Insane Cafe 4: The Insane Frontier

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #4840 on:** August 19, 2019, 06:12:41 AM

"Okay..." Lucia gulped. "Well, I guess there's nothing to do in this cell for now..."

With lack of other options, she climbed into her cot and tried fitfully to fall asleep.

--------------------------------

Hailey narrowed her eyes. She wasn't sure how the police officer knew her real name, or why he thought she was imprisoned along with James, but perhaps he was assuming based on her outfit; she'd never changed out of her workout clothes due to being undercover. Ultimately, she didn't feel the need to disavow him of that notion as it was in her best interest to get Dr. Zanasiu out of the jail anyway.

"Excellent!" she beamed. "Thank you so much." She glanced at James. "Let's head to my ship, I can fly you home. I know they forcibly dragged you out here, so I'm happy to give you a lift back." Her tone was friendly, but she shot him a silent look that warned him things would get ugly if he tried to escape.

Nick22 · **Reply #4841 on:** August 20, 2019, 06:12:30 PM

you can have my cot'Panda king offered lucia ' so how did a little girl like you get mixed up in all this?Perhaps it is just the father in me, that sees a chiold with a protector, and wishes to help. "
- well we'd better get comfy' Po said looking around at wghat the containment cenjter held. It had osters from all across rthe shaddow sector, of heros who were alive, or dead, those that wre dead had a Kiled in Action" written undeneath them. ' comforting ' Po groaned as he noticed most of the posters had KIA;' on them. ' in the corner was a table for weapon and armor repair in the other corner a light from a lit up console cast much of the area in a blue light ' Po went over and tyed in a few things ' great. we're Team Big Gut" He sighed. ' we get 100000 bucks per fight if we win, split 3 ways. thats a lot of money..' he said.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #4842 on:** August 20, 2019, 08:44:27 PM

"I'm from the past," Lucia explained. "Earth, 1989. A pair of time-traveling thieves offered me passage to space if I helped them escape jail. They said they'd show me the universe...but one of them got captured while fleeing the actual police, and the other was Aimee, who you briefly met in the back of the fake policewoman's ship. I don't know what happened to her, but I don't think either of us will see the stars ever again..."

Nick22 · **Reply #4843 on:** August 20, 2019, 09:11:46 PM

you have to have more faith dear' Panda King said ' Po here and I have many, friends and acquinrtances, and i would wagere most of them have noticed our disappearance and will look for us. and by extension, you.' Panda king took a seat om the free cot. ' so you want to see sopace. well i'm sure the seer will give you a tour when we are rescued. and I'm confident we will be." the older panda smiled. ' as for aimee, if shes like you, i'm sure they put her to work somewhere in this station. the station is a big place after all. " he chuckled. ' Out of curiousity, my dear, where would you like to go? space is huge, even with magica it takes awhile to go from world to world"

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #4844 on:** August 20, 2019, 09:43:46 PM

"I...don't know. I don't know any worlds," Lucia answered truthfully. "Back home, we thought Earth was all there is. Aimee mentioned...somewhere." She wrinkled her brow, thinking. "I can't remember. But it was just a name, I wouldn't know it from anywhere else. Honestly, I'm not picky. Show me all of them!"

brekclub85 · **Reply #4845 on:** August 21, 2019, 03:27:40 PM

"Sure thing, especially since we know I'm the fatter one," Sima grinned smugly. "Thanks in advance fo buying my next meal," she said with a confident chuckle. She patted her gut, making it jiggle.

................

Carmelita sat in her cell, sipping some coffee. "Now I know how the criminals I catch feel behind bars.....at least they deserve whats coming to them," she thought to herself, mentally going through possible escape routes.

..............

"Would you want to come to my next gymnastics practice?" Kiara asked to Kopa, "Kovu usually is my spotter, but now......" she sighed.

Serris · **Reply #4846 on:** August 24, 2019, 08:12:30 PM

(Meridian City)

Dr. Zanasiu nodded. He thought about telling her that he needed to go back to the Spire but a quick glance at Hailey's expression made him rethink that idea. That...and he was completely unarmed.

The ID badge that was confiscated from the Human was returned to him by a sour looking guard at the front desk. As he put the ID card in his pocket, he activated its emergency tracking beacon.

It was then that Zachary was escorted to the holding cells. "Hey James," the Clydesdale said. "we have to head back to the Spire."

Dr. Zanasiu nodded. Feeling a little more emboldened by the presence of his friend, he turned to Hailey. "Thanks for the offer Hailey, but my friend's here to give me a ride back."

