The Great Mall Adventure (V.2)

Torsolus left the customer service counter, wearing his purchases, but looking dejected.

"Helping people leave the mall's not in his job description, either...he wouldn't even let me see a manager....."

He tried, once again, to give the benefit of the doubt.

"There's no perfect system built by imperfect humans. Maybe this mall's big flaw is that it can't train people very well! Maybe the guard and the customer service guy are just lost humans, survivors of a broken system which failed to teach them the very difficult and very complicated task of....helping their customers...simply go home...."


He heard a faint scream in the distance, but couldn't place its source, or the words behind it...only the distress.

His eyes went white and wide with frozen terror.

"DID. DID YOU HEAR THAT...?"

(Sorry, I need to clarify; Even though she ran into Flint before, Gum's since traveled a long distance away, and is now in a different section of the mall. She's very far away from Ulala, Torsolus, and Flint. She still might be able to be heard in the distance from where they are, though; I'm not sure. They actually still may be able to react to it, but if so, not like if she were nearby.
For best results, I'll wait to sort things out before replying with Ulala. xD)

Callie jumped at the sound of the scream, quite startled. "{YEEEEP! W-what's going on?!}" she squeaked, looking around frantically. "{It sounds kinda like a scream!}" she commented. "{But yeah; someone could be in trouble! Hurry!!}" Quickly, Callie dashed after Lill, preparing herself to help anyone in need they may come across.

"{DANG, that's loud!}" Slyk remarked, wincing slightly at the terribly harsh sound. However, knowing that the possibility of someone in need being just up ahead was high, he quickly joined the others.

After dangling for a little while, Gum's arms began to ache. Of even more concern, however, was the fact that it was very difficult to maintain a good grip on the bars with the gloves she was wearing. This, of course, only caused her arms to tire more quickly. "A-ANYONE!! PLEASE; OVER HEEEEREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" her screams only grew more panicked as time went on, and her voice was beginning to sound somewhat hoarse.

(I'll undo him hearing. I figured she might be far away, but I wasn't sure if her voice just really carried, considering the personality behind it. They're dealing with their own thing atm. XD)

(Maybe we can still have them hear it just to freak them out. >3)

(OOOOOyess I'll do that!! Maybe he'll hear but not the actual request for help; just the voice! Hehehehe)

When everyone else rushed ahead, Marie promptly followed after them, the motivation of finding out what was going on causing her to move at an almost unexpectedly fast pace.
She kept running until, surely enough, she spotted an alarming sight a short distance away. "{Uuhhh, g-guyyys...?}" she began nervously, motioning to what she had spotted- a horrified girl desperately gripping onto the bars of a rail, dangling over a dizzying far drop.

Lill quickly turned to look when she heard Marie, her eyes growing wide with shock when she saw what was going on. "{OHMYGOSH!}" she cried out, her heart practically skipping a beat. "{We've gotta help her...!!}" Not wasting a moment after she was done speaking, she proceeded to rush in the girl's direction.

(Yeeeesssss, that's graaaaaannnnnnd. >3)

Just as Ulala was about to welcome Torsolus back, she, too, heard the distant scream. "WAAH! Y-yes...!" she responded to him, seeming quite disturbed, as well. "That scream... What do you think is going on...?!"

----------

Slyk was quite speechless when he saw what was going on, having no idea how the girl managed to get into such a situation. The only reaction he could manage was a single gasp.

When Callie spotted the girl clinging for her life to the railing, she reflexively yelped in fright. "{OH SNIPPY SNAPS! How'd THAT happen?!}" Without thinking twice, she zoomed with Lill to the stranger's rescue.

Gum stared up at the smallish, humanoid creatures when they came. Genuine terror, far too strong for her usual pride to conceal, was clearly visible in her somewhat large, brown eyes, wide and pleading for help. However, the sight of these creatures didn't really comfort her much, since they weren't particularly big. She doubted they had the strength to pull her up over the railing. Due to this, her expression grew even more worried.

