Okay, a new chapter for you to enjoy. A bit shorter than the previous ones, but it'll suffice.
Oh, and here's a message to mr/mrs. anonymous reviewer 64: I only write this for entertainment. Any politically wrong grammar is none of my concern.
And also, I have no intentions of putting in any more game-series into this story. It's complex enough with EIGHT different ones, alongside my own characters. If you want a story with Jak and Daxter and/or Phoenix Wright, or any other franchises you like, in the mix, WRITE IT YOURSELF! (Sorry, had to say it to someone at some point.)
Well, enough of my babbling, and On with the Show!
Edit: Made the chapter a bit cleaner, and added A4O info.
Solana mind-plumbing service
After getting some looks from their audience, the young yellow-furred guy with the wrench talked. "Okay, I'm getting pretty freaked out by your staring at us," he said to Michael and the others, "Are we that ugly, or something?"
"I'm really sorry about my other companions, my dear friend," Michael said to him, "They just haven't seen cranky old war-robots before, or a lombax for that matter."
"No wonder, then," the furry guy with the wrench said, "Seeing as I'm about the last lombax in the universe, that makes sense."
"The last what-did-he-say?" DK asked befuddled.
"Lombax," Michael answered the gorilla, "An advanced race from the planet Fastoon in the Polaris Galaxy, known for their mechanical- and inventive skills."
"Is it perhaps he who's the one behind the portals you have here?" Fox asked him.
"Nope, not by a long shot, Fox," Michael said to the mercenary leader, before he pointed at the blue man with the beard, "It's him."
"Him?" Mario said, "But, he looks like he's a plumber."
"You're one to talk," the blue man said, "You dress up almost the same like me. But yeah, I'm the one who gave these furred guys a helping hand with the fancy transporters you lot probably experienced travelling through to this here planet," he said as he looked at the different people gathered behind Michael. "The name's Pommel Clogsbury by the way, but everybody knows me as 'the Plumber' back home. You guys can just call me 'Plum' if you want."
"Pommel Clogsbury? Seriously?" the young lombax said with a snort, "That's your name? No wonder you never introduced yourself to us!"
"I prefer to keep some of my personal information my own business," the alien plumber said a bit purple on his cheeks, before he hurriedly continued, "But enough about me! It's you who they've been waiting for. You're the hero here."
"Hey! What about me?" the big man clad in green and grey latex said a bit angrily, "I'm the super-hero of us, you know!"
"Of course he are," Michael said to the blue-skinned man. "Mind your words, 'Plum'. Don't forget your fellow travelers. Especially the one and only Captain Copernicus Qwark."
"Ah, it's good to hear some people have heard about my heroic deeds forehand here," the superhero-dressed man said with a smile.
"Of course I've heard about your deeds," Michael said smugly to the man called Qwark, "Although, 'heroic' is a bit of a deviation off the course your actions did to your residential galaxies at large."
"Uh, wha-what do you mean?" Qwark said taken a bit off guard.
"The 'Protopet-Disaster'," was all the half-wolf said, at which the superhero-man got a shocked expression and a slack jaw, followed by a deep red, embarrassed blush.
"Well, well," the young furry one known as a lombax said while he looked up at the 'Captain' with a smug smile of his own, "It looks like they've heard about your blunders on this far-off planet too, Qwark."
"Oh, shut up," Qwark said with a 'deflated ego'-tone, "Enough about me now, then. You're the one in the spotlight."
"Alright, then," the lombax said and turned to their 'audience', "I'm Ratchet, pleased to meet you guys. And this," he said, pointing to the small robot who stood at his right, "is my best buddy, Clank."
"Good evening, everyone," the little android said to them with a polite voice.
"Captain Copernicus L. Qwark, Galactic President of Polaris, actor and superhero here," the big man said with a slightly boasting tone.
