Chapter Eighty-Four: Arachnor and Redusa
In the labyrinths, on the way to the royal castleā¦
Caline was swiftly leading the way through the labyrinths, followed by Shalila, Dirkan, Lektron, Gracina, Bajal, Alora, Cletos, Gorna, Arlon, Lukan, Bendros, Dedron, Rojal, Riccan, and of course, Tayla. Following the fifteen fighters from Astoria were Ridikar and his brother, Julien, followed by three CRP officers, General Norbrook, Lieutenant Balboun, and Filcor Sedemeyer. A team of twenty CRP officers under General Norbrook's command was following behind them. The non-fighting Astorians and Calmagians, along with Toria and Veal, had remained behind in the ruined city of Magan. Dollan had wanted to come along to protect "his" Alora, but Alora told him bluntly thank you, but that she could well take care of herself. Bajal's threatening glare at Dollan also dissuaded the besotted boy from coming along.
Shalila was following closely behind Caline, to protect the girl in case some trouble should occur in the labyrinths. She hovered over the little Calmagian princess, as Caline quickly guided her and the others through the intricate maze of tunnels and corridors that spread throughout the underground.
"How much further now, Caline?" Shalila asked, ducking when a giant tree root nearly hit her in her head.
"About another half a mile, Superior Gran, and then we should be there right at the kitchenette where we smuggled the other hostages out earlier," Caline replied, brushing a bit of dirt off of her dress.
The labyrinth corridors were now darker than ever and cold, so cold and damp that some of the Astorian fighters had now put up their protective ki shields for warmth. Lieutenant Balboun flicked a yellow beetle-like insect off of his sleeve and shuddered.
"Haven't been in the labyrinths for years, I say. Cold, nasty place it is, too. Whew! Chilly in here, I must say! Will be glad to get somewhere warm. What say you, General?"
"It is cold, Lieutenant, but it shouldn't be much longer. Sedemeyer, how are you and the others holding up?"
"Fine, General, very well," Filcor told Norbrook briskly, as he led the CRP soldiers behind him. "If you will excuse me, General, may I have your permission to go up front near Princess Caline?"
"Permission granted, Sedemeyer. I am sorry to hear that you and the princess will not be wed. I hear that Prince Ridikar has dissolved your engagement to her."
"I'm not giving up yet, General," Filcor replied firmly. "Prince Ridikar does not have the final say, as he would like to think he does. When we rescue the king, the king will surely hold up Prince Amitar's promise to wed Princess Caline to me."
"Perhaps, Sedemeyer, it would be best if you were to pursue another girl," Lieutenant Balboun advised him. "The girl obviously wants nothing to do with you, and if a future bride felt like that towards me, I don't believe that I would want to force the issue. I'd just find someone else, if I were you, Sedemeyer. There are thousands of girls who would want to be your bride; Princess Caline is not the only fruit in the bushel. She is a cute thing though, although I prefer girls a little older. I wouldn't want a girl though who at least didn't show some interest in me. If I had forced my wife, Rayli, such a spirited thing, to marry me against her will, I would have had to worry about her sticking a knife in my back every night! "
General Norbrook laughed. "You are luckier than many men, Balboun, for you and your bride married for love! Rayli was only fifteen at the time that you chose her, but she had loved you since she was thirteen; you are definitely a lucky man, Balboun. I have seen many miserable young brides on their wedding days being married off to someone that they did not want to be with. How long have you been with Rayli now-fifteen years?"
"Seventeen," Lieutenant Balboun said proudly. "We just celebrated our anniversary two weeks ago, and I'm thankful that Rayli is on the other side of Calmag at this moment. I packed her and the kids and sent them off to her family over there the moment that I learned of Frieza's forces invading; I wasn't taking any chances. Blasted phone lines are down though; can't even contact her, and she's due any day now with our sixth little one! Be glad when this nasty war is over with!"
"So will we, Balboun, so will we," Norbrook agreed, as he noticed Filcor leave them to join the others up front.
Shalila and Caline were at the very front of the rescuers still, and Caline nearly jumped out of her porcelain skin when she saw a huge, hairy, red spider with ten legs, instead of eight, and three neon green eyes lower itself down in front of her. Caline bit her pale pink lip to keep from shrieking; the old Caline would have cried out and backed away, but the others were counting on the new Caline to keep calm and be as brave as she had been the last couple of days, so Caline merely shuddered and tried to duck around the spider. Caline was paler than before, for she had a deep fear of spiders; her arachnophobia was as severe as her father's claustrophobia had been.
Shalila sensed Caline's intense fear of the spider, and she admired the girl for not letting it get to her. Shalila herself hated spiders with a passion, no matter what planet they were from, and spiders were her secret terror years ago, a terror that had taken Shalila decades to overcome. To keep herself and Caline calm, however, she aimed a tiny ki blast at the spider to eliminate it.
It would be an attack that she would soon regret making.
All Shalila's ki blast did was make things ten times as worse, for the scarlet spider suddenly enlarged itself to fifty times its sized. Caline finally lost control of herself and screamed, and Shalila herself couldn't help but cry out in horror.
"You'll pay for that, wench!" the spider hissed in a raspy masculine voice.
"That thing can talk!" Dirkan exclaimed. He yelled at the others behind him, "Everyone, stop!"
The others, seeing the giant red spider, came to a halt immediately.
"Men, get up to the front and fire at that beast!" Norbrook commanded his CRP officers.
"We're not letting some spider get in our way!"
"No, Norbrook, make your men stay where they are at!" Dirkan ordered Norbrook sharply. "This is one of Frieza's minions; you can tell by his uniform!"
