Items of Power - chapter 20

[Limely]

Awww, shucks. :'C

[Zay-el]

How about a limbless Superman? XD

[Holy Crap]

ha! limely, you should draw that now.

[Limely]

I am very tempted! D:

[Holy Crap]

then do it! you'd be benefiting everyone!

[Limely]

I might do it as a warmup tomorrow, then. :3

[Holy Crap]

the thought still makes me laugh. i can see it clearly.

[FAB]

Nice fanfic, yes, i've seen it one RZ too.

[Holy Crap]

thanks!!! and you get 20 tings for commenting.

[Holy Crap]

this chapter has lots of action!

CHAPTER 12 – War in the Tunnels
The second drill rose back up from the ground. “Go! Go! Go!” commanded one of the Hoodlum Officers.

The third drill rose back up from the ground. “Go! Go! Go!” commanded one of the Hoodlum Officers.

The fourth drill rose back up from the ground. “Go! Go! Go!” commanded one of the Hoodlum Officers.

The Hoodlum’s started to run erratically towards Rayman and his Knaaren bodyguard. They were acting even stupider than normal. “Sure, they need to get past but shouldn’t they have thought that through a bit better?” Rayman muttered to himself. By the time he’d finished his sentence, he’d also finished powering up his fist, and the Hoodlums were upon him. He released his fist at full fury while the Knaarens swiped at full strength with their claws.
Not many things could survive either one of those attacks. Except for, of course, a Hoodoo’s shield. Powered fists and iron-hard claws alike rebounded off what was now a moving wall of round barriers. They were cleverer than they seemed at first. Not only were they protected, but the Hoodoos had protected themselves by standing behind the wall of barriers. The Knaarens were too big to get past the wall as to take out the hoodoos, and had no choice but to retreat further down the tunnels away from the impenetrable stampede.
Rayman, however, had a different plan. He was small and agile, and was able to do things like, say for example, jump over a moving wall of shielded hoodlums and take out the hoodoos behind them. In a quick barrage of fists, the Hoodoos were vanquished and their shield disappeared. Due to the stupidity of the Hoodlums, they didn’t realize this and ran straight towards the Knaarens, who had realized. It wasn’t long before the black lums inside flew away back to where they came from.

The fifth drill rose back up from the ground. “Go! Go! Go!” commanded one of the Hoodlum Officers.

Meanwhile, in the arena room, a group of shielded hoodlums had pushed back some of the Knaaren soldiers that Rayman hadn’t assisted. Gumsi raised his scepter and fired a bolt of magic at them, killing only one while the rest stampeded towards him, ready to steal his weapon from him. Quickly, he pulled a lever on the armrest of his throne and the hoodlum’s found themselves plummeting into a pool of acid while the retreating Knaarens stood safely at the edge of the newly formed pit. The Hoodoos arrived to find themselves no longer protected by a wall of shielded hoodlum’s. The Knaarens leaped over the pit and tore them apart.

Rayman sprinted through the tunnels, searching for more hoodlums. He knew that several more drills had penetrated the caverns, and he couldn’t let them get that scepter. He quickly turned a corner and almost ran straight into a bunch of retreating Knaaren. But reacting instantly, he jumped over them and activated his helicopter ability, allowing the stampeding hoodlums to run underneath him. With ease, he re-enacted his previous assault, the stampede suffering a similar fate to the last.

Alkos, the current Knaaren champion, led his squad bravely down a corridor. Holding his champion’s staff, he strided with pride. A wall of shields sped down the corridor towards him, but calmly he raised his staff and fired a beam of power at the Hoodoos behind. “Attack!” he yelled at his squad, who ran forward and shredded the now unprotected hoodlums to ribbons.

Rayman was speeding down yet another corridor, skidding to a halt just as another drill poked down through the roof like a mechanical stalactite. Rayman then began powering a large fireball.

The sixth drill – exploded in the hoodlum’s faces.

The seventh drill rose back up from the ground. “Go! Go! Go!” commanded one of the Hoodlum Officers.

A smaller fireball rebounded off the cavern wall and took out an unsuspecting hoodoo. It only removed the shield of a single hoodlum, but the Knaarens quickly tore it up, leaving a gap for them to run through. Unneeded, Rayman ran off to find some more as the Knaarens began pummeling the Hoodoos. It wasn’t long before he found a group that had already passed the corridor he came out of, so he easily took them out from behind.

