Disclaimer: Never met Nsync. Don't know em, wouldn't want to own em.
Authors Note: Told you gotta be patient with me. I'm taking this slow, so read on if you're willing to wait for the next chapter. No sex for now, maybe in the future, maybe not. In fact, this episode is pretty much mostly action. This specific chapter could be rated R for language. Anyway, without further ado, on with the show. Shout out to Danny!
[Yeah it's FF] Chapter 2
In the waning light of the late afternoon sun, a calm settled over the Moogle village. The interconnected tree houses floated in the just now coming evening mist and the Moogle populace was busy finishing up the day's affairs so that they could regroup with their families and turn in for the night. Back to along the sturdy rope bridges that cobwebbed between each humble dwelling they ran, forever enjoying their lives that played out just underneath the warm forest canopy ceiling. All was peaceful and serene.
Except for that one smelly ass tree house in the upper west corner that held three prisoners in it.
"'Oh look at the cute albino Koala.' Real smart Justin!" Joshua yelled and hopped in his restraints. Consequently, as he was also tied to Justin and Sane they sort of bounced on the wood floor as well.
"What the hell do you want? How as I suppose to know those cat things were dangerous?" Justin yelled back. He was really irate, and that splinter he got on his ass from sitting down wasn't helping either.
"Technically they're called Moogles." Sane interjected.
"SHUT UP!" Justin and Josh said in stereo.
Sane just rolled his eyes.
Giving in to despair, Justin started mumbling to himself, "Man, what the hell? What the fuck is going on? This is too fucking weird. What the hell are these things? I was in Chicago this morning, on my way to an interview. I must be going crazy. Oh god, I'm crazy.
"Nice to meet you Crazy, I'm Sane." Sane cracked.
"Could you not joke now!?" Joshua yelled. He looked over his shoulder to see Justin sobbing a little.
Sane rolled his eyes, "Alright, alright. What are you guys so worried about anyway? They haven't done anything to us yet. Well aside from capturing us at spear point and dangling us over the edge of rope bridges when they brought us in.
"Oh you're fucking hilarious," Joshua said, trying to make eye contact with Sane, "Have you forgotten what you told me yourself? No one has come back from this place. Ever.
Sane scoffed, "You're not giving up on me are you? We have time to think of something.
"Well how do you suggest dealing with that problem outside?" Justin whispered. He was referring to the two Moogles outside the tree-house door carrying spears.
"I haven't quite thought of that yet," Sane was interrupted by the groans of his two companions, "but I've got a notion I'm working on.
Outside the door, the Moogles were exchanging casual conversation.
"Kupo Kupo kupopo. Kupooooo, kupo kupo." The bigger, more robust Moogle said, roughly meaning, "These suckers are not going to last long I tell you. They're just like the last ones.
"Kupo, kupokupo. Kupo Kuupo." the smaller one replied, more or less saying, "Don't be cruel old brother, they might stand a chance if they wise up some. Besides it wouldn't be so bad if we could just make sure we did our jobs right.
"KUPO! KUPO?! Kupo kupopooo kupo!" The older one meant, "HEY! You're not saying it's our fault is it?! Because we both know that it's their fault they came into our land and now they are stuck with us just like we're stuck with them; it's not like we asked them to come here!
"Kukukypo.kupo kupo kupo. Kupo kupo kupo." which of course translated to, "Alright, alright, so we didn't exactly give them an open invitation. Still, I think it would be easier on all of us if we just told them what we are doing to them and why we are doing it.
The older brother said, "Kupo kupo." "Shut your pie hole idiot! You know we can't do that.
The younger one was about to show his elder some brotherly love with the dull end of spear when just then, from the door, came a strange noise. A strangely beautiful noise. It was, of all things, singing.
Inside, Justin took a break from singing to whisper fiercely in Sane's ear, "I hope you know what you are doing!
