Here, here, with another Thrust Into Insanity instalment for you all. This is part two of "The Jailbot Ninetales Incident", what I'm planning to be an arc.
So... not much else to saw, so i'm just gonna shut up and let you enjoy the story. Cheers.
Last time I checked, I'm not getting Pokemon or Superjail for Christmas, so until I do I don't own either.
"Let's go guys, hurry it up," I snapped as I briskly headed down the winding hallway to our quarters. My Pokemon were lagging behind me.
"Awww, why do we gotta go back to the room already?" Emily moaned, walking the furthest behind. I knew she rather enjoyed behind able to wreak havoc in the outer Superjail parts. Oh well, she could suffer.
"Because I don't feel safe with that damn Jailbot Vixn floating around outside, okay?" I responded harshly, finally reaching the door of our room and practically shoving it open.
"Oh, but you felt so safe with the mass amounts of violent criminals out there, right?" Rex snarled sarcastically as he and my other little abominations filed into the room. I growled right back at him.
"At this point, yes," I replied, walking over the bay window and sitting at its edge, "You guys didn't see her face when she was flying away before. I saw it. And I swear I saw it turn red. Angry red. The red that makes it look like it wants to go on a rampage!" I began biting on my fingernails, a nervous habit of mine.
"Nyah Na Nyah Na," Hibiscus said, walking over and looking up at me. I paused, gazing at her.
"You just don't get it," I moaned, "If my ideas are correct, and that thing does rebel against her creators, then I have a feeling she's going after me."
"Nyah?"
"Because she's a clone, and clones always go and attack their originals. It's, like, a proven fact." Hibiscus let out a soft sign, and walked back to where my other Pokemon were, close to the lounge bed, glaring at me. I rolled my eyes at them in response. I knew I was probably overreacting, but I just couldn't shake the tight feeling in my stomach. Something bad was going to happen…
"Oh, come on, Dana, why can't you be like the Warden and just be happy about this thing? This is your clone! Made from you! You should be honored," I said to myself, turning to look out the window, "Besides, it's not like Vixn has shown any hatred of you direc-- OH MY LORD." I interrupted myself mid-sentence because of what was starting me down on the other side of the window.
There, face to face with me, was Jailbot Vixn herself. But something about her face was odd. It was now flickering like a glitchy screen, the emoticon itself staying mostly a blank expression. I stepped back, the tight feeling in my stomach growing stronger.
"Well, that's interesting…" I heard Rex comment from behind me. I nodded.
"Now do you see where my worries are coming from?" I finally squeaked. As soon as I said that, Vixn turned around and flew off, disappearing as quickly as she appeared. I shuddered. That glitchy face was not any comforting to this situation.
"What was up with her?" Kona questioned, sounding generally confused. I wheeled around.
"I think it was fairly obvious," I replied, tense, "That cyborg is in the beginning stages of turning evil and destroying us all. Or, in particular, me." I looked at my friends, who were still giving me blank stares
"I think you're just overreacting," Emily spat out irritably. She flexed her claws, "That was probably just a glitch in the programming or something."
"Yeah, I wouldn't get too worked up about it, Dana," Rex agreed. I growled, growing quickly exasperated by my Pokemon's indifference. How could they not seem the imminent dilemma in this?!
"You just keep telling yourself that, then," I finally grumbled out.
Suddenly, the crinkling sound of the intercom filled our ears, and my eyes hot to the little box in the corner, sensing it was the Warden.
"Dana, get over here!" It was indeed the Wonka-clone alright, but the tone of his voice made me panic. He sounded worried.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"It's… something with Vixn. Oh, hurry up and get over here!" I shot my Pokemon a smoldering glance when he mentioned Vixn. In reply they looked either slightly ashamed or in deep puzzlement. I couldn't tell. Anyway, I noticed the Warden sounded rather far away.
"Where exactly are you?" I asked, even though my I was already heading for the door.
"I'm in one of the prison yards. Not the one we were in earlier, a different one. I'll send an elevator. Just get here NOW! Oh gawd…" Warden moaned, and I knew this was serious. Well, more serious then I first intended it to be, anyway. And that meant this was extremely serious. I opened the door and bolted out, my Pokemon quickly following.
"Now do you see it?! NOW?!" I snapped at them. They visibly flinched.
"Nyah Na…" Hibiscus whimpered a she leapt up and onto my shoulder, Emily doing the same.
"I still think it's just a glitch," my Weavile muttered, "A slightly murderous glitch, but a glitch nonetheless." I growled at her.
