Reaching a Greater Understanding

Beastfire: Here's chapter 7! Yippee!

A while later, Frus woke up slowly, everything hurting. As he woke up, he noticed a large pair of blue eyes looking down at him. Ivy was hovering near him, and he saw that she looked a bit concerned about his condition. She had gotten hurt much worse than him, and, since several hours had passed, it was now Wednesday, meaning that her healing power wasn't working. Ivy had a few gashes here and there, and her bottom lip was bleeding.

"Hey," she began.

"Ivy, what happened to you?" Frus asked, noticing the wounds.

"Huh? Oh, well, I woke up a while before you did and Skeleton King got bored. So he decided to show me what he calls his 'playroom'. Tell me, have ya ever gone up against a Shindanese Warui? Sure, they look like your basic werewolf, but they're MUCH worse!"

"Are you okay, though?"

"Well, my head feels like it got hit by a Mack truck, and, dude, those gashes are kinda deep from my perspective, but other than that…ow, not really."

As it turns out, there was a certain venom released by the Shindanese Warui, one that wasn't fatal, but it was enough to weaken someone for a while. In Ivy's case, it shut down two of her powers: telekinesis and painkinesis. Not that she knew it, though. She did know that it was presently a Wednesday, but other than that, nothing.

"So, what about you?" Ivy asked.

"I'm fine, except for my tail. That feels like it got trampled by the Super Robot."

Ivy let out a small laugh. Then she realized that her tail had been broken once again. Next, came the ritualistic swearing. If anything, to Frus, this was a major vocabulary booster. Sure, he knew all of his home planet's various curses, but when it comes to those of Earth, it was all new to him.

"But did you win?" Frus asked.

"Yeah, but just barely. Man, I think that thing took a pretty good chunk outta me."

"It looks like it. If that one gash had been over here just a little more…"

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Hold on. Since when are you a medical expert?"

"Well, when I met Ygrene, he taught me a lot."

"That explains it. Ah, well, I've had worse. I mean, this isn't the first time I got caught."

"How many other times has it happened?"

"Well, there were those last two times when I got grabbed by Skeleton King, then those other two times with Mandarin, and then that one with…Lorena. That had to be the worst of all. The (bleep) nearly dissected me!"

Then, Frus asked about Lorena, and Ivy told him everything about her. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING she knew about this mutant hunter! Afterward, Ivy had a question for Frus.

"Look. I've kinda noticed that you hate snakes, and not in the fear-for-your-life-run-away-screaming type of hatred, but actually beating the crap outta them. How'd that happen?"

Frus didn't know what to say about this, as nobody had ever asked him. Finally, he decided to tell her…(BTW: thanks to guy who reads too much fantasy for e-mailing Frus' backstory to me.)

"It all started back before Tserof-7 had its random energy field. We had a link with another planet, way out in another solar system, called Ordendrae, where everyone had the same powers as me, but they were different colors and were spiny weasel-like creatures, known as Ethyals. Everyone on Tserof-7 thought that the Ethyals were in league with the various snake monsters that came through the few portals that were opening already, so they really didn't trust them. My father, Vrust, was an Ethyal. He met my mother Aria on Tserof-7, and showed everyone there how to fight, after making the weapons, of course. But in battle with the snakes, he was killed. My mother was a mongoose-oid, so I didn't end up with the spines that my father had, since I'm only half Ethyal.

"So, then, a while later, Ordendrae's star imploded and the whole solar system that it was in was destroyed when it got sucked into the black hole. When Ygrene came, I was the only one brave enough to talk to him because I figured that he could tell me about other planets. Now, he's one of my closest friends, and shortly after I met him, he told me the story of 'Rikki-Tikki-Tavi'. Because of that, and what the snakes did to my father, I'll kill any snake that messes with me…or my friends."

Ivy appeared to have understood, and then had something to tell him.

"Ya wanna know why I hate snakes?"

Frus looked at her, waiting for what she had to say.

"Well, it all happened when I was human, and two years old. I said something that really set Padre off, and he overreacted. He put me down Cousin Vinny's well and dumped a whole bunch of snakes on me. Some of them bit me, and I've been scared of them ever since."

"Why would your parents do this?"

"Because they're a bunch of jerks and they hate me for some reason. Maybe it's because I just don't wanna join the family business. They were never that strict with my so-called 'sister'."

Frus knew exactly what she was talking about, because she'd previously told him about her life growing up.

"So, where are we, anyway?" Frus asked.

"The Citadel of Bone…in a cage made of some kind of metal that I'm really unfamiliar with."

Frus was about to respond when Skeleton King walked over, opened the cage, and pulled him out, struggling to no avail.

"What are you doing?" he shouted at the overlord.

"I'd like to have a private conversation with you," Skeleton King said menacingly, taking him out of the room.

All Ivy could do was watch this take place from behind the bars. She glared after Skeleton King, vowing to herself that she'd get back at him.

The old Bag o' Bones brought Frus into his throne room, threw him to the floor, and a whole bunch of residual Minion Mix came and surrounded him.

"What do you want with me?" Frus growled.

"It's about my Formless. The Hyperforce keeps destroying them, and I need something to make them stronger, so I can succeed in my takeover of Shuggazoom."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"I know about your control over metal, Frus."

"NO! THERE'S NO WAY I'M EVER GONNA HELP YOU!"

Skeleton King just grinned his evil grin.

"Well, that's just too bad."

Frus hesitated for a moment, and then asked the million dollar question.

"Why? What'll happen if I don't?"

"If you refuse, things will become very tough for your little girlfriend."

Frus thought for a moment, thinking 'I don't have a girlfriend'. Then, it hit him…

"IF YOU EVEN SO MUCH AS TOUCH IVY, I'LL KILL YOU!"

Now, Skeleton King laughed diabolically.

"If you do as I say, it won't come to that, now will it?"

That's it for Chapter 7…ANOTHER CLIFFY! YAY!

Ivy: Are you MATTA?

Beastfire: YUP! Next time, we see what Frus decides, and check in with the Hyperforce, as well as find out how Ivy's doing.

Frus: YEERRRGH! STUPID DILEMMA!

Ivy: Please review.

Frus: (threatening to Beastfire) I repeat…Ivy better be okay! If not, I'm gonna (long string of "bleeps" follows)

Beastfire: Wow. Like Ivy said, please review!