Chapter 2-A Fatal Squall

Rating: PG

Author's Notes: If I receive anymore "I hate this pairing!" reviews, I'm going to stuff a squirrel into the one responsible. Good thing I'm getting mostly good reviews for this, since it's kind of unique to see a Sheila story amid all the Spyro and Ripto stories. (And yes, Moneybags is pretty much a hero in this story. Go ahead, throw your tomatoes, but he's not really a bad guy as much as he is a total jerk. He helps, just as long as there's money involved.)

Minor cameos from The Realms of Chaos appear, but it's not Wart, Changeling, or Snowflake as one might expect from me. No, instead, it's something that might just happen to explain the bad weather...

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"Do you think Sheila's out here?"

Bane said nothing, and even if he did have an answer, it was impossible to talk while he was holding a large lantern hanging between his teeth. Spyro the dragon crouched underneath him, staying pretty dry underneath the body of the giant sea dragon. Even as the storm raged on, he was pretty protected. The giant silver-scaled sea dragon that stood above him swam through sea storms regularly. To Bane, this storm was only a minor drizzle.

The purple hero was worried sick over Sheila, and the image of her trapped in a terrible place, cold and fighting off pneumonia, was enough for him to send out a search party that consisted of him, a silvery behemoth named Bane, and a giant half sea dragon, half squid monster known only as the Kraken. Bane protected Spyro's body from the elements, while Kraken scouted ahead with his tentacles feeling ahead for clues to where the kangaroo went.

'Hard to believe that we're in Sunrise Spring. This weather turns everything into a world of mud and darkness.' Spyro thought darkly as Kraken ripped a fallen tree in front of them to splinters with his sharp hull-breaking claws. "She might be at the Forgotten Alps. Do you think so, Bane?" Spyro chirped eagerly. Bane mumbled irritably between his teeth. Realizing his error, the dragon blushed slightly.

"Oh, sorry. You can't speak with that lantern in your mouth..." Spyro then squinted his eyes and scanned the area in front of him for the portal he was looking for. Thankfully, the portals glowed with a contained light of their own, making the portal to Sheila's Alp a snap to find. Without a moment's hesitation, the two sea monsters and the small purple dragon headed for the portal.

SPLAT!

When Spyro exited the portal, he hit the soft, boggy ground with his stomach. He sputtered as he found that his not-so-dramatic entrance had driven mud up his nose and down his throat. Beside him, Bane and Kraken shook the ground with their landing, since the ocean allowed them to grow to great lengths. Spyro was picked up from the ground by a tentacle that had wrapped around his tail and pulled him out of the mud.

"I don't like thisssss weather. It almosssst feelssss like you're able to sssswim through the air..." Kraken snarled, his lisp bringing out the venom in his voice. Even over the roaring of the storm, Spyro was able to hear his voice loud and clear. Which was good, since Spyro grew tired of shouting his lungs out just for them to hear him.

"Hello? Is someone out there?" A voice called. Just near the entrance the portal created was a quaint little cottage built in the mountainous region. A goat had exited the house and was holding a feeble candle out into the storm. He saw the two looming shapes in front of him, saw the sharp claws glitter in the light of the dying flame, and bleated in terror. His numbed hooves dropped his wet candle into a mud puddle and froze in place. "MONSTERS! SHEILA, HELP!"

"Hold on, Billy! It's me, Spyro!" The purple dragon called out. He waited for the goat to calm down before he asked his question. "And what was that about Sheila? Is she safe and sound?"

"N-No, she isn't. It's just that, since for the longest time Sheila's always fought our monster problems, shouting her name is sort of a re-"

"WHERE'S SHEILA? WHAT HAPPENED TO HER? TELL ME!" Spyro, delusional from spending too much time in the rain, seized the mountain goat by his throat and shook him wildly. Bane and Kraken could only watch in stunned silence as the dragon nearly squeezed the life out of one of Sheila's friends. Billy choked as he stared into the unyielding purple eyes of his draconic hero.

"...I-It's best if you come with me, Spyro..." the goat said after a long pause. Spyro unwrapped his claws from his throat, realizing a bit too late that heroes such as he did not attack civilians in such a matter. Billy's cream-colored fur was plastered to his body from the merciless rain. With a sigh, he stepped in one direction into the storm and beckoned for Spyro, Kraken, and Bane to follow.

After walking through the rain for about five minutes, they stopped at a pile of broken wood. "Here's Sheila's home. I'm terribly sorry." Billy sobbed. Spyro made a strangled sound as he examined the wreck that was Sheila's home. The storm had caused a landslide in the mountainous region, and the kangaroo's home was now crushed underneath several tons of rock.

