"So Hindan the Wonder Casanova strikes again," Feyik grumbled. "What're we going to do now? You didn't get what you came for, we can't find a blasted thing inside this tower, my clients are upset again, I've done MY job already, I really should go home now, but something..." He continued to drone on and on as everyone else tuned him out. "I say we find that womanizing sonuvabitch and RIP HIS THROAT OUT," Actinaea growled to herself. Mariposa looked at her mentor with questioning eyes. "But how are we going to find him? He probably went off with the rest of the bandits and--" "To His Majesty King Hindan," Getehl read as he plucked off a note attached to the windowside via broken dagger blade, "we wish you all the best on your upcoming marriage and heartily apologize for not being able to attend. Since we know that you'd be late in arriving, we've taken the liberty of writing this note. Please meet us at the Secret Cave of Ogg as soon as you find this..." "Like THAT'S going to help," Actinaea remarked. "It's not like we know where this secret lair is--" "...On the back side," Getehl continued, "you shall find a map directing you to the Secret Cave, just in case your memory faults you..." "What sort of moronic oaf would actually WRITE this--" Naga interrupted. "...signed, Havah'nah Gila, the Horrible," Getehl drawled. Mari blinked. "But he gets married a lot! This could've been written just about any time--A month, a year--" "It's dated last week," Getehl finished. "OOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Naga laughed. "A Gila, is he? Such an ugly and destestable lizard he chose to name himself as!" She looked around, and pointed outwards. "Very well, then! We're off to beat the lizard!" "The Horrible Lizard of Ogg!" The rest of them chorused, as they skipped out of the tower's rear entrance. *** Slayers Glorious Chapter 19: Chase! The Pursuit Continues! This chapter by Lawrence and James Chu Started by Todd Harper *** The party halted as they came upon the unconscious guardian of the tower. Feyik walked up and nudged Grieven with the side of his sand encrusted right boot. "Oy! Wake up, Grieven! I need a ride back to town. My contract was only to escort these folks out here. I'm gonna go back and take a long bubble bath." Freska bristled a bit, but relented when she saw her master groan a bit and gain consciousness. Grieven winced as he got up. He staggered about for a few seconds as his body attempted to equalize itself. Actinaea and Naga came forward to steady the wobbling man and began to cast a couple of healing spells. Mari's eyes shot downward for a moment. What was it about her that Grieven was going to say? Should she ask him? Would it be better if she didn't know? Moments passed as she debated as to whether or not should she wanted to ask. She finally gathered the courage to ask him and looked up when-- "Well, I've gotta take Feyik back to town," Grieven said as he got on Freska's back, shattering Mari's resolve. "If you ever--Mariposa? Is there something--" "NO! No...it's all right," she blurted. "I was just thinking of something. Have a nice trip back! Thanks you for helping us!" The group of adventurers waved as the two men lifted into the air on the back of the dragon. They promptly started to hack and cough as the dust and sand backwashed from the dragon's ascension. Naga turned around and faced the rest of the group after the dragon disappeared over the horizon. "Let us go to the Secret Cave of Ogg and show these puny bandits what a _real_ serpent is like! OHOHOHOHOHOhohoho*hackhackcoughcough*..." Actinaea rolled her eyes. *** Getehl looked down at the map. "Okay, according to this, the Secret Cave of Ogg should be more or less below us..." The group had trekked across the desert for the past few hours and eventually found themselves walking along a cliff face. The same cliff face that Mari now looked off the edge of. "That's deep," she commented. "Bah!" Naga bah'ed. "It's nothing a Raywing can't handle. Come, let's--" "I'VE GOT YOU NOW, WHITE SERPENT!" the Captain shouted as he popped out of nowhere. "You think you could get away with everything you've done to me? Well, NO! I WON'T let you get away with everything! You've ruined my life, and now, finally, I'll be able to get you for everything you've--" He would've continued the speech had he not realized that everyone was starting for the cliff and preparing to descend. He immediately raced in front of them and whipped out his wand. "Thought you could get away, did you?! Well, THIS should teach you a lesson or two about being able to get away from me, because you can't get away from me, because I'm going to keep you here! Take