Chapter 4: The Baby Steps of the Female Bandicoot.
As I was being lowered from my literal sphere of influence by a very teary-eyed Dr. N-Brio, Cortex furiously marched all way to a closet located in one of the darkest corner of the lab, and then proceeded to grab what appeared to be a large, slightly yellow with age megaphone. With the same energy, he then marched over to the two double doors of the castle and immediately slammed them open, proceeding to then switch on his megaphone with a loud metallic cough.
"Attention all Soldiers!", Cortex screamed, his voice sounding loud and metallic through the device "Meeting in the Dining Hall! Stat"!
He then made his exit, causing the two doors to slowly close behind him, and leaving me and N-Brio to blankly stare at each other.
For a while, we just stood there, (or rather, I just sat there, and N-Brio just stood there). Eventually though, I then noticed that my restraints were now open, and then I immediately felt where the clamp had held me by my wrist with my other hand while N-Brio, eventually, walked over and lend me his hand.
"Ehhhh….", N-Brio said, still trying to recover from all the verbal lashings the doctor had given him…"I-I-I think he also means you".
"O.K Mr. Brio", a somewhat deep, yet childish, voice had said. After looking around the room for where that voice could have come from, it soon dawned on me, as soon as I coughed in a similar sounding tone, that that voice had come from me.
N-Brio then chuckled, "Pu-pu-please, call me N-Brio…. Doctor N-Brio. Cortex is the only one here you should refer to as 'mister'.", he proceeded to say with a slight eye roll.
Using footage from the vortex of people being rescued from such hazards as volcanos and cliffs as a guide, I then held onto N-Brio's arm as if it were a rope, as he pulled as hard as he could in order to get my large, (though not as large as it is now because of the amount of fat that was initially needed in order to get me to transform) ass out of my chair.
As soon as my feet were on the ground, I then began to walk over to that one door that still seemed to have glowed despite the turned off Vortex, only to be faced with another new problem: I did not even know how to stand up properly. Despite my best efforts to copy how the people on those screens stood and moved all about like how normal human beings do, this bandicoot las teetered and tottered around the room like some kind of drunken circus performer on stilts until she eventually tripped over a patch of uneven flooring, and fell flat on her starved movie star celebrity face.
"Here…", N-Brio had said, again, presenting me his hand, "Le-le-let me at least guide you to the dining hall".
Looking up at the man standing above me, I grabbed onto his arm as he, again, with tremendous effort, (though I was skinny as a bone then, I was still slightly taller and heavier than he was), he pulled me to my feet. Before my body even thought about colliding into the main computer, N-Brio then wrapped one of his thin, noodle like, arms around me, effectively becoming another pair of more sturdy legs, as we walked slowly through the two double doors and down the hall to the giant dining hall.
As we entered said dining hall, I grew a little anxious at the sight of how dark the room was, say for the Easter Basket's amount of scented candles that were scattered around the room, making each soldier's, (and Nina's), face more sinister than they had any right to be. As N-Brio escorted me to my seat at the back of the table, Cortex sat there on the other end, his shoulders on said table and his fingers interlocked, his face giving off an heir of frustrated disappointment to everyone in the room as if we were all equally responsible for what had happened.
As the two large doors closed with a large "THUD!", Cortex then slammed one of his fists on the table as if it were a gable and began to address the masses.
"Gentlemen…", Cortex said in a proud, military general like, tone, "…and ladies…", he then said looked to me and Nina, "…we have a problem on our hands. It has come to my attention that just moments ago, someone, I'm not saying any names, had managed to open the cell doors to both the Ripper Roo, as well as our dear general Napoleon, causing the Ripper Roo to run amok throughout the castle and slice the electrical wiring, allowing both of our proud members to escape".
Without Cortex even knowing, N-Brio then gave Nina a dirty look as she slowly looked down to avoid his gaze while tears flowed through her eyes.
"Telling by the Ripper Roo's over exposure to the Vortex, as well as the general's lack of exposure to it, they both poses a threat to both themselves, as well as our plans, as this island contains a number of different obstacles that pose a threat to anyone not knowledgeable of their where abouts.
To bring this next point home, Cortex then stood up on his chair, slamming his two hands on the table and looking us all in the eye…only for one of the candles to end up burning his goatee and resulting in a couple minutes of Cortex running the room while begging anyone to "Put it out! Put it out! Put it out!".
After a nearby lab assistant splashed a bucket of water on him, Cortex then walked all the way back to his seat and then continued.
