The traveling itself is a piece of cake. Maybe to a normal human woman, it would be tedious, but I have nothing to complain about in that general area. After all, I make my living by roaming the universe.

What I did find annoying was avoiding any lingering Shai'fores. And there were a lot of them... and they're hard to avoid. Often, we find out we were too close, and somehow their mental attack would be effective on me until they move on or Riddick had us far away from them.

Now, I wasn't as effected as possibly to the next guy (seeing as I didn't go wondering off toward the creatures like the townspeople had according to Loor), but somehow, I think Riddick is either immune or developed some sort of barrier against mental attacks. For the life of me, I couldn't even put one over the other; both seems possible and likely. Though where he's getting his humor from, that's the bigger question... Lesson One; don't start any more conversations with him when he's in a good mood unless I want to be harassed...

We suddenly seem to be back at square one when we learn that the Shai'fores and the aristocrats' ground troops were exceptionally thick at the Crystalize Territory. Just with that fact makes me think that we'd have to find a different way to find our friends...

Disclaimer-Note
I don't own Riddick in any way.
I'm better health-wise, but... -sighs- My cat/daughter Eclipse died on the day of my sister's death last year... I hate January 9th...
This chapter will contain rape-attempt and bloody, gory details of death. You have been forewarned. XD;;

"Still not tired yet?"

"Seriously, you need to find a different topic to ask that does not involve the same question for the last fifty times."

"How 'bout this one; you're, what, twenty-to-twenty-two. Are ya still a virgin?"

"...How about we return to the original topic and never speak of this again." Rosalia's face burned red for once since they've crashed-landed on this planet. And Riddick laughed at the answer she gave. It was the third day since they've left the ruined town, and ever since Rose said that she'd do better than before she got spaced, Riddick had taken the time to actually annoy her. It was a great way to pass the time for him.

"So that'd be a yes."

"Do you enjoy making me uncomfortable..?"

"Only when I can." He chuckled again as she huffed to herself. "C'mon, you seriously that opposed to the nature of things?"

"I'm not commenting."

"Or is it that you haven't found someone you're willing to experiment with?" Her answer was to remain silent as her face grew even more red. "Maybe you scare the guys because of your oddity. That's a definite down-side to wings and horns."

"You must be really bored..." She listened as he chuckled, making her sigh. "And here, I thought you were the least-annoying person of the group..."

"You hadn't seen anything yet," Riddick chuckled. She rolled her eyes at him, though she seemed a bit distracted. Though she doesn't seem to notice that herself. After a minute of walking, he suddenly realized that he was alone. Looking back, he could Rosalia standing there, looking dazed. "Hey, what gives?" At first, he thought she was playing or something, but it changed to concern as she seemed to try to get her eyes to focus, but something was forcing her otherwise. He walked back to her, and it hits him of that feeling in the back of his mind that he ignored before. It was a mental attack, and while he could protect himself from it immensely well, it seemed that she can't do the same any time soon. 'Hmn, must mean one of those things are nearby...' Without another word, he grabbed onto one of the girl's wrists and pulled her along behind him, walking willingly without any sort of complaint. She was definitely under the influence of the Shai'fores, or at least one of them.

"Whoa, who turned on the lights..?" she said after twenty minutes of fast-paced walking, placing her free hand on her eyes like she was blinded. She almost sounded like she woke up from a night of drinking, her voice sounding that groggy. Blinking as she lowered her hand, she then looked confused; why was Riddick leading her by the arm? Actually, the real question of when, and why didn't she remember that happening. "Uhh, what happened..?"

"Nice to see you're back conscious," he replied as he slowed and then stopped. She halted as well, still looking confused. "One of those creatures must have been nearby, 'cuz you suddenly spaced. At least you didn't go walking out toward it."

She blinked. "I was affected? I can get effected by them??" She must have thought that, seeing as she wasn't a human, she wouldn't be effected. Seemed to have brought her to reality, at least.

"Seems that way." He gave her a quick look-over, then dropped her arm. "Luckily one of us aren't going to get that way." He watched as she frowned to herself, apparently not liking the fact that she wasn't immune to the creatures. "Don't worry, I'll lead you away whenever it happens again." He smirked as she glared at him.

