NationStates Jolt Archive

King Siroc looked dismally around.

"Metal Bass isn't anywhere... let alone a ten thousand foot megalith..."

The Hippo splashed gently into the water and, against all the laws of physics, floated, apparently enjoying the calm cool of the pellucid water.

"He's tired." King Siroc muttered. "He won't be able to fly for a while though he probably can swim."

"RARR."

"Oh well, maybe not eh Ben?"

"RARR."

"No need to take that tone of voice..."

As the floated around for a while Newsted began to Doze suddenly he fell of Ben's back and landed in the water with a splash,obviously this woke him up! He struggled and managed to get back on the Hippo,then his Stomach rumbled...ah when was the last time we had breakfast?

The hippo floated along dreamily, making the most atrocious snores and jerking it's legs as it chased lions in it's sleep.

"Hey! What's that?" King Siroc said, pointing at a large dark shape on the horizon.

"I don't know..." said Newsted helpfully,squinting,"maybe its land?!?"

"Is Ben ready to fly again? Or swim?"

The flightless hippo woke up and kicked into action on hearing these words and started heading for the land... the dark shore grew bigger as they approached and King Siroc walked onto the grimy black sands of the beach.

"Where are we?" he asked rhetorically.

The flightless hippo fell asleep again and gently floated off down current.

"Poor mite's tuckered out. He'll probably be like that for days, maybe weeks!"

OOC: So! *rubs hands together* what region? Your choice! :wink:

OOC: Hmm....how about the RR?

IC:
Stepping onto the beach Newsteds's feet sunk a few inches into the wet sand. "Well,I guess we should head inland and find out..."

OOC: Sounds good to me!

IC: King Siroc wandered along the beach idly kicking a stone, searching for a path that wasn't utterly covered by the sludgy mud. Suddenly out of the clouds, a huge, a gigantic landmass came hurtling out of nowhere, filling the sky with rock and blocking the light. It smashed down into the ground a few miles from where the two dumbfounded rulers were standing and with an echoing boom settled in, perfectly flat and looking for all the world as if it had always been there.

"What the Hell?! Was that a country!?" King Siroc said, completely amazed. "You can't move countries without those special 'copters unless..."

Realisation dawned.

"Wow you don't see that every day..."Newsted commented. "Maybe we should try to find some food? We haven't eaten for awhile..."

There's a town over there below the horizon, King Siroc said pointing at a grouping of lights to the north. "We should be able to get a meal there... we should be careful though... most of these people will have been rejected for one reason or another..."

"Yeah I suppose...maybe the governemnt is just corrupt though..the actual citezens may be nice...either way lets go..." Newsted began walking towards the lights

King Siroc followed cautiously.

"You know, I was here once and the language of these people... it's quite shocking... probably why so many of them end up here."

The town was big and sprawling like a metal limpet on the barren soils.

"H|!!11" a man called from a window as the two rulers approached. "W00T!1 StR4NG3RS!!!!!1111"

"Lets try to find some out-of-the-way restaurant King Siroc whispered. "These people are strange."

"Well okay..." Newsted whispered back.. "HEY!!! KNOW WHERE WE CAN FIND A GOOD RESTERAUNAT!!!!!!!?????" He then yelled to the man in the window,he then turned back to Siroc and whispered "He can help us find somewhere low profile"

"F1rst L3FT!!1111" the man shouted back and slunk back into his house.

"I think he said first left..." King Siroc said after a few seconds of momentary confusion.

"Let's go, I'm starving. We can try to find a decent map afterwards."

As the turned the corner on the left up ahead they found a dumpy fast food restraunt called" /\/\C<|0/\/0|4dz"

"Hmm...looks...um...intresting.." said Newsted as they approached the door

They entered the restaurant.

A man was shouting at a waiter.

"OMG NOES!!! Th|5 f00d 1s teh w0rst!!1111"

The man stomped out into the street fuming.

"Ookaaaay..." King Siroc said finally.

He sat down a table and gestured for Newsted to sit with him.

"Excuse me! Could I have a large plate of chips and beans please?"

The waiter walked over and looked at Newsted.

"And J00?"

"Oh I'll just have a hamburger and fries..."Newsted said

OOC: mmm nice crappy American food :}

OOC: Double post go bye bye! :P

IC:

"Teh f00d is c0/\/\1/\/G!1 s00n." the waiter said and stalked off.

"Did he just pronounce forward and backward slashes?" the king asked frowning. "Eh, doesn't matter. You ever been to the Rejected Realms Newsted? Rough neighbourhood."

"Yeah I've been here a couple times,it all depends on where you are I guess,some places better than others here...the same in most places I guess"

Newsted put his hand down next to him on the chair but quikly pulled it off when he realized he had put it someones used bubble gum

The waiter entered and placed the meals on the table.

"Coo, that was quick! Thank you!" the king said gratefully. His stomach rumbled to remind him to get on with things.

Newsted grabbed the food and began to shovel it into his mouth,it tasted a little funny but he was far too hungry too care,the only thing he said was "MRsf__SDFMMGHRS"

King Siroc was already finished. "Oh, I so needed that..." he said almost pleasurably. "I wonder if there's an airport anywhere? We wouldn't need to fly by hippo then..."

"Yeah...we could actually sit in a chair....that would be far more comftorble...we should find somewhere we can get a map"

"Hmm..."

The waiter walked over.

"H3R3S teh B1LL!1"

He handed King Siroc a piece of paper.

King Siroc delved into his robe and stopped.

"All my money was in my old robe, the one I lost in Hell... you got anything on you Newsted?"

Newsted looked down at his tattered clothing,scorched,ripped,and soaked..."Well...Do you want to wash or dry?"

"\/\/H3z MY £££?!" the waiter inquired.

"You don't have any money on you right?" King Siroc asked Newsted frowning, "Oh dear..."

OOC: I was talking about washing to dishes to work off the bill


IC:

"No..."

OOC: Ah. :oops:

IC:

"I'm afraid we don't have any money bu-" King Siroc began.

"WTF!!!!111 u dont hav 4ny M0N3Y?!!1"

"No-"

"STFU!!11"

"I think you're getting a bit hysterical here-"

"Yes calm down"Newsted said standing up,"Maybe we can work it off?..."

"OMGLOL!!! U 2 couldnt w0rk 4 sp4re ch4nge!!!!!11111" the waiter said, literally in tears of laughter, "U r g0ing to D|3!! Th4ts teh punshm3nt r0und h3r3!!!!!1"

"What?!" King Siroc cried in disbelief.

"Teh p0lice r aft3r u!!!111" the waiter said, now doubled up.

"Uh... run!" King Siroc shouted and dashed outside.

"Good idea!"

Newsted broke for the door,as suddenly sirens started up

Later in jail.

"I thought it was a taxi OK?!" King Siroc answered irritably as he lay on his rock hard mattress, counting the tiles on the ceiling which was a waste of time really, because there wasn't any.

"What are we going to do? They're going to kill us! Us! Like common criminals!"

"ugh...this sucks...." Newsted paced around the cell searching for a weakness,rattling the bars,knocking on the walls,everything seemed solid.

" I don't know how we can get out of this one...Maybe we have some kind of diplomatic immunity..."

"Maybe! Call for a guard!"

A gaoler looked into the cell and sneered nastily. "i pwnz J00!!!" he smirked and then disappeared.

"Another one preferably..." King Siroc added wryly.

Newsted Looked out throught the bars waiting for the next guard to walk by

"Excuse me can we speak to someone in charge?" He asked.

"OMG!!11 it 5P34ks!!!" the guard sneered. "H3Y B055!!!1111"

A large burly man wandered over to the cell.

"W0t?////"

"Er...You see..." Newsted began nervously "me and my friend here are actually important leaders in other countries,and we can easily make up for the bill if you just let us call home and you know....don't kill us...we can pay a lot more to make up for the trouble..." he looked at the boss hopefully

The man seemed to consider this.

"H0\/\/ /\/\UC|-|??!1/" he asked.

"um...as much as neccescary I suppose..."Newsted said cautiously

"1oooooo." the man said, beaming. "C4s|-|"

"We can get that!" Newsted assured the man,"If you just let us get in contact with our nations,maybe we should just go back and talk to them in person..."

The man sneered nastily.

"im n0t St00pid!" he snarled. "i n33d inShooR4NC3."

He pointed at King Siroc who'd been listening avidly.

"H3 st4ys. u g0. If I dont g3t m00n3y, h3 DIEZ!!!!!11111"

Newsted lookd back at Siroc..."Well I guess that might work,but how will I get back to NuMetal?" he asked the guard

"ILL M4K3 4rrA/\/GEM3/\/TS." the man said and disppeared.

"How far is NuMetal from the Rejected Realms exactly?" King Siroc asked.

Um...You know I'm not really sure,the NS world is so huge... never checked"...

"OK..." the man came back and motioned for Newsted to follow. "W3 G0 BI PL4N3!1" he said and dragged the ruler out roughly. King Siroc got up as if to follow.

"u ST4Y!" the man shouted at him. King Siroc sat down sharply and watched as Newsted was taken out and the door locked.

"Now what?" he thought to himself.

The man dragged Newsted around a corner and out on to the street,he stopped a taxi and shoved Newsted inside. They began heading toward what Newsted guessed was the center of town.

King Siroc wandered around his cell. Somehow he didn't think there was going to be any way he'd come out of it alive... he turned the doorknob in the optimistic hope that it had suddenly stopped working. It hadn't.

He leant against the wall and stared up at the ceiling...

meanwhile...

"\/\/[-]3N \/\/3 G3T t0 teh 4irP0Rt, d0 W0t i s4y." the man said in his low gritty voice to Newsted. He looked like he meant business.

Newsted nodded apprehensivly in response to the man,and began watching out the windows,in the general direction of where they were headed Newsted saw what looked like an old Military transport plane converted to civilian use taking off with an incredibly loud roar,suddenly Newsted began wondering why something big,loud,and polluting like the airport was in the center of the city,it didn't seem to make sense..

The cab stopped and the man pulled Newsted out roughly and frogmarched him towards the plane. "TRY 4NY TR1CK5 4ND U R3GR3T 1T." he growled in the president's ear. There appeared to be a lot of helicopters circling around the 'port dangling gigantic cords with hooks. To say there was a lot was an understatement. There was thousands.

"L00K$ L1K3 W3RE O/\/ teh m0\/3 4G41N." the man said, almost bemused before ordering Newsted into the plane. "W3 G0 N0W." he said.

meanwhile...

