Sassy's back and she's taking on the wall! We got a little twist later on in this one, too.

 
Up Against the Wall

The barrier seems to stretch on for quite some distance. There are a lot of people milling about it, pushing and shoving and some are hacking at it with axes, so you have to watch your head around here. I stand facing the wall with Linger, Icy and Pete behind me, watching me to see what I'll do. I gently and slowly reach out and touch the barrier. The wall feels rough and cool to my touch. Does that mean it exists or is it my imagination? Only one way to find out and I'm not too keen on trying it, but it has to be done.

"Stand back, guys." I launch myself at the barrier and hit it a solid hit with my left fist. I feel pain and I fall to the ground. After picking myself up, I look at my fist; blood. Well, I guess that proves that it's real. I take out a handkerchief and wipe my fist and the blood's on the handkerchief. Well, that's proof enough for me. Maybe the mindbender is still in town, but this wall isn't part of her handiwork.

I turn to Linger and Icy with a slight smile. "You're right, Icy. It's real enough, all right."

"I'm sorry you had to hurt yourself to prove me right."

"Oh." I grin at her. "I'll be okay, just a few skinned knuckles and a bit of blood. Nothing I can't deal with."

I turn and see other people staring at me like I was crazy or something. Several are pointing at me and laughing, but that doesn't bother me. I carefully approach the barrier and lay my good hand flat against the surface.

"Hey, you guys, come check this out," I say and move over to give them room. I direct them to do as I did, touching the wall's surface. "Notice anything unusual?"

"Yes," says Icy frowning in concentration. "What's that? Feels like some kind of vibration."

"It thrums and throbs like dere is somfink on t'odder side try to get out."

"Yes," I agree, "it does feel like that somewhat."

"Mebbe sum byrde is stuck in dere. Wot we feels is him beatin his wings against da wall."

"Mmmm, maybe it acts more like some kind of power."

"Ah, power did you say?" says a voice behind me. "Let's check this out." A strange man starts to feel the wall and he grins. "Yep, it is power all right. Well now, ain't that interesting."

"Excuse me, sir," I say to the tall lanky guy. "Who are you?"

"Oh, me? Well now, my lady, my name is Watt Farad, but most folks call me Sparks. I'm an expert in power and energy. Studied it extensively at the Academy of Applied EPower. Well, I did till they kicked me out."

"Well, if this is power, how could anyone generate enough of it to make this barrier unbreakable and invincible?"

"Not sure that they could. It'd take a lot of power. You see, it takes power to generate power."

"Me not und'stan'. Power means strong and dis wall is strong; but how strong make strong?" Linger asks and shakes his head in utter bewilderment. I lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Just take it easy for now, Linger. I'll try to explain it to you later. Well, Sparks, how can we bring this barrier down? Could we generate enough energy and force to overwhelm it?"

"Hm, I doubt it. It would take an awful lot of energy to bring the whole wall down, but maybe we could apply enough energy to break through a section of it; say a panel that covers a short distance. It would create a gap. Problem is, it would be a short gap and I don't know how long we could keep it down so whoever goes in would have to be fast. I don't know how we could get anyone who goes in back out again. Maybe, once inside, they could find the source of the power for this barrier and shut it down that way."

"It doesn't sound very encouraging to me," says Icy. "Are you sure that it's power or energy?"

"Well," Sparks says, "That would be the first thing I'd have to check out. Please excuse me for a minute." He leaves but returns lugging a huge box of gadgets and tools.

"You needs all dat stuff fer energy?" asks Linger.

"Well, maybe not; but it's always good to be prepared. Best stand back a pace. This might be dangerous." We retreat to a safe distance and watch him do his work.

"I hope that there's some way to get those people out of that barrier," says Icy. "Especially Bristle and Pete's mom." I make a sign to Icy and she quickly lapses into silence.

"We'd best leave it to Sparks. No sense in worrying about it. It's out of all of our fields of knowledge and he says he's an expert and I tend to believe him."

I notice Pete and realize that this isn't the best situation for her to be in. I ask her, "Pete, don't you have any friends you like to play with?"

"Yes, but mama said I shouldn't play with them again. I don't think she likes them much."

"Where are they?"

"I could show you, but mama made me promise never to go near them again."

"Dem mus be pretty badd if she say dat."

"Oh, I don't know about that, but we did have fun together."

"Well," I say, "there are three of us here with you and we'll make sure you stay safe. Couldn't you take us to meet your friends?"

"Well, mama didn't say I couldn't take anyone else to meet them." She thinks about it a bit. "Well, sure, if you really want to meet them. I'll take you."

With a smile on her lips and a bounce in her step, she leads us to a pit in the ground. She points down. "They live in there."

"What? Here? In this pit?" asks Icy.

"Sure they do. Want to meet them?"

"I would like to meet them very much," I say.

To my surprise, she begins to hiss and rattle and snakes come up to the surface of the pit. "These are my friends."

Linger and Icy step back, but I look at the snakes. I speak to them, but it's a bit harder to understand them. Pete, on the other hand, seems to have no problems in communicating with them.

Finally, an older snake pops his head up and says, "So, you have returned to us, hatchling."

"Yessss." says Pete. "Thesse are my friendss."

"Any friendss of yours are friendss of ours. Who are they?"

"I am Sassy Snake," I answer and he does seem to understand. "These are our friends, Linger and Icy. How long have you know this hatchling?"

"Not long, but she understands us well. If ever we can be of service, all you need to do is call. My name is Cottonmouth Joe."

After we speak some more with Joe and his kin, we gather together to discuss what we've learned.

So, what'd you think of the twist? Pete talking to snakes. The voter (Ichiro) said, "Pete being a little reflection of Sassy is pretty cute." He mentioned he hadn't seen it coming but it made sense in retrospect.

I also like that we get to see more of Pete, who's been in the Rollover for this mission and the previous mission as well. I kind of question Sassy's decision to punch the force field, honestly, but I guess she made her point, skinned knuckles or no. Although we didn't see AS much as her as in some missions, we still get a healthy bit of her stories, which I am quite happy about. We'll see her again closer to the end of roleplaying too, which is great. Next up, though, let's get back to Wildfall and Mary!

Before I let you go, I should mention Sassy took "Best use of a NPC" this mission. I wanted to wait until now to add it in since Ichiro (voter) mentioned both Linger and Sparks as the reason Sassy take this award: "Just so much character to them, and they always enhance the pieces they are in."

A heartfelt congratulations to Sassy for the award!