Digimon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Finding the Harem ❯ Tails, I win! ( Chapter 8 )

"Ugh...why is it so wet here?"

"Maybe because it's called a rain forest," Lashana growled, glancing back at Duncan in annoyance as she trudged through the thick forest.

"I don't think his Immortal Healing ability's managed to get all that alcohol out of his system yet," Kang smirked, looking back at them from where he, Mewtwo and Duncan were walking ahead of the main group.

"Really? I can't tell the difference between when he's drunk or when he's sober."

"Hey! I resent that, Telca!"

"Hehe."

"Nice to see that you haven't changed," Zelgadis commented as he looked over at Telca.

"Hard to change when only an hour goes by," Lashana muttered under her breath as she picked her way over a slick patch of moss.

Blackwargreymon blinked and stared down at her. "An hour?"

"Yeah," Telca sighed, pushing her bangs out of her face as she walked next to Remy. "It was only an hour to us.... when we got back.... everything was just....."

"Fubared," Lashana finished for her as she hopped over a bush and landed heavily in a puddle. "Ick."

"WAAH!!"

THUD!

~Duncan, how have you managed to survive this long?~ Mewtwo asked as he helped the Immortal to his feet again. It was the fourth time he had fallen in the past half-hour. It had been rather funny at first, but now it was just pitiful.

"Maybe he trips and falls at just the right time to keep someone from cutting his head off," Kang suggested, ignoring the dirty look from the Immortal as he pushed a mess of vines and low branches aside and ducked past them....

THWACK!

~OW!~

"Oops. Sorry," the draconian winced, glancing back at the pokemon that had just gotten smacked in the face with the branches he had released.

"Chere, dis gonna be like findin' a needle in de haystack," Remy muttered to his sorceress as he helped her over a fallen tree.

"He's a 50 foot long, 950lb purple snake! How hard can he be to find?!" Lashana protested, yelping when Kenshin tripped and fell onto her, sending both of them crashing onto the ground. "This is starting to piss me off."

Black sighed and reached down to help her to her feet, seeing her smile at him in thanks. "Here," he murmured as he slid his right arm around her waist and lifted her off her feet, his other arm holding her against him. Unable to help it, he leaned forward and lightly nuzzled the side of her neck, blinking at the teasing catcalls that erupted from his left. "Shut up Nightcrawler."

"Aww! But dude! It's a Kodak moment!"

"It's something alright," Telca smirked, seeing Lashana blush as she winked at the Elf.

"Hey! There's a clearing up ahead!" Kang yelled back to them from where he was scouting ahead with Zelgadis.

"Thank you Gods," Duncan sighed as he tugged his leg free of a tree root.

You're welcome.

He blinked. "Anyone else hear that?"

Lashana and Telca exchanged mischivous glances. "Hear what?"

"There was a..." he trailed off as everyone looked at him curiously, then shook his head. "Nothing."

A low chuckle rumbled out of Blackwargreymon's chest as he looked at the Elf he was carrying. "I missed this, you know."

"Yeah, I know," she murmured as she rested her cheek against his.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," he whispered, trying to keep their conversation at least semi-private. "What happened to our Bond? It's....it's not there anymore."

Lashana sighed and closed her eyes. "I know. It....it's gone, Black." When he didn't say anything, she opened her eyes and twisted to meet his gaze, seeing a shadow of utter horror there. "I don't know if we can get it back or not."

"Hey, you two okay?" Telca called when she realized that the two had stopped, looking back in time to see Blacky lower his face into the Elf's hair and hug her tightly. "Hello?"

"What? Oh, yeah. We're...we're okay," Lashana said softly as she put her arms around Black's neck and held him awkwardly while he resumed walking.

"Liar."

"Well, yes."

"What's going on with them?" Kang whispered to Mewtwo as he, the pokemon, Duncan and Kenshin grouped together.

~Their Bond was destroyed when Lashana sacrificed herself,~ the pokemon answered, frowning worriedly. ~There is little chance of them ever regaining it.~

"Damn," Duncan sighed, glancing back at the pair. "Something needs to turn around here and go right for a change."

"Fat chance," Kang grumbled sourly as Kenshin used his katana to slice through a curtain of thick vines.

"See? This is exactly why I should carry a weedwhacker in one of my portals," Telca grumbled to Zelgadis, who looked at her in shock.

