Halloween 2013: Part 1
#2 of Halloween
Intro to my 2013 Halloween story staring lots of people!
Halloween 2013
Choose the Goo
Story © Russet'13
Characters © Their Creators
Part 1 - Introduction
Walking into the broadcasting booth Freaky paused to adjust his bowtie and glanced up at the bank of monitors showing live images of the main studio and the first challenge. Admiring the inventive use of foam padding and colours on the assault course that had been set up Freaky couldn't help but grin. Everything looked ready but the lime green raichu turned to his staff as they monitored the various pieces of equipment that kept the studio and its cameras running.
"We ready to go live Nall?" He asked his broadcast manager, the hybrid spider/ferret creature turned and gave him a big grin as his six hands flipped switches, adjusted knobs and typed on a couple of keyboards. His large, expressive ferret eyes remained focussed on Freaky whilst his smaller eyes, ranged in groups of three kept watch on the console.
"Oh yes, everything is ready, Ferret is going through the last of the paperwork now. Our time slot is up in ten minutes and the contestants are being run through wardrobe as we speak."
"Perfect, so James you sure everything is in place?" He asked their chief technician.
The young albino raccoon lifted his visor and gave the raichu a thumb's up before turning back to his computer consoles. Turning to the door Freaky paused as a small white creature leapt up onto a nearby desk and placed a paw on a stack of forms. With pure white fur, black eyes and a tar tipped tail he'd have looked at home in a cage being little more than a foot long. But the pair of out of place glasses balanced on the end of his nose let everyone know this creature was intelligent.
"It's all done, they've signed up; they've all agreed to it so there is no going back for them now."
Picking up one of the forms Freaky looked it over and before he got to the end of the first sentence his eyes glazed over, "Good work.... heh.... man I don't even understand this? I take it we covered everything?"
Nodding his head the feral critter grinned, showing off sharp weasel teeth, "Oh yes, it's all in there, all covered. They are ours...."
"Well then," Freaky looked around the room and nodded to everyone, "Let's get this show on the road!"
-0-
"Welcome to Choose the Goo! I'm your host Freaky and it's my pleasure to welcome you all to our new show! We're running live from our studio out in the beautiful New Forest!"
The booming voice of the show's host filled Flinty's ears, a welcome distraction from all the nervous waiting he'd been doing since he'd finished getting dressed for the show. Standing around for twenty minutes watching the assault course he was going to have to try and get over slowly be turned on and tested was a nerve wracking experience. Now the jovial tones of the host was distracting him from watching the various beams, platforms and swaying bridges that spanned the large pool of viscous looking blue slime. Adjusting the denim dungarees he'd been given to wear Flinty waited for his turn to go on out and be introduced to the viewers at home as the raichu host talked through his introduction of the show.
Dressed in a superbly tailored, purple evening jacket, crimson bow tie and white shirt the lime green raichu was certainly a sight to see. Startlingly he wasn't wearing any trousers. His heavy green legs on display as he walked along the side of the pool talking to the hidden cameras, microphone held in one hand. It didn't seem to faze anyone else, no one had commented on the host being half naked and it wasn't as if there was anything to see, the raichu looked quite dapper in just his evening jacket as he gestured with one hand toward the first challenge.
"Our contestants first challenge will be to traverse the Gunge Assault, they must make their way across the balance beam, over the turntable, leap from one stepping stone to the next whilst dodging the rotating beams to reach the goal marker." As the raichu talked the hidden cameras zoomed in on the various parts of the obstacle course, showing off the course suspended above the big pool of thick blue goo. Kneeling down on the edge Freaky dipped his free hand into the gunk and lifted it up, letting the viewers and the contestants see the thick blue slime dripping back into the pool.
"As with all our games tonight if they fall, if they fail they'll land head first in our freshly made goop. This challenge ends when six of our players reach the goal post or after two players fall in the goo for the fifth time. Anyone who gets dunked five times in a row or doesn't make it to the end as one of the first six is out of the running."
Shaking his hands, dislodging flecks of goo back into the pool Freaky made his way over to the starting zone. Ladders led up to the level opposite the balance beams and offered exit from the pool. Grinning at the cameras he spoke loudly into his mic to start the festivities rolling. "But first we have to meet tonight's lucky contestants, our eight brave souls willing to brave the goo and slime to have a crack at tonight's grand prize! Panzer, introduce our new friends for the viewers at home."
