New Idea Part II

[Moonitic]

I say that far too often...

Bianca tossed the rapier into the air & snapped her fingers again. It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Dave raised an eyebrow at her. "Aren't you going to carry that?"

For a moment she faltered, at a loss. Proud as she was of her beautiful weapon, she knew she could not bring herself to use it if the need arose. "Only as a last resort," she stated quietly. Only he knew of her terrible secret, & she wanted to keep it that way. Belladonna would never let her hear the end of it if she found out.

They traveled along, weapons at the ready, the humans wondering just what they might encounter out here in the wild...besides Bianca, who had already been encountered & proved to be slightly less wild than originally thought. In fact, as they walked she seemed a little less bouncy, but a little more tense. Something wasn't quite right, even in this strange world.

She didn't see the man high up in the trees, or the one in the fallen log...or any of the others, concealed from the travelers...

[Moonitic]

Bianca trailed along behind the group, lost in thought. With Starvling back in town, the humans, including Dave, weren't safe. Yet she couldn't part from the group because she was his quest, & he might follow her. She was so lost in thought that she failed to see what looked like a tree root jutting out of the ground. It grabbed her around the ankle, propelling her forward. Then, it began to pull her toward a hole just big enough for a "sprite" to fall into.

"Help!" Bianca screamed.

[Swordsman]

Dave whirled around at the sound of Bianca's cry, punching the button on the light-saber he carried - and nothing happened. He tried it again while sprinting back to where she lay on the ground, being dragged toward a whole, and still nothing was working. So he just kicked the arm that was holding on to her ankle and hefted the light saber handle, ready to use it for a club.

[Moonitic]

"Why isn't it working?" Bianca shrieked. The others had turned by then, stunned at what they saw. "Do something!" she yelled. The others hoisted their weapons, ready to use them. "Don't shoot me!" They took aim at the...hand?...as it dragged her along...

And nothing happened.

"Don't tell me you didn't think to stop at a battery tree before you brought us these weapons?" Bianca glared at Quira. She clawed at the ground, trying to gain some leverage.

[Swordsman]

The kick didn't do much more than elicit a grunt from somebody concealed behind a bush, so Dave grabbed the wrist, pulled, and kicked back at what seemed to be the source of it.

[Moonitic]

The grip still did not loosen, & Bianca was being pulled quickly toward the hole. "Take my hand!" she commanded to Dave, who instantly grabbed her wrist. She grabbed his & attempted to pull away from the grasp, kicking with her free foot. Yet the inhumanly strong arm continued to pull her to the brink. The others ran to Dave, grabbing him, Bianca & the arm. They began to pull & kick themselves. In their panic, they did not realize that several dark, angry strangers surrounded them until Belladonna stated the obvious.

"Ah...everyone? We have company."

They all froze, eyes wide.

"What a great time to not have batteries..." !Dave mumbled.

[Miri Belakai]

Kamry stood slowly, keeping her hands in sight. There were nine dark figures to their seven, and then counting the thing that was pulling Bianca along, that didn't make for good odds.

She found herself asking those old familiar questions. "Who are you? What do you want with Bianca, and us?"