King Siroc bent down to study the walls. They appeared to be quite tough. He tapped them a bit.

Tap tap tap.

"Mm-hmm." he said to himself.

Tap tap tap.

He hummed to himself.

tap tap tap.

"Ah hah... someone saved a bit of cash on the mortar then..."

King Siroc gave himself a mental pat on the back and smiled.

As the plane waited for other passangers to board Newsted watched the helicopters through the window with intrest,they began digging the hooks in the ground all over the airport,Newsted was quite fascinated with this,but he was interrupted when the pilot began talking over the loudspeaker "7|-|15 15 y0|_|R (4p741/\/ 5p34|<1/\/G!!111" he said,"w3 4R3 74|<i/\/G 0fF /\/0W!! B|_|kL3 uP!!1!!11" Newsted looked for a seatbelt but found that most of the decrepit planes seats were lacking,so he braced himself against the seat in front of him instead. The prison boss,sitting next to him, somehow falling sleep even as the plane started moving with a jolt and began bumping down the runway. Newsted began to wonder if this plane would even make it into the air when the plane tilted back and began to rise.

King Siroc shoulder-charged into the hollow wall and rebounded. He got up to inspect his work.

One hairline crack.

Well it was a start eh? He was about to charge again when something caught his eye...

He walked up to the tiny barred window of the cell and stared. There was thousands upon thousands of helicopters hovering, each with a cord running to the earth apparently deep-embedded in the soils. He knew what was happening.

"Oh sh-"

The ground shook with a wail as the helicopters began on their slow ascent and shook violently. King Siroc grabbed for a handhold but was too late. The jail broke off it's foundations and the hairline crack in the wall ripped wide apart, as if the stones were merely paper and the king fell through onto the ground outside.

He looked towards the town. Some of the smaller building were collapsing in on themselves.

"Blimey." King Siroc muttered. He remembered that alright. That's what happened when Sirocco was first airlifted from the South Pacific...

OOC: I'm going to take a quick look at the Rejected Realms regional log. Whatever nation last moved out will be where Siroc is. :wink:

12 minutes ago: The Republic of Military Police departed this region for Utopia Politics

This has been an OOC post.

OOC: Ok cool :)


After their steep ascent,the plane was flying somewhat level,if not very smoothly. Newsted looked out his window and watched the entire country being lifted up underneath them,Newsted had never really watched a country being moved before,despite having been in a few of them.Looking down almost all he could see was a huge cloud of helicopters,but off in the distance,just visible was the edge of the country,wobbling up and down on the gigantic hooks.

OOC: Thanks Goober! :wink:

IC:

King Siroc steadied himself as he got up, trying not to vomit as the very land itself swayed slightly. He looked over at the crumbled jail, convicts were fleeing for their lives, but that wasn't what he was interested in. Then he saw it and ran over to pick it up.

The sword the gaolers had taken from him was lying in the dust. He picked it up. Somehow, he now felt as if he had a purpose. He swung it a few times and sheathed it.

"Right then..." he said and looked around. The police were coming to round up the escaping criminals. These ones had a very military look about them...

"PWN HIM!!!!!11111" one shouted, pointing at the King.

King Siroc looked around frantically for an escape.

On the plane,Newsted,was getting tired,in fact he even began to fall asleep on what was looking like it would be a long trip.Suddenly the pilot began speaking again

"w3 4r3 /\/0\/\/ 7r4/\/53rR1/\/g 70 73|-| 07h3r P|_4/\/3!!11" he announced.

The Military Police were all around him and closing in a tight circle. King Siroc drew his sword, gulping in fear. The men didn't have guns, but they did have knives. Very sharp knives. King Siroc walked backwards into a huge coil. It shot upwards, taut in it's grasp of the land.

King Siroc didn't think. He just climbed.

The Prison boss marched Newsted out of the plane into a shuttle bus,which took them back to the large center building of the airport. The man led Newsted to an empty bench in a corner, "y0U 517 h3R3!1" he said(if you can call it that.)Newsted sat down,and the prison boss sat next to him a moment later."wE \/\/417 f0R 73|-| p4/\/3!!1" he yelled in Newsteds ear. Newsted flinched and thought to himself This is going to be a loonnng trip

Climbing the coil turned out to be a lot harder than it looked. It was almost vertical and the shouting of the men below did not soothe the king's nerves. He looked down. A man was climbing up and he had a large dagger in his hand. Siroc redoubled his efforts and pulled himself up the coil. The helicopter was getting ever closer... but so was that sharp, sharp blade below...

After having sat on a bench doing nothing for almost 3 hours,Newsted was getting bored,he glanced over at a piece of paper in the prison boss's hand,it had the information for the next flight written on it,the flight number was 347. In an amazing coincedence,the airport speaker suddenly began(thankfully,wherever they were now people were speaking normally) "Attention! Flight number 347 to NuMetal..."
Newsted stood up
"has been delayed indefinitly due to weather.Have a nice day." Newsted almost sobbed as he sat back down.

King Siroc clambered up into the helicopter and looked around desperately for something to throw down at his persuers. Nothing. The cord he'd climbed was wrapped round and enormous drum which was welded firmly to the floor. There was a large handle on the side of it.

"ive g0t u /\/0W!!!!11" a policeman said climbing up. He threw the knife which embedded itself in the wall next to Siroc's head.

King Siroc screamed and pushed the handle. The drum uncoiled itself...

"\/\/4|< 3 |_|p!!1!111!1" Newsted nearly jumped off the bench when the prison boss suddenly began screaming in his face."OWW!!! Do you have to yell!" Newsted shouted back at the man. "y3S!11 1ts 71/\/\3 70 G0 n()W!!" He yelled and began pushing Newsted, "I'm going I'm going!" The president yelled.

Jim Wertqa, an intelligent, but right now quite horrified, helicopter pilot was watching the drama unfold in front of him. First he'd seen a man in what looked like a green cloak shimmy up a helicopter's Landgrabber Deluxe coil followed by the Eciop and into the 'copter itself. As he reached for the intercom to report to Central Command he saw the coil unwind sending policemen flying. The helicopter had soared upwards and the coil had snapped. He could see it now whiplashing and rebounding into the helicopters around... sending them downwards in fiery streaks. Jim looked upwards at the escaping helicopter with wide eyes. It was behaving very strangely indeed...

Meanwhile...

King Siroc wrestled with the helicopter pilot. "AAHH!!!" he said, unable to think of anything wittier. Then with one hard punch he knocked the man unconscious. Grunting he pulled the man into the back and, without much thought shoved him out of the 'copter. He didn't look down which was just as well because of the messiness the helicopter blades below caused.

"Ugh..." he moaned, massaging his battered ribs and sat in the pilot's chair. He had no idea what the controls were but, no time like the present... he pressed a button in the spirit of investigation.

The prison boss ushered Newsted aboard the plane and to a seat in the back. Sitting down,Newsted was glad of the much nicer plane they were on now. He noticed headphones cliped on to the seat in front of him,he grabbed them and put them on to hear an international news radio station

"The nation "The Republic of Military Police" began moving from the rejected realms to Utopia Politics this morning,but their currently is some sort of trouble occuring while the nation is in flight.Apparantly some escaped convict managed to somehow climb into a landlifter 4000 helicopter and cause a moving cable to snap,destroying several nearby helicopters and killing an unknown number of people. That section of the country is experiencing some resulting tilt but nothing serious yet,the nation is about halfway to its new region,and is currently over the South Pacific. We will update on this as soon as more information is obtained."

Newsted thought deeply for a moment before saying intelligently "hmm"

He than thought some more and finally decided not too mention this to the prison boss.

It seems that Military Police has returned to the RR....I think this will be useful information.

This has been an OOC post.

The button went down with a satisfying click and then nothing happened.

"Hmm-"

BOOM.

The helicopter shot forward and flew into a cloud, blowing black smoke. All sorts of unusual lights were flaring at the king, virtually crying out, "I'll bet you feel like a right baboon now eh?". King Siroc panicked and picked up the intercom.

"Hello?! Can anyone hear me?! I need help!"

The speaker came to life once again in the plane "We are preparing for landing in The Armed Republic of NuMetal,please fasten your seat belts"

*click*

Newsted buckled up and smiled grimly. He had decided what he needed to do.The plane touched down smoothly on the runway and Newsted walked out calmly,followed closely by the suspicous prison boss. He saw a team of airport security guards patrolling and was about to signal to them to help him when he noticed instead a team of his own secret service,he suddenly broke and ran towards them,the prison boss ran after him"570p!!!!! (0/\/\3 B4cK h3r3!!1!1!" Newsted reached the Secret service team,who recognized him and grabbed the prison boss as he approached,restraining him. "Sir! Where have you been? The whole nation has been in an uproar,we thought Siroc had kidnapped you until we found out he was missing too.Even so,some still have their suspicions..." the guard said quickly."Siroc? kidnap me?" Newsted said,"No nothing like that,its an extremly long story,but Siroc is in trouble himself,he is in a nation called Military Police,which is where this guy is from as well," he said,eyeing the prison boss distatefully.

"Er...what should we do with him,by the way?" the guard asked.

"Um...just lock him up somewhere for now,we need to organize a special ops team to go out to Military Police and rescue Siroc,which will be difficult since he is in a helicopter on a nation being flown around...."

King Siroc screamed as the helicopter plunged into the ocean below the rocky mass of Military Police. The Siroccan frantically swam out and trod water, breathing fast, trying to ignore the cold. Blearily he looked around for something to hold on to.

A purple mound bobbed gently a small distance away.

"Ben!" Siroc cried.

"RARR?" the hippo roared, waking up. It stared at Siroc before swimming towards him. King Siroc climbed gratefully on to its back. He stared upwards at the country a it continued its odyssey towards... well to wherever it was going, he didn't really care.

"Ready to fly boy?" Siroc asked the flightless hippo cheerfully, wringing the salty water out of his robe.

"RARR!"

"OK! Lets go!"

He was so ecstatic about being safe that he didn't realise he had no idea where he was.

Two Black Hawk helicopters,modified for increased flight range,loaded with Navey Seals and Newsted took off from the somwhat hippo damaged spoon base in NuMetal,heading towards Military Police.As they flew over NuMetal,,Newsted switched on a radio to the news station: "It appears the escaped convice then flew the helicopter on turbospeed out of the country,sone witnesses say they saw the helicopter crash into the ocean before they moved out of sight of the location...."

*click* Newsted turned off the radio and sighed "This is going to be a bit harder than planned guys..." he turned and shouted to the pilot "Head towards where Military Police would have been 15 minutes ago!"

