Numbers of the Night

[The Count]

Thanks Bo. Hey, tell that avocado to make something of itself.

Avocado: Like what?

Guacamole!

 

[The Count]

Chapter 10

With the left side of his utility belt filled up, the crossbones X and comet marked the first two tubes on the right side. Mr. Grimness now found himself standing at the base of one of the castle's towers. The atmosphere was sufficiently gloomy, shrouded in part by rolling fogbanks. The mists did not conceal all of the tower's structure, only patches here and there. The music had turned a bit moody as well, echoing the rainy day surroundings. "Hmmm, wonder how I'll get to the next boss now" Edward thought aloud.

This tower had a trick feature built into it... The floor would start going upwards towards the topmost level all on its own. As soon as Edward stepped out of the hall and into the tower's base, the climb automatically started. Gray walls with a window near the sides allowed the entrance of storm clouds. These were minor nuisances, due to their random shots of lightning. Of course, they posed no problem to Edward, who dissipated the clouds in an instant with his bat-blaster. The real problem was maneuvering past them so as to jump onto the next level's floor before the ceiling crushed him travelling upwards through the tower. A few fanged jaws lined the ceilings above him, so he had to be careful of these while sliding and jumping to the next level above. And then he saw a welcome trinket sitting idly on a crumbling shelf.

Another bat-tank was just what the doctor ordered. He had to scoop it before the ceiling neared. This would be tricky, slide in to grab the tank, spin around, slide back out, and jump to the next ledge. His mind made up, he went for it. The floor crept slightly upwards... the tank was now in his fingers and transfered to his backpack... the floor was halfway to the ceiling... now a turn and a slide... the ceiling was an inch or two or three over his head. He had to land outside and jump... yes! Just in the nick of time.

The tower continued climbing, and Edward kept blasting at the clouds, until he reached the tippety-top of the tower itself. He stood at the foot of that ever so-familiar creaking door, all he had to do was walk out of the tower's crown and knock on the door. Upon entering the hallway, he found some more storm clouds, providing a true chance to fill his life meters. Not that he needed it, since it was a vertical climb up here, but it came in handy nevertheless. And then, another boss would be waiting for him inside.

Lightning-7 floated downwards slowly, so she could be seen in full view. Her lower extremities were a dark gray storm cloud, larger than the ones encountered in the tower beforehand. Her arms extended forward out from the cloud, with long pointy white fingernails. Her whitely grayed head of hair trailing in the wind behind her. "Time to rain on your parade" proclaimed this castle creature. "Every cloud has a silver lining" retorted Edward, and the fight began. Lightning-7 would fly into the cloudy skies above, move about from side to side, let loose a brief rain shower, and finally blast the ground with a gleaming lightningbolt. Armed with his new toy, Edward called out "Comet Breath!" and was equipped for the fight. Whenever the bolt came near, he'd merely jump out of the way and switch sides. After all, he didn't want to make the mistake of standing in the same spot and have lightning strike twice. With the fire weapon in hand, he'd wait for the cloud above to get close enough to his position, then blast away with a torching torrent aimed straight at her. This worked quite well, bringing her crashing down to earth whenever she caught its full fiery effects. In a matter of moments, the beauty lay on the tower's crown in front of Mr. Grimness. All that was left was for him to collect the marble number 7 from one last cloud, and then he'd be off to drier quarters.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Count, you've got me at the edge of my seat.

Or at least, I would be at the edge of my seat if my seat had an edge. I'm sitting on an exercise ball. Minor detail.

My point is, I love it. More! More! More!

 

[RedDragon]

It's great, love it. But I'm with, Lisa I want more.

 

[The Count]

Chapter 11

"my, my, the ol' belt's getting filled up now." These were Edward's thoughts at seeing the bolt marking a newly filled tube, the one that held the shrunken marble 7. And now, what awaited him was a treacherous roundabout spiral section of the castle. The walls resembled the main parlor, but cobweb-netted curtains hung from the tops of the ceiling. Sparkling chandeliers were visible in the narrow pathway that laid ahead.

As Edward approached, small Cyber Spiders descended from the netting blocking his progress. These little eight-legged electronic insects walked in a straight line at their target with a small spray of air beneath them. His bat-blaster at the ready, Mr. Grimness dispatched the menace quickly. He had to get rid of them quickly, there were so many of them advancing on the spot where he stood. A light violin music could be heard in the distance, airy and lively in its tone. This didn't deter Edward. No, after a few nests of Cyber Spiders were dealt with, he climbed down the netting rope stairs to the next level. The netting rope ladders were the only way to get down safely, as this part of the castle was a sharp drop downwards. Axe Knights were placed near the stairways, and they had to be eliminated before moving on to the next lower level.

