Interlude (Ch. 2: Day 2)

Kazz · Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 10:08 pm

Outside the room, there was a loud THUNK! as a too-slow Mako whacked his face on the door, oblivious to the raccoon's fate inside.

"Owwww."

Seafarinhare · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:14 am

What an unfortunate turn of events, indeed. Not only was it a wild goose chase. But now he was disqualified from the tournament. Unless he could quick-talk his way out of this. At this point, what did he have to lose? His dignity perhaps, but he was already in a bad spot.

"Now hold on just a minute." He protested in escalated fashion, jerking his arms away from the officers before they could slap the cuffs on, stepping toward the table. Anyone who attempted to make eye contact would only see their own reflection in a perfectly reflective visor. "I came out here to wish you a happy birthday, on someone's behalf."

He said, quickly glancing around, hoping someone was absent from the table. Even Business people call in sick from time to time, right? "Was it you? I forget..." He said pointing at one of the guys, but then gave a dismissive wave, "Nevermind, I'm bad with faces... Anyways, it's apparent my persona is lost on you... He said something about Power Mask being busy so he thought maybe you would appreciate his sidekick dropping by... I apologize for intruding."

There was a level of distaste in the word sidekick, but he bit the bullet for the sake of appealing to this person's better nature(sidekicks always dislike being called sidekicks). He said all of this while transmitting to Kazz and Sheff via his voice communicator in his helmet, just for the sake of letting them know that this door did not lead to the emerald.

He bowed politely, and waited to be escorted out.

Tony · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 7:18 pm

"P-power... Mask...?" The canine simply stared at Hoji, her security associates standing by as they looked between the masked intruder and their employer...

She gave a most exasperated sigh before letting her forehead fall into the palms of her hands. "Hrhghgnngh... flattered as I am, you... have the wrong birthday girl..." She jabbed a thumb to the wall behind her. "The one you're probably looking for happens to be in the next room over... Though, nobody mentioned to me about a special guest for her... Well, it -is- hard to spill something like that to someone like me, I can imagine... I'm not surprised."

The dalmatian certainly appeared to be a lot more forgiving towards the intrusion than previously noted. Her gaze to Hoji had softened considerably, though it was a bit clear that she was still a tad frazzled.. "Forgive my sudden accusations, sir. It has been... a hassle trying to keep things in one piece through this whole ordeal..." With a snap of her fingers, the two security officials gave Hoji a curt, apologetic bow before returning to their seats. "My employer and this whole troublesome event with that 'prize'... I swear it's just demanding trouble..."

The canine did manage a small smile before motioning towards the door. "But, in -any- case, if you please, we do have a bit of a gathering going on here -- do wish the other girl a happy birthday for me, if you would."

With that, the two sculptors began passing plates around, apparently having wheeled in a fancy baked treat in with the ice statue. The associates around the table began to perk up slightly...

Because, who didn't enjoy a good cake?

Seafarinhare · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 9:01 pm

It would seem that Hoji may have jumped the gun a bit with the information he had been given. Luckily, he still managed to squeeze out of a tight spot -- hopefully the real birthday girl knew who Wild Badge was.

He nodded, "Don't worry about it... I know what it may have looked like, but my intentions are always in the name of justice." He said with a chuckle. He walked around the table toward the door at the end of the hall to go greet the person on the other side, whose birthday required good wishes from a super hero.

Sheff · Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2010 3:37 pm

Sheffer stared down at his Wild-Talkie with an expression of despondency and worry, but was soon relieved as to hear the dealings that continued after Hoji's bluff. The hedgehog wasn't capable of hearing the mysterious person the raccoon was speaking to, but from the sound of Hoji's side of the conversation, it didn't seem he'd be lowered head first into a shark tank anytime soon.

"Close call there..." he muttered, turning away from the door's and looking at the clumsy Mako. "That leaves just us, Fish Man. Wild Badge will be fine on his own, I assume."

With one dead end now discovered, Sheffer walked back the way they came, his eyes searching for a new path to take. The prospect of just him and a barely coordinated shark being the ones traversing around alone down in the belly of the complex didn't bring hope to the situation, in his opinion. He knew he'd be able to handle trouble if they met it... but Mako was a different story all in itself.

"You done with the firework show up there, doc?" he said into the walkie-talkie a few moments later, his eyes staring up at the ceiling, picturing the situation on the surface. "We just lost Hoji, and we're clueless on where to go down here."

psikeout · Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 2:47 am

"Whoo...! Haahhh!... Yes! I'm done!" came the panting, heaving response over the radio. Dr. Henshin sounded positively exhausted and invigorated. His words were interspersed with ragged laughter. "I thought they had me cornered in that ladies' restroom, but I'm a slippery devil!"

Word.

"Anyway! Maybe you should just do your best to be incognito! Look unassuming! You look plain enough, but Mako is kind of suspicious, what with his fishiness and nakedness and so on... Hm-hm-hm, perhaps you could stick him in a laundry bin, or under a food cart, or something? Or maybe you should just abort. Really, whose idea was this, anyway?"

Kazz · Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2010 11:33 pm

Mako gave a sort of horrified look at the walkie talkie through this entire discourse from the moth.