"I think the sight of you wielding a weedwhacker anywhere near a forest would send hordes of environmental conservationalists down upon us."

"Gee, thanks."

Nightcrawler grinned at them from where he was keeping pace with them via the trees and vines above, loosing a wild yell of elation as he curled his tail around a thick vine and swung out over them. "YAAAHOOO!!!"

Lashana blinked, then screamed in surprise when the teen grabbed her shoulders and hauled her out of Blackwargreymon's arms, bringing her along for the ride. "Fuzzy! Let go!!"

"Really?"

She looked down and felt her stomach lurch at how far away the ground now was. "NO!"

The teen grinned and did a backflip off the vine, wincing at her cry of fright before he lithely landed on a large branch. "There, wasn't that fun?" he asked her, frowning when he discovered that she was too busy hyperventilating and glomping the tree to answer. "You're no fun.... Uh oh... Lashana? Don't move."

"Why?" she frowned, glancing back at him and blinking when she saw that his terrified gaze was fixed on something directly above her. Curious and perhaps a little stupid, she rose her gaze to follow his and stared right into the black beady eyes of a gigantic, hairy spider seconds before it jumped off the tree and landed on the back of her jacket.

Her reaction could be heard for miles around.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGETITOFFGETITOFFGETITOFFFAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH HH!!!!!!!!!"

"What the?" Kang looked upwards at the sound of crashing and breaking branches and gaped as both Lashana and Nightcrawler fell from the trees and landed in a mess of leaves and twigs. "What are you doing?!"

"GET IT OFF!!" Lashana screamed as she wriggled out of her jacket, threw it onto the ground and proceeded to beat it with a large stick.

"What's going on?!" Telca yelled as she, Remy, Zelgadis and Blackwargreymon ran over to them, skidding to a stop when she saw a huge spider clinging to the stick Lashana was madly waving around. "SPIDER!!"

Lashana glanced at the stick as she held it over her head, saw the spider staring down at her, screamed, and flung the stick towards the treetops before grabbing her jacket and bolting for the clearing, yelling incoherantly the entire way.

"Well.... that was just like old times," Zelgadis remarked to no one in particular as Blackwargreymon ran after the still screaming Elf, yelping when something smacked onto his head and got caught in his chimeric hair. Grumbling, he reached up and pulled it free, staring at the stick and the still present spider for a moment. He stared. The spider stared. He moved to throw the stick. The spider glomped his face.

Remy looked back at a blood-curdling scream of horror and stared at Zelgadis as he ran past, arms flailing wildly. "What be his problem?"

"The list is far too long and I am far too lazy to recount it," Telca answered.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lashana growled as she violently shook dirt off her jacket, inspecting it closely before putting it on again. "I. Hate. Spiders!! Hate them, hate them, hate them!!"

Blackwargreymon smothered a chuckle, but not before she heard him. "Sorry."

"This is not funny!" she protested, glaring at him angrily for a moment before frowning at the warm look he was giving her. "What?"

"Nothing," he murmured as he bent down and kissed her forehead lightly. "I love you."

She smiled and leaned against him, closing her eyes for a moment before screaming in shock when Zelgadis slammed into her, knocking them both to the ground. "I'm gettin' mighty sick o' this," she grumbled as she rolled over to look at the chimera, all the colour draining from her face when she saw the spider that was still latched onto him. "AAAAHHHH!! CHAOS ORB!!"

Blackwargreymon rose a gauntlet to shield his face from the explosion of gold and black Power, blinking momentarily before raising his gaze to follow Zel's airborne trajectory....

WHAM! "YEEEOUCH!!"

....that sent the chimera right into a huge thorn bush.

Lashana, meanwhile, was once again alternating between hyperventilating and looking around for the spider, a golden black sphere of energy cupped in her right hand.

"I think you killed it," the Digimon rumbled. "Either that or Zel landed on it."

"Did you get it?" Nightcrawler yelled as he and the others ran over to them. "Where's Zel?"

The Elf rose her left hand and pointed towards the thornbush, her breath still coming in rapid gasps.

"Get a hold of yourself," Telca frowned, fwaping the Elf the Guys went to help the chimera. "It's only a spider."

"It was as big as your cat!" Lashana protested as she dismissed the black and gold sphere in her right hand. "It was just...." she trailed off and shuddered violently, hugging herself. "I hate spiders!"

