Vacation Hell
By
Weirdbard
Chapter 4
Ron skidded to a halt in front of the house on the hill just as the sun was rising bathing everything in an early morning glow. On his shoulders he could tell agent Rens was asleep by her easy breathing in his ear. He hated to wake the young woman as he could tell she was exhausted and he could only guess what trauma she had been through but that was the problem, he could only guess what she had been through and he needed some information if he was going to start looking for Gloria.
Lowering her gently to the ground Ron took the opportunity of Rens still being unconscious to check her ankle. Earlier he didn't want to waste the time but reaching the house on the hill where agent Rens had said was the last place Gloria had been Ron wanted Rens to be able to move around freely to help them look for Gloria.
The ankle was swollen and red but Ron feeling carefully could tell it wasn't broken. Placing his hand on the ankle he concentrated for a moment and a blueish glow surrounded his hand. When he removed his hand the swelling was gone and the reddish hue was quickly fading.
Ron checked it once more before taking a hand he put it on Rens' shoulder and gently shook her awake.
"Come on agent Rens, time to wake up and tell us what happened to Gloria." He said gently.
"Call me Pat." Patricia mumbled as she woke up. "Being called Agent Rens makes me think of Du and that makes me want to throw up."
"Well it seems someone got to know Du well during their brief time together." Shego stated as she and Kim examined the lands around the massive house. Everything looked serene and quiet but her and Kim were still on guard and on edge.
"Gloria!" Pat suddenly screamed as she came fully awake and sprang up from where Ron had placed her. To Ron, Shego, Kim and Rufus's confusion she continue to stare up at the morning sky as she paced rapidly around.
"Calm down and tell us what has happened." Ron ordered her in a firm voice as it looked like the young woman was starting to get frantic when whatever she was looking for didn't appear.
"We have to find Gloria!"
"We can't do that until you tell us what is going on." Shego said in annoyance. "Now listen to Ron and calm the hell down and tell us what has been happening."
Pat stopped her pacing and looked to the group. She blinked in surprise and then glanced down at her ankle. "Didn't I hurt my ankle?" She asked herself in confusion.
"Ron healed it for you." Kim told her. "Now tell us what is going on."
Pat sat down in front of the house's main door and told them everything. Well not everything, she left out the burgeoning romance between Gloria and herself but she explained the mystery signs of a fight near Gloria, Du and her campsite and the destruction of their radio and the subsequent decision of Gloria to alert Dr. Director that something was wrong with the island. She told them about the forced march of Du across the landscape rather that stick to the pathway and the attack of the monster wasp.
"A giant wasp?" Kim asked skeptically. "This island isn't suppose to have insects of any type here."
"Well they aren't from here!" Pat almost screamed in frustration at Kim, only the warning look from Shego keeping her from it. "They came from the zippers!" she finished more calmly.
"Zippers?" Ron asked. He had been silently listening to her report until this point.
"I can't explain it." Pat told him. "They just appear in the sky, unzip and these things come out of them! You have to believe me!"
"And one of those zippers appeared near this house, something came out and grabbed Gloria and took her back inside the zipper and it closed and vanished?" Ron asked.
Pat could only blink at him in shock for a moment. "You believe me and figured out what happened from what I told you?"
Ron nodded his head. "You said something stole Gloria. It only makes sense if she had been taken somewhere on the island you would have followed them and tried to rescue Gloria yourself and not taken the time to come looking for us."
"But zippers?" Pat asked. A moment later she realized it made it seem like she couldn't believe he would believe her story and thus made it seem like she was lying but she had seen it and she still couldn't believe it herself.
"Believe it or not but I've seen weirder things." Ron said as he too began to pace while staring up at the sky. "Describe the creature that grabbed Gloria." He said as he came to a stop and rubbed his chin in thought.
Pat did so, trying to recall every detail she could.
"Cenobite?" Shego asked Ron as her and Kim examined the structure of the house.
Ron slowly shook his head. "I don't think so. Cenobite are twisted remains of humans warped into those things by something evil. What Pat is describing sounds more like something natural. Not from our world to be sure but still something born that way and not created."
"Think those things were brought here by someone using a Transdimensional Vortex Inducer?" Kim asked.
Once again Ron frowned. "Maybe but by whom and for what reason? And why target Gloria?"
"The thing that attacked was going after Du. Gloria just threw herself in the way to save that piece of..." Pat faded off rather than say what she was thinking.
Shego shared a look with Kim. "Someone really got to know the real Du on this trip." She said to her but softly.
"You said when the thing flew in, it was carrying a large sword and had it raised to attack." Ron said to Pat. "But when Gloria pushed Du out of the way the creature sheathed his sword and settled for just grabbing Gloria?"
Pat nodded her head.
"So the thing either decided to capture Gloria rather than kill her or it was ordered to do so."
Shego frowned. "Ordered by whom?'
"That's the question." Ron answered her.
Rufus, whom had transferred back to Ron's shoulder after Ron had put Rens down stared at a corner of the building and nudged Ron.
"I know little buddy." Ron whispered as he looked out of the corner of his eye in that direction as well. "I'm waiting to see what they do."
From that direction came a distinct click noise and a moment later a long loud zipping noise was heard. Pat whom was still staring up at the sky was the first to notice the appearance of the zipper. "Guys we have incoming." She called out to Ron and his group.
Coming out of the zipper was another giant wasp and another gargoyle like creature carrying a stone sword again. Pat couldn't be sure the gargoyle thing was the one that had taken Gloria or not but she was sure the wasp was a new one as this one didn't have its own stinger stuck in in its chest. "Watch out for the wasp." She screamed to Ron, Kim and Shego. "Those things move fast."
The wasp seemed to target Shego as it sped in her direction, its stinger forward to impale her.
"Oh you picked on the wrong woman." Shego said with a smile as she flared her plasma fire around her hands and threw a fireball at the thing as it neared. The wasp veered and Shego's fireball missed it cleanly but then it was hit from behind by a smaller fireball thrown by Kim and exploded into flames, dying as it crashed to the ground and smoldered
"I got it!" Kim shouted in glee and actually jumped up and down in victory.
"Nice one Princess." Shego complimented her. "You have gotten better controlling my powers."
"But not as good as you are." Kim replied.
"I'm sure you'll try." Shego said but under her breath but with a smile of pride at her lover.
The gargoyle creature seeing the females firing fireballs immediately targeted them and began flying in their direction bellowing all the time as it raised its sword. Ron stepped in between it and Kim and Shego though. "I'm your opponent." He told it.
The creature seemed to be quite willing to take Ron up on his challenge and with another bellow he turned his attention to Ron.
