The Funhouse [Open]

[Hamelin Herriot]

"Hey Ham-Ham! Have you finished those adjustments yet?" Gepetto called out, looking up at the rafters at his tamer up above, who was busy tinkering with some wires. "A-Almost," Hamelin called back down, connecting some wires before closing the hatch. He then climbed down the ladder he had used to get up there, stepping down onto the floor. "There. Everything should run smoothly then." Gepetto nodded. "We'll see. Not a bad set up if I do say so myself. We're just about ready to start, so if you can get yourself over to the control room and out of sight, I'll open this place up."

It had been a couple of days since the duo had arrived in Terabyte City, after wandering around for so long. While Hamelin had been nervous about being in a city with so many Digimon (and a surprising amount of tamers), but they had managed to keep a low profile. They had then discovered this place, an old shop that had been abandoned. That was when Gepetto had an idea. He called it "The Funhouse", a supposed game for Digimon to play, putting them through an obstacle course of sorts with a prize at the very end.

What they didn't say though was that the obstacle course was more a gauntlet of deadly traps. Gepetto's plan had been to have Digimon run through it, succumb to the many, many boobytraps, and then absorb their data. Naturally, Hamelin had his reservations about the plan ("Are you sure about this? This doesn't seem right." "Listen Ham-Ham, the idea of a tamer is to make their Digimon stronger. And the best way to do that is to absorb data. Now, we can either do it this way, or we fight them head on. Do you want that?" "N-No." "Good. Now get to work."), but was sound convinced to go through with it. When given the proper tools, Hamelin proved more than capable of making the trap filled course, showing some rather impressive skill in electronics and construction (just so long as no heavy lifting was involved).

As Hamelin headed for the control room in the back of the building, Gepetto headed out to the front. The front of the building had been done up to look like some sort of carnival attraction, with bright colors and a big sign. Something that definitely hid the place's dark purpose. With a small podium sitting off to the side, Gepetto bounced atop it, crooning out loud in a loud voice. "Ladies and gentlemon! Step right u to Terabyte City's newest attraction! The Funhouse! Run through this obstacle course and if you're successful, you win a prize! Only ten bits! Step right up and show us what you've got!"

[Alex Norfleet]

Alex had been travelling with his new digital buddy Petitmon; they had travelled together through unbelievable wilderness until they had finally made their way to what appeared to be a town. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that the town was vastly inhabited by more creatures like his buddy, but some were a lot larger. Looking over at the little blue blob with wings he would mutter, “Hey Petitmon, will we be safe here with all of these big guys around?” The digimon would quickly fly around the young boy, and would land on his head. “We will be fine Alex, not all digimon are bad. Though, you might upset them if you take their goodies without buying them first.” The boy would nod, and being more confident after his partners reassurance he would begin walking throughout the town.

All of the younger digimon were talking about a funhouse that was about to open, and how the winner would get a prize. “Hmmm, you know Petitmon when I was smaller I would have been all over that." The boy would continue to walk until he noticed the area that was being set up for the funhouse. Curiosity began to wash across the body of the boy, and without a second thought he made his way inside the building. Once he made his way inside he would smile, “Anybody home?!” He would shout with excitement awaiting a reply.

[Hamelin Herriot]

Gepetto watched as the tamer and his little digimon entered the building. He honestly hadn't expected the first victi-erm, customer to be a tamer and his partner. An interesting turn of events. If they got rid of them, that would be one less competition to deal with. He spoke through a small microphone in the podium. "Ham-Ham, you see them?" "Um, yeah,"[/i] Hamelin would no doubt be seeing them in the control room. "Are you sure about this? I mean, trapping digimon is one thing, but humans too..."[/i] "Look Ham-Ham, we've been over this. Tamers are just as dangerous as digimon. If we get rid of them, ew're merely trimming down the number of enemies we have to deal with. Now quit your yapping and starting trapping already." [color=blue"O-Ok..."[/color][/i]

Inside the funhouse, the building was dark, a long corridor stretching out in front of them. As Alex and his partner stepped inside, the door would close behind him, a loud click showing that it was locked, trapping them inside the building. Suddenly, there was the hum of an engine as the floor under their feet started to move, almost like a conveyer belt, pulling along the hallway. Suddenly, sharp blades began to swing out of the walls, two on each side, one level with Alex's head, the other lower down, aimed at his ankles.

[OOC: Let the trap mayhem begin!]

Alex Norfleet

[Alex Norfleet]

After entering the building the room would lock itself behind them; leaving them only one option, and that was to follow this ride till the end. A conveyor belt beneath their feet began to move them, and Alex would smile, “Petitmon looks like this might be a good time for us to take our minds off the questions that we have." After moving for a few minutes the young man would notice a blade headed for his head, and simultaneously one heading towards his feet. What the hell kind of funhouse was this place meant to be? Instinctively leaping through the double set of blade he would roll back to his feet. He would then begin to look for signs of life in the building; “what the hell do you think you're doing? You could’ve killed us with that little ‘game!’”