"You just made that into a real bad pun, I hope you know," she retorted as she stalked ahead of him.

"So negative." But he was laughing again, apparently still in a good mood. That made just one of them; the other was scowling.

The good mood died away during the next few hours that went by. They were finding that the Shai'fores were starting to increase in numbers the further they go. It was too much to hope that since the first two days that went by was free of the creatures would remain that way, in Rosalia's opinion anyway. At least she did what she could to avoid getting in range of the creatures, seeing as she quite remembered how it started to feel before she was completely effected; she went out of her way doing so, too, often leaving Riddick as she goes a long way around. Never gone longer than five minutes each time, but still gone often enough.

She'd rather do that than get effected and 'wake up' to find herself getting led around by Riddick like a lost puppy again.

"With all that extra running, you ought to be getting tired now," Riddick stated with only half his usual humor he started earlier that day, when she returned for the fifteenth time. It was already nearing nighttime. They'll need to find a place to camp out soon, considering that they had traveled the previous two days without any rest or sleep (out of Rosalia's stubbornness and Riddick's lack of getting tired).

"Yeah, well, it was either that or getting zoned out again," Rosalia grumbled at him. "That was not fun, just so you know..." Turning away, she pointed to a distant grove. "Over there happen to be free of Shai'fores, and they seem to avoid that particular place like it's plagued."

"Well, I hope it isn't going to plague us when we get there," Riddick said seriously as he started that way. "You just might come in handy yet."

"What, to purify your air and water?? Like I haven't been doing that on your ship since day one." Unexpectedly, she started to laugh, though she was trying not to. Riddick looked back at her, obviously curious of what was so funny. "Listen to me, I actually sound like some housewife." She laughed even harder, all the while stifling it behind her hand. But her body was showing how hard she was laughing.

Riddick gave a smirk of amusement as he continued walking. He knew how to make her change mood quick. "Laughing merrily can be the first step to getting laid at long last."

That killed her bubbly good mood. She glared suspiciously at him, even though he had his back on her. "You are never going to let that drop, are you..?" His chuckle was her only answer. 'I never should have started any conversation with him... Why didn't I listen to that little voice in the back of my head?' Obviously, though, she didn't have any such thing telling her that beforehand. She could only shake her head wearily and follow Riddick to the hopeful campsite.

"Looks promising enough," Riddick commented when they arrived. It had the first sign of life trying to bloom back into existence; there was a sapling growing at a fast rate in the middle of the burnt clearing. If Rosalia didn't know any better, it would have been a mana tree growing there. "We'll definitely settle here until further notice."

"Keep saying that, and you will jinx us," Rosalia said as she rolled her eyes, though she started for the tree. It may be a sapling by its standards, but it was large enough for both of them to lean against it without damaging it. Sitting on the ground at long last, she resisted the urge to sigh in relief; her legs were cramping, though she wasn't about to admit that to Riddick anytime soon. Maybe she still had a bit to go before she could boast truthfully that she could outdo herself from before being spaced... and by this point, she was ready to sleep; she was still feeling that energy drain from before, when they exchanged her healing for supplies.

Riddick didn't bother about any fire either, since they'd only attract trouble. Sitting next to the female, he gestured wordlessly at her. Without even having to figure out what he wanted, she pulled off her bag and flipped it open to hand him some ration bars. Eating one herself, Rosalia found herself suppressing a yawn. The bar wouldn't supply enough energy like an hour of sleep would. With a sigh, she knew she had to concede defeat.

"Good thing we had not made any bet beforehand," Rosalia said once she swallowed the last bite of her ration bar, stuffing the wrapper in a pocket of her bag. Her comment made Riddick look over at her with an raised eyebrow. "I would have lost big-time."

"Have no energy like you used to, huh?" Riddick smirked as she rolled her eyes but nodded in confirmation. "Maybe I should have made a bet with you," he chuckled.

"Maybe another time." This time, she couldn't stop from yawning. "Wake me up in an hour or two." She moved away as she said that, laying on the ground, though she wished she thought about bringing out her wings beforehand. And maybe changing into her original clothes... As she started drifting off, she heard Riddick chuckle again.

