Gambling with Explosives

“Jacky likes apples!” Jacky whined, as he proceeded to pass gas in the back of the carriage cab.

I coughed while quickly cracking the side window of the carriage. “Ah shoot, I think Jacky’s got to go to the bathroom again! Let's pull over before he has another accident back here.”

“No, I actually think he's trying to tell us that we're almost to our destination.” Rollnaldo excitedly pointed out the window. “There it is. That's the High Roller Capital over in the distance.”

“I see that, but I'm pretty sure he just has to poop.” I stuck my head out the window to escape the rancid smell emanating from Jacky. “Wait, what the-.” Outside the window of the carriage, I got a better view of our destination, which took me completely off guard… “W-we’re still in the Kasino Kingdom, right?”

Rollnaldo looked at me curiously. “Where the pip else would we be?”

The city that laid before us had an uncanny resemblance to Las Vegas. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought I was back in my own world.

“The capital isn't anything that special. I grew up here, it's actually kind of overrated.” Eight remarked. Today she had dyed her hair pink and was wearing a matching tank top and pair of sandals, along with a pair of light blue shorts. “Well recruits, it's only a matter of time until we’ve fulfilled my grand master plan.”

Rollnaldo leaned his head out the window beside me and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I know I'm married to her now and all, but we need to make one last attempt to get out of this chick's terrorist organization before she ruins things with the Kasino King for us.”

“I'll see what I can do.” I murmured back.

“What the muck are you two whispering about.” She glared at us.

I let out a chuckle. “Well Eight, it's been fun, but this is where our journey together ends. I challenge you to a gamble showdow-.”

“Fine, staring contest go!” She spoke as quickly as her mouth could move. Before I even knew what was going on, she flicked her finger in front of my eyes, causing them to blink. “Looks like I win…Recruit Number Seventeen.”

“That's cheating!” I accusingly pointed at her.

“Nuh uh, I never laid out any rules that said I couldn't do that.” She chuckled. “Now enough horsing around you two, we need to get our heads in the game.”

I hung my head in defeat. “Can’t you just tell us already what you’re planning to do?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough.” Sliding open the other window beside her, she shouted out to the slotomaton driver. “I want you to take us full speed to the Kasino King’s palace!”

“Wait, I’m still pretty sure Jacky has to use the bath-.”

“No stopping!” She shouted over me.

The slotomaton let out a series of clicks, followed by him pulling on his horse's reins.

“Jacky likes apples!” Jacky proceeded to pass gas once again, even worse this time.

Rollnaldo coughed. “Okay, maybe you were right about him after all. We better pull-.”

Before he could finish, the carriage lurched forward, flinging him from his seat and causing him to smack his cubed body into my chest. Galloping as fast as they could, the horses pulling our carriage chugged onward toward the city at high speed.

🎰🎰🎰

“Don’t stop! I want you to head right toward the palace's entrance.” Eight adamantly directed the slotomaton driver. As our carriage dangerously barrelled down the capital’s streets, pedestrians jumped out of the way to keep from getting hit.

“What the pip are you doing? We’re going to crash!.” Rollnaldo exclaimed, popping up from his seat.

She let out a snicker. “Yeah, that’s the point.”

“Are you insane!?” I shouted. At the rate we were going, we would collide head on with the entrance of a massive Roman facade building that had an uncanny resemblance to the Kaiser’s Palace Casino in Las Vegas.

“Don’t be silly, Recruit Number Seventeen.” Grabbing her rucksack, she dumped all her bombs onto the carriage’s floor. Their fuses had all been strung together into one long one. “Its finally time to use these muckers.” Before either Rollando and I could say anything to her, she lit the fuse.

My eyes became wide with fear. “She’s actually trying to kill us.”

Rollnaldo threw open the side door in a panic. “Lucky, grab Jacky and get ready to jump.”

“Jacky likes apples.” Jacky let out as he heard his name.

“Good thinking, Recruit Number One. I was just about to say that… Just wait a minute though. I’ll be right back.” Crawling out the side window, she scaled her way up to the carriage’s driver seat. “I appreciate the ride, but we shouldn’t need you anymore.” Shoving the Slotomaton off the side of the carriage, Eight grabbed the reins. “We don’t need you two anymore either.” Pulling a foldable pocket knife from her pocket, she sliced off the restraints for the two horses pulling the carriage.” Having more sense than probably any of us, the horses immediately veered off from the carriage to safety.

“She’s completely lost it, you guys need to jump now!” Rollnaldo yelled, as I hesitated to leap from the moving carriage while on Jacky’s back.

I looked back at him. “What about you?”

“I’m not about to leave my merch cart hitched to the back of this thing.” Before I could reason with him, he had already crawled out the back window and onto his cart.

“Right behind you, my love.” Crawling over the top of the carriage with her knife in hand, Eight joined Rollnaldo on his merch cart. “You better jump now, Recruit Number Seventeen. You’re out of time.” As she said that, she sliced the rope, hitching Rollnaldo’s cart to the carriage.

“Well I guess it's now or nev-.”

“Jacky likes apples!” Jacky neighed over me, jumping from the ledge with me on his back. At first I thought he had leapt by his own judgement to safety, but as he landed on his feet and managed to decelerate to halt, it just so happened that we had stopped directly in front of a stand on the side of the road that was selling apples.

Just across the street from us, Eight and Rollnaldo managed to safely stop the merch cart. Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the cart crashed through the sliding glass doors on the front of the palace. There was a momentary pause, followed by the bombs Eight had lit detonating in a fiery explosion.

“Muck that was cool.” Eight gawked at the destruction she had just caused.

“What the pip were you thinking!” Rollnaldo angrily yelled at her.

She put her finger up to his mouth and shushed him. “Our work has just begun, Recruit Number One.” Before Rollnaldo could protest any further, she pulled a potato sack seemingly out of thin air and shoved him into it.

I shook my head at her. “You’ve completely lost it.”

“Enough chitchat, Recruit Number Seventeen. Let’s head in.” Walking over to me, she forcefully grabbed me by the back of the neck with a surprising amount of strength in her hands and started dragging me toward the gaping hole she created in the side of the Kasino King’s Palace.

Looking back and forth at the apple stall and us, Jacky had a conflicted look on his face as to what he should do. “Jacky likes apples?” After a moment of consideration and ignoring the angry shouts of the stand owner, he grabbed an apple in his mouth and proceeded to follow Eight into the building…