The bunnies cometh
Pink.
Mewtwo groaned softly and blinked. The spell that Lashana had loosed had knocked everyone to the ground, and the uncharacteristic bright flash of light that had followed had nearly blinded them all. Even now, spots still danced in his vision, though he didn't understand why his vision was pink. Maybe the flash of light crippled my vision...
And then it moved.
He was fairly certain that seeing the pink light move wasn't supposed to tickle him. Also certain that it wasn't supposed to make him sneeze. Curiosity pulling him out of his shock, he shifted and pushed himself up onto his knees, taking a few minutes to blink in pure shock before his mind fully processed what lay before him.
Bunnies. Dozens, no, hundreds, of pink furred bunnies, each with little lavender bows tied at the base of each ear.
"What the hell?!"
The cry made him turn to look at Duncan as the immortal grabbed a bunny by it's ears and lifted it, peering at it curiously for a moment before setting it down again and raising his left hand to his right arm, giving himself a hard pinch. ~You're not dreaming,~ he told him. ~It's a swarm of pink bunnies.~
"Wha... what happened?" Duncan glanced at Mewtwo, then let his gaze travel over to Lashana, who still had her arms raised in the air, seemingly frozen in that position out of pure catatonic incomprehension. He figured that she was probably blinking her eyes off. "I think she's a little stunned."
Cheetor shook a few rabbits off of his back and lithely rose to his feet, looking around them before glancing at the Preds, chuckling when he saw that they were ankle deep in pink bunnies. A low snarl drew his attention to Dinobot as the warrior kicked rabbits away from him, and he rolled his eyes in exasperation as he watched the raptor-bot try to shake off the bunny that was clinging to his right leg.
Still a little surprised, the Pokemon rose to his feet and picked his way through the sea of bunnies until he was standing next to the Elf, gently reaching out to touch her shoulder as she slowly lowered her arms. ~Lashana?~
There was a pause. Then. "What the frak did you do to my spell?!"
It took Mewtwo a second or two to realise that she wasn't talking to him, and he frowned as he followed her gaze over to the Predacons, and the form that was standing in front of them. Oh Lords... she escaped from the Axalon...
"Aren't they just sooo cute?" Telcatwo smiled cheerfully and scooped a bunny into her arms, playfully cuddling it to her chest. "Oh, yes you are! You're just sooo cute!"
Lashana grit her fangs and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, taking deep breaths to help her keep her temper in check. How the hell can someone turn one of the most powerful Black magick spells into pink bunnies?! How?! An irritated growl made her look up in time to see Dinobot drop kick a rabbit into the air, and she couldn't help but smirk when the bunny landed with a smack on Megatron's face and stayed there in a seemingly permanent glomp. Seeing that is almost worth it.
"You know.... they don't seem all that glad that she's back," Cheetor observed, pointing to the group in front of them with a paw as the Preds backed away from Telcatwo, who was showing off one of the bunnies.
Duncan chuckled. "Can you blame them?"
"Holy... What happened?!"
Mewtwo turned at the yelp and frowned at Zelgadis. ~Where have you been?~
The chimera shrugged. "Running for my life until Lashana calmed down." Ignoring the glare he got from the Elf for that little remark, he waded through the bunnies until he was standing by her side. "I saw that flash of light from three miles away. What happened?"
"I don't bloody know," she muttered. "I had just loosed the Dragon Slave when Telcatwo ran into the line of fire and bang! Next thing I know I'm ankle deep in pink bunnies."
"AAAHHHH!! Get dem offa me!!"
"Well, Rattrap's awake," Cheetor snickered, ducking as a thrown rabbit sailed past him.
"Enough of this!" Dinobot snarled as he punted another rabbit off of him. "We should take advantage of the Predacon's distraction and... Lashana! Where are you going!?"
She didn't even bother to look back at him as she waded through the bunnies. "To have a chat with the Preds!"
~You're what?!~
Ignoring the calls from her group to stop, Lashana shoved rabbits out of her way until she was standing only a few meters away from the Preds, who were alternating between trying to pry rabbits off of themselves and trying to keep Telcatwo from going near them. "Ahem."
