CHAPTER XVI: The Mole Mines
Since the traffic through the Dusty Dunes Desert was still clogged, the three friends had to walk back to the Goldigger household. The small hole from which Simon had appeared was already a huge excavation site. There were people gathered around the edges of the huge hole. At the bottom of the hole was a cave. After a little bit of inquiring, they found that Simon was at the bottom. They entered.
Their friend wasn't very far in. In fact, he was right at the entrance. They stopped and talked with him.
"What's going on, Simon?" Ness asked. "Your excavation is all over the papers."
Simon sighed. "Yeah," He grumbled. "I started digging, and was doing fine until I came upon this--a natural maze. And that ain't the half of it. There's a bunch of giant talking moles! Five of 'em, and they're keeping me from digging!"
Jeff pulled his Laser from his coat. "I say, let's go. It might give us a clue as to where to go next."
The trio went deeper into the cave. As they finally left the last shreds of sunlight that streamed in from the entrance, Ness stopped. An enormous impact had just struck his mind.
"Guys! Be careful!" he whispered harshly.
Paula also looked a little pale.
"What is it, guys?" Jeff asked, looking around.
"Giygas' influence," Ness mumbled, a light ball appearing above his head. "It's everywhere."
"We'll have to be careful here," Paula said to herself.
They were a short way into the cave, when a large, raspy voice rippled to their ears.
"Fools!" It wailed. "How dare you invade the Guardian Diggers' turf?"
A Mole, not much bigger than Ness, and looking like a darker-colored version of the Mondo Mole Guardian, waddled out.
"I am the third strongest master of this hole!" The Mole squeaked at them. "Feel my awesome wrath, as I rip you to shr-"
"PSI Rockin'," Ness didn't even bother to waste energy with Rockin' Beta. The Mole vanished in a flash of fire and fur.
"I think he was the weakest," Jeff said. "Unless there are only three Moles instead of five, I wouldn't believe he was third."
They kept walking. The dank cave was suffocating. Eventually, another Mole attacked.
"I am the true third strongest master of this hole!" It wailed. "You will perish by my claws!"
"PSI Thunder," Paula mumbled.
It vanished.
In fact, none of the Moles were very powerful fighters. Except the last one. It was big, at least three times as large as Ness was.
Ness armed himself. "Let me guess," He shouted up at it. "You're the strongest master of the hole!"
"NO!" It boomed. "I AM THE--"
"Third strongest," Paula mumbled. "Let's just get this over with!"
"FINE!" It roared, sending it's hugely powerful claws straight for Ness. He held up his bat, bracing himself. The impact of claw and bat was huge. Ness' feet slid back about five inches as he strained his muscles against those of the Guardian Digger.
Paula leapt as high as she could. "PSI FREEZE BETA!"
A chill wind swept around the huge mole, encasing it in a large block of ice. Ness wrenched his bat away from the frozen claws, and stepped back warily. Jeff aimed his laser carefully, and waited.
"FOOLS!" The voice boomed, as the giant ice block shattered, sending huge chunks of frozen water across the cave. "YOU CANNOT FREEZE ME!!!!"
Jeff fired right between the eyes. The Guardian Digger staggered back. Ness hurled himself upward, landing on the top of the mole's head. He clubbed where the shots of Jeff's laser were hitting. Paula ran up, and hit the mole in it's great knees with her Fry Pan, over and over again.
"OW!" It wailed. "OWIEEE! OOF! MOM-EEEEEEEE!"
With one final blow from Ness' bat, the Guardian Digger fled screaming into the depths of the cave, never to show it's face to the world again.
"Wow! You guys did it!" Simon greeted them as they exited the cave. "I heard the whole thing! That Mole was crying so hard! Did I really hear it calling for it's mommy?"
Ness smirked. "Yeah," He exclaimed. "You sure did!"
"We really showed him," said Jeff. "Didn't we, guys?"
"Darn right, we did!" Paula declared exuberantly.
"I'd better get back to digging'," Simon told them. "I'll reward you guys handsomely if I find enough gold!"
The reward was...
"GREAT MOTHER OF THE KING MONKEY!" Ness nearly screamed, looking at the huge diamond cupped in his hands. "This thing is huge! It must weigh at least fifteen pounds!"
The fragmented light shining through the hunk of ice was dazzling. It struck Paula in the face, placing rainbows across her eyes.
"Wow," She mumbled, bewitched. "It's gorgeous..."
"I've already appraised it," Jeff told them. "It's worth about a million dollars. I'll bet it...wait..."
"A million...?" Ness began.
"Dollars...?" Paula finished.
Paula: "With that kind of money..."
Jeff: "Anything is possible..."
Ness: "Time to pay 'em off..."
And, in unison: "TO THE TOPOLLA THEATER!"
They took the bus to Fourside. While they had been in the mole mine, the traffic congestion had cleared significantly. They got off at the Topolla Theater, and ran inside. They paid for tickets, and ran into the manager's office.
The Manager was a snobbish lady, with hair that was obviously a wig. Ness screeched to a halt at her desk.
"Excuse me," He panted. "But how much are the Runaway Five in debt for?"
She sniffed indignantly. "One MILLION dollars, kid," She said in a high, nasal voice. "Not that you should care. Nobody in the city could pay that kind of..."
>SLAM!<
The enormous diamond was on the table.
The Manager looked surprised and dubious at the same time. She carefully looked over the diamond.
After what seemed like eternity, she leaned back.
"You should thank me," She squeaked. "This diamond could be worth maybe...MAYBE...$50. But, since I'm an enterprising lady, here's the contract."
She handed Ness a long contract, signed with the Runaway Five's signatures.
The trio ran backstage, and showed the band. On the way out, they heard the Manager tap her foot, and sing "I made lots of mo-ney!"
"Great jumpin' cow pie!" Elwood exclaimed when Paula tore the contract in half right before their very eyes. "How did you ever get one million smackers?!"
Ness laughed, roughly patting him on the back. "Well, there were these Moles, and..."
"Nevermind," Jake cut in. "I know that whatever you kids were doin' must have been really complicated, so we'll just let you save your breath."
They departed, and sat, leaning against the Hunk 'o' Junk out in the vacant lot behind the Topolla Theater. Ness and his friends re-told their tales to the startled band, who now learned of their friends' psychic powers.
"Is that really true?" Burlap asked after Ness had explained.
"Watch," He laughed, and promptly levitated a sizeable rock that lay in the dirt.
They were amazed.
When the group was finished catching up on things, it was almost dark. Jim stretched, and turned to the three teens.
"You kids might wanna check out the Grand Department Store tomorrow," He said languidly, yawning. "There's some kind of grand re-opening sale. You should stock up on supplies."
"He's right, Ness," Jeff agreed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "We are running a bit low. It's been awhile since we last filled up."
"I agree," Paula piped in. "We need more supplies."
Ness nodded. "Okay, okay," He laughed. "We'll go. Break out your sleeping bags, guys. We're sleepin' here tonight!"