A piece of the roof landed on Gumsi’s head, making him look up to see yet another drill poking through.

Rayman heard a terrible, high pitched scream.

The eighth drill rose back up from the ground. “Go! Go! Go!” commanded one of the Hoodlum Officers.

Alkos heard a terrible, high pitched scream.

Gumsi wrestled with the hoodlums. They had jumped in from right above him, and two were now attempting to steal his scepter while the others, who were shielded by some hoodoos above the surface, surrounded the scene making outside help impossible. One of the un-shielded hoodlums hit Gumsi in the head causing him to flinch, and the other took the opportunity to rip the scepter from his hands. At that moment, a bunch of winged hoodlums flew in and picked up the soldiers inside – along with the scepter – and carried them up to the surface.
Alkos and Rayman arrived to see this. “Lift!” Rayman yelled at Alkos who understood and prepared himself. Rayman leapt into alkos’ iron-hard claws and immediately after was thrown up into the drill-hole after the Hoodlums. But he was too late – the hoodlums had already gotten into their balloon-boats and sped away over the lethal sands.
Rayman had no choice. Running as fast as he could, he too sped off over the desert, towards the balloon-boats, saying “ouch!” with every step. But he couldn’t keep up. And now, he was trapped – he had to keep running or be burnt to death, but there was no (relatively) cool land around to rest on. He was doomed. And not only that, but the entire world was doomed.
Or so he thought until a stolen hoodlum aircraft driven by a fat, blue glute seemed to miraculously appear out of nowhere. “Globox!” Rayman exclaimed. Still running, Rayman realized that he’d forgotten about Globox, and was surprised to see that he hadn’t been captured by the pirates.
“Jump on Rayman!” Globox called back, and without hesitation, Rayman jumped onto the back of the vehicle. “Hold on!” with that, Globox pushed down on the accelerator with all his weight, and they sped off towards the Hoodlums, now at a faster rate than they.
Last time the pair had been on this vehicle, it had been for the same reason – to stop Andre using the power of the Gumsi’s scepter. Obviously, Globox had kept the flying craft. Not only that, but he had become very good at driving it. Before long, they’d approached the balloon-boats and slowed down to stay beside them.
Instantly, the Hoodlums aboard them began firing. However, they weren’t all that accurate, especially when firing at a moving target. Rayman adjusted himself so as to man the turret at the back of the craft. After pulling the trigger, a spray of boiling bullets rushed towards the hoodlums, knocking one off onto the sand below. A second shot set the whole boat on fire, and it crashed horribly.
But there were still many balloon-boats remaining. Several Hoodoos had projected shields around some of the boats, and they used the same strategy as before. The shielded boats did their best to stay between Rayman and the Hoodoos. Unfortunately for them, the vehicle as much faster and quickly zoomed around the other side of the formation, and in a matter of seconds, the hoodoos found themselves on fire and on the ground.
Globox then sped up so that he was in front of their enemies. Due to the low speed of the Hoodlum’s projectiles, some of them ended up flying into their own shots, while Rayman hit them with ease. Giving up on shooting, the Hoodlums started pulling out Molotov cocktails and pegged them at the vehicle. Most missed totally, as they didn’t usually use them, however the Hoodbooms were more accurate, and took out one of the engines.
The vehicle shook violently and fell behind a bit before Globox finally got control and started moving forward again. But with the loss of the engine, they didn’t have anywhere near the speed they had before which meant they couldn’t get any closer, so the Hoodlums got out the guns again. But what was worse was that now, the only way Rayman could shoot the Hoodlums was to shoot through Globox. But as always, he had a plan.
“Globox, turn around!”
“What?!”
“Turn around and go in reverse! Can you handle that?”
Globox smiled in reply and steered in a full 180, timing the braking and reversing so that he didn’t lose any momentum. “He’s really good at this” Rayman said quietly. He was also surprised as to how well Globox was handling all this. He hadn’t screamed, or tried to run away. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying it.
Rayman then stopped thinking and focused on taking down the hoodlums. Slowly, he took down all of the boats except the one with the scepter on it. He knew that if he shot it down, he could never get the scepter back. So he came up with a plan, but after a rough calculation, realized he was in trouble. “Globox!” he called, “We’re not close enough! Is there anything we can do to get rid of some weight?”
Globox thought for a bit and then suddenly stuck his hand down his throat, causing him to vomit. This resulted in a very, very slight increase in speed, but that was all that was needed. When he thought he was close enough, Rayman leapt off the vehicle and reached out with his hands. He barely managed to catch the rudder of the balloon-boat – exactly as planned.
Grabbing onto the edge of the boat with one hand, he used all his strength to turn the boats rudder far to one side. With that, it began spinning around in circles. Both off the hoodlum fell off, taking the scepter with them. But as they did, Rayman pushed himself off the back of the boat and caught it. Then, just as he was about to hit the ground, Globox caught him and hauled him onto the vehicle.
“Close call Rayman!”
“Yeah” Rayman managed to reply between massive breaths. “Let’s go back now, huh?”
“Alright!” with that, Globox pulled a lever and they switched from reverse to forward and then zoomed towards the Knaaren tunnels.
End of Chapter
Question 10: without looking: which drill exploded?

