Secrets! Clues and Mazoku's
abound!
Telca yawned softly as she finished gathering her hair into one long braid, chuckling when Fred jumped off the top of her head and latched onto the end of said braid, swinging around with hisses and squeals of playfulness. Grinning widely, she let him continue to cling there as she headed for the computer room, humming the theme song to 'Wolf's Rain' as she peeked into the Game Room on the way by, smiling at the sight of Nightcrawler playing Crimson Skies, the new game that Lashana had picked up for him. Truthfully, everyone in the Harem spoiled that teenager, mostly because he was the youngest out of all of them.
Glad to see that he was enjoying himself, she turned and headed for the second floor and the refuge of the internet, a place where she could join in on conversations, mailing lists and various boards, especially those which piqued her interest, like ones about Lord of the Rings, the Elves from Lord of the Rings and anything to do with the love of her life, Gambit. On these topics, she was the most knowledgeable, and enjoyed sharing pieces of that knowledge with others that shared her obsessions. Of course, where Remy was involved, she'd share only so much information. It wouldn't do to have fangirls ravage the Palace in search of him.
Being quiet in case someone was already there, she silent toed the door open and peeked in, a grin spreading over her lips when she saw that the room was empty. Flicking on the light, she kicked the door shut behind her and went to sit at one of the five state-of-the-art computers, smiling when Fred swung from her braid and landed on the top of the moniter, his wall-crawling ability keeping him from sliding off and crashing onto the keyboard.
As soon as the computer had booted up, she opened her mp3 player and loaded the Return of the King soundtrack, humming along with it as she opened an internet window and went into her favorites, deciding to check out the message boards she frequented, mildly hoping that she hadn't missed any interesting conversations. To her surprise, she discovered that there hadn't been any activity at all, and as she scanned through some of the older topics, Fred leaned over the edge of the moniter to peer at the screen in what seemed to be real interest, his tail swaying as he stared at the email program that she opened.
Oblivious to the Alien's rising interest, Telca typed in her password, then patiently waited as the email server accumulated her new messages, her eyes widening when the number passed the 'teens' and stopped at a grand twenty-five. Her keen gaze immediately spotted the ten spam emails, and she couldn't help but laugh at the ones that promised to 'lengthen' or 'enlarge' a certain body part that she simply did not have. She had seen some weird spam emails before, but so far, the record holder belonged to the one that was about crossdressing vegetarian midgits. The enlargement ones simply paled in comparison to that particular piece of weirdness.
Just as she was about to reply to a certain email concerning Rivendell Elves, a knock at the door drew a rather protective hiss from Fred, who rose into a crouch, his inner jaws entending slightly as he turned his attention to the new arrival. She nearly jumped out of her skin seconds later when he spat, the corrosive bile burning a hole into the door jab and eliciting a yell from Wolverine as he threw himself backwards into the hallway.
"Jeezus! Damn, darlin'! What tha hell was that?!"
"Uhh, sorry. I think he's a little protective," Telca said in defence of Fred's actions, quickly motioning to the Alien not to hack out any more dangerous loogies as she turned in the swivel chair to look at the Canuck. "What's up?"
Grumbling, he poked his head into the room, and, once he was sure he wasn't a moving target, slowly walked in, eyeing the Alien warily. "That Pred and Korin're wreakin' havoc."
"So?" She made a gesture of dismissal as she turned back to the computer. "It's no problem of mine."
He sighed and hid a wince, knowing what was coming. "They're, uh, goin' after yer cat."
"They're WHAT?!" Cursing, she logged out of her email and shut off the computer, slamming her hands on the desk as she pushed herself to her feet and spun, feeling Fred leap out and grab onto her long braid seconds before she stomped out of the room.
Wolverine, who had wisely moved out of her way, swallowed thickly and watched her head for the stairs. Knowing how angry she was going to be about this, he wisely chose to avoid the whole situation all together by turning and heading for one of the spare TV rooms on the third floor. Self preservation and all that.
