Storyline Name: I Wheelie Like You
Creator(s): Sailor Saturn and Puns
Forum: Casual
Advanced or Relaxed: Relaxed
Plot Summary: Our heroes wake up after losing a tough battle to find themselves locked in some sort of strange prison cell, completely made out of varying shapes and sizes of rubber tires. They don't really know where they are, or how to get out, but the idea that their earlier enemies are nearby doesn't seem too far-fetched. They'll have to be careful not to alert any stationed guards.

But there's another problem. The prison looks haphazardly constructed, and they can see that any forced movement might send the whole thing tumbling down on their heads. How will they get out of this?
Details on any necessary information:Your setting is in a prison made of tires! Feel free to take the plot in any direction you wish, twisting and adding to it as you see fit, and you can decide if your characters have been working together up to this point, or have only just run into each other (or any other variation), but your main goal is ultimately to get out alive! How you accomplish that goal is up to you guys! Have fun!! <3
Restrictions: Characters listed below only!
OOC Thread: Link!
Member to Character List:
Garland Sulzanth played by Jasper
Diana played by Sailor Mercury

If I wasn't so tired, I'd surely revel in the puzzle laying before me..

Garland gingerly rubbed his forehead, feeling a bit sore from the involuntary rest that had recently been afforded to him. He vaguely remembered fighting someone (or a large number of someones), but had underestimated their strength and had fallen unconscious in the ensuing struggle.

Where in the world was he? There was a curious smell of brimstone nearby, faint and subdued, but omnipresent. Was it Hell, then? The most likely sources would have been the Iron Dominion or the Frayed Ends, both of which were dangerous in their own respective ways.

Why were these strange wheels lining their cell? Garland pressed a finger into the side of the material, which curiously was yielding to the touch. When he withdrew the curious digit, the minor deformation in the black wheel aggressively returned to his former shape. He may not have known the secrets of their fabrication, but Garland instinctively knew the rigors and details that were associated with large industrial undertakings. A material like this would have fueled further technological developments within his homeworld.

Finally, why was there a cat sharing space with him here? A gray-furred feline was there, yet the magician could not recall ever meeting such a creature. With a brief groan, Garland lay his back to the floor and crossed his hands beneath the back of his head. Perhaps he could think of a plan to escape while he waited for his bruises to stop aching.

DIANA

Small Lady!

She awoke with a jolt, a strangled mewl escaping her throat. The ruby eyes scanned her surroundings. Blurred images of the battle from before distorted with panic and meshed with older memories. Diana wasn't sure exactly what had happened. Her nimble mind tried to sort through what she could while also appraising her current situation. When she rolled over and stood up, she realized that she had reverted to her kitten form; the exhaustion from losing the fight had been too much to maintain her human appearance.

Diana almost thought she was alone, when she didn't catch sight of her friends and allies, but saw only a fraction of a second later that she was not. There was a man here, and she didn't recognize him. Could he be the one that she tried to help fight against, before this? The wide eyes took on a more serious glint as she surveyed him.

No. This was not the same person. But... if not... why was he here? And where was Sailor Chibi Moon? She looked at him, eyes glancing aside, as she tried to consider how much to reveal.

Who is this man? Can I trust him?

By the time that Garland's small cellmate awoke, she would have found that the strange man had assumed a chipper posture, casually laying on his back with one leg partially crossed over the other's knee. He seemed to be passing his time by flexing and pivoting his left foot, letting it waggle back and forth as if it were an orchestra conductor waving a baton to instruct an imaginary chorus on its next musical notes.

He wasn't quite expecting to feel eyes on him so soon. The young creature had stirred with an appropriately feline sound, but Garland had assumed the kitten would continue to rest. He fancied himself something of a cat lover, and knew better than to disturb a cat from its rest - especially cats who would not recognize his presence.

The man chuckled softly, momentarily setting aside the raging tempest of thought within his mind. For now, there was a living thing there who had taken a more direct interest in his person. Turning his head towards the curious red eyes, Garland spoke in a quiet and warm voice, seemingly more interested in entertaining his kitten friend than ruminating at length over the events leading up to their imprisonment.

"Ah, you're awake! This is terrible lodging, isn't it?"

 DIANA  

"I suppose it lacks certain comforts," she replied, rubbing her chin with one paw, "Although..."

And then she froze, realizing she had spoken. Betrayed herself and her abilities. The lavender cheeks flushed pink with the shame of having made such a blunder. What would Her and His Majesties think if they had seen her commit such a rookie mistake? Luna and Artemis, as well, would have been far from impressed.

Diana's ruby eyes darted awkwardly from one wall of strange tires to the next, then she made a hasty attempt to assume a slightly more cat-like posture.

