I'll Be Dog-Gone (7)

Vi, Jila, Chryse, Peter Pan(And Tink of course!) were hiding behind some barrels. Peter had wanted to go charging off to fight Hook right off, but the girls begged him not to leave them, and besides there was an all out war going on! Cannonballs flew, gunfire retuned from the long boat, and pirates ran this way and that, following Capt. Hook's barked commands.

"What are we going to do?" Chryse whispered. Jila shrugged. She didn't care as long as they got off the boat and away from Hook! She didn't want to be his pirate queen!

"Helicopter! Incoming!" Chryse yelled, The chopper swung around, deftly manuvering between the masts and rigging to land on the deck.

The pirates stopped their scurrying about to gather around the helicopter. Capt. Hook strode forward. This was Mama's helicopter...what was she doing here?

The side door was open, and the Captain went around to see what Mama wanted. He peered into the hold, then stepped back quickly, and expression of alarm on his face.

6th stepped forward, her gun at her shoulder, the weapon making a high pitched whine as it's surface to air missles armed themselves.

"ON THE GROUND NOW!" 6th shouted. *I always wanted to say that* she laughed inwardly. The pirates, armed with cutlasses, were unsure of what 6th intended with that hunk of metal. Hook stepped forward. 6th fired into the sky once. The explosion of one missle 50 feet above the boat was enough for the pirates. They dropped to the deck, Hook included. Disney bad guys were never known for their courage.

Jeff and Pedro were shoved out of the side door by Drum, who was carrying another of 6th's standard issue spy guns. It took a little getting used to, there were so many buttons on the thing, but 6th had pointed out the trigger and how to reload and that was enough for Drum.

"Given what I'm paying you...maybe I should drop it in the ocean, huh? How bad would that damage it?" he grinned at 6th, as she walked about the pirates on the ground, kicking swords and knives away.

She gave him a look, then grinned. "Why don't you get ready to get rid of the excess baggage, and we'll talk about that more later!"

Vi, and Chryse joined her, Peter following behind. He was slightly upset that he wasn't the one to stop Hook, but at least he was stopped and that was the main thing.

6th kept her gun trained on Hook, and looked at the girls. "Do you think you can get Kara's attention on the longboat? Let her know we're on and to follow us?"

6th handed Jila and Chryse two silver cards from the slim pocket in her wrist cuff. Pushing the buttons on them, she handed them both a transformed gun.

"Bout 20 or so." 6th grinned. "Jila just pretend you know how to fire it, ok? It's just a gun. You'll only need it for a bit."

"Until we unload some smeely pirates for a long overdue bath." 6th grinned. Then she yelled "ALRIGHT, PIRATES, LINE UP!" Chryse and jila jumped at her shout. SO did the pirates. They got up grumbling about hard times and why didn't they have guns...6th grabbed Hook by his hook, careful to avoid the point.

"Just this." 6th said, walking to the open part of the rail where the plank would lay. Drum was waiting there with his gun trained on Jeff and Pedro, who were standing on the edge.

6th walked up behind Jeff. "Ever wonder what happens to people who try to mess up my plans?" she hissed in his ear. He flinched. She kicked him hard in the rear and he went flying...overboard.

"But of course." 6th smiled, gesturing him forward. Drum gave the other smuggler a kick that would have made any Soccer player proud.

6th laughed at the two floundering men in the water, then she turned to the pirates. "You're turn, Hook." He gave her a withering glare and stepped off the deck. Drum, Chryse and Jila moved th epirates forward, as 6th yelled down to Hook "Swim fast, Hook. I hear that Croc is doing some local swimming! Oh isn't that him now?" She pointed, smiling, as Hook shrieked like a gril and began to swim for shore.

Vi came to join the rest of them as the last of the pirates were tossed over board. "I got the Long boat's attention, and they've shifted it back to a boat now, instead of the sub. Rae's on board too, and she's pacing the deck. I think theres' something wrong with her. She keeps holding her head."

The two boats sailed around the bend in the coast to the entrance of the cove. 6th could see the entrance to the grotto. The longBoat pulled up beside the pirate ship, and dropped anchor. They tied the boats together, and Rae and kara climbed aboard.

"NO, it's frelling not ok!" Rae cried, "That frelling bucket of drenn raging hormone freaked out Artist..." she moaned again, her hands to her head.

"Let me get this straight." 6th said, trying to hurry. She was worried about Ragnar already, and now Poor Artist! "You left him in the woods."

Kara let out a soft gasp. 6th hauled rae up by her shoulders. "And you're standing around here, while he's being tortured???"