"Big Al here, robot fixer, holo-game master Extraordinaire, and senior member of the 'Q-force'!" the fat nerd by his side told them with a nasal voice, kinda like Bentley's, only more confident and bigger-sounding.
"I've already been introduced, so no need for me to talk," the Plumber, (nicknamed Plum in this story, mind you!) said plainly.
"But you just did talk," Qwark said to him, getting a strange look back from the alien pipe-fixer.
"I'm Talwyn Apogee, nice to meet you fellers," the young girl with the long tail and ears said with a wave of her hand.
"Lieutenant Commander Zephyr-" "-and Chief Admiral Cronk-" ""-At your service!"" the two old-sounding soldier-robots told them with authority.
"And I'm Michael," the wolf-fox said to them in greeting, "And I have to bid you and your friends welcome to Earth. We've been looking forward to meet you guys for quite some time."
"Well, I look forward to getting to know our purpose here," Clank said to the wolf-fox with a polite smile, "It must be important if you sent word for us all the way out here."
"It is, my metallic friend," Michael told the short bot, "But the explanation, briefing and all that will all come in good time."
"Hey, 'Michelangelo'," Mario said from where he stood, "Aren't you a-gonna tell us their story like you did with us?"
"Of course I'm gonna do that," Michael said to the human plumber with the red cap before he took a sweeping look over the crowd, "It's just that I think we're a bit short on listeners right now. Where are Falisa, Krystal, Sly and Carmelita?"
"Um, yeah, about them," Abigail said from besides Robin, "They're not quite..."
""Not quite..." What? I don't like that tone," Michael said with a slight frown to the blue-haired raccoon girl.
"They're still in a trance," Abigail blurted out softly.
"What? Still?" the half-fox yelped with a look of anger and concern, before he ranted to no one in particular, "I thought I told her she should be done by the time Carm had been convinced of Sly's real intentions!"
"Don't blame poor Abigail for this," Ly said in the younger woman's defense, "I took a peek into their shared mindset, and they were having a really good time in there looking at Sly's past experiences."
"Sorry," Michael said to the fairy and the raccoon-girl, his ears down in apology, "I'm just concerned, that's all. Falisa's not supposed to be using her powers for so long, it'll wear her out."
"I thought you said her and Alexandra here had been training magic for some five years," Link said to Benjamin.
"Yeah, that's correct," Ben said, taking of his glasses to shine them, "But even though they've trained that long, they are not that able with power-draining spells. Just ask Kalasta here," at this, he pointed to the mage who was looking the two war-bots up and down.
"That is too right, young masters Turner and Link," Kalasta said to the twosome, "They are prominent within the magic arts, but at this stage in their lives, they tire out easily if they spend too much of their fresh, mystical energies at once. Given some two or three powerful spells, or a long period of time spending on hexes and such, they can become quite exhausted," he ended gravely.
"Well, that sounds... bad," the long-eared swordsman said with a slight look of concern for the cat-girl himself.
"Uh, what are you folks talking about?" the young lombax, Ratchet, asked confused, "Shared memories? Magic? Guys, not to be rude, but what the heck's going on here?"
"Oh, sorry about all this," Alexandra apologized to him, "It's just that a friend of mine, Falisa, hasn't finished with a certain 'personal matter', is all."
"Is there anything we can do?" the young girl Talwyn, standing by the lombax, asked, "Maybe we could help?"
"That's really nice of you to volunteer, girl," Alex said to her," But this is a problem that only someone who can travel to the inner minds of people can solve."
"The inner mind?" Clank said contemplatingly. "Hmm."Then he looked at the blue plumber, and the little red light-bulb sticking out of his head lit up. "Mister Clogsbury," he said to the portly blue man, "I recall it you have the ability to travel to the unconsciousness of individuals."
"I recall I told you guys to call me 'Plum'," the alien plumber said with a tinge of purple yet again on his cheeks, before he caught on to what the robot said to him, "But yeah, I've got the 'means' to do that, yep."
"Did you say you can help us?" Michael said to the plump man.