"No respect," he muttered grumpily, rubbing his shnozz as he followed the hedgehog, and listened to the doctor. "... ... well," he started in response to the question posed, but thought better of it as he realized he was speaking like he had a cold. He had really whacked his poor, sensitive, sharky nose on that door.

The fish rubbed his face gingerly again, looking around, before he finally said into his own Wild Talkie: "Give us directions, mothyman, before we have to start doin' a song and dance routine if someone comes by."

psikeout · Posted: Sat Dec 25, 2010 1:19 am

"I'm not your babysitter, junior!" answered the moth gruffly via the radio. "I don't have blueprints of the complex! The best you can do is just start moving, or get out while you still can!"

There was a pause, then an addendum: "After all, if you get caught, they might disqualify you from the tournament."

This would surely fail to deter Mako from exploring in the slightest. (Maybe he knew that.)

Sheff · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 2:04 am

"Wonderful... just wonderful," muttered Sheffer, looking down the hallway they just came. "Guess we have to hike it until we find something interesting again."

He talked into the Wild-Talkie again. "We'll keep lookin', doc, but there isn't any promises."

Finally, with the disappointing news out of the way, the hedgehog began the search once more, now one member short. The two started to follow the series of hallways, searching for anything of interest, his hand constantly moving back to his pocket to check the emerald, but before long, he just simply held it underneath clasped fingers. At least he'd have some warning if they ever got close.

Kazz · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 5:29 pm

Mako, however... Having been quiet since the moth's remark, even following Sheffer, he had been deep in contemplation. A way to get out of being pummeled?
Where could he sign up?
Oh. Yeah. By getting caught.

He cast a glance to the fake emerald in the hedgehog's hand, and he paused. He looked one way, then the next, then another way, then back to the hedgehog. After his contemplation had been completed, he proceeded to lift his own tail up by the bottle-opener shaped fin on the end.
He proceeded to oh so accidentally (arharhar) place it in a position such that it would trip him up... and proceeded to trip almightily. The wild armflailing wasn't planned, but oh, how it added to the effect as the shark faceplanted with a resounding thud, a sound only amplified by the halls around them.

This had better work, he inwardly thought only as he lay on the floor.

Sheff · Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 3:00 pm

Sheffer paused in the middle of the hall, the loud thunk seeming to echo against the walls. His eyes closed in annoyance, a sigh rushing past his lips as he turned, his arms crossed as he peered down at the shark, unamused.

"I swear Mako, if you didn't have someone holding your hand down the hall..." he grumbled as he slipped the fake emerald into his front pocket, kneeling down beside the fallen shark, grabbing his arm. "Just put one foot in front of the other. Nothing much to it." He then proceeded in trying to lift the clumsy shark back to his feet, an irked frown on his lips.

Kazz · Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 3:04 pm

"Well excuuuuuse me," the fish grumbled, looking around almost hopefully to see if anyone aside from the hedgehog had noticed.

...
Waiting.
Waiting.
Waaaaaaaaiting.

Tony · Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 4:32 pm

Of course, amidst the shark's melodramatics, it wouldn't take too long before either one of them possibly noticed that the emerald in Sheff's possession was beginning to actually react... It wasn't exactly something astonishing, and the reaction itself was probably very dull... But, no matter which way they could've looked at it, it was certainly picking up on something - quite obviously, the very prize they had been after all along.

It appeared that wherever it was picking up on the tournament prize, it would have been at the very least further down the hallway. Past the curvy corridor, and at the far end, lie a very large, stout doorway, sealed tightly... that is, unless an employee or two was coming or going. Sliding into the walls as the panels opened at the middle, it remained opened until the instant the area had been cleared. Judging by the circumstances through which it gave access, there wasn't really anything keeping folks such as Sheff or the shark out...

And the corridor itself was, at the very least, quite empty for now.

Perhaps now was as good a time as any to go for the gold, as they say.

Sheff · Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 6:48 pm

Not soon after lifting Mako from the floor, Sheffer's eyes fell onto the said door as they hit a straighter portion of the hall, and almost instantaneously, something began to change with the emerald. Flinching lightly at the feeling, his hand dug into his pocket and gingerly took out the fake, examining it in his palm. Nothing much had changed with it, but he could clearly see what looked like a shard of crystal, not unlike the substance he himself could produce, jutting out of one side of the gem. This is what he'd felt when it'd rested in his pocket, having dug into his thigh.

As he took a step forward, the protrusion of rock seemed to grow a bit, another small growth beginning to form.

"...'bout time this thing started going," he muttered, looking to Mako and nodding to the doors that were at the end of the hall, starting to walk towards it. "C'mon. We're finally getting warmer."

Kazz · Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 1:11 am

Mako had a very distasteful look on his face, plainly irritated that his master plan had failed. A lot.

However, with his plan having failed, he did seem to realize what the weight of this was, as he gazed at the rock in the hedgehog's hand. This hadn't been a total and utter waste of time! What a wonder! ... why, it even may mean that the crazy old moth might not berate him if he had proved himself useful. With this in mind, the fish trudged forth, careful now to keep his big old tail clear of his feet, and took towards the doors.
He crept so gingerly as more space between him and the doors was crossed, if only because Sheffer would be likely to murder him in cold blood, he figured, if he screwed anything up now that they had a genuine lead of sorts.

Interlude (Ch. 2: Day 2)

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