{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0\deflang1033{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Verdana;}} {\*\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1503;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sb100\sa100\f0\fs20\{Yo. This here's Elevator Skirmish, an IF that was completed. The list of authours and their charecters and contributations are at the end. Have a nice read.\}\line\line The lackey tugged nervously at his collar. "Mr. Flavor, you have to go, the helicopter is waiting..."\line\line Enrich Flavor didn't turn away from the window. "Jenkson, I didn't get where I am today by running away from my troubles. Besides, there's only enough room in the 'copter for you and Electra. Get out of here, before \i they\i0 start to attack." He glared down from the 48th floor to the writhing mass of adventurers, treasure hunters, ninjas, pirates, and random people fighting to get into the building.\line\line Jenkson took a final look at the artifact that had started the whole mess: the head of the Mani Mani statue, recovered from the storeroom of Jackie's Cafe and eventually auctioned off to Enrich, who decided it would make a nice coffee-table item for his office. Little did anyone know that it still had some of its old power left in it. A week later, Enrich got a phone call from Ness Lee, the world-famous planet saver.\line\line\i "Mr. Flavor, I know this is gonna sound weird, but I felt the Mani Mani statue's presence in my mind. I think you're going to be in big trouble."\i0\line\line "Oh, really?" Enrich put his foot on the desk. "What sort of trouble?"\line\line\i "Go look out the window."\i0\line\line Enrich did as he was commanded, and his jaw dropped. Hundreds of people were rioting in the streets of Fourside, and they were moving towards his building. He hit the intercom button. "All personnel! Lock the doors, close off the elevators, and evacuate to the top floor \i now!\i0 "\line\line In the end, they'd only managed to kill the express elevators; the rioters, whom a group of Winters scientists had already determined were being driven insane by the "waves of pricelessness" that they felt coming from the top floor, would be able to move up the building about 10 floors at a time - assuming they didn't try to cram so many people into one elevator that they broke it. And there were always the stairs...\line\line Ness and his friends had arrived as soon as they could, but they couldn't beat the rioters or the media. Enrich could just pick out the red-capped young man working his way through the crowd.\line\line\i So now the flight begins,\i0 he thought. \i This captain will go down with his ship.\i0 His thoughts turned to his security panel as his frown turned to a bitter half-grin. \i And he'll go down fighting, too.\i0 \fs24\line\par \par \fs20 Darren Harper didn't know why he was joining the riot that day. At one moment, he had to get to work. He had an afternoon appointment with the marketing department, hoping he could get out of it with his design for a virtual reality chair intact. Then he passed the Monotoli building, and then he had this sudden feeling that he had to get to the top floor. He was the first inside, and quickly found that the express elevator was not operational.\line\line Could he use something to jimmy open the door and climb up the elevator cables, maybe? Nothing in sight that could be used on the door. He should've thought to come prepared, but then again, the decision to join the riot was made impulsivley for Darren.\line\line The regular elevators still worked. It would only go ten floors at a time, but Darren estimated that he could easily get up there within five minutes.\line\line Darren decided that he'd take his chances that way. He quickly boarded the regular elevator just as the rest of the mob broke through the main doors. The doors shut, and he could breathe for about thirty seconds.\line\line He was going to get up to Floor 48 first. Darren chuckled to himself, he was so loving this. A simple engineer, who had never won anything in his life, was about to win today.\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \pard\sb100\sa100\par Amongst the hundreds of rioters that, for one reason or another, decided to storm the offices of the Monotoli building, Galile had to be the oddest.\line\line Oh sure, lots of people say that, but in Galile's case it was actually true. Maybe it wasn't so evident at first, since he looked, after all, just like a 6-year-old dressed up in a gnome costume--yes, the one with the red, pointy hat. Any ordinary person, upon encountering him, would have just mistaken Galile for a kid with a messed up calendar, quickly remembered that they were late for Pilates and that Antonio didn't like it when they were late, and move on. They would not, however, notice the fact that directly behind the little gnome was another one, identical but for the green hat, not red. Furthermore, they would fail to notice that the two were actually the same being.\line\line See, Galile was a robot. Or in this case, \i robots\i0 . The two units, Galileo (red hat) and Galilei (green hat) functioned using a single hive mind that doled out different parts of Galile's personality to each robot. This allowed for the ability to function as two units should the distance between Galileo and Galilei become too large for Galile to work as one. \line\line Galile, as fate would have it, was the latest and greatest invention of the fantastic Apple Kid, with some help from Dr. Andonuts, the great genius. The word 'fate' is used mainly because today was supposed to be the day of Galile's independent field test. Apple Kid was just about ready to send Galile on a trip to Fourside and back when the inventor received a call from his buddy Ness, the champion of the world. \line\line "Ness! How good to hear your voice! How are you?" asked Apple Kid over the receiver of his home-made telephone.\line\line\i "Apple Kid, there's trouble in Fourside,"\i0 was Ness' immediate, dry reply. \i "I need some backup. Are there any inventions you have that could help me out? I'm kind of in a hurry..."\i0\line\line Apple Kid rummaged through the many inventions sprawled around his room. Upon finding nothing, he picked up the phone again. "Sorry, I don't have anything helpful. Unless..."\line\line\i "Unless what?"\i0\line\line "Well, I'm field testing my latest invention, a robot named Galile. If you want I can tell him to find you."\line\line\i "Really? That's great! Tell him to go to the Monotoli building. Get him to aim for the top floor if he doesn't find me."\i0\line\line "Okay, Ness, you got it! Anything else?"\line\line The line suddenly went dead. Ness had hung up on him. He really \i was\i0 in a hurry.\line\line So, by now Galile had received his orders and was on his way to the top floor. Fortunately, a nice-looking man in front of him called the elevator, giving the little robot(s) just enough time to squeeze in. It seems the man hadn't noticed him, though. That's okay, everything was going just fine. \line\line While the elevator rose to the rhythm of a blinking light that counted the floor it was currently passing, Galileo wringed his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth on his heels, while Galilei took off his hat and peered into it for no particular reason. \line\line After a few seconds, the elevator stopped abruptly and the doors slid open. The display on the wall read, "Floor 10". Instantly, the nice-looking man walked out of the elevator, leaving Galile (whose presence he was still oblivious to) behind. Galileo scratched his head in thought while Galilei stared at him. After this small moment of debate, Galilei put his hat back on, and both robots nodded before taking off after the man, following a few paces behind him.\line\line Of course, he didn't notice, but that's okay. \fs24\line\line\fs20\par "Fear me! I will be the first man to use suction cups to climb the Montoli building! Fear me! I am Stickyman!"\line\line The crowd passed by the red-tight wearing fanatic, ignoring his frequent ranting and raving.\line\line "Fine then! Fear mortals! I shall now start! Kyaaahhh!" shouted Stickyman, throwing himself against the wall. Suprisingly, his suction cups were working. He slowly moved himself up the 4th story window.\line\line Until a pair of cops noticed. "Hey... you... get down from there!" one shouted.\line\line The other scratched his head, and turned to the first. "Uh... think we should shoot at him or something?"\line\line "I can't see a reason not to..."\line\line The glass shattered, and Stickman rolled into the maze of office space. Stickyman dashed over to a nervous intern. "Mortal! Direct me to an elevator!"\line\line The intern glanced around nervously "Ermm... uh... this floor doesn't have an elevator."\line\line Stickyman gave an astounding glance. "You joke mortal!"\line\line "Yeah, well actually um, there are only a few elveators in the building." the intern replied nervously.\line\line "Then how do you make your way up here mortal?"\line\line "Um... uh... I gotta get some coffee..."\line\line Stickyman dashed through the offices, knocking over workers, and scattering papers everywhere. He looked up and saw a ventilation grate.\line\line "Fear mortals! I will now enter the ventilation system! Away!"\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \pard\sb100\sa100\par Corporate Lemming took one last sip from his ceramic Corporated Inc. mug, adjusted his Snoopy 25th Anniversary silk-substitute tie, stood up, and looked out his one-way mirrored window, and the frenzied crowds below, and the police forces running from them. He sighed. Corporate supposed he'd better save his own pathetic life, too. He went over to his golf bag and drew a three iron, for some extra protection, and opened the door. He saw a few disheveled-looking rioters harassing the workers there. He clubbed one of the rioters who stood in his path, and watched as the space between the cubicles filled up with madmen and the workers trying to fight off. Just another peril of working on the second floor, he supposed. He ducked into a cubicle and savagely beat the brainwashed rioter who had jumped into there before him. He hopped over the sides of a few cubicles and tried to walk towards the elevator. It was no use. He hid under a desk, waiting for the massive crowds to clear up, twisting his now-bloodied golf club between his fingers. He sank deeper under the desk, until he heard a piercing shriek from the cubicle next to him. The rioters were getting REALLY violent now. He decided he needed to do SOMETHING. He chucked the heavy computer monitor into the crowd of Mani-Mani power-crazed masses, and took the few seconds that they were dispersed from the area to dash through. He mashed himself through the rest of the thick crowd, to the elevator. He opened the door to one of the building's many elevators, to find rioters packed in like sardines, beating away at each other. He quickly beat them back till the elevator door closed one of their hands. He turned away and heard a horrible cry come from the elevator. Corporate decided it would be prudent for him to use the slightly less-crowded stairways. He swiftly ran upstairs a few flights, until he was shoved back into his boss' office on the fifth floor. He fell backwards, and looked up at his boss, who was wielding a particularly frightening-looking souvenir sword.