NationStates Jolt Archive

Newsted jumped out of the vent followed by the captain, and ran towards the nearest hallway, he then saw a closed door and ran through it, anywhere to avoid the bullets., the captain followed behind him, and he slammed shut the the door. Turning around he saw a group of people staring at him underneath a sign "National Orchestra".

"Hmmm.....Well that explains that...."

Siroc looked round a corner cautiously. The front door of the palace was there open wide and letting the sunlight in. Siroc was practised in his experience of escaping from highly guarded places though. Front doors to palaces have guards. Big ones probably. What he really needed was a little old laundry lady with a gigantic basket which he could conceal himself in. He looked around. it looked like narrative law was not going to work with him this time.

Carefully, he sauntered down a corridor looking for an exit.

Newsted, after warping time and space to extend one minute into ten days, begin jogging quietly through the hallways. Hearng someone approaching from the other direction, Newsted his behind a thick column

Siroc wished he had his cloak. His once-ample belly had been worn away from the constant running from things which had been happening recently. Having it revealed did him no good, and it was cold. Suddenly a figure sprang from behind a pole...

Meanwhile...

The captain stared at the swirling time vortex that Newsted had disappeared into.

"Bugger that." he said walking off.

Newsted, attempting to hide behind the pole, managed to trip out and crash into the onrushing figure
"arghugh" he yelled intelligently.

"Newsted!" the King said, looking at the bedraggled figure in front of him. "You're alive!"

The clutter that accompanies guards running very fast echoed nearby.

"In here!" Siroc whispered, pushing the president through a door and following.

Newsted stumbled through the door, into a dimly lit room. On the opposite side of the room, was a tall backed chair turned away from the door, behind a massive desk.

The room was big, airy and a few filing cabinets were standing in the corner like grey soldiers. Despite the fact that the palace was in the countryside and Siroc was sure that they were on the ground floor, there appeared to be skyscrapers blocking the horizon through the window that covered all of one wall from behind the desk.

"I've been expecting you," said a voice from the chair, still not turning 'round.

"Sit."

Feeling oddly compelled, Newsted sat down, staring expectantly at the back of the chair.

Siroc's knees sagged at the word and he found himself in a comfy leather-padded chair.

The swivel-chair turned and a man with a fluffy white cat on his lap stared at them.

"I..." he said. "Am Franciscio, ruler of Francos Spain. *dun dah DAH!!!!*

Siroc furrowed his brow. "But we saw-"

"A decoy."

Siroc shuffled in his seat. "Oh."

"But I really can't have you running around my palace like this, I've got a whole bunch of endorsement-swapping and mass-ejecting to do."

"Mass-ejecting? I'm not listening to this dirty talk-"

The man pulled a lever by his side and watched gravely as the floor underneath the two leaders' chairs flipped upside down. After a while it flipped up again. Newsted was gone, but Siroc was hanging on to the chair like a limpet.

"You bugger-" he started before finding himself flailing once more into the darkness below...

"AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!"


Newsted screamed....then he realized he had only fallen about 6 feet into a pile of dusty mattresses and had only been falling for a few seconds.


Hm.


Looking up he alternatly saw Siroc and the bottom of a trap door

Siroc stood up and stared around the chamber. It was dark. It was gloomy. And it smelled bad.

A small door was at one end. King Siroc opened it, having seen no alternative and stepped out into a busy city...

OOC: Where now then? :)

[OOC: No idea....]

Stepping out into the street, Newsted lept back as a bus flew past. Literally.
The city was filled with strange futuristic things. Like flying cars, robot slaves that would probably rebel one day, and of course, skateboarding dogs.






[OOC: Somewhere futuristic perhaps :) ]

Siroc gave a jump as a monkey the size of a skyscraper ambled past.

"That's King Kong!" he said quite unnecessarily. "This place is weird." He peered down at his watch (waterproof, of course or it would have clocked it (pardon the pun) ages ago) to see the hands spinning like a fan.

"We're in The Future (http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/30102/page=display_region/region=the_future)..." he said in awe.

Then with an air of quiet determination he said, "Right then, let's find a way out of here - we need to get back to Sirocco. Hopefully it's only this region that's in the future..."

Newsted began walking cautiously down the street, as a strange varity of people went past, although the people all looked at him like he was strange. He saw something that looked like a bus station suspened 16 feet in midair, with a ladder down to the street level, and headed towards it.

Siroc followed shivering - no matter how he tried to hide it, he was still a man half-naked with a crown and sword. Someone threw him some money, apparently convinced he was street theatre.

Siroc climbed up after Newsted.

Reaching the platform, Newsted began trying to deciper what he hoped was a map on the rail of the platform. He heard a loud humming and saw a large flying cylinder descending towards the platform....

Siroc, not being of the cautious nature, stepped on to the platform interestedly.