this!" The Captain took the wand, screwed on a manufactured jewel he took out of his pocket and took aim at Naga. "C'mon! I'll hit'cha, baby, one more time! BWAHAHAhuhAAAAAAaaaaa..." The 'bwahaha' was the sound of the Captain's maniacal laughter as he fired the wand. The 'huh' was the sound of the Captain's surprise as the bolt from the wand decided to take on a life of its own and hit Actinaea-- again-- instead of Naga. The 'aaaaaa' bit was the sound of the Captain's scream as he fell off the cliff because of the kickback caused by the wand. Mari looked down at the falling figure, blinked, and shrugged. "Oops, he did it again." Naga gave a dismissing wave. "I think it would be best to descend now. RAY--" "BAH!" Startled, Naga looked for the source of the horrendously haggardly voice. She wasn't surprised that it came from Actinaea, really. What WAS surprising was the fact that Actinaea was... was... "At least now your age is acting more like you," she weakly retorted. *BAP* Naga cringed as a 70-odd-year-old Actinaea withdrew a gnarled cane into the folds of her robe. "Respect your elders, you overstuffed, underdressed whippersnapper! In my age, we didn't HAVE Raywing to float around like you do," Actinaea crowed. "All we had was Levitation, and even then it didn't do us much good, since the ten thousand orcs that used to ambush us on the fifteen mile walk to school could levitate, too..." Naga, Mari and Getehl collectively sweatdropped. *** They had tried Raywing. Unfortunately, Actinaea couldn't summon enough power to lift herself or even consider helping Naga to lift Getehl. This left them no choice but to descend the cliff by foot, which was no small feat. The thoroughly exhausted group of adventurers was huffing and puffing by the time they reached the bottom of the cliff. A tired Actinaea was being held piggyback by Getehl. There were two heavily armed and armored men standing outside an imposing iron door embedded in the cliff face. The guards of the Secret Cave of Ogg seemed to be temporarily transfixed by the sight of a sweaty and heavily breathing Naga. After a moment, one of the guards had enough presence of mind to challenge the party. "HALT!" cried the guard. "Who goes there?" "We are here to meet Havah'nah Gila and Hindan, King of the Nomads," Naga announced, haughtily. "I believe they are waiting for us already." The guard looked confused for a moment. "They are?" he puzzled, before talking it over with the other guard. The two guards glanced wistfully at Naga's skimpy bodice. After a long moment, the first guard spoke with a hopeful hitch to his voice. "We thought they already cancelled this week's bachelor party. You the replacements?" The three females' eyebrows twitched. Simultaneously. "...No," Naga commented, "we are NOT this week's bachelor party. We simply wish to meet with them." "Do you know the secret password?" "The secret password?" Mari repeated. "The secret password," the guards echoed. "The secret pa--" "We get the point, Getehl," Naga hissed. "The secret password," Getehl whispered as he read from the note, "is different this week. We've changed it to the following..." "Yes, we know the secret password!" Naga blurted. This was followed by about thirty seconds of hushed whispering on the part of Getehl from behind the rock, then a loud "ALL RIGHT, ALREADY, JUST DO THE DAMN ROUTINE!" from the guards. Slowly and surely, Naga brought her left arm out, palm down, then her right arm in the same manner. She then turned her left palm up, and repeated the same with her right. Then she continued the movements, left-right-left-right: Bringing the palms to the opposite shoulders, then to their respective sides of her head, then... "What's next?" Naga whispered. "Uh...left palm down to right hip, right palm, left hip...then left palm to left hip, right palm, right hip...twirl your hips around and jump and twist to the left." Naga did so, and shouted "HEY!" at the end. The guards, entranced by Naga's seismically active bosom during the routine, suddenly snapped out of it. "Uh...s-s-sure, you did... you did the routine right," one of them stuttered as he attempted to staunch a furiously hemorraging nose. "G-go on in, ma'am..." A small *ahem* came from somewhere within the rest of the party. "Uuhhh...right, the rest of y-you guys can go in too. Anyone h-have a tissue I could borrow?" *** The party came to a screeching halt when they entered the main room of the Secret Cave. There was only one figure in the room, and it was the last figure they were looking for. King Hindan turned to face his guests and welcomed them with a grandiose voice. "Welcome to the Secret Cave of--YOU!" He pointed to