AUTHOR'S NOTES
Wow, it's been a long time since I last wrote a fanfic on this particular scale. And it's been a long time since I made an attempt at crossovers too.
This was something that has been in development for the past few momths. The premise is thus - the characters that we grew up with, gaming or otherwise, all reside in a city far away. Some of those still in business work hard on their new produce to share with the outside world, usually via a new game or movie or TV show or books, graphic or otherwise.
So how would it feel like if someone from the outside world stumbled upon the city and its foreign delights? That is what will be answered by Fletch Davis, our main protagonist and one of four original characters in the entirety in the fic (the others are his best friend Han Willis and his sister Akumi, as well as Emperor Ariel, the ruler of Theoropolis). The rest will be dominantly videogame characters, though there is also the occasional cartoon/comic/movie character. If you want to find out where some of these characters came from, usually it's best to look up their names in Wikipedia or something. It's often explained more in my concept art in my Deviantart archive.
Now that I've gone through the basic background, I think we shall begin. Thank you, and I hope it gets picked upon really well. If so, expect releases every Monday
Peace out,
-Rexy-
Fort Pearl.
It was a place where I spent my days growing up. A place where I spent residing and learning morals from my family. A place where I had fun for the entirety of my childhood as it is now.
As I look back over what it is, I remember it to be one of the most beautiful scenes I may ever get to witness. The ocean waves among the shore made it feel so beautiful, and the residents that came to us over time were calm and peaceful to us.
The forests behind me also showed a beautiful texture to it. I would look back and think over the memories I had with my closest friends out there, many of which were positive, and many of which were also negative too.
The winds often speak to me too. I don't know what kind of messages they are, but I like to ponder about them at times. Sometimes if they're clear enough I could recall different messages from them.
I want to learn to play American sports with my friends.
I want to begin my story all over again.
I want to see what it's like to be a frantic runner in the real world.
I want to fight creatures that can't necessarily be associated with fighting.
I want to be a hero in Outer Space.
I don't even know what many of these messages mean or what they feel like, but to me, it was almost as if nature was getting ready to speak out for itself. I often treated these things as some kind of a wonder.
No matter what, Fort Pearl is something that I would treat like home, for now and for what it should be.
Day 1
Senatorial Housing, Philip Cosmopolitan District - 11:30AM
In an unknown location stood a majestic manor house on top of a grassy hill. Tall mountainous edges surrounded its gardens, which consisted of growing flowers and a set of stone steps that ran right in the middle of it.
Colored with royal shades of gold, silver and dominantly blue, the building stood to be only two stories tall but was wide enough to ensure that it would dominate an entire back street. Freshly cleaned windows and a few polished doors graced its exterior.
Inside the building itself was a hall that was covered with metallic blue wallpaper and chandeliers that went right upon the ceiling, glowing a faint yellow color to match the feel outside. Checkered black and white tiles made the basis for the floor.
"The weekly union of the Senate of Theoropolis will commence in 10 minutes!", echoed a voice from further down the hallway. "All Senators please report to the conference room immediately!"
From that side of the hall came a female figure wearing a pink uniform, with edgy collars and trims and multiple pockets that graced the clothing. A pink pleated dress and high-healed shoes were designed to match her uniform. She had golden hair tucked in neatly within her rectangular white head, complete with pure blue slanted eyes.
She waited there patiently, waiting for people who would receive her commentary. And then they arrived – several other entities coming down the hallway. They wore similar outfits to the figure in the pink uniform, except theirs were entirely blue and the male personnel wore pants and boots instead of skirts and high heels.
It took them a few minutes to settle into the room where the female in the pink uniform came from – a giant conference room, where a brown polished table was placed in the center of it. Ten chairs were also placed around it, four each around the two lengthy sides and two more placed on one of the smaller edges. The small edge facing the door had a large chair with golden cushions placed onto it.
"Just relax, everyone", the pink uniformed female spoke calmly as she gestured the other entities to their seats. "We will start as soon as the Emperor comes in. Then we can commence with the daily agenda."
