4f.) Regrouping

Eventually, he found himself slowing down, coming to a stop at the entrance to the rabbit hole that Tesla's group had used before. Letting down Carlos and pulling on a chain attached to the floor, he opened the hatch to the 'Rabbit Hole'.

"The fox is... somewhere down there, at least..." the panther explained, now heavily winded from the effort.

Lallium looked curiously at the trapdoor he kicked open.

"Plus five Lockpicking."

Salem looked at him for a moment before deciding not to comment. "So now we go into the mysterious dark hole to nowhere?"

"Only if we have a high enough Science stat."

Salem looked at him once more before continuing. "Anywho..." He began walking into the tunnel.

"Error; you need at least 75 Science to use the shortcut."

"You're gonna make me ask aren't you?"

Lallium said nothing. Salem sighed.

"Fine... What are you talking about Lallium?'

"Fallout 3. I've been playing it lately and;"

"Wait, how have you been playing it lately? We're in another dimension!" he thought a moment. "Don't tell me you brought a computer!"

Lallium looked sheepish. "Uh... maybe."

Salem looked irritated. "And you didn't bring milk?"

"Um..."

"RAWR!"

"AH!"

Lallium ran into the tunnel and Salem followed.

"YOU LAZY LITTLE..."

"WAIT, LET ME PUT ON MY POWER ARMOR!"

"DON'T TELL ME; YOU BROUGHT THAT TOO!"

"No, that one was a joke."

The two stopped for a moment, Lallium panting and Salem thinking.

"Oh..." Then Salem tackled Lallium. "I STILL DON'T GET IT!"

The two rolled directly into the middle of town before winding up on top ofone another right in front of Echo and Shobatsu. Lallium gave a little wave.

"Uh... Hi!"

Salem pushed Lallium off of himself and then saw Valeria.

"Wah!? Why do you look like you've been crying!?" He suddenly began dashing up to people and waving his fist. "Who was it? Was it you? Who dares hurt my future bride? Bat-girl? The rabbit?" He stopped after threatening just about everyone in the room, standing in the center of the group and panting. "I'll strangle ya... I swear..."

The panther hadn't noticed a bit of extra cargo; the minions had managed to attache themselves to the panther's leg with a string made of ice and now wnet flying forward as he stopped, hitting the ground and eachother with an "Oomph."

Priscilla was the first to recover. "Hands off! Never touch a lady without her permission!"

Gyro rolled his eyes. "Like we'd WANT to..."

Priscilla looked with murderous eyes at him and he waved his hands.

"Joking, joking, joking! There's no guy that wouldn't go head over heels for you!" He then mumbled. "To get away from you that is..."

Jack punched him in the face and kncoked him out, then put Gyro over his shoulder. "Saves us some time."

Voyle looked around. "Huh... I think I liked our place better."

"Awk-ward..." Arthur said under his breath, looking away from Salem, stifling himself from the situation by pretending he had somewhere else to be, before he realised he actually had somewhere else to be.

"Ah, crap, I haven't seen Lily ever since I first took her to the ward... hope she isn't up yet..." Arthur said, darting off.

Valeria looked over at the cat, rather surprised to see Salem here. Nevertheless, she had to say something in response to this: "Dumb cat..." she started. "Stop treating me like my feelings are the same as yours... in case you forget, I have a mind as well..."

" Oh this is gonna be great. " Echo said muttering under her breath. She beagn to walk towards the infirmary, but sat down right at the end of the hallway to enjoy the show. Alex walked past her following Arthur. " Whatever your doing, I'm helping, I'm not gonna get caught up in THAT kind of situation. "

Carlos looked down at the minions, suspicious that the extra 200+ pounds of weight might have added to the panther's fatigue.

"Right," he said. "Come on, you lot. Let's go..."

In a fit of genius, he added, "Maybe Salem will be down there,"

That would hurry at least one of them up, and perhaps the others would follow or be dragged along.

With that, Carlos entered the trap door.

Shobatsu watched the epsode unfold, and didn't respond as the cat yowled into his face before leaping to the next victim. It was almost sad how obsessively dedicated he was to Valeria, and had a brief mental image of what might occur if he learned about his relationship with her while in anything but D rank.

Seeing that no one else was forthcoming with an answer, he cleared his throat. "Ah, myself and a few others were put at risk of death by a malicious spirit, which was sealed in a sword at the close."

