"Well, can't say it's been fun." The smiling man shrugged. "But it seems like things are winding down, doesn't it?"

"Oh man, already?" Will asked.

"I'm afraid so Will. We had out fun, but the danger seems to already be cracking." he explained with a mischievous grin. "Besides, we all have so much to do."

Will looked crestfallen. "Are we going to get a chance to all get together again some time? Do you think?"

The smiling man shook his head but said not a word.

"Hey man, I'm sure we'll get together again soon." Adargon said as he walked up.

"But when?" Will pressed.

"Schedules are complicated you understand," Stoor nodded. "Things shift around so suddenly."

"Quite right," Gzemnid nodded. "Which makes it hard to commit to a time and place so readily."

Will sighed. "Well, I'm free outside of my nine to five any day. Heck, you guys make plans, and I can get off work if I need to."

"We know," Gzemnid said with a weary smile.

----------------------------------------

The robot's body stretched itself over the cracks and breaks in its chest. In no time at all, the damage had been completely erased.

Click

Nice. Death nodded in approval as Lulu finished setting the last of his body in place.

Now complete, Death clicked his heels against the horse under him.

Nothing happened.

Uh...go forward? Death suggested.

Unlike before, it worked this time. The "horse" obeyed and charged forward.

Atop his horse, Death reached out to the side, and snatched his scythe from beside the machine while it was still recovering. He spun the scythe around in his hand and let out a gleeful laugh.

Hee hee hee.

"Hey, mind if I hitch a ride?" Lulu asked as she jumped up into the small room.

As she walked past Sentenza she smirked. With a raised eyebrow she said, "You know your escape plan scheme wasn't exactly subtle. A rigged game doesn't work if you let the mark in on your angle."

"Unless you only let them hear what you want them to," Sentenza replied as the room blinked out of reality.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Lulu nodded. "You know what, fair enough. Now what's keeping us from getting out of here? We just need the bonehead, right?"

"Exactly," Og'drimun nodded. "See, she has her priorities straight."

Ted gulped, but the strain of the struggle within him was too much, and he had to sit down. As he leaned against the unnervingly squishy wall, he tried to bring up that Nugget wasn't there.

"Wait, where's the chicken?" Lulu asked as she looked all around herself. "I swear I just had her."

----------------------------------------

Nugget squinted at the robot. Her sparse feathers ruffled up, and she hopped over towards it.

The robot was fully put back together now. Minus the scratch from the scythe that just didn't seem to go away. Death was on one side of it, and Nugget on the other. While the wolf was still lying on his side a little way away.

As it was charged, the machine turned towards the wolf and rushed towards him.

Ha! Death scoffed. You can't run from the dream team!

But Death's horse just kept moving forward as the robot got further and further away.

Death leaned forward and patted the horse on the neck. Hey, uh buddy, you were supposed to turn and chase that guy down. It was kinda implied.

Still no change from the horse, who seemed determined to run straight ahead.

Death sighed and disappeared from the back of the horse.

Too slow! Death cackled as he appeared behind the robot and swung his scythe down towards the machine's arm.

The robot kept its course and tried to duck down to avoid the attack. As it seemed like it would avoid the weapon entirely, Death disappeared and reappeared behind it again while still swinging his scythe.

SCHWING!

Sparks flew out as the robot's freshly severed arm landed with a loud thud.

I told you. You're too slow bro! Death chided.

The robot paid the skeleton no heed. Even with its arm missing, it pressed onward.

The robot reached down towards the wolf's body.

Fire rose up behind them.

Death raised his scythe.

The room reappeared and Sentenza fired his guns.

A blast erupted out from the robot. Portals surrounded everyone left and ripped them through time and space. The robot, the room, Death, and Nugget. A portal tried to tear the "horse" away, but it stood unaffected like a specter.

For a moment, the underground chamber was empty, except for the horse.

Then, in a flash of ice and raw energy, the robot reappeared. But it was different. Its body had gotten much thicker. Its arm that had been cut off was back, and instead of the thick forearm, it had massive claws on the end of a long, skinny arm. Around it a slow swirl of mist spilled out from small holes dotted around its body.

Strangest of all, Sid had also appeared right next to the robot. He looked exhausted and had a shallow scar diagonally across his chest.

"Curious," Sid wheezed with a smug smirk on his face.

The machine seemed to take notice of Sid and slowly turned towards the mechanical man. It studied him for a moment, and then a ball of blue fire crashed into the machine and sent it flying.

Nugget was up in the air as the fire flew off of her and shot the robot across the room. She tried to flap her injured wings to slow her fall, but it wasn't working well. Sid stumbled over towards her and caught the hen before she fell completely onto the ground.

"Those are serious injuries." Sid declared. "I would ask how you are, but my last attempts at proper communication ended poorly."

Nugget glared at Sid.

Sid almost jumped as the horse was suddenly standing right beside him.

See, we made the right choi...Sid! Bro you're okay! Death said as the room appeared in front of the three of them with the skeleton hanging half outside of it.

"Grab 'em quick." Sentenza said firmly as his eyes glanced out towards the new robot as it shook off the flames as if they were nothing.

The horse walked past everyone and into the room, without regard for anyone else. It shoved and pressed anyone who got in its way as it claimed its position within the room.

While the horse came on willingly, Death and Lulu grabbed Sid before he had a chance to even consider going aboard. Luckily enough he had Nugget in his arms still.

"Can we go now?" Narissa sighed in clear irritation. "Or do you want this place to get even more cramped?"

"Can you collapse the path?" Sentenza asked.

"Can I what?" she scoffed in reply.

"The tunnel, or whatever you called it. Can you collapse it even more to keep that machine away?" Sentenza clarified.

"It does seem to have mastered this form of travel." Sentenza added.

Narissa scowled. "Who do you think I've been piggybacking off of to get this hunk of junk to work?"

"Can you do it or not?" Sentenza asked as he walked over towards her. He shoved a pouch into her hands and nodded.

Narissa was confused for a moment, and then looked down at the cloth bag. "Wait, this isn't..."

Sentenza nodded and then raised his gun up beside his head. His legs stumbled and he fell against the horse's side. "I'll cover the front. Just make it happen."

"You're insane." Narissa protested as she coaked a small fleshy shelf to pop out of the wall, and gingerly placed the pouch on top of it.

"Uh, maybe we should get through first?" Og'drimun suggested.

"No time." Sentenza grunted. "Have to collapse it during, or they're more likely to make it through."

"That sounds ill advised." Sid interjected.

"Yeah, well we were out working while you took your nap, or whatever that was," Sentenza grumbled.

"Nap? It was quite the process to take over their systems enough to allow a substitute to take my place and escape I assure you. Not to mention slowing their processes down every chance I had to help increase your chances of survival." Sid protested.

"You can argue when we survive this," Narissa commanded. "Now pray to whatever deity you wish, because this is going to be a little messy."