The Emperor's New Groove: Montezuma's Revenge
Act Two: Raining on the Parade
The jaguar's claw, stained with remnants of red, balanced between two delicate ochre fingers. Svelte digits from the other hand danced, hanging over the object as ominous chanting from a female breathed from the background. Drips trickled off the keratin coating, forming a strange wispy ribbon that hovered in the air twixt the dainty dactyls. The manus master shot the sliver into a patient pool of black - ripples spread across the small mirror surface of obsidian, slowly forming a colored canvas of another scene elsewhere.
The preceding peaks of avocado and sweet olive peered through the densely packed trees along a certain trail, littered with small stone shacks situated haphazardly in their calm idyllic spaces - a far ways from the chaotic happenings at the capital. Groups of variegated llama grazed on the vegetated hillside, gorging themselves on the abundance of life here - a respite from the gloom, as a lumbering wobbly form made its way upward. The pack animals looked on inquisitively, their ears perked, at the blubbering silhouette. Exaggerated tears and sniffles and snorts issued from the sodden miserable mug of a beefy bloke, who wailed out incessantly, intermittently bellowing into a handkerchief. His war paint washed away and scuffs against his countenance told the story of a long arduous trek. The trio of children traveling along kept their own faces lowered in uncomfortable sympathy, only chancing some gawks toward him, then to the squidgy mismatched shuffling feet below - one missing a sandal. The soaked soles finally stopped, shaking underneath their weight.
"Okay Kronk, you've been going on for some time now… uhn… why are you crying?" A drenched Kuzco questioned irritably from below the bawling buffoon, quaking as he carried the other's limp form over his left shoulder.
The grief-stricken guard was beside himself as he clutched onto Kuzco. "Waaah! I… I… I'm so s-s-sorry! Waaaah! I'm a big, dumb, huge failuuuuure! Waaaah!" Kuzco cringed as Kronk blared into his ear, then rolled his eyes and scoffed, dropping the big dope onto the path before them.
"YOU'RE a failure?" He lifted a twitching brow and put his hands to his hips while his bare foot tapped in annoyance. But Kronk, misunderstanding the implication, kept whimpering. His eyes drowned and lip quivered in the ensuing waterworks as he hysterically threw himself into the young leader's chest - who was for a moment startled then slightly vexed, allowing a look of derision at the big guy. He could only look around at the kids in shared cynicism, lowering his eyelids into a stare onward as Kronk whined.
"I knooooow! I-I couldn't do anything against those g-guys and you got hurt and-and-and I lost Bucky! Ahhhh I'm a failuuuure!"
Kuzco let out an exasperated sigh and patted his back half-heartedly. "There there, pal… you're not a failure…"
"Yeah!" Tipo interjected, now swinging around the pudgy form of Yupi much to the younger's displeasure. "You saved us from that craaazy jaguar!"
Chacka whistled in. "Aaaand Bucky's a pretty smart squirrel… betcha he's okay!" She looked to the emperor for support. "Right, Kuzco?"
Kuzco gritted his teeth and looked around not very convincingly. "Uh… yeaah… sure…. the squirrel's fine… probably maybe…"
Kronk jumped up, suddenly settled by their 'words of encouragement'. "You're right, guys! I should have more faith in Bucky! Haha! Silly me…. I don't need …to be worried about him…" His voice trailed off and he bit his finger in nervousness, looking away abruptly.
Kuzco rolled his eyes as he looked toward their intended destination. Tipo fought to gain control of the wriggling Yupi who ushered out cries of contempt as Kuzco expertly grabbed, left-handed, the rebellious youngster by the back of his loincloth. "Yeah, whatever, let's just keep going okay?" Without batting an eye, he tucked Yupi under his arm and the boy giggled as he surveyed the surroundings sideways in the niche.
They all continued up the trail through the misty hills toward another particular patchwork of humble huts, the backs of two very familiar ones gracing the clear skyline adjacent each other. Kuzco breathed a sigh of relief.
"Me home! Me home!" Yupi cried out, reaching arms out toward their family dwelling. Chacka and Tipo darted ahead, eager to meet its inhabitants. Kuzco chanced a glance toward his own 'home-away-from-home' next door, slightly lower than its lofty neighbor, sufficient enough for one with several worn pots and gourds hanging on the exterior, and a pair of posts with a clothesline situated at its side. On any other day, he would want nothing more than to relax there, away from the hubbub of the city but not too far away from company.
