Webwork

by Trackula

Balance does not discriminate. The failure of successive dark champions present and future has created an imbalance in favor of the light. Thanks to the meddling of a fallen foe, Jade Chan will pay the price for another's tampering with destiny. Though heroes will rise yet again to face darkness, Jade has a stake in this conflict such as no dark foe before her. Post Season 5

4. Dark Web, Dark Deal

Webwork

By Trackula and Co-written by Eduard Kassel

C04 – Dark Web, Dark Deal

"The… Emptiness?" Jade asked skeptically, looking around this strange gray landscape.

"Indeed, this is a sanctuary of sorts," Tarakudo explained with his usual air of smugness. "Or a prison."

Jade blinked and looked around apprehensively at Tarakudo's words. Sanctuary, prison, either way there should be other stuff in here with her than black trees and a surplus on fog. Possibly very "Bad Day" stuff.

'What did the Old Man ACTUALLY sign me up for,' she thought worriedly.

"What do you mean by 'sanctuary' or 'prison', Bright eyes?" Jade asked, turning to the giant Oni face and crossing her arms over her bare chest. She tried not to think about how she was naked as the day she was born, her panties having been shredded thread by thread when the cocoon came over her. She'd deal with that nonsense AFTER getting some answers.

She blinked than added, "And how the heck are you even HERE? I thought I needed reflections to talk to you."

The Shadowkhan Lord rolled his eyes at his young charge,"Let's go with your easier second question first; I'm here because sealed though I may be, the laws of physics work differently in this realm. Through one of my kind, you, I can project myself. But only temporarily, it requires a lot of energy and I'm not made of the stuff."

Jade thought about that and grinned, "So, like, if the laws of physics are different here… does that mean I can fly and shoot lighting out of my eyes and stuff?"

Tarakudo just blinked when she tried to hover higher than was her natural limit but stopping short as always. "I mean… nevermind. This gets into inter-dimensional subspace theory that would just turn your brain into a pretzel. You get nothing here you didn't have before."

"Awwww…" Jade pouted, landing back on the ground and sitting down in a huff, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

'So far this other world kind of sucks,' she thought bitterly, 'no new powers, no new CLOTHES, and worst of all; my hands are still hamburger meat! How does that even work if this isn't my real body?!'

"As for what I meant about this place, prepare for something of a history lesson, Young Grasshopper," Tarakudo began, ignoring Jade's groan.

"Centuries ago on Earth, specifically in my homeland, Japan, Yōkai and various Yōma were in dire straits."

"Yōkai and Yōma?" Jade interjected, quirking an right eyebrow in confusion.

"Japanese creatures and magical beings," Tarakudo explained with a sigh, sensing his task at developing this young Oni growing by the minute. "Simply put; what you are now."

Ignoring Jade's look of surprise, The Oni King continued on, "As human civilization spread and became more structured, they pushed these beings from their homes. It's a rather cliché tale, but for a reason. It was then that those who felt most threatened banded together."

"They wanted to fight the humans?" Jade interrupted, earning a scornful laugh from Tarakudo.

"HA! Those cowards? No, they somehow found this dimension and all ran in with their tails between their legs. The ones who had tails, anyways… They were legion; a legion of short-sighted desperate fools."

"What do you mean?" Jade asked, confused but also happy that this was nowhere NEAR as boring as history class in her school or one of Jackie's lectures.

"You know about The Balance," Tarakudo scoffed, "What do you think would happen to a world of nothing but the supernatural without the natural to keep it balanced?"

"Uh…" Jade muttered in thought, "Obviously… bad stuff?"

"You were a C-Average student, weren't you," Tarakudo drawled.

"Yes, 'bad stuff'. The fools had no structure in the Mortal Plane, so they certainly didn't have one here where resources were scarce and there were no humans to prey on. Their laughable excuse for a society collapsed almost instantly, ruin and decay set in, dozens of Yōkai went extinct as the strong were forced to prey on the weak… Basically now it's Beyond Thunderdome."

Jade slapped her forehead, "Now I know you're just doing that on purpose! You're gonna tell me one of these days how an Oni Lord sealed away for forever is so up to date on the modern world! This is just dumb!"

"Juuuuust keep telling yourself that," Tarakudo smirked.

"Argh… Whatever! You gonna show me how I get all powerful now, or something?"

"How you… what?" Tarakudo blinked.

"Isn't that why we're here?" she asked, leaning forwards, ticking off points with her injured fingers. "You buy me time, I get sent here, become super awesome, than I go back and kick butt?"

Knitting his brow, Tarakudo thought about how to put this gently, "You becoming… urgh… 'super awesome' isn't going to be as easy as you seem to think. First we need to find an… old friend of mine. If all goes well with her, SHE will handle your training."

"Wait a minute," Jade cut off, "Just what do you mean by 'training'?"

"Nevermind that," Tarakudo cut off, his image beginning to lose its color. "We spent too long talking, so I need to get this all out quickly."

He hastily floated over and angled down, "Look here. See these spiders?"

Jade swallowed back her complaint and quickly crawled over minding her hands; looking at the patch of mist Tarakudo was referring to. The mist seemed thinner here, and if she squinted she could see a tiny row of black shapes moving in unison like army ants.

The Young Oni blinked in surprise, that was A LOT of spiders. Since when did they act in unison like this? She knew they tended to be pretty solitary animals, certainly not the type to be on the march en masse.

"Yeah…" Jade asked, her red eyes following the steady stream of arachnids. "Hey, what are normal bugs doing in a place like-"

"Follow those spiders, their trail should be very clear," Tarakudo explained cutting her off. "If you stick to the trail, you should have no problems. This whole territory should be safe enough for you IF you remain on this trail."

He leaned in so his owl-like eyes were right in front of Jade's. "In case that wasn't clear enough, let me spell it out for you; do NOT leave this trail. This isn't like home; you don't have Uncle Jackie to pull your bum out of the fire if worst comes to worst. Nothing here, NOTHING, is your friend. Every shadow is out to get you."

"I don't NEED anyone to pull my… bum… or anything out of anything!" Jade shouted back, standing up, and placing her hands on her hips.

"I warned you," Tarakudo sighed, "It's up to you to heed that warning, so I hope you're smarter than I think you are."

"Hey-!"

"Well, it's time for me to take a breather," the Oni King smirked, fading more and more.

"Hey wait!" Jade shouted, looking down at herself and gesturing to her whole body. "What about clothes?! I can't walk all over this place completely starkers!"

"I'm bare from the neck down and you don't see me complaining," Tarakudo pointed out with a grin.

Jade roared and clawed impotently at the air in frustration, "Argh, I will maul you to pieces, Old Man!"

"THAT'S the spirit," he laughed, "I'll be back when you get to your destination. Don't worry, so long as you don't get lost, my old friend WILL find you."

With those ominous words, the Oni King faded completely from sight.

Jade sighed and looked around, trying not to think about being completely exposed. The spider trail was moving forward at the same pace as always, and she was in a magical land of rogue Japanese monsters that humans had probably never before set foot in, loaded with adventure and excitement.

She grinned, 'like HELL am I gonna stick to some dumb trail.'

XXX

'I don't know what I expected out of a place called The Emptiness,' Jade grumbled, 'But it wasn't something so… empty.'

With no sun and no stars it was nearly impossible to judge the passage of time, but it felt like she'd been wandering this endless forest for hours. Nothing but mist, dry grass, loose soil, and a disturbingly uniform array of thin black trees.

'Though the Demon Portal realm wasn't much better,' she admitted. 'Just floating rocks all over the place, and weird yellow sky. But at least that was exciting in the way of trying to not to get pulled limb from limb by seven angry Demon Sorcerers who all had a grudge against little ol' me.'

'But that place literally WAS a prison for a bunch of monumental creeps, so I didn't really expect the inside to look like Moose World.'

Jade continued to float on, her eyes trying to pierce the veil of mist for anything, anything at all, that would break the monotony.

'This place though, Red Cheeks said uh… Yogurt? Whatever, something like that, all ran here on purpose! Is Middle Earth too much for a young demon girl to ask for!?' she internally griped, the uniformity of it all weighing on her already overabundant youthful impatience.

'But this would almost, ALMOST, be okay,' she admitted, as she continued to float on aimlessly. 'If I wasn't completely freaking NAKED!'

That fact especially was driving Jade out of her gourd. She was out in the middle of nowhere in another dimension without a stitch to her name. When she'd decided to set out, she'd been glad for the mist since it at least obscured some parts she wouldn't want strangers to be able to scope out.

But then Tarakudo's warning had come back to her about not trusting the shadows and this place being filled with monsters. Who knew what was down there with her and out of sight? There could be creatures down on the ground literally made of teeth! And while the Young Chan was sure she could take them, she was the girl who blew Shendu to pieces after all, she didn't really WANT to get into a fight while lacking anything even resembling clothing.

Eventually practicality won out over decency and she decided to float over the veil of mist that seemed to go on as far as the eye could see. If this place was like a planet, she imagined from above it probably looked like a big boring gray ball.

