In the Jungle: Chapter 16

Chapter 16
“Awesome!” exclaimed Zoe.
“Cool!” cried Bo.
“Amazing!” Tommy marveled.
The three of them scampered up to the jewel. They narrowed their eyes at each other, all wanting to get ahold of the jewel first. Their grimy paws slowly reached for it --
“STOP!” yelled Faysaham. Everyone stared at him in surprise.
Faysaham frantically pointed at a sign and jumped up and down. Everybody (except our three heroes) walked over to him and peered at the sign. Mahasyaf read it aloud.
This jewel cannot be touched if you do not crack the code on the side of the platform it is sitting on. After you --
“Wait!” He was cut off by Zoe who ran back to the jewel stand, bent down and checked all the sides to find the code. She found it. It was one of those rolly things that you roll the numbers to crack codes with.
Mahasyaf continued.
After you crack the code, you will be allowed to take the jewel - but use it in the right way. Here is --
“But what’s the code?” Bo wailed.
Mahasyaf ignored him and kept reading.
Here is a hint for the first two spaces of the code: 90 divided by 3 equals?
“That’s easy,” said Zoe, top in math class. “It equals up to...” She quickly did the mental math in her head. “The answer is 30!” she exclaimed.
Tommy quickly did the problem in his head to make sure Zoe was right, and to his relief, she was. Zoe ran over to the stand and rolled in a 3 and a 0. There were six spaces left to be filled. Zoe came running back and Mahasyaf continued reading.
This guide will help you figure out the rest of the code. The code is a mixup of numbers and letters.
a = 1 b = 2 c = 3 d = 4 e = 5 f = 6 g = 7 h = 8 i = 9 j = 10 k = 11 l = 12 m = 13 n = 14 o = 15 p = 16 q = 17 r = 18 s = 19 t = 20 u = 21 v = 22 w = 23 x = 24 y = 25 z = 26
You can find clues for the rest of the spaces if you look on the wall.
Bo ran in excitement over to the wall and squinted at it. “I can’t see anything!” he moaned in utter disappointment.
“We need a light,” said Zoe.
Tommy sprang into action. He morphed his arms into torches and turned himself into fire. The torches lighted up the whole cave. “Now you can see,” he said.
“Oh, look! I found it! ‘For the rest of the code, use the guide to figure this out. The remaining characters are: 5 1 14 4 2 15.’ Gee whiz, that’s as easy as math!” said Zoe, her face lit with excitement.
“C’mon, let’s look at the guide,” said Bo excitedly.
Bo took his place at the guide, Tommy stayed at the wall, and Zoe ran over to the code rolly thingy and waited. “First, there’s a 5,” said Tommy.
“Okay, 5 equals E,” Bo said.
Zoe rolled in an E.
“The next number is 1,” said Tommy.
“1 equals A,” said Bo.
Zoe rolled in an A.
“Next is 14,” said Tommy.
“14 equals N,” said Bo.
Zoe rolled in an N.
“Next is 4,” said Tommy.
“4 equals D,” said Bo.
Zoe rolled in a D.
“Next is 2!” said Tommy.
“2 is B,” Bo proudly announced his initial.
Zoe rolled in a B. She also rolled her eyes as she did so.
“Lastly, put in a 15,” said Tommy.
“15 equals O!” said Bo. “Yay! It’s done!”
Zoe called them over. “Look!” she said, and pointed at the code rolly thingy. It said:

30EANDBO

“Now that,” declared Bo, “is too awesome.”
“We’re famous!” Zoe added, and she and Bo did a high-five. Tommy watched them sadly. “Well?” he said irritatedly. “What about the jewel?”
“Oh yeah!” Zoe and Bo exclaimed, and ran to the jewel. Zoe allowed Bo to take it, and Bo held it up high. “I wonder if this can help us in any way,” he said.