"This is all your fault!" Tarantulas growled, aiming his blaster at the Elf and blinking when she rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest.
"Please. If it wasn't for your clone, I'd have blown y'all to scrap. Granted, I don't know what she did to my spell, but whatever it was...." she paused and distractedly nudged a rabbit away from her with her left foot, "it did this." There was a squeal from her left and smell of burning fur, and she grimaced as she looked over in time to see Rampage drop a charcoaled rabbit to the ground. Ew.
"Hey! Don't kill 'em critters! Dem's good eatin'!"
A shiver made it's way down her spine at Quickstrike's protest, and she firmly pushed any thoughts of that out of her mind before returning her attention to the spider-bot in front of her, quirking an eyebrow when Megatron finally managed to pry the bunny off of his face, tossing it aside as he strode forward. "Looks like you're a hit with the fuzzies," she chuckled, glancing at the rabbits that clung to his legs. A footstep behind her drew a venomous glare from Megatron, and she sighed as she glanced back at Mewtwo and Dinobot. "Chill."
~Are you insane? No wait, don't answer that...~ Mewtwo shook his head slightly, then looked at her. ~You might need backup.~
"You're foolish to come into Predacon territory, Traitor! Yeesss... urk!"
"Now, now. Play nice," Lashana drawled, smirking as he struggled to pry the rabbit that she had just launched at his face off of himself. Chuckling at the scene, she shot a glance back at Dinobot and smirked. "That goes for you too. Now." She turned back to the Preds. "What the hell were you people thinking, making a clone of Telca? And why in the hells did you make her so... so... cheerful?!"
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," Tarantulus grimaced. "We wanted to make a psychotic killer to set loose on the Maximals. But something was wrong with the DNA samples... unfortunately, we only found out when it was too late."
"Pity," Dinobot grumbled, ignoring the glare that Lashana shot at him. "Where did you acquire the samples then? You do not have the technology to travel from dimension to dimension."
"That's the strange thing. Some bizarre little mammal just teleported into the base and gave it to us," Blackarachnia said as she joined them. "Told us they were DNA samples from the most insane female warrior that ever lived."
~That's Telca alright,~ Mewtwo smirked.
Lashana sighed. "This 'mammal'. Lemme guess : purple hair, annoying smile, prone to saying 'sore wa himitsu desu' a lot?"
"That's him," the femme nodded. "You know him?"
"Unfortunately." The Elf rose a hand to massage her aching temple and sighed again. "His name's Xellos. He's an immortal, masochistic, sadistic little trickster that feeds off of people's pain and suffering. He's kinda like Rampage, only perverted."
There was the sound of an insulted growl. "I resent that!"
~But why would he take an interest in them?~ Mewtwo frowned, receiving a shrug as an answer from Lashana. ~I mean, there's nothing he can actually get out of this, right?~
"If what you say is true, then they've certainly given him grand entertainment," Dinobot said, meeting the Elf's wary gaze when she looked over at him. "He could still be here."
~No. He's masochistic, not suicidal. He knows better than to push 'Shana too far.~ The Pokemon sent a wary glance at the woman as he spoke, tensing a little at the aura of magick that flickered around her. ~I hope.~
Megatron growled as he wrenched the rabbit off his his face, scowling as he threw it at Waspinator, the impact knocking the 'bot to the ground where he was immediately swarmed by bunnies. Not liking this current situation, he stifled the urge to pound someone into the ground and looked down at the female in front of him, frowning when the clone ran over to them. "Oh nooo..."
"Aren't they just so cute?" Telcatwo smiled as he handed rabbits to all of them, blinking when Dinobot snarled and threw his aside. "That wasn't very nice! You're mean!"
Lashana bared her fangs in a grin when she saw Megatron's expression. "How about a truce, hmm? You help my friends and I get home, and we'll take her off your hands."
"You must be joking."
"Do I look like I'm joking? I'm tried, low on energy, I have this overwhelming urge to beat something to death and I'm up to my ankles in bunnies! Does it really look like I'm joking?!"
The Predacon gulped at the look in her eyes and shook his head, dimly aware that his 'troops' had put a substantial amount of space between themselves and the female. "What do you need?"