Every word true, and it technically accounted for Valeria's crying without blatantly picking a fight with Salem. The cat would find out eventually... but not here, in that craze, with all these people around who might be hit with the fringe effects of wildly fired attacks...

"Hold it," the panther said, pointing at the minions. "Rides ain't free. Which one of you can sew?"

He was referring to the ankle that was grabbed by Priscilla's ice wire, which had its cloth cut through by the thin extension.

Salem blinked a few times at Valeria's comment, obviously not understanding in the least. "So... in your mind I'm even more awesome than I think I am?"

When he heard Shobatsu's comment he struck a triumphant pose. "Yeah, well that spirit got lucky! I would've torn out it's en..." He stopped and turned to Lallium. "Do spirits HAVE entrails?"

Lallium, still on the ground, shrugged. "Um... I guess some do."

Salem resumed his pose. "Then I'd rip em out and strangle him with it!"

"Them."

Salem stopped again. "Huh?"

"Entrails is plural."

"Ah." He resumed. "Then I'd beat him to death with Lallium's corpse!"

"Violent... wait, why am I a corpse!"

"Because I used you as a sheild when the spirit attacked."

"But that's not fair!"

"Eh, you'll survive."

"No I won't; I'll be a CORPSE!"

"Details, details." Salem turned back to Valeria and Shobatsu and grinned. "But everything's okay now; I'm here."

Voyle and Priscilla simultaneously pointed at Jack.

""Him.""

Jack, looked around. "But I couldn't... but if Salem's... But sewing is such a girly skill..." He tossed Gyro at the panther. "He can sew!"

Jack dashed off into the hole, and Voyle and Priscilla looked at eachother before dashing/flying after him.

The panther looked at the remaining DaCre, and pointed at his ankle. "Surely more than a fair trade?"

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

Valeria seemed overly flustered at Salem's robust ego, which caused her to grunt, look slightly more angry, and shout at Salem: "Quit it with the ego, kitty! I'm not just some obsessed toy!"

With that, she stormed off, small explosions crackling at the end of her palms. This would serve as a fair warning for both Shobatsu and Salem: do not tick her off when she's already upset.

Shobatsu watched her leave, ears down. He started to glare at Salem, but stopped, sighing.

"You know, you could accomplish so much more if you even made an effort to think about what you say..."

Shobatsu turned, and started walking down the street that led back to the ward. Somehow the area around him seemed slightly darker, as though even the light around him was becoming depressed.

The panther would soon realize Gyro was unconcious... from there who knew what he would do.

* * *

The minions barged down and almost ran itno Shobatsu; Jack stopping at the last second with Voyle and Priscilla running into him from behind. The three fell in a straight line and looked up at the kitsune. Voyle spoke first.

"Woah... someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Jack came next. "Hey that's rude. Though you do look a little... Dark." He poked at the air near Shobatsu tentatively as if testing it.

Priscilla looked at him. "What's got YOU down?"

* * *

Salem looked at the two for a moment before pointing at a random Dacre and yelling "This is all YOUR fault" before storming off in his own direction; not wanting to be left out. After a moment however, he realized his direction ws a dead end, and began to ponder over how he would go back without looking foolish... Well, more foolish. Lallium walked up behind him and Salem turned.

"Was it... something I said?"

Lallium sighed. "I realy don't know. Women eh?"

Salem looked at him angrily and Lallium reneged. "You know what I mean..."

Salem sighedand sat down. "I bet this is that fox's fault somehow."

Lallium sat beside him. "I'm sure it is..."

The two sat for a moment and then Salem jumped up.

"WE ARE NOT HAVING A MOMENT!"

This told every DaCre in the area they were having a moment.

"Um... do you two need anything, or are you just gonna keep... yelling randomly..." a rabbit asked, having approached the two. "We don't need this turning into a disturbing the peace issue, now, do we?"

A few DaCre behind this rabbit were laughing, holding various types of paws to cover their laughs, in a somewhat snide, secretive style.

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

The panther sighed, and proceeded to attempt to pick up Gyro; if that was no problem, he would take him back to his residence, and splash a bucket of cold water on him.

Shobatsu blinked, and looked at the fairy as though just realising she were there. He looked at her for a second, and sighed, looking down.

"I can see a problem in the future that may cost me a friend" he said and, without pausing for a reply, stepped around the group and continued on toward the ward.

...

