Through the Rabbit Hole

"C'mon now, knock that off!" Plisken said, catching the attention of the Alex and Jade. Embaressed, they scrambled off one another and started putting their clothes back on. Plisken cleared his throat "Now, we still have to find out where those flares came from" he said as if nothing had happened, and two of his group hadn't just lost control over their primal urges. "Flares?" Artemis rubbed his head and tried to recall his earlier endeavors. He remembered the giant mosquito and it's narcotic blue friend that doped him, but he couldn't quite recall.....I have tracked the source of the flares to this location Holly......The telemetry calculations in my head are FLAWLESS! "Wait! Mr. Plisken, I remember where the flares came from! I encountered them earlier!" Plisken turned and shot Artemis a curious gaze. "I....encountered them back when I was running around high off my ass" Jacky giggled, Artemis gave him a death stare, quieting him down. Artemis tried feverishly to recall where he had seen them. "I can't remember!" "That's because you were high off your ass, if you're such a whiz scientist how become you didn't know that" Jacky barked, still having no control over his words. Artemis raised his hand to hit him, but realized something, this little smegger is right! He instead put his hand on Jacky's shoulder. "Because I was high off my ass!" he said, reaching into his pocket with the other hand and pulling out the dead mosquito. "So what, you're going to get high again?" Alex commented. "Yes, Lanky Locks, I am!" Artemis said triumphantly. He held up the mosquito for the rest of the group to see. "The narcotic agents from the mosquito will affect the areas of my brain where the memories of my trip are stored, and I'll be able to recall the location of the flares! At least, that's how it works in theory" "That's.....stupid, you'll just go crazy like you did last time, we need you sane if we're going to get anything done" Jade said. "I appreciate your concern Miss Jade, but it's the only way I'll be able to recall my past adventures, my years of experience and lingering high tell me so! Besides, my body is partially adapted to the narcotics now, I should be able to....control myself now." Artemis stung himself in the neck with the mosquito. "So I guess you'll be, in laymen's terms, tripping balls again?" Holly said. "Yes Holly. Okay Mr. Plisken, let's roll!" Plisken started out towards the swamp, but stopped next to Alex and Jade. "Finish putting your clothes back on and get moving, I'll go scout ahead with Jacky and Artemis" Plisken, Artemis, and Jacky started out towards the swamp. Jade and Alex finished putting their clothes on. They stood in silence, staring at one another. Jade coughed, handed Alex his rucksack, and headed out towards the swamp. Alex followed close behind....

Artemis had almost perfectly deduced the impact of the narcotics. It did reveal the location of the flares, and his body did partially protect him, but he was still suffering from minor hallucinations and was sweating like a pig. "It's a little farther gentlemen" Artemis marched forward, Plisken and Jacky right behind him. Alex and Jade followed from a short distance. "So, the uh.....love bugs huh? Weird bunch...." Alex said, slightly embaressed and incredibly elated at the same time. "Yeah....." Jade whispered. "So, did that mean anything or...." "Is it the tree covered with glowsticks?" Jacky said from the front of the group. "No, it's the Skutter wearing a bikini with the free taco platter, OF COURSE IT'S THE TREE WITH THE GLOWSTICKS YOU TARD!" Artemis raged, his bi-polar disorder being amplified by the mosquito narcotics. Plisken approached the tree and circled around it, looking for clues. "Artemis, how long ago were you here?" Plisken asked, picking up a dying glowstick "About 45 minutes to an hour my good man, Holly, are you keeping track of time?" "Just 'cause I'm in a watch doesn't mean I have to keep track of time Artie" Artemis scoffed at his watch. "Well, 45 minutes to an hour Mr. Plisken" "They might have left some more clues, everybody take a look" Artemis and Jacky started examining the tree itself while Plisken, Alex, and Jade checked the swamp. After fifteen minutes, nobody had found anything out of the ordinary. Jacky circle around the tree for the ninth time and stopped by Artemis, who was using a strange device to check the bark. "Hey Artemis, what's that?" Jacky asked, kneeling down beside him. "A multi-spectrum psi-scanner. It's an upgrade on the psi-scanner of my own design. It performs 300% better than your regular old psi-scanner, and it comes in six fabulous colors!" Artemis said proudly, waving the scanner back and forth across the bottom of the tree. "So, what are you doing?" "I've been getting some life signs. Two humanoid, one....not humanoid. It's strange, I don't know where they're coming from but it says they're nearby" Jacky looked around and noticed a strange glow coming from within the tree. "Hey Artemis, what's this?" Artemis joined Jacky, who discovered a pipe sticking out of the tree, a glowstick tied to it. "How the hell did I not notice that?" Artemis pulled the glowstick off the pipe and examined it. "Fresh, but how did it get here?" Plisken, Alex, and Jade circled around the hole. "So, what is it science boy?" Alex said condescendingly. "Well Lanky Locks, according to the MS-Scanner it's some sort of....portal....how....scientific!" Plisken peered down the portal. "I'm guessing they might have gotten down there by accident" Plisken said, he turned to the group. "Okay, somebody has to go down there" Artemis raised his hand excitedly. "Okay, you and who else?" Plisken scanned the group. "Alex and Jacky, go with him" Alex looked at the two men standing off to his side, and shook his head. "Fine Plisken.....I'll play along" "Me and Jade will stay up here to wait for anyone else" Artemis pulled a length of rope from his bag and tied it to the base of the tree, he got several odd looks from the others. "What? You never know when you'll need rope!" He tossed the other end down the portal. "So, who's going first?" Jade asked....

Alex hit the bottom with a thud. He checked his surroundings, he was....in an amusement park? "What the hell?" He commented, walking up to Jacky, who had been "volunteered" to go first. "It's like every horror movie I've ever seen! A clown, alien, killer is going to kill us Alex! We're all going to die and it's my fault!" Alex put his hand on Jacky's shoulder and turned the nervous lad to face him. "Jacky, shut the smeg up" Artemis came through the portal and landed face first on the bottom. "Nice landing" Alex said jokingly. "Thanks Lanky Locks, yours wasn't too bad either" he replied, not knowing that Alex was being sarcastic. "So, where the smeg are we?" Alex looked around, trying to grasp exactly what the hell was going on. Artemis started scanning the environment. After five minutes Alex walked up to him "What does your scanner say?" he said, frustrated. "Oh, the batteries are dead. I've been trying to peel the stupid warning stickers off that the JMC made me put on it. I figured since they're non-existant...." a low growl eminated from the shadows. Artemis pulled his flame thrower out of his bag. "What the hell was that?" Alex whispered. "Oh, you heard that? Thank god, I thought it was the mosquito juice!" Artemis replied. Jacky ran over to the two men and hid behind them. "It's an alien! We're going to die!" he cried. "Damnit Jacky, don't start that shit again!" a large creature emerged from the shadows. "GOOD GOD! KILL IT WITH FIRE" Artemis shouted, aiming the flamethrower at the creature. "NO! STOP!" somebody shouted from the shadows......