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Entry tags:
Fishy Crime - Action Log
Who: Ted and Sora
What: Going down the rabbit hole to search for a stolen fish
When: 10:00 pm
Where: Genessia City (night)
Warnings: Crack
Ted's latest investigation was proving to be a mysterious one. How on earth did someone steal a fish from an aquarium without the security cameras noticing? He'd been thorough enough. The footage showed no evidence of tampering. It didn't swivel from spot to spot and create blind openings for swift criminals to move under. One moment, the rare moon fish was there, and the next, it had vanished like a fairy.
When all reasonable approach failed, Ted turned to the mystical. True, that was more Fayren's forte than Genessia's. Nonetheless, something smelled...fishy. Time to trawl the city and see what he dug up. For instance: why would anyone want a moon fish, no matter how rare? What value could it have outside an aquarium?
His usual contacts hardly knew. No one had fenced a fish. The significance of the specimen seemed of interest only to marine biologists, and they couldn't recall any suspicious characters in that profession. Even the method of the theft was someone none could shed light on.
Just as well. With a heavy sigh, he walked out of the bar, having interviewed what patrons he could. Drat; he needed a lead. He looked up to the night sky, seeing a half moon. Moon...moon fish. Could the relation be a celestial one?
The city was quiet that night. Like the moon, the streets and sidewalks were festooned with minor, small lights. The air was warm, with an inviting, mischievous atmosphere. It seemed a lovely evening, where hardly a soul stirred.
It all shattered like glass upon hearing a very peculiar sound: "Mooooehhh." What on earth? He ran to find the source. He dashed into a nearby street corner, whereupon he found an equally peculiar sight. A black and white young calf, not even a week old, groaning pathetically while being carried off by a man in a shimmering, gauzy robe.
"Shh! Stupid beast; would've gagged you by now. But noooo; no bindings allowed till the ritual, Master says. Pshaw."
Then the sight turned stranger still. Before Ted could interject, the man carrying the cow stole into a patch of supernal moonlight, and was gone. Vanished into thin air. Just as, perhaps, the moon fish did! What could this mean? Were they related? He had to pursue this invisible man carrying this precious calf.
Yet he wasn't the only one who'd heard that young moo...
What: Going down the rabbit hole to search for a stolen fish
When: 10:00 pm
Where: Genessia City (night)
Warnings: Crack
Ted's latest investigation was proving to be a mysterious one. How on earth did someone steal a fish from an aquarium without the security cameras noticing? He'd been thorough enough. The footage showed no evidence of tampering. It didn't swivel from spot to spot and create blind openings for swift criminals to move under. One moment, the rare moon fish was there, and the next, it had vanished like a fairy.
When all reasonable approach failed, Ted turned to the mystical. True, that was more Fayren's forte than Genessia's. Nonetheless, something smelled...fishy. Time to trawl the city and see what he dug up. For instance: why would anyone want a moon fish, no matter how rare? What value could it have outside an aquarium?
His usual contacts hardly knew. No one had fenced a fish. The significance of the specimen seemed of interest only to marine biologists, and they couldn't recall any suspicious characters in that profession. Even the method of the theft was someone none could shed light on.
Just as well. With a heavy sigh, he walked out of the bar, having interviewed what patrons he could. Drat; he needed a lead. He looked up to the night sky, seeing a half moon. Moon...moon fish. Could the relation be a celestial one?
The city was quiet that night. Like the moon, the streets and sidewalks were festooned with minor, small lights. The air was warm, with an inviting, mischievous atmosphere. It seemed a lovely evening, where hardly a soul stirred.
It all shattered like glass upon hearing a very peculiar sound: "Mooooehhh." What on earth? He ran to find the source. He dashed into a nearby street corner, whereupon he found an equally peculiar sight. A black and white young calf, not even a week old, groaning pathetically while being carried off by a man in a shimmering, gauzy robe.
"Shh! Stupid beast; would've gagged you by now. But noooo; no bindings allowed till the ritual, Master says. Pshaw."
