Beware! Ranting Elf ahead!
Mewtwo looked over at the near panicked Lashana and reached out to lie a hand on her shoulder. ~Calm down. You've seen the shows. You should know what to expect.~
"Just because I know what to expect doesn't mean that I'm going to miraculously lose my fear of spiders!" she grumbled, resisting the urge to whack him.
"You're afraid of spiders?!" Dinobot asked, snickering when she nodded.
"I wouldn't laugh if I were you. The last time she was exposed to spiders she nearly leveled a five story building," Duncan told the raptor-bot, avoiding the Elf's annoyed glare as he did so.
Zelgaids sighed and looked over at Lashana. "How much energy do you have left?"
"Enough for a few minor spells or one major," the Elf replied, glancing at the chimera curiously. "More if I push myself. Why?"
"I have a plan."
"Why do I get the feeling of imminent doom?" Optimus muttered to himself.
Mewtwo sighed and rose a hand to massage his aching temple. ~We're all going to die.~
"Boss-monkey!"
"Ack!" Lashana yelped at the call and attached herself to Mewtwo, a fireball appearing in her right hand before she realized where the yell had come from.
~You need to switch to decaf,~ Mewtwo smirked.
"Shaddup," she grumbled as she detached herself from him and casually juggled the fireball while she gazed over at the nearing Rattrap and Cheetor. Why me, Gods? Why? Why can't one of these adventures land me in Maui?! Or Cancun? Or even my Parents place?! She sighed and glanced over at the horizon again, frowning when she saw three distinct forms flying towards them. "Zel? About that plan?"
"I'm working on it!"
~Have I mentioned that we're all going to die?~
"Yes, 'Two. You have," she muttered, glancing over at the gathering of Maximals and baring her fangs when Rattrap looked in her direction. Just because I'm stranded here doesn't mean I can't frighten the locals a little.
"Hey, they're getting pretty close," Duncan commented. "And why does one of them look like Barney?"
Lashana snickered. "I have plenty of theories, but no time to get into them. Zel! Scrap the plan, just blow them out of the sky!"
The chimera grumbled, but nodded. "You sure you can weave more spells?"
"Is Duncan tone-deaf?"
"Hey! I resent that!"
"Cope! Zel, use an Arc Brass. I'll try to work up another full power Dragon Slave." Which is easier said than done considering that I'm so tired I could curl up and fall asleep right here.... "'Two? Can ya do another one of those black sphere attacks?"
~Easily.~
"Kewl. All together when I finish the spell...."
"Big bot? What are they doing?" Cheetor whispered, gesturing to the three strangers that now hand auras of power around them.
Optimus frowned and followed the bot's gaze, sighing in exasperation moments later when he heard the Elf start to chant an incantation. "Not again..."
"Darkness beyond twilight! Crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in the flow of time. In thy great name I pledge myself to darkness! Let all the fools that stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess!" Lashana threw her hands forward, taking careful aim. "DRAGON SLAVE!!"
The blast that left her hands sent her staggering backwards, and she gasped as she fought to keep the spell under control, not wanting to miss her target. Better not miss, I can't muster up enough energy to loose another one of these! A cry from her left made her glance over at Zelgadis as he gritted his teeth and made a rough gesture in the air, making lightning rain down from a clear sky to mere with the beam of her own attack, doubling it's power. "'Two! Now!"
The pokemon nodded and summoned all his power, spreading his arms wide as ten black energy spheres formed around him, crackling with power as they hovered in mid air. A smirk spread over his lips as he brought his hands together in a sharp gesture, the multiple psychic energy attacks shooting forward to join with the magickal ones that his friends had loosed.
Duncan gaped at the sight for a moment before rational thought reared it's ugly head. "Oh. My. Gods. GET DOWN!!"
KABOOOM!!!
And thus the Beast Wars Planet lost another huge chunk of it's landscape.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"....stop the Universe....I wanna get off....."
"I think she's coming to."
~No really? What was your first clue?~
"Eh, shaddup. Thanks ta ya and yer psycho girlfriend here, there's a fifty meter wide crater where one of our posts used ta be!"
~It's not our fault if you people don't have enough brains to properly shield your things.~
"Why I oughta--!"
Lashana winced as the warring voices yanked her into the realm of the conscious and rose a hand to her head. "Ooooh, my achin' head.... What hit me?"
~Lashana? Here, hold still.~
She felt someone lie a hand on her forehead and sighed in relief when the mind-numbing pain faded from her skull, letting her crack an eye open to look up into familiar amethyst eyes. "Mmm. Thanks 'Two."
~Are you alright?~ he frowned as he helped her to sit up.
