King Edward the cannibal was getting hungry. His stomach grumbled. Being stranded in the core of the planet was hard living, he needed his best source of food kept alive for his own protection.

“You think there’s any snacks hidden somewhere in this haunted temple, Snaggy?” he asked his sidekick.

“No I don’t think so” said the clown in the dark.

They had come to the top floor. The knights gathered around looking confused.

“Ok well you lead the way to my teleport pal” said Edward.

“No can do king, we have concluded it’s too old and unstable,” sighed a knight.

“I wasn’t asking you Bobby” said Edward, turning to glance behind.

Snaggy the jester had vanished into the dark on the stairs into thin air.

“Hmmmm..Well I will have to look around here and see if you guys missed anything” said the King.

“Knock yourself out, we will be waiting here for a while seeing as we don’t really have anywhere else safer to go at the moment” said Scrappy the knight.

The King walked through a hallway of many doors. At the rear of the hall one flashed the most crystal adjourned. It was also open. He let himself inside.

There was one machine threatening to overtake it. A giant room-sized thing adjourned the four walls. It had sea creature-like tentacle hoses thrown everywhere, even climbeding into the walls and ceilings. The machine appeared off, but some lights on the large control panels flashed occasionally.

“What the farc is this” said Edward, playing with some of the flashing buttons.

“It’s the mainframe computer for teleporting out of here silly,” said Snaggy.

“Hmmm..” replied Edward.

The jester's face paint had melted into a permanent frown even while he continuously smiled with his newfound fangs. He somersaulted over to the largest control panel. He tapped the buttons without looking at them with his beady eyes. Four little cylinders of crystal clear glass housing what appeared to be nothing but air rose from the floor. The cylinders eventually stopped moving at head height.

“Nobody leaves the core without a little sacrifice first he he” laughed the jester.

He had begun to leave, performing back-flips to the hall.

“Wait a second here I need you to start up the teleportation man” said Edward following his guide in pursuit.

The knights had managed to get a gas stove going, and some of their oily coffee heated. The five remaining each took turns passing, and drinking from the same cup.

“That’s good stuff Bobby,” said Bronco

Scrappy cradled the hot mug of steamy goodness he had just been passed. He gave the bean water a good sniff in order to savor the aroma. Bobby whacked the other knight's shoulder.

“C’mon drink and pass it along while it's still warm. Mooseman hasn’t gotten any yet you fool” he scolded.

"Ooof" said the overweight knight, spilling a single drop on his beard.

"Give it to me it's my turn" said the next knight, a skinny little guy with armor three sizes too large.

"Calm yourself Zito ha ha you who were our janitor not too long ago remember” laughed Scrappy.

"Remember things have changed," said Zito.

Mooseman let out an oversized burp, and passed the cup.

Lurking in the dark of another room was an art statue composed of crystal exoskeleton, sharp thorns, many wires, and magic circuit boards.

“That’s cool, I wish I could take that back with me to my lair” said Edward.

“You don’t want to be around it when it becomes animated” replied Snaggy.

“So anyway what must I do to leave this place.. You must know the answer don’t you?” asked Edward.

“Oh that’s simple.. A life sacrifice is in order he he but you better work fast while you still have enough of them to fill the quota set ha ha” roared the jester rolling out of this room with acrobatics, and laughter.

“Hmmmmmmmmm” said Edward, holding his chin.

His thoughts had almost finished calculating an exit strategy. Meanwhile the knights missed the jester sneaking off to the mainframe with glee.

“So guys, how about we all go check out that machine again together, I think I noticed something changed with it, and I believe it to be our teleportation that you all missed,” announced the king.

The knights groaned in protest.

“You're the technology enthusiast here Bobby, please explain to our king what is in the room that makes it not worth the risk to life or limb” said Scrappy.

“Sure It’s extremely old technology made in a different language than any of us can understand. A dead ancient tongue coded we are dealing with making it very risky software because we can’t hope to understand what we are doing” said the knight taking his self designed, and manufactured cook stove apart, and into his backpack.

“I put our odds of making it back alive at 50/50 each time we use it” he finished.

“I will be the first in line to try it” declared the king.

The knights remained silent for awhile.

“Alright if that's your order sir. Then Bobby do your best to set it up for the king to teleport” said Bronco.

“Gulp if that's what he really wants I guess I have to be the one to get it going' said Bobby, standing.

The party was successfully lured down the hall connecting them to the machine.

They passed an empty room.

Bobby struggled in the back because his coffee mug had screwed on cross thread.