"He's just a spider," Norbrook pointed out.
"He's Elite," Dirkan snapped at him. "He's wearing the Elite colors; we've fought against his type before! Make your men stay put!"
"Men, stay put!" Norbrook told them, deciding that the Astorians knew more about Frieza's officers than he did.
"The green thing is correct," the red spider told them silkily in his raspy tone. "I am Lower-Elite Officer Arachnor, and I was sent as a backup to destroy all of you and help capture Princess Tayla Chloe. Tell me where the girl is, and I'll spare most of you. Where is she? I'm in a hurry."
"Oh, you're in a hurry, all right," Dirkan mocked him confidently. "As in a hurry to go to meet Enma Daiou!" And saying that, Dirkan fired a slim, white ki blast at Arachnor, who opened his fang-filled mouth and swallowed it.
"What the hell-" Dirkan declared, but before he could finish, Arachnor spat out a sticky string of glowing silk from his mouth right at Dirkan, capturing him. Within seconds, Dirkan was wrapped up in a cocoon of ki-draining silk, which was quickly sapping his ki, of which he had plenty of now, thanks to Caline's miraculous roses. Dirkan cried out and struggled, as the dangerous silk began to drain his ki.
Arachnor quickly released the cocoon string from his mouth and licked his lips.
"Who wants to challenge me next?"
"Lektron, Gracina, see what you can do to free Dirkan!" Shalila ordered. "I will deal with Arachnor!" And saying that, she launched a Rings of Saturn attack at Arachnor, who again swallowed the ki attack. Arachnor spat another string of ki-draining silk at Shalila, but Shalila, having learned from what happened to her husband, seized Caline and dodged the attack, as it hit the wall. Both Shalila and Caline fell to the floor facedown, with Shalila's body covering Caline's, as they were pressed up against the wall of the corridor.
"That's it!" Bajal shouted, as Lektron and Gracina were trying to cut Dirkan free of the silk cocoon. He ran past them with his sword raised and bravely attempted to behead the cruel spider, but Arachnor's neck was impenetrable to swords. In fact, Arachnor's entire body appeared to be like flesh, but it was as hard as steel, and Bajal could not even cut into the spider warrior's skin.
Finally Arachnor had enough of Bajal trying to filet him or behead him or whatever, and he puffed up his body, taking a deep breath. He swelled up like a giant hot air balloon, and then he blew out a gust of air equivalent to the wind of a hurricane from his mouth. The wind overcame all of the fighters, and everyone, including Shalila and Caline were swept up into the wind, and everyone was blown backwards for almost a good two miles.
After Arachnor stopped blowing, there was a pile of cluttered, colorful bodies, all piled on top of each other. The Astorians and Calmagians tried to scramble off of each other as fast as they could, and while they were trying to put themselves back together and check themselves and each other for wounds, Shalila came up with a plan.
So Arachnor likes to use our ki against us, eh? And he likes to blow people away literally. Well, let's see how he likes my next idea, Shalila thought to herself.
Shalila, to everyone's surprise, sped back to Arachnor within less than two minutes. Before Arachnor could react, Shalila was standing before him, smiling triumphantly.
"Oh, Arachnor," she began sweetly. "You are a fine fighter, I can tell that already. Why don't we both fight each other, just the two of us, above ground?"
"Fight a woman?" Arachnor laughed. "You don't look like much of a challenge, even though you did give me much ki to use against you earlier. The green thing's ki wasn't too bad either. I love the taste of ki, especially when it's spat back out at my foes. I use the ki people attack me with for food, and then the waste product in the ki, I use against them! Creative, eh?"
"Very," Shalila told him pleasantly. "So will you accept my challenge or not?"
"Sure thing, old woman!" Arachnor chuckled in his raspy voice again. "This shouldn't take too long."
"Oh, you're right about that," Shalila agreed whole-heartedly.
Arachnor easily blew a hole in the roof of the labyrinth, blowing away dirt, debris, concrete, and blacktop. Shalila noticed the moonlight from two of Calmag's three moons shining down into the maze; she had not realized that it was this late at night. She followed Arachnor out of the labyrinth and into the night outside.
When they came up to the surface, and then two miles away, they were on the edges of the city of Magan. Shalila then opened up her hands, using a special attack that she developed in the past several years that she had dubbed Whirlwind Blaze. She threw back her hands, palms close together in a scooping position, as if she were about to bowl a bowling ball and cried out, "WHIRLWIND BLAZE!"
A bright-red cyclone-shaped attack spun slowly out of Shalila's cupped hands, growing larger and larger until the cyclone was half the size of a regular tornado. Shalila had to close her eyes now, for the light radiating from the cyclone in her hands was too bright for her. She lightly tossed the cyclone away from her and let it whirl down to Arachnor, who happily opened his mouth to swallow the cyclone. Arachnor sucked in the cyclone the same way that someone would suck in a string of coiled spaghetti. Whirlwind Blaze had such a large amount of ki in it that it made Arachnor's body swell up slightly.
Shalila rubbed her eyes and smiled, as Arachnor relished the delicious ki attack from her. The good thing about Whirlwind Blaze was that it could be used five or more times before it would drain all of her ki. So she launched several more Whirlwind Blaze attacks at Arachnor, who greedily ate them all. Arachnor was too busy eating Shalila's ki to attack his opponent with her ki transformed into ki-draining silk.
Shalila gave him two more Whirlwind Blaze attacks, and Arachnor's body grew fatter and fatter until he was literally straining to hold all of the ki light that Shalila had given him in. Finally Shalila gathered more ki together to launch one more ki attack at him, and this one would be Arachnor's last meal.
