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Tobias
Jul 10, 2007 3:12:57 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Jul 10, 2007 3:12:57 GMT 10
Anybody wanna Talk about Tobias?
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Tobias
Jul 11, 2007 1:25:13 GMT 10
Post by knight42092 on Jul 11, 2007 1:25:13 GMT 10
What's "Tobias"?
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Tobias
Jul 11, 2007 2:31:46 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Jul 11, 2007 2:31:46 GMT 10
Tobias was a fan fic Character that was created by Klumpy. He was a Kremling .He was nearly all black, with thin red and yellow stripes all over his body. A piece of black cord was tied around his waist, but there were no actual items of clothing on his body. His chest and stomach were yellow, and he had thin yellow spikes on his head pointing in an ‘outwardly’ direction. A purple and green yin-yang pendant was around his neck. He was very lanky in appearance, with long, bony limbs and long fingers equipped with sharp, black claws.
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Tobias
Jul 18, 2007 1:35:49 GMT 10
Post by knight42092 on Jul 18, 2007 1:35:49 GMT 10
Tobias was a fan fic Character that was created by Klumpy. He was a Kremling .He was nearly all black, with thin red and yellow stripes all over his body. A piece of black cord was tied around his waist, but there were no actual items of clothing on his body. His chest and stomach were yellow, and he had thin yellow spikes on his head pointing in an ‘outwardly’ direction. A purple and green yin-yang pendant was around his neck. He was very lanky in appearance, with long, bony limbs and long fingers equipped with sharp, black claws. That sounds really interesting. Can you please post some links to it?
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Cecil-chan
Defender of the Coconut
Point blank.Credits go to Jiru-Chan on moribear.com
Posts: 124
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Tobias
Jul 18, 2007 2:28:14 GMT 10
Post by Cecil-chan on Jul 18, 2007 2:28:14 GMT 10
Ya I think he sent me the last of the fanfictions...I'm still reading the last few parts thanks for sending them they are really intersting
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Tobias
Sept 26, 2007 8:40:33 GMT 10
Post by LavaDiddyKong on Sept 26, 2007 8:40:33 GMT 10
Wow. Thse stories take a lot to read. How long did it take to make those things?
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Tobias
Sept 29, 2007 9:30:30 GMT 10
Post by LavaDiddyKong on Sept 29, 2007 9:30:30 GMT 10
not a lot of brains, klumpy was born with the idea. Who me or Klumpy? Me I just copy and pasted it here. I'm sure it took Klumpy alot of time and brains to write them. I wish I had the whole story, and not just parts of it.
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:21:04 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:21:04 GMT 10
Tobias
By Klumpy
"Ooh, and here’s the really gruesome part that I like best! Watch how he does this…don’t look away, Amy." Vicky said, jumping up and down on the end of the bed. Amy was holding a pillow up to her face, not really willing to look. Vicky had always had a thing for horror movies, and was currently forcing Amy to watch ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. "You know, I prefer the musical much better." Amy said from behind the pillow. Another scream sounded on her small TV. She squealed as Vicky smiled with glee at the sight of blood. In that way, Vicky reminded her of Krusher. "I love horror movies! Especially when they’ve got an ‘18’ certificate on them. Don’t you, Amy?"
"No!" she said. Vicky turned away from the gruesome events happening on the screen to face Amy. "You know, this film is quite…beautiful. In its own way."
"Is it?"
"Yes, it is. I mean…he loved her, and yet no-one could ever love him. It’s more of a love-story than a horror story."
"Yeah. And as well as all the lurve, heads are being cut off and put in soup and stuff."
Ziggy looked up from his position next to Amy’s bed. "And what’s wrong with heads, toots?" he asked. Amy went over to him and picked him up. "Nothing..it’s just that it freaks me out..all this stuff. I mean, I’m used to you by now. But if I found a head floating in a bowl of soup one day, it would frighten me."
Ziggy grinned. He was quite a cheerful head, and was insistent on staying with Amy all the time to repay her for rescuing him from the museum. He did a pretty good job of it.
They watched to the end of the movie and had a long discussion about it before Vicky left, taking her video with her. Amy was actually quite glad to see her go, so long as it meant the film was going with her. "I don’t think it’s right, Ziggy, for opinions to be based solely on appearance. I mean, if my opinions were based on appearance, I would have just left you in the museum. I just had some feeling about you when I saw you on the floor…so helpless."
"You’re right, toots. Dere’s no need to be prejudice…ever. Heh. Prejudice is an awful ting, babe. But I mean, we’re all happy here, ain’t we? Nobody’s different."
"Except you. You’re the only human- well…part of a human in the factory."
"True, toots. But jist ‘cause I’m different from youse guys don’t mean there’s anytin’ wrong wit’ me."
"I guess not." she said, "I wish others felt the same way as us. We just need an opportunity to show them that being ‘different’ is not necessarily being ‘bad’." She stood up. "I’m going to go and see if there’s anything to be done. See you later, Zig."
She walked out of the room, with that thought in her mind. Ziggy sighed as she left. "Great gal." he said to himself, "I’m sure she’ll find a way."
***
In the factory kitchens, Klump and Krusha were moving some large boxes filled with tins out into the main hall. When Amy saw them, she ran up instantly. "Hi guys. Can I help?" As she spoke, Klump collapsed under the weight of the box he was carrying and yelled out in pain. "No, Amy! This is heavy-duty work. Not for you…ow…my poor butt…"
Amy picked up some tins that had fallen out of the box. "I can help you for a while if you want. I’m not doing anything else-"
"No! Honestly, we don’t need your help, do we Krusha?"
Krusha ran over to help Klump. "We’re just fine and dandy!" he said, "Duh…at least that’s what Klump says."
"Help me up off of the dang floor, Krusha!" Klump growled. Amy was about to help him herself, but Krusha stopped her. "Don’t do that." He said, "You might strain yourself with Klump’s weight."
Klump was deeply insulted, as was Amy. "Then, can I carry a box?"
"No! It’s Okay…we’re just fine." Krusha helped Klump to his feet and then took the box himself.
Amy clenched her fists angrily, but wasn’t the sort of lizard to explode in a fiery rage. Instead, she turned on her heel and marched back to her room.
***
Out in a dark, dense part of the jungle, a lizard sat on a rotting log. Above him on a branch sat a black hawk, which looked down upon the lizard with beady eyes. "Can you feel it?" cawed the hawk, "I can…it’s nearby. Very strong indeed. It’s making me feel warm…my beak is tingling. Take a deep breath…feel it all around you. I can. It is very strong. Exceptionally strong."
The lizard did not look up. He had his long legs crossed, and he had the index claw of each hand placed on his temples. His eyes were closed, and his breathing was abnormally deep. "Venite in facinum…O spiritus tenebrarum. Magne Asteroth te iubeo-"
The hawk screeched in what sounded like absolute terror. "What are you saying?! Those are not the right words! And you know it!"
"A cannot remember my chant!" shouted the lizard, standing up. He was very tall and bony. His eyes, and beautiful eyes they were, opened in his anger, and his meditation was broken. "I cannot remember anything! All I can think about…is…" He looked as though he had been injured, and fell back into a sitting position on the log. He bowed his head. "I can only think about Crystal. Oh, I should have never let her go…"
"Well, you did. And you can’t get her back." squawked his feathered accomplice. The lizard covered his face with his claws. "I cannot feel her presence any longer…not for a long time. She is dead, I fear."
"Dead? You mean that…Oh God."
"I will be soon! I will go along the path that she has followed! I have been such a fool all my life…but it is an addiction…I can’t stop myself." He looked up again. The hawk took a few steps back on the branch to avoid any violence from the lizard. "But Harpy…I know where she went. Who she married. Who she…" The lizard grabbed his stomach and bent forward. He let out a weak cough. "I know…where…I can find her…her…husband. Maybe if I find…she may not even be dead. Maybe my senses are acting up…but I do not know. I only hope that she is Okay…" He looked up again. Three gray tears trickled out of his left eye. "But she had such a strong feeling about her. I cannot feel her any more…but I will follow my instinct to the place she lived. If I find her…if…I…" Before he could finish, he collapsed forward onto the ground, a sad, sorrowful heap. The hawk fluttered down to him and sat next to him, listening to his weak, strangled breathing. Pity was all he had to feel. Utter pity.
***
K. Rool sat on the end of his large bed, looking through some of his old photo albums. As he sat there, looking through some pictures from his honeymoon all those years ago, he began to sing to himself. "Bright eyes, burning like fire…bright eyes, how can you close and fail? How can the light that burned so brightly, suddenly burn so pale…bright eyes…" For some reason, that song offered endless comfort to him. Maybe it was because his wife used to sing it to him. Often for no reason. He ceased his gentle singing and began to speak to himself. It was almost as though he were speaking to the photographs in front of him. "Someday, my darling, I will find out what caused your death. I don’t know why…but something tells me that it is something that cannot be solved. Something that cannot be...understood."
"King K. Rool Sir!!" called Klump from outside the bedroom door. K. Rool slammed the album shut and stood up. "What is it?!" he called back.
"There’s…er…some guy here to see you. Though you may wanna consider going near him. He looks a bit…unusual. Not…normal."
"I’ll be right out." K. Rool said, returning the album to its shelf beside the bed. Klump groaned loudly on the other side of the door. "I’d be careful, sir. He looks like some kind of voodoo guy or somethin’. I don’t like the looks of him."
K. Rool opened the door in Klump’s face. The General stepped back for his King, who walked past like a zombie and began his descent to the main factory hall. Klump sighed again. "Be careful sir." he whispered.
***
"May I help you?" asked K. Rool as his platform reached ground level. Just as Klump had said, the lizard standing in front of the platform had a very disturbing appearance. He was nearly all black, with thin red and yellow stripes all over his body. A piece of black cord was tied around his waist, but there were no actual items of clothing on his body. His chest and stomach were yellow, and he had thin yellow spikes on his head pointing in an ‘outwardly’ direction. A purple and green yin-yang pendant was around his neck. He was very lanky in appearance, with long, bony limbs and long fingers equipped with sharp, black claws. A hawk was perched on his right shoulder. This hawk was the same color as him, with a red chest and some red and yellow in its tail feathers. Other than that, it was black. "Er…do I know you?" asked K. Rool. The lizard replied in a serious tone of voice, almost like a soldier. "Crystal Dana. Have you seen her?"
K. Rool took a step forward. He was disturbed at the lizard’s appearance, but curious to find out how he knew Crystal. "Who are you?" he asked. The lizard frowned, making his facial appearance even less appealing. "I am called Tobias. I knew Crystal well. I am assuming that she has passed away."
K. Rool felt sick. Tobias was talking about Crystal’s death with a complete lack of emotion. "I am afraid that she has passed away." said K. Rool.
Tobias frowned even more than before, and the hawk on his shoulder fluttered its feathers uneasily. "I was right. I could not sense her any longer. I knew she died. Something told me…my darkness has not yet blocked out my vision completely. Pretty soon it will, and I shall be no more, as your wife. I come to offer my services to you."
K. Rool had been so wrapped up with thoughts of his wife that he had nearly forgotten about Tobias. "Services?" he said, "What services?"
Tobias closed his eyes and his breathing became deep and unnatural. "I am one with darkness, and one with the shadows. I am the night. I am the darkness. I see all and hear all. I can acquire information and secrets for you that nobody else can. I have my ways."
K. Rool actually had a slight fear of Tobias at this point. ‘The lad’s crazy.’ he thought, ‘but if he may be of some use…’
"Very well. Welcome to my factory." said K. Rool, extending a claw out for Tobias to shake. Instead, Tobias jumped backwards in shock. The hawk on his shoulder was also shocked by this sudden movement, and flew off his shoulder. "Do NOT do that to me!" Tobias yelled, "I cannot touch you or…" he paused, and then closed his eyes again in thought. "I am sorry. But I cannot be too careful."
Krusha walked past them carrying a large box with ‘SOUP’ written on the side. He took one look at Tobias and sped up his pace into an almost-run. The hawk screeched loudly at him, and then fluttered back down onto Tobias’ shoulder.
K. Rool had also noticed Krusha, and he called out to him. "Krusha, please show Tobias down to one of the empty rooms."
Krusha put the box down and began to walk back in the direction of the rooms. "Just follow him. I hope you enjoy your room-"
"Very well." said Tobias, "I have a feeling…very near…I shall go and find the source…" With that very mysterious statement, Tobias followed Krusha at a slow, unhurried pace. As soon as he was out of sight, K. Rool ascended back up to his upper-factory area to look at some more photographs.
***
Amy was lying down on her bed, reading a book about the Leyendecker Museum. Ziggy was sitting next to her face as she read. The ‘book’ was no more than a game booklet for ‘The Dagger of Amon Ra’, but it was very interesting.
"Boy, we had some interestin’ discussions in da Rotunda, toots." Ziggy said, "Dat was where I met up wit’ Yvette Delacroix, Dr. Carter, Watney Little and some Egyptian guy. Boy, I had fun. I met da Countess dere, too." He sighed and looked longingly at the page. "Nobody else knew that I was involved in an illegal money-makin’ scheme. Except, o’ course, da Countess and Watney Little."
"You were? Illegal? I can’t imagine that."
"Heck, toots, I was a criminal, y’know. And I was in New York. I needed all da money I could get."
"What did you do?"
"Well, I was quite an artist when I had da rest o’ my body, and what I would do was paint copies of da really priceless paintings in da museum. Me, Watney Little and da Countess were all in it together."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. And den I sold the original copies for da Countess to big art-collecting freaks. Dey’d pay a lotta cash for an original."
He touched his nose onto a room labelled ‘Dinosaurs – Pterodactyl’. "Dat was where I got killed. Da big stupid dinosaur fell on top of me. The funny ting is…I don’t tink I died instantly, toots. I jist remember terrible pain…then a pain in my neck…and dat was it. The next ting I knew I was in dere, hangin’ on a wall, with some girl screamin’ at me." He pointed to the room labelled ‘Life Masks’ with his nose.
A crash sounded outside the door. "Oh potato." Amy growled, "I’m gonna check it out, Okay?"
"Sure ting, toots."
Amy opened the door of her room and stepped out into the hall. She looked left, and she looked right. Everything was as it should be. Another crash sounded from the room next to hers. "Funny." she said, "Nobody stays in that room…"
Nervously, she pushed the door of the room open slightly, and it swung open easily. She ducked back into her own room for fear of being seen by an unfriendly somebody. Nothing. Just silence. Another crash, louder than before. Amy creeped out of her room and peered into the other one. A strong smell of Eucalyptus drifted out and hit her in the face. A sweet, choking smell. She ventured closer and stepped into the doorway, keeping her body tense in case of having to run. "Come in, my dear." droned a toneless voice, "You are welcome here."
It was almost pitch dark in the room, so Amy reached out towards the light switch.
"Don’t turn on the light!" said the voice, as though the mysterious somebody had suddenly woken up out of a deep trance. Amy withdrew back out into the hall. She saw a slight movement in the darkness. "I shall come to you instead." said the somebody. Amy saw movement again, and she felt the movement like a shark sniffing blood. Strong and exciting. She then saw the outline of two eyes, very high off the ground. They were eyes of extreme depth and beauty – she felt suddenly calm and pleasantly tired.
She stepped further out into the hall as the figure got closer to her, and finally joined her in the well-lit hall. Her look of shock soon changed to a smile, and she extended a claw towards him. "I’m Amy." she said, "I’m assuming that you are new here."
Unlike when K. Rool held out his claw, Tobias took Amy’s small claw in his own and shook it politely. His fingers were long and fleshy, rather like some sort of witch, Amy thought. He had a thick silver ring on his right index claw, she noticed.
"Yes, I am new here. I come to offer my services to K. Rool."
"What kind of services?"
Tobias didn’t answer. He had entered another meditation phase, breathing deeply. He was still holding onto Amy’s claw, tightening his grip on it, but not letting his claws (which were more like talons) dig into her skin. At last, he stopped.
"Do forgive me." he said, "I…fell asleep. My name is Tobias. It means-"
"’God is good’." Amy said, smiling at him. Tobias smiled, turning his face into a rather pleasant, inviting picture. "Ah, so are you interested in name meanings?"
"Yes, I am. I like things like that. I love the Zodiac, too."
"Ah yes…Amy. Amy Faye…something."
"How did you know my middle name?"
"I have my ways around everything. Your name…means…’Beloved’…’a fairy or a raven’…"
Amy smiled. "I guess we’ve got a lot in common, Tobias."
Tobias looked down at her, his eyes boring into her. "Can you feel anything, raven?"
Amy had never been called ‘raven’ before, but didn’t really mind it. She closed her eyes and thought. "I can feel…feel…" She looked quite disturbed suddenly. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I’ve got a picture in my mind. Of a knife. A sharp, curved knife. Which is stupid."
"I’m getting strong feelings from you…negative feelings. Dark…feelings…" He let go of her claw held his arms at his sides. "Someone is making you sad." he said, almost whispering, "You feel left out. You feel like a nobody."
"I know that’s right. Mainly because I AM a nobody."
"You are not! Do not be foolish…you are strong."
Amy looked up at him, confused. She scratched her head. "Now you are WAY off…" she said. Suddenly, he lunged forward and grabbed her shoulder. "You have a weak, frail body…but a strong, focused mind. You must learn to use it." He looked at his hand on her shoulder, and then at her face. He looked at her face, to her chest, to her waist, down to her feet and back up again. He began to scratch her shoulder and neck gently with his claws. "I can help you to develop your mind, my raven. Come with me, and I will help you be strong. As strong as I am."
"H-how do you mean?" she asked. He clasped his hands together, as though in desperate prayer. "I will show you, raven." Suddenly, he was gone. Amy squealed and jumped back. Nothing was left on the spot where he had stood. She walked backwards in fright, and crashed into…Tobias. She screamed in shock. "How in Heck did you do that?"
"I have trained my mind over the years. I can use it to do anything. One of those many things is teleport myself. I can show you how. Just come with me, raven." She didn’t look too sure of him. Noticing this, he leaned down ‘till their faces were almost touching. "Come with me."
She looked at him, trembling. "If…y-you want me to…"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she was in Tobias’ room. ‘He must have teleported us.’ she thought. The only light in the room came from a small, sweet-smelling candle next to Tobias’ bed. A chair was in the middle of the room. Apart from the chair and the bed, there was hardly anything else in the way of furnishings. Tobias extended a long, bony arm and claw towards the chair. "Sit down, O raven." he whispered, keeping his voice low for some reason. Obedienly, Amy sat down on the small, wooden chair. There were several carvings in the wood, but in this almost-darkness, Amy couldn’t see what they were. She could tell that they were in great detail though, by the feel of them. "Now close your eyes…" he said, moving up behind her like a shadow, "And breathe deeply…"
She did as she was told, and pretty soon she felt like she was floating. The smell of the eycalyptus was making her feel giddy and sick, but also sleepy and happy. She giggled slightly. "And now, my raven, I want you to think about someone or something…concentrate on it…let it fill you up…and I will tell you what I see."
Unknown to Amy, the hawk was also watching her in the dark, and Tobias kept turning to look at it for advice, almost.
Amy closed her eyes tightly, and thought about the first thing that came to her mind – Ziggy. She was still thinking about what he had told her about the museum in New York, and all the other fascinating stories he had to tell.
Tobias moved around her until he was facing her, and bent down. He waved a claw in front of her face. She did not react, so he knew she was concentrating. She might not have been able to see his black claw in the darkness, anyway. He placed his hands on her shoulders and began to rub them, as though she had neck-ache that he was trying to cure. He closed his eyes, and a picture came into his head instantly.
"I see a large decorated room." he said, "There is some kind of huge Egyptian Artifact in the center of it…I can see tables laiden with food. I can see four humans in front of the Egyptian head…no, make that five. No…six. Five of them are talking…and one female has just arrived. This female is wearing a…greenish-blue gown. The other five are deep in conversation…about a…sledgehammer. I can sense the word ‘sledgehammer’…and…’the greatest archaeological discovery of all time’ – or something along those lines."
Amy smiled as Tobias spoke, letting his smooth voice spread into her like some form of disease. A clear picture came into her head also, as he described what he saw. She saw the humans that he was talking about. She recognised one of the heads as Ziggy, although at this time his head was firmly affixed to his neck. He was deathly slim, and still looked rather like a corpse.
"Can you see what they look like, Tobias?"
"Do not interrupt, raven. But yes, I can. One female and four males…the female has a very striking appearance…for a human. Frizzy, blonde hair…not quite down to her shoulders. She is holding a thingytail glass. French. She’s talking in English with a French accent. The other men…two of them are from England, one from Egypt…and the last…from the USA. The American has got a nervous twitch…blue eyes. His twitch is in his eyes. He’s…bald…and wearing a rented tuxedo. His hands are in his pockets…’Lawrence’ is his first name…he just said something…I cannot understand him-"
"He said ‘So, that’s when youse heisted it, right?’." Amy said, now used to Ziggy’s way of speaking.
Tobias paused. Then he resumed. "The Egyptian is speaking with an extreme lisp…his skin is quite dark, and he is holding a long cigarette. The two English men…one is tall and the other is much fatter. For the taller one I’m getting a name…P…P-p…Pa…Po…Pi…Pippin. Pippin Carter. And the other…he is impersonating someone. His name is…Little Watney- no…Watney Little…but he is pretending to be…be…" He held his head and let out a groan. "It’s gone…I can’t see any more."
Amy attempted to get up out of the chair, but he stopped her by wrapping his arms around her unexpectedly. "You cannot leave yet, my raven. We have more to do."
Amy leaned back as her face moved closer to her own. His breathing was deep, as though he was trying to suck something out of her.
A loud knock came at the door. "Are ya in there, Amy? If so-"
Amy slipped past Tobias and ran to the door, opening it in Klump’s face. She ran past Klump and towards the stairs. Klump watched her as she left, and then turned back to Tobias’ room. "What were ya doin’ to…her…" He was talking to nothing – Tobias had vanished.
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:21:40 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:21:40 GMT 10
Tobias reappeared that same evening when Klump and Krusha were eating dinner together in the mess hall. "Where’ve ya’ll been, Toby?" asked Klump, shoving a bread roll into his open mouth. Krusha took a look at the messy General, slowly ripped a piece off his roll and gently placed it in his mouth. Klump’s way of eating had somehow put him off being messy himself. In a split-second, Tobias seemed to get from the end of the mess hall to right where Klump was sitting. He put his claws around Klump’s neck and lifted him clear off the ground. Krusha put down his roll and stood up to protect Klump if he needed it. Tobias looked in Klump’s face with unforgiving eyes. "My name is Tobias. Not Toby. NEVER Toby."
With that, he let the General drop back into his chair. Klump grasped his throat and felt it – it felt as though it had been crushed, although Tobias had not applied much force to it. Klump gasped, his throat raw and stinging. "What’s the matter with your eyes? They look…"
Tobias slammed his claws on the table and loomed close to Klump, causing him to lean backwards in fear. "What’s the matter with me just because I’m different from you? Is there a problem with being being different? Is that it? Do you judge newcomers by appearance alone?"
"No…" Klump wheezed, "I just…haven’t seen eyes remotely like them before. Except…maybe…" He leaned closer to Tobias (as close as he dared) and looked into his blue eyes. They were beautiful and unique…but they looked…dead. Klump bowed his head. "It must be Ziggy I’m thinkin’ of. He’s the only dead guy I know."
Tobias didn’t regard this as an insult. But he knew who Klump had been thinking of – he had probably been reminded of Crystal. After all, in the amount of time Tobias and Crystal had spent together, she had become like him in quite a few ways. Krusha ate the rest of his bread roll in one mouthful and kept his eyes on the General, in case another ‘attack’ was made on him.
"Where is K. Rool?" demanded Tobias all of a sudden.
"Which one?" asked Klump.
Sure that he was playing some sort of game with him, Tobias grabbed Klump by his throat again and lifted him clear off the ground and shook him ferociously. "Don’t toy with me!" he snapped, "Where is K. Rool?!"
"I really don’t know which one you mean…" Klump whined.
Krusha ran up and took hold of Tobias’ right arm – the one that held Klump aloft. "He has got a son with the same initials as himself." Krusha growled, tightening his grip on Tobias’ arm every time he tightened his grip on Klump’s neck.
"A son?" Tobias screeched, "He’s got a son?! Crystal’s son?!"
Krusha loosened his grip slightly. "Yeah…he has."
Tobias dug his long, black claws into Klump’s neck as he thought. Klump screamed with pain and writhed around like a dying snake. The force that Tobias was giving was somehow more force than Krusha could have given. "Where is K. Rool…Senior?"
"Upstairs!" Krusha answered with haste, seeing how Klump was suffering, "Taking a nap I think!"
Klump was dropped the floor, bleeding from his neck. "Thankyou, Krusha." said Tobias, coldly.
Krusha knelt down next to Klump and tilted his head up. He was still alive, but in extreme pain. Krusha suddenly felt extremely angry, and looked up to face Tobias, but once again he had gone. If Krusha had known any curse words, he probably would have said them about now. Supporting his head, he lifted Klump off the floor and carried him down to his room for a rest. There was obviously something more to Tobias than they realised.
***
Tobias, meanwhile, was lurking around in K. Rool’s upper factory area of catacomb-like corridors and rooms. He darted into one room and looked around. The room appeared to be some form of guest bedroom. But that wasn’t what he was looking for – he wanted to find K. Rool. He slithered out of the room and crept down the corridor until he came to a large bathroom. There was a cabinet underneath the sink, carved with flowers. There was a strange feeling coming from it. A feeling similar to that which Tobias used to feel when around Crystal. This feeling he couldn’t resist, and he darted to the cabinet and ripped the doors open. Inside he found a variety of bottles and jars with labels reading ‘scale cream’, ‘claw tonic’ and other such things. In a sudden surge of somewhat despair, he reached in and hurled the bottles and jars over his shoulder until he reached a small pink bottle at the back. He grasped it in his bony hand and read the label. ‘Rose perfume’ it read. Crystal always had a liking for roses, especially pink ones – ones that matched her scale color exactly. The bottle was emitting a gentle aura, somehow. He removed the lid and emptied some of the fragrant liquid into the palm of his hand. He pressed his nose to it, and inhaled deeply. This was definitely the stuff Crystal used to wear. She would wear it everywhere. She was wearing some on the last night that he had ever seen her.
Suddenly, the door opened. Tobias snapped out of his flashback and was on guard immediately. He dropped the bottle to the floor. K. Rool stood in the doorway, but, thankfully for Tobias, he was talking to someone over his shoulder. Tobias couldn’t afford to be caught, and transported himself back into his room just as K. Rool finished talking, leaving the bathroom empty and in a dreadful mess.
"Where have YOU been?" asked Harpy when Tobias reappeared in the room. The dark lizard lay down on the bed – the room was still gently lit by only a small candle. Tobias closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, breathing slowly.
Harpy flew down onto his yellow stomach and thingyed his head. "Where have you been, Tobias?"
"I couldn’t do it." Tobias snapped, "I almost got caught for Hell’s sake."