Then the sight turned stranger still. Before Ted could interject, the man carrying the cow stole into a patch of supernal moonlight, and was gone. Vanished into thin air. Just as, perhaps, the moon fish did! What could this mean? Were they related? He had to pursue this invisible man carrying this precious calf.
Yet he wasn't the only one who'd heard that young moo...
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His thoughts, however, were distracted by the sound of something he had not expected to hear; the call of a cow. “Huh?” Sora’s arms dropped down to his sides and he looked ahead and found nothing immediately suspicious in sight, but still, hearing a cow on the main street did sound suspicious.
There was part of him that was tired, after a long day at work, but the better part of him was far more interested in this super mysterious-mystery! He already had a grin on his face as he rushed ahead with a soft pat-pat-pat of his shoes on the ground. He turned a corner and found someone else immediately there, and he let out a soft yelp. “Wah?!”
Wait, he knew this person! “Ted?!”
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This put Ted in an anxious predicament with such opposing influences. He's happy to see Sora out and about in three dimensions! Or would be, if he weren't in the context of a criminal investigation. Putting the youthful in those gives him hives. What's worse, his arrival and outburst spurred his person of interest into flight.
He resolved all these contradictory feelings by smiling, giving Sora a hard "shh!", then trying the paradox of giving pursuit while being subtle about it. It would be a hard chase; whenever the man he sought was under the open air, he was totally concealed by moonlight. Whenever he wasn't, darkness was his cloak. A difficult one to spot in any case. Fortunately, the intermittent cries of the calf would betray his position should the trail run too cold.
Ted would've told Sora to stay put and let him handle this alone, but time and silence being of the essence, he'd simply hope he conveyed that wish implicitly.
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Besides, Ted sure did him a solid on the fact that Riku was here, and so he definitely owes Ted one. Too bad Riku had gone and disappeared but, at least Sora knew that his friend was alright. That's a comfort.
There was another cow-cry and Sora's arms dropped down to his sides before his eyes narrowed ahead, past Ted. "What's going on?" He whispered, loudly.
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An eerie place, especially in the dead of night. The cries of the cow were no more, leaving Ted to consider his next move, hiding under cover of overgrown brush. It was then that he'd noticed Sora had tagged along too.
"Sora?" he asked in an astonished whisper. "What the devil are you here for?" Then he remembered it was rude to answer questions with questions.
"I'm looking into...whatever's going on in there. Certainly no place for boys. Good night!"
That never works, but you can't blame him for trying.
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Sora brought a hand up to scratch at his cheek. "So, you're following someone who took a baby cow to this place. What is this place?" Might as well catch Sora up to speed. "Kind of a weird guy, right?" Sora's eyes narrowed. "Well, there's only one thing we ought to do in a situation like this." For some reason calling Dante was not on the top of his list. "We better go inside and ask him just what he thinks he's doing."
He was somewhat crouched down next to Ted, but he really didn't care if he was seen or not, he's up for a chase. After all, it's been a while since he's gotten any action here and it was about high time!
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It was asked rhetorically, Ted sizing up the joint. By now he could spot willfulness that wouldn't budge no matter how stern or concerned for another's safety he was. The only real choice he had was whether to forcefully restrain Sora for his own good, or take a personal stake in security. He's feeling chancy today, so he opts for the latter. It was only a one-star, after all. Those usually aren't that dangerous. Usually. He sighed.
"All right, but follow my lead. Don't pick a fight until there's no other option. Some times these go peacefully." Very seldom, and a brawl wouldn't go amiss. Who knows what's going on in there? Trying to look natural, Ted forsook the cover to approach the door, finding another cloaked man much bigger than the first. XXL shirt size, no question.
Surprisingly, the man smiled. "You two's thems that's chasing me mate, aye?" Ted grinned sheepishly. "Ahah, yes, something like that." The man spread his arms, then grasped Ted in a large bear hug.
"Welcome to the club! I always sayin', how's we's supposed to get new members being all secret-like, eh? You're just in time; they's startin' up the ritual right now. Better get in 'fore then, lest you wanna get left out of the End of Days. Really good timing, I tell you what. There's robe in the front; help yourself."
