~ Mage Kitty
A/N: And it's a day since I updated this fic and I'm writing the next chapter... I wonder how long it will take for me to post this... Obviously, I can't do much for the re to reviewers thing... And I'm down on the downstairs computer, which means no Internet connection... I'll shut up... And now it's nearly a week later! Whoo! All praise my updating skillz!
becca8: Thanks.
Radioactive Bubblegum: Snowboarding rocks. It's cool, okay. A million times harder than that wussy sport thing people call 'skiing'…
Alex: Of course I am. I love being mean to characters, it's terribly fun.
Laughing Dragoness: Really, asking me to update soon? I think you people should have learnt by now that it never happens… I know, wasn't she? She's sooo much fun to write when she's blondeish. Especially when I started get reviews saying something about Night knowing everything, I had to finally put her lack of technology skills, lol ^^
Kelsey: Holly didn't shoot because she was waiting for Night. She just didn't know how disastrous that would be. She knew that Night would have raised a huge fuss if she wasn't part of the capture of that guy. Take him below ground? They are already… Oh, I see… I didn't really make that clear, did I? They are currently in some weird cave/cavern type thing. Lol, I've memorized them now. For some reason, I knew most anyway. Isn't that weird? Maybe I'm just a science freak… It is my best subject…
Tonduil the Elf: *sniff* I WANNA WATCH ROTK! *sniffs again* not fair… still haven't seen end of TT… noooooooooooooooooo… sooooo not fair…
Alex472: Yes, you do send a lot, don't you? I don't know why everyone is making a big deal about memorizing 40 things. I've got a good memory for useless things (when I last updated, how many pages I've written in the past year, the Periodic Table of Elements…), just not for anything else…
The CheezHead: Damn. I was hoping that that message was deleted because you never looked at it or anything. Of course I left a cliffy? If I didn't, what would happen to the world? *Conveniently forgets that she didn't leave a cliffy this chapter* Thank you.
The Evil But Niceish One: I'm not going to even bother putting in the underscores… Too much work… Nice try on not begging. But really, the only thing that works for me is bribes, hint hint…
Sam: Thanks ^^ Have fun with your snow, if you got it ^^ I got snow yesterday, myself…
Disclaimer: I don't own Holly, Trouble, Root, Foaly, etc.
*~*~*~*~* Chapter Fifteen: For No Reason At All, I'm Calling This Chapter Fire *~*~*~*~*
"Where are they? What's going on?" Cedar asked for the umpteenth time.
"I don't know," Foaly replied once again, "I've completely lost contact with them. Something blocking the communications and UGPT (UnderGround Positioning Tracker. Think GPS)."
"Then unblock it!" Root had once again turned an unusual shade of purple.
"One, that's bad grammar. There is no such word in the Gnommish language such as 'unblock'. Two, it's not that easy Julius," Foaly said distractedly. His fingers flew over the keyboard.
"One, no comments on my grammar, two, I don't care how easy it is, just do it, and three, DON'T CALL ME JULIUS!" Root roared at Foaly. Foaly ignored him.
Cedar groaned and began pacing, running his hands through his hair. Three kids are completely lost and one of them is his daughter. It's not a good feeling. But back at the school, Mr. Verbil was overjoyed.
"Er, secretary?" Verbil asked.
"That's me," a bored voice said over the phone.
"Please inform Holly Short's, Night Shade's and Elburt Kelp's parents that they are not at school," Verbil said gleefully. He suspected the swear toad in the desk drawer was the fault of the three friends.
"Whatever," the secretary said.
"Thanks," Verbil hung the phone up.
"Substitutes. Shade's number's unlisted; don't have to phone her. Besides, the number she gave the school is her cell's," the secretary rolled her eyes and took a drag on the Mud Man cigarette, "May as well call Short's house."
The smoking secretary jabbed the number into the phone and leaned back in her chair, taking another drag of the cigarette.
"Hello, Primrose Short," Primrose's voice said over the phone.
"Hello Mrs. Short. I'm calling to inform you that your daughter Holly isn't at school. Have a good day," the secretary drawled then hung up the phone.
"Kelp now... This is such a boring day," the secretary dialled Trouble's number.
"Hello," a tired voice said from the other end.
"Hello. May I speak to Mrs. or Mr. Kelp?" the secretary stared at the ceiling tiles.
"This is Mrs. Kelp," the tired voice said.
