Hey guys, Darksage95 here. Yeah I know, gigantic wait. I've been going through a lot of stuff lately (school, work, worrying over stuff, and other events). To be honest, I've been going through a massive case of writer's block. I'm doing my best to slowly get back in the groove, but it's going to take some time. Anyway, here's the next chapter in the Far From Home story. Enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own SRMTHFG or those companies.
Outside the University of Cincinnati…
Lorraine was going through a mix of emotions. Shock, the feeling of being overpowered and helpless, and especially fear all rolled into one. She took a step back, behind the fortress that was her friends.
"I don't believe it…" she said, shaken. "Formless!? I thought you said you guys were alone when you were accidentally transported here!"
Nova turned to her. "We were. Skeleton King hasn't made an attack on Shuggazoom when it happened."
"Doesn't matter!" Sprx said as he went into a battle stance, fists up. His eyes now glaring with determination. "They're going down!"
"Sprx is right," Antauri nodded and went into a battle stance as well. Immediately after, the rest of the team did the same. "Monkey Team, transform!"
As soon as he said the command, every member placed both their index fingers and thumbs on the notches of their transmorphers. A white light emitted from each of them, which turned from five lights into one big one. Lorraine had to shield her eyes for a moment before looking at them again. When she did, the five humans disappeared and were replaced with five multicolored cyborg monkeys.
The silver monkey turned his head and looked at the lone human in the back. "Lorraine, go and take cover. We'll handle this!"
The girl nodded and fled the street. Antauri watched as she ran deep into the university until she was nowhere to be seen.
"You know, I just noticed something. Why is it that wherever we go, trouble always follows?" the red monkey complained.
"I was so looking forward to some lunch too…" Otto frowned.
"All of that will have to wait," Gibson said. His hands quickly transformed into twin drills. "Right now we have more pressing matters to deal with."
The rest of the monkeys followed his example. With just a thought, their hands transformed into their respective weapons. Antauri's turned into purple, energy claws. Nova's morphed into huge pink and yellow metallic fists. Sprx's hands became large twin magnets and Otto's into green energy saws.
The Formless got even closer. Their motorcycles rumbled through the street with a deafening roar. The slimy skeletons lifted their hands up and their fingers turned into sharp claws.
The silver monkey gritted his teeth. "Send these abominations back into the pit. Monkey Team, Attack!"
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Chiro traversed the uphill roads and turns like an Olympic athlete. Sweat fell hard down his face, his muscles strained, and his legs were pushed to their limit. Back on his home planet, the vehicles were powered by automatic means. But this…he just couldn't take. In fact, part of his mind wished he was back home already. Not only that, but he practically stole the bike from some other kid.
"I swear, when this is all over and we're back home, I'm going to kill Gibson and Otto!" he cursed as he propelled through a small neighborhood.
His hard cycling helped him traverse the community and into a more urbanized area with sets of apartments above shops. Judging from the little time he had spent on this planet, the hero knew that he was entering the uptown campus area of the city. The streets were usually crowded, however, they are slowly becoming more empty as the local residents ran away screaming in the opposite direction. Chiro had to maneuver past some people just to avoid colliding into them.
"Screaming people and getting more crowded as I move on ahead…yup sounds like I'm getting close."
The large crowd of residents were making it hard for Chiro to hurry in that direction, and to make matters more difficult, the cars coming his way crowded the street even more. He had to quickly veer left and right just to avoid them.
"Kid what the heck are you doing!?" One man from off to his right on the sidewalk hollered. "You tryin' to get killed or something!?"
"No but if you stay here any longer, then you will!" the Chosen One answered back. He never thought to look back and get a good look at the guy who called out to him.
After dodging cars and people, the Monkey Team leader managed to round a corner into the street leading into the central Clifton area. The street was less crowded but there were still some people running in that direction. Once the last person passed by him, he pressed a hand to his heart and became surrounded by a bright light.
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"Magna-ball blazer!" Sprx yelled as he unleashed one of his signature attacks. A red electrified sphere the size of a softball was hurled straight towards a number of oncoming Formless. Once it made contact, the enemies froze in place and were vaporized.
"Anyone else want some!?" he called out, taunting the brainless soldiers. Right when he said that, one of them managed to jump up from behind him and was about to claw him in the back.