"I'm sure that they're not all to fond of you right now either," Telca said as she grabbed Lashana's arm and started pulling her along as she headed for the others, dimly aware that Blackwargreymon was trying to pull the Elf away from her. "No c'mon! We gotta get Zel out of whatever he's stuck in and find that snake of yours!"

"Get me out of here!"

"We're trying, keep your pants on," Kang snarled, glaring at the impatient chimera that was completely stuck in the large thornbush.

"Why don't you just let Kenshin cut him free?" Nightcrawler asked curiously, drawing the gazes of everyone present.

Mewtwo blinked. ~Good point.~

"No! He'll cut my clothes!!"

"Alright! That's it!"

"Kang! No!!"

"FIREBALL!!"

"Remind me again why helping him relearn his magicks was a good thing?" Telca said to Lashana and the now-smirking guys pulled the crispy chimera from the charcholed thorn bush.

"Uh....because he helps us beat up Xellos?" Lashana suggested from where she was standing next to Blackwargreymon.

"Good enough," Telca shrugged, turning to address the guys. "Are you all finished trying to set the forest on fire? Can we go now?"

"We could, but I don't think they'd let us," Duncan said, pointing to a spot behind Lashana.

"Who-?"The Elf turned to look behind her and gasped at the sight of the three dozen people that had completely surrounded them. "Uh.....hi?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"We have to work on your personal relations skills," Telca snarled at Lashana half an hour later. She, and the rest of the Harem, were currently hog-tied, their ropes attached to large poles that let their captors carry them around. Unfortunately, they were being carried upside down and the constant swinging from side to side was going to make her puke.

"It's not my fault if they don't speak English!!" the Elf shot back.

Telca glared at her as best she could, then yelped when her carriers/captors lowered her a bit too far, her head hitting an outcropped rock. "OW! Higher, you dolts! Lift me higher!!"

Lashana sighed and lowered her head. It hurt her neck too much for her to overly look around while she was in this position. So she stared upwards, past the pole that she was suspended on, looking at the passing canopy for a moment before one of their captors happened to walk past. "Telca!! Telca!!"

"What?!"

"That guy.... he had a tattoo that looked just like Malcho!"

~Maybe this is some sort of lost tribe,~ Mewtwo mused, his gaze now holding a level of interest as he looked at the people around them.

"I really wish we had thought to bring a Universal Translator with us," Nightcrawler moaned. "Beast has dozens of them in his lab."

"Well we didn't know this would happen, now did we?" Duncan muttered. "There's no use whining about it now."

"Oh, look whose talking."

"Hey, shut up Zelgadis!"

Telca sighed and looked over at Lashana. "Y'know. somehow I thought that being the high priestess of a Goddess would garner a little more respect than this."

"I know," Lashana moaned. "This is killing my back." She lifted her head and looked down the line of tribesmen to the two Guys that had been forced to walk because they were simply too heavy for them to carry, sighing as she studied Kang and Blackwargreymon for a moment before the pain in her neck forced her to lean her head back again.

"If Remy could just reach de ropes, he be free in a second...."

"Don't," Telca hissed. "You'd be outnumbered! Haven't you noticed that they're armed with knives and spears? I do not want them to turn you into a pincushion!!"

"Well we gotta do something," Zelgadis muttered as the people around them started to gesture at them, talking amongst themselves.

Lashana strained her hearing, putting her Elven heritage to good use as she listened to the tribesmen's conversation, managing to pick out a few words that she understood and not liking what she understood one damn bit. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh?" Telca looked over at her friend. "What 'uh oh'?"

"Um...from what little Spanish that they use and I understand... We're supposed to be sacrifices to their God."

~Lovely. Any idea who this 'God' is?~ Mewtwo telepathed.

"None," she sighed, yelping when the pole she was hanging from was lurched upwards until it was supported at both ends by large boulders. "Well...at least the swinging stopped. Telca?" She looked around, trying to spot her friend. "Telca!"

"Over here."

She twisted and looked over at the sorceress that was hanging nearby. "I have an idea. Go Avatar. Maybe we can freak them out long enough to free the Guys and run like-- OW!" The last was due to the fact that she had just been poked with the sharp end of a spear. "That hurt!!"

Telca used Lashana's screaming as the perfect distraction. Gritting her teeth, she twisted her hands in the ropes and grasped the pole she was hanging from, pulling herself upwards until she was precariously perched on the top of the pole. This reminds me way to much of gymnastics.... Seeing Lashana glance at her, she quickly lowered her head and used her teeth to undo the knots holding her wrists, gasping in relief as she yanked her hands free and used a fireball to free her legs. "Now!"

