Warning . shounen-ai, I guess. e__e
Disclaimer . This is understood. No need to say anything.
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"Camp Happy Pants"
Chapter Eight . Jesus Lizard
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The next morning, which happened to be the morning of the second Tuesday of the month, the remaining boys woke to find Silva gone.
"The X-Laws got Silva, too. Great," Ren groaned.
"It wasn't the X-Laws. Let's look for clues. Maybe the crazy kidnapper left something behind this time," Yoh said.
Ren sighed and gave in, deciding that fighting them was pointless. As the five dressed and began to leave the cabin, Silva walked in.
"You got away from the kidnappers?" Ryu shrieked, hugging Silva.
"He was never kidnapped, you idiot," Ren mumbled, running his temple.
"Ren's right, I wasn't kidnapped," Silva stated, pushing Ryu away, "but I did realize something. Today is the second Tuesday of the month!"
The group stared at him blankly.
"Don't any of you remember what happens at midnight on the second Tuesday of every month?"
"Urm . . . free taco night?" Chocolove suggested.
"No! Opacho rises from the lake!" Silva exclaimed.
"And?" Hao asked boredly.
"And he is a great, all-knowing monster that can tell us where our troopmates are!"
"How do you know that? There's a note on the wall in the mess hall that says that everyone has to be locked in their cabins with the lights out by nine thirty on the 'monster's night out,'" Ren replied, quoting part of the flier.
"Well, it's all legend, but legend is worth a shot," Silva said. No one objected to this statement. "So it's decided. Tonight, we go in search of Opacho."
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". . . What are you doing?"
Lyserg and Manta looked on blankly as Horo dug fiercely, scratching at the dirt floor of their cell with a plastic spoon.
"Be quiet! Don't interrupt a master's thoughts!" Horo shrieked at them, pausing his motions momentarily.
Manta gestured to the dirt ceiling above their heads and reasoned, "But we're underground. Why are you trying to dig even further down?" He shut up when Horo glared up at him and growled.
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Much later that day, Troop 69 was cramped into one canoe, floating upon Lake Happy Pants. They were all glad to be out of their cabin; they had been hearing odd scratching noises and faint voices coming from under the floor all day. Silva told them that it was the deceased past members of Troop 69 digging out of their graves, which wigged them all out quite a bit.
"It's eleven fifty-five," Silva announced as the glanced at his watch. His troop stared out at the lake expectantly. Before long, the surface of the water began to ripple.
They all watched in awe as giant spotlights emerged, followed by a platform. They barely caught a glimpse of Opacho atop it as the rushing water tipped their packed canoe upside down.
After floundering in the waist-deep lake for a minute, all six troop members managed to get ahold of the flipped canoe. Opacho hopped down to join them.
"Hey, Opacho." Hao greeted him with a wave of his hand. "Long time, no see."
Before Opacho could say anything in reply, Silva bowed his head as much as possible without hitting it on the canoe's bottom and said humbly, "Oh, great Opacho, we seek your guidance! Our troopmates have gone missing. Can you tell us who took them and where they are being held?"
Opacho looked around at the group before running in the direction of the mud pit.
"After him! He's like a Jesus lizard; he's running on water!" Silva exclaimed. They trudged through the water as fast as they could, trying to catch up with Opacho.
Hao, who had floated to the shore first, stood at Opacho's side as the rest of the troop members joined them. As soon as they all arrived, Opacho jumped down into the mud pit.
"Follow him," Silva insisted, pushing Yoh in after Opacho. The boys all followed, leaving Silva up on the surface.
Opacho stood in the pit for a second, then began poking at one wall. Said wall, after being prodded a few times, collapsed to reveal a large tunnel that led under the lake.
"Ah ha! So everything begins to unravel," Silva shouted from above them.
"Aren't you coming with us?" Ren asked, crossing his arms.
"No, I just remembered that I have an important staff meeting to attend. Do good! See you guys later," Silva said over his shoulder as he ran off in the direction of the mess hall.
"Lead on, Opacho," Hao stated, not allowing Ren any time to vent. Opacho began walking, leading them through the dark tunnel. After a few minutes passed, they spotted a light.
"They've been underground this whole time? Wow, that sucks," Chocolove voiced.
