At long last, here's chapter 20 of O:RS. This one has a more humorous tone
than the previous chapters, as will all chapters dealing with Akane,
Ryouga, Ukyou, Mousse, and Shampoo for a while. (And now I can sit back and
wait for their various churches to roast me for turning their idols into
comedy relief...)

I can also easily say that this is the shittiest chapter of Onna: Red Side
so far.

C&C welcome. MSTs encouraged.

	Chapter 20: Worm Fodder

	The caravan slowed to a stop at the border of the arid, dusty wastes of
Cephiro. As far as deserts go, this one was definitely unusual.
	"Why's the sand purple?" Ukyou asked.
	Stretching as far as the eye could see, the parched wasteland featured
dark purple sand, piled in dunes here and there, as a soft wind picked up
bits of it and carried it from one dune to the next.  The group of eight
disembarked from the wagons, and stood at the threshold of the desert.
"It's due to a mineral found only in this part of Cephiro," Presea said.
	"Really?" Akane asked. "What mineral is it?"
	Presea shook her head. "Nobody ever bothered to name it, because it's
absolutely worthless."
	"Oh."
	"In any case," Presea said, "What we seek is a mineral far more valuable
than the one which makes this blasted sand purple. We're hunting Escudo."
	"So....where're we gonna find it?" Ryouga asked.
	Presea pointed north. "Go over those dunes. You'll know the tunnels of the
wasteworms when you see them. Be careful...the worms are tough, and very
nasty. You'll need to find the heart of their nesting catacombs, to reach
the Escudo."
	The group groaned. "Oh, wonderful," Akane said.
	"This must be my punishment for making fun of that big worm thing in that
last Star Wars movie," Ukyou muttered.
	"Well, we'd best get started," Mousse said. The others nodded, and the
five martial artists began their trek across the dunes.
	As they walked, Akane said, "By the way, Ryouga..."
	Ryouga blinked, then swallowed nervously. "H...hai, Akane-san?"
	Akane smirked. "I forgot about it earlier, but we need to have a little
talk..."

	Ukyou, Mousse, and Shampoo flinched as Ryouga's screams of pain rang out
across the desert. A lightning bolt spiked down from the sky, slamming into
one of the nearby dunes, spraying the amethyst sand in all directions. 
	"Boy, she's really ticked," Ukyou said. Shampoo and Mousse nodded. 
	"Pig-boy bring down on own head," Shampoo said. "Still, Shampoo think
violent tomboy getting trigger-happy with lightning magic."
	"RYOUGA NO BAAAAAAAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
	A small thunderstorm erupted over the recently blasted dune. It ended as
suddenly as it began. The trio watched with morbid curiosity as a tiny
black shape rocketed into the sky, plummeting to the ground moments later,
burying itself in the sand upon impact. After a few moments, the black
shape stretched into a bruised, battered, and charred Hibiki Ryouga. Akane
rejoined the group, pointedly turning her nose up at the lost boy. 
	"I...think we should get back to looking for the Escudo," Ukyou said.
Ryouga numbly dragged himself to his feet, and the group continued on their
way.
	After a short hike, they topped the crest of a particularly large dune.
Shampoo gasped. "Aiyah. Shampoo think this the place."
	Below them lay a deep, circular valley. The valley was ringed by high
dunes, and was easily two kilometers wide, perhaps more. a thick, deep
black ring separated the dunes from the valley, which was littered with
dozens of irregular holes. 
	"Well, looks like this is it. Last one down's a gaijin okonomiyaki," Ukyou
said, as she leapt down from the dune. The others blinked at her choice of
expressions, not sure what to make of it. As they prepared to jump down,
Ukyou cried out, "*SHIT!*"
	The others dropped to low defensive stances, and peered cautiously over
the edge of the dune. "What is it, Ukyou?" Akane asked.
	Ukyou mucked angrily out of the black ring lining the valley. Her white
boots were now dark brown, and brown sludge smeared her legs. She had a
decidedly disgusted look on her face. "It's shit," she said. "Be careful
coming down. Don't get into the crap."
	The others carefully leapt down, missing the black ring. Mousse produced a
towel from his robes and handed it to Ukyou. Akane's face contorted. "Ugh,"
she said. "It stinks down here."
	"Shampoo not smell such horrible thing even in panda pasture," the Amazon
added.
	Ryouga prodded the black stuff with his cudgel. It squelched. Extracting
the weapon, he examined the stain on the end of it, and nodded. "It's
definitely shit," he said. "And judging from the smell, I'd say it's
probably worm shit." He ground the end of his weapon into the sand,
cleaning off the fecal matter.
	"Tell me about it," Ukyou said, grimacing as she wiped herself off. 
	"This is rather strange," Mousse said. "If this is worm feces, why's it
packed up against the dunes like this?"
	"Maybe they can't stand the smell," Akane mused.
	Across the valley, a crane-like bird, with dark grey plumage and a
serrated beak, gave a cry as it landed on the ring of offal, and began
pecking through it. The ground trembled, and before the bird could react,
an enormous, brownish form erupted from one of the holes, and descended on
it. The martial artists watched in morbid fascination as the attacking end
of the incredibly large worm split open like the end of a frankfurter,
revealing a dark, gaping maw. The crane attempted escape, but it was in
vain. Within seconds, it had been swallowed, and the worm's head slid back
into the hole. The beast paused mid-slither, aiming its other end at the
dunes. A thunderous flatulation ripped across the valley, and a thick brown
mist settled onto the ring of manure. Its business finished, the worm
disappeared down the hole again.
	"That explains the ring of shit," Ryouga said.
	With less resolve than she had before, Ukyou said, "Well, if we gotta do
it, I guess we gotta do it. Let's go find the Escudo."
	Grimacing, the five teens made for the nearest hole.

