The Gorilla Man
Preshow:
The twins were back in the stage again, waiting for their cast to arrive. They sat in their color-coded director's chairs, a large table in front of them. The last pre show had gotten a little vehement, so the table doubled as possible shield should anything more than normal would happen.
"Do you think they'll like this episode?" Mirror asked.
Image shrugged. "They should at least to a better job this time. I hope they learned not to do it cold turkey like the first episode."
Before more could be said, the cast for the day's episode stormed into the stage. The white haired Jiro and the green haired Naotoki walked, almost in perfect unison, clutching scripts, side by side. They marched right up to the table and slammed said scripts onto it.
"Why in hell am I playing an absolute moron?" they demanded synchronously.
Naotoki continued. "This Shrevvie character is a complete idiot! He has no comprehension skills whatsoever! How am I of all people supposed to play him?"
"And what is up with the plots of these episodes?" Jiro demanded, his one eye cold in fury. "First there was a smuggling ring that used people to smuggle, now you have me as the bad guy AGAIN, and I'm supposed to think I'm turning into a gorilla? Where do you come up with these things?"
The twins held up their hands. Mirror went first.
"We didn't come up with the scripts!" she defended. "None of these are ours, we don't own them. Consider this our disclaimer, alright? All we did is cast you guys to parts."
"So why am I that moron cab driver?" Naotoki demanded, his snake eyes narrow.
Image shrugged. "You did such a good job with the last episode, that we thought we'd put you in a more difficult role. There are four really main characters in the Shadow. The Shadow and Margo Lane, obviously, and they're already cast."
"So they don't have to worry about things like this. . ." Jiro muttered.
Image ignored him. "The third is Commissioner Weston. Since Koma looks so good in suits, he gets that part. The other is the cabbie, Shrevvie. Playing an idiot is probably the most difficult role to play in acting." Image suddenly grinned. "Especially for such an educated man such as yourself. With you're superb job in the last episode, it just seemed fitting."
Naotoki looked up to the ceiling. "What, what did I do to deserve this?" he asked.
A redhead barged onto the stage, coming from the costume wing.
"What," demanded the young Yagyu. "Is this?" She slammed a costume onto the table, on top of the two scripts.
"That's you costume," Mirror replied.
"You expect me to wear this?"
"You're an animal handler this episode. Yes."
"I reiterate. You expect me to WEAR this?"
Mirror and Image nodded.
Yagyu huffed and stormed back off the stage, muttering something about tailors.
The twins looked back to see the snake eyed Naotoki and the white haired Jiro still there. "Yes?" the asked innocently. "Was there something else?"
The two sputtered and left. Next to enter was Sanada. He looked more nervous then anything else. "Mirror?" he asked.
Said twin attempted to control her starry eyes. "Yes?" she replied dreamily.
"I'm the announcer, right?"
"Uh-huh." Shojo bubbles started to appear around Mirror. Image started popping them with a handy needle.
"Why do I get a part as well?"
"Because I know you can do it," Mirror cooed. Image popped the more bubbles before the increasing volume consumed her.
Sanada grinned. "Really?"
"Yes."
"You're not gonna torture me or anything?"
"Me? Never." Mirror sighed heavily, a picture of complete bliss. Image gave up and let the shojo bubble swallow her.
"Then, er, I'll try my best."
"You do that, Ryo."
As he left, Kayura ran onto the stage. "Naotoki is driving?" she asked.
Mirror, out of her dream state and trying to resuscitate Image, nodded absently.
"We're gonna die. . . He doesn't have a license!" Kayura shouted.
Image, finally conscious again, nodded. "We do everything for realistic reactions."
Kayura threw up her arms in defeat. "If I even get a scratch, a SCRATCH! On this episode, you'll be slapped with a suit so fast. . ."
The twins smiled evilly. "Don't worry," they said in unison. "Nothing's going to happen."
"That makes me even more scared," Kayura muttered.
The Gorilla Man
The acoustics still working beautifully, the thunderous chords of the organ rang through the theatre, and the audience vibrated with it as another episode of the Shadow started.