"You look cold. Sure you couldn't use the company?" He said this jokingly, and as he expected, she responded in some way; she flipped him off over her shoulder, making sure to hold her thumb down, before it lowered back to the ground. Still chuckling under his breath, Riddick pulled his goggles up to his forehead to watch what's around them better. Though he believed them safe from Shai'fores, it wouldn't do to be caught unguarded.

- - -

Rosalia opened her eyes to the scene unfolding before her. She was watching from a point in space as the ship that carried herself and her companions beginning to be shot at. Watching from the outside was strange, though what was stranger was that images floated around in the space around her as well. The humans of the world were either being blasted into nothing more than charred meat, killed in a landslide or flood that was caused by the Shai'fores' firepower, or were being gathered into groups with blank eyes. Her forehead ached as she watched, compelled; this was the first time that a planet was trying to communicate with her, even though she doesn't know that.

'What are you trying to show me?' she thought, seeing as her mouth doesn't seem to want to work in this dreamworld. Immediately, the images shifted from the ship to when the pods were ejected. The Shai'fores went after the pods as soon as the ship exploded; one of the shots they fired destroyed the connection between hers and Astor's pods. Instead of traveling after the two pods, she found herself zooming after the remaining three by the images' will. The pods crashed into the ground below. High above the planet's surface, Rosalia could see ground troops in this particular area, surrounding a large castle-like structure. She guessed that to be the aristocrats of this planet. The images seemed to have been put in fast-forward; her companions were getting out of their pods just as they were surrounded by some of the ground troops... the three people were being taken to the castle for some reason, possibly to be questioned...

Her friends were just starting to be pushed out of the castle and loaded onto some carriage when the images were halted, then faded away fast. She seemed to be shot to where she currently was sleeping at. She was now looking down on herself, who was getting jumped and pinned by two strangers, while Riddick was starting to fight three others until one of them jabbed a gun point-blank in his face. Rosalia closed her eyes...

...and opened them to stare up at her attackers. They were leering down at her as one had her hands pinned above her head, the other sitting on her stomach. The one on her stomach had just pulled her weapon belt off to toss it to the side when he noticed her with her eyes open. "Ta night jus' seem ta brin' such fine stuff," he said to the other guy as he roughly grabbed her chin and turned her head to one side and then the other. "Reckonin' on how much ta things'll pay for dis one?"

Rosalia was starting to get pissed, which started the silent growl in the back of her throat.

"Hell, we hadn't had a decent girly fer ourselves fer some time. How 'bout we keep dis one and sell up ta other?" one of the others surrounding Riddick offered, his gun still trained on Riddick's face. The other two around him nodded in agreement, grinning at one another as their guns were getting trained on their target.

That growl was turning from silent to low. Neither of the two on her noticed. "'Kay, I's likin' dat better," the one on her stomach said as he eagerly grabbed at her breasts. Her hands clenched tightly, her claws cutting into her gloves and into her skin.

'How dare he...'

"She really doesn't like being touched," Riddick said with a slight smirk, knowing full-well that there would soon be an eruption. It would probably be the only warning these guys were going to get. The three around him laughed, one of them slamming the butt-end of his gun against Riddick's head.

"She'd like my touchin'," the leader replied with a lecherous smirk. With a jerk of his head, the three started to pull out rope to tie Riddick up as the man resumed to roughly grab at her chest and slide them down to her stomach.

'The mortal dares to touch us...'

So sure that he was safe of any kicks because he slid down to sit on her legs, he reached to push her tunic up. But her legs caught his attention, momentarily halting his progress as he examined the fur from the knee down. "Interestin' stockin's," he said like it was supposed to be a compliment. She obviously wasn't going to say 'thank you for noticing' as he slid his hands along her knees, trying to find a way to pull off what he thought was removable stockings. "Da hell they come off?"

As though in response, her boots twitched like she was curling her toes tightly inside. With a smirk, the man hopped off and kept a hold on her ankles with one hand. "Once I's get these off, I'll get ya real comfy-like." He looked up at the other men and smirked. "I's like quiet women, but they's no fun withou' a lil' screamin'." The men hooted, obviously agreeing.

