Jodie woke up sore and groggy. It took her a moment to look around at her surroundings and notice that she was tied up against something. She shook her head to clear it and realized that she was tied to a large pole in the middle of a dirty and humid hut. Joe was tied up next to her and Fred was tied next to him. She thanked her lucky stars that she wasn't tied next to him and his b.o.
Fred jerked awake and looked around in bewilderment.
"Fina?" He called out tentatively. "Fina!?"
He began struggling against the ropes, calling out that tramp's name, causing the rope to jerk and bite against her arms.
"Ow!" Jodie cried out. "Fred! Cut it out, you're hurting me, you idiot!"
Joe woke up and looked around in confusion as well. "What's going on? Is everyone alright? Where's Fina?"
"They took her!" Fred yelled in a panic still struggling. "They put some weird collar and her neck and took her!"
"What a tragedy." Jodie mumbled under her breath.
Joe gave her a sharp look. "Jodie!"
"Sorry." She sighed. "Couldn't help it."
"We have to get out of here so we can save her!" Fred's voice cracked. "The collar...it did something to Fina. Some red electricity came out of it and forced her to change back into a human."
"I saw." Joe sighed and lowered his head. "I saw them attack her and I couldn't do a thing because I was too weak and didn't know enough magic to fight them off."
Jodie stayed silent. She felt bad for Joe, she really did, but she just couldn't seem to summon any sympathy for Fina. It did twist her stomach though when she watched her writhe on the ground in pain.
Fred continued to struggle with the rope until he was out of breath. "Dammit! If San-Li was here she would have cut us free by now!"
"Wait a minute." Joe suddenly looked up. "I think I can free us."
Joe closed his eyes and took several deep breathes. A bright green light came over the rope and the rope began to turn a darker brown and softened until they were able to break free easily.
"Okay," Joe said standing up. "Now we have to sneak out of here and-"
"Fina!" Fred yelled running out of the hut.
"Fred wait! We don't know what's out there."
Before they could follow him out, there was the sound of struggling and cursing. A man wearing a tribal face mask and a loin cloth and carrying a spear came into the hut, pushing a fighting Fred back inside. Without a word he shoved Fred onto the ground and gestured for him to stay down.
But Fred was up again in a second and ran toward the man with his fist raised. The man gave one swipe with his spear and the tip sliced Fred across the shoulder. Jodie screamed as Fred went down with a cry of pain. She jumped between them as he raised his spear to strike Fred again and Joe held his arm out towards the man.
"Stop!" Joe yelled.
A green glow came over the man and his eyes widened behind the mask. He gasped, his voice muffled by the mask. "Y-you're the Warp Wizard."
Joe blinked in surprise. "Y-yeah. How did you know that?"
He lowered his hand and the man stopped glowing and automatically dropped onto all fours with his head bowed low before Joe.
Jodie knelt down next to Fred and examined the cut on his shoulder. It was bleeding, but at least it wasn't very deep.
"Are you okay?" Jodie asked quietly putting a tentative hand on his arm.
"I'm fine." Fred mumbled looking away. "Um... thanks I guess."
Jodie sighed and moved away from him. "Whatever."
The man was still bowing low to Joe who nudged him with his foot.
"Hey, get up." Joe said with a mixture of embarrassment and anger. "Who are you and way did you take us?"
"And are you this Tenebrosi Sanction?" Jodie asked cautiously.
"No, no." the man shook his head vigorously. "We thought you were the Tenebrosi. They have come into this jungle many times trying to find this village searching for something precious to us in order to spread evil and chaos throughout the world."
"We don't care about that!" Fred interrupted.
He walked over and roughly yanked the man to his feet. "When you attacked us you also attacked and hurt a young blond girl who was traveling with us. Where the hell is she!?"
"W-we thought she was one of the Tenebrosi's shape shifting monsters." The man said fearfully. "But I can take you to her if the Warp Wizard commands me to."
"Now." Joe growled.
They followed the man, whose name turned out to be Natai, out of the hut as he led them through the village. He took off his mask and gestured for the other warriors to lower their weapons.