The sexy laughter tickled the audience's ears as Cale's Shadow voice entered the sound system. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows! Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Ryo entered next. "The Shadow, mysterious character who aids the forces of law, and order, is in reality Cale Sasaki, wealthy young man about town. Sasaki's constant friend and companion, the lovely Lady Kayura, is the only person who knows to whom the mysterious voice of the Shadow belongs. Today's adventure: 'The Gorilla Man'."
There was a pause before Ryo continued. "First, I want to remind you all that the Shadow is brought to you by Swords and Sorcery, the torture fic of all torture fics, for both authors and actors alike. The sheer scale of the fic is devastating; I have the swollen feet to prove it. And now, the Shadow!"
Rather than the scene opening in some particular place, the audience saw nothing but black. However, they did hear an internal monologue of Rajura. In fact, it was a rather bizarre monologue.
"I am," Rajura's silky voice started, "the Gorilla Man." The audience burst out laughing. "Life is not very good to me. I was never very nice on the eyes," Rajura cleared his throat and many Rajura fans disagreed. Loudly. "I was a specialist in gorilla behavior. I was a scientist. I was also very strong. That all changed when I went on a safari to Africa years ago."
The audience looks at the vast savannah of Kenya. Oh well. Gorillas would live in the jungle. Anyway.
"I was studying a particular gorilla tribe. Gorillas fascinated me. Particularly Big Boy." The audience looked to see a huge silverback gorilla hunched over and looking at the camera curiously. Next to the large animal was Rajura, looking remarkably handsome.
"I helped my team catch Big Boy for a zoo. But I only allowed it if I could be the caretaker of Big Boy and no one else. They agreed because no one else could come close to Big Boy. I could enter his cage without any fear of danger."
The scene switched to a small cage, hardly adequate for any animal by today's standards, but considered extremely large for the 1930s and 1940s. Inside was, surprisingly, a different silverback.
"One day, I was tending to Big Boy and feeding him. He always did understand me better than anyone else did. However, visitors of the zoo walked by. They weren't very polite."
Little Yulie Yamano and his parents walked by. "Mama! Mama look! There are two gorillas in the cage!"
"Now dear, don't be rude," the mother said.
"He's got a point," the father agreed with his son. "That caretaker looks more ape than human."
"Hush! It's probably something glandular. Now come along."
The scene faded and Rajura's voice came on again.
"Glandular. What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Switching scenes, Rajura was seen talking with the redheaded Anubis, the caretaker of the. . .snakes.
Naotoki's voice was heard off stage. "That jerk had better not even touch a snake or I'll deal with him!"
Back to the story.
"Well, if it isn't the Gorilla Man," Anubis jeered trying very hard to come off with a Cockney accent and failing miserably. "You ugly ape."
"Nubie, just go away," Rajura growled, feeding Big Boy.
"You're actually turning into an ape," Anubis taunted. "Someday you'll be locked up, just like Big Boy here. Hahahahahahaha!" The redhead walked away.
The scene faded to black and the organ boomed.
Rajura's voice once again spoke.
"I finally got my hands on Mirror. Excuse me, I finally got my hands on a mirror." Rajura couldn't finish his thought as the audience was surprised by his sudden cries of pain. When he finally did start talking again, he was much more subdued. Actually, that seemed to improve his acting. I wonder if I should do that more often. No, Dais/Rajura fans would kill me.
"When I finally wiped the dirt from the. . .the. . .I saw my reflection. What Nubie said was true. I was turning into a gorilla. My skin was more wrinkled. My hair was getting longer. My lips could no longer cover my teeth. I was turning into a freak. I would be captured and put in jail! I'll show that Nubie. I'll hide. I won't be locked up. . . I won't be taken away from Big Boy. I'll roam and eat from the fields. We're in farmland right now, so I'll be fine.
"It's been several days now. I'm living alright, but I'm lonely."
Several Rajura fans raced to the screen to make sure that wasn't the case for much longer. Unfortunately, this was a movie theater and they couldn't enter the black screen.
"I need Big Boy. There's no way about it. I must see him." Rajura chuckled. "I still have the key to his cage, after all. . ."
The black screen finally opened to the cage seen before. Rajura was already inside and looking over the large silverback within.
