Black to move.

'So, Tingle's going to, what? Chess us across to Don?'

'Looks like it.'

'But he's talking all technical. Who's Knight supposed to be?'

A discussion was starting up, mostly about which chess piece looked most like a suit of armour. Centaur hardly knew the game, and Broadcast was used to the belgian names and his set looked different. FDiffy was straining to remember, and looked at me.

'Oh! You showed your set when I was little, and I got confused and made up different names because they didn't look right! Argh! Which one was it!'

I sighed. 'It's the one that looks like a Horse? You know, that Knights ride?'

'Oooooooh. Yeah. Now what?'

'May I suggest the one of us with hooves moves where Tingle wants him?'

A look of understanding came over Centaur's face, and he reached down to run a hand through his horsehair.

'Oh yeah. Duh.'

He approached the board, and, once he'd been told how a Knight moved, started acorss. There were two possible squares he could start from, but one was where I'd thrown the orange, so that decided that. Nervously stepped across three squares, and then one to the right. Nothing happened.

FDiffy grinned. 'Haha, I knew it! The man has skills. Let the game begin.'

We looked at Tingle. 'What next?'

'Pawn to D9'

FDiffy looked puzzled. 'Pawn? Which one of us that?'

'Oh come on. The smallest member, that has the potential to transform himself?'

He blew a raspberry at me, just like his old self, and took his place on the board.

'Rook to F13'

'That'd be me.'

So Tingle started guiding us across the giant board. Jump was Queen, Broadcast was a Bishop, and Scorch was King. Slowly, one move at a time, we started making our way towards Don. FDiffy wondered at one point why we couldn't just all follow one path, but I found out with an apple that the electric squares moved around every few seconds. Only Tingle could see some sort of pattern, a way across, the safe tiles, and he called out instructions, guiding us on our way.Jump wanted to know why she couldn't just teleport over to Don, and tried, but as she vanished, the edges of her square glowed and she reappeared. She stepped forward, crossing one of the lines, and made it to the next one with no trouble. It seems that lines need crossing manually, by walking or in the air, but you cant skip squares, you need an actual path. You've got to admit, HG has serious skills, for all his faults.

Then Broadcast seemed to trigger something. He'd just been directed two squares forward on the diagonal North-West (assume North is forwards) and was now the furthest ahead, one square ahead of centaur. All the squares on his row flashed blue, as did every square beyond it. Don's headband beeped, and from the booths at the side, shadowy figures, like those we'd seen on the screens, walked calmly out and took up positions at the other side.

'Oh Goody' I sighed. 'I thought this rescue was missing something.'

Across the board?

Once Jump got everybody out of the tower, I was introduced to the new guy. He calls himself Scorch, or at least he does now, Jump looked confused at first. but he shared a look with FDiffy, who glanced at me, and backed him up. I hate people not telling me things because I'm from the past. I got annoyed. 'What aren't you letting on? TELL ME!'
Diffy actually smiled. A proper smile, as if he found it funny. 'Persuasion? Really? Please, it just about worked when I was little, if you caught me by surprise. I worked my way round that ages ago.'
'Whuh? How?'
'And don't bother doing the others, I'm the only one with more than a couple of pieces of your whole picture. now, who are we saving next?'
'I've got the location of Don. If we all hold onto each other, I should be able to jump us all at once.'
Next thing I knew, everything quivered and vanished again. We landed almost instantly, with no sign of disturbance. Seems smooth trips are easier if you're not being shot at.
I got up, looking round. 'We were fairly close then?'
'Nope. My Awesomeness has increased since you last saw me.'
Good old Jump, always could make me smile. I saw we were inside a huge room, that seemed to stretch impossibly into the distance. In the middle, so far away, Don was suspended in a harness, with a thin metal band round his head, and a power patch stabbed into his arm. Lights flashed on the metal band, and little booths based around the walls flashed in response. On a view screen nearby we could see another room, with at least twenty of the booths, all lined up against a wall. Every time a green light flashed on the band, green lights flashed on each of the booths, and a shadowy figure, as if made out of black smoke, but more solid, stepped from each one and walked purposefully away.
'What. The Hell.'
Centaur looked sick. He trotted on the spot nervously, staring at the screen.
'What?'
'Something...about them...so wrong...so very, very wrong..run, we should run. No, I need to focus.'
He held his nose, scrunching up his eyes and puffing out his cheeks, as if he was trying to clear his ears. His ears, nose, and eyes flashed wildly between between different animal features, a new one every fraction of a second, bat, dog, fox, wolf, bird, lion, too many to count, then it suddenly stopped, and he let go of his nose, tipping his head back, breathing deeply, and slapping his cheeks a couple of times. 'There, that's got it, I can't feel them anymore.' He noticed our looks of bewilderment. 'What now?'
'.......We get Don.'
I started forward, but Tingle, who'd been almost comatose since his rescue, only muttering occasional strings of gibberish quietly, suddenly spoke up, raising his head to me.
'Stop! Bzzzt! Rook can't move yet! Knight to C7!'
'What?'
'I think he's trying to communicate with us, but he's still messed up from his capture. His power is telling him there's a problem.'
I took an orange from my survival kit, and threw it towards the floor. As is passed over one of the nearest squares, the square lit up, and electricity flashed into being round the fruit. There was a flash and a smell of burning, and a wrinkled black lump fell to the floor.
We all stared, and several jaws dropped open. It was a couple of seconds before I could speak.
'Ah. So that's what you mean by 'Bzzzt'. Great.'