"Lotus Blade." Ron said as the thing neared him. Instantly a blue glowing blade appeared in his hand, much to Pat's shock.
As the stone blade of the gargoyle clashed with the mystical Lotus Blade it shattered instantly leaving the gargoyle like thing blinking in surprise and staring at his smoking ruined blade in surprise. Landing on the ground the thing folded his wings back and paced angrily back and forth a few feet in front of Ron. Throwing away the hilt of its sword, it bared its teeth at Ron and growled a challenge to him.
Ron although he couldn't understand the creature's language still got the message. "Suits me." he told the thing and opening his hand he let the Lotus Blade start to fall towards the ground. "Return to Yamanouchi until I need your help again my friend." He told the blade and the glowing sword disappeared before it could hit the earth.
"Is that a good idea?" Pat called out to him as she eyed the monster, if not the one that had taken Gloria it was still the same species.
"One: It wouldn't be fair to fight an unarmed creature with the Lotus Blade and two: we need this thing alive so we can get to the world it came from to try and rescue Gloria. I have the feeling that if we beat it badly enough it will try to escape back to its home but if we kill it, the opening will close.
Pat eyed the still open zipper in the sky and cursed the fact that it had to be so high. If it was closer to the ground she would have rushed in to try and find Gloria on her own but she had no way to reach the sky opening.
Shego as if sensing her thoughts said. "Don't even think about it." She told her. "You came to get us for a reason. Don't try to play hero now and risk your life to rescue Gloria.
"You just don't understand." Pat told her wringing her hands as she continue watching the zipper in the sky.
"You are in love with Gloria." Shego told her in a matter of fact voice.
"How did you figure it out?" Pat asked her in shock. "I was careful not to mention... I mean what do you mean? Why would you think I was in love with her?" Pat tried to cover.
Shego snorted. "For one thing you are as transparent as a piece of glass. You are nearly panic stricken to get Gloria back and even if you two became good friends in the brief time you have been together, you are still too frantic." Shego gave a soft sigh. "You are acting like I would be if Kim or Ron were the ones missing."
Pat didn't bother to try and hide it any more. Why should she? She was a horrible liar in any case. "We didn't get a chance to act on our feelings." She told Shego. "But Gloria told me she wanted me as badly as I wanted her."
"I take it Du doesn't know?"
"I don't think Senior Agent Du could figure out the scent of crap if he was buried in a huge mound of it." Pat snorted as she kept one eye on the zipper and another on the fight between Ron and the gargoyle creature.
Shego blinked and then broke out in a laugh. "You have an interesting way with words and we seem to share the same opinion of agent Du. I think I like you."
Pat glanced at Shego. "Thank you." Hearing a fierce roar from the gargoyle creature they both joined Kim and turned to watch fully the battle between Ron and the creature.
The creature took a massive swing at Ron, who merely leaned back a little and allowed the wild swing to miss him by inches. Ron then holding up a hand blasted the creature with a powerball of blue energy which caused the creature to stumble backwards a few feet. Ron immediately followed up the mystical monkey energy ball with a glowing green plasma fireball of Shego's power with his other hand. The fireball slammed into the creature's chest but unlike the wasp it didn't seem to affect it much.
The creature shaking its head a bit then charged at Ron and catching him around the middle carried/pushed him towards the house walls and slammed Ron hard against the surface. Stepping back the creature allowed Ron to slump to the ground.
"Ron!" Kim screamed and would have rushed to his aid but was held back by a hand on her arm by Shego. "He's okay Princess." Shego told her and nodded her head to where Ron was getting back to his feet, his eyes glowing an electric blue.
"Quick on your feet for such a big guy." Ron complimented the gargoyle before firing off another blue energy ball that caught the creature in the middle of its stomach causing it to fly back a few feet. Ron with his back to the corner of the building began to walk/stumble a bit.
Pat worried that the hit the creature had landed had affected him more than he let on began to head in his direction but she also was stopped by Shego placing her free hand on her arm as well. "Just watch." Shego told her. "Ron isn't hurt. He's using drunken monkey style kung fu."
The creature rushed Ron with its arms open wide to crush him but Ron stumbled/weaved and the creature grabbed nothing but air. Taking a wild swing the creature might have taken Ron's head off but Ron bobbed as if he was drunk and that blow missed as well. The creature now was fully enraged and lunged at Ron but once again Ron just seemed to fade away as the thing neared him. Back and forth Ron and the creature weaved, ever nearer to the corner of the building.
"This is getting us nowhere Ron." Shego finally called out to him.
"I agree." Ron said. "Its time we end this charade." Leaping to his side Ron reached a hand around the corner of the building and when he pulled back he had some scruffy looking Japanese man by the collar of a lab coat and pulled him from behind the corner and held him in front of him between him and the rushing gargoyle.
The Japanese man gave a yelp of fear and held up what looked like a padlock in his hand.
The gargoyle skidded to a stop and growled lowly as if enraged. The gargoyle paced back and forth in front of Ron and his captive and gave several false lunges at them but every time pulling back as the Japanese man held the lock in front of him as if it were a crucifix and the gargoyle was a vampire.
The Japanese man rattled something off in Japanese and the creature reluctantly pulled back and turning flapped its wings and flew off towards the zipper in the sky.
As the gargoyle flew into the open zipper hole, the Japanese man pressed the sides of the lock he was holding and with a click the clasp popped up. The zipper in the sky then zipped close and faded away.
"What did he say?" Pat asked out loud.
"He told the creature to return to the forest." Kim told her.
"You speak Japanese?"
Kim nodded her head. "I learned when Ron was sent to a school in Japan. I don't speak it as well as Ron does but I understood that guy's instructions."
Pat frowned. "That means he can command that thing... And that means he ordered those things to attack Du, Gloria and me!" Instantly she pulled away from Shego and ran towards the man being held by Ron.
"Where is Gloria you bastard!" Pat screamed with her hands raised to tear into him.
The scared man held up the lock in his hand as if he could command Pat with it as well but Pat slapped the lock out of his hand and grabbed him around the throat.
"He can't answer you if you strangle him." Ron told her and physically separated them. "Now talk." Ron told the man.
The Japanese man shook his head as if he didn't understand him.
"Shall I continue to let Pat here ask you?" Ron asked as he made as if to release Pat.
"That will not be necessary." The Japanese man said in perfect if not heavily accented English.
"How did you know he spoke English?" Pat asked as she continued to glare at the man.
Ron gave a shrug. "He is obviously highly educated and English is taught to all Japanese students. Fortunately as they can speak better English that I was able to speak Japanese when I first went over there."