Lashana grinned and loosed a wild yell as her Powers flared bright gold around her. By positioning her arms just so, the emerging spines managed to completely cut through the pole, freeing her from her hanging prison. It took her only seconds to cut her way free before she leapt to her feet and let the change fully take over.

Having been watching how the tribe had backed away from Lashana, Telca smirked and called on her own Powers, closing her eyes as she wonderous feeling of Life coursed through her veins. When she opened her eyes, silver bangs obscured her view, and she immediately rose a hand to clear her view, blinking at her now silver nails before grinning. "Kewl. We're gonna have to do this where there's a mirror sometime."

"Definately!" Lashana smiled, raising a fisted hand and looking at the three black energy daggers that appeared between her fingers for a moment before grinning and lobbing them towards the tied-up guys.

~Oof!! A bit of a warning would have been nice!~ Mewtwo groaned from where he lay on the ground, his feet still firmly tied to the pole.

"Quit yer whinin'," Lashana smirked as she rose a hand and loosed a low-power shockwave at the tribe, forcing them back.

"Free the others," Telca called as she summoned a strong wind that kicked up dirt and debris, distracting the tribe while Lashana quickly darted to the Guys that were still bound and used the wickedly sharp spines on her arms to cut the free.

"Okay!" Lashana said breathlessly once she was finished and had returned to Telca's side. "Now what?"

"Oh, I dunno. I was thinking of running," Telca said as she let her spell wear down to a light breeze.

"Good plan."

"Carumba!! What is going on out here?!!"

Lashana blinked at the yell and looked around her as all the tribespeople dropped to their knees and bowed. "Okaaay. I guess that must be what they think is their....God.....MALCHO!!"

Kang grimaced and nudged Blackwargreymon in the ribs. "Boy they must be really hurting if this is who they're willing to worship as a God."

"Kang! I heard that!" Lashana snarled, glaring at him angrily before turning back to the quetzacoatl that had now fully emerged from the forest. Oh geez....he's lost weight...

"Que? What is going on around here? Blackwargreymon? Kang?! What are you doing here, mi amigos?!" Malcho looked around at all the Guys before his gaze rested on the two females directly in front of him. "Who-?"

"Malcho....it's us," Lashana whispered as she closed her eyes and recalled the Power, hearing his quiet gasp as she reverted to her natural form. "We came back."

"Mi....mi amiga...." he rose a shaking wing and reached out to brush his feathers over her face, swallowing thickly before looking at the silver-haired woman next to the Elf. "Then....Telca? But....how...."

"S'a long story," Telca sighed. "We figured you'd want to be around when we told it."

Still shocked, he only managed a dumb nod before looking at the Elf again. "I....I did not think it possible...."

"Would you hurry up and hug her already so we can leave!" Duncan yelled, crying out when both Mewtwo and Kenshin smacked him.

"Idiot..." Lashana growled, closing her eyes seconds later when she was enveloped in warm scaled feathers. She twisted in Malcho's hold and reached up to throw her arms around his neck, returning the hug as best she could.

"I thought we had lost you, amiga," he whispered, shivering when she brushed his tears from his cheeks. "I missed you so much...."

"Um....not to ruin this or anything," Nightcrawler hedged. "But the locals are getting restless."

Malcho rose his head from Lashana's shoulder and looked back at the tribe, frowning when he saw the numerous pleased grins being sent his way. "Uh oh."

"What? What 'uh oh'? I am not liking the number of 'uh oh's we've had this trip," Telca said worriedly. "What?"

"Um...." he swallowed and listened to one of the tribespeople talk for a moment before a fierce blush coloured his face. "They....um....think that Lashana is now my chosen.....uh.....ahrm....."

Everyone stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to finish the sentence. It was Blackwargreymon that caught on first.

"Oooh no!" he growled as he stalked forward and snatched Lashana out of Malcho's wings, pulling her close as he returned the glares of the tribespeople with a venomous glare of his own. "Mine!"

Lashana rolled her eyes and looked at Telca. "Why don't these things ever happen to you?"

"Because I'm not stupid enough to run around hugging things that people think are Gods," Telca smirked.