'This isn't a place for adventure,' Jade grumbled, running her hands through her extra-spikey hair. 'This is a place where adventure goes to die.'

'Maybe Big Red was wrong,' she wondered looking up at the empty sky, 'Maybe ALL the monsters are extinct now, and he's just behind on the news. Even that "old friend" probably… Would serve the know-it-all right to be wrong about something so major.'

'Maybe I shoulda LET Uncle Jackie catch me,' she wondered, descending to what-ifs in her increasing boredom. 'Then he'd take me to Section 13, I could have escaped 'cause I'm the best, and then gone for Chuckles' mask. Then I'd at least be- huh?'

Jade blinked and saw something… something that seemed almost jarring to be among this scenery. Something with actual color!

The Young Oni narrowed her eyes, wondering if in her desperation they were playing tricks on her. But the color didn't fade. If anything it grew bolder.

Jade quickly flew towards it, the color taking on form as she approached. Orange, and something blue-ish underneath. That shade of orange was looking very familiar, actually. She slowed as she approached; the source of the color now very apparent.

It was clothes. They were hanging from one of the gnarled claw-like branches of one of the trees from an actual honest-to-God clothes-hanger. Not just clothes, either. These were JADE'S clothes. Her short-sleeved orange hoodie, her gray long-sleeved undershirt, her cutoff jeans.

Her favorite outfit was here, hanging plain as day, in an alternate demon dimension.

'Well that's clearly a trap,' Jade decided, nodding to herself in pleasure at her own impressive deductive skills.

However, this was the first interesting thing to happen to her in some time, which endeared her to the obvious ploy somewhat. Not to mention… trap or not, she really wanted those clothes.

Jade looked closely at the Jade-Bait, she could see the stitching even from this distance. They looked real enough. She lowered herself to the ground and felt along the surface without taking her eyes off the garments. She found what she was looking for and picked up a tiny pebble. Eyeing the clothes, she measured the distance and tossed the pebble in their direction.

She practically beamed when the pebble struck the cloth and bounced back, her fanged grin almost reaching her ears. 'Okay, that's a trap worth springing. I'm about to say sayonara to Nudist Jade!'

She made a pair of fists and raised them up; fully aware that approaching the clothes would result in something unpleasant. But after what she'd been through in the relatively short time since she came to the States, she was confidant she could take anything.

Jade floated up to the clothes, her eyes searching left and right but seeing nothing. She circled the clothes completely, but still saw nothing. Even still, she tensed as she reached out to touch them.

The blow came from the left, something light and hard striking at her side and sending her crashing to the misty ground. Her reflexes acted on instinct and she struck the back of her fist against the assailant, feeling something like coarse fur for a moment as well as hearing a high-pitched yelp.

She quickly got to her feet and backed away, her eyes narrowed and locked onto where her opponent landed.

"You should know better than to wander around the woods alone, Jade," a familiar lightly-accented voice admonished her as a tall fit figure stood up in the mist where the enemy landed.

Jade growled and held up her fists, ready to strike. "I know you aren't really him, so cut it out! This is just kids stuff!"

"Well," Jackie shrugged, placing his hands on his hips. "If I'm not really him, than it stands to reason that your enemy isn't really here, doesn't it?"

Jade blinked, a question on her lips. But she was cut off when something struck her from behind and opposite her fake uncle, sending her back to the earth. She cried out as sharp claws raked down her bare back and felt the hot breath of this predator behind her ear.

With desperate speed she reached around, aiming for the source of the breath. Grabbing what felt like a muzzle, she gripped hard to keep it from sinking its teeth in. The creature gave a yelp as she floated backwards fast as she could into the nearest tree, crushing her enemy against it.

She pulled back and turned quickly bringing her fist around to its midsection. In satisfaction she heard something pop and then another yelp, louder and more desperate.

The creature wriggled away from her and bounded off quickly as it could in a weak hobbled stride. Jade finally got a clear look at the thing that had tried to make her lunch.

It looked like a large fox, emaciated and thin. Perhaps it was a bright red once, but its fur had grayed and was missing in sickly patches. Its left eye was milk white with obvious blindness, while its right was red and glaring at her hatefully. Seven scraggly tails trailed out behind it, all as gray and ratty as the rest of it. Once it was probably a majestic wonder, now though…

"Curse you, girl," the fox wheezed out hatefully, its voice old and strangely androgynous. "First time in eternity there is fresh meat, sweet and soft, juicy and young. In prime, would have felled you, Shadowkhan bitch! Felled you and eaten your liver first!"

"Get outta here, Flea-bait, before I turn you into a shawl!" Jade shouted, beginning to float towards the awful beast in a threat.

It howled and ran into the mist, shouting after Jade,"Would have made me young again, strong again, to eat a Shadowkhan! I curse you, Shadowkhan pup! Let other's eat you while you scream!"

Jade reached back and gingerly touched the gouges in her back left by the old fox monster's claws. They didn't seem deep but they stung all the same, though not as bad as her fingertips did. Some of the tips had split open again when she'd punched that awful beast and were dripping purple blood down her wrist.

But that could wait, because much to her delight those clothes were still hanging from the tree looking fresh as a daisy. She eagerly reached out and grasped the clothes by the hanger, lifting it off the branch, already imagining wrapping herself in them.

Then she watched as the clothes and the hanger crumbled away to nothing in her hands like dead leaves.

She flopped bonelessly to the misty floor, spread out and looking up at the sky in a depressed daze. Not even caring that the grass floor stung her cuts and fighting the urge to have herself a good cry.

'This is the Worst. Adventure. Ever,' Jade declared to herself, certain of its universal truth with every fiber of her being.

She laid her head to the left and then paused, staring at the ground in front of her. Another long line of spiders was steadily marching right past her nose in the same direction as the last convoy of arachnids she'd earlier ignored.

Jade sighed and rubbed her eyes, 'I hate when the universe isn't subtle.'

She stood up, floating back into the air and dusting herself off. She looked down at the spiders beneath her and mentally readied herself to join them in their journey.

'If all this place has to offer is boring forests and lame illusions from even lamer monsters, I may as well just meet this lady,' Jade decided grudgingly.

'At the very least, she should have some clothes.'

XXX

Jade grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes as she strained her arm upwards, feeling around the rocks above her. Finding what felt like a decent handhold and happy she wouldn't need to jam her poor abused fingers into solid rock for a makeshift one; she began to put her weight on it.

The stone crumbled under her grasp like old cheese and she nearly lost her grip, cursing up a storm. Then she took a deep breath, trying to calm down and tried again.

'This is the second time tonight, or… is it the next day? Whatever, not long ago, that I had to climb up a damn sheer plane like a stupid monkey!'

She moved her foot into a sturdy divot and began to push herself up. 'And I know ALL about climbing like a monkey, I WAS one! Hell, this is worse than earlier, at least I had clothes back then!'

The Young Oni grumbled, slowly and steadily moving up handhold by handhold, foothold by foothold. She turned and shouted to the dull gray heavens, "AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, I WILL NEVER CLIMB LIKE A MONKEY AGAIN!"

Her shout was answered by deep roar in the distance, prompting her to quickly pick up the pace on her ascent with a nervous squeak.

It had been the most disheartening thing in a long series of particularly disheartening things when that trail of spiders had made their way towards a mountain that had been nearly indistinguishable in the omnipresent mists. The line of them converged with possibly a dozen others along the way and the massive arachnid convoy had met the dagger-like mountain and began climbing right up.

Jade had looked around, hoping they were just being brainless bugs and taking the straight and stupid path, rather than just going around it. But it seemed like they weren't coming back down the other side. Wherever they were heading, it was straight up.

She bit back a sob and began gingerly gripping the stones with her wounded fingers, slowly hauling herself up. Her bare toes helped her feel out footholds which were thankfully numerous. But she'd been dressed and uninjured before with Drew's much much shorter apartment building. Here her fingers were cracked and raw, not to mention lacking fingernails.

The rough and aged stone in front of her would poke and scrape at her bare skin and the open air irritated the scratches along her back. There was no wind, thankfully. But the fresh wounds from her tussle with the old fox continued to cry out from the sensation of her shoulder blades poking them from underneath as she went about the bitter work.

'First Drew spreads those photos around, then I turn into a demon, THEN I make a stupid mistake trying to get revenge and end up enchanted, torn up, and on the run, then I make a deal with a LITERAL Devil, or something close, then I go to this crappy dimension, then I get mauled by wildlife, and now here I am, clinging for dear life beside a bunch of bugs trying to get who-knows-where to meet who-knows-what,' Jade mentally recounted, as she climbed up on autopilot.

'I thing this easily qualifies as the worst day of my life,' she finally decided, wincing as a pointy rock scrapped along her right hip as she lifted herself. 'Definitely the worst.'

'All these spiders though,' she wondered, forcing herself to think on another topic entirely. 'What's up with those…?'

