Dear reader,
Good morning everyone, and welcome to Big Trouble in Little Rodentia; The Ride! I am you're author, DukePony, and I am here to give you today's safety briefing. Please keep all paws, tails, ears and children on leashes safely inside the vehicle for the duration of the chapter. If at any point during the chapter you feel; uncontrollable sadness, despondence, nausea, anger, or if you experience an erection lasting longer than six hours, we advise you to leave a comment. The story will begin shortly, so please
-Enjoy
"Here she comes now sayin' Bunny Bunny…"
Nick tapped his foot as he sang, keeping pace with the drums and guitar which only played in his head.
"Shoot 'em down turn around come on Bunny…"
Judy pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation at the singing fox whom stood next to her, a million miles away. Checking her phone's clock, Judy's brow crumpled in confusion.
"Hey, she gimme love and I feel all right now…"
Breaking her one-sided vow of silence, Judy held her phone up for Nick to see as she attempted to pull him back to reality. However, Nick's eyes were sealed shut as the amnesiac fox performed in his own separate world.
"You gotta toss and turn, and feel all right, yeah I feel all right; I said Yeah…"
"Nick?"
"Yeah…"
"Hay, Nick!"
"Yeah…"
"NICK!" Judy finally yelled, snapping the fox out of his musical trance.
Nick's glassy eyes focused back in on his surroundings as he was yanked from the stage back to the lavished elevator. Nick turned his attention to Judy, whom still held her phone out for him to look at. Nick shot the rabbit a puzzled look; "Sorry, Carrots. What's up?"
Judy fed Nick a frustrated glare as her foot briefly thumped on the floor of the still descending elevator. "We've been going down in this elevator for five minutes now." Judy returned the phone to her pocket before crossing her arms. "So either we're on the express ride to the center of the earth, or we're stuck."
"Maybe it's an elevator through the center of the earth... all the way to Shang Hi'Ena?" joked Nick, earning him an even angrier glare from Judy. "You try pressing the button again, carrots?"
Nick jabbed the solo button once more, and the pair went rigid as the elevator door slid open. Nick turned a smug smile on the now shocked rabbit; "and you wanted to leave me behind…"
"Shut-up," snapped Judy in embarrassment.
"Hay, I'm just sayin'" Nick teased as he tapped his temple for emphasis.
Stepping out of the lavished elevator, the pair was greeted with the stark contrast of industrial concrete and unfinished wiring. The long concrete hall had several rooms which broke away on its sides. The dingy hall way ended in a T, and was only lit by hanging industrial-lanps, which looked as though they had been added as an afterthought. Each bulb threatened to extinguish as its feed of power flickered and all but failed. Looking about his surroundings, Nick felt a curious wave of Deja-Vu.
"Well if there is a 'machine' down here, carrots" Nick said pointing towards the flickering lighting system "I'd bet my tail that's what's drawing all the power."
Looking about the dismal tunnel, Judy noticed a massive bundle of cables which fed out of a nearby room before running down the hall and disappearing around a corner. Cocking her head to the side in confusion, Judy made her way towards the cable-room.
Returning his attention from the lights, Nick caught sight of Judy's cotton-tail disappearing into one of the rooms. Taking off after his partner, Nick recoiled as his senses were assaulted by what stood in the massive circular chamber.
Firstly, Nick could not escape the smell. Sweat, fear and desperation assaulted his canine nose, prompting Nick to bring a paw to his snout. Nick's ears twisted and flicked about in much the same way as Judy's, as he spun on his heels in an attempt to wrap his mind around what he was seeing and hearing. Hundreds of stationary-wheels lined the inside of the tall circular room's walls. Cables choked the system of turbines as they made their way about the interior of the room like climbing ivy, before feeding into a central junction-box in the center of the chamber. Inside many of the squeaky-ramshackle generators ran the abducted citizens of Rodentia; all in varying stages of exhaustion as they turned their respective power-plants.