"Well yes, I did," Plum said back, "Though you fellers have to pinpoint me to the problem. I can't unclog their state of mind if I don't know who they are."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Michael said happily, "Let's get back up and get this show rolling!"
"Are you telling us we've got to walk all the way up again?" Luigi said with a tired look, "Mama Mia, this is a-gonna be some walk."
"Yeah, this place got some of the longest corridors I've ever seen," Ash said in approval to the leaner green Mario-brother. The rest of the gang nodded in response.
"Not if I have something in the say," Alexandra said to the crowd, "Just gather around me and we'll be up again in no time."
"You don't mean, by teleportation?" Benjamin asked her concerned.
"Don't worry, brainy boy," she said sweetly to the young glassed fox, "I've got that spell perfectly memorized and executed beforehand without failure."
"Yeah, but such a huge crowd of people? Won't that be too much for you?" Ben asked her worriedly.
"Don't worry, alright? I can manage, right, druid?" the young lioness told her boyfriend before she looked at the old wizard.
"Hm. Alright, Mistress Alexandra, you have my permission," Kalasta said to her. "But," he added, "If the spell gets too tough because of the amount of beings in need of transportation, I shall contribute with my own powers."
"Thanks, Kal, you're a real peach," Alex said to her magic arts' teacher.
When everyone was gathered around her, Alex began on the chant used to engage the teleportation-spell. While she was busy doing that, Michael nudged Plum to make him look at him.
"I've got a 'little' request," he told the plumber.
"Yes?"
"Well, I was wondering, that method you use to go into peoples minds to fix them, could maybe I come along inside with you?"
"Huh? And what in the cosmos would you want in there?" Plum asked the young part-vulpine.
"I just want to see for myself how the inner mind looks like," Michael answered him, "And also, I want to surprise my girlfriend with a little something."
"You mean that kitty-girl of yours, eh?" the plumber said suggestively.
"Yeah, though not anything naughty, if you think I was gonna do that," Michael told him with a disapproving look.
"Oh, alrighty then," Plum said, "Well, I've never tried that darn contraption with a second driver, but I think we'll be able to."
"Cool. I only have one more question," Michael said to the man, "Can I stand in a certain position when we 'head into their heads'?"
"Heh, well," the plumber said humored by the head-pun, "It could be done, but what do ya have in mind?"
"Well," Michael began, just before the two and everyone around them became enveloped in a magical light.
When the lightshow dissipated, the remaining guards inside the hangar were greeted with an empty spot where the crowd stood before.
One of them said a bit nervously to his partner, "Man, no matter how many times I see those girls and that crusty old man do these magic tricks, I never get used to them."
"You and me both, Jack," the other soldier said in return, before they continued their patrol.
Meanwhile inside the limbo that was Sly Cooper's citadel of memories, the master thief was busy showing his lovely Latin partner and the two psychic-adepts another of his past experiences.
"...And that was when Tsao's dragon had enough and released Penelope," he reminisced as the three girls saw him give the finishing blow to a giant, red, Chinese dragon that used to be a statue in the malevolent general's treasury. "And here," he continued as he made the image in the memory-orb change at his will, "Me and the rest of the gang is watching as you, gorgeous, escort mister 'Big-Cock' to the convict's entrance on the Interpol-helicopter, live on television."
"Oh my, I hadn't any idea I looked so, well, nice, in that dress," Carmelita thought with a blush as she saw herself on the TV-screen inside the orb.
"Yeah, no wonder that stupid rooster completely didn't notice your tail sticking out in the rear," Falisa thought with a smirk, "He was too occupied looking at his supposed 'bride-to-be'."
"Well, I can tell you girls that Carmelita most certainly gave him an electrifying 'wedding-kiss' he'll never forget," Sly thought to them, making all four of them laugh at the mental image of what Sly was hinting at.