Luck wasn't on that one's side as it was suddenly cut in half from a green blur through its torso. The monster froze in place before falling apart into black ooze onto the pavement. Otto, who had just recovered from his attack, ran over to his teammate's side and stood back to back with him.
"Thanks Otto," the red monkey said as he lifted his magnets up for another round. "I owe you one."
"You can pay me back by cooking some double bacon cheeseburgers for me tonight," his green brother humorously sneered.
Sprx frowned at that. He really wanted to hit him now. In fact, he was about to until another Formless came at him. He aimed his right magnet at it and fired a magnetic blast. Like its other bretheren, the soldier dissipated into a pile of black goo.
Nearby, Nova was having no trouble with her portion of the Formless army. Her agility and sheer power proved to be too much for the slime soldiers. The yellow cyborg crouched down, mechanical fists at the ready, poised for combat. She eyed the enemies around her from left to right, anticipating their next move.
It was after a few more seconds that the Formless behind her decided to attack. It first ran up and then jumped high. Nova heard the light footfalls in the back along with their disappearance. She reacted by sidestepping to the left. The minion landed without hitting its target and turned to face Nova, only to have its skull face met by a fist. The head was knocked right off and flew off a few feet away, becoming goo as it hit the ground. The remaining body disintegrated as well in front of the female warrior.
"Who's next?" Nova taunted with a smirk.
As if on cue, all of the minions came at her with sharp claws at the ready. Nova quickly jumped into the air and raised her fists.
"Lady Tomahawk!" she yelled as she came down onto the pavement.
Her fists meeting the cement caused that whole area to shake. Not only did the Formless lose their balance, but the windows in the buildings nearby started to get cracks. Even the part of the street where she hit sustained a large considerable crater. More importantly, the Formless that have lost their balance fell apart into primordial ooze.
Nova hopped back onto her feet and chuckled. "Still too easy!"
She cracked her knuckles and moved upwards on the street to finish off the other enemies.
Gibson was faring just as well as his fellow sister. However, he was also thinking about other things as well. All the while dodging each attack and returning them by using his double drills.
"Where did these Formless come from?" he thought aloud while jabbing one of his spinning drills into the torso of one minion. Like a batter being swirled in a bowl, the FOrmless lost its shape and reverted into ooze as it followed the direction of Gibson's drill.
"We were the only ones to be transported to this dimension when the transporter broke!" he stated while jumping in the air to avoid two Formless that were about to slash him on opposite sides. He responded by using his criss-cross laser attack to take them out.
"If the city was never being attacked the day we disappeared, or for even an extended period of time, then that could only mean one thing…" he hypothesized as he spun in the air to take out a number of Formless with tiny blue laser bolts.
Antauri offed a handful of them with his signature Claw Disruptor. He had been listening in on Gibson's questions and theories and agreed with him. He had been thinking about the same thing.
"There can be no doubt that Skeleton King is behind this attack," he finished his brother's thought.
"Or Mandarin," the blue monkey added.
"Regardless of the current situation we are in, we must stop them before they cause any more harm," the second-in-command stated.
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During the battle…
The next few minutes of the fight went pretty smoothly. One by one, the Formless fell to the cyber monkeys. The sight of seeing them fight was enough to make Lorraine smile with excitement. Sure she was concerned about the safety of everyone in the area, but she was more fascinated by her heroes at the moment.
"Best...summer...ever!" she squaled in glee.
Unfortunately, that attracted the attention of one of the minions. The girl fell silent as one of the Formless, which was once busy with Nova at that moment, stopped its attempted assault to look at her. Lorraine's smile faded and she then bore a face of fear. Her eyes widened as she stared at the black empty holes that were the alien's eyes.
"Oh shit…" she cursed.
She quickly backed away from the corner of the building she was hiding from and retreated from that area. The Formless, brainless as it was, decided to go after the easier target.
Lorraine ran as fast as she could, or at least the fastest her legs could take her. She wasn't exactly track-athlete material, but at least she was outrunning her attacker. That and her fear of getting slaughtered by an alien skeleton gave her the motivation to run even faster.
"Shit shit shit shit shit!"