	As the group approached the worm tunnels, Mousse suggested, "Perhaps we
had best split up. There's no telling how deep these tunnels are, or if
they even run to the same place."
	Ryouga nodded. "He's right. Besides, these tunnels aren't wide enough for
more than one person to fight in. If we tried to pair up, we'd end up
attacking each other more than the worms."
	The others considered this, and nodded. Each one selected a tunnel, and
jumped down.

	Akane slid down the tunnel, landing roughly on her butt at the bottom. As
she sat up and looked around, she noticed a huge worm only inches from her.
It opened its mouth and roared out a tremendous belch which stank of rotted
flesh and probably a bit of offal. Akane coughed, suppressing the urge to
retch. Glaring at the offending beast, she withdrew her hammer from the gem
on her glove. "WORM NO BAKA!" she screamed as she brought the mallet down
on its head. The worm grunted, and slithered away sulkily. Akane sighed.
"Honestly," she said as she stood, and followed the worm down the tunnel.

	Ukyou grumbled as she landed. Nearby, she saw a smaller worm than the one
which had eaten the bird on the surface. It was nudging along a much
smaller worm, about the size of a Rottweiler. The smaller worm was
squeaking softly, and occassionally would turn around and almost playfully
nip at the larger worm. Chuckling to herself at what was obviously a baby
at play, Ukyou silently tiptoed past the pair of worms, who paid her no
heed, and made her way further down.

	Shampoo slid down, down, down...ugh. What the...? She blinked, and looked
around. "Is dark," she said. She stood, and the ground squelched and
shifted beneath her feet. "Stink worse here than surface," she noted. It
was also very slimy. She looked around for light, and found it, above her,
visible through a shrinking orifice...
	SHRINKING ORIFICE!?
	"AIYAH! Worm swallow Shampoo whole! Not good!" The Amazon murmured a quick
Shadow spell, and her body was reduced to a two-dimensional pool of
darkness. Quickly, she slipped down the worm's digestive track, and exited
through its...let's not think about that. Suffice it to say, she got out of
the worm.
	Returning her body to its normal state, Shampoo conjured a bolt of shadow,
and threw it at the worm. The creature bellowed in agony as its body
disintegrated, reducing to a permanent shadow of its former self. "That for
trying make snack from Amazon woman," Shampoo said, as she stalked away
from the shade worm.