"Meow."

There. That would do it.

Garland glanced back over to the cat, raising one eyebrow. Yes, his ears and eyes had not mistaken him; she had just talked as a human being like himself. One had to wonder if that was physically possible, or if this particular feline happened to be enchanted or blessed by some higher power.

They couldn't have picked a cuter creature for a ward, Garland thought to himself.

The mage then stared back up at the wall of tires, lazily raising a finger and tracing it in the air. To the untrained eye, he was counting the spherical objects that had formed their prison. In actuality, he was weaving a spell to slip right under the attention of any guards who might have been near to watch the pair.

"Oh, I must be losing my mind to assume a cat can speak of its own volition. How terrible it is to be trapped here in such a pathetic cell, rendered from one man's rubbish heap!" Garland's words might have sounded convincing in and of themselves, had no one been staring closely at the mage during his fit of maudlin. He was staring intently at the ceiling, far too attentive for someone that might have given themselves over to despair.

A soft ephemeral whisper, in Garland's voice, called to the pink kitten as if the odd man were now sitting on her other side. "You want to get out of here, right? Do you have friends and family waiting for you?"

DIANA

The kitten continued watching the man as he lamented, feeling an initial pang of guilt for causing someone distress. This feeling faded slightly, however, as her acute eyes picked up on the visible signs indicating that perhaps this man was not as morose about his current situation as he made evident. When a voice whispered close to her—a voice that sounded almost just like his—she startled momentarily, but realized quickly that this was intentional. He had done this, somehow—moved his voice. And the voice, now that she heard it again, didn't alert her as being laced with dark powers.

Perhaps this was someone who could be trusted. After all, Diana had never been the most wary of the group. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

She was careful to keep her own voice very quiet as she replied, hoping it would be enough for him to hear her.

"What do you propose, sir?"

Could he work with a cat? There was a palpable uncertainty swimming at the surface of Garland's thoughts. He did not want to expose the kitten to unnecessary danger, but to linger inside of this cell would certainly not reverse their ill fortunes.

"I would propose to have you sneak out of this cell and gather information about where we are. If I establish a link between our minds, I can see through your eyes and speak to you as if I were at your side."

Garland paused, then quickly added to his previous description. "Our prison is fragile. If anyone precious to you is here, I want to account for them before we consider an escape."

DIANA

She listened closely to the barely-audible words, red eyes staring straight ahead as she focused on it. Diana nodded slightly at the suggestion that she try to slip away from their current location and gather information. Of the two of them, she was the obvious candidate for this. The tires that walled them in looked pretty solid, however. Diana reviewed the towering stacks that surrounded them, eyes searching for some kind of weakness. She would have to find a point where she could squeeze past.

"Are you able to move the tires, ever so slightly?" she replied with a hushed whisper. "I believe that I may need a bit more room."

When the man mentioned that she could seek those she knew, she felt her heart squeeze for a moment with the immediate thought of Small Lady. What could have happened to her friend and princess? She took a deep breath, reminding herself that the young girl had always proven to be extremely capable. Diana would just have to believe in her. That was all she could do.

Garland rubbed his shaved chin with his left hand, looking between the tires and his peculiar cellmate. He would need to provide the petite kitten with a way out of the rubbery prison, but it would have to be done in a way to prevent a collapse.

Rather than speak, the blonde visitor beckoned to Diana with his right hand - an inviting gesture to come closer, one that he hoped she would accept despite the utter strangeness of their introductions. While attempting to gather the cat's attentions with his eyes and a beneficent smile, Garland's left hand went to the wall of tires. Through tactile inspecion, he tested the miraculous compound through a variety of methods - poking, pinching, scratching, and even partial stretching. In all cases, the material continued to retain its cast shape.

DIANA

Trying to keep her motions as natural as possible, she approached the man, uttering soft and curious noises as she did so. She may have already revealed herself as not a "normal" kitten from Earth, but Diana planned to continue with the attempt at concealment unless another source indicated that they absolutely knew she was a more unique type of creature. Although she had made it evident to her current cellmate, whatever had trapped them here had yet to indicate it knew or did not know. Diana expected that they were being watched, but she couldn't prove it. All she could do was wait and see what would happen.

Right now, that also involved waiting to see if she could manage to leave.

Her wide ruby eyes caught something as she approached. At a relatively short distance she could see a faint glimmer of light from between two tires. Considering that she didn't see it between any others, it did not seem unreasonable to think this was a slightly larger gap. Perhaps it would be a good place to focus their efforts.

The lavender-gray kitten let out a soft meow, tilting her head, hoping to convey what she had noticed.