He passed though the doorway of Pacha and Chicha's abode, etched with marks of measurements and children scrawls, then into the undisturbed interior. He gazed around absently, cradling the swaying Yupi still in the crook of his arm as the two older children dashed through rooms calling for their parents. The place was quaint and a little cluttered, but somehow… though it lacked fortified walls and barricades of guards, he always felt safe here. Kronk wondered into the kitchen on default and inspected the random assortment of wares as if debating on something. After some scurrying, Tipo and Chacka returned with depressed looks. Tipo threw his arms up. "Unh! They're not heeeere!"
A look of concern crossed Kuzco briefly but then he fixated thoughtfully at the waiting knitting of trees below the village.
The cool clear pool beyond the grove of budding shrubs echoed with babbles from the fleeting flumes and feeding falls of spring streams. Gentle splashes and ripples intermingled with wittering honeyed words and swoons from a couple occupying the retreat - solitary yet not, amongst the greenery.
The bigger man swung his slender wife around in a playful dance as the two flirted in the shallows.
"Oh Pacha…!" Chicha cooed - her smaller body garbed in short bathing robes quivered as she giggled. Her husband smiled tenderly and made a movement to twirl her around, dipping her back, and leaned in for a kiss but before their lips met…
"Nice to see the two of you are enjoying yourselves…" a stoic voice uttered just in earshot. Pacha's eyes snapped open toward the deadpan gaze of Kuzco.
"Gaah!" He startled, accidentally dropping the unaware Chicha, squealing, into the water. "Oh, shoot, honey-!"
Kronk came lumbering from the thicket behind Kuzco, toting the children on his back - who jumped down and rushed toward the adults. Chicha spluttered as she lifted herself out of the water, grabbing onto her husband and adjusting her headband. Upon seeing her children, she collected her bearings, slightly embarrassed, as the two other males present gave her a curious look-over. "Kids…! Kuzco! Hi… there…"
"Hey, uh, don't forget about me, ha ha!" Kronk interjected, waving a howdy-do.
Chacka's face contorted in thought, distracted along with her brothers at the thought of their parents' lovey-dovey notions. "Ew, you all were being grossss-sah…"
Chicha corrected her, "It's not being gross - it's being married."
Pacha rubbed his temple, grimacing at the uninvited audience. "Uhh…! W-wait-what are you all doing out here?"
Kuzco, standing aloof with his arms crossed and brows raised, responded restively "Oh, ya know… just enjoying the fresh air… you?"
Pacha, confused by this, rubbed his neck in response "Well… yes…"
"Oh, well, that's great!" Kuzco sneered. "You all are just having the time of your lives while some of us are suffering with possible permanent emotional damage… terrific."
"Woah woah, alright… what's with this attitude?" Pacha trudged over to the conflicted Kuzco. Striking an authoritative stance, he jabbed at the indignant prince. "Things at the palace not going your way again?" Kuzco turned crossly, but Pacha poked his right arm erupting a shrill yelp from the other. Pacha became alarmed as his small friend fell whimpering to the ground. "Kuzco!"
"Ah…n-no…t-touchy-y…unh…" Kuzco managed through pathetic sobs of pain. Pacha hovered over him, now noticing the makeshift tourniquet and that his imperial robes looked worse for ware. Chicha ran over concerned and immediately began inspecting his wound.
"W-what happened!?" She turned to the others.
Kronk stammered with his words, thoughts coming back, "Uh… w-we were… attacked…"
"WHAT!?" the couple cried out in unison. Chicha threw her hands to her mouth and instinctively grabbed for her children. Pacha instantly felt his heart drop to his stomach as he looked over his despondent friend.
But, he was not the only one watching. Dark eyes peered over the vision scryed across the smoking mirror - a disc of obsidian encased in gold. Clawed hands fiddled the mystic instrument's rim and around the neck chain that dangled from the ornament as it sat in the limber man's deer-skin lap. Montezuma chuckled aloud as he surveyed the scene before his magic mirror, situating himself in the golden throne of the palace now shrouded in a dim light that draped a dull red hue across the interior. His shed jaguar pelt covered the arms of the coveted seat and his feathered shield leaned against it as he reclined happily - his band-painted body of amber and umber peppered in the same scars as his face. "Aw… is the poor little emperor hurting….? Bah!"
Below, an innumerable amount of people formed an audience - standing in an eerie air of gloom with their mouths and eyes gaping as they blankly stared onward, entranced. Their skin was painted grey and quiet moans could be heard from some, while tears crossed the lifeless mugs of others. It was clear they were still somewhat aware, but had hardly any control of themselves.