Another very weird rescue......

Hey, another quick update to let you know how it's going.
We've got Tingle, and someone else, and met a new friend. Well, new to me at least.

Tingle was underground, in what was left of New York. It took a while to fly there, I can only carry three humans and a centaur across an ocean so fast.

Inside the facility, Tingle's body was encased in a metal box, with his head sticking out of the top, with a metal band round his forehead, with wires flowing from it. His eyes were glowing black, and he mumbled incoherently as a stream of data and images scrolled by on a screen.

I ran to him, putting forcefields up round everyone as guards appeared, guns raised.
Disaster. These guns shot pellets of energy that hit hard at the forcefields, making me stumble as I fought to hold them up.

I knocked three guards over with a huge gust of wind, and heard drumbeats as Broadcast raised his arms. I saw Centaur's right arm morph into a scorpion's tail and plunge into the shoulder of a guard, who collapsed. FDiffy became huge and hulk-like, and guards ran from his swiping hands. I made it to Tingle, and as Hana got to work on the power patch, I pushed through the metal box, phasing Tingle out of the other side.
A bullet of energy smashed through the forcefield round FDiffy, and another hit him in the chest. His hulkish form flickered and died, and he fell to the floor. More forcefields shattered, causing ripples of pain through my head. I staggered, clutching my head as I went round the box to get Tingle.
Centaur leapt infront of Broadcast as a laser blast flew at him. It hit him in the shoulder and he crashed to the floor. Broadcast, looking angry, dived behind a protruding vent. The drums faded, and violin music filled the air. I swept my hand to make another forcefield as the guards fired at me, and another ripple of agony tore through my brain as they destroyed it. I tried to shelter Tingle as the guards ran forward, but I couldn't concentrate on my powers with such a throbbing pain in my head.
But the guards were slowing down. Tears were springing to their eyes, and they were going limp. Broadcast stood up from behind the vent, miming violin playing (Air-violin? Like Air-guitar? Meh.) and swept forwards into the middle of the room. He played a slow, sad tune, causing the guards to sink to the floor. The air was filled sorrow, and I started to feel cold, as if all the happiness was leaking out of me.
'Fingers in ears!' called FDiffy, sitting up with difficulty, blocking out the song with his hands. I stood up and did the same, and tried to pull Tingle. It was too hard. I freed my left hand to try and pull him to his feet, but then the music flooded in, bringing me to tears. The guards were sobbing now, collapsed on the floor, drowning in their own misery. Broadcast suddenly clapped his hands, and something like a sonic boom smacked them in the face, and they all crumpled.
I felt the wave of anguish fading, to be replaced by fear as doors slammed open and HG himself strode in. There was a dull thud as someone landed on the floor near me, and as Centaur charged at HG, FDiffy turned to the newcomer.
'At last! Help T, protecting us has left him weak!'
Someone grabbed my arm as I took hold of Tingle. 'Going my way? One exit, coming up!'
Everything shimmered, and went black.

All I remember next is crashing onto dusty ground. I looked up to see a boy of about 15 looking down at me, grinning. He looked away. You got him! Are the others ok?'
'Just popping back now to get them out.'
I looked round to see who'd spoken. The surprise nearly knocked me out.
'Jump! You're-'
She beamed. 'Saving the world? Yeah. A good friend once told me it kind of goes with the territory for people like us.'
My bruised mind was reeling. 'Who was that?'
She rolled her eyes. 'You. Duh.'
She vanished.