Author: Stormforce Following Pinocchio had lead the group over several large pieces of floating wood to where a small broken down boat sat. A small fire alerted them that there was someone else with inside the giant whale, and approached causiously. Jumping over a five-foot gap the group ended up on the ship's deck, and saw an older man with the wooden boy. "What have you got there, Pinocchio?" The older man asked when the small boy handed him a large green gummi block. "Father, we can get out of here with this." "Really? With this block? You really think so?" "It's true. You can." Willow said and crouched down, "How'd you get here, Pinocchio?" "I hid on your ship. I knew you'd eventually find my father." Willow chuckled as she stood shaking her head, "That's some boy you got there mister." "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Geppetto." He said shaking Willow's out-stretched hand, as she introduced the others. "How did you all end up here?" Geppetto asked and sat down on the damp deck, and listened to Willow begin the tale of their adventuer so far. The others would help every now and then, adding their own part of the story, and finally told how they'd seen and was swallowed by Monstro. "My goodness. That's quiet a tale young lady, but I do believe you, what with what has happened." Geppetto said smiling at the girls. " When we got separated, I traveled all over, looking for Pinocchio. Thank goodness we're together again." While the group had been talking Pinocchio had spotted a flash of red run into another area of Monstro, glancing around, and seeing the group engrossed in their conversation the wooden boy followed. When he entered the small chamber like area he saw two young women talking, and waited for them to turn around. "Hi, I didn't know someone else was in here with us. Why do you look like those girls out there? Did Monstro get you too?" "Not excatly. By the way, I'm Willow, and this is Buffy. What's your name?" Pinocchio stood up taller and smiled, "My name's Pinocchio, nice to meet you." "And you could say that those girls out there are our twins, from another world. Do you know anything about them? You know, about the world where they come from? We'd really like to know them better." Willow's twin asked staring at the boy with a very -what she hoped was a reasurring smile. Pinocchio shook his head, "Sorry, but I don't know what world they came from, but I did first meet them in Traverse Town. And I hid on their ship knowing they'd find my father, so that's why I'm here now. I am sorry I can't tell you any more than that." "That's fine. We'll eventually talk to them and find out." "Tell me, would you like to play a little game with us?" Buffy's twin asked grinning down at the boy, watching him bob his head franticly. "Yes! I love games! What will we be playing?" "Turn around, Pinocchio." Willow's twin grinned. "Are we going to play hide-and-seek?" Willow glanced at Buffy, and nodded her head, "Something like that. Now turn around and don't move." "Okay!" Pinocchio said happily and turned covering his eyes. Willow held her hand out, palm facing Pinocchio's back, as a black mist formed around her hand and shot forward, hitting the wooden boy's back. Pinocchio lurched forward before falling to the ground where he didn't move. "Good shot, Will." Buffy's twin said approaching the boy, and kneeled down to turn him over facing their direction. "Thanks, now all we gotta do is wait." A smirk crossed the twins face as she leaned against the soft fleshy wall. Geppetto stood and moved to the green block Pinocchio had given him, and carefully studied it for a moment. "You seem to know Pinocchio quite well. I do hope he was a good boy in my absence... We've all had quite a journy, right, Pinocchio?" When he recieved no reply Geppetto turned. "Pinocchio?" The group glanced around the ship, before standing and searching the small shipwreak. It didn't tall them all of five minutes to search the whole thing, and still found no sign of the wooden boy. Splitting up the group followed different paths back toward their ship, and still found nothing. Returning to the wreak, the group found Geppetto just fixing to leave and stopped the older man. "No, we'll find him. You wait here." Willow said and gave the man what the hoped was a comforting smile. "Yeah, no tellin' what's lurking around in here." Buffy grinned, right before she gave a shiver Wish I hadn't thought about that! "Just leave it to us." Faith said and hurried toward the only other place Pinocchio could have disappeared to. "Don't worry Geppetto, we'll bring him back." Tara smiled and followed Willow and the others toward the dark opening. Carefully slipping inside what Faith dubbed 'Chamber One' the group saw the