Jade eyed them discerningly as she continued to climb. Finally decided after some consideration; 'the lady up top has gotta be a spider monster. Why else would all these little creeps be taking this pilgrimage to her place?'

'I suppose she could be the opposite,' Jade reasoned to herself, grateful for having come up with a suitably distracting topic from this awful task. 'Some kinda lizard monster that attracts spiders like a Pied Piper, then eats 'em? Either or…'

The inability to judge the flow of time here was beginning to weight on her. She'd definitely been awake for longer than was healthy… maybe. Who knew what an Oni needed? She'd need to ask Tarakudork about little details like that. Not that she wanted to see the big lying jerk again anytime in the near… ever.

'Lying by omission is still lying,' she pouted, ascending ever higher at a tired snail's pace. 'I know what he'd say if I call him on it too… "You should have considered your questions more carefully, Your Majesty" or something condescending like that…'

'Dammit!' she cursed, 'that IS what he'd say! I've got the big jerk stuck in my hea-'

Her thoughts were cut off, when she reached up, and found nothing but empty space. She looked up and saw she seemed to have reached some sort of edge her spidery companions were disappearing over.

With a happy yelp of excitement and completely dismissing any possible danger above, Jade grabbed the edges and hoisted her way up. She eagerly stumbled to her feet above the jutting section of cliff, ecstatic to have finally reached her destination.

She stood, savoring the feeling of no longer clinging for dear life on the side of some godforsaken rock. Taking a deep breath of self satisfaction, she wiped the grit off herself and looked around, seeing where the convoy of spiders had led her.

From up here she could see other mountains far in the distance in every direction. There were structures too, looking like old ruined castles. Further still she could see what looked like a lake of dark water, rivers branching off from all sides like cancerous veins. It wasn't just an limitess expanse of black forest consuming everything in sight.

Somehow that fact lifted her spirits a bit more. It was a relief that the forest wasn't without end like it seemed when she was trapped there for so long.

Jade turned and looked back at the damnable mountain, crossing her arms. As much as it felt like it coming up, this was nowhere near the very top peak. It was more like an alcove set in around the middle leading to a deep dark and definitely unwelcoming cave.

The cave entrance seemed unnatural, like it's been a perfect square opening once, hundreds of years ago maybe. But now it was crumbled and broken away. She thought she could see what looked like the vaguest remnants of paint along the edges. Its color, if paint was truly what she was seeing, was indeterminate. Gone with the ages.

Like everything else, Jade figured, this entryway may have once been a wondrous sight. Now it seemed just an ugly crack leading to some dark crypt. But the spiders were spilling through the door without pause, en masse. This was clearly where Tarakudo wanted her to be.

'Thanks Boss,' she wrinkled her nose as she thought about joining them. 'People who work for you lead such charmed lives. Thanks for the opportunity.'

Jade readied herself and sighed, lifting off the ground so as not to step on anything before floating cautiously inside. As she crossed the threshold she half expected a barrier to slam shut behind her as she passed. Somehow, the fact that it didn't and she could leave at seemingly any time was even more threatening.

'Calm down you dork,' Jade admonished herself as she floated on in, 'This is an ancient creepy dungeon adventure! We like adventure! It's exciting! It's fun! Remember fun, Jade?'

She laughed despite herself at how ridiculous it was to force her enthusiasm like this. Though that thought was admittedly better than focusing on the dark corridor of ancient stone around her. To her surprise, her eyes seemed to adjust to the darkness with disturbing ease. She could make out everything, from the spiders crawling beneath her to the small cracks and fissures in the walls around her.

'About time another perk came up,' Jade thought as she went on down, 'It's not much but I'll take it…'

Jade was beginning to be able to hear her own heartbeat as the noise from the outside died away. The sound of her breathing was amplified along the walls. She tried to breathe softer, but it seemed the walls were set on taking every minute sound within and send it echoing around her.

The deeper she went, the more she became aware of the noises her body made just to live, it was the only sound to be found. The way she could hear all this, from her breathing to the blood pumping in her ears made her worry that everything else could hear it too. The worst part about it was how the silence surrounding her only seemed to increase.

'How does dead silence get QUIETER?' Jade griped, pushing down hard on her fears.

Soon the walls began to change and expand outwards. They were all clearly coated in thick sticky ropes, each rope branching off into millions of tiny strands covering everything in sight. An endless web as far as she could see.

'Spider monster it is then,' she acknowledged, more nervous than she'd ever care to admit.

The young Oni was careful, making sure not to touch the walls, floors or ceilings, and to avoid any thick webbing intersecting between the two. Who knew how sticky that stuff could be or what it'd call down on her to run into it. She was once again thankful for her ability to levitate. Her spidery companions were gone now, disappeared deep into the webbed floor and out of sight.

Jade was forced to cover her mouth and nose by now, the place reeked of sheer unfathomable age. Eons of dust, the strange indescribable smell of old webs penetrating everything and just the still dank air was enough to begin choking her. Who knew what she was breathing in here? If she wasn't careful mushrooms would be growing in her lungs before this adventure was over.

Different paths began to branch off to the sides, pits in the floor and tunnels going straight up in the ceiling. Jade began to wonder if this whole mountain was hollow and if so, what had the strength to actually hollow it? None of these tunnels were natural; her times with Jackie had led her to be able to discern that much.

She chose to stick to the main path, ignoring the branching intersections all over. Tarakudo said this lady would find her, well she intended to keep him to his word on that.

Avoiding every strand in her path became increasingly difficult as they were becoming more numerous the deeper she went. As she continued to float on, she felt something faint, just a strand, catch and break on her ankle. She looked down and raised her foot up to check, when the left wall suddenly shook and sprang towards her faster than she could blink.

The net of web, strands thicker than her limbs, hit her full in the chest pinning her into the right wall and pressing her tightly. She coughed out, the air knocked from her. Reflexively she sucked in huge breaths of dusty air, before choking and coughing it back out. Her back, slashes and all, ached terribly from the impact and the dust it kicked up stung her eyes.

Once Jade had her bearings, she reflexively tried to float forward freeing herself from the web net in front of her and behind her. But in dawning horror she made no progress whatsoever. The strands stuck to her like superglue and were as tough as steel cables. Her super-strength may as well not have existed even as she strained with all her might.

'No nonononono NO!' she thought in a panic. 'How could I fall into such a dumb trap?! That thread was thinner than a hair, I couldn't even SEE the damn thing! That's not fair, how could something so flimsy even TRIGGER this?! Magic?!'

Jade struggled more and more, remembering spiders hunted via vibrations in their webs but being too panicked to care. She'd come much too far to get eaten by a bug now!

Leaning down she bit hard on the nearest strand by her throat, pulling and tearing at it with her razor sharp fangs and powerful jaw. It was sticky and gross, covered in dust and tasting tough and rubbery, a weirdly fibrous texture.

She was to intent to gnaw away at her captor she didn't even feel the slight movement around her until something large and dark slowly and smoothly slid down over her. Her Oni vision was no great boon now, letting her see every disgusting and horrific detail hovering above her.

It was a giant spider, which Jade found fairly obvious, but that didn't make her face-to-face with it any less terrifying. Every one of its numerous black eyes glistening, fangs the size of bananas, eight thick powerful legs each ending in two curled hooks. She could see hairs covering it here and there in a pattern, but for the most part its body was a glossy black and red. … She was beginning to understand very quickly why some people were afraid of these things.

Jade was too terrified to drop the rope held tight between her teeth, if anything, she bit down harder. Especially when one of the spider's stubby front limbs reached over and gently stroked a tear away from her cheek.

'When did I start crying?' some part of her wondered. The part not distracted by a giant monster spider.

When the spider spoke, it was almost a relief. Its voice was low and throaty like an old woman's. Each word was dry and perfectly enunciated.

"I was wondering when you would finally fall into one of my traps, little Oni. It was a welcome distraction, for a time, to watch you wander through my halls. I had so longed for the smell of fear, so I decided to let you take care of yourself rather than waste my energy pouncing on such meager prey."

Jade managed the mental control to slowly work her jaw off the strand of web and pull her head back, assessing the situation as the massive arachnid hovered above her. She thought quickly, ideas passing through her head a mile a minute.

'Okay, this thing wants to eat me, it just said so,' Jade reasoned, 'but it's smart, a normal spider would have already done it. The seven Demon Sorcerers had me just as bad, and I talked my way out of THAT and they were way worse that some ugly bug.'

The young Oni swallowed down her fear and the taste of old yucky webs and tried to convince herself that she wasn't terrified. She didn't believe it but it was all she had, so she tried to make it work.

"I-I'm a Shadowkhan, y'know…" Jade began stumbling over her words as the multiple eyes bore into her, lacking any expression she could read.

"I didn't wanna scare you coming in here, but I can make like fifty deadly ninja pop up with my mind! I'm NOT some 'meager prey' or whatever! Got it?!"