"What a fascinating object," he said. "I wonder what this lever thing does-"

"Hmm," Newsted said, after much thought. Only one way to find out.

An alarm suddenly buzzed angrily at the two rulers, and a man appeared waving his arms and shouting.

"What are you sayi-" Siroc started, but was almost instantly cut off by the cylinder shooting into the air taking him with it.

As the cylinder shot off, Newsted, standing a few inches away, was knocked backwards, the other man who had appeard was also knocked backwards. Newsted heard a siren in the distance....

Sirocco clung round the cylinder, looking like a man stuck to a ballistic chimney.

"Aargh!" he said.

He looked behind him to see what was probably policemen following him seated on cylinders of their own. They had a blue flashing light attached to them. The head policeman cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, "Pull over!"

"I don't have one!" Siroc screamed back.

He looked forward again, just in time to see the wall.

Newsted stared at the chase trying to watch what happened but was distracted by the other man rushing over to him.
"What have you done!" he screamed in Newsteds face, "You've ruined the whole...." the man looked away, Newsted, following his gaze saw more uniformed men running towards him, the strange man shoved him towards the men and sprinted in the oppostite direction....

Newsted stared at the chase trying to watch what happened but was distracted by the other man rushing over to him.
"What have you done!" he screamed in Newsteds face, "You've ruined the whole...." the man looked away, Newsted, following his gaze saw more uniformed men running towards him, the strange man shoved him towards the men and sprinted in the oppostite direction....

OOC: God, I forgot all about this. :shock:

IC: Siroc, unconscious, whirled in a lazy downward spiral and towards the fleeing Newsted. The cylinder skittered across the ground and suddenly burst into life again, scooping Newsted up and shooting into the air.

Newsted looked off the cylinder as they shot through the city and saw the un-uniformed man had been caught and arrested. Newsted looked towardds the front of the cylinder and pressed a button....
"I wonder what turns on the radio"

King Siroc woke up to see the scenery distort as the cylinder blasted into space. A glass-like sphere, about the size of a warehouse appeared out of nowhere around the shuttle, presumably to prevent unfortunate things like death happening to the occupants.

Siroc slumped to the bottom of the bubble and looked out at the limitless reaches of darkness.

"What the Hell happened there?!" he asked Newsted, turning round.

And that's when what Siroc would have referred to as a bloody great big spaceship-carrier thingy or something (http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/79055/page=display_region/region=spaceport) swallowed them.

Newsted looked around in confusion as their ...uh...space bubble thing entered the dimly lit hanger, and gravity reversed as centrifugal force...or whatever....took effect.

"Maybe one of these is the reverse button...." Newsted said nervously, pulling a lever.

A pleasent voice spoke from the contol panel:

"Communications system activated....please insert 3 Space Credits before dialing."


Newsted sighed and kicked the controls.

Suddenly the lights went red and a klaxon started wailing.

"INTRUDERS ON LEVEL SIX-AND-A-HALF!" an electronic voice screamed through some speakers nearby.

As space credits flapped out of the damaged slots, Siroc spotted an open door at the left-hand side of the room.

"Run for it!" he cried.

Newsted sighed and ran after Siroc, slipping on Space Credits until he got away from the ship, as they ran Newsted noticed some sort of robots heading towards them from across the wide hanger.

Siroc drew his sword and charged, trying to look heroic.

"CHAAAAARGE-"

The robots pulled out some very high-tech looking guns.

"- THE OTHER WAY!"

Siroc dragged Newsted into a side corrider just as the lasers went past making dangerous "woosh" noises.

Newsted followed Siroc through the hallway, and into a room filled with tall rows of computers. Newsted slowed down and looked at a row of switches under a glass casing marked "Emergency Shutdown"

"Hmmm"

Newsted tried opening the case, but it seemed latched, so he picked up a fire extinguisher looking thing and struck the casing, breaking a hole in it. Newsted suddenly heard metallic footsteps and ran, hitting a few switches randomly as he did.

Suddenly, as Newsted jumped over the shatter glass, he didn't come back down.
A voice announced through speakers somewhere in the room
"Gravity Generator is now being shut down."

OOC: I've been looking for this for aaaaaages.

IC:

King Siroc felt the peculiar weightless feeling as his feet left the floor. He looked behind to see several security guards gripping a railing and pulling themselves meaningfully towards the two rulers. Panicking, Siroc pulled himself through the door where Newsted had disappeared and shut it behind him.

Siroc looked around. They were in a huge hangar of some sort. There was a spacecraft in the centre with some steps leading up towards it.

Siroc drifted towards it. He could feel in his bones that this would be where he ended up anyhow.

Newsted began floating towards the entrance of the spaceship as well, when a strang hissing noise caused him to glance back toward the door they had entered through. A bright red line of molten metal was being traced along the outline of the door, they were cutting it open! Newsted began frantically trying to swim his way towards the spacecraft.