Ted has little idea what to make of this. What kind of doorman extends an invitation to just anyone who waltzes in? Was this a trap?
Probably, but he'd rather fall into one than kick the door down, guns blazing.
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Sora followed Ted's lead, once again, his mind still up in space on a little planet he called Deep Jungle, why? Well, for one thing that's what it was called and the other thing, it was a deep jungle. Tarzan, wild animals, cheetah thing.. it was wild. Real wild!
Once they near the building Sora held his hands behind his back and watched for Ted's invitation to proceed closer. What he wasn't expecting, likely Ted either, was the doorman to address them both so amicably. Sora felt a bit uneasy about this whole thing but he was going to stick it out for Ted. The most important thing here was to avoid getting hurt but also to be there to support your friends and Sora was in it for the long haul. Most definitely! "Robe?" Sora whispered to Ted as they left the doorman behind. He wasn't sure but he didn't expect to be walking into a steam house.
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They came into the hall, where what looked like cult members of all shapes and signs were gathered. Each one had a silver, glittering robe on, embroidered with glimmering yellow crescents around the waist. Ted motioned to get one off the aforementioned rack, and don them to fit in.
"Superstitious apparel", Ted whispered. "They're speaking apopleptically enough. We're here for the Moon Fish first, and that absconded calf. Let's mingle, and see what we can find. Holler if trouble comes." He almost went to begin getting information, before doubling back to Sora.
"Oh, and don't eat or drink anything. No telling what these occultists ingest."
Two heads were better than one, so off he went. It was a humble soiree, with normal-looking side dishes and punch along a wide bench. There was lunar iconography everywhere: pearlescent orbs and yellow semicircles dotted all corners. The conversation in the atmosphere was interesting.
"So this will really put the sun out? For good?"
"I should hope so. I didn't join up for nothing!"
"But don't we need that to...live?"
"Don't get cold feet now! Moon's all we need and Selene's gonna usher that in to reign the skies forever. Just gotta make the sacrifice, that's all."
"All right. I suppose these robes are very pretty..."
A few minutes after Ted left, the man they'd been chasing spotted Sora amidst the crowd. Boy was he furious!
"Hey!" He stomped toward the teen. "You were one of the ones chasing me! Who let you in! Where's the other one, huh? Did you call the police?"
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Second of all, stop using big words. Apoo-something and absconer? Right over the teen’s head.
Third of all, he can’t even eat or drink anything?! This blows, this blows so hard. Sora follows Ted begrudgingly and the grimace on his face is indicative of Sora’s regrets. This was going to be such a lame party! Where was the cow? What were these people doing? What were they talking about? Selene who?
Sora jumped at the sudden barrage of words at his direction and he turned his head wide eyed and affronted at the man making a scene. “What?! Hey!” Sora wasn’t about to take this on top of everything else that was happening. “I’m wearing the dress aren’t I?!” He gestured to himself as if that was his identification for: I belong. He then pointed at the man. “Calm yourself down, mister, we’re all in this together.. Look around you! We ALL followed each other here!” Sora had a point, or so he thought, he wasn’t about to put up with this after a long day of work and having to show up at this non-edible party.
“Now, where’s the fish! Huh? I’m ready to see some Moon Magic!” He had no idea what he was saying but what he gathered from the whispers and idle chatter around him, they were ALL here for some moon magic.
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"They're robes, first off. I didn't see you wearing them when you came in! Awfully suspicious that you've got them now. Almost like--"
Ted to the rescue! He jostled forward once he hard the commotion. "Easy, friend, we spoke with the doorman. We were so taken with your proceedings that we really couldn't help ourselves."
"What a load of-!"
At that moment, a firm paternal hand descended on each of their shoulders. It came from a man whose robe was more dazzling and glorious than the rest, as though it were spun from moonlight itself. The man chuckled in good humor, and his voice betrayed his age, mirthful though he was.
"Brethren, calm yourselves. These two youths are welcome in our assembly. I can tell they are eager for the dawn of a new era, with our days guided by the moon forevermore. We are all attracted by the same silver light, are we not?"