Lashana grinned.
~*~
"I can't believe she's got the Preds working for her!" Cheetor muttered in awe. They had all reconvened into the Pred base almost ten minutes ago, with a stunning lack of protests from Dinobot and Rattrap. What he didn't know was that Lashana had threatened the two with a lot of bodily harm if they so much as looked at someone the wrong way. As it was, the Elf was standing next to Blackarachnia, talking to her about how to intimidate males while Tarantulas worked at the main computer, scanning the area for any odd energy signatures.
"This would be easier if I knew what I was looking for!" The spider grumbled for the fifth time in as many minutes, eliciting a sigh from the Elf.
"Fine, fine." Lashana turned and looked over at the Pokemon that was leaning against a wall, watching all this calmly. "Mewtwo? Hun, can ya teleport back to the Axalon and swipe the pieces of the talisman for me?"
"Did she just call him 'hun'?" Rattrap muttered to Duncan, who smirked.
"She calls all her Favourites 'hun'. It's just something she does," the immortal chuckled as the Pokemon vanished in a flash of blue light. "At least she's in a better mood."
"Who wants cookies?"
There was a unanimous groan from everyone present, and Telcatwo blinked as she stopped short and looked at them. "What?"
Mewtwo chose that moment to return, a yelp of horror leaving him when he reappeared next to the clone. Eyes widening, he hopped backwards until he was standing next to an exasperated Lashana, keeping her between him and Telcatwo as he pushed the talisman into her hands. ~Here.~
"Thanks, ya big wuss," the Elf snickered, grinning at his annoyed glare as she tossed the talisman to Tarantulas. "Look for the same energy that's coming off of that. We need the last piece that's somewhere out there. I can only pray that it hasn't been eaten by a bunny."
"Doesn't anyone want a cookie?"
"NO!"
Recoiling from the loud yells, Telcatwo trembled a little before sniffling, tears gathering in her eyes.
Duncan paled. "Oh Gods no...."
Lashana gulped and looked around for Zelgadis, eyes widening when she couldn't find him. "Where's Zel?! He knows sleep spells! Someone find him before--" Her warning was cut off by a loud wail, and she yelped as she clamped her hands over her ears, the crying hitting a pitch that made her teeth hurt. Oh crud, oh frak, oh slag! How the hell can I shut her up without killing her?! How.... "I'd prefer a muffin!!!"
The crying stopped, replaced by a soft hiccup. "What?"
"A fresh muffin. Lemon cranberry," Duncan added, catching on. "That'd be really good right about now!"
Telcatwo wiped at her eyes. "Really?"
"Sure! Right guys?" Lashana threw a Look of Death at the 'bots around her, seeing them all nod frantically moments later.
"Oh! I'll go bake those then!" Good mood restored, Telcatwo shoved the plate of cookies into Megatron's hands and turned to skip down a corridor, humming happily.
Everyone loosed a collective sigh of relief at having the crisis averted and their hearing spared. A few Predacons actually thanked Lashana, much to the three Maximal's surprise.
~Quick thinking,~ Mewtwo murmured to her as he used a bit of his psychic power to wipe out the beginnings of her migraine.
"Had to do something short of killing her. Oh, my poor ears...." She grimaced a little, then glanced over at the computer that Tarantulas was working at, staring at the unfamiliar scrawls of language there before giving up on trying to understand anything.
"This is insane!"
"Shove it, Chopperface! It ain't like we got a whole lot of choice here!" Rattrap paused and grinned. "Unless ya wanna keep tha clone fer yerself?"
"There's an idea... hehehehe...." Tarantulas trailed off at the look Dinobot was giving him and gulped as he turned back to the computer. "....Um.... alright. I've scanned this artifact, but I can't get a complete enough signature from it to do a proper scan of the area."
"Well slag," Lashana grumbled, planting her fists on her hips as she glared at the computer. "What about... Ne, Mewtwo? You think my portals and that talisman have the same energy sig?"
~I don't know. But at the very least, it could give them a clue on what to look for.~
"Hey, whoa. You're not going to try to open another portal are you?" Duncan frowned, rushing over to her and grabbing her right arm before she could start the spell. "That thing sealed your magicks, if you try again...."