Lorraine bypassed the two residence halls and saw the music college building coming up. She had heard that people who were not familiar with the building's setup could easily get lost in there. Not only that, but she may be able to find something there to help her out. An instrument or a broken pipe from the back rooms perhaps? It was a risk, but it was one she decided to take.
"Hey dead juice!" she looked back and called out to it. "You're going to have to do better than that if you want to catch me!"
As expected, the monster did not reply back as it had no feelings. Lorraine led the Formless through the pathway connecting the earthen colored halls and the practice building all the way to the adjacent bridge that led into the music conservatory. The bridge was nothing fancy, but it was pretty convenient. The concrete floor of the pathway served as the roof for the lower level breezeway below and the walls were made of the same material as the other buildings before.
She barged in through the glass double doors, nearly tripping on the doorstop as she went in. Her footfalls echoed on the empty halls of the music building. Not long after she traversed the intricate octagonal balcony surrounding the marble-floored atrium, the Formless charged in through the doors on the other side.
Lorraine let out a yelp and looked around frantically trying to think of what to do next. Her answer came in the form of a large posterboard stationed in between a set of wooden double doors. Lorraine knew of the campus theater, as she sometimes played in that room for piano recitals. The wood was finely crafted mahogany and the words "Patricia Corbett Auditorium" were plastered above them. But it wasn't just the theater on the ground level that attracted her attention. It was what was on the poster itself. The title was in solid gold, but it was engraved in a Victorian style and was right above the image of a pointed green hat with a red feather.
"Heh…" she smirked. "I hope this guy likes Peter Pan. Because we're about to take a trip to Neverland."
She turned around and ran towards the stair nearby, the Formless still in hot pursuit of her.
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"Phew…" Sprx heaved a breath and willed his hands to revert to normal. "That takes care of that."
Successful as they were, the Monkey Team had left the whole southern edge of the campus in disarray. The trees, the street, the sidewalks, and even a few of the buildings nearby were covered in black goop. Despite the vicinity being contaminated, there was minimal damage done.
"I still find it hard to believe that there are Formless here," nova remarked. LIke Sprx, she allowed her oversized fists to return to normal.
It was also tat that time that all of the monkeys, now unarmed had regrouped into a circle formation facing each other.
"Nor do I," Gibson added, putting his fist onto his chin. "It would seem that our enemies have used their own means of getting to this dimension."
Antauri closed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. "Now that our situation has gotten more complex, we need to discuss ways of dealing with each step one at a time. Let's find Chiro and Lorraine then regroup at the robot."
Right when he said that, the slime that was left by the Formless started to move. Each individual puddle moved in the team's line of vision, thus causing them to watch cautiously. As they watched, the warriors noticed that they were gathering into one large black mass just a few feet in front of them.
"Uh guys?" Otto groaned in annoyance. "I don't think it's over yet."
As the black mass began to build in size, two appendages started to jut out from both sides. The structures lengthened and thickened as each individual blob was added. Seconds later, when they had reached their maximum length of about six feet, the ends split apart into five sharp talons.
At the bottom of the mass, portions of it receded, thus giving way to what appeared to be thick stubby legs. More and more of the slime receded until bone-like structures appeared on the body. The legs and arms were now surrounded by a white bony armor. A larger piece of bone appeared on its chest, which looked like a giant chestplate. Finally, the face finished forming and bore the appearance of a Formless minion. The creature, now fully formed, outstretched its great arms and went into a karate stance; left foot forward and arms raised up as if ready to block attacks.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Sprx complained and rolled his eyes.
The monkeys got into their battle positions and transformed their arms into their respective weapons. All of them eyed the Hyperformless viciously.
"Monkeys mobilize!" the silver monkey ordered.
Following his command, they all jumped at the creature, ready to take it down.
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Mandarin was furious. Not only was his battalion taken down easily, but his sworn enemies were here as well. While his newly formed minion was dealing with the new threat, the turncoat monkey clone watched each of them with hate in his eyes.
When he had arrived at the scene, he had expected to see some collateral damage and even a number of humans wounded. Instead of jumping in malicious glee, Mandarin became shocked and horrified at what had happened.
"How can this be!?" he whined as the fight went on.
He was careful as to not give his potion away to his enemies. The rooftop he was on was that one of the few apartments nearby the campus. The living quarters were actually above the shops and restaurants so that it would be convenient for students to access them. Anyone curious enough to watch the sky and the street (and even the battle itself) could just get to the roof. In this case, there were none at all.
