FFF: Greetings everyone! The last chapter got... one review. Cough. Everyone busy with school? Anyway, since Lloyd, Kai, and I will be sharing this author's note, we're just going to do the "name:" thing. K? K.
Lloyd: Hi everyone! Kai and I here to answer Breana's questions she asked in her last review. Kai, you wanna start?
Kai: Sure. Okay, so, Breana's first question was "what is it like being ninjas?" Well, it's really cool.
Lloyd: It's pretty cool.
Kai: Realy cool.
Lloyd: Except when we get swarmed by crazy fangirls.
Kai: Oh yeah. Especially us two, because your thqe green ninja and I have awesome hair.
Lloyd: You? Your hair looks like a train wreck!
FFF: Guys? Focus?
Lloyd: Right. Anyway, being ninja is nice. We get to smash bad guys and do spinjitzu, and... wait, didn't I do an internal monolog about this in chapter one?
Kai: Oh yeah. Well, you can read that for more info about his opinion. I think that the only time being a ninja ISN'T awesome is when we (a. get attacked by crazy fangirls and (b. get smashed by bad guys, like Morro.
Lloyd: Morro's not evil any more.
Kai: Yeah, yeah, whatevr.
FFF: Kai, use proper spelling.
Kai: Why?
Lloyd: ANYWAY, the next question, "What's it like at Darkley's school for bad boys?" Well, when I was there, it stunk. Especially since I wasn't really that evil, so the other boys were mean to me a lot. Now... uh... I think it got wrecked. I'm not really sure what happened to it.
Kai: And the last questons are, "What's it like being the master of fire? Have you ever burn yourself with your fire powers?" Fire is totally the best element.
Lloyd: It is not!
Kai: Yes it is. Fire is awesome. I can set things on fire (duh), melt things, even fly a little, by using my hands like rockets. It's super awesome. And... admittedly, yes, I have burned myself. But I was distracted! I did once when Cole was dancing, and other while I was showing off my fire pwers to Skylor...
Lloyd: Umm... Kai's staring off into space. Guess I should finish this up. Anyway, that's all the questions, there's just one review for FFF for answer before we start the chapter.
Review reply:
Angel: As much as Tara deserves it, that sounds like bullying to me and I hate bullying. :c But you DID just remind me of a one shot idea I had (and forgot, but now I remember it)! :D Thanks! Indigo thanks you for the energy and Daggerclaws is happily playing with his cat toy. Soul Archer is grumpy now and Bansha is cackling madly.
Chapter 28
Tara and Alex lay on their stomachs on top of a cliff, watching the adventurers as they exited their camp.
"Strange." Alex spoke up quietly. "They do not look like criminals."
"They work undercover." Tara replied. "I mean, they don't want to get arrested or anything."
"Those two girls, the ones being carried," Alex gestured to Indigo and Jessica, who were being carried by Morro and Lloyd, respectively. "Are either of them your friend, Ming?
"No. Ming is there, in the brown dress." Tara pointed to the young girl, who was having a friendly chat with Nya.
"Why is she talking to her captors like that so calmly?" Alex asked with a frown. "I would think she would be scared of them."
"Maybe... uh..." Tara thought fast for an excuse. "Maybe she's trying to befriend them, so that it'll be easier for her to escape." she said with a (slightly nervous) grin. "Come on, we should follow them." the two stood up and began making their way across the rocks so they could get a better view of the adventurers
"They're strange criminals." Alex remarked. "Most criminals I've met wouldn't carry a team member, just leave them behind. Why are they being carried, anyway?" he turned towards Tara expectantly. "You've been spying on them, right?"
"Um, yeah. You've met criminals?" she asked, surprised.
"Yes. Don't avoid the question."
"Right. Um, one of them was injured, and I don't know about the other." Tara said quickly. Alex gave her an odd look before starting to climb down a rock face.
"Come on. We're going to lose them." he said, not bothering to see if she had followed.
ReturnToTheCursedRealm
"We have to attack." Alex said firmly.
"No! It's a bad idea!" Tara argued. "Like I said, there's too many of them. We should wait for a chance to sneak in instead." The two had followed the Ninja and Co. off the mountain and had been following them along a road for a few hours before they stopped and made camp.
"This is the perfect time." Alex insisted. "They have no cover,"
"Neither do we..." Tara muttered.
"most of them are asleep," Alex continued,
"The wake up fast."
"We have the obvious advantage!"
"How?! There are four of them to every one of us and almost all of them are elemental masters!"
"There will always be more of them than us, unless we lure them away and kill them one by one! And if they're really as evil as you say, we shouldn't sneak in and out like cowards, we should fight, and get rid of them!" Tara mentally groaned. Maybe she had overdone the whole "evil morons" thing. "Now be quiet and get your weapons, we're going in." Alex said, pulling his flute case off his back and starting to unbuckle it. Tara raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"You fight with a flute?" she asked.
"The serpentine wars were won with flutes." he replied. "You'll want these." he handed her a pair of earplugs, which she stuck in her ears.
"Whatever." Tara pulled her whip off her belt and uncoiled it. Alex took out his flute, set the case back on the ground, then walked out from behind the rock they had taken shelter behind towards Lloyd and Nya, who were sitting at the edge of the camp. Tara snuck into the shadow of another large rock, this one closer to the camp.
"Hey, who are you?" she heard Lloyd ask. She glanced around the rock to see Alex ignore his question and starting to play a tune, which Tara fortunately couldn't hear, as Lloyd instantly stumbled back and tripped, falling backwards on the ground next to Nya and covering his ears. A moment later, he spotted Tara and his eyes widened.