As Shobatsu turned a corner, vanishing from sight, Carlos rounded another, approaching the three. Being a DaCre-less human in an unfamiliar DaCre city, he felt it best to stay with those he knew. With DaCre or not, every city had its criminals, and he'd rather not run afoul of a kidnapper or mugger.

Salem turned calmly to the rabbit. "Yelling randomly." He then began running around the room, somehow managing to run up the walls and ceiling before proceeding back down the other wall and around the room. "RANDOM, RANDOM, RANDOM, GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM!" he landed on the ground and threw his hands theatrically out to Lallium.

Lallium sighed and then began his own run. "Randomly randomly randomly ran- OUCH!" Lallium hit the wall and fell backwards, unable to pull of Salem's stunt. "Life is but a dream... Ow..."

Salem then turned back to Arthur. "And I hope your friends aren't hoping to get married soon..." He pointed at the snickering DaCre. "I get the feeling they'll get cold feet. Frost Breath."

He had released water above their head, which would soon be hitting them and freezing them solid (with the breath) if they didn't move. But snickerer's were rarely that intelligent.

* * *

Gyro, who had withstood unspeakable destruction while unconcious, made no motion of waking up. Furthermore, he began to snore. Loudly.

"HRWAAAAAAAAAACH-SHHEEEEEEEHHEHEHE"

The minions pointed simultaneously behind themselves. Voyle spoke first.

"Dude, your fox just went that way."

Priscilla second. "He seemed upset."

Jack third. "From this angle I can see the back of my feet."

Echo chuckled queitly to herself about Salem. " What... Pfft haha! Idiot! Haha! " But it was muffled by her hand so she wouldn't burst out laughing. She looked around, seeing the crowd was still taunting Salem. Getting bored, Echo looked around. ~ I wonder where Alex and the hare swordsman went. ~ She got up and began to explore the city.

Iko (C-ranked) and Luke, after a bit of searching, had found their way into the rabbit hole, where they would both quickly find themselves looking at Salem's crazy antics... nodding, they moved onward, away from the craziness, randomly towards another part of the city.

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

The c-ranked snickerers looked down, one of them sighed. Placing his palm downward, he used his wind innate to blow the gas away in an amount that would be harmless, if a bit chilly.

Arthur looked down at Salem, now glaring. "Control yourselves, please! This is a safe haven, not a playground!"

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

The panther sighed, and began putting ice in a bucket of water, before placing Gyro in the bucket, and waiting several minutes for him to wake up, or turn into a popsicle.

Salem shrugged. "Eh, they're interchangeable." He took on a mockingly high voice as if from a little child, making puppy-dog eyes.

"But maybe you can help me mister. Maybe I'm just acting out because I feel un-loved? Maybe there's trouble at home? Maybe all I need is a good talking too and a hug and I'll be a nice little kitty."

Salem paused for a moment and then both Lallium and he burst out laughing.

"Bwahahahahahaa..."

Salem hopped onto Lallium shoulders abruptly, and sat on his head. Lallium began swaying around, hands put out and waving as he tried to keep his balance while Salem covered his eyes with his paws.

"The truth is, all of you are sooooo boring. I mean Ive been in this city what, a few minutes? And already I can see it's dullsville." Salem hopped off of Lallium's head and began pacing. "What this place needs is a party! We can have crazy lights, and disco balls, and that crazy music that goes "Mmms-mmms-mmms-mmms." Lallium can organize of the parade and YOU:"

He pointed at Arthur. "YOU'RE IN CHARGE OF CONFETTI!"

* * *

Gyro soon became a block of ice, still blissfully asleep. And still, through some miracle, snoring.

"HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAACC***CCHHHHH-SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Shobatsu sighed as he heard Salem's words echoing through the city streets, and continued on. The feline had the potential to do so much if he would only focus on what was important... Then again, considering what the feline aspired to, perhaps his unfocused manner was a blessing.

He continued on to the medical ward, looking around for someone who might be able to tell him where he could help.

Carlos spotted Shobatsu down the street, and broke into a run, not wanting to lose the fox and be alone on the streets. He caught up in a moment, and tapped the kitsune on the shoulder.

Shobatsu turned, and saw Carlos. "Hey," he said lamely.

"You might have at least told me you were going."

"You were asleep."

"You could have woken me up..."

"Really?"

"No, sorry. Just remember we're a team, okay? We're much stronger together than apart."

Shobatsu nodded. "I'm sorry for leaving. Come on, we have some good work to do..."