Chapter 43- rescue of the prisoners in progress

Meanwhile

Kosmochlor stood in a room on a circular platform. Before him was a set of eight floating orbs, those orbs coloured red, yellow, green, blue, orange, purple, black and white. Behind the orbs was a massive screen and it showed a colour sequence to which the tested is to follow and replicate correctly. This room was one of the three rooms in the game area to test the young Talking Beasts and Creatures in three main areas and Kosmochlor and his group had been taken here. This room housed a memory game called Memory Chain and it tested the Talking Beast or Creature's ability to memorise and replicate a colour sequence; the screen before the one being tested would flash the sequence and the tested must replicate that sequence using the eight floating orbs, which served as buttons, in THAT exact order. The sequences started off simple and short but as the tested progressed, they got longer, more complex and quicker. The other two rooms contained an obstacle course in which a game called Stop'N'Start, a Narnian game similar to the human kids' game called Red Light Green Light, and the game of Hit the Button Lights in which the tested subject was set before a large wall of dark bulbs and they must hit the bulb if it lit up. This game was similar to the human game of Whack-a-Mole but with lights instead of a toy animal peering out of one of the set of holes the player must whack to send it ducking back in to its hole. The Stop'N'Start room had two types of obstacle courses: a land one and a sea one. Land Creatures had to run through the land obstacle course while obligate Aquatic Creatures like Dolphins had to only swim through the sea course. Amphibious Aquatic Creatures able to walk on land as well as live in the water such as Sea-Fish People, Penguins and Ichthyo-Centaurs, had to run through both the land and the sea courses. The three games were completed in any order and Kosmochlor had been put in the Memory Chain room first to have his memory and replication performance tested first. One of the other selected kids, the Sea-Fish Girl whose name was Lapis, was in the Stop'N'Start room. Being amphibious, she had to run both the land and the sea courses.

These three game rooms had additional rules and factors. In the Memory Chain game, a composure factor was added. Standing in for that factor was a Jack-in-a-Box creature and it was placed on a moveable platform on an extendable arm to the left of the subject being tested for memory and performance. However, this Jack-in-the-Box was not at all a friendly and cute sort. This Jack was one of the assistants and workers aboard the Pleasure Dome and served as the composure factor for the Memory Chain game. It would remain shut in its box on its platform which would move it slowly towards the subject being tested and the subject must replicate the colour sequence shown to them by the screen using the colour orbs correctly in order to keep the Jack at bay. If they completed the pattern shown correctly, the platform and arm holding the Jack-in-the-Box would retracted towards the wall. If they get the pattern wrong, the platform and arm will move the Jack within its box towards the subject faster. Once the Jack-in-the-Box reached the subject, the Jack monster will burst out of its box and frighten the subject and mark the end of their game. For Stop'N'Start, two monsters pursued the performer in the obstacle courses. For the land course, a giant Bee-like monster would pursue the performer while in the water one; a Sea Serpent monster would pursue the performer. If either of these workers reached the subject, they would strike the subject down to mark the end of their tests. The Hit the Button Lights simply had a Lanky-Limbed Teddy overlooking the subject's performance of hitting a lit bulb and set the time on which they had to achieve this. These three games may seem like innocent fun and tests for the young Talking Beasts kidnapped and brought here and they were promised that if they performed well in these games, they would be sent back to their homes, friends and families, but that was only a facade and the so-called promise a ruse. The REAL purpose behind these three games was to test the subjects to see if they would make effective slaves for the Pleasure Dome and the promise was only made to earn the young Talking Beasts and Creatures' trust to keep them from the TRUE purpose of the games. The subjects must pass all THREE games to succeed. If they fail even in the first game or if they passed the other two games but failed the third, they were 'scrapped' and sent straight to one of the kitchens in the Pleasure Dome to be turned into food either for the guests or the workers aboard this hideous and wicked submar-ship. However, some of the young Talking Beasts had begun to find out this true purpose and their REAL demise and Kosmochlor and Lapis were two of them.