"SHEILA!" Spyro screamed. He frantically rushed to the house's side and began to tear at the rock with his claws. Tears poured from his eyes as he dug deeper into the rock pile, finding personal belongings of Sheila's. A picture of her family, some coffee mugs, a bag of gems; all of them were now rendered useless thanks to the landslide.

"Please don't die, Sheila! You still have a lot of rhynocs to kick, a lot of Riptocs to smoosh, a lot of lives to make easier! Don't die, Sheila! Don't die!" Spyro cried. He broke down and started sobbing. Never once did he have one of his friends die, and now, he was standing near the grave of one of his most helpful friends.

"She's not in this house, Spyro." The dragon looked up and saw Bane, no longer carrying the lantern, paw at the earth near the house with his finned claws. "Trust me. If she was in this house while it got flattened, there would've been a fresh carcass underneath here. But no, all we see is her broken possessions." Bane lifted a stuffed animal and sniffed at it tenderly. "She was here, but not at the time the landslide fell."

"You sure?" Spyro asked, feeling a little bit silly that he was crying over nothing. He could almost jump for joy if it wasn't for the fact that the sticky mud he was standing in was now up to his knees.

"Yesss....We're sssure. Sssince the kangaroo isssn't here, I don't find any reassson for usss to be ssstanding out here in thisss ssstorm..." The Kraken snarled. Bane seconded the notion, and Spyro, whose legs were beginning to numb, quickly agreed.

As the two sea dragons led Spyro to the portal, the purple dragon gave one last look at the shattered remains of Sheila's home. His friend had escaped death as much as he knew, but where was she now? Spyro looked up into the ink black sky, watched the angry clouds spill forth their unrelenting tears, and added some parting words before he entered the portal.

"I hope you're still alive, Sheila. By the dead Elders, I hope..."

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Sheila sat wrapped in gossamer blankets on that comfy chair that she had woken up to find herself on a day or two ago. She wrinkled her brow as she watched the rain fall down in buckets outside. It was hard to believe that she had to stay in this godforsaken mansion until her leg healed, and Martha said it could just as easily take weeks. For this moment of time, the kangaroo wished dearly that she had one of her friends to carry her away from this place so that she could heal in the comfort of her own home. Spyro, Billy, Sgt. Byrd...she didn't care who saved her, just as long as it wasn't Moneybags.

'Look on the bright side, Sheila. At least he isn't demanding any outrageous fees or locking you in a cage.' she thought to herself. In fact, she found it downright puzzling that Moneybags insisted that no charge was put upon her rescue. Maybe he was just frightened of her and her fighting prowess. But then again, her most powerful weapon happened to be the strength in her kick, and without both of her legs, she was immobilized.

Was he afraid of her friends? Possible, but no. Even when knocked the stuffing out of, Moneybags would always return to his business as if nothing happened. He even made a profit out of teleporting between different lands during the fiasco with Red.

"I think Sir Moneybags has taken a liking to you." Martha cooed, interrupting Sheila's quandary. The Australian animal watched as the rhynoc poured some more remedy soup into a bowl. Sheila had no idea what time it was in the mansion, since Moneybags forgot to put a clock in the guest room, but she was pretty sure that she had wasted three days of her life as a guest to him.

"Yeah, he's taken a liking to my wallet." Sheila retorted. Her voice had recovered, thanks to the soothing broth that she was forced to swallow. It gave her strength, but she was sick of drinking her food.

"I'm not so sure. I mean, he did save you, and he did keep you from-"

"It's a scam. I know it, you know it, and everyone else in the whole ruddy mansion knows it." She interrupted venomously. The power to speak gave her a lot more freedom with Moneybags' assistants. She was still unable to move without help from someone, since the cold had weakened her physically, but her tongue was as sharp as it was before this unfortunate accident. In fact, she had abused her gift of speech so much that only Martha had the strength to talk to her. All the other servants had retreated to easier jobs.

"Give him time, Sheila." The rhynoc could only say. She was glad that the stimulating brew was working on the kangaroo, but she felt just a little afraid that Sheila would try to last out at her and cause herself harm. Oh well. If anything happens, she could always call in "Sheila's Savior" to take care of matters.

"For what? Why don't you just spit it out, instead of beating around the bush?" Sheila demanded.

Realizing that Sheila wasn't going to do any harm, Martha giggled like a schoolgirl, and blurted it out. "I think you and Moneybags would make a cute couple!"

For about five seconds, the only sound in the entire room was the sound of the water boiling. "WHAT!?" Sheila shouted. Even though there was a small part of her, probably the craziest and most desperate part of her, liked the idea, the kangaroo protested against it. "If you think that me and Moneybags even belong in the same room together, then you have something unhealthy lodged in your brain!" And then, Sheila made the mistake of trying to reach for the farthest cup of tea on the table.