"Big Boy! You're not well! They've been treating you as bad as they treated me?" Rajura leaned forward, stroking the large gorilla's fur. "Why, you're hair is matted in blood! Oh Big Boy!"
"Who's in there with Big Boy?" Oh well. There goes the Cockney accent.
"Nubie," Rajura growled.
A rather tipsy redheaded Anubis laughed. "Well, if it isn't the Gorilla Man. Came to join your friend?" Anubis pulled out a long whip. The smile he gave wasn't exactly drunken like it's supposed to be. "Well, I can treat you the same way I treat that big gorilla, you hairy ape."
CRACK!
"Take that!"
CRACK!
Rajura grabbed the whip as it encircled his arm and pulled Anubis to him with unusual strength. The Gorilla Man wrapped the redhead in his deadly embrace. Both of them yelled several things in the struggle, but it was incredibly hard to make out. Anubis appeared to be begging for his life, upsetting Anubis fans, and Rajura was describing how he was becoming more like a gorilla.
"You're crazy!" Anubis yelled before limping out of the cage, somehow escaping by some great mystery that has yet to be explained.
Rajura, however, was muttering "Kill, kill, kill." His grammar was starting to deteriorate.
The organ blasted everyone again.
The camera cut to a dark, deserted street. The lampposts gave poor light, and the only sound that could be heard was that of an engine. The noise grew louder until there was a screech of tires, and suddenly a yellow cab screeched onto the dark road. It swerved over both sides of the street, only narrowly missing parked cars, fire hydrants, and the aforementioned lampposts.
Inside the car, the green haired driver was enjoying himself immensely.
"Maybe playing this Shrevvie character won't be so bad," uh, Sekky, said happily.
"Says you," filtered to voices from the back. The camera swung around to reveal Cale and Kayura, clutching each other in cold fear, as Sekky swerved around another corner, driving momentarily on only two wheels.
"Anyways," Sekky said, dropping immediately into character. "You's be lookin' very good Miss Kayura. Very good you be lookin' I think." He looked into the rearview and gave a goodhearted smile.
"Eyes forward, idiot!" Cale shouted as he saw they were headed for a building. Sekky turned the wheel, overcompensating and headed to the building on the other side of the street. Cale closed his eyes, waiting for impact. When none came, he risked looking up to see that they had somehow averted disaster and were still on the road.
"Whose line is it?" Kayura asked, trying to look like she wasn't petrified. It wasn't working.
"I lost track," Cale muttered. Trying desperately to get his mind off Sekky behind the wheel, he brought up something else. "What am I supposed to do for this Shadow?"
"What do you mean?" Kayura asked, trying to welcome the distraction as they entered another hairpin turn.
"I found some time to listen to some of the tapes. There must be like a million different actors. There's Orson Welles, Billy Johnson, Victor Jory, Bret Morrison, and I don't even know who else. The guy who played the Shadow in this episode was. . . weird. One of my lines is 'Come down you insane fool!' How do I say that and sound serious?"
Kayura shrugged, her eyes never leaving Sekky. "How would I know? You practically switch personalities when you do the Shadow. You barely act in one minute and give everyone shivers the next. What's up with that?"
Cale grinned wolfishly. "Difference in character potential. I much prefer the Shadow over that near-perfect wuss Lamont Cranston."
Kayura gave a half laugh. "Lucky."
Before more could be said, Sekky slammed on the brakes, causing Cale and Kayura to fly forward. Seatbelts hadn't been invented yet. Prying themselves off the windshield, they turned to the snake eyed driver. "What the hell was that for?" they demanded.
"I heard a cry and I stopped, I did," Sekky said. "There was sumthin' in the lights, so I figured I'd stop before I hit it, I thought."
Both Kayura and Cale blinked. Kayura shot a glance at the camera and saw that it was running. Time to act. "Why," Kayura said, her voice again girly. "What on earth was that thing?"
Cale, also spying the camera, only glanced at his booklet and turned to the blue haired Kayura. "Margo. Damn, I mean, Kayura, you'd better stay here. Sekky and I will see what's going on outside."
Ducking the left hook, Cale exited the taxi and joined the already outside Sekky. "Did you see what it was?"