Montezuma continued to the masses, "…He would do well to face the darkness like the rest of us, wouldn't he?" He laughed again. "Eventually you'll come to accept it - this world devoid of light… hope…" He was silent for just a minute. "…I did." Then, subconsciously, dug his claws across the stone in sullen anger. He stopped, clenching his fists and breathing heavily as he forcefully composed himself and brought out that fake smile again cracking across his tarnished face. He glared back at the scene emanating from the obsidian. "Yes… you all need to experience it to understand it….heh heh… and what better way than to make your leader suffer… the same as I…?" His voice droned on as he seemed to remember something. His upper lip twitched as he thought. "…Everything taken away…. into obscurity… left with nothing… but the darkness…" He chuckled again, then, switching gears, barked out toward the bleakness. "Tlaloc! Totoc!"
Two shadows whipped across the barely visible floor and merged into coherent forms of the named jaguar warriors. They were still concealed by their cloaks but maintained a visible difference just in approach and posture. One was tall with noticeably pointed shoulders, jerked and quaked as if having a continuous spasm. Seething and heavy breathing could be heard underneath his garb, as the other - a thin wiry sort who sported the twisted staff - casually strutted closer to the commandeered cathedra. "You called, sire?"
"You wouldn't mind running an errand for me would you?" Monty blew at his claws, rubbing them against the speckled fur that sleeved just his arms.
The thin one swiveled around the warped rod, which rattled in response amongst undulating sage green limbs. "Oh, errand?" He responded with an eloquent flair, "You mean like killing the emperor?"
"KILL KILL! TOTEC SPILL BLOOD!" the other screeched out, violently thrashing in his shadowy wardrobe.
"Yes, more blood would be useful… Oh! And if you could bring back his head on a stake…" Montezuma nodded happily.
"Right, 'use him as an example' and all that…" Tlaloc stated unenthusiastically. "Quite disgusting if you ask me… but you're the boss! Where to then, sire?"
Montezuma pried over the obsidian and tapping his cheek, a thought occurred to him. He snapped his fingers and a dazed, grey-braised soldier appeared by his side. He put the smoking mirror up to the drooling zombiefied guard and pointed into it, slowly enunciating. "Wheeeere iiiiis thiii-is?"
The guard's head cocked to one side and he moved erratically but managed through gurgles, "K-Kuz-co-to-pi-a…"
"Kuzcotopia…? Well, that's awfully conceited." Montezuma flatly remarked. "Oh, thank you, by the way…" He then pushed the hapless guard off the steps who warbled woefully downward, and turned back to his compatriots clapping his hands together gleefully. "Well, there you go!"
He watched as the two shuttered out of visibility, shooting off out of the palace for their hunt. Monty began again to laugh maniacally, roaring out after them. "Soon this kingdom will be in the paw of Tezcatlpoca, bwa ha ha ha…!"
His laugher seemed to echo even outside the palace constraints. "He's so dramatic…" Tlaloc muttered as the dual shadows zipped along the paths leading away.
The children sat at entrance steps watching birds happily chirp amongst the weathered model of a long forgotten blueprint-turned-birdbath that stood before a frequented hut - the friendly signpost of Kuzcotopia.
In one of the small rooms, the newly dressed Chicha held a sewing needle carefully in one hand and Kuzco's wounded arm firmly in the other as he winced and dramatically squirmed. He ushered all kinds of cries and wails, hiding his face behind the other arm. Chicha giving him a matter-of-fact look in some humor. "Kuzco… I haven't even touched you yet…"
Kuzco stopped, "… Oh."
Then she poked him.
Pacha, decked in his usual moss and khaki attire, winced himself as he heard the pitiable pleas in the next room. Kronk spluttered as he sloshed water from a basin over his face, washing away the last vestiges of paint and worry as he continued to relay their plight. "…Yeah… and can you believe it….? The river washed us toward your village! Pretty great coincidence, I'd say!" He leaned over the rim, squinted against the driblets and shook his head dry like some oversized dog.
"Hm… but what does that guy mean by 'those that harmed our kingdom'!?" Pacha pondered fervently, "I don't recall any such conquest…"
Kronk perked up. "Ooh, Maybe Kuzco's dad fired them!"
"Uhh, alright… but why attack now!?" Pacha cried out.
"I don't know, stop yelling at me!" Kronk blubbered.
Kuzco grabbed a new pair of sandals and quickly changed into something more comfortable, less formal than imperial robes; a sorrel robe running down to his knees with ashen trim that sheathed his collar and arms - careful with his newly stitched, bandaged arm. He pulled over a wide-sleeved golden garment embroidered in bright orange at split sides and tied at the waist with a matching cord. Topping it off, he had to throw on the now frayed poncho Chicha had made for him some time ago, the green slightly dingy with dirt stains. He rubbed the llama insignia between his fingers and laughed in spite of himself. He'd almost rather be in that situation again than facing this mess. Being responsible sucked.
