Zuri, Abby, Strips ~ Private

[petdr89]

Abby stared blankly into space, running her tongue across her teeth; she hadn't heard a word Zuri had just said.

Strips gave Abby a funny look, but she didn't notice him. Likewise, Strips hadn't noticed the annoyed look Zuri gave him. He shrugged, "Eh, well, I dunno. I would steal some, but I don't think y'all are gunna let me. But I'm not that hungry anyway, so, yeah, I don't really care what we do."

[zash]

"Yeah, I'm not all that hungry either, but I figured I'd just make sure. Well then I guess we could get going. The question is where. I honestly forgot where we were going, thats if I even knew to begin with. To much has happened lately. So where to Abby?" Zuri then looked over at Abby, noticing that she wasn't paying any attention whats so ever, just licking her teeth. "Ok."

[petdr89]

Abby jerked her head when she heard her name. "Who, what, where? Oh, right, where..." She paused and started walking toward the lake, and looked down into the water once she reached the edge. "That's where we're going; inside there."

Strips keeled over laughing, banging his knee with his hand for more emphasis. "Haha! That's hilarious! That's a good one, girl. That's a real good one. Funny, funny, funny."

Abby raised an eyebrow, "I'm being serious..."

[zash]

"Alright, Strips and water, I wonder. But why down there? Where are we going down there? There has to be like a cave or something down there right? Ah well, that'd be fun. Good thing I'm great at swimming, well underwater, but not with all my gear. I'll definently sink faster. So shall we go ahead and jump in?" Zuri really didn't wait. He just did a cannon ball in. Water spalshed every where and a big wave, well waved across everything. "Wooohoooo. Thats cold." Zuri had jumped into the lake earlier and had gotten dried off over time, but now he's all wet again.

[petdr89]

Strips glared as Zuri did a cannon-ball into the water. He hadn't been standing close enough for the water to reach him, but just the thought of it splashing him made him cringe.

"I'm not entirely sure what we're looking for; all they said was it was in Kiko Lake, but they didn't say what exactly we're supposed to be looking for." Abby originally intended on talking to Zuri, but since he ran off so fast, she supposed she was talking to Strips now.

Strips shook his head, "Ain't no way".

"Aww, it's not gunna be that bad." Abby smiled as she jumped into the water after Zuri.

[zash]

"Yeah, come one Strips. It aint that bad you wussy." Zuri figured that'd get Strips mad at him. He figured Strips wouldn't jump in right away, maybe with some provoking. "Its not like its gonna crawl up and grab you. Sure you'll be in a lake of water, but that isn't so much for the big bad Darigan is it." Zuri said in childish taunting voice. Zuri laughed internally, one good way to be able to tick off Strips and Strips can't do anything. "Poor little kitty cat." Zuri then turned around and wagged his tail at Strips. "He really should be comin in after me now." Zuri thought. Hehehehe, nothing like picking on Strips and having a good reason for it. "Don't worry Abby, he should get in now. Hehehehe." Zuri figured the best way to get Strips really mad was to just splash at him. He was probably to far away to get him wet, but he may be able to get his feet. So Zuri took back his hand and smacked the water causing a large splash to go towards Strips.

[petdr89]

Strips jumped back before the water reached his feet. He looked up at Zuri, glaring, and his tail lashed back and forth. He flipped Zuri off before pacing back and forth at the water's edge.

Abby had swam out next to Zuri; she giggled at his tormenting, but tried not to be loud enough that Strips couldn’t hear her.

Finally he stopped pacing and just stared at the water, and eventually he dipped his toes into the lake. Okay, so far, so good. This really wasn't that bad. He kept going until his entire foot was in the water, and then just stared. He would have been fine if he hadn't kept staring, but as he was staring his mind entered a psychotic breakdown. In his mind, the water actually was crawling up his leg and was grabbing him, like Zuri had said. Zuri shouldn't have put that idea in his mind. As the little daydream continued, the water kept crawling up his leg, up his waist, chest, neck, and finally reached his face. Once it reached his face, it forced it's way into his mouth, down his throat, and into his lungs.

In the real world, his heart rate skyrocketed, and he looked like he was choking on air. His eyes began rolling back in his head, and his head fell back; his mouth gaped open in attempt to take in oxygen, but because his mind had tricked him into believing he was drowning, all he did was choke on air.

He finally caught his breath again when he took his foot out of the water, and shook his head violently in attempt to clear his mind. Geesh, he really was a wussy. He didn't like the idea of Zuri and Abby continuing the adventure without him, but he really didn't think he would be able to get in that water.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, the people who had been following him finally saw their opportunity. They saw his reaction to the water and knew that if he was going to panic that badly, he wouldn't be able to defend himself. The only problem in their plan was the other two that were with him, but they hoped to take care of them too.

They ran out of the bushes and charged toward Strips. Guess who. That's right, the Darigans from the woods had returned to finish what they started. They had been chased off by the underground the first time, but this time they were determined to finish him. They were followers of the former Lord Kass, and they wanted that Darigan follower dead.

One of them ran full force into Strips, knocking him into the water, while the other two ran toward Abby and Zuri in hopes of distracting them long enough that Strips would be dead by the time they got to him.

The Darigan who had knocked Strips into the water held him under by his shoulders. Strips thrashed wildly as he tried desperately to get his head above water, but the Darigan was on top of him. He opened his eyes underwater to look into the angry eyes of one of the men who had tried to kill him in the woods. If he hadn't been thinking about the end of his life, he would have been questioning why he hadn't killed the three of them the first time he saw them.

The other two Darigans continued running through the water, one went toward Zuri, and the other went toward Abby.