Siroc looked around the inside of the craft: it was small, cramped, and uncomfortable. The furry dice that someone had hung up in the cockpit had not succeeded in cheering up the place.

Siroc pulled himself into the pilot's seat and buckled himself in.

"See if there's some kind of gun to shoot those soldiers or something!" he screamed as he stared at the control pad in dull incomprehension.

He pressed a button.

Newsted stared blankly at the controls as Siroc pressed the button. Nothing seemed to happen. Newsted looked up at the door to the hanger as it fell in and the security forces ran into the hanger...and right past the ship. They looked around frantically and then ran through a door on the other side of the hanger. Newsted looked around frantically, wondering how they could have missed them and failed to look in the ship. He opened the door carefully and got out, turned around and stared at the other side of the hanger. The ship was invisible! Feeling for the door he hopped back into the ship.

"I think you hit the cloaking sheild!"

He then pressed a button.

Siroc felt as if every atom of his body was trying to pull off in different directions. With a dreadful lurch, the ship hovered into the air and blasted forward to a slowly opening portal into space.

Newsted was pressed back against his seat as the ship accelerated out into space, the spacestation dissapearing into the mass of distant stars behind them. Newsted looked ahead, wondering where they were heading.

OOC: in 10 days this thread will be a year old. :eek:

IC: Siroc looked out the window. It was black. He looked outside a portal. It was also black, as black as black is wont to be. King Siroc pressed his hands against his head and said "I'm going to look and see if there's any food. And then I'm going to bed."

Siroc slouched off, hunter-gatherer to the last.

[OOC: Wow! :o And looking back, I realize...well that my spelling was even Worse a year ago! ]

Newsted sighed and leaned back, looking out at the black void. This became boring pretty quickly, and Newsted began searching around the ships control panels, until he found a huge book, opening it up he began to read:

Congratulations on your purchase of the New TX hyper llama 4000....


"Hmm...I wonder if this thing has any games...."

King Siroc meanwhile was looking at a small hollow in the wall. There were a wide variety of buttons underneath, all shapes and colours. Levers were stacked like a forest and there were vast multitudes of dials and gauges to fill up whatever space was left. A little notice said "Food Depot".

King Siroc, being the cautious one he was, pulled a lever at random (a long green one which glowed faintly). There was a pop and a crackle, and a small cupcake appeared in the hollow.

"Hey, Newsted! I just found out how to get food!" Siroc called back into the lonely corridors.

Siroc wandered around until he found a hammock. Chewing on the last of his cupcake (which bizarrely enough tasted like brambles) he rested and was soon asleep.

Newsted was absorbed in the ships manual, reading nervously about the dangers of space travel. He had managed to get a small map displayed on a screen, which showed the overall course the ship had been taking, and an arrow pointing to what Newsted decided was a planet. Newstead yawned and leaned forward, putting his arms on the console. As he did this, he mistakenly hit a switch, and the lights in the ship dimmed, a loud siren began sounding, and an urgent voice speaking an alien language yelled over the noise.

"Oops." Newsted said.

Siroc awoke to hear a strange whooping noise coming out of the speakers. Lights were flashing red in an alarming manner and the whole ship seemed to be rocking from side-to-side.

"Argh!" said King Siroc. It was comforting to know that his voice was still working amidst this chaos so he said it again. "Argh!"

King Siroc stumbled into the cockpit to find Newsted looking forlornly at a steering wheel which was no longer attached to the ship.

King Siroc stared at Newsted. Then the steering wheel. Then the planet which was visibly getting larger on the screen. The he looked at Newsted again and opened his mouth.

"Argh!"

Newsted looked around frantically, and began pressing random buttons on the control panel, nothing seemed to be working however. It looked they were going to crash land on whatever planet was up ahead. He turned to Siroc and nodded in agreement to "Argh."

Venus (http://www.nationstates.net/cgi-bin/index.cgi/08477/page=display_region/region=venus) was a lively planet and the inhabitants had, in their time, seen many crashes of spaceships from a result of space battles, piracy, or sheer stupidity. This crash, they had all agreed though, was quite impressive. The ship had soared through the sky and bounced right into a hanging valley and then fallen from that into another valley before rolling out of that into a canyon, and then down a river, and then off a gigantic cliff into a crater where it had exploded with an exciting 'whoosh!' noise. Some of the locals had clapped.

They had been quite happy to accept the two men who had staggered out of the flaming wreckage of what now looked like a crumpled sardine can into their homes. Anyone who could survive that kind of crash desrved a hero's welcome.

Newsted opened his eyes, staring up into the faces of several strange creatures.

Sittting up he asked, "Where am I?"

"You're in the Venus planetary hospital ..." one of the things responded, "You've been in a coma for months."


