A/N
I know, I'm having trouble updating on a regular basis. As soon as I admit I have a problem, I'll be able to help solve it. The thing is, earlier this week I had a band competition (Tch-straight twos, I was hoping for a better rating) ((Still pretty good, though.)), and Thursday through Sunday of next week I will be going on a Spring Trip, and will not be updating for those days and probably a few days afterwards, because I'll be tired but still have to go to school (bummer), but I'll do my best to update my stories at least once before I go, so there isn't that much of a wait, and again, I'm sorry, but the fact is, between band and the last four week homework stretch, I've been totally swamped.
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There was a large cage made of wood sitting in front of an old rundown shop, or at least, I think it was a shop. Mr. McCoy was in it. So was that young man that gave me the funny look, but I wasn't too concerned with him.
Red Moon and I were on a roof. It was hot. I could feel my skin baking. And the fact that Red Moon was sitting on my shoulder still wasn't helping. But I didn't move. I kept scanning my eyes. Except for the few jeering men and a couple drunks, there wasn't a lot of anything. Throughout the entire town it had been nice and airy, with a good bit or leaves and other greenery, but here it was dusty and hot. It made my throat dry just looking at it.
I frowned. There'd be no way to spring Mr. McCoy at this rate. Too many people. And if rats and Mr. Logan taught me anything, it's that people are bad things.
I noticed a shadow moving all the way on the other side of the clearing, opposite of the cage from myself. I squinted my eyes.
It was the bespectacled man. Except, this time, he was clean and unhurried. He also wasn't walking towards the cage. He was keeping himself mostly hidden in a side street, watching. I studied him carefully. There seemed to be easiness about him, with underlying menace. Something nobody would see if they weren't looking. Then again, if he were so dangerous, he might have been able to fight those ogre things off by himself. Wouldn't surprise me. Things tend not to make sense in new areas.
Of course, he could only have that sense of menace. There were plenty of people that tried to give off the impression that they were big and bad only to be total wimps. And on occasion I could probably be one of them.
A low rumble caught my attention. Something behind the shop was causing a fuss.
(What is that?) I asked the cat on my shoulder.
It sounds large.
(Wanna go see? Waste some time?)
I suppose so. He sounded fairly amused by the concept.
I slid backwards on the roof so that no one on the ground would see me. When I was safe, I got up and got down off the roof, by no graceful means necessary.
I dusted off my shorts and stood still so Red Moon could settle himself and trotted off through the side streets to see what was rumbling.
Ducking through the streets, I finally came across one parallel to the back of the shop.
I poked my head out of the side street.
(What… Is that?)
Red Moon didn't say anything. His ears were flattened against his skull.
It looked like a giant ball of…snot. It really did. It was green, slimy and oozing. It had to have been twelve feet high. It was in a cage that it was practically bursting out of, and that didn't look to pleasing either. The cage was made of bars, but they were held together by rope, with several bars going horizontally to keep the other bars in place. Some people were 'watching' it, showing their complete interest by kicking back and downing a brew.
The rumbling grew louder, and a man sitting with his back against the back wall of the shop threw a rock at it. The rumbling went a different pitch for a moment, then diminished into a soft rumble.
"What a lovely specimen." Someone commented dryly behind me. I gulped down a yell and whirled around to come face to face with the spectacled man.
I stared. He stared back. Red Moon yawned and showed his obvious lack of interest at the situation.
I frowned at him. "What's the big idea, sneaking up on me like that, hunh?"
He ignored my comment and looked past me at the giant snot-ball. Then he looked back at me. "What is a young girl like you doing in a place like this?"
"If I don't get caught, it's no harm no foul." I said guardedly. "Are you going to call those guys?"
"No."
"Well, then we have no reason to bother each other."
"What were you planning on doing just now?"
"What?"
He gestured towards the green ball. I looked at it and shrugged.
"Nothing."
He looked at me as if he was searching my eyes for a minute. Then his eyes settled on Red Moon, who was laying full length across my shoulders.
"Where did you get that cat?"
"Why do you want to know?" I countered, trying to figure out how to get away from him.
"Those kinds of cats are extremely dangerous. Their fangs are poisonous."
"And your point is?" I started trying to inch around him.
"And I don't believe that there are very many in this city. They are mostly a high mountain breed, which brings me to my next question…why do you have my good luck charm sitting on you?"
"What?" I was totally confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"That cat's name is Red Moon. He's my ship's bringer of good luck. Where did you get that cat?"
I stared at him for a moment, then turned my head to glare at Red Moon. (Why didn't you say you knew him?)
You didn't ask.
(Didn't ask…) I shook my head. "I found him, he's been helping me out."
"I see. And what help requires a cat?"
"What good luck requires a cat to bring it?" I mimicked his tone. He looked slightly taken back, and he frowned.
"Who are you?"
"You first."
"My name is Ivan. I'm the captain of the Black Sun." There was an obvious note of pride in his voice.
"Red Moon and Black Sun. Nice."
"Thank you. It took me forever to find a ship that fit." He said dryly. "Now it's your turn."
At least he knows where his real assets are. Red moon commented lazily.
"Danny. I'm not the leader of anything, just a human."
"I see. And what is your problem that you had to ask Red Moon's help?"
"Why do you want to know?" I said defensively.
"I find it interesting that a young girl, such as you, can wheedle her way into one of my crew's good graces so easily, when there is no common language other than food, and usually Red Moon is easily refrained from such bribery. So, I have to wonder, what is it that Red Moon finds so…intriguing about you?"