Pat turned her attention back to the man in the lab coat. "Where is Gloria?"
The man shrugged. "Somewhere in the forest would be my guess. If she isn't already dead that is."
Before Ron could stop her, Pat hauled off and kicked the man he was holding in the groin. The man would have slumped to the ground if not for Ron's hand on his shoulder holding him up. "You better hope she is alive and that we find her cause if not I will personally dissect you and string your guts up all over this island." Pat told him with a serious look on her face.
"I really think I like this girl." Shego said with a smile. Walking up to stand next to her she rested one arm across her shoulders and the other hand she lit up with her plasma fire and brought it close the Japanese man's face. "You heard the lady. Talk or I will start by burning a few layers of your skin off, slowly."
"Tell us who you are and what is going on." Ron added.
"They left me! I helped to develop the belt system and Warring left me behind on this island to rot." The man moaned as he held his family jewels in pain.
"You are not making sense!" Kim said as she walked up to confront him as well. "Who left you? What belt system and who is Warring and more importantly what are those monsters and where did they come from?"
The man just glared at Kim until Shego brought her still lit hand even closer to his face.
"The monsters are from the forest. What and where the forest is I have no idea. The Yggdrasil corporation found the other dimension when they investigated a strange tree in some dinky little town in Japan. The tree is the border between our dimension and an alternate one. Uggdrasil found a way to open the doorway and in the other dimension they found the forest. There are trees in the forest that produce fruit. Those that eat of the fruit become monsters like the ones that live there. But Warring, the chief investigator studied the fruit and came up with a way to turn them into locks. The locks allow you to open a gateway to their world and command them." The man nodded his head to where the lock he had been holding was lying on the ground. Pat pulled away from Shego and Kim and walked over and picked it up while being cautious with the strange thing. It looked like a normal padlock except the body of the thing looked like a miniature watermelon.
"The belt system you mentioned." Ron prompted.
The man swore in Japanese for a moment before resuming using English. "Warring doing further research, with my help I might add, created a belt that allows humans to use the locks to summon armor and weapons. The company leased this island to do tests with the belts because we didn't know the full potential of them and didn't want to risk alerting the Japanese government with our tests until we knew more about them."
Shego eyed the man. "And why did they leave you behind after they finished their tests?"
The man glared at Shego but looked away when she moved her glowing hand closer to his face again. "I stole one of the prototype belts and one of the lock seeds." Again the man nodded his head to the lock in Pat's hand. "I wanted to be one of the new elite forces that were to use them but Warring dismissed me as being too weak for such a thing. Warring came after me wearing his own prototype belt and lock seed and before I could combine my seed with my belt attacked me. I summoned one of the monsters from the forest to attack him but before I could use my belt it was knocked from my hand into the portal and then Warring killed my monster." The man tried to look back at Ron who was holding him. "As this Gajin figured out, if the monster you summon is destroyed, the portal automatically closes so my belt was lost somewhere in the other world forest. With no belt I couldn't face Warring with his own armor so I ran off." The man once again swore in Japanese. "And they didn't even bother to look for me when the lease ran out! They just packed up and left me behind!"
"So why did you sic those things on us?" Pat growled at him.
"I was hoping that one of you would be pulled into the other world forest and find the belt and bring it back to this world where I could reclaim it."
Shego frowned. "Why didn't you just use that lock thing and open a portal to that other world and just go and look for your own damn belt?"
The man grumbled something under his breath and had to be shaken by Ron before he looked up to glare at Shego and reply loudly enough to be heard by them. "The lock can summon a creature and control it but only one at a time. Other creatures can come through the open portals of course but you can't control them."
Kim looked puzzled. "So?"
Shego put out her plasma fire and with a look of disgust at the man answered Kim for him. "He's a coward. He didn't want to risk being killed so when we landed on the island he decided to use one of us as a stooge for him."
The man glared at Shego but didn't contradict her. "When I found out that newcomers to the island were landing I tried to summon a creature to capture one of you and take you back to their homeworld but the first few tries more than one creature came through the portals and I lost control. The things live to fight and with more than one in this realm they immediately turned to fighting and I couldn't control them even with my lock seed."
"What about the wasp thing?" Pat asked. "There was only one of those and it didn't try to capture Du, Gloria or me. It just went straight to trying to kill me!"
The man mumbled something and sighing Shego once again flared her hand into green fire and placed it right under his chin. "I dropped my lock." The man said distinctly in Shego's direction with hatred in his voice.
"Huh?" Kim asked.
"The lock seeds have to be constantly held by the one who summons the monsters to remain in control of them." The man growled at Kim. "While trying to get into a better position to view the capture but still remain unseen I slipped and lost my lock seed for a moment. That was all it took for me to lose control of the monster."
"What about the missing shark near our tent?" Kim asked.
"What?" The man asked her in confusion.
"There was a dead shark near our tent but sometime in the night it was taken. Was it one of your monsters?"
The man shrugged. "It could be. I summoned several of them while I was alone on this island trying to sneak past them into the other dimension's forest to look for my belt before you arrived. I never could get into the forest though as soon as I neared the portal carrying the lock seed I would lose control of the creature I had summoned and once I decided it was a wasted effort I just closed the portal and left them to wander on their own."
"So there might be 'free range' monsters on this island?" Pat asked looking fearfully around her.
The man gave a short sharp laugh. "Don't worry. The creatures have probably have all starved by now. They live to eat and fight but they can't survive on anything in this world. Oh they will try to eat any and everything but only the fruit of their own world can sustain them."
Ron behind him let a look of disgust cross his face. "So you summoned poor innocent creatures to this world, abandoned them after you couldn't work up enough courage on your own to cross over to their world to look for your lost belt and then left them to starve to death in a world they can't understand or survive in?"
The man shrugged. "They are dumb beasts. Who cares if they die?"
Pat had heard enough. Gloria was trapped in a world of savage creatures alone and this slimeball was worse a monster than the creatures he callously summoned and abandoned. She looked down at the strange lock in her hand and before thinking twice about her plan she held it up and pushed down on the clasp.
A click was heard and Pat looked up at the sky to look for a zipper to appear. To her surprise though a zipper appeared a few feet from her and unzipped.
"You can't control what monster comes to the summoning." The man in Ron's grasp said.
A cross between a five foot tall armored armadillo and a praying mantis insect hopped out of the open portal and shuffled back and forth as it looked to Pat and the lock she was holding. It was obvious that the creature was eager to attack something but Pat was thinking strongly for the creature to remain still and calm so it was obeying her, for the moment.
"You can't hold it for long without ordering it to attack something." The Japanese man warned her. "They live for violence. They are mindless brutes."