"Not really, Mr. Sasaki, I didn't." The cab driver jutted his head toward the ground, trying to get Cale's attention. Cale looked on dumbly for a moment before remembering what he was supposed to do. Nodding appreciation to Sekky, he knelt down.
"What's this?" he asked, his acting a little better than before. It's amazing what happens when people bother to at least look at their lines. He reached out and turned over a redheaded body. Something was clutched in its hands. Cale was oblivious to the various cries that came from the audience as well as the threats to the twins. How dare they kill 'Nubie! Cale unable to get the corpses hand loose, finally punched the corpses' face before it finally let go, and held the item out to the head lights that were still on. Rigamortous doesn't set in that quickly.
"What is it, Cale?" Kayura asked from the cab. The camera couldn't see her head because she was below the driver's seat, trying to disconnect the wires so Sekky wouldn't be able to start the car again.
"It's a body, it is," Sekky replied. "I did see a lot of hair, I did. It was all long and stuff, it was."
"I doubt it was an animal," Cale said, standing up. Oh! I think his brow is furrowed in concentration! Good work!
"Why not, Cale?" Kayura asked. She gave up on the wires and instead was trying to figure out how to ruin the engine without the camera seeing it.
"Because," he replied, holding up the hair in his gloved hands. "It's human hair."
Sekky blinked, looking completely lost. "How do you know that, Mr. Sasaki?"
Cale shrugged. "It's in the script. I have no idea."
"Oh."
The organ roared at its deafening tones, and the scene switched again.
The scene faded to a distance shot of Cale and Sekky. The camera watched as the two picked up Anubis's body and dragged it into the zoo.
"I actually killed a man." That was Rajura. It's rather odd. He acts much better when you don't have to look at his face over emphasizing everything. In fact he's quite good with this type of work. Anyway, back to the show.
"I killed a man, something that shouldn't be done. But I'm glad I did. He was nothing but a pain in the ass that was younger than the rest of us but bossed around. I'm glad he's dead."
Damn. Go Rajura.
The camera pointed through the window of the zoo manager's hut. Through the window, the camera could see Cale and Sekky put 'Nubie's corpse on the managers table. Oh wait, that's the manager? Ryo fans screamed. Ryo actually had a part other than the narrator/commercial guy! Joy!
"What a shame," Ryo stated, pulling out a sheet and covering the body. "An animal killed him, I suppose."
"What makes you say that?" Cale asked after glancing to his palm.
"'Nubie was a notoriously nasty drunk. He liked to go into the animals' cages and beat them when he got drunk enough."
"I suppose," Cale said slowly, "that he had a lot of friends here at the zoo?"
Ryo chuckled. "'Nubie? Have friends? No. He just had a wife. Even she didn't like him all that much." The young zoo manager ran a hand through his hair. "Mia's Byakuen's trainer." Ryo scowled. "I usually get along better with the tiger though."
"Shall I break the news to her?" Cale asked.
"You probably should."
The scene faded to black and Rajura's voice filled the speakers.
"He knows. He knows I'm the one who killed 'Nubie. I can't let him find me. I have to stop him and the green-haired snake. Even if I have to kill again."
Shivers went down the audiences spines before the organ blared again.
"Remind me again why we're doing this?" Kayura said.
"The twins threatened to write us into another drama," Cale replied calmly.
"But the plot is so. . . weird. . ." Kayura insisted.
"I completely agree. But when do we ever have a say in the plot?" The pair walked up to a door and Kayura knocked before Cale could.
"I can do things myself, you know."
"Yes, you can. But Margo Lane can't."
Kayura huffed. "Well, she can now. So there."
The door opened to reveal Nubie's wife, Mia.
Cale and Kayura gawked.
Someone in the audience shouted, "Fan service!"
What was Mia wearing? Clothes, first of all. But said clothes were hardly appropriate for a zoo keeper. See, the original character took care of a panther, and looked the part with luminous green eyes and jet black hair. That's what Lamont and Margo tell us. Since Mia has red hair and White Blaze is a white tiger, the twins decided to compensate by putting Mia in a kitten outfit, including the ears and tail. The men in the audience started drooling.
". . . Yes?" Mia asked. She shot a look to the camera that stated "If you dare even think it, you will need an operation. I will see to it personally."
