Tesladyne: Every Day's an Adventure!

[tesla_bot]

The door that opens is a free standing frame on a small plywood dais at the focus of a tremendous amount of cabling and particle emitters. The whole area smells of ozone.

Tesladyne's high energy physics department (Advanced Topology Division) is marked by a school of design that thinks things should be able to be cleaned with a pressure washer - painted cinder block, tiles floors, scorch resistant counters, wire reinforced glass and plenty of drains. Decorations lean towards lolcats, and mock safety signs saying 'Do not look at laser with remaining eye'.

There's a calendar open to December 2010 and a clock that says it's about 10.

"Right it's still morning," says Robo, "Watch your step, it was easier to raise the door three inches than to cut down all the equipment by that much."

Comments

[basic_powers]

No, no he did not. He was more focused on getting through the maze to the point he knew he'd have the best chance of getting across. The Stepping Stones ball pit.

However as soon as he realizes he's out of the maze and where he wants to be...he's also noticing the zombies and their shoggoth entourage.

NOW is the time to sprint for the ball pit and dodge every zombie on his tail.

[tesla_bot]

Three shoggoths slumping, two zombies lurching and a shoggoth with zombie.

Also a tentacle from above. Phil isn't even trying to be subtle, that sucker is out and swinging back and forth. If Tyler can time it right it's literally just a hop, skip and a jump and he's out.

[basic_powers]

That is IF he can time it right...so, why not BUY some time? As he flattens himself against the stepping stone to avoid a tentacle swipe, he grabs up two of the balls from the pit. Then Tyler rolls onto his back and sits up.

Zombie number one, Zombie number two?

-ponk!- -ponk!-

Headshots for both of you!

[tesla_bot]

Headshots or no they don't quite go down - those are just hollow plastic balls after all - but they do pause.

"GROOOWMFP!"

Right that's the zombies delayed, consumed, whichever, but there's still the advancing blobs. How that timing looking now Tyler?

[basic_powers]

It's looking pretty darn good!

See, there's a reason he didn't put the last double shoggoth egg in the ball pit.

Physics time: What happens when something of a denser mass enters a body of something lighter?

It sinks.

So the three shoggoths who have fed sink down into the depths of the ball pit, leaving Tyler with just two foes to face.

Shoggoth #4 is creeping it's way across the ball pit slowly now... And he hasn't forgotten about his friend the tentacle.

Jump, dive, flatten! Jump, flatten, two stones left... Phil is really getting his game on now.

Hokay...and..Jump, dive and roll...

"Made it!" One ten-year-old bouncing around at making it to the finish zone.

Uh, Tyler don't celebrate too soon cause Phil-

"WAUGH!"

...hasn't shut down the tentacle yet.

[tesla_bot]

"Got 'em!"

"You can let him go now Phil."

"Aaaww. Nuts."

"You good Tyler?"

"That is why you need to go back to training," says Robo, "And why you don't stop trying."

[basic_powers]

"MRFGFRRGLE!"

...Guard you shins after this Phil. The tentacle drops Tyler down into a nice landing in the ballpit after a second and goes slack.

He's also a.. ahem. A little pinker all over for having come out of this tentacle.

"I'm good, nothin' broken, but I'd like a shower and a big old snack."

...

"Oh and did anyone wet their pants the first run? I have a bet with Phil to settle."

[tesla_bot]

Everyone points at Jake who is sputtering indignantly.

"I threw up, but that's manly."

"Shut up Clarkson."

"Right, turn the rest of the boots in and everyone clean up."

Robo has private showers, away from the regular workers.

"The odds were thirteen to one in my favor," says Phil who is back out of the tire-blind, "Heck of a run you had there."

[basic_powers]

"Thanks, I've been wanting to practice more stuff like that for a while." Tyler says to Phil as he passes the tire-blind. "I owe you five bucks and a coke, then. Hammond just looked like the one most likely to have gulped down a whole carafe of coffee before the exercise."

He's just going to shut down all the putty eggs for now, to conserve their energy, and to take the Gameboy of Mad Science with him.

"Don't tell the guys how the shoggoths followed em, we wanna keep em guessing."

[tesla_bot]

"My lips are sealed," says Phil, "And I think Hammond's just naturally jittery."

"You want to clean up here, or back... you know?" asks Robo, "Your choice - I've got guest rooms around here and everything."

[basic_powers]

"Here's good, I've been spending a little too much time in the bar lately, anyways."

Granted it's as close to normal as he gets but really...

And you know. Two more runs to plan out.

"I've got an idea for the next run I wanna throw at you too... It's called 'toy soldiers'."