A little longer this time. :D
"You had me worried, Nigel!" The Queen rushed over to her son and held him tightly.
"Thank you for rescuing Nigel," the King told Joel and Lucca. "We are forever in your debt."
"The only problem with all this is we no longer have a Chancellor," the Queen stated.
"That's not my concern," Nigel said. "Where is that man who was mistaken for me?"
"That's right!" Lucca yelled. "I forgot about him!" She ran to the stairs. Joel followed closely behind her.
When they reached the top of the stairs, they headed back down the same route they had taken to the master bedroom. When they opened the doors, Mike was crouched down on the floor.
"Mike! Are you OK?!" Joel knelt next to Mike. Mike raised his head, then threw his arms around Joel. Joel hugged the trembling Mike tightly.
"I...I was scared..."
"Don't worry," Joel reassured Mike. "It's over now. Let's go back to the village."
"First my body was being torn apart, then I was somewhere dark and lonely. Is that what it's like to die?"
"The real Prince Nigel is safe," Lucca stated. "Let's go back. I have just the means for us to do it."
Mike picked his head up. "What do you mean?"
Lucca pulled a small rod out of her right pocket. "I studied the warp field caused by the pendant, then used the facts I discovered to create this. I call it a `Gate Key.' It neutralizes the powers of your pendant, and will send us back to our current time."
"Sounds good to me," Mike said as he had Joel help him up. "Coming, Joel?"
Lucca raised the rod high in the air. A blue portal materialized, then pulled them all in. The three were sent flying, then ended up back in Leene Square, in front of the Telepod. Taban and the `bots were waiting for them.
"Are those things yours?" Taban asked Joel. "The gold one and the red one caused me quite a bit of trouble." He pointed to the two machines between the tubes, now charred and smoking.
"Crow! Tom!" Joel yelled. "What did you do?!"
"Well..." Crow began. "We were going to try that thing where you send someone to the other platform, but it wasn't working, so Tom decided to plug in a few extra wires here and there..."
"Tom!" Joel scolded Servo. "You know better than that!"
"Yeah, well, it was Crow who started flipping the switches!" Servo objected.
Joel crossed his arms over his chest. "That's it. You two are getting a time out."
"Joel Robinson?" The group turned to see a group of castle soldiers standing behind them. "Princess Nadia has reported that her pendant has disappeared. We thought maybe that you knew--"
"Hey!" One soldier pointed to the pendant on Mike's chest. "There it is!"
"I don't know anything about it," Mike said.
"Admit it!" one soldier cried at the top of his lungs. "You two stole the pendant!"
"We never--" Joel began.
"You're under arrest!" The soldiers grabbed the helpless pair, then violently dragged them away. Lucca started to run after them, but was cuffed by one of the soldiers and sent reeling to the ground.
***
Two soldiers shoved Mike into a small, filthy cell before slamming the door behind him. An official-looking man descended the winding staircase on the left side of the room, then began to speak to the soldiers.
"The execution is three days away. Don't let him out of your sight."
"Execution?!" Mike screamed. "We were never given a trial!"
"You don't need one," a soldier proclaimed. "All criminals in this kingdom are guilty unless let out on a legal technicality."
"We're taking care of the other one," the first man continued.
Mike rushed to the prison bars. "What have you done with Joel, you sick bastards?!"
"We've got a feisty one here." A sadistic grin crossed one soldier's face as he drew an electromagnetic rod from the holster he wore.
The second soldier pulled a carving knife out of his pocket. "I hope you realize what happens to pretty boys like you and your friend in prison."
"I don't think he knows," the official said. "Why don't you two go in there and show him?" He pressed a switch on the wall that opened the door.
Before he had time to react, one soldier grabbed Mike's arms and held them behind his back. As the other bent over to grab his waist, Mike drove his leg forward and kicked him in the groin.
The soldier crumpled over onto the floor and clutched the area tightly. His screams of agony echoed off the prison walls. Mike thrust his leg behind him and kicked the other soldier in the same area. The soldier lost his grip on him. Mike took the chance to turn around and seize the electromagnetic rod the soldier had been armed with.
The official-looking man rushed up the staircase. Mike ran out of the cell and slammed the door shut behind him. He then climbed the staircase, leaving the two bewildered soldiers in the cell behind him.
Mike clutched the rod tightly as he reached the top of the stairs. He had to find Joel, and he didn't care who he had to take out to do so.
***
Once the soldiers heard that a prisoner had escaped, they were all over the dungeon. Mike was able to get past the majority of them by sneaking up from behind and knocking them out with his rod. When he reached the torture chamber, he finally found what he had been looking for.
Joel had been placed underneath the blade of a guillotine. His hands and feet were chained, and rope had been tied around his arms and legs to keep the limbs together. The sight reminded Mike of a farm animal headed for the slaughterhouse. Four soldiers stood at attention, while another was positioned to cut the rope that held the blade above Joel's neck.
Mike knew he had to act. He ran his hands down the rod until he found the switch. He pressed it with his thumb, and electricity began to spark from the top. Screaming savagely, he rushed towards the soldiers and swung the rod.
Ironically, the metal armor that was designed to protect the soldiers sealed their doom. They were powerless against the electromagnetic rod. The fifth soldier abandoned his post at the guillotine and drew his sword. He was not wearing armor, but that didn't matter to Mike.
He struck the soldier several times, watching as the electricity burned the exposed skin. In a final moment of rage, Mike let out all the tension that had built inside of him by stepping on the soldier's neck and pressing all his weight down. A sickening crack was then heard.
Mike stepped over the corpses and made his way to the guillotine. He fumbled around with the sides until he was finally able to pull Joel out.
"Are you all right?" Mike asked Joel as he broke the chains with his rod.
"I am now. Let's get out of here."
Mike nodded and tore the ropes off Joel's limbs with the rod. Joel pushed himself up and picked up a sword lying on the ground. The two ran through a long corridor until they finally came to the exit, where the official-looking man was standing. Mike turned on the rod again when he saw him.
"Someone help!" the man cried. He opened the large doors behind him, and was knocked out by a flying soda can that hit him in the head.
"Joel! Mike! We're here to save you!" Crow stood in front of the other `bots, holding a soda can in his left hand.
"I guess they didn't need our help," Gypsy stated.
"Let's go!" Joel ran out of the dungeon, followed by the others. They ran until they came to a large blue portal.
"It must be another time gate," Joel said.
"Let's go in," Mike suggested. "Nobody will find us there."
"But we don't even know where it goes!" Joel objected.
"Who cares?!" Mike jumped into the portal.
"We might as well go in." Joel picked up Servo and carried him into the portal. The other three followed him in. The portal deposited them into a metal room with a large gray door. It had a mysterious crest engraved on it.
"Where do you think we are?" Mike asked.
Cambot examined the door. He tried tapping it with his camera lens, but it wouldn't budge. He turned to the group and began gesticulating wildly.
"He says the civilization here is really advanced," Servo told everyone else for their benefit.
"There's a way out over there." Crow pointed to a glass door.
"Well, come on. We might as well try to figure out where we are." Joel walked over to the door and pulled it open. What lay outside was nothing like he had seen before.
Several metal domes dotted the crater-ridden landscape. Heaps of scrap metal that resembled buildings loomed in the distance. An arctic wind blew, and the only light came from street lamps that pierced the black clouds in the gray sky.
"There's something over here!" Gypsy yelled. She discovered a large, dilapidated highway sign. Joel gasped in horror when he read the sign's message.
Welcome to Green Bay, Wisconsin, home of the 2134 Winter Olympics.
***