King Siroc meanwhile was flying far off. King Siroc felt the wind through his hair and felt somehow exhilirated. Now he could go back to Sirocco perhaps...

he vaguely wondered what had happened to Newsted. He'd gone back to NuMetal hadn't he? I'll bet that gaoler's in for a surprise when he comes up against customs...

King Siroc sniggered but cut short when it occured to him that he had no idea where NuMetal was from here...

"Maybe I can get directions from down there eh Ben?" King Siroc said to his hippo as he glided it down to the land below.

The flightless hippo landed outside a large city. There was a sign but it was in a language the king was not familiar with. There was a bird on top of the sign that squawked indigantly at him.

"That's a red-tailed hawk if I'm any judge." Siroc said to the hippo.

"RARR!"

"Yep. Took a course in ornithology you know."

"RARR?"

"Well, I learnt a lot from a book when I had chicken pox."

"RARR!"

"You don't have to take that kind of attitude you know..."

King Siroc wandered into the city.

"Come along Be-" King Siroc turned around. "Ben?"

The hippo was gone.

OOC: 8)

The twin helicopters circled above the empty sea,creating waves across the surface.The pilot of the helicopter Newsted was in turned to him and said "Sir,we can't keep flying around here forever,this guy probably got to land somwhere or we would have found him by now..."


Newsted sighed..."I suppose your right...I guess we should just head to the nearest land and start a ground search,make for the nearest continent."

"Yes sir!" replied the pilot,turning the aircraft around and radioing instructions to the other pilot.

The king walked down a street when he saw a shop which quite clearly said 'Authentic Siroccan Cuisine' below a much bigger sign of the foreign lingo. He sauntered in and sat down, pulled up a menu and looked at the list.

"Waiter, could I have a glass of chocolate champagne please?" he called.

The waiter indicated in a universal way that he had no idea what he was saying.

"Can no one here speak Siroccan?" he asked, quite unnecessarily.

The man shrugged at him and moved off.

King Siroc slumped in his chair and listened in on surounding tables on the off-chance they spoke a language he could understand.

"And n0\/\/ theyve g0n3 b4ck t0 teh RR." a man in helicopter pilot's garb to another pilot. Both had soaking clothes. The silent one spotted him.

"H3y-"

King Siroc ran.

The helicopters suddenly were over land,and very soon after that being hailed on the radio by circling fighter jets "Attention unkown aircraft,your are breaching our airspace,please direct your craft Southeast and land at the small airport,we will continue to direct you to the airport,if you refrain from following the instructions you will be fired upon.This is your only warning!"

The helicopter pilot looked at Newsted...


"You heard the man!" Newsted said apprehensivly,"Do what he said!"

King Siroc ran into a side alley and crouched behind a disused crate. The men dashed past shouting "OMG!!!!111 were is h3?/"

King Siroc realised he'd been holding his breath and relaxed. He breathed quietly and sat down. "What am I going to do?" he said aloud to himself.

He was too much wrapped up in his own misery to know the man who would hit him over the head was even there.

Thunk.

"Oof-"

Blackness.

27 NuMetalian Navy Seals,and Newsted,stood against a wall at the tiny militayr airpor,with their hands behind their heads,and their weapons in a storage locker somewhere,as far as they knew.Newsted was explaining


"No! We are not invading!..."

" I already told you we are just looking for someone!'

"Yes with 27 armed Navy Seals,they are just the best search and rescuers we have!"

King Siroc woke up...

He took in his surroundings. Dark. Quiet. No... there was some noise... and the floor... it was moving...

King Siroc shakily stood to his feet clutching his throbbing head. Where was he?

After a few calls to high ranking NuMetal officials,Newsted was released,and lent a small car,but the Seals were sent back to NuMetal in a plane,the helicopters were impounded awaiting more paperwork.

Newsted drove off not really sure where he was going,on a long deserted country road he pulled over suddenly,remembering something.He took of his left boot and removed the false interior bottom,revealing a small pistol constructed of plastic and loaded with rubber stun bullets so as not to set off metal detectors.Newsted smiled,this should help him if he got in any trouble.He replaced the gun,and checked his other boot to make sure his extra ammuniton was still there.He began driving again and soon reached a small town,he found a hotel and pulled over,as it was getting dark,and checked in for the night.

King Siroc tried the door of the small room he was in. Locked. He hadn't really expected anything else. His sword and sheath had been nicked, but thankfully they'd left his tattered robe. Obviously, these abductors had standards.

There was some light, Siroc realised. He pressed his eye against the keyhole and started back in horror.

He was at sea.

Light shone in the window of the modest hotel room Newsted had stayed in,he woke up on the soft bed and headed downstairs,where(after finishing his continental breakfast of course) got back on the road,about an hour later he reached a city,with a sign in some foreign language.When he reached the sign,he noticed some unusual tracks in front of it.He got out of his car and examined them closely....they appeared to be from...a hippo. Siroc had been here Newsted got back in the car and began heading into town.

"Where are you taking me!" King Siroc roared through the door. "I demand you release me at once!"

There was a sinister chuckling from behind the wooden (and very solid, Siroc mused) frame.

OOC: I'm not using AOLese for convenience's sake.

"We're taking you back to Military Police to stand trial for the murder of over fifty helicopter pilots."

"What?!"

"You heard. We nearly went with them but we escaped and fell in the sea. Lucky to survive we were."

"Aye, that's right." the other voice said.

"Well, I'm very sorr-"

"Sorry, hah!" one of the men spat venomously. "You're going down."

*tag*

OOC: ok, all that 1337 534|< was getting kind of annoying to type anyways

IC:

Newsted flipped on the car radio and heard "Apparantly the escaped convict resposible for the helicopter crashes has been captured,ironically by two of the survivors of the incedent,he is currently on a boat heading to Military Police's new location in"*click* Newsted turned off the radio and sighed,he turned around and began speeding back towards the airport where his Black Hawks were,he had once been in a special ops team and had learned how to pilot,it would still be difficult without a copilot,but he could do it,he just needed to get to that boat in time...

"I'm the king of Sirocco, you know! That's over a billion people, you'll be sorry!"

"And why should they care?"

"Damn you!"

King Siroc slumped back on to the floor. So this was it. He was going to be executed. He was going to -he gulped- die.

Apparently Military Police was back in the Rejected Realms. Like he cared.

He got up and walked around for want of something better to do.

Plod plod plod plod creak plod-

King Siroc took a step back.

creak.

"Ah-ha..."

A guard stationed at the military airport waved cheerfully to an officer whoe dove through before lowering the wooden barrier,when suddenly another car appeared at the top of the hill in front of the gate,this one moveing veryfast,and not looking like it was going to stop. The guard jumped to the side as the car burst throught the gate and kept going,heading straght towards the two NuMetalian black hawks,the guard watched as the man they had arrested earlier,Newsted,jumped out of the car and fired at the watchmen,who doubled up and fell over at the pain of being shot with rubber bullets,which the guard recognized by the distinct sound. Newsted jumped into the helicopter. Meanwhile the guard had grabbed a lever on the wall and pulled it,instantly a loud siren screeched across the base,an alarm. Newsted had just gotten the rotors spinning,he looked out at the sound of the alarm and saw soldiers running towards him,he let off a few rounds at them and grabbed the controls again,the helicopter began rising off the ground when some gunfire hit it,the pistol rounds didn't penetrate the helicopters armor though.Newsted remembered the way to the sea as they had come that way on the way in. He turned the helicopter and was off...

"Hey Jim. The Siroccan's been awfully quiet, 'asn' 'e?" the Miltary Policeman said dealing out the cards on an upturned crate.

"You wanna go and check?"

"No, you go."

"OK."

The man got up and opened the door slightly. He looked inside.

"OMG!! NOES!!!!111"

"What is it?!"

"He's gone! There's a hole in the floor!"

"Come on then! We can't let the boss know we've let him get away!"

They clambered in.

Meanwhile...

King Siroc looked around the corner. The corridor was clear, thank heavens! Swiftly he ran along, looking for some means of escape...

Newsted flew on,frantically searching for a ship,when the Black Hawks radar beeped,showing a new dot on the Screen. Newsted whirled the helicopter around and headed towards it.Soon he was within sight of the ship and began lowering the helicopter till it was almost on top of the ship, and began looking for any activity on the ship.

"There he is!"

King Siroc accelerated in the opposite direction. What was that noise? It sounded like... helicopter blades...

He found a staircase and ran.

Newsted hovered above the ship,when suddenly Siroc burst onto the deck,pursued by two men


Newsted yelled "Siroc! Over heeeree!!!"

Siroc swung his head round and gaped at the sight of Newsted in the helicopter.

"How did you-"

Thunk.

"I got 'im!" one of the men said after roundly smacking the king on the head with a large rifle.

"Jim, there's an 'elicopter!"

Jim looked, rose his gun and shot.

The bullet hit the helicopters control panel,shattering the altometeter(sp.?) and sending some broken glass at Newsted, "DAMN!" He yelled as he un harnessed himself while another bullet flew past.He dove into the back where he was out of shot from the entrances to the helicopter,and glanced over at the helicopters miniguns, damn it,they had taken the ammo! he reached for his gun, which only had a few shots left, and crawled over to the door, peeking through it, he aimed for the man with the rifle, centered the stun gun on his hand and fired

"Ugh!" Jim stumbled backwards and fell overboard with a mighty yell of indigation.

The other man meanwhile, unaware of his companion's plight had disappeared with Siroc's unconscious body to the bridge.

He pressed a button similar to the helicopter's turbo switch that had plunged the king into the sea.

Very similar.

As Newsted watched the ship suddenly shot off like a bullet,leaving Newsted shocked staring at the space where it used to be. He glanced down at the man now struggling in the water and figure hs should probably not let him drown so he tossed down a life boat and radio beacon before climbing back into the cockpit and tearing off in the wake up the ship.

"Jim!" the man called out. No reply.

"OMG NOES!!!11 He's G0n£!" the man screamed. He beat his hands against the ferociously together.

He walked over to King Siroc and kicked him viciously in the ribs.

"Ugh-"

"Don't you ever try to escape again, all right?!" he roared.

"Ugh-"

He gave one more kick and cranked up the turbo a notch, heading in the direction of the Rejected Realms.

Newsted had just gotten within sight of the boat when it sped up,pulling away from him again. Newsted gritted his teeth and attempted to speed up,he glanced down at his instruments(the ones not shattered by a bullet anyways...he was running low on fuel...all he could do was hope he caught the boat by then

King Siroc dragged himself across the floor. By the looks of things, the man was too engrossed in what he was doing to pay any attention to him. He kept looking in a mirror fearfully...