Kosmochlor glared bitterly and nervously at the eight coloured orbs as the screen flashed him a sequence. To his left was the Jack monster in its box on a round platform on the extendible arm. The arm slowly moved the Jack towards Kosmochlor as he glared at the screen as it showed him the colour pattern to replicate. Kosmochlor was stressed and flashing timid gazes this way and that, clearly wanting to bolt out of here and escape the room like a deer upon sensing the scent of a hunter or predator. However, the black and green Kirin was trapped; the exits were blocked off by some Pleasure Dome workers and they watched the Kirin like a flock of hawks and ensuring that he stuck by the rules. Kosmochlor flashed these workers which were some Lanky-Limbed Teddies, Candy Woodland Creatures and some Monster Birds and Colour Beasts, a timid gazer and saw them glare at him with stern looks. Some had some sort of flat stone slabs in their hands or wings and were writing things down about the Kirin. Kosmochlor gazed timidly at the group before resuming his task. However, because his nervousness and the truth about this place were interfering with his concentration, Kosmochlor was sinking into dangerous sands. He had missed the sequence of three colours shown and spoken to him by the screen, that sequence being 'red, blue, green'. Timidly, Kosmochlor tried to replicate the pattern but he tapped the blue orb, the red orb and the green orb with his front hoof-like feet in that order, contrary to the order shown to him by the screen. A sound of WRONG occurred and the arm and platform containing the Jack-in-the-Box advanced towards Kosmochlor faster. The screen flashed and spoke 'red, yellow, yellow' and immediately, Kosmochlor replicated this pattern and somehow, he hit the red orb and then the yellow orb twice. The sound of CORRECT filled the room and the platform holding the Jack was retracted towards the wall and began to advance towards the Kirin again. Kosmochlor was shown the next sequence. However, this time, the Kirin's nerves began to eclipse his thinking and the poor Dragon Unicorn began to struggle to replicate the next patterns. He tapped the wrong orbs and earned himself the WRONG sound and an acceleration of the Jack towards him. The same thing happened and the Jack moved even faster towards Kosmochlor and soon, he began to feel his nerves reach the boiling point of panic. His watchers gazed on, observed his increasingly panicked behaviour and began to talk amongst themselves. Kosmochlor, his nerves now boiling and seeing the Jack's box REALLY close to him now, began to try and futilely replicate the colour pattern shown by the screen: 'green, yellow, red' but because panic was now taking control of his mind and body, Kosmochlor couldn't think straight or properly. He touched the green orb but then he deviated from the sequence by touching the orange orb and the yellow orb instead of the yellow and then the red orbs as instructed to him by the screen. A WRONG sound shook the air and the Jack in its box rushed towards Kosmochlor and the moment it was near the Kirin, the monster which resembled something made by Krampus exploded out of its box and screeched in the Kirin's face. A screech of TERROR exploding from his mouth, Kosmochlor bolted like a deer and tried to escape for the door but he was immediately seized by the Colour Beasts who threw lasso-like 'ropes' at him. These ropes which were brightly coloured rather than brownish like regular ropes but were not magical strings designed to be unbreakable except by certain blades wrapped around Kosmochlor's legs and body and knocked the Kirin down. Then Kosmochlor was restrained by the Colour Beasts while the lead observer, a blue male Lanky-Limbed Teddy, came up to him. Kosmochlor writhed futilely in his binds and under his restrainers but his restrainers tightened their grip on him to stop his movements. Kosmochlor then looked up at the blue Teddy as he glared at him with what appeared to be disappointment. Then what came out of his mouth sent shivers down the young black and green Kirin's spine.

"Bind this Kirin and take him straight to one of the kitchens to be turned into a meal for our visitors. It has completely failed the game and that's the end of its testing."

