Sheki and Kasy stood outside of the metal pyramid. It looked to be about two stories high. The top of the pyramid was cut off, apparently to make a landing pad for the helicopter that Kasy had seen parked on top of the pyramid.
“So, whatya think.” said Kasy. “Go inside or try climbing the outside?”
“Outside looks pretty slippery, and we don’t have climbing gear.” said Sheki. “Plus, from what we’ve seen of Lee and Deven so far, this is supposed to be a game. And breaking the rules of a game usually has penalties.”
“Ok.” said Kasy. She moved to the door of the pyramid. “Ready?”
Sheki braced herself, and checked to make sure Rina was in a pocket where she wasn’t likely to get hurt. “Ready.”
Kasy pushed the doors open and got ready, the two girls ready for anything…
Except a set of stairs leading upward, wrapped aground a wide cylinder that extended from the base of the pyramid up to the top. There was no sign of any assailants, booby traps, or other unpleasant surprises.
“Um… Challenge two?” said Sheki, pointing at the stairs.
“Not exactly challenging.” said Kasy. “Of course, neither was the logic problem.”
“Let’s get climbing.”. Sheki moved to the first step, testing her weight on it. “Remember, watch for pressure switches or other surprises.”
“Right.” said Kasy. Kasy waited for Sheki to get several steps ahead, and then began to follow.
The girls were about half a story up when Rina Molerat, looking behind, suddenly squeeked “Uh-oh”. Kasy and Sheki turned arround. A panel, at the base of the stairs, had just slid back, revealing an underground ramp leading from the bottom step of the stairs. Before Kasy or Sheki could do anything else to react, the stairs collapsed down, forming a smooth, slick ramp. Crying out in surprise, Kasy, Sheki, and Rina Molerat found themselves sliding down the ramp, into the dark cavernous depths below.
The ramp ended abruptly, the three girls (two human, one naked-mole-rat-ian) landing on a soft cushioned surface. A metal panel slid closed, blocking off the ramp and leaving Sheki and Kasy in total darkness…
For about two seconds. Green, flickering illumination filled the area as both Kasy and Sheki raised plasma-glowing hands. The two seemed to be in some sort of underground cavern. A tunnel, the bottom of the tunnel covered in water, led away from the chamber… the only visible exit.
“Rina, look for a branch or something.” said Sheki.
“Why?” asked Kasy, even as the naked molerat scrambled to obey Sheki.
“We’re underground. No sunlight.” pointed out Sheki. “We don’t know how long we’ll be down here before we get a chance to recharge our powers, we should save them.”
“Good point.” admitted Kasy. She stopped her hand from glowing, leaving Sheki to provide the illumination.
“Found one!” squeaked Rina, pulling a dead, dry branch toward the two girls.
“Good work!” said Kasy. She picked the branch up, breaking off a few twigs from it to fashion a torch. She cast a small fireball at the end of the torch, igniting it.
As soon as a bright yellow flame was burning on the end of the branch, Sheki turned off her own plasma glow.
“Ok, let’s go.” said Kasy, cautiously stepping into the water. The water was only about calf-deep, leaving the tops of Kasy’s boots comfortably above water.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” said Sheki, following her sister. Rina, not wanting to get wet, scrambled to one side of the tunnel where rough, exposed stones formed a sort of mole-rat bypass bridge.
“It’s a game.” said Kasy. “The only way out is forward.”
Kasy took the lead, Sheki following close behind her. Rina scampered along the rocks, able to stay dry while the two girls waded through the water.
“What’s that?” asked Sheki.
“What’s what?” asked Kasy, stopping at once.
“I heard a hissing sound.” said Sheki. “Almost like… snakes?”
“Snakes? Why did it have to be snakes.” said Kasy, only half jokingly.
“Sssalutatttionssss, sssssmalll ssssisssstersssss….” hissed a voice. “Ssssstepping sssssoooo ssssssurely into the Sssserpant’sssss ssssssewer sssssancttttuary….”
Kasy and Sheki watched as a dark robed figure rose slowly and ominously from the dark water. The robe, whatever it was, was made of some water proof material that easily shed the liquid. The figure tossed its head, the hood of the cape falling back to reveal a giant yellow serpent’s head on a long, flexible neck. From the sleeves of the robe emerged two more serpents heads, hissing eagerly.
Kasy thrust the torch into the Serpent’s top head, as her other hand pulled one of the pistols she had been given. The serpent reacted with blinding speed, the main head reaching down to bite the burning end of the torch off. The two snake-head hands lashed out, trying to bite Kasy. Instead of being there, however, Kasy back flipped away from the snake-man.
Sheki began firing as soon as she saw her sister was clear. The pistol shots lit the dark tunnel, the first two bullets hitting the center torso of the serpent-man. It responded by hissing louder, its heads trying to jerk to Sheki. Sheki fired her last three bullets at the serpant man’s three snake heads, then stuck gun back into her belt.
“Sheki, down!” shouted Kasy. Sheki needed no further encouragement… she took a deep breath, then flopped, letting her body weight pull her underwater. Kasy began firing, using both pistols… alternating between hands. Each shot went either into the Serpent-man’s torso or one of his snake heads, but they might have been missing by a mile for all the serpent man reacted. Instead he stepped toward Kasy, ignoring Sheki in the water.