"Great. I regret to inform you that your son Elburt isn't at school. Have a fucked up day," the secretary threw the phone back on the hook, "One, two, three..." she began to count the ceiling tiles.
While Haven High's secretary was smoking, swearing and counting ceiling tiles, Primrose Short was having a nervous breakdown. After a few minutes of loud hysterics, she realised that nobody could here her; the maid was on her coffee break. So she glared at a wall and picked up the phone and dialled her husband's work number.
"Hello. Police Plaza main office. How can I help you?" the same secretary who had several problems with Night said cheerfully.
"This is Primrose Short. I demand to speak with my husband," Primrose said in her haughtiest voice.
"I'll page him, Mrs. Short," Andrea Blossom rolled her eyes. She had more than her share of haughty females to last the rest of her life.
"Good," Primrose sniffed.
"Captain Short, line one, Captain Cedar Short, line one," Andrea said over the PA system. A few seconds later, Cedar had a phone in his hand, open to line one.
"Cedar! Oh, oh! It's terrible!" Primrose shrieked, back in her nervous breakdown mood.
"What is it, Primrose? I'm terribly busy," Cedar snapped.
"Don't you use that tone with me!" Primrose said hysterically.
"Calm down darling," Cedar sighed, ignoring Root's snickers.
"CALM? HOW COULD I BE CALM? HOLLY'S DISAPPEARED!" Primrose shrieked. Root winced; he could hear it halfway across the room.
"Disappeared?" Cedar asked, praying to whatever powers ruling over his life that it wasn't about how she has disappeared from the LEP's scanners.
"At school! She isn't there! Oh, what am I going to do?" Primrose sniffed.
"Calm down. Holly will be fine. She can take care of herself," Cedar said, half to himself, half to his wife.
"No, she can't! She's not even thirty, Cedar!" Primrose shrieked.
"I highly doubt she's by herself, though, Primrose. Go phone the school to see if Night Shade and Trouble Kelp are there," Cedar suggested. Anything to keep her from yelling in his pointed ear.
"I shall. Bye Cedar, love you," Primrose murmured.
"Love you too," Cedar hung the phone up.
"Ha! Now your wife knows! You are sooo dead, Cedar!" Root crowed.
"Shut up, Julius…" Cedar muttered and turned to face the centaur, "Get back to work, Pony!"
"Oh yes, specieism is deader than dead in the LEP," Foaly muttered.
"Just try and find my daughter!" Cedar resumed pacing. The object of his worry was doing a little worrying of her own at the moment. She had just seen Night fly over the guy's throne and tumble down a few feet past his feet.
"Night!" she gasped quietly, moving as if to get up and attack the guy. Trouble gripped her arm and held her back.
"Wait until we can hit him from behind," Trouble advised, "I knew we shouldn't have waited for Night."
"Then why didn't you say anything?" Holly asked.
"Because I knew you wouldn't listen," Trouble said,
"How dare," Holly started.
"Guys! Shut up!" Night hissed urgently, "Now is not the ti – Uncle?"
"What?" Holly and Trouble asked simultaneously.
"What are you doing here," Night asked the man on the throne coldly, ignoring her friends.
"I could ask you the same, Belladonna," the man said. He stepped down off the throne and turned to face Night.
"Wasn't his hair short when we last saw him?" Holly muttered to no one in particular. Night answered anyway.
"Yup. At least, his hair wasn't nearly down to his ass. And he had pupils. And his eyes weren't glowing a sickly purple colour," Night stood her ground.
"Like my makeover, Belladonna?" Uncle asked.
"No," was Night's simple answer. Uncle just laughed.
"Well then. Now, little poison, there's more to my little change in appearance than what meets the eye," Uncle walked closer to Night. Holly cursed, he was facing her and Trouble's hiding place and Night was blocking him so they couldn't get in a clear shot. Night sensed that and began trying to get him to move.
"Really? I wouldn't notice. You're hideous appearance change makes me avoid looking at you," Night snarled.
"Then you need a demonstration," Uncle raised his hand up, palm facing Night. The same sickly purple colour like his eyes grew to form and crackling ball. He moved his hand and flicked it, making the ball lengthen like a rope. He then flicked the rope, more of a whip, really, at Night. Night barely side-stepped it in time.
"How did you get magick?" Night demanded.
"I struck a deal with a rather unfavourable being," Uncle smiled at something behind Night's shoulder. Night didn't take the bait.
"And where is that being?" She asked.