"Sweet cheese and crackers…" Judy mumbled to herself. Judy counted exhausted mice, gerbils, shrews and lemmings as she looked about the inside of the generator room.
"Their power has been consumed…" Judy quoted the imperial predator as she finished counting. "They haven't been eating the rodents, Nick; they've been using them to generate power!" Judy turned an excited expression on her partner as she realized the missing rodents were in fact still alive. "There are one hundred and thirteen mammals here; we found them!"
Judy sprung forward and wrapped the still reeling fox in a hug. "But why not just tap into the power grid, why this?" asked Nick, still disgusted at what he was seeing.
"If they plugged into the local grid, the power-company would be able to trace the electrical draw right back to them." Judy explained as she made her way to the miniature sub-station which all the turbines fed into. Flipping open a maintenance hatch on the machine, Judy whistled in awe of the digital display which fed her all of the generator room's information. "And if they're using as much power as this thing says they are; there's no way their draw would go unnoticed…"
Nick Peaked in-between Judy's tall gray ears and gave the digital display a look of shock. "What, are they trying to send a car back to the future? What uses that much power?"
Judy closed the hatch as she turned about to face Nick. "So-Shen must have been telling the truth about the 'machine'"
"Whatever Lo-Pan's 'controller' is; I think it's fair to say she's not using it to just go channel surfing, Carrots." Nick Turned his attention back to the army of exhausted rodent that lined the walls of the chamber. "First thing's first; we've gotta get these animals out of here…"
"Wait," Judy reached out a paw to stop Nick but was too late.
"Alright everyone," Nick cupped his paws to his muzzle as he yelled up at the running rodents. "Union break; everybody stopping running and listen to me!"
No sooner did the army of surprised rodents stop running, did the room fall into a complete black-out. Nick felt Judy's angry glare through the darkness as he realized what had just happened. "Don't say it," mumbled Nick through the darkness.
"Okay, allow me to rephrase; stop running, but keep walking and listen…" yelled the fox into the darkness. Disgruntled groans filled the room as the lights slowly came back on, much dimmer than they were before. "Alright, we are from the ZPD, and we are here to rescue-" Nick cut himself short as his ears twisted towards the door. Both Nick and Judy had caught the sound of distant laughter growing near. "Act casual!" yelled Nick to the imprisoned rodents before ducking into cover behind a massive bundle of cable with Judy.
No sooner had the rabbit fox duo disappeared, did a towering striped hyena burst into the room. This particular guard was not as muscular as the one whom was now in ZPD lock-up. However, he was taller, and moved with a quick precision that seemed to indicate the mammal was capable of great speed.
"WHY ARE YOU ALL WALKING!" bellowed the hyena glaring angrily up at his prisoners. "THIS ISN'T A UNION JOB! YOU DON'T GET PAYED BY THE HOUR! RUN!" The startled army of captives began to run in their respective wheels with a renewed purpose and fear. The hyena laughed to himself; "union jobs… Ha!" as he turned to leave. Stopping in the doorway, the hyena turned about to yell one last message at the power-workers; "THE BOSS IS ABOUT TO FIRE UP THE MACHINE. AND I SWEAR IF YOU SAD-SACKS DROP THE POWER AGAIN; LO-PAN AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE OURSELVES A FEAST!" turning on his heels, the hyena barked a laugh and left the chamber.
After waiting a minute for the hyena to move sufficiently down the hall; Nick and Judy crept out of hiding. Nick was welcomed back by angry remarks from the now sprinting rodents. Holding his paws up in an attempt to quell the insults, Nick addressed the power-crew.
"That's my bad, I'm sorry" Nick bowed his head as he spoke. "Let us call the ZPD, and we'll get you guys home shortly. Judy?"