When she got to the edge of the walkway, Callie gasped in shock when she saw the terrifying distance down, her legs feeling terribly wobbly. "{AaaAAaaahhh...!!}" However, seeing the girl's desperate expression as she stared up at them, she gathered all of her courage to prevent herself from stumbling backwards. "{D-d-don't worry! W-we're gonna help you!}" she tried reassuring her, trying not to let her own fear shine through. However, she realized that they wouldn't be able to reach over the railing to pull her up and over. "{... Gah...! W-we need something we can hang over the railing to pull her up or... something!}" she told the others.

Lill stopped by Callie's side at the edge of the walkway, gasping squeakily at the sight of the drop below them. "{R-right...!}" she agreed in response to Callie's idea, frantically scanning for any nearby stores that might that might carry something of use. "{Just gotta find somethinggg... ... Aha!}" Eventually, her eyes landed on the entrance of what appeared to be some sort of hardware store. "{I'm gonna check over there for something, 'K? I'll be right back, I promise!}" Not wanting to waste a second more, she darted off in the direction of the store she had spotted.

Stealthy wrote:Torsolus left the customer service counter, wearing his purchases, but looking dejected.

"Helping people leave the mall's not in his job description, either...he wouldn't even let me see a manager....."

He tried, once again, to give the benefit of the doubt.

"There's no perfect system built by imperfect humans. Maybe this mall's big flaw is that it can't train people very well! Maybe the guard and the customer service guy are just lost humans, survivors of a broken system which failed to teach them the very difficult and very complicated task of....helping their customers...simply go home...."


He heard a faint scream in the distance, but couldn't place its source, or the words behind it...only the distress.

His eyes went white and wide with frozen terror.

"DID. DID YOU HEAR THAT...?"

Flint rolled his eyes at Torsolus' greeting,

"Sheesh it's like we've been trapped in the dungeon of a prison!..." Flint froze, eyes wide "wow.... we really... are trapped... aren't we?" His voice was serious and vaguely frustrated. 

Suddenly he heard a faint scream in the distance, and saw Torsolus freeze
 
"What..?" his ears flicked back and forth, and he looked around. He looked between the two of them "d-don't you guys think we should go see what that was..?" His tone implied the answer was obvious. He gave his tail a singular unsettled swish.

Torsolus tapped the guard's shoulder, repeatedly, nervously.
The notion of being deliberately imprisoned here frightened him. He had to know these staff had good intentions. So he tapped frantically.

Taptaptaptaptaptaptap...

"Um?? Sir?? Sir?? It sounds like someone's in trouble somewhere??"

Taptaptaptaptaptaptaptap...

"Sir?? Please?? Please?? Sir?? Yes?? SIR???"

(Editing my reply to add something Stealth and I discussed earlier ^.^; )

"{Perfect! Thanks, Lill!}" Callie called after Lill as she rushed off, then turned her attention back to the distressed stranger. "{J-just keep h-hanging on for a bit, OK? ... Literallyyyy...}" She was trying very hard to focus on the person they were rescuing, and not the distance below her, as not to freeze up helplessly.

Slyk joined Callie at the railing while Lill was in the store, wincing slightly when he saw just how far the fall was if the girl were to lose her grip on the bars. "{Ngh...}" He just happened to notice the gloves on the stranger's hands, as well. "{Just sayin', when we start pullin' her up, we'd better be extra-careful to NOT just pull her up by her hands,}" he noted, knowing that there was a chance the gloves could tragically slip off, causing their wearer to plummet down.

Gum couldn't understand a word the creatures were saying, so she didn't know what they were up to. She had no idea that they were working on helping her; all she saw was them standing there, looking down at her. "WHAT?! DO SOMETHING!!! A-ARE YOU JUST GONNA WATCH ME DIE?!?!" she screamed at them, her voice cracking and squeaking as tears started welling up in her eyes.