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #4847 on:** August 25, 2019, 12:01:21 AM

Hailey glanced at the police officer behind the front desk, and the other one who was returning to his cubicle after delivering their release papers. She calculated how many different firearm-wielding officers were standing within her immediate presence. She sighed after realizing she probably didn't have the odds on her side. "Suit yourself," she conceded. "I already told you Chong is going to kill Aimee if I don't bring you in. I clearly can't force you to come, so if you want her death on your conscience, walk away."

She glanced at Zachary as she walked past him. "Hi, it's Hailey, your teammate who was brutally murdered by Dragonstorm back in 2009. Got anything to say, maybe at least a gasp of surprise, or you going to take it as blasé as your friend?"

Nick22 · **Reply #4848 on:** September 22, 2019, 12:55:41 AM

Sure thing , sister' kopa said with a pat on Kiaras shoulder. " just lead the way.. and I'll be your spotter."
_ Kovyu was called into the arena to begin his semifinal match against a fighter called Zumbruk the Feisty, who loved taunting his opponents before slicing them to pieces with his double bladed sword.
_
Utsa glanced as Dragon Samia and Dulcy pushed in the final piece of the ship into the hangar. ' 45 million bolts for all these pieces, now lets put them all together. we'll paint it in Dramosian colors, and get seats and other internal structures put in. Dixie Gabuna and tigeress finished transcripting their final report for the day then Gabuna collapsed into a chair, her eyes bleary from being tired. Ember was sipping some tea as skylands was chatting via portal to a small , mini version of her named Cyn, who was a newcomer to Skylands Academy.
Nick was looking over a interview he had done that day, which had been 20 minutes

Serris · **Reply #4849 on:** September 22, 2019, 09:46:32 PM

(Bespl)

Mr. Bigmouth looked at the pieces of the Dramosian cruiser. They were already severely damaged before they had been part of the arena. The clean cuts in the hull indicated that the shipbreakers had already used plasma cutters to cut the vessel into pieces so they could be more easily handled. Jagged scars and holes in superstructure were indications that it had been struck several times by weapons fire. "Well, we got our work cut out for us," he said. "We'll also have to pull an engine from another ship. They've already stripped it out."

Dramosian ship parts -- especially engines -- were in extremely high demand for their efficiency and power. They were of course, extremely expensive and rare due to the fact they were handcrafted by skilled artisans on a single planet: Dramos.

---------------------

(Meridian City PD)

Zachary could only gape as he realized who was talking to. A few seconds passed before he could speak. "Wait, you're the Hailey from the whole Pelvanida Incident? How...how the f--- did you survive!?"

Dr. Zanasiu thought a moment while Zachary was engaged with Hailey. He didn't want to be responsible for Aimee's death and the transponder in his ID card could lead them right to Chong. He nodded. "All right, Hailey, I'll come with you."

Zachary's jaw dropped. "James, are you--."

"Trust me." Dr. Zanasiu said. "Go tell the others I'll be with Hailey."

brekclub85 · **Reply #4850 on:** September 23, 2019, 12:03:17 AM

"You sure you know how to?" Kiara asked Kopa, "My physical training is different from the kind you go through." Kiara was a natural gymnast, able to move around and do flips rather impressively.

She jumped onto the balance beam for a basic warmup.

...............

Oliver and Ollie were finishing up their food. "Thanks for lunch, mom," Oliver smiled to Arlene. He looked at the other kitten. "Where would you want to go now?" he asked.

.....................

Thiago had been thrown into a ring with a baboon whose ring name was Screech.....as he possessed the ability to tear people up with loud shouts. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," he thought to himself as he heard Screech pant loudly.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #4851 on:** September 23, 2019, 01:40:13 AM

"I didn't survive," Hailey answered simply. "I can still vividly remember what it felt like to bleed out, to feel my heart slowing down until it stopped. To know an eternity of nonexistence was rapidly approaching, and I'd never felt my lips pressed against...ahem..." she closed her eyes and turned away. "I was dead in the ground for years. Chong and Mertravius used dark magic to resurrect me and bind my soul to their whim, and now I serve their bidding." She shrugged. "Bit of a raw deal, but it beats the alternative, I guess."

She bit her lip; she didn't expect Dr. Zanasiu to care about Aimee enough to save her life. "You mean it, James? Maybe I underestimated you. Sorry if I'm a bit rude," she sighed, "I'm still not sure if I'm really me, or if metaphysically this second life is a brand new constructed consciousness with my memories that thinks I’m me. It makes me testy."

She flashed a lazy wave to the front desk as she headed for her car. "You wanna come with, Zachary? The life expectancy's not great, but I'll let you pick the radio station while we fly there. And you may miss a killer jailbreak if you skip out, because my offer still stands, James," she called over her shoulder. "You help me seduce Aimee, and I've got a lockpick and prime-location cell with your name on it..."