Pat turned to glare back at him. "Perhaps I should order it to attack you then?"
The creature instantly lunged in his and Ron's direction and Pat tightened her hold on the lock in her hand and frantically thought for it to stop. The creature paused mere feet from Ron and his captive, with its long forearms extended and began to shuffle from foot to foot again as it continued to stare at the man in Ron's grasp.
"You must get the lock from her!" The Japanese man said in fear. "Women don't have the will or intelligence to use the locks. It takes a man's will to command and conquer."
Ron with his own look of disgust suddenly thew the man into Shego's direction. Shego put out her plasma fire and caught him an as he was tossed to her. "I'm going to leave you in the care of a 'weak-willed women' and dude you better hope they can control themselves cause they will rip you apart if you make any more asinine statements like that again." Ron looked to Pat. "Order the creature to stand aside, I'm going into the portal to look for Gloria. If you do feel like you are losing control of the thing..." Ron glared at the man in Shego's grasp. "Order the creature to hunt down that worm and let Shego let him go to run."
"You can't do that." The Japanese man yelled in fear.
"Why can't I? From what you have told us it is no more than what you deserve anyway."
Pat eyed Ron. "You mean we are going into the portal." She corrected him.
"No. You have the lock. If your monster dies or leaves on its own back to its home world it is my understanding the portal will close. You need to keep it here to keep the portal open or failing that you need to be here to reopen the portal again."
"I want to be the one to rescue Gloria." Pat almost stomped her foot in frustration.
Ron held up his hand and the blazing blue sword appeared again. "I have the best chance of finding her and bringing her back using the Lotus Blade." And so saying Ron marched towards the zippered hole.
The strange monster shifted as if to stop Ron but Pat tightening her hold on the lock in her hand caused it to move away and let Ron head towards the opening.
"Whoa!" Shego yelled. "You think Kim and I are just going to let you walk off into some strange world you have no idea about without us?! What if you don't come back?"
Ron paused and looked back at Shego and Kim. "I will return to you and Kim. I promise. And I will bring Gloria back alive as well."
"It would be better if there were two of us to look for Gloria. Let me come with you, or Kim. Either way there will be someone to watch your back. There doesn't need to be both of us here to watch this egghead."
Ron shook his head. "According to that guy open portals attract these things. You can keep control with this one with the lock but if any 'wild' ones come through you may have to destroy them. I am depending on you and Kim to protect Pat and to keep this portal open."
Shego frowned but didn't say anything more as Ron turned back to the opening and taking a deep breath marched into it and was gone.
Shego shook the guy she was holding. "If he doesn't come back or manage to find Gloria in one piece you will wish one of those things got their hands on you and not me and Kim." She warned the man.
The armored insect made another lunge in his direction and once again Pat had to calm herself to keep from the creature picking up her desire to beat the man to death to keep it from acting on it as if it were an order.
Ron looked around as he cleared the zippered hole. He had thought the man's words about the 'forest' was a bit vague but crossing over himself he had to admit that the word forest really was the only way to described the world he was in now. Everywhere he looked there were trees and plants. All of them almost glowing with an other-worldliness that was unnerving. It wasn't the trees were some exotic species that screamed alien. They looked like pretty normal trees, it was just that they were so vivid in color and texture. The color and brightness was totally out of line with the visible light. It didn't quite make sense and that more than anything was what screamed other worldliness to a human mind.
A tree next to the opening was bearing fruit and a pleasantly sweet smell reached Ron's nose.
"Fruit smells good." Rufus on his shoulder stated, his mouth watering.
Ron nodded his head. "They smell good but according to the lab guy if you eat them, you turn into one of those monsters."
Rufus immediately shook his head. "Nasty fruit."
Ron nodded his head.
"Gloria might have eat?" Rufus asked.
"Let's hope not little buddy. If she had it will make it really hard to find her among the other creatures in this forest. But if she has we'll still find her and find someway to change her back to her normal self."
Ron randomly picked a direction and started walking. He had only traveled a few yards when something that looked like a cross between a dragon and a rhino charged at him from behind a tree trunk. Raising the Lotus Blade Ron commanded it to turn into a shield and withstood the creature's first charge. As the monster rained down blows on the Lotus Blade shield Ron felt himself driven a few feet back by the sheer strength of the creature.
As the creature reared back on it's hind legs so as to deliver a crushing blow down on Ron, Ron reluctantly ordered the Lotus Blade to change back into a sword and slashed at the creature's unprotected chest.
The mystical weapon cut through the monster with ease and with a final roar the monster fell back and burst into multicolored flames and was destroyed.
Ron gave a soft sigh. He hated to kill at any time and he especially felt bad about killing the creatures in the forest as he was the invader here but it was a matter of survival.
Hearing massive snarling and roars coming from a slight hill, Ron circled the hill and coming around some densely packed trees he found a clearing where a dozen or so creatures of varying styles seemed to be ganging up on a type of monster Ron hadn't seen before. So far Ron had seen creatures that looked like they were combinations of insects and animals. And he had even seen some that looked like mythical creatures, like the dragon and rhino thing Ron had faced. And there were creatures like the gargoyle that looked like it's hide was made of stone but the lone monster standing off against its brethren looked like it was a walking metal statue. Well a statue if carved by someone with a fruit fetish anyway. The metal looking monster was holding two odd looking swords and was holding its own against the horde ringing around it.
As Ron watched one of the monsters in the ring surrounding the metal monster charged in and the metal thing fought it off with a sword and as another monster lunged at the metal creature's back, the metal monster held up its other sword and Ron watched in shock as the blade folded back to reveal a odd looking gun, which the metal creature used to shoot the sneak attack creature behind it.
Ron knew he was supposed to be looking for Gloria but he couldn't take his eyes off the fight in front of him. The metal creature was out numbered and was obviously it was a fight to the death but it was also obvious that the metal creature was not going down without a fight.
As Ron watched the fight the armored figured turned enough that Ron could get a clear look at its front and he noticed a belt around its middle with a quickly becoming familiar looking lock like fruit in it.
"Rufus." Ron whispered to his little buddy. "That is one of those guys the lab guy was telling us about. See the belt? You think its that Warring guy he mentioned?"
Rufus studied the armored knight fighting the monsters. "Nu huh." Rufus said shaking his head. "Chest."
"Huh?" Ron said and took his eyes off the belt around the middle of the knight and took a better look at the the spinning fighting figure. He finally noticed what Rufus had seen. Even though the figure was completely engulfed in the armor, there was no missing the large armored breasts the figure had.