Several things happened at once. Sheila had leaned too far from her seat, causing her to tumble onto the table in front of her. The tea pots and the bowls of broth shattered on impact from the sudden weight, and spattered their liquid everywhere. The table gave way, and the golden-furred kangaroo found herself on her back, covered in tea and soup, with several porcelain shards imbedded in her fur. She seethed silently to herself. 'Two falls in one week. Where did all this bad luck come from?'

As if that wasn't enough, the sound of the crash caused the owner of the mansion to burst through the door. "What's going on-" Moneybags saw Sheila lying stomach up in a widening puddle of dark liquid with pieces of fine china stuck in her, and immediately got the wrong idea. "MARTHA! I told you to take care of her, not murder her!"

Martha could only babble mindlessly, still stunned by the suddenly of the situation around her. Sheila, on the other hand, forgot about her disability for just that moment. She tried to stand up as she confronted the greedy ursine. "I'm not dead yet, but I'm just about ready to murder-AHH!" She felt back forward with a splat, landing on the wet carpet. She groaned as the ever-familiar pain of her accident shot up through her entire body.

"Here, let me help you back up. It's still too soon to apply pressure to that leg of yours." Almost without realizing it, Moneybags was at her side. Sheila leaned on his shoulder so that she could stand on her good leg, but she quickly swatted him away.

"No, no. I'm fine. I just fell, that's all." Sheila insisted, adopting a more peaceful tone for the moment. She stood there, wobbling precautiously on her one good foot. Even with her tail for balance, she was pretty useless on one foot.

"Sheila, let me-"

"I SAID I'M JUST FINE!" She cried viciously. Sheila's bad foot flew out behind her as she lost her balance from moving too fast. Moneybags caught her instantly to keep her from hurting herself further. He held on until Sheila had regained her balance on her one good foot. Only then did he notice their position. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and his were around her waist. They gazed at each other for a moment, their noses almost touching. Moneybags saw a pinkish tint flood her furry cheeks, and felt his own face flushing.

'Wow. Her eyes are the color of the purest emeralds...' "You should be more careful, Sheila. I don't want you to break your other leg." Moneybags found will to speak first.

'His fur is so soft and warm...' "Well, you shouldn't have pushed me." Sheila retorted. Searing pain began to drive up her leg as a reminder that it was far from being healed. She winced as the pain spread throughout her body.

"Let me walk you back to your bed." He said after another hiatus of silence. Sheila nodded, and let herself be carried to the soft goose-down bed in the guestroom. He even took the time to wrap her up in warm blankets while setting her leg in a way so it wouldn't be disturbed. As he did so, the buttinski rhynoc maid watched them as she mopped up the mess Sheila made with a sponge.

"You're too kind." Sheila tried to make her reply sarcastic, and was surprised at the soft tone to her voice. For a while, none of them spoke. Sheila dug herself deeper into the bed, and Moneybags pulled a medical needle out of his pocket. Even though he was squeamish around needles, the marsupial insisted of having her medicine injected so that it worked immediately.

"This will help soothe the pain and make sleep easier." He parted a small patch of Sheila's fur with his fingers, revealing the pale and almost vulnerable skin underneath. Turning away from the scene, he punctured the skin with the fine needle and injected the clear liquid into her bloodstream.

"Sweet dreams, Sheila." And without another word, Moneybags left the guestroom. Sheila could only smile weakly, and then, with a sigh, she closed her eyes and let the medicine do its work.

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When the bear walked into his bedroom, he had thought he had escaped the situation that happened in the guestroom. He found out he was wrong when he heard a voice say, "You sure are a sly one, Sir Moneybags. These weeks indoors won't be such a burden after all!" The owner of the mansion grumbled in defeat as he saw the persistent maid Martha sitting on his bed, still holding a tea-soaked sponge in her hand.

"Nothing happened, okay? If anything, I have to pay extra for the table and the porcelain she broke!" When Moneybags became frustrated, he would often let his arguments stray to his money. After all, it was expected of him.

"I saw something spark between you two when you gazed into each other's eyes. It was so sweet to stop her from falling!"

"No, nothing happened. In case you haven't noticed, we're not in one of those romance novels you like to read..."

"Those romance novels are based off of real life experiences, and are you sure that nothing happened?"

"Yes."

"Do I hear a hint of hesitat-"

"NOTHING HAPPENED! QUIT STICKING YOUR HORN INTO OTHER PEOPLE'S BUSINESS!"