For within seconds, Arachnor's body swelled up to its fullest, fattest size imaginable. "Oh, no!" he screamed in terror. "Not this! No!"
But it was too late, for suddenly, like a balloon that had been filled with too much air, Arachnor's body exploded loudly into thousands of bloody and hairy spider parts. A bright, blinding light radiated throughout the air, the light of a million kilowatts flowed throughout the city of Magan, as Shalila closed her eyes tightly and shielded them with her small hands.
When the smoke and light cleared, nothing much was left of Arachnor except for his severed head, which had remained perfectly intact, or it had until Shalila aimed a small ki blast at it, obliterating it into dust.
"Talk about not being able to handle a 'light' meal!" she joked to herself with a small grin. "Now, it's time to head back.
But before Shalila could get back into the labyrinth, Dirkan (whom Lektron and Gracina had finally freed from the awful cocoon and whom had been healed by a Calmagian rose), the Astorian fighters, and the Calmagian fighters were faced with another problem.
It didn't seem to be such a problem at first. A humanoid woman, neither of Astorian, Saiyan, or Calmagian descent had shortly entered the corridors just after Shalila had led Arachnor out of the labyrinths to fight him on her own. She had been hiding her appearance under a bright, shiny yellow cloak and headdress that enveloped her entire body.
She then threw off her headdress and cloak, revealing her true beauty, with long, flowing mint-green hair, white skin, deep violet eyes, large, bouncy, round breasts and a perfect hourglass figure. Most of the men couldn't help but gape openly at her, even the married ones. She winked at them with her left eye and smiled devilishly.
Dedron had openly leered at her. "Wow! What a fine piece of woman! I wonder where's she from!"
Alora had sharply belted him in his ribs, or she had tried to anyway, but she couldn't.
Why?
Dedron's height, which had towered near Alora's great height before, was now only up to her ankles.
In fact, any male who had seen the green-haired woman's great beauty were now the size and height of Earth fashion dolls such as Ken and Barbie. All of the men who had looked at her had shrunk.
"What did she do to the men?" Lieutenant Balboun demanded just before he looked at her himself, and he swiftly shrank down to only six inches. He and all of the other male victims were the same size at six inches tall.
"What happened?" Balboun squeaked, for his voice now sounded like he had been inhaling helium.
"What's happening?" Tayla cried in horror when she had noticed Dedron and Rojal shrink down to six inches tall. Even Dirkan was now six inches tall.
More of the men made the mistake of looking at the strange woman before the females, who were not being affected, began to realize why the men were shrinking.
"No other men look at her!" Gracina cried out, for she was the first to realize that the men who had looked at the woman had been the ones to shrink, including her own husband. Lektron only came up to the hem of Gracina's red boot now, and he was shaking his fists at the mint-haired woman who had done this to him. The few males who were left at their original height, which included Riccan, Lukan, Bendros, Ridikar and Julien, who had been in the far back, obeyed Gracina's orders.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the green-haired woman said smoothly. "I am Redusa, a Lower-Elite Officer who can shrink men down to size just by winking at them with my left eye if they gaze upon my magnificent beauty."
"You bring the others back to size right now!" Gracina ordered.
Redusa laughed. "Such a funny woman, you are! You are lovely to gaze upon, I will admit, but your beauty pales in comparison to my great looks. Sorry about your men, but the only way they can be brought back, is if I am killed."
"That shouldn't be too hard," Gracina insisted. Redusa's ki level was not any higher than Gracina's, and Gracina was certain that she could handle her. Gracina pulled out her sword and pointed it towards Redusa. "It's time to cut you down to size!"
Redusa laughed, a horrible, rusty laugh that grated on everyone's nerves immediately. Gracina charged at her with her sword, but Redusa seized a lock of Gracina's long, flowing golden hair and winked at her with her right eye. To Gracina's horror, she felt herself shrinking down to the same size as the men.
Caline screamed when she saw her beloved Gracina being reduced to the size of a doll. Rashly, little Caline ran to gather up Gracina and Lektron before Redusa did something horrible to them, but Redusa seized Caline by her hair and pulled the terrified child up to her face. Caline shut her eyes tight and refused to open them, and this infuriated Redusa. She started to squeeze Caline's arm hard, hoping to force the girl to open her eyes. Caline had become an expert at passive resistance however, and she kept her eyes closed, even though Redusa's squeezing was leaving a huge bruise on her delicate flesh.
The shrunken men all ran towards Redusa and attacked her feet and ankles, but Redusa kicked them away. Some of the fighters used ki blasts, but the ki signatures of the men had been reduced greatly as well, so their ki attacks could not harm the deadly beauty.
"Let my sister go!" Ridikar shouted, and he dragged Julien along with him. Julien covered his eyes, as he reluctantly followed his brother as they ran to save Caline. Tayla and Bendros followed close behind, careful to cover their eyes, as they did so.
Caline finally turned around and sank her tiny, pearly teeth into Redusa's arm, and Redusa howled in pain. In her fury, she flung a screaming Caline against the wall of the corridor, and a terrified Caline kept her face to the wall. Ridikar and Julien then made the mistake of opening their eyes when they heard Caline's cries, and Redusa was quick to notice. She winked at them with her left eye, and they began to shrink before they knew it.
Alora and Gorna, trying not to look at her directly, launched themselves towards her while firing a few well-placed ki blasts at her. Redusa, unfortunately, knew how to put up a ki barrier to protect herself, a ki barrier similar to the Shield Field that the Astorians used. Alora and Gorna kept their eyes closed and kept firing at the ki shield the best that they could while Gracina and the shrunken men ran for cover.
