Elements of Christmas
Chapter 4: Reluctant Tension
((Disclaimer: I don't own the Miser brothers; only my OC's… please don't take them without permission, but I'll gladly let you torture them all you want if you ask!!))
"Thunder?! Lightning! Where are you?!"
"Please, answer us!!"
Mother Nature and many other elementals searched frantically for the missing elementals. Her mind swam with worry and her hands trembled.
"There's no sign of any of them, ma'am." Sandstorm said, going over to her.
The tan elemental ran his rough hands through his smooth "hair". His brown eyes were filled with obvious pity as he looked upon the worried mother.
"Have any of you found anything?" he called, cupping his hand over his mouth.
The others mumbled their "no's" but Dew raised his hand and waved it, as though he were brandishing a sword.
Mother Nature's eyes filled with a sudden hope, and she went over to him.
"What is it, dear?" she asked, "What do you know?"
"It's about the disappearance… they were kidnapped, by a guy named Smog! He left Tsunami a note telling her that they were in a different world. She went with the North Wind to the world of the humans to look for them!" Dew said, sounding almost breathless as he had said the entire phrase in one breath.
Mother Nature's eyes widened.
"Who did you say kidnapped my daughter and her husband?" She asked.
"Smog." Dew repeated, "He sounds like a real creepy guy if you ask me."
Mother Nature didn't answer, but only called over Sandstorm and several of the other older elementals, such as Downpour and Evergreen, his wife.
"Smog has finally returned…" she whispered, causing much tension between those who were able to hear her.
"Well, what do you suggest we do? That sneak could be anywhere…" Downpour growled in a harsh whisper.
"Yeah, he easily slipped through our fingers last time we encountered him…" Sandstorm added ruthlessly.
Dew stood on his toes, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, like a young child but was dreadfully unsuccessful.
"No one will make any moves yet… I don't want to make any reckless moves… my brother has a deep plan, and will be ready for any recklessness we throw at him. I will not have him underestimated, because then someone will get hurt, understood?" she asked.
They nodded in understanding.
"I don't want to just sit here, either! There must be something we can do." Downpour said, feeling helpless, "We can't allow him to kidnap two of the most important elements!"
"Yeah," Sandstorm added, "I've never forgiven him for what he attempted to do to my family, that monster…"
Evergreen put a compassionate hand on both of their shoulders as she too, silently showed her worry… she just had no words to describe it. She looked at Downpour, then to Mother Nature.
"I wish I could tell you more… but we must wait for Smog's next move." She said, her voice as firm as her glance, "That goes for all of you, understood?"
The elementals nodded,
"Yes, Mother Nature…" they answered in unison.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o
Thunder woke in a strange place. In front of him were bars made of thick quartz and next to him, he noticed his wife, out cold.
"Lightning…" he said, filled with concern, "Honey, wake up…"
He lifted her gently off the ground, pulling her close to him. He shook her gently, calling her name several more times.
A tired moan escaped her delicate lips and his eyes filled with relief.
"Good…you're alright…" he said with a sigh.
Lightning opened her yellow eyes and after seeing her husband, looked around.
"Where are we?" she asked, her shaky voice showing how she was becoming frightened.
"I don't know…" Thunder answered, trying to comfort her as best as he could, "But I'll figure it out, I promise you…"
A large shadow emerged, and the rustling of a cape was heard. Through the darkness, only the dark figure and the gleaming of fangs could be seen.
"Ah…finally, you're awake…" The voice said, in a slimy tone that made both of the elementals shudder, "I was waiting oh-so patiently for this moment…"
Thunder stood and made his way angrily towards the bars, clamping his hands around them.
"Let us go!" He demanded deeply, his voice resounding through the cavernous interior.
The figure laughed,
"I think not! Besides, I think you are in no position to be demanding anything from me… you are, in my dungeon after all." He said, almost mockingly.
Thunder's hands tightened and Lightning watched on, her powers seemed to be much weaker than they usually were, and she felt extremely weary.
"Besides," the figure added smartly, "your energy should be fading fairly soon… my lair is draining to most elementals and their treasured powers."
Thunder hesitated, let go of the bars and looked at his hands… they did feel much weaker.