King Siroc shuffled backwards into something sharp.

"Ow!"

Jim heard him, spun round and faced him, a malignant glint in his eye. "Looks like he last beating wasn't tough enough eh?"

He marched over, with a large truncheon raised above his head, aimed to strike the king's head. Siroc felt behind him and grabbed the sharp object and swung it round to deflect the blow. It was his sword! the only thing that had stopped him losing his hand was the sheathe...

He stood up and prepared to duel.

Newsted frowned as the ship suddenly veered of course, soon they were heading in the opposite direction, either this was to throw him off or someone was asleep at the wheel... He glanced nervouslt at his fuel meter....he was almost at the point of no return where he'd not be able to make it back to land...

The policeman charged forward and swung his truncheon. King Siroc held up his sword and the trouncheon bounced off with a sproing noise.

"Hah!" the man spat as he brought the truncheon round in another swing which nearly connected with Siroc's side.

This man's good, Siroc thought as he blocked another attack. He feints, he moves, he ducks...

The King made a stab which was swatted away easily. The battle raged on...

Newsted was now searching through his Worst case scenario Survival handbook ,there didn't seem to be anything on how to survive if your helicopter ran out of fuel over an ocean...then he decided what to do,as the ship took another sharp turn Newsted swung the helicopter in front of it and jumped off onto the ship,the helicopter flew on for about 100 feet before crashing into the sea,sending up a wave which rocked the boat.

"Woah!"

King Siroc tumbled over as the boat rocked over, nearly capsizing. The two duellers landed in a heap in the corner. King Siroc looked desperately around for his sword. Where was it-

Thunk.

King Siroc slipped into peaceful unconsciousness.

The policeman pocketed his truncheon and looked out the window at the sinking helicopter in amazement.

Newsted almost fell of the rocking boat but hung on by the railing at the last moment,then he saw that an open door leading down a set of stairs, since it seemed to be the only place to go, down he went. He found Siroc lying unconscious and a man wearing a uniform standing over him.

The man looked up at Newsted and growled, Newsted reached for his stun gun but it didn't seem to be there...then he realized he had left it in the helicopter which was now sinking into the ocean....he glanced around frantically...Siroc's sword was embedded in the wall near him he grabbed it, "I know how to use this!" he lied.

"Hah!" the man shouted at Newsted. "This joker couldn't beat me and he's quite good... you'll be easy."

He swung his truncheon...

Newsted ducked as the club grazed the top of his head,he then ran back up the stairs and closed and barricaded the door.

"Hmmm that was less complicated then I thought..."


OOC: Is the ships cabin down where Siroc is or somewhere up on deck?

OOC: I'm not sure. :shock: Oh wait, they're on the bridge... that'd be where the captain steers.

IC: The man chuckled, locked the door and went back to the wheel. He wasn't worried. Newsted couldn't get in.

He frowned. Where were they? They'd gone quite off course...

A shore loomed ahead.

"OMFG!!1111" he cried. He wrestled with the wheel but he was too late...

Newsted suddenly realized he'd locked himself out of the bridge....there wasn't much he could do now...suddenly he heard a yell from the bridge and glanced up the ship was heading straight towards land, and on turbo too, he grabbed onto the door handle for dear life as the bottom of the ship began scraping the shallow water...

There was a resounding bang as the boat hit the cliffside. The policeman flew through the windshield on impact.

King Siroc rolled over and hit the other side of the bridge.

He woke up.

"Ugh... why must everyone knock me out...?" he said to himself aloud.

He automatically looked for his sword. It was gone.

"Damn!"

He tried the door. It was locked.

"Double damn!"

Disgruntled he walked to the windshield to see where they were now...

OOC: *rubs hands together* All right? Where now then?

Newsted unbarred the door and walked down next to Siroc "hey what happened to...oh..." Newsted said as he noticed the hole in the winshield

Off in the distance, a insanly loud and fast guitar riff was heard, Newsted stood up and put his hand on his chest(in respect to the national anthem). "What do you know,we have returned to my native lands"

OOC: :o

King Siroc relaxed. "Safe at last!"

meanwhile...

Out of the waters down shore Jim, the much abused helicopter pilot, clambered onto the shore. He'd been in two crashing helicopters now and he was angry.

Newsted grinned,glad to be back home.

"I guess we should find the nearest city, I'm not exactly sure where we are, but if I can get to a phone I can call someone to come pick us up."Newsted said, as they began walking, not noticing that they were being followed.

"Have you got my sword?" King Siroc asked amiably, in between massaging his aching ribs. "I lost it when the ship crashed..."

Jim followed...

"Oh I left it on the ship!" Newsted replied, "I'll go and get it..."

Newsted turned back and ran back on to the ship, finding Siroc's sword next to the door to the bridge,as he came back towards Siroc he could have sworn he heard the bushes rustling....probably just a squirell or something

King Siroc took his sword, and inspected it carefully. Satisfied it was in good order, he sheathed it and a shadow emerged from the shadows, coming at him fast...

" Watch out!" Newsted yelled as the figure rushed out of the bushes,

^24-hour kick^

King Siroc leapt back and stumbled. He went for his sword, the man was mad... and he seemed to possess an enormous strength somehow... he felt a fist hit him hard enough to send him sprawling. "Agh!" the king said in surprise.

Newsted ran behind the man and hit him in the back of the head, which somehow didn't seem to penetrate his enraged adrenaline rush, he did turn around and kick Newsted in the gut, knocking the wind out of him

King Siroc drew his sword and carved a swerving arc in the air towards the man.

"Argh!" the man cried out as he fell to the ground and made distressing small bubbling noises.

King Siroc stood up and pinched his nose in disgust.

"He was strong!" he muttered. "What possessed him to give such power?"

No answers seemed to be forthcoming however.

"Where in Numetal are we exactly?" he queried.

"Somwhere on the Southern cost I think," Newsted replied, trying to figure it out based on which way they had headed into shore...

"I'm not positive exactly where though, if we head inland far enough I'm sure we'll find a town."

"Lead the way!" the king said smiling and fell into step behind the president. Behind them, the body of the Military Policeman disintegrated and with a puff of purple smoke reappeared as the demon that Siroc had first met down in the deepest depths of Hell...

"You can't kill what's already dead!" the demon chuckled to herself. She snapped her fingers and disappeared...

Newstead headed down the road, going away from the beach, whistling idly to himself.. The road was shrouded by forest on both sides, Newsted thought they must be in the rural, southern coast of NuMetal. He also hoped they were near a town since there was quite a bit of empty space around here, Newsted suddenly stopped staring at an odd clawed footprint in the ground....not even one of the now rare NuMetalian dragons, or even giant scorpions, made a foot print like that....he had never seen one like it before

King Siroc knelt down to peer at it.

"What in Hell's name made that? he asked querously.

"I'm not sure..." Newsted said slowly....

"I was thinking I'd never seen it before....but it actually seems vaugly familiar....hmmm"

Suddenly a helicopter flew over head.

"Look!" King Siroc pointed excitedly. "A helicopter! We're saved! Damn, I need a bath!"

The helicopter had unusual marks on the side that the king had never seen before, but hey, this was a foreign land, what do you expect?

Newsted didn't recognize the markings either, but he assumed the helicopter belonged to a corporation or was privatly owned, so he bagan wavinf frantically to get their attention.

The helicopter landed with a soft plodge.

The pilot stared at them down a rifle scope.

"Who are you?" he said.

Um..." Newsted began to t hink quickly, if they told him who they really are he may helpt them, but he may also kidnap them, which was really getting old.....

"I'm...um......Jim Smith....and this is my friend...uh...Fred Greene...."

After maybe a few seconds to catch on (although to Siroc, it seemed like three days somehow), the King said, "Aye, that's right. Freddy by name and Greene by nature." He shuffled a bit and whispered to Newsted, "Who is this guy? He doesn't look like a NuMetallian."

"I don't know...." Newsted whispered back...."We have a pretty diverse population though..."

He turned to the pilot
"Hey could you give us a ride to the nearest city....you know...if it's not out of your way..." Newsted stuttered, staring at the gun, hoping the only reason he had it was because he was paranoid.

The pilot stared at them gently for a while then motioned with his rifle for them to enter the 'copter.

"If you so much as touch the hilt of your sword, you're going to find yourself looking like a cheesegrater mate." he said amiably to the King.

Siroc shoved his hands in his pocket like a guilty child. "Where are you taking us?"

Strangly, the pilot started the loud rotor and ignored the question, although it looked like he had heard Siroc....Newsted was beginning to wonder if they shouldn't have just become hermits in the forest

King Siroc looked down at the green blur that was the forests passing quickly below. "Wait a second... is Sirocco still officially at war with NuMetal? This isn't a Siroccan 'copter but..." he shrugged and sat back. The pilot kept looking at the sky... as if he was afraid of something... the king shrugged again, mentally this time and wondered what was going on back home...

"Uh oh....I suppose we might be, Even though I was trying to help find you and it wasn't exactly a secret, I doubt that the senate has actually un-declared war....takese them awhile to decide things"

Newsted decided then, that if they did get back to Sirocco they shouldn't be too badly off.....after all Siroc was the king

Suddenly there was a jolt and the helicopter began to descend. King Siroc looked out the grubby window to see some sort of military base.

"Get out." the man said, not a flicker of emotion going across that large pallid face.

"Why have you brought us here?" the King asked.

"I said get out. I will not ask a second time."

Siroc sulked as he climbed out.

Newsted began to climb out of the helicopter, grumbling about repeat kidnappings until the pilot grabbed him from behind and gagged and blindfolded him,pulling him off towards some unknown part of the base....

"Hey!" King Siroc shouted. "Where are you taking him?!"

The pilot replied, "He's being taken for questioning. He's been arrested for high treason against NuMetal."

"You're not a NuMetallian!" Siroc said, but hesitantly.

"No, I'm an expat but my whole family's NuMetallian. Now he-" and he motioned angrily towards the receding shape of Newsted, "leaves the country just when he's most needed."

"Why, what's happen-" King Siroc stopped and gaped, staring upwards.

In the air were thousands of flightless hippos.

"It's a raid!" someone screamed from a tower.

The pilot shoved King Siroc with force. "Move, we've got to get out of here!"

King Siroc mused that the pilot didn't appear to know who he was for a second but then a second thought struck him.