"Behind you," Night whipped around, expecting an enemy and only saw the corpse of something that could only be a demon. It was so destroyed, though; she couldn't even tell if it was a minor or major one. Night barely had enough time to contemplate those thoughts when pain shot through her back.
"Night! Never turn your back to your enemies!" Holly groaned.
"A little late," Night bit out through the pain. She spun around and through herself to the ground as the purple whip flicked over her head. A few seconds later, Night was rolling, missing the whip by inches, "Holly! Trouble! A little help!"
Holly flew up and shot at Uncle several times before realizing that it did no good, "What?" she asked stupidly.
"He's got a shield, Holly," Night scrambled to her feet during the few seconds that Uncle stopped attacking her.
"I don't see it," Holly said doubtfully.
"It's a good one. You shouldn't see it," Night said.
Back behind his rock Trouble began to think. His magick being taken from his body. It sounded so familiar. He knew it from somewhere. But where.
"It's familiar to me, too," Night said. Trouble jumped. He hadn't realized that he had said it out loud.
"As with me," Holly added.
"It must be an Old Wife's Tale then," Night determined.
"What?" Trouble asked.
"A tall tale. Mud-Men call them Fairy Tales," Holly rolled her eyes.
Trouble strained his memory as the girls ran, or flew, around, trying to avoid Uncle's brutality. Trouble had his eyes closed and he could see it all in his mind. What? It was as if... He was in Uncle's mind! The magick stealing, seeing through Uncle's eyes... It all added up.
"I've got the tale! I know how to stop him!" Trouble said, then flicked his commlink off. He didn't want any distractions. Trouble looked inside him and saw his magick coiling around. He breathed a sigh of relief. He still had some magick. He began to work on his plan.
"The Dagger!" Holly exclaimed, "I should use that!"
"Don't! Trouble's linked to Uncle through his magick! You'll harm him as well!" Night warned. The two continued dodging whatever Uncle threw at them.
Meanwhile, behind the rock, Trouble was concentrating on dragging his magick back. Slowly but surely, the flow of magick between Trouble and Uncle slowed to a halt then turned around and began flowing back to Trouble. Uncle didn't notice. Soon Trouble got all his magick back, but now he couldn't stop sucking in the magick. More and more magick was flung towards him, some of it he recognised to contain traces of Cedar Short. As soon as all of Cedar's magick was sucked up into him, Trouble had the sense to throw it across the distance to Cedar himself.
"What?" Holly asked, "Why is his whip black now?"
"Trouble's winning," was all Night said in reply.
Back in the room in the LEP, Cedar gasped and staggered back a few steps.
"What is it?" Root asked.
"I've got my magick back," Cedar said.
"I hope that's a good thing," Foaly muttered.
"So do I," Cedar said.
Trouble continued dragging the now black magick out of Uncle. He didn't see it, but his female companions did; Uncle's shield was visible.
"What?" Uncle had finally noticed his lack of magick, "WHO'S DOING THIS?"
Trouble continued dragging the magick out of Uncle, while at the same time throwing it at whomever it belonged to. The corpse of the demon twitched. Trouble continued throwing the magick away. Suddenly, he realized that he could see things from three sets of eyes. Uncle's, an unknown fairy's and one that had to be Cedar's. Shrugging, Trouble sent a thought out through the link between him and Cedar.
Captain Short? Cedar? He asked.
Back at Police Plaza, Cedar gasped again.
"What is it this time Cedar?" Root asked.
"Trouble's talking to me. Mentally," Cedar said, his eyes wide. Tentatively, Cedar sent his own thought back, Yeah...
Good. Do you see the links travelling off through a wall? Trouble asked.
No... Oh. Wait. I see it now. Why are two black? Cedar asked.
Two? What? Oh my. Let your eyes travel down the link. Do you see a man with pale black eyes? Trouble asked.
Yes.
Good. Now concentrate on taking that magick into you. But at the last moment, throw it away. You got that?
Yes... What are Holly and –
Don't worry about them. Just do as I said!
Alright...
"Cedar? Cedar! What's wrong?" Root snapped his fingers in front of Cedar's glazed eyes.
As Trouble and Cedar fought to take the magick from Uncle and Holly and Night watched, amazed as Uncle dropped to one knee and held on to an invisible thread, the corpse stirred. The corpse was hit by another blast of magick and he surged to his feet.