Nick22 · **Reply #4852 on:** September 28, 2019, 09:29:25 PM

Well we're simply going to have to uy one. that will cost us at least 20 million bolts ' Utsa said. add in akl the other internal requirements, and we're looking at sinking in somne 200 million bolts into this. ' But I dont see an alternative. This ship[ is large enough to hold every prisoner in Dreadzone.
_
Sisd I've watched your routines before. Remember the last time, Mom, made me chaperone you? Kopa chuckled. ' once you are done with the balance beam, then its time for the rings.' he said.
Agumon and gabumon headed out of the merdidian holofilm duplex, each lkugfging huge popcorn boxes' there sure are a lot of film with Qwark and Clabnk in them ' Gabumon said.

Serris · **Reply #4853 on:** September 29, 2019, 12:40:01 AM

(Bespl)

Mr. Bigmouth nodded. "So be it. However, we should try to cut costs as much as possible. Seeing as we're using it as a transport ship, we can leave the interior bare-bones."

Ms. Swimmer swirled her glass of Cruithnian wine. The mysterious, dark aroma of fruits from a far-off planet wafted up to her nose. "Keep in mind that we're transporting people who are likely injured, traumatized and in severe distress. We can't give them nothing."

"Fair enough. We'll just get the least expensive parts then."

"All right," the female Saurolophus said. "I'll leave you to it. In the meantime, I'll be scavenging some furnishings." She downed her glass of wine and headed out of the hangar.

Mr. Bigmouth nodded. Large cranes were carefully fitting the cut up hull plates together like an enormous jigsaw puzzle. Automated welding arms carefully welded them together. He headed over to an area where smaller pieces of unusable hull plating were being cut up by laborers. He pulled out his plasma pole cutter, goggles and face mask from his messenger bag, donned the safety gear and got to work.

He began carving out the damaged portions of the hull plates. The glowing pink blade of the plasma pole cutter easily sliced through the tough material. The usable portions would be used to patch holes in the superstructure of the ship.

---------------------
(Meridian City)

Zachary shook his head. "No thanks."

Dr. Zanasiu nodded as he got into the seat next to Hailey. "All right, let's do this."

The Clydesdale watched as Dr. Zanasiu and Hailey got into her car. "Good luck you two!" He then pressed a button to summon one of the many taxis around Meridian City and took a seat on a nearby bench.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #4854 on:** September 29, 2019, 02:43:46 AM

"Oh, don't worry we'll be fine!" Hailey waved encouragingly, with a vaguely strained smile. As soon as James was aboard, she punched the hyperdrive and sent them to the DreadZone. She didn't mind James seeing the coordinates and route she took to get them to Chong's current hideout.

It was a short jump to the DreadZone, and an even shorter drive to the prison areas. "Okay, moment of truth," she warned James, setting the ship to hover. "You've got two options. The free one is Cellblock P. It's horrid and cramped, you'll be surrounded by prisoners you don't know, and it's directly underneath the arena so you might have trouble sleeping whenever the current deathmatch is particularly earthquakey."

She pointed. "Alternately, I can pull some strings and land you a buddy cell with the Panda King. You met him before right? Well if not, he's Stripetail's friend anyhow. He, Po, and Aimee's little sister are all in the same cute little corner of cellblock B. You'll love them. And they'll love your new friend Mr. Picky," she wiggled a lockpick between her fingers. "Unfortunately, he's so picky he'll only go with you if you choose cellblock B."

She templed her hands and smiled placidly. "So?" She let her unspoken request hang in the air. "Which one's it gonna be?"

Nick22 · **Reply #4855 on:** October 02, 2019, 09:41:53 AM

Ember, Skylands, Korin And Samia were all working on soldering pieces together with their fire breaths. Warfang was loking at the designs for the ship., periodically giving directions to Wargreywomon who was carruying benches and seats and fllying them around inside the ship. there was a screen link between them, so they can see each other. ' Utsa says that ships like this can easily hold 100000 passengers. so we need enough seats and room for them all. Nick is working on gettingg some extra prts for the rooms and beds." warfang said as Nick came in in his dragon form , looking pleased with himself , a bagg of bolts in one claw and a large scroll in the other ' Got these off a guard who bet against Kovu in the last fight ' He chuckled. " Sucks to be him. "
-
gabuna and Dixie were finishing the last report for the day, fixing spelling on one of Jing KIngs panda reports. " Nice work Jing ' dixie said approvingly to the female panda, who was sitting nearby. Tiger5ess was walking around, carrying a tray of muffins in her mouth . " Hungry girls?' she asked as she set down the tray " Got these on the Contestant Cantina on Deck 5. had to get enough for everyone. these things are huge!" Tigeress said washing out the taste of the tray with a soda.

brekclub85 · **Reply #4856 on:** October 03, 2019, 10:46:20 PM

"And consider yourself lucky I didn't tell the rest of the pride how things went when you tried out the balance beam last time," Kiara told her big brother with a sly smirk, "Face it Kopa, you may have the muscles, but I have the moves in our family." She leaped onto the beam and moved with incredible poise.

