Planet Protectors: Hard Times/Chapter Six

Gary was about to open the worn out creaking door but to his upmost relief got a notification from his communicator giving him an excuse to hang back a moment. He took his time sluggishly scrolling through his feed full of vanity-obsessed animals before checking the notification only for it to be yet another advertisement for SUBMANIA. The worrisome guide dog really didn't want to go through the door; not only did the pitch black room look beyond sinister but he really wanted to take a moment to compose himself. He'd already heard awful things from Harper and she was evidently trying to hide Velocity's harsh nature through her positivity so wasn't quite ready to peek behind the metaphorical curtains. His stalling had now reached the point where he was browsing through his social media contacts and reading messages from many months ago. As he scrolled to his alphabetical contacts he came across Casey (whom he didn't have too many interactions logged up) and took a deep breath before writing up a message draft.

'Hey Casey, sorry about earlier. Had some stuff come up. We can meet again next week? We can go to a restaurant. Your treat.'

Gary smiled to himself confident that this tactic would work and that this is what women wanted. Sabre told him that the ladies like a confident man, anyways. Thankfully for every animal in the solar system Gary had to leave his message in the drafts as the sounds of horrific cursed screeching and howling came bursting through the door and without even thinking Gary yanked it open and ran through. ("Wait, why am I being a hero? I don't want this!") His thoughts finally caught up to him but it was too late as his body had already acted on impulse. "Hey uh, Holly is it? Is everything okay? You got a gaggle of demons in here or something? Sounds like quite the party..." Gary rambled to himself out of anxiety; he couldn't see a thing and had no idea how large the room was but the sudden silence was harrowing. He stepped towards the commotion no matter how hard his body was trying to resist.

The room was lit in a ferocious display of purple flames giving the room a foreboding view. "GYYAAHHH-GhhAIYEE!" Gary yelped out a piercing screech and took a brief glance at the distorted room around him. It was full of freaky shadow figures painted on the walls and a figure engulfed in flames that Gary just about processed before bolting straight out of the room; that was his plan anyway. He smashed his head firmly onto the door and passed out, much to the dismay of the figure above him. The flames depleted as the light returned to the room and all of the shadowy figures returned to their supposed original forms. "Oh, of course this happens." The figure's voice echoes around the room. "Right in the middle of my ritual, too." The figure sighed and fell to the ground softly, carefully lifting the guide dog and placing him on a plush cushion in the centre of the room.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake." Gary's eyes softly opened up to see a deep purple okapi staring directly at him with a stoic face. She had a gothic fashion sense to her figure from head to toe with curved markings that resembled that of a skull over her neon lit light blue eyes that sharply contrasted against the rest of her body and outfit. She was dressed in a laced up black webbed dress that extended down to her shining red high-top boots and left a small hole for her striped tail to peek through. Gary was able to notice this detail as the okapi had already moved her attention away from the guide dog and was shuffling her ritual trinkets. "You know, I'm quite disappointed in you, Gary." The guide dog was still coming to terms with the events that had unfolded. "You're Holly, right?... Did you save me from that dark place with the creepy purple figure?" The okapi sighed. "...But I'm not surprised. I AM Holly, that 'creepy purple figure' was me, Gary. You interrupted my ritual but alas, I knew this would happen..." She placed her trinkets consisting of various feathers, knitted dolls, pins and jars back onto the shelf and sighed once more. "Your incompetence was and is inevitable." Holly reached for a feather duster but instead of cleaning with it she grabbed the cobwebs and dust strings on it and placed them gently on top of her trinkets. "Gee, my word gets about, huh?" Gary chuckled and gulped at the same time. "Yes." Holly confirmed with her back turned away from the trembling guide dog.

"It is thanks to your incompetence that we must perform a new ritual." Holly picked her trinkets back up and placed them back onto the ground again. "There. Nice and dusty. The Lord of Darkness doesn't take kindly to fresh and clean goods." Gary's anxiety decided to take a backseat to allow his scepticism to shine. "Pfft, rituals? No thanks. I don't believe in your darkness lordies or dusty knickknack wishing, thank you very much." Holly's face had dropped further than it already was but Gary was way too oblivious to notice and continued his rant. "Like, what would you propose anyways? Flapping around with some feathers, sticking needles who knows where and chanting will appease your mystical lord here? What's it going to do, give you a medal and a hi-five?" Gary's laughter came to an abrupt end when the okapi grew tired of his charade and grabbed him using a whip made out of the same dark flames that engulfed her and hurtled him straight into her face. "So maybe I went a little far..." Gary just about squeaked out, nearly sweating clean out of his shirt. "Do not disrespect the the Lord of Darkness. We shall atone for your incompetence, or rather, YOU shall." Gary grimaced in suspense but managed to just about compose himself; he knew that Sabre needed him as he couldn't be bothered to go through the process of capturing or persuading another animal to file his taxes for him. "Wh-What if I don't?" Holly's eyes glistened as her facial markings furrowed in disbelief. "I was told that you are quite the relentless fellow. Very well." She released the flame's grasp and let the guide dog thump to the ground. "If you dare to defy the Lord of Darkness then I have no choice but to poison you on an undisclosed date." Holly grabbed a beaker and began to slowly swish the bright purple liquid inside it around. "Now sit down and I'll grab the necessities."

