Ren paced the room, her tail bristled up to a fuzz and lashing back and forth as her padded feet stomped the floor. Repeatedly she glanced to the door where she sensed the guards standing at the ready or patrolling the halls.
A few times she glanced to the mass of black feathers huddling on the bench in the corner, her glum face and disheveled white hair the only other things visible. Ren sighed and went back to her pacing for the tenth time before the door finally opened.
Raven twitched, shifting deeper into her wings at the sight of the three new creatures entering the room. Two of them were humanoid, one younger with green skin and covered in purple tattoos wearing a red tunic, the other much older, like a blue skinned merlin. The last one was obviously female, an orange cat with a very human like features in her face, her long red orange hair falling in curls behind her.
Ren swished her tail giving a knowing smile to Najerin, "Hello, Najerin right?"
The blue skinned mugician's eyes narrowed slightly as he nodded, "Correct."
Ren smiled slyly, throwing a lopsided salute, "White face at your service sir."
Najerin nodded once again as the green skinned creature and the cat woman stepped forward. Ren blinked, letting her power out, feeling the energy these two gave off. Unlike the guards that had been pacing outside and several other creature she had encountered, these two were strong, very strong. And they carried themselves with enough confidence to show they knew how to use it, the sight of their energy gave her the impression of a pair of tigers stalking quietly up to a possible threat.
Ren glanced back to the black winged girl briefly, maybe one threat anyway.
"My companion is upset for the boy. Tell me where is he now?" she asked slowly, trying not to sound callous. Actually in truth she was worried about him to; The memory of his aura when they appeared in Kiru caused great concern to her, it was like looking at a campfire struggling to take a piece of wet wood. And that injury…right where that blob had touched him, it left a piece of cold empty energy unlike anything she had felt before. If only she had gotten a closer look at it before the guards had taken them away.
"We have question for the two of you." The green humanoid said in a hard voice.
The winged girl twitched, burring herself deeper into her feather. Ren wondered if she would be able to say anything to anyone with the way she was feeling, and after all she had been through…perhaps it would be best for her if she didn't.
Ren smiled brightly, her tail wagging behind her again, "I will answer, but first there are two things I would like to know. First; who are you? Friends of Najerin I think?"
The cat lady gave a low hiss, showing obvious anger towards the fox's outlook of her situation. The green skinned creature halted her with a simple gesture, moving to introduce them with the palm of his hand, his face adopting a stony expression as he did so, "This is Intress, she and Najerin are my most trusted advisors and closest friends. I am Maxxor, leader of the Overworld in Perim."
White face bowed deeply, touching her paw to her shoulder as she did so. She smiled to herself as she felt Maxxor hiding his surprise at her actions, "A pleasure to you both."
She stood up smiling, "Now secondly, the boy?"
Najerin cleared his throat, a feeling of unease wafting off of him, "The boy has been taken into our custody. Without a doubt he will port back home for proper rest when he wakes up."
Ren's ears drooped, Najerin's eyes narrowed as he caught the flash of anger in her eyes. Her voice calm as she spoke.
"I see, regardless, I would like to see him once we are done here."
Maxxor nodded once, crossing his arms again, "We shall see. now how about you start by telling us how you got into the city."
The white faced fox, swished her tail methodically, clasping her paws behind her, "Hmmm, where to start…?"
***8***
Maxxor sat in a spare chair with his eyes closing, digesting the story White face had just given him, he had stopped talking a while ago, allowing Intress and Najerin to speak and ask questions freely. The fox creature was blunt in her descriptions, refusing to go into much detail on certain questions. Such as what she was doing in Glacier plains to begin with, or how she escaped a fireball from a bat winged lady with a bad temper.
Right now Intress was shaking her head, "It's impossible, a Human's scanner transporting two creatures? Everyone knows it doesn't work."
Najerin nodded, "There have been attempts before, several times in fact. All without success, the only logical explanation is that one of you cast a mugic at the time or used some kind of new battle gear. Of which you seem to refuse to tell us."
White face's expression didn't change from that blank gaze she had gained since she had brought up the shapeless thing that attacked them.
"No, it was definitely the boy's device that brought us here. I might be taking a risk in telling you that I have no talent whatsoever for casting mugic." her eyes glanced to Intress, "and there's at least one of you here who knows that none of us were carrying any battle gear, unless you think that somehow some cloth and an instrument is capable of such a thing."
Intress turned to the raven winged girl, her gaze cold, "The instrument, it can easily be used to assist with casting a mugic."
White face smiled, "Ah yes, Mugic, that odd combination of magic and music. Tell me, when one is able to cast such a thing, and after doing so, don't they have some sort of residue left behind?"
Intress glared venom at the fox, reluctantly nodding. Najerin sighing heavily, "It's not a perfect way to tell but it's obvious for experienced casters."
White face looked up to him, "And one of your talents would find her skill level obvious then?"
Najerin glanced to the girl again, his silence all the answer she needed.
"This is absurd." Intress hissed, flexing her claws as she stepped closer to the fox, "even if how you got into the city isn't obvious…"
"Which it is." White face said flatly, being greeted next by a clawed hand around her throat.
"YOU ARE A THREAT! THAT MUCH IS OBVIOUS TO ANYONE! WHO SENT YOU?! ANSWER ME!"
"INTRESS!" Maxxor's voice boomed across the room, causing her to loosen her grip a little, her eyes still burning.
"Hey…Kid… Can't breathe here…" the Fox said around small gasps. Najerin's eyes widening slightly, saying nothing.
"Intress, let her go now."
The wild cat creature reluctantly obeyed, dropping the fox to gasp for breath at her feet. She turned to the green ruler with a smile, "Thank you."
