Chapter 6 : So much for not messing up the timeline....
"Um... did anyone order a psycho woman and a walking dead man?"
Lashana blinked and frowned at Telca for a moment before peeking through a bunch of bushes and staring at the two people as they headed into the temple. "Waaaait. Q never said anything about us becoming a part of a storyline!"
"Yeah well, doesn't look like we have much choice," Telca muttered sourly as she turned her gaze to Rick and a recently departed Evie. "We could probably just sneak right past them."
"Um, do you not remember how extremely homicidal Rick is going to be in a few moments? Besides, we have to make sure we don't change anything. The last thing we need is to accidentally kill off someone important and let Imhotep get control of Anubis' army," Lashana pointed out as she crouched down again and looked at Telca. "Cuz you know that mummy-dude will probably come after us. And since we're not at full power, I really don't want to be anywhere near a huge army of undead warriors."
"You... have a point."
"Feh! So they're like yokai. So what? Tessaiga and I can handle them."
Lashana frowned and looked over at Inuyasha. "Even if you did a hundred Bakuryuuha attacks, you wouldn't kill enough of them to make a difference, Inuyasha."
He stared at her in surprise. "How'd you know about the Bakuryuuha?"
"Later," Venom growled as he dropped out of a tree, the symbiote having altered it's colouring to blend in with it's surroundings perfectly. The ultimate camouflage. He crouched beside Lashana and Telca and waited until the symbiote had pulled away from his face before speaking. "This is beyond strange, I hope you realise that. To be taking part in a situation that's identical to a movie...."
"Yeah, well, you'll just have to cope." Telca turned back to looking at the small group and frowned as Rick ran into the temple, leaving the kid and the bumbling moron to watch over Evie's body. Well, okay. We have to be careful here.... "Elfy?"
"Yo."
"We'll wait until they head in, then follow them. If we do this right, we can get in, make sure the timeline doesn't change, grab the diamond and run."
"Sounds like a plan."
"I could just shift us all inside," Joyrock muttered.
"No. We can't risk being seen and destroying the timeline," Lashana told him as she watched Jonathan scoop Evie's form into his arms and race after Alex as the kid bolted into the temple, yelling something semicoherant about the Book of the Dead. "Okay. Let's go."
~*~
"This place needs an interior decorator, badly." Telca commented to Lashana as they walked deeper into the temple. She raised the torch she was holding a bit higher, hoping to illuminate a bit more of the corridor they were in and sighed when all she managed to accomplish was to leave a scorch mark on the low ceiling. "Does anyone have any idea where we're going?"
Lashana shrugged. "No clue. Ne, Inuyasha, can you follow their scents?" She glanced back at the hanyou as she spoke, privately amused that Skie had returned to his smaller form once again and perched on the half-demon's shoulder. Apparently she had freaked him out to such an extent earlier that he now completely refused to go near her. She considered that a gift from the Gods.
"Hard not to," Inuyasha grumbled, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "One of them stinks of death."
"That would be Imhotep," Venom murmured from ahead, where he was leading the way.
"The yokai?"
Telca blinked and glanced back at Inuyasha. "I supposed he can be considered that. He's the walking dead after all. It's somewhat related."
"Hmpft. Well anyway, he went left. So did the kid."
Telca frowned a little and darted forward, ignoring Lashana's curious call as she skidded to a stop at the intersection and peered down into the dark tunnel, blinking in shock moments later when numerous torches flared to life all around her, illuminating the corridors of the temple in warm light. "Well, looks like that freak priest just summoned the army."
"We're gonna have to hurry," Lashana said when she reached her friend. "This place is going to hell in a handbasket."
"Would you mind explaining this to those of us who have no clue what's going on?" Joyrock growled from her shoulder, tugging on a lock of her hair to get her attention.
"Pull my hair again and I'll drop kick you into a wall." She waited until he had released the handful of hair he had before continuing. "Where we are now is part of one of those stories we told you about. We have to be very careful not to disrupt the timeline, else the entire world will get destroyed by an army of undead warriors. Comprende?"