How high the 'walls' of this ungainly gaol stretch, Garland mused to himself as he thought of ways to subvert the clumsy construction while concealing his cat friend. Any hedge mage could blast their way out with enough motivation, but a skilled thaumaturge would act on carefully acquired knowledge of their surroundings.

When Diana signaled a point of interest, Garland lowered himself to the ground to better view the faint illumination. The tiny gap was enough to permit light through, but would not accomodate a cat in its present state. With a barely audible utterance, the man in blue reached the fingers of his hands into the spacing. A mild groan of exertion escaped his lips as he appeared to grab the edges of that space and somehow stretch it even wider.

DIANA

She didn't know what to expect when she slipped past, but when the wide eyes of the small kitten observed her surroundings, she only felt more confused. The cell that had contained herself and this odd magician was one of many. As far as she could see, there were towers of tires. Did each hold other poor captives? The thought made her heart twist with concern. Once again, she wished that Small Lady was here, or perhaps the other sailor soldiers. This was a mission perhaps too large for one advisory feline to handle on her own, if there were other civilians and innocents involved.

Besides the dirty stacks of black rubber, the areas surrounding them were littered with random assortments of debris. She saw smashed sinks and broken toilets with sections of porcelain ground almost to powder. Broken home electronics, such as televisions with smashed screens and refrigerators and their removed doors seemed to be piled up haphazardly in all sorts of strange places. Diana frowned as she surveyed the wreckage, only then bothering to look up and notice the strange violet-pink haze of the cloud-strewn sky. A flash of dark lightning cut across, and she felt the negative energy tickle her whiskers. What was this place?

"Sir, can you hear me?" she attempted with a hushed voice, wondering if whatever he had used to communicate with her would still work. He had said that it would, but she still didn't understand the nature of his powers. "Do you see this?"

Garland raised each of his hands to massage his temples, attuning his eyesight to that of the kitten. He had first been introduced to the concept of using clairvoyance and clairaudience during a chaotic era in his homeworld, when a vaunted military power chose to flex its arcane muscle to right perceived wrongs. That conflict had become known to Shayllan's historians as the War of Rattled Snakes, a relatively brief campaign that caused far more suffering than the subterfuge which spurred the serpents of Owor into action.

This yard was not the kind of mental image Garland carried as a reminder of his native realm. It was filled with dirty, unwanted refuse and other curious piles of the black wheel-like constructs. Was it a reclamation zone where such trash was to be broken down, smelted, or otherwise rendered back into its basic components?

"Yes, I hear you," came the odd man's ethereal reply. Whatever method of communication he had chosen to employ, it seemed secure enough for their shared discussion. "I do not recognize the artifacts laying before you, but I can determine when something is discarded or in disrepair."

DIANA

"I do," she continued, her eyes continually alert for any movement. Diana tried to stick close to the towers of tires, crouched near the ground and ducking behind debris whenever possible. "These are general things from my home, but you are correct that they are discarded. I have not personally seen such a place, but I believe this might be a 'junkyard'. I read about some in preparation to visit the 20th century."

Such places were extremely uncommon during the reign of Neo Queen Serenity. Advancements in science and technology, some of which could even be directly attributed back to Sailor Mercury, vastly expanded the scope of recycling and reusing. In some industries, it was even possible to reclaim component properties that could be combined in ways for new manufacture. Even broken objects had a chance for a different life that did not involve being slowly buried in the ground. It felt extremely strange to find this one, especially considering the intense negative energy that continued to twitch her whiskers. This did not seem to be an actual historical junkyard from Earth, but something instead... inspired by it.

If only she knew what to do next!

The kitten's ears twitched suddenly, and Diana halted to concentrate on the strange noise she had heard. The tone seemed quite low, with a rumble that she could feel in the ground below her paws. She felt her fur prickle almost instinctively in response. When her bright ruby eyes searched the area, however, she saw nothing beyond what she had already seen. ...But then that noise sounded again.

"Sir," she said, "Do you know what that sound might be?"

Garland placed his hands on the wall of tires, holding his breath. There was an uncomfortable, unacceptable amount of slack present in this structure. If a collapsing prison cell was designed as a feature instead of being an inherent flaw, then he needed to expedite his joint escape with the cute kitten.

A low tone sounded, one which the magician could not recognize for all of his experiences in different and strange realms. The ground seemed to rumble as well, and though his senses were linked to Diana's, he had to rely on her field of vision to ascertain anything of interest.

"Unfortunately, no. I don't recognize that sound, and these 'tires' make it difficult for me to perceive anything with my own eyes."

He hoped that his fellow prisoner did not interpret that as an expectation that she would fight his battles in her place. No, if something were to threaten the lavender feline, he'd rip the rubber prison apart and step in to help. However, the more information she could gather for Garland, the better their chances were at escaping this rubbish heap.

