Chapter 16: Kellie
“Yeah,” said Richard, coming out of his daze. “Gordon, Kushal. Let’s go.”
Persia looked at him oddly. “Gordon and Kushal aren’t here.”
“What?” Richard said. He put a hand to his forehead and seemed like he was struggling to remember something.
“So, what is this ‘saving’ thing you’re doing?” Kellie said, a little put out and confused.
Richard lowered his hand quickly. “Oh. No.” He spun around and faced the other three as best he could. “We’ve got to save Gordon and Kushal.” He paused, bit his lip. “And Fritz and Da Seul.”
Ivy blinked. “What?”
But Richard was already running for the archway. “Kellie, come on!”
Kellie jolted into motion, even though she had no idea what was going on.
“We’ll just, uh, wait here then?” Persia said dismally.
“Backup!” called Richard, already partly down the arched pathway. Kellie sped up.
“Richard,” she gasped as she caught up with him, “What’s this all about?”
Richard came to an abrupt halt at the end of the walkway, stood there tapping his foot. “Come on, come on…” he muttered.
“Richard, what are you…” Kellie trailed off as a smooth, sleek, aerodynamic train pulled neatly into the station. The door opened in front of them. “Richard, wait!”
She had barely gotten inside before the door closed and the train began to move. “What’s going on here!” she demanded, fists on her hips.
“It took me a while to figure out,” said Richard with barely-modest pride. “My talent is saving, right? So there’s something up ahead that’s dangerous, and at least twice now I’ve just taken this train into the jungle and walked into it. Only before I was with Gordon and Kushal and Fritz and Da Seul.”
“All of them?” was all Kellie could think to say.
“Well, no,” Richard admitted, “Probably two at a time. Anyway, something must be wrong with my saving and they’re still up there.”
“But what—” Kellie closed her mouth. “Wait. You said you took the train into the jungle, right?”
“Yeah.” Richard ran his fingers through his hair. “…Why?”
Kellie pointed outside the window. “Because we’re going the wrong way.”
In an instant Richard had his face pressed against the window. “Oh. No! What’s going to happen now!”
“Only one thing we can do…wait until we get to a stop,” Kellie said grimly. “Hey. What’s that?”
Richard looked, and even though Kellie couldn’t see his whole face she could see him get several shades paler. He slumped into the window seat and looked really ill. Almost as bad as if he had forgotten to refute an opponent’s contention and had just heard the words “extend across”.
Which gave Kellie a better chance to look at the…creature following them. It rode some kind of motor car that easily kept up with the speeding train, even though they were now going up a hill. It had dark green skin, black metal armor, and orange hair. It almost looked like…but it couldn’t be.
“Richard,” she said. He didn’t even blink. “Richard!” Kellie poked him in the upper arm. He shook himself as if startling out of a dream. “Is it just me,” Kellie continued, “or does that look like…”
Richard swallowed. “I don’t think it really is. I think it’s one of those creatures that transforms itself into your worst fear and…” He shut his mouth and shuddered.
“And your worst fear is…Ganondorf?” Kellie tried not to laugh.
“I didn’t know you could use the hookshot…” Richard whispered frightenedly.
Kellie bit her tongue and moved to the next row. She looked out the window again. There were more cars on the road now, and if she craned her head she could even see some kind of city again. It bulged and twisted, though, and Kellie blinked a few times to make it go away.
It didn’t go away. The car did, though, finally swerving off the road when there was clearly no path through the cars coming towards it. Kellie breathed a sigh of relief, but a few seconds later the…Ganondorf figure was up and running after them.
And he was gaining.
“Richard!” she called. “We’ve got a problem.”
“We sure do,” he said tersely, “We’re about to run out of track.”
“WHAT!”
Richard was almost green now. “We’re gonna have to jump.”
“Richard, are you crazy!” Kellie jumped out of the row and stood in the aisle. Richard was already trying to open the door, but it was stuck.
“Take a look for yourself,” he told her as he switched to the emergency hatch on the ceiling.
Kellie went up to the front of the car and stared out the front of the train. The tracks tilted steadily upwards and ended in a dramatic jump. Next to it was a sign that said, quite clearly, “If you don’t want to crash, jump. If you don’t want to jump, jump.”
Kellie stared at it a bit longer before realizing that there were only seconds left. What the heck, she thought, and turned around to see Richard’s legs disappearing out the top of the train. “Hey, wait for me!”
She clambored out on the top of the train car. Richard stood on the edge. “Kellie!” he shouted. “I don’t think I can—”
She pushed him, then jumped off herself.
