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Re: Trance Podium Story, Vol. 2, Pt. 2 -
25 May 2009, at 02:23
“Wow, I cannot believe you fell for this!” Marin laughed.
“Do you have any idea just how difficult it was for us to keep from laughing while you were all arguing whether it was a trap or a different trap?” Zak howled in laughter.
“Let us out of here!” Cleo yelled at the two evildoers.
“Let you out?” Marin laughed. “Do you honestly expect us to release you after we worked this hard to catch you?”
“Would it help if we said ‘please’?” asked Remco.
“You’ve grown a sense of humor since we last met, haven’t you?” Zak asked Remco.
“Actually, yes I have.”
“That’s good!” Zak replied. “Our boss just loves prisoners with a sense of humor!”
“Your boss?” Vera retorted. “Someone is actually dumb enough to want you two wannabe villains as henchmen?”
“You’ve gotten a bit more edgy since we last met, haven’t you?” Marin asked. Vera did not reply. “Alright Zak, let’s carry these fools to the underground.”
And with that, Marin and Zak tied the rope net together and began to drag the four heroes toward the secret passageway in the floor that led to the underground passageway. Zak opened the hatch and Marin pushed them down the slide. The entrance had been renovated to suit a large catch like the one these vile fiends had gotten. Unlike last time, nobody was enjoying the ride down the slide. Instead of cries of enjoyment, the four were screaming in panic and fear all the way down – Derek was especially doing a very professional job at screaming in a high-pitched voice. They reached the sharp angle that signaled the very bottom of the slide and picked up speed. Their speed propelled them toward the hard floor and they slammed against it, creating a very loud thud. Marin and Zak made their way down the slide, screaming out their enjoyment of not only the ride, but their complete victory. As they sped down the sharp angling, they jumped and did some aerial acrobatics to show off. When they came back down to earth, they both grabbed a hold of the rope net from the front and began to pull. As this was happening, Vera put her index finger up to her lips, signaling everyone to remain perfectly silent. She then reached for a pocketknife that she had in her pants’ pocket and began to cut away at the rope net. After a couple of minutes, she had cut a hole large enough for everyone to escape two at a time. She and Remco went first, followed by Cleo and Derek. Marin and Zak continued to walk forward for a few more paces before realizing that the weight of the load they were carrying had drastically decreased. They turned around and saw all four of their previous prisoners standing next to one another, each with a look of disgust that was aimed at the two.
“Well, it looks like we’ll just have to have our epic fight here!” Marin exclaimed.
“Hey Marin,” Derek called out.
“What is it?”
“Look at what I brought with me!” Derek reached into his back pocket and pulled out a clown mask. Derek put it over his face and began to slowly make his way toward Marin.
“N…no…no!! Not a clown! Anything but clowns!” Marin cried out as he began to run toward the room where they had their previous confrontation.
“Not again,” Zak sighed in disappointment as he began to follow is partner-in-crime. He looked back at the four and said, “This isn’t over yet. Not by a long shot!” He then continued to follow Marin.
“Can we call this a victory?” Derek asked. “I mean, we have them on the run.”
“That’s not what our mission is, Derek!” Remco said. “We still need to retrieve the stolen items, especially that uranium.”
“Just a crazy question,” Derek started. “How in the world are we going to carry enriched uranium back to wherever the heck they stole it from?”
“We’ll just have you carry it!” Cleo laughed. This caused everyone besides Derek to laugh.
“Very funny, Cleo,” Derek replied sarcastically.
“Come on, let’s get going,” said Vera. “I don’t want to miss Armin and Tiesto!”
“Wait, you’re going to see Armin and Tiesto?” Derek asked.
“Yep, we sure are!”
“I thought we all agreed we were going to see Cosmic Gate in Canada!”
“Well, we changed our minds when we went to purchase our tickets.”
“Gee, thanks for the heads-up…”
And with that, the four began their chase of Marin and Zak. They ran down the hallway quickly, trying to catch up with the thieves. They soon found themselves at the closed doorway surrounded by darkness once more. They remembered it well, excluding Remco who had to opt out early the year before because of the old babysitter. Remco opened the door slowly and the four slowly paced inside. There, they found Marin and Zak standing in the middle of the room, along with two others who had not been seen before.
“It’s good of you to join us,” Zak called out to the heroes.
“You’re not going to win this time around!” Marin called out.
“You do realize that I’m still wearing my clown mask, right?” Derek asked Marin. “You’re powerless against me!”
“Oh please,” Marin laughed. “I went to therapy for that! What kind of villain would I be if I didn’t work on getting rid of my fears?”
“So, you’re saying that you’re not afraid of clowns now?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“So I’m wearing this mask for no reason?”
“That’s correct,” Cleo answered.
“Who are these two newcomers?” Vera asked.
“Allow us to introduce ourselves,” said one of the two new villains. “My name is Dwill.”
“And my name is Bruno,” said the other one.
“I can only assume that you’re working with them?” Vera asked.
“That would be correct,” Dwill replied.
“Why don’t you work with us instead?” Remco asked. “It’s not too late for you to defect.”
“Why would we work with the losing side?” asked Bruno.
“Because it’s fun!” Derek excitedly replied.
