//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Rusty Walrus and the Jackal // Story: A new world, A new horde // by TSLsmokey //------------------------------// Igloo Lab Thinker/Shock 10:04 AM "Whoa... This feels good," Sitrus said, starting to vibrate with the effects of the sugar. "And this is just the beginning," I replied with a little grin. "What- holy Arceus..." He gasped. I mentally agreed. I felt my mind start to speed up at an incredible rate and judging from his expression he was feeling the same exact thing. "This... this is amazing!" He yelled and jumped in the air, only to crash right into the ceiling and fall flat on his face. "The energy! I feel like I could take on Lord Zapdos!" "Tone it down a notch. Come on, we've got work to do." I started to walk out of the kitchen but stopped to stare at something odd. "Is it just me... Or is the bottle floating?" Sitrus stepped up to it and looked closely. "It's not just you... It's actually falling really slowly. You think we might have had too much?" "Maybe. I have a couple ideas that we can actually pull off now. We're going fast enough that they can't see us anymore." I turned and walked out of the kitchen towards the lab again. "How? They aren't able to watch us. They aren't in the room with us," he asked, following me closely. I chuckled and motioned to what Experiment had shown me the day before. The cameras scattered along the ceiling. "If they're in a certain room they will be able to. Now come on." I outlined my plan and while he didn't get part of it at first he slowly began to chuckle as well. "The last time you tried something remotely like this it messed with Leader's head, right?" "Yup. With the stuff we've got access to it's going to work even better now." Igloo Lab Security Room "And there they go. I can't even see them now," Experiment mumbled, watching the screens. The three ponies stared as the forms of the Pikachu turned into yellow blurs as they started moving faster than the naked eye could see. "Now then... Let's check on Jackal. I'll be surprised if the lad isn't awake yet." He turned towards one of the other screens after prodding Heavy to keep an eye on the lab. Just in case anything went wrong, he wanted somepony to have an eye on it. Looking at the screen showing Jackal's cell, he frowned for a second. He then grinned and started panning around the maze-like interior of the lab. "Vat are you doing?" Red Cell asked, seeing what he was doing. "Jackal isn't in his cell. It seems he took our bait and is now lost in the maze of the lab. If we can convince him he won't get out without our help, we might get some information from him," Experiment said, switching the cameras constantly to find the Pegasus. They stopped on a screen as they finally caught him and... something wasn't exactly right. Experiment got a worried look on his face and Red Cell started chuckling evilly. "My word... What is that thing chasing him? And which one of the kitchens did he steal that from?!" Experiment wondered while Red Cell laughed. Heavy took a look over at the monitor, shrugged and looked back at the Pikachu constructing a strange device. He could just barely make out the shapes through the yellow blurs speeding through the labs. As he watched the device take shape, a small book caught his eye. He picked it up and opened it, hoping for a good read. What he got instead was Experiment’s observation notebook. Igloo Lab Lab maze Five minutes earlier Jackal opened his eyes to find himself in a small, damp room. Like the other parts of this lab it had metal plating on the walls, ceiling and floor. Adorning its interior was a small bed, a trough and a sink. In essence, a jail cell... just without the iron bars. "Gits," he muttered as he started searching for a way out. He'd escaped from many jails before and he was certain this would be no different. But this Experiment pony. He seemed smarter than the average guard. No doubt this would not be an easy- -click-. "..." Jackal pushed the door open, holding back laughter. "He left the jail cell unlocked. He's supposedly a clever inventor and he left the door unlocked." With a gleeful laugh, he bolted out the door and started racing down the hallways. Every time he came to a turn he took it in his bid for freedom. Unfortunately the more he turned, the more lost he became. And he didn't even realize it. He soon slowed to a stop, panting heavily. "Why did he design this blasted place like this? It makes no sense and it's confusing as Tar- huh?" He broke off, hearing a thump from behind him. As he turned towards the sound, he frowned. There was only a wall there. Another thump echoed and the wall dented inward. He started backing up as the wall dented in even further. With the next thump, the wall shattered and a strange walrus broke into the hallway. Unlike normal walruses it was blue with white rings around its neck. It also had what looked like white ruffles on the top of its head right above its yellow eyes and a fantastic white mustache right below them. And of course the most unsettling aspect about it was the white fangs descending from its maw. "What?" The walrus exclaimed joyfully, "Wal! Walrein Wal Walrein!" and Jackal noticed one last thing. The walrus was clutching a knife and had a chef hat on top of its white ruffles. With another joyous yell, the walrus began chasing him down the hallway with him screaming for his life. All thoughts of exhaustion vanishing as he ran from the hungry walrus. "Walrein!" A loud thump caused him to look as he was running and his yelling intensified. The walrus was now encased in a ball of ice and