"Oho?" the spider chuckled in amusement, leaning in so her right fang tapped down beside Jade's cheek. She pulled and twisted trying to give herself more than a few centimeters between her face and the cruel and likely poisonous edge beside her.

"Let us pretend I am naïve enough to accept your transparent bluff as truth and ignore how you reek of delicious terror," she had no visible mouth but her tone was a smirk.

"Should I tell you how many Shadowkhan whelps I have personally laid low? You mentioned fifty. That would be just grand. I have not eaten so well in a very long time…"

"However, I am far too old to play with my food and you really do just look so sweet. So forgive me, but I have no more patience to reserve for an impudent supper."

She leaned forward, positioning her fangs so that she might burry them in Jade's throat, "I humbly receive…"

In spite of herself, Jade's eyes narrowed at the spider's mocking tone and advancing threat. A day's worth of constant indignity boiling and bubbling inside her. It mixed with her fear, making for a deadly and volatile reaction. Her lips pulled back showing her own fangs before she shouted out in the spider's face, halting its advance.

"Listen, Spider-Hag, I don't care HOW many you ate! I have taken on and beaten things that would have you WETTING your WEB! Dragons! Demons! Evil spirits! The KING ONI and so many peon monsters I lost track!"

She thrust her head forward, not caring about how deep a grave she was burying herself, too angry, hurt and scared to give it a second thought at this point.

"If something is gonna make ME bite the dust, it's not gonna be a BIG. OLD. UGLY. BUG like you!" Jade screamed at the mammoth arachnid. Immediately after, she was breathing hard. Her throat feeling raw and sore from the sudden strain.

She didn't even get a chance to recover before the spider's stubby "arms" reached out and grabbed her around the chin, yanking her head up so that their eyes met. The grip was so tight it was making her see stars, she could hardly breathe; a gasping and choking was all she could manage as her eyes bugged out.

'Why did I say all that?!' Jade asked herself, despair beginning to set in. 'Am I beginning to lose it? I'm just so tired my filter broke down? Well, I'm paying for it now…'

The young Oni wheezed as the spider continued to squeeze. It had no expressions but Jade could somehow sense that it was glaring at her with hate dripping from every solid black eye.

"You have just lost your opportunity to a relatively painless death, child," the spider hissed out, fangs trembling with rage. "Now, however, you have the unique opportunity to learn firsthand all of my truly staggering knowledge on the application of pain. Consider yourself most fortunate, this truly is a once-in-a-lifetime experience…"

"Now now ladies!" a familiar voice to Jade's left suddenly spoke out. She cursed herself for the tears of relief she felt when the mad old spider released her grip and turned towards the voice along with her. She took a greedy breath, the stars in her vision beginning to fade.

The aforementioned Oni King, Tarakudo floated beside them, his expression and tone akin to a teacher admonishing children, "This is hardly the way to begin a mutual venture. At the very least aren't proper introductions in order?"

The spider pulled away from Jade slightly, seeming to eye the giant face for a moment. Then light began to form in the air and dance around the arachnid spinning and building, the sudden brightness burning into Jade's eyes and forcing her to look way until her eyes began to adjust.

Peering cautiously back, an image, something like a humanoid shadow was beginning to super-impose over the spider's own, which seemed to rapidly fade away. The image gained color and definition at the rate the spider seemed to vanish until hugging the web around Jade was… probably the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen in her entire life.

She was perfect, flawless, skin an unnatural solid white, slender with a long neck and perfectly symmetrical features. Her red eyes were framed by long thick black lashes and her lips were soft-looking and dark red, matching her eyes. Her hair cascaded down past her back where Jade couldn't see and was like a river of ink.

She wore an elaborate red kimono, embroidered with impossibly intricate gold designs, the long sleeves hiding her arms from view. Jade couldn't help but blush when she noticed how low-cut she wore it on herself, revealing a scandalous amount of generous snow-white cleavage.

'But it's TOO perfect,' Jade couldn't help but notice.

'Nobody is this pretty, anywhere. It's obvious she's not human. That and, well… that,' Jade noted, looking down at the powerful eight legs and abdomen spilling out from beneath the kimono.

The spider, now changed, bowed her head slightly to the floating face. Her expression was neutral but Jade could somehow sense some aggression beneath the perfect surface.

"Lord Tarakudo," she spoke, her voice having become smooth and clear as a bell, in dire opposition with that old hag voice she'd used earlier. "It has been a very long time. To what do I owe the… pleasure of your visit?"

"The pleasure, Your Majesty, is all mine," Tarakudo grinned, bowing slightly back before looking at Jade.

"And you're looking well, my dear. Pleasant trip?"

"Bite me, Eyebrows," Jade scoffed, pouting and turning away. The adrenaline draining out of her system gave her chills. "I didn't need your help."

"Clearly," Tarakudo muttered, rolling his eyes. He turned towards the spider-woman and stated casually, "Queen Jorōgumo, allow me to introduce you to my spunky young protégé, Chan Jade."

"Jade," the Oni King stated, turning back her way, "Allow me to introduce you to the reigning Queen of the Jorōgumo. She has no personal name, it's not their custom."

The Queen looked back at Jade with the look of someone who just noticed they'd stepped in a cow pie. Jade returned the expression in kind with an outwardly thrust purple tongue. The Queen's eye seemed to twitch at that but she seemed less inclined to lose her temper in front of someone she seemed to respect. Or at least pretended to.

"Is there a reason you are introducing me to my next meal, My Lord?" she asked softly. She reached a dainty and slender hand from her sleeve, each digit ending in a long black lacquered nail. She casually reached over and moved some of Jade's sweaty bangs out of her eyes and behind her right ear.

"I doubt knowing how to properly address her will improve her flavor."

Jade sneered and pulled away from her hand, thinking of something nice and scathing to return with, Tarakudo's presence having bolstered her confidence.

"I need not to remind you of the understanding we had before, My Queen. You and your kind are not to attack any Shadowkhan except in defense."

"My kind?" she laughed lightly, but the humor didn't reach her eyes. "She invaded my home, I can consider this an act of aggression and act on it as I see fit."

"You were never in any danger and knew it. You're just upset because she wounded your pride. You can stop posturing; you won't eat her because I'm asking you not to. Need I remind you of the debt you owe?" His eyes narrowed threateningly.

Jade blinked, feeling uncomfortably like a voyeur as the Oni King and the Joro-whatever verbally sparred. She frowned and thrust out her lower lip, annoyed that whenever adults talked she was always forgotten. This reminded her of her parents.

"Owe you?" the queen frowned, leaning forward. "WHAT do I owe you, King of Oni? You promised my people and I safety. Tell me, do we look safe?"

She gestured to the empty corridors of stone and web surrounding them with a wave of one arm.

The Lord of Shadowkhan scoffed openly at the answer, "I will take no responsibility for your kind repeating the same mistakes that forced me to intercede on your behalf in the first place."

He leaned in so their eyes were only inches apart, "The only difference is I wasn't there to save you the second time. You squandered the second chance I gave you and now live in your own ruin. But you DO owe me a debt and I have come to collect."

Jade couldn't help but be impressed when the spider-woman seemed to wilt slightly, stepping away. 'She's really backing down… Tarakudork is actually pushing the big bug around, even all sealed up. Does she even realize Big Red's been declawed and can't actually back any of this up? Or maybe that doesn't matter here…'

The Queen sighed and turned a cold and piercing glare Jade's way then lashed out like lighting with her right hand.

Jade cried out and covered her eyes, expecting a blow to land. But nothing came. She blinked and looked up from her forearms, and saw the two supernatural beings regarding her impassively. Then she realized she was moving her arms in the first place.

Looking down, she saw she was free of the webbing, perfectly sliced piles of the stuff landing softly below where she hovered. None seemed to even be clinging to her skin where it had once held her like a vice.

"Wow…" Jade couldn't help but voice in awe at the instant flash of deadly precision. "That was, like, Samurai stuff!"

Both seemed to bristle at the thought.

"Hardly," Tarakudo scoffed.

"Do not be vulgar," the spider-woman agreed.

"Sensitive much?" Jade bristled, stretching out in joy at being able to move freely again.

"You are just in luck that I have suddenly lost my appetite," the Queen responded, thorns on her voice.

Jade winced, then fixed her gaze on Tarakudo and planted her hands on her hips. "So you wanted me to be here meeting Creepy Crawly, right? Why?"

The Queen's eyes narrowed and Jade worried she'd pushed her too far, but the royal spider regained her composure quickly and also turned to the Lord Oni.

"Yes, My Lord, I too would very much like to know why you directed an ill-mannered and half-witted little Oni kit into my final sanctuary."

"Hey-!"

Tarakudo looked between the two with some degree of apprehension, apparently starting to reassess the situation before finally taking a deep breath and biting the proverbial bullet.

"I wanted to address this more delicately, but… actually; there is no tactful way to say what I am proposing so I'll just tip my hand here. Even though I am rather lacking in that appendage."

The queen's eyes narrowed, while jade just rolled her's at her boss's terrible no-body joke.