\line\line "Uhm... is it time for my performance review again, Mr. Pembrose?" he said.\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 David was known for doing weird things in his time. Today, he was wielding the legendary lightblade known as the Masamune, wearing boots and a helmet both made out of Dragon Skin, and holding a shield made out of a Salamander tail. He was expecting odd glances, yet none came.\line\line Then he saw a riot in front of the Monotoli building.\line\line He went around back of the building.\line\line He raised his sword as to chop open the door.\line\line The sword glowed.\line\line The shape of a dragon lunged forth, blasting open the door.\line\line When David walked through, the door felt wet.\line\line David then looked at the stairs.\line\line "Ohh, crap!" said David. "48 floors of stairs, and I get winded climbing 2 floors worth! Well, it's now or never!"\line\line David began his climb. At least he'd lose his gut climbing these steps. \fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Jim Kuni was an average detective. He was supposed to be helping out the cops with the recent crash dilema, but fell prayu to the same spell as the others. He had found a fool-proof way to get to the top. A teleporter!\line\line "Heh! Okay... let's see... 44th floor of the Enrich Flavor building, anddddd...." he instructed himself, as he teleported upword.\line\line "Ha!" Jim chuckled as he found himself at his destanation. Or was it? Jim stopped as he looked down, with the ground coming ever closer. Wait, what? He was falling! He had teleported outside the window!\line\line Thinking quickly, Jim glided towards the building, and grabbed on to one of the window sills on the 10th floor andddd... he made it! Jim watched as the teleporter fell towards a cop.\line\line Darren had seen Jim grab the window and knew he was another person trying to make it to the top floor. He smiled as he went over to the open window.\line\line "It's so cold! I think I'll just close this window.." and shut it right on Jim's hands. Darren watched as Jim fell, but managed to grab the 3rd floor window sill, and got in.\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Darren was busy relishing the moment of his tiny victory when he was interrupted by a couple of voices.\line\line "Ooh, I bet that hurt..."\line\line "I wonder if that nice man noticed that he was hanging from the window..."\line\line The office worker broke out of his greed-induced trance and looked down at the pair of elf-children that were staring out the window. \line\line "Who the blazes are you two?!" he asked incredulously, causing both halves of Galile to turn and look at him. "And how did you get up here? This place is dangerous!"\line\line Galileo shrugged while Galilei crossed his arms. "I have to get to the top of the building." stated the latter of the two. Almost simultaneously, Galileo chimed in with a "I'm supposed to find a boy named Ness."\line\line Darren shook his head in a manner that indicated that he had no time to play with them. "Whatever. I have to get to the top floor, so go on home to your mommies and leave me alone."\line\line Galile responded by asking, "What's a mommy?" Twice. Sort of.\line\line Darren scoffed and turned away, but almost tripped when he found that Galileo had quickly stepped in front of him. "I have to get to the top floor." he restated emphatically. "Will you come with me?"\line\line This was getting really old, really fast. The only thing Darren could do was growl. These children would only be a hindrance, and he wanted to get up to that top floor, \i fast\i0 . He'd probably have to ditch the brats halfway, for their own good and for his. \line\line "Fine, fine...but the moment you step out of line, I'm ditching you in a janitor's closet. Understand?" Darren nearly jumped when the one to answer was Galilei, who was smiling despite the gravity of the situation. \line\line After that, the odd couple/group of three took off towards one of the halls. Then Galileo and Galilei began whistling "Bridge Over the River Kwai" in harmony to pass the time.\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 *pant* *gasp* *wheeze*\line\line "What floor *pant* am I on?" David asked himself. He looked forward. The 5th? And already he was tuckered out!\line\line "This *pant* is an *pant* improvement!" said Dave. He pushed at the nearby door, but couldn't get the heavy thing open. He thrust his sword forward, torwards the door. "Alright, Masamune! Do your thing!"\line\line Nothing.\line\line Dave shook his sword. "WHY AIN'T THIS WORKING? GAH, FORGET IT!"\line\line Dave slashed at the door hinges, cutting open the door. The sword glowed, and the watery dragon-shape lunged forward. The force on the door caused it to open door-shaped holes through several of the rooms.\line\line "Now, you fire!" said Dave, sarcastically. Dave then proceeded to walk through all the doorframes he created. At the last one, he saw the door pinning down an exectutive wielding a sword. Dave looked around.\line\line "Hey!" said Dave, looking at the nearby man wearing the Snoopy tie and wielding a bloody 3-iron. Then he saw a keycard. "Hey-y-y-y!"\line\line Dave took the keycard.\line\line Nearby, Dave found a private express elevator. Dave pressed up and inserted the keycard.\line\line When the elevator arrived, it was crowded with rioters.\line\line "Crap," said Dave.\line\line He noticed the nearby cafeteria, and decided to pop in for a peanut butter sandwich. If anyone tried to stop him, he shake his sword at him. \par \par \par They were at the twentieth floor, and the rendition of "Bridge Over the River Kwai" was getting very annoying. Darren kept reminding himself, \i They're only children, they're only children...I should probably feel sorry for them, I can't imagine being half of a conjoined twin...\i0\line\line Conversation would probably help. As the three navigated the hallways of the twentieth floor like a scene out of \i Die Hard\i0 , Darren asked, "So, what are your names?"\line\line "Galileo," said the side that wore the red hat.\line "Galilei," said the side that wore the green hat, simutaneously.\line\line "OK...can I just call you 'Galileoi' for the sake of arguement?"\line\line "We are both 'Galile,'" both halves said simutaneously.\line\line "OK...er, Galile," said Darren. This was getting too freaky. He'd rather be in the marketing meeting, but something kept pushing him foward. Curiosity? Gree--?\line\line He heard banging in the vents. Holy crap, \b there was something in the vents!!!\b0\line\line Darren turned to Galile. "I want you...kids to stay right here, ok--?"\line\line He was interrupted when he heard a loud crash behind him. He turned around, and there was a guy wearing suction cups on his hands and feet, dusting himself off.\line\line "HA!" he screamed, "You have no hope! For I am the great Stickyman, and I will reach the top first!"\line\line "Over my dead body!" screamed Darren, who charged Stickyman.\line\line Darren was never really the athletic type. That's why he had to laugh when he slammed into Stickyman so hard, they went through an office door. But that laughter turned to tears when he realized that he also went through an office window.\line\line They fell to certain doom, screaming, until Darren realized that he brought one of his earliest inventions with him: Power Tape Measure! Made to measure walls that were too high to reach, Power Tape Measure worked by shooting out tape measure by releasing the high pressure it was under.\line\line Darren pulled out the power tape measure from his pocket, made some quick angle calculations, pressed a button, and the tape measure shot out. He hit another button to stop it.\line\line The edge of the tape measure grabbed onto the 20th floor ledge. Darren stopped falling and started swinging to the edge of the building. He crashed through the 3rd floor window...\line\line ...where the cop he dropped earlier was waiting for him. "Weh-heh-hell," said the cop, as Stickyman let go of Darren, "Looks like someone else wanted some fresh air as well!" He pulled out his handcuffs and chained Stickyman's hand to his foot, grunting in pain as he did this.\line\line Darren retracted the tape measure to rocket back up to the 20th floor, but the tape measure had lost its grip on the ledge. It merely rewound itself.\line\line "And as for YOU..."\line\line "Wait," said Darren, "How about this? Whatever's up there, let's split it, 50/50."\line\line "Sure," said the cop with boiling sarcasm, "Tell you what: Let's shake on it!" He showed Darren his hands, bruised and swollen from the window Darren slammed on him. Then he kicked darren in the gut and sent him sailing back out the third floor window.\line\line He landed on a cop. They were both still alive, but that didn't fascinate Darren. What fascinated him was the odd looking remote the cop dropped when Darren landed on him. It looked like a teleporter of some sort. Darren didn't know how it worked, but he wasn't afraid to find out. He took it, played with it, and suddenly disappeared. \fs24\par \par \fs20\par Jim laughed as he climbed had just climbed the stairs to the 4th floor, and looking for an elevator. He smiled, knowing he'd payed back the guy in spades, with a bonus too. He knew the guy would find the teleporter probablly, and had a suprise planted for anyone else who used it: a bomb!\line\line Darren had made it to the 14th floor. "Heyyy.. that was useful!" Darren amired the device. He failed to notice that the teleporter was counting down. Darren had spotted the stairs, and was about to begin climbing when he noticed it, only one thing was going through his mind then: \b NUTS! IT'S A BOMB! THROW IT!