🚀 go-pugleaf

     Grant paced back and forth on the strange ship which had delivered him
from an invincible construct that had been pursuing all those who had
absorbed power from the six Millennium shards that had been brought by a
dying old man. He growled slightly in irritation as he remembered that the
powers conveyed by those crystals were supposed to help his friends escape
from the Task that pursued them, not draw him closer. He growled with more
irritation at the boatman, one C. H. Aaron, who insisted on humming along
with 'Show Me The Way', a song from one of Grant's least favourite groups.
     From the corner of his eye, Kayle watched his friend pace, trying to
avoid flinching every time Grant turned his way. Somehow, his friends'
transformations had given them the aspects of titans, and though the
instinct to fear and stand in awe of them was gradually lessening, their
terrible auras were still palpable. Grimly, he wondered how long before he
joined them. Like them, he'd absorbed the power from a Millennium fragment,
though he'd yet to manifest an ability. Once it did manifest itself, Kayle
would stand just a few paces from the human race, just as his friends now
did. At least, he thought dismally, this aura of awe would probably go
away. His friends reacted to each others' changes with shock, but did not
seem particularly overwhelmed by each other.
     Of course, it would also bring him onto the same level as Sabrina.
Kayle smiled ruefully and wondered if, in the end, any of this would be
worth it. He glanced over at the woman and desperately hoped that it would
be.

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              Frobozz Magic Productions Presents

                     Spotlight On...#27

                      "The Brat Pack"

                     Part Three of Three

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     The voyage proceeded in relative silence, shattered only by the sounds
of waves lapping against the boat's hull and the echo of the vessel's
engine reverberating from the stone walls of the underground cavern. Thus,
it was quite noticeable to the others when Dianna suddenly gasped and put a
hand to her chest.
     "Di?" asked Shyrose in alarm, adjusting her blanket - a nod to modesty
- as she did so. Like the others, Shyrose had changed physically when she
had absorbed the power of a millennium shard. Unlike Grant, who seemed to
be in a state of perpetual vibration, Shyrose's features and stature could
not be fixed. Somehow she was an archetype - possibilities without limit.
But the girl to whom she was attending had changed most of all. Dianna - a
born necromancer who had awakened to her powers with her absorption of the
millennium shard - seemed to have become Shiva herself, giving those who
looked upon her a terrifying glimpse of their all-too-fragile mortality.
     "Yes Rose?" asked Dianna, her eyes entranced by some distant sight.
Shyrose knelt down beside her friend and slapped her lightly on the cheek.
     "Hey, you in there Di?" she called, snapping the girl from her
reverie. Dianna looked at her friend for a moment before nodding.
     "I'm here," she replied in a small voice. "I just feel strange. In
this place."
     "Hunh?" asked Shyrose, sitting down next to Dianna. "What do you mean
strange? Are you sick or something?"
     Dianna shook her head, then rested it against the hull of the boat. "I
feel..."
     "Yeah?"
     "...welcome."
     Shyrose blinked a few times in surprise, then looked at her friend
askance. "Welcome? In this cave? You've always wanted to be a bat or
something and this is the next best thing?"
     "Of course the little woman is feeling welcome," replied Aaron,
munching on a pomegranate. "This place is one source of her power, of
course. It's also a place from where she can draw allies, like myself. I
heard her call and I came a-running."
     "Could I have one of those?" asked Sabrina, looking at the fruit.
Aaron chuckled.
     "Sorry, no can do," replied the boatman, plucking another juicy seed
from the pomegranate. "It would go down sweet but the burning sensation
after would just disagree with you."
     "Where _are_ we?" asked Grant, looking over the boat's prow. Ahead was
more gloom and darkness. Off the starboard bow a shore could be made out,
dotted with indistinct wandering figures. Aaron blew his airhorn and waved
at the shore-walkers before turning his attention back to the young man.
     "Didn't I already tell you?" he asked. "I could've sworn I had."
     "No, I think you missed telling me that," replied Grant, with a sigh.
"Where the heck(sm) are we?"