"Tough crowd," Tarakudo frowned and then went on, first facing the Queen. "You owe me a life debt for saving your life and the lives of your dearly departed race. I want you to pay me back by fostering and raising Jade, teaching her your ways, your spells, your strengths."

The Queen narrowed her eyes and reached up, playing with a lock of her long hair between the slender digits. "You ask more of me than I owe, Oni King. I can foster and protect her or I can teach her my secrets. I hate children in general, My Lord, unless I am digesting them. Choose one or the other, I will not offer favors for no gain."

Jade tsked and looked away, glad for the Queen's refusal. She couldn't stand the snooty uptight and carnivorous bug and couldn't wait to march her way out of this god forsaken cave.

The young demon-girl frowned when her boss smirked at the Spider Queen's declaration. That was never good. She braced herself for the worst.

"It's as you say, My Queen," he smugly acknowledged, "I ask more than I've earned. However, I also provide you with the means to give your race a future. Something that will greatly be to both our benefit."

He turned towards Jade and nodded. The Spider Queen's eyes seemed to widen as she realized something and took a step back, an act particularly complicated for someone with eight legs as all of them took a single step back.

She looked down at Jade as though she'd turned into some sort of different creature entirely. Then back at Tarakudo, her mouth open as if she wanted to speak but not finding the words. A moment later she seemed to compose herself, but her perfect brow was knit.

"Do you understand what it is that you are asking of me, My Lord?" she asked, clutching her hands together tightly. "What this will MEAN?"

"I know EXACTLY what this means, Your Highness," Tarakudo stated firmly. "For both you, I-"

He turned his gaze towards Jade, "And her. It is your only hope, of that there can be no doubt."

"Well I don't know what that means!" Jade finally blurted, her frustration nearing its limits. "I'm still here, y'know! Stop talking all spooky and fill me in!"

Tarakudo grumbled, annoyed at the youngest of the three's interruption. "This is complicated, Your Majesty, I need you to keep an open mind."

"I DO have an open mind, My Lord," The Queen frowned offended, placing her arms back into her sleeves.

"No, I mean… I also call… whatever! Jade, what I'm about to tell you is going to sound rather… drastic. And to be perfectly honest, it very much is. But you wanted power and I promised you that," he started looking towards the Queen.

"Yeah…?" Jade's brow knit and she began to chew on her tongue nervously.

"Simply put… the Queen would give you her power and strength. In return you will need to carry something for her."

Jade raised her eyebrow at the Oni Lord's overly edited phrasing, "Carry something? What, like luggage?"

"Of a sort," the Oni King mumbled, trying to think of a way to phrase his intent that would best sell its merits.

Unfortunately the Queen was not so patient and made the truth clear much less tactfully than Tarakudo would have liked.

"The Oni King is trying. and failing miserably, to tell you that in return for being fostered under my care and being taught my kind's ways, you would allow me to implant the Vessel of my kind within your body and let it change you to become a being like myself."

There was a pause when the Queen finished her explanation, dead silence reigned out. Jade's thoughts seemed to grind to a halt as she struggled to sort the stream of words out of the Queen's mouth in a way that made some semblance of rationality. She struggled with this for what felt like hours as the two ancient creatures regarded her. The Queen's gaze was cold and focused, while Tarakudo seemed to almost be holding his non-existent breath.

Finally, Jade came up with the word that most perfectly personified the conclusion she had reached.

"What?"

The Queen sighed and regarded her dispassionately, "I would be implanting-"

"No," Jade cut off, ignoring how being interrupted brought a look of sharp anger to the Queen's already narrowed eyes. "You have GOT to be kidding. That CAN'T be what you brought me up here for!"

She shouted at Tarakudo, her voice reaching in volume as she talked until it bordered on a scream, "You trick me into leaving Earth, drag me NAKED through this NIGHTMARE world, almost get me eaten by a BUG with an ATTITUDE problem, and your plan all this time was to ship me off under her so I can be turned into a bug TOO?! Are you KIDDING?!"

"Well, when you put it like THAT," Tarakudo muttered in a dismissive tone only adding to her rage.

"You think I'd EVER let you put a… a 'Vessel'? What even IS that?" she frowned, looking towards the Queen.

The Queen looked at her nails dismissively, before stating calmly, "An eggsack. You would also be expected to carry my eggs to term. That is what he meant by saving my race."

"C-carry your eggs?" Jade asked aloud, her face drained of color and eyes bulging, "Like, being PREGNANT with a bunch of SPIDER babies?!"

"Obviously," the Queen sighed in annoyance, turning towards the Lord of Shadowkhan and adding, "I doubt you put very much thought into this, My Lord. Look at her; she does not have the resolve needed for this task. And clearly not the intelligence."

"Do not judge her so hastily, as others have. She has seen the doom of other beings of much greater power than yourself, that was not a bluff," Tarakudo shot back, before turning his attention to Jade.

The girl was staring blankly at them both, her mouth open wide and frozen in an expression of horror and betrayal as she regarded the two. She seemed to be in no hurry to move anytime soon. Tarakudo frowned, his impatience growing.

He didn't have time for this, here he was offering the girl awesome power that would rival, possibly eclipse his Generals, and she was whining about it. Who cared if she needed to birth some pests to gain this power? He knew others who would have BEGGED him for this chance, pleaded on their KNEES.

He began to ask, "You okay in there-"

"FUCK YOU!" she cut off, finally voicing the thought growing louder and louder in her mind. She'd never cursed like this in front of adults; she didn't tend to like swearing in general, it was something stupid people said when they couldn't think of anything smarter. But this just burst out of her and it felt OH so good.

Both beings blinked in varying degrees of surprise. The Queen from lacking an understanding of that word, and Tarakudo from not expecting Jade would have the gall to use it to his face. He was almost impressed.

"FUCK you and the Dark Chi blast you rode in on!" Jade added again for good measure, reveling in the sheer feeling of release it gave her to blurt her feelings out so succinctly.

"Jade, you're blowing this out of proportion-" Tarakudo began, before Jade exploded again.

"Here's what's gonna happen now! YOU are gonna tell me how to break this sealing spell, I go back home and we are DONE! Got it?!"

The Queen seemed annoyed at the outburst, but simply stood looking regal and disturbingly fake as usual. Jade almost preferred her giant ugly spider form. She was completely sick and tired of lies in all their various flavors. All she wanted now was the ugly truth all the time.

Tarakudo stared for a moment, and then stated, "I'm afraid I can't do that, Jade. THIS is your way back home."

"What does THAT mean?" she snapped raising her fists, the knuckles pink from the strain.

"You never ask the important questions and then you get upset because that costs you," Tarakudo stated. His tone was losing some of his snark as he shook his head in disappointment, frustration taking hold.

"You SEALED yourself, you may have done it on purpose but that does NOT mean you can just come and go as you please. Magic doesn't work that way. Your astral self was ripped from your physical self and time was literally slowed down around you," he firmly imparted on his disobedient charge.

"It was one of the spells I had you apply in the warehouse. You think ANY time has gone by in the mortal plane since you came here? It hasn't. For every year you spend here, only an hour will pass in the human world.

He gestured towards her, "Your astral body is still linked to your physical one. A strain will form between them as your astral self stops resembling your physical self. Either through aging naturally or taking the option of power I presented. It will create a straining effect that will allow you to snap back at your leisure but for you this process will take YEARS. Either way, you're going to be here for a very long time, you had best get used to the idea."

Jade lowered her head, her fists at her sides while her whole body trembled. She mentally raged at the Oni King for tricking her into this, at herself for falling for it and admittedly not thinking it through, for not asking questions when they were most important, for being stuck NAKED in this god awful wasteland, and most of all, for throwing away her life for this on PURPOSE!

Her parents, Jackie, Uncle, Tohru, Viper, El Toro, even annoying Paco, they felt so far away now and they WERE. She was alone here surrounded by twisted awful monsters. She had no friends to comfort her or turn to; she was actually alone for the first time in her life and the realization took her breath away.

After awhile she looked up at the two before her, both waiting patiently for her response. First she turned to the Spider Queen and asked through gritted teeth, "Do you have any clothes, even just panties, to spare?"

"I am not a tailor peddling my wares for peasants. I do not give favors to those who have no means of repayment," her eyes narrowed, "Or refuse the means presented to them."

"Whatever, thanks for THAT," she pouted, turning and floating back the way she came. The Queen made no move to follow her.

Jade tried to ignore it when Tarakudo vanished then reappeared directly in front of her, moving at the same speed as she floated by. "Just where do you think you're going, Young Lady?"

"If I'm stuck here, fine! But I don't need YOUR lousy help to get me anywhere!" she declared as she continued on her way.

"You REALLY don't want to be out there on your own," Tarakudo tried to explain, but knew better by now than to say 'trust me'.

"I have all the time in the world, right?" she pressed. "Well I can be a badass all on my own, you just watch me. I'll be QUEEN of this place in a few years. That fox wasn't so tough!"