The crowd all treated this elder voice with deep respect. Murmurs of anxious approval stirred. The jocund, giant doorman had come in with a hearty "Hear hear!"
"Good!", their leader responded. "And since the youth is so eager, I don't see any reason to waste any more time. Let's proceed to the main chamber, brethren, and bid farewell to the Last Day."
Excitement buzzed through the cultists, evidently surprised to see the climax so soon. Ted shared a look that was both anxious, yet excited. Looks like they'd finally see what this was all about.
Deferential, the elder pushed open two twin doors to the back, leading to a black, dark room irradiated with lesser light. It had all the pomp and resplendence of a movie theater. In the center shone one massive drawn circle, with four smaller ones spread evenly apart. The calf was tied to one, facing opposite a large fish tank. Inside was the rare Moon Fish Ted had been seeking all along.
Now they just had to get them out...
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Sora bit his bottom lip as he filed in the room after one silver-robe and another behind him to follow. The cow was the first thing he noticed and the second was the strange fish. “Huh.” He made a soft little noise in the back of his throat. Someone next to him was vibrating, evidently excited to see the cow and fish, Sora gave the member a look before he turned to find Ted in the crowd. Once he found the blond he made for his friend.
There was still chatter around them, albeit hushed, but once Sora got to Ted his own voice contributed to the noise in the room with a soft: “What is happening?”
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"Brethren! We are assembled today to bring forth the dawn of a new era. For too long the merciless, cruel sun has battered our bodies with scorching rays and blinding light unending! No more!"
A cheer erupted from the crowd.
"We are not ignorant, brothers. We know that the moon is our mother, not that burning, hellish sphere above! Yet her birthright as ruler of our world has been usurped by that hateful sun!"
They booed, as if on cue.
"Down with Apollos! Up with Selene, our true god! No more shall the summers scorch and burn. Moonlight eternal shall reign in the heavens! Prepare the ritual!"
Candles began to light as two cultists went round the room's perimeter. The calf made muffled peals to no avail.
"To the west: the a moon-calf, born on a half-moon night! To the east, a Moon fish, for obvious reasons. Now we need only one of light, and one of dark. Selene has blessed us this night for two such sacrifices."
The room had taken on a sinister glow, now that the candles were full and burning. All eyes were on Sora and Ted. The elder's in particular seemed to glow with devilish avarice.
"Step forward, please. We haven't got all night."
The crowd laughed a bit forcefully. Uh oh; looks like he's talking about them.
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Which, as Sora looks around the room to see everyone peer at him and Ted, was likely not what they had in mind.
“What?” He asked, a blink and a brow raised to follow the obvious dubiousness, “why?” He stepped forward nonetheless and settled his hands on his hips. Although he did feel a ping of some anxiety over this situation, he wasn’t convinced he couldn’t get himself out of it. After all, he’s been to loads and loads of worlds where the darkness was trying to best him. If these glitter-wearing-robe hooligans thought they were going to get one over on Sora, they were in for a world of schooling themselves.
Oh yeah, Sora looked on with a newfound confidence. Ted’s mention of flight was absolutely forgotten.
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"We will have the sacrifice, one way or another. It's better if you go on your own two feet. Or shall I have one of my devotees drag you there?" Two of the larger cultists went to either side of the pair, looking very eager to confirm the threat. Yet some of the less stringent among the "brethren" looked shocked.
"Did he just pull a gun out on the newbies?"
"You idiot, they're not real members like us! He was just luring them in."
"I dunno, sacrificing people seems kind of messed up."
"You know what's messed up? This summer! If he doesn't kill them, the heat will kill us."
"I dunno, this all seems pretty extreme..."
"I just came for the free drinks."
He was hoping it wouldn't come to violence. Guns he can handle, but he's not sure Sora can. Nothing good could come with keeping up the charade of "sacrifice" any longer. By the dim light he tried to analyze the environments for threats. Hard to tell who among them was armed besides the elder. Two large men on either side. The crowd looked to be disturbed. At minimum, three would be necessary to neutralize.
If he wanted to take advantage of the chaos, now would be the time. "Move! Now!", the elder urged.
