Journey to Kazooland [pt.6]

“Pappy, we gotta help her!” Rabbit  softly whined at the sight of the damsel tied to a rock.

“I… I’m sorry. There’s nothing I can do. It’s already too late.”

Rabbit cocked her head in disbelief, “Wh-what do you m-mean?”

“Watch…” Peter grimly pointed at the waters as they turned a foreboding shade of bright green. The source of the glow suddenly breached the waters and bellowed a deafening mechanical roar. Rabbit clenched her eyes shut and clamped her hands to her copper ears. She cautiously opened one optic and stared, trembling, at the beast before her.

A copper African elephant.

“N-no… not again…” she stammered and shrank into the shadows.

Its steel tusks gleamed menacingly in the glow of the blood red sunset. The damsel screamed as loud as her lungs could permit, begging for help. Before either Rabbit or Peter could do anything, the behemoth made its move. In one swift motion, it roared again and brought down its entire weight onto the water below. The tidal spray dispersed soon after and the damsel was nowhere to be seen. The copper bot went wide eyed with oil tears welling at the sides of her eyes.

“That’s. That’s not supposed to ha-ha-happen,” Rabbit stammered tearfully, “That’s not how the story g-goes… You were supposed to save her Pappy!”

“What story?” Peter met her eyes with a mixture of confusion and stern disapproval.

She shrank further under his gaze, “P-P-Peter P-Pan… this whole thing was just like…”

“Fantasy and fairy tales,” Peter spat and Rabbit winced at the sudden movement, unsure of what was to come, “Listen to me, lass. This is not one of your childish daydreams. This is war.”

This sudden switch unnerved her. Why was he being so cold? What was going on?

She swallowed hard and stammered “W-w-war?”

Peter was about to formulate a response before he was interrupted by a new development. The sky turned dark, only tainted by jade coloured glows and not a star in sight.

“We have to go. Now.”

Before she could even protest, he grabbed her hand and leapt into the darkening sky and headed inland to find The Spine and Hatchworth.

~*~

The Spine and Hatchworth clung to each other in their makeshift prison cell and shivered. They had no idea what the cowboy-samurai had planned for them. They had already led the Decommissioned Boys into the black void of the forest. The silence was deafening, broken occasionally by the soft grinding of metal in the distance; though they both swore they heard desperate robotic screams only to be suddenly silenced with multiple thuds.

“Wh-what’s going on, Sp-Spine?” Hatchworth stammered in his old friend’s embrace.

“I… I don’t know, Hatchworth,” he whispered grimly and clung to the quivering bronze bot.

They both snapped their attention to the clicking of boot heels against the cold hard ground. The cowboy-samurai shogun shambled into full view, grasping his unsheathed katana hard enough for his knuckles to go white. It dripped with oil and what looked like a mixture of blue and green matter.

“Salloonerella’s dead. In case you haven’t heard,” he growled, white stetson pulled low over his eyes.

“Wh-what?”

“DON’T MAKE ME REPEAT MYSELF!!” he roared, slamming his free hand against the bars of their cage. His eyes had gone wide, tears falling freely, as he clenched his teeth in rage and grief.

Spine and Hatchworth withdrew further. The shogun’s expression softened and he heaved a sigh. He ripped the lock off the cage and eased the door open. The bots looked at each other briefly then back to the shogun who had now turned his back to them. He held himself tightly and breathed heavily in between broken sobs.

“Get out of here,” he muttered darkly, “Before I change my mind.”

“Hang on. Why are you letting us go? You wanted to-” Spine started before he was interrupted.

“To find her,” he bit back at the silver android, “And there’s not much use in that now that she’s gone. Thaddeus Becile and his vile abominations took her.”

Spine’s eyes went wide.

“But… but he’s dead. I saw him fall! Rabbit saw him fall!”

“I’m not going to repeat myself for you. Leave!” the shogun barked. The Spine grabbed Hatchworth’s arm and scurried into the night air, not wanting to ask any more questions, or bother to find out what had happened to the Decommissioned Boys.

“Hey, Spine…” Hatchworth whispered.

“Yes, Hatchy?”

“Where’ve all the stars gone?”

Spine snapped his neck up. The sky was pitch-black, like an endless void. He scanned the sky for any sources of light. He noticed a few faint green glows in the distance and felt his boiler suddenly go cold.

“Oh no…” he whined quietly, “We have to find Rabbit.”

“But…”

“Now, Hatchy!”

They both ran hand-in-hand into the night, as fast as their gears would allow, hoping they weren’t too late.