"There is only one woman I know with a chest like that." Ron muttered. Making a decision, Ron rushed into the battle with a yell drawing a portion of the horde away from the beleaguered knight. Against the weapons of the knight the creatures of the forest had a fighting chance but against the mystical monkey weapon Lotus Blade they had no defense and Ron quickly started clearing the mob from the person he suspected was Gloria.
Ron blinked in confusion as several of the armadillo/insect creatures left the battle in mid fight and rushed over to the trees and began stuffing their mouths with the fruit. It seemed to Ron to be an odd time to take a fruit break but he understood a moment later when the creatures seemed to swell a bit before new armor burst out of their hides and they 'beefed' up and became stronger looking. Charging back into the fight Ron now found that the 'charged' up creatures were able to resist the blow of the Lotus Blade better than they were before. Where one slash was enough to destroy the creatures totally with the Lotus Blade earlier, it now took two or three solid hits before they were beaten.
Some of the pumped up creatures that hadn't fought Ron yet noticed that their brethren were still being destroyed and rushed back yet again to the tree for another gorging fest.
"Oh we have to stop that." Ron told Rufus. "Before these things get so strong we can't handle them at all." Rufus nodded his head. Ron started to go in the direction of the creatures preparing to gorge themselves but stopped as gunfire erupted from behind him and he saw the fruit in the creatures' hands explode from the impact of bullets.
The monsters turned their attention back to the fight as the fruit they were planning on eating had been destroyed.
Ten minutes later Ron watched exhausted as the last monster charged the fruit knight and was finally dispatched by the swords it carried.
Ron watched cautiously as the knight turned and started striding towards him. He was nearly positive that the person inside was Gloria but he could be wrong and he was going to be prepared for anything and didn't lower his Lotus Blade.
"Ronnie? Its me." An amplified voice came from the helmet of the figure. The voice definitely sounded female and it could have been Gloria's voice but the amplification made it hard to tell.
Ron still being cautious asked. "How can I be sure?"
The knight brought her two guns together and Ron prepared to battle her when the guns blurred and became one. The knight then lowered the single gun to her right hip where it attached itself. She then reached down to her belt and placed a hand on the lock on it.
"LOCK OFF." A deep voice proclaimed and Ron watched in amazement as the armor on the figure turned into flower petals and floated away to disappear. Revealed was Gloria wearing the tattered remains of a blouse and torn and dirty looking sweat pants.
Ron opened his hand and allowed the Lotus Blade to drop. It faded away before hitting the ground and only in retrospect did Ron realize that he should have wondered whether the blade could find its way back to Yamanouchi from another dimension before dismissing the blade but fortunately it appeared the Lotus blade could find it's way home, even from another dimension.
Gloria was instantly in his arms hugging the daylights out of him. "Oh my god! I was so sure I would never see any of my friends again!" Gloria nearly cried. "I was beginning to think I was going to be stuck fighting for my life in this damn forest from now on."
Ron brought his arms up and briefly hugged her back. He was acutely aware that her blouse was nearly nothing but shreds as Gloria all but smothered him in the valley of her breasts but forced himself to not think about how soft and warm the buxom young woman in his arms was and comforted her.
"Where is Pat? Did she find you?" Is she okay?" Gloria suddenly asked as she pulled away to look fearfully at Ron.
"She's fine. Yes she found us and told us what happened and she is waiting for you back in our world." Ron told her.
Gloria allowed a sour look to pass her face. "And Du?"
Ron shrugged. "He abandoned Pat to her own so he could reach Dr. Director faster. We haven't seen him and I can only guess that he is still headed towards Dr. Director to warn her."
Gloria clenched a fist. "After I was captured by a monster, Du left Pat alone? In the middle of the night on a strange island she has never been on before?" Gloria nearly growled. "Oh when I see him again I don't care if he is a senior agent or not, I'm going to punch him in the nose." Gloria started to stomp away from Ron but then paused. "Um, how do we get out of here?" She asked in a calmer voice turning to look back at him.
Ron chuckled. "Pat is holding a portal open for us. Its in..." Ron turned to point in a direction but suddenly realized that the forest looked the same in any direction he looked. Ron turned in a full circle and realized that during the battle he had been turned around more than once and no longer knew which direction he had came from. Even the slight hill he had rounded to reach Gloria's battle seemed to be gone now. Everywhere there was only the silent trees.
"We are still lost?" Gloria asked in a despondent voice. "How will we find our way to that portal?"
Ron thinking, could hear off in the distance more of the roars of the monsters as they searched for a fight.
"Be very quiet. I think I have an idea how to find our way back to the portal." He told Gloria and then headed off in the direction where the most growling and hissing was coming from.
"Ronnie? I don't want to fight any more. It seems like I've been fighting for days." Gloria whispered to him as they made their way to where a large throng of monsters were milling about in a open glade.
Ron paused behind a large tree trunk out of view of the monsters. "We're not going to fight. I've been told the monsters are attracted to open portals so we are going to tail these monsters and follow them to the portal. We may have to fight our way past them to get out of here but we'll let them lead us to the exit."
"If those things are attracted to an open portal doesn't that mean Pat is in danger?" Gloria asked fearfully.
Ron shook his head. "Kim and Shego are with her." Ron reassured her. "They can handle these things at least long enough for us to get back to them."
Ron and Gloria silently shadowed the creatures but several times the monsters stopped moving and began to mill around before one of them would jerk it's head up and rush off. As soon as that happened the rest would quickly start in that direction as well.
Several yards behind them Gloria put a hand on Ron's arm and carefully whispered to him. "Why do you think they keep doing that?"
Ron placed his mouth close to her ear, and with a great deal of restraint kept from glancing at the valley of her breasts when he did so and whispered back. "I imagine that the creature Pat summoned to keep the portal open must have died and she had to summon another of the things to reopen the portal again."
"That's how those zipper things work?" Gloria asked in shock.
Ron nodded his head and realized Gloria had not been there for the explanation of the lab guy and had no idea. He nodded at the open lock she was carrying in her hand. "We ran into a guy from some corporation that had rented the island before us. He explained everything. The lock that you used in your belt? If you click it close outside of the belt in our world it summons one of these things from this world and a portal unzips to let them out. As long as you hold the closed lock you can command the creatures and they will obey you. At least for a while. They live to fight and if you just have them just stand and be calm, they'll start to freak out and eventually you'll lose control and they'll rush off to find something to fight. The portal stays open as long as the creature is alive or until the lock holder sends them back."
"So each time those things stop, it means the portal has closed and that means the thing that Patty summoned broke free of her control and Kim or Shego had to kill it. And when the mob of monsters rush off again it means the portal has reopened and that means Patty had to summon a new one?"
