Sorry for taking forever to upload! This new installation contains a lot more, well, cursing, fighting (though not very violent), and some nudity (though not very well described though, so whatever you're thinking…). Just a little heads up, and I know it's short, but writing about fighting is hard, haha, so I'll be trying my best to make it enjoyable and exciting. Any suggestions or feedback is much appreciated, thanks!
Liz held her breath, shocked and somewhat disturbed by what she was looking at. Kid, questioning her silence, swam over. "What are you just standing around for? Is something wr—" He stopped short, feeling his face turn red. He spun around, stuttering. "I-I'm going to look for Patty! You take care of her!" What they'd discovered… was an almost nude girl, with curly, white locks of hair who was floating in the water. A towel was wrapped loosely around her chest, showing some cleavage. Surely this couldn't have been a witch, not with such an innocent face. But… what would a girl like this be doing virtually naked under a pyramid? She certainly wasn't dead, as her cheeks were still rosy and her breathing regular. Well, forget about that. For now I have to help this girl and then find Patty, Liz thought, shaking her wandering mind so she could think straight. She wrapped the towel around the girl, so it would not be so loose, and scooped her up in one arm, paddling with the other.
Soul walked about, exploring the vast forest, while Maka tried to coax Chrona to come along with them. For some reason their pink-haired friend stood there, planted to the ground, her teeth chattered and she shook her head, showing she didn't want to move. Maka was worried. What could cause her to freeze up like this? She took Chrona's hand into her own, smiling. "I understand. We'll stay here until you're ready."
Thus Soul wandered aimlessly, exploring the strange place. The vast amounts of ladybugs often swarmed him, and he was finally so annoyed by the flying pests, he grabbed a fistful of them from the air and squashed them all as he tightened his fist.
"Please, don't do that," a woman's calm voice emerged from behind him. "They really don't like it when you do, can you not hear their screams?" Soul spun around, shocked. He turned his head quickly, but could not see Maka or Chrona. The woman chuckled as he turned back to face her. She wore a cloak, similar to that of a witch's, except hers was mahogany-colored. On her hood, there was a design that looked like the head of a ladybug, and two clumps of hair stuck out of her hood, looking like antennae. She smiled in an almost charming way, yet still showing the evil behind it all. She held out her hand, her cloak then swirled off of her and condensed into a small mask-sized, ladybug-like… thing which appeared in her hand. She placed it on her head, and against the raven black of her wavy hair, it stood out well. Now she'd worn an incredibly old-fashioned mahogany petticoat, the color equal to that of her cloak, and above that a thin see-through poncho. She clutched an umbrella, and when she'd opened it, it revealed large black spots on a solid red color. She held it about her head, twirling it about.
Without the hood shadowing her face, she looked young, about eighteen. Surprised to see such a young witch, Soul looked perplexed. Was this really a witch? She certainly doesn't dress like one… but she does talk like one, and her wavelength screams 'Danger'. He kept this in mind as he transformed his right arm into the blade of a scythe. "Oh my," the witch chuckled. "So eager to fight? And without your meister?" Her face turned dark and she held her umbrella toward the weapon, firing. A large projectile flew from the umbrella's point, located at the top. Soul successfully dodged this, but when he looked back at the tree to see the damage, he found it about to fall right on top of him. Soul scurried out of its path, but what could come out of an umbrella that could cause such a thick tree to come tumbling down? He looked at the base, seeing that it was melting still from acid. Flying acid, he thought, Not cool.
Liz still clutched the mysterious girl, now searching for her missing sister and meister. Swimming was certainly hard labor when you had a hundred pound girl in one arm. "Liz!" A cheerful voice called out. It was Patty, and Kid was swimming along right behind her. "Can you believe the water's STILL coming out?" Liz grinned, having missed her sister's silliness. Her meister looked at the girl in Liz's arm, then blushing furiously and looking away, for her waist down was uncovered; the towel they found on her wasn't large enough to cover her entire body. To their surprise, the girl began to awaken…
"Hello? Why's it so cold?" As if her word was law, the water turned warmer. The mysterious girl pushed herself out of Liz's grasp, and swam quickly over to a boulder. She climbed onto the land, and with a snap of her fingers an outfit appeared on her, and she was completely dry. She now wore a tan traditional Chinese dress, the neckline lined with wool. She had on long black gloves, and long black boots. Her hair was also tied up into twin buns, one of either side of her head. In some way, they looked like ram's horns. Kid, now looking, caught on immediately. "It can't be… you're Aries?!"
"Huh? Could it be? A little birdie told you about me?" she said cutely. "Oh? And how did I get here…? I thought I was taking a bath upstairs." Her eyes sparkled when they were finally focused on the three. "Wow! All three of you… your souls are certainly spa-a-a-arkly*!" Kid scrunched up his face, confused by this witch's strangely upbeat attitude. Patty clapped and said, "Yes! I agree!" The witch's expression turned bitter, out of place on her just-a-minute-ago happy face. "Is that right… Barbie?" She said this last word dripping with hate, and it seemed that for some reason, she did not enjoy how the weapon had agreed with her. "Learn this, and learn it well. I don't need your help to state what I think. For I am the ONLY Aries. The original. And this is my opinion, so back off!" She whipped her arm forward, and the water in front of her moved in the same motion, slicing forward and hitting Patty.
"Ahh!" Patty yelled as she was hit by the wave and was pushed under the water. She resurfaced, her eyes red from the soap water, and were dark and piercing with anger. "Bitch! Kid, no matter what, we're going to teach this dress-up doll a lesson! Just because I agree with her, she attacks me? I don't think so!" She transformed into her gun form, Liz then following her actions. Aries stuck her tongue out at the blonde and said "Bring it on, Barbie!" It seemed as if this fight had no longer involved Liz or Kid, but was a fight only between the witch and the weapon. A chill ran down Kid's spine, afraid of the outcome.
There was an alarmingly loud crash from the forest, and as Maka turned, she witnessed a half-transformed Soul running toward her. She let go of Chrona's hand, and took Soul, now completely transformed, ready for battle. Lady Bug walked out from the shadows from the overhead trees. "Well, what do we have here?" Her eyes intensified, seemingly focused on Chrona, who was trying to look as small as possible behind Maka. "You've grown, Chrona," she chuckled. Ragnarok appeared in the girl's hands, clutching the black and white sword awkwardly with both hands.
"M-Miss Bird*…!" Maka looked nervously at her frozen friend. "P-please, Maka… Let me face her. She's too strong for you…" Maka opened her mouth to refuse, but shut it, realizing it was her friend's fight, and did not include her.
"Lady Bug, Lady Bird, Lady Beetle!" the witch chanted, with which rocks were pushed up to the ground; something was tunneling toward Chrona. Beneath her feet, a giant ladybug, grabbed at her leg with its front two legs. Swiftly, she cut off the head of the bug, unfazed. She rushed toward the witch, sword ready to swing.
"Spa-a-a-sparkle, Shine, Shimmer!" the younger witch quickly chanted, spinning. She pointed at the meister, and water shot up and caused the young master to be pushed out from the water and fall back in. Upon resurfacing, he was drenched from head to toe, and Patty was cursing the whole time.
*Spa-a-a-arkly: I meant for this to sound similar to a sheep's "Baa-a-a"
*Miss Bird: AKA Ladybird, another name for ladybug, but to be polite, she added the "Miss", getting rid of the "Lady".
Thanks for reading! Hopefully the next chapter will be up on time :X