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    “Prepare for landing!” Axl shouted as they neared the water’s edge.

    Once the reptiles' feet had impacted the ground, Brutus and Iggy struggled to keep their footing, due to the dizziness of the wild flight. The force of energy from their landing, had knocked nearby pirates off their feet.

    “Do yah wanna get rocked?” taunted Axl, with a mischievous grin. A large gorilla rushed toward Axl, sword raised. “I’ll rock you, lizard!” he snarled.

    Axl blocked the swing with his guitar, holding it by the neck like a weapon.

    “Give me your best shot, banana brains!” he taunted, gritting his teeth.

    With a few swings he managed to overpower the gorilla, launching him through the air.

    A mob of possum buccaneers armed with swords charged toward him as well. “Get the rocker!”

    Axl smirked, flicking his tongue as he waited for them to be in range. Once they were merely a yard away, he released a strong power chord attack which threw them backwards in the air, leaving them unconscious on the ground

    By this time, Iggy and Brutus had recovered from their dizziness and entered the fray as well, swinging punches and swords.

    Brutus continually hammered pirates with his bare knuckle punches, knocking them into the bay. “Reminds me of all the royal rumble matches I was in, back in the day!” chortled Brutus, grinning with enjoyment as he brawled against hordes of men.

    “This reminds me of just how violent and crazy my life usually is!” grumbled Iggy, grunting as he wrestled an aardvark to the ground. Iggy managed to roll on top of him pinning his opponent. The aardvark shot a couple of punches onto Iggy’s head, but was quickly subdued by the iguana rocker’s pounding blows.

    Axl noticed three weasel pirates were standing to the side, mouths agape, in horror as they witnessed the fate of their comrades.

     “Wanna join the mosh pit?” he taunted with a mischievous grin resting the neck of his guitar over his shoulder. At this the pirates dropped their swords and fled in fear.

    “Wish they would all do that,” muttered Axl with a sigh. “It would be so much easier for all of us.”

    Taking advantage of the fear growing among the pirates, Axl began chasing the nearby spectators shredding his guitar while drooping his slobbery tongue like a madman. Sabertooth’s pirates were, at this point, retreating like rabbits fleeing a predator.

    “Run for your lives!” shrieked a panda buccaneer. “The rocker’s completely gone cuckoo!”

    “METAL FURY,BABY!” rasped Axl with his singing voice, continuing to utilize his psychology and show of force to drive off the rest of the enemies. He felt like a dog herding sheep as they fled through the streets, sometimes leaping into the harbor to escape his path.

    He felt unstoppable as the adrenaline fueled by his ‘performance of pain’ surged through his body. There was no doubt in his mind, as his enemies scattered before him that he was ‘king of this show!’ Indeed, like his ancestors before him, he was the lizard king of heavy metal! Nevertheless, even kings were not exempt from the pain of being hit by large heavy crates as one hanging from a nearby crane soared in his direction.

    It was like being hit by a freight train as the large wooden crate smashed into the front of his body launching him airborne backwards.

    “Augh!”

    His body burned with pain upon impact as though it were on fire. Once he collided with the ground, his body rolled like rag doll across the stone road until gradually coming to a stop. He laid paralyzed on his belly, sprawled on the hard ground, with everything appearing as nothing more than a blur, save for the stars spinning around his head which had never been clearer before now.


            That’s never a good sign, Axl dizzily mumbled. All the sounds of the commotion taking place around him were muffled as his head struggled to regain focus. Everything was indecipherable save for a sinister high pitched voice shouting through what sounded to be an intercom system.

    “Ha, ha, ha! How’d yah like that, rock star?”
    “Axl!” Iggy shouted as he and Brutus dashed to his assistance. Axl stretched his arm forward, crawling on his belly as he reached for the neck of Jagged.

    Axl felt Iggy’s clawed hand slapping the sides of his face. “Axl, buddy! How many fingers am I holding up?”

    “I’m fine!” Axl grumbled knocking Iggy’s hand out of the way as his arms struggled to reach Jagged.

    “You are one tough lizard!” chortled Brutus with relief shoving the guitar into Axl’s reach.

    As his hands made contact with the instrument, he immediately began to feel revitalized. Although his body continued to throb from the pain some of his strength had returned. Axl staggered to his feet, still holding the guitar by it’s neck as he glared up at the towering yellow crane used in the port to load cargo onto ships.

    “Time to play wrecking ball with the rock star!” jeered the voice from the intercom.