At the end of his downwards trek, Edward spotted the rampway leading to the spiderweb bridge. This marked the halfway point of the sector and would be the biggest obstacle of all. Not that walking across a suspension bridge made of spider webbing wasn't that tough to cross... It was the fact that during this crawl, Spider Chandeliers would be crashing down from overhead. Yes, the marvelous twinkling chandeliers that dotted the ceiling's landscape, crafted with eight legs sprawled out in all directions, loosened their hanging chains falling rapidly and violently. Edward jumped back a step to avoid the crushing blow, and then moved forward again once the chandeliers started to recoil upwards for a second drop. Timing his movements just fright, he made it to the other side after a long walk and down the other ramp.

"Now what" he asked, looking at his surroundings. "Well, nothing left but to climb up the way I came." And with that he proceeded, clearing away any Cyber Spiders or Axe Knights he encountered. At the top of the chamber, he found the creaking door that'd lead him to another fierce boss battle.

With two bat-tanks in his backpack, he thought to be prepared for the coming fight. And he would need those tanks to defeat Arachnid-8. A sultry spider woman, she had eight metallic legs connected to the black dome on her back. She also had two female arms and legs, along with a gauzy white spiderweb toga concealing what it could of her body. Her head was topped by a black head of hair pinned by a white skull hairclip. "Welcome to my parlor" was all she said in way of greetings. Arachnid-8 quickly climbed up the netting on the side of her lair and up to the ceiling's cobwebbed lining. From this vantage point, she could slide from side to side and jump down on her prey or shoot snaring strands of spider webbing. Edward had to stay on his toes if he wanted to beat this cyborg spider. Sliding to his left, then sliding to his right, Edward was a perpetual whirling derbish as he fought on. Selecting his gadget carefully, he shouted "Lightning Blade!" The electrified weapon served to slice through the webs, reaching as high as he could to avoid getting snared and loosing some of his life energies. He figured that if she was going to stay up top, he needed to adopt several tactics. First, he cut away the strand aimed at him and then used charged bat-blaster shots to clear away the platform she used as a base. Switching quickly to the Lightning Blade, he jumped and shot his forked sword at Arachnid-8 to try to get at her. Other times, he'd just wait for her to jump down and then sock her with a shot of the bat-blaster to conserve his sparking sabre's energy. Halfway through the battle, he found himself in need of a bat-tank. Glaring at his opponent, he made up his mind to deliver a quick shot before downing the contents. Surprisingly, it tasted like black bat cherry soda, refilling both his life and weapon energies at the same time. As the battle raged on, Edward found himself trapped in a web from time to time. This only sapped a small portion of his energy, before he cut himself loose with a bat-blaster shot. Yes, though the lightning was much sharper as a cutting implement, his trusty cannon served its purpose by destroying portions of the webbing. Looking at both their energy readouts, he surmissed that Arachnid-8 hadn't much left in the tank. But neither did he himself. So, gritting his teeth, he took the second canister from his pack, opened it, and drank contentedly. The end was near and Arachnid-8 knew it. She kept hiding up above instead of jumping down now. So, Edward had to climb up the netting to get to the massive attercop. And there, the final blow was struck. With a charged cannon's worth of electricity, Edward slammed down on the spider woman, sending her plunging from the netted top of the ceiling. The bolt of lightning was intense and markedly so, rendering all eight legs of the creature paralyzed. Edward now knew how one of his favorite sporting superstars felt, ridding himself of his opponent from the caged rooftops. The storm cloud flew in slowly, stuck to the webs before it could reach him. Using one last shot of his cannon, he cut away the cobwebs and grabbed the marble number 8 before teleporting back to familiar surroundings.

 

[TogetherAgain]

Very nice, Count, very nice indeed. Wonderful to see this finally being added to again. When can we expect to see more? What happens next? Come on, don't leave me hanging...

 

[The Count]

Hmmm... Lemme consult my 8-ball.

Answer unclear, ask again later.

 

[Beauregard]

I say! I didn't realise you had written the next chapter! This one is totally creepy! I must say that I simply Hate spiders! Oh, my, too nasty! Which is why this chapter was deliciously chilling!