	Smashing another worm to pulp, Ryouga continued his path down the tunnel.
Miraculously, he had not found a way to get lost yet. At the bottom of the
tunnel, he found what appeared to be a stone wall. "Perfect," he mumbled.
Deciding to do this the old fashioned way, he cried out "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"
as he struck the wall with one finger.
	The wall rumbled, but did not shatter. Ryouga blinked.
	The sand packed in the ceiling of the tunnel began to shift, and caved in
on Ryouga's head, as the wall bent, and turned around to face him...or
rather, to smack him upside the head. Ryouga barely had time to use a spell
to clear a path in the sand before him before the hit stunned him silly.

	Mousse was using sets of raking talons and wrist blades as climbing tools,
and was sticking to the ceiling of the tunnel. He managed to make it past
all the worms without being spotted. He soon reached a large, open cavern,
with various tunnels feeding into it from all directions. Worms milled
about, shoving around mounds of sand and manure, and in one corner he could
see larger worms feeding pre-masticated corpses to baby worms the size of
Dobermans. Dotted among the sandy walls of the cave, small specks of
crystal and luminescent lichen shed a soft glow, providing adequate
lighting to take in the sights of the worm nest.
	There was a slight commotion from one of the tunnels, as a worm scuttled
out, a large discolored mark on the top of its head. It scuttled past the
other worms, and made its way down another tunnel. None of the creatures
paid it much attention. Wondering what caused the worm to flee, Mousse
watched the tunnel it came from. After a moment, he saw a dark-haired head
peek out from the tunnel, followed by the yellow-clad form of Akane.
Readying a chain with a grappling hook, Mousse fired it at the lip of the
tunnel Akane was emerging from, and released the chain, letting it trail
off to the floor of the cavern. Akane blinked, then looked around. Spotting
Mousse, she gave him a thumbs-up, and climbed down. 
	As Mousse made his way over to Akane, two shadows flitted out of another
tunnel. The two humans blinked as one of the shadows grabbed the other and
threw it across the cavern, sending it flying back down the tunnel. The
shadow seemed to be human-shaped, and female. After a moment's confusion,
Akane nodded, and whispered, "What happened, Shampoo?" 
	Shampoo silently slid up the wall, and melted out of it, returning to her
normal state. "Stupid worm try swallow Shampoo. Shampoo turn worm into
shadow, but worm attack Shampoo. Fight as shadow all way here." She
frowned. "Where here?"
	"The central cavern of the worm nest, I'd guess," Mousse said. 
	A sharp whisper from above hissed, "Incoming!" The group scattered as a
large spatula hurtled down and imbedded itself into the ground. Its handle
extended upward, forming a smooth, round metal pole, similar to one found
in a fire station. Ukyou slid down the pole, which shrank as she descended,
until it was once again a spatula handle. Retrieving the spatula and
slinging it across her back, Ukyou smiled. "Hi guys. Anything interesting
going on?"
	Akane shifted nervously. Ukyou's entrance had apparently gained some
attention among the worms. "We're about to have company, you guys," Akane
said, pointing at a few large worms which seemed to be staring at them. 
	"Aiyah!"
	Ukyou grumbled. "Dammit! I should be more careful."
	Suddenly, the worms were upon them.  The four warriors blazed into action,
striking out with their weapons and the occassional spell, knocking worms
unconscious or cleaving them in twain. The fight was going well, as the
worms could not hope to match the fighters in skill...only in numbers. 
	"Hey, where's Ryouga?" Ukyou wondered.
	"Probably lost as usual," Akane grumbled. "Or maybe he hit water and wound
up as pork for a worm."
	"ooooh...kay," Ukyou said softly as she split a worm neatly in two.
	Suddenly, there was a great rumble. The worms ceased their onslaught as
the cavern began to shake. Many of them began shrieking and roaring in
confusion and anger. Behind the baby pen, a wall of the cavern erupted
violently, sending sprays of purple sand everywhere, as well as one lost
