[quote][color=gray][sub]"Kitty, I don't like this! I can't swim! Neither can Bugs!"[/sub][/color][/quote]

But the cat had gone. Disappeared through the wall, with a grin and a twitch of his tail.

With a shake and a whirr, the elevator rose and rose, and warm water enveloped Aro. It continued rising for a few seconds, then stopped with a watery hiss and a thump.

Sunlight shimmered far above, filtered by the moving water -- but of course it would be impossible to admire the surroundings when trapped underwater, unable to swim.

A face appeared over the top edge of the elevator, haloed by floating black hair. It was a child with big, dim gray eyes and mouth open in wonder, fingers curled around the top of the elevator wall. The child watched Aro while she struggled.

After a moment -- when it was clear that Aro was not well adapted for life in the water, the child swam down inside the elevator, grabbed Aro by the shirt, and dragged her speedily out into the open water, where schools of fishes darted past.

By this time, Aro would be out of air and drowning. The child held on tightly, gray expression unchanging, lifted up Aro's shirt and stuck the end of a thick wire to her stomach. An electric shock coursed through Aro, and she passed out for the second time that day.

When she awoke, she was still underwater -- but she didn't need to breathe. She was in the sand at the bottom, surrounded by seaweed and curious fish that tickled her in passing. The wire had disconnected from Aro's stomach, and it floated loose, its end flickering with blue electricity. To her left, she could see the big imposing dark building that hummed quietly within a crevice in the watery floor, and above it the elevator she'd come from.

A second elevator was rising out of the big dark building, whirring and clacking. Inside this elevator was a boy, who had been tricked by the cat just the same as Aro had been.

Above, there was sunlight. All around was open ocean -- and in the distance, the child swam like a fish toward a clump of tall weeds, hair billowing behind.

[quote][color=gray][sub]"What does that noise mean?" she asked. "How do I speak to the Witch? Could you show me the way?"[/sub][/color][/quote]

Howl purred drunkenly, dropping into a more comfortable position. "Those are just the noises the Laboratory makes," he answered. "We're in the Laboratory, so naturally we'll hear the Laboratory noises.

"The Witch is in the Tower, in Compass District Zero," he answered easily, completely distracted and compliant. "I know how to get there, but you can't go the way I go, which is the easy way. All the other ways to get there are just too dangerous. Wouldn't you rather stay here?"

A grin crept over the cat's face, and he rolled over and returned to his feet, away from Riley's hypnotizing hands. He turned his back on her and pressed his paws against the wall, tail flicking. "See those symbols there? Any of them can get you to District Zero, but none go there directly, but they're all very fun anyway. Touch one and see!"

[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/NUAWQUu.png[/img][img]http://i.imgur.com/7tOhboh.png[/img][img]http://i.imgur.com/d18c3Su.png[/img][img]http://i.imgur.com/CFUT97x.png[/img][img]http://i.imgur.com/CfdI35v.png[/img][/center]


[quote][color=gray][sub]Chris reached out his hand and gently applied pressure to the button. He slowly withdrew and turned to face the cat. "So... now what?"[/sub][/color][/quote]

The symbol, upon the touch of Christopher's finger, lit up with a gentle white glow.

WHRRRRR-CLACK clickBOOM!

The walls shuddered with mechanical movement, and the entire little room creaked and vibrated violently, like an old machine shaking off the rust. The room lurched, throwing Aro back into the pillows, as the water descended slowly toward Chris -- or, rather, as the elevator raised him up toward the water's inverted surface.

The cat's ears flicked, and its grin flashed. "Now, you drown!" it chirped happily. "Goodbye!"

With that, Howl turned around and leaped out through the solid wall of the rising elevator as if the cat were nothing more than a spirit, leaving Chris alone with the encroaching water.

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