Harpy squawked. "Now, there’s no need to talk like that. What were you trying to do?"
"I was trying to reach K. Rool…and…" Tobias sat up suddenly, holding his stomach. He screamed loudly. "It’s happening again! Oh God! Argh!"
"Shut up!" Harpy said, flapping his wings, "You don’t want a whole audience in here!"
"Get me a bucket you useless bird!" Tobias shouted, now clutching his head. Harpy looked around frantically, not knowing where to find a bucket. He flew to the door and turned the handle with his talons. It swung open and he flew out into the hall. He flew into the opposite room, as the door was wide open. This was Krusha’s room. Klump was lying on Krusha’s bed with a damp towel on his neck. Krusha stood next to him.
Spying Klump’s helmet resting on the end of the bed, Harpy swooped down and picked it up. Neither of the lizards noticed him – Klump had his eyes closed and Krusha had his sight focused completely on his poor friend. Therefore, Harpy was able to take the helmet to Tobias.
As soon as Harpy got close enough, Tobias snatched the helmet off him. "Shut the door!" he shouted, and Harpy did so. He then kept towards the far end of the room as Tobias proceeded to vomit into the helmet. He looked like he was about to die, really. But he wasn’t. As soon as he finished, Tobias slumped back and rested his head on the small pillow provided for him. Small traces of what once had been his breakfast stained his mouth. "It’s…it’s over. I’m alright…still alive…" He wiped his mouth with the back of his claw, gasping. Gently, he placed the helmet onto the floor, leaning it against the wall so that it didn’t tip over. He sat up, rubbing his head. "I think…I’m…getting weaker…" he said. Harpy flew over to him. "No you’re not. You’re just…tired."
"I’m very tired…" Tobias said to himself, "But I must keep going…I can’t give up…"
He stood up and picked up the helmet off the floor. He examined the contents, and began to wag his tail. "There’s nothing quite like half-digested food." he sighed. He then held the helmet to his mouth and drank up the vomit he had just emptied into it. The hawk screeched loudly. "That’s disgusting!" he squawked.
Tobias drained the helmet and licked off any remains, not to waste anything. He licked his lips and gazed into the empty helmet. A distorted reflection looked back at him, although it was not very clear due to the poor lighting in the room. "You know what I see when I look at my reflection?"
The hawk breathed deeply. "What do you see, Tobias?"
Tobias clenched his teeth together and clenched his left fist (his right claw was holding the helmet). "I see no-one. I see nothing but a broken down, sad lizard with…no soul."
Harpy thingyed his head again. Tobias had never acted like this before he had gone in search of Crystal again. Something had definitely changed about him.
The black striped lizard turned to face the door and smiled slightly. "I suppose I’d better return this helmet to the General." he said.
Harpy bowed his head, and then followed his master out of the door.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:23:32 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:23:32 GMT 10
Tobias : Part 2
By Klumpy
"You know…I feel so…strange today." Amy sighed to herself. Almost in answer to herself, she said "I know…this Tobias fellow must be affecting me. What an interesting lizard."
"Aww…has toots got a crush?"
"No!" Amy stated, sitting up on her bed. Ziggy hopped up onto her bed and settled himself on her pillow. "I bet’cha do, toots." he grinned.
"Oh, I wanna marry an archaeologist…" she began to sing. Ziggy smiled. "Where did youse hear dat song, toots?" he asked.
Amy lay back down. "I don’t know…it just…came to me."
"I used to hear dat a lot back in New York. Actually…in da Speakeasy."
"You used to smoke as well, didn’t you?" she asked, suddenly.
"I sure did, toots. I don’t tink I was very kind to my body…so I’m lookin’ after meself while I’ve still got me head."
"That’s ALL you’ve got."
"I know dat, but I’m lookin’ after it."
Amy stood up and walked to the door. Ziggy was surprised. "Toots? What are ya doin’? Where are ya goin’?"
"I’m…just going somewhere…" she said.
***
She sighed loudly as she walked along the corridor. She spread out her claws in front of her and looked at them. Something wasn’t right with her. She felt different, as though she had suddenly changed. Whatever it was, she was sure it had something to do with Tobias. She had felt completely normal up until she met him outside his room.
"Raven?"
Amy squatted down from shock. She hadn’t really been looking where she was going, and suddenly realised that Tobias was standing just in front of her, followed closely by Harpy.
Nervously, she looked up at him and smiled. "Well, hello. How are you doing up there?"
He looked down at her – she looked dreamy and…as though she was in a trance. Harpy grimaced at her, but she did not notice this. She was completely focused on Tobias.
"You can stand up now, raven." Tobias sighed.
Amy did. When she was standing at her full height, he was still a fair bit taller than she was. Harpy fluttered down onto Tobias’ shoulder.
Tobias himself smiled slightly, once again making his appearance very appealing. "My raven…I would like you to come to my room." he said.
Amy looked from side to side, nervously. "What for, sir?" The word ‘sir’ had just come out of her mouth. She didn’t actually intend to refer to him as ‘sir’. That title was reserved for King K. Rool.
"I wish…to show you something…I have to do something to you, as well."
Now she was really uncertain. "Sir, I don’t think I should…" She looked down at the floor, and then up at him, his smile melting her into goo. She gasped and clasped her hands together, for a reason she did not know. "I’ll come." she said.
Tobias smiled, and took her claw in his. He led her into his room, Harpy still on his shoulder, and closed the door.
***
Meanwhile, Klump and Krusha were talking in the main factory hall. The General was feeling better from what had happened, but he hadn’t recovered completely. He did feel well enough to get as far away from Tobias as possible, anyway.
"You know…Krusha…" Klump said, scratching his neck, which had begun to itch, "I feel…like I don’t wanna put any blame on Tobias. I mean, it ain’t his fault I called him ‘Toby’."
Krusha glared at him. "But, duh, he nearly killed you."
"Krusha, just don’t say nothing about it to nobody. That way we’ll all be happy."
Krusha crossed his arms. "I don’t know…maybe you’d be better off…telling."
"Tell-tales get bad luck, Krusha. Haven’t you heard the saying: ‘Tell-tale-tit, your tongue shall be split, and all the little doggies will have a little bit.’?"
Krusha looked confused. "No…"
"Well, now ya have." Klump growled.
"Why won’t you tell?" Krusha asked.
"I already told ya." Klump said, walking away, "It’s less risky and more healthy if we shut up about it."
Krusha sighed. None of this made sense any more. He didn’t even feel it was necessary to tell K. Rool about what happened himself. Not if Klump wasn’t going to. Somehow, he felt it wouldn’t do much good.
***
Amy lay still on Tobias’ bed, doing nothing of any kind. Apart from breathing and all the other necessary body functions like digesting and pumping blood through her body. Harpy lurked in the corner, watching Tobias as the dark lizard moved around Amy, studying her from every possible angle. "Think about something my raven. No…wait a moment. I will think of something, and you tell me what it is."
"How could I possibly do tha- a sthingy."
"Correct." Tobias smiled. He sat down by her feet, and thought of something else.
"A table. A gremlin. The three little pigs." Amy said as the separate images appeared in her head. Every single time she spoke, she was right. "Potassium Oxide. Tom and Jerry. The Rugrats. Amigos para siempre- hey, I love that song."
"Me too, my raven." Tobias sighed.
All the time that they had spent in the room together, Amy had just been lying on the bed while Tobias had watched her. At least, that’s what she thought. She had heard a few strange noises while her eyes were closed, but Tobias had told her not to open them.
Then she felt him moving closer to her. Just the slightest movements…but she knew he was.
"Do NOT open your eyes." he said, gently. Even though this was an order, his voice remained soft.
"Oooh…" she said, "I see a…knife again."
There was a pause. Tobias hadn’t been thinking about a knife…well, he hadn’t sent the image over to her. He was, however, holding a weapon. And he was holding it towards her, not too far from her chest.
"What kind of knife can you see?" he asked.
"Well…it’s…short…and curved. Oh, and it’s black."
"Does it look like it might be used to…cut throats out?"
"Oh yeah." she said. As far as she knew, this was merely a picture in her head, so she didn’t fear at all.
She felt Tobias’ claws stroking her shoulder. She smiled, and sighed happily. Then she felt something else…something like the tip of a needle. It was touching her just below the neck. She opened her eyes…to see a curved blade being held to her neck by Tobias. "Oh…God…" She tensed up and moved backwards slightly. The blade was black and shaped like a cat’s claw. A very large claw.
"d**n…" Tobias growled as she stared down at the blade, "You weren’t meant to do that. I’m not going to hurt you…"
She placed one of her claws on the wall to try to get some balance as she moved away from him. "What are you…doing?"
"I won’t hurt you. Not if you co-operate. Close your eyes." She just looked at him, petrified. "I said CLOSE THEM!!" he snarled, and she instantly obeyed. He shifted closer to her and placed his left claw gently on her stomach. His right claw held the blade close to her neck, still. "Relax, my raven." he said, "Don’t worry about anything…this won’t hurt you."
She felt two moments of pain at the base of her neck, and then nothing. Her heart missed a beat…and then continued as usual. She felt his breathing close to her face, and tensed herself up.
"Keep your eyes shut, my raven."
Something cold, like some form of container, was pressed up to her skin, at the area that had experienced the moments of pain. Then she felt two of his fingers pressing on the area also. He was pressing her in such a way that his claws didn’t hurt her. It was like some form of mini-massage. Whatever he was doing, it felt quite nice.
Suddenly, both the ‘container’ and Tobias stopped touching her, and she felt very relaxed.
"Open your eyes, if you will."
Amy did. Nothing had changed in the room. She saw no container or anything, and the blade had gone from his claw. She sat up slowly, and then stood up.
"What did you…do to me?" she asked.
Tobias didn’t answer her. Instead, he reached behind his back and revealed the blade again. He held it towards Amy, but not in a threatening way. She looked down at it, uncertain.
"Take it, my raven. It is the best defence and attack weapon ever created."
Amy continued to look at it. "What exactly IS it?"
"It is a velociraptor blade, my raven."
"A what?"
"It is shaped like a velociraptor’s claw. A velociraptor is-"
"I know what one of those is. I used to be dinosaur-mad. Ziggy’s sort of warned me off them."
"Well," Tobias continued, "It is perfect in causing extreme pain to any aggressors, and it specialises in ripping throats out. I find mine extremely handy." He reached behind his back and revealed an identical blade. He tossed it from his right claw to his left claw, and back again. "It’s also a handy eating tool."
She stepped away from him and glanced around at the door, which was very appealing at the moment. "I don’t think I’ll be wanting to rip out any throats anytime soon, so-"
He shoved it into her claw and held it there, just to make sure she didn’t get rid of it. "If Crystal Rool had one, then I think you should."
"Crystal Rool?" Amy looked down at the blade in her claw as Tobias slowly withdrew away from her. She looked back at the barely visible lizard in the darkness. "Tobias…Crystal Rool had one? Whatever did she have to do with you?"
"That is not important. But she had one. And now you have one. And NOW you should leave. I have to get back…to…my meditating."
Amy turned away from him to face the door, and reached out to open it.
"There’s no need for that, raven." Tobias said, sitting down on the bed.
"But…you told me to-"
"I mean…there is no reason for you to use your physical strength to open that door."
Amy groaned. "I’m only opening a door, not lifting a truck."
"Just LOOK at it raven. Think about it opening…and about you walking through it…there should be no need for physical contact with the door…"
"But how do I…ah well." Amy had wanted to question him, but he was meditating. He was not only meditating. He was…levitating. He was now floating roughly two feet above the bed. His arms were crossed and his eyes were closed.
She looked at the door, and tried to picture it opening for her. She put her claws on her hips and bent forward, glaring at it. "Open, you stupid-"
The door suddenly swung open easily, letting light from the corridor flood in. Tobias was unaffected. Despite this, Amy closed the door as she left, knowing that Tobias liked to be in the dark, no matter what he was doing.
***
Back in her room, Ziggy was waiting for her, worried. As she swung the door open and glided in, he was relieved, but decided to seem angry. "Where have youse been, toots?!"
"Next-door." was her reply, and then she sat down on her small chair in front of her small mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror, and smiled. "I feel really good about myself." she sighed, happily.
Ziggy jumped up onto her lap and looked at her. Something was different, but he could not tell what. He moved slightly closer to her arm and looked at it. There was something different about it…
"You’ve got…stripes on yer arm, toots."
"What?" Amy looked at her arm in disbelief. There were the faint red outlines of stripes going all the way up her arm. She looked at the back of her claw – a red triangle outline was forming on it. She screamed, wanting to just cut her arm off so that she could get rid of it.
"Calm down, toots…jeez…I wonder what’s makin’ it go like dat?"
Amy shook her arm violently, trying to get rid of the ‘disease’. "Oh Lord…what’ll I do?"
"I don’t know…maybe…if you pour some bleach on yer arm-"
"No, I’m not doing that…I need to think…"
She stood up suddenly and ran from the room. She darted off the down the corridor in the opposite direction from Tobias’ room, thankfully. Ziggy sighed. There was something awfully weird going on.
***
Amy stood in the factory kitchens, leaning over the sink filled with dirty dishes. She was hugging herself, not knowing what to do – hoping that this was just a nightmare of some sort.
"Smile a rented smile, fill someone’s glass, kiss someone’s wife, kiss someone’s-"
"Amy?"
Amy screamed in her shock, turned around and adopted a nervous pose. She stood with her feet far apart and her claws held over her head, mouth open. She found herself gasping for breath.
Krusha stepped back, and then advanced forward again. She’d never ‘greeted’ him like that before. "Duh, you Okay?"
She began to breathe normally again and let her arms drop to her sides. She slid her legs together and leaned back against the kitchen counter. "I’m…fine."
"Good." He walked up to her and copied her position leaning against the counter. "Duh, what were you singing?"
"I…was…just singing. I don’t know WHY…"
"Oh. Okay. Er…what happened to your neck?"
"My…neck?" Amy placed her fingers on the spot where Tobias had slashed her. She felt the outline of a scar.
"It’s shaped like a, duh, X."
"Oh…I cut myself. I should really be more careful with scissors."
A chill spread in the room. "Hello, both."
The two lizards turned around to see Tobias in the room with them. He was holding some kind of small bottle in his right claw.
"How did you, er, do that?" Krusha asked.
Tobias grinned, exposing a huge set of teeth. "Magic, of course."
He walked up to one of the cupboards and opened a drawer. From it, he pulled a silver flask. He removed the lid, poured in the dark contents of the bottle and, picking up a sthingy from the counter, began to stir the new contents of the flask. He watched the contents, as though what was going on inside gave him much pleasure to watch.
Krusha and Amy looked at each other. Amy shrugged and Krusha sighed.
"What have you got in there, Tobias?" Amy asked, sensing how much Krusha (and herself) wanted to know.
Tobias didn’t seem to be listening. He stopped stirring and titled back his head. He poured the unknown contents into his open jaws and swallowed. He licked his lips, as some of the pinkish-white marbled liquid had missed his mouth. He then wiped his mouth with his arm and replaced the flack back into the drawer.
Amy looked back at her arm and panicked. "I…have to go." She ran out the room, trying to shield her arm.
Krusha watched her go, sadly. He whimpered and slid down into a sitting position on the floor. Tobias approached him, slowly. "Since you are so curious, I’ll have you know that what I was drinking was my own…special formula."
Krusha grunted.
Tobias continued. "It contained milk…and…blood."
Krusha looked up, startled. "Er…blood?"
"Yes."
"Where did…you get it from?" Krusha asked, expecting a gruesome reply.
Tobias crossed his arms. "Wouldn’t you like to know?" With that, he vanished again.
Krusha roared angrily. "Come back!" he shouted.
Tobias’ voice came back, but not the lizard himself. His soft, smooth voice seemed to echo all around the kitchen. "And I’ll have you know that I didn’t appreciate the way you grabbed me earlier. I’d be very careful if I were you. I’m far more dangerous than that brother of yours."
Krusha stood up. As far as he knew, he didn’t have a brother. "Duh, brother?! What do you mean?!"
But Tobias had gone.
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:23:58 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:23:58 GMT 10
That night, Amy found it hard to sleep. And when she finally got to sleep, her sleep was filled with thoughts of Tobias and what he was doing here at all. She turned over several times in her sleep, not able to get comfortable very easily.
There was something going through her head in amongst all her other thoughts. What did Tobias have to do with Crystal Rool? Had they been friends? More than friends? She had no idea of what happened…until she found herself dreaming about it…
A very beautiful female lizard walked at a rather brisk pace through the jungle. Behind her, a tall, lanky male lizard followed. He was Tobias, not looking any different at all. He was exactly the same.
"Toby, I’m not asking you to go away. I’m TELLING you." snapped the female, not turning around.
Tobias didn’t listen, and continued to follow her. "But Crystal, I want to know WHY you want me to leave you."
"I’ve already told you several times!" She finally turned to face him. It was now clear that there was something wonderful about her…she looked very young, pleasantly tired, and she definitely looked pregnant. As well as all these things, she looked terribly irritated. "Toby, if I keep going with this, I’m going to kill myself. I’ve already fought off my…change of appearance well enough, and I refuse to continue all this black magic! I’m going to kill myself. That is, unless I’m able to rid myself of all this evil."
"But Crystal-"
"And Toby, I refuse to have my son born while I’m still…working with you."
"But-"
"I want to be able to spend time with my husband and my son. If I’m still with you, it won’t happen. Therefore, I bid thee farewell."
"Crystal!" Tobias took her claw in his and looked at her, sorrowfully. "Crystal…I love you."
"You told me yourself that it’s impossible for you to love. Toby…it’s impossible to love without a soul."
Tobias was silent. He sniffed slightly. "I’m sure the only reason you got married to that old fool was to make me jealous…"
"Why would I want to make you jealous? And besides…I love Kay."
"Do you? Truthfully?"
"Of course I do. What do you think I am? I love my husband, and I feel I’ve spent enough time away from him just to be with you. I can’t afford to waste my life with you. I’d rather spend it with someone I love. Pretty soon I’ll have a little family to spend time with. I don’t know what you’re going to do, but you’d better hurry up and do it. I don’t wish to see you ever again."
"Crystal, I’ve done too much for you! You can’t just leave me!"
"Watch me, Toby." She turned around again and marched off, holding her stomach as she did so. Being fat had begun to annoy her deeply. But she was certain it was all worth it.
Tobias remained in the same spot, no longer following her. He sighed, and vanished from sight.
As she arrived home, a feeling of great relief spread over her. Hopefully, she was rid of Tobias for good.
A huge smile covered her beautiful face as she entered the bedroom, making her look especially beautiful.
There was a slight grunt, and then light filled the room. King K. Rool lay in the bed, rubbing his eyes. "I thought I heard you." he yawned, sitting up, but falling back down onto his pillow. She looked at him, still smiling, and he grew slightly suspicious. "Er…where have you been?"
"It doesn’t matter." she said, walking over to the bed, "I’m never going back there." She got into bed, still wearing her day-clothes. Due to her pregnancy, she had been forced to lie on her back or side while in bed. As soon as their son was born, she was going to shift back to her usual habit of sleeping on her stomach.
K. Rool moved over to her and kissed her. "Does this mean you’ll have more time to spend avec moi?"
"Of course, darling." She put her arms around him, but K. Rool didn’t move any closer to her. Her stomach was very sensitive, and so he didn’t want to risk hurting her by touching it. Instead, he just looked at her. The bed sheets weren’t completely covering her, so he had quite a good view of her. Her rounded stomach looked quite strange. She was very slim otherwise, and it looked rather odd. But he didn’t care.
Crystal sighed happily. "It’s definitely a boy." she said, "It’s been causing me extreme pain. And it’s bloomin’ big. I don’t know HOW I get up in the morning…"
"Not all males are bad, dear…" K. Rool said, turning off the light.
"I know…I know…"
K. Rool put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her gently. Crystal was already asleep.
Suddenly, the dream vanished, and Amy was back in her small bed in King K. Rool’s factory. She was thankful for it.
Looking down at herself, she realised that Krusha was with her. He was sitting on the floor by her bed, with his chin resting on her stomach. She guessed that he had had a nightmare or something, because he didn’t usually come to her in the middle of the night. She reached out and rubbed his head, and he groaned, gently. He muttered her name, and stretched his arm up to touch her. Suddenly overwhelmed with her love for him, Amy somehow found herself able to drag Krusha up onto the bed. As soon as she had done that (and Krusha was lying on top of her), she stopped. It was as though she had suddenly been ‘shut down’, as though there was something more important to do. She looked at her hands again, and clenched her fists. She felt suddenly strong. Hmm…if only she could find some nice big boulders to crush. She put her arms around Krusha’s neck and pulled him even closer to her. Krusha smiled, and licked her neck. That sent a strange feeling all through her. He had licked her right where her scar was…it made her feel…like she had never felt before.
Then, she found herself alert to everything going on around her. Like a dog or a rabbit, able to smell all the smells and hear all the sounds that she couldn’t before. She heard her own, deep breathing, and she felt Krusha’s heartbeat thumping at her own chest. There was something going on outside, and she had to go and look. Something was pulling at her brain, telling her to get moving.
"I’ll be right back…" she said softly to Krusha, even though he wasn’t awake.
She lifted him off herself and began a giddy walk to the door. She felt very groggy, as she usually did when she got up in the middle of the night. Not that she did this often.
She also felt very cold. She was wearing a loose white nightdress that had appealed to her in a sale a few years ago. She knew that it wouldn’t fit her, but she had bought it anyway. It still didn’t fit, and she had been forced to make the bottom of it shorter so that it wouldn’t drag on the floor. Another reason for her to like it was that Krusha liked it, as he had a fondness for soft, cuddly things. The material was nice and silky, and he would sometimes ask her to wear it just so that he could feel the material.
She slowly opened the door and looked out into the dark corridor. Everything seemed normal. Almost TOO normal. Since Amy had a ‘thing’ for unnatural stuff, the feeling of being completely normal made her feel a bit insecure. Completely normal. This meant that something very un-normal was going on.
She gently edged down the corridor, keeping close to the wall. Her breathing was low and gentle, as if she had a fear of being spotted by someone. She pushed the door of Tobias’ room open and looked inside. "Tobias?"
There was nothing in there, or at least it seemed that was. There were a few strange shapes in the dark, but she didn’t dare turn on the light. But she knew Tobias wasn’t there. There was a feeling that she had when around him, and she wasn’t getting it right now. The only remotely similar feeling was coming from somewhere quite far away. She closed her eyes and hugged herself. The feeling was being emitted from K. Rool’s living quarters.
***
Tobias hadn’t slept at all that night. He hadn’t slept for many years due to his terrible nightmares. But his evil appearance and lack of sleep, among many other problems and difficulties he had to face, all seemed worth it for what he got in return. He considered himself quite lucky, although he often found himself in need of things that he didn’t know. There were many things he couldn’t do now. The main thing was that he couldn’t love. He could feel ‘want’, but it’s not the same thing.
Slowly, he crept up the stairs to K. Rool’s upper area of the factory. He had to find something out, and he knew that the only place he would find his answer would be in K. Rool’s bedroom.
As he neared the top of the stairs, he hesitated. Two kritters were guarding the entrance to their King’s living area. They both looked alert, although they were probably not enjoying their guard duty. Tobias squatted down so as not to be noticed…yet.
"You know, Steve, I’m getting so SICK of keeping watch. Nothing’s gonna happen to the old guy anyway…why don’t we catch a few moments of sleep? It couldn’t do any harm."
"I-I’m staying here, Greg. I-I don’t want to be b-blamed for anything that could happen."
Tobias groaned loudly. If he was forced to wait one more second the kritters would find themselves as dead as cacti. Not that cacti are dead…but they don’t move very much. And I just felt like using the word ‘cacti’ in this fanfic.
"Well, my throat’s as dry as anything. I’m gonna get some water, Okay Steve?"
"B-but-"
"I’ll run through to K. Rool’s bathroom. I’m sure he won’t mind. After all, we’re ‘guarding his life’. See you soon, pal."
"B-but…Greg…I don’t f-feel safe…"
Tobias grinned. Well, my friend, you’ll be feeling even LESS safe as soon as your buddy leaves…
Greg, the bigger of the two kritters, ran briskly down the corridor they had been guarding, and the other reptile sat down, shivering, looking all around him like a hunted animal. In a way, he was. Tobias was hunting him, and there would be no way for the poor kritter to escape.
Feeling that the moment had arrived, Tobias stood back up again, and continued his ascent towards the kritter. "Who’s th-there?!" squeaked the kritter, standing up as soon as he saw Tobias’ outline. The kritter stepped back. "Please, state your business with King K. Rool or l-leave." He didn’t feel very secure telling this kremling to leave. He didn’t feel safe TELLING him to do anything. He couldn’t really make out Tobias’ physical features, except that he was tall with long limbs and a strangely long tail. But something about this dark lizard spelled out DANGER.
As he drew nearer, Tobias’ appearance revealed itself, but instead of feeling safer, the kritter felt ill. His sight was focused completely on Tobias’ face…the eyes, the teeth, the spikes on his head…the coloring of his scales…they all fitted together into a monster that the kritter wasn’t too pleased to be meeting.
Finally, the two lizards stood only a few centimetres apart. They stared at each other, one in fear, and one in evil pleasure. "S-sir…please…s-state your business with King K. Roo- ARGH!!!"
"You were saying?" Tobias grinned, moving the blade around, gaping the huge wound between the kritter’s legs even wider. The kritter screamed again, but nobody could hear him cry. "Please Sir I- AAAAAAARGH!!"
Tobias smiled as he felt the blade scrape up against the kritter’s skeleton – he was guessing it was the pelvis. "What’s the matter? Aren’t you having FUN?"
He suddenly wrenched the blade upwards, splitting the kritter’s stomach open, the contents of which spilled onto the spotless floor into a pale, milky mess.
"My business with the King is none of YOUR business. You’re not a very good guard, are you?"
As all this was happening, the kritter was still alive. He has ceased his yelling long ago – he was in too much pain to scream. His eyes bulged as he looked into the face of his killer. He couldn’t talk either, he could just feel pain ripping through him.
Tobias looked slightly disturbed. "Hurry up and die, will you?" he said, in as calm a voice as though he had been talking to a young child. He didn’t seem to pay much attention to the pool of blood and other things splattered at his feet. And the kritter was still alive, gasping for breath even though he knew he wouldn’t live through this.
Tobias suddenly snapped. "Oh, I’m sick of this!" he said, and he removed the bloody blade, which vanished again. The kritter fell forward onto his knees, blood now trickling out of his gasping mouth. He couldn’t hold his body up. Despite that the whole of his stomach had spilled out onto the floor, he was barely alive, but not strong enough to fight back in any way.
Tobias, with more strength that the kritter realised, picked his victim up and held him in his arms. He put one claw on his shoulder, and wrapped his other arm around his neck. "Rest in Hell." he growled.
With another surge of strength, he twisted the kritter’s neck in a different direction to his body, keeping a firm grip on him at the same time. There was a loud crack, and the kritter lay still in Tobias’ arms. His neck was broken.