\b0 as he threw it down the stairs.\line\line "I got em good!" Jim was still laughing over the situation, as he was climbing up to the 6th floor. He then saw a small, black, ticking device coming down the stairs towards him... and all he could do was scream. It exploded, leaving the floor around the 7th floor stairs cratered, and Jim blown against into the wall, leaving a hole in the wall shaped like him.\line\line "Ouch...."\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 A man in a blue trenchcoat and thin glasses was running at the Enrich Flavor building with a huge 30 foot tall spear. The mans name was John, and the spears name was Yonney. John plunged Yonney into the ground and was catapulted in the direction of Mr. Flavors window. John pressed a button on Yonney, turning it into a small metal stick. John positioned himself in a kicking position as he went through the window.\line\line Enrich sat in his office and heard the window shatter. He looked up just in time to see a blue blur fly past him and go through the window on the opposite side of the room. He got up and nailed bars on his now broken windows.\line\line John screamed in terror as he plummeted to his death. He pulled out Yonney, extended it and catapuled into the 7th floor. He sighed with releif as he tried to think of a new way to get to the top floor.\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 David, tired of climbing stairs, jimmied open the elevator door and stuch his sword through the cable. He was extra careful not to cut the cable.\line At around the 20th floor, the Masamune gave off a glow.\line\line "Oh, crap," said Dave.\line\line The familar aquatic dragon-shape launched itself at the door, blasting it open. It also widened the slit his sword made. The evevator chords started breaking.\line\line Dave grabbed hold with one hand and removed the sword with the other hand. He then pushed off the wall into the 20th floor.\line\line He then spotted two elven children. He snuck up behind them.\line\line "Wow. Lucky think that nice man used that tape measure," said the red-clad one.\line\line "You said it!" said the green-clad one.\line\line He tapped on the sholder on one and heard some rather metallic sounds.\line\line The two robo-elves turns around.\line\line "Robots, huh?" said Dave. "Cool. You look rather fragile. And there's some crazy people here. Need some protection?"\line\line "I guess," the two said in unison.\line\line "What's your names?"\line\line "I'm Galileo," said the red-clad elf-droid.\line "I'm Galilei," said the green-clad elf-droid.\line\line "Collectively..." started Galileo.\line "...we're known as Gailie!" the two said in unison.\line\line "...That's nice," said David. "Let's go."\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Stickyman hurled himself around the maze of offices violently. "Fiend!" he would shout now and again to no one in particular.\line\line He glanced over to his side, and saw the office coffee bot boiling madly on a shelf. With a shout of "Yo-ho!" Stickyman rammed his body into the shelf. The brown liquid flew into the air, and down onto Stickyman's handcuffs, whihc melted to the ground.\line\line "At last! I will make these puny humans tremble in fear!" Stickyman announced, heaing toward an elevator door. With A swift kick, he opened the sliding door inward, and began to climb the cable. \line\line It was after a minute of fumbling that Stickyman heard a loud snap from up the chasm. It was also then an elevator came flying down at terminal velocity. As Stickyman whimpered in prayer, a very odd event occured. The expertly horrible design of the elevators allowed Stickyman to bruise directly through the floor of the elevator, and out the top.\line\line Quickly, Stickyman grabbed a random cable, and snapped toward the top of the building. The wire ran out, and Stickman suctioned himself to the wall, and after a brief struggle, he rolled onto another floor. Floor 13.\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 "Though I am made\line of titanium\line I still fe-el\line human like you..."\line\line David watched Galile nervously as he/they skipped happily down one of the halls. The two apparently loved to sing, and made a note of singing as loudly and as often as possible as they traversed the dangerous, possibly booby-trapped halls of the Monotoli building.\line\line "I'm happy to be\line in your party\line aren't you?"\line\line Eventually the wielder of the Masamune tired of the spectacle, and stepped in front of Galile.\line\line "You know, you'd better keep quiet if you don't want to be spotted...this place is rigged..."\line\line Galileo turned to face David while Galilei stopped in his tracks and stared at the window on the far end of the hallway. \line\line Galileo closed his eyes and raised his finger, as if lecturing David. "My records show that, given the structure, size, and design of this building..."\line\line "...there's a 45% chance of encountering a bomb or other such trap device on this particular floor." finished Galilei. "Although we should probably check before moving any further."\line\line David smiled. "Right. According to my sources, the bombs that were planted in this building use motion detectors built into the walls to activate when an intruder walks by."\line\line Galileo smiled with him. "So if we throw something down the hall, it'll trigger the bomb! Then we can pass through!"\line\line "Exactly." David looked over to Galilei. "What do you think?"\line\line Galilei cocked his head to the side. "I just told you. If we throw something down the hall it'll trigger the bomb. Didn't you hear me?"\line\line David raised an eyebrow. "Whatever. So, what do we use to trigger the bomb?"\line\line The twin robots looked at each other briefly. Then, suddenly, they lunged at David and grabbed him by the seat of his pants. Quickly they began swinging him back and forth while they chanted. "One..."\line\line David yelped. "No, wait! Not me!"\line\line "Two...three!"\line\line David flew threw the air like a big rag doll. As expected, soon his flying body triggered the bomb, which was installed on the left wall. The explosive sent him flying through the other wall and into an empty office. Unfortunately, the impact activated the dragon-like creature in the Masamune, causing him to ricochet in the other direction, propelled by a jet of water. After bouncing around the walls and ceiling for a moment, he crashed into the janitor's closet.\line\line "Maybe next time I'd better not use a person to trigger a bomb," said Galileo as he walked up to David's twitching form.\line\line Galilei nodded. "They're not as strong as robots...they could get hurt!"\line\line "Ohhgr..." mumbled David, who still lay on the floor. "Thanks...for the...tip..."\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 "Next time..." said Dave, "...I'll just throw one of my pencils down the hall."\line\line David grabbed a few plungers from the janitors closet and used them to steady himself. He felt like Mario!\line\line "You're okay?" said Gailie.\line\line "When you have a 125 pound dog leap on top of you and can handle it, you think you can handle anything," said Dave. "But not this. OWWWWWWWWWW!" He took a plunger, and noticed Gailie had started on down the hall. Intent on revenge, he threw a plunger at Galileo a la Mario from the carttons. Sadly for him, he was never an accurate thrower, so the plunger went soaring above their heads. Luckily for them and Dave, the plunger set off another motion sensor bomb. And the bomb was just a few hundred feet in front of the duo of droids.\line\line Dave breathed, and let his frustrations out on his favorite teddy bear. Then he caught up with the two, still carrying a few plungers.\line\line\i Hey,\i0 he thought. \i You never know when they'll come in handy!\i0 \fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Floor 18...floor 19...floor 20. Darren forced open the door and found Galile along with an oddly dressed man wielding a sword that looked more like a flashlight.\line\line "Oh, for the love of - Look, I'm supposed to be defending my latest invention from the unholy forces of the marketing department right now. Instead, I'm trying to climb up to the 48th floor of this freakin' building, and I just got myself knocked off of it because I had to fight a guy like you, except he wore sticky cups on his hands and feet. After that, I had to fiddle with a teleporter, and then throw it away after finding out it was rigged with a bomb. Then I climbed six - SIX - flights of steps. I do NOT feel like doing that again. So what do you say we just save the battle, we work together to get to the 48th floor, and THEN we beat the crap out of each other to see who gets whatever's up there. Deal?"\line\line The funny-dressed man looked at Darren with confusion, while Galile looked at him with surprise and elation. "...OK," said the man, "And you are?"\line\line "Darren Harper, engineer."\line\line "Just call me David," said the funny looking man.\line\line "Wow, Darren Harper," said Galileo.\line "You bounced back quickly, Darren Harper," said Galilei.\line\line "Just call me Darren, please."\line\line "OK, Darren," said Galile.\line\line While Galile skipped along and hummed his - or their - tune, and David sneaked along the corridors as if he were playing Metal Gear, Darren had to ask himself, "Why do I even care?"\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 It was sometime after Darren joined up that David had grown tired of Gailie's singing. He took some earplugs out of his bag and stuck them in his ear.\line\line Noticing how ticked off Darren was, he passed a tiny box of earplugs to him.\line\line Then Gailie stopped, and pointed to the door. One of them said something, but David couldn't hear. Dave took out a plug.\line\line "What'd you say?" said David.\line\line "Why don't we take the elevator?" said Galilei.\line\line "Umm... I don't think so," said David.\line\line "Why not?" said Galileo.\line\line "I have a long reason," said David.\line\line "You like to climb stairs?" said Gailieo.\line\line "No," said David.\line\line "Then why?" said Gailie.\line\line "...Let's just look for that stairwell."\line\line Dave put his earplugs back in. \fs24\line\line\par \fs20 "Bingoooooooo! Stairwell!"