boy who crashed unmercifully into the ground head-first. 
	"Speak of the pig," Akane muttered. 
	Ryouga dragged himself to his feet shakily, rubbing his head. "Ouch," he
said. 
	Everyone stared at the large hole Ryouga had made in the wall. The baby
worm nest which had been beneath it was shattered, leaving a crater and
dead baby worms scattered about. Something shiny glinted from within the
crater. Whatever it was, it sparkled more brilliantly than the lichen and
crystals around the cave. 
	"Is that...Escudo?" Akane wondered.
	"Aiyah! We find mineral!" Shampoo said.
	"Let's get it!" Mousse cheered, as the five teens made a dash for the
legendary mineral.
	Before they could get halfway there, the ground exploded, throwing them
into the walls and tunnel mouths. An *enormous* worm, easily five times the
size of any they'd seen so far, emerged from the great chasm in the ground,
which sealed up behind it. The worm's tail was wide, swollen, as though
indicating that the worm was incredibly fat. Its head was different from
the others...its jaws were fleshy, like meaty jowls, and it had clearly
visible, though squinted, eyes above its maw. The worm opened its great
maw, and the five teens blinked as it...spoke.
	The worm's voice was very unusual. Expecting something that large to have
a deep, earthquaking voice, instead it was soft, and the creature seemed to
mumble as it said, "Small creatures with no tails, why have you disrupted
the sanctity of my lair?"
	Everyone blinked.
	The worm seemed to scowl. "You come into my catacombs uninvited," it
mumbled, "disrupt the tunnels, kill members of my family, and have the
audacity to poke me in the tail. This, I cannot forgive."
	"Oh great," Ukyou said, rolling her eyes. "Look fellas, it's the Godworm."
	Ryouga rubbed his chin, then pounded a fist into his palm. "So *that*'s
what that wall was!"
	The Godworm spoke again. "I'm going to make you an offer, you can't
refuse. I'm going to eat all of you alive. You can enjoy the rest of your
life being digested."
	Akane shook her head. "I don't think so."
	Ryouga glared at the worm. "I owe you for knocking me around like that."
	"You got a lot of nerve, worm. Let's see what some worm okonomiyaki tastes
like!"
	"Eeew, let's not."
	"Shampoo make stupid fat worm shut ugly fat mouth!"
	"The early bird catches the worm. I'm the earliest bird you'll ever know."
	Everyone blinked at Mousse, who shrugged. "Hey, it sounded good."
	The Godworm surged forward. "Die!" it roared, although the roar came out
as more of a belch. A veritable cloud of its foul breath struck the young
warriors, making them drop to their knees gagging. 
	"Distract it," Ryouga wheezed. "I'm going to cast a spell to send it back
where it came from."
	"Alright," Akane said, frowning at the lost boy. Turning her attention to
the Godworm, she shouted, "Okay worm, take this!" Leaping at its head with
her mallet in hand, she let out a mighty battle yell. The ceiling of the
cavern erupted, and lightning spiked down into the mallet's haft, sparking
around its steel head, as Akane shouted, "HAMMER OF THOR!" 
	She struck the massive worm, and a bright flash of lightning exploded from
her hammer. The Godworm roared in agony and rage as it slithered backwards
from Akane, who touched off of its head with her foot, and somersaulted
backwards, landing in a ready position. 
	Shampoo murmured a spell, and when it was prepared, she said softly,
"Command Shadow." The Godworm's shadow shook violently, and tore itself
away from the massive beast, who blinked down at it. 
	"What the hell's that supposed to do?" it mumbled.
	Shampoo smiled. "Watch and learn, stupid worm." The shadow reared up out
of the ground, bellowing in rage, and descended on the Godworm. Unsure what
to do, the great worm slid backwards, but the shadow was faster, and
plunged down through the Godworm's tail. The gigantic monster bellowed in
pain as a good chunk of its tail was severed, sending up a shower of worm
blood.
	"My turn," Mousse said. He pulled a number of hooked chains from his
robes, and threw them at the Godworm. Although it twisted its body out of
the way of the chains, Mousse smirked as the hooks passed its injured tail.