Alex then looked down at his partner Petitmon, and would smirk with the fear showing in his eyes. “Hey buddy why don’t you stay close to me? If we die here today we will die together.” The small blob would clench tight to the head of the tamer, and would smile. “I will always be by your side Alex.” The two would smile as they continued down the path created for them by the conveyor belt.

Hamelin Herriot

[Hamelin Herriot]

Hamelin couldn't help but feel a little relieved that the first trap failed to kill them. Even if Gepetto was teeling him it was for the best, the idea of watching someone getting sliced up like that was, well, horrifying. "They made it past the blades Gepetto," Hamelin informed him over the radio. "Well, just move on to the next trap then! All you have to do is push buttons Ham-Ham. Don't mess it up!"[/i] As the signal cut out, Hamelin sighed and pressed the next trigger for the trap.

Out in the hall, as the convyer belt carried Alex and his partner forward, jets of flames would suddenly fire out of the walls in front of them, basically forming a wall of fire. Although due to the limited fuel, the flames would rise up, die down for a couple of seconds before rising up again. Further un ahead, the walls began closing and opening crusher style. Just to be certain.

[That's right, this has turned into a platformer. lol]

Alex Norfleet

[Alex Norfleet]

After surviving a near death experience the duo were spotted a wall of flame that was generating in front of him, and they were heading right towards it. Looking towards the flames he noticed an exposed hole that looked like it was providing the flame wall its fuel. The only plausible way for the duo to survive this encounter was to sever that reservoir of fuel. Alex would look down at his partner sitting firmly in his arms never wavering to leave his side. “Alright buddy I have a plan for us to get past this wall of flames; you see that metal hose leading to the machine generating the flames. Go break that hose, and we will make it buddy. I can’t do it because of the conveyor belt, but you can fly you are our only hope.” The little monster would leap from his arms, and would charge the pipe without a second thought, and once he was upon the pipe he would latch its teeth to the pipe tugging at it until the metal tube became loose and broke free diminishing the flame.

The little blue digimon would fly back to his tamer, and would land on his head; “I did it Alex! I was able to stop the flame!” The boy would pet his partner as he noticed the walls up ahead were slamming together in like a pincer fashion. “Sadly, we don’t have time to celebrate just yet little guy we have to get past our next challenge.” The boy would begin to study the walls looking for something that might be causing the walls to act in such a manner. He began to count the seconds that it took for the walls to slam shut, and the amount of time it takes for the walls to open. “1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Five seconds until the walls slam shut, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds until it reopens, finally 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds until it shuts again.” Once the walls reopened on the count of 5 he charged at the walls rushing his way through the pincer like trap leaping at the last minute to evade it. Falling on his face on the conveyor belt the blue blob with wings would lick his face, “Are you alright Alex?” The boy would slowly rise petting his little buddy, “Yeah, we survived buddy so its all good, but something tells me this isn’t the end of our struggles.” The duo continued down the conveyor belt looking for what might be coming up next.

[OOC: Raiders of the Lost Arc stuff going on here.]

Hamelin Herriot

[Hamelin Herriot]

Gepetto had returned to the control room in order to see how progress was going, and to be honest, he was not overly happy with what was happening. So far this kid and his partner had managed to dodge the traps so far. "Dammit! He's ruining the funhouse! Dammit Ham-Ham, I thought you could make traps!" he was bouncing on his tamer's head in frustration. "I-I've never done this before! Leave me alone!" "Well, you'd better get good at it quickly, because imagine what he's going to do to you if he gets here!" Hamelin whimpered before pressing some more buttons. Time to set some more traps off.

After the pair had gotten through the crushing walls, it looked like they were reaching the end of the hallway. However, their troubles weren't over yet as suddenly a trap door beneath them opened, which would send them falling towards what could only be described as a giant beartrap, ready to close in one them. However, as luck would have it, as they fell, the trap failed to close in time, letting them fall through the jaws before they closed. As the trap snapped shut, electricity coursed through the metal, a grim sign of what would have happened had the trap worked.

"You missed!? How could you miss them!?" "I-I'm sorry! I mistimed it!"

With the duo thankfully having avoided a grizzly fate, the could see what laid ahead, another corridor. However, a keen eye might notice a maintenance hatch along the side wall.

[Alex Norfleet]

The duo was travelling down the conveyor line awaiting whatever challenge might present itself to them. When all at once a trap door beneath them fell out dropping them down towards a giant bear trap. The screams erupting from the boy's mouth were something that could only be described as sheer terror. Then as he fell he noticed that the trap had been delayed, and hadn’t slammed shut on him. Once landing on the ground he wiped the sweat from his brow as he saw the electricity spark forth from the metal of the trap. “Man buddy we really dodged a bullet on that one; that one was meant to kill us.” Walking away from the area that he had landed he would watch as his partner flew around the hallways of the under passage this was clearly somewhere that the boy wasn’t meant to have arrived. He began to examine the walls of the corridor when he noticed a door that had to be a service hatch he was prepared to barge in on whomever was putting him, and his buddy through this sort of hell.