Chicha returned from hanging clothes outside and noticed his forlorn appearance. "Kuzco…" He looked up at the sound of her voice, "…don't worry, we'll figure something out…" She put a consoling hand at his shoulder.
"Oh…? How do you know?" He slighted.
"Because I'm a mom and we know everything."
He looked toward her comforting countenance, so sure and put-together. He smiled feebly. "Oh… heh, right…" She was joking, but in a way she wasn't. She and Pacha always did seem to know what to do no matter how hairy the situation - figuratively and literally.
The tender moment was interrupted however by a clamor in the next room. Upon entering, they looked on, puzzled at Kronk - who, desperate for some distraction or perhaps having an attention deficit episode, had snatched up a flute and began to practice a playful ditty, bounding about the abode. Pacha was barely aware of the interaction, immersed in his own thoughts - but the children had poked their heads in the window laughing and offering reassuring audience as they clapped along. The lovable lug flung his free arm back and forth in amusement as he played, tapping his feet and spinning in place while the emperor just stared at him with a gaze somewhere between utterly confused and deeply offended. Blind to the gesture, Kronk continued his repertoire and bounded right up to them, smiling through trills.
Kuzco snapped an annoyed look toward the big guy and lashed out at the lummox, swiping the pipe from his mouth. He winced at the pain still in his arm, but only for a moment as he turned toward Kronk's befuddled façade, frozen with still whistling lips.
"Yeah, uh…" Kuzco made a show of tapping the pipe to his chin. "Just, um…tsk, WHAT are you doing!?" He brandished the flute in his hand as if reprimanding the larger. The others looked on uncomfortably.
"I, well, I uh…"
"Kronk, buddy…" Kuzco chewed on his words as he fiddled with the flute, "I know you have a hard time remembering things … heh, I guess you just have some ability to block it out after a few minutes or something right? I get it, ya know… it's hard to think about things… or maybe just hard to think at all, ha ha… yeah… So I guess I need to reiterate on the situation…" He paused then roughly spat out, "This… isn't a vacation, pal!"
Kronk twiddled his fingers and looked up sorrowfully. "I… was just trying to lighten the mood… a little…"
Kuzco's face softened as he studied his chum's chiseled phizog - the hyped henchman now a mournful and defeated personage who had most definitely seen more than he. Kuzco let out a small sigh and looked briskly toward the alerted Pacha, Chicha, then the kids who huddled together, ducked down with their noses right at the windowsill nervously watching. "Uh, yeah… well…" He muttered quickly, "you're off pitch…." He threw the pipe aside and paced over to the open doorway, leaning against the frame.
The others awkwardly shuffled with Chicha breaking the silence. "So… um… who wants some snacks?"
Kronk and the children perked up at this, "Ooh, me me me!" and they jovially jumbled into the kitchen area, followed by the clatter of crockery. But Kuzco, unflappable, stayed glued to his spot. Pacha folded his arms in thought, joining him.
"Ya know, Chicha makes some good brownies… when she tries!" He laughed at his own joke.
Kuzco offered a weak smile in response but curtly retorted, "I'm not hungry."
Pacha attempted to assuage him. "…Kuzco… I know you're scared…"
"Scared?! Pfft… Don't be ridiculous, Pacha! I don't get scared!" He threw an arm up behind him. "I mean, who'd be scared …of a group of maniac magicians bent on - probably - the annihilation of the kingdom and - most certainly - my death!? Nah… that's kid's stuff."
"So they want to kill you? Not like you haven't been through that before…"
"This is different. I didn't do anything this time." He sneered. "I was just sitting there minding my own business… literally!" Throwing himself back into the entry, he stared toward Pacha's hut, then down to the rest of the houses littering the side of the hills. An outline of storm clouds could be seen rolling far off in the distance. Farmers and a few inhabitants mingled as they passed each other on the dirt trails, toting their baskets of fresh picked crops and wheeling llama-drawn carts - blissfully unaware of the coming storm. The two old men, Ipi and Topo, sat outside playing a game of checkers like usual and a few children ran amuck tossing a rubber ball. "…like… you try to be a good leader and all but then… stuff happens like… 'sorry pal, too bad'!" He sighed heavily as Pacha watched on in empathy.
"Mm, yeah… that happens…"
"I mean…" Kuzco paused for a moment, "How do you do it…? Pacha?"
"…What?"
Kuzco shuffled uncomfortably in his spot, rubbing his wounded arm on reflex, "Well, ya know… keep 'em safe and all that…?"