As the two women left, 6th truned to Drum, Chryse, Vi, and Jila. "Ok There's a lot of gold on the chopper, and probably a lot of gold in the pirate ship as well as supplies..."

6th laughed and went on "Can you three load up the Longboat's cargo hold with the gold and stuff, while Drum and I go get Ragnar?"

"Perfect!" 6th grinned. She slung her arm around Drum's shoulders, and pulled him close. "Wanna go help a cute chick save a terrible Viking from certain death?"

"If you don't now, you will later!" 6th laughed, and they climbed down into the water, changing the guns back to cards so they would'nt short out in the water. Then they swam the short distance from the cove to the grotto and reentered the smuggler's lair.

The longsub had herded Captain Hook's pirate ship into the cove. When Hook had looked like he was trying to turn or escape Kara and Sweetiepie put a few shots across his bow which convinced him to cooperate. Mary Poppins looked on as she sipped her tea. It was hard to tell what she thought about any of this.

"Can do toots." Sweetiepie had replied. He was having the time of his life piloting the longsub and firing the deck guns. He just hoped that Ragnar would forgive the scratches on the control pannel. His feet really hadn't been designed for controls like these.

"It was easy." Rae grated, massaging her temples. "He tried to take advantage of me and got more than he bargained for. By the way, the pain has stopped now. I think he's unconcious."

"In the dark forest." Rae said. "I couldn't teleport directly to Artist. There's a magical ward around the place where he is. And... and I think the magical link is broken! Whatever happened to him, it was heavy duty magic. It broke the link clean."

"Oh great." Sweetiepie sighed. "I'm lost in the forest of Disney villians with Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West for company."

*CLANG! There was a resounding metalic ring as he struck his hand upward and struck the ceiling. It seemed to vanish a bit before making contact.

The Sherriff pushed the little button on the control mechanism like he'd been shown. Nothing happened. The virtural reality broadcast into the room began to desolve.

"We'll see about that. You've been away a long time. Things change. Reality is creeping in on all of us. You're my ticket to slow it down."

Heavy sigh...."You know better than that Momma. One day Reality will have to be dealt with.It's coming. Now or in our old age."

"All I can tell you Ma is to be careful. There's no hard feelings on my part, after all business is business, but remember some things are very costly."

"But since we're all still friends here, tell me just who was it I am supposed to have kidnapped....?" He still hadn't figured that one out.

Tinkerbell's fairy dust made fast work of moving the gold to the longboat. Viridian was chatting with Tinkerbell when she looked down to see Peter watching her.

"Nooo-- I LIKE doing things! Look Peter," she patted him affectionately on the head, "I'll send you an invitation the the first showing of my paintings, okay? That is what I like. If I have to grow old to do it, so be it." She smiled. "How's Wendy?"

*Oooh,* Vi thought, sounds like college to me.* Tinkerbell whispered something to her and she nodded. "Jila? Chryse? Tinkerbell has got a suprise for you." The other women gathered around and gasped as fairy dust was sprinkled over them. Suddenly, they found themselves floating in the air.

"No thanks," she answered. "I get air-sick." She sighed, watching her friends fly away, laughing with delight. "Another reason why I grew up."

ArtistPuppy howled and whined, making a pathetic racket - for two reasons... He was desparate to contact Rae and warn her about Maleficent - and of course because he was expected to put up a fuss.

Had he thought Rae somewhat evil? Capricious and violent, but good and evil seemed foriegn concepts to the sorceress. Artist was sicked by the malignant evil he saw in Maleficent - he had never experienced anything so ugly.

The link between Artist and Rae had not been broken - Maleficent was using it to track Rae's movements and concealing Artist's location from the sorceress. Artist took his beating with all the ill grace and cowardace that was expected of him and settled down to review the situation.

Malificent was perhaps the most brilliant mind he had ever encountered - and contemptuous and vain - and that gave Artist a crucial advantage. Malificent thought she had captured Rae's battery and had not examined the nature of his abilities. She indended to use him to destroy Rae for two reasons - she could not stand the idea of a sorceress more powerful than herself - and Rae had out-cheated her in a penny poker match 8 years previously.

Artist studied the tremendous power stored in him - it was malignant and he wouldn't last long unless he could purify and refine it - and change it's nature - expell the parts designed for sorcery. The integral calculus took half an hour while he tracked Rae's approach - Kara was with her!

ArtistPuppy supressed another howl - Rae was powerful enough to stand on her own against Maleficent for a little while - though the evil witch knew the sorceress's powers were malfunctioning. But Kara had no idea of the danger she was coming into...