DIANA

Diana frowned at the response, but took a deep breath. She could feel the discomforting sensation of the hairs on her back standing straight up, quivering ever-so-slightly along with the vibrations that accompanied the mysterious noise. It did not provide any consolation to hear that the strange man was also unsure of the sound and its source. This could bode poorly for the pair, and the young kitten felt particularly out of her depth without Small Lady present. She tried to remind herself about the times her parents had been in threatening situations and how the two felines had managed to keep themselves safe. Diana would have to do her best here, in this place.

Another flash of lightning illuminated the place, and she could see that it stretched almost into infinity. She tried to ignore the jolt accompanying of mild dark energy that tickled her whiskers.

"Sir, I believe we are in a false area," she continued, eyes scanning but seeing nothing as that unsettling sound echoed once more. "I have encountered these before, created by evil powers. We won't be able to escape unless we can find the focus point that is sustaining it."

A false area? It would seem that the young kitten was much more attuned to the flows of magic than Garland previously suspected. Perhaps she had direct experience in such matters, despite her innocuous appearance of a cute lavender cat.

Taking the mental equivalent of a deep breath (which was itself audible through their mental link), the wayward wizard spoke in a cool and collected echo of his physical voice. Today, it was his self-appointed duty to see the creature back to her home. Whatever brand of ill sorcery was to blame for their predicament, Garland would not be deterred from his duty.

We shall find it. Nobody is keeping me inside of a prison, at least not without due legal process. Oh, and you may wish to cover your ears at this time.

Garland waited a few moments to allow the young cat to act on his advice, then began to utter cryptic words from a tongue foreign and far removed from this corner of reality. Each syllable oozed with power, gathering trace elements of iron and combustible material from the surrounding rubbish heap. Over their shared mental bond, Garland's partner would have been able to detect a vast amount of magical energy being gathered and concentrated into one place. It was initially formless and without aspect, but began to align more closely with the attributes of fire and earth.

When the evocation reached its apex, Garland thrust his arm up and unleashed a brilliant torrent of heat and jagged metal at the "ceiling" of his prison cell. As it was far too unstable to wiggle out of without bringing the whole pile upon his head, this magical visitor decided to dispense with subtlety and just blow the whole thing up. A searing column of heat and molten iron burst up and out of the enclosure, incinerating the rubber and reducing it to a few lingering clouds of greasy looking smoke.

Standing in the center of this eruption was Diana's friend, who took a moment to survey his handiwork. He inhaled deeply with satisfaction.

..and promptly gagged. Ye gods, that smell was vile!

DIANA

She managed to both cover her ears and seek shelter before the tower of tires exploded violently. Thankfully, she knew it was the doing of the man trapped inside, not some outside source, so there was little need to act as though they were under attack. However, that could still be in their future. The smoke and stench of the burning rubber and other nearby rubbish caught in the explosion would surely attract anything that could be nearby to attract, especially if there were any kind of guards set to watch the prisoners.

Almost as soon as she thought such a thing, the ground rumbled again. She could feel it vibrating through her whiskers, heavier and more frequent now that it had been when she first noticed it.

"Sir... are you alright?" she asked, coughing slightly from a few wisps of the dark smoke. "Do you hear that sound?"

Stepping away from the smouldering heap of tires, Garland batted an empty hand at the lingering fumes as he coughed. He looked around the yard for active security guards, who were as nonexistent as the contextual clues which had seen fit to join his fate together with that of the blessed cat.

When Diana spoke up, the blonde man crouched down to focus his attention on the rumbling. He shared a glance with the kitten, then lowered himself into a prone position and placed an ear to the surface of the landfill.

"Yes.. something's near us."

DIANA

The "something" took this opportunity to shake the ground with an increased fervor, now clearly the sound of motion. Diana couldn't tell if it were approaching or moving farther away. It kept a steady pace, but she wasn't sure how to interpret that. Her whiskers continued to vibrate slightly with the motions, and she felt the hair on her body remain raised with tension.

And then a bizarre, creaking noise of grinding gears and rattling metal echoed across the place. It was almost a roar, but not anything she had ever heard before. The kitten's ears flattened in response, and she once more wished for the accompaniment of Small Lady or the powerful Sailor Moon. Whatever threatened them... this could not be good.

Almost in response to her fears, keen eyes spotted something at a distance. Far beyond the towers of tires, there stood a thing that could be best described as some kind of trash golem. Diana swallowed hard, noting the massive size of the thing.

"What... what should we do?" she squeaked, hoping it hadn't yet been alerted to their presence.