A Battle of Watts

Chapter 5: Fiends on the Other Side

Chapter 5: Fiends on the Other Side

During the time Loumine had introduced herself to Poppi, Sketch, and a very bashful Wattson, someone else had been spying on them from behind a box: A rat.

Wattson was still trying to control his constant blushing on the way out of the storm cellar. If the others saw him like this, they were sure to squeal on him.

"They better be polite at least..." he said quietly.

Once he left, the rat crawled into a hole in the far back corner.

Inside the wall, way down below the ground, was an even lower level. It looked similar to a dungeon, but was designed to look like a palace. The walls were stone gray with blue tapestries. A long, purple carpet was rolled out from a silver throne in the far back. Skinny blue mushrooms illuminated the entire area with a mysterious glow and ivy grew along the walls.

The rat stood on his hind legs and started walking elegantly like a servant. He approached several other rats standing similar to royal guards holding plugs on sticks.

The rat pulled out a scroll from... somewhere, and began to speak in fine English.

"Eh-hem... 'Attention idiots,'" the rat read from the scroll. He narrowed his eyes at the insult. "'If you think I'm going to come back and join your puny army, then you're a bunch of nitwits. Tell his 'royal hineyness' that I'm done and he can kiss my... copper base.'" The rat swallowed nervously. "'Go jump in a toilet. Sincerely, Loumine.'"

There was a bright flash of blue light followed by an infuriated, "What?!" from behind the rat. The other rats squeaked and started to run around until the voice shouted, "As you were!" and they returned to their positions.

A silver table lamp without a lampshade rose from behind the rat. He was about as tall as Wattson, only his bulb was a cylinder shape, his 'nose switch' black, and his eyes a reddish brown.

The lamp tapped the rat with his silver plug. He was trying not to blow a fuse and forced himself to smile.

"Squeakly," the lamp said in an elegant voice. "I do hope this is only a joke. My dear sister would never write something like that to me."

Squeakly froze where he stood, afraid even a lie would turn off this hotheaded lamp.

"Squeakly!" the lamp screamed belligerently out of impatience. He made Wattson look levelheaded compared to his own temper!

"Yes! It was from miss Loumine, Prince Sparx, your highness, sir!" Squeakly bawled. "Please spare me! I have a wife and twelve baby pinkies!"

Sparx glared at the rat kissing his 'foot' and zapped his behind. He used his plug like a wand similar to Loumine.

"Yipe!" Squeakly squealed, holding his tail.

Sparx turned away from Squeakly with a hurt expression on his face. He must have missed Loumine very much.

"So... It has come to this." Sparx sighed. "First I'm banished by the Missus and now my sister ditches me with you fools..." He shook away his tears. "No! I refuse to believe this! She'll be back like before."

"I don't think so, sir..." said Squeakly in a low voice behind the metallic tyrant.

"What was that?!" Sparx shouted in a voice of thunder. The rats flinched at the loud sound. "Why would she leave me?! I thought my sister liked being with us!" He was about to cry. "This isn't fair!"

"Well," began Squeakly, trying his best to comfort Sparx. "It seems she has made some new friends on the grounds above."

Sparx looked at Squeakly bewildered while the other rats began conversing with each other. This annoyed Sparx so he flashed his blue light once and the rats grew silent. It was as if he put them under a spell...

While Sparx was trying not to break into tears, Squeakly added one last detail that reallygrabbed Sparx's attention.

"One of them being a lamp..."

The rats gasped as an infuriated Sparx grabbed Squeakly by the collar. Nobody wanted to mess with this royal lamp... He really wanted his sister back and didn't want Loumine to leave permanently.

"Now you listen to me, you filthy vermin," hissed Sparx. "I want you to go up there and take down that lamp and whoever else stands in your way. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

"Y-y-y-yes, your highness." wheezed Squeakly.

"Good." said Sparx. He dropped Squeakly on the floor, still shaking from his fading rage.

"But sir," said a round rat by the name of Augustus. "That lamp has these 'things!'"

Sparx shot Augustus an unimpressed look. Augustus wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"Would you kindly be more detailed with your description?" Sparx said in a cold, condescending voice. "There are a lot of things. Be more specific when you start rambling your nonsense to me. It isn't that hard..."

"He's talking about those cords that zapped us earlier." said a female rat by the name of Matilda. She had an Eastern accent. "They zapped Augustus and I when we were stealing that noisy piece of cheese!"

Clearly Sparx did not like it when others randomly interfered when he didn't ask them to. He started throwing a fit of anger similar to Blenny.

"How many times do I need to tell you?!" Sparx screamed and stomped angrily. "Only speak when you're spoken to!"

There was complete silence in the Palace. After a minute of deep breathing, Sparx eventually calmed down and just smiled.

"So, this lamp likes to play rough, does he?" Sparx snickered and lit up his blue light bulb. "Well, two can play at that game! It looks like this means war. If he is this powerful like you say, then I'll handle him myself."

As the rats were about to pay the appliances above 'a visit,' Squeakly paused and shook his head.

"I have a very bad feeling about this..."