"Ah....we crashed I guess then?"


"Well..yeah...but thats not what caused the coma."


"Really? What was it then?"


"Uh.. you see....we were carrying you off to go celebrate your survival, when we hit your head against a lamp post."

'"Oh..."

Newsted glanced around in confusion.

Siroc clutched his head and swore irritably. It had not been a good day. Week. Hell, the last few months had been a trip through Hell (literally). And these damn Venetians were annoying too. They liked nothing more than a good drama. Siroc had decided long ago that they were bonkers after they'd told him his searching for a lost sock was a mighty quest of fortitude and courage. One of them, Wex, was talking to him now.

"... so you'll have to trek over several hundred miles of highly dangerous Venetian swampland and jungle to get to the spaceport, fighting unimaginable dangers and perils that would leave lesser men requiring regular changes of underwear."

"Thanks, Wex."

"No problem, my lord."

"King."

"Yes, my lord king."

"Anything else?"

"Your friend, President Newsted has awoken from his coma."

"Really?! Take me to him at once!"

Awaking from his coma, Newsted began trying to remember how to walk when Siroc entered the room.

"Siroc! Good to see you!" Newsted shouted enthusiastically from his comfortable location on the floor. " Have you found out whether these alien-types can get us back to earth? They've been rather elusive with me, talking about the dangers of the quest to staple maps together? Confusing..."


Newsted at this point began an elaborate series of motion to extricate himself from the chair he had somehow entangled himeslf on.

"Anyways, by the end of it all I had managed to do was convince them I didn't have a fear of staplers." Newsted hobbled across the room with a small trashcan on his foot.

The Venetians saw Siroc and Newsted off on their adventure with great aplomb - large banners and brass bands played brilliant fanfares that echoed for miles across the humid jungles of Venus. The crowd cheered and waved flags, some tooting aerosol horns, others, who were not quite up to speed with current events, were throwing confetti.

"Thank you for helping us! We will not forget you!" Siroc yelled back.

The crowd applauded, some, to Siroc's secret horror, were openly weeping.

"Let's get out of here," he whispered to Newsted. "These guys are giving me the creeps."

The two travellers made their way to the forest, unburdened with only a few sleeping bags, a vast quantity of provisions, medical supplies, and a small portable gas cooker that the generosity of their hosts had supplied.

The crowds stayed cheering until the two had disappeared into the murky undergrowth of the trees.

And then they went away.

As the sounds of the crowd faded away, Newsted and Siroc marched onward into the murky depths of the forest. Newsted suddenly stopped short. "What was that?" He asked nervously. He scanned the trees above, not willing to take any chances after all that had happened since he left home. "I heard something" he whispered, And began creeping towards the base of a tree.

Siroc stood further away from the tree as Newsted advanced.

"What are you doing! We're in a damp swamp on a planet millions of miles away from home! There are probably dangerous animals! I know there's leeches, they've been biting me on my damn-"

A gritty roaring filled the air and Siroc had to hold on to his crown to stop it being blown off. His hair, which had not been cut for a long time now, whipped back into a jet stream of halitosis. The creature was a dark shadow amongst the branches of the tree and it was making some sort of snuffling noise. It reminded Siroc of pigs looking for truffles.

Newsted was flung back bodily by the force of the air. Siroc helped him up and drew his sword. "If it moves, run like the blazes!" he whispered. The creature's eyes were visible now - two sharp yellow slits with cat's eye pupils. But Siroc wasn't looking at them. The teeth were also visible.

"Run!" Siroc whispered.

Newsted let out his most ferocious girly scream and turned and began to run, when the earth dropped out from under him and he found himself falling....falling...falling...several feet into a pit.

"Damn overstatement" He muttered as he begin frantically searching for a way to pull himself out.

He wondered which direction Siroc had went in, and began noticing that the pit looked man made. As he scrabbled at the wall of the pit he unearthed what appeared to be an oversized pet leash.

Siroc leant against a tree to catch his breath. It didn't look like the creature was chasing him.

A thought occurred: Newsted wasn't here.

A second thought sprang alarmingly to mind: perhaps the creature had caught him!

A third thought sidled in, looking shiftily at the other two thoughts: it could have caught me and might do so if I go back.

A fourth thought, coming straight from the king's belly spoke: Newsted had the food provisions!

A fifth thought interjected: these woods are really scary. Let's find somewhere safe.

The fourth thought was having none of this: He's got the food!

Siroc knew he could only argue with his stomach for so long. Resolutely, he got up and crept back the way he came. Sword drawn.

---

Meanwhile...

A man hunched one his knees and looked over the edge of the pit. He scratched behind the batlike ears of the enromous cat-creature beside him. It purred a deep fremescent purr that made Newsted's bowels feel uneasy.

"What do we have here, now, Tasic?" the man chucked darky.