    Axl was able to make out a white feathered sailor behind the controls.
    “Dude, there’s a crane operating that. . . crane!” exclaimed Iggy.
    “How ironic,” muttered Axl, glaring up at the large piece of machinery. Even though they were far apart, he could tell both of them had their eyes locked onto one another. He could see the large, hard wooden crate swinging back as the crane prepared for another attack.
    “Get behind me, guys!” Axl ordered as he assumed the position of a batter with Jagged.

    “I’m game, bird!” he taunted, flicking a tongue.

    Iggy nervously gulped. “Uhh, Axl, I’m not exactly a genius in physics, but I’m not so sure that putting a small guitar against that wrecking ball is gonna end well.”

    “Yeah, well this is no ordinary guitar, and I’m no ordinary rocker!” confidently declared Axl, angrily gritting his teeth in the direction of the crate.

    “You’ve got it, swamp trash!” jeered the crane in reply.

    Axl squinted his eyes as he completely focused on the crate swinging toward him. With one hard swing, Axl launched the crate into the air, completely knocking it off the hook, driving it to crash into one of the nearby ships.

    Axl heard his feathered enemy gasp in shock through the intercom at his show of force.

    “What, the!"

    As the hook again swung in his direction, Axl grabbed it with his claw, allowing himself to swing toward the crane’s crane operator. It was like a wild circus act as his body glided through the air with the help of the hook. Once the hook had reached full momentum, Axl released his grip, allowing himself to fall into a dead flip raising his guitar with both of his arms like an axe. Axl smashed his guitar through the glass pane which contained the red and white striped shirt wearing crane sailor behind the controls of the machine.

    His guitar impacted the right shoulder of the bird, driving him to lurch back in pain.

    “Ow!”

    Axl and the crane engaged in a brief scuffle in the small box that made up the operator’s cabin of the machine, with the crane pecking and biting his scaled upper torso. Axl cried in pain, taken off guard by this unexpected form of assault. “Ergh!” he staggered back out the window, struggling to keep his balance on the edge of the cabin.

    Axl dug his clawed toes into the metal as he struggled to keep his grip. His body wildly swayed back and forth from the constant reverse movement of the crane. He could see the bird buccaneer’s face burning red with frustration as he continued to retain his grip.

    “Would yah just fall off already, you dummy?” grumbled the crane, still flipping the lever back and forth.

    Axl swung his guitar at the avian, revealing himself to be mere inches out of reach.

     Using all the strength he had left, he flung his body forward, enabling himself to finally make it back to the operator’s cabin.

    With another hard swing, Axl whacked the bird in the head, leaving his feathered adversary to limply collapse back into his seat.

“Doh!”

The mechanical crane spun out of control as the bird buccaneer’s feathered arm leaned against the lever. Now that the crane was spinning in one constant direction, Axl leaped fully, into the operator’s chair landing on the unconscious operator. He could feel the avian weakly thrashing his arms at him, but managed to quickly overpower the avian pirate, grabbing him by the neck while dangling him over the edge.

    “Don’t. . . drop. . . me. . .” weakly pleaded the crane through his choking grip

    “Please. . ."

    Axl snorted. “What are you talking about? You’re a bird! You’ll be fine!”

    The crane’s eyes widened in panic. “NO!” Axl released his grip, leaving the avian screaming in fear as he fell from the five story high mechanical crane. Instead of taking off in flight, the bird crashed with a violent belly flop into the waters below.

    “Uhh, that’s funny. . .” shrugged Axl, scratching his head in confusion. “I could have sworn cranes could fly?”

    The crane’s head popped out of the water as he wildly fluttered his arms. “That’s just a stereotype you stupid boot!”
    Axl tilted his head in amusement. “Just when you think you've seen it all. . .”

    With the crane no longer serving as a threat, he proceeded to turn his attention to one of the enemy pirate schooners sailing toward the Crossbone’s ship. A sly smile crept onto his face as an idea began to form in his mind.
    “It’s time I put this hunk of metal to good use. . .” Axl chuckled to himself. Cracking his knuckles, Axl took hold of the lever, spinning the crane in the direction of the ship. He then gripped the second lever, extending the hook toward the Sabertooth warship. Once he had lowered the hook, he immediately shot the lever back, leaving it to snag the ship. He felt the entire crane jolt forward to the point to where it leaned at a slight angle, with the metallic structure squealing under the strain.

    He watched in satisfaction as the bow of the ship slightly shot up in the air as the force of the hook on the ship’s stern brought it’s movement to a complete halt. “Gotcha!” jeered Axl.
    “Whaddya doin, Axl?” asked Iggy revealing himself to have joined him in the crane.
    Axl proudly motioned toward the war ship hooked by the crane. “Just doin’ a little fishing.”