A new voice boomed out over the assault course arena as various lights came on and started shining down on the doorway out from the dressing room. Flinty's eyes were glued to the screen by the door showing them the view, nervously waiting for his turn. "Of course Freaky, first up is Forest, a young wolf who's here today to show us what he can do and that you don't have to have a pack backing you up to challenge ours games and win."
Movement up near the head of the group of contestants drew Flinty's attention as someone walked out of the waiting area. Quickly the grey and white wolf appeared on the screen, dressed in blue denim dungarees and a blue t-shirt he adjusted his glasses and waved shyly at the cameras. The light from the gantries reflected off the gold medallion attached to the black collar he was wearing. He had a bright smile on his muzzle and as he stopped by the host, Freaky he answered a few questions for him.
"I'm here to win of course, and show sheepy and the twins I'm not afraid to do something radical from time to time!"
"Glad to hear it," Freaky enthused, slapping the wolf on the back and motioning him toward the ladder, "Climb on up and get ready! So who's next Panzer?"
"Say hello to Daniel," another figure moved out onto the stage, dressed in dungarees and a purple t-shirt he waved at the cameras as he walked over toward Freaky. Flinty groaned at the sight of the big, toned figure. He had the solid stocky build and shape of a kangaroo but the sleek, smooth black hide of some sort of reptile. He thought he might have been another pokemon morph, closely related to a Mew or Mewtwo perhaps. Curling his hand into a fist he held it up in the air, as he joined Freaky at the bottom of the ladder. His tail was long tapering down across the whole of its length before thickening up into a large bulge at the end which was the trademark of those who were mew blooded. Curling back and forth it seemed to almost be sparring with the large raichu's lightning bolt tipped tail.
"I'm here for the tests of endurance and the chance to show off my skills! It'll be a great chance to put my body and my mind through its paces." his piece said he clasped Freaky's shoulder before starting up the ladder to the start as the voice over started to introduce the next player. He was a griffin called Con, looking a bit sheepish in just a pair of dungarees, his large orange feathered wings making it impossible to fit him for one of the shows t-shirts.
Turning his yellow beak to face Freaky he offered the bird equivalent of a smile, one of his hands brushing over his feathered brow. "Well uhm it sounded like fun to me, my friend Nidonocu said I should try out for the games and well here I am."
"So will your friend Nido be watching from home?" Freaky asked only to grin impishly as Con shook his head and said.
"No, he's here to play too, hoping I can get further than him before I'm eliminated."
"Well that sounds like a good goal, two friends tussling for the grand prize side by side! We'll be watching your progress with interest tonight Con! So climb on up and Panzer send out the birdies friend!"
"I thought you might ask for that," the jovial tones of the announcer said with a laugh, "So without further hold ups I've got two for you. Nidonocu and his non identical twin brother Whistler! Give them a big hand everyone at home."
Flinty watched with interest as two of the remaining contestants headed out together. Laughing and nudging each other as they went. The tallest of the pair was a nidoran/rabbit cross, his deep purple fur, green highlights and unruly mop of brown hair clashed in a manner that really made him stand out as he raised an arm and waved at the crowd. His t-shirt was a bright orange and the horn on his forehead looked sharp but not threatening thanks to the bright smile on his muzzle as he walked alongside his brother toward the raichu. His brother couldn't have been more different, shorter and trim with a lithe frame that had the build of a powerful swimmer. The only thing to mark the otter as Nidonocuos' brother was his matching purple fur and thick bright green hair. Raising a paw and waving alongside his brother they stopped next to Freaky, one otter rudder and thick, snake like nidoran tail tangling and dancing back and forth as they jostled each other for the best spot before the cameras.
"So Whistler," Freaky addressed the otter with a big grin, letting the cameras show the viewers the yellow t-shirt he was wearing under his dungarees, "What brings you and your brother here to our game tonight?"
"To win of course!" the otter enthused with a huge smile, "And to show my twin here who's really in charge!"
"That about sums it up," Nido chipped in with a big grin, "My brother threw down the challenge that he could beat me at your game so I had to take him up on the challenge!"
"So," Freaky said with a pause, "You two are just here to play and have fun and not win then?"
"Oh we are going to win!" Whistler said loudly, shoving his brother playfully and grinning, "At least I am!" He staggered as Nido shoved him back, almost tumbling backwards into the pool of gunge before Freaky caught him by the arm.