Gary shuffled around on the cushion beneath him in a futile attempt to get comfortable. Whilst he waited he decided to take in his surroundings without the judgement of Holly lingering over him. She had quite the collection of antique rustic jewellery and trinkets that seemed to be placed in specific places in a pattern so as to warn off pure spirits; that's what the tattered old sign placed next to the entrance said anyway. ("Do not touch. We do not want the Lord of Lightness here now, do we?") Gary read to himself. ("Yikes. There's more than one of them?") The stubborn guide dog rolled his eyes over to a collection of posters lightly tacked onto the wall with each one being a different animal. Most of the Planet Protectors were on there including some that he didn't know too much but recognised most of them. ("Hey is that the salamander and jackal I saw earlier? I think I saw them anyway... Maybe I dreamt them, huh... Hey wait that's Bill! Bill Cooper!") Gary's eyes widened as he took in all of the familiar faces on the wall. ("I wonder what on Corgamaious could've gotten all of these animals involved with Holly... I doubt she's making a friendship scrapbook. I'm sure she's cursing each and every one of them in her free time and I'm inevitably going to end up here next...") The creeped out guide dog shifted his focus over to a small pile of plushies laying neatly on the floor next to the small cupboard room that Holly just walked into. He figured it was probably best not to go snooping in a room with a lock on the door, after all, if she had such things laying around freely, who knows what was lying inside a room that she locks up. ("These plushies are so cute... Very unlike Holly. Wait, there's Bill again! In plush form!") Gary nearly screamed out loud but managed to keep his thoughts internal. ("Yep, yep... No big deal here, those are just pins inside of the Bill plushie. Nothing sinister here Gary, all is fine, keep calm...") He tried his hardest to do just that by trying to find a source of light to focus on until realising that there isn't any in the entire room. No lamps, no torches, no light switches, nothing. He decided to just close his eyes and keep his head down until she returned, clasping tightly onto his backpack for comfort.

"Ah, you're a fan of meditation too? Yes, I find this room quite relaxing too." Holly smiled, only tugging at Gary's nerves even further. "Haha, yeah, yeah... So, The Lord of Darkness... Are you two pals? Lovers? What's the deal here?" Gary rolled his wrists then casually slumped his backpack down to the ground and unclenched his butt on the tattered cushion in a display of confidence that neither he nor Holly believed. "...You mean to tell me you are not aware of the Lords? They control our spectrum beyond any time or concept that we can feasibly imagine." Holly sighed upon noticing that Gary had tensed up all in a matter of seconds. "I did not expect you to understand the Lords nor my methods but I assure you upon widening your gaze and understanding you too can become one with the Lord of Darkness." Holly closed her eyes and raised her arms as a feint flame formed on her palm, whirling around softly as Gary's eyes widened. "I'll admit I was sceptical at first... But that display... Even I can't explain that." Gary stared at the flames almost mesmerised by their frantic movement yet relaxing appearance. "And this too, these flames? How are you doing that? These little... Flame things." Holly smiled as her eyes opened; her pupils seemed to shapeshift to that of the pattern of the flames resting on her palms.

"So what's up with the Lord of Lightness then? Are they pals, enemies, lovers?" The flames quickly depleted from Holly's palms as her mood changed drastically. "We do NOT talk about the Lord of Lightness. Light energy is incredibly overrated." Holly rolled her eyes. "Ah, right. Should've guessed that from the whole... Darkness and such. My bad." Holly nodded in acceptance and continued her speech. "Harnessing the power of darkness that our gracious Lord provides is truly the path to radiance." A beam of darkness surrounded Holly dimming everything around her slightly. "Do you have any questions about what we just discussed?" Gary went over the lore in his head and scratched his beard. "Uhh, darkness good, light bad. Nope, all is good, or rather bad, heh." Holly already had her back turned to finalise her plans.