"They must have followed us here using our portal. Either that or they used other means…"
The armor-clad simian bared his fangs and growled.
"Either way, the master will not be pleased."
Mandarin knew that his creature would fail. They always did. Therefore, there was really no point in staying any longer. Yet, at the same time, he did not want to.
"Hm…" he knelt down and scrutinized the situation.
He watched as the monster swiped the one known as Otto away with its left arm. The green warrior had crashed face first into a brick portion of one of the residence buildings at the very edge of the campus.
Next up was Nova, who had decided to do a direct air attack. Like before, she raised her fists up high and prepared to bring them down like a hammer. When she yelled out her attack, the Formless turned around, took a moment's pause, and swiped her away with its other claw. She landed a few feet away from it, rubbing her head and shutting her eyes tight due to the new headache that formed.
"Then again, this could be my chance to prove myself to the master," Mandarin thought again. "If I destroy them now, he would never again threaten me!" he cackled.
With his mind made up, he remained where he was and watched both sides exchange blows. There he waited for the battle to end, regardless of the outcome.
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Lorraine struggled to keep the door shut. For the passed few minutes, she had been busy barricading the door with anything she could find. Since the door was hard to close and she was on a time pressure, Lorraine had no choice but to block her only way out of the room. The only items she found useful were an upright piano and a few chairs stacked around it.
"Okay," she breathed a tired sigh. "That should buy me some time."
The room she was actually in was not the theater, but the crafting studio. The theater, she had found earlier, was barren, and offered not a lot of tools for her to use. Instead, she headed towards the back of the theater and found herself in a hallway before making it towards the large, gymnasium-like room. It was quite large, as it needed to be big enough to hold multiple props and tall enough to allow as much space as well. Other than the room being littered with supplies and incomplete props, there was really not a lot to look at. The walls were concrete and painted white and there were a number of metal cupboards both big and small on the perimeter edges. The lights above were big and bright enough too, as there were only two hanging bronze chandeliers. But Lorraine was not here to hide. She was here fight and she needed a weapon.
The first things she checked were the cupboards. The girl checked them all but found nothing useful. All the teen found were papers, different wooden planks, paint, metals, and other supplies.
Disgruntled with the last fifteen minutes of searching, she went to the next possible place to look. At the very back of the right of the studio, next to a pile of large wooden backdrops, was a lone metal door. The dark-haired girl rushed over to it, avoiding the crafts and supplies on the ground. Once she got to the door, Lorraine tried to turn the knob, but it ended up being locked.
She let out an aggravated scream. "Damn it! Now what?"
Suddenly, a bang sounded from the other side of the blocked door, which caused her to yelp in surprise. Lorraine looked back and saw the door shake along with another bang. There was no doublt that it was the Formless that was hunting her. The young woman searched from left to right, desperate for something to defend herself.
Out of a desperate whim, she rushed over to the treasure chest at the very left wall of the studio, this time nearly tripping on a stand-alone chair. The chest was finely furnished; the walls of it were a crimson red and the borders were a sparkling gold. Green gems dotted the line borders and a latch with a keyhole was at the front, where a padlock would be. Lorraine prayed for it to be open, because whatever was inside would either help her or make things worse.
Another band sounded from the door. This time, it was followed with the sound of breaking glass. Lorraine glanced back and saw the minion attempting to squeeze itself through the door window and the chairs. She returned her attention to the chest, placed her hands on the lid, and pushed it open.
A huge smile creased across her face. Luck was definitely on her side. The contents in the chest were filled with a multitude of weapons, both types being wooden and metal. They were definitely for the play, as Peter Pan featured a series of sword fights between children and pirates. Lorraine did not have time to scavenge through the pile of weapons, so she grabbed the first one she saw, which was a silver and gold rapier.
She wasn't much of a swordfighter, but she was a fan of the art. The girl knew that fencing required the use of a different stance. Lorraine had watched a few shows involving these types of swords, so she intended to use what she remembered.
Lorraine put her right foot forward and outstretched her right arm, which held the sword. The Formless had now gotten itself free from the barricade and walked slowly towards her.