"That Fox was…" Tarakudo sighed and then stopped, moving out of her way. "I've said my piece; you've been given your options and made your choice. You have my number, don't hesitate to call."

"…Just like that?" Jade asked warily, looking back and forth. "No tricks?"

"No tricks. Have fun out there, Kid." The Oni King stated, his tone was tired and dismissive. He gave her no chance to respond before fading completely out of sight.

Jade tsked and kept floating by, upset that she bothered to hear the big liar out in the first place. She didn't need him, she was Jade Chan! She had a bigger list of accomplishments in her life than most people could ever dream up. This was nothing to her, just another challenge for her to rise to.

She pressed her lips in determination, seeing the gray light of the outside beckoning her. She was Jade Chan and she would MAKE this awesome!

The cave disappeared around her and like that she was back in the open, surrounded by the limitless gray once again. She sighed and stretched, forcing all the hateful thoughts down, trying to hold onto her determination.

'This WOULD be awesome,' she declared again, satisfied that it started to feel less like a falsehood and more like familiar optimism.

Jade then blinked and looked down, suddenly remembering how she reached this cave in the first place. Her determination flickered and died like a candle in the wind as she floated back towards the ground and flopped down to her knees.

"Awww…"

XXX

'All in all a routine adventure situation unusually well in hand,' Jade thought to calmly to herself assessing the situation she currently found herself in.

This was no big deal, really. She'd been in worse situations by far and rose to the challenge. Soon this would be just another notch in her currently non-existent belt, a neat story to share in the future. It'd even seem funny by then.

Jade sighed, and shook her head. Her forced optimism finally dying as the she steadily got dizzier from rhythmically rotating around over and over.

'... Ah, when did everything turn to suck in my life?' she admitted bitterly, straining her thin wrists and ankles against the bonds tying her to the spit she was rotating around on. A massive and ridiculously ugly ogre was idly cranking the spit while his other hand tended to a thick branch he was using to stir some foul smelling brew in a massive iron pot.

The creature was built like a semi, huge and thick, nearly as tall as Shendu in his unsealed form. Its teal skin was rough and patchy like leather stretched tight over rippling and grotesquely bulging muscles. Its stomach was bloated despite its cut build and sagged gelatinously over its only article of clothing; a loincloth seemingly skinned from a tiger.

Its face was the worst part though, almost resembling an Oni if one shaved away any semblance of intelligence. Its eyes bulged in its sockets, wall-eyed and wild. Its face seemed stuck in a permanent grimace with its tusk-like teeth curving outwards, clearly impossible to close its mouth around. Long curved horns grew and curled up from its temples and framed a long mane of black and coarse pig-like hair.

They were in a small cave, thankfully one on the surface level cutting right into the foot of the mountain. It was small compared to the last one, just a single large space lit only by the fire beneath the massive pot and the embers smoldering beneath Jade. She could only smell the burning wood beneath her now and the greasy rotten stink from the pot. But when she'd first been dragged in by the ankles, the entire cave area had smelled saturated by filth and monstrous body-odor, like a zoo on a hot day.

Currently the Ogre chef was humming some sort of Japanese folk tune to itself as it happily went about the process of preparing its next meal. Judging from its stomach, the last one couldn't have been THAT long ago. Although what it was eating so much of in this wasteland, Jade couldn't imagine and wanted to part in guessing.

"Drew, when I get out of this ... I don't even know what I can do to make you pay enough. But I will think of something. I hope," jade muttered hatefully as the spit she was tied on continued to turn over the embers glowing below her.

"FOOD NOT TALK," The Ogre bellowed shaking the spit to press its point to Jade. She tried to glare at the thuggish beast but was at too awkward an angle. Not to mention, it was far too stupid and cocky to take anything meaningful from the gesture.

'Who am I to talk?' Jade frowned, giving a weak sigh. 'I'm the one in the process of being slow roasted, not Bright-Eyes over there.'

'I talked a big game, but really, I always had the rest of the J-Team backing me up. I was never REALLY alone like this and now see where it got me…'

"Well, this is impressive," a voice stated impassively in the direction she was rotating. She recognized the voice immediately well before she saw it. It made Jade want to sigh again but she was too annoyed, dizzy and upset to bother with the gesture. So she just glared red-hot daggers towards the Oni King.

The Ogre noticed the face and foreign voice and stood up with a roar, swiping at the Oni's face with its thick claws, shouting, "NO! BAD FACE! RAGO NOT LIKE! RAGO NOT LIKE!"

Its claws passed through Tarakudo's face as though it was mist and he ignored the massive Ogre outright as he continued to address Jade.

"You were absolutely right, you didn't need me when you set off on your own," Tarakudo said, watching her rotate slowly. "Four whole hours ago."

Jade turned her face away from her ex-employer sullenly, refusing to rise to the Shadowkhan Lord's bait, preferring to watch Rago try and fail to tear the sudden giant floating head from the air.

Eventually the Ogre flopped back down on its massive rear, tired and spent at the hopeless task. It glared distrustfully at Tarakudo's face for a moment more before returning its limited attention to the spit and the stew, apparently having decided that anything it couldn't touch couldn't hurt it.

Tarakudo rolled his eyes at Jade's silent treatment, unimpressed. "Oh c'mon now, this isn't the Jade I know. You always have SOMETHING to say, usually something inane and poorly thought out. But these might be your last words; don't you want to make them count?"

"Fuck. You. Tarakudork," Jade stated firmly, her eyes closed and resolute as she happily punctuated every word.

"HA HA TARAKUDORK!" the Ogre added, finding the word itself funny enough to add its two cents, momentarily forgetting that it didn't want its meal chatting it up.

"Classy note to leave on, Ms. Chan." Tarakudo sighed, "But really, I'm disappointed. I was hoping to ally with resourceful, determinate and unflappable Jade. Seems I brought Yu here by mistake."

"You don't know ANYTHING about me!" Jade snapped, that name rousing her from her apathy, "You just wanted to use me and lie to me and screw me around and I'm NOT gonna let you anymore! You can't just pull that name out and push me around like last time; I'm NOT falling for it again!"

"SHUT UP!" Rago shouted, standing and reaching out to rattle the spit again, cutting Jade off from ranting further.

"NO TALKING BEFORE RAGO EAT SHADOWKHAN PUP!" it declared proudly, letting go of the branch to thump itself on the chest. "RAGO GAIN POWER OF SHADOWKHAN! BECOME ONI!"

Jade felt sick from the constant spinning, sudden shaking and just the stress of Tarakudo's presence hovering beside her. It was all she could do to keep her bile from rising up and humiliating herself further. So much so that she missed Tarakudo respond.

"He's got a point, you know," Tarakudo added casually, before turning to the ogre. "Hey big guy, if you turn blue, think you'd be interested in a job?"

Jade clenched her eyes shut, trying to block everything out; the sound of the Oni Lord's casual mockery, the Ogre Rago's idiotic declarations, the feeling of her turning over and over and the heat beginning to become painful. Most of all, she blocked out her growing overwhelming fear and disgust with herself.

She wrestled with the growing feeling inside her, trying to choke it down with memories of herself in similar hopeless situations. So many near death experiences just like this one she'd managed to squeeze out of in the nick of time.

But Jackie and the others were always there, having her back, there to catch her. And her to catch them in turn. Nobody would catch her here, least of all, Big Red.

"Open your eyes, child. And watch closely," a dry raspy voice suddenly whispered right into her ear, cutting through her thoughts like a hot knife.

Her eyes bulged and she looked left and right trying to find the source, but there was nothing. Just the world turning up and down as she was steadily rotated around. Was it in her head? This wouldn't have been the first indication that she was steadily losing her grip on reality that day.

But suddenly she heard the sound of soft rustling footfalls on the loose grit of the cave beside the entrance. They were too numerous and rhythmic to be from one person she thought at first. But then she saw the source of them step casually past the threshold of the cave.

The steps were too numerous for a person with two legs, yes, but not one with eight.

This apparently alerted both the Ogre and the Oni Lord, as the both turned towards the new intruder in enraged shock and mild surprise respectively.

The Queen was in a form different from the giant spider and the perfect beauty Jade had seen previously. If she were to describe it, it would be as some sort of hybrid between the two. Her lower spider-like body remained unchanged, massive with eight black legs, and a thick bushy red abdomen.

But her upper body was also covered in the coarse red fur, the parts Jade could see through the kimono at least. Her body bent forward, crooked with age, her arms curled in front of her feebly. Each joint was segmented, even her individual finger knuckles. She only had three now per hand, each ending in a thick sharp claw.

Her face was no longer even vaguely human, with huge oval-like black eyes and two smaller eyes above each larger one in place of eyebrows as well as no visible nose. Long fangs curled over her segmented lower jaw, and her hair hung down low to her spider-legs, thick and ropey, the color of old webbing. With her human glamour gone, she looked every bit an ancient monster now.

The Queen regarded the three silently, her six eyes seemingly focused on Jade while apparently ignoring the others.

