Modern Age Online

Flashlight! Kaleb thought as he stood in the dark gym. You made a damn solar powered gun. But, for some reason, you can’t manage a flashlight.

He could hear the others shuffling around before several bright lights came to life. Kaleb sighed internally as he noticed that Jar-lock, Robert, and Deckart all had flashlights that attached to their belts. He scanned his eyes across his friends before he realized Abby was missing.

“Where’s Abby?” Kaleb asked as the others moved their lights along the gyms hardwood floor.

*Whoosh*

Kaleb felt a blast of air blow his lab coat back. Deckart turned his light back to Kaleb as he answered.

“I don’t know. She was with us, right?”

“Yes, she was.” Jar-lock confirmed as he moved his light along the walls.

Robert glanced back at Kaleb as their group ambled across the gym. “No flashlight, Professor?”

“Ahem, I forgot it.” Kaleb coughed awkwardly.

Robert chuckled softly before handing Kaleb a flashlight he pulled from his coat pocket. Kaleb turned his flashlight on and moved it up to the ceiling. Jar-lock looked up at Kaleb’s beam of light before asking.

“Think she is on the ceiling, Prof?”

“No, I am trying to find the lights. If they are hanging lights, I can follow them back to the circuit breaker.” Kaleb said as he followed the power lines toward the north wall.

*Whoosh*

“MPPHH!”

Kaleb felt the air move around again and he was sure he heard something that time.

“Did you guys feel that?” Robert asked.

Kaleb nodded as he spotted the circuit breaker on the wall. “Yeah, I don’t think we are alone in here.”

“Then why haven’t we seen it yet?” Deckart asked.

Jar-lock twisted around quickly casting his light around as fast as he could. Robert stared at the Warlock for a while before he mimicked Jar-lock. Kaleb suppressed a chuckle as he opened the circuit breaker and cast his light inside. He studied the switches trying to find the right one when the blast of air happened again.

*Whoosh*

Kaleb glanced behind him and just saw the pitch black of the gym. He went back to studying the circuit breaker when it occurred to him: Where were the others? The gym shouldn’t be completely dark. As he finished that thought he felt something slimy grab him around the waist. Kaleb dropped his light and struggled against his assailant. As he felt the arm lift him, he slammed his feet down.

*CLICK* *CLICK*

*SHUNK* *SHUNK*

He felt his boot spikes pierce the hardwood floor. The slimy arm jerked, and the floorboards creaked as the spikes stopped his ascent. Kaleb twisted around trying to look behind him to see what was holding him. He saw something large and red out of the corner of his eye. His dropped flashlight cast just enough light for him to look down and see the large blue tentacle that was holding him.

“Guys! Help!” Kaleb shouted as he struggled.

He felt the tentacle wrap tighter around him and wrench him upward. The wood below his feet creaked loudly before it snapped and he hoisted upward. As the tentacle brought him up high, it twisted around. Kaleb cast his eyes around searching, he noticed that the monster had placed itself between himself and his friends. As the tentacle lowered him he came face to face with the round red-skinned monster.

It was a giant floating jellyfish with a wide mouth and two large eye stalks. Kaleb felt another tentacle wrap around his legs and upper body.

“It's a giant -” Kaleb shouted before a tentacle finished wrapping his head.

The tentacle now had him wrapped from head to toe. He couldn’t reach into his pocket and breathing was quickly getting difficult. Kaleb struggled against the tentacles trying to think of something he could do. Kaleb also guessed that the thing had grabbed Abby first. If he was running out of air, then he hated to think how she was doing.

“SCREEE!”

*BZZT*

Kaleb heard the muffled sounds of fighting and what he assumed was the creature screeching in pain. Kaleb felt the tentacles holding him twist and jerk in the air. As he twisted in the air, he felt the slimy arm around his waist fall away. The creature bent his body this way and that in the air. Kaleb reached down to his thigh holster and grabbed his Sun Gun.

He thought about aiming toward his feet but he couldn’t see. Instead, he raised it to his face and angled his gun upward until he felt the barrel hit the tentacle. Taking a deep breath, he fired.