“Sssssuffer…” it hissed, the bullets doing nothing more then slowing it down slightly.
Kasy didn’t say anything, merely dropping the now empty pistols. Her hands glowed, bright green flames forming around them.
Sheki surfaced, moving as quietly as she could. The cavern was lit by flickering green light; Sheki’s view of the fight was blocked by the serpent-man’s back, but she could make out what was happening. Every time of the snake heads tried to bite Kasy, it would have to retreat to avoid being hit by a plasma-coated fist. However, while Kasy only had two hands, the snake-man had three heads. Sooner or later, Kasy would tire and make a mistake.
Sheki considered her options. The snake-man, obviously some sort of android, had literally inhuman reflexes. So far, it had easily managed to avoid all of Sheki’s and Kasy’s attempts to hit it with plasma, and bullets had no effect on it. Sheki realized she would only have one chance.
Kasy back stepped, growling to match the snake-man’s hissing. Whatever machinery operated this monster, it was fast… so far, despite her best attacks, all she had managed to do was singe its robe, revealing more yellowish-green scaled skin underneath. The fangs each serpent mouth featured look sharp enough to easily leave her bleeding, and could be equipped with any sort of poison. Kasy took another step back, trying to figure out what pattern of attacks the snake man used, and stepped on a not-quite level spot in the stream. Kasy cried out as she felt herself slip and fall, certain the snake man would claim her.
“Haaaaaaaaaack!” snarled the snake man. Its two snake-head hands flew up, as if trying to bite it’s own throat. Kasy watched as the snake-man twisted, revealing Sheki on its back… her leather whip wrapped around its throat, held firmly in her left hand. Her right hand, glowing bright green, pressed into the hollow of the thing’s back.
The serpent monstrosity writhed and screamed as Sheki’s hand melted into its torso, through the Kevlar-reinforced scales. Sheki seemed to vanish in a gust of smoke as the thing let out a giant sigh, and then collapsed into the water.
Kasy got to her feet, moving over to where the creature lay face-down in the water, bubbles forming around it as if the water was being boiled. “Sheki?” Kasy asked, raising a hand to provide light.
Sheki surfaced, spitting out a stream of water. “I’m here, Kase…” she said.
“Yay!” cheered Rina from the sidelines.
“Why the bubbles?” asked Kasy, leaning forward and offering her non-glowing hand to help Sheki up.
“Pneumatics.” explained Sheki. “Air powered pistons… it’s what allowed the robot to move that fast. Also explains the hiss-s-s-s-s-ssing, although that may have also been for dramatic effect. I figured he might be able to dodge a punch or a plasma-blast, but not a monkey on his back.”
“Well, I assume that was challenge two.” said Kasy. “Possibility Sisters: Two, Bad guys zip.”
“Hmmm… hardly expected.” commented Deven.
“Oh, surely you didn’t expect your snake monster to last for long.” said Lee. “It was, after all, meant only as a warm-up.”
“Oh, not that.” said Deven. “The surprise was in who dealt the death blow. I was sure it would be Kasy… all our records show she is the much more aggressive.”
“Perhaps we should trade opponents for the final round?” asked Lee. “Although, of course, I would hate to miss a chance to spar with that pretty little red-head… her hair and skin offer the most amazing contrast.”
“Well, far be it for me to interrupt your fun.” said Deven. “Besides, I doubt the lovely Kasy could offer me much of a chess game. Speaking of which, it’s time to take our places.”
Lee nodded, then kissed Deven on the cheek. As he blinked in surprise, she winked at him. “For luck.” said Lee, then sauntered off.
“Don’t need it.” said Deven, softly. “I make my own.”
At the end of the tunnel, Kasy and Sheki found a pair of doors. One was marked ‘Kasy’, the other ‘Sheki’. Kasy, in the lead, tried opening the door marked ‘Sheki’ and found it locked tight.
Sheki tried Kasy’s door, with similar results. “Obviously, cameras or something so they know who’s at each door.” said Sheki. “No doubt, there’s some other mechanism in case we both try to go through one door.”
“Ok.” said Kasy. “Guess we split up. Which door does Rina go through?”
“Yeah, which?” squeaked Rina.
“Well, my challenge is supposed to be intellect.” said Sheki. “That’s probably going to be safer for her then something physical.”
“So, you get all the advantages?” joked Kasy.
“No…” said Sheki. She took out the pistol, which was still tucked in her waist band. She tried to pull a bullet from her belt, then frowned.
“What’s wrong?” asked Kasy.
“The bullets are fakes.” said Sheki. “Just decoration… I’m out of ammo, and so are you.”
“No problem.” said Kasy. She reached out, pulling the whip from where it was attached to Sheki’s belt. “I’ll just take this instead.”
Sheki opened her mouth to object, then shrugged. “Ok…” she said. She moved to the door marked for her, Rina Molerat scrambling onto her shoulder. Kasy opened her own door.
“Hallway, another door at the end.” reported Kasy. “You?”
“Same.” said Sheki. “Probably an airlock pattern… we can’t open the second door while the first door is open, and it won’t open if there’s two people in the hall.”
“Ok… see you on the other side.” said Kasy.