Luckily for Zelgadis, Mewtwo and Duncan, they heard her coming, and they all exchanged glances, each swearing that they wouldn't let her know that it had been their idea to sic the Pred and dragon team on her cat. Admitting that would bring about a fate worse than death, especially if Telca was feeling inventive. In the end, when she finally stalked into the room, no one would meet her gaze or even dare to breath loudly, which was probably for the better, since she was about ready to rip someone apart.
Seeing that they were all being thick, she snorted and stomped through the room into the Game Room, slamming the door shut behind her and frowned when Nightcrawler yelped, the Xbox controller falling from his hands as he jumped away from her. "Did you see those idiots?"
"Uhh... which ones?" the teenager stammered, not liking how her usual purple eyes had turned amber, a sure sign that she was about to lose her temper.
"Korin and the Predator."
"I don't know about any Predator, but Korin flew threw here five minutes ago, headed for the garage I think." He paused, then dared to ask. "Why?"
"Don't ask," she growled as she stalked past him, then broke into a run, hitting the garage door going full tilt and screaming when she saw her poor kitty backed up on one of the work tables, the Predator slowly advancing on her. "Just a damned minute you pint-sized pain in the neck!" Huffing, she stomped over and grabbed the Pred in a fist, yanking him away from Mischief and raising him to her eye level as she tried to yank his spear out of his hands. "Gimme that! What did I tell you?! Do. Not. Hurt. My. Cat!!"
Busted. Trying to be inconspicous, Korin slowly started to back away from the scene, freezing in place when that amber glare was turned on him. ::Uh.... hi?::
"Don't you 'uh, hi?' me you scaled rat! You damn well know better than you go after Mischief! And you!" Eyes narrowed, she turned her glare back to the Predator, who actually winced and tried to get free. "Next time you pull a stunt like this, I'm going to beat you to death with a frying pan! Is that clear?!" When he nodded, she growled and dropped him, letting him fall to the floor as she turned to stalk out of the room, smirking evilly when Fred hissed and snarled at the Predator. "Good boy. I knew there was a reason I picked you. Next time you can spit acid at him."
Korin swallowed thickly and looked at Mischief, grumbling when the cat, tail raised high in the air, turned and hauntingly strode across the worktable, then lithely hopped to the floor, her head raised snootily as she padded out of the garage. ::I don't know who's worse, the cat, or Telca.::
~*~
Munching on a Dorito, Lashana used a clean nail to turn the page in her book, licking the seasoning from her lips as she reached out and groped for her soda, managing to grab it on the fourth try. After guzzling half the can, she set it back on the table and turned back to the book. She had already gone through eight different comic book mini-series with no luck, so had decided to turn her attention to the books, her memory still nagging at her about the Predator's name. She knew she had read it somewhere, the question was where?
Kenshin was still quietly sitting over on the couch, making hardly a noise as he read, and she smiled as she spared a moment to look over at him. Shaking her head slightly, she turned her attention back to her book, a slight frown creasing her forehead as she flipped forward a few pages, then suddenly sat up, the bag of Doritos falling forgotten onto the floor as her eyes widened.
Hearing the sudden move, Kenshin looked up from his book and frowned over at her, rising to his feet when he saw how tense she had become. "Lashana-dono?" he murmured, reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder when she didn't acknowledge him and crouching to be at eye level with her as he shook her slightly, finally drawing her gaze. "What is it?"
"I just figured out why the Pred's name sounded so familiar," she answered, her gaze slowly hardening. "He's a character in this book, and he's also the Pocket Monster that I bought at the mall."
The samurai blinked at that. "What does that mean?"
"I don't know," she whispered as she rose to her feet, meeting his gaze when he did so as well. "But I'm going to find out."
Gripping the book in her right hand, she quickly cleaned up the mess the dropped Doritos bag had done, then grabbed her soda and headed out of the Library, smiling when Kenshin quickly gathered his sword and followed her. Opening her mind, she reached for her dragons, easily sensing where Korin was, the new knowledge giving her the information she needed in order to open a portal and walk through into the kitchen, frowning as she turned to discover Duncan, Zelgadis and Kang sitting around an open fridge, watching Korin and Vk'leita as the duo battled with the Thing that lived in the fridge.