    Iggy burst into laughter, clapping his hands. “Now that’s what I call a big catch!”

    Once again the crane squealed leaning forward as the ship continued to struggle to move ahead.

    “Iggy’s confident smile turned into a nervous chuckle. “Ehh, are you sure this thing can handle all that weight?”

    Axl flicked his tongue as he continued messing with the controls. “No, but we’re about to find out.” The tower again jolted forward as the hook began raising the stern of the ship. The nose of the crane appeared to slightly bend under the strain creating the sound of metal snapping like firecracker.
    “Axlll!” Iggy cried in fear.

     Axl watched as the Crossbone’s Cougar Warship began sailing in the direction of the schooner. “That’s right, Cutlass,” Axl spoke to himself. “She’s all yours. . .”

    Cannonballs fired sporadically at the Crossbone’s ship, with the majority of them splashing into the open bay water. The familiar sound of Cougar Cannons thundered as the Crossbone’s opened fire at the exposed Sabertooth flagship. Flames enveloped the deck as wood and metal debris flung from the explosions. The ship appeared uneven taking an unnatural shape as the deck began to break apart.

    “Aw, yeah!” cheered Axl raising a fist.

    “Wow!” Iggy chortled fist bumping Axl’s shoulder. “I’ve gotta admit, that was pretty coo. . .” Iggy’s statement was cut short as the blast of stray cannon fire struck the bottom of the crane, causing it lurch forward.

    “Darn it, we’re going down!” cried Axl in fear. “Hang o. . .” Unable to finish his warning, Axl immediately joined Iggy in releasing a cry of panic as the crane fell sideways toward the water. Axl instantly gripped the side of the room with his hands and feet as water crashed over him and Iggy, completely submerging the two lizards. With the water slowing the descent of the crane, Axl and Iggy lurched from the now submerged operator’s cabin. Once the lizards had managed to swim to the surface, they both immediately gasped, for air.
            “You’re gonna be the death of me, Axl!” Iggy grumbled after spitting water from his mouth.

            Axl laughed as he gripped Jagged which had surfaced a couple of feet away from him.

Illustrations by Bluepisces97

Thanks for reading!

Nightriders: The Kidnappings Part 43

Nightriders: The Kidnappings Part 1

Description

    “Prepare for landing!” Axl shouted as they neared the water’s edge.

    Once the reptiles' feet had impacted the ground, Brutus and Iggy struggled to keep their footing, due to the dizziness of the wild flight. The force of energy from their landing, had knocked nearby pirates off their feet.

    “Do yah wanna get rocked?” taunted Axl, with a mischievous grin. A large gorilla rushed toward Axl, sword raised. “I’ll rock you, lizard!” he snarled.

    Axl blocked the swing with his guitar, holding it by the neck like a weapon.

    “Give me your best shot, banana brains!” he taunted, gritting his teeth.

    With a few swings he managed to overpower the gorilla, launching him through the air.

    A mob of possum buccaneers armed with swords charged toward him as well. “Get the rocker!”

    Axl smirked, flicking his tongue as he waited for them to be in range. Once they were merely a yard away, he released a strong power chord attack which threw them backwards in the air, leaving them unconscious on the ground

    By this time, Iggy and Brutus had recovered from their dizziness and entered the fray as well, swinging punches and swords.

    Brutus continually hammered pirates with his bare knuckle punches, knocking them into the bay. “Reminds me of all the royal rumble matches I was in, back in the day!” chortled Brutus, grinning with enjoyment as he brawled against hordes of men.

    “This reminds me of just how violent and crazy my life usually is!” grumbled Iggy, grunting as he wrestled an aardvark to the ground. Iggy managed to roll on top of him pinning his opponent. The aardvark shot a couple of punches onto Iggy’s head, but was quickly subdued by the iguana rocker’s pounding blows.

    Axl noticed three weasel pirates were standing to the side, mouths agape, in horror as they witnessed the fate of their comrades.

     “Wanna join the mosh pit?” he taunted with a mischievous grin resting the neck of his guitar over his shoulder. At this the pirates dropped their swords and fled in fear.

    “Wish they would all do that,” muttered Axl with a sigh. “It would be so much easier for all of us.”

    Taking advantage of the fear growing among the pirates, Axl began chasing the nearby spectators shredding his guitar while drooping his slobbery tongue like a madman. Sabertooth’s pirates were, at this point, retreating like rabbits fleeing a predator.

    “Run for your lives!” shrieked a panda buccaneer. “The rocker’s completely gone cuckoo!”