\line\line Galilei swung open a thick, metal door marked 'Stairs' and motioned for David and Darren to follow. The three of them then climbed the stairwell up to the 25th floor, at which point the stairs were blocked off. \line\line "Oh, well, the 25th floor isn't that bad," commented Darren as he stepped into the lush, red carpet that adorned that particular floor. "We can always find another stairwell later, right guys?"\line\line "Right." David reinserted his earplugs after answering, for Galile had begun to sing again. \line\line Darren's patience had grown more than thin by now, and he figured that any chance to get away from Galile's singing was welcome. \line\line "I'll go and check things up ahead," he said to the others. "I'll be right back."\line\line Carefully the inventor strolled up to the first bend in the hall and pressed his body against the corner, then peeked around the wall. Not surprisingly, he found a rather large, sleeping doberman waiting for them. It had a spiked collar that read, "Zarquon's Singing Fish" in gold letters. \line\line Without moving he beckoned for the others to join him, which they did without arguing. Once everyone was together he motioned towards the dog and put his finger to his lips, indicating that everyone should be quiet. Both Galile units nodded and David gave a thumbs-up. Then they proceeded to sneak past Zarquon's Singing Fish as quietly as was humanly possible.\line\line Darren tiptoed warily past the doberman, holding his breath. Galile was able to get past without making a noise (a first for him). David, however...\line\line "Ah-choo!"\line\line The dog's ears twitched and a low, rumbling growl escaped from its maw as it licked its chops. Darren quickly grabbed his companion and snapped him past, while Galile got on either side of the dog and broke into a soft, soothing lullaby. The stereo effect produced by the twin robots soon transported the mutt back to wai-wai land. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and turned to continue down the hallway.\line\line Pity, then, that Galileo had to trip on ZSF's paw at that moment. \line\line The monstrous mutt was instantly awakened by the disturbance, and he lunged at Galileo the moment he saw him. Since, ironically, the little robot was barely taller than the dog at this point, ZSF was only able to grab the tip of his hat, and soon the dog began running around with it. Unfortunately, Galile wasn't about to part with Galileo's hat.\line\line The dog scampered about the hallway frantically, the red hat clutched between its mandibles. Galileo was hanging on for dear life, his eyes little swirls (although he still managed to keep the hat on his head). Galilei, David, and Darren chased ZSF around the hall, imitating a strange version of tag.\line\line Eventually David brandished the Masamune and pointed it at the dog. "If ever there was a time when I could get this thing to work properly, please let it be now..." he whispered, then raised the blade. \line\line "Power of the Masamune, come to me!" the sword glowed a dull blue as David raised it, tip still pointing to the bucking dog. Now Galilei had jumped onto its back in an attempt to get it to free his other half. "Master of the deserted wasteland, justice for those who seek no redemption..."\line\line "...a star-lit epiphany dances with the chosen one!"\line\line David grabbed the sword with both hands in order to steady the blade, which was vibrating violently. Eyes closed in concentration, he took a deep breath and shouted...\line\line "\i Mijimesa no Umi no Senkou Buta! The piggy flash of the desolate ocean!!\i0 "\line\line David was literally thrown back as the amazing power of the Masamune produced a shining, watery image of a pig. The porcine familiar rushed towards the dog and overcame it with its immense girth and power. ZSF yelped as the piggy drove it through the window and carried it towards the horizon. \line\line No, it didn't die, it landed in a lake or something, where a little old lady took him in and fed him dog biscuits for the rest of his life. Geez.\line\line David stared at the sword in his hands, amazed. "Hey, cool, it worked," he said to himself, amazed that such a thing was even possible. \line\line In the meantime Darren walked up to Galileo and Galilei. They lay on the ground, sprawled and tangled, their eyes little swirls--Galileo was still holding his hat firmly to his head. The office worker-slash-inventor scratched his head while he looked at his two companions. They handled that pretty well, actually...and since David somehow managed to summon that \i thing\i0 out of mid-air...\line\line Wait a minute...air...\line\line Darren smiled. He had an idea.\line\line "Yo, Galile," he bent down and looked at the little robots, who were still dazed. "Do you have a floor plan of the building in your files?"\line\line "I am singing the quiet song, the quiet song, the quiet song..."\line\line "Good. Can you tell me where the nearest vertical ventilation shaft is?"\line\line Two little hands shot up and pointed at a small, metalling grate in the ceiling. Then they dropped back down--they had to grab something else, namely their little robot stomachs in order to keep the world from spinning. \line\line Darren chuckled to himself as he reached into his pocket and took out another of his inventions. Suddenly this little excursion was going to become easier for the three of them... \fs24\line\par \pard\fs20\par \pard\sb100\sa100 Jim had been really busy. He recovered from the explosion, and had started pulling everything out of his pockets, grabbing slaps of stairs, metal, and concrete wall. He stared hard at the pile. A wallet, string, $20, credit cards, magnyfing glass, paper, paper clips, gears, nuts, bolts, glass, concrete, wires, metal, whatever the stairs were made of, a small black box, a needle... wait... a black box! Jim smiled evily. It was his last and final resort, and could only be used once. Jim stuffed the other things into his pockets. (Trenchcoats have deep pockets)\line\line "Mwahaha! I'm sure to catch up with this! I just hope theres enough power on this floor (7th floor) and the others..." Jim evily said to himself. He took it in his hand... and threw it up to the light. It didn't break, but attached to the light. Small probes came out of it, all around the box, and also attached. The light started blinking violentley, and went out. The ones around it went out. The ones down the hall went out. The rest on the floor went out. The lights on the floors below the 7th went out. ALL the lights in the BUILDING went out.\line\line The machine beeped, meaning it was done, and everyone was plundgend into darkness. Jim grabed the lid of the box, and swung it open while it was on the light. Jim thrust his hand in, and was warped into the box. The machine clicked, beeped and whired, but moved very quickly to the shaft with Jim inside. The bot-box-bus, as Jim called it, could carry more than one, he thought as the bot jumped onto the wall of the shaft and started climbing quickly. 5 minutes later, it was already at the 16th floor! 17, 18, 19, 20... Jim yawned and pulled his trenchcoat up to take a nap. It would eject him on the 34 floor when it got there.\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 GAH!" shouted Dave. "Crapola! Darkness!"\line\line "So?" said Darren.\line\line "MAY THE RATS EAT YOUR EYES!" shouted David. "THE DARKNESS COMES! IT'LL..."\line\line "Shut up," said Darren.\line\line "Okay," said Dave. Dave searched his backpack and grabbed a helmet. He then hit a switch on the helmet, lighting up a flashlight. He then tossed a similar helmet to Darren.\line\line "Glad you found this shaft, Darren," said David. He took out a couple of plungers he saved and started to use them to help him climb.\line\line "To be honest," said David, "I'm not too strong."\line\line "That's nice," said Darren, uninterested.\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Dave began to climb up the shaft when he heard a girlish cry in the darkness. He shouted to Darren,"Hey! Could you go and check that out for me? I'm a little busy!"\line "How am I supposed to find her? It's pitch black in here!"\line "Allow us to help." said Galileo as he tapped on his ear three times. His eyes began to glow green.\line "My nightvision tells me that there is a human huddled in the corner over there." He pointed his finger to the right of the room. \line "Thanks Galile. I'll go check it out." Darren began to walk cautiously to the right, scanning the area with his hat. He heard another shriek and turned his head sarply to find a man in a blue trenchcoat huddled in a corner sucking his thumb. The man looked up an ran at Darren with a jovial look on his face. \line "Sweet beutiful light! My name is John and I just got to this floor when the lights went out and...and...the CLOWNS came!"\line "Clowns?"\line "Yes! When I was but a mere lad at the age of twenty five, I was making fun of a clown at the local carnival. Little did I know that he was a gypsy clown! He put a curse on me so that wenever I am in complete darkness, evil clowns appear out of no where and try to eat me!"\line "O...kay...are you insane?"\line "NO! I'm here for the same reson you are. To get to the top of this building! Let me help you!"\line "Um, sure. Just follow me to the ventilation shaft over here and we'll get you a flashlight helmet." With that, Darren walked back to the shaft and gave John a helmet, while introduceing him to everyone else. And so the scaleing of the building continued.\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 It looked like a tiny RC car. In actuality, it was called a Vent Runner, and it was designed for cops to get a sense of situations inside buildings that were taken hostage. A cop would deploy a vent runner, armed if he so desired, into a nearby ventilation shaft, and then control it through a modified Nintendo Power Glove. It was equipped with night vision, as well as x-ray capability, could reach speeds of fifteen miles per hour - running speed - without making a sound, and it had hovering capability, so sudden drops in the ventilation system were not a problem.\line\line Darren had deployed this invention of his just before the lights went out. When the lights went out, the excitment from that plus the excitment from John's discovery led to Darren forgetting it. But the idea of scaling 20+ stories had a way of reawakening memories in Darren.\line\line "Dave," said Darren, pulling out a walkie talkie, "You go ahead with John and Galile. I'm gonna stay here."\line\line "Yeah, maybe you'll stay down here," said David, "And maybe there's an evil clown coming toward us right now!"\line\line "WHAT? NOOO! DON'T EAT ME!"