"Uh.... does that mean we can't be seen?"
"Yes! We went over that already. Why?" Blinking, Telca followed Joyrock's pointing arm to Rick O'Connell, who was standing there staring at them in something akin to catatonic shock. "Oh crap."
"Um.... hello." Lashana waved at Rick and smiled. "We're just.... um...." She glanced over at Telca for support. "....passing through?"
::Oh yeah, very convincing,:: Kalamadea muttered dryly as he shifted and lazily cleaned the talons of his right foreclaw.
Rick stared at them for a moment longer before coherency reared it's ugly head. "Who.... what are you?!"
"We're... here to help you." Telca said, ignoring the looks of 'what the hell are you doing' that Lashana and Venom were giving her. "We.... uh.... heard about what was going on and... um... we just don't want to be overrun by an army of undead people is all."
Lashana groaned and rose a hand to her forehead in an exasperated smack. We're all gonna die.... "Can we just go already?" Annoyed that their plans had gone straight down the tubes, she stalked past Telca and a still startled Rick and headed down the corridor, her left hand resting on the hilt of her sword as she walked. "So much for not destroying the timeline."
"This... should be bothering me," Rick muttered as he followed the white-haired woman, the rest of her little group close behind him.
"Yeah well, normally people wouldn't be stalking off to make battle with a mummy, now would they?" Eddie pointed out.
Rick paused and frowned at the other male, meeting his clear blue gaze suspiciously. "How'd you know that?"
Skie rolled his eyes and rose a claw to his forehead. "Idiot...."
"You know, it'll be a miracle if we don't all get ourselves killed," Joyrock groused as Lashana slowed and crept towards a archway. He fell silent when Kalamadea whacked him with his tail and frowned when the Elf silently stepped into a large chamber. "This place.... is filled with death."
Kalamadea hissed softly and looked around them, his gaze falling on the seal that was on the floor in front of them. ::That's Anubis' mark.::
Hai, Lashana thought to him as she looked from an alter dedicated to the God of Death to the passageway ahead. And further in is the Scorpion King. Sounds like Imhotep's already there too. She waited until the others had joined them before signalling to Telca to avoid touching the seal on the floor, seeing her friend's nod of agreement before they both leapt clear over it. "Rick, c'mon. It's your time to shine."
He frowned as he walked past them. "When this is over, you two are going to explain this to me."
"Oh sure, sure," Telca smiled. "No prob."
"There's yokai here," Inuyasha growled to Lashana as he walked by her side, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword, talons lightly scraping against it. "Powerful one too."
"I know. But we can't kill it. It's important that Rick be the one to finish it off," she whispered to him. "But that doesn't mean we can't beat the crud out of it for him."
"Heh. Finally, one of you says something intelligent."
"I am so going to hurt you for that when we're out of here."
"Elfy!"
She looked ahead at the hiss and quickly jogged over to Telca, joining her in watching Rick stalk towards the large doors and Imhotep, who had yet to realise that the human was there. "Are we jumping in or not?"
"Dunno yet. You want to let someone handle Anck-Su-Namun when she shows up?"
"Nah. Let Evie have her moment. Besides, she can handle the psycho bitch."
"Point. Oh look, Imhotep just got a clue." Telca pointed out at the two on the 'stage' as Imhotep attacked Rick, knocking him backwards with well-aimed hits. "You'd think Rick would just throw him into that pit-- Hey! Where are you going?!"
"To make sure things don't get fubared!" Lashana called back as she ran out into the huge chamber, hopping over a chasm as she did so. Kalamadea, go back and stay with Telca.
::No way! I'm not leaving you to have all the adventure!::
Littling, I'm about to get into a fight with a huge half-human half-scorpion monster.
::So?::
She rolled her eyes, then yelped when someone whacked her upside the head. Growling, she spun and rounded on Telca. "What was that for?!"
"For thinking that you're gonna have all the glory without me!"