Yelping, she ran forward and first ripped her dragon free of the tentacles, then grimaced and reached in to grab the Predator, idly noting that the fork he was using as a spear wasn't doing much against his supposed prey as she yanked him free and kicked the fridge door shut. "Kang..."
Gulping, the draconian grabbed his two fellow gamblers and bolted, leaving her standing in the middle of the kitchen with Kenshin, who sighed and rose a hand to his forehead in an exasperated smack. Knowing what he felt like, she gently placed both Korin and Vk'leita on the island counter before fishing the book out of the back pocket of her jeans, pointing to it as she addressed the Predator. "You knew Dachande, didn't you? You were the one who found Da'dtou'di, ne?"
His eyes widened as he stared up at her in shock, barely able to believe that she knew of him. "How do you know this?!" he demanded, daring to walk to the edge of the counter as he glared up at her. "You, a human, how do you know?"
She blinked at the garbled language. "Uh..." She shot a look at Kenshin, who looked as lost as she felt. "Okay, we got us a language problem here. You understand me but I can't understand you. Crap. Korin? Littling, can you use your telepathy?"
::Not really,:: he frowned. ::I can only read his feelings. Not his thoughts. Not like I can read you, or anyone else. It's like there's a barrier there to stop me.::
"Damn. Damn. And damn again." She sighed and dropped the book on the counter, raising her and to run her fingers through her hair. "What the hell do we do now?"
"Who does what now?" Kang asked curiously, unable to help himself from sticking his snout into her business again.
She quirked an eyebrow at him and folded her arms over her chest. "Shouldn't you be running away?"
He paused, trying to guage her mood. "Should I be?"
"....no. I'm too distracted to scream at you right now."
"Thank God," Duncan muttered as he came out of hiding, approaching the elf and looking from the 'Alien vs Predator' book to the Pocket Predator. "What'd you find?"
"Well," she mused, dimly aware that Kenshin and Kang had drawn closer to her. "From what I can firgure out, this guy here is a character in this book. Which means that he's from an alternate dimension than ours. Why he's the size of a soda can I have no idea, but I doubt it's a natural occurance."
"Magick?" Kang suggested, eyeing the Pred closely.
"Nah. I would have sensed that. But there's this weird language barrier. He understands Korin and I, but we can't understand him. With Korin's telepathy a normal language barrier wouldn't be a problem, but for some reason he can't reach this guy's thoughts."
"That's gotta be a spell," Kang muttered as he straightened and rose a hand to cup his chin, a faraway look coming into his eyes as he mulled that over. "It'd have to be really advanced if you can't sense it."
"I know. That's what's bugging me."
Meanwhlie, Duncan had leaned down to be near eye-level with Vk'leita. "Dooo yoooou understaaaaand the woooords thaaaat arrrre cooomiiiing ouuuut of myyyy mouuuuuth?"
Kenshin sweatdropped. "Ano, Duncan, I do not think that is what Lashana meant."
"Baka! I already said that he can understand us!" Lashana snapped as she whacked the Immortal upside the head, forcing Vk'leita to hop out of the way as the hit made the Highlander smash his forehead against the counter. "It's us who can't understand him! Get it!?"
Duncan grimaced and rubbed at his head. "I get it. I get it."
Kang rolled his eyes at the sight and leaned back against the main counter. "So, what are you going to do?"
She held her breath for a moment, then sighed. "I'm not sure. We can't get anywhere if we can't understand each other so...."
It was Kenshin that came up with the brilliant idea first. "Doesn't Beast have a universal translater down in his lab?"
Lashana, Duncan and Kang stared at each other for a moment.
"Why the hell didn't I think of that?" the elf muttered, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment as her cheeks turned pink. "Either way, let's just go. C'mon you." Knowing that he was a seasoned Hunter and a well-known Leader amongst his people didn't phase her one damned bit. Hence the fact that she had just grabbed him up in a hand on her way out of the kitchen. He didn't struggle, which was good, but she sensed that he was sulking, and she smirked a little at that, finding it amusing that a seasoned Leader would sulk like this.