"Right. I have collected the necessary trinkets. Please repeat after me, when you are ready."

"First, please take a look at the herbs and spices in front of us. We have a jar each. The herbs and spices must be added to the jar in a specific order so as to summon the Lord. First, we shall add a pinch of jasmine. The jasmine represents tenderness, hope and purity." Holly noticed Gary about to pipe in and stopped him. "Yes, before you ask, this is the opposite of what we want. We shall be adding additional remedies to engulf the jasmine in darkness. Offering a conversion from light to dark is the perfect way to bring the Lord to us. I am going to gently place the jasmine extract into the jar, please follow along now." Gary couldn't help but have a baffled look on his face as he dropped the jasmine petals into the jar and watched as they gently fluttered down to the bottom. ("Ah, this is peaceful. Too bad that's going to change...") Holly placed her hands over to the next herb. "Next, we add some basil. Basil has quite the strong and pungent smell and taste though sadly it is sweet. We will need to place this in the jar to influence the jasmine and then layer it with something to erase the sweetness. That will be sage. Sage has a peppery flavour to it and we will be using these sage seeds to bring forth the darkness into our ritual and erase the sweetness." Gary had just finished placing the basil into the jar and then plopped the sage seeds in at the same time as Holly. "Excellent. Finally, we'll be adding some peppercorn. This spice will be the final ingredient and will fully transfer the jasmine petals over to the realm of darkness. This is our offering to the Lord, and as such, we will be able to visit them in their realm. This is where we shall perform our speech to atone for the interruption you caused. Make sure you repeat after me."

Gary nodded as he watched flames emerge from the jars. "Ah, that's quite peacefu- AH, NEVERMIND!" The flames burst out without a moment's notice and reflected off the ceiling engulfing the entire room in darkness. Gary grasped tightly onto the cushion as he felt the room rotate around him at a rapid speed; he had no idea whether this was actually happening or if it was all just an illusion but he certainly wasn't taking any chances. "Welcome to the realm of darkness, Gary. Lord, I bring a new subject to you. I'm sure you know already why he is her-" Gary had already lost all focus as his eyes frantically darted around the room taking in the now distorted figures. The portrait of Bill Cooper on the wall was now a silhouette in his image that replaced his eyes with large vortex swirls that dripped down onto the ground. "OKAY, OKAY, PLEASE DON'T EAT ME! If that's what you're into! I have no idea! I'm so sorry for interrupting your ritual... Please, have mercy!" Gary cried, desperately trying to escape from the room. Holly was yet again quite static in emotion and didn't seem overly fussed about Gary's meltdown. "Gary, it's okay. The Lord of Darkness anticipates this reaction from newcomers. Just take a moment and I shall speak first. You are safe here with the Lord." Gary scurried back over to the cushion in defeat and took a deep breath. "I truly believe this new subject to be a great asset for your energy once he has come to terms with it. For now, I would like to thank you again for your continued supply of darkness energy." Gary was looking up to Holly, still shaken but seemingly coping enough. She nodded towards him. "Hey, Lord?... I'm sorry that I disrespected you, you mean real business and I had no right doing that... I promise to respect you always from now on and I'm sure Holly feels the same way." Holly noticed that Gary was almost in some sort of trance like state or at least she assumed him to be as his voice had turned incredibly monotone. "Uhh, that has nothing to do with us, does it?..." Holly snapped her fingers at Gary who didn't flinch in the slightest with his eyes still wide open. "...But of course I reciprocate those feelings. Thank you once again, Lord."

With their communication coming to an end, Holly gathered all of the dark energy into her chest and released it back into the jars returning the world back to normal. "Uhh... Sorry about my reaction there... I'm just not used to swirling rooms and distorted furniture and such. What exactly happened that made the place change?" Gary asked whilst once again tightly grasping onto his backpack still reeling from the discomfort. "We had entered a different dimension to what we inhabit currently." Holly began placing the spare trinkets back into their original locations and dusting them back up. "We had briefly entered the realm of darkness. It mirrors our world identically however everything in it uses maximum darkness energy, hence the distortions and differences you noticed as we transitioned to it. We have our own counterparts there, too. They are what I aspire to be." Gary was surprised to hear that Holly wasn't peak darkness energy; he was going to remark on that but decided he wanted to live so shut his mouth. "Really, huh... What are they like?" Holly pointed over to her wall of animal targets. "Did you notice these portraits when we entered the realm? They are entirely made out of pure dark energy. Their eyes are nothing but a husk of a swirling void. If only I could harness energy to that potential..." Holly grasped her hands together in woeful sorrow as Gary's confusion grew once more. "...You want to be a husk of a swirling void? Huh... I feel like that every day to be honest." Holly firmly nodded in approval. "Ah, yes... You'd be an excellent subject for the Lord. Pure darkness is bliss; upon completing this ritual you will understand this."

