Winnie continued chasing Dennis down the hallway.
"Come on Dennis! Just admit it! I'm your Zing!" She said in a playful voice. Dennis looked back at her while he was running.
"No! I swear! You're just my best friend!" He insisted. Winnie however, was not convinced.
"Sure I am! I know you love me back!" She said. Dennis was honestly scared of Winnie's advances. She'd done this to him once before, but never this much. She was more determined than ever to make the two of them Zing.
Eventually Winnie chased Dennis outside and into the forest. She eventually caught up to him and tackled him.
"You're not getting away this time." She said with a grin. Dennis tried very hard to break free from her grasp, but he couldn't. She was holding his arms down.
"No, wait! Can't we talk about this?" He asked frantically. She shook her head.
"There's nothing to talk about, my Zing." She said. She moved her face closer to his and was about to kiss him, until she was suddenly picked up by a man in a strange outfit.
"Hey! Let me go!" Winnie screamed.
"Quiet!" The man said smacking her across the face. She whimpered when he did that, and this enraged Dennis.
"Nobody hurts my best friend!" He screamed. He tried to hit the man, but this only ended with him getting caught. The man picked him up and held both of them in front of him.
"What do you want with us?!" Winnie demanded.
"Tell me where the artifact is!" He said sternly. Dennis and Winnie stared at him in confusion.
"What artifact?" Dennis asked. The man seemed more enraged then before.
"Don't play stupid with me! We know the artifact to control humans and monsters is here!" He said. Dennis and Winnie honestly didn't know what he was talking about.
"Fine. Since you won't cooperate, you'll both die!" He said pulling out a silver knife.
"Help!" Dennis and Winnie both screamed as loud as they could. Luckily, Lara heard them scream and quickly rushed outside. She saw the man holding them.
"Hey! Let them go!" Lara screamed. She pulled out one of her pistols and shot the man in the chest. He fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Dennis and Winnie both fell to the ground and stared at Lara. They both ran up to her and hugged her.
"You saved us! Thanks Lara." Winnie said. Lara nodded.
"Don't mention it." She said. Dennis then looked at her.
"Who was that guy?" He asked.
"He was a member of Trinity. They're monster haters and they hate humans who don't share their beliefs." She explained. This worried Lara a bit. She had to find the artifact before they did.
"I need to start searching for it." She said. Winnie gave her a confused look.
"Search for what?" She asked.
"The artifact. There's said to be an artifact of immense power that can control humans and monsters. If Trinity gets ahold of it, they'll wipe out monsters and humans. I can't let that happen!" She said.
"Whoa, that sounds bad." Winnie said. Lara nodded.
"So, do you two know where I could start looking?" She asked. Winnie thought for a second.
"Well, there's a secret area under the hotel. Maybe what you're looking for is there?" She suggested. Lara smiled and patted Winnie on the head.
"It's better than nothing. Thanks Winnie." She said before going back inside the hotel. Winnie stared back at Dennis.
"Now, where were we?" She said in playful tone. Dennis looked at her and gulped.
"Oh no." He said taking off running with Winnie chasing after him.
(Meanwhile)
Lara searched around inside the hotel for any clues as to where the entrance to this secret area was.
"Hmm, where could this entrance be?" She said to herself. She noticed something out of place on the wall in the hallway she was searching and pushed it. The wall opened and she looked inside.
"Jackpot." She said to herself going in. This area was dark, so Lara pulled out a flashlight and searched around. It looked as if there hasn't been anyone down here in a while, because the area was full of spider webs and cobwebs. She continued down the dark hallway and she accidentally set off a tripwire, causing spiked poles to fly out of the wall. She dove out of the way and nearly missed being impaled. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was too close." She said to herself. She crawled under the spiked poles and continued down the hallway, being more careful to not set off any more traps. She eventually came to a large open area.
"Wow, this is incredible!" She said. She took a look around and found that the main door was locked by a set of mechanisms.
"Hmm, there must be a way to open this door." She said. She noticed several smaller rooms branching off the main room. She decided to explore these smaller rooms and see what was in them. After completing a series of challenging puzzles, Lara managed to open the door to the main room. She didn't find the artifact, much to her disappointment, but she did find a monolith with ancient Transylvanian text on it. She looked at it.
"In the Cave of Life, the mercury stone is guarded by the walking dead." She said translating what was on the monolith. She sighed.
"Well, I may not have found the artifact, but at least I have an idea of where it is." She said. She decided it was time to return to the hotel and came back the way she came.
(Meanwhile)
Winnie was still chasing after Dennis. She eventually caught him and pinned him against the wall.
"Come on Dennis, just give me a kiss! Just a little one?" She begged. Dennis shook his head.
"Eww, no!" He said. Winnie stared him straight in the eyes.
"Please?" She asked nicely. Dennis thought about it for a second.
"Well…" He began to say. Before he could finish, Winnie started moving her head closer to his and their lips were close to touching.
"Winnie, what are you doing?" They heard a voice say. Winnie jumped and turned around. Lara was standing behind them.
"Lara! Heh, how, how, long have you been standing there?" Winnie asked nervously. Lara knelt down next her.
"Don't be forceful with Dennis. Maybe he doesn't want to kiss you." She said. Dennis had a bit more time to think.
"Actually, I do want to." He said. Winnie turned and looked at Dennis. She was in complete disbelief with what he just said.
"You…You do?" She asked.
"Well, one little kiss isn't going to hurt." He said. Winnie smiled and grabbed him. She pressed her lips to his in a loving kiss. They parted after a few minutes. Winnie stared back at Dennis with a look of love in her eyes.
"Thank you Zing Zing. I enjoyed that." She said. Dennis kept it a secret, but he actually liked kissing Winnie. Lara smiled at this. Winnie then looked at her.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked.
"Well, not exactly, but I found a clue that will help me find what I'm looking for." She said. Winnie nodded.
"That's good." She said. Lara then nodded and yawned.
"Well, I think I'm going to get some sleep." She said. Winnie yawned too.
"Yeah, I'm sleepy too." She said. Lara then went to her room and Winnie followed Dennis to his. She then kissed Dennis on the cheek.
"Good night Zing Zing." She said smiling. Dennis smiled too.
"Good night Winnie." He said. He then went into his room and laid down on his bed. He started wondering how he was going to tell Winnie that he had a crush on her.
'Maybe I should just tell Winnie how I feel.' he thought to himself. 'It doesn't seem right to keep denying my feelings.'
He eventually fell asleep and decided he'd find a way to tell her some other time.