\line\line "John, SHUT UP. Darren, you either come with us, right now, or I have to assume you're trying to pull a fast one on me, and I'll have to get medieval on you. Take your pick."\line\line "Dave, I know it sounds bad, but there's a way I can help without having to hurt myself." He then explained about the Vent Runner. "I can use that to scout ahead for you, and make sure you don't fall into any traps. There's already a blueprint of the Flavor Building uploaded into its memory banks. It knows the best route to each floor. So are you going to take the walkie talkie, or am I scouting for myself?"\line\line "Galile, what do you think?"\line\line "It sounds like a splendid idea," said Galileo.\line "Yes, very splendid," said Galilei.\line "Let's do it!" exclaimed Galile.\line\line "John, how about you?"\line\line "I'M SORRY! I WISH I COULD TAKE IT BACK BUT I CAN'T! I'M SO SORRY!"\line\line David shook his head. "Throw me the walkie-talkie, Darren." Darren threw up the walkie-talkie, and David grabbed it. "If you're playing me, I'm going to CRAP!!"\line\line "That's disgusting, dude!"\line\line Suddenly, Darren heard static on the walkie-talkie. "Darren!" screamed the voice on the walkie-talkie that cut the static. There was still static behind the voice, which was David's, but...could that be wind? "Darren, you're not going to believe this...I almost got creamed by this flying box, and now I'm holding onto it. I don't know where it's going, but where ever it is, it's on a higher floor!"\line\line "I read you!" Darren looked up the elevator shaft and could see the black box David was referring to. He could also hear John's cries, "THE CLOWNS ARE HERE! THE CLOWNS ARE HERE!"\line\line Darren pulled out his power tape measure and radioed to David. "David, I'm going to try and grab onto that box with the power tape measure!"\line\line "I read you loud and clear, Darren! Good luck! Over!" David looked below him and saw Darren aim his power tape measure. He took a shot and hooked onto the top of the box. "OK, Darren, you're hooked! I'll keep you steady! Get up here!"\line\line "Roger!" screamed Darren, who pushed the Retract button on the tape measure. He was instantly yanked upward.\line\par \pard\par \pard\sb100\sa100 Dave held on to both the flying box and the measuring tape from Darren's unique tape measure. Never the most atheletic person, he was starting to fear for his life.\line\line He thought he saw a Sentry robot on his strange assent. He wanted it to blast it with his crossbow with prototype e bolts. But he thought he'd get launched through the wall.\line\line Darren was right next to him when he saw a bottle rocket fly by his face.\line\line "THAT'S ENOUGH!" said David. He slammed the Masamune in front of the box thing. He then took out the crossbow and aimmed. But before he fired, the bot sidestepped and continued climbing. Dave had to act fast and grab the Masamune with his socked feet. (His shoes fell off after 3 stories.)\line\line "Only one way to stop this," said David. "Time to gamble." David aimmed skyward and fired. It hit the wall...\line\line ...and didn't explode.\line\line "What were you trying to accomplish?" asked Darren.\line\line "Blow up the wall," said David. "First they had too much power, now not enough! Jeez!" \line\line\par "I TOLD YOU! THE CLOWN! HE WANTS TO EAT ME!"\line\line Another bottle rocket came. It missed, but it came much closer to hitting than the last one.\line\line "John, we're about to get blown up while sitting on a box that came from nowhere," said David, "So pardon my impaitence, but WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT YOUR MOUTH?" David had chosen stronger words, but for the sake of the kiddies that may be reading, we'll just leave it at that.\line\line Darren turned to Galile. "Galile, did you come with any weapons? Anything we can use against--" Darren ducked another bottle rocket at this point and continued. "...against THAT?"\line\line Galileo turned to Galilei and vice versa. Galile then responded, "We are equipped with Dow!"\line\line "Great," said Darren, sarcastically, "Martial arts on a distant enemy. Now what?"\line\line Suddenly, the ground lifted and tilted beneath the four. Everyone grabbed a side of the box, and watched as the lid opened and the cop that kicked Darren out of a window popped out.\line\line "What is this?" asked the cop, looking down at a hanging Darren, "How do you keep popping up? Are you always this--"\line\line BANG! Another explosion, coming from underneath. Galile lost his grip, but David caught him. Suddenly, Darren realized "You're a cop!"\line\line "No kidding!" said the cop, sarcastically.\line\line "I need your service pistol."\line\line "And I need to kick you off my bot-box-bus! You're about to take another fall."\line\line David tossed Galile into the bot-box-bus and raised his Masamune to the cop. "I don't care about the wrath I may incur from the Fourside police," he said, "You kick him off the box and I kick you off the planet. Now, give him your service pistol."\line\line BANG! Another bottle rocket. This one slowed down the bot-box-bus, but they were almost on the 34th floor anyway. Then again, that bottle rocket came so close, it was doubtful that they would hit the 34th floor if the sentry bot fired again.\line\line The cop had no choice. He gave his service pistol to Darren.\line\line "Now," said Darren, "bring me on board. My friends, too. I need some solid ground."\line\line "Fine," said the cop, defeatedly. Darren climbed in, as did the others, and pointed his gun at the sentry robot. "C'mon, stop moving for one second..." The next bottle rocket was going to hit. He could feel it.\line\line Finally, the robot started moving to fire another bottle rocket. As soon as it stopped, as soon as he saw a bottle rocket begin to deploy, Darren aimed for the bottle rocket and fired. The bullet hit the bottle rocket just as it left the robot's arm, and the ensuing explosion took out the Sentry Robot.\line\line "Holy crap!" exclaimed the cop, "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"\line\line Darren spun the gun on his finger, and blew the smoke out of the barrel as if he was in some cheesy action movie. "A corporate field trip. Teamwork Boot Camp, they called it."\line\line "Wait," said David, "You're telling me that you learned how to shoot to kill at a teamwork seminar? I mean, you don't fire a gun like that just from playing paintball a couple of times!"\line\line "Well, that's what I'm telling you." Darren discharged the clip from the service pistol and handed the gun to the cop. "Thanks, officer..."\line\line "Kuni."\line\line "Kuni. Here." Darren handed back Kuni's service pistol as David said to no one in particular, "I'm wearing Dragon's Skin and at one point, I held a shield made out of a salamander's tail. Yet I'm the most normal guy here."\line\line Just then, the bot-box-bus reached floor 34 and popped everybody out on it. The bot-box-bus reached its original size and went back into Jim's pocket. The lights went back on again.\line\line "Why didn't you get it to go to floor 48?" asked David.\line\line "There's only enough power for it to go 27 floors at a time," said Officer Kuni, "With the damage it took, it probably can't go another fourteen."\line\line "Then I guess it's back to the stairwell," said David.\line\line "I don't think so," said Kuni. He pulled out some more handcuffs. "Whatever's up there, it's mine."\line\line "Oh, you're NOT doing this!" said David, "Not when we just saved your life! No!"\line\line "Yes!" said Kuni. He put the cuffs on John first, who seemed a little jumpy, and hard to control. He went for Darren next just as David remembered that Galile was skilled in Dow.\line\line "Galile! Art of Dow! Now!"\line\line Gallileo and Galilei surrounded Kuni. He laughed. "You mean to tell me you kids are gonna beat me up? OK, whatever, bring it on!"\line\line Galileo and Galilei opened their mouths. A thick mist sprayed out of the mouths, covering Kuni. He screamed, and agonized, and rolled around in pain. Darren looked at David dumbfoundedly. David simply replied "Dow is the name of the chemical company that manufactures mace."\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 "YARGGGH!" Jim yelled, shortly before rolling himself into a broom closet, and the closet locked itself.\line\line "Well, thats that. Now... maybe we can get a little more power in that bus, if fell out of his pocket. David?" Daren looked around, and was relieved to see the other talking about what could possibly up there, and all wondered where the group would probably try to outdo eachother. Darren sighed, and started looking for the stairwell.\line\line Meanwhile, Jim was knocked out, unaware that the bot had managed to barely follow him, and was now trying to heal him.\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Galile turned to survey the rather spacey 34th floor. Unlike the others, which served and looked like as normal, corporate offices, this one was wide open--with the obvious exception of a network of thin grooves that ran all along the floor. The data stored in Galile's data banks had absolutely no mention of anything like this, so he took the only course of action that he could think of.\line\line "Darren?"\line\line The inventor was busy discussing a new course of action with David. "Yes, what is it?" he asked.\line\line "Darren..."\line\line "Yes, Galile, what is it?"\line\line "Darren! Darren Darren Darren!"\line\line "\i WHAT IS IT?!\i0 " \line\line Innocently and simultaneously Galileo and Galilei pointed at the thin canals running along the floor. "What's that?"\line\line The office worker took a deep breath to steady himself as his eyes focused on the black, hollow grooves. They \i were\i0 strange, come to think of it, but now was not the time to worry about trivialities--he had already spotted the door to the stairwell on the other side of the large room.\line\line "Come on guys, time's'a wasting." he said, then took off towards the next floor. David followed close by, then Galile, and finally John, who looked over his shoulder every now and then to check for megalomaniacal clowns. \line\line Halfway across the room Galile stopped dead in his tracks and gasped. Galileo began running in circles around Galilei, while the latter took off his green hat and clutched it to his chest. "Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!" they yelled in unison.