Kosmochlor shot the blue furred creature with long thin legs and arms like a Slender-Man or Squeezer with both outrage and terror. 'It'!? Kosmochlor was a Talking Beast and Talking Beasts were seen as persons since they were sapient creatures like Humans. It was derogatory to call a Talking Beast or any other Talking Creature in Narnia an 'it', and it was ESPECIALLY offensive to call noble creatures like Centaurs, Kirin and Kitsune (especially the Nine-Tailed Foxes) 'its' and doing this was punishable either by a hefty fine, detention or an injury. However, calling Talking Beasts and other creatures including Noble Creatures 'it's' was an extremely common occurrence during the Age of Winter as Jadis and her minions saw them as mere dumb animals and objects to be used as such. Additionally, the true intentions of these games was finally made clear to Kosmochlor and what he had heard Dolores mention through the wall during naptime was finally proven true. Kosmochlor was then bound further by his restrainers with one of the croc-like Orange Colour Beasts, picked up and carried to the exit. As Kosmochlor was carried out of the Memory Chain room and into the main lobby of the game station where the other young Talking Beasts were waiting (however, Kosmochlor's carriers went down a hidden tube to avoid being seen by the other subjects and so rouse suspicion), Kosmochlor finally snapped and his anger at EVERYTHING about this place... the lies told to him and the other young Creatures, the treatment and the true colours, finally EXPLODED and it did so BIG TIME and Kosmochlor purposely timed it so that the other young Talking Beasts and Creatures chosen to participate in the game sequences would be alerted to the TRUE intentions of this cruel project. He had NEVER, EVER been THIS FURIOUS in his LIFE but he had good reason to be. A VOLCANIC hiss BURST through his bound mouth and he began to violently thrash and writhe in the clutched of his Colour Beast restrainers to their alarm. Then Kosmochlor released a screech, the LOUDEST screech he had EVER released in his life. His screech travelled from the tube disguised as just a simple aesthetic decoration painted with bright colours in the main game station lobby and reached the ears of the waiting group, pulling their attention roughly in Kosmochlor's location in the tube. However, it also roused the attention of the keepers including Lucius. One of the Talking Lambs and the Talking Cow exchanged looks.

"Sounds like someone's having a tantrum time," said the former. Then the sounds of thuds and cries followed as Kosmochlor exploded into a volcanic fit. He thrashed and jerked about and struck his carriers with his bound legs. Some of the Colour Beasts were knocked aside and one of the long-thin-limbed Humanoid-like Green Beasts was jabbed in the arm by Kosmochlor's horn as the green and black Kirin purposely RAMMED his conical head decoration like a dagger into the Green Beast's limb. Though his horn was only short for he was still young, it was developed enough to deal enough damage to the Beast. A LOUD screech erupted from the Beast as it released Kosmochlor and seized its injured arm, wailing in pain. Kosmochlor then continued his wild rampage against his restrainers as they went to try and apply more force in restraining the Kirin but the Kirin fought back hard, screeching and thrashing his bound legs like he was being electrocuted by a Nogitsune's foxfire and bashing his hoof-like feet against the walls of the hidden tube. These sounds stoked the fire of the concerns for the waiting group members but it also stoked the fire of the alarm of Lucius and the others and they immediately hurried to the tube, running for a hidden entrance. If the Talking Beast that had failed the game tests destined for a kitchen or somewhere else in the Pleasure Dome became too much for their carriers, backup was sent through these hidden passages and more force applied to the Talking Beast to make transport easier. However, Lucius and company had an additional method of dealing with tantrum-throwing Talking Beasts as well and they used it if the Talking Beast became too much even for backup to handle. However, they only used it as a last resort as its supply was limited.

While Lucius and company rushed for a hidden entrance into the hidden tube with the concerned group of Talking Beasts looking on and their keepers looking over them to make sure they didn't step out of line, Lapis the Sea-Fish Girl emerged from the Stop'N'Start room's door with a group of more observers, all of them Candy Woodland Creatures. She had completed both courses successfully and was ready to take on the next game. Lapis was in her land Human-like form and resembled a fair-skinned girl with blue hair and blue eyes. She wore a deep metallic blue dress for modesty but she was barefoot. Like Humans, Sea-Fish People wore clothing only these were made from sea materials, fabrics and sometimes the skins of dumb sea animals like seals. In her Aquatic Form, Lapis had glistening blue scales, dark blue 'scale-hair' and lighter blue fins on her arms, legs and tail (which disappears when she becomes her land Human-like form but reappears when she reverts to her Aquatic form when she is submerged in water or is splashed with it; the transformation is not voluntary). Lapis looked on at the commotion and heard Kosmochlor's wild tantrum coming from somewhere. However, the Sea-Fish Girl could not point where it was coming from to begin with but when she saw Lucius' group converge at a particular spot in the game station lobby (one of the coloured tubes) but she had already deduced the reason for Kosmochlor's tantrum for she was also aware of this place's true intentions. Lucius called for some of the watchers of Lapis to come and help them and with that, some of the Candy Creatures immediately left the group and hurried over while the remaining Candy Creatures remained with Lapis. Lapis looked around until her eyes landed on some more Candy Woodland Creatures standing nearby wearing some sort of belt around their waists. On each of those belts was a strange looking bottle. These bottles were deep red, teardrop-shaped like a large gem, and had nozzles on their tops. Lapis gazed carefully at these bottles and deduced them to be some sort of spray, but whatever for? However, an uneasy feeling bloomed within Lapis and she began to think of a plan.