"Duncan, kindly let go of my arm before I do some serious damage to you."
"I'm immortal, there's nothing you can do that I won't recover from."
Taking that as the challenge that it was, Lashana gave him her best demented grin and chuckled. "Oh, but there are ways to torture people without hurting them, Duncan-san."
"I think I like her," Rampage cackled to a shuddering Quickstrike, who had managed to see the look in the Elf's eyes as she had spoken.
Turning away from the now whimpering Duncan that was hiding behind Dinobot, Lashana looked at Tarantulas and gestured to the computer. "Y'ad better get whatever readings you need, cuz this isn't a repeat performance, capice?" When he nodded - rather catatonically, she noted - she closed her eyes and rose her right hand, power cracking at her fingertips as she struggled to open one of her portals. It was harder than before, unravelling faster than she could thread the spell together, and she sunk her fangs into her lower lip to keep from crying out as she pushed herself to her limits for a little longer before banishing the spell and staggering backwards, reaching out to lean on the edge of the computer terminal. "Okay.... not doing that again.... Oh Lords the walls aren't supposed to be moving like that.... are they?"
~Ack!~ Mewtwo lunged forward to catch her when her knees buckled and used a push of psychic power to shove Inferno and Quickstrike out of the way, carrying her over to the Maximals before carefully setting her on the floor. ~Are you alright?~
"Dunno. Ask again later," she muttered as she sat so her back was against the wall, pulling her knees up under her chin and curling her arms around her legs, a low groan leaving her as she rested her forehead on her knees. Oooh, that was so incredibly not a good idea.
"Did you get the readings?" Megatron frowned at Tarantulas when the spider didn't answer, apparently completely involved in reading over what he had learned from that little light show. "Tarantulas!"
"I can't get anything done if you keep screaming at me like that!" the spider snapped, oblivious to the murderous glare the Predacon leader was now giving him as he turned back to the terminal, intrigued by what the scans were showing. "It's what I thought... You! Female! You're not even fully human, are you?"
~Her name, is Lashana. And she's half-Elf, if you must know,~ Mewtwo told him as he moved so that he was standing between the recovering Lashana and the Predacons. ~Why?~
"Her biosignature is complicating things...."
Duncan frowned. "Her what?"
Dinobot glanced at him. "You'd understand it best as her 'aura'."
"Oh."
Rolling his eyes at the immortal's response, Mewtwo knelt next to the Elf and reached out to lightly rest a hand on the top of her head, extending a private tendril of thought as he did so. ~Lashana?~
Nuugh?
~Speak English.~
That was English. I think. She grimaced and rose her head from her arms, blinking dazedly for a moment before focusing on the Pokemon's worried gaze. Did it work?
~We don't know yet. Your aura apparently mucked up the readings,~ he murmured to her as he gently smoothed her hair back from her face, not liking the exhausted tint to her scent. ~How bad?~
Very. Can't even magick up a Dynast Brass. I'm saving the energy in the talismans so we can get home. The Elf sighed a little and slowly reached back to lean on the wall as she pushed herself to her feet, swaying unsteadily for a moment before catching her balance. "Where'd Zel go anyway? I don't think it's safe for him to be wandering around this place by himself."
~Probably not. I'll go find him. You stay put, alright?~
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, mother. Geez..." Smirking, she glanced over at the Preds. "Yo. Megs. Can ya spare someone to help find Zel before he gets himself into troubl--" The sound of a muted explosion from the depths of the ship made the floor rock beneath them, and she sighed heavily at the wail of pain that followed. "Oh, nevermind."
Tarantulas' optics widened as he brought up a schematic of the ship, the internal sensors locating where the explosion had occurred. "My old lab!! Argh! I swear, if he destroyed my experiments I'm going to...."
Fangs bared, Lashana sent a scathing glare at him and hissed.
He gulped. "....say nothing about it?"
The Elf growled softly. "Good boy."
Mewtwo chuckled. ~She sure has ways with the psychotics.~
Snorting, Rattrap looked up at the Pokemon and smirked. "That's because she is one!"
"I heard that!"
"...eep."