[zash]

Zuri looked at Strips like he was insane. He lowered his head as Strips was recovering, so he didn't see the Darigans until Zuri heard a splash. He looked up and saw three Darigans coming. Well one was on Strips and the other two were after him and Abby. "Ah crap." Zuri pulled out his sword ready for battle. He couldn't exaclty jump out of the water and fly so he was stuck. His sheath had filled up with water, so it was lucky for him that he wasn't sinking by now. Zuri readied for battle, his concern was for Strips but he really couldn't do much. "Darn it, Haaaaa EAT THIS!!" Zuri managed to summon up some energy and released a blast of flame towards the Darigan after him. While this happened Zuri began to swim towards Strips.

[petdr89]

The Darigan who had been running toward Zuri was knocked backward by the fire into the water. He wasn't too badly injured, but the wind had been knocked out of him and he was in a bit of shock for a few seconds. By the time he knew what was going on, Zuri was already running toward Strips. He started running after Zuri; jumped to tackle him before he could get away.

Abby had been watching and had an idea; she completely ignored the Darigan coming after her as she held out her hand toward the tree. She grasped the air as if she were grasping a ball tightly in her fingers, and as she did the shadow under the tree literally began crawling toward her. It crawled over the land, over the water, and shot right into her arm. A black aura now surrounded her, but stopped as soon as she shot black magic out her other hand. The magic wrapped around the feet of the Darigan jumping toward Zuri like tentacles, and pulled him backwards. She was able to pull him a ways away from Zuri before her magic fizzled out, and after that she was done; there were no more shadows to pull magic from. Without some form of darkness, she couldn't use dark magic. The Darigan who she had been ignoring, the one coming after her, finally caught up to her and pushed her down into the water. She wondered, though, what good that was going to do when she didn't need oxygen.

Strips continued to struggle under the water. His arms lashed all around, but he was so disoriented that he couldn't get his fingers wrapped around the Darigan's arms. He tried to lift himself up by pulling his spinal column forward, but the Darigan had its knee embedded in his chest, and the pressure on his chest caused him to panic even more.

[zash]

Zuri continued to swim towards Strips. Thanks to Abby he was able to get there without having to do something about the guy following him. He didn't have any more magic to blast the guy holding onto Strips so he was forced to attack him head on. "Hold on Strips." Zuri said as he got closer. Eventualy he got up to the guy holding onto Strips. He then reached the two and swung his sword at the Darigan.

[petdr89]

The Darigan had noticed Zuri's approach, so he was ready for him. He ducked Zuri's initial attack, and then stood, but kept one foot on Strips's chest to keep him underwater. "Stay out of this" he snarled as he swung his tail toward Zuri. Strips had been underwater for nearly three minutes now, but it had felt like a lot longer to him.

Instead of trying to lift herself out of the water like Strips was trying to do, Abby grabbed the Darigan's wrists and pulled him under with her. But she wasn't afraid of water, and knew she couldn't drown, so she was able to think more clearly than Strips. The Darigan didn't panic at first, until he realized that Abby's grip was a lot stronger than he originally thought. She was able to keep him under even though he was on top of her; she was even able to pull him close enough to her that she could get her jaws around his throat. The blood entering her throat was mixed with lake water, but she didn't mind; at least it wasn't salt water.

[zash]

Zuri missing the original attack on the Darigan was Struck by his tail. Zuri bashed against the shore and landed with a large thud and a splash. "Oh man. I got to do something before Strips drowns." Zuri slowly stood up and looked at the Darigan. What to do? He had to find some way to get the Darigan off of Strips. So Zuri tried what he knew would get him off. He mustered up as much energy as he could. He opened his mouth and a ball of flame come out. It wasn't big but it was about the size of a fiery basket ball. "Eat this punk." After that Zuri ran behind the blast, using the blast as a cover as he ran towards the Darigan.

[petdr89]

Strips's struggling dwindled the longer he was held underwater, until finally it ceased all together. His mind had completely fogged over and his eyes rolled back in his head as he lost consciousness.

The Darigan put his hands over his head and ducked again. He had managed to avoid getting hit by the fireball, but hadn't notice Zuri behind the ball, and Zuri was able to plow into him and knock him away from Strips.

Abby had killed one Darigan with her teeth and was about to chase after the other one, when a fireball came out of nowhere and knocked him backward. "Heh, that was easy" Abby remarked. She then started running toward Zuri, ignoring the fact that the Darigan may still be alive.

[zash]

Zuri landed on top of the Darigan and he bounced off of him and landed on the shore. He continued to roll in the water till he finally stopped; he landed face up on the shore. Water rushed up and down the side of him. He was exhausted now. He used up the last bit of energy to save Strips. He lay there and caught his breath. "Hoooo man. Strips, you owe me one. Haaaaa." Zuri really couldn't do much after that. "Abby!! Get Strips!!" Zuri then looked over to Abby and then back over to the Darigan he had rammed into. He was still laying on the ground but if Zuri needed to he may have to do something.

[petdr89]

Abby was there before Zuri could even get the words out of his mouth; scooped up Strips's limp body in her arms, and carried him on shore. She laid him down on the dirt before pressing two fingers into the side of Strips's throat. Good; he had a heartbeat, but he didn't appear to be breathing. She acted without thinking as she tilted his head back, plugged his nose with her fingers, and gave him mouth-to-mouth repeatably.

Strips really had been unconscious at first, but after a couple of times of Abby pumping air into him, his lungs finally responded. He tried not to react, though; enjoying Abby pressing her mouth against his. As she continued, he slowly put his arms around her back and held her close to him.

Abby lifted up her head, glaring at Strips, who had a great big stupid smile on his face. She slapped him across the face before standing.

"Ow" Strips rubbed his cheek with his hand. He was still a little dizzy, so he didn't get up right away.