"Your Majesty-?" Tarakudo began, but a roar from Rago cut him off. The Ogre shouted in a rage and rushed towards the elderly spider, having grabbed a thick black iron club the size of a minivan from the left side wall.

"GO AWAY SPIDER!" the Ogre declared, bringing the heavy metal weapon down on the Queen's skull. Strangely, Jade found herself not wincing in anticipation for the gristly result.

To the Ogre's horror, the club seemed to freeze in the air above the Queen's head, the old Spider not even giving it or the Ogre a second thought as the latter struggled and whined to move the heavy weapon.

She turned her attention towards Tarakudo and spoke, her voice the same old croak she had used when she'd first pinned Jade to the wall. "Leave us, My Lord. I will have words with the girl in private."

Tarakudo opened his mouth, seeming ready to respond in the negative, then paused and closed his mouth with a smirk. "I understand, Your Majesty. I leave it to you then. Have fun, you two."

He turned his attention towards Jade and added under his breath, "Pay attention, Kid. You may just learn a thing or two."

With that, the Oni King faded from sight once again but Jade hardly noticed. Her eyes were fixed on where the iron club was stuck in mid air, the Ogre cursing up a storm and pulling at it with all his might to no avail.

Jade's eyes thought she saw something as they focused around the club, the way the light seemed to shine there was somewhat strange.

'Are those… threads?' she wondered, beginning to see dozens of tiny ephemeral lines intersecting around the length of the club, connected to the walls all around them.

"You see them," the Queen stated. "Good, watch closely."

With a light twitch of one of her claws, the threads seemed to suddenly vibrate and constrict. Hardly believing her eyes, Jade watched the thick club suddenly fell apart in thick slices clanging loudly as they impacted the cave floor. The Ogre roared in horror, dropping the useless handle and stumbling back, fear written into its hideous skull-like face.

The Queen turned her attention towards it, her arachnid eyes narrowing in annoyed disgust at the brutish beast towering over her.

Jade couldn't help but feel impressed, the Queen wasn't even half the Ogre's size and was twisted with age at that. And yet IT was retreated from HER in fear.

"My scent was upon this girl you intended to eat. My mark, and yet you still chose to steal what is mine and offer me no reparations in return. Did you think I would not know? That you would not face my retribution?"

She took several steps towards the Ogre which by now was pressed against the back cave wall. "You have dishonored the Queen Jorōgumo, an act punishable by death."

Smirking caused the Old Spider's fangs to bare even further outwards almost reaching her chin. "Normally, that would mean me simply killing you swiftly with my bare hands."

The Queen turned towards Jade, "But I have something I must make clear to the girl. As such your death must be an example of my might. It is assured, so do not hesitate to come at me with all your strength. Die with pride, Ogre."

Jade wasn't sure how much of that Rago could understand, but apparently the threat of its certain death was enough to spur it into action. It roared and threw itself forward, its boulder-sized fist rocketing towards the Queen's comparatively small form.

"I am Impressed. Foolish to attack me though it may be; you did not attempt to flee. I suppose even a beast has its own sense of honor," she muttered gesturing vaguely to the right wall.

With a yelp, Rago was lifted off his feet, and sent sailing toward the wall smashing into it hard head first. The whole thing cracked with the impact, and Jade couldn't help but gulp when a bloody horn landed in front of her face.

"Yeesh…" she muttered, looking back up at the crash site. She could see the massive Ogre covered in tiny threads like the one that had halted its club and acted as the Queen's barrier.

The Ogre groaned, and began to rise slowly, causing the Queen to frown in annoyance. "Persistence will afford you nothing but misery."

She gestured to the left wall, and the Ogre was sent sailing again with a whimpering cry, imbedding itself into that wall too, its second horn snapping off on the impact. "Your death will be a lesson to all those who have forgotten to fear the Spider Queen's wrath."

"Old lady's hardcore…," Jade muttered, too impressed to remember how much she had loathed the spider during their last encounter.

Still, Rago stood and weakly turned towards them, his face a pulpy indistinguishable ruin of broken bone, burst and pulped flesh and fragments of stone imbedded in the skull. Jade looked away in disgust, awed that the awful beast could still live in such a state.

"You think I would have approached you before making your cave my own, Beast?" the Queen asked softly, bringing the Ogre down to its knees, bound and trembling. It was still larger than the Queen even in that position, but there was no doubt in Jade's mind which between the two was the greater monster.

"I had already made my way through your cave extensively without you noticing, spreading my threads throughout every corner, planning every step of this altercation before it even began," the Queen explained to the prostrate beast impassively.

"You and the girl did not even notice me extinguish the embers beneath her," the Queen explained with some amusement.

Jade looked down, for the first time noticing the lack of heat, and saw the embers black and dead beneath her. She looked back up at the smug Queen, her eyes as big as dinner plates, suddenly remembering the voice that spoke in her ear.

'THAT was when she must have done it,' Jade realized in open shock, 'But HOW? Was she invisible? Can she do the same thing as the Snake Talisman?'

The Queen smirked at the Young Oni's open awe, but turned back to the Ogre. She reached her gnarled claws out and lightly put them around its throat, pulling it down towards her mouth. It whimpered all the while through what remained of its face.

"Taking on a spider in her web is a mission for morons and fools," the Queen explained softly, "You qualify as both and have paid the toll for your presumption."

"I humbly receive," she stated. With that she buried her fangs into the side of its throat. The Ogre thrashed weakly in her grip, twisting back and forth but held firm by the powerful threads and the surprising strength in the Queen's ancient arms.

After awhile the Ogre formerly named Rago slumped in her grip. Jade could hear a powerful sucking coming from the Queen. To the young Chan's morbid astonishment, the Ogre began to shrivel and shrink in the Queen's fatal embrace until all that remained was dried out flesh hugging an oversized skeleton.

The Queen let the body slump out of her grip to the floor and then placed her hands together. She shut her six eyes and gave a polite bow, "It was a feast."

The Queen then lifted her gaze and peered over at Jade. The young lady continued to stare at the old spider. Her mouth hanging open in awe and more than a little fear, though she would never admit it.

The Spider Queen smirked and stepped over the shriveled body of the once mighty Ogre and approached where Jade was bound to the spit. She looked the girl's bound and naked body over the cooling ashes.

"Hmm… the beast may have been a half-wit, but he ties fine knots. It is no wonder you found yourself unable to break free and not mere incompetence," she swiped her claws over the bonds before Jade could protest and the girl was sent falling into the ashes beneath her.

Jade coughed hard, standing unsteadily, hacking at the ashes she'd breathed in from the impact. She stumbled to her feet and patted the black dust away, annoyed how it seemed to cling to her body. Ashes were just gross.

She sighed and looked up at the Queen standing calmly over her, her arms crossed into her kimono sleeves. She dreaded her words, but knew she could not avoid saying them, if she wanted to be able to look the Queen in the eye.

The Young Oni floated, faced the Queen and bowed her head as she saw Tarakudo do before, "Thanks a lot for saving me. You were way more badass than I thought. I can't believe you kicked the crap outta something so big so easily!"

The Queen curled her lip in slight distaste before nodding, "I do not care for your word choices, Child. But I understand the sentiment. I am pleased that you have come to understand my power."

'Urgh… I knew I'd regret feeding Spider-Hag's ego,' Jade mentally griped, trying to force the thought from twisting her expression. She didn't quite succeed but the Queen hardly noticed. Instead she seemed to be looking down at Jade's scabbed over hands in distaste.

"Really now," she tsked, "Did Lord Tarakudo not even teach you how to divert your energy towards recovery? This is simply unacceptable."

The Queen reached back to the very tip of her abdomen and pulled forward a thin strand of web, then took one of Jade's hands and began wrapping the thread expertly around each separate digit. The material was strangely soft and warm, clinging to her skin.

"Why are you suddenly being so nice to me? Saving me, and now wrapping me up…" Jade muttered, her eyes locked on the Queen's surprisingly dexterous digits as they bandaged her own. "Four hours ago you were ready to twist my head off like a bottlecap."

There was a pause, before the Queen looked up into Jade's eyes, her hands never stopping in their activity. "I have spent a portion of our time apart thinking over Lord Tarakudo's offer, the one towards you and I."

Jade stiffened but said nothing as the awful topic was brought back up. The Queen finished with her right hand, and then moved onto her left without skipping a beat. Jade flexed the fingers on her right hand, and found they bent easily, despite the webbing, the pain already half what it had been.

The Queen continued on, ignoring Jade's wonder, "I am very old, older than you realize. Also I am painfully aware that I am the last of my kind. With my death, the Jorōgumo will be forever extinct."

She looked Jade in the eye with all six of her own before finishing the left hand and gently turning her around so she could assess and begin treating the scratches on her back from the old fox.

"I could continue to live on here, in this silent waste. Perhaps I would even have several centuries more to look forward to," she explained softly, carefully wrapping the cuts on her back in her silk.

"But the thought of a life steadily counting down to my own extinction wearies me."