"Just keep it up songbirds, you two sound great." Sane grinned. "This has got to get their attention." Sure enough the two Moogles outside had their fuzzy little ears pressed against the door.
Deciding not to argue with Sane, Justin resumed singing and taking small comfort in doing something he at least felt familiar with. This past day had been more than he could handle and the ever smiling facade he had put up for Joshua's sake had already worn thin. He didn't know how much more he could take.
"Ok, now that we've got their attention, now for the actual distraction part. Without skipping a beat, Sane kicked both Joshua and Justin in the shin with his heel.
"OOOOOOOOOWWWWWW! WHAT THE HELL?!" They both said. Ignoring their curses, Sane dragged both of them to their feet and walked toward the door.
Outside the two Moogles were in a fluster. The younger brother barely managed to squeeze out, "Kukukuku po po po po po kuukuukupopopopopopo?" between the flailing of his arms.
Big brother promptly slapped his kid brother upside the head and said, "Kupo kupo kupo kkkuupo!" which meant, "Calm down, you're stuttering again!" Turning to the door and kicking it down, he added, "Kupo kupoopooo!" to encourage his brother by assuring him that, "It's no big deal. So the prisoners are screaming? We should do what any Moogle Guardsman would do; kick down the door and present our spear to handle any emergency!
And the two leapt through the doorway, with spears aimed straight out in front of them, ready to tackle whatever the three humans might have planned for them. However, the humans weren't in front of them. Puzzled, both Moogles looked to the right of them just in time to see Sane and Joshua and Justin, who were all tied up nice and cozy, lurching precariously over them in a stupid off balanced manner.
Before they could say "Kupo" the three humans had fallen on them and the two brothers were out like a light. For next few seconds, the five lay there in a big pile: the two unconscious Moogles under Sane and Joshua with Justin on top.
"This is it?! This is you're big plan?! We fucking FALL on them?!" Justin was really pissed now. "What the hell is wrong with you? We fall on them?! Goddammit I'm going to kick your ass!" He started to flail his legs in the air trying to get free of the ropes that kept him from kicking Sane.
Beneath Justin and his continued cursing, Joshua sighed and asked Sane, "Please tell me you had a back up plan if those two had walked in with their spears point straight up at us.
A momentary silence from Sane followed and then he replied, "If they had had their spears straight up, it would have been improvisation time.
"Not the sharpest tool in the shed are ya?
Sane ignored the ensuing look of disappointment on Joshua's face, "Here, will you help grab that spear?
Joshua and Sane struggled to right themselves back into a sitting position as they also had to bring Justin along for the ride. Reaching for the spear with his legs, Joshua broke off the bladed part with his heel and then the two used their feet to awkwardly drag and kick it back towards their hands.
"Got it!" Sane trumpeted when it slid underneath his palm and he started to work on the ropes. Five minutes and twenty cuss words later ("Thank you Justin," Joshua said calmly) the three were free and ready for escape. Taking a small look out the door, Sane whispered to the other two, "It looks like the coast is clear.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Justin mumbled as he rubbed his sore wrists.
"Shh! They might be listening." Sane said as they sneaked down the musty old walkway that connected the tree houses high above the forest floor. "Let's just try and to make it to that ladder down there quietly.
Joshua looked around, taking note of the absolute quiet of the area. It was lucky for them that all the Moogles adhered so very strictly to bedtime, but what was even more amazing was the fact that this place even existed. Cautiously spying over the edge of the walkway while stepping lightly after Sane he realized that there were many more houses below them. In fact, upon taking time to look, he realized that there were so many houses and bridges below that he couldn't even see the ground. So very complex, so very well put together. He paused and stared down at all the houses and appreciated the craftsmanship of all the roofs and walkways and windows. It was actually very breathtaking even through the dense fog and the low evening light. Then, slowly, Joshua began to peer into one of the windows.
By now Sane had realized that JC had stopped and was on all fours looking over the edge of the bridge. "Joshua!" Sane let out in a constrained whisper, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Justin and him hurriedly rushed back to pick Joshua up.