"Do you think this has something to do with Vixn appearing before us?" Kona asked quietly. I spotted the elevator the Warden said he'd send, and as we approached the doors dinged open. We quickly squished inside.
"What do you think, Kona?" I replied bitterly to my Floatzel, who squeaked a little. I rolled my eyes, and looked at the buttons on the elevator. One of them in particular was lighting up. It said "Prison Yard 4". I nodded to myself, and pressed that one.
I knew my views on the problem at hand were serious when even the hellish ride that elevator produced didn't faze me. I was too caught up with worry. What was Vixn doing? Well, obviously it was something terrible; even I could figure that out without using the past evidence. The panicked sound of the Warden's voice was enough in itself.
A few moments later, the elevator opened itself, and revealed what was going on out in the yard.
It was chaos. I thought there were a ton of prisoners out in the other yard we had been in, but here that total seemed tiny. There were hundreds of prisoners scattered about, but most were fleeing. And they were fleeing from the demonic beast hovering above them all: Jailbot Vixn. I swallowed, and my Pokemon and I ran out. As we approached, I could see what Vixn's face was now a deep, blood red instead of green, the color I had seen it change before. She appeared manically happy, almost sadistic. And I could see what she was doing.
She appeared to be deep in a battle with Jailbot. Yes, the clone was fighting the original, just like I had thought up. The only difference was that she was after her robotic original, and not, at this time, myself. Vixn using her two powerful axe tails to deliver blows (while the other claws, I might add, were shooting down, catching inmates and ripping them apart, for the hell of it), and Jailbot using his own claws to try and defend himself. From the looks of things, Jailbot was losing.
"Well… would you look at that?" Rex remarked bluntly, as he and my other Pokemon stared up at the battling cyborg.
"This is why you people should listen to me," I grumbled in response, my eyes not leaving the scene.
"Oh thank goodness, you're finally here," a new voice said. I turned around, and looked at the much stressed Warden approaching us. He looked a little battered.
"What's going on here, Warden?" I asked dryly, even though at this point I pretty much knew.
"Vixn… she malfunctioned, I think. After she fixed that stupid fire problem, we were testing how well she could do her programmed duties when her face glitched and turned red like that. She just started attacking Jailbot," he explained, taking off his top hat and running a hand through his bristly hair.
"You look like you tried to stop the fight yourself," I said. I decided not to mention the fact she had appeared before us. Besides, from the looks on my Pokemon they knew as well as I did that it was connected to this right now. And, well, that I had been right all along, but that was a different story.
"Well, I tried to, but Vixn attacked me, too. The horror!" he moaned, "I was actually going to have Jared fix the problem, but when he saw her all crazy like that he screamed and ran. Psh, really, you can get no help around here. So, I called you in."
"You're a smart man," I breathed, and turned back around. Jailbot was looking worse for wear from Vixn's constant strikes.
Must be the Pokemon part of her coming out, I thought, only they have the battling skills like that.
"Man, Jailbot's getting his ass kicked," Kona stated as he and my Pokemon watched the robot and cyborg clash, "I don't think that's just a malfunction."
"Then what else is it?" the Warden asked, his voice a bit testy. I gave him a look.
"You said yourself that Vixn is alive," I said, before taking in a deep breath. I was going to have to go through my "the-clone-wants-the-original-dead speech again, "Living things don't malfunction. No, I think this more. I think she wants to destroy her originals."
"Oh, not this again…" Emily hissed. I was about the smack her when she quickly added, "Even if it probably is true." So, I went on.
"I mean, since that Jailbot Ninetales is a clone, she's built in with the want to destroy the originals, me and Jailbot, and take our places. It's implanted in, like, every clone ever made. Pure fact. She's starting on Jailbot. It's her target. And as you said, Warden, she won't stop until her target is destroyed." I growled slightly, "This prospect seemed too good to begin with."
"Well, if you're suggesting that," the Warden said in response, "How come she hasn't acknowledged you yet?" I flinched, deciding that I was going to have to let him know about her appearance after all.
Well, you see, she kinda did," I said, "She appeared in our window in the quarters. I freaked out. Her face was glitchy, flickering like some spazzy computer." The Warden nodded unsurely, as if he wasn't totally convinced even though I had practically shoved this evidence in his face.
"Um, Dana, do you have a minute?" Suddenly, Rex's urgent voice stopped the current conversation. I looked down at him.
"Yes, what is it, Rex?" I asked sharply.