"It's Tara!" she barely heard him yell. "Wake up, everyone!" as the rest of the party woke up, Alex played faster, stepping into the camp slowly. Nya threw a rock at him and it bounced off his flute, interrupting the song and breaking the spell. Tara approached the camp as Alex whipped out the staff she had seen earlier, holding it in front of him in a defensive position.
"I'll distract them!" he yelled as Tara popped the earplugs out of her ears. "You go get your friend!" he blocked a hit from one of the ninja as Tara started to sneak around the outside of the camp.
"Ignore him! Tara's more dangerous!" Kai pointed at her, ruining her cover as all the fighters, which was everyone except for Indigo.
"Alex? Little help?" she yelled, backing away from the approaching enemies.
"I'm working on it!" he yelled back, taking one end of his staff and clocking Jay over the head with it, knocking him out and causing him to flop to the ground.
"Never mind, he's dangerous too." Kai realized, spinning around to face the blue-clothed musician.
"Cole, Kai, Nya, take care of the music guy! Don't let him get his flute back!" Lloyd yelled, taking charge. "Kayson, Ming, take care of Indigo! Everyone else, get Tara!" Tara abandoned her hopes of being able to sneak past as Morro smashed her into a rock with a gust of wind. In the meantime, Alex was dodging a barrage of fireballs from Kai and trying to get back to his instrument, but failing due to the shaking of the ground caused by Cole.
"This isn't gonna work!" Tara yelled as Alex was knocked over. "Ming! Let's get out of here!" Ming turned to her, confused, but ran towards her.
"Wh- Ming?" Kai turned to her in shock. Alex took the opportunity to knock him out with a smack from his staff, only to be knocked over again by Cole.
"Take Ming and go!" Alex yelled, blocking a sword strike from Nya. "I'll catch up!"
"C'mon!" Tara grabbed Ming's hand and they fled into the darkness, dodging a final attack from Lloyd and vanishing from the ninja's view.
"Darn it! Why do we always lose to her?!" the two heard Lloyd yell as they ducked behind a rock. Ming then turned to Tara, putting her hands on her hips.
"Alright, what was that all about?" she asked. "I thought I was supposed to stay with them."
"Well, that's a bit of a long story, and they're still looking for us, so get wait a few minutes for things to settle down. Then I'll tell you." Tara promised. Ming nodded and sat down against the rock, silent for the time being.
ReturnToTheCursedRealm
"I think it's alright to talk now." Tara said at length.
"Okay. Talk. What's going on? Who's the white-haired guy?" Ming asked, sounding annoyed.
"Well, I'll start at the beginning. I'm sure you've noticed those weird scratches on people's arms?" Tara traced a line down her arm to illustrate.
"Yeah..." Ming nodded slowly.
"Well, I'm collecting people's powers. Y'know, just in case something goes wrong." Tara explained. Ming's eyes widened.
"So last night when Indigo was bleeding like crazy and wouldn't wake up and almost died, that was your fault?" she asked accusingly.
"Um... yeah, I guess." Tara shifted her weight from one foot to the other awkwardly. Ming facepalmed.
"You said you wouldn't kill my friends!"
"I didn't! I just got close! See, I put a dream spell on her so she wouldn't wake up and I wasn't really bothering to be gentle since I knew she wouldn't wake up and I kinda really hate her because she's annoying, and..." Tara trailed off at Ming's blank stare.
"Tara, I know your life is kinda messed up, but you can't just make excuses for what you've done." Ming's eyes softened. "Can you PLEASE try to get along with her? I mean, I know she was annoying you, but that's no excuse to kill her! I had lots of friends back in Limong and some of them annoyed me, but I just had to deal with it. And by that, I mean I didn't kill them."
"Yeah, I know, you're right." Tara sighed. "It's just how I was raised."
"Clouse taught you to kill annoying people?" Ming frowned. "Are you sure we should be rescuing him?"
"Positive."
"Whatever. What's the deal with the music guy?" Ming asked, peeking around the rock to look at him. "Oh, the ninja got him."
"They did?" Tara looking around the other side of the rock to see that, sure enough, Alex had his weapons taken away from his and was tied up securely. Kai appeared to be either interrogating him, or just yelling at him for knocking him out. "Oh great. Um, so, I learned that he was the Elemental Master of Music, and I needed to get his powers for the crystal, and so I told him that I was tracking some criminals, them, and I was trying to rescue my friend, you. So I asked him to help me and he agreed, but I was really planning to just take his powers and convince him not to attack until I'd rescued Clouse, then ditch him. Ah..." Tara frowned. "The ninja won't hurt him, will they?"
"Nah, but they'll probably tell him the truth." Ming replied with a shrug. "I can't really go back now, can I? They saw me go you willingly."
"Yeah, you're right..." Tara mused.
"And what if we get attacked by ghosts? We don't have any elemental powers to protect ourselves." MIng shuddered at the thought.
"Actually..." Tara pulled the brightly-colored crystal out of her satchel. "We have plenty."
FFF: Gosh, Tara actually cares about Alex's well being? TRUE LOVE CONFIRMED!
Kai: Uh, no.
FFF: You're right, I was just kidding. At least Alex is suspicious of her now, and he'll probably be on the ninja's side soon. Key word: probably. Okay, what was I gonna say... ah...
Lloyd: Ask us questions.
FFF: Right! And review! Bye!
~FFF