     "Not Heck(sm), m'boy," replied Aaron with a grin. "Hell(tm)."
     There was a long silence in the boat.
     "I knew I should've asked permission before borrowing mom's earrings,"
muttered Sabrina. Aaron shook his head.
     "No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. You're not dead and in Hell(tm),
you're just in Hell(tm)!"
     "How does that make a bit of difference?" asked Shyrose, snarkily. "We
get rooms next to the molten lava instead of the Don Ho Tribute suite?"
     Aaron sighed. "Listen up. You are here because your friend there, the
Necromantrix Tenebre--"
     "The what?" asked Dianna, looking up, confused.
     "You know, you can let me tell my story or interrupt me every few
minutes. Doesn't really matter to me. Of course, it does mean I'll be done
with the tale after a cold snap blows through this place."
     "Sorry," sighed Dianna. Aaron nodded and continued with his story,
sitting on a low wooden bench which ran along the inside hull of the ship.
     "Annnnnyway, your friend called for help and I figured the price was
right, so I came along. You'll be fine here as long as you remember three
things. First, keep your hands inside the boat at all times and do not feed
the fish, cause there aren't any. Second, no flash photography. And
finally, don't die. Otherwise you get to stay here for all of eternity. Got
me?"
     "Um... right," replied Kayle. "Could you explain one more thing to me?"
     "Sure kid. What's that?"
     "WE'RE IN HELL(TM)? WHAT THE DEVIL ARE WE DOING HERE, ARE YOU CRAZY?"
     "Kid, kid, kid, whoa, calm down, this is a common reaction. Just take
a deep breath and count to infinity. Helps all of my customers."
     "It's just... I don't know," replied Kayle, sighing. "Okay, for
instance, isn't Hell(tm) supposed to be lakes of fire and brimstone?"
     "It is for some people, kid," replied Aaron, finishing off his fruit
and tossing it overboard. "This is another part. Or, to be really accurate,
this is another interpretation. That's what a lot of people don't realise
about the afterlife, you know. Not only is it multiple choice, but you
serve up your own test."
     "I... don't understand a word you're saying," said Kayle, weakly. "But
that's okay. I guess it just goes with being completely crazy, doesn't it?"
     "Yeah, probably," replied Aaron. "So, when're you kids going to pick
pretentious names for yourselves, hey?"
     "What do you mean?" asked Sabrina, confused. Grant nodded.
     "I think he means... well, you know how superguys go around with code
names and all that?"
     "The Tribe of Behn doesn't," replied Shyrose, adjusting her blanket.
     "Okay, besides them. Not our fault that they break form."
     "So what're you thinking?" asked Sabrina, winds still playing about her.
     "We pick code names, like the most distinguished heroes. You know,
like MeltDown, HotFlash, Spandex Babe..."
     "I think I know what Grant has hanging on his walls," whispered
Shyrose to Dianna, who covered a grin. Grant flushed. "Never mind. It was a
stupid idea anyway." He sat down on a bench and crossed his arms.
     "Hey, don't sulk," said Shyrose. "I think it's an okay idea. What
about the rest of you guys?"
     "Sure, it would kill some time," replied Kayle. "I mean, not that
Hell(tm) isn't scenic or anything," he finished, looking over the port side
of the boat at a long, gloomy rock wall.
     "Grant goes first," said Shyrose, nodding to the man. He looked up,
and thought.
     "Um... well, let's see," he said. "I need a name to go with what I do,
right?"
     "If you must," replied Aaron, amused. Grant rolled his eyes and continued.
     "Let's see... maybe I could do something clever..."
     "That would be a switch."
     "Would you cut out the commentary?"
     "Sorry," replied Aaron, chuckling. "Just trying to lighten the mood.
What's a trip to Hell(tm) if you can't have some fun?"
     "Lesee," continued Grant. "Maybe I could take the French for
'sound'... and call myself Wayward Son!"
     Grant was met with a deafening silence.
     "You don't like it, do you?" he asked. Sabrina reached up and pinched
her nose in an exaggerated gesture. "Okay, I'll try something else. Um..."