Ron nodded his head and he and Gloria had to rush after the mob as they surged back into motion once again.
"I don't like this then." Gloria breathed as she ran after Ron. "This means those things are breaking Patty's control more and more often and Kim or Shego are having to kill them."
Ron reluctantly had to offer the other possibility. "Or the open portals are bringing the monsters running and the one Pat is controlling is being killed by them as they rush through. When I left Pat was holding the creature in place right in front of the portal and you have seen how these things like to fight. Just imagine if they came across one of their kind standing peacefully in front of the open portal. They would slaughter it instantly."
"Then our friends are having to face a never ending wave of these monsters flooding through the portal Ronnie!" Gloria cried in alarm.
Ron grimly nodded again. He wanted to access his mystical monkey power and run ahead of the group they were following, if only to reach the portal before they did and save Kim and Shego from having to face more of these nightmares but Gloria wouldn't be able to keep up with him if he did.
Once again the mob of monsters stopped and began milling about. A few of them started fighting and the rest began to circle the fighters, hoping to jump in and get a few shots of their own. The fight quickly broke up however as one of them suddenly jerked as if he had been shocked and turning ran off in the direction the mob had been going in before stopping.
"Another one summoned." Gloria stated.
Ron sighed. "Gloria we need to get ahead of these creatures and to do so I'm going to have to do something. I hope you don't mind and understand."
Gloria blinked. Ron seemed so serious. "Anything that gets us back to Pat and your friends faster Ron."
Ron shared a look with Rufus on his shoulder and suddenly stepped closer to Gloria and scooped her up in his arms. Gloria almost squealed in shock but remembering the monsters only a few yards away managed to remain quiet but looked to Ron who had her in his arms with a question in her eyes. He was cradling her in his arms as if she was a mere child and Gloria was actually taller than Ron! Gloria blinked as she realized that Ron's eyes were glowing an electric blue.
"Is this the mystical monkey power I've heard whispered about at Global Justice?"
Ron nodded his head before blurring into motion as he began to run faster than any human should possibly be able to go. He dodged around some trees and flanking the mob quickly passed them. He quickly reached the summoned monster and passed it as well. He figured that the things ran in a straight line to where they sensed a open portal so he kept going straight and sure enough he spotted a zippered hole open and waiting. Putting on a extra burst of speed Ron desperately tried to ignore the jiggling Gloria in his arms as he sped through the portal back into his world.
The first thing Ron noticed was the torn up manicured lawn of the manor house on the island and the many many burn marks on the grass. An exhausted looking Kim and Shego had their hands raised and glowing with plasma fire and Ron was almost afraid they were going to hurl some of them at him before they could realize he was not one of the monsters from the portal.
Of the Japanese lab dude, Ron could see no signs.
Shego allowed the flames around her hands to go out as she spied Ron carrying Gloria.
"Ron why are you carrying Gloria in your arms? And what has happened to her blouse?" Kim's frosty voice asked. Shego resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Kim's jealous streak at times was even stronger than hers.
Ron ignored Kim for a moment. Instead he yelled to Pat. "Close the portal. There is a small army of those things headed this way."
Pat whom had been overjoyed to see Gloria again, and not even caring if it was in the arms of a man, blinked in shock and looked at the lock in her hand. With a thought she sent the creature she was commanding back through the portal and pressed the catch on the lock causing the lock to spring open. A zipping noise was heard and everyone glanced over at the zipper to watch it slowly closing. They could see a lone creature racing to reach the portal before it closed but the creature Pat had sent back turned to fight it and as they watched the zipper finish closing the group watched the two creatures begin to battle with one another.
Ron sat Gloria back onto her feet and only managed to step back before Pat was throwing herself into Gloria's arms. The two women clung to each other. Pat's head almost disappearing completely into the valley of Gloria's breasts.
"What happened to Gloria's blouse?" Kim asked Ron again with her arms folded tightly over her own smaller chest.
"Oh come on Kim. Give me a break." Ron nearly whined. "She was in that state when I found her! Well actually she was wearing armor when I first saw her but after she removed the armor that was the way I saw her. Not that I was looking! Aww you know what I mean."
"Armor?" Shego asked coming up beside Kim.
"Yeah." Ron said and nodded at the belt around Gloria's waist. "She found that lab dude's belt."
Shego tried to examine the belt but was halted when Pat suddenly jumped up and wrapped her legs around Gloria's waist covering up the belt. Shego watched for a moment before clearing her throat. When Gloria continued to stroke Pat's hair and Pat seemed content to remain with her face buried in Gloria's cleavage, Shego tried again. "Not that this isn't fun to watch..." Shego stated. "You might want to remember you have an audience here."
Pat pulled her head out of Gloria's buxom and looked over at Shego and then to Gloria. She looked back to Shego and clearly said. "I don't mind an audience." And then pulled an astonished Gloria's face to hers and began kissing her desperately. With one arm she maintained a grasp around Gloria's waist and with the other she brought her hand up and began fondling Gloria's breast.
With an effort Gloria pulled free of Pat's kissing. "Pat!" she yelled.
"You said I would get a chance to grope you later. Its later."
"I didn't mean you could do it in front of others!"
Pat looked over to the stunned Kim, Ron and the amused Shego. "You don't mind do you?"
Shego with a smirk shook her head no while Ron and Kim just blushed.
"Good." Pat said and before Gloria could say anything went back to trying to kiss her senseless.
"So..." Ron said to Shego trying to ignore the two women practically making out in front of him. "What happened to the lab dude?"
Shego continued to watch Gloria and Pat for a moment before turning her attention to Ron. "A couple of those monsters came through the portal and I had to let him go to fight them. He took the opportunity to take off like a rabbit on the run. Pat would have sent her creature after him but as soon as the other things came through it went wild and she lost control of it and it started fighting the newcomers." Shego nodded at some of the burn marks on the lawn. "We ended up having to destroy them all and pat summoned a new monster to reopen the portal when it closed."
Ron nodded his head. "Yeah Gloria and me saw the creatures on the other side react when the portal closed and reopened. Its the way we found our way back."
"Wait." Kim said folding her arms under her chest and glaring at Ron again. "You were lost over there? Shego was right? You could have ended up lost over there forever?"
A uncomfortable looking Ron avoided looking Kim in the eyes. "I would have found some way back to the portal with Gloria. It just happened that we were able to follow the mob of creatures back."