Bea{Wanting more}regard

 

[The Count]

Chapter 12

Yes, Edward was in a familiar setting indeed. He was back on the New York cityscapes first visited when he set out to reclaim both the numbers and the castle. But this area was somewhat different than the one encountered before. The music was trailing off in the distance, a sort of sad tune. "Naughty Number Nine?" Edward asked himself, remembering the song from his vault of memories. The skyscraper facades were still visible, though fences and trashcans littered the pavement.

This was the back alleyway section of the castle, and Edward had to move swiftly if he wanted to reach the boss battle, continuing with his overall mission. The city street was deserted of any transiting vehicles, making it easier for Mr. Grimness to move towards his ultimate goal. Or was it? Metallic trashcans stood at each corner and proved to be a formidable challenge. Whenever he neared, the lids popped open and pop cannons shot straight at the intruder. All Edward had to do was time it so his own shots would disable the cannons inside the trashcans. The lids acted as shields and an errant shot simply bounced off the steel covering. Whether these were being manipulated by hand or via remote control, Edward didn't have time to find out. "Hmmm, never thought that Oscar's little trick would become a nuisance."

With that, Edward made his way across past the trashcan pop cannons, and onto the next block. Here, he had to climb the steps up the side leading to the fencetop walkway. Small storm clouds hovered above, firing a random bolt. Sidestepping the bringers of bad weather, Edward used as target practice to replenish his half-depleted gages. Once he reached the end of the fence, he looked downwards. No landing pad available, his only recourse was to jump to the other side. Using a trick learned from his travels, he edged his way until one foot was almost over the edge of the fence, balancing himself on that heel and his other foot. Gathering his strength, he jumped to the next fencepost segment. After making it across, more storm clouds and a couple of Rocket Rats greeted him. Menaces as minor as these were taken care of instantly.

The fence posts ended and Edward made his down another set of steps to the safety of the sidewalks. The trashcans were waiting and lining the streets ahead. At the end of this block, he saw what he was looking for. Yes, the familiar creaking door. However, there were a set of steps leading up to the door that reminded him of a Manhattan theater. Even the bar above the door was marked with the word "Exit". And of course, the theater lamp was hanging from its place inside the hallway on the other side of the creaking door. Once inside the lair, Mr. Grimness heard a soft yet satisfied purring coming from Urban-9. The female feline was covered with muted or faded sandy fur. Dark orange bands ringed her female arms and legs. She had claws and knew how to use them. Her cat's head, complete with cat ears and nose, along with her cat tail completed her look. "M-m-m-m-meow." came her voice as the two met. She was a wily alley cat, schooled in the tricks of the street. As soon as the fight began, nine lights blinked on from the wall behind them. The streetlights provided a cover for her movements, as she weaved craftily around her prey. But Edward was ready, as soon as he pressed the button on his belt marked by the spider symbol. "Spider Whip" came his cry, prepared to attack his purrrrsuer. Urban-9 tried to swipe at him from behind, but Edward dodged and slid to the other side of the room. With that, the streetlights blinked on and off again in a pattern protecting the quick cat. Knowing this, Edward used the sticky strands of spider webbing to leap onto the streetlights' poles. This way, whenever Urban-9 leaped out of the shadows, he'd be ready to simply turn and shoot the strand as a cohesive coil. Switching from lamppost to lamppost, he kept dodging and turning and firing, until the alley cat had lost one of her nine lives. At that moment, the lights went out and the storm cloud appeared far to high up in the sky for Edward to get to it. Even swinging from the highest of the nine streetlights, it was just out of his reach. To his surprise, he got some help as soon as the window opened up. "Who's there?" Mr. Grimness asked while a shaggy brown dog shook his head outside the window. "Hmm, seems to me you could use some help" came the dog's voice. No mistake, he was there to help, and he did. As quickly as he appeared, he was gone again, closing the window behind him. Edward was left to wonder how this would help get him his mission accomplished. Then he realized that the window was slammed, sending both him and the storm cloud falling downwards to the street below. Using another spider whiplash, he snapped up the marble number 9 and was teleported out of harm's way.

 

[The Count]

Hope you guys like this latest addition. Only one more boss to go before entering the villain's stronghold.

Oh, and I'm waiting to see if a certain friend of ours picks up on the cameos. Don't hexpect any more Muppety inserts till the ending though.