"Uhm, uh, er," was about all Cale could sputter.
Kayura, being a girl and therefore immune, well, unless it's yuri, but I don't even want to go there, picked up on Cale's lack of dialogue.
"You are the wife of a 'Nubie?" she asked.
"Yes," Mia said flatly, glaring daggers at the still gawking Cale.
"He's dead."
"Good."
Kayura blinked.
"He was twice as bad as that drooling clod over there," Mia explained. She turned away from the door, offering Kayura to enter. She forgot that her back was equally attractive as the front. Cale was coming very close to turning into a cartoon wolf.
"An animal?" Mia asked, pouring two cups of tea and making a point of ignoring the male.
"What makes you think it's an animal?" Kayura asked, trying hard to keep in character.
"He beat animals," Mia said. Her words were hurried, as if she wanted the scene to be over. "He tried to beat White Blaze, over there, but I set some very definite ground rules.
"You keep a tiger in your home?" Kayura asked, spying the caged tiger nervously. Cale was still heaving.
"He's better company that 'Nubie," Mia replied. "I suppose I have to identify the corpse?"
"Yeah. It's in the manager's office."
"Okay, be back in two shakes." Mia, still glaring at both Cale and the camera, left, much to the distain of said Cale and every man in the audience.
Kayura took the opportunity to splash her cup of tea on the scarred man.
"Ouch! That was hot!" Good, he was back to normal.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Kayura demanded. "On second thought, never mind! You left me to do that entire scene by myself?"
Cale blinked. "What was I supposed to do? How's a single guy supposed to react when a body like that is stuck in front of him?"
"Insensitive, inconsiderate, thoughtless boar," Kayura muttered.
"Wolf, not boar!" Cale replied.
Any further argument was deterred, however, at the sound of breaking glass. Both looked up, completely forgetting that they were in the middle of a scene, and subsequently that this was supposed to happen. Oh, well, that means we get honest reactions. Isn't that conveeeeeeeeeniant?
The room, poorly lit, shadowed the figure of a man as it climbed into the open window. The shadows supernaturally followed the man as he went over to White Blaze's cage and broke open the lock, and backtracked with the figure as it went back out the window. Kudos to the light people for pulling it off realistically.
"Thank you," Sage replied.
White Blaze, who wasn't happy about being put in a cage, sulked his way to Cale and Kayura, his brown eyes furious.
"I suddenly hate cats," Kayura muttered.
"No kidding," Cale said from behind her.
Wait a minute, behind her?
"You coward!" Kayura shouted. "You're a wolf, he's a cat! Go fight him!"
"Me!" Cale shouted in reply. "You bite my head of one minute and expect me to save your butt the next?"
"MY butt? Your mind really is in the gutter! I'm the defenseless maiden, remember? Do something?"
"What about making Margo Lane strong and independent? Funny how it's suddenly disappeared, huh?"
"You shut up!"
"You fight it!" Cale roared.
"No, you!"
"No, you!"
White Blaze watched as the two exchanged their shouting match back and forth. It was sort of like being at Wimbledon. Finally, bored, he returned to his cage and curled up for a catnap.
"What the hell is this? A lover's spat?" Mia had returned in the interim. The boys in the audience cheered, but Cale and Kayura were too busy screaming at each other. Were it not for the fact that Mia had a microphone on her choker, her voice would most likely be drowned out. Under her breath she went on with her lines. "'Nubie was hated by all the animals and almost all the trainers. Especially Big Boy's trainer. Before he disappeared a few weeks ago, he swore that 'Nubie would get his comeuppance." Then, Mia added in a louder voice, "Now get out of here!"
The scene cut to black before anything violent happened, and the organ ran through the audience in hopes of making them forget that horribly done scene.
"Well," came on the voice of Ryo. "That was a painless part, er, I mean, what an exciting episode."
"You got that right!" said a random guy in the audience. Several women thankfully smacked him. Hard.
"Today's episode of the Shadow is brought to you by, er, your friendly neighborhood Blue Coal's Dealer?" Ryo shrugged, but no one saw this. "Ladies? Don't you hate those long winters with those inaccurate temperature modulators or all that expensive coal? Well, the people at Blue Coal ask you to invest in one of their temperature regulators. You put it in the basement and set it to the temperature you want, and your house will remain that temperature, no matter what. Clean your filters regularly, and you too, can have a nice, warm home this winter. Blue Coal, housed in Pennsylvania and recognizable for its blue color, can be found at any of our suppliers."
