up SpeedBlade, shocking him.

Screaming as he slams into a wall, SpeedBlade drops his sword and falls to the floor.

“SpeedBlade,” I yell. QuickShot and I run to check on him.

JumpStart:

“What to do,” I ask myself, “What to do? What can we do? We can’t run. We can’t fight. We can’t touch this gas. What can we do?”

Looking at QuickShot and Ms. Justice as they help SpeedBlade, I see the two slime arrows in QuickShot’s quiver. Once more, I think back to this morning, when I was pushed out of QuickShot’s room.

“Pushed out,” I repeat. “Pushed out. It could help, but then again. Then again, what’s the alternative?”

Turning to my friends, I apologize to them.

“For what,” QuickShot asks.

“In case this doesn’t work,” I answer.

I reach for the last two arrows in QuickShot’s quiver and crush them in between my hands.

“Wait,” QuickShot says, “What are you doing?”

“Something either very stupid or really smart. Ask me again if we survive this.”

Nitro:

“What in the world,” I say, backing away as this weird green and white foam pours out. The foam pushing my blue gas back, I have run back so the foam won’t engulf me.

“What is that,” I say, looking at the foam as it stops. With my blue gas dispensed, I wave it away and look at the foam again. “What is that?”

I tap my knuckles against it. It feels like a rock and sounds like one.

As I think it over, I realize the OutCasts have trapped themselves. From what I saw, the elf grabbed two arrows and threw them. So either they’re trapped between two rocks, or trapped between a rock and my suffocating gas.

“Easy,” I say, turning to walk away. However, as I’m walking, an explosive from behind knocks me down.

Rubbing my head as I push myself up, I look behind to see the foam rock destroyed. Back on my feet, I shake my head and run over to the sizzling remains. As I approach the smoking foam rock, I see the four OutCasts.

They’re all laying still on the ground, and their bodies are bruised.

“What was your plan,” I ask, looking at the OutCasts.

“Our plan,” someone replies, “Though a little crazy, was to lure you back here after I blew up the hardened slime.”

“Uh,” I say, watching as each and every member of the OutCasts sits up.

“Now,” the elf yells, looking at the little girl. The girl throws her shield and it hits my gas gun. My gun drops out of my hands, I grab it off the floor and look up.

QuickShot:

While Nitro is grabbing his blaster from the floor, SpeedBlade gets up and runs toward him. Before Nitro can fires, SpeedBlade cuts his blaster in half.

"Nooo," he screams before SpeedBlade punches and knocks him out.

"Ha," JumpStart says, snapping his fingers and pointing at Nitro. "You lose, Gassy."

Chuckling as he looks around, his smiles turn when he sees our faces.

"I know, I know, it was a crazy plan," JumpStart starts, holding up his hands, "But hey, you know, it works."

Getting up, I walk up to JumpStart. JumpStart lending back, he holds up his hands again.

"I'm not going to punch you," I say, JumpStart's eyes opening. "You were right. It was a crazy plan, but it works. Smart thinking."

His smile returns and he sighs.

"Come on. We're done here. Let's go."

JumpStart turning to leave, I grab his shoulder.

"Smart thinking," I say again, "But you're still cleaning my room."

"Awww."

Letting JumpStart go, I stop myself when Ms. Justice grabs my shoulder.

"Hey," she says, "Uhh, about what happened back there."

"Uhh," I say, backing away and looking down. "Uhh, can we please talk about this later? I mean, we should probably leave before any law enforcement shows."

"Sure," Ms. Justice says. "Let's talk about it later."

As Justice walks past me, I think back to what happened.

Five Minute Ago

"This is a crazy plan," I said, watching as JumpStart pulled cables from the floor. "There's no way this is going to work."

"Have some hope," Justice said.

"Yeah," JumpStart added. "Besides, it's way too late to be saying anything. Brace yourself."

Placing all the cables against the hardened slime, JumpStart pulled out his stun baton. As he prepared to power the cables, I look at Justice.

I noticed her beautiful eyes behind her black mask. I noticed her short, wavy blond hair. I notice her pink lips.

Lending forward, I kiss Ms. Justice, just as JumpStart powered up the cables, and altogether, they blew up the slime.