............

Sima and Vushu were busy stuffing their faces. "The key to winning in sumo is being the bigger wrestler," Sima declared between bites, "The most important part of training is increasing your body mass."

............

"Got any bamboo?" Jing asked her friends, "I could use a hometown favorite." She took one of the sodas from the tray that Tigress had brought out.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #4857 on:** October 05, 2019, 08:13:30 PM

Hailey bit her lip when she saw he was indecisive. "Look James, I'm begging you." She dropped to her knees, finally breaking down from her controlled machinations. "You don't understand how long I've wanted this. I've been pining for Aimee since we were kids. I watched her date jerk after jerk, I used to keep an eye out for her parents whenever she snuck off to somebody's house. In high school I started sending her anonymous valentines, until Aydin took credit for them and they hooked up." She flushed red. "It drove me...kinda bonkers. It's what drove me to Dragonstorm, and turned me into this murderous psychopath." She covered her face. "I'm trying to be a good person, I never wanted to die and be resurrected as an enslaved demi-golem. But I died for her, and I'm so close to finally holding her in my arms."

She balled her fists. "I want to be the best goddamn girlfriend Aimee has ever had. But I don't know anything about what she's been up to while I was worm food. Why is she on Stripetail's crew? What are her lofty goals? What new friends has she made, and should I kill them? These are hard questions, but you were there for all of them!" She grabbed his hand. "Do me a solid, please! I was your teammate once, we fought side-by-side! And occasionally on opposite sides, but right now I'm all yours! I will do anything."

She gulped and finally confessed. "I completely lied about Aimee's life being in danger; Chong doesn't give a fuck about her either way. If you want to take this ship and fly home, or if you want to infiltrate the jails and start a prison breakout, you can do it." She crossed to the locker and threw a guard uniform out. "I was trying to bait you into helping me, but that's not what Aimee would want her girlfriend to do." She regarded James pleadingly. "What would Aimee want her girlfriend to do?"

Serris · **Reply #4858 on:** October 05, 2019, 09:44:39 PM

(Meridian City)

"She just recently joined," Dr. Zanasiu said. "However, she'd probably be overjoyed if you helped us break her out." He then drew himself up. "But you will not be alone. The might of Stripetail and the Spire will be backing you."

He then adjusted the seatbelt. "Now, here's what we do. You pretend to be on his side and gather as much info as possible. I activated a tracker in my ID card that will lead us right to Chong's location. Once Stripetail arrives, meet up with him and turn over all the info you can. He's the Squirrel in distinctive robes. He cannot be missed."

-------------------

(Bespl)

Mr. Bigmouth looked over the Dramosian ship that was gradually taking shape. He could also see Bespli shipyard workers assisting in laying down cable and working on the interior structures. Thankfully, Bespli shipyards had a "bolts, no questions asked" policy...and they weren't associated with Vox except for demanding a tiny cut of the profits made from using their shipyards as arenas.

"Looking good," Ms. Swimmer said. She had a bag of bolts in her hand.

"Where did you get that?" Mr. Bigmouth asked.

"I bet on Drobot. A Bespli shipbreaker bet on the ground troops and lost."

The Saurolophus kept his expression neutral but his stomach sunk as heard what Ms. Swimmer said. He then overheard Nick say something similar. Two of the Spire's crew betting on the misery of their fellow crew!? Regardless, he opted to say nothing...at least for now.

"Right," he said. "How are we going to rescue the prisoners without a distraction?"

Nick22 · **Reply #4859 on:** October 05, 2019, 10:03:59 PM

We're betting ON them, Bigmouth. supporting them, as much as we can without giving ourselves away. Every bolt I won, I'm giving to Kovu, when we get him out. "Nick said ' i'm sure Swimmer will give the money to Drobot too.
" There is always wagers or gambles being made here Mr Bigmouth ' Utsa said. "Don;'t hold your teams wagers against them. if we didnt gamble , it would raise red flags and suspicion We have to avoid that , of course. ' She said as she looked over the slowly renovated ship ' Class-R ship, very high- end , from the Runmadunni region. i'm surprised this caliber of ship got scrapped. " she mused. " it will be a sight to see once it is finished.
As for how to rescue the prisoners, we are going to need several distractions going on at once. at least 3 at once. ' something disruptive, something that will bvuy us time to get the prisoners out.. I'm open to ideas there."