"Yeah. Yeah, m'okay," she murmured as she looked around, grimacing when she saw Rattrap standing nearby. "I suppose it was too much to hope that this was all a dream brought on by Duncan's cooking...."
~I wouldn't call what he does 'cooking'.~
She snickered softly, then turned her attention to the transmetal rat. "Quit staring, vermin."
He blinked at her for a moment, then groaned. "Great. She's just like Chopperface!"
"I live to torment. 'Two? Give me a hand, will ya?" she asked, wincing when he obligingly reached down and helped her to her feet. "Where the flamin' hell are we, anyway?"
"Inside the Axalon," Rattrap told her. "Ya did a good job redoing the landscape. Left a fifty meter wide crater behind."
"Really?" she beamed, baring her fangs in an insane grin. "Kewl!"
~You shouldn't do that to people,~ Mewtwo chuckled in her mind as the Maximal sputtered in shock.
She chuckled and clung to him to keep herself standing as she looked over at Rattrap again. "Well? Are ya gonna make us stand here all day or what? Where's Zel and Duncan? Or Primal? Or Dinobot? Hello?" she stretched out an arm and rapped her knuckles against his skull. "Is anyone in there? Hello?!"
Mewtwo rolled his eyes as the 'bot swatted Lashana's hand away, then sent a warning glare in the rat's direction when it looked like he was going to pull a weapon on them. ~Don't even think about it.~
"Oh this is hopeless. I'll find them on my own," she muttered as she pushed away from the pokemon and staggered over to the open door, sticking her head out into the hallway. "Yo! Rock-boy!!" There was an annoyed 'don't call me that!' from her left, and she chuckled as she followed the irritated grumblings of the chimera.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey! You're alright!"
"Of course I--ack!" The last was due to the fact that she now had an Immortal attached to her. "Duncan....can't....breathe...."
The Immortal blinked, then loosened his hold on her. "Oops. Sorry!"
She gasped for breath for a moment before irritably fwaping him, frowning when he still didn't let go of her. "Duncan?"
"Yeah?"
"Kindly get off before I rip off something that won't grow back." She had never seen a male back away so quickly in her life. "That's better."
"You should have said you didn't have enough power for another spell," Zelgadis admonished her from where he was leaned back against a wall, his arms folded over his chest.
"I did have power for the spell. I just didn't have the energy to stay conscious afterwards," she smirked, looking around as she did so. They were in the Axalon's bridge, and she arched an eyebrow curiously when she saw Optimus, Dinobot, Cheetor and Rhinox staring at her. "Now what?"
"Eh, sorry boss-monkey. She wandered off."
"No. I left," she growled, sending a glare in Rattrap's direction as he and Mewtwo joined the group. "You we're being as helpful as a gnat, so I took off. 'Sides, it's not like I didn't know where to find everyone." The last was directed to Zelgadis, who smirked at her.
"Nice to know I can be of service," he chuckled. "You should sit down, you look like you're about to pass out again."
"M'fine." A quick glance to her left showed Rhinox pointing something in her direction, and rolled her eyes in exasperation as she went to join Zel in leaning against the wall. "Well?"
Mewtwo looked from her to the Maximal, frowning when he saw what the 'bot was doing. He growled softly and stepped in front of the Elf, eyes glowing slightly before the device sparked and started smoking, elicting an annoyed mutter from the large robot. ~I don't take kindly to people who try to scan us without asking.~
Optimus frowned and glanced at Rhinox before looking at the Pokemon. "We didn't mean any harm. It's just that your friend is apparently radiating power."
~That's no excuse to--~
"'Two. S'okay," Lashana murmured, cutting him off as she reached out to lie a hand on his left arm, frowning when she felt how tense he was. Geez, he's so on edge that he's liable to snap at any moment! Now that she knew what she was looking for, the signs were very obvious. The slight shimmer around him, the way his tail was lightly thumping against the floor, the blue sheen to his eyes. All spelled one thing : big trouble. She gasped and moved to stand in front of him, her back to the Maximals as she looked up at him. "Mewtwo! Mewtwo, chill. It's okay."
He looked from the Maximals to her, meeting her worried gaze for a moment before sighing. ~I need some air.~
"Wha--" she took a startled step back as he vanished, then clenched her hands into fists and growled. "Lovely. This is just freakin' lovely. Zel, this is all your fault."
"Me?! Why me?"
"If you hadn't tried to steal that gods-be-damned talisman, none of this would have happened!"
"Hey, wait a minute! You're the one's who tried to steal it from me!"