"Well, good riddance to bad rubbish, I say," Krystal thought as she looked scornfully at the fried rooster-man walking into the prisoners' hold of the helicopter, "I can't believe he had such a lowdown treatment of women. Panther was never anything close to that stuck-up cock. A little unnervingly stalking, maybe, but he never forced any girl into something."
"Well, there's a big difference between a ladies man and a brutal tyrant," Falisa thought to her, "And that Tsao dude, well, he just REEKS of brutality!"
"And to think you went up against him for the sake of one of the Fiendish Five's daughter," Carmelita thought with wonder to the raccoon, "You really are a strange man, ringtail."
"Not strange, Inspector Fox," Sly told to her with a correcting tone after he ended the memory-playback, "Honorable. I may have been a thief, but I was and still am an honorable thief. And one thing that really makes me mad is when people don't treat others with the honor and respect they deserve.
"And Tsao was doing neither to Jing. I swear, if that cheating bird hadn't escaped from the battle we had in that bamboo-valley, I would seriously beat him to a bloody pulp for what he had done to that poor girl, and what he intended to do after the marriage," Sly ended with a cold tone that made the three young women shiver at his seriousness. "I didn't care anymore if she was the daughter of the Panda King or not: No one's allowed to treat a woman like a piece of shit just so they can have their stupid 'family-glory' secured!"
Then he turned to a warmer tone. "Women are someone to care for and love, not lock away from the world and violate. You girls deserve to be happy and enjoy life, to be around people you can trust and get help from. You deserve to find the right one for yourself, the one you want to grow old with and have children with."
"Oh, Sly," Carmelita thought with a small sniff and a smile, "You just really makes me want to love you more with your 'how to treat ladies right'-speech, you know that?"she ended with a mock accusation.
"I only say it as it is, Carm," Sly thought to the Spanish vixen with a grin, "Jing deserves so much better than a stuck-up wannabe-emperor who kicks puppies."
"And I think Sly deserves an extra kiss for being for human- and women-rights, or what, Senõrita Fox?" Falisa thought suggestively.
"Oh, he deserves so much more than just a peek on the lips, Senõrita Gaup," Carmelita thought to the attractive young half-lynx, "After all these incredible sights I've seen in here, I am more indebt to that ringtail than I would like to elaborate." "Indebt? As in..," Sly thought anticipating.
"As in everything," Carmelita thought to him, "I owe you not only for saving my life so many times, but for enduring all my swearing and all the times I chased you down. If only I had seen you for what you really were before..."
"It's not your fault, Carm," Sly told her while he gave her a soft hug, "All your police training and your will to fight crime blocked out your true feelings for me, and that's why you couldn't do anything but vent at me, the thief that caused your emotional confusion."
"I can't blame you for that, Miss Fox," Krystal thought to the police vixen, "Trying to make sense of an enigma like Sly would make anyone fret."
"Yeah," Falisa added in, "boys like Cooper are rare treats, that's for certain."
"Yeah, you nailed it down right there, chica," Carmelita thought before she moved her face closer to Sly's, "Rare, and sweet as heaven," before they closed the gap between them in a sweet kiss.
"FREEZE, COOPER! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" a bellowing voice suddenly shouted at them, which made the cop-and-thief-couple bolt out of their embrace, and made all of them look around in fright.
"What the- There's cops around HERE?" Sly thought in shock.
"I SAID FREEZE!" the voice from before shouted into their minds, "YOU'RE CHARGED WITH MINDNAPPING, SHOWCASING PERSONAL MEMORIES, KISSING AN OFFICER OF THE LAW IN PUBLIC, and..." at this the voice became less loud and brash, and started to snicker, "pee-he-eing your pa-ha-ha-ants off at a lo-ho-ho-ow joke."
At this, a certain wolf-fox appeared from behind one of the many spheres floating around. "Gotcha go-ho-ho-hood there, right?" he thought to the couple before he lost himself into fits of laughter. "Bwa, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ah! You guys looked like you were ready to poop bri-hi-hi-hicks!" the hysterical half-breed managed to think in-between his guffawing.