Rufus seeing the glare in Kim's eye decided it might be safer to jump ship off his owner and seek a safer place. He eyed Gloria and Pat but the way those two were mashing up against each other he could easily get smothered in that and even if Ash might have found that a pleasant way to go, Rufus wasn't eager to try it. This only left Shego as a safe harbor and looking over he saw that Shego had already figured out what he as thinking and was holding out a hand to him. With a quick, "you are on your own." Rufus made the leap over to Shego's hand and scampered up to her shoulder.
Ron with a look at Rufus as if to say, 'thanks a lot buddy', began to back up from Kim as she marched in his direction.
Ron steeled himself to face Kim' wrath and was a bit surprised when she tearfully threw herself into his arms and began to kiss him desperately.
Shego blinked and looked at Rufus who also seemed confused.
"We could have lost you, you big dufus." Kim finally said as she pulled away from her kissing of Ron to glare at him again.
"It had to be done Kim. We couldn't leave Gloria in that horrible place." Ron said to her softly.
Kim sighed. "I know. I just wished we could have faced it together. I hate it when you go off on your own and we're left behind." She told him before drawing him back into a long kiss.
Shego was pleased that Kim had said we're and not just I. She looked over to where Gloria and Pat were still trying to swallow each others' face and then over to Kim and Ron who looked like they were in a competition to outdo the other two. She then shook her head at the couples' antics and looked at Rufus sitting on her shoulder. "We seem to be the only two not making out." She told the naked mole rat. "You want to?"
Rufus seemed to consider for a moment before with a shrug he replied. "Okay."
Shego chuckled. "No offense little guy but you are just not my type."
Rufus mocked pouted a moment before shrugging. "Rather eat anyway." He squeaked.
A loud growling noise was heard from Pat and Gloria's direction and Pat pulled away from Gloria and blinked sheepishly. "Sorry." She told Gloria. "It has been a while since we've had anything to eat."
Gloria giggled. "I know what you mean. I'm so hungry I would be willing to eat my own cooking and you would have to have tried my cooking to know how really hungry that is and I could drink a river dry. The fruit over there kept changing into locks every time I picked one and I never did find any water."
"You made great S'mores."
Gloria laughed again. "Anyone can make those. That is hardly great cooking."
Ron pulled away from Kim but kept an arm around her shoulder. He held out his other arm to Shego and Shego willingly moved to his side and let him drape the arm over her shoulders as well, careful to not dislodge Rufus. "Its lucky for you the fruit changed to non edible locks. According to the Japanese lab dude, if you eat anything over there you turn into one of those creatures."
Pat stared in horror at Gloria. "You could have turned into one of those things?!" Gloria rubbed her back to get her to calm down. "Its okay. I didn't manage to eat anything and my form is still what it was." Pat practically leered at her. "A form I like very much."
Gloria rolled her eyes at Pat's antics and looked to Ron and his group. "So what now? Follow after Agent Du..." She barely managed to keep from sneering as she said his name. "And report to Dr. Director?"
Ron considered. "Not really a fan of the idea of force marching across this island at the moment. I'm tired and starting to get hungry as well but I guess it is our duty to alert her on what has been going on."
"When we reached this house, I suggested to Du we break in and find if they have a radio and contact Dr. Director that way." Pat told him. "But after Gloria was captured he lost interest in the idea."
"Of course." Shego snorted. "I bet Gloria was willing to risk climbing up to those windows on the second story, Du wasn't. Am I right?"
Pat gave a nod and Shego snorted. "Typical Du."
Ron took his arms off of Kim's and Shego's shoulder and gestured for Rufus to come with him. Rufus scampered over to his shoulder.
Ron examined the narrow windows on the ground floor and as Gloria had earlier he realized that Rufus could easily make it through them. With his eyes glowing blue he took a finger and lightly poked the glass causing it to shatter. "Careful of the broken glass Buddy." He told Rufus. "See if you can open the doors from the inside."
With a nod Rufus ducked into the darkened house. A few moments later, everyone could hear as locks on the door unlocked and Ron reaching out opened the door.
Ron entered the place first in case there was danger but the house/castle was silent and empty. Even though it was now a bright and cheerful morning outside, the narrow windows didn't allow much light to enter the building and they entered a gloomy large lodge like room. Feeling around Ron found a light switch on the wall. Not really expecting it to work he flipped it and indirect but warm lighting flooded the room from the ceiling revealing the large room to them all. Along one wall a massive empty fireplace stood with several overstuffed leather chairs facing it. A large bar graced another wall and above the bar was a banner that said, "Welcome Yggdrasil Corporation. Ron could make out at the base of the bar several other banners lay crumpled on the floor. Ron could only make out Disney on the top one of them.
Evidently when someone leased the island and was going to make use of the house someone from the leasing company arrived before hand to clean the place up and put a welcome banner up but they hadn't been too careful to remove the other banners. Probably just left them lying there to save time when a corporation re-leased the place again.
Of to the corner of the room there were two staircases. One leading up to the second floor and another one leading down to what one would presume to be the basement.
Before leaving the door to the outside, Shego closed it and re-locked it. If the whack job in the lab coat came back he wouldn't be sneaking up on them again. True one of the windows was broken but the narrow slot was impassable to anything but another creature as small as Rufus was.
"Which way do we go?" Pat asked.
"Second floor is most likely bedrooms. If this place has a radio room I would think it would probably be in the basement." Gloria told her.
"Bedrooms you say?" Pat said with a husky note to her voice.
"Pat! I swear. You are worse than a frat boy! You know what? Maybe we should go upstairs? They might have a ice cold shower in one of the rooms to calm you down?"
"I wouldn't mind a shower actually." Pat stated as she looked down at her dirty and worn clothing. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Gloria. "Especially if it is a shower big enough for two."
Kim watching the two interact, shook her head in amusement and then looked to Shego. "I swear Patricia has sex on the mind more than even you do."
Shego looked back at her for a moment before smirking. "Shall we make it a competition Princess? See whether I or Patricia can get our respective partners screaming our names before the other one?"
"Ooh I like that idea." Pat muttered staring at Gloria's barely covered breast.
"Pat! Sheesh." Gloria said in exasperation and barely resisting the urge to cross her arms across her chest to cover herself.
"I almost lost you today." Pat said to Gloria in a more subdued and serious voice. "I really believe you are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with and I nearly lost you today. Can you blame me for wanting to get you in a bed?"
"Later Pat, later." Gloria told her giving her a brief hug before joining Ron in looking down the second staircase. "So Ronnie? Shego, Kim and you are the senior agents at the moment. Shall we start in the basement and work our way upward looking for a radio or start upstairs and work our way down?"
Ron snorted. "I don't put much stock in senior or junior stuff and rather we all work as a team of equals but I vote we start in the basement first."