Maxxor moved to stand directly in front of her, towering over her with steel gaze, "I have heard your story, and I find it somewhat hard to swallow. Yet, I also don't believe that you've been lying to us. Therefore I will allow you to stay in the city for a time. However you will be kept under a strict watch and you're forbidden to be alone while you're here. If you show any signs of planning something, do anything deemed suspicious, I will not hesitate to have you left to rot in the darkest nightmare the overworld has to offer. Is that understood?"
White face didn't move, her gaze held in his, she blinked as she stood up on her feet, giving him an icy glare of her own, "The boy?"
"Najerin will be the one to make that decision."
The fox's amber eyes softened, and slowly closed as she moved into a deep bow, "Then I would expect nothing less of you. I accept the terms."
The overworld ruler didn't answer, turning to the raven winged girl, shivering on the bench.
"As for you," though he said it much more softly than earlier she still flinched, her wings hugging tightly to her as she made herself as small as possible, "you will remain here in the castle for now. You may not go outside without escort and you may not go into the city without permission from me directly and under strict restrictions, understand?"
Raven shivered like a leaf, gulping before forcing herself to her feet. She folded her wings behind her, held her hands before her and bowed gracefully despite her shivering, "I…I understand, Lord Maxxor."
Maxxor sighed, moving to leave. He paused as the fox spoke again, "I won't lie when it concerns Perim, of that you can be assured."
The green skinned ruler glanced to her, only to find she had already slipped over to the raven to put her arm around her. He shoved her words to the back of his mind; after all he had very little trust of her as it was.
***8***
Danny had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he walked down the halls of the palace, bored as before. two days ago had probably been the most excitement he'd had in a while. (unless you counted the surprise attacks when he was Phantom.) For the fun of it he had been wandering Maxxor's palace. Filtering in and out of his invisibility while in human form.
At one point he caused a young female creature, possibly a maid, to run screaming down the halls like she was under attack. To which he somewhat regretted as the guards all jumped to make sure nothing was wrong, even broke out those wired lizard skull telescopes. From the lack of reactions when they were pointed in his direction though, he wondered if those things were useful at all.
At some point he figured he'd better go back to his room and grab a nap or something, maybe even let one of the guards catch and drag him back so he's have someone to chat with for a while. As he passed a certain door however something happened, something eerily familiar.
He felt a waft of cold at the back of his throat as a blue mist poured out and a shiver running down his spine. His ghost sense, working in full this time.
He halted, glancing to the door. A real ghost this time, or was that black lizard back for another round?
He wasn't taking any chances, reaching for his cold core the silver rings shifted him into the dragon eyed Phantom.
If Scaly is in there, this won't be like last time. he thought to himself as he walked right through the door.
The room was a good deal smaller than most of the chambers in the castle, and pretty empty too. Just a well woven carpet of the local patterns on the floor, a dresser in the corner by a full length mirror, and a four-poster bed with drapery about it, and the dim crystal lamp hanging on a high pole by a wicker chair.
Danny scanned the room carefully, his ghostly eyes easily adjusting to the dim light as they searched for a shimmer, a waft in the air, anything to suggest a ghost's movement. Nothing. maybe they weren't hiding that way, or maybe he was grasping at straws with this tactic, after all an invisible ghost could often hide from its own kind like they were never there, even in the same room.
I know you're in here, his hand squeezed into a fist as he felt another shiver down his spine again, and I know I'm close.
As another sigh of blue mist left his mouth he twitched, his ears had picked up a moaning, coming from the bed. Now why would a ghost hide in such an obvious place?
He decided not to think about it until he saw this thing for himself. Floating over the carpet in total silence, he turned his eyes to the thin curtains, seeing a muffled shape inside. Slowly, cautiously he peeled back the pale material and looked down on…a boy with red hair.
Danny could barely stop himself from panicking when he recognized the thin face, the red hair with a streak like lightning running through it, he didn't need to see his eyes or the rose colored glasses folded on a little shelf above the boy's head. He knew this boy, and the sight of him caused him to feel as though his blood was suddenly running backwards.
"KAZ?"
The boy shivered under the blanket, his skin completely pale and slick with moisture, mouth open and gasping for breath, a folded cloth on his forehead. Danny reached a hand out, feeling an immense heat coming off of him that sent him shaking.
"K-Kaz…? Wh-what happened to…?"
"Well hello there."
Danny jolted, eyes glowing as his body instinctively readied for an attack. He was imeadiatly dumbfounded, when he saw the creature before him. A girl with long braid in a green tunic and boots, a white fox face mask on her head like a hat as she smiled at him.
"Who might you be?"
***8***
Hova: (reading) If Danny wont be in Perim for much longer...? (turns to readers) I said in Kiru, as in the city, I didn't say anyting about him leaving Perim. 0_0 although this last part Nin, Danny getting his own chaotic account...Hmmm, interesting idea, but I don't think it would fit with my story ^ ^
(sets paper down slips on glasses) anyway today I'm very happy to say that we have a very specil guest, please welcome, that timeless Specter of the Ghost Zone, Cronos Clockwork.
(turns to empty chair and a note)
Hova: D-: (picks up note reads aloud) 'thank you for having me over, however something has occurred with the time stream. I am doctoring the situation now so to speak. while I cant come in person the answers to your questions are: Yes, Yes, No, Yes, Time will tell, try behind the clock and ; Thank you again for the invitation, Clockwork Ghost of time.' 0_0...^ ^ hold on a second...
(Hova gets up and looks behind the grandfather clock) Holy Tahiti how did that get there? Wait he said...Oh wow, I guess he does know everything...But I bet he doesn't know how many words are in this chapter. (sees another note reads aloud.) 'including your entire AN 2,524 words'
-_-...^ ^ review if you like or drop me a question. I'll be answering in the next chapter too, Happy reading everyone!