To that, the figures all sat down in their seats one at a time, and as soon as they did they spent time whispering and conversing among themselves. The personnel were left to be a diverse bunch of entities.
One side of the table had a small robot only just being as tall as a teenager's leg, placed with a gray hare with a white moustache. Two female humans – one with blonde hair and another with brown hair – were also seen getting accustomed to one another.
The other side of the table had a green toad/fly hybrid with a large tooth-filled mouth talking with an elder human with a blue bandana around his forehead and a duck that resembled a vampire. The fourth chair in the set was still empty.
"It shouldn't be too long now until he comes out through those doors", muttered the female as she reached her seating near the back of the room.
Just as she was accustomed, another figure made his way through the same doors she gestured through. This figure stood to be the tallest figure in the room, gesturing to be twice as tall as any of the blue uniformed personnel.
He too wore a uniform in the same style as everyone else, this time being red of color. And his head was almost set in the same fashion as the female figure in the pink uniform, except that his face was completely gray, the rest of his head had bright dotted and swiveled patterns of colors from all over the prism spectrum, and a crown graced his head.
He made his seating next to her, and as they did, they both turned their heads towards a set of double doors to the side of the room. For that, they would assume, is where their Emperor would come through.
In another part of the building, there was another hallway. It had the same color scheme as before from the ceiling through to the checkered tiles, but there were portraits of many different types of entities on the wall, some dating back to hundreds of years.
Going down the hallway walked a figure wearing a blue uniform, just like some of the personnel in the conference room. The occupant of this uniform, however, was a human with yellow skin, a head that's almost as big as his body, black hair forming half a ring on the back of his head and a beard to match, and a large uppercase 'N' placed on his forehead. It might be a wound, or a tattoo, or maybe permanent ink, but only the occupant knows for sure.
He then made his stop at a large set of double doors at the end of the corridor, painted with a cobalt blue color with occasional white stripes. He took a hold on one of the door handles and opened it for himself.
"Good morning, your highness!" he exclaimed in an enthusiastic and jolly tone.
He was greeted to a very spacious room about four times as wide as the hall he just traversed. A red carpet lead its way towards a throne right at the back of the room, which seemed like it would extend for miles.
He walked in the direction of the throne, its shape starting to become more distinct as time went on. The footsteps that he took felt so much warmer on the carpet, but didn't stop his spoken actions being echoed across the walls.
"Are you ready for the Weekly Agenda?" the visitor asked. "I can escort you down if need be."
He took a few steps further, expecting to hear an answer grace his voice in a few seconds. But they passed. Maybe the Emperor was focused on something else, he thought. But it was up until the throne came into further view.
"What??" he panicked.
The throne was in full sight, but instead of an entity being expected to sit there, there was no one. In panic, he made a run towards the throne, his face showing panic over what could or might potentially have happened to him.
As soon as he got there, he looked straight down at the throne seat itself. And there it was – a letter in an envelope, secured by a seal with a pink bird in the middle of it. He grabbed the envelope and tore it apart.
Frantically and furiously he read the letter, his eyes starting to show strain with each passing second and small droplets of sweat starting to come down his forehead. As he reached the bottom, his hands started to tremble.
And from the outside of the room, a scream was heard, followed by several muffled footsteps. The visitor ran out of the room in over thrice the time he spent walking to the throne to begin with. With the letter flapping in one hand and his fist clenched tightly in another, he made his run to a room from the direction of the hall he just came from.
As that setting occurred, focus is soon paid to a more distant location – a woodland forest that was much closer to suburban housing than the Senate building. Pine trees graced the woodlands, with colorful flowers being placed beneath them.
Among the flowers, a small chipmunk was seen making its way from one tree to another. As it did that, it came to a stop, scratched its head with one of his paws, and continued to make its journey.
Around the other side of that tree, three children were seen in a small clearing, sitting on a red, pink and white tartan rug. A brown wicker basket was placed to the side of one of which – a small black haired boy wearing what could have looked like sailor's tunic from first glance with its blue, red and white color scheme, with his fringe covering one of his eyes completely.
