"Where did they go?" Gabrielle asked, shocked.
"Do you think they were kidnapped?" Tigra answered with a question.
"You there," Storm pointed at Mephistopheles. "Go turn the TV off so we can all hear each other."
Storm's pointing finger threatened the zap of a lightning bolt, so Mephistopheles just grumbled as he reluctantly went to do so.
"Who would kidnap fifteen people?" Sunny asked.
"Maybe it was Hope, daughter of darkness and all," Zee said.
"If you hadn't noticed, I'm right here you..."
"Ah!" Trance cut Hope off. "Please don't call people mean names."
"...stupidhead," Hope finished. Trance gave her a betrayed look.
"Besides," Tataka put in, "Mr Darkness himself is one of the missing people."
From the living room, where the TV was still making a lot of noise, everyone heard Mephistopheles shout, "I don't know how to work this thing!"
That was followed by a giant crash that shook the house, and the loud television was finally silenced. Tigra peeked in to see that he had knocked the whole TV stand over ontop of it and crushed it.
Just then Xena, who nobody noticed had slipped away, came back into the kitchen. She held up a piece of paper. "I found this in Hercules' room."
"What's it say?" Gabrielle asked, reaching for it.
Xena snatched it away from the grasping hands and read, "If you want your friends back you must follow the trail. The next clue is on top of this mountain." Xena held out the note to show a map.
"Let's go, we must find them!" Storm exclaimed before dramatically blasting away some of the ceiling with lightning and flying out.
"No more sugar on her pancakes," Rogue said, then flew after Storm. "Hey Storm, come back! Think for a moment hon, not everyone can fly."
Storm paused, then turned and followed Rogue back through the hole in the ceiling. She landed ontop of the counter for a better chance of getting all the distracted people to listen.
"Everyone, this is important," she said. "Our friends could be in danger!"
Zee caught Trance when she nearly fainted.
"You stepped on the burnt waffles," Callisto pointed out, laughing.
"Forget the waffles, Callisto!" Storm yelled, kicking the plate. Everyone ducked as it soared across the kitchen and shattered against the fridge. Some people stepped away from Storm, afraid their faces would be next.
"Let's just follow the map," Rogue said simply.
"Do we all have to?" Tataka complained.
"Do you want to stay here and fix the roof, the TV, or the counter with the axe in it?" Rogue replied.
Everyone was silent. The Executioner removed her axe from the counter.
"All right," Storm began, her voice sounding extra loud in the now quiet room. "Let's pack up some things we might need in the cars and follow the map."
The group dispersed to try and find some necessary items before meeting out front. Everyone had a backpack stuffed with things that might come in handy. Other things were thrown into the three mini vans.
"I will drive one car, and Rogue and Tigra will drive the others," Storm told them.
"Why do you get to be in charge?" Hope asked.
"Because I am the oldest and maturest," Storm replied.
"Is maturest even a word?" Gabrielle whispered to Zee, who shrugged.
Everyone got into the cars. Xena sat beside Storm, still clutching the map, and told her where to go while the others followed.
"Do you think the dudes are all right?" Mattie asked.
"I hope so," Gabrielle answered.
"I wonder who kidnapped them."
"Maybe it was Dahak," Mattie suggested.
"But why would he give us a chance to rescue them?" Gabrielle questioned.
"Good point."
"Maybe all the dudes kidnapped Lara and ran away."
"Actually it would probably be Lara kidnapping all the dudes." Mattie looked thoughtful. "What if it's some giant monster, or an alien testing us to see if we're smart enough to track them down? And if we are, they'll take us as slaves?"
"Do not let your imaginations run wild now, children," Storm said. "You will only scare yourselves."
"Hey, just because you're..." Mattie paused to count on her fingers, "...like six years older than me doesn't mean you can call me a child."
"And we're not scared," Gabrielle added.
Xena silently reached behind her chair and poked Gabrielle when she wasn't looking. Gabrielle screamed, which made Mattie jump. Xena laughed at them.
In the car behind that one, Rogue was trying to concentrate on the road.
"Will ya'll be quiet back there! I'm trying to drive here!" she yelled. In a lower voice she added, "I would get the full car."
"Full of all the crazy, unmanageable people," Sunny said from the passenger seat. She turned to see what was going on behind her.
"I've had enough of you kicking my chair, Hope!" Callisto screamed, kneeling in her seat and clawing at Hope behind her.
"I've had enough of you!" Hope returned.
Mephistopheles ducked when the Executioner swung her axe at his head. "Put that thing down!" he demanded.
"Ya'll settle down right now or I'm coming back there!" Sunny shouted at them.
"You two and your southern accents are annoying me!" Tataka said.
"Your face is annoying me!" Sunny shot back.
"You're not helping," Rogue told her.
The car behind them swerved when Rogue came to a sudden stop.
"Rogue needs to work on her driving," Tigra commented.
"It's not Rogue's fault," Zee said. "Look at all the activity going on in there."
"Yeah, I guess I have it easy," Tigra said. Zee turned to see only Trance behind them, looking out the window.
They drove for a long time, straight into forest country. They were traveling on a deserted, hardly used road. In the distance was a mountain.
"That's where the next clue should be," Xena said, pointing.
"We are nearly there," Storm responded.
Suddenly the road opened up in front of them, revealing a pit full of sharp rotating saw blades. Storm slammed on the brakes and came to a halt at the edge of the deadly pit.
"That was a close-" Storm was abruptly cut off when Rogue, who had been unable to pay attention at the moment, rammed into them from behind.
"Oh no!" Rogue exclaimed, bursting through the windshield. She caught the back of the car as it was tipping forward. The front end shredded as the razor sharp blades tore into it. Two black, tentacle-like contraptions shot out of the pit and latched onto the van, trying to pull it in while Rogue fought to pull it out.
The inside of the car was filled with frightened screams. "Don't panic!" Xena told them as Storm opened her door and flew out.
"One at a time." Xena reached back and grabbed Gabrielle's arm, helping her to the front and out the door. Storm took hold of her and flew her to safety.
When it was Mattie's turn her long jacket somehow got wrapped around the steering wheel. Storm tried to pull her out but couldn't. The car lurched forward and they heard Rogue's voice telling them to hurry.
Xena tore Mattie's jacket from the steering wheel and Storm took her from the car. Xena flipped out behind her, landing on the roof and running up it. She jumped off and back onto the road. A wide-eyed Gabrielle ran up to hug her.
Rogue let the saw blades take the van, relieved that everyone escaped.
"Oh my gosh, are ya'll okay?" Sunny asked as she and the others from the second car surrounded them.
"Mentally scarred for life, but yeah, we're good," Mattie answered.
Callisto started laughing, and Hope and Mephistopheles had smirks on their faces. Rogue slapped Callisto on the arm. "You guys are so rude."
"That's an understatement," Mattie said.
Just then Tigra drove up the otherwise deserted road and everyone jumped out of the car. "What happened here?" Zee asked.
"A bit of trouble," Xena responded. "Where were you?"
"We got stuck behind some dreadfully slow guy that drove like Jarem," Tigra informed them, eyeing the pit of blades. Beyond that the road continued on toward the mountain.
"Looks like whoever kidnapped the dudes set some traps," Tataka stated.
"We might want to be careful," Trance said. "Like really, really careful."
"Well, come on everyone," Rogue said. "Looks like we're gonna have to travel on foot the rest of the way."
Will they survive the traps and find the dudes? Will Storm get off her sugar high? And will Callisto ever learn manners? Find out later!