"You stay out of this!" she snarled, glaring at Duncan murderously before she turned her attention back to the chimera. "It would have been so easy! We could have just tracked that stupid clone down, knocked her out and been back home in time for lunch. But noooOOOooo. You had to try to steal it! So now, we've been stuck here for almost an entire day, I'm tired, sore, I can't use my portals, I've been stuck with the Immortal all damn day, my Soul-Bonded is probably going insane with worry, and now, now, I have to worry about Mewtwo having a nervous breakdown, and we still don't know if we can get home!! And Gods-dammit will you people stop staring at me!?!" The last was directed at the Maximals, who all flinched as she spun to look at them.
The pause that followed her rant was so silent that a gnat could have farted and it would have sounded like an A-Bomb.
"....are you done?" Optimus asked, wincing when she glared at him.
"I haven't even begun!" she snapped, fangs bared in a feral snarl. "You people are supposed to be the good guys here! You're supposed to help people! Instead I get stuck with the pain in the arse raptor who doesn't believe a word I say despite the fact that he damn well saw the portal, you were no help what so ever, I get shot at by the big metallic Barney Reject, - godsdammit Rhinox if you point that thing at me one more time I'm gonna hurt you - I get locked up in a cage that's hanging above the lava pit of doom, I drain myself trying to save the lot of us from certain pain, and then I wake up to the rat! The Rat! Who's even more annoying than the Immortal!"
"I'm really starting to resent that," Duncan muttered sourly.
Zelgadis grabbed the Immortal and clamped a hand over his mouth. "Shut up! I've never seen her this mad before."
"Mrli?"
"Yes, really. And I'll bet you anything that the only person that can calm her down is who knows how may dimensions away."
"Wr'll gnn'd."
"Huh?"
"He said 'we're all gonna die'," Lashana muttered, glancing back at them over her shoulder and smirking at Zel's look of shock. "Superior Elven hearing, remember?"
He nodded franticly, not liking the very visible battle-aura that was swirling around her. "H-hai!"
"Are you finished now?"
She grimaced and looked over at a rather calm Optimus, quirking an eyebrow when she saw that the others were looking at her warily. "That all depends on what you're planning to say."
"I was going to say that you're completely right."
Wow. Finally. Someone finally admits it. "Oh?"
"Um...Lashana? Maybe you should power down the battle aura," Zelgadis whispered, catching her surprised glance before she looked down at herself.
"Huh. Didn't even realize I was channeling," she muttered as she let her aura fade.
"Channeling?"
She looked over at Dinobot and shrugged. "Whenever I get mad I channel the energy into my aura. So that I don't lose all the energy I gain from almost losing my temper."
"Almost?!" Rattrap yelped.
"Mm hm."
"We'll try to stay on your good side then," Cheetor murmured, looking at her apologetically. "And you'll get used to Rattrap."
"Really?"
"Well....no. Not really," he chuckled, expertly ducking the smack that Rattrap aimed at him.
There was a low growl from Dinobot. "The urge to kill the vermin never really goes away."
"I'll remember that," she sighed, leaning back against the wall and folding her arms over her chest while meeting Optimus' gaze. "Now look. The lot of us aren't with the Preds, we're not spies from...wherever. We don't want any part of this war. We just want to go home."
"I believe you."
"About time," Duncan grumbled as he fought his way free of Zelgadis' choke hold.
"You mentioned something about a portal?"
Lashana nodded and pushed away from the wall as she dug in her jeans pocket and produced her piece of the talisman. "Normally I can control my own portals. But this thing... I dunno. It's...or at least it was... a transdimensional talisman. It's supposed to boost someone's magick so they can portal-hop anywhere in the known dimensions..." she paused and shrugged. "Obviously it didn't do what it was supposed to, cuz it dumped us here on it's own and sealed my portal magick in the process."
"Breaking it didn't help," Zelgadis muttered, flinching when she glared at him. "Nevermind."
"May I?"
She nodded and gave her piece to Rhinox. "Zel? You still have your piece?"
"Yeah. Here," he said, tossing it to her. "Mewtwo has the third piece. Want me to go find him?"
"Ne, leave him be for a bit longer," she murmured.
"Wait, wait. Yer telling us, dat dere's such a thing as magic? Oh please," Rattrap smirked, looking over at the woman as if she was nuts. "Dis is a joke, right?"
"Damn well better believe that magick exists, else I wouldn't be standing here!" Lashana shot back as she rose her hands into her hair and exposed her Elven ears. "Elves are magickal in nature. We are magick." She returned his smirk and casually summoned a fireball, juggling it carelessly while she watched his optics widen in shock. "Just because you can't explain or scan something doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
"She gotcha there, Rattrap," Cheetor grinned.
"Yeah yeah yeah..."
"You said that it sealed your magick? Are you sure?"
The Elf rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "Trust me, Dinobot, it's not like I haven't been trying."
"What?" Rattrap smirked. "Ya don't like the company?"
"Don't make me fireball you."