Riccan followed behind Tayla and Bendros, as they tried to make their way to Redusa. Riccan had his small eyes squinted shut, as followed them. He had his hand in Tayla's, and Tayla had her hand in Bendros' as all three of them raced to stop Redusa. Tayla had seen what happened to Gracina, and she had quickly surmised that women could be affected by Redusa's shrinking spell. She felt something round and heavy in her pocket on the blue gi that Gracina had procured for her. She released Riccan's hand for just a moment, and being careful not to look in Redusa's direction, she reached into her pocket and pulled out Petalia's favorite gold mirror. Petalia had lent it to her earlier, but Tayla had forgotten to return it to her before she left with her family to fight.
It would turn out to be a fortunate mistake.
Tayla then remembered an Earth myth that Nama had told her when she was about five years old. It had been a Greek mythology story about a monster named Medusa, and how Medusa was defeated when she looked into a mirror and turned herself into stone. Tayla recalled that in the story, those who looked at Medusa automatically were turned to stone. She held the cold mirror in her hot little hand and hoped that what worked for Perseus (the hero who had defeated Medusa with the mirror) would work for her.
She abruptly released both the hands of Bendros and Riccan, and she took off running ahead of them in the corridors.
"Tayla, come back!" Bendros cried.
"Tayla!" Riccan cried.
Tayla finally neared Redusa, who was still holding up her ki shield to ward off Gorna's and Alora's attacks.
Redusa was now bragging about her great beauty again, and she was mocking Gorna's and Alora's individual looks.
"You two have to be a couple of the ugliest women I have ever seen! A plain, fat woman and a woman with a monkey tail! I didn't know that there were any smelly monkeys fighting with the Astorians! Too bad your looks are as bad as your fighting skills!" Redusa looked at her lovely, clear white skin and smiled, as she toyed with a lock of her mint hair. "My beauty is beyond compare, not a single flaw! No wonder all the men in here were mesmerized by me!"
"Your beauty's not that great!" Tayla dared to scream at her with her eyes closed shut. "Your hair's not even a natural color! You look like a skinny snowwoman with seaweed for hair!"
"How dare you mock my beauty, you little black-haired wench!" Redusa hissed, with her lovely delicate features twisted into an ugly sneer. "You're ordinary compared to me, little girl! Anyone can have black hair, how unoriginal! And you're skinny and short, with no boobs at all to speak of! You look like you could be the president of the Itty Bitty Titty Club!"
"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?" Tayla asked her, secretly bristling at the insults, for she was as sensitive about her extremely slowly developing breasts as she was about her short height. Even Caline's little breasts were larger than hers, and Caline was smaller than Tayla. Tayla, like most girls her age, had compared her bosom to those of other girls, especially Petalia and Lelina, who already had nicely developing chests that were sure to be a magnificent size someday, a size that would attract men. Tayla's chest had just started developing a few months ago, with small flattish bumps that barely passed for real breasts, with nipples only the size of chocolate chips.
Before her family had left for Calmag, the cruel Dedron had discovered Tayla's sensitivity about her flat chest when he had accidentally heard her complain to Gracina and Nama about it. When he had caught Tayla alone, he had dared to ask her if he could use her chest as an ironing board for his shirt since it was nice and flat. When Tayla had called him a bastardi, Dedron joked that Tayla must be a hermaphrodite since she had a girl's voice and hair, but a boy's figure and possibility a boy's genitals and hormones. Those insults had earned Dedron a hard punch to his face and Tayla two days confinement to her room, since Shalila had thought that Tayla could have walked away from that fight without hitting. But Dedron had never insulted Tayla about her chest again, thanks to a few nasty threats from both Lektron and Dirkan separately.
Tayla brushed aside those memories for now and focused on fighting Redusa. She said, "I saw you earlier before you winked at the men, and you look old! In fact, you look old enough now to be my grandmother!"
"What, you little slut! How dare you insult me! I'll show you! Uncover your eyes and fight me!"
"With pleasure," Tayla told her boldly, as she opened her eyes. Redusa grinned and winked a her with her right eye.
But her grin soon turned into a horrified scream, for she saw herself winking at her reflection in Petalia's mirror, which Tayla had held up right in front of her eyes. Redusa screamed in horror, for she had now caused herself to be affected by her own spell, and she began to shrink. Her ki shield faded away, and while she was shrinking, Gorna wasted no time in sending her to Enma Daiou with a quick ki blast. Within nanoseconds, Redusa was reduced to a small pile of white and green sparkling ashes.
After Redusa was killed, Gracina and all of the males began to grow back to their normal sizes. The men were enormously relieved to look like men again, and Gracina was thankful not to be the size of an Earth fairy anymore.
Shalila had returned just as the other fighters were celebrating being brought back to their normal sizes. Gorna was congratulating Tayla for her quick thinking, and Alora was spitting on the pile of ashes that had once been Redusa. Gracina was comforting Caline, and Riccan and Bendros and Ridikar were openly cheering for Tayla. The men were telling both Tayla and Gorna thanks for getting rid of that green-haired whore, and Shalila was looking at everyone.
"What in Orchida's name happened here?"
"Oh, Nama," Tayla told her brightly, going up to her beloved grandmother and hugging her tightly around her waist. "You'll never believe what happened here when you went out to fight that spider!"
"At this point in my life, dandelion, I would believe about anything. But try me anyway."
So Tayla told her Nama about Redusa, and Shalila couldn't help but laugh a little bit before she told her own story about how she single-handedly defeated Arachnor.