“It can!” Faysaham said suddenly. “I should know. I’ve lived in this jungle and explored it long enough to know what happens around here. Once I got stuck in a cave like this. There was an exact same code rolly thingy, and a sapphire was on the jewel stand. I figured out the code and - and -- I forget -- oh yeah! I put the jewel in this chute in the wall, and then, the gate opened and I was able to escape. We should try and find the jewel right now!”
Everybody was silent - silent from hearing this long speech, and silent because this clever speech was unexpected from somebody as clueless as Faysaham.
“I heard that!”
I KNOW you can hear what I say, mortal. Now be quiet.
Mahasyaf flared at this injustice toward his little brother.
“You flare too much, Mahasyaf. You will now have to be called the Flaring Bro of Faysaham,” said Bo kindly. “Okay, Narry?”
Well, I’d like to do that, Bo, but according to the Head, that is unkind and not allowed.
“Aww,” Bo moaned, and started looking for a chute in the wall. Mahasyaf grinned smugly and high-fived the Head. Well, at least he tried to. Everyone rolled their eyes at him.
“I found it! I found the CHUTE!” yelled Faysaham. He looked at the others and pointed frantically at the wall.
“Great job, Fayster!” said Bo. He ran over to Faysaham, who sulked at the hideous new nickname Bo had given him. Bo slid the diamond into the chute.
Suddenly, things happened.
The ground rumbled. The wall cracked open. A small shaft of light flooded the cave. Through the opening, the creatures could see a flat, dirt ground and trees with vines hanging from them. The sun shone down, making everything appear to have a little glow.
“Wow!” said Faysaham.
“Wow!” said Bo.
“Wow!” said everybody. They scampered out and gazed at everything. Zoe and Bo clambered up the trees and swung on the vines. Now that every Hakrin water victim had grown back to their original size, they were extra-happy.
“Wow, this is fun!” exclaimed Bo. “Back to my old monkey days!”
Zoe grasped the vine she was swinging on with one hand and slapped her forehead with the other. Tommy cackled.
“Did this happen to you too, Faysaham?” asked Bo. “Did this weird place open for you?”
“No,” Faysaham answered. “The wall opened and I was free! Simple as that.”
Bo’s eyes widened. “Then something must’ve gone wrong!” he cried in horror.
And just at that moment, something tragic happened. All of the trees and the vines disappeared. Everything went black. Everybody, sprawled on the ground, gasped in horror. A huge cackle sounded from nowhere. “BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Suddenly, everybody was sucked down into a big hole that opened up from under them. “AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” they screamed.
Faysaham sobbed at the thought of losing his brother again. “Nohoho! NO! NOOO!” he wailed, flailing his arms desperately. But nothing could be done. The creatures were caught, and that, was that. Zoe tried to find her friends in the darkness, but the endless black hole went on forever, and Zoe didn’t see how she could possibly move her body sideways. No, not when she was falling down.
THUD! Every creature’s chin banged, HARD, on their chests as they fell down on a hard, smooth surface. The long hole turned out to be a tube, which the creatures slid down the rest of the way. Suddenly, SMACK! Everybody’s face whammed into a big netting. They squirmed and writhed in anger. A big cackle sounded in front of them. “Bwahahahaha!” Crech cackled. “You mortals didn’t stand a chance!” Crech was standing before them, hands on hips, in a lab. Test tubes bubbled. Machines clanked and beeped.
Zoe glared up angrily at Crech.”Let us go!” she cried.
“You don’t think I’d listen to you, do you?” he snarled. “Well, we’ve had enough of you silly kids bothering us and trying to save the four animals we’ve cleverly hidden. You guys just had to meddle with us!” He growled and picked up an odd-looking contraption. “And now you’ll wish you hadn’t!”
“I’m not a kid!” Mahasyaf howled. “I’m 16!”
“I’m 14!” howled Holly.
“I’m 13!” howled Johnny Boy.
“Me too!” howled Chimpi.
“I’m 12!” howled Bo.
“I’m 11!” howled Zoe.