Everyone blinked.
"What the hell was that?" Sekky asked.
"I think that was one of the original commercials for the Shadow," Ryo replied, his voice muffled.
"Does that company even exist anymore?"
"Probably not."
". . . Then why the hell did they advertise it?"
Ryo answered, "Because you guys were so upset with their advertising fanfiction that isn't even complete yet and patting themselves on the back."
"But 'Blue Coal'?"
"Don't look at me!" Ryo's voice returned to normal. "And now, back to, the Shadow."
The scene opened with a distance shot of Cale and Kayura, still arguing and loudly, walking back to the cab.
"How could you just stare like that? Have you no consideration!"
"I'm a man! I can't help it! You never see her in something like that in the series or the OAVs. You notice when someone looks nice!"
"Please! You were drooling! What were you thinking? I thought you liked Unacera!"
If only the camera wasn't a distance shot. Blushing would be seen.
"Leave Una-chan out of this!"
"Oh, Una-chan is it?"
"What right do you have to talk to me? You're the one with the crush on one of those 'bishounen'! We never did find out who it was, so don't lecture me!"
Blushing really should be seen.
"You snake!"
"You called?" That was Sekky. Okay. That does it. The idiot in the sound booth has just secured his unemployment papers. We're supposed to be listening to Rajura.
"It's about time you noticed," Rajura muttered. Clearing his throat, Rajura read his lines as the audience continued to watch Cale and Kayura argue in front of Sekky.
"My plan failed. They were still alive. Me and Big Boy needed to run. Me kept pace with Big Boy. Change coming faster. I'm glad! I welcome change! Humans never did good to me. I much happier to be civilized animal." Since his mind was degenerating, so was his grammar.
Unaware his microphone was still on, Rajura muttered, "I need to converse with the twins on adjusting my diction to behave in a more proper fashion, despite my disturbed character in this episode."
Whoa. What a difference.
After the organ blared its dramatic chords, the scene opened to Sekky's driving. Cale and Kayura were not speaking to each other. Kayura was keeping a weary eye on both men, and Cale was turning a map every which way to try and figure out where they were going.
Finally, he tossed it out the window. "Screw it." Glancing at his little booklet, he said, "There's an abandoned farmhouse up this rooooooooaaad!" Cale slammed into the side of the car as Sekky screeched onto a different lane, a manic grin on his face.
". . . Or this road," Cale murmured weakly. "I think we should investigate."
"Why should we?" Kayura asked, her voice acidic instead of confused.
"Well," the scarred Cale replied, his face suddenly angry, "Because the hair the corpse was holding was white hair. Mia--" he paused as Kayura shot him an all but lethal glare. "--had red hair. That exonerates her. The hair was human, which exclude the tiger White Blaze. So the farmhouse is the best bet of finding the murderer."
"Why?" Kayura asked coldly.
"Damnit, because the script says so, alright?"
"You can kill each other laters, you can," Sekky said as he slammed his lead weighted foot onto the brakes. The two were prepared however, and satisfied themselves with only flying into the front seats and not the windshield. "'Cause we's here, we is."
Said farm house was clearly abandoned. Why? It was a mess. Sections of the roof were missing; the glass of the windows had long since been either broken or stolen; the deck wood was rotting; it was just dilapidated. The three actors entered the house wearily, noting from the script that there would be prate falls. Fighting forgotten, they kept their backs to each other, forming a tight circle as they carefully tread the floors.
Sekky's mike picked up his whispers. "Kujuurou, you're supposed to split us up."
The blue haired man nodded, his fedora low over his eyes. "I know. I'm trying to figure out where."
On cue, there came a thumping noise upstairs.
Cale, thankfully, took the cue. "Sekky, why don't you investigate?"
"Okay Mr. Sasaki, okay," the green haired cabby replied. "You got my back, now, don'cha? You got my back."
Cale nodded.