"Those weren't NuMetallian helicopters-"

"New design. There's a new boss in town now." the pilot said, almost smiling.

And then he shoved the king roughly into a small cell.

He was trapped.

[OOC- I know it's all a bit much but hey. Does Newsted have any political enemies? Having someone like that in charge could be an interesting plot twist. :P ]

OOC: He does now Erik Mahaney(thank you random name generators)
um...let's see then, backstory: Erick Mahaney was Secretary of State of NuMetal,3rd in line of presidential succescion, following Vice President
Henry Miller took over as President initially following Newsted's dissapearence after the Sirocco-NuMetal peace talks, and at first everyone believed that Newsted had been kidnapped by Sirocco, however, Mahaney, who had become a rival of Newsted, began to undermine Miller, and spread rumors that Newsted had abandoned the country, in an unfortunate coincedence,it was also election year in NuMetal and Miller was replaced by Mahaney.


IC:

Newsted heard a door open and was then thrown roughly into a corner, he heard footsteps than the door slam and lock, he began to wonder who these people could be.

OOC: All riiiiiighhhhht! *complicated guitar riff*

IC: The hippos smashed their way through the base bombing the tanks and soldiers by unloading their... well unloading stuff anyway, and those that were hit by the... deposits... screamed in agony as their flesh began to burn. Siroc looked on horrified. Some flightless hippos were being picked off by gigantic artillery batteries but there were so many...

King Siroc screamed his hippo call... it might work... there was so much noise around that one of his personal hippos may not hear him. Hell, none of them might be here...

As the sounds of pain and death surrounded him, the king fancied he saw a familiar pair of wings flying towards his cell before there was brief flash of brilliant light and then, that old familiar darkness...

Well I needed sleep anyway, he thought as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Newsted was terrified, having no idea what was going on but hearing artillery fire, screaming soldiers,loud plop sounds, and what sounded like a tornado or huge squadron of fighters, and assorted explosions. Then, he heard a loud explosion very close by, and felt the ground under him shaking. He could tell through the blind fold that the door had been blown open, because of the sudden light.He began running, although he wasn't sure if he shouldn't have stayed hidden in the building, after a few minutes though he rand head on into something hard,and fell into it through some opening onto a thinly padded seat.

King Siroc woke up and stared blearily. Two things immediately came to mind. One, he was high up, very high up and two: His head was aching like anything.

He sat up and stared. He was on top of a flightless hippo. Only one could possibly have answered his call, it must be- it was-

"Ben!" he cried happily. "Do you know where Newsted is?"

"RARR."

"Oh well, OK. So where are we?"

"RARR."

"Still in NuMetal eh? That's good maybe we can find Newsted and end the war!"

"RARR?"

"Yes, it's all very complicated."

"RARR."

"Well at least get back to the base. Maybe he's still there, and if not, it'll be a place to track him from."

"RARR."

The hippo flew gracefully southward, purposeful and confident.

OOC: Sorry about the delay

IC:

Newsted managed to get his blind fold off and found that the thing he had ran into was the open door of a humvee, which he had then fallen into, fortunatly no one had yet noticed him missing in the chaos. He also noticed that someone had left the hummer running, he slid into the driver seat and floored the gas, of course, the huge vehicle accelerated pretty slowly, but he was hoping everyone would assume he was another soldier in the battle.

OOC: No problem. :wink:

IC: Eventually, King Siroc arrived at the base. It was completely wrecked. Bodies lay in small clumsy piles, towers were knocked down, buildings had gigantic holes in them. After a brief search, Siroc concluded that Newsted (or his body at least he thought morbidly) was not in the base. Gazing around he spotted tyre tracks leading a trail away to the horizon.

"Let's go Ben."

"RARR."

Newsted sped down an empty creekbed,having no idea where he was going, just trying to get as far away as possible from the base, when suddenly the engine began to sputter, he glanced down and saw he was out of gas....in the middle of a creekbed in a forest....well so much for that he though, getting out of the hummer and walking down the creekbed, hoping he could get out of the forest before nightfall....

King Siroc was serenely gliding along on the hippo when suddenly there was a sputtering. He looked down to see that Ben appeared to be coughing. Slowly the hippo came to a halt in a tree and started sleeping, its snores echoing like rifle shots.

King Siroc muttered something he wouldn't even have said to his own dear mother and climbed off the purple bulk.

The king wasn't acrophobic, you couldn't be when you lived at the top of a 10000 foot megalith like Lancre, but he could still appreciate in that stomach-knotting way, that the ground was very far away. Cursing silently he made his descent.

Newsted was walking along the creek bed when suddenly he heard something that sounded like rifle shots echoing through the forest, he dove behind a tree stump looking around frantically trying to find the source of the sound

"Hey Berta, whassat?"

The figure called Berta looked in the direction her companion had indicated.

"Issa man!" she said.

"Lessee if we can 'ave 'im for dinner yes?"

Berta withdrew a blowpipe and with one plop, King Siroc was snoring before he landed on the ground with a heavy crash. If it hadn't been for the dense foliage he may have broken a few bones.

"You get the one leg and I'll have a shifty on the other."

Newsted began to cautiously make his way towards the source of the loud noises, trying to stay low, he hears voices and peers out cautiously from behind a bush, he sees two people dragging Siroc away through the woods. Newsted swears under his breath and then looks up to see a hippo sleeping in a tree above him. He wonders how long the tree will hold the hippo and than begins following Sirco as he is dragged off

Siroc was dragged into what appeared to be a crude hut, but 'crude' was perhaps a bit too generous. This hovel was more or less what you got when you dumped a lot of logs in a pile and then arranged them in such a way that allowed you access. The king was not aware of this though, and snored as he was slumped on a table by the two NuMetallians.

"Whassin 'iz pockets?" the man asked.

"Ai'm Chikkin'" was Berta's harried reply.

Berta unsheathed the sword and gave it close inspection before tossing it out the window(although, aperture would be a better way of describing it). Her companion was fingering the fine green cloak that Siroc had purloined from Testlandia and was trying it on for size. It was too big, but he seemed pleased.

"The rest o' this stuff iz rubbish." he said disgustedly, a boot following the same fate as the sword. "Ai'm off to catch some fid for the 'morrah. If he cims round, just clog 'im."

The man disappeared.

Newsted watched as Sirocco was dragged into the hovel, and crept quietly toward what looked like an attempt at a window. He peered cautiously through the window, and was hit in the head with the hilt of Siroc's sword as it was thrown from the window. Newsted was knocked on to his back from the force of the throw. He set the sword to the side and stood back up rubbing his head, when suddenly a boot was thrown through the window, knocking him down again. This Newsted bit his tounge, trying not to cry out when the boot hit him. Muttering under his breath about littering laws he decided to just peer through some of the logs making up the....thing.....instead of risking another thrown object. He also noticed that Siroc was almost in reach from the wall...of only he had something to...

Newsted unseathed Siroc's sword and pocked it cautiosly between slats, prodding Siroc in an attempt to wake him....

Everything was a swirl of hallucenogenic colours... his mind was all cloudy and breathing made his lungs feel like pine cones. He could hear voices... one of them appeared to be saying:

"Mwwwammmmbbbennmmummmmmemmm."

King Siroc wasnt certain as to the definition of this and was about to ask why but then frowned mentally. How did he ask things? He used part of his body didn't he? On the face... his nose? King Siroc tried manipulating any muscles he could find there. He sniffed loudly. Hmm. No luck there then.

Suddenly the King felt a gentle prodding in his ribs. But the drugs seemed to dull out the pain a little... and then it came in a rush of angry fiery needles all focussing on his side.

Siroc screamed as he jumped off the table, eyes rolling like juddering albino marbles in their sockets. The colours were attacking him! He had to get away! He scrambled forwards drunkenly until he was hit on the head by a saucepan.

Newsted quickly retracted the sword, watching as Siroc jumpeed up screaming until he was knocked out again by one of the kidnappers.....That could have gone better... he thought. He then sat quietly trying to think of a plan, but when he couldn't come up with anything decided just to knock the hovel down and then pull Siroc out. He found a log that seemed to supporting the delicatly balanced pile of logs, gripped it tightly, and pulled. The log didn't budge. Newsted, frustrated, kicked what appeared to be the sturdy corner of the hovel. The "building" began tremblling, as the looser logs dropped away, and the *CRASH* the entire structure began collapsing.

Berta dumped Siroc's body where it rolled under the table.

"Whassat?!" she cried staring madly as the walls began to shake. With a great shuddering groan, the edifice caved in.

Meanwhile...

The man heard a crash from back in the woods. "Whassa noyz goin' on back there?" he said to himself, no longer caring if he scared any animals. He ran back the way he'd came.

"Berta!"

Newsted began pulling logs of the pile of firewood that used to be a.....more sheltering pile of firewood. He found the now even more unconscious Siroc who had luckily been near the edge of the pile, half carrying half dragging Siroc away from the demolished hovel, Newsted head someone coming lodly through the forest...

The man crashed through the branches and took in the scene within a few seconds. His house was down and Berta was nowhere to be seen.

"Yev got it runnin' for ye now pal." he said rolling back his sleeves. Suddenly he halted. "Hey! Aren't ye s'posed to be dead? You were s'posed to 'ave bin kidnapped by the King of Soroci." He picked his ear noisily. "Or somewhere. President or no', you're goin' down mate."

He advanced on Newsted.

"Er...."Newsted said intelligently, backing away from the man, almost tripping over Siroc in the process...."Maybe we can work this out peacefully...."

The man threw the blowpipe away and roared.

He charged...

Newsted turned and ran, aiming for a tree with branches low enough to climb; He spotted the hummer he had abandoned earlier and began sprinting towards it, hoping to lock himself inside....

The man tripped over Siroc's supine form, but didn't seem to care. He stood back up and saw red; he was furious. This wasn't rational thought, this was bloodlust.

Newsted was running faster than he had ever run before, towards the hummer in the creek bed ahead, but the man behind him seemingly driven by his rage was gaining on him. Newsted tried to speed up, and nearly tripped on a tree branch. With still about 100 yards to the creek bed, Newsted was already runnning short on breath

The man ran like a man with his trousers on fire, his face livid and eyes focussing on the figure running away from him. He was gaining...

Newsted was a few feet from the open door of the hummet(he was used to having a bodyguard close it behind him, so he often forgot to close doors) but the man was now only inches behind him!

