DISCONTINUED ---- Iris: Giant Black Widow

DRAFT Chapter Nine: Visit ILKKAA

"...Although that last bit with the stars is a bit of a myth." Cocorito finished, Wiz nodding along and rolling his eyes at some parts, as they pulled up to an old building, rain softly tapping on the car. When the car stopped, they stood up and stretched as Iris opened the doors.

Suddenly the sound of rain intensified, going from soft tapping to overwhelming fat raindrops pelting down on the cement. Wiz and Cocorito moaned then looked at each other in surprise.

"Coco, I know you don't like water, but I was kind of expecting you to scream and hide in the corner." Wiz said sheepishly.

"Well, Wiz, I was expecting you to jump out and run around everywhere in the rain." Cocorito shot back, annoyed. Iris cringed as insult after insult flew at each other.

"Wait a sec, how old are you two?" She snickered, breaking into the cat fight just as Cocorito was opening her mouth. Both she and Wiz paused to glare at Iris. "For your information, we are way older than you." Wiz snapped. "Even not counting how long we have been in hypersleep. Actually, Coco, that makes me older than you although you were taken in first." he continued, sitting back down. Iris sighed. Cocorito opened her mouth to shoot another comeback at Wiz but was cut off by Iris again.

"Did you hear that?" she said, frowning.

"Hear what?" Wiz rolled his eyes. "Me and Coco are in the middle of a discussion here."

"That banging. It sounds a bit like an RPF gun, except much louder."

They all fell silent as another shot rang out through the forest.

"Hey, Wiz, how dangerous is that gun? And how far away is it?" Cocorito asked, raising her eyebrows.

Wiz sighed. "If you are going to keep asking me these things, go learn it yourself. This is an old weapon, one of the more unique ones, a X528 pistol with half an inch caliber cement mercury-tipped bullet. It's about 7 yards away, so we should be fine. Still, we should get going before someone gets hit..." He glanced up to see Iris gaping at him. "What?" She shook her head. "You know all this?"

"Of course, I was the top gunner of the group. I have to know all of this stuff. Although I was underground, I still had to train, you know. You don't expect me to go down there and sleep and mope and laze around, do you?" At this, Iris winced as an image of a fat Wiz surrounded by potato chips formed in her head against her will.

"Come on, guys. We are getting off topic here. We need to go now, like Wiz said. Before anyone gets hit." Cocorito said. Iris and Wiz glared at each other but fell silent as Cocorito led them into the worn-down building.

...

Flickering torches lined the walls, dimly lighting the ruined corridor. They finally reached the end, but nothing was there except the wall. Iris winced, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Er, is there supposed to be a hidden passageway or something?" When she looked back up, though, there was only blank space where the cats used to be. "Ack!" Iris yelped when she tripped on a rock and landed faceplant on... the gleaming, polished crystal floor? What happened to that grimy mud that was on the floor? Iris thought, looking around. It was like a mall, with clear glass (but crystal in this case) panels on the roof, swarms of people of all shapes, sizes, and species chattering and walking around, groups entering an elevator without any doors or elevator boxes'. Never in my life have I seen such an upbeat place! Or maybe I have. I don't remember. Iris noticed a sky blue and calico flash out of the corner of her eye and turned. "Wiz! Cocorito! What is this place? It's so... cheerful!" she whispered, wide-eyed at all the people going around.

Wiz snorted. "This is ILKKAA, idiot. Where have you been? Oh, you need to get yourself checked in before you can cross the line." Wiz added as a dwarf guard pushed Iris away from the striped yellow and black line, being surprisingly strong compared to his size, his height right below Iris's shoulders.

"Hmmm... neu oder alt? Ah, vielen neuen diese Sommer." he muttered to himself. Suddenly realizing that Iris did not know German, he called out to another guard, a hybrid human elf. "Tef, komm! Das Mädchen spricht kein Deutsch." He slipped through the crowd and quickly looked Iris over, then snatched something from the dwarf, Vadrik, as his nametag said.