"Glory?! What glory?! I'm gonna help kill a huge bu--" A loud roar cut her off, and she turned to follow the stares of Rick and Imhotep, feeling a cold weight settle in the pit of her stomach as she watched the two huge doors slowly swing open, a large shadowed form moving within the newly opened room before stepping out into the torch-light. "Oh. Dear. Gods."
"Ugh, he's uglier in person," Telca muttered as she gazed at the Scorpion King, fighting the urge to try to open a portal to get some raid or a mallet.
"What is that?!" Venom yelped from behind the two sorceresses, dimly aware that Inuyasha had drawn his sword and was growling softly.
Joyrock smirked as he stared up at the thing, feeding off the fear that Rick and Imhotep were radiating as the two broke apart from their struggle and faced the creature separately. Chuckling softly, he hopped off of the Elf's shoulder and dropped into a spatial shift, re-emerging in his more natural form a little ways away from the two women. "Well, at least I'll get some entertainment with my meal."
"You are so disgusting," Telca muttered as she drew her gun and took aim, firing one shot right at the Scorpion King's chest.
Lashana's eyes widened when the creature grunted and looked over at them. "Telca? I think you just pissed it off."
"Hmm. That's not good."
"Run!" Moving on instinct, Lashana grabbed Telca's arm and threw them aside, barely avoiding the scorpion's tail that slammed into the space they had been standing in moments before. This is not good. Ignoring the loud annoyed yowels from Mischief, she rolled to her feet and ran forward, ducking under a claw swipe and closing her fingers around a torch. "Yo! Ugly! Over here you big moron!"
::Please don't insult the big psychotic bug,:: Kalamadea growled as he looked up into the face of the Scorpion King and readied a few attacks of his own. ::Ready?::
"Yeah. Telca?"
"Go!"
Long months of living together in a place that attracted trouble like nobody's business had forced the two sorceresses to plan and rehearse numerous attacks. That had been how they had come to the realisation that attacking together, as one, usually got the best results. Hence the fact that as Lashana threw the flaming torch right into the King's face and Kalamadea loosed a lightning ball into his chest, Telca ran forward and grabbed a weapon off the floor, tossing it over to Rick as she rushed through an incantation and pointed at the bug. "Fireball!"
"Aw hell," Lashana moaned when the creature didn't so much as twitch when the fireball slammed into it's chest. "It's immune to spells."
"Options?"
"Running away sounds good."
Telca nodded. "I concur."
"Hey! You can't just leave me like this!" Rick yelled as the two women bolted.
"Don't worry! You're the chosen one!" Lashana called back with a reassuring grin.
Telca smirked. "Yeah, Rick! Use the force!"
"The what?"
"Ack!" Lashana scrambled to a stop when the Scorpion King suddenly reared in front of her and leapt to the side, barely avoiding the first claw swipe, but not the second. The force of the blow knocked the air from her, and she grimaced in pain as she slammed into a stone pillar and slid to the floor. Ow....
::Get up!:: Kalamadea shrieked into her thoughts as the bug turned towards them. He saw Rick jab at the thing with the blade of an axe and turned his attention back to the Elf when the King went after the human. ::Lashana? Lashana!::
Telca frowned as she watched Imhotep trick the King into thinking that he was his servant, growling slightly under her breath when the treacherous mummy sicced the bug on Rick in the process. Well, at least things are still playing out... Ignoring Inuyasha and Venom as they ran to help the human, she went over to Lashana and grabbed her left shoulder, shaking her lightly. "Elfy. C'mon, we gotta go."
"Wha? ...nugh... what hit me?"
"The big giant creepy crawlie," Telca said as she hauled the Elf to her feet and supported her. "You cracked the pillar you know."
"That would explain the large headache I have...." Wincing, Lashana reached out to lean on said pillar and fought to get her balance back, yelping when a tail slammed into the backs of her legs, knocking both her and Telca to the floor. "Ow, again."
"Sakontessou!" Inuyasha landed next to the fallen women as his attack knocked the bug backwards and glanced back at them. "Are you two finished being useless now?"