Pacha stared, a little flabbergasted. He sure had grown up in the past few years. "Uhh… well, to be honest… you don't." Kuzco spun back around with a critical look. "You really just do the best you can and, well… just hope it works out…" Pacha shrugged. "You can't control what happens… but… you can decide how you face it." He looked back into the kitchen area where forms of his family and Kronk could be seen and heard moving about. "Because… you care about them! They're your family…!" Kuzco glanced back out toward Pacha's village as the older spoke. "That's what a kingdom is, right…?"
"…Uh," Kuzco struggled with his thoughts, "…yeah… I guess so…"
"But…" Pacha interjected, "I don't think just giving yourself up is an option. If they're after you…" He folded his arms and nodded his head resolutely,"…they're after all of us!"
"Heh, Pacha, you can't say that… aren't you worried about your family?"
Pacha's face slacked as a hint of nervousness crossed him, but he stood firm. "Well yeah, of course… but…" He stepped to the emperor's side and gently slapped his cap over the younger's head, "…you're part of it…" Kuzco stood there, with his face halfway covered, breathless a moment until he sluggishly lifted the brim of the cap to meet Pacha's reassuring smirk. "…We are part of the kingdom, right?"
Instantly, Kuzco's muzzle melted and he blinked rapidly, fighting back the tearful theatrics. "Aw man, what… where'd you get this life advice shtick, huh? Why you always say things like that…?"
"Because I'm a dad and…" the older shrugged, "Well, that's just part of our job…"
"Yeah whatever….," He weakly shoved at the older in pseudo-resentment, but quickly sported a much more characteristic smirk himself. "But… thanks…" He nudged the big guy. "Dunno what I would do without ya, pal…"
"You would be a llama."
"Okay you gotta stop bringing that up…" Kuzco laughed as the two made their way back inside.
Long branching brows curled atop an aged temple as the reed-like Ipi examined his checkerboard, debating his next move. A quivering arm placed a finger over one of the black pieces, but quickly pulled away - having second thoughts.
The squat, baggy Topo eyeballed him lazily, drooping in and out of slumber before slapping hands down on the table, snapping a remark to his friend. "C'mon Ipi, I'm getting old over here!"
"Hah, too late for that! Just make sure you don't keel over before I beat you…" Ipi chuckled as Topo rolled his eyes off toward some movement. He noticed two whipping shades travel up the trail and spring to life, sprouting from the earth as dark dressed silhouettes slightly away from the hut. He shook his head in disbelief, sure his vision was finally failing him, as Ipi jumped a few pieces with a triumphant "Ha!" He then looked toward the same direction as his gawking chum.
The imposing figures of Totec and Tlaloc made their way toward them. "Pardon us…" the smaller rattled his twisted staff around as he spoke, "We were given vague directions to find Kuzcotopia… heard of it?"
Ipi thought a moment, "Hey 'int that the place that Kuzco fella stays at sometimes?"
Topo, spying the board before him, quickly jumped all of Ipi's remaining pieces. "Yep." Ipi stared on flabbergasted at his friend's move and grunted in annoyance.
"Greeeat," Tlaloc responded as Totec jittered impatiently behind him, "So you know where it is…?"
"Well - hey wait…!" The scrawny old man questioned. "What's a couple of 'shady' guys like you want to know that for?"
"Oh no reason really, we just want to kill the emperor."
"KILL! KILL! DEAD! DEAD!" the pointy other screeched.
The two old men darted looks to one another as they pursed their lips. Finally Topo broke the silence, rubbing a bushy eyebrow, "Ha ha… welp, then nope… never heard of it!"
"Yeah, uh…" Ipi made a show to tap his chin, "We don't even know a 'Kuzco', do we…?"
"A ha ha… Who?"
"Exactly!"
Eyes glared through the black jaguar pelt. "Oh, in that case…" A green arm swiveled, stirring up a seemingly sentient shadow from the air. "Thanks for your help…" Tlaloc swerved the shade straight at Topo, who immediately slumped back in his chair with graying skin and murmured under a visible weight of gloom. Ipi hoarsely cried out to his friend, but then jolted from his own chair with vigor that didn't suit his age, sprinting up the hill crying out to his neighbors.
"Crazies! Crazies in the village!" As he hollered, the plethora of pedestrians and children playing pivoted in their spots, villagers poked their heads curiously from their shacks - including the occupants of Kuzco's, food still stuffed in their cheeks. The shade masters briskly followed and Ipi was met as the same fate as his buddy, plopping down to the dirt below, prompting the outside onlookers to panic and run.
Kuzco screamed. Tlaloc looked toward the sound but no movement could be seen. The group tucked their bodies against the front wall. Kuzco whimpered and slumped to the floor, hiding his face in the brim of Pacha's hat. "Oh man! They're here! That's two of 'em…! We're gonna die!" He covered his mouth as he quivered and quaked.
