The Underground Gameshow

Drafting a story: The Underground Gameshow

Characters:

Skiarra

The main character. She is a Leonin, and lives in the secret city of Meowtropolis. She serves the High Queen, and was taking a nice holiday in the Gardens of Prowl when she is kidnapped by humans. Intelligent, strong and fast, like all of her kind. She fights with her claws and teeth - sometimes even her tail.

Tayl

A Were-cat. Kidnapped by the gameshow, he has endured years of being unable to shift to his true form. This has caused deep psychological damage - which will be brought up purrhaps later in the story. A bit skittish, but with a shred of smarts. Before becoming were, he was a neuroscientist (really random, but hey, he used to be smart).

A really really rough draft:

A Leonin is taking a walk in a garden within the secret city of Felines: Meowtropolis. Suddenly, humans break through the wall and spot her, immediately chaining her and taking her away. When she wakes up, Skiarra finds herself in a cage, swinging above a stage. She can see hundreds of humans in grandstands, shouting and jeering at her. She cannot understand them. A TV show host (wearing a suit and "Shiny mushroom" atop his head) appears onstage. Skiarra hears a beep and the jumbled garbling of the humans clear. She can understand them.

More stuff will happen. The Gameshow will begin. Most likely there will be some forms of torture. Questions will be asked - and she will answer them as cryptically as possible. Afterwards, she will be thrown in a cell and treated like an animal.

There she will see others like her - humanoids that all in cages. She discovers a collar around her neck. When she tries to take it off, it gives her an electric shock. The human in the cell opposite to her tells her about the Show. Skiarra is surprised that a human would be in a cell. He removes a pair of reflective glasses from his eyes, revealing cat's eyes.

"I am like you. But I have not fully…" he hesitates. "Shifted. This collar prevents me from doing so."

Skiarra is confused. "I am not a were-cat, or whatever you may call it. I am a Leonin, one of the last of our kind."

They have a back and forth, and eventually devise an escape plan. Skiarra uses her claws to pick the lock, ignoring the electric jolts. Once she frees Tayl, they make their way down the hallway. Suddenly, they come face-to-face with a door.

Both are knocked unconscious, and Skiarra wakes up again, but this time in darkness. She tries to quell her panic, but ends up clawing at the dark. A sinister voice tells her to stop. Chilled to the bone in fear, she obeys. The voice tells her to be good, or she will be punished more severely than this. The fear sinks in, and Skiarra feels like she is being stabbed by dozens of blades. She screams, then blacks out.

She dreams fitfully, thinking of her home. What will happen to them? The secrecy of Meowtropolis has been compromised. Humans will destroy their last haven. The dream slips into reality, and she finds herself again in her cell. This time, the cell opposite to her is empty. She is concerned for Tayl. Had he tried to escape before?

Eventually, she is retrieved to be put back on the show. As the chains lock around her wrists, she formulates a plan.

Now she is standing, chainless, and asked more questions. Then she is forced to take part in a gladiator fight, against a stupid being (this is not derogatory - the creature is actually dumb). She is send to a gladiator's quarters. As she battles more and more opponents, slaying them one by one, the plan begins to take proper shape.

Eventually, she fights against Tayl. His collar has been removed, and he begins to growl like an animal. He is shifting. Skiarra pleads for him to be cared for, but he leaps on her, grabbing her throat with now clawed hands. She stares directly into his eyes and sees the fog of an animal.

"Tayl. Tayl, speak to me" (growling) "Tayl, I know you are there." (more growling). Eventually, Skiarra growls back and fights him, animal to animal. Instead of killing him, she knocks him out and pretends to faint. When the guards come to drag her aside, she waits until they have placed her in a cell, then attacks them. She deactivates her collar with the key.

Then begins the GREAT ESCAPE

Skiarra dons the armour (most importantly the FULL FACE HELMET) and attempts to hide her tell-tale, well, tail, with a long, navy blue cloak.. She makes her way out of the cell blocks, whispering to the creatures she passes, promising them that they will be released. She sees a few other partially morphed werewolves. When she crosses paths with a guard, she realises she can no longer understand human speech. Knocking them out, she steals the translator from their ear. On top of being able to understand the human and animal speech, she can hear radio chatter. She finds some slight amnesiacs in the person's belt, and she gives them to him.

Making her way out, she uses a key taken from the guard's belt and opens the door, finding…

THE HOST DUDE!!!

Queue DOOM music. Bam bam baaam!

She freezes, then tries to act like a normal human. She bows, then edges past, paws sweating, hidden in the gloves. He stares at her, black eyes searching for something.

But the reflective glass of her helmet turns back his probing rays. She keeps walking. When her back was is turned to him, he asks:

"Leaving so soon, Captain Jans?"

Skiarra pauses. She prays that the cloak will hide her tail from him. Then she turns and says,

"Certainly, sir. The Prisoners are under secure watch."

The announcer stares at her for a breath-taking minute. She waits. Then he grins and salutes. "Enjoy your break, Captain Jans." He turns to enter a different corridor. Then he stops, and turns back. "By the way, you should have your throat checked out. Your voice sounds rather…"

Skiarra holds her breath. "Sore." He finishes. "Of course, sir. Whatever you say." She replies. Then she waits for him to leave.