Joshua whispered back as Justin and Sane forced him up, "Have you been looking around?" It was as if a light bulb was going off above his head, "These guys aren't savages. They can't be. Look at those houses. Look at those families." He pointed toward the window he looked in earlier. Justin craned his neck to see a quaint scene of a mother Moogle looking as if she were actually reading to her three small children. The shock on his face was evident.
"Yeah, real interesting. We can talk about this once we're actually outside the village. Y'know, away from the spears and other assorted sharp point things these things might have." Sane replied without even looking.
"Um-should they be pointing at us and yelling?" Justin said. Indeed, the family of Moogles were exclaiming at their top of the lungs having looked outside their window and realizing humans were out and about their humble village.
"Shit!" Sane said.
"Get to the ladders!" Joshua yelled.
The three ran down the walkway as fast as they could, the frenetic tapping of their feat of the walkway drowned out by a heavy rumble. Slowly but surely hoards of Moogles with spears and clubs started seeping out of their cabins and doorways and were upon the three by the time they had only dropped two levels farther down. Justin was about to dive for the next ladder down when his path was blocked off by a swarm of cute white fuzziness bearing spears. Looking around, the three realized they were slowly being approached from both ends of the walkway, until they only had a foot or two of breathing room.
"Goddamn pincer maneuver." Sane said through gritted teeth.
Just then one Moogle made a dive for Justin with his spear. Narrowly missing him, the Moogle instead pivoted on the spear and kicked him in the chest. Justin fell over the edge of the walkway onto the lower one. Panicking, Joshua futilely attempted to grab Justin but was pulled back by Sane just in time to see a spear skewer where his hand would have been.
"Jump," was Sane's monosyllabic command as he took Joshua's hand and dove over the edge of the walkway. Roughly dragged along, Joshua could only raggedly follow Sane and he barely landed on his feet. Looking across the way he spotted Justin still stunned on his back.
Fortunately he could spot movement in Justin and yelled out, "Justin, wake up!" Justin slowly stirred, and barely got up even though his bones and muscles were shaking like they had bad wiring in him. Still dazed he simply looked over to Joshua with pleading eyes.
Sane, who had just pulled down the vine ladder from the upper level, said, "Josh, he needs to keep moving, now." Sane accented the last `now' and gestured upwards to the Moogles, who were slowly floating downward toward them from the upper walkway. Joshua just nodded to Justin and Justin started to hobble onto the next ladder.
In the back of Sane's mind, he secretly didn't see how they were going to get out of this one. Breaking their own ladder was nice and all; it slowed them down as they couldn't fly nearly as fast as they could walk or climb apparently. Still it hadn't slowed them down that much. It was only a matter of time before the Moogles -below- them would realize what was going on and that would be that.
Below, one lone Moogle who was making his way up one of the giant tree trunks with alarming ease had in fact already taken notice of the commotion above. As he flapped his small purple wings to aid his jumps and adjusting his little green backpack he slowly realized what was going on. None of the others below the action had heard it yet as they were all still in their houses but this particular Moogle had made a special effort to. It was easy. He had been returning to the village after a long trip away, and what's more it was his job to be the alert one. And he didn't like how things were going.
Side by side with Joshua, facing a horde of Moogles, Sane thought it would be a good time to ask something: "Please tell me you know how to fight." Sane said as he grappled a spear free from another incoming fuzz ball.
Joshua kicked a club out of the hand of another one, "I know some Tae Kwon Do.
"Better than nothing." Sane began swinging the spear wildly in front of him trying to keep them back. "Should we feel guilty if we happen to squish a couple of these things? I mean they are trying to kill us but they're so damn cute.
Joshua actually caught one that flew toward his face and spiked it back in the crowd like a football, "You got a sparkling sense of humor; anyone ever tell you that?
