Lots of Surprises Indeed

"Oh man I wish she didn't run off so fast," Lance grumbled. "She moves pretty quick for an old lady."

"Granny always has to do things her own way," Kima said.

"Yeah but there's stuff I had to tell her so she wouldn't freak out!" Lance told her.

"What is 'freak out'?"

"Get scared, my friends are a little…unusual."

"Not to worry, Granny not that usual herself."

"No there's more to it than that. I guess you would have figured it out sooner or later," Lance sighed. "I'm a mutant. And so are my friends."

"What's that?" Kima asked.

"You don't know?" Lance asked. "Well uh a mutant is a person with special powers."

"You mean like magic?"

"No, I mean its part of our genes. It's a genetic thing. Watch…" He used his powers to lightly shake the ground. "Like that."

"Amazing!" Kima clapped her hands.

"You're not afraid?"

"Should I be?" She blinked. Then he noticed that Kima's eyes were a startling blue.

"No…I guess not," Lance gulped.

"Here you eat now," Kima gave him a bowl full of food.

"But my friends…"

"Granny help. Don't worry. Besides she tell you to stay here. Can't find friends on empty stomach anyway."

"Well…" Lance debated for a second. Look for my friends or stay here and be fed by a beautiful girl. Well technically she's my host and she did save my life. It would be kind of rude to leave…He realized how pretty she was. "Okay!" He resumed eating.

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"I SWEAR I NEVER EAT DRAGONFLIES! REALLY I DON'T!" Todd screamed in terror as he hung on.

"YEAH WE LOVE DRAGONFLIES! WE'D NEVER CONSIDER DOING ANYTHING TO THEM!" Pietro shrieked. "HELP! WANDA SAVE ME!"

"How do we get them down?" Wanda shouted as they watched the dragonflies fly around madly.

"Can't you use your hex bolts?" Althea asked.

"I don't think so, too high up," Wanda told her. "Plus I don't want them to crash. Well at least injure them too badly. I just don't wanna have to play nursemaid to their broken bodies. At least until the ship comes back."

"So what do we do now?" Xi asked. "Fred do you have an idea? Fred?" He looked around.

"HO THERE!" Fred shouted. They saw him clinging on the back of a large parrot. He had a vine around the bird's beak as a bridle. "Grab on!"

"Well here we go…" Althea jumped on with Wanda just before the bird took off.

Xi managed to cling to the parrot's leg and hung on for dear life. "How did you get this bird?"

"Hey I had an uncle that used to be a wrangler," Fred told him. "How hard can it be?"

"Polly'd be jealous," Althea said as they flew after the boys. "Uh so what's the plan Fred?"

"I thought you had a plan," Fred asked. "Hey I just got the parrot! You're the leader!"

"Well let's try and catch up to those two," Althea said. "Maybe we can force them down gently somehow."

"How?" Xi asked.

"I don't know! I'm just winging it!" Althea snapped. "Literally."

"RIDE 'EM COWBOY! YEEEEHAAAA!" Fred whooped as they flew along.

"Okay now I have seen everything," Xi muttered as he hung on for dear life.

The parrot flew right after Todd's dragonfly and bit into it's tail. Todd grabbed the parrot's other leg with his tongue and hung on just as the bird ate the dragonfly. "Well that's one way of doing this," Wanda gulped as the parrot headed for Pietro.

"Are you crazy?" Pietro cried out as the parrot started to get ready to eat the dragonfly.

As Pietro leapt onto the parrot's face. "PIETRO NO!" Fred cried out as the bird flapped around wildly.

"There's too many of us!" Wanda shouted. To her horror the parrot flew higher into a cloud. Suddenly Xi fell off. "XI!" The parrot buckled again and both she and Althea fell off. They screamed as they fell through the cloud.

Then suddenly they hit something. "Well that didn't hurt as much as I thought," Althea blinked. "Boy the ground is softer than I thought."

"And it's moving…" Xi was behind them.

"What the heck?" Wanda gasped as she looked at what she was riding on. They were on the back of a huge blue Chinese dragon. "Okay this is not what I expected."

"Nothing on this island is what we expected!" Xi said.

"Hang on tight!" The dragon shouted.

"Did the dragon just talk?" Althea blinked.

"No the dragon is actually a mime," The dragon snapped as it flew. "Of course I can talk! Now the three of you hang on!" They flew through the clouds. "Now where did they go?"

"Are you asking us?" Althea blinked. "How could you lose a parrot so fast?"

"Hey I just saved your lives! Give me a break!" The dragon snapped. They looked and saw a huge fog barrier around part of the jungle. "Oh great they must have entered the Jungle of Mists. This is a problem."