----------

The guard straightened up when he heard the cry. Somewhere, somebody was in danger.
"YES... I MUST GO."
The very next second, he was rushing off to find the source of the sound.

"Yeah, it sounds like someone's in serious trouble," Ulala agreed in a quite serious tone, with a genuinely worried expression on her face. "Which direction is the voice coming from? Can you tell?"

Flint pointed, his ears perked in that direction "I think that way." He dashed off in that direction, wings flared and tail streaming 

(Short post is short)

"Great; thanks!" Ulala dashed after Flint, prepared to take out her laser guns at the first sign of trouble. When they came to a small bridge between walkways, she smoothly skidded sideways as she turned, then nimbly darted ahead once more.

Marie came to join Callie at the railing as well, her eyes growing somewhat wide and her stomach flipping when she saw the dizzyingly far drop for herself. "{Uuurgh...!}" Growing ever-so-slightly lightheaded, she took a small step back, turning her gaze to the girl. "{Y-yeah... Help's gonna be here real soon...}" she added rather shakily, attempting to give her some extra reassurance. Then, she glanced over at Slyk, nodding in thoughtful agreement.

After a few moments, Lill suddenly came bursting back onto the scene, dragging a large length of thick rope along with her. "{OK, I think this'll work!!}" she panted, skidding to a stop next to the other Inklings. "{I got back here as fast as I could!}" she added, glancing over to make sure she wasn't too late.

Callie gasped when the girl screamed at them. "{WHOA! C-calm down; don't cry...!!}" she told her, sort of taken off-guard. Thankfully, this is when she noticed Lill returning. "{Ohmigosh, Lill! That's PERFECT! THANKS!}" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together once.

"{Yes!}" Slyk cheered. "{That oughta work!}"

When she saw the creature who had left a moment ago returning with some rope, Gum's tear-streaked face lit up slightly with a hopeful spark.

"{So, are we gonna just hang it over the edge for her, or...?}" Callie asked, glancing at the rope, then the railing.

"{I guess... But we should probably hang on to one of her arms while the other's reachin' for the rope, just in case her grip on the bars lets go,}" he mentioned. "{And, y'know... Someone's gotta hold the rope, too... Agh; c'mon! We've gotta get crackin'!}" Suddenly, he grabbed one end of the rope and threw it over the edge, right next to the girl. Then, he lied on his stomach, facing her, reached through the bars, and grabbed her arm furthest from the rope, making sure to grab past the glove. Momentarily, he glanced at Marie, silently requesting for her to hang on to the same arm, as well, for extra support.

Meanwhile, Callie rushed to help Lill hang on to the other end of the rope.

At Slyk's silent request, Marie gave and single nod and swiftly went to join him, reaching out and grabbing onto the same arm. As she did so, she made an effort to try ignoring the sight of the far drop below, keeping her gaze steadily focused on the girl's face instead.

Lill held onto the other end of the rope as firmly as she could, glancing at Callie with a grateful expression when she came to help out. "{Don't worry; we've got you...!}" she called out to the girl.

Gum looked over at the rope with wide eyes as it fell beside her, then quickly back at the creatures when she felt them grabbing onto her arm.

"{Go on; grab the rope!}" Slyk told her, motioning to it with his head. Then, something occurred to him. "{Rgh... Right... She probably doesn't understand us...}" Still, he hoped that this creature was intelligent enough to piece together what she was supposed to do.

Gum looked back and forth a few times, between the rope and the creatures holding her arm. After a few moments of this, she decided that she had absolutely no choice; this was her only chance to get out of this situation. She took a bit of a deep breath, quickly let go of the bars with her unsupported arm, and grasped the rope with it, all within a couple of seconds.

Slyk breathed a sigh of relief when the girl did exactly what they had hoped. "{OK... Now if she can just manage to grab on with this arm, too...}"

With the rope in hand, Gum pulled it closer. Then, once it was practically touching her other hand, she fully moved to holding on to it instead of the bars. Thanks to the creatures holding on to her arm, she hardly even felt as if she was going to fall while transferring.