Tobias huffed, loudly. "A bit messy, but…" He lifted the kritter’s body up in front of him and looked at it. Its eyes were open in an expression of terror and pain, and the whole of the front of its body, from between its legs up to its chest, had been ripped open. He smiled at it. "I shall have another use for you, my dear." He held onto the body tightly, concentrated, and then the body of Steve vanished completely. "I’ll see you in my room." he said to himself. The pool of blood and various other ripped things that remained on the floor was the only trace of Steve, and Tobias couldn’t wait to see the other kritter’s face. Of course, he would have to be disposed of, too.
The sound of un-hurried clawsteps reached him, and once again he ducked down on the stairs, waiting for his next victim to arrive.
And he did. Greg came back, looking quite cheerful. Water dripped down his neck, as he had clearly washed his face. He was wiping his face with a small hand towel, while talking to Steve, who was actually no longer there at all. "Boy, I’m refreshed. I hope K. Rool isn’t mad at me for borrowing this towel. You should go and freshen up, Ste- Steve? Where are you-"
It was then that the kritter noticed what had happened to the floor, and he was filled with a kind of dread and panic. Whatever had caused that mess might still be nearby…and he didn’t want to end up as a soup-like puddle on the floor. "Steve?!" he called out again, hoping to God that Steve wasn’t the gooey mess on the floor.
Tobias leapt up to the top of the stairs in one big leap, and landed as agilely as a cat on all fours. He stood up to his full height, and looked at the kritter, who was frozen with terror, praying that this lizard wasn’t the one who caused the mess on the floor.
"W-what do you want?" Greg asked, adopting Steve’s nervous way of talking. He stepped back, not wanting the newcomer any closer to his body.
"I wish to investigate in the bedroom of King K. Rool…but you are foolishly standing in my way."
"I-I will gladly m-move for y-you-" Greg began, but Tobias was too fast for him, and didn’t want to miss out on another victim. In a flash, Tobias was standing right in front of Greg, and in the next split-second Greg lay on the floor, his throat savagely sliced open.
Once again, Tobias smiled. Killing was something that gave him pleasure. It was part of him – killing was built-in. It had been installed inside him ever since he purchased the old Black Magic book from an old lizard on a far corner of the island. That lizard was long dead by now, and Tobias would know. Tobias has killed him himself.
Ever since he was a young kid, magic and tricks had fascinated Tobias. He longed to become a magician, so that he could entertain others with his skills. But that opportunity had never come. And now, here he was. An ugly old murderer with nothing better to do than to enslave others’ minds and torture them. That was what he was doing to Amy. And what he had been doing to Crystal. He had taken advantage of them because of their strong minds but weak bodies, and wanted to make them like him. He knew he was responsible for Crystal Rool’s death, and he knew that he might well end up responsible for Amy’s some day. He had ‘wanted’ Crystal, and now he ‘wanted’ Amy. He was a lonely lizard. Nobody liked him because of his appearance, mainly. But Amy had liked him straight away, and he decided that she was to become ‘his’.
With those thoughts in his mind, he began to creep towards K. Rool’s bedroom, now wanting to find his answer more than ever. Already, the memory of the two kritter guards was out of his mind.
***
Amy reached the top of the stairs and looked around. She was only a few seconds behind Tobias, and she knew it. She could sense that he had been here, and that there had been a ki- no, TWO killings made in this area very recently. But there was no evidence of any murder. The floor was spotless, and there was no smell of anything…gruesome. But she knew she was right. By now, she knew that she could trust her feelings, and she felt frightened.
Nervously, she entered into the corridor, and found herself in a wider corridor as she turned a corner. There were several doors leading out of the corridor on either side, and Amy wondered where Tobias had gone. She knew he was here somewhere.
She pushed a door open and peered inside. An empty bedroom. She made sure that she closed the doors afterwards, in case K. Rool threw a fit at someone having left the doors open.
The next few doors all turned out to be bedrooms. She couldn’t think how anyone would be able to cope with having that many guests at one time, but she didn’t have time to think about it. She had a lizard to find.
She opened the next door, and was greeted with gentle snoring. She took a few steps into the room and looked around. Tobias was definitely not here. But she liked this room, and decided to have a look around, her mind straying from the thought of finding Tobias, and moving on to the idea of checking out this cool room. It had a pleasant aura to it, and she felt she could stay in there forever, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to. ‘Duty’ was calling her, and she needed to find Tobias. Not that it was her ‘duty’ to do so, but she just felt that she had to get moving.
She left the room, closing the door gently so as not to wake up the sleeping somebody, and crept down the corridor. It suddenly came to her – where else would Tobias have gone? He was after K. Rool, she could tell, and that meant he would be in the King’s room. And THAT meant that she’d have to pick up her pace before anything bad happened.
She broke out into a sprinting pace and dashed down the corridor towards K. Rool’s large chamber. It was like a maze up here with all its rooms, but it was fairly easy to find her way around as she had been to visit K. Rool via this way many times before.
She burst into the room, while at the same time trying to remain as quiet as possible. Tobias whipped around in shock as she entered, clutching onto a photo frame. Amy tried to regain her breath after the sprint, while also trying to see what Tobias was holding. She was rather short-sighted, and didn’t have a clue about what Tobias would be so interested in the picture for. He held onto it as though it meant the world to him.
Amy walked forward towards him, still breathing heavily. "What…have you…got there…Tobias?"
Suddenly, Tobias jumped again. Amy did too, as she realised that King K. Rool was waking up. He’d probably throw a fit at them for being in his bedroom without permission.
"Time to go, my raven." Tobias whispered, and he gave the photo frame to her and vanished promptly. Amy panicked, looking at K. Rool, and then down at the photograph. It showed K. Rool and his wife holding hands…what could be so important about it?
As she stood looking at the picture, K. Rool realised what was happening. He roared, furiously. "Miss Croc! What do you THINK you are DOING in MY room?!" He leapt out of bed and went to see what she was looking at. Or rather…what she was ‘stealing’.
"How dare you think of stealing my precious photograph from me!" he shouted, snatching it back from her, "This picture was taken on our wedding day, and you come along and try to steal it! How DARE you!"
"But, Sir, I-"
"I want you in the dungeon, young lady! Where are my guards?! Guards!!!" Of course, the guards would find it hard to arrive anytime soon due to the simple fact that they were dead.
Someone entered the room, though, as K. Rool seemed to perk up slightly. Amy was staring at her King in shock and fear, and so didn’t notice that K. Rool’s son had entered the room.
"What’s all the…shouting about, dad?" he yawned, rubbing his eyes.
"Ah, I’m glad you’re here, Khris. I want you to take this young fiend down to the dungeon and lock her in a cell and throw away the key and-"
"Is that necessary? Er…what’s she done?"
"Don’t ask questions! I just want her out! OUT!!"
"Dad-"
"Don’t force me to shout!"
Khris sighed loudly and grabbed Amy by the arm. "Come on, then…" he yawned, still very tired.
All this time, Amy hadn’t noticed him once. She just stared at K. Rool, wondering what on earth she could have done wrong. She was too shocked to speak as she was dragged away down to the dungeon, where K. Rool was intent on making her a permanent resident.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:24:29 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:24:29 GMT 10
Tobias : Part 3
By Klumpy
The next morning, Klump was making himself some fresh coffee when Krusha staggered into the kitchen. He put a claw to his head and groaned. "Duh…ow."
Klump turned around. He looked slightly strange, as he hadn’t put his army boots on yet, so Krusha had the unusual bonus of getting to see what the General’s feet look like. In fact, Klump wasn’t wearing any clothing of any kind just yet.
"Mornin’, Krusha." he said, cheerily pouring his coffee into a huge mug, "Sleep well?"
Krusha sat down, shaking his head as he did so. "Duh…no. I think I hit my head…I guess I did it when I fell outta bed…" He continued to rub his head, groaning slightly.
"You fell outta bed? I thought your bed was big enough to mainly avoid that problem."
"Duh, well, Amy’s bed isn’t big enough. I must have, duh, fallen out of her bed…"
Krusha didn’t understand why the General fell silent at that moment. "Duh, you Okay?"
"You were in HER bed? Goodness…what in Heck possessed y’all to do that?"
"She came into my room and, duh, asked me to go with her or something…I don’t know…I feel…ow."
"Hmm…a bit…adventurous…especially for her. Are you sure she did?"
"Uh huh. And then she kissed me a lot…and then, duh, she fell asleep, so I fell asleep too. And when I got up this morning, she wasn’t there."
Klump scratched his chin. "I hope she doesn’t show up. Maybe then I can avoid havin’ my own dang coffee poured all over me."
Krusha didn’t answer. He just rested his chin on the table. He looked very ill.
"Hmm…I think maybe you need this here coffee more than I do…" Klump said.
Krusha still didn’t respond, so Klump drank the coffee before Krusha could ask for some. Krusha’s head was hurting. Maybe all the kisses Amy had given him had somehow poisoned him.
"I hope I haven’t upset her or anything…" he sniffed, going through all the possible reasons why Amy wasn’t present, "If so, I’ll have to tell her that I’m very sorry…I…my head hurts…"
Suddenly, the table Krusha was leaning on moved – it was as though it had just ‘jumped’. The mug that Klump had placed on the table crashed onto the floor, and Klump squealed with shock. "What’s happenin’?" he asked.
Tobias appeared in the room, looking very pleased about something. His hands were clasped together, as they often were, and the smile on his face was for any female to die for. He looked…lovely…but in an evil way.
"Good morning." he said, in his toneless I-don’t-really-care voice. He received no response from the other reptiles, but he paid it no mind. He often got that kind of ‘welcome’. He walked past Klump to a small cupboard, and began to rummage around in it.
"Looking for some blood or milk?" Krusha growled. He hated Tobias – he bet that this creepy lizard had something to do with Amy’s disappearance.
At that comment, Tobias seemed to vanish from the cupboard and appear on the table in front of Krusha. His legs were crossed and his back was straight, as though he was preparing to meditate.
"Seriously, my stupid ‘friend’, I’d watch my tail if I were you. I can do a great deal of damage to you."
"I’d like to see you try." Krusha growled, getting angrier. Who did Tobias think he was? A weakling like him stood no chance against Krusha, surely.
"Oooh, I’ll try. And it’ll be at a time when you don’t expect it."
"Yeah, right." Krusha crossed his arms and turned away from Tobias, still growling.
Tobias uncrossed his legs and stood up on the table before jumping down onto the floor again. He walked back over to the cupboard, and continued to rummage through it.
Klump shot Krusha a peculiar look. A look that said ‘What in the world did that idiot mean?’
"Aha…" Tobias said, his voice echoing around inside the cabinet. He emerged from the depths of the cupboard, holding something between his teeth. He removed the thing from his jaws and walked over to the sink. The thing received a good washing under the cold water.
Klump looked back at Krusha again, this time with a look that said ‘Do you wanna ask, or should I?’
Krusha grunted. "Duh…what’s that thing?"
Tobias, smiling, turned around to face Krusha, holding the deep red/brown object in his claws. "What does it look like, Einstein?"
Krusha growled again. "Tell us what it is, will you?"
"Well, genius, it starts with ‘L’ and rhymes with ‘shiver’."
Krusha thought hard. He was hopeless at guessing games like this. Klump could see that Krusha wasn’t comfortable, and so he spoke up himself.
"Liver?"
"Bingo. Want some?" Tobias asked, extending his claws towards the General, who took a step back. Grinning, Tobias pulled the liver back to him again. "I thought as much." He opened his mouth and let the squelchy mass fall down his throat. He didn’t even bother to chew.
"It’s an awfully big thing…ain’t it?"
He swallowed loudly. "Ah yes. But it is very nutritious. And I’ll tell you something else that’s nutritious. Pinkies."
"Ew!" Klump stated, feeling slightly ill, "No way would I ever eat a lil’ baby mouse! Well…maybe once…but…"
"They’re very good to eat because they’ve got a little miniature liver inside them, among other things. They’re like…little bags of nutrition."
Krusha didn’t want to say anything. The thought of anyone eating a little mouse made him feel really guilty about being a lizard. He thought he was going to throw up.
"And you, Krusha, I know where your lady friend is."
Krusha perked up suddenly. "You do? Where?" He wasn’t sure if Tobias would tell the truth or not, but he was going to take a chance at this point.
"The raven is down in the dungeon…for stealing."
"Stealin’?" Klump asked.
Tobias was more than happy to make up a story about what had happened. After all, Amy wasn’t going to tell K. Rool that she was innocent. "I’m not sure what exactly happened, but she was caught in K. Rool’s bedroom, stealing a photograph or something. He threw a fit, and sent her down to the dungeon. And that’s where she is currently staying. Poor raven. I don’t know how we’ll get her free…"
"Stop calling her ‘raven’!" Krusha growled, angry again, "Her name is ‘Amy’, NOT ‘raven’!"
"She’s MY raven." Tobias said calmly, but Krusha wasn’t calm.
"Well, she’s MY girlfriend!" he yelled in reply, standing up.
Tobias hissed like a cobra when Krusha made that aggressive gesture. "Watch it…you’re standing on thin ice, here. If I wanted to, I could slice off your head and serve it to King K. Rool on a silver platter!"
"Don’t you dare call her ‘raven’ again!"
"I can call her anything I d**n well wish to."
"You’ll need permission, you little-"
"QUIET!!" Klump shouted, causing the others to shut up completely.
Krusha found that he had a headache again, and was forced to sit down again. He whimpered slightly, but was still deeply angry. Tobias grinned, wickedly. "I was having enough of your stupidness, anyway. See you later. I have…business to attend to."
"Don’t you dare touch Amy!" Krusha shouted, but Tobias had already vanished again. Krusha roared loudly, and slammed his fist on the table. Klump jumped again. There was no way he was going to let Krusha have any coffee now.
***
"This time, I’m staying – I’m staying for good! I’ll be back where I was born to be! With one look, I’ll be ME!!"
Amy was having a miserable time in the dungeon, and was singing to try to cheer herself up. Another song finished, and she had to think of another one. Thinking gave her a terrible headache. She couldn’t remember anything about the last evening…the only thing she could remember was waking up with Krusha on the floor. She hadn’t remembered him coming in…and her memory was a bit foggy about what happened in K. Rool’s room. However, the dream she had had that night stuck in the back of her brain. She intended to ask Tobias about his relationship with Crystal…if she ever saw him again.
"My raven?"
Obviously, she WAS going to see him again. She turned around, and he was in the cell with her. He was sitting on her small bench with his legs crossed and his arms at his sides. She was standing up in the center of the cell because she had been pacing non-stop ever since she was forced down into the cold dungeon. It was absolutely freezing – torture for a lizard.
"Hello, Tobias." she said, quietly.
Tobias didn’t stand up, and didn’t invite her to sit down. He looked at her for a long time, taking in her body and breathing slowly. His eyes seemed to be burning with a blue flame…and glowing red at the corners. These were the beautiful eyes that Amy loved to watch. Now, however, they seemed more evil than ever before.
"Are you Okay, Tobias?" she asked, taking a few steps towards him. He was looking right at her, but through her at the same time. He had just drifted into meditation again, and was paying no attention to what was going on around him.
That was, until Krusha arrived. He hadn’t actually arrived yet, but Tobias knew he was coming, and snapped out of his trance instantly. "I shall see you later on, raven." he said, and vanished into nothing, once again leaving Amy in her cold cell.
There was a loud click and the sound of fast clawsteps, and Amy knew that it was Krusha. She had sensed him not long after Tobias had done so.
Her large darling skidded to a halt outside her cell and grasped onto the bars, trying to reach her. He looked deeply distressed. Amy ran to the cold bars to be as close to him as possible. "Hi, sweetheart." she sighed, putting her small claw on his. She looked down at their clasped claws, and then up at his face. "What are you doing here?"
"I-I heard that you were caught stealing and I…I can’t believe that it’s true…you’re here…for stealing? It sounds…stupid…"
"I didn’t steal anything, Krusha."
Krusha felt slightly better. If she could prove that she was innocent, she would hopefully be freed. And that was what Krusha wanted. He wanted her out of that horrible dungeon and free to do anything she pleased. "Duh, then, what happened? Maybe King K. Rool will release you if, duh, you can prove your…your…innocence." He felt proud of himself for using the word ‘innocence’.
"Well-" Amy began, but she stopped. She just couldn’t put the blame on Tobias. She wanted to be free…but she couldn’t tell the story. She put a claw to her head, keeping her other claw clasped with Krusha’s.
"Well what?" Krusha asked, eagerly. His breathing rate increased as he waited to be told the truth, which he was certain she would tell.
She looked sadder than ever by now. She kissed his fingers gently, trying to think. She rubbed her snout up against his claw.
"Yeah?" he asked. He wasn’t impatient – just nervous for her sake.
"I…I didn’t…Tobias…" She ripped her claw away from Krusha’s grip and clutched her head with both claws. "I can’t…I- AAARGH!!! It HURTS!!" Screaming, she fell onto the floor, kicking her legs in the air. Pain was splitting through her head, as though it was being split open by an axe or something. Her eyes were hurting now, and she screamed louder as the intensity of the pain increased dramatically.
Krusha stepped back slightly. "Amy?!"
"I…I…" Amy stopped kicking and began to breathe rapidly. She gasped for breath now – she felt as though her lungs weren’t working. "I…only wanted to look at the picture…" she wheezed, "Really…I didn’t want to…steal it…" That was the best excuse she was willing to give.
Krusha sighed. "Are you SURE that’s what happened?"
"Of COURSE I’m…sure…aa...argh…" The pain was finally subsiding, but she couldn’t stand up yet.
"Duh, Okay. I’ll go tell King K. Rool." Krusha said, pressing himself up against the bars of the cell again. Amy dragged herself along the floor slowly and finally came up to the bars. She reached out and took hold of one of his legs, and kissed his foot. It was the only part of him that she could reach from down on the floor.
He smiled slightly, and then dashed off the way he had come. "I’ll come back…don’t worry." he said, and then the loud click sounded again, and he was gone.
"Come…back…" she gasped. All her strength had vanished, and she lay on the floor, barely moving. She felt sick…and, using a highly scientific word to describe it, she felt ‘yucky’.
And there she lay for a further five minutes, with not enough strength to stand up. "I must get up…" she said to herself, "I must be strong…"
Desperately, she took hold on the cold bars of her cell and began to drag herself up onto her feet. Her bones and muscles felt stiff, but she had to stand up. Now that she was upright, she felt ill again. With her feet far apart, she was able to balance herself upright again, and had a little practice walk around the cell. She felt like a baby that had only just learned to walk. Everything seemed to be moving…
"Hello."
Amy jumped around, but in her shock she fell backwards and ended up on the floor again. She muttered something. "What?!" she snapped at the somebody, "Can’t you see I’m busy rotting away here?!"
The sound of a low click told her that her cell was open. She looked up instantly, and her cell was definitely open. A lizard stood in the opening. "May I talk to you, Miss?" he asked.
Amy’s eyes bulged, and she stood up, straightening her nightdress (which she was still wearing) and trying to look more presentable. "Of course…feel free to sit down. I’m redecorating down here…"
The large lizard sat down on her small bench. He seemed to be maybe slightly bigger than Krusha. He looked remarkably similar to Amy’s boyfriend.
"I don’t think we’ve formerly met. I’m Khris Rool, son of the almighty King K. Rool-"
"Prince Rool?" she asked.
At that comment, he seemed to get slightly angry. "Er…just ‘Khris’. Or K. Rool Junior. ANYTHING but ‘Prince’, Okay?"
Amy nodded nervously, eager to impress. She wondered what the ‘son of the King’ (not ‘Prince’) was doing down in this horrible place.
"Why are you down here, Pri- Khris?"
Khris smiled, cheerfully, almost. "I was just talking to my buddy Krusha, and he seemed very upset about his sweetheart being stuck down here in the dungeon. I know I’m the one who carried you down here in the first place, but Krusha’s my friend, and I hate to see him sad. I’m going to see what I can do about setting you free from this place."
"Really?" Amy felt very happy, but she had trouble expressing it. She climbed up onto the bench and sat next to him, trying to show her approval. Khris edged away from her and fell off the seat. From his comfortable position on the floor, he continued.
"You claim that you weren’t stealing the photo but ‘looking’ at it…Krusha doesn’t think you’re telling the truth, Miss. He seems to think that you’re trying to protect someone else by lying about what happened? Is that so?"
He was beginning to sound like some sort of cop. Amy began to sob again. "Just get me out of here!" she said, wiping her eyes. She really wanted to get the Heck out, but every time she got close to telling what really happened, she got a splitting headache and couldn’t think. "I’d never do anything to hurt your father! Please, I want out! I want out and I want it now!"
Khris stood up. "You’re not going to get it by making a scene…I’ll see what I can do for you."
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:24:56 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:24:56 GMT 10
Ziggy was in Amy’s room, resting on her pillow. He wondered where she had gone, and if she would come back. He wasn’t sure…this Tobias fellow didn’t sound trustworthy.
He still wanted to see Amy again, despite what had happened last night. He couldn’t help but watch as she kissed Krusha like nothing before, but it had grossed him out. It hadn’t even been anything bad, but the sight of two lizards kissing…it was enough to turn any human’s stomach. At least that’s what Ziggy felt. And he probably wasn’t very accurate due to his lack of a stomach. He didn’t have anything left of himself except his head. But he was thankful that there was any of him left at all.
He hopped down off the bed and bounced over to the open door. He hopped out into the corridor and looked at the door to Tobias’ room. Amy was probably in there, he figured, as she seemed to be spending a lot of time with Tobias. Maybe TOO much time. She had wanted to show that an ugly appearance didn’t necessarily reveal a nasty personality, but this was going too far if it meant she was being kidnapped. Or at least if all her time was spent with this newcomer.
Using his nose, Ziggy pushed the door open. It had thankfully not been closed properly, and it swung open to reveal the contents of the room – a small wooden chair. The head peered inside cautiously before entering. The light from the corridor was not enough to show the contents of the room completely, so Ziggy decided that he needed to turn the light on somehow.
He hopped around for a moment, trying to find the light-switch. Finally, he saw it…but he would never be able to reach it. It was too high off the ground. He cursed to himself and hopped back and forth, trying to think. He had a good amount of brain-power, even though he was just a head, and was quite capable of coping with various difficult situations.
"T’ink, Lawrence, T’INK…" he growled to himself. He grinded his rotten teeth together and thought as hard as he could. And then it came to him. "Bingo!"
He hopped over to Tobias’ small chair and began to nudge it towards the switch. The chair was low enough for him to get onto, and then he would be able to reach the switch itself. If he had been able to, he would have been sweating at that point. Using all his strength (and a head doesn’t possess all that much strength), he was able to get the chair just about close enough to the wall for him to be able to reach the switch.
"Here we go…" He hopped up onto the chair and then up towards the switch, grabbing it with his teeth and turning it on, causing a never-before-seen light to fill Tobias’ evil room. And evil it was.
"Oh God…" Ziggy gasped. He hopped off the chair and over to the adjacent wall, on which hung a skeleton. It wasn’t completely a skeleton…the skin and muscle (and all that other stuff) had not been removed from the head. It was a skeletal body with a ‘normal’ head. It wasn’t exactly a normal head…the face seemed as though it was screaming – as if the previous owner of the body had been in some indescribable pain as it died. This was, of course, the body of Steve from the previous night.
Near the body was a large steel bucket-like container. Inside it was a disgusting, ripped-up mess, which Ziggy decided had to be the rest of the victim’s body. Various organs were in there as well, in amongst the skin and muscle-tissues…but it was as though they had just been ripped out and placed in the ‘bucket’ fresh. They hadn’t shown any sign of clotting or decaying, and they were moist and soft. Ziggy probably would have thrown up if he hadn’t already been dead.
The rest of the room had a death-like feeling to it. There were a few other remains of skeletons and such, including another container with a label on it reading ‘SKIN’. Ziggy didn’t want to look.
He was just about to get the Heck out when he heard a voice. "Hey…someone there? Can you lend me a hand?"
"Well, I ain’t gots no hands. But…where are ya?"
The voice seemed relieved. "Thank the Lord you’re not Tobias. Over here. I’m in the corner beside the bed. Under the cloth."
"Under da cloth? Jeez, what are youse, anyways?" The head hopped over to where the voice was coming from, from underneath a white cloth stained with a deep red liquid.
"Don’t be afraid…I look odd, but I mean you no harm."
"Dat’s what I was about ta say. Ah well." He grabbed onto a corner of the cloth with his teeth and pulled at it. "It’s…comin’…" He tugged again, and the cloth was free. Ziggy found himself wrapped up in it, and began to struggle.
The other thing laughed gently. "Let me help you with that."
"T’anks a lot. I-" The cloth was pulled away, and Ziggy found himself staring at…a head. A head with no body, just like him. "Well, paint me purple an’ call me gran’ma…you’re a head…like me."
"Hey…cool, another head just like me. I’m the head of a navigator. I can navigate anyone through catacombs. Just follow my nose." said the other head, smiling.
Ziggy felt rather inadequate. He couldn’t navigate to save his life. "I’m Lawrence Ziegfeld. Call me Ziggy." he said.
The other head didn’t seem all that interested in the fact that Ziggy had just stated his full name. "Look, we’d better get moving. You don’t want Tobias to come back, do you? Let’s go."
Ziggy sighed, and the two heads hopped over to the doorway. The navigator moved less easily, as he was probably rather ‘rusty’ after being wrapped up in that cloth for so long.
"What are we gonna do ‘bout da light? Dat Tobias guy’ll know sometin’s wrong if his light’s been switched on."
"We’ve got to take that chance. I’d rather give him some suspicion than be caught by him."
"Fine. I’ll take youse into Amy’s room. I’m sure she won’t mind."
The two heads hopped out of Tobias’ room and into Amy’s room, leaving Tobias’ light still on.
Moments later, Klump walked past on his way to the bathroom. "Strange…" he said, "I guess I’d better turn this light off." He reached into the room and switched the light off, not bothering to look around, and therefore not noticing Steve’s sorry carcass hanging on the wall.
***
"I reckon you owe me BIG TIME. I just had a very long chat with my dad, and he has agreed for you to go free. But with a warning, you understand."
Amy leapt up off her bench and grabbed Khris around the waist as he opened her cell. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" she squealed, hugging him.
He stepped backwards. "Er…you’re welcome. But you’re not THAT welcome, so kindly let go."
Amy stopped hugging him and began to hop on the spot. "I’m outta here! See you, Sir." She ran past him and along the corridor, ready to rejoin reality again. Nothing seemed like reality to her anymore. She sometimes found she hated reality, but she was beginning to miss it after having to cope with peculiar things that had suddenly popped up. Tobias was one. He was the main one, as she was sure all the other ‘peculiar happenings’ had something to do with him.
Once again back in the main factory hall, she took a deep breath and stretched her arms. She felt like a new lizard. "FREEDOM!!" she shouted at the top of her voice.
Krusha, upon hearing her voice, was by her side in under a second. "I knew Khris could do it!" he said, lifting Amy up in his arms and licking her like a huge dog, "You’re free, my love!"