\line\line Darren, who was now walking alongside David, turned to look at the duo of androids. "What? What's happening?" he asked. In response Galileo pointed to the thin, black groove he was standing on. "Look out!"\line\line Like a flash Galileo pulled David towards him, while Galilei lunged at Darren and tackled him to the floor. A split second later a loud whirring filled the room. Large, metallic walls popped up from the canals and flew upwards until they made contact with the ceiling. One of the walls came up directly through the middle of the group, separating David and Galilei from Darren, John, and Galileo. The 34th floor had literally been transformed into a maze.\line\line "Guys! Can you hear me? Guys!" David pounded on the steel wall frantically. All he managed to accomplish was a small bruise on his hand.\line\line He shot a look at Galilei. "Hey!" he said nervously. "You have to make contact with your other half, tell him to do something!"\line\line Galilei blinked blankly for a second, after which his lips curled to one side and he shook his head. "Sorry, the metal wall severed my communication with my other half." he said.\line\line "What? What's that supposed to mean?"\line\line Galilei shrugged. "My mind has been split in two. I can't communicate with Galileo until we get out of here."\line\line David let his shoulders slump. "This is not good." he whispered to himself.\line\line Darren was having similar luck on the other side of the wall. \line\line "The only way we'll get out of here it to get through this maze and come out the other side," he said reluctantly. "We can't do anything else right now."\line\line Galileo smiled and began jumping up and down rapidly. "Yay! I like mazes! When do we get to play!"\line\line Darren sighed. "Um, right not, I guess..." he replied. "Come on, let's move."\line\line He took two steps when he noticed that no one was following him. Annoyed, he turned to find John lying on the floor in a fetal position. "The clowns...they did this..." he whimpered while Galileo stared at him curiously.\line\line Darren sighed dejectedly. He was going to \i kill\i0 whoever designed this floor when he met up with him.\line\line Meanwhile, fourteen floors up, Enrich Flavor received a rather cryptic phone call from one of his secretaries.\line\line\i "The mice are heading for the cheese, sir,"\i0 said she. \line\line Enrich Flavor chuckled, thanked the secretary for the call, then opened up a panel in his desk. In it were several different-colored buttons, along with a small black-and-white monitor. \line\line\i Let's see how you like my little maze...\i0 Flavor grinned to himself and pressed one of the buttons and the panel. \i Not to mention the little toys that go with it...\i0\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 John continued to rock back and forth until Darren slaped him in the face. He shot up instantly,"Thank you Darren! I needed that! Sometimes it takes awile to snap out of the evil clown thing, but we're in light now and I can think rationally once again!" John pulled out Yonney, extended him to seven feet and charged at the wall. Upon touching it, he was instantly electricuted.\line He slowly got up and put Yonney away. He started to say something when Darren grabbed him by the colar,"Why didn't you tell us that you had an extending spear thing when we could have used it in the shaft?"\line\line "I never use my spear in the dark! Then the clowns would know my secret weapon!"\line\line "Errrgh! Well let's continue." \line\line With that, the small group continued with Galileo in the lead. They had navigated through a few sets of cubicles when they came upon three Sentry Robots.\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 "A maze," said David. "Great. My worst enemy." Dave took out his pouch of explosive Crossbow bolts, and opened one up. "That's why they don't work! No source of power to set off the explosive! But where did those batteries go?"\line\line "What's that white thing?" said Galilei.\line\line "Huh?" said David. He looked closer. "This is a cat claw... Mow-Joe! Oh, that silly kitty. Well, maybe I can climb over those walls."\line\line Dave took out a plunger and threw it at the wall. It hit the wall, handle first, and burst into flames.\line\line "What the...?" said David.\line\line "The walls are apparently electrified," said Galilei.\line\line "Electrified, ehh?" said David.\line\line David loaded a bolt into the crossbow and fired at the wall. In a moderate-sized explosion, the wall opened a hole.\line\line "Let's go!" said David. But as he spoke those words, the wall was quickly repairing itself.\line\line Galilei started, "I don't think we should..."\line\line But when Dave reached his hole, it was too small for even a finger to fit through. David recieved a shock and was launched backwards into Galilei.\line\line "Oww..." said David.\line\line "Just use those crossbow bolts on any possible machines we run into," said Galilei.\line\line "Gotcha," said David.\line\line Around the first corner, they ran into a Sentry Robot. Before it could call for backup, Dave fired the crossbow at it. It hit right at the joint. An explosion followed, and caused the Sentry Robot to shatter.\line\line "Scrap metal!" declaired David.\line\line David ducked into a cubicle for rest. He found a day old candy bar in there, and decided to have it for a snack.\line\line\i Maybe I can get on the Internet from here,\i0 thought David.\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 "John," said Darren, "Listen carefully. Quietly pass me your spear."\line\line "Why?"\line\line "Because you'd rather deal with evil clowns than these things. Now pass me your spear and I'll get you out of this." John did so. "OK, now, close your eyes and pretend you're in pitch darkness."\line\line "Why would I want to do that?"\line\line "I'll smack you out of it again, just do it!"\line\line "OK."\line\line The sentry robots began their verification countdown when John closed his eyes. Suddenly, he screamed. "MY GOD! THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! THEY'RE ALL AROUND US! THE EVIL CLOWNS WILL KILL ME AND THEN THEY'LL KILL YOU ALL! IS THERE NO LOVE IN YOU, CHRIST? IS THERE NO LOVE?"\line\line It was working. The sentry robots turned all their attention on John. Once that happened, Darren extended the pole into one of the sentry bots. The Sentry Bot was thrown against the wall, which electrocuted it and shorted it out. Darren then spun the stick into the other two sentry robots, also pushed into the wall of robot doom. He retracted the pole again, smacked John out of his trance, and gave him back his pole.\line\line "Wow," said John, "Did you learn this in the teamwork seminar?"\line "I learned how to use a staff there," said Darren, "I got the idea a year ago when my little nephew got me to sit down through a Dragonball Z movie."\line\line He thought about that sentence. Movie...wasn't he making a movie? In fact, wasn't it shooting in the vents?\line\line Darren pulled out a modified Nintendo Power Glove, the one used to control a vent runner. He flipped open the viewscreen, and got the Vent Runner to head for the 34th floor. Once it was above the 34th floor, he used the X-Ray vision to look through the vent and get a top view of the maze, get an idea of the path to take and what dangers lay ahead.\line\line "OK," said Darren, "First, we gotta find the others. Here's what we do."\line\par \pard\par \pard\sb100\sa100 David had held off the sentry robots while eating the Krispy Kreme donuts he found. He couldn't stop eating them! They were so good.\line\line Then suddenly...\line\line "Crap," said David.\line\line "What?" said Galilei.\line\line "Out of crossbow bolts!" said David. "Well... it's now or never."\line\line David threw off his t-shirt.\line\line "Time to wrestle."\line\line David wasn't too athletic. The only thing he knew about wrestling was what he saw on TV and in his videogames. But he had no choice. He rushed torwards a Sentry Robot and slammed it against the electrified wall. He then lifted another bot and threw it over his head. Dave turned around just in time to see the bot's head fly off.\line\line A third Sentry 'Bot apprroached him, and fired a Big Bottle Rocket. David grabbed thje remains of the 2nd bot and threw it at the rocket. After that, he kicked the new 'bot into the wall.\line\line David panted out of exaustion. It was quite a workout for him!\line\line David put his shirt back on, and grabbed his sword. Maybe he'd run into Darren.\line\line "Meow!" said a voice.\line\line David turned around. It was his cat!\line\line "How'd you get here, Mow-Jee?" said David. "Dogs chase you here? You're eyes are all... glowing red?"\line\line David quickly threw the "cat" against the wall, where it was electricuted. Upon closer inspection, it was a robot.\line\line "Never tamper with my feelings," said David. "Let's try to find Darren, Galilei."\line\line The two continued on through the maze.\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Darren manipulated the tiny directional pad on his modified powerglove and took a few tentative steps toward the left corridor of a left-right intersection. According to the vent runner, that way would soon lead them to the center of the maze. After that, finding the others (or other--he didn't know whether to classify Galile's other half as a separate person) would be simple.\line\line "I wonder if there are any robot clowns around here..."\line\line That is, if he could survive his maze-mates first.\line\line Galileo, who was walking ahead of him, had absent-mindedly rounded a corner when he stepped over a red laser beam close to the floor. Immediately the halls began to flash a menacing red while a wailing alarm filled the would-be treasure hunters' ears.\line\line "AH!! RED!! THAT MEANS THE CLOWNS ARE COMING!! SWEET MOTHER OF JOSEPHINE, WHEN WILL IT END?!" John reacted appropriately, while Galileo stared blankly at one of the sirens hanging from the ceiling. \line\line Darren scowled and turned his attention to the vent runner. They were close to the exit, so if they hurried they could get out of the maze before any of the security countermeasures took effect.\line\line "Hey look! The walls are getting smaller!"\line\line Or maybe not.\line\line Two panels had shot up from the floor and boxed Galileo, Darren, and John in. Unlike the other panels, though, these were mobile, and they advanced towards each other, something that would soon result in an early funeral--or an early recycling, in Galileo's case. \line\line John, carried away by the stupor of bozofobia, took out Yonney and extended it. The metallic spear managed to stop the walls from closing in further, but the sounds of straining gears and bending metal indicated that John hadn't bought them much time.