Newsted backed warily against the far side of the pit as the man peered down into the gloom. Suddenly Newsted remembered something. Cautiously reaching around into the pack on his back he felt around until he grasped a vaugly fishy smelling bundle of food that had been provided to them.

"Here kitty kitty..." Newsted said, his voice wavering.

The cat-thing sniffed the air and growled, tensing as if it was about to pounce.

"Now Tasic..." The man began but was cut short as Newsted threw the food as far as he could back into the trees, the cat took off after it pulling the man screaming behind him by the leash.


Newsted jumped towards the shallow side of the pit and began scrambling frantically upwards

Siroc advanced towards a deep purring noise in the darkness ahead. He raised his sword, tensed his muscles and prayed to the Great Flightless Hippo in the Sky that his bladder would not let him down. The purring stopped and Siroc froze - maybe I'll just run, he thought, Newsted can handle himself can't he?

Suddenly, from within the shadows a whip whop whip noise emanated and something very like a haddock flipped towards him, bounced off the side of his head and went down the back of his neck with an unpleasant slippery feeling. It was cold and pungent.

Still reeling from the surprise of this he heard a crashing in the undergrowth and saw a shape coming towards him. It looked like it had a screaming man lashed to the creature's neck by his arm.

Siroc fled for his life.

Newsted clawed his way out of the pit and began running in what he hoped was the opposite direction from the place he had thrown the food. He glanced behind him to see if the man and monster had caught on yet and were following him, but he didn't see any signs of pursuit. He turned around and found himself face to face with a tree *WHAM*

Newsted staggered back a few steps and found himself staring at the suddenly starry sky, and muttered as he attempted to stop his blood from escaping through his face. He was now to tired and frustrated to run so he walked slowly through the forest wondering where he was, and what had happened to Siroc. Newsted ground to a halt as he noticed lights up ahead. He cautiouly knelt down and crept forward to find a large clearing, with several wooden shacks, and in the center of the clearing a large bonfire. Around the fire sat several people, and alongside them...more of the giant cat-creatures. Newsted observed the scene with disbelief for several seconds, then numbly turned around and began trotting back the opposite way.

Siroc's chest was heaving with that cheese-gratered-lungs feeling you get when running long distances. He'd stopped screaming in horror ages ago. He was just too tired. The edges of his vision were blurring and turning black. He just couldn't go on. Literally

Siroc stumbled and waved his arms wildly for balance before he could be sent tumbling down a steep cliff-face. Vines and creepers littered the dark undergrowth and something in the King's head tried to make him concentrate on this fact. But all he could hear was weird whistling noises in his ears and the soft thud-thud as the cat-creature padded towards him. Siroc turned round wearily and drew his sword. Even in his pain he could see that the man tied to the creature was dead. Alive people don't bend that way.

The creature bared its teeth and pounced at Siroc, but much to his surprise the man had disappeared. Siroc was in fact plunging some two hundred feet downwards, and through some vestige of sheer will he summoned the strength to grab at a vine and slide down it before fainting.

He fell the remaining ten feet.

Newsted walked ponderously back through the forest, wondering how he could find Siroc in the middle of a huge forest and how long it would take the other cat monsters to be out on the prowl.He found himself near the trap-pit again, and began walking around until he found a drop of blood on a leaf and began picking up a fairly clear trail from there. He imagined this is where the cat had ran and having no other idea which direction to head in, he set off along the trail of bent branches.


As the night wore on the dense forest around Newsted began to thin out, with moonlight seeping through the layers of leaves above, creating eerie patterns on the forest floor. Then Newsted himself on a precipice overlooking more forest. The cliff face was steep and covered in vegetation. Newsted searched the area and found the cats path leading off to the east, where he continued to follow it.

King Siroc woke up, his head hammering away a calypso beat against his skull. Suddenly he craved the months in the care of the Venusians, no matter how irritating they were. Before then, life had been a series of events between sudden and violent bouts of unconsciousness. It looked like it was about to start all over again. God damn it.

He staggered to his feet and looked blearily at the surroundings. Night was falling now, and the jungle had been transformed into shades of purple and black. And animal noises were hooting quietly in the wilderness before eing cut off by some silent predator. The king suddenly felt very exposed, and quickly searched for somewhere to set up the tent he had been given. And he wanted to get rid of this fish down his back too. He was beginning to stink of it.

Newsted walked down the sloping trail, as clouds gathered in the dark above. Suddenly something grabbed him from behing, pulling him backwards. He opened his mouth to scream but found it stuffed with a mass of feathers!
"Shhh! " his assailant hissed. and what looked like a feathery glove of some kind pointed ahead. Newsted peered into the darkness and saw the cat creature sleeping under a tree. "Mphsggg!" He gasped through the feathery arm holding him. The arm released him and he spun around, and bit his tounge to keep from crying out in surprise. Three 6-foot tall ducks stood in the trees, armed with machetes.