"Well, well, well... Bitten off more than you can chew, haven't you?" the demon cackled, his voice dark and murderous. Uncle froze as the rest of his stolen magick was ripped from him.
"No," Uncle said weakly.
"Die," the demon said simply, then pointed a finger at Uncle. The elf burst into black flames, and with one last dying shriek, left the world. No one said anything for a few long moments. Night finally broke the silence.
"Coooooool. Definitely a major demon," she stared at the ground where her Uncle last stood with out any remorse. To everyone's shock, the demon began to laugh.
"Yes, I am a major demon, Night Shade. Since the three, or rather, four of you helped regain my magick, I will grant each of you one wish, starting with Trouble Kelp," the demon turned his face to Trouble.
"Simple. Stop my father from harming my family," Trouble stated. Then demon nodded gravely.
"As I suspected. Your father will be 'persuaded' to change his ways before he arrives home tonight, fair?" the demon asked.
"Yes," Trouble nodded.
"And you, Captain Cedar Short, what do you want?" the demon looked off in the distance.
"I've got everything I want, but could you erase Primrose's memories of Holly's escape from school today?" Cedar asked apparently the air. Root and Foaly stared at him like he grew a couple of heads.
"Easily done. Now, Night Shade, what would you like? Though why I bother asking you is beyond me. I already know what you are going to wish for," the demon rolled his red eyes.
"Great! Then as soon as I get my powers, I want my all expenses paid trip to your world!" Night grin excitedly. She was going to be famous for that adventure. The demon laughed.
"I was right. You shall have your wish. Holly Short?" he inquired of Holly.
"Could you please get rid of this Dagger? I don't know what I'm going to do with it, otherwise," Holly held out the Dagger.
"That thing? That's just a child's toy!" the demon exclaimed, "No problem," he took the Dagger from Holly, "I think you've done me a favour, Holly. I don't have to buy my little cousin a birthday present this year."
"Er, you're welcome?" Holly asked. The demon laughed again.
"I'll pick you up at midnight, New Year's Eve, your house, Night. By then I figure you'll have a decent hold on your magick," the demon nodded, "Good fortunes to all of you," he smiled and was engulfed by black flames. Once again, no one said anything for a few moments, and once again it was broken by Night.
"Cooooool," she repeated.
*~*~*~*~*
A/N: Whee! I had fun for this chapter! I like my nameless demon! Hmmm... Maybe after this is all done, I'll write a companion fic to this one about Night's adventures in Demon Land. *laughs* Well, now I just have to work on the Holly/Trouble romance, Night's obsessive preparations for her Ritual and Vinyáya's election, with also goes with the Root/Vinyáya romance. Almost done ^^
Oh yes, before I forget... I've drawn, scanned and uploaded pictures I've drawn for this fic to my DeviantART account, mage-kitty.deviantart.com. Just copy and paste, okay? There is currently a picture of Holly (the first one I've ever done that looked half decent), a picture Night and Uncle facing each other (I drew that before I even wrote that part of the chapter and don't ask about the wind) and two pictures of Night older than she is and in full power. One of them is the only colour picture I have scanned and uploaded; pencil crayons hate me and I hate them. Oh, yes, I have a crappy Vinyáya pic up there to. And a picture of a random elf, not necessarily an AF one, anime/half anthro versions of myself and other crap. Yes, I'll shut up about my stupid rant type thing advertising my DevART account, the only other account besides this one that I'm proud of/like. E-Mail doesn't count. *stretches* Go look, I implore you.
For the hell of it, I'm posting my list of thing to do, again…
1. Wellness Action Plan (Almost done... Just have to do the 'action' part)
2. Type Science Olympics things (Done)
3. Organize binders for finals coming up in a month (I'll never get it done otherwise, and now I probably wont)
4. Work on math review (haven't started)
5. Memorize forty elements from the Periodic Table of Elements (I don't know 5, and I've study for all of five minutes. *Rolls eyes*) (Done, pretty much)
6. I'm sure there is more... Let's see. IP, no, Science, already mentioned, Wellness, mentioned, Math, mentioned, ELA... crap. Read five books and do journal entries for each... I HAVE SIX THINGS TO DO! AHHH!!! IT NEVER ENDS!! (Do two more...)
Edited list
1. Finish Action Plan
2. Organize binders, maybe
3. Math review
4. Finish ELA stuff
Not that much anymore ^^ Though I'll probably end up doing it all at the last minute, like usual…
~ Mage Kitty =^.^=