“Derek, you’re an idiot!” Cleo groaned before looking at Bruno. “So, you want to work with the winning side?”
“Of course!” replied Bruno. “Who wants to work with losers?”
“I don’t know,” Vera replied. “Why don’t you ask yourself that question?”
“What do you saying?”
“I’m saying that you’re going to lose if you stick with them!”
“Don’t listen to them!” Marin ordered. “You know our master’s plan is unstoppable!”
“Of course,” said Bruno. “Nobody can stop us now!”
“What are you planning on doing?” Derek asked.
“Why would we tell you?” Dwill replied.
“Um…because I asked nicely?”
“We don’t care!” shouted Zak. “Now, are we going to fight or not?”
Zak rushed forward and jumped at Derek. Derek moved slightly to the left and avoided the attack, which caused Zak to crash into the wall. Dwill was next and walked up to Cleo. Cleo, not wanting him to get the first strike out, started to tickle Dwill underneath his arms. Dwill fell immediately to the ground, bursting with laughter from the onslaught of Cleo’s relentless tickling. Bruno tacked Cleo to the ground and stopped her from tickling Dwill, but Dwill’s laugher continued to persist.
“Dwill,” said Bruno. “She’s not tickling you anymore. You can cut it out now.” Dwill continued to laugh hysterically, however. “Okay, this is getting old really fast, pal.”
“He won’t stop laughing,” Cleo informed Bruno. “I have magical tickling powers that cause people to continue laughing uncontrollably for a few minutes after I stop tickling them.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter!” Bruno said. “I still have you in my clutches!”
“That’s what you think!” Vera called out. Bruno turned around look at Vera, but she had already moved in and tackled him to the ground. She pushed him off of Cleo, who helped Vera up and the two of them held Bruno down with their feet.
Meanwhile, Marin had gone after Remco. The two of them were locked in an epic kung-fu battle, each unable to outdo the other. The two fighters were in a deadlock, and neither one of them were showing signs of letting up.
“You can’t beat me, Remco!” taunted Marin. “My fighting skills are at their peak now!”
“Are you serious?” Remco chuckled. “Mine are so rusty from not using them in such a long time!”
“So what you’re saying is that you would be kicking my butt right now if you weren’t out of practice?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Then I’ll just have to make sure I take you out of the picture before you get any stronger!”
“I can’t let you do that,” said Derek, who had made his way behind Marin. “You’re going to have to take us both on now. And just for the record, I've been learning from a master of martial arts.”
"Lucie taught you some new tricks, huh?" Remco laughed.
"How did you ever guess?" Derek laughed back.
“W…wait!” Marin babbled. “You’re the good guys! You’re not allowed to use dirty tactics like that!”
“Does it look like we care?” Remco asked.
“Besides,” Derek started. “We’re more ‘neutral good’ than anything else.”
“That makes no sense!” Marin cried out.
“That’s what makes it so brilliant!” Derek laughed.
“That’s enough!” said a strong, loud voice from the doorway at the back of the room.
Everybody immediately stopped what they were doing, except for Dwill who was still laughing his pants off, and turned to look toward the doorway. There stood a tall, confident man with black headphones on his head. He was wearing a rainbow jumpsuit with water noodles tied around his arms and a duck-shaped inner tube around his waist.
“Master,” Zak cried out, holding his head in pain. “Have you finished your preparations?”
“Yes I have, Zak,” replied the man. “I have finally created what I need to make my dream a reality! We’re done here, so let us now depart!”
Vera, having heard the mysterious man speak, had frozen in place with her mouth agape. Meanwhile, the villains had run to the back of the room and passed the man, making their way down the hallway. The man himself began to turn around and walk away.
“Hold on!” Vera called out to the mysterious man. “Who are you and what are you trying to do?”
The man turned around and faced Vera. “I guess it won’t put my plans in any danger if I told you,” he said. “Very well, I shall tell you. My plan is use a new device that I created from various electronics that my minions have stolen. Powering this new device with enriched uranium, I will cause all electronic music devices to become obsolete. Not only will the world be without music players, but it will lose all music creation devices as well! Yes, my goal is to destroy all synthesizers, drum machines, equalizers, and anything else that can create electronic dance music! Then, once this happens, I will sell everything that was lost at incredibly high rates! I will become the richest person in the world!”
“You’re sick!” yelled Vera.
“Sticks and stones, dear,” replied the man. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must be off.”
“You’re not going anywhere!” Vera called out as she made her way toward the man. However, the man raised his hand and caught Vera by the arm. He threw her back toward her friends, who caught her, and left through the hallway.
“So he wants to destroy our electronic dance music?” Derek asked, flabbergasted.
“That’s just low,” Cleo replied.
“Come on, let’s get back to the hideout and plan our next move,” Remco ordered.
Everybody but Vera began to walk back from where they came. Derek looked back and saw that Vera had not moved. He signaled the other two to go back to Vera with him.
“What’s wrong, Vera?” Derek asked her.
“That man…” Vera started.
“What about him?” Cleo asked.
“That voice...that man was Charlie!”
(Catch the exciting conclusion in Trance Podium Story, Vol. 3 – coming soon!)