"What have you done?!" He demanded.
The figure didn't answer for a while but only went over to a table, where papers were scattered along with vials and test-tubes. One purple vial sat alone, and he picked it up with his claws, uncorked it and drank its contents…most of it spilling down his scaled muzzle.
"Oh, nothing much…just a tiny contraption I have invented…for the family and the other clans of Elementals…" He said as he emerged from the shadows, "Child's play, really…if you think hard enough about it that is…"
Thunder's eyes widened as he finally got a good look at their captor. He appeared to be a dragon with dirty gray scales, tattered and folded wings, and yellowed teeth that stank of fish, pollution and death. His hands lined with ebony claws and an agitated tail that swayed back and forth like a cat in waiting. The rest of his body was hidden by a long, crimson cape that was held by the brooch of a dragon holding a rose, quartz heart within its claws.
Thunder found himself extremely confused… he was much larger when he was chasing him and until he was knocked out of the sky by the monstrous tail, he was sure that the creature was as big as a moderately sized island…but now, he seemed to be nearly his size, perhaps a tad taller.
The dragon's cold lips curled into a reptilian smile.
"You seemed confused…are you wondering why I have brought you here?" He asked, chuckling.
"Actually, no…" Thunder replied, causing the dragon to look almost puzzled for a few seconds, "It's just that you were a much larger dragon before… now you're smaller...what powers do you have? Are you an Elemental, or something else?"
The dragon smiled,
"You are quite a fool, aren't you?" He asked, pacing in front of their cell, "I'm surprised your mother-in-law never mentioned me to you… after all, I am the biggest threat you will ever encounter in your, hopefully, millennium filled life… but since you asked nicely, I'll be pleased to tell you… My name is Smog… please; tell me that my name is at least familiar…"
"Smog…yes, Mother Nature has told me something about you… or perhaps Lightning has told me...you're a rogue elemental, aren't you; One that controls death and destruction?" Thunder asked, growing more nervous by the second.
Smog smirked, showing his gleaming yellow fangs.
"You're quite right about most of it… but did she tell you this? I'm technically, your Uncle!" Smog laughed.
Thunder's eyes widened at the news,
"You're…Mother Nature's…BROTHER?!" He stammered.
Lightning shrank back, finally placing the hideous face with the even more hideous name.
Smog nodded, placing the empty vial back on his desk and taking more steps towards the bars.
"Yes." He answered, "So, my dearest niece and nephew… let's just hope your darling daughter makes it out better than you do…"
Both parents gave each other concerned glances. As Lightning's golden eyes filled with anxious tears, Thunder turned his attention back to Smog with a filling rage.
"You lay one claw on my daughter, and I'll crush you!" He roared, the cavern shaking from the mere volume of his voice.
Smog traced the bars of the cell with the claw that would be the equivalent of his right index finger.
"I'm sorry… but the deeds are almost done… little Tsunami has already gone looking for you, or so my puppet has told me… He answered, his eyes slowly coming to meet Thunder's angry gaze and his mouth once again becoming a malicious smirk.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o
"Let's land down there!" Tsunami said, pointing to a large city as she and the North Wind flew over head.
North Wind only nodded, slowly bringing her down to land in an isolated area of a park within the city.
"Hey, I thought we were going into the city!" Nami said, "Uncle North Wind, what's going on?"
The North Wind looked at her,
"I'm going to drop you off and join the rest of the search party… I also have to alert my brothers of what has happened to Lightning. I wish I could stay longer, but I'm so worried about my dear sister… You're a big girl now, I'm sure you can handle looking for your parents, right?" He said, sounding as woeful as he possibly could, "Besides, I don't want to be seen looking like this? I'm completely frazzled… but you understand."
Nami's expression turned to one of complete determination.
"Of course!" she said, "You can count on me!"
"Very good! I'll see you, and good luck!" He said, rising up into the air.
Tsunami watched him leave, and once he was out of sight, she headed into the city. The temperature was warmer than what she was used to, living in the Northern part of the world, and she couldn't help but feel a twinge of intimidation. She had never been on her own before, and it made her feel extremely uncomfortable.
"What if I mess up?" she thought to herself, "Mom and dad could be hurt! It's all my fault!!"