"Heh, nothing like a lunchtime picnic to face the day, right?" he spoke with his mouth full of pastry.
In front of him were two other figures – a blonde haired boy wearing a dated brown hat covering his blonde hair as well as assorted blue and purple clothes and an orange t-shirt with black triangles pointing up, and a ginger haired girl looking elder than the two boys, with her long hair in pigtails and donning a lot of blues and greens on her outfit with the exception of a brown non-pleated skirt.
The rug itself had some empty plates, some others with chicken bones stacked on top of one another and others with fruit peels and skins tucked together inside used sandwich bags. A bottle of water was consumed all the way down to its last mouthful.
"I can say it was lightly satisfying", the young blonde boy replied. "I find it odd that our other guest wasn't able to attend to us."
The black haired boy then swallowed his pastry and spoke back. "I agree, Han. Still, at least Akumi didn't mind eating the remains that he could have had himself."
He looked over to the ginger haired girl, who was seen picking up a plate covered in barbecue sauce and licking it clean. At the sight of it, the blonde haired boy covered his eyes, showing disgust.
"As long as we had fun here", Akumi said happily when she finished, "that's all that matters, right? I can't really imagine a summer day quite like this for a while. I love you guys!"
Enthusiastically, she got up onto both feet and made a jump towards the black haired boy's side and brought her arms into a hug across his torso. The pressure she caused on him made him pull a face of pain.
"Hey, get off sis!"
He retaliated by forcing himself out of the hug, using his arms to bring her arms away from his body, leaving him room to roll away from the mat and towards a moss covered log nearby. He panted for breath before raising his voice to respond again.
"Next time you want to hug me like that, do it in a place where it's unlikely that anyone can see us!"
Han couldn't help but laugh. "Oh yeah, like who would do that? How about that caterpillar on that tree? That bird flying above us? Or that chipmunk just passing by in the middle of the road?"
Akumi's eyes just lit up. "Wait…"
She looked to one side of the clearing, and then the right, both instances showing her pigtails moving in parallel among the still wind currents. Unable to see anything, she got up onto both feet once again.
"Did someone say 'chipmunk'?"
She turned to Fletch, whom just shrugged back at her. And then she looked at Han, his eyes fixed on something in front of him. He looked at his direction, and on the ground, she saw what she was looking for.
The small brown chipmunk that ascended the tree earlier was there, holding a nut in one of its arms. Then just by instinct alone, it used its front teeth to start digesting it. At the sight of its actions, Akumi's jaw dropped from her mouth.
"Oh my God, Fletch, I want to keep this as a pet!" She jumped as she ran towards the black haired boy. "It looks so light and adorable! And look at its eyes! They're almost as round as opals!"
"Are you crazy?" he shrieked back. "Mom would kill us!"
"Sure, but look on the bright side. At least it's not a goose", smiled Han.
"Yeah, but listen to me!" Fletch replied sounding more frustrated. "There's no way that my mom would let her take a pet that isn't from the pet store. You know how fussy she is over everything!"
He turned towards the clearing, expecting to see Akumi with the chipmunk. But sure enough, none of them were there. He looked towards a nearby passageway, and saw her running down a dark path, heading deep into the forest.
"Akumi, wait!"
She didn't respond to his cries, which echoed right around the proportion of the woodland. In the few seconds that passed, her body was seen fading into the fog deep into the forest, her running steps fading out until they were almost inaudible.
Fletch's expression showed panic, with his one eye twitching and his mouth being brought into a toothy quiver. Very roughly, he turned back towards Han, whom was seen making a brisk step towards his standing position.
"We can't dilly dally now. We have to go after her!" Han commanded to Fletch.
"Damn right!"
And so they both ran down the path together, with their running stances being almost parallel to one another. Their speed left them to be fast enough to see Akumi making a right turn at the top of a slope, leaving them both to show relief on catching up with her.