He jerked on the chains, and they snapped backwards, the hooks digging into
the wounded flesh of the tail, and holding fast. "SENOBAITO!" Mousse
shouted, as he tugged the chains sharply. The hooks dug canals in the
worm's flesh, peeling its outer skin away from its body. The Godworm keened
in agony, unable to escape the deadly attack.
	"My turn!" Ukyou called, producing several small spatulas. Throwing them
at the exposed body of the worm, she used a metal spell to turn them into
curved daggers as they struck. Casting another spell once they were
imbedded, she caused the daggers to become serrated, and at the Godworm's
groan of pain, she leapt across the chasm, and began plucking the saw-edged
daggers from its body. The Godworm was thoroughly stunned, unable to move.
As Ukyou landed, she called, "Now, Ryouga!"
	Ryouga nodded, and raised his hands. The ground began trembling.
"Everyone, get as far from the worm as you can, and *GET DOWN!* he shouted.
As the others complied, a circle of stone rose up around the wounded
Godworm, as well as beneath it, bringing it level with the center of the
cavern. Part of the ceiling above it had hardened, the sand packing into a
block of solid purple stone. 
	"Ready...NOW!" Ryouga shouted. The stone pedestal carrying the worm
dropped, and Ryouga flung his hands outward. "STONE PRESS!" he commanded.
The rock floor beneath the Godworm rose up, a great stone pillar, which
swiftly carried the giant beast up to the rocky ceiling above. The stones
clashed together, and the Godworm was crushed between them, its remains
spattering the walls and floor of the cavern. The stone pillar crumbled,
and the ceiling above returned to normal.
	"Yatta!" Ryouga shouted. The others stood, picking their way among the
worm's remains. "Good work, Ryouga," Ukyou said.
	Ryouga shrugged. "Couldn't have done it without you guys," he said. 
	Akane pointed to the area where the nest was. "Got enough magic left to
take care of the rubble around that nest?" she asked.
	Ryouga nodded, and concentrated. The ground rumbled, and five sharp
crystals peeked up from the wreckage. With a gesture, Ryouga flung the
mineral crystals out of the rocks, bringing them for a safe landing among
the five warriors. 
	"Sugoi!" Ukyou said.
	"You really handle that stone magic well," Mousse commented.
	Ryouga shrugged. "Must be from all my experience with the Bakusai
Tenketsu," he said. 
	"So, this Escudo?" Shampoo said.
	Akane nodded. "I think so," she said. Reaching out, she touched one of the
crystals. It turned yellow, and disappeared into the gem on her hand.
	"Yep, it *must* be the Escudo," Ukyou mused, touching a crystal. It turned
dark blue, and merged with her guantlet. The others each touched a crystal,
which changed color to match their gauntlet gems, and disappeared. 
	"Okay, now how do we get outta here?" Ukyou wondered.
	Ryouga frowned. "I dunno. I'm pretty spent for magic," he said.
	"Hmm," Akane rubbed her chin. "Aha! I know! Everyone gather around me."
	The others gathered around Akane, who concentrated and murmured a few
chants. A strong breeze picked up around them, forming a slight whirlwind.
As the others grew nervous, Akane's chanting became more frantic, until her
eyes snapped open, and she shouted, "SANDSTORM!"
	The wind howled, as purple sand shrouded them, stinging their skin and
cutting visibility to zero. The winds rose, and began blasting the sand
straight up. The five martial arts mages were sucked into the vortex, and
blasted upward.

	"Any sign of them?" Clef asked. Presea shook her head.
	"Looks like...wait. That's odd," she mused. "There usually aren't
sandstorms in this desert..."
	Clef's eyes widened. "A sandstorm?" he asked. Presea handed him her
binoculars. As the master wizard watched, a purple column of whirling sand
erupted from the valley of the worm tunnels. Five figures were flung out of
the twister, which began dying down.

	As the group landed roughly in the dunes around the worm valley, Akane
mused to herself, "Need to learn to control that spell..."


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-Lurkadis Lavenwers-

EternalLostLurker@worldnet.att.net

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