Tears filled her usually strong eyes once again, but she blinked them back.
"No, I don't have time to cry, I have to find them!" She said, chastising herself.
She bounded into the forest of skyscrapers like a hurricane. She received many odd glances from passerby, most of them wondering about her curiously skimpy outfit. It was a thin blue dress, and for December, two weeks before Christmas, they were almost worried about her health.
"Such a pretty girl shouldn't be wearing such things in this cold weather…" a businessman thought to himself, but made no moves to stop her.
Nami just kept running, swerving in and out of people as though they were slow moving cars. She ran for blocks, crossing streets without looking and having plenty of horns and adulterated words being yelled at her in plenty of different languages. However, she just ignored them and ran until she could run no more… when she stopped, she was utterly exhausted and clear that there was no sign of her parents from where she was.
She looked around, not knowing where on earth she was and feeling more than worried about her parents.
She sat down on a stoop, pulled her knees up to her chest and laid her head down on the tops of her knees.
"Now what do I do?" she thought to herself, pondering as deeply as she could.
A voice, however, pulled her out of her deepening despair.
"Hey, what are you doing, sitting there? You sick 'er something?" the voice asked.
Nami looked up to get a better look at the speaker.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I'm Zach. Zach Taylor… what about you?" he asked, running a hand through his messy hair.
"I'm Nami." The young elemental said, standing up and smoothing out her dress, "Do you live here?"
Zach gave a casual shrug,
"Yeah, I guess you could say that." He said, "What about you? I don't think you're from here… you must be from the richer part of town… or not from New York at all."
"New…York? What's so new about it… it looks pretty rundown to me." She observed innocently.
Zach laughed,
"You gotta be kidding right? This is New York City, the 'Big Apple'! You're definitely not from around here… are you from Europe or something?" He asked, becoming more intrigued by this pretty blonde.
Nami hesitated.
"Should I tell the truth?" she pondered nervously, "He is human after all... I don't wanna take the risk…"
"Yeah, that's it. I'm from Europe… just got here. I flew." She said.
"Oh, that's pretty neat…it must be pretty warm over where you're from… don't you know it's winter? You should be wearing' a jacket or something."
Nami shrugged,
"I guess." She said, not knowing what else to say.
"Well, come on…" he said, "Do you have any money? I could take you to a few places and get you some clothes."
Nami shook her head,
"No… I don't have anything…" she said.
Zach looked at her, absolutely stunned.
"Well, I'll tell you what… I've got a gig tonight… you can….y'know, tag along if you want to." He offered, not wanting to leave a pretty girl like her out in the cold.
"I-I'd love to!" Nami said lighting up, "It sounds like fun…but what exactly is it?"
"A gig…y'know, a rock concert… with music? I know you have music in Europe… it's pretty good." Zach said.
"Yeah, of course we do!" She said, "I love music."
Zach smirked,
"Yeah, so do I." he answered, "But, before you go my gig, you gotta get a change of clothes… you can't be seen wearing that…"
Nami looked at him, absolutely insulted,
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well, folks that hang out in the club… they can be kinda weird, y'know?" He said, trying to explain the uncomfortable subject, "I mean, you're not wearing too much… I mean, don't get me wrong… you're pretty hot stuff."
Nami laughed,
"You're starting to sound like my Uncle… he always says that to me all the time!" she said.
Zach looked at her, feeling a blend of amusement and disturbance at the same time.
"You're uncle says…what?" he asked, "Oh, never mind… let's just get you something new to wear…"
Nami took his hand, but he pulled away.
"Sorry, but I'm not that kind of guy… I got a girlfriend, y'know." Zach stated.
Nami nodded,
"I understand." She said, "Let's get going!"
It was for that split second that she came to realize that she was on her very own adventure, and she was absolutely thrilled.
((A/N: I just wanted to say that in the last chapter, I don't own "Lord of the Rings" (I quoted it, for those of you who caught it), or Dragon Ball Z (I made a quick reference to it). Yeah, please don't kill me… Anyway, yeah…I hope you liked it, and please leave a comment or review, I really appreciate them! I'll update soon, probably within the next 7 days. Anyway, until then!! ))