Kosmochlor continued his WILD tantrum and thrashing his bound feet and head wildly and screeching as loud as he could. Even though he was bound, he was able to put up a fight. After all, young male Kirin were VERY strong creatures and can be dangerous when enraged, even when bound. More hands, feet and wings went for him but Kosmochlor either kicked them with his bound feet or jabbed them with his head horn. The commotion continued to rouse concern and suspicion within the other waiting Talking Beasts but Lucius commanded some Monster Birds to order them back to the waiting area to continue and wait for their turn in the game rooms and to see in the next Talking Beast into their first game room and Lapis into the next room, which they did. The colourful chubby Birds commanded the group back to the lobby and began to choose the next Talking Beast to send into the three games while Lapis was guided to the next game room, the Hit the Button Lights, by her Candy Woodland Creature watchers. However, as she was led there, she looked up and saw the Candy Woodland Creatures begin to walk over to Lucius at his gesture. As the group walked along, their paws reached for the red spray bottles and pulled them out of the belts. Immediately, Lapis took action, seizing the opportunity to blurt out the truth to the other Talking Beasts. Bolting from her Candy Woodland Creatures' 'restraints' to their alarm; the Sea-Fish Girl rushed to the front of the group and screamed at the top of her voice "THIS PLACE IS A TRAP! WE ARE BEING HELD PRISONERS ABOARD THE PLEASURE DOME AN' WE'RE GONNA BE USED ABOARD THIS PLACE!"

Gasps were drawn in by the group and they exchanged worried looks but Lapis' move had a backfiring effect; her screams had also reached the ears of another group, alerting them. Then what happened next happened in a blur. Lapis was immediately struck down with a blow to the head by a Lemon Rabbit to the screams of the Talking Beasts as they saw this and then she was away to a secluded place. The other Talking Beasts, however, were restrained by some of Lucius' members, to prevent them from intervening. From Lapis' perspective, her world blurry and the shapes of her captors smearing into a mess, she was carried to a room separate from the other members of the group and the game station area. Then she was laid on the floor and she heard a Strawberry Beaver say in an echoed voice, "Spray the Sea-Fish Girl with the red potion sleeping gas."

Lapis looked up wearily and saw the blurry shape of another Candy Woodland Creature, a Blueberry Skunk then come towards her with something in its hand. The other Candy Creatures left the room and before Lapis could guess what the Skunk was about to do, she was struck in the face with a spray of dark red gas.

Meanwhile

At the rise-and-fall box area, some more workers aboard the Pleasure Dome continued to go about their business. However, some were armed with weapons for they had been commanded by Dolores to continue their search for a certain group of creatures that had escaped. A group of more Monster Birds and some other creatures including a few Hags walked towards the rise-and-fall boxes when they came across a group of cloaked figures. One of the figures had a sack and in it was someone writhing and crying in terror. At first, the Hags, Candy Woodland Creatures and Monster Birds and their comrades passed them for some other workers for the Pleasure Dome, perhaps even some assistant ferrymen who had another victim for the prison but when one of the females, an Opila noticed something was a bit off about one of the figures, the large one, she emitted a PIERCING cry. Immediately, the cloaked figures reacted. A vivid blue Dragon-Unicorn creature bolted towards the Opila and bashed her down while another cloaked figure, a fearsome flightless Bird rushed in and killed the pink and purple Bird by plunging the tip of its large hooked beak into its neck. The others also reacted at the same time and began to dispatch the group with Chloroplast using a sharp wood shard she had managed to find on the way here like a sword to kill some of the creatures. Rei, Arezu and Laminin lunged at some Hags and either cut them down or knocked them out with Laminin having her pet Spitfire Bird Scoville spit hot acid from his tube nostrils at a Lemon Rabbit to painfully blind it and send it into a screaming frenzy with its paws clasping its eyes; Malachite, Elsa and Seishan knocked out some more of the creatures while Sisu and Lymphocyte struck down more of the creatures with the latter using his Axe-Beak technique. When a Tarta (male Monster Bird) managed to get Malachite cornered, Malachite shot a look at a nearby vase-like decoration and tried to use telekinesis on it. However, her telekinesis was too weak to provide enough mental force to lift the vase and throw it at the Tarta and the only result Malachite got was the blinking of the neon blue light in her eyes and an aura on the vase. Suddenly, Arezu appeared, knocked the Tarta down with a kick and ran it through with a spike she had managed to seize nearby like a spear. Then after subduing this group of Candy Woodland Creatures, Hags, Monster Birds and their comrades, the group prepared to move on with Sieshan and Elsa carrying the sack containing the nightmare-suffering Yardang. Nearby, Lymphocyte saw and seized some arrows stored in a corner and filled his quiver with them. Once he had done this, the young Terror Bird now had ammo for his crossbow once again and he nocked one of them into his weapon to prepare it for action in the event of more confrontation.