"As I was saying, though the bridge that connects this castle to the rest of the island would prevent someone like those two from getting far, I will not stand to have two of my scientific subjects escape from me without consequence, understand".
Through the limited visibility in the room, you could see every available soldier nod their head in meek approval.
"Good. Now, in order to retrieve the both of them, we need to assemble a rescue team. Tiny, you will check the mountainsides of the island. I'm sure your jumping ability will help you scour every cliff".
Tiny then saluted Cortex, and then proceeded to turn and grin at everyone else like we were expected to be jealous of him.
"Koala Kong, since you will soon oversee mining facilities on North Sanity island, it only makes sense that you should check the underground caverns of the castle. A lab assistant will provide a lantern for you when you get down there".
Koala Kong then flexed his muscles and then turned toward Tiny, wearing a smug face that basically told him "Not so tough now, hey wise guy".
"And Pinstripe…"
Pinstripe then stopped polishing his gun and then turned to look at Cortex
"…You will explore the various facilities of Cortex Power. Though I heavily doubt they could have made it that far, it does not hurt to makes sure. Besides, it will give you a great opportunity to explore your new domain".
Pinstripe then picked up his gun and pretend to aim it around the room, returning his gaze to Cortex with a cocky grin.
"Great", Cortex said with his fist raised way up high, "With N-Brio leading a search party to check the body of water beneath the castle, the search party will disembark in one hour This meeting is adjourn…".
Before Cortex could slam his "gabble" on the table, my hand raised up toward the ceiling. Looking slightly confused, Cortex then looked at N-Brio, and then pointed his fist toward me.
In all honesty, I did not know what I was doing. From what I can remember, I think I was just copying one of the televisions from inside the vortex that had footage of a high school student raising her hand and volunteering to be class treasurer or something.
"I can do it! I can do it! Me! Me! I can do it!", N-Brio had recalled me saying, even going on to say that I was practically bouncing in my seat with anticipation while simultaneously looking as deadpan in the face as possible, (Facial communication obviously being something I had not learned in my trip).
Cortex, at first, did not seem to know how to respond. It was not like he would outright reject that I should go on this mission, for either he or N-Brio must have put in that volunteering footage in there for a reason (even though now that I think about it, the willingness to accept any offer given to you might have ultimately been for more domestic reasons, such as…servicing…the general).
Finally, Cortex gave a little chuckle and slid off his mighty chair, looking a lot smaller in the process, and then proceeded to walk all away around the table so that he was standing right next to me.
"Oh Tawna…", Cortex began, "I'm glad to see your enthusiasm for this mission, but I'm afraid that all bases are covered".
"And besides…", Cortex said as he waved his hand across the rest of the army, "I'm afraid your lack of time in the Vortex makes you a liability to the rest of the group. Perhaps later on when you are fully ready, you can help the general decide what to do with the war criminals he captures as we begin our plans of world domination. Now then, this meeting is adjourned"!
If this were any other story, I would have found this statement offensive, and would demand that he let me join them. Even going so far as to sneak out of the castle and find him myself if my first set of demands were not met. Instead, since my only knowledge of anything came from the Cortex Vortex, and the Vortex had told me I had no choice but to obey, I ended up trying to walk all the way back to my cell, only to fall flat on my face again.
"We…we…wait Cortex.", N-Brio had then said as we were about to exit, "Wu-wu-why not Tawna come with Pinstripe. Its her mate that's missing after all".
He then walked up to Cortex and whispered in his ear how Cortex Power is the least dangerous out of the hiding spots on the island, and how this would be a better time than any to try out this new invention that Dr. N-Gin had created before his leave to Barbados to evade the charges of war crimes he committed against smaller, less than developed countries. (at least, that is what N-Brio had told me).
Cortex then turned to look at me.
"Change of plans, Tawna you come with N-Brio to the lab, and then meet up with me and the lab assistants when everything has been arranged. Now then, without further ado, this meeting is adjourned"!
[A/N (Breaking Character here): I just wanted to quickly thank all of you for reading the story thus far, and for even creating alerts for when chapters pop up. Because of that, I wanted to inform you all that the schedule of releasing one chapter a week, (or at least try to release one a week when not distracted with moving to a new apartment or writing rough drafts of future chapters), may have to change due to the fact that I will now have school work that may prevent me from keeping up with that schedule. Once I will become acquainted with how this new school year will turn out, I will either be switching to either a biweekly or monthly schedule depending on workload. If will allow, (meaning I do not know how to do this without putting it in the story itself), I will try to keep you posted regarding any major changes that may need to happen moving forward.]
[Thank You and Goodnight]