"Michael! How the Hell did you get in here?" Falisa thought to her chuckling boyfriend, having been mute in shock for the first 20 seconds after she saw him walk up on them from nowhere, "And, why are you here in the first place?"
"Oh, that," Michael thought as his laughing receded, "Well, you guys have been in this 'limbo' for one-and-a-half hour, mind you."
"That long?" Falisa thought out loud, "Oh boy, looks like we got a little carried away."
"Yeah, well I only came here to wake you girls and lone guy up from the trance," Michael thought, "Seeing as you had so much fun looking at Cooper's memories here."
"Well, it wasn't just fun Michael," Falisa thought to him, "Some of those memories were downright scary. Clockwerk, Muggshot, the Contessa, Neyla, Tsao, Dr. M... Oh Michael, you have no idea how bad they really were!" the half-leopardess continued as she came in closer, "Forget what the news and papers and all that said, those persons could compare to a hellish inferno with all the suffering and pain they made for Sly, his friends, and about anyone else in their way," she ended with a shiver.
"Okay, anything that makes you cringe besides the undead, has got to be really bad," Michael thought as he hugged the girl, before he whispered, "Even the part about the 'spice'?"
"Especially the part about the spice," Falisa thought to him gravely, "Michael, that spice was close to make Sly give himself up as a brainless zombie for the Contessa! If it hadn't been for Bentley, neither he nor Carmelita would be here now."
"Whoa, it was really that nasty?" Michael thought in wonder.
"The thoughts from inside a tight, cold room under heavy, merciless guard and a mind drowned with spicy drugs doesn't lie, Mickey," Falisa thought to him.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Michael thought to her before he looked at the vixen and raccoon, "Sorry about that, guys. I just thought I'd play a little joke on you. I had no idea you had seen lots of frightening stuff or something."
"We accept the apology," Sly thought to the half-wolf, "I guess we needed to get back to our senses, anyhow. It's just, this place is so incredible and such; I had near forgotten some of the memories I've seen now."
"Yeah, and it has been so helpful in showing me just what a great man Sly really is," Carmelita thought out loud before she looked at Michael and Falisa, "I have to thank you two for bringing us to your 'tech-fortress' so I could get to know Sly's real feelings here."
"Aw shucks, you're too kind, Miss Fox," Michael thought before he added, "But hey; this beats finding out the wrong way, right? A sudden crisis with a following realization, jumbled emotions, duty before heart, and all that jazz."
"Yeah, this certainly was way better," Carmelita said as she looked at Sly with a smile.
"Uh-hum," a new voice butted in, "You wanna get this mindset unclogged, or what?"
At this, Sly and Carmelita got pensive looks again.
"Okay, Mickey, I'm getting really tired of your tricks right now," Falisa thought with a frown to her beau.
"It isn't me this time, I swear," Michael thought sincerely to her before he pointed to the sphere he had showed up from behind, "It's the person that got me here in the first place who's talking. It's alright, you can come out now," he thought to the concealed person.
When the Plumber stepped out, Falisa screamed in their minds, "Omigosh! You!"
"Well, well," the blue-skinned man thought with a grin, "If it isn't that cute little kitten who tried to conceive a flower for me while I was here five years ago. My, how much more beautiful you've grown since then," he thought while he looked her over, "and might I add, you've grown real nicely in the right places."
"W-well, thanks, Plum," Falisa thought with a blush at him, before she looked into Michael's eyes, "You didn't tell me Ratchet, Clank and their friends had come."
"Well, they came while you guys delved into Sly's mind," Michael thought to her, "And now, me and Plum here have come to get you guys out of here and into the real world again. Couldn't let you guys miss their introduction, could I?"
Then he added to Falisa, "Besides, you shouldn't be doing this for so long. You're bound to get tired of keeping all of you guys in here with that mind spell, no matter how much of the responsibility you're sharing with Krys over there," he nodded at Krystal.