"These are the prison levels," Rei told Chloroplast and the others as they readjusted their cloaks to conceal their disguises, "We're getting closer."

"Alright, take us there, Rei," Chloroplast commanded. One of the Hags slowly looked up but Chloroplast stomped a front hoof foot on her face and plunged her back into the blackness of unconsciousness. Then Chloroplast and company continued.

Under Rei's guidance, the group continued towards the prison area. On the way, they took down any minion or groups of minions they came across and, to Rei, Arezu and Laminin's ESPECIAL joy, they reunited with Akari and her group and also the prisoners they had managed to rescue from the ferrymen. Rei commanded Akari and the others to continue to lead this group of prisoners to safety while they continue to the game station to rescue the other prisoners, and Akari and her group did. As Rei and company continued their rush down to the game station, their location not far from the area now; the commotion continued with Kosmochlor and his captors and Lucius and company, the Kirin still throwing his OUTRAGED paddy and injuring more of his captors. However, more chaos had erupted in the game station waiting area as the other Talking Beasts in the group, having seen what had happened to Lapis, had erupted into a panic and were trying to escape their captors. They scattered about the station like frightened sheep trying to flee some wild dogs. Though Lapis had been put into a nightmarish sleep by the Candy Woodland Creatures with the red sleep potion gas, her delivery of the warning had been successful and now Lucius and company were left with a SERIOUS issue to deal with. If Dolores found out about this, they would be dead, literally. However, there was more to come.

Kosmochlor continued his MASSIVE paddy and attempt to escape but because he was bound foot and mouth, the only thing he could do was thrash like a fish out of water to move. He continued his massive paddy and injure more of his captors until finally, Lucius (who was SERIOUSLY stressed, especially at what would the Mistress Dolores would say about all this) decided to end it here and now. Commanding one of the belt-wearing Candy Woodland Creatures, a Strawberry Beaver, to come forward and hand him a club, which it did, Lucius raised the club above his head and prepared to give Kosmochlor a MASSIVE whack to the head to knock him out. After this, he was going to subject him to a cloud of red sleep gas which will put him to sleep for transport to one of the kitchens where he will be processed alive into food. Kosmochlor looked up and saw the yellow Lanky-Limbed Teddy, his true colours now on display, as he held the club above his head ready to bring it down on him. Kosmochlor, all courage and rage gone at this sight, emitted a cry of terror but before Lucius could plunge the terrified Kirin into the darkness of unconsciousness, an arrow sliced in out of nowhere towards the tall yellow Teddy and jabbed into his right shoulder. SHARP pain exploded from that area and coursed through Lucius' shoulder, making the Teddy stumble, drop the club and seize his pierced shoulder. HORROR exploded within Lucius' comrades and they shot alarmed gazes at where the arrow had flown and were met with a group of ENRAGED cloaked creatures armed with various makeshift weapons. Chloroplast flew in and knocked down some of the creatures with her wings, hoof-like feet and her makeshift wooden sword with which she cut down some of the creatures. Nearby, Rei, Arezu and Laminin rushed in and engaged the other watchers in combat in the main game station area with the group of Talking Beasts, IMMENSE surprise plastering their faces, looking on.