Remembering that her own handheld radio could not communicate from the sub-district, Judy gestured for Nick's larger corded hand-set. Unclipping the piece from his uniform, Nick gave Judy the receiver and boosted the signal strength using the radio-pack which lived on his belt. The duo crossed their fingers as Judy keyed the mic.
*Boop*
The receiver made a solid connection with the ZPD dispatch frequency; which, despite traveling through massive amounts of concrete, only bared small signs of static.
"Break, break, break…" Judy cleared the air-waves of any chatter. "Dispatch, this is Detective Hopps; Come in, over."
The line was silent for an impassible moment. Only static came in, and the duo swapped worried glances. Finally, Clawhauser replied; "Detective Hopps, this is Precinct one Dispatch; what can I do for you today? Over."
The duo let out a sigh of relief, and Nick put an arm around Judy's shoulder, pulling her into his side. Judy continued; "Dispatch, this is Detective Hopps; we have located all of the missing mammals, I say again, we have located all of the missing mammals. Over"
The line was quiet again for an impassable moment before Clawhauser replied, excitement thick in the Cheetah's voice. "Detective Hopps; that is a good copy! We've pulled your location from the radio signal… and we are dispatching back-up and extraction right… now… approximate E.T.A is…" the Line went static.
Nick and Judy's ears flicked towards the junction-box in the center of the room as it began to beep. Hearing the hum of electricity, the duo noticed the lights beginning to flicker as something started to pull massive amounts of power from the room.
"That's not good…" said Judy taking Nick by the paw. "If these guys are as serious about starting 'a new order' as they seem; then we cannot let them use whatever their machine is." The duo left the generator room, and followed the massive bundle of humming cables. Tracing their way down the hallway, the duo hung a right at the T and continued to run alongside the cable as it made several other turns.
Bursting into a massive chamber, Nick and Judy ducked for cover behind a junction box. The room was set up like an auditorium, with Nick and Judy at the top with several electrical condensers and power-boxes, and three figures at the bottom. Cables wove their way down the stairs plugging into and feeding out of a series of mysterious machines. A tall gorgeous female Snow-Leopard stood in the center of the auditorium, making the final adjustments to a control panel. Her two remaining guards, the gaunt male from earlier and an imposing and intimidating female stood ready to throw twin switches. Finishing her preparations, the royal Leopard began to monolog to her guards, reveling in her forthcoming victory.
"For generations, this city has stood as an abomination to the natural order…" the leopard's voice was silky and dripped with venom as she picked up a thin cable which had a strange plug on the end. Prompting a silent gasp from Nick and Judy, the leopard plugged the cable into the underside of her wrist. Looking more closely, the duo realized that a multitude of her spots actually stood as small metal receivers.
"What the…" Judy trailed off in disgust as the leopard continued.
"A cesspit," the leopard spat, fetching another cable "Where prey are allowed to live alongside predators. A disgusting congregation of spineless mammals whom feast on bugs and fish; instead of meat as was intended!" the leopard plugged more cables into herself as the machines around her sprung to life. "This vile experiment in animal behavior has been allowed to exist because of technology… Animals that should rightfully die in each other's climates are kept alive by science alone… They are granted a disgusting half-life as they hide behind their climate walls. A gift of life from the minds of heretics and mad-mammals." The leopard paused for dramatic effect as she turned away from her onlookers. Dropping her ornate-silken robe, the leopard reviled two final bio-synthetic plugs; one at the base of her spine and the other at the base of her skull.
"Today…" the leopard plugged into the base of her spine. "Their technology will be their undoing…" The snow leopard turned around, exposing her full nakedness to all whom looked on.
Lo-Pan's two guards bowed their heads in respect of her decency, However Judy's ears flicked towards Nick as she caught the sound of stretching fabric. A snicker escaped Judy as she elbowed the embarrassed fox. Returning her attention to the stage, Judy realized that the royal-predators ears were also pinned forward, pinpointing the sound of Nick's embarrassment.
Oh hot-diggity!
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