"I'm looking for a way out of this frelling forest," the sorceress grumbled. "We should have been well clear of here by now. I told you, finder's keepers. If you don't like that I'll drop you off right here and now - you can look for him yourself among the villains."

Before Kara could respond, Rae did preciesely that - dropping her through the canopy. Kara fell through the limbs of a huge tree, grasping at every limb along the way then sliding down the trunk to land scratched and bruised but otherwise unhurt in a heap on the forest floor.

The reason for Rae's action became apparent almost immediately - the sorceress was under attack! The canopy writhed violently, the forest floor rumbled as powerful magics filled the sky above. Kara felt sick at her stomach from the proximity of poisonious sorcery. Rae's powers were being tested to and beyond their limits.

The sorceress fell through the canopy, landing flat on her back and firing a pulse rifle through the trees at something huge and stinking up above. A giant face poked through the canopy - a dragon!!! It opened it's maw, releasing a thin stream of acid which melted Rae's weapon - she rolled to her feet and sprinted off through the trees - barely keeping out of the line of fire, turning occasionally to cast spells of tremendous force at the dragon - buffeting it with magic.

Kara stood in stark terror as the dragon crashed through the trees after Rae - leaving a swath of destruction in it's path - the huge leathery tail passing inches from her face - and a tiny cocker spanial in tow - a familiar puppy -

"Why?" asked the bird as he flew next to Kara's head. "Rae can take care of herself. We should be running the OTHER way."

"No." Sweetiepie said. "That's not one of our dogs. Honey is a golden color, not black and white. And she's the only cocker spaniel we have."

As KaraS sagged against a partially splintered tree, gasping for breath, Sweetiepie winged his way toward the retreating dragon. There were spells and weapon's fire going off all over the place but the little bird stayed behind the bulk of the dragon and was never in any real danger. As he flew closer, he could see that the doggie was tied by a leash to a band around one of the dragon's hind leggs. The dog was holding onto the dragon's tail for dear life as it thrashed around, not an easy proposition. If the dog had tried to run alongside the dragon he would doubtless have been stepped on and crushed.

"Why the hezmanah does that dragon have a dog tied to it's leg?" Sweetiepie asked himself as he flew in for an even closer look.

Now, Sweetiepie is not a large bird and cocker spaniels, while not great danes, can be large. But Sweetiepie IS a magic parrot (though he usually doesn't like to show off) and he gave himself a little magic boost. So he ripped the spaniel off the dragon's tail and flew a little ways back into the woods. Since Maleficient's spell didn't require actual physical contact to work and she was concentrating on frying Rae, she didn't notice that Artist was gone immediately.

Artic is wandering around when she finds a honey pot all alone with no one to care for it. Sitting on a rock Artic taps a paw to the side of her head "Think, think, think...who could care for this honey pot?" Artic frowns "Think, think, th...I've got it! Who better to care for it, then Pooh?!" Artic jumps to her feet grabs the honey pot and heads down the path.

Soon she comes to a little house (well it was more like a tree with a door, but that is beside the point) that had a sign over the door that read 'MR SANDERZ', next to the door was another sign that read 'RNIG ALZO' with a bell right above it. Artic rings the bell "Hello! Pooh?! Are you here? Are you there? Are you anywhere???" She can hear a great commotion inside and then silence as someone asks.

"SEE!" Pooh admonishes the others as he swings open the door "come in and have a seat we where just having tea...ummm..." Pooh looked exspectantly at Artic.

Artic takes a sip from a tea cup and leans back *sigh* "It's soooo great to finally meet all of you. I feel like I've know you forever! Kanga, Roo, Owl,Rabbit,Piglet" Piglet blushes as Artic says his name "and Pooh...oh and you too Eeyore...your so sweet"

"How could I not...you big silly Donkey" Artic gives him a big hug and he blushes even more. "I just wish I could have meet Tigger too." Suddenly a big, bouncy creature bounds in, Artic's eyes go wide as she is knocked flat on her back.

Tigger hops off of Artic with no further ado, sticks his paw out and pumps Artic's arm up and down "Glad to meet ya! Tigger's my name and bouncing's my game! T-I-double Guh-Er. That spells Tigger!"

Tigger and Artic both frown, shrug their shoulders and give each other a big hug. :) "He'll get over it soon enough...and you can call me Artic" Artic whispers in Tigger's ear and he smiles and winks.