"IT'S REI," cried one of the Talking Lambs. Rei flashed the group a wink before continuing to battle some of the Lemon Rabbits and Blue Skunks while Arezu performed kickboxing-like techniques against several Lankoy-Limbed Teddies and Laminin had her Spitfire Bird Scoville blind some of the watchers with his hot acid, making screams erupt into the game station area. Behind this trio, Malachite, Seishan and Elsa (with Yardang in his sack and suffering vivid nightmares) hurried for the room where the other Talking Beasts were kept while Lymphocyte subdued a group of Candy Woodland Creatures taking a knocked-out Sea-Fish Girl, Lapis away, rescuing her. While Chloroplast drove away more Candy Woodland Creatures away from Kosmochlor. Sisu then came in and shared a BIG reunion with her cousin.

"KOSMOCHLOR!" cried the blue Kiriness as she nuzzled her muzzle against her cousin's, "I was SO worried about you."

"Here, Sisu, use THIS to cut your cousin free," cried Chloroplast. Sisu looked up and caught a small knife Chloroplast had managed to seizure from one of the Candy Woodland Creatures and tossed in her mouth and immediately set to cutting Kosmochlor free from his binds, starting with his feet. It was a bit of a struggle but Sisu had been taught to use small knives to butcher some livestock during her and her family's visit to a pig farm back on the mainland and she had to use her mouth to grasp the knife for Kirin could not hold knives. Now she was using this skill to cut her cousin free and after some struggle, the snakes around Kosmochlor's feet were severed and they flopped on the floor like pieces of colourful hay. His feet free, Kosmochlor stood up, Arezu coming in to help release the binds wrapped around his mouth. In the background, Chloroplast managed to fatally run Lucius through with her wooden spear.

"Good thing these binds aren't the magical sort in which they are imbued to be unbreakable except by certain blades like from a magical sword," said Sisu. Kosmochlor didn't reply as Arezu managed to pull away the binds around his mouth. Once his jaws were free, the Kirin began to speak.

"You were ABSOLUTELY right about this place being not what it is," said the black and green Kirin to his cousin, "Some of us overheard our 'carers' talk about some place called the Pleasure Dome and..."

"Save your explanation till later," said Sisu, "We MUST get the other prisoners outa here and FAST and we're gonna need your help!"

Kosmochlor immediately obeyed and followed his cousin to the main prison room while the rest of the group continued their battle with Lucius' remaining comrades and rescue the group of Talking Beasts from the corrupt games.

Outside the Pleasure Dome in the Eastern Ocean, two groups were converging on the submar-ship. One was travelling in the sky on wings while the other was under the sea, travelling in a large ship. This ship was a battleship and it had been turned into a rescue vessel. The flying team, Rainbow Quartz and the others with her, had managed to find one of the Sky spy groups and had alerted them, and they had immediately sent word to King Cumulus who then sent the Sky rescue team to help find the Pleasure Dome. Under Rainbow Quartz and company's guidance, the Sky rescue team began to close in on the Pleasure Dome from the air. However, some of the flying members had been taken to the safety of the nearest island by some of the flying rescue group as taking them to the Sky Domain was out of the question; it was too high up in the Narnian air and it would take too long to travel up there without some form of quick transport such as a Flying Saucer or the Bifrost Transporter. Undersea, the battleship contained the Sea rescue group sent by a King of one of the Undersea Kingdoms and also some of the sea rescue seekers such as Cubozoa. Like Rainbow Quartz's group, Cubozoa's group had managed to successfully seek help. They had found a pod of Talking Whales and they passed on the message to the Sea Kingdom. Now Cubozoa and company were on their way back to the Pleasure Dome to rescue the prisoners still trapped there. As the two rescue groups travelled there, they had established communication between each other and had formed a plan of rescue: the Sky rescuers will rescue any prisoners from the Pleasure Dome's uppermost levels and also from the ferrymen while the undersea group will take an underwater approach of rescue by targeting the lower levels of the Pleasure Dome. The battleship had an inbuilt scanner that functioned like ultrasound and an X-ray to peer into concealed areas and locate targets within those areas such as targets hiding in a cave under the ocean floor. This tool will be useful in locating the prisoners in the Pleasure Dome and guiding rescue groups to them once they arrived at the evil vessel.