The twigs and stones that littered the ground snapped and slid respectively as they went further and further on. But they still managed to keep a good grip over themselves as they went towards the top of the slope, seeing Akumi making a dash along a path on the other side.
"Come to me, you adorable little fluffy thing!"
Almost panicking, both boys slid down the other side of the slope, Han being on his feet for the entirety of the descent, and Fletch tripping up over a tree root halfway down and reaching the bottom on his belly.
At the bottom, Han quickly took Fletch's hand and pulled him towards the same pathway that Akumi ran down. By then, the fog became more and more intense and their vision of Akumi was turning to a blur.
"Damn, we're losing her!" Fletch shrieked with worry.
"Just remain focused on her!" Han commanded back. "We have to keep going!"
They continued to plow through the intense fog, with their running becoming more and more frantic than before. Han continued to focus ahead, while Fletch started to flinch and look to the ground for a means of direction.
They went up another bump in the road, where Han managed to see Akumi make a harsh right turn behind a thicker set of trees. Making a tight grasp on Fletch's wrist, he pulled him further up the path with him.
Faster and faster they came towards the turn-off. The speed in which Fletch was pulled was so fast that the visions of his surroundings completely blurred around him. It was only by the time they stopped at the corner when he regained his senses.
"She went this way!" Han shouted as he pointed to his right. "Just keep going!"
And then they both ran again, this time Fletch not requiring any of Han's help. By then, the amount of corners among the forest passage has increased to the point that keeping up with Akumi was sounding tougher by the minute.
A tight corner to the left at a giant willow tree and another tight corner to the right at a giant cherry blossom tree slowed them down even more, as did the path slowly becoming tighter and restricted in light coming from above.
And then, they came to a stop. A fork in the road was seen, with light only coming from a gap above them. The paths to the left and right looked as if they were getting progressively darker, to the point that visibility upon going along them would be tighter than going through fog.
"Damn, which way do we go?" Fletch panicked to Han.
"You ask me! You're the one keeping track of her!"
"But she could have gone anywhere!"
Hesitating, Fletch took a look at his surroundings. The left and right paths looked completely identical – the same types of trees and flowers graced them both at precisely the same angles. The ground was reduced of stones and twigs and was covered in moss instead. Neither pathway had footprints leading off due to the texture.
The temperature within the forest became colder, adding to his panicked expressions. A small tear started to go down his eye, going slowly down his cheek in the chilly air. He soon retaliated by wiping it off with one of his hands.
"The minute I see her, I swear I will tell mother to give her a good spanking", he spoke half-angrily and half-mournfully.
Han looked at his expression and started to feel sorrow towards him and his sister. "I tell you what, to make you feel better, I take the right and you take the left. That way we cover more ground, and one of us is sure to catch up with Akumi in no time."
"I hope this works, otherwise you know what will happen..."
"Oh yeah", frowned Han. "I'll have to take Akumi to school every day next week."
"Exactly."
And so, Fletch ran down the right path, and Han went down the left. He made a cautious jog through the coming darkness, making his progress through with nothing but the sound of the wind to fill his ears.
"I can just hope that nothing too drastic has happened", he whispered to himself.
Eventually, the winds started to get more intense, leaving him to shiver on the spot on occasion before running again. The increasing darkness didn't help him either, causing him to stop in his tracks more, wondering which direction to pace to next.
And then, darkness completely surrounded him, leaving him to place his hands out to guide his way. His eyes became more strained as he continued to struggle to see through the dark.
But a few seconds later, there was a light at the end of the passage…
To the Senate of Theoropolis,
I am sorry for departing the premises like this, but there's something worrying happening. For the past two months I felt a strange presence making its journey towards the housing and abolishing me from the throne. I would fight back, but if I need to, then I must find a way to focus without slipping. This encounter will need to happen eventually.
So my words are this – if anything bad ever happens to the Senatorial Housing, I would like you to defend as well as you can. You were placed in the Senate for a reason, and I want you to support the cause before the city will be taken over.
For now, I advise you to find someone who will assist in fighting off this threat. I won't make a step back inside the Senatorial Housing until the threat has been extinguished.