She took a deep breath and charged forward with a battle cry. The first thing Lorraine did when she got close was a frontal swipe. The alien skeleton dodged this by performing a backwards somersault. This was then followed by it jumping high and descending towards her for a stomp kick.
Lorraine reacted to this by sidestepping to the right. When the Formless landed, she charged again and executed a series of swipes and stabs. The alien dodged them all except for the last hit, which resulted in its left arm being cleaved off. It staggered back and stared at its opponent.
The teen let out a laugh and jumped at the accomplishment. "Yeah! Take that slime shake!"
It was at that moment that the minion attacked her back. The kick the Formless did impacted Lorraine's stomach and sent her flying at a pile of wooden upright chairs. She screamed and landed with a grunt. The chair legs had hit her back hard, which left a few scrapes, scratches, and sore spots on her. Those marks would be there in the morning, but the fight was more important.
Lorraine let out a growl and staggered back onto her feet. When she did, the alien charged at her with its now extended claws.
Claws met metal. The ring of each block echoed through the whole room. For a normal human, Lorraine was doing well holding her ground. She blocked and dodged each attack in good timing. She knew that the Hyperforce could easily defeat the Formless because of their abilities, but her limitations did not stop her from trying. If there was one thing she knew about the Formless, its they were strong, but stupid.
Lorraine intended to use that knowledge to finish this fight. She brought her sword down onto the monster, which caused to block with its free hand. The girl then brought her left foot up and sent it flying with a stomp kick. The creature landed a few feet away onto a few planks of wood. When it came to, the last thing it saw was a blur of silver and black.
The nineteen year old skidded on the floor, breathing heavily from the effort she put into the brawl. She lowered her arms and straightened back up to look at her opponent. the slime skeleton sttod there for a moment before its head slid off its body. When the head crashed onto the floor with a splat, it disintegrated into a pile of goop. The same occurred with the rest of the body.
Lorraine breathed a sigh of relief. She brought the rapier up and saw that the middle portion of the blade was covered in the black substance. She used a portion of her shirt to wipe it off then placed it onto a lone chair. Moments later, the slime on her shirt lifted off and flew to the source pile nearby. With the missing piece returned, the puddle of slime moved and crawled away from the victor. It bypassed the obstacles at the exit with its disgusting squelching sounds before disappearing from the area. Lorraine knew that the slime would return to its master. But she decided to brush that off for later.
"Now to get myself out of here…"
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The five cyborg monkeys breathed heavily and stared at their opponent. They had been attempting to utilize direct attacks but it was not working. For its immense size and girth, it was very fast in its movements.
"Is it just me, or is this guy a lot smarter than the other ones we fought!?" he mentioned as he stood behind his blue brother.
"I believe so..." Gibson agreed. "Skeleton King must have upgraded his army as a new strategy for him."
Antauri, who was a bit away from his teammates off to the left, took a few steps forward and got into a battle stance, despite the injuries he's gotten.
"Somehow this creature can track our movements. Attacking individually isn't working. We need a different strategy."
"No, what we need is more firepower!" Sprx argued. "We need-"
"Chiro Spear-o!"
At that moment, a golden lightning bolt flew above them and struck the enemy in the face. The attack, composed of pure electricity, stunned the Formless and did some significant damage to it. The shocks went through its body and caused some portions of ooze to fall apart from its body. The creature took a few steps back and with a flex of its arms, broke free from the attack.
All of the monkeys turned around to see their leader, powered up for the battle, on a bicycle. Sweat fell from Chiro's brow and tiring breaths were heard from him. The Chosen One jumped out of the vehicle and took his position at the front of the team.
"Chiro!" Otto called in joy. He was being supported by Nova off to the right of the team's position. His left arm was draped over her shoulder. After a few seconds, he managed to get his weight off of her and got into his own battle stance, saws prepared and all.
"What took you so long?" Nova asked him with sass.
"Sorry I'm late team. Traffic was bad and I had to use the only form of transportation I could get my hands on when I left," he replied, not tearing his attention away from the skeleton in front of him.
The yellow monkey looked at him curiously and then the bike that was sprawled right behind him. She frowned at the choice of vehicle he used, but that wasn't important now.
"Antauri, am I hallucinating, or is that a Formless?"
The silver monkey stared at the leader for a moment before returning his attention up front.