The duck who had grabbed him opened its bill and cleared its throat:


"Quack!" It exclaimed.

After eating the odd haddock-thing which he had cooked over a hastily constructed fire, Siroc set up the tent and scrambled in. He slept soundly.

Meanwhile...

Tasic, one of the native Venusian Catbeasts, woke up. and sniffed the air. The stench of the fishy man had not gone away, as he knew it wouldn't. The trail was clear as sunlight and he'd be able to follow it easily. He yawned and padded off noting that there was another smell... the smell of the Abbes-O-Luitlee Quackers clan. So they were back.

Tasic quickened his pace.

The lead duck gestured sharply and the duck on Newsteds right responded with a quiet quack and began pushing Newsted back into the trees. Newsted decided to go along with it (not least because he had no choice). They reached a small cave with a fire in the center and a pile of fishbones in the corner. Newsted found himself shoved towards the fire, where after a brief exchange of quacking a particularly aged duck waddled slowly towards Newsted and spoke in a creaking, half quack:

"Greetings creature...." it croaked.

"Uh....hi..." Newsted responded cautiously.

"You may be wondering why we brought you here," began the duck "well we quite frankly need your help. Our clan has hunted the Catbeasts for many years, and now there few left of either of us, but we are having a particularly rough time since the Catbeasts have joined forces with some of the men who live in this forest. We've finally managed to find their leader, Tasic, on his own and are ready to make our move."

"Oh." Newsted replied shortly. "What do you need me for"


The old duck exchanged glances with the one who had brought Newsted.


"Bait."

Siroc awoke with a start and stared at the inside of the tent for a while before his brain started working properly. Venus... how did I end up here? Why must I go through with this constant torture? Siroc wanted nothing more than to be back in his palace in Sirocco... ah, Sirocco. Not the greatest place to live, but there was worse. He'd heard that in Devania they were so daft and inbred that when they built houses (after they'd stopped dribbling over themselves anyway) they did the roof first because they liked the shape. The result was that they never got around to building the walls too so any tourist would be surprised to see that the capital city resembled a pointy range of foothills.

Siroc ate some breakfast, packed up his tent, thought guiltily about Newsted's fate for a second, consulted a compass and then selected a path to take. The spaceport had been to the north he recalled. He and Newsted must have travelled at least fifty miles so far... so that left around... he frowned with the effort of mental calculation. Arithmetic had never been his strong point. For a long time he had thought it was a type of back disorder. A hundred and fifty miles to go?

Siroc sincerely hoped it was less.

Meanwhile...

Tasic could smell the creature. He was moving away... but the scent remained strong. He moved onwards.

Newsted glanced out nervously from the semicircle of boulders the ducks had led him to. He felt itchy all over from the fish oils he had been doused in, and longed to scrath his arm but he had been told that if he moved he would dislodge the fake chains attaching him to the stones. He yawned and wondered how long it would take for him to be running again. He looked around for the ducks he had been told would be hiding nearby but he couldn't spot them. I suppose ducks are pretty stealthy.... he told himself

Siroc wandered into the clearing and saw Newsted lying against a rock and snoring quietly.

Ye gods, he's been drugged! Siroc thought and hurried forward to untie him. He heard a rustling in the undergrowth and a mighty figure leapt towards him.

"Ahhh!" Newsted yelled, and flinched, as something lept towards him. In a split second he realized three things:

The first thing that had lept out was Siroc.
If the chains were fake they should have broken loose when he'd started just now.

The Second thing that lept out wasn't Siroc.

Siroc ducked and rolled, was attacked by a very surprised duck who was then attacked by an even more surprised Tasic.

The king stumbled forward as more ducks appeared from nowhere to help their friend. Half-believing he'd gone insane, Siroc drew his sword and shattered the chain tethering Newsted to the rock.

"Get up!" Siroc cried desperately. The ducks didn't seem to be winning.

Newsted lept up and picked up the shattered half of the length of chain that had bound him, swinging it full force into the face of a duck that jumped in their path attempting to stop them. The ducks broke into a retreat, pursued by Tasic, Newsted and Siroc meanwhile, ran off in the other direction

The two rulers stumbled forward into an open clearing. Siroc looked around, but that terrible quacking had faded into the blackness, and apart from the chirping insects around them, the place was silent.

Siroc sat down and panted heavily. He pulled a compass out of his pocket and studied it while Newsted wheezed nearby. He stood up and faced north. In front of him was the most gigantic mountain he had ever seen. It was even bigger than the volcano Mount Erupto that his distant ancestors had rather unwisely founded the Siroccan capital city Chcot at the base of. A ring of clouds circled the summit like some kind of halo.