"You must be Iris. Hold still a moment, I need to load you into the database." Tef leaned over while waving his hand in front of her face, then paused as if frozen in place and jerked himself straight. "Good! Would you like some credits, seeing as you don't have any? The normal 20 K is too little, how 'bout 700? Alright, that should be it. See ya!" He quickly ushered Iris to Wiz and Cocorito, with a slightly panicked look on his face. Iris stood there for a moment then sat down on a bench and buried her head in her hands. A few seconds later her muffled voice came out.

"Wiz, Coco, let's go. Coco, where is that poster of the revolution thing?" she asked, looking up. Cocorito bounced on her toes, squeaking excitedly, "Come on, follow me!" and leaped over the bench, scampering away. Wiz glanced at Iris. "Hey, you know her well enough to know she won't wait for you, Iris. Well, see ya!" He disappeared after Cocorito, leaving a disheveled Iris running behind. "Wiiizzz..." Iris whined, turning the corner. She nearly bumped into another person, yelling a quick "Sorry!" and dashed after Wiz. Iris finally caught up to the two, realizing that they were making some weird swiping motions with their noses from the blank billboard to the side.

"Uh, what are you doing?" she asked, frowning. "Have you two gone insane and it's contagious?"

Wiz rolled his eyes. "No, Iris, we are copying the file. Right, I forgot to give it to you." He added, noticing her puzzled expression. He rummaged around in the sack that they got after killing the widow, and pulled out a little sticker. "I got this from one of the beginner stores. Put it on your leg or something, just somewhere where it touches your skin directly. The closer it is to your head, the better. Be careful once you take the paper off, though, because it is pretty much a permanent tattoo." Iris carefully peeled the paper off and positioned it carefully on her cheek. As soon as she put it on, however, it vanished into a tattoo of a three petaled flower, an iris.

Wiz raised an eyebrow when he saw it, commenting, "Nice, it fits you here. The flower on the name is a three petaled flower and so is yours. Anyways, do you see all of those posters now?" he nodded towards the billboard, although it was now covered in posters of all kinds, a particularly bright one copied and laying next to Wiz.

"So... is that the revolution poster?" Iris asked, motioning to the digital paper on the floor. Cocorito grinned. "No, that's a get-yourself-in jail form. Of course it's the revolution poster!" Iris smiled.

"How do I sign up, though? I mean, I don't see any pens or anything to fill out."

Coco rolled her eyes, chuckling. "Silly, you are so old school. Put your hand on the form!" Iris gaped, and lifted her hand, hovering over the poster. Suddenly, a calico paw slapped hers onto the paper and a green check mark popped up, next to a red X with the label "Cancel" on it, then a few seconds later another section that was marked "Optional: Contestant Assistant(s)" and Cocorito and Wiz put their paws on too. Another green check mark appeared and the three were teleported into another room.

...

Iris looked around in wonder. There were columns of chiseled quartz holding up an intricately made stained glass ceiling, casting a rainbow glow everywhere. The floor was made of more pure white stone, creating an almost mirror image of the ceiling on the floor, except for the shadows of people chatting and glancing about the room, and many marble tables with 5 lodestone chairs surrounding each one, all of the tables making a circle around the center of the room. A huge digital screen was floating in the middle of the room, a simple aqua blue against the colorful rainbow light all around the building. A bright red fraction underneath the word "Spots Filled" showed 872/1000, Iris assuming that was the amount of spots filled..

She, Cocorito, and Wiz got a table and sat down, Iris's backpack taking up the fourth seat. A few seconds passed in silence. A minute soon passed, people teleporting into the room, some disoriented, some slapping their disoriented friends, and some just ignoring everything around them and snickering at something on their phones. The spots filled ticked up to 997/1000, and as the last few people teleported in, the screen flashed red and quiet murmurs went around the room, everyone looking up.

"Coco, Wiz, what in the world is going on?" Iris asked out of the corner of her mouth. The two cats sighed. "You'll see." Wiz said.