"No, we're not!" Pacha whispered loudly. "C'mon we'll escape through the back… let's go…" He quickly ushered the tiptoeing others onward, glancing frantically about and grabbing a satchel hanging by the door. He stuffed a multitude of useful things in it such as cloaks and various supplies as they went.
The wind began to pick up as the rain chills grew closer. The pointy shade master Totec thrashed through people's homes, leaving a wake of screeches and debris as the panicked populace tried to flee. Tlaloc, certain of his hearing, kept examining the hilltops and focused on a clothesline with vibrant cloaks sailing in the breeze. "Totec! The emperor's clothes!" The edgy other spun his jaguar mug toward the shack. "That must be it!" They shifted and sped toward the dwelling. Thunder began to reverberate above.
Chicha and Chacka held the two younger boys as Pacha frantically set up a cart usually meant for a llama. "Alright, everyone pile in!" With looks of confusion, but too frantic to offer debate, they did as they were told - Kuzco first, then Chicha and the kids. Kuzco struggled with the close proximity everyone was tightly packed into it as Kronk looked on saddened.
"Uh…. What about me?"
Pacha stared at him critically. But before he could offer a response, the two cloaked figures appeared in a whisp of shade in the doorway. "You're pushing!" Pacha quickly leapt onto the cart, perched himself on the outer edge facing his family and Kronk. "Go, go, go!"
Kronk pedaled his feet in the air a moment as he, panicked, roughly forced the cart forward and bounded down the hill at breakneck speed with the shadowy warriors at his back. The whole group squealed as they bounced - Kuzco ushering wails and uncomfortable pleas as they seemed to hit every divot along the back trail not to mention the girls screamed at the top of their lungs right in his ears. Tipo held his stomach, but Yupi didn't seem to mind this romp - throwing his arms up happily. Pacha worriedly watched from his perch as the shades closed in. Kronk held the handles tightly but intermittently would slip, bounce against the rough trail then jump back up into his sprint.
Pacha swiftly grabbed a decent-sized pebble as they passed it and lurched it toward the baddies. They dispersed for a moment, pausing only to look at it critically. Pacha ducked just before a dark blast sped by. Then several. Kronk erratically made movements to dodge these black volleys but he was having a hard time controlling the cart. "Woaa-ohh-ohh!"
Tipo and Chacka looked to each other concerned, but with an air of determination suddenly coming over them. Chacka swung around her knapsack and they smiled impishly. The youngsters climbed onto their puzzled father's shoulders and without further ado, began to toss a multitude of toys toward the brutes. The shadesters sprinting, comically looked on as objects passed them - a husk doll, plush llama, rubber ball, hand drum and dreidel. Then, a Corn Popper dinged Totec aside the head, it's colorful balls snapping around the walker's dome. Tlaloc couldn't help but laughing at his misfortune as their prey persisted ahead.
The kids high-fived atop their bemused father and Kronk, glancing back at the now empty trail, cheered. "Yeah, looks like we shook them!" Then he noticed an oncoming ledge. He squalled in sheer terror, along with the others, as they launched over and downward toward the forested areas below. Kronk teetered on the backend as the cart plummeting vertically along the slippery slope, smashing through bushes and shrubbery. Pacha howled and cringed in pain as branching boughs whipped at his bottom. Kuzco and the others winced in sympathy. "Ooo…!" Then, a cart's wheel exploded off its axel spinning the beleaguered passengers and their provisions out of control until the nose locked up on an elevated stone, flipping them all out. One by one they flew into the air.
Kronk smacked a tree hard, whirling around in confusion - squirrels spinning around his head. Then Pacha squashed him, prompting a sobering gasp from the buff bloke. Chicha and the children along with their bag of supplies safely landed on the puffy Pacha - who, in an effort to relieve Kronk below, rolled over with them in his protective arms - only to have the wailing Kuzco bounce off his backside into the same tree Kronk had hit.
The group barely had time to register their situation though as the shades broke through the thicket above, touching down behind them. Pacha stood in front of his petrified family as they slowly moved in. Kronk, nervously at first, struck a defiant (yet still anxious) pose.
Tlaloc rattled his staff around and Totec shifted in the shadow of the canopy just as the rain begin to drizzle down. An overcast blanketed the already dark setting. Tlaloc giggled. "Ooh, this feels much better… in the safety of the shade…" A forest arm flung back his hood as he lapped up the fresh rain. He was not anymore sightly than his leader; a wiry figure painted in olive green with black angled lines forming squares in some places and along his caved-in cheeks, big lacquered-up fish lips, piranha chompers, a huge dangling handlebar piercing protruding from either side of his basically non-existent nose, and dark circled dilated peepers plastered on his quarry. He wore a long fashionable indigo cloak around his nether regions tied together with a frayed red sash that trailed behind him like a tail down to his bandaged up legs mostly covered by furs.