Taking a breath, Sekky climbed up the stairs. He had managed three steps before there was a cracking sound, followed by "I'll kill those twiiiiiiiiiiiiiiins!"
Ah, well. Even the best can slip up once in a while.
Kayura, reacting faster than Cale, ran to the steps. "Naotoki, I mean, Sekky! What happened? Are you alright?"
Looking up the stairs, however she saw a gorilla instead of the cabby. Granted it was some man in a suit, but it was a gorilla, nonetheless. Unrealistic growling sounds emitted from the man in costume and he attempted to look fearsome. With an impressive leap, the man in a gorilla costume landed at the foot of the stairs with only a few creaks on the ancient floorboards. It grabbed the nearest body, Cale, in a bear-hug and started to squeeze.
"What the--?" Cale gasped, not expecting the move. Heaven forbid the twins tell them everything.
Kayura reached out and grabbed the man's head, pulling off the mask.
"Ryo?"
Face red in embarrassment, he nodded and motioned that Kayura put the mask back on, since the camera was still running. Kayura, realizing the poor man's plight, quickly complied. Sekky ran in from somewhere, his clothes ruffled and dirty, and pulled out a six shooter and fired. Ryo, er, the gorilla, stumbled back and fell through the previously secure floorboards, taking Cale with him.
Kayura blinked, completely shocked. "They're willing to do that to one of their favorite characters. . .?"
Sekky blanched at that realization, but said nothing as they waited for their next cue.
"You. You!" The three looked up to the stairs to see Rajura. His zookeeper clothes were filthy, and his hair was unkempt, and his face refused to look mad with rage. "You killed my. . . you killed my. . ." unable to say the word 'brother', he instead said, "You killed my friend!" He was starting to overact again. "Kill back. Kill! Kill! Ki--huh?"
The Gorilla Man was trying to move, but was inexplicably being held.
"The Shadow holds you, Gorilla Man," came a soft, silky whisper. "Like your conscience, you cannot get rid of me."
"Me gorilla!" Rajura shouted. "You no hurt me! I kill!" He swung wildly, but hit nothing. He swung again, seeming to make contact with something, as a faint groan filtered into the air.
"Free! Me free!" Rajura cried. "You no follow gorilla. Me free!" Dais bounded down the second floor hall, giving a convincing disturbed laughter.
"The Shadow follows you, Gorilla Man!"
"No follow on roof," Rajura replied. Expertly, he reached out a window and grabbed a gutter, hoisting himself up onto the slanted, shingled roof.
"The Shadow follows you everywhere," the Shadow's voice replied. A low, sinister laugh followed. "As the Shadow has said, no one can escape his voice."
Rajura looked honestly scared. How the hell were the twins emitting Cale's voice when he knew for a fact there were no speakers? Looking around, he saw a vine stretching up the brick chimney.
Rajura laughed maniacally as he played his part to the utmost. "Shadow no follow! Me free! Free!" He started to climb down.
"Come back! Come back you insane fool!" Yes! He did it and made it sound serious! Go Cale, um Shadow! "Those vines can't hold your weight!"
"Free! Free! Freeeeeeeeeeeeeee. . ." True to the Shadow's word, the vines didn't support Rajura's weight, and the insane man fell to his death. The organ resounded to emphasize the point.
The scene reopened with Sekky happily driving along. In the back, Cale and Kayura were once more clutching something in fear for their lives.
"Say, Mr. Sasaki? Where was you I was wondering where you was?" Sekky was actually rather convincing at playing an idiot.
"Where was I?" Cale shouted. "Where was-were you when that gorilla was manhandling me?"
"I was in the cellar I was. There were lots of nice snakes down there, lots of nice snakes."
Somehow, to Cale and Kayura, that seemed oddly appropriate.
"For a gorilla man, he looked rather human to meeeeeeee," Kayura screeched as the cab went temporarily on two wheels.
"Years of taunting do have a price," Cale muttered darkly, swearing revenge on those damn twins!
The screen faded to black, as the organ boomed over the audience. An eerie voice, low and sexy, laughed menacingly. "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay. The Shadow knows, hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
Ryo's voice came next. "Wow! What a painful, I meann exciting episode of the Shadow. Please tune in next week, same time, same station for, the Shadow!"