Down the Rabbit Hole (IC)

[Electra]

Erin pointed towards the cave. "Something went that way," she told James, "probably several somethings. One with really, really big feet. It could be a trap, but if we don't risk it, we'll lose the trail. This way." She headed for the cave, following the tracks directly and staying on the same narrow path. She kept her bat at the ready, just in case. That little creature wasn't going to get away again, even if she had to knock him silly to keep him still.

[Cyroa]

James nodded, a little confused by the odors. "This place smell odd. Like I'm in some kind of cheesy confection factory. And cheesy as in the food, not the concept. I smell the little guy too though. And some other things too. Not sure what it could be though." He stepped up beside her and gestured as they started walking, sending up a small ball of flame to swirl ahead of them. It wasn't for him, he could see in the dark. But he didn't want to paint them as targets either. Ahead and above them seemed like the safest bet.

[Cyroa]

The two young heroes trekked into the darkened cave. Hellion's fiery light lost it's usefulness almost immediately as torches flared into life along the walls. As they walked to the end of the light from one set, another would light up in front of them and the ones behind went out. The cave-turned-large-corridor continued in dark for quite some time until Erin's enhanced hearing picked up some faint breathing. It turned into a barely noticeable growl to Hellion's ears. To his eyes however, a giant dog's head extended towards them. It was massive, easily several feet across. Behind the gigantic and toothy head was the body of a Dachshund. Proportional...but still, a wiener dog. Either way, it didn't look like a happy 'pup' as it stared menacingly at the two heroes as it slowly game forward out of the dark.

[Electra]

Erin stepped forward, raising her bat. "We don't want to hurt you," she told the giant dog, in case it spoke English. "We're just trying to get through. We think someone we're looking for came this way, and we have to find him. Now you can let us pass, or we will make you let us pass. Which would you rather do?" She locked eyes with the creature, waggling the bat a little.

[Cyroa]

Erin's intimidating manner and gestures had an affect, just not the one she was going for. The dog's front end crouched down, massive tongue rolling out of its mouth as it started panting happily. Its back end and tail, way back there, was wagging furiously with excitement as its eyes tracked her and, more specifically, the bat with intense desire.

[Electra]

Erin rolled her eyes, even as a reluctant smile tugged at her lips. "Great, now it wants to play." She glanced at James out of the corner of her eye. "Could you maybe pop outside and get a big stick to throw for this guy? I'm not going to explain to Archer how I lost my bat to a fifteen-foot weiner dog." She wiggled the bat again to keep the dog's attention. "You want a stick? You want the stick, big guy?"

[Cyroa]

James nodded, grinning. "You sure? I bet that'd be a line he hadn't heard before." He could just imagine the look on the sour teacher's face at hearing Erin say that line. It'd be totally worth it. For him anyway. For Erin, probably not. James just chuckled and ported back out to their arrival point and started looking around for something a giant dog would chase.

[Electra]

"You kidding?" Erin muttered, even though James wasn't around to hear it. "'The dog ate it' has got to be the oldest one in the book." She began backing up slowly, keeping the dog monster's attention while moving it closer to the front of the cave. "Any time now would be good," she called, beginning to worry about what would happen if the dog decided to give her a friendly lick.

[Cyroa]

James looked around their arrival point for several minuts before find something that he hoped would be large enough to satisfy the huge puppy. Stepping on the grass to go get it immediately resulted in all sorts of odd behaviors though. First, signs began to snap upright. "Keep off the grass!" was the most common but they all used the same theme and all promised some form of painful retribution for non-compliance.

[Cyroa]

"Uh huh." He wasn't exactly the most law abiding on the best of days. And in the current situation, he general attitude towards such things was nonexistant. He blinked, appearing next to the log. Hoisting it onto his shoulders, he vanished once more to reappear beside Erin.

(Of course he was gone too quickly to notice the other effects...)

"Here ya go. One industrial sized chew-toy and throwing stick for you and your new best friend," he said grinning and handing here the 50+ lbs log. He wanted nothing to do with this. Besides, it was funny to watch Erin with the giant dog. It didn't seem to be a threat at this point, so he wasn't too concerned.

[Electra]

"Oh boy," Erin said dryly. She collapsed her baton for the moment, waving the log at the giant dog instead. "Look, here's a better one. Go get it!" She wound up her pitching arm and sent the log sailing out of the cave as though it were a twig, then flattened herself against the cave wall in the hopes that the dog's enthusiasm for sticks would carry the day. She'd had a dog once, for all she didn't like to speculate on what had happened to him, and there were some constant traits that they all seemed to share.

[Cyroa]

The dog yipped in excitment and bounded away down the passage and out into the light. It followed the large log down the hill without of pause or hesitation at leaving and was soon lost from sight.

James pressed against the side of the wall as well and watch the giant dog 'scamper' off. "Well, that worked. We should probably move fast before it comes back and wants to play more." He took a couple steps and paused. "You know...not sure we'll live this one down if it gets out. Running away from a big dog that just wanted to play? Tsk tsk. We're lowering that 'superhero bar' by quite a bit I'd say," he said with a wide grin and a chuckle. It wasn't like he cared but is was rather amusing.

[Electra]

"We didn't run away, it did," Erin pointed out with a shrug. "No sense fighting something that doesn't want to fight us, especially when we're going through its home turf." She cracked a smile. "It's not exactly heroic to go into somebody's house and beat them up. Anyway, we don't waste energy doing it this way." She spun her bat to full length again and headed back into the cave, keeping an eye out for anything that might have been hiding behind the big dog.