"{YES! She's got it!}" Slyk cheered, letting go of the arm. "{OK; we're comin' to help you guys pull her up!}" Quickly, he rushed to assist Lill and Callie. "{C'mon, Marie!}"

Callie gasped, feeling a sudden pull on the rope when the girl's weight had fully shifted to it. "{YESSSS!!}" she cheered, then glanced triumphantly around at everyone with a wide grin. "{This is it, guys! PULLLLLLLLLLLL!!}" With great enthusiasm, she began pulling the rope in.

With a relieved sigh of her own, Marie dashed back to Callie and Lill when she was sure the girl had safely grasped the rope, grabbing onto the other end and helping them out. "{Nghh...!} she uttered, pulling back on the rope with all her might.

Lill pulled as hard as she could, a rush of extra motivation surging through her. "{YES! I think we're doing it!!}" she exclaimed with triumph, watching to make sure the girl was still alright.

When she finally felt herself being pulled up towards the top of the railing, Gum's expression changed entirely. Her mouth spread open into the widest smile it could physically manage, and her wide-open eyes practically shone. She even began laughing in a somewhat-giddy fashion. Once she was practically at the top, she suddenly grabbed the railing with one hand, then swung her leg over it, the other quickly following. Then, she rolled a short distance away from the railing,  and suddenly flopped to sit on the ground. "YEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS...!" she cried out in triumph, paired with a deep, relieved sigh. "Hey... thanks. Sorry about screaming at you back there," she told the creatures, looking back over her shoulder at them, appearing somewhat worn-out, but mostly thrilled. She had a feeling they wouldn't understand the words, but didn't really care.

Callie beamed, bouncing around in joy when the girl had safely made it up onto the walkway. "{We DID it, guys!}" she told her fellow Inklings excitedly.

"{Phew! Heh... That was totes close,}" Slyk remarked, looking over at the stranger they had just rescued. "{She sure looks happy to be alive,}" he commented, waving at her.

"{All right!}" Lill cheered gleefully, pumping her fist in the air in a celebratory fashion.

"{Phewww...}" Marie exhaled in sheer relief, then glanced at each of the other Inklings with a soft, rather large grin. "{Heh, yeah...! Great work, guys...}"

After a moment of celebration, Lill turned to look at the girl they had just rescued, also waving at her. "{Haha, she totally does!}" she agreed with Slyk in a sunny tone.

Torsolus followed the group, dashing with easy speed.

"See, guys?" He spoke, somehow not breathless. "They want to keep customers safe! They wouldn't treat prisoners like that, would they?"

"Yeah, probably not," Ulala agreed with Torsolus as she swiftly ran along, gracefully avoiding any shoppers that happened to cross her path with dancelike movements. "Maybe they somehow don't even know what's going on? They act kind of strange, almost like... like the Mall is all they know exists or something."
However, all of a sudden, she noticed something, causing her to slow down.
"... Wait... I'm not hearing that screaming anymore; are you...? How are we gonna to find our way to the scene now...?"

----------

"{Aw! She looks totally glad!}" With a friendly grin, Callie, too, waved at the girl. "{... Buuut we should probably go see if she's hurt or anything, though. Just to be safe,}" she commented. "{C'mon; I'm sure it's safe! She seems friendly enough, and we did just save her life.}"
Quickly, Callie skipped over to see the stranger, stopping in front of her. "{Hey there!}"

"{Oh, right!}" Instantly, Lill scampered after Callie, stopping when she reached the girl. "{Hi!}" she chimed in. "{Are you OK?}"

At a more leisurely pace, Marie followed after the others, giving a small wave of her hand as she approached. "{Heya,}" she greeted in a relaxed, friendly tone.

Torsolus stopped and listened.

"Shoot....you're right! I don't hear that scared voice anymore! D'you think...." his bleach-white face somehow went whiter. ".....ARE WE TOO LATE"