rolling at a high speed towards him. With a flap of his wings he left the ground and began flying through the hallways in an attempt to evade it. Security Room Igloo Lab Present time "We need to get that thing isolated and fast. We can't have it chasing him into another lab but we also can't let him die. Heavy, get over here and stand by the door buttons. We won't have many shots at this before he gets to a dead end or they get to a lab," Experiment directed. "Red Cell, hop on another camera monitor and help me figure out where we can try splitting the two apart." Heavy and Red Cell did as they were told, with Heavy dropping the journal on the page where he had been reading. "What are buttons for, doctor?" he asked, hovering his hooves over them. "They are for built-in security doors. If we time this right we can shut one between the walrus as well as Jackal. Time it wrong and we either shut the door behind the walrus or... in front of him." "Ah! 53B!" Red Cell called out. "Right. Red Cell. Heavy! On my mark." Heavy quickly moved his hoof over the button and left it about a centimeter above it. "Not yet...." The two got closer to the door, Jackal screaming his head off all the way. "Little closer... Little closer... Now!" Heavy slammed his hoof down on button and the door slammed shut between Jackal and the walrus. "Success!" They turned to the monitors and Experiment slammed his hoof into his forehead. Bad idea as it sent him reeling back with a nice red bump on his forehead now. The walrus was beginning to attack the door. His tusks were strong enough to actually pierce it and Jackal began scrambling away from it. Another swipe and the door was caved halfway in. With a terrified heave he pulled himself to his hooves and started to take flight again as the walrus tore through the door, continuing the chase. As the walrus continued the chase, it released a burst of icy wind. As it hit Jackal, he faltered and slowed down. "Vait? Vat's going on? He's slowing down? Looks as if he is in pain as vell." "If I had to guess -ow- it would appear that this sort of wind not only will damage the target but cause the muscles to slow down and thus slow the target down," Experiment responded, rubbing a snowball against his head. "Where are they on the map monitor?" Red Cell checked another monitor close-by the first one and said, "Close to the lab. It seems Shock and Archimedes aren't there anymore." "WHAT?! Where are they?" "I don't know, quit shaking me!" Experiment let her go as he darted back to the monitors. He was starting to panic now. First the walrus breaks through his steel doors, which were going to cost a fortune to replace, and now his guests were missing. "Found little mice!" Heavy's voice called out. He yelped as Experiment shoved him aside to look at the monitor. They were standing in front of Jackal and appeared to be talking with the walrus. "What on Equus?" Experiment breathed. He grabbed his notebook, right out of Heavy's hooves to Heavy's dismay, and began writing in it. "It appears that the Pikachu possess some sort of capability of speaking with this strange walrus. They seemed to be able to understand the other sleeping Pokemon snores as well so it must be assumed that they can understand the other members of their species outside of the Pikachu race. With this theory it must be assumed that there is a great number of total Pokemon subspecies and that they can understand one another to a certain degree at least, the amount being unknown at this point in time. A database must be constructed so I can keep track of the amount that I come across. Image alone may not be enough if some look like the others as it seems that the subspecies might have differences between the genders judging by the tails of Shock and the other Pikachu he carried in. Statistics such as average height, weight, and hoof- no that's not exactly accurate. The Pikachu have paws and that strange walrus has flippers. Whatever they use to walk will be taken into account alongside previously noted statistics." He closed the book and set it back in Heavy's hooves, with a very happy grin gracing Heavy's face. "It looks like their talks have broken down." Red Cell noted. The walrus started charging again but it didn't make it a foot before the two Pikachu shocked it with lightning. This in turn shocked Experiment and Red Cell. "Now here I thought they just had a little shocking reflex to whenever their cheeks were touched but it appears they are capable of not only actively using that lightning but precisely controlling it as well!" He grabbed the notebook again from Heavy and started writing down his observations, including the part where the walrus tipped over on its side with little birds flying around its head. Meanwhile, Shock and Archimedes turned to Jackal and began checking to see if he was alright. The monitors didn't play the sound so it was unclear what was going on. Jackal first started by panicking, then became calm. After a bit where it seemed he didn't understand what they were saying, he seemed to get the gist of it and nodded his head. In turn, both Shock and Archimedes extended their paws to Jackal who shook one with his hoof. Of course Experiment missed it but it was on recording for later. And then Heavy noticed one thing. "Oh sweet Celestia," he whispered, zooming in a camera on his heavy weapon in the lab. After a bit of examination he glared at the screen with the Pikachu. "They touched my gun!" The Pikachu hopped at the yell and turned to look down the hallway. Experiment and Red Cell cleaned their ears out a bit and glared at Heavy. "What? They did!"