Just want to see have a GREAT Xmas, guys! I hope with all my heart that you have an epical one :) My goft to you is this story part, and hopefully the final bit, too :D
ENJOY!
“NJ…I’d thought you’d have learnt from Hellboy’s birthday,
that wishes can be a bad thing…” a
voice quipped from NJ’s left.
“Wha-?” she groaned as she tried to sit up, though quickly
found she couldn’t. Rope bit into her hands and ankles. A sigh resounded from
the left again.
“You wished for Ugweeds, didn’t you? God, you must have been bored…”
“Well if you
hadn’t ditched me!” NJ glared at
Rachel from over her shoulder.
“But I was-!” they both froze when the Ugweed grinned up at
them. A frightening experience, be assured.
The stubby little gnome-like creature had a mouth full of
massively oversized teeth- all yellow and pointed. Above that terrible mouth
was a single olive green eye- the same colour as its _shudder_ flabby, naked
body. NJ averted her eyes. On top of its head was a tuft of green weeds,
completed by a single thistle flower jutting from the very top. But however
weird it, and its kind, looked, NJ and Rachel could not forget the violent havoc they could raise… Nope, unfortunately,
they had had experience…
The girls gazed warily down at the Ugweed grinning
suspiciously up at them. The stare off was creepy, until a strained moan
floated through the air and broke it.
Arthur Tiste sat up with a start, his French beret
threatening to fall from his rather unruly mass of hair. No one had noticed his
presence before, though NJ noted happily that he now seemed a little less
distraught about his painting. Though the bought of unconsciousness probably
took his mind off it…and everything else really.
The Ugweed transferred its grin to Mr Tiste, who didn’t
immediately notice it. He first frowned at both bound girls, and seemed to
notice his own bonds, before finally freezing when his eyes found the odd sight
before him.
“Sacre bleu…” he breathed, blinking a few times, before
deciding to battle his confusion by promptly passing out again.
NJ rolled her eyes, but whispered under her breath to Rachel
behind her. “Safe to use it?”
Rachel nodded, a flicker of a grin showing, as the single
Ugweed plodded towards the artist on the floor.
“No mortals around.” She flicked her eyes up around the
room, “Security tapes can be dealt with later, yeah?”
“Right. Besides, it’s only one.”
“Indeed.”
“Good.”
It was time for the magic to happen.
Both NJ and Rachel reached inside themselves, accessing that
familiar reservoir of magic that surrounded people like them. It was so natural
by now; something they were born to do. As they let the magic ebb through their
bodies, each felt complete. Though what each person did after they found that
surge of power within them, differed with each person’s instinctive use.
As it was, Rachel was using the pure energy of the magic
itself, collecting it and diverting it through her body like blood through
veins. As it collected down towards her arms, the energy roe to the surface of
her skin, pulsing gently in waves as she got ready for the next part of her
on-the-spot-plan.
On the other hand, NJ’s magic was working alongside her
genetics. Her shoulder blades cracked, causing both girls to wince… especially
since the Ugweed’s attention was back on them. What was most frightening
though, was what it did next. It clapped. Once. Then it grinned.
NJ’s shoulder blades snapped again, and she could feel the
bones lengthening and shifting about. They began to protrude from her back,
through the subtle gaps in the design of her top. They kept growing, and soon
enough, soft black quills began to grow from the new bones. As the feathers
came through, and the bones stopped growing, NJ gritted her teeth; no matter
how many times she disguised herself for trips into the “normal” world, it
would always bloody well hurt when growing wings back in.
The doors burst open, and NJ and Rachel turned sharply.
“Uh oh…” Rachel breathed. All NJ could do was nod.
Nothing short of an army
of Ugweed stood in the doorway, grinning madly. They faultered, though, ever so
slightly when they saw NJ. Clearly, they weren’t expecting their captor’s to be
magic users…
Then, by some unspoken agreement, the girls decided it was
time to move.
The bonds on Rachel’s hands disintegrated into ta stream of
energy, releasing her hands so she could do the same to her friend’s. Soon
enough, both ropes had been reduced to nothing but atoms in the air, but Rachel
didn’t let them go to waste. Sending the stream zipping through the air towards
the Ugweed, they solidified once more, and wrapped themselves around the first
wave of little nude, cyclops plant men.
They tripped and fell, but they were quick, and had
scrambled over by the time Rachel could even react.
Luckily though, NJ was being quick on her toes… or wings.
She plucked Rachel (with relative ease) off the floor just before the Ugweed
could shred her to pieces. The angry little creatures jumped and squealed at
their flying, escaping prey and split into two groups: one trying to figure out
how to recapture Rachel and NJ, and another to deal with the previously
forgotten artist, Arthur Tiste.
The Ugweed surround Mr Tiste and picked him up, before
carting him off unceremoniously through the doorway and out of sight.
Ugweed squeals, and the sound of NJ’s wing-beats
reverberated through the large hall. The one and a half (the other being half
Dark Angel) sorceresses took a brief moment to plan.
“Rachel, you need to do something here.” NJ said, raising
just high enough so she could hover with comfortable room.
“On it.” Rachel concentrated her energy just like before,
but this time let it build and build, until the pressure was even visible to
NJ. A keening whine emanated from the growing orb in her hands, and the very
air began to vibrate with energy. NJ watched in fascination as she let it
loose. Even Rachel wasn’t prepared for the consequences; after all, the girl
was all for experimenting, but at least it had roughly the desired effect.
The orb collided with the floor just in front of the
Ugweeds, but seemed to explode with a blinding flash and crack. A wave of
energy assaulted every single thing in the room: Ugweeds were flying left,
right, and centre- the majority unmoving, and the rest barely doing so;
paintings and sculptured were smashed or knocked from the walls; the skylight
cracked, along with even a few parts of the walls.
But in no way were NJ and Rachel saved from the blast.
Rachel was hit full force, knocking NJ back into the gallery wall before
tumbling to the floor from 6feet in the air. NJ managed to break her fall
somewhat with her aviation advantage. But she still ended up on the floor,
coughing on the dust from the various cracks in the plaster, taking in the mini
disaster zone her friend had created.
“Um… you know this wasn’t exactly what I meant by “do
something”…” NJ chastised, only to realise Rachel hadn’t gotten back up.
“Rach?” NJ reached over tentatively to her friend’s neck and
grinned when she found a pulse point. She sighed in a big huff of air.
“Unconscious yet again… this cannot be good for us.”
NJ shifted Rachel into a more comfortable position, and,
judging she’d be safe for the time being, picked her reluctant way across the
floor between all the fallen Ugweed.
“Jeez… she’s dangerous…” NJ muttered, before giving up, and just
jumped into the air with a few powerful wing-beats and flapping off through the
door after the rest of the Ugweed and Mr Tiste.
*****
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