"Oh crud, I forgot about that!" Falisa said as she smacked a palm in her face.
"What do you mean, 'tired'?" Krystal asked her a bit wondering.
"Well, I may be good with magic, but I can't really keep doing it for too long periods of time," Falisa answered the Cerinian mystic, "At the worst I could get sick and stop my magic at the worst possible-" Suddenly, she shook, followed by the rest of the limbo wavering a bit, "-T-time."
"Uh, guys, I think it's time we woke up right now," Michael said to them all.
"But, I don't remember how to do that," Falisa thought a bit woozily.
"And I have no idea how to either!" Krystal thought worriedly.
"Oh, great," Carmelita thought with a frown, "I finally get to know Sly for real, and now we're bound to be trapped in his mind forever or something!"
"Not if I can help it," Plum thought out loud to them as he was looking behind some spheres. "Aha! I knew it," he thought triumphantly as he shoved the orbs away for the others to see.
"What the- What's a green pipe doing in here?" Sly thought confused at the sight of the, well, green pipe sticking out from the invisible floor of the limbo.
"Oh, that," the plumber thought in the raccoon's direction, "That there pipe represents one of the connections between a persons consciousness and their unconsciousness."
"Hey, I remember that one," Michael thought, "And I remember what you told Clank while in his mind too. 'Six minutes', eh?"
"Well, golly, they managed to 'find out' about that too?" Plum thought with a grin and quotation marks while he said 'find out'. At the sight of two vixens and one raccoon with puzzled looks, he hurriedly continued, "Never mind that, you'll find out what I'm talking about soon enough! Now jump into that pipe, and we'll see you real soon."
"And I bet you won't come with us down there, right?" Michael asked him with a slight grin after Sly, Carmelita and Krystal had jumped down, him still standing with Falisa in his embrace.
As I told that tiny clanking-bot," Plum thought, "I said AND I quote, "Plumbers don't go diving down strange pipes all willy-nilly, that be ridiculous!"
"You know, that sounds a little weird coming from someone who went looking for sewer-crystals in a sewer, crawling with Amoeboids," Michael thought with a smart remark to the Novalian.
"Well, that was for the missus, ya know," Plum thought in defense, "I'd do anything for her."
"So would I for my girlfriend," Michael said as he looked at the half-dazed young cat-woman in his arms, "Well, I'm no plumber, so I don't think you'll mind if I jump in there, or what?"
"Suit yerself, kiddo," the plumber thought to him.
"Great," the half-fox thought at the blue man before he looked at Falisa, "Ready for a tandem-jump down a drainpipe?"
"Anything, just get me out of here," she thought with a shaky voice.
"Okay then, honey, hang on tight," Michael said as he leapt up on top of the pipe with her and turned his head to the plumber, "See you in a moment, Plum."
"You too, and remember: Look before you leap!" the Plumber thought as a last remark to the half-wolf before he and his girlfriend went down the pipe...
When Falisa got conscious, she felt very weak and had a little headache going on, which made her unable to open her eyes properly. But suddenly, something touched intimately to her lips as she was kept upraised by two nice, strong hands.
When she finally opened her eyes, she saw Michael had picked her up and was kissing her softly, his eyes staring lovingly at her. She got more awake at this, but she didn't object to getting waked up this way. That is, until she noticed many faces staring at them, some blank, some childishly disgusted, and others again just fawning over the sweetness of their moment.
"You go, Michael," Rayman said to them with a big grin and a floating hand giving him the 'thumbs-up', "Way to go with waking that 'sleeping beauty'!"
"Okay, that's it," Falisa said when she moved her lips away from Michael's, "Show's over, so stop staring, please!" While some of the gang around them snickered, she turned to Michael again and said in a low, mock-evil tone, "And you are gonna pay for this later, mister."