    “METAL FURY,BABY!” rasped Axl with his singing voice, continuing to utilize his psychology and show of force to drive off the rest of the enemies. He felt like a dog herding sheep as they fled through the streets, sometimes leaping into the harbor to escape his path.

    He felt unstoppable as the adrenaline fueled by his ‘performance of pain’ surged through his body. There was no doubt in his mind, as his enemies scattered before him that he was ‘king of this show!’ Indeed, like his ancestors before him, he was the lizard king of heavy metal! Nevertheless, even kings were not exempt from the pain of being hit by large heavy crates as one hanging from a nearby crane soared in his direction.

    It was like being hit by a freight train as the large wooden crate smashed into the front of his body launching him airborne backwards.

    “Augh!”

    His body burned with pain upon impact as though it were on fire. Once he collided with the ground, his body rolled like rag doll across the stone road until gradually coming to a stop. He laid paralyzed on his belly, sprawled on the hard ground, with everything appearing as nothing more than a blur, save for the stars spinning around his head which had never been clearer before now.


            That’s never a good sign, Axl dizzily mumbled. All the sounds of the commotion taking place around him were muffled as his head struggled to regain focus. Everything was indecipherable save for a sinister high pitched voice shouting through what sounded to be an intercom system.

    “Ha, ha, ha! How’d yah like that, rock star?”
    “Axl!” Iggy shouted as he and Brutus dashed to his assistance. Axl stretched his arm forward, crawling on his belly as he reached for the neck of Jagged.

    Axl felt Iggy’s clawed hand slapping the sides of his face. “Axl, buddy! How many fingers am I holding up?”

    “I’m fine!” Axl grumbled knocking Iggy’s hand out of the way as his arms struggled to reach Jagged.

    “You are one tough lizard!” chortled Brutus with relief shoving the guitar into Axl’s reach.

    As his hands made contact with the instrument, he immediately began to feel revitalized. Although his body continued to throb from the pain some of his strength had returned. Axl staggered to his feet, still holding the guitar by it’s neck as he glared up at the towering yellow crane used in the port to load cargo onto ships.

    “Time to play wrecking ball with the rock star!” jeered the voice from the intercom.

    Axl was able to make out a white feathered sailor behind the controls.
    “Dude, there’s a crane operating that. . . crane!” exclaimed Iggy.
    “How ironic,” muttered Axl, glaring up at the large piece of machinery. Even though they were far apart, he could tell both of them had their eyes locked onto one another. He could see the large, hard wooden crate swinging back as the crane prepared for another attack.
    “Get behind me, guys!” Axl ordered as he assumed the position of a batter with Jagged.

    “I’m game, bird!” he taunted, flicking a tongue.

    Iggy nervously gulped. “Uhh, Axl, I’m not exactly a genius in physics, but I’m not so sure that putting a small guitar against that wrecking ball is gonna end well.”

    “Yeah, well this is no ordinary guitar, and I’m no ordinary rocker!” confidently declared Axl, angrily gritting his teeth in the direction of the crate.

    “You’ve got it, swamp trash!” jeered the crane in reply.

    Axl squinted his eyes as he completely focused on the crate swinging toward him. With one hard swing, Axl launched the crate into the air, completely knocking it off the hook, driving it to crash into one of the nearby ships.

    Axl heard his feathered enemy gasp in shock through the intercom at his show of force.

    “What, the!"

    As the hook again swung in his direction, Axl grabbed it with his claw, allowing himself to swing toward the crane’s crane operator. It was like a wild circus act as his body glided through the air with the help of the hook. Once the hook had reached full momentum, Axl released his grip, allowing himself to fall into a dead flip raising his guitar with both of his arms like an axe. Axl smashed his guitar through the glass pane which contained the red and white striped shirt wearing crane sailor behind the controls of the machine.

    His guitar impacted the right shoulder of the bird, driving him to lurch back in pain.

    “Ow!”

    Axl and the crane engaged in a brief scuffle in the small box that made up the operator’s cabin of the machine, with the crane pecking and biting his scaled upper torso. Axl cried in pain, taken off guard by this unexpected form of assault. “Ergh!” he staggered back out the window, struggling to keep his balance on the edge of the cabin.

    Axl dug his clawed toes into the metal as he struggled to keep his grip. His body wildly swayed back and forth from the constant reverse movement of the crane. He could see the bird buccaneer’s face burning red with frustration as he continued to retain his grip.

    “Would yah just fall off already, you dummy?” grumbled the crane, still flipping the lever back and forth.

    Axl swung his guitar at the avian, revealing himself to be mere inches out of reach.