“I’m 10!” howled Tommy.
“And I’m 60! Just kidding! I’m 6!” howled Faysaham.
“Silence!” growled Crech. “I don’t care ONE smidgen about how old you all are, you old men. Just stop meddling with me and my assistants!”
A howl came from another room. “Assistant?! I’m the BOSS here!” The howler turned out to be Retro, who suddenly came barging in from another room. “You’re the second-in-hand here, remember that! And I’m the BOSS!” His forehead wrinkled up in anger and his fists were tightly clenched. His face was twisted into a scowl.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” said Crech. “Where’s Turey? We need him.”
Retro gave Crech a box on the ear just as Turey came slithering in from the same room as Retro. “Here I am,” he said meekly. “What’s the problem?” He turned and saw all of the eight creatures squirming in the net. “You caught them, Crech?” he exclaimed. “Great! I knew the trees and vines were the perfect attraction for them!”
Johnny Boy scowled at Turey. Turey scowled back at him. The two snakes hissed at each other, tongues swirling. Suddenly, HSSSS!!! Johnny Boy tore through the net and lashed out at Turey. Turey advanced on Johnny Boy. Johnny Boy slid closer and closer to Turey, and closer still, until...
“AAARRGGHH!” Johnny Boy yelled, and striked. He twirled his body around Turey and choked him. “I can kill you with my python skills right now,” he growled. “Any lassst words?”
“Skills? Aghh...NO!! DON’T KILL ME!” Turey howled. He writhed desperately.
The rest of the creatures who were watching, still in the net, looked at each other in fright. “C’mon, c’mon, we just gotta save him!” Faysaham squealed. He pointed at the hole Johnny had made. Tommy nodded curtly and made it bigger. Retro and Crech saw what they were doing. “Get ‘em, Crech!” Retro yelled. Crech aimed a gun at them. He chuckled nastily.
“NOOOO!” Faysaham howled, and clutched at his brother. Holly’s eyes were wide. Chimpi and Bo were shaking in fright. Zoe just sat there, frozen, unable to speak. Tommy, as usual, was not afraid, and tried to calm everybody down. He calmly shot a ray at Crech’s gun. Crech dropped the gun in surprise. It burnt into crisps. Smoke billowed out, as tears did from Crech’s eyes.
“Why you little -” he began.
“CHAAARGE!” Tommy bellowed, and everybody snapped into action. They all poured out of the hole in the net and started to fight. Bo and Chimpi tussled with Retro. Mahasyaf and Holly and Faysaham wrestled with Crech on the cold stone floor, losing lamely. Zoe helped Johnny with Turey, even though he didn’t need help, because he had ‘skills’. Tommy frantically looked around the place for the last missing animal - the orangutan. He peered into every room with his X-Ray vision. While he was doing so, his friends were still fighting.
Zoe gave Turey a long scratch down his green, warty face. He groaned.
“HI-YAAAAAAAHHH!” Bo screamed, kicking Retro in the stomach. Retro made a sick face and collapsed on the ground.
Mahasyaf charged as fast as a cheetah could - right at Crech. His head whammed into Crech’s stomach. Crech growled in anger and grabbed Faysaham. “NO NO NO!” Faysaham screamed, and poked Crech’s eyes with his fingers, while his feet were at work in kicking Crech’s mouth. That’s a Radkids move. Crech eventually dropped Faysaham. Mahasyaf and Holly gasped as Faysaham started to fall down to the ground. Just as he was inches from the ground, Holly slid and cushioned his fall.

Meanwhile, Tommy was walking around what seemed to be an underground laboratory. He peeked in every room where he thought would be a good place to hide an orangutan. He was just about to give up until...Tommy stopped at a yellow, glittering door. What was this? Tommy opened it. A cold gust of wind blew out at him. Tommy shivered. He walked into the cold yellow room. It was lit with bright yellow lights all around. Boxes were piled up neatly in every corner, stacked on top of each other. Shelves were piled high with odd-looking trinkets. Tommy turned on his X-Ray vision again and scanned everything in the room. He stopped at one cardboard box with holes poked in the top. Another box was next to it, also with holes poked in the top. Tommy scanned them -- and found an orangutan inside the first box, and in the second box, who else could it be but -- Chitter, the chattering monkey!