"All the time. How's Justin doing?
Joshua glanced over his shoulder to a walkway a little below them and saw Justin barely keeping ahead of the Moogles on his tail. "Not well.
"Dammit." Sane threw the spear between Justin and the incoming tide of Moogles to stall them if only for a split second.
Fortunately, that was all Justin had needed. Taking advantage of the slight lull in the action, he rolled to the next ladder down and climbed down in agonizing pain. Halfway down the ladder he realized how much pain he was in. His ribs had really taken a beating and now really wasn't a good time to be slowed down by an injury. Justin could feel his grip involuntarily weakening and he sort of slipped down the rest of the way, landing on his butt. Wincing in pain, he clenched his eyes shut and grabbed his throbbing sides. Opening his eyes, Justin saw that there had been a Moogle in travel gear waiting patiently on the walkway for him and leapt back in surprise.
"No human! There is no reason to be afraid!" the Moogle said.
"You can talk?" Justin nearly screeched.
"Yes I can speak Human." He said calmly. Seeing a swarm of his compatriots climb down the ladder next to him, he calmed them all by simply raising his hand and saying "Kupo Kupo.
Justin simply watched in confusion.
"This has all been one huge misunderstanding, but the point is we have to get you out of here quickly!" He said approaching a very wary Justin.
"Who the hell are you?
"Mogaska," the Moogle said, "a leader among my people." And then the Moogle explained everything to Justin.
"Dammit these guys are annoying." Joshua said as fended off a couple more Moogles as he climbed down the ladder.
"Joshua" Sane said from below, "I don't mean to alarm you, but I can't see Justin anywhere.
Twisting his head to look at him, Joshua was about to ask what the hell Sane meant but was interrupted by a sudden shifting in the very trees. The earth itself shook violently and threw Joshua off the ladder and past the walkway.
"Not again!" Sane yelled tersely as he vainly attempted catch the falling star. However, to both their surprise Joshua slowly floated back up on a cushion of Moogles and was gently put back in place next to Sane. Sane just looked at Joshua in wonder and said, "What happened?
"They caught me in mid-air I guess," Joshua replied, equally confused.
Justin surprised both of them when suddenly was dropped off by more Moogles, "Guys! Listen! We have to stop fighting. The Moogles aren't trying to kill us!
"What?!" Sane said, "Did you land on your head or something?
"Would you shut up and listen! They're on are side!" Justin insisted, "They're not trying to kill us!
Joshua tried as hard as he could to make sense of things, "Justin, if they aren't trying to kill us, then what is?!
-RROOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!-
There was that earthquake again and one of the trees that had held the walkway up had actually tilted.
"That is!" Justin yelled pointing downward as he clutched the side of the walkway.
Barely hanging onto the now jarred planks of the walkway Joshua looked toward the forest floor to see a huge pink boar like creature three stories down bashing into the giant tree trunks that held the entire village up. "Holy Shit!" Joshua said as he realized that thing must have been at least 9 feet long.
"What the hell is that?" Sane asked even as he struggled to grab anything that would keep him from falling.
Mogaska separated himself from the rest of the Moogles that had been floating during all of this and said, "That is a Zaghnol." Seeing that both Joshua and Sane were about to ask him what all humans asked him, "Yes, yes I can talk! Now the point is that Zaghnols like to eat humans so we have to get you three out of here as soon possible. We'll try our very best to hold it back.
Sane, finally getting a good grip of his situation simply said, "Fuck it. This day has been so crappy I'm going to get to break shit one way or another." With that, Sane let go.
"He's insane!" Mogaska exclaimed.
Joshua and Justin merely exchanged glances and avoided the easy joke.
Falling, Sane avoided Moogles trying to grab him just enough to slow his fall significantly and grab a spear on the way down. Landing on the neck of the beast, Sane used the momentum from the dive to drive the tip of the spear into the Zaghnol's cranium. And of course the spear bounced off the thick skull of the Zaghnol like pennies off of concrete.