*BZZT*

A bright yellow light blinded Kaleb as he felt an intense heat against his face. Suddenly he was being held up only by his feet. He had to tighten his grip on his Sun Gun as he swung around by his ankles. He caught glimpses of the others fighting the large jellyfish as their flashlights moved frantically around the gym. Disoriented he tried to aim his Sun Gun for the large body of the jellyfish.

He’s swinging slowed as the jellyfish concentrated on his friends. He took a shot toward the what he assumed was the back of the thing's head.

*BZZT*

“SCREEE!”

As his shot connected, the jellyfish roared and whipped him around again. As Kaleb swung downward, he felt the tentacle release him. He slammed down hard on the gym floor; the air rushing out of his lungs. Kaleb gasped and curled up in pain, he was sure something inside him had broke. As he coughed and glanced around, he saw his dropped flashlight near the north wall.

The circuit breaker. Kaleb thought as he shakily lifted himself up onto his hands. He could still hear the others fighting behind him. Jar-lock was throwing spells and Deckart gun beat out a steady rhythm. Kaleb momentarily wondered what Robert was doing, but he shook it off and stumbled to his feet. He almost fell as the spikes in his heels hit the floor, throwing him off. Resetting the spikes Kaleb moved to his flashlight.

Kaleb hurriedly picked up the flashlight and cast the light into the circuit breaker. Without looking Kaleb slammed all the switches to the ‘on’ position, but the gym stayed dark. Kaleb waved his light along the wall hoping for a light switch seeing one near the doors leading into the school. He ran over and flicked the switch.

The gym lit up in bright yellow light showing his friends fighting the jellyfish. He saw Robert had somehow climbed a pipe on the nearby wall and was waiting for a chance to jump on the monster. Abby was still being held by two tentacles but it looked like she was still moving. All of them had stopped fighting as the light blinded them, even the jellyfish.

Kaleb drew his Cybar pistol and ran forward firing both his guns into the large creature’s side. Jar-lock was the first of his friends to get his eyesight back and as soon as he did he clenched both of his fist and brought them up in front of him. Kaleb felt the ground shake as a large dirt spike emerged from the floor under the jellyfish sending bits of wood everywhere. The spike punched into the creature’s bottom but didn’t seem to puncture the thing.

“SCREEE!”

The monster howled and sent three tentacles toward Jar-lock while two more flew toward Kaleb. He jumped over a tentacle while he sent several shots into the other. Deckart joined the fight then venting his gun and blasting away at the arms holding Abby. Jar- lock jumped away from the three tentacles and made another motion with his arms. A large dirt mound grew through the wood floor and captured the tentacles trying to hit him.

Kaleb switched his aim to the tentacles holding Abby and helped Deckart. He saw that the blasts seemed to disperse along the jellyfish’s slimy surface. They were hurting it but it’s defenses where nullifying some of their attacks. As he continued to fire his Sun Gun suddenly died, he had reached its shot limit. As he holstered the empty gun, the jellyfish finally released Abby.

The small woman fell straight down and landed on her feet. She looked a little wobbly but Kaleb figured she would be fine. He switched back to shooting the creature's main body and used his spike launcher. The first spike he fired pierced the side of the jellyfish.

“RAARGH!”

The monster gave a roar of pain and drifted away from Kaleb and his spike launcher. Kaleb continued to fire and shouted to his team.

“Piercing damage seems to work!”

“I figured that!” Jar-lock yelled back sounding miffed that his ground spike hadn’t worked.

Robert twisted his grip on the metal pipe he was hanging off of. “See if you can get him over here.”

Kaleb looked over at Deckart’s nephew and reoriented himself to try to push the jellyfish closer to Robert. Deckart joined him as Jar-lock kept baiting and trapping tentacles. Kaleb was about to shout back to Abby when he saw the smaller women rush past him. Robert made a large jump to the top of the jellyfish as Abby ran underneath the large creature.