I hope you understand, and once again, I'm sorry for leaving you alone like this.
Regards,
Emperor Ariel
The conference room in the Senatorial Housing was brought to silence as the large-headed human figure read the letter aloud to the rest of the persona in uniforms. Many of them had wide-eyed expressions, with the exception of the vampire duck, whose jaw was dropped.
He passed the letter around the table leaving people to skim read it to make sure he was telling the truth. The rectangular-headed entities in red and pink shared the letter between them, before passing it onto the robot, which then sent it towards the gray hare.
After reading through it, he passed the letter to the two females, his hands starting to shake. The brown female almost snatched the letter from his hand before reading it, with the blonde girl looking right over her shoulder.
"Oh my Goodness, Lara, what does this mean?" she asked the brown female.
"I don't know Samus, but if we think about the Senate's situation, this can't be good."
Samus brought herself back down to her original seat, starting to show a feeling of unease on her face. As that happened, Lara brought the letter around towards the other side of the table, towards the elder male human.
"Senator Cortex", addressed the robot to the large-headed human, "considering you were the one who found the mail, do you have any ideas on how to approach this situation? I mean, we can't lose control of the city because our Emperor has suddenly gone AWOL for good reason."
"Fear not Clank, for I am sure that the King of All Cosmos – I would mean, the Prime Chancellor - will maintain a solid rule over the city for the time being."
The rectangular-headed female in the pink uniform blinked back at him. "While I understand your intensions, I'm sure that he will end up juggling too much on his place what with his current job and all. Is that right?" she then asked as she turned to the King - the entity in the red uniform.
"We agree with your statement, our Queen", he replied with a frown. "While we will maintain the city's order as sharply as we can, we need to find another way to get Ariel back here before it's too late!"
His last exclamation echoed across the room, to the point where many of the Senate members remained still, as if in a freeze frame in a continuous drama. Only a few blinks were then exchanged between one another in the five seconds that happened.
Senator Cortex was the first to break out of it, glancing all around the room looking desperate all the same. His hands clutched tightly as he took a stride forward, his eyebrows getting tense all the same.
"Well? Does anyone have any ideas?"
One by one, the senators' heads started turning to one another, hoping that they'll find some possible solutions to the problem. Eventually, the gray hare's hand was raised straight up into the air.
"Yes, Senator Hare?"
The gray hare gave out a smile. "I actually know of a friend who worked with me a lot, and shows bravery even when off-screen."
"Oh, it's one of your Starfox buddies, is it Peppy?" replied the vampire duck as he took out a broccoli sandwich from behind his coat. "Ask an obvious question, get an obvious answer."
"Yes, but he's made more friends of his own and are running some sort of neighborhood watch in the middle of town. I don't know where exactly to be honest, Duckula, but if I can contact him this can mean one step to help restore Ariel's place on the throne."
The senate members started talking amongst themselves upon hearing Peppy's plan. A taskforce that would arise to the challenge? Many of them showed a wide range of emotions when discussing the idea amongst each other.
Many of the personnel came to acknowledge the idea, especially on the side of the table facing the windows. The other side had the elder male human showing an expression of caution towards his comrades.
"Are you sure that he'll be up for this task?" he asked to the green toad/fly hybrid. "Whatever happens, this must be the first time that this city has faced a turmoil since the boom in off-screen deaths and early retirements."
"Oh, come on, Snake", the creature replied back in a laid-back tone. "Wipe that concerned face upside down! I know for sure that the chances of surviving this are as likely as Rayman picking a fight with Senators Aran and Croft with his hands being placed in the fridge!" he concluded while pointing towards the two females at the other side of the table.
Snake leant closer towards the creature. "Your confidence can be worth something Murfy, but I'm not too sure about this."
"Neither am I."
All heads turned further up the table, where Cortex was seen leering at everyone. He then turned back towards the double doors and made his walk through them, pushing them open with his hands in the procedure.
"Senator Neo Cortex, get back here!" commanded the King.
