Chapter 20
Marco
It was total pandemonium in that cave. No time to morph, no where to run, nothing to do but use my own hands and feet against the psychotic Tarzan tribe. INSANE! TOTALLY INSANE! It was me, Kai, Jake, Lani, and Ax. The others had tried to clear a path for us as they bailed, but it was blocked.
Half the Megami- well, I assumed these were the Megami- had followed them.
And It was unbelievable how fast these guys were!! Their spears moved faster than Ax's own tail. SWISH! The girl who'd targeted swung her spear. I dodged, dodged! Actually, she didn't really appear to be trying to hit me. More just trying to scare me.
But she was a doing a helluva good job.
I glanced over at the others. Jake was standing over the girl Lani, who lay unconscious on the floor. Impossible to tell whether she'd been knocked out, or if she'd fainted.
Ax was blocking spears and kicks with the flat side of his tail blade, but even he was tiring.
My glance had cost me a precious moment in my battle. The girl jabbed her spear at me. I grabbed it with both hands and tried to shove it away. The tip of the spear centimeters from my chest…
Before I knew what was happening, I was shoved into the cave wall. My head hit hard. Why…do people always have to knock me…out…?
Chapter 21
Ax
The battle didn't last long. The Megami were fast, but of course, I was faster. I knocked them out with my blade and Kai helped me drag them to the mouth of the cave.
You fight well, for a human… I complimented her.
She turned a pinkish colour. "Ah, well. I take Karate." She hastily added, "And I'm only a brown belt, anyway."
Of course I had no idea what she was talking about, so I merely nodded like I understood.
Everyone else in the cave was unconscious. Prince Jake had been hit, trying to protect the fallen Lani. Marco had hit his head as Kai shoved him out of the way of a blow.
"What do you think we should so, Axy-san?"
I blinked at my new nickname. I follow prince Jake. Where ever he leads, I will go.
She nodded solemnly. "Then perhaps we should wake him up."
There was a large leaf sitting on a rock above Jake's head. It had been collecting water falling through a small crack in the roof of the cave. Kai dumped it on him.
"YAH!" He sat up. "That's friggin freezing!"
She knelt beside him and touched the bruise on the side of his head. He grimaced. She pressed her lips together. "You were really lucky, Jake-san. That almost hit your temple." She shook her head. "But you'll be fine. So what should we do now?"
Prince Jake stared a her a moment. "Yeah. Um," Then he looked around. "Hey! Where is everyone?!"
They fled, Prince Jake. Apparently half of us stayed and half of us left.
"Okay. Right." He rubbed his forehead. "So how come Marco's knocked out over there?"
Lani began to awaken. She groaned and sit up. "Oww…did somebody catch the license plate on that truck? Crazy Sunday drivers!!"
Jake shook his head, smiling. But I glanced back at Kai to check to see if Lani'd hit her head. But what I saw surprised me.
Prince Jake! I cried. He turned to see what I was looking at. Kai suddenly appeared to be very uncomfortable. She looked like…like she was in a great deal of pain. She took a clumsy step backwards and doubled over.
"Kai…?" Prince Jake asked, alarmed.
She cried out and fell back against the cave wall, convulsing violently. She slowly slid to the floor.
"K-kai-chan!!" Lani cried and leapt to her side.
Prince Jake took Lani's arm, comforting her. "Kai, what's wrong?" He asked in panic.
She gulped and gasped. Then, she looked up with tears in her eyes. "It's the others…they're in trouble…"
Chapter 22
Amara
It was dark. So dark. I couldn't see anything…well, that wasn't true. I could see things, but not really SEE them. They were like wisps…like foggy dreams, in fragments. And I would hear things…weird things…
My mother's voice, "Amara, it's Akari…they just found out…she has cancer…"
I felt that I was in a cold, eerie hospital room…There was someone in the corner, crying. The bed was empty.
I could just see Akari's smiling face…"Amara-san!"
I reached out, but I couldn't touch her. She was being pulled away- ripped away! She began to cry out my name...Akari, no, don't go! She was slipping, fading!
I was dreaming of course. Dreaming a sad…sad, dream.
And suddenly, without warning-I woke up.
Then I screamed. Because my hands and feet were bound tightly together with rope. I lay on a hard, dirty floor, tossed into the corner like a ragdoll and I had a headache no asprin could ever cure.
Also, there was a woman standing over me with a spear.
She glared down at me. My throat tightened up as she slowly knelt in front of me. Her face changed to a look of indifference as she pressed the blade of her spear against my cheek.
I clenched my fist as the blood trickled down my neck.
She brought her face very close to mine as she whispered… "Get out."
She stood, and kicked dirt in my eyes. I coughed and gagged. Tossing me one last cruel glance, she disappeared into the darkness.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, trying to wash away the dust from my eyes. I lay there for a time, trying to steady my breathing and get my head to stop spinnng. Something was wrong...that woman had done something to me.
Suddenly my mind stopped being foggy. I was faced with the harsh reality. I was tied up...and alone. In a cave. They'd left me to die!
"Is anybody-cough-here?!" I cried. I desperately worm-walked forward, kicking up dust. "Hello!! Where is everybody??!" I was in blind panic now, having an emotional spasm. No, no, no! Not alone! I hated being alone!! I didn't want to die here, this way. Not to slowly starve and rot--that was not an honourable death!
"Hey, hey! Chill down, Amara. We're all here,"
I breathed a sigh of relief as the dust settled and Rachel, Cassie, Nichirasu, Fi, Tobias, and Shinji stepped forward from the darkness.
"We were worried..." Shinji said. "We couldn't find you."
Fi gently cut the ropes that bound me as I stood. "Thanks, Fi…" I breathed. "What happened here…?" I asked groggily.
"They jumped us," Rachel said fiercely. "Got us and captured us, Mid-morph! They knocked us all out and dragged us here, I guess. But I don't get it. Why didn't they kill us?"
"Maybe they don't want us dead, Rachel. They just want us to leave." Cassie said quietly.
"And another thing! Where in the name of all that is holy are we?! The Ellimist said he was taking us to a distant planet…not away to the jungle or whatever to save the Tarzan tribe!"
"It doesn't matter where we are," Shinji broke in. "I'm sick of sitting around and talking. We have to do something. We stay, and fight, like the Ellimist told us to, or find someway to get our sorry boo-tays outta here."
"Well, what are we supposed to do? Stay here and fight their war? They hate us, man. They don't want us here!" Nichirasu exclaimed.
And… Fi said. I am confused as to the striking resemblance between the Megami and humans. Is it really possible that we're still on Earth?
"No," I shook my head. "A lot of the greenery around here is definitely not Earthen. And we gotta get out of this immediate area. Now. This is enemy territory, so let's move."
I looked at Cassie and then at Rachel. Tobias was perched on her shoulder. "I'm sorry you got separated from the rest of you're group. Part of our group is gone as well. But I hope that we'll all be able to work as a single team now. Not two."
They nodded solemnly. Well, Tobias can't exactly nod, but you know what I mean.
Further exploration proved that we were in a cave. Not a very deep one. Moments later, a small tribe of birds flew from the mouth, anxiously searching the trees for a form with a spear…and eyes that penetrated the soul.