     Kayle considered for a moment. "What about something to do with music?"
     "Like what?"
     "Hmmm... " Kayle suddenly grinned. "Got it, and it's perfect for what
you do."
     "Don't keep us waiting, Kayle," said Shyrose, with a grin. "Say it."
     "Remix."
     "Woo, Kayle!" said Grant, grinning. "Love it. Who's next?"
     "I'll go, because I've _already_ got the perfect name," said Shyrose.
     "Let me guess," said Sabrina, smiling. "Mimic?"
     "Close, but no cig, 'brina," replied Shyrose. "I was thinking that,
but it just didn't have the right oomph. So I stuck a 90s buzzword on the
end and it worked just fine."
     "You're dying to tell us, so tell us," said Kayle. Shyrose grinned.
     "You're looking at Mimicmorph, the one and only!" said Shyrose,
striking a pose.
     "And the hard on clothes," said Grant. Shyrose shot him a dirty look.
     "I'll figure out something," replied the woman. "'brina, you're going
next?"
     "I suppose I am," replied Sabrina, starting to get into the naming fun
and beginning to forget about the changes that had been wrought upon her
earlier. "What do you think I should call myself?"
     "What about... Spinner?" suggested Grant. Eyes were rolled. "What, I
think it's a good name!"
     "You've also enjoyed orange juice on your cereal," replied Sabrina.
"It makes me suspect your tastes just a little bit."
     "Well, you're a speedster, right? And a dancer?" asked Shyrose. "What
about Speed Dancer?"
     "Ugh, even worse. Grant, if you hum 'Go Speed Go' one more time,
you'll live to regret it."
     Kayle looked at Sabrina for a long time before finally speaking in his
most quiet tone of voice. "Dervish."
     "Dervish," replied Sabrina, thinking that over. "That really fits,
doesn't it?" She smiled at Kayle, who returned it before flushing and
looking at the ground. "I love it, Kayle, thank you."
     "You're welcome, Sabrina," replied Kayle, studiously examining the deck.
     "You're up, Dianna," said Grant, with a grin. "What're you going to
call yourself?"
     Dianna looked up from her quiet contemplations. "Maybe... something in
honour of my mother."
     "Take her name, maybe?" asked Shyrose. "Mystica? Or Mystica the Second?"
     "Mystica the Next Generation?"
     "Grant!"
     "Sorry."
     "No," said Dianna quietly. "Something like Mystica... but different."
She looked up at the others, and smiled, very slightly. "I know what fits.
Necra."
     "Necra it is, then," replied Shyrose, frowning a bit. "That's not too
dark, is it?"
     "Maybe," replied Dianna in a soft whisper, "But it feels so right."
     "And anyway," interjected Aaron, "It's not as though she's going to
need it for very long, is it?"
     "I beg your pardon?" asked Kayle, looking up and into Aaron's eyes.
"Why exactly won't Dianna - excuse me, Necra - need her name for very
long?"
     "Well," grinned Aaron, "After she's given me her soul, she won't be in
much of a position to need a name to hang around her neck, will she?"
     "Excuse me, tall, dark and moribund," said Shyrose, stepping forward.
"I think I speak for all of us when I ask... what in the name of ELVIS are
you talking about?"
     Aaron raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "She offered a price for my
services. Now frankly, the soul of a born necromantrix is overcharging, but
she stated quite _clearly_ that she would give her soul for a boat trip out
of a bad situation. Being one of the allies upon whom she could call, I
thought the price was right and came as quickly as I could."
     "I..." began Dianna, rising slowly then slumping back to the deck. "I
did say that..."
     "You see?" said Aaron, triumphantly. "She _admits_ that she made the
deal! What do you say to that?"
     "Um... would you take plastic instead?" asked Grant, flipping through
his wallet. "Really, how much would it take to get back Di's soul?"
     Aaron sighed. "Kids. Think money solves everything. Look. Grant. I
like you. You gots spunk, but you don't understand something essential.