Robert drew a dagger and stabbed repeatedly down on the creature‘s wide head. The jellyfish instinctively floated down trying to escape the attack. Kaleb tried to shout a warning to Abby until he realized what she was doing. She had crouched underneath the jellyfish and was shaking in concentration. The large black shadow-spike emerged from her back impaling the creature as it dropped on her.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEE*

The jellyfish gave a loud squeal of pain as it dropped itself onto the spike. It seemed to float back upward, but it gave up before it got too high. It dropped to the gym floor as Robert slid off its round head. Its tentacles thrashed wildly for a few seconds before they too gave up and hit the floor.

“Shit.” Deckart said as he and Kaleb rushed to the thing's corpse.

Deckart holstered his gun and tried to lift the monster’s corpse. “Abby’s under the thing.”

Jar-lock looked alarmed and started chant a spell before Kaleb shouted. “Hold it!”

He moved over to the side of the corpse and placed his hand on it. Robert came around the side of the body as it disappeared in a flash of light. Kaleb had briefly considered saving the thing for parts but that would be difficult to divide amongst the team. Instead, he looted it and watched as it vanished.

On the floor where the creature had fallen was now a blueprint, several fist sized blue spheres, and another vial that shined brightly. Abby was lying face down surrounded by the loot before quickly sat up and inhaled a deep breath.

*gasp*

“Thanks. That fat bastard almost smothered me.” Abby said sounding annoyed.

“Heh, well I think you got the kill shot. So I say you get first pick of the loot.” Kaleb said as he looked at the others.

The others all nodded as Abby sat on her legs and looked at the loot the jellyfish had dropped. She picked up and unfolded the blueprint. She studied it a while before she picked up one of the blue spheres. Holding it up she asked.

“Any idea what this is?”

Deckart and Robert shook their heads as Jar-lock and Kaleb answered separately.

“Crafting material?” Jar-lock said.

“Probably something used in magical crafting.” Kaleb said

Abby nodded setting the blue sphere back on the ground she picked up the vial and looked it over. Kaleb watched the blue liquid in the vial slosh around as Abby held it up to the light. He assumed it was the blood or whatever it had in place of blood. Abby looked it over before putting the bottle down and picking up the blueprint.

She walked over to Kaleb and presented it to Kaleb. “Could you build this for me?”

Kaleb looked over the blueprint and saw it was for a tentacle-like whip. The materials listed were all organic though. He thought about it for a few seconds before he nodded at Abby and said.

“Maybe, but it won’t be organic like this one. I’ll have to see if I can substitute mechanical parts.”

Deckart laughed. “Or we can fight another giant jellyfish.”

“Yeah, I’d rather not. At least not without more time to prepare.” Kaleb said handing the blueprint back to Abby.

Abby backed off, not taking the blueprint. “You keep it till you make it. Let me know when you finish it.”

Kaleb nodded and looked around. “Who’s next?”

Jar-lock looked at Robert and Deckart. “Either the Professor or Robert. My magic was useless.”

Robert dashed forward and grabbed a sphere. “I want to see if this will help with magic.”

Jar-lock raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Kaleb went next picking up the vial of liquid and pocketing it without saying a thing. Deckart and Jar-lock picked up an orb a piece while Robert and Abby split the remaining spheres. They would give them to the rest of the party later.

As they walked toward the north doors. Deckart asked a question. “How did you get the lights on?”

“Circuit breaker on the wall.” Kaleb answered.

Deckart shook his head. “I know that, but this is an abandoned school. Why does it have power?”

Kaleb froze mid-step as he realized that thought had never occurred to him. The others all looked at him reading the surprise on his face. Kaleb thought about it for a while before he shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know why these racist magicians would need power in this building. Jar-lock nodded to himself before saying.

“Maybe they didn’t want to waste Mana on lighting the place with magic.”

Robert shrugged. “It’s as good a reason as any. Let’s keep looking. I am surprised our fight with the jellyfish didn’t bring those robed assholes down on us.”

Abby nodded as she looked out the rectangular window in the double doors leading to the main school building. Kaleb vented his Cybar pistol and deployed Shocky when everyone else was ready he burst through one door while Abby took the other side. They entered an empty hallway lit up by fluorescent lights in the ceiling.