Gloria gave a nod. "Works for me." Kim, Shego and Pat all nodded as well and with Ron in the lead they started down the basement staircase. The staircase instead of being a straight run, spiraled so they couldn't see what was ahead of them until they reached the bottom. The light from above barely made a dent in the shadows so Ron felt along the wall until he found another light switch and flipped it.
Stark white lighting revealed a corridor leading away from the stairwell landing with doors on either side of the hallway.
Shego glanced up at the shining white lights. "What do you think they use for power?"
Ron glanced upwards as well. Probably solar cells on the roof of the house would be my guess. Course as many corporations as lease this place they might have a mini-nuclear reactor somewhere down here for all I know."
Looking to the doors Ron could see some of them had tiny metal plaques on them.
Disney
Umbrella Corporation
Yggdrasil Corporation
Were just a few of the names he noticed. The doors continued down the long corridor and some of them had names on them while others had holders for plaques but were bare and the doors were open revealing large square empty rooms.
All the doors with plaques had padlocks on them.
"Storage for the corporations in case they planned on coming back to the island?" Shego asked Ron as they walked down the corridor.
Ron gave a half shrug and would have continued but the group became aware that Pat had paused next to the Umbrella Corp. room and had her ear pressed against the door listening.
"What are you doing Patty?" Gloria asked her.
"I thought I heard something moving inside this room." Pat whispered as she pressed the side of her face against the door even harder as she strained to hear anything inside the room. After a moment she pulled away and shrugged. "Guess its just my nerves."
Shego stared at the door before nodding. "Yeah those rooms are padlocked and it has to be months if not years since that company has been here. Doubt if anything living would be in there." She looked to Ron. "Should we break it open and check just to be sure?"
Ron gave a shake of his head. "The last thing Global Justice needs is to be accused of corporate espionage. Beside, Lab Dude said Yggdrasil was the last company to lease the island. What could Umbrella have in there that would be still alive after all this time?"
The group continued down the corridor and thus missed hearing a slithering shuffling noise coming from the door with the Umbrella name and symbol on it.
At the end of the corridor, Ron spotted a door with a simple plaque that read Radio Room.
"Yes!" Patricia yelled in triumphant. "No long force march across the island for us!"
"Don't get too excited Patty." Gloria told her. "After we report to Dr. Director she'll probably give us orders to join them to wait for the boat to pick us up. We still may have to force march."
Shego smirked anyway. "Maybe but we'll still report to her before Du can reach her."
"Shego." Ron told her reprovingly. "I know you don't like Du but you can't deny that he is a dedicated..."
"Pain in the butt." Kim finished for him.
"Kim!"
"He is. Why are you defending him anyway Ron? Think of how much grief he's given you and Rufus. Always calling us amateurs and sneering at us? I hope he gets lost on this island and Global Justice has to send a rescue team to find him and it takes weeks."
Ron shook his head at Kim and glanced over to Shego. "You are really rubbing off on her too much."
Shego gave a half shrug. "I would have said I hope he sinks into a quicksand pit and we never hear from him again."
"I second that." Patricia said but softly.
Ron ignored them and went to the radio in the room. After studying it for a moment he tuned the dial to the frequency of the walkie talkies they had been given and after letting the equipment warm up for a moment he clicked on the microphone. "Ron Stoppable calling Dr. Director. Please come in." Pausing for a reply he waited a moment and then repeated the calling. It was on the third try that he got a response.
"Dr. Director replying. Please report. Has a situation arose?"
Ron glanced at Gloria in her torn and dirty sweatshirt. "I think monsters from another dimension rate as a situation, don't you?" He asked and then handed the microphone over to Gloria since she was directly involved with most of the events. Gloria made her report stating what had happened. She did not bad mouth Du but her face turned sour looking when she explained that he had abandoned agent Rens after Gloria's capture by the creatures so as to make better time to warn Ash and her of the situation. Gloria refrained from mentioning the strange dimension she had been taken to or the discovery of the armor or any mentions of the weird fruit locks altogether. There was no telling who might be listening in on the unsecured radio frequency. She just said there was more to report when they reached her in person.
"I see." Dr. Director's voice came from the radio. "It sounds like you have had quite the most interesting mission. I look forward to hearing more of your report in person."
Gloria sighed and looked at Pat as if to say, I told you so before clicking the mic. "So do you want us to make haste to your location?" She asked.
"I think not." Dr. Director replied. "The ship will be at the farthest reaches of its own mission away from us and will take at least a day if not two to return to the island to pick us up, also there is no dock at my location. Stay where you are at and as soon as Du joins us, we'll head in your direction and meet you at the house. There we'll journey together to Possible's campsite as it has a dock available for the ship to meet us at."
"Understood maam. Passion signing off for now."
Gloria looked at the group with her. "So, we have one if not two days depending on when Du finds Dr. Director."
"In a house... With beds." Pat said with a smile a mile wide. "And maybe working showers." She just barely resisted waggling her eyebrows at Gloria. "Say do you think the hot water heaters in this place are working?"
Ron gave a shrug. "If the lights are working, its possible the water heater is working or this place uses solar water heating."
"Hot showers." Pat said reverently and then her stomach growled loudly. "Do you think our luck might continue enough that this place has a stocked kitchen as well?" She asked hopefully.
"That might be straining our luck a touch." Shego told her. "I imagine each group renting the island has to bring in their own provisions." Seeing the crestfallen look on the young woman's face she added. "But you never know until you look."
"Do we know that this place even has a kitchen?" Kim asked. "I didn't see one when we came in."
"It has to! I mean this place is enormous and wasn't it originally built as a rich guy's vacation home? What guy builds a place and doesn't put in a kitchen?"
Ron raised a hand to calm Pat down. "We'll return to the first floor and look. Like you said, this place is huge on the outside and there is no way the bar and fireplace room is the only thing on the first floor. There must be a door or two that we missed when we came in."
Pat eagerly nodded her head and rushed to the doorway back to the hall. She paused and waited till Gloria joined her and then grabbing her hand she pulled Gloria along.
Ron, Kim and Shego watched the two.
"Rens has it bad." Shego stated.
Kim nodded her head. "They make a cute couple though. Patricia will be good for Gloria."
As the group watched, Pat slid her hand down Gloria's back as they walked and cupped her butt causing Gloria to jump and yell Pat!"
"If she doesn't wear poor Gloria out." Ron muttered.
Shego and Kim shared a look and both laughed. "I don't think Gloria will mind it too much."
"Oh? And why is that?" Ron asked.
"You don't mind it too much when we try to wear you out."