Your money is worthless down here. Well, except for opals, but that's
because Pluto and Hades and the Great Bob need something to use for poker
chips. What we can spend down here are souls. Now minions like my family,
we don't get many chances to get our hands on even an ord soul. But when an
accredited mage... Hades below, an accredited necromantrix... offers her
soul, do you know what that means? Easy street for the rest of eternity!
Prestige, power, status and all that jazz. And _that_," he concluded,
turning to grin at Dianna, "Is what your friend traded to me in exchange
for getting you, her dear, dear friends, away from that nasty Task."
     "Then take us back," replied Sabrina, crossing her arms in defiance.
"At least we knew the Task was going to hurt us. We though you were doing
us a damned favour."
     "Language," warned Aaron, wagging a finger at Sabrina even as Dianna
moaned and shook her head.
     "I can't take back the bargain," she sighed. "I can feel that,
Sabrina. My soul is his now."
     "Can't we... I don't know, do this in an instalment package?" asked
Shyrose, frustration on her face. "Or I know! You take a bit of her soul
and a bit of mine!"
     "And mine," said Sabrina, stepping forward. Kayle walked over and
stood next to the wind-caressed woman, silently adding his presence to the
whole.
     "Mine too," he said, earning a smile from Sabrina which, for once,
Kayle did not notice. All eyes turned to Grant, who blinked.
     "Would it... um.. hurt?"
     "GRANT!" came the response.
     "Sorry... mine too..." he murmured, standing to slouch next to the
others. Aaron shook his head again, sighing.
     "Look, this is all very touching, but I just _can't_ do it. The pact
was sealed. Little Necra over there traded to me the soulforce which she
possessed at the time of the bargain for safe passage," he sighed and
looked at the shivering Dianna. "Hey, I'm sorry. I like you and all, but a
deal's a deal where I come from. Most necromancers would've put aside a bit
of soul in a vessel or the like for when I came to collect, so they'd have
something left to grow from once I took what was rightfully mine. You're
young, and you've got vast amounts of power that you don't know how to use.
You just screwed up, Dianna. It's no one's fault."
     "What'll... happen to me?" asked Dianna, looking at Aaron. "Will I be
with mom again?"
     "Where's mom, exactly?" asked Aaron, checking his notebook. Dianna
considered.
     "She was in a bar. Very big... everyone there was dead. But I suppose
that goes without saying."
     "That last part describes _most_ of the afterlives. Hmm... except for
Terra Nova, for some reason. Oh well, no. You won't be going to the Pink
Iguana Tavern, I'm afraid."
     "Where then?" she asked, biting her lip. Aaron looked truly miserable
as he replied.
     "Hell(tm), Dianna. Souls are only good to trade for what you want to a
Power. Good old Mr Scratch pays top price for them. Especially ones like
yours. I'm really sorry."
     "Oh god, Di," gasped Sabrina, hugging her friend. Grant glared at
Aaron, murder in his eyes.
     "You'd better be pretty DAMNED happy with yourself, bastard," he
swore, the standing wave of his body spiking viciously in response to his
anger. "You're sentencing our friend to eternal damnation because we needed
a boat ride!"
     "A deal's a deal," replied Aaron quietly, looking at the deck of his
ship. "I can't tell you how many ways my hands are tied on this. And in
life, a lot of people get damned, Grant. It... um... happens."
     "Not to Dianna it doesn't," replied Shyrose angrily, as she glared at
Aaron with every dram of hate that she could muster. "She's coming with us
once this ride is over... soul and all!"
     "No can do," replied the boatman, shaking his head. "And don't try to
fight me, okay?"
     "Why not?" asked Grant, feeling the ambient sounds around him coalesce
into sonic force deep within his body. He was quite ready to put up a fight
for Dianna, as limited as his sonic resources were. The cave's echoes were
useful, but not very powerful. Aaron smirked slightly at the look of
defiance in the young man's eyes.