In the labyrinths, on the way to the royal castleā¦
Caline was swiftly leading the way through the labyrinths, followed by Shalila, Dirkan, Lektron, Gracina, Bajal, Alora, Cletos, Gorna, Arlon, Lukan, Bendros, Dedron, Rojal, Riccan, and of course, Tayla. Following the fifteen fighters from Astoria were Ridikar and his brother, Julien, followed by three CRP officers, General Norbrook, Lieutenant Balboun, and Filcor Sedemeyer. A team of twenty CRP officers under General Norbrook's command was following behind them. The non-fighting Astorians and Calmagians, along with Toria and Veal, had remained behind in the ruined city of Magan. Dollan had wanted to come along to protect "his" Alora, but Alora told him bluntly thank you, but that she could well take care of herself. Bajal's threatening glare at Dollan also dissuaded the besotted boy from coming along.
Shalila was following closely behind Caline, to protect the girl in case some trouble should occur in the labyrinths. She hovered over the little Calmagian princess, as Caline quickly guided her and the others through the intricate maze of tunnels and corridors that spread throughout the underground.
"How much further now, Caline?" Shalila asked, ducking when a giant tree root nearly hit her in her head.
"About another half a mile, Superior Gran, and then we should be there right at the kitchenette where we smuggled the other hostages out earlier," Caline replied, brushing a bit of dirt off of her dress.
The labyrinth corridors were now darker than ever and cold, so cold and damp that some of the Astorian fighters had now put up their protective ki shields for warmth. Lieutenant Balboun flicked a yellow beetle-like insect off of his sleeve and shuddered.
"Haven't been in the labyrinths for years, I say. Cold, nasty place it is, too. Whew! Chilly in here, I must say! Will be glad to get somewhere warm. What say you, General?"
"It is cold, Lieutenant, but it shouldn't be much longer. Sedemeyer, how are you and the others holding up?"
"Fine, General, very well," Filcor told Norbrook briskly, as he led the CRP soldiers behind him. "If you will excuse me, General, may I have your permission to go up front near Princess Caline?"
"Permission granted, Sedemeyer. I am sorry to hear that you and the princess will not be wed. I hear that Prince Ridikar has dissolved your engagement to her."
"I'm not giving up yet, General," Filcor replied firmly. "Prince Ridikar does not have the final say, as he would like to think he does. When we rescue the king, the king will surely hold up Prince Amitar's promise to wed Princess Caline to me."
"Perhaps, Sedemeyer, it would be best if you were to pursue another girl," Lieutenant Balboun advised him. "The girl obviously wants nothing to do with you, and if a future bride felt like that towards me, I don't believe that I would want to force the issue. I'd just find someone else, if I were you, Sedemeyer. There are thousands of girls who would want to be your bride; Princess Caline is not the only fruit in the bushel. She is a cute thing though, although I prefer girls a little older. I wouldn't want a girl though who at least didn't show some interest in me. If I had forced my wife, Rayli, such a spirited thing, to marry me against her will, I would have had to worry about her sticking a knife in my back every night! "
General Norbrook laughed. "You are luckier than many men, Balboun, for you and your bride married for love! Rayli was only fifteen at the time that you chose her, but she had loved you since she was thirteen; you are definitely a lucky man, Balboun. I have seen many miserable young brides on their wedding days being married off to someone that they did not want to be with. How long have you been with Rayli now-fifteen years?"
"Seventeen," Lieutenant Balboun said proudly. "We just celebrated our anniversary two weeks ago, and I'm thankful that Rayli is on the other side of Calmag at this moment. I packed her and the kids and sent them off to her family over there the moment that I learned of Frieza's forces invading; I wasn't taking any chances. Blasted phone lines are down though; can't even contact her, and she's due any day now with our sixth little one! Be glad when this nasty war is over with!"
"So will we, Balboun, so will we," Norbrook agreed, as he noticed Filcor leave them to join the others up front.
Shalila and Caline were at the very front of the rescuers still, and Caline nearly jumped out of her porcelain skin when she saw a huge, hairy, red spider with ten legs, instead of eight, and three neon green eyes lower itself down in front of her. Caline bit her pale pink lip to keep from shrieking; the old Caline would have cried out and backed away, but the others were counting on the new Caline to keep calm and be as brave as she had been the last couple of days, so Caline merely shuddered and tried to duck around the spider. Caline was paler than before, for she had a deep fear of spiders; her arachnophobia was as severe as her father's claustrophobia had been.
Shalila sensed Caline's intense fear of the spider, and she admired the girl for not letting it get to her. Shalila herself hated spiders with a passion, no matter what planet they were from, and spiders were her secret terror years ago, a terror that had taken Shalila decades to overcome. To keep herself and Caline calm, however, she aimed a tiny ki blast at the spider to eliminate it.
It would be an attack that she would soon regret making.
All Shalila's ki blast did was make things ten times as worse, for the scarlet spider suddenly enlarged itself to fifty times its sized. Caline finally lost control of herself and screamed, and Shalila herself couldn't help but cry out in horror.
"You'll pay for that, wench!" the spider hissed in a raspy masculine voice.
"That thing can talk!" Dirkan exclaimed. He yelled at the others behind him, "Everyone, stop!"
The others, seeing the giant red spider, came to a halt immediately.
"Men, get up to the front and fire at that beast!" Norbrook commanded his CRP officers.
"We're not letting some spider get in our way!"
"No, Norbrook, make your men stay where they are at!" Dirkan ordered Norbrook sharply. "This is one of Frieza's minions; you can tell by his uniform!"