\line\line "Great, \i now\i0 what do we do?" Darren lifted his gaze at the claustrophobic surroundings. His attention was quickly drawn to the floor by Galileo tugging on his pants.\line\line "I think I have an idea," he said. "Can I see your glove?"\line\line Darren handed the glove wordlessly to Galileo, who then reached into his sleeve and produced a cable that extended from his wrist. Quickly he plugged it into the powerglove. After that his eyes went blank and his hands dropped, while a faint, orange light began flashing in the very back of his pupils, indicating that he was processing a large amount of information.\line\line Darren peeked at the small screen and noticed that Galileo had activated first-person mode. The vent runner was rapidly navigating the air ducts above the 34th floor, and was heading for a ventilation grate that led to a hall perpendicular to the one they were in.\line\line "What is he doing?" asked Darren to himself. Galileo's voice responded through a tiny, built-in speaker in the powerglove.\line\line "I've taken control of the unit," it said. "I will try to make an exit for us."\line\line The vent runner stopped over the ventilation grate and dropped down into the actual halls of the maze. After that it made its way to the wall that corresponded to the rapidly closing hallway.\line\line A sharp \i clink\i0 could be heard as John's sear finally gave way and retracted to its original position, spiraling wildly until it tumbled to the floor. John picked it up and put it back in his coat. "If you're gonna do something, I suggest you do it now!" he said as the walls forced him to get close to Darren. \line\line "I know, I know!" said Darren, now back to back with John. He turned to Galileo's still form. "Hurry up! We're almost done for!" he shouted.\line\line "Don't worry! I'm almost there!" said Galileo through the speaker. "All I have to do is activate the pocket rocket, and we're free!"\line\line "Well, hurry up!" \line\line "Okay! Fire in the hole! Heh, I always wanted to say that..."\line\line "\i Just fire already\i0 !!"\line\line Suddenly a large portion of the wall to Galileo's right burst open under the fire of the vent runner's pocket rocket, filling the now cramped cubicle with smoke and debris. Wordlessly John grabbed Galileo and ran through the opening, followed by Darren. A few seconds later the two walls finally met, crushing nothing but air.\line\line The alarm went off and the lights returned to normal. Apparently, the maze's computer system 'thought' it had vanquished the threat.\line\line "Wee! That was fun!" Galileo retracted the cable from the powerglove and dusted himself off, suddenly conscious that he was back in his body once more. "I wanna do it again!"\line\line Darren took back his powerglove, then recovered the vent runner and looked for the vent where it had come down. After feeding it back through and having it make its way to the ventilation system again, he went to the others. "Okay...we're still not far from the exit. Let's go, guys!"\line\line The three rounded a corner, with Darren in the lead. They tread in silence for a few minutes, until Darren spotted something in the LCD screen of his powerglove.\line\line "Something coming towards us? I wonder what..." his suspicions were confirmed as a big object came around the corner.\line\line "Oh \i no\i0 ."\line\line The huge, robotic clown's eyes flashed a menacing red strobe, while it approached the threesome, arms raised. It bellowed a hollow, mechanical laugh as it stalked towards Galileo and the others. As it walked a panel in its forearm opened to reveal a round buzz saw, while a large cannon grew out of its chest.\line\line "Hey, a clown!" Galileo waved his arms emphatically. "I want a balloon animal! And a sandwich! And a balloon animal in the shape of a sandwich!"\line\line Darren's eyes went wide. His mouth formed the only words he could think of at that particular moment. \line\line "Oh, \i crap\i0 ." \par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 "I think we're getting closer," said David.\line\line "GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a distant voice shouted. "CLOWN!!!!!!!"\line\line "Ya think?" said Galilei.\line\line "I know," said David.\line\line Just then, three Sentry Robots cut them off.\line\line David had a crzy idea running through his head. It had to work. He focused on the sword.\line\line "\i LO DRAGO LEVANTE DEL OCEANO!\i0 " shouted David. "\i THE RISING DRAGON OF THE OCEAN!\i0 "\line\line David's Masamune started to glow. Lightly, at first, but then brighter and brighter. Then two dragon-shapes came out of the sword and slammed into one of the bots. It slammed into the electrified wall and quickly shorted out.\line\line The other two Sentry robots backed away slowly. Dave just kicked those last two against the same wall.\line\line "Maybe if we can follow the shouts of fear," said Galilei, "we'll find John and then Darren."\line\line "Gee, you think?" said David, sarcastically.\line\line "Yes," replied Galilei.\line\line "...B-e-a-u-tiful!" said David. "Let's just keep going."\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Darren shook his head. John never stopped complaining about clowns coming to kill him when it got dark. He thought he was crazy. Now this clown wasn't the clown he described. For one thing, they were in a well lit area. For another, the clowns in questions were cannibals; they didn't shoot cannonballs.\line\line Actually, as the group soon found out, the clown did not shoot cannonballs; instead, it shot streamers. And the buzzsaw only looked like a buzzsaw. Really, it was just a noisemaker.\line\line "Hey Timmy!/It's your birthday!/Hey Timmy!/It's your birthday!/Don't forget your friends/For they're there to the end/On this fantastical, magical birthday!"\line\line "Galileo," said Darren, defeated.\line\line "Yes?" asked Galileo.\line\line "If I ever talk about how badly you sing...just remind me about this clown."\line\line "Will do," said Galileo.\line\line Something strange happened at this point. The maze came down, and a funny looking man appeared before them. "Ah!" said the man, "There you are! Thank you so much for finding him. This clownbot must've wandered off from the nursery! I guess some bugs need to be worked out of this thing, huh?" He chortled to himself.\line\line John stared at him, expressionless, for a long time as he chortled. Finally, when the chortling was done, John took Yonnie and clocked the man across the head so hard, he drew blood.\line\line "GALILEO!"\line\line "GALILEI!"\line\line Galilei ran toward Galileo and vice versa. They embraced as David walked up to John and Darren.\line\line "Wonder what happened there," said David.\line\line "See that nimrod writhing on the floor next to that clown?"\line\line "Yeah..."\line\line "To get the clown back, this genius deactivated the maze. Needless to say, John was peeved that he scared him like that."\line\line "Ah...let's get out of here."\line\line "Lets."\line\line They continued, Galile whistling "Ring of Fire." David was about to say something when Darren stopped him. "Trust me," said Darren, "This isn't as bad as it gets."\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 Enrich Flavor was sitting at his desk, watching the entire thing through a small television.\line "Oh crap! I knew that robotic clown was a bad idea!"\line Suddenly the doors burst open and a Sentry Robot rolled in with Ness, Paula, and Jeff behind it. In a puff of smoke, the Sentry Robot turned into Poo. Ness panted,"We finally made it up here! Poo mirrored a Sentry Robot to clear a path for us! Now were is the Mani Mani head?"\line\line "So glad to see you Ness! Could you do a favor for me? I want you to go and get this group," He turned the television to Ness and showed him David and the others,"out of the building. They are on the 34th floor. Can you do this for me?"\line\line "Sure, but you never answered my first question. Where is the ststue head? It must be destroyed!"\line\line "Out you go!" Enrich shoved Ness and co. into a nearby elevator and reactivated it. He then pushed a button to send it to the 34th floor.\line\line Meanwhile, David and the others continued to try and locate a stairwell. They were passing by the elevator when its lights went on.\line "Hey! The elevator's back on! Let's use this!" Said John as he walked to the elevator. He pushed the button for up and waited. Darren and the others kept their distance.\line\line "John, I don't think that's a very good idea. Something doesn't seem right." said Darren.\line\line John mearly waved his hand back at him and said,"Meh." After a few more moments, the elevator doors began to open and John walked towards them only to be instantly knocked unconcious by a baseball bat.\par \pard\par \par \pard\sb100\sa100 David's instincts kicked in immediatley. He lunged for the boy in the red cap, who had swung the bat, and tackled him to the ground. Darren tried to follow suit, but Galile held him back.\line\line "We know them!" said Galileo.\line "It is Ness and his friends!" said Galilei.\line "Ness...Ness LEE?"\line "Yes!" said Galile.\line\line Darren ran toward David and helped Paula, Jeff, and Poo pull him off. Meanwhile, Galile tended to John, who started to recover from the baseball bat to his head.\line\line "David, David, hold on!" exclaimed It's Ness Lee!"\line "Ness Lee? I'm beating up chocolate? What the hell?"\line "NO, STUPID! Ness...LEE. The kid who saved the world!"\line\line David stopped, and looked at the bruised face of Ness.\line\line "Yeah, it's me. Now WILL YOU GET OFF?" David did so out of pure shock. "Look, I'm sorry I had to do that, but it's kind of a necessity. I need to ask you guys, why do you want to go to the top floor?"\line\line "To await further instructions from you," said Galile. Everyone else had a dumbfounded expression and/or a shocked reaction to Galile's revolation.\line\line "I'll tell the rest of you why," said Ness, "What you're after is the head of the statue known as Mani Mani."\line\line "Mani Mani," repeated Darren, "A statue with the ability to control minds. Son of a gun, I knew it had to be some sort of mind control."\line\line "Exactly. If it were whole, you wouldn't be questioning anything. However, it's just the head, so its mind control powers have weakened considerably. We came to destroy the head."