Newsted, as he reached the bank of the empty creek bed, jumped down towards the door of the hummer. The man behind him followed suit, outstreched, grasping hands grabbing at Newsteds legs as he dove towards the vehicle. Newsted fell towards the hummer...and *BOOM* hit the hard seat and rolled, but the man was right behind him, Newsted jumped out the opposite door and slammed it shut behind him, then turned and locked it with the key which he had habitually taken from the ignition of the hummer before leaving, he then rushed back to the other door and locked it before the man could escape. Newsted, now feeling rather smug, walked slowly back to retrieve and revive Siroc.

King Siroc was still sprawled across the ground, unconscious and looking like a giant ragdoll.

bump. Come on Newsted, you're taking ages. :wink:

[OOC: Sorry I've been logging one a bit sporadically recently, I've been busy with exams in January and Christmas before that]


Newsted approached Siroc's unconscious form, and wondered how to revive him. He ran back down to the hummer, ignoring the muffled yells from the man locked inside, and pulled of a first aid kit that was strapped to the side of the vehicle. He the took out an emergency water bottle from the kit and emptied it on Siroc's face ( :o )

King Siroc woke up spluttering. His mind felt groggy, the blowdart's effects had not worn off yet. He looked blearily at the misshapen blob that he judged was Newsted's face.

"Help me..."

Newsted wondered what to and began rummaging through the first aid kit, he found some bread-like military food and handed it to Siroc

The king ate it noisily and gathered his bearings. A distant explosion sounded in the distance.

He stood up, a little unsteadily, but his face was resolute.

"We must get to Sirocco and stop the war!" he said. It was meant to be quite a heroic line but it came out sounding like "We musget to... Sirococo 'n' stopthe... thingy... warr..."

He staggered off.

Newsted followed, wondering why they musket Sirocco to stop the thingy, but assuming he would find out soon enough

As Sirocco became more sober to his surroundings, he became more aware of a fact: He was hopelessly lost.

All around was dense forest. Animal noises echoed in the distance.

"Where are we Newsted?" he asked.

"Eh.....somewhere....near....well....um.....I think.....well let's just try and find that stream bed again and go back the way we came" Newsted said cautiosly

The King called for his hippo but no reply came.

"Dammit, the blasted creature is still asleep." King Siroc muttered angrily. The forest was sparser here and where it disappeared completely was an almost vertical cliff face.

"Now what?" he said aloud.

A small man with big eyes crept from out of the undergrowth.

"Wants out of NuMetal it does precious." it smirked in a comical Yoda impression.

Newsted turned to look at the man emerging from the forest, surprised by his sudden apppearance. Newsted somehow felt like the man was familiar to him in some way.

"What do you want?" Newsted questioned

When suddenly....

There was a crashing noise from the forest behind the two rulers and a huge gelatinous amoebic creature sporting a pink bow and some lipstick appeared, buzzing angrily. The small man stared at it in fear and then said, "Oh no! It is She-Blob! Quickly, come with us, precious knows the way..."

And with that it jumped off the cliff.

Newsted shrugged, figuring this wasn't the weirdest thing that had happened yet, and jumped off the cliff(which was hard, jumping off himself....um...oh wait nevermind) as he fell through the air he wondered, did this Gollum guy have all his citezeship papers?

King Siroc hesitated before shrugging and hurtling hinself off the cliff. Plummeting, he reflected on his life. It seemed to short to be fair. He'd just got to the part when he was nine and he'd got a pencil stuck in his nose when he felt a bony arm grab him and drag him into a cavern in the side of the cliff.

"Come with us, you must, show you out of NuMetal we will... preciouss..."

King Siroc looked back at the vertical drop. There was no choice really. He followed the creature into the darkness...

Newsted and Siroc followed the creature into the darkness of the caverns, Newsted wondered which part of NuMetal they were in, since mostly the caverns and wieird creatures were in their related nation Taleth Dirnen....

"um...excuse me sir, could you by any chance tell us where we are?" he asked the creature.

"We are in....the Lost Caverns!" snarled the creature.

"Oh..." Newsted had never heard of such a place, then again that was probably why they were called lost caverns... "Er...how did they get lost exactly?"

"Budget cuts...many cartogrophers had to be let go...very sad...." the creature replied.

"Oh." Newsted said, he had been hoping for a more intresting explanation, ah well.

"Well...that was probably the fault of the previous administration..."

Eventually, after several hours in the gloom, the party saw some light.

"This is a secret passage to Taleth Dirnen..." the creature said, now not so snivelling. It straightened and to King Siroc's horror reached a full foot above the two rulers. "I have shown you the way and now you must pay your debt." There was only authority in this voice. That was a voice that commanded; a voice that only had to ask once or someone would PAY.

It stretched a bony finger in the direction of King Siroc. "Give me this man and you can pass." it grinned evilly. "Decide quickly... I'm hungry."

OOC: Do'h I misspelled my own puppets name it's Talath Dirnen, lol

IC:

Newsted nervously looked at the creature.....

Uhm well....wouldn't you much rather have a gift certificate for an all expenses paid vacation in the East Pacific?

Newsted began edging towards the exit of the tunnel....

The creature moved with astonishing speed, cornering the frightened ruler. King Siroc grabbed his sword and charged...

Newsted tried to distract the creature so Siroc could charge without being noticed, he wondered breifly how to go about this and then decided with the direct approach and kicked the monsted in the shin

As things so often do in these situations, the whole event went slowly before Siroc's eyes: The towering figure leaping up in pain and falling sideways, the way he'd found himself charging at Newsted with a sword, the way he'd wildly swung it to the side to get it out of the way, the way it had stuck in the side of the tunnel and hit him in the face, the way he had then skidded forward into the Numetallian ruler and sent them both flying through the opening to Taleth Dirnen and into space...

"Shi-"

As he plummeted, Siroc noted how amazingly steep the mountain was.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Newsted screamed courageously as him and Siroc fell towards the forest below....

Well this is it thought Newsted, nothing can save us now

Out of nowhere a huge green dragon swooped below them, and they landed on the monsters vast, scaly back with a thump.

Damn it I was wrong agai...oh wait thats a good thing Newsted reminded himself

King Siroc was only used to riding on hippos... not these... lizards... he rolled down the back and grabbed hold of the thick scaly tail with one hand.

"What the Hell's happening? Why'd that dragon catch us? Where are we going?!" King Siroc tried to shout at Newsted, but nothing would come out but "Aggh!" which didn't make him feel much better.

Down below he could see the creature shaking its fist at him like an indigant waiter. "Filthy fat hobbitses!"

"What did he call us?" King Siroc asked.

Well no he didn't, he said "Aggh!"

Newsted latched his arms around a spike on the dragons back and wondered wether the dragon had caught them by accident, and wether it even knew they were on it's back. He then let go of the spike and made his way towards the dragons wing, where he gazed down at the ground spread out below them. He saw forestes, farmland, castles, mountains and lakes, and it looked like they were heading towards a cave in the distance....

The king clambered up behind Newsted.

"Do you know how to steer these things?" he asked.

The cave was a lot closer now. Stalactites and stalagmites slashed across it's opening like viciously sharp teeth of some silicon monster...

Siroc didn't feel happy about this at all.

"Well...." Newsted said, "I can try..."

Newsted crawled towards the dragons head, he grabbed a prominent spike on the reptiles neck and pulled left as hard as he could. The dragon suddenly pulled it's huge wings out in front of it and flapped them forwards and downwards, hovering in the air. The creature roared savagly and shook it's head, causing Newsted to tumble backwards onto the monster's wind. The Dragon the turned it's long neck and glared at Newsted.....

There was a quick jet of flame and - as Siroc looked over the edge of the dragon's massive bulk - a small Newsted-shaped ball of flames was falling towards a lake far below.

"Well, I guess that didn't work then." the king mumbled, mostly because of an internal feeling for narrative. The rest was the part of him still not believing this was happening at all.

The dragon flew into the cave and the darkness engulfed him.

OOC: Sorry 'bout that... :P

Newsted plummeted burning into the (fortunatly) deep lake below.ending up a cloud of steam. Newsted would have screamed or said ow but he thought it wold hurt worse to open his mouth. However after sitting in the refeshingly cool water Newsted let out a sigh...and then realized he had sunk underwater. Newsted struggled to move back to the surface but was caught in a tangle of plants on the bottom of the lake. He passed out soon, sure he would drown....


If he had been awake, he would have seen a tentacle grasp him around the leg and pull him free from the plants and toward the shore....

King Siroc clung tightly to the dragon's back, screaming soundlessly. A stalactite had missed his head by a fraction of an inch earlier, and at eighty miles an hour, that was not to be sniffed at.

A shift in the momentum told the king that the dragon was slowing... it was still pitch black, but he could hear the wings beats becoming fewer and softer... he could feel the subterranean air in his hair... and he could smell... he could smell ashes... brimstone... blood...

He prayed fervently that some celestial hippo might help him out of this mess.

Newsted awoke coughing on the shore. He looked into the sky for Siroc and the dragon but saw no sign of them. He set off towards the base of the mountain, the cave entrance looking down at him like an eye.



OOC: Post damn you server :x

The dragon came to a halt suddenly, throwing King Siroc off its back violently. The king struggled to his feet, adjusting his crépe paper crown worriedly. It was dark and the smell of decaying flesh was distressing his bowels.

The dragon couldn't see any better than he could in the dark and a blast of fire hot enough to smelt iron torched a pile of hay the size of a house. Siroc could now see that he was in a large spacious cavern that only had one exit - the way they'd came. From here it was a pinprick of light, but that had never scared the King. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

He tensed all his muscles and ran. He'd have liked to think of it as being a stealthy manoeuvre out of the place but as far as the dragon was concerned he might as well have been tap dancing on castanets.

The dragon turned and roared...

As Newted made his way up the rocky slope towards the cave, he looked up and noticed an orange glow coming from the cave, the ground suddenly shook with a massive roaring. Newsted grabbed on to a nearby boulder to steady himself. He must be roasting Siroc! Newsted thought, and began climbing as fast as he could.

King Siroc threw himself to the ground as another jet of flame melted the air above him. "Ah no, I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonna- aah!"

It was lucky that he fell down the pothole really. A second later and he'd have been nothing more than a charred outline on the cavern wall.

Newsted was almost at the cave, suddenly a flame shot out of the cave and he heard Siroc's voice echoing in the cave. Then Newsted wondered how he would defeat a dragon anyways....But he didn't think he could wait to think about it so he ran into the cave and yelled "Uh..Hey Dragon! Um... Come over here..." he then ran back out and cowered behind a boulder.

King Siroc landed in an underwater river of some sort. He could tell by the way the water was moving and he congratulated himself on the observation.

