Unbelievable, but this time the trail was even more slippery and dangerous than the first time. All the walls were damp and slippery, had it rained inside? How could that be possible? How on earth should rain fall 100 meters underground???
Meanwhile, Chester sucked on two healing candies at a time and tried to stuff a third in Mandy's mouth, ending up being thrown against the wall. The tunnel shook and shook, cracks ripping through the ceiling. They quickly followed the tracks into more tunnels before it collapsed and buried everything under them.
Now and then one of them turned to see if they were being followed again. But this time it really was just the echoes of their own footsteps.
Suddenly Edgar stopped. "She is here! Close!"
"How do you know that?" Chester asked him.
"I just know. I can feel it when she's close. Isn't it the same with Mandy and you?"
"No! Wait, I mean yes! Yes, but we're not..." the prank master looked at Mandy in embarrassment, only to realize with a start that she was pale again and trembling.
"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked her worried.
"Stop worrying already!" she hissed at him. "I'm a tough cookie. Besides, I'm with you."
Which should worry me probably more, she mentally finished her sentence.
Because you are... she stopped.
Chester looked at her with sparkling eyes and smiled so happily. Butterflies danced through her stomach as he placed his hands on her cheeks and leaned down to her.
...the biggest, sweetest idiot I've ever met.
"WUAAAARGH!!!"
A bloodcurdling scream penetrated through the tunnels to them, walls crumbled, stones fell from the ceiling and Edgar was thrown to the ground. Blood flowed down his face. Smiling, he brushed it away.
"There she is! We found her!"
"Doing it for the lolls!" Chester yelled while Mandy grabbed her gun, aimed, and fired.
***
It was a miracle the tunnels were still standing. Much of the ceiling had collapsed, blocking the way they had come, and boulders were still flying around. Mandy pulverized them with her staff and Chester ducked past them to launch a frontal attack.
The ground tore from the tremors – an abyss opened in front of the three. An abyss at the bottom of which bubbled lava and over which Trixie Colette flew. For the first time she was recognizable, not just an ominous sound or a shadow in the darkness. She was red-skinned and wore her purple dress, just as her skin intended, but her wings and claws were much larger, her hair was down to her waist and grey. The latter could of course also be due to the dust.
"Bring me as close to her as possible!" Edgar instructed the other two.
"Got it!" Chester replied. "You want salt with that? Come, come, you oversized vampire cat!"
Hissing, Trixie shot down at the prank master, but he ducked away in time, jumped out behind her and blew a pinch of salt into her eyes.
"Carry on the salt legacy! You've been Chested!"
At first, she just seemed wild and confused, but then something terrible happened.
Screaming, the bat-beast whirled in circles to bat at Chester, extending its devil's tail at least six feet long. Although Chester was able to dodge again without any problems, the force of the tail hit Mandy and threw her into the abyss - straight into the lava.
"MANDY!!! NO!!!"
Chester's scream could have woken up the entire Star Park, but it didn't change the fact that his sweetheart had just sunk into magma.
Trixie wanted to lunch at him a second time, but Edgar knocked her aside. He tried to grab her with his scarf, but it was difficult to fight, protect others and not get hit by the falling debris at the same time.
It was only a matter of time before the walls would finally collapse. There was no escape. Behind them was a collapsed tunnel and in front of them was the magma pit.