CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED-THREE
Even before Oner was out of his jetcopter, he knew this was going to be one of the worst jobs he’d had to do yet. As a SKRUT, the special ops within the special ops, he had been forced to go through some pretty nasty and fairly deadly situations and had always managed to come out on top, with the help of his electro-nunchuks and faithful Edur.
But this time, he wasn’t so sure that anyone on his battlefield would make it off alive.
“Good Odd, that thing’s big,” he muttered as he ran down the ramp of the jetcopter.
“We’re SKRUT; it’s what we do,” Edur said from behind him.
Oner turned and flashed his partner a grin. “You take the ‘copter up and punch that creep with missiles. I’ll…” He glanced at the massive monster, the Keuja. “I’ll, uh, dance to the music, I guess.”
“Don’t do something stupid like dying; Cap’n Vann doesn’t like it when we don’t come back alive.”
Oner threw him a jaunty salute. “Will do, partner…”
The jetcopter’s ramp retracted as the vehicle lifted off into the sky once again, leaving Oner feeling smaller and much more vulnerable than ever before. He twisted a knob on the bottom of one nunchuk handle, and the familiar blue line of lightning knotted and twisted down the length of chain in the middle.
“All right,” he said. “Time to fix this mess.”
* * *
Before he met the Keuja, Abe had never believed there would be a thing he feared more than he had feared President Molluck at RuptureFarms.
Unfortunately, he was proved wrong.
A grazing blow from one of the Keuja’s dark lightning blasts had put a fresh line of scorch down his side, adding to the numerous list of pains he had taken through the day and limiting his dodging speed. Dozens of Mudokons and Sligs had been vaporized, crushed, or even eaten by the Dark-driven monster in its frenzy.
But I won’t give up! he roared at himself. Not even if the Keuja throws the very stars of the heavens at us! We are the heroes of Oddworld—we do not surrender!
Abe prepared himself to dodge another lightning blast from the Keuja, the black lightning already swirling around the monster’s clawtips—
And with a roar, a Slig dressed in midnight black armor threw himself at the Keuja’s side, digging his mechanical claws into the beast’s armor plates and quickly crawling up the monster.
“Shoot at it!” the Slig was yelling. “Keep it away from me!”
Abe immediately flipped up his gun and fired at the Keuja’s eyes. The beast flailed its tentacles down toward the climbing Slig, providing the perfect timing for Abe’s laser to burn into its left eyeball. The monster screamed and bucked wildly, throwing the Slig to one side as it writhed in pain.
Abe signaled to the Slig. “Everyone, get away from it! Shoot out its other eye and we’ll have a chance!”
The black Slig brushed off his armor. “Thanks for the help, buddy.”
Abe frowned. “I was going to say the same to you…but who are you?”
“Oner, SKRUT First-Class—in fact, everyone in SKRUT is First-Class.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of SKRUT.”
Oner grinned. “Few have, actually. Slig Kommando Radical Uber Troopers. Long name, amazing results…” He jerked a beefy thumb at the raging monster, which was being pounded by lasers from all sides. “You got yourself one whopper of a monster this time…Abe?”
Abe nodded. “Yeah, that’s me…but why are you helping me? Usually you Sligs are trying to blow my gutsout.”
Oner turned toward the Keuja once more, twirling a set of electro-nunchuks. “This fight is beyond the Mudokon-Glukkon feuds. This is real war. The fate of the Glukkon Empire is at stake here—scratch that, the fate of the whole planet is at stake here!”
The Slig laughed. “And I intend to enjoy every minute of it!”
Whooping like a Gabbit, Oner rushed off toward the monster, leaving Abe to wonder where on Oddworld this commando Slig had come from…and what his true motives were…and whether he was actually sane at all.
* * *
|
abe really is strong in belief to strike that thing down 