As the closed in on their destination, Opacho turned to leave.
"Thanks, buddy. Later!" Hao smiled as Opacho headed back up the tunnel.
"Okay, game plan. We run in, scream, and take Lyserg, Horo, and Manta back. Got it?" Yoh asked, looking around. They all nodded, deciding that there was no better way to get their friends back. "On three."
"1 . . . 2 . . . 3 !" Yoh, Ryu, and Chocolove ran into the room screaming. Ren and Hao followed, neither opening their mouths.
"What are you doing here?" came an angry voice near the door. A collective gasp sounded from the first three boys as they turned to find Marco behind them.
"Just know that I believed you the whole time," Hao assured Ren, who seemed to be fuming.
"Ah . . . so it was the X-Laws!" Yoh exclaimed. "We shall defeat you and take our friends back."
Yoh, Chocolove, and Ryu got into battle positions and moved forward. As they were about to strike, Marco collapsed to the ground with a loud thud. Behind him stood a grinning Hao.
"One kick to the back of the knee. Man, I thought he could last at least two or three."
"Victory!" Yoh cheered. "Now to rescue our teammates!"
They turned to face the opposite wall, on which there were two lone doors. Without any thought at all, Yoh opened the one on the right.
Inside, they found a large group of X-Laws collectively worshipping Jeanne, who was at the front of the room in her Iron Maiden.
"Oh . . . sorry," Yoh muttered as they paused their worshipping to stare over at the boys in the doorway. He shut it quietly, and they moved on to the other door.
They walked into the next room to find their kidnapped troopmates all looking quite distressed. Or, at least Lyserg and Manta did. Horo was concentrating on the three-inch deep hole he was digging in the ground. When their saviors entered the room, he glanced up from his project, and a grin spread across his face.
"Ren! I knew you'd come save me!" Horo cried, launching himself at Ren, who reluctantly allowed the other boy to hug him.
Meanwhile, Ryu was latched onto Lyserg, who was glaring hatefully at Hao as he made a snide comment.
The moment of reunion was disrupted, however, when a booming noise rang through the tunnel, causing everyone to look around wildly.
"That sounded suspiciously like the bottom of the lake caving in," Hao noted calmly. Upon listening more closely, he added, "And that sounds even more suspiciously like rushing water."
Within seconds, a tidal wave of the smelly lake water had surged through the tunnel and into the cell. It swept them up and tossed them against the wall. Somewhere in the helpless confusion, someone hit the ceiling, which proceeded to crumble and reveal a layer of decaying wood planks.
"Alas, an escape route," Hao pointed out, reaching up to grab one of the board and rip it off. Once that one was wrenched away, the others also gave way, leaving enough room for Hao to pull himself out.
As he stood up and brushed himself off, he observed the room the hole had led to -- Troop 69's cabin.
"How ironic," Hao said smugly.
One by one, the others managed to heft themselves through the opening. They looked at their surroundings and sighed.
"So, that's where those creepy noises were coming from," Yoh stated thoughtfully.
At that moment, Silva entered the cabin. He stared at his troop, all of whom were dripping water everywhere and stunk horribly.
He asked, "Well, who did it?"
"The X-Laws."
"Ha! I knew it the whole time," Silva scoffed. Ren looked as if he could kill someone. "Anyway, now that we're all back together, we can start training again! The big competition's coming up, and we have Nichrome's butt to kick."
Remembering to tell Silva about their lack of a lake at another time, Yoh, Hao, and the rest of the crew decided that sleep would be the best option at that point.
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a/n . Hey, it didn't take us a month to update for once. Go us. Is there anything else to say? -thinks- Oh, check out our Live Journal -- livejournal . com /~thehineygods.
Oh, and we're starting a community over there in which we review really bad Shaman King fics for humor purposes. I'm still working on the layout and stuff, but if you want, you can apply for membership by instant messaging me at kittykatz22 or Becky at beckiboo13, or by dropping us an email at thehineygods@yahoo.com or patch_maize@hotmail.com. If you can understand this fic enough to find it funny, then your chances of getting in are pretty darn good. Join today at livejournal . com /~patch_fiction! =D
Next update is whenever.