But he didn't listen. A few seconds later, the double doors were left to close behind him, leaving him to walk along the corridors alone. His footsteps among the checkered tiles below him were only just audible.
His facial expression started to show a mixture of both panic and anger. By that, he made a sudden stop, took a hold of a bluebell in its plant pot with others, rolled it up into a ball and threw it straight towards the door. It struck the door, bouncing of it and sliding among the tiles, remaining still a few inches from the entrance.
"Those guys just don't know what they're dealing with", he then scowled with a whisper. "I'm surprised Ariel even hired them. But why?"
His glare was fixed at the door for five further seconds, trying to find time for an answer to that problem. Looking among the doorknobs and then the rolled up bluebell, he started to show feelings of tension to match his expression when finding out about Ariel's disappearance.
With a sigh, he walked down the hallway, away from the conference room. The decisions of the senate remained in his head, no matter how much of a rough memory it would even become for him.
Thinking back about the letter Ariel left behind, what kind of threat would want to attack him anyway? Surely it would sound more serious than to just assign a search team to locate him? The more he continued to think about it, the more he came to believe that he would provide a better solution than what was provided by Senator Hare, or so he thought.
Back in the forests, the depths of the tunnels started to lighten up as the journey continued. Fletch brought a hand forward and pulled through more branches, almost breaking them off from their respective trees.
Eventually, he managed to free himself from the thicket and made his way to a clearer path. All the trees that were from that point on were really thin. Had it not been for their bronze-brown colored bark, they could have been mistaken as rubber trees or bamboo shoots.
"Akumi!" Fletch continued to cry out. "Akumi, where are you?"
He then made a steady walk through the trees, seeing himself going through a more colorful patch of the forest than before. He noted beneath his feet that there were fewer flowers and more grounds of fresh earth in their place.
A Presentation
The winds around him continued to pick up as he went further down the path, blowing his clothing into multiple directions. The temperatures that followed on lead him to rub his arms, in an attempt to get some more heat circulating through his body.
"Akumi!" he cried out more desperately.
He walked even further and found his way to a tight corner in the thicket of the forest. All that led off from that direction was a turn-off to the left, in which he made almost hesitantly, quivering his feet as he proceeded.
The quietness of the forest was slowly being altered. It sounded like there were gale force winds to be blown but all that was felt was merely a gentle breeze. His eyes blinked as he went further towards the sound source.
A crossover fiction written by Bev Wooff ("Rexy")
"Whoa…!" he gasped to himself as the sound source came to his vision.
In front of him was exposure of a stone building. Taking a side step to his right, he managed to get a clearer view. On initial impressions, it would look like the ruins of an abbey if approached on that side.
He walked even further and got a closer view. Only this time, it stood to be multiple floors tall and had a brown wooden roof applied to the top. There were windows placed around it as well as a polished door covered in copper paint. It was actually a detached house.
Fletch then went around to the door wanting to see it, but as he got round to the front, he was caught attention by the rest of his surroundings. He was in an entire suburban street; everything seemed to feel really normal, only that the road felt too bumpy to consider the use of transport.
THE THEOROPOLIS SAGA
"What is this place?" he then whispered as quietly as a mouse.
He showed an expression of confusion as he looked at his surroundings. It felt modern, yet underdeveloped. He continued to make his way down the street, hoping to see more of what there was on offer.
There, he saw hills to the north, where a single building stood still surrounded by mountains. The left hand side of the horizon showed a castle of sorts and the right showed a distant ruin that actually looked like a ruin.
The roads around him started to look more polished, gradually turning from bumpy to smooth. There was still no sign of any transport, and whether the location would utilize any would remain to be seen.
Cautiously, he made his way through the streets, continuing to search for his sister. Though he continued further more cautiously than he did in the woods, the foreign environment would leave him to start thinking to himself whether he would make his arrival here would be a good idea.
The building on the top of the hill remained still and cautious. But around the back of it, footsteps were heard in an almost thunderous fashion – loud enough to be heard, but too weak to come from a tyrant.