Korin landed on her right shoulder as she stopped at what seemed to be a wall and moved aside a piece of moulding, uncovering a keypad upon which she punched in her six digit security code and stepped back, allowing the scanners to do their thing before the 'wall' slid aside to reveal a sterile steel elevator. Humming the tune to Evanescense's 'Bring me to life', she calmly stepped in and waited for Kenshin, Duncan and Kang to file in with her before she hit 'B1', her eye catching on the 'B2' button as she entertained the thought that she hadn't trained in the Danger Room lately.
But the thought of training was quickly set aside as the doors slid open, the soft ring of the elevator announcing that they had reached Beasts lab, and she took in a breath of the clean sterile environment as she stepped out into the lab, a smirk spreading across her lips when the vague scent of coffee and twinkies reached her. "Heyla? Beast? Beast, where are you?" Her gaze cut across the small infirmary they had, then to the hallway that led deeper into the lab, hearing Korin's soft rumble as she headed down it. "Yo! Beast! I know this place is huge but I know ya ain't deaf!"
"Lashana?"
"Finally," Kang smirked. "A sign of life!"
"Cut it out," Lashana muttered as she walked into a huge lab, smiling when she spotted the blue furred genius that resided in the Harem. "Beast. Hey, you have time to do me a favor?"
His grin contrasted with the dark blue of his fur as he met her gaze, then did a graceful bow. "For you my dear, of course. What do you need?"
"I vaugely remember you saying you had a universal translator," she headged, smiling when he snapped his fingers and turned to rifle through large piles of notes and various inventions.
"How can you keep track of everything?" Duncan asked as he looked at various things in jars.
"Easily. Don't touch that!"
Startled, Duncan set it down too roughly, wincing when it knocked another jaw off, the glass shattering on the floor. "Uh, sorry."
Lashana sighed and rose her free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Goddess give me strength...."
"Forget strength," Kang muttered. "Ask for Advil."
Kenshin shook his head at their antics, then looked at the Predator that the elf held. "Lashana-dono? I think he's trying to say something."
"Eh?" Curious, she gently set Vk'leita down on a pile of papers and crouched down to be at eye level with him when he spoke again, trying to get something across in sign language. "Hang on a sec, will ya? We've almost got the translator." When he growled, she sighed and nodded, gesturing for him to go ahead. As she watched, he pointed to himself and mimed a break on one of his tusks. "Broken tusk? Oh! You mean Dachande. How I know about him?" At his nod, she bit her lower lip, mulling that over for a moment. "Well, um, y'see the universe is not only made up of many planets, but many varying worlds and dimensions. In my home dimension, you and your people are a fiction. Characters, made up in stories. I read about Dachande in one of those stories, and I read about you. Where we are now, this Palace, is a crossroads in both dimensions and worlds, everything coincides here, I suppose that's how Telca and I managed to stumble onto you."
"Aha! Found it!" Grinning, Beast pulled out the small silver-dollar sized invention and brought it over, handing it to the elf. "Just activate it by pressing that button. All you have to do after that is keep it on your person. The technology is advanced enough that everyone within five hundred meters of you will be in the 'cone' as it were, everyone will be able to understand one another."
"Yatta!" Smiling, she activated it, then eyed the Predator. "Okay, say something."
He growled and folded his arms over his chest. "You expect me to believe that farce about dimensions?"
She grinned, ignoring his condescending tone. "Hey! It worked. Kewl! Thanks, Beast-chan!" On impulse, she went over and hugged him. "I'll get a couple of boxes of Twinkies down here for ya!"
Kenshin smiled, then looked at the Predator. "What Lashana says is true. All of us here are from different dimensions, that we are. With their portals, Lashana and Telca can travel to hundreds of thousands of different places. They are travelers, and warriors and protectors. I wouldn't dismiss her words so carelessly."
Lashana threw an arm around his shoulders and hugged him. "You say the nicest things," she smiled, glancing at Kang and Duncan afterwards. "Unlike these two, who throw frizbees at my head and try to get my dragon killed."