The hallway bare with nothing on the walls and no windows. Its main purpose seemed to be just connecting one side of the school with the other. At the far side someone had removed the two doors and they could see large lobby and a desk. Kaleb crouch walked along the hall until he got to the door frame and peered into the lobby. It was empty save for a few chairs and large half-circle desk. He turned to inform the others and realized they were all standing and looking at him.

Abby smiled. “You know they already know we are here, right?”

“Yeah, sneaking seems kinda pointless.” Jar-lock agreed.

Kaleb shook his head and stood. “They know we are in the building, not where we are. Plus, I don’t want to imagine the traps in this place.”

“There is only one hallway we could be in. If they heard us in the gym, then they know we are in this hallway.” Deckart explained.

Kaleb figured being careful was the best choice but judging by the looks of his companions, they didn’t agree. Kaleb sighed loudly and stood to the side of the door and waved for someone else to take the lead. Robert stepped forward and giving Kaleb a pitying look before he strode through the door and looked around. When nothing happened Robert turned to Kaleb and grinned.

“See? No problem.” He pointed to the left. “Uncle and I will take this hallway if you three search the right.”

Everyone nodded their agreement, checked their equipment, and charged into the lobby.

“Fuck!”

*BAM*

Kaleb’s group was halfway across the lobby when they heard Robert swear then the loud sound of something heavy slamming into a wall. Kaleb smiled toothily at the others as they turned back to check on the others.

“It sounds like I have been vindicated!” Kaleb shouted as he ran.

They heard Deckart cough as they got to the entrance to the left hallway. “HA HA, Professor. We’ll throw you a party later. Get us down!”

Jar-lock stopped them from entering the hallway and pointed up. When they all looked up, they saw Deckart and Robert seemingly glued to the ceiling. Deckart was facing downward but Robert had his face plastered to the ceiling. Jar-lock waved his hand around the ground below the detective and his nephew. The tiles on the floor glowed as complex runes appeared on them. Jar-lock shook his head and grimaced.

“What’s a matter? You can’t dispel it?” Kaleb asked.

Jar-lock shook his head as placed his hands together back to back. He pushed them outward like he was separating something. “I can get rid of the trap. It’s just that this is the second trap built to incapacitate not kill.”

Abby looked up curiously at their trapped teammates. “What does that mean? More hostages?”

The glowing tiles were pushed aside as a wave of dirt rose from the ground. It shattered a few, making them break the magical runes. As Deckart and Robert fell from the ceiling Jar-lock answered.

“Or for sacrifices.”

*BAM* *BAM*

“OW!” “Damn it!”

The pair lifted themselves off the floor and dusted themselves off. Kaleb just smiled at them. “At least we know which way they went.”

Abby walked down the hallway as Robert and Deckart shot him dirty looks. Deckart checked his gun saying. “Unless this is here to throw us off.”

“I don’t think it is.” Abby said as she stared into a classroom and pointed into the doorway.

The rest of the group moved up and looked into the classroom. But, all the saw was a black void. As Kaleb studied it he noticed a glowing gold outline around the door. Jar-lock moved over to the door and looked all around.

“Portal?” Deckart asked.

Jar-lock nodded. “BLIND portal, which means there’s no way of knowing where it goes.”

They all looked at each other before the all nodded one by one. Silently agreeing on a course of action. Kaleb raised his communicator to his mouth.

“Guys, we are about to jump into a scary dark abyss, probably made of pure evil.”

Two Gun answered, yelling over the sounds of battle. “Well, get on with it. We are mostly on clean-up out here.”

*Quack*

“If you die, I am taking your car.” D43d–I quipped.

Abby snorted and shook her head as the others gave noises of amusement. Kaleb just dropped his wrist and nodded toward the portal. Robert stepped forward drawing his dagger and charged into the void. He disappeared followed shortly by Jar-lock then Deckart. Kaleb shared a look with Abby before he shrugged his shoulders and charged into the void.