\line\line "Right," said Jeff, "But first, Mr. Flavor wants to take you downstairs--"\line\line "I don't trust Flavor," said Ness, "But I do have an idea if you guys are willing. But it's dangerous, and if you guys don't want to do it, I'll understand, we'll take you downstairs, and you can go about your lives."\line\line "Nah," said David, "I'm down. Darren?"\line\line "Work with the four people I'm borderline obsessed with? Count me in. John?"\line\line "Yeah...OK, I'll help."\line\line Just then, Kuni came rushing up to the crowd. On each hand were two metal rings that were once handcuffs. The chain between them had been broken. "All right," he barked, "You people are in big--OH, THAT'S NOT FAIR! YOU HAVE NESS LEE ON YOUR SIDE NOW?"\line\line "Sir," said Ness, "cool it." Ness explained the situation to Kuni.\line\line "OK," he said, "Now I'm mad. Flavor's going down for this."\line\line "Good," said Paula, "Because we were planning to take him down, and you can help."\line\line "Hop onto the elevator with us, officer" said Jeff, "We'll go over the plan there."\line\line "Thanks. The name's Jim Kuni, by the way."\line\line On the elevator, Ness explained the plan. The Chosen Four would play possum when the elevator doors opened to the 48th floor. Flavor, who was probably being controlled by the Mani Mani head, would send everything he got to protect it. While Darren, David, Jim, John, and Galile battled Flavor's security, Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo would sneak around the battle, go to the head, and destroy it. After the head was destroyed, they'd back the other four up and cover their escape from the Flavor building.\line\line "Is there anyone in here that does not like this plan?" asked Ness.\line\line "Just one thing," said Jim, "What if you're pulling one over on us? Like, you say you want to destroy the head, but really, you want it for yourself.\line\line "In that case," said Paula, "I'll be a hostage. If Ness doesn't destroy the head, you can take me with you."\line\line "That's very noble of you," observed Darren.\line\line "Don't be that impressed," said Paula, "I'm used to it."\line\line "We're on floor 45," said Jeff.\line\line "OK, everyone, take a corner, make like you were beaten unconscious." Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo arranged themselves in a corner of the room, slumped into it, went limp, and closed their eyes. Gailie agreed to stand watch over Paula, leaving David, Jim, Darren, and John to fight.\line\line "Hey," said Jim, looking at Darren, "You shoot well?"\line\line "You saw for yourself."\line\line "Here," said Jim. He pulled up his pants leg to reveal an ankle holster holding a service pistol. He took out the service pistol. "This is my backup piece. You can't go in there unarmed. Take some extra clips, too. That's 51 shots. Think before you use them."\line\line "Thanks," said Darren. He took the gun.\line\line The doors opened. Enrich Flavor stared at the door, shocked. He hit a red button, and an alarm sounded.\line\line "Here they come," said David.\line\line "These are machines," said Jim, "so shoot to kill!"\par \par \par While Darren, David, John, and Jim battled the security robots, Galile stayed in the elevator with the Chosen Four. He wasn't designed for all-out fighting, so he wouldn't be much help in that department, but he was extremely capable--Apple Kid had designed him to be. As it was, nothing had really come close to them, so the twin robots merely sat on the floor of the elevator, wiggling their tiny robot toes in their tiny robot boots. When they saw an opening in Flavor's forces Galilei rose and walked over to Ness, and poked him in the arm with a chubby finger.\line\line "Mr. Ness," he said politely. "You can go through now."\line\line Ness opened one of his eyes slowly and looked at the battle unfolding not too far from him. After deciding that it was safe, he got up and sneaked surreptitiously towards the gap, signalling for the others to follow.\line\line Galile began to follow, but his path was cut off by a small, clumsy-looking robot. Its large, bulbous head stared at the twin robots blankly, while Galile stared blankly right back.\line\line "Target-acquired-proceeding-to-eliminate." The Clumsy Robot raised a tiny, mechanical arm and pointed it menacingly at Galile. The response it received was less than normal.\line\line "Hey! You wanna play ring around the rosie?" Galileo and Galilei grabbed the Clumsy Robot's two arms and began running in circles, chanting the familiar words to the children's rhyme as they did. When they finished they let go of the Clumsy Robot, laughing silently to themselves as the droid spun out of control. Eventually it hit a Sentry Robot, and the impact caused it to fire its ammunition supplies. The resulting explosion took out the Clumsy Robot, two Sentries, and a large chunk of the roof.\line\line Galile stared at the gaping hole in the ceiling. Both units gave themselves brief glances before they walked under the hole and stared at the clouds. \line\line "Oops."\par \par \par Ness charged through the battle and went after the head of the Mani Mani statue unseen.\line\line Unseen, of course, except for Flavor. Flavor saw Ness charging through and tried to call the attention of the sentry robots onto him to no avail. Knowing what Ness could do if he got his hands on the statue head, he chased after him.\line\line Fortunatley, Darren saw him. He drew his gun, and saw a sentry robot swing for him out of the corner of his eye. He fell to his side to avoid the blow, aimed, and fired. The bullet flew and found a home right in Flavor's--\line\line "YEOUCH!" Flavor crumpled to the ground face first, his hind parts on fire. Ness kept running toward the statue head--\line\line\i moneyfamepowerlovewomencashcelebritylifeimmortality\i0\line\line He stopped. He looked at the statue head. None of it was real, but as much as he tried to convince himself that, he couldn't bring himself to do his job.\line\line Darren knew what was happening. "Guys!" he shouted, "Cover me!"\line\line "You got it!" shouted David.\line\line David, Jim, and John opened fire on anything that came near Darren while he charged through the battle. He closed his eyes - if they opened and saw the statue head, he might stop too. He wasn't much experienced with street law, but he had learned from movies that the only things angry mobs were good for were attention and destruction. He was counting on destruction.\line\line "NESS!" screamed Darren, "GET AWAY FROM IT! THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW!"\line\line Ness looked at Darren and nodded. He took his bat and smacked the head so hard, it flew through the window and into the crowd below.\line\line What was once a desire to climb to the 48th floor became a desire to jump to the 40th, 30th, 20th, 10th--suddenly, the desire became to get to a certain point within the crowd. Those near that point desired to hold the golden statue head. They fought over it until the desire was no more, and everyone started to leave without the statue head. After all, what good is it if it's broken?\line\par \par Everyone went their separate ways after the incident. Darren went back to his office job and, thanks to a renewed confidence in his own abilities, got a government-funded grant to build official prototypes of his own inventions, and made friends with Jim.\line\line David looked within the Masamune and himself. He decided to embark on another journey to master the inner powers of his blade. John went with him, intent on embarking on an epic journey of self discovery. Also he wanted to get away from the clowns.\line\line Jim got a promotion. He is now known as Police Chief Kunni. He was also credited with the capture of Flavor.\line\par Stickyman became the first person to ever climb the 'Enrich' building with suction cups.\par \line As for Galile...\line\line "Well, it seems you've had quite the adventure," said Apple Kid. He and Galile were sitting in the inventor's worn-down shack, discussing the day's events. "How did you do?"\line\line "Well first I met this nice man, only he fell out the window, then I met this other man with a biiiiiiig sword, then the other nice man came back, and we went up to the last floor, but there were robots, and then we had to go through a maze, but it was okay 'cause then we got to the top, and then they set this man's pants on fire!" \line\line Apple Kid blinked. "O...kay, then..." he said. "Well, whatever happened, you fared very well. You should be proud of yourselves!"\line\line Both Galile robots beamed. Then both their gazes dropped. Galileo sighed. "But...there's one thing..."\line\line "What is it?"\line\line Galilei opened up his chest compartment. "On the way down I found a shiny thing...I don't know what it is..."\line\line Galilei took out a small, golden piece of metal. It was curved. After handing it to Galileo, who inspected it, he sighed again. "What is that shiny thing?"\line\line Apple Kid held up the metallic object and stared at it. \line\line\i moneyfamepowermoneyfamepowermoneyfamepower\i0\line\line The inventor's eyes went wide. "Um...Galile?"\line\line "What?"\line\line "This is...the \i horn\i0 of the Mani Mani statue, isn't it? I mean, you found this next to the head?"\line\line Galileo and Galilei looked at each other. After a moment of though, they nodded their heads simultaneously. "Yep! Right next to the head!"\line\line Suddenly Apple Kid could hear voices clamoring outside his house. Some of them called out to him from outside, demanding the horn of the Mani Mani statue. The inventor made a mad dash for his phone and quickly dialed Ness' number.\line\line "Hello? Ness, please...Ness, is that you? Um, there's no easy way to break this to you, but...\b\i HELP ME!!\b0\i0 "\line\line\line --Elevator Skirmish--\line\line The End...?\line\fs24\par \pard\fs20\par \par \par \par Well, it's over for now. I have to say we each had fun. And now, the credits.\par \par \par \pard\qc\fs22 -Credits-\par \par \fs20\par \pard\tab -MAIN WRITERS- -SECONDARY WRITERS-\tab -OTHER THINGS-\par \tab\tab Giampi \tab\tab\tab Jeff7\tab\tab\tab\tab SimonBob\par (Galile) (Jim)\tab\tab\tab\tab (Started topic)\par \tab\tab \par \tab\tab Michael DePalma Just Some Person (JSP) Jeff7 (Me)\par (Darren) (Stickyman) (Making it spiffiy \tab\tab\tab\tab\tab\tab\tab\tab\tab to send in)\par Bland ol' Superspeedy Unprovoked Walrus Assault\par \tab\tab (David)\tab\tab (Lemming)\par \par \tab\tab Flying Zamboni 2\par \tab\tab (John)\par }