     "Because then I'd have to kill you all and leave your bones for
Cerebus," he replied. "Trust me, Grant, you don't want to mess with an
employee of Hell, Inc. On the good side, once I killed you you'd all be
stuck here forever with your friend, which might alleviate her misery.
Slightly."
     "Wait," said Dianna quietly, her visage giving force to her whispered
command. "There is a bit of my soul somewhere else..."
     "There is?" asked Aaron, looking relieved. He moved to Dianna's side
and looked down at her, seeming to implore an answer with his presence.
"Where?", he asked. The necromancer bit her lip before replying, looking
paler than before.
     "I left it in the Task," she replied, looking up, caught between the
devil and the deep blue sea. "When I confused it. There's a tiny bit of me
there."
     "In... the Task?" asked Shyrose, rolling her eyes. She straightened.
"Whoo, Di, do we just ask for it back politely or do I arm wrestle the
thing, best two out of three?"
     "No, I need time with the construct," replied Dianna, quietly. She
considered her meagre practical knowledge of magic, snatches of what her
mother had imparted to her as a child. In the end, she chose to draw upon
the visceral magic within her for a guess. "About ten minutes. Maybe more.
I don't really know."
     "You... need to spend quality time with a creature that's ready to rip
our limbs off and use them as cotton swabbing," said Shyrose, staring. "Di,
no offence and I'm really glad that you're not going to be damned for all
eternity, but next time could you _please_ put your soul into something
that isn't going to walk up behind you and crush your spine?"
     "What do we have to do?" asked Kayle, looking at Aaron who shrugged.
     "Just what the Necromantrix said," he replied. "Get her a piece of
soul that I didn't barter for and she'll still have something left when the
deal is done. She'll live, I can give what I've taken over for sale and
everyone will be happy."
     "Will you let her go with us to get the fragment back?" asked Sabrina,
standing protectively over Dianna. Aaron grinned, leaning against the hull
of his boat and describing a jaunty shrug.
     "Metaphysically, it doesn't matter what I do," he said. "If the Task
kills you all, I'll be there. In the end, no matter how fast you move or
how hard you live, you can't outrun the boatman."
     "You're probably a lot of fun at parties, aren't you?" asked Grant
dryly, just as a cave mouth appeared in the gloom. "Do you hide in bushes
and wait for small kids to walk by so you can jump out and yell 'boo'?"
     "There's our stop," said Aaron, nodding to the cave while ignoring
Grant's comment. Lightly, he touched the wheel of his ship, which then
turned of its own accord, adjusting the rudder. "I've put you about three
klicks away from where the Task is. That should give you time to come up
with a plan before he arrives and mulches you.."
     "Gee, you're all heart," muttered Shyrose bitterly. "What're we
supposed to do, wrestle down and hog-tie a relentless automaton?"
     Kayle snorted at the joke, then grinned. Reaching out, his nerve built
up to the point where he 'dared' lay a hand upon one of his changed
friends, Kayle spun Shyrose around in the air. "'Rose, you're a genius!
That's it exactly."
     "Um... what?" asked Shyrose, looking at Kayle as he set her down.
Absently, she adjusted the sheet which had threatened to come loose in the
air. "What're you talking about? I was kidding!"
     "I'm not, 'Rose. You can match its strength by imitating it! With us
running interference, maybe you can pin the thing down long enough for
Dianna to do her business!"
     "How do we tie down an insanely strong walking juggernaut of death?"
asked Grant, incredulously. In response, Dianna smiled slightly, confidence
dawning in her eyes for the first time in a long while.
     "Leave that to me," she said, looking very nearly excited by the
prospect of the showdown. "I think I know something that could help keep it
down. At least for a little while."
     "Right! And here we are," said Aaron, tapping the wheel and guiding
the vessel through the cave mouth. The ship emerged and made landfall on a
dark shore, the river's waves lapping against the boat's hull with a
gentle, soothing sound. "All out. And kids?"
     "Yes?" came the response.
     "Have fun storming the castle!"
     "I'm not finishing that quote," muttered Grant, turning with the
others to walk down the ship's gangplank.
***

[Continued In Part Two]