Not sure if you guys want this, but...
Chapter 14.
Edward was caught in the hallway between that old pair of creaking doors. "How had it come to this?" he wondered to himself. And then his memory starting spinning backwards on the events that led him to the spot where he stood at that moment.
His first memory was from right after collecting the last marble number from Orchard-10. Yes, he was brought back to the inner sanctum of the Count's castle with nary a soul detecting his presence.
The Count was already dressed in his normal suit of clothes, making phone calls to his friends... Had to make it seem as if everything was still on track, just a little delayed he kept telling all the tourists who had booked tickets to see the monstruous monument. Edward spoke up as soon as his friend hung up the phone.
"Hexcuse me, but have you found any marble numbers lately?" came Edward's voice from the dark recesses near the room's walls.
Count: "Edvard! You're back! And..." Counting the filled tubes around Mr. Grimness's belt after opening them all: "You have all ten numbers!"
Edward: Yes, but I can't give them to you just yet, still need them and the added toys to flush out the underground lair of its goblin infestations."
Count, with a small twinkle in his eye,: "Wery vell then. But take this, the bats have been vorking on it to help you in your mission."
And with that, the vampire handed over a walking staff with a black batty bat topper.
Edward: Magnificent craftsmanship, did they give it a name?"
Count: "Yes, it's called the Staff of the Underworld, made just for you my old friend."
Edward: Than you, now I must be going..." his voice trailed off.
Count: "Just 1 more thing, here's a map of the underground lair so you know how to get to the black heart and get rid of those nasty things."
With that, Edward left using his teleportation belt to get him to sectors of the castle he previously visited. "Have to stock up on supplies" he muttered more to himself than to anyone else as he kept going back to collect Bat-Tanks, leaving a split-second after getting his hands around the black canisters with the help of his X-It device.
Once his pack was full, he decided to start the perilous journey. The first sight that greeted him was a sad one. The castle outer doors were bare, stripped of their smiling skulls with the fright white numbers marking the completion of another stage of his vigorous figure collection.
Not a skull was left for Edward to view through the aid of his bat-vision eyepiece. One step through those doors and he was taken to the start of the underground's first sector. He knew there was no turning back now, if he started this path he couldn't go back until the job was done.
The staff was a wonderous item, all bats who previously attacked him now appeared to help refill his life and weapon energy meters if they needed replenishing. The moat river ride was first, twisting and turning past floating lilypads and snapping gator jaws. A familiar banjo music played in the background, he could almost make it out... "Something about rainbows? No, can't be."
Pressing on, he used his staff to augment the effects of the other toys... From rolling inside a protective pumpkin shell shield to generating an electric field around himself, the watery hammer-fisted goblin guard of the moat was spooked away in the blink of an eye.
Then, a passage opened up behind the moat's waterfalls, leading deep beneath the earth. This route would take him straight to the next fiend. Little baby bats cried out for their freedom, trapped in smoky gray cases from the rocky ceiling. Every time he used his bat-blaster, on a lowered setting so as not to harm the bat inside, he received an extra health chip. Crystaline Doozerstick ladders kept leading him onward, till reaching the final chamber. Here, it was thanks to the use of his drenching thunder storm and smothering spider web spinner that the fireball shaman goblin guard of the pit was extinguished.
After that, the passage widened and familiar foes like the Horse and Axe Knights emerged, along with the little Rocket Rats. Travelling the length of this rocky terrain was made easier by his new pumped-up taxi treads, until he had to make his way across the wooden suspension bridge. Knocking off both guards at the end, Mr. Grimness approached the final stop on this path. Concrete-cracking cat claws and a python vice grip were needed to reduce both heads of the two-headed rock giant goblin guard to rubble.
Twisting turning tunnels presented a problem, though Edward overcame this making sure that his foes left him alone as he shot down the Storm Clouds and Cyber Spiders with his trusty bat-blaster. At the end, he dispatched the eerie phantom bird goblin guard by outwitting it with his vanishing cloak and the intense blazing fury of his fireball barrage.
Only one more guard remained between him and the final leg of his quest. Those familiar creaking doors again. And just why had he stopped, he wondered. Why was it that he hesitated so before entering this particular battle? What had distracted him so?
Ah yes, he remembered it now. His mind had been filled with thoughts of his friends and all their stories. He remembered how Kermit fought off those crayon clones of the red demon, a confused young man threaten to shoot the frogs as his father almost did so many years ago, the way that almost all the color left Beauregard's home and how he saved its heart... And then there was that wonderful reunion show at the theater just the month before...
Yes, he had come a long way and so had his friends. But there was one last person he knew he had to face if he wanted to bring back the joy to his counting comrade's kingdom.
As soon as he passed through the doors he saw it... "No wonder there were no skulls on the castle gates, this explains everything."
Yes, the skulls had been ripped from their sockets and stored in the corner, huddled in a hurried mass scared of who put them there. "What's the matter my little ones?" Edward asked talking to them as if they could answer though he knew they wouldn't.
At this moment his final foe arrived on the other end of the dungeon room... A giant skull soldier, clad in goblin armor with a turnstile screwed in place of one of its arms.
Skull Soldier: "This is where your meddling ends Grimness!"
Edward: "I won't let you frighten my friends any longer!"
In an instant, the battle had started. The skull soldier swung wildly with its turnstile mechanism, all around his position. Edward knew it wouldn't easy to get in close and hit it in its one vulnerable point, the chest where the black star was clearly visible. He decided to use a couple of new tricks. The tank treads would allow him to travel through any terrain, so he used them to drive up the walls and across the ceiling of the chamber. Ready for what would happen next, he switched to his apple bombs and dropped a cluster of bombs on the bony battler before dropping himself from the room's roof. Once he gained a clear shot, the bat-blaster did its thing aiming straight for the sentinel's chest. With a total of ten super shots, this grim guardian had been removed from the game. Edward was pleased, taking the ten skulls in his arms. "Yes, the Count will be pleased indeed."
He sent the skulls on ahead with one last batch of liberated baby bats. These had been spotted during the battle, as they came forth to aid their champion. Their cases were blasted during the conflict, and the bats flew off after they were sure Mr. Grimness was safe.
Edward mused to himself with one last thought, "Hmmm, wonder where..."
And then he heard it. "Are you ready for me?" said a sultry siren's voice sunken in the sinister space of the surrounding shadows. The next thing Edward knew, he felt a strong force knocking him to his feet and everything went black.
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