"Well, so much for a 'good morning'-kiss," Michael said with a sigh as he let go of the girl, but he had to grab her again when her knees failed to support her. "Hm, maybe it's best if I keep hold of you for a little longer," he said with a smirk.
"I'd really appreciate that," Falisa said as the fatigue washed over her again.
When she was established in Michael's grasp again, Falisa looked over at Sly, Carmelita and Krystal who stood besides Fox and their gangs. "Well, I think we could say "Mission accomplished", or what Krys?" she said to the azure-furred woman with a grin.
"Definitely, dear," Krystal answered her back with a smile while in her own lover's hands, as she looked at the inspector, "I would say we got the job done with flying colors."
"And for what you two did, I'm forever grateful," Carmelita said to them as she gave Sly a genuine smile of love.
"Huh, that must've been some mind-cleaning," Bentley whispered to Murray, "I've never seen Inspector Fox look so calm and, well, happy this close to Sly, not even while he faked amnesia."
"Yeah," Murray said back to his turtle buddy in awe, "She actually doesn't look like she's gonna cart us of to jail for once. That cute cat-girl and that blue fox-lady must've done some awesome "bibbety-babbety-boos" to make her like this!"
As they all stood there, a flushing sound was heard from the other side of the room, as a certain alien plumber came out from the men's restroom stationed there.
"Now, then," Plum said as he walked up to the crowd while he rubbed his hands with an old cloth, "That'll be five thousand bolts for one unclogged mindset." At this, many of the others (with the exception of Ratchet and his friends) gave him a dumb look. Michael, though, only grinned at him.
"Sure, but I think you remember we don't use bolts as pay around here," he said remindingly to the blue man.
"'Course I do, I'm just kidding with ya," Plum said with a chuckle, "Couldn't help it without a lil' 'work joke', ya see."
"Uh, I don't mean to barge in on the fun," Ratchet said with his left foot tapping in annoyance, his arms crossed to the three as he raised an eyebrow at Michael, "But, I thought you said something about introductions?"
"Well, if you insist, I'll start right away," Michael said to the lombax before he pointed into the spacious lounge-room, "But would you mind if we did so inside where we can sit? I'd like to get my girlfriend comfortable while I talk," at which he looked at Falisa with concerned eyes.
"Come on, Ratchet, let's go inside and let the girl get some rest," Talwyn said to him with a look, "She looks pretty woozy, the poor thing."
"Alright, Tal," Ratchet said to her as he looked inside himself, "I could go for some refreshments after our trip anyway."
"I'm going to get Pablo to fix us some evening delights right away," Julius said to the alien cat-like man before he added, "And I'll be sure to have my folks down at the garage send up some batteries and oil for your robotic accomplices," which resulted in whoops of joy from the two old battle-bots standing behind Talwyn .
"Thanks a lot, mister!" the blue bot known as Cronk said with glee.
"I could go for a "Long Island Nitro"-shake right now," the brown long-faced one, Zephyr said with a dreamy look in his lens.
"You're too old to process that stuff, you know, Zeph."
"Says he who can't process the difference between a parasol-drink and a bottle of Pythor-acid!"
"Guys, please don't start now!" the Markazian girl said to the bickering robot-men, "A young 'civilian' are in need of rest. Now if you could please shut up and let her pass quietly..?"
"Whops! Sorry, Miss Apogee!" the brown-colored Zephyr said to his young protégé, bolting up into a salute as he noticed Falisa in Michael's arms, "We're ready to escort the poor girl to the closest hospital with our guarantees at stake!"
"It's enough if you just let us inside the room without a fuss," the long-eared and -tailed girl said to him.
"My, is this gonna be fun or what?" Michael said to his girlfriend with a grin as he put his right arm under her legs and shifted her body up to carry her bridal-style.
"Just give me a sofa to lie on and some aspirin for my head," Falisa said with a weak growl as her boyfriend moved into the lounge-room with everyone in the crowd following.