It was amazing how quickly he had arrived, especially as he had been moping around in his bedroom.
"I’m Okay, Krusha. Really, I am. Just slightly cold…"
"I’ll make you warm again…" he purred, licking her neck softly.
She sighed. There was something weird going on. Of course, that was obvious, but now something VERY weird had just happened. Krusha’s little ‘romantic’ comment hadn’t made her feel…gooey. She usually felt all soppy whenever he spoke to her like that. She felt strong…it may not even have been physical strength, but some form of psychic strength that could be channelled into something with a lot of physical power.
She squirmed out of his grasp and fell onto the floor. He looked down at her, slightly confused. "Duh, are you feeling Okay?"
"Of course. I feel great…but can I try something on you?"
"What kind of…thing?"
"I don’t really know…just something. It’s probably just my imagination." She looked at her feet, and then at Krusha again. "Give me your claw…"
Krusha didn’t know what was going on, but he obediently held out his left claw.
"Make a fist."
Krusha did. Whatever she was going to do, it was very odd. Why in the world would she need his fist?
She held out her right claw and placed it on his fist.
"I think…I might be able…to…" She tightened her grip on his fist, and at first he thought nothing of it. Until the pain set in. She was gradually making a fist with her own claw over Krusha’s own, squeezing his claw as she did so. His bones began to rub harshly against one another.
"Argh! Stop, Amy, stop!" he yelled, suddenly. By now, Amy’s incredibly strong grip had begun to crush Krusha’s claw, and blood was trickling out from his knuckles under the force. "Amy, please! Stop!" he begged, sobbing.
Amy let go, and Krusha gasped, looking at his crushed claw. The bones had cracked slightly, and his bloody knuckles were hurting him like Heck. He bent forwards, holding his injured hand.
Amy was gasping herself. Something had told her that she could apply a strong physical force when she wanted to, but she didn’t expect THIS much of a result. "I’m…I’m sorry. Sorry, sweetie."
"It’s…Okay…" Krusha said, gritting his teeth, "I just need…some ice…"
He stood up, holding his poor claw close to his body. Amy put an arm around his waist and walked with him to the kitchen. "I’m so sorry-"
"It’s Okay. I know you didn’t mean it…ow…"
Even after she’d done something like this to him, he was still as sweet as ever. Of course, she felt terribly guilty, but Krusha’s love for her made her feel better. She just hoped that she didn’t feel compelled to do anything like that again. The feeling it had given her had made it hard to stop.
***
"But who is this actor Evita? Why all this howling, hysterical sorrow? What kind of Goddess has lived among us? How will we ever get by without her?" Amy was still singing to comfort herself, but this time she was in her cosy room again. Despite this, she still felt very insecure and in need of love. She lay on her bed, arms crossed, looking at nothing in particular. Ziggy had made an effort to introduce her to the navigator, and had made an even bigger effort to tell her about what gruesome things he had come across in Tobias’ room, but Amy seemed uninterested and distracted. She was beginning to wonder if she had just imagined the stripes on her arm, as they didn’t seem to be there any more. Her skin was the same, if not very slightly darker. She also seemed even slimmer than usual, and rather like a skeleton with just some skin on it. But she was still very much alive. She had frequent pains in various parts of her body, but mainly in her head. It was like having a very severe migraine, and multiplying that feeling by one-hundred. She felt as though someone was ripping her skull open and pulling her brain out of her head.
"Implete hunc lapidem…implete eum viribus…Sulfuratis vestris…" As those words came out of her mouth, she smiled. She loved the ‘Phantasmagoria’ title song, and was now somehow turning it into something dramatic. It was only a theme from a computer game for crying out loud.
She sighed and rolled onto her side. That dream had been haunting her also. It was only a simple dream…nothing too complicated…but it had stuck in her mind and was boring away at her brain like a drill.
"Huh?" As she felt in her pocket, she had come across something sharp. Curious, she removed it from her pocket to see what it was. It was the velociraptor blade that Tobias had given to her yesterday. All of her memories of yesterday were foggy, and she barely remembered him giving her the blade. Trying to remember what had happened sent another white-hot pain through her skull, and she was forced to stop.
Smiling, she looked at the blade from all angles, wondering how she might ever use it. It looked very dangerous…and she supposed that it was when used by the right person. She took the blade with her left claw, and tossed it between her two claws, catching it perfectly each time. It was something that she had seen Tobias do, and was quite proud that she could do it too.
She took it in her right claw again, and sat up, looking curiously at it. Suddenly, she felt something burning inside her. She held the blade tighter, and felt some great anger boiling up inside her. She stood up off the bed, snarling, while still staring at the blade. Her eyes and the back of her head felt hot, as if her brain was over-heating.
She began an uneasy walk towards the door, still holding the blade firmly in her grip. "Time to see what you can really do…" she hissed, and she tucked the blade back into her pocket.
***
"I wish I knew what was happening to her…" Krusha whined. He was now in his very serious and not ‘duh’ing mode. His claw had basically recovered after the incident, and he had removed the ice-pack. Having to use an ice-pack is not the healthiest thing for a lizard to do. He was very much relieved to have got rid of it.
Klump was sitting at the table, playing a card game by himself. It had begun to get slightly boring, so now he was just looking at each card in turn, organising them into neat little piles in front of him. Krusha sat at the adjacent end of the table to the General, head in his claws, elbows on the table. He moaned slightly, wondering what Tobias was doing to Amy…and how he could get back at him. He was certain that Tobias was doing all this, and he was right. Of course, we all know that, but Krusha didn’t. He wasn’t one-hundred percent sure, and he didn’t have anything to prove it, but he felt quite certain. After all, Amy had been just normal until Tobias arrived on the scene.
He looked towards the door, yawning. He was still very tired. And a pain had begun to form at the base of his skull, so that wasn’t any fun.
He was so drowsy that he didn’t notice that Amy had entered the kitchen until she was standing a few feet away from Klump. She looked as though she was suffering from a major hangover of some sort. "Duh, you Okay?" Now that she was here, he felt slightly better, and began to ‘duh’ again.
She looked at him. She looked very ill, and very tired. She seemed…old. As though she was tired, exhausted and grumpy.
Krusha whined slightly at her apparent ignoring of him. Once again, something was very wrong. She seemed very distant. "What’s wrong? Tell me…you can tell me anything." He once again switched into a more serious mode.
Amy looked at him, mouth slightly open. She didn’t speak to him. It was as though she couldn’t bring herself to do so for fear of something. She approached Klump, and spoke to him in a toneless expressionless voice that she had never used before. "I have…something for you, Klump." It was as though Krusha wasn’t even in the room.
Klump wondered what she could be talking about, and turned his chair around to face her directly. He placed his claws on his knees. "Uh huh?"
With that, Amy reeled back her fist and punched him right in the face. She looked angry and ferocious by now, and seemed to smile gently as Klump and his chair fell backwards and landed on the floor again. The General squirmed around on his back, and he knew without looking in a mirror that she had just given him a black eye.
"What the-" Krusha stood up as this happened, not knowing what on earth had caused her to do that.
As he spoke, Amy looked up at him and seemed to finally notice him properly. "There you are…" She advanced menacingly towards him, and he somehow found that he was frightened. He pressed himself up against the wall behind him, sweating with tension. "Wha- what are you d-doing?" he asked, sobbing slightly.
With one leap, Amy was right in front of him, eyes burning angrily for some reason even unknown to herself. "Prepare to die!" she screamed, jumping up and clinging onto his neck. She reached into her pocket, but couldn’t find her weapon. She screamed something unprintable and set about attacking Krusha’s face, slashing at it and biting him with as much force as she could manage. Krusha just tired to withstand the pain – he didn’t want to fight back for fear of hurting her.
Klump scrambled up onto his feet again and watched helplessly as Amy continued to inflict pain on her lover. "Krusha! Do somethin’!" he yelled, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to help in any other way.
Krusha squealed as Amy slashed her claws across his eyes, trying to bring him down. She was screaming at him while doing this, making him feel worse. He hadn’t realised that she was capable of causing him so much injury. "I can’t do anything- OW!! I’ll hurt her!"
"Krusha, fight back!" Klump said, hopping up and down like a spectator at a wrestling match, "Whatever’s makin’ her do that is NOT Amy! You’ll get yourself killed!"
As Klump said that, Amy revealed the velociraptor blade from her other pocket. She continued her attack, making useless swipes at Krusha with her weapon. She was clinging onto him like a leech, and he couldn’t shake her off.
Finally, she struck, sending pain through Krusha’s neck. He yelled in pain again, but it was thankfully not deep enough to be a fatal wound. He would surely have been killed if he hadn’t been thrashing around so much.
"Krusha! Fight back! You have to!"
"That’s right, big boy! Try to fight back! I’m TELLING you to!" Amy shouted, evilly, landing another wound in Krusha’s upper chest.
The pain was too much for him.
"C’mon Krusha!"
"Yeah, fight back you idiot!"
Idiot? Amy had never called him that before. He growled as he tried to fight back, and he knew that he would be able to.
He took a firm grip on Amy’s right arm – the killing arm. She screamed at him and slashed at him with her other claw. The blade dropped to the floor.
"Amy, what are you doing to me?" he asked, tightening his grip on her arm. She didn’t answer, she just screamed again. "Let go of me, you moron!" she yelled.
"Don’t…hate me for this…" He pulled her right arm sideways and back, causing her to scream further.
"Let go let go!" She was screaming and almost sobbing at the same time. This pain was too much – she felt as though her arm was going to-
There was a loud SNAP, and Krusha let Amy drop to the floor, limp as a fish.
She lay still, gasping slightly.
Klump walked over to Krusha and looked down at Amy. "Oh Gawd…I didn’t expect you to fight back THAT much…but I guess it was the only way…"
The General bent down next to Amy and looked at her face. It was definitely different. She looked angry and desperate to kill something. She would have suceeded if Krusha hadn’t fought back.
"She’s gonna be so mad at me…" Krusha whimpered, putting a claw to his face. There were cuts and slashes all over his face, and he looked quite a sight.
"I can’t believe it’s actually Amy…she’s never been like that before…" Klump said, almost to himself rather than to Krusha. His black eye seemed like nothing compared with what Krusha had gone through. "I think you need to get some treatment…I’ll go get the First Aid kit." Klump walked over to a cabinet and began to look around for the First Aid kit. Amy’s First Aid kit.
A tear fell down Krusha’s bloody cheek as he picked Amy off the floor. She felt limp and dead, but she wasn’t. She was gasping for breath, and her right arm hung loosely at her side. The blade had gone from the floor.
"I’m gonna take her back to her room…" Krusha said, almost whispering.
Klump walked over to Krusha and asked him to bend down. He then began to wipe some antiseptic all over Krusha’s face. Every time some of the liquid touched one of Krusha’s open cuts, he whined slightly.
"I don’t know why she would do that…I love her so *sniff* much and…I’d never do anything like that to her. Do you think she doesn’t love me any more?"
"I think there’s somethin’ weird about her. I mean, I’ve ALWAYS thought that, but now I feel it especially. I also think she’s getting’ too close to Tobias…I feel like they’ve gotten into some kind of deep friendship…I mean, she’s interested in things…y’know…mysterious things, so I suppose it ain’t too hard to believe that she likes him."
This comment didn’t make Krusha feel any better. He hoped that her feelings for Tobias were only ‘like’ and not ‘love’.
"I’ll take her to her room then…" He left the kitchen, leaving Klump alone to complain about his black eye.
As soon as he was well out of Klump’s sight, he hugged Amy close to him. She seemed to be asleep by now. "Why did you do *sniff* that? Don’t you know how much I love you? I’d never…*sniff* do anything like that to you…and I’m sorry about your arm…but…I hope you understand…*sniff* what’s wrong with you?" He sighed, sadly, and continued on his way to Amy’s room.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:25:27 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:25:27 GMT 10
Tobias : Part 4
By Klumpy
Amy finally woke up from her little ‘nap’. She looked around, and found that she was back in her room again. She felt confused – the last thing that she remembered clearly was crushing Krusha’s claw in the main factory hall. Her head was throbbing.
As she sat up, she winced with pain. She grasped onto her right arm with her left claw and held it close to her. Her stomach turned, and she felt desperately sick. Her right arm was broken.
A slight creaking noise was enough to turn her senses back on. The door opened slowly and Tobias looked into the room. He seemed somewhat happy. "May I enter, my raven?" he asked.
Amy nodded gently, her teeth clenched with pain. Tobias strode into her room and sat on the bed with her. Harpy was perched on his shoulder again, looking at Amy angrily. He cawed gently under his breath. Upon hearing this noise, Tobias reached out and stroked the hawk’s soft chest with one of his claws.
"I d-don’t know what happened…but…my arm…" Amy stammered, holding tightly onto her dead arm. She felt deeply distressed that she couldn’t use it. Her arms and claws were her favorite parts of her body, because they allowed her to write and draw. She didn’t know how she would be able to cope without the use of her right arm.
"I regret to inform you, my raven…but, your ‘boyfriend’ broke your arm." Tobias said, softly. He was trying hard not to let his glee show though this regretful disguise. He had longed for an opportunity like this so that he could break Amy and Krusha apart. He didn’t like to see couples in love – it made him feel weak and stupid.
Amy looked at Tobias, as if she was begging him to take back what he had just said. "What? B-but why? I…he…"
"I do not know why either, my raven. Just that…well…he got angry with you and broke your arm. Or so I heard." She obviously hadn’t noticed that he was beginning to smile.
"I didn’t do anything…he forgave me for squeezing his claw…why would…he…"
Tobias placed a claw on her leg and touched the side of her face with his snout. "Do not worry about your arm, my raven. I shall heal it for you."
He placed his other claw on her broken arm, and gently began to rub along it. Harpy cawed, slightly irritated.
"Mmmm…I…oooh…" Amy groaned, closing her eyes as Tobias continued to ‘massage’ her arm. She felt warm and happy all of a sudden, as her arm began to tingle with pleasure.
He stopped rubbing, and Amy opened her eyes again. She had been enjoying her massage.
"All done…you can use your arm again." he said, softly.
Amy lifted her arm up and looked at it. It was normal again, and she made a fist with her claw. She then spread out her fingers again and looked at them. They didn’t even feel remotely stiff. "Thanks, Tobias…"
"You are most welcome." he said. Without warning, he moved his claw further up her leg. She jumped and pulled her leg away from him.
"Tobias…don’t…" she gasped, putting a claw on the leg. It had begun to feel…strange. She tucked her legs up onto the bed and hugged them close to her.
"So…" Tobias moved closer to her, breathing heavily, "What are you going to do about your…’boyfriend’?"
Amy closed her eyes tightly. "I don’t remember anything…I don’t remember this happening to me…I don’t know why he’d ever dream of hurting me…"
Tobias hadn’t wanted that kind of an answer. As he grew slightly angrier, the hawk flapped its wings in distress, shrieking in high tones. It could sense what Tobias was doing.
"Are you going to…punish him in any way?" he asked, his voice covering her and smothering her like a dark blanket.
Amy shook her head. "I don’t believe what he…well…I’m not going to punish him. I love him. More than anything…"
A pain struck in the back of her head, and seemed to spread into the front of her skull, and then down into her throat. She felt a strong throbbing in her throat going down to her chest, making her breathing more difficult.
The hawk’s shrieking became more dramatic, and Tobias leaned closed to Amy. His lips were pulled back slightly, as though he was trying to force back a snarl. He grabbed onto Amy’s bedsheets and dug his claws into them. He had to let his anger out somehow before he flew into a rage.
Suddenly, he screamed himself, clutching onto his throat. He felt as though he was going to throw up again. Just as he had felt yesterday...but now the vomiting feeling was stronger. He felt like he was going to barf his guts out.
"Are you alright?" Amy asked, holding out her claw to touch him. Tobias yelled angrily and jumped off the bed. He was clutching his head – the pain was so severe that he was digging his claws into his skull to try to stop the feeling.
"I’ll be fine…go and…and see your…’boyfriend’…"
As that last word left his mouth, Amy shuddered. Her brain felt hot again, and her claws were yearning to rip something apart. She felt a sudden hate for Krusha, and she wanted to let him know it…but she wasn’t going to attack him physically again…she had her mind set on breaking his heart…
***
Krusha didn’t know whether to be happy or worried when Amy appeared in the kitchen again. Her arm looked perfectly fine. Maybe he hadn’t broken her arm at all. That thought in his mind, he smiled as she walked up to him. "Duh, hi. Feeling better?"
Klump stood up and walked towards the door, just in case Amy decided to attack them again. Amy didn’t notice him do this – it was Krusha that she was interested in.
"What do you know about my right arm?" she growled, holding her right arm out in front of her.
Krusha looked down at it. "Duh, well…it’s a very nice arm. Very nice and lovely…"
"You half-wit!" she shouted, "You broke my arm, didn’t you? DIDN’T you?!"
Krusha whimpered slightly. "Duh…it’s not broken. It looks fine."
"Thankfully, Tobias healed my arm for me. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you off."
Krusha knew what was coming next. He could tell by the way she was speaking. Or rather, by the way she was yelling.
"I never want to see you EVER again! I don’t want to HEAR you, SMELL you, or sense you in any way! I’m sick of you and your stupidity, and I deserve better than you! I don’t know why I EVER loved you in the first place! You’re so STUPID and UGLY and…lots of other stuff that I can’t even think of! So go away and leave me alone! You can jump off a bridge for all I care! Go to Hell, why don’t you?!"
She turned around abruptly and marched out of the kitchen. Krusha felt himself shattering into a million pieces. He burst into tears and covered his face with his claws.
Klump slowly approached his large friend and tried to think of some way to help. "Er…c’mon, Krusha. If she’s gonna talk to ya like that, then you don’t need her. Just forget about her, huh?"
"It’s easy for YOU to say!" Krusha said, in-between his loud sobbing, "Your girlfriend hasn’t just screamed things like that in YOUR face…this is all your fault, you know!"
Klump was taken aback. Krusha was clearly very upset. "M-my fault?"
"If you hadn’t told me to fight back I wouldn’t have broken her arm in the first place!"
"If you hadn’t broken her arm, you’d have been killed!"
"I’d rather have been killed than have lost the one I love! I hate you!"
"Krusha, I’m sure-"
"You’ve just lost my most precious thing in my life for me! I’m really gonna get you for that!"
Krusha advanced towards Klump, looking very menacing. Klump screamed with fright and ran from the kitchen, with Krusha in hot pursuit.
***
Three gentle knocks sounded on Tobias’ door. "Come in…" he said, his voice raspy and choked. He had just thrown up again, and his stomach, intestines, head and throat were still recovering.
Amy opened the door and peered into the darkness. She saw the outline of Tobias’ bright chest and stomach on the bed, and slowly walked towards him. Tobias smiled and sat up to make more room for her. "Sit down, my raven."
Amy obliged, although she was slightly hesitant to do so. She felt sick with herself again. She could feel her stomach burning – she hadn’t really eaten anything all day, and the acid in her stomach had decided to see if it could digest the walls of her stomach instead. This burning was causing her a good deal of discomfort.
She felt Tobias’ bony arm wrapping around her neck, although not to choke her. It was some kind of an affectionate gesture. Something that she hadn’t really expected from him.
"Tobias?"
"Hmm?" He wrapped his other arm around her, and she felt him using his weight and strength to push her down. She felt slightly frightened.
"Tobias…I have to know…about the photograph. I don’t remember much from last night…but I remember the photograph. Of King K. Rool and his wife…why did you want it?"
Tobias grunted, and she felt him pushing on her even more than before. He was also turning her so that she would be lying on her back once she came into contact with the sheets.
"Don’t…ask questions…raven…" he said, softly, still pushing. She was lying on her back by now, and he moved closer to her and licked her face.
"Tobias, tell me about that picture…please." she begged. She could feel what he was trying to do, and she would stop at nothing to prevent him from doing so.
He groaned and rested his head on her chest, nuzzling up to her. This was not to be allowed, and Amy sat up before he could do anything else. She crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him. "Tell me about the picture."
Tobias sighed and sat up again. He placed his claws on his knees and sighed. "I needed to know if Crystal…still had her scale patterns when they were married."
"Scale patterns? Like…the stripes on my arm? Well…they’ve gone now, but I had stripes on my arm."
Tobias gave a low hiss. "I thought as much. You’re just as Crystal was."
Amy didn’t know whether to be flattered or what. She scratched the back of her neck. "In what way?"
"She was very powerful with this Black Magic…she took the powers, but she had too much good in her heart to be taken over completely. The patterns on her body lasted for a short while, but then they vanished. She was really cheating the magic…everything in life has its good points and bad points…advantages and disadvantages…but she didn’t have any of the disadvantages because she was so kind and good. And strong willed. She was too good to have evil take over her."
"But…what about you?"
"Clearly, I had a lot of blackness in my heart, and the evil easily took over me to make me ‘complete’. I had what I wanted. I wanted to have some kind of strength, and since I was too feeble to work out and get physical strength, mental strength was the best I could get."
Amy was frightened, yet deeply interested at the same time. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "Where did you first…I mean, how did you first get this magic?"
Tobias smiled in the dark. He enjoyed telling his story. He didn’t get to tell it often, though, as not many others would get involved with him in any way.
"Well, from when I was just a kid, I loved magic. I went to as many magic shows as I could, and I liked finding out how each trick was done. But every time I discovered the secrets of each act, the magic was gone, and it became plain old trickery instead. I was convinced that magic existed, and I was intent on proving it to the whole world. So…there was a little magic shop that I went to visit every day when possible. All the things in that shop were expensive, so I’d save up my money to buy magic books and little do-it-yourself magic sets. Boy, I had fun with those. I entertained my dad with those tricks. My mother never had time for me…I knew something bad was going to happen. My parents separated, and I chose to stay with my father. Ever since that happened when I was five, I never saw my mother again. But I remember what she looked like. That was all I had left of her…a memory…anyway, I lived with my dad for a few years, and he finally found that he was lonely. He stopped going to work every day, and went looking for a girlfriend instead. He still had plenty of time for me, and as I grew older, the tricks I could do became more impressive. I spent more time in the magic shop, and I skipped school to go and talk to the old lizard who owned the shop. He felt that I had real potential, and that I could become a famous magician someday."
Tobias stopped. He seemed to be sad as he talked about it. He clasped his hands together, and held his them towards Amy. She watched eagerly as he opened his claws and a small white bird flew out and sat on the bed with them. It ruffled its feathers, and then vanished into nothing. Amy watched, amazed. Even though it was a trick she had seen several times before at various magic shows, it still fascinated her. Tobias smiled. That was the kind of trick he had hoped to do when he became a magician.
"Anyway, when I got home from the magic store one day…I found my dad and another female lizard…on…the sofa…" his voice trailed off, as though he was reliving the experience and hating it with all his heart. "I knew at that moment that he’d found someone else…and I was not going to cope with it very well. So I ran straight back to the magic store and told the old lizard everything. That lizard was such a good friend. He always listened to me. He told me that if ever I needed someone to talk to, I could just go to him. He lived in the shop, so he’d be there at any time. And I’m glad he was. I went to visit him every day, sometimes with a problem and sometimes without. He became more of a father to me than my real dad. And I was never going to call this new female lizard my ‘mother’. Not in a million years."
Amy sighed and crossed her legs. Part of her was regretting that she had asked him about the picture at all, but another part was fascinated and wanted to hear more. She didn’t want the story to end.
"My dad got married to his new girlfriend, and I hated her even more. She was so…perfect. So polite. She was one of those creatures that makes you think that their motto is ‘I love everyone, aren’t I perfect?’. God, I really hated her for being so nice. If ever I wanted to show a new trick to my dad, she’d offer to watch as well. So I stopped my magic. I only spoke magic with the old lizard. And then one day I heard that this O’ so perfect female lizard was expecting a baby, and I really flipped. I spent the next few days crying my eyes out in the magic store. When I reached my early twenties, things were even worse. Neither my dad nor the other female lizard seemed to be interested in me. All they were interested in was their son. Their precious son…oh, isn’t he SO perfect?"
"Ruck. Was that his name? Ruck – ‘The rock’. One with black hair."
"Spot on, raven. Ruck. Bloody Ruck. O’ so wonderful Ruck."
"I can tell that you didn’t like him…"
"Not especially, no. One day, after being really ticked off by my whole life, I went to the magic store and poured my feelings out to the old lizard. It wasn’t fair…Ruck was so young, yet he was very strong physically. I think my dad’s girlfriend was related to some guy of muscle-bound freak, because my ‘brother’ looked like he was going to be a real female-magnet when he grew up. I asked the old lizard to help me, and I told him I’d pay any price if he could make my life more bearable. So he went into the back for a few moments and returned carrying a leather-bound book. ‘Black Magic’ was the title, and he gave it to me. As the dusty leather touched my skin, I knew something great was going to come out of this. He didn’t even ask for anything in return as actual payment. He said that I’d been like a son to him, and this was to repay me for my company. So I took the book home and had a read through the chapters the old lizard had suggested to me. I began to practise the magic that I read about. This was real magic, not trickery with mirrors or anything. I felt so free with it…but after I’d been doing what the book said for about an hour, I collapsed and passed out for several hours. My ‘parents’ and ‘brother’ didn’t even realise that I’d been collapsed on the floor for d**ned ages. After that, I put the book away for a while. Until…I met…her. She was so wonderful…and great, and beautiful, and fabulous, and beautiful-"
"You already said ‘beautiful’, Tobias. And…it’s Crystal you’re talking about, right?"
"Of course. The first time I saw her…I felt I was going…to die. I had to have her. She made me feel so good whenever I saw her, and nothing else in my miserable life made me so happy. I knew I was a little bit older than she was, but nothing else mattered to me more than letting her know how I felt. I approached her one day when there was nobody else with her, and told her that I really admired her. The word ‘love’ wouldn’t come out of my mouth. It stuck in my throat. As I guessed, she hadn’t really noticed me before, but now that she had I was going to try to please her whenever I could. But no matter how hard I tried, she never…loved me. But she was interested in my Black Magic book, and we spent a lot of time together looking through it. She decided to give it a try, and her confidence helped me to try again. Unlike me, she didn’t faint after doing what the book said. She just said that she felt refreshed, and that we should do it again. And we did. But as every session ended, I felt myself rotting like an old body. Despite that terrible feeling, I really loved doing what I was doing. My dad suggested that I go and see a doctor when my appearance changed dramatically overnight, but I knew it wouldn’t help. I didn’t really care about my appearance by now. I felt as if my brain was swelling and becoming more powerful, and I discovered that I could move things with my eyes…I mean, by staring at them, and as every day passed I felt my mind growing stronger and stronger…"
"Wow…and, what about Crystal?"