"I thought we were done? Oh boy..." Gary's teeth frantically jittered up and down as he shuffled awkwardly around the already indented cushion. "Don't worry, this final step is relatively simple. We just have to drink from the jars. You aren't allergic to any of the ingredients, are you?" Before Holly even got to finish her sentence Gary had already gulped his drink down and had some of it dripping from his beard. "Hmm... Tastes like cranberry." Holly let out a rare smile as Gary wiped the drink from his beard. In all honesty the guide dog wasn't fully in belief of anything that just happened, assuming that it was nothing but a mere special effects show using fancy velocity tech. The fire and flames of whatever practices Holly conducted frightened him beyond belief but he still wasn't prepared to take any chances so went along with Holly's ritual and completed it as soon as possible as he was certain that the okapi's violent threats were real. "I'm glad you liked that, Gary. Our duty to the Lord is done for now. Should you wish to communicate with them further, I am always here to assist you with that." Gary nodded as he stretched out his limbs and relaxed his muscles that were still tensed up.

"Before you go..." Gary's muscles immediately tensed up again. "...The ritual indicates some intense dark energy readings inside of you. May I ask you some questions to find them?" The intrigued okapi eagerly grabbed a notebook and used a small flame of darkness to tear a page out that she gave to Gary. The flame was warm yet seemingly controlled; it wasn't capable of burning anything other than the paper as it trailed slightly over Gary's fur, only warming it rather than scorching it. "Here. We can express these via a haiku." Holly passed the still warm paper over to the baffled guide dog who reluctantly held it in his hands. "I shall write down notes as you talk about things. The first question is... Do you feel like your life has a balance between neutral and dark energy? Do you feel moments of light? If so we can always correct that, by the way."

Gary took a deep breath as his mind recollected all of his recent and relative trauma and sighed softly. "Dark energy? Man, I feel dark and tired all the time, easily agitated... You know how hard it is to maintain business all day every day travelling around the galaxy non-stop? It's enough having to deal with all that alone and having no free time to myself but then I have to deal with annoying clients and whining animals asking where oh where their precious friends are. Geez, I dunno Danny, you're the detective here, sheesh! Go find out yourself, Sherlock. Ugh. You ever dealt with the Animal Protection Party? Don't. Don't bother. Not that I've ever used them but they're so incompetent at their job they always feel the need to harass me for information as if I know anything. I just file taxes, man! I just want to live in a little cottage out by the meadow and churn butter or something, I dunno. Just some peace would be nice... Anyway, any other questions? Sorry, I went a little overboard there." Gary had already settled himself laying flat onto the ground and plumping the cushion to prop his elbows onto. "No, that's alright, please keep talking. It's giving me an excellent insight into your energy." Holly continued to excitedly scribble down notes using a feather pen tipped with pitch black gloopy ink.

"If you say so, how about those Protectors then? Geez... Aren't they always worried about being morally right and such, can't they just give it a break for once? Go wild or something, commit arson, rob a bank. It's gotta be boring being so stuck up and 'correct'. They always get sooo mad at me too, as if I'm the one who tried to take out planets with huge beams of light or something? Grabbing me and shouting at me for something that Sabre had nothing to do with anyway, did I get any apologies for that? Not in the slightest! Well, Scott said sorry in his own ways but Cindy would never, she's way too stubborn. The lil' techy basset hound is nice, they gave me a little robot to help with stuff around my house but man do they lack confidence. They really need to get braver, you can't go around this galaxy being scared, it'll get you nowhere." Gary was about to continue rambling on but noticed a strong sense of outward judgement on Holly's behalf. "Hey, you can judge all you like but there's a difference between going to the store for some groceries and suddenly being plunged into a realm of darkness." Holly simply bit her lip and nodded pretending to agree with the big-headed guide dog as she could tell Gary wasn't going to change his opinions no matter how much she tried to enlighten him.