     Using all the strength he had left, he flung his body forward, enabling himself to finally make it back to the operator’s cabin.

    With another hard swing, Axl whacked the bird in the head, leaving his feathered adversary to limply collapse back into his seat.

“Doh!”

The mechanical crane spun out of control as the bird buccaneer’s feathered arm leaned against the lever. Now that the crane was spinning in one constant direction, Axl leaped fully, into the operator’s chair landing on the unconscious operator. He could feel the avian weakly thrashing his arms at him, but managed to quickly overpower the avian pirate, grabbing him by the neck while dangling him over the edge.

    “Don’t. . . drop. . . me. . .” weakly pleaded the crane through his choking grip

    “Please. . ."

    Axl snorted. “What are you talking about? You’re a bird! You’ll be fine!”

    The crane’s eyes widened in panic. “NO!” Axl released his grip, leaving the avian screaming in fear as he fell from the five story high mechanical crane. Instead of taking off in flight, the bird crashed with a violent belly flop into the waters below.

    “Uhh, that’s funny. . .” shrugged Axl, scratching his head in confusion. “I could have sworn cranes could fly?”

    The crane’s head popped out of the water as he wildly fluttered his arms. “That’s just a stereotype you stupid boot!”
    Axl tilted his head in amusement. “Just when you think you've seen it all. . .”

    With the crane no longer serving as a threat, he proceeded to turn his attention to one of the enemy pirate schooners sailing toward the Crossbone’s ship. A sly smile crept onto his face as an idea began to form in his mind.
    “It’s time I put this hunk of metal to good use. . .” Axl chuckled to himself. Cracking his knuckles, Axl took hold of the lever, spinning the crane in the direction of the ship. He then gripped the second lever, extending the hook toward the Sabertooth warship. Once he had lowered the hook, he immediately shot the lever back, leaving it to snag the ship. He felt the entire crane jolt forward to the point to where it leaned at a slight angle, with the metallic structure squealing under the strain.

    He watched in satisfaction as the bow of the ship slightly shot up in the air as the force of the hook on the ship’s stern brought it’s movement to a complete halt. “Gotcha!” jeered Axl.
    “Whaddya doin, Axl?” asked Iggy revealing himself to have joined him in the crane.
    Axl proudly motioned toward the war ship hooked by the crane. “Just doin’ a little fishing.”

    Iggy burst into laughter, clapping his hands. “Now that’s what I call a big catch!”

    Once again the crane squealed leaning forward as the ship continued to struggle to move ahead.

    “Iggy’s confident smile turned into a nervous chuckle. “Ehh, are you sure this thing can handle all that weight?”

    Axl flicked his tongue as he continued messing with the controls. “No, but we’re about to find out.” The tower again jolted forward as the hook began raising the stern of the ship. The nose of the crane appeared to slightly bend under the strain creating the sound of metal snapping like firecracker.
    “Axlll!” Iggy cried in fear.

     Axl watched as the Crossbone’s Cougar Warship began sailing in the direction of the schooner. “That’s right, Cutlass,” Axl spoke to himself. “She’s all yours. . .”

    Cannonballs fired sporadically at the Crossbone’s ship, with the majority of them splashing into the open bay water. The familiar sound of Cougar Cannons thundered as the Crossbone’s opened fire at the exposed Sabertooth flagship. Flames enveloped the deck as wood and metal debris flung from the explosions. The ship appeared uneven taking an unnatural shape as the deck began to break apart.

    “Aw, yeah!” cheered Axl raising a fist.

    “Wow!” Iggy chortled fist bumping Axl’s shoulder. “I’ve gotta admit, that was pretty coo. . .” Iggy’s statement was cut short as the blast of stray cannon fire struck the bottom of the crane, causing it lurch forward.

    “Darn it, we’re going down!” cried Axl in fear. “Hang o. . .” Unable to finish his warning, Axl immediately joined Iggy in releasing a cry of panic as the crane fell sideways toward the water. Axl instantly gripped the side of the room with his hands and feet as water crashed over him and Iggy, completely submerging the two lizards. With the water slowing the descent of the crane, Axl and Iggy lurched from the now submerged operator’s cabin. Once the lizards had managed to swim to the surface, they both immediately gasped, for air.
            “You’re gonna be the death of me, Axl!” Iggy grumbled after spitting water from his mouth.

            Axl laughed as he gripped Jagged which had surfaced a couple of feet away from him.

Illustrations by Bluepisces97

Thanks for reading!

Nightriders: The Kidnappings Part 43

Nightriders: The Kidnappings Part 1