"He's just a spider," Norbrook pointed out.
"He's Elite," Dirkan snapped at him. "He's wearing the Elite colors; we've fought against his type before! Make your men stay put!"
"Men, stay put!" Norbrook told them, deciding that the Astorians knew more about Frieza's officers than he did.
"The green thing is correct," the red spider told them silkily in his raspy tone. "I am Lower-Elite Officer Arachnor, and I was sent as a backup to destroy all of you and help capture Princess Tayla Chloe. Tell me where the girl is, and I'll spare most of you. Where is she? I'm in a hurry."
"Oh, you're in a hurry, all right," Dirkan mocked him confidently. "As in a hurry to go to meet Enma Daiou!" And saying that, Dirkan fired a slim, white ki blast at Arachnor, who opened his fang-filled mouth and swallowed it.
"What the hell-" Dirkan declared, but before he could finish, Arachnor spat out a sticky string of glowing silk from his mouth right at Dirkan, capturing him. Within seconds, Dirkan was wrapped up in a cocoon of ki-draining silk, which was quickly sapping his ki, of which he had plenty of now, thanks to Caline's miraculous roses. Dirkan cried out and struggled, as the dangerous silk began to drain his ki.
Arachnor quickly released the cocoon string from his mouth and licked his lips.
"Who wants to challenge me next?"
"Lektron, Gracina, see what you can do to free Dirkan!" Shalila ordered. "I will deal with Arachnor!" And saying that, she launched a Rings of Saturn attack at Arachnor, who again swallowed the ki attack. Arachnor spat another string of ki-draining silk at Shalila, but Shalila, having learned from what happened to her husband, seized Caline and dodged the attack, as it hit the wall. Both Shalila and Caline fell to the floor facedown, with Shalila's body covering Caline's, as they were pressed up against the wall of the corridor.
"That's it!" Bajal shouted, as Lektron and Gracina were trying to cut Dirkan free of the silk cocoon. He ran past them with his sword raised and bravely attempted to behead the cruel spider, but Arachnor's neck was impenetrable to swords. In fact, Arachnor's entire body appeared to be like flesh, but it was as hard as steel, and Bajal could not even cut into the spider warrior's skin.
Finally Arachnor had enough of Bajal trying to filet him or behead him or whatever, and he puffed up his body, taking a deep breath. He swelled up like a giant hot air balloon, and then he blew out a gust of air equivalent to the wind of a hurricane from his mouth. The wind overcame all of the fighters, and everyone, including Shalila and Caline were swept up into the wind, and everyone was blown backwards for almost a good two miles.
After Arachnor stopped blowing, there was a pile of cluttered, colorful bodies, all piled on top of each other. The Astorians and Calmagians tried to scramble off of each other as fast as they could, and while they were trying to put themselves back together and check themselves and each other for wounds, Shalila came up with a plan.
So Arachnor likes to use our ki against us, eh? And he likes to blow people away literally. Well, let's see how he likes my next idea, Shalila thought to herself.
Shalila, to everyone's surprise, sped back to Arachnor within less than two minutes. Before Arachnor could react, Shalila was standing before him, smiling triumphantly.
"Oh, Arachnor," she began sweetly. "You are a fine fighter, I can tell that already. Why don't we both fight each other, just the two of us, above ground?"
"Fight a woman?" Arachnor laughed. "You don't look like much of a challenge, even though you did give me much ki to use against you earlier. The green thing's ki wasn't too bad either. I love the taste of ki, especially when it's spat back out at my foes. I use the ki people attack me with for food, and then the waste product in the ki, I use against them! Creative, eh?"
"Very," Shalila told him pleasantly. "So will you accept my challenge or not?"
"Sure thing, old woman!" Arachnor chuckled in his raspy voice again. "This shouldn't take too long."
"Oh, you're right about that," Shalila agreed whole-heartedly.
Arachnor easily blew a hole in the roof of the labyrinth, blowing away dirt, debris, concrete, and blacktop. Shalila noticed the moonlight from two of Calmag's three moons shining down into the maze; she had not realized that it was this late at night. She followed Arachnor out of the labyrinth and into the night outside.
When they came up to the surface, and then two miles away, they were on the edges of the city of Magan. Shalila then opened up her hands, using a special attack that she developed in the past several years that she had dubbed Whirlwind Blaze. She threw back her hands, palms close together in a scooping position, as if she were about to bowl a bowling ball and cried out, "WHIRLWIND BLAZE!"
A bright-red cyclone-shaped attack spun slowly out of Shalila's cupped hands, growing larger and larger until the cyclone was half the size of a regular tornado. Shalila had to close her eyes now, for the light radiating from the cyclone in her hands was too bright for her. She lightly tossed the cyclone away from her and let it whirl down to Arachnor, who happily opened his mouth to swallow the cyclone. Arachnor sucked in the cyclone the same way that someone would suck in a string of coiled spaghetti. Whirlwind Blaze had such a large amount of ki in it that it made Arachnor's body swell up slightly.
Shalila rubbed her eyes and smiled, as Arachnor relished the delicious ki attack from her. The good thing about Whirlwind Blaze was that it could be used five or more times before it would drain all of her ki. So she launched several more Whirlwind Blaze attacks at Arachnor, who greedily ate them all. Arachnor was too busy eating Shalila's ki to attack his opponent with her ki transformed into ki-draining silk.
Shalila gave him two more Whirlwind Blaze attacks, and Arachnor's body grew fatter and fatter until he was literally straining to hold all of the ki light that Shalila had given him in. Finally Shalila gathered more ki together to launch one more ki attack at him, and this one would be Arachnor's last meal.