"We've got to climb over this mountain," he said to Newsted. One look at the President's expression was enough for him to say "We can't go around it... look."

Newsted turned to follow the king's gaze, and straining his eyes he could see the cat-people strolling towards them. They were about a mile away. And the president could swear he felt the dark low rumbles of purrs coming up his feet.

"Climb!"

Meanwhile...

Tasic limped away. He had been injured, but he would heal. There was a great deal of pain, but more than that was another emotion. It was rage.

Newsted grunted as he pulled himself up to a small ledge, and glanced down at the ground laid out beneath them like a map. A roar from down below echoed off the cliff faces, reminding him they weren't exactly out for a casual hike, and he grabbed another outcropping of rock.
"Siroc!" He called to the king searching for a foothold a few yards above and to the right of Newsted. "Do you have any idea where we need to go to head back to the spaceport now?"

"Right over the mountain!" Siroc called down. "We've got to keep heading north- woah-" Siroc's foot slipped sending crumbled rocks into Newsted's face. For one moment Siroc thought My god, this is the end. He flailed desperately at the mountain face, but couldn't reach it. He was falling backwards...

... until a force hit him in the small of the back and pushed him right into the rock and gave him a large cut on his forehead. Siroc screamed and grabbed hold of the mountain in much the same way he had his mother when he was just a baby.

Newsted withdrew his hand and grinned apologetically. They continued climbing.

Newsted paused, rubbing at his eye in a futile attempt to relieve the sting of sweat dripping onto his face. He sighed and glanced upward, wondering how long they had been climbing. He looked at his watch, then remembered it had stopped working at least 3 weeks ago and that he only still wore it out of habit.

Newsted sighed again, and resumed his climb, amazed that a person could climb for so long, and yet not seem any closer to the top. He winced as a pebble clattered downward onto his face, then another.

"Siroc!" he started, but then he realized that the whole mountain seemed to be moving. "Avalanche!" He thought, and began screaming a warning, but his voice was lost in the roar of massive hoverjets as an enormous starship appeared over the horizon and continued Northward. Newsted sighed again and held on as the mountain rumbled under the massive forces being emmited by the ship.

Bwaaaaaaobwaaaaaaobwaooocococcco...

Siroc held onto the mountainside with one hand and his crown with the other, as the ship went over head. He pulled himself up to another ledge and helped Newsted up.

" !" he shouted.
" ?" Newsted replied looking puzzled. " !"
"I " Siroc replied, " uckin' noisy! Ah good, it's quieter now."

Siroc looked down and saw the cat-people prowling around, looking upwards. They were perfectly silent, and there was an eerie expectant look on their faces. Siroc, frightened by this, turned round, and was surprised to see Newsted gesturing towards him and pointing at a pathway up the rest of the mountain.

Siroc looked upwards and saw the halo of clouds was tinged with red in colour. There also appeared to be some kind of figure at the summit. But at this distance, he couldn't make it out.

(Excellent roleplay. Keep it up! I had to drag this back from page 13 in the II listings.)

Newsted shivered as a chill breeze swirled around the mountain. He squinted at the shadowy figure on the mountain peak was bathed in the blood red light that now covered the mountain. He wondered for a moment if they should continue the climb towards the ominous figure, but a quick look down at the cat people pacing calmly below settled that. He glanced over at Siroc, who seemed to agree, and began climbing again.

Siroc clambered up towards the crouched shape at the summit of the mountain. Newsted followed. The summit was a roughly circular plateau, about twenty feet in diameter. The king heaved himself up and lay on the ground wheezing, each breath sounded throaty and sore. Thank God I never started smoking he thought to himself. Newsted sat beside him, taking deep breaths. Siroc looked upwards at the sky, as the red clouds circled overhead.

He heard a growl.

Like a spring on steroids, Siroc jumped to his feet and turned round. There, bathed in a blood-red light, flexing his muscles and purring softly, was Tasic. His big yellow slitted eyes focused on the two leaders, and his fangs, red in the clouds eerie light, were as sharp as needles.

"I think I've wet myself," Siroc said, staring at the monster before him. "I- woah-" Newsted had grabbed him and dragged him towards a path leading down the other side of the mountain. "RUN!" he screamed and they both stumbled down the mountainside. They tried not to listen to the heavy padding of clawed paws behind them.

As they stumbled down the hill Tasic lept from boulder to boulder like a mountain goat and perched on a boulder in front of them. "Erguh!" Newsted said as they pulled to the left and half slid down a narrow, gravely embankment, raising a cloud of dust behind them. "Over there!" Siroc yelled, pointing back towards where the path joined twisted towards them again. They began sprinting towards the path as Tasic roared from behind them.

Siroc careened down the slope, stumbling and praying, Newsted running in front of him. Suddenly, Newsted skidded, sending up an other huge column of dust and fell to the ground. Siroc grabbed him and dragged him behind a boulder where they sat, covered in the grey gravel-like dust around them. Siroc looked around the rock to see what Tasic was doing.