"As you wish." In a flash, Ted whipped out his phaser pistol, and fired at the priest. He fell over instantly, as though struck by lightning. "Sora, run!" With inhuman agility, he jump-kicked both of their burly attendants with either legs, sending them flying.
If only they could've done things peacefully.
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Sora called forth his keyblade and he crouched down ready to join the fight. “Alright! Come get you some refreshments!” Man, he was doing so much better about his clever one-liners, zings. That’s what they were called right? Just like in his comic books at home. The cool hero would come up and say something flashy and it always made Sora feel warm and silly inside for it, of course, what followed was some significant butt-kicking.
Which was just what he was prepared to do.
“We’re taking the cow!” Sora commented, he had no idea the real goal was to take the fish, he had assumed Ted was love-struck over this calf and so he was just trying to support his friend.
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That left the true believers, who were all too eager to collapse on the pair. One in the back yelled "Retrieve the sacrifices! There's always next year!" While Ted and Sora were busy with the riffraff, two of the cultists broke off to retrieve the cow and tank.
"Rats!", Ted shouted, throwing one enemy into another for a neat double-knockout. "We can't let them hurt those two!" In all the chaos, he feared that very outcome.
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“You!” He called out to the fish tank holder and aimed his keyblade with a cry of, “freeze!” The body of the cultist did freeze still holding the tank securely. The tank was left unharmed and the water sloshed about in the container. He left the fish for now and focused his next attack on a cultist who was trekking closer to the calf. “Hey!” But before he could do anything about that there suddenly was a quick pain to the back of his head which sent Sora flying forward.
He hit the ground, rolled, and crunched forward to sit up and saw the cultist responsible for pistol whipping him. “Hey!” He brought a hand to the back of his head and massaged at the sore spot. He didn’t have too much time to rejuvenate and got back up to his feet quickly.
Sora rushed forward to his offender with a spell ready on the tip of his tongue. “Fire!”
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Two things caught his attention: One, that the elder wasn't the only cultist with a gun, and two, Sora appeared to be slinging spells! He'd have to ask what exactly this "keyblade master" business entailed.
But first things first. Now that his CQC had made room, he could set to stunning the remainders with his phase pistol. Goodness, is that thing potent. Ted was a little concerned at the word "fire" that Sora might immolate their opponents, which would be going much too far. Luckily, it was more of a concussive blast, sending the foe flying into the wall and out cold.
The pair proved victorious. Every cultist that hadn't fled was down for the count. What's better, the fish tank was in tact, and the calf had been unharmed! Now to check on the insistent teenager to make sure the same could be said for him.
"Sora, are you all right? Scared the life out of me when I saw that gun headed your way."
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Despite bad choices, they were still people.
Once things calmed significantly down from the action and all that was left was a few groans and moans of agony Sora let his guard down. Ted’s inquiry was met with a sheepish smile. “Yeah! Didn’t see that coming at all.” He’ll have a sore head for sure but he was otherwise fine. “Come on, lets get out of here.” The keyblade dissipated into thin air and Sora pulled the robe off over his head and let it drop on the floor. "Looked like you held your own pretty good Ted!"
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"In a moment." Had to claim that sweet, sweet bounty money first. Out goes the phone as Ted speed dials the police. One advantage of bounty hunting is that you don't have to handle cleanup. Much.
"Lovely as that would be, the law is very fastidious, as is its wont, and I'll have to remain to provide testimony for a report, and so on. You're free to go, however. If you'd like to dissociate from the matter entirely--and who could blame you?--swift feet could make a clean getaway. I'll see that things wrap up nicely."
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“Okay, that sounds boring.. Jiminy usually takes care of my reports so, yeah.. you do that.” He commented lightly while he adjusted his shirt with a few tugs. “My feet will be swept..” Sora looked up from his shirt and dropped his hands to his sides. “You sure you wanna be here alone?” There was a soft groan to their side which caused Sora to snicker a bit.
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"I think I'll be all right, but the concern's appreciated. Besides, one's never alone with the Omnipotence, eh? Let's meet again under more agreeable circumstances."
Oddly mystical as ever.
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