"She was just fine with it…but she developed her powers much quicker than I, and she eventually became more powerful than me. I could have strangled her…I hated being the ‘weak one’. And I still longed to be with her…and one morning we met up to do a session…and I could tell that she had met someone else. Whoever this other guy was, I wanted to make him pay, but Crystal threatened me. She said I was never to harm her new love, and that if I did she was going to take serious revenge on me. After spending three weeks with this other guy, she told me that they were engaged. ALREADY. They were bloomin’ engaged…they were engaged, and I was enraged. Heh. Quite a cute little joke, if I do say so myself. One day it struck me…I wasn’t ageing. I had been in my early twenties when I began the magic…and I hadn’t aged a day. My body was the same. I couldn’t feel myself growing older. I’m still trapped in the body I had when I was first starting the Black Magic. I guess you could say that I am fifty-eight years old, but my body is ‘round about twenty years old. I was born fifty-eight years ago…the time just flew past me like a dream…a nightmare…"
"You’re saying that Crystal had a ‘new’ love. I think you’ve led yourself to think that you were her ‘old’ love." Amy said.
Tobias seemed to ignore her. "After she got married, I hated to call her ‘Crystal Rool’. I still do. I would call her ‘Crystal Dana’, which was her name before she got married. I addressed her as ‘Crystal Rool’ when I gave you the velociraptor blade simply because I felt you would only know her by that name. I hated to think of her with this new love…stupid stupid stupid…but she was so strong that I couldn’t do anything about it. She was the only lizard who could ever over-power me with her Black Magic…and I think that, given more time, you will become more powerful than I, my raven."
Tobias looked at Amy and sighed. She didn’t love him. Annoyingly, she still loved Krusha. Tobias’ plan hadn’t worked.
"Anyway…as I said about this magic, there are advantages and disadvantages. Advantages – If you’re weak and feeble, the magic will give you a form of strength to use in attack and defence. You become faster, more agile and somewhat more intelligent. You can teleport yourself, move objects by staring at them, transform into animals, see parts of the future and the past, and read other’s minds. Your claws grow longer, and you can learn to use a velociraptor blade. You can also control the feelings of others to make them feel hate or sadness in an instant. You can also gain some physical strength, although usually only if it is to be used to cause suffering to others. Disadvantages – If you become too involved, as I have, your body becomes taken over by the evil and you lose your soul. Unless you have a very strong mind, your scales and the rest of your body will change in appearance to become quite frightening and distinctive. You lose certain abilities…some of those are the abilities to love and feel happiness. Hate is the main feeling you possess. You can’t undo the magic, and can end up hating yourself. Every now and again you get a terrible feeling in your head and stomach, mainly. You have to throw up, usually, and the feeling of pain sometimes lasts for hours. I cannot describe how awful it is…and you sometimes have dreadful feelings of anger when you could just rip someone’s guts out for as much as looking at you."
"Oh dear…" Amy said, feeling quite distressed at the thought of these things happening to her.
"I eventually felt so SICK of myself and the magic that…I entered one of those killing sprees. I killed the old lizard who gave me the book, and that wasn’t enough, so I returned home and killed my parents. I didn’t even realise I was doing all this. It’s as though you’re entering a dream, and when you wake up you find several dead bodies around you. Until you see the bloody blade in your claw, you wonder who on earth could have done such a terrible thing. I was completely in the dark as to what happened when I suddenly ‘woke up’ and found that I’d just murdered my father and ‘mother’. To be more specific, I had broken his neck and ripped her stomach out…those are two manoeuvres that I practise often. They are both very useful…I do believe that Ruck escaped. I didn’t find his body anywhere. I’m guessing that he’s out there, somewhere. But I really don’t give a d**n about him. I don’t even care enough to find out if he’s alive or not. I could find out just by thinking about him to see if he’s there. But I can’t be asked."
He clenched his right fist palm upwards, and when he opened his claw again, he was holding his velociraptor blade neatly between two of his bony fingers. He tossed it up into the air and caught it with his left, and then tossed it back again. He loved his weapon. It had brought him both pleasure and grief over the years, and he was thankful for both.
"Stand up, my raven. I will show you how to use this blade."
Needless to say, Amy didn’t stand up. "Er…I’m not over-enthusiastic about getting my guts ripped out-"
"No, I shall just demonstrate on you without hurting you. I can’t promise you many things, raven, but I’ll promise you this." Tobias reached out to her and placed his bony left hand on her shoulder. "I promise that I will never hurt you. It has meant a lot to me that you’re willing to spend time with me. I promise that I won’t ever bring any harm to you."
Amy took a deep breath and stood up. She believed him. Although he may have been strange and slightly mad, she could tell that he was a guy who wouldn’t break a promise willingly. One of these guys who would sooner smash his own baby’s head in than break a promise.
Tobias stood up to face Amy and looked at her, warmly. Once again, his face was so beautiful that females would be fighting over him. Amy wasn’t going to be one to fight for him in that way.
"Now, my raven, listen carefully. Any of these can be used in some cases, but certain situations will call for a certain technique. For example, you want to kill someone quickly and quietly, and they’ve already realised that you’re dangerous. You make one swift slash across their throat, like so…"
He slashed the blade across right in front of Amy’s neck. She tensed up and closed her eyes.
"Raven, I won’t hurt you. Do not move while I’m doing this, or I might get you by mistake. Now, here’s a different one. You’re standing directly in front of someone, almost touching them, and they haven’t realised that you’re dangerous. You’re also able to go with a slow, sometimes noisy death that creates a lot of mess and causes the victim a good deal of suffering. You stab the blade up between the legs-"
"Don’t!" Amy yelled, taking a step back.
Tobias shrugged. "Very well. Anyway, you dig the blade in as far as possible, and then rip it up their stomach, ending the ripping whenever you please. I often choose to stop once I reach the rib cage. And, of course, this blade can be used for various other things. You can stab it right into someone’s chest if you want…so many possibilities, but the two I just showed you are my personal favorites."
Amy was slightly nervous by now, but had been listening with interest. She just guessed that killing became part of life once you got involved with the magic. But there was something else burning in the back of her head.
"You said that…you can control my emotions? How I feel?"
"If ever I wish to, yes. And why do you ask?"
Amy suddenly found herself baring her teeth at him. A growl formed in her throat. "You made me, didn’t you? You made me throw that anger fit at Krusha!"
Tobias narrowed his eyes. "And…what if I did?"
"Tobias, what’s the bloomin’ point of making me angry at my boyfriend? Is it because you want me to love YOU instead?"
Tobias crossed his arms. "If you must know, I hate to see couples in love. I can’t love anyone myself, and you have no idea how much it upsets me-"
"You can’t mess with love, Tobias! If you keep doing these horrible things to me, you’re going to end up in a worse state than before! What goes around comes around, you know!"
"Fine. Go back to your dunce of a boyfriend. See if I care."
"Okay, I will!" Amy yelled at him. She marched over to the door, which opened for her as she approached. "I was wrong to EVER think that you had a good heart!"
The door slammed. Tobias stood on his own in the dark. He couldn’t feel anger. Only sadness. He sat back down on his bed again and clasped his hands together. This had proven how weak he really was. He couldn’t get anyone to love him. Unlike Crystal. She fell in love during a single night, and she was still practising the magic at the time. What was wrong with Tobias? Was he that much weaker than Crystal was? A gray tear trickled out of his right eye and slid down his snout, ending up on the carpet. Everything was bad. And Tobias needed to do what he mainly came here to do. He wanted to kill the Rools.
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:25:55 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:25:55 GMT 10
Krusha?"
Krusha looked up forlornly as he heard his name being called. He sat up properly and wiped his eyes. "Uh huh?" After all that she’d said, he was very surprised to see her again so soon. After he’d chased Klump around the factory for a short while, he had broken down into tears again, and had been sitting in this area ever since. This O’ so special area. He had been sitting on an old box when Amy had called his name.
She approached him, and he instantly moved over on the box to make room for her. He looked up at her, not knowing what on earth she was going to say. She’d already done as much damage as possible.
"Krusha, I…I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to…I mean, Tobias-"
Krusha had heard enough. He stood up and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up off the floor. "I’m so happy!" he said, changing his tone completely from how he had been before, "I thought you’d never talk to me again! I mean, after all you said…but I’m happy! What am I saying? I’m not just happy…I’m HAPPY!!"
"Oh good…I’m so sorry but I- Krusha, you can let go. If you don’t, I’m sure to choke before I can apologise any more."
He instantly put her down and continued to hop on the spot excitedly. He didn’t need for her to apologise. He was glad that she wanted him back.
"Well, Tobias, you see, can control my emotions. He was controlling me when I said whatever I said to you…and…I’ll bet you anything he was controlling me when you broke my arm…"
Images of what she had been doing had finally reached her. Tobias had been using his powers to force her to do bad things to Krusha.
"He can control how I feel…and he doesn’t like the way you and I love one another."
"Huh?" Krusha stopped hopping.
"He can’t feel love himself. Whenever he sees a couple in love, he really wants to break them apart. I bet that’s why he hates King K. Rool so much. For a start, King K. Rool was in love (mistake number one) with Crystal (mistake number two), and since…and since Khris was…her…son…oh Lord. He’s gonna want to get back at both of them, I can tell…and they won’t stand a chance."
"I can, duh, protect King K. Rool. And Khris can take care of himself."
"Tobias is…nobody stands a chance against him…not even someone with biceps the size of watermelons…only Crystal had a chance. Tobias said that I might even stand a chance…I guess I’m the only one who can do anything. Isn’t that fabulous? Hmph. No."
She put a claw to her head and sat down on the box. Krusha sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "What are you going to do about it?" he asked.
She sniffed loudly, and looked up at him, as though she was expecting him to give her an answer. "I really don’t know. I really…don’t…"
***
"Halt! State your business with King K. Rool at once!"
Tobias sighed loudly and advanced further up the stairs. As he drew nearer, the kritter guard seemed to shrink in size until he was no more than a little speck of nothingness. Tobias looked down at the trembling kritter and snapped his jaws together sharply. At this noise, the kritter squealed and stood up to his full height, arms by his sides.
"What is my business with King K. Rool?" Tobias grinned, removing something from behind his back.
The kritter looked around himself. Everything seemed to be darker and more sinister. He didn’t dare move in case he angered this kremling who was approaching with a look of evil on his dark face.
"My business with your king is none of your business…" He moved up to the kritter until they were almost touching. Tobias snarled, gently. "Get out of here while I’m in a good mood." he said. The way he said it caused the kritter to panic, as it didn’t seem as though the ‘good mood’ would last for long.
"Yes Sir…" he whispered, and then he tore off down the stairs Tobias had come up, tripping over every now and again in his hurry to get away. Tobias shrugged. He hadn’t felt evil enough to kill that particular kritter. But he felt evil enough to continue on his little journey to K. Rool’s room.
As he walked down the corridor, getting ever closer to K. Rool’s bedroom, he felt himself being drained of something. As though someone had stabbed a needle into his chest and was sucking out all his blood. He could feel his blackness spreading down the corridor towards K. Rool’s chamber. But he strangely didn’t feel ready to kill the king yet. There was still plenty of time for that. K. Rool and his son needed to suffer, and they were going to when they died…and Tobias had arranged a little ‘torture session’ beforehand. He took the last few strides up to K. Rool’s door and stopped. He clasped his claws together and bowed his head. He muttered something, and then opened his eyes again. He reached out a bony hand towards the door, and it opened for him.
K. Rool was shocked when he turned around and saw Tobias standing in the doorway. Khris was with his father on the bed, as they had been talking, but Tobias didn’t give a hoot about what they had been doing. He crossed his arms and walked up to the bed, looking ever so frightening by now. His eyes were glowing green at the corners, and the irises of his eyes were burning with a blue fire.
King K. Rool stood up automatically as Tobias drew closer. "What is it, Tobias?" he asked, "I’m a little busy right now."
"Ah yes. I see you were involved in a small unimportant conversation with that little brat of yours."
Khris suddenly realised that he had been included in the matter, and stood up also. "Brat?"
"Ah, of course. The little brat of a son that you and Crystal had together. How sickening."
"Don’t you speak to me or my son like that!" K. Rool warned, trying to appear frightening by stepping closer to Tobias.
"You know, you disgust me!" Tobias growled. He took another step towards K. Rool. Every now and again, the two lizards were stepping closer to each other. It was as though they were in a ‘stepping’ contest.
"I disgust YOU?!" K. Rool repeated aloud, not knowing what Tobias meant, "Whatever makes you say that? How could I possibly disgust anyone?!"
"Crystal didn’t want you!" Tobias shouted, taking another step towards K. Rool so that they were standing right in front of one another.
K. Rool closed his mouth and stared at Tobias. Tobias could tell that he had really hurt K. Rool by saying those four simple words, and he was proud of it.
"Yes she did." K. Rool said at last, not looking up at Tobias.
"Get the Heck out, you creep!" Khris yelled from over by the bed.
Tobias seemed unaffected. "Oh no she didn’t." Those four words also struck K. Rool like a punch to the heart. "She never even LIKED you. If she ever intended to like you, it was only to make me jealous."
"That isn’t true-"
"How do you know it isn’t? I know all, and what I say GOES. Do not question it."
"Why don’t you leave and let me get on with my life? What difference does it make about what happened? Crystal’s dead, you idiot!"
"And you should have called a doctor when she said that she felt ill. That’s what I would have done. But instead you let her die a slow, painful death in the arms of whom she thought she loved!"
"I don’t know WHAT you are talking about, but you’d better shut that mouth of yours before I-"
"Do you even know WHY she went home with you from that party? That party where you met her?"
"She liked me, and-"
"Wrong!"
K. Rool roared angrily. "Will you STOP interrupting me?!"
"Will you shut up?!"
Khris walked towards the two lizards, looking from one to the other as they spoke and yelled at each other. He wanted to be included in the conversation, but not as a ‘brat’ or anything like that. The two adults were definitely ignoring him.
"She was at a party, Kevin! She probably had some kind of fever when she went to sit by you! Maybe she was taking drugs or something! Maybe she was drunk! It was a PARTY!!"
"I’ve had enough of this! GUARDS!!"
Three kritters nervously entered the room. They retreated again somewhat when they saw Tobias in the room with the two K. Rools.
"It was either that or you FORCED her to go home with you! Why else would she have done nothing to stop you?!"
"Stop me? From doing what?"
"I bet you raped her, didn’t you?! That’s why you disgust me! I know very well what you and her did as soon as you reached your home, and it makes me sick! You must have forced her into it! I’ll bet that stupid son of yours was a mistake, too! An accident! You just wanted pleasure from her!"
K. Rool felt as though he was going to rip Tobias apart. "You take all that BACK!!"
"I won’t! It’s the truth, I can tell! From the way you’re acting! Why else would an intelligent young female make love to you?! You big, fat loser!"
K. Rool gave the three kritters the ‘evil eye’. "Get the Heck in here, you three! Take this lizard out of my sight!"
"Why would someone like her ever waste her time on you?! Or maybe she did it because you had money! How could anyone EVER love a guy like you?!"
"It’s clear that you’ve never loved anyone yourself, Tobias! Or you would know that Cupid’s arrow can strike in strange places! You would know that love is blind!"
"I know that love is blind! I mean, why else would she have gone near a bed with you?! She must have been as blind as a bloody bat!"
"GET OUT!!" K. Rool screamed finally, "Get him out of here before I tear him to shreds! Get out out OUT!! And Tobias, you’re well and truly FIRED!!"
"I’m glad. Crystal never needed to waste her time with you, so neither will I. Farewell. For now."
Tobias was engulfed by a bright red light, and when the light faded, he was gone. The three kritters looked at the spot where Tobias had been, and then looked up at their king, shivering. K. Rool sighed. "Dismissed."
The kritters sped off as soon as he finished pronouncing his word. He sighed loudly and walked back over to the bed. He collapsed down onto it and grabbed onto one of the many pillows he used for comfort. Crystal loved pillows, and she had enjoyed almost ‘collecting’ them. This particular pale pink cushion had been her favorite. It still smelled exactly like her, and K. Rool used it when he needed to comfort himself. And boy, did he need comfort right now. He held the cushion close to his face and sobbed into it, making it quite damp with his tears.
Khris sighed. His dad looked quite a sight lying on the bed with a cushion held to his face. But he understood why his dad was so upset. Crystal had meant the world to him, and every time he heard something said against her, he would either get really mad or really sad. This was a get-really-mad-first-and-then-get-really-sad situation.
As he walked over to the door to leave, he heard his dad. "Khris…I…"
"Yeah?" he said, turning around. His dad had sat up on the bed and put the cushion back where it was. He still looked quite upset, but he beckoned to his son, and Khris approached him. "What is it, dad?"
"I don’t know…I…I didn’t want you to hear any of those things that Tobias said. I mean…" K. Rool stood up and hugged his son unexpectedly. Khris tensed himself up with that surprise, but soon recovered and relaxed himself again. "You weren’t a mistake, son. Your mother and I wanted to have you. You weren’t an accident. She loved you, and I love you."
"I know that, dad."
"Nothing that Tobias said was true. Well…not all of it. Your mother and I loved one another, I didn’t rape her, and she wasn’t on drugs or in a trance when she went home with me…"
"Rape?" Khris asked, trying slightly to release himself from his father’s grip, "What does ‘rape’ mean?"
K. Rool took a deep breath. "I’ll tell you one day. But I want you to know that I didn’t force her into anything. I loved her very much, and she loved me, and we both loved you. And you’re extra-special to me now, because you’ve got part of your mother inside you. She was so excited when she knew she was expecting you. And ever since day one, she seemed certain that you would be a boy. And she was right…I love you." He squeezed tighter, and Khris coughed slightly.
"Er…I love you too, dad."
"That’s good to know." K. Rool said, letting go of Khris to wipe some more tears from his eyes. "Don’t mind me…I’m just emotional."
"I can tell."
K. Rool sniffed and looked at his son. He wiped his eyes again. "Alright then…run along. I’ll see you later."
Khris shrugged. "Oh, alright. Bye dad." He turned back to face the door again.
"And Khris?"
"Uh huh?" he said, turning around yet again.
"Once you find someone you love, remain faithful to her, and don’t just ignore it if there’s a bad word said against her. Some of us…need protection from the ones we love."
Khris smiled. "I’ll remember that, dad. See you later."
***
"Duh…thought of anything yet?"
Amy was in her room talking on the phone when Krusha came in. He seemed quite cheerful, despite the events that had been going on thanks to Tobias.
Amy smiled at Krusha, and spoke in an exceptionally loud voice. "HI, KRUSHA!!"
Krusha stepped back. "Huh?"
Amy then turned back to talk into the phone. "Yes, Krusha has arrived. So kindly put the phone down and get back to…whatever you were doing. Goodbye, Kudgel." She slammed the phone down and looked quite smug. Krusha approached her and sat down on her bed with her. "Duh…why were you talking to Kudgel?" he asked, curious.
"He called me. Goodness…I told him about Tobias. He said ‘it don’t matter if he’s black or white’, and then he, of course, burst into song. He’s good…but…oh well. I mean, it doesn’t matter if Tobias is black or white. It wouldn’t matter if he was blue with green polka-dots. At least kremlings don’t usually judge one another on color…at least, not as much as humans do. A black human isn’t a bad human. I’m so glad to be a kremling."
"Yeah. Me too. But, duh, what are we going to do about Tobias?"
As Krusha said those words, the door of Amy’s room was flung open dramatically. "Tobias…" Amy growled, standing up. Krusha stood up and stood next to her, staring at the doorway. But nothing happened. A cold chill spread into the room, but there was no visible sign of Tobias. Amy could sense him. And he was angry.
"He’s furious…" she said, holding onto Krusha’s arm. He had begun to tremble.
"W-why is he a-angry?"
"I don’t know. Don’t let him know you’re afraid, Krusha. He’ll be even worse to you if you do."
Krusha whined loudly and grabbed onto her. "I’m gonna wet myself…" he whimpered.
"Steady, big guy. I don’t know where exactly he is…but I’m not going to let him hurt you. If he wants you, he’ll have to kill me first."
Amy slowly walked towards the door. She looked up and down the corridor, but saw no sign of anything. "I can’t see anything out here…"
Krusha blinked curiously, and then joined her. All of the lights in the corridor were off, making the whole area a creepier place.
From under the bed, the two heads peered out nervously. "Dis is real bad, navigator…sometin’ awful’s gonna happen real soon. An’ I don’t wanna be part of dis awful t’ing. Derefore, I’m gonna hide under here in as fearless a manner as possible-"
"Don’t be a baby!" the navigator hissed, nudging Ziggy forward slightly, "Unlike them, we can afford to have bad things happen to us. We’re already dead…we’ve got to help."
"Not on yer life!"
"Good. We’re both dead. That means that you’ll help."
"But-but-but-but-but-"
"Be brave, Ziggy."
Neither of the lizards had noticed that the heads were in the room. Amy stepped out into the dark corridor and looked around. Her eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the darkness, and so she couldn’t really see anything clearly. "I’m going to try to find the light switch, Okay? I’m sure that as soon as we get some light, the whole situation will look brighter."
"No. I…I don’t want you wandering around in the dark on your own. Please let me come with you."
Amy shrugged. "Fine, you can come if you want. Just stick close by me, Okay? I don’t want to lose you in the dark."
Krusha nodded enthusiastically and joined her in the corridor.
"Now, where is that- oooh. Heh. Krushaaaa?"
"Uh huh?"
"When I said ‘stick by me’, I didn’t ask you to get that close…"
"Well, I, er, don’t wanna get lost. You don’t mind me holding onto you, do you?"
"Not at all. Now where is that switch? Do you have any idea?"
"Duh…nope. Sorry."
Amy and Krusha wandered to the left down the corridor together. Krusha made sure to keep his claws on Amy’s hips so as not to get lost. He didn’t want to get lost in the dark with Tobias lurking around. That was one thing he wouldn’t like to do. He also didn’t want Amy to wander off by herself and possibly get found by an angry Tobias. What was it about being called ‘Toby’ that made him angry?
They had passed Tobias’ room as they walked, but he didn’t appear to be in. Amy knew that he was somewhere nearby, but she didn’t want to scare Krusha by telling him everything that she felt. She knew, however, that her feelings were to be trusted, as they had led her the right way many times before. After all, they had led her to Krusha.
Amy was feeling along the walls as they moved down the corridor, hoping to find the light switch, but to no avail as yet. Krusha looked left and right nervously as they moved, keeping a firm grip on Amy’s hips. Although there wasn’t really much of interest to either side of them any more, he still kept looking just to be sure. After all, Tobias could easily come walking out of one of the walls.
They reached the end of the corridor. Now they could either turn left down another passage that led to the stairway up to main factory area, or they could look in the bathroom. Amy chose the latter option, and pushed open the door to the bathroom that she shared with Klump, Krusha and the other higher-ranking lizards. It was quite a nice bathroom. Well, it was good enough for them, anyway. There was nobody in the bathroom, and nothing suspicious. "If this was the first Laura Bow game, we might be about to discover a man’s body in the tub. Thankfully, it isn’t." Amy said to herself. Krusha whimpered. That comment hadn’t made him feel better.
Amy entered the bathroom (with Krusha still holding onto her) and flicked the light switch. She felt slightly confused when the light didn’t come on. Hmm…either Tobias is trying to scare us, or the bulb has died.
"Oh well. I guess we’ll HAVE to find the other light switch. Come on, Krusha."
Anywhere that she was going, Krusha would be going too, so the last few words weren’t really necessary. He held onto her even tighter. "I’m scared…" he sniffed, rubbing his snout against her back.
"Yeah…" she said, taking a deep breath, "Me too."
They walked back out into the dark, sinister corridor. Amy’s eyes were beginning to cope with the darkness, but she couldn’t make out any outline of a light switch on the wall. She growled to herself. If Tobias was the one doing this, he was doing a pretty good job of frightening her and Krusha.
Hello, raven.
Amy squealed with shock as she heard Tobias’ voice echoing through her head. "K-Krusha? Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Now, what do you think you’re doing?
Krusha didn’t react. He obviously couldn’t hear Tobias’ voice. But Amy could, and it was beginning to scare her.
"I’m not afraid of you, Tobias!" she shouted, trying to hide her fear behind a loud, brash voice.
Krusha leaned forward and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Who are you talking to?"
She’s talking to ME, you freak!
"Don’t call him a freak!" Amy yelled, angry at (apparently) nothing and nobody. Krusha sighed. Maybe she’d finally snapped. But he guessed it was more than that. Strange things had been going on ever since Tobias arrived, and there wasn’t much of a logical explanation for ANYTHING any more.
As you can probably sense, I am very angry, my raven. K. Rool was stupid enough to fire me before I even had the chance to show him how…qualified I am. Therefore, he shall pay dearly. Of course, I was intent on making him suffer when I first arrived…but now I feel the need to cause him pain even more than before.
"Why?! What has he done?!"
But there was no reply. Amy slowed her breathing, and hung her head. She sniffed slightly, and turned her head to the side to nuzzle her snout against Krusha’s face. "Duh, are you Okay now?"
"No…I’m not. None of us are Okay. None of us will be until Tobias leaves here. I’m going to get rid of him…I hope, before anything bad happens to King K. Rool."
Suddenly, light filled the corridor. Amy groaned and covered her eyes to help them adjust to the new lighting. Krusha seemed very happy that the lights were back on, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Yay! We’ve got light!"
Amy opened her eyes and smiled. "Ah yes. I wonder why. Oh well." It didn’t make sense. She could still feel Tobias’ anger burning, and he was getting more and more angry by the second. If he had caused the lights to go out, why had he turned them back on?
Krusha turned her around to face him and pulled her as close to him as she could possibly be. He put his arms around her again and smiled, contentedly. "Heh…do you remember when we were out in this exact spot on Christmas day?"
Amy knew what he was talking about, but he had the wrong place. The place he meant was in the corridor in-between where Klump and Amy’s rooms were. She started to walk backwards, luring him towards the actual spot, and smiled. "Yes…I remember what happened. Goodness…why did everyone come to watch?"
"Duh, it was that bird of yours. We’ll have to lock her out of the room when we get married. She’ll go mad."
"Don’t I know it…" she sighed, and then she looked up at him. He had such a lovely face. He picked her up in his arms and hugged her to his chest. "…Krusha?"
"Forget about Tobias for the moment. Duh, I’m so happy…"
He pressed his mouth to hers, and she put her arms around his neck. He was so big that it was hard for her to give him a proper hug. She sometimes hugged around his waist and neck, but his chest area was far too big for her to get her arms around it.
She closed her eyes as she felt herself drifting into a love-world with him, and began to return the kisses that he was giving to her. Her kisses were hopeless when compared with his; but then again, he DID have a bigger mouth. And he had a bigger tongue, so his licks overpowered hers. Ah well. You can’t win ‘em all.
Then, a pain reached her, and began to spread from the top of her head to her eyes. She closed her eyes even tighter to try to block out the pain. It didn’t help. Maybe it would help if she was able to lie down. She slowly opened her eyes. "Krusha, can we lie down for a bit…huh?"