"Also, how on Xylox do you deal with being a member of Velocity? I'm not even officially part of it and I get dodgy looks from everyone I know as if I'm directly responsible for the stuff they do or something. I just want to do taxes. Taxes man!" Gary flailed his arms frantically. "Is that so bad? Numbers. That's all it is! Sheesh. Yeah, sure, I'm indirectly contributing towards it by helping out figure the cost of it all and sort that out, but any old Joe could do that. I'm just trying to make a living and animals are shilling me for it! If only they all knew how hard I work every day, so what if it's not 'Morally right' or 'Contributing to the downfall of society as we know it', it's still good honest work! Last time I checked society wasn't on a high point anyway, animals are soo dumb. Like, really dumb. They always think they're right and keep to one opinion and no matter how much animals try to tell them otherwise they're just too stubborn to listen. It's gonna lead to our downfall, y'know. Nobody listens." Gary continued with his speech blissfully unaware of the irony behind his rambling. "Another thing too, man are animals just so void of brain energy, y'know what I'm saying? No thoughts, head empty. Some stupid buff sexy handsome tiger dude bro had it out for me on my way here and threatened to punch my lights out. Hey dude, maybe if you think less with your abs and more with your brain you might realise there's more to life than being some poser! That Luna gal being so successful too, says a lot about society, doesn't it? A literal robot devoid of all personality and thoughts and all the animals flock to her for their precious consumer goods, no questions asked. Do they need a glow in the dark levitating taxidermy squirrel? Nope, but it's buy one get one free, so let's stock up on all the corpses we can fit into the back of our lovely little family camper van! Let's all go on our lovely holiday over the sunset hills and enjoy each other's company and live, laugh and lo-" Gary was finally cut short by Holly who had ran out of ink to write with. "Okay, I think we have enough here now..."

Gary sat back up and took the moment of silence created from Holly studying her notes to catch his breath "...Yes, I cannot believe it. The darkness energy emitting from your soul is intense. The Lord of Darkness has an excellent outlet in your soul. I have expressed your energy in the form of a haiku, should you ever wish to appease our lord again." Holly swiped a flame across her paper and watched as it blazed over to Gary's paper and transferred the text onto it. He was still full of energy and could rant for a couple more days or so but took a breath to read the haiku.

"You are angry.The toll of work gets to you.You must use it wisely."

"Right... How would I go about doing that?" Gary questioned the okapi full of wisdom whilst reading over the haiku again and again. "Remember, the Lord of Darkness commends our energy but we must use it wisely. Those who are innocent should not face the wrath of anger. Anger is a subsection of darkness. We can use it to express our feelings to privately connect to the Lord of Darkness. Only then shall we thrive in life." Holly clasped her hands to her chest and closed her eyes whilst sighing in relief whilst Gary furrowed his brows at her. "Gee, uhh... Thanks." Gary placed the still warm haiku unto his backpack shuffling it around to make room for it. He didn't really understand anything that Holly was talking about nor did he believe any of it had any significance but he took the advice to heart; thinking back to his conversation with Scott he felt a lot happier after finding a common resolution between them but rambling and being angry with Holly didn't seem to make his mood elevate in the same way. He knew it was perfectly acceptable to be angry, but he cannot constantly blame it on those around him. He couldn't expect animals to elevate his mood if he's bringing theirs down, after all. A little bit of care and understanding from both parties would go a long way.

"In conclusion, don't blow up on others. It's no good for either party, unless that's the Lord of Darkness of course; they thrive on anger and dark energy. Assuming all is understood, it is now time for us to visit The Chamber. Come along now." Holly had already opened the door and left it creaking behind her. ("Oh, okay. Guess we're going now. Can't wait to plunge head first into the underworld and have a tea party with the devil or something.") Gary was completely on board with leaving the room as it wasn't exactly the most pleasant atmosphere and he was feeling quite numb from the whole experience so scurried out and shut the door after him being careful not to break it from the rusting hinges. "'The Chamber', you say? Sounds foreboding... Harper showed me to the Work Pods, so I can only assume you have to show me the latest in Velocity technology before we move on to Sabre." Gary was already quite tired of the whole cliché before it had started and just wanted to meet Sabre without the whole corporate tour however this was never possible with Velocity and their compulsive need to brag about their achievements.

