forum Sliding into the roleplay forums

Started February 23, 2018 by @_sleeby_rat_

tune

(yes back to the illusion freakout lol) Pluto rubbed at her eyes again. "Yeah, yeah, great to be back in one place."

Perry blinked suddenly and looked around at the group. "Oh, hey…..I know you guys. We met, I think like five years ago?"
"No, Perry dear, that was just now," Kitty chided. "But never mind that, we have to see about negotiating a deal!"
Mike faced Kitty and gave the smug cat a dirty look. "Deal? What kind of deal?"
"Why, a hostage exchange, of course! I'll get you to Zhan pronto, but I want you to take Perry with you. And meanwhile, one of you lot will stay here with me! Sound fair?"

"Wait wait wait, hold on. We don't want to take the kid, and we're not leaving anyone behind," Pluto said, scowling at the cat

"Oh, well then, the deal's off." The cat stood up and sauntered away, its tail flicking. "Have fun in your new home, if you can really call it that. I'm boooored of Perry, and anyway he said he wanted to see the world. You don't even have to bring him back, if you don't want to."
Perry looked up. "W-what? But Kitty, I thought….aren't we….."
"Hush, boy," the cat purred, and Perry's eyes glazed over. "As I was saying, you have no choice in the matter. If you resist, I'll keep you all here. Watching defenseless minds shatter into pieces is my favorite pastime." The cat grinned, showing far too many teeth.
"Oh, for pity's sake, give us some peace," Kaiser snapped. "I'll stay."

Pluto looked at Kaiser. "Are you sure?"

Kaiser sheathed his knife. "I am not important to your mission. I was only a guide, and you won't be needing one after this. In addition, I am probably the one most likely to survive with my mind intact, since I am a psychiatrist. Do not concern yourself with my welfare. Besides…." He glanced at Perry, who was now shivering and rocking back and forth. "….that young man did not deserve any of this. Please take care of him."

Pluto frowned. Sure, she wanted to get the kid as far away from this place as possible, but Kaiser didn't deserve to be stuck here forever. "I…Ok." She walked over to Perry and sat in front of him. "Hey. Do you wanna come with us? We're doing a bit of traveling, and your cat thinks you'd like to come with us."

Perry stared at her, confused and nervous. "I……guess so……? Will Kitty still keep me safe?"
"Well, I have to," Kitty called. "Otherwise you'd drop dead from a hundred afflictions. But you might want to eat something once in a while, my protection won't extend that far."
"Okay." Perry stood up, fiddling with the edge of his sleeve. "Okay. I'll go with you."

Pluto nodded. "Ok. We'll make sure nothing happens to you, ok?"

"…Thanks." Perry looked down.
Mike nodded at Kaiser. "Thanks to you too, by the way. We appreciate it. Want us to come back for you after this?"
Kaiser shook his head. "If you succeed in releasing Zhan, more power will go to his creations, including me. I'll be able to escape on my own."
"Right then!" The cat hopped up on a heap of rubble nearby. "Is everyone ready? Hold on to each other, now, we wouldn't want to lose anyone!"

Pluto shuffled closer to the others, eyeing the cat warily

"Good luck," Kaiser said with a slight smile–the first smile he'd given them since they'd first met.
"You too," Mike said, just as a whirling vortex opened up below them and sucked them in.
"Gah!" Perry reached out and clung to Pluto's sleeve, his eyes tightly shut. Mike grabbed Asura's ankle and Red's arm as they were swept past him.
"Pluto," he shouted, "Grab on quick, my hands are full."

Pluto reached over, getting a better hold on Perry before grabbing onto Mike's ankle. "There are better forms of transportation than this!" she shouted

"You don't say," Mike yelled. "I, for one, am never leaving Earth again, once this is all over!"
The portal gave a kind of hiccup at that point and spat them all out in a heap on a black marble floor. Mike somehow ended up at the bottom, his arm twisted painfully. "Ow ow ow. Somebody, get up and figure out where we are before we're attacked or something."

"Yeah, ok, at least you don't have three people on your wing," she grumbled, tugging her wing out of the spot it was twisted into at the bottom of the pile. She got to her feet, looking around. "Uh…Where are we?"

They were in a very large, silent hall, its boundaries hidden by shadows. The only thing visible in the dim ambient light was their local patch of floor, and a tall lectern standing not far away. It seemed to have some kind of control panel on it.
Mike stood up, working out a crick in his back. "Any sign of Blake? The cat said he'd bring us to his realm."

"Uh…No? All I see is a really big lecture hall more or less," she said, taking a slow turn to try and see where the space began and ended

Perry wandered over to the lectern and studied the control panel. "Hey, Pluto? There's a switch here with your name on it."

Pluto frowned. "What?" She walked over to the control panel, frowning at it. "That's kinda weird. I kinda wanna press it."

"There's a note here," Perry said, looking closer. "It says, 'flip switch if you've successfully arrived here.'"
"Well, when else would she be able to?" Mike grumbled. "Might as well, I guess. If it kills us all, I hope it's quick."

Pluto shrugged. She stared at it for a moment, wondering if this really was a good idea or not. Well, it couldn't be that bad, could it? She flipped the switch