Inside the building, boots among checkered tiles were the one sound that was heard among one of the more distant corridors. Senator Cortex was seen making his march from corridor to corridor, his hands clutched tighter than a Chinese finger trap.
Two more doors were pushed open by his own hands, leaving him into yet another corridor. Unlike the others, there were pictures of himself being placed upon the walls, and the door at the end showed a painted wumpa fruit with a giant green N symbol on top of it.
"This can NOT be happening to me!" he exclaimed with rage.
Upon reaching the door, he brought his head forward to push it open, shoving through it almost instantly. And from there, he was welcomed into a dead end – a large and spacious circular room all to himself.
The checkered tiles remained there, but the décor looked more blue than the usual. A red poster bed was placed 45 degrees to his right as well as a window almost at a right angle to it towards its left. A desk covered in papers and stationery was placed underneath it.
"Now look at what the Senate are trying to pull", he shouted as he made his way over to his desk. "They're going to hire someone to help them track down the Emperor! What kind of a solution is that?"
"Perhaps I can help you."
Cortex's eyes blinked as he heard the dark shady voice. He turned towards the door, and right there, he saw a short figure. As he came into the light he was shown to be an orange ogre-like monster with two fingers and a thumb on each hand. A single horn was on his head, highlighted with envy green eyes. The colors of purple and white graced his tunic, further emphasizing that he could be a sorcerer.
"Ripto?" Cortex asked, guessing the guest's identity. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard that you had problems of your own", he started in a more consistent higher pitched tone, "so I was told by an associate to come and help you out."
Ripto made his walk into the room, taking great strides for such a short figure. A burning look of determination was settled into his eyes, fuelling just as equally among the actions provided by most of his other significant body parts.
It wasn't long until he actually came towards Cortex. And once he did, he climbed up onto the desk, sending various pencils and papers onto the floor in the process, much to the Senator's annoyance.
"Besides", Ripto proclaimed as he stood up firmly, "there's only one thing we can do at a time like this, isn't it?"
Cortex was left in a thinking stance for a few seconds. His visions went back towards the letter and the general assumptions left behind by the rest of the Senate. And eventually, everything became clear to him.
"I think you're right", he smiled back.
Snapping his glove-covered fingers, he made his walk to the center of the room, looking on at more of the décor that made the room – mainly stone statues of various mutated animals, from a muscular Tasmanian tiger to a dingo-crocodile hybrid creature.
"If we work hard enough, we'll use some of your associates to overthrow the Emperor", he cackled to Ripto. "Then, if the Senate's vote works out well, I will be able to rule over Theoropolis for sure!"
"Bravo indeed!" Ripto applauded. "But, how are we going to accomplish this?"
Ripto jumped off the desk and started walking towards Cortex for himself. As soon as he made his stop, the Senator pointed his right hand straight towards the door that they both just came through.
"Ripto, scout the surface for people for people willing to take up the task", commanded Cortex. "I have big plans for Ariel himself."
"Oh, I already did that, but we can do with an outside source to make us accomplish this goal."
Cortex froze in his tracks. An "outside source"? That comment left him puzzled for a few seconds, before he suddenly brought his face into one of those "now I understand" style of facial expressions.
In that time, Ripto searched through the drawers beneath the desk and pulled out a pair of binoculars; he then climbed up and used them out of the window, scanning around the area. Zooming in on an area near the South was something that caught his eye.
"I think we've found it", he cackled silently.
Right in the patch that he was analyzing was a set of footprints within the damaged road. They looked freshly developed, with upturned earth surrounding some of which in particular. This left him to smile upon the sight of it.
Above the rooftop, however, stood another shadow watching over the scene. Its shape was hard to be defined among the many stone pillars that surrounded it, but all that could be distinguished was a large red eye, almost like a cat's eye in shape.
Seeing it, it then turned away and jumped off the roof on its own accord. Down below, Ripto also made his departure from Cortex's quarters. The Senator himself knew for sure that a plan was at hand, and the city will be sent for a wild venture to call its own.
-End of prologue-