But he doesn't. He just stands, grinning. Skiarra hastily salutes and walks away, as quickly as a human would without being suspicious or panicked.

She finds a helpful map at the end of the corridor. She finds the path to where she suspects Tayl has been taken and makes her way over.

She finds him, cowering in the corner of a cell, wires fastened all over his body. A scientist stands, watching.

"What is happening here?" She asks curtly.

The scientist jumps in surprise. "Ah, Captain. Ahaha. I didn't see you there!" He laughs nervously and hastily hides his clipboard. Skiarra glares at him, although, the man cannot see her eyes through the visor.

She asks him what he is doing, and he replies: "A bit of research sir. Were-creatures have always interested me. Although…" The man grunts and nods at Tayl. "It is time for my break. And that idiot, Stalk, hasn't come yet."

Skiarra looks at Tayl, and she spots a pair of glowing yellow eyes. "You can go, Kerstain. I will watch the werecat."

The scientist leaves, and Skiarra walks to the bars, and tries to talk to Tayl. Tayl does not respond, just watches. Knowing that she doesn't have long before the next scientist comes, she takes the key-card from the stolen belt and unlocks the door. Immediately, the werecat rips itself from the cords, bounding towards her. After a minute of fighting, Skiarra finally knocks out Tayl again. Just before he falls unconscious, he says: "Skiarra?"

Happy that Tayl is remembering things, she binds Tayl in chains and waits for him to wake up. While she is waiting, a scientist, complete with a shock of white hair, walks in. He jumps, then calms when he sees Tayl in chains.

"Your werecat escaped. It was a good thing I was watching, Stalk."

The scientist calms himself, but is still a bit jittery. He grunts and squints at the furry Tayl. "Thank you for not killing the subject." Then he turns away from Skiarra. "This is so wrong." He mutters under his breath. A normal human wouldn't be able to hear it, but a Leonin could. He reaches out to touch Tayl, but Skiarra stops him.

"Careful, Stalk. Tayl may be awakening any moment." This catches the scientist's attention. He asks Skiarra how she knew the werecat's name, and if she knew if he was intelligent. Taking a chance, Skiarra removes her helmet.

The scientist is hides his shock well. "You are a werecat?"

"No, human. I am a Leonin. I have always been like this." She glances down at Tayl on the floor, then back at the white-haired scientist. "Tayl is a human. Or was. I am planning on helping him. He belongs with my people. Will you help me?"

Stalk studies her for a little bit, then shakes her hand. "This will help my conscience, so yes."

And thus, the first alliance between Leonin and Man began.

Tayl awakes completely and attempts to disembowel Stalk. Skiarra restrains him, and Stalk inserts a translator bud into Tayl's now feline ear. After a few seconds of growling and thrashing about, Tayl's eyes clear and he relaxes when he recognises Skiarra.

The unlikely trio then begin to plot a plan to break out. Stalk himself is forced to remain at the place. He confides his horror and anger at the way the creatures are treated.

"These used to be people. They are still people. Just changed."

Tayl returns to his cell. Stalk continues his "research" on the werecat. Skiarra replaces her full-face helmet and lurks in the corner of the cell.

TO BE CONTINUED :3

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NOTES!!!

Characters

Skiarra: My goal is to make her voice and thoughts sound more animal and purposeful. She will sound more refined, with a touch of ye olde English, as her language is much older than ours. I will refer to slight movements or sensations like: "Her tail twitched" or "Skiarra's fur stood on end" to further reinforce the idea of her being a feline being, not a human.

Tayl: I am still unsure on how I will phase Tayl's sentences and reactions. He will probably act like a normal human - if a bit more skittish.

Professor Stalk: Stalk is an interesting character. He is an academic, yet a shred of morality remains. He feels sympathy for these creatures, yet manages to hold his calm and remain the intelligent, smooth scientist. I went for the white hair because I thought it would be an amusing detail for some people.

The Announcer: A despicable man, if he is even a human. He will do anything to earn money, even to run a sadistic show that stars these "mutants" as the entertainment. (Shhh I am currently debating if he will be a shapeshifter ooo spooky shhhhhhh)

The Story Itself

I started writing this without a pre-planned storyline… and yeah, bit of a block right now, but that will pass. I am currently planning to split this tale into three parts wherein:

• 1: Skiarra is captured. The Announcer is introduced and the horrors of the show. Tayl is introduced. It ends when Skiarra is knocked out when she is escaping with Tayl - while he is still in mostly human form.
• 2: Skiarra awakes to the torture of the Announcer. She is thrown into another game - a gladiator style arena with randomly generated weapons. She fakes being a dumb creature and wins. The Announcer laughs and sends her to new spartan-like quarters - with a locked steel door, of course. She competes in a few other games. It ends on her fighting Tayl and being dragged to her quarters.
• 3:Skiarra has the peace of mind to knock out the guard and drag them into her quarters. She steals their gear and dons the full-face helmet and large blue cloak. Unhappy with her disguise, she steals all their uniform and puts it on. Now content, she uses the keys to open the door and heads down to the medical ward, where she guesses Tayl will be. Once there, she runs into the Announcer. He doesn't suspect her and lets her continue on.