342. You're All Completely Insane!

The dogons scattered as the walls went up in flames, confused by the conflicting whistles and scents, smoke filling the courtyard was clouding their sight triggering trauma flashbacks from the lab fire, they didn't know who was for dinner anymore.

         "GIVE THAT BACK!" Malodon barked, snatching the whistle from the king.

         "WHERE'S BAKKON!" Atalon boomed back as Mel disappeared from sight. He scanned the grounds with rage as he realized he had been defeated, the Greatest Heist of All was now underway, right in front of him in broad daylight. "BAKKON SHOULD HAVE WARNED ME ABOUT THIS!"

         Malodon blew the whistle again, but the mixed messages and hungry stomachs were making the dogons angry. One of them began stalking towards the royal stage, salivating. Another dogon followed his lead, then another soon joined in tow. Wafts of frankincense were equally tempting to a hungry dogon, like magic the whole pack was stalking the new targets.

         Malodon froze, now scared to use the whistle. Atalon stared with horror as the pack broke out into a trot, pinning them with their laser beam eyes. 

         "Why are they coming this way?" He snapped as panic struck. "PUSH THE STAIR AWAY!"

         Malodon ran across the stage and flipped the stair unit over, sending the structure crashing onto the dance floor below, just in time. The dogons leapt wildly at the stage, barking loudly, excited by the new challenge, maddened by starvation, oblivious to the smoke and flames around them.

         Malodon blew the whistle, harder this time but the dogons only grew more aggressive towards him, the situation was out of control. Atalon snatched the whistle from his mouth, threw it on the ground and stormed off towards the trapdoor, already open.

         "YOU ABSOLUTELY STUPID IDIOT!"

         Mel bolted out the celebration grounds as fast as she could, barreling towards Main St in frantic panic, numb to the jabbing pain of the golden harness grabbing her skin so unforgivingly. She could feel the dogons panting behind her, their bodies pounding the ground chasing her to her death, their laser beam eyes scorching her from behind. In her mind she could see their fangs gaping, ready to rip her to pieces with razor sharp claws...

         "AAAA-GGG-HHH!" She screamed as she lost her footing and tripped, crashing into the road, hard. The pain shot through her body as the gravel shredded her skin, her golden harness now bent, dug even harder into her flesh.

         Dena spotted her groveling in the dirt, scramble onto her feet but then she ran up Main St!

         "ME-E-E-E-EL!"

         Mel spun around when she heard Dena's voice... She couldn't believe what she was seeing... All the aribu were aboard Vikkar's ship… Had they lost their minds?

         "Dena?"                                              

         "COME ON MEL, COME WITH US TO LEMURIA!" Dena hollered, Nepheus waved encouragingly from her side.

         Losing all her clientele was the final straw. "YOU STUPID IDIOTS! THERE'S NO WAY I'M GOING TO HELLIAS WITH A BOATLOAD OF LOUSE INFESTED LUNATICS! You're ALL COMPLETELY INSANE!!!"

         Bella felt herself panicking again, the feeling of missed opportunity was screaming at her now that she realized Mel would survive. She was making a big mistake and realizing it. This was it, this was her once in a lifetime opportunity, right now, storming up Main St, alone and in need of some serious support. Right now, she would be exactly what Mel needed. She glanced at Dena, her mind was made up about leaving, anyone could see that. Dena had forsaken her, this was the opportunity of a lifetime and everyone else was too stupid to see that! She slipped her fingers free from Akku's tender hold.

         "What's wrong?"

         "I'm sorry…" she replied, sincerely. "I... I can't do this."

         Akku watched Mel run up the street, he understood her motive. His heart sank as she left his side but they had done better than they had hoped, losing a few was unavoidable.

         As Mika watched Bella weave her way upstream through the flow of party-goers still boarding the vessel, she too wondered if she had made a big mistake and began to question her own decision to take the voyage. Why was she on the ship? She had just tagged along... Maybe Bella was doing the right thing by staying behind, after all, Mel knew what was best and she was still, technically on the clock at the Skin Club… If she still had a job.

         The rush of guilt and adrenaline was a powerful cocktail, she felt quite drunk, all of a sudden she realized the enormous mistake she was making.

         "I'm sorry…" She turned to Bria, nestled in the arms of Nesh now. "I can't go either.... I'm still on the clock!"

         Halios and Halki marched into the burning courtyard after having witnessed the sacrificial goddess disappear up the street in bloody hysterics, the scene inside was unbelievable. Through the clouds of billowing black smoke, they could just barely make out the gods, struggling with the trap door on stage in hopes of escaping the dogons, barking wildly, leaping at the foot of the stage.

         "Mighty Medel…"