Totec hissed in agreement, following suit. Though he was a little top-heavy, he was mostly bones with a knotted, angled appearance along his pale body - especially his shoulders which jutted upward like mountain peaks. He had a Neanderthal brow with a receding hairline of significant charcoal-colored spikes extending from behind pointed ears graced with huge gauges that yanked the lobes past his beaded collar. His skin was speckled in some kind of resin along with dark mud outlining his features making him look the part of a hunched skeletal gorilla trying to stand, with wide spade-like black-polished nicked-nailed paws protruding from a flayed pieced-together leathery suit. The assortment of giant beads and ornamentals he wore seemed to weigh him down, particularly a string of decent-sized bones with a llama skull. At his waist, more strings of bones wrapped a slivered pale flannel cloak about him dusting the dirt below.
The two of them smiled maliciously against the bleak backdrop. Tlaloc waved his staff forward as the rain around them pitted the ground with dark spots. Suddenly these flecks flourished long vines of shadow that began to dance under Tlaloc's conducting.
"Ohh, snap!" Kuzco screamed as the gang filed, frenzied, into the recesses of the jungle trying as much as possible to huddle together. But the whips of shadow grew up seemingly everywhere, threatening to overtake them as they sprinted. Inevitably they became separated as the dark ribbons formed fingers reaching toward them… leaving the jungle behind a black memory.
Kronk, toting the kids and Chicha like sacks, huffed through the dense wilderness as the whips snaked behind them. He looked back momentarily only to trip on a tree root, sending all of them rolling into a clearing where a pack of jaguar slept amongst the tree limbs. The shadowy slivers sprung over the treetops and landed into several of the big cats' heads, instantly waking them into a sort of controlled state, milling about, ready to pounce on the potential prey before them. Chicha and the children looked on in speechless horror. But Kronk merely sighed and shrugged, pulling out a scroll and quill from his robes.
"I'm going to count thiiis… as reference, like 50..." and made a swift stroke against the paper.
The jaguars jumped toward them, backing them in a cowering corner. Yupi called out toward the cats rebelliously "Bad kitty!" At which, one roared back in response, frightening the squirt who huddled in his mother's arms. Chicha, upon seeing this, grew infuriated.
"Alright! I've had enough!" She stepped toward the feral felines, placing Yupi in Kronk's arms, "Hold him for me, would you?" Before he could offer a protest, she had ripped the bottom of her gown, tied the fabric across her already present headband and smeared a two streaks of mud across her cheeks, roaring back at the surprised jaguars that dare threaten her babies. She quickly approached, and smacked one right in the face. The surveyors screeched as the jaguars jumped for her. But she held her cool - practicing a meditative stance before knocking one right, then left, then giving another a round house kick, after which she judo-chopped one aside the head issuing a great scream of fury.
Kronk and the kids starred on shocked as silhouettes of jaguars passed them - Kronk becoming slightly afraid of the woman himself.
"Wow, go mom!" Chacka cried out as Chicha finished her brawl.
Chicha flexed her wrist. "Don't mess with a mad mom." But Tipo cried out and she looked down, a shadowy vines wrapping around her legs. She struggled with the wriggling shades seeping from their hosts and beyond, but it was no use - they overtook her and the rest of them in swallowing darkness.
A sprinting Kuzco squealed out as he was yanked from the side - Pacha snatching him up out of the grasp of shades. The big guy bounded through with the younger in his arm, crying out for the others "Chicha! Kids! Kronk!?" He was beginning to become a little worried. Sure they could take care of themselves, but this was a totally different level than anything they'd ever faced.
Suddenly, he found himself at one of the many cliff drops of the jungle, protected somewhat by the rain by a dying tree at the edge. Even still, the whips crept slowly toward them. Fish-eyed Tlaloc emerged from the blackness, strutting along confidently as thunder bellowed overhead. He cracked a dagger-laden smile from behind those swelled lips. Leisurely, he twirled the staff about his body in an elegant dance, singing an intentionally eerie rhyme…
"It's raining… it's pouring…
The thunder above is roaring...
The emperor… went up a hill
And now… it's time to kill…
So we can get on with this story…"
Tlaloc chuckled, "Okay that last part I kinda cheated…"
Kuzco caught his breath. Was this really the end for him? How was that even possible? He was the main character, right? "Look, fine… you wanna kill me? Bring it…!"
Pacha looked at him, shocked. "Kuzco!"
"…just let the big man over here go, alright? I'll go with you if you just leave him and the other's alone, okay!?"