"SIT!"
WHAM!
"Bitch!"
"Can you not do that when we're in a fight?!" Venom yelled as he frantically worked at webbing up the Scorpion's legs, ducking to avoid a jab to the head from it's tail and moving aside as Rick hacked off a limb with the axe.
"We'll think about it!" Telca replied as she got to her feet and hopped over a still twitching Inuyasha, running for the small blue dragon that was perched on Joyrock's shoulder and watching the fight in amusement. "Wipe that smirk off your face and get in there and help us!"
"What are you... Hey! Put me down!" Skie twisted to try to bite Telca's hand as she grabbed him by his tail, then roared in protest when she literally flung him into the heart of the battle, leaving him to slam into the Scorpion King's ribs and fall to the ground, dazed.
Joyrock glanced at Telca warily, noticed the look in her eyes and swallowed thickly. "I'm going. I'm going!" Thus said, he tore open a spatial shift and went in, emerging across the room just long enough to grab the Elf and haul her in with him, saving her from another hit. "Your friend is more evil than you."
"I'll be sure to tell her that," Lashana grumbled as she rubbed at her left shoulder, knowing that she was going to be needing painkillers after this. "Kalama?"
::I'm here. I'm alright.:: The dragon nuzzled her cheek lightly. ::What's the plan?::
"I'm supposed to have a plan?"
"It'd help," Joyrock muttered as he opened another tear and stepped out, pulling her through with him. Sighing, he looked at the fight and rose his right hand, palm glowing white before he shot a beam at the King, the thin white light tearing through the creature's shoulder and cutting downwards, almost succeeding in cutting him in half before Lashana yanked him out of the way of a piece of the crumbling ceiling. "Nani? What's happening to this place?"
"Don't ask. You don't want to know."
"Rick!"
Telca turned at the new voice and blinked at Evie. "Well, looks like despite all this, things are going the way they're supposed to."
"Good!" Lashana yelled, shoving Joyrock out of the way of the flung Inuyasha and snarling at the Scorpion King. Numerous frantic screams caught her attention, and she frowned as she looked over at Jonathan, who had finally figured out how to extend the spear of Osiris. Idiot's gonna get us killed.... "Telca!"
"Eh?" The burgundy haired sorceress turned at the cry and followed the Elf's pointing hand to Imhotep, who was preparing to get in the way again and be a pain. "Gotcha!" Grinning, she quickly set Mischief on the ground to avoid accidentally hurting her, then did a perfect flying tackle, knocking Imhotep to the floor and landing on his back. "Hello baldy."
Highly annoyed, Imhotep twisted to glare at her and stared up into the most demented grin he had ever seen before a cat landed on his face and proceeded to try to rip it to shreds.
"Oh no no no, Mischief," Telca murmured as she grabbed the cat and soothingly petted her head, smoothing her bristled fur. "Don't do that, you'll ruin your nice fur. Here, let me." She rose her right hand and curled her fingers into claws, overlong nails catching the light from various torches as she looked down at Imhotep just to discover that he had fainted. "Hmpft. Funsucker."
Sighing, she rose to her feet again and paused to brush sand off of herself and Mischief before looking towards the other fight, watching as Rick managed to stab the Scorpion King in the chest with the spear. And cue the line....
"Go to hell! And take your friends with you!"
I love that line. "Yo, Elfy! C'mon! Time to go!"
"Hai!" Lashana grabbed Venom and shoved him towards a waiting Telca. "Go! There's not much time before--" An ominous rumble cut her off, and she groaned as she looked up at the crumbling ceiling. Crud. "Run for it!"
"You don't have to tell us twice!" Venom said as he bolted for the archway, easily dodging various portions of the ceiling and walls that crumbled around him.
Rolling her eyes, Lashana turned her attention back to the problem at hand and rose an arm to shield Kalamadea from any debris as she dart forward and snatched a dazed Skie out of the way of a falling rock spire. Tucking the small dragon under her left arm, she spun and ran for the archway and the much more stable ceiling beyond, desperately wanting to get away from this chamber before something bashed her head in.