"That wasn't supposed to happen at all." Sane decided, promptly followed by a scream as he was tossed off the Zaghnol's back side.
"Fuck, he needs help," Joshua said and quickly dove off from his perch as well.
"Josh, wait!" Justin said, but was quickly silenced by the pain in his ribs.
Mogaska yelled at the top of his lungs for his comrades to aid the humans in whatever way they could. Joshua quickly found that the same Moogles that had tried feebly to stop Sane from his kamikaze dive were now aggressively helping him down to the ground while chucking spears at the mammoth. Taking a cue from Joshua the Moogles carrying him dropped him right next to Sane and handed them spears.
"You're so damn cool Sane.
"Shut up Josh.
Both dodged to the side as the relatively small head of the Zaghnol dove toward them and buried in the thick bark of a tree behind them. For the first time Joshua got a good look at the face of the creature and saw that is was basically a giant pink pig with green hair with huge carnivorous teeth and tusks. What was really noticeable, even more so than its ability to withdraw its head and chomp on tree bark like potato chips, was that it had six nostrils running up its snout. It snorted loudly and deliberately, and Joshua saw its puny blood red eyes focus on him as it let out a thunderous roar. Frozen in fear, he prepared for the worst as the giant leapt upon him.
Having learned from his previous experience, Sane settled for distracting the beast. "Hey Porky!" he yelled as he spanked the Zaghnol's posterior with his weapon, "You shouldn't turn your back to me!
Irate, the Zaghnol prepared to take a chomp out of Sane when spears started to rain on him from above. The Moogles had decided to protect these humans they had tried to kill seconds earlier. Though none of them was able to pierce its pachyderm skin, the desired effect was there; the Zaghnol was terribly distracted.
"Hey Josh, eye for an eye?" Sane said, readying his spear.
Rushing toward the distracted beast Joshua said, "Good idea." And together Sane and Joshua drove their spears into the Zaghnol's eyes simultaneously.
Howling in pain, it threw both of them off weakly, but could not do any more as it fell to its knees. Above, the floating fuzzy army rejoiced as Joshua and Sane caught their breaths. But slowly there was a dull hum, followed by a crackle, followed by sparks running over the Zaghnol's thick body. Sane barely had time to grab Joshua as lightning ran off the beast's hide in all directions.
Above, Justin, Mogaska, and the women and children Moogles of the village that had gravitated down after the disturbance all watched in horror as everyone below fell to the Zaghnol's attack. Stunned Moogles fell from the sky like lazy snowflakes to reveal a shaken Sane holding a barely conscious Joshua tightly. They had both been thrown violently into a tree from the blast and were now sitting against its base, trying not to be noticed by the blind creature standing only inches from them. The Zaghnol lurched and the tip of its snout grazed the top of Joshua's hair.
"No," Justin whispered.
When the monster snorted, he dragged in some follicles into the largest of its six nostrils and then waved its head in recognition.
"No." he said this time louder.
The Zaghnol reared up, about to drive it's hooves through Sane and Joshua in a moment.
"NO!" Justin yelled at the top of his lungs. Instantly, a brilliant halo of ancient writing appeared around Justin's right hand and he thrust it downward toward the offending Zaghnol. In another voice, and with glowing yellow eyes Justin screamed, "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" and his palm fired a molten ball of fire like a cannon. The Zaghnol barely had time to register what was happening before it was incinerated alive.
A moment of silence followed as Justin looked in shock at his own right hand, "Wha-what the hell?
Joshua, also wide eyed and amazed simply said, "Okay, I'm impressed.
Mogaska floated down toward them both to check for injury, but was caught by Sane, "Alright, you have some explaining to do.
Author's Notes: There you go. I think it's becoming clear just how weird I am. Man oh man I'm expecting to lose a lot of readers with this chapter. Anyway, Read and Reply to psuban1@uic.edu.