small boy lying on the ground, facing away from them. Willow shook her head, "What are you doing?" "Come on, let's get you back." Buffy said watching the boy closely. "You know, Geppettp's awfully worried about you." Goofy spoke taking a step forward. "What the hell? Why isn't he answering us?" Willow asked confused. What's wrong? This doesn't feel right. "I don't like this." Donald said glancing around the chamber, and spotting another entrance five-foot up, before he focused on Pinocchio. "Pinocchio, stop fooling around!" Faith all but growled, not liking the feeling she was getting from just being in the area. Something isn't right...what is it? "This is no time for games, please, Pinocchio, let us take you back to your father." Tara said and took a step back as a cold chill ran down her spine. The group saw movement in the shadows and tensed. "Who's there? Show yourself!" Faith spoke in a calm voice, gripping her blade ready to defend herself and the others at a moments notice. First Buffy's twin stepped into the light, and sneered towards the group. "What's wrong? Don't like to play games?" "Aw hell! They've got the Keyblades, so now they're too special to play." Willow's twin said stepping beside Buffy's. "What the fuck did you do?" Faith glared, unsheathing her blade, and only got a laugh from the two twins. "Why are you here? And just how did you get here?" Willow asked stepping in front of Tara, not so much out of reflex, but more out of the aura these two twins showed. What the-- Are they evil? What's going on? Their aura is almost black! Even when I use my most powerful black magic spell my aura never goes that dark! "We're just having a bit of fun." Buffy's twin pouted. "Yeah, we were just playin' with Pinocchio, nothing to get your panties in a bunch about." Willow's twin smirked looking down at the still unconscious boy. "What did you do to him?" Donald asked suddenly glancing from one girl to the other, and down at the wooden boy. This isn't right! By the king! The darkness is coming off their bodies in waves, and I can't tell what's wrong with the boy...what have they done? The twins glanced sideways at each other as an evil smile appeared. "Oh, nothing really. Just gave him a shot of darkness." The group stared at Willow's twin, stunned. "You didn't." Tara gasped. "We did, and there's nothing you can do about it." Darkness surrounded Buffy's twin for a split second, and her eyes went completely black, she giggled almost like a little girl, "I'm sure he's enjoying the feeling...where ever he's at." "You bitch!" Buffy screamed jumping forward, pulling her blade and struk at her twin with a battle cry. "You'll pay!" Willow shouted running towards her twin with her blade held high. The twins just stood there, doing nothing as the blades came down and hit a powerful shield. Both Buffy and Willow were thrown back against the soft wall, and shakely stood. "You can't hurt us." Willow's twin smirked as the darkness surrounded her body, and just like Buffy, her eyes went competely black. Only this time it wasn't for just a second; the darkness stayed, swirling around like a small black tornado, but with no high winds. "What have you done?" Tara asked in a whisper lowering her eyes to Pinocchio as a teardrop fell to the ground. "Why have you both become so...so dark?" Both twins faltered for a moment, and the swirling darkness vanished from Willow's twin as her eyes went back to green. The silence only lasted a few seconds before the twins were back to glaring at the group, "That's none of your damn business!" Buffy's twin nearly shouted. "Tell ya what, you catch us, and you can have the boy." Willow's twin said as Pinocchio's body rose into the air, and floated over and into her arms. "And maybe, we just might tell you what you wanna know." The two dark twins disappeared through a portal, and taking the wooden boy with them. Willow and Buffy, both, had raced toward the portal, and ran into the sofy fleshy wall as it disappeared. "Shiva damn it all!" Willow punched the wall, and pulled her hand back with a disgusted look on her face. "Eww! Will! Your hand is slimy, gross!" Buffy backed away watching Willow wipe her hand on her overalls. "Remind me not to do that again...how're we gonna get to them?" "Hell, we don't even know where they are, much less how to get to them." Faith said and looked down when Donald tapped her leg. "What?" "There's an entrance up there." Donald pointed to the small opening just big enough for the group to fit through. "Then let's go!" Tara said and jumped the five-foot distance and waited for the others to follow. I promised your father we'd bring you back, and that's exactly what we're going to do. I promise you, Pinocchio, you'll see Geppetto in no time. |