[Zay-el]

Wow, a really fast-pace, action-packed chapter this was! I liked the way you depicted Globox with his piloting skills--he really needed a constructive hobby by now. I like the whole Knaaren-Hoodlums fight scenes, though my favourite was the air chase. I can't wait to see what more you can throw at us readers! 8D

About the question...the page loaded on the bottom, and I saw the question sooner that reading the chapter itself. Ah well, maybe next time. 83

Hope to see the next part soon! 8D

[Holy Crap]

I liked the way you depicted Globox with his piloting skills--he really needed a constructive hobby by now.

*spoiler*
that's not the half of it.

About the question...the page loaded on the bottom, and I saw the question sooner that reading the chapter itself. Ah well, maybe next time. 83

ah yes, you see, my chapters look alot bigger when i write them because of a larger font and unneeded spacing (damn office 07!) so sorry about that.

[Zay-el]

*spoiler*
that's not the half of it.

8D Now I'm really curious! Can't wait to see what it is in whole 83

ah yes, you see, my chapters look alot bigger when i write them because of a larger font and unneeded spacing (damn office 07!) so sorry about that.

Nah, don't sweat it. Like I said, I'll just pay more attention next time. ^__^

[Holy Crap]

don't worry, i'll probably update the next chapter soon, most likely sometime over the easter weekend. yay for easter!

[Limely]

Good chapter, as always. The action in this really kept me reading.

[Holy Crap]

i guess i'm a bit inspired by the matthew reilly books. they're really fast paced with lots of action. those are alot more violent though.

[Holy Crap]

i still don't have a post reply button...
anyway, new update!!! yes, that was quick.

CHAPTER 13 – Globox the Guardian
After returning the scepter to Gumsi and sending the Knaaren to the council, Globox took Rayman somewhere totally unexpected.
“Where are we going exactly?” Rayman asked.
“I’ve got to fix the cruiser, check on Uglette and the kids…”
“What? Where going to your house?”
“No. My house was overrun by pirates.”
“Where are we going then?”
Globox then put on a kind of professional voice, as if advertising something. “To the S.S. Stomach Shield – the mobile HQ of ‘Globox the Guardian’.”
“Globox the Guardian!?”
Globox explained to Rayman what had happened to him after his house was attacked by pirates. They’d taken all of the Baby Globoxes, but Globox was overcome by a wave of sudden bravery and took it upon himself to get them back. He didn’t get all of them, unfortunately, but he now went about rescuing others from the two invading forces. One of his main bases was the Warship Rayman had stolen to rescue the babies from the pirate mines, which had been renamed “The S.S. Stomach Shield”.
“And I’ve got help now too! Others have jumped on board with me!”
“Wow.” Frankly, Rayman was amazed beyond words. Globox was no longer the silly coward he used to be, but a brave, smart, responsible man. In fact, he had become a hero.
“We’re the Globox Guardian Force!”
“Uh-huh.” Rayman was still in shock from Globox’s massive change.
Eventually, they arrived at the S.S. Stomach Shield (or the S.S.S.S.). The Sail had been replaced, and instead of a Pirate Skull, it pictured a large shield with an image of Globox’s face on it. The ship had a few others on it, including Uglette, some of the children and a few others Rayman didn’t recognize.
“Renk!” Globox called out as they landed. It seemed that Globox had made a special compartment in the ship to function as a garage for the cruiser. “It needs some repairs!”
A tall Nopedian – Renk – entered the garage. “You must be Rayman, the great hero!” he said, extending his armless hand in greeting. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Globox waited for Rayman to shake hands and say hi before speaking. “Renk is our mechanic. He fixes stuff, makes weapons, operates communication etc.”
“Whoa! What did you do to this thing! This’ll take some work…” Renk then put on a welding mask and set to work.
“So, where are we headed?” asked Rayman.
“We’re going to one of our major land bases, in the great desert. Nobody ever goes there, so it’s perfect as a hideout. It’s inside the old Rabbid mines, so there’s heaps of Rabbid stuff lying around.”