"We just opened the fridge, they didn't have to go in," Kang protested hauntily.
Vk'leita shook his head and sighed, lowering his arms as he looked up at the white-haired woman, missing the time when his vision hadn't been altered. It had been so much easier to see things in heat instead of this odd frequency of light bouncing off of things. "If what you say is true, then how did you come to be here?"
"Me?" She grinned and winked. "I'm a sorceress, I can open portals and go where ever I want!"
"Technically, you're an Avatar," Kang corrected her.
"I don't like to spread it around," she muttered sourly. "I have a hard enough time with the wackjobs that Challenge me as it is, I don't need everyone to know about what I am!"
Vk'leita frowned. "You're.... a Leader?"
"Leader? Me?" she blushed. "Goddess no. I just.... There are people who want power, and I'm just the one who happens to stand in their way...." She trailed off, grimacing at her own crappy explaination, then sighed. "It's complicated, okay? Just leave it at that."
Duncan bailed her out before the Pred could ask another question. "So, if he's a character in the book.... what exactly happened to turn him into a tiny tot?"
"The only explaination would be magick," Beast mused thoughtfully. "And if Lashana cannot counter it...."
"Then we have to go to the source," the elf finished. "I gotta talk to Telca. Korin, littling, keep an eye on Vk'leita, will you? I don't think either of you should go near her right now."
::Ech, good point. Hey! I can sense his thoughts now! Wow, is he ever suspicious of you!::
She glared. "Korin!"
::What? I just...:: he trailed off, then shrugged and hopped down from her shoulder to the table. ::Oh nevermind. I'll keep an eye on him.::
"Good. I'll be right back." Sighing, she turned and snapped her fingers, eyeing the golden portal that opened in front of her before stepping through, ignoring Vk'leita's hiss of surprise as she walked out into the Main Hall, huffing when she saw that it was devoid of all life. "With twenty-something people living here, you'd think it'd be easy to find someone," she muttered to herself as she spent a moment looking around, then yelled out for Kalamadea, waiting impatiently until a small blue form swooped into the room, wings beating strongly as he landed on the banister to the stairs.
::You screamed?:: the eldest of the three dragon trio chuckled into her thoughts, pale blue eyes shining in amusement. ::What's up?::
"I need to find, Telca," she said as she walked over to him and lightly scratched his chest, eliciting a low purr from him. "Can you help me?"
::As if you have to ask,:: he grinned as he hopped up to perch on her right shoulder. ::She's up in the Computer Room.::
"Great!" Grinning, she opened another portal and stepped through again, ducking at the sound of something spitting, then turning wide eyes to eye the burning hole in the wall. "Damn...."
"Huh?" Startled, Telca turned in her chair and blinked at the elf. "Oh. Sorry. Fred likes to spit at people."
Lashana eyed the two dozen or so burn marks near the door and gulped. "Do tell."
"And are you aware that your green stunted lizard was harrassing my cat again?"
"Um. Yeah. I just found out a few minutes ago. But that can wait." She grabbed a chair and straddled it, resting her arms on the back of it as she met her best friend's gaze. "I found out where Vk'leita's from. He's a character in one of my Alien vs Predator books, and thanks to Beast's universal translator, he's talking now. Or at least, whenever he's in range of this." As she spoke, she pulled the translater out of her jeans pocket and showed it to the other sorceress. "Major mojo must have been involved in order to turn him into a chibi."
Telca frowned. "So, you think that someone's going around shrinking characters in order to make a profit?"
"Bingo."
"That's the most fucked up thing you've come up with this month."
"Yeah, well, you're not the most stable brick in the foundation either."
"Point." She glanced back at the computer screen, then shrugged and shut off the system, rising to her feet as Fred jumped up and grabbed onto her braid. "Alright, let's go find Tiny and figure out what happened."
"They're down in Beast's lab," Lashana told her, seeing her friend nod as the burgundy haired sorceress opened one of her own portals, the silver doorway crackling with energy as they both walked through, emerging into the middle of the lab. The group was still there, and she smiled as Kalamadea swooped off her shoulder and went to greet his younger brother, who growled softly and nudged the other dragon with a wing, a playful movement.