Edward watched him struggle. He had spotted a loose shotgun shell that had rolled out of the knight's bag.

The rusty armor in the room creaked. The first knight inside bent to study a suspicious device inside.

"Hey Bobby what do you think about this development" said Scrappy.

"The computer has changed. I've never seen cylinders connected to a machine before" said Bronco upon entering.

The king walked in next with Zito, and Mooseman trailing him.

"Hey wait, wasn't there a statue in this room that has now gone missing" said Bobby.

He was alone out in the hall, looking into another opened door. He heard something lurking. It sounded like an exoskeleton clacking together behind him. Bobby swung around facing the animated statue of an animated mantis. The entire terror overtaken him was transparent.

"Agggg" was Bobby's dying breath stabbed by raptorial legs.

The crystal exoskeleton began to fill with the shroud of the knight's dying inner being. His flower power being taken.

"What's that outside it sounds like someone is getting stabbed" said Scrappy.

"Well go out there and find out," said Edward.

The remaining knights went out to the hall. There they found a trail of blood where the body was dragged off.

"Bobby.. Noooo he's gone" sobbed Scrappy, throwing up his arms in despair.

Mooseman ran to give him a hug of encouragement.

"That makes only five of us left surviving," said Bronco.

Alone inside the mainframe a little hand pulled on Edwards pant leg.

"That means you can't afford to lose another man until they are in the sacrifice zone, if you ever want to teleport out of here" whispered Snaggy.

"Hmmm" said Edward looking to see nothing where he expected to see the jester.

The knights drew their weapons and backed into what they thought was an empty room. In the corner of the room the mantis was eating. The body it held no longer had a head on its shoulders.

"Bang, Bang!"

The knights shot at the mantis. One shot hit, and one missed. They stormed from that room. In the hallway the door with the most crystals housing the machine was calling. They all ran back to safety.

"Let's break this machinery down and use it as a barricade for the door," said Scrappy.

Zito was still in the background double checking the thick bolt was keeping away the killer mantis.The door continued to thrash. Edward got between Scrappy and the computer parts he wanted.

"Please remove yourself from hampering us" yelled Bronco.

"I am your king and you will stand down at once, you fools promised me a teleport out of this place using this device so make haste" said Edward.

"Well our technician has recently been killed so what buttons you suggest we hit" yelled Bronco.

"Everyone go stand by those cylinders in the floor and we will brainstorm a course of action go go go" said Edward.

"Yes sir" said two knights going to their positions.

Two knights remained next to the king standing in the circle painted in the room's middle. .

"Well?" asked the King.

"Why don't we debate things right here as a committee of equals?" said Scrappy.

"Yes we are all equally stuck down here in the mad mad core" added Bronco.

"C'mon do what the king says and get to your places" said Zito.

"That's right when in doubt, obey the crown" added Mooseman.

“A sensible man” said Zito, checking his revolver.

“Alright fine” said Scrappy, throwing up his arms in surrender.

Bronco remained still in defense.

“On every ship there are always some rats that try to sabotage you in rough waters” said the King.

“I thought you just pretended to be a sailor come bath time” taunted Bronco.

King Edward was stunned into silence.

“Guess you ain’t worth any more than us down here buddy remember that, from now on we will work as a committee with equal voices” said Scrappy, reemerging into the debate.

“We have our hierarchies for a reason, and they long ago decided for us that I am the one who controls you” said the King.

“What are you going to do about us not following orders then?” said Bronco.

Edward smiled, then he struck the knight fast. Scrappy threw up his sword to block the second, and third strikes. He had momentarily repelled the king's rapidly crystallizing stump. Bronco struggled to his feet from where he had been knocked behind. Mooseman, and Zito were still figuring out what to do.

Scrappy blocked another blow, and Edward reached into his coat with his hand. In the background Bronco found himself pinned by two knights. He kicked on the floor where they had tackled him.The King took out the weapon he had hidden after the van driver had exploded. It was an extremely charred, and battle scarred shotgun from the other knight caught in the blast. Scrappy was dead set on unsticking his sword from where it was lodged into scaled hide.

“Here goes nothing” said Edward.

“Bang!”

Scrappy fell backwards, a red cloud splattering behind him first. The knight's body smacked the bland tile, and made the last struggles of breath. Slow, listless rock music began to emit from the machine. The cylinder closest to his body began to take the color green. Everyone stood still and looked as it was filled to the brim. After the process the cylinder was automatically sucked into the floor where the blood pooled.