[Cyroa]

The two heroes quickly qalked forward. Soon they passed an alcove with a large bowl with the name 'Muffy', a bone and a big cushion. It wasn't much farther down where they came acros a wide circular stairway made of stone, going up. The torches continued to light their way and headed upwards.

The walk upwards was long and would have been exhausting if the two teen heroes hadn't possossed formidible levels of stamina. Finally, they stairs leveled out and opened into a large corridor. Natural light came in through the windows, ending the need for the artificial torches. There were various other corridors and doors off of this larger one. At the far end of the corridor, a massive set of double doors could be seen. The two heroes could hear some faint music and noise coming from them as well.

[Electra]

Erin hesitated in front of the doors, looking at James. Giant monster dogs she could handle, people were another issue entirely. They were much more James' area. "What do we do?" she asked him. "Can we ask them to help us find this guy, or are they more likely to try and keep us from getting to him? Or is it like some Star Trek prime directive thing where we can't let them see us because we're from another dimension?"

[Cyroa]

James shrugged. "No idea. I'm not exactly super experienced at this you know. But I suppose we can do the talking option first; it might even work. 'Sides, we can always resort to violence later if we need to. We know that works," he said with a grin. "And no, to my knowledge there is no 'Prime Directive' rules besides common sense. Judgement calls I guess." He looked over at the door with a smile. "So, shall we knock or just go right in?"

[Electra]

Erin shrugged. "Go in, I guess. If they are hostile, or if our guy's in there, we don't want to tip them off. If it turns out we should've knocked, we can always say sorry. Their dog's a cupcake, they probably aren't too hostile." She sized up the big door, then holstered her bat long enough to give the door a firm push. It was huge, but she was very strong. She just hoped it wasn't locked, as breaking and entering was probably not welcome in most dimensions.

[Cyroa]

It turned out the door, though massive, moved with ease. Wander's firm push practicically flung the doors open...

The massive double doors swung inward to show a variety of things. First off, there were several steps downward to a 'great hall' kind of room. If something the size of a football field could even be considered a 'hall' anymore. Waves of discordant music that somehow seemed to work washed over the two young heroes even though the musicians themselves were not in sight. Below them, were dozens of animals, standing upright and dressed in all manner of finery. Dresses, tuxes, gowns and suits all in a riot of color. (Perhaps Alex was channel this realm's fashion sense...) The revelers were dancing or laughing or talking; generally seeming to be having a truly wonderful time at what might be a truly spectacular gala event. Another oddity was that the tallest of them might top 4'; maybe.

Of course, as the massive doors quietly banged open, the music stopped and the revelers all slowly ceased their activities to turn and look upwards to the door... For a long moment, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

[Cyroa]

James wasn't one to worry generally speaking. It just wasn't his thing. He'd much rather find the humor and enjoyment in the situation. So it was when a veritable hoard of dressed up midget animals all stopped and stared at them, he couldn't help but grin. He lifted one arm and noticably sniffed his coat while grinning; a 'do I offend' look on his amused face.

Sotto voice he said, highly amused. "Awesome entrance. Well, we certainly got their attention. As for them not looking to hostile, I think the jury's still out on that one. Even if they are kinda cute," he said still grinning.

[Electra]

Erin sighed, surveying the bizarre assortment of fuzzy alien... whatevers. James seemed to be enjoying her discomfiture far too much, but at least he was laughing. This save the universes job didn't leave a lot of time for fun. "Excuse me," she said, raising her voice and trying to at least sound polite. "Have you seen another creature like us come through here recently? He might have been with someone from around here."

[Cyroa]

The entire hall stared quietly at the two people for a very, very long moment after Erin's word. As one, they turned towards the opposite end of the hall from the entrance where the heroes could just make out a raised stairs to a platform. Upon it sat and stood multiple figures, most of who seemed to have ignore the distraction entirely. The young heroes weren't certain, given the distance, but one of those figures might be human.

[Electra]

"Get us over there," Erin muttered to James. "Maybe at the back of the stage, if you can." She could've covered the distance in a couple of bounces, but there was no reason to draw more attention to themselves before they'd seen what was going on. James' teleportation was a lot more subtle, and slightly faster.

[Cyroa]

James thought walking the length of the ridiculously long hall might have been impressive. All the...'people' staring at them and all that. It would be quite a sight. Of course, tactically it probably wasn't the brightest move. He might be a little untrusting and paranoid about people but he wasn't the tactical thinker she was. "Sure," he said, nodding and taking her hand. In a blink they vanished to reappear atop the dias.

[Cyroa]

The dais was quite sizable in fact. There were a number of 'thrones' and even a large cushioned bench. The thrones were empty at the moment but the bench was not. Stretched out on the bench, dressed in a white robe covering his large form and bare feet propped up, was the only other human in the room. Massaging his shoulders was a cat-lady. There was a practically a line of animals carrying trays up to the couch and it's occupant who seemed perfectly happy and content to pick some choice bits from each as they passed before him.

[Electra]

Erin ducked behind one of the thrones, studying the situation with a furrowed brow. She didn't like what she saw. "Those animal things are being way too nice to someone they just kidnapped," she muttered to James. "We have to get him out of here before they throw him in a volcano as an offering to their god or something." Maybe Erin hadn't studied as much hero history as Mark had, but she'd been in quarantine for months, and she'd watched a lot of television.