The creature was rubbing dust out of its eyes, and was shaking grey dust out of its fur. Slowly it rose to its full height and looked around, pointing its ears in different directions like a scanning radar.

Siroc clapped his hand over Newsted's mouth and remained as quiet as possible. Tasic was listening intently when suddenly he flattened his ears, hissed and looked upwards just as another starship suddenly roared above. It clutched its head by the sides and screeched silently in pain.

" !" Siroc cried and dragged Newsted down the mountain. He didn't know how much time they'd have left. But he could see the spaceport just one mile or so away. It was probably too far. But Siroc wasn't bothered by that. Not yet at least.

Newsted half-ran half-fell down the dusty slope behind Siroc, not wanting to chance a glance behind him as the pained roars of Tasic echoed around the mountain. The spaceport was visible ahead, looking tiny in the distance. The spaceship roared over their heads as it began its descent, kicking up more clouds of dust that left the leaders coughing and gagging as they stumbled blindly ahead, they could only hope it would slow down their pursuit as well...

The buildings in the near-distance were like the concrete jewels of heaven in Siroc's eyes. Maybe we're really going to make it, he thought. The port looked so close... but Siroc knew better, and subconsciously he let his arm drop to the comforting sturdiness of his sword.

Just in case.

{OOC: After my horrendous gap of general inactivity on NS... :x }



Newsted finally reached the edges of the spaceport complex, stumbling onto the concrete, coughing in a cloud of dirt. As he and Siroc ran forward into the complex there seemed to be surprisingly few people (or...whatever was supposed to be running this place) around. However, a resounding roar close behind them reminded Newsted that this was the least of his worries. He saw a door propped open into a low, solid looking building. He gestured to Siroc and shouted

"Over there!" as he began driving the vestiges of his energy and motivation into his legs.

Siroc fled towards the door, and bodily pulled Newsted in before slamming it shut and locking it. Almost immediately a furious scratching emanated from the other side and the creature yowled in frustration.

Siroc, his legs feeling like jelly collapsed in the corner and tried not to cry. He wanted home so desperately where he at least knew the names of the multitudinous and desperately lethal beasts roaming the lands. He just wanted to sleep... until the scratching and yowling stopped as if someone had flipped a switch.

'My God!' he screamed. 'Check the doors and windows!'

'NOW!'

Newsted jumped and ran to the nearest dingy window, caked in mud and partially boarded up. He started truley looking at their surroundings for the first time and saw that they appeared to be in a storage room. He lept to a nearby filing cabinet and began slowly pushing the heavy cabinet in front of the low lying window...

Siroc drew his sword and listened. Nothing. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so sca- oh, wait. Monday.

'We've got to get to one of the spaceships so we can get out of here,' said Siroc who always felt relaxed when stating the obvious. 'I don't want to die. Is there anything we can use here?'

Siroc looked around the room. It had one door, one window, and many filing cabinets which seemed to be full of paperwork concerning maintenance. It didn't look like anyone had been in here for years which Siroc thought strange because they had seen a ship taking off from it...

In the corner lay a pile of cardboard boxes. The king turned his attention to them.

Newsted coughed as he stirred up the dust in the ill-used room, pacing back and forth looking at the papers and boxes piled around. It was too quiet outside... He couldn't seem to find anything that would facilitate their escape. Siroc was in the corner looking through the musty boxes. Newsted peered through the sliver of window still visibile trying to squint through the murk to see any signs of movement, he soon got dust in his eye and started sneezing though...Ugh. He hoped there were no toxic martian molds in here.

Siroc despaired as he emptied the boxes.

'Hairdryers, no... mops, no... assorted bundles of coloured elastic bands, no... wait - what do we have here?'

He picked up two items which Newsted could not see clearly until he was thrown one.

'I think,' said Sirocco. 'That we've got an escape plan.'

Newsted looked at the nailgun he'd been given dubiously. It was not the weapon he'd have chosen.

Newsted hefted the nailgun from hand to hand nervously, "Whats the plan then Siroc?" he asked. The eerie silence outside was beginning to get to him, he kept turning his head to look at the narrow bit of window still visible.

*bump* ?

:D

Siroc said nothing until he'd shifted all the furniture from the doorway.

'I saw a spaceship just beyond this building. My plan is to run to it. Very fast.'

Newsted's blank expression of despair could have sapped the enthusiasm of a birdwatcher.

Siroc scratched his beard and pulled his crown more firmly onto his head.

'Let's, ah... let's go. We turn right.'

He opened the door and flung himself out.

[Note from Sirocco: well, I don't think this is ever going to be completed. Shame I s'pose, but might as well stick it in here for posterity. I hope you enjoyed reading it.]