Tommy smiled. He opened up the boxes and let the monkeys out. Chitter chittered with delight when he saw Tommy.
“Thanks for rescuing me,” said the orangutan. She was a tall, orange ape with a pale face and kinky hair. She was about as tall as Chimpi. “My name’s Lily. What’s yours?”
“My name,” said Tommy, “is Tommy.” He silently went through the names of all his friends and figured out that these were the only names that were real: Tommy, Zoe, Bo, Holly, Johnny, and Lily.
“Okay, cool. Thanks for helping us, Tommy,” said Lily. “Let’s get out of here!” She walked toward the open yellow door.
As Tommy, Lily, and Chitter walked down the hall to where the rest were fighting, Tommy told her the story of the mission, the three bad guys, the diamond, the vines and the trees, and the aftermath. When they reached the battle scene, they found Crech, Turey, and Retro all on the ground, with scratches on their faces, and blood trickling out of their mouths. Zoe, Bo, Mahasyaf, Faysaham, Johnny Boy, Chimpi, and Holly were all leaning against a wall, breathing heavily and heftily. When they all saw Tommy with Chitter and the last trapped animal, they cheered.
“Yay!”
“You found the last one!”
“You’re a genius!”
“WOOT!”
“You abandoned us. Woop!”
Tommy smiled modestly. Then after all the cheering was over, he said, “Well! Let’s get out of here!” He went into the supply room and grabbed three big nets made out of wire. He put the three bad creatures in them and then threw them in the supply room. He closed the door and locked it with his alien skills. With that, he made a hole in the ceiling and shot through it. “C’mon, guys!” he called down.
The creatures all looked at each other. “Oops,” said Tommy. “Haha. I forgot.” He then morphed his arm into a long rope. Then he morphed his other arm into a big weight and made it heavy so he could balance. “Okay, guys, climb the rope!” he said. All of the creatures, one by one, climbed up Tommy’s arm rope. Bo was the last to come up. When it was his turn to go up the rope, he found a SELF-DESTRUCT button on the wall. He pressed it, then shimmied up the rope as quickly as possible. Then the creatures all ran away from the underground lab as fast as they could before it exploded. They ran past the cave and the weird fruit tree, the Weird Puzzle Rocks zone, the Hakrin stream, the dungeon, and the tree with barbed wire. They ran until they came to where they started. Tommy’s black clothes and stilts were still where they were, kicked carelessly into a bush. Tommy was about to say something, but suddenly, a big blue hole appeared out of nowhere. A big, booming voice came out of it, saying:
“YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR MISSION, AND JUST IN THE NICK OF TIME, TOO! CONGRATULATIONS. YOU MAY NOW GO HOME. PLEASE JUMP INTO THE PORTAL.”
“Well!” said Bo happily. “Our mission is over!” He, Tommy, and Zoe did a high-five.
“You mean...you...you mean you have to...LEAVE?” Faysaham asked, almost in a whisper. His lip wobbled. He began to tremble. He whimpered sadly. Then suddenly, he BAWLED.
“WAAAAHHAAHHAAAAAAAAAAAA!” he wailed.
Zoe, Tommy, and Bo felt awkward. “Uh...yeah, we do have to leave,” Bo said.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
“Bye guys!” Zoe said, waving at all the animals.
“Bye!” they called (except Chitter), waving back.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
“Oh, be quiet, Faysaham.”
Zoe jumped into the portal. Bo and Tommy jumped in there too, and the last they saw of the Zamanon Jungle was in a blur before their eyes as they teleported back to Otnemarcas, Ainrofilac.