Suddenly a loud noise "MMMMMEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!!!" The gang in the little house huddle together as another "MMMEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!!" could be heard from outside.

"Don't be ricky-diculous...they only come out for honey." Tigger replies nonchalantly, until everyone turned as one to look at the pot of honey sitting on the table. "Ahhh...Uh-oh." <GULP>

Artic looks about the room at the shivering group "I'll take care of it...don't worry" turning towards the door she calls out "Just a second...I'll be right with you!" Taking the pop gun from Pooh she makes her way to the door one giant tippy toe step at a time (of course the gang behind her is copying her every move).

"SORRY! Did mean to scare ya! We have been looking all over for you Artic!" Ghost smiles as she walks through the door and kitten bounds around the open door into Artic's arms. "MEOW-MEOW-MEOW!!!"

"I guess I forgot to tell anyone where I went...sorry." Noticing the small backpack on kitten she looks inside "How many times do I have to tell you to be careful with the Crunch?" Kitten ducks her head. *sigh*Artic gets to her feet and helps her new friends to their feet. "Everyone...this is Ghost and kitten. Ghost...kitten...this is everyone."

"Yeah...I have been gone for quite some time now." Artic hugged each of her new friends, bid them goodbye and headed back to the Longboat with Ghost and kitten.

"There is some REALLY weird stuff going on." Ghost shivered "On the way here, kitten and I saw a dog humping the evil Queen Maleficent's leg...I had to cover her eyes...not that it did any good! I'm a Ghost for Crikney's sake!"

"Geez...Disney sure has changed since I was a kid! You're right...we need to find the rest of the gang and get the hazmana out of here!" Artic clutches kitten tight and begins to run.

"What the..." 6th looked at Drum. His long red robes were sopping wet, dripping puddles around his feet. The long sleeves of his robe hung down, water dripping from them.

"Well, I can try." Drum said, and, after a moment of thought, began chanting softly. He picked up a loose nail off the bridge with one hand, laying it flat in his palm. He pointed one finger at it...

She couldn't help it. Drum stood there looking mortified. Not that armor was all that bad...but he just wasn't built like Zena, Warrior Princess.

"Like...I don't know...like, let me picture what you need, and you channel it from my mind into reality? Can you do that?"

"Ok, you'll need to come here." he said as she stepped in close to him. "Uh...closer." he said. 6th stepped in as close as she could, they were nose to nose.

"Never mind. Just close your eyes and picture me something good to wear." He said. She smiled and closed her eyes, picturing. Drum took her head in his hands and leaned down slightly, touching foreheads with her. He began chanting a channeling spell, and let his spirit flow into 6th.

6th's thoughts swirled around him in waves. Drum was floored. He didn't think 6th knew of the essence she had. Her spiritual quality was almost overwhelming. Awed and exhilerated, Drum couldn't help but look around a bit.

*Yes, I know. Come on, this way. And try not to touch anything. There's some delicate stuff in here.* The shadowy woman turned and walked off, Drum hurried to follow her. She stopped by a door.

*I like it in here. It's fun. You go on now, sugarpie. Go get your clothes. You do look silly in Zena's!* The woman diassipated again, and Drum opened the door. Apparently the door to 6th's inner closet.

Drum was speechless. This was not what he'd expected at all! He had thought to just see in his head what 6th was picturing, not get sucked into her mind! And now this!

"Hey! Where'd the..." then he remembered. He had the picture now in his head, clear as day...but he still had to chant a shape-shifting spell to change clothes. He began to chant again, finding the task much easier. He'd have to talk to 6th some more about this all later. He honestly didn't think she had any idea what was going on in her head.

6th eyed the mage, now clad in a uniform of the Muskateers. She blushed slightly, and Drum was facinated. Walking around in the outfit she was in, doing what she'd done already, all her general '6th-ness' didn't make her blush, but looking at him wearing this did? Drum wondered if he had time to channel her mind again, just to see what she was thinking...

"RUN!" 6th yelled, pushing Drum down the bridge. 6th fumbled with her silver card, cursing herself for being off guard. They tore down the bridge, running hard. 6th got the card transformed, and fired off some warning shots as they ran. She had it on laser pulse, and one shot hit the bridge behind them, blowing a hole in the planking and slowing down the smugglers.

6th and Drum ran down off the bridges and into a passageway with several closed doors. 6th hurriedly took Drum's card away from him, transformed it, threw a switch on and passed the gun back to him.

"There, it's set on freeze shots. What you hit will freeze solid without hurting it. I've also got the stun shots primed, and this button charges the surface missle launch..."