"I think she might be acknowledging you again," he said, and pointed forward. My other Pokemon nodded. I blinked and looked.
My eyes met the red pixilated ones of Vixn. She was gazing at me now from her spot in the air, her tails whipping about. I swallowed. I think she might have found a new target. Behind her, Jailbot was hovering weakly about five inches off the ground. I could tell from the dents he had been beaten, badly.
"Warden," I breathed to Mr. Purple, "You go see if Jailbot's okay. I'll deal with this thing." The Warden stood his ground for a moment, looking annoyed, but I could see he knew his Wardeny powers couldn't help the situation right now, so he walked to Jailbot. Of course, his other reasoning as that he wanted to be nowhere near the floating cyborg demon before us. Speaking of which, it was no floating closer, and its tails were beginning to swish forward, poising to strike. I stepped back sharply, and looked down at my Pokemon.
"Don't worry guys," I said, "I have a plan."
"And that would be…?" Emily asked, just as freaked as the rest of us.
"Run for our goddamn lives," I replied, and quickly did just that. My Pokemon wasted no time following as we ran, screaming, down the prison yard. Vixn followed instantly, letting out a ferocious cry that sounded like a very large chainsaw about to slice into a tree.
I turned my head slightly as I bolted along, and swallowed. The Jailbot Ninetales was much faster than I anticipated. It was already almost upon us, and it fired two claw tails forward.
"Dodge it, guys!" I commanded, rolling to the side to avoid the claws. Hibiscus and Emily shrieked simultaneously, and decided my shoulders were the safest places to be, while Rex and Kona did their best to duck and cover.
This was what it was like for a long while. My friends did only what we could do: run, scream, and try not to get chopped up like sushi. All the while I tried to figure out if I could do more, if I could stop Vixn. Every now and then the Warden screamed at me to do just that, and it wasn't helping.
"Try to shut her down!" he called at one point as I rushed by. He was still checking over Jailbot.
That's a bit hard, seeing as I'm trying not to die!" I spat back, and narrowly dodged a swinging axe tail. For the most part I noticed Vixn was after me, only going after my Pokemon if they happened to get in the way. She was programmed just like the Warden said she was: to not stop until the target was removed, and to destroy any distractions that get in the way. I myself was hoping for a distraction to come up that wasn't one of my Pokemon, because maybe it would buy enough time for me to figure out how to stop it.
Finally, though, a distraction did come. And it came in the form of the top-hat wearing Pichu I had been assigned to remove from Superjail in the first place.
"What the hell is all this then?" I heard his voice before I saw him, and it made me stop in my tracks. There, not too far away, was Philpe, his purple hat still atop his head, though he himself looked bedraggles, most likely from hiding out in the air vents and God-knows-where so I wouldn't catch him.
"Philpe?!" I said in shock. The Pichu barely acknowledged my presence with a twitch of his ears. He was too absorbed by Vixn, said cyborg also watching him. I gritted my teeth, both worried and slightly thoughtful. Maybe if that Jailbot Ninetales destroyed Philpe I'd get out of having to get rid of him.
"Holy hell… what is that?" Philpe said, folding his tiny paws, "Looks like a weird-ass cross between that tin can robot and Dana."
"Hey, I'm right here, ya know!" I snapped, briefly taking in that Vixn might be taking Philpe's words as an insult. And that the cyborg was probably seeing the Pichu as a threat right now too. Not good.
"It's going make Philpe into chop suey!" Emily commented, still perched on my shoulder with Hibiscus.
"Nyah Na Nah Nyah," my Skitty agreed. Rex and Kona were also watching, bit a farther from where I was.
"I mean really, I thought the other jail guard robot was bad enough, but now there's this one?" Philpe was still taking, "Jesus, I just want to hang around a little while! There's no need to start making more critters to come after me! And a Pokemon-based one no less! Is this an insult or something…?" I groaned.
"Philpe, shut up, will you? That thing has nothing to do with you!" I yelled at him.
Well, actually, if Vixn sees him as a distraction and tries to destroy him, then this will have something to do with him… I thought, but quickly shook it out of my mind, "Do you not see the axe tails?!"
"Oh, I see them alright," Philpe replied, "But if that's the best you got, that's just sad. I can outrun that thing any day, axes and all." I let out an infuriated growl, getting more and more agitated by each of Philpe's words. And I could see Vixn slowly advancing towards him as well, which wasn't helping.
"Please stop having a gigantic ego, Philpe," I finally spat, unable to think of anything else. The Pichu turned, glancing at me.