"Calm down you two, you can show us your competitive edge on the course "after" the buzzer sounds! Now get up there and let me carry on introducing the others." The brothers nodded and started to scramble up the ladder toward where the others waited and Freaky grinned at the camera and winked, "They'll be fun to watch! Now then Panzer who do you have for me next?"
"Well Freaky let me introduce to you Kyle! He's a young raccoon here today purely out of curiosity!" Panzer's voice boomed as the raccoon boy standing back in the waiting room with Flinty and the last contestant shuffled out into the lights. He was short with a whip-cord thin body but the dungarees and black t-shirt he was wearing clung to it in a rather appealing fashion. The wardrobe department had certainly taken their time to make sure he was wearing something that showed off his agile frame. His hair had been combed and parted down the middle and the rings on his thick, poofy tail really stood out under the dazzling studio lights. With a shy smile he joined Freaky and waved at the camera as the raichu asked the usual question about why he was there tonight.
"Hi, err guess I was just curious, saw the posters up and thought it sounded like fun and I really want to find out what the grand prize is!" he smiled bravely, his green eyes reflecting the lights, "You people have kept it all a big secret and I figure it'd be more fun to find out what it is by taking part."
"Not a bad reason, admirable even! Well Kyle welcome to the show, head on up, pick a starting position and we'll get the show on the road soon! But first we've got two hopefuls left backstage so Panzer, send out the next one."
"That'd be Delph," Panzer said and the sky-blue furred bunny hopped timidly out into the lights and made his way over to Freaky. Idly playing with one of his long, shoulder length lop ears he offered a shy smile to Freaky then raised a paw to the cameras. The t-shirt he was wearing under the standard dungarees was green so only a small amount of his white neck fur was visible as he listened to Freaky's question and grinned shyly.
"I'm here because well.... it sounded like it'd be a laugh. Some real old fashioned game show challenges, some proper mess and gunge! You just don't see that on the TV these days and when I heard about it I thought I'd give it a go. I'm just glad I got selected."
"Well you heard him folks! Let's wish Delph the best of luck and hope you appreciate our games. We've tried the hardest to recreate the feel of some of the older game shows tonight! Now then our last contestant, come on out and join us and then we can get the game going."
Taking a nervous breath Flinty finally shuffled up to the door and walked out into the lights.
Blinking in the dazzling warmth of the bright white circles pointed down at him the fox raised a paw and waved. He could feel himself smiling like a loon but he didn't care. Now that he was out here he felt excited and paused by Freaky, letting everyone at home get a look at his blue and white fox fur and the shock of blonde hair sticking up in an unruly thatch between his ears. He turned to look at Freaky as the raichu spoke then made sure to talk into the microphone as he waved at the camera.
"I'm here to play and win! My boyfriend Temmy said it sounded like fun and I should sign up for it and I got picked! It sounds like it'll be a right hoot and I can't wait to give everything a go." the raichu clapped him on the shoulder leaving behind a small sticky patch and gestured toward the ladder.
"Welcome! Head on up, find the last starting position and then we can get started!" Flinty nodded and started up the ladder to the platform, listening as Freaky ran through the rules of the game one last time. Grinning at his fellow competitors Flinty stepped onto the coloured circle before one of the balance beams and listened intently to the rules. It was a simple game, each competitor had to get across the balance beam set before their starting point, jump onto the revolving disc. After that there was a jump across to the large stepping stones to reach the goal without being swept off into the pool below by the slowly rotating beams. If they fell in they had to make their way to the beginning and start again and they had five chances to try otherwise they would be out! It sounded like an easy challenge, right up until the raichu shouted for the studio crew to
"Start the gunge!"
At that point large nozzles hanging above each balance beam let out a thick stream of sticky gunk! A riotous multi coloured rain of goop that slickened the beams and poured over the edge into the pool below. Moment slater large drops of thick, red, white and blue foam started to crash down onto the large slowly rotating disc at the centre of the course. The only part of the course not being coated in more gunge were the stepping stones but anyone who reached them would be already be a mess even if they managed to not fall off into the thick goop below. Swallowing heavily and shooting a nervous grin at his fellow competitors Flinty flicked his tail and settled into a crouch, waiting for the horn to sound and the games to begin!