Pacha stared on in deep sympathy, but Tlaloc, pinging his nose-bone with a green digit, merely took only a second to muse on it. "Um.. No." Then shot a bullet of shadow right at the unprepared Pacha, who doubled over to the ground in front of his young friend.
"Pacha!" Kuzco screamed, throwing himself over the portly farmer. He rolled his friend over, now slowly turning grey as he struggled against the onset of the shadows' influence. Kuzco gasped in fear as he desperately clung to the larger's rain-soaked poncho, driblets gracing his own sorrowful face as the storm around them picked up momentum.
Pacha looked at his desperate buddy and strained a smile as he fought against the shadowy sway - his voice harsh and breathless. "Don't… give up…." No longer able to keep it at bay, he let out a wheezing exhale and passed out. Kuzco slumped over his fallen friend, whimpering - feeling as if it was him that got shot as well.
Tlaloc chuckled madly as he circled around the pitiful forms, strutting toward the lifeless tree just beyond them. Pale painted Totec dashed out of the darkness as well, pitting their prey between the two of them. "Sorry, but in the end…" Tlaloc gleefully announced, "…everyone will meet the same fate…" He giggled a bit then whispered out as if giddy girl revealing a tightly-held secret, "…the scourge of the Shadow Plague…"
Kuzco's eyes snapped up at this, realizing something. "What… did you just say?"
"That's right… the Shadow Plague…" Tlaloc twirled his staff around, happily listening to the rattling melding with the pitting rain. "Montezuma is very specific with his vision of revenge…!" He playfully engulfed the dying tree he strode by in shadows as the rest of the slivers swirled around their targets. "Your whole kingdom… falling to the darkness! Bwahaha!" Kuzco stared at him, now with a resolute look of anger. But Tlaloc continued, jumping onto the tree. "And you…. well you'll be the poster boy for all to see!" He upraised his staff in maniacal theatrics as darkness began to bloom around it. The drizzle and wind swished around them. "The end for you is at hand!" He bellowed in laugher above the unperturbed prince. Totec smiled insanely at what was sure to come, but the emperor kept his decisive look of disdain. Tlaloc hoisted his staff straight toward the lightning-filled heavens, a plume of shadowy magic seeping from it as he cackled above his victim - ready to smite him, "Now… DIE!" A great clap of thunder blared above and the sky was alit as a bolt zig-zagged down, striking the assailant where he stood!
A horrific screech and crack of energy was engulfed in a shocking blaze. A surprised Kuzco, temporarily blinded, glanced back to see the roasted form of the tree - crisped with flames licking the top of the dead boughs - and the singed body of Tlaloc, which promptly fell beyond the cliff's edge. The tree cracked under the fire, branches snapping off around Kuzco and Pacha below. He startled but noticed the shadows were disappearing… and Totec, the monster-looking man, eyed the fire with a look of dread… backing away.
Kuzco jumped up and grabbed a bough, swinging it toward him and the darkness. "What… afraid of a little fire?" Totec hissed out madly. "Go, on! Get out of here!" Kuzco cried out. Totec reluctantly stepped back, glaring him down but draped himself once more in the shadows and disappeared back into the jungle.
Chicha was released from her prison of darkness and spied Kronk and the children, rushing toward them. They all eyed the shadowy wisps disappearing around them and even the jaguars took the cue to leave - not wanting again to mess with the mad momma. Chacka thought on this turn of events. "Did something happen?"
Not long after, they got their answer however when they met up with the torch wielding Kuzco toting a somber-looking Pacha. Chicha and the kids cried out in fear and worry as they took the patriarch into their care.
Kronk worked to set up a modest camp, using the torch to start a small bonfire as the others watched over Pacha cringing under the weight of despair that infected him. Kuzco shook his head in grief as Chicha wept out to him. "What… is this?"
Kuzco turned away, thinking on Tlaloc's words. "It's… the Shadow Plague." Chicha looked up. "You remember it right? I mean… apparently it started when I was just a baby but I heard a lot of nasty stuff about it-" He stopped when he realized that was not the route he should be going.
Chicha sniffed sadly, but kept her strong composure for the kids. "Yeah, I… remember it…"
"But…" Kuzco replied, "Don't worry about it because we got an antidote…"
Chicha blinked. "We… do?"
"Well, more like we know someone who does…" He turned to Kronk blowing on the brush pile. "Right, Kronk?"
Kronk stopped and looked around. "Who, me?"
"Erm… no. But you know where she is don't you?" He narrowed his eyes.
Chicha and the kids looked on suspiciously, not really liking where this was leading. Kronk just blinked, confused. "Uh… who?"
Kuzco sneered as the name escaped his lips. "…Yzma…"