Malcho rolled his eyes and turned back to the tribe as the medicine woman stepped forward, talking angrily. "Uh..."

"What? Yo, translation please!" Telca frowned.

The quetzacoatl sighed heavily. "She says that we cannot leave unless we give them a replacement God."

Telca smirked. "Well Malcho, it looks like you're going to have to lay that egg after all," she grinned, not fazed in the least at the glare he sent her.

Lashana backed away warily as the woman pointed to Malcho, then to her, yelping as numerous tribesmen came forward and grabbed her arms, starting to shove her towards a large hut. "H-hey! Let go!" she yelled, sighing in relief when Blackwargreymon yanked her into his arms and snarled at the tribe, eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Non!" Remy shouted as the tribeswoman then pointed to Telca, moving to stand in front of his sorceress and raising six charged cards. "You not be takin' my chere!"

Telca frowned and lay a hand on his arm. "It's okay," she whispered in his ear. "I have a plan."

"But chere! Dey want you to-"

"Remy, this is me we're talking about. I can get myself out of any situation," she grinned as she pulled away and willingly headed for the hut. "C'mon Malcho."

The quetzacoatl looked at her as if she was insane, then glanced at Lashana, who shrugged. "Carumba...." he sighed before slithering after the Avatar.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"It's been two hours," Blackwargreymon whispered to Lashana. "What the hell are they doing?"

"Do we really want to know?" Kang rumbled from where he was sitting on the ground beside them as he watched Remy pace in front of them.

"Pervert," Lashana growled, smacking the draconian lightly before lying back in Black's arms, her gaze automaticly going to the large hut. She said she had a plan...but why the hell is it taking her two hours to work it out?

~They're coming out,~ Mewtwo announced seconds later, making the entire group lunge to their feet and take a collective step towards the emerging duo.

Remy gasped and ran forward to throw his arms around Telca, belatedly noticing that she had reverted to her normal form. "Chere? What-?"

"I'll explain everything later," she winked, giving him a quick kiss before reaching out and pulling the hut's flap open, gesturing for the medicine woman to step inside. "Malcho, you know what to tell them."

Lashana exchanged wary glances with Blackwargreymon and Kang and slowly crept forward, peeking around a stunned and gaping Remy at a large sphere that was glowing the same purple shade as Malcho's scales from where it was situated in the middle of the hut. "Oh. My. Gods."

"What?" Nightcrawler asked, bamfing over to the Elf and looking inside. "Oh man! Don't tell me they-!"

Remy turned and glared at the young mutant, cutting him off with that single look.

"Uh.... I'll go tell the others." BAMF!

Lashana crept over to Telca and frowned. "You gonna explain this?"

"When we're out of here, yes."

"I have told them that is must be left alone to....mature," Malcho said suddenly, drawing everyone's gaze. "And that even though it is mere an egg, it will Heal those who touch it's shell."

"Good," Telca nodded, forcing a smile as the medicine woman came over and bowed to her. "Uh...yeah. You're welcome. C'mon y'all, let's get out of here. This heat is starting to get on my nerves."

It wasn't until they were well out of sight of the tribe that Zelgadis looked at a twitching Remy. "Uh...you okay?" When all he got was another twitch as an answer, he gulped and moved a few meters back.

"Okay, now what the hell did you two do in there?" Lashana asked from where she was kneeling on Malcho's back as he slithered through the jungle.

Duncan grimaced. "Do we really want to know?"

"Oh don't be perverted," Telca growled, reaching over to smack the Immortal. "It was really easy. See, I had Malcho do that freaky burrowing thing he does and go find a large rock that looked somewhat like an egg, then I simply charged it with Healing energy and added a spell that would make it glow."

Remy stared at her. "You gave dem....a glowin' rock?"

She grinned. "And they think it's a baby God."

"Why the Healing energy?" Kenshin asked curiously.

Telca ducked her head slightly. "I kinda felt guilty about tricking them. I figured that they should get something useful out of all this."

"A glowing rock..." Blackwargreymon snickered and shook his head.

"Well....this certainly was like old times," Malcho chuckled, glancing back at the Elf that was perched on his back. "About that....explaination?"

"We'll explain everything as soon as we get Wolverine and go back to the Palace," Lashana promised. "Telca, you said that he'd probably go back to Canada, right?"

"Right. We'll start at that bar he used to fight in," she said as she opened a portal. "I just hope it's cooler there, this heat is gonna kill me."