Eventually, they found their way to the Rabbid Mines, where the S.S.S.S. touched ground inside a giant hangar. From the outside, there would be no way of telling what was going on in here. Globox had found the perfect hideout. There were various weapons and vehicles around the place, including a few more stolen Hoodlum cruisers and some of the old Rabbid Machines. “Renk got them going again” Globox explained.
The place was surprisingly crowded. Fighters of different races walked amongst people that had obviously just been rescued. As well as these little orange things that ran about constantly, with mischievous looks on their faces. “Flards”. Globox said. “Weird little things. They’ve caused us a bit of trouble, but they’ve also been helpful.” Rayman was still overwhelmed by Globox’s achievements. “Come on Rayman, I’ll show you some of our top fighters.”
One part of the mines was set up as a nice little training ground. Fighters sparred with safe weapons while others practiced shooting at moving targets of Hoodlums and Pirates. There were also obstacle courses, vehicle practice tracks and a small gym. At once, Rayman picked up on a blue, wide-brim hat with a red tip. “Hoodlums!” he, exclaimed preparing for combat. As did everyone else – guns were pulled out, blades drawn, defensive positions taken.
“No, that’s just Rothus.” Globox explained, chuckling. “False alarm everyone!” everyone immediately returned to whatever they were doing before. That was their practiced defensive routine, for if they were attacked. Everything was set up so that if they were found, they’d be ready for combat in an instant. The “hoodlum”, Rothus, walked towards them, also, chuckling. He did indeed look like a hoodlum.
“Hey, I’m Rothus the red lum.”
It suddenly became clear to Rayman. Rothus was like a good hoodlum – a red lum who had scavenged leftover hoodlum equipment and made his own super-hoodlum costume. Rayman looked at Rothus in detail, taking in what bits he’d used: A Hoodmonger Private’s body, a Heckler’s armor and shoulder gun, a Hoodboom’s face and Molotov cocktails (and strap), a Spineroo’s iron hood, a Grim Keeper shield, Slapdash boxing gloves and finally, an officer’s hat.
“I see,” said Rayman, shaking Rothus’ hand. “I’m-“
“I know.”
Suddenly, Rayman remembered something of importance. “Anyway, Globox, this is really good what you’ve done here, but there’s something really important that needs to be done.” He then explained everything about Polokus, the Items of Power, and everything else that was going on.
“So you need to get back to the Glade?”
“Yep.”
“Let’s go then. We’ll take some Cruisers.”
“We’ll? Some?”
“You’re not going alone!” said Rothus. “We want a piece of this!”
“Alright then” said Rayman. “Let’s gather the troops and get out of here.”
End of Chapter
Question 11: Why are the little orange things called “Flards”?

[Limely]

Whoa, who would have thought!

Good chapter once more. Rothus seems like an interesting character. :3

[Holy Crap]

i might scan a picture of him later, it was hard to explain him.

[Zay-el]

8D Globox the Guardian, I like that a lot! He hd a lot of potential back in R2, before they destroyed his IQ in R3. I'm happy to see you're not sticking with the nit-wit personality a lot of people associate him with. I also like this Rothus guy...he seems like a very good addition to the crew.

I'm awaiting to see the next part! 83