As she looked lovingly at him, he vanished in the middle of a kiss. She instantly fell down onto the floor, landing awkwardly on her tail-end. Pain shot up her spine and set up camp in her head. Why was her head always hurting so much? She couldn’t bear it. It was taking over the whole of her body, and she felt her legs turning into jelly when she attempted to stand up. Now her chest was hurting. She rolled over onto her back and closed her eyes, not having any energy to hold her eyelids open. The warm pain spread down her stomach to between her legs, and then along the underneath of her tail. Now she had pain almost all over her body. It was as though she was entering some kind of trance. And she felt so…so…tired…
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:26:39 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:26:39 GMT 10
Tobias : Part 5
By Klumpy
"Duh, you feel lighter all of a sudden…" Krusha said gently, still kissing. He opened his eyes. "Are you Oka- er…Amy?" There was nothing in his arms. He had been kissing nothing. No wonder she’d suddenly lost a lot of weight. He lifted up both of his feet in turn and looked underneath them. Amy was underneath neither of them. The only thing underneath his feet was…sand.
"Duh…something isn’t right." he said, looking around. He was out in the desert on his own. A warm breeze drifted his way. Something told him that he was definitely NOT in the factory any more.
He turned around several times, trying to see where the factory was. There was no sign, and the factory is a darn big thing, so he wouldn’t have over-looked it. He whimpered gently. "Duh…I’m lost."
***
"Through our joy, through our pain, we can move worlds again. Take my hand, dance with me…" Klump sang gently to himself. He rested his elbow on his knee, and then rested his head in his hand. He sighed, deeply, and then inhaled again. His throat was still feeling rather strange from when Tobias had grabbed him. "I want to spend my lifetime lovin’ you, if that is all in life I ever do…" he continued. He grinned to himself. That song always made him think about Krusha and Amy. He had heard them singing that particular song on several occasions. The difference between their singing voices was incredible. Now that he was thinking about them, he wondered where they were. They were probably doing something sickeningly romantic downstairs. Ah well. Klump had gotten used to their behavior by now. After all, they way they acted was probably just as ‘normal’ as he felt he acted with Katy. Watching others being all lovey-dovey can be sick-making, but if you are one of the lovey-dovey ones, it seems ‘normal’ and ‘natural’. It’s hard to be disgusted when you’re the one doing all the soppy stuff. At least that’s what I feel. I think…
"Hiya, Klump. Have you seen Krusha?"
Klump smiled broadly. But of course, he didn’t have a definite answer to the question. "Well, I was just wonderin’ the same thing, Khris. I haven’t seen him for a while. Have you seen Amy?"
"Well, yes. Earlier on, I mean. She seemed nice."
"Hmph. Well, if you can find her, I bet you’ll find Krusha, too. And if they’re not actually together, she’ll probably know where he’s at. Ooh…there’s real bad karma in the air. Somethin’ BAD is gonna happen."
"I’m not really sure how things could get much worse. That Tobias creep just upset my dad big time. What else could he possibly do? Kill us or something? He wouldn’t stand a chance against me." As he said that, he puffed out his chest to prove his point. He grinned and crossed his arms across his chest. "I am the almighty Khris Rool! HA HA HAA!!"
Klump cowered with his arms over his head when Khris began that menacing laughter. "P-please, don’t do that…it makes me nervous…"
"Oh…alright. I’m going up to my room, then. Let me know if you see Krusha, Okay?"
"Sure thing, Sir."
Khris marched away from the General, looking as proud as anything. He was like a thingyerel strutting about to show off his chest feathers. That was the only example that Klump could think of.
His short-time visitor gone, Klump returned to how he was before. Wondering where the Heck Amy and Krusha were. Although it was about 85% certain that they’d be downstairs being romantic (and 99.9% certain that they’d be kissing SOMEWHERE), something didn’t seem right about it. (not the kissing) Everything was so quiet. And where was Tobias? Although Tobias had a tendency to disappear every now and again, Klump didn’t feel as though Tobias would just vanish for good. The strange feeling of bad karma that Tobias possessed wasn’t present. The bad karma was to do with something that was going to happen.
Everything was happening. First the bad feeling, then a visit from Khris, and now Krusha appeared on the scene. He looked as though something really tiring had happened to him, and he seemed slightly scruffy. Of course, he had just been running frantically through the desert. He had eventually found where the sea was, and then turned around. This guided him back to the factory easily. But he had been running as fast as he could for fear of what could have happened. If he had been transported to the desert, where was Amy?
"Hi, Krusha. Khris was lookin’ for you-"
"Have you seen Amy? I-I’m worried…"
Klump was silent. This was rather unexpected. For one thing, Krusha and Amy weren’t together. And for another thing, Krusha didn’t know where Amy was. "Er…you don’t know where she is?"
"Nope…" Krusha sniffed.
"Weren’t you with her?"
"I was…we were down in the corridor outside your room, and then all of a sudden she was *sniff* gone. And I was out in the desert...I feel ill..."
Klump tucked his thumbs into his belt. He was feeling even more nervous than before, and just as curious to find out what was going on. At the same time, he didn’t know whether he actually wanted to know what was going on. What if it was something that could kill him?
"Well, Krusha, wouldn’t it be a good idea to check in the corridor before ya get all worried? She’s probably still down there. And as for you endin’ up in the desert…I can’t understand it. Unless Tobias…Tobias might still be here somewhere."
"I’m going to find Amy. I can’t have her on her own…not when Tobias is stalking around somewhere…duh, catch you later."
Krusha ran over to the little elevator thingy that was used to reach their living quarters. Klump, still with his thumbs tucked in his belt, walked over to Krusha, who didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
"What’s wrong?"
"Duh, it’s not working…grr…"
"If it ain’t workin’, take the stairs. The stairs can’t be ‘not working’, Krusha."
Krusha nodded and ran over to the staircase that Klump was talking about. That was a wonderful thing about the factory – there were usually two different ways to get to wherever you wanted to go, so if one wasn’t working you could use the other. This also applied to K. Rool’s living area. You could either use K. Rool’s main platform or go up the not-so-posh stairway to reach the top.
Krusha dashed down the stairs like greased lightening. "See, Krusha? I told you there was no need to worry-"
"OW!!"
Klump, upon hearing that exclamation, ran over to the stairs and looked down them. It didn’t look as though Krusha had fallen down them, so the General began to descend also. "Krusha?" he called as he walked down the cold steps (which, thanks to his boots, he couldn’t feel), "Where are ya? You Okay?"
He reached the bottom of the stairs. This was a short corridor that opened out into their main living corridor. A left turn at the end of this little corridor would take you to the bathroom, and a right turn would take you to the living area. Just at the end of this short corridor, Krusha lay on the floor on his back, looking rather angry. He was so big that the small corridor didn’t seem big enough for him.
"Krusha? What happened?"
Krusha growled loudly and kicked his left foot out in front of him. It banged up against what could have been a pane of very clear glass. "There’s something stopping me from getting into the corridor…" Krusha sniffed, "I’ll never find her!"
Klump walked forward curiously (stepping over Krusha, which wasn’t easy) and reached out in front of him to touch the ‘window’. He felt along the ‘window’ with both hands. "Hmm. My guess is that it’s some kind of invisible wall…or a force-field or somethin’."
Krusha stood up, knocking the General over. "I don’t know what I’m gonna do…I’m worried…"
"Okay, Krusha, try to relax. Have a nice sit down or somethin’. We need to get you to calm down. I bet it’ll all make sense by mornin’."
"But what if Amy’s dead or something by morning?! If that happens-"
Klump took hold of his friend’s arm and began to lead him back up the stairs. "Maybe this is all some crazy dream, Krusha."
"A nightmare. I wanna wake up…"
"Calm down Krusha. After you’ve rested for a bit, I’ll bet you anythin’ that you’ll be feelin’ better."
***
"It wasn’t very wise to turn your back on me!" Tobias snarled at the kritter whose life he had spared earlier on. He had an arm wrapped around the kritter’s neck, and had taken the opportunity to attack while the kritter’s back was turned. He often wouldn’t choose to attack someone from the back, but he just couldn’t resist. The kritter was squealing with pain as Tobias dug his weapon in deeper and deeper. This was a new manoeuvre that Tobias hadn’t thought of before. He had stabbed the blade into the back of the kritter’s knee, and it was causing it terrible pain.
"Please, Sir! I’ve got a family!"
"Do you think it matters to me?" he replied, ripping the blade out suddenly. He released his grip on the kritter’s neck, and the injured lizard fell to the floor. He couldn’t support himself due to what Tobias had done to his knee, and he lay pitifully on the floor, grasping his leg to try to stop the pain.
"And now…" he grinned, approaching the kritter again, blade ready to slice the lizard’s neck out.
"Sir, what have I done? Why do you want me?" sobbed the kritter, clutching his bleeding knee.
"Your torture is my pleasure. I have no less reason to kill you than I have not to kill you."
"What d-do you mean?"
"I mean that I’m going to kill you no matter what you do or say."
The kritter crouched forward on the floor, arms held over his head. "Please don’t kill me…"
"Oh please…" Tobias growled, grabbing the kritter by an arm and holding him up above the ground, "I’ve never seen anything so pitiful. But it is hard for me to feel pity, so it’s not gonna work."
Holding the kritter aloft firmly with his left hand, he held up the velociraptor blade to the kritter’s face with his right. "Take a look at this blade. It’s the last thing you’ll ever see."
He slashed the blade across the kritter’s eyes, delighting in the kritter’s torture as it screamed with shock and pain. The kritter held his free arm over his face, knowing that his eyes were bleeding. He knew that he was going to die, but unlike Tobias’ other victims, he was determined not to die frightened. "I’m glad you blinded me! Now I don’t have to look at your ugly face ever again!" Sadly, that was the best that he could come up with as an insult, but it shocked Tobias nonetheless. He had never been insulted by someone whose life he was about to end.
"Very impressive, I’ll give you that. But you will die anyway."
The kritter tensed up as he felt the blade stabbing into his chest, but thankfully he couldn’t see what was happening to him. He clenched his teeth, determined not to scream any more. Tobias didn’t like this, and stabbed the blade in even deeper. But still no scream. This time, it was due to the fact that the last stabbing had killed him.
Tobias growled angrily and flung the body across into a wall, leaving a few bloody marks on the clean paint. That hadn’t been as much fun as the others. The main reason he liked killing was because he enjoyed torturing his victims. The feeling of having killed someone wasn’t as satisfying as torturing them. And he hadn’t had much fun with that last kritter. It was only fun when his victims begged to live and screamed loudly as he inflicted pain on them.
That kritter out of the way, he again had access to K. Rool, and he was going to do what he wanted to do this time. No matter what, he was going to make K. Rool pay for the dreadful crime of falling in love.
***
"If only you were here, my love. You’d be able to sort out that nasty old creep…I really hate him for suggesting those dreadful things. And in front of our son, too. I hope Khris didn’t believe any of those lies. We loved one another, didn’t we, my sweetheart? I really miss you…"
K. Rool hugged the photo album close to his yellow chest and sighed, deeply. He often talked to Crystal in that way, usually when looking through a photo album or when in bed. They had been so close in life that he knew she was still near him in death. He believed that she was always looking after him and Khris, and guiding them to do the right things. But he didn’t often talk about this feeling with others, just in case he was thought to be mad. He wasn’t mad. He was just holding onto the memory of the one female who had meant the most to him in life. And she still did, even in death.
Three feeble knocks sounded on his bedroom door. K. Rool sighed and closed the photo album. He didn’t like being interrupted while he was talking to his wife. "Come in."
The door creaked open and a cold breeze entered the room. There was nobody standing outside the door, and this confused K. Rool. He had a slight feeling as to what was happening, but he didn’t want to believe it. He walked over to the door and looked out into the corridor. There was no sign of anyone there, so he shrugged and closed the door. He turned back around to get back to his little ‘photo session’, and found himself face to face with…Tobias. K. Rool staggered backwards in shock and crashed into the closed door. His chest was heaving as Tobias stared at him, unblinking and unmoving. One of the creepy things about Tobias was his ability to stand perfectly still, as Crystal had been able to do. Tobias was constantly reminding K. Rool of his wife, and K. Rool sometimes just wanted to rip his head off for it. Being reminded of his wife when he didn’t want to be wasn’t a comfortable feeling. Not for Kevin Rool, anyway.
Tobias remained completely still as K. Rool slowly approached, wondering if this evil lizard was actually going to do ANYTHING. He was, and he did. "I have something to discuss with you, my king." Tobias said at last, and he then began to approach K. Rool like a starving wolf closing in on a mouse. K. Rool didn’t know what Tobias was going to do, exactly, but he had a fairly good idea.
***
All the time, Amy had been in Tobias’ room. She was not there out of her own choice, oh no. Tobias had taken her there while she was in her little trance and trapped her to the chair - Tobias’ small chair in the center of the room, decorated with carvings. A small candle was resting on the table next to the chair, and it caused a gentle waft of pine to fill the room. Amy sat on the small chair, tied to it not by ropes, but by a mysterious, psychic force. Her head hung forward as she slept. But this was not a peaceful, innocent sleep. This was a violent and dangerous nightmare.
She was in a long, metal corridor, with very little space. She couldn’t go anywhere except forward, so that was where she went. She set of at a brisk pace down the long, darkening corridor, her footsteps echoing all around her. Something didn’t feel right, so she sped up into a run and tore down the corridor. It felt almost like an air-duct or something. She kept running until she realised that she was falling instead. She was falling head-first down another vertical corridor. There seemed to be no solid ground below her – just a dark void.
She continued falling through the void and landed on something hard. It was definitely a floor, which she confirmed by feeling along it. This was a very light room, but some form of smoke surrounded her so that she couldn’t exactly see anything. Then a strong smell reached her – a smell she despised almost above anything else. Alcohol and cigarette smoke. Actually, this WAS the smell she despised above all else – these two smells and ammonia came in joint-first. Actually, ammonia was very fragrant when compared with this horrible stench. The smoke was getting to her eyes, as they began to water. Finally, the smoke began to clear away, and a sound came to her. The sound of jolly talking…and a woman singing. "Mummy would love him and daddy too, we’d be famous and well-to-do…" she sang. This was the song that Amy had heard in her head while talking to Ziggy- Oh God, it couldn’t be. Could it?
Sitting at the table directly in front of her sat a familiar head atop some not-too-familiar shoulders. This was definitely Ziggy. He had the same smile that he had when he was with her. Between two of his fingers, he held a cigarette. He placed it in his mouth briefly, then removed it and breathed out a cloud of smoke. Sitting next to him at the table were two women deep in conversation.
Amy approached the ‘early’ Ziggy and leaned on the table he was sitting at. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and looked at her. "Ziggy?" she asked.
"I doesn’t talk to strangers, toots." he replied. Yes, his voice was exactly the same.
"Are you Ziggy?" she asked, trying to get a reply from him.
She then backed away slightly. There was something very disturbing about his eyes – they had a terrible nervous twitch. This really put her off.
Ziggy shifted in his chair and replaced his cigarette back into his mouth. "Who sent’cha?" he asked.
"Crodfoller T. Rhubarb." Amy replied instantly. She had never heard of anyone with that name, but it had just come out of her mouth.
"Crodfoller?" Ziggy asked, removing the cigarette and replacing it with a smile, "He’s an ol’ pal o’ mine! What’cha wanna know?"
Just as those words left his lips, a loud shout was heard. Amy turned around to look in the direction of the shout, but all she could see was smoke. She turned back around to face Ziggy, but he wasn’t there.
None of the speakeasy customers were – she wasn’t even in the speakeasy any more. She was in a large room in the Leyendecker museum, she knew. In front of her was the large skeleton of a mastodon. An old woman dressed up in an expensive-looking coat and other accessories walked off through the door to Amy’s right.
Suddenly, Ziggy appeared, dressed up in the same rented tuxedo he had been wearing in the speakeasy. His hands were in his pockets, and he was slouched forward as he walked through the door to Amy’s left. Curious, Amy thought she might follow him, so she did. She peered around the door and saw-
"OH MY GOD!!" she screamed when she saw what had happened.
Lying on the floor, arms splayed out at his sides, was Ziggy, pinned down to the floor by the beak of a model pterodactyl which had fallen on top of him. The beak had pierced right through his body, and he was struggling underneath it.
"Oh Lord…" she walked around the pterodactyl until she came to Ziggy’s face. There was an expression of sheer pain on it.
"Toots…help me…" he begged.
"Not so fast, girly." came an Irish voice from behind her. Amy jumped and turned around. There behind her stood an Irish man with red hair and a red moustache. He was wearing an expensive tuxedo, and he held a pair of wire cutters in his one hand. In the other, he held a knife.
"It’s the end o’ the line, Ziegfeld." he said to the struggling Ziggy. He put the wire-cutters on the floor and used his free hand to get hold of Ziggy’s head. Using the knife, he set about cutting through Ziggy’s neck. Ziggy didn’t have a chance to scream – he was already dead.
Amy looked at the Irish man. "O’ Riley?" she asked, backing up.
"Aye, lass." he responded. He threw Ziggy’s head onto the floor and held up the knife towards her.
Amy screamed and turned around – but what she saw was not the Leyendecker. This was…an alleyway. She knew that it was somewhere on Kongo Bongo – it was nowhere she had seen before.
Suddenly, from out of the shadows came…Krusher. There was a medium-size kitchen knife in his right claw, and he held it up towards her. "Do not hate me for this!" he said, and stabbed the knife into her chest…
She woke up, screaming. Her eyes did not register where she was at first, but they adjusted finally to the dim lighting. She attempted to get up, but she was held down…held down by a psychic force. Harpy lurked in the corner of the room, watching her. She could not see him, but she knew he was there.
Once again, she tried to get loose, using every ounce of her strength to break free. But it did not work. She hung her head, gasping. "My…I can’t…I…can’t…"
Harpy screeched at her in the dark.
She gasped and her chest heaved. Something was not right. Not right at all.
This whole room was evil, like some sort of Hell. The pine scent, which she usually adored, was filling her up and poisoning her lungs, rather like the smoke in the speakeasy. It was intoxicating…sickeningly sweet and thick.
Suddenly, a pain came to her head. She whimpered, and tilted back her head. She was beginning to find it hard to breathe at all. There was a picture in her mind of what was happening…
She saw Tobias shouting at K. Rool, and K. Rool becoming deeply hurt. Klump and Krusha were there…a sudden message echoed in her head…that K. Rool and his son would be killed.
"NO!!" Amy screamed. She clenched her teeth together and concentrated. She gasped loudly – the lack of oxygen in the room getting the better of her.
Suddenly, she was free. The ‘ropes’ were broken, and she stood up, shakily. Harpy squawked and flapped his wings. Amy looked around briefly, and then ran to the door, desperate for some air. She flung the door open and collapsed into the hall, her lungs aching yet relieved.
Hearing the noise, Ziggy and the head of the navigator came out of Amy’s room. "What’s happening?" asked the navigator.
"Something bad…" Amy said, running off down the corridor. Something was telling her where to go and what to expect – she had to reach K. Rool’s upper factory area. And fast.
***
"What do you want, Tobias?" K. Rool asked, "You’ve already done enough damage." There was a new feeling to Tobias, and K. Rool could feel desperate hate coming from him.
"I have something for you, my king…" he hissed.
K. Rool stepped back as Tobias began to make some strange hand-gestures. He clasped his hands together, and then whipped them up over his head and then behind his back. When he next revealed his hands, he was clasping his velociraptor blade in his right one. "Prepare for your surcease, O’ King!" he said.
K. Rool yelled and ran backwards, but Tobias appeared behind him. "Going somewhere, sir?" he asked, slashing at the air – missing K. Rool totally.
From one of the side doors came a voice, followed closely by its owner. "Huh? What’s going on, dad?"
"Khris, save yourself!" K. Rool shouted as another swipe was made at him.
Suddenly wide awake, Khris was all for protecting his father. He ran out to the two lizards and stood in-between the two of them, facing Tobias. Although Khris was taller than he was, Tobias was not intimidated. "Leave my father alone!" Khris snapped, taking another step towards the aggressor.
Tobias grinned, exposing his full set of teeth. "I’m not afraid of you. I can deal with you physically-"
He moved forward slightly as he said this, but received a swift punch to the jaw from Khris. K. Rool was bent over in fear behind his son, who just watched as Tobias reeled backwards from the force of the punch.
Tobias reached out and took hold of K. Rool’s desk to regain his balance. He was panting like a dog, and he looked up at Khris with his piercing, beautiful eyes. Both claws were still resting on the desk, and he was a bit giddy, but his mind was focused.
"Maybe I won’t deal with you physically…you’re not worth it…I’ll just have to be…me."
Tobias let out a high-pitched shriek and vanished, re-appearing almost instantly behind Khris and his father. "Prepare to lose your mind…" he growled.
Klump came running through another door, closely followed by Krusha. Tobias looked up at them, and his eyes narrowed. "Fine…you’ll all die together!"
Tobias received another punch to the stomach when Khris took the opportunity to turn around. Tobias counter-attacked by slashing his velociraptor blade across Khris’ arm. He then vanished…and reappeared beside Klump, slashing his long claws across the General’s back. He then began to flex his claws again, and Klump received a stabbing pain in his head…all down the front of his skull. "Oh God!" Klump screamed, bending forwards, "AARGH!!"
Krusha tried to grab Tobias, but the dark lizard vanished before Krusha even touched him. Klump fell forward on the floor, clutching his head and groaning.
Tobias appeared in the center of the room. He turned in a circle, looking at the lizards surrounding him, who looked either bewildered or frightened. "It’s over, my friends." Tobias cackled, raising his claws above his head, "No-one can ever beat me…I am the most powerful creature in the world!"
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:26:58 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:26:58 GMT 10
Amy ran out into the main hall. Just as she had expected, there was nobody there. Ziggy and the navigator were hopping along close behind. "Let us help ya, toots!" Ziggy shouted.
Amy didn’t stop. She had to reach K. Rool before something terrible happened, so she took the side door (ie/ the not-so-posh way up to K. Rool’s living area), although it meant climbing up lots of stairs. And when I say ‘lots’, I mean it. She couldn’t waste any time, and set about dashing up the stairs, two or three at a time. She wasn’t sure if she would make it – she could feel Tobias’ anger rising as she ran. It would be a matter of seconds before he finished off the king altogether.
***
"DIE!!" Tobias screamed, leaping towards Khris (who was still protecting his father), blade at the ready.
Amy stumbled into the room and fell forward, hurting herself slightly, but she didn’t, for once, pay much attention to her injury. "Tobias, stop!"
Tobias stopped in mid-air and swivelled himself around. He didn’t look amused. K. Rool still whimpered behind his son, petrified of what might happen.
Slowly, Tobias advanced towards his new ‘opponent’, and Amy took a few steps towards him. They met in the center of the room. "Who are you to interfere, my raven?"
"I can’t let you do this! Why do you want…what have they done?!"
"They have done much, raven. And those things…I hate them for."
"Such as?"
Tobias stopped and blinked at her, feeling quite intimidated. He couldn’t really think of any answer. "…Kevin was Crystal’s husband, and Khris was her son-"
"So?" she snapped, "What’s wrong with that?"
Tobias was sick of this. He didn’t appreciate her asking questions. He didn’t like this at all, and his anger was rising again. "I am going to kill the King and the Prince, raven, and there is nothing you can do to stop me."
"I’ll have a darn good try, Tobias!"
Tobias was infuriated.
Klump and Krusha couldn’t see what was happening all that well, but they both realised that something was very wrong when Amy let out a high-pitched scream.
"Oh God!" Khris shouted, not being able to hold it in.
K. Rool looked up briefly at what had happened, then lowered his head to face the floor again.
"This is what you get, raven…" There were some more ripping sounds, and Amy screamed some more. The screams sounded…rather…yucky.
"You p-p-promised that you n-never hurt m-me…" Amy gasped in her last few moments of life. Blood had gathered in her throat, so she sounded quite gurgly as she spoke.
"NO!!" Krusha yelled as Amy fell to the floor, a dead heap. There was a wide, gaping blade wound going from between her legs all the way up to her lower rib-cage. Some blood dripped out of her mouth, and a thick milky liquid poured out from her open stomach. Everyone was silent.
Tears seeping out of his eyes, Krusha clenched his fists and glared at Tobias like an enraged bull. "I’ll KILL YOU!!!" he shouted, running at the dark lizard, who easily stepped out of the way. Krusha couldn’t stop, and crashed into a wall. He then slid down onto the floor himself, gasping.
Tobias looked rather proud of himself, and the blade vanished from his grasp. He crossed his arms and scowled. "Oh, how PITIFUL. Useless lump of brain-mass…" He looked back over at the two Rools. He smiled and cracked his knuckles. "Now we can have a little fun…"
"Stay behind me, dad…" Khris whispered as Tobias approached with long, loping strides. But he didn’t walk over to them. He stopped next to Amy’s body, smiled down at it, and gave it a firm kick. "Stupid girl…"
"If you say ONE MORE THING…" Krusha gasped, trying to stand up, "I’ll…rip you apart…"
"Ooh, I’m so scared."
"You’d better be!" said another voice. This was followed by a short silence. Krusha looked around, still gasping. K. Rool looked up and pushed his son aside, suddenly looking determined about something.
"Oh…no…" Tobias hissed. He stepped away from Amy’s body…which slowly began to stand up again.
"Cool." Khris said, and his father growled slightly.
Amy stood up, and looked at Tobias through mysterious blue eyes. The long scar was gone, completely, her blood-stained ripped clothes were as good as new, and she was clenching her fists. She walked slowly up to Tobias until they almost touched. "You know how I don’t appreciate it when you insult my family, Toby."
K. Rool’s jaw was trembling, and Khris didn’t have a clue of what was going on. He didn’t know who was related to whom.
Krusha continued to gasp, and Klump stood, knees bent, panting. Krusha looked up. "A-Amy?" he gasped.
The female lizard turned around, suddenly. She squinted at Krusha and then turned to look at Klump. She then focused on King K. Rool. A smile spread across her face. "I shall defend our family’s honor. Nobody messes with a Rool and gets away with it."
She let out a high-pitched shriek, and Tobias was suddenly thrown across the room. He crashed into a wall, but soon regained his will to fight. "Alright, Crystal! You want it, you got it!" He had crashed not too far from Krusha, who quickly stood up again. Something told him that he had to get out for the way, and fast.
Tobias hovered slightly above the ground, clasped his claws together and released a beam of red light from his hands. It shot across the room towards ‘Amy’ like a laser, but by the time it hit where she was standing, she had reappeared over by Klump. Tobias cursed loudly. "Alright, I’m not going to be easy on you!"
"That’s just as well. I’m not going to give up until you leave my family for good! They have done nothing wrong!"
"That’s what YOU think! My only problem now is working out whether to kill your husband or son first."
"You will kill neither of them, Toby! I told you long ago that I wanted you to leave my family alone, and you foolishly ignored me. I never loved you, and you know it! I will not think twice about destroying you."
Tears were forming in K. Rool’s eyes as this peculiar conversation went on. Khris put his claw on his father’s shoulder. "Er, is that female my mom?"
"Sort of." was all K. Rool said. He seemed very distracted. He knew what was going on, and he was worried by now. Klump, still in pain, looked slowly up at the female standing next to him. She wasn’t looking at him – she had to keep all her attention on Tobias.
"Crystal?"
"But of course, sweetie." she replied, flashing a smile. She was using Amy’s body, but some things about her body had actually changed. Somehow, she looked more like Crystal now than she had done before. Maybe Klump was just imagining it.