'I'll kill them in the most painful way,' Thornara whispered in the back of Rosalia's mind. And there was no resistant from Rosalia for once; she was past reasoning.

'Make them beg for mercy.'

In the dark, the man over her head wouldn't notice that her eyes changed at liquid-speed from brown and white to blood-red and black, nor that her hair changed to black, as the man at her feet grabbed both boots, to yank them both off to not waste time. He pulled them straight off without as much as resistant as he thought there would. He tossed them aside and was reaching down to find what kept the 'stockings' on when he noticed that they weren't human feet.

"Da fuck??" he said in confusion. It didn't get to last, seeing as when he saw them, he lost his grip on her ankles. One raised in the air and sank all four extended claws into his guts, making him howl out in anguish. The man at her hands jerked back, but he found that her hands changed from clenching to sinking her claws into his wrists. He had but a second to realize that things just went south for them all as she used her other foot to fly over her body and plant it under his jaw. Her claws ripped at vital arteries and vocal cords as she used both her foot and her hands to throw the man over her into the other man. The impact had them both tumbling, which meant that the man with claws in his guts just lost what protected his inner organs. He screamed as he stared at his own digestive tract while Thornara leapt onto her feet, obviously enraged. There weren't any sign of having fun on her face.

"Told ya," Riddick said calmly, chuckling as the three men dropped what remained of the rope and raised their guns to shoot.

To Thornara, it was like they were swimming in molten lead as they tried to take aim. She was instantly on one closest, ripping his head off his shoulders along with a bit of his spine. The head had its mouth open like it was screaming as she threw it at one not able to take a shot, while grabbing the corpse and held it in front of her as the other fired off two rounds.

Panicking, the man tried to reload his gun as Thornara let go of the body and leapt at the other, who had reacted from when she threw the head at him and had dropped his gun to catch it. He stared at the head, horrified, as she landed in front of him and grinned horribly. Striking her hands forward, she had just thrust her fingers into his eye sockets as he had looked up at her. He screamed in agony as she ripped his own eyes out, cords and all, and, just for annoying her with his screaming, shoved them down his throat. He fell to the ground and started choking as she turned to the last man standing.

He was obviously losing what nerves he had, his gun shaking so hard in his hands. His mouth was moving, but all that was coming out was high-pitched sounds of fear. Thornara smirked malevolently as she moved slowly toward him.

"D-d-d-d-don't t-take an-n-nother step!!" he screeched, taking three steps backwards as he tried to aim his gun. All he got in response was a deep, dark chuckle from the girl as she rolled her shoulders slowly backwards a few times, then rolled her neck in one direction for one time.

"You have no idea of what's about to happen to you..." she said in a deliberately-slow voice. When she faked running straight at him, he fired both rounds in the hope to catch her full-on. Dodging long before the bullets left the chambers, she ran at him and caught him full in the chest with both feet. He screamed as he landed on his back, his hands clawing at burned roots as her claws sank right into his stomach before she crouched to drive both hands into his chest. His futile attempt to crawl away made Thorn laugh evilly as she gripped at the rib cage and ripped it open for the world to see. The man screamed louder than ever as he found that his arms were frozen with his fingers digging into the ground.

Tired of his screaming after a full minute, Thornara reached forward and ripped his windpipe out so that all he could get out were gurgles of blood. With a huff of displeasure, she stood and walked away from the last man, throwing the body part back to land in his chest. She was satisfied with her work.

Riddick shook his head lightly in amazement as she reached him and grudgingly cut the ropes from his wrists and forearms. "He seemed to have done a great personal wrong against you," he commented as he rubbed his wrists.

Thornara shrugged. "He hit ya," she said like it was the simplest reason to de-rib someone. She walked away to the man with eyeballs staring down at his stomach as Riddick stood up, his eyebrow raised. She sliced the man's throat, instantly killing him, though she looked like she'd rather let him live until he choked to death. "Besides, he was the one that suggested the idea first." She smirked at Riddick, then moved on to the remaining two men. The one that had claws rip into his jaw tried to crawl away, but she placed one foot on his back to pin him against the ground, then used the other to twist his head and snap his neck. Walking off his back, she glared at the last remaining man left alive. She didn't look quite as satisfied with the man just having his guts spilling out of his stomach.