"Alright, let's hear it," Telca announced as she walked over to the desk and stared down at the Predator. "You weren't always like this, right? Well, it's time to tell us exactly what you remember, about how you came to be this size, else we can't help you."
Vk'leita glared at her, hating her condescending tone, and yet knowing that these people were the first and only ones to figure out what had happened, the only ones who had gone through so much trouble to even communicate with him. "I don't remember all the details, only that I was drugged while on a Hunt. When I woke, I was like this, caged, like some tamed animal. There were others there as well, some of my kind, some species that I had never seen before. There were ones, like you Elf, with pointed ears, but male...."
"Elves?" Telca blurted. "The bastards done this to elves? Ooh, that's it, he's going down now!"
Kang rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Leave it to her to kick ass over some pointy-eared--" He cut himself off at the glares that both Lashana and Telca were giving him, then shrugged, wings mantling slightly. "What? It's true."
"You're on your own now," Duncan muttered as he backed away from the draconian, moving to lean against a nearby wall.
"Anyway," Lashana grumbled as she turned back to the Pred. "After you woke up, what happened?"
"I was shipped out, to the store where you found me. My first.... owner.... treated me like a thing, then threw me aside. I tried to escape, and was brought back to the shop."
Telca punched her left fist into her right hand. "Then we start at the store! Let's go!"
"Ano, Telca, shouldn't you plan this out a bit more?" Kenshin hedged, meeting the sorceress' gaze when she turned to look at him curiously. "To just confront the seller like this.... you could be walking into a trap."
"Y'know, he's got a point," Lashana agreed.
"That shopkeep had about as much power as a rock," Telca countered as she opened another portal, turning to look at the elf as she did so. "We don't have to worry about him. It's the seller we have to keep an eye out for. Now are you coming or not?"
With a whistle, Lashana summoned Korin and Kalamadea to her, waiting until they had taken perch on her shoulders before she gently scooped Vk'leita into her hands, glancing at the guys one last time before she followed Telca into the portal, jumping in surprise when a hand touched her elbow, making her turn to look at Kenshin when the samurai accompanied her. "Kenshin?"
"I have a bad feeling about this, that I do," he whispered to her, sharp gaze darting around the mall they were now standing in. "Something is not as it seems."
Now on edge because of his premonition, she nodded and hesitantly turned to follow her friend deeper into the mall, weaving her way through the crowds with ease as she made sure to keep her burgundy haired cohort in her sights, her stomach bottoming out when she saw the familiar store in the distance. Goddess above, I don't like this idea any more.
::Neither do we,:: Kalamadea sent, speaking for himself and Korin as he tensed his claws, talons pricking her through the material of her t-shirt as he wound his tail around her throat, securely anchoring himself on her shoulder as his gaze closed in on the black chitonous form clinging to Telca's braid. ::The Alien is wary too. I can sense it.::
Biting her lower lip nervously, Lashana exchanged a glance with Kenshin, then took in a fortifying breath and hurried after Telca, following her into the store and into the back, where they confronted the manager. "Heyla, gringo. We've got some questions for you!"
"Huh?" Startled, the man turned just in time to have Telca grab him by the front of his shirt, the taller woman fairly lifting him off his feet as she glared down at him. "W-what can I help you with?"
"The Pocket Monsters," she growled, eyes narrowing and flashing amber. "Who's your supplier?"
"If you want to order a certain--"
"Look, we know they're sentient! We know everything!" Lashana snapped, backing up her best-friend's request. "Now cough up the whereabouts of your supplier!"
Kenshin suddenly tensed, drawing his sword from it's sheathe with a whisper of metal. "Telca-dono!"
The warning came in time for her to drop the male and hop backwards, avoiding the dart that embedded itself into the floor where she had been standing moments before. Growling out a curse, she turned her gaze to the depths of the back storage room of the store, her eyes falling on the shadowed form that crouched behind a pile of boxes, a glint of light on metal causing her to tackle Lashana to the ground, the second shot barely missing the elf's shoulder. "Shit! He's got backup!"