"Harpy, get in here!" Tobias yelled, crouching down slightly, as though he was about to spring like a cat at any moment. The mainly-black bird appeared in the center of the room. He looked around and screeched loudly.
Amy/Crystal (let’s just call her ‘Crystal’ for now) smiled as Harpy appeared. "Oh, Toby, how sad. You’re having to rely on a bird to do your dirty work."
"I do my own dirty work, Crystal! I need no-one to do it for me! I think four kills in two days is quite impressive, don’t you?"
"Not really, Toby." Crystal said, yawning slightly, "Even with such magic as you have, you’ll never be brilliant at anything. You can’t even qualify as a ‘good’ murderer. Tut tut. You always were a slow learner."
"Let me teach YOU a lesson for a change, Crystal!" Tobias yelled. He screamed loudly, and there was a sudden bright flash of red light in the room.
"Now what?" Klump groaned. Everything seemed exceptionally strange. The room that they had all been in had vanished, and they seemed to be ‘standing’ in a red light. It was as though someone had scanned a photograph of them all, and edited out the background with a red light. All the living creatures were still just as they had been.
"Now you’re in for it, Crystal." Tobias sneered at her. But she remained calm despite the sudden change of surroundings. It was as though she already knew this place very well.
"Are you trying to scare me with a lot of nasty red lights? Oh, please. You can do better than this, Toby."
"Argh!" Tobias yelled, losing his temper again, "Get her, Harpy!"
The hawk looked at his master and cawed. "Me? Why don’t you-"
"Shut up you stupid bird!"
Crystal took a few steps closer to where the bird was hovering and crossed her arms. "Don’t worry, Harpy. You don’t have to fight me. You can fight Moonbeam instead. Fight darkness with light!"
Another bird appeared in the room. It was like no other kind of bird any of the others had ever seen (with the exception of Tobias, of course), as it had long tail feathers, which seemed to float behind it as though it was moving underwater. It was black, red and yellow, just like Harpy, but it was bigger and not as sinister-looking.
With a loud screech, Moonbeam flew at Harpy like a homing missile of some kind. It crashed into Tobias’ hawk, knocking Harpy back from the impact. Harpy squawked with shock, and quickly recovered to make a counter-attack. The two birds were having a little fight of their own, forgetting all about their masters and their other spectators.
As Crystal watched the two birds, acknowledging that her bird was winning, Tobias made a dash at her. K. Rool gasped with fright as Tobias leapt on top of Crystal. He knocked her back a little way, and then pinned her down underneath him. "Forget those birds! It’s you I need to get. And if I can’t do that, I can interrupt my fighting briefly and give your husband a heart-attack just by staring at him in the right way!"
"Ah yes, Toby, I see what you’re doing. You’re using your physical strength, what there is of it, to try to win over me, is that right? Didn’t the magic book tell you that you cannot rely on your physical strength?"
"Forget that stupid Black Magic book! I ended up hating what the magic did to me, I even killed the old lizard who gave the d**n book to me, and I don’t want to be reminded of what the stupid book was supposed to ‘teach’ me!"
"No wonder you’re so weak, Toby."
Tobias growled and placed one of his feet onto her stomach. "You’re in no position to insult me, Crystal. I do believe that I have the upper claw here."
"Not quite…" As she said that, she disappeared, and then reappeared next to her husband. Tobias screamed with fury. He kept forgetting that she could do things like that.
"Oh Toby, you must remember that my powers are greater than yours. Did you just forget that I can teleport myself?"
"No I didn’t! Get back over here so that I can kill you!"
"Do you think I’d be stupid enough to listen to you, Toby? Ha. I think not. Why don’t you just buzz off and leave us alone?"
"Crystal! I won’t give up that easily!"
Crystal just shot Tobias a doubting don’t-be-so-stupid grin. She slowly snaked her arms around K. Rool’s neck and kissed him gently on the cheek. "We’ll show him, Kay." This made K. Rool feel slightly strange. After all, even though it was his wife kissing him, she was doing it by using Amy’s body to do so.
Tobias seemed to curl up like a slug that had just been covered in salt as Crystal kissed her husband. It made his stomach twist up. "I won’t have to put up with that for much longer. After all, you won’t want to lay kisses on your husband if he’s a corpse!" He crouched down onto all fours and snarled at Crystal, his eye pupils narrowing into slits as he did so.
Looking over at Tobias with not a hint of fear, Crystal moved closer to her husband and licked the side of his mouth. "My husband will not be a corpse, you moron." she said.
"That’s what YOU think!" Tobias responded, his voice deeper and coarser. His stripes and yellow stomach were slowly darkening to become black also, and his back was beginning to sprout fur. His hands seemed to be changing shape, and they were. They became paws, and his feet soon followed with changing their shape also. At various points on his body, Tobias was growing a glossy coat of fur. Black fur.
Crystal released her grip around her husband’s neck and huffed. "Oh really, Toby. You’ll never get this magic right."
"Watch me." growled Tobias, as his eyes separated and became feline, although they still kept their gorgeous blue colour. The spikes on his head seemed to shrink into nothing as two pointed ears erected themselves on the sides of his head. His face changed shape and he grew whiskers above his lips.
Where Tobias had once been, there now stood a large black panther. He snarled and slashed one of his paws through the air, showing off his long black claws. "See if you can beat me now!" he said, roaring as though he was the most important creature on earth. Of course, this was what he believed.
Krusha hadn’t been able to move. After all, he had just seen ‘Amy’ kissing King K. Rool, and now Tobias had turned into a panther. The large blue lizard glanced nervously across at Klump, who returned the glance with equal fear.
Crystal got down on all fours herself, and began to transform as well. Her transformation took less time than Tobias’ did. It was obvious that she was more experienced. Small black spots appeared all over her body, and she too began to sprout fur on various areas of her body.
In only a few seconds, she had transformed into a sleek-bodied cheetah. She lowered her beautiful head and bared her small fangs at him. They were only ‘small’ fangs when compared with Tobias’ fangs. The panther he had turned into was a very stocky animal with over-sized teeth.
Roaring, Tobias pounced towards Crystal, who dashed nimbly to the side just as he was about to reach her. Instead he crashed into K. Rool, who squealed with shock and ran behind his son again. But Tobias had decided that he wanted Crystal first.
Crystal let out a ‘clicking’ sound from her throat. It was almost a click and a meow combined. Tobias whirled around and made another pounce at her, but once again he was too slow.
"That’s another of your faults, Toby." Crystal said, dodging him again, "You chose to be a panther. And just look at you. A stocky panther with over-large fangs and a good deal of physical strength. You know that physical strength isn’t the kind of strength the magic teaches you to learn to use."
"To Hell with that magic!" Tobias roared, making another attempt to get her, but missing once again.
"But look at me. I have little physical strength, but I have speed and intelligence, Toby. Remember that." She dashed towards him, slashed her claws across the side of his face and then dashed back over to where Krusha was standing before Tobias realised where she was. Deeply angered, the panther tilted his head backwards and roared with frustration.
"Enough of this nonsense!" he roared, and began to change back into his old self again. Upon noticing this, Crystal did the same. She was back in her old form long before Tobias was. She wanted to make sure that he had noticed how much faster she was than he was. And he did, but he didn’t like it.
Angry, he drew the velociraptor blade again and held it firmly in his right hand. His claws tensed on the weapon as he walked towards Crystal as calmly as he could manage. "Fine. Maybe I’ll just slice you in two."
"No!" K. Rool shouted, but Khris grabbed him before he could step out into the middle of the battle. K. Rool hated it whenever his wife was insulted or threatened, even though she wasn’t alive any more. He bared his teeth as Tobias stepped closer to Crystal. The dark lizard was moving slowly so as not to alarm Crystal into running away. Not that she was going to. She was quite determined not to act frightened. She wasn’t frightened. She had proven her powers to be superior to those of Tobias many times, and she wasn’t going to back down.
At the very last minute, she revealed her own blade from behind her back, and made a swipe at Tobias. It struck him and left a long open wound spreading across his chest, but it didn’t go in too deep. Crystal didn’t want to kill him. She wanted to warn him.
Tobias looked down at his chest and gasped. Not only had she been able to hurt him in some way, but it was also supposed to be a threat. Tobias hated being threatened.
Krusha looked at Tobias, and then took a few steps further away from him. Klump looked at Tobias to see what Krusha had noticed about him, and realised instantly. There was no blood dripping out of the wound – just a black liquid that was too gooey to be ‘blood’. Tobias looked at Klump and Krusha as they stared back at him in fear. "Oh, yeah. Just ignore that. It’s just another of the disadvantages of- hang on, why am I telling you?"
He turned back to face Crystal to take revenge, but, once again, she wasn’t there. Tobias seemed to fall forward with exhaustion. "How do you keep up with her?" he asked K. Rool, or what he could see of him. The king was still cowering behind his son. He was very frightened by now, mainly of what Tobias could do to Crystal.
The two birds were still fighting, regardless of what else was happening around them. Harpy was clearly losing, as he had been since pretty much the beginning of the fight. He cawed in shock as Crystal’s bird Moonbeam flew at him again, knocking him sideways in the air. Harpy let out another screech, and then fell down to the ground, landing a few inches from Tobias’ clawed feet. Tobias reached down to Harpy and picked him up. The black hawk made a few feeble squawks and looked up at his master. "You will lose, Tobias…quit while you’re ahead…."
"Never!" he replied, and Harpy vanished into nothing. Tobias was going to have to deal with him later.
"You know, Toby, even a bird-brain like Harpy has more sense than you. Why don’t you surrender now? I promise-"
"Where the Heck ARE you, Crystal?" Tobias shouted, turning in a circle. She was standing directly behind him, arms by her sides, velociraptor blade nowhere to be seen. She was trying to show him that she wasn’t going to hurt him. Just because she was being more friendly hardly meant anything to Tobias, as he proved by leaping towards her again, getting his blade ready to cut through her neck.
But she was too fast for him. Before Tobias knew what was happening, his blade was gone from his hand, he was on his back and Crystal was standing over him. She placed one of her feet on his stomach and put her hands on her hips. "I warned you, Toby."
"Fine! KILL me! I don’t give a-"
"I will not kill you, Toby. I’m not like you. I don’t like killing, and you know it."
"I was hoping you had changed, Crystal."
"Well, guess what, Toby? You’re wrong again."
Tobias tried to push her off, but she was somehow using a good deal of physical strength to hold him down – more than the strength he was using to try to push her off. He bared his teeth again and looked at Crystal. She was bending down towards him so that their faces were almost touching. He snapped his jaws shut in her face to try to get her to move away, but she didn’t. She leaned even further forward until their snouts were touching. Tobias tried again to push her off, but to no avail.
"You know…I might just kill you, Toby. I mean, after all you’ve done to everyone, including this girl whose body I am currently in. I have every right to bite your head off."
"Give it a try, Crystal! I dare you!"
"I’m too old for silly kid games, Toby. I have you under control now, and I am going to ask- TELL you something."
Tobias scrunched up his nose, as though he was disgusted with something. He was. He was disgusted that Crystal would even think of telling him to do something.
"I want you to go away, Toby. I want you far away from my family, unless you come in complete peace, which I very much doubt. I want you to leave my family and their friends alone, I want no harm to come to them from you ever again. If you dare go against what I’m telling you, I will put you through Hell…do you understand, Toby?"
"I do not fear Hell, Crystal!"
"Well, you fear ME, don’t you?"
Tobias closed his eyes in shame. He sighed and nodded gently. Crystal grinned at him.
"Finally, you’re willingly admitting it. Now, I’m going to send you away, and I don’t want you to ever see my family again! Unless of course, you mean well. But since I seriously doubt that, I want you to go away and never come back. I’m basically banishing you, Toby. Now go."
Tobias growled. He wouldn’t let himself be thought of as a coward like this. He summoned all his strength into his upper body and pushed Crystal off. She staggered backwards a few steps, and Tobias leapt towards her. He grabbed her and wrapped his arm around her neck, just as he had done with Steve, and took a firm grip on one of her shoulders with his other claw. Crystal sighed. "Goodbye, Toby."
As she said that, Tobias vanished. He didn’t vanish in a cloud of smoke or anything dramatic like that. He was just there one minute, and gone the next.
Crystal smiled and put her hands on her hips again, turning to face her son and husband. "As I said before, nobody messes with a Rool and gets away with it."
K. Rool stopped cowering and literally pushed his son out of the way. "That was…amazing."
"Wasn’t it, Kay? But then again, I’ve always been amazing. Isn’t that so?"
"Of course it is…everything happened so fast…where has Toby- er, Tobias gone?"
"He’s still on the island, Kay. Hopefully, he’ll stay well away from you thanks to my warning. He always was a big baby."
She skipped over to her husband and grabbed onto his shoulders. "I must leave you now, Kay. Take care of our son, and of course, of anyone in need of your help. So long as they’re not friends with Donkey Kong. I’ve seen so much suffering from…well…where I’ve been watching you, and that ape doesn’t deserve help. But anyway, I do not want to leave on a cloud of negative karma. Goodbye, Kay." She pulled him down towards her and gave him a huge kiss on the lips. K. Rool smiled and put his arms around her to help the kiss last longer. Khris kept glancing over at them, not sure of whether to watch or not. Klump and Krusha looked at one another. Krusha smiled and ran towards the General, picking him up off the floor with a big victory hug.
"YAAY!!"
"*cough* Thankyou, Krusha. But…you can let go now."
As Amy ‘woke up’, what she could see in front of her slowly began to focus. King K. Rool had his arms around her, kissing her. She tried to calm down, but she couldn’t. This was a real shock. She pushed K. Rool away and looked around. Khris was sblack personing at her. The expression on her face was rather interesting. K. Rool looked slightly embarrassed. "Oh, do excuse me, Miss Croc. I…I…"
"Whatever…" she groaned, wiping her mouth to remove the taste of Rool. She could taste her King’s breath and saliva all over her tongue, and she coughed. "I need to…lie down…"
Krusha didn’t care that she had just been in a lip-lock with King K. Rool. What mattered was that she was alive, and he ran over to her. He felt like giving hugs at the moment. He was just so happy. He lifted her off the ground and hugged her to his chest. She was quite confused at the moment. She actually remembered being…dead. And then her king was kissing her, and now Krusha was hugging her. Maybe it would all make sense in the morning.
***
Out in a deep, dark place in the jungle, Harpy was waiting as his master appeared at the foot of a large tree. The hawk looked down at Tobias. The lizard was trembling as he stood up, and he clutched onto the bark of the tree to help him to stand. He was having another bad headache-stomach ache-vomit session, and this time it was really bad. He clutched his throat with both claws, leaning his back up against the tree. "Oh GOD!! Help…me…Harpy…" he begged, looking up at his feathered companion, "Please…I’m…going to die…I can feel it…"
Harpy looked down curiously and cawed. "You don’t need me, Tobias. I don’t think all the magic in the world could help you now."
Harpy spread his wings and flew away through the jungle as fast as he could so as to be as far away from him ex-master in as short a time as possible.
As he flew away, he couldn’t help but turn back to see what Tobias was doing. He saw the dark lizard slumped with his back against the tree, head hung forward, tail limp. Curiously, the hawk hovered overhead for a few moments, but there was no indication of movement in Tobias’ dark body.
At last, the hawk turned and flew away for good, leaving behind his master. His sad, lonely, decaying master with no soul.
THE END
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:31:03 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:31:03 GMT 10
* This is Part 1 of the story that follows on from ‘Tobias’. This first part is just to give you some idea of what is going on, but I still have my duty to remind you that this story is not suitable for younger fans (if indeed I have that many fans) due to content that will mainly be emerging in some of the later parts. Therefore, be sure not to read this fanfic unless you are certain that you can cope with it. Thanks. – Amy ‘Klumpy’ Johnson
Tobias II
By Klumpy
Once, I can't remember,
I was long ago, someone strange.
I was innocent and wise,
And full of pain.
Now that I'm a woman,
Everything is strange.
Once, when I was searching
Somewhere out of reach, far away.
In a place I could not find…
A loud knocking on the bathroom door caused Amy to stop singing instantly. She reached for a towel to dry her face, seriously ticked off. "Who is it?" she called, spitting some warm water out of her mouth.
"Do ya have to sing every dang time ya go in the dang shower?!" Klump yelled from the other side of the door, "I’m tryin’ to concentrate out here! And when can I come in there?" The General crossed his arms impatiently and growled so that she could tell how angry he was. He thought the ‘crossing his arms’ bit added effect, despite the fact that she couldn’t exactly see through the door. It was quite rare for Klump to be in such a sore mood. Believe it or not, it was quite rare.
"Not while I’m in here, you can’t." Amy yelled back. She’d only just got into the shower and already she had been interrupted.
"I’ll bust the door down!"
"Don’t you dare!" She quickly held the towel in front of her, just in case he was foolish enough to do so.
"Hurry up then!"
Amy growled to herself as she shut off the water and continued to dry herself off. The towel wasn’t doing a very good job of drying her scales, as it too had got wet when she had held it in front of her. And Klump’s little ‘threat’ hadn’t made her day any brighter. Why were some males so impatient? Hmph. Oh well. This was one of the disadvantages of sharing a bathroom with two guys. They were always fussing about her spending too much time in the shower, especially Klump. He had a tendency to act as though the world was going to blow up unless she left the bathroom immediately.
"You an’ your stupid girly habits!" Klump shouted, "I need a shower and I need one now-" As he said that, the door was opened in his face. He was greeted by Amy wearing a somewhat dry towel and still looking rather wet. She pushed past him towards her room, dripping water all over the dry carpet of the corridor.
"It’s all yours, sir."
"Thankyou, Miss." he replied, removing his belt. He walked forward into the bathroom while still removing his ‘uniform’. Belt, boots and helmet. Well, it was more than some other lizards liked to wear.
"Don’t take too long, now!" Amy shouted at him suddenly, causing the General to turn around, "You with your…male habits!"
"Better than girly habits!" he shouted back, hopping into the bathroom on one leg while removing one of his boots. He proceeded to fall forward, making a darn big fuss, ending up flat on his stomach. His stomach wasn’t exactly ‘flat’, however, and he found that he had a little trouble getting back up again, like a turtle that had been flipped over onto its shell. He growled loudly in frustration and squirmed around, trying to stand up again. It really was quite ridiculous to watch, as well as amusing.
Amy giggled slightly, but she was still angry with him for driving her out in the middle of her warm shower. It was actually only the beginning of her shower. "Ooh…don’t be such…a...thingy…." she growled, marching into her room and slamming the door. She liked leaving Klump to figure out what she meant by ‘thingy’. She had numerous definitions for that word.
She smiled as she entered her cosy little room. She loved this room…it was nice and small…just the right size for her. Everything in her room was the right size, too. Nothing was too big for her or anything. She was generally quite a small kremling. But not THE smallest. By saying ‘small’, she mainly applied to the ‘small and dainty’ saying.
She dashed forward and pounced onto her little bed. She rolled over and over, grabbing onto the bedsheets and wrapping them around her as she did so, like a cat with a scent of catnip. The sheets got entangled around her, and she sat up with the thin white sheets wrapped around her like a cloak.
She loved her bed. She loved her room. And she loved the Pokémon League.
She leapt off the bed with the sheets still around her and switched on her little TV. "Oooooh…this’ll be good! It’s a shame I missed a lot of battles."
"Are youse talkin’ to me, toots?"
"Of course, Ziggy. There’s no-one else here. Come up here with me and we can watch the League together." she said, getting comfortable on her bed again, untangling herself from the sheets, and making sure that she was facing the screen. She loved doing things like this with Ziggy and making him feel as though he wasn’t useless, but it was this friendly attitude that he was dreading at the moment. He felt so guilty whenever she was nice to him. Sighing, he hopped over to where her clawed feet were hanging over the edge of the bed.
"Toots…can you give me a hand?" he asked, hopping on the spot.
"Oh, I forgot." she smiled, and she picked the head up. Ziggy made himself comfortable in her lap and they both prepared to watch some Pokémon matches.
A middle-aged male human appeared on the screen holding a microphone. He had short dark hair and a black moustache, which made him look as though there was a fuzzy black caterpillar living under his nose.
Amy had never understood what was so appealing about body hair. The only kind of moustache she could cope with was the kind that Bluster Kong had. She quite liked Bluster, but she was never really willing to admit it to anyone. After all, he was a Kong.
The human removed a gray hat from his head and used it to cool himself off by fanning it in his face. "Now, wasn’t that a terrific battle, folks? I’ve never seen anything like it!" He seemed to be gasping as he spoke. It wasn’t as if he was the one who had been battling, but it seemed so from the way he sounded exhausted.
"Oh darn…" Amy growled, "A great battle…and we missed it…I wish I’d finished my shower sooner. But then again, I had only just turned the water on when Klump interrupted my singing…"
Ziggy sighed. He hadn’t been himself recently. Amy had ruled out the possibility of him feeling unwell, simply because of him being dead. He seemed distant and distracted, as though he wanted to say something but didn’t really know if he wanted to or not. "I wonder what kinda trainer could’ve put up such a great battle…" he said, once again sounding as though he wasn’t all there. I mean, he WASN’T all there (he was just a head), but he seemed to always be thinking about something else.
"And wow, this is the fifth win for this astounding trainer. And would you believe it, folks? He won all five matches using only one Pokémon! Let’s go meet him, shall we?" said the announcer. He had obviously had at least one too many cups of coffee this morning. It was a slight change of state from his ‘exhaustion’ earlier on. In fact, only seconds before.
"I wonder what species this great trainer is. I mean, if he’s a kremling, King K. Rool might want to know." Amy said, waiting anxiously for the trainer’s identity to be revealed. She would never have entered the League herself. Not because she had hopeless Pokémon (this was very untrue), but because she didn’t like seeing her Pokémon get injured. She preferred to keep them as pets. When it came to the League, she was a spectator.
The announcer staggered sideways, looking in wonder at a certain someone who was not in the picture as of yet. Reaching into his pocket, the human revealed a pair of thick glasses, and he perched them on his nose. He began to speak to this mystery trainer.
As all this was happening, Amy was beginning to tear at her bedsheets. "Come on! I wanna see!" she squealed excitedly, like a young child at the zoo, "Move the camera! Move it move it move it!!"
"Calm down, toots…" Ziggy said, being very uncomfortable on her lap. She was bouncing up and down on the end of the bed in her suspense, and the head was being knocked around a bit.
As the picture of this wonderful trainer focused on the screen, Amy thought she noticed something familiar. That figure…it was so familiar to her. And yes, he was a lizard. He had a snout and a tail that were very distinctive, and she could make out a faint outline of this guy’s chest-plates and stomach, both a very pale color, perhaps yellow. Yes, they were yellow. Long arms and legs, equipped with long fingers, and they slowly focused to show long black claws and yellow spikes on his head…they all fitted together, finally, into a clear picture, both on the TV screen and in Amy’s memory.
Stammering, she held a hand to her neck, gently digging her claws into her skin without really realising it. She though she was going to faint. "Oh…m-my…G-G-G-"
"Whoa! Dat’s dat creepy guy from before, ain’t it?" Ziggy said, apparently unafraid, only surprised.
Amy didn’t reply. The only sound she made was her fast breathing, and it was getting faster and faster by the second. She felt sick, and as though her head was filling up with porridge (that’s what it felt like), clogging her brain up and making her feel numb and dizzy. She couldn’t speak, although she was struggling to speak…but couldn’t. Suddenly, she found she was able to scream. So she did - she screamed, the shrill sound bursting out of her throat, and ran from the room, darting through the door like a fox on the run from a pack of hounds. It really was as though she was. At the end of it all, she knew that she might be ripped to shreds and/or eaten by the ‘pack of hounds’.
Ziggy watched her go and sighed. There was really something on his mind. But should he mention it yet? It had to be done sooner or later and perhaps sooner would be better. He knew that she would be shattered when he told her, but all the other lizards would probably find the news most wonderful. Amy was sure to end up crying on her own, as she had done many times in her past. Most times, she had Krusha to sob with her, but not this time. Ziggy just needed an excuse to mention it…
Amy returned a few moments later, a look of shock and somewhat horror on her face, dragging Krusha along behind her. He looked bewildered. "Duh, what?" he asked, looking around the room for any sign of a problem.
"Look, screen, now!" she stammered, covering her eyes with her arm and pointing a trembling claw at the TV. She had, it seemed, adopted Tarzan’s way of speaking briefly. It was only because she was frightened, but Krusha didn’t know what was going on to make her sound so strange. At least those three words made some sense to him.
Krusha looked at her, then at Ziggy, and then at the screen. All he could see on the screen was a Pokémon. A Pokémon that he didn’t really recognise. He scratched his head. Amy sometimes had a tendency to act a little strangely, so maybe this was another one of her little ‘strange’ times. Why would she possibly be so worried about a Pokémon?
"A Pokémon?" he asked, "Duh…what’s so important about that?"
Amy moved her arm away from her face and looked at the screen. "But…he was on there…"she said to herself, almost, moving closer to the screen.
"Duh, was the Pokémon scaring you?" he asked, trying not to say anything wrong while at the same time wondering what on earth had made her so nervous. He was about to find out.
The announcer’s voice came back again. "And here’s the amazing Pokémon that our amazing trainer used to win all of his battles. ‘Solstice’ the Kabutops! We don’t know where he got this amazing Pokémon from, folks, but it’s one Hell of a fighter!"
Amy blinked and her heart missed a beat. A lump formed in her throat. "That’s my Pokémon!" she yelled, moving even closer to the screen so that her snout almost touched it, "Solstice…I knew someone stole him!"
"B-but…who stoled him? Stole…stoled…whatever? I haven’t seen any trainer yet."
"Tell us about your amazing Kabutops, Tobias!" said the announcer, and the camera moved to show a clear picture of the amazing trainer. Krusha jumped for a moment at the sight of this lizard, but soon calmed down. Amy had no idea how he did it, but he didn’t really seem to be affected any more.
"Duh…I’m…dreaming. This is just a nightmare…" he muttered, walking backwards to the door. Amy looked at him, her eyes watery and frightened. He was only just able to hide his fear by now, and so she could tell that he was merely trying to comfort himself. This guy had appeared all of a sudden, bringing nasty memories flooding back to both Krusha and Amy. Memories about what Tobias had done to them and others at the factory. Memories they had tried so hard to kill.
Amy gritted her teeth together, trying to keep as calm as she could for both their sakes. "No…this is real. Regretfully, this is very, very real." She wiped her eyes and gasped. What was Tobias trying to do? He couldn’t have just turned over a new leaf so quickly. It wasn’t possible. He must have entered the League with a pretty good reason.
On the screen, sporting a triumphant grin and waving to the crowd, stood the same dark lizard that they had seen a while ago. He looked exactly the same, if not healthier. His eyes were just as bright, but there was no sign of a black hawk anywhere near him. That felt slightly unusual. But he seemed happy enough as he bowed to his fans, relishing in the attention and praise they were showering him with. He grabbed onto his yin-yang pendant and tugged gently on it, looking down at his feet, as though he had had enough of the attention and just wanted to shut it out all of a sudden. Either that, or his feet were fascinating him. His scales shone in the warm sunlight, and he looked really…well, the only word I could use would be ‘healthy’. He seemed to have had some major changes done to his body, although he didn’t look any different. It was a feeling hard to explain.