"They are not Tenebrosi." He told them. ""They are not Tenebrosi."
Slowly the villagers lowered their weapons and took off their face masks. They stared at them in silence and nervousness. At first Jodie thought it was because of Joe's (technically unofficial) Warp Wizard status but as Natai led them further through the village, she realized that there was a totally different reason for their nervousness.
There was inhuman screaming that got louder and louder the closer and closer they got. Several warriors were surrounding something in a large wooden cage and at their spears pointed to whatever was inside. Jodie gasped and covered her mouth with her hands when she saw exactly what it was.
Fina no longer looked human. She looked like she was stuck between her human and cat form and had gone completely feral. Her eyes were glowing red, matching the energy that sparked from the crude wooden collar around her neck. She snarled at the guards, her mouth full of long, sharp fangs, and swiped at them with her claws. A rope was tied around her waist and was secured to a large stake in the middle of the cage.
One of the guards yelled and stabbed her in the side with his spear. Fina cried out in pain as blooded sprayed out of the wound but then closed up almost instantly. She lunged at another guard who did the same thing, this time catching her in the neck.
That was when Jodie realized that they had been doing this for a while. Fina's dress had many tears and there were blood splatters all over the ground.
"FINA!" Fred yelled running forward.
Fina lunged at another guard but as he raised his spear to stab her, Fred tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face. He turned to the cage with a look of mild relief, but Fina only snarled and lunged at him as well.
"Fina?" Fred's smile fell. "Fina, it's me Fred. Don't you recognize me?"
Fina only screamed at him with another inhuman screech and lunged at him again. The rope snapped and the tip of her claws sliced Fred's cheek. Fred stepped back with a look of immense hurt on his face and held a hand to his bleeding cheek.
Joe turned to Natai with a murderous look in his eyes. "What did you do to her?"
"It is the collar." Natai said fearfully. "It is supposed to hinder her shape shifting abilities. But she was stronger than we thought and the more she fought it, the worse she became. We tried to kill her but she kept reviving."
"You..." Fred turned to Natai. "You bastard!"
Fred ran towards him and Jodie was barely able to restrain him from beating Natai senseless. Joe's eyes and fist began to glow green and his arm shot out and grabbed Natai by the throat.
"How do I fix her?" He asked in a low growl.
"Th-the collar!" Natai said shaking. "But it's dangerous to get close to her. She's already killed two of our people."
Joe threw the man down and walked purposely towards the cage.
"Joe, wait." Jodie let go of Fred and put a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful, okay?"
Joe nodded and walked up to the cage. Fina snarled and lunged at him, bending the bars outward.
"Fina," he said softly. "It's me Joe. Everything's alright now."
Fina snarled again, but slowly began backing away from him. Joe opened the cage and all the guards tensed and got their spears ready. Joe walked inside the cage and Fina made another half lunge toward him. Joe flinched but kept coming forward with his hand out.
"Easy girl." He said softly. "I won't hurt you."
Fina snarled and kept backing away as Joe came forward. She hissed in pain as the collar sparked with another burst of energy. This time Fina fully lunged at Joe and swiped him across the chest with her claws. Joe dodged back just in time for her claws to only rip his shirt.
Jodie stifled a scream and Fred grabbed her shoulders. Joe looked at Fina in complete terror as she slowly came towards him again. Her eyes glowed a deadly red as he looked for any trace of the kind, loving girl who lived with him for the past couple of years.
Joe took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He reached out to her with all of his senses and all of his heart.
Fina, he called out with his mind. Fina, I'm here. Everything will be okay now.
The snarling stopped and Joe opened his eyes. Fina's eyes glowing eyes slowly dimmed and until they returned to normal. She backed away from him in fear, still with claws and fangs.
It's okay Fina, Joe reached a hand out towards her. It's okay.
His hand reached her neck and unfastened her collar. Fina gasped as her claws and fangs receded. She looked at Joe and her eyes filled with tears.
"J-Joe?" She whispered faintly before collapsing in his arms.
Joe held her in his arms and stoked her back gently and she sobbed silently.
It's okay, Fina. I'll never let anything happen to you again.