Absolute Chaotix, Part Eight
Mighty Nice of You to Drop In!
By Mello Bumblebee
Sharon and Charmy both flinched into the air as a large, smooth red ball rolled across the floor suddenly from out of the shadows to stop right in front of the advancing wall, then stared in amazement as the ball...unrolled itself...and turned out to be an animal-person with a red shell on its back. He stood up and looked at the two bees flying above his head. If they had been standing on the ground, they would have reached JUST above his knee. "Yo! Charms, m'budsman, how's it flyin'? Who's your little LADY friend...?"
"Mighty!" yelled Charmy as soon as he had gotten over his startlement. "I don't know how you got in here, but we're going to be crushed unless you DO something, quick!"
The red, yellow, and black armadillo twitched his long pointy ears back in Charmy's direction in acknowledgement and leaned against the oncoming wall as hard as he could. Even though his arms were tiny and scrawny, SOMEhow he was able to make the wall slow way down--but not completely stop. He wasn't called "Mighty" for nothing, evidently. Sharon watched in amazement for a moment before he grunted, "I...can't....stop....it....look for a switch you two....hurry..."
Quickly, Sharon and Charmy leapt to do just that. Finally they found a lever back in the shadows--a heavy black thing made out of metal that would only move if both of them leaned all their weight against it at once. They pushed it all the way to the end of its track, panting heavily by the time they were done. At once, the back wall of the place lifted itself into the ceiling and they had a way out!
But Espio's cage was still there, glowing meanly.
And the wall was slowly clunking its way back down, step by step!
With every new lowering, there was an ominous CA-CHUNK sound. And Mighty was looking pale and out of breath; he'd give in in a moment. After all, he may have been unusually strong for his size but he was not INFINITELY strong; the wall was working with machinery and would not get tired, plus it weighed over a ton--he weighed a LOT less and, being an organic being, only had so much fuel to go on before...
If they didn't go through SOON, Mighty would still be trapped in here to be crushed, and a few more seconds after that, the bees would be trapped as well despite their small size. Not to mention the poor unconscious Espio.
CA-CHUNK.
"Only one thing to do," said Charmy, looking at Sharon sideways. "This MIGHT kill Espio, but on the other hand, we KNOW that being crushed WILL kill him. On the count of three--we fly in through the bars of that cage, put the ring-tether around his arm, and yank him out using it. Ready?"
CA-CHUNK.
"Wait," said Sharon uncertainly. "I--I know that the ring-tether makes you strong enough to haul around people much heavier than you are but surely there is some OTHER option?"
CA-CHUNK.
CHOICES:
1. Sharon reluctantly goes along with Charmy's plan.
2. Sharon comes up with some other option--OPEN.
3. Something else happens to thicken the plot a little more.--OPEN.
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