There was a light coming from just over there... funny how the river cut off so suddenly... it was as if it had just disappeared...

King Siroc felt a horrible foreboding.

Newsted felt the earth tremble as the huge dragon emerged from the cavern, towering above the landscape. Newsted was terrified that the dragon would spot him at any moment, and when it turned it's head he crawled to the cave and whispered "Siroc?" He didn't hear any response exept a faint echo of hs own voice and the sound of running water. He steeled his nerves and began moving deeper into the cave...

Siroc swam frantically against the water pulling him towards that terrible ledge. The water was freezing and his limbs were going number by the second.

This is it, he thought, I'm going to die, I'll get to meet my goldfish again...

The water pulled him over and he grabbed onto a slippery rock, his feet dangling over the abyss below.

"Help me!" he screamed uselessly.

"It wants help, preciouss..." a voice echoed from within.

"Eep."

Newsted wandered blindly in the cave, fearing that the dragon would return at any moment. Newsted paused, he thought he had just heard something....it was hard to tell though.... he moved towards where he thought the sound had come from, and suddenly he stepped into empty space and fell into the icy water.

The creature came towards the King and proffered its large gnarled hand. "Take our hand, it must, or it will fall to its death it will, preciousss..."

King Siroc screamed at the foul thing. "You'll eat me!"

The man contrived to look hurt. "Eat you? All that before was a joke, wasn't it preciousss... a joke... now TAKE MY HAND!"

King Siroc grabbed the hand and pulled.

Fortunatly for Newsted, he was swept past a part of the river where rocks jutted slighly into the water, he grabbed on to a rock and pulled himself onto a narrow shore of the underground river, and began crawling downstream. He heard shouting and sped up, "Siroc?"

The creature screamed with surprise at suddenly being pulled towards the ledge and leapt backwards. King Siroc had a very tight hold on the creature's arm and was sent hurtling back into the cave.

He hit the ground and rolled.

"Siroc?"

That was Newsted's voice ahead of him!

The king looked behind him and saw the man running towards him with something in his hand...

"My sword! You bastard! You've got my sword!"

When the full meaning of these words hit him, Siroc turned tail and fled.

Siroc ran past Newsted

"What the..." Newsted got out before he noticed the thing running at him with a sword....Newsted followed after Siroc

The two rulers ran crazily through dark passages trying to breathe. But the man seemed to have eyes that were almost lamp-like and followed them step for step. A little light seeped through a canopy of tangled moss above them. They were outside! But the creature was getting closer...

As they ran out into a dense forest Newsted was somewhat relieved, but the creature still followed closley. Newsted glanced back to see if the creature was gaining and tripped on an outstrectched tree-root, falling flat on his face into the mud

Siroc hesitated: he could either face uncertain death by going back to help Newsted or he could run to save his own neck.

In his musings he realised that he'd cleared about fifty metres. He sneaked a glance behind him and saw, like some kind of monstrous man-shaped snake, the creature was following him and had taken no interest in the supine president at all.

"We wants your flesh, doesn't we precious!" it screamed maniacally.

King Siroc ran and ran, but his legs were getting heavier and he prayed for some kind of miracle to happen... he heard a beating of wings above...

The Creature ran over Newsted to continue chasing Siroc.

"Arg" Newsted said, trying to wipe the footprints off his back with a leaf.

Then he ran after the creature and Siroc until suddenly a large blast of air hit him, almost like some sort of unusually large helicopter was above him, but he didn't hear an engine........

The dragon had been following above and now that Siroc was out in the open it could strike.

Everything happened at once.

King Siroc looked upwards and threw himself to the ground. The man leapt towards him, sword held poised to strike. The dragon grabbed at the empty air where Siroc had been and the creature now occupied.

All Siroc heard was a terrible scream. His sword fell and wavered beside his head where it stuck in the earth beside him.

Shaking, he got up and surveyed the skies. The dragon was heading back to the cave with its new prize gripped in its talons.

He picked up his sword and sheathed it. Newsted was some way back. If this was a movie, Siroc thought, I'd say something like "Looks like an old flame," or something.

Panting heavily, he collapsed back on to the ground. On the horizon he could see a flock of flightless hippopotami soaring towards NuMetal. His face tightened with resolve: he needed to return to Sirocco

Newsted ran over to Siroc, and watched the dragon flying off into the distance.


"Well....that was cool. Not to mention good timing."

King Siroc looked at Newsted blearily. Just five minutes ago he'd been hanging over the edge of waterfall facing uncertain death.

"Urgh." he said before shaking his head and smoothing his much abused robe, and reasserting his badly torn crépe paper crown.

"Which way now?" he asked.

Newsted gazed around the forest.....trees in every direction...


"eh...that way..."

He said pointing randomly

The two rulers walked.

The landscape was pleasant: birds were singing in the trees, the grass was a brilliant verdant, the sky was an electric blue and clouds floated past like fluffy white skyboats.

At the crest of a hill, a sharp nip came into the air and a faint squawking could be heard in the distance. Siroc squinted. He could see a small settlement by the ocean.

"There's a harbour down there!" he said to Newsted happily. "Maybe we can get a ride to Sirocco!"

Mugging like a cheshire cat, the king walked down the slope towards the quaint little village.

"Great!" Newsted responded, stepping carefully over a rusty sword blade to follow Siroc, "Maybe we can get some food too....probably fish...."

The village was deserted but for a few peasants who gave them - and the sky - some timid glances.

A small boat floated at the jetty. Next to it was a man who was obviously its owner.

The two rulers advanced upon it and Siroc, ever the keen linguist, struck up a conversation with his limited knowledge of the local tongue.

"Hello, good sir! I would like to hire your banana, er... small device used for peeling turnips... uh... boat, that's it. We are on an urgent mission to a hot dry wind in the Mediterranean, no, Sirocco."

The man looked at him with the calculating look of someone who's met many tourists before and said: "You have a sword. If you destroy the dragon that has been terrorising our village, then I shall take you to Sirocco."

An enormous shadow hovered a few miles away before disappearing.

"You have got to be kidding."* Siroc said.





* He said this in Siroccan, but what the captain [i]heard[i] was "I want to waltz with a jellyfish, green preferably."

Newsted, who actually already knew how to speak many of Talath Dirnen's languages didn't have much trouble understanding the language, he did however, enjoy hearing Siroc's amusing mistakes.

Newsted then turned to th e man and siad "Well....if it comes to that it would be a lot easier to hit you over the head and uh...borrow your boat than it would be to kill the dragon...especially since the dragon is an endangered species......still,what if we give you......" Newsted began searching through his many pockets, "....a tiny umbrella from a drink....2 paperclips....a rubberband....a pen....a guitar pick....and this surveillance photo of your own fine country here?"

The man's face drooped. "That dragon killed my family. If you cannot help, then please at least help me get help."

"Certainly! Certainly!" Siroc interjected hurriedly. "I'm the King of Sirocco, I could send some flightless... revolving lemmings... er... hippopotami to kill it or something. Just get us out of here! We've got a war to stop!"

The man grinned sinisterly.

"Walk this way..."

"Yeah, yeah....we can capture it, we don't want to kill it, its endangered :shock: !" The man led them towards the vessel, although Newsted was a bit worried about that sinister grin, he followed anyways.

The boat was bigger than Siroc had thought. It looked like a galleon but in fact had a powerful motor in the hull. He could hear it humming.

Around them was a large expanse of ocean calm.

"Where are we exactly?" Siroc asked the captain who apparently went by the name of Buy Utopia.

"This is The Pacific, sir. Sirocco is at the other side. But we must be careful not to get carried by the Draqqasit Undercurrent and get carried to-"

A mighty crash sounded and the three intrepids were thrown to the deck. The boat swirled and span before smashing into a coast.

"Don't tell me. We just got carried by the... a game closely resembling draughts and chess...? No, that's not right... Draqqasit Undercurrent, that's right..."

He looked up sharply.

"Didn't we?"

"Indeed, sir... we've run aground on... Francos Spain

*Dramatic music plays: Dun Dun Duunnnnnn*

Newsted glanced around wondering where the music had come from....oh well....

Cautiously approaching the deck railing, Newsted gazed around the landscape they had run aground on.

"Is the ship damaged?" he asked the captain.

"I'm sorry, but it is beyond repair. See the sun, it is descendng quickly, we must move at once and get shelter."

Siroc nodded gloomily. He had heard of Francos Spain. A total dictatorship which ruled with a grip of iron, but kidded on that it was democratic. He'd heard rumours that if you didn't smile all the time when in public you'd be executed for 'spreding panic and alarm'.

He gazed around. The landscape was barren and despondent as far as the eye could see. A crackle of thunder sounded and rain began to fall.

"Well, let's get a move on then... I don't want to stay here long... in Francos Spain.

*Dun Dun Duunnnnnnnn!*

Siroc frowned, shrugged and began tramping through the already sludgy ground...

Newsted followed, sloshing through the more and more muddy ground. Trying to look around through the rain for any shelter.

Maybe we should have stayed at the ship, he thought. No, then we'd have waves crashing on us, he decided. Glancing around again he thought saw a light off in the distance.


"I think I see a light over there!" He said, unfortunatly thunder sounded at the same time and he slipped in the mud.

Getting back up he yelled again...

Siroc stared wildly and indeed there was a light just before the horizon.

"Run for it!" he cried.

He fell into the rising water and, spluttering, got up again.

"Wade for it!"

Siroc stared wildly and indeed there was a light just before the horizon.

"Run for it!" he cried.

He fell into the rising water and, spluttering, got up again.

"Wade for it!"

Newsted began forcing his way through the water, now at knee level, towards the distant light. Lightning shattered the sky and the rain began picking up even more.

As the three drenched men neared the light it became obvious that it was a small village built around a large expanse. This expanse was currently occupied by an enormous bonfire and - Siroc squinted - there were people dancing around it.

A lightning bolt melted an outcrop of rock nearby.

The King screamed and waded on.

The water was at waist level.

Newsted mentally sighed with relief
I think we can make it from here
He took a step, and then tried to take another one, but his leg stuck in the thick mud underneath the swirling waters. He tried to shout for help over the storm, not sure if anyone could hear him.

Siroc swam for it, the captain was close behind him on his left and on his right Newsted was -

He looked around frantically.

Newsted was gone.

The King shrugged off his robe which, he noticed, then sank like a stone. He dived underwater and tried to peer through the depths. There was a bit of water which was darker than the others...

He swam for it and pulled with all his might.