"Oh really?" Althea remarked. "Gee and this seems such a safe neighborhood."

"I can't fly through there," The dragon told them. "Too much fog. We'll have to take a different tactic. Come on."

"Like we have a choice?" Wanda asked.

"Okay it's official this place is so weird," Althea remarked.

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"But I don't need a bath!" Lance stammered as he was pushed outside.

"Yes you do," Kima shoved him to the back. "See we have hot spring outside!" There was a large hot spring. She gave him some bathing utensils. "Here washcloth, and soap and scrub brush! You clean yourself good."

"But uh…doesn't the soap kind of pollute the water or something?" Lance gulped.

"No actually scrub in hot spring silly!" Kima laughed. "Hot spring is for soaking."

"Then uh…?" Lance blinked.

"Don't you have baths where you come from?" She asked.

"Well we have showers," Lance said.

"You only bathe when it rains?" Kima blinked.

"No, I mean we have a room called a shower and…" Lance scratched his head. "Well water comes through a pipe and uh…"

Kima giggled. "You silly! Here you scrub on stool," She pointed to a stool behind a screen.

"You mean I have to sit on that and wash?" Lance blinked.

"Uh huh, then use bucket to rinse, then you get into the spring. I go get some clothes for you later. Yours are still too wet."

"Don't you have a dryer?" Lance asked. "Never mind." He watched her leave. "Well…when in Rome…" He went behind the screen and took off the robe. He felt a little strange cleaning himself out in the open even thought he entire area was fenced in by bamboo. After he cleaned and rinsed himself he went into the hot spring. "You know this isn't so bad," He said to himself as he lay back against the side and relaxed.

"Bath good?" Kima stepped out with some clothes. She put them on the side.

"Uh yeah," Lance gulped. "What are you doing here?"

"I come to take bath with you," Kima told him. "And to show you something."

"Uh that's not necessary…" Lance gulped as she started to remove her kimono. "Really…Oh my…" He gulped as she let the kimono drop to the ground. But it wasn't the fact that she was wearing a tiny white bikini underneath that startled him. It was the fact that she had a pair of red dragon like wings on her back and a long red tail behind her.

"There…" Kima took off her ribbons to reveal her horns on top of her head. She went into the hot spring with Lance. "Now Kima no have to hide true self from Lance."

"What the…?" Lance gulped. He looked at her. "You're a mutant too!"

"No I am half dragon," Kima told him.

"Half dragon?" Lance blinked.

"Yes half dragon," Granny appeared with Althea, Xi and Wanda. "Well it didn't take you long did it?"

"Hey Lance!" Althea grinned. "Having fun?"

"And to think we were worried about him," Wanda said sarcastically.

"It's not what you think!" Lance protested trying to cover himself.

"Well if this doesn't get you over Kitty nothing will," Wanda chuckled.

"Who Kitty?" Kima asked.

"His last girlfriend," Xi said. "Two timed him with another guy."

"Oh," Kima said. She looked at Xi. "Are you a half dragon too?"

"No he's a mutant," Althea said. "Like us. I'm Althea, that's Xi and that's Wanda."

"What is a mutant?" Granny asked.

"A person who's born with special abilities," Althea said.

"Lance can make the earth move!" Kima said.

"I'm sure he can," Granny chuckled.

"No I really can do it," Lance told her. "Watch…" He used his powers on a nearby rock. It ended up crashing through the bamboo wall. "Oops."

"Oh so in other words you are a human with special powers that are not magic related," Granny nodded. "In other words you are a freak."

"HEY!" Lance snapped. "Who are you calling a freak?" He stood up grabbing a towel to cover himself.

"Well I am a full dragon," Granny then changed to a huge blue Chinese dragon. "My species of dragon is able to take human form for a time."

"Whoa…" Lance blinked as he fell backwards.

"But that not exactly normal by human standards either Granny," Kima said.

"You see over a hundred years ago Kima's mother, my daughter, fell in love with a shipwrecked sailor," Granny said. "And well you can guess the rest."

"A hundred?" Lance looked at Kima. "You're a hundred?"

"No silly," Kima laughed. "Kima only 97!"

"It takes about three years for our species to gestate," Granny explained as she returned to a human form.

"97?" Lance gulped.

"Well Lance I didn't know you went for older women," Wanda snickered.

"Look as much as I'd hate to interrupt your sex romp here we have more important business," Granny said. "You can play with my granddaughter later. It's your friends I'm concerned about."

"We were not…" Lance began to protest. "Wait what kind of danger?"

"Go put some clothes on and I'll tell you," Granny sighed. "I must tell you all about the Orochi."