"Oooh. Defensive, aren't we?"

Moneybags growled irritably, sounding for once in his life like a grizzly bear, as he found himself losing the verbal battle. 'When this storm is over, I'm going to fire that maid.' he thought maliciously. Then, with a sigh, he slumped his shoulders and admitted, "Okay, maybe something did happen..."

"I knew it! This is perfect! Soon, there will be dates, then proposals, then a marriage, then a honeymoon, and finally, a mansion full of kids! It's like a fantasy come true!" Martha cooed.

"Err, isn't that going a teensy bit ahead of the situation?" Moneybags questioned. Sure, he could admit the small crush on Sheila, but Martha lost him with the mention of marriages and kids. Moneybags was still fairly young for his kind, and an heir to the mansion's great fortune was the least of his worries.

"Do something nice for her, Sir. I'm sure she'll appreciate it..." Martha said, changing the subject. "Lying around in bed or on that chair probably isn't the most exciting of entertainments for the young lady. Make it inexpensive, since you and I both know that you're...careful with your money. A nice dinner, maybe."

"In case you haven't noticed, she was exposed to the storm while she had an open wound on her leg. I don't think she's fit to eat anything high-class like filet mignon yet." Moneybags said frankly.

"Well, think of something, for Elders' sake! You can be creative. After all, you did know which bridges would hinder Spyro's progress if they were to go out."

Moneybags considered the option. "Okay, if I were to do something nice for Sheila, would you leave me alone for the rest of the storm? You're starting to drive me nuts." Martha took that as a hint to leave, so she rose from her seat and walked out the door, her hands pruny from clutching something wet during a long conversation. The rich bear didn't even have time to slip into pajamas. He just flopped on his bed, rather dissatisfied at the situation he had gotten himself into.

"Avalarian Elders above, what did I do to deserve this?"

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A debt will be paid...

In the everlasting storm, a giant creature rushed through the rain. It was unfazed by the water soaking its dirty white fur as it galloped through the mud with a feral grace. In fact, where it surrounded the creature, the storm got worse. A canine head with sharp teeth too big for its mouth howled into the obscured sky, but its call was not of the lonely words of the other animals trapped in the storm. Its song was that of pure happiness.

No shelter from the rain will protect my victims...

Suddenly, the monster stopped when its senses caught something. The storm seemed to lead right to its target, for a lightning bolt illuminated the sky just as its line of sight spotted a meal in the rain. Red eyes glowed as the giant monster found something to satisfy its blood lust. A group of rabbits, caught in the rain, huddled together for warmth. Yellowed teeth grinned when it heard the squeal of a young kit just a few weeks old sheltering itself with its mother's warm fur. Lightning crackled around the group.

I am the storm. No one survives me.

In a flash of white fur, the monster struck. The sound of thunder and rain blocked out the hideous sound of bones crushed underneath powerful jaws. The last thing any one of the rabbits saw was something that looked like a freakish mix between a yeti and a wolf. Any blood that hit the ground instantly diluted in the rain. Its belly full, it looked down upon the single kit now orphaned by his cruel murder. The baby rabbit gazed up with sorrow-filled eyes, into the eyes of a monster that towered over it easily. With a high-pitched yelp of terror, the bunny bolted.

No one.

A bolt of lightning flashed, and the bunny fell dead. The monster laughed. After all, now that the Silver Gigas Crystal was imprisoned in its rightful place, there was no need to stay with it. Now, the creature chose what it wanted to do. The fallen Guardian picked up the singed meat with its jaws and ate it tenderly.

My very name is deprived from the storm. I can summon the most powerful storm. I alone control this storm, and I will choose who lives or dies.

The wolf monster looked in the direction in which is sought. Even from miles away, it could see the mansion of Moneybags. The Guardian's muzzle wrinkled when it thought of how one life it chose to sacrifice became saved by the unforeseen kindness of a very unkind heart. The monster wanted Sheila to die a slow, painful death for interfering with its former master's plans. The kangaroo had even fought against the monster herself when its master summoned it against her. One red eye still couldn't see as clearly thanks to that godforsaken marsupial.

I promise you Sheila, you will die. I will continue following you until your shelter from the rain is destroyed and the storm shall claim your life...

My name is the storm. I am the storm. The storm will last as long as I allow it to.

My name is Squall.

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End of Chapter 2

No, Squall is not deprived from Final Fantasy 8. Squall really does mean storm; look it up in the dictionary if you don't believe me, you FF8 boobs. P Now remember, I own Bane, Kraken, Squall, and Martha, but all the other characters belong to Universal. I probably own the Sheila/Moneybags pairing as a whole, as I was the one to bring it to life...