"Your eyes are not being deceived Chiro. Our enemy has escaped to this dimension."
"I don't know what Skeleton King wants with this world. Whatever it is, we can't let him get away with it!" the boy gritted his teeth in anger. "Let's take this guy down!"
"Chiro!" the scientist of the team yelled, off to his left. "It's able to track our movements. Individual attacks aren't working!"
"Yeah but I don't think it can track us all at once," he said with a smirk. "Monkey Team, attack in sync!"
"Sprx, Nova, distract it!"
At that command, both red and yellow monkeys jumped high up in unison. Both of them put their fists/magnets together and sets of yellow and red waves emitted from them respectively.
"Electro-vibro force!" Sprx uttered his attack name.
"Sting ring!" Nova did the same.
The HyperFormless took a few steps back and used its great arms to cover its nonexistant ears. It reared its head back as if it were screaming. Chiro then outstretched a fist and said his next order.
"Bigson, Otto, Antauri, slice-n-dice!"
With the super skeleton now distracted, the remaining monkeys are able to attack it with ease. The blue, green, and silver simians charged at the Formless in different directions. It was as if streaks of blue, green, and silver were cutting through the creature in unison like arrows. As they did, pieces of the enemy began to fall apart onto the ground.
Finally, as the coup-de-gras, Chiro jumped up into the air, passed the double wave and slash attacks, and made his finishing move.
"Monkey Fu!" he cried as he put his wrists together and arms out.
A stream of green light energy shot forth from his open hands and made contact with the minion. When it did, the entire being fell aparta nd was burned away from the Power Primate energy. Even the debris was burned away as well. The light was so bright that the portion of the street was engulfed in it. That was because Chiro had to put a lot of power into his attacks just to make sure all of it was destroyed.
When the light died down, all evidence that there was even a Formless there was gone. The Hyperforce, now standing in a V formation, stood triumphantly at their accomplishment.
"Great job team!" Chiro acknowledged proudly.
"Phew," Sprx sighed and wiped his forehead with a palm. "Took some work, but we did it."
Otto ran up to the leader and stood in front of him with huge innocent eyes.
"Now can we have some lunch?"
The boy chuckled and put his right hand on his neck. He was about to reply but was then cut off by a sound in the distance. The Hyperforce turned and noticed a few blocks away, a handful of black and white cars with flashing blue and red lights were coming their way.
"Later Otto. Let's get out of here before the cops catch us."
With that said, all of the monkeys (including a disappointed mechanic) escaped into the university. Chiro had just gotten a hold of the bike. But then, he saw something move out of the corner of his right eye. He followed that very diretion up to one of the rooftops. At first, he let out a gasp at the sight of the skeleton armor-clad monkey, and then turned into an angry scowl.
"Mandarin," was all he said.
The monkey clone said nothing back. He did not even react when their gazes met. After a few seconds, Mandarin turned around and ran off, disappearing from sight.
"Hey kid! Where are you?" the hot head of the group called from nearby.
"I'm coming!" he replied. He followed after them, but still kept a frown on. Even the descending stairs did not hinder his task of bring the flame-clad bike with him.
"Say, before we get back to the robot, shouldn't we find Lorraine first?" the scientist, who was somewhat ahead of the group, suggested.
"Good point," Nova answered, who was running right in front of Chiro. He was now riding the bike, since it seemed to be a faster way of travel at the moment. "I kind of saw her go this way during the fight. I hope she's okay."
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Back in the conservatory…
Lorraine was in a pickle. Sure she had defeated her first Formless alone, but her efforts at barricading the door were a little "too good". So good that she had managed to allow some of the chairs to fall on her while she was trying to crawl her way out. She did squeeze half of her ody through the door, but her lower half was trapped.
For the past few minutes, she had been trying to pull herself out, but with no luck.
"Hello?" she called for the tenth time. "Need some help here!"
"Anyone?"
Silence was her only response. Lorraine whined and lay on the floor, both hands under her chin. She pouted and blew a strand of hair from her face.
"Shitballs…"
And lo, it is done! Well...it's been a while. Writer's block really stinks sometimes. I'm really sorry about that. I'll try to get the next chapter ready soon. Please be patient. Also, I'm a little rusty with my writing so if something looks wrong, my apologies. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next one :).