"Uh…" I tried to sift through the question to find a suitable lie. I wasn't entirely sure that telling a strange man called Ivan that I could talk to animals was a decidedly good idea. Nor was the fact that I needed to break my teacher out of jail so he could join me on a quest to save my friends from becoming virgin sacrifices for the Soul King.
No, that would not be a good thing to blurt out.
"You're not good at formulating lies, are you?" He had his eyebrow arched.
"Not especially." I said a little weakly.
"I see…" He glanced at Red Moon, then turned his attention to the mucus ball behind me again. "I'd like to ask you something. Obviously, you've been following this little slave train for awhile, because I've been seeing you every so often. I'm guessing you're after someone in that little cage out front. So am I. I'd like to enter a temporary partnership, if you're game."
I crossed my arms. "Go on."
"If you have the means of making a distraction, I have the means of freeing the slaves in the cages."
"And what makes you think I'll trust you?"
"I don't. I'm not stupid enough to think that you would trust me simply because we have a same goal. So, I propose this; we help each other, then we go our separate ways. No attachments, no worries."
I raised my eyebrows at his little proposition. It seemed to be pretty straightforward, very honest.
"Alright, it sounds good." I said slowly. He turned his gaze back to me. I noticed that his eyes were actually purple, but not a startling purple. It was as if someone had added an extra color to brown and somehow made a strangely colored violet. He pushed the glasses up his nose and nodded.
"You know, I believe that large…animal…needs freeing. I'll leave that to you."
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(This is so gross.) I muttered mentally to Red Moon. He didn't answer.
I was lying on my belly trying to undo some of the twine or whatever it was that was holding this cage together. I tried to talk with the thing in the cage, but it wasn't very smart. It was pretty angry though. It wanted to eat some of the guys outside, which were having an interesting problem.
Apparently Red Moon is not only poisonous, he's a shining light. Literally. The little globe on his tail glows, and he can control how bright it gets. He ran through the clearing with it as bright as it would go, which was bright even during the day, which I noticed was beginning to slowly dim. It must be about four. Anyway, all they saw was the brilliant light bobbing up and down as it went following it's furred counterpart, and it obviously made them nervous, because now they were chasing it. And calling more men to catch it.
They were just like moths, can't keep away from the pretty light.
Ivan wasn't anywhere, at least that I could see. Probably bidng his time. Whoever had the keys probably wouldn't jump outside because people were chasing a pretty light. That's where I came in. People can ignore little balls of light. Usually they can't ignore twelve foot mucus balls.
That sort of thing is just a little noticeable.
The twine unraveled slowly, and I pulled it off. I had one more knot before I got it open enough for it to make a getaway. Or to be more accurate, I could get away before it got out, because I wasn't too sure it really saw me or understood me. And the last thing I want is to be attacked by a large green oozing ball. I'd have nightmares for weeks.
There was a shout of pain as somebody fell over a chair as they were chasing Red Moon. The cat sniggered at them and dashed off to cause more unintentional injury.
The knot had been difficult, but I managed to get it untied. It was only one side of untying, but any sort of slack would help. The cage was tied on four sides, now it wasn't tied at the bottom.
I grabbed one of the bars and shook it. Immediately the big monster reacted. It slammed against the bars and knocked several of them off, regardless of the holding bars.
"Uh oh." I got up and hauled out of there as it began busting out of the cage. Yells of frustration quickly turned to screams of panic as the giant ball thing broke all of the way out of the cage. Red Moon shut off his tail and tore around the edge of the big ball to hide with me in one of the alleys. I scooped the big cat up in case we needed to make a getaway, though I probably should have let him stay on the ground. But this seemed a little safer. We both looked out at the unfolding spectacle with fascination.
At first, it just stayed there. It was out of it's cage and it just stood there. Then it uncurled and slammed to the ground. I felt the tremor and gripped Red Moon a little tighter. We were both a little jittery. It was no longer a ball. It was a large flat…thing. It still oozed and made itself generally gross looking. Then one side rose up, and a circle of teeth appeared underneath the large body.
How'd I miss that on the first look?!
(Oh man…I'm gonna have nightmares and that thing didn't even attack me.)
Perhaps we should move to a less noticeable location.
Suddenly spindly legs sprouted out of the giant body and picked up the monster, allowing it to move around easily.
(Yeah…that would be a good idea.) I turned tail and ran down the alley, leaving the monster to its business and hoping it wouldn't decide to chew on me instead.
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What can I say? It was only a matter of time before my AU characters started showing up in this universe's stories, though I know some of you might not like this characterization very much.
Ah, well. Anyway, I'm going to try and devote the next chapter to Jean and Rahne, because obviously they have to be doing something about this time too.
Asteria: Red Moon seems to be well liked. I'm glad you liked the tree people, you were the only one to comment on them. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Aicha: I'm glad you like the cat!
Anon(girl): Did the other ingredient work that I said you might use? Heh, thank you, I was a little worried about the whole concept, but hopefully no one will take great offense. Hope you liked this chapter!
Laureate: Haha, thank you very much, cats are easy to write for. To me, they seem the most easily human of the animal race other than dogs in the way of normal speech. Other than the fact that they're arrogant and usually mysterious. I hope you like the stranger, and don't dislike the fact that he isn't exactly a mutant as he was before. Herman thanks you for the aphids, though he'd like something a bit bigger next time, even though you don't have to hand him gifts.
Herman appears to be holding up a light bulb…he might be pretending to be Red Bat. Anyway, he'll take the reviews!