Siroc reached Newsted just he was completly submerged, Newsted came free of the mud with a loud *Shhloop* sort of sound and beagan treading water for a minute as he looked around to remember which direction the light was in. Finally catching sight of it, he began swimming.

Siroc began to follow Newsted, trying to inhale. He felt weak and exhausted. He felt... sleepy...

The king drifted away into the darkness like a ghostly raft... he would have appreciated the dark imagery had he been awake but the scene was spoiled a little by his cavernous snores.

The captain had reached shore and held out his hand to the President.

The Captain helps Newsted out of the water. Newsted turns around and realizes Siroc isn't there.

"What happened to Siroc!? I thought he was following me." Newsted asked the captain, while looking back out for any sign of Siroc.

When Siroc awoke he found himself looking up at a number of concerned faces.

They grinned at him with toothy smiles.

One of the figures leant down to him and spoke to him: "What's up Doc?"

The king focused and screamed.

Newsted realized that there was no way to find Siroc by just looking out at the ocean, and Siroc was resourceful, he had probably gotten back to land somehow. So Newsted and the captain set off towards where they could best remember the light being.(it was daylight now so they couldnt see it if it was even still there)

Siroc leant against a tree and watched the... the things that had amassed together and were talking animatedly whilst chewing on carrots. They were tall, grey and had long donkey-like ears. Occasionally one would look over at him and laugh before turning back to the group.

This place is nuts, Siroc thought. Absolutely mad.

There was a rustle in some bushes nearby and the carrot-eating people ran like as if a gunshot had sounded. One grabbed him, slung him over its shoulder and continued running.

Siroc raised his head to see a small man with a deerstalker hat hefting the most ludicrously gigantic rifle he'd seen in his life. "Dang nabbit!" it screamed after them, until he was out of sight.

Newsted and the captain had been walking for about two hours when Newsted spotted someting up ahead. signalling to the captain to be quiet, they crept up through some trees and watched a short, bald man with a large hat and a shotgun. The man was muttering to himself and putting what looked like a stick of dynamite down a hole. As soon as he had lit the fuse however, the stick of dynamite reappeared from a hole right behind the man. The dynamite exploded, and the man somehow survived, but was burnt and confused in a comical fashion.

"I demand to know what's going on!" Siroc roared helplessly at his captors. "I'm a king you know!"

"Relax doc, you might burst a blood vessel." said the figure nearest him.

"My name is not Doc, and I don't care who you are! Release me!"

The creature waggled its eyebrows conspiratorially at the others and produced an enormous mallet.

"Now I say-"

thunk.

Newsted approached the crisped-hunter,

"What on earth just happened?"



"It's those rabbits dang nabbit!!" The man screamed.


Newsted whispered to the captain: "I'm not sure he's entirely stable...."


Turning back to the man he said: "Well have you seen a man with a sword and a paper crown around here?"


"He was with those rabbits!" the man said.


"Ok, can you help us find them" Newsted asked.

Soon they were on their way.

When Siroc woke up he found himself tied to a metal wall. In front of him were the most bizarre group of creatures he'd ever seen. The group of tall rabbit-men were nowhere to be seen but what he could see was a large black duck that kept on spittng at everyone, a cyote which was chasing what seemed to be a large chicken in small circles. And a large black cat with a red nose. It walked towards him and looked at him.

King Siroc stared back and said, "What's going on?"

"Thuckerin Thuckatash!" it said to him.

"There's no need to be rude-"

"We are flying on a mission to overthrow Franthithco, the evil dictator of Francoth Thpain." *dun dun daaaaah!* "You are going to athitht uth."

Siroc's eyes opened widely.

"We're on a plane?"

"Yeth."

The Captain, Newsted, and the rabbit hunter suddenly froze as a plane roared over they're heads.


"Dag nabbit thats them!" Shouted the rabbit hunter.


Newsted sighed to himself. "Well where do you think they've gone?" He asked the man.


" I don't know, but we can use my airplane to follow them."

The man led them to a large clearing where a VTOL plane with an insignia that looked like a no smoking sign, except with a carrot.

The rabbitmen had returned and their leader, Lugs (named for his extraordinarily long ears apparently), was describing the plan.

"We're going to fly to the dictator's palace, land on the runway at the top, storm it and take control." he said.

"What do you need me for?" Siroc insisted.

The rabbit leaned closer, its eyes as cold and hard as a snowball dipped in cold water.

"You," it said. "Are the only one here apart from Cheepy Tart -" he gestured to a small violently yellow canary. It winked at him. "-who is small enough to get into the vents to get to Francisco and end his reign of terror. Cheepy can't carry a gun."

Siroc stared at him. "You're mad! It'll never work! I won't do it! You can't make me do this!"

"We can and will," the rabbit replied. "Cheepy can't carry a gun, but she can do terrible and unusual things with her beak. If you know what I mean."

The king gulped. But he gulped bravely.

OOC: POST DAMN YOU SERVER POST!!!!!!!! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ahem
this is about my 8th try at least over a few days since I can usually only get 1 try a day, but today I'm not gonna stop submitting this until it gets though
*Punches a whole in the wall* arhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhjggggggggg
:x :cry"

and my original version, which I lost, was much better :cry:


IC:

Newsted, the captain, and the rabbit hunter board the sleek fighter VTOL via a ramp, which closes behind them automatically. The plane roars to life and begins it's vertical ascent. Rotating in the air, the plane lurches forward and upwards in pursuit of the rabbits and their hostage.

Siroc tried to stand up, but found he had been tied securely to a pipe. He struggled helplessly. Suddenly a huge 'ka-bam!' noise echoed throughout the craft.

"We're being attacked!" screamed one of the rabbitmen. "It's Elmo Thud!"

"I've got them wabbits now!" the hunter screamed maniacally, pulling the trigger of the machine gun again.

The plane rocked sideways and the pipe the king had been tied to suddenly snapped releasing boiling water onto the floor. Siroc screamed something obscene and stood up, his hands still tied behind his back.

An entire side of the plane ripped away sucking various characters out into the vacuum. Siroc held for dear life onto the wall and made his way towards the cockpit.

The plane was spiralling towards the ground now, a huge plume of black smoke and the occasional jettisoned rabbit behind it.

Siroc could see a gigantic palace ahead.

"That's Francisco's domain." said Lugs by his ear. He'd survived too. Siroc swore under his breath. He'd have to spend his last seconds with a six foot rabbit.

The plane shot towards the palace. Siroc closed his eyes and prayed silently to the Hippo gods.

The plane soared and then stopped within an inch of hitting the roof. Siroc opened his eyes, bewildered to find himself all still in one piece.

The cockpit controls flashed three words at him.

"Out of fuel."

Siroc fainted.

As soon as the hunter bagan firing the machine guns, Newsted and the captain lept at hi, "What are you doing!?" Newsted yelled, "Siroc is on there!"


"It doesn't matter!" screamed the enraged hunter "He can be a martyr to kill the rabbits!!!!!!!"

Newsted began struggling with the hunter, while the captain slid in front of the controls, finally Newsted grabbed the hunters shotgun and hit him over the head with it, knocking him out.

"Look!" the captain shouted, pointing at the plane suspended in midair.

Newsted looked at, "Wow.....that..is....not......um......wow...." he stuttered

Lugs Bunny, followed by the Cheepy Tart dragged Siroc through a skylight into the palace.

"Wake up, Doc!" he shouted and slapped the king a few times.

"Urgh..." Siroc moaned, clutching his head. Events caught up with him. "We were falling! And then we-"

"Yes. Now you must go into there."

Lugs pointed at a small opening in the floor.

"I don't know which way to go!" Siroc said.

"Find out."

Lugs pushed a gun into Siroc's unresisting arms and pushed.

"Aaaahh..."

Cheepy followed.

Newsted and the ship captain hopped off the plane just in time to see Siroc vanish into a hole. Lugs saw them appraoching and ran over to them.

"Whats up docs?" he asked


"What did you do with Siroc? Why did you kidnap him?" Newsted half yelled


"Kidnap!!?" Said the rabbit, looking shocked "No, he is just helping us out...."


Newsted stared into the disturbingly large eyes of the rabbit, wondering what to do.....

Siroc bounced down the tunnels for a long while swearing as only a King knows how down the way.

Eventually, he came to a stop. He crawled through the cramped ventilation shaft thinking, as soon as I find a way out I am going to just run for it. I don't care about some nutter who dictates over some country I've never heard of...

He sighed and thought of home. Sirocco was by no means a pleasant place, but at least it was somewhere you could walk the streets without being chased by people who want to kill you. Not the more reputable areas anyway-

His concentration broke when he heard a faint clink above him. He looked through the nearest grating just in time to see a bolt fall past. The vent collapsed to the ground with a wail of twisting metal.

"Oh....well if you're sure....HEY LOOK OVER THERE!!!"

Newsted yelled, pointing at the sky, and began sprinting towards the opening, followed by the captain and pursuing rabbit.

Newsted lept into the opening, and the captain followed, the rabbits yells fading away behind them.

Siroc tumbled out of the vent into a large room. In the middle of the large room was a large table. And looking at him from behind the table with one raised eyebrow was a very large man.

"Guards!" Francisco screamed.

King Siroc looked at this gun. With that in his hand he'd last what? Three seconds? People don't hesitate to shoot if they see a gun in your hand.

"I tawt I taw a dictator-"

Siroc chucked the gun at the canary and ran for the closest door. He could hear the footsteps of running guards...

Siroc tumbled out of the vent into a large room. In the middle of the large room was a large table. And looking at him from behind the table with one raised eyebrow was a very large man.

"Guards!" Francisco screamed.

King Siroc looked at this gun. With that in his hand he'd last what? Three seconds? People don't hesitate to shoot if they see a gun in your hand.

"I tawt I taw a dictator-"

Siroc chucked the gun at the canary and ran for the closest door. He could hear the footsteps of running guards...

Following through the vents Newsted and the captain came to a fork in the....uh vent, and began arguing about which way to go. Suddenly the argument was solved when gunshots and shouting shattered the silence, the two began crawling as fast as they could (maybe 1mph). Seeing a light ahead Newsted followed it toward the sound.

A bullet whizzed past Siroc's ear as he whirled round a corner and flung himself behind a wall tapestry. His heart beated a tattoo against his chest as he fought to get his breath back.

The sound of the guards footsteps echoed past, and Siroc peered into the gloom. He wished he'd never come to Francos Spain *Dum dum daahhhh!* and where the Hell was that music coming from?!

Carefully, the king slinked into a sidepassage and ran like the dickens.