Time seemed to pass very slowly during the fall. To the side the monster roared with rage, a wordless roar that sounded…well, low-quality. Behind them the train careened off of the jump and disappeared in a convenient fiery explosion. Kellie’s life flashed before her eyes but at the rate she was falling (a≈9.8 m²/s) the flashes just couldn’t keep up. She could see them hanging above her in the air as she—
—landed, hard, and felt the shock go up her legs. “Whoa,” said Richard next to her. He looked over with a bit of shame. “…Thanks. I—”
“Forget it,” Kellie said brusquely, “We’ve got bigger problems right now.”
Ganondorf was now advancing slowly but menacingly. Very menacingly. His lips were curled in a feral grin and Kellie could see him already believing that he broke, maybe all the way to semis.
“Let’s go!” she shouted. The figure seemed surprised as she grabbed Richard, did some nifty side jumps, and took off down the hill the way they came.
With a growl it was after them and now Richard began running in earnest. “You see!” he called between breaths, “I think…it’s my…cards!”
“Your what?” Kellie shouted back.
“My…cards!” Richard almost stumbled but recovered just in time. “You know…for LD!” He gritted his teeth. “I keep…them in…a special…case…for emer…gencies!”
“Well, I think this is an emergency!” Kellie yelled.
Richard managed to shake his head even while running for his life. Despite her speed, she just couldn’t keep up with his incredibly long legs. “Doesn’t…work…like that!” he gasped. “But I…can’t…let him…have it!”
“Well, just try!” Kellie risked a glance over her shoulder and wished she hadn’t…a blast of putrid breath hit her square in the face. “Paagh!”
Richard pulled out a shiny case of…well, cards. Kellie heard the monster’s breathing change and shouted, “Richard, look out!”
Richard turned his head. “Whoa!” he shouted, and jumped three feet into the air (remember, they’re running down a hill, it’s possible), barely avoiding the massive lightning ball that the creature sent at him.
The case of cards tumbled down the hill. In a move that could only be described as “incredibly graceful”, Kellie stuck out her arm while running and swiped it off the ground.
The monster behind them growled now, frustrated. Richard looked back, panicked. “Keep running!” Kellie called. Then, to the monster: “Fine, you want to play? Let’s do some Interpretive dance!”
The monster paused, possibly just at the absurdity of the taunt. Which gave Kellie enough time to stuff the case into a pocket and activate her talent.
“Run!” Kel and Lee shouted, in stereo. Again, Richard turned back. Lee slapped her forehead and Kel groaned. Richard turned a bit red and grinned sheepishly.
“Look, it’s not my fault—”
“—I can’t duplicate clothes, that’s why I usually—”
“—carry an extra set. I split it evenly, good thing I was wearing—”
“—layers.”
Richard shook his head and kept running, still grinning foolishly. Kel groaned again and the two of her followed after.
The monster had figured out what was going on, or maybe it just realized that its prey was getting away. It charged after them, eating up the ground with its footsteps. (Metaphorically, OK?)
And Lee realized she had a problem. Kel had shoes, but she didn’t.
Kel realized it at the same instant. “Go on ahead!” shouted Lee. The monster heard her and focused on Kel. Lee risked a glance further down the hill. Amazingly, Richard had almost reached the clearing.
Kel ran for her life, and for the safety of Richard’s…whatever. Slower, behind her, Lee was actually following the beast now. Soon, she would be past it, and—
The monster realized it, and turned around. It would have gone for Lee but for Kel’s pen—the first thing she could find in her pocket, which she chucked at the monster’s head.
Belatedly it occured to her that it wouldn’t have felt anything if she had hit the armor instead, then she was off and running again. She actually felt the wind of its claws swiping towards her and jumped to the side. Kel lost her footing and slid, down, down, and shot out at a surprising speed to land on her butt next to Ivy and Persia, who were playing Egyptian War.
Both of them looked up. “What’s going on?” Persia asked incredulously, but Kel didn’t have the wind to answer. She pointed back at the hill, where Richard was just emerging, and Lee—
Lee jumped to the side of the monster and performed one of those cool side roles for the first time in her life. She came up amazed at her own coolness and saw Richard ahead. Desperately she plunged a hand inside her pocket, only to realize that she wasn’t wearing the jacket she had put the case into. Kel had it.
But the case was still there, and for a minute it tumbled, before Lee caught it and threw it desperately towards Richard. “Catch!”
The case flew through the air, but not towards Richard at all. Lee and Kel watched in dismay and wondered how she could have thrown it so wide. Desperately, Richard began to run towards the case when suddenly there came a call.
“STOP!”