The boy would pull at the handle until the door opened, and he walked in looking at a duo standing in the service hatch at what appeared to be a control panel. “So, this is where the masterminds to this hell hole were hiding out. What was your purpose in placing traps throughout this so called funhouse?!” His partner would leap off of his head, and would began to rant at the duo; “what were you thinking you could’ve hurt or worse killed Alex! They aren’t like us digimon they aren’t reborn at death, they are just gone!”

[Hamelin Herriot]

Hamelin paled as he watched Alex and his partner crawl into the maintenance hatch. He thought he had hidden that thing! Now that guy had a direct line straight to them! Gepetto was likewise freaking out. "Dammit dammit DAMMIT! We've gotta get out of here, now!" However, before the duo could get to the door, suddenly Alex and his partner burst into the control room, and they clearly weren't happy, with them demanding what they were up to and why they were doing this. Hamelin tried to scramble back as fast as he could, trying to get to the door out of the room. Gepetto meanwhile was fuming. "This is what I get for relying on you Ham-Ham! I should have done this sooner!" he glared at the little digimon before suddenly diving towards them. "Hyper Horn!" Gepetto was done with traps. He was going to get this little runt's data himself!"

[Alex Norfleet]

With little to no explanation for what was happening between the group the little digimon began to show its true colors, and charged the duo with its attack hyper horn. The horn was flying at the Petitmon leaving him little to no time to react. Though as if acting upon some primal instinct the little blue blob leaped from the head of his tamer dodging the attack the user would then begin to inhale air into its tiny lungs causing it to swell like a puffer fish, and would unleashing a breath of hot air at the enemy hoping it would distract him. “Hot Breath” he would shout as the attack was releasing. Now on edge the boy would motion for his digimon to return to his side, and he would use the small gap in time to look for an exit to this sick dream they were living.

[Hamelin Herriot]

Unfortunately for Gepetto, his attack had missed his target, the little flying digimon flying to the side to avoid it, before launching his own counter attack. The attack grazed the horned digimon, causing him to spin out and crash into the control panel for the funhouse. The metal buckled and cracked as Gepetto's horn embedded into it.

Then, there came a spark, and with a loud sharp crack, the control panel burst into flames. Gepetto pulled himself free of the burning control panel, looking around wildly before running for the lone door in the room. "Abandon ship! Digimon first!" he yelled out, his tamer not too far behind him in scrambling out of the control panel and out of the building. The fire would soon quickly spread, and left unattended (which it no doubt would), would soon see the entire funhouse up in flames. Fortunately there wasn't much stopping Alex and his partner from getting out as well.

[Alex Norfleet]

Watching as the small digimon went crashing into the control panel, and the flames bursting out at the funhouse he watched as their captures made their way out a door, and a smile would form on his face as he looked at his partner. “Looks like we have our way out buddy!” He would shout as he grabbed his partner firmly in his arms, and made his way through the door. Traversing his way through the tunnel, and out the door just as the building erupted into a roaring flame. A small part of him wished that there had been a safe way to end the fire, but there wasn’t so he had to abandon the cause, and make his way to safety once outside of the fire he attempted to locate the man that had trapped him. He didn’t feel that the man was evil the digimon he was paired with was manipulating him for his own personal gains that was what was obvious to the boy.


Hamelin Herriot

[Hamelin Herriot]

Hamelin and Gepetto had made it out easily enough, and could only watch as the funhouse was engulfed in flames. Hamelin couldn't help but let out a small groan. He had put a lot of work into the place, and now it was all gone. He really shouldn't be surprised. Anything he made wasn't important enough to last. Gepetto was grumbling angrily, sporting mild burns from the electrical fire. It had been such a good plan to, and that kid had to ruin it! Imagine all the data he could have farmed if he hadn't turned up. No, if Hamelin had done his job right and just killed those two kids.

"Well, we'd better get out of here," Gepetto spoke up, "When the authorities get here and find out what was here, you can bet they'll want a few words with you, if you know what I mean." "M-Me!? B-But it was your idea!" "Yeah, but who built it?" Hamelin let out a groan and nodded. The two turned and made a run for the alleyway, disappearing among the buildings and putting as much distance from this place as possible.

[EXIT]

[Alex Norfleet]

Alex watched from the streets as the funhouse that the evil duo had orchestrated was being engulfed in flames. A sense of pride washed over him as he watched the building burn to the ground, and knowing that he was able to save the lives of some unsuspecting digimon. He would slowly look up at his partner who was looking intently at the burning building they were once trapped in. “Hey little buddy are you okay?” He would ask concerned for the well being of his partner. It was almost perplexing to the young man how strong of a bond he had already built up for his partner. “Yeah I am fine Alex, I am just glad I had you there with me it was really scary.” Looking over the area he looked back up at his little buddy; “I don’t see the guy do you? I think his little manipulative digimon was controlling him, I think he called him Ham.” The digimon would land on his head, and would mutter, “No, I lost all sight of them let’s leave this place Alex.” The young man would nod, and would walk away in the crowd of digimon that was beginning to form in the city square.

[Exit]