The camera zoomed in on his face, and he looked up, smiling. He looked very handsome and young, even more so than when Amy had last seen him. She had dreamt about him several times, but he had always seemed older than this. Of course, he was really the same age since he never grew older, but it was as though…his skin seemed to be clinging tighter to his body. He looked less weathered and eroded, really, as though he had been renewed. Crossing his arms, Tobias looked right in the camera again, and it was as though he was staring directly at Amy. That was what it looked like to her. She found that a headache had formed in her skull. He definitely knew that she was watching.
"Oh God…Krusha this is reality. He wants to come back…that’s definitely him on there, and you are definitely awake."
"What?!" Krusha yelled, rushing back over to the screen for a better view, "How did he…what is he…when did he…"
"I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know…" Amy said, standing up properly and pacing back and forth in worry. How in Heck did Tobias ever have time to get into the League? He couldn’t possibly have won at least eight badges since they last saw him…
"That was an amazing victory! Don’t you have anything to say, Tobias?" Tobias held up a claw to shut the announcer up. It was quite a relief to have the sound of his voice cut off. As he did this, everyone in the audience fell silent also. The dark lizard smiled as they did this. He liked being respected. "All this praise is very kind of you all…but I regret to inform you that I am going to be…dropping out of the League."
It was as though some kind of bomb had hit the stadium. The best competitor ever, and he was dropping out…it didn’t make any sense. None of this made sense to anyone.
"What?!" Amy and Krusha yelled in unison.
"What?!" gasped the announcer.
"What?!" shouted the audience in shock.
Tobias had clearly been expecting that kind of reaction, and he grinned again. He held up a Poké Ball and Solstice, who was staring up at him also in disbelief, was engulfed into it in a beam of red light. Tobias then looked down at the announcer, who was bent forward on his knees at Tobias’ feet.
"Y-you can’t be serious! I mean…that Pokémon of yours is incredible…and I…I…are you CRAZY?!"
"No, I’m not. I’m going to return home to be with…my friends."
"But-but-but-" the announcer stammered, not knowing what to say. He wanted to fly into a rage, telling Tobias that he couldn’t just abandon the League like this, but he didn’t dare. He decided to keep his mouth shut about that, and so just continued to stammer.
Tobias held up a claw to address the crowds of humans/kremlings/apes/etc surrounding him, waiting for him to give a decent reason to drop out of the League. "It was an honor performing for you all, but it’s my time to go. I am going to return home now, and let someone else take the spotlight. Farewell."
"But-"
The announcer didn’t get a chance to say what he was about to say – Tobias was nowhere to be seen. The human slowly stood back up again and looked around, his glasses slipping down his nose. "Sir? SIR??"
Krusha felt so surprised, frightened and confused at the same time that he fell down onto the floor in a sitting position. Amy sat down next to him, and hugged onto his arm. He felt deeply stressed, as she did. He held his head and whined. "His…friends? I…I…you’re not safe…he might come back here."
"I know. He will be coming back. But don’t worry about me-"
"I’ve gotta worry…" he sniffed, looking at her, doing his best to manage a smile, "I…I love you."
"I know." she sighed, hugging his arm tighter. She really enjoyed being reminded of that fact. It gave her confidence, among other things, and despite that Krusha would never be able to protect her from Tobias, he seemed willing to try. "I can protect myself from him. He won’t be able to hurt me. If anything, I’ll need to protect you."
"B-but the last time he was here…" Krusha said, starting to sob slightly, "H-he…and you…and you attacked me and I broke your arm and…I don’t want that to happen again."
"It won’t, Krusha. I’ve got a ghost on my side, haven’t I? Well…according to Klump I have. I’m not sure what he means by it, though…but anyway, Tobias won’t be able to lay a claw on me. I’ll know him when I see him, anyway, even if he comes disguised as a gust of wind or something. I can always feel him…I know where he is…" As she said those words, she found that she had to stop talking. Suddenly, she sensed him close. Or at least closer. She suddenly felt him on the island, and he was coming to the factory. But she didn’t feel him the same way she had felt him before. He didn’t seem as angry…but it was probably only her mind playing with her feelings. Even though that sounds strange, it was the only way she could analyse it. It would only be a matter of time before she met up with Tobias again, and she dreaded it.
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:31:29 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:31:29 GMT 10
Despite her terrible feelings, Amy tried to remain calm and quiet for Krusha’s sake. He seemed upset enough already, so he would end up even worse if she began to pour her feelings out to him.
Just the thought of Tobias…his coldness, how bony he was, how dark and evil. How he had a tendency to groan for no reason, and the exact sound of his voice was echoing in her head. Everything he had said to her was being replayed to her, and it made her dread him further. But she knew that she would be able to drive him away if he even thought about coming back. Of course, he had already thought long and hard about it, and he was going to come back. Amy was frightened of what he might do to her friends. Krusha, Klump, King K. Rool…she was even fearing for her sister’s safety for some reason, even though Tobias had never met her. Nobody was safe from what Tobias might possibly do, and all these thoughts were racing through Amy’s mind as she stared into her cup of coffee, her eyes not seeing the black liquid before her. All she saw was Tobias. Tobias here, Tobias there. Tobias was coming to the factory.
Klump didn’t seem to be too troubled by the thought of Tobias’ return. He hardly seemed to have been affected at all. He just sat at the table, reading through the daily newspaper, commenting upon the contents. Krusha was listening intently to everything that Klump was saying, nodding his head at regular intervals to create the illusion that he actually understood everything that his friend was saying.
"Ooh…I love the advertisements. House cleaners, Italian restaurant…er…pay no attention to that one there…" Klump muttered as he skimmed over the page. Sometimes, Krusha wasn’t sure if the General was talking to himself or to him. From the way he was holding the newspaper, Krusha couldn’t read it anyway.
Amy kept glaring at her coffee as though it was the most interesting thing on earth. Her head was hurting, and that was a sure sign that Tobias was somewhere close. She was so deep in thought that she didn’t realise that her snout was in contact with her coffee until she felt a painful scald.
"OW!!" she screamed, throwing her coffee away from her and into Klump’s face. He had looked up from his newspaper when he heard her scream, and now there was scalding coffee dripping off his face and the newspaper.
"If you don’t get my own dang coffee splashed all over me, ya just use your own!" he yelled, standing up slowly, wiping coffee off himself as he did so, "What’s the matter with you?"
"N-nothing…" she whispered, looking down at her claws that were resting in her lap, palms upturned. She closed her claws until they made two neat little fists and then unclenched them again, feeling her eyes beginning to water. "I want my mum…" she sniffed, closing her eyes tightly.
Klump raised an eyebrow and walked over to her, placing a claw on her shoulder. "Are you Okay?"
"Does it look as though I’m Okay?!" she yelled, standing up, "Leave me alone! I don’t want everyone feeling sorry for me!"
Klump stepped back, slightly afraid. There was definitely something wrong with her. Usually when she acted strangely, something bad was about to happen. Krusha stood up from his chair and leaned both arms on the table. He was less shocked than Klump was, but still slightly surprised.
Amy wiped her eyes and proceeded to sob into her arm, soaking her scales with her salty tears. Now there was a throbbing in her throat, and the pain in her head was increasing in severity. Growling with the pain, she slowly edged towards the door.
"What is it?" Klump asked softly, not moving from his position for fear of being slapped or otherwise abused, "Is it…girl troubles or somethin’? Katy told me all about those-"
"You’re not safe…Tobias is coming back. He’s going to…to…he’s…going to kill…an ape…" As Amy said those words, she slowed down her speaking pace. The words were just creeping out of her mouth, as they had a few times before, because all she was doing was reciting part of the future. Of what was going to happen. She wasn’t even thinking as she said this. She exhaled deeply and held a claw to her head. Whatever had been in her head was gone, and she felt tired. "I’m going to go to…sleep…" she whispered, staggering backwards out of the door. Due to her lack of co-ordination, she ended up sitting on her tail-end on the floor. She instantly slumped back into a laying down position, knees bent slightly, one claw resting gently on her chest. The muscles in her chest suddenly felt raw and painful, like a heart attack of some kind. It was as though her heart was struggling to beat. She felt so weak and helpless, and she couldn’t…think…
As her sight began to fade, she realised that there was a clawed foot only inches from her face. The scales were of a very deep green color, and she assumed that it belonged to a kritter, which it did. The fairly small green lizard held a claw down to her. She had absolutely no energy to even look up at him.
"Need some help, Miss?" he asked in a rather coarse voice, extending his claw down to her. Gasping, she closed her eyes, too tired to do anything. She could barely reply to her new ‘friend’ who was trying to help.
"Get…Krusha…" she gasped. Even her teeth were hurting by now, as were her claws, and even the ring on her right index finger felt sore and irritated. She noticed that the clawed foot had moved.
"Right-ho, ma’am. Don’t go anywhere, Okay?"
As if she’d be going ANYWHERE in this condition.
The kritter darted off into the kitchen, knowing that Krusha had last been seen in there with the General. Of course, Krusha was still there, and pretty soon he was leaning over her, looking ever so concerned. The kritter had joined him, and even Klump was there looking down at her. She actually didn’t realise that all three of them were there. Her head was facing sideways, and it felt so heavy that she couldn’t turn it to look up at her little audience.
All she could see was what was directly in front of her face. She had a nice little view of the kritter’s foot again.
One of them spoke, and another replied, but Amy couldn’t hear them. All she heard was a deep humming. Some kind of droning was all she could hear, but no words made any sense to her.
"Has she eaten anything funny, Sir?" the kritter asked, frantically, desperate to help.
Klump crossed his arms and growled. "Well, she ain’t eaten anything today. I don’t think…"
"Duh, I don’t think she has." Krusha said, looking down at Amy again.
"Why on earth is she having…well, what looks like a little fit? Has she got some kind of problem or something?" the kritter asked, trying to get as much information out of Krusha and Klump as he could, "I want to help you. And her, of course."
"I don’t know…" Krusha sniffed. He bent down and picked Amy up gently, holding her to his chest. Her eyes were closed and her body felt tense and stiff. But she wasn’t dead. Despite that it was very hard to tell, she was breathing still. She sounded as though she had a lung infection or something, as she seemed to be struggling to breathe and each breath was weak and not enough for her body.
"She’s usually rather sane." Klump said, "Except when she…oh well. She is a little bit strange, but we love her for it, don’t we Krusha?"
Krusha only whined in reply. "We need a doctor…" he said, looking at Klump and the kritter in turn, pleading them to do something.
"Let’s just get her to bed, Krusha." Klump said, looking at the frail female lizard that his large friend was holding to his chest, "I mean, she sometimes acts a little bit weird, but she’s fine once she’s rested up a bit. It’d be more logical than callin’ a doctor-"
"DOCTOR!!" Krusha yelled, "She could die!"
"I doubt it, Krusha. She’s never died befo- oh yeah, she has. About…twice, I think. She’s got a tendency to die-"
"Get a doctor then!" Krusha shouted, "Please!"
The kritter nodded dutifully. "Right away, Sir. In the meantime, I suggest you take young madam to her room. And…keep an eye on her."
"Since when are you an expert on her?" Klump said, wondering how the kritter seemed to know so much.
The kritter scowled at that comment, but didn’t reply to the General. He turned around and set off to find the nearest phone. Krusha looked devastated as he rubbed his snout against Amy gently, trying to keep her awake. "Are you Okay? Amy?" he whispered, still rubbing his snout against her. She groaned gently, but that was all. That pathetic sound was music to Krusha’s ears, and he seemed to light up all of a sudden. "Okay…I’m gonna take you to your room, Okay? Then we’ll get a nice doctor, and he can make you better…" He touched her with his snout again and continued talking softly to her as he walked to the elevator that would take them down to the lower factory area where they lived. It was a good enough home for them, and the three resident lizards were quite comfortable living there. Tobias had been their temporary fourth resident lizard, and he would soon take over his little room again. But not yet. Right now, let’s concentrate on what the others are doing.
Klump sighed deeply as he watched Krusha walk to the elevator, holding Amy in his arms. The General began to follow after his friend, prepared to offer any kind of help that he could.
There was clearly something affecting Amy very strongly, stronger than anything that had ever just affected her out of the blue. She was in deep physical and psychological pain, and it was causing her agony. She felt as though the whole of Hell had descended upon her.
And there was more to come. Her pain would not go away, and Tobias would be coming to the factory much sooner than anyone would have hoped. But worse still for Amy at the moment was the devastating news that Ziggy had yet to break to her…
TO BE CONTINUED…
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Tobias
Feb 14, 2008 2:32:05 GMT 10
Post by Krush on Feb 14, 2008 2:32:05 GMT 10
Tobias II : Part 2
By Klumpy
The door slowly opened, and Katy emerged carrying her ‘famous’ blue clipboard. She was scribbling onto it with an old, badly chewed pencil. She was too busy writing to notice that Klump and Krusha were right in front of her, looking very concerned. She tutted gently and looked up to face Klump. The General looked very nervous. "Is she Okay?"
Krusha looked down at Katy, even more concerned than Klump was. He was hoping that Katy wasn’t holding some bad news from them.
It took her a while to register that Klump had asked her a question. She attached her pencil to her clipboard and placed her right claw on her hip, holding her clipboard in her left claw. "Oh yeah, she’s just fine. She’s A-Okay."
"Then why is she so ill?" Krusha whined, trying to see into the room that Katy had just emerged from, "I bet Tobias did it…he’s gonna kill her!"
"Now now, calm down. I’m sure it ain’t that dramatic." Klump said, trying to comfort his friend, "Maybe she’s just…um…"
"She isn’t pregnant, if that’s what you think." Katy said, holding her clipboard to her chest, "And…who’s Tobias?"
"Pregnant? Duh, what’s that?"
Klump was surrounded by several different conversations at once. This was very confusing. He removed his helmet. "Is it Okay if Krusha goes to visit her or somethin’? I mean, either that or he’ll wet himself with worry." Just as he had hoped, this caused the other lizards to be quiet and listen.
Katy smiled sweetly and nodded at Krusha. "Of course you may visit her." she said. She then looked across at Klump and grinned. "And I’ll want to be seeing you too, General."
Klump didn’t know what she meant at first, but soon caught on. He crossed his arms and grinned back at her. "Of course, nurse."
Krusha whimpered. "I’ll…go and see her then…see you later…" He walked forward into the room and gently closed the door so as not to make a sound.
Klump watched as Krusha vanished, and then turned his attention back to Amy’s older sister. So far as the sisters were concerned, Klump felt he was the lucky one. After all, he had Amy’s sister, whom he saw as much more attractive than Amy herself. Of course, this was what Katy liked to believe too. She placed the clipboard neatly on the floor and stepped towards Klump, hands on her hips. She blinked slowly, showing Klump how pretty her eyes were. Of course, he already knew this, but he loved it when she showed herself off to him. It helped him to think that he was worth all this showing off.
"Hello, Sir…" she said softly, snaking her arms around his neck, "What are your orders, O great one?"
Klump couldn’t help but feel really important. He grinned as though he would never stop. He put an arm around her and held her tight. "You’re comin’ with me, you pretty young thing…"
"Oh, I’m pretty young?"
"No…I mean…you’re pretty and young."
"Oh, thankyou my love." she said, nuzzling her face up to his, "What do you wish of me, O master?"
"Well…I can’t think of anything…" Klump said, pretending to think as hard as he could. He scratched his chin and clenched his teeth. As if this kind of decision was so hard for him…it wasn’t, of course.
"Well?" she purred, licking his snout, "Do hurry, my Lord."
"Very well. I’ve decided. You’re comin’ with me!" he said, putting on a slightly evil voice. He suddenly grabbed onto her and began to carry her away in his arms. Katy hadn’t really been expecting this, so she squeaked with shock. "Oh no! Please let go of me, you evil thing!" she said, trying to pull away from him, playfully. She gently tapped his face in an attempt to ‘fight back’.
"It’s no good resistin’, Katy." he growled gently, and he continued to carry her away. To his room.
***
Krusha began to sob with happiness and relief as Amy opened her tired eyes. She looked very ill, and she didn’t even smile at first when she saw him. She didn’t even remember who he was to begin with. He just looked like a blue blur…and even as her eyes focused on him, she didn’t recognise him very well.
"I’m so glad you’re Okay…" Krusha said, placing a claw on Amy’s stomach, "I thought you’d died…and then I would have been upset, and-"
"No…it’s…Okay…I’m just fine…" Amy muttered these words instinctively, and turned her head to face this ‘unfamiliar’ lizard. She smiled slightly, and groaned. "Oh…Tobias…"
There was a moment of silence. Krusha moved his face closer to hers. He didn’t understand what she had just said, but it sounded bad to him. "Amy…what’s wrong?" He began to stroke her stomach gently, making her groan again. She closed her eyes and sighed happily. "Are you Okay? Amy?" Krusha nudged his snout against her face. She didn’t actually seem to be awake at all. She seemed…dead. There was something very weird about it. Everything seemed to be somewhat weird at the moment.
Ziggy looked out from under Amy’s bed, nervously. The human head seemed rather concerned. His forehead was lined with worry. "What’s wrong wit’ ‘er?" he asked, looking at Krusha for some kind of answer. Krusha growled deep in his throat. He couldn’t stand Ziggy, not even when he was being considerate about someone else. The lizard looked down at the head, angrily.
"Go away! I want to be with her!" he yelled. Not even that loud yelling woke Amy out of her little ‘trance’.
Ziggy growled back at Krusha and looked at him straight in the eyes. "I need to tell toots sometin’, and da sooner I tell ‘er-"
"Go away now! You can talk to her later!"
"Ooh, scary. I’m gonna hafta leave…you’re frightenin’ me too much…" Ziggy growled, making sure that Krusha noticed that he was being sarcastic.
"Get out or I’ll kick you out!"
"Fine, fine…I’m goin’…" Ziggy hopped over towards the door, but discovered that it was closed. He growled again and hopped back over to the bed. "Da door’s closed-"
Krusha yelled angrily and picked the head up. He opened the door ferociously and threw the head out into the hall, slamming the door again. "Argh! Horrible head! If I ever…" He stopped his little anger-spree when he looked back over at Amy. She seemed so angelic and innocent. The sight of her resting peacefully on the bed made him feel calm again. Her breathing was barely noticeable, as her chest didn’t seem to rise up all that much when she inhaled. She opened her eyes again, and seemed to actually see Krusha at last. Krusha smiled and bounded over to where she was. He sat down on her bed, taking great care not to squash her as he did so. "Are you Okay?"
"Yes, I’m just fine…" Amy groaned, trying to sit up. She felt as though her brain had swollen up and become too heavy for her to lift her head. She often felt as though her head was too heavy for her body, especially when she had one of her little ‘weird periods’. She fell back down onto the pillow and looked at Krusha sitting on the bed, looking as handsome as ever. "Come here, sweetheart…" she whispered, holding out her arms. Since she couldn’t move over to him herself, this was the best she could do. Krusha moved closer to her, and laid his chin down onto her stomach. She looked down at him, and reached down to stroke his head. "Closer, darling…"
"Huh?" Krusha lifted his chin off her stomach and looked at her. He was certain he’d squash her if he got any closer. "But…duh, what if I squash you? I wouldn’t wanna do that…"
"Krusha, we’ve done this before. You didn’t squash me then, and you won’t squash me now…come up here."
Krusha quite liked that answer, and he shifted himself onto her, resting his chin on her chest this time. "Now?"
"Yeah…that’s just fine…" Amy sighed, scratching the back of his head. He was very sensitive in-between the spikes on his head, and he squealed gently as she gently ran her claws along his delicate scales. He put his arms around her and closed his eyes, deeply relaxed at that moment. Amy closed her eyes, too, breathing softly. "I need…your love…my darling…" she said, kissing his snout.
Krusha didn’t open his eyes. He was too relaxed. "Duh…you’ve always got my love."
"I need it very much…right about now…I’m so…lonely…"
Krusha slowly opened his eyes at last. He made sure that his chin was pressing into her chest as hard as possible, but without hurting her. "I’m close to you now…" he said, nuzzling deeper into her soft chest.
Amy stopped scratching his head and sighed. She opened her eyes. "I feel…far away. I don’t feel as though I’m even on earth any more. I’m far away…I’m floating…like a little cloud."
Krusha began to whine as soon as he realised that his little ‘treatment’ had ended. He lifted his head and looked into her face. She looked worried, and for a moment he wondered why. As he thought, he came across his own little reason to worry. He had almost forgotten about Tobias in his happiness. He sighed deeply, as he felt suddenly deflated. He let his head gently rest in Amy’s chest again. "Duh…and what are we going to do?"
"About what?" Amy asked, closing her eyes.
"Tobias, I mean…he’ll be coming back."
"Oh, he won’t hurt me. He doesn’t scare me. I can knock his head off if I want…"
Krusha instantly raised his head again. Once again, she was rambling on and on. Her little ‘weird periods’ often included a few sessions of ‘babbling on’, as Amy liked to call it. It basically meant that she would speak a little bit of complete nonsense and not really realise what she was saying.
Krusha lifted himself completely off her small body. "Duh…can I get you anything? Hungry, thirsty? Anything?"
Amy smiled and sat up with him. She held onto his arm and kissed it. Krusha looked down at her, and she grinned back at him. "I need you, my sweetheart. That’s all I need…" she said, kissing his arm again.
He felt a tingle spread through the whole of his body as she kissed him, and he tensed himself up. She liked the reaction he had given her, and so she kissed him again, making him squeal. There was something very appealing about making such a big lizard squeal. Or, for that matter, do anything that seemed too…soft for them to do. Squealing, squeaking, groaning, moaning, and even little grunts were all music to Amy’s ears when Krusha made them, so long as he wasn’t in pain. It helped her feel as though she was in control.
"Stay with me…" she said, kissing the back of his hand, "I need company right now…support."
Krusha turned to face her and put his arms around her again. "I’ll be your company…"
Amy sighed happily and snuggled up to his chest, enjoying the warmth of this hug. "I hoped you’d say that…"
Krusha held her tightly and began to slowly lean sideways on the bed, taking her with him. She giggled slightly and kissed his chest. Her little ‘weird period’ was over…for now.
***
"Aaah…peace…"
In a fairly clear area of the jungle, King K. Rool’s son had found a nice place to relax. He sat himself down gently on the ground and leaned himself up against a large tree. It was a very nice day – warm, pleasantly humid…and nobody else in sight. A nice little opportunity for Khris to catch some peace and quiet. He didn’t even have much of a reason to be on his own. He just felt…surrounded. He just needed to get away for a while. And this might be the only chance he was going to get. Everything was so relaxing…
"Hey, croc-boy!" yelled a voice from just behind him.
Khris leapt a mile (not literally, thank goodness) and stood up suddenly. He turned around to see who was there. Nobody he had seen before. An ape. A male ape, possibly Khris’ age. Behind the ape stood about five other simians, and they all looked rather ticked off.
"Er…what?" Khris asked, not feeling at all frightened of the apes that were closing in around him. Just slightly irritated that they had interrupted his peace. He looked at each ape in turn, and finally at the male ape that had spoken to him earlier. Or rather, yelled at him earlier. This ape seemed to be the leader of this little gang. He held up a hand and spoke again. "Look, lizard-boy, you’re trespassing on our turf." There was a menace in his voice, and he took another large step towards the lizard in front of him. The only lizard in the area. All the other ape gang-members were…well…apes, of course. One female ape grinned a very menacing grin, trying to make Khris feel uneasy.
"You must be pretty stupid…trespassing into our part of the jungle." she hissed.
"Hey, he’s just a kid, after all." the leader sblack personed.
Khris growled at the leader, taking a step backwards. He crashed into another ape as he did this, but didn’t even dream of apologising. The offended ape grabbed onto Khris’ arm and tugged on it. "Hey, you ain’t goin’ nowhere, kid!"
"Will you please let go of my arm?" Khris growled again, trying to keep the gang as calm as possible, "I didn’t know I was trespassing. Therefore, I beg your forgiveness-"
"Hey boss!" yelled the ape holding onto his arm, "This kid’s got an attitude problem!"
The leader sneered and took a few strides over to where Khris stood, being firmly held in place. The ape crossed his arms and looked up at Khris. He actually hadn’t realised how big this lizard was. "I don’t want any kids coming around here with bad attitude."
"Look, let me go and I’ll-"
"No excuses, kid! I think we need to take you with us for a while…you need to learn some manners, I think." The leader beckoned to the other ape, who was still holding Khris’ arm, telling him to bring their prisoner along with them.
"Aww…how cute! What can we use him for, LJ?" asked another female ape. She was definitely wearing too much make-up. It seemed as though she couldn’t possibly have looked worse with no make-up at all. Her lips were bright red, and her long fingernails were of a matching color. She appeared to be one of those ‘leather-lovers’, as this was the only material she was wearing. Her clothes were far too revealing for any sense.
"Hey, who gets him first?" jeered the female who had been speaking earlier. Her hair was clearly dyed blonde, and she was also wearing leather gear.
"I’ll have him!" giggled another female with wild red hair. She had several rings on each of her fingers, and a tattoo on her bare stomach. Khris didn’t know which of the three females was worst.
As the leader opened his mouth to speak again, he was cut short. He had noticed something ahead of them…above them. He yelled loudly and ducked down, holding his arms over his head. "ARGH!!" he yelled, "We’re under attack!"
"Huh?" said the ape holding onto Khris’ arm. He turned around and screamed as well, letting go of his hostage. "What in Hell is that?!"
The three female apes scattered out of the clearing, knocking branches out of their way as they fled, but Khris didn’t know what on earth was happening. "What? What’s going on?" he asked, getting knocked aside by another male ape – one who had not yet spoken to him.
As Khris looked around frantically, a large black bird flew over his head. He didn’t notice it at first, but as soon as he did…he didn’t feel frightened. He turned around to look at it and its wonderful, striking appearance. He crossed his arms and smiled as it picked out the gang leader and made after him, or at least in his direction. It was almost totally black…but its stomach was yellow and the tips of its wings were red. There were wild yellow feathers going down the back of its neck, and it had strong, black, hooked talons. It cawed loudly as it hurtled through the sky, making a dive for the leader. The ape screamed and crawled over to a bush to take cover. "Tanner! Get this thing away from me!" he yelled.
A male ape yelled back "I can’t do anything, LJ! You’ll have to save yourself!"
Khris looked over at this ‘Tanner’ ape, and then back at the leader. He grunted. "Bye." And then he was off, dashing through the jungle, using his instincts to guide him back home. That bird seemed somewhat familiar…he must have been thinking about that little bird Tobias used to have, but it wasn’t nearly as big. He hadn’t wanted to stay to find out more. That was one part of the jungle he had never been to before, and he wasn’t going to be going there again. As he ran, the strangled cries of the ape gang leader slowly faded from his hearing.
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