"I told you this was a bad idea!" Kenshin retorted as he crouched near them, his eyes turning a little darker as he scanned the storage room, the blade of his sword in front of him. "We cannot return to the store without risking being shot."
"Dammit," Lashana whispered as Korin and Kalamadea took to the air despite her mental orders not to do so, the duo vanishing into the rows of shelves around them. Cursing, she boosted Vk'leita up to her right shoulder, then moved closer to Telca, a soft glow growing between her palms as she readied a fireball. "We need a plan!"
When Telca didn't answer right away, Kenshin did. "Set off the sprinkler system with your spell," he ordered. "We may be able to escape by distraction."
A low chuckle sounded from above them. "You won't be able to escape at all!"
Telca's eyes widened. "Mazoku!" she gasped, launching off a spell and cursing when the demon merely phased out of the spells way then reappeared, a shield easily stopping Lashana's fireball from hitting it's mark. "We're in trouble."
The Mazoku in human form chuckled darkly. "Indeed you are. Aero Bomb."
The store exploded, the blast throwing the trio out into the open space of the mall, shrapnel from the concrete floors and walls causing little scrapes and cuts across their skin as they rolled to their feet and readied counter attacks. Another explosion rocked the floor under their feet, the tiles buckling and cracking, sending them sprawling with cries of surprise and fright, the screams of the crowds loud in their ears as they tried to scramble for safety.
This time it was Kenshin who got to his feet first, eyes narrowed as he cradled the hilt of his sword in his hands, using the blade of it to dispell a particularly powerful fireball, the spell's flames rushing on either side of him as he stood his ground. Groans from behind him drew his attention for a split second as he glanced back at the two sorceresses, that little amount of time costing him dearly as a brightly feathered dart embedded itself into his right shoulder. Immediately, his vision swam, his breath leaving him in a curse as he dropped to one knee, bracing himself with his sword.
Growling, Telca yanked the dart from his arm, then moved to stand in front of him, flickers of light dancing around her as she pulled power from the very air and gathered it to herself, the rapidly created sheild deflecting a barrage of darts away from herself and her friends, knowing that Lashana was already checking on a semi-conscious Kenshin. "How is he?"
"Out cold!" the elf cried, yelping when two sharp pinches made her glance back at her left shoulder, a cry leaving her when she saw the two darts there. "Telca!" Fighting the darkness that suddenly encroached on her, she opened a portal and shoved Kenshin through, the golden doorway collapsing in on itself moments later when she blacked out, collapsing to the cracked floor with a sickly thud.
"Shit," Telca whispered as she backed towards her unconscious friend, dropping the spell at the last instant as she spun and grabbed the elf, dragging her friend along as she bolted from the scene. Her empathy was already picking up the Mazoku's intentions as it pursured them, and she forced herself onwards as she staggered, unused to having to carry someone along as she ran. She could feel Fred's talons against the nape of her neck as he climbed up her braid then hissed and spat at something behind her, and she was glad to have him along, being able to tell by his hisses and snarls where their pursuer was, that one advantage allowing her to launch a fireball behind herself, cursing again when she saw it deflect off of a powerful sheild.
Gasping for breath, she threw herself into another store and ran to the back, hiding behind a display and gently setting the elf down on the floor, ripping out the two darts from her friend's shoulder and smirking when she saw Vk'leita still clinging to the elf's shirt. "We're in the shit now," she muttered sourly, risking a peek around the display and yelping when a spear of blackness shot past her nose and slammed into her shadow, the spell freezing her in place, leaving her unable to defend herself as she Mazoku strolled into her sight, his sickly smile sending an involuntary shudder down her spine.
"Well, well. Wasn't that a merry little chase," he drawled, lightly running the cool metal of the dart gun across her jaw. "Sterling will be pleased that I've found such unique specimins. I imagine that you two will fetch quite a lovely price. The only female elves in the Pocket Monsters set."
As the darts embedded themselves in
her hip, she entertained the thought that once she awoke, someone, anyone
really, was going to be in a world of hurt.
TBC