Ahead of her, she saw Inuyasha knock Anck-Su-Namun unconscious with the hilt of his sword, and she inwardly smirked in glee as she watched the woman fall to the floor, out cold. If someone hadn't done that, I would have.
"Let go, damn you!!"
Telca glanced back into the chamber at the scream and sighed when she saw Joyrock being dragged backwards into a chasm by numerous tortured souls, despite his numerous and usually quite deadly efforts to get free. Damned frog demon's more trouble than he's worth. And... ack! "Lashana! What the hell are you doing?!"
"What the frak does it look like?!" The Chaos Knight shrieked as she dodged a falling stalactite and ran back to grab Joyrock's arm, her boots leaving tracks on the floor as she was dragged forward along with him. Gritting her teeth, she dug her heels into the layer of sand and pulled, putting all her weight and Elven strength behind the strong yank and yelping when the souls released Joyrock, sending them staggering backwards before they caught their balance again.
"Nani?" The Mazoku looked at her in obvious shock. "Why did you--?"
"Cut the crap and get us out of here before we get killed!" she screamed as she danced aside to avoid another stalactite, wincing when a shard of stone debris sliced into her left cheek. Purple light surrounded her then, and she sighed in relief as she and Joyrock stepped out of the shift he had opened and emerged next to a glaring Telca. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
"Baka!" Telca snarled, fwaping Lashana upside the head. "You could have been killed!"
"Um, I really don't think you guys should be fighting right now," Rick yelled as he and his family ran past them, pointing to the large cracks that were spreading over the walls. "This place is gonna collapse!"
Inuyasha frowned at the buckling ceiling for a moment before growling and grabbing the two women's wrists. "Let's go!" he yelled, dragging them after him as he led the way through one corridor, then another, heading for the way they had come in.
"Whoa!" Rick shoved Evie out of the way of a flying tree and glanced over at the forest that seemed to be being sucked into the temple. "The entire forest is being pulled in!"
"Thank you for that observation, Einstein!" Telca frowned as she pulled free of Inuyasha and headed for the only exit that didn't seem to be pulling large amounts of the surrounding countryside into it. "Lashana! C'mon! We gotta get that rock so we can get out of here!"
Oh as if I didn't know that... The Elf growled softly and waited until all the others had followed Telca out of the temple before heading after them, ducking once to avoid a flying pygmy. She felt both Skie and Kalamadea tighten their holds on her, their tails twining dangerously tight around her neck as she fought the rising winds and scrambled outside, staring at the scene of an entire oasis being pulled into a temple. Well, this is new. A yell from above her drew her attention, and she quickly started climbing up the side of the temple to rejoin Telca and the others, inwardly sighing in relief when she saw Venom holding the large diamond.
"Where to next?" Telca yelled, trying to be heard over the roar of the winds.
"Why are you asking me?"
"Because you have the fuckin' Palm Pilot!"
"Oh, right. Sorry. My bad." She pulled the small hand-held computer out of her back pocket and touched the screen, quickly opening the newly decrypted file, completely ignoring the baffled looks the O'Connells were giving them as Izzy and his flying balloon ship soared into view. "Um.... San Angeles."
"What?! What the hell is that?!"
"That's what it says, dammit! Joyrock, does this make sense to you?" Lashana pointed to what seemed to be a quadrant location written out in Mazoku, eyeing the approaching whirlwind of debris as the temple started to implode on itself.
Joyrock smirked and grabbed the Elf's arm. "Let's go."
"You do know where you're going, right?" Telca frowned, growling when he merely shrugged and opened a spatial tear. "If we end up in the Teletubbies dimension, I'll kill you."
"They took my diamond!" Jonathan whimpered after the strangers had vanished into a strangle purple light, wincing when Rick whacked him upside the head.
"Um... who were those people?" Evie frowned, looking at Rick curiously from where she was kneeling to hug Alex.
He shrugged. "Damned if I know. Anyone know what a Palm Pilot is?"