Naga. "You took my lovely bride-to-be away from me at the last wedding! What are you..." His voice trailed off as he noticed her attire, which made a statement even in the dark. "Of course! You halted the wedding because YOU wish to be my bride! Why, you even brought your grandmother to meet m--" "I was your bride-to-be, you egotistical excuse for a ruler!" Actinaea screamed. King Hindan stared at Actinaea for a couple of seconds. Then he started to laugh. "HAAAAAHAHAHAHA! You can't possibly be the lovely young lady that I was to marry, you're an old hag! No, no, you're worse than an AIIIIIEEEEEEK!" Hindan doubled over as a leather boot retracted from the vincinity of his crotch. Naga had an icy expression on her face. "Never make a comment about a woman's age," she spat out at the incapacitated king. "Now tell me, where is the Silent Bell and why does Havah'nah Gila want it?" After a few painful attempts to speak, Hindan eked out, "He...took it out...to trade. Figured he...could get a fair sum of money with it. Owwwwww..." "Where did he take it?!" Naga demanded. "I...don't know...just northwards. That's all I know...honestly." Hindan moaned again and unsuccessfully tried to bring himself upright. Naga nodded. "Very well, then. Off we go!" The group departed the room, causing Hindan to sigh in relief. That White Serpent was a true woman! She would definitely have to be his next-- His thoughts were interrupted as the true woman barged back in, kicked him in the nuts once more for good measure, and left. *** The band marched out of the cave, determined to make it to the raiding party before the Silent Bell changed hands. All they needed was ANOTHER rogue element to-- "WE'RE NOT THROUGH YET, NAGA THE WHITE SERPENT! I HAVE YET TO EXTRACT MY REVENGE ON YOU!" Naga sighed and turned around. She asked for another rogue element, she received another rogue element. "You can't get away THIS time, Naga! BWAHAHAHAHA!" the Captain screamed, as he poked his wand at Naga's stomach and fired. And fired again. And again. And again. Too bad the wand wasn't working. "What the...cheap mail-order jewels! I MUST HAVE MY VENGEANCE!" the Captain ranted as he attempted to fire the crystal one last time. The crystal glowed a sickly white light, which grew larger and larger and larger until it shattered in a spectacular explosion. The fragments laying on the ground flickered very weakly, as if they would die within moments. "BLAST! You have foiled my plans again, White Serpent! We shall meet again!" the Captain roared as he turned about, promptly running into the cliff and knocking himself unconscious. The entire group paused to sweatdrop for a moment. Naga broke the silence with, "That was interesting, but we must be--" The light within the crystal fragments flickered once more and finally faded away. And then Actinaea started to glow and howl in pain and Getehl tried to stop her and grabbed onto her shoulder but Actinaea broke away and ran off screaming into the night, the darkness swallowing her whole. *** After running blindly into the darkness, Actinaea slumped to the ground, her adrenaline powered frenzy came to a screeching halt as her body ran out of steam. She screamed as waves of energy tore wracked her body. She felt like she was being ripped apart by a giant torture rack. The energy waves and their accompanying bouts of pain slowly subsided. As Actinaea's brain started to shut down from shock, she noted, to her own surprise, that she felt much healthier than she had in a long time. *** James's Notes: Well, what can I say? This is my first attempt at co-writing an impro. We switched back and forth, writing alternate snippets, until one or the other hit the writer's block. We also switched illnesses. Oh yeah... please don't kill me for the Wizard of Oz reference. James Chu $email (jchu@jchu.net) $website (http://www.jchu.net) *** Lawrence's Notes: Oy, vey. That was probably the most mind-wracking experience ever. Through sickness, exhaustion from writing another chapter about a week ago (how DO you "oh-I-think-I'll-only-write-for-SIX-impros-this-week" multitaskers handle this?! You're all crazy!), being dragged over to cheer for the French soccer team, and just plain writer's block, we finally present this. Thanks to 'niichan for giving me much needed help on this chapter, and to Todd, Ravi, Ard, and Yu-Mei for their prereading. Extra kudos to Todd for starting this story. Meanwhile, I'm outta here. ^_^ Lawrence token homepage: http://pomi.sandwich.net/ token e-mail: chu_bear@hotmail.com What's on LC's WinAmp list: Toasters - Two Tone Army Starcraft - Radio Free Zerg Mustard Plug - The Freshman Slayers - Breeze Garbage - Subhuman