Trouble at Cortex Castle

Chapter 2

The girl behind the reception desk appeared to be slightly stunned by the arrival of the entourage from Cortex Castle. Her brief training in the hotel trade had not prepared her for the rather odd assortment of guests attempting to worm their way through the revolving doors. Towed by Tiny on a chain (to give the illusion that Tiny was simply an overgrown pet), Neo Cortex skidded across the marble floor, let go and ended up underneath a chair. The revolving doors slowed to a more sedate pace and Nefarious Tropy appeared, followed by Koala Kong carrying the entire luggage.

"Good afternoon," N. Tropy addressed the receptionist, seeing that Neo Cortex was trying to crawl out from underneath the chair. "We're part of the Cortex Castle party. I believe you have some rooms booked in that name?"

"What PARTY?" Komodo Moe cried, barging through the revolving doors and unsheathing his sword. "No-one told me there was going to be a party!"

".... So if you could just tell us where are rooms are," N. Tropy continued, "and where I might find the stable block for our...animals."

The receptionist turned deathly pale and fainted, scattering pens and papers all over her desk. Sensing all was not going well, N. Tropy turned to see Dingodile ambling across the carpet, smiling his wide toothsome grin at the receptionist.

Through the revolving door came Pinstripe and Komodo Joe, loudly informing everyone within earshot that N. Gin was busy threatening their taxi driver with heat-seeking missiles.

"That'll teach him for overcharging." Pinstripe snickered.

The receptionist came round and shakily handed N. Tropy the keys. However, as soon as N. Gin barged angrily through the doors, the girl took one look at him and fainted once more.

---

As chaos descended onto Starlight Hotel, a blue kangaroo wearing a straitjacket was travelling, first class, to Cortex Castle. The seats were comfy, and Ripper Roo was able to communicate with the air hostess by means of a small whiteboard and marker pen. He used his mouth to write.

"Would you like a snack, sir?" the hostess asked. She resembled a rather disgruntled Barbie doll.

Ripper Roo carefully wrote down his order and nudged it towards the woman with his snout.

"Peanuts," she read aloud. "OK." She flung the packet at Ripper Roo and wheeled the trolley down the aisle, probably to infect everyone else with her bad mood.

Now Ripper Roo was faced with a dilemma. Namely - how could someone wearing a straitjacket open a plastic bag? He gazed down at the peanuts, trapped in their plastic cells, and wondered what to do.

Suddenly, it hit him like a bolt of lightning. Grabbing one end of the peanut packet with his foot and the other end with his mouth, he pulled hard. The packet snapped open with the force and ended up in the laps of other passengers, instead of in Ripper Roo's mouth.

Everyone glared at him. Ripper Roo didn't seem to care. On the contrary he ate the remaining peanuts with relish and settled down to watch The Colour Orange.

Two and a half hours later, the scientists and their minions were sitting around a table in the dining room. It had taken that long to check in as the manager had been called in after the receptionist recovered. She had a heated argument with N. Gin, complaining about the missile in his head. In the end, Cortex muttered vaguely about it being a cyber-life support system.

"Is it a live missile?"

"No, of course not!" Cortex lied through gritted teeth.

After that, the minions had a heated argument with N. Tropy about their accommodations.