She finished her task, and turned Jade back to face her, taking a multi-legged step away and placing her arms regally back into her sleeves. "As Queen, I have a duty to my race. I must make the necessary sacrifice to see to our future."

"There are no humans here with which I could fertilize my eggs. Even if I were to attempt mating with some of the male beasts that prowl this world, the results would be unpredictable, likely… distasteful. "

She turned and reached out; stroking her claws over her abdomen, Jade figuring the gesture was directed to the dormant young trapped within the old monster. "But, were I to carefully implant my Vessel within a young woman on the cusp of physical development, flooded with Dark Chi… that act alone would result in a pseudo-fertilization for several of these eggs."

Jade swallowed, her mouth feeling oddly dry at the thought of such a procedure done to herself. She scrunched her face as she imagined the words she spoke, "So… we'd, like… BOTH be the moms of whatever babies that… fertilized?"

"In a sense, yes, they would wait dormant within you as your body developed and changed into something superior in order to carry them. By my calculations, this whole process of transformation should take roughly eight years. At its completion you will be able to leave this realm for your own, which is rather convenient. It will mean your young will not begin gestation until you are within the safety of your dimension. The Emptiness is no place for Kits."

"And then what?" Jade hazarded, clenching and unclenching her webbed-up hands.

"There are two options," the Queen explained levelly, "The one I find preferable is the fertilization upon transfer rouses all these eggs enough that they become soldiers. They would hopefully recognize the body they are housed in is not a true Jorōgumo, and in response they would devour you from the inside out, burst into your world, and take up where my kind previously left off."

Jade stared blankly for a moment, her face white with shock and horror at the imagery and her mouth sagging open. Then she shook her head thoroughly to see if she'd heard the old spider correctly. But then remembered with whom she was dealing with and asked dryly, "I get that you're super old, so I'm guessing it's possible you don't realize you said that out loud?"

The Queen's eyes narrowed and her answer sounded strained, "Do not test my patience, Child. Or question my faculties. Know that I have no use for pointless political subterfuge. That is for mortals and arrogant Oni, not the way of my kind."

Jade blinked, confused and conflicted by the Queen's frank admission. That kind of blunt honesty was rather refreshing after the Oni King's scheming, but it was still over something just so gross and twisted! Not that she wouldn't WANT to know the possibility of babies inside her eating their way out Alien style, but…

She sighed and gave up on settling on any conclusion about that, simply stating, "Well… THANKS for the honesty, I… guess… Better than lying to me about it…"

"You are welcome," the Queen nodded before adding, "But recall I said there were two possibilities. The other, unfortunately more likely of the two, is that only a handful, less than ten, of the eggs would be fertilized. They would be tainted by developing within you, more yours than mine. Birthing them would likely be no threat to you."

Jade's eyes narrowed and she floated forward unmindful of the danger until she was eye-to-eye with the old Queen before demanding, "So you WANT me to die, even if I LET you do this gross thing to me?! What the hell for?!"

The Queen was unmoved by Jade's display of aggression, explaining calmly, "I fear a future where my kind are warped and bound under Shadowkhan command from here on. I have nothing against you personally, but you are an Oni. Accepting this may eventually mean accepting Lord Tarakudo's deal with you and becoming his General. This is not the path I would wish for the Jorōgumo."

She looked out of the cave towards the endless gray beyond, "If you should die, they would be free. But even if you live, it would be better than extinction. Either way, you will not know whether the pregnancy shall be terminal until it has finally run its course. There is no way to truly anticipate the outcome of something so without precedent."

"Regardless I would do all in my power to prepare you and watch over you up until that point," she stated firmly, turning back towards Jade.

Jade looked down at the gritty floor with her arms crossed in silence as she absorbed the weight of the Queen's confession. She was startled when a furred claw came under her chin and lifted her gaze until it was eye-level with the Queen's.

"If you agree to undertake this, I promise you three things; first, I will see to it that you survive until moving back into the Mortal Realm. Feeding you, sheltering you, you will want for nothing here."

When it became apparent the Queen was waiting, Jade gave a hurried nod, "Second, I will teach you every power and secret of the Jorōgumo, the might I unleashed upon that Ogre shall be as easy for you as breathing. You are young, I have no doubt that under my strict tutelage you could even one day become a potential rival to my power."

Jade imagined it briefly, sending monsters flying with a mere wave of her hand, picturing the look on Shendu or Drago's face in place of that ugly Ogre's… she couldn't help but smirk before suddenly realizing something.

"This is what Tarakudo wanted you to do anyway, right?" she asked, reluctant to dance to the red Oni's tune any longer.

"Indeed it is. To get what I want, I need you to live until your return and the strength of your offspring would be directly connected to the strength you gain under my tutelage," the Queen explained distastefully. "His goals are unfortunately tailored to both our best interests."

"Lord Tarakudo's confidence comes from knowing how to control the actions of others through their desires. He has had a very long time to polish and perfect these skills. Though I think we can both agree, he struggles somewhat when it comes to the manipulation of females."

"Ain't THAT the truth," Jade agreed with a scoff.

"But," the Queen added with a cold smirk, "My third promise is in opposition to his Lordship's design."

"Y-yeah…?" Jade wondered.

"I shall never lie to you," the Queen finished calmly. "I too have no urge to dance to the Oni King's deceptive tunes, or play by his own game. While fostered into my care, you will never receive anything less than the cold honest truth in all things."

"Okay, that's a pretty good promise," Jade admitted with a slight nod.

"You are not worthy in my eyes," the Queen muttered, beginning to circle Jade and look her over in earnest. The young Oni blushed and tried not to cover herself reflexively, reminded that the Queen had already seen everything anyways.

"Irrational, emotional, impulsive," the Queen listed off, "undisciplined, ungraceful, and lacking in basic manners and etiquette. I cannot imagine how much your parents must have neglected to teach you."

"Thanks a lot, way to jump RIGHT into the honesty," Jade snapped, sticking her tongue out at the old spider. "And my parents taught me PLENTY, thank you very much!"

"BUT," the Queen stressed in frustration, "you are a capable young lady. Not one of the Oni King's pawns despite being his Kin."

The queen smirked, bearing her fangs clearly. Jade looked at them nervously, remembering when those same fangs were plunged deep into Rago's neck. "Best of all; that means this plan may very well eventually explode spectacularly in Lord Tarakudo's face. That is at least good enough for me to bear this indignity. I suspect you would agree with the sentiment, Child."

Jade couldn't help but give a fang-filled grin of her own at the sentiment, "Tch duh, I'd like to see that!"

"BUT there is something I would demand in return," the Queen stated sharply, her tone wiping the smug grin from Jade's face.

"You want something MORE than putting a bunch of spider-babies inside me that might KILL me and turning ME into a giant spider?" Jade challenged, brow knit.

"I do," The Queen stated, unphased by Jade's indignant tone. "I will demand your obedience."

"Oh come on-" Jade began to protest, but a sharp gesture cut her off.

"You are a willful girl, clearly. Perhaps where you come from that is to your strength," the Queen explained firmly. "But while fostered under my supervision; that will change. I will be asking much of you, and I will demand your complete obedience. You may protest all you want, even whine if you must. But your actions… those will be to follow my direct orders."

"You will live under me these next eight years to follow as an obedient disciple under a teacher. Afterwards, you will be free to live as long or short a life as you choose, by your own rules and designs."

"But I basically have to be your slave until then?" Jade scoffed dismissing the idea outright.

"What I ask is not unreasonable," the Queen explained calmly, "If you accept, my life will be at its end. The removal and transfer of this Vessel will be fatal. I can hold on until the end of your training, but once that is complete, I will die."

"What?!" Jade exclaimed, looking over the old spider, "I- why would you?"

"It is a Mother's prerogative," the Queen stated calmly. "Accept, and in time, you too will understand."

Jade looked away, eyes shut as the massive choice hung before her. She cursed herself as tears began to form against her will in the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away roughly, and looked back up at the Queen, he solid red eyes, puffy and purple around the eyelids.

"It's not really a choice, is it?" she asked sharply, "If I say no, I'll be out there and snatched up as some other big monster thug's midnight snack!"

She turned to the corpse of Rago and gave it a swift kick to illustrate her point.

"You are young," the Queen explained coldly, "You have yet to learn that no important choice a person faces throughout their life is joyful. Now is the time that you learn, it is time to become an adult."

Jade turned away, hands at her side clenched tightly enough that the knuckles were a bright pink. Her bangs hid her eyes, but the Queen could see tears streaming down her chin.

She waited in silence, before finally Jade turned towards the Queen and held out her hand. Her face was blank despite the tears. "Fine, let's do it."

The Queen slowly reached out, and took the hand in her own, finding the gesture foreign. But she simply nodded, "Welcome to the family, Chan Jade."

C04 – END

Author's Notes: Same grammar issue applies as in the first three chapters.

That aside, things are only gonna get more intense from here. This is only the beginning of Jade's trials to come.

Please enjoy!