"Hey, I can't help it if I'm gonna be faced with trash like that thing," he said, and flicked a paw in Vixn's direction.
And that was what did it. I think that insult about her axes pushed Vixn over the edge. Letting out the chainsaw roar again, she fired forward, rising up one axe tail, before swinging it back down, right at Philpe. I looked at him. As the axe blade became closer, I could see in his eyes that he had realized that he could in fact NOT outrun that blade even if he tried. No, he was going to be more inclined to have that blade slice right into him. And as much as I pondered what would happen if I had Philpe dead and out of the way, I had to do something.
"I'm so gonna regret this," I sighed as I bolted forward in a boost of speed, faster than I had gone before. Hibiscus and Emily had to jump off, I was going so fast. I rammed right into Philpe as the axe blade was about to strike him, and threw him back.
I was not without my sacrifice, though. As I was pushing him back, the axe blade glanced off my upper arm, making me hiss in pain. I blinked a minute, trying to let the sharp tears of pain pass, before glancing up at Vixn. She was growling.
"You know, you should really stick to killing inmates," I spat at the cyborg clone. It red, angry face looked even angrier, and it looked like it wanted to strike again. Fortunately, I saw Hibiscus run forward, lunging at Vixn, and creating a good distraction. I smirked a little, thanking my Skitty silently. Then I turned my attention to Philpe, "Now, as for you. Right now, without a doubt, you are the biggest idiot on the face of the planet, you dumbass Pichu." I looked at the slash mark I had received, which was dripping blood down my arm. Damn, that was gonna leave a scar.
"Okaaaay," Philpe looked both terrified and guilty, his eyes on my cut, "So maybe I couldn't outrun that thing… what is it, anyway?"
"Damn straight you couldn't. I barely can myself," I replied harshly, "As for what it is, let me get you up to speed. That, my little Pichu fugitive, is Jailbot Vixn, a clone of myself and the robot Jailbot. Currently it is on a rampage and wants to kill me. You are now up to speed." I smirked slightly, even though I was still aching. Philpe blinked slowly, taking that in.
"Well, I guess I was correct in my assumptions," he said.
"I guess you were," I replied. I turned my head to watch Vixn continued to get rid of the distraction Hibiscus had created, "Now, I need a way to shut her down for good…"
"Hey, can I help?" I heard Philpe ask. I looked back at him blankly.
"What can you do?" I asked. He shrugged.
"I can strike when you least exact it," he said. There was a brief moment of silence between us after he said that as I stared at him. Suddenly he shouted, "LEAST EXPECT IT!" I shot back.
"Hmm… maybe that could be an asset," I said, keeping a watch on Vixn out of the corner of my eye, "But, you can help me on only one condition."
"What?" Philpe looked confused.
"You get your ass out of Superjail when we're done with this mess so I don't have to worry anymore," I said, keeping my voice sharp and (well, what I thought of as) commanding.
Philpe looked slightly troubled by my offer. He stared at the ground for a moment. I could hear Vixn's chainsaw roar from nearby.
"Can we hurry up with the decision making, please?" I snarled, tapping my foot impatiently. Philpe shook his head furiously, and then looked at me.
"Okay, you win; I'll help, and then I'll leave," he said, "Besides, it's no fun just hiding in all the small places so I don't get caught." I snickered.
"That's the spirit!" I chirped, thrusting my fist in the air. Okay, now that that was said and done, it was time to focus on the main objective. I turned to look at the still attacking Vixn, "Now, how to stop that thing… any ideas, Philpe?" I got no answer in response. Blinking, I turned to look at the Pichu.
To my surprise, he was gone. I gritted my teeth; he better have left to prepare for his "striking when you least expect it" and not to go hide in the air vents again. If he was doing that I'd track him down and personally rip him in half.
Ah well, I decided, it was better to focus on the current matter. Speak of the devil; I turned my attention back to Vixn, who I realized was still fighting Hibiscus. I clenched my fists, and decided that a good start to fixing the problem was to have the Jailbot Ninetales keep its attention on me.
"Hey, you, the giant half-breed, look over here!" I called, using what Philpe had done to screw himself up: insult it.
And it worked. Vixn's attention on Hibiscus dissipated immediately, and its angry red face locked with mine. I grinned, and waved at it.
"Why are you messing around with everyone else, huh?" I snapped, "I'm the one you want, so come get me!" Jailbot Vixn let out a grinding chainsaw cry, before firing forward, all its tails swinging and swishing towards me. Okay, I got it to focus on me, now this was the hard part. What the hell was I supposed to do to stop it when it was coming right at me?!