"You'd be correct in that assumption. The Chamber is one of four new locations that we HenchFurries monitor. Harper has told you about the Work Pods and you will be meeting with the others shortly." Holly began walking down the corridor and was heading towards the next set of stairs before realising that Gary was a little sluggish and hadn't fully caught up to her yet so stopped for a moment to wait for him. "There you are. The Chamber is not a place you want to be. If you refuse to work over in the Work Pods, you will be sent to The Corridor. My colleague Hyena maintains this place and will tell you more about it but to summarise... If you fail to redeem yourself in The Corridor by not working hard enough or outright refusing to work we are given no chance but to exile you to The Chamber. It's a super secure... Hm." Holly struggled to find the words she needed. "Chamber?..." Gary piped up, standing as close as possible to Holly so that the nearby wolf guards knew he was with her. "Yes. Chamber. The room is quite literally a giant safe that closes at midnight. Regardless of this, the rooms inside of the safe are fitted with indestructible steel bars. There's some real dangerous animals there so we have to take precautions. Luckily they seem to be quite afraid of me although I am not sure why. I can keep them in line easily anyway so you have no need to worry. They couldn't hurt us if they tried."

Gary nodded and pretended to play along but internally he was sickened even more than last time despite the rather brief synopsis. He wondered how it was possible to top the Work Pods in severity alas The Chamber was here to change his perception on how bad Velocity could be. He knew he had to keep it together so as not to get himself thrown behind the indestructible bars but couldn't help but panic as his mind started racing. ("I've been through so much just in these last two hours or so... I don't think I can cope seeing the horrendous conditions of this hyper indestructible super safe from the underworld or whatever. Holly doesn't seem to mind anyway; I'm sure she can tell that I'm not quite doing well mentally... For someone in charge of such a horrible place she seems quite understanding... I mustn't dare ask her more about herself though. Strictly business here, I really don't want to upset her. Just do what she says, Gary. It'll be over soon...") Gary kept creeping along but his anxiety got to the better of him and he ended up walking faster than the disengaged okapi and bashed his head firmly into the abs of a puma towering over him. "UH..." Gary plonked his head out of the puma whilst feeling his surroundings. "Ah uh, breasts!"

"Hi, Hugo." Holly non-chalantly strolled over to the puma. "Hey Hol'! Uh, is this your little buddy here? Our escort mission, right? You like what you see, huh?" Hugo flexed his muscles and winked at the guide dog who was flushed with embarrassment. "Uhh, nope! No. Not that your muscles aren't great, I mean, dang, how are you even physically possible... Your shirt's telling the truth too, you ARE buffer than Sabre..." Hugo winked again breaking Gary's already fragile masculinity. "Not like that! Ugh, sorry. My head's all over the place right now. It's been a long day." Gary rubbed the back of his head whilst his soul shrivelled up inside of him. "Hey man, no worries. I get this reaction a lot anyways." Hugo extended his hand out for a handshake but it was practically a body-shake taking their size difference into consideration. "So, you guys heading to The Chamber, or have you already been? I was just working out, but man, you're looking kinda out of shape pal." Hugo prodded Gary's belly much to his annoyance. "Assuming you're ahead of schedule and all is done, I can squeeze you into my next workout. Sabre would really appreciate it if you got that bod of yours defined some more!" Gary was quite offended though the idea of becoming buff was quite desirable; Hugo seemed perfect to him despite their limited interaction and he assumed if he got some gains perhaps he'd be respected more. Sadly he knew he had a mission to get to and had to let Hugo down.

"Sorry Hugo but we ha-" Holly was quick to interrupt the foolish guide dog. "Yes, we've visited The Chamber. It was most impressive, wasn't it Gary?" Holly winked over to Gary much to his surprise. "R-Right! Yeah, it was super neat. Thanks for taking me there Holly!" Gary grinned to her as Hugo smiled blissfully unaware of their poor attempt of lying but the okapi had already left as the sound of her door creaking could be heard faintly in the distance. He was quite surprised to see yet another Velocity employee move off the tracks of their very tight rulebook though he was incredibly relieved; he could tell that Holly had great empathy and understood his emotions quite well. It was clear to him that Holly was sparing him of more emotional distress as he'd been through way too much of it although whether she knew he was distressed over meeting potential dangerous figures or the disturbing nature of Velocity wasn't that clear to him. She seemed like the type to keep things secretive anyway. "Alright man! Time to work out!" Hugo grabbed the distracted yet still quivering guide dog with one arm and placed him onto his opposite shoulder. "Holly sure leaves fast, huh? She likes to be all mysterious and such but between you and me she's just tired and wants to nap. Don't get telling her I told you that though!" Hugo's voice boomed down the corridor as Gary chuckled though it probably sounded more like choking with the rate he was bouncing up and down as the puma fiercely marched his way down the corridor as the wolf guards bowed to him. "Next stop, The Workout Zone!"