For within seconds, Arachnor's body swelled up to its fullest, fattest size imaginable. "Oh, no!" he screamed in terror. "Not this! No!"
But it was too late, for suddenly, like a balloon that had been filled with too much air, Arachnor's body exploded loudly into thousands of bloody and hairy spider parts. A bright, blinding light radiated throughout the air, the light of a million kilowatts flowed throughout the city of Magan, as Shalila closed her eyes tightly and shielded them with her small hands.
When the smoke and light cleared, nothing much was left of Arachnor except for his severed head, which had remained perfectly intact, or it had until Shalila aimed a small ki blast at it, obliterating it into dust.
"Talk about not being able to handle a 'light' meal!" she joked to herself with a small grin. "Now, it's time to head back.
But before Shalila could get back into the labyrinth, Dirkan (whom Lektron and Gracina had finally freed from the awful cocoon and whom had been healed by a Calmagian rose), the Astorian fighters, and the Calmagian fighters were faced with another problem.
It didn't seem to be such a problem at first. A humanoid woman, neither of Astorian, Saiyan, or Calmagian descent had shortly entered the corridors just after Shalila had led Arachnor out of the labyrinths to fight him on her own. She had been hiding her appearance under a bright, shiny yellow cloak and headdress that enveloped her entire body.
She then threw off her headdress and cloak, revealing her true beauty, with long, flowing mint-green hair, white skin, deep violet eyes, large, bouncy, round breasts and a perfect hourglass figure. Most of the men couldn't help but gape openly at her, even the married ones. She winked at them with her left eye and smiled devilishly.
Dedron had openly leered at her. "Wow! What a fine piece of woman! I wonder where's she from!"
Alora had sharply belted him in his ribs, or she had tried to anyway, but she couldn't.
Why?
Dedron's height, which had towered near Alora's great height before, was now only up to her ankles.
In fact, any male who had seen the green-haired woman's great beauty were now the size and height of Earth fashion dolls such as Ken and Barbie. All of the men who had looked at her had shrunk.
"What did she do to the men?" Lieutenant Balboun demanded just before he looked at her himself, and he swiftly shrank down to only six inches. He and all of the other male victims were the same size at six inches tall.
"What happened?" Balboun squeaked, for his voice now sounded like he had been inhaling helium.
"What's happening?" Tayla cried in horror when she had noticed Dedron and Rojal shrink down to six inches tall. Even Dirkan was now six inches tall.
More of the men made the mistake of looking at the strange woman before the females, who were not being affected, began to realize why the men were shrinking.
"No other men look at her!" Gracina cried out, for she was the first to realize that the men who had looked at the woman had been the ones to shrink, including her own husband. Lektron only came up to the hem of Gracina's red boot now, and he was shaking his fists at the mint-haired woman who had done this to him. The few males who were left at their original height, which included Riccan, Lukan, Bendros, Ridikar and Julien, who had been in the far back, obeyed Gracina's orders.
"Allow me to introduce myself," the green-haired woman said smoothly. "I am Redusa, a Lower-Elite Officer who can shrink men down to size just by winking at them with my left eye if they gaze upon my magnificent beauty."
"You bring the others back to size right now!" Gracina ordered.
Redusa laughed. "Such a funny woman, you are! You are lovely to gaze upon, I will admit, but your beauty pales in comparison to my great looks. Sorry about your men, but the only way they can be brought back, is if I am killed."
"That shouldn't be too hard," Gracina insisted. Redusa's ki level was not any higher than Gracina's, and Gracina was certain that she could handle her. Gracina pulled out her sword and pointed it towards Redusa. "It's time to cut you down to size!"
Redusa laughed, a horrible, rusty laugh that grated on everyone's nerves immediately. Gracina charged at her with her sword, but Redusa seized a lock of Gracina's long, flowing golden hair and winked at her with her right eye. To Gracina's horror, she felt herself shrinking down to the same size as the men.
Caline screamed when she saw her beloved Gracina being reduced to the size of a doll. Rashly, little Caline ran to gather up Gracina and Lektron before Redusa did something horrible to them, but Redusa seized Caline by her hair and pulled the terrified child up to her face. Caline shut her eyes tight and refused to open them, and this infuriated Redusa. She started to squeeze Caline's arm hard, hoping to force the girl to open her eyes. Caline had become an expert at passive resistance however, and she kept her eyes closed, even though Redusa's squeezing was leaving a huge bruise on her delicate flesh.
The shrunken men all ran towards Redusa and attacked her feet and ankles, but Redusa kicked them away. Some of the fighters used ki blasts, but the ki signatures of the men had been reduced greatly as well, so their ki attacks could not harm the deadly beauty.
"Let my sister go!" Ridikar shouted, and he dragged Julien along with him. Julien covered his eyes, as he reluctantly followed his brother as they ran to save Caline. Tayla and Bendros followed close behind, careful to cover their eyes, as they did so.
Caline finally turned around and sank her tiny, pearly teeth into Redusa's arm, and Redusa howled in pain. In her fury, she flung a screaming Caline against the wall of the corridor, and a terrified Caline kept her face to the wall. Ridikar and Julien then made the mistake of opening their eyes when they heard Caline's cries, and Redusa was quick to notice. She winked at them with her left eye, and they began to shrink before they knew it.
Alora and Gorna, trying not to look at her directly, launched themselves towards her while firing a few well-placed ki blasts at her. Redusa, unfortunately, knew how to put up a ki barrier to protect herself, a ki barrier similar to the Shield Field that the Astorians used. Alora and Gorna kept their eyes closed and kept firing at the ki shield the best that they could while Gracina and the shrunken men ran for cover.