Um, shit, I don't think I really thought this through… I thought as I began stepping back, every so often wincing sharply from my arm; my eyes wide as Vixn pummeled forward.
"Nice one, Dana," I breathed to myself as I continued walking back. Ah man, I really should have thought about this more. What was going to do?!
Just then, right before Vixn was about to swing an axe tail at me, a stream of water launched out, striking the clone on her side and making her tumble to the ground. She shrieked in pain, a sound that reminded me of an overheating machine. I blinked.
"That was brilliant, Dana!" Kona suddenly cheered, and I turned, realizing he was the one who had launched the water. He and my other Pokemon had clustered to the side.
"What did I do?" I asked. As far as I was concerned, I just cornered myself in an attempt to go one-on-one with the Jailbot Ninetales.
"You made yourself a distraction, so we helped you out a little," Rex explained, "That monster forgot about us, making it a perfect time for a surprise attack." I titled my head, and realization that my poor attempt at fighting my clone had actually turned into a great idea. Well, if that was the case, no use telling them that I was just being a moron. I coughed, and straightened up my posture.
"Um, yes, yes, that was EXACTLY how I wanted my marvelous plan to go!" I said, and grinned sheepishly.
"Of courseit was…" Emily muttered. I noticed she was glancing at the blood down my arm, licking her lips. I glared at her, but decided not to go into that. Instead, I turned my attention to Vixn, who was still struggling to get up. The water really did some damage.
Wow, my Whirlpool really messed that thing up bad," Kona commented, "I mean, more so than how it messes up other Fire types…" My eyes suddenly widened as it all clicked into place.
"…that's because it's not just Fire…" I said quietly. My Pokemon looked at me.
"What do you mean?" Kona asked.
"I mean, that Ninetales is made of Jailbot too," I clarified, "Who's a robot, made of metal. So, that would make Jailbot Vixn, who picked up my Fire type and Jailbot's metal attributes, a Fire/Steel type. And as we all know, that's a typing that's very susceptible to water." I grinned maniacally as my Pokemon's face lit up with realization.
"I think we just found that clones weak point," Rex said.
"Just gotta get it a little water logged," Emily added.
"Nyah Na Nah Nyah," Hibiscus chimed in. I nodded, a plan already forming in my head.
"I know what we have to do now," I said.
Just then, with a weak metallic growl, my Pokemon and I saw Vixn weakly float up. Her red features were still blazing, but the water was showing it had lasting effects. With a sharp glower in my direction, she floated up with what strength the cyborg currently had, before turning and zooming off, turning the corner and disappearing from view. It took me a moment for that to actually absorb it, but when it did, my jaw nearly dropped to the ground.
"Well look who's flying off to go luck their wounds…" Emily snorted, her ears quivering. I let lose a snarl.
"That stupid cyborg!" I growled, "I was supposed to defeat her now! Gah… now what?" I gazed angrily at the ground for several moments, until Kona spoke up.
"Um… we could just… go after her…?" he said. I thought that over for a moment, raising my head.
"That's a great idea!" I cheered. My imminent stress over this must have clouded my mind and made me unable to think of something so simple. No matter. I quickly scanned the prison yard, looking for the Warden. I spotted him quickly, the purple stood out. He appeared to be walking back from somewhere. I also noted Jailbot was gone. Putting two and two together, I got it in my head that he probably sent Jailbot off to rest or something.
"Warden!" I called to him, before pointing in the direction Vixn has taken off to, "What's down that way? Vixn took off down there." The Warden paused, folding his arms.
"There really isn't anything of interest that way," he said nonchalantly, "Just a pathway, but it doesn't go anywhere of importance…" That was all I needed to here.
"Okay, that's all I needed. Thanks!" I said, before turning and jogging towards the pathway, "And don't worry, next time you see me, Vixn will be handled!"
"…wait, what?" I heard Warden say in confusion, but I wasn't paying much attention. I was too busy following the trail of my crazy cyborg clone. In fact, it wasn't until I was halfway there did I turn to look at my Pokemon.
"Well guys, what are you waiting for?" I said to them as they began walking towards me expectantly, "We have a Jailbot Ninetales to stop."
And the plot thickens...
Woo, hope you enjoyed. I had quite a good time writing this with the nice amount Vixn and Philpe action going on. No worries for you readers, next chapter has even more action, and perhaps a Twins appearance.
So, until then, R&R please, nice reviews make me smile. ;D