"Allow me," Riddick said in a low voice as he walked pass Thorn. She narrowed her eyes for a second, then waved a hand; she wasn't going to deny him.

He crouched in front of the whimpering man, who was trying desperately to keep his guts inside. With his goggles still on his forehead before the jump, the man was staring up at Riddick's shimmering eyes that narrowed to mere slits. "Now, ambushing us was one thing," Riddick said, still using his low voice. "But see, you have pissed-off two of the most dangerous people in the known universe." He raised his blade as he said this. "Not a smart move."

"Ah... du... dun k-kill me..." the man said with a strained voice, his pale face growing even paler. If he was able to control his feet and was standing, he would have backed away as Thornara raised the black blade from her weapon belt she had just put back around her waist, standing just behind the man now.

"There's no chance of letting that happen," she growled down at him. She struck forward with her blade for the back of his neck just as Riddick did the same with his for the front. The blades met with a clash, and the man's head went tumbling to th ground. Looking immensely satisfied now, Thorn wiped the blade clean of blood, though she doesn't bother one bit to lick at any blood this time.

"I thought you love the taste of blood," Riddick said in a light tone.

"Not when it's the blood of vermin," she replied in a flat tone. She finished cleaning the blade and placed it back in its sheath. Thornara looked at him as he stood up, apparently weary of him.

"Do we have to repeat what happened the last time?" he asked slowly, obviously referring to back at Ursa Luna.

"What, no word of gratitude?" Thorn snorted as Riddick raised an eyebrow. "Kiddin', besides, I wasn't going to deny you of Rose, anyhow." She smirked as she looked to the corpses all around. "I had my fill for now."

"I'm surprised you're not going to give payback for last time," he said cooly.

"Meh, I keep tabs for later." She grinned evilly, winked slowly, then instantly, she was gone. The colors in her eyes and hair rapidly changed back, and Rosalia blinked after keeping her footing.

"That was... interesting," she said slowly, looking around at the clearing with a frown. Then she sighed to herself. "They had to interrupt my sleep..."

"They had me tied up and were in the process of raping you, and all you can think about is your nap." Riddick chuckled to himself, but when she shook her head, he looked curious. "I take it there's more than that."

"I happen to have seen them being taken to the aristocrats' castle, though before I could see where they were being taken to afterwards, the idiots jumped us." She crossed her arms and looked vexed. When Riddick raised an eyebrow in questioning, she sighed. "I do not know if the dream came from the planet itself, or if maybe Ramza can somehow project it (doubtful), but however it happened... We need to go to the castle to find out where they were being carted to."

"So they're prisoners?"

"It looks that way."

"How far is the castle again?"

"In the middle of Crystalize Territory... so it is still far-off." Rosalia made a face. "Watch as we get there and find out that Kiley and the others were carted to the other end of this territory..."

"Now who's jinxing us?" Riddick chuckled as she rolled her eyes. "We still have a long ways to go."

"Then you better get a nap for yourself." The girl then looked down at herself; she was covered in blood once again. She sighed. "I need to clean up..."

Riddick laughed openly as she scowled. "Yes, well, as you do that, I'll take that nap, but I'll be on the other side of the tree." He tilted his head to the gory scene before them. "Seeing as this part of the clearing is smeared in blood."

"Yeah yeah yeah..." Rosalia rolled her eyes again as she walked off for a possible stream that had yet to dry up because of the Shai'fores' attack. She heard him chuckle again; all the blood that was spilt, and he was still in a good mood. She can't be that amusing to him...

As she walked off, Riddick watched her while he was still chuckling. She was one of the most enigma person he had ever known, and she was strong in many ways. Not to mention that it was pretty amusing to embarrass her once he found out that she could get embarrassed. And like a female, the subject that would do the trick was of the sexual kind.

He doesn't remember anyone who could make him laugh in amusement like this one could.

Ha ha, Riddick picks on poor Rosalia, but it was waaaay too funny to pass up. XD Woot to action, and soon comes more plus possible romance! See you all at Chapter 12!