Riccan followed behind Tayla and Bendros, as they tried to make their way to Redusa. Riccan had his small eyes squinted shut, as followed them. He had his hand in Tayla's, and Tayla had her hand in Bendros' as all three of them raced to stop Redusa. Tayla had seen what happened to Gracina, and she had quickly surmised that women could be affected by Redusa's shrinking spell. She felt something round and heavy in her pocket on the blue gi that Gracina had procured for her. She released Riccan's hand for just a moment, and being careful not to look in Redusa's direction, she reached into her pocket and pulled out Petalia's favorite gold mirror. Petalia had lent it to her earlier, but Tayla had forgotten to return it to her before she left with her family to fight.
It would turn out to be a fortunate mistake.
Tayla then remembered an Earth myth that Nama had told her when she was about five years old. It had been a Greek mythology story about a monster named Medusa, and how Medusa was defeated when she looked into a mirror and turned herself into stone. Tayla recalled that in the story, those who looked at Medusa automatically were turned to stone. She held the cold mirror in her hot little hand and hoped that what worked for Perseus (the hero who had defeated Medusa with the mirror) would work for her.
She abruptly released both the hands of Bendros and Riccan, and she took off running ahead of them in the corridors.
"Tayla, come back!" Bendros cried.
"Tayla!" Riccan cried.
Tayla finally neared Redusa, who was still holding up her ki shield to ward off Gorna's and Alora's attacks.
Redusa was now bragging about her great beauty again, and she was mocking Gorna's and Alora's individual looks.
"You two have to be a couple of the ugliest women I have ever seen! A plain, fat woman and a woman with a monkey tail! I didn't know that there were any smelly monkeys fighting with the Astorians! Too bad your looks are as bad as your fighting skills!" Redusa looked at her lovely, clear white skin and smiled, as she toyed with a lock of her mint hair. "My beauty is beyond compare, not a single flaw! No wonder all the men in here were mesmerized by me!"
"Your beauty's not that great!" Tayla dared to scream at her with her eyes closed shut. "Your hair's not even a natural color! You look like a skinny snowwoman with seaweed for hair!"
"How dare you mock my beauty, you little black-haired wench!" Redusa hissed, with her lovely delicate features twisted into an ugly sneer. "You're ordinary compared to me, little girl! Anyone can have black hair, how unoriginal! And you're skinny and short, with no boobs at all to speak of! You look like you could be the president of the Itty Bitty Titty Club!"
"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?" Tayla asked her, secretly bristling at the insults, for she was as sensitive about her extremely slowly developing breasts as she was about her short height. Even Caline's little breasts were larger than hers, and Caline was smaller than Tayla. Tayla, like most girls her age, had compared her bosom to those of other girls, especially Petalia and Lelina, who already had nicely developing chests that were sure to be a magnificent size someday, a size that would attract men. Tayla's chest had just started developing a few months ago, with small flattish bumps that barely passed for real breasts, with nipples only the size of chocolate chips.
Before her family had left for Calmag, the cruel Dedron had discovered Tayla's sensitivity about her flat chest when he had accidentally heard her complain to Gracina and Nama about it. When he had caught Tayla alone, he had dared to ask her if he could use her chest as an ironing board for his shirt since it was nice and flat. When Tayla had called him a bastardi, Dedron joked that Tayla must be a hermaphrodite since she had a girl's voice and hair, but a boy's figure and possibility a boy's genitals and hormones. Those insults had earned Dedron a hard punch to his face and Tayla two days confinement to her room, since Shalila had thought that Tayla could have walked away from that fight without hitting. But Dedron had never insulted Tayla about her chest again, thanks to a few nasty threats from both Lektron and Dirkan separately.
Tayla brushed aside those memories for now and focused on fighting Redusa. She said, "I saw you earlier before you winked at the men, and you look old! In fact, you look old enough now to be my grandmother!"
"What, you little slut! How dare you insult me! I'll show you! Uncover your eyes and fight me!"
"With pleasure," Tayla told her boldly, as she opened her eyes. Redusa grinned and winked a her with her right eye.
But her grin soon turned into a horrified scream, for she saw herself winking at her reflection in Petalia's mirror, which Tayla had held up right in front of her eyes. Redusa screamed in horror, for she had now caused herself to be affected by her own spell, and she began to shrink. Her ki shield faded away, and while she was shrinking, Gorna wasted no time in sending her to Enma Daiou with a quick ki blast. Within nanoseconds, Redusa was reduced to a small pile of white and green sparkling ashes.
After Redusa was killed, Gracina and all of the males began to grow back to their normal sizes. The men were enormously relieved to look like men again, and Gracina was thankful not to be the size of an Earth fairy anymore.
Shalila had returned just as the other fighters were celebrating being brought back to their normal sizes. Gorna was congratulating Tayla for her quick thinking, and Alora was spitting on the pile of ashes that had once been Redusa. Gracina was comforting Caline, and Riccan and Bendros and Ridikar were openly cheering for Tayla. The men were telling both Tayla and Gorna thanks for getting rid of that green-haired whore, and Shalila was looking at everyone.
"What in Orchida's name happened here?"
"Oh, Nama," Tayla told her brightly, going up to her beloved grandmother and hugging her tightly around her waist. "You'll never believe what happened here when you went out to fight that spider!"
"At this point in my life, dandelion, I would believe about anything